Water and Fire Twins Magician

Digging a tunnel under a snowy mountain seems to be a test of physical strength and endurance. But in fact, it is impossible to dig to the other side in a month by brute force alone.

This so-called snow mountain is actually a collection of water elements. If you add water elements to the tools when digging, you will get twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, this simple digging action is actually a test of the basic skills of water ability users.

Those who took part in the trial were not mediocre, and their digging speed was far beyond that of ordinary people. Soon, there were no more trial participants at the foot of the mountain, as everyone had already dug into the interior of the snow mountain.

With Jacques's control over the water element, it was not difficult to add magic power to his hands or tools for digging. After becoming familiar with the digging action, Jacques's forward speed was about ten to fifteen meters per hour, which was an upper-middle level among all the trialists.

But Jacques was not in a hurry. After all, Fei'er had said that this time they would not be competing on speed, and as long as they passed within the deadline, they would have completed the mission.

Before the trial began, the Imperial Army distributed a small prop to everyone. It was a small iron sheet with a simple number, 30, on it, and it would emit a faint light. As time went by, the number would automatically change to 29, 28... In the snow cave that never saw the sun, this iron sheet was a tool to remind everyone that time was passing. And the faint light it emitted also prevented everyone from digging in pitch darkness. Because in this wet and cold snow cave, the density of the fire element was extremely low, and it was almost impossible to light a fire for lighting. If one tried to gather the fire element through Qigong, it would affect the digging efficiency.

Jacques dug through one-fifth of the distance in just three days. It seemed that it would not be too difficult to dig through the snow mound within a month.

But surprisingly, Jacques made no progress in the next few days because he caught a bad cold.

In fact, as early as when he was adapting to the training, Jacques had already overdrawn his physical strength and magic power. He was really afraid of the cold, and under Fei'er's supervision, he had to use all his magic power every day to resist the severe cold, which caused his physical condition to be poor. After the trial began, he did heavy physical labor every day, which made his whole body sweat and heat up. The snowy mountains were extremely cold, and every time he stopped to rest because he was exhausted, it was easy for the cold to enter his body.

As early as the second day of the trial, Jacques felt something was wrong with his body, but he gained treasures from the excavation and felt novel and excited. This emotion allowed him to barely hold on until the fourth day before he collapsed.

It turns out that there are a lot of good things hidden in the snow-capped mountains outside the excavation area.

On the second day, the digging shovel dug up a hard object. When it was picked out, it turned out to be a golden translucent mineral.

"This is a snow copper ingot." Gandalf explained, "It is a combination of copper ore and water elements. It only appears in extremely cold areas after a severe snowstorm. It is considered a medium-quality refining material. Water warriors or mages below level 4 usually use snow copper ingots or terrazzo as the main material for refining houses and armor. You are lucky, such a large piece of snow copper ingot is quite rare. It should be able to sell for about 5,000 Lionheart coins."

Lionheart coins are the currency of the Saxon Empire. In comparison, the holy water produced in the Holy Water Village is sold for about one thousand Lionheart coins per bottle. This snow copper ingot is worth a lot of money.

Jacques was of course delighted to have found treasure, and he had found a way to increase his income, so he worked extremely hard. He dug for two whole days almost without rest, and obtained more than ten smaller snow copper ingots, which were worth nearly 20,000 Lionheart Coins.

In addition to ores, trial participants will also gain other rewards.

When Jacques dug about thirty meters, he began to hear some strange noises in the snow cave.

At first he thought it was a sign of the snow cave collapsing, and he was worried while digging. Later, he gradually discovered that the source of the sound seemed to be moving, and then he remembered that this should be the abyss creature that Fei'er had told him about.

Jacques continued to be vigilant until he dug about a hundred meters, when cracks suddenly appeared on the wall of the snow cave, and then a small creature he had never seen before emerged from the snow.

It was a creature similar in appearance and body shape to a ferret, with short limbs and a slender body, covered with thick fur, and a shiny black horn in front of its nose, which seemed to allow it to move through the snow.

Gandalf explained that this is called a frozen marten. Strictly speaking, it is not a creature of the abyss, but a creature that lives near the entrance of the abyss. Although it looks cute, it is a carnivore. It is proud of its small size and agility. When it is extremely hungry, it will actively attack humans. Their fur can be sold for money, and their meat can also be eaten, which tastes pretty good.

Hearing that this little thing dared to attack humans, Jacques didn't think twice and directly cast a water spiral. But the agility of this horned marten was beyond his imagination. It turned around and flicked its tail, and disappeared into the snow.

Since its first appearance, Jacques encountered a frozen marten every two or three hours on average. He was almost ambushed by them several times, but he was never able to catch them. This made Jacques depressed. He dug while being on guard, and was also thinking about how to subdue these little naughty creatures.

After digging for three days in a row and having to compete with the frozen martens at all times, Jacques's illness gradually became more serious. He could no longer dig and collapsed from exhaustion, suffering from hypothermia.

The temperature in the snow cave was low and the humidity was high. In addition, the sweat from long-term labor soaked his clothes, causing the cold to enter his body. If Jacques really had a water-based physique, he would only feel comfortable and refreshed, but unfortunately he was not.

He was surrounded by ice and snow, and the ground beneath his feet was wet and hard. No matter how he curled up, he couldn't drive away the tormenting cold. He wanted to get up and walk, but his limbs were so weak that he could barely stand.

"I can't stand it anymore! I want to cheat!" Jacques took out the magic chalk tremblingly, intending to draw a magic door and go back to the Magic Research Department to warm up by the fire and rest before coming back. But no matter how he drew, the magic door would not appear.

"Give up. The barrier set up by Rhodes only covers the Imperial Academy. How far have you come out?" Gandalf said.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I told you not to cheat, didn't I?" Gandalf said confidently, "And don't you give up too easily? Even if you can return to the Department of Magical Research, what's the point of this trial? You've come all the way through so many difficulties, but now I just ask you to dig a hole and you can't even hold on? How are you going to face your future life?"

"It's hard to say whether my life will have a future..." Jacques said weakly. Now his whole body is stiff and even his movements are affected.

"Really, have you forgotten who you are?" said Gandalf unhappily.

"Me?" Jacques' eyes rolled and he immediately smiled: "Yeah, it doesn't say you can't use fire magic, haha!"

"You really are." Gandalf laughed helplessly.