The fact that the ‘Ghost Rider’ could also be lent to someone else was undoubtedly good news.
If there ever came a day when he didn’t feel like fighting himself, he could simply lend the ‘Ghost Rider’ to someone else to use without worrying about getting it back.
For example, that certain big green guy.
With that guy’s strength, adding the boost from the ‘Ghost Rider’ would definitely be terrifying.
“Remember what I told you. Never let your power control you.”
Watching the Ancient One take back the ‘Ghost Rider’ and turn to leave, Feeney opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t ask why she had refused to form the armor earlier.
…
“Senior Brother Mordo, come out and fight me one-on-one!”
Early in the morning, Feeney excitedly arrived at Mordo’s door, urging him impatiently.
The experience gained from fighting had far exceeded Feeney’s expectations.
Over the past week, Feeney had been using the ‘Ghost Rider’ to fight Mordo almost every day.
When Mordo first saw the ‘Ghost Rider,’ he had been startled badly.
After questioning Feeney for quite a while, Feeney, who had grown too lazy to answer, could only brush him off by saying that it was a magical artifact specially given to him by the Ancient One.
Although the result was that Mordo would often secretly mutter things like, “That’s not fair. I was here first,” in corners where no one could hear him.
Anyway, after a week of testing, Feeney discovered that he had vastly underestimated the amount of experience that could be gained through combat—or rather, the amount of experience gained from fighting strong opponents.
The experience he had gained from fighting Mordo over the past week was equivalent to the growth he had previously accumulated over three whole months.
What an astonishing rate of growth.
In one month, it would be equivalent to an entire year of his previous progress.
Moreover, Feeney discovered that the experience gained from winning a battle was far greater than that gained from losing.
He discovered this after once taking advantage of a moment when Mordo was distracted and knocking him down.
At the time, Feeney deeply regretted not discovering this sooner.
If he had known earlier, then even if there had been a risk of exposing himself, he could have continuously sought out people to fight.
By now, he would probably have more than just three skills.
However, this thought didn’t last long.
He remembered the Ancient One’s warning, then carefully analyzed the situation and realized that even if he had discovered this earlier, his progress probably wouldn’t have been much faster.
The most important factors in gaining experience through combat were the opponent’s strength and the use of the ‘Ghost Rider.’ With only the ‘Golden Grand Derivation Technique’ and ‘Jinji Fried Chicken Wrap,’ there was no way he could defeat someone too powerful.
Therefore, it was mainly because the ‘Ghost Rider’ had greatly increased his strength, while Mordo himself was also quite strong, that this situation had occurred.
After figuring this out, Feeney stopped dwelling on what could have been and instead cherished the present.
That meant finding Mordo every single day, without fail, to fight him and grind experience.
“Have you become obsessed lately?”
Mordo opened the door with a bitter expression and complained.
Out of concern, he had once gone to ask the Ancient One about the ‘Ghost Rider.’ Although the Ancient One denied that she had given it to Feeney, she still told him not to worry about it and to help Feeney as much as possible.
“Alright, alright, enough nonsense. Let’s go.”
Feeney dragged Mordo toward the training grounds.
Kamar-Taj was only so big, and the fact that Feeney and Mordo fought every day had become common knowledge almost overnight.
For sorcerers, this kind of thing was actually not particularly unusual.
But Mordo and Feeney were, after all, both disciples of the Ancient One.
Feeney aside for the moment, Mordo’s strength ranked among the best in all of Kamar-Taj.
Being a sorcerer was not a safe profession.
Their duty was to protect the safety of the world.
If there were no threats, how could they be called its protectors?
They learned magic in order to fight.
Therefore, whenever the two fought, many sorcerers would come over to watch.
“Master Feeney, good luck! Beat Master Mordo today!”
“Master Mordo, don’t lose because you got careless like last time!”
On the training grounds, the two each had their own supporters.
Although Feeney had only been here for a little over a month, his signature ‘Jinji Fried Chicken Wrap,’ combined with the advantage of his young age, had won him the favor of many sorcerers.
Ignoring the distractions from the sidelines, Feeney stood in the center of the training ground.
After throwing Mordo a provocative look, he immediately extended his hand, summoned a longsword, and shouted:
“Ghost Rider!”
In the blink of an eye, silver-white armor enveloped his entire body.
He had no weapon in his hand, but even so, purely in terms of appearance, he immediately outclassed the shabby-looking Mordo by several streets.
By now, the other sorcerers surrounding them had already grown accustomed to Feeney’s ‘Ghost Rider.’ Although most of them had been just as startled as Mordo the first time they saw it, after learning its supposed “origin,” there had been many secret complaints such as, “Master Ancient One is so biased,” and, “I want armor too.”
Because of this, the Ancient One had been forced to helplessly lecture Feeney more than once.
Seeing that Feeney had finished equipping himself, Mordo did not dare be careless.
He quickly activated the magical effect of his Walter Swiftstep Boots, then reinforced both hands with the Rings of Raggadorr—his magical shield—and cautiously prepared himself.
Most of the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj were close-combat sorcerers.
It wasn’t that there were no long-range spells, but first, the power of long-range spells was tremendous and difficult for ordinary sorcerers to control.
Second, those spells were too difficult, and many people simply couldn’t learn them.
Feeney didn’t actually know whether Mordo knew any long-range spells, but this was only a friendly sparring match.
Neither side would possibly fight to the death—that much was certain.
Besides, the Ancient One was there.
Even if someone accidentally went too far, the Time Stone could still potentially save them.
Because he had few concerns, Feeney fought particularly decisively.
Combined with the defensive advantage of his armor, he charged forward first.
Mordo remained calm.
Judging the timing of Feeney’s charge, he immediately activated the magical effect of the Walter Swiftstep Boots, leaped into the air, accelerated, and stepped through the air, jumping behind Feeney in preparation for an attack.
However, the moment Mordo jumped, Feeney reacted.
Slowing himself down, he quickly spun around and blocked Mordo’s attack with his arm.
“Feeney, you’re a sorcerer. Don’t always rely on your armor.”
Mordo did not pursue the attack. New chapters come out on g.com first.
As he retreated, he shouted this reminder.
It wasn’t because of jealousy or dissatisfaction.
He simply wanted to give Feeney some advice and didn’t want him to constantly rely on his armor and neglect learning magic.
Feeney humbly accepted the advice.
With the enhancement of the ‘Ghost Rider,’ his entire body had been strengthened.
Even his magical ability—which previously could only produce a few sparks—could now at least create some tiny flames.
Although they flickered rather pitifully.
After condensing a similarly dim Ring of Raggadorr on his right hand, Feeney charged toward Mordo once again.
The two fought back and forth.
From time to time, cries of surprise came from the surrounding sorcerers.
About half an hour later, the battle finally ended with Feeney losing because he had run out of stamina.
After dismissing the ‘Ghost Rider,’ Feeney lay on the ground without the slightest concern for his image.
Mordo, standing nearby, was also breathing heavily, but compared to Feeney, he looked much better.
“Can’t you go easy on me and let me win a few times, Senior Brother Mordo?”
Although he said this with his mouth, Feeney knew perfectly well that Mordo had absolutely been holding back.
Otherwise, there was no way the fight could have lasted this long.
Throughout the battle, Mordo had also continuously pointed out Feeney’s shortcomings.
That was precisely why Feeney continued to call him “Senior Brother Mordo” in such a familiar manner, even though everyone at Kamar-Taj generally addressed one another as “Master” followed by their name.
“A real enemy won’t go easy on you!”
Mordo first gave him a serious lesson before asking with concern, “Are you alright? Are you injured anywhere?”
“Wake up, Senior Brother Mordo. Although I lost to you in the end, it’s still quite difficult for you to break through my defenses.”
Hearing this, Mordo couldn’t help becoming jealous again.
Deep down, he couldn’t stop muttering:
I was here first!
Why are you the one who gets all the Master’s favor?!
You couldn’t keep shearing the same sheep forever.
Over the following days, Feeney fought several other sorcerers in succession.
But compared with them, the experience he gained from Mordo was still the highest.
Because of this, Feeney secretly gave Mordo a nickname.
Master Mordo, the Experience Baby!
And just like that, without him realizing it, another month passed.
Then, a phone call disrupted Feeney’s experience-grinding routine.
(End of Chapter)