Around half an hour later, I had mastered every single Level Three spell in Xiang Peng's arsenal, and improved them with the power of Chaos. It's just like the quote from that one video game: Consume, Enhance, Replicate.

Unfortunately, every single spell I learned just served to make Xiang Peng more shocked and utterly speechless. But hey, that wasn't my problem. I learned the spells, and that was all that mattered. Besides, I even said 'thank you' to her like I promised, so it's not like she got nothing in return out of this. I wasn't about to really treat her to dinner though. That had been a joke.

Hm...maybe she did get nothing out of this. Again though, not my problem. She agreed to the terms, after all.

All in all, through this experience, I learnt a total of sixteen Level Three spells:

Electric Lash - Sky Magic.

Prison of Lightning - Sky Magic.

Rune of Thunder - Sky Magic.

Rune of Wind - Sky magic.

Gravity: Neutralize - Gravity Magic.

Gravity: Bend - Gravity Magic.

Holy Ray - Light Magic.

Moonlight Beam - Light Magic.

Rune of Light - Light Magic.

Flood - Water Magic.

Rune of Water - Water Magic.

Torrential Downpour - Water Magic.

Metal Surge - Metal Magic.

Rune of Metal - Metal Magic.

Iron Will - Metal Magic.

Reprisal of Sound - Sound Magic.

Out of these sixteen though, I would only be using a few of them. Prison of Lightning and Electric Lash were especially useful and powerful, but for different purposes. The former was used to single out an individual target and deal massive damage to them, while the latter could be used for a variety of things such as wiping out entire platoons of weak enemies or destroying cover.

Another spell I would definitely be using a lot was Moonlight Beam. It's simple and straight-forward, firing a devastating beam in a target direction. But there was a catch to this spell - unlike its counterpart, Holy Ray, Moonlight Beam relied on the power of the moon for its power. Thus, in the daytime, it was weak, but as soon as the moon rose, the spell's power would be amplified many times over. In other words, during the day, Holy Ray was better, but at night, Moonlight Beam was definitely superior. And since within The Fortress, biological clocks were essentially reversed, with the majority of activities happening at nighttime...Moonlight Beam would prove to become quite the asset.

Then there are the five Rune spells I learnt. These spells are a bit different from other spells, according to Xiang Peng. Apparently, there was a Rune-type spells of each element, with the exception of Enchantment and Summoning. Sky Magic was also a bit different, with two different Rune-type spells.

These spells, instead of being used up-front, were used to set traps. Even though their power was unmatched, Rune spells took a long time to set up, which is why using them in a real battle was unrealistic. However...since I could instantly cast spells, that wasn't a problem for me. I tested it - my instacast ability applied to Rune spells just fine, which could possibly give me an edge in battles.

Essentially, think of Rune spells as mines that disappeared from view once you cast it. The moment someone apart from the original caster came into contact with one, it would erupt in a powerful blast of whatever element the Rune spell came from. For example, if I laid down a Rune of Thunder somewhere, and an unsuspecting enemy walked over it, it would explode in a cloud of electricity, instantly vaporizing the target and anyone else caught inside its effective range.

There were certain spells that could detect Runes, including Rune of Vision - the Psychic Element Rune spell. This was a Rune that countered all other runes, but apparently, Rune spells were supposed to be extremely hard to learn. Only certain people with talent could get the hang of it. Since I was able to pick them up instantly, I guess I just had 'talent'. Xiang Peng was one of these people as well.

In any case, I was certain these Rune spells would be useful in the future.

Next up, the Gravity element spells I learnt...not much to talk about there - Neutralize basically got rid of any other Gravity element effects on me, while Bend...well, bent Gravity around a certain point.

Flood and Torrential Downpour were both popular Water Element spells I've seen quite a lot of Advanced Mages and higher use. The former was one I already knew and used pretty recently with Mei Gui, when we were fighting the Thistle Walkers in the Forest of Alpheridian. It did exactly what its name said - create a flood. It wasn't a powerful one, but a flood nonetheless. Torrential Downpour, however, was...quite different. It was, at its core, a torture technique.

Torrential Downpour creates rainfall over a select area. At first, the rain is light, almost gentle and relaxing. But as time passes, the raindrops will get heavier and heavier, slowly causing pain as they hit your skin, until they eventually become strong enough to break bones. Since the caster could stop and cancel the spell at any time, Torrential Downpour was a commonly used interrogation technique, able to break even the most iron wills.

Speaking of iron wills...the Metal Element spell Iron Will I also learnt today was actually more useful than I initially thought. Basically, it hardened your resolve, and prevented any mental attacks from getting to you. It was useful against Curse Magic that inflicted hypnosis or mind control, as well as Psychic Magic such as Mind Reading at times. According to Xiang Peng, there was a higher variant of this spell, called Iron Body. It did the same thing as Iron Will, except instead of on the mind, it was on the physical body. That was a Legendary Tier spell though - something I still couldn't use just yet.

Actually...I honestly probably could, if I really tried, but I'm too lazy for that.

Meanwhile, Metal Surge basically creates a torrent of metal that can erupt out of the ground, striking enemies. It was a lot like the Level One Earth Element spell, Stalagmite, except instead of rock, it was pure solid metal. A lot stronger and deadly.

And finally, the last spell I learnt, and also the only Sound Element spell Xiang Peng taught me - Reprisal of Sound. This was an interesting one. Normally, Sound Magic was considered mostly useless in actual combat - even the Enchantment Element was probably better than it in terms of pure strength. But this spell was different. It was actually quite powerful. Essentially, what it did was take in all the sound in the area over a set period of time, combine them into one powerful blast of sound, and then shoot it out at a target.

This may not sound like much (haha, sound), but sound can in fact be extremely powerful. When I tested this spell out, I blew away an entire building with it. Of course, my Chaos amplification abilities were mainly responsible for that, but the spell itself wasn't weak either.

Overall, to sum it up, this was quite the rewarding experience, if I do say so myself.

"Hey, Xuan Kai," Xiang Peng said as we were on our way out of the slums to head to the Library of Infinite Beginnings. "Now that you've learnt these sixteen Level Three spells, you can honestly become an Advanced Mage right now if you wanted to. I know where the IMF branch here is, so you can take the Advancement Exam there."

"Is just sixteen enough?" I asked with a dead tone, brushing off her question with ease.

Xiang Peng, however, seemed to be genuinely considering the matter. "Hm...I would say yes, since all sixteen of the spells I taught you were actually useful all the time, no matter the situation. There's a lot more Level Three spells I know that are very situational and scarcely used. Hence why I didn't teach them to you."

I sighed, and stopped walking. "Can't you tell? What I'm really saying is that I don't care about Advancement Exams, or becoming an Advanced Mage. Take a hint."

She frowned. "Huh? But why?"

I stared at her with an unamused expression. "List me three reasons why I should go through the hassle of officially become an Advanced Mage. Now."

"Eh? Uh...sure. For starters, you'll be more respected in soci-"

"More respected in society? Do I seem like the type of person to care about that?"

"Hm, well, no, bu-"

"I've always been a lone wolf, despite how it seems right now with all these girls around me. My inner nature will still remain as it always was - I work better independently, and nothing will change that. So - other people's opinions of me don't matter, is what I'm trying to say," I explained, hoping to get through to Xiang Peng.

But the stubborn girl seemed to be still seriously considering convincing me.

"O-Okay, look. That's not the only reason. If you become an Advanced Mage on papers, you can also unlock benefits when you enter Fragment."

"Such as?"

"Such as...um...more respect!"

"...That's literally the exact same thing as your previous reason."

"Er...o-okay, what about the Awakening test that you are eligible for after ranking up? You know, the more elements you have, the better!"

"In case you forgot..." I began, getting more annoyed of her by the second.

"R-Right. You already have all 21 elements..." she muttered, realizing her own mistake. "Ugh, it's such a pain dealing with extremely overpowered characters like you! It's like you came straight out of some fiction novel!"

"You can complain all you want, but I'd suggest you stop trying to convince me now. It'll only give you a headache. I'm quite a stubborn person, after all."

"Agreed," Mei Gui, who had been silent all this time, added. I almost forgot she was here. Xiang Peng was way too loud and attractive (not in the good way), not to mention Mei Gui didn't have much of a presence in the first place - which wasn't a bad thing, since that made her useful for assassinations and stealth missions. The girl had been watching while Xiang Peng taught me, picking up the spells for herself as well. She was clever and intelligent - no doubt, she already had all of them mastered just like I did, without even having to try them out once.

"O-Okay, look - there might not be any too visible merits to becoming an Advanced Mage on paper, but there aren't exactly any downsides to it either, are there?" Xiang Peng continued, trying to tackle the subject from a different approach.

I scoffed. "Huh? No downsides? You're kidding me. There's a test fee for the exam, is there not? Not to mention the time you have to waste on this thing. What a hassle - and you're telling me there are no downsides?"

Xiang Peng gulped, unable to argue any further after being hit by my sound point. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again.

"Okay, whatever. You win. God, I have a headache now..."

I rolled my eyes. "Imagine if you listened to me when I told you to stop trying to convince me..."

And with that, we began heading for the Library of Infinite Beginnings, our main mission for today.