Mage Adam-Chapter "371"

Yan Dai panted a few times, then straightened up with a proud, imposing air as he looked at Adam.

“How was that? Impressive, right?”

“Detected qi convergence. Activation method: unknown.”

Adam clapped his claws together with a blank expression.

Impressive? Hardly. Not only was it unimpressive—it was clumsy. It was nothing more than the crudest form of external energy release. Any magic, even at apprentice level, involved far more refined control of energy than this so-called “Blazing Staff” technique. With this level of heat and thermal energy under Adam’s control, he could have sliced a stone cleanly in two, not clumsily blown it apart the way Yan Dai had.

Yan Dai, though a bit slow-witted, could see Adam wasn’t impressed. Embarrassed, he scratched his head with his pipe and forced a grin.

“Yeah… the Blazing Staff isn’t all that great. But it’s the only martial technique you can use right now. Come, let me show you—this is how you ignite your qi.”

After a while, Adam’s expression turned strange. If this method was standard practice, then martial combat was nothing short of suicide.

Cultivation techniques transformed cells and stored energy within them. Martial techniques, however, required killing and discharging those same cells. Every strike meant swathes of cells dying. If the rate of regeneration couldn’t keep up with the loss, then one’s vitality would inevitably decline—death from exhaustion was a very real possibility.

Yan Dai’s next words confirmed Adam’s analysis. He said solemnly:

“For a martial artist, no matter the race, three things are most important. First, cultivation techniques. Second, martial techniques. Third, elixirs.

Cultivation methods and martial techniques are rare—most fighters will never get the chance to change them in their lifetime. But elixirs are different. They’re consumables, and they’re vital. For us pandas, liquor is also a kind of elixir. After every battle, panda warriors must drink large amounts of wine to replenish what they’ve lost, or it will shorten their lifespan.”

“Where does the wine come from?” Adam asked.

Yan Dai puffed up with pride.

“Of course it’s brewed! From all kinds of ingredients, with secret techniques. I’m the best brewer in the tribe. Once you’ve mastered the basics of martial arts, I’ll teach you how to make wine.”

Adam stomped once on the ground. A staff nearby leapt into the air and landed in his hand. He casually flicked it to the side. The staff flew from his grip, bursting into flames mid-air, piercing effortlessly through the rocks and trees in its path. Finally, it detonated, spraying sparks everywhere, and left a hole a full meter deep in the cliffside.

Adam stared straight at the dumbstruck Yan Dai.

“I’ve mastered it. Teach me now.”

The brewing lessons were postponed until the third day. Yan Dai’s excuse was that beginners consumed too many materials, and recently—for reasons unknown—the bamboo forest had seen a shortage of brewing ingredients. He needed two days to gather more.

Left alone, Adam returned to his dwelling, still puzzled. Why had supposedly “attribute-less” qi generated fire energy?

If he could find the answer, perhaps he could touch upon some of the secrets of the Third Epoch’s system.

But the analysis was extremely difficult. Unlike a mage, whose power came from knowledge, martial qi seemed to manifest attributes out of thin air—without process, without foundation. It was as if one merely wished for energy-devouring cells to possess fire, and fire was born.

Not just strange—terrifying. But if this system reached higher levels… could a martial artist develop rules within their own body, unique to themselves, and thereby separate their existence from the Aetheric Void?

Was this the secret of why transcendent void-life could transcend the void itself?

On the third day, Adam followed Elder Yan Dai into the underground brewing chamber beneath the bamboo forest and learned every panda clan method for brewing qi-infused wines.

Yan Dai had intended to pass on only the most basic fermentation recipe, but Adam’s flawless memory and instant mastery—just as with martial techniques and cultivation—left him stunned once again. Unwittingly, he demonstrated every single brewing method.

His personal chip recorded and analyzed all of it. What had once seemed mystical was now stripped back to fundamentals.

In essence, it was nothing more than stimulating qi into the ingredients, awakening the latent energy within them, then using deceptively simple methods to meld and ferment them together.

The “miraculous” effects could ultimately only be attributed to the special properties of qi itself.

Time passed swiftly. Two years went by.

During that time, Adam, through combined deduction with his chip, fully dissected the Flame-Swallowing Liquor Formula, reducing it to its most basic principles of qi storage and circulation. He even devised two new cultivation methods suitable for Forest Elves and for Sophia.

Though he hadn’t yet unraveled the mystery of qi attributes, both methods were stable and attribute-less. For them, that was more than enough. Just reaching the starting line would allow them to advance far faster than ordinary natives—especially with limitless “elixirs” fueling their growth.

The young pandas born alongside Adam had now grown up. Most had successfully opened their qi meridians, though they still couldn’t be bothered to train seriously. Adam stood apart from them, an anomaly—not rejected, but no longer truly part of their rank.

No panda in history had, within two years, become a First-Level Martial Artist, mastered every martial technique, and learned every form of brewing.

In fact, if martial ranks were determined by total qi volume, Adam was already at Third Level. He could single-handedly crush the entire tribe without effort.

The superiority and inclusivity of the mage system far surpassed that of martial artists.

Though knowledge here could not be directly transmuted into power, it could fuse with power. The four fundamental forces were fundamental for a reason—they were the very foundation of matter and balance. Nuclear forces aside, Adam had already fused gravity into his martial techniques, and applied electromagnetism to strengthen his body. Even without attributes, his abilities were in no way weaker than those who had them.

True, the qi expenditure was significant—but with nine qi cores, he could easily bear it.

There was no reason to remain in the panda tribe. It would only waste time. Adam resolved to inform the elders soon that he would set out on his path of vengeance.

The elders likely expected this already. Adam’s constant yearning for the outside world and his thirst for revenge had been plain to see.

But before Adam could even speak, the very world of Qianyuan began to change abnormally.

The ambient qi within space suddenly started dissipating. At this rate, within a few short years, Qianyuan Realm would enter an Age Without Qi.

“What’s going on?” Adam went to the tribe’s center and demanded of the assembled elders.