Luck is a Charm

'Hmm, these people are all around the intermediate mage rank.' Zen rubbed his chin slightly as he sensed their mana fluctuation. 

"Who's there?" 

The enemies shouted and looked toward the direction that Zen was hiding.

"Heh, I applaud you for spotting me the instant I stopped hiding. As your reward, hand over all your points and I can spare your life." Zen exclaimed as he spoke like a true villain.

"Hmph, dare to ambush us alone, you have a lot of guts." A man from their group roared as he cast some magic toward Zen.

"Curse"

"Blind"

As soon as he finished, Zen felt his body being weakened and vision starts decreasing, causing him to be surprised by this kind of magic.

"Wow, is this what status ailment means? I can feel like I'm truly going blind and to think that there are smart people who use this kind of magic instead of the attacking type." Zen clasped his hand, seemingly in awe of the man's swift and smart action.

It was the first time he was ever inflicted with some negative effect and if he had to put it in words, the feeling sucks.

It was like the world had turned dark in him and the curse is similar to poison but not quite like it. Hard to describe it in words unless you feel the curse yourself.

The man smirked as he believed to have caught Zen who was overconfident with his ability but soon his expression turned pale.

That was because Zen was still standing with a calm expression instead of screaming in horror or running away after being affected by his status ailment.

"How come you haven't fallen down?" The man asked in a confused manner.

Zen glanced around, looking everywhere else before pointing his finger at himself. 

"Did you mean me?" Zen questioned him back.

The group of 7 people became cautious and frightful at the abnormal Zen. They were able to cast curses and blind at him when he wasn't prepared and they didn't see him negating the spell or even more from his position.

Zen laughed at their ridiculous appearance. He was only slightly surprised by their spell but he wouldn't face them unguarded at all. Although it may be cheating, he has his natural true qi barrier to block off their spell since they haven't mastered it completely so the spell was easily deflected after a while.

They can stay in confusion since there was no point in telling them the reason why he wasn't affected by their curse and blind.

"Well, I have given you guys the first move and you have failed miserably. Thus, it's about time that you hand over your points to me, or do you wish to do this the difficult way." Zen said casually and held his wand up high.

"Hmph, just because you negate our status ailment and you got so cocky. Do you think we are really nothing?" The man sneered as their group started casting their spell together, creating a large formation circle in the ground.

Meanwhile, Zen looked at it and yawned slightly. Their spells were all fancy without any actual attacking force that could harm him.

Heck, he can even tank those spells given his sturdy body from doing the tempering process but Cecilia forbade him from using any martial technique so Zen could only heave a helpless sigh as he started chanting his spell.

"Ice Castle"

Zen shouted, causing the entire area to have the temperature dropped to minus 30 degrees celsius, causing the enemies to shiver in coldness.

Their casting has also been stopped as they hurriedly cast a barrier to block off the sheer cold since their arm is slowly turning into ice.

Zen was fine since he had his essence flame hovering around him, dispelling the cold temperature from trying to give him frostbite like the enemies who are currently suffering some minor frostbites.

'It was worth the pain and effort to learn this Ice Castle. Too bad that this takes a lot of my mana and I'm not strong enough to maintain this Ice Castle for any longer than 30 minutes.' 

Zen was complaining that his mana capacity was too little but Cecilia only sneered at his ridiculous complaint.

"Do you know how lucky you are to be able to cast an Advanced Magic like this despite being in the intermediate rank in terms of this world knowledge?"

Cecilia said and continued, "Not to mention, your mana capacity is significantly higher than others since you have two cores in total?"

Zen shrugged his shoulders since it was a given that he has some advantage in this world. "Well, I'm not really complaining because I have you to teach me this spell in the beginning. But I want to ask you to be lenient and give me some breaks from time to time."

And he continued, "I'm trying my best to learn magic but I need to relax sometimes since manipulating mana while cultivating takes a lot of energy."

Cecilia didn't say anything and directly pulled Zen into the mysterious space, causing Zen to shudder slightly. He wasn't expecting to meet her face to face when he was complaining like a little bitch.

"Why do you stay quiet now? I thought you had a lot of complaining to say." Cecilia glared at Zen as she asked him nicely.

Zen shook his head before realizing something from her. "Y-You- You're becoming less transparent compared to our first meeting."

During their first meeting, Cecilia was transparent and looked weak but now, she looked healthy and her body was becoming clearer for Zen to see.

Cecilia smiled briefly and said, "Did you think I only sneer at your action every single time? I have always been busy cultivating back to my previous form and currently, at my current state, I can touch something physically."

Afterward, Cecilia walked forward and stroked Zen's face smoothly, causing Zen to become dumbfounded. Although her hand was cold and chilling, Zen was feeling warm somehow as he touched her hand with his.