Iya Continent: Card God

Sandel is one of the twelve territories of the Kingdom of Mordley. It's not considered a prosperous place within the kingdom. This is because it's mountainous and forested, and the kingdom's mother river, the "Celestial Maiden River," doesn't flow through it. Without a major river connecting it to the other counties and provinces, transportation is inconvenient. Long-distance trade requires traversing these mountains. Because of this, the mountainous terrain has a high prevalence of bandits and thieves.

“Now, we have officially entered the land of Sandel,” the dwarf Jingon explained.

Bearman Pinecone gazed at the distant, rolling mountains and lush forests, his face filled with delight. He spoke gently, "I like it here."

The little fish-man shook his head with a clattering sound, indicating that he didn't like living here. Looking around, there were no great rivers or streams, only babbling brooks in the mountains.

Shia didn't respond, her face was cold, her eyes were sharp, and she was on guard at all times.

Lin Ta, the time traveler, looked at the scenery with slight admiration. This was something he, who spent his days in the big city playing on his phone and felt that traveling was not as good as staying at home, could never see.

"It looks beautiful, but it's so tiring..."

Linta, feeling quite exhausted, complained to himself.

Having traveled a long way, leaving Wuhezhuo behind, trekking through mountains and rivers, I was exhausted every day. Now, the mountain scenery before me clearly indicates that I must cross it; how tiring will the remaining journey be?

Thinking about this, Linta felt utterly exhausted.

Linta glanced at the dwarves, elves, bear-men, and mermen present; they were all full of energy and showed no signs of fatigue. Linta truly admired this.

Is this due to racial advantage, or simply because of their own inherent characteristics?

"Aren't you all tired?"

Linta couldn't help but ask again, "After all these days, only I'm tired. How did everyone else manage that? I admit I'm physically weak. But I just don't understand, why aren't the slender-armed elf girls tired? Why aren't the short-legged dwarves tired? And how can even the fish-men who live in the water walk on land like that?!"

why?

"We dwarves are so resilient, like the god Latin, reborn brilliantly from the flames!" Jingon spoke again of Latin, the fire and iron god worshipped by the dwarves. Linta had heard this countless times since they met. When he said these words, Linta didn't really care about the content anymore.

"Although we can't use magic, we are still bronze-level beings. A short distance is nothing to us," Shia said indifferently.

Linta felt these words were the truth.

"What level are you all at? What does that mean?" Linta asked curiously.

“Bronze High-Rank. Once this magic-suppressing ring is removed, I’ll quickly move up to Silver. I’m 16,” Shia said.

When GimGoon heard Shia's age, he showed a hint of surprise.

Unlike humans, elves have an average lifespan of over 700 years. It's difficult to tell an elf's age from their appearance. Jingon initially thought the young girl, Shia, was in her thirties, but she was surprisingly as young as she looked.

"Well, although I'm over 30 and still at this level, it's not because I lack talent, but because I started cultivating magic late. I've been learning weapon forging from Master Luwu since I was a child. That's why I'm still at Bronze; otherwise, I would have been Silver or Gold by now!" Jingong said eloquently, trying to make up for the gap between himself and Shia.

Although dwarves live longer than humans, they are fundamentally no match for the long-lived elves.

While his words contained some exaggeration, his claims about casting were entirely true.

The master craftsman who taught him forging told him that instead of wasting his energy on training only to end up mediocre, he should focus on forging itself. He said that one day, when he could forge "extraordinary" and "epic" weapons, the strongest men in the world would be at his command.

"Oh." Linta nodded slightly.

I understand a bit now. Shia reaching the high-level Bronze rank at 16 is quite impressive. Jingon, on the other hand, is over 30 and still only at Bronze, which is rather average.

"Pine Cone and Guagua, what about you?"

Linta then asked another question.

Pinecone said, somewhat bewildered, "Our elders said that I am now at the high-level Bronze rank, and I am the hope of the race. I am... about 8 years old now."

“Eight years old!” Jingong’s beard trembled violently as he stared at the tall and burly bear-man.

Linta's eyebrows furrowed and his lips twitched. Eight years old? You call that eight years old?

"Quack quack quack." The little fishman seemed to be talking about himself.

Linta looked at the pine cone, waiting for him to translate.

Pinecone said, "Guagua said he's 3 years old this year, so he should be in the intermediate stage."

“Three years old?” Linta’s eyebrows twitched.

Another thought came to mind: it seems that cultivation methods for different races cannot be generalized.

"Eh."

Linta thought of himself; he was older than Shia, but he wasn't even at the Bronze level yet. As a transmigrator, was there any hope for him now that he was starting to cultivate?

"Linta, after all this talk, what about you?" Jingon retorted.

Everyone present was very curious about Linta, who had come from afar. Why could he still use his extraordinary skills even though he was bound by the magic-suppressing ring? What was this? In the continent of Iya, where magic was everything, being able to unleash powerful skills without magic was practically a deadly weapon!

Linta awkwardly revealed his age and then admitted that he lacked sophistication.

In the continent of Iya, the levels of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and so on are all rated according to the amount of magic power contained within them.

To put it simply, magic floats in this world. The amount of magic you can cultivate into your body determines your level. The more magic you have, the stronger you are.

Some people remain at the Bronze level their entire lives because their bodies cannot contain more magic power. Of course, some ordinary people can only contain a tiny, weak amount, not even reaching a certain level, which is even more tragic.

"No one cultivates magic power where you are? That's impossible!" Jingong asked in surprise.

Linta shook her head, "No, we..."

I wanted to say something, but then I stopped. Saying too much would only lead to explanations, which I couldn't possibly explain myself.

"A strange place. No wonder there are strange people like you here," Shia commented coldly.

Linta smiled indifferently, then changed the subject and asked, "Um, I wanted to ask, how can one cultivate magic power?"

Linta had already decided that once she removed the magic-suppressing ring, she would cultivate magic power into her body, just like them. This was the continent of Iya, a world of magic; it wouldn't be right for her not to follow the local customs.

"What's the use of asking now? With the magic-suppressing ring on, you can't cultivate," Shia said bluntly.

Linta chuckled and said, "It will eventually be unlocked. By the way, how exactly do you cultivate and absorb it?"

"Clang!" "Bang!" "Haa!"

Suddenly, the sounds of clashing weapons and shouts of battle came from the entrance of the valley ahead.

Shia was the first to perceive and listen to the Way.

"Ok?"

"There's something amiss ahead; there's fighting."

Everyone looked tense and turned their gazes toward the direction of the sound.