What kind of divination am I doing?

Chapter 30: Sword and Magic

Lu Qiao spoke again: "Let's get this straight, this is a magic duel, right?"

"Yes!" Charlotte nodded.

"Let me set a rule: you're a dragon, I'm a human. We won't compete in strength, we'll compete in magic!" Lu Qiao thought to himself, setting the rules firmly so he wouldn't mess things up.

Charlotte agreed, "Definitely. Dragon battles are all magical; they rarely involve hand-to-hand combat. For dragons to fight each other is really beneath them!"

Lu Qiao put away the gem and asked, "Since it's a duel, shouldn't we choose a place?"

"Here, here's fine! Our earth dragons' greatest strength is earth magic! I'll just build an arena!" Charlotte slapped the ground with one hand.

Instantly, the ground expanded outwards, and four walls rose up on all four sides, causing the ground to sink in as well.

The castle's front yard has been expanded into a dueling arena. If outsiders were to look at the castle now, they would only wonder why the main gate has been bricked up.

A floating platform appeared in front of the black cat, and the black cat understood and leaped onto it.

The pumice floated in the air, not very high, just enough to provide the black cat with a safe viewing environment.

This is a duel arena that has expanded out and embedded underground.

Lu Qiao was taken aback, looked around, and asked, "Did you create this?"

Charlotte nodded: "Yes, we're still in the same place, but I've expanded the three square meters to five hundred square meters, and I've installed sound-absorbing devices on the walls, so no matter how noisy it is inside, you can't hear it outside."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiao had only one thought in his mind: Forget about dragon scales, just expand the castle!

Just as Lu Qiao was thinking this, Charlotte opened the book: "Let the cat be the referee, Lord Aini, let's begin our duel!"

Lu Qiao stood there with a smile, his hands in his pockets, clutching the anti-magic stone: "Come on, let me show you what real strength is."

Charlotte then opened her ancient book and murmured, "Gather stones into a sword: Sword, come!"

The ground at this moment rises upwards, solidifying into a stone sword.

The stone sword continued to be squeezed inward, and its color gradually revealed a metallic hue.

Lu Qiao froze and shouted, "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Charlotte, still clutching the book, urged her levitating greatsword on its edge and asked, "What's wrong, Lady Aini? Is there a problem?"

"That's going too far! You call this magic?" Lu Qiao asked, pointing at the greatsword.

"This is my self-developed Eastern magic, is there a problem?" Charlotte asked, puzzled.

One sentence made Lu Qiao lose confidence: "What magic is there in the East! Shouldn't magic be wind, fire, water, and earth?"

"Eastern magical sword control! It's so cool, a single sword strike chills fourteen provinces!" Charlotte explained.

"What about 'A sword that chills fourteen provinces'? Wait, what are you even reading? Is that magic? That's immortal cultivation! Immortal arts!" Lu Qiao said helplessly.

"I started with Dragon Raja, since I am a member of the Dragon Raja clan. After that, I read Kyushu, and then it was Xianxia, urban fiction, science fiction, suspense, oh, and short stories, hehe!" Charlotte started talking non-stop.

"That's not what I meant!" Lu Qiao interrupted.

"Oh, after I became an adventurer, my first master was a dwarf blacksmith. He said that earth magic should extract metals from the ore in the earth and turn them into weapons! So for the first ten years, I learned magic to provide weapons for other adventurers. In recent years, missions have kept coming to Earth, so I've come to like Earth novels. I've read a lot of them and started studying Eastern magic. It's very practical!" Charlotte recalled.

"I'm not talking about that, you know, magic, I mean, can we make some fireballs, water bombs, lightning, hurricanes or something?" Lu Qiao asked.

Charlotte scratched her head: "I'm an earth dragon, all I can do is play with stones and mud. So I won't fly with swords, I'll fly with stones! Does that sound more magical?"

"Flying stones are great... Ugh... Great my ass!" Lu Qiao realized again that he couldn't even block the stones being thrown at him!

What's going on? This isn't what we agreed on!

Isn't this a magical duel?

If that flying sword comes at me, I'll be pierced through! Even if it's just a rock, Lu Qiao's physique can't withstand it!

"Lord Aini, is my magic too low-level? It's the same during the battle. All the other dragons can use wind, fire, water, and lightning as you said, but we earth dragons can only play with stones!" Charlotte said, tears starting to fall.

"Don't cry, I can't stand you crying! No one cries during a duel, I won't duel with a woman like this anymore!" Lu Qiao started making excuses.

"I won't cry. I'm sorry, Lady Aini, this low-level magic has polluted your eyes. But this is all I know. Please bear with me, let's continue!" Charlotte said, and the sword in the sky was aimed at Lu Qiao.

"Hey! We're not done talking yet!" Lu Qiao quickly interrupted, wondering if he would survive if that flying sword came flying at him.

"Yes, please go ahead!" Charlotte looked at Lu Qiao with a humble attitude.

Lu Qiao was on the verge of tears! If Monica were here, Lu Qiao would still have the nerve to make excuses that low-level magic wasn't worthy of fighting him and let Monica go up and compete.

Monica went out on errands; isn't this putting her life in danger?

"Can I wait two minutes? Shake the cat down so I can chat with it for a bit, okay?" Lu Qiao asked.

"Is there something wrong? No problem!" Charlotte waved her hand, and the flying sword shot towards the black cat.

Stop in front of the black cat, and the black cat understands and jumps onto the flying sword.

Charlotte then maneuvered her flying sword toward the bridge, while the black cat leaped to the ground.

This is real sword flight! Lu Qiao really wants to try it out and see what it feels like to step on it.

Seeing the black cat come down, Lu Qiao crouched down and asked, "No way, are you kidding me? Why is this completely different from what I expected! She's holding a magic book, why isn't she playing by the rules?!"

"What do we do now! Help!" Lu Qiao looked at the black cat.

The black cat shrugged: "It's your duel, not mine. You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, haven't you? If all else fails, just go for it!"

Hearing this, Lu Qiao felt deflated, but his mind was still racing with thoughts.

Desiring a solution, Lu Qiao suddenly had an idea and looked at the black cat, asking, "Give me the way to turn a person into a mouse! If I can just get close to her and swat her into a mouse, won't I win?"

The black cat sighed, "I can't teach that. That's magic, and it takes a long time to learn. The reason I'm teaching you movement techniques first is because that doesn't require magic power. Here's how: you take out the gem, I'll infuse it with magic, and you can release it by touching the gem with it!"

Lu Qiao realized what was happening and showed the three gems from his pocket.

One blue, one red, and one pink.

The black cat pointed to the three pieces: "How are you going to combine them?"

"Pour them all in, I might need them! And teach me how to undo them while you're at it!" Lu Qiao grabbed one in each hand.

The black cat's paws grazed over two gems, one pink and one red, and a flash of light disappeared from the very center of each gem.

"I opened the back door when I injected it. The weak point is the tail. Just pull the tail and it will turn back!" the black cat explained.

Lu Qiao then suddenly remembered something: "Wait, besides turning into a rat, can you turn into anything else?"

"What do you want?" the black cat asked back.

Lu Qiao took out the third blue gem and whispered in the black cat's ear, "Crab, to be precise, the kind that runs on the beach, the fast sand crab."

The black cat was taken aback, then nodded in understanding and touched the blue gem: "Just pull the eye and it will turn back."

Black Cat had a general idea of what Lu Qiao was going to do. The two were 100 meters apart in the dueling arena. Lu Qiao could use two gems on himself, transform twice, and take a step back. It wouldn't be difficult for him to get in front of Charlotte.

The black cat leaped back onto the flying sword and was brought back to the floating earthen platform.

Lu Qiao, now that he knew what was going on, shouted, "Let's begin! I'll reluctantly play along!"

Charlotte nodded in understanding: "Lord Aini, I'm going to use my full strength!"

Lu Qiao pondered for about three opportunities, then reached into his pocket and wrapped the three gems in the parchment scroll, also including the anti-magic stone.

The two were about 100 meters apart, and it would take Lu Qiao about 13 seconds to run.

Lu Qiao turned his back and ran backwards towards Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at Lu Qiao with confusion, wondering why he was running in that way.

Actually, the story of Luqiao running backwards isn't entirely unfounded. Years ago, I played an online game called Super Run, and one of the characters, Lei, ran backwards.

The game's premise is that a genius racer suffers a spinal injury, causing all his movements to be the opposite of those of an ordinary person, and Lu Qiao's actions are a last resort.

Lu Qiao understood one thing, which was also a lesson Monica had taught him before.

Monica fired a fireball at Lu Qiao's back, and Lu Qiao immediately realized that taking a step back would only cause him to run into the fireball.

Therefore, the only option is to run backwards, placing your only weakness in front of you.

In this way, you can choose to dodge to the left or right at any time.

Another advantage of facing away is that when you step back, you are still moving forward, so you won't get further away from your target by moving backward.

Seeing Lu Qiao rushing towards her, Charlotte realized the problem and immediately launched a flying sword at Lu Qiao.

Lu Qiao was well aware of the situation; upon seeing the flying sword, he immediately took a step back to the side.

The step back at this moment became a step forward with the back turned, only shifted to the right, diagonally dodging the flying sword.

This time, Luqiao was very stable and didn't touch the head. He turned around, steadied himself, and continued running backwards forward.

Charlotte realized something and pressed her hand to the ground while gripping the book.

In an instant, not just one stone sword, but countless stone swords shot out from the ground along the entire road.

The flying sword then thrust towards Lu Qiao, who shouted, "Flying Thunder God!"

The next second, Lu Qiao's clothes were pierced.

But nothing was left behind!

Charlotte heard clearly that it was Flying Thunder God, and immediately looked around nervously. She subconsciously looked behind her, and when she didn't find anything, she looked up at the sky.

The real Luqiao turned into a rat, carrying a simple bundle made from a parchment scroll with his own portrait on his back, containing two unused gems and a magic-suppressing stone.

The used pink gemstones were temporarily placed on the ground by Lu Qiao to reduce their weight.

This one time, Charlotte panicked for a full five seconds, searching for a road or bridge.

The "Flying Thunder God" line was intentional; it was because the person knew what the other person liked to see and wanted them to think that the person would fly directly to their side.

But in reality, Luqiao has turned into a rat and is approaching Charlotte.

Unfortunately, Luqiao was too small after turning into a rat, and Charlotte messed up the terrain, which greatly reduced his speed.

In addition to using the Flying Thunder God technique as a smokescreen, Lu Qiao also covered himself up with a layer of concealment. The parchment scroll was earthy yellow, the same color as the earth that it was used as a cloth bag, making it almost impossible to detect at high speeds.

But the next second, hundreds of stone swords that had just been launched flew straight towards the direction of the road and bridge.

"They were discovered so quickly. The dragons' senses are really sharp!" Lu Qiao naturally sensed something. With the rat's head and eyes on the sides, it could see a wider range and thus detected the hundreds of stone swords flying towards it.

The black cat, seeing everything clearly from above, cursed inwardly, "You used it backwards, you idiot!"

Because Luqiao had a foolproof plan in mind, but at this moment, Luqiao used the wrong side of the parchment.

The side with Lu Qiao's round face drawn on it was on the outside of the bundle. When it was wrapped up, the shape was exactly Lu Qiao's face, and because it was a bundle, it was also exactly the shape of a head.

So in Charlotte's eyes, the missing road bridge suddenly appeared as a head and rushed towards her.

It was too obvious; Charlotte unleashed a hundred swords at once.

Countless stone swords fell to the ground, shattering upon impact.

Lu Qiao had read many cultivation novels, but witnessing such a scene firsthand made his heart pound wildly.

Charlotte's confidence is no exaggeration; those who read cultivation novels and adopt the protagonist's perspective all feel incredibly powerful.

By using this method as her training approach, Charlotte has clearly developed her own magic.

Lu Qiao seized the opportunity and took a step back like a rat, causing countless swords from the stone to smash down in front of him.

The air was thick with smoke, filled with sand and dust; there was smoke but no harm!

Luqiao stepped on his own tail and pushed off, using another stone on himself.

A flash of red emerged from the billowing dust. Lu Qiao had transformed back into a sand crab, running sideways forward, with the anti-magic stone in his left hand and the last red gem in his right.

Luqiao had already figured it out. Why a crab? Walking sideways is much more effective than running backwards. A crab's backward step is enough to dodge to the side.

This is the very last one; the road and bridge are about ten meters away from Charlotte.

Lu Qiao also took a step back as a last resort. When he got to Charlotte, he smashed his own eyes with the anti-magic stone to turn back into normal, and then used the red gem to turn Charlotte into a rat.

Charlotte also realized what was happening and saw the red sand crab rushing towards her.

Charlotte, in a hurry, opened the ancient book forward.

A dimensional rift appeared from the pages of that ancient book.

Countless swords, spears, and halberds shot out from the crack within the book.

These are the weapons Charlotte has collected for adventurers over the past ten years; an entire armory has sprung up.

The entire ancient book is like a shotgun, except that it fires weapons instead of bullets!

There was something in the book that Luqiao hadn't anticipated.

At this distance, any retreating step has become meaningless.

Too close!

Countless weapons were sprayed at the road and bridge!

What does death feel like?

I don't feel anything!