Chapter 174 - 133: He’s on Another Level

After hearing Burton’s words, the group of Mage players looked at each other, silent for a moment.

...

The low-INT Warrior player mixed in with them saw this and was also stunned for a moment before he came to his senses.

"Uh, Burton Mage, you’ve misunderstood. They weren’t laughing at me, they were just... memeing."

"Memeing?" Burton was a little surprised.

"Er... right. It’s just joking around, the kind with no ill intent," the player explained, exasperated.

"..." Burton fell silent for a moment, then looked at the other silenced players with suspicion. "Is that really what you meant?"

’Yes, yes!’

The group of silenced Mage players immediately began nodding furiously.

Seeing their sincere eyes and the exasperated look on the other player’s face, Burton finally realized he might have truly misunderstood.

"Alright. But you must remember my request. You cannot look down on others because their Talent is good or bad, understand?"

Burton still offered a reminder before finally lifting the Silence Skill.

The moment they were no longer silenced, the Mage players burst into discussion, some with their eyes gleaming.

"Teacher Burton, you really misunderstood! We didn’t mean it like that, we were just memeing and joking around."

"Teacher Burton’s moral compass is so strong..."

"He doesn’t feel like an NPC at all, he’s so alive. Spirit Candle completely crushes other games on this point alone."

"Holy crap, that Silence Skill is awesome! Teacher Burton, please teach me! I’ll do anything you ask!"

...

Of course, the group of players wouldn’t get angry over something like this. Instead, they found the NPC interesting, and their form of address even changed to "Teacher."

Other players, however, focused their attention on the Silence Skill Burton had just used, clamoring to learn it.

But Burton explained that it was just some crude Magic that could only be used at a high Tier, and they were unable to learn it for now.

The players were a little disappointed, but they could only suppress their anticipation and start buying other Magic.

Although it wasn’t intentional, Burton had shown them a glimpse of his power. The group of players was brought to heel, and even those who wanted to cut in line had no choice but to queue up properly.

"This Magic is something you can’t learn. You’ll only waste your precious resources. Don’t do this again next time."

In the end, Burton still allowed the Warrior player to purchase the Magic because Luo Ge had sent him a message. But he still gave the player a well-intentioned reminder with a sigh.

"You never know, Teacher Burton."

The Warrior player couldn’t help but smile.

Hearing this, the other players nearby started teasing him again.

"What? Planning to abandon the light for the darkness? Go on, respec and become a Mage. You can do time with the rest of us!"

"The Squishy Mage Squad welcomes you!"

"Hilarious. You’re already short on Wax Oil, and if you respec, you won’t even be able to afford Starlight. You’ll probably end up getting bullied by the Fishman Coach!"

"It’s fine. We’ve all been Prison Guards anyway. It’s a prison sentence either way, we’re all the same."

...

The group of Mage players started making fun of themselves, finding humor in their suffering.

It had to be said, before Burton Mage arrived, the situation for most Mage players was truly quite awkward. The vast majority had followed the Iron-faced Warlock, forced to play as Close Combat Mages, throwing Guard Law Swords...

After all, a Mage without a master was basically a wild build. They started with only the most basic of basic Magic Balls, but that thing’s damage was low and its wind-up was pretty long. It was truly a form of torture.

Blood Stone Burst was quite useful, but the problem was that it was an area-of-effect damage Skill with high consumption, making it impossible to use as a regular Attack.

That’s why the vast majority of Mages chose to get an Iron-faced Warlock’s Fire Seed and go down the Close Combat Mage path, playing like assassins. Killing monsters wasn’t exactly a prison sentence that way.

’But... why do you think I chose to play a Mage?’

’Wasn’t it for the sake of an easy combat experience?’

’The way things turned out, we had to learn every lesson a melee class does. Dodge is just a basic. Some players even got so mad they started playing a Block build. It was completely backward...’

Of course, a small number of players went for the "Hunting for the Bizarre Stream." This, naturally, referred to the Drowned Flower Fire Seed. That thing came with crowd control, and if you ignored its appearance, it still had a little bit of a Mage feel to it...

However, most Mage players had already revoked their Mage cards.

’If you’re ignoring your appearance, what’s the point of being a Mage?’

’Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called the "Hunting for the Bizarre Stream"...’

"...The Mage class is finally going to rise up. The Faith Stream is viable now, too," Storyteller couldn’t help but remark after buying skills from Burton. "This NPC named Burton is like an encyclopedia. He even has Prayers for the Faith Stream, and he seems so righteous..."

Storyteller had initially tried other paths, but after some thought, he decided to stick with the Faith Stream. After all, judging by the current development of Spirit Candle, every build was bound to have its time to shine.

And with his own Faith-related Talent, it would be a waste not to play the Faith Stream.

But for now, he was still a blank slate, as there were no suitable Fire Ignition targets. The only one was the Blood Robe Priest... and he said he couldn’t get into that playstyle. The Madman Stream was powerful, but he couldn’t accept the loss of body control. It didn’t matter if he had to wait a while.

"Weren’t you going to ask this NPC about the plot?" Wa Zai asked, surprised.

"I’ll ask another day. There are too many people today," Storyteller said after glancing at the queue.

There was no helping it. Today was the first day Burton Mage had appeared, so the Mage players were definitely eager to buy Magic. If he went to ask questions now, he would just be taking up other people’s time.

So it was better to wait for another day when there were fewer players to ask.