The hooded boy flipped through the many documents on the table.
His fingertip moved across the World Map, connecting the contents of the documents to the countries marked on it.
In this era of backward productivity, the maps were crude as hell. The drawings were a chaotic mess, the scales were utterly unreliable, and there were huge swathes of purely imagined territory! Still, with enough documents and records to supplement them, they were not completely useless...
When he had first begun going through the documents at hand, Rhine had looked calm, a faint smile still lingering on his lips.
But then—
As he kept reading.
The little mage's smile gradually froze, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
By the end, Rhine's hand shook uncontrollably around the book, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Why was it like this?"
Rhine had originally thought he had transmigrated into the story of "Sleeping Beauty."
Beyond the kingdom, there should not have been anything too unusual—just an ordinary Western fantasy world.
But after learning the broad outline of the continent, he realized that was not the case at all! The known world of this fantasy realm was a single continent.
The Western Countries were filled with countless small kingdoms, scattered across the land like stars.
The kingdom Rhine was in, the kingdom of Sleeping Beauty, was merely one ordinary kingdom among hundreds.
The eastern regions possessed a culture similar to Earth's Arab world.
As for the even more distant Far East, the court documents were exceedingly vague.
They only vaguely mentioned that in the distant east stood a prosperous and flourishing empire, its culture mysterious and magnificent.
Why did that sound so familiar... Rhine's mouth twitched slightly.
What truly shocked Rhine, however, were the details of this world, where countless folk legends mingled with genuine records: "According to research, castles of giants have been built atop certain thick white clouds..."
"In the vast ocean lies the realm of the Mermaid..."
"A traveler who journeyed around the world claimed that he had once fallen into a tree hollow and accidentally entered a bizarre and fantastical country..."
"A traveler from the deserts of the Middle East described the extraordinary things in his homeland—he mentioned Flying Carpets, giant eagle-like beasts, and enormous supernatural beings trapped inside vessels, who promised to grant mortals' wishes..."
What kind of stitched-together world had I transmigrated into?!
Rhine could no longer resist cursing viciously in his heart.
One familiar story title after another surged into his mind.
I wonder what era this is now.
Had those stories I knew so well from my previous life already become history? Or, like Sleeping Beauty's story, had they yet to begin?
The earlier the era, the more room I'll have to make my mark!
Once I deal with Little Princess Aurora's problem and become a stronger mage, I must go beyond the kingdom and take a look!
Rhine made up his mind.
Then he picked up the Spellbook before him.
"Book of Transformation and Summoning"
Rhine impatiently opened its yellowed pages.
What greeted his eyes were obscure, bizarre words and symbols.
According to the king, this book had been passed down from several centuries ago.
Legend said that only those who understood magic could read the words within! Since they could not find a true mage to become the book's owner, this Spellbook—which recorded knowledge considered priceless—could only remain abandoned for years, sealed away deep within the Library.
After discovering that the Witches in the kingdom seemed interested in the book, the Old King had proposed to the 12 Witches that he would trade the Spellbook for any one of them serving as a court adviser for several years, only to be refused.
Clearly, the book held some appeal for the all-powerful Witches.
But it was not enough to make them lower their noble heads and serve royal authority.
It was precisely that cruel experience of being mercilessly rejected that made the Old King far more cautious when inviting Rhine to become a court adviser. From the very beginning, he had offered the most generous terms! The instant Rhine opened the book, he immediately confirmed that the legend was entirely true.
As a true mage, he automatically understood every grotesque, twisted word in the book! After quickly flipping through it once, Rhine excitedly discovered that its contents were exactly what he needed! Rhine's magic had come to him automatically after transmigrating. With no mentor, he sorely lacked knowledge of mysticism and the supernatural.
This book recorded a vast amount of basic magical knowledge, perfectly making up for his weaknesses!
Not only that, it also documented several practical spells.
"The 12 Witches were definitely stronger than I was now, yet they had refused to bow their heads and become advisers to the kingdom, which was why they had failed to take this book!"
As he devoured the Spellbook in his hands, the smile on the silver-haired boy's lips grew ever brighter.
Before you continue