Sorry, it's my door now

On the side of the valley, a crisp voice suddenly rang out from an old air-raid shelter:

"Thousands of pear trees burst into bloom!"

Under the moonlight, a boy in a baseball cap emerged from inside. A tall, thin young man with a cold expression came out with him.

Not far away, the figure of a masked woman flickered in and out of sight.

Xu Nan glanced at the boy in surprise. The latter looked apologetic. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to disrupt your spellcasting."

"I just thought your chanting sounded catchy, so I couldn't help reciting a line along with you..."

The tall young man covered his mouth.

"Quiet." His expression remained calm. "Don't talk so much. Zhao used Greater Lightning Storm because he wants to make an example of us."

"Remember, you're already a qualified professional. In the future, you'll become a powerful figure admired by thousands. You need to carry yourself like one. There's no need to talk to this bunch of trash."

The boy looked aggrieved, but he seemingly did not dare to argue back.

As Zhao chanted, terrifying dark clouds gathered overhead.

Within those thick clouds, powerful storm and lightning elements were converging. In at most a dozen seconds, the lightning would strike down and level the land at the mouth of the valley!

Just as the tall young man had said, Zhao truly intended to make an example of them.

The three professionals who had bought tickets had arrived long ago, yet they had not shown themselves. They probably all had their own plans. Xu Nan's group had happened to walk right into the line of fire, so Zhao naturally wanted to display the power of a magician!

After all, in Pro World, magicians were publicly recognized as the strongest profession besides the gods!

"Don't blame me for being ruthless! Anyone who interrupts my business dies!"

A trace of gloom flashed through Zhao's eyes as his chanting neared its end.

Zhang Yingluo slashed through Misty Step, cutting down three of Zhao's Straw Clones in a row before finally locking onto Zhao's true body.

But it seemed to be too late.

However, at that critical moment, Xu Nan finally completed his secret art—Silent Wail!

This secret art could be carried through any form of language and released successfully!

It only took around ten seconds!

This secret art is perfect for sly, treacherous warlocks!

Xu Nan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but his mouth solemnly chanted aloud:

"...Thousands of pear trees burst into bloom!"

The boy in the baseball cap excitedly jumped up and grabbed the tall young man's hand. "Brother, look! I recited it right!"

The young man was speechless.

But in the next second, something happened that stunned everyone. Magician Zhao, who was chanting the final syllables of Greater Lightning Storm, suddenly seemed to choke on his own voice!

Very quickly, the Misty Step at the valley entrance vanished, and the dark clouds overhead thinned considerably. Yet the wind and lightning elements within them became even more restless.

His thin true body finally appeared. His face was livid, as if a fish bone had suddenly lodged in his throat. Before Zhang Yingluo could rush over and cut him down, he actually dropped to his knees and began vomiting blood in great mouthfuls!

"What an incredible poem!" The boy in the baseball cap was dumbfounded.

The tall young man showed an unprecedentedly serious expression. "A bard's Soul-Breaking Song? But there was no music?"

"You, you, you..."

Zhao knelt on the ground, coughing blood as he glared fixedly at Xu Nan. That stare made Xu Nan deeply uncomfortable.

The aura of rampaging magic appeared around him. Due to Silent Wail's effect, the first-circle spell Greater Lightning Storm that he had tried to cast had been forcibly interrupted!

Without proper guidance from a mentor, not every magician could withstand the consequences of spell backlash.

Just like now.

Xu Nan grabbed Zhang Yingluo and Qin Lele, who both wanted to go over and take a look.

Countless tiny electric currents appeared over Zhao's body, and his facial features began to blur. With a crackling hiss, every spell at the valley entrance dissipated, revealing a dazzling portal not far away.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning as thick as a finger descended from the clouds and struck Zhao directly. His body stiffened and trembled for a while before he went into shock and passed out.

The dark clouds overhead finally dispersed. In the distance, the sky was breaking, and dawn had arrived.

Qin Lele stared blankly at Xu Nan. "What poem did you recite? How was it so powerful? Why did that baseball-cap guy know it too? I've never even heard it."

Xu Nan said unhappily, "Isn't this poem in the Chinese textbook? Qin Lele, are you really this careless about your nine years of compulsory education?"

Qin Lele looked ashamed. "Ancient poems make me sleepy. I just want to sleep."

Zhang Yingluo looked at Xu Nan. "But the point is, why did he suddenly collapse like that? If I saw correctly, he made an extremely serious spellcasting mistake, which caused spell backlash, right?"

Xu Nan explained guiltily, "Maybe... maybe the poem I recited just now stirred up some memory of his. He was deeply moved and got distracted for a moment, so his spellcasting failed."

"That makes sense!" The boy in the baseball cap could not help applauding. "Poetry has the power to move people's souls. This poem was already beautifully written. He must have been overwhelmed with emotion after hearing it. Maybe he even wanted to recite a few lines himself and accidentally remembered the later incantation for Greater Lightning Storm wrong!"

Xu Nan wished he could give the baseball-cap boy an award for a touching assist, because the moment he spoke, the system notified him that the mission had been completed.

This proved that his deception had succeeded. At least for now, no one suspected that he was a bard!

You gained 5 Shame Points!

You gained 1 additional free attribute point!

Xu Nan tearfully allocated that attribute point to Charm!

The Charm entry on his character sheet acted cute for a moment, but it finally jumped from 19 to 20!

Your Charm has entered the extraordinary realm. You gained Extraordinary Charm!

Extraordinary Charm came with the specialty—Universal Gravitation

Universal Gravitation: Your Charm has the same attraction to all things

Universal Gravitation was merely an attached specialty, of course. Xu Nan was already troubled enough by Radiant Presence, and Universal Gravitation did not make him any happier.

He believed that if he went for a walk around a mall, cinema, or even a gym with Radiant Presence and Universal Gravitation active, it would be hard to say whether he could come out alive. Especially a gym—just imagining himself drenched in sweat made Xu Nan shudder.

What he cared about more was the bloodline ability awakening speed bonus brought by Extraordinary Charm!

For warlocks, Charm was the most important primary attribute. After obtaining Extraordinary Charm, his bloodline's natural awakening speed would double. That way, perhaps he could gain powerful strength through natural awakening without doing embarrassing things!

No matter what, the fact that Xu Nan had lightly recited a poem and brought down a powerful Magician Apprentice was now beyond dispute.

Although Zhang Yingluo and the tall young man had their doubts, this was clearly not the time to pursue the matter.

Because everyone could see that, the instant Magician Zhao fell, the portal in the valley began to sway precariously!

"This is bad! You knocked Zhao unconscious. The already unstable portal might disappear!"

The tall young man frowned at Xu Nan. "We all paid a huge price for tickets to Pro World!"

The boy in the baseball cap nodded along. "My brother is right this time. We really sold everything we had just to buy two tickets."

"You need to take responsibility for us."

The person he was looking at was Xu Nan.

Without a sound, the masked woman also appeared beside Xu Nan. Her voice possessed a husky charm. "I bought a ticket too. Take responsibility."

Her words were concise and calm, but Xu Nan detected a sense of danger.

Zhang Yingluo looked at the three of them. "You three are all professionals, right?"

"Why go to Pro World? Isn't Earth good enough?"

The boy in the baseball cap pulled a miserable face. "I had a falling-out with my family. My brother brought me out here. If I don't escape to Pro World, I'll be taken back and locked up for years. My brother also has to marry that unreasonable woman..."

The tall young man covered his mouth again.

"How many times have I told you? Have some restraint. Don't babble whenever you meet someone." He snapped, "Changfeng! If you keep being this stupid, I'll leave you on Earth by yourself!"

Changfeng immediately hugged the tall young man's leg, his tearful appearance pitiful to behold.

The tall young man was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. He sighed, pressed a hand against his younger brother's forehead, and said in a low voice:

"What does us going to Pro World have to do with you?"

Zhang Yingluo thought for a moment before finally taking a strange ID from her clothes. "It actually does have something to do with me."

"I'm from the Thousand Rays Society... The professionals in H City are temporarily under our department's jurisdiction."

"Xu Nan, A-Kun, sorry for keeping this from you... Huh?"

She had just wanted to explain her true identity to them when she discovered that Xu Nan and A-Kun had somehow run over to the portal!

"Can you handle this portal?"

The masked woman was like a ghost.

Xu Nan gently stroked the portal, and it suddenly let out a creaking laugh.

In the next second, a complex contract flashed before Xu Nan. He lightly tapped it, and a strange sensation flooded into his mind.

At that moment, Magician Zhao slowly regained consciousness. Seeing this, he roared, "Don't touch my portal!"

"I'll kill you all!"

His voice was dry and somewhat hysterical.

Xu Nan silently absorbed the knowledge flooding into his mind. Then he opened his eyes, revealing a trace of apology.

"Sorry, it's my portal now."

...!