Planeswalker

Without a doubt, this book that shimmered like the stars was the reason Raymond had been able to travel to this magical world, and likewise the reason he had survived in this cruel world.

He did not know who the book's previous owner had been, or how they had died.

But one thing was certain: before dying, a Planeswalker had used their still-burning Spark and some powerful magical force to shape this book.

Originally, it had merely been something like a card album. Only after being activated had it taken on its current form.

It was not some kind of system. It merely presented information in the way its holder could most easily understand.

Moreover, its heavy pages held all the cards and property that Planeswalker had created during their lifetime.

As long as Raymond completed a guidance mission, he could gain an opportunity to draw cards and obtain cards of various types and ranks from within.

The two spells, Mimicry and Mind Library, had been reward card effects obtained after completing the first and second missions.

"Is the mana pool finally about to fill up? That wasn't easy! I can finally make my first Land Card." Raymond's voice carried undisguised delight.

Through his many previous attempts, he had already learned that there were generally only three ways to obtain mana.

The first went without saying: slowly drawing it from the surrounding environment.

The advantage of this method was that it required little effort and was calculated entirely based on the holder's caster class level.

For instance, in this magical world, Raymond had gained a level 5 Creator class through Mimicry. After a full rest each day, he could gain at least 5 points of colorless mana.

If his primary attribute—Intelligence—was relatively high, he would receive additional bonuses.

As long as he did not use that class's special abilities, consume mana to brew potions, or create magical items, he could deposit all of it into his mana pool before going to sleep.

On top of that, he could also obtain some energy each day from the allocation the wizard tower provided to every apprentice.

If he did not use it all that day, he could store it in the mana pool as well.

This stored mana could be used to create and use Planeswalker class cards, or invested into a class like experience points in a game to raise its level.

The second method was to gain it by killing creatures that contained mana.

After all, in a magical world, even ordinary people's bodies contained a small amount of magical energy.

Warriors and casters with classes, as well as all kinds of magical creatures, possessed several or even dozens of times more than ordinary people.

The instant these beings died, their magical energy and life energy began to dissipate.

As long as he was close enough, Raymond could absorb a little of that lingering energy.

Of course, the best results came from making direct physical contact.

The magical energy would be stored in his mana pool.

The life energy, meanwhile, would slowly accumulate inside his body as a byproduct. Once it reached a certain threshold, it would convert into one point of the six basic attributes.

So far, however, most of the increases had gone to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, while the truly useful attributes, Perception and Intelligence, had increased very little.

Part of the exaggerated bonuses behind Raymond's base attributes came from nearly two years of performing live dissections day and night under the Necromancer Archmage's orders.

With his current familiarity with the bodily structures of humans and other humanoid creatures, he could absolutely serve as a lead surgeon if he returned to modern society.

As for the third method, it naturally involved using the Creator class's special ability—"Refinement."

It extracted the magical energy contained within potions, magical items, weapons, armor, and Oddities.

But doing so often meant completely destroying the potion or magical item, making it an outright wasteful act.

Unless he was in a desperate and dangerous situation, Raymond would never do such a thing.

As for the so-called "Land Card," it was a fourth method beyond those three.

It was also the most stable one.

It used the Planeswalker Spark's unique power to establish a permanent channel for transmitting magical energy.

And that channel would be tightly connected to the Planeswalker, unable to be cut off by any force.

Whether across planes, crystal spheres, or universes, it could continuously deliver magical energy into the mana pool.

In other words, only a Planeswalker with a Land Card could truly be considered a Planeswalker.

In fact, Raymond had wanted to create a Land Card long ago.

But creating a Land Card was different from creating other cards.

First of all, even the lowest-rank Land Card required at least 100 points of colorless mana in the mana pool, or twice as much mana of other colors.

That required raising the Planeswalker class to level two.

Because a level-one Planeswalker's mana pool had a maximum capacity of only 50 points.

Raymond, who had frequently used his abilities in the past, simply could not save much mana.

Only after the plague broke out, with people dying in droves throughout the wizard tower and even the entire Floating City, had he gained a large influx of mana.

Second, creating a Land Card would inevitably cause a tremendous disturbance.

Raymond had no desire for anyone to discover the secret he had worked so hard to hide.

Even Astar, the Necromancer Archmage who had pulled Raymond from that unknown space and formed an alliance with him, merely believed that he possessed some rare "talent."

He did not know that Raymond was actually a novice Planeswalker who had ignited his Spark and crossed over from a New World, much less that a Planeswalker's Spark could be taken.

Otherwise...

Who knew what measures that gloomy, cruel, violent old bastard, who longed for "eternal life," would take.

To better control Raymond, Astar had deliberately guided him toward the rare and unusual Creator class when he had first begun teaching him magical knowledge.

His goal had been to make Raymond completely lose his spellcasting ability, ensuring that he could never pose any threat to him or escape his control.

After all, although Creators could make and use all sorts of magical items and Oddities, and even use scrolls, they were ultimately only powerful research-and-support classes.

In terms of combat ability, they could never compare to true wizards.

No one with the talent to become a wizard would willingly give up their spellcasting ability and become a full-time support tool.

If not for the hidden Planeswalker card system, Raymond would most likely have been completely manipulated by the sinister necromancer.

On the surface, their relationship was that of master and apprentice as well as allies, but beneath the surface, they had tested each other more than once.

Fortunately!

Raymond had remained vigilant and had never trusted Astar from beginning to end.

While cautiously studying magical knowledge and secretly crafting magical weapons and Oddities to build up his strength, he had also been planning to pass through that portal at the right time and flee to Faerûn on the other side.

Unfortunately, all of that had been interrupted by the outbreak of the terrifying plague.

What Raymond needed to do now was quickly create a Land Card and bind it to the Creator class.

Then, using every resource available to him, he would break through the blockade of constructs and various guardian monsters above, rush into the room containing the portal, activate the closed portal, and escape this Floating City that was already doomed to destruction.

Of course, if possible, he would rather go to a relatively safe magical world.

For example, the magical version of Earth where Harry Potter's story took place, then stay there obediently until his body reached adulthood.

In truth, the root cause of Raymond becoming what he was now could be traced back to the instant he ignited his Spark and became a Planeswalker.

For some unknown reason, his own Spark and the lingering embers of the Spark within the Legacy had erupted in an unprecedentedly violent resonance.

He had been instantly pulled into an unknown space.

After his body touched a cloud of gray mist, it rapidly regressed from an adult to a child under ten years old.

Had Astar not happened to be conducting extradimensional detection and pulled him into this world, he might have turned directly into an infant, a fertilized egg, or perhaps vanished forever.

Unfortunately, the tempting idea of going to the relatively safe world of Harry Potter and staying there until his body reached adulthood could not be put into practice at all.

Changing the portal's destination was simply impossible to accomplish in a short time.

It required continuous detection lasting days, weeks, or even months.

Otherwise, if he activated the portal recklessly, who knew where he would end up.

If it were the cold, airless depths of outer space, he would die on the spot.

Moreover, Raymond felt that his unstable teleportation ability was very likely related to that resonance.

After all, a normal Planeswalker should have only one Spark at work, whereas he had two.

He had tried using his Planeswalker abilities to open a portal to Earth, but there had been no response at all.

This meant that the universe containing the Earth where he had been born contained no magical energy whatsoever.

But if the universe containing Earth had no magical energy, how had the Legacy appeared on Earth and happened to be bought by him as a handicraft?

And after igniting his Spark, how had he entered that strange space?

Too many questions and mysteries plagued Raymond, preventing him from uncovering the truth.