First Glimpse of Magic

The Duke himself had once been an apprentice from Mordo Academy. Since he had failed to become a Formal Mage, he had simply abandoned the path of magic, come to this island to become a noble, and begun doing everything in his power to cultivate the younger generation, hoping that one of his descendants would become a true mage and fulfill his dream for him.

Because he had attended the academy himself, he understood better than anyone how important aptitude was during the apprentice stage. Formal Mages might consider aptitude useless and knowledge the only thing that mattered, but that was merely because they had reached a higher level and viewed matters from a different angle.

After the banquet ended, Duke Alfred earnestly instructed William, telling him one by one about the people the mages had singled out and saying that befriending them would be of tremendous help on his path as an apprentice.

The several people from the Northland did not hurry to rest. Excitedly gathered together, they kept studying the ring, driven by fierce curiosity and itching to test it out.

"But we haven't mastered runes yet. Can we activate a spell?" Krystal asked, her eyes sparkling with little stars, excitement mingled with hesitation.

Adam had an incomparable interest in the ring. Breaking precedent, he took the initiative to speak. "We definitely can. This ring is like a crossbow with an arrow already loaded. We don't need to understand how the crossbow works; we only need to pull the trigger. I suspect the force that pulls the trigger is Mental Power."

Sam Aiden's face flushed red with joy at obtaining such a treasure. However, he still knew what was what and did not become carried away. Taking the initiative, he said, "Miss Ophelia, please test it."

Ophelia shook her head, signaling for Sam to experiment himself. At that moment, Adam spoke again. "May I test it?"

Perhaps because that idiot named Tom had mocked the Northland group as a whole today, Sam had developed the faintest Sense of Belonging toward his identity as a Northlander. He did not refuse Adam and generously handed him the ring. "Of course."

The ring was forged from gold. Though exquisitely crafted, it showed nothing unusual. A red gemstone was set into it, emitting an extremely faint glow beneath the night sky.

If William Alfred had not lied, there should have been a spell Rune Array inside this ring. Adam was so eager for two reasons: first, he wanted to glimpse the structure of the spell runes; second, he wanted to verify something—whether spells were activated by Mental Power or another kind of energy.

Detected fluctuations of Second Special Energy.

Adam understood at once. Sure enough, Mental Power existed only as a transmission channel. What activated spells was Second Special Energy, a higher-level energy produced by the interaction between Mental Power and an unknown medium in the Outside World.

In other words, using Mental Power to solidify runes is equivalent to a Meditation Method. Its purpose is to strengthen Mental Power until it can freely contact the medium and bear and transport the higher-level energy produced in the process.

The term Meditation Method came from fragmented information Adam had obtained after eliminating the virus. He had classified most such information as garbage data, never expecting it to serve as a reference at this moment.

Ophelia and the others had no idea that Adam had reached a preliminary conclusion in that brief instant. They only saw him rubbing the ruby with his fingers and assumed he was pondering how to activate the magic item.

After obtaining preliminary proof for the second question, Adam tried channeling Mental Power into the gemstone, hoping to glimpse the Rune Array of the zero-level spell known as Fireball.

However, he did not succeed. The moment his Mental Power entered the gemstone, astonishing heat appeared before Adam. Everyone recoiled in terror as they felt an intense scorching sensation. For that instant, they even thought they had been thrown into volcanic lava.

Adam hurriedly raised his hand and pointed toward the sky. One second later, an orange-yellow fireball the size of a basketball shot into the air, then exploded after traveling more than five hundred meters.

The temperature is around one thousand degrees Celsius. It has reached lava-level heat.

After releasing the Fireball, the ruby dimmed. Everyone stared at the ring in disbelief, unable to imagine that such a high-temperature fireball had come from this tiny ring. Even more terrifying, this was merely the lowest-grade magic item, inscribed with only a zero-level Fireball.

"So this is the power of magic, the power of mages? It's incredible!" That was roughly the meaning of everyone's exclamations. This was the first time they had witnessed magic. Flight was a dream realized, while Fireball was power made visible.

"No wonder mages pay no attention to knights. This is only the lowest-level spell, yet knights probably can't withstand it. If it were stronger, or if there were more of them, then even a Great Knight..." Mike Gaster muttered. He stopped there, after all, a Great Knight stood beside him.

Ophelia nodded without hesitation. "It would be impossible to resist. If struck, death would be certain."

Sam Aiden looked painfully at the dim ruby, afraid that this magic item was single-use. If it was, using it on an experiment like this would be far too wasteful.

The spell Rune Array has been encrypted to a certain degree. Without effective means, it cannot be examined. As Adam considered his own matters, he regretfully removed the ring and returned it to Sam. Seeing his grief-stricken expression, he explained, "This ring is not a single-use item, but it should need a period of cooldown and recharging. I speculate that Mental Power can accelerate the process to a certain extent."

Leaving aside Sam, who was greatly relieved and fondly playing with the ring, and the others, who envied him immensely, Adam returned to his room alone and began another round of thought.

The power of fire lies in its temperature. The spell runes in the ring should function by raising the temperature, but the oxygen content in the air did not change drastically. Then what is the medium being burned?

Adam felt he had grasped the crux of the problem. After analyzing the known data, the cause ultimately pointed to Second Special Energy. Mastery of this mysterious energy might be why mages could accomplish all manner of unimaginable feats.

There are too few samples.

After saving the question, Adam stopped thinking about it. Without sufficient data to support them, analysis and judgment were merely conjecture with no practical value. The only thing Adam could do now was continue optimizing the Mental Power solidification runes, allowing them to strengthen Mental Power to the greatest possible extent.

The progress of this task was fairly good. With the support of his powerful Computational Power, Adam tested new structures every second. Although none of the forms he had tried so far were stable, he believed that after some time, he would certainly find a stable form that matched the output power of Mental Power.

None of the Northland apprentices slept. After witnessing magic, their already soaring interest became even more blazing. They used every available moment to practice. Fortunately, Mental Power cultivation could replace sleep; otherwise, whether any of them could remain in good condition the next morning would be hard to say.

At breakfast, the Northland apprentices received an attitude completely different from the night before. Aside from Tom, most of the others showed goodwill. William Alfred even came over eagerly to chat, mainly targeting Adam and the other two. Unfortunately, apart from Krystal, who appeared flattered, Adam and Ophelia reacted coldly.

"We will leave Southern Harbor for the Mage Continent today. Unless something unexpected happens, we will find it difficult to return to our Hometown unless we become Formal Mages." William paid no mind to their attitude. After delivering the news, he politely took his leave, as he still needed to inform the other two groups.

"Mr. William is such a gentleman." Krystal was showing signs of being lovestruck.

Afterward, they arrived at Southern Harbor. Ships from the Mage Continent docked at their own separate pier, and everyone along the way looked at them with reverence. This caused the pride in some apprentices, whose status had suddenly changed, to swell once more.

They had not seen clearly from the sky at dusk yesterday, but after approaching in person, Adam discovered that these ships indeed did not sail with primitive power. The vessel from Mordo Academy was nearly futuristic in form. The alloy composing its hull was not any type Adam knew, and clearly, magitech based on a supernatural system of knowledge had developed no less than, perhaps even beyond, that of Earth.

Led by the mages, they boarded this magitech vessel called the Mordo Academy. Black Mage and the others did not spare the apprentices another glance, walking straight into the cabin.

After respectfully seeing the mages off, the captain said, "We will reach the harbor where the Mage Continent and Mordo Academy are located within three months. During that time, you may move freely about the ship. However, the innermost area of the First Floor is where the Mage Masters reside. I advise you not to disturb them there, or you will witness a Mage Master's wrath."

"Also, do not fall into the sea. The Magic Beasts in the ocean will not be polite to you, and the Mordo Academy will not stop for anyone."

"You may settle down anywhere you like. The voyage will not be particularly interesting, so if you become bored, there are some recreational facilities aboard for your free use. If you have other needs, you may speak to the sailors, though there is no guarantee they can be met."

After speaking, the captain left. Several sailors stepped forward to take over the task of guiding them, and deep envy for the apprentices could be seen in their eyes. Adam discovered that the captain was a Strong Person at the peak of Great Knight, stronger than Earl Johnson, while every sailor was a knight.

Sure enough, knights were not some rare profession. Adam even guessed that perhaps every Ordinary Person living on the Mage Continent was a knight.

The crowd excitedly headed into the cabin and chose rooms for themselves. Apart from the Southern apprentices, who behaved naturally, the apprentices from the other regions were somewhat cautious, afraid of triggering some mechanism or damaging something. After all, for most of them, this was their first contact with magitech.

Accompanied by a deep whistle, the Mordo Academy set sail.