The Time of Promotion

So sleepy...

Casting high-intensity spells was mentally exhausting, too.

He'd been wandering around almost the entire town of Rhein since about six in the morning.

Then in the afternoon, he'd focused intensely on reading to cram in some basic knowledge.

And at night, he'd practiced spells like crazy.

He should have been completely exhausted by now.

But in reality... Lu Cang felt surprisingly all right so far.

He was definitely sleepy.

But he didn't feel mentally exhausted to the extreme.

Was this one of the benefits of being a mage?

He was already a mage, after all.

It made sense that his mental strength had improved.

But... he was really sleepy—the kind of sleepy where he could enjoy a nice, comfortable sleep.

The Promotion Hall wasn't open at night. Although Kumiloni could conduct promotions herself, knocking on someone's door in the middle of the night was far too impolite.

He was certainly looking forward to becoming a level-two mage.

But it wasn't something he had to do right this second.

For now, he should get some sleep.

He'd think about it after waking up.

When he woke up,

all was calm.

Nothing unexpected had happened, and Lu Cang felt a little relieved as he got out of bed.

He'd watched plenty of movies and read plenty of novels in his previous life.

Whenever there was unfinished business, there was always a sense that something would suddenly go wrong for no reason.

It seemed his worries had been unnecessary.

It was his fifth day in this world. As he climbed out of bed today, he finally felt like he was starting to fit in.

Lu Cang looked in the mirror, flashed a confident smile, and silently encouraged himself. "A level-two mage, huh?"

"Excellent!"

He washed up, straightened his clothes, and headed downstairs.

Izpalut was in the hall again.

It was as if he spawned in the hall whenever Lu Cang went out.

What was he, a fixed NPC?

"Hey, Iz! Morning!"

Iz's breakfast today was a pomegranate...

A strange choice for breakfast.

But everyone in this otherworld had different eating habits, and Lu Cang respected that.

As for himself, Lu Cang had chosen soy milk and biscuits.

This world didn't have fried dough sticks...

So Lu Cang decided to use biscuits as a substitute.

"Are you going to the Promotion Hall today?"

Kumiloni appeared from who knew where and joined them at the table as naturally as could be.

Hmm...

A level-five healer—the Life Recreator.

After cramming in all that knowledge, Lu Cang had gained a much deeper understanding of the different professions.

"Haha, kid, you're already about to reach level two!"

"Even faster than Iz!"

Chicheng had appeared from who knew where, too.

He hadn't even been there a moment ago.

And now he was sitting right next to Lu Cang, acting as if they were old friends.

He'd had someone else's wine, then only showed up to say hello the next morning?

"If Lu Cang's going to be promoted, I should go along, too," Kumiloni said.

Chicheng was quick to chime in. "Oh, Kumiloni, are you going to host the ceremony yourself?"

Kumiloni shrugged slightly. "Well, I'm the only one who can."

"Kid, you've got some great luck!" Chicheng said, patting Lu Cang on the back.

He hit so hard that Lu Cang spat out the biscuit he'd just swallowed.

Then Chicheng suddenly froze.

"Wait... if both of you are going with him for his promotion today, who's going to fight the dark wyvern?"

Kumiloni and Izpalut exchanged a knowing look at Chicheng.

Chicheng blinked.

He sighed, then rolled up his sleeves again.

"Fine, fine. Looks like it's up to me, the invincible War Emperor, to take on the dark wyvern alone."

Kumiloni smiled faintly. "Well, you won't exactly be alone. Obades will go with you, too."

"With Obades there, it should be fine."

A level-five warrior—the War Emperor.

Usually, the strongest warrior in a kingdom was level five.

As for level-six War Saints, there might not even be one anywhere on an entire continent.

Their party really had an unexpectedly impressive lineup.

"Speaking of which, you all said you'd come help me kill the sky wyvern yesterday, but none of you showed up," Chicheng grumbled.

Kumiloni scratched her cheek, her eyes drifting away as she wore an apologetic expression.

Oh...

Lu Cang watched their expressions.

Kumiloni—so, you think helping an old lady harvest her vegetables is more important than killing a sky wyvern?

Come to think of it...

This warrior named Chicheng went looking for wyverns to kill every day.

"Kumiloni, fine, you didn't come—but Iz didn't come either!"

"It was a sky wyvern! One that flies in the sky! You made a warrior go chop at a flying wyvern all by himself?"

As Chicheng spoke, he grew more and more smug.

As if he'd caught them red-handed, he braced himself against the table and challenged the two of them.

Iz's eyes began to wander, too...

"Magic. I've made a new discovery..."

"Huh?"

"A very important discovery..."

Lu Cang took a bite of a biscuit soaked in soy milk and watched it all with a calm expression.

Iz, even an eight-year-old kid like me can tell you're lying.

You obviously ditched him over something completely unimportant.

I didn't know you were like this, Iz.

"All right. If it was an important discovery, then I suppose it couldn't be helped."

Huh?

He actually got away with it?

Chicheng! He's lying! He won't even look you in the eye!

He definitely wasn't studying magic yesterday!

"Fine, then I'll go kill the dark wyvern by myself today."

No, Obades would be going, too.

He might never speak and barely register as being there, but he was still a member of your party.

Lu Cang really wanted to say it.

But in the end, he watched Chicheng walk away and kept the words to himself.

"Um..."

"It's fine. Obades will go with him, so there's no need to worry."

"He's an idiot, but he's still very strong."

If it's only a dark wyvern, even he should be fine on his own.

Huh... was he that strong?

Then again, Lu Cang didn't know how powerful dark wyverns were.

"Let's go."

"The Promotion Hall should be open by now."

Only then did Lu Cang notice that they had finished eating.

They ate so fast.

Lu Cang hurriedly finished his soy milk and went with them.

[Promotion Hall]

There were unexpectedly so many people here, too.

"Is that... Izpalut?"

"Seriously? What is he doing at the Promotion Hall?"

"Is he going to advance to level-six mage?"

"The Magic Saint?"

"Izpalut's going to become a Magic Saint?!"

Izpalut's arrival was greeted by screams from the people around them.

It seemed like Izpalut advancing to Magic Saint would be a terrifying event.

"No... I don't think this Promotion Hall is equipped to let Iz advance to level six."

"He might not be the one advancing."

"But Kumiloni's with him."

"Uh..."

The person who'd just said Izpalut might not be the one advancing froze, then shouted in alarm, "Holy crap! Izpalut's going to advance to level-six Magic Saint!"

Izpalut, you're really famous...

Iz gave Lu Cang a helpless smile, too.

Iz led Lu Cang over to the ceremony official.

The official anxiously rubbed his hands together, looking thoroughly intimidated by Izpalut's arrival.

"Please prepare a level-two mage promotion ceremony for the child beside me."

The person speaking with Iz was an old man who looked like the highest-ranking person here.

But even he seemed somewhat intimidated by Iz.

"You mean..."

"him?"

The old man looked at Lu Cang.

"Yes, him."

The old man trembled. He seemed relieved, yet at the same time, disappointed.

Perhaps he was disappointed that he'd missed the chance to host Izpalut's promotion ceremony to Magic Saint.

"Please come this way..."

When the people around them heard that Iz wasn't the one being promoted, they all seemed to relax, though Lu Cang could also sense that quite a few of them were disappointed.

Was Iz's promotion really that terrifying?

Lu Cang followed the old man over to a glowing crystal ball.

"Put your hand on it."

Well... looking at the crystal ball, it was easy enough to guess he was supposed to put his hand on it.

Sure enough.

Lu Cang did as he was told. The moment he placed his hand on it, the crystal ball reflected a verdant green light.

But the old man drew in a sharp breath.

He looked at Iz and asked, "When did he advance to level-one mage?"

"Three days ago," Iz replied.

Three days ago?

You're saying this child is about to reach level two after just three days?