Full-Time Mage: Starting With the White Tiger Pendant

Examples like this were everywhere. Lu Jun had long abandoned any illusions, preparing for battle from the moment he crossed over—building high walls, stockpiling grain, and biding his time before claiming the throne!

Chapter 19: Hunting Demons

While Lu Jun's thoughts were tangled, Lu Mei was already negotiating on his behalf. "I'm an Intermediate Mage," she said. "I won't go too deep into demon territory."

Zhan Kong scoffed. "An Intermediate Mage? You've grasped the ability to form a one-thought Star Trail? Below the Advanced level, you're always vulnerable alone. And what's the matter with the youth beside you? He looks like a high schooler."

Hearing this, Lu Mei deflated, quite helpless. She never expected the new Military Governor to be so responsible, nor that the anticipated difficulty of hunting demons would be stopped at the very first step—leaving the city.

And she suddenly realized that what Zhan Kong said made some sense. Her younger brother's maturity and hard work over the past had made her subconsciously forget he was still a seventeen-year-old youth.

To be honest, Lu Mei was starting to regret it. But when she looked at Lu Jun, she saw the determination in his eyes, and her heart softened. She felt she couldn't let her own reluctance betray the effort her brother had put in.

Whether it was the bloody work of urban demon hunting or the improvement in his cultivation level, he had become a reliable mage.

Just as she was about to argue further with Zhan Kong—

"Forget it." Zhan Kong suddenly gave up. The officer said in a deep voice, "I can't be bothered with you. You're both adults. Make your own decisions and bear the consequences yourselves."

Lu Jun breathed a sigh of relief. If they couldn't get out, they'd be muggles, and all their grand ambitions would become empty talk.

As he followed his elder sister out of the city, he pondered. Zhan Kong was a man of justice, decisive in killing, and trustworthy. Before the Disaster of Bo City two years later, he could be worth allying with.

At that moment, Zhan Kong gazed from afar at Lu Jun's retreating figure, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. This youth's magical aura was even denser than some veteran soldiers—his cultivation must be quite high. Interesting.

Another officer walked up beside him, his face refined. Instructor Bai smiled and said, "What's wrong, boss? Is there anything noteworthy about these two? Need someone to tail them?"

"Nothing."

Zhan Kong waved his hand, saying no more. Let the genius come back alive first before talking.

On the other side, the Lu siblings stepped into the Hilly Forest. Following the route on the map, they gradually arrived at their preset location—a border area that had been cleaned out many times.

The South Ridge was vast, spanning several provinces. The hunter teams from Bo City scattered and vanished without a trace, like a drop in the ocean, each finding their own targets.

Lu Jun stepped on fallen branches and leaves, walking through the shaded deep forest. Howls came from all directions, making their bodies tense. With no experience, they couldn't tell how many magic wolf demons there were, where they were, or whether they had been exposed.

"Don't worry too much. This area has been cleaned out many times by Military Mages and hunters. The forest is layered, creating echoes. The actual number isn't that many."

In the dark, dense forest where sunlight couldn't reach, Lu Mei said, a little tense. She had no experience either—this was her first time hunting demons.

"How about we put up the Water Shield first? Buff a protective shield before starting the dungeon."

Seeing this, Lu Jun sighed, thought for a moment, and controlled his Star Particles to release Water Magic. Pale blue water vapor gathered, forming two Water Windbreakers draped over the siblings.

This way, even if they were ambushed, they could react.

Normally, mages had limited magic energy and tried to conserve it while out. A Level Two Water Shield wasn't permanent—protecting for twenty-four hours a day would drain any amount of magic energy.

But their situation was different. They were just out early and back late to gain experience. At worst, they'd return to the city before their magic energy ran out.

Just as Lu Jun was casting his magic, the ripple of magic power spread out and was detected by the magic wolf demons around them. The environment suddenly fell silent, a suffocating pressure filling the air.

Lu Jun's face was calm. He had done it on purpose—to lure the demons out. It was easier to deal with enemies in the open.

Awooo...

Before long, the silence broke. Low howls came from the dense forest, growing closer. In the distance, branches shook as tall, black figures stepped out, blocking the siblings' front, back, left, and right. A stench of killing aura overflowed.

These creatures had sturdy lower limbs, somewhat resembling wolves, with a single eye and standing upright. They stood three meters tall, their presence far stronger than the Giant Eyed Rat Demons.

Lu Jun looked at them, his heart unmoved and unafraid. If he had to compare, One-Eyed Magic Wolves were similar to Western jackalwere, only taller and more robust. Their combat power was standard Servant-level.

Seven or eight had come. If a hunter team of a dozen Elementary Mages ran into them, they'd lose a few people just to deal with them.

But the siblings breathed a sigh of relief. Just seven or eight Servant-level demons—one Intermediate Magic would severely wound them all. Worthy of a cleaned-out area—not many powerful demons.

Seeing the One-Eyed Magic Wolves arrive, Lu Mei controlled her Star Particles and cast the Elementary Magic Level Three [Wind Orbit · Floating Shadow].

Buzz buzz buzz!

Soon, pale cyan wind and azure water swirled around Lu Jun, and he felt the familiar floating sensation. He controlled his Metal Star Particles, and a flash of platinum light passed as he summoned his Magic Tool, gripping a black heavy sword with both hands.

The unique sharpness and killing intent of Metal burst forth. His blood gradually boiled, eager to move. With half a year of demon-hunting experience, he was growing more familiar with slaughter.

Grrr!

The seven or eight One-Eyed Magic Wolves growled lowly, stepping forward, their paws crunching on branches as they adopted an encirclement and intimidation tactic.

Lu Jun didn't care about any of that. He charged forward on the Wind Orbit, the already terrifying heavy sword in his hand expanding as he activated the Metal Elementary Level Two [Size Change]!

In no time, the heavy sword in his hand enlarged threefold, becoming a nearly four-meter-long greatsword. He raised it, two stories high, with a blade width of thirty centimeters, swinging it with fierce momentum—anyone watching would be terrified.

Most importantly, the sword's weight increased for the enemy, as heavy as a thousand jin. But for Lu Jun, it remained its original weight, so even though it was heavy, he wielded it as easily as his own arm.

Rumble!

At that moment, with wind speed boosting him, Lu Jun swept the heavy sword, leaving afterimages. He spun like a giant blue-green top eight meters in diameter, madly cutting. The fierce wind was biting, stinging the skin. Sand and gravel flew, the ground trembled continuously, and deep marks were left wherever he passed.

In the distance, Lu Mei had already retreated in tacit understanding the moment the battle started. Over the past half year, this was how she and her brother coordinated—one strong attacker drawing attention, the other safely casting Intermediate Magic from behind.

But even she was stunned by this scene. Since Lu Jun's Elementary Metal had advanced, he hadn't shown this yet. This power—was it touching the threshold of Intermediate Magic?

Though it was aided by Wind Magic and would be weaker if used alone, it still showed his extraordinary skill.

In this state, the seven or eight One-Eyed Magic Wolves nearby couldn't even get close to Lu Jun, let alone hurt him. They kept retreating, the demons keenly aware of the immense force contained in the sword wind.

Puchi puchi!

Unfortunately, Lu Jun was extremely fast, reaching the center of the wolf pack in just a few seconds. Where his four-meter heavy sword swept, limbs were severed, bodies were crippled, and in the worst cases, entire bodies were split in two, killed on the spot.

Chapter 20: Slaughter

In the dense forest, Lu Jun carved through the enemy like chopping vegetables, charging straight out of the encirclement and scattering the magic wolf formation into chaos.

With the pressure in front suddenly gone, he stopped his wild sweeping motions, planted his sword in the ground, and took a deep breath, panting heavily. Although the weight of the magic tool was unchanged for him, with an ordinary person's physique, he couldn't swing the sword many times.

When Lu Jun looked back, behind him lay a scene of 'corpses strewn across the field.' One dead magic wolf had its body split in two, blood gushing and flowing endlessly.

Three others were severely wounded, missing limbs, while the rest had varying degrees of injuries. This place was like a slaughterhouse, blood-soaked, with limbs lying in pools of blood, the smell of blood thick in the air.

Seeing this, even Lu Jun was shocked. Granted, the threefold size increase consumed a lot of magic power—in just that short time, half the energy of his Gold Nebula was depleted—but the killing power it brought was extremely impressive.

He remembered that to kill a Servant-level Demonic Beast with a single Primary Magic, one needed to cultivate it to Level Three and also possess a top-tier Spirit Seed.

Awoo awoo...

Just as he was slightly dazed, the remaining One-Eyed Magic Wolves howled wildly, as if the smell of blood had stimulated their ferocity. Each one was covered in a layer of blood-ink, their aura surging.

The nearest magic wolf lunged directly at him, like a bulldozer, its high-speed charge not inferior to the impact force of a minivan.

Whoosh!

Lu Jun stepped on a Wind Track, narrowly avoiding it at the last moment. He maneuvered through the wolf pack, occasionally swinging his Gold magic tool in counterattacks. By now, his Vibranium Heavy Sword had returned to normal size, but its killing power was still formidable, easily leaving wounds deep enough to see bone, and occasionally causing crippling injuries.

After all, the Level Two size change was a burst technique; after one wave, he had to conserve magic energy.

After several minutes of skirmishing, Lu Jun made occasional mistakes. His shimmering azure Wind Armor grew dim, but fortunately, his Water Shield defense was reliable, allowing him to withstand a few claw strikes without dying.

Finally, only three magic wolves remained. The demonic beasts finally felt fear and tried to scatter and flee, but he chased them down with his Wind Track, killing them one by one, dragging trails of blood across the dense forest floor.

After finishing, Lu Jun looked at the brutal battlefield, his face full of disbelief. He had single-handedly killed seven magic wolves. In his mind, aside from the blue Water Nebula with some magic energy left, his Gold Nebula was completely depleted.

His elder sister, Lu Mei, walked over, her expression shocked. During the battle just now, she had originally planned to assist her younger brother, but seeing Lu Jun descend like a god and take on seven enemies alone, she felt it was unnecessary to interfere. It was better to use this to test her brother's combat strength.

So she had held her Intermediate Wind Magic [Wind Disk] ready to save him at any time.

But until the battle ended, Lu Mei never needed to make a move. She couldn't help but say, "Gold magic's power is really great. It seems I underestimated you. The two of us hunting demonic beasts together are as efficient as a Demon Hunting Squad."

In reality, this was a matter of rock-paper-scissors counterplay. Gold magic was unstoppable against enemies like magic wolves, which had only melee combat as their single means of attack, but it would be restrained when facing human mage squads with diverse magic types.

Conversely, what Demon Hunting Squads feared most were charges by thick-skinned demonic beast packs. Without decisive killing power, they would mostly be flustered.

After this battle, Lu Jun also built up ample confidence. Starting from hunting demonic beasts in the city to now in the wilderness, his aura grew sharper and sharper—a sword sharpened through hardship.

The Black Heavy Sword in his hand, stained with dark, viscous blood, grew even sharper, bringing him closer and closer to Gold Primary Level Three.

Beyond that, Lu Jun looked at the corpses scattered everywhere. Seven faint, glowing specks rose and gathered into the White Tiger Pendant around his neck. Disappointingly, they were all Remnant Souls, worth about ten thousand yuan.

The one percent chance of an Essence Soul was hard to come by.

Lu Jun couldn't count on that; he could only kill more demonic beasts and synthesize an Essence Soul from hundreds of Remnant Souls.

"Hurry up and collect the Exotic Blood and Bones, before the smell of blood attracts more demonic beasts."

Lu Mei called to her younger brother and stepped forward to start cutting up the corpses.

After a flurry of work, the things they collected, including the Remnant Souls in the White Tiger Pendant, were worth less than two hundred thousand yuan. Excluding the Remnant Souls, it was barely over a hundred thousand.

Don't think that's a lot—this was earned by risking their lives. Compared to the millions or tens of millions needed for Intermediate resources, it was far too little.

And this was split between two people. If it were a Demon Hunting Squad, tsk tsk, it would be a losing operation. But they wouldn't be as reckless as Lu Jun; they would set up ambush points, lay traps, and kill the demonic beast pack with the easiest methods.

He looked at the sky, which was gradually darkening, and sighed, "It's getting late. My Gold magic power is exhausted. Let's head back first."

Hearing this, Lu Mei nodded. Although she hadn't moved and still had plenty of strength as an Intermediate Mage, she wasn't greedy. "Let's go back now."

The siblings carried large and small bags and walked back along the path. Soon, they could see the two great mountains in the distance, and even the city in the gap between them. The Military Mages were all there. The two of them relaxed, their tense bodies loosening as they Stepped Into the Snow Mountain Outpost.

At that moment, Zhan Kong happened to be on patrol. Seeing Lu Jun and the others returning with a bountiful harvest, he said in surprise, "Eh? You're still alive?"

"What kind of talk is that?" Lu Jun was speechless and said irritably, "Do you want us dead?"

"That's not it." Zhan Kong Stroked his chin, looking at the sixteen-year-old youth in front of him, and suddenly issued an invitation, "How about this—after you graduate high school, don't go to the academy. Come work for me instead, how about that?"

"Give me two years, and I guarantee I'll train you into an expert. By twenty, you'll be a Military Governor guarding a region—simple."

Hearing this, Lu Jun knew Zhan Kong wasn't bluffing. Not to mention his connections with the Zu Family, Zhan Kong himself was valued by Leader Hua, one of the highest in cultivation and status in the Nine Provinces.

So, thinking that more paths were better than fewer, he didn't refuse on the spot. He just waved his hand and said, "We'll see. I'm still far from graduation."

Zhan Kong Smiled and said, "No problem. My door is always open for you."

In truth, Zhan Kong was inwardly shouting that he had found a treasure. A sixteen-year-old going out of the city to hunt demonic beasts—what level was that? To put it simply, even the Prodigies of the top-tier academies in the Imperial Capital and Magic City didn't have this kind of courage and experience during their freshman year, let alone in high school.

Sometimes, a mage's strength wasn't just about cultivation. If they panicked in battle, even a High-Order Mage could be easily killed by an Elementary Mage.

After parting with Zhan Kong, Lu Mei walked and asked, "Are you planning to take the military route in the future?"

She hadn't spoken earlier, so as not to affect the impression of the important figure. Now she asked about Lu Jun's plans, knowing that her younger brother had strong opinions.

"I'm leaning more toward going to university. It's freer."

Lu Jun said frankly. After a year of cultivation and tempering, his confidence had grown. He was familiar with the original story's plot and had a clear plan and goals for the future. He wanted to compete for the highest hall of magic!

Then he paused and added in a low voice, "Besides, if I join the military, what about you, Elder Sister?"

Hearing this, Lu Mei first felt relieved, then pursed her lips at those words, having to admit her heart felt a little sweet, though she let out a light snort and said, "Forget it, without you as dead weight, I'd be freer."

The siblings parted ways upon returning to the city. Lu Mei went to the Hunter Alliance to deal with the demon materials, while Lu Jun went home to meditate and recover his magic.

Chapter 21: The Wonderful Use of Magic

Unnoticed, a week had passed.

The siblings went out early and returned late, hunting demons in the wilderness. But aside from the first day's auspicious start, they only encountered another batch of wandering demons in the following days.

In seven days, they'd only earned a little over two hundred thousand. Over the two-month summer break, wouldn't that cap out at just over a million? In the remaining two years of hunting, they wouldn't even scrape together enough to rent a Nebula Magic Tool.

Lu Jun felt they couldn't keep on like this; they needed to take more aggressive risks.

In the living room, Lu Mei frowned deeply and said, "You want to go deep into the South Ridge Wilderness?"

"That's right," he nodded. "This pace of accumulating funds is too slow. We need to be proactive. Besides, you saw it yourself—I can handle seven or eight demon wolves on my own without issue, and you haven't even used your Intermediate Magic yet."

"Working together, picking off a nest of demon wolves would be no problem. A standard Servant-level pack of fifty, plus some old, weak, and injured ones—that's all."

"This is a truly crazy idea." Lu Mei fell into thought. Her second element, [Earth], was stuck at Primary Level Three, and she urgently needed a long-term rental of a Nebula Magic Tool to break through the barrier.

With the confidence gained from these days of killing, she made a crisp decision: "Fine, then we'll go deep into the wilderness. But to hunt a nest of demon wolves, we'll need to stay out there for a few days. Get ready."

The siblings were full of initiative. Early the next morning, just as the sky was barely light, they packed up their camping gear and left the city from Snow Peak Mountain Outpost.

Over the past seven days, Lu Jun had gotten quite familiar with Zhan Kong, obtaining from the military a more precise demon distribution map—far superior to anything on the market or even from various hunting teams.