Full-Time Mage: Starting With the White Tiger Pendant

Most mages, upon seeing a demon, would probably be unable to control their stars to release magic, their star trails breaking repeatedly. Being able to cast calmly already marked one as an expert in a small city.

Lu Jun, however, needed to go a step further—his mentality had to be tempered as steady as Mount Tai.

Under the winter sunset, the siblings—one releasing magic, the other practicing adaptation—drew curious glances from passersby, the scene frozen in time.

Chapter 9: City Demon Hunting Squad

In the blink of an eye, a month of winter break had passed.

Though it was the south, the park's dense forest stood as bare as the north, revealing a touch of desolation.

"Great mage... ah, this park has received many complaints, and we can't do anything about it. Better if you train at another venue—I have a dedicated training ground over here."

On the grass, a middle-aged man in police uniform bowed his head and spoke ingratiatingly.

"It's okay." Lu Mei expressed understanding, smiling gently. "We've already finished training."

"Ahaha, that's good, that's good. I won't disturb you then."

The middle-aged man sighed in relief, turned, and left.

Lu Mei looked toward Lu Jun, who was lying on the ground gasping for breath, his entire body dirty and covered in patches of blue and purple bruises.

Her heart ached, yet she also felt comforted—her younger brother's progress this month had been astonishing.

He had fully adapted to the abruptness of Wind Track · Flash Step and the ghostly nature of Shadow Step, even reaching the point of hitting a falling leaf with a wooden stick.

In truth, as long as a mage got used to magic and steadied their mindset, adaptation came quickly given their reaction speed.

But her brother's hard work was also indispensable; he basically drained the magic power of her Wind Element Nebula dry every day before stopping.

This had significantly improved her Wind Element, and she had mastered the Primary Magic Wind Track to perfection.

Lu Jun struggled to sit up, taking out some ointment as he asked, "Was it the Urban Management Officer? No big problem, right?"

"Yes. Don't move—I'll handle it."

Lu Mei suddenly stopped his action, knelt on one knee in front of him, and boldly pulled her brother into her embrace. Her slender hand took the ointment, her jade-like fingers scooped up some paste, and she gently wiped it over his bruised areas.

Caught off guard, Lu Jun found himself trapped in a soft, warm embrace. He inhaled her faint, elegant scent, felt the soft, burning warmth against his face, and looked up slightly to see Lu Mei's delicate features wearing a tender expression.

The fatigue accumulated over half a year surged forth. His eyes half-closed as he drifted between sleep and wakefulness, his heart pounding with emotion yet filled with an extraordinary sense of peace.

No one knew how long passed. Lu Mei finished applying the ointment but didn't speak to wake her brother—she simply held him like this.

She lowered her eyes quietly. Lu Jun always hid many things, as if bearing a heavy burden—she knew it all, and could only use this gesture to express her comfort.

A moment later, the communicator in Lu Mei's pocket suddenly flashed. She frowned and opened it.

Lu Jun jolted awake, struggling to sit up, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"We've got a job." After checking, her sister raised an eyebrow slightly. "It's about the City Demon Hunting Squad. Your internship opportunity has arrived."

Hearing this, Lu Jun's heart burned with passion, his eyes gleaming. What had he been training so hard for all this time if not to slay demons and vanquish evil?

This time—the Wind Swordmaster makes his debut!

Lu Mei said calmly, "During the operation, follow my orders. Prepare your Gold Element forged equipment in advance. If anyone asks, tell them I configured the Demon Slaying Gear for you. With their level of knowledge, they won't be able to tell it's a new Magic System."

That was one advantage of the Gold Element—it was easy to disguise as magic equipment. Unlike Mo Fan, whose Lightning Seal revealed his Innate Dual Elements to everyone the moment he used it. Only when he reached Intermediate Mage and awakened the Shadow Element could he somewhat conceal it, though not permanently.

Secondly, Gold Element magic could be summoned in advance, so there was no need to frantically control the stars when blades clashed. The downside was a lack of endurance—with Lu Jun's first-level Star Dust Magic Power, he could sustain it for about ten minutes.

During training, Lu Jun usually practiced with a wooden sword for slashing.

The two didn't linger. Every step the City Demon Hunting Squad delayed meant more potential danger for the citizens. Lu Mei used Wind Track to travel, weaving through streets and alleys, startling countless people who turned to stare.

Lu Jun was in good condition—both his Magic Systems were nearly full, and the minor scrapes and bruises didn't matter. As a Water Element mage, his skin was nourished by magic, leaving no calluses or scars no matter how much he was injured, so he could participate.

In a minute or two, they arrived at the scene—a somewhat remote commercial street with average foot traffic. The area had frequent reports of strange gnawing sounds coming from the sewers, accompanied by a foul stench.

The police had investigated a few times but found no root cause. Seeing no immediate danger, they left it alone—until not long ago, when seven or eight stray dogs were found dead in a nearby alley, bloodily devoured, and reported by a passerby.

Only then did the police hastily hand the case over to the City Demon Hunting Squad.

"The sewer most likely has a Giant Eyed Rat Demon. Good thing we caught it in time—no humans have been harmed yet."

Lu Mei sighed in relief. As they traveled, she had already explained the situation to her brother.

Before the two could act, the other three members of the City Demon Hunting Squad arrived—one man and two women.

The man had a simple, honest face, looking reliable and steady. Of the two women, one had a round face and a short stature with a delicate appearance, while the other was tall and striking with a fiery temperament, her hair dyed red.

"You're just in time. This is my younger brother—a Water Element mage who has mastered the Primary Magic Water Shield."

Seeing her teammates arrive, Lu Mei greeted them and introduced each one: "This male mage is Xu Yan, an Elementary Mage of the Earth Element. The round-faced one is Mu Yuan, a collateral branch of the Mu family in Bo City, an Elementary Mage of the Ice Element. The tall one is Li Xia, an Elementary Mage of the Fire Element—our team's damage dealer."

Lu Jun swept his gaze over the three, matching names to faces, and muttered inwardly that he had no impression of them. They probably weren't the team Mo Fan would join a year and a half later.

Besides, he couldn't even remember the names of the people in Mo Fan's City Demon Hunting Squad—they were all background characters.

That was only natural. In a city with a population of a million, it wasn't possible for just a few Elementary Mages to handle everything. Each district had its own team.

His sudden addition drew no objections from the three. Of course not—his sister was an Intermediate Mage, a notable figure even across all of Bo City.

The City Demon Hunting Squad topped out at Elementary Mages. Intermediate Mages wouldn't stay in a mere city-level demon hunting squad. They could go to a Big City for part-time work and earn more in a month than a year here.

At the very least, they could transfer to a field Demon Hunting Squad, where their strength would improve rapidly.

Lu Mei was stuck right in this position—small cities lacked abundant resources, the higher-ups already had their people in place, and couldn't support more mages. In the end, she'd most likely have to develop in a big city.

Her elder sister was clearly so outstanding, yet the original novel had no similar name for Lu Jun—this must have been the reason. A novel could never reflect an entire real world.

Besides, from what he understood, his own parents seemed to have some connection with the Lu family, one of the four great clans in the Magic City.

Li Xia stepped forward with a catwalk sway, leaning close to Lu Jun, her tone exaggerated: "Captain Lu, so this is your little brother? A sixteen-year-old little cutie—I could go for that."

The moment those words left her mouth, Lu Mei grew alert, shifting her stance to block between them, and warned: "Don't you get frisky and try anything with him. That's illegal, you know?"

The red-haired mature woman covered her mouth with a chuckle. She didn't believe any young man could resist her charm—just no opportunity yet, that was all.

The round-faced Mu Yuan stayed shy and silent, completely lacking the aura of a great family scion, while Xu Yan smiled and nodded: "Hello."

Lu Jun greeted each of them in turn. The group was very relaxed—on one hand, the area had already been cleared of civilians; on the other, with an Intermediate Mage as their anchor, even a dozen Servant-level demons charging at them wouldn't be a problem.

Let alone a Giant Eyed Rat Demon, which was at the bottom of the Servant-level hierarchy.

Lu Jun had taken demonology classes and knew this was a type of demon that lived long-term in soil. They were experts at digging burrows, preferred hiding in places city sewers couldn't reach, could extend their necks, and their eyes fired piercing, blood-red beams...

These things were just like common rats—they bred extremely fast, had strong survival instincts, and a few would always be lurking in the soil beneath a city's underground passages and garbage dumps. They usually only ate human leftovers and scraps, and only turned to eating people when starving to a certain point. They were cowardly yet ubiquitous demons!

So the moment Lu Mei heard the case details, her first judgment was Giant Eyed Rat Demon.

Chapter 10: Unusual Signs in the Sewers

On the remote commercial street, Lu Jun took a deep breath, relaxing the muscles that had tensed from excitement.

With his current strength performing at an ordinary level, killing a Giant Eyed Rat Demon alone was simple—unless it was a One-Eyed Magic Wolf, Bo City's great enemy. Even the ordinary wolves of a tribe had Servant-level upper-tier strength.

The Magic World was not peaceful. Every region had great demonic enemies—like the undead in the Ancient Capital, the sea monsters in the Magic City, and in Bo City, the wolf packs. They were under the command of the Wolf Lord from the South Ridge, their power completely overwhelming Bo City, threatening several cities in Zhe Province.

If humans hadn't invented barriers—using some kind of Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure as a core, emitting an energy fluctuation that demons feared, causing Commander-level and below demons to automatically avoid them, while Monarch-level ones wouldn't bother unless provoked—

Human living space would probably have shrunk by more than half.

Li Xia glanced toward the dark alley between two rows of tall buildings. The entrance was stained with patches of blood. She asked: "So, who's going in first to check the situation and lure out the demon?"

Normally, this task should fall to a Wind Element mage, who always served as the scout. Lu Mei had once led from the front herself, but after advancing to Intermediate, taking on such dangerous missions was no longer appropriate.

Staying behind the team and unleashing powerful Intermediate Magic was the real way to go.

Xu Yan scratched his head and said: "How about I do it? Earth Element Primary—Ground Wave—my movement speed isn't bad either."

Just as Lu Mei was about to refuse and volunteer herself, Lu Jun spoke up, offering eagerly: "Sis, let me!"

The moment he said that, the team members frowned. Li Xia teased: "Little brother, can you handle it?"

Lu Mei looked at the determination in Lu Jun's eyes, recalling the results of his training, and said decisively: "Fine. You go."

The other three were slightly shocked. They thought Captain Lu had brought her little brother to gain experience and pad his resume a bit—they never expected her to actually let a sixteen-year-old youth shoulder such a heavy burden.

Walking the edge of danger, one wrong move and it was death.

Mu Yuan and the others tried to persuade her: "Captain, kids just like showing off. You can't take it seriously."

"Since he's here to hunt demons, he'll be treated the same as everyone else. I'm letting him go because his strength surpasses all of you, and his ability to protect himself is greater."

Lu Mei said calmly. Her younger brother's persistence during this time had moved her. In her eyes, he already possessed the elements of a strong mage—talent and perseverance. What remained was slowly honing his experience and mindset.

With her saying that, the team members had no room to argue.

But when Lu Jun skillfully controlled his star particles and released the Water Element Primary Magic [Water Shield] in two and a half seconds, everyone was stunned.

Li Xia said in disbelief: "He's only a freshman in high school. How is his casting speed faster than us veterans?"

Normally, students could barely release magic by the end of their first year of high school, controlling star particles slowly and clumsily. Being able to cast in four or five seconds was considered excellent.

Lu Mei realized that Lu Jun's displayed talent was somewhat monstrous, and said understatedly: "I helped him awaken during the summer vacation after his middle school graduation."

"Ohhh." Xu Yan and the others suddenly understood. Three months of summer vacation, six months of the first semester, one month of winter break—ten months to master a Primary Magic. That was decent talent.

Lu Jun chuckled. Having an Intermediate-level elder sister made everything easy to explain.

At that moment, his body was shrouded in a mist of water. A ribbon-like blue water current, about ten feet long and shimmering brightly, coiled around him, its broad arc covering most of the area.

He had already summoned his Vibranium Heavy Sword a few minutes earlier. The pitch-black blade was entwined with threads of flowing water—fully armed.

Then, Lu Jun lifted his sword and stepped into the old, worn-out alley. His expression was calm. Based on his textbook knowledge, the blood-red ray fired by a Giant Eyed Rat Demon could be blocked once by a first-level Water Shield's dissolution. Nothing to fear.

Soon, he spotted specks of blood on the ground leading all the way to the dim end, and at the same time, he heard a strange rumbling sound, like the noise of digging tunnels.

"Wait... could the tunnel already be dug?" Lu Jun recalled some things—about the disaster that would strike Bo City two and a half years later. Logically, with the barrier in place, the wild One-Eyed Magic Wolf tribes couldn't possibly invade.

Even if they did, the city had a barrier protecting it—it wouldn't collapse in one blow.

It was the Black Vatican. They had people dig tunnels in advance throughout Bo City's sewers, leading the wolf packs from outside in. With an inside-outside pincer attack, the city was breached in one go.

Of course, the main purpose of digging the tunnels was to steal the Earth Sacred Spring, which happened to be underground beneath Bo City's Yin Mao Building.

"Signs this early? I remember the first time strange vibrations appeared in the sewers was a year and a half later, when Mo Fan went with the City Demon Hunting Squad to that Girls' Magic High School cafeteria. One or two people died."

Lu Jun's expression turned stern. He realized this spot might be one of those tunnels.

But after dealing with the Giant Eyed Rat Demon, he didn't plan to report it to the Magic Association. That would be beating the grass and startling the snake.

Don't forget—Mu He of the Mu family in Bo City was a big shot. With his protection, if one tunnel was discovered today, they'd just dig another somewhere else tomorrow, and might even operate more covertly, helping the Black Vatican patch up their mistakes.

Not to mention that Mu He was at least a High-Order Mage in secret. If he got targeted because of this matter, both he and his sister would die.

"And this isn't even a flaw. The Black Vatican is too clever—they buried their actions under the Giant Eyed Rat Demon's activity. No one uninformed could ever connect the dots."

"Even if the demons here stir up a commotion, it only confirms a rough area. The sewers are a labyrinth, reeking and foul—no one would go down to investigate."

Lu Jun pondered. Ever since he learned he was in Bo City, he'd been trying to crack the Black Vatican's scheme. In his view, the tunnels were the key. If he could block the demons surging from within the city, Bo City's military and barrier forces could hold off the external threat without collapsing at the first blow.

The best approach was to scout ahead. There were over a dozen tunnels. A few days before the disaster struck, he'd destroy them all in one go, forcing the Black Vatican to loose their arrow while it was already on the string—but unable to achieve a perfect result.

As for how to time his strike just right, heh—that hinged on a signature scene from the original story. After winter break, in the second half of freshman year, he'd witness the trigger.

Lu Jun noted the spot without changing his expression, while thinking about checking the City Demon Hunting Squad's case files back home. Any report with keywords like "tremor" and "Giant Eyed Rat Demon" would mark one of the tunnels.

He ventured deeper into the alley. Suddenly, the strange noises stopped. A suffocating silence spread. The darkness ahead grew deeper, accompanied by the sour stench of the sewers permeating the air.

Then Lu Jun saw it—a forest-blue eye emerging from the darkness. Its pupil was the size of a basketball. The fleshy tumors covering the eye writhed, making every hair on his body stand on end.

It took a step, revealing half its body. Its neck was as thick as a tree trunk a person could barely wrap their arms around. Its head and neck were completely indistinguishable. On its head sat only a basketball-sized eye and a gaping, blood-filled maw.

It measured nearly three meters in length, standing as high as an adult man's chest.

Buzzzz!

The moment Lu Jun spotted it, its basketball-sized pupil contracted violently, as if gathering something. It rapidly turned blood-red. The energy reached a critical point, and a scarlet beam shot from the monster's eye.

Boom!

After all this training, Lu Jun had honed his reflexes. He shifted his body slightly. The scarlet beam grazed past his shoulder and slammed into the wall on his left, leaving a scorched black crater.

He smelled the burnt tang in the air. His blood began to simmer, boiling from the thrill of danger. His face twisted—a tangle of fear and killing intent.