Full-Time Mage: Starting with Obtaining the White Tiger Pendant

Zizi~, a Primary Level One Lightning magic. A clump of purple electric light gathered in his hand, and a long whip of lightning, like a python, lashed out, striking the wooden dummy in the distance.

A thunderous roar echoed, leaving behind a patch of scorched black and a mangled target.

Lu Jun's face instantly turned grim. He suddenly realized that his Gold Water Magic was heavily countered by the Lightning Bloodline.

Even a slight touch would conduct electricity, instantly paralyzing him and leaving him controlled.

In the end, Lu Jun relaxed his muscles. There was no invincible magic system; most countered each other. For example, Rock counters Lightning, Ice Water counters Fire. Once he awakened more magic systems at the Intermediate level, it would naturally balance out.

Besides, Lightning Mages were truly rare. No need to worry.

Chapter 17: True Colors of the Great Clans

On the exam field, Xu Zhaoting was brimming with confidence, basking in the attention of the entire audience.

From the main stage, school board member Mu He looked on with appreciation and turned to ask Mu Ningxue, "Ningxue, what do you think?"

"Mediocre." Mu Ningxue didn't spare another glance. Her beautiful eyes, crystal clear, were fixed solely on Mo Fan among the crowd.

This gave every male student in Class 8, First Year, the delusion of a lifetime: She's looking at me!

That included Xu Zhaoting on the field and even Mu Bai, who was secretly pleased.

The group of leaders wore sour expressions. Mu Zhuoyun stepped forward to smooth things over with a smile:

"Haha, it's actually quite good. Ningxue studies at the Imperial Capital Academy, where magic prodigies from across the nation gather. Releasing a basic Lightning Seal at the Primary level is just their foundation. She finds it mediocre only because she's used to judging by the Imperial Capital Academy's standards."

Seizing the moment, Mu He shifted the topic, deliberately bringing up Mu Bai and steering the leaders' attention toward Class 8, First Year.

Mu Bai's inner heart thrilled. He decisively stepped forward to take the test.

Seeing this, Lu Jun curled his lips. This annual assessment was nothing but a showcase for the children of noble clans. Who would have thought a Mo Fan would suddenly pop up?

Next, Mu Bai scored an S-rank. The Star Compass's radiance shone all around him, and he effortlessly released the Primary-level Ice Magic [Ice Vine]. A faint, eerie chill spread, and a thick layer of ice coalesced on the ground, crackling as it froze the wooden dummy into an ice sculpture.

It sparkled crystal clear under the sun.

The leaders were all shrewd old foxes. They knew Mu He was deliberately promoting his kin, so they chimed in with praise.

Mu Bai was smug and complacent. He stole a glance at Mu Ningxue to gauge her reaction, but what ignited a blaze of fury in him was that Mu Ningxue had never once looked at him. She was staring at Mo Fan the whole time.

That bastard again, he thought viciously. I'll make you humiliated soon enough. He signaled to the exam proctor beside him with his eyes.

That was a bald proctor. Feigning nonchalance, he leaned against the Star Compass and placed a Dark Light Stone inside.

Having been on alert the whole time, Lu Jun and Mo Fan, who had been watching closely, saw through the truth completely. The latter's eyes sharpened, and he strode forward on the spot, shouting loudly, "What are you doing?!"

Mo Fan marched straight up to the Star Compass, grabbed the bald proctor's hand, and immediately caught the evidence.

Startled, the group of leaders quickly turned to look. The proctor's expression stiffened, the Dark Light Stone in his hand, utterly at a loss. Under the gaze of the entire audience, all the teachers and students instantly understood what was going on.

A huge wave was stirred up. Voices clamored: "Wow, someone's cheating openly! Wouldn't it mean all previous scores are invalid?"

"How disgusting. What if I get screwed over next?"

Tang Yue stepped forward, snatched the stone, examined it briefly, and frowned coldly. "What's your intention? How dare you place a Dark Light Stone to harm a student? Tell me, who ordered you?"

The leaders furrowed their brows. Having weathered storms of blood and fire, they immediately guessed someone was trying to sabotage.

Among them, Mu He's face turned ugly. He swept his gaze over Mu Bai, who was pale and drenched in cold sweat, and shot him a vicious glare.

Just then, quick-witted Lu Jun leaned over the assessment sheet and shouted loudly, "Next is Mo Fan! Are you saying you weren't trying to harm him?!"

At these words, the two Mu brothers, both school board members, exchanged uneasy glances. They recalled the events of that year. First came Mu Bai, then Mo Fan. It was practically a blatant display of the culprit's identity.

Mu He's face grew even more livid. As for the ice-clever Mu Ningxue, she understood it all. Her beautiful eyes turned icy as she stared at Mu Bai.

She had indescribable feelings toward Mo Fan. This time, she had even planned to give him a hand—if his results were passable, she would have the clan nurture him.

But then this happened. She couldn't bear to imagine what would have become of Mo Fan if it hadn't been discovered. A commoner like him would probably carry this pain for life.

Mu Ningxue made a decisive move and was about to step forward when her father, Mu Zhuoyun, stopped her. His low, cold voice echoed among the few of them: "We'll discuss this back home."

"Father!"

The silver-haired girl called out in dissatisfaction and urgency.

"I said we'll discuss it back home!" Mu Zhuoyun, usually doting on his daughter, was unyielding this time. He said indifferently, "The Mu Clan's affairs are for us to handle ourselves. Family scandals must not be aired in public. These commoners have no right to point fingers at us."

With that, Mu Ningxue opened her mouth but said nothing. Mu He, visibly relieved, hurriedly stepped forward to preempt her, saying, "We must get to the bottom of this. Who is responsible?"

His gaze was fierce, filled with killing intent as he stared at the bald proctor. He bellowed, "Speak! What was your purpose?!"

At the same time, Mu Zhuoyun also fixed his cold stare on the proctor.

The pressure from the two Mu brothers bore down on him. The bald proctor's face was filled with despair. He knew in his heart that if he insisted it was his own doing, he might still have a way out—even live comfortably for the rest of his life. But if he confessed, he would die without a burial place, dragging his family and wife down with him.

So, the bald proctor stammered out a laughable excuse: it was his own decision, because he looked down on Mo Fan for using connections and did it deliberately.

Mo Fan grew anxious. He shouted repeatedly, glaring, "Dare you say that again seriously?"

Tang Yue, standing nearby, saw through the farce. Faced with such a dark side, her conscience as a member of the Adjudication Court chafed. But thinking of her mission—the Black Vatican—she had to conceal her identity. There was no way to seek justice.

She also knew that with this kind of thing, there was no way to get a result. The scapegoat would bite the bullet, and since it wasn't a major incident—at least the victim hadn't suffered serious harm—

The Mu Clan was the local power. Even the Adjudication Court, for all its strength, would struggle to convict them.

It was truly frustrating. The logic that if the victim was unharmed, the crime was minor, was idiotic. But reality was just that cruel.

Lu Jun sighed beside him. This was as far as he could go. With his elder sister being an Intermediate Mage, no one would be foolish enough to seek revenge on him, but pushing further was nearly impossible.

Besides, he knew Mu He's true strength—High-Order Mage, Curse Element of Black Magic. His abilities were too obvious, too prominent. He'd just have to wait to die without anyone knowing how or when.

Mo Fan's face was twisted with rage, a powerless fury. He pointed at Mu He and Mu Zhuoyun's noses, cursing them out repeatedly. At first, the two brothers felt they were in the wrong and didn't mind being scolded by a student, but when he started dragging in their ancestors for eighteen generations back, they couldn't take it anymore.

The school leaders, reading the room, immediately pointed at Mo Fan and said, "Alright, Student Mo. Everyone knows you've been wronged. The school will compensate you. This time it's not the school board members' fault. What's wrong with you, biting like a mad dog?"

"The culprit is right there. You should be pointing fingers at him."

By then, Mu Bai had barely calmed down. He glanced at Zhao Kunsan beside him, and his lackey immediately caught on, jumping out to say, "That's right, Mo Fan. Stop disrupting everyone's test. It's clearly just you being targeted. You should reflect on your own words and actions."

Once he stirred things up, everyone eager to be Mu's lapdog rushed to chime in: "That's right, that's right. Apologize now."

Unbelievable! Lu Jun looked around at the students and teachers, finding it all utterly ridiculous. Bo City was like this, and Magic City was the same.

Even Mu Ningxue hesitated. Everything she ate, drank, and used was provided by the Mu clan. She simply couldn't defy her father and uncle's will.

Tang Yue closed her eyes, then opened them to say a few fair words, but it was useless. At best, it calmed the entire school's teachers and students down.

The Mu brothers sneered without a word. Their underlings had handled everything. This was the power of a noble clan!

Seeing this, Mo Fan was furious. In the end, he still walked the same path as in the original story. The process was different this time, but the result was much the same—he took the initiative to challenge the clan.

Mu Zhuoyun had long since lost patience. He directly sent his adopted son Yu Ang—actually a Black Vatican Member under Mu He's command—to make a Two-Year Pact with Mo Fan.

At the coming-of-age ceremony upon high school graduation, they would settle victory or defeat. The loser would kneel and kowtow to the winner, and publicly apologize.

Chapter 18: Leaving the City, Zhan Kong

Lu Jun was hit with a strong sense of déjà vu. School test, Two-Year Pact—this was basically a Battle Through the Heavens knockoff.

And just a few days after Mo Fan and Yu Ang's coming-of-age duel two years later, the Disaster of Bo City would erupt. A landmark event. As long as he timed it right, he'd be fine.

He sighed, his desire to grow stronger growing more urgent. In a society like this, with these noble clans, you had to be strong to take life and death into your own hands and act according to your will.

If Mo Fan had been a High-Order Mage, he could have killed Mu He on the spot, and no one would have dared say a word.

The Magic Association allowed mages to duel privately. Just set a time and place to settle personal grudges.

The annual assessment continued. Lu Jun had no mood to stay after watching the big show. He carefully controlled his magic output, got an S-rank score, and then cast Water Element Primary Level One Magic, Water Guard - Dissipate.

Hiding his strength, he easily became a member of the Advanced Class.

As for Mo Fan, with a cold, sour face, he also got an S-rank score, perfectly unleashing Fire Magnetism, stunning the entire audience. Even Principal Zhu couldn't bear to see this student ruined by the noble clan and tried to mediate.

The teachers and students once again showed their sycophantic true colors, vying to persuade him, utterly baffled.

But Mo Fan's temper needed no explanation—arrogant and righteous. No words could change his mind. Even Mu Ningxue's secret persuasion was useless.

After Lu Jun finished, his first year of high school was over. He went back to prepare to leave the city with his sister to hunt demons.

"Hey, are you even a brother?" Mo Fan complained. "Something like this happens to me, and you don't even comfort me."

"Alright, I have a million percent confidence in you. With your dual elements, who can stop you?"

Hearing this, Lu Jun teased, waving his hand. "See you after summer break."

Tang Yue quietly watched Lu Jun's retreating figure, lost in thought. She could tell he had been holding back during the assessment. Curiosity piqued, she decided to investigate his background.

Lu Jun sensed this but couldn't be bothered to care. His identity was clean. With an Intermediate Mage elder sister, his cultivation level was perfectly explainable.

Now wasn't the right time to make contact anyway.

He went all the way home, opened the door, and shouted, "Sis, I'm back. Let's go hunt demons right away."

Summer had arrived. Lu Mei was dressed lightly, lying on the sofa watching TV. Her figure was perfectly outlined, her full hips raised, a pair of straight, round long legs swaying behind her. Her snow-white skin was dazzling, her jade feet with bright nail polish eye-catching.

She glanced sideways and said, "Haste makes waste. I've been ready for a long time. You think I'd wait for you?"

Leaving the Safe Zone to hunt demons was all about controlling the terrain and knowing the demon distribution. One wrong step and a War Lord or Commander would pounce, leaving no place to die.

Fortunately, countless hunters and military scouts from Bo City had ventured into the wilds, South Ridge, mapping out detailed demon strongholds on the outskirts.

Lu Mei had long wanted to hunt demons to gather resources for cultivation. She had been preparing for this for a while, asking around for maps and planning routes. Now that her younger brother had grown up, he could finally be useful.

In addition, they had prepared camping tents, knives, flint, and all sorts of outdoor gear.

Lu Jun had no experience. He was just a fighter. He let his sister handle everything, frowning as he asked, "Are these maps reliable?"

Hearing this, she said with exasperation, "Of course they're not as reliable as the secret paths those old hunter groups risked their lives to map out, but at least they're the latest publicly available versions. Besides, I'm a local."

"Let's go." Lu Mei stood up and stretched lazily, her voluptuous body uncoiling. She tied her hair into a neat ponytail, walked to the corner, and packed a pile of odds and ends.

It wasn't much, though. Most of the time, mages were very convenient. For example, Purified Water—Lu Jun could generate it with a single spell. At most, they'd bring one or two bottles as backup, just in case.

For carrying weight, Wind Element and Earth Element mages could easily handle it. They just needed to leave room for their haul.

As far as Lu Jun knew, the Magic World rarely had Space Storage Magic Tools. Most relied on Dimensional Magic's Space Element mages for similar functions, but Space Element mages were too rare. They basically only appeared sporadically at High-Order.

For their first outdoor demon hunt, the siblings didn't plan to go too far. They'd leave early and return by dusk.

They took the Hunter's Alliance bus all the way to the border. The scenery outside the window gradually shifted from tall buildings to suburban towns, until it completely turned into wild forests and mountains.

In the distance, they could see two towering mountains standing tall, their peaks pure white. Between them, a high wall rose, with a continuous line of military camps and outposts built along it.

"Snow Peak Mountain Outpost. The Bo City Military Mages' base. It's also the only way out of the city. They hold the line against the wolf pack demon invasion, keeping Bo City safe."

Lu Mei explained softly to her younger brother.

The bus stopped here, and the hunters riding it got off in silence, filled with a grim killing intent. Every beast hunt was a high-stakes gamble with their lives, so naturally there was no laughing or joking.

When Lu Jun and the other passed by the Snow Mountain Outpost, they saw teams of Soldier Mages patrolling along the way, checking relevant documents before letting anyone through.

"Hey, you two? A young teenager and a fresh-faced young girl, and just the two of you dare to leave the city? Don't you value your own lives at all?"

From a distance, a handsome young officer with a stubbly face, draped in a military coat, strode over, his tone unfriendly.

All along the way, soldiers and hunters stopped what they were doing, saluting respectfully and saying, "Greetings, Military Governor!" and "Boss Zhan Kong."

He swept his gaze over Lu Jun and the other, then looked at Lu Mei with surprise and said, "Oh, an Intermediate Mage."

Lu Mei frowned and asked, "Who are you, and why are you stopping me from leaving the city?"

"Me?" The stubbly handsome officer pointed at the ground and said with authority, "My name is Zhan Kong, I'm the boss around here, the Military Governor of Bo City."

As the words fell, his elder sister didn't react much, but Lu Jun's inner heart shook. Zhan Kong—another familiar name, an important character in the original story's plot, who had always sheltered Mo Fan, Zhang Xiaohou, and others as they grew, regarded by the two as a mentor.

According to the timeline, he had indeed come to Bo City a year ago, in a sense exiled.

Zhan Kong's cultivation was definitely High Level now, and Triple High Level at that. Whether he had fully cultivated it was unknown, but he possessed the strength to fight a Commander Rank Demonic Beast alone, a true Prodigy.

At the same time, his background was deep. He was a son of the International Noble Family [Zu Family], which traced back to the Qin Dynasty, being direct descendants of Qin Shi Huang, the Ancient King.

For someone like this to be demoted, the reason was simple: his girlfriend Qin Yuer was a Calamity Bringer, an Ice Calamity Bringer just like Mu Ningxue.

The Five Continent Magic Association judged them together. Zhan Kong fell from grace, while Qin Yuer was frozen forever on the distant Tianshan Mountains.

One had to understand, what status did the Zu Family hold? Within the clan, there was more than one forbidden spell caster. Unlike the Mu Family, which focused on domestic affairs, they took an international route, with close ties to the continent's council heads. Even so, they couldn't protect Zhan Kong and the other!

Lu Jun understood clearly. The example was right in front of him. The final outcome for the two was a straightforward tragedy. The righteous path truly hunted down geniuses to the last, using the name of justice to strangle potential competitors.