Apprentice Planeswalker

Within the source of magic, glowing with blue light, the pale, dim Spark shattered into a cluster of brilliant stars. It appeared directly from Ryan's palm, hovered in the air for a moment, then shot toward his chest without warning, ignoring his magical shield and merging straight into his heart.

Ryan instinctively stumbled back several steps. A flash of panic crossed his mind as a succession of dazzling, fantastical scenes flickered in his bright blue eyes.

A fearsome dragon beast soared and wheeled through the sky like a storm, spewing deadly flames.

A grotesque sea monster raised towering waves and unleashed a tsunami, wildly dancing its thick tentacles.

A towering Hecatoncheires trudged across a desolate wasteland, mountains upon its back.

A magnificent floating city hung high in the sky, radiating vast waves of energy.

Under a blood-red sky, vicious monsters fought a brutal battle across the Blood War battlefield, leaving corpses strewn everywhere.

Deep in the endless void, a terrifying orange cat gazed out with eerie eyes, its enormous body as big as a planet.

Hundreds upon thousands of grand, bizarre scenes flashed before Ryan's eyes one after another. Accompanied by mysterious, sacred chanting that seemed to come from beyond the heavens, his consciousness felt as if it had been swept into a swirling vortex beneath the sea. At times, he grew dazed; at others, he felt a stabbing pain. He was, for a while, immersed in warm, peaceful contentment, then plunged into despair and collapse in an unfathomable predicament.

Under the immense pressure, Ryan called up his system and transferred the memories of those information-laden scenes into it. Only then did he feel the pressure ease and regain his senses from the chaos.

The strange scenes continued to flash past. Ryan calmed himself after the overwhelming panic of a moment ago and browsed the passing images with keen interest. To his surprise, he spotted several familiar scenes. He marked each one down, intending to study them carefully later.

As the remnant Spark of the Planeswalker faded, Ryan's own Spark gradually lit up. A brilliant cluster of flames slowly emerged from his heart, its stars blazing ten times brighter than before, flickering as if displaying the joy of its rebirth.

At the heart of the shining Spark, the flame shifted from red to purple, then from purple to blue. A rectangular card slowly took shape amid the scattered stars. Ryan stared at it without blinking, his eyes full of anticipation.

After what felt like an eternity of agonizing waiting, the Planeswalker card at the center of the Spark was finally complete. The moment it was finished, Ryan sensed it, as if a new organ had appeared inside his body.

He carefully took the card floating in the air and finally got a good look at the Planeswalker card.

The exquisite card, made of an unknown material, was nearly the size of his palm. On the back, a brown oval sat at the center of a dark green background. Five points of light—white, blue, black, red, and green—floated within the oval.

On the front of the card, the first line gave its name: "Apprentice Planeswalker Ryan Chris."

To the right of the name was the symbol indicating its cost: "10 blue or green mana."

Below the name was a vertical portrait. Beneath an endless expanse of clear blue sky, a robed Mage held an exquisite staff in one hand and a Spellbook in the other, gazing down at a beautiful city with picturesque scenery. The Mage's golden hair shone like the sun in its rays. On his handsome, bright face bloomed a mysterious, confident smile, and his blue eyes brimmed with pride.

Below the portrait were many blocky characters, written in the Chinese Ryan had engraved into his memory: "Apprentice Planeswalker—Mage 7/Arcanist 2/Monk 1."

Ryan didn't understand. He could make sense of his Mage level being seven: he had already become a level-six intermediate Mage in Silverymoon, and gaining a level after two months of intense training and a grueling journey was perfectly normal.

But when had he taken up the Arcanist class? Could it be that, by the rules of Planeswalkers, anyone who could cast spells by independently constructing magical models apart from the Weave counted as an Arcanist?

And you couldn't just lump a delicate, frail, adorable little Mage like him in with the Monks just because he'd studied staff techniques with one for two years!

He hadn't inherited the three-headed, six-armed, indestructible Chiyou from his old home. There was no future for him down the Monk path.

With excitement and exhilaration surging through him, Ryan could barely contain the urge to crack wise.

Below the line identifying him as an Apprentice Planeswalker was a prominent mathematical symbol, followed by a string of explanatory text: "-2: Whenever Ryan casts a spell without the Weave, the difficulty of his next spell is halved, and there is a chance he will randomly cast a spell from his deck that does not exceed his remaining levels."

Ryan stroked his smooth, fair chin and put on a seasoned air as he sighed, "Well, it's time to see how lucky I am. Maybe in this life, I can use this handsome face to sneak my way into Europe."

At the very bottom of the card was a line of italicized Chinese: "I am a traveler through time and space, an undying witness, a seeker of truth. I will bring change and fire to the world!"

After reading it, Ryan held the card in one hand and covered his face with the other, feeling as if embarrassment alone might kill him. "Aaaah! How can it be this embarrassingly chuuni? I'll never admit these were my innermost thoughts. Never!"

After calming his excitement, Ryan put away his Planeswalker card and began sorting through the memories and knowledge of Planeswalkers inherited from the Dwarf Planeswalker's remnant Spark.

From the information compiled by his system, Ryan learned that the power of Planeswalkers was unlike the various class systems of Faerûn. It was more like a unique innate talent.

Planeswalkers, also known as Planeswalkers in the world of Faerûn, gained the chance to travel through time and space, explore the vast multiverse, and come into contact with the essence of different worlds after igniting their Spark.

After igniting their Planeswalker Spark, Planeswalkers usually set a goal for their lives, whatever it might be. They devoted their lives to exploring the multiverse, discovering strange secrets and experiences, and delving into their own souls.

A Planeswalker's life was full of choices and self-determination, limited neither by the world nor by fate. With the freedom to go anywhere and the power of magic, every Planeswalker could make a name for themselves in history.

And nearly all Planeswalkers ultimately devoted their lives to exploring the endless unknown reaches of time and space, in pursuit of mysterious truths.

The essence of a Planeswalker's power was observation, learning, and recording.

They traveled through the endless multiverse, observing, recording, thinking, and learning from what they saw and experienced. The knowledge and experience they gathered along the way helped them grow stronger.

The wonder of a Planeswalker's abilities lay in their power to copy and record most things they had observed, deeply understood, and grasped, turning them into cards. Then, in battle, they only had to draw a card and pay its cost to summon creatures, create barriers, and cast spells.

Planeswalker cards came in many types, including [Land Cards], [Creatures], [Artifacts], [Planeswalkers], [Spells], [Legends], and [Enchantments].

Land Cards were the foundation of everything. They were the source of a Planeswalker's mana, and also represented the unique natural wonders a Planeswalker had seen, such as plains, islands, mountains, forests, swamps, and even rarer places like Frostwood Falls, Sulfurous Snow Swamps, and Snowfield Sinkholes.

Basic Land Cards could produce one unit of mana at regular intervals. Advanced Land Cards produced more mana while also granting additional special effects.

It was worth noting that Land Cards could not be obtained at will. A Planeswalker had to own the land or leave behind a legendary tale there to turn it into their own unique Land Card.

Creatures came in a far greater variety, ranging from the most basic lowly pets and insects to Angels and Devils famed across the multiverse. As long as a Planeswalker could form a contract with one, they could record either the creature itself or a projection of its power onto a card and add it to their deck.

When needed, Planeswalkers could use mana produced by Land Cards to summon these creatures from their cards.

Spells fell into two categories. The first was [Instant] spells, which could be cast immediately without incantations, such as the famous magical spells Fireball and Meteor Swarm. Their strength depended on the spells the Planeswalker had mastered.

The second was [Enchantments]. These spells lasted a long time and could affect the entire battlefield, such as the large-scale spells Cloudkill and Dimensional Anchor from the world of Faerûn.

No matter which kind of spell it was, casting it as a Planeswalker was much easier than being a miserable Mage, who had to carefully construct a spell model and spend expensive magical materials. A Planeswalker only needed to draw a card and pay a certain amount of mana to cast a recorded spell directly and produce miraculous effects.

Even more outrageous, Planeswalkers faced no class restrictions when recording spells. Whether it was a Cleric's divine magic or a Druid's exclusive abilities, a Planeswalker could engrave them onto a card as long as they understood and mastered them.

Artifacts were highly mysterious devices imbued with terrifying power. They came in all kinds, from weapons and vehicles to artificially constructed creations like the Tower Spirit. Heck, if you had the means, you could even get yourself a Gundam or a Transformer.

As for [Planeswalkers], as the name suggested, they were cards made from a projection of a Planeswalker's own power, which they could send into battle. Once they became full-fledged Planeswalkers, even their projections could use Planeswalker cards. It was practically twice the fun.

Since being a Planeswalker was more like an innate talent than a class, many Planeswalkers also followed another path of power, such as Mage, Psion, bloodline sorcerer, or warrior. Ryan would undoubtedly choose to follow the path of a Mage all the way.

From the inherited memories, Ryan also learned that the first Planeswalkers divided the world into five colors to encompass all things.

White represented justice, unity, protection, and rigidity. It was the symbol of law, order, and organization.

Blue represented wisdom, thought, magic, and changeability. It also symbolized schemes, trickery, and cunning.

Black represented ambition, death, plague, and self-interest, though it could sometimes bring the dead back to life.

Red represented chaos, passion, wildness, and explosiveness. It symbolized fury and the unrestrained release of power.

Green represented nature, life, growth, and primitivism. It symbolized flourishing, recovery, healing, and brute strength.

Each color represented a temperament, an attribute, and a way of acting. Chronos Cards were therefore divided into five basic categories, plus a colorless category mainly used for mechanical constructs.

Land Cards were also assigned colors according to the categories above. For instance, the most basic White Plains produced only one unit of white mana at regular intervals, while the most basic Blue Island produced only one unit of blue mana at regular intervals.

Some [Creature] and [Spell] cards required mana of a specific color to summon. For example, summoning the most basic pet cat required one red mana.

As their temperaments, experiences, and talents differed, each Planeswalker had unique traits. Typically, a Planeswalker specialized in one to three colors and built their deck around them.

After compiling the most basic knowledge of Planeswalkers from the Dwarf Planeswalker's remaining memories, Ryan had already felt the wonder and profundity of this power. He promptly decided to stay up all night, organizing the inherited information recorded in his system and learning more about the miraculous abilities of Planeswalkers.