The Traveling Mage's Apprentice

Amidst the glowing blue source of magic, a pale, dim spark shattered into a cluster of brilliant starlight. It emerged directly from the palm of Ryan, hovered in the air for a brief moment, and then, without warning, shot toward his chest, bypassing his magical shield to merge directly into his heart.

Ryan instinctively took a few steps back, a flash of panic crossing his mind as a series of bizarre and magnificent scenes flickered within his deep blue eyes.

A hideous dragon-beast soaring through the sky like a storm, spiraling and spewing lethal flames.

A deformed sea monster stirring up giant waves and tsunamis, waving its thick tentacles wantonly.

A towering Hecatoncheires carrying mountains on its back, trudging across a desolate land.

A magnificent floating city hanging high in the sky, radiating vast energy fluctuations.

A battlefield of the Abyss Blood War under a blood-red sky, where vicious monsters slaughtered each other, leaving corpses strewn across the plains.

A terrifying orange cat, as large as a planet, gazing with eerie eyes from the depths of the void.

Hundreds of grand, bizarre, and magnificent images flashed before Ryan's eyes one by one. Accompanied by mysterious and sacred chants that seemed to come from beyond the heavens, Ryan's consciousness felt as if it were being swept into a whirlpool at the bottom of the sea; he felt dizzy and stung by turns, at one moment immersed in warm, blissful peace, and at the next, collapsing in the depths of a bottomless, desperate predicament.

Under the immense pressure, Ryan summoned his system and funneled the massive amount of visual memory into it. Only then did he feel the pressure subside, allowing him to recover his clarity from the chaos.

As the various wondrous images continued to flicker by, Ryan calmed the great panic he had just faced. He browsed through the fleeting scenes with interest and was surprised to find some familiar ones, which he marked one by one, intending to study them carefully later.

As the residual spark of the Planeswalker dissipated, Ryan's own spark gradually ignited. A brilliant spark slowly emerged from his heart, ten times brighter than the previous one, pulsing as if to display the joy of its rebirth.

At the center of the shining spark, the flame shifted from red to purple, then from purple to blue. A rectangular card slowly condensed and took shape amidst the scattering starlight. Ryan stared at the card before him without blinking, his eyes full of anticipation.

After an agonizing wait that felt like years, the Planeswalker card at the center of the spark finally finished forming. The moment it was complete, Ryan felt a sensation as if he had grown a new organ in his body.

Carefully taking the card floating in the air, Ryan finally caught a glimpse of the true appearance of the Planeswalker card.

The exquisite card, made of an unknown material, was about the size of a palm. The back featured a dark green background with a brown oval in the center, inside which white, blue, black, red, and green light spots hovered.

On the front of the card, the first line read: "Planeswalker Apprentice Ryan Chris."

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

Below the name was a vertical portrait: against a vast, clear blue sky, a robed mage holding an exquisite staff in one hand and a spellbook in the other looked down at a beautiful, magnificent city below. The mage's sun-bright golden hair shone brilliantly under the sunlight, and a mysterious, confident smile bloomed on his handsome, sunny face, his deep blue eyes filled with pride.

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

Ryan was puzzled for a moment. He could understand the Mage level 7; he had already become a level 6 intermediate mage in Silverymoon, and after two months of frantic training and a difficult journey, it was normal to have gained one level in two months.

But when did he become an Arcanist? Could it be that in the rules of a Planeswalker, being able to construct magical models independently of the Weave counted as being an Arcanist?

And you can't just classify a delicate, cute little mage like me as a Monk just because I spent two years learning staff techniques from a monk!

I didn't receive the inheritance of Chiyou—the three-headed, six-armed, indestructible Vajra from my hometown—so there is no future in walking the path of a Monk.

Intertwined with excitement and agitation, Ryan could hardly suppress the burning soul of sarcasm within him.

Below the "Apprentice Planeswalker" line, there was a distinct mathematical symbol followed by a text description: "-2: Whenever Ryan casts a spell outside the Weave, the difficulty of the next spell cast is halved, and there is a probability of randomly releasing a spell from the library that does not exceed Ryan's remaining level."

Ryan rubbed his fair, smooth chin and sighed with feigned maturity: "It's time to test my lineage again. Perhaps in this life, I can rely on this handsome face to 'smuggle' myself into Europe."

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

After reading this sentence, Ryan held the card in one hand and covered his face with the other, feeling his "cringe cancer" acting up. "Ahhhhh, how can this be so incredibly chuunibyou? I will absolutely not admit that this is a thought from my own heart, absolutely not!"

Calming his excited and agitated emotions, Ryan put away the Planeswalker card and began to organize the memories and series of Planeswalker knowledge inherited from the residual spark of the dwarven Planeswalker.

From the information summarized by the system, Ryan learned that the power of a Planeswalker was not like the various professional systems of Faerûn; it was more like a unique aptitude.

Planeswalkers, also known as Planeswalkers in the world of Faerûn, gained the opportunity to travel through time and space, explore the vast universe, and come into contact with the origins of different worlds after igniting their sparks.

After igniting their Planeswalker spark, a Planeswalker usually sets a goal for their life, whatever it may be. A Planeswalker's life is spent exploring the multiverse, discovering strange secrets and experiences, and delving deep into their own soul.

A Planeswalker's life is full of choices and self-determination, not limited by the world or fate. Possessing the freedom to come and go at will and the power of magic, every Planeswalker has a way to leave their name in history.

And almost all Planeswalkers spend their lives exploring the endless unknown time and space, pursuing mysterious truths.

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

They travel through the endless multiverse, observing, recording, thinking, and learning from what they see and hear, and use the experience and knowledge gained along the way to increase their own power.

The magical aspect of a Planeswalker's ability lies in their ability to copy and record most of the things they have observed, deeply understood, and comprehended into cards. Then, in battle, they only need to draw cards and pay energy to summon creatures, cast enchantments, and cast spells.

The types of Planeswalker cards are diverse, which can be divided into [Land], [Creature], [Artifact], [Planeswalker], [Spell], [Legendary], [Enchantment], and so on.

Among them, Land cards are the foundation of everything and the source of a Planeswalker's energy. They are unique natural wonders seen by the Planeswalker, such as plains, islands, mountains, forests, swamps, and even rarer frost forests, waterfalls, sulfur snow swamps, and snowfield pits.

Basic Land cards can produce 1 unit of energy every period of time, while advanced Land cards provide more energy and add some special effects.

It is worth noting that Land cards cannot be obtained at will; they must be the Planeswalker's own property or the Planeswalker must have left legendary deeds on that land to convert it into their own unique Land card.

The types of [Creatures] are even more numerous, ranging from the most basic low-level pets and insects to famous angels and devils in the multiverse, covering everything. As long as the Planeswalker has the ability to form a contract with them, they can engrave their essence or power projection into their cards and store them in their library.

When needed, the Planeswalker can use the energy produced by Land cards to summon these creatures from the cards.

[Spells] are divided into two categories. One is [Instant], which can be cast instantly without chanting, such as the famous Fireball or Meteor Swarm in magic; their strength depends on the spells the Planeswalker has comprehended and mastered.

The second category is [Enchantment], which are spells with long durations that can directly affect the entire battlefield, such as large-scale magic like Cloudkill or Dimensional Anchor in the world of Faerûn.

Regardless of the type of spell, compared to the miserable mages who have to painstakingly outline spell models and consume expensive magical materials to cast spells, a Planeswalker only needs to draw a card and consume a certain amount of energy to directly release the recorded spell and produce magical effects.

What is even more despicable is that there are no professional restrictions for a Planeswalker to record spells. Whether it is a cleric's divine magic or a druid's exclusive skill, as long as they can understand and comprehend it, a Planeswalker can engrave it into a card.

[Artifacts] are highly mysterious devices that contain terrifying power. Their range is indefinite; they can be weapons, vehicles, or man-made constructs like Tower Spirits. Even if you have the ability, it's no problem to get a Gundam or a Transformer.

As for [Planeswalker], as the name suggests, it means that a Planeswalker can turn their own power projection into a card and put it onto the battlefield. After becoming an official Planeswalker, even the Planeswalker's projection can use Planeswalker cards, which is simply double the happiness.

Since Planeswalker is more of an aptitude than a specific profession, many Planeswalkers possess an additional power system, such as Mage, Psionic, Bloodline Warlock, Warrior, and so on. Ryan would undoubtedly choose to walk the path of the Mage to the very end.

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

White represents justice, unity, protection, and stubbornness; it is the symbol of law, order, and organization.

Blue represents wisdom, intellect, magic, and changeability; it also symbolizes strategy, trickery, and cunning.

Black represents ambition, death, plague, and self-interest, though at times it can also bring the dead back to life.

Red represents chaos, passion, wildness, and explosiveness; it symbolizes berserk, unbridled power.

Green represents nature, life, growth, and primality; it symbolizes vitality, recovery, healing, and brute force.

Each color represents a personality, attribute, and behavior, which is why Chronos Cards are divided into five basic categories, plus a colorless category mainly applicable to mechanical constructs.

Land Cards are also divided according to the aforementioned classifications, each possessing its own color. For example, the most basic White Plains produces only 1 unit of white energy every interval, while the most basic Blue Island produces only 1 unit of blue energy every interval.

Certain [Creature] and [Spell] cards require specific colors of energy to be summoned. For instance, summoning the most basic pet cat requires one point of red energy.

Due to differences in personality, experience, and talent, the traits of every Planeswalker vary. Generally, a Planeswalker will specialize in one to three color attributes, building their card deck around these colors.

Having roughly summarized the most basic knowledge of Planeswalkers from the memories left behind by the dwarf Planeswalker, Ryan already deeply felt the wonder and mystery of this power. He decisively decided to stay awake all night to categorize and summarize the inherited information recorded in the system, so as to gain a deeper understanding of the magical abilities of a Planeswalker.