The Planeswalker's Lingering Spark

At dawn, as the first rays of sunlight shone through the milk-smooth mist onto the shimmering River Reaven, Ryan was awakened by the magical alarm he had set.

He stretched mightily and sat up in bed, then snapped his fingers to cancel [Prestidigitation—Timed Alert].

He rubbed his bleary eyes and shook his head, trying to wake himself up a little. "Damn, I thought I'd be able to finish analyzing the magical nodes before midnight. I didn't expect the nodes related to spell power to be so complicated. I guess that's what you'd expect from the Lesser Fireball that made Archmage Roland famous."

Patting his cheeks, Ryan quickly got up and went to the washroom to freshen up.

The mirror was crystal clear. Reflected in it was a flawless, handsome young man with long golden hair spilling down in a tousled mess, a high nose bridge, and deep-blue eyes like the ocean. His exquisite features were as noble and beautiful as an artisan's finely sculpted marble statue.

"Tut, tut. Somehow, I got even better-looking after coming to another world. If I'd had this face in my previous life, I could've cosplayed anyone from Caesar to Gilgamesh without even needing makeup."

After admiring himself in the mirror for a while longer, Ryan touched his forehead, drew a cross over his chest, and began his daily prayer—or perhaps remembrance:

"Great God of Washrooms, mysterious Lord Fool, please bless me with another peaceful and safe day. Amen."

Once he had finished washing up, Ryan went to the cushion on the balcony and began his daily morning meditation and spell preparation.

Everyone knew that mages, the darlings of Faerûn, were often considered the very embodiment of mystery, nobility, and power. But because of the Weave, mages had to record their spells anew each day to ensure they could handle any sudden situation. As a result, the spells each mage prepared every day in Faerûn were closely guarded secrets, not to be revealed to anyone.

Put simply, spellcasting in Faerûn worked like this: the spellcaster used their great intellect to understand and construct a spell model capable of containing energy. Then, with the help of various strange materials, they drew energy from the world into the model to charge it, allowing them to cast the spell.

The process required extraordinary intelligence. You had to memorize spell models more complex than 3D designs, then successfully trace them out with your mental energy in order to cast a spell.

What's more, the energy in the world was incredibly complex, made up of many different elements. Each spell had a fixed ratio of elements, much like mixing ingredients in a chemical experiment. One mistake could easily trigger an explosion or fire and kill the spellcaster.

But thanks to the Weave, you no longer needed exceptional intelligence to become a spellcaster.

That was because the Weave contained spell models of mind-boggling complexity. Each day, all you had to do was look at them and memorize the spells through the Weave—that was why mages had to prepare spells every day. Then you could construct the spell model and enter a state of readiness. When it came time to use it, all you needed to do was speak an incantation, and the spell would be cast.

You could say it was the perfect idiot-proof instruction manual. It saved you a great deal of time and effort, and you didn't need otherworldly intelligence to become a spellcaster.

Of course, the Weave had some obvious drawbacks. You couldn't access the source of magic, and memorizing a spell model this way was only skin-deep. Once you cast the spell, the model vanished along with it, leaving you with no way to truly master it.

Most importantly, if the Weave ever collapsed, most mages would be like people whose phones had exploded: they'd never be able to "get online" again and wouldn't be able to cast a single spell. Only a tiny handful of geniuses could keep wielding even greater magic by studying its source!

The Weave had greatly increased the number of mages and expanded their collective power. That was why mages held the Goddess of Magic, who had created the Weave, in such high regard.

But while the Weave had made spellcasting accessible to far more people, it had also constrained those naturally gifted with great intelligence, forcing them to cast spells like ordinary spellcasters, within the limits of their spell slots.

Thanks to the changes to his soul, Ryan had been born with exceptional intelligence. His logical reasoning and spatial abilities had improved tremendously compared to his previous life. On top of that, the cheat he had brought with him could help him analyze and record the nodes in magical models. That was how he had managed to cast spells to a certain extent without relying on the Weave. For now, though, he could only cast a handful of spells from the Weave's first and second levels.

Perhaps because of the Netheril Empire's might and defiance of the gods, along with Karsus's reckless actions, Karsus's Folly had destroyed the Weave and brought down the entire Netheril Empire with it.

The new Goddess of Magic, Mystra, had been bitten once and feared the rope ever after. She deeply distrusted the peerless Arcanists and spellcasters, sealing away forbidden spells of the tenth circle and above and imposing even stricter restrictions on spellcasters. From then on, with spell slots and maximum spell levels placing limits on them, no mage could challenge the gods again!

Ryan had come to this world and marveled at the wonder and mystery of magic, but the restrictions of spell slots had also caused him deep frustration. He wanted to take the path of an Arcanist and transform into a free, unrestricted mage with a blue mana bar.

But ever since the Netheril Empire had fallen from the sky and its floating cities had been destroyed one by one, the only place in Faerûn that might still hold a complete Arcanist tradition was Thultanthar, built atop the ruins of the ancient magical empire.

Thultanthar was thousands of miles away, and the wilderness of Faerûn had never been a peaceful place. It was full of all sorts of vicious, dangerous monsters and beasts, not to mention rampaging Goblins, Trolls, Giants, and other nonhuman races. Ryan figured that with his scrawny build, he'd be dead not long after setting out. He was better off staying put in his Northlands home, leveling up, and waiting until he could protect himself before venturing out.

Ryan meditated in silence as he examined the source of magic in his mind. Amid a vast, azure sea of light, a dim, grayish-white flame bobbed with the waves of magic, flickering now and then. Ryan sighed. "Still not quite there."

That flame was the remarkable thing Ryan had obtained in the temporal chaos: a lingering spark left behind by a Planeswalker.

Only one in tens of millions of living beings possessed a "spark," an indescribable essence that gave them the chance to become a Planeswalker. And among those born with a "spark," only a tiny fraction ever had the opportunity to ignite it and discover their potential to travel through time and space.

Many Planeswalkers ignited their sparks in the face of great danger or trauma, but each person's awakening was different. A near-death experience might ignite a spark, but a life-changing moment of realization or a mage's deep, trance-like meditation might also lead them to extraordinary truths.

The Multiverse contained countless worlds, and a Planeswalker's unique abilities let them travel between them, using those experiences to deepen their knowledge and power.

What Ryan had found in the temporal chaos was the lingering [Spark] of a grievously wounded Planeswalker who had never recovered. From the images this Planeswalker had left behind, Ryan learned that he had once been a legendary Dwarf shield warrior. He had awakened his [Spark] on the verge of death during an adventure, then taken to the path of a Planeswalker and begun traveling through the boundless worlds of the Multiverse.

But in a magical world much like Faerûn, he couldn't stand by while the empire of mages oppressed and slaughtered his Dwarf kin. He boldly fought that world's legendary mages. After shattering the earth, rerouting rivers, and bringing down two floating cities, the Dwarf mage was ultimately defeated by a succession of Archmages. Before his body and soul were annihilated, he used his [Spark] to leap into the void, leaving behind only a recording and a final message.

"Ah, even on the verge of death, he was still thinking of his kin back home. He hoped whoever came after him would help the Dwarves however they could? Dwarves really are a stubborn bunch. Even becoming a mage didn't change his nature. But I like people like that. If I can help, I will."

After obtaining the [Planeswalker's Lingering Spark], Ryan gradually came to understand what it could do. He could use it up to ignite his own Origin Spark, but the process couldn't be completed all at once. It required a steady supply of mana and his own mental energy.

Compared with the way ordinary Planeswalkers ignited their sparks on the brink of death, this method took longer, but it was safe and reliable. He could also inherit the world coordinates the Dwarf mage had left in the spark. The only pity was that the Dwarf mage had died fighting, and the demiplane he had created with his Planeswalker abilities had been smashed to pieces in the battle. All the items inside had been lost in the temporal chaos, leaving Ryan with only an empty space measuring 10m*10m*10m.

Ever since he had obtained the [Spark], Ryan had resolutely chosen the path of a mage. When he became a mage apprentice at twelve, he began using the [Planeswalker's Lingering Spark] to awaken his Planeswalker abilities.

After three years of relentless effort, he felt he was about 98 percent of the way there. But whether because of his mana or the strength of his mind, his progress had been stuck at that point for about a year. It was just like the files ending in .avi that he used to download in his previous life, which would get stuck at 99 percent.

Now that he had successfully advanced to become an intermediate mage, his mana and mental strength had increased once again. Ryan felt that the awakening of his [Spark] had begun progressing again, and he expected he might awaken his Planeswalker abilities within a month.

"The endless planes, the Multiverse, countless legends and wondrous sights—I, the great Ryan, am coming! Hahaha!"

"Beep." Just as Ryan was happily imagining it all, a magical transmission interrupted his thoughts.

"What's going on? Does my mentor need me for something? Don't tell me I'm stuck doing grunt work optimizing the multidimensional nodes in her spell model again?"