Star Burst!

"Magic!"

Finally, the time to start learning magic had arrived! Bell instantly perked up, focusing all his attention.

Thor looked at him and asked, "Before that, how much do you know about magic?"

Bell shook his head honestly, "Only that it's a powerful and rare force that requires chanting. I don't know anything else."

Thor nodded and explained simply.

"In the common knowledge of this world, magic is a power that triggers supernatural phenomena, usually requiring an incantation to activate. The longer the chant, the greater the power tends to be. It consumes mental and physical stamina."

"Magic is divided into innate awakening and those inspired later through a 'Falna.' Many people go their whole lives without ever learning magic. The power of magic is closely tied to the 'Magic' stat in one's status. Of course, there also exists magic that can be cast without chanting."

He paused, his tone suddenly becoming profound, carrying a detachment that transcended the rules of this world.

"However, what I am about to teach you is not this kind of mundane art that relies on language to construct. It is the true magic that directly drives the origin of all things, transcending language itself."

"True magic!" Bell's eyes widened, instantly feeling the extraordinary weight in Thor's words.

A single wisp of [Stardust] appeared at Thor's fingertips once more, its faint light swirling.

"Let me let you experience for yourself what true magic is."

He tapped his finger lightly on Bell's forehead.

In an instant, a torrent of unimaginable knowledge surged violently into Bell's mind, instantly overwhelming all his senses.

The universe seemed to explode within his skull, casting him into a completely unfamiliar realm. In this void of thought, he witnessed the birth and death of stars.

Every stellar explosion was magnificent beyond measure.

He did not know how much time had passed.

A hundred million years? Billions of years? Perhaps neither; the passage of time had completely lost its meaning here.

At this moment, a strange, emotionless voice resonated deep within his consciousness.

"To you, what is magic?"

Bell's consciousness instinctively replied, "It is power... a powerful force, a weapon that allows me to cast aside my weakness and stop running away."

"To you, what is magic like?"

Bell thought of Thor's dazzling and transcendent figure and responded with longing, "It is stardust... like Lord Thor, dazzling, elegant, and completely different from me... a brilliant stardust."

The strange voice asked again.

"To you, what is the pursuit of magic?"

The grandeur and the momentary, ultimate magnificence of the genesis starburst flashed through his mind again, and Bell's intent grew firm: "It is greatness! Like the explosion of a star... a violent and resolute power!"

BOOM--!

As if responding to his desire, a torrent of scorching power exploded within his body, like a supernova!

He jolted awake, springing up from the sofa, gasping for air.

Looking around, the morning sun was already slanting in through the window.

Thor was sitting on the old sofa opposite, calmly drinking a cup of hot tea as if nothing had ever happened.

"Awake?" Thor set down his teacup and looked up at Bell.

Bell shook his head, which still felt heavy, and slowly sat up. "How do you feel?" Thor continued to ask.

Bell looked down at his hands, opening and closing his fingers, trying to capture that strange sensation, his brow furrowing slightly: "Lord Thor, I feel very strange. I feel as if I've gained something, but it's as if I haven't grasped anything at all."

He rubbed his temples: "Lord Thor, the things in my mind... they are too chaotic, I can't figure out what they are at all, and... I can't even remember what I dreamed about."

Thor's voice was calm: "When humans encounter things their cognition cannot bear, they habitually choose to forget. This is a normal form of self-protection."

Just as Bell was still struggling to digest Thor's words, a loud "gurgle" sound erupted abruptly from his abdomen.

A fierce sense of hunger instantly swept over him, his stomach completely empty.

The hunger overcame his confusion, and Bell hurriedly jumped up, saying, "I'm sorry, Lord Thor, I overslept! I'll go make breakfast right now!"

He rushed to the wooden storage box in the corner in two or three steps and lifted the lid with anticipation, only to find the box empty!

Bell froze, his eyes fixed on the empty bottom of the box.

He turned his head sharply to look at the calendar hanging on the wall. Yesterday, the day before, the day before that... he was shocked to discover that he had been asleep for three whole days!

And the food in the house... was only enough for two days...

Gah--!

Bell's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

He turned stiffly toward Thor.

His Lord was sitting peacefully on the tattered sofa, his expression calm and transcendent, elegantly holding a chipped ceramic cup in his hand. Inside the cup was clear water, the only thing left in the house that could barely be called "tea."

He was sipping it slowly with a leisurely air.

Bell felt a wave of intense guilt and panic rush to his head.

"I am terribly sorry! Lord Thor! I'll go out and earn money to buy groceries right now!!"

He stammered incoherently, bowing repeatedly to Thor to offer his apologies.

Thor gently set his empty teacup back onto the equally dilapidated wooden side table. Far from reprimanding him, he wore a relaxed smile as he spoke.

"Perfect. Now that you have mastered the basics of magic, we shall head to the Dungeon. Once we secure some magic stones, we can have a proper meal."

"I learned a new magic? Really?" Bell was still reeling from the shock and immense confusion.

The next second, the scene before them shifted abruptly.

The air, dark, damp, and carrying a faint scent of mold and blood, surrounded them.

They were already standing within the entrance passage of the vast, deep Dungeon of the labyrinth city Orario.

The moment the tip of Thor's boot touched the gravel floor of the first floor's passage—

Hum!!

The entire Dungeon passage seemed to be struck by an invisible giant hammer, beginning to tremble violently!

The walls cracked, and rubble rained down with a rustle.

Accompanied by sharp screeches, a stone wall to the side shattered with a boom, and goblins with oily green skin and exposed fangs tumbled out from the fissure like dumplings, dense and swarming!

Twenty of them!

For any novice adventurer, the appearance of this many goblins on the first floor of the Dungeon was a terrifying and unheard-of situation!

Any experienced adventurer present would have been left dumbfounded by such an extreme, anomalous sight.

Thor's very existence had pushed the malice and backlash of the Dungeon to its peak!

However, Bell, having no concept of this, looked at the swarming goblins with their glinting, vicious eyes and assumed this was the "usual" level of danger in the Dungeon.

"Try your new magic." Thor's voice rang out steadily. He didn't even look at the approaching monsters, merely raising his hand to pat Bell's tense shoulder. "You should know how to activate it."

"I know how to activate it? What about the incantation?" Bell was left bewildered by this statement, his mind a complete blank.

But the monsters gave him no time to think!

The nearest goblin had already raised its claws, its foul, stinking breath washing over him! It was only inches away! Danger was right before his eyes!

Every hair on Bell's body stood on end. Driven entirely by the instinct to survive, he raised his right hand without a second thought!

"Star Bur..." He didn't even realize the words he was shouting.

The moment his arm went up, without any warning, several brilliant, dazzling tiny stars suddenly condensed out of thin air in the center of the small group of charging goblins!

They hovered for a split second, radiating waves of destructive energy—

"—st!"

BOOM—!!!

A massive shockwave of the explosion erupted! The light instantly swallowed the corridor before them!

A piercing roar was accompanied by the shrill screams of the goblins.

The intense light flashed and vanished, and the dust quickly dissipated. The passage that had been packed with monsters before Bell was now completely empty.

All twenty goblins had vanished entirely, leaving behind only a dozen dim magic stones lying quietly on the ground, coated in dust.

The passage returned to silence, as if the surging swarm of goblins had been nothing more than a phantom.

This was the first magic Bell had learned under Thor's influence: Star Burst!