Breaking Through

Crack.

Another blinding bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

Amid the curtain of torrential rain, a dark figure hunched over and raced through the downpour across the vast grassland.

His eyes were crimson like a beast's, saliva and snot streaming down his face and mixing with the rain until they were indistinguishable. Faint reddish patterns surfaced over both his hands and feet.

The direction of his frantic sprint was none other than Emerald View Fortress.

"How nostalgic." Lin Sheng pulled the first book he had read when he had first come into contact with magic from the bookshelf.

It was an introductory text on basic energy linguistics.

He still remembered that back in White Rock Woodland, the other apprentices' books had been thumbed to pieces—worn and battered, as though they might fall apart at any moment.

Only his books had remained exactly as they had been when he first bought them. Neat and pristine.

Gently placing the book into the large sack carried by the Invisible Servant behind him, Lin Sheng continued checking what else needed to be packed.

Book after book he had once read, along with the personal items he was accustomed to using, were placed into the large sack.

The sack was like a magic bag that could never be filled. Within it was a folded space roughly the size of a room.

After packing up, Lin Sheng planned to see his family and inform them that he was preparing to move into the mage tower.

He left the study. Outside, the wall lamps in the corridor swayed in the wind, seeming as though they might be blown out by a strong gust at any moment.

Lightning and thunder came in wave after wave, lending the entire castle a faintly grim and icy atmosphere.

Lin Sheng