Instant Casting

Instant Casting

"Ah." Du Wei nodded, coming back to his senses. "Then find her a room and let her take it off herself." Du Wei smiled at the long-legged girl. "Don't get me wrong. I'm just interested in your leather armor."

"You damned brat! If you dare touch me, I'll make you..." the girl cursed.

Du Wei walked up to her with a stern expression and generously held out one finger, poking her hard in the face. "Oh, I touched you. What are you going to do about it?"

The others were all tied up with ropes. As for the Bull Warrior, two knights had somehow found chains for tying livestock and used them to lock him up.

As for the long-legged girl, the Rowling Family guards knocked her out and tossed her directly into Du Wei's room. Since their young master seemed rather interested in the girl, why wouldn't his subordinates seize such a chance to curry favor with him?

Ignoring his subordinates' sordid thoughts, Du Wei turned his attention to thoroughly examining the mage alone.

The mage, stripped of his gray robe and left standing before Du Wei in only his underclothes, had his hands and feet bound with rope. At first, he tried to threaten the young noble. "You dare treat a mage like this? Aren't you afraid of offending the Magic Association?"

His answer was a slap across the face. That slap immediately made the mage obediently shut his mouth.

Du Wei rubbed his aching hand. This body of his was still far too weak.

"If you answer a few questions obediently, I'll consider letting you go." Du Wei sat in a chair, looking at the mage tied up like a dumpling before him. "When you cast those Fireballs just now, I didn't see you chant any spells. Have you mastered the technique of Instant Casting?"

This was what made Du Wei the most curious!

Mages had to chant spells to cast magic. That was common knowledge according to every book Du Wei had read.

Although a few exceptional, top-tier mages in this world had mastered a method of using their minds to activate spells, silently reciting them within their hearts without speaking aloud—this technique was the legendary Instant Casting. But such an advanced technique required immensely powerful mental strength, as well as an extremely precise grasp and understanding of magical techniques!

Those capable of doing it were practically all famous grand mages of the continent. There was absolutely no way a mere Level-One Mage, the lowest rank, could have mastered Instant Casting.

Of course, aside from accomplishing Instant Casting through one's own abilities, there were other ways to achieve it. The most widely recognized method was through Magic Scrolls.

A Magic Scroll was a scroll inscribed with a spell in advance. When a mage entered battle, they only needed to toss it out to instantly trigger the magic stored inside.

However, Magic Scrolls were also precious consumable items. The higher the spell's rank, the harder it was to turn into a scroll! At present, the spells most commonly made into Magic Scrolls were only low-level ones. Scrolls containing intermediate spells were already rare treasures! As for certain high-level spells, it was hardly ever heard of that they could be made into scrolls at all.

That was why Du Wei had become so interested in this little Level-One Mage! During the battle just now, he had cast spells without chanting at all. It looked just like the legendary Instant Casting!

Though the spells he had cast instantly were only the most basic Fireballs.

Basically, mages in this world had strictly defined ranks. The most obvious distinctions were the strength of their magical power and their mastery of magical techniques.

Among them, the use of spells was an even more important standard for judging a mage's skill!

Casting magic required chanting spells. That was accepted common knowledge. Yet even when using the same spell, different mages could produce different results. Some highly skilled mages had developed different ways to use certain spells, allowing them to rapidly recite those obscure and tongue-twisting incantations in special ways. Even shortening one or two syllables could let them cast a spell ahead of their enemy in battle, giving them the initiative!

The results of research into magical incantations were often a mage's greatest secret, something they would never casually teach to others. Otherwise, they would lose their advantage.

As for Instant Casting... it was something any mage would go mad over, or sacrifice everything to pursue!

Du Wei was no fool. He did not truly believe that this mere Level-One Mage, only a tiny step above a magic apprentice, had genuinely mastered Instant Casting. His guess was that this man had probably grasped some method similar to Instant Casting, or a substitute method that approximated it!

Otherwise, if the mage before him were truly an expert capable of Instant Casting, he would not have ended up tied like a dumpling. The side that should have suffered a crushing defeat in that battle would have been Du Wei's.

This guy definitely had some little secret! That was what interested Du Wei!

Faced with Du Wei's question, the mage's expression turned ugly. His eyes darted about, and he kept his mouth tightly shut.

Du Wei curled his lips. He had never expected the other party to obediently reveal his secret right away.

They were in the kitchen behind the inn. In any case, only the two of them were here now, and Du Wei had plenty of time to wear him down.

He first began carefully examining the spoils taken from the mage.

There was a mage's robe. Du Wei took one look at it and simply tossed it into the nearby stove. The robe burst into flames and was burned as firewood. However, Du Wei played with the Silver Leaf Badge for a while before tossing it into the stove as well. This badge was the certification mark issued by the Magic Association to legitimate mages... and in Du Wei's eyes, as someone from another world, it possessed another special quality: it was theft-proof and loss-proof!

This badge had been magically authenticated by the Magic Association. Only the mage who owned it could wear it, and it could not remain more than a certain distance from that mage's body. Otherwise, it would automatically melt away. It also emitted a faint magical fluctuation imprinted upon it, serving as an anti-counterfeiting mark that made it difficult for ordinary people to forge one and impersonate a mage.

So, the badge was useless to Du Wei. Still, as he watched it get tossed into the stove, the mage tied up like a dumpling showed a pained expression.

"You see, I actually don't mean you any harm." Du Wei smiled, a devilish smile on his young, pale face. "I'm merely a youth very interested in magic. If you answer a few questions, I can let you go."

The mage still said nothing.

Du Wei could only continue examining the spoils.

There was a small bundle, also searched out from beneath the mage's robe. When he emptied it out, several gems of varying quality fell out. To ordinary people, they were all treasures, but to a mage, they were merely tools for storing magical power. Du Wei glanced at them and unceremoniously pocketed them.

There were also two sheets of parchment, recording several low-level magical incantations. Du Wei's eyes immediately lit up when he saw them!

Although he had read many books on magical knowledge... because of the strict rules surrounding mages, no genuine magical incantations could ever be recorded in books! Books contained only theoretical knowledge about magic, not even a single real spell, no matter how basic!

Not even the incantation for the lowest-level Fireball could be found in them!

In other words, anyone could read books and learn about magic, but no one could become a mage merely through reading.

Take Du Wei, for example. He now possessed plenty of theoretical knowledge and common sense regarding magic, but he did not know a single incantation.

All of this upheld the ancient tradition of magical inheritance: a mage could only pass on their knowledge by personally teaching a disciple. It could never be publicly spread!

It's somewhat like gun control in that world, Du Wei thought. In that world, everyone could go online or read books to learn about the features, models, and principles of many weapons and firearms, but no one could make a real gun from scratch with their bare hands.

"Oh, what's this?"

After taking stock of the spoils, several transparent little bottles remained before him. Their mouths were sealed, and they contained powders of various colors.

Du Wei did not dare open them blindly. The things mages carried on them were likely dangerous! Perhaps one of those bottles contained something that could turn people to stone!

"It seems my guess was right." Du Wei sat up straight and smiled at his captive. "Your true strength isn't great. You're a low-level Level-One Mage. There's no doubt about that. The Instant Casting technique you displayed during the battle was probably some opportunistic substitute method... right? Now I'll give you two choices. Either you obediently tell me and satisfy my curiosity, and I'll let you go. Or... you'll suffer a little."

The mage still tried to play tricks. "You're a noble! Don't you think treating a mage this way is beneath your status?"

Du Wei said nothing.

A noble? So what?

In truth, Du Wei had always felt somewhat indifferent about inexplicably arriving in this world. In this completely unfamiliar world, he felt that his life had no goal at all! Having lost everything from his original world—his dreams, friendship, family, love, everything in his former life...

He had come to a completely unfamiliar world, and it had been an almost brutal severance! Over the past few years, Du Wei had lived in a muddle, unable to find even the slightest purpose in life.

Now, in this unfamiliar world, the only thing that could stir even a trace of interest in him was the field of magic.

As for everything else... Du Wei simply did not care!

And whether it was moral to order his subordinates to attack these strangers in an inn just to satisfy his curiosity about magic? Du Wei cared even less!

Whether he was Du Wei Roland or the person from his previous life... he had never been a good person.

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