Surging Magic

Magic Power Surges

On the first day of formal classes, or rather, just after the morning had ended, Pei Renli was already close to collapsing. By the time he finally made it to the cafeteria for lunch, even the hand stuffing bread into his mouth was trembling.

As a modern man who spent all his spare time playing video games, he had thoroughly demonstrated just how severely lacking in exercise he usually was.

Both legs throbbed as if they were cramping, while his arms and shoulders were sore and numb. And the training ahead would only grow more difficult. If he could not endure it now, things would only get worse later.

Right now, all he wanted was to finish eating, hurry back to the dormitory, and lie down. He did not want to move at all. He had even entertained the thought of simply dropping out and being done with it.

Complaining was perfectly normal. People were lazy by nature. Whenever Pei Renli had encountered difficulties growing up, he had always made a tentative effort first. If it did not work, he would find another path and save the nation by a roundabout route. Unless it involved a matter of principle, he rarely faced things head-on.

But this time, he could not.

The threat of the Demon King Arena left Pei Renli no choice. No matter how much he complained, he had to grit his teeth and keep going.

He remembered that his last trip to the Demon King Arena had been "Beginner." If there was a beginner level, then there had to be intermediate and advanced levels. Whether he could survive the next time could not depend entirely on luck, that intangible, untouchable variable beyond his control.

The stronger he became, the less he would have to rely on luck, and the smaller the influence of uncontrollable factors would become.

There might be shortcuts on the road to success, but there was no success without effort. Success like that was a castle in the air, ready to collapse at the lightest touch.

Speaking of shortcuts, Pei Renli had a "golden finger." At the very least, it could make things easier.

That was true enough. The Demon King System could exchange reputation for abilities and items. He did not have much reputation right now and could not exchange it for anything, but there was no harm in looking.

Abilities such as "Stamina Increase" and "Strength Increase" would make things much easier for him. There were also what looked like superpowers, such as "Flame Mastery" and "Whirlwind Generation," which could greatly increase his combat strength the moment he acquired them. There were even some things whose names sounded rather like Stands and were a little hard to make sense of.

Yet leaving aside the fact that he lacked the reputation, even if he could exchange for them, how to use those abilities after acquiring them was another major problem.

It was like handing an ordinary person a sniper rifle. Would fiddling with it a couple of times turn them into a crack shot who could pierce a willow leaf from a hundred paces away?

Right now, he was a genuine weakling, terrible in every respect. Forget anything else—during practical combat training, his first reflex upon facing an opponent's attack was to squeeze his eyes shut. That alone was already a huge problem.

He needed fundamentals, experience, and skill. The adventurer training school happened to teach precisely those things, so no matter how difficult it was, he had to persevere.

Then again, gaining reputation essentially meant making a big splash. Pei Renli had already proven that.

So, what was the fastest way to gain reputation?

As the saying went, good deeds never leave the house, while bad deeds travel a thousand miles. Murder, arson, and terrorizing others were shortcuts to gaining reputation—fast and plentiful. And Pei Renli did not even need to deliberately leave his name behind. Lavna had said that as long as more and more people knew of and talked about Pei Renli's deeds or name, he would gain more reputation.

But even if Pei Renli, who had been a law-abiding citizen all his life, could make a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in personality and commit evil without any psychological burden, it would not be without risk.

Walk by the river often enough, and how could your shoes stay dry?

He might succeed once or twice, but over time, he would inevitably let something slip.

A Demon King who gained power by creating hatred and fear would ultimately be swallowed by hatred and fear, just as Shakespeare had written.

These violent delights have violent ends.

That was also one reason Pei Renli always felt the Demon King System was no good. To survive the Demon King Arena, he needed to rapidly improve his strength, and the simplest way was to gain reputation. How could a system that tried to lead people down a crooked path possibly be anything good?

Pei Renli knew perfectly well that Demon Kings were villainous final bosses, but Demon King was merely a title. He did not want to act according to ideals imposed on him by others. He had his own will and his own thoughts.

That did not mean he would not use exchange abilities. It only meant that, when it came to what to use and how to use it, he did not want to be led around by the nose.

If the Demon King System had a friend function, things would be much more convenient. At least then he could talk to Philfi, whom he had met last time. That would be better than fighting alone.

Then again, although Pei Renli had made up his mind, what he was undergoing now was only basic training. Whether he could keep up with the training programs to come...

In any case, when he returned to the dormitory, he should ask Lavna whether she had any herbs or something that could ease muscle soreness. At this rate, Pei Renli might not even be able to get out of bed in two days.

The only good news was that the afternoon class would not require any physical exertion, and it covered what he had been looking forward to most.

—Magic.

Ever since Pei Renli's first day in this world, he had heard the word magic from Lavna. He had long admired it, but Lavna had no way to teach others, leaving him without a chance to glimpse its true form.

Interest was the best teacher. The morning had put Pei Renli through the wringer, but after lunch, he forced himself to muster one hundred percent of his focus and returned to the classroom early to wait.

And Pei Renli was not the only one interested. He had heard that people who could use magic were relatively rare, and most people cared deeply about whether they too could master such supernatural power. So it was not only Pei Renli who was eagerly anticipating the lesson—most of the sixty-odd people in the class radiated expectation.

The spring afternoon sunlight was warm without being harsh, and it made those who had just eaten feel drowsy. Pei Renli had also been thoroughly worked over that morning. Sitting by the window, he soon found it difficult to keep his eyes open.

"Such enthusiasm? I thought having ten or so people would already be pretty good."

Just as Pei Renli was struggling against the sandman, those words jolted him instantly awake.

It was the same scantily dressed female teacher he had seen during enrollment yesterday. He remembered that she had said she was responsible for all classes related to magic.

After all, the school had declined by now, and the number of teachers had greatly decreased. It was not strange for one person to hold several positions.

She seemed somewhat disappointed to see that every seat was occupied, but she said no more. Instead, she placed her notes on the lectern and went straight to the point.

"Magic is generally considered a miracle brought about through magical power, but that definition is not accurate. There are many types of magic, and they differ greatly both in principle and in the attributes of their power..."

Pei Renli had thought this class would start by teaching them magic, but who knew the teacher would begin directly with definitions? It was not entirely useless, but this was not what he had been expecting.

Pei Renli was not the only disappointed one. After listening for a while, the others also began to look blank and drowsy.

She went through all sorts of material for more than twenty minutes. By then, the atmosphere in the classroom was much like the dead of night. The only mildly stimulating thing was that the female teacher's outfit made many of the young men swallow hard...

"Looks like none of you are very interested in the principles. That's fine. I know what you're thinking."

Those words instantly revived the spirits of the silent crowd.

She pulled out a wooden box the size of an eyeglass case from beneath the lectern, painted black, opened it, dipped a finger inside, and held up her fingertip for everyone to see.

Inside was a blue powder, more like powdered pigment, which had stained her finger a grayish blue.

"In the past, the greatest obstacle to learning magic was figuring out how to sense magical power. That usually took anywhere from several weeks to several months. But now, with this guiding powder, the time needed to sense magical power can be greatly reduced."

As she spoke, she handed the wooden box to Kamil, the handsome blond man in the front row, signaling for him to dab some on his finger and pass it back through the seats.

Before long, one finger of everyone in the class had turned grayish blue.

"Simply applying the powder to your fingertips won't let you clearly sense magical power. Usually, you only feel something while casting a spell, so I'll teach you a very simple little spell."

She turned and drew a circle on the blackboard. It was not even round, just a very rough sketch.

"Rune magic is best for testing whether you have the ability to cast spells. Like this."

Her finger turned, tracing a circle through the air. Perhaps because her fingertip was coated in blue powder, its path left behind a sparkling pattern in the air, similar to the circle on the blackboard.

The irregular circle, like a 3D projection floating in midair, lasted only an instant before transforming into a sphere that glimmered with soft light, quietly hovering in the air.

"This is the Light spell, one of the most basic spells. In many places, it can barely even be considered magic. You can give it a try."

That immediately piqued the whole class's interest. They all copied the teacher's motions, drawing a tiger by following the outline of a cat. Alton, the halfling seated in front of Pei Renli, was especially enthusiastic—he was practically waving his finger like a propeller. If he spun it any faster, he might just take off...

But...

Was it really this simple?

Magic felt somehow different from what he had expected.

Pei Renli used his blue-powder-coated finger to draw a circle in the air. Sure enough, nothing happened.

Could this all be a scam? Or did he need to try a few more times?

Like idly playing with his fingers, he turned them in circles several more times, half-believing and half-doubting.

Then, all of a sudden, he felt dizzy. For one brief moment, he thought he was about to "transmigrate" again.

—Of course, it might also have been because he had been drilled too hard that morning.

The mild dizziness made him close his eyes involuntarily. As the spinning sensation quickly faded, he experienced something very strange.

It was difficult to put into words. It seemed like a faint sensation of disturbance. To paint a clearer picture, it was like having a mosquito constantly buzzing by your ear, accompanied by a sensation of flow, as though he could feel the blood in his body moving through his veins.

The rather marvelous sensation had come on suddenly, but it did not seem harmful.

He opened his eyes in puzzlement and saw a ball of pure white light, the size of a billiard ball, quietly hovering before him.

Turning to look at the others, he saw only seven or eight scattered light spheres in the entire classroom besides his own. Most people had collapsed over their desks, looking utterly exhausted, while only a few were still persevering.

At that moment, the teacher said, "All of you who succeeded, if you wish to walk the path of a spellcaster, do your best to remember that feeling from just now. However, I generally do not teach incantations, so if you want to learn, please study on your own in the library."

She tidied up her lecture notes, glanced over the people sprawled on their desks, and nodded in satisfaction.

"The result of insisting on trying despite lacking spellcasting ability is a temporary loss of mobility. Congratulations, you've learned the most important lesson of an adventurer's life: when you encounter something you don't understand, especially something related to magic, it's best not to put your hands on it and try it directly."

With that, she slipped away...

Wait, wasn't it still not time for class to end yet?!