With Vereesa

Shane had thought their encounter was merely chance, but the next morning, just as he lay down on a lounge chair to begin his studies, he saw two long, pale legs swaying above his head.

"You're finally awake." The newcomer was Vereesa. "I thought you wouldn't get up until noon. Here, catch."

Several apples flew at Shane's head, only to freeze in midair a meter above him. Shane used Mage Hand to support the apples, then moved them beside the chair.

"If you keep lying on my roof, I wouldn't mind casting an updraft," Shane shot back.

"Pervert!" Vereesa flipped down, covering her ranger skirt with one hand.

"Fine, why are you here?" Shane withdrew his gaze.

"Idiot, I'm a Windrunner. I can go wherever I want."

"Then please, Miss Windrunner, go wherever you want right now." Shane pointed toward the nursery gate.

"As if. When I went back yesterday, everyone asked where I'd been that evening. I said I'd had my fill at the Dawnblade nursery. Everyone praised me for doing well, so..."

"So you came again today!"

Shane did not truly want to drive Vereesa away. He merely wanted to tease her a little.

"I know you're a mage. You don't need to mind me later; I'll wander around nearby by myself."

From the look of things, Vereesa would entertain herself, so Shane remained in his chair and began the day's studies. Spells were wondrous things, displaying supernatural power according to certain rules. Yet Shane did not understand those rules. At one point, he had even believed that mages were merely the batteries and output terminals of those rules. It was not until he began studying third-circle spells that he

realized how young and naive he had been. Spells were profound, beyond expression through language.

He opened a book titled <A Branch Method for Applying Time-Reversal Travel Theory to Precise Magical Practice>. The book had spread from Dalaran, and its author was Dalaran's genius mage Antonidas. It was said that Antonidas had been only twelve when he wrote the thesis. Shane could not help marveling at the man's extraordinary imagination and admitting that he could not compare.

"Perhaps I could write <On the Mass-Energy Conversion Phenomena Produced by High-Speed Collisions of Microscopic Particles and Methods of Observation and Analysis>, earn some recognition, and enter Dalaran's Kirin Tor High

Level Research and Enlightenment Academy."

That was merely a joke Shane made to himself. His studies for the day were rather demanding, and he had no time to relax. His first mentor had come up with a training method for his mana overflow problem. The method had arrived by mail two days ago.

My student Shane:

I have thought of a method. If you can complete it, the mass of arcane fire above your head will decrease considerably. Create a magic sphere combining arcane energy, fire, and water, then strive to maintain the overall balance while they annihilate one another. If you can persist over time, even I cannot imagine what you may achieve.

Your teacher, Sandro.

There was a saying among mages: every apprentice was their mentor's experimental tool.

Shane did not want to blow up his own house, so he had chosen the nursery as his training ground. In any case, most of the plants belonged to the Dawnblades.

Everything was difficult at the beginning. Creating three spheres of energy at once was already challenging enough; merging them was even harder. Three ping-pong-ball-sized spheres spun in circles above his palm, slowly drawing closer toward the center. When their edges began to touch, the energies started annihilating each other. Shane carefully adjusted the energy output, striving to bring them into balance. Yet the usual result was that one type of energy was destroyed by the other two, after which the surviving pair continued annihilating each other until only a single-energy sphere remained.

Success could not be achieved overnight. Shane could imagine that without long-term, accumulated training, the method his mentor envisioned could never succeed.

On another attempt, Shane shrank the spheres to the size of his thumb. Both the consumption and difficulty of control were objectively reduced, but they annihilated each other faster as well.

Failure—again—failure—continue. Before he knew it, he had tried many times, and beads of sweat the size of beans formed on Shane's forehead.

"It's time to stop." Shane dismissed the spell and leaned back in the lounge chair to rest, only to see two long, pale legs swaying overhead again. "Windrunner..."

"Hey!" Several more apples flew at Shane. This time, he did not have the strength to lift them with magic.

"The Dawnblades aren't as boring as the rumors say. If that spell you were casting succeeded, I think it'd make quite a big bomb." High elves were naturally attuned to arcane magic. "What would you use it for once it succeeded? Blow up the lighthouse at Sun Sail Harbor? Or overturn the fishing grounds to the east?"

"Windrunner..." Both of those were Dawnblade property, leaving Shane speechless. "If I were going to blow something up, I'd blow up that green-sailed ship at the docks."

"That's my family's property!"

"I know it belongs to the Windrunners. That's why I'd blow it up!"

"You Dawnblades really are stingy."

Shane did not want to say anything more. This concerned the traditions of their two families. The Dawnblades were rigorous and old-fashioned; the Windrunners were lively and adaptable.

The two families really are fundamentally incompatible, Shane grumbled inwardly.

When Vereesa saw that Shane had fallen silent, she seemed to think she had won. Satisfied, she jumped down and said matter-of-factly, "Dawnblade with fire above his head, I'm hungry. Hurry up and cook. I want that apple pie from yesterday."

So that was why she had brought so many apples?

"Uh... can I rest for a while?" It seemed he could not refuse this young lady.

"Of course!"

A little later, in the kitchen, Mage Hand controlled the knives and plates, swiftly cleaning the apples. With a casual flick, Shane conjured a flame to ignite the oven. Flour leaped from its bag like a fountain, accumulating in the mixing bowl in the proper amount. Fresh water flowed from between his fingers into the bowl, while Mage Hand used a wooden stick to mix it all together... Finally, the large

baking tray flew into the oven.

Afterward, Vereesa expressed her astonishment, saying it was the first time she had seen anyone use spells as Shane did.

"The fundamental purpose of magic is to serve people. My mana control used to be poor, so I trained hard in this area. That's why it looks like this now." Shane was slightly proud. Years of effort had allowed him to surpass many mages of his generation in certain respects. He still suffered from mana overflow now, but the root cause was no longer a matter of control.

"Have you trained for a long time?" Vereesa asked.

"A long time."

"Every day?"

"Every day."

"You really are different from other high elves."

Shane saw the young lady's eyes light up. He knew why Vereesa said that: he was more diligent than most high elves. Their long lives gave high elves ample time for anything they wished to do, so they rarely felt any urgency. Shane, on the other hand, retained a habit from his previous life: focus.

"So what do you plan to do next? Bury your head in spells? Hahaha, you don't have to tell me. One of us is a Windrunner, and the other is a Dawnblade." Vereesa seemed genuinely interested now.

"I plan to record the experimental process and my insights. Once it's mature, I'll compile it into a volume and send it to my mentor. Perhaps I'll have a chance to enter the library administration of Sun Sail Harbor: the Arcane Brotherhood."

"I see, that's a very good idea. Eh~~~~! You—you—why would you tell me? I'm a Windrunner!" The young lady's eyes widened.

"Because I think you're trustworthy."

The atmosphere during the meal that followed became subtle. Neither of them spoke, while Vereesa quickly stuffed the food from her plate into her mouth.

"You Dawnblade, you always say things people can't understand." With that, she ran away as though fleeing.

After cleaning up, Shane began recording his thoughts from the morning. For a mage, the greatest gains were the experience accumulated during research and the understanding gained from exploring the essence of magic. Perhaps he would obtain the greatest reward before this training method was even completed.

He now thirsted for power, and he became even more focused during his practice.