Chapter 1

He opened his eyes and rose from his cross-legged position.

He loosely clasped his hands before him, and a barrier with a faint golden sheen silently appeared in the air, its outline steady and its edges rippling with light.

It worked.

The breath he had held in his chest for two days finally escaped slowly.

This was not the world he knew.

Two days ago, when he realized where he was, a chill had crawled up his spine.

Marvel—just the word itself meant endless danger and chaos.

Being able to settle down in Kamar-Taj and become an apprentice here was probably a blessing amid misfortune.

Kamar-Taj.

The holy ground of sorcerers, guarded by the legendary Sorcerer Supreme, The Ancient One.

Its entrance was hidden deep within some street or alley in Kathmandu, Nepal, forever beyond the sight of ordinary eyes.

He was one of the few who had been recognized and allowed to enter this hidden place.

Their daily lessons were overseen by a sorcerer named Kamidar.

This sorcerer was stern-faced and calm-eyed, widely acknowledged as one of the veterans here.

Though Kamar-Taj had no rigid ranks or titles, apprentices still privately distinguished between novices, veterans, and beings of even higher standing according to the depth and control of their spiritual power.

Just now, the shield condensed from spatial energy had finally reached its complete form under his continuous guidance and absorption.

It no longer needed deliberate maintenance, as though it had become an extension of his limbs, summonable with the slightest movement of thought.

A solid sense of security replaced the confusion he had felt upon arriving.

He stared at the barrier he had mastered, his fingertips lightly brushing across its invisible surface. It felt cool and resilient.

Outside the window came the faint clamor of Kathmandu's distant streets, mingled with the bitter fragrance of some unknown plant in the courtyard.

The dangerous world was still outside the door, but at least now, he held something that could protect himself.

There was no position of Sorcerer Supreme within Kamar-Taj's sorcerer hierarchy.

There were only a handful of people who could be called mentors, with Wong and Mordo among them.

There were more than a thousand magic apprentices. His luck had not been particularly good; he had not been chosen by any mentor and was eventually assigned to study under the veteran sorcerer Kamidar.

The initial lessons were always the most basic.

The instructors required them to focus their minds, draw energy from the infinite depths of the universe, and form it into a shield.

It sounded simple, but doing it was fraught with obstacles.

At heart, Zhao Yu was someone who believed only in the material world. Asking him to immediately accept laws that defied common sense was truly difficult.

As a result, his progress had been frustratingly slow.

Fortunately, some unique mechanism awakened within him.

Those profound incantations and hand gestures could actually practice and improve themselves within his consciousness.

In only three short days, while the other apprentices were still drawing scattered sparks through the air, a shield shimmering with golden light was already floating steadily before Zhao Yu.

Bzzz—

A metallic hum rippled through the air.

The shield was woven from pure energy, dazzling patterns of light flowing across its surface.

He cautiously touched the ground with its edge, and the hard marble floor immediately burst into spiderweb-like cracks.

"Perhaps I should ask Sorcerer Kamidar to teach me more advanced techniques."

Having grown familiar with summoning, dismissing, and controlling the shield, a surge of heat coursed through his chest.

From this moment onward, he—Zhao Yu—had truly crossed the threshold of becoming a sorcerer.

In this world filled with danger, he finally possessed a little power to preserve himself.

Crash!

The sharp sound of pottery shattering pierced the air behind him.

Zhao Yu turned around and saw his fellow countryman, Xiang Nan, frozen by the doorway, mouth agape and eyes wide.

This young man had arrived three months before him, and because they came from the same homeland, he was usually the closest to Zhao Yu.

Kamar-Taj covered a vast area. To ensure privacy during cultivation, every apprentice had ** residence.

Xiang Nan's room was behind the door next to his.

Teapot fragments lay scattered across the bluestone floor, mixed with dark brown powder and several undissolved salt crystals.

Zhao Yu's gaze swept over the mess before finally landing on Xiang Nan's flushed face.

Without betraying any emotion, he stepped half a pace back. His robe sleeve brushed over the tabletop, stirring a faintly cool current of air.

"Senior Brother, what brings you here today?"

he asked, his voice as steady as if he had not seen the mess on the floor.

But Xiang Nan's gaze remained nailed to him, as if the fleeting pale golden glow from moments ago were still swaying before his eyes.

His Adam's apple bobbed several times before he found his voice. "I... I mixed a new tea blend and wanted you to taste it."

Despite saying that, his hands were empty. Clearly, tea had long ceased to occupy his thoughts.

He pressed forward a step, his fingers unconsciously curling and opening. "But that's not important! Junior Brother, just now, did you—"

Zhao Yu sidestepped the hand reaching for him, moving as lightly as a leaf blown aside by the wind. "Senior Brother,"

he said with a touch of carefully measured helplessness, "just speak properly. Why are you reaching out?"

Xiang Nan sucked in a sharp breath, as though he wanted to swallow all the air in the room.

His chest heaved, and at last he roared out the rest of his words. "You learned the Magic Shield! Three days! You only used three days!"

The sound waves made the window lattice hum, and the thin dust gathered along the eaves fell in soft showers.

"I learned it."

Zhao Yu lowered his eyes and nudged a shard of porcelain aside with the tip of his shoe. "Is that really worth making such a fuss over?"

"Making a fuss?"

Xiang Nan nearly jumped up, his voice rising another notch and painfully piercing the ears. "You call this making a fuss? Junior Brother, do you know what three days means? If those people who spent three months or three years in the library heard you say that—"

Zhao Yu raised a hand, stopping him from continuing.

A bird flashed past outside the window, casting a fleeting shadow.

He recalled the runes that had flowed through the depths of his consciousness. They had combined and broken apart on their own like living things. What the system provided was less a path than a key—and every ounce of force needed to turn that lock had still been spent by him.

For seventy-two full hours, he had traced them again and again, watched them collapse, then gathered them once more, until that thin layer of light finally obediently surfaced over his skin.

Compared to the geniuses in certain legends who could pierce through space in an instant, this was hardly anything worth boasting about.

"It means I still have much to learn."

That was what he finally said as he bent down to pick up the largest fragment of the teapot.

The glaze felt icy against his fingertips, and the broken edge was sharp.

He suddenly remembered that this pot had been fired in early spring last year. Back then, the scent of kiln fire had clung to his clothes for days.

When Zhao Yu placed a hand on Xiang Nan's shoulder, he could feel the tense muscles beneath the cloth trembling slightly.

This senior brother's breathing was fast and heavy, as if he had just finished running a long mountain road. The rims of his eyes were even somewhat red.

"Calm down, Senior Brother."

Zhao Yu kept his voice low, deliberately steady. "Catch your breath first, then we can talk."

"How can I calm down?!"

Xiang Nan violently shook off his hand, but his voice cracked, scraping like a blunt blade across rough pottery. "Do you know—even Kaecilius, that Kaecilius everyone says has unparalleled talent! How long did it take him to master the most basic Magic Shield?"

He held up two fingers, then abruptly spread all five, repeatedly gesturing in the air.

"Fifteen days! Fifteen whole days and nights!"

Every word seemed forced from his throat, burning hot. "But what about you? How long have you even studied it? Half a day? A few hours?"

Before he could finish, he seized Zhao Yu's wrist again, gripping so hard that his knuckles turned white.

Though his flushed face was filled with excitement, his eyes shone brilliantly, a mixture of disbelief and blazing delight.

"Do you understand what this means, Junior Brother?"

His voice suddenly dropped low, yet it could not stop trembling. "You... you're a monster, the kind you only encounter once in a hundred years!"

After the shock passed, another emotion swiftly overwhelmed Xiang Nan.

He released Zhao Yu's hand and staggered half a step back, but his eyes remained fixed on Zhao Yu's face, as though he were truly seeing this young man from his homeland for the first time.

The roiling heat in his chest gradually melted away, turning into something heavy that almost made him break into a grin.

He had come from a remote little town, with an almost stubborn attachment to his homeland and fellow countrymen engraved into his blood.

And now, that attachment had borne such astonishing fruit.

"Listen, you need to go now,"

Xiang Nan spoke rapidly again, with an urgency that allowed no argument. "Go find Master Kamidar and tell him everything exactly as it happened.

You deserve the best resources and the most meticulous guidance... perhaps even the Sorcerer Supreme might notice you!"

When he mentioned that name, his voice was full of reverence.

Though that supreme being possessed unfathomable power, in the stories passed among ordinary sorcerers, she was always gentle and clear-minded.

She remembered many faces and names. If a dazzling new star truly rose, perhaps she really would lower her gaze to look upon him.

Zhao Yu nodded, showing that he had taken the advice to heart.

Yet there was no great urgency on his face. Instead, he turned slightly and looked toward another corner of the room.

"Senior Brother,"

he reminded him casually, "your teapot, and all that spice powder you collected, are still scattered on the floor."

The words were like a basin of cold water, instantly freezing Xiang Nan in place.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling onto the mess—the beloved clay pot lay crookedly to one side, a chip missing from its spout. Fine powders of various colors carpeted the surrounding floor, while the air still held the complex, slightly spicy scent of several blended seasonings.

He opened his mouth and let out a brief, frustrated gasp.

Xiang Nan's scream nearly tore the roof off.

That teapot—the teapot for which he had asked someone to bring materials back from afar, then spent three full months firing with his own hands—had now shattered into porcelain fragments of varying sizes across the floor.

The materials were strewn everywhere, mixed with spilled tea that spread dark stains across the stone slabs.

Zhao Yu stood to one side and said nothing.

He crouched down and began picking up the fragments.

One piece, then another, his fingers carefully avoiding the sharp edges.

Xiang Nan remained where he was, panting heavily, his chest rising and falling as his eyes stayed locked on the mess.

After everything had been cleaned up, the two sat down in the room.

Light slanted in through the wooden window, dust slowly spinning within the beam.

"You need to let Master Kamidar know as soon as possible."

Xiang Nan's voice had calmed, but his tone remained heavy. "Here, people with different talents walk different paths.

The guidance you can receive will be entirely different."

He paused, as if weighing his words. "The Sorcerer Supreme's magic is not built up through external things.

It only depends on how much you can comprehend and how long you can persevere.

But whether someone guides you makes the difference between night and day."

He looked at Zhao Yu. "No one here will deliberately suppress others and stop them from standing out.

So don't hide it."

Zhao Yu nodded.

He understood what Xiang Nan meant. "I'll go see Master Kamidar later."

Those unpredictable spells that had only ever appeared in rumors flashed through his mind.

A feeling mixed with longing and uncertainty quietly rose within him.

***

He silently recited a phrase in his mind.

A translucent interface immediately unfolded before his eyes, visible only to him.

Several simple lines of information were listed on it:

[Current Status]

Name: Zhao Yu

Eighteen years old

Magic Apprentice

Mastered Spell: Magic Shield (Level One, 23% Progress)

Spell proficiency was generally divided into nine levels.

Even the most basic shield spell could reach unimaginable heights if it was continuously honed.

It was said that a light shield casually formed by the Sorcerer Supreme had once shattered an ancient cursed weapon.

Zhao Yu's gaze lingered on those few lines for a moment before he closed the interface.

The room fell quiet, leaving only the faint shouts from the distant training grounds outside the window.

Zhao Yu's Magic Shield could currently only shatter marble.

Such power might be unimaginable in the eyes of ordinary people.

But among sorcerers—

It was practically not worth mentioning.

"Shield, you need to work harder."

He murmured to himself as though urging some living creature onward.

If it could break through the ninth-level barrier,

then with this shield alone, he might be able to travel the world without fear.

"Your Magic Shield has sensed your expectations. Its cultivation intensity has increased."

"The speed at which cosmic energy is absorbed by the shield is increasing."

"What a diligent defensive spell."