Water and Fire Repelling Spell

"Sectumsempra!"

Jerry flicked his wand at the apple on the coffee table.

An invisible blade shot from the wand, instantly gouging a notch into the cup to the apple's right.

"My accuracy still needs work!"

Jerry looked at the untouched apple, then at the cup beside it, and shook his head helplessly.

After continuous practice, he could now successfully cast Sectumsempra. However, due to his current magical ability, its power was not particularly great.

So if he wanted Sectumsempra to unleash greater killing power in a short time, he had to practice more and improve his accuracy from another angle.

A slash to the thigh and a slash to the neck, even with the same amount of force, caused completely different levels of damage.

He needed the invisible blades unleashed by Sectumsempra to strike wherever he aimed. Ideally, if a fly passed by, his invisible blade could precisely slice off its wings.

Of course, that required time and a great deal of long-term practice.

"Reparo!"

He cast a Mending Charm on the cup beside the apple, restoring it to its original state, then began practicing Sectumsempra again.

However, just as his control over Sectumsempra was becoming increasingly precise, a string of fire engine sirens suddenly sounded outside.

"So many?"

Sensing at least three or four fire engines speeding along the main road outside the residential complex, Jerry thought for a moment, then immediately grabbed a guitar case from his room and rushed out.

A fire—there might be many people trapped. If he saved them, he should earn quite a few Little Red Stars.

An abandoned warehouse.

Jerry quickly took the Wizard Suit from the guitar case and put it on. Then he chanted an incantation at the flying broom he had taken out, mounted it, and shot out of the warehouse.

"Over there!"

Flying high in the sky, Jerry quickly spotted the seven or eight fire engines speeding down the street. He accelerated the broom and followed closely behind them.

"Oh God, what is that?"

"Mom, look, someone's flying!"

"This world is insane. Someone is actually flying on a broom!"

The citizens drawn out by the fire engine sirens also noticed Jerry flying not far above the emergency vehicles, and cries of astonishment erupted everywhere.

Jerry had previously acted only at night, so the only people who had seen traces of him were those near crime scenes or police officers reviewing surveillance footage afterward.

Thus, although most people had heard of a figure called the "Wizard," they had never actually seen him. Many of them did not truly believe in him, either.

After all, everyone knew that many media outlets loved exaggerating facts for attention. Wizards and magic were probably just some skilled magician using sleight of hand.

Magician David Copperfield had performed flying-related tricks before, hadn't he?

But today, in broad daylight, they had truly seen a person dressed as a wizard flying through the sky on a broom that did not appear to contain any advanced technology whatsoever. It was still deeply shocking.

That speed did not look like a magic trick!

Jerry glanced down at the stunned crowd on the street below and paid them no mind.

It was only a matter of time before the public learned about him. He had long been mentally prepared for it.

What mattered was earning more Little Red Stars and rapidly increasing his strength. As long as his strength improved, nothing else would be a problem.

He was not one of those real Super Heroes, always burdened with this concern or that.

Of course, it was still better to maintain a positive public image whenever possible. Otherwise, if he were treated as some great villain and ganged up on by other Super Heroes, that would be troublesome.

To put it more plainly, at least on the surface, he had to stand on the moral high ground. That was safer.

For something like today's fire rescue, being a little high-profile had its benefits.

With that in mind, Jerry deliberately lowered his altitude and gave the stunned New York City citizens by the roadside a friendly wave.

After flying for about ten minutes, Jerry finally saw the thick smoke rising in the distance. He immediately climbed higher and accelerated, cutting directly through the air toward the source of the smoke.

The Cleansweep Three's top speed was sixty miles per hour, roughly one hundred kilometers per hour. Taking a shortcut through the air, he quickly left the fire engines behind.

Two minutes later, Jerry finally arrived at the scene of the fire.

A six-story building along the street had caught fire for some unknown reason. Patrol officers had already arrived ahead of time to maintain order, while several reporters with cameras were broadcasting live.

Among them, Jerry saw an acquaintance: Lucy, the reporter who had previously liked to stake out spots to photograph him.

Lucy was a relatively unknown junior reporter. Because Jerry had expanded the range of places where he earned Little Red Stars recently, her stakeout plan had gradually fallen apart.

Earlier that day, she had been assigned to conduct a live interview at a street-side hamburger shop. Who would have thought that halfway through the assignment, she would unexpectedly encounter a fire nearby?

So she immediately grabbed the cameraman and rushed to the fire scene, beginning a live broadcast.

"This is Oak Street, and I'm your favorite Lucy. A fire just broke out here unexpectedly. Based on the current situation, it appears to have started on the second floor, and the flames have already reached the fifth floor.

"While some residents were fortunate enough to escape, quite a few are still trapped inside the building. The fire department has not yet arrived, and the situation is extremely urgent!"

"Oh God, there seems to be someone in the sky!"

Lucy, who was energetically reporting to the camera, heard gasps from the onlookers nearby and immediately looked up.

A small figure in a Wizard Robe was floating above their heads on a broomstick, appearing there at some unknown time.

"Quick, point the camera at that kid! He's the Wizard I've been looking for all this time!"

Lucy's eyes lit up, and she immediately shouted at the cameraman.

The cameraman reacted quickly as well. He raised the camera and aimed it at Jerry in the sky.

Jerry, meanwhile, did not waste any time. He swiftly drew his wand from his robes and first cast a Water and Fire Repelling Spell on himself.

This was a relatively ancient spell he had learned earlier from Guide to Medieval Wizardry.

Its main purpose was to keep one from getting soaked by rain and from being burned by ordinary flames.

According to the book, many medieval wizards would cast this spell on themselves when captured by Muggles and sentenced to be burned at the stake, preventing themselves from being burned to death.

With the Water and Fire Repelling Spell in place, Jerry accelerated and rode his flying broom straight into the blazing fourth floor.

Judging by the fire on the second and third floors, anyone who could escape had certainly already done so. Those who could not had probably been burned to death, and entering now would only mean finding corpses.

Only the people on the fourth and fifth floors might still be saved.