A First Taste of Magic!

…

The hilltop pavilion. That extraordinary violet energy had vanished — blazing brilliantly for just an instant before winking out.

The air hung thick with the smell of something burnt.

The plants nearby bore dark, charred patches.

Two men lay on the ground, still convulsing violently — a sight too wretched to look at. Not a trace remained of the swaggering thugs they'd been moments ago.

The other three had been frightened half out of their minds.

"B-bro — Mo Fan bro — please, considering... considering we all grew up in the same part of town... just... just spare us, we'll — we'll never dare again!!" The cigarette man had lost all composure. To his eyes, this sixteen-year-old boy was more terrifying than any devil from his worst nightmares.

"You... you're a respected Mage... please, you wouldn't lower yourself to our level... we're begging you, don't — don't use your power on us." The denim-jacket man's voice shook as he spoke.

One look at Xu Bing and the muscle man was all it took.

*I want no part of that.*

The white-hot fury that had driven Mo Fan — and fueled Lightning Seal's full Release — settled at last, like embers cooling in his chest.

He glanced at Xu Bing and the muscle man, broken and battered on the ground, then at the other three, frozen in blank terror.

"Get them to a hospital," Mo Fan said. His temper had cooled.

In truth, even Mo Fan hadn't expected Lightning Seal — the Lightning Element's basic-level skill — to hit this hard.

This had been his first true, complete Release. If he'd been more practiced, his aim sharper, his intent cleaner — if he hadn't hesitated for that single fraction of a second and bled off a sliver of power — one strike might have killed all five of them where they stood.

Lucky it hadn't come to that.

If someone had died, things would have gotten very messy.

"Yes! Yes! We're going, we're gone!!" The denim-jacket man looked as though he'd been granted a second life the moment Mo Fan's anger ebbed.

The other two didn't waste a breath. They rushed over to haul the collapsed men off the ground —

— and the moment they made contact, residual electric arcs crawled up their arms. Both men flinched back with a violent shudder.

"Call an ambulance," Mo Fan said coldly. "The medical bills are your problem."

"Right away. Right away."

Mo Fan's anger was gone. What filled its place, barely contained, was a blazing elation.

But he was playing the role of a death god right now. He couldn't let these idiots see how giddy he actually was.

He walked into the pavilion, swept the cards off the wheelchair cushion in one stroke, hoisted the wheelchair onto his shoulder, and headed down the stone steps.

The three men watched him go, still trembling.

Then Mo Fan turned around.

All three stumbled backward in reflex.

"One more thing," Mo Fan said. "If anyone asks, tell them those two got hurt stealing electricity. If a single word gets out about me being a Mage, I'll make sure you stay quiet for the rest of your lives. From what I hear, the police don't exactly lose sleep over mages who accidentally kill someone — especially when the victims were the kind of scum that goes out of their way to pick a fight with one."

The three nodded so fast their heads were practically rattling.

"As for what to tell Zhao Kunsan and Mu Bai — I trust you're not stupid enough to need instructions." Mo Fan turned to leave.

"We... we never saw you."

"Good. Smart." He paused briefly. "Consider this settled. And if you ever find yourself needing something in the future — come find me. You've seen what I can do."

"Yes, yes — take care, Mo Fan bro, please take care now." All three men bowed and scraped, caught somewhere between reverence and raw terror.

Mo Fan gave a single nod and walked on, wheelchair over his shoulder, unhurried.

Hit them hard first, then throw them a scrap of goodwill — Mo Fan was confident these men wouldn't dare make another move, and certainly wouldn't breathe a word of tonight to anyone.

On one side of the equation: a Lightning Mage who could already Release actual skills. On the other: Mu Bai, still fumbling at the apprentice stage with his Ice Element. Any of these men with even half a brain would know which way to lean.

Still, Mo Fan knew these five were just foot soldiers for Mu Bai and Zhao Kunsan.

He'd make those two pay for it.

Halfway down the stone steps, Mo Fan couldn't hold it in anymore. He threw his head back and laughed — loud, free, completely unrestrained.

A few months ago, he'd been just another student in a classroom, glazing over in history class, staring out the window. He'd had idle daydreams back then — sometimes imagining himself rising on a gust of wind, stepping lightly off the school flagpole and soaring away toward the distant blue sky where the back hill met the horizon. Other times he'd imagined facing down some truly infuriating thug, and summoning a strange, unstoppable force in his palm that could simply — flatten them.

Today he'd actually felt it. For real.

Lightning crackling in his hands. Five thugs who, in any ordinary life, he'd never have been able to touch — crumpled before him like five stray dogs. It was a feeling unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Surreal, like something out of a dream.

*Lightning Seal is this powerful — I wonder what the Fire Element's basic-level skill, Fire Burst, can actually do. The annual magic assessment is half a year away. I should have time to learn it before then...*

Mo Fan was buzzing with excitement from head to toe. If Lightning Seal at the basic level was already this ferocious, what were the other elements capable of?

And basic-level skills were the lowest rung on the ladder. After basic came intermediate and advanced!

*Right — the Wind Element teacher mentioned it on the very first day of school: Wind Element's advanced skill, Wings of Wind. A technique that lets you actually fly—*

He didn't even finish the thought. His mind was already racing too far ahead.

He kept walking, but his thoughts wouldn't slow down, rifling through every scrap of magical knowledge he'd picked up, desperate to discover what other jaw-dropping, impossible feats a Mage could pull off beyond Lightning Seal.

On the motionless swing, a girl with straight black hair hanging loose sat with her chin tilted slightly upward, eyes fixed on the small pavilion hidden among the trees.

"That violet light just now was..."

Ye Xinxia murmured under her breath. She had seen it — a dazzling burst of purple, like the blazing tail of a meteor, flaring beside the pavilion before disappearing in an instant. Even now, the image was seared into her mind.

*A Mage?*

She could barely imagine a Mage turning up in a small district like this.

But why would a Mage appear in the exact spot where Mo Fan and those gangsters were? And why use real magic?

*Mo Fan — is he okay?*

Without realizing it, Ye Xinxia was biting her lip.

Then — at last — a familiar figure appeared on the stone path below. He was carrying her wheelchair above him with both hands, and on his face was... a smile. A slightly dazed, utterly blissed-out smile.