"What the hell?!"
Edwyn drew his greatsword, his breathing shifting into a rhythmic pattern. Behind him, Elia pulled a wand from her pack, magical sparks faintly flashing at its tip.
"Don't attack! It's me, Loken!"
The blood-covered figure wiped his face, revealing the familiar chubby, goofy face.
"Loken? Weren't you with a team? What happened to you?"
Edwyn glanced meaningfully at Elia, who instantly caught on and casually moved over to the luggage to retrieve the fireball staff.
Something was definitely off. Something, or someone, was chasing Loken.
More sounds came from the woods. The noises resembled magical projectiles.
Loken's expression shifted. A flicker of magic surged beneath his boots.
"This is a long story. I'll explain later!"
Then, he bolted into the forest, shouting back: "I've got the goods, split up and run!"
At this point, even if Edwyn were an idiot, he'd realize he had been set up.
"Whoever's out there, I have nothing to do with that guy!"
Edwyn shouted into the forest, as heat surged from his heart, pumping through his veins. His magic drained rapidly as black scales burst forth, covering his entire body in just a few breaths.
Voices rang out from the trees, though not in the Mage's tongue. But then, he heard it.
BZZZT!
A buzzing sound sliced through the air. Without thinking, Edwyn swung his sword, cleaving through a streak of blue energy. But more followed, multiple magic missiles pierced through the robe's forcefield and struck Edwyn's body.
Before undergoing bloodline alchemy, this would've killed him.
Now? Edwyn merely grunted, then yelled:
"Attack!"
Elia raised her staff. Magic surged from her core, through the staff, and erupted into a deadly spell.
An orange-red fireball roared into the trees like a falling meteor, exploding with a thunderous blast.
BOOM!
The fiery shockwave tore through the forest, flinging dirt and debris everywhere. But Edwyn, protected by his scales, barely flinched.
"Did we get them?" Elia asked with a trembling voice.
It was her first time witnessing a fireball spell up close, the searing blaze, the deafening noise, it felt like divine punishment.
The wrath of the gods, descending with thunder and flame.
Fire licked through the woods, a natural consequence of fireball spells.
Edwyn stared hard into the blaze. He had a feeling... someone was still alive.
WHOOOSH!
From within the inferno, a figure stood up, accompanied by a magical gust of wind.
The summoned wind fanned the flames, spreading them across the forest with frightening speed.
Edwyn stepped forward and charged straight into the fire.
Scorching air burned through his lungs like live coals, but he didn't care.
His eyes locked onto the one who had summoned the wind.
Finally, he reached them, a figure burnt beyond recognition, gender unidentifiable. But hatred burned in their eyes as they cast one final spell.
"I'll send that bastard to hell with you…"
Edwyn's sword came down and severed their head.
The gusts died immediately, but the fire had already grown out of control.
"Loken…" Edwyn growled through clenched teeth.
All of this, was because Loken dumped the blame on him before fleeing.
Back at camp, Elia was covering her mouth and nose, trying to escape the smoke.
"Hold onto me," Edwyn said as he scooped her up.
"Okay…"
With her in his arms, he dashed straight through the inferno. Thanks to his powerful physique and scaly armor, Edwyn carved a path through the blazing forest.
"Over here, mage lords!"
A familiar voice called out, Old John, waving from a distance.
Apparently, the old guide hadn't abandoned his clients after all.
They ran to him and found a small river nearby.
"Let's hide in the water for a bit," John said. "This fire'll die out soon."
"Die out? How?" Edwyn stared at the raging blaze. Back in his old world, it would've taken firebreaks and helicopters to put this out.
John chuckled and jumped into the river.
"Guess you haven't learned the rules of the Blackstone Mountains yet."
"We've got a guardian deity here."
Just as he spoke, a roar shook the entire mountain range.
A massive figure soared from deep within the mountains, a beast with three snake-like heads, bat-like wings, and a body covered in thick scales.
"A… a dragon?!" Edwyn stammered.
The creature hovered over the fire and opened all three jaws, each sucking in air with immense force. In seconds, all the fire below turned into three streams of energy, flowing straight into the beast's mouths.
"What… what is it doing?"
John stroked his beard.
"Putting the fire out, obviously. Or as you mages say, it's absorbing the fire element."
"Fire element…" Edwyn muttered in awe.
In the Mage worldview, the universe wasn't made of atoms or quarks, it was made of the four classical elements: earth, wind, water, and fire.
Everything was composed of these elements.
Fire, in their world, was the visible form of fire element, and burning was the release of fire elements from material things.
It took the beast over ten minutes to consume all the flames. Once finished, it flapped its wings and vanished back into the mountains.
"All done," John said. "Let's go back. If we're lucky, the food I roasted might still be edible."
He climbed out of the water, wringing his clothes dry.
"John, can you track people?" Edwyn asked, still holding Elia, his eyes burning with vengeance.
"Track them? Of course! No one can hide from Old John in these woods."
"Good."
Edwyn looked at Elia. Though he'd shielded her, she still had a few minor burns.
"How do you feel?"
Elia rubbed her head. "Thirsty. Are you going to kill that fat bastard?"
"Yes," Edwyn said coldly. "Will you try to stop me?"
"Are you crazy?" Elia rolled her eyes. "After what he did to us, killing him would be a mercy."
"Good."
Edwyn sighed in relief. If Elia had gone soft, he might've lost a friend today.
But there was hatred in Elia's eyes. The fire seemed to have stirred up some dark memories from her entrance exam.
"Bring me with you when you kill him," she said. "I just learned a curse spell. He'll be the perfect target for practice."
"Curse spell?" Edwyn raised an eyebrow.
"Don't get the wrong idea! I'm not going to curse anyone else!" Elia quickly added. "You don't go out much, so you probably haven't heard, but there've been several curse-related murders among the freshmen."
"I-I just wanted to learn it for self-defense."
Edwyn stayed silent. Elia grew more anxious.
"You believe me, right? I swear I'm not planning to kill anyone!"
"Yeah," Edwyn nodded. "I know you wouldn't kill someone without a reason."
Then he looked at her in surprise.
"But Elia… you know, curse spells don't pick their user. The spell chooses the caster."
"If you didn't have what the Curse School calls 'spiritual affinity', the spell wouldn't even activate, even if you had the model."
"Wait, what?!" Elia's face paled. "Then my Mana Stones were wasted?!"
That curse model had cost her 15 Mana Stones, her entire savings.
"I only read about it in a book," Edwyn said thoughtfully.
The Curse School was one of the five major schools, the most secretive, and the least populated. Their magic was bizarre and abstract but lethally effective. Legends say a True Mage from the Curse School once cursed an entire planet to death.
"Curse mage talent is very rare. I hope your stones weren't wasted," Edwyn said, smiling slightly as he called out to Old John.
"Let's move, John. Today, I'm gutting that fat bastard."
Not far from the fire site, at the edge of a mountain valley,
"Heh. That blast probably wiped them all out," Loken muttered, watching the guardian beast fly off.
"Those two caused a hell of a scene. Even the guardian came out."
But then he grinned smugly and pulled a dirty notebook from his cloak, its cover still caked in mud.
"No matter how powerful they were, they still died in my place."
"A High Apprentice's notes, written in Mage script. What kind of idiot wouldn't steal this?"