Lynn looked down at the small, pale green book in his hand, no thicker than half a finger.
A Detailed Guide to Basic Crystal Spell Plate Crafting
"I don't yet know the full extent of what Insight can do. Logically speaking, the most stable path for now is to invest my limited capital into something that can yield short-term returns."
And this book was precisely that sort of thing.
So-called "crystal spell plates" were special crystal items shaped and carved in specific ways to record corresponding spells. They were typically made into thin slices.
Wizards bought them to craft magical crystals.
Because the process involved only shaping crystals into specific forms and carving designated patterns, even ordinary people could learn to make them.
As Lynn ran his fingers over the cover, an image of a blonde girl surfaced unbidden in his mind.
It was in the stone dormitory back at the academy…
Under the flickering candlelight, the blonde girl held this very pale green book and looked at him earnestly:
"Lynn, once we settle, this skill will be our lifeline…"
"Elena Rose…"
Shaking his head, Lynn brushed aside the original host's memories and focused on the book again.
After a few seconds of concentration, faint gray lights slowly gathered before his eyes.
[Seven Basic Crystal Spell Plate Designs]
[Consumes mixed source energy to activate Insight]
Gray light…
Lynn frowned.
"The meditation method glowed blue. I, golden. And now this spell plate crafting… gray."
"Setting aside the 'golden' glow from myself as a special case… does this mean that different colors correspond to different knowledge levels?"
"No… that's not quite right. This isn't some game. Insight is my innate talent; it shouldn't reflect a 'knowledge level,' but rather the difficulty of understanding something."
"Then again, difficulty could indirectly reflect the quality of the knowledge, couldn't it?"
"In other words, Insight also passively functions as a kind of knowledge appraisal tool…"
Lynn's heart lifted with the realization, and he eagerly continued flipping through the book.
"I wonder what other passive abilities it has."
Just as the Insight prompt had indicated, this book contained instructions for crafting seven common types of crystal spell plates.
But rather than waste precious Insight on the entire set, it was wiser to specialize in one design.
"Still, the original owner never researched which plate type was the most profitable overall... I'll need to visit the market tomorrow and investigate before choosing."
Setting the book aside, Lynn extinguished the oil lamp.
He had intended to try meditating again, but the moment he closed his eyes, a powerful wave of drowsiness overcame him.
Consciousness slowly slipped into darkness.
Falling…
Endlessly falling
...
"Are you scared, Lynn?"
In the haze, a girl's trembling voice drifted to him.
It was unfamiliar. Whose voice was this? A coworker…?
Lynn tried to reply instinctively, but his lips felt stiff and wouldn't open.
It felt like his eyes were already open, but everything around him was blurred, as if covered by frosted glass. Double images overlapped, and he couldn't see clearly at all.
I'm not lying in bed anymore...
Wait. I already transmigrated.
Is this… a dream?
"What's wrong, Lynn?"
The girl asked again, her voice low and cautious, as if afraid of something.
"It's nothing, Elena. I'm just a little scared."
He heard "himself" respond instinctively, his voice young and deliberately hushed, filled with inexplicable unease.
His vision gradually cleared.
A sweet-faced blonde girl, about six or seven years old, appeared before him.
She was sitting in a brown-cushioned seat like something from a train in his past life, holding a brown backpack in her arms, eyes wide with faint panic.
They were inside a sealed, box-shaped room. There were no windows. The only light came from glowing white-green orbs suspended from the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were a deep reddish-brown, with an oddly smooth, damp texture.
The entire room was in motion. The glowing orbs swayed slightly with the movement, their jelly-like surfaces rippling faintly.
"I'm scared too, Lynn," the girl continued, her voice distant and ethereal.
"The wizards said it'll still be another month before we reach the Heland Wizarding Territory… This is the farthest I've ever been from home."
Heland Wizarding Territory…
Lynn recalled some fragments of memory.
This seemed to be from nine years ago, when the original host had been selected by the Heland School of Wizardry and was en route aboard a Giant Pouch Spider Vessel.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion suddenly roared in his ears, followed by a terrifying screech unlike anything human.
CRACK
Before he could react, the wall to his left was ripped open, leaving a massive gaping hole!
A violent wind howled in, and the dense forest outside blurred past them like a streaking, deep green train.
In that instant, a startling realization flashed through Lynn's mind:
"The spider vessel we're riding… has been attacked by wizards from the Hossens School."
The perspective pulled back.
A giant black spider-like creature with eight legs was sprinting through the mountains and forest.
Its chest had been slashed open by some mysterious force, leaving a deep wound that tore into its body.
The swollen, dark-red abdomen had also been cut open, revealing dozens of rooms inside. Lynn and Elena were in one of them.
Lynn couldn't see the full scene, only that his small hands instinctively clutched the seat in front of him.
Next to him, Elena screamed. Her backpack fluttered like a kite in the raging wind…
Fluttered
...
"Huff"
Lynn jolted awake in the shed, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat.
It took him a moment to calm his nerves. Then, almost without thinking, he sighed softly:
"If it weren't for that attack, the original host would've made it to the Heland School…"
"Maybe with a different school, he could've become a wizard apprentice."
"No… that's not right," Lynn shook his head, correcting himself.
"I'm just making excuses, just like the original host did."
The reason the original host never advanced to apprentice wasn't the change of schools; it was simply that he had extremely poor aptitude for learning, unable to establish stable meditation runes or condense a mana vortex.
To become a wizard, magical affinity alone, which they called "wizard potential," was far from enough.
The ability to learn was just as critical a component of a wizard's gift. In some cases, it was even more important than magical affinity.
As for the Heland School from the dream
It was a rival Second-Rank wizarding school, long hostile to the Hossens School.
Both the original host and Elena, fellow natives of the Annan Kingdom, had originally been chosen by the Heland School as "wizard seeds."
But on their way to the Heland wizarding domain, their vessel had been hijacked by the Hossens School.
Conflicts like these weren't rare. The two schools had a long-standing grudge and frequently clashed, with victories and losses on both sides.
Sometimes, like in the original host's case, the Hossens School would steal wizard seeds from Heland. Other times, Heland would strike back, seizing apprentices, resources, or something else entirely.
Shaking off the thoughts, Lynn looked down at his palm.
A moment later, a familiar golden glow shimmered to life.
[Name: Lynn Kent]
[Age: 16]
[Source Energy: 0.1 (Self); 0 (World)]
"The golden finger's still here…" Lynn let out a breath of relief, but then blinked in surprise.
"Wait... my source energy was 0.07 yesterday. It increased by 0.03?"
Thinking back to that strange dream, and the lightness he now felt in his body, he made a cautious guess:
"Maybe I've finally fully adapted to this body?"
Soft morning light filtered through the cracks in the door. Lynn pushed his thoughts aside, got out of bed, and opened the wooden door.
Dawn was just breaking. A cool breeze brushed against his skin, mingling with the distant calls of birds and insects.
In his previous life, Lynn had rarely woken up this early. But over the past nine years, the original host had risen almost every day at this time almost every day.
The intensity of wizard training… far surpassed even his grueling final year of high school back on Earth.
"Morning, Lynn."
Next door, Leona pushed open the door, yawning with a groggy expression.
Giggs, hearing the voices, came out too, equally sleep-deprived and muttering:
"Damn bed was too hard… and those mosquitoes wouldn't stop biting me all night."
Lynn suddenly felt a similar itch on his arms and neck. Sure enough, there were several swollen red welts from insect bites.
"Guess I did sleep like a rock last night."
"What's the plan for today?" Giggs asked. "After we report in at the school's outpost, we should head to the Black Ring Assembly…"
Technically, even as washouts, they were still considered assets of the Hossens School, though the school itself didn't care.
By regulation, however, they were required to report their whereabouts until their debts were repaid.
Giggs, as usual, began rattling off his plan, not expecting Lynn or Leona to respond.
But this time, before he could finish, Lynn spoke up:
"I won't be going to the Black Ring Assembly. After reporting in, I'm heading to Bauhinia Thorn Street."
The Black Ring Assembly was the largest commission platform in Emerald Forest City. Anyone with enough money could post a request there.
For apprentice-level mages like them, it was one of the best ways to earn some coin.
But Bauhinia Thorn Street was the city's most bustling commercial district.
Giggs paused, surprised by the reply, but didn't press further. He simply nodded and turned to Leona.
"What about you, Leona?"
"I'll go with you," Leona replied, rubbing his stomach and adding:
"But before we head to the outpost, we should find something to eat.
That porridge last night was so watery… I'm starving."