March is the season when fireflies and dandelion fluff dance in the air.
Every year at this time, the Clover Kingdom gathers teenagers who have turned 15 from all over the land to hold a grimoire awarding ceremony, which enhances the magic of its wielders.
The sky was azure, and white clouds drifted lazily.
Golden sunlight streamed down from above, broken into countless tiny fragments by the lush trees and shrubs on both sides, casting shadows over an ascending stone staircase.
Many teenagers of the same age walked up the steps, chatting and laughing. The fresh air and beautiful surroundings couldn't hide the joy in their eyes.
"I've finally waited for this day! It's the day I've been looking forward to since I was a child."
"After I get my grimoire, I'm going to train hard, participate in the Magic Knights selection in six months, and bring glory to the village!"
"I'm going home to inherit the family fortune..."
Also mixed in the crowd, full of anticipation, were three young men from Hage Village, a village at the very edge of the Clover Kingdom.
"Haha... Once I get my grimoire, I'm sure I'll awaken my magic. By then, Yuno, Bai En, I'll definitely surpass you two and become the Wizard King!"
Asta, with his white spiky hair and short stature, pointed at the two beside him and shouted boisterously.
His answer came in a few calm voices.
"That's impossible, Asta."
Yuno, with a cold expression, glanced sideways. "Even if you can surpass Bai En, you won't beat me. I'm the one who will become the Wizard King!"
"Even if you become the Wizard King, you'll be the shortest Wizard King in history, Asta."
Beside him, Bai En, a black-haired young man about the same height as Yuno, wore a faint smile.
"Huh?" Asta's mouth twitched slightly. "What nonsense are you, you hateful venomous-tongued smiling guy, spouting? And also, can you please stop emphasizing my height every time? What if... it's really as you say..."
"No," Asta vigorously shook his head, muttering to himself. "I'm only 15 now, I'll definitely grow taller in the future. By then, I'll definitely surpass you and Yuno in a single bound!"
"If you grow, it's not necessarily upwards, is it?"
Bai En mumbled, his hands not stopping. "It's possible to grow sideways, isn't it?"
"..." Asta froze, clenching his fists. A few small 'well' symbols seemed to wrinkle on his forehead. He gritted his teeth and said, "How is that possible? I will definitely grow taller."
"Okay~ If you exercise a lot, you'll definitely grow taller, right?"
"Next, let's see who reaches the grimoire Tower first!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the spiky-haired Asta, full of vigor, dashed upwards.
"Exercising too much will really make you not grow taller, you know." Bai En maintained his usual venomous-tongued style.
Asta, who had crossed several steps consecutively, paused, almost missing a step. Two arrow-like linguistic labels were directly stuck on his head.
「Shortest!」
「Won't grow taller!」
"I won't believe it, you hateful venomous-tongued guy! After I get my grimoire, I will definitely surpass you in all aspects!" Asta threatened, his figure gradually receding.
"He's so motivated, Asta."
Bai En looked at the black figure ahead and couldn't help but sigh. He had just done a thousand one-handed push-ups and a thousand crunches not long ago.
His physical fitness was terrifying, like a monster.
Sensing the figure that had paused in the shade of the trees, Bai En looked at Yuno beside him: "What's wrong? Yuno, why did you suddenly stop?"
The wind gently rustled the leaves, and light and shadow swayed slightly, highlighting a delicate face. Yuno said with a very serious expression: "I'm the one who will become the Wizard King."
He scrutinized himself up and down, seemingly comparing his height with Bai En's.
The invisible wind, under the surging magic power, revealed a white form.
White wisps of wind appeared silently, wrapping around Yuno like silk ribbons. Then, driven by the wind, he rushed out at an astonishing speed, constantly approaching and surpassing the Asta ahead.
Faintly, Asta's voice could be heard from ahead.
"Damn it, Yuno, I definitely won't lose to you!!!"
Bai En, left behind, watched the two contending as they went forward, feeling a bit bewildered: "Is it really necessary to compete over who reaches the grimoire Tower first?"
"They're... really too energetic!"
He looked up at the end of the stone steps, where a tall, cylindrical building made of stacked stones stood. Moss and tiny flower vines covered its surface, seemingly growing out of the brick seams.
Under the golden sunlight, the stone tower was somewhat sacred and magnificent.
Bai En gazed at it quietly, "Has this day finally come?"
"The plot is about to begin."
Feeling the mist-like flowing gas within his body—magic power—Bai En continued to mutter some strange words: "After obtaining a grimoire, my magic power should increase to some extent."
"I just wonder what my grimoire will look like?"
"Three-leaf... or four-leaf?"
"The probability of a four-leaf is still relatively small, right? But since I'm a transmigrator, it wouldn't be surprising to have some kind of halo bonus, would it? My golden finger is already rotten enough, so my luck shouldn't be bad."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Li Kai, a Blue Star native, just like the common transmigration trope in Japanese anime, was hit by a speeding car one evening when he went out. When he woke up again, he found himself in this—the world of Black Clover.
Bai En Laikaisite is his current name. As for his identity, it's not as extraordinary as Asta's or Yuno's—one being a magic-less person, the other a prince of the Spade Kingdom.
He was a child abandoned at the Hage Village church door by a commoner couple who had too many children and couldn't afford to raise him.
The name card in the baby basket had his name and some words of repentance.
Bai En learned this from his godfather when he was very young.
His magic power was far inferior to Yuno's at the same age, which also proved that his commoner status was not mistaken.
It was a common understanding among the people of the Clover Kingdom that commoners had the lowest magic power, followed by peasants, while nobles and royalty stood at the pinnacle of magic power.
Like all transmigrators, Bai En naturally assumed he should have a golden finger. Holding this belief, he indeed discovered some unusual things—after the age of six, he would unexpectedly gain something on his birthday every year.
Though most of them were basically useless.
At 7 years old, a box of broken iron tools dug up while hoeing the ground;
At 8 years old, a rotten apple suddenly appeared on the table, unclaimed;
At 9 years old, received donated old clothes;
At 10 years old, unexpectedly collected dandelion seeds; at 11 years old, a compass... at 12, 13 years old, a rotten fishing net, a fishing rod... at 15 years old, a few dried salted fish.
Occasionally, there would be one or two fine items.
The awakening of his magic—Mikuriya—at the age of 6, and the sudden appearance of the Water Breathing technique in his mind at the age of 14, confirmed to Bai En that the aforementioned junk was not a coincidence, but rather the product of his golden finger.
As for why he said his golden finger was rotten enough?
Aside from the fact that most of them were useless junk, even the 'fine items' that popped out weren't that impressive.
His magic, assimilated into his own—Sukuna's technique "Mikuriya" from Jujutsu Kaisen—sounds impressive, but even Sukuna, a boss who wreaked havoc in Jujutsu Kaisen, would likely be quickly defeated in Black Clover even at his peak.
Space Slash?!
That's a bit of dark humor.
Not to mention the demon-slaying breathing techniques from Demon Slayer; the power systems are simply not on par.
Well, in the absolute disadvantage of low magic power, even the meat on a mosquito's leg seems exceptionally robust. Better than nothing, having it is stronger than not having it.
Asta and Yuno, who grew up in the same church as him, will in the future become a devil-possessed individual with a five-leaf grimoire and Anti-Magic comparable to a bug, and a chosen one with star x wind dual magic, respectively.
In contrast, besides the advantage of knowing the plot, he has no outstanding qualities.
The thought of future crises like elf reincarnation and devil attacks made Bai En's scalp tingle. Would he, because of his weakness, be stuck in Hage Village his entire life, waiting for others to rescue him?
That would be a truly unmotivated good-for-nothing.
Even with daily diligent study and practice of his magic, and cultivation of the Water Breathing he acquired, Bai En still didn't have much confidence in his future due to his low magic power.
Today's grimoire awarding ceremony is a turning point. If he is fortunate enough to receive a four-leaf grimoire, with a significant increase in magic power, his future achievements might not necessarily be worse than Yuno's.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Bai En hoped his luck would be better...