Chapter 4: Life in Kamar-Taj
"Is our little Genius Xingyu here?" called a female mage in her 20s in front of a small house. The one calling Lan Xingyu was Ye Meng, originally a guardian mage of Kamar-Taj who was assigned to take care of Xingyu and teach him basic knowledge like reading. It couldn't be helped... although the Ancient One had taken Xingyu as a disciple, the Ancient One was a busy person! Every now and then, she had to use the Time Stone to travel through the multiverse and protect Earth from invasions by external planes. With such responsibility, she naturally couldn't accompany Xingyu every day.
So when the Ancient One wasn't around, Ye Meng was always arranged to take care of him. But this was before Xingyu was three and a half years old. Below, I will explain why everyone later called Xingyu a little Genius.
First of all, he could speak fluently at one and a half years old, and at two, he began to slowly master life skills. (After all, he had the consciousness of an adult.) At first, everyone was worried that Xingyu was still too small and lacked strength. However, after a while, they found that Xingyu's strength was surprisingly great. At two and a half, he was already slightly stronger than an average adult, which shocked the Ancient One and the other mages. They even worried if Xingyu had been possessed by some demon from another dimension.
Fortunately, under the Ancient One's careful inspection, it turned out to be a false alarm. There was indeed a force in Lan Xingyu's body strengthening him, but it wasn't a demon from another dimension; it was a bit of the Dragon Vein Power used by his mother, Lan, that remained to strengthen his body. Only then did the Ancient One breathe a sigh of relief. After all, it was one thing to be born with powerful magic, but having such a terrifying physical body would be cause for concern.
However, this was what the Ancient One "assumed." Of course, Xingyu's physical strength did partially come from the strengthening of the Dragon Vein Power, but it was mainly the enhancement given to Xingyu by that immortal grandfather back then. The Dragon Vein energy was just the icing on the cake.
Later, at three and a half, Xingyu could already take care of himself and had even experienced the Awakening of the glint-glint fruit's ability. By age four, Xingyu was already having a blast in Kamar-Taj! The ability of the glint-glint fruit meant that no mage except for the Ancient One—not even a group of mages using Teleportation Gates—could catch him. Most importantly, his glint-glint fruit ability had been enhanced by a god; not only was he not afraid of seawater, but he could even turn corners!
We all know that light travels in straight lines, but Xingyu can turn corners and even draw circles. He is undoubtedly prying open the coffin lids of every physics giant with a crowbar. Moving at the speed of light in human form, it's a good thing Einstein was cremated. Otherwise, he would definitely show Xingyu what it means to "rise from the coffin"...
And that's not even the strongest part. The strongest part is Xingyu's dynamic vision and his brain's dynamic processing, which can fully keep up. Like a Flash who possesses superluminal speed. Other people's bullet time is weak compared to Lan Xingyu. I start right at light-speed time. Even the Quicksilver of this world can't outrun me. If I, Barry Xingyu, claim to be the second fastest on Earth, who would dare claim to be the first?
Once Lan Xingyu mastered the glint-glint fruit ability, he began helping everyone. Of course, he didn't help for free. Since the Ancient One said he was too young to be exposed to magic and wouldn't teach him until he was six or seven, he had to find another way.
Lan Xingyu agreed verbally, but in his heart, he was very depressed. After all, he was someone in his early twenties if you added both lives together. What kind of nonsense was reading children's books every day? Not learning magic? Then wouldn't all the magic in my head have no reason to be used? So, Lan Xingyu started helping out everywhere. Every time he helped a mage, he would use his unfairly adorable looks to request to join them during their classes or teaching sessions.
Originally, everyone thought the child was too young to learn the arduous path of magic, but when such a cute and sensible little Shota looks at you adorably, having just been so helpful... would you have the heart to refuse?
In this way, by shamelessly acting cute, he gained the opportunity to attend classes openly. (What, you say I'm shameless? Don't you know the principle of acting cute to get by, and that opportunities expire? This is called 'beauty is justice,' Hahahaha!)
However, Lan Xingyu was truly serious in class. Xingyu thought more than once that if he had this much drive back during the college entrance exams, he could have picked Tsinghua or Peking University as he pleased. Cough...
Then, relying on his enhanced brain and the magical knowledge from other worlds in his head, every time a teacher finished explaining a point, he would enter light-speed time to cross-reference and study it with the knowledge in his mind. This gave him many whimsical ideas that left both teachers and classmates dumbfounded! They couldn't help but call him a Prodigy.
Not to mention, the answers Lan Xingyu proposed were always refreshing. Even the old mages teaching them gained quite a bit. After the Ancient One found out, she tacitly allowed Lan Xingyu to learn magic. And when Lan Xingyu was four, she promised to start teaching him personally. From then on, Xingyu's magic level improved by leaps and bounds, and he gradually began to use the "magic in his mind" under the guise of self-created magic.
By the age of six, Lan Xingyu's light magic had already reached the level of Kamar-Taj's Advanced combat power. With a Teleportation Gate called "Gate" that could be opened without a Sling Ring, and a terrifying magic known as a nightmare called "Slip," he was invincible throughout Kamar-Taj. As for why "Slip"—a magic that causes everything within its range to completely lose friction for a period of time—was called a nightmare by everyone, hee hee...
That's because to be promoted to a top-tier mage in Kamar-Taj, there is an assessment: a group battle competition with other mages seeking promotion. Of course, for safety's sake, the Ancient One personally acts as the referee for every such competition. And Lan Xingyu participated in this match.
It just so happened that the match Lan Xingyu participated in was the most crowded one in ten years. A 10-out-of-100 competition, with mages from all over the world, the various Sanctums, and Kamar-Taj participating. All participants were experts in the mystical world. But who would have thought this competition would become their nightmare...
On the day of the competition, 99 mages and Lan Xingyu were teleported into a 200x200 arena. At first, seeing a five or six-year-old child participating, everyone felt the Ancient One was being too reckless to let a child join such a dangerous match. They all requested the Ancient One to let Lan Xingyu leave the competition.
It must be said that some of the righteous figures on the mystical side are still very kind. They didn't look down on Lan Xingyu because he was a child; they were just worried about his safety and felt the Sorcerer Supreme was being too wild.
But with the Ancient One's assurance, the match finally began. Although they felt it was strange to have a child participating, aside from the kid, they were all mages of similar strength. So when the Ancient One announced the start, all the mages became serious, wary of those around them. But just as everyone braced themselves, they heard a child's voice say "Slip," and the desperate process began...
A white magic circle appeared beneath the feet of all the mages. Then, every single mage fell down collectively. Because there was no friction, they could only roll and tumble in place, unable to stop at all. What made them even more desperate was that such competitions were broadcast live in Kamar-Taj and the Three Sanctums to ensure fairness. Just like that, they performed a collective human yo-yo competition in front of all the mages, letting everyone know what it means to:
Slide up and slide down
One pull and one release
In the back and forth
The patterns are ever-changing
It's really not simple
Eternal movement
Full of wisdom and meaning
Between one up and one down
Coordination of speed and strength
Exercise for body and mind
(Song title: Fire of Youth, a memory of the 90s generation)
In this way, they rolled on the ground in various poses for 15 minutes... Watching the mages rolling faster and faster, Lan Xingyu felt a bit embarrassed. After all, these mages had just been concerned about him... (You actually know they cared about you! You let them fall repeatedly on the ground for 15 minutes! You're a devil!) In his self-perceived embarrassment, he raised his hand and canceled the magic. The mages stopped with a synchronized "splat."
Afterward, one participant left this quote: "Brother, have you ever experienced despair? I have. 15 minutes of cumulative despair. After this competition, I feel I've completely understood; everything in the world is just passing clouds. Say no more, I'm going back to grow vegetables and raise my kids." This brave man left, leaving only a sigh and a lonely silhouette in the sunset...
And as the referee, the Ancient One had sighed more than once, wondering what kind of Prodigy her female disciple had actually given birth to...
(Alright, now let's return to the initial plot)
"Sister Ye Meng, I'm here." A Flash of light passed by, and a little Shota about 6 years old appeared before Ye Meng. The current Lan Xingyu was even cuter than before. His galaxy-like eyes sparkled, and his slightly chubby baby face always made people want to pinch it. Sure enough, seeing Xingyu appear, Ye Meng's hands began a round of ravaging on little Xingyu's face. Ah, the texture is as good as ever, Ye Meng thought to herself.
Seeing that Ye Meng was about to forget she had something to tell him, Xingyu said in a slurred voice, "Sistew Ye Meng, did you need me fow something? Plus, I'm an Advanced mage now, it's not wight to buwwy my face like this!" (Translation: Sister Ye Meng, do you have something for me? Also, I am now an Advanced mage, it is not right for you to bully my face like this!)
Seeing this, some readers already know! That's right, the reason Lan Xingyu wanted to participate in the Advanced mage competition was so people wouldn't bully his cute face, but it was useless... There was no helping it! He was too cute; the mages of Kamar-Taj, regardless of gender, all wanted to come over and give him a pinch when they saw him.
Of course, I, Lan Xingyu, have principles. Except for Misses, no one else should even think about pinching my face—what are you looking at, I'm talking about you, Fat Wang. Later, I really couldn't take it and went to join the Advanced mage competition. As it turned out, even after becoming an Advanced mage, I still couldn't escape the fact that my face would be ravaged...
"Oh! Right, seeing our cute little Genius, I almost forgot. The Ancient One asked you to come over. She said she agreed to your previous request. She's calling for you now," Ye Meng said, reluctantly letting go of Xingyu's cute face.
"Really! That's great! I'll go find Master right now. Gate." With a wave of his hand, Lan Xingyu opened a Teleportation Gate and charged right through it using his Flash ability.
Ye Meng wanted to rub Lan Xingyu's face again, but who knew that the moment she let go, Lan Xingyu would vanish without a trace...
Haha, still want to pinch my face? Am I, Minato Xingyu, that easy to pinch?
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Thank you for reading to the end of this chapter, and if you can help by giving me votes of confidence, I would appreciate it ^_^