Becoming a Magician

"Alchemy is a general term for two categories: Magic Smithing and Potion Brewing. Simply put, a Magic Smith uses magical power to forge items, engrave magical arrays, and imbue items with magical properties, which includes embedding magic cores or using the bones of magical beasts to create objects. On the other hand, Potion Brewers make magical potions to enhance specific abilities, break curses, detoxify poisons, and cure diseases. Both professions require a deep understanding of raw materials. Below are descriptions of how to gather, process, store, purify, and refine certain materials, along with their unique properties. Good grief! There are so many of these—over ten thousand, I'll be lucky to finish this in my lifetime!" Ryan read aloud from the book in his hands. This was the task assigned by his new boss, Niu Niu, while she had disappeared somewhere. No way could he argue with her. After all, if he dared to fight back, he'd be finished. Despite his doubts about the soul contract, Ryan wasn't foolish enough to gamble with his life.

"Iron ore, the most basic and common type of ore... Mithril, an extremely valuable magical metal, with the best magic conductivity, which speeds up spellcasting. The exact speed depends on the percentage of mithril in the item. It's usually used for engraving magical arrays."

"Jioro flowers, extremely poisonous. Typically used to coat weapons or hidden blades. A direct hit can kill in under 60 breaths. However, combining the poison sac of a level 5 magical beast, the Tri-Eyed Serpent, with the blood of a sub-dragon creates the best antidote for dark curses. If you replace the sub-dragon blood with the venom of a three-legged toad, it becomes a universal antidote. Unfortunately, Jioro flowers are believed to be extinct... Damn it! Why would you even mention that if they're extinct?" Ryan complained aloud, irritated by the strange names he had to learn. This wasn't chemistry with its periodic table where everything is logical. It felt more like Chinese medicine—just follow the recipe and you're good. The rest didn't matter.

Ryan endured this torment for two months. During that time, he only managed to memorize about half of the material. Thankfully, winter days were short, and nights were long, but Ryan also had to meditate, cook, and occasionally care for the horses. To make matters worse, Niu Niu didn't eat meat, so Ryan had to buy cassava and other food from Harry City. He had visited the city three times already. The first day he went, the second day he came back, but after a heavy snowfall, he sent Niu Niu herself to go. After all, she could fly, and Ryan certainly couldn't. Besides, he noticed that Niu Niu only bullied others if no one bullied her first.

As evening fell, Ryan began his meditation, as usual. The so-called "elemental sensing" from Niu Niu's book became the biggest obstacle to becoming a magician, but strangely, it didn't exist for Ryan. As soon as he closed his eyes, he could immediately sense the fire element, thanks to Niu Niu. She had found a low-level magic skill book in the city, which provided a specific meditation method. It was just like in "Basic Alchemy": meditate, chant the spell, and cast the magic. No explanation of the principles was provided. To be honest, Ryan understood that if everything had to be explained in detail, you'd end up in an endless cycle of explanations.

"I grab! Grab! Grab!" Ryan kept using his mental energy to capture the magic elements glowing in red. He knew not to grab anything else. Once, he was too hasty and accidentally captured a water element, which then counteracted two fire elements. He compressed the magic elements and fused them into his magic power at his brow.

Ryan was puzzled, though. Why were the elements he sensed so colorful? Red for fire, blue for water, green for wind, and so on. There were also gray, sparkling, and purple elements, along with some strange blackish-blue ones. Currently, the most common element in the air was this blue-black one, so Ryan had to spend a lot of time filtering through them. He wanted to ask Niu Niu, but he quickly realized she didn't know either. She just relied on the book, same as him.

"Sigh! Only 30 percent, just 30 percent," Ryan complained, feeling dissatisfied. Only 30 percent of the elements he absorbed became his magic power, while the rest either dispersed or seemed to be absorbed by his physical body. He tried to comfort himself, "Well, I'm training both magic and martial arts!" In truth, he was overlooking the current season—winter, when fire elements were the rarest. Some magicians in these areas would be lucky to absorb even 30 percent, and some might only get half that. This was the price of self-learning. But if Ryan adapted to this environment, then no place would be too difficult for him to absorb fire magic elements.

"Knock knock!" A sound came from outside the door, and Ryan knew that Niuniu had returned.

"Coming, coming, don't rush!" Ryan hurried to open the door, as it was never just Niuniu returning alone. Once, Ryan had opened the door late, and a wild bull had charged right through, knocking the door off. The wild bulls here were massive, much larger than elephants back on Earth, so Ryan had to move and live in a cave below the hillside. So, this time, Ryan made sure to open the door promptly.

"Why can't you be quicker?" Ryan muttered as he opened the wooden door, revealing a wolf the size of a small calf, its fur light gray, with Niuniu emerging from one of its ears. The wolf, which had a pack on its back, darted off the moment Niuniu entered. If anyone knew, they would recognize this as the Wind Wolf, a level-4 magical beast, capable of taking on level-5 beasts.

"I just finished meditating, so I'm late," Ryan said, feeling embarrassed but unable to do much. After that one time when he had asked how to get a wild bull to listen, Niuniu had clenched her tiny fist and excitedly replied, "Hit it!" Ryan nearly collapsed when he saw the size difference between him and the wild bull. After that, Ryan didn't dare question Niuniu's words, despite her being small. However, it seemed that physical size wasn't the determinant of strength—after all, a handgun might be small, but it's still powerful, while a large knife might not be. Ryan was more like the knife, overpowered by the handgun.

"Can you cast magic yet?" Niuniu asked, flying onto Ryan's shoulder and holding a fruit bigger than herself, eating as she spoke.

"Not yet?" Ryan replied quickly as he unwrapped the pack, only to find food inside, no books. Not bothering to be polite, Ryan grabbed a fruit—a small round one, about the size of a fist, glowing with a purple light, making him immediately salivate. Just as he was about to bite into it, he answered Niuniu.

"The fruit is mine, the jerky is yours. Let's try a simple 'Detect Poison' first," Niuniu mumbled, still munching.

Detect Poison was a level-1 instant magic spell, one of the simplest types, typically easy for any magic apprentice with a bit of mana to cast.

"I... I don't know how to cast it?" Ryan finally admitted after a long pause, almost making Niuniu fall off his shoulder from shock.

"Then try a Fireball!" Niuniu was getting very impatient.

"Elements of fire in the world, please heed the call of your friend, Fireball!" Ryan hurriedly focused and recited the spell as fast as he could. Suddenly, he felt something flow out of his head, only for something to flow back in just as quickly. A small red fireball appeared in his hand. Ryan was taken aback. He flicked his hand, and the fireball flew toward a pile of firewood, leaving a red streak. Magic. It was real magic! Ryan's mind went blank.

"Put out the fire, you idiot!" Niuniu's voice snapped him back to reality, and he saw the firewood starting to burn. Thankfully, the fire wasn't too big, and Ryan quickly extinguished it.

"Elements of fire in the world, please heed the call of your friend, Fireball!" Ryan, still in a daze, cast the Fireball again. He felt that strange sensation of mana flowing out and back in again. This time, he wanted to see the full power of the Fireball.

"Boom!" The fireball exploded on the stone wall, leaving a small dent. Ryan guessed the power was about the same as a firecracker.

After trying several more times, Ryan realized the Fireball could be aimed with precision within 30 paces, but beyond that, it would miss.

"Niuniu, do you know how many Fireballs a level-1 mage can cast?" Ryan asked, knowing Niuniu had an excellent memory and could quickly recall anything from books.

"About 20 times," Niuniu answered nonchalantly without looking up.

Ryan muttered to himself, "I don't think it's just 20 times."

"Get more familiar with the spell. Some people can cast magic instantly," Niuniu said before falling asleep on Ryan's shoulder.

Ryan, determined to practice, sneaked outside, whispering, "Elements of fire..."

"Fireball!"

...

"Fireball!"

He wasn't sure how many times he practiced, but eventually, Ryan felt his mana start to deplete. He realized if he cast one more spell, his mana would be exhausted. However, he was now able to cast Fireball instantly and silently. This was a huge improvement—before, he needed about two seconds to chant, but now he could cast it in half a second. This meant that in the same time it took to cast one spell, he could now cast four.

Ryan was also amazed to discover that his body could store mana. Whenever his mana ran low, he felt fresh mana surge into his body. Looking at the hundreds of marks on the stone wall from his spells, he realized that his current mana capacity was at least five times that of an average mage at his level. Even Ryan, a magic novice, knew how extraordinary this ability was.

"Wow! This is amazing!" Ryan couldn't help but exclaim in excitement.