Chapter 22: The Date

In Hawk's summer cottage, Lin Yuan did more than just learn magic from him; he also pored over the various books that Hawk had left in the house. One of them, titled *Treasures of the Farinos Continent*, featured an entry on the Tear of Ellis.

To be precise, the Tear of Ellis wasn't exactly a rare item. Its sole function was to significantly increase the amount of magical power that a person's body could hold. Firstly, it was completely ineffective on non-mages, as they had no magical power to begin with. Secondly, it was only effective for a very small fraction of mages.

For mages, if their bodies were likened to a cup holding magical power, and the power itself to the water inside, then meditation was akin to turning on a faucet to fill the cup. Most mages, through years of magical training and meditation from a young age, would have a larger "cup" but not a significantly higher "flow rate" from the faucet. In other words, they didn't have to worry about the cup overflowing. The so-called "magical power saturation" during meditation was mainly due to the limitations of their mental energy, which couldn't handle too much water at once.

Thus, the Tear of Ellis essentially enlarged the cup. However, since most mages already had sufficiently large cups, the utility of the Tear of Ellis was minimal, only occasionally needed by those with smaller cups.

Lin Yuan, unfortunately, was one of those rare exceptions.

At his age, starting to learn magic midway through life, he should have had no significant achievements. But he was a space traveler, possessing a multi-elemental magical attribute entirely different from the people of the Farinos Continent, as well as some innate magical power that wasn't strong but wasn't weak either.

This allowed him to quickly master all elemental magic below Level 2. However, because he hadn't received systematic magical training from a young age, his "cup" couldn't keep up with the growth of his magical power, ultimately restricting his power to a lower level.

Now, with the Tear of Ellis, his enlarged "cup" would naturally hold more magical power. Thinking of this, Lin Yuan couldn't help but feel excited.

"Fool, what are you so excited about? Even if your cup doubles in size, it still can't compare to a bucket," "Bucket" Hawk commented, though harsh, it was the truth. Compared to Hawk's magical power, Lin Yuan's was negligible.

Lin Yuan just chuckled, not at all discouraged. What he was thinking about was how this change would allow him to more quickly transform his body's magical attributes and then experiment with combining wind and earth magic.

Recalling the changes in his magical power when he absorbed water and fire elements together, he was genuinely thrilled. He also understood why both Hawk and Sargeras were so excited. The study of magic was truly fascinating.

"Ah, actually, giving this to you is a waste. Your foundation is just too poor," Hawk lamented over the Tear of Ellis.

"Come on, old man. If I'm not mistaken, you're also wearing a spatial ring on your left hand," Lin Yuan shot back. "Why have you never told me about such a great thing? Look at Grand Mage Sargeras, how generous he is. He gave me one as soon as we met. But you, after knowing me for so long, not only didn't give me a spatial ring, but also only gave me a few gold coins when I left. Now you're heartbroken over a single drop of Ellis's Tear. So stingy!"

After Lin Yuan's complaints, Hawk just laughed without explaining. Once he finished, he pointed to the stool: "A spatial ring would be useless to you anyway. Why waste it? You should hurry up and meditate. I can't wait."

Lin Yuan, of course, wasn't really complaining; he just liked to banter with the old man. After saying his piece, he began to focus and prepare to meditate.

As soon as he entered the meditative state, Lin Yuan immediately felt a clear difference from yesterday.

In the past and yesterday, when he meditated, he could at most replenish the lost magical power, and once it reached a fixed level, he couldn't continue. But now, not long after his last meditation, he found that he could continue to absorb water and fire elemental magic.

As soon as he realized this, he couldn't hold back and began to guide the two elemental magics to fuse as he had done yesterday.

It seemed that because part of his magical power had already changed attributes, the fusion speed was much faster this time.

While directing the two elemental magics to fuse, Lin Yuan also paid attention to the state of his magical power.

In his previous meditations, through introspection, he could see that his magical power was divided into four colors: light blue, fiery red, light cyan, and deep yellow, representing water, fire, wind, and earth elements, respectively. After yesterday's and today's meditations, the light blue and fiery red representing water and fire elements had completely merged into purple, while the light cyan and deep yellow representing wind and earth remained unchanged.

After the complete fusion of water and fire elements, Lin Yuan felt that he could still continue to absorb magical elements. He was tempted to experiment with fusing the other two elemental magics, but he quickly suppressed the thought.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste. His research into magic had only just begun, and everything was still in the exploratory stage. It might not be a good idea to fuse new elemental magics before he fully understood the water and fire elements.

As soon as he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Hawk, who was sitting on the stool like a wooden statue, motionless. Seeing his furrowed brows, Lin Yuan knew he must be stuck in some problem. It wouldn't be good to disturb him now.

After getting up carefully, Lin Yuan followed the same passage back to the Dean's office.

"Ah——"

As soon as he pushed open the hidden door to the basement, Lin Yuan heard a familiar scream.

"Katusha, what are you doing here?"

Katusha, who had been flirting with Lin Yuan in the morning, now looked at him as if she had seen a ghost, her face full of panic.

"I... I came to see the Dean about something," Katusha glanced at the dark door behind Lin Yuan. "Lin, how did you...?"

"Oh, it's the Dean's lab downstairs. I was just pulled in for an experiment," Lin Yuan glanced at the magical clock in the Dean's office and realized that he had only meditated for a while, but the time had already jumped to the afternoon. "Don't you have class this afternoon? Why are you looking for the Dean?"

"I... I just wanted to ask the Dean for leave. I have some urgent matters this afternoon," a flash of panic crossed Katusha's face.

Lin Yuan was even more puzzled: "If you want to ask for leave, you just need to tell Teacher Mindos. Why look for the Dean, and he might not even care." Speaking of which, Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh. Judging from the way Hawk looked when he left, he wouldn't care even if you smashed up the Dean's office.

"I see..." Katusha's eyes twinkled, and she suddenly smiled, "Lin, are you free tonight?"

A date! That was the first thought that came to Lin Yuan's mind. Although Katusha wasn't what one would call a beauty, she had a pleasant personality. The month spent with Lin Yuan and Class 3, Grade 1 had been quite enjoyable, and Lin Yuan had developed some affection for her.

Hearing her ask this question, Lin Yuan's heart still skipped a beat.

"I'm pretty free. What's up?"

"If you're free, accompany me around Winden City tonight. I've been here for so long, but I haven't really explored the capital of the Kuse Empire."

Lin Yuan was puzzled: "Didn't we spend the last month in Winden City every day?"

"Dummy, is taking missions at the Mercenary Guild the same as shopping around? I want you to accompany me properly and maybe buy some things."

"Oh..." Hearing Katusha's words, Lin Yuan suddenly realized that he had been here for quite some time, yet he had been constantly shuttling between Finor Magic Academy and Winden City. Everything he had seen and heard was related to magic. He knew nothing about life in this other world beyond that. "Alright, since that's the case, don't eat dinner tonight. I'll treat you."

"You'll treat me?" Katusha looked at Lin Yuan's waist with a smile, the meaning clear.

Lin Yuan's face turned red: "It's okay, I can afford to buy you a meal."

Katusha smiled gently and waved at Lin Yuan: "Alright, see you tonight." She then turned and walked out of the Dean's office.

Fairy... Fairy... Watching Katusha's retreating figure, Lin Yuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Katusha wasn't really beautiful, so why did she always give him such a charming impression?