The pattern on the floor was in shambles, barely recognizable as its original four-pointed star shape.
The traces of dried blood on it, under the moonlight, showed a dark, blackish red.
Colin sat down by the bed, his thoughts drifting back to the early morning hours, just over a dozen hours ago—
...the rough stonewall, the fireplace built of cobblestones, the open wooden window, the fresh bloodstains visible at his feet under the moonlight, and him sitting on the bed with a pale face, holding his head and looking around him...
—That was the scene just after he had first arrived.
Before his transmigration, he was just your average corporate drone. Single, he had just bought a house this year with the help of his family and had financed a car as well; although his job was mundane, it was at least relaxed and stable...
All things considered, life was bland yet happy.
He had never imagined he would end up transmigrating!
Colin snapped back to reality and leaned backward, letting his body fall onto the bed.
Thud.
But immediately, he sat up again grimacing in pain.
He had forgotten that this was no longer his own soft, big bed.
This was nothing more than a hard, cold wooden bed.
Feeling unexplainably irritable inside, he abruptly rose from the hard and cold wooden bed, pacing over to the window and looking up at the moon above that was incredibly similar to the one from his previous life.
Although the weather was fine tonight, there were still some clouds drifting in the sky, wavering around the full moon with the night breeze and being tinged with a pristine silver.
It was a long while before he finally calmed down, stomping his feet and shaking his hands, warming his hands and feet that had been chilled by the early spring breeze.
Before long, feeling the blood flow to his limbs, he slowly went over to the wooden table beside the bed and bent down to extend his right index finger.
Hiss.
There was no lighter, nor any magical props.
Merely stretching out a finger, stirring up his spirit, and calling upon Magic Power, a flickering flame suddenly emerged on his fingertip.
Colin stared at the flame dancing in his hand, his expression slightly startled, the beautiful azure blue of his pupils flickering with the flame, filled with an indescribable emotion.
'Apprentice trick—the Ignition Technique... true supernatural power...'
After a while, he lit the oil lamp and extinguished the flame on his fingertip, preparing to start cleaning up the mess left by the original inhabitant.
In the morning, he had been busy rushing to class and only managed to hastily wipe the floor with his foot before hurrying out, without even bringing his lunch; the floor was still a tangled mess.
The stone house where the former inhabitant lived was a standard single room for Basic Level Apprentices, uniformly constructed by the Lap School.
The size was neither too large nor too small, about fifty square meters, rectangular in shape—with a washroom and a kitchen on either side of the entrance hall, followed by the bedroom, and further in, a Quiet Room of about ten square meters for meditation.
And it was beside the bed that the former inhabitant had drawn the ritual pattern, taking up almost half of the entire bedroom space.
Scattered across it were various ritualistic items that would probably take a lot of effort to clean up.
Fetching a broom from the washroom, Colin was ready to sweep the floor first.
'Disjointed bones... discard, ordinary cobblestones... throw away, crystals... keep, ...' he cleaned up the floor swiftly.
'This is...'
After a while, his actions abruptly stopped.
He reached out towards a pure black orb, whose material was indiscernible, placed in the center of the ritual pattern.
A wave of confusion filled his heart as this object did not exist in the former inhabitant's memory.
His slenders hand slowly approached the black orb, pausing just before touching it.
'This isn't Earth... everything requires extra caution.'
Colin inwardly commented, intending to retract his hand and find something more suitable to handle it with.
But a sudden chill took him by surprise, emanating from his right hand!
Colin's eyes widened as the egg-sized black orb transformed into a mysterious mist, crawling over his hand which he hadn't had the chance to withdraw yet, gradually spreading across his body.
He staggered to his feet, raising his arm to watch the eerie black mist spread rapidly across his body, terror filling his eyes.
Forearm, shoulder, chest—in a flash, the mist had enveloped everything below his head!
Then, as though the mist had found its target, it converged and rushed up towards his head.
Whoosh!
A buzzing filled Colin's head, and he swayed, collapsing onto the bed.
...........
The next morning, the sky was faintly lit.
Bang bang bang!
A regular knocking came from outside the stone house,
But Colin, lying on the bed, twitched his eyelids slightly, yet did not awaken.
After the knocking continued for a while with no response, it gradually ceased.
Zzt-zzt—
A second later, a brown envelope was pushed through the gap under the door.
The robust parchment paper made a slight scraping sound against the floor, and the red-blue gradient wax seal was firmly affixed at the mouth of the envelope, with a pattern of intertwined flames.
Some time after, amidst the faint rustle of writing, a piece of paper followed and was stuffed next to the envelope.
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Then came the gradually fading sound of footsteps.
The sun slowly rose from the horizon, gilding the jewel-blue sea with gold. Before long, the morning light peeked through the cracks of the wooden window, spilling onto the wooden floor, then slowly shifted, climbing up the bed to shine on Colin's pale face.
After a while, Colin's slender eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he finally slowly opened his eyes.
The sunlight was harsh, and he instinctively squinted, raising his right hand to shield his eyes.
Then, as if he remembered something, he suddenly sat up, stood beside the bed, and looked around, then raised his hands, stretching them out, carefully observing them.
His palms were pale and full, his arms long and healthy, without any excess hair or several additional tentacles, and upon checking his entire body... everything was normal.
Colin let out a long sigh.
A strange feeling lingered in his mind,
After hesitating for a moment, he followed the feeling and willed a thought.
Tiny pale golden particles abruptly appeared before him, eventually coalescing into a square Golden Paper.
Colin's eyes widened.
The Golden Paper was densely covered with many bizarre yet aesthetically pleasing black lines.
For some reason, these lines inexplicably reminded him of the black sphere from last night.
And this Golden Paper...
A thought struck him suddenly: 'Wasn't this the craft I bought from an antique market in my past life?!'
'...Could this be my golden finger?!'
The changes continued, and the bizarre black lines on the Golden Paper suddenly writhed and twisted.
In no time, they transformed into a few lines of text he was most familiar with.
[Name: Colin Leonard]
[Rank: Basic Level Wizard Apprentice (53/100)]
[Meditation Method: Apprentice-level Circulation Meditation (78/100)]
[Witchcraft: Ignition Technique (87/100); Condensing Water Skill (68/100); Light Brightness Skill (41/100)]
[Limit Breaking Points: 0]
Two more pieces of information came simultaneously—
Before the limit, every practice must lead to progress.
After the limit, the Limit Breaking Points can be used to break through the limits and continue to improve.
His heart thumped uncontrollably, and Colin breathed deeply for a while, then seemed to think of something and stretched out his right hand.
Hiss.
An orange flame flickered at his fingertip, and then it was extinguished.
Colin lowered his hand and exhaled, willing the Golden Paper to appear once more.
The pale golden particles gathered, and the black text emerged again.
His gaze quickly swept down, and in the witchcraft column, an ↑ symbol appeared behind Ignition Technique before gradually fading away, returning to 87/100.
Colin felt a rush of joy; though the progress of Ignition Technique had not changed, he could distinctly feel improvement... the consumption of Magic Power seemed to have decreased slightly, and the flame seemed a bit more stable.
"Every practice must lead to progress, huh..."
His heart pounded violently, and no amount of deep breaths could ease it.
He quickly walked to the wall, pushed open the window, and the bright light made him squint momentarily. Once adjusted, he allowed his gaze to travel into the distance.
Illuminated by the sunlight, the vast blue sea shimmered into the horizon, with flocks of white seabirds skimming low over it, emitting shrill cries.
A breeze carrying the scent of the sea gently brushed his face, and amidst the refreshing sensation, he finally started to calm down.
The appearance of the Golden Paper had dispelled much of the oppressive gloom that had lingered in his heart.
This world was too dangerous!
Strange rituals, an unfamiliar world, a three-month deadline, the eerie green flames from the gathering place last night...
Now... he finally had something to rely on.
'But it's not yet time to relax.' He breathed out a foul breath, invigorated his spirit, and strode towards the Meditation Room, ready to make a careful plan for what to do next!
Click.
The next second, Colin halted in his tracks, puzzled, he lifted his foot, and underneath was a white seashell he had crushed.
Having fainted in the middle of cleaning last night, the place was still in disarray.
He pondered for a moment, then bent down to pick up the broom on the ground.
"...I should clean up here first, to prevent anyone from discovering traces of the ritual."
Then he touched his stomach, deciding to get something to eat after cleaning.
After all, he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.
Colin withdrew his gaze from the kitchen, ready to sweep the floor.
But the next second, he looked up again at the doorway.
A brown envelope and a white piece of paper lay quietly beneath the wooden door.
The slight breeze that wafted through the gap between the door and the floor made the white paper flutter slightly.
Colin frowned slightly, dropped the broom, and walked towards the door.
```