On the continent of Eural, there exists a prestigious ranking list called the "Continent's Wind and Cloud List," which is updated once every ten years.
Each time, this list showcases a hundred of the most renowned magicians who have made significant achievements over the past decade. Among them are new-generation powerhouses, creators of innovative and powerful spells, new masters of potions, masters of magical artifacts, and masters of formations… Securing a place on this list is the lifelong aspiration of nearly every magician.
In the past century, across ten lists with a total of one thousand entries, wind and earth magic have dominated the ranks, followed by water and lightning magic, while fire magic has had less than twenty entries, with only a handful achieving recognition.
Since Master Lin Qi popularized dual-element wind and earth magic, emphasizing versatility over the traditional focus on sheer attack power, water and lightning magic have also produced their own masters, flourishing as a result. However, fire magic, which is the least versatile, has remained stagnant. The decline of fire magic has become an acknowledged fact across the continent.
Then one day, in a narrow, dimly lit alley, a tattered old magician stopped a little boy licking a lollipop, smiling warmly: "Little friend, I see you have an extraordinary build; you are a once-in-a-millennium talent in magic. The revival of fire magic rests upon your shoulders, and here is the secret of fire meditation…"
…
Even without a mirror, Chongyang knew that his expression must have been quite strange, his eyes filled with complex doubt.
"Kekekeke— I anticipated that you wouldn't accept easily, which is why I waited for this moment to appear," the Flame Demon said, emitting a horrific, smug laugh that sounded like nails scraping on glass. "Regardless of whether you believe it or not, you must agree to my request if you wish to survive."
"Is that so… So all this time, the one lurking behind me has been you…"
"Indeed, I have been observing you, waiting for the right moment to persuade you… I didn't expect the opportunity to come so quickly."
So, it was this guy who prevented me from bleeding out and dying? Chongyang didn't ponder for long before agreeing to inherit the so-called "great enterprise" that the Flame Demon spoke of.
No matter what it was or what he intended to do, if following his wishes was the only way to survive, then even a pact with a demon had to be made; there was no room for choice.
With the Flame Demon's piercing laughter echoing in his ears, Chongyang felt a wave of darkness wash over him and fainted once more.
When he woke up again, the Flame Demon was nowhere to be found. Chongyang tried to move, only to discover that all his wounds had miraculously healed!
Slowly, he climbed out of the pool of blood, carefully feeling his abdomen and thighs with his hands… There was no sense of abnormality. However, the large, shocking stain of blood on the ground and the tattered, blood-soaked robe on his body reminded him that everything that had happened before was not a dream.
"…Where's the body?" Chongyang scanned his surroundings. He could smell the stench of blood and burning flesh in the alley, but he could not find the corpse of the black-robed youth.
"I took care of him for you," a raspy voice suddenly whispered in his ear.
"Flame Demon?" Chongyang turned around in shock.
"Don't look for him; I'm right next to you, in a form of wandering elemental energy," the Flame Demon said. "After we signed the soul contract, I can communicate with you in this way without being detected by others."
"I see…" Chongyang examined the ground of the dark alley closely and indeed saw a large blackened patch where the black-robed youth's body had been completely incinerated by the Flame Demon.
Nothing remained, which meant that nothing had happened.
...
...
When Chongyang finally returned to his room, it was already night.
After leaving the alley, he went to a slum and paid a poor man to help dispose of his bloodstained clothes. He bought new clothes and changed before nonchalantly returning to the trading post, quickly purchasing all the necessary materials and hiring a carriage back to the academy.
The expressionless poor man would do anything for money, even cover up for a murderer. Throughout the process of disposing of the clothes, Chongyang had wrapped his face with torn cloth, revealing only his eyes, ensuring that the man never saw his true face. Therefore, there was no need to worry about him saying anything in the future.
The only variable left in this situation was the black-robed girl who had left early—an undercover disciple from a magical faction who had enrolled at the Prisslan Academy.
Chongyang didn't know who she was, nor did he believe she recognized him.
Life would remain unchanged… if not for the inexplicable presence of the "Flame Demon."
After placing the box filled with materials aside, Chongyang sat on his bed, let out a sigh of relief, and rubbed his temples.
"You can come out now."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a dark red flame suddenly ignited in the air before him, and a face emerged from the flames, flickering and distorting slightly as it moved.
"kekekeke——What do you want to ask, little one?" the Flame Demon cackled.
"Flame Demon…" Chongyang rubbed his chin, carefully scrutinizing the strange being that called itself a fire spirit. "You said you were once human. Who were you when you were alive?"
"My name has long been forgotten by the world; I now exist solely to pass on my legacy."
Chongyang frowned slightly. "Then at least tell me, what level of magician were you?"
"kekekeke——You'll find out in due time," the Flame Demon replied with a mischievous tone.
"Does it have to be so mysterious?" Chongyang crossed his arms, feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
"Not at all; it's just not an important question. Whether you know or not is inconsequential. I simply can't be bothered to elaborate," the Flame Demon drifted in the air, a hint of laziness in its demeanor.
"Fine then, let's discuss something more important," Chongyang said as he stood up and walked over to his desk. He pulled open a drawer and took out half a bottle of red wine and a glass that had a slight chip in it. Pouring himself half a glass, he tilted his head back and took a sip.
"Why do you think I'm the one who can inherit your legacy? What makes you think I have the ability to revive fire magic?" He savored the warmth of the liquor as it flowed down his throat and into his stomach, locking eyes with the Flame Demon as he spoke, enunciating each word carefully.
"Because you have the talent to become the strongest magician on the continent!" the Flame Demon answered passionately.
"The strongest magician on the continent? Me?" Chongyang burst into laughter, draining the crimson liquid from the glass. The bitter taste lingered in his mouth. "A waste of space who will never advance past the fourth level?"
He slammed the glass onto the table, a mocking expression on his face. "There's no funnier joke than that." His grip on the glass tightened, knuckles turning pale.
The suffocating frustration buried deep inside him mixed with the alcohol, bubbling over.
The forever third-level mage, the eternal repeater—constantly ridiculed, humiliated, and nearly had his life taken so easily…
No matter how much he struggles, he remains powerless, a weak existence like this…
Crash! Chongyang gripped the glass in his hand so tightly that it shattered, shards cutting into his palm as blood slowly trickled onto the desk.
"Is it really possible!?" he shouted, eyes filled with an intense storm of emotion.
The Flame Demon did not respond immediately. The face within the flames quietly watched as the inner turmoil of Chongyang's pride and self-doubt played out across his contorted features.
Though Chongyang had outwardly seemed calm, the attack earlier had deeply shaken him.
For six years, he'd labored under the belief that becoming the best third-level mage would give his life meaning. He had borne insults, worked tirelessly in silence, and endured ten times the effort of others… only to nearly die like a rat in a nameless alley.
Power was the ultimate truth of this world. What was the point of mastering thousands of scroll-making techniques or concocting countless potions? Any ordinary fourth or fifth-level mage could kill him with ease.
The belief that had sustained him for six years was now crumbling.
"Can I… really become strong?"
Those few words carried immense pain. It was not only a question to the Flame Demon, but a question to his own fate. As he asked, there was a shimmer of tears in his eyes, but beneath it burned an overwhelming fury.
"You can," the Flame Demon replied softly. The glint in Chongyang's eyes made the demon's expectations for him grow even higher.
"Explain it to me!" Chongyang's eyes burned with intensity.
"Very well… then…"
The Flame Demon paused for a moment, his deep voice reverberating from the blazing figure before him.
"For the past century, fire magic has steadily declined, becoming the weakest of the five elemental schools of magic on this continent. But that notion is utter ignorance! Fire magic should be the strongest magic in the world!"
"Every mage claims their elemental magic is the strongest," Chongyang retorted calmly.
"Don't dismiss it so quickly… Let's hear from you first—what do you think are the standards that determine whether a type of magic is powerful?" the Flame Demon inquired.
"Two aspects: power and versatility," Chongyang replied, attempting to raise two fingers, but the moment his hand moved, the pain from his wound intensified.
"Historically, magic was judged purely by its destructive power. However, ever since the time of Grandmaster Linqi, versatility has been regarded more highly. So, although fire magic has powerful attacks, it lacks versatility. It doesn't exist beneath our feet like earth, it doesn't flow around us like wind, it's not in lakes or oceans like water, and it's not in the clouds like lightning… Fire simply isn't present everywhere, and that's why it's weak."
"Completely wrong!" the Flame Demon suddenly surged closer to Chongyang's face, his tone intense and abrupt.
"Fire isn't everywhere? Such a foolish statement! The truth is that fire is everywhere! Air, metal, wood, water—even your body contains fire! Fire is the fundamental element of all things!" The Flame Demon's voice became fervent. "This is the conclusion of countless experiments I've conducted—it's the core of my 'Fire as the Strongest' theory!"
"Fire is everywhere? I don't see it. Where's this so-called fire?" Chongyang sneered, his tone slightly mocking.
"That's because the fire within all things is so small that it can't be seen by the naked eye!" the Flame Demon explained.
"Invisible fire? That's…," Chongyang began, but stopped mid-sentence as a shocking thought flashed through his mind.
Could it be that the 'fire' the Flame Demon spoke of, present everywhere, actually referred to…?
"In traditional magic theory, the basics of casting fire magic involve using mana as a base, with air as the catalyst, to produce flames or explosions. But according to my new theory, this method is completely wrong! The true foundation for casting fire magic should be the use of external matter as the base, with mana as the catalyst!"
Flame Demon displayed the fanaticism of a research-driven mage towards the mysteries of magic.
"Since fire exists in all things, we fire mages should not be burning our own magic power, but instead ignite the world around us! Like a single spark that can consume an entire forest! The whole continent is a vast forest with different structures, and we fire mages are the ones who control the spark!"
"This…" Chongyang swallowed hard.
This theory, so astonishing and against everything he'd learned at Pristlane after years of foundational training, left him deeply shocked.
But with the experience from his past life, if he compared this theory with some basic knowledge from Earth, he realized that Flame Demon's words could indeed be right! What Flame Demon referred to as "fire" truly existed in all things as one of the most fundamental forms of energy—molecular chemical energy.
The core effect of fire magic is combustion. And combustion is essentially a violent chemical reaction between molecules, an activity that occurs at the atomic level. So, fundamentally, all things made of molecules can indeed "burn"—though the methods and difficulty of burning vary.
As Flame Demon continued to speak with passion, Chongyang's eyes began to gleam with the same intensity.
This is indeed the power of fire magic—the strongest power.
"…The magic I developed based on my theory is the opposite of traditional, foolish methods. We use magic power as the catalyst and the external world as the foundation. With such magic, we must first understand the structure of the world and then adjust the configuration of our magic accordingly. In this way, our magic power becomes the spark, and the target of our attack becomes the forest that will be consumed by the flames."
"In theory, that's all true, but in practice, understanding the structure of the world and adjusting one's magic accordingly is incredibly difficult. The first requirement is extremely strong mental power!"
Hearing this, Chongyang finally understood why he had been chosen by Flame Demon—it was because of his unusually powerful mental strength, far surpassing that of most other mages, which made him suitable for Flame Demon's new fire magic.
However…
"I think I get it. Your theory seems believable, but even if I meet the mental strength requirement, what about my inherent magic deficiency?"
Chongyang said with self-mockery, "Even if the focus of this new fire magic isn't on magic power, what can a mere third-tier mage like me accomplish?"
The strength of a bucket is determined by its shortest plank. For Chongyang, his magic deficiency was that shortest, cold and heavy plank, the greatest obstacle in his path as a mage.
"Kehehehe—regarding your magic deficiency, I certainly have a solution. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come looking for you." Flame Demon let out a sinister laugh.
Boom… It was as if an earth-shattering explosion went off in Chongyang's mind!