A series of unexpected incidents had Lion's heart pounding with anxiety. But strangely, days passed and nothing happened. Neither was he taken away to be experimented on like a lab rat, nor was he questioned about collaborating with outsiders and targeting them. Everything remained the same.
This, however, made Lion even more tense. But as time went on, coupled with the increasing workload of his fifth-grade studies, he gradually put it out of his mind.
Soon, more than two months had passed.
Through numerous practical trainings, Lion's progress was rapid. When he meditated, he could now stably connect to the second layer of the Magic Grid, no longer feeling as raw and obstructed as he did in the beginning. He could almost clearly see the intertwined silver threads in the void and accurately know which thread to draw power from to shape his magic.
However, he was still some distance away from touching the third layer of the Magic Grid. Whenever he tried to delve deeper, he immediately felt an unbearable headache, as if his head were splitting open, and he almost fell to the ground rolling in pain. After a few painful lessons, he temporarily abandoned this hope.
Haste makes waste; this is true for everything in the world.
In fifth grade, there were almost no lectures from professors. To learn new magic, one mainly relied on themselves to search in the library. During these two months, Lion gradually mastered more magical techniques, which were all recorded in his magic book and could be reviewed whenever needed. Overall, everything was going smoothly.
What he desired most now was probably to get the first place in the graduation exam.
After witnessing a spectacular and dazzling battle that day, Lion deeply felt how far he was from a true great wizard. Although he was too far away to see the details of the battle, Mr. Hogarthana's final strike left a deep impression on everyone.
At that time, the dragon exhaled a rainbow-like glow, which turned into a colorful shield enveloping itself, steadily resisting magical attacks from all directions, like a giant rock standing firm in the midst of towering waves. When everyone thought there was nothing they could do, Deputy Lord Hogarthana soared into the sky and defeated the nearly indestructible rainbow-colored shield with one strike, securing the victory.
Afterwards, Lion specially went to the school library to search for books and almost flipped through all the volumes under the "Dragons" category before finding information about that pink dragon.
It was an Iridescent Dragon, an extremely rare species, which many believed only existed in legends and stories. Iridescent Dragons did not dwell in the Material Plane but scattered across various Outer Planes, often closely associated with deities. It was rumored—just rumored—that in ancient times, there were long-term and large-scale deity wars, and Iridescent Dragons would be invited by deities to participate. Their pink, enormous figures often appeared on the battlefield.
As everyone knows, dragons are natural spellcasters, and their dragon language naturally contains the power to connect to the Magic Grid. But this does not mean that every dragon is a skilled great wizard—in fact, quite the opposite. Perhaps because their physical bodies are already incredibly powerful, dragons do not particularly enjoy delving into magic. Most of the time, they prefer to sleep in their caves. Even when they have to fight, they tend to prioritize using their innate terrifying breath and sharp claws. Due to lack of interest and training, although dragons are natural spellcasters, they are generally not excellent wizards and only know a small amount of magic, which they use for fun.
But Iridescent Dragons are the exception. This species of dragons particularly enjoys studying magic and can often be considered accomplished great wizards. Like the one they encountered this time, although exhaling rainbow glow is an innate ability of Iridescent Dragons, transforming it into a rainbow shield for protection rather than harm is a very skilled magical technique.
However, speaking of it, Spiritshade City is so tightly defended, filled with powerful beings, many of whom are ancient creatures over a thousand years old, older than many dragons. Even if an Iridescent Dragon came, it should have been killed on the spot.
The Iridescent Dragon they encountered this time seemed especially powerful. Under such intense attacks, even Hogarthana had to personally intervene, yet it still managed to escape, which was quite impressive.
Lion could basically conclude that the blonde-haired teenager who asked him for directions that day was this Iridescent Dragon in disguise. It's not uncommon for dragons to change into human form, but he didn't even bother to find out the way before rushing to Spiritshade City and causing such a big commotion. What was he trying to do?
Spiritshade City generally only operates in the Shadow Realm, while Iridescent Dragons prefer not to live in such dark and lightless places. The two sides should have never had any dealings, let alone any grievances.
Forget it, it's basically unrelated to me. Since no one knows or blames me, why bother thinking about it.
Besides searching for information about Iridescent Dragons, Lion also found the magical technique Hogarthana used to defeat the rainbow shield. It's almost impossible to accurately identify a magic just by glimpsing it from afar, especially for Lion, who is not yet an experienced wizard. But this situation was special because there are not many magics that can "defeat a rainbow shield with one strike." Considering the circumstances at that time, it was not difficult to deduce which magic Hogarthana used.
If he guessed correctly, it should be Great Disruption, a powerful magic that can instantly shatter layers of magical defenses and even destroy magical items.
Lion wondered when he would possess such unparalleled power. Looking at these, and then looking back at what he had learned in the past four years: being able to throw a small pebble and make it explode was already the current upper limit of his abilities—it was really depressing.
The more Lion learned, the more he felt inadequate. Although the courses at the Wizard School became more difficult each year, they could still only be considered the basic stage. If one is not satisfied with being an ordinary wizard and wants to truly achieve something, besides more practical experience, deeper learning is very necessary.
For example, being able to enter that legendary higher academy.
With Lion's grades, if he strives hard, there is still hope.
However, reality is always so peculiar. When you want to look around for beautiful women, you find yourself surrounded by dinosaurs and can only bury your head in studies; and when you prepare to study hard and make progress every day like this, you occasionally look up and find that beautiful women have quietly appeared around you.
Her name is Freya.
Freya Monica.
Freya is two years younger than Lion, in third grade. Their acquaintance was purely coincidental.
One midnight, Lion was practicing the newly learned Flight Spell in a secluded corner.
As the name suggests, the Flight Spell allows wizards to briefly fly up and down in the air like birds. Being able to use the Flight Spell signifies a huge breakthrough, meaning that the wizard has touched the third layer of the Magic Grid.
Just this morning, after reviewing several magics he had already mastered, Lion couldn't resist taking another risk, concentrating his mind and meditation, trying to delve deeper into the Magic Grid.
He felt invisible pain, not from his body but from his consciousness, clear and intense. Like the previous times, but to a lesser degree. It seemed that the hard training over the past two months had some effect.
Enduring the pain, he tried to slowly sink his consciousness into the abyss of darkness—of course, this "sinking" is just a metaphor. The pain intensified, coming in waves like tides. Finally, when Lion thought he couldn't bear it anymore, light seemed to appear before his eyes.
He saw the silver threads intertwining into a dense three-dimensional network again. Unlike what he had seen before, the entire network was brighter and more dazzling, as if silver-white flames were burning faintly within it.
Lion had finally touched the third layer of the Magic Grid.
Of course, being able to initially touch it and being able to smoothly and stably draw power from it to shape magic are two completely different things, but this was still a very welcome progress.
The meditation didn't last long, and the pain came again, plunging him into darkness. Lion didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but when he woke up, he felt pain all over his body, as if every joint had been dislocated, and he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.
Forcibly connecting to deeper layers of the Magic Grid when one's abilities are insufficient naturally leads to this overload reaction. Fortunately, Lion had practiced internal skills for many years, day in and day out, and had achieved some success. Although it couldn't be used to break rocks, it was still useful for healing.
After resting for half a day, he got up, took out his magic book, and flipped to a page. It recorded a magic he had wanted to learn a long time ago: the Flight Spell.
Being able to fly freely like a bird is the dream of all humans, especially for Lion, who comes from a non-magical world.
Lion carefully studied the information on the Flight Spell, prepared the necessary materials for casting, then fell into a deep sleep and automatically woke up two hours later. He felt full of energy and vitality, so he began to resumed his meditation, diving deep into the third layer of the Magic Web. With great effort, he extracted the necessary power from the network that seemed to burn with silvery-white flames and carefully shaped it into the required magic.
He needed a place to test it out.
Despite his excitement, Lion remained level-headed. If anyone saw him cast the spell of flight, they would immediately know he had reached the third layer of the Magic Web. Lion didn't want to reveal this secret so soon.
So, it must be a hidden spot.
Unlike other spells he had learned before, flight required a vast open area. His dormitory and lab, though private, were too confined and he might easily bump into the ceiling.
In the end, he had to wait until midnight, sneak out, and find a remote corner to practice.
He took a feather from the inside pocket of his wizard's robe, gently brushed it over himself, recited the incantation, and the feather turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared. Lion felt his feet gradually lift off the ground, and he began to float.
Just floating wasn't true flight yet. Lion had learned Levitation earlier, which also allowed him to float—but only float, moving vertically up and down like an elevator.
Only soaring freely counted as real flight.
Lion concentrated, imagining himself moving forward to his left. To his delight, he found he had actually done it. With just his thoughts, he could control his body to float and move in any direction, albeit slowly.
He could really fly! It felt amazing.
Just as he was fully concentrated on maintaining the spell and enjoying the joy of soaring, a soft round of applause came from behind him.
Lion's heart skipped a beat, and the spell nearly slipped out of his control. It was midnight, and everyone should be asleep in their dormitories. Who could be applauding behind him?
Who was it?
Lion whispered a word, gently landing himself, canceling the spell of flight, and turned around.
And there he saw Freya.