When Lin Yuan opened his eyes, all he saw was a face full of wrinkles, like the bark of a tree.
"Who... who are you?" Startled by the sight, Lin Yuan jumped and quickly sat up, backing away a bit. It was only when his back hit the wall and he had nowhere else to retreat that he remembered he had fallen into the river and been swept into a whirlpool. So why was he in this place now?
Looking around, he realized he was in a wooden cabin. The cabin was quite spacious, but it was cluttered with all sorts of bottles and jars. Many of them were emitting mysterious gases—red, blue, and green—mingling together in a rather eerie way.
"!#!￥%#￥@...&." The old man in front of him suddenly opened his mouth and spoke a string of nonsensical words. Lin Yuan could only look at him in confusion.
The old man seemed to pause for a moment, then patted his head, took out a bottle of unknown liquid from his pocket, and handed it to Lin Yuan, gesturing for him to drink it.
"It doesn't seem to be poison," Lin Yuan thought as he took the bottle, weighed it in his hand, and then drank it in one go.
"Can you understand what I'm saying now?" The old man asked.
To Lin Yuan's amazement, he could now understand the old man perfectly. It seemed the mysterious liquid had done the trick.
Seeing Lin Yuan nod, the old man smiled and muttered, "Good thing this bottle of Truth Potion hasn't expired…"
"Alright, my friend, I know you must have a lot of questions. So please calm down and let me explain slowly. Your appearance here might be due to a little mistake of mine..."
Although the old man looked very old, his speech was still very clear. Under his explanation, Lin Yuan gradually understood what had happened.
The old man... no, he should be called by his name—Hawk Fernas. According to Hawk Fernas, he believed that he had made a mistake while experimenting with a new summoning spell. The creature he was supposed to summon didn't appear, but instead, Lin Yuan, a living person, was summoned here.
As for whether this was really the case, even Hawk couldn't be sure, and Lin Yuan himself had no idea. He only knew that he had unfortunately fallen into the river's whirlpool and then inexplicably ended up here. What had really happened in between? Perhaps he should ask the God of his previous world.
"...In short, now you have been summoned to my summer cabin," Hawk concluded after a long explanation.
Lin Yuan was somewhat dazed. Although he had often imagined what he would do if he were to cross over to another world while reading novels, now that it had actually happened to him, he didn't know what to do for a moment.
"Speaking of which, when I was young and adventuring all over the Farinos Continent, I had seen many people of different races, but I had never seen anyone with black hair and black eyes. Can you tell me where you lived before? Is it the legendary Far East?"
Lin Yuan gave Hawk, the Great Mage, an annoyed glance. Although he couldn't be sure, his穿越to this other world might indeed be due to the old man's messy summoning spell.
"What do we do now?" Lin Yuan glared at Hawk. "I have no idea where I am, and it's clear this is not where my home is."
"Don't worry. Although this place is just where I come to study magic during my holidays, it is well-equipped with all sorts of daily necessities. You can stay here for now. The Truth Potion only lasts for ten days, so the first thing you need to do is learn the Common Tongue of the continent. As for what to do later, we'll see."
Lin Yuan stared at him for a long time, and finally, with a sense of resignation, he nodded.
In the other world, it seemed that the first thing to do was indeed to solve the language problem.
Two months later.
"Hey, Lin, can you pass me that bottle of Night Bat's Tears?"
"Here you go." Without even looking, Lin Yuan casually reached into the bottles and jars beside him, grabbed one, and tossed it over.
"Lin, this is a bottle I collected with great difficulty. You could be a bit more careful," Hawk said, catching the bottle with some effort and complaining.
Lin Yuan closed the book in his hand and chuckled, "Old man, come on. Your notes clearly say that this bottle of Night Bat's Tears was a gift from someone else. What effort did you put into collecting it?"
Hawk's expression remained unchanged as he retorted, "Precisely because it was a gift, it is even more precious and should be cherished."
Lin Yuan shrugged, not wanting to argue further. After spending two months with the old man, he had become very familiar with his temperament. Although the old man was quite old, he was actually a mischievous child at heart. If he were to argue with him, it would probably just be a waste of breath.
During these two months, Lin Yuan not only learned the Common Tongue but also, under Hawk's guidance, studied the unique magic of this continent.
To Hawk's amazement, although Lin Yuan had never been exposed to magic before, he had an extremely high aptitude for it. He could master any magic in a very short time. Of course, due to his limited mental energy, the highest level of magic he could cast was a second-level spell.
"I have no doubt that you could become an Archmage if you were younger and could increase your mental energy further," was Hawk's assessment after seeing Lin Yuan's performance.
It would be false to say that Lin Yuan was not disappointed at all. After all, having the chance to cross over to another world and not being able to become a super mage who could command the elements was naturally a bit regrettable.
But he was still much better off than most ordinary people.
On the Farinos Continent, ordinary mages usually focused on one type of magic and studied another as an auxiliary, while rarely touching other types of magic due to their physical constitution and the energy required. Lin Yuan, however, had no such problem. First, he had a rare all-element magic constitution, meaning he could practice all types of magic. Second, due to his limited mental energy, he could only use second-level magic at most. Although he couldn't use higher-level magic, this allowed him to have enough energy to study other second-level and lower magic spells. Coupled with his genius-level comprehension, the result was that after only two months of learning from Hawk, he had basically mastered all the low-level magic.
"Hey, Lin, have you ever thought about what to do next?" Hawk suddenly asked out of the blue, interrupting Lin Yuan's reminiscence of the past two months.
"Next?" Lin Yuan frowned. He had thought about going back to his original world during these two months, but since he had come here so inexplicably, there was no way to go back. Although Hawk had tried his summoning spell countless times, no unexpected situation had occurred again. "I haven't decided yet."
Hawk clapped his hands and stopped his magic experiment.
"Lin, to be honest, I think you should stop considering going home for now." Seeing that Lin Yuan only gave a bitter smile in response, Hawk continued, "Instead, think about how to survive here first. Perhaps... I can introduce a job to you."
"A job?" Lin Yuan was taken aback at first, but then he nodded. Since there was no way to go back, he naturally needed a job to make a living and couldn't just stay here and eat for free. Besides, the old man Hawk was not very appealing.
The beautiful scenery and beautiful women of the other world were still waiting for Lin Yuan.
"Here, take this." Hawk waved his hand and threw over an envelope.
Lin Yuan immediately saw that the letter had been specially enchanted with magic and could only be opened under certain conditions.
"What's this for?"
"There should be a few gold coins on the table over there. Take them and head north from here. Once you're out of this forest, you should see an inn. You can take a carriage there to Winden City, and then find the Finor Magic Academy. Just hand this letter to the person in charge of the academy."
"Hey... are you planning to let someone who knows nothing about this world go out and find their way alone?" Lin Yuan couldn't help but exclaim. "Are you sure you're not sending me to my death?"
"Are you an adult?" Hawk rolled his eyes. "I was supposed to go with you, but I'm in the middle of a crucial magic research project and can't leave right now. You'd better get going. You should be able to make it to the academy before it opens. As for what to do next, that's up to you."
Lin Yuan looked at the letter in his hand and then at Hawk, still not understanding what the old man was up to.
"I mean, you should at least tell me what kind of job you're introducing to me, right?"
"A teacher, a magic teacher. Are you satisfied?"
Looking at the hint of a smile in Hawk's eyes, Lin Yuan was left speechless for a moment.
He never expected that after being a teacher in his previous world, he would still be a teacher now.