The moonlight was pure and clean.
The boy and girl stood facing each other, bathed in a hazy glow from the bright moon above.
Gazing at the exquisite face before him, Ronald awkwardly asked, "What is your trial task?"
"To kill the ogre monster outside Harlstad village. It's assessed as an intermediate level task for apprentices, not too difficult if prepared." Anna pressed Ronald's hand firmly, the fullness of her fingertips almost spilling over.
Ronald slowly widened his eyes. He wanted to pull his hand back but Anna held tight...
And as time passed, Ronald's wary gaze also gradually began to relax, he even forgot to reply.
In the silence, a mist was building in the amber eyes of the red haired girl.
Anna's body slowly leaned forward, an expectant and dizzy look fixed on Ronald.
Ronald felt his heart melting as he looked at her. A battle raged in his mind.
The evil voice urged him to agree quickly, while the voice of righteousness advised him not to be seduced by beauty.
Ronald was very hesitant. If Anna had come to borrow his staff, then there would be no need to struggle! But she only wanted to team up and get some help, without any freeloading or touching, and she could also provide value.
It's said that there is strength in numbers, finding an obedient teammate instead of joining a group of strangers, might not be a bad idea.
Under the assault of white softness, Ronald convinced himself.
"I'm okay with it."
"Then it's settled, see you at the academy gates tomorrow."
The red haired girl's tears turned to laughter. She bounced away after straightening up.
Seeing her cheerful pace, she must be in good spirits.
The girl gradually went farther, soon disappearing around the corner.
Ronald held out his right hand, as if traces of warmth still lingered there.
Although his original world had computers, AAA games, all kinds of anime characters...
Ronald still felt that being reborn in this different world was not bad. There was no vicious cursing here, perhaps he could even encounter a sweet romance...
After retrieving his staff and returning to his dorm, Ronald immediately began practicing spells, as an adult he still knew what was important.
Recalling the memories in his mind, Ronald slowly chanted the incantation at the target on the wall.
"Great fire spirit, heed my call, burn everything before you...
"First level apprentice spell Fireball."
As the chant ended, a basketball sized fireball appeared on the tip of Ronald's staff.
The fireball radiated intense heat, flying swiftly to the target as Ronald swung his staff.
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A loud explosion rang out, Ronald felt a wave of heat rushing at him, without thinking further he quickly crouched down into a trench.
After the heat dissipated, Ronald stood up and looked again. The distant target on the wall had vanished, and half of the partition wall behind it had also collapsed.
"No way, it's that powerful!"
Staring blankly at the staff in his hand, Ronald felt extremely shocked internally.
He had thought a fist sized fireball could at most blow the target into smithereens, he didn't expect it to destroy half of the back partition wall...
The magic circle on the ground lit up, a cleaning spell activated, black smoke carrying dust poured into the vents, and soon the training room was tidy again.
But while the room was restored, Ronald still lingered in the wonder of magic.
"Awesome! It's really awesome!"
"Magic is so interesting."
"A world of swords and magic, it's really something to look forward to..."
While analyzing the power of Fireball in his mind, he softly murmured to himself. His hand holding the staff trembled slightly and urgently, the magelights flickered over Ronald's face, half bright, half dark.
After catching his breath and letting out a long sigh, Ronald calmed down.
The reality of magic was confirmed. Next was to thoroughly master it.
Ronald set up a new target and began another round of testing.
Due to his rank, the magic originally mastered was not much. Other than Fireball, there was only "Mage Hand" and "Light".
After perfunctorily testing the two useless spells, Ronald felt somewhat discouraged.
For someone with a "lack of firepower" complex, apart from Fireball, the other spells were useless for now.
Of course, this didn't mean these spells were meaningless.
Ronald clearly knew "there were no bad spells, only people who used them badly".
It was just obvious the original body was someone who used them badly.
His memories were full of "eating, drinking, playing", very little about magic.
With a head start over many others, he still managed to play himself into a dead end.
Fortunately this guy had a professional level mother as backup, so resources were richer than normal apprentices. Ronald soon found the magic books tossed in the back of the cabinet from his memories, and earnestly began looking through them.
Spells at the apprentice level had few restrictions on "market circulation". The magic book Ronald held recorded most apprentice level elemental spells.
"Blade Wind, Water Spear, Ice Freeze..."
Looking at the detailed magic in the book, Ronald felt eager to try.
Although he knew from the memories that the original body did not have much talent for multi-element spells, Ronald felt he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if he didn't test them out.
"Great wind spirit, heed my summons, crush all before you..."
"First level apprentice spell Blade Wind."
In a shrill shriek, a green crescent flashed briefly.
The target was cleanly sliced in two, the cut as smooth as a mirror.
Seeing only half the target remaining, Ronald's eyes flashed with excitement.
Who said he couldn't use multi-element spells?
Ronald continued testing.
"First level apprentice spell Water Spear."
The water spear easily pierced the dummy wearing armor, leaving a small dent in the partition wall behind.
"First level apprentice spell Lightning Strike."
A blue-white electric snake shot out from the staff tip, melting a fist sized hole in the plate armor.
When casting Blade Wind, Ronald was still very excited, looking like a genius. But after releasing all the elemental spells of "Wind, Fire, Thunder, Water, Ice, Earth", he frowned deeply.
Dual and triple element talents could be called genius, but mastery over the entire elemental system was somewhat unbelievable, even if Ronald was a magic newbie, he now felt something was wrong.
Could it be that the residual memories were incorrect?
Or did his transmigration cause changes to the original body's talent?
Recalling mages from animes in his previous life, Ronald tried something with an attemptive attitude, putting down the staff and staring at the distant target.
Ronald didn't chant, just recalled the feeling of magic power flowing into the staff. Then the unbelievable happened.
The omnipresent orange dots in the air began to gather, swirling around a point.
In the void Ronald stared at, a fireball exuding scorching heat slowly coalesced into form.
Huh!
He could cast spells without chanting too?
Did I transmigrate into the body of a protagonist in another world?
The mocking thoughts were only fleeting, overshadowed by excitement.
Faced with the abnormality displayed in himself, Ronald now vaguely understood.
Mastery over all elements plus unspoken casting could no longer be explained by "genius". Other than a golden finger, Ronald couldn't think of anything else.
Until the training hall closed, Ronald was still reluctant to leave.
There were many more ideas he wanted to test, but time didn't permit. He could only wait until after the trial to come back.
Carrying expectations of a wonderful life in this different world, Ronald fell asleep hugging his staff.