"Channeling mental power to stimulate one's own magic?" Nidhogg murmured to himself.

"Magic is a non-attribute energy that can be directed and controlled by a wizard, a special energy... So, magic itself doesn't have any combat strength?"

It was the fifth day for Nidhogg and his group at Zeralto Harbor, and just that morning, Nidhogg had successfully activated his magic using the "Guide to Meditation."

This success kept Nidhogg excited all day long.

However, he soon faced another problem: if a wizard apprentice doesn't understand magic knowledge, possessing magic power is useless.

A wizard's magic is a wondrous energy with unlimited plasticity, capable of directing any known energy.

Yet, by its nature, magic is a gentle and harmless energy, making it difficult to directly use in combat or to cause destruction.

"Knowledge... How can I gain knowledge?"

This question puzzled Nidhogg, making him tug at his hair in frustration as he lay over the table.

After Nina had cast a spell, Nidhogg and the other wizard apprentices were indeed motivated, filled with a desire for wondrous wizardry.

What is a wizard apprentice without mastery of spells?

"Nidhogg, Nidhogg!"

A loud voice called from the manor's courtyard, and it didn’t take a glance to know it was Binhansen.

Nidhogg felt a headache coming on; he'd never encountered someone with such a penchant for talking before. It was to the point where just hearing him talk made Nidhogg's head hurt.

However, since he was already troubled about learning magic, he figured he might as well see what Binhansen wanted this late.

"I'm coming."

Nidhogg put away the "Guide to Magic," extinguished the candle, and stepped out.

"What is it?"

Nidhogg straightened his clothes and asked in surprise.

In the cities he’d passed through over the recent days, Nidhogg had managed to acquire some nice things and had now bought two sets of fine-fitting clothes for himself.

Clothes make the man. His golden curls hung freely behind him, a deep and brooding look between his brows. Coupled with a hint of wildness from his days among beggars, he had a unique charm that even Nina and Wade in their group no longer shied away from.

"Hehe, have you heard of Zeralto's Dark Well?" Binhansen asked mysteriously.

"Hmm? Dark Well? What's that?"

Nidhogg hadn't left the manor much in recent days, focusing entirely on studying the "Guide to Meditation," which is why he had managed to awaken his magic.

"Good if you haven't heard of it. Come, let's go. You'll never forget it once you've been there."

Binhansen grabbed Nidhogg and rushed outside as if worried he might escape.

Nidhogg's designated manor was in a relatively quiet area of Zeralto Harbor, surrounded by a dozen or so scattered manors. Owning a manor here meant being either a wealthy merchant or a noble, and the area was peaceful.

Nidhogg found it odd that Binhansen, being the son of a baron, should have seen much of the world, yet something about this had him so secretive.

After passing through a bustling market, it had to be said that Zeralto Harbor's prosperity far surpassed Bissel City.

Stolen story; please report.

The shouting of vendors was ceaseless, lights were bright, and people moved about even at night. There were many overseas trading goods, and the attire of the girls was much more open.

Unlike Bissel City, where the streets were empty at night, save for the large banquets held among nobility.

Panting, Binhansen led Nidhogg to a large estate filled with dense trees. It was much larger than Nidhogg's assigned manor, with groups of young people often coming out, looking surprised and delighted.

Binhansen took Nidhogg to a small, mysterious house. Moonlight filtered through the giant trees, casting shadows that swayed with the breeze, creating a rather oppressive atmosphere inside.

After Binhansen handed over twenty gold coins, a wrinkled old woman inside shakily gave him two transparent stones, her cloudy eyes glancing at them, revealing uneven yellow teeth.

"Enjoy," she said.

Nidhogg was still confused as Binhansen handed him one of the stones with a mischievous smile, "You see those wells over there? Those are the Dark Wells. Just throw this Dark Stone into one, and you can 'meet' beings from other worlds. Of course, some aren't so lucky and encounter some strange creatures, but overall it's quite thrilling."

Meeting beings from other worlds?

Intrigued by the novelty, Nidhogg was curious.

There were about seventy or eighty Dark Wells in the courtyard, half of them occupied by people whispering to the wells, occasionally laughing quietly.

Watching Binhansen eagerly run to one, Nidhogg tossed the stone in his hand as he walked towards a well with no one around.

The water level was high, just seventy centimeters from the top, calm like a mirror, with the dim moonlight adding to its mystery.

Excited and anxious, Nidhogg tossed the Dark Stone down, hearing a soft splash as ripples spread and faded, the water gradually returning to calmness.

To his amazement, a blurry figure appeared on the surface, gazing at him curiously from "the other side."

It was a humanoid creature with a silver-gray horn on its head. Judging by human characteristics, it appeared female and seemed to possess its own civilization, its eyes watching Nidhogg with an assessing look, not like a mindless, violent species.

"A human from the wizard world?"

A somewhat unfamiliar voice echoed in Nidhogg's mind.

Though Nidhogg heard the voice clearly, he was certain it was not a sound perceived by his ears but rather some form of direct mental communication.

"Who are you?" Nidhogg asked.

The creature in the well furrowed its brow at his spoken words, then Nidhogg heard its voice in his mind again.

"Human, are you unaware that communication with beings from other worlds uses the soul? The human wizard world is powerful, but it hasn't reached us."

Nidhogg frowned. The soul?

As someone without basic formal wizard training, Nidhogg had no knowledge of deep concepts like soul usage.

The language of the human wizard world was unintelligible to some beings from other worlds, and some strange lifeforms had no auditory senses, making verbal communication ineffective across different species.

The creature seemed to sense Nidhogg's difficulty and communicated again.

"Okay, human, I'll ask questions you can nod or shake your head in response. Is that all right?"

Nidhogg nodded.

"Are you a human from the wizard world? Nod if you are, shake your head if you're from a world conquered by the wizard world."

Nidhogg was startled. The wizard world conquering other worlds?

Though he didn't know about these matters, he firmly believed himself to be a native of the wizard world—a basic fact he understood—so he nodded.

"Then, are you a wizard? If you are, what level are you?"

Nidhogg shook his head emphatically.

What a joke. He couldn't even perform actual spells; he wasn't even a proper wizard apprentice, much less a wizard.

He sensed the creature's disappointment.

"Ah, just an ordinary human? I finally managed to exchange for the coordinates of the wizard world, only to find such a weak human."

The starling shook its head.

"All right, according to the principle of equal exchange between worlds, you may ask me two questions. But since you can't communicate through soul, I'll assume you want to ask the same questions. I am a Starlight from the world of Star Realm, also known as the Star Tribe, a fourth-level Star Spirit, with an energy level equivalent to a second to third-level wizard in your world."

With that, the being dispersed entirely from the water's surface, seemingly uninterested in spending time on someone as weak as Nidhogg.

Nidhogg awkwardly scratched his nose and glanced over at Binhansen.

Binhansen, full of excitement, was bent over a well, his head nearly in it.

Moments later, Nidhogg and Binhansen joined the throng of whispering youths heading off. Binhansen was excited, "The snow spirit I met was surprised to see a human and asked if I was a wizard. Haha, I told her on the spot that I was a formal wizard!"

"They could understand you?"

Nidhogg looked at Binhansen in surprise, overlooking his "dishonest" answer to the creature.

"Uh... what do you mean? Did your being not understand you?"

Binhansen looked at Nidhogg with equal surprise.

Back at the manor, Nidhogg revisited the encounter with the creature from the Dark Well in his mind. He had already learned that there were countless worlds beyond his own wizarding world, each with its own unique beings.

If two beings from different worlds happened to meet in reality, they were often not friendly. This experience of communicating with a being from another world was fascinating and significant to Nidhogg.

As for the strange entities that appeared during his wizard aptitude test, could they be from other worlds too?

What kind of talent was this?

Nidhogg was filled with endless questions.