Chapter 21: It’s Him!

The Internet is on fire!

When the Empire’s mandatory dissemination decree was issued, the magicians and governors of various administrative districts were at a loss as to how to fully spread Internet Divine Magic within a month.

Who would have thought that just by casually sending a night watchman to shout down the street once, the Internet Divine Magic would spread on its own?!

Now, in the Kewell Empire, the Internet is being discussed almost everywhere.

If someone doesn’t know what the Internet is, they feel embarrassed to greet others, and it gives them no topic to chat about.

The unexpectedly smooth dissemination has caused many governors’ elaborate backup plans to die prematurely before they could even be implemented, leaving them quite frustrated.

The smooth spread of Internet Divine Magic can be attributed to two key factors.

First and foremost, the zero threshold for using Internet Divine Magic.

If the Internet Divine Magic still required a medium, as in its first generation, its spread would not be nearly as easy as it is now.

Even inexpensive magical tools mixed with small amounts of mithril would be unaffordable for the lower-class citizens who barely make ends meet.

Now that there’s no need for a medium, even an illiterate farmer in a remote village who has never practiced cultivation can access the Internet by praying to the Internet God.

With such convenience, how could it not spread far and wide?

Secondly, it’s due to the people’s deep desire for magic and power.

In this nation where magic equates to status, power, and wealth… who wouldn’t want to learn magic?

However, magic has long been monopolized by the upper and middle classes.

Now, with Internet Divine Magic providing an avenue for studying magic, who would still want to stay mired in poverty, living as a downtrodden peasant for life?

Suddenly, the entire Empire has been swept up in a fervor for magic, Battle Qi, and literacy!

A colossal, visible revolution has begun to unfold.

……

While the Kewell Empire is engulfed in great upheaval, Felix Magic Academy remains much calmer.

As one of the birthplaces of Internet Divine Magic and home to a highly educated populace, the widespread adoption of the Internet Divine Magic means little more to them than a sudden thousand-fold increase in forum posts.

For the magic apprentices, the most crucial concern remains their studies.

Especially since the sudden announcement two days ago that all apprentices who had chosen to study Wood Element magic were being reassigned to participate in a magic experiment, a decree which caused quite the stir at Felix.

In the world of magic, magic is divided into two major categories: ‘Conventional Elements’ and ‘Special Elements.’

The Conventional Elements are: Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, and Lightning.

These are the fundamental magics that every magic apprentice must master. Failing to master any of these would prevent them from passing the apprentice magician exam, condemning them to the title of magic apprentice for life.

Only after successfully becoming a magician, can they choose to specialize in one or more elements.

Felix Magic Academy, as one of the top three magic academies in the Kewell Empire, imposes even stricter requirements on its magic apprentices!

In addition to mastering the seven conventional elements, the academy requires all magic apprentices to choose and study at least one Special Element.

Currently, Felix offers nine Special Elements: Time, Space, Wood Spirit, Necromancy, Gravity, Psychic, Curses, Illusions, and Summoning.

Special Element magic typically means it’s easy to learn but difficult to master, lacks systematization, and can be hard to advance in.

On the other hand, the effects of such magic can be incredibly unpredictable and difficult to defend against.

Thus, Felix’s elective system is more about preserving tradition than practical utility.

Most magic apprentices’ knowledge of Special Element magics generally doesn’t progress after graduation.

Only a very few gifted individuals manage to slightly expand their knowledge in this area.

Such progress represents an advancement from Special Element magic to the level of Conventional Element magic.

Among the nine Special Elements, the Wood Spirit element is especially unique.

It’s one of the rare branches of magic that can benefit the instructors themselves.

Basically, during their study of Wood Element magic, apprentices are often used as free labor by their instructors to cultivate magical plants.

It’s deceitfully labeled as: ‘practicing magic.’

Hence, Felix’s decision to reassign all Wood Element magic apprentices has silently antagonized many instructors.

However, since the decree came from Archmage Dundar, despite their reluctance, they could only hold their noses and accept it.

Naturally, everyone became curious about what kind of ‘magic experiment’ required so many apprentices.

November 4th, 1078, in the Kewell Calendar.

Under the academy’s orders, 374 apprentices who had chosen the Wood Spirit element gathered in the Grand Hall of the ‘Forest of Magic’ on the east side of the academy.

Dorothy was among them.

However, today she lacked her usual energy.

She stood among the crowd, looking dejected and ignoring her classmates’ eager greetings.

She had been in this state for more than half a month.

Or rather, ever since that night when she warned Desowa, and in a fury attacked a mysterious young man, she had been unable to feel any joy and had fallen into a state of anxious paranoia.

Because that night, her grandfather, Doman, called her to his study and questioned her thoroughly.

Especially about the details of the mysterious young man, he tirelessly asked about everything he said and every expression he made.

Her grandfather’s attitude made Dorothy realize she’d gotten herself into trouble.

No one knew that the fearless Dorothy was actually quite afraid of her grandfather.

Even though her grandfather, who held the title ‘Child of the Forest,’ had been gentle, kind, and hardly ever lost his temper throughout his life, she still feared him.

When she was seven, she received a staff her grandfather crafted by hand, a staff she still uses to this day.

But no one knew that she had seen, through a crack in the door, her grandfather standing on his head in the study, his hair turning into countless tree roots burrowing into the ground, his body transforming into a tree trunk, and his limbs into branches.

The staff her grandfather gave her was a branch peeled from that tree.

Its magic conductivity is comparable to dragon horns.

“Hey, Dorothy, look! Grand Magus Lucien is here!” A classmate exclaimed in a hushed voice, snapping Dorothy out of her thoughts.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the sorrow in her heart, and looked up.

As she scanned the room, she was suddenly struck as if by lightning, her scalp tingling and her hands and feet turning cold!

Because behind Grand Magus Lucien stood that mysterious young man.

“Silence!”

Lucien appeared to be in his forties, but his actual face seemed that of a man barely in his thirties.

However, when he sternly commanded silence, the vast hall instantly fell quiet, even without the use of any magic.

After all, he was the youngest Grand Magus in the Empire!

He was also the Empire’s brightest hope of advancing to the Archmage level!

“This time, you will participate in a very important magic experiment. This experiment will be led by Mr. Ajef. Remember, this experiment is linked to whether or not you can graduate from the Wood Spirit elective, so take it seriously.”

Lucien’s words caused a slight stir in the Grand Hall.

“Mr. Ajef, it’s all yours now. I won’t interrupt any further!” Lucien respectfully nodded to Yu Sheng’an.

Yu Sheng’an nodded in return.

He glanced around at the bustling crowd of magic apprentices in the hall and took a slight breath, saying, “From now on, your afternoon elective classes belong to me. I hope everyone will cooperate.”

“Alright, I’ll keep it short. Let me announce the purpose of this magic experiment—it’s to screen and cultivate high-yield, drought-resistant, salt-tolerant crops for sandy soil. Go back and think about which crops would be suitable for magical enhancement. If you have any ideas, write a report for me. There’s a reward!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the hall erupted in an uproar!

The magic apprentices could hardly believe their ears:

This young man named Ajef actually wanted them, these proud Wood Spirit magicians, to cultivate crops?

This is utterly preposterous!