What is a Mage?
This question was fittingly addressed in the notes, and it largely aligned with August's imagination—similar to the fantasy movie characters from his previous life who possessed magical abilities and could achieve things far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Of course, according to his family ancestor's notes, the abilities of these mages were far more powerful than he had imagined. For instance, the notes recorded an event the ancestor had witnessed firsthand.
When his ancestor was still an apprentice, his mentor led three apprentices to another mage for an academic exchange. They happened to witness this mage cast a spell to lift an entire city off the ground, raise it into the sky, and then violently smash it back down. The result was not a single person in the entire city survived, and the reason was simply that the city administrator had unknowingly offended this mage.
However, his ancestor's mentor and his ancestor, being mages themselves, didn't consider it excessive at all. In their view, common people no longer belonged to their species.
From this, it can also be inferred that mages were probably not positive figures; most were wicked individuals who regarded human life as merely disposable.
August, however, didn't seem to care. He had just started, was at most an apprentice, and these matters were still foreign to him.
His ancestor left many books, most of which contained knowledge only accessible to a formal mage. The only references understandable to him were a travel diary and a set of notes from his apprentice stage.
After finishing today's manuscript, August retrieved his ancestor's set of notes from the secret drawer of his desk and began to study the magical knowledge of the apprentice stage.
The mage apprentice stage lays the foundation for becoming a formal mage; it's a period for accumulating basic knowledge and magic. Mages at this stage are quite weak; a common soldier can even kill a mage apprentice if prepared.
Apprentices at this stage aren't incapable of casting spells, but most spells they can cast serve auxiliary functions, and offensive spells are mostly weakened versions of a formal mage's spells, making them less useful than a weapon.
August currently only possesses three spells he deftly controls. One is the [Rapid Writing Spell], which allows for quickly memorizing texts and images—a necessary spell for rapidly acquiring knowledge during the apprentice stage.
The second spell is the [Deflection Spell], a defensive spell that can divert the trajectory of projectiles like bullets and arrows upon contact with its shield, thereby achieving a deflection effect. This spell was created to prevent apprentices from being accidentally killed by common people. Of course, its defensive capability against offensive spells is very limited, but fortunately, there aren't many offensive spells that apprentices can master, and the only mage August has encountered so far is Mardo, so it hasn't been of much use to him.
The third spell is the only offensive spell August found in his ancestor's notes that could be cast at the apprentice stage, called [Magic Cut].
August took out a piece of paper, quickly folded it into a paper airplane, and gently launched it into the air. The airplane glided calmly through the room.
Suddenly, August waved his right hand in the air, causing an ethereal, half-meter long blue light to appear in the paper airplane's path. Upon touching the light, the airplane split in two and fell to the floor.
This is the effect of Magic Cut. August can manipulate the free energy in the air within a ten-meter radius to form a **Blade of Light**, whose sharpness is comparable to that of the sharpest sword a common person can forge.
This spell was a reward his mentor granted his ancestor after completing a task for him. It's a very valuable spell. After becoming a formal mage, this spell can also be upgraded to an advanced spell, [Greater Aether Cut], whose power far exceeds its weakened version.
The advantage of Magic Cut is its unexpected nature; there's no prior warning before casting it. Of course, its learning difficulty matches its power. This spell requires a considerable degree of magical manipulation and mental power control. His ancestor's mentor also taught him this spell to train him.
August proudly proclaimed that he was a genius!
To extract magic from the atmosphere, one must use mental power, and its training is based on special meditation methods, which mages call [Meditation Techniques].
The Apprentices' Meditation Technique is generic and much simpler than a formal mage's Meditation Technique; it has no special abilities and simply increases the speed at which apprentices meditate.
His ancestor's notes indicated that a normal apprentice would typically take at least one or two weeks to learn it, but August achieved it in less than three days, fundamentally mastering the apprentice's Meditation Technique.
He supposed this might be the effect of the grand door in his spiritual world.
This door had always been tightly shut, but after he absorbed the first trace of magic, a crack suddenly opened, and then **August** felt his absorption speed inexplicably double.
Thinking about something, August smiled, then extended his right hand forward, and a golden mist erupted from his palm, spreading around him.
Soon, the room was enveloped in a golden mist, as if the essence of liquid gold filled the air, and a large but blurred, stone-like door in space appeared in the room.
August, that day, felt the door burst open. An instant later, a torrent of information suddenly flooded his mind, and he instinctively knew he could now summon the door outside his body.
August had also learned the door's function from that information: it could allow him to travel to different worlds!
At that moment, he was in shock for a long time. The series of fantastic causalities made his normally stable mindset fluctuate intensely. August even believed he was hallucinating.
However, after the shock, he delved deep into his thoughts. The ability granted by this door undoubtedly offered him endless opportunities. Imagine, no matter what experiences he might encounter in another world, it represented a possibility for him to grow stronger.
If he were careful, he could accumulate countless resources, which would be much faster than searching and trading in this world.
The only regret was that the world he would travel to was random.
At that moment, August didn't dare to simply enter; crossing into another world without the ability to protect himself would be an act of suicide. At the very least, he needed self-defense skills.
Therefore, after that incident, he began diligently practicing spells until a few days ago, when he finally successfully cast the Magic Cut spell.
In the following days, he had been repeatedly training, just to ensure he could react quickly and use his spells.
"It's time to go!" August stood up, took out a briefcase, put away his notes and some materials, and murmured, taking a last look at his room.
The door expanded automatically, revealing a golden vortex within. Stepping through it, a completely different world extended.
"I wish myself good luck!" He adjusted his hat and entered.
A golden flash filled the room, and August disappeared. Immediately, the golden mist quickly moved towards the door, and finally, both it and the door shrank and vanished. The room fell silent, only its owner was missing.
Before August's eyes lay a dark tunnel. A golden glow enveloped him and helped him pass through this tunnel. There, he couldn't breathe, and an unknown force oppressed him, preventing him from moving.
He believed that if it weren't for that golden glow protecting his body, he would probably have been crushed directly by this power, which was so strong it left no room for him to resist.
After an indeterminate time, he suddenly saw a point of light appear not far away. This revitalized August; it was probably the entrance to another world.
As he approached, the point of light in August's eyes grew larger and larger, gradually becoming a circular, white void, like a fold in space; August, unable to control himself, crashed into the white light exit.
He felt as if he had passed through a viscous membrane, and then a strange aura rushed towards him. It seemed he had successfully crossed.