Jody had been kidnapped by a magician cloaked entirely in black.
This was the first time since arriving in this world that Jody had ever laid eyes on a real mage. In the village where he had grown up, magic existed only in legends and whispered tales. After all, even in this world, magicians were extraordinarily rare.
Yet perhaps it was a blessing granted to transmigrators. Several years earlier, Jody himself had awakened a magical aptitude. And it was precisely because of this that the uninvited stranger before him had brought him here.
"I never expected that in such a desolate backwater, I would encounter a child with magical talent," the black-robed man said. His appearance was eerie and skeletal, yet his voice was unexpectedly mellow and rich, deep without any trace of rasp. The contrast left Jody mildly surprised.
"May I ask if you are a venerable magician, sir? How should I address you?"Uncertain of the man's intentions, Jody lowered his stance, hoping to extract more information.
The black-robed mage was unmoved. He neither acknowledged Jody's courtesy nor answered his question, instead pressing him with inquiries of his own."How old are you? Did you awaken a fire-element affinity?"
"Fifteen. To be honest, I don't even know what kind of affinity I have," Jody replied.
He knew why the man assumed as much. Earlier, Jody had been tinkering with a fireball spell inside his house. This mage must have sensed it and traced the disturbance to him.
Fifteen!The black-robed mage's eyes gleamed. Awakening magical perception at such an early age was something he had never encountered before.
He promptly produced a transparent crystal sphere."Pour your mental energy into it."
Jody thought to himself, Is fifteen really that remarkable? I sensed magic before I was even ten. I've been playing around with it for five or six years already.
Although Jody had grown up in this world, his understanding of magic remained shallow. There was no helping it. His village was far too remote, its people self-sufficient and almost entirely cut off from the outside world.
Now that he had finally encountered a genuine magician, Jody was eager to learn as much as he could.
With that thought, he placed one hand on the crystal sphere and infused it with his mental energy.
Nothing happened.
The black-robed mage let out a puzzled sound, and Jody was equally at a loss.
"I clearly sensed you using a fireball spell. How could this be…?"
Seeing the man momentarily distracted, Jody quickly asked,"Sir Mage, what exactly is going on?"
This time, the black-robed man answered.
"There are two measures of a magician's strength. The first is mental energy. The second is elemental affinity. You unquestionably possess mental energy, and for it to manifest at your age is truly unheard of. However, the crystal sphere has not changed color, which means you possess no affinity with any element. Without elemental affinity, elemental magic cannot be wielded."
Jody echoed in disbelief,"Unable to use magic?"
The black-robed man placed his hand upon the crystal sphere. In an instant, it turned a dense, silvery white.
"I am attuned to the wind element. I can perceive the wind around me and thus cast wind magic. Likewise, some are attuned to fire, others to water. To us, mental perception is akin to an ordinary person's hands, while the elements of our world are the tools within reach. Writing requires a pen, forging requires a hammer, rowing requires oars. Each magician can sense only certain tools, and that determines the effects we can produce. As our mental energy grows stronger through cultivation, the tools we can wield become larger and more refined. But you possess the hands alone, unable to sense any tool at all. Tell me, no matter how strong a person's hands are, can they hammer nails or row a boat with bare palms?"
Listening to this, a strange feeling stirred within Jody. He pondered silently, I can indeed sense the "elements" around me, but they are not the elements your world speaks of…
The black-robed man also seemed to realize something was amiss."That doesn't make sense. Then how did you cast a fireball? You shouldn't be able to sense fire elements at all."
Jody was still thinking about how to explain when the man stopped pressing the issue and spoke first."Enough. Magical talent is scarce to begin with, and you're still so young. If I bring you back to the academy and nurture you properly, those old fellows will be overjoyed."
He turned to Jody."Well, boy, are you willing to go to the Magic Academy and seek your future there?"
Jody had long since grown weary of life in the village. If not for the fact that he could endlessly experiment with magic inside his house, he would have left long ago to see the world. Having lived two lifetimes, and judging by the old man's demeanor, Jody sensed that his aptitude was considered exceptional in this world. He straightened slightly, let out a quiet chuckle, and asked,"And what benefits would there be in going to the Magic Academy?"
The black-robed man's hand trembled. In the royal capital, countless nobles and magnates would give anything to have their children awaken magical talent, scrambling desperately to send them to the academy. Yet this backwater village boy he had encountered after half a month of travel dared to ask for benefits?
Still, having lived for decades, how could he be outplayed by a child? He composed himself and replied,"You may have awakened magical perception early, but without elemental affinity, you may never wield any powerful elemental magic. The academy might yet find a way to make up for that. As for your little fireball, it was probably just luck—hm?!"
Mid-sentence, he saw another blazing fireball condense in Jody's palm. It grew larger and larger, finally stopping at the size of a washbasin. But that was not what shocked him most.
The fireball was blue.
"Str-str-str… fire?"
Seeing the old man's expression, Jody nearly burst out laughing. Exotic fire?
Of course, Jody had no intention of telling him that the elements he perceived were not wind, lightning, water, fire, or earth, but the true fundamental constituents of all matter. Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron…
For now, however, Jody could sense and control only the first two rows of elements, up to neon. He could clearly feel that as his mental energy grew stronger, the range of elements he could perceive would continue to expand.
As for how the fireball was formed, Jody had once been a top science student. A simple combustion reaction was hardly a challenge. Water molecules saturating the air were effortlessly split into hydrogen and oxygen atoms through mental manipulation, then recombined into hydrogen and oxygen gas. He controlled the air within a limited range, forming a cavity.
"Three percent… four percent… five percent… that should do it."Jody carefully gauged the hydrogen concentration within the cavity."That's the explosive limit. All that's left is… heat."
He had experimented countless times over the past few years. The entire process relied on the most fundamental chemical principle: the electrolysis of water. Through repeated trials, Jody had gradually mapped out the flow of electrons involved.
"All I need to do is accumulate the charge here and trigger static electricity, and then—"
The black-robed man could no longer hide his astonishment."How did you do this? Why can you control exotic fire?"
Jody thought to himself, What exotic fire? Burning hydrogen produces a pale blue flame. If I burned carbon monoxide instead, the temperature would be lower, and it would look just like an ordinary red-yellow flame. At the same time, he formed a rough hypothesis about what this world's so-called fire element actually did.
"Trade secret."With a casual wave of his hand, the fireball vanished."So," Jody asked again, flashing his signature smile,"what benefits are there to attending the Magic Academy?"