Ethan was stunned for a moment.
"...It really is self-study?"
He scanned his surroundings. Among the other seated freshmen, some wore expressions of confusion similar to his own, while others looked as though they were already accustomed to this. A few, who clearly knew what to expect, had already straightened their backs and were staring intently at their desktops.
Light rose from the surface of the desks.
The pale blue glow coalesced and expanded in mid-air, eventually forming a light screen about two meters square that hovered in front of each person.
Lines of text began to light up one by one on the screen:
【Wizards and the Supernatural】
【First Lesson: What is a Wizard, What is the Supernatural】
【This course is a free public lecture, offered only once. There will be no Q&A, no repeats, and no make-up sessions after the class.】
【The light screen will automatically disappear once the course concludes.】
【Beginning now.】
The text vanished, and an image emerged in the center of the screen.
It was a vast starry sky, with countless stars dotting the pitch-black background, slowly rotating.
A voice spoke. Unlike the previous mechanical tone, this was a gentle male voice that carried a certain soothing power:
"When mortals look up at the starry sky, they see mystery, awe, and the unknown."
The image shifted. The starry sky vanished, replaced by a black figure standing atop a mountain peak.
The figure’s back was to the screen, his face hidden. He stood with his hands behind his back, facing a massive, blood-red moon.
"When Wizards look up at the starry sky, they see laws, truth, and a path."
The black figure raised his right hand and tapped lightly.
The blood moon suddenly shattered, turning into countless tiny specks of light that dissipated into the night sky.
The image changed again.
A bustling city appeared on the light screen. People moved through the streets, children chased each other in play, and vendors cried out their wares.
"Mortals live on the surface of the world. They see three meals a day, birth, aging, sickness, and death, joys and sorrows."
The perspective rose, soaring over the city walls, over fields, and over forests, finally coming to a halt before a tall tower.
The tower was entirely pitch-black, its surface covered in countless flowing runes, with a cluster of eerie green fire hovering at its peak.
"Wizards live in the depths of the world. They see the flow of energy, the weaving of laws, and the fragments of truth."
The image cut to the interior of the tower.
A person in grey robes sat in a laboratory. The space was filled with bottles and jars, with liquids of various colors swirling, boiling, and changing hues within glass vessels.
He held a slender glass rod, gently stirring a cluster of shimmering liquid. His expression was one of focus bordering on obsession.
"What is a Wizard?"
The voice paused for a heartbeat.
"Wizards are explorers. They explore the essence of the world, the patterns of energy, and the boundaries of the laws."
The grey-robed man in the image set down the glass rod and picked up a test tube filled with silver liquid, carefully dripping it into a beaker.
The liquid inside the beaker suddenly boiled, erupting in a blinding white light before rapidly cooling and solidifying into a crystal the size of a fingernail.
The man pinched the crystal, examining it against the light with a satisfied smile.
"Wizards are creators. They create new matter, new energy, and new life."
The image shifted once more.
A massive plaza appeared on the light screen. In the center, over a hundred people knelt with their hands tied behind their backs and their heads bowed.
The plaza was surrounded by crowds of onlookers, their expressions a complex mix of emotions.
There was fear, awe, and even schadenfreude.
On a high platform at the front of the plaza stood a figure in deep purple robes.
The figure raised his right hand.
The sky abruptly darkened.
A thick bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, striking precisely in the center of the kneeling crowd.
The lightning exploded, and over a hundred bodies were instantly reduced to charred remains, without even the time to scream.
A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowds around the plaza.
"Wizards are destroyers. They destroy old orders, they destroy threats, and they destroy all obstacles."
The image froze at the moment the lightning struck—the charred corpses and the cheering faces.
"But ultimately..."
The voice spoke again as the images began to flash back rapidly.
The starry sky, the mountain peak, the city, the tower, the laboratory, the plaza, the lightning, the corpses, the cheering crowds...
All the images intertwined, finally condensing into a single simple symbol:
An eye.
An open eye.
The shadow of the entire world was reflected within its pupil.
"Wizards are those who see the truth."
The image vanished.
Text reappeared on the light screen:
【Definition of a Wizard: A supernatural profession that uses mental power as a medium, runes as tools, and mana as energy to explore, understand, and change the laws of the world.】
【Essence of a Wizard: Seeing the truth and utilizing it.】
【Path of a Wizard: Apprentice Stage → Official Wizard】
【Apprentice Tiers: First-Tier (condensing 1-12 mental runes), Second-Tier (13-24 runes), Third-Tier (25-36 runes)】
【Official Wizard: After condensing 36 mental runes, they are fused into a mental crystal to achieve promotion.】
The text remained for several breaths before slowly fading away.
A new image appeared.
It was a massive battlefield.
Countless figures were locked in combat: Knights in armor, soldiers with weapons, and cavalry mounted on magical beasts.
Blood stained the earth, severed limbs were scattered everywhere, and the sounds of screams, war cries, and clashing weapons were deafening.
At the edge of the screen, a figure in grey robes stood silently.
It was a Wizard Apprentice.
He raised his right hand.
A fireball the size of a fist emerged at his fingertips.
The fireball shot out, landing in the center of the battlefield.
Boom!
A violent explosion rang out. Flames soared, and dirt sprayed everywhere.
At the center of the blast, at least a dozen bodies were blown away. Some died instantly, while others were engulfed in flames, rolling on the ground and screaming in agony.
The scene shifted again.
Another battlefield.
A bare-chested Great Knight brandished a two-handed greatsword, rampaging through the enemy ranks.
Every swing of his sword claimed at least one life. Wherever his blade passed, flesh and blood flew, and no one could stand against him.
A Wizard Apprentice in black robes appeared behind him.
The black-robed apprentice raised his right hand.
A streak of ghastly white light shot out, striking the Great Knight squarely in the back.
The Great Knight’s body suddenly froze.
He looked down, staring at his chest in disbelief.
A fist-sized hole had appeared there.
The hole pierced straight through from front to back, its edges as neat as if they had been carved by a sharp blade. No blood flowed.
All the blood had been instantly evaporated by that light.
The Great Knight’s body collapsed heavily to the ground.
The black-robed apprentice withdrew his hand. Without even glancing at the corpse, he turned and vanished at the edge of the battlefield.
The image froze.
【The Gap Between the Supernatural and the Mundane: Insurmountable.】
【A First-Tier Wizard Apprentice can kill a squad of ordinary soldiers under twenty in number.】
【A Second-Tier Wizard Apprentice can directly confront a hundred-man Knight-level army or kill ten Great Knights alone.】
【A Third-Tier Wizard Apprentice has no fear of being surrounded by conventional armies.】
【Official Wizard...】
The text paused.
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