Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2: The New Moon Wand

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

How could one get strong fast in the World of Firuman?

Well, there were three ways: gear, potions, and buffs.

The Apprentice’s Dorm lodged only Apprentices. Their magical abilities were so low that he didn’t even need to think about buffs.

Link didn’t bother much about potions either. There were no alchemy laboratories in the Apprentice’s Dorm. More than 150 feet lay between the Apprentice’s Dorm and the closest alchemy laboratory—an impossible distance to cover in the dark, with Assassins at every turn waiting to strike.

The last and only viable option was gear.

What was the most important gear for a Magician? A tool to compress Mana!

In layman’s terms, a wand.

A Magician could use magic without a wand, but Magicians had frail bodies. Unable to concentrate Mana strongly within their bodies, the magic they used would be very weak.

This made it necessary to rely on outside help. That is, wands.

For example, a Level-0 Fireball, cast by a Magician’s Apprentice, would be roughly equivalent to a firecracker. But if the Magician’s Apprentice were to use a wand, even a common one, he would be able to do much, much more. The firecracker would become…a large firework, perhaps even a grenade.

And there would be no change in the Mana consumed. The secret was all in the wand. It simply compressed the Mana.

If one were to liken magic to a bullet, wands would be guns. The quality of the gun determined the impact of the bullet.

Wands were extremely expensive. The cheapest wand cost 100 gold coins. Link was just a small noble and the youngest son in his family. He had little talent in magic and had no way of getting his hands on a luxury item like that.

He didn’t have one, but others in the dorm certainly did.

There were more than 50 Magician’s Apprentices in the Apprentice’s Dorm, most of whom who were loaded. At least twenty of them had wands, the best of which belonged to an Apprentice named Grant.

Link knew that the wand was called New Moon. It was one of the earlier works of the Wand Master Hermira, and was worth more than a thousand gold coins. It had been Grant’s coming of age present from his father, a duke, to his beloved son.

It was rumored that Grant loved his wand so much that he even hugged it to sleep.

Link’s target was the New Moon Wand.

He acted immediately.

Link put on the clothes by the bedside. He froze halfway. These were the Apprentice Robes given out by the Magic Academy. The material and design were unique. His identity as an Apprentice of the Magic Academy would be obvious to all who saw the robes. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. But tonight, the more eye-catching he was, the faster he’d die.

Throwing off the Apprentice Robe, Link opened the chest and dug out a gray robe. It was his own. There was nothing special about it. Wearing it, he would be able to blend into any crowd without standing out.

Link set out after putting on his shoes.

Most Magicians liked towers. The Apprentice’s Dorm was a tower with five floors, each of which had 10 rooms arranged in a circle.

Walking out, Link found himself in a round hall about 30 feet in diameter. It was dimly lit by a ball of light that floated above the hall. It was 9:45. For Magicians, who tended to sleep early, it was already bedtime.

Following the spiral stone stairs to the second floor, Link found his way to Grant’s room and knocked on the door lightly.

There was no response. Grant was probably fast asleep.

Hesitating, Link stopped knocking. It might wake the other Apprentices. Considering what he had in mind, that wasn’t a good thing.

Reaching out, he laid a hand on the lock. Link activated The Magician’s Hand.

The Magician’s Hand

Mana consumption: 0.2 points

Level 0 Trick

Effect: Move objects without physical contact (A technique Magicians often use to show off.)

The Magician’s Hand had been the only magic that the original Link had known. It was very simple and cost only 0.2 Mana Points.

The Apprentice’s Dorm used standard locks. Opening one with The Magician’s Hand was as easy as pie. Five seconds later, the door opened with a click.

The wooden door let out a slight squeak as Link gently pushed it open. For someone stealing for the first time in their life, the noise would be extremely jarring. But not for Link. As someone who had managed to become the first Archmage in the virtual-reality game, he was, mentally, as strong as a rock.

Without flinching, he pushed the door open, walked in and closed the door with a light hand. He did all this as naturally as entering his own room.

The interior was very dark, the arrangement similar to his own. However, the furniture was much more ornate than those that Link owned. The academy didn’t provide its pupils with furniture. Grant had bought these himself.

Grant laid on the bed, fast asleep. The rumors had been true; he loved his wand so much that he clasped it tightly even in his sleep.

It would have been a difficult situation for a real thief. But not so for Link. He knew that the massacre would effectively erase anything else that happened in the city. No one would care about anything else.

There were no repercussions for him to fear.