Chapter Two: The Privileges of a Genius

The low buildings surrounding the training field served as quarters for the registered disciples. After Michelle’s concise explanations, everyone went back to their rooms, earnestly studying either “Basic Alchemy Knowledge” or “Essential Fire Arts Course” from their storage pouches. They had three months to make their choice, to strengthen themselves and gain the power to remain within the Hortonklin family.

Many also visited the rooms of the three senior sisters and brothers.

Xu Wen headed to Michelle’s room; soon after, he emerged, followed by three others: first, Ding Yushan with his arrogant expression; then, the cold-faced youth, Xie Zhan; lastly, a timid girl, her eyes veiled in mist, trailing behind like a shy rabbit, delicate and captivating in her own way—she was Mu Wan’er.

A snort sounded from Ding Yushan as he strode past Xu Wen, casting him a fierce and hostile glare at the moment their shoulders brushed.

Xu Wen could only smile wryly.

Soon, Xie Zhan passed by as well, giving Xu Wen a glance of pity, shrugging before following in Ding Yushan’s direction.

Both had already received approval from Michelle to head to the outer regions of the Blackwater Mountains for practical training. Ding Yushan possessed two-star, fourth-tier strength; Xie Zhan, two-star, second-tier. They were more than capable of contending with the one-star magical beasts of the outer lands.

As for him...

Xu Wen sighed, frowning in frustration. He looked back at the little beauty timidly lagging a few paces behind, her clear, innocent eyes gazing at him with a mixture of unfamiliarity and innocence.

He couldn’t understand why, when gathering medicinal herbs on Medicine Peak, he was required to bring along such a burdensome tagalong. Three months was enough for him to advance to become an inner disciple, yet now he had to split his time acting as a ‘guide’ for this seemingly clueless girl—it was simply too much!

Worst of all, Ding Yushan, with his formidable background, seemed to care greatly about this girl. Ever since Michelle instructed Xu Wen to take Mu Wan’er up Medicine Peak, Ding Yushan had been seething, as if he wished to devour Xu Wen whole.

Forget it. Once they reached the mountain, he’d hand this troublesome tagalong over to the senior disciples residing there and rid himself of the nuisance. The outer disciples spent their days among herbs and could instruct her well enough.

With this decision, Xu Wen’s mood lightened. He snapped his fingers and beckoned behind him, “Let’s go!”

...

The journey from the training field to Medicine Peak was not short, and Xu Wen found himself deep in thought.

He had been in this world for over ten days, gaining a fair understanding of its workings. Much resembled the virtual game he’d traversed through when struck by lightning, yet there were differences.

At least his knowledge of herbs had allowed him to infiltrate the renowned Hortonklin family, famed for alchemy, artifact forging, and fire arts, and to secure a place on the annual fast track for newcomers, granting him access to the magical circles of this world and the chance to become one of the family’s future fire mages and alchemists.

From this moment forward...

It was time to shine and forge ahead—since he had arrived in this world, he must accept and adapt to everything it had to offer.

As the saying goes: the weak adapt to their environment, the strong change it. Since he was not yet strong, he could only choose to adapt...

The Hortonklin family wielded considerable influence, at least within a thousand-mile radius. This was evident in their absolute control and transformation of over a hundred peaks in the Blackwater Mountains, and the establishment of a comprehensive system for nurturing new talent.

Now, among the common folk surrounding Blackwater City, becoming a member of the Hortonklin family was a source of pride. Every year, they sent their children to participate in the family’s public recruitment of registered disciples, though only a select few with exceptional talent were chosen.

Xu Wen arrived after registration for the event had closed. It was by chance that he picked out several rare herbs from an old farmer’s stall, who turned out to be the disguised master of the Seventh Medicine Peak, and so Xu Wen was brought back.

Medicine Peak—

As the name suggests, it was a mountain dedicated to cultivating medicinal herbs, one of the lifebloods of the Hortonklin family...

There were fourteen peaks transformed into herb bases; Seventh Medicine Peak stood at just over a thousand meters, right in the middle.

The lower slopes’ temperature suited ordinary herbs, which required little supervision, so there were fewer outer disciples there. The higher up one went, the more treacherous the terrain became, and only precious herbs could flourish. Here, many disciples guarded them day and night, regularly patrolling their plots.

Xu Wen’s luck was poor; he wandered the mountain for most of the day, collected all the herbs he needed, yet never encountered a single outer disciple. He wondered whether they truly weren’t on the lower slopes or had simply retreated higher in anticipation of the registered disciples’ training.

Helpless, he continued gathering herbs while explaining their names, properties, and relevant pill recipes to the tagalong behind him—he couldn’t let her follow mindlessly forever.

At first, Mu Wan’er earnestly pulled out her illustrated “Compendium of Herbs,” carefully comparing each specimen and occasionally casting surprised looks at Xu Wen, as if puzzled by how this boy of her own age seemed to know everything, even things not recorded in the books, which he recited with authority. Gradually, her gaze became one of admiration, and before long, she quietly slipped her book back into her pouch, focusing solely on listening to Xu Wen’s explanations and observing his every move in gathering herbs.

Xu Wen noticed and felt a subtle pleasure, despite her being nothing more than a naive, inexperienced girl.

To confirm his efforts weren’t wasted, Xu Wen began having Mu Wan’er identify previously mentioned herbs and recite their properties. Her performance stunned him—she remembered everything after hearing it just once!

She not only repeated his information clearly, describing the herb’s appearance and environment word for word, but could also distinguish between herbs with similar shapes but vastly different effects, which even veteran alchemists would struggle with. She was astonishingly capable.

Xu Wen stared at her as if she were a marvel, finally offering a heartfelt compliment: “One day, you’ll become a remarkable alchemist!”

“It’s all thanks to you, Senior Xu,” Mu Wan’er replied. “What you say is so interesting and easy to recall. It’s just like memorizing stories. Oh, and please call me Wan’er from now on.”

She blinked her long, lovely lashes at Xu Wen, a blush spreading across her graceful neck. Gradually, she relaxed from her initial reserve, though she remained shy.

“Alright,” Xu Wen agreed, not rejecting this bashful girl who resembled a cautious rabbit. He looked around, found a flat clearing, sat down, and pulled a brand new alchemy cauldron from his storage pouch, placing it before him.

Mu Wan’er was slightly startled.

“Senior Xu, you...”

A delightful surprise flashed in her beautiful eyes. She pressed her lips together and obediently sat beside Xu Wen, her misty eyes fixed intently on his every action.

She had an excellent memory, so she recalled the knowledge from her books well. She knew that only when concocting medicine would one use an alchemy cauldron. Since Xu Wen produced one, he must be preparing to refine medicine.

Senior Xu really was remarkable!

She didn’t know that Xu Wen himself wasn’t certain he could successfully refine anything. All his previous knowledge came from a game, and he couldn’t be sure it would apply in this world.

Moreover, he used to employ the Undead Flame—cold fire—for alchemy, which earned him the title of the game's top grandmaster. Now, he had very little magic power within him, and all his hope lay in the “Basic Magic Knowledge” he’d studied half the night, and the tiny bit of skill in drawing fire elements from space, plus the cauldron inscribed with a magic array that could automatically absorb fire elements from its surroundings.

Xu Wen could only try...

After all, the mountain’s ordinary herbs were plentiful enough for a lifetime of experiments, and the Hortonklin family wouldn’t begrudge a few common herbs. Besides, he wasn’t refining pills for any other purpose than to advance faster on the fire arts path and stand out among the registered disciples.

After several deep breaths to steady himself, Xu Wen began his first attempt at refining medicine since coming to this world.

But just as he entered a meditative state, trying to sense the fire elements in space, he suddenly realized he couldn’t gather them no matter how hard he tried.

What was happening?

He opened his eyes and looked at his hands in confusion...

He had managed to gather a small flame at the training field following the introductory magic knowledge, so why couldn’t he do it now?

“Again!” Xu Wen refused to give up.

He struggled for ages, his energy draining, sweat pouring from his brow, until finally a pitifully tiny flame wavered on his fingertip. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the little flame vanished silently in the breeze, like a frightened girl.

A chill swept through...

Sensing Mu Wan’er’s stunned gaze, Xu Wen felt utterly defeated.

He had prepared himself for failure in his first attempt, but never expected such a tremendous obstacle—especially with magic itself.

Could it be that his aptitude was poor, and he was unfit for fire arts?

Impossible!

Calming himself, Xu Wen tried again and again, exhausting his magic, then recovering it through meditation, and repeating the cycle.

Unfortunately, the cauldron remained cold, and his tiny flame was as feeble as ever, flickering out as soon as it appeared, as if an old man struggling in vain.

The only comfort was that, after repeated depletion and replenishment, his mental energy seemed slightly stronger, and the flame grew a bit more robust.

Yet such small progress could not appease his longing for alchemy.

Mu Wan’er, watching, soon noticed his frustration, pulled out her own introductory magic book and cauldron, and attempted to concentrate and gather magic as instructed, hoping to activate the cauldron. She fared even worse than Xu Wen, unable to produce even a spark after much effort.

Thus, the stubborn boy and girl sat facing each other, trying countless times.

Finally, a passing young outer disciple couldn’t bear to watch any longer and tossed them two sentences as he walked by:

“Stop wasting your time! There’s a special magic array around Medicine Peak to restrict element gathering. The difficulty here is ten times that outside; the higher your level, the greater the resistance. If you want to refine medicine, do it elsewhere. Disciples are not allowed to freely use magic here.”

With that, he walked off, leaving Xu Wen and Wan’er dumbfounded, sitting exhausted and staring at each other.

“Why didn’t anyone tell us sooner?”

A long time later, a childish, utterly helpless wail echoed across Seventh Medicine Peak.