Chapter 4: A Rather Improper Fireball Spell

“So, what do you think?” Melva looked at An Xia.

“It just looks like a normal ticket,” Anders scratched his head.

“The name is a bit strange.” An Xia flipped the ticket over, but it showed the same pattern. “In Leos, there are many roasted meat banquets like this—some are free, some are paid. But one thing never changes: the name.

This one is a free banquet, but I’ve never heard of this name before.”

Back when he came to Leos to expand his business, An Xia had eaten his way through the city.

He had attended nearly every well-known roasted meat banquet, and had at least heard of most of the lesser-known ones.

By the time he returned, he had gained twenty pounds.

“So… are we going?” Anders asked.

Social anxiety aside, he still wanted to attend a roasted meat banquet.

“Of course we’re going,” An Xia said casually. “At worst, it’s one of those tricks where entry is free, but they charge you midway through the meal.”

“Let’s go take a look,” Melva said, showing interest as well.

They put away the tickets. By now, the sky had begun to darken.

An Xia had boarded the academy carriage at noon.

By the time they picked up Anders and reached Leos, six to seven hours had already passed.

Although summer nights came late, by seven or eight o’clock, darkness had begun to settle in.

The three of them deliberately skipped dinner, saving their appetites for the banquet.

With the remaining time, they went to watch a fireworks display.

The performer was a third-tier fire mage.

After watching, all three of them felt somewhat troubled—the job market did not seem promising.

They wondered if things would improve by the time they graduated from the academy.

However, Anders quickly recovered when he remembered that he could simply return home and inherit his family’s wealth.

Melva, on the other hand, decided that in order to avoid unemployment after graduation, she should strive to become a master-level mage before graduating and continue her studies.

She had no desire to go back and face the old men in her family.

As for An Xia, he was thinking about whether he could expand his “noble enterprise” to other countries over the next few years.

The market in the Emerald Kingdom seemed to be reaching saturation.

After that, they visited a magic bookstore.

It was An Xia’s first time entering such a place.

Previously, he had been too busy with his business, and he also feared that attempting to learn magic on his own might cause unforeseen problems.

When they left, An Xia had acquired a book titled “Fundamentals of Magic.”

Melva and Anders did not buy anything, as this was only a basic magic bookstore.

In other words, their knowledge of basic magic was already perfect.

Thus, the books here were of no use to them.

With the two of them around, An Xia felt at ease as he began flipping through the Fundamentals of Magic.

The very first spell in the book was the famous Fireball Spell.

Whether for survival in the wild or self-defense, the Fireball Spell was an excellent choice.

According to the book, its power was equivalent to being struck by an adult’s punch, with the added effect of burning.

To learn it, one had to use mental power to construct the rune structure of the spell, following the guidance in the book.

An Xia could not sense his own mental power, but Anders taught him his method of cultivating it.

It was called the Star Meditation Method.

An Xia closed his eyes.

Ten minutes passed quickly. When he opened them again, the mental power that had lain dormant for years surged to life, brimming with vitality around his body.

Even Anders and Melva could sense it.

“Well?” Anders asked. “When I first felt mine, it was only the size of a fist. Now it’s as big as a ball.”

“Mine is about half the size of a person,” Melva said lightly.

“What?” Anders’s eyes widened in shock. He had thought himself quite talented, but clearly, there were greater geniuses.

“Uh…” An Xia scratched his head, unsure whether to tell the truth.

After sensing his mental power, he had seen what looked like a vast lake.

After some thought, he said tactfully, “I saw… myself.”

That was not untrue—within the lake-like mental power, he had seen his own reflection.

“I saw myself?” Anders’s jaw dropped even further. Melva’s mental power was half the size of a person, but An Xia’s had formed his entire self?

Melva looked at An Xia with newfound seriousness.

As expected of someone who had tested for magical talent alongside her—perhaps geniuses were naturally drawn to each other.

“So I’m the only useless one…” Anders muttered, utterly dejected.

“It’s fine. Maybe you’ll learn magic faster than I do,” An Xia comforted him.

Anders perked up. “Come on, let’s start learning magic! I’ll teach you anything you don’t understand!”

An Xia reopened the Fundamentals of Magic and looked at the two of them. “Are there any key points to learning magic?”

Melva thought for a moment. “My elders always said that the most important thing is focus.”

“I think it’s understanding,” Anders added. “If you can comprehend the rune structure, it will greatly help with learning more advanced spells later.”

“…I’ll give it a try first.” An Xia rubbed his temples and began attempting to construct the rune structure of the Fireball Spell using his mental power.

He focused intently, and as Anders suggested, he tried to understand the structure as he built it.

Learning rune structures could be done in two ways: either by perfectly copying them without the slightest deviation, or by achieving sudden enlightenment during the process—allowing one to construct them instantly and cast spells at will.

But no matter what, everyone had to start with imitation.

Anders shared some of his personal techniques for copying rune structures with An Xia, holding nothing back.

An Xia’s mental power began to drain rapidly as he failed again and again.

Fortunately, his total reserves were immense.

This level of consumption was negligible.

Through repeated failures, An Xia began to grasp certain tricks in constructing the runes.

He became more and more proficient.

An hour later, darkness had fully enveloped the sky.

Yet a flicker of fire appeared in An Xia’s hand.

“I did it!” An Xia exclaimed excitedly as he looked at the fireball.

Anders clapped from the side, while a faint smile appeared on Melva’s face.

A gust of wind blew past, and the fireball went out.

This was because the rune structure was not stable enough.

With more practice, this issue would disappear.

An Xia took a deep breath and decided to try again.

His mental power flowed once more as he began constructing the rune structure.

Halfway through, An Xia suddenly felt something was off.

As he examined the incomplete structure, a sudden inspiration struck him.

His mental power shifted uncontrollably, causing a subtle change in the rune structure.

Would this cause a problem? An Xia had no idea.

But the structure had not collapsed, so… it should be fine, right?

With a hint of unease, he completed the structure.

However, no fireball appeared in his hand.

“You finished constructing it?” Melva asked.

“Yeah…” An Xia frowned. Where’s my fireball? Did changing the structure make it disappear?

“Is something happening somewhere?” Anders scanned the surroundings.

This area was relatively secluded.

Aside from the three of them, there was no one else.

Yet a whistling sound echoed continuously—and it was growing louder.

Instinctively, An Xia looked up.

Then he saw it—

A fireball descending from the sky!

And he could feel an intimate connection with it.

What the—

Why is my fireball spell in the sky?!