"This magic... without a doubt, it's a precious magic tome from the Age of Myths!"
A mature woman with orange hair tied into a braid cascading down her back, wearing a simple white dress, knelt before a treasure chest. After examining it for a long time, she spoke with a serious expression.
Her tone and gaze were exceptionally firm, as if she were a famous detective who had already deduced the truth of the case.
Beside her, a black-haired, black-eyed, ordinary-looking young man interjected, "Flamme, this is the thirteenth time I've heard you say that, but how could such a standard treasure chest possibly exist in a forest?"
"You're questioning me again." Flamme's expression became a bit more serious. "Ivan, how long have we known each other?"
"Over a year. Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"Even after more than a year, you still don't trust me, and you won't even respectfully call me teacher. That makes me very sad—never mind. I'll show you the perfect judgment of a veteran Magician."
With that, Flamme reached out to open the treasure chest.
And then.
"Eh eh eh—so dark! So scary!!! Ivan, come save me!!!"
Her upper body was mostly swallowed by the mimic, leaving only a peachy, child-bearing hip and two well-proportioned long legs flailing outside.
"..."
Ivan's eye twitched, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.
As a transmigrator who had been single since birth but had watched countless films, he admitted he was a little excited the first time he saw such a classic scene from a certain genre.
But by now, after repeating this scenario over a dozen times, Ivan had completely lost those worldly thoughts, replaced instead by a deep sense of helplessness.
She looked like a mature and reliable beautiful older sister on the outside, but why did she always stumble in such inexplicable ways?
If she wanted him to respectfully call her teacher, she should at least act like one!
Never mind, the lecturing could wait. For now, he had to save her. Although Flamme could herself blast open the mimic with magic, it was said her hair would turn into her most hated afro, so this was where Ivan came in handy.
"Oh dear, what a troublesome woman."
Ivan came up behind Flamme and placed his hands on her slender waist. It was soft and elastic, appearing somewhat fragile between her exaggerated curves of chest and hips, yet it gave a feeling of being able to be encircled by one hand.
"Don't move. I'm going to use force now."
Go!
Unlike the common method of pulling, Ivan directly used force to push Flamme further into the mimic's mouth, causing the mimic to experience a physiological discomfort and thus spit out its prey.
This was the valuable experience he had gained from successfully rescuing people from mimics over a dozen times!
"Thanks, I'm saved~"
After escaping the chest, Flamme waved her hand and blasted the mimic away. Although it posed no threat to her, if a curious child were to encounter it, it could lead to irreversible consequences.
Watching the monster's corpse turn into magical embers and return to nature, Flamme cleaned the slime from her body, full of emotion.
"Indeed, as you said, Ivan, history is a constantly repeating cycle. The only lesson humanity learns from it is that it never learns."
"I feel like applying that famous quote to you and the mimic is an insult to the ancient sages."
"Ah, haha..." Flamme also gave an embarrassed chuckle. "You're really sharp-tongued, Ivan. If you speak to women like that, you might not find a girlfriend, you know."
"Hmph, women only slow down my magic circulation."
Ivan crossed his arms, adopting the classic expression of a certain overturned king. "In my hometown, there's a legend that if you remain a virgin until 30, you can become a Great Magician..."
As he spoke, Ivan remembered his chuunibyou friends on Earth who always joked with him. He would probably never see them again in this life, and his mood suddenly became low, so he didn't continue speaking.
Flamme keenly sensed the change in his mood. Her emerald eyes revealed a soft, maternal glow, but she didn't offer any comforting words, simply pulling Ivan gently into her embrace.
She had experienced her hometown being destroyed by the Magic race when she was a child, so she could completely empathize. (There seemed to be a slight, strange misunderstanding.)
"Flamme," Ivan called softly.
"What is it?" The mature beautiful older sister's lips curved into a gentle smile. "If you're expressing gratitude, remember to add 'teacher' after my name. Yes, Flamme Teacher. Say it once: Flamme Teacher, thank you. Practice it quickly."
"No, no, no."
Ivan's eyes turned into dead fish eyes. "While the delightful sensation of marshmallow softness you let me experience is certainly worth thanking you for, before that, there's something very important I need to say—the mimic's slime really smells sour and stinky. Couldn't you have taken a bath before hugging me?"
"Heh heh, you brat..."
Flamme's expression instantly fell, and a terrifying low pressure emanated from her.
A magic staff appeared in her palm.
Thus, on this day, Ivan finally recalled the fear of being dominated by a Great Magician.
◇
[Ivan, Human Male, Physical Age 16]
[Occupation: Novice Magician]
[Talent: Possesses a certain degree of comedic ability]
[Equipment: Ordinary clothes, ordinary staff]
[Combat Rating: Weakling]
[Short-term Goal: Kill the Demon King]
Ivan closed the system pop-up, which only he could see, and threw another branch into the bonfire.
Originally, he was just an ordinary unemployed university student. After transmigrating, not only did he become ten years younger, but he also awakened an incredibly powerful system called "True Sight System made in cwm" because of his pure smile.
It could endlessly check his current status. Wasn't that incredibly powerful?
And through Ivan's persistent development, it even gained another terrifying function—checking the status of his teammates!
This was so invincible, so invincible that at first, he didn't know how he was supposed to win against the Demon King.
System: Go eliminate the Demon King for me!
Ivan, whose combat rating was weakling: Huh? Me???
Fortunately, he soon met Flamme. Under her guidance, he finally grasped a bit of magic, and the wonder of magic also showed Ivan the possibility of winning.
The system was definitely unreliable. He could only develop by relying on his rich imagination combined with the unique magic of this world.
"The world of the Magician is a world of imagination. If you can't even imagine doing it, then you will never be able to do it."
This was a sentence Flamme spoke when teaching Ivan how to use magic. And what followed, Ivan's imagination indeed brought her a little bit of 21st-century shock... and then he was forcibly taken as her disciple.