Gray's screams echoed through the front yard like a pig being slaughtered. Lynn tidied up his mud-soaked clothes and slowly walked out of the backyard. As soon as he reached the entrance of the front yard, he saw a group of apprentices surrounding Gray, scrambling to help him put out the fire. But the small gray fireball seemed to have clung to Gray's mage robe. No matter whether they patted it with a wet cloth or poured cold water on it, it didn't go out at all. Instead, it burned more and more fiercely. Soon, it burned a big hole in the front of Gray's mage robe, revealing the linen underwear underneath.
"Don't touch it! The more you touch it, the more it burns!" Gray grimaced in pain, jumping around and roaring. The arrogant air he had earlier had long vanished, and only panic and embarrassment remained on his face.
Lynn stood outside the crowd, arms crossed, watching the scene coldly. He could clearly sense that the "Ashen Fireball" was still absorbing the fire-element residues around it. Although its power was not great, this characteristic of "being impossible to put out by conventional means" was exactly what was mentioned in the information transmitted to him by the parchment—Ashen Magic could devour other magic energies and was accompanied by a weak effect of "soul burning". Although he could only cast miniature fireballs now, and the soul-burning effect was almost negligible, just the fact that it was "unquenchable" was enough to leave these apprentices, who only knew basic elemental magic, at a loss.
"Who did this! Come out right now!" Finally, unable to bear the burning pain any longer, Gray suddenly turned around. His gaze swept over the surrounding apprentices like a mad dog, and finally landed on Lynn, who was standing outside the crowd.
When he saw the mud on Lynn's body and the corner of the parchment peeking out from his arms, Gray's eyes turned red instantly: "It's you! Lynn! You must be the one playing tricks! You good-for-nothing, you dare to harm me with evil magic!"
As he spoke, ignoring the fire still burning on his robe, Gray grabbed a short staff from one of the apprentices and charged toward Lynn. The apprentices around were all stunned. No one had expected Gray to suddenly attack, and even fewer people believed that Lynn could harm Gray—after all, Lynn was notoriously "zero-affinity" and couldn't even cast the Light Spell, so how could he have cast a fireball to burn Gray's mage robe?
"Lord Gray, don't be impulsive! Lynn is just a good-for-nothing. It must be a coincidence!" Some apprentices tried to hold Gray back, but he pushed them away fiercely.
With red eyes, Gray rushed in front of Lynn, raised the short staff, and was about to hit Lynn on the head: "A coincidence? I think you're tired of living! Today, I'll break your hands so that you'll never dare to play tricks again!"
Lynn had long been prepared. He dodged Gray's short staff by leaning sideways, and at the same time, concentrated his mind to channel the ashen energy in his body again. This time, he deliberately absorbed more concentrated fire-element residues in the surrounding air—Gray and the other apprentices had been practicing the Fireball Spell just now, so the fire-element residues in the front yard were much thicker than those in the backyard.
Soon, a gray fireball, bigger than the previous one, formed at Lynn's fingertip. This time, the fireball's light was brighter, and even the black patterns跳动 on its surface could be seen, which were exactly the same as the patterns on the parchment.
"Do you think you can escape?" Seeing that he had missed Lynn, Gray was furious. He raised the short staff again and was about to cast the Fireball Spell—although he was only a junior apprentice, he had already mastered the "Intermediate Fireball Spell" proficiently, and among the apprentices in Fallen Dust Town, he was considered to be at the top level.
The apprentices around all held their breath. Some even closed their eyes, thinking that Lynn would definitely be hit by the fireball and would be seriously injured if not killed. But just as the red light on Gray's short staff lit up and the Fireball Spell was about to take shape, Lynn suddenly raised his hand and threw the ashen fireball in his hand.
The gray fireball streaked through the air in an arc. Instead of hitting Gray directly, it accurately collided with the fire-element crystal at the top of his short staff.
"Bang!"
A slight explosion sounded. The red light on Gray's short staff went out instantly, and a crack even appeared on the fire-element crystal, which had been hit by the ashen fireball. What made Gray even more terrified was that he could clearly sense that the Fireball Spell energy he had just gathered had been sucked away by that gray fireball!
"What... what kind of magic is this?" Gray's face turned pale, and his hand holding the short staff began to tremble. He had been practicing magic for three years, but he had never seen such a Fireball Spell that could absorb other magic energies. This simply did not conform to the laws of elemental magic!
Lynn didn't answer him. Instead, he walked step by step toward Gray, his eyes cold: "Gray, just now you trampled my scrolls, pushed me into the mud, and called me a good-for-nothing. Now, do you still think I'm a good-for-nothing?"
Intimidated by Lynn's gaze, Gray took a step back. He tried to cast magic again, but found that the fire-element energy in the short staff had become extremely disordered and could not be gathered at all—the ashen fireball had not only absorbed his Fireball Spell energy just now but also caused "energy pollution" to his short staff, making it unusable for a short time.
"You... don't come over! I'm the tutor's most valued apprentice! If you dare to touch me, the tutor will never let you off!" Gray shouted in a fierce yet weak tone, trying to threaten Lynn with the magic tutor.
But Lynn didn't buy it at all. He walked up to Gray, reached out, grabbed Gray's collar, and lifted him up: "The tutor values you? So what? When you bullied me, did you ever think about whether the tutor would let you off?"
As he spoke, a small gray fireball lit up again at Lynn's fingertip. Although it was small, it made Gray tremble all over—the pain of the fire burning his robe was still there, and he had no doubt that if this fireball touched his skin, it would definitely burn even more painfully.
The apprentices around were all dumbfounded. No one had expected that Lynn, who was usually bullied by others, would become so powerful, and even Gray was intimidated by him and didn't dare to resist. The apprentices who had mocked Lynn earlier all lowered their heads and didn't dare to look Lynn in the eyes.
"Lynn... I was wrong... I shouldn't have bullied you, and I shouldn't have trampled your scrolls... Please let me go, I'll never dare to do it again..." Finally, Gray couldn't hold on any longer. His voice was filled with tears as he begged for mercy. He could feel Lynn's hand gripping his collar tighter and tighter. If this continued, he might really be burned by that strange fireball.
Looking at Gray's embarrassed appearance, the grievance and anger that had accumulated in Lynn's heart for three years finally dissipated a little. He didn't really hurt Gray, but just pushed him to the ground and said coldly: "Get out. If you dare to bully me again or call me a 'good-for-nothing' even once, I won't just burn your robe."
Gray scrambled to his feet, didn't dare to say another word, hugged his damaged short staff, and ran back to his room in a fluster. The other apprentices also scattered one after another. When they passed by Lynn, they all lowered their heads, whispered "I'm sorry", and then ran away quickly.
Soon, only Lynn was left in the front yard. He lowered his head and looked at the parchment in his palm. After casting the ashen fireball twice just now, he could feel that the ashen energy in his body had been consumed a little. However, the fire-element residues in the surrounding air were being slowly absorbed by the parchment and converted into new ashen energy, which was replenished into the light spot in his Dantian.
"Is this the power of the 'Forbidden Codex'..." Lynn gently stroked the parchment. When he cast the fireball just now, a name had been transmitted from the parchment—the "Forbidden Codex: Ashes Chapter". Although he didn't know what it was exactly, Lynn was certain that this scroll of parchment was the key to changing his fate.
He walked to the side of the scroll fragments that had been trampled by Gray earlier, squatted down, and carefully picked up those fragments. Although most of the scrolls had been trampled beyond repair, Lynn still folded them neatly and put them into his small cloth bag—these fragments were proof of his efforts over the past three years. Even if they were no longer usable, he didn't want to throw them away.
Just as Lynn was sorting out the fragments, the sound of horse hooves came from the entrance of the workshop. Immediately afterward, a middle-aged man wearing a white mage robe with a silver magic wand tucked at his waist walked into the workshop, accompanied by the town mayor. Embroidered on the white mage robe was a golden sun pattern—Lynn had seen it in magic theory books—it was the symbol of the inspector mages of the Holy Light Council!
Lynn's heart instantly rose to his throat. He instinctively hid the "Forbidden Codex" in his arms, and at the same time, circulated the ashen energy in his body. According to the information transmitted by the parchment, he disguised the ashen energy as the most ordinary fire-element energy—although the ashen fireball he had cast just now was strange, the inspector mage might not have noticed it. But if he was found to have the fluctuation of forbidden magic on him, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"This is Mage Colin from the Holy Light Council. He has come to our Fallen Dust Town this time to check the cultivation progress of magic apprentices everywhere and at the same time look for talented young people to recommend to the higher-level magic academies for further study." The mayor accompanied him with a smile and introduced the middle-aged man to the apprentices in the workshop.
Mage Colin nodded slightly. His gaze swept over the apprentices in the workshop and finally fell on Lynn—Lynn's clothes were still wet with mud, and he was holding a pile of broken scrolls in his hand, which made him stand out from the neat apprentices around him.
"What's your name? Why are you sorting out broken scrolls here?" Mage Colin frowned and asked. His voice carried a touch of majesty unique to Holy Light magic, making Lynn involuntarily nervous.
Lynn took a deep breath and tried his best to keep his voice steady: "Your Excellency Mage, my name is Lynn. I'm a handyman in the workshop, responsible for sorting out the fragments of discarded scrolls."
"A handyman?" Mage Colin raised his eyebrows and released a trace of faint Holy Light energy, which swept over Lynn's body—this was a common method used by the Holy Light Council to check magic affinity. Anyone with magic affinity would have corresponding elemental fluctuations on their body.
When the Holy Light energy came into contact with Lynn's body, Lynn could feel the "Forbidden Codex" in his arms tremble slightly, and the ashen energy in his body was instantly disguised as inferior fire-element energy.