Chapter 8: This is the power of magic

East Suburb, a dense forest.

Wei Bai often came here.

This place was remote, and with the cover of the woods, it was one of the rare tranquil areas in Carvin City.

Familiar with the way, he walked through the forest, and soon emerged from the shadows of the trees.

What greeted his eyes was a scene so familiar it couldn’t be more familiar.

Trees surrounded the grassland, with an irregular stone in the center, and some unknown species of flowers at the edge.

Yes, he had just been here a few days ago.

Or rather, he came here once every two or three days.

This clearing was almost at the heart of the forest, so there was no need to worry about anyone passing by.

He sat down in front of the stone he often leaned against and began to fiddle with the pendant in his hand.

Before coming, he had spent a few silver coins to buy a copy of the Entry-Level Magic Compendium.

Worried that he might not understand the basics of magic, he had also reviewed the fundamental magic section from Fundamental Magic.

But it seemed to have been useless.

Now, what he had read and the book in his hands were as good as waste paper.

Because he didn’t know how to control this pendant at all…

But according to the previous identification, pressing it would activate it.

So maybe he should try pressing it a few more times and see if luck was on his side?

With that thought, Wei Bai pressed the pendant firmly.

At once, lines of text appeared, marking all the flowers, grass, and trees around him.

The flood of words before his eyes made him dizzy, so he pressed it again and turned it off.

“A bit troublesome. Is there another method?”

Wei Bai wondered, frowning as he pondered.

Suddenly, something occurred to him.

He opened the Entry-Level Magic Compendium, found a chant for an introductory spell, and started reciting it with all the seriousness he could muster.

After he finished, the pendant remained unresponsive.

He nearly recited all the entry-level spells from the Entry-Level Magic Compendium, but the pendant was as motionless as an ordinary crystal.

—

Wei Bai fell silent.

Could it be that the pendant’s energy release was passive? Had he misunderstood?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

After all, every time he took off the pendant, it would release energy on its own, as if it had self-sensing abilities.

Seeing this, Wei Bai took it off.

In an instant, green light flashed, and the elven girl appeared beside the stone.

“How exactly is this supposed to work…”

Mo Baiwei muttered, kneeling on the ground and turning the unchanging pendant over in her hands, a trace of anxiety appearing in her beautiful eyes.

She glanced at Anthony beside her.

The bird was happily searching for something in the grass.

Mo Baiwei shook her head.

She was really out of ideas, actually hoping a bird would inspire her.

No, maybe there was another method she hadn’t tried.

Without thinking, Mo Baiwei pulled out a small knife from her clothes, one she had brought from home, and without hesitation, cut a line on her middle finger.

Scarlet blood oozed out.

She carefully let it drip onto the pendant, then stared at it intently.

A minute passed.

No change.

Five minutes passed.

Still nothing.

Ten minutes passed.

The pendant lay peacefully on the ground.

Ahhh! This doesn’t work either?

Mo Baiwei felt she was on the verge of giving up.

Was the pendant’s energy release function just a lure to attract fools? Was its actual function simply the natural release after suppressing the Bloodline?

“Peh peh peh! And you call yourself a rare weapon? Worthless.”

Mo Baiwei spat at the pendant and sat beside it, hugging her knees in anger.

As she sulked, Mo Baiwei suddenly felt something land on her bare tail behind her.

She shook her tail hard, trying to throw it off, but no matter how much she shook, it wouldn’t come off.

With no choice, she brought her tail forward and picked off the trash stuck to it herself.

But as soon as her tail came before her eyes, Mo Baiwei froze.

Or rather, her small mind had crashed in terror.

A Man-faced Spider, black with red markings, as large as her palm, was crawling on her tail.

“Yaaaah!!!”

A shriek.

Mo Baiwei turned pale with fear and fell back to the ground.

Her petite body trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

If she were in Human form, she might not fear spiders, perhaps even dealing with them calmly.

But as an elf—she had been a princess locked in the palace since childhood. How could she have encountered such things?

During her days fleeing and adventuring, Mo Baiwei only transformed into her elven form when forced to release the pendant’s energy; otherwise, she always used her Human form.

And because of the difference in Bloodline, her personality in elf form was completely different from her Human self.

Seeing the spider crawling toward her along her tail, she felt her entire tail go limp and powerless.

It wasn’t that the spider had poisoned her or done anything special.

She was simply so terrified that she lost all strength—a single, overwhelming fright left Mo Baiwei unable to take it.

She lost control of her emotions and burst into tears.

Supporting herself with weak arms, Mo Baiwei tried to scoot away, desperately wanting to move her tail, which was now too tense to obey her will.

“No, don’t come closer, don’t…”

Her voice trembled.

She was truly terrified.

Seeing the spider get closer and closer, Mo Baiwei’s left hand suddenly touched something warm and smooth.

Turning her head with trembling nerves, she saw the pendant lying in the grass, gripped by her hand.

Clenching her heart, Mo Baiwei placed the pendant before her, forcing herself to calm her panicked emotions.

Her choked voice was resolute.

Even at the brink of death, she had to grab any straw she could!

She was a gold-ranked Hero, after all.

How could she be forced into a corner by a mere spider?!

“F-First Circle Fireball!”

She chanted shakily.

At once, Mo Baiwei felt a surge of heat from the pendant in her grasp, then a torrent of power erupted from the front of its gem.

A wave of intense heat washed over her.

A Fireball the size of a fist materialized before the pendant, blazing fiercely.

It was so close—almost pressed against her face—that not feeling the heat would have been strange.

As the Fireball formed, the spider crawling toward her felt a strong sense of burning danger.

Instinctively, it tried to retreat.

But it was too late.

The spider had just crawled off her tail when the Fireball completed.

It shot from the pendant, narrowly missing her tail, and struck the spider directly.

“Boom!”

The moment it hit, Mo Baiwei felt a sting at the tip of her tail and jerked it back reflexively.

Yes, if the spider hadn’t crawled off her tail in time, she might have blown herself up along with it.

As expected, the Fireball struck the spider, and in a burst of flame, it was blown to pieces.

Its broken body convulsed for a moment, then slowly stilled.

A burnt smell drifted from the spot where the spider had been.

Staring blankly at the scene, Mo Baiwei felt a sense of unreality, not even caring about her recent loss of composure.

This…this was the power of Magic?

It was too strong.

Compared to someone without Magic, a mage could crush ordinary mortals as easily as an elephant trampling an ant.

Shaking her dazed head, Mo Baiwei forced herself to calm down.

She carefully reached for her tail, pulling it back bit by bit, inspecting it for any disgusting fluids as she did.

Taking out a handkerchief, she wiped off a trace of black ash from the tip of her tail.

Seeing that her tail was unharmed, Mo Baiwei’s mood finally eased a little.

She wound her tail around her waist, no longer daring to let it dangle freely.

She examined the pendant again, a guess forming in her heart.

She tried to activate Magic again, but as expected, she failed.

It didn’t surprise her.

She had already guessed the outcome.

There were still a few dried tears on her cheeks, streaking down to her chin.

Wiping them away, Mo Baiwei’s eyes were red, but now they shone with excitement and anticipation instead of fear and helplessness.

She felt she might have figured out the requirement for actively releasing energy.

The most crucial condition was an intense emotion as a trigger.

Only then would the pendant activate.

That emotion could be excitement or anger, but as long as it reached a certain threshold, the pendant would recognize it as a dramatic fluctuation and unlock the energy release.

And the decisive emotion was likely the desperate resolve and Courage in her heart at that moment.

Thinking this, Mo Baiwei felt it was the most probable answer.

So all her earlier efforts had nothing to do with the real solution? It took a spider scaring her witless to accidentally unlock it? Was this some twisted form of spider intuition…?

She felt a bit unbalanced.

Clutching her damp handkerchief, Mo Baiwei’s cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

She—a gold-ranked Hero who had seen real blood and battle—had actually been scared to tears by a mere spider?!