Dark Sorcerer

In the span of over a decade of warfare, black magic was continually refined, advancing towards the ultimate destructive spells, while white magic, in contrast, merged with faith to form sacred rituals, eventually giving rise to the Church.

King Sassen, relying on black magicians to conquer enemy territories, initially intended to invade Salonya but was repelled for a year by the white mages of Salonya, leading to a withdrawal.

Subsequently, having witnessed the terrifying nature of magic, particularly its dark aspects, King Sassen issued a strict decree prohibiting black magicians from recording forbidden spells in magical texts. Instead, only catalogs detailing the origins and histories of these spells were permitted, with no records of the tools, incantations, or casting processes allowed.

Under King Sassen's deliberate suppression, forbidden spells of black magic were ultimately sealed away by history, their transmission confined to master-disciple relationships or the notebooks of a few grand mages.

Yet, despite this, black magic itself was not entirely suppressed. After centuries of evolution, it gradually became one of the favored magics among contemporary sorcerers.

Compared to the powerful destructive magic of ancient practitioners, modern magic is significantly less potent, but, conversely, both black and white magic have gradually branched into various subfields, a topic for another time.

Learning these less potent forms of magic is not exceedingly difficult. One can either attend the so-called magical academy in the empire's capital, Sassen, or go to the magical city of Salonya, which, despite having a lower tuition fee compared to Sassen's academy, requires adherence to their revered and esteemed deities. This means one's entire life would be closely tied to the Church, with any actions violating its interests or desecrating the deities being dealt with by the Church's holy judges.

Aside from these two paths, acquiring magic depends largely on luck. For instance, encountering a mage might grant the opportunity to learn a spell, though the chances are slim, and merely learning a few incantations does not guarantee immediate mastery.

On January 17, 2009, in the early hours of the morning, in an ordinary residence in Hangzhou, the protagonist of this story is fast asleep in his bed...

Aside note: What? You traveled all this way not to watch him sleep?

Rest assured!

One, two, three... wake up!

"Ah!"

With a muffled gasp, the boy who was lying in bed suddenly sat up, leaning against the headboard, and let out a long sigh.

"..." Turning on the bedside lamp, Jiang Zhe straightened up, his gaze falling on his aching arm—on which there were red, swollen patches resembling insect bites—patches that were not there the previous night.

Shaking his head in resignation, Jiang Zhe threw off the covers and walked to the window.

The sky was still dimly lit, the dawn light casting a reddish hue on Jiang Zhe’s otherwise pale face.

Since he started having this strange dream, he had been waking up at this time every day, almost to the minute.

"Ring ring..." The phone by his bed rang.

Jiang Zhe frowned and answered the call; it was from Wang Liang.

Wang Liang was one of Jiang Zhe's few friends—cheerful, witty, and known for his catchphrase, "Brothers are like limbs, women are like clothes." Despite his loyal nature, he had a poor reputation at school.

Strangely, he was surrounded by numerous girls, while Jiang Zhe... well, let’s not delve into that.

"Heh heh, Jiang Ge, it's time to get up and take a leak..." Before he could finish, Jiang Zhe hung up.

Looking at his phone, Jiang Zhe shook his head in exasperation and waited for it to ring again.

"Hey Jiang Ge, no need to overreact. It's just an out-of-town number, sixty cents per minute..."

"Can’t you come up with something new? It’s always the same. Aren’t you tired of it?"

"I'm just concerned about you..." Wang Liang’s voice was filled with teasing laughter.

"Alright," Jiang Zhe said impatiently, sitting on the edge of the bed and whispering, "Any progress on the matter I asked you about?"

"Don’t get all gloomy about it. The issue’s minor, but you know my uncle is quite talkative. I asked him, and he rambled on endlessly, mostly useless stuff. We can’t sort it all out over the phone. For the sake of your phone bill, let’s meet up this weekend and discuss it in person, alright?"

"Fine!" Jiang Zhe hung up, annoyed. Why didn't Wang Liang worry about the phone bill when making prank calls?

Still, Jiang Zhe was grateful for the favor, as Wang Liang was one of his few steadfast friends.

Since it was Saturday, the streets were bustling with people and vehicles, much more congested than usual.

There were groups of students walking together, office workers in neat attire waiting for buses, and elderly people strolling with their dogs, all passing by Jiang Zhe.

So this is what it means to be a passerby.

Jiang Zhe remembered pondering a question from his childhood.

What is the meaning of life?

He still hadn’t figured it out—or rather, he hadn’t found his own life’s purpose.

Is life merely about being born, growing up, marrying, having children, and then living out one’s old age?

Can these few words encompass an entire life?

That seems rather dull, doesn’t it?

As a child, Jiang Zhe had once fantasized about wizards flying through the skies on broomsticks, cunning werewolves, and vampires who fed on blood. But as he grew up, he realized that in this scientific age, wizards, werewolves, and vampires exist only in movies.

In reality, there are no Spider-Men, Iron Men, or Wolverine.

"With great power comes great responsibility." At first, this quote seemed profound, but upon reflection, it was just movie dialogue—like the scripts of films and novels, meant for the public and not for guiding one’s life.

People can be broadly categorized into two types, and it’s not as superficial as distinguishing between men and women.

One type of person sees the world clearly and accepts their fate, in other words, resigns themselves to it. The other type still dreams of fantastical things... Among the latter, many eventually join various sects to worship their beliefs, while a small number end up in mental institutions... which is rather unfortunate!

Clearly, Jiang Zhe does not belong to the former or the latter; he is neither.

As a young man of the twenty-first century, he has grown accustomed to viewing everything through a scientific lens, yet at the same time, he subconsciously rejects this answer—or perhaps he is unwilling to accept it.

There’s no other reason; he simply finds it too stifling—this world too regimented, too dull, too monotonous.

Some friends have playfully teased Jiang Zhe as a homebody: always fantasizing about unrealistic things, lazy...

In reality, laziness stems from a lack of interest!

Jiang Zhe can spend an entire day engrossed in fantasy and science fiction novels on his computer but struggles to muster enthusiasm for his graduation thesis, despite understanding its importance for his future.

Scholars once mentioned that the universe is composed of infinite space and time, and within each relative space and time, civilizations might evolve differently: some towards technological advancements, some towards mechanical civilizations, some towards biological developments, and so on. In countless spaces, there might even be worlds of magic—though this is purely speculative and lacks scientific evidence.

However, Jiang Zhe resonates with this viewpoint, for humanity’s understanding of the universe is still so limited...

Perhaps, in some world, magic truly exists!

"Mm?"

As Jiang Zhe walked, he suddenly noticed three foreigners standing on the street not far ahead. Upon closer inspection, he saw they were missionaries explaining their doctrine to passersby.

In truth, very few people truly listened to their teachings. Most merely hurried by, and even those who stopped out of curiosity were just spectators.

This left the missionaries somewhat disheartened.

Curious, Jiang Zhe approached them and saw one of the missionaries holding a cross pendant, shaking his head at the onlookers, and then speaking with his companions—perhaps they were heading back to their church.

Standing too close, Jiang Zhe was mistaken by one of the missionaries, who spoke in halting Mandarin, "I bless you, child, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit..."

"Uh, thanks." Jiang Zhe awkwardly glanced at the crowd and thanked him awkwardly.

At that moment, one of the missionaries' companions spoke in English, and the missionary nodded, turning to Jiang Zhe and asking in broken Mandarin, "Is there something I can help you with, child?"

"Uh," Jiang Zhe instinctively began to shake his head but then remembered his dream, hesitating as he said, "Father, I’ve been having a strange recurring dream..."

"A dream?" The missionary squinted, seeming somewhat amused, and was about to leave when Jiang Zhe added, "For the past few months, I keep dreaming of being bitten by snakes..."

"what, bitten by what?" The missionary’s Mandarin mixed with English sounded awkward.

"Snake!" A girl from the crowd clarified for Jiang Zhe.

"Snake?" The missionary looked surprised, but before he could respond, his companions began urging him. Hesitating, he said to Jiang Zhe, "Sorry, my child, we have to leave. If you have any questions, you can visit the church nearby. I will be there..." He then handed Jiang Zhe the cross pendant.

Watching the three missionaries gradually walk away, and the amused expressions of the onlookers, Jiang Zhe felt quite embarrassed and wanted to leave quickly

Desperate for answers, Jiang Zhe decided to visit the church, where he was greeted by the same missionary who had spoken to him earlier.

Unlike the troubled Jiang Zhe, the missionary appeared pleased to see him again, "I’m glad to see you again, my child. Is there something I can help you with?" As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and pointed at Jiang Zhe, "I remember now, you dreamed of being bitten by snakes, didn’t you?"

Jiang Zhe nodded and added, "Many snakes!"

The missionary looked puzzled and said, "Don’t worry, my child. The Bible will guide us..." He then walked towards the center of the church where the Bible was placed.

As Jiang Zhe glanced around the church, his eyes were drawn to a mural on the wall depicting a bear-like creature sleeping, with an angel holding a divine spear above it.

"What is this, Father?" Jiang Zhe asked, puzzled.

The missionary, looking up from the Bible, smiled and said, "This is God’s way of reminding us to cherish our world and not be idle..."

"Huh?" Jiang Zhe chuckled and was about to leave when a strange feeling struck him. His legs moved towards the mural involuntarily.

"This is..." Jiang Zhe murmured, slowly lifting his hand to touch the mural, following an inner compulsion...

"Ah-ha, Snake!" The missionary, finding what he was looking for in the Bible, looked up but was filled with confusion.

"Child? Child?"

In the empty church, Jiang Zhe’s figure had vanished.

"Left?" The missionary wondered, suddenly hearing a strange sound.

"Crack, crack..."

"Oh, my God..." The missionary looked shocked as he saw a mural on the wall slowly cracking open.

"Sloss..."

Jiang Zhe never considered himself to be anything out of the ordinary. His appearance was plain, and he had no particular hobbies or special talents. In short, he was extremely ordinary.

If one were to insist on finding something special about him...

It would be his remarkable resilience!

Whether it was the recovery of his physical strength or the speed at which wounds healed, he was far superior to the average person. His personal explanation for this was that his cellular activity was exceptionally high.

He had grown accustomed to viewing everything through a scientific lens until the moment he opened his eyes once again…

Dazed and uncertain of how long he had been asleep, Jiang Zhe finally awoke, but the first words out of his mouth were rather comical.

"Wow!"

Those two short words conveyed a profound sense of confusion, as if he had discovered something unusual.

If he recalled correctly, wasn’t he supposed to be in that church? How