Faerun: The arcane mage is still too imprisoned.

In just five minutes, the five corpses on the battlefield had been looted by Dulak and his men, and all valuables—gold coins, potions, intact weapons, etc.—were collected by Lance into his dimensional pocket.

"Let's go." Lance turned around.

The group had only taken a few steps toward Rild City when he suddenly stopped and turned back to look at the five corpses.

Lance raised his hand, and a pale yellow halo gathered at his fingertips.

[Zero-level spell - Earth Shaping!]

The churning earth swallowed the bodies.

Logan was taken aback and couldn't help but ask, "Lord Lance... what is this...?"

"It's obvious they're trying to cover up the crime."

The procession continued onward.

Lance opened the panel again.

The first skill he learned wasn't the highly praised Fireball spell, but rather...

[Flight] and [Teleport]

These two are truly life-saving techniques.

[Consuming 300 experience points, you have learned the third-level spell – Flight!]

[Flight Spell: You touch a willing creature, granting it a flight speed of 30 meters per second for up to ten minutes. If the target is still in the air when the spell ends, it will fall.]

The Flash spell is even more outrageous.

[Consuming 300 experience points, you have learned the third-level spell – Blink!]

[Blink: You can disappear from your current plane and appear in the Aether plane within one minute (if you are already in the Aether plane, the spell fails and is consumed).

If you are in the Aetheric plane before the spell ends, you will appear in a 10-meter radius around the location where you disappeared, in a space that is not occupied and that you can see.

If there is no unoccupied space within the area, you will randomly appear in the nearest unoccupied space. You can dispel this spell with one action.

When you are in the etheric plane, you can hear and see the original plane, but only within 30 meters, and everything is in black and white.

Other beings can only influence you, or be influenced by you, when they are in the ethereal plane.

Beings not located in the etheric plane cannot perceive you or communicate with you unless they possess the corresponding abilities.

Next is...

[Consuming 300 experience points, you have learned the third-level spell – Thunder Step!]

[Thunder Step: You are teleported to an unoccupied visible space within 100 meters.]

The instant you vanish, a thunderous explosion resounds. Every creature within 10 meters of the space you left behind must perform a Constitution saving throw; failure will inflict 30 points of lightning damage, while success will only inflict half that.

This spell will produce a thunderous roar that can be heard within a radius of 300 meters.

You can take objects with you, as long as they don't exceed your carrying capacity.

You can also teleport a volunteer creature that is similar in size to you or smaller, but the equipment it carries cannot exceed its carrying capacity.

This creature must be within 5 meters of you when you cast the spell, and there must be an unoccupied space within 5 meters of your destination for it to reach; otherwise, the creature will be left unattended.

I have 400 experience points left, enough to learn another powerful offensive spell.

[Consuming 300 experience points, you have learned the third-level spell – Fireball!]

Fireball: A bright flash of light flies from your fingertips to a point you designate within 150 meters, bursting into flames with a low roar.

Every creature within a 20-meter radius spherical area surrounding the target point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A failed saving throw will inflict 48 fire damage, while a successful saving throw will halve the damage.

The erupting flames will spread around the corner and ignite any unattended or uncarried flammable objects in the area.

The experience points were eventually capped at 100.

Lance closed the panel with satisfaction.

The smile on his lips grew even wider.

Drak, walking ahead, scratched his head, looking puzzled. "Lord Lance, why are you smiling... like that..."

He racked his brains but couldn't find a suitable adjective.

Lance immediately suppressed his smile, his expression remaining unchanged: "It's nothing, I just thought of something happy."

Dulac looked suspicious but dared not ask any more questions.

Logan crept closer, lowering his voice, "Captain, don't ask. What else could a mage's laughter mean?"

Drucker thought about it and nodded in deep agreement: "That makes sense."

As the setting sun gradually sank into the mountains and forests, the shadows of the trees were stretched long and lonely.

Lance walked in the middle of the group, with the little black dog on his shoulder already curled up asleep, its little head nodding and its tail occasionally brushing against his neck.

……

Rield City, the Silvershine Family Mansion.

In the study on the second floor of the training hall, Lillian was lying on the table, staring blankly at a thick spellbook.

Her fiery red twin ponytails drooped over her shoulders, and her amber eyes were wide open, staring at the dense runes on the pages of the book.

[Spell Model of Freezing Ray - Energy Node Diagram]

There was also a bunch of annotations next to it that she couldn't understand at all.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Energy nodes...absorb...shape...

"Professor Lance said that we need to build this model in our minds..."

She tried to imagine those glowing lines intertwining, connecting, and taking shape in her mind.

But those lines always dissipate as soon as they appear, making my brain feel like a mess.

"Lillian!"

The door was suddenly pushed open, and a girl in a pink dress skipped and hopped in.

Lillian was startled and almost dropped the spellbook in her hand.

"Lucy! You scared me to death!"

Lucy is the youngest daughter of the Viscount of Lorraine in the north of the city. She is about the same age as Lucy and they have known each other since childhood.

Lucy was followed by two girls—one red-haired and one brown-haired, both of whom were sisters from the aristocratic circle.

"Wow, you're actually studying hard?" Lucy leaned over, glanced at the spellbook on the table, and her eyes widened.

"What is this? It looks like scribbles..."

"This is a spell model," Lillian said seriously. "It's homework assigned by Professor Lance."

"Teacher Lance?" The red-haired girl blinked. "You mean that really powerful mage?"

The brown-haired girl chimed in, "I heard he wiped out more than twenty gangs by himself? And even killed a cult bishop?"

Lillian nodded, her face beaming with undisguised pride.

"That's right! My teacher is amazing!"

Lucy tilted her head to look at her.

"So, how's your learning going?"

Lillian's expression froze for a moment.

"……good."

Lucy squinted.

"Not bad? Can you demonstrate a spell now?"

Lillian: "..."

Lucy smiled.

"Hey, your teacher isn't here right now, why are you taking it so seriously?"

She reached out to close Lillian's spellbook.

Lillian grabbed him and held him down.

"no."

Why?

Lillian gave a soft hum and her ponytail swayed.

"Just you wait and see, Professor Lance has gone to hunt down a monster, but he'll definitely be giving me a quiz when he gets back!"