4 The First Cast

Knock, knock, knock...

Reed's thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on the door, but the impact of gazing at a whole new world for the first time did not disappear.

Viena walked in with his lunch, and after a short greeting, she skillfully placed the food on a round, wooden Blueheart Firminia table.

"Master Reed, please eat."

"Thank you."

Reed sat down, and something seemed to occur to him, so he asked the girl who was about to back away, "Has there been anything special in the city lately?"

The moment she heard Reed's question, Viena felt slightly happy. While she was his servant, Reed rarely chatted with her.

"Master Reed, I recently heard that the Lodge of Mages will be holding a Conclave of Magic in November, and three of the archmages from the lodge will be attending."

"Anything else?" Reed set the plate aside. He was not particularly interested in attending meetings at the moment.

Recalling the scene he saw through the window, he continued to ask, "Have there always been so many beggars on the streets?"

Viena quickly shook her head. "No, Master Reed. The orcs in the southern part of the Farmountains have recently started another war, hence there are many refugees."

After she said that, she quickly added, "If you do not like them, I could send someone to drive away all of the beggars near the tower."

Most of the mages had weird tempers. Even though Viena was unwilling to drive the poor beggars away, if those beggars were to upset Reed, they would probably lose their lives.

Reed shook his head. Based on the events he had witnessed on the street earlier, he could roughly judge the political, economic, and social situation of both the Norland Empire and Grimm.

There were aristocrats, not-so-small-time slave owners, cautious civilians, cruel mercenaries, pitiful beggars, and several kind shop owners who were afraid of trouble.

It was not a peaceful and stable world.

"No need. If there are extra loaves of bread, you can give them out as charity, but not too much. You may go now."

The moment she heard Reed's words, Viena immediately understood. Her master might have been kind, but he was also pragmatic.

If they were to give the beggars too much, they would start to gather in large numbers, and it would be difficult to deal with them.

Their mage tower was not the "lord mayor of the city", and they were not responsible for helping the beggars.

"Understood, Master Reed."

Seeing that Reed no longer spoke, Viena pursed her charming lips as she bowed and left. However, her footsteps were a little forlorn.

Reed knew what the servant's thoughts were, but he did not say anything.

It was okay to give those beggars some food, but it was impossible to provide large scale help.

It would be too much of a risk with his current identity. While it was understandable for a master mage to donate some food from time to time, it would be out of the ordinary for him to do it often.

That was something the lord mayor of the city should take care of, and he did not need a mage to interfere.

Reed then sat at the table and started to eat.

For the vampires, human blood was food, so human food items could not supply them with enough nutrients... although human food would not harm their stomachs if they were to ingest them.

In order to conceal his identity, the Progenitor Vampire would eat on time every day.

Reed was not born a vampire, so he naturally enjoyed good food. As such, the routine meal consumption of the Progenitor Vampire became something of a delight for him.

Lunch was fairly luxurious with a glass of milk, a large piece of magic-infused barbecued meat, two large pieces of bread, two side dishes, and a plate of dessert.

The rarest dish in the meal set was the barbecued meat. Only the meat of a magical beast would possess such strong magical powers.

Over in Grimm, a piece of magical beast meat would fetch at least 50 silver Pykes.

A person's average monthly salary was merely 10 silver Pykes, and the piece of meat he had for lunch was enough to feed a family of three for a whole year.

The currency in Glory was divided into bronze, silver, and gold Pykes. The exchange rate would be 100 copper Pykes to 1 silver Pyke, and 100 silver Pykes to 1 gold Pyke.

The bronze Pyke was the most basic unit of currency, and 1 bronze Pyke could buy a piece of black bread on the street. Its value was roughly equivalent to 1 RMB in the real world.

However, each world was different. While Glory was based in an extraordinary world of magic, it was still set against the backdrop of the Western Middle Ages, and productivity was low. Thus, there were certain distinctions in purchasing power as well.

As an elite member of Grimm's Lodge of Mages and a baron in the Norland Empire, Reed would receive a subsidy of 20 gold Pykes every month.

Plus, the area near Vermillion Tower was under his protection and would receive an additional 10 gold Pykes per month in protection fees.

On top of that, some nobles, whom Reed had good relations with, would provide him a little expenditure for protection each month. That came up to about 20 gold Pykes a month.

Therefore, Reed's monthly income was about 50 gold Pykes. The maintenance of Vermillion Tower took up 20 gold Pykes per month, so he had a balance of 30 gold Pykes.

So, eating a luxurious dish such as barbecued magical beast meat, which would seem like an extravagant thing to a commoner, was nothing to him.

The magically-rich barbecue meat melted the moment it entered his mouth, and the surge of concentrated magical power began to rush into every cell in his body.

It felt like his entire body had been given a spa massage, and all of his cells were energized.

"This is the bane of veganism."

Reed felt extremely comfortable. There was little wonder that the meat of a magical beast fetched such a high price.

Once he ate the magical beast meat, the other dishes seemed rather tasteless in comparison, so he finished the rest in quick succession.

After Reed rested for a while, he looked at the spells on his character attribute panel.

As an earthling, he was, no doubt, curious about such extraordinary abilities, even more so after his spirit transferred over.

Magic...

The lure of the word alone was more enticing than gold coins.

Despite not having experience in casting spells, after receiving the Progenitor Vampire's memories, Reed became extremely familiar with the skills and spells.

It was as if he had practiced them thousands of times before.

There was no unfamiliarity whatsoever, and that allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

The world of Glory was not without conflict. It was a world full of evil.

If one did not have strength, one might not be able to survive at all.

He was now a Progenitor Vampire in the game and would possibly not be able to infinitely resurrect like normal players.

If he really died and could not be resurrected, he would really be done with the game.

Magic...

Reed turned his attention to his skills.

For a modern individual like him, only the abilities to transcend reality aroused his interest.

Let's begin.

The magic, which had been practiced countless times in the original progenitor's memory, formed a map of lines and dots in his mind.

A magic model...

It was a familiar yet foreign name.

To cast spells, a mage had to first activate the magic model.

The magic model consisted of two parts: magic nodes and a magic circuit.

The magic nodes were fixed points, and the lines connecting the magic nodes were called the magic circuit.

Mana flow would start from the first magic node, and through a fixed magic circuit, it would be transferred to the second node, and so on and so forth.

Once mana activated the last magic node, the magic model would be formed, and the magic could be immediately released.

The principle of magic was not difficult to understand, but understanding it and using it were two completely different matters.

If a mage wanted to cast a spell, he needed to form the model of the spell in his mind.

The more than one dozen spells learned by the Progenitor Vampire were all magic models that had been successfully formed.

Now, if Reed wanted to cast a spell, he just needed to infuse mana according to the original magic model.

After he recalled the spellcasting process several times, Reed suppressed his inner excitement and slowly regained his composure.

It was best to have a calm mind when casting spells because volatile emotions would affect the results. That was common knowledge for a mage.

After he calmed down, Reed began to drive his mana slowly toward the magic model.

A fireball was the simplest of magics, a First Circle Spell.

There were no more than a hundred magic nodes in First Circle Spells, and a fireball only required fifty magic nodes.

If it had been the original progenitor who was casting, he could have cast a First Circle Spell with just the snap of a finger.

Reed was, after all, still a newbie and a little nervous.

Stretching out his hand, he learned the release gesture based on his memory and began to silently draw upon his mana.

Five seconds later...

Whoosh.

An orange fireball the size of an apple floated in the air.

The scorching fireball instantly increased the temperature in the lab by a few degrees.

Reed was pleasantly surprised.

Success!!

His first casting was a success!

The sensation of summoning a fireball out of his hands was intoxicating for someone who had never experienced it before.

It was magic far beyond reality.

Reed could clearly discern that he was able to control the fireball in his hand as he pleased.

Using his mind, he could direct the fireball toward his enemy at a speed of dozens of meters per second.

It was no less powerful than a highly-explosive bomb that was filled to the brim with TNT.

If he wanted to strengthen its explosive power, he could continue to infuse mana into the fireball and enhance its power.

Turning around, he saw the storage racks in the lab. He shook his head and wanted to put the fireball out.

The fireball kept flying and dancing around him like a pulled balloon as he controlled it with his mind.

Its scorching flames reached terrifying temperatures, and the room was getting hotter because of the fireball's presence.

The orange fireball was like the prettiest of flowers, dangerous but mysterious.

The blazing ball of fire flew up, down, and around, spinning on the tip of Reed's finger, bouncing under his feet, and floating before him.

Reed was completely engrossed with magic.

It was not until half a day later that he began to gradually stop supplying mana to the fireball.

No longer supplied with mana, it slowly shrank, and the orange glow faded little by little, turning into nothing after a few minutes.

That was magic.

Reed's interest in magic reached its apex right after he cast the fireball spell.

He loved the feeling of having mastery over magic and having a fireball fly above his fingertips. He swore that it gave him a sense of accomplishment far beyond anything else.