White Lotus

Adam's vision was initially blurry, but when it focused, he found himself standing on a vast green plain.

"W-What is this place?!" He flustered.

To say he was shocked beyond belief would be a severe understatement. One moment he was bathing in the pond, the next, he was transported to this foreign place.

The following moment, the scene around him changed and a handsome young man with long black hair, and wearing black armor appeared in front of him.

Adam's eyes turned wide as he retreated a few steps. "W-Who the hell are you?!"

However, the black-armored man couldn't seem to hear him at all or see him for that matter. Before Adam could inquire further, thousands of people appeared in his vicinity out of nowhere.

Some were levitating in the air, while others were standing on the ground, completely surrounding the black-armored man. Just their auras alone left Adam feeling breathless.

Only one word echoed inside his mind: Magus!

When he looked at the black-armored man, he found that the man was incomparably calm. His back was straight and there was not even a hint of fear in his eyes.

Adam gulped involuntarily and thought in amazement, Just who is this person?!

Next, the people in the scene began talking in a foreign language and Adam couldn't make heads or tails of it. But from the expressions of the thousands of Magi that had surrounded the man, he understood that they hadn't come with good intentions.

What unfolded next completely changed Adam's worldview.

The thousands of Magi gathered here attacked the armored man all at once. Bright colors bloomed as spells of devastating magnitude were cast one after another. The ground cracked and the sky split apart.

Adam's mouth was agape as he observed the great battle unfold.

Just what sort of concept is this?! He screamed in his heart. His surroundings were destroyed but nothing happened to him. He was simply a spectator.

He understood that the people in this scene were all powerful Magi. But what Adam couldn't understand was that even though thousands of people were attacking the armored man, the latter fought fearlessly and instead had the upper hand!

With a wave of his hand, the armored man froze the surrounding space. With another wave of his hand, countless people were disintegrated into nothingness. 

The Magi that were attacking the armored man were also nothing to be scoffed at. With a single spell, they could summon meteor showers, create earthquakes, bring forth thunder, and so on.

Slowly, the scales began to tip in their favor and the armored man was finally dealt a crucial blow. A female Magus approached him at the speed of light and cut off his arm! But the price she paid was her life.

"NO!" Adam involuntarily screamed as he saw the armored man getting grievously injured. Unknowingly, he had begun to root for this brave Magus.

From that point onward, the black-armored Magus continued to get injured. No matter how powerful he was or how heaven-defying his spells were, in the end, he couldn't compete against thousands of Magi who seemed to be on the same power level as him.

On his last breath, the armored magus did something that completely and utterly shocked Adam down to his core. He stretched his arm and a white lotus appeared on his palm!

Adam sucked in a breath of cold air as his heartbeat sped up. "I-Isn't that…"

The next moment, the space seemed to have frozen as the thousands of Magi struggled to escape. The white lotus bloomed, creating a terrifying energy vortex.

One by one, the Magi perished and before long, the black-armored man's arm limply fell to his side. Adam's heart was churning with turbulent waves as he witnessed this scene.

He looked into the eyes of the armored Magus and strangely enough, he felt as if the Magus was also looking straight at him. 

Adam saw the life slowly seeping out of the Magus, yet there was no fear or regret in the latter's eyes. The Magus died standing on his feet, his back straight as a spear. However, before dying, the Magus' gaze seemed to have transcended time and space and met Adam's.

The youth didn't know if his mind was playing tricks on him or not, but he felt as if the armored Magus faintly nodded at him!

Adam's eyes moistened as he witnessed the last moments of the Magus who fought valiantly to his death. The next moment, the scene changed once again and Adam found himself floating in a mysterious white space.

Disoriented, he looked around in a daze and saw motes of bright light floating around lazily. Some were small, while others were big.

It took him a long time to come to his senses but he still found it difficult to digest the grand and spectacular scene of the lone Magus fending off against thousands of people.

"That man was wielding the same lotus I found in the pond…" he mumbled in disbelief.

Adam's eyes then fell on the mote of light hovering near him. He gulped nervously and reached out his hand in anticipation. However, before he could, the scene changed once again and he found himself floating on the pond he had earlier been bathing in.

He looked around and found that the white lotus was nowhere to be seen!

"No! Where is it?!" Adam panicked. By now it would be stupid of him to not realize that the white lotus was in fact some kind of powerful magic artifact that could potentially alter his life.

The youth looked around frantically, but the lotus was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, he caught sight of his hazy reflection on the pond's surface and froze.

At the center of his forehead, a little above his eyebrows was a lotus insignia!

Adam's eyes lit up in excitement as he thought of a possibility. Could it be that the white lotus fused with me?!

Thinking of this, he was incomparably excited. He didn't know what the lotus was, but what he did know was that it was an extremely powerful tool that could help him on his path to becoming a Magus!

Slowly, under his observation, the lotus insignia completely melded with his skin and disappeared.

After gathering his thoughts, Adam swam to the edge of the pond. He dried himself and wore a fresh pair of clothes—a blue tunic and white pants.

He absentmindedly walked toward the bonfire where the dinner was being distributed when all of a sudden a mocking voice full of disdain drifted into his ears.

"Oh, if it isn't the peasant warrior!"

Adam's eyes narrowed as he involuntarily clenched his fists. He looked toward the source of this voice with annoyance. This bastard again.