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 blurted out in panic.
To say he was shocked would be an understatement. One moment, he was bathing in the pond, and the next, he was somehow transported to this foreign place.
Soon, the scene around him changed, and a handsome man with long black hair appeared in front of him. He was armored in black.
Adam's eyes turned wide as he retreated a few steps. "W-Who are you?"
But the armored man did not reply. He didn't seem to hear him at all or even see him, for that matter. Before Adam could speak another word, thousands of people appeared all around him out of nowhere.
Some were levitated in the air, while others stood on the ground. They had completely surrounded the armored man. Just their auras alone left Adam feeling breathless.
Only one word echoed inside his mind...
Magus!
When he looked at the armored man, he found that the man was incomparably calm. His back was straight, and his eyes were fearless.
Adam gulped involuntarily, his heart filled with awe. He thought in amazement, Just who is this man?
The following moment, the people around him started talking in a strange, foreign language. Adam couldn't understand any of it. But from the expressions of these thousands of Magi that had surrounded the man, he understood they hadn't come with good intentions.
What unfolded next completely changed Adam's worldview.
Together, the thousands of Magi attacked the armored man at once. Bright colors bloomed as spells of devastating magnitude were cast one after another. The ground cracked, and the sky split apart. It was an apocalyptic scene.
Adam's mouth widened slowly as he observed the great battle unfold.
Just what kind of power is this?! He screamed in his heart.
His surroundings were destroyed, but nothing happened to him. He was simply a spectator.
But he understood that the people in this scene were all powerful Magi. However, what he had trouble understanding was that even though thousands of people attacked 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 attacking the armored man were also nothing to be scoffed at. With a spell, they could summon meteor showers, create earthquakes, bring forth thunder, and bring about a deadly tsunami.
Slowly, the scales began to tip in their favor, and the armored man was finally dealt a critical injury. 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 injured. Unknowingly, he had begun to root for this brave man.
From that point onward, the armored Magus continued to get injured. No matter how powerful he was or how devastating his spells were, in the end, he couldn't compete against thousands of Magi who seemed to be as powerful as him.
On his last breath, the armored Magus did something shocking, something that sent a chill down Adam's spine.
He stretched his arm and summoned a white lotus!
Adam gasped in astonishment. "Isn't that—"
But his words got caught in his throat when, the following moment, the space around him froze as the Magi struggled to escape.
The white lotus bloomed, creating a terrifying energy vortex. One by one, the Magi perished. And before long, the armored man's arm limply fell to his side.
Adam's heart churned with turbulent waves as he witnessed the scene unfold.
He looked at the dying armored Magus, and for a brief moment... he felt as if the man was also looking at him. He 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.
Adam's eyes moistened as he witnessed the last moments of the Magus, who fought valiantly until his final breath. Then the scene changed, and the youth found himself floating inside a mysterious white space.
Disoriented, he looked around in a daze and saw orbs of 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 comprehend the spectacular scene of the lone Magus fending off against thousands of people.
"That man had the same lotus…" he muttured in disbelief.
Adam's eyes then fell on the tiny orb of light hovering near him. He gulped nervously and reached out with his hand in slight fear and anticipation.
But before his fingers touched the glowing orb, the scene before him changed once again, and he found himself floating in the pond.
He looked around, and suddenly his heart sank when he realized that the lotus was nowhere to be seen!
"No! Where is it?" Adam panicked.
He'd be stupid not to realize the truth of the white lotus. It was no ingredient used in magical potions. No, it was something greater. A powerful magical artifact!
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.
As the ripples settled on the surface of the pond, he noticed a pair of geometrical flower patterns engraved in his dark eyes. These beautiful patterns glowed with a divine white light.
Adam couldn't help but feel excited as he thought of a possibility.
Could it be... that the white lotus fused with me?!
Thinking of this, he was incomparably happy. He didn't know exactly what the lotus was or what it could do, but he knew it was an extremely powerful tool that could surely help him on his path to becoming a Magus.
Slowly, under his observation, the lotus patterns in his pupils faded away. His eyes now looked completely normal.
After gathering his thoughts and calming his excited heart, 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 smiled foolishly as he imagined a great future ahead.
He absentmindedly walked toward the bonfire, where the dinner was being distributed. But suddenly, a mocking voice full of disdain echoed in his ears.
"If it isn't the farm boy."
The moment Adam heard those words, he involuntarily clenched his fists. He looked toward the source of this voice and thought with annoyance:
This bastard again.