The Royal Palace of Emerald City.
For the past few weeks, servants had occasionally heard strange incantations and various unidentifiable, peculiar sounds coming from the depths of the palace.
However, the servants didn't find this strange.
The Great Oz was an unfathomable and ever-changing Great Magician; it was understandable for any sound to emanate from his palace!
What they didn't know was that inside the room, the Great Magician Oz had actually just begun learning magic!
When Rhine first met Oz in the Royal Palace of Emerald City, he quickly performed a divination to confirm whether Oz had a talent for learning magic.
Soon, he reached a conclusion:
Oz indeed had talent in this area, though far inferior to his own, and compared to most excellent magicians, he could only be considered of dull aptitude.
But with careful guidance, becoming a Magician was at least certainly possible!
"As expected of a Child of Destiny, he truly has his outstanding qualities," Rhine thought.
Thus, in the time that followed, Rhine, as a Great Magician, personally taught Oz.
As a Wish Magician, even when Rhine learned new magic by fulfilling wishes, he could understand the corresponding principles and knowledge, and could also teach this magic to others.
Rhine even took out his Book of Transformation and Summoning, which he had used when he first learned magic, to serve as a textbook for Oz's studies.
With the diligent guidance of this powerful Magician, Oz, though no longer young, made surprisingly rapid progress.
In just a few days, he could make a book float in the air. Later, he even began practicing more complex spells.
"Oh my goodness. I can hardly imagine that this is something I can do!"
At this moment, Oz was rhythmically waving his hands like a conductor.
Various pieces of furniture in the room, under his command, all came to life and began to dance.
Quill pens wrote on paper by themselves, an unmanned piano played on its own, and the flowers in the potted plants withered and then bloomed again in turns.
Oz then drew a line in the air with his finger, pulling out colorful, harmless magical flames.
"It's incredible, I never thought I could learn magic too!"
"In the past, I could only achieve similar effects through magic tricks, through various sleights of hand."
This gaunt little old man was now as excited as a child who had just received a new toy.
Looking at the magical scene in the room, Oz recalled his past in Rose Kingdom, and remembered his brother, who was a court craftsman.
He remembered how he hated his family's generational fate as royal craftsmen, and how he had yearned for the all-powerful Magicians in legendary stories since childhood. He remembered how, as a child, he fantasized about becoming an all-powerful Magician, possessing the magical power to distort reality, just like the 13 Witches in the kingdom!
He then remembered how, as he gradually grew up, he realized he was just one of the common people, until his childhood dreams were finally buried by reality.
He remembered why he learned magic tricks—because it was the closest thing he could do to being a Magician.
He remembered his days performing in the circus, how he invented hundreds of novel magic tricks using chemical reactions, stage lighting, and special performance techniques, gradually becoming the best Magician of his era.
He remembered standing on stage, watching the men and women in the audience praise him and scream because of his magic show, seeing the thrown flowers and thunderous applause, Oz always couldn't help but recall his childhood dream:
"At this moment, I am like a true Magician."
"This must be the most like a Magician I will ever be in my life."
And now, his childhood dream had actually come true.
Oz's nose felt a little sore.
This old man chuckled foolishly, like a child showing off to his parents, and joyfully declared:
"I am a Magician now, I am a true Magician!"
Rhine saw the rapidly progressing Oz and nodded with satisfaction:
"From now on, you are no longer a swindler. You are truly a real Magician, and indeed a disciple of Great Magician Rhine."
"I once heard a famous saying: the only way for a lie to remain undiscovered is to make it true."
Oz nodded excitedly and then offered many words of thanks to Rhine.
Rhine knew that Oz's rapid progress in such a short time, besides the indispensable guidance of him as a teacher, was more importantly due to his passionate love for magic. And interest is the best teacher.
"Speaking of which, it seems I do have a talent for teaching magic. I never realized it before."
"Once Maleficent is killed and the curse on Rose Kingdom is lifted, and I have enough time, I can consider systematically teaching Aurora magic."
"In the past, Aurora always focused her energy on close-quarters combat, which she was better at, but in the field of magic, her talent is actually not bad."
"If I find the founder of the Witch Society in the future and truly learn from her how to return to Earth, that means I am destined to leave this world. I can totally let Aurora be my successor in magic…"
At this moment, a crisp knock on the door came from outside, pulling Rhine back from his thoughts.
"Great and fearsome Oz, a group of strange people have arrived in Emerald City and wish to visit you!"
Oz Country used his ventriloquist skills to feign a deep, resonant, and ethereal voice: "Tell me, who are they?"
"This group includes: two little girls claiming to be from outside Oz, a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman, a Pinocchio, and a Lion."
"What a strange group," Oz couldn't help but mutter to himself, looking at Rhine beside him.
Rhine, however, smiled: "Oz, quickly agree to their request to visit."
"You know them? Who are they?" Oz looked puzzled.
"Your junior sister—or perhaps senior sister—and her new friends," Rhine said with a shrug.
…
At this moment, Aurora and Dorothy's group were on the streets of Emerald City.
All of them, including the Lion, wore green spectacles, and through these emerald-green eyes, they were immediately captivated by the dazzling brilliance of this magical city.
Everything here was green.
The densely packed houses on the street were all built of green marble, decorated with sparkling emeralds, and the windows were made of clear, faintly glowing green glass.
The shops were filled with a dazzling array of goods, including green candy, green lemonade, green shoes, and green hats.
They walked on sidewalks paved with emerald-green stones and emeralds, watching the emeralds on the ground sparkle in the sunlight, and saw passing pedestrians all dressed in green clothes.
"Oh, a Lion, there's a Lion here!" A child saw the Lion and ran away in a panic.
Aurora and Dorothy could only go up to comfort him, telling him that this Lion wouldn't bite, and might be even more timid than he was.
There were no horses or other livestock on the street. People used green two-wheeled trucks to pull goods, ate green biscuits, and children waved green toys in their hands. Everyone's face was filled with contentment and happiness.
"This truly is a peaceful and happy city!" Aurora exclaimed.
And that king named Oz—whether he was truly a Great Magician or not—was at least an excellent king to be able to govern this city so well and make everyone live happily, Aurora thought.
"The Great Oz has agreed to see you," the Soldier leading the group through Emerald City said at the palace gates.
"According to usual regulations, if others wish to visit the Great Oz, they must take turns, and only one person can see him each day. Because as an ever-changing Magician, Oz will manifest in a different form before each person," the Soldier explained.
"But today, the Great Oz has exceptionally agreed for all of you to see him together!"
Dorothy jumped up happily.
Being able to see Oz with her companions was certainly much more convenient than spending several days.
"That's great, quickly take us to see Oz," Pinocchio said impatiently.
He had long forgotten the fact that Maglido had previously said Oz might not know magic at all.
The Soldier led them to several beautiful rooms.
"You rest in here for a few hours, and in a while, the Great Oz will summon you." With that, the Soldier was about to leave.
Aurora actually had little interest in seeing Oz; she had followed her companions to Emerald City mainly to find her teacher. She called out to the Soldier who was turning to leave:
"By the way, has there been a Magician named Rhine in Emerald City recently? He looks something like this…"
Just as Aurora was about to describe Rhine's appearance, she saw the Soldier's eyes light up:
"Are you referring to the Great Oz's teacher, the even greater Magician Rhine?"