In the shadows of the street, a group of people in black robes hid in the darkness, observing the battle between Riken and Ye Chui.
When they saw Riken unleash the [Flame Serpent] spell, they instinctively anticipated the sight of Ye Chui being burned to ashes, as the [Flame Serpent] had engulfed his body. However, to their utter surprise, Ye Chui was still standing, and he had summoned his own grimoire.
He had obtained a grimoire?
Did that mean his awakening hadn’t failed, but…
What a pathetic grimoire it was!
Firstly, it was white. As everyone knew, white-covered grimoires were the lowest tier among all grimoires.
Secondly, it looked thin and small.
While size didn’t necessarily determine a mage’s strength, it was common knowledge that thicker and larger grimoires contained more and stronger spells. Renowned great mages typically wielded hefty tomes. It was said that the grimoires of the legendary “Twelve Star Kings” mages were as tall as a person!
In contrast, Ye Chui’s grimoire appeared less than half a finger thick. How many pages could it possibly have?
Lastly, Ye Chui’s grimoire seemed incomplete.
A grimoire’s cover included both the front and back pages, which shared the same colour. But they could only see the white back page of Ye Chui’s grimoire, and it appeared unable to be flipped open, suggesting it was a damaged, incomplete white grimoire.
Only the owner could see a grimoire’s full details clearly, while others could only perceive a vague outline. This led them to mistake Ye Chui’s iPad for a thin, broken book.
The quality of such a grimoire was unimaginably low!
“He has already awakened, but he deliberately hid it,” said a middle-aged man’s voice from the shadows. “If I had awakened such a grimoire, I’d probably hide it too. This pathetic grimoire is worse than not awakening at all!”
“That kind of grimoire probably doesn’t even contain a few spells,” a seductive female voice chimed in. “It’s utterly embarrassing!”
“If it were me, I’d rather die!” a sharp, arrogant voice added. “The guild leader had high hopes for this kid, but it seems his judgement isn’t that great, haha!”
Ye Chui heard the laughter and glanced at the group in the corner, frowning slightly. He then continued to examine the iPad floating before him with astonishment, feeling there was nothing stranger than this. Though, to be fair, transmigration itself was already quite bizarre.
His fingers slid across the screen, the touch feeling no different from a real iPad. In fact, its interface was strikingly similar to an iPad, as if it had been installed with a magic-themed skin. The icons resembled skill icons from a game.
A thought struck Ye Chui. Could the apps originally installed on the iPad have transformed into spells? Like Riken’s [Flame Serpent], could he also cast these spells?
This idea sent a surge of excitement through Ye Chui.
He had blocked the [Flame Serpent] earlier by activating some spell, hadn’t he? He wondered if he could use other spells. But just as he was about to experiment, a notification popped up on the screen: “Insufficient magic power, only 1% remaining.”
“Well…” It seemed he shouldn’t recklessly try spells for now. Ye Chui looked up at Riken, who was standing nearby.
Riken wore a shocked and furious expression. Meeting Ye Chui’s gaze, he snorted coldly, his face resuming its mocking sneer. “A white grimoire? And so small and thin? Haha, I didn’t expect you’d already awakened, but what a pitiful awakening. It’s so oddly shaped, haha, it’s killing me!”
Amid his laughter, Ye Chui suddenly stepped forward.
“What are you doing!?” Riken’s face hardened, and he hurriedly flipped through his grimoire. “You’re courting death! With a grimoire like that, how could you possibly be my match? I…”
His expression froze.
“If I recall correctly, you said that casting [Flame Serpent] used up all your magic power, right?” Ye Chui said with a sly grin.
“You, you…” Riken’s face grew frantic. He quickly flipped his grimoire to a page, attempting to cast the simplest [Flame] spell, but only a few sparks flickered before fizzling out. His grimoire, drained of magic power, began to fade and was about to vanish.
“My magic power!” he cried out in panic.
“Thud!”
Ye Chui kicked Riken in the stomach. With his magic power depleted, a mage’s physical strength was greatly diminished. Riken crumpled to the ground, his grimoire vanishing completely. Ye Chui, recalling Riken’s earlier attack, felt a surge of anger. If he hadn’t summoned the iPad grimoire at the critical moment, the [Flame Serpent] spell would likely have reduced him to ashes.
You tried to kill me first, so don’t blame me for taking advantage of your weakness. Back on the mountain, he was minding his own business when an iPad smashed him into this world, and right after transmigrating, he was attacked without reason.
To hell with it. If I don’t beat you senseless, I’ve lost.
The group in the shadows stood stunned, the mocking laughter abruptly silenced. Ye Chui’s combat ability was rather impressive.
“Ah! Aah!” Riken, already frail and overly reliant on magic after awakening his grimoire, was now powerless without magic. Pinned to the ground and relentlessly kicked by Ye Chui, he could only wail in pain.
“Enough!” a sharp shout rang out.
At the same time, Ye Chui felt a strange gust of wind blow towards him. As a sense of danger arose, an icon on the iPad lit up, a shield with the words “Security Guard” beneath it. The light shield that had blocked the [Flame Serpent] reappeared. Evidently, the “Security Guard” app had transformed into a protective spell in the iPad grimoire.
The gust struck the light barrier, causing Ye Chui to stagger and step aside.
After this attack, the iPad grimoire’s magic power was fully depleted, vanishing from Ye Chui’s hand. He felt a wave of weakness but knew he could summon the grimoire again once his magic power recovered.
He warily looked at the attacker, a middle-aged man in a black robe with a bull’s head embroidered on it. The man held an open green grimoire. From Wade’s memories, Ye Chui recognised him as Rhine, a member of the Bull Magic Guild who had once approached Wade, hoping he would join the guild after awakening.
Judging by his current demeanour, Rhine had clearly lost all interest in “Wade.” Riken’s attack on Ye Chui might even have been instigated by him. The Bull Magic Guild was known for its cold, decisive nature, and disappointment could easily turn into murderous intent.
“You’ve surprised me, beyond my expectations,” Rhine said as he stepped out from the shadows. He was a middle-aged man with long white hair, a stern face, and narrow eyes that gave off a venomous, chilling vibe.
“Mr. Rhine…” Riken scrambled up, looking at Rhine with fanaticism. “Quick, teach him a lesson, kill him!”
“Fool!” Rhine roared, striding over and kicking Riken to the ground. “The Bull Magic Guild doesn’t take in cowards. You need my help to deal with someone with just a white grimoire?”
“No, it’s just…” Riken got up, his face full of urgency.
“Ten days.”
Rhine suddenly spoke, turning to Ye Chui and licking his lips, his eyes gleaming with cruelty under the moonlight. “I’ll give you ten days to familiarise yourself with your grimoire. Then, you and Riken will have a fair life-or-death duel. Whoever wins can join the Bull Magic Guild. I assume you won’t refuse this opportunity, will you, Wade?”
“A duel to decide who joins the Bull Magic Guild?” Riken looked stunned, glaring fiercely at Ye Chui. “I won’t lose!”
“A duel?” Ye Chui paused, looking at Rhine’s cold, sneering face. He knew he had no other choice, so he nodded calmly. “Fine, I accept.”
If he refused, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill him on the spot.
“Then, I look forward to you surprising me again in ten days,” Rhine said before turning to leave.
Riken shot Ye Chui a vicious glance and hurriedly followed.
“Seriously, Rhine, you’re setting up this kind of duel?” the woman in the shadows said.
“Even though he beat Riken, his grimoire is just too pathetic. Letting him join the guild would only drag down the Bull Magic Guild’s reputation!” another person protested.
“It’s just an amusing game, Meri, Tatak,” Rhine replied to them, his voice carrying a twisted smile. “Like watching ants fight, there’s always some entertainment in it.”
Their figures gradually vanished into the dark street.
“Just an amusing game? Ants?” Ye Chui let out a sigh of relief, his face tinged with displeasure. He knew the iPad grimoire was far from rubbish. It was something this world had never seen before!
Ten days was enough time for him to unravel the mysteries of the iPad grimoire. When the time came, he would give them a surprise!
