Chapter Seventeen: Is the Young Lady Performing Magic?

On the Mata Continent, magicians are divided into ten elements: water, fire, earth, wood, metal, lightning, wind, light, darkness, and space. Almost every magician on the continent chooses one element as their main focus, with the others as auxiliary studies. No one has the energy to master all branches of magic, so everyone pours their efforts into just one in pursuit of achievement.

Xuan Xuan lacked talent and affinity with all nine magic elements. Before she became an alchemist, she had tried learning magic from every branch, but none allowed her to break through to the first level of mage. Even when she was expelled from the Xuan family, she was still just a magic apprentice.

She wandered for years, relying on her strong spiritual power and unwavering will. By a stroke of luck, her teacher noticed her after an accident, and she became an alchemist. Her teacher was not only a great alchemist but also a formidable mage. Before taking her as a disciple, her teacher had always lived in seclusion from the world. It was due to her teacher’s efforts that she was able to become an alchemist.

Her teacher traversed the entire continent for her, seeking out all kinds of magical artifacts to aid her training—sacred relics of the humans, the holy tree of the elves, the water of life... Her teacher visited every land and every race, exhausting all possible means to help her become a true mage. Even so, she could only reach the saint level, unable to break through to the divine rank. Everyone assumed she was gifted, but no one knew the suffering she endured, nor the sacrifices her teacher made for her.

Her teacher was a genius. Though she never reached the divine rank as a mage or an alchemist herself, she taught a student who did become a divine alchemist. For the sake of alchemical experiments, her teacher staked her own life.

Sometimes Xuan Xuan couldn’t understand why her teacher remained so low-key, or perhaps only someone as reclusive as her teacher could devote herself so wholly to magic and alchemy. Even Xuan Xuan could not match her teacher’s prowess. But her teacher left too soon. Their research into changing one's innate talent had yet to yield results when her teacher passed away.

For a full hundred years, Xuan Xuan devoted herself to alchemy and magic. As an alchemist, she had access to potions, energy, and wealth, channeling everything into her studies. Yet, in the end, excessive use of potions to force her potential meant she could not become a divine mage, nor could she be a true divine alchemist.

In her final decade, she focused on studying “Heaven-Defying”—hoping to alter her talent, to see their joint research succeed, to fulfill her teacher’s wish for her to reach the summit. Unfortunately, while the potion was perfected, she never had the chance to use it in her previous life. This time, she would not let herself regret again.

In her last life, to become an alchemist, she specialized in fire magic. With her already limited talent, she had no energy left for other elements. In this life, after using the Heaven-Defying potion, she found herself with good affinity for all magical elements, and was at a loss as to which branch to focus on. She was tempted by greed—a desire to become a master of all magic. Was her affinity merely “good”?

Chin lifted, she pondered: now that she had someone to care for her, someone to protect her, was there any rush to become a master? Recently, she’d learned more about this era aboard the starship, and she understood that her father and his family had considerable power, more than enough to keep her safe. Perhaps, just a little greed, she really could train in all elements after all?

Oh, I really am too greedy. She laughed secretly to herself, but she still felt confident in her abilities. She had reached the saint level once and understood magic profoundly. In her last life, she had pursued and obsessed over magic, only to be thwarted by lack of talent. Now that she possessed both talent and ability, she was determined not to live with regret, and to pursue her dream with all her heart.

The greatest mage on the Mata Continent was the elven queen, considered the most naturally gifted in history—yet even she only mastered three elements. As far as Xuan Xuan knew, the queen studied wind, wood, water, light, and earth. Five elements at saint level—already unprecedented.

Was it too greedy for her to attempt nine elements?

With a laugh, she clenched her fist and opened her hand to reveal a small clump of earth. She poked the center, and a tiny sprout grew, reaching upward as a faint light bathed it. The sprout grew taller, a breeze rustled its leaves, and then, as she glanced at it, a wisp of dark mist passed and the sprout withered. With a snap of her fingers, a small flame appeared, burning the withered sprout. She blew gently, and a little water sphere extinguished the fire. With a swipe of her plump finger, a tiny spatial fissure appeared, swallowing the remnants. She brushed her hand lightly, and the spatial rift vanished as if nothing had happened.

Mastery of all ten elements was truly convenient.

At this moment, Xuan Xuan felt her affinity with every element was so light and natural, as if closing her eyes revealed a world made entirely of magic, with every element as close to her as family.

With eyes half-closed, she focused. The most crucial step in becoming a mage was gathering magical elements with spiritual power, drawing them into her dantian, and forming whirlpools of magic. The size of these whirls determined a mage’s level. She had previously formed a fire element whirlpool; now, she resolved to form all ten.

She let her spiritual power expand fully, feeling the world open up to her. The elements flocked to her, welcomed into her dantian, divided into ten groups, slowly rotating, condensing, spinning, again and again, until small clusters of magic compressed into tiny whirlpools, each one a vortex with seemingly infinite power, captivating her entire being.

It was done.

She hadn’t expected it to be so easy.

In her previous life, to condense a magical whirlpool and become a first-level mage, her teacher had gone to the dwarves and spent a full month crafting a batch of potions to exchange for a single day’s use of the dwarves’ sacred relic. Even then, it took Xuan Xuan three days in that rich fire element environment to finally form her magical whirlpool and officially become a first-level mage—not to mention how much time she spent gathering enough magic beforehand.

Yet now, in just a short while, she had formed nine whirlpools. She gave a wry smile; the word “talent” had been both her doom and her salvation.

Everyone feared that, after becoming a mage of multiple elements, each advancement would require filling multiple whirlpools—in her case, ten times the effort. But with such high elemental affinity, it seemed she needn’t worry about this at all.

While Xuan Xuan was still elated at becoming a tenfold mage, she forgot about her doting father.

“Mi—Mi—Miss, is—is this... is this magic?” Yiqiong, standing beside Wanqi Lianhao, gaped so wide a fly could have flown into his mouth unnoticed.

Wanqi Lianhao took a deep breath and said, “You saw nothing today. Understand?”

A flicker of gravity passed through Yiqiong’s eyes. He understood the seriousness of the matter. However shocked he was, he nodded. “Yes, I understand, sir.” Wanqi Lianhao nodded. “You may leave.”