When it came to power, Ryan Bennett had no interest. Rather than scheming and guarding against political rivals every day, he preferred to earn more gold coins, marry more beautiful women, and enjoy fine wine and delicacies with lovely companions by his side. How pleasant that would be.

This was the life Ryan Bennett longed for. But as the saying goes on Earth, “A man is not free in the world.” Now that Ryan Bennett had arrived in the imperial capital, could he really stay uninvolved?

Everything was wonderful, except for one regret: ever since Emily Brooks left, she hadn’t come to see him again. What happened to that girl? Ryan Bennett really missed the beautiful and adorable elven maiden. He touched his lips, savoring the memory of that sweet kiss.

Alas, at the time, he forgot to ask her for her address.

Actually, Emily Brooks missed Ryan Bennett too. Maybe it was love at first sight, as the legends say, or perhaps fate had destined their bond. In any case, the image of Ryan Bennett was already deeply imprinted in the heart of this beautiful elven girl.

But… last time, she had snuck out in secret. Now her father watched her closely. Except for her maids, there were family guards stationed at the doors and under the windows. Emily Brooks was a delicate girl, unskilled in magic or martial arts. Under such strict watch, her chances of sneaking out were almost zero.

With his beloved nowhere to be found, Ryan Bennett felt a bit down. These days, he rarely went out, spending most of his time reading. Thanks to the supercomputer, even though the language of Hailan Star was completely different from Earth’s, Ryan Bennett somehow mastered it all. He had also gained some insights into the abilities he acquired during his journey through worlds—like passive skills in a game, they would always activate at critical moments.

The races, history, and customs of Hailan Star—books were an ocean of knowledge. Through extensive reading, Ryan Bennett had learned a lot about these things, but what interested him most was magic.

Back on Earth, when he was a student, there was a craze for fantasy novels online. Magic fascinated countless people, and now that he had the chance, of course Ryan Bennett wanted to try it for himself.

However, unlike what was described in novels, there were no so-called magic schools in this world. In fact, throughout all of Hailan Star, those with the talent to learn magic were extremely rare. As a power bestowed upon humans by the gods, only a few people could master magic. Like the nobility, they belonged to a privileged class.

Magic schools? Pure nonsense. Mages kept their secrets to themselves, and magic was passed down from master to apprentice. This situation made Ryan Bennett frown—how could he get the chance to learn magic?

Fortunately, he was no longer the newcomer he once was. Now, Ryan Bennett was a viscount of the empire and the lifesaver of Princess Alice, with a distinguished status. Relying on these, he finally managed to get his hands on a few ancient magic tomes.

Magic, simply put, was about meditating to draw upon the power of nature. On Hailan Star, this power was called the elements, divided into six types: water, fire, wind, earth, light, and darkness.

Among them, light mages were also called priests and belonged exclusively to the church. Light magic not only had healing effects but was also incredibly powerful in battle.

As for dark mages… they were rather unfortunate. The church regarded them as heretics and would exterminate them on sight. Since the Temple of Light became the state religion of the empire, countless mages who practiced dark magic had been burned at the stake.

Ryan Bennett didn’t care about this. Magic or battle aura, power was always just power. Good or evil depended on the person who used it.

Of course, Ryan Bennett had no intention of changing the status quo. He focused all his energy on those ancient magic tomes.

To learn magic, the first step was to test for talent. This could be done with a magic crystal ball, but such items weren’t sold in stores—only real mages had them.

Once again using his viscount status and after much effort, Ryan Bennett finally managed to buy a crystal ball.

He placed his hand on it and meditated as described in the books. The originally dim crystal ball began to glow, and a smile appeared on Ryan Bennett’s face. But just then, something unexpected happened…

Crack—a faint sound, but in the quiet room it was especially jarring. A crack appeared at the top of the crystal ball, then spread rapidly. With a crash, the entire crystal ball exploded into a pile of fragments…

What the—how could this happen? Ryan Bennett was dumbfounded, completely caught off guard. Luckily, he was experimenting alone. If a mage had been present, they would have worshipped Ryan Bennett as a god. To shatter a crystal ball with spiritual power—was he even human? Not even a legendary archmage could do that!

Ryan Bennett didn’t know that during his passage through the black hole, besides merging with the supercomputer, he had also absorbed a massive amount of spiritual power. However, since he hadn’t cultivated it himself, he couldn’t use it yet—it was all stored in his body. With this spiritual power transformation, Ryan Bennett would find learning magic twice as effective with half the effort!

Progress was rapid, but unfortunately, those ancient tomes only contained introductory knowledge—things like fireballs and wind blades. In just three days, Ryan Bennett had mastered everything in them.

After all, truly advanced magic was passed down from master to apprentice, and Ryan Bennett had yet to meet a suitable teacher.