“These years have been hard on this child.” Uncle Oak still had a silly grin on his face, as if Thunder was already a magician renowned throughout the kingdom.

“It was my fault before!” Thunder said. From Colin’s memories, this fallen young master did nothing all day but complain about fate, and was otherwise of no use to the family.

The household expenses were maintained only by selling off possessions, and by Tiffany working for others to earn a bit of food.

Whenever there was something good at home, Oak and Tiffany couldn’t bear to eat it themselves and saved it all for Colin. Even so, this little scoundrel Colin still treated Tiffany harshly, beating her when drunk, so now Tiffany was always nervous when with Thunder.

He deserved to die! Thunder thought bitterly.

“Young master, you had your difficulties too, Oak and Tiffany both know that.” Uncle’s face was a bit flushed from drinking, and he was about to reach the point where the wine didn’t intoxicate, but the drinker was already drunk.

Tiffany kept her head down, shoveling rice into her mouth, nodding vigorously.

“Let the past be the past.” Thunder picked a piece of meat from his own bowl and gave it to Tiffany. The little girl refused no matter what, but in the end, Thunder forced it into her mouth. “Things will get better from now on.”

“Yes, yes, young master is a magician now…” Uncle Oak said, his eyes glazed with drunkenness.

“By the way, why did you pick up those scraps of paper?” Thunder turned to ask Tiffany, having just seen the little girl sneak over and gather up the torn contract pieces.

“Ah!” Tiffany was startled, her face flushing bright red. “I… Tiffany wanted to burn them.”

“Burning them is good!” Thunder nodded.

After the meal, Thunder moved a chair to sit under the sun, half-awake, half-drowsy, pondering his own situation.

Since talismans could still be inscribed with magic power, there was nothing to worry about in that regard. In this world, he now had another way to save his life. What troubled Thunder most was the quality of this body—it was just too poor.

Previously, Colin was malnourished and drank heavily; it was no wonder his body was in such bad shape.

The Dragon Tiger Sect did have some exercises for health and fitness, but the Talisman Sect focused on the way of talismans and didn’t emphasize these much. Thunder had only learned the basics. Looks like he’d have to start getting up early to train from tomorrow.

Then there was the issue of magic power in his body. The old cultivation method could still be used, and it was even more effective than back on Dragon Tiger Mountain, since the spiritual energy in this world was abundant, much richer than on Dragon Tiger Mountain. But what disappointed Thunder was that once the spiritual energy passed through the dantian, it was completely transformed into magic power—an irreversible process. Moreover, the human body in this world simply wasn’t suited for cultivation.

Oh well! Since he’d decided to be a magician, he should focus on storing more magic power. With the help of the Spirit Suppressing Pearl, accumulating magic power would surely become an easy and pleasant task.

Tiffany was pretending to clean nearby, sneaking glances at Thunder from time to time. Thunder noticed, but ignored her.

She was just a fifteen-year-old girl—how many bad thoughts could she have?

Sigh, if only he’d learned a few more talismans from his master back on Dragon Tiger Mountain. Now he only knew the Five-Colored Divine Thunder Talisman.

It was all that old master’s fault, always saying that biting off more than you can chew is no good. Now look, he didn’t even have the chance to learn more if he wanted to!

Chapter Five: Angus’s Compromise

The sun was high, the weather was beautiful, and after breakfast, Thunder practiced a set of martial arts in the courtyard. He immediately felt refreshed, his meridians clear, and was so pleased that he burst out laughing.

Noisy sounds came from outside the door. Thunder finished his practice and went out to see a group of people busily moving things into the house, while Uncle Oak and Tiffany stood by, dumbfounded.

“Hurry up! Move all of Colin young master’s things inside for me!” a voice shouted.

“What’s going on?” At first, Thunder thought someone was here to cause trouble or rob them, but after watching for a while, he realized they were actually moving things into his house. He quickly went over to Oak and Tiffany to ask.

“I don’t know either.” Uncle Oak wore an innocent expression. “They came early this morning, didn’t say anything, just kept moving things in.”

“Did someone deliver to the wrong address?” Thunder also found it strange. Tiffany’s bright eyes blinked as she looked at Thunder, thinking it made sense, and nodded beside him.

“Hey, you…” Thunder waved to one of the men who seemed to be in charge. “What are you doing?”

“Hehe, Colin young master is up so early?” The steward, who had just been fiercely ordering the servants around, immediately changed his expression, running over with a fawning smile. “Colin young master, I am the steward of Lord Angus!”

“Angus?” Thunder exchanged a confused look with Tiffany.

Looking again, he saw that a few of the attendants had been here yesterday. But those attendants carrying things all avoided Thunder, clearly still remembering yesterday’s magic.

“My lord said he had some misunderstandings with you, Colin young master, and this morning he instructed me to bring some things as an apology,” said the steward of Angus.

“Misunderstandings?” Thunder tilted his head, eyeing him sideways.

“Colin young master is so magnanimous!” The steward nodded repeatedly, his manner extremely obsequious. “Please don’t be angry. If these things aren’t enough, my lord has more prepared.”