In the alchemy workshop, only the occasional faint hum from the alchemical equipment broke the silence.
Lucien leaned back in his chair, attention fixed on the semi-transparent system panel floating before him. His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest as he browsed and thought.
[Loan Name: Master-Level Wind Elemental Magic Pattern (Quarterly Loan)]
[Repayment Deadline: 90 days]
[Loan Content: Obtain the master-level wind elemental magic pattern, greatly increasing the host's affinity with wind elements, accelerating the learning speed of all wind-element magic, and boosting the power of wind-element spells by 200%.]
[Loan Task: Develop a flight spell]
Lucien's gaze lingered on the "200%" figure for a moment.
He remembered the system's earlier explanation of elemental magic patterns. Above advanced came master-level, then grandmaster-level.
A master-level wind pattern counted as a quarterly loan, which meant grandmaster-level probably aligned with the half-year option.
The jump from advanced to master-level was massive. Advanced patterns gave a 50% boost to their element's magic—already impressive—but stacked against master-level's 200%, it felt like comparing a spark to a wildfire.
"If the pattern keeps scaling like this, grandmaster-level is going to be ridiculous," Lucien muttered, though he didn't linger on the thought.
Honestly, more than the grade itself, what excited him was finally having the wind elemental pattern.
He had already collected three of the four basic elements—water, fire, and earth—all at advanced. Only wind had been missing. Now the set was complete, and wind had arrived straight at master-level, leaping ahead of the others.
Beyond the satisfaction of finishing the collection, he had been looking forward to this for a long time.
Mastery and harmony of the four elements formed the very foundation of alchemy.
Refining the simplified Philosopher's Stone was coming up soon. This was the perfect moment to slot in the final piece of the four-element puzzle and test the theory he had been carrying.
"Tong, you're still as thoughtful as ever."
[(b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b]
Lucien's eyes moved down to the loan task.
"Develop a flight spell…"
Short. Clean. And immediately annoying.
The simpler the requirement, the harder it usually was.
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Right now, wizards in this world flew with brooms, magic carpets, and other tools. Pure spell-based flight—defying gravity without any device, simply rising into the open sky—was rare.
Voldemort had apparently created something like it. As one of his former trusted Death Eaters, Snape probably knew the method too. But asking the old bat for it outright would be awkward, and the loan task specifically said develop, not learn. Even if he got the spell from Snape, it would only be reference material.
Wind element and flight… following the system's usual pattern, the reward and the task were probably linked.
Maybe the hint was right there—use the power of wind itself to break free of the ground and reach the sky?
The thought immediately brought to mind a certain magical creature—one that rode the wind and could cover a thousand miles in a single day…
I wonder if Mr. Newt has one of those big kitties?
"I want to take out the master-level wind elemental magic pattern loan."
[Ding! Loan application successful!]
[Evaluation: The freest wind should embrace the sky]
The icon on the panel lit up. A soft cyan glow slowly swirled beside the words "Master-Level Wind Elemental Magic Pattern."
Lucien felt a faint cool sensation at the tip of his ring finger. He looked down. A delicate cyan pattern was emerging from the pad of his finger, like a faint trace left by wind brushing across skin.
He flexed his hand. The pattern didn't vanish. It only flickered gently with the movement, as if alive.
He was just about to stand and leave the workshop to test the master-level pattern's power when his gaze caught the next line on the panel.
Jade Record fragment. Repayment progress sat at one hundred percent, but the loan entry still hadn't closed.
Lucien's hand froze mid-motion.
He had almost forgotten.
The system had just finished its upgrade and come back online. In all the excitement, he had completely overlooked the lingering bug with the Jade Record loan. He still needed to ask about it.