Versatile Mage: Starting with the White Tiger Pendant

On a deserted commercial street, Lu Jun took a deep breath, relaxing the muscles that had tensed up due to excitement.

With his current strength, he could easily slay a Giant-Eyed Rat alone, unless it was the Direwolf from Bo City, a formidable threat. Ordinary wolves from the pack were at most comparable to the lower servant-level monsters.

The magical world was far from peaceful, with demonic threats everywhere. For instance, the undead haunted the ancient capital, sea monsters menaced the Magic City, and Bo City faced the constant threat of wolf packs from the southern ridges, led by the Wolf King. Their power overwhelmed Bo City, even threatening several cities in Zhejiang Province.

If humanity hadn't invented the magical barriers, which used rare materials to emit waves of energy that scared away monsters below the Commander level, their living space would have shrunk by more than half. These barriers also discouraged Sovereign-level creatures from attacking without reason.

Lu Jun looked toward the shadowy alley between two rows of tall buildings. The entrance was stained with blood. Li Xia asked, "Who's going in first to check the situation and lure out the monster?"

Typically, this task would fall to a Wind Mage, as they were suited for scouting. Lu Mei used to lead by example in such situations, but after advancing to the intermediate level, she no longer took on such dangerous tasks. Now, her role was to unleash powerful intermediate magic from the rear.

Xu Yan offered, "How about I go? With my earth-element Basic Spell, Earth Wave, my mobility isn't too bad."

Just as Lu Mei was about to refuse and take on the task herself, Lu Jun volunteered, "Sister, let me do it!"

His words caused a few frowns among the team. Li Xia joked, "Little brother, are you up to the task?"

Lu Mei looked at Lu Jun's determined expression. Remembering his training performance, she decisively said, "Alright, you're up."

The others were surprised. They had assumed Lu Mei brought her brother along to gain experience and build his credentials. They didn't expect her to assign such a risky task to a sixteen-year-old boy, where a single mistake could mean death.

Mu Yuan and the others tried to dissuade her, "Captain, he's just showing off. You can't take him seriously."

"If he's here to hunt monsters, he'll be treated like everyone else. I'm letting him go because his ability surpasses yours, and he's more capable of self-defense," Lu Mei calmly replied. Her brother's persistence and dedication had impressed her. To her, he already had the qualities of a strong individual: talent and determination. All he needed was experience and a mature mindset.

Hearing her words, the team couldn't argue further.

However, when Lu Jun skillfully controlled his star paths and released the water-element Basic Spell, Water Defense, in just two and a half seconds, everyone was stunned.

Li Xia was incredulous. "He's only a first-year high school student, yet his casting speed surpasses ours?"

Typically, students only managed to release magic by the end of their first semester in high school. Their star-path control was clumsy, and taking four to five seconds to cast was considered excellent.

Lu Mei realized that Lu Jun's talent was extraordinary and explained casually, "I helped him awaken during the summer after middle school."

"Oh, I see," Xu Yan and the others said, understanding. With three months of summer vacation, six months of the first semester, and another month of winter break, ten months to master a Basic Spell was impressive but believable.

Lu Jun smiled faintly. Having an intermediate-level sister was a convenient excuse for everything.

At the moment, a mist of water surrounded him, forming a shimmering blue ribbon about ten feet long. The wide arc of the ribbon covered most of the area around him. In his hand, he had already summoned his heavy sword, its dark blade wrapped in streams of water, ready for combat.

With that, Lu Jun stepped into the old alleyway. His expression remained calm. Based on his knowledge, the scarlet rays unleashed by the Giant-Eyed Rat could be blocked once with his Basic Water Barrier—nothing too frightening.

Following the bloodstains on the ground to the dark end of the alley, he heard strange rumbling sounds, akin to digging.

"Wait, could they already be tunneling?" Lu Jun thought back to the disaster in Bo City two and a half years later. With the magical barrier, it was impossible for the Direwolf tribe to invade from the wilderness. Even if they attacked, the city's barrier would prevent it from collapsing instantly.

The Black Vatican had secretly dug tunnels throughout Bo City's sewers, leading wolf packs into the city for an inside-out attack. The main purpose of these tunnels was to steal the Holy Spring, hidden beneath the Silver Exchange Tower in Bo City.

"Could the signs already be showing? In the original timeline, the first anomaly occurred a year and a half later, when a team of city monster hunters, including Mo Fan, investigated a magical girls' high school cafeteria where people were killed," Lu Jun pondered.

Realizing the site might be a tunnel entrance, Lu Jun resolved not to report it to the Magic Association for now. Doing so might alert the enemy.

With powerful figures like Mu He shielding the Black Vatican, reporting one tunnel would lead to another being dug elsewhere, possibly even more covertly. Mu He, at least a high-level mage, could target him or his sister, leading to their deaths.

"The Black Vatican is clever, covering their activities under the guise of Giant-Eyed Rat attacks. Without foreknowledge, no one could connect the dots. Even if anomalies were discovered, pinpointing their location in the maze-like, stinking sewers would be nearly impossible," he thought.

To thwart the Black Vatican's plan, Lu Jun considered preemptively scouting the tunnel entrances. When the disaster loomed, he could destroy them all at once, forcing the Black Vatican to act prematurely and undermining their plans.

As for timing the operation, he smirked. A critical event from the original timeline would occur after the winter break in his first year, offering the perfect opportunity.

Without revealing his thoughts, Lu Jun memorized the site's location, intending to research monster hunter case files for clues linking vibrations and Giant-Eyed Rats to tunnel entrances.

As he ventured deeper into the alley, the strange noises abruptly ceased. A suffocating silence enveloped him, and the darkness ahead grew more oppressive, carrying the sour stench of the sewers.

Suddenly, a glowing blue eye appeared in the darkness. The eyeball, the size of a basketball, was surrounded by tumorous growths that moved, making his skin crawl. The creature stepped forward, revealing part of its body—a neck as thick as a tree trunk, merging indistinguishably with its head. The head bore only the giant eye and a blood-red maw.

The creature stood nearly three meters long, its height reaching an adult's chest.

Buzz!

As soon as Lu Jun spotted it, the creature's massive eye began to contract violently, glowing crimson. In an instant, it unleashed a scarlet beam of energy.

Boom!

Thanks to his rigorous training, Lu Jun reacted instinctively, tilting his body slightly. The beam grazed his shoulder and blasted a scorched hole in the wall beside him.

The acrid smell of charred stone filled the air. Lu Jun's blood began to boil with adrenaline, his face contorted in a mix of fear and killing intent.