Chapter Four: The Master Who Embraces the Chaos

Aware that he had traveled to another world, Ren knew that in a world with Western dragons, the existence of magic was quite normal.

But hadn’t Tang Si said that magic had been lost on this continent?

How did he manage to produce it so easily?

Should I try messing with the electrical switch and risk my life?

Wouldn’t that just lead to instant death?

Ren’s mind was filled with sarcastic thoughts, but outwardly he maintained a calm demeanor as he watched his good disciple.

“Master! I did it! I succeeded!” Tang Si shouted, full of excitement, as he opened his eyes.

“I saw.” The flickering electric light illuminated Ren’s typical strict-teacher expression.

Looking at Ren’s calm face and sensing his master’s mysterious aura, Tang Si recalled how his master had used that mysterious device to summon massive lightning with small electric currents during the day. He immediately thought, Master doesn’t seem too happy! Clearly, I only met his minimum expectations. I must continue to strive harder!

Tang Si said excitedly, “Master! I will keep working hard.”

“Sleep.” Ren replied sparingly.

Sensitive to the fact that his master hadn’t used the word “tomorrow,” Tang Si believed he had genuinely passed the test this time.

At least for now.

He happily drifted off into dreamland.

The next morning, Ren almost got up with dark circles under his eyes.

Last night, he had stayed up until the middle of the night before finally falling into a groggy sleep.

He couldn’t understand for the life of him how this kid had managed to “meditate” successfully so easily.

Logically speaking, even in an alternate world, aren’t true mages supposed to be one in a million, as rare as phoenix feathers?

In less than one night, his apprentice had already surpassed his master and become a true mage.

Given that this was supposedly an era devoid of magic, who could claim that a magical apprentice isn’t a true mage?

The real issue now wasn’t whether Tang Si should continue being his disciple but how Ren, as a master, could continue teaching him.

After agonizing for the first half of the night, Ren decided to let it go.

Before his transmigration, he had been a college student and a part-time, struggling web novelist.

Having read so many transmigration novels, even without practical experience, couldn’t he at least make something up?

“What kind of magic training manual? I’ll just make one up.”

If the kid couldn’t learn it, it would be due to his lack of comprehension, and nothing to do with me being a fake and inferior master.

After washing up and casually eating some wild fruits they had gathered, the master and apprentice returned to the same small hill from the previous day.

Tang Si knelt respectfully once more: “Please, Master, guide me.”

Before starting his lesson with the naïve disciple, Ren habitually braced himself, speaking in a deep voice imbued with a mysterious authority: “I’ll reiterate once more. I will not teach you magic. I only teach science.”

Ah, Master’s at it again.

However, Tang Si dared not show any disrespect or negligence. He perked up his ears and nodded earnestly: “Master, what is science?”

Ren pointed into the distance and said in the most matter-of-fact tone: “Everything you see around you is merely an illusion. Within them, they all have their own operating principles. And science is the fundamental law of how this world operates!”

Tang Si’s eyes widened to the largest they had ever been, and his heart pounded furiously in his chest. He was so excited that he felt his heart might leap out of his chest:

What an astonishing perspective!

The magic that seemed so sharp and impressive to me was just the surface. What Master teaches is the true fundamental power!

Master is so incredibly great!

“No wonder he always thinks I can’t learn.”

No! I must study harder and not disappoint Master’s expectations!

Meanwhile, Ren looked at Tang Si’s puzzled expression and finally nodded in satisfaction.

“Master, did you come up with all of this yourself?” Tang Si’s voice trembled.

“No! Most of this is the wisdom of our predecessors. I’m just ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’,” Ren shrugged, as if he were merely a speck of dust on those giants’ shoulders. The more humble Ren was, the more elevated his image became in his disciple’s mind, reaching a point where Tang Si could only look up to him.

After a long while, Tang Si squeezed out from between his teeth, “Master, I know I’m far behind in my understanding. Could you tell me how many levels there are in using lightning?”

Finishing, he stared eagerly at his Master, his mouth slightly open like a fish out of water.

Ren gazed into the distance, feigning profundity, and slowly began to share with his disciple the story he had fabricated: “Sensing the existence of electricity, that’s just the most basic application. You could think of it as a kind of magic!”

What?

Tang Si’s eyes widened as soon as he heard this, thinking to himself: Exactly! This can only be considered a small trick!

He continued to perk up his ears.

“The second level is application. Electricity has strengths and weaknesses! Strong currents naturally flow towards weaker ones, a process that maintains stable flow, namely stable voltage. Even beginners can understand this.”

In fact, at this point, Ren maintained a rigorous scientific attitude, trying to teach his disciple as clearly as possible.

Unexpectedly, it took a turn.

“The third step is large-scale electrical application! Do you see that metal rod over there?”

“Yes.”

Set against the backdrop of rolling dark clouds in the distant sky, atop the tallest hill in the village, stood a metal rod.

Ren extended his index and middle fingers in a gesture reminiscent of a sword stance.

Ren was about to explain that it was called a lightning rod, and with it, the village could be protected from lightning striking houses. Suddenly, right in front of his good disciple’s eyes, a massive lightning bolt, nearly eight meters thick, tore through the sky, striking directly at the top of the lightning rod on the hill, as if splitting the heavens and the earth in two.

The searing remnants of lightning were imprinted on Tang Si’s retinas, making him feel like the entire world was trembling.

Violent thunder and lightning poured into the earth, instantly blasting countless rocks and gravel from the hill, forming waves in mid-air.

Trees around them squeaked and creaked under the shockwave, emitting a chaotic and mournful sound. Large patches of green grass shattered into a quickly dissipating green mist in the raging wind.

One or two seconds later, the flying chunks of soil landed with a “crash, bang” as they hit the ground.

If Tang Si hadn’t been absolutely certain that this was his master’s doing, he might have let out a terrified scream.

Not to mention the disciple, even the master’s brain was crashing.

Originally, as a socialist youth, Ren thought he couldn’t be too destructive and must educate with rigorous scientific attitudes and physics knowledge. However, at this moment, even Ren himself began to doubt whether he was teaching science or magic.

Facing his disciple’s eyes full of the words “Master is awesome,” Ren had no idea how to justify his actions.

“Master, is this also science?”

“Yes! This is indeed science!”

Regardless of whether the disciple believed it or not, at least as the master, I believe it.

“In the spirit of respecting your belief!”

“Well then!”

“Actually, I don’t believe it anymore.”

Ren, in a self-deprecating tone, joked, “In theory, once the electrical power reaches an extremely exaggerated level, that strike… could shatter the stars!”

End of Chapter Four