Chapter 3 Brave Or Stupid

Lucas stared at a small building made of wood, surrounded by the stench of dirty clothing and fog.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me." Lucas frowned.

He knew from the story that, before reaching adulthood, Lucas Cipher lived a crappy life. But to actually witness it was overwhelming.

"How can I live like this?" He muttered as he walked toward the door.

He climbed up the stairs toward his apartment and reached out for the handle. He expected the worst; however, when he opened the door, a nice and fresh smell reached his nose.

"Huh?" Lucas raised his brows in surprise. The room was spotlesshi

"I guess I clean up after myself, huh?" Lucas said as he looked around the room. It was a small one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen in the same room.

"Well then, what do I remember from that novel?" Magical powers…" Lucas wondered, as he wanted to unlock his magical powers as soon as possible. He knew there was no quest or something like that; however, he still needed to manually unlock the mana with visualization.

*Sigh*

He sighed before sitting down on the bed. He took off his shirt and saw dozens of scars.

"This guy couldn't take a break, could he?" Lucas said as he gently crutched his wounded chest.

"Unfair!" he exclaimed.

"There are no chains on me... "There are no chains on me. He closed his eyes and began the mantra that Lucas had used in his previous life. He envisioned a dozen thin chains surrounding his neck, and suddenly they tightened.

"W-What?" Lucas opened his eyes wide out of shock, but the chains were still there, tightly strangling him and refusing to let go.

"There are no chains on me... "There are no chains on me!" He closed his eyes and continued to imagine the chains breaking.

"I HAVE NO CHAINS ON ME!"He yelled out and heard a crack. He knew that the chains were breaking; however, he refused to stop out of fear that the chains would regenerate.

"There are no chains on me!" he said in a loud voice a couple more times, until his throat was free and he heard the chains falling off to the ground.

"T-That's it?" Lucas wondered as he opened his eyes to see the manifestation of the curse lying on the floor.

"T-that was so simple, what the hell happened?"Lucas furrowed his brows.

He looked around and closed his eyes again; he remembered that imagination was the main factor in the magic within Lightburn. You can use that spell by visualization if you have enough mana and a specific element.

"Let's try this." Lucas muttered.

Lucas imagined a fireball manifesting on the top of his palm, and soon he felt the heat. a burning heat that made him lose focus.

"Auch!" He closed his palm while imagining flames disappearing. His palm was still aching from the fire he had created.

"How in hell do they use magic without any defects?" He wondered, because this part was never written in the novels. He sighed as he imagined a green light covering his palm, and soon the pain disappeared.

He stood up to look out the window and noticed that it was getting dark.

"Night in the Element Forest?" Sounds fun." He smirked at the idea of getting to fight monsters despite not having any experience fighting them.

In his previous life, he was an adrenaline junkie who would always cross the path of dangerous people, just to feel his heart speed up. This situation was no different for him.

"…"

He smiled as he walked out of the room, and as he walked, he noticed a mirror and stopped to look at his own face. Lucas looked in the mirror and saw bright red eyes and tangled white hair. Soon, the ghost of a girl he knew well appeared in the mirror, smiling proudly at Lucas.

"Hey Lilith." He smiled back with a wink and left the house.

The sky was dark but clear, so Lucas could see stars in between the skyscrapers. The wind was blowing hard and freezing his face.

"I wonder…" Lucas muttered as he imagined the warmth on his skin. Soon, the wind could not reach him.

"Now we're talking."

Lucas walked through the dark streets of the night towards the forest, hoping to meet a criminal. He would have preferred to try his magic powers on people rather than on the monsters of the foreste would have preferred to try his magic powers on people rather than on the monsters of the forest. He did not, however, intend to attack someone for no reason.

As he reached the forest entrance, he glanced over his shoulder back at the city and frowned in frustration.

"Seriously? "I'm a fourteen-year-old dirty boy, and nobody wanted to rob me?" Lucas kicked a rock out of the irritation with his foot.

But his frustration turned to excitement when he heard the howling of a dark wolf in the forest. Dark wolves are one of the main predators of the Elemental Kingdom's forests; they hunt in packs and have the power to make themselves invisible in the undergrowth.

"Now we're talking..." Lucas said he was taking a step inside the forest. He had a smile on his face, but the sweat on his forehead showed the anxiety he felt.

"It's the only way to learn how to use magic in combat."

"Do... or die." Lucas said to himself under his nose to exude anxious doubt.

Suddenly, Lucas heard a crunching sound right in front of him.

"Ah, shit." When the beast's two bloodshot yellow eyes appeared in front of Lucas, he said it unconsciously.

The dark wolf stalked Lucas with intent eyes. He watched every movement of the muscles. He listened to Lucas's racing heart. And in the end, it was decided that Lucas was not a predator. He is prey. The wolf of darkness charged at Lucas.

"Fuck," Lucas said, building up a barrier of burning energy the way Henry did.

The Dark Wolf's claws knocked Lucas to the ground, but Lucas managed to create a barrier of heat around himself in time, which scorched the Dark Wolf and forced it to retreat momentarily.

Although the wolf was hiding in the shadows, Lucas soon heard more creatures rattling around.

"He's not here alone." Lucas said, a nervous smile on his face.