"Hey, have you heard the rumors?"
"Is this about that low‑mana‑affinity freshman?"
"Yeah."
"Hahaha! I don't know what got into his head. Maybe he's fed up with the mockeries and finally standing up for himself. Either way, I respect him for accepting, though he'll probably lose."
"Hahaha! He's stupid, in my opinion. Why accept if you know you'll lose? He even gave that three‑star freshman a month to prepare. By then, the gap between them will be huge."
The rumors of a wizardry duel between two freshman students, one probably among the academy's least talented in history and the other a de facto average three-star student, spread like wildfire across the academy.
Even some third and fourth-year students were intrigued.
As similar conversations occurred across the campus, one of the rumored duel participants was back in his dormitory room.
Hal eagerly locked the door and sat on his bamboo cot, snapping his fingers.
It was time to draw cards again.
Hal hadn't even noticed when it started, but he found the mere thought of trying his luck with the system's draw function exhilarating.
The low odds of obtaining new cards seemed to somehow make each success that much sweeter.
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
…
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
…
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
…
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
==
But the next few moments were nothing short of frustrating for Hal, his heart racing as he was now quickly down to his last Chaos Point.
'What the f*ck?! Four failed draws in a row?!' he complained inwardly.
Hal's right hand trembled as it inched its way toward the [Common Draw] button.
'Please…something…just draw something…anything…'
His day would be ruined if he didn't obtain at least a single common-tier card in five draws.
*BEEP*
Hal finally used his last chance, unknowingly biting on his nails in slight anxiety.
Fortunately…
[Congratulations! You have drawn a [Common]-tier card!]
…Instead of the depressed sighs of a jester, it was the sweet dinging sound of success Hal had yearned to hear in the last four draws that rang out.
'Yes!!'
He quickly tapped on the [View Card] option at the bottom of the notification window.
==
Card Name: Spirit Sparrow
Rarity: Common
Type: Summon
Durability: Permanent
Cooldown: 20 minutes
Chaos Karma cost: 0.5 / minute
Description: Summon a controllable Spirit Sparrow that shares its vision with the caster.
Note: Warning! This card will be destroyed if the summon is destroyed.
==
Hal was already elated even before he read the description, and was even more so upon realizing that the card was permanent as long as he took care of it.
This was also the first time he obtained a different card type, as all three in his arsenal, and the one he obtained in the tutorial, were all of the [Elemental Spell] type.
Hal had long been wondering about this matter.
After all, there were four widely recognized paths for wizards:
Elementalists were the most common, since most obtained mana‑bound artifacts that enhanced a specific type of elemental damage, sometimes more than one, if they were lucky.
Conjurers were considerably rarer.
They could create and control lethal, tangible items out of thin air for both attack and defense.
Summoners, on the other hand, could call and command various spirit creatures, though most were merely mana replicates, like Hal's new Spirit Sparrow.
Only high‑level Summoners could attempt to contract arcane beasts in the wild, and that came with significant risks, though there were also options to purchase and contract some in reputable summoner shops.
Last were the Augurs—the ultra‑rare support‑type wizards.
They could boost an entire group's overall strength with powerful buffs, greatly increasing their chances of success.
The most gifted among them were even able to heal their comrades in battle.
'Haha! Does this mean I can be anything as long as I have the appropriate cards?!' Hal mused in utter excitement.
He might not have the boosts others did, but he had unpredictability on his side.
And who knows?
Maybe once he upgraded the system through the Upgrade System function, it would include features that improved his spells' firepower, speed, or even accuracy.
There was still so much to learn about his newfound power.
Unfortunately, his lack of Chaos Points was the only limiting factor.
But Hal was young, hopeful, and ablaze with determination.
Things were just beginning!
Perhaps one day he could even be a Magna! No… he would definitely strive to be one.
If he succeeded, his mother would surely be living the life of her dreams.
But before everything…
'Time to try this new spell!'
Hal eagerly slotted the Spirit Sparrow card into the fourth gesture slot, raised his right hand to face-level, then pointed his index and middle fingers heavenwards, summoning a common house sparrow with faintly glowing eyes through a brown and green magic circle.
The bird merely flapped its wings in front of him, its stamina matched to Hal's meager mana pool.
'Hmm, what a strange feeling…'
Hal now possessed two lines of sight: one through his own eyes, and the other within his mind, in which he could see himself.
It was the shared vision granted by the Spirit Sparrow.
Hal tried to control the creature, but the double vision made him dizzy, so he decided to close his eyes and focus solely on the tiny spirit avian's sight.
It became much easier to fly the sparrow around.
He first directed it to perch on the small chandelier suspended from the ceiling of his room, then had it take off again, landing on various objects around his modest accommodation and flying through small gaps.
Only when Hal was confident enough in his control did he allow the Spirit Sparrow to fly out the window, guiding it to perch on a high branch of a nearby tree.
He couldn't help but laugh in exhilaration as he temporarily opened his eyes and wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead and cheeks.
It wasn't easy controlling the little bird, but just the bird's point of view made it extremely worth it.
Hal had never seen such picturesque sights in his life.
If only he himself could fly…
Shifting his focus back to the sparrow, he commanded it to take off once more, first circling the periphery of the dormitory before flying farther, and farther, and farther still.
'Hahahaha! What a useful spell!' Hal mused in delight and satisfaction.
With this, spotting chaotic situations to meddle in would be much easier.
He just needed to grow his Chaos Karma pool and he'd be able to operate the sparrow for longer periods.
Soon, the Spirit Sparrow arrived at the area where the four- and five-star freshmen were holding their afternoon spellcasting classes.
Hal couldn't help but linger for a while, his brows furrowing at the sight of the more talented five-star students casting fireballs and other small elemental projectiles from their hands.
The rich aristocrats even already had their personal training wands or staves.
While the fireballs' speed, size, and power were far from the one he had cast during the tutorial to kill the blue boar, it was only the first day of classes.
The five-star students truly lived up to their reputation, and Hal couldn't help but feel pressured by their pace of learning and improvement.
He needed to earn more Chaos Points.
Otherwise, his plan to catch the attention of the academy's higher-ups might fall apart before it even began.
After watching for a while, Hal took off again, attempting to fly even farther to look for opportunities.
But he failed.
It seemed there was a limit to how far the sparrow could go, perhaps in relation to its caster's position, maximum mana, or control mastery.
Once reached, the little creature would simply hover in place, flapping its wings and refusing to fly beyond.
Hal was left with no choice, so he commanded the creature to turn back, making sure it passed through areas it hadn't checked yet in hopes of spotting some turbulence.
The Spirit Sparrow unfortunately didn't find anything, leaving its frustrated owner to sigh.
Hal was running out of mana; it was time for the sparrow to return to his side.
Flapping its tiny wings, the creature flew closer and closer to the one-star dormitory.
Then, just when Hal least expected it, he spotted a familiar student being cornered by three two-star students in their academy uniforms.
'Oh? Isn't that the guy who drew nothing in the Arcane Repository? Kraisel, or something?' he pondered. 'From the looks of it…hohoh…count me in…'
A few moments later, the Sparrow arrived, and Hal dismissed it by performing the same gesture of pointing his right index and middle fingers heavenwards.
It took five seconds before he was able to dismiss the little avian, which meant that he had to ensure to perch it somewhere safe before doing so.
Free from the confusing double eyesight, Hal stood up from his bamboo cot and strode out of his room.
It was time to meddle in others' businesses.