"Ah." Du Wei nodded, snapping out of his reverie. "Then find her a room and let her take it off herself." Du Wei smiled, looking at the long-legged girl. "I have no other intentions. I'm just interested in your leather armor."
"Damn brat! If you dare touch me, I swear I'll make you…" the girl cursed.
Du Wei walked up to her with a stern face and very deliberately extended a finger, giving her cheek a firm poke. "Oh, I touched you. What are you going to do about it?"
The others were tied up with ropes. The Minotaur warrior was locked up with livestock chains the two knights had procured from somewhere.
As for the long-legged girl, she had been knocked unconscious by the Rowling family guards and thrown directly into Du Wei's room—since the young master seemed quite interested in this girl, why wouldn't the subordinates seize such an opportunity to curry favor?
Ignoring his men's lewd thoughts, Du Wei now had the mental space to thoroughly examine the mage!
Stripped of his gray robe, the mage stood before Du Wei in his undergarments, hands and feet bound. At first, he tried to threaten the young noble: "Dare you treat a mage this way! Aren't you afraid of offending the Magic Association?!"
His answer was a slap. That slap instantly silenced the mage.
Du Wei rubbed his slightly stinging hand. It seemed his body was still too weak.
"If you cooperate and answer a few questions, I'll consider letting you go," Du Wei said, sitting in a chair and looking at the mage trussed up like a turkey. "When you cast those fireballs earlier, I didn't hear you chant any incantations. Have you truly mastered the art of 'instant casting'?"
This was what intrigued Du Wei the most!
A mage casting a spell must chant an incantation! That was the fundamental principle stated in every book Du Wei had ever read.
True, in this world, a select few exceptional top-tier mages were said to have mastered a technique allowing them to mentally recite the incantation without speaking aloud—this legendary skill was known as "instant casting." However, such an advanced technique required immensely powerful spiritual energy and an extraordinarily precise grasp and understanding of magical arts!
It was practically unthinkable that a mere Level 1 mage, barely above an apprentice, could possess such an ability. Mages capable of instant casting were almost invariably renowned Grand Magi across the continent.
Of course, besides achieving instant casting through sheer personal ability, there were other recognized methods. The most common was through: spell scrolls.
Spell scrolls were pre-inscribed scrolls containing a spell. When a mage needed to fight, they could simply toss out the scroll to instantly unleash the magic stored within.
However, spell scrolls were precious magical consumables. Furthermore, the higher the level of the spell, the more difficult it was to create a scroll. The scrolls most widely used contained only low-level spells. Scrolls containing mid-level spells were already rare treasures! As for some specific high-level spells, it was rare to hear of them being successfully inscribed onto scrolls.
Therefore, Du Wei was intensely curious about this lowly Level 1 mage! Because during the earlier fight, he had cast his spells without any apparent chanting—it seemed like the legendary "instant casting"!
Though, admittedly, what he "instantly cast" were only the most basic fireballs.
In this world, a mage's rank was strictly defined, primarily by the strength of their mana and their mastery of magical techniques.
Among these, the use of incantations was a key standard for judging a mage's skill.
Spellcasting requiring incantations was an accepted universal truth. However, the same incantation could be handled differently by different mages. Highly skilled mages had researched ways to rapidly utter those complex, tongue-twisting chants using special methods. Even shaving off one or two syllables could mean casting a spell faster than an opponent in combat, seizing the initiative!
Research achievements concerning specific magical incantations were often a mage's most closely guarded secret, never lightly shared with others, lest they lose their advantage.
As for "instant casting"… that was something any mage would go mad for, or sacrifice anything to attain!
Du Wei wasn't a fool. He didn't genuinely believe this pitifully low-level, barely-above-apprentice Level 1 mage had truly mastered instant casting. His suspicion was: this guy probably possessed a method resembling instant casting, or a substitute technique approximating it!
Otherwise, if the mage before him truly could cast instantly, he wouldn't have ended up bound like this. The outcome of the earlier fight would have been Du Wei's side lying defeated.
This guy definitely had a little secret! And that secret was precisely what fascinated Du Wei!
Faced with Du Wei's question, the mage looked uncomfortable. His eyes darted evasively, and he pressed his lips tightly together, refusing to speak.
Du Wei curled his lip. He hadn't expected the man to readily divulge his secret out of cooperation.
They were in the kitchen behind the tavern. Since it was just the two of them now, Du Wei had plenty of time to wait him out.
He began meticulously examining the spoils confiscated from the mage.
A mage's robe. Du Wei glanced at it and tossed it into the nearby stove. The robe flared up into a blaze, serving as kindling. The silver leaf insignia, however, Du Wei toyed with for a moment before also throwing it into the furnace. This insignia was the official certification badge issued by the Magic Association… and, from Du Wei's perspective as someone from another world, it possessed a special property: anti-theft and anti-loss!
This badge, certified by the Magic Association's magic, could only be worn by its rightful mage owner. If it ever strayed more than a certain distance from the mage's body, it would automatically dissolve. Moreover, the badge emitted a faint magical pulse etched onto it—an anti-counterfeiting measure! This made it nearly impossible for ordinary people to forge such an insignia and impersonate a mage.
Therefore, the badge was useless to Du Wei. He merely noted the mage's pained expression as it vanished into the flames.
"You see, I don't really mean any harm," Du Wei smiled, a demonic glint in his pale young eyes. "I'm just a youth deeply fascinated by magic. If you'll answer a few questions for me, I'll let you go."
The mage remained silent.
Du Wei continued his inventory of the loot.
A small bundle, also found beneath the mage's robe. Emptying it revealed several gemstones of mixed and mediocre quality. These were treasures to common folk, but to a mage, they were merely tools for storing mana. Du Wei glanced at them and unceremoniously pocketed them.
The remaining items included two pieces of parchment inscribed with phrases of low-level magical incantations. Du Wei's eyes lit up as soon as he saw them!
Although he had read many books on magical theory… due to the strict regulations within the mage community, no true magical incantation was ever recorded in publicly available books! Books contained only theoretical knowledge about magic, not a single genuine incantation—not even for the lowest fireball spell!!
In other words, anyone could read books to understand magic, but no one could become a mage solely through reading.
Take Du Wei himself: he now possessed considerable theoretical and common-sense knowledge about the magical field, but he didn't know a single actual incantation.
This ensured the ancient tradition of mage inheritance: knowledge could only be passed down from master to apprentice through direct, personal instruction! It could never be disseminated publicly!
"A bit like gun control in that world," Du Wei mused internally. In that world, anyone could learn about the characteristics, models, and principles of firearms through the internet or books, but it was impossible to build a real gun by hand alone.
"Oh? What's this?"
After sorting the loot, the final items were a few small sealed glass vials containing powders of various colors.
Du Wei dared not open these bottles recklessly. Items carried by a mage were likely dangerous! One of them might well contain something that could turn a person to stone!
"Seems my guess wasn't wrong," Du Wei said, sitting upright and smiling at his captive. "Your true power isn't that great. You're a lowly Level 1 mage. That much is undeniable. That instant casting trick you displayed earlier must be some kind of shortcut or substitute method… right? Now, I'll give you two choices. Either you tell me willingly, satisfy my curiosity, and I'll let you go. Or… you'll have to endure some hardship."
The mage tried another tactic: "You are a noble! Don't you find it beneath your station to treat a mage this way?"
Du Wei didn't respond.
A noble? So what?
In truth, Du Wei had always harbored a degree of indifference about his inexplicable arrival in this world. In this utterly alien place, he felt he had no purpose in life! Having lost everything from his original world—his ideals, friendships, family, love, his entire existence…
Transported to a completely strange world through what felt like a brutal severance… in the past few years, Du Wei's life had seemed a meaningless haze. He hadn't found a shred of purpose.
Now, the only thing that sparked a flicker of interest for him in this unfamiliar world was the field of "magic."
As for the rest… Du Wei simply didn't care!
And as for whether orchestrating an attack on strangers in a tavern just to satisfy his curiosity about magic was moral? Du Wei cared even less about that!
He, Du Wei Rowling—or the person from his previous life—had never been a good man.