21: Chapter 21 This is a catgirl, you bastard! What are you doing to a catgirl?!

The main gate of Kas Town, around eleven o'clock.

Mora sat in the carriage's driver seat as Avril waved her hand in farewell. "I've already contacted a gentleman to teach you etiquette. After you return to the Royal Capital, you must study diligently, do you understand?"

Nodding her head, Mora turned the carriage around to face the outside of the town. "Princess, please be careful of that bad man. He definitely has filthy intentions toward you!"

"Just go already," Avril urged, ignoring her.

Mora cracked her long whip, and the carriage gradually moved into the distance.

After seeing her off, Avril turned and returned to Potter's Cottage.

She went up to the second floor, but didn't see anyone in the potion-brewing room, so she knocked on the wooden door of the bedroom opposite.

"Come in."

She pushed the door open and saw Potter sitting by the bed. On the nightstand lay a wooden staff, its tip embedded with a transparent magic gemstone.

"Teacher, what is this?"

"Zhang Mu wanted to learn new magic, but I refused."

"He's progressing too fast and is too impatient."

"He must learn to quiet his mind and temper his will to be more resilient."

"Otherwise, no matter how powerful the magic he masters, he won't be able to go much further. He might even suffer magical backlash due to a fragile foundation."

"But it's not good to discourage him too much, so I prepared a staff for him as a form of encouragement."

She had gone out early to see Mora off back to the Royal Capital, and Zhang Mu's request for leave happened to miss her, so she didn't know about their morning chat.

Walking over to fiddle with the wooden staff, her icy blue pupils looked toward Potter. "Teacher told me he is a genius who learned the Fireball Spell in a single day."

Potter was silent for a moment before saying, "It's precisely because he's such a genius that I worry he'll grow arrogant."

"I'll teach him new magic once he can consistently cast the Fireball Spell."

Avril was skeptical in her heart.

Her teacher's tone left no room for doubt, but she couldn't imagine such a thing.

Could a magic book as thick as a finger, filled with obscure and difficult magical script, really be read word for word in a single day?

Besides, successfully learning a spell isn't just about finishing the book; one must also understand the meaning, practice it, summarize lessons from failures, and then successfully cast it.

Most importantly, Avril hadn't sensed any mana fluctuations from Zhang Mu practicing the Fireball Spell all day yesterday.

Did he arrogantly think he didn't need to practice anymore, or did he simply not learn it at all?

Even if he truly was the genius her teacher claimed, neglecting magical research and practice would only waste his talent.

The final result would likely be slowly fading into mediocrity as time passed, eventually losing his life in some dungeon.

The slight interest Avril had felt for Zhang Mu due to Potter's praise vanished. A lazy genius, no matter how terrifying their talent, is ultimately just an incompetent person.

In reality, Zhang Mu practiced the Fireball Spell at Potter's house every day.

But yesterday, on the way back from the general store, his mana happened to finish recovering. After casting the Fireball Spell once, the skill leveled up directly.

He wanted to test the difference from before before continuing, which was why he hadn't cast any fireballs during the day.

Perhaps guessing her thoughts, Potter smiled. "I told you, he's very good. You'll slowly discover it the more you interact with him."

"Alright, Teacher," Avril replied in a businesslike tone.

"Speaking of which," Potter glanced at the sunlight outside the window, "He said he'd take half a day off, but it's already noon. Why hasn't he come for lessons yet?"

"Perhaps he ran into something. I'll go look for him outside."

Potter shook his head. "I happen to be free, I'll go."

With that, he got up and went out the door.

...

Zhang Mu returned home from Song Lan's place and summoned a portal to the Other World.

Since there was still half an hour before the noon time he had agreed upon with Potter, he first ran to the general store and bought a bag of Kas Town specialties.

He stocked up all at once to save himself another trip later.

Ducking into a deserted alley, he put the cloth bag into his inventory and then checked his phone.

"Ten minutes until twelve, just right."

With plenty of time, Zhang Mu wasn't in a hurry and strolled leisurely toward Potter's house.

"Quick! Catch him!"

"Filthy creature! How dare you desecrate the gods! Stomp him to death!"

There was a commotion ahead, and Zhang Mu stood on his tiptoes to look.

On the right side of the street, more than a dozen Guards in light armor were huddled in a tight circle.

One of the Guards, who seemed to be the captain, was cursing while lifting his foot to stomp violently on the ground.

Zhang Mu couldn't see exactly what they were stomping because they were standing so close together and were quite far away.

But from the Guard captain's words, it seemed they were catching a heretic.

Zhang Mu approached out of curiosity, and after seeing inside the circle, he was stunned.

Doubting his own eyes, he walked closer and stared intently.

Through a brief gap created by the Guard captain's stomping motion, Zhang Mu saw a small body lying on the ground.

It was wearing a burlap robe full of holes and covered in muddy footprints, with a head of dull, lusterless blonde hair.

And on top of the head were two golden-furred cat ears pressed flat against the skull.

Desecrating the gods?

Zhang Mu remained calm and stepped forward to tap the Guard captain's arm. "Big brother."

The captain instinctively turned around, his expression somewhat dazed, as if he couldn't quite understand the address 'Big brother'. "Who are you?"

Pointing to the motionless body on the ground, Zhang Mu asked, "How did he desecrate the gods?"

"The Guard unit is performing a mission. Unrelated personnel, leave!" The captain finally snapped out of it. Instead of answering the question, he shouted for him to clear off.

Zhang Mu reached out and pressed down on his shoulder. "How did he desecrate the gods?"

"Let go!" The Guard tried to pull his shoulder away, only to find that no matter how much force he used, he couldn't break free.

Although a Mage's physique isn't as strong as those transcendents who focus on physical cultivation, it is still much stronger than that of an ordinary Guard captain.

After several futile attempts, the captain seemed to realize the man before him wasn't an ordinary person. He suppressed his anger and said, "A filthy demi-human dared to sneak into the church to worship the gods!"

"So that's how it is."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Mu kicked the captain in the chest with great force. The man flew backward, knocking over several Guards.

"How bold! You dare attack a Guard!"

The standing Guards immediately dispersed and pointed their spears at Zhang Mu. He ignored them and knelt down to flip over the small body.

The person was already unconscious, their face so covered in grime and dust that their features were indistinguishable, but from the budding mounds on the chest, Zhang Mu could certain that this was a Cat Girl.

Picking up the unconscious Cat Girl in his arms, Zhang Mu took two steps toward the Guard captain who was trying to scramble up and started stomping.

He cursed while stomping, "This is a Cat Girl, you bastard! What are you doing to a Cat Girl?!"

"Stop!"

The other Guards swung their spears at Zhang Mu's back. He didn't turn around, instead relying solely on his Mental Energy to accurately perceive the spears' landing points and jump to the right.

Cradling the rescued Cat Girl in his left arm, he raised his right hand in a hollow grip, instinctively about to condense a white fireball.

Fortunately, he reacted in time; the secret that he could improve spells could not be exposed.

He stopped the compression, and the fireball, which had shown hints of yellow, turned back to red.

Zhang Mu held his right hand high, about to throw it.

However, the moment the Guards saw the fireball, they all suddenly retracted their attacking stances.

"Our apologies, Mage Lord, we did not realize your identity."

The captain, having scrambled up, ignored the footprints on his armor. He pressed his right fist to his chest and bowed. The remaining Guards followed suit.

Controlling the fireball to shrink and disappear, Zhang Mu stared at the back of the captain's head, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Quite the character—he could really endure. One could even hear him grinding his back teeth.

From the faint 'creak' of teeth grinding coming from the captain's mouth, Zhang Mu knew he was furious.

And then, there was no 'and then'—in short, it was just impotent rage.

The status of a Mage...

Muttering to himself, Zhang Mu carried the severely injured blonde Little Cat Girl in a princess carry and turned to head toward Potter's house.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw Potter standing on the roadside not far away, staring at him with a strange look.