Next, this little creature took advantage of the situation and coiled itself around his finger.
Cyril took a deep breath, expressionless, as he retrieved his hand from his pocket.
Sure enough.
There was something hanging on his pale, slender hand.
A small snake, about the thickness of a thumb, with ink-green scales.
The small snake had a pair of translucent dark red eyes, like two tiny rubies, or like a vivid and startling drop of blood.
Silver, eerie patterns crisscrossed on the ink-green snake's body, giving it a spine-chilling appearance.
Cyril and the small snake locked eyes, a silent exchange between man and snake.
The small snake's previously active body froze for a moment, and then it extended its flexible, crimson tongue to gently lick Cyril's pale fingertip, with a hint of seeking approval in its movement.
However, its attempt to please Cyril sent shivers down his spine and made his scalp tingle.
Good lord! What kind of snake is this?
Could a bite from it take a day to die?
Cyril felt like he was just a hair's breadth away from meeting his end— from the small snake's sharp teeth to his finger.
[System???]
He belatedly remembered that he had a powerful trump card, the system.
But when he called out to the system in his mind, there was no response.
[Where are you???]
Cyril realized, a little too late, that the system, which had promised to introduce him to the wizarding world with great fanfare, had the style of a pyramid scheme leader.
He had been careless.
Cyril felt a pang of regret for the first time.
Had he been deceived by the system?
Had he ended up in a place he knew nothing about, with a mysterious snake eyeing him?
Cyril strongly suspected that his original self might have met his end at the hands of this mysterious little snake.
[Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—here it comes!]
[Young man, don't be impatient! Be patient! Be patient!]
Hearing the familiar voice of the system, Cyril finally breathed a sigh of relief.
[I was just a little late, and my reputation is already tarnished! It's not easy, you know! It's my first time on the job, and I didn't expect the operation procedures to be so complex. They taught you to screw in a screw during training, but in reality, they ask you to build a rocket! All those densely packed dimensional coordinates and spatial models are making my head spin...]
[Stop, stop, stop! Hold on!]
Cyril hurriedly interrupted the system's chatter. He knew the system's propensity for being long-winded and didn't have the patience to listen to its lengthy on-the-job experiences.
After all, he now had a hundred thousand "whys" in his mind.
[So, what's the situation now?]
If he had to say, a newbie system that had thrown him into a wizarding family and then tried to get him into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of eleven would have been the simplest, most conventional, and safest approach.
Cyril judged that his current physical age was definitely over eleven, and he felt like the system had unnecessarily raised the difficulty level.
In his mind, he quickly recalled the spells he had memorized before the crossover, wondered whether he could keep up with the class as a transfer student, and how he would ease the awkwardness among a group of little brats.
[So, what's the situation now?]
Cyril asked again when the system remained silent for a long time. At the same time, he had a bad feeling.
[Um... this is the Misty Moon Forest in the Atlantis continent... you're near the town of Kozwood...]
The system involuntarily lowered its voice, and there was a clear sense of guilt in its tone, as if it were a balloon suddenly punctured.
Atlantis continent? Misty Moon Forest? Kozwood town? What are all these?
Cyril's pupils dilated when he heard these unfamiliar names.
He bet that none of these place names had been mentioned in the millions of words of the "Harry Potter" novels.
Cyril thought of the original work he had painstakingly memorized before the crossover and had the feeling of discovering that he had crammed for an exam that never came.
[Hey, hey, hey! Look at the beautiful little creature on your finger. That's an extremely rare Alchemical Snake!]
Cyril helplessly heard the system clumsily change the subject.
But in a sense, the system succeeded.
Alchemy product, probably equivalent to an automated toy? Cyril's fear of the small snake diminished by more than half.
He raised his arm and looked at the ink-green small snake, which was becoming even more radiant in the sunlight. He gently shook the small snake on his hand, finding a bit of amusement in it.
The silver patterns on the snake's body sparkled in the sunlight.
The small snake seemed to find this playtime intriguing, its ruby-like eyes showing a hint of pleasure, and the tip of its tail swaying gently, a picture of contentment.
[So, it's not a big deal if it bites me, right?]
Cyril casually commented.
Then, he immediately heard the serious voice of the system:
[No, no, no! Young man, you need to know that the more beautiful something is, the more dangerous it can be! Just one bite from this little thing's sharp fangs, and it can send you out of this beautiful world!]
Cyril's trembling hand suddenly stiffened, feeling like he was carrying a bomb that could explode at any moment.
[So, you're saying the situation is even worse now?!!]
He felt somewhat helpless.
[Ahem! Unexpected! Unexpected!]
The system's words flickered.
[Sly surprises always sneak up on you.]
It comforted Cyril while consoling itself.
[I suppose there was a problem with the dimensional coordinates, but this is still a wizarding dimension, so it's not all bad! Look at the vibrant elements in the air!]
[Elements?]
Cyril raised an eyebrow at the mention, now intrigued.
[Exactly! Come, close your eyes and feel it. I'm sure I didn't get your wizarding nature wrong!]
Cyril, with a hint of skepticism, closed his eyes with a sense of anticipation.
At first, he felt the warm sunlight pouring down on the earth, accompanied by a gentle warmth. He sensed the cool breeze passing through the woods, brushing against his cheeks, felt the small snake on his fingertip, agilely crawling back into his pocket, and heard the distant melodious birdsong and the chorus of insects.
But then, something vaguely appeared in the surrounding environment, flowing in the air. He could only sense subtle, unusual differences.
Cyril had an instinctual feeling that this was something beneficial to him, something that his body could absorb. It was as if something in his blood was craving these elements.
Is this what they call elements?
Cyril attempted to channel his body to absorb the elusive elements. It was a difficult feeling to describe, like using a nearly demagnetized magnet to search for something that could connect in the air.
With his eyes closed, he walked toward the direction where he felt the most concentrated elements. At the same time, he reached out his hand to explore what was in the air.
Cyril felt uneven and slightly slippery terrain under his feet, as if he had stepped on moss-covered roots with complex interweaving patterns.
He extended his pale and slender hand to feel and touched a rough tree bark.
In an instant, Cyril sensed a rich cluster of elements within the tree. At the same time, he caught a faint scent of wood.
Cyril opened his eyes and saw the extremely thick tree trunk in front of him, a giant tree so massive that four people couldn't encircle it with their arms.
It was the oldest and sturdiest tree nearby, and that's why it contained so many elements.
[That's the element of wood! Can you feel it? Only those with a wizarding gift can sense the elements! Wizard apprentices and wizards can easily gather elements and transform them into magic!]
[I can feel some of it, but I can't absorb these elements.]
Cyril replied truthfully. He could feel the elements flying towards him, but it was like they hit an invisible glass wall and couldn't progress any further.
[That's normal! You haven't started meditating yet, so you can't see the elements, let alone absorb them! But with this system here, it'll happen sooner or later! First, you need to increase your spiritual power through meditation, and once your spiritual power is enhanced, you'll be able to absorb elements and convert them into magic...]
Cyril listened attentively as the system introduced the world of wizarding powers. Suddenly, his brain experienced a sharp pain, a piercing ache that made everything that had been stuffed into his mind before become clear.
It was the memories of the original host.
After reading his memories, Cyril fell silent.
The original host had starved to death.
His current identity was Cyril Lawrence, a teenage boy who had grown up in the border town of Kozwood on the Atlantis continent, now fifteen years old.
This Cyril, with the same name as him, had been brought to Kozwood by a wandering hunter when he was ten years old, and had been living there ever since. His memories before the age of ten seemed to have been wiped away.
The taciturn wilderness hunter, who supported himself and Cyril by occasionally hunting on the edge of the Misty Moon Forest, often spent long periods away from home due to hunting and drinking, and of course, he couldn't have noticed the little Cyril being bullied and isolated by the unruly boys in the small town.
As time went on, Cyril became increasingly silent and gloomy. He seemed to lose vitality and became as pale as the withering roadside weeds.
Three months ago, the hunter was bitten by an unknown creature in the Misty Moon Forest, and the wound became infected, leaving him bedridden.
The infection in the wound was strange, as it spread from the wound to the rest of his skin, forming strange deep-gray patterns.
Even the doctors in the nearby major town of Philadelphia were helpless. They went through all their savings on various medicines, but it couldn't stop the hunter's life from fading away.
When those strange patterns turned completely black, the hunter's life came to an end.
After the hunter's death, Cyril was left alone without a source of income.
So, three days ago, with a hungry stomach, Cyril had no choice but to put on the hunter's equipment and try his luck in the Misty Moon Forest, hoping to catch some game for silver coins and food.
However, the hunter hadn't taught him how to hunt in all those years, and Cyril, who knew nothing about hunting, stumbled through the dangerous Misty Moon Forest. Fortunately, he avoided injury, but he failed to catch any game except for the rabbit he accidentally shot.
[Due to the change in your soul, you now have the potential for magic and your physical attributes have been enhanced. But you should hurry back to Kozwood Town. The change in your soul has consumed a lot of your energy, and your physical strength is about to give out!]
The system urgently reminded him.
Cyril quickly picked up the nearby dead rabbit, following the system's navigation along a winding and tortuous path.
He lost count of how many turns he had taken and walked quite a distance to the southeast before he saw the trees becoming sparser.
He breathed a sigh of relief; he was finally about to exit the forest.
Cyril had set out around noon, and by the time he emerged from the Misty Moon Forest, it was already dusk.
The golden-red sun was swallowed by the night, leaving a trace of fiery afterglow on the distant horizon.
Stepping onto a patch of shallow grassland, Cyril saw some low wooden houses in the distance. At the same time, he felt the gnawing hunger in his belly.
[Oh dear, oh dear! Your current physical condition is really bad! No, you need to replenish your energy quickly!]
The system chattered in Cyril's mind.
In the next moment, an electronic screen appeared before Cyril, displaying his current body data:
[Name: Cyril Lawrence
Age: 15
Stamina: 1 (in red)
Strength: 6
Spiritual Power: 8
Magic: 0
Achievements: None
Explanation: You are as weak as a helpless gray hare struggling in the Misty Moon Forest. A simple Stun spell could end your life. Oh, young man, you're lucky to still be alive!]
Cyril quickly scanned the rather unfriendly information, then looked at the bright red "1" indicating "stamina."
It was a terrifying sight.
He couldn't help but freeze in his tracks.
Just then, a woman's voice suddenly sounded behind him, filled with surprise.