Chapter 134: Concealing the Spell (2/3)

"Gentlemen mages, please rest assured. The recent fluctuation was merely a sudden, significant surge in power output that inadvertently affected this area. Even if those barriers were to vanish, those manes wouldn't be able to get out."

A guide in charge of the Mane Testing Hall explained this to the group of mages after they had dragged him over.

The combat testing hall originally had a sufficient power reserve, but when the 14th level was activated, the energy draw from the first level was so minimal that it was still affected by the fluctuation. It was like a lone boat on the ocean—even the slightest ripple on the surface was enough to make the vessel sway.

"Well, you still need to have someone watching over us," one of the novice mage players complained.

"I am truly sorry; we were in the middle of a shift change, so we were negligent." The guide walked over, picked up the panel hanging on the wall, and began re-registering the data.

One, two, three, four...

Suddenly, when the guide reached eight, his voice came to an abrupt halt. He looked at the novice mages and complained, "Doesn't it say on the wall that you aren't supposed to focus fire?"

The novice mages looked at each other, confused by what he meant.

"Each of your light crossbows is assigned to a specific mane. You are supposed to shoot your designated target, not misfire and kill someone else's by focusing fire. You have to understand that restarting the summoning process for these manes is a lot of work. We specifically gave these manes 8 points of fast healing just so we wouldn't have to keep re-summoning them," the guide lectured the novices.

"That's not right. We didn't even touch the light crossbows, let alone focus fire," one of the novice mages retorted.

Another novice mage suddenly remembered and quickly explained, "I saw someone else here earlier; maybe he was the one who killed them. Besides, you never said we couldn't kill these manes."

"Ha! You think these modified manes with 9 HP and immunity to critical hits can be killed by your light crossbows, which only deal a maximum of 8 damage? Those logistics staff are the same, always shouting about leaving them with 1 HP to tease you before they instantly heal to full health. Now look at what's happened."

As the testing guide retorted, he glanced across the arena and his pupils suddenly constricted.

In a remote corner of the arena, the tag belonging to the ninth dead mane lay on the ground, accompanied by a broken arrow shaft.

***

After leaving the tactical testing hall, Zhao Xu was still immersed in the power of the dual-stacking effects of Knowledge Devotion and Dark Knowledge (Tactics).

The power of the Knowledge Devotion ability was determined by the results of his Knowledge check. If his check result was only 15, he would only receive the lowest Tier 1 insight bonus. A result of 16-25 granted Tier 2, 26-30 granted Tier 3, and from 36 and up, he received a Tier 5 bonus. By the time he could consistently hit those numbers, however, those bonuses would likely be of little significance to him.

Yet, in the early stages, it was a formidable advantage. Even using a first-level spell might not yield such a long-lasting effect.

As for the Dark Knowledge check, it had three thresholds—15, 25, and 35. Exceeding these results granted Tier 1 through Tier 3 bonuses respectively. One day, when Zhao Xu could achieve a Knowledge check of 36, he would be able to gain a total of 8 tiers of improvement! Five tiers from Knowledge Devotion and three from Dark Knowledge.

In his previous life, as a level 5 fighter, his base attack bonus was only 5, and with the 4-tier bonus from his strength modifier, his total attack bonus was barely over 9. Compared to these 8 tiers of improvement, it felt like his previous efforts had been for nothing—though that was contingent on him actually being able to hit a 36 on a Knowledge check.

He was currently only level 2, and his highest Knowledge skill was only 5 ranks. With a +3 intelligence modifier, his total skill bonus was only 8. Even if he added the 1-20 bonus granted by the Source of Knowledge when checking, the maximum would be 28, barely enough for a Tier 5 boost.

Suddenly, Zhao Xu stopped in his tracks. He recalled that a few days ago, while transcribing spells, there were spells that could enhance his skill check results.

He immediately began searching through his internal spell list. The bard-exclusive first-level spell "Improvisation" could grant a +1 luck bonus to skills or attacks. The first-level wizard expansion spell "Skill Enhancement" could provide a +4 competence bonus to skills, while another first-level spell, "Song of Scholarly Insight," could provide a +5 performance bonus to skills.

Furthermore, the bonuses provided by these three spells were tied to the caster's level. Luck, performance, and competence bonuses all came from different sources and could be stacked. Luck came from fortune, performance improved his current level of execution, and competence reflected external assistance, such as using specialized tools.

Even if Zhao Xu only used the wizard's "Skill Enhancement" and "Song of Scholarly Insight," he could push his Knowledge skill to a point where a 36 check was possible.

Zhao Xu took a deep breath. He finally began to understand: while others could only master one or two things, by gaining access to the entire spell list, he could stack multiple effects to achieve terrifying results. He could even use the bard's unique first-level spell "Immediate Assistance" to reroll his check if the D20 result from connecting to the Source of Knowledge was poor.

This was perhaps the most elementary manifestation of the legend that casters could twist fate. Zhao Xu became deeply vigilant; he realized he needed to keep "Immediate Assistance" prepared as a swift action spell at all times. When the three hundred-plus spells had surged into his mind, he had spent the subsequent days busy awakening his Archivist abilities and had forgotten to reorganize them. He had even neglected this during his time in the testing hall.

Although his caster level for these spells was currently very low—only level 3 as a wizard and level 2 as an archivist when combined with his Ioun stone—the bonuses were significant, even if their duration was short. But once he leveled up and combined them with "Persistent Spell," turning them into 24-hour permanent buffs to be used as needed, he would be truly invincible.

By the time Zhao Xu returned to the Obelisk, his mind was still busy prioritizing those first-level spells and analyzing their uses. Unlike other mages who had to study for a long time to learn a single spell, often reading through thick background texts, Zhao Xu averaged less than a minute per spell. He was only able to remember the names of so many spells because he could project their descriptions from his mind at any time.

This was the reason why the mages of Aether were so well-versed in the various uses of their spells; they had endured hardships since the moment they began learning magic. Once they mastered a spell, they could write an entire thesis on its few applications. Summoning an unseen servant to carry a bag of dirt to scout for mines or using "Enlarge Person" to trap an enemy in a narrow passage were just the most basic operations.

When Zhao Xu went upstairs, he found Antinoya sitting there, reading as usual. It was as if she had nothing else to do in her life but read.

"Mentor," Zhao Xu greeted her.

"How was the test?" Antinoya asked.

"Ah? Mentor, how did you know I went to test?" Zhao Xu hadn't expected Antinoya to know about his trip to the scrap pile to tear up a test sheet.

Antinoya didn't elaborate; she only maintained a faint smile beneath her hood.

"By the way, Mentor, why do Archivists have divine versions of Bard spells?" Zhao Xu had noticed those Bard spells in his list—many were arcane spells unique to Bards that even wizards and sorcerers couldn't master.

"It seems you've noticed those skill-based spells," Antinoya said simply. "Some are obtained through the Divine Bard variant. In fact, through our domains, we replace all arcane spells with divine ones. You don't need to worry about it; just use them."

Although Zhao Xu didn't quite understand Antinoya's explanation, it didn't stop him from nodding. If there were eggs, he would eat them; he didn't need to worry about how the hen hatched them.

"Then, Mentor, how many spells do you have active on yourself?" Zhao Xu couldn't help but be curious. After realizing the power of those spells today, he had begun planning his own list of spells to keep active at all times. And Antinoya, who possessed the "Persistent Spell" ability and a caster level that was off the charts—how many spells would she have?

Antinoya suddenly raised her hands and stared at her ten fingers, as if counting. Just as Zhao Xu was about to ask, she answered in one breath: "Seventy or eighty? Probably less than a hundred."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu almost wanted to ask her again. But seeing that she had already returned to her book, the answer was self-evident. A 20th-level wizard with 30 Intelligence only had 57 spell slots from first to ninth level.

Only then did Zhao Xu realize that Antinoya, who could recover spell slots using potential points, was burning through spells at such a rate. It could only be said that there were two types of mages in this world: those with potential points, and those without.

"By the way, go attend a training session on technique later," Antinoya said suddenly.

Zhao Xu had heard of "technique," but in his mind, it had always seemed like something very distant.

"Didn't you expose Ryan's spell in the mine last time? You thought that because he didn't cast a spell, he couldn't have disintegrated your teammate, which is why you concluded your dead teammate was an illusion."

Zhao Xu nodded.

"Don't make such embarrassing guesses next time, or others will laugh at your lack of experience."

"The 'Still Spell' and 'Silent Spell' abilities allow you to conceal your casting gestures and incantations, so others won't be able to identify that you are casting a spell, let alone counter it."

"Go learn this ability later."