Chapter 149: Mastery of Knowledge (2/3)

For the next few days, Zhao Xu did not leave the space of the Ultimate Scroll. Untiringly, he summoned spellbooks one by one to absorb their energy, and then cast the spells anew.

Especially certain spells that inherently required exorbitant costs to cast.

Some mages might never cast them more than a few times in their entire lives after learning them.

None of this was a problem for Zhao Xu.

Inside the Ultimate Scroll space, he possessed the equivalent of infinite spell slots and could cast any spell without any cost.

Even spells that required a chanting time of a full minute or even an hour could be released by Zhao Xu with merely a thought.

However, the genuine feedback derived from casting the spells afterward was by no means fabricated.

He was effectively acquiring uncompromised spellcasting experience.

By the time Antinua returned to the scroll space and saw Zhao Xu later on, she found herself barely able to recognize him.

In her words, for the very first time, Zhao Xu carried himself somewhat like a genuine mage.

He had developed that inexplicable and indescribable depth, or rather, confidence, characteristic of a mage.

After leaving the Ultimate Scroll space, Zhao Xu did not expend too much energy before successfully consolidating his character level to 3, officially advancing to a Level 3 Mage and Level 2 Loremaster.

At the same time, following Antinua's instructions, he began attending numerous academic lectures in an attempt to awaken the Loremaster's Level 2 class ability, "Lore Mastery," as quickly as possible.

Once Zhao Xu acquired this ability, both his Decipher Script skill and Knowledge (Arcana) skill would receive a +2 untyped bonus.

An untyped bonus was one that could be stacked freely. If Zhao Xu possessed a hundred abilities granting a +2 untyped bonus to Knowledge (Arcana), he could easily stack his Knowledge (Arcana) bonus to 200+.

Therefore, even though this bonus seemed negligible, Zhao Xu did not dare to relax, dedicating a significant portion of his daily time to attending lectures on Knowledge (Arcana).

After collecting the lecture tickets distributed for the day, Zhao Xu quietly found a corner and sat down, listening attentively as the lecturer on stage explained arcane knowledge.

Generally speaking, most low-level mages chose to visit the Scholarly Library to read books on arcane studies when trying to improve their Knowledge (Arcana) skill.

This method was the clunkiest yet the most solid, and most conducive to raising the level of the Knowledge (Arcana) skill.

However, when Zhao Xu had maxed out his Knowledge (Arcana) at level 6 in the Scholarly Library, he still had not acquired the Loremaster's "Lore Mastery" ability.

Thus, he harbored high expectations that these lectures might trigger it for him.

"Can anyone tell what this symbol signifies?" asked Morris, a lecturer on the stage, who was dressed in an unconventional light-white wizard robe.

Being a Level 5 Mage in his early thirties, Morris could be considered moderately successful, even in a place like Floating City where high-level mages gathered in clouds.

Although his character level restricted his Knowledge (Arcana) skill to a maximum of Level 8, that merely affected his success rate in connecting to the Source of Lore.

Morris had been immersed in various arcane books since the age of six, and this foundation and cultivation earned him considerable appreciation among the middle and upper ranks.

Hearing Morris's question, the thirty-odd novice mages and mage apprentices in the small auditorium remained silent, evidently stumped by the problem.

Despite Morris's fame, attending his lectures did not grant a recommendation for a residency assistantship in Floating City, so his lecture tickets were not particularly sought after.

Consequently, whenever Morris held lectures to share his recent research insights, he did not bother with large venues; a small fifty-person lecture hall was usually sufficient.

Zhao Xu, meanwhile, looked at the mark Morris had drawn on the whiteboard, refraining from trying to search for it using his Knowledge (Arcana) skill, and instead pondered it on his own.

He could perceive that Morris possessed a thoroughly solid foundation in arcane knowledge.

Even as Morris leveled up in the future, he would not need to study it deliberately; his Knowledge (Arcana) rank would automatically consume skill points to level up the very moment his character leveled up.

This was the most admired natural progression model.

Judging by Zhao Xu's guesses, both Eswehi and Wang Ningwei possessed this trait.

As for Zhao Xu, he could only rely on sheer luck to catch up from behind.

Seeing that no one in the audience was answering, Morris could only offer a wry smile and shake his head before proceeding to explain the origin of the entire symbol.

"This esoteric sigil is actually related to cryptography as well. It was only after Master Aiki introduced it into the higher arcane symbol system that it gradually came into widespread use among the mage community. Generally speaking, any mage who studies Decipher Script and arcane lore would not want to miss this symbol," Morris explained slowly.

Zhao Xu gazed at the arcane esoteric symbol with its thirteen layers of transformation, his eyes gradually brightening.

Suddenly, a female administrative assistant from the lecturing staff hurried in and whispered a few words to Morris.

Hearing what she had to say, Morris's expression shifted slightly, and then he broke into a look of uncontrollable delight.

He hurriedly walked to the whiteboard, wrote down an encrypted evolutionary formula regarding the esoteric sigil, and said, "I suddenly have something to attend to and will be back shortly. Everyone, please work on this problem in the meantime."

Just as he was about to step out of the lecture hall door, he paused and smiled at the crowd. "Of course, if anyone manages to solve it, they won't have to listen to the lecture tonight and may leave early."

With that, Morris handed a slip of paper containing the answer to the female assistant and departed first.

Once the sound of Morris's footsteps faded into the distance, quite a few mage apprentices who had only come to get their stamps and pad their credentials could not help muttering complaints.

Yet, glancing at the female assistant standing guard at the lecture hall door, the mages lowered their voices again.

No one feared a female assistant, but no one dared to easily offend a Level 5 Mage.

To urge mage apprentices to receive exposure to various fields, Floating City required them to provide a sufficient number of stamped lecture tickets every week.

A major reason many mage apprentices attended Morris's lectures was the rumor that Morris was quite generous with stamping lecture tickets.

At that moment, Zhao Xu glanced at the problem, stood up directly, and packed his things, preparing to return. He had already gained some inkling regarding the "Lore Mastery" ability and intended to discuss it with Antinua.

However, just as Zhao Xu reached the door, the female assistant following Morris's orders stretched out a hand to block him. "This student, Mage Morris has not yet returned. Please wait a moment."

To them, the orders of a Level 5 Mage were to be strictly executed.

Zhao Xu originally wanted to say that he did not need his lecture ticket stamped, but seeing the female assistant's attitude, it was simply a petty official making things difficult.

Without saying much else, he walked directly to the whiteboard and picked up the marker.

The mage apprentices in the audience originally thought Zhao Xu was going to write down the answer directly, but seeing him pause and fall into deep thought, they could not help chuckling softly.

They had never heard of someone trying to cram at the very last second when about to be slapped in the face.

Slowly, however, the laughter died away.

Without even showing the calculation process, Zhao Xu wrote down the final answer directly.

It left the female assistant, who was holding the slip of paper to check against the whiteboard's answer, staring in blank astonishment.

Professor Morris had given her this slip of paper merely to prevent anyone from fooling her with wrong answers, never expecting that someone might actually solve it.

By the time Zhao Xu reached Antinua's office on the seventh floor of the Obelisk, he was also somewhat stunned.

For the exact moment he solved that problem, his dynamic interface displayed a message—

[Adventurer Chuxia has awakened the ability "Lore Mastery." Knowledge (Arcana) and Decipher Script skills gain a +2 bonus.]

Over the past few days, Zhao Xu had faintly felt his mind becoming somewhat more agile.

Yet he also knew it would still be ten and a half months before his intelligence score officially increased, so this enhancement of clearer thinking left him slightly perplexed.

Pushing open the door, Zhao Xu saw Antinua standing there, gazing intently at the skeletal armor.

Turning around to see Zhao Xu, Antinua wore an expression carrying an indescribable nuance as she said, "It seems you have already acquired that ability and no longer need to attend lectures?"

Temporarily suppressing his inner questions, Zhao Xu nodded and said yes.

Antinua walked over and handed him a document.

Taking it and looking down, Zhao Xu felt a sense of disbelief.

"Arcane Lore Lectures?" Zhao Xu asked.

If it were merely an ordinary lecture, it would be nothing.

However, at the very bottom of this lecture schedule, another lecturer's name had been crossed out, and above it, the name "Chuxia" had been freshly written in.

Since when did he have the qualifications to give lectures to others?

"Sometimes things are just like that. You might fail to understand when others explain, but explaining it to others yourself can trigger a breakthrough. Although I didn't expect you to awaken the ability right this moment, the lecture has already been arranged, so you must go," Antinua chuckled lightly.

"The lecture is tonight. Don't miss the time. At worst, they're merely Level 1 mages; you can definitely hold down the fort."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu did not immediately doubt himself.

In reality, he possessed a Level 6 Knowledge (Arcana) skill rank, which reached the character level cap of 3 since skill ranks could only exceed character level by 3.

Yet many mages of level 6 or 7, lacking sufficient arcane cultivation, might not necessarily have a Knowledge (Arcana) rank as high as Zhao Xu's.

Compared to spells that hit their targets with absolute certainty, "Knowledge" was far more ethereal.

Knowledge, intelligence, and spells were the three major pillars supporting a mage's strength, but unfortunately, sometimes the pillar of spells was so overwhelmingly powerful that it overshadowed the radiance of the other two.

"So, what is the topic of my arcane lore lecture?"

Despite facing players from the game or natives of Aether, Zhao Xu did not dare to take this lecture lightly and immediately prepared to start drafting his lesson plan.

"No need to rush. The lecturer originally scheduled for this session was injured in a spell research accident, which is why you are needed as a replacement. The materials prepared by the other party are right on the desk; go take a look and you'll understand."

Antinua continued to scrutinize the armor as she spoke.

Zhao Xu walked over to Antinua's usual desk, where a noticeably thick stack of materials indeed lay. Picking it up and taking a look, he read the title—*On the Versatility of Level 1 Spells*.

Level 1 spells?

To put it grandly—

Not even a Level 9 Mage in Floating City might have mastered a wider array of Level 1 spells than Zhao Xu did.

So this was the real reason Antinua had him substitute for this lecture.