Chapter 58 Knowledge and Skills

Many magical items are simply unobtainable—there may be a market price, but without the right connections, you can’t buy them, and sometimes even doubling the price won’t get you what you want.

Most adventurers prefer to accept quests issued by the Mage Association or the Churches of the Gods. Aside from the generous rewards, these tasks allow them to accrue contribution points, which can ultimately be exchanged for the right to purchase certain magical items.

In his previous life, Zhao Xu could never get his hands on even a basic dimensional bag, and even some of his wealthier and more powerful classmates were powerless to acquire one—sometimes, you couldn’t buy one at twice the price.

That’s why, when he touched a magic item with an extra-dimensional space for the first time, Zhao Xu couldn’t help but feel a rush of delight.

In the coming year, even among players, those who owned a dimensional bag would be exceedingly rare—much less someone who obtained one within the first two weeks after launch.

“Mentor, this is too precious. I really can’t accept it,” Zhao Xu said politely.

“It’s only 2,000 gold pieces. What’s so precious about that? Besides, it cost me less than 1,000 to make,” Antinoia replied.

“You made it?” Zhao Xu asked quickly.

“Are you interested?” Antinoia sensed the eagerness in his voice.

“Just curious, that’s all,” Zhao Xu said, scratching his head.

But of course he was interested.

Even if he covered himself from head to toe in magical items, he still had family and friends to look out for. If he could craft these magical items himself, he might not become the strongest player—but he would certainly be the richest.

“With the ‘Craft Wondrous Item’ feat and the ‘Leomund’s Secret Chest’ spell, you could make this handy bag yourself,” Antinoia explained.

“But it’s not really necessary. Crafting takes time, and it drains your own energy,” she added.

“Energy?” Zhao Xu was hearing this for the first time.

In his previous life, the high-level wizard players on the forums were extremely secretive about magical crafting, never sharing any details.

“It slows down your leveling. If you craft too much, you might even lose levels,” Antinoia said.

At that, Zhao Xu nearly choked. So crafting magic items cost experience points? That was playing with fire.

But then he thought—didn’t that mean this handy bag was made at the expense of Antinoia’s own experience?

“Don’t look at me like that, or I guarantee you’ll regret it,” Antinoia said calmly. “There are some feats that reduce the cost, and collaborative crafting can spread out the losses.”

“More importantly, crafting is a pleasure. Even if I made a legendary item worth a million gold pieces, I might not lose a level. Do you think something worth 2,000 gold would affect me?”

Hearing this, Zhao Xu realized he was overthinking it. The depths of a legendary wizard’s abilities were not something he could hope to fathom.

“Also, if you ever want to craft magic items in the future, you don’t need to go through all that trouble. You can always take the shortcut with a wish spell.”

Zhao Xu’s eyes went wide.

He remembered Antinoia casually demonstrating a wish spell to create gold coins for him. It could just as easily create magical items. So, the fact that she still took the time to craft by hand was truly just for her own enjoyment.

“There are some supplies in the handy bag for your future use. You can look through it later. But enough chit-chat—let’s get down to business. Time for your skills lesson,” Antinoia said.

Zhao Xu was so moved he nearly cried. At last, after this half-month of training, he’d reached the final step.

“How many skill points do you have?” Antinoia asked.

Zhao Xu glanced at his information panel.

[Skill Points: 40 = (6 [Cleric] + 3 [Intelligence modifier] + 1 [Human]) * 4]

“Forty,” he replied.

“That’s enough,” Antinoia nodded in satisfaction.

In Arthur, each level-up gives you skill points from your class, your intelligence modifier, and your race.

At first level, you get four times the amount, and at subsequent levels, you receive the sum from those three sources each time.

For Zhao Xu, his wizard class only granted two points, but as an elite double-class, he could choose the higher value between wizard and cleric—so he could use the cleric’s six points. The last point came from the human racial bonus.

“What do you think skill points are?” Antinoia turned to him. “There’s a reward if you get it right.”

Zhao Xu was about to answer automatically but stopped short at the promise of a reward.

Most players would say that allocating skill points enhances their abilities in those areas. But with ten years of experience, Zhao Xu knew that logic was backward.

He took a slow, steady breath to calm himself.

Many players didn’t understand how skill points actually worked and their true significance—some even ignored them. Others wondered why some points could be spent and others couldn’t. Only when players found themselves stuck at level one did they go back to deal with their skill points.

Zhao Xu knew the answer, but he couldn’t say it outright. There was still no official explanation on the forums, or Antinoia wouldn’t be asking.

He felt as if the thirty-five skills of Arthur were spinning through his mind. He organized his thoughts and replied, “Skill points are a way to unlock latent talent.”

“Oh? Go on,” Antinoia prompted, intrigued.

“Our innate talents are fixed—some people are naturally good at the long jump, others at manual dexterity. But after becoming a character with the character card system, we can assign skill points—”

“—to gain talents in those areas and reach a certain level of proficiency,” Zhao Xu finished.

“Exactly. As far as I know, you players haven’t realized this yet. You have a frightening intuition,” Antinoia praised.

Zhao Xu finally relaxed a little, knowing he’d earned his reward.

Back in his previous life, everyone told him to allocate his skill points carefully, as they affected every aspect of life. He had never forgotten this lesson.

“Strictly speaking, skill points let you exchange effort for talent,” Antinoia went on. “Your skill rank determines your expertise—whether it’s crafting, performance, or animal handling.”

“Through hard work and practice, you can expend your skill points—broadening your natural gifts and letting you achieve greater mastery.”

Zhao Xu nodded. You couldn’t simply assign skill points anywhere you liked—for example, if he wanted to put points into ‘Forgery,’ he had to focus on practicing that skill. Only after repeated attempts and accumulating enough proficiency would the skill point be consumed and turn into real ability.

“Now, once you’ve spent all forty skill points, you’ll have completed your training,” Antinoia said.

Zhao Xu took a deep breath.

“Mentor, which skills should I practice?”

“Start with Spellcraft, Concentration, and the various Knowledge skills. Get each of them to rank one before anything else.”

“Mentor, which Knowledge skills?” Zhao Xu had a bad feeling.

“Mysticism, Religion, Geography, History, Local, Nature, Planes, Dungeoneering, Architecture and Engineering, Nobility and Royalty—the main ones. Forget the obscure topics for now.”

Zhao Xu barely managed to stifle a groan. That wasn’t three skills—it was thirteen.

“So, Mentor, how do I practice these Knowledge skills?”

“What else? Read books.”