Chapter Sixty-Three: Identifying Spells

“Mentor, how much is this Ironstone worth?” Zhao Xu asked, somewhat in disbelief.

He had already seen on his character card that, under the section with no quantity limit for mounting, the words “Ironstone (Orange Prism)” had appeared.

This indicated that the precious item was now his, under his control.

“About 36,000 gold pieces,” Antinoia replied.

Zhao Xu felt as though he’d taken in too much air today, to the point that he could barely breathe.

He’d actually gotten his hands on a treasure worth the equivalent of 700 pounds of gold?

But at the same time, for the first time, Zhao Xu truly understood the price of “Caster Level +1.”

“It’s an unnamed enhancement, a kind of naturally stacking precious bonus. Don’t get too attached to it, since you’ll have to return this one to me in the future,” Antinoia said.

Whether he’d have to return it or not didn’t matter much to Zhao Xu.

The main thing was that, for a level 1 wizard like him, the effect was practically doubled.

If he were higher level, say, going from caster level 10 to 11, it would only be a 10% increase—a mere drizzle.

But at his current stage, anything determined by caster level would be boosted by a full 100%.

Even though a +1 caster level wouldn’t let him cast level 2 spells early—he’d still need to be a level 3 wizard to do that—Zhao Xu still felt immensely satisfied.

At this moment, Zhao Xu also noticed that his character card had undergone corresponding changes.

[Character Level: 1 (Dual Elite)
Primary Class: Level 1 Wizard
Arcane Class Level: 1
Arcane Caster Level: 2 = 1 (Wizard) + 1 (Ironstone)
Secondary Class: Level 1 Cloistered Cleric
Divine Class Level: 1
Divine Caster Level: 2 = 1 (Cleric) + 1 (Ironstone)]

Sure enough, even his cleric’s divine spells were affected. In the future, his healing would be able to restore one more point.

“By the way, I need to correct you on another point. The target of ‘Read Magic’ is yourself—you can only cast it on yourself. I can’t cast it on you,” Antinoia explained.

“Mentor, didn’t you say that the ‘Spellguard’ class has an ability that lets you cast self-only spells on others?” Zhao Xu replied awkwardly.

He remembered clearly that when his classmate boasted about this, that ability was emphasized.

Some powerful arcane spells could only be cast on oneself, not on teammates.

The prestige class “Spellguard” was renowned precisely for being able to do this, living up to its name.

“I see now. You’re not exactly omniscient; most of what you know is hearsay,” Antinoia chuckled softly.

“Remember, that ability only lets you transfer protective spells. ‘Read Magic’ isn’t a protective spell, is it?”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu realized it wasn’t a misunderstanding on his or his informant’s part.

The truth was, the original forum poster hadn’t told the whole story.

People always pick out their most impressive features to talk about, glossing over the less impressive ones.

At that moment, Antinoia stood up, holding her tome, ready to leave.

“Mentor, aren’t you going to keep reading?” Zhao Xu hurriedly asked.

It was always easier to read with a top student to consult.

“If I stay with you, you’ll keep distracting me. I’ll read in my tower,” Antinoia replied airily.

“But Mentor, aren’t the books here not allowed to be borrowed?”

“Read that rule again for yourself.” With that, Antinoia blinked, crossing nearly a hundred meters in a flash to the entrance of the Arcane Library, then slowly exited.

Wait—that’s not right, Zhao Xu nearly lost his composure.

When he’d used his apprentice badge for admission, the old librarian had sternly warned him not to damage any books.

The old man had even made him recite out loud, “No books may be borrowed, by either wizards or wizard apprentices,” before letting him in.

Along the way, Zhao Xu had seen plenty of wizards in the library dutifully copying tomes with automatic quills, choosing to wait as long as it took rather than attempt to leave with a book.

So why could Antinoia just walk out with a book? Zhao Xu was sure that, though he couldn’t see clearly, the old man was undoubtedly bowing to her in deference.

“No books may be borrowed, by either wizards or wizard apprentices.” Zhao Xu was sure he remembered the rule correctly; otherwise, the old man wouldn’t have let him in.

Suddenly, Zhao Xu slapped his thigh.

He hadn’t misremembered—but “wizards and wizard apprentices” didn’t include legendary wizards.

Sure enough, in this floating city, comparisons with others were infuriating.

Having figured this out, Zhao Xu turned back to his studies in the book of arcane mysteries.

Those convoluted magical scripts began to seem less daunting, even somewhat alluring.

Indeed, it is often unequal treatment that drives humanity forward.

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Over the next two days, Zhao Xu finally managed to raise his Knowledge (Arcana) skill to level 1.

His other knowledge skills, which he couldn’t study with ‘Read Magic’ but had to grasp on his own, progressed much more slowly.

Still, by his estimate, in the next two or three days, some of those skills would also reach level 1, one after another.

By evening, once Antinoia saw he had finally raised Knowledge (Arcana) to level 1, she took him down to the underground plaza to train a new skill—Spellcraft.

Spellcraft, Concentration, and Knowledge were the three signature skills of the wizard class.

Some skills didn’t require formal training—you could still use them untrained, like Tumble or Climb.

But Spellcraft, like the Knowledge skills, had to be practiced before it could be used.

At present, Zhao Xu sat in the vast underground plaza, watching many novice wizards expend their rare spell slots, while he himself was at a loss.

“Mentor, did you call me here just to watch them?” Zhao Xu stopped short of saying “like a monkey show,” out of politeness.

After all, he was just as much a performer as they were.

“Spellcraft is developed precisely this way. Once you’ve memorized enough theory, you have to practice,” Antinoia concluded.

“So by watching them cast level 0 and level 1 spells, I can improve?”

“Exactly. Spellcraft actually has several uses. But after extensive research, we’ve found that directly identifying spells as they’re cast is the easiest way to train it.”

Zhao Xu focused on the hundreds of level 1 wizards in the plaza. In this floating city, they had little opportunity to cast truly useful spells.

The only time to practice was in the evenings, coming here to learn from and demonstrate to each other.

“Mentor, so I just have to watch?” Zhao Xu asked.

“Set your skill advancement focus to Spellcraft,” Antinoia replied impatiently.

“Oh, right, sorry.” Zhao Xu realized he’d been careless.

His character card allowed him to set skill preferences, so he could precisely improve the right abilities.

Otherwise, he might one day accidentally trip and use up a skill point to raise Tumble by one rank.

Skill points were powerful because, as you gained experience, you could selectively elevate a particular skill, pushing it to the next threshold.

After setting his preference, Zhao Xu turned his gaze to the novice wizards in the plaza.

Gradually, he began to pick out their incantations and gestures.