Chapter 152: Returning Home
December 26, 2014
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
Time passed day by day.
Princess Anna no longer looked like a princess; she seemed more like a beautiful girl living in the mountains. It turned out that a princess couldn’t always appear so noble; she even learned to make her bed and use melted snow to wash clothes. The cave was kept spotless by her efforts, and she seemed to have a bit of obsessive cleanliness, liking to arrange things neatly. Sometimes, her mind would even come up with all sorts of bizarre thoughts, like whether they would eventually end up raising a bunch of monkeys if they continued living in the mountains.
Well.
These were just some absurd imaginations of a teenage girl.
At first, she worried about what Soren might do to her, because she was a princess, not an idiot, and had a realistic view of the world. But it turned out she had worried needlessly; Soren was more knightly than any knight she had ever seen, although his true identity was a Wanderer who also dabbled in wizardry. Occasionally, she would hunch down beside Soren, and the feelings of a young girl were hard to distinguish; however, she found comfort in it, sleeping more soundly.
In fact.
Soren rarely rested, and his eyes were already bloodshot.
He looked like an Iron Golem that didn’t need rest, spending almost all his time learning and practicing spells. Anna didn’t know why he was working so hard, but he definitely had something motivating him. Sometimes, the girl would think that it was so he could send her back to Arendelle soon, which undoubtedly warmed her heart, as if something was about to leap out. Although she wanted to return home as soon as possible, Anna still tried her best not to show her anxious worries.
Because she believed this would add to Soren’s pressure. She felt he was really working too hard.
He needed to rest.
He was a very responsible person, but he also needed to rest.
By the end, she was even worried about what she would do if Soren collapsed from exhaustion!
As a not-yet-adult girl, Anna felt empty at the thought of this. It was as if she had lost an important support.
The only one who had ever given her such a feeling before was her sister; she had always believed that as long as her sister was there, there was nothing to fear.
She was maturing.
Although she still looked pretty and adorable, just a girl under sixteen, she was already trying to make changes.
She learned how to clean. Learned to wash clothes, even learned to cook; her fair and slender fingers had become a bit rough, as her once delicate and translucent skin had cracked from the cold of ice and snow. She didn’t dare show her frostbite to Soren, and sometimes, when she looked at her hands, tears would uncontrollably well up in her eyes. Because she was just a girl, she naturally wanted to look beautiful, for her future husband to kiss the back of her hand. The lips touching it would be on the smoothest skin in the world, not on those noticeable frostbites.
But she also felt very fulfilled.
Such days sometimes made her feel like she was really growing up.
Yes.
She was still the princess of Arendelle, one of the two most dazzling pearls; her hands didn’t look as beautiful as before, and her clothes were a bit torn. Even after washing in snow water, they remained somewhat filthy, and her hair was styled in a simple ponytail. Tied with a white ribbon torn from her clothes, she took off those exquisite and expensive jewels, only wearing the earrings left to her by her mother. Sometimes she would sit next to the cave, daydreaming, her wandering thoughts leading her to some ridiculous but, on closer inspection, not-so-bad ideas.
These thoughts sometimes made her blush and her heart race, and she would avoid Soren’s gaze.
In fact, she was also very busy.
She had now learned to cut meat with a kn*fe, how to build a campfire, how much salt to add while cooking, that extra seasoning could make food more delicious, and she even learned sewing. She had actually learned to sew before. Because she was a princess, she was expected to be very virtuous, home-oriented, noble, and such—many positive traits included in her education.
But before, it had been a way to pass the time out of boredom. Or to stitch exquisite gifts for her sister during her leisure time.
Now she was truly mending clothes.
She was her highness the princess, the pearl of Arendelle. Even in patched clothing, she still looked beautiful, yet seeing her frozen and cracked little hands would still bring her to the verge of tears.
It hurt.
………………
Soren had gone a bit crazy.
Perhaps it was because of the last trial; once he focused on something, it seemed like he turned a little mad.
His speed of learning spells was truly abnormal!
Normally, a first-ring spell would take an ordinary wizard nearly a month to learn, but he only took one night plus a morning. In the following days, his mind was filled with extremely complex spell models. By the third day at noon, he completed the spell structure for Levitation, and by the fifth day, he completed the spell structure for the Flight Spell.
He had learned three spells in just five and a half days!
The time had passed more quickly than expected, and by the time Soren had internalized the Flight Spell in his mind, his eyes were already bloodshot.
The long-awaited prompt finally appeared.
After continuous practice with Levitation, Soren finally mastered the specialty of [Spell Control].
Now that he had learned Spell Control, the conditions to level up his wizard profession had been met. Soren couldn’t wait to level up to level 6, gaining an additional attribute point and a specialty point.
He had endured until now for [Spell Control] because this specialty was a prerequisite for many super magic specialties.
“Wizards have leveled up to level 6.”
“Received 25 (Intelligence 20 + (Intelligence 20 – 10) * 0.5) skill points, HP increased by 10 (base HP 4 + (Constitution 21 – 10) * 0.5).”
“Obtained one free attribute point.”
“Obtained one specialty point.”
Without a doubt, Soren allocated the attribute point to agility and invested all the skill points in knowledge.
He finally met the conditions to master a super magic specialty.
A line of specialty data appeared before him:
“Combat Spellcasting [Mastery]: Wizards gradually enhance their abilities through long-term training, and even when attacked in battle, they will not easily have their spells interrupted. As this ability improves, wizards can successfully cast spells even when directly attacked. When this ability reaches a certain level, some part-time wizards can even cast spells while in combat. However, this may require the cooperation of the specialties [Spell Silently] and [Spell Instant]. [Concentration +10].”
“Mobile Spellcasting [Mastery]: Under special training, wizards can cast spells while moving, and they will not interrupt their spellcasting even while dodging. Moreover, as the specialty level increases, wizards can cast spells while flying and moving at high speeds. This is one of the essential abilities that high-level wizards must master; otherwise, casting a Flight Spell will result in failure. [Concentration +5].”
“Spell Amplification [Super Magic Specialty]: After mastering spells proficiently, wizards can use some unique super magic techniques to increase the power of their spells. Using these techniques will increase the level of a first-ring spell and boost the spell’s power by 50%. When using the super magic specialty to memorize spells, wizards need to take more time to complete the memorization, but casting the spell will not differ from the original spell.” (Prerequisites for [Spell Extreme Effect].)
“Spell Penetration [Super Magic Specialty]: Wizards conduct in-depth analyses of their power, which can enhance the penetration abilities of their cast spells. Whether it’s damaging spells or control spells, when triggering any spell intensity checks, wizards can gain an additional +2 to their checks. Enemies must have a higher saving throw level to resist their spells.” (Prerequisite for [Greater Spell Penetration].)
The first two specialties were basic; they would always exist as long as they weren’t mastered.
What Soren cared about were the latter two super magic specialties. The first super magic specialty was [Spell Amplification], which could enhance spell power by 50%, and the second was [Spell Penetration], which could increase the spell’s saving throw difficulty. For example, for ‘Arcane Missile,’ Spell Amplification could increase its power by half; and for ‘Charm Human,’ Spell Penetration could increase the saving throw difficulty by 2.
These were two pathways.
The first was an important skill in turret tactics; a 50% damage increase was still quite impressive. The second was the core skill for control tactics; spells involving charm, control, and instant d*ath all required this specialty to support saving throw checks.
Soren did not hesitate for too long.
He chose [Spell Amplification]; this super magic specialty had the most obvious improvement for him. Especially after improving his casting level, the damage from five Arcane Missiles would equal that of 7.5 Arcane Missiles.
As long as he learned one more specialty of [Mastery of Spellcasting], he could also go ‘BANG BANG BANG’…!
………………
Since he had learned the Flight Spell, it was naturally time to leave.
Princess Anna was eager to fly back to Arendelle right now, but before leaving, she couldn’t help but look back at the cave. It had already been cleaned up nicely by her, but she didn’t know who would benefit from it in the end. As they were leaving, Soren saw the footmarks of Ice Trolls leading towards the opposite peak, suggesting that the Frost Wyvern corpses he left behind had benefited them. However, these well-fed Ice Trolls didn’t seem to bother the two of them.
The wind and snow were still swirling.
But today, Princess Anna set off on her way home, watching Soren beside her, her beautiful eyelashes fluttering slightly.
……………… (To be continued ~^~)
