Chapter 47: Talented Spellcaster
The Merchant Caravan Mistress’s expression eased slightly. She gestured for Vivian to come over, seemingly feeling much closer to her due to the help this time. The little girl obediently walked over.
“You go to the hall first.”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress gently patted Vivian’s little head and said softly, “I have some matters to discuss with your brother.”
Vivian looked back at Soren, and after seeing him nod, she left.
“Soren!”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress watched Vivian walk out and then said seriously, “I want to know about your past and whether anything special has happened.”
“Vivian’s talent is quite extraordinary; her ability to awaken spells at such a young age.”
“Her future achievements are hard to estimate!”
Soren glanced at her, shook his head gently, and said slowly, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing special worth mentioning. Vivian and I have been orphans since we were little, living no differently than the poor you have seen.”
Orphans?
The Merchant Caravan Mistress’s expression softened slightly and continued, “It’s impossible that nothing happened.”
“The first awakening of a sorcerer often comes after a significant emotional upheaval; something special must have triggered Vivian’s power.” Soren was slightly taken aback by her words and then said, “Something special?”
“I once encountered a wizard while on a mission and was severely injured, lying in bed for over a month.”
“Perhaps it was fate that I gradually recovered.”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress looked at him and murmured, “Is that so? She cares about you a lot; if you really had been severely injured and your life was in danger, it would indeed be very likely to awaken her latent powers.”
“Vivian is too young.”
“As she grows older, her powers will become stronger. If she doesn’t learn to control them, she could end up harming others, or even cause significant destruction. You are not a wizard, so you can’t understand her talent. She is truly a talented spellcaster; even my mother wouldn’t have more talent than her.”
A talented spellcaster?
Soren’s body suddenly trembled upon hearing those four words, and he silently contemplated, “Could it be that Vivian has such a talent specialty?”
This is the most powerful talent specialty for spellcasters.
If Soren recalled correctly, anyone with a specialty could gain a 2-point spell power increase when casting any spells and could shorten the casting time of any spell by one second. This means that any spell with a casting time of one second or less could be instantaneously cast by someone who possesses this talent specialty. “0-level spells seem to have a casting time of just a second or so.”
Soren seemed to remember something, and images flashed through his mind: “But Vivian only seemed to recite the incantation and then activated the spell; was it truly instantaneous casting?”
The incantations for 0-level spells are very short, only one or two syllables, and the speed of reciting them takes less than a second.
If there is no special casting specialty, one still needs to gather elemental energy. Soren, due to his limited knowledge of spells, didn’t feel whether it was instantaneous casting or not, but the Northern Witch in front of him could definitely make that judgment. This means that Vivian, whom she referred to as a talented spellcaster, might truly possess such a talent specialty.
This specialty cannot be mastered through training!
For any profession’s spellcaster, each profession level could increase spell power by 1 point. Taking 10 points as the standard, every increase of 2 points in the primary attribute could increase spell power by 1 point. This means a level 5 wizard with 16 intelligence can gain a +8 bonus to their spell strength when casting any spell.
The so-called spell power is actually a quantifiable unit passed down from the Arcane era.
For example, the 0-level spell “Lightning Shock” generates only 3 points of electrical energy, but if that level 5 wizard casts it, the maximum burst of electrical energy can reach an intensity of 11 points. Such an intensity of electrical arc could be lethal to an ordinary person, as their life value is only about 10 points. However, if cast upon a professionist, they would likely have a resilient constitution saving throw, causing damage between 5-8 points.
Adding to that, the professionist’s already strong vitality would mean it could only cause light electric shock damage.
It’s like an ordinary person getting zapped by high voltage.
Below are Vivian’s abilities.
If she really possesses such a specialty, then when casting 0-level “Lightning Shock,” the gathered electrical energy could also gain a +8.5 increase, making it slightly stronger than that of a level 5 wizard, and that’s only counting her 1st-level sorcerer class.
As her profession level increases in the future, this gap will become larger, especially after learning spells that rely directly on an opponent’s constitution saving throw to determine whether or not they are instantly killed. Wizards have many spells that do not deal direct damage, such as Web, Charm Person, Control, etc. The success of these spells depends on the wizard’s spell power and the targets’ own will to resist the spell.
Under normal circumstances, a legendary wizard would have about 30 points of spell power.
20 points from the profession level, about 8 points from intelligence, plus some additional spell power from specific specializations.
If they have legendary-grade equipment, it might increase spell power by 1-3 points.
So this specialty surprised Soren even more, let alone the fact that if Vivian later masters this specialty, she could reduce her casting time by another second.
At that time, all spells with a casting time of two seconds or less can be instantaneously cast!
………………
A brief silence.
The Merchant Caravan Mistress glanced at Soren and continued, “Before you arrived, I performed a divination ritual for Vivian and saw some not-so-good things.”
Divination?
A branch of prediction-like spells?
It seems to be the Northern Witch’s primary ability known to predict vague phenomena in a person’s future.
But how clear it actually is is uncertain, because even legendary-level “Divination” can only glimpse a fragment of a vision.
A very brief image, and once the divination is completed, it begins to shift. The further away the time period, the more deviation there will be in the predictions. The greatest use of divination spells is to predict short-term fortunes and misfortunes, allowing one to avoid dangerous situations or places in advance. This is why the Northern Witch suddenly left Amber City; she felt through divination that something dangerous was going to happen there, and it’s likely that even her strength couldn’t change such things.
Soren took a deep breath and slowly asked, “What did you see?”
“bl**d and fire,” the Merchant Caravan Mistress said seriously.
She looked deeply at Soren, her expression serious: “Predictions can only be felt from fragments and images of the future. bl**d represents slaughter and d*ath, which means that d*ath will follow Vivian in the future. Fire represents war and destruction, which means she will experience many things that bring ruin.”
“I don’t know what is particularly special about her, but the trajectory of fate has already determined that her future will not be ordinary…”
“In the Northern Witch’s divination, only a small number of people have such visions; some become founding monarchs, others become evil tyrants, and still, others become legendary figures.”
“Whether these individuals are evil or just, their journeys through life seem to be filled with slaughter and d*ath.”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress took a deep breath and slowly said, “Vivian’s path in the future is destined to be tumultuous, and your abilities can’t always protect her.”
“Forgive me for being blunt, but you seem to always be afraid of something!”
“Although I don’t know what you’re afraid of, I can sense that you are avoiding any potential dangers.”
“Including me.”
“Perhaps that’s why you have never been able to believe in me.”
Silence.
Soren fell silent.
Afraid?
Perhaps he really was afraid.
It was precisely because he cared for her so much that he was so afraid of losing her.
Avoiding?
Was he truly avoiding?
Soren knew too well how many terrifying things would happen in the upcoming turbulent years. The gods and demons tore the sky and the earth apart; in this unprecedented catastrophe, even legendary professionists could be wiped out like chickens! As a mere second-tier thief, should he not be avoiding all of this?
That was a war between deities!
Even legendary-level professionists merely had a ticket at the gate.
Saints are as numerous as dogs, and liches walk the earth.
He didn’t even have the qualifications to spar with them; should he just sit there and wait for the impending doom?
Even when d*ath came, he might not even know where the enemy was!
If he didn’t leave.
Would they be directly erased like ants beneath the “Meteoric Bomb” of Amber City’s destruction!?
The woman before him had no idea.
She didn’t understand what was coming and how terrifying the disaster would be! For even legendary witches, it’s impossible to foresee the forthcoming turbulent era. In front of the divine, mortals are so powerless; what happened back then that millions of players couldn’t stop, could he, as just one person, change?
What else could he do besides distancing himself from all this and waiting for an opportunity to accumulate strength?
“Yes.”
Soren slowly raised his head, looked at the Merchant Caravan Mistress, and said in a deep voice, “I am afraid and avoiding some things because some matters are beyond human control.”
“I also do not trust you.”
“Although you seem to care for Vivian, all you have shown is an air of superiority!”
“I may be weak now, but I won’t always be this weak.”
“I know what you want to say.”
“I will never let Vivian leave my side because I can protect her with my life, but you cannot. You care more about Vivian’s talent; if she didn’t have such talent, to you she would just be an ordinary little girl. But to me, it’s different; no matter whether Vivian has talent or not, she is my closest person and the only family I have in this world.”
“You say that I can never trust you.”
“Yes.”
“Because you haven’t even told me your name yet; perhaps in your eyes, I don’t even qualify to know your name. You just wanted to keep her by your side out of curiosity. I am very grateful to you for bringing us all the way to White Horse City, and I thank you even more for extending your hand today; I will make sure to repay you in the future. You are a kind and benevolent witch; otherwise, you wouldn’t have to say so much to me; simple charm spells would have sufficed to solve the issue.”
“I am very grateful to you!”
Soren deeply bowed and then walked toward the door.
“Wait a moment.”
The Merchant Caravan Mistress stood up, gazing intently at Soren. When she saw his unwavering gaze, she sighed lightly, knowing that the man before her would truly risk his life to defend some things! This was the reason that first drew her attention and made her discover Vivian’s talent.
A sincere yet distant emotion.
She slowly walked up to Soren, looking at the weak yet resolute man, feeling for the first time that he had the right to speak to her as an equal. This qualification was not based on strength but solely because he cared so deeply for that little girl.
The Merchant Caravan Mistress sighed deeply and said, “Spells cannot solve all problems.”
“Overuse of excessive power will only lead you to lose your way!”
“My name is Gloria.”
“Perhaps you can let her stay by my side for a while, to learn some useful spell knowledge; it will be very beneficial for her future.”
A pale hand extended out; the Merchant Caravan Mistress for the first time spoke to him on equal terms.
Her name is Gloria.
She is a powerful Northern Witch, and the man before her, whom she could easily erase, won her respect with his unwavering belief and sincere emotions.
