Chapter Sixty-Nine: Arcane Missile
Soren ultimately decided to master a specialty. The other three specialties could be acquired through training, but Talent Specialty was challenging to obtain through conventional means. Photographic Memory was a very useful specialty; if one did not possess such a memory, many would grasp it right from the beginning. After Soren chose a new specialty, the consumed Killing Experience had reached nearly three thousand points. Since the experience consumption for the Wizard profession level was high, and with an additional penalty for the part-time job, the Killing Experience required for a Thief to reach level 5 and above was just barely enough for a Wizard to reach level 4.
“The Wizard profession has been upgraded to level 4.”
“Gained (24*0.5) skill points, health increased by (9*0.5).”
“Gained a free attribute point.”
Undoubtedly.
Soren continued to increase his Intelligence, just reaching 20 points of extraordinary Intelligence, ensuring that even if the Magic Network collapsed, he would not completely lose his spellcasting ability. Due to the additional part-time job, the penalty for leveling up the Thief profession also increased by 20%, making the Killing Experience required for him to advance to level 7 as a Thief rise from 4500 points to 5400 points.
The more part-time jobs, the slower the improvement in strength. “Although there is an additional 20% experience penalty, I also gained 2 extra attributes.”
Soren glanced at his data template and murmured, “Overall, it’s not a loss; at least the improvement in combat power after mastering spells is quite noticeable.”
A 20% experience penalty was already severe, especially after advancing in profession levels.
Thus, Soren basically gave up the idea of taking on more part-time jobs. If possible, he would try to ascend one of his professions. The most apparent benefit of a part-time job in the early stages was the extra attribute points gained, where one could exchange Killing Experience for more attribute points. If one were to have four part-time jobs simultaneously, they could even receive an additional 6 free attributes early on. However, the downside was that the speed of leveling up was very slow; a 60% experience penalty could be torturous, and in the future, wanting to enter the ranks of high-level professionals might not be so easy.
The skill points were mainly allocated to Knowledge, and Soren raised Knowledge to 90 points, then allocated 5 points to Spell Identification.
The remaining Killing Experience was not much.
After allocating all his abilities, Soren’s current data page had changed to:
“Name: Soren.
Race: Half-Elf.
Attributes: Strength 14, Agility 20, Constitution 20, Intelligence 20, Perception 15, Charisma 16. Faction: Lawful Evil.
Profession: Level 10 Commoner / Level 6 Thief / Level 4 Wizard.
Health: 90/90.
Experience: 1875, 150 points.
Skill Points: 0.
Attribute Points: None.
Status: Normal.
Basic Skills – Stealth 113, Knowledge 90, Theft 35, Lockpicking 45, Traps 55, Concentration 8, Negotiation 5, Appraisal 3, Deceit 3, Intimidation 10, Taunt 5, Performance 1, Listening 9, Evasion 15, Parry 5, Block 1, Medicine 11, Search 8, Spell Identification 10, Wilderness Survival 2, Use Magic Device 10.
Legendary Skill – Universal Skillful Hand.
Personal Specialties – Agile Left Hand, Photographic Memory, Resilient Strength, Talent Specialty, Regeneration.
Professional Specialties – Shadow Mastery, Military Weapons, Curved Blade.
Combat Skills – Shadow Assassination, Sword Intent.”
“Already have 8 specialties.”
Soren looked closely at his data page and murmured, “I have two more specialties than before at the same level. If I can ascend to Legend, I should be considerably stronger than in the past!”
He gently opened the Spellbook, attempting to use his mental power to analyze the model structure of the first spell.
—Arcane Missile.
A first-tier spell commonly used by spellcasters, with the advantage of decent power and a very short casting time.
Only a second.
“Arcane Missile: The spellcaster condenses arcane energy to form a sphere at their fingertip and launches it towards a specific target, possessing 5 points of base spell strength. For every two profession levels, an additional Arcane Missile is generated. A career level 9 spellcaster can launch up to 5 Arcane Missiles simultaneously.”
Although it was merely a first-tier spell, the spell model and incantation recorded had more than ten pages.
Soren first skimmed through it, storing the basic text and diagrams in his mind, then began attempting to meditate and connect to the Magic Network, while trying to construct the spell model according to the knowledge in the Spellbook.
The midnight hours quickly passed.
When Soren opened his eyes and closed the Spellbook, his complexion was slightly pale, and he appeared exceedingly fatigued.
Even though it was just a first-tier spell, constructing the spell model was challenging, primarily because the Arcane Missile spell had over 300 spell nodes and approximately 50 spell circuits. If not for his excellent memory, it would have taken him several days just to record the basic structure.
“This is essentially a magical version of an energy gun.”
Soren furrowed his brows and rubbed his head, then opened the Spellbook again. After just one glance, he felt dizzy; he realized this meant his mental state was nearing its limit. The spell nodes of Arcane Missile included extracting energy, compressing energy, and guiding spell circuits. If explained with a standard from the era of interstellar energy guns, it would mean that the energy ammunition was composed of the wizard’s mana, the firing of the gun was structured by the mental power-based spell model, and hitting the target was guided by the spell circuit, somewhat resembling an infrared aiming device.
“I’ve only completed less than one-fifth.”
Soren roughly flipped through the Spellbook, then closed his eyes and said, “To master this first-tier spell, I at least need five more days. With my understanding ability of 20 points Intelligence, supplemented with my Photographic Memory specialty, along with 90 points of Knowledge, this is the duration required. Other wizards mastering this first-tier spell wouldn’t it take them a month or two?”
Actually, Soren was mistaken.
Ordinary wizards typically took three months to master a first-tier spell, starting from when they graduated as apprentices, taking about three months to learn their first first-tier spell.
The number of wizards was very small, even fewer chose to venture into danger.
A considerable portion of wizards remained stuck at the third tier for their entire lives, unable to step into the realm of high-level spellcasters.
The night grew deeper.
Soren lay in bed to rest; perhaps due to overextending his mind, he could not fall asleep, no matter how he tried.
That feeling was akin to having forced himself to memorize an exceedingly long academic paper in the past. Though he had made tremendous efforts to remember much, he still felt dizzy and disoriented, lying in bed feeling somewhat hazy.
Overexertion of the mind.
This was Soren’s first reaction; he attempted to meditate to alleviate this condition, but the effect was not significant. On the contrary, due to exhaustion, he could not enter a deep meditative state.
In the end, he could only close his eyes and wait, and after a long time, he finally fell into a hazy sleep.
The next day.
When Soren woke, it was already noon.
For the first time, his biological clock had not awakened him; only when the hotel owner came to knock on the door did he groggily get up.
He had overslept today.
Fortunately, his spirits had recovered nicely, and he did not feel the dizzy sensation of yesterday.
The speed of spellcasters enhancing their abilities could not compare to that of melee classes. Even though Soren had leveled up to a level 4 Wizard with Killing Experience, he still had not been able to master a single spell. He hurriedly ate a little something downstairs, then headed toward White Horse City; the Lizardmen in Black Fog Swamp had already expanded to the outskirts of the wilderness, making that road impassable in the short term.
He might need to stay in White Horse City for a while.
Fortunately, although there had been much chaos and slaughter before the arrival of the turbulent years, White Horse City had continued to exist until he ascended to the Legendary Domain. This meant that even if White Horse City got embroiled in conflicts, it wouldn’t face the complete destruction like Amber City had; it should be fine for him to stay here for a while.
Soren had been away for several days; he planned to return and see how Vivian was doing, and to transcribe some level 0 spell scrolls.
Even though he had decided to let Vivian learn knowledge alongside the Merchant Caravan Mistress, he still felt a bit uneasy.
There were very few people in this world he could trust.
It wasn’t until noon on the third day that Soren returned to White Horse City. Due to the frequent incidents recently, that large fire had not been investigated thoroughly, and now the whole city was abuzz with another matter.
Amber City had turned into ruins!
In this era, the speed of information dissemination was very slow. Even after such a long time, the news of Amber City’s destruction only just reached them.
Even though it had long been speculated, when Soren heard it for real, he remained silent for a long time.
A city was destroyed just like that!
The number of casualties could not be calculated yet, but it was likely to exceed ten thousand; this major event sent shockwaves across many areas, prompting several churches to dispatch high-level professionals for investigation, among which even figures from the Legendary Domain were present. Some churches sought answers from the gods of justice, but unexpectedly received no response or oracles. Although priests could still obtain divine techniques, it seemed as if all the deities had disappeared.
They no longer responded to the prayers of believers; certain rituals could not invoke their will to descend, and all divine prayers seemed to have sunk into the ocean, with no ripples surfacing.
This news was tightly sealed, yet many still sensed it.
It seemed something significant had happened in the realm of deities!
All the gods had fallen silent recently, and priests could still obtain divine techniques through prayer, but they could no longer contact the gods they worshipped.
