The Truth of Magic - Chapter 59
Chapter 59: Read Magic
The next day, Zhao Xu finished preparing his spells in the morning and came early to the floating city’s Library of Knowledge to read some books.
The library was frequented by wizards who wanted to increase their Knowledge Skill. It was divided into more than ten different sections and held books corresponding to the different categories of Knowledge.
The library collection, never mind the building it was held in, was huge, but most wizards just found a quiet corner to sit in and looked like they didn’t want anybody to disturb them at all.
The day before, Zhao Xu had set his Skills direction on his character stats page according to Antonya’s instructions, then proceeded to sit down quietly and read.
“When you can make these ten categories of your Knowledge Skills hit Level 1, then we can move onto something else.”
When Zhao Xu heard Antonya say these words, he couldn’t help but feel a shock.
Even though Knowledge was an amazing skill to have when going on an adventure, he wasn’t sure he could take this much reading either.
Once his Knowledge Skill had risen in level, then he would be able to use his thoughts to search his message board.
Once he had passed a check, then he would be able to receive a portion of information. How much he could see depended on his skill level.
It worked pretty much like the Arthur version of Google.
But even so, most characters who were preparing for a battling route wouldn’t put points on Knowledge Skill.
Every profession had its specializations, and every character class in Arthur had skills unique to their classes. Knowledge was a Wizard’s Class Skill.
He could use 1 Skill Point to exchange for 1 rank in his Skill.
But for a Fighter, Knowledge was a skill that belonged to another character class, so he needed 2 Skill Points to increase that skill by 1 rank, so that wasn’t worth it.
Zhao Xu cast the cantrip Read Magic on himself, then hurriedly went to open all the books on Arcana that he had borrowed and started reading them, cherishing every second that the spell was effective.
Zhao Xu had already complained about this many times the day before.
The authors who wrote about Arcana just refused to write their books in the simpler language of Common.
Even Draconic would be fine. But no, they had to use text that with a secured layer of magic over it, as if that was the only way they could show off to everyone that they were wizards.
Zhao Xu’s current Knowledge (Arcana) Skill and Arcana Skill were both at Level 0, so there were risks involved if he simply read any books on Arcana.
Zhao Xu had no choice but to use the only way he could decode magical text, Read Magic, to read through everything.
But he wasn’t able to read ten lines in one shot, and the fastest he could go was to read one page per minute or so.
Read Magic could last as long as 10 minutes multiplied by the spellcaster’s level.
Since he was a pitiful Level 1 Wizard, then he was only a Level 1 spellcaster.
That made Zhao Xu devote all 11 arcane spell slots and divine spell slots to Read Magic.
Once he was done using up those two hours of spells to read the books, then he would have to use a slower way of decoding these books to continue reading.
The power and effect of many spells were dependent on the level of the spellcaster.
If Zhao Xu could wait until he was a Level 2 Wizard before casting this spell, then he would be able to cast Read Magic for 20 minutes, and that would give him a lot more time than what he had now.
But too bad, his current level was just too low now.
The top of the library was a transparent glass roof, and there were many magic torches that would never go out around him.
But, unfortunately, Zhao Xu’s 17 Intelligence points hadn’t become a reality for him yet, so as he read these books on Arcana, he kept feeling an urge to just fall asleep.
Compared to learning spells, the motivation to increase his level in Knowledge Skill was much less.
And that was why, even though the library was gigantic, you hardly found any players around here. Most of them were gathered at the Library of Spells instead.
All of a sudden, Zhao Xu spotted Antonya carrying a book filled with a bunch of strange symbols and she plonked herself down diagonally behind him to start reading it.
Zhao Xu couldn’t help but ask in surprise, “Mentor, you need to read these books too?”
Zhao Xu had never been able to see Antonya’s actual face and had to recognize her from the general face shape that he could see in the shadow of the robe she wore.
But after interacting with her for so long, even if Antonya switched to another robe, he could still recognize her immediately.
“I haven’t finished using the Skill Points that I got when I hit my current level, so of course I have to consume them by reading books,” replied Antonya nonchalantly as she flipped the book in her hands open to start reading.
The cover of the book that Antonya was holding had three warning stickers on it.
When he came in the day before, the librarian had already warned him that he must not cross his level and read those books with warning stickers.
The number of warning stickers on the book that Antonya was holding meant that this book was probably one that only Legendary Wizards could read.
“Mentor, you can already search for most of the information you need, but you still need to increase your level of Knowledge?” asked Zhao Xu in puzzlement.
Antonya glanced up at Zhao Xu. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” Zhao Xu glanced around and confirmed that there weren’t any other people around them.
In a public place like the floating city, many people had put up barriers against any divination or detect spells, so it wasn’t that easy if you wanted to eavesdrop on someone else.
“This isn’t really a secret either anyway. If you want to become a Legendary Wizard, then there are requirements for your Knowledge (Arcana) Skills. And this will also decide on how many Legendary Spells you can have,” replied Antonya.
“What are the requirements?” Zhao Xu’s ears were nearly standing on their own now.
“Can you already cast Level 9 arcane spells?”
Zhao Xu shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Then why are you asking so many questions?”
“Didn’t you say these aren’t really secret?” Zhao Xu persisted.
“It’s not a secret to a Level 20 Wizard, but it is for a Level 1 Wizard, like you.”
When he heard this, Zhao Xu quietly and obediently went back to reading his books on Arcana in his own corner.
But after he learned that reading all this had something to do with becoming a Legendary Wizard, suddenly the magic text in those books became a lot more interesting.
Every time he read a line, he could imagine an indicator inside him that read ‘Legendary Wizard Progress’ keep flashing ‘Experience +1’.
After ten minutes, the Read Magic spell on Zhao Xu had ended and was no longer effective.
The friendly and readable magic text instantly turned back into weird and complicated symbols and that he couldn’t even focus on properly.
Zhao Xu quickly shut the book and was about to pick up the clear crystal on the table to cast Read Magic on himself again.
Then he suddenly recalled that Antonya seemed to have just started reading without casting any spell earlier.
As a Legendary Wizard, she was definitely higher than Level 20.
Didn’t that mean that her Read Magic cantrip could last 200 minutes, or nearly four hours, with just one spell?
When he thought about this, Zhao Xu quickly huddled over to Antonya and said, “Mentor, can I discuss something with you?”
“What is it?” Antonya seemed to be in a good mood while reading.
“Mentor, could you cast a Read Magic spell on me? Your current level could make the spell last for four hours, while I can only make mine last for ten minutes and that’s way too little time. Couldn’t you do me a favor? It’s just one cantrip spell slot,” asked Zhao Xu with a pleading look.
Antonya turned her head to look at Zhao Xu.
“Don’t you have the Extend Spell feat that came with the Planning Domain? You could use that to make your spell last for 20 minutes instead.”
Zhao Xu just looked at her helplessly.
“Oh right. I didn’t tell you about this yesterday, so I suppose you wouldn’t dare to just pair this feat with this spell.”
“No worries, I have to teach you about the remaining feats that you have anyway, so I’ll teach you at the same time.”
“But I have to tell you a few things first,” Antonya continued on.
“I didn’t prepare Read Magic in my cantrip spell slots today at all.”
“Mentor, so you don’t need to use Read Magic?” Zhao Xu was even more puzzled now.
“Nope. The spell is permanently effective in me.”
