The Truth of Magic

Chapter 28: Hall of Awakening

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhao Xu didn’t tell Zhang Qi much.

He didn’t tell Zhang Qi that he had already finished copying all the cantrips, meaning that he could be considered as one of the fastest among the wizard players.

Zhang Qi had a loose mouth, so if he found out how great of a wizard Zhao Xu was, he would make sure that the entire class found out so he could show his friend off.

The only thing that Zhao Xu did was pat Zhang Qi on the shoulders and tell him to play seriously.

Revival Stones were like school fees that the players paid to Arthur to learn their lessons, so, no matter how idealistic Zhao Xu was, he knew that Zhang Qi had to pay these stones each time he had to be revived.

The next day, Zhao Xu logged into the game and Antonya came promptly just like before.

It was as if her sudden disappearance the day before was just a special occurance.

By this time, Zhao Xu had already chosen three Level 1 spells: Protection from Evil, Color Spray, and Magic Missile.

When Antonya saw Zhao Xu’s selection, she laughed quietly. “These are pretty good ones. You players have quite a keen eye.”

That was right – cantrips and Level 1 spells were all spells that the players had to choose to learn, so there was already a lot of discussion about them online.

Nobody was too worried about cantrips since wizards had to learn them all, but you could only learn three Level 1 spells for free, and after you finished learning those three, you could learn more depending on how high your Intelligence modifier score was.

As for how to get a Level 2 spell in the future, that would depend on the individual wizard.

As a result, Level 1 spells in Arthur were no longer considered classified information, but from Level 2 onward, the list of spells described in the forums would be very brief and vague. There were even those where players only kind of knew the name of a spell but didn’t know what it could do at all.

Analyzing the strength and power of various cantrips and Level 1 spells was the primary interest of many wizards who had not been able to copy cantrips.

Judging from the expression on Antonya’s face, it meant that these spells, recognized as the most powerful by all the players in the forum that Zhao Xu had visited, were pretty good ones.

“I have the scrolls for all these Level 1 spells, you can just copy directly from them.”

Antonya made three scrolls appear out of nowhere and passed them to him.

Zhao Xu took the scrolls from her and touched them. They were all made from high-grade parchment, the same as the ones he had come across in his previous life.

Each scroll was 20 centimeters by 30 centimeters, and the two ends of the scroll were held stiff by two long, thin rods and rolled inwards, making them look like those imperial edicts he saw in TV dramas about ancient China. But these scrolls were all written in magic text, and once the scroll was used to cast a spell, all the text on the scroll would disappear without a trace.

One scroll could be used to copy one spell or several, with a maximum of six.

“Mentor, why did you give me scrolls to copy from and not a spellbook?” Zhao Xu asked in puzzlement.

Scrolls were backup spell slots of sorts. Players could use scrolls to cast spells without using up a spell slot.

In theory, if a player had a huge number of scrolls, then he was like a walking cannon that could just keep firing indefinitely.

He wouldn’t be like a novice wizard who could be taken out with just one attack.

But wizards could just copy spells from spellbooks and didn’t need to copy them from scrolls.

Even though one Level 1 scroll only cost 25 gold pieces and was, therefore, cheaper than the cost of copying a spell, it wasn’t as cheap as a spellbook that was already there and free of charge.

“It’s just a bit of money anyway. It’s much less effort to use these scrolls rather than to go round looking for a spellbook just to lend you,” explained Antonya casually.

Zhao Xu had no choice but to accept this explanation.

The rich and powerful could call the shots. Besides, this was the woman who could create 25,000 gold pieces out of thin air.

“Before you start copying these scrolls, let me give you a piece of advice.”

Zhao Xu hurriedly looked up. Instructions from a Legendary Wizard was like getting the dean to teach undergraduates a foundation class.

“There are no useless spells, only useless wizards.”

“That’s absolute nonsense, so don’t bother remembering that.”

Zhao Xu was still trying to understand the first sentence when he was shocked by the next thing she said.

He wanted to say that this was two pieces of advice, but then he started thinking about the deeper meaning of Antonya’s words.

“There are some spells that are developed by trashy wizards to take up space and they’re very weak spells. So as a wizard, we have to choose from the immense number of spells and find the ones that are most powerful and most suitable for our personal style.”

Zhao Xu could only nod at her words and return to his desk. After he took the potion he needed to increase his energy levels, he started copying the spells just like how he copied the cantrips.

While he was able to copy all the cantrips in one shot, Level 1 spells needed to be properly studied for a full 24 hours to avoid the risk of an accident happening while copying the spell, so everyone had to abide by this system.

It had already been two days since the first wizard had passed his training course and many people had heard his story by now.

He was pretty much a prodigy and had a photographic memory.

But even so, just for the sake of being the first to complete the training, he gave up the additional Level 1 spell that he could have gotten because of his Intelligence modifier score.

Zhao Xu wasn’t going for speed now. To him, moving along steadily was more important.

Nobody knew that the training schools were the safest place in Arthur.

He wished he could just stay here forever.

The feat awarded to a Level 1 character wasn’t a prerequisite for the level, so the players weren’t in a hurry to confirm their feats, and would decide according to the needs of the adventures they went through later.

But Zhao Xu was different. If he hadn’t finished learning four powerful feats, he wasn’t stepping out of Mystra.

For the next week, Zhao Xu spent each day going through the big task of copying Level 1 spells.

But after he had finished copying, he didn’t see any special effects on his character stats.

Zhao Xu even specially asked Antonya for insider news and confirmed that even wizards who researched magic might not see anything special happening, never mind those who were just copying other people’s spells.

In the time he took to copy spells, out of the genius players who had chosen to become wizards, a second and third person finished their training too.

In the second week since the game had started, Zhao Xu had finished learning the free Level 1 spells he had.

At that point, the number of Level 1 Wizards had just passed the 100 mark.

Zhao Xu had 3 Intelligence modifier points, so the Wizard Association would give him three more Level 1 spells for free.

This time, he asked for Antonya’s opinion on which ones to copy, and she suggested Mage Armor, Ray of Enfeeblement, and Benign Transposition.

The first two were popular ones and were easy to explain, but the last one was a hidden spell.

That meant that this sort of spell wasn’t in the public list of spells that the players could choose from. Only people like Zhao Xu, who had a private mentor, could learn it.

According to Antonya, under certain circumstances, this spell could make two people exchange positions.

Finally, the list of spells in Zhao Xu’s mind stabilized. Or at least this list wasn’t going to change anymore until he had the money to copy some more or he leveled up.

Cantrips: Resistance, Acid Splash, Detect Poison, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Daze, Dancing Lights, Flare, Light, Ray of Frost, Ghost Sound, Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation.

Level 1 Spells: Protection from Evil, Color Spray, Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Ray of Enfeeblement, Benign Transposition.

He was only a Level 1 Wizard and he already knew 25 spells. It was no wonder a Wizard was difficult to fight.

“Are you ready?” asked Antonya after she saw that the words on her last Benign Transposition scroll had completely faded.

“Ready for what?” Zhao Xu was confused.

“To officially become a Wizard.”

All the exhaustion and numbness Zhao Xu had felt over the last week instantly disappeared. The time had finally come.

“Let’s go then, I don’t have anything to pack.”

Zhao Xu hurriedly stood up. He was all alone and a pauper with absolutely nothing except himself.

Even his spellbook, the one treasured item all wizards had, was intangible, written into his heart instead of on paper.

He saw that Antonya didn’t turn to open the door, so he thought she was waiting for him to make a move first, and he quickly walked over to open the door.

Suddenly, Antonya moved with a flash.

In an instant, Antonya appeared in front of Zhao Xu, then a fair arm shot out from her wizard robe and grabbed Zhao Xu by the collar.

Level 4 spell – Dimension Door!

It was a spell that could teleport within a certain distance with just incantations and without any use of gestures. His Benign Transposition was the same type of spell, just three times weaker.

But Zhao Xu didn’t have much time to think. He just felt that his collar had been grabbed and a force pulled on him hard.

Zhao Xu wasn’t unfamiliar with the feeling. It was the same thing he felt when he went through the Transportation Gate.

He felt that he could resist the effect this sort of spell had on him.

But the caster of the spell was his mentor. If she wanted to kill him, she didn’t have to use such complicated methods. She just needed to throw a ball of fire at him and Zhao Xu wouldn’t stand a chance.

So Zhao Xu gave up any thought of resisting and just went along with the spell.

If he was going to cling onto a pillar of support, then he’d better hang on tightly and not second guess himself.

In that instant, the two of them turned into a flash of white light and disappeared from the ordinary-looking room within the floating city.

When Zhao Xu awoke from his daze:

He realized that he was standing in a hall the size of a theater.

There was a silver throne gleaming brightly in front of him.

The throne was surrounded by magic text carved into it. Even though Zhao Xu had studied magic for several days now, he couldn’t understand a single word of it.

At the back of the hall were rows of seats arranged on an incline. If the room wasn’t bright and spacious, Zhao Xu would have thought he had come to some luxurious cinema of sorts.

The soft chairs on the steps were filled with people, and the front half of the hall was fully occupied.

“Mentor, what is this...?”

“The Awakening of Wizards,” explained Antonya.

“All of Mystra and its floating cities are protected by Legendary Spells to keep out any outsiders. If your identities weren’t entered into the spell, then you novice wizards can forget about casting spells successfully in Mystra.”

“So in other towns, their awakening ceremonies are very simple, and they just awaken novices whenever they arrive. But because, Mystra has to actually make edits to the mythals guarding the town, we can only hold this Awakening of Wizards ceremony once a month.”

Zhao Xu finally figured it out. Everyone seated here was the total number of wizards Mystra produced in a month.

He gave a quick count and there were probably close to a thousand people here. That was crazy for a single month.

“Mentor, this floating city of yours can really produce a lot of wizards,” said Zhao Xu as a compliment.

“It’s not mine, it’s ours,” corrected Antonya. “Normally we don’t have so many, but the wizard players were all rushing to make it for this round, so that’s why there are so many.”

Zhao Xu suddenly remembered that he had checked the information on the first ten wizards to appear on the forums, and absolutely none of them were from this city of magic, Mystra.

Logically speaking, the players with the best gifting for learning magic would be assigned to Mystra, besides someone like him who went through the back door.

Now he knew that the players in Mystra had to wait for a month for the change in the mythals, so there was no point in going so fast.

Zhao Xu had also noticed that there were many novice wizards murmuring among themselves about these two guests who appeared from nowhere while waiting for their turn to go through the awakening ceremony.

Everyone else had walked there. They didn’t make a big show of teleporting themselves.

They had gone overboard in trying to look different from the rest.

Based on the players’ clothes, Zhao Xu could guess that the people on the left side of the hall were from Earth.

Suddenly, his eyes widened

He spotted a calm, serious-looking young lady seated in the first row.

Wang Ningwei!

When the transmigration to Arthur happened, she was one of the highest-level Wizards among the players, so she also became one of the top leaders among Earth Powers.

So she had trained in Mystra, in The Arcane Gate in this floating city...

A few years after the transmigration, Arthur would face a great attack from the Abyss and Hell. So the Earth Powers sent a group of ambassadors to visit the Northern Alliance in hope that the Northern Alliance could help in protecting fellow citizens from Earth.

Zhao Xu was a guard in the Northern Alliance at that time. And because of him, his family was within the protected area, sent to live in a town far from the front lines. But. in the end, the Black Dragon made a surprise attack while Zhao Xu was out on a mission.

That was also the first time he had the chance to meet this genius lady.

But back then, he was just a guard for the Northern Alliance’s headquarters and was at best a slightly higher level guard than ordinary soldiers.

On the other hand, the prominence of someone leading the transmigrated earthlings, and on top of that, her status as a high-level wizard was enough for the leaders in the north to treat her as an important guest.

Right now, Wang Ningwei didn’t have the incredible presence she come to exude after long experience. She was just an ordinary player waiting for her turn to go up on stage to be awakened.

Zhao Xu suddenly remembered a rumor he had heard in his previous life. Wang Ningwei became a Level 1 Wizard only after 20 days, which eventually became a point of consolation for many new wizard players.

Now he knew why it took her so long to hit Level 1.

But, after counting, the game servers had only opened 15 days ago. Where did the additional 5 days come from?

Could the rumor be trying to exaggerate how amazing Wang Ningwei had become despite taking such a long time, so they purposely lengthened the duration?

After all, 15 days was enough to produce more than 100 wizards.

“Mentor, when was the last time you guys did this?” asked Zhao Xu in a low voice.

“25 days ago,” replied Antonya.

“Didn’t you say it’s once a month?”

“I eat three meals a day, but sometimes I eat two. Why not?”

Zhao Xu was annoyed by Antonya’s sarcastic response and said, “Mentor, even an outsider like me knows that changing a Legendary Spell shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

This was a given. Legendary spells were difficult to change.

“Oh, you’re asking why, huh?” Antonya seemed to finally grasp what Zhao Xu was driving at.

But Zhao Xu knew she had done this on purpose.

“It’s very simple. Because you’ve finished learning six Level 1 spells, they moved the awakening ceremony forward to today.”

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