"Mental Power Impact broke through to Master Level, Talent +3." "Talent: 130→133"
The notification sounded alongside the crack of bursting trees, and only then did Ian snap awake.
"Three points of Talent?"
Ian looked at the spell wizardry with delight written all over his face.
Before advancing, what he had worried about most was that Zero Ring wizardry would only raise his Talent by one point.
That had been his greatest concern.
After all, if all knowledge were capped at one point, the rate at which his Talent increased would only grow slower and slower.
That was not something he wanted to see.
But that worry vanished in an instant, like smoke scattering into the clouds.
It was just a pity that three points still felt a little too little.
"If other people knew that learning one Zero Ring wizardry could raise my Talent by three points, wouldn't I be drowned in spit?"
Ian joked to himself.
Being able to raise his Talent, with no restrictions whatsoever, was simply heaven-defying.
At the very least, according to the books, resources capable of raising Talent were extraordinarily precious.
Forget the Academy within the school—even Official Wizards would find them difficult to come by.
Yet all he needed to do was quietly study all kinds of extraordinary knowledge.
It just cost more money.
But all of it was worth it.
As Ian sensed the changes within himself, he noticed something out of place.
Within his Mental Power Space.
Not far from the two Mental Power Runes, another rune had appeared.
Its structure was simple, and it was very small.
"What's this?"
Ian examined it carefully, then froze. Wasn't this the rune for Mental Power Impact?
Normally, it had to be condensed through a process. Why had it appeared directly this time?
His mental power touched it.
The rune instantly lit up, and that natural, effortless feeling surfaced once more.
"Is this...?"
He focused his mental power.
The air before him rippled again.
Boom!
A large tree crashed to the ground.
"Is this... instant casting?"
Ian's throat bobbed.
No incantation, no process—apart from preparing and supplying mental power, it could practically be called instant casting.
"When Zero Ring wizardry reaches Master Level, a Wizardry Rune appears, and the wizardry can be cast instantly?"
Ian pursed his lips.
It seemed he had received another extraordinary surprise.
There was no need to explain the advantages of instant-cast wizardry. In battle, the slightest sliver of time could decide victory or defeat.
This was especially true for low-level Wizards.
Without the time needed to chant incantations, he could cast several more spells.
When the final three months of wizardry courses arrived and combat became necessary, this would be enough to open up an enormous gap between him and everyone else.
A gap that was almost impossible to bridge.
"I just wonder what will happen to wizardry that requires materials?"
Ian pursed his lips.
Everything he was learning now was the most basic wizardry, but later on, some spells would likely require materials to cast.
If those could be cast instantly too, then that would be truly interesting.
As he was musing, the sound of footsteps suddenly rose.
"Someone's coming."
Before Ian's mind could react, his body instinctively prepared to run toward the school.
But after running only a few meters, he gradually stopped, because several figures were already approaching from the direction of the school.
They wore black Witch Robes marked with the emblem of the patrol team.
The patrol team had noticed him.
Then it should be fine.
"Ian?"
A startled voice rang out. Ian looked up and discovered that the leader of the patrol team was none other than Charles.
His wizardry course Instructor.
"Instructor Charles."
Ian relaxed.
"Did you do this?"
Charles turned to look at the two fallen trees in the distance, then looked back at Ian.
Judging by the trees' diameter, that power was already very close to three Energy Intensity.
Even he, after practicing Mental Power Impact for over a decade, could not achieve this with the same amount of mental power.
"Ian, join the Combat Department. I can recommend you to several core Wizard squads, or you can join my Wizard squad. Mine is a core team too."
Charles could not help saying.
The several Wizards behind him were all stunned.
Many of the Combat Department's core divisions existed in squad form, but their members were selected with the utmost care.
Vice-Captain Charles was actually inviting Ian?
"Really, don't go to the Potions Department. What's the point of hiding in a laboratory all day brewing potions? Combat is so much more exhilarating."
Charles looked at Ian fervently, gritting his teeth.
Ian's mouth twitched. He had not expected this one incident to lead to something like this.
The Combat Department's core divisions were naturally excellent.
But he needed a large number of Magic Stones, and the Potions Department was truly the only place where that might be possible.
Still, it could count as a fallback route.
If he truly failed in the end, joining a core Combat Department division would work too. The main thing was that the difference between core divisions and peripheral divisions was not merely resources.
There were also all kinds of privileges.
That was what he had learned after Lucy spoke with him that day.
Wizardry above the excellent grade could only be purchased once a year by ordinary divisions, while core divisions received three times that limit.
Ordinary wizardry could be bought at a twenty-percent discount.
He truly could not refuse that.
"I'll consider it, Instructor."
Ian answered seriously.
"Think it over carefully."
Charles patted his shoulder, then turned and left.
He had originally come to inspect the situation. Since everything was normal, it was time to return to his post.
Ten minutes later.
Ian returned home.
He immediately relaxed.
"I definitely have to move somewhere else in the future."
Lying on his bed and looking at the cramped little room before him, Ian silently thought to himself.
The Maple Leaf Avenue where Kris lived was where high-level Wizards resided. The environment there was as different from this place as heaven and earth.
They even had maids.
That was the sort of living environment Wizards ought to have.
And there was no doubt that reaching a core division would get him there faster.
"Keep it up. I'll break through to Third-grade Talent soon. Once that happens, everything will be fine!"
Ian imagined the future.
The sun rose and set through eight cycles.
The increase in Talent did not merely bring changes to wizardry.
The slight improvement in his meditation Talent increased the number of times he could meditate by one again, and the results improved somewhat as well.
His spell practice also went from producing one formal result every four days to one every three days.
This was also the most outrageous aspect of the system.
An increase in Talent also brought an increase to the system.
It was like a snowball rolling down a mountain—the farther it rolled, the faster its size would grow.
Of course, he was still in the beginning stages.
During these eight days, there had been one piece of bad news and one piece of good news.
"The bad news is that my Talent didn't increase today."
Ian looked at the Dust Spell he had raised to Master Level today, but his Talent had not changed.
Thinking carefully about it.
Perhaps this spell and Breeze Spell shared rather similar underlying principles.
This prevented him from using improved wizardry to wildly farm Talent points.
Naturally, there was also good news.
"Knight Method reached Master Level and raised my Talent by five points."
Ian looked at the Talent value of 140 on the panel.
Aside from the two spells, the other five points had come from raising Knight Method to Master Level.
That was two points more than Mental Power Impact.
That made sense. Although Knight Method was not as powerful as wizardry, it seemed to hold greater value when it came to evolving the human body.
With Knight Method reaching Master Level, he estimated that reaching the peak of Knight would take only one or two months.
"It's a pity there's no Great Knight portion."
Ian felt that the Knight path was quite good; it was just that it might be slow for most people to improve through it.
He would see whether he had a chance to purchase a Great Knight Method in the future.
There should be one at the market.
But Ian was not going.
Although the school had said that the roads had already been cleared and safety could be guaranteed, and Logan from the Mutual Aid Society had even gone once already.
He would not gamble.
What if something happened?
He should just stay safely within the school.
"Compared to that, breaking through in Meditation Method is more reliable."
Ian's Meditation Method progress had already reached 340.
This time, it should have taken around ten days, but as his Talent rose, so did his comprehension and other qualities. He only needed seven or eight days now.
In the blink of an eye.
Eight days passed.
His Talent had now reached 143.
At the same time, another cycle of Meditation Method came to completion.
"Basic Meditation Method broke through to Master Level, Talent +10." "Talent: 143→153" "Talent: Fourth-grade Star→Third-grade Star"
Before you continue