Advancing to Battlemage

Hearing this, everyone felt a little intimidated. Seeing that no one answered, Du Pont glanced at Charles. The latter lounged carelessly in his chair, his fat face twitching. "I think it'll work. Annie wasn't even the best student in our class to begin with. We fifteen men only let her be class monitor because we gave way to her. Now she's voluntarily become someone else's lackey—isn't that a slap in all our faces? I'll be the first to sign!"

Once Charles said that, the others nodded one after another. Du Pont took out a sheet of parchment. "Then let's do it today. Everyone sign it, and Charles and I will go find the instructor afterward. Don't worry, we'll take the lead. Whether it succeeds or fails is our responsibility and has nothing to do with you."

Hearing Du Pont say that, everyone relaxed and signed the parchment in turn. However, Saphis looked somewhat puzzled. "But Du Pont, even if we remove Annie from her position, it doesn't seem like it'll change much in the end. We still have to speak with spell circles. Wouldn't it be more appropriate for Charles to be class monitor?"

"I'll pass. Boulder Instructor already agreed to take me as her personal apprentice at the end of the month." Charles shook his head, drawing envious looks from the other students.

Although Boulder Instructor was not as skilled as the other instructors, her unique bloodline gave her a distinctive network of connections. Once Charles latched onto her, whether he chose to continue his studies or look for work after graduation, things would be much easier. He would probably never again have to brave the wind and sun at construction sites. Instead, he would become a rising star of Northwest Academy.

"Never thought a real phoenix would come out of our little nest." Saphis sounded envious, but Charles shook his head. "Actually, Du Pont was invited after the test just now as well, but he politely declined."

Charles's words made everyone look at Du Pont. He smiled, somewhat bashfully. "I've felt pretty inspired lately, and I've been learning magic quite quickly. In another day or two, I should become a third-level apprentice. But I'm still far behind Charles, so it's nothing worth mentioning. I'd rather stay here and build a solid foundation."

"Not bad!" The crowd immediately grew lively again.

Although Du Pont's progress was not outstanding within the academy, he had not even completed a second-circle spell model last semester. Yet before summer vacation this year, he had become a third-level mage. That achievement absolutely put him among the best in the Construction Department, and even across the entire year, he ranked above average.

"But rest assured, unless there's a special reason, I won't transfer classes. Magic is magic no matter where you learn it, isn't it? It's not as if we don't have third-circle spells." Du Pont sneered. "Our spells simply aren't geared toward actual combat, but who dares say they're useless? Who can refuse to treat us as mages?"

As he spoke, he stood and raised his cup encouragingly. "Even Great Sage Elminster, despite being The Lady's Godsworn, once moonlighted as a warrior and thief—professions most mages despised. Before becoming a legendary Archmage, he was even captured by a group of Old Hags and suffered the humiliation of being Star Fury for a thousand days. Compared to him, what are our current difficulties?"

Unexpectedly, quite a few people sprayed the juice in their mouths, muttering that he should watch his words. Du Pont was somewhat confused by their reaction, but then he heard Charles use Message. "Don't talk nonsense. Those unverified rumors are only for private discussion. If the church finds out, be careful they don't accuse you of slandering The Lady's Godsworn and insulting the Great Sage. Going to prison to work a sewing machine would be the least of your problems."

"Ahem, I drank a little too much today, so my tongue's a bit loose." Du Pont set down his juice. "Enough said. From now on, if anyone looks down on our Construction Department, whether it's staff fighting or practical spell combat, I'll take them on!"

Amid the cheers, Du Pont sat down with a smile. Seeing his high-spirited appearance, Judy smiled as well, then turned back and quietly began cutting potatoes.

Du Pont had said that if potatoes were cut into strips, boiled once, then slowly fried over medium heat, this ingredient normally used for stews could become a tasty snack. It would taste even better with thick tomato sauce.

Potatoes tasted good however they were cooked, but he had never tried making them this way. He would have to see whether it was really true.

You have 21 days remaining until repayment.

Your malnutrition has disappeared.

When Du Pont successfully cast Invisibility Spell and Cloud of Daggers at the training grounds on Friday, all of his classmates understood one thing.

This kid really hadn't been bragging. He had truly become a third-level mage.

Looking at his Experience Points, now 86/3000, Du Pont finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Du Pont

Age: 14

Race: Human

Class: Level 3 Mage / Level 2 Barbarian

Attributes: Strength 14, Dexterity 12, Constitution 16, Intelligence 16, Wisdom 10, Charisma 16

Current Alignment: Chaotic Good

Spell Proficiencies: School of Transmutation spells, Necromancy spells

Feats: Scribe Scroll, Tenacity, Reckless Attack, Natural Defense, Construction Mage Mastery

Special Ability: Rage

Cantrips: Message, Mage Hand, Light Spell, Repair Building, Repair Construct

First-Circle Spells: Mage Armor, Grease, Expeditious Retreat, Animate Skeleton Servant, Magic Missile

Second-Circle Spells: Cloud of Daggers, Invisibility Spell, Fox's Cunning (85%), Mechanized Mind (60%), Spider Climb (30%)

Property: 36 gold coins, 3 silver coins, Medium Dimensional Bag, Ring of Darkvision, Boots of Elvenkind

You may choose a school enhancement to determine your subclass.

Du Pont gave it a glance and quickly decided on his class path.

"Battlemage."

You have become a Battlemage and gained the following abilities: Arcane Deflection, Tactical Acumen

Arcane Deflection: Unlike those traditional, fragile mages, Battlemages have learned to weave magic to better withstand harm.

Effect: When you are hit by an attack or fail a saving throw, you may use rapid analysis to temporarily gain +2 Defense against that attack, or +4 to the failed saving throw.

Warning: After using this feature, you cannot cast spells other than cantrips until the end of your next turn.

Tactical Acumen: Your swift grasp of the strategic situation allows you to react quickly in combat.

Effect: You gain a bonus to initiative checks equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Although neither of these abilities increased his damage output, their supportive effects were incredibly powerful. They were especially suitable for someone like Du Pont, who wanted to travel alone.

After advancing to a third-level mage and gaining two second-circle spells, Du Pont chose Cloud of Daggers and Invisibility Spell. The former gave him an inexpensive physical area-of-effect attack. As long as he maintained concentration, he could create an obstacle made of daggers, which worked well for ambushes or blocking doorways.

There was no need to say much about Invisibility Spell either. It was superb for survival and stealth. If one was not afraid of dying, one could even sneak into women's bathhouses in magic wastelands. It was practically a fellow spell that made rogues gnash their teeth in envy.

After this advancement, the Experience Points requirement was not particularly outrageous. Normally, going from level three to level four seemed to require 2,700 Experience Points. He needed 3,000.

Although the required Experience Points had risen quite a bit, it was still within a reasonable range.

However, if Du Pont remembered correctly, the Experience Points needed from level four to level five would probably skyrocket. In the original version, it rose from 2,700 to 6,500. He had no idea how much he would need.

But when advancing from level three to level four, Du Pont did not intend to use Experience Points again. Instead, he planned to study on his own and save those Experience Points.

For natives, advancing from level 3 to level 4 required learning a total of four 2nd-circle spells, five 1st-circle spells, and four cantrips. He already met the requirements for 1st-circle spells and cantrips; he only needed to learn two more 2nd-circle spells to advance.

Ever since his Intelligence reached 16, his thinking had become much clearer when learning spells. He estimated that mastering Fox's Cunning and Mechanized Mind, the two spells he had already studied hard for over a school year, would take at most around half a month. That would save the 3,000 experience points needed to advance to level 4. He could either keep them to quickly advance to level 5 later or use them to raise other classes and squeeze out more attribute points—both were good choices.

However, before Du Pont could give it much thought, he received a summons from the Transmutation Instructor during the noon break.

Thanks to the Necromancer Big Rat for the 5,000 reward, and thanks to Morning East, Evening Summer, Divine Concealment Main Culprit, Red Dragon Anthony, Beautiful Longlong, Prussian Tenth Pope, and reader ending in 319 for their rewards.

The next chapter was being revised.