"God-Tier: Multiple Casting"
"The reason more geniuses awaken before the age of sixteen..."
"Is that their spiritual power is stronger. The stronger their spiritual power, the more attention they attract, and attention is almost the same as a blessing."
"The more attention they receive, the more blessings they gain."
"Little Lu Cang."
"The attention focused on you is so dense it's almost tangible..."
"You must have received the favor of the Source many times over."
Lu Cang opened his eyes and woke up.
This was the first time he'd been jolted awake by a dream since coming to this world.
Yesterday, after Kumiloni purged the taint of the attention from him and healed his body, his consciousness had felt light and floaty.
His body had been groggy.
In the end, he couldn't even remember how he'd gotten back to his room or when he'd fallen asleep.
This feeling of mental disorientation seemed to have started yesterday, after he leveled up.
He'd even forgotten to check what had changed after advancing to a Level 2 mage.
He sat up in bed.
It was still dark outside. He looked up at the clock on the wall.
Four thirty in the morning.
"Everlight (Tier 1) (LV: 101)—Once activated, it consumes mana to persist for a long time and illuminate a vast area. Its gentle light leaves no blind spots within its range. Even when inactive, the user has equally clear vision in the dark."
The Tier 1 Illumination Technique's Transcendent Magic—Everlight.
He no longer needed to make a light source float in the air.
Even without activating the spell, Lu Cang could easily see things in the dark.
He usually activated it so his teammates could see clearly, too.
His mind should be fully clear now.
Lu Cang felt out the changes in himself.
Before advancing, his mana had been 10,000. Now it was 700,000.
That was a lot.
The normal mana range for a Level 2 mage seemed to be only 100 to 500.
But mana wasn't all that important.
Whether he had 700,000 or 200,000, there was no way he'd run out of mana at his current level.
A little more or less made no difference.
What mattered was this:
After advancing to Level 2, the proficiency of his Transcendent Magic had started to rise again.
It turned out that once a spell reached Level 101, using it no longer increased its proficiency.
Lu Cang had thought that was the true limit.
But now it seemed the only reason was that his level hadn't increased.
Besides being able to continue increasing his magic proficiency, he seemed to have received a unique blessing.
"Mage Mastery—Transcendent One (Exclusive): Casting any spell with a proficiency level above 100 grants more proficiency. All spells with proficiency above 100 receive a substantial boost to their magical effects."
"Transcendent One."
Lu Cang raised his hand slightly, and ice shards formed around him.
The mana cost was practically nothing—less than it had been before his advancement.
And the number of ice shards he could form had increased to fourteen.
It had doubled.
As for their flight speed—
Lu Cang tried controlling them.
They were faster than before, nearly fifty percent faster.
He couldn't test their power in an inn, but he figured that had increased considerably, too.
If he fought that giant serpent again now, he'd probably kill it instantly.
"Mage Mastery—Mana Source (Limit Break): Stores more mana and greatly increases the speed of mana recovery."
He'd gained two Mage Masteries after leveling up: one related to Transcendent Magic and one related to mana...
So this was the reward they'd mentioned.
And the Mage Mastery called "Transcendent One" had an exclusive designation. That probably meant he was the only one who had it.
Would the first pioneer to achieve something be granted an exclusive mastery?
If so, Iz should have received an exclusive Mage Mastery related to mana when he advanced to Level 2.
Besides those two—
A second strange symbol lit up inside him. He didn't recognize it.
It gave him a second talent.
[Current—Mage: Level 2]
[Talent acquired: Dual Casting → "God-Tier: Multiple Casting"]
"God-Tier: Multiple Casting"
"Can cast any number of different spells simultaneously, and each spell cast can be released the current mage level + 1 times"
"Additional casts do not consume any mana"
Multiple Casting, huh?
Lu Cang focused his thoughts.
Three huge, solid fireballs formed to his right, while three ice shards circled his left side.
He had cast each of these spells just once, yet two extra copies of each had appeared.
"Casting at the same time..."
Mages could only cast one spell at a time—or at least, that was how it worked for now.
The moment between casting one spell and switching to the next was when a mage was vulnerable to attack.
"That's really useful."
Lu Cang dispersed the ice shards and fireballs.
There was no need to test this talent any further. He already had a feeling that as long as he had enough mana, he could cast every spell at the same time.
Since he couldn't sleep anyway, he might as well get up early and go downstairs.
Iz hadn't appeared in the hotel lobby today.
Well, it was four thirty in the morning, after all.
The hotel did serve food around the clock, though. It really was a luxury hotel.
After breakfast, Lu Cang went to the library. The library in Rhein Town was open all day.
His mental strength had indeed improved a lot after advancing to Level 2.
He spent the whole morning cramming basic knowledge, only returning to the hotel at noon.
On the way back, though, he saw an extraordinarily impressive luxury carriage. Elegant black and noble gold gleamed together, giving it an air of immense prestige.
One glance at the carriage told him that someone with an extraordinary status had arrived.
Seeing it made Lu Cang more alert.
It was hard to say whether the arrival of the carriage's owner had anything to do with him.
Iz hadn't appeared in the lobby.
Hmm...
Why had he already started assuming that Iz would always appear in the lobby?
Still, he should go see them.
Lu Cang stepped into the elevator.
That's right, this world had elevators.
The principle behind an elevator wasn't complicated: a box and a force that pulled the box up...
That was more or less all an elevator was.
The simplest design could even involve hiring someone strong enough to pull it up from above.
As for whether it was safe... that was another matter.
But in a world where magic existed, there were naturally ways to make it safe.
Besides, this elevator wasn't so crude as to be pulled by a person.
Knock, knock, knock—
Lu Cang knocked on Iz's door.
A voice invited him in, and the door opened by itself.
"Won't you reconsider?"
"If they hear the name Izpalut, they'll surely surrender without a fight."
"That would minimize the casualties."
Iz shook his head and replied firmly, "There's no need to persuade me. I won't change my mind."
Lu Cang saw someone he didn't recognize talking with Iz.
After hearing Iz's answer, the black-haired man in a gentleman's hat stood up.
"Then I'll take my leave for now."
He bowed to Iz.
Iz smiled and made a gesture of farewell.
The man turned to leave and saw Lu Cang.
"And this is..."
Iz said, "My personal disciple."
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