Intelligence Cap

Intelligence Cap

"Is the Wizard class a joke? It tells me to memorize spells without a word of explanation? If I don't memorize them, it tells me to get lost?"

"Same here. Turns out I have to pass some kind of exam. I'm here to play a game, not get played by one."

"Ten minutes into class and I've already given up. What a waste of my 18 Intelligence character. Deleting it and starting over—I'm putting my points into Strength and Dexterity and becoming a Fighter."

"Druid class. Still lost in the forest. I'm not a Ranger. Logged out to beg for a guide?"

"The guys above have already reached spell explanations. Meanwhile, I haven't even found the local Mage Association. The NPCs in the village don't know either, and they can't be bothered with me."

"Could it be that you spawned in the wrong place? I suggest checking the map later on. As far as I know, there won't be a Mage Association in the countryside. You'll probably have to go to your town. Though I wouldn't recommend that."

"Why not?"

"Because I just left the village and got stabbed back to the Genesis Temple by a few Goblins on the road to town. It hurt like hell. The system also told me Resurrection Stone -1. I checked, and I only have four left. Don't tell me..."

"That's right. Congratulations, you have four more chances to revive, and then your character is gone."

"This game is way too hardcore for me. The entire server has been open for two hours, and not a single person has completed their class training and gone out Grinding Monsters."

"As far as I know, a major gaming guild decided after its trial run not to keep investing resources into this game. They think a game with such harsh demands doesn't fit the current mainstream and has little potential."

"Can someone please tell me why, after I said the gods' doctrines were a little backward, those Clerics threw me out and called me a heretic? Where am I supposed to go to get a class now?"

"I sincerely advise players without a masochistic streak to start with double sixteen Strength and Constitution, then choose Fighter or Barbarian. The other classes take days just to get through."

"Get through? You're a Rogue, right? We Wizards are still sitting quietly in class. I paid three hundred to listen to occult studies in a game. This is killing me. I'll just consider it a donation to my faith. Goodbye."

At this time, most players were still in the game and unable to post on the forums.

But that did not stop those who had already decided to delete their characters and change classes, or those who had died by accident, from logging out to vent.

For the first time since the server opened at eight o'clock, the forum's activity surged to a peak.

Countless players were bewildered. When would they finally get to fight monsters?

Or at least run quests, deliver things, retrieve quest items, and the like.

They did not need to save the world, but could they at least use some basic class abilities?

Even the most miserable action games gave you a weapon or something at the start.

As for Zhao Xu, he was busy struggling with his studies.

He glanced at the female Wizard silently pacing before the desk. Her robe was a little too large, though, making it impossible to see her figure clearly.

Antinoa's perception skill was certainly not low. Before Zhao Xu had watched her for more than three seconds, she turned her head and stared directly at him.

Only then did Zhao Xu vaguely make out the color of her pupils. Like his, they were black.

"Is there a problem?"

Zhao Xu did not dare admit that he had just been distracted while estimating her figure. He hurriedly changed the subject. "Mentor, I was wondering whether my 16 Intelligence is enough?"

Attributes in the Arthurian World could be quantified. That was no secret to the local natives, much less to a Wizard like Antinoa, who was clearly above level ten.

Each point of an attribute represented a level. Every time an attribute increased, one could feel an obvious elevation.

After hearing Zhao Xu's question, Antinoa merely nodded lightly. "Eleven Intelligence is enough for you."

"Mentor, you're not joking, are you?" Zhao Xu asked.

For most spellcasting classes in Arthur, casting an X-level spell required at least 10 + X points in the relevant attribute.

With 16 Intelligence, if Zhao Xu did not increase it any further, he could only cast sixth-level arcane spells.

To cast ninth-level arcane spells, he had to raise his Intelligence to 19.

Without that much Intelligence, you simply could not comprehend those spells.

Eleven Intelligence only barely met the casting requirement for first-level arcane spells.

Zhao Xu was not an unparalleled genius, but he understood Antinoa's implied meaning: he could raise it later.

One attribute could be increased every four levels. Zhao Xu was not worried at all about whether his 16 Intelligence could reach 19.

But Wizards never found Intelligence burdensome.

The extra Spell Slots granted by Intelligence were indispensable to Wizards, whose Spell Slots were scarce.

Early-game Wizard players had it rough because they often ran out of spells after only a few casts.

Unless they fought only one or two monsters a day, their spell endurance could barely keep up.

Usually, after beginner Wizards ran out of spells, everyone would watch them stand in a corner and fire hand crossbows over and over.

Yet Wizards had low attack bonuses, so against monsters they could barely hit at all, like scratching an itch.

If they stood too far forward, their teammates had to worry that a monster might graze them and knock them straight to the ground.

"Guess how much Intelligence I have now. If you're off by no more than five points, I'll give you a valuable gift."

Zhao Xu calmly looked at Antinoa.

The reason he had taken attribute allocation so seriously from the start was that attributes were extremely difficult to obtain.

For example, in his Previous Life, he had owned a belt that gave +2 Strength. Unless he obtained equipment that gave +4 Strength, his path to gaining attributes from equipment was cut off.

That was because equipment provided an Enhancement Bonus, and bonuses of the same name did not stack.

He had only seen those legendary Magic Items that granted +6 to an attribute, reaching the enhancement limit, on a few powerful Fighters above level ten.

So Antinoa's attributes could be estimated.

This was also one of Arthur's more transparent aspects. If you knew someone's attributes and level, you could even calculate how many Spell Slots Antinoa had.

Zhao Xu secretly mused, I admire your 18 Intelligence, an opening attribute found only once in ten thousand.

You look so young. Let's say you're a level-twelve Wizard—that alone would make you extraordinarily rare. You'd have exactly three attribute increases, so 18 plus 3 only makes 21.

Add the headband Wizards supposedly covet most, a Wondrous Item with a +6 Intelligence Enhancement Bonus, and you would only have 27 Intelligence at most.

Arthur had only this one narrow method of permanently increasing attributes. No matter what you did, there was no room for tricks.

"You mean the kind of Intelligence bonus that affects Spell Slots?"

Zhao Xu suddenly asked one more question out of caution.

For Intelligence to affect Spell Slots, it had to remain in effect for at least twenty-four hours.

Anything that lasted twenty-four hours was basically no different from permanent.

He was afraid there might be some obscure spell he did not know about that could temporarily add a few points of Intelligence through a different type of bonus.

"Of course."

"Twenty-five?"

Given Antinoa's allowance of a five-point margin, anything from 20 to 30 would count as a win.

Zhao Xu guessed two points below the limit of 27 that he had calculated, since all his earlier calculations had assumed the maximum.

"You really underestimate me. You can double that."

"How could there be 50 points?"

Zhao Xu found it hard to believe.