Combat Power Direction

"Teacher, are we continuing with 'The Arcane Path' today?"

Zhao Xu asked. After flipping through the book for the second day, he finally understood. It was indeed a specially processed magical tome.

Once the book was read and closed, its content would automatically change, presenting new material each time it was opened.

To recall previously read content, one only needed to silently recall the relevant memory, and upon opening the book again, it would automatically appear.

Zhao Xu was only experiencing this kind of book with built-in artificial intelligence and retrieval technology in this lifetime.

In his previous life, he had only heard of equipment that could communicate with its owner.

For the past few days, Zhao Xu had been completely engrossed in that book and the lectures.

"No need," Antinoa said.

Even after spending a few days together, Zhao Xu still couldn't get a proper look at the face hidden beneath her cloak's shadow.

"In the past two days, the organization has had some disagreements regarding your future path."

Zhao Xu's spirits immediately lifted upon hearing this. He had no desire to be a pawn.

Living a good life was his pursuit.

"The main point is that someone proposed a new perspective, and this is largely due to your Dual Elite status."

"Actually, Arthur also has options other than advancing, like sticking to a pure Mage or pure Priest class. They are also strong existences without advancing."

Zhao Xu understood. Mages and Priests were indeed powerful. Even without advancement opportunities, they wouldn't be significantly weaker if they solidified their foundations.

"After reaching the Legend rank, pure Mages also gain substantial benefits from their Feats. And—"

Antinoa paused here. "A pure Mage can also engage with magic more purely, which is beneficial for magical research."

"Therefore, some people in the organization have suggested that you become a pure Mage directly, without pursuing short-term combat power enhancement."

Zhao Xu understood now. Based on his observations over the past few days, they seemed to think he was cultivable?

Was he being steered away from field operations and towards a researcher path?

But Zhao Xu carefully considered that what Antinoa had told him all happened after he stepped onto the Floating City.

So, the opinions of more people in the organization had actually formed only in the last two days.

Compared to three days ago, no one knew about Arthur's existence.

"Previously, when we discussed deciding your class path, it was to prevent you from wasting your advantages and making some trash advancements. So that I wouldn't have to use Energy Drain to remove your class levels. Actually, our organization is quite liberal, so I'm here this time to ask for your thoughts."

"Do you want to pursue combat power and go down the advancement route, or directly become a pure Mage and stay on the Floating City to conduct research?"

As Zhao Xu listened to Antinoa's word-by-word explanation, his hair stood on end when he heard the name "Energy Drain."

Arthur had many negative statuses, such as ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, dazzled, blinded, deafened, shaken, frightened, panicked, dazed, confused, charmed, fatigued, exhausted, nauseated, sickened, slowed, stunned, prone, grappled, pinned, entangled, staggered, paralyzed, immobolized, restrained, sleep, unconscious, petrified, and disabled.

However, among these, what players feared the most was this energy drain.

Energy Drain was a ninth-level Arcane spell that could directly erase an opponent's character levels by 2D4 (levels 2-8).

2D4 was the sum of two four-sided dice, with a value between 2 and 8.

Being hit by this spell was excruciating. If the character level was lower than the drained levels, it resulted in instant death.

If it exceeded it, the spell would last for 24 hours, and then a saving throw would be made for each absorbed level.

If the saving throw succeeded, the negative level disappeared. If it failed, the negative level disappeared, but the character permanently lost one level.

A permanent loss of one level was the true punishment.

In his previous life, a very powerful friend of Zhao Xu's suffered Energy Drain from a Lich and failed all his saving throws, causing him to fall from grace and lose his influence.

Therefore, people like Zhao Xu, who relied on their levels, avoided such things like the plague.

Thinking that he was involved in a potential ideological conflict, Zhao Xu carefully chose his words and asked, "Teacher, may I ask what faction within the organization proposed this?"

"Strictly speaking, our Final Scroll is just one major force within the Arthur Mage Association headquarters. The Goddess has prestige, but she doesn't have absolute authority. This proposal comes from some old-school researchers at the association headquarters. They've been stuck on the Divine Barrier project for a long time, so they hope to recruit someone like you who can cultivate both divine and arcane arts from birth."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu felt a significant weight lift from his shoulders. Researchers, after all, weren't as quick to draw a knife as those engaged in direct combat. He estimated that refusing their goodwill wouldn't be remembered too harshly.

"I heard that Arthur can also cultivate both divine and arcane arts by advancing as an Arcanist, right?" Zhao Xu suddenly remembered something from his past life and asked.

Antinoa's expression shifted, and her sharp gaze was faintly felt by Zhao Xu, even through the cloak's shadow.

"The Arcanist advancement has always been very secretive. It's not strange for you players to know about it later. But I didn't expect you to have encountered it in just three days?"

Zhao Xu felt incredibly awkward. He hadn't expected his casual remark to hit such a sensitive topic.

In reality, high-level individuals like Antinoa were aware that Zhao Xu had access to the internet from Earth. This information was likely disseminated by the gods. Therefore, whenever Zhao Xu brought up something about Arthur that seemed out of the blue, Antinoa always answered his questions without questioning the source.

"Are you surprised that I'm asking?"

Zhao Xu nodded quickly.

"The Arcanist advancement has no class abilities. Its sole function is that each caster level can be stacked with both Arcane caster and Divine caster levels simultaneously."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu finally understood why others in his previous life had praised the Arcanist so highly.

A level 12 character who was a Level 1 Mage / Level 1 Priest / Level 10 Arcanist would essentially have the same casting ability as an 11th-level Mage and an 11th-level Priest.

What was the point of him being a Dual Elite then?

No, wouldn't that mean he could too?

However, Antinoa quickly shattered his fantasy.

"The prerequisite for advancing to Arcanist is the ability to cast level 2 Arcane and level 2 Divine spells, and Dual Elites cannot advance into this profession."

Zhao Xu understood as soon as he heard this. So the trap was here. He had never heard of this advance once players could only access it at level 7, so it was no wonder it had caused suspicion.

Level 2 Arcane and level 2 Divine spells meant players would need to be a level 3 Mage/level 3 Priest. They would already be level 6 characters. Even if they could multiclass into a level 10 advance profession to maximize, at level 16 they would only be able to cast level 7 Arcane and level 7 Divine spells.

A pure Mage would already have level 8 spells, and even level 9 spells would be within reach at the next level.

A single misstep meant every subsequent step would be slower. If he had directly generated a level 20 character, then the Arcanist advance would have been fine. But if he started playing from level 1, this kind of profession with no inherent abilities would make Zhao Xu certain it would be an agonizing experience.

This was also his Dual Elite's greatest advantage: having his cake and eating it too.

"Mentor, I choose the combat path." Zhao Xu didn't mind deliberating further at this point. Since he had Dual Elite, he had to make good use of this advantage. Not going the combat path for his advance would truly be a waste of his one-in-ten-thousand test account.

I received the contract text message today, and I will write it well. Thank you all for your comments and encouragement. Thank you.