True Intelligence

As time passed, Zhao Xu finally discovered what he had feared.

Perhaps he truly lacked that kind of talent.

When he had wanted to play Arthurian World in his Previous Life, his roommate had analyzed things for him. Although Wizards had begun to rise somewhat, they were still far too difficult for a beginner like him, so his roommate had recommended Fighter instead.

Thus, Zhao Xu had never known whether he possessed the talent to learn spells.

Beyond the most basic Intelligence, there was some indescribable talent that no one could clearly explain.

Otherwise, every creature in Arthurian World with 11 Intelligence would qualify to become a Wizard.

There had even been an incident that would erupt a month later, where over a hundred players with maxed-out 18 Intelligence had been unable to complete novice Wizard training and agreed to furiously delete their accounts together. It directly drove the number of new players choosing Wizard to rock bottom.

This study session in Mistral Floating City was also Zhao Xu's first contact with Wizard courses.

After everyone transmigrated in his Previous Life, they all lost the privilege of deleting their accounts and starting over. Whatever character they had, they had to follow that dead-end path through to the end.

So the feeling of struggling desperately yet failing to even get started made Zhao Xu feel conflicted.

It was like an exam was about to end: he had not filled in his answer sheet, and he had not even begun the final major question.

It would have been one thing if he alone had experienced such bitterness, but Antinoa had seemed to have nothing better to do these past few days. She simply sat quietly in his dorm room, waiting for his questions.

She went nowhere and did nothing but teach him. The feeling of someone watching while he made no progress at all was even more agonizing.

If he had completely understood the structure of the spells, then if his copying failed, he could still blame his Mindful Caster ability.

But of the nineteen Zero-level Spells, he had not understood a single one.

At first, Zhao Xu thought the issue was that the spell's orientation did not suit him. Yet after switching through five Zero-level Spells in a row, he still understood none of them.

Antinoa had prompted him to sense the flow of those models. Like calligraphy, every stroke had its own varying depth and contour.

He could sense it, but he could never connect it all together. It was as if he could not even imitate that feeling.

"Teacher, how long did it take you to reach this stage?" In the end, Zhao Xu sighed and asked about Antinoa's past experience instead. He had already read more than enough introductions from other players these past few days.

He had delayed logging in by an hour tonight just to read more strategy posts, but they had still been useless.

That thin layer was the difference between an impassable chasm and an open road.

"Me? I copied them as I read."

"Mentor, didn't you need to understand them?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Understand? To me, they were as straightforward as words. What was there to understand? They weren't first-level arcane spells, which required twenty-four hours of mandatory study because of the risks involved, to offset those risks."

"Zero-level Spells don't have that?" Zhao Xu continued.

"If they did, they wouldn't be cantrips. These nineteen spells are the nineteen simplest and safest spells we selected from all our research. You couldn't blow yourself up with them no matter how you played around."

Zhao Xu felt like a failing student facing a top student.

He could only tactfully ask again, "Then, Mentor, before you formally encountered these Zero-level Spells, how many years had it been since you began learning magic?"

"Three years," Antinoa said.

Zhao Xu drew a small breath.

Others had reached this point naturally through three years of accumulation. He had only been cramming for a week, so he should not demand too much.

That was also why others could develop magic, while players could only use magic.

Every arcane spell in Arthurian World, and even some Divine Spells, had their origins and histories recorded in detail.

"But why have I been unable to understand them?" Zhao Xu finally voiced his predicament.

Antinoa gave a soft laugh. "You finally couldn't resist asking?"

"Everyone in Arthurian World can sense their Character Card after gaining a level in a Basic Profession. You know that, right?"

Zhao Xu nodded. Players could see theirs even without a level.

The natives of Arthurian World could only see their Character Cards after gaining their first level, and they could unlock more modules only as they leveled up.

In other words, every adventurer in Arthurian World had a Character Card system.

That was why people could quantify levels, Feats, class abilities, and such.

This had never been a secret.

"Your six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, Wisdom, and the rest—can all be supplemented by the system. Even if your Wisdom is low, the sensations you experience are told to you by the system, so it can simulate the Wisdom value on your attribute panel."

"Only Intelligence has not been developed for you by the system."

"If the real you do not have 16 Intelligence, naturally you cannot understand it quickly."

Only then did Zhao Xu understand.

Or rather, Intelligence was something players shared between Earth and Arthurian World. It was understandable for a player's Charisma and Wisdom to differ between the two worlds.

But if people discovered that they were smarter in Arthurian World, or that playing the game made them smarter, the whole illusion would be exposed.

That was why Arthurian World alone did not increase their Intelligence.

So this was why the Wizard community had been stuck for so long.

The average human had 10 Intelligence. Under a normal distribution, 8 to 12 Intelligence covered the vast majority of people. Zhao Xu guessed that he himself was probably at most 13.

As for levels like 16, 17, and 18, those belonged to exceptionally brilliant people, even those with photographic memories. Their numbers were naturally extremely small.

Some people simply could not learn to be Wizards no matter what. Setting their Intelligence to 18 was useless, because if their True Intelligence was below 11, the system would not help them improve it, and they definitely could not understand.

Most people throughout Arthurian World probably still could not comprehend this fact. Only legendary powerhouses like Antinoa could know it clearly.

"Mentor, I accept that I wasn't originally that smart. Is there any remedy?" Zhao Xu accepted the fact that his True Intelligence was not 16.

"Of course there is." Antinoa smiled, as though she was delighted that Zhao Xu had admitted he was stupid.

"Then let me ask you: why must you understand?"

"If I don't understand, how can I copy it into my own heart?" Zhao Xu was even more confused.

"If a sword comes at you, all you need is to dodge it. Why must you be clever enough to know where it came from?"

Zhao Xu trembled. It seemed he had touched some kind of threshold, yet like a beginner swimmer, he still could not kick out with that one leg and truly learn to swim.

Seeing Zhao Xu frown, Antinoa understood perfectly what difficulty he had encountered.

"When you are on a river, you don't necessarily need to know how to swim. You can still ride a boat downstream."

When Zhao Xu still did not react, she could only put it more plainly. "Just follow the rise and fall of the waves, stroke by stroke."

Go with the flow!

Zhao Xu understood at once. He hurriedly flipped the Compendium of Zero-level Spells to its first page.

He forgot all the supplementary text.

His mind held only those models.

At once, everything seemed to come alive, and the entire model began to change.

Zhao Xu's heart danced along with it, his strokes flowing like dragons and serpents.

"Read Magic" had been copied.

"Detect Magic" had been copied successfully.

"Dancing Lights" had likewise been copied successfully.

"Prestidigitation" had been copied.

In the end, all nineteen Zero-level Spells were copied into the depths of his heart, crisscrossing and flickering like mysterious paintings.

If anyone had been beside him, they would surely have been dumbfounded. Someone had actually copied nineteen Zero-level Spells in one go!