True Intelligence

As time went on, Zhao Xu finally discovered what he had been worried about.

He might, truly, not have that talent.

When he played Arthur in his previous life, his roommate had analyzed it for him: although Mages were beginning to rise, they were still too difficult for someone like him, a novice, so he had recommended the Warrior class.

Because of this, Zhao Xu had never known if he had the talent to learn magic.

Besides the most basic intelligence, there was some kind of talent that no one could quite explain.

Otherwise, in all of Arthur, any creature with an Intelligence of 11 would be qualified to become a Mage.

Even a month later, there would be an incident where hundreds of players with maxed-out 18 Intelligence, unable to complete the novice Mage training, agreed to delete their characters in protest, directly causing the number of new players choosing Mage to plummet.

This time, studying in Mistral's Floating City, was also Zhao Xu's first time encountering Mage courses.

In his past life, after everyone transmigrated, all of them lost the privilege of deleting and restarting. Each person had to stick with the character they had, even if it was a dead end.

Therefore, Zhao Xu's current feeling of struggling to even get started made him feel conflicted.

It was like the exam was about to end, and he hadn't filled out his answer sheet while the last major question remained untouched.

If he had to experience this bitterness alone, it would have been one thing. But Antinoa had been sitting quietly in his dormitory these past few days as if she had nothing else to do, waiting for his questions.

She didn't go anywhere, just stayed there teaching him. This feeling of being watched while making no progress made it even more agonizing.

If he had fully understood the structure of the spells, he could have blamed his "Mindful Caster" ability for the failed inscriptions.

But he couldn't understand any of the nineteen Zero-level Spells.

At first, Zhao Xu thought it was because of his spell affinity, but then he switched to five different Zero-level Spells and still didn't understand them.

Antinoa gave him a hint, to feel the flow of the models, like calligraphy, where each stroke had its own depth and outline.

He could feel it, but he just couldn't connect them, just like he couldn't imitate that feeling.

"Teacher, how long did it take you to get past this stage?" Finally, Zhao Xu sighed and asked Antinoa about her past experience. He had already seen enough introductions from other players these past few days.

Tonight, he had delayed logging in by an hour just to read more strategy guides, but it was still useless.

That layer of membrane was the difference between an insurmountable chasm and a smooth path.

"Me? I copied them as I looked at them."

"Master, you don't need to understand them?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Understand? To me, they are as straightforward as words. What is there to understand? It's not like a Level 1 Arcane spell, which requires 24 hours of study to mitigate the risks involved."

"Zero-level spells don't have that?" Zhao Xu continued to ask.

"If they did, they wouldn't be Cantrips. These nineteen spells are the nineteen simple spells that we've screened out as the safest to study, spells that can't explode no matter how you play them."

Zhao Xu felt like a slacker facing a top student.

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

"About three years," Antinoa replied.

Zhao Xu took a breath.

Others had three years of accumulation leading to a natural progression, while he, aiming for a week-long breakthrough, shouldn't expect too much.

This was also why others could develop magic, while players like them could only use it.

All Arcana and even some divine arts in Arthur, along with their origins and histories, were all meticulously recorded.

"But why can't I understand them?" Zhao Xu finally voiced his difficulty.

Antinoa chuckled upon hearing this, "You finally couldn't help but ask?"

"You know that everyone in Arthur, after obtaining their first basic professional level, can perceive their character card?"

Zhao Xu nodded. They, as players, could see it even without level 1.

The natives of Arthur could only see their character card after reaching level 1, and as they leveled up, they would gain more modules.

In other words, in the world of Arthur, adventurers all had a character card system.

This was also why they could quantify levels, feats, and class abilities.

This point was never a secret.

"And your player system's six major attributes—Strength, Agility, Constitution, Charisma, and Perception—can compensate for each other. Even if your Perception is low, your feelings are told to you by the system, so it can simulate the Perception value of your attribute panel."

"Only Intelligence does the system not simulate for you."

"Since your true self doesn't have 16 Intelligence, you naturally can't understand quickly."

Zhao Xu finally understood.

Or rather, Intelligence was something shared by both the player's Earth and Arthur. It was understandable if a player's Charisma or Perception differed between the two worlds.

But if they discovered that their Arthurian self was smarter, or that playing the game made them smarter, then everything would be exposed.

This was also why Arthur did not enhance their Intelligence.

So this was the reason why the Mage community had been bottlenecked for so long.

Humans average 10 Intelligence. A normal distribution would place the majority of people between 8 and 12 Intelligence. Zhao Xu guessed that his own Intelligence probably maxed out at 13.

As for levels like 16, 17, or 18, those were for exceptionally intelligent individuals, even those with photographic memories, and naturally, they were extremely rare.

Some people just couldn't learn to be Mages, even with an Intelligence score of 18; if their True Intelligence wasn't at least 11, they wouldn't be able to comprehend the concepts without the system's help.

It was likely that most people in all of Arthur now couldn't grasp this fact; only legendary powerhouses like Antinoa could understand it clearly.

"Mentor, I accept that I'm not naturally that intelligent. Are there any remedies?" Zhao Xu resigned himself to not having an Intelligence score of 16.

"Of course, there are ways," Antinoa chuckled, appearing quite pleased with Zhao Xu's admission of his own perceived dullness.

"Then tell me, why is understanding necessary?"

"If you don't understand, how can you transcribe it into your own heart?" Zhao Xu was even more confused.

"You know to dodge when a sword is thrust at you. Why do you need to be smart enough to know where it's coming from?"

Zhao Xu's body suddenly jolted. He felt as though he had touched upon some kind of threshold, yet like a beginner swimmer, he couldn't quite execute that essential kick to truly learn to swim.

Seeing Zhao Xu frown, Antinoa perfectly understood the difficulty he was facing.

"You are on a river. You don't necessarily need to know how to swim; you can still drift downstream in a boat."

Seeing that Zhao Xu still hadn't reacted, she decided to be more direct. "Just follow the ebb and flow, stroke by stroke."

"Go with the flow!"

Zhao Xu suddenly understood. He quickly flipped to the first page of the "Compendium of Zero-level Spells."

He forgot all the accompanying text.

His mind was focused solely on the spell models.

Instantly, everything seemed alive, and the entire model began to shift.

Zhao Xu's heart danced along with it, his pen moving with flowing strokes.

"Read Magic" was successfully transcribed.

"Detect Magic" was successfully transcribed.

"Dancing Lights" was also successfully transcribed.

"Prestidigitation" completed its transcription.

Finally, all nineteen zero-level spells were transcribed into the depths of his heart, flickering and overlapping like mysterious arcane paintings.

If someone were present, they would undoubtedly be stunned. To transcribe nineteen zero-level spells in one go was truly astonishing!