Dual Elite Path

Dual Elite Path

The number of people logging into Arthur today had yet to reach the game's peak.

The real peak would come half a year later, when interest kept rising and players' new in-game achievements repeatedly made it onto the social media trending lists.

Although the game already had Character Cards that allowed players to view all sorts of detailed game data,

players could not use any remote communication tools in the game, and all online search tools were completely blocked.

Thus, whenever they encountered any unusual questions, they could only rely on themselves or the system's various Knowledge Skills to look things up.

If they insisted on logging off to search for information, leaving aside the wait time for logging off, the twenty-minute cooldown between logging out and back in alone was enough to deter most people.

Even so, before some guilds could afford the cost of communication spells, they still used the primitive method of logging off to communicate, then logging back in to reply.

Many players were utterly lost when they first entered the game. Some never took the initiative to ask for directions and still had not found the actual training grounds after wandering around for two days.

Zhao Xu was perhaps the first player in the entire game to understand what the markings on the parchment map meant and how to get there.

For his first choice, Zhao Xu naturally headed to the Gate of Arcane—the headquarters of the Mage Association.

There was more than one Mage Association in Arthur.

But the Mage Association located in Mystra, the Magic Capital, was unmatched across the continent in both scale and number of Wizards. Its branches were spread throughout cities across the entire continent.

The influence of other Wizard organizations was generally less than a tenth of its own. Even the association formed by the Red Robe Mages could only keep to one country.

Only the Mage Association at the Gate of Arcane needed no prefix by default.

The Mage Association referred specifically to the one in Mystra.

After Zhao Xu submitted his documents in the reception hall of the Gate of Arcane, the apprentices in charge of receiving guests used a simple spell to identify the password on his letter of recommendation and confirmed its authenticity without a doubt.

There were certainly people bold enough to use "forged documents" to deceive the Mage Association headquarters, but even the quickest Rogue player among the current player base probably had not truly mastered those skills yet, much less had the ability to deceive them with their low-level skills.

To Arthur's natives, these players had not fallen from the sky for no reason, nor had every NPC been brainwashed into believing they were natives of Arthur.

In fact, players later discovered that the entire world was logically consistent.

Arthur's natives had learned through temple propaganda years ago that they were projections from another world called Earth.

Other worlds were nothing unfamiliar to Arthur's natives—or rather, to adventurers in general. In fact, even the planes where the gods resided counted as other worlds.

Wizards frequently summoned Otherworldly Creatures, allowing their projections to enter Arthur's Material Plane and fight.

Because players could log out and back in, and because they possessed Divine Favor in the form of five more Resurrection Stones than Arthur's natives, they too were regarded as another kind of projection.

At most, they could not be blocked or dispelled by an Anti-magic Field.

Zhao Xu had even heard that top-tier Wizards no longer went adventuring in person.

Most simply sent projections with exactly the same power as themselves.

The transmigration a year later merely meant that all Earthlings would truly become native residents of Arthur, transforming from projections into real people.

Zhao Xu waited in the hall for less than fifteen minutes before a black-robed Wizard came out and led him into the Gate of Arcane's interior.

Aside from warning Zhao Xu not to wander around lest he trigger a trap and have to resurrect once more, he remained silent the entire way.

Everyone passing through the Gate of Arcane was quiet, hurrying back and forth.

Less than ten minutes later, the Wizard led Zhao Xu into an empty hall.

Pointing at the glowing doorway ahead, he said, "This door is specifically for Mage Apprentices like you. Don't overthink it. Just walk straight through."

"A portal?"

Zhao Xu stared in surprise at the three-meter-tall glowing doorway.

He had not expected their training grounds to be somewhere other than Mystra's surface, requiring them to pass through this portal.

Apart from limits on the size of what could pass through and the fact that they generally only pointed to one location, portals had nothing but praise going for them.

In just one round of time—six seconds—players could pass through one and arrive at the designated location, requiring neither assistance nor the activation of any spell.

A portal that took one straight to the destination with a price tag of one hundred thousand gold coins was the dream of countless adventurers.

Because the wilderness was simply too dangerous.

Although players could log out safely after staying out of combat for five minutes and did not need to camp in the wild,

their early Resurrection Stones were mostly consumed by accidents in the wilderness.

Even Arthur's natives would not rashly leave town for the wilds unless necessary.

"You've seen one before?" The black-robed Wizard finally raised his head slightly and glanced at Zhao Xu. His expression was obscured beneath the hood.

Only then did Zhao Xu realize that this man was probably not one of those rookie Wizards guarding the entrance outside, who were at most level one or two.

Most Wizards here knew that they were "adventurers" from Earth.

By all rights, players had only just come into contact with Arthur and should have limited knowledge.

But Zhao Xu knew that the best approach was not to explain, but to keep asking questions.

"Does this door lead upward?"

As he spoke, Zhao Xu pointed above them. Though there was only the ceiling of the hall overhead, the implication was obvious.

"You are indeed quick-witted." The black-robed Wizard gave Zhao Xu a long look.

But Zhao Xu noticed that the man's gaze was fixed entirely on the two badges on his chest.

"Interesting indeed. No wonder I was asked to bring you here."

The black-robed Wizard said something Zhao Xu could not make sense of.

"What do you mean?"

Zhao Xu's sharp Wisdom told him that he might have just pried open some crucial point.

Arthur's natives were living people, so it was not as though they would only speak after a quest had been triggered.

But generally speaking, high-level Wizards were rather aloof and would not waste their time on level-one weaklings unless they had nothing better to do.

That was true even though Zhao Xu was currently at the highest-ranking academy in the Wizarding world.

The Wizard's somewhat cloudy eyes met Zhao Xu's.

Zhao Xu felt dazed for a moment, as if he were looking into the eyes of an aged sage.

Yet the skin visible beyond the Wizard's robes was not old at all.

Still, that did not stop Zhao Xu from lowering his head slightly.

He was unlike the other players, who entered the game fearing neither heaven nor earth, thinking, At worst, I'll delete my account and start over, or just quit this crappy game.

Every Earthling would have to make a living in Arthur. Continuing to act arrogant was simply courting death.

"If I were you, I would put away that Cleric badge first. It will draw less attention to you." The Wizard suddenly offered an inexplicable suggestion.

"How so? Aren't players allowed to participate in training for two professions at once?"

Zhao Xu hurriedly asked. Though the players did not yet know this was possible, he did, and he was absolutely certain of it.

Some players, like him, would receive multiple badges for training if several profession statues remained after the final selection.

Others would have to make a trade-off, choosing which association represented by a badge they wanted to train with.

But as a Dual Elite, he could have them all.

Like Zhao Xu, the black-robed Wizard did not answer the question directly. Instead, he murmured,

"Ten minutes ago, there was also a female player like you who possessed two badges. However, she was sent to the portal next door."

A year before Arthur became reality, Zhao Xu's sixteen Intelligence had not yet taken effect.

For now, he still had to rely on his natural intelligence to piece together the meaning behind the man's words.

Zhao Xu completely calmed down, wondering whether there was some hidden quest or mystery at work.

The man's words implied that, like that female player, he should have gone to the portal next door?

Did a Wizard training academy really need to build two doors?

Even if the Mage Association had money to burn, it would not build two portals in adjacent halls leading to the same place for fun.

Which meant they led to different places.

If this had been another capital, it might have been possible that an additional portal was used to send top students to Mystra.

But the Gate of Arcane was already the most elite Wizard academy. Rumor had it that even its instructors included Legendary Mages.

Could it get any more elite? Were they going to send him straight to the Goddess herself?

And Cleric training was held in the temple next door, so there was no need to go through all this trouble.

Zhao Xu suddenly understood. Back then, in order to show off and let the Gate of Arcane staff see how different he was, hoping they would invest in his potential, he had deliberately worn both proof badges.

And it had actually brought about something different.

Perhaps it did not even matter whether he wore them. From the moment he stepped through the headquarters' doors, it had already been the case.

But what did that have to do with two portals?

Suddenly, realization struck Zhao Xu.

A Hidden Basic Profession!

Those wearing two badges could take up a hidden profession beyond Wizard and Cleric!

But then came the question—which portal, his or the one next door, led to the Hidden Basic Profession?

Just as Zhao Xu was about to ask for confirmation, he saw the look in the man's eyes and abruptly stopped.

The answer was already obvious.

If it truly were a hidden profession, they would not keep silent until he reached the portal.

The portal next door was the one leading to the hidden profession.

Then the question was—why had they both worn two badges, yet the other player gone for the hidden profession while he was sent down this Path of the Mage?

"Looks like you've figured it out?"

Even if Wizards were highly respected, they were still a Basic Profession on this continent.

"Think carefully first. What is special about you?"

Zhao Xu lowered his head and thought. What was special about him?

Sixteen Intelligence was high, but there were plenty of people ahead of him with seventeen or eighteen Intelligence.

Dual... Dual Elite!

Zhao Xu suddenly understood, but logically speaking, the other party should not have been able to see that, either.

Weren't players immune to all kinds of Mind Reading and Control Spells for one year?

The Wizard suddenly raised his head and gazed into the distance, as though he could see through the portal.

"Rest assured. You adventurers from Earth are immune to many special effects. Let me give you a piece of advice as well: besides Spell Slots, wisdom and knowledge are also among a Wizard's abilities."

Zhao Xu understood what he meant. If NPCs could directly read players' minds or do even worse things, there would be an uproar.

So this immunity was actually the gods' protection for the player population, lasting one year.

It was also protection for Zhao Xu.

Otherwise, the matter of his transmigration would be written all over his face before those legendary bigshots.

So the other party had relied on wisdom and observation?

Suddenly, Zhao Xu nearly slapped his own forehead. He had actually forgotten the skill Read Expressions.

His expression must have been too obvious. He could only wait until later and raise his Disguise skill to better resist it.

Once Zhao Xu understood, he nodded and walked straight toward the glowing doorway.

Just as he was about to step through, he suddenly stopped and asked,

"After I complete my level-one Wizard training, I can go through the portal next door, right?"

He did not say that he was Dual Elite, but he trusted the other party understood.

The man would not assume Zhao Xu meant taking up that hidden profession at level two after becoming a level-one Wizard.

"No."

"Your Path of the Mage will continue onward."

"As for your other path, you must first become a level-one Cleric, then become a Scroll Scholar."

Profession path one: Level 2 Wizard.

Profession path two: Level 1 Cleric/Level 1 Scroll Scholar.

The path the man described instantly surfaced in Zhao Xu's mind, along with the name of that Hidden Basic Profession.

He spun around and asked sharply, "Why?"

"It is the Goddess's will."