Magic (Thanks to You Shang Wei Guan for the Reward)

After the commotion caused by Granny Karom, Arando had no choice but to compromise. However, clever people are usually adept at finding excuses; after all, there is nothing wrong with balancing work and rest. He did not need a disciple who buried his head in studies all day, and allowing Solam to have appropriate contact with outsiders had its benefits.

A mage is not necessarily formidable just because of a high level. Many high-level mages who remain in research labs and magic towers are not necessarily capable of actual combat. One must know that using spells in battle tests a mage's reflexes; there is a great deal of nuance in knowing exactly when to use the most appropriate spell.

Although Arcane Knights are inherently combat-oriented casters, they learn spells specifically for battle. Arcane Knights possess many spellcasting techniques that evolved from Battle Mages. (Battle Mages are a type of mage who believes that spells are born solely for combat and destruction. They pursue rapid casting and high-power spells, and generally, such mages choose to specialize in Evocation and Transmutation. However, within the mage community, this school is highly despised and referred to as "barbarians who know magic.")

Arando could only console himself with this thought; what else could he do?

And so, Solam began a life where he rested one day a week and spent the rest of his time busy as a dog. Perhaps thanks to this intensive learning method, Solam actually awakened another ability: "Focus."

Regardless, Solam had begun his formal studies. After learning Netherese (a language that is very convoluted but elegant and precise) and Common, and becoming proficient in reading and writing them (Netherese script is a very complex, ornate font), Solam started his true study of magic-related knowledge.

First was the history of magic, which was mandatory.

In short, the elves played their world to ruin using powerful magic and then opened portals to the Ancient Faerun Continent of the Toril World. After wars with dragons and several Crown Wars, the continent was shattered, and magic was taught to humans. After the Netherese discovered the Netherese Scrolls, they began a glorious era of modern magical civilization, with humans abandoning the magic taught by the elves to study the knowledge within those scrolls. Through their studies, they created the Mythallar and built Floating Cities. Later, this developed into the eight schools of magic; almost all modern magical knowledge was inherited from that era.

These eight schools are: Abjuration (various shields), Conjuration (curses, spells like Power Word: Stun), Divination (divination spells, wish spells, etc.), Enchantment (alchemy, buffing spells like Stoneskin), Evocation (fireballs, etc.), Illusion (no explanation needed), Necromancy (death spells, life modification also belongs to this school), and Transmutation (literal meaning).

Next was the theory of magic.

Initially, the Arcanists of Netherese did not need to prepare spells in advance. Most of them did not need to rely on the Weave, casting magic solely through incantations and gestures. Unlike modern mages, if they failed to learn a spell, they would never be able to learn it again for the rest of their lives. Casting magic required consuming something called Arcs, and at that time, the number of spells they mastered was small. The frequency of casting was also not as high as that of modern mages. However, because the Goddess of Magic had not yet sealed the direct connection between mages and the source of magic during the Netherese era, their super-magic was more powerful than it is today.

Later mages cracked the secret of these "Arcs," which was the speed of brain calculation and concentration. In the modern era where the Weave is prevalent, mages calculate the entire trajectory of a spell in their brains, then guide it into the Weave through gestures and chanting—this is the spell model—and finally release it by focusing their minds.

Spell models are mostly complex and precise. To prevent the brain from being fried after each calculation, the Weave removes the spell model from memory after each casting. This is why one must prepare the spell model in the mind again after casting a spell. Therefore, the smarter a person is, the more spells they can master (the Weave clears the spell model, not the memory of the spell itself). From this perspective, the Weave protects the brains of mages, preventing them from overloading and dying. Since the era of the Weave, magic has become easier to learn and safer. Of course, this is relative, and the number of modern mages is not high.

Learning this, Solam could not help but sigh: if it reached the later stages, wouldn't a mage just become a human computer? This was unimaginable in his previous world. One must know that the concept of biological computers had existed for many years, but actually creating one was a fantasy.

However, that world was not lacking in miracles. Some people could achieve this, making their brains comparable to computers—these were the Espers. In that world, people never gave up on researching psychic powers. They discovered that psychic powers were brought about by physical mutations, which could also be called evolution. Therefore, psychic powers were divided into physical enhancement types and mental types. The source of these powers was a mutation in some part of the body. People found that physical enhancement powers had many sources and could be a mutation in any part of the body. But mental powers had only one source: the brain. Research found that the brain development of mental Espers was much stronger than that of ordinary people; the average person's brain development was only 10%, and mental Espers were generally quite intelligent.

Some special mental Espers could completely make their brain's computational power comparable to a computer.

So Solam thought, if he could firmly remember those spell models in his brain so that the Weave could not clear his memory, wouldn't he be able to cast spells without preparing them in advance? Although there would still be spell slot limitations, he could freely cast the spells he needed, which would be more flexible than other mages and could completely offset the disadvantage of having fewer spell slots than the average mage.

Then Solam excitedly ran to Arando and told him his idea, naturally without mentioning that he possessed psychic powers.

Arando laughed heartily after hearing Solam's idea and told him that almost every mage apprentice had had such thoughts, but none had ever succeeded.

He himself had made efforts in this direction when he was young, but such a restriction was not so easily broken. It was possible in the Netherese era because the spell structures were not as complex as they are now.

Moreover, the Weave's clearing ability is not that simple. The higher the mage's level, the deeper their connection to the Weave, and the stronger this clearing ability becomes. Only Legendary Mages, after reaching high-level legend, can understand and control raw magical energy that has not been filtered by the Weave, allowing them to bypass the Weave to cast spells. But even this has a limit, because one truly cannot remember that many spell models.

However, Arando had no intention of stopping this whim; after all, it is not a bad thing for young people to try more, as it allows for a deeper understanding of the greatness and rigor of magic.

Seeing that Arando did not believe he could succeed, Solam said nothing. He was just giving a heads-up to avoid Arando being overly surprised later.

Solam had this confidence entirely because of his new ability, "Focus." This ability did not look particularly powerful, but Solam knew very well that even in his previous life, this was a rare god-tier skill.

This ability allowed a person to accelerate the learning of anything, like having a photographic memory. Most importantly, this ability was one of the few that could utilize undeveloped brain areas; it could store learned information directly into the undeveloped brain areas, which would not affect the operation of the normal brain at all.

Whether the spell models learned using "Focus" would be cleared, to be honest, Solam did not know. After all, he had not researched the brain conditions of this world, and he did not know if the Weave would clear memories in undeveloped brain areas.

However, he guessed it would not. Undeveloped brain areas are essentially non-existent. Weren't there cases in his previous life where people had a piece of their brain missing but still lived perfectly fine? That was because the damaged parts happened to be undeveloped brain areas. Solam did not believe the Goddess of Magic would be so bored as to clear memories that did not exist.

Besides, it wouldn't kill him to try, so why not?

No sooner said than done. He took the few cantrips he had just learned to test it. Solam was not yet qualified to learn real magic and could only learn some cantrips, because the models for these 0-level spells were very simple. Anyone with a bit of intelligence could learn them, and casting these 0-level spells did not require any mage level, as long as one could connect to the shallow Weave. Therefore, many mage apprentices who couldn't make it would rely on these 0-level spells to work as street performers to make a living. But even though they were simple, they were still cast via the Weave and would have their models cleared.

Solam took out several magic scrolls recording 0-level spells (magic scrolls have the spell models drawn on them) and began to use his "Focus" ability to memorize the spell models of these 0-level spells in his mind.

These spell models were very simple. In about half an hour, Solam had memorized them all using "Focus." They were Create Water, Flare, Mage Hand, Hypnotism, and Resistance.

Then he retrieved the spell models from his undeveloped brain area and cast two 0-level cantrips. Then he began to carefully recall the spells that had just been cast. The result was that the spell models of the two 0-level cantrips he had just cast were still sitting obediently in his mind!!!!

Solam was immediately overjoyed and told Arando about his achievement.

When Arando first heard this, he thought Solam was playing a prank on him, but seeing Solam patting his chest and guaranteeing he wasn't bluffing, he became a bit skeptical.

If it were true, Arando felt he was about to strike gold.