Three Years

If it were true, Arando felt certain he would be training a great Arcane Knight, a legend whose name would be etched into the history of magic. However, he could not fully trust Solam yet. Upon learning that Solam had exhausted his spell slots, he decided to wait for Solam to meditate for eight hours to recover them. He would then have him cast spells without preparing them first; if it worked, it would prove Solam was telling the truth.

Thus, Arando abandoned the day's training plan, letting Solam begin his meditation immediately while he watched from the side.

Since it was already afternoon, Solam had already meditated for two hours; now, only six more hours remained to prove the truth.

Arando watched Solam, who had closed his eyes to meditate, his heart in a state of turmoil. It wasn't that he doubted Solam's character—after spending these days together, Arando could tell that Solam wasn't the type of brat who needed to lie to gain an adult's attention. But this matter, let alone him, was something no sane mage would believe upon hearing it.

Six hours passed quickly, and it was already dusk outside. As soon as Solam opened his eyes, he saw Arando's tense, aged face.

"What spells did you cast today?"

"One Mage Hand, one Flare," Solam said honestly, as he saw an unprecedented seriousness and tension on the old man's face.

"Do you still remember the models for these two spells?"

To strengthen his persuasiveness, Solam deliberately feigned a moment of recollection before saying firmly to Arando, "I remember. I haven't forgotten a single bit."

"Then cast these two spells again."

What followed was natural; Solam cast these two cantrips without the slightest effort.

The old man was stunned. He had been watching from the side the entire time, and he had seen it clearly. Solam truly hadn't prepared any spells; he had cast them directly. He was quite confident in his own observation skills.

In other words, Solam really could memorize spell models and keep them from being cleared by the Weave. As for the idea that Solam had been lying from the start and hadn't actually cast the spells, merely putting on a show—that was impossible. No one would play such a boring prank that could be easily exposed, and Solam had absolutely no reason to deceive him.

"How did you do it?" This was crucial. If there were a truly viable method, Solam could definitely rival the great archmages of history.

"Do what?" Solam, of course, couldn't tell the truth.

"How are you able to keep the Weave from clearing the spell models?" Arando cast Detect Lie. This was too important; Arando had to be cautious.

"I just keep them firmly in my memory, that's all. There's nothing special about it," Solam didn't know Arando would be so careful, but he wasn't technically lying, so he unexpectedly passed the Detect Lie check.

Later, when Solam learned about this, he felt very fortunate and realized the limitations of the Detect Lie spell. You don't need to tell a lie; as long as you omit certain parts of the truth, you can still deceive people and bypass Detect Lie—it was practically foolproof.

Arando felt the feedback from the spell and knew Solam wasn't lying, and then he fell into disarray.

"Are you the illegitimate son of the Mysterious Lady? Even her Chosen don't have this ability." The Mysterious Lady was a nickname for the Goddess of the Weave. Because the goddess had died three times, the current Goddess of the Weave had become mysterious and rarely showed herself. There was no helping it; the goddess had too many enemies.

Solam simply remained silent, looking at Arando with a puzzled expression, as if he were just as confused about his own ability.

Seeing Solam's expression, Arando knew he had asked the wrong person. Solam was just a rookie; how could he possibly know how to solve a problem that so many brilliant legendary mages couldn't?

Arando thought for a long time but couldn't explain the phenomenon. In the end, he had to classify it as Solam's special talent. After all, in this bizarre world, nothing was certain. In a sense, Arando wasn't wrong—weren't supernatural powers just a form of talent?

"Do you feel any discomfort? Do you have a headache or feel nauseous?" Arando asked with concern. If there were side effects, this talent wouldn't be so useful.

Solam knew why Arando asked; he was afraid that Solam's brain couldn't handle it, leading to complications. Clearly, this world's research on the brain was quite backward; they didn't know about the existence of the brain's capacity. In fact, the brain's storage was vast—it could rival the best information storage devices. So, let alone a few simple spell models, even tens of thousands of more complex ones would be easy to store.

"I don't feel anything at all. Not a single strange sensation," Solam said firmly.

However, Arando still wasn't at ease. He asked many more questions and even used spells to examine Solam's body. Only when he saw that Solam was truly fine did he finally relax.

"Don't mention this special talent of yours to anyone in the future, not even your family," Arando warned sternly.

"Why?" Although Solam hadn't planned on telling anyone, he couldn't help but be curious given how solemn Arando was.

"Why? Do you know how astonishing your talent is? If it were accidentally leaked and other mages found out, you would certainly be hunted by every mage in existence. They would lock you up to perform all sorts of experiments to study your talent, or they might simply use Soul Swap to take over your body and possess this talent themselves." If Solam weren't his disciple and the grandson of an old friend, Arando might have even considered doing something untoward himself.

It seemed this world was truly dangerous. If they found out about his supernatural powers, he would be completely finished. It seemed he would have to keep a low profile from now on, Solam secretly resolved.

Seeing that Solam understood the gravity of the situation, Arando felt relieved. A surge of excitement filled his heart; this was truly a gift from the heavens. Solam's talent was even better than he had imagined. If this were the case, his grand plan for revenge might very well be completed through him.

Now that he knew of Solam's talent, the previous study plan had to be changed, and Arando began to calculate a new one.

The days that followed for Solam became uneventful; he simply followed the routine of studying and training. During his breaks, he would go to Granny Karom to act cute and coax the old lady, or fool around with Iluter.

Time passed like this for three years. During this period, Solam's apprenticeship finally came to an end. To be honest, this speed shocked Arando to his core.

It was too fast. Although he knew Solam was gifted, Arando hadn't expected him to complete this stage of learning so quickly.

In fact, it was reasonable. Solam's three supernatural powers were a perfect fit for Arcane Knight training. The Toughness power allowed Solam to better complete high-intensity knight training, while also allowing for effective Arcane Modification. The Communication power allowed Solam to communicate well with the Weave, leading to rapid increases in his mage level. The Focus power allowed Solam to learn all knowledge and techniques at lightning speed. Therefore, Solam was learning the knowledge required of an apprentice at an inhuman pace, so the short duration was no surprise.

Solam was now a 3rd-level Arcane Knight, and he hadn't neglected his Shaman levels over these years, otherwise, Granny Karom wouldn't have been so patient.

Name: Solam (18 years old)

Race: Beast Elf

Attributes: Strength: 20 (+2) Intelligence: 23 Constitution: 19 (+2) Agility: 15 Perception: 21 Charisma: 14

Class: Elemental Shaman (7th level), Warrior (8th level) (No longer training as a warrior due to the transition to Arcane Knight, so this will not change), Arcane Knight (3rd level)

Spells: (Too many to list, so they are omitted to save space)

Spell Slots:

0-level spells: 3 (A normal mage has 5)

1st-level spells: 0 (A normal mage has 2)

Level 2 Spells: 0 (Normal mages have 1)

Talents: Elemental Totem, Armored Casting, Arcane Modification

Arando was instantly stunned upon learning Solam's attributes. These stats were simply heaven-defying; he was only eighteen years old! If he were to reach higher professional levels, there was no telling what kind of heights his attributes would grow to.

One could only say he had a good background, as the bloodlines of two races had fused perfectly: the robust physique of an orc and the innate high intelligence of an elf. Not to mention, over the past two years, it seemed the elven bloodline had begun to take effect in Solam, actually allowing him to grow into a decent-looking fellow. While he couldn't be called a great beauty, he certainly possessed the kind of face that grew on you.

His silver eyes and white hair added quite a few points to his appearance, and Solam was also incredibly vain, having actually designed a hairstyle for himself. He cut the hair around the sides of his head very short, kept the hair on top long, and tied it into a small ponytail—it looked incredibly flashy (referencing the hairstyle of Geralt from The Witcher 3). Arando found it awkward as hell to look at, but unexpectedly, it was very well-received among the other orcs, who felt the hairstyle was both wild and sharp.

Then Krum shamelessly pestered Solam to give him one too. Well, the kid had recently fallen in love, so he had become quite vain himself. Moreover, this guy was courting death by engaging in a long-distance relationship. Last time he accompanied Solam's grandfather and uncle to visit the Frostblade Clan, he had taken a fancy to the Great Elder's granddaughter and shamelessly refused to leave, clinging to the Frostblade Clan. The elders on both sides were happy to see it happen, so they really let him stay with the Frostblade Clan for a year, and he had only just returned recently.