The title of nobility among nobles was bestowed upon those nobles who had succeeded in becoming powerful professionals. These included high-ranking knights, mysterious mages, and priests who served the gods.
These nobles not only possessed the rights of nobility but also wielded great personal strength. They were the elite of the continent's nobility. Even His Majesty the King could not slight them without cause. If Donald could obtain official mage status, it would greatly help him restore his family's glory and reclaim an official fief. Code, who took pride in being a member of the Merlin Family, was overjoyed and excited that his young master might become a mage.
After joking around for a while, Donald instructed him:
"Then, Uncle Code, go exchange all these Gold Sol for Elemental Crystals! They'll be very useful for my cultivation; they're indispensable materials. As for that cart of iron ore, I have my own use for it. Buy it first, and I'll explain later!"
Code no longer had any doubts. He nodded repeatedly, then eagerly set off with the Gold Sol.
Donald had asked Code to handle the exchanges and purchases because he himself had already been seen around town many times over the past few days, disguised while selling his hunting spoils. The shrewd merchants all had informants of their own, and it would be easy for them to notice something.
If he now bought goods worth twenty Gold Sol all at once, it would easily arouse suspicion.
Although I'm now strong enough to protect myself to some extent, my abilities are still practically nonexistent apart from what the Book of Truth can do, so it's better to keep a low profile for now. And even if I'm not afraid of people coming to cause trouble, wasting precious Magic Beast Cores on dealing with those snooping around would hardly be worth it.
I'd be better off hunting more magic beasts in the Green Cloak Forest. At least I'd earn quite a few cores and Gold Sol that way.
As for the cart of iron ore, it was a clever way Donald had come up with to make money.
The Book of Truth offered two methods for exchanging items. The first was to pay entirely with energy, which required a large number of Elemental Crystals. For example, exchanging for the Human Footman's standard weapon, a Standardized Longsword, required one unit of standard low-grade magic crystals.
A unit of low-grade Elemental Crystals normally cost around five gold coins. If he bought iron ore as the raw material for making weapons instead, one gold coin could get him a whole cart.
With a cart of ore, the second summoning method allowed him to combine basic materials with energy. Just one unit of standard low-grade magic crystals could produce dozens of Standardized Longswords for Human Footmen.
Each of these sturdy, sharp swords could sell for at least several Gold Sol. By his calculations, that would yield a profit of more than ten times his investment.
However, Donald had no intention of exchanging for many Footman swords. One for his own use would be enough. Selling too many identical, high-quality swords would inevitably draw the attention of nearby merchants and even nobles, which was the last thing he wanted.
Besides, even selling Standardized Longswords for more than ten Gold Sol apiece wouldn't make him much money at once. It would do little to help with the plan he had in mind.
What he wanted to do was something else!
Half an hour later, the steward Code returned with a cartload of iron ore and a cloth bag holding four units of crystal-clear Elemental Crystals.
After telling the workers who had come with him to unload the ore in the secluded back courtyard, Donald took the bag and went into his room alone.
In the bedroom, he opened the bag and gazed at the tiny, sparkling square crystals in his palm, their radiance catching the light of the crystal lamp. A captivated look appeared on his face. They hadn't been finely polished like jewels, but after being roughly processed into cubes about an inch across, the energy within them made them extraordinarily beautiful and dazzling.
"I can hardly bear to use up these beautiful crystals! If I took them to Earth, no top-grade diamond could match their dazzling brilliance!"
But no beauty could compare to becoming stronger. After a moment of admiration, Donald regained his composure. With a little excitement, he picked up two units of Elemental Crystals, opened the Book of Truth, and selected the enhancement exchange for the Book of Intelligence.
A pale golden, book-shaped glow flared at Donald's head. It lasted only a second before shattering into golden light and flowing into his mind. He felt a cool, gentle current stream into some mysterious place in his brain. Then he felt his very being grow much stronger, as if he had become more robust and full of vitality.
When the glow faded, Donald moved his arms and legs but noticed no difference from before. Yet when he paid closer attention, he realized that despite having been busy all morning, he now felt as if he'd enjoyed a refreshing nap. He was energized and clear-headed.
It seems the improvement to my mental power isn't as obvious as physical enhancement. After all, it's something intangible, even if it's real!
Looking at the two units of crystals left in his hand, Donald began to consider whether he should enhance himself further.
If I choose other cultivation books for more comprehensive enhancement, my options include the Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, and the Life Manual, which increases vitality. The Book of Knowledge permanently increases Strength, Agility, and Intelligence by twenty percent of their current levels, while the Book of Energy comprehensively enhances me and raises my professional level by one.
The Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, and the Book of Intelligence all cost the same amount to exchange for their initial enhancements. The later cultivation books are much more expensive. Even the cheapest, the Life Manual, requires fifty units of mid-grade Elemental Crystals. But its effect—permanently increasing vitality by fifty percent—is well worth the cost, more than worth it, in fact. It would be like extending my lifespan by half. Without any accidents, exchanging for the Life Manual once would let me live in good health until at least the age of one hundred and fifty, and my body would be two to three times stronger than an ordinary person's.
The later options, which permanently increased all attributes, cost at least several thousand or even tens of thousands of Gold Sol for a single enhancement.
Even if he had enough energy right now, Donald didn't want to make a hasty exchange. These treasures, which permanently increased one's potential, enhanced one's attributes by a percentage of one's current physical capacity. Each type of enhancement could only be used once. If he used them all now, he might surpass others at a low level, but he would lose much of his potential for future growth. That would clearly be a poor choice. Enhancing a novice-level Warrior's Strength by forty percent and enhancing a Bronze-level Warrior's Strength were vastly different in terms of the actual increase. Although the latter required more energy, it was worth it because he would be capable of obtaining that energy.
After thinking it over, Donald temporarily abandoned the idea of enhancing any other attributes. He put away the Elemental Crystals and began studying the meditation method in the parchment book again.
Donald's low mental potential was low only by the standards of mages. Compared with ordinary people, it was not much different. After the enhancement from the Tome of Intelligence, the problem of his low mental potential had naturally been resolved. He now met the basic requirements to begin as a mage.
As for entering a meditative state, that was even easier to deal with.
The Book of Truth contained at least seven or eight ways to solve the problem.
The simplest was to summon buildings used by various races to train spellcasters, then pay a certain amount of energy to undergo advanced training inside and achieve the basics of meditation. The training offered to witches and wizards could be remarkably effective. For example, the intermediate Expert Wizard Training and the advanced Master Wizard Training were enough to increase the cultivation speed of Black Iron- and Bronze-tier mages in this world, helping them advance to higher levels. Helping Donald learn to meditate would be a simple matter by comparison.
The only difficulty was that although these buildings' technological upgrades did not require upgrading the main base first, as they did in the game, they still required a considerable amount of energy to research.
The energy required for the research and upgrades aside, any spellcaster building was a mid-tier structure that could only be built in the game after upgrading the main base once. The energy and resources needed to summon one would be an astronomical sum for Donald at present.
So if he wanted to successfully begin as a mage and enter a meditative state, he would have to find another way.
After comparing several effective methods, Donald finally decided to summon a Tauren unit from the Orcs: a Spirit Walker.
The White Minotaur was a mysterious unit somewhere between a priest and a mage. It could transform into an ethereal form, making it immune to physical attacks. What Donald needed was the Spirit Walker's innate skill, Spirit Link. It could connect four units with invisible chains, allowing all units linked by Spirit Link to share their health and transferring fifty percent of the damage sustained by one unit to the others.
After summoning a Spirit Walker, Donald could have it cast Spirit Link on him. His mental senses would then synchronize with the Spirit Walker's. If he could get the White Minotaur spellcaster to enter a meditative state, he would experience firsthand what it felt like to be a spellcaster and be guided into meditation himself.
There were also units from several other races with abilities that could help him meditate. But the Spirit Walker's advantage was that it was only a level-two unit, so summoning one temporarily cost just a single level-two Magic Beast Core. What's more, once the Spirit Link skill was cast during the summoning, its effect would last until the summoning period ended.
That was an advantage other units' skills couldn't match, especially when it came to mana recovery and skill cooldowns.
Another point was that one of the Spirit Walker's other innate skills allowed it to transform into an ethereal form. In that state, it was immune to physical attacks but couldn't attack enemies. Ethereal units could only be targeted by magic and skills.
After linking with the White Minotaur, Donald could order it to enter its ethereal state as well. This would further amplify his mental perception and make meditation much more effective. He estimated that even ordinary, shallow meditation would produce the results of deep meditation. That meant every hour he spent meditating would be equivalent to a day of meditation for an ordinary Apprentice Mage, greatly accelerating his cultivation.
A level-two core could summon a Spirit Walker for about twelve hours, which was more than enough time for Donald to learn to meditate and reach the entry level of a mage.
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