Magecraft: The Basics (Part 2)

The title of "noble among nobles" is reserved for those aristocrats who have successfully become powerful Professionals. This includes high-ranking knights, mysterious mages, and priests who serve the gods.

These nobles possess not only the authority of their station but also formidable personal strength, making them the elite among the continent's nobility; even His Majesty the King cannot lightly slight them without cause. If Donald could obtain the official status of a mage, it would greatly facilitate his efforts to restore his family's glory and reclaim his formal fief. Thus, Code, who took great pride in being a member of the Merlin Family, was overjoyed and thrilled at the prospect of his young master becoming a mage.

After a bout of laughter and lighthearted talk, Donald instructed:

"So, Uncle Code, please go and exchange all these Gold Sols for Elemental Crystals! They are extremely useful for my cultivation and are indispensable materials. As for that cart of iron ore, I have my own uses for it; buy it first, and I will explain it to you later!"

Code, now devoid of any doubt, nodded repeatedly in agreement before hurrying out with the Gold Sols in high spirits.

The reason Donald had Code handle the exchanges and purchases was that, over the past few days, Donald himself had disguised his appearance to sell game in town many times. Those shrewd merchants had their own informants, and it would be easy for them to notice something amiss.

If he were to suddenly purchase goods worth twenty Gold Sols himself, it would easily arouse the suspicions of others.

Although I have enough strength to protect myself now, considering that my resources are still essentially zero and I must rely on the abilities of the Book of Truth, it is better to keep a low profile for the time being. Besides, even if I am not afraid of others causing trouble, it would be a waste to squander precious Magic Beast Cores on dealing with those prying eyes.

Instead of that, it would be better to enter the Green Cloak Forest to hunt more magic beasts! At the very least, I could earn quite a few cores and Gold Sols.

As for that cart of iron ore, it was a clever money-making scheme Donald had devised himself.

There are two ways to exchange items within the Book of Truth. One is a full-energy exchange, which requires a relatively large quantity of Elemental Crystals; for instance, exchanging for the Standardized Longsword used by the Human Footman, a tier-two unit, requires one unit of standard primary magic crystals as the cost.

The normal price for one unit of primary Elemental Crystal is about five gold coins, whereas if one were to buy iron ore—the raw material for forging weapons—a single gold coin could purchase an entire cart.

With a cart of ore, according to the second summoning method—combining basic materials with energy—one could forge dozens of Standardized Longswords for Human Footmen using only one unit of standard primary magic crystals.

Each of these sturdy and sharp longswords could be sold for at least several Gold Sols, which, when calculated, represents a profit margin of over ten times the cost.

However, Donald did not intend to exchange for many footman longswords; having one for his own use was enough. Selling too many identical, high-quality longswords would certainly attract the attention of nearby merchants and even nobles, which was not what he wanted.

Moreover, relying on longswords that sell for a dozen or so Gold Sols each would not allow him to earn much money quickly, and it would be of little help to the plan Donald had in mind.

What he wanted to do was something else entirely!

Half an hour later, Steward Code returned with a wooden cart full of iron ore and four crystal-clear Elemental Crystals in a cloth bag tucked into his chest.

After instructing the hired laborers to unload the iron ore into the secluded backyard, Donald took the bag and went into his room alone.

In the bedroom, Donald opened the bag and looked at the four small, square energy crystals in his palm, glittering under the light of the crystal lamp; a look of intoxication appeared on his face. Although they had not been finely polished like jewelry, the Elemental Crystals, processed into one-inch squares, appeared exceptionally beautiful and dazzling under the influence of the energy contained within them.

I really hate to use up these beautiful crystals! If these were taken to Earth, no top-tier diamond could compare to the brilliant radiance of these Elemental Crystals!

However, nothing is more important than one's own strength. After sighing for a moment, Donald returned to his normal state of mind. With a hint of excitement, he picked up two Elemental Crystals, opened the Book of Truth, and selected the reinforcement exchange for the Book of Intelligence.

A pale golden, book-shaped light illuminated the area around Donald's head. It lasted for only a second before shattering into a shower of golden light that merged into his mind. He felt a cool, gentle current flow into a mysterious region of his brain, and then he felt his own existence greatly enhanced, as if he had become much stronger and more fulfilled.

After the light faded, Donald moved his hands and feet but did not notice any difference from before. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that although he had been busy all morning, he now felt as refreshed and energetic as if he had just enjoyed a wonderful afternoon nap.

It seems that the improvement in mental power might not be as obvious as physical reinforcement, after all, it is an illusory yet real existence!

Looking at the two remaining crystals in his hand, Donald began to consider whether he should continue the reinforcement!

If I choose other cultivation books for more comprehensive reinforcement, similar options include the Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, the Life Manual for increasing vitality, the Book of Knowledge for permanently increasing strength, agility, and intelligence by 20% of their current level, and the Book of Energy for comprehensively improving one's professional rank.

The initial exchange prices for the Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, and the Book of Intelligence are the same, while the reinforcement prices for the subsequent cultivation books are even higher. Even the cheapest, the Life Manual, requires fifty units of intermediate Elemental Crystals to exchange, but the effect of permanently increasing vitality by 50% is worth it, far exceeding the cost. This is equivalent to increasing my lifespan by 1.5 times! Barring any accidents, after using the Life Manual once, I could live healthily to at least one hundred and fifty years old, and my body tissues would be two to three times stronger than those of an ordinary person.

Looking further at the reinforcement options that permanently increase all attributes, each exchange requires at least several thousand to ten thousand Gold Sols.

Even with enough energy in his hands now, Donald did not want to exchange rashly. Because these treasures that permanently increase one's potential are based on a percentage of the current body's stats, and each type of reinforcement can only be used once. If he used them all up now, he might be superior to others at a low level, but he would lose much of his potential for future growth. This is undoubtedly a very unwise choice. The data for increasing the strength attribute of an apprentice-level warrior by 40% versus that of a Bronze-level warrior is vastly different. Although the latter requires more energy, it is well worth the effort to obtain.

After much thought, Donald temporarily gave up on other attributes. After putting the Elemental Crystals away, he began to study the meditation techniques in the parchment book once more.

Originally, Donald's mental potential was low—at least compared to mages—but it was not much different from that of an ordinary person. After the reinforcement from the Book of Intelligence, the problem of his low mental potential was naturally solved, and he now met the basic requirements for a mage initiate.

As for the problem of entering a meditative state, it was even easier to handle.

The Book of Truth contained at least seven or eight ways to solve it.

The simplest way was to summon various buildings for training spellcasters from different races, then pay a certain amount of energy to use the advanced training within them to achieve the effect of entering meditation. The results of the training provided by those witches and wizards—such as intermediate expert-level wizard training or advanced master-level wizard training—would be more than enough to improve the cultivation speed of Black Iron and Bronze-tier mages in this world, allowing them to advance to higher levels, let alone merely assisting Donald in meditation.

However, the only difficulty was that while the technological upgrades for these buildings did not require upgrading the main city as in the game, they still required a significant amount of energy as a prerequisite for research.

Not to mention the energy required for research upgrades, even summoning any one of the spellcaster buildings was considered a medium-sized building that could only be constructed after upgrading the main city once in the game. The energy and resources required for such a summoning were undoubtedly an astronomical figure for Donald at present.

Therefore, if he wanted to successfully become a mage initiate and enter a meditative state, he had to find another way.

After comparing several effective methods, Donald finally decided to summon the Spirit Walker of the Orcish Tauren race.

The White Minotaur is a mysterious unit that exists between a priest and a mage, capable of shifting into an ethereal form that is immune to physical attacks. What Donald needed was the Spirit Walker's innate skill, Spirit Link, which can link up to 4 units together with invisible chains. All units affected by Spirit Link share life and transfer 50% of the damage taken to other units.

After summoning the Spirit Walker and having it cast the Spirit Link skill on him, his mental perception would be synchronized with the Spirit Walker. At this point, he only needed to have the White Minotaur enter a meditative state, and he would be able to experience the personal sensations of a spellcaster, thereby being led into meditation himself.

There were other units from several races whose skills could also facilitate his meditation, but the advantage of the Spirit Walker was that it was only a tier-two unit; a temporary summoning only cost a single tier-two Magic Beast Core. Furthermore, during the summoning process, once the Spirit Link skill was cast, the effect would persist until the summoning duration expired.

Considering the issues of mana regeneration and skill cooldowns, this was an advantage that the skills of other units could not match.

There was one more point: the Spirit Walker's other innate skill allowed it to shift into an ethereal state. In this state, it was immune to physical attacks but could not attack enemies, and ethereal units could only be targeted by magic and skills.

After connecting with the White Minotaur and ordering it to enter the ethereal state, he could further amplify his own mental perception, making the meditation effect even more significant. It was estimated that even a normal, shallow meditation state could achieve the effect of deep meditation. In this way, every hour he spent meditating would be as effective as a full day of meditation for an ordinary mage apprentice, and his cultivation speed would undoubtedly be greatly accelerated.

A tier-two core could summon a Spirit Walker for about twelve hours, which was enough for Donald to successfully meditate and reach the mage initiate stage.