William's family hadn't officially moved in yet, but they had already spent the past few days learning the ropes from the butler. They went back and forth between the manor and the town, getting started on their duties. Having handled plenty of matters at the Mage Association, William quickly got the hang of managing the manor and gave Code a great deal of help.
William's wife, Isabella, was a hardworking woman, too. Born into a small merchant family, she could read and do arithmetic, and she soon had the manor's household affairs running smoothly. She was also a skilled seamstress. Though she couldn't match the famous tailors, she was excellent at simple work like adjusting sizes and adding or removing embellishments.
With William and his wife pitching in, the burden on the butler, Code, eased considerably. Now that they had enough hands, the manor's affairs no longer needed Donald, its master, to oversee every detail. He only had to receive daily reports and review everything once a month, so he turned his attention to improving his own strength.
After more than a month of study, Donald had mastered most of the zero-level spells and several first-level ones. Besides the essential Magic Missile and Mage Armor, the spells he knew best were Mage Hand, Detect Poison, Create Water, Hand of Fire Elemental, Message, and Feather Fall. Unlike most young mages, who focused only on powerful and relatively easy-to-cast elemental spells, Donald deliberately chose spells with a broad range of uses.
When his teacher, Messer, heard about this choice, he praised him highly.
"A mage's time and energy are limited. No matter how powerful a mage is, no one can master every spell from every school. And the limits of your mental strength mean you can't cast too many spells in a short time, either. So mages usually focus on the schools that suit them, and learn only a little about other spells. Judging by your choices, young Donald, I can tell you're cautious and wise!"
"You flatter me, teacher. I've simply given it some thought. A Summoner's abilities aren't all-powerful. Since I have talent in other schools as well, I shouldn't waste what heaven has given me. Rather than chasing after weak offensive spells, I'd be better off letting my summoned creatures take the lead while I support them with spells from behind. That would make it easier to defeat our enemies!"
Donald had chosen these spells because they were among the most versatile first-level spells and best suited to him.
Mage Hand, for example, was like the ability to pluck objects from the air in the martial arts novels of his previous life—a profound skill only the most accomplished masters, who had mastered every internal energy pathway, could learn. It was useful in both daily life and combat, a true all-purpose skill.
Detect Poison could tell whether food was poisonous. Combined with Create Water and Hand of Fire Elemental, these three spells would greatly improve his chances of survival even in extreme environments like deserts or rainforests.
Message had a limited range, but it could still prove useful at a crucial moment. Levitate was another spell he valued greatly. With this simple first-level spell, even if he fell from a cliff, he could drift down like a soft feather instead of plunging to his death. Once he advanced, he would certainly learn the third-level Levitate and fifth-level Fly. In any world, humans shared the same longing for the sky.
As for the other first-level spells, their effects either overlapped with those of spells he already knew or were too niche to be useful. Donald had merely skimmed through them and taken notes, without devoting himself to studying them. First-level spells posed little threat to warriors at the middle Black Iron tier or above. So Donald had abandoned the flashy ones and chosen only practical spells, even if most of them were for support.
After learning from the Mage Association's collection how powerful the ancient Arcanists had been, Donald had developed an ambition: he hoped to follow in their footsteps and, at the very least, become a powerful, well-rounded mage.
"If our predecessors could do it, then I can too, if I'm given the chance. Teacher, do you know why mages today have grown weaker with each passing generation?"
Hearing his apprentice's aspiration, Messer was pleased. He also took the opportunity to explain:
"If you have such an ambitious goal, then I'll support you with all my strength. Since the fall of the Bannai Empire, mages have generally been divided into four branches: Elemental Mages, who specialize in controlling the four elements; alchemists, who research and create; Summoners, who specialize in spatial studies and knowledge of summoning beings from other planes; and witches, who excel in matters of the soul and curses. Compared with the Arcanists of the Ancient Arcanum Empire, these four branches have lost not only four schools, but also a great deal of the spells and knowledge within the branches that remain."
"You should know that the ancient Arcanists had eight schools, as well as a generalist school that studied several schools at once, making nine in all."
"Evocation, abjuration, conjuration, divination, illusion, enchantment, transmutation, and necromancy—the eight schools covered almost every branch of spellcasting. Today's Elemental Mages, for example, are a branch of evocation. Alchemists mainly inherited some of the knowledge of transmutation and enchantment, while Summoners inherited part of the conjuration tradition. Witches are the modern mages who inherited the most ancient arcane knowledge. They received another part of the conjuration tradition, distinct from the Summoners', and also drew on some spell principles from abjuration, divination, and necromancy. That's why they excel at weakening enemies with curses and can manipulate negative energy to cast dark spells. Compared with other mages, they seem more mysterious and sinister, and are often considered evil."
"Overall, modern mages inherited less than half of the ancient Arcanists' knowledge. It was through generations of brilliant mages refining and expanding upon it that the mage profession took its current shape."
After hearing his teacher's systematic explanation, Donald became even more certain of his goal: to become as powerful as the ancient master generalist Arcanists.
Choosing this path might leave him weaker in combat at first and slow his progress. But with a powerful high-grade artifact like the Book of Truth backing him, and his youth on his side, Donald was confident he could break through the high-tier barrier before he turned forty. He had enough strength to protect himself before he became powerful, and enough time to wait!
It was worth mentioning that, thanks to his excellent mental aptitude, enhanced through the Book of Truth, and the White Crystal Ring Messer had given him, Donald had successfully cast and mastered a second-level spell, Wind Arrow, despite having only just advanced to the Black Iron Mage tier.
As a second-level offensive spell, Wind Arrow was the most powerful attack spell Donald currently knew. By compressing the air, it formed an invisible arrow with a sharp tip that could pierce a wooden target at least a hundred meters away.
Its power was already comparable to that of a small-caliber gun from his previous life. If not for the limits imposed by his level and mental strength, which restricted how many times he could cast it, Donald could use the spell only three times for now. Otherwise, this spell alone would let him defeat three ordinary high-tier Black Iron warriors in a direct fight without relying on his summoning relic.
However, warriors below the Bronze tier were only at the bottom of this world's hierarchy. There were many stronger fighters out there. If he relied only on his half-baked mage abilities, he might not survive the brutal battles where anything could happen.
Fortunately, Donald didn't rely solely on his own magic. He also had the innate spells granted by the Book of Truth and his even more powerful summoning abilities as trump cards.
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