Chapter 47

"Oh! Hello!" The dwarf waved his hands excitedly. "Would you like to grab a drink at the tavern first? We have a fantastic 'heavy industrial-style themed bar,' and the Heart of the Mountains chain of karaoke rooms! Oh, and we also have a day trip around the mountains, all at very, very good prices! Oh, and one more thing—"

"Chirp chirp chirp, coo coo coo coo," the dwarf chattered animatedly, drool sticking to his beard, making me frown. Mel, unable to bear it any longer, cast a Cleaning Spell at him, and the dwarf immediately turned to us:

"Heavens! Homage to the Heart of the Mountain Range! Your Excellencies, two esteemed mages! May I ask where you are going? I will take you there!!!"

Mel took a half step back and said, "Mining Platform No. 8, thank you."

"Oh..." The dwarf frowned. "Your Excellency, the esteemed mage, must not have seen the news. Mining Platform No. 8 has just collapsed. Because there are criminals lurking there, it's extremely dangerous! Traffic is now restricted there; no one is allowed to go!"

Collapse?

Lusien's expression immediately turned serious, and he asked more sternly how to get there. The dwarf was startled; the knight's aura was very powerful, so the dwarf stopped enthusiastically introducing the culture and scenery of Gray Mountain City and directly told us the route.

"Is Ms. Angela in danger?" I asked. The dwarf seemed to have mentioned criminals, and I'm afraid... we're about to have another friendly chat with our old cyborg friends.

Lusien shook his head gravely, while Reynold surprisingly answered me, "No... we're worried that Ms. Angela might pose a danger to the area around the mine."

Hmm? The warden... should... get along well with Anna and Moli...

Chapter 47

We rushed to the Mining Platform No. 8 as fast as we could, but we encountered some trouble along the way. The dwarven patrols had cordoned off the roads, so we couldn't take the normal route—we had to fly there while using Invisibility Spell.

Just then, Luolan woke up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and found himself high in the air. He excitedly hugged Lusien's neck and looked around.

I used Group Flight Spell to lift everyone into the air. Mel was in charge of concealing our presence, and Lusien was responsible for guiding the way and holding Luolan to make him comfortable. Although Luolan was awake now, he showed no intention of getting down. The reliable knight Lusien wouldn't just throw him out on his own, so everyone was busy and didn't have time to chat with Luolan. Then, after looking around, he suddenly asked Reynold:

"Wow, Your Excellency the Speaker looks terrible. I know some people get carsick and others get seasick, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone get dizzy from a mage."

Haha, that's an interesting statement, Master!

I glanced behind me for a moment, and Reynold's expression was indeed quite bad, which made me wonder, "Hmm... Reynold, are you a mage?"

The idea of stunning a mage is obviously a joke, but Reynold's current state... is it from being stunned by a high-level spell, or by Flight Spell? For a mage, both of these are incredibly unbelievable.

He stared, his eyes wide, devoid of any of the authority expected of a speaker. He looked deeply hurt, an expression... much like the aggrieved look on his assistants' faces when I kept calling them by the wrong names. Coupled with his trembling body, purple lips, and deathly pale face, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty towards Reynold —we had been together, after all, and I hadn't even figured out his profession.

--If Reynold isn't a mage, then all those long-winded explanations of magic I used to give him during candlelight dinners were taking up way too much of his time. No wonder he always gave me cut-off plant genitalia.

To everyone's surprise, Reynold squeezed out through gritted teeth, "Of course I'm a mage. I graduated from the Royal Magic Academy of the Osland Federation, ranking first that year."

--Moli's alumnus?

Upon hearing this, Mel turned around and said, "Xipei, this guy's a mage, throw him out and let him fly away!"

... Mel, didn't you see Reynold's face turned purple? He obviously can't fly!

"A mage who can't fly!" Mel exclaimed. "Did the person who gave you your diploma take a bribe? My God, they've got it wrong, you're a warlock, right? Only warlocks who randomly throw fireballs are stupid enough not to fly!"

Reynold gritted his teeth and replied, "Flight Spell is an eighth-level spell in the magic hierarchy! Modern magic academy graduates are only allowed to graduate with a third-level spell. Even graduate and doctoral students, and even professors, rarely master an eighth-level spell! Do you... even have a concept of magic hierarchy?"

Magic rating?

I frowned. "Of course, a mage needs to know the spell levels. Otherwise, how can they allocate their mental energy effectively? Spells are divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced spells, and above that, there are forbidden spells. However, all forbidden spells have irreversible effects, so they need to be used with caution."

Mel nodded, and looking somewhat offended, said unhappily, "Yes, if you don't understand spell levels, are you still a mage? Single-attribute spells, small-scale spells, and spells targeting a single object are generally considered basic spells. Combining them twice will make them intermediate... However, this depends on the specific situation. The simplest way to determine this is to see how many spells a mage can prepare at once. This way, the mage will naturally know the level of these spells, and then they can allocate their mental energy reasonably and choose the most appropriate spell based on their own situation."

I said, "Yes, for example, general spells have no limitations for me, as do advanced spells. However, some advanced spells require a state of focused concentration, which places demands on mental strength. Because when I'm in a focused state, the mental energy I expend is enormous. I can hardly imagine how the ancient sages managed to maintain such a state of concentration year after year... Therefore, I need to ensure that once I leave a focused state, I won't immediately encounter a dangerous situation requiring the casting of high-level spells. As for forbidden spells, I can only withstand a maximum of three per day."

Mel looked at me, her face flushed, and said, "Xipei is really amazing. I can only manage two and a half forbidden spells at most. For the third one, I can only chant it; I probably don't have the mental energy to guide it."

I blushed too, and just as I was about to say something, I suddenly heard Reynold let out a gasp that sounded almost desperate.

... I almost thought he was crying.

We all turned around at once. Reynold looked at us with a strange expression, as if... as if he were watching a demon lord from the Abyss break through a dimensional portal and crawl into the prime plane. In short, he stared at us with that terrifying gaze and said, "What... what are you talking about? What... what era's spell hierarchy are you talking about? Are you really living in modern society? You... you don't know anything about the spell hierarchy in modern society?"

"Huh?" Mel and I tilted our heads almost simultaneously, looking puzzled.

"My God..." Reynold gasped repeatedly, "And, Ciprins... you... you can cast three... according to what you just said... three ancient forbidden spells in a day?"

"Huh? Forbidden spells are divided into modern and ancient?"

Lusien had to grab Reynold's arm because he was about to roll his eyes back and fall over.

Luolan was laughing hysterically, clutching his stomach, while Lusien, with a respectful expression, solemnly said to us, "My lords, please forgive me, but your magical skills far surpass the average level of contemporary mages. I just never imagined that you two were completely unaware of your true abilities!"

Ah?

Mel and I opened our mouths wide, which was quite inelegant.

Reynold said weakly, "Modern mages are divided into ten levels, and spells are also divided into ten levels. The level of the spell you can use determines your level of mage..."

... This, this classification method, doesn't it seem a bit too hasty? There are so many spells in the world, if you recorded them all, it would fill an entire library... Oh, no, I realize that now we have intelligent computers, they don't need to use books to record them, they just need to input them into the computer, and they can also update the database in real time, hmm, it is indeed very convenient.

But that's still too hasty! Even intelligent computers aren't omnipotent. After all—mages aren't limited to known spells; we can create our own! I don't really believe a newly created spell, or a secret, treasured spell passed down through mage families, could be included online. For example, Shadow Dance and Absolute Protection —by their standards, wouldn't we be unable to graduate? Should I be thankful that I attended Monastery of True Knowledge, a third-rate theoretical magic academy, where our graduation exams were only written, not spellcasting-based?