Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 13 – Partially Successful Experiment
Even after staring at the Lesser Skill Crystal for some time, Zwei still couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
Afterward, he took out the Proof of the Strong for comparison. Only then did he notice something.
Is there a difference between “fully master” and “learn”? Also, it seems that I can only learn first-circle skills using the Lesser Skill Crystal? If I take into account the effect of improving completion rates, could it be…
After giving the matter some thought, Zwei eventually decided to experiment.
First, he activated the Lesser Skill Crystal. Immediately, the crystal projected a translucent screen with a blue background before him, and displayed there were the various first-circle spells he could learn.
Initially, Zwei had planned to learn all four basic elements to become an all-round teacher. However, with the threat of the mysterious predator, he decided to prioritize increasing his combat power, for now.
In other words, he should exchange for spells that extended from the Lesser Fireball.
There were three skills extending from the Lesser Fireball’s skill tree. The first skill was the True Fireball spell, which increased the Lesser Fireball’s temperature and size. The second skill was the Exploding Flame Arrow spell, which altered the Lesser Fireball’s shape and added explosive damage to the spell. The third skill was the Burning Aura, which increased the power of all fire element magic.
After a moment of consideration, Zwei chose the Exploding Flame Arrow. After all, in terms of offensive capabilities, the Exploding Flame Arrow, which dealt instantaneous explosive damage, was much stronger than the True Fireball.
Moreover, the skills that branched from the Exploding Flame Arrow—the Rotating Flame Arrow and Flaming Star Formation—were very powerful. Seeing as he still had a Proof of the Strong in hand, learning the Exploding Flame Arrow was clearly the correct decision.
However, despite Zwei’s wonderful planning, it was a pity that even after he had activated the Exploding Flame Arrow, the two subsequent skills did not turn gray, which would signify that their activation conditions had been met; they remained pure black.
“Although this was within my expectations, I still feel cheated…”
When Zwei tried casting the Exploding Flame Arrow, he found that similar to his Lesser Fireball and Magic Bullet, he could also silently cast the Exploding Flame Arrow. However, unlike the first two spells, he needed three full seconds to do so! Moreover, although its power was undoubtedly the strongest among the spells he had learned thus far, it was still unsatisfactory.
So, this is the difference between acquisition and full mastery. Zwei nodded to himself in understanding.
To put it simply, the Skill Crystal’s effect moreso resembled the skill points found in games. Even if he spent it to activate a new skill, the skill would start out at Level 1. If he wished to further upgrade this skill, he would need to add sufficient skill points to it first. In contrast, the Proof of the Strong was an item that could directly elevate a skill to the max level.
After thinking up to this point, Zwei suddenly realized something. And with a voice filled with regret, he shouted, “Dammit! I should’ve used the Proof of the Strong to learn the Exploding Flame Arrow, and then used the Lesser Skill Crystal to learn the subsequent skills instead!”
If he had done that, not only would he have perfectly mastered the Exploding Flame Arrow, but he would also have learned the stronger Rotating Flame Arrow or Flaming Star Formation.
However, there was no point in regretting his actions now. After all, the system did not provide any options to reset his skills.
So, should I use the Proof of the Strong to learn True Fireball now, or should I use it to learn Burning Aura to increase the power of my fire element skills?
While Zwei was agonizing over this matter, he suddenly thought of another skill.
Mage Hand.
This was one of the spells that could be learned right from the beginning. However, at the time, Zwei had ignored this practical magic in favor of offensive magic. Now, however, he had a new idea.
Wait. If the fully mastered Mage Hand has sufficient range, can’t I use it to stuff the Fire Elemental Shard into monsters and detonate it? Wouldn’t that mean I won’t have to risk myself anymore?
Not only that, but the Mage Hand also had a wide range of applications. Hence, learning this magic wasn’t a bad idea at all.
With such thoughts in mind, Zwei activated the Proof of the Strong and learned Mage Hand.
His unlucky predecessor had also learned Mage Hand. However, back then, the unlucky magician’s Mage Hand could only extend up to three meters and lift items weighing 10 kilograms at most.
Now that I’ve fully mastered Mage Hand, how will it perform?
Zwei first tested the spell’s range. He discovered that, although Mage Hand’s mana consumption increased with range, he still hadn’t reached its limits even after extending it to 50 meters!
Does this mean I can extend the fully mastered Mage Hand without limit so long as I have enough mana?
Although Zwei wanted to continue experimenting with the range, he would eventually run out of mana by doing so. Hence, he placed the range experiment on hold temporarily and started experimenting with the Mage Hand’s power.
The experiment yielded similar results to the range experiment. Seemingly, so long as he supplied the spell with sufficient mana, he could lift anything regardless of its weight. Unfortunately, after he uprooted a small tree, his pitiful mana pool dried up.
Even Zwei wouldn’t be so wasteful as to drink a Mana Potion to continue his experiment. Hence, he activated his Return Crystal without hesitation.
After returning to camp and exchanging the seven Rusty Blade Fragments for Metal, Zwei chose to collect his clear reward.
However, perhaps because he had relied on an external item to kill the goblin charger, he received only a B-rank evaluation for his raid. He also drew a purple crystal from the roulette wheel.
…
[Detox Crystal]
Consumable
Remove toxins from the body after use.
…
Although it couldn’t be compared to the Skill Crystal, the Detox Crystal was still an acceptable reward.
After contentedly tucking the Detox Crystal into the pocket of his cloak, he exited the dungeon.
Zwei’s surroundings darkened momentarily, and then he found himself back inside his small stone tower.
As he had changed back to his normal clothes, he now wore two cloaks on his body. If others were to see him in this state, they might consider him abnormal.
Zwei took off the cloak he originally wore, leaving only the apprentice cloak the Trial Gate produced. Currently, it was already close to two o’clock in the morning. However, he still had no plans to sleep, as he still had something to do.
With hurried steps, he arrived before his alchemy table and retrieved a rolled-up paper from a drawer. The paper resembled a treasure map commonly seen in movies, with speckles of yellow dotting it.
This was the Dean’s Mage Tower’s construction blueprint. It was the reward he obtained from his first dungeon raid, yet only now did he have the necessary resources to construct it.
So long as he constructed a real mage tower, he would not need to worry about anything aside from monsters with astonishingly high hunting levels. He could even toss the mysterious predator to the back of his mind.
“Construct!”
Zwei selected the “Construct” option with a refreshing feeling. Subsequently, he confirmed the prompt verifying whether he wished to consume so many resources, without hesitation. Immediately afterward, one of the Magic Academy System’s panels appeared before him.
However, the panel that appeared before Zwei this time was an unfamiliar one.
The panel had a green background—and nothing else besides many small green grids.
Curiously, Zwei reached out with his hand. However, before he could touch the translucent panel, a red circle appeared before his finger. The circle looked particularly conspicuous against the field of green.
…
“Hold on. Is this so-called mage tower not built in the real world, but on this panel instead?!” After coming to this realization, Zwei could not help yelling, “Isn’t this too much of a scam?! What’s the point of building it?!”