Chapter 22: Spell Selection
Coral Tavern has private rooms, with higher prices and better service.
However, Gauss was only there to eat, so he wasn’t too picky.
He found an empty table, sat down, and placed his pack and sword beside him.
Soon, a waitress came over with a menu.
Gauss waved his hand grandly and ordered a few dishes of meat and a jug of juice.
For some reason, he really wanted to eat meat now.
To be honest, this craving for meat started a few days ago.
Specifically, it should have been after that battle ended.
He speculated that, perhaps like growing taller, the increase in appetite was also brought by his Constitution of 6 points.
The body’s development needs a lot of nutrients, which sounds quite reasonable.
While waiting for the food to arrive, he focused and opened the "Adventurer’s Handbook" in his mind, checking the information above.
Name: Gauss
Strength: 5 (force, carry weight, explosive power, and other kinetic output)
Agility: 5 (body flexibility, dynamic coordination)
Constitution: 6 (endurance, physical fitness, wound recovery, cardiopulmonary metabolism)
Intelligence: 7 (memory, thinking, Spiritual Power)
Perception: 5 (senses, intuition, judgment)
Charm: 5 (temperament, appearance, posture)
Skills:
0th Ring Trick: Mage’s Hand Level 2 (15/20)
1st-level Spell: Magic Missile Level 1 (3/10)
The Attribute Panel clearly presented his various attributes in numerical form, easily understandable at a glance.
In terms of skills, Mage’s Hand increased by 5 points during that battle.
It rose from 10/20 to 15/20.
This also confirmed Gauss’s previous assumption that actual combat is more conducive to improving skill mastery.
As for Magic Missile, it is still only Level 1 (3/10).
These three points of proficiency were gained from that extraordinary performance when using Magic Missile to kill a large goblin.
𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
After that, on his way back, he didn’t dare to use this 1st-level Spell casually.
Nowadays, the requirements in terms of Magic Power for this 1st-level Spell seem too high.
He’s worried that practicing on the road might accidentally deplete his Magic Power and again fall into a state of mental exhaustion where he can’t act, so he hasn’t practiced at all.
At present, he possesses two spells.
Combining the knowledge about mages that shopkeeper Gron recently told him, he was momentarily confused.
To embark on the path of a Professional and officially become a Mage, the first step is to practice a spell to an extremely proficient level.
And now he has two spells.
Actually, whether it’s Mage’s Hand or Magic Missile, they can both serve as the foundation for launching his Professional path.
His dilemma lies in choosing which spell.
In terms of ease, Mage’s Hand is undoubtedly much simpler than Magic Missile.
In fact, according to Gron, the vast majority of mages start with a 0th Ring Trick as their first spell to break into the Professional realm.
The advantage of the 0th Ring Trick is that the spell itself is relatively more accessible, learning it is less difficult, consuming less Magic Power during practice, making it possible to practice more times in the same unit of time and increasing the probability of advancing to the Professional level.
However, the ease here is in comparison to 1st-level Spells.
Actually, magic is a skill with a very high entry threshold, and those who aren’t talented struggle greatly to master it.
It’s not like Sword Skills, Combat Skills, Archery Skills, and those skills where, as long as you’re willing to invest time, regardless of whether you eventually become a Professional, you can achieve a certain level of combat ability.
Magic, however, is different; those without talent often leave disappointed.
This is also why the Mage profession is popular in many Adventurer Squads; rarity in itself is a resource.
But after saying so many advantages of the 0th Ring Trick, what is the benefit of using a 1st-level Spell to charge into the Professional skill?
There is only one.
That is, a 1st-level Spell will be solidified into a core skill, possessing stronger growth potential afterward, and using it consumes less Magic Power.
Yes, for every person’s skill chosen to pursue the Professional Path, at the moment they formally coalesce their Profession Tier, it will be solidified into their core skill.
Professionals can master many skills later; take a mage, for example, the 0th Ring Trick, 1-9 Ring Spells—if you have enough talent and ability, you can slowly learn them.
But core skills are different, core skills have better growth capacity, which will improve in power as the Professional Tier level increases.
Moreover, due to being completely solidified, using this core skill will become more adept and consume less.
Thus, between 0th Ring Mage’s Hand and 1st-level Magic Missile, which has better potential and effect as a core skill?
Naturally, Magic Missile.
Mage’s Hand is just a supportive spell, even among the 0th Ring Tricks, it is extremely lacking in combat power.
Whereas Magic Missile represents another extreme; such pure magically offensive spells boast destruction power among the top ranks of 1st-level Spells.
Finally, core skills also influence the type of inherent talents that every Professional awakens after obtaining a Profession Tier.
For example, an Archer who chooses the Ranger profession; upon officially entering the profession and gaining their Profession Tier, might awaken talents like "Precision," "Eagle Eye," "Divine Power," and others. These talents vary in quality.
Different talents grant different enhancements to the Professional.
If his chosen Professional core skill is Magic Missile, when he steps into the profession, the skill’s intensity will far beyond that of regular mages.
More crucially, a brute-force attack spell like Magic Missile is likely to allow him to awaken an extremely powerful inherent talent.
He swallowed hard.
After thinking over it thoroughly, he decided to use Magic Missile to pursue the mage profession.
The influence of the core skill is too great. First, the core skill itself is the skill that will accompany the whole professional career, and the inherent talents linked by it will continue to have an effect.
Ordinary people generally find it very difficult to grasp 1st-level Spells without having formally condensed their Profession Tier. A 1st-level Spell is several times more difficult than a 0th Ring Trick, and even harder to raise it to the level necessary to enter the profession afterward.
Only a few geniuses and those with enlightenment would choose a 1st-level Spell as their core skill, and it’s not unheard of for those who have enlightenment of higher-level skills ultimately still choosing the 0th Ring Trick.
Ultimately, no matter how strong the potential, if one cannot break into the profession, it’s just a castle in the air.
But Gauss is different. He has a panel that allows him to clearly know his skill proficiency, and the data form also ensures that his skills will not decline—as long as he practices, he can get stronger.
Overall, the 0th Ring Trick has the highest adaptability, the 1st-level Spell has great difficulty but very high potential, and if it’s 2nd level or higher, it can’t be used as a core skill.
Because without condensing the Profession Tier, it’s impossible to use 2nd level or above skills; even if mastered, the internal Magic Power is far from sufficient.
So Gauss has no lofty ambitions to see if he can acquire higher-level spells.
"If no more suitable skills emerge afterward, it will be tentatively decided as Magic Missile! Even if it costs more time than Mage’s Hand, it’ll result in stronger core skills and talents, all of which will be worth it."
After contemplating for a while, Gauss finally made his decision.
"Thus, my urgent task now is to seek a Magic Wand, even the most basic one, to reduce my Casting Magic Power consumption and increase the efficiency of my magic practice."
"Thereby hastening my mastery of Magic Missile and advancement in profession."