Chapter 24: The One-of-a-Kind Bottom Adventurer
"Magic Missile proficiency +1"
1st Ring Spell: Magic Missile lv1 (4/10)
"So tired."
Successfully cast a spell.
This time was better than last time when he completely exhausted his magic power; at least he wasn’t unable to move, but he still felt mentally fatigued.
If the fatigue from multiple failed spellcasting attempts is rated at 1, then the fatigue from successfully casting a spell and significantly draining magic power is rated at 5.
Lie down and rest.
This time he probably rested for over half an hour, before the muddled feeling of exhaustion in his mind faded.
His 7 Intelligence Attribute was still proving useful.
His ability to recover mentally wasn’t something ordinary people could match. The kind of symptoms he had, a regular person might need to sleep to fully recover, but he just needed a brief nap.
Moreover, his magic power was increasing slowly every day. Although not rapidly, it was steady.
It increased slightly every day, giving him reassurance.
Unfortunately, even though magic power continues to grow, it’s still too little for a 1st Ring Magic Missile at this stage.
The time since he awakened his magic power has been too short, barely a week, and he needs more time to fully absorb the advantages his Spirit Attribute brings.
"Is there a way to reduce the cost of Magic Missile?"
Unable to quickly increase resources for now, Gauss could only think about cutting back on spending.
Actually, he felt that the full power of his current Magic Missile was a bit excessive for him; much of the magic power was wasted.
Take goblins for example: even without saying it’s enough to kill a regular goblin, even that large goblin, the power of Magic Missile was excessive.
Gauss suspected that 30-50% of the Magic Missile’s power would be more than sufficient to kill that large goblin.
As for a regular goblin, probably 10% would suffice to kill it.
Of course, this was just his intuitive judgment; the actual outcome he wasn’t sure about.
Perhaps he should try and see if it could be achieved?
Not to mention limiting the magic power output to 10%, even 80% or 90% would be good, as it at least would ease the exhausted void feeling after rapidly consuming a lot of magic power in a short time, allowing him to proceed to the next practice round more swiftly.
Otherwise, the current practice cycle was a bit too long.
He rested for quite a while again.
Once his body’s magic power slowly recovered, Gauss began to act.
He continued to close his eyes and concentrate.
Since he had succeeded not long ago, this time he found the feeling for casting quite smoothly.
However, he didn’t rush to complete the entire casting path following that intuition; he actively cut off the process just as the magic power started flowing.
It sounded easy, but in reality, this act of cutting off was far more complex than it sounded.
Once casting began, the magic’s circulation seemed to start moving with a kind of inertia, and interrupting this process would require very strong control.
Fortunately, his Spirit Attribute lent strength again, and he succeeded in interrupting it the first time.
Next, it needed fine control.
To make a rough analogy, a spell is like a pre-designed program; normal casting only requires finding the correct casting feel, that is, inputting the correct command, and this program can automatically start operating.
The challenging part of magic is the process of building this spell "program" in the consciousness according to the books and teachings left by predecessors, according to their "tutorial".
However, this also presents a problem: if one solely relies on this magic "black box" itself, the mage cannot finely control the spell itself.
"I need to intercept a portion of the magic power at the moment of preparing to cast."
Gauss had a sense of this in his heart.
Just as he can cut off the circulation of magic power, he should, naturally, also be able to intercept.
The difficulty lies in determining how much to intercept, whether the timing is appropriate, and conducting it without interfering with the normal spell operation.
Continue!
Subsequently, Gauss continued in the process of continuous failure, continuous attempts, resting, recovering magic power, and continuing to practice.
When the sunset dyed the lawn with its afterglow, he barely managed to limit the "output power" of the Magic Missile to about 95%.
He could only intercept 5% of the magic power for the time being.
Intercepting slightly more stopped the magic power from operating smoothly.
Although 5% seemed little, this was actually a significant progress. At first, it was only 1%, but it slowly reached this level through constant attempts, indicating he was on the right track.
His idea was feasible, and he just needed to continue relentlessly in this direction.
He patted his empty stomach, packed his bag, and turned to walk towards the town.
...
Before he knew it, five days had passed.
Gauss went out early and returned late every day.
He practiced spells patiently and silently.
Under his diligent training, the proficiency of Magic Missile also steadily improved.
Magic Missile lv2 (1/20).
Besides the level-up of Magic Missile proficiency, the magic power within him had also grown significantly.
If we take the amount of magic power consumed by a full-power Magic Missile at the very beginning as one standard unit, then the amount of magic power he previously possessed was roughly at the level of one standard unit.
Now, however, his magic power reserve had quietly reached 1.5 standard units, increasing by a notable 50%.
Of course, this was just a figurative way of speaking, an estimate he made based on his personal feeling. It might not be very precise, with a slight deviation, but generally, it was not a big issue.
As for the power limit training for Magic Missile, he could currently only achieve a 60% power output, which he also called a 0.6 standard unit Magic Missile.
With his magic power reserve, he could probably release 2 of these 0.6 standard unit Magic Missiles, and still have 0.3 standard units of magic power left.
The difficulty in limiting power increased as he progressed further.
Because there was an inherent magic power level required to release the Magic Missile itself.
To draw a comparison from Gauss’ knowledge from his past life, it’s like a gasoline car. No matter how much engineers optimize the design and reduce fuel consumption, it always needs a certain amount of fuel, and the difficulty of optimization increases the further you go.
"Let’s call the practice to a temporary halt."
Enduring the short retreat-like training, Gauss sighed in relief.
The five days of training passed quickly but were also very taxing.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
He was constantly draining magic power, exhausting his spirits, recovering, and then draining again, almost a repetitive mental torment.
Clearly, he had planned to take a break after completing the Birch Village assignment.
Yet ultimately, he ended up more fatigued instead.
Gauss couldn’t help but give a helpless laugh.
Thankfully, this stage of training was fruitful, and the hardship wasn’t in vain.
While he complained verbally, Gauss understood very well in his heart that this fatigue was worthwhile, as every drop of sweat now would come as assistance when facing future crises.
Current him, through training, already possessed the preliminary capability to inflict damage on formidable foes.
0.6 standard unit Magic Missile was enough to easily kill that large goblin from before, and he could use this attack twice.
If he could go back to that night now, he surely wouldn’t be so in a sorry state.
With some self-defense ability, Gauss felt the pressure on his heart relieved significantly.
In fact, since he came into this world, he had always been driven forward by an underlying sense of urgency.
It was precisely due to this uneasiness that he was eager to master various magic and weapons to arm and protect himself.
For the moment, the Magic Missile tucked away could indeed provide him with some degree of security.
Relying on the powerful destructiveness of Magic Missile, purely from an offensive capability standpoint, he should be one of a kind among bottom adventurers who haven’t yet advanced to a profession.
After evaluating his combat power, having had a few days of solid practice with magic, Gauss felt a little eager for action.
How about finding some goblins to spar with? Test the results of his training?