"Talent Witchcraft?"
While following Atbolde outside, Colin asked in confusion.
"Hmm..." Atbolde pondered for a moment and then slowly explained, "In the School, after each Wizard Apprentice advances to become an Official Wizard, they can select a First Rank Witchcraft for free."
"This has been a tradition from the beginning, initially just a simple selection of witchcraft, without the designation of selecting Talent Witchcraft."
"However, later on, most wizards at this stage chose witchcraft that complemented their talents, that is, witchcraft that could assist their talents... Over time, this stage came to be known as selecting Talent Witchcraft."
"I see." Colin nodded.
Atbolde hadn't finished speaking; he paused, then added:
"The varieties of Talent are numerous, and their effects vary. Even though wizards have come a long way on this path and created many witchcrafts specifically to assist talents, their applicability is not strong.
Therefore, you can choose witchcrafts that assist your talents or other witchcrafts."
Perhaps worried that Colin might misunderstand, after finishing, Atbolde added another line:
"But you must understand that Talent, especially the first one obtained when advancing to a First Rank Wizard, is the foundation of a wizard's path. Selecting witchcrafts revolving around it is never wrong.
At this stage, you have to start thinking about the main direction you want to take in the future, how the witchcrafts you learn can complement each other... Once you have accumulated enough, you can start trying to create witchcrafts.
You must know, none of the famous wizards use witchcrafts created by others."
Perhaps Atbolde's fondness for him had increased; this explanation seemed more detailed than before.
"I understand, Mentor Atbolde," Colin nodded.
Talent… the foundation of a wizard's path.
His gaze flickered, pondering deeply.
Unfortunately... his Talent wasn't something straightforward like Fire Element Affinity or great strength; choosing appropriate assisting witchcraft would probably not be easy.
Thinking so, the group reached a deeper part of Black Castle.
Naturally, Larrel didn't continue with them and turned to leave after Colin had refused.
"Go in, you can roughly describe the effects of your Talent to the Chamber Spirit, and it will recommend possibly useful witchcrafts for you... Don't worry about your Talent being leaked, you don't need to describe it in detail, and the Chamber Spirit won't record the information," Atbolde said as they stopped in front of a grey door, substituting for the duty wizard.
"Okay." Colin nodded, took a deep breath, and walked in.
Pushing open the grey door, what appeared before him was a device resembling the inquiry crystal on the first floor of an ancient castle library – only, the one here in Black Castle was larger.
As he entered, the crystal emitted a soft white light, gradually illuminating the surroundings, and rows of shelves engraved with complex defensive runes appeared out of the darkness.
To the left of the crystal, the right, behind it, and even on the ceiling were endless brown shelves stretching into the dark beyond the crystal's light.
At that moment, a semi-transparent orb of light quietly emerged in the crystal; simultaneously, his newly updated School Badge also glowed softly.
The next second, a mechanical voice came through:
"Respected First Rank Wizard Colin, please describe the effect of your Talent."
Colin's gaze flickered, he pondered for a moment, and finally spoke vaguely, "Enhanced brainpower."
"Recommending appropriate assisting witchcrafts for you, please wait," continued the Chamber Spirit.
After a short time.
A row of pale white projection characters appeared around the crystal.
"Please review," the Chamber Spirit said.
Colin carefully looked from left to right.
"Tatar Memory Palace," "Digital Calculation Enhancement," "Weak Sanity Resistance Enhancement"...
Perhaps because the effect he described was overly vague, the range too broad.
The Chamber Spirit's recommended witchcrafts from left to right, from top to bottom, densely filled his entire view, at least hundreds.
Touching them with his fingers brought up detailed explanations of the corresponding witchcrafts.
After spending some time going through the Chamber Spirit's recommendations twice, Colin couldn't help but furrow his brows.
His Talent, Superbrain, was an overall enhancement of the brain.
And the assisting witchcrafts recommended by the Chamber Spirit, like the Memory Palace, enhanced computing ability, were actually already covered in his existing Talent.
Using this one-time free opportunity to select witchcraft after advancing, on these, seemed somewhat not worth it.
Perhaps… should he forgo choosing witchcraft that assists his Talent and instead select some powerful witchcrafts that could increase his strength?
Colin shook his head; although Atbolde hadn't explicitly said he must choose witchcraft that assists his Talent, the meaning expressed in his words was clearly more inclined to have him select witchcraft that could assist his Talent.
"Witchcraft that enhances brainpower."
He pondered for a moment, then spoke to the spirit in the secret room again.
A moment later, the character projection appeared again.
After carefully reviewing it once more, his gaze settled on a piece of witchcraft in the top left corner.
After pondering for a moment, he gradually found his answer.
"Mechanical Mind," Colin said to the spirit of the secret room.
If one had to point out a flaw in his Superbrain Talent,
the first would be that the enhancement in combat ability was not as significant as in learning ability, and it would be affected by his own condition.
Although Superbrain made his brain extraordinary, his body lacked the benefit of natural talent.
And as a whole, every part of a human is closely related to the rest, a single touch could affect the whole body.
The brain ignores pain when angry, the concentration decreases when tired, and one tends to panic when nervous...
Even a brain enhanced by Superbrain would do the same, only to a weaker extent... Perhaps after many Limit Breakings, he could ignore this fact, but not now.
So, to assist his Superbrain Talent, the direction of choosing witchcraft could obviously be aimed at compensating for these shortcomings.
And Mechanical Mind just so happened to compensate for the Superbrain being influenced by personal conditions.
As its name suggests, this witchcraft keeps one's inner mind as calm as a machine, potentially reducing the impact of negative states.
Combining his strong logical and computational abilities, he might achieve an effect in combat greater than the sum of its parts!
It's worth mentioning that although called Extraordinary Brain, Superbrain is indeed closely related to the spiritual domain of the mind and soul, and Superbrain also indirectly strengthens the spirit and soul.
In this respect, Superbrain is similar to Mechanical Mind.
Although Mechanical Mind mechanizes the mindset, its actual area of effect also lies within the spiritual domain of the brain and soul.
He didn't have to wait too long.
Moments later, a white crystal quietly emerged from the darkness directly in front of him, then slowly flew towards him—this was precisely the crystal template of Mechanical Mind.
Taking the crystal template, Colin was ready to leave.
But suddenly his brow furrowed, and he raised his right hand... For some reason, there was suddenly a disturbance in the Storage Ring.
Hesitating for a moment, he lowered his arm and continued forward, planning to find a secluded and safe place to open it and check later.
But before he had taken two steps, Colin's expression changed suddenly.
The disturbance in the Storage Ring grew more intense, and if he did not remove the source of the disturbance soon, the Storage Ring might not last much longer!
He hastily reached into the Storage Ring and pulled out the source of the disturbance—
It was another ring.
Of a crown style, metallic in material, colored like interwoven gold and silver similar to the Tin Saint School Badge, with intricate details.
This was exactly the relic he had obtained after slaying the Beast-faced Wizard in the Holy Flame Kingdom!
At this moment, the Crown Ring trembled faintly, emitting a buzzing sound.
The next second!
Colin's pupils slightly constricted.
The Crown Ring suddenly emitted white light.
The white light flashed and spread out like a ring in all directions.
Colin's face darkened as he carefully observed the changes around him.
To his surprise, the surroundings, including the spirit of the secret room, seemed to have no reaction to the anomaly in his hand.
"Snap."
Suddenly, a sound came from beside him,
"Whoosh!"
Colin, on alert, turned his head to look, but before he could see clearly, he felt the item in his hand suddenly lighten.
The Crown Ring had slipped from his grasp.
Looking in the direction the ring had flown, a thick, brown-black covered book had somehow landed at his feet.
On its unknown material cover was a crown-shaped slot.
At this moment, the ring was fitting seamlessly into the slot above.
Then with a burst of light, the book flowed towards him like water, then disappeared like a ray of light.
"Exotic Skill—Anando's Dice."
The next second, a piece of information slowly emerged in his heart.