Chapter 267 : Chapter 267
Chapter 267. Bonus Spell
【Aside from each school’s own unique advancement methods, there are three mainstream paths for mages to advance. The first is to advance through the method of the Battle Mage, the second is to use certain special extraordinary items, and the last is the Elite Mage advancement discussed in this paper.】
【The first two require either competing for scarce slots or searching for “extraordinary objects” that may not even exist. Neither of these paths can compare to the steady, grounded path of advancing step by step as an Elite Mage...】
【Of the three, only the Elite Mage advances entirely through one’s own strength and a few outstanding personal traits...】
After that, the author of the paper went on at length about the shortcomings of the other two methods, while lavishly praising the powerful attributes of the Elite Mage profession...
Fulan only needed a single second to guess which method the author had used to advance to the Second Tier. It was simply too easy to tell...
There were quite a few papers like this in the entire Northern Society—papers full of complaints and sneering remarks—because the whole system by which mages shared their research findings was itself rather underdeveloped.
If you compared the two sides, the mages and the reviewers, you would find that the reviewers did not actually possess much authority. The original purpose of reviewers was merely to filter out papers that were obviously “garbage” at a glance.
They had no authority to carefully examine a paper’s actual content, nor did they have the power to regulate the format in which mages wrote.
Mages had far too much freedom in how they wrote. Aside from removing direct, named insults according to the rules, the reviewers only required the writing to be coherent before it could be published.
Under such circumstances, it was extremely common across the Alliance to see papers that opened by presenting an opinion, then openly or subtly belittled certain other approaches.
Fulan herself had seen one before, though not many beyond that. Papers that specifically disparaged other things were still relatively rare.
That was also why no mage had stepped forward to standardize how everyone wrote papers in the future. It was, after all, still a low-probability occurrence.
Fulan skipped roughly a tenth of the content before finally reaching the part of the paper that had real value.
【...The greatest characteristic of an Elite Mage after advancement lies in the changes brought by the three spells used as the foundation.】
【After advancing, you will discover that your control over those three spells becomes much greater, and that these three First-Tier spells will also improve more quickly during later practice.】
【At the same time, depending on the type of the three spells you selected, this advancement will also bring you additional benefits.】
【For example, one branch under the Elemental School, the Flame School, has a unique application of the Elite Mage profession. All three of their chosen spells are related to the fire element.】
【As a result, after they advance to the Second Tier, the effects of their fire-element spells become far stronger than those of other mages’ Second-Tier spells. (This applies to spell power only; functionality is not taken into account.) This is a unique method of application.】
【Of course, the vast majority of mages use three spells for advancement that they themselves do not even understand why they happen to have mastered. These three spells are difficult to connect through any simple relationship.】
【That is why a case like the Elemental School, where one simply uses all the spells of a single element as the foundation, does not apply in most situations. Many Elite Mages remain confused in this regard even after advancing.】
【There is no need to panic. This is normal. More than half of all Elite Mages are like this. They, too, must explore the unique changes brought by their advancement. That is precisely the charm of this profession.】
【After advancement, different effects will manifest depending on the spells you selected.】
【Some will turn your three spells into a constant effect attached to your body, one that will not disappear so long as your mental power is not exhausted.】
【Some will grant you a composite guidance ability, allowing you to release all three spells at once through a single, more costly act of guidance.】
【There are also more complicated cases, where you may gain a spell you previously did not know at all. We call this a bonus spell.】
【This paper includes solutions for various situations from several schools, including the case of a mage from the Necromancy School who selected the three spells 【Summon Powerful Undead】, 【Drive the Dead】, and 【Energy of the Dead】 from three different systems, enabling you to master the unknown spell you obtained.】
【The most common problem in the Elemental School is using three different elemental spells. In that case, one must rely on the famous Elemental Conversion...】
At the end of the paper, Fulan finally found the solution to her own problem: she needed to use the Elemental School’s spell technique—Elemental Conversion.
According to the paper’s conjecture, as long as the various elements were linked together, that inexpressible spell would reveal its true form.
As for how exactly Elemental Conversion was to be performed, the paper did not say. This was because it was an exclusive technique of the Elemental School, so each mage had to seek it out personally.
“That’s it?!” Fulan frowned, but the blank space after the final line of text clearly told her that the paper had indeed ended.
“Well, fine. At least I got the key information.” Fulan sighed and could only accept it. She did not search the Mana Communication System for papers related to Elemental Conversion. Instead, she directly closed the Mana Receiver Tablet.
In truth, she already had the technique of Elemental Conversion in her possession. It was written on the sheet Habos had given her, the one that recorded a Second-Tier spell of Habos’s own creation.
One had to know that the paper stirring up the winds these past few days was precisely Habos’s work on the perpetual conversion of fire element into wind element. It could practically be called an upgraded version of Elemental Conversion.
Since this was Habos’s latest achievement, he undoubtedly had command of the Elemental Conversion technique, and likely understood it in great depth.
On the page Habos had given Fulan, one of the Second-Tier spells recorded there was a spell that depended on Elemental Conversion.
Since Elemental Conversion was, after all, a high-level technique, even Habos himself had only learned it after reaching the Second Tier, and then applied it in his spell creation.
Fulan unfolded the slip of paper. Three Second-Tier spells were recorded on it, all of them self-created by Habos.
One was called 【Furnace Hand】, a spell used specifically to assist in forging weapons. In terms of destructive power, it was not even as strong as a First-Tier spell. It was purely a production spell.
Another was called 【Weapon-Forging Art】, a spell used to strengthen weapons. It could not coexist with runes, and it enhanced weapons that had just been forged. It was not an offensive spell either.
The final spell was the one that made use of Elemental Conversion—【Elemental Radiance】.
This was an upgraded version of the spell Nora had mentioned before, 【Elemental Bomb】.
A normal Elemental Bomb was an offensive spell, but it was somewhat weaker than ordinary attack spells. An enhanced apprentice spell with slightly higher elemental affinity might even be stronger than it.
But the true function of Elemental Bomb did not lie in direct lethality. Rather, it was in efficiently activating the surrounding environment, making the nearby elements more active and increasing the effectiveness of the next elemental spell cast.
And 【Elemental Radiance】 was a spell that fused the effects of 【Elemental Bomb】 with the Elemental Conversion technique.
Its function was to produce, after being cast, the ability to activate a certain element. In that regard, it was no different from 【Elemental Bomb】.
But its truly formidable aspect lay in the fact that it continuously produced a field that caused the elements in the surrounding environment to incline toward whichever element was most active there.
Simply put, this was a spell capable of continuously converting the surrounding environmental elements, unifying them into a single element.
This spell could not only strengthen the elemental spells Fulan herself intended to cast, but also weaken a different kind of spell her enemy intended to cast.
Habos’s spell was extremely powerful. It could be said to be an exceptionally useful Second-Tier spell. Even within the Elemental School, many mages had gone to exchange Points for it.
That meant this spell was not something only Habos and Fulan might use. Many mages of the Elemental School would use it as well, because no matter how one looked at it, it was a spell that clearly belonged to the Elemental School.
It was only because Habos had created the spell himself and possessed the right to teach it that he could freely pass it on to any mage, which was how Fulan was able to learn it.
And along with this spell had come a sigh from Habos.
“This is the only spell I ever created that has anything to do with the Elemental School. After this, I never created another new elemental spell again.”
Originally, Habos had no need to leave this spell to Fulan. After all, their school was called the Forge Furnace School, and no matter how one looked at it, this spell was not “forge furnace” at all.
But Habos believed that if Fulan wanted to learn spells from other schools, then perhaps she might have a use for this spell as well. That was why he had written it down too.
Fulan carefully read through the spell structure of 【Elemental Radiance】, and then saw the spell appear on her panel.
She felt that as long as she practiced this spell diligently in the future, her skill in Elemental Conversion would gradually improve along with it. And when that happened, she would finally know what that all-question-mark spell really was.
Then there were Habos’s other two Second-Tier auxiliary spells. Those were somewhat troublesome, because both were spells related to weapon forging.
Fulan would have to find suitable materials and carve out time for herself before she could train those two spells.
“Next comes the Spirit Realm.” After accomplishing so many things, Fulan felt an exhaustion rising from the bottom of her heart.
Advancing had already consumed a great deal of her energy. Then she had conducted experiments, come to the Mage Tower to read papers, and continued planning what to do next. Although she still had plenty of mental power, she could nevertheless feel physical fatigue.
“Next, I’m going to the Spirit Realm. Let’s see whether I can find any reliable Second-Tier materials there. My weapon needs an upgrade too.”
When Fulan had still been in the First Tier, her weapon had remained usable. But now that she had reached the Second Tier, it would most likely no longer be enough.
She already possessed the weapon-forging methods taught to her by the “master” Habos, as well as her Extraordinary-grade 【Forging】.
Under such circumstances, how could she possibly tolerate her weapon lagging behind her own Tier?