Chapter 7: Introduction to Magic (II)

The title “noble among nobles” refers to those nobles who have become powerful professionals—such as high-ranking knights, mysterious mages, and priests who serve the gods. These nobles not only possess noble privileges but also great strength, making them the elite among the continent’s nobility. Even the king himself should not underestimate them without reason. If Donald could obtain a formal status as a mage, it would greatly facilitate his efforts to restore his family’s glory and regain his official fiefdom. Therefore, Kord, who took pride in being part of the Merlinna family, was extremely happy and excited at the idea of his young master becoming a mage.

After some joking around, Donald ordered, “So, Uncle Kord, go and exchange these Gold Solars for Element Crystals for me! They are very useful for my training and are essential materials. As for that cartload of iron ore, I have my own uses for it. Buy it first; I’ll explain later!”

Now, Kord had no doubts at all. He nodded repeatedly in agreement and hurriedly left with the Gold Solars.

The reason Donald sent Kord to handle the exchange and purchases was that, over the past few days, he had disguised himself to sell game and appeared in the town many times. Those shrewd merchants had their own informants and could easily detect anything suspicious. If he were to purchase goods worth twenty Gold Solars all at once, it would easily arouse suspicion.

“Although I now have enough strength to protect myself, considering my still limited abilities and reliance on the powers of the Book of Truth, it’s better to stay low-key for now. And even if I weren’t afraid of trouble, wasting precious magical beast cores on those who are trying to spy on me would be a waste.”

“Rather than that, it’s better to go into the Green Cloak Forest and hunt more magical beasts! At least that way, I can earn quite a few cores and Gold Solars.”

As for the cartload of iron ore, it was Donald’s own clever idea to make money. There were two ways to exchange items in the Book of Truth. One was full-energy exchange, which required a large number of Element Crystals—for example, to summon a standard longsword for human second-tier infantry, one standard primary magic crystal was needed as a cost.

A standard primary Element Crystal cost around five gold coins, while iron ore, used as raw material for crafting weapons, could be bought in a cartload for just one gold coin.

With a cartload of ore, using the second method of invocation—combining basic materials with energy—just one standard primary magic crystal could be used to craft dozens of standard long swords for human infantry. Each of these sturdy and sharp swords could be sold for at least a few gold thalers, resulting in a profit more than ten times higher. However, Donald didn’t intend to produce many infantry swords; one for his own use was enough. Selling too many identical high-quality swords would surely attract the attention of nearby merchants and even nobles, which wasn’t what he wanted. Moreover, relying on standard swords worth a dozen gold thalers each wouldn’t allow him to earn much money quickly, offering little help to his plans. What he wanted to do was something else! Half an hour later, butler Kord brought back a cartload of iron ore, along with square, crystal-clear element crystals in a cloth bag. After instructing the hired workers to unload the iron ore in the secluded backyard, Donald went into his room alone with the bag. In his bedroom, he opened the bag and gazed at the tiny square energy crystals glowing brilliantly under the crystal light. A fascinated expression appeared on Donald’s face. Though not finely polished like jewelry, these element crystals, initially processed to about one inch square, were exceptionally beautiful and dazzling due to the energy they contained. “I really hate to use these beautiful crystals! If I could take them to Earth, no top diamond could compare to their dazzling brilliance!” Yet, no matter how beautiful something was, it couldn’t compare to one’s own strength. After pondering for a while, Donald regained his normal state of mind. Slightly excited, he picked up two element crystals, opened the Book of Truth, and chose to enhance his Intelligence. A faint golden light in the shape of a book appeared above Donald’s head for just a second before breaking into golden particles that merged into his brain. He felt a cool and gentle current flow into a mysterious part of his mind, followed by a significant enhancement in his strength, as if he had become much stronger and more energetic. After the light disappeared, Donald moved his limbs and noticed no difference from before. But upon closer inspection, he realized that after a busy morning, he now felt as if he had had a wonderful nap, full of energy and refreshed. “It seems that improvements in mental strength may not be as noticeable as physical enhancement—after all, it’s an intangible yet real existence!”

Looking at the two crystals left in his hand, Donald began to consider whether to continue strengthening himself!
“If I choose other cultivation books for more comprehensive enhancement, options include the Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, and the Life Manual, which permanently increases strength, agility, and intelligence by 20% of their current levels. There’s also the Knowledge Book, which boosts all attributes by a certain percentage, and the Energy Book, which enhances a character’s level overall.”
“The initial exchange price for the Book of Strength, the Book of Agility, and the Book of Intelligence is the same, but the prices for the later cultivation books are much higher. Even the cheapest, the Life Manual, requires fifty medium-element crystals to obtain, yet the permanent 50% increase in health is well worth it—far exceeding the cost. It’s equivalent to doubling one’s lifespan! Without accidents, someone who obtains the Life Manual can live a healthy life until at least 150 years old, with physical tissues that are two to three times stronger than those of ordinary people.”
As for the other options that permanently enhance all attributes, they require at least thousands of gold Solars per enhancement.
Even though he had enough energy now, Donald didn’t want to rush into making exchanges. These treasures, which could permanently boost his potential, increased abilities based on his current physical percentage, and each enhancement came only once. If he used them all up now, he might excel at a lower level, but he’d lose much of his future potential. That was undoubtedly a poor choice. Enhancing a novice warrior’s strength by 40% was vastly different from enhancing a bronze-level warrior. Although the latter required more energy, it was still worth it since it was achievable.
After much thought, Donald temporarily abandoned the idea of enhancing other attributes. He stored the element crystals away and began studying the meditation techniques in the parchment book again.
Originally, Donald had low mental potential, similar to that of mages, and not much different from ordinary people. After being enhanced by the Book of Wisdom, his low mental potential was naturally resolved, and he now met the basic requirements to become a mage.
As for entering a meditative state, that was even easier to handle. The Book of Truth contained at least seven or eight methods to achieve it.

The simplest method is to summon buildings of various races designed for training spellcasters, then expend a certain amount of energy to use their training facilities to achieve the effects of introductory meditation. The training effects available to witches and wizards—such as intermediate expert-level wizard training or advanced master-level wizard training—can significantly speed up the cultivation of black iron and bronze rank mages in this world, allowing them to advance to higher levels, not to mention assisting Donald with meditation.

However, the only difficulty is that although upgrading the technology for these buildings doesn’t require upgrading the main city like in the game to meet research conditions, it still demands substantial energy as a prerequisite. Not to mention the energy needed for research upgrades, even summoning just one of these spellcaster buildings—structures that can only be built after upgrading the main city once in the game—requires an enormous amount of energy and resources, which is far beyond Donald’s current capabilities.

Therefore, if he wants to successfully enter the world of magic and achieve a meditative state, he must find another way. After comparing several effective methods, Donald ultimately decided to summon the orc units known as Soul Walkers.

White Bullheads are a mysterious military unit that lies between priests and mages; they can transform into an intangible form, allowing them to evade physical attacks. What Donald needed was the innate skill of Soul Chain possessed by Soul Walkers, which allows them to link four units together with invisible chains. All units affected by Soul Chain can share their life force and transfer 50% of the damage they receive to the other units.

By summoning a Soul Walker and having it use the Soul Chain skill on himself, Donald’s mental perception would synchronize with that of the Soul Walker. Once the White Bullhead spellcaster enters a meditative state, Donald could then experience the same sensations as a spellcaster, thereby helping himself enter a meditative state as well.

There are other race-specific units whose abilities can also aid in meditation, but the advantage of Soul Walkers is that they are only second-tier units. Summoning them temporarily only requires one second-tier magical crystal core, and once the Soul Chain skill is used during summoning, its effect persists until the summoning period ends. Considering mana recovery and skill cooldowns, this is a significant advantage over the skills of other units.

Another point is that Soul Walker has another innate skill that allows it to transform into a void form. In this state, it is immune to physical attacks but cannot attack enemies; void entities can only be attacked with magic or skills. By connecting with the White Bull Head and commanding it to enter the soul-void state, one can further enhance their mental perception, making the effects of meditation even more pronounced. It is estimated that even ordinary shallow meditation states can achieve the effects of deep meditation. As a result, each hour of meditation yields results comparable to a regular mage apprentice’s one day of meditation, undoubtedly speeding up the pace of cultivation greatly. A level-2 crystal core can sustain the existence of a Soul Walker for about twelve hours, enough time for Donald to successfully meditate and reach the beginner stage of magic.