57 Chapter 57 Fire Is Good. (1/2)
The next morning, Joseph cast IGNITE FIRE on a candle.
(FOR SUCCESSFULLY CASTING A NEW SPELL, YOU ARE AWARDED 1 LIFE POINT.)
Stella was watching him like a hawk, so he decided he needed to be extra cautious, with nothing exciting, like an explosion. He wasn't even mad at her. She was just doing it because she cared. Never having had someone do that in his previous lives, it really meant a lot to him.
Even when he lived at home, with his mom, the servants pretty much left him alone, too afraid to form true friends.h.i.+ps. Because both his parents were still alive, he fully intended to become strong enough to keep them all safe.
Stella was still staring at him, and he was overcome with the irresistible urge to start a tickle fight. He was only able to resist, because he knew she was stronger and he didn't want to lose to a girl.
”You were like a super hero last night, rus.h.i.+ng in to save me like you did.”
”I wouldn't have had to, if you hadn't tried to impress everyone, and blow up half the camp.”
”I think I may have fallen for you,” he said with a wide grin.
She rolled her eyes and stood up. ”I'm going to go get breakfast.”
”Did you get the joke?” he asked brightly, giggling at it himself.
”Yeah, I got it.”
”Wait! Don't go! I really need to ask you a question,” he said, pulling himself together, and stopping her at the door.
She turned and raised her eyebrow. That was such a Sylva response, that he had to stop and remind himself this was Stella, not Sylva.
”If I learn both CREATE FIRE and SHAPE FIRE, I can learn either FLAME JET or FIREBALL afterwards. Those could actually be used for attacking. Should I go for them?”
”It would be nice if you eventually got some offensive spells.”
”If a.s.sa.s.sins keep attacking me, they would be nice, but they don't help me that much in the wastelands.”
”What do you think you need in the wastelands?”
”Well, I thought I would need PURIFY AIR, PURIFY FOOD, PURIFY WATER, and PURIFY EARTH. There would be a few plant spells in there as well. I would also get a lot of Life Points for all of that, which gets me the t.i.tle of Beginner Mage, but I'm not sure what that would give me.”
”Go with the fire. It would give you something now that might be useful. We probably have years before going to the wastelands, for you to work on those other spells.”
”Okay. I'm going to also learn RESIST FIRE even though it takes a couple of other spells to get there, then.”
”That sounds like a good idea,” she said, turning to leave again.
He nodded to himself. That would take another 700 hours of training before he could move on to AIR, but it made sense. He needed to keep in mind things that could be useful now. He knew the road to magical mastery was long, even if he went at double speed because of his memory.
”System, are you sure there aren't other ways to learn spells faster?”
(YOU CAN USE LIFE POINTS TO DIRECTLY PURCHASE SPELLS, BUT YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET LIFE POINTS FOR THAT SPELL, OR SPELLS IN THAT LINE, AFTER THAT. YOU CAN ALSO USE LIFE POINTS TO LEARN NEW RUNES BUT THAT WOULD PREVENT YOU FROM EVER GAINING LIFE POINTS FROM ANY SPELL WITH THAT RUNE IN IT.)
”Wow! That's harsh. Never mind. Alright, system, one more level of magery please.”
(UNABLE TO COMPLY. HUMANS, GNOMES, DWARVES, ELVES, AND HALFLINGS ARE LIMITED TO MAGERY OF NO MORE THAN 3. HIGH ELVES ARE LIMITED TO MAGERY 5 BUT NONE ARE CURRENTLY ACTIVE IN THIS REALM.)
”Wait, active? Are they dead?”
(SEVERAL ARE IN STASIS.)
”Why can't I increase magery above 3 as a human?”
(IT IS A LIMITATION INHERENT IN HUMANS. HUMANS CAN ONLY SEE SO MUCH OF THE LIGHT SPECTRUM, AND THIS IS SIMILAR. a.s.sUME THOSE WITHOUT MAGERY AT ALL, ARE BLIND, AND THOSE WITH MAGERY 0 ARE COMPLETELY COLOR BLIND. GETTING TO MAGERY 3 MEANS YOU CAN SEE ALL THE POSSIBLE COLORS A HUMAN CAN SEE, BUT THAT IS THE LIMIT.)
”So, what would I have to do to exceed that anyway?”
(FIND AN EXAMPLE OF THE RUNE META. THIS RUNE AFFECTS THE FUNCTIONS OF MAGIC, MANA, AND OTHER SPELLS AT A FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL. EACH SKILL LEVEL WOULD INCREASE THE MAXIMUM CAPACITY CEILING BY 1. YOU WOULD STILL HAVE TO SPEND LIFE POINTS TO INCREASE YOUR MAGERY AS USUAL.)
”But if magery is determined at birth, you couldn't be born above magery 3 anyway?”
(CORRECT.)
”So, unless a human was born with an innate understanding of the META rune, they would never be able to exceed magery 3?”
(CORRECT. THIS IS WHY THE LIMIT FOR HUMANS IS 3.)
”How do high elves do it?”
(HIGH ELVES ARE INNATELY MORE MAGICAL.)
”What's the maximum for dragons?”
(IT INCREASES WITH THEIR AGE CATEGORY. HATCHLINGS ARE NORMALLY 5 OR MORE.)
”Wow. Has the knowledge of meta been lost?”