Chapter 260 - 21: It’s Great to Be a Genius (Part 2)

Chapter 260: Chapter 21: It’s Great to Be a Genius (Part 2)

Flame Bird and Gust were the high-difficulty Tricks Mo Ning had optimized over the past two months.

The former could create a highly agile Flame Bird, while the latter could generate a continuous Gale.

To have created four new types of Tricks in just four months was an extremely rare feat among the newcomers.

In the eyes of many, this was irrefutable proof of a powerful Divination Talent.

The Wizards placed more importance on this than his spectacular, destructive performance in the underground mines.

Mo Ning was quite satisfied, earning several hundred Black Tower Points each month without lifting a finger.

[You have been promoted to First Level Apprentice. You have gained permission to learn Level Zero Witchcraft with a Spiritual Strength requirement of 10 points or less and a Magic Pool requirement of 180 points or less.]

[You have been added to the "Black Tower New Star" list and granted extra permissions. You have gained permission to learn Level Zero Witchcraft with a Spiritual Strength requirement of 30 points or less and a Magic Pool requirement of 550 points or less. You will receive a 20% discount when learning Witchcraft Models.]

At the Level Zero Witchcraft stage, Witchcraft had very clear requirements for the Magic Pool. If one’s pool didn’t meet the standard, their Magic Power output would be insufficient, making it completely impossible to cast the spell.

Mo Ning was slightly stunned as he read this.

’So, Black Tower New Stars actually get a 20% discount on learning Witchcraft?’

’That’s fantastic!’

The starting price for a Level Zero Witchcraft was 100 Black Tower Points, with the more powerful ones easily costing 200, 300, or even more.

A 20% discount might not sound like much, but over time, it would save him a very significant amount of Black Tower Points.

On the other hand, the promotion threshold for a Third Level Apprentice was 30 points of Spiritual Strength. The extra permission from being a Black Tower New Star meant he could learn any Level Zero Witchcraft available to both First and Second Level Apprentices.

Suppressing his elation, he muttered inwardly, "Show me Level Zero Witchcraft specialized for writing, with a Spiritual Strength requirement of 10 points or less."

His Spiritual Strength was currently only 1.1, yet he was looking up Witchcraft that required a strength of 10. This might seem overly ambitious, but it wasn’t.

The reason was simple: the Mysteries Hall only provided the "standard edition" of a Witchcraft Model.

If a learner had a deep enough Divination Foundation, they could completely optimize the model—or even simplify it.

To put it bluntly, the latter meant lowering the learning threshold by reducing the Witchcraft’s power.

Of course, this was a domain reserved for geniuses; otherwise, the academy wouldn’t grant higher permissions to a Black Tower New Star.

Ordinary Apprentices lacked this ability, so they could only diligently build up their Spiritual Strength and learn Witchcraft step by step.

The next moment, the stone tome clicked open. A torrent of more than fifty multicolored orbs of light gushed out, floating in the empty space before him.

Wizards had created this many types of Level Zero Witchcraft for the simple purpose of "writing," but Mo Ning was already used to such things.

He scanned the orbs for a moment and quickly spotted the renowned Magic Pen Technique.

[Magic Pen Technique: Level Zero Witchcraft. Creates a pen using Magic Power for rapid writing. Spiritual Strength Requirement: 1.5. Magic Pool Requirement: 35. Learning Costs: 110 Black Tower Points.]

The Mysteries Hall’s descriptions of Witchcraft were quite brief, to the point of being vague.

For this very reason, Mo Ning had specially borrowed a detailed book called the Level Zero Magic Selection Guide. The borrowing fee was a staggering 498 Black Tower Points.

This price was considered "sky-high," and most Apprentices were unwilling to spend such a "fortune" on a mere guidebook.

Mo Ning, however, felt it was well worth the cost.

It wasn’t a single book, but a five-volume set. Each volume was 1,200 pages thick, detailing over ten thousand types of Level Zero Witchcraft. It also compared numerous Witchcraft with similar effects, analyzing the pros and cons of each one.

The sheer volume of information alone made him feel it was worth it.

This is how the Guide evaluated the Magic Pen Technique:

"The most outstanding feature of the Magic Pen Technique is that it keeps the Spiritual Strength requirement at an extremely low level, which greatly enhances its general applicability.

"But what is even more commendable is how it optimizes Magic Power consumption to the absolute limit.

"Even when an ordinary Apprentice has mastered this Witchcraft, writing continuously for an hour consumes less than 1 point of Magic Power.

"With further optimization based on one’s personal Magic Power characteristics, the hourly consumption can be lowered to as little as 0.8 points.

"In key metrics like Magic Power efficiency and loss rate, the design of its Divination Model is exquisitely, even admirably, crafted.

"Even if you have no use for this Witchcraft, this book strongly recommends you purchase and carefully study its model, as its design philosophy can be applied to many other forms of Witchcraft."

With a thought, Mo Ning summoned the orb of light representing the Magic Pen Technique, and it floated over to him.

He quickly scanned the other orbs and selected another Level Zero Witchcraft—the Jet Magic Pen Skill.

[Jet Magic Pen Skill: Level Zero Witchcraft. Creates a Magic Pen using Magic Power that can spray Secret Spirit Text, achieving extremely fast writing speeds. Spiritual Strength Requirement: 4. Magic Pool Requirement: 80. Learning Costs: 135 Black Tower Points.]

He recalled the Guide’s description:

"The Jet Magic Pen Skill is less about creating a pen and more about creating a water hose.

"Its writing speed is impressive; it can fill an entire sheet of scale pattern paper in a single breath.

"The trade-off is that it is extremely difficult to control. With the slightest mistake, two Secret Spirit Text characters can blur into a single blob. The Magic Power consumption is also immense—writing a single page consumes three times as much Magic Power as the Magic Pen Technique.

"To put it in a single sentence: the Magic Pen Technique showcases the beauty of Divination’s elegance and efficiency, while the Jet Magic Pen Skill showcases the beauty of brute force."

Although the Guide didn’t explicitly disparage it, the subtext of "not recommended" practically leaped off the page.