Chapter 347 - 310: The Path of a Commoner Mage

Chapter 347: Chapter 310: The Path of a Commoner Mage

’Just how famous is this Kane, anyway? How does everyone know him?!’

Zelir couldn’t help but grumble to himself.

"The younger generation is truly getting stronger and stronger. But back in my day... I was considered something of a young genius myself."

Adrian remarked wistfully, a nostalgic look on his face.

"I still remember it. I was working in the fields, and my dad thought I was too slow with the hoe, so he’d follow right behind me, kicking my butt."

"He kicked me a few times, and then suddenly, I collapsed and couldn’t get back up."

"My dad was terrified. He thought he’d seriously hurt me, so he threw me on his back and ran to the home of the village herbalist."

Adrian gave a sly wink. "Turns out, that was my Spring Seed awakening!"

Zelir nodded, feeling a sense of shared experience.

According to his memories, he had awakened his own Spring Seed in much the same way.

In this world, becoming a Mage was really a matter of talent... or perhaps, luck.

No one knew when a Spring Seed would awaken, or in whom.

If it awakened, you could become a Mage and forge an entirely new path in life.

But if it didn’t, then no matter how wealthy your family was or how many resources they controlled, you could never become a Mage.

No Magic Potion in the world could change that.

"When I told my dad, he thought I was lying... but I was persistent, and eventually, he gave in and took me to the Mage’s Guild in a nearby town."

"When my dad saw the Crystal Ball the guard brought out light up, his jaw just dropped. I can still picture the look on his face like it was yesterday."

"So that’s when you started on the path to becoming a Mage?" Zelir asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yeah... but it wasn’t quite that simple."

A nostalgic look crossed Adrian’s face.

"Once he knew I had the aptitude, my dad made up his mind on the spot. He decided I should focus on my training and stop doing farm work."

"He took all his savings, sold one of our oxen, and found a teacher for me so I could learn a Meditation Method."

"Then he started borrowing money from the other villagers to buy me Magic Scrolls, all so I could learn ten Level Two Magic spells and pass the Apprentice evaluation."

"My neighbors also saw my potential, and most of them generously pitched in... I, in turn, devoted myself to Meditation and training with everything I had. I suppose you could say I didn’t let them down. The gamble paid off."

"Magic Apprentice at seventeen, Junior Mage at twenty-two, Middle Level Mage at thirty-one."

"All the while, I sent my stipend home... so my parents’ lives improved, and they became highly respected in the village."

"Oh..."

Zelir let out an admiring sigh. "That’s incredible."

To have come all this way from being a poor farm boy to his current achievements, Adrian’s story was truly inspirational.

It was deeply moving.

"But once I reached Middle Level Mage... I decided to stop my Meditation and training. I was going to be an Adventurer!"

Adrian’s voice grew impassioned.

"I’d spent over a decade engrossed in my training, and I was sick of Meditation. The threshold to becoming an Upper Level Mage seemed impossibly far away... Instead of continuing to beat my head against a wall, I decided I’d rather go out and see how big the world really is!"

"I wanted to put everything I’d learned into practice!"

Zelir glanced at Adrian’s gear.

The quality of his Magic Robe and Magic Wand didn’t seem particularly high; at best, they were on par with his own.

He wasn’t wearing any other Magic Accessories, either.

He looked rather shabby.

The monthly stipend for a Middle Level Mage was One Hundred Gold Coins.

Even if he had only been a Middle Level Mage for a year or two, at a rate of One Hundred Gold Coins a month, he should have received over a thousand Gold Coins in stipends by now.

And that didn’t even include his income as an Adventurer, which would only increase his total assets.

’Shouldn’t Adventurers value their equipment? After all, their lives are on the line in battle.’

’Where did all his money go?’

Zelir thought for a moment before he suddenly realized a factor he’d overlooked.

He had one major advantage over other Mages.

He didn’t need to spend money on Magic Scrolls.

Knowledge had a price, and it was an exorbitant one.

A single Level Two Magic Scroll cost several Gold Coins.

Level Three Magic started at tens of Gold Coins.

Level Four Magic could sell for the steep price of over a hundred Gold Coins.

And that wasn’t even getting into Level Five and Level Six Magic.

It wouldn’t be surprising for a Magic Scroll of that level to sell for thousands of Gold Coins.

In fact, they might not even be available for purchase, requiring a trade of something even more precious.

A Mage’s typical expenses for Magic Scrolls were no lower than their expenses for equipment; in fact, they were often higher.

Take the Instant Flash Ball that Zelir had just learned, for example.

A Level Three Multi-layered Technique Structure Magic like that would cost at least several hundred Gold Coins.

Adrian had probably saved his stipend for months or risked his life on difficult quests just to save up enough for it.

But Zelir only needed to glance at it to add it to his analysis queue and wait for the progress bar to complete.

What’s more, he now had several even higher-level spells at his command!

Level Six Magic: Magma Pillar, Gravity Singularity, Praise of Life, and Magic Harmony.

He even had a Level Seven Magic spell: Star Punishment!

If all these spells were converted into their Magic Scroll equivalents... it would be no exaggeration to say...

...the total value could very well exceed ten thousand Gold Coins!

If a Middle Level Mage truly lacked ambition and did nothing but rely on their monthly stipend of One Hundred Gold Coins, they could indeed live quite comfortably.

But the question was... how many people would be content to live such a mediocre life forever?

"Anyway... it’s not easy for commoner Mages like us."

Adrian clapped Zelir on the shoulder again. "We just have to keep climbing, one step at a time."