Chapter 75: Disguise Skill and Casting Confidence

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Disguise Skill and Casting Confidence

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—"

"Coming."

A slightly exhausted voice echoed from inside. After a while, the door finally opened.

Erin raised a hand to rub her eyes, her oversized morning gown slipping to one side. She looked at Lorin, whose face was even more haggard than hers, and asked in confusion, "What happened to you?"

"A hangover... and I didn’t sleep well..." Lorin said guiltily.

"Alright, come in."

As soon as she said that, she froze. She realized that there was almost no room to stand in her room. The only empty spot was her bed.

"Come in... and go where?" Lorin had clearly noticed as well, asking cautiously.

"Wait."

Erin suddenly leaned close to him, wrinkling her nose to sniff his scent. She then snatched the sweet bread from him, took a bite, and finally said with satisfaction, "Mmm... shmells pretty good, c’mon in."

A fragrant breeze washed over his face, making Lorin’s heart skip a beat. He had thought Erin smelled something weird on him.

He felt relieved. He didn’t know if she was describing him or the bread as fragrant, but to just invite him onto her bed like this...?

That... couldn’t be right...

"Is this appropriate?" he asked, pointing at the bed with the hand holding his milk.

Erin turned her head and glanced at him. With a half-smile, she asked, "What’s wrong? Is our Lord Lorin unable to hold back anymore, wanting to make a move on this pitiful Little Mage?"

"I wouldn’t dare... I wouldn’t dare..." Lorin’s hand trembled, nearly spilling the milk. Right now, he truly had no worldly desires.

"Clumsy," Erin frowned slightly. She took the cup of hot milk from his hand and gulped down a large mouthful.

"Why does this guy look a little more pleasing to the eye again? How strange..." She thought.

"Glad you know your place. Hurry up and come over. We still have to turn in the quest later... and check out houses in the afternoon. It’s way too cramped here... By the way, how is your Spell memorization going?" She sat cross-legged on the bed, munching on the bread while mumbling a whole bunch of things.

"Slight progress. I tried a few times on my own, and I can succeed about two or three times out of ten," Lorin said, stepping around the clutter and sitting cross-legged opposite her.

"You’ve succeeded? That success rate doesn’t make sense.

"Hmm... Some cases of casting failure might not be due to failing to channel the Magic Net, or mispronouncing the Spell." At this point, Erin glanced at him and continued, "A lot of times, it’s because they don’t believe they can cast that Magic. Halfway through chanting, they start thinking, ’Ah! What if it fails?’ Naturally, the success rate drops drastically."

"So a Caster’s belief will affect the success rate of the Magic?" Lorin nodded thoughtfully.

He actually hadn’t thought that Magic could fail before. He had always assumed that as long as the Spell was pronounced correctly and the Magic Net was used to shape the Spell Model properly, it would work.

So Erin thought he didn’t believe in his own Magic? He wondered. In reality, he just couldn’t pronounce the Spell properly.

"Right! Belief... That is a very fitting word." Erin looked at him in a new light, offering a rare compliment. "I didn’t expect you to have some brains."

"...Thanks for the praise."

"You have to trust that you can shape the Magic Power into the form you want, rather than worrying if a corner is missing here or a line is absent there.

"You might think this isn’t hard, but in reality, the reason the vast majority of Sorcerers can’t learn Magic is because they don’t trust themselves.

"Or rather, they trust ’themselves’ too much instead of trusting the Spell Model. They just randomly shape some messy thing and think the casting will succeed, and once they fail, they are unwilling to try again."

"I see..." Lorin felt that this wasn’t difficult for him.

The previous Spell Model for the Flaming Arrow was nothing more than a three-dimensional arrow shape; it had actually only taken him a dozen seconds to shape it. His current difficulties were simply inaccurate Spell pronunciation and the lack of a usable Magical Artifact.

"Perhaps I should save up and get myself a Magic Staff?" he wondered.

"How much do Magical Artifacts usually cost?" he asked.

Erin looked at him and smiled disdainfully. Her gaze roughly translated to: A broke guy like you shouldn’t overestimate yourself.

She raised her Magic Staff, waved it in front of Lorin’s eyes, and said, "My father hired someone to forge this for me after I became an Official Mage. The materials alone cost 384 Gold Coins, and that’s not even counting the artisan’s labor fee."

Lorin gasped.

Gold Coins!? That amount of money was enough to bundle up Hobgoblins and Bear Goblins together and buy a whole cartload wholesale.

"Let’s just say... are there any slightly cheaper ones?" he asked with difficulty.

"How good do you think the one I’m using is? This is just a Beginner model. Otherwise, why do you think so many Mages collaborate with nobles? It’s all because they’re poor."

He thought to himself that the path to Truth was truly winding. Lorin twitched his mouth.

"These tricks you’re learning right now don’t even require a Magical Artifact, so don’t aim too high."

Erin flipped to a specific page in *Malcolm’s Basic Spellcasting Guide*, pointed to the Spell Model on it, and said, "Alright, I’ve taught you everything I should about the Flaming Arrow. You just need to get the pronunciation right. I’ll demonstrate a One-Ring Magic for you. Let’s go with this one—the Disguise Skill."

She raised the Magic Staff in her hand and traced an incredibly complex Rune in mid-air, moving at a speed that was slow enough for Lorin to see clearly, but not so slow that the casting would fail.

"Māyā Rūpa!"

A very faint distortion, like a heat wave rising from the ground, began at the Magic Staff in her hand and rapidly spread across her body. Wherever it passed, her skin, her sleeves, and the collar of her nightgown all looked as if they had been re-traced by an invisible hand.

The soft fabric transformed into cold gray forged steel. The lower half of the nightgown morphed into slender legs clad in leg armor, and a half-wrap Helmet protected the upper half of her face, revealing only her rosy lips and chin.

In just the span of two or three breaths, the Red-haired Female Mage who had been wearing a nightgown and holding a Magic Staff had transformed into a Female Knight clad in magnificent Plate Armor.

Looking at her, Lorin swallowed hard unconsciously.

This Plate Armor looked way too damn cool.

The surface of the Plate Armor was engraved with gorgeous feather patterns, unfurling all the way from the collar to the waist. The veins of every feather were clearly visible, and the joints of each component were connected with extreme precision. Rather than Armor, it was more like a perfect work of art.

What man could possibly resist a set of armor like this?

"Teacher Erin, I want to learn this!"

Like a little boy seeing a beloved toy, Lorin reached out excitedly and poked the surface of the armor.

His fingertip touched the Plate Armor.

And then, it phased right through.

The illusion shattered like a mirage beneath his touch. His fingertip felt the surface of the nightgown—and a trace of softness underneath.

"Eh?"

Lorin’s mouth twitched as he stared at his finger. He truly hadn’t done it on purpose...

He would never do it on purpose at a time like this!

Erin’s Helmet-clad head lowered to look at his hand. The illusion then suffered a violent Shock, dissipating like smoke.

"...What are you touching!" she snapped angrily.

"I thought it was solid..."

"The Disguise Skill! Disguise! Do you not understand the name!"

"Ouch..."

She glared at Lorin, swinging her Magic Staff to rap him hard on the head. Then, she pointed to the words in the thick tome. "Read carefully! This Magic cannot withstand phys-i-cal in-spec-tion!"

Lorin shrank his neck and retracted his hand as if electrocuted. He apologized, "Yes, yes, yes. Teacher Erin, I was wrong."

"The Disguise Skill can simulate anything you’ve seen, and can even change your appearance and posture, but it’s only a simulation. Do you understand?"

Hearing the word "Teacher," Erin felt slightly better. She handed the Magic Staff to Lorin and said, "Take my Magic Staff and practice the movements. I’ll let you know if you do anything wrong."

"Oh..."

Lorin took the Magic Staff and casually glanced at its Attributes. The glaring "Excellence" in the Quality column nearly blinded him. But the Magic Staff felt incredibly rigid in his hand, as if it was completely resisting him. He looked up at Erin in confusion.

Erin explained as if she already knew, "You haven’t attuned to it, so it’s normal for it to feel awkward. Don’t worry about it... Actually, forget it. I might as well teach you."

She suddenly remembered this guy’s damn Shield Skill accessory. To avoid a similar misunderstanding in the future, she decided to be merciful and teach him.

"Attune?" Lorin asked in confusion.

"Attuning an unowned piece of Magic Equipment is very simple. Just envelop the equipment with your Spiritual Power, and you’ll be able to use it without an activation Spell.

"However, it takes some time. You can do it when you have nothing else to do."

"Oh, okay... Then I’ll practice the movements for the Disguise Skill first." Lorin smiled sheepishly.

The equipment he pulled from the system was better after all. It didn’t require any of these complicated processes and could be used right away.

He decided to spend some time later attuning the Oath of Bones. In battle, speaking one less Spell could mean the difference between life and death.

As for now, he should focus on learning Magic.

Lorin lowered his head and carefully memorized the Spell Model. Only after confirming that he could recall the details with his eyes closed did he slowly wave the Magic Staff, mimicking Erin’s movements.

He projected that Rune in mid-air through his imagination. As he traced it, he manipulated his Spiritual Power to coalesce the Spell Model.

Soon, a complete Rune was outlined in mid-air, looking almost indistinguishable from the one Erin had traced.

"Huh... did I do it right?" Lorin raised his head in delight.

"Have you seen this Rune before?" Erin raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, looking at him with deep suspicion.