Chapter 97: Almost Counterintuitive

This is a real lightning strike for pretending.

–Is this the first spell I’ve learned, and how did he see it?

Is there a safer spell to put it off?

Fear Technique …… Never.

Summon the Kid …… is a joke.

Summon Demon Stifle Spell …… ha!

Life Triage …… spell he hadn’t even memorized it yet.

Weakness spells …… Naga’s Shadow Magic?

No way no how ……

Did Marin ask that, sensing that he had learned Shadow magic?

It was impossible to tell the Shadow Energy by its appearance alone, Jace was fine going in and out of the Sorcerer’s Sanctuary, even the battle mages watching couldn’t see anything unusual, what were the chances that Marin would see that something was wrong?

If you had seen it, wouldn’t you have caught yourself asking?

After all, he had learned the Fear Technique a month ago, so if he could have detected it then he should have done so by then.

So, Jace judged that Marin must have seen something wrong from the light spell casting process earlier.

As for what was wrong, Jace guessed that Marin could tell that he had learned the spell before, and that it must have been the experience of casting the spell before that had played a role in influencing the casting of the Light spell this time around, making him seem less like a first-time spellcaster.

That means Marin doesn’t know what spell he learned before …… Maybe it was arcane?

Thinking about this, Jace realizes that there is still salvation, and it’s not like he’s going to be kicked into Stormwind Prison right away.

Looking for a reason …… looking for a reason, Jace, you are not the best at looking for a reason Hop, now is the time to test you!

How can past spellcasting experience affect current spellcasting? Mana? Concentration?

Marin had said that mana needed lasting training to improve, and it wasn’t like Jace had been training intensely every day for a month, could there be a visible difference?

Then there must be a difference in concentration.

Jace guessed that he must have so much more focus than the novices learning the spell for the first time that it made Marin feel as if he had been specifically trained to be suspicious.

Most young apprentices rarely go out once they enter the school, let alone have any real-world experience.

And as he had already climbed back from the brink of losing his life several times in a row by relying on only one fear spell, the concentration to release magic was certainly not comparable to those novices. Since he had concluded that this was the reason, he also had to come up with a reason that he could explain to Marin …… other than having used the Shadow Spell, why did he have better concentration than the others? With his mind spinning again, Jace suddenly realized an explanation that wasn’t too bad.

Swordsmanship.

It wasn’t nonsense, some of the sword making techniques that Jace had learned from Grid, as well as his ability to calmly think about the sword making essentials that Grid had taught him when he was facing an enemy, allowed him to stay calm in many battles, and it was just so helpful in honing his focus.

This is it.

Grider, even if you are not here, please help me again!

“That’s right, Master.” Jace blurted out, “When you put it that way, I really thought I had originally learned some kind of magic, after all, I didn’t grow up too far away from the mage academy in Lordaeron, so it’s possible that I was exposed to it as a child …… But just recalling it, I really can’t recall any other spells that I ever learned. I do think that the thing that really allowed me to stay focused and try to save energy to cast spells, like you said, was the insights a dwarven warrior gave me when using a sword.”

Marin stared at Jace with a slightly mixed expression.

“Practicing swords …… can also help with spell casting?”

“In my own experience, yes.” Jace said, “When I was training in the Lighting Technique, it was very uneventful at first, the slightest distraction would get out of hand, or it wouldn’t last long before it drained my energy and left me feeling fatigued, so I didn’t dare to keep trying.”

“It wasn’t until after I confronted a boar back in the wild west that I pondered, why not think of the light art I summoned, as an enemy? Think of it as a boar that’s planning to run me over, and I’m going to take it seriously, keep an eye on its state, feel its temperature, and gauge its temper ……”

At this point, Jace was about to lose his grip on the logic of his words, but that was only because he was too nervous to stay calm, control his emotions, and bullsh*t calmly, victory or defeat was on the line.

“That’s exactly what that Dwarf brother taught me all about, Master, he told me to keep the tip of my sword pointed at the other side at all times, to remain a deterrent to the enemy, and to be aware of their movements at all times, not to be the least bit lax or lazy …… I think it’s qualities like that that allow me to have a better mindset to maintain the light arts . Once I decided to do so, the light spell did last longer, and with my sword-trained concentration, I could almost literally feel the temperature and temperament of those gathered arcane energies …… It wasn’t clear, but it greatly aided me in casting the spell effectively!”

Marin seemed to have listened in a bit of a daze, and only after a long time did he say, “I have a hunch that this might be a good topic for research, Mr. Sesso. For example, many elven mages are powerful swordsmen, partly because their lifespans are simply too long, so they have all the time in the world to work on their martial skills. And on the other hand, it’s probably also because, like you said, the elves know that exercise for their bodies and their conscious reflexes and so on is also a complementary improvement for the level of spellcasting.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “I’ve actually considered this before, but I’ve just never really made up my mind to take out the time to try and learn a martial skill of any kind, and I’ve never come across a few students like yourself who’ve actually tried it to share their experiences. That said, it’s not likely that the masters of Dalaran have already verified it.”

Jace said, “That’s just a guess on my part too, Master, after all, I was completely confused when you said at the beginning that I had learned other arcane spells …… I hadn’t learned any others at all, and the light spell was the first one, and if I had, I wouldn’t have thought that I was out of touch with the magical web. “

“Indeed, I was overly concerned.” Marin patted Jace’s shoulder and said, “Actually I was just worried about you, learning arcane magic in some crooked places is very dangerous, some wild mages who know the spells like to modify them to their liking and spread them to his students, thus leading to uncontrollable catastrophes, mainly because of this worry. “

“I see.” Jace nodded heavily.

The back of his head was already covered in sweat, and after dealing with Marin’s question, he even had the illusion that he had dealt with this question, and that his life might be heading down a completely different path.

And indeed it was; what were the consequences of having a high-ranking mage of the Sorcerer’s Temple forced to reveal that he knew a string of Shadow magic?

Maybe he’d have to be interrogated and cross-examined and end up giving up the big group of warlocks that had been slaughtered as well, and Jace wasn’t confident that he could withstand the rigors of medieval torture.

Maybe his future fate is that of a wild warlock banished from Stormwind Castle, mingling in the Aelwyn Forest with a brat, killing himself to get a grimoire: summoning the brat, and then learning the warlock’s first spells.

It’s also a career quest NPC that gets killed every day, the Northshire Abbey gatekeeper ……

Just after his mind had begun its boundless reverie, Marin’s words interrupted his roaming.

“Come with me, Jace, and I will fulfill my promise to teach you a second spell after you have mastered the Light spell, this time of your own choosing.”

Marin finished speaking and headed in the direction of his study.

By my own choice?

He planned to learn an arcane-related protection magic, and the kind that could last, to make up for his current biggest drawback at the moment – his inability to deal with long-range magical strikes.

Jace realized that despite the absolute handful of casters he had encountered so far, it seemed that every time they appeared they were a deadly threat.

He is physically fit and has some combat experience, and can dodge and delay as long as possible against some thick, old, and clumsy enemies, as well as control them with fear spells to buy time for himself.

But what about against caster enemies?

On the beach, facing that Naga Siren’s Arcane Missile, Jace seemed to have only one way to deal with it, and that was to rely entirely on luck.

The first shot he jumped out of the way to avoid with his outstanding reflexes, so what about the second shot, it was just pure luck.

If that one arcane bullet hit the back …… of the back, Jess simply does not know what it feels like to bear such a round of arcane missiles, in short, it must be dead, and that female Naga will definitely not show mercy to herself.

Now that he is down to one bottle of his Shadow Protection Potion, picking graveyard moss …… again Thinking about it makes Jace feel his scalp tingle.

At the same time, he had seen a shaman priest at Red Ridge Mountain move both fire and natural elemental magic, wind and thunder.

As for the Naga Siren, she was an all-rounder who had mastered water and ice magic, arcane magic, and shadow magic, which meant that here in the Stormwind Kingdom alone, there were spell-casting enemies everywhere.

Not to mention, many mages have mastered the ability to interrupt their own spell casting, and the effect of fear spells against them can only be described as worrisome; seizing an opportunity to fear these skilled mages may be rarer than killing them outright.

Could it be that every time he went out in the future, he would have to carry several types of elemental protection potions to feel at ease?

Or stop taking risks and just deal with the wildlife that deals with wolves, wild bears and the like and swing for the fences from there?

Never. So there was only one option in front of Jace – Mage Armor.

In the game, Mage Armor is a powerful magical status that increases the full resistance of spells while providing a mana recovery rate.

But what kind of effect does it have here ……?

Considering how several types of magic had behaved before, Jace guessed that even if there was a difference, it wouldn’t be that bad.

Is it just that this kind of magic is hard to learn?

In the game, Mage Armor is a high level spell that can only be learned later in the game.

Would Marin laugh at him if he offered to learn the spell for mage armor?

However the more complex the magic, the harder the spell is to control, and the more powerful it is.

For example, the spell for summoning a brat, which he hadn’t memorized to this day because he had used it so little, and had even forgotten the beginning of it, was the one spell that had brought him a loyal companion ……

His own ability to learn arcane magic was nowhere near as good as Shadow’s, so he was going to learn as little and as much as possible, putting his limited time into working on spells that were actually useful and powerful.

Thinking about it, he had followed Marin into the study.