Chapter 416: Magic Does Not Favor Talent

During the previous trip to the Projection Plane, Xia Duo projected himself as an Elf once again. Although his primary energy was not focused on Magic research due to the need to find a Mithril Refining method, and his time was further delayed by Sword Singer training, he still had a total of one year.

During this year, Xia Duo combined those dozen or so 4th-circle level Spellbooks to complete his study of "Advanced Arcane Geometry," gaining an extremely profound understanding of Spell Principles.

The Short-range Teleportation, Dimensional Anchor, Scrying, and Detect Detection contained in those dozen or so Spellbooks had all been mastered by him, and this time, upon returning to the Tower of Time, Xia Duo borrowed another dozen books from the Library.

Among them was "A Brief Analysis of Fireball Structure and the Art of Its Use," which Xia Duo had coveted for a long time. However, while the 3rd-circle Fireball is indeed very powerful for ordinary people, it is not a relatively sophisticated Spell for a Mage.

Pure destruction is very simple; the most direct guidance of Negative Energy impact has a much higher damage output than Fireball. But Negative Energy is the sort of thing that is fine to mess with while playing a game, but there is no need to come into personal contact with it in the real world.

Xia Duo does not have much interest in pure energy Control; otherwise, back in his Apprentice stage, when he deduced the shortcut of becoming an Evocation Mage, he would have devoted himself entirely to it.

At that time, he lacked the power to protect himself, but he was still not tempted by pure power.

In Xia Duo's eyes, the function of Magic lies more in creation. If one merely throws a ball of energy out, utilizing only the properties of the energy itself, then no matter what form this energy takes, it is actually no different from a primitive human.

The strongest attack is never this kind of flashy stuff; adapting to local conditions is what a qualified Mage should do.

Choosing Fireball this time was actually just to fulfill a past dream—if a Mage cannot even cast Fireball, what kind of Mage are they? Of course, the current Xia Duo would not have such a shallow perception, but he does not mock or avoid his past self either. Human perception is always constantly updating and iterating; only by facing the past squarely can one better look forward to the future.

In addition to the 3rd-circle Fireball, Xia Duo also chose several low-circle Spells this time, mainly to enrich his case library—not just Spell cases, but also element cases.

This is actually also a process of moving from specialization to breadth.

In the past, Xia Duo leveled up far too quickly. Although he appeared to be walking steadily on the path of an Advanced Arcanist, he actually lacked quite a few foundations, or rather, common sense. This is perhaps what is called "genius disease."

If he wants to go further in the future, he can plan early now.

Xia Duo possesses the mature consciousness of an adult, so naturally, he will not be overly paranoid, insisting on advancing only when his foundation is deep to the extreme.

Magic is different from the cultivation novels he read before crossing over. In those cultivation novels, there are often sayings like "no regrets in Foundation Establishment" or "no regrets in Golden Core," but here—

Power is approximately equal to Knowledge; any Mage, as long as he is willing, can change his mind at any time.

It is just that human lifespan is limited, so one must still consider the issue of maximum efficiency. Just like on Earth, some people are willing to repeat a year, two years, or even three years to continue taking the college entrance exam, while others are not.

After basically confirming that becoming an Advanced Arcanist is no longer a problem, Xia Duo must also start making longer-term plans.

Just as it is impossible to go back and make up high school foundations after entering university—it is not worth it in terms of time efficiency—one should do university things in university, and complete what can be completed in high school during high school.

Of course, if there are truly some regrets, they are not impossible to make up for in the future. Knowledge is the sort of thing that, theoretically, is not too late to learn even on one's deathbed.

Perhaps one might have a sudden "enlightenment" and "ascend" on the spot!

Such a probability certainly exists, but for a systematic Magic, it is almost non-existent. It is just like on Earth, where Xia Duo has never heard of anyone suddenly becoming a famous scientist in their old age.

Knowledge requires accumulation; it is difficult to have a sudden "enlightenment."

Especially for knowledge like Magic, which is full of rationality and is almost like a natural science.

……

Next, Xia Duo will mainly study "Deep Weave." The essence of the Magic Net is actually pure theory, and the Netheril Magic System has not yet been perfected to the level of pure theoretical deduction.

One must still use the practice of Spells to verify, deduce, perfect, and summarize the theory.

And in this process, Xia Duo plans to first come into contact with the fifth layer of the Magic Net, become a High Mage, and master true Long-distance Teleportation. This was also something he had planned before entering the Projection Plane.

Of course, in this process, Focus Training will not stop.

Focus Training is included under the theory of "Soul Studies." The purpose of Focus Training, besides improving the Spellcaster's degree of focus (making the will more condensed), is also to allow the Spellcaster to perceive the Soul.

One of the most critical steps for an Advanced Arcanist is—seizing the essence of the Magic Net and generating Arcane Fire.

What ultimately combines with the Arcane Fire is the extension of the Soul, or in other words, the will; and to seize the essence of the Magic Net, one also needs the support of a powerful will.

If one cannot perceive the Soul, the will cannot be clear, and then even if the Arcane Fire is successfully born, it will have nowhere to be placed in the end, nor will it be able to link with the Magic Net to exist stably.

Currently, Xia Duo's progress in this area is relatively slow. He had previously communicated with Niya, and she had come into contact with the Magic Net before she was an adult. After she reached adulthood at sixteen, she began advanced Focus Training, which is much earlier than the vast majority of Mages.

What Xia Duo is doing now is advanced Focus Training. Basic Focus Training is just to allow ordinary people to come into contact with the Magic Net and become a Mage Apprentice. This step is actually automatically completed by many people before they reach adulthood.

There are quite a few people in Savile Town who can cast Magic as soon as they reach adulthood, though of course, it is limited to Prestidigitation, which has very few elements.

It is a pity that Magic does not favor talent; it favors Wisdom more.

These people have a very good start, but in the end, they vanish into the crowd. Playing a few rounds of Prestidigitation a day does not improve their lives at all.

Although Xia Duo's current Focus Training is relatively slow, he is progressing steadily and unswervingly.

Although there are no specific numerical values to tell him what his will's score is or what percentage of his Soul Perception progress is, he can clearly see that he is making progress through the completion of his Focus Training.

Moreover, he can roughly estimate his overall progress.

If nothing goes wrong, he will surely achieve this within one year in the Main Plane.

(What enters the Projection Plane is only a projection of the main body, which cannot provide real training, similar to the reason why one cannot level up, but there is no problem with acquiring Knowledge; one can go in to accumulate experience.)

(End of this chapter)