The Truth of Magic


Chapter 22: Without a Spellbook

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When Zhao Xu heard that he wouldn’t have to copy spells anymore, he started making calculations in his heart.
When it came to copying spells, the first problem for all wizards was whether one could find a spell to copy or not, and second was the cost of copying those spells.
But since he had Antonya at his back, he could go around borrowing spellbooks from others shamelessly. Even if the other party insisted on collecting fees, he would probably still enjoy a discount, so his main issue would be the cost of copying spells.
But this feat would save him all that, and he wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.
Once he reached this conclusion, Zhao Xu nodded and said, “Mentor, I’ll choose the feat.”
Antonya was a little taken aback when she heard his response. After thinking about it for a while, she said, “Alright then. So now I’ll…”
“Er…Mentor?” Zhao Xu was rather surprised when he saw how Antonya paused.
“Oh, I’m very sorry, I got confused. I realized that after that major disaster, Enlightened Spellcaster has gone from being a feat to being a class feature. When I learned it when I was young, it was still considered a feat.”
Zhao Xu’s eyebrows twitched a little. A class feature was something that a particular character class came with.
But there were also class features that could be selected.
The way to select these class features was by giving up some of the class features one already had in the first place.
Antonya was already beginning to explain things, “According to the new requirements, the price of gaining the special class feature, Enlightened Spellcaster, is to give up the class features of Scribe Scroll and Summon Familiar.”
“Mentor, are these two class features very important?”
Zhao Xu wasn’t very sure about the inner workings of being a wizard, but he could still ask questions.
“For Summon Familiar, it’s not really a major issue if you’re not the type to use Familiars. Besides, we intended to arrange another sort of feat for you to use, so it’s not really a pity if you need to give it up.”
“As for Scribe Scroll, that is a rather important class feature for wizards. Scrolls can replace the spell slots you have, so this avoids a situation where a wizard knows a spell but can’t cast it because you didn’t prepare it beforehand.”
“So since it’s not practical for wizards to be able to prepare spells daily to deal with every special or rare circumstance, wizards are all prepared with scrolls.”
After listening to Antonya’s explanation, Zhao Xu lowered his head and started thinking about it. If he gave this up, that meant that he would have to buy scrolls and wouldn’t be able to make them himself.
“But of course, if you don’t mind spending a feat, then you can use a feat to regain your Scribe Scroll ability.”
Zhao Xu’s heart slowly lifted after hearing this.

The class feature Scribe Scroll was also a feat that one could learn. He wasn’t surprised to hear this. Otherwise, Clerics wouldn’t be able to come up with Divine Scrolls in the market since they didn’t have this as a class feature.
Those scrolls were created by Clerics who spent a feat to learn this.
Or you could also put it this way: A Level 1 Wizard got the Scribe Scroll feat for free.
But in that case, the cost of getting Enlightened Spellcaster was quite clear now.
It was the cost of one feat as well as the ability to call upon a familiar.
Summoning a familiar was also a feat since this was something only a Wizard or a Sorcerer could do.
What was this major disaster? How did it change the price of things?
Something that used to cost only one feat now cost two.
“On top of that, after you gain the feature Enlightened Spellcaster, you won’t have to spend on materials for copying spells, but you still have to spend about the same amount of money on trying to increase your energy.”
Zhao Xu’s heart sank.
Why did she leave this part for the end? Was she just messing with him?
“Mentor, if that’s how it works, who on earth is going to take this special class feature?” asked Zhao Xu as he emphasized every word.
He didn’t have to spell it out. Everything was very clear now.
He could copy spells into his own memory, so that meant that he couldn’t lend his spellbook to anyone else to copy, and he couldn’t take any money as borrowing fees.
That was fine, but earlier on, Antonya had just explained this amazing item called a Blessed Book.
If he used Enlightened Spellcaster, then he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the cost of just 12.5 gold pieces per page. Instead, it would go back to the original price of 50 gold pieces per page like those who had to copy from others’ spellbooks.
So the price had gone up by four times for nothing.
If Enlightened Spellcaster also cost 12.5 gold pieces per page, then he didn’t mind.
“Don’t you think it’s great if you didn’t have to carry a spellbook around?” said Antonya. She sounded like she had no idea what sort of concerns Zhao Xu had.
“You have to prepare spells every day and you have to flip through every spellbook you have to do that. It’s very tiring, you know? And these things are so heavy. Even if you’ve got a bag of holding, you’d still find it very annoying.”
After hearing these words, Zhao Xu’s emotions calmed a little.
Wizards needed spellbooks in order to prepare spells, so spellbooks were indeed vital to a wizard.
If you got attacked in the night, you had to grab your spellbook and make a run for it.
The cheapest bag of holding went for 2,500 gold pieces. Any player who couldn’t get their hands on one would have to actually carry the spellbooks around physically.
But then again, even if you only had one bag of holding, the cheapest type could store 100 kilograms. A typical spellbook was around 100 to 200 grams, so you could store quite a number in that bag.
“Mentor, forget it then,” said Zhao Xu after contemplating further.
It was tiring, but money was important.
“Sure. In any case, you can only choose this feature after you hit Level 1, so you still change your mind before you finish your training.”
Zhao Xu’s heart started to waver after hearing what Antonya said.
Sometimes, not having a choice helped one walk steadily on the same path.
But if you were like Zhao Xu and you had to choose between many options that other players didn’t get to choose from, then you would really have a terrible headache trying to make a decision.
But Zhao Xu suddenly remembered that Antonya had learned Enlightened Spellcaster as a feat, so the price she paid would be one Summon Familiar feature less than Zhao Xu.
So that meant Antonya also paid 50 gold pieces per page for recording spells.
If a Legendary Wizard had chosen that path instead, surely there was a good reason, right?
“Mentor, was there another reason why you chose this when you were younger?” Zhao Xu asked.
Antonya was more than happy to answer all of Zhao Xu’s questions. “Well, back then I was fighting all the way, so there’s no way I would want to have a glaring weakness like a spellbook.”
“Besides, you have an advantage too. If you become an Archivist after you hit Level 2 Wizard, then Scribe Scroll will be one of your class features too.”
Zhao Xu nearly smacked his forehead when he heard this.
No matter how he thought about it, he felt like Antonya was just trolling him the whole way and purposely didn’t tell him everything in one shot.
A feat was very expensive.
He had been awarded a bonus feat because he had chosen to be a Human.
Zhao Xu could only grit his teeth and reply, “Mentor, then I think I’d better choose to exchange my features.”
Zhao Xu as going to settle for exchanging the ability to summon a familiar for the ability to never rely on spellbooks even though it was expensive.
“Sure, I’ll get someone to bring over the activation method and all for the class feature later.”
Zhao Xu scanned his room. Besides some incense rising slowly in one corner of the room, there was nothing special about this mid-century styled furniture.
Antonya had installed a magic alarm and he knew about that. But he didn’t think that he was bugged too.
“What are you thinking about? I just cast a telepathic spell and you can already tell that I’ve cast that spell based on your current knowledge?”
Antonya laughed quietly.
Zhao Xu could only laugh awkwardly, but he started to think about what would happen in the future.
With this class feature, then at least spellbooks wouldn’t be a problem for him. He wouldn’t end up like other wizard players whose spellbooks were often stolen or destroyed, and they ended up being handicapped.
At least he wouldn’t be afraid of being suddenly attacked during the one hour he needed to prepare spells.
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