Chapter 55: Switching Paths

Probably due to the mentality of a Longevity Species, even though someone who could touch her and be unaffected by her special constitution was near, she didn’t get overly excited. Instead, it felt like a long and peaceful settling down, like aged wine. Zheng Yichen didn’t find this new rhythm of life boring at all; on the contrary, he thought it was quite nice…

Intense feelings fade. Only with a solid foundation can things last, right?

Loris’s departure really left Zheng Yichen at a loss for some time. A day later, he finally thought through some things. Like that Tavern… He’d only been able to go there because he was disguised by the Necromantic Body she had created.

Now that she was gone, he obviously had no suitable Necromantic Body ready. Trying to disguise himself with magic seemed useless too. From what Loris said, the owner of that Tavern was definitely no ordinary person.

So, thinking it over carefully, had he been tricked by that little girl without realizing it?

He shook his head. Loris would be away for about half a year. Whatever he did during this time was up to him alone. Thankfully, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was nearly perfected. Zheng Yichen just needed to maintain it himself for the rest. Once all the vulnerabilities found during ongoing testing were patched, he could pretty much just leave it alone.

As for Petty’s competition, she did make it to the final round. But she was still fundamentally a member of the Summoning track. Even with the support boosts from the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, she couldn’t achieve victory, ending up in third place.

This outcome wasn’t really a surprise. She had only been transitioning for about two months, and getting that far took great effort. Even without the championship, she still drew the attention of the Academy’s higher-ups. This was mainly because, during the final moments, Petty produced an Advanced Magical Weapon.

Several Magic Weapon Summoners had emerged during this Academy competition, but Petty was the only one who could bring out an Advanced Magical Weapon. The others only used Low-level Magic Weapons, differing mainly in how strongly they could summon them.

Those with higher strength naturally had better Talent. The weak spoke for themselves.

The increased attention from the Academy higher-ups naturally brought new worries for Petty. Harmless ones, though. The secrets of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book had been pretty much studied through by this point. Everyone found the same thing: no matter how deeply they tried to probe it, the result was gaining nothing.

Spellcasters risked magical backlash. Over time, most people gave up trying to dig deeper into the Projection. To truly understand the book’s secrets, they needed its actual physical copy. Unfortunately, after demonstrating the power of the Advanced Magical Weapons, that flash-in-the-pan individual from early on had completely vanished.

Efforts by specialist Prophecy-track Mages to track them down turned up nothing, as if very powerful people were actively shielding them. They found no clues whatsoever.

Given all this, Petty’s performance just seemed like a sign she had particularly high Talent in this area. Even if people investigated her directly, the information they gathered was completely ordinary. The only thing special, they might say, was that she had obtained the book earlier than others.

Plus, the Advanced Magical Weapon she produced wasn’t particularly strong. At least, it was far weaker than what Zheng Yichen had used back then. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have only gotten third place instead of the championship.

Even so, she received extra attention. Teachers from other tracks within the Academy couldn’t resist trying to recruit her. The Warrior-class teachers were especially persistent! After all, no Mage would typically fight with Magic Arms; they preferred Magic Wands…

Though there were Magic Wand-type “Magic Arms” within the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, why did those give magic bonuses AND come bundled with magic like Shattering Arts? Was the intent to bash people over the head with the wand itself?

“My teacher wants me to switch to the Warrior class,” Petty said worriedly, resting her head on her desk and looking at the tiny dragon standing there. It wasn’t just the Warrior-class teachers trying to recruit her; even her own Summoning-class teacher had suggested the switch.

In the Summoning track, Petty’s grades were merely average, and her summoned beasts were among the weakest. She was basically just another unremarkable, ordinary student. So, it made sense for her teacher to suggest a different path.

The Academy existed to educate students. Knowing full well her Talent in a specific area was poor and her future prospects limited, keeping her stuck there would be failing its duty. Students should be guided towards better development paths suited to them!

At the very least, Petty had shown impressive Talent in summoning Magic Weapons. She hadn’t studied Summoning magic for long, so switching tracks was still completely feasible. As for the future… All paths aimed for Reaching the Tier. But how many actually became Ranked Practitioners?

Based on the Academy’s assessment, Petty’s ultimate potential was just barely scratching the initial Reaching the Tier stage. There were far too many people with that level of Talent. Switching tracks offered her a similar chance to reach Ranked Practitioner status. For someone with her mediocre Talent, switching wasn’t a loss… Summoners, bluntly speaking, were people whose Talent wasn’t enough to become true Mages, but was higher than that required for Warriors.

“Well… you should choose your own path,” Zheng Yichen scratched his head and flopped down onto the table. He was currently blindly feeling his own way forward; how could he possibly give advice to someone else? In terms of deep knowledge about this world’s power systems, Zheng Yichen might even understand less than Petty did!

Still, it was an appealing thought – if Magic Weapon Summoners eventually became a major, respected profession in this world, wouldn’t he feel a real sense of accomplishment? After all, he’d be the creator of a whole new profession. Achieving that wouldn’t be easy, though.

He would have to personally carve out this new path. The contents within the Magic Weapon Summoning Book needed him to keep expanding on them. And his own personal strength had to keep pace. This entailed a huge amount of learning.

Well, honestly, he didn’t need to worry too much. He just needed his strength to increase faster than the other Magic Weapon Summoners! Plus, the book’s automatic operational mechanisms were now fully engaged. It would only grow stronger with time and as more users summoned weapons. Putting the two together, his main responsibility basically boiled down to… updating the Magic Weapon library.

Of course, increasing his own power was essential too. The current Intermediate Magic Weapons were already inadequate for Zheng Yichen’s designs. He had countless implements and tools in his mind, but simply lacked the Mana to manifest many of them, forcing him to keep ideas on hold. Because the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, continually refined by him, wasn’t just limited to summoning Magic Arms anymore. He had long-term plans in place, waiting for the massive user base to accumulate enough “flow” – specifically, the collective Mana drawn/used – to fuel the book’s further evolution…

Exactly. Using the Mana stored within the book made enhancing it vastly easier for Zheng Yichen. When applied skillfully, Mana in this world truly functioned like a universal solution, capable of doing almost anything.