Chapter 0002: Understanding Oneself

After a long wait, the bio-assist chip finally completed its first self-check with great difficulty.

Soon, Grimm’s basic attributes were projected into his mind.

Name: Grimm
Race: Human
Attributes: Strength 4, Agility 4, Constitution 3, Spirit 8
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Class: Apprentice Sorcerer (Junior)
Life Value: 11/11
Class Experience: 614/1000
Status: Healthy
Class Skills: Scroll Transcription, Spell Reading
Personal Skill: Burning Hand

In their world, every normal human is born with some basic physical attributes. Over generations, sorcerers have explored and organized these into four main qualities: strength, constitution, agility, and spirit. All advancement in the sorcerer’s path revolves around these four fundamental attributes.

Strength quantifies a character’s muscle and physical fortitude. This attribute is especially important for melee sorcerers. Strength influences basic damage dealt with melee weapons and affects the accuracy of melee attacks.

For ordinary people, having 3 to 5 points in strength is normal, with 5 being the mark of a strong adult.

Agility measures hand-eye coordination, flexibility, reaction, and balance. It’s vital for warriors who typically wear light or medium armor, thieves in leather armor, and anyone aspiring to be an excellent archer.

Constitution reflects health and endurance. Its bonus increases vitality, making it important for all professions.

Fortitude saves are used to resist poisons and similar threats.

Concentration checks are crucial for spellcasters, with constitution as their key attribute.

A human’s constitution cannot be less than 1—anything lower would mean death.

Spirit determines a character’s capacity for learning and reasoning. This attribute is crucial for sorcerers, as it dictates how many spells they can cast, the difficulty of resisting those spells, and their potency.

Animals possess a spirit value of 1 or 2, while humanoids have at least 3. For an ordinary person to become a sorcerer, a base spirit attribute of at least 21 is required.

From the perspective of a sorcerer’s career, the most important attribute for Grimm at present is undoubtedly his spirit. If only his spirit reached 21, he could ascend in a single leap into the ranks of official sorcerers.

The only way to improve his spirit is through unceasing meditation, reading spellbooks, or studying the notes and insights of veteran sorcerers.

But these are always tantalizingly out of reach!

In this cold and ruthless world of sorcery, knowledge equates to power, and acquiring power demands a high price.

Why do so many sorcerer apprentices, knowing the dangers lurking within the Sorcerer's Tower, still choose to remain? Because all knowledge and resources can only be obtained here. Leave the tower, and even with wealth rivaling a nation, it is nigh impossible to find such systematic knowledge and experience in sorcery.

In this fearsome world, all extraordinary magical techniques and precious spell lore are monopolized by the community of sorcerers—ordinary mortals have no chance of contact.

Thus, knowledge and resources become the two wings needed for a sorcerer’s dreams to take flight. Only by truly grasping these can a sorcerer’s future be bright.

After reviewing his basic attributes, Grimm focused on his skill panel.

His class skills included Scroll Transcription and Spell Reading—the fundamental abilities of every apprentice.

Scroll Transcription allows apprentices to accurately record the spell knowledge they need, while Spell Reading is essential for reading spellbooks.

Without the Spell Reading skill, an ordinary person attempting to read a spellbook would have their mind confused by the supernatural powers imbued in the writing, leading to bizarre and inexplicable behavior. Only apprentices who have undergone rigorous mental training can overcome these illusions and access the precious knowledge contained within these books.

In the personal skills section, the only ability listed was “Burning Hand”—the sole offensive spell Grimm had mastered in his six years as an apprentice. Burning Hand allows him to conjure a blaze of elemental fire upon his palm, turning any fool who dares touch it into roast pork.

There was no helping it—Grimm was still just an apprentice, incapable of wielding any spell in its entirety. He could only, based on his elemental affinity, manipulate basic particles to perform seemingly impressive, yet modest, elemental tricks.

Naturally, Grimm’s highest affinity was with the element of fire.

Such a talent was hardly outstanding in the Swamp Tower. It was well known that Master Anderson’s elemental affinity lay with dark and wind particles—the so-called dark and wind elements. Grimm’s path diverged from his mentor’s, making it much harder to receive guidance; often, he was left to grope his way forward alone.

This problem had long troubled Grimm. But now, with the activation of his bio-chip, Grimm believed he would eventually find a path in sorcery uniquely his own.

As for his class experience, Grimm had gained some understanding after studying the chip’s data. The chip, after analyzing his memories and knowledge, distilled two fundamental prerequisites for advancing as a sorcerer.

First, the core attribute of spirit must meet the standard.

Take Grimm’s current spirit of 8—it already makes him “exceptionally bright” compared to ordinary folk, yet he is still 13 points short of the 21 required to become a true sorcerer. This can only be improved through extensive study of spellbooks—a slow process with no shortcuts.

Second, his knowledge system must also be sufficiently developed.

This means that even if he raises his spirit to 21, he must also fill his current experience bar before advancing. Both are indispensable.

Experience can be gained in many ways: transcribing scrolls, reading spellbooks, practicing spellcasting, crafting wands, identifying magical items… In short, any accumulation of occult knowledge will grant Grimm some experience.

It sounds simple, but is anything but.

Only successful attempts grant experience. A spellbook will only yield its rewards if Grimm truly comprehends it; simply skimming through offers nothing.

Thus, knowing is easier than doing. Even with the chip’s help, Grimm must exert tremendous effort to advance.

As Grimm's thoughts wandered, footsteps echoed in the corridor outside.

“Grimm, hurry up—it’s our turn to carry out the task!” A rough voice called, followed by heavy thumping on the wooden door.

It was Tony, an apprentice of similar standing to Grimm.

For apprentices like them, every seven days they had to patrol the area around the Swamp Tower and harvest some magical materials—a routine task set by the tower’s master.

Grimm responded, tidied his room, took his black cloak from the wall and draped it over his shoulders, then stepped outside.

Tony was broad-shouldered and burly, with a fierce face and wild, tangled hair—more like a barbarian than an apprentice. Rumor had it he hailed from a distant land in the Green Highlands, whose people were said to have a touch of barbarian blood.

The two exchanged only a nod, then walked in silence down the dim corridor toward the staircase.

Although it was daytime, few apprentices were to be seen. There were over fifty official apprentices in the Swamp Tower, but most spent their days on magical training or bizarre experiments, seldom lingering in public areas.

This was a major reason for the tower’s usual desolation.

They passed through shadowy halls and descended the spiral stone stairs to the first-floor hall, where there was a bit more life—this was the living area for the probationary apprentices.

Most of these children were between eight and fourteen, numbering about twenty. They had come from distant lands, all dreaming of becoming great sorcerers, yet utterly ignorant of how perilous and terrifying the path ahead would be.

Within the apprentice ranks, there was a strict hierarchy. These recruited children typically had spirit values between 3 and 5, so they were not yet true apprentices but were called probationers.

Probationers here learned language and writing. Only after mastering meditation, sensing their elemental affinity, and successfully gathering elemental particles could they ascend to the second floor and become formal apprentices. Those who failed were simply eliminated.

Guiding these children through meditation, teaching language and writing, instilling the fundamental rules of the sorcerer’s world—these menial tasks would never fall to the mighty sorcerers, but were handled by the official apprentices as part of their daily duties.

Such easy tasks, however, would never land on Grimm’s shoulders.

After greeting Valence, who was teaching a language class, Grimm and Tony ignored the eager, fiery gazes of the children, crossing the hall to a tightly shut stone door.

Tony placed his right hand on the door and whispered, “Kurilem Aida.”

With the completion of the incantation, the ancient stone door slowly parted to reveal the dim, forbidding world outside the tower.