Chapter 4  : Learning Magic

Three days had passed since Watson fused the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken.

The family’s food situation improved considerably. They were usually only able to drink meat soup once a week, but they could now eat eggs that tasted better than meat. Even the fifth sibling Peter—who was sick and constantly bedridden—was eating, and the sixth sibling Margaret—who locked herself in her room and spent all her time reading—spared some of her time to come down on a few occasions to express her gratitude to Watson.

Little else could be said about his father Edward and his mother Catherine, who worked even harder to produce babies after they had eaten well and their bodies had extra strength. Watson had to endure their torturous moans every single night.

During those few days, his seventh sibling Scarlet did not go hunting anymore. She had been tagging along with him to look after the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken. On the other hand, Watson had to be on guard against his gluttonous sister, lest she bring the chicken away to stew when he was not paying attention.

“Our eldest and second eldest siblings aren’t around, so there’s a total of eight people in the house. All of us eat a total of twenty-four eggs every day! Right now, there are still more than three hundred eggs left from the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken. It’s time for third brother and fourth brother to take them to the nearby farms and sell them,” Watson muttered to himself as he went up to the attic on the roof of his house.

The attic was filled with miscellaneous items and books that Edward had collected. There were two rows of bookshelves, and the books on them were covered in dust. Among them were a plethora of books on cultivation. Books were very precious in that world and only nobles had the right to learn from them. Ordinary civilians could not even afford to buy them, let alone read them.

Watson went there in order to learn magic.

In the world with swords and magic, strength was always respected. If he could not become stronger, the news of the Pentacolor Fragrant Chicken would definitely make people jealous.

He had eaten more than ten eggs in the past few days and his life expectancy had increased by ten years. His height had also increased slightly and his body had developed muscles despite not exercising. It would be a pity if he did not cultivate when his body had become so capable.

Whoosh!

Watson walked into the attic and carefully closed the door behind him. He went to the bookshelf and picked up a book called Encyclopedia of Basic Magic, then blew at the dust on it.

The cultivation system in this world was mainly divided into four types, namely warriors, mages, archers, and priests.

Among them, warriors’ cultivation was the least difficult and could be learnt by oneself. After mastering it, the body would produce a power called combat aura. Their body could withstand knives and swords, and a wave of the hand could break metal. Training to become an archer or a priest was more difficult, requiring someone to guide them in helping to unlock their aptitude.

Archers needed to sign a contract with the Elves to obtain the power of nature, while priests had receive the power of holy light by going to the temple and asking the archbishop to hold a Heavenly Enlightenment Ceremony. All of that could be solved with money, but the most difficult to cultivate was mages. Only those who had the talent to communicate with magic elements could learn it, and such people numbered one in ten thousand.

However, mages were also the strongest after cultivating. Powerful mages could destroy the world and could defeat ten warriors of the same rank as the mage. The only drawback was the time required to chant spells, which was a disadvantage in close combat.

“If I want to learn magic, the first thing I have to do is to check if I have the talent for magic. No one else in my family can do it other than my second sister. I wonder if I can do it?”

Watson opened the Encyclopedia of Basic Magic.

Edward had eight children, and only his second child had the talent for water-type magic. She had left home to study in her early years, and as long as she became a powerful mage, she could even obtain a status higher than that of a baron in addition to inheriting the family business. When his second sister’s talent was detected, the family held a long-awaited feast and celebrated for three days. Edward commenced his hardworking child-making sessions in the hopes that another child with talent for magic would appear in the family.

Unfortunately, talent was not something that could be obtained simply because one wanted it. Every child in the family had been tested at birth. Watson had been tested before and he proved to be talentless, but magical talent was related to a person’s soul. SInce was a transmigrator whose soul did not belong to that world, he wondered if there were any changes.

He acted on his thoughts.

A magic circle called the ‘testing circle’ was recorded on the first page of the Encyclopedia of Basic Magic. It was specifically used to test whether a person had talent. Watson took out the knife that he had prepared beforehand and lay on the ground, where he spent half a day drawing a huge pattern according to the drawing in the book.

It was oval in shape, with the sun and moon at the top and bottom respectively. It symbolized light and darkness, the two most powerful magic elements. On the left and right sides were four magic symbols: earth, fire, water, and air. Altogether they formed the six basic magic elements that made up the world.

Standing in the center of the circle, Watson silently chanted the spell recorded in the book, “Light illuminates the world, darkness envelops the earth, and the power of the four elements bear the weight of all. Faith shall be dedicated to the elemental God, and upon me a miracle will be bestowed…”

The spell dissipated, and the small attic began to shake. Faint spots of light appeared in the air like fireflies, and flickered as if heaven and earth were breathing.

All those spots of light began circling Watson’s body, turning blue and pouring into the right side of the magic circle. A symbol formed by three wave-shaped stripes emitted the sound of the churning ocean. It was not raining, but the floor became wet, and Watson’s body was even emitting a dazzling blue light.

“I really have a magic talent?” Watson was pleasantly surprised.

Any one of the magic circle’s six elemental symbols that lit up represented a magic talent. The brighter the light, the stronger the talent. His magic talent was water. Although his talent was not the strongest light and darkness, the water symbol seemed quite bright. Such quality could only be found in one out of a hundred mages.

Since he had already tested his talent, Watson was ready to learn magic immediately.

He flipped the book in his hand to the chapter on water magic. Watson glanced at the two Iron-tier spells recorded on it. The book only had Iron-tier spells despite Edward spending a considerable amount of money to get. Magic books with higher-tier spells were hard to come by, so it could be said that the mage profession was one that burned money.

The two water element spells were:

Drizzle Spell: after being cast, drizzled rain can be sprinkled from one’s fingertips in order to accelerate the growth of crops.

Water Ball Spell: condenses water to a ball the size of a fist, with a target range of 100 meters.

Watson learnt those two spells with just a few glances, perhaps because he had good talent.

“Drizzle Spell!”

According to the book, Watson mobilized the magic elements and felt a long river surging in his body, gathering in his right hand. At that moment, his palm had turned into a sprinkler head and his five fingers were the sprinklers. Drops of water dripped down from his fingers and landed on the ground, filling the air with freshness.

Next, he tried the Water Ball Spell. A fist-sized crystal ball of water gathered in his hand. With a wave, it landed on a wall a few meters away, leaving a pool of water on it and causing the wall to shake.

“Not bad.”

Watson tried it a couple more times and felt his body weaken. He sat on the ground with a pale face. The Drizzle Spell did not seem to be that lethal, while the Water Ball Spell had a strength of about a hundred catties, which were barely enough to push down an adult.

Disappointment soon followed after his initial excitement.

“They’re Iron-tier spells after all. Sigh, they’re easy to learn, but they’re not very powerful! Magic books with higher-tier spells are only available in big cities, and it must be very difficult to find them. If that wasn’t the case, my second sister wouldn’t have left home without coming back for so many years. Am I destined not to become a powerful mage in the short term?”

[Do not fret, Master. The system can fuse all things, so it also fuse spells and raise their quality. Your burdens will be shared.]

It was then that the system’s voice rang in his ear.

Watson’s face was filled with joy. Of course! How could he have forgotten about that?

[Fusing two different Iron-tier spells will create a Bronze-tier spell. Suitable fusion target has been detected. Would Master like to fuse them?]

“Do you even need to ask? Fuse it, of course!”

As soon as Watson’s voice fell, the knowledge pertaining to the Drizzle Spell and the Water Ball Spell merged suddenly in his mind and turned into a brand-new spell.