NOVEL SIMPLE B2—Chapter 29: The Final Stretch
I continued working with Lis, teaching him all my Healer spells. After each spell, Lis usually needed a day to regenerate before we would move on to the next spell. During his breaks, I continued to practice with stones and had five stone balls in my fruit basket—or maybe now it was my “stones basket”?
He had already learned Healing Touch, Neutralize Poison, and Regrow Flesh. We were working on Fortify Life Force when Mahya came running and shouted, “I got it! I got it!”
Lis had a massive smile on his face, but I was completely unaware of the reason for her excitement. “What exactly did you get?”
“Look!” she said and popped out a screen.
|
Under the tutelage of a gifted Magitech Inventor and Engineer, you have shown immense aptitude and a talent for magical engineering. |
“Are you going to take it?” I asked.
“Of course not. I’m not taking a paid class; I’m not an idiot...” she replied, crossing her arms and giving me a look as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
I winced, feeling the criticism. “... Now that I have unlocked the option, I will continue to upgrade my achievements until I get it for free,” she added with a confident grin.
I hugged her tightly, letting my pride and joy for her accomplishment seep into my embrace. “Congratulations!” I exclaimed.
Turning to Lis, I asked. “I don’t understand something. You said that you can’t get double benefits from the system. But Mahya bought her engineering skills from the system, so how did she unlock the class?”
“We didn’t work with her acquired engineering skills; we worked with something completely unrelated,” Lis explained, his tone patient.
“So?” I asked, still not fully grasping it.
“She acquired engineering skills in space exploration and artificial intelligence. We worked on converting tech to Magitech, which are two unrelated subjects. The Guidance doesn’t penalize you for buying skills, so even if you buy something, it will not stop you from exploring different branches or aspects of a field of knowledge. You simply can’t get a class with the aid of bought skills.”
“Cool! You found a back door!” I said enthusiastically.
“No, we didn’t; we walked in the front door like kings,” Mahya corrected me, sticking her tongue out playfully.
I chuckled and said, “Hey, where did you learn that? Did Lis infect you with the Zara disease?”
Mahya burst out laughing, her joy contagious. Lis, looking slightly affronted, stuck his tongue out as well. Like I said, the Zara disease. Mahya’s laughter only grew louder, and soon, I joined in. Lis shook his head, feigning annoyance, but the smile tugging at his lips gave him away.
I continued to work with Lis on spells, and he learned Fortify Life Force and Neutralize Curse. We switched to the spell Restore, but I couldn’t teach it to him no matter what we tried. After a bunch of frustrating attempts, I could feel the exhaustion creeping in. The Restore spell was like trying to assemble a puzzle where half the pieces were missing—and the ones we had just didn’t fit. Clearly, we weren’t getting anywhere, so we switched to Adaptable Light Ball. But that one was just as stubborn, like trying to push through mud. No matter what we did, it felt like the air itself was working against us, refusing to let anything come together smoothly. We switched to Absorb Mana, and he learned it without the difficulties we experienced with the other two spells.
“Did you buy the Restore and Adaptable Light Ball?” Lis asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he pondered the situation.
“Yes.”
“So, it could be that our difficulty stems from the fact that these are bought spells and not your spells. Perhaps the Guidance doesn’t allow you to teach bought spells,” Lis suggested, his tone thoughtful.
“It could very well be; otherwise, I can’t find any explanation,” I said, shrugging my shoulders in frustration.
“Show me your personal information again,” Lis requested.
I opened it, and Lis peered at the information. “I see you have Spellbinding. It seems a bit out of character,” he noted, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
I rubbed my neck uncomfortably, a flush of embarrassment creeping up my face. “I used it to rob my in-laws,” I admitted, my voice dropping to a sheepish mumble.
Lis burst out laughing, his laughter echoing around us. “Oh, that explains it. But keep in mind that this spell is useful in many less criminal situations, so don’t give it up,” he advised, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.
“Okay,” I agreed, still feeling awkward but understanding his point.
“Let’s do another test to make sure our theory is correct. Teach me the spell Heat,” Lis suggested.
The same thing happened again; no matter what we tried, I couldn’t teach him the spell. We exchanged looks of realization—this was proof that the system doesn’t allow you to teach spells you didn’t “earn” on your own.
“Okay, let’s switch. Look at my information and see what spells you want,” Lis said, turning the tables with a grin.
|
PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Lissarom “Lis” Munyon Display Class: Psionic Swordsman Level 69
Hidden Class: Gate Traveler Level 23
Sub-Class 2: Scholar Level 38
Sub-Class 3: Magitech Inventor & Engineer Level 2
Profession: Researcher Level 57
Sub-Profession 1: Scrivener Level 14
Sub-Profession 2: Merchant Level 10
Sub-Profession 3: Alchemist Level 7
General Spells:
|
I looked at his profile, and he was very impressive. “You’re a Merchant like me!” I exclaimed, eyes widening with surprise.
“I told you I have the Luck trait, no?”
“Yes, but I thought it was from some other class,” I said sheepishly.
“No, from my Merchant class. Many Travelers have this class because we sell and buy so much to fund our travels,” he explained, his tone casual.
“You’re also an alchemist?!” I asked, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief.
“Yeah, I thought you knew,” he said, shrugging as if it were common knowledge.
“How would I know? You never said anything,” I retorted, crossing my arms.
“Because I wanted to find the mother snake nest for the eggs.”
“I thought to sell,” I said, suspiciously narrowing my eyes.
“I keep telling you that money has long ceased to interest me. No, I wanted the eggs to make anti-venom and anti-poison potions.”
“Do you have any books on alchemy?”
“Yes.”
“Did you let me copy them?”
“No, I gave you everything magic-related. Why? Are you interested in alchemy? Don’t get too carried away; you have too many things to focus on,” he cautioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Right now, it doesn’t interest me; maybe in the future. But Alfonsen is an alchemist; I thought of him,” I replied, thinking aloud.
“The boy’s an alchemist? I never would have guessed. He doesn’t seem to have the right temperament,” he mused.
“He took the class because he wanted the Vitality stats,” I explained, shrugging.
“Idiot,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Passion is the fuel that drives mastery,” Lis said, his voice dropping into that serious tone he only used when teaching me something important. “Look at me—I’m a decent Merchant and a passable Alchemist, but those classes are stagnant, barely scraping by because my heart was never in them. Practicality might get you started, but you’ll eventually hit a ceiling without a fire burning inside you.” His eyes locked onto mine, searching for a sign that I understood.
When I nodded, he continued, “At least the Merchant class gave me Luck, so it wasn’t a total waste.”
“I see that the Merchant class has inventory. Is it like our Storage?”
“No, you’ll see. I use it only for the money count option,” he replied with a shrug.
“Okay. I want Create Illusions, Mind Index, Copy Blueprint, Copy Text, and Scroll Duplication,” I listed, counting them off on my fingers.
“I can’t teach you Mind Index; it’s a skill, not a spell, but the rest is fine.”
“You said you had Clarity; I don’t see it,” I pointed out, scanning his profile again.
“It’s a Trait or an attribute, as you call it. It’s on my Traits list.”
“Why can’t I see your attributes?” I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.
“I didn’t want to dishearten you.”
“They’re that higher?” I asked, incredulous.
“Yes,” he nodded, a small smile on his lips.
Now I stuck my tongue at him, and he laughed, the sound light and carefree.
We started working on Create Illusions. Once more, I placed my hands on the backs of his hands, immersing myself in his mana. I split my mind, directing the other half to study the spell’s pattern.
Lis kept casting the spell over and over, and I focused hard, trying to make sense of the mana swirling around. But no matter what I did, the pattern wouldn’t click—it was like trying to grab hold of a cloud of smoke. I could catch bits and pieces of it—the faint buzz of energy holding the spell together, the brief flickers of light at the edges, and the shell maintaining its integrity. I could even make out the intricate lattice pattern at the edges that stopped mana leakage and spell collapse. But the core pattern? It kept slipping away like it was playing hard to get. It was frustrating because I could see the parts I was already familiar with, but I couldn’t piece it together despite all my efforts. We kept at it until Lis ran out of mana, but the damn thing stayed out of reach.
“Give me a day to regenerate, and we’ll try a different spell,” he said, smiling reassuringly.
“Okay,” I said dejectedly, my shoulders slumping.
“Cheer up; I’m sure we’ll find a solution,” Lis said, trying to encourage me with a pat on the back.
We tried all the spells I had chosen for five days without success. It felt like my class prevented me from seeing the pattern and allowed me to see only the spell’s structure. And because I didn’t have enough knowledge, I couldn’t see all the parts that made up the spell. After five days, we gave up; we saw it wouldn’t work.
After we gave up on the spells, I asked Lis, “Do you have books besides Alchemy that you didn’t give me?”
“Yes, a lot,” he replied, nodding casually.
“Can I copy them?” I inquired, a hint of eagerness in my voice.
“Yes, but you’ll need to purchase the Copy Text spell. Otherwise, copying everything will take months, and you’ll have to ask Mahya and Alfonsen for help. Some books contain diagrams with runes or magic script, so you’ll need parchment,” he explained, his tone practical as he met my gaze.
I checked, but there wasn’t much parchment, so we decided Lis would take the E-foil and go to Yangshuo to buy a supply of parchment. Lis had already finished building Rue’s E-foil, so they went together. I recruited Mahya and Alfonsen to copy the books. They cooperated and agreed to spend the ability points to purchase the spells: Copy Text and Copy Magical Text.
My Luck attribute seemed to work in the background because when Mahya and I were shopping in Beijing, we bought one ton of A4 paper and split it between us.
We set up a production line: I would sense the book to see if it had magic, and if so, I would put it aside. If it lacked magic, I would hand it over to Mahya or Alfonsen, who would then copy the book onto paper, which I would store.
When Mahya ran out of mana, Alfonsen and I continued, and then I continued alone. In three days, we copied over two thousand books and finished all the books that didn’t contain magic.
When Lis returned with an extensive inventory of parchment, I sat down to infuse it with mana. After three days, with breaks to regenerate, the parchment was ready. Alfonsen wanted an E-foil too, so I sold him a “tech-operated” one, and he paid Lis to transform it into a mana-operated one.
Again, the three of us copied books until we finished his entire collection. Lis requested I infuse all the remaining parchment and give it to him, a task that took me an additional week to complete; he had purchased a large quantity of parchment in various sizes.
Finally, we finished with the books. Lis finished building Alfonsen’s E-foil, and Lis and Mahya also finished their project. We had completed all our open tasks, and it was almost time to say goodbye.
We decided to go to Yangshuo and have fun. We wanted to spend our time together, enjoying each other’s company for the last time, without workshops or shopping. Alfonsen gave us our space; he sensed we needed to spend the last stretch of this journey with just the three of us.