Chapter 1 The Hand of the Mage

In the winter morning, the cold wind howled. On the snow-capped wasteland, a white hound is dragging a sled and galloping.

A thin and small boy was sitting on the sleigh, and the cold wind blowing head-on lifted the hood of his cloak, revealing a delicate and preoccupied face.

As a country boy who just turned thirteen years old, Joan Vida, who has passed the entrance examination of Leiden College and officially became a "Mage Apprentice", should be proud, but when he thinks of what the examiner said to him, his mood It is unavoidable to be a little depressed.

Joan Vida was born in a small place called "Derlin Town" in the south of Alfheim. He has no parents since the day he can remember. His grandfather raised him and taught him to read and write, which gave him the opportunity to pass The book learns about the more colorful world outside the small town. In the world named "Vares" he lives in, various supernatural powers represented by "magic" are not uncommon. Human beings learn the skills of contacting "magic net" and using magic from elves, while in civilized society In addition, the monsters rampant in the wilderness and the strange monsters lurking underground can release powerful spells with the magic power contained in their own blood without learning difficult and profound spell knowledge, or even spells and gestures. Because the world outside the city walls is too dangerous, ordinary people usually dare not go into the wilderness alone, except for those mercenaries who make a living out of adventure.

Joan walked alone on the snow field a hundred miles away from home, not for the sake of adventure. Before he was exposed to arcane knowledge, he was no different from other boys of the same age in Delin Town. He never expected that one day he would leave the town and go out to explore the world alone.

Until three years ago, Jo Ann's life began to change. At that time, he had mastered the skills of reading and writing, and learned a strange script called "Quenya" from his grandfather. It is said that this is the language created by the ancient elves and sages. Today, he lives in Yalf The elves deep in the jungle are still using this simple and elegant writing.

Compared with the various languages ​​and characters created by human beings, Elvish language's biggest feature is that it has a special "rhythm", which has a particularly high affinity with the "magic net", and it is easier to guide, shape and control magic power. Therefore, nine out of ten of the magic books that are popular in the world today are written in elven script. Of course, the elf language is not the only magic code. Those ancient races that lived in this land long before the birth of humans and whose history is almost as long as elves, such as giants, dwarves, and dragons, also have their own languages, and Can also be used as a spellcasting spell. It’s just that these races are not as closely related to human ancestors as elves, and their impact on early human society is not as great as elves. Humans who understand giants, dwarves, and dragons are even rarer. Magic scrolls written in the above-mentioned ancient languages ​​and Books are far rarer than those written in Elvish script.

Grandpa Joan’s collection of books is not very large. When a boy is tired of looking at the last piece of paper with letters in his house at the age when his curiosity is most vigorous, he naturally looks outside the house, eager to search for new books. Joan's first yearning place was the small church in the town. Mr. Pastor is also the principal of the primary school in Delin Town, and he is recognized as the most knowledgeable person in the town. During that time, Joan went to the elementary school to clean up every evening, in exchange for the privilege of borrowing books in the church library.

Joan devoured the church's books, and was especially interested in history, geography, and mathematics books. As for the theological classics that the pastor had recommended to him many times, he was not very interested. Perhaps because of his personality, Joan couldn't convince himself to dedicate his body and mind to a certain god. Instead of counting on the gods to help him change the reality of the predicament, instead of exchanging faith for gifts, he would rather try to change his destiny by relying on the knowledge he has. It can't be changed, at least the initiative is in your own hands.

At the age of 12, Joann had read all the books in the church, and he had no intention of seeking a priesthood, so he gradually stayed away from the church and turned to other ways to acquire new knowledge.

Apart from the church, there was only one grocery store in Derlin that also operated as a mortgage pawn business and occasionally sold books. Joan is a frequent visitor to this shop, and he usually leaves when he is excited and returns disappointed. Until a year ago, Joan accidentally found a consignment scroll in a grocery store. To his surprise, the scroll was densely filled with elven characters, and it was probably a spell scroll.

As if she had found a treasure, Joan immediately found the owner, Aunt Barbara, and asked about the origin of the scroll.

"A group of adventurers stayed in the town the day before yesterday. They were all rough people who didn't know a few big characters. They didn't know where to get this scroll. They couldn't understand what was written on it, so they took it to me and sold it. For the wine, they asked for 20 gold duga, of course it’s not worth the price, I’m only willing to offer 10 gold coins, and finally the deal was done as I wanted, little guy, if you like this scroll, I’ll sell it to you at the original price.” Aunt Barbara said to him with a smile.

10 Gold Durga, this is not a small amount for Joan, whose family is struggling. He didn't have such a large sum of money at hand, so he begged Aunt Barbara to keep the scroll for him, and boasted for the first time in his life that he would be able to scrape together the sum of money within a month at most.

In fact, even Joan himself didn't believe this kind of nonsense. All his savings from odd jobs in the past two years are only six gold duga, where can he borrow four gold coins? In order to get the magic scroll, Qiao An bit the bullet and went to grandpa, asking him to lend him four gold coins.

After listening to Joan's reason for borrowing money, the strange old man Guillaume Tell lit his pipe and took two puffs, then said coldly: "Even if it is really a magic scroll, it is useless for you to buy it, as you have no experience with magic at all. It is impossible for a child to learn even the simplest spells without the guidance of a teacher."

"I want to try!" Joan said stubbornly.

"Don't even think about it!" The old man Tire was more stubborn than his grandson, "If you want to buy something else, I will give you as much as you want, but this is not the only thing! Joan, you can't touch the arcane, so you should go way."

Grandpa's domineering attitude made Joan disappointed and confused, but this did not stop the young man's fiery passion. Regardless of whether his grandfather funded it or not, he was determined to buy the long-awaited scroll. For a whole month after that, Joan hunted in the woods day and night, thanks to the help of the hunting dog "Jamie". In addition, it was the turn of spring and summer, there were many birds and animals in the forest, and the young hunter had a good harvest. If you catch a hare or a wild duck, you will send it to the tavern in the town, in exchange for three or five copper coins. By chance, Joan learned from the tavern waiter that the tavern's signature dish "golden trout" is always out of stock recently, and a fresh golden trout can be sold for 2 silver dugas per pound-this is comparable to Rabbits are worth too much!

Joan often accompanied his grandfather to fish on the banks of the Delin River since he was a child, and his fishing skills are quite good. Now that I know that golden trout is so popular, I decided to use it as my way of making money.

Fishing skills are important, but the key is to be patient. Although Joan is young, he has no lack of patience. Rather, his withdrawn personality complements fishing, a seemingly boring activity at first glance. He can read books while fishing, without delay.

Qiao An set off with his fishing rod before dawn, and came back at dusk. There would always be one or two fresh and plump golden trout in the fishing basket made of rushes. In this way, working from dawn to dusk, coupled with saving money on food and expenses, Joan finally got together 10 gold coins before the end of the month, and bought the scroll back from Aunt Barbara.

A whole month of hard work was not in vain. Joan turned over the yellowed sheepskin scroll with trembling fingers. After a long period of study, he finally determined that what was recorded in the scroll in elven characters was a 0-level spell called "Mage's Hand".

"Mage Hand" isn't even real magic, it's just a "trick". But for a young man who has never been exposed to spells and has almost zero basic knowledge, this is great luck-if the spell level recorded on the scroll is too high, Joan will not be able to interpret it at all, and it is impossible to use it This is a stepping stone across the threshold of becoming an arcane spellcaster.

Joan spent more than half a year studying this scroll, and finally managed to master the "Mage's Hand". This was undoubtedly an unexpected achievement, and even the arrogant and stubborn old man Thiel had to admit in front of his grandson that he had misjudged and underestimated his self-study ability. Joan himself was also inspired by this, which gave him reason to believe that he was different from other peers in the town and had the talent to become a mage. At the same time, this small achievement also prompted him to have a stronger interest in magic knowledge. Eager to plunge into the vast ocean of knowledge and learn more and higher-level spells.

There are no sorcerers living in rural towns, and Joan can't always expect to find treasures in grocery stores. Now that he has mastered a 0-level spell, he can barely be regarded as a sorcerer's apprentice. If he wants to continue his studies in this industry, the only The way out is to study in Port Leiden.

The Port of Leiden is the capital of the Alfheim colony and the most prosperous trading city. Joan heard that there is a "Leiden College" there, which recruits students from all of Alfheim at the beginning of the year. Subjects such as mathematics, engineering and medicine recruit primary school graduates, while seminaries and arcane colleges have higher thresholds, not only requiring candidates to have a primary school degree, proficient in reading and writing and basic arithmetic, but also must have the ability to become a divine or arcane spellcaster talent.

How to check whether a young man has the talent for casting spells?

it's actually really easy.

As long as you proficiently release at least one "0-ring" spell in front of the examiner, you will pass the test.

Among all the 0-9 level spells, the 0-level spells are the most special subcategory, and can even be said to be the most important subcategory. Its importance is mainly reflected in two aspects.

1st to 9th level spells have a corresponding number of "spell slots", and the number of times they can be cast every day is very limited. There is no limit to the number of 0th level spells, as long as the caster has enough energy, they can cast them infinitely. Therefore, even if it is a high-level mage, the most frequently used spells in daily life and adventure are 0-ring spells, which shows its importance.

In addition, 0-ring spells are the basis of all high-level spells. If high-level spells are compared to superstructures, ring 0 tricks are like "foundations". Only by tamping the foundations can a majestic and stable high-rise be built. With the deepening of his understanding of magic, Joan has formed a clear theoretical framework: the future development direction of a mage, which school to focus on, and which type of magic to specialize in, largely depends on his enlightenment education, depends on It depends on which 0-ring spells he initially mastered. Most of the high-level spells can be reversed and restored to one or several 0-level spells. The "Mage Hand" mastered by Joan today is the prototype of many high-level "force field" and "remote control" spells, such as the 9-ring spell "Mage Crush Palm", which is nothing more than a more destructive "Mage Hand ".

PS. The setting of this book mainly refers to "Pioneer PF" and "Dungeon and Dragon" 5E, but there are also many self-made house rules. One of the most critical ones is to increase the difficulty of resurrecting the dead - you have to wield 9 rings of magic to bring the dead back to life. Since there are only a handful of people in the book who can cast 9-ring magic, this means that it is almost impossible for people to come back to life after death.