Super Magician: The Magic Network Collapsed Again at the Start

Chapter 100 Knowledge is Money
The dice detection failed for the second time; the first time was with Little Clara's aunt, Dorothea Zetkin.

'Could it be another prophetic mage? Can he even cast spells?' Anser wondered, but he didn't dare to ask directly.

“You’re right, but they’re progressing very quickly. The current Cursed Sorcerers have a lot to offer.” Italo smiled slightly, but his silver-gray eyes remained as calm as an ancient well.

Anser's eyes flickered slightly. It seemed that Candlehold was not out of touch with the news; perhaps they knew something about the chaos in the magic network.

"Great reader, if I may ask, what happened to the Magic Network?"

"I don't know," Italo answered decisively, his weathered voice tinged with a hint of helplessness.

“Alright.” Anser wanted to know if the Goddess of Magic was still around, but he wasn’t sure who the Great Reader was, and he was afraid of offending them by asking directly.

“Candleburg is also investigating, but after the magic network became disordered, many passages to the outer planes have become extremely unstable, making the astral plane even more dangerous and difficult to cross over,” Italo explained.

"I see." Anser nodded silently.

The gods reside in the outer planes; Tyr and Losanda dwell on Mount Paradise, Shar in the Abyss, and Mystra, the goddess of magic, and Ogmar, the god of knowledge, reside in the Astral Plane.

"What brings the great reader here this time?" He was very curious about this.

“To gain more insights.” Italo’s eyes were vacant as he finished speaking and then drifted off into thought.

Anser sighed helplessly. This Italo only spoke halfway through his sentences, sounding more like a charlatan than a scholar.

However, he roughly understood some of it: Candle Keep had not sent any troops; the Great Reader had come to investigate the situation.

Although Candlekeep is known as the most impregnable fortress on the continent of Faerûn, it has too few people and relies mainly on powerful magical protection and the immortal ghost of an ancient silver dragon.

Its leadership also possessed powerful magical abilities, but the situation may be different now, and those powerful individuals are probably in a worse state.

"Is there something you need from me?" he asked directly, not wanting to get entangled with the riddle-maker.

“Yes.” Italo’s gaze focused on Anser, and with a wave of his hand, a large book and a quill pen floated on the table.

“Anser, I want to make a deal with you. The deal is your understanding, insights, and application skills in magic.”

Anser chuckled dryly, quite surprised: "I'm a warlock. My understanding of magic is very shallow; my greatest skill is in using it."

“Don’t underestimate yourself. I’ve wasted decades and haven’t seen many people who can apply magic to your level.” Italo smiled and pointed to the quill pen. “This arcane scribe can automatically record your thoughts and insights.”

But rest assured, it won't pry into your thoughts and emotions; it will only record one spell or topic at a time.

Believe me, this knowledge is extremely important for spellcasters who are still lost and confused.

Warlocks' innate magic also falls under the category of arcane magic. Although it differs greatly from conventional spell models, the underlying logic is similar, and they ultimately lead to the same goal, so it has some reference value.

Moreover, the techniques for applying spells are largely similar, and this experience can save spellcasters a lot of trouble.

"Hmm." Anser's expression turned serious. "What can I get in return?"

It's not that he's being overly protective; there's no such thing as copyright in this world. Candleburg is the biggest intellectual property monopoly.

What if he teaches others, and those spellcasters use the techniques to turn against him?
“You can ask for anything you want.” Italo’s expression remained unchanged, as if it were a trivial matter.

“I lack a lot, but it’s hard to say right now. What can you give me?” Anser wasn’t embarrassed at all. Knowledge is money, and no one can get something for free.

Italo waved his hand, and several magical items appeared on the table.

The subtle fluctuations of magic sent a shiver down Anser's spine. He remained calm, but his eyes were filled with anticipation.

"I left in a hurry and didn't bring much with me," Italo chuckled. "Let me introduce you to these gems, they're called Ain Stones, and each has a different use..."

Anser knew about Ainstone, a type of stone named after Ain, the god of knowledge and prophecy. There were many kinds of Ainstone, and different kinds of Ainstone had different colors, appearances, and abilities.

There are tough stones that grant +2 to constitution, life-sustaining stones that require no food, and regeneration stones that restore life... After synchronization, you gain the relevant buffs and fly around them.

The few Ain Stones Italo had were all attribute-boosting, but they provided little improvement to him because the attribute cap for Ain Stones was 20.

Aside from the Ain Stone, all the other magical items were of rare quality, second only to legendary, each worth tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Candlehold was truly wealthy and powerful.

Anser picked up the regeneration ring that could regenerate severed limbs and restore 1d6 health points every 10 minutes, examined it for a moment, and then put it down.

"I absolutely hate syncopation," he complained helplessly.

Italo smiled knowingly and nodded in deep agreement.

"How is the value calculated?" Anser decided to ask first before considering which magical item to choose. "For example, how much is the enlightenment value of a first-circle spell? Or, how many spells do you want to exchange a rare-quality magical item for?"

“One item in exchange for all the spells you possess, as well as your understanding, development, and utilization of arcane and innate magic,” Italo replied immediately, clearly already confident.

Comparatively speaking, spells are of higher value, and no one can compare to a mage in terms of understanding arcane magic.

Anser shook his head decisively: "Then I'll give you a maximum of twelve ring spells, plus two tricks."

"Hmm?" Italo was somewhat surprised and puzzled. "Of course you can."

In his estimation, it would be quite good if a warlock who has just entered the elite stage can master ten spells.

"Then the deal is done?" Anser asked tentatively.

“No problem, I’ll teach you how to use the copying pen…” Italo instructed carefully, partly to put Anser at ease.

Anser was very cooperative; such an opportunity was rare.

He wasn't sure if a warlock's insights were valuable, but he knew that Candlekeep wasn't indispensable to him. There were many warlocks in Faerûn, and he estimated that quite a few geniuses had already figured out the techniques of magic casting; he was just a little ahead.

Moreover, he mostly gave us first-level spells, including Command and Holy Slash, spells that mages were destined never to learn.

There is only one second-circle spell, which is the Dragon Breath spell that comes with the Dragon Vein Sorcerer.

He wouldn't be happy with anything higher; he didn't want others to know too much about him. Anyway, first and second-ring spells were just a transition, with low research costs, so even if they aided the enemy, it wouldn't matter.

A few minutes later, Anser sat quietly in front of the large book, his eyes focused, his mind filled with memories related to magic.

The copying pen danced across the book, leaving afterimages so fast they were blurry; all that could be seen were lines of text rapidly appearing on the paper, much faster than a printer.

More than two hours later, the copying pen finally stopped.

Anser also let out a heavy sigh, leaned back, and lay down on the sofa.

This job is not easy.

Italo carried the large book over and flipped through it page by page, occasionally glancing up at Anser, his expression changing repeatedly.

Why is there a Holy Slash? Why are all the spells first-level? Oh, and there's a Dragon Breath spell too...

However, he still felt it was great value for money. Every spell tip in it was practical, standard, precise, and systematic. It might not be very flexible, but he couldn't find a single mistake.

This also shows that Anser didn't take any wrong turns at all, which is simply unheard of.

After a long silence, Italo slammed the book shut, his eyes darting between conflicting emotions: 'It's unbelievable, his bloodline... it must be extraordinary.'

After much thought, this seems to be the only explanation.

He recalled the scene of Anser transforming into a dragon during the day; the strange color of his scales was somewhat similar to that of the legendary platinum dragon god Bahamut.

“Great Reader, what do you think?” Anser asked softly, a little worried that the other party might deny it.

Italo snapped out of his daze, regaining his calm demeanor, and exclaimed, "Very good, go ahead and choose. I'll allow you to pick two."

"Ah, thank you." Anser went along with it, not one to stand on ceremony.

(End of this chapter)