Second World

Finished dealing with the slave women, it was time to report the completed quest in Adventurers Association. Jack finally became a level 35 Archmage after he did. He also received 500 adventurer points. He spent the 3 free attributes on Endurance again. For the free 3 skill points, he left them first while checking on the new spell he received.

Magic Weapon, level 1/20 (Active spell, requires magic weapons)

Transform equipped magic weapon into a selected melee type, deal 110% magic damage in melee.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 25 minutes

Mana: 150

"This is the skill you said allowed me to cast spells while still wielding a sword?" Jack asked.

"Yes, try casting it," Peniel replied.

Jack equipped his magic staff and did. It used three-runes spell formation. The spell asked him to choose a melee weapon type. Jack chose a longsword type. His magic staff then transformed into a translucent blue-colored longsword which seemed to be made out of light.

Jack swung the sword around, testing it. Jack tried using his melee skill, Flame Strike. Flame enshrouded the magic sword as he swung. He was in the VIP hall which was empty, but the guard of that hall still looked at him with a frown.

"I can cast magic as well?" Jack asked.

"Yes," Peniel answered.

Jack tried casting a non-aggressive spell. He had seen the guard's stare, wouldn't want to have the guard throw him out because he wrecked the hall's furniture. He cast illumination. A small ball of light floated above him.

"I can still shoot standard range attacks?" Jack asked.

"You can," Peniel answered.

"Cool," Jack said. "But why does a magic user need a melee weapon anyway?"

"For versatility, so an archmage can deal with melee encounter while still casting spells. The damage still using the magic staff's stat, but it is increased if it is melee contact. It is not described in the skill, but archmage also gains the ability of standard parry if they block an attack using that magic weapon. Of course, in your hands, this skill is elevated to a whole new level, because it allows you to use your Blade Dancer skill as well."

"Hehe," Jack still admired the blue light-colored sword. Its appearance was a standard longsword. "You mentioned before that we can use the magic furnace to do something for this spell?"

"Yes, let's go to one," Peniel said.

While waiting for Sinful to finish his queueing, Jack asked Peniel what effect increasing the level of Magic Weapon spell could do. Peniel said it would increase its duration by 30 seconds per level. If he max-leveled the spell, the spell's duration would last 20 minutes.

Jack thought about this. He thought using this spell for 10 minutes should be okay. If the duration ended, he could just get back to weapon-swapping as he did before. He decided to use the free skill points to level-up Myriad Ensnaring Chains.

He also used the skill book he got from Yilus. Aside from that, there were 119,000 souls. Courtesy of three-week travel from Thereath to this town, including the players he had killed and the two natives earlier today. Luther was not originally rare elite so his death didn't provide as much soul as the other rare elite he had killed before.

Altogether, he could level up an elite skill five times. But after thinking for a while, he only used the 4 free skill points, from level-up and skill book, to upgrade His Myriad Ensnaring Chains leveled up to level 9. At level 8, another chain was added. There would be twelve crimson chains now if he cast the spell.

For the soul points, instead of upgrading an elite skill, he used 100,000 souls to max out his Body Double skill. He had a plan to use this skill tomorrow. At level 20, this skill lasted 25 minutes long and also added another copy. There would now be three copies of himself when he cast this spell.

During those three weeks on the road, he had also still diligently practiced his battle skills, hence several of his skills and spells had increased again in their grades.

Natural Body Recovery, Swing, Charge, Energy Bolts, and Heightened States had increased to 4 stars. Superior Body Recovery, Shredding Fang, Magic Bind, and Body Double had increased to 2 stars. He had continuously cut himself while riding Pandora to allow his body recovery skills to take effect, thus increasing their proficiencies. He learned this method from Suicide Prayer.

Myriad Ensnaring Chains also got its first star. One star upgrade increased duration by 4 seconds. If this skill was fully upgraded, the chains would stay in the field for a full one minute.

When Jack received a message from Sinful telling Jack that he was done, Jack went down to meet him. Jack asked him the direction to the mage academy. Arriving there, he went inside and saw the interior was also very similar to the one in Thereath.

He heard Sinful calling from the back. Jack turned back and saw Sinful at the door, banging on some sort of an invisible wall.

"Hey, I can't go in!" He said.

"Oh? Weird. I have no problem going in, evidently," Jack said, confused.

"Only a mage or its branch classes is permitted entry," a voice said from Jack's side. Jack turned to see a middle-aged woman in magician garb.

'Huh? Where did you come from?' Jack said in his mind. He did not sense anything prior.

The woman mage came before Sinful and shooed him away. "Assassin waits outside," she said.

Sinful had no choice but sat in the foyer outside, Jack could hear him grumbling. The woman mage then turned to Jack and asked, "what is your purpose coming here, young archmage?"

Jack tried to inspect the woman but failed. Same as when he did it with old Janus. He was actually expecting to see another version of Janus in this mage academy. Wait, could this woman be the female version of Janus? But if she was, she should have recognized him.

"Forgive my intrusion, ma'am. I came here to ask permission to use the magic furnace. Is there such a facility here?" Jack asked with a polite tone.

"There is. Do you bring magic stones?"

"I do… If you don't mind me asking, may I perhaps enquire as to how I address madam?"

"You can call me Evanor. As you can see, I am the caretaker of this place."

'Oh, not a female version of Janus,' Jack thought.

"Follow me," Evanor said.

The building layout was roughly the same. The room that housed the magic furnace was also in the same position as the academy in Thereath. Evanor stood beside the magic furnace while waiting for Jack to work on it.

Jack looked at her for a while.

"Is this your first time using the magic furnace? Do you need me to give you instruction?" Evanor asked after seeing Jack's stare.

"No, no. It's not my first time," Jack said. He was just wondering. The old Janus had always left him to work the device by himself. This Evanor is more like the young Janus, not as chatty, but helpful.

"Peniel, what am I doing here?" Jack asked.

"Put in rare magic stone inside the furnace to activate it. Then take out your Rapid Dazing Staff and Whirlwind Falchion," Peniel answered.

Jack did as told.

"Now, cast Magic Weapon near the magic furnace, an interface should appear," Peniel instructed.

"So, you want to do Magic Weapon imprinting?" Evanor commented.

An interface appeared asking which weapon that Jack wanted to use to imprint onto the spell. Jack put his Whirlwind Falchion forward. The sword floated up by itself. Numerous runes swirled around the sword and started to blanket it with layers upon layers. The process stopped not long after and the Whirlwind Falchion disappeared.

"Hey! Where is my sword?" Jack asked.

"It has bound with your spell. Try casting the Magic Weapon spell," Evanor said.

Jack did so. However, after imprinting, the spell now used four runes instead of the previous three runes. The translucent blue-sword that appeared was no longer the dull longsword like before, the shape now was exactly the same as his Whirlwind Falchion, although the sword still looked like it was made of translucent blue light material.

Jack swung it around. "What's the difference apart from the shape? It does feel lighter."

"That's because melee weapon attack speed is usually higher than a magic weapon," Peniel explained. "The stats of the weapon will follow whichever is higher. If the sword you imprinted has a higher damage number, it will use that stat. If it is your staff, then it will follow the staff."

"So, what's the benefit? My Whirlwind Falchion was only a rare grade. It is lower in damage compared to my super rare Rapid Dazing Staff. So other than getting an attack speed bonus, there was no other benefit from imprinting a weapon?"

"I won't bother to ask you to imprint if that is so," Peniel said. "Remember that both your staff and falchion had their own abilities?"

"Yes, my falchion increased my attack speed whenever I hit an opponent while my staff can do burst standard shots. Oh, wait! Do you mean now both weapons' abilities are available at the same time?"