"Patience is a virtue."

"So are you dwarves actually getting any work done? Can you stop slacking off every day?"

"Fine, fine. I’ll add another layer of soft leather padding to your Shield. And you, kid, what Magic do you want to learn?" Donkexes said, throwing his hands up. He pulled a thick book from under the counter and tossed it in front of Colin.

Colin thought for a moment, then took the ring he’d found in the Earthworm Nest from his pocket and placed it on the desk.

[Silent/???]

[???]

He glanced down. The Panel was still full of question marks.

"Can you take a look at this? To be blunt, is this Magic Equipment?"

Donkexes pulled a monocle from his pocket, clipped it over his eye, and picked up the ring to examine it closely. Then he chanted a few words in Dwarvish that sounded like a Spell.

The old Dwarf’s cheeks grew redder the longer he looked.

"Are you trying to fool me with two pieces of wire twisted together? This thing doesn’t have the slightest trace of Magic Net entanglement. It’s just an Ordinary piece of junk!"

"Is that so? Or maybe it’s been cursed by something?"

"Impossible. At least, I can’t see anything like that."

Colin took the ring back.

He still felt there was something strange about it. None of the Panels for other items he could see ever showed question marks. For this ring to be different, something had to be off.

’Is it some kind of hidden Magic Item?’

’I’ll find a more authoritative person to appraise it later.’

"So, all I can do now is learn Magic?"

"Langgrin and the others are still working on your Rune Equipment. Or did you want to wait a while before learning something new?"

"We’ll go practice first. It’s not like we have any other real business in Thousand Masts City anyway," Kase said, heading toward the dwarves’ training room on his own, as if he owned the place.

Colin flipped through the thick book on the desk.

As he flipped, Donkexes explained.

This was Donkexes’s Spellbook. The further back he went, the more difficult and powerful the Magic written on the pages became. Flipping all the way to the end, the strongest spells were the so-called "Tier Six Magic."

From what Donkexes said, Colin learned that Magic more advanced than Cantrips was divided into Tier One to Nine Magic.

Many Mages believed that there was a fundamental difference between Cantrips and High Tier Magic.

In their eyes, one had only truly begun to learn Magic after mastering genuine Tier Magic.

Compared to High Tier Magic, Cantrips and Tier One Magic might not be as powerful, but they were the most numerous, covering a wide variety of situations.

"How powerful of a Magic can I learn right now?"

"You’ve already mastered three Cantrips, right?" Donkexes said, propping his arm on the desk. "Then let’s start with Tier One Magic, unless you want to blow off one of your arms from a spell gone wrong."

"Alright," Colin replied.

Learning Magic was crucial for his future development, so he naturally didn’t want to be careless about it.

He glanced at the quest reward he had just received.

First, there were 150 points of freely assignable Skill Level.

Compared to the distant goal of the Casting experience bar, the Dwarf Armor Technique experience bar was already mostly full. It was clear the latter could be upgraded sooner.

Colin invested all the Skill Level points into Armor Technique.

After a familiar training illusion passed, he could feel a tangible improvement in his understanding and skill with Armor protection.

Including the growth from his recent training and battles, his Casting and Armor Technique Skill Levels were now (528/1250) and (481/500), respectively.

With a little more effort, he should be able to earn his first Specialty for Armor Technique.

His Intelligence on the Panel had increased to 13 points.

The concrete benefits of the reward would take a moment to manifest. His body would soon adapt to the increased Attribute, and things like Colin’s memory and reaction time would improve as a result.

While looking at his Panel, Colin suddenly noticed something unusual.

The original 1-10 Damage for [Flaming Arrow] had suddenly become 2.5-11.5. Both the minimum and maximum damage had increased by 1.5 points.

He checked again and found that the Damage for [Emerald Flame Sword] had also increased by the same amount.

’So, is the increased Magic Damage because of my Skill Level? Then why is the increase exactly 1.5, no more, no less?’

Colin glanced at his three-point increase in Intelligence.

His intuition told him the increase in Magic Damage was most likely due to the growth in his Intelligence. After all, when he first transmigrated, increasing his Casting Proficiency didn’t increase his Damage.

’Looks like every Attribute point gives me a tangible boost.’

’Right, I think my weapon Damage also increased by 0.5 points.’

’Now I get it,’ Colin thought. ’It was because my Power increased by one point. Back then, I just assumed it was because the equipment from Dragon’s Fang Castle was better.’

’So my Constitution should also provide a corresponding benefit, right?’

Based on his experience playing games in his past life, Colin figured it probably increased his max health or something similar. But as it was, he couldn’t see his so-called Life Value.

Having roughly figured out the new mechanic of Attribute increases, Colin turned his attention to the main event of this quest’s rewards.

-----------------

[You have experienced a fight to the death against multiple opponents with no way out. At the same time, you were a hair’s breadth from death. In a way, you refused death.]

[Obtained Specialty: Refuse Death]

[Refuse Death: When you are severely wounded in combat, for one minute, your running Speed increases by 30%, Defense +2, and your attacks and Magic deal an additional 2 points of Damage. Can be used once per day.]

-----------------

’Refuse Death? Is this a kind of Death Frenzy?’

Colin thought back to his state when he fought the Jackal Wolfmen. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Calling it a Frenzy would be an exaggeration. His mind was actually quite clear at the time; after all, he could still cast things like [Blade Ward]. Rather than a Frenzy, it was more like he had entered a state of extreme calm.

Of course, this Specialty was definitely very useful.

At the very least, it gave Colin a chance to save his own life in a crisis. A state like this, even if it only lasted a minute, was sometimes enough to turn the tide of battle.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...

He looked up and saw an impatient Donkexes knocking on the desktop.

"I say, do you really need to look at it for that long?"

"Just a little longer," Colin replied before he finally started looking through the contents of the Spellbook.

There was [Burning Hand], which unleashed flames in front of the caster; [Fluent Language], which translated spoken languages; and [Jump], which tripled the user’s jump range and height...

From single-target attacks to area-of-effect damage, and all sorts of support Magic.

The sheer number of Tier One Magic this Dwarf had in his possession was dazzling to Colin, and there was also a large number of Tier Two Magic spells that followed.

He couldn’t help but glance up and size up Donkexes. A character like this could clearly be called a qualified Mage, so why was he holed up in these sewers, making a living by peddling monster materials?

He lowered his gaze again to look at the casting requirements.

Compared to Cantrips, most of these Tier One Magic spells required Casting Materials.

"Right, before I choose a spell, there’s something else I wanted to ask," Colin began.