Chapter 141: My Choice (Part 2)

"Your Knowledge (Arcana) skill bonus is already 4 points lower than mine. Add the 5-point competence bonus from reading, and that makes a 9-point gap," Shadow said quietly, looking at Zhao Xu.

"My skill bonus is 19, plus 8 from the Source's feedback, and even a total of 27 didn't pass."

A typical player's skill bonus is calculated by adding their level to the modifier of the corresponding attribute—for Knowledge, this corresponds to Intelligence.

Zhao Xu's Knowledge (Arcana) level was 1 lower than Shadow's, and his Intelligence modifier was 3 points lower. Consequently, his Knowledge (Arcana) bonus was a full 4 points lower than Shadow's, resting at a mere 7.

Even after stacking her skills to a peak of 19, Shadow had still failed.

This was precisely why she had doubts about Zhao Xu wanting to try it himself.

"I have a spell called 'Song of Learned Lore.' It grants my skills a +5 competence bonus," Zhao Xu explained.

Suddenly, Shadow stepped closer to Zhao Xu, asking with a hurried tone, "Does it apply to all skills?"

She instantly hit upon the core of the matter.

Zhao Xu nodded, confirming it.

Faced with players who were bound to become high-level mages in the future, lying now served no purpose, as none of them were ordinary people.

"I knew it, I knew it." Even though Shadow was usually extremely confident and proud, she couldn't help but stamp her foot at that moment.

"I practically searched through every spell compendium back then, trying to find a powerful spell related to skills, but I found nothing. I thought the mage who wrote that book was just talking nonsense."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shadow couldn't help but stare at Zhao Xu. However, given her personality, she could never bring herself to say something like, "Big brother, please teach me this spell."

After taking a deep breath to steady her emotions, Shadow asked tentatively, "After scaling with caster level, how much higher can the bonus go?"

Zhao Xu looked at Shadow, who had become somewhat agitated ever since learning about the spell, and said, "It starts at 4 points, and increases by 1 point for every 2 caster levels thereafter."

If Zhao Xu had a caster level of 10, the spell could grant a competence bonus of nearly 9 points to his skills, completely overwhelming the advantage Shadow previously held over him.

At that moment, Lu suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Feng, once we get out, could you evaluate the value of this spell with the person who taught it to you? If you discuss it and are willing to let Shadow copy it, I can cover the borrowing fee for her."

Hearing Lu say this, Shadow was about to open her mouth to say it wasn't necessary, but Lu waved a hand to stop her. "Don't worry, you can just pay me back with the gold from that paper bag wallet. I'm just fronting the money for now."

Zhao Xu hadn't expected Lu and Shadow's friendship to have reached this point.

He could only mutter inwardly: Why had no wealthy young lady ever taken him under her wing?

However, upon hearing that Zhao Xu was confident, Shadow handed over the "Headband of Intellect" she had been carrying.

The moment Zhao Xu accepted the "Headband of Intellect," he genuinely felt a touch of emotion.

As long as he wore the item for 24 hours, the ability score enhancement it provided would take effect, meaning his Intelligence could finally be saved.

After slipping the Headband of Intellect onto his head, Zhao Xu immediately began casting "Song of Learned Lore."

The casting time of Song of Learned Lore was one of the few spells that exceeded 1 round—not as long as the hour-long Identification spell from earlier, but it still required a full minute.

Thus, throughout the entire process, Zhao Xu gazed at the long passages of incantations within his mind, reciting them word by word.

Finally, the moment the spell was completed, a refreshing sensation washed over Zhao Xu's mind.

It was not like the luck bonus, which made everything feel infallibly right, nor like the environment bonus, which offered external assistance and correction.

For Zhao Xu, the competence bonus maximized his own personal performance level to the absolute limit.

He even felt a surge of intense confidence, believing he would pass this check flawlessly.

Zhao Xu focused entirely on the stone slab. By now, his Knowledge (Arcana) skill bonus had soared to a staggering 15 points.

Yet, Zhao Xu knew it still wasn't enough.

He needed even greater power to help him break through the dilemma before him.

Abruptly, on his character sheet, the reserve points he had gained upon reaching level 2 began to surge.

A character only received 5 reserve points per level, and any unused points expired, so he had treated this ability as practically useless prior to reaching level 9.

But now, that final remaining reserve point began to translate into assistance in accordance with Zhao Xu's will.

Reserve points represented the power of heroes.

Whenever heroes roamed the world, capable of unleashing power beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, it was always through extraordinary potential.

In an instant, Zhao Xu noticed his Knowledge (Arcana) bonus skyrocket from 15 points to 19 points under the influence of the reserve point!

"Make the check!"

Zhao Xu shouted inwardly in his mind.

Instantly, his consciousness began to connect with the source of knowledge.

A twenty-sided die appeared within Zhao Xu's sea of consciousness, spinning endlessly.

The number it ultimately landed on would be the assistance Zhao Xu received from the source of knowledge.

The die suddenly stopped, its spinning coming to an abrupt halt, with a cruel number 1 facing straight up.

Zhao Xu's Knowledge (Arcana) skill stood at 19 points, plus this 1 point of assistance from the source, bringing it to nearly 20.

Yet this was still far from enough to pierce through the cognitive barrier of the stele and successfully communicate with the source.

Zhao Xu's expression sank, though the final result of the communication had not yet manifested.

However, in the nick of time, he knew he had essentially failed.

Given that Shadow—with her 19 points plus an 8 on the die, totaling 27—had still failed to pass, Zhao Xu's total of 20 left no room for illusion.

At that very moment, Zhao Xu stared at the die that had already settled into place, unmoving.

Mages could reverse fate.

Strictly speaking, spells could reverse fate.

"Immediate Assistance!"

Zhao Xu abruptly cast the mysterious spell once more.

Requiring only a swift, instinctive reaction, this 1st-level arcane spell was successfully cast by Zhao Xu as he consumed two 0-level spell slots through his Multispellcaster ability.

Instantly, the previously static die began to twist and spin once more.

[Adventurer Natsu, re-rolling Knowledge (Arcana Check) = 19 + 1D20 = 19 + 11 = 30 points. DC 30 difficulty met, check successful.]

The die fell once again, but this time the value on top was 11.

Zhao Xu's Knowledge (Arcana) check resulted in 30 points, vaulting over the thirty-story-high barrier and directly achieving successful communication with the source of knowledge.

Instantly, the mysterious symbols on the stele began to deconstruct before his eyes, transforming piece by piece into content he could comprehend.

"This is an incantation that can be used three times."

"It can shield oneself once, it can save a life once, and it can reach the other shore once."

As Zhao Xu finished chanting those words, a mysterious halo of light instantly surged across his entire body.

A look of confusion involuntarily crossed his face—had he really just used one of them up?

Suddenly, cracks spread across the surrounding stele, growing dense and numerous as countless waves of death aura began to spew forth from within.

Zhao Xu immediately wanted to tell the two women to take cover.

However, the moment the stele shattered, an evil force akin to an eruption from the abyss and purgatory, mingled with the deathly and terrifying light of destruction, exploded outward in an instant.

It obliterated a full hundred-meter radius.

It wasn't until the black light dissipated that Zhao Xu regained his vision.

He raised his eyes to look; the already desolate cliffs and precipices had become utterly deathly and still.

The ground looked as though it had been plowed through by countless ravines.

The patch of thorny brush closest to them had been engulfed by the black light, and the outermost thorns were completely corrupted, dropping away in heaps.

Right before Zhao Xu, the two women had fallen to the ground, their bodies flickering and fading—a sign that they were about to be sent away to the Sanctuary of Creation.

Zhao Xu hurried over. As Shadow and Lu collapsed, the true faces of both women were finally revealed.

Yet, as Zhao Xu gazed upon this scene of vanished beauty, it felt as though past memories were echoing back to him.

His fists clenched tightly!

"Save one, and continue onward."

"Life inherently requires choices; this is the cruel world of mages."

Leian's familiar voice echoed once more, though this time it was different, reverberating directly throughout the entire space.

"Of course, you can also keep that single chance of resurrection and choose to journey alone. That way, you will permanently possess one extra resurrection opportunity compared to anyone else in the future."

"This is the true reward of this trial."

"Take action. Next comes the choice that will truly determine your destiny."

After Leian's voice faded, the area beside the cliff sank back into profound silence, broken only by the heavy sound of Zhao Xu's breathing.

Zhao Xu turned around, gazing at the blood-red moon hanging deep in the endless abyss opposite him.

Before him, after the stele's destruction, a faint, illusory floating bridge had manifested across the fractured chasm.

Based on the final content of the inscription and Leian's words, the incantation had granted him three opportunities. The first had already been used to protect himself.

One of the remaining uses had to be spent to activate the floating bridge in order to attain true power.

As for the final use, he could use it to save one of the two women.

He could even choose to abandon them, retaining the incantation to serve as an extra resurrection insurance policy for the future.

Zhao Xu took a deep breath.

He looked up at the blood-red firmament and mocked, "Screw that. Children make choices; I want them all!"

With that, he consecutively triggered the spell twice.

Two divine rays of light shot directly from the mark on his arm, plunging into the bodies of the two women.

The two women's bodies, which had been on the verge of fading away, re-condensed and solidified back into physical form.

A moment later, Lu and Shadow slowly awoke. Although they were still trapped in a dark-red world, they could finally breathe the air of this realm once again.

"Get up. The mission failed, time to head back," Zhao Xu said with a smile as he squatted down to inspect the two women, who were lying in rather ungraceful postures.

Only then did Lu and Shadow notice that their hoods had fallen back, exposing their true faces entirely to Zhao Xu.

Shadow looked at Zhao Xu with a strange glint in her eyes, then stood up and walked over to the shattered remnants of the stele, where a broken half still lingered.

After Zhao Xu had claimed the incantation, the true text inscribed upon it had been revealed.

"You should have crossed over by yourself," Shadow said softly.

"Even though we were unconscious, we still vaguely knew what happened right before we died, you know. I never expected Mr. Feng to be so kind," Lu said, offering Zhao Xu a slight bow of gratitude.

Zhao Xu hadn't originally intended to explain what had happened to the two women, but their intellect was more than enough for them to piece the truth together on their own.

"Still, we can't cross over now anyway; the mission must be considered a failure," Zhao Xu said, knowing Leian's style well enough to realize the man wouldn't leave any loopholes or tricks for them to exploit.

"Not necessarily, Mr. Feng," Lu suddenly said with a gentle smile.

"Indeed," Shadow agreed, gazing fixedly at the faint floating bridge ahead.

"Though before we cross, I'm afraid we need to introduce ourselves properly once more."

With that, Lu walked over to pull Shadow up, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of Zhao Xu as she introduced herself: "Wang Ningwei, level-2 wizard."

Shadow curled her lip slightly. "Aiswehi, level-2 wizard."

Zhao Xu scratched his head. "Natsu, level-2... wait? Level-3 wizard?"