The Truth of Magic


Chapter 10: Entering the Gate

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhao Xu found it difficult to explain the thoughts going through his mind as he walked through the Teleportation Gate.

He had speculated that a player with two insignias who reached the Wizard Association’s headquarters in Mystra would automatically get the chance to become an Archivist and keep going down that path.

But, when the wizard in a black robe mentioned the term ‘Archivist’, Zhao Xu was shocked.

Before this, he had never imagined that a Base Character Class that was no poorer than a Wizard or a Cleric would be something players from Earth would come into contact with from their very first day.

The good thing about the game Arthur was how popular it was on Earth.

Since it was popular, many gamers who did live broadcasts were more than happy to reveal the various secrets of the game.

And, because this content wasn’t restricted and was broadcast on the internet, someone who didn’t know anything about the game like Zhao Xu could understand how to play.
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The difference between holding two Base Character Classes and Prestige Classes was that you could add your levels up while Base Character Classes couldn’t.

Based on what the wizard in a black robe said, he definitely had to continue on the road to becoming a Wizard.

But the problem was, in order to become an Archivist, he had to become a Level 1 Cleric first, then continue on to become an Archivist who also made use of Divine Spells?

If he had to become a Level 1 Cleric first, that meant that his road to becoming an Archivist would always be one level slower than others.

Level 1 Wizards could learn Level 1 spells, while Level 3 Wizards could learn Level 2 spells.

Going by this pattern, Level 5 Wizards could learn Level 3 spells, and the majority of spellcaster Classes worked like this.

So while other Level 9 Clerics could cast Level 5 Divine Spells like Revivify, he could only play with Level 4 spells.
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By the time Zhao Xu had completed one round and appeared in the floating city, he had already calmed back down.

He roughly understood what was going on.

‘The will of the goddess’ was a strange thing to say.

It was the will of the goddess to let him become an Archivist.

It was the will of the goddess to make him be a Level 1 Cleric first.

Once Zhao Xu understood this, he immediately opened up the Religion section of his character stats and changed it to the Goddess of Magic, Sisylvana.

He was 90% confident that, from the time he was creating his character all the way until he had chosen his Character Classes, the goddess had been watching him the whole time.
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The sculptures of the various gods in the palace were filled with divine power, as he had sensed at the time.

The gods used the Palace of Character Creation as their main focus and had already started picking their followers.

Zhao Xu had probably been chosen because of his Double Elite status.
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Or, perhaps there was a deeper reason he didn’t know.

In any case, since the goddess wanted him to become a Cleric, then that meant that she wanted to strengthen her communication with him.

Clerics in Arthur were all people who believed in divinity since they believed that there was a god. But it didn’t mean that they were truly pious.

But, if a person was the Cleric of a particular god or deity, then you wouldn’t doubt their piety at all.

That was because their level as a Cleric was a testament to what their god had given them.
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The gods could grant their Clerics their Character Class levels.

As such, the churches and temples in Arthur were well trusted by their disciples and the things they did and said were completely consistent with one another. So it did really look like a utopia here.

Since that was the situation Zhao Xu was in, he immediately switched his religion to the goddess.

Religion was a very serious matter in Arthur.

But the gods were still quite forgiving when it came to superficial believers. They were only very strict when it came to selecting Clerics.

A Cleric needed a god or deity to acknowledge him before rising in level.

Clerics that were exiled by the god or deity they believed in would lose most of their powers, including Divine Magic.
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When that happened, only Dark Gods and the Abyss and Hells would accept these fallen Clerics. To them, the souls of rebel Clerics were the most delicious of all.

There was an exception to every case after all. Otherwise, the Clerics should have remained completely faithful. But the gods weren’t all-powerful.

The gods could forcibly make a fruit sweet, but they couldn’t make a fruit sweet naturally all the time.

Zhao Xu guessed that if he didn’t truly believe in the goddess with his heart and soul, then the goddess wouldn’t let him become a high-level Cleric either.

But to only allow him to be a Level 1 Cleric was probably still permissible for someone she had chosen.

That was also why he had chosen his religion boldly like this.

Otherwise, she would have gotten him to just become an Archivist right away. There was no need to also be a Level 1 Cleric at the same time.

The goddess needed Level 1 Clerics, while he needed the favor of the goddess so that he had the upper hand when the time of the great war came in the future.
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As for whether he could become a Cleric despite not being truly pious, that would depend on whether the goddess wanted to do him this favor or not.

If she didn’t want to, then he would switch his religion to his alignment and remain a generic Cleric.
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In four years, the north would start to go to chaos. The Abyss and Hell would make an attack again. If Zhao Xu hadn’t reached Level 10 by the time that happened, he couldn’t guarantee that his family would be able to stay safe.

It was because of this unrest that Zhao Xu had been summoned to leave his family in his previous life.

In the end, his hometown had been destroyed by the Black Dragon while he was gone.
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That huge unrest had caused countless deaths in the north.

Many of those who had gone from Earth to Arthur and were only Level 1 ordinary folk, were killed in that chaos.

That was also the time when everyone who had transmigrated from earth fought tooth and nail to become a Character Class that could be involved in battle.

Non-fighting classes like Mentors, Nobles, and Experts became completely useless.

By the time Zhao Xu had finished thinking through all of this, he had been teleported to his destination.

He slowly walked out and found himself in a hall at least ten times bigger than the one he had come from.

There was an identical Teleportation Gate, and the room looked like a huge museum.

An entire row of Magic Guards stood by one side of the hallway, there to maintain order in the huge hall.

Now and then someone would walk out from the Teleportation Gate.

On the wall across from the Teleportation Gates were a row of staff at their desks, working busily.

Before Zhao Xu could ask any questions, a servant came up to him. She looked fairly pretty and reminded Zhao Xu once more of the standards of beauty that he had cultivated after spending 8 to 9 years in Arthur.

“Honorable Wizard Sir, please come with me to register,” she said as she stood to one side and waited for Zhao Xu to follow her.

Basically every gate would have a servant girl like her to wait to receive each person and lead the way.
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Come to think of it, that wizard in the black robe earlier had probably come specially to attend to him. Did that wizard just want to see what he looked like?
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Zhao Xu felt terribly cold when he thought about it that way.

The servant girl continued to wait patiently by his side and didn’t seem annoyed at all. Zhao Xu felt bad for making her wait and quickly followed after her.

As they walked, he asked, “Those high-level wizards don’t have to end up using this gate to come here as well, right?”

Zhao Xu knew that going through the gate was the safest.

It was the safest for both the wizards as well as the defenses of this floating city.

Mystra had paid a tremendous price in order to raise these floating cities. Besides being a satellite city for the main city, it was probably a way of keeping their species alive even in war.
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Teleportation was something out of reach for most people.

But it was something that couldn’t be overlooked in a battle that involved high-level players.

Zhao Xu had witnessed one battle where a group of high-level adventurers had used Teleportation to drop from the sky.

According to what Zhao Xu knew, this floating city was gigantic, but its shadow didn’t cover all of Mystra. So, the only explanation was that this floating city was too high and no flying creature could get here by flying at all.

So the only way onto this place was via teleportation.

“All these cities are protected by mythal and only those who are recognized as our own can use teleportation to get in.” The servant girl spoke in a voice just loud enough for Zhao Xu to hear her without disturbing the others in the hall.
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Zhao Xu was stunned. He had never heard of this in his previous life.

The number of players who had been allocated to Mystra was too few. This group was right at the top of the pyramid.

He suddenly remembered that post that talked all about being a Magic Guard and mentioned something about having a mark of sorts. The post said that the mark didn’t have any powers and was just used to prove his identity.

Zhao Xu got it now. So one feature of this Prestige Class was actually to be able to get through the mythal around these floating cities.

As far as Zhao Xu knew, class features were the hardest to imitate.

This was an even more stable way than a symbol of sealing that could send one into the floating city.

That was because every Magic Guard had been carefully selected.

Anybody who betrayed their role would lose their class features.

When he thought about this, Zhao Xu became extremely solemn.

Those cities that could continue to survive in Arthur despite multiple attacks were indeed very powerful in themselves.

Zhao Xu finally made it to the desk in front.

The person at the desk quickly verified his recommendation letter and the insignia on it before handing him a set of keys. He told the servant girl to bring Zhao Xu to the dormitory he would stay in before turning to deal with another person.

After Zhao Xu heard all this, he followed the servant girl along with confusion all over his face.

He continued to go in circles inside this castle-like place and didn’t even get to breathe outside air before he reached the dormitory.

The servant girl didn’t say much, just took her leave to attend to the next person. Zhao Xu was even more confused now.

In his previous life, he had undergone Fighter training, and he was dragged to the training grounds immediately upon arrival. There were muscular men making them train who came around to correct their fighting stances as well as teach them how to avoid attacks.

After that, he got to learn a technique and practiced it until it became part of him.

One round of training was followed by yet another round with no breaks in between. There were some players who would be able to go out into the wild by themselves for some adventure before it was time to sleep tonight even.

It wasn’t like how Zhao Xu was sent straight to the dormitory with no explanation of his course or anything like that.

He wasn’t going to spend the night in Arthur either anyway. Why did he need a room here?

Zhao Xu shook his head and pushed the room door open to walk inside.

Then he was rooted to the floor.
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