Rod placed the novel in a prominent place to encourage himself, then picked up a second, thick book with yellowed cover.
He squinted his eyes, feeling a slight thrill.
“Magic Textbook......”
The opening page of the book stated that it was a best-selling book that had been published for a thousand years and had hundreds of copies transcribed.
Before the publication of this book, learning magic required following a teacher. However, many teachers could only use basic magic, so many cases existed where students specifically sought out a master only to learn nothing significant.
Even though it was now a bestseller, the number of copies printed at the time was small, and it did not circulate widely in the market. Even if it did circulate, those who weren't interested in magic wouldn't pay attention to it.
Most importantly, this world lacked printing technology.
The current textbook only began to circulate widely in the market fifty years ago, for no apparent reason.
“Knowledge monopoly... that does fit the idea of maintaining the existing class rule, but it doesn't pose any threat to me. In fact, I should break it.”
He, with his cheat, was growing at a speed that no native could ever reach.
On the contrary, to realize Rod’s vaguely emerging national vision, a large number of highly qualified personnel were needed.
In the future, a large number of schools would have to be built.
“After all, even if you want to be a lazy tyrant, you can't do it without reliable talents under you.”
Rod kept this in mind and began to study the textbook seriously.
The textbook simply categorized magic into three types.
Offensive Magic, Healing Magic, and Summoning Magic.
They are ranked in order: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor, and God.
However, the book only recorded magic from Basic to Advanced.
Rod knew that there were even rarer detoxification magic, barrier magic, and divine strike magic in the world.
And magic at the Saint level and above was often monopolized by countries, and it was impossible to learn unless one apprenticed to a master or joined a sect.
Unfortunately, Arcadia, this strange little country, didn't have such a foundation.
Rod silently muttered a criticism, then continued reading.
There are two ways to activate magic.
Chanting or Magic Circles.
The main way in the past was Magic Circles, but now Chanting is mainstream.
Rod contemplated this.
“In the future, it's best to set up multiple magic circles for spatial transfer or defending the palace.”
It seems that this world is overly cautious about magic development due to various concerns.
To prevent war, the spatial transfer magic circles on various continents were sealed.
Even using transfer magic was considered a violation of the ban.
Just thinking about it, Rod came up with a lot of crazy war criminal ideas.
“If you could recreate the satellite weapon magical spirit force in Fairy Tail, wouldn't it be great to just blast any country you dislike?!”
Rod suppressed his restless heart and continued reading.
The book stated that Chanting became mainstream because a certain elf magician successfully shortened the chanting time.
The simplest chanting was shortened to about five seconds. After that, offensive magic was only used through chanting.
Rod stroked his chin, his brows slightly raised.
“I remember there's a setting in this world where only training magic during childhood can lead to rapid growth, even learning to cast without chanting.”
No matter how hard adults train, their magic will hardly increase significantly. The magic of ordinary people is basically determined at birth.
It's also extremely unlikely for adults to learn to cast magic without chanting, at most they can shorten the chanting time.
Rod suddenly felt a bit lucky.
“So, it's just in time for me to awaken my previous knowledge at my current age!”
Rod patiently finished reading the explanation and precautions related to magic, and immediately couldn't wait to turn to the chanting page and begin to practice.
Because the textbook mentioned that ordinary people usually don't start learning magic until they are ten years old, and their first attempt at magic often ends in failure.
Most people initially find it difficult to smoothly summon their magic from within.
Even geniuses need to try three or four times before they can succeed by luck. Even if they succeed, they cannot control it.
The editor even specially comforted readers not to be discouraged as this was normal, and suggested that they start learning with low-damage water balls.
He wasn't sure of his own talent, so he chose to follow the editor's suggestion, extended his right hand forward, and read the words with a hint of nervousness.
“May the great water's protection descend upon your desired place, let the cool shallow flow appear here——【WaterBall】!”
The Six Eyes observed as magic flowed out from his dantian, concentrated towards his right hand, and then pushed outwards.
Bang——
A giant water sphere that almost filled the entire room materialized out of thin air!
“This is... a water ball? Are you sure this isn't a water sphere?!”
Rod remained silent for a long time, scratching his head.
“.......Maybe I injected too much magic? But I clearly just used a small amount.”
“Should I try to shrink it?”
Rod tried to transmit the thought of shrinking.
He thought it would be a difficult task, but it happened with just a thought.
In the Six Eyes' observation, the excess part of the water sphere directly dissipated into the ethereal air.
Then.
Rod crossed his legs, leaned back in his chair, and casually swiveled his right index finger.
The water ball moved agilely through the room, shooting, stopping, and turning at his will.
“The book says it's a very advanced technique to control the direction of a water ball, but it doesn't seem difficult now.”
The second time he cast, Rod didn't even need to chant, and he instantly created ten water balls!
Five minutes later.
Rod was already able to perfectly cast all the magic recorded in the textbook without chanting, and he could even modify it at will!
Casting magic without chanting requires you to complete all the steps of condensing magic and adjusting magic parameters yourself.
But when Rod cast magic without chanting, he felt even more relaxed and natural than when he chanted.
He frowned and flipped to the last page of the textbook, then rested his chin thoughtfully, his eyes flashing with confusion and bewilderment.
“The bottlenecks mentioned in the textbook simply don't exist for me, and the magic consumption is completely different from what's recorded. I'm using less magic but getting more power.”
“Could it be because the Six Eyes give me particle-level magic control?”
“And all the spells, from basic to advanced, in the four elements of earth, fire, water, and wind, seem to only have changes in quantity and form.”
For example, the water ball and water arrow in the water element are just simple shape changes.
The earth spear and earth hedgehog in the earth element are just changes in quantity.
Lava-type magic in the fire element and ice magic in the water element are considered special.
The higher the magic level, the larger the range becomes.
The textbook mentioned that Saint-level magic mostly involves manipulating the weather.
As for higher-level magic, it's almost completely unusable in battle. It requires long chanting and the use of magic circles.
In other words, almost all magic in this world is an extension of basic techniques, and there is no difference in quality even after evolution.
Even if you cultivate fire magic to the level of a fire god, it will only make the range of fire larger.
You can't change the flame into different types of heteroflame, nor can you create an unquenchable black flame...
So weak.
And.......
Rod hesitated, feeling surreal.
“In other words, in less than ten minutes, I've already mastered all the magic theoretically needed for a magician's battle?!”
【Congratulations, host, for collecting the Magic Textbook. 】
【Reward: Top-tier attribute affinity for all attribute magic!】
Rod was shocked and suddenly felt the world become clearer.
“Well... it seems that the book-type reward requires me to finish reading it before it's considered collected. But this time, it directly gave me a lottery! ”
He took a deep breath of satisfaction.
The ether floating in the air rushed towards him one after another, as if attracted by a succubus.
His magic, which had been mostly depleted, quickly recovered.
At this point, he even felt that if he cast some basic magic, he could even skip the step of constructing circuits within his body!
He could just slightly raise his finger and summon the four elements of earth, fire, water, and wind!