Chapter Five "Investigating"
Kirito made his way into the library to find that there were not too many apprentice mages around. It was not too surprising given that it was noon time and many would be eating lunch at this hour.
The library was a simple stone room with dozens of yellowed wooden bookshelves placed against the walls. On top of these shelves were all kinds of books made from all kinds of materials and in all shapes and forms. Yet, Kirito was not fooled by the simple and old-looking appearance of the library. This library might be one of many in the tower open to new apprentice mages, but he knew it contained a vast amount of arcane knowledge.
His guess was further reinforced by the false memories of his player avatar. Kirito knew that there was enough arcane knowledge here in the library to match what a well-rounded 1st Circle Mage was expected to know.
Kirito slowly browsed through each bookshelf leisurely, picking up every book and flipping through a few pages. Each time he opened a book, Kirito could see a small semi-transparent text or hear the quiet announcement that he unlocked more Skills and Spells.
What caught Kirito's attention the most was how he seemed to gain more EXP depending on how much text he actually read properly. That was when the hypothesis of how the amount of EXP gained was calculated formed in his mind. His hypothesis further became refined and more evidence to support his thoughts as he continued to read.
There is no doubt about it! EXP seems to be tied with how much effort that a player puts into doing something without relying on the game's system assist mechanics. Kirito concluded.
Another interesting thing caught his eyes as Kirito read through the books. Thoughts and emotions evoked by the false memories allowed him to know that not just anyone could read the books inside the library. Only someone with special training unique to Aincard Mages had the ability to read the books as a safeguard to prevent the arcane knowledge from falling into the hands of anyone else outside of Aincard Mages.
It was several hours later that Kirito managed to flip through all the books in the library and he left with only a single book in his hands. It was called An Aincard Mage's Guide to All Things. An elementary book that all apprentice mages were expected to read.
When he arrived at his personal room, Kirito sat down in front of his wooden table, meticulously reading through his new book.
"Aincard Mages," Kirito read out loudly, "are divided into two groups. Apprentice Mages and Circle Mages. An apprentice mage being a child that was starting their journey of learning Magecraft while a Circle Mage is an adult further increasing their magical knowledge and abilities."
"An apprentice mage is divided into the following ranks: novice, intermediate and advanced. A special rank for those apprentice mages that are nearly at the step of becoming a 1st Circle Mage being known as Pseudo-Circle."
Kirito thought for a while as he interpreted what he had just read and repeated it in his mind until he could recall the information without having to rely on the book.
After the memorization, he started to go through his false memories. He was not surprised that amongst the false memories that information about the Tower's population made a pyramid where novice apprentice mages made up the largest number and going up the ranks that advanced apprentice mages made up the smallest number. What baffled Kirito was the complete lack of knowledge about any Pseudo-Circle apprentice mage in his false memories. It was like the Tower didn't have any, which seemed very unusual.
He quickly brushed aside the matter of there being no Pseudo-Circle apprentice mage in the Tower as he continued reading.
"An apprentice mage is seen entering the official ranks of Aincard Mages after forming a Magic Core inside their body and soul to become a 1st Circle Mage. The process of an apprentice mage to become a circle mage is achieved through two main methods; creating additional Magic Circuits or improving the ones an apprentice mage already possesses. It is quite common for many apprentice mages to use a combination of the two methods."
Kirito frowned as he saw the sudden change in font, size and colouring of the letters. What he read after soon answered his questions.
"Anyone seeking to become a Circle Mage no matter how lacking their talent is, slacking in their work ethic or deprived of resources can eventually reach the stage of Pseudo-Circle. It is the final hurdle from Pseudo-Circle to 1st Circle that many cannot jump over. The process of altering the physical and spiritual heart located in the body or soul into a Magic Core can easily lead to death, or those unfortunate to survive and unable to succeed in forming a Magic Core are likely to survive permanent or crippling injuries that they are unlikely to recover from."
For a moment, Kirito wondered what he had just read would affect a player. Unlike NPCs that the ingame lore applied to as described, Players couldn't die permanently given how this was a game. His guess was that a player failing to become a Circle Mage, whether they died or survived, would likely suffer from permanent loss of Stat points.
"There are two methods of becoming a Circle Mage: the turtle or the rabbit. The turtle method advocates for an apprentice mage to slowly lay down the foundations and build what will become a Magic Core in a steady pace. An opposing school of thought, the Rabbit method believes speed is the most important aspect of creating a Magic Core. The Turtle Method is known to take an apprentice mage years at the shortest and longest recorded case being decades while the Rabbit Method can take anywhere between several weeks to months. Neither method is superior as each school of thought has their advantages and disadvantages."
"A Circle Mage created through the Turtle Method will be more physically, mentally and magically capable then one born from the Rabbit Method at the same level, but this comes at the price of the Circle Mage having been on the path of magecraft longer than a Circle Mage of the Rabbit Method on the same level."
"The Rabbit Method forged Circle Mage may have taken a shorter time from the apprentice mage stage, but the failure rate during the Magic Core is significantly higher than the Turtle Method."
Kirito stepped reading and looked back at what he had just read. For some reason, it didn't feel like he had just read might only be ingame lore of Magecraft Online to make the game world interesting, given the game's past record to affect the player in real life.
He heard knocking on his door. Kirito started walking to the door and called out, "Who is it?"
"Kirito, it's me." A familiar voice replied.
"Oh, Eugeo." Kirito smiled as he opened the door to meet the most familiar NPC he knew. "What brings you here? Were you able to arrange a meeting with Argo or Asuna?"
"Sorry, Kirito." Eugeo shook his head. "I tried, but both of the girls replied that for the foreseeable future they are very busy and let me know when they have time to meet."
A sigh escaped Kirito's mouth. He had been hoping for a meeting with other players as soon as possible for he had many questions that likely would be answered if he had a discussion with a player. If the girls didn't have the time, he would have to meet them another time.
"Don't worry about it, Eugeo." Kirito waved his hand. "So, is there something you need?"
"Nothing really important." Eugeo shook his head. "I just wanted to eat dinner together."
"Let's go then. I didn't know that I was hungry until you mentioned it."
- O -
Kirito and Eugeo soon found themselves in the cafeteria waiting in line to get their food.
"So, are you still experimenting with what path you want to take?" Eugeo asked.
"Path?" Kirito repeated in confusion. "I don't understand what you mean by that."
"I mean your development path as a mage. Don't tell me you've completely forgotten about it?"
"Argh…" Kirito was left speechless about how to respond. His usual information source, the player avatar's false memories, had come out blank as if there were no records about what Eugeo was referring to. "I was kind of busy… gathering money by slaying monsters to fund my studies… So I haven't been studying properly recently…" He laughed nervously. "Could you explain what you mean by development path?"
Eugeo was left speechless and stared at Kirito as if the decision to not study was akin to betrayal.
"How are we supposed to save Alice from the mage that kidnapped her if you're not increasing your combat power!" Eugeo screamed telepathically in Kirito's mind.
Not wanting to draw the attention of everyone in the cafeteria, Kirito responded back in the same fashion. "There is no need for you to be shouting. It takes money to study and I hunted several monsters to fund our endeavor. Besides, I was also honing my combat power at the same time while I hunted."
"Sorry." Eugeo apologized as he calmed down. "I was so focused on how you were not studying that I failed to realize your intentions…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't know how you were able to hunt those monsters without knowing what a development path means. Basically, I am referring to your future plans on how you want to proceed as a mage."
"Oh that is what you mean." Kirito muttered before looking at Eugeo. "Well I haven't been studying properly as of late and my mind is blanking out on me right now, so you tell me what kind of development paths are there."
Eugeo stared at Kirito as if he was looking at an uneducated person then he sighed. "There are three types of Mages: Combat, Production and Culture. I think I don't need to explain the first two. Culture-type Mage is someone that specializes in the arts and culture."
"Got it." Kirito nodded. "Tell me more about the Combat-type as that is what we want to become if we want to save Alice."
"The Combat-type Mage is further divided into three schools of fighting: Augmentor, Conjuror and Fusionist. Augmentor are mages that focus on strengthening their body and channel their magical abilities in enhancing their already impressive bodies. Focused on solely improving their magical capabilities and often possessing weak bodies are Conjurors. The Fusionist's power was not a product of improving their bodies or souls like Augmentors or Conjurors, but their power comes from items or other species that were fused with their bodies and souls." Eugeo explained as he continued moving up the line of apprentice mages waiting to be served.
I love using weapons and fighting in close combat so the Augmentor playstyle fits me, but… Kirito bit his lips as the effects of playing Magecraft Online had on the player in the real world had awakened a passion for magic that he had never known about. The Conjuror playstyle also seems interesting. What kind of a hybrid Augmentor-Conjuror build should I go for? Should the majority of my Stats and Skill/Spells be primarily focused on the Augmentor playstyle and select Skills and Spells chosen from the Conjuror playstyle or the other way around.
He pondered on the question about what his Build for a while before dismissing it for a later time. The game had just started and it was time to experiment around to find what suited players the most. At this stage, the EXP cost to upgrade Stats or purchasing Skill and Spells were not expensive and regaining the wasted EXP took a long time. So, there was no problem leisurely spending his EXP until he chose a concrete path forward with his Build.
"So how did you fight the monsters that you slayed?" Eugeo asked, snapping Kirito out of his thoughts.
"I used swordsmanship and basic elemental magecraft." Kirito replied honestly. "So, I might have dabbled in both Augmentor and Conjuror styles without knowing about them."
"That sounds like the Kirito I grew up with." Eugeo spoke with a distant look as if recalling the past. "So are you planning on becoming an Elemental Swordsman, a subpath of the Magic Swordsman class, or are you going to diversify into other schools of magecraft outside of elemental magic?"
Kirito thought deeply. The only reason he was capable of swordsmanship was a product of his real life training in kendo. His magical abilities had come from Shirou's temporary memories, which had been permanently ingrained into his mind thanks to the game. He wondered if he should further refine what skills he currently possessed or used EXP to buy Skills and Spells to experiment what his future Build was going to be.
His thoughts were soon interrupted when without realizing it, Kirito found himself in front of the line to be served dinner. He quickly looked at the menu as he didn't want to be the clueless fool, who held up the line because he hadn't already decided what food he wanted beforehand.
The menu surprised him. Food was not the first thing that caught his eye. It was a holographic square that appeared before his eyes, which were not part of the game UI, but a product of magecraft if his false memories were to be believed.
His shock didn't last too long as it wasn't like he had interacted with holographic technology for the first time in his life. It was, after all, a relatively common sight in Japan of 2022.
Wow, the food here isn't just determined by just the quality of the ingredients, labor costs and the regular operating expenses running a restaurant. There is another factor: if the food can improve someone's Stats. While the Stat improvements are an incredibly small fraction of what can be brought through EXP, every little bit counts. Kirito mused and he suddenly recalled something that Eugeo had told him too long ago. The incremental Stat increase must be a result of a Production-type Mage, a Chef (Mage).
"What food would you like?" Asked a girl with long, orange-brownish chestnut hair and hazel eyes, dressed in a chef's uniform.
"Psst." Eugeo quickly nudged Kirito's ribs and whispered into his friend's ear. "That is Asuna, the girl you wanted to meet. She is here working as an assistant chef to improve her skills as a Culture-type Mage, but don't be fooled. I heard she is also a fearsome Combat-type, Augmentor style known as Flash Asuna for her speed with a rapier as her weapon of choice."
Was this good, bad or meh? Please tell me what you think. I accept all criticism as long as it is no flaming.