Chapter 180: Tearing Scrolls By Hand
Opening his eyes, Anse seemed to be in an endless starry sky, with the astrolabe track formation dotted with starlight, flowing with brilliant colors.
He observed for a moment, shook his head slightly, still unable to understand it.
No one knows whether the magic array came first or the spell model came first; the two have many similarities but are two different branches of study. Being good at spellcasting does not necessarily mean one can understand magic arrays.
He knew some basic magic array knowledge, such as energy gathering and silence, but he was still far from understanding the astrolabe track formation.
‘Find a place to practice and summon a magic pet while I’m at it.’
Just as Anse was about to leave, the purple magic book quietly floated to his side, with a black cat squatting on it, extending a small paw to paw at his formal wear, yet passing through the clothes like a phantasm.
It had no physical form.
“What’s wrong?” Anse looked surprised, a certain possibility arising in his mind, and he immediately became excited.
The black cat stood up, looking at him solemnly, its right front paw constantly stepping on the magic book beneath it, with increasing frequency.
“Can I attune to the Book of Castella? Is there any danger?” Anse probed.
The black cat first nodded, then shook its head.
Anse understood: he could attune, and there was no danger.
‘Does it require a wizard to attune?’
He was a bit unsure, but the black cat had always been timid and cautious before, never inducing him, and had no dangerous actions; it felt trustworthy.
After hesitating for a moment, he opened the dragonhide pouch, took out the mithril short sword, drew it, and stood it on the ground with the sword tip pointing upward.
At the same time, he emptied his mind and silently repeated in his heart: ‘Is there any danger in attuning to the Book of Castella…’
Strange magical fluctuations spread around, like an echo or a prayer, quietly probing into the unknown void.
At a certain moment, he had a feeling, released his right hand, and the mithril short sword stood steadily, its tip trembling lightly, then fell straight down, pointing forward.
Sword tip upward, the oracle is clear: auspicious!
Anse exhaled lightly and put away the mithril short sword.
This was the second ring divination spell augury, cast as a ritual, with a very flexible method, not limited to any specific divination means.
He recalled the process just now, unable to determine which otherworldly being responded to him, or whether it was not some unknown entity, but rather a glimpse of insight gained from the world’s operational trajectory.
‘What is prophecy? Destiny, or rules…’
He shook his head, reined in his thoughts, and stopped letting his mind wander, lest he go astray.
Raising his head, the magic book was quietly levitating in front of him, but the black cat was gone.
He reached out and grabbed the magic book; it felt cool to the touch, weightless, thirty centimeters long, twenty centimeters wide, about five centimeters thick, with a purple hard shell covered in golden magic patterns, and a central pattern resembling an alien dial.
After confirming no abnormalities, he tried to open the magic book, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t open.
From the side, the white parchment showed no pages at all, as if it wasn’t a book at all.
He stopped fiddling with it, held the magic book, and entered a meditation state to begin establishing attunement.
He could actually use comprehend legendary to appraise this book, but the spell required incense worth more than 250 gold coins as material, plus four expensive ivory boards, which he didn’t have on hand.
An hour passed, and the magic book fully opened everything to him.
【Magical Item: Book of Castella】
「Type」: Curio
「Rarity」: Legendary（Requires Spellcaster Attunement）
This is a spellbook left by a great wizard named Castella, with a long inheritance, and it awakened an arcane spirit in the hands of a certain book scholar wizard, who named herself Mei Fu.
After attunement, you can use it as a spellbook and arcane artifact. If your attunement to this book ends, all content in the book will disappear.
「Wizard’s Quill」: The spellbook comes with a wizard’s quill constructed from psionics, which can automatically write your thoughts without ink, with freely set colors.
Copying spells with the wizard’s quill takes 5 minutes per spell level.
You can mentally browse the spellbook and freely erase any content.
「Magic Scroll」: After fully copying a spell, you can tear out the page recording that spell, and it will turn into a spell scroll.
Once per day, the total number of spellbook pages remains unchanged.
「Mei Fu」: After attunement, awaken Mei Fu in her semi-dormant state.
Mei Fu: Lawful Neutral, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 16, Charisma 16, with 120-foot hearing and 120-foot darkvision, skilled at copying scrolls.
She can communicate with you via telepathy and knows all major languages, including Common Tongue, Netherese, Dragon Speech, Giant Speech, Elvish, Dwarvish, Primordial, Abyssal…
Personality: Timid, cautious, lazy! Don’t force her to work, or she’ll go on strike.
「Symbiotic Magic」: Mei Fu symbiotically bonds with your soul, equivalent to a spellcaster.
You can designate a number of spells equal to your Intelligence adjustment value for Mei Fu to cast.
These spells must be chosen from those already copied, with maximum spell level not exceeding fifth circle.
「Arcane Siphon」: After attunement, you bear the burden of Mei Fu’s arcane power.
When your Intelligence is below 20, at dawn each day, make a difficult Intelligence check; failure deals 3d6 psychic damage and ends the attunement.
‘A purely supportive legendary item, but really powerful.’ Anse was overjoyed.
That 「magic scroll」 is so special: tear by hand to make a scroll, one per day, super practical.
Copying scrolls requires not only materials but also a lot of time and energy; a cantrip or first ring spell takes a full day, while the wizard’s quill only needs 5 minutes.
Using spell scrolls requires no mana; he can stockpile a batch himself, bolster his firepower, and in critical moments, unleash them all at once, smashing enemies with money.
Just thinking about it felt imposing.
Of course, spell scrolls can also be sold, and they would definitely be in high demand!
Wizards in the confused stage haven’t figured out spell construction under mana casting yet; copying a spell scroll lets them learn the recorded spell—simply perfect, they would flock to it.
‘The copyright issue is tricky; not sure if the mage guild cares.’
He pondered for a while and decided to only sell a few first ring spells, like alarm, comprehend languages, mage armor. Once the market is saturated, then introduce new spells.
Traveler’s Respite is a good place to test his ideas, after all, cross-plane tracking is extremely difficult.
‘Looks like there’s an extra daily task from now on; wizards really work hard.’
After complaining, he realized his hand was empty; the spellbook was gone.
“Mei Fu?” He was startled.
“Meow, right here.” A soft, lazy voice sounded by his ear.
Turning his head, a black cat was stepping on the spellbook, floating silently on his shoulder.
Perhaps feeling Anse’s big face too close, she raised her left paw and gently pushed his face away: “This meow finally woke up; feels like I slept a long time.”
Anse was stunned; it seemed Mei Fu had turned from phantasm to real upon waking. He wanted to pet the cat but suddenly remembered she wasn’t a cat in the traditional sense and withdrew his hand.
“Don’t you remember anything?”
“Meow~ I don’t remember.” Mei Fu controlled the spellbook to circle around Anse, lay on it, with a dazed expression.
Anse felt some disappointment, guessing that after the original owner’s death, Mei Fu’s memories were erased along with the spellbook, leaving only knowledge-based memories.
Perhaps for Mei Fu, every new owner meant a new life.
“No matter, this is a new beginning.” He tentatively reached out to pet Mei Fu’s head; it felt fluffy, soft, and smooth, just like a real cat.
Mei Fu didn’t refuse; she wasn’t a cat, but since her birth, she had appeared as a black cat and didn’t find anything wrong with it.
Anse smiled broadly; Mei Fu seemed easy to get along with: “Give me the spellbook; I’ll copy a spell to try.”
Mei Fu jumped off the spellbook, squatted on Anse’s shoulder, and the spellbook gently floated in front of him.
Anse took the book, gently opened it; the title page had his name, and the content pages were blank.
He picked up a sheet of paper; it felt finely soft, like some high-grade leather, with a soft white color, very gentle.
