Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed since Charles transmigrated into this world.
Reading the Quandrix Primer went smoothly—Charles mastered the spells within effortlessly. However, this didn't mean his prior life's knowledge gave him the same advantage with the other colleges' primers.
After all, the Lorehold Primer covered this world's history. The Prismari Primer focused on arts like music and dance. The Silverquill Primer dealt with all forms of written works. And the Witherbloom Primer delved into biology—none of which overlapped with Charles' past studies.
In his previous life, he'd never studied the history of a game world in detail. Most backstory lore got skimmed—who had time for that when there were games to play?
As for arts like music and dance? He could appreciate pretty sisters performing well enough, but actually doing it himself? Clueless.
Written creativity? For a STEM student who'd always struggled with essays, that wasn't an easy fix either.
And biology? At first glance, it seemed like a match…
But let's not forget—this was a fantasy world. If nothing else, the mere existence of dragons, which could bypass reproductive isolation with every species, shattered every biological principle he'd ever learned!
The only universal constant between both worlds was mathematics.
So, after finishing the Quandrix Primer, the next two weeks became a relentless cycle of torture from the remaining four books. Even with the assistance of the Scriptorium's construction, his learning efficiency plummeted. He barely grasped a handful of new spells.
Still, despite it all, his current strength had improved significantly compared to half a month ago.
After two weeks of effort, his attributes panel now looked like this:
Host: Charles
Gender: Male
Race: Human Subspecies (Silver Kin)
Age: 15
Height: 1.69m
Weight: 53kg
Strength: 8
Agility: 9
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 13
Perception: 12
Charisma: 20
Class: Warlock (Level 1)
Warlock Class Ability:
Pact Magic
After signing a contract with the witch Hattie, you can draw magical power from her to cast spells. Your spellcasting key attribute is Charisma. After at least one hour of rest and meditation, you recover all expended spell slots.
Current Pact Magic Spell Slots: 4/4
Highest Spell Slot Level: 1st
Feats: None
Spells:None
Cantrips: Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast
1st-Level Spells: Create/Destroy Water, Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements
Spellbook:
Lorehold Primer · Burning Hands
Prismari Primer · Armor of Agathys
Quandrix Primer · Thunderwave
Silverquill Primer · Longstrider
Witherbloom Primer · Cure Wounds
This was the sum of his efforts over the past fortnight. Prioritizing the Kitchen had clearly been the right call—with proper nutrition, not only had his weight increased noticeably, but his Constitution had also risen by one point, saving him a hundred Purification Points.
And this was just half a month. If he could maintain this growth rate, in six months, he could push Constitution all the way to twenty…
Ahem!
Of course, that was impossible. Attribute progression wasn't linear—the resources required scaled exponentially. Getting stronger demanded more nutrients, and more critically, as an average human, his racial genetics heavily capped his potential.
Just raising his Constitution to 9 through diet alone—netting him a hundred Purification Points—was already more than Charles could've hoped for.
Anything beyond that? He'd probably have to spend Purification Points the old-fashioned way.
Beyond attribute gains, his biggest progress was mastering another cantrip and two more 1st-level spells. Worried about his safety, he'd focused entirely on defensive magic.
The cantrip Blade Ward didn't consume spell slots and granted him temporary resistance to piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage—no more fear of ambushes.
Shield could block lethal strikes in an instant, meaning crossbow bolts to the head were no longer a concern.
And Absorb Elements specialized against fire, cold, lightning, and acid damage. Combined with Shield, ordinary attacks could barely scratch him now.
With this, his combat strength had truly left ordinary people in the dust.
As for offense? Though he hadn't learned many attack spells, he wasn't lacking. The free cantrip Eldritch Blast hit as hard as a heavy crossbow, and Hattie's spellbooks contained practical low-level options like Burning Hands and Thunderwave. He might not challenge powerful foes, but bullying ordinary people? No problem.
The only catch? He had to hold the books to cast their spells. So now, he'd need to lug these thick, heavy tomes around and swap them mid-battle like some kind of circus act.
It sounded ridiculous, but given his circumstances, what choice did he have?
Ah, the pains of being a non-mage spellcaster… Sigh.
Glancing at his remaining 850 Purification Points after constructing three buildings, Charles mentally simulated future fights. The more he thought, the messier it seemed.
So weak…
Maybe… just maybe… he should level up to 2 right now?
The idea took root. Staring at his Level 1 Warlock status, a bold plan formed.
Leveling to 2 only cost 300 Purification Points. He had plenty to spare.
Why not just do it?
Normally, reaching Level 2 Warlock would grant the class's other core feature: Eldritch Invocations.
In short, these were advanced magical techniques—boosting spell power or adding new effects. Repelling Blast could knock enemies back with Eldritch Blast. Armor of Shadows provided permanent Mage Armor. Eyes of the Rune Keeper granted fluency in all languages, and so on…
In-game, Level 2 warlocks got two free Invocations, swappable on level-up.
But reality wasn't a game. In-game, all warlocks shared the same spell and Invocation options, barring minor high-level variations.
According to lore, though, a warlock's spells and Invocations were granted by their patron. Each warlock's abilities differed wildly.
Take Charles—Hattie had only shared one cantrip and one spell at initiation, far fewer than the standard two cantrips and four 1st-level spells.
Yet he had 4 Spell Slots at Level 1, refilling hourly. Other warlocks would weep with envy.
Clearly, leveling up worked differently here.
And according to lore, Eldritch Invocations required active learning.
With that in mind, he slowly pulled his finger back from the system interface.
Better wait. He hadn't even mastered these damn books yet. No rush to level up.
Just as he resolved this, the system interface flickered. A letter-shaped sigil appeared in the upper-right corner.
Charles's eyes widened. In-game, this icon signaled major plot events.
He tapped it immediately—then froze.
Already? So soon…?