Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 161 Jadi Arrives
The four people who were about to set off by carriage encountered trouble. How could these burly men, fully armored, possibly reach Baldur's Gate in a two-horse carriage?

Even if they didn't mind squeezing in, the two horses would go on strike. They were already panting heavily after walking only a short distance.

Münster, who had a good understanding of animal behavior, made a direct judgment: "Get out of the car. If we keep going like this, they'll be exhausted before we even reach Baldur's Gate."

He patted the horse's neck tenderly and stopped it at the side of the street.

The Rossimans have an inexplicable affinity and love for animals, almost as if it were innate, and Münster would not want to harm them unless absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, Bard and Münster had a lot of gold coins on them, so they simply sent the dwarf to hire another carriage, while the other three waited where they were.

Just as the dwarf brother had said, although some passersby cast strange glances at them, no troublemakers dared to cause trouble. Instead, quite a few quickened their pace and walked around them.

Leaving aside the fact that the second carriage finally arrived and the group of four successfully set off on their return journey, Zhang Yuan thoroughly enjoyed this rare moment of peace and quiet.

The mage, exhausted from running around these past few days, was leaning against the headboard of his bed, half-lying on the wooden plank bed, reading "Spell Circuits and Magic Flow" in his hands, bathed in the sunlight streaming in through the window.

This book is one of the texts found in Herbart's tomb.

Those profound and difficult notes and manuscripts, written by an alchemist with 16 spellcasting levels, are already beyond Zhang Yuan's current ability to understand, let alone comprehend and digest. It's simply too difficult.

However, the accompanying books gave him a pleasant surprise. While some of them did involve advanced arcane knowledge and were quite profound and difficult to understand, after Zhang Yuan roughly listed and summarized these books, he found that there was a clear and progressive line of thought among them, just like a tree of knowledge growing strong from its roots.

These books can even be used as a reference series—from beginner to expert.

This discovery greatly surprised the mage who also worked as a tomb raider. If it were just a few random books, it wouldn't mean anything. Books are to mages what swords are to warriors.

In fact, a mage's greatest weapon is always knowledge and wisdom itself, rather than the extended creations that people often talk about, such as magical items, staves, and potions.

The problem is that this set of books, which was clearly deliberately selected and highly targeted, appeared in the tomb as burial goods, along with those intricate and detailed notes, and Herbart's most cherished creation—the Herbart Box.

The implied meaning behind this back-and-forth exchange is quite intriguing.

However, no matter how profound the master's ideas were, they were beyond the control of a junior mage like himself for the time being. Always pragmatic, Zhang Yuan decisively put aside these distracting thoughts and began to study the three-year spellcasting and five-year simulation system of the Transmutation system from the beginning.

She read for two days straight, and by the evening of the following day, when the weary Jade finally arrived, one-third of the set of eight books—including the two introductory books she had already read at the Mage Tower—had already been devoured.

Having read this far, Zhang Yuan had a general idea of ​​what to expect. If he were to finish reading this set of books and truly understand them, rather than just skimming through them, he wouldn't necessarily become a master of the Transformation School, but he would certainly gain a comprehensive understanding of this school of thought and be familiar with its knowledge system and directions for in-depth study.

His gains from his teacher Tyrantir were substantial, almost laying the foundation for a spellcaster's knowledge and abilities, and he also gained some expertise in conjuration and evocation magic. However, given the short time he had, Zhang Yuan didn't have the energy to further explore the knowledge and principles of other schools of thought, remaining only at the stage of learning a few spells as tools.

These classic texts clearly point out a broad and promising path for us. We don't need to fumble around on our own, nor do we need to painstakingly search, organize, and summarize them. As long as we follow the map and expand upon it, we can hope to gain a foothold in the school of change studies.

However, Zhang Yuan was not in a hurry to continue. Firstly, the female druid had already come to his door, and secondly, he couldn't bite off more than he could chew. He had already finished reading the basic parts, and neither his current spellcasting level nor his knowledge reserves were sufficient to digest the advanced parts.

Having already reached the intermediate level, this person decided to focus on making progress in the spellcasting and energy manipulation schools first, and then continue to devote energy to the transformation system after breaking through the level.

Having received a reply from the communication crystal, Zhang Yuan rolled off the bed, smoothed out the wrinkles on his robe, tidied the books scattered on the bedside table, and went out with the air of a respectable mage.

Before long, Jady, dressed in leather armor and looking every bit the capable adventurer, arrived at the inn's entrance.

Zhang Yuan, who had already spotted her, was enjoying a glass of Jinsha wine by himself and beckoned her to come in and sit down.

But Jady, in her haste, had no time for such leisure. She rushed in, grabbed a lazy mage, and headed towards the woods where the oak tree was.

With her small arms and legs, it's probably wishful thinking for her to think she could shake someone with Zhang Yuan's monstrous physique.

She grabbed the other person's arm and shook it several times, but the other person didn't budge. The female druid, however, whose arm was aching, finally snapped. She wasn't stupid enough to reveal the tree spirit's existence in public; she just glared at the mage, her cheeks puffed out like a pufferfish's.
"Do you need my help or not? I don't have time to waste."

This cute appearance had very little effect on Zhang now, so he remained calm, pointed to the darkening sky outside, and turned his head to say:

“It’s already night. I know you’re a druid, and entering the forest is like coming home to you. But is it really appropriate at this time? I’m afraid I won’t even be able to find my way in the woods.”

No matter how much the other party pestered him, Zhang Yuan remained unmoved. He went straight to the bartender, got a room for Jadi, tossed the key to Jadi behind him, and ordered two dinners.

Having no other choice, Jady could only sit back down dejectedly. However, she understood the gravity of the situation and calmed down after a while. After dinner, they agreed to leave early the next morning and went back to their rooms to rest.

The next day, the monk got up very early and saw Jadi waiting for him in the hotel lobby. He went up to greet her but was urged to continue his journey.

Helpless, Zhang Yuan could only grab two flatbreads and hurriedly set off with Jadi. Fortunately, they had magic to summon two Moon Knights as passenger drivers, which made their journey much faster. Otherwise, they would have spent the whole day traveling.

Even though she already knew that a certain mage's summoned creatures were all sorts of strange things, the female druid still became curious.

Thank you to "待吾摔杯为号" for the donation and monthly pass support, and thank you to shrek for the monthly pass support as well. Thank you everyone!
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(End of this chapter)