Chapter 122: Entering Autumn and Talents
Gauss and Arya had rested for a few days in Graystone Town.
The nightmares did not return.
Gauss’s body and mind slowly adjusted to peak condition during the rest.
"Alright, thank you for your hard work, you and Ulfen." Gauss put down his staff, ending another session of coordinated spell practice.
"It’s fine. We were just idling anyway, and it’s perfect to bring this guy out to stretch his legs. If he stays cooped up at home any longer, he’ll start tearing the place apart." Arya rubbed Ulfen’s wolf head.
Ulfen seemed to understand she was talking about him. He let out a pitiful "whimper" from his throat and nuzzled Arya’s hand with his wet nose.
In the past few days, Arya would often come outside the town to practice spells with Gauss.
Sometimes Arya assisted Gauss in practice, other times Gauss supported Arya’s training. Ulfen would also help out.
Time flew by, and overall, it was quite fulfilling.
They both gained a great deal.
"Speaking of which, you’ve really got a lot of spells under your belt."
Arya counted on her fingers.
"Magic Missile, Fire Bolt, Mage Hand, Message, Mage Armor, Prestidigitation, Light Spell... and the new ones you just learned, how many is that already? I can’t even keep track."
Arya felt like she could hardly remember them all.
"Most are just basic cantrips."
"Still, that’s pretty impressive."
Gauss smiled.
Just yesterday, after advancing Fire Bolt and Prestidigitation to the 1v3 stage, he went back to the second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters to the spell store and carefully selected three new cantrips.
Once again, his top priorities were practicality and tactical synergy.
The first was Friendship.
This cantrip, once cast, caused a specified visible creature that could hear the caster’s voice and was not hostile, to subconsciously trust the caster during conversations and other interactions. The specific effects also depended on the caster’s Charisma attribute.
If the target suffered an attack or damage while the cantrip was active, it would immediately end.
It could not be used effectively in tense, hostile situations. Using it on someone harboring ill will would not only be ineffective but might even backfire.
The correct usage scenario for this cantrip was in daily life—for short-term information gathering or emergency negotiations. It was unsuitable for targets with whom long-term relationships needed to be maintained.
Its drawback was that once the cantrip ended, the target would realize they had been magically manipulated, potentially developing hostility toward the caster.
Even so, it was still a very useful cantrip.
For example, when dealing with Town Guards in a foreign town, it could de-escalate sudden conflicts in a short time; or in intelligence exchanges, briefly gain trust to extract key information. As long as the timing was right, it could save countless troubles.
Moreover, since the spell’s effects were influenced by the caster’s Charisma attribute, this one happened to suit Gauss quite well.
The second and third cantrips were Poison Spray and Gust.
These two spells were also ones Gauss intended to use in combination. Poison Spray could produce a burst of toxic gas, while Gust affected the movement of air.
The combination might not work well in open areas, but in relatively confined, narrow spaces—such as low caves, winding corridors, or sealed warehouses—using these two cantrips together could yield excellent results.
Even if the toxicity wasn’t lethal, it could drive out the low-level small monsters hiding deep inside complex, coiled cave environments.
After all, Gauss didn’t want to risk squeezing into a cave where he had to hunch over just to get inside.
Furthermore, Gauss had another intention—to study the poisonous gas through Poison Spray, analyze its toxin composition and mechanism of action.
He hoped this might help his Gauss Force Field develop some resistance against toxins. If this cantrip could deepen his understanding of poisonous gases and toxins, perhaps Gauss Force Field could be improved further.
The reason he cared so much about this,
was related to the not-so-uncommon poison-using monsters and magical creatures—ranging from the disease-spreading Ratmen to the deadly venom-wielding Green Dragons, the veritable gods of the toxic arts. Poison-specialized monsters were everywhere on this continent.
Though adventurers could prepare in advance with antidotes, gas masks, and other detoxifying spells and tools, all such measures had their limitations.
It was best to prevent toxins from entering the body in the first place.
Looking at his collection of cantrips and spells—his “spell library”.
In the short term, Gauss was likely to pause his learning for a while.
The mental “carrying capacity” was not infinite. He needed to reserve enough space to prepare for more powerful and complex Tier 1 Spells in the future.
If he learned too many cantrips and filled up his mental load, it would become troublesome later to discard them when he truly wanted to learn a new spell.
A light breeze blew across the wilderness.
Unknowingly, time had entered autumn.
There was a tinge of bleak chill in the wind.
It wasn’t very noticeable in the populated town, but once they stepped into the open, unobstructed wilderness, the chill became especially apparent.
So, both of them had, coincidentally, added a thick outer robe over their single-layer clothing.
"Ha—" The two of them walked slowly along the field path.
Golden waves of wheat undulated on both sides. The heavy wheat ears swayed in the autumn wind, rustling gently, while the air was filled with the rich, sweet aroma of ripened grains.
This scene of harvest brought genuine joy to the heart.
"Are you cold?" Arya breathed out a small puff of white air into the cool air and rubbed her hands.
"I’m fine." Gauss shook his head. "If you're cold, I can get a coat for you from the Storage Space."
"On second thought... forget it. Wearing something too thick would make traveling inconvenient."
"By the way, that caravan steward earlier was really nice," Arya recalled the ride they had just hitched. "Even though it wasn’t their route, they specially had the convoy make a detour to drop us off at this fork."
"Yeah, a kind-hearted person." Gauss nodded in agreement.
The two of them and one wolf strolled along in a relaxed manner.
Gauss instinctively glanced at his Monster Encyclopedia.
He saw that the page marked [Common] had now lit up with many images.
Goblin
Slime
Skeleton
Water Wraith
Kobold
Fungoid
Zombie
Walking Corpse
Fishman
Mud Monster
Giant Rat
Ratman
The page marked [Elite], however, only had a solitary Mantisman.
Looking at the neatly arranged images lighting up the encyclopedia, Gauss couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.
These were all the results of his relentless efforts. Some were targets of Mission Commissions, some were encountered during dungeon explorations, and others were stumbled upon along the road.
When he surpassed ten types, Gauss had already started paying attention to the number of entries in the encyclopedia.
He hadn’t forgotten: when the number of Common monster types collected reached twenty, he would be able to draw a new Racial Talent from the encyclopedia, just like how he had obtained the Rapid Digestion talent previously.
Rapid Digestion and its advanced form, Energy Storage Gland, had benefited Gauss immensely to this day.
Unlike individual spells, these Racial Talents often provided overall benefits.
So once he completed twenty, who would be the next one drawn?
Gauss thought Slime was pretty good—maybe he could extract its liquefaction ability. Kobold wasn’t bad either. Though their claim to possess extremely diluted Dragonblood was probably bragging, what if he really managed to draw some dragon-related power?
Fungoid also made his heart race—if he could extract its regeneration ability, that would be a huge leap, dramatically reducing future injury concerns and greatly enhancing survivability.
Of course, there were also options he wasn’t so eager about: Zombie, Walking Corpse, Giant Rat, Ratman. Even though the talent interface would optimize them to suit his body, it still felt a little off-putting.
But thinking about it too much wouldn’t help. In the end, it would still be a random draw.