Chapter 148: Spells and Tier Advancement

Spells and Tier Advancement

“Total Monsters Killed: 1022”

After clearing out the last few small monsters nearby, the kill count settled on this number.

Watching the other two Tier 1 Professionals dealing with the remaining dozen or so monsters on their side, Gauss had no intention of intervening.

In the short term, reaching the next milestone of 2000 total kills still seemed quite far off.

His next goal was targeting 20 different types of ordinary monsters, and there were no new faces among the monsters they were handling.

Better to leave some sense of participation for others.

His gaze turned farther away.

Over there, the Iron Arm Team was engaged in a fierce battle with the Ogre.

Each clash of their attacks caused the ground to tremble faintly.

But overall, it was clear the situation had already turned in favor of Quake’s Iron Arm Team.

The Ogre’s advantage lay in its astonishingly thick skin and tough flesh—ordinary attacks could barely make a dent in its rugged hide. Coupled with its terrifying brute strength, a direct hit could threaten even Tier 2 or Tier 3 Professionals with death.

However, Quake’s team had far superior mobility, and the elite subordinates the Ogre originally relied on to restrain enemies and create offensive opportunities had already been eliminated early on.

All that remained were its surrounding underlings—more numerous, but ultimately of little help.

“ROAR!!!”

The Ogre’s giant studded wooden club slammed into the ground once again. The tremendous force blasted a deep pit, sending rubble and dust flying in a cloud of debris.

However, despite the overwhelming display, such attacks were little more than impotent fury—wasting its strength in vain.

Gauss looked away and exhaled in relief.

The outcome was decided.

Looks like there was no need to prepare for retreat.

This Ogre’s strength was still within the team’s capacity to handle.

Arya arrived at his side riding the gray wolf Ulfen and dismounted lightly.

“Rest a bit?”

Neither of them had any intention of rashly stepping in to assist Quake’s group.

They weren’t part of the same team to begin with. Jumping in suddenly might not only fail to help—it could even have the opposite effect.

And it might also be seen as violating their prior agreement.

Gauss took the Magical Berry Arya handed him.

He took out some frog jerky and wrapped it around the Magical Berry before tossing it into his mouth.

The berry was sweet, the frog meat savory with a unique tingling sensation on the tongue. Combined, they formed a perfectly balanced flavor.

Absolutely delicious!

The mix of meat and fruit made it just the right combination—not too monotonous.

Now he was curious how the Frost Serpent’s meat would taste. If there were no issues, it could also be processed into a supplementary product—another high-energy supply item added to the list.

After replenishing, Gauss turned his attention to the two newly acquired Tier 1 Spells. He hadn’t had the time to carefully study them during battle.

These two spells had already formed into complete spell models.

Upon focused sensing, he could clearly grasp their specific effects.

The first was 【Alarm】, a Tier 1 Spell from the Abjuration school. This spell wasn’t directly related to combat and served more of a supportive function.

Casting it required several minutes, and upon successful release, it would create an alert area lasting 8 hours. If any threatening creature entered this area, it would trigger an alarm.

The alert mode could be preset at the time of casting. The first was mental alert mode, where only the caster would sense a silent warning—this was more discreet and wouldn’t alert intruding enemies.

The second was audible alert mode, which produced a sharp, piercing sound to warn everyone present of an intruder.

It might not seem very helpful in combat, but it was extremely practical.

Adventurers often had to camp outdoors. In such situations, Alarm could replace the need for night watch shifts.

Even if one still arranged shifts out of caution, having this spell would ease the minds of those on watch.

So while it looked simple and unflashy, it actually helped adventurers rest better, avoiding accumulated fatigue and indirectly supporting subsequent battles.

The second spell was 【Burning Hands】, a Tier 1 Spell from the Evocation school. When used, it released a fan-shaped burst of scorching flames from the caster’s hands, covering an area of about 5 to 6 meters ahead.

It could be combined with tools, other spells, or terrain to produce excellent area-of-effect damage, hitting clustered enemies all at once.

Additionally, flame attacks were highly effective against many lower-tier monsters—especially those with fur—and worked wonders against plant-type monsters.

Mastering this spell would, to some extent, make up for Gauss’s current lack of AoE spells. Most of his current cantrips, spells, and skills were either supportive or focused on single-target attacks.

Even though Magic Missile could launch three projectiles at once, compared to true AoE spells, its efficiency was still lower.

Of course, that didn’t mean Magic Missile was inferior to Burning Hands—they simply had different strengths.

For example, Burning Hands was useless against distant enemies, and it struggled to hit fast-moving targets with the precision of Magic Missile.

Even so, Burning Hands was definitely worth prioritizing in his next training phase.

Even upon reaching Tier 2 or Tier 3, this spell would remain relevant. Many seasoned Warlocks still favored it.

Speaking of Tier 2…

Gauss’s thoughts drifted.

The Class Cup within him had recently become unusually active.

His original plan was to purchase a few more Tier 1 Spells after the Winter Hunt ended to bolster his strength and then push for Tier 2.

But now, the two newly awarded Tier 1 Spells were both excellent. Perhaps through training and mastery of these two, he could accumulate enough “experience” to naturally reach the threshold for Class Rank advancement?

Once he advanced to Tier 2, his Magical Energy Quality would improve.

At that point, even without deliberately researching, the enhanced Magical Energy would naturally increase the power and effectiveness of some spells. Of course, to truly evolve a spell’s capabilities, one still had to study Spell Tier Advancement. But that had its limitations—it couldn’t be improved indefinitely.

It still couldn’t compare to the impact of Core Skills.

Core Skills could scale with the user’s Class Rank. Once certain milestones were met, they would automatically advance to higher levels.

For instance, most Mages would find their core spell naturally advancing to Tier 2 after reaching Tier 3, and such spells would be easier to cast and more mana-efficient than ordinary Tier 2 spells.

While Gauss and the others were resting, the distant battle finally drew to a close.

“Boom!!!”

With a heavy, muffled crash, the Ogre’s massive body collapsed under a barrage of energy fields stabbing like countless sharp daggers—its life completely snuffed out.

“It was the Warlock who finished it?” Gauss raised an eyebrow slightly, a little surprised. He had thought the final blow would come from Captain Quake.

But recalling the battle just now, he had been especially focused on observing the female Warlock’s combat style and spells—so he had some impression.

Thinking back, she seemed to have dealt more damage than anyone else throughout the entire fight.

It appeared she was the true core combat strength of their team. Gauss understood.

In an adventuring party, the leader and the strongest fighter didn’t always have to be the same person.

But this did pose a potential risk of conflict over command…

Thankfully, his own team didn’t have such concerns. Gauss was currently focused on recruiting support roles.

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