CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: A FAMILIAR FEELING

Gauss focused intently on the "protection" of the Mage Armor that was lost this time, gaining further insight in his heart.

This loss was significantly greater than the first time.

The difference between the two was that the first time, he had merely scratched a small area on his fingertip with great caution, but this time, he had cut about ten centimeters on the back of his hand, with much more force.

Even with the same weapon, the amplitude of the hit being different and the force applied varying, the loss to the armor would also differ.

Therefore, you can’t simply quantify the protective effect of Mage Armor by how many attacks it can withstand.

Specific judgment still relies on personal feeling and experience.

Gauss tested for another period of time.

Until he felt the effect of the Mage Armor was very faint, he cautiously returned the knife to his fingertip.

Applying slight pressure.

In the next moment, accompanied by a crisp "bang."

The protective field around him from the Mage Armor shattered with a roar!

Gauss quickly lifted the knife to avoid the blade cutting himself.

"The Mage Armor has shattered..."

Sensing the disappearance of magical fluctuations around him, Gauss nodded.

When the Mage Armor’s effect is weak, it shouldn’t be used to withstand damage, as it essentially lacks strong protective effects.

If it really won’t work, then cancel the spell effect and apply a new layer of Mage Armor protection.

After all, the enemy won’t stop the blade when they sense the Mage Armor shattering like he does.

"Mage Armor proficiency +1"

"1st-level Spell Mage Armor lv1 (2/10)"

Seeing the prompt that popped up, Gauss raised his eyebrows.

Besides the initial success of casting bringing proficiency, does subsequent testing and damage receiving also enhance proficiency?

It seems that in future practice, apart from successful casting, continuous training in receiving hits and damage will also be necessary.

Gauss was a little surprised to see the proficiency jump on the panel.

Mage’s Hand and Magic Missile don’t offer this kind of "process-based" proficiency accumulation.

It seems that this spell will improve very quickly.

Also, unlike Magic Missile, Mage Armor can be practiced anytime, even in a town.

He had intentionally come out today, exercising caution, considering it was his first time practicing this spell, thinking that an open, uninhabited area would be safer.

But from the looks of it, the practice of this spell doesn’t cause any damage to the surroundings, so there’s almost no requirement for the practice field.

Thinking of this, Gauss felt a lot better.

Although he obtained Mage Armor late, it doesn’t seem very difficult to practice.

So, let’s continue practicing!

He still had more than half of his magic power left.

He had enough to keep practicing, and Gauss had no intention of resting.

When doing something, it’s best to do it in one go.

Take advantage of the casting feeling and momentum just found, and continue pushing the proficiency forward in one go.

With the experience of the first time, Gauss tried a few more times, and soon the Bone Staff surged with magic power, successfully releasing the Mage Armor a second time.

The following operations were the same as the first time’s process.

Continue testing various types of damage, including but not limited to daggers, rapiers, fist attacks, wrestling, and fall damage and so on.

The final conclusion was that Mage Armor could provide protection against all kinds of physical damage before breaking.

It’s just unclear about its ability to withstand magical attacks?

This is something he couldn’t test for the time being.

Although Mage’s Hand is a product of magical effects, its mode of attack is still more physical in nature.

And Magic Missile cannot be tested.

Firstly, due to objective reasons, he couldn’t target himself with the spell, so the action itself couldn’t be completed.

Secondly, Magic Missile seemed a bit too dangerous.

He was just beginning to practice Mage Armor, and even if there was a way to test it using Magic Missile, he wouldn’t intend to do it for now.

If a not yet fully practiced Mage Armor couldn’t withstand the Magic Missile, wouldn’t he end up becoming a caster who dies by his own hand?

That would be too frustrating.

...

When busy, time always flies quickly.

Unknowingly, several days had passed in the blink of an eye.

"1st-level Spell Mage Armor lv2 (8/20)"

Gauss glanced at the proficiency of the Mage Armor and turned to look at the bald middle-aged man beside him.

"Today’s practice ends here."

"Here’s today’s payment."

Gauss handed a few Copper Coins to the bald middle-aged man.

Watching him thank him repeatedly and finally walk away quickly, Gauss couldn’t help but shake his head.

On the first day, he had pushed the proficiency of Mage Armor to lv1 (10/10), and smoothly advanced to the lv2 stage.

Although his spell always practiced quickly at the lv1 stage due to skipping the entry learning phase, the speed of Mage Armor was undoubtedly the fastest so far.

This 1st-level Spell was even slightly faster in practice speed than Mage’s Hand, a 0th level trick.

The reasons are various, his comprehensive casting quality has been continuously enhancing over time, and both the intensity and quantity of his own magic power have increased a lot.

In Gauss’s feeling, the proficiency at lv1 meant barely able to cast, but not very skillfully, unable to guarantee that every casting could be successfully completed smoothly.

And at lv2, it meant that as long as focus wasn’t disturbed by the external environment, he could basically achieve a high success rate in casting, and the higher the proficiency, the stronger the ability to resist external interference.

As for what lv3 proficiency is like.

He didn’t know for the time being, as the proficiency levels of the other two spells were Mage’s Hand lv2 (18/20) and Magic Missile lv2 (10/20).

After Mage Armor reached the lv2 stage of proficiency, Gauss specifically spent money to hire a laborer to assist in his training, which didn’t cost much, just a few Copper Coins every day.

Gauss found that having someone else attack Mage Armor yielded far better results than attacking himself in terms of training.

This is also the reason why Mage Armor was still able to continue rapid proficiency growth after entering lv2.

"Unfortunately, the effect is gradually weakening."

Practicing all day today, even though most of the time was spent on magic power recovery, it still remained at lv2 (8/20).

Faced with this, Gauss actually had a vague suspicion in his mind.

He recalled the knowledge about professionals introduced to him by Gron, the manager at the blacksmith shop previously.

The most important point mentioned is that the Profession Tier is a product of world rules formation, stepping on the Professional Path requires constant practice of the corresponding path.

Professionals are like this, so as the precursor stage as a Professional Apprentice, the influence is probably much similar.

So, the safest method of self-attack training is the least efficient, hiring a non-threatening ordinary person to attack is somewhat better.

Only when truly training in actual combat, the skill training effect is the best.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so difficult for ordinary people to become professionals.

Even if others didn’t possess an Adventurer’s Handbook panel with a certificate of eternal testimony like he did, if mere mechanical training could continually improve experience, then even if there were ups and downs during the process, in the end, it could still pile up over time.

Unfortunately, the reality is that it is very hard for most apprentices to advance to professionals.

A truly malicious world rule.

To become a strong person, does one need to constantly put themselves in dangerous situations?

Or is this invisible rule guiding creatures into battle and slaughter?

Gauss set down his staff, raised his head to look at the sky, and for some reason, a familiar feeling arose in his heart.

No one responded to this inexplicable emotion of his.

After staring for a long time, he withdrew his gaze.

"In that case, I can only keep moving forward."

"The next goal, the fifth entry of the Monster Atlas."