The next day, early morning.
Before the first bell rang in the town, Gaosi had already woken up early, sitting cross-legged on the bed with a serious expression.
"Mage Hand!"
The newly acquired 0-level cantrip was not yet proficient.
He had been up for over half an hour, facing only continuous failures.
However, perhaps it was the experience gained from continuous attempts, or perhaps he suddenly got lucky.
After a long period of setbacks, Gaosi finally succeeded in casting it by chance.
Successful casting was a very peculiar moment; it was as if his consciousness input the correct program instructions, and the magic power within his body began to surge and intertwine along a certain path, releasing a strange magical fluctuation. This peculiar fluctuation vibrated outwards, finally rapidly interweaving and solidifying in front of him, the magic power reshaping into an invisible ghostly arm.
It worked!
Gaosi sat on the straw bed, feeling the invisible ghostly hand in front of him, a smile playing on his lips.
Using his mind, he controlled the Mage Hand to float and drift around the room.
The invisible arm grasped the dagger on the table, and with a wobbly motion, the dagger slowly floated up.
A wave of excitement and an indescribable sense of accomplishment surged within Gaosi.
He had actually succeeded in casting a spell!
This was magic! A fantastical power that, in his previous life, could only exist in fantasy works like movies, TV shows, and novels.
The shock this brought him was no less than the mental impact he felt when he first learned he had transmigrated to another world.
Unfortunately, before he could continue to curiously experiment with the Mage Hand, the invisible arm in the air suddenly disintegrated.
"Bang!" The dagger wrapped in cloth fell back onto the table.
Clearly, the spell was not proficient enough; he still needed to practice!
Mage Hand Lv1 (2/10)
Seeing that the skill proficiency had increased by one point,
and directly experiencing the feedback from practice, Gaosi's motivation to practice spells became even stronger.
He didn't step out of his room all morning, focusing intently on practicing spells.
Most of his casting attempts were failures.
This was understandable; if every attempt succeeded, he wouldn't have been able to stay in his room for a whole morning, as his newly awakened magic power simply couldn't sustain true spellcasting for such a long time, even if 0-level cantrips were already the lowest consumption tier among many spell levels.
Fortunately, his practice was effective, possibly aided by his 7 Intelligence.
By close to noon, just before his magic power was completely depleted, he was already able to cast Mage Hand with relative proficiency.
From zero to being able to cast spells in half a day, without having encountered other spellcasters and lacking reference cases, Gaosi couldn't tell if this level of mastery was fast or slow, but regardless, he was satisfied with being able to master a spell.
Donning his boots, Gaosi's stomach let out a timely, rumbling growl.
He was hungry.
"Thump-thump-thump—"
The soles of his wooden boots creaked as they stepped on the stairs.
Sofia, who was wiping the wooden counter at the front desk, heard someone coming downstairs and instinctively looked up. Seeing who it was, a clear look of surprise appeared on her face.
The person coming downstairs was slender, with black hair and blue eyes, and today his emerald irises were exceptionally bright, seeming more energetic than before.
It was Gaosi, the most diligent and hardworking of her regular long-term guests.
She felt he was a little different from before.
Sofia looked up and gazed at Gaosi, but she couldn't pinpoint the exact difference.
And, had something happened? Sofia wondered to herself.
In her memory, this was the first time she had seen Gaosi at noon; usually, he would leave before dawn.
However, her principle was not to pry too much into guests' privacy, so despite her curiosity, she did not ask for the specific reason.
"Sofia, could I trouble you for some lunch? Uh, never mind, make it two servings."
Although he wasn't quite used to the hostel's food, his pockets were empty, so Gaosi could only make do for a while.
He was truly a bit hungry now.
It must be his body starting to consume energy to replenish the magic power he had just lost.
"Two servings, you say? The kitchen's almost out of lunch anyway, I'll bring it all out to you. Consider the extra as a gift."
"That's very kind of you, thank you."
Sofia waved her hand, indicating he didn't need to be polite, and soon came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food.
Today's lunch was oatmeal, stewed beans, and pickled beetroot.
Perhaps the brick-like black bread mixed with sawdust from yesterday had left too deep an impression on him, as he found this lunch surprisingly palatable.
The beetroot had been cold-pickled in a sour sauce, giving it a unique fruity flavor and texture.
Several days passed in a flash.
Over the past few days, Gaosi had been training his Mage Hand spell near the town. When his magic power was depleted, he would practice with his dagger.
His spell proficiency also rapidly increased with frequent training.
Mage Hand Lv2 (10/20)
Looking at the level on the panel, Gaosi nodded.
A few days of practice had brought the proficiency of Mage Hand to the mid-stage of Lv2.
In fact, he had upgraded Mage Hand to Lv2 on the first day, but after upgrading to Lv2, the speed of accumulating proficiency by purely mechanical repetition slowed down. After a few days of grinding, he barely reached 10/20.
Does it need to be practiced in actual combat to improve quickly?
Gaosi walked towards the town.
At Lv2, he could already control Mage Hand very smoothly.
For instance, right now, the bundle he carried with him was being held by his Mage Hand, floating and following beside him.
During these past few days of training, besides the increase in Mage Hand proficiency, his internal magic power was also rapidly increasing. If he had to describe it, it was like a few wisps before, but now it had reached the point where it could be twisted into a hemp rope.
Of course, this is actually not a very appropriate description, as magic power is not a tangible substance like liquid or gas, but rather an intangible and formless existence.
Besides the magic power stored within his own body, the world itself is also permeated with magical energy. Magical energy is everywhere, rooted in every corner of the world like leylines.
The process of spellcasting, in his perception, is actually a special magical effect: through his own magic power and the spell inscribed in his will, he reshapes and manipulates the ubiquitous magical energy pervading the world, and finally materializes it in a specific area in a specific way.
The magnitude of the spell's effect is closely related to the quality and quantity of his own magic power, as well as the type of spell.
As a 0-level cantrip, Mage Hand consumes very little of his own magic power.
The casting range is approximately ten meters around him; beyond this range, the spell effect will naturally dissipate and be difficult to maintain.
Mage Hand is not a spell geared towards combat; it is more of an auxiliary tool.
For example, passing through a door to open a lock from the inside, or quietly taking things, and so on.
As for its performance in combat, what he could think of currently was to use its approximate 10 pounds (9 jin) of weight to unexpectedly interfere with an enemy's movements, allowing him to seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.
Or, to sneakily activate Mage Hand beforehand to bring a dagger above an enemy, then use gravity's own acceleration to cause damage as it falls.
Of course, this type of attack would most likely have limited effectiveness, as it is restricted by distance and would only work if the enemy was completely unaware.
He felt that in combat, utilizing the Mage Hand to assist himself would be quite effective.
Dragging an enemy's ankle, pushing or pulling them—even if the force isn't great, if timed appropriately, it can be quite lethal. Combat isn't a back-and-forth exchange of parries; often, the outcome is decided in an instant.