Gauss and Alia spent a few days resting in Grayrock Town.
The nightmares never returned.
Bit by bit, Gauss’s mind and body returned to peak condition.
“Alright, thanks to you and Ulfen again.” Gauss lowered his staff, finishing another round of coordinated spell training.
“No worries. We had free time anyway, and this guy needed to stretch his legs. If I kept him cooped up any longer, he’d start tearing the house apart.” Alia chuckled as she scratched Ulfen’s head.
The wolf gave a whiny mrrf, clearly understanding he’d been called out, and nudged her hand with his wet nose in mock protest.
Over the past few days, Alia had joined Gauss outside town for regular training sessions.
Sometimes she assisted him. Sometimes he helped her. Ulfen was often there too. Follow current novels on Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Time flew by. All in all, it had been a productive few days.
“You’ve really picked up a lot of spells,” Alia remarked, counting on her fingers.
“Magic Missile, Firebolt, Mage Hand, Message, Mage Armor, Prestidigitation, Light… and the ones you just learned—how many is that now? I’ve lost track.”
“Most of them are basic cantrips,” Gauss said modestly.
“Still impressive,” she said with admiration.
Just yesterday, after training Firebolt and Prestidigitation to Lv3, Gauss had gone to the Guild’s second-floor spell shop and picked out three new cantrips—prioritizing practicality and combat synergy.
The first was Friends.
It temporarily made a non-hostile creature more trusting of the caster during interactions—so long as they could hear and see you. Its effectiveness scaled with Charisma.
However, it ended immediately if the target took damage or was provoked, and it was useless in tense combat situations.
Worse yet, once the effect ended, the target realized they’d been magically manipulated and could become hostile.
Still, it was a highly useful utility spell—great for smoothing over interactions with guards, resolving disputes, or getting vital info from strangers in a pinch.
And since its success depended on Charisma, Gauss was in a good position to make use of it.
The second and third spells were Poison Spray and Gust.
Gauss intended to combo these two: Poison Spray conjured a cloud of toxic gas, while Gust could direct airflow.
While the combo wasn’t ideal in open spaces, it could be very effective in cramped environments—like caves, tunnels, or enclosed buildings.
Even if the poison wasn’t lethal, it could flush out monsters hiding in tight quarters.
After all, Gauss had no intention of crawling into holes barely wide enough for him to squeeze through.
He also had another goal: to use Poison Spray for study—analyzing its toxicity and effects.
If he could better understand poison’s mechanisms, maybe he could upgrade Gauss Omni-Armor to provide resistance against toxins.
This wasn’t just theoretical—there were many poison-using monsters in the world. From plague-carrying ratmen to venom-spewing green dragons, poisons were everywhere.
Adventurers could prepare antidotes or wear gas masks, sure—but those were limited solutions.
The best defense was immunity.
Looking over his growing library of spells, Gauss figured he’d hold off learning any more for now.
His mind only had so much "bandwidth," and he needed to save space for more powerful Level 1 spells later.
If he loaded up too many cantrips now, he’d have to go through the hassle of wiping some later just to make room.
A breeze passed through the open field.
You didn’t really feel it in town—but out here in the open countryside, the chill in the air was unmistakable.
Both of them had added heavier coats over their regular gear.
“Hah—” their breath steamed in the crisp air as they walked along a dirt path.
Golden waves of wheat rolled across the fields on either side. The full, heavy heads swayed gently in the wind, filling the air with the rich scent of harvest.
It was the kind of scenery that warmed the heart.
Alia blew into her hands.
“If you’re cold, I can grab you another layer from my storage bag,” Gauss said.
“Nah. Too many layers make it hard to walk comfortably.”
“By the way, that caravan lead earlier was really nice,” Alia said, recalling their ride.
“Went out of their way to drop us at this intersection—even though it wasn’t on their route.”
“Yeah, a kind soul.” Gauss nodded.
The two of them—plus one lazy wolf—continued chatting as they walked.
Gauss opened his Monster Index out of habit.
The [Common] page had lit up with quite a few entries:
On the [Elite] page, there was just one: Mantis Warrior.
Seeing so many entries neatly lined up gave Gauss a sense of pride.
He’d earned these through countless battles—some from quest targets, others from dungeons, or just wild encounters.
Once he hit 10 unique species, he started actively tracking his progress.
Because at 20 species logged, he’d get to draw another Racial Trait—just like when he’d gained Quick Digestion, and later, Energy Storage Gland.
Those two traits had been game changers.
Unlike individual spells, racial traits gave broad, permanent enhancements.
And now, he was eager for the next one.
Who would it be? He wondered.
Maybe Slime—he might gain a Liquefy ability.
Kobold? They claimed to have a sliver of dragon blood. Probably nonsense... but what if it wasn’t?
Myconid regeneration was also tempting. Imagine healing passively—your survival rate would skyrocket.
Of course, there were also... less desirable options.
Zombies, Plaguewalkers, Giant Rats, Ratmen—even if the system would adapt the trait to suit his body, the idea of drawing from them made his skin crawl a bit.
Still—there was no point worrying. The selection would be random anyway.