Kate lay alone on her back on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Her stiff body finally regained some sensation, but immediately following it was a numbness that could not be ignored.
"System, what exactly did I do wrong?" Even now, she hadn't figured out the reason why she had suddenly collapsed just moments ago.
[The casting of a spell is comprehensively determined by the wizard's total magic power, personal constitution, soul strength, and proficiency with the spell.]
The System displayed a sentence abruptly on the screen, then fell silent again.
Kate stared at those rows of words for a long time.
Her total magic power was undoubtedly up to standard, and in fact, it exceeded the norm by quite a bit. As for soul strength, she didn't know if a transmigrator's soul would be stronger than that of a native of this world, but it should at least be above average. The only two things lacking were likely her personal constitution and her proficiency with spells.
Currently, her constitution indeed desperately needed improvement, and those spells were all cast for the first time today. So, did that mean as long as she exercised her body and practiced more, this situation wouldn't happen again?
Is magic... really that simple?
With today's lesson, Kate couldn't help but doubt her own judgment, yet she had no evidence to prove her point. Ultimately, it was because she understood the thing called 'magic' too little. Simply rote-memorizing various spells and common knowledge of the magical world could indeed let her quickly understand the magical world, perhaps even widening the gap between her and her peers in some subjects.
But even if she memorized so much knowledge and obtained abilities that so many young wizards of her age couldn't obtain, she could still only lie here right now, doubting life.
Staring at the conspicuous '4/5' on the System's Daily Quest progress bar for a long time, Kate finally spoke, though she hesitated.
"System, what is your criterion for mastering a spell? Does simply releasing it count as mastering it? Or... does one have to possess a certain level of understanding and proficiency regarding it to be considered as having fully mastered a spell?"
Even without the System, the talent of her current body was astonishing enough. Relying solely on the massive magic within her body and the rote memorization of incantations, she could easily release spells. To some extent, as long as Kate was willing, she could easily release the vast majority of spells in the world.
But this result was built on the foundation of her massive magic and excellent talent; it had nothing to do with whether she truly understood the spell. Even if she strengthened her constitution and increased her spell proficiency in the future, would she be able to understand the essence within the spells she cast?
It was just like in her past life: she could recite ancient poems and texts logically and clearly, but the moment it came to reading comprehension, she was completely in the dark. If she was lucky, she could get a high score; if she was unlucky, she would be miles away from the standard answer.
However, at that time, she could always state with certainty that the answers to most reading comprehension questions were completely different from what the author intended to express. Yet every time she saw the red crosses filling her exam paper, she would still feel dejected and unwilling. Then, after getting a high score on the next exam, she would agree that that was the standard answer.
Perhaps magic followed the same logic. The results cast by everyone were mostly the same, but different people would have different understandings. As long as these understandings were built on a foundation of not making mistakes in the general direction—understandings that belonged only to the individual—and could finally release the magic perfectly...
In that case, could that be counted as thoroughly mastering a spell?
Just as this thought formed in her mind, the screen before her eyes seemed to suddenly freeze, abruptly becoming dim. Immediately after, the progress bar on it began to retreat rapidly, from 4/5 to 3/5, 2/5, 1/5, and finally returning to zero.
In addition to this, the prefix before the progress bar also silently underwent a small change.
[Daily Quest 2: Please understand and preliminarily master one spell before the end of today (0/1).]
[Accepting Host's query. System is updating.]
[Update Successful!]
[Now opening Spell Interface!]
Under Kate's bewildered gaze, the System shifted rapidly as if infected by a virus, finally settling on a grey interface. Just as the numbness in her hands lifted, Kate dubiously swiped the screen a few times, only to discover that the grey English characters on it were all various spells she had once memorized.
Tentatively clicking on the 'Levitation Charm' at the very top, the System interface immediately jumped.
[Spell Name: Levitation Charm]
[Spell Effect: Makes objects float in the air.]
[Mastery: 0/∞ (Level 0)]
[Please practice and understand more, Host. Master this spell soon!]
This System actually came with self-upgrades? Kate, who had originally felt it was somewhat useful, began to suspect the reliability of this thing again. A System that relied on her self-realization to update and upgrade—no matter how she listened to it, it sounded idealistic.
It seemed magic itself was also quite idealistic.
Never mind then.
Just as Kate wanted to carefully study this newly opened interface, a knock sounded from outside the door.
"Little Kate, how is your body recovering? Can I come in?"
"Of course, please come in!" She hurriedly sat up. Although her body still felt a bit tingling, it was already much better than the previous situation where she couldn't move at all.
Newt entered holding a cup of hot milk. "Here, I heated a cup of milk for you. Drinking it will help your body recover faster."
"Thank you, Teacher." Kate held the cup somewhat unnaturally and took a sip, then looked up with some hesitation, looking as if she wanted to speak but stopped.
Although she had figured out the matter just now in her heart, she really didn't know how to explain it clearly to Newt in this short moment.
As an experienced elder, how could Newt not see her current state?
"You know, Little Kate, you are likely the most talented child I have ever seen," he took the initiative to speak. "Hmm... being able to complete those spells is already a very remarkable thing, so what I want to say is—"
He hesitated for a moment, his gaze subconsciously wanting to dodge Kate's thirst for knowledge, but in the end, he met it head-on.
"Perhaps for you, those spells count as having been successfully released, but for me... they do not count as qualified spells."
Ugh, that stings.
Although she knew he was telling the truth, Kate inevitably felt disappointed.
"But it doesn't matter!" Newt himself became a bit flustered. "You have to believe in yourself. Among your peers, you are already very excellent!"
This was also the truth. After all, there wasn't a single young wizard who could use the quantity of magic to make up for the quality of spells.
Kate inhaled silently, then suddenly lifted her head.
"Teacher, please teach me starting from the simplest Levitation Charm!"
________________________________________
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