I Am Not Goblin Slayer
Chapter 90: Profession

Sunlight poured through the window, filling the room with a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Gauss opened his eyes, feeling as if he had just awoken from a very long dream.

He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light.

Perhaps it was because he had just woken up, but the sunlight felt a bit harsh to him.

What is this?

He sat up in bed and paused for a while, only then recalling the memories from before he fell asleep.

Right.

I was in the secret training chamber of the Mutual Aid Association, "secluding myself."

At first, I was eating wildly, then sleepiness overcame me.

So, have I successfully undergone the universal advancement?

Gauss, finally fully awake, excitedly looked down at his body.

His mind slowly emerged from the dormant state, and he sensed many differences.

These changes were beyond words. If every previous attribute increase made him feel refreshed, what he experienced now was a completely revitalized feeling stacked upon itself.

Every cell in his body was emitting a comfortable groan as if telling him that his body had entered a brand new, unprecedented realm.

In his vision, sunlight entered the chamber, illuminating the rough red brick walls. Not far away, a stone table reflected a cold, hard sheen, still carrying traces of food scraps he had eaten earlier. Every detail and color was vividly clear.

Every speck of dust in the air was distinctly visible.

They floated in the air, drifting and wandering freely like little fairies.

Transparent!

This was the only word Gauss could use to describe how he now perceived the world.

And his body contained so much magic power.

He lightly sensed it and realized it was at least many times more than before he fell asleep, and it felt completely different.

If his previous magic was formless, scattered like flowing water, now the magic had become exceptionally viscous. The same amount carried a weighty texture several times thicker.

So much, so much.

The changes reflected by his body after waking overwhelmed Gauss a little.

He immersed himself in the feeling for a while, then opened the Adventurer’s Manual.

After a moment, a flood of accumulated information poured out all at once.

“Job change successful!”

“Profession level increased to: 1”

“Current profession: Magician”

“Obtained profession talent: Spell Mastery”

“[Spell Mastery] enhances the caster’s control over the magical source, improves efficiency in learning various spells, optimizes mana consumption, and boosts spell effectiveness.”

“Magician, a master of spell application, a natural caster.”

The first thing that appeared before Gauss was his job change information.

Magician?

Gauss blinked.

It seemed no different from a Mage, both being some kind of magic-based profession.

In fact, he had already anticipated that after entering the professional stage, his new profession might not be an ordinary Mage.

After all, others—mainly Andni—had mentioned several times about the uniqueness of his magic power. Plus, his abilities and talents were indeed more diverse, so it wasn’t hard to predict he would become a special type of caster-related profession.

Feeling the vast magic surging in his body, he had no dissatisfaction with his chosen profession.

Moreover, the profession talent that came with it made him very satisfied.

[Spell Mastery], a talent with multiple effects.

Whether it was strengthening control over the magical source, increasing spell learning efficiency, reducing mana consumption, or enhancing spell effectiveness, he was pleased with every aspect.

Especially after inquiring about some common profession talents among Mages, the comparison made him even more satisfied.

Many Mages might awaken talents like [Precision], gaining enhanced spell accuracy bonuses.

Or [Piercing], [Alertness], [Silent Casting]...

Normally, these were relatively single-effect skills.

His, however, was very powerful.

Gauss tried to control the magic within him, immediately feeling the smoothness brought by Spell Mastery—a fluidity as if the magic obeyed his every command.

The magic had become exceptionally obedient and intelligent.

And...

Gauss discovered that the core skill [Mage Armor] had also undergone changes.

It was as if he could cast it with just a thought, no longer needing to focus intensely to operate magic as before.

Thinking of this, he immediately tried.

The moment he formed the intention to use [Mage Armor], a thick protective force field suddenly erupted from his body surface with a rumbling sound!

Boom!

This Mage Armor was very different from before.

First, it felt "heavier" in Gauss’s perception. Of course, this did not mean clumsy or burdensome. Essentially, it didn’t weigh him down or affect his mobility. The "heaviness" referred to the shield's volume.

After advancing to Magician, Mage Armor had become several times sturdier and had an additional special force field.

He looked down at his surroundings and sensed the air slightly distorting under the influence of Mage Armor.

It was as if Mage Armor separated the inside and outside worlds.

Moreover, it was released very quickly.

Almost instant cast—this must be the effect of a core skill?

Gauss knew that other apprentices would receive some enhancement to their core skill after profession advancement, such as reduced consumption or faster casting speed, but whether it could speed up to near instant cast, he wasn’t sure.

In any case, this was a good thing.

Looking back at the Adventurer’s Manual attribute panel, the information had noticeably changed.

Name: Gauss

Strength: 6

Agility: 6 → 7

Constitution: 6 → 7

Intelligence: 7 → 8

Perception: 6 → 7

Charisma: 6 → 7

Core skill: 1st circle spell Mage Armor lv4 (0-23/100) (This skill has already surpassed its original effects and can be renamed)

Other skills:

0th circle cantrip Light Cantrip lv2 (7-19/20)

0th circle cantrip Mage Hand lv3 (27-35/50)

1st circle spell Magic Missile lv3 (17-26/50)

Basic Swordsmanship lv2 (12/20)

Enhanced Jump lv1 (1/10)

Talents: Rapid Digestion, Magic Resistance, Spell Mastery

Except for Strength, all other attributes increased by 1 point, a total increase of 5 points.

The biggest increase was in Intelligence.

On the surface, they all seemed to increase by just 1 point, seemingly no big difference.

But the change from 7 to 8 in Intelligence was completely incomparable to that from 6 to 7.

He even felt that his 8 points of Intelligence were relatively strong for this stage.

It sounded strange, but since the attribute values on the panel only displayed integers, there was actually a considerable deviation even with the same number of points.

Gauss guessed that whether it was 8.1 or 8.9, the panel would still show 8 points.

As for skill proficiency, except for Basic Swordsmanship and Enhanced Jump—which were unrelated to casters—the other four spells had varying degrees of improvement.

Light Cantrip increased by 12 points, Mage Hand by 8 points, Magic Missile by 9 points, and Mage Armor—the highest proficiency—improved the most by 23 points.

Altogether, a total of 52 skill proficiency points.

“Rename skill Mage Armor?”

Gauss hesitated for a moment but chose to rename it since the spell had essentially evolved beyond its original base.

“Gauss Force Field.”

“Renamed to [Gauss Force Field].”

The information on the panel changed accordingly.

He named it this with good wishes. He hoped this spell was only the beginning. He wished that in the future, like those true Grand Mages, he could have a series of spells named after himself.

As a core skill, it would grow with him and might one day evolve into Gauss’s complete form in his heart.

Gauss shifted his attention away from the Adventurer’s Manual and back to himself.

He felt much stronger now.

After careful feeling, he discovered something he had previously overlooked.

Within his body, at the source where magic coiled, there seemed to be a phantom anomaly.

Upon close sensing, it was a small forest continuously surging with magic.

Gauss instinctively understood its existence.

It appeared to be the profession rank, the power source of a professional.

It was not a physical entity but a conceptual existence.

However, it was not an illusion or intangible; it was the conceptual core formed by the condensation of magic inside Gauss’s body.

The existence of the profession rank allowed a professional to effectively command the power they possessed.

With its help, the originally scattered magic had a central backbone, and the "quality" of magic greatly improved.

In his perception, even when using spells other than the core skill Magic Missile, their power was no longer comparable to the apprentice stage.