Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 53: The Hidden Ability of the "Genius" Profession, Caster Level Accumulation

However! 

Tang Zheng remembered that when he saw the “Papermaking” skill had two different Magic Scrolls, he had specifically asked a member of the Mage Guild about it. 

But the other party didn’t mention the “Second-tier Papermaking” at all! 

Logically, this “Papermaking” skill, which had no offensive capability and couldn’t be applied in combat, shouldn’t have needed to be hidden. 

“‘Lowest-grade’ alchemical material.” 

Tang Zheng looked thoughtfully at the last sentence of the appraisal information. 

Researching life magic was essentially about analyzing higher-tier magic or increasing convenience in daily life. 

If “Zero-tier Papermaking” was purely for daily use, then “First-tier Papermaking” was designed specifically for nobles, to distinguish them from commoners. 

Or it was to use superior paper to make books for writing and so forth. 

In fact, the paper produced by “First-tier Papermaking” was already roughly on par with that of the previous world. At this level, it was sufficient to meet normal daily life needs. 

It was surprising that people from another world had even developed “Second-tier Papermaking.” After careful consideration, this seemed completely unnecessary. 

“Papermaking” was not a tiered magic passed down from the era of the King of Eight Desires, but a life magic independently developed by people from the other world, forcefully upgraded to the second tier. 

The time and effort consumed by these otherworldly humans must have been unimaginable. 

From a caster’s perspective, such energy could have easily been used to learn other second-tier magic, or even to push toward third-tier caster levels. 

From the practical standpoint of otherworldly humans, this was equally unnecessary. 

So, the only explanation for this outcome was that there was a “demand”! 

Alchemical materials? 

Tang Zheng thought carefully but found no clue, so he gently shook his head and chose to temporarily set it aside. 

Suddenly. 

Tang Zheng seemed to discover something abnormal, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. 

He saw that behind the two magics “Warm Up” and “Papermaking,” there was actually an “↑” symbol. 

“How is this possible?” Tang Zheng looked as if he had witnessed something incredible, his face filled with astonishment. 

Levels 1 to 7—First-tier magic! 

Levels 8 to 14—Second-tier magic! 

According to the “Genius” profession’s level 9, when converted to other caster professions, it should only be able to use second-tier magic. 

Yet “Warm Up” and “Papermaking” could still be upgraded in tier—what was going on? 

Tang Zheng’s eyes were filled with intense confusion. After a brief hesitation, he chose to consume skill points to upgrade the magic “Warm Up.” 

Skill: Warm Up (Tier 3) ↑ 

Cost: 15 MP 

Description: Within one minute, heat the touched object's position to 600℃, instantly heating it to 200℃. 

... 

Tang Zheng remained stunned. 

What surprised him was not the stronger effect displayed after “Warm Up” was upgraded, but that it could still be upgraded in tier. 

He consumed one more skill point. 

... 

Skill: Warm Up (Tier 4) 

Cost: 20 MP 

Description: Within one minute, heat the touched object's position to 1200℃, instantly heating it to 400℃. 

... 

Hiss~ 

Tang Zheng took a deep breath; “Warm Up” at the fourth tier was already quite terrifying. 

A scorching 1200 degrees Celsius was enough to easily melt steel, even approaching magma temperature! 

Not to mention, instantly raising the temperature by 400 degrees was already an astonishing destructive power! 

This time, there was no longer an “↑” symbol. Seeing this, Tang Zheng pondered and roughly understood what was going on. 

“The caster professions that ‘Genius’ can convert are apparently calculated based on the combined caster level.” Tang Zheng couldn’t help but murmur in surprise. 

He had originally thought “Genius” only calculated based on a single base profession, but the current situation was clearly not the case! 

The reason “Warm Up” had jumped directly to tier four was naturally because it met the requirement for fourth-tier magic (levels 22 to 28). 

The only possible explanation was that the combined levels of the magic-based professions “Mage 9LV,” “Alchemist 9LV,” and “Potion Master 9LV” under “Genius” totaled 27 caster levels! 

Although Alchemist and Potion Master were production professions in YGGDRASIL, they used magic to cast, so they were counted as magic-based. 

Exactly! 

The “Genius” profession could combine the recorded base professions, especially caster professions, and calculate the total caster level. 

This hidden ability was meaningless for warrior-type base professions, but for caster professions, it was like cheating! 

In the YGGDRASIL game, Magic Chanters were divided into four systems, and different systems calculated levels separately! 

For example. 

Mage 7LV + Priest 1LV = Combined Level 8LV 

These two professions belonged to the magic and faith systems respectively, and according to caster level, level 8 could use second-tier magic. 

But in reality, such a profession setup only allowed players to use first-tier magic from both magic and faith systems. 

Therefore! 

Players in YGGDRASIL generally specialized in one caster system. 

To cast tenth-tier magic in one system, they had to choose from magic, faith, spirit, or other caster systems and raise the caster level in that system to at least 64. 

The remaining 36 levels were insufficient to build another caster system. 

“Phew~” 

Tang Zheng let out a deep breath and rubbed his temples, which were slightly swollen from the earlier excitement. 

He had thought the “Genius” profession merely converted base professions without attribute bonuses or the abilities of the converted professions, essentially disguising itself as a hollow base profession. 

He never expected such a hidden ability to exist! 

“Genius” was a general profession, a type of base profession, with a maximum level of 15. 

So! 

By mastering five base professions within a certain caster system, or four base professions plus one mid-level profession, 

He could easily meet the requirements for “Tenth-tier magic” in a caster system. 

In other words, Tang Zheng could use this shortcut to max out the magic levels of the magic, faith, spirit, and other caster systems. 

This was why Tang Zheng called this ability “cheating.” 

Even in YGGDRASIL, such an ability was quite rare! 

Yes, “rare,” not non-existent! 

In the light novel version, the Bone King once mentioned that the ultimate “special profession” that an Illusionist could obtain had the strongest illusions unique to that profession. 

It was said to be able to cast illusions over the entire world, deceiving the world to an indistinguishable degree! 

In the game, this manifested as the ability to disguise one’s constructed magic system as any of the other three caster systems.