As soon as he opened his eyes, Anser felt as if he were standing within an endless starry sky. A celestial astrolabe formation shimmered with countless points of light, flowing radiance cascading in dazzling colors.
He observed it for a moment, then shook his head slightly. He still couldn't understand it.
No one knew whether magical formations came first or spell models. The two shared many similarities, yet they belonged to entirely different branches of study. Being good at casting spells didn't necessarily mean one could comprehend formations.
He understood some basic formation knowledge—such as energy gathering and silencing—but he was still far from being able to interpret something like a celestial astrolabe formation.
'Find a place to practice… and summon a familiar while I'm at it.'
Just as Anser was about to leave, the purple spellbook quietly floated to his side. A black cat sat atop it, stretching out a small paw to paw at his robe—only for it to pass through like a phantom.
It had no physical form.
"What's wrong?" Anser asked in surprise. A certain possibility surfaced in his mind, and he immediately grew excited.
The black cat stood up, looking at him seriously. Its right front paw began rhythmically stepping on the spellbook, the pace growing faster and faster.
"I can attune to the Book of Castella now? Is there any danger?" Anser probed.
The black cat nodded first, then shook its head.
Anser understood. He could attune to it, and there was no danger.
'Could it be that only Wizards can attune to it?'
He wasn't entirely sure, but the black cat had always been timid and cautious. It had never misled him nor shown any dangerous intent. It felt trustworthy.
After hesitating for a moment, he opened his dragonhide pouch, took out a mithral shortsword, and planted it upright on the ground with the tip pointing upward.
At the same time, he cleared his mind and silently repeated: 'Is there any danger in attuning to the Book of Castella…'
A strange magical fluctuation spread outward, like an echo or a prayer, quietly probing into the unknown void.
At a certain moment, he felt something. Releasing his right hand, the mithral shortsword remained standing steadily, its tip trembling slightly before falling straight forward, pointing ahead.
Tip up, omen revealed—auspicious!
Anser let out a breath and put the sword away.
This was the second-circle divination spell Augury, cast as a ritual. The method was flexible and not restricted to any specific form of divination.
Recalling the process, he couldn't determine whether some otherworldly entity had responded to him—or whether it wasn't any entity at all, but merely a trace of insight drawn from the world's underlying trajectory.
'What is divination? Fate… or rules?'
He shook his head, reining in his thoughts to avoid straying down the wrong path.
Looking up, the spellbook floated quietly before him—but the black cat had disappeared.
He reached out and grabbed the spellbook. It felt cool to the touch and almost weightless. It was about thirty centimeters long, twenty centimeters wide, and five centimeters thick. Its purple hard cover was etched with golden arcane patterns, the central design resembling an alien dial.
After confirming nothing seemed abnormal, he tried to open the book. No matter how much force he applied, it wouldn't open.
From the side, the white pages showed no divisions at all—as if it weren't truly a book.
He stopped trying and entered a meditative state, beginning the attunement.
He could have used Legend Lore to identify the book, but the spell required incense worth over 250 gold coins as material components, along with four costly ivory plaques—things he didn't currently have.
An hour later, the spellbook fully opened itself to him.
...
[Magic Item: Book of Castella]
Category: Wondrous Item
Rarity: Legendary (requires attunement by a spellcaster)
This is a spellbook left behind by a great wizard named Castella. It has a long legacy, and at some point awakened an arcane spirit in the hands of a scribe-mage. She named herself Maeve.
After attunement, you can use it as both a spellbook and an arcane focus. If your attunement to the book ends, all contents within it will disappear.
Wizardly Quill: The spellbook comes with a psionically constructed wizard's quill. It can automatically write whatever you think, without ink, and the color can be freely set.
If used to copy spells, it takes 5 minutes per spell level.
You can mentally flip through the spellbook and erase any content at will.
Spell Scrolls: Once you fully transcribe a spell, you may tear out the page containing it, transforming it into a spell scroll.
Once per day, the total number of pages in the book remains unchanged.
Maeve: After attunement, awakens Maeve from a semi-dormant state.
Maeve: Lawful Neutral, Intelligence 18, Wisdom 16, Charisma 16. She has 120 feet of hearing and 120 feet of darkvision, and excels at copying scrolls.
She can communicate with you via telepathy and understands all mainstream languages, including Common, Netherese, Draconic, Giant, Elvish, Dwarvish, Primordial, Abyssal…
Personality: timid, cautious, lazy! Don't force her to work, or she'll go on strike.
Symbiotic Magic: Maeve shares a soul bond with you and counts as a spellcaster.
You may designate a number of spells equal to your Intelligence modifier for Maeve to cast.
These spells must be chosen from those already transcribed, and cannot exceed 5th level.
Arcane Siphon: After attunement, you bear the burden of Maeve's arcane power.
If your Intelligence is below 20, you must make a difficult Intelligence check every midnight. On failure, you take 3d6 psychic damage and your attunement ends.
...
'A purely support-oriented legendary item—but ridiculously powerful.'
Anser was overjoyed.
That "Spell Scroll" feature was incredible—tear a page, get a scroll. One per day. Extremely practical.
Normally, copying scrolls required materials, time, and effort. Even a cantrip or 1st-level spell took an entire day to transcribe. But the Wizardly Quill only needed five minutes.
Using a spell scroll didn't consume Magic Power. He could stockpile them, building a reserve of firepower—then unleash them all at once when needed, burying enemies under sheer wealth.
Just thinking about it felt lavish.
Of course, spell scrolls could also be sold—and they would definitely be in high demand.
Those Wizards stuck in confusion, unable to grasp spell construction through Magic Power casting, could learn spells simply by copying scrolls. It was practically irresistible.
'The only issue is copyright… wonder if the Wizards' Guild enforces that.'
After pondering for a while, he decided to only sell a few 1st-level spells—such as Alarm, Comprehend Languages, and Mage Armor. Once the market saturated, he would introduce new spells.
Traveler's Rest was the perfect place to test his idea—after all, tracking across planes was extremely difficult.
'Looks like I'll have one more daily task from now on. Being a Wizard really is exhausting.'
After grumbling, he suddenly realized his hands were empty.
The spellbook had disappeared.
"Maeve?" he asked, startled.
"Meow, I'm right here," a soft, lazy voice sounded by his ear.
Turning his head, he saw a black cat standing on the spellbook, floating on his shoulder—silent as a ghost.
Perhaps feeling his face was too close, she raised her left paw and gently pushed it away.
"This kitty finally woke up… feels like I slept for ages."
Anser froze. It seemed that after awakening, Maeve had gained physical form.
He instinctively wanted to pet her, but then remembered she wasn't truly a cat and withdrew his hand.
"You don't remember anything from before?"
"Meow~ I don't remember," Maeve replied, guiding the spellbook to circle around him before settling on top of it, her eyes blank.
Anser felt a bit disappointed. He guessed that after the previous owner's death, Maeve's memories—like the spellbook's contents—had been wiped, leaving only knowledge behind.
Perhaps for Maeve, each new master was a new life.
"It's fine. This is a new beginning."
He cautiously reached out and stroked her head. The texture was dense, soft, and smooth—just like a real cat.
Maeve didn't resist. She wasn't a cat, but she had always appeared as one since her birth and found nothing strange about it.
Anser smiled brightly. She seemed easy to get along with.
"Give me the spellbook. I'll try copying a spell."
Maeve jumped off the book and settled on Anser's shoulder, while the spellbook floated gently in front of him.
He took it and opened it. On the title page was his name, while the rest of the pages were completely blank.
He pinched one of the sheets. It felt soft and smooth, like some kind of high-grade leather—pale white, gentle in texture.
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