Witch's Embrace

Time flew by, and before he knew it, half a month had passed since Hawthorne crossed into this world.

Reading "Introduction to Quantitative Analysis" went very smoothly, and Hawthorne easily learned the spells it contained. However, this didn't mean he could apply his previous knowledge as easily to the other introductory books from the various colleges.

After all, "Introduction to Weight and Measure" focused on the history of this world, "Introduction to Pure Beauty" discussed arts such as music and dance, "Introduction to Silver Brush" covered all forms of literary works, and "Introduction to Luxurious Arts" dealt with biology—all of which were entirely different from anything Hawthorne had studied before.

In his previous life, he had never studied the history of the game world in detail; many of the background stories were skimmed over in his eagerness to play the game.

When it came to music, dance, and the arts, he could certainly enjoy watching beautiful performances by others, but he himself had no understanding or skill in these areas.

As for creating literary works, for a science student who always found writing essays to be a headache, this was also not an easy problem to tackle.

As for biology, while it seemed like it might suit his skills...

One mustn't forget this is a fantasy world. Just considering the dragons, which defy reproductive isolation across species, is enough to overturn all biological knowledge from his previous life!

Between the two worlds, only the principles of mathematics remain consistent and universally applicable.

So, after finishing "Introduction to Quantitative Analysis," he spent the next half month being thoroughly tormented by the remaining four books. Even with the "Study" building's assistance, his learning efficiency plummeted, and he barely learned any new spells.

However, fortunately, even so, his strength has significantly increased compared to half a month ago.

After half a month's effort, his attribute panel now looks like this:

Host: Hawthorne

Gender: Male

Race: Human Subspecies (Green-Silver Clan)

Age: 15 years

Height: 1.69m

Weight: 53kg

Strength: 8

Agility: 9

Constitution: 8

Intelligence: 13

Perception: 12

Charisma: 20

Occupation: Level 1 Warlock

Warlock Professional Abilities: 

Pact Magic

After signing a Pact with the witch "Heidi," you can obtain Magic Power from her, allowing you to cast spells. Charisma is the key attribute used when casting. After at least an hour of rest and meditation, you can recover all expended Mana.

Current Pact Magic Mana: 4/4.

Current Highest Spell Level: First-level.

Specialization: None.

Spells: 

Cantrip: Blade Ward, Magic Missile

First-level Spells: Create/Destroy Water, Mage Armor, Shield, Absorb Elements

Spellbook:

"Introduction to Weight and Measure: Burning Hands"

"Introduction to Pure Beauty: Agathys' Armor"

"Introduction to Quantitative Analysis: Thunder Wave"

"Introduction to Silver Brush: Longstrider"

"Introduction to Luxurious Arts: Cure Wounds"

These are all his achievements over the past half month. The decision to first unlock the Kitchen proved correct; with adequate nutrition, not only did his weight increase significantly, but his Constitution attribute also rose by one point, effectively saving him 100 Purification Points.

Remember, this is just within half a month. If he continues improving at this pace, in six months, he could potentially eat his way up to twenty points in Constitution...

Ahem!

Of course, that's impossible, as the resources needed for attribute growth aren't linear; the further you progress, the more difficult it becomes to improve—not just because becoming stronger requires more nutrition, but more importantly, because as an ordinary human, his racial genetics greatly limit his ceiling.

Being able to increase his Constitution attribute to 9 through diet, effectively saving 100 Purification Points, already left Hawthorne quite satisfied.

As for anything higher? He'd probably have to spend Purification Points honestly to buy increases.

Beyond attribute growth, his biggest gain was learning a new Cantrip and two more first-level Spells. Concerned about his safety, all the new spells he learned are protective.

The Cantrip Blade Ward, which does not consume Mana, provides him with resistance to piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage, making him less vulnerable to sudden attacks.

Shield can instantly block deadly attacks, so he no longer needs to worry about being shot by arrows or bolts from afar.

Absorb Elements is specifically for defending against elemental damages like fire, cold, lightning, and acid. When combined with Shield, ordinary people's methods would hardly harm him.

With this, his combat abilities have truly outpaced those of ordinary people.

Regarding offensive capabilities, even though he hasn't learned many attack spells, he's not lacking. The free Cantrip Magic Missile has power comparable to a heavy crossbow, and the Spellbooks Heidi provided contain practical low-level offensive spells like "Burning Hands" and "Thunder Wave." While these spells might not suffice against significantly strong enemies, they are certainly adequate for dealing with regular foes.

The only issue is that he must hold these books to cast the spells written within. So, in the future, he needs to carry these thick and heavy Grimoires and switch his equipment according to the battlefield's demands during combat...

It sounds very unorthodox, but given the current situation, it's a necessary compromise.

Perhaps this is the struggle of non-Mage Spellcasters... Sigh!

Looking at the remaining 850 Purification Points in the system after spending on three buildings, Hawthorne mentally simulated future combat scenarios, finding them increasingly troublesome.

Too weak...

Maybe I should just level up to level 2 now?

With this thought, staring at his level 1 Warlock Occupation, a bold idea emerged.

Leveling up to level 2 only requires 300 Purification Points, and I'm still quite well-off.

Should I just go for it?

Normally, upon reaching level 2 Warlock, he would gain another core ability of the Occupation: Eldritch Invocation.

In short, it's an alternative set of magic techniques that can enhance magic power or increase its usage frequency: for instance, "Repelling Blast" could make your Cantrip "Magic Missile" push back enemies on hit; "Shadowy Armor" could grant you permanent protection of the spell "Mage Armor"; "Eyes of the Rune Keeper" could enable you to read all languages, and so on...

In the game, leveling up to a level 2 Warlock allows you to learn two Eldritch Invocations for free and change them upon leveling up.

However, reality isn't a game. In the game, all Warlocks, regardless of their Overlord, have the same Spells and Eldritch Invocations to choose from, with only slight variations in high-level abilities. Overall, they're quite similar.

According to the game lore, a Warlock's Spells and Eldritch Invocations are granted or taught by their Overlord based on their abilities, making each Warlock's situation unique.

For instance, upon becoming a Warlock, Hawthorne received only one Cantrip and Spell from Heidi, far less than the standard two Cantrips and four first-level Spells a proper Warlock should have in the game.

However, he has 4 Mana points at level 1 and can fully recover them in an hour, which would make many other Warlocks envious.

This illustrates that what happens when each Warlock levels up depends on their specific circumstances.

According to the lore, the ability to learn Eldritch Invocations must also be self-acquired.

Considering this, he slowly moved his finger away from the system interface.

Better not rush—he hasn't fully grasped these books yet. The Spells aren't fully learned; there's no hurry to reach the next level.

As he thought this, suddenly, the system interface flickered, and an envelope icon appeared in the top right corner.

Hawthorne was slightly surprised, recognizing it as the alert message players receive in the game when a major event is about to occur.

He quickly clicked on it, and what he saw made his pupils constrict sharply.

So soon...