Because Roland had once taken the initiative to ask Bronson for instruction in cantrips, the scholar had cast Fire Bolt in front of him more than once.

But the Fire Bolt Bronson cast could only condense a weak flame the size of a knuckle at his fingertip.

To be honest, based on Roland's observation, its power was not even as strong as an ordinary flaming arrow.

The Fire Bolt he had just cast was completely different.

Not only had it formed a scorching fireball the size of a palm above his fingertip, its power was...

Roland's gaze turned toward the shore.

The huge reef that had originally stood there had been blasted into countless fragments by the bursting flame.

Tiny stones rose and fell with the waves, washing onto the beach at his feet and glittering with scattered light beneath the sun.

"Why is there such a big difference..."

Before he could sort out the question, heart-rending pain struck his mind.

It felt like someone was splitting his skull open with a dull axe.

His vision twisted. The scene before him seemed to have been dipped into murky oil paint.

The waves, reefs, and sky distorted into blurred blocks of color.

A piercing hum rang beside his ears, like countless fine needles stabbing into his eardrums. Even the roar of the waves was shut outside.

"Ugh..."

Unable to stop a pained groan, Roland staggered and dropped to one knee on the beach. His fingers dug deeply into the wet sand as he tried to steady his swaying body.

Yet the ground seemed to be tilting, and every breath tugged at the throbbing pain in his temples.

A rusty sweetness rose from deep in his throat, and cold sweat rolled down his back, soaking the linen shirt beneath his clothes.

"I can't... pass out..."

Roland bit the tip of his tongue. The taste of blood briefly shocked his consciousness awake, while sweat kept dripping from his forehead.

Relying on this method, he finally held together the will that had nearly scattered and kept himself from fainting outright.

He did not know how long passed before the scene before him became clear and his senses returned to normal.

"Huff..."

Roland braced himself with both hands, then lay back on the beach, chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

With his experience activating the [Focus] trait, he quickly judged his current state.

This was a sign of excessive Spirit consumption.

He raised his hand before his eyes and examined it carefully.

His fingertips seemed to still retain the burning sensation from Fire Bolt's explosion, and the question from earlier surfaced again.

"The inscribed rune had no problem. The method of drawing mana elements was also correct... Could there be a flaw in the Spell Circuits Mr. Bronson engraved on the bone?"

The moment this guess appeared, Roland rejected it himself.

"No... when I tested this mana-drawing circuit yesterday, I only felt a little discomfort. There was no sign of Spirit consumption at all."

After thinking for a moment, insight crossed his mind.

He immediately opened the occupation panel, his gaze locking onto the trait column.

[Furnace Heart: Greatly increases fire affinity and significantly enhances fire resistance]

"Could it be that the fire affinity granted by [Furnace Heart] caused the power of that Fire Bolt to surge?"

He recalled the scene when he had cast Fire Bolt just now.

Those dense fire elements had happily coiled and gathered around his fingertip like docile young beasts.

This abnormal affinity immediately gave Roland a guess.

Feeling that his Spirit had recovered a little, Roland propped himself up from the beach, took two bottles of energy potion from his belt pouch, and drank them in one gulp.

As the stabbing pain in his temples faded, he stood, then cast Light, Mending, and Mage Hand in sequence.

These three cantrips were cast smoothly, without any abnormality.

Light condensed a soft ball of light around him, and its effect in dispelling darkness was much better than a torch.

Mage Hand used runes to materialize Spirit, allowing remote manipulation of objects. Its strength was directly related to the caster's Spirit.

Mending was the same. Depending on how much Spirit was invested, it could repair damaged objects to different degrees.

These cantrips were completely consistent with what Bronson had taught, and they consumed very little Spirit.

By Roland's estimate, with his current Spirit approaching five points, he would only feel tired after casting cantrips of this level more than a dozen times in a row.

"Looks like the abnormal power of that Fire Bolt just now really could only have been caused by the fire affinity granted by [Furnace Heart]..."

Thinking back to that Fire Bolt's astonishing destructive force, Roland yearned for it.

But after calming down and thinking carefully, he shook his head helplessly.

"Although the power is astonishing, the Spirit consumption is far too exaggerated... It can only be used as a trump card. Or..."

Roland carefully recalled the feeling of his Spirit being rapidly drained just now, and his expression tightened.

"I can try controlling my Spirit output and stabilize the consumption within a range I can endure. That way, I can increase the power without having one Fire Bolt drain my Spirit completely and push me to the edge of fainting like just now."

After making up his mind, Roland held his breath and focused, attempting to cast again.

With his previous experience, the mana elements resonated smoothly with the rune inscribed in the Consciousness Shoal.

In an instant, red light burst from his fingertip.

Just like before, fire elements flowed continuously through the white bone. The flame at his fingertip, originally only the size of starlight, became scorching and dazzling.

During this process, however, his Spirit once again began draining rapidly.

"Tch!"

Feeling the pain in his temples, Roland clenched his teeth and began consciously controlling his Spirit output.

Under his deliberate regulation, the speed of his Spirit loss eased and finally stabilized.

The fire elements gathered at his fingertip also reached a controllable degree.

"Boom!"

With a roar, the fireball shot out.

Because he had controlled his Spirit output, this fireball was only the size of an egg, and its power was naturally weakened by quite a bit.

Although Roland's state was still close to the edge of Spirit depletion, at least he remained conscious.

"Looks like this approach works!"

Watching the sea surface stirred up by Fire Bolt settle again, Roland's mouth lifted.

This successful attempt immediately gave rise to more possibilities in his mind.

For example, by precisely controlling Spirit, he could reduce single-shot power while increasing casting frequency.

With this idea, Roland threw himself into a new round of practice.

However, the results were not ideal.

Fine control of Spirit was far more difficult than he had imagined.

By the time the sun set, he still had not achieved the effect he wanted.

"Forget it..."

Looking at the several reefs on the beach shattered by Fire Bolt, Roland released a long breath.

"This kind of thing can't be rushed. I should practice step by step. The urgent task right now is to complete the requirement of casting one hundred cantrips for taking up [Juggler]."

"But it's a little late today. I'll continue tomorrow."

Looking at the darkening sky, Roland endured his mental fatigue, mounted his horse, and headed toward Far Harbor.

The next few days were calm, with no accidents.

However, Roland noticed that because King Morne often strolled through the streets, many people drawn by his fame poured into Far Harbor, wanting to catch a glimpse of this legendary king.

The quiet inn where Roland had been staying became noisy as a result.

Fortunately, his work refining Awakening Potions had already been completed, so this commotion did not affect his training too much.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed.

Although progress in precisely controlling Fire Bolt remained slow, with persistent practice and the aid of energy potions, Roland finally completed the one hundred cantrip casts required to take up [Juggler].

The only thing still lacking now was meeting the Spirit attribute requirement.

If this had been before, perhaps Roland would have found it troublesome. But now...

"Huff..."

After drinking the remaining Awakening Potions in one gulp, Roland lightly rubbed his swollen temples, then opened the occupation panel.

After confirming that all requirements for taking up [Juggler] had been met, he silently recited in his heart without hesitation.

"Change occupation to [Juggler]."

[Upon inspection, Host has successfully awakened the Consciousness Shoal. You qualify for the upper occupation: Juggler]

[Requirements: Strength 3, Agility 6, Spirit 5, master 3/3 cantrips of any level, cast cantrips a total of 100/100 times]

[Proceed with job change?]

"Confirm job change!"

[Job change successful. Current occupation: Juggler]

[Attribute bonus gained: Strength +1, Agility +3, Spirit +3]

Compared to the Spirit attribute bonus he had gained from taking up [Scholar] before, the Spirit increase brought by the [Juggler] occupation this time was a full six times greater.

However, compared to the immediate bodily changes brought by Strength and Agility, the enhancement of Spirit was especially subtle to the senses.

Roland only felt a cool thread of thought flow through his mind like a thin stream, and the fragments of memory that had once been hazy suddenly became clear and distinct.

If there was anything else special about it, it was that his thoughts seemed to move exceptionally smoothly, and his energy had become even more abundant.

After shaking his head, Roland focused on the next lines of golden text.

[Trait gained: Dazzling Charm]

[Dazzling Charm: When others witness you casting cantrips, they will suffer mental shock and fall into control states such as charm or dizziness. Actual effect depends on the comparison between both sides' Spirit attributes.]

"It's actually a trait that adds Spirit-based attacks to cantrips!"

After reading the description of [Dazzling Charm], Roland clenched his fist in excitement.

One had to know, setting aside his Fire Bolt, whose power had greatly increased because of his fire elemental affinity, the remaining three cantrips were only flashy tricks and did not help much in improving his strength.

But with this trait, everything was completely different.

Mental shock. Charm. Dizziness.

This meant that even [Light], which had no power at all, would carry an attack effect on the mental level as long as Roland cast it.

As for the final part of the trait description, that the actual effect depended on the comparison between both sides' Spirit attributes, Roland did not mind.

If he encountered an opponent far weaker than himself, he could kill them without this trait.

But if he encountered an opponent roughly equal to him in strength, or even slightly stronger, then by using this trait, even a single instant of distraction from the enemy could decide victory.

Imagining himself fighting an enemy with [Light] circling around him, Roland grew excited.

"As expected of an upper occupation. Compared to the traits of base occupations, this is far too powerful!"

While he was sighing in admiration, lines of golden text appeared before his eyes again.

[Warrior upper occupation detected. Occupation resonance available.]

[Occupation Resonance]

[Juggler + Warrior]

[Extra buff gained: Twin Martial Performance]

[Twin Martial Performance: Your body becomes fluidly flexible, allowing extreme dodges or reverse-joint movements. At the same time, your left and right hands achieve perfect synchro, with no distinction between dominant and off hand. When dual-wielding weapons, precision and force are fully consistent, and you can even simultaneously execute completely different combat actions]

Before the text had fully appeared, Roland felt a strange heat flow rise from the base of his spine, winding upward like a snake and roaming between his muscles and bones.

It was not pain, but a strange tingling numbness, as though every tendon was being reshaped by an invisible force.

"This is..."

He lowered his head and watched his fingertips tremble.

The next second, that heat flow erupted.

His body tensed, as though countless tiny arcs of electricity were jumping beneath his skin.

His bones produced faint cracking sounds. His joints seemed to be softened and stretched by some force, then instantly reassembled.

After the heat flow dispersed, Roland stared at his palm. With a thought, his finger joints folded bonelessly, then snapped back to normal, flexible to an almost unnatural degree.

He turned sideways, and his right arm whipped out like a lash. The muscles and joints of his entire arm seemed to lose their rigidity, drawing a smooth arc through the air until his fingertips could almost touch his own back.

Then his left arm twisted like a snake, his elbow turning outward, and his palm easily pressed against his own shoulder blade, completing a movement no ordinary person could possibly perform.

"This is... a little too much..."

Roland stared at his body, flexible to an almost eerie degree, and relaxed his hand.

As it returned to normal, a chill crawled up his back.

But soon, that discomfort receded, replaced by irrepressible excitement.

"This kind of flexibility enhancement shows no sign from the outside at all. If I suddenly use it in battle, how could an enemy guard against it? Right..."

Looking at the latter half of [Twin Martial Performance]'s description, Roland's gaze sharpened, and both hands reached toward his waist at the same time.

His right hand drew the longsword, while his left gripped the dagger in reverse.

The next second, his arms spread like mirror images, then instantly diverged into two completely different attacks.

The longsword in his right hand rose in an upward cut, the blade carving a fierce silver arc, its force as heavy as falling thunder.

At the same time, the short blade in his left hand stabbed like a snake flicking its tongue, the tip aiming for the imaginary enemy's throat at a frighteningly precise angle.

The two attacks erupted at the same time without the slightest hesitation.

The heavy chop of the longsword and the vicious thrust of the short blade seemed to be controlled by two independent minds.

Even stranger, the force of both blades was perfectly balanced. As the two edges crossed, they nearly sealed off all the space before him.

With an abrupt change of movement, the right-hand sword turned into a horizontal slash before its momentum had faded, while the left-hand short blade followed the motion downward, silently cutting toward the imaginary enemy's knee under the cover of the sword light.

One hard, one soft. One open, one hidden.

Two combat rhythms fused perfectly in his hands, as though two warriors of completely different styles lived inside his body while sharing the same killing-machine frame.

When he stopped, both blades halted in the air less than an inch from each other, the tips not trembling in the slightest.

They were as precise as puppets controlled by invisible strings, enough to make one's skin prickle.

"This feeling... is truly wonderful..."

After returning the longsword and dagger to their sheaths, Roland rubbed his jaw, still wanting more.

"This level of dual-wielding proficiency is practically like suddenly gaining a clone. With left and right hand working together, the result is far greater than one plus one!"

"Extra buffs produced by resonance between upper occupations really did not disappoint me!"

Just as Roland was about to continue checking what extra buff would arise between [Blacksmith] and [Juggler], a dull footstep sounded outside the door.

The ill-timed sound made his expression tighten, and he instinctively looked out the window.

Heavy night had long since covered all of Far Harbor.

Based on his observations over the past few days, the guests of this inn should all have entered dreamland by now.

As he was thinking, Roland discovered that the footsteps were drawing closer and closer.

In the end, they stopped in front of his door.