Chapter 21: A Badass Profession

In the southeast corner of the library, Thunder smoothly found the books on magic scrolls. Covered in dust, they clearly hadn't been touched in ages.

Among the vast collection, only three books focused on magic scrolls: *Essentials of Scroll Engraving*, *Beginner's Guide to Magic Scrolls*, and *Intermediate Magic Scroll Catalog*.

Thunder skimmed through the beginner's guide and immediately spotted something interesting. The basic scrolls he'd bought in the market were all recorded here—but there were far more he'd never seen before.

Magic had countless branches—dozens, at least. Mastering them all was impossible. That's why every magic student underwent an affinity test upon entering the academy, choosing the path best suited to them.

Take Thunder, for example. His body aligned with lightning, making thunder magic more natural for him. But that didn't mean he couldn't learn other types.

Holy Light from the light branch, Curses from darkness, Summon Skeleton from necromancy, Reflective Mirror from spatial magic—these were all spells he'd never encountered. Each scroll's engraving method was meticulously detailed, even down to elemental arrangement and density distribution.

*Jackpot.* Thunder quickly found a spot to sit and study.

Time slipped away as he lost himself in the world of scrolls, even sketching diagrams on the floor with a pen.

"Scroll engraving?" A voice suddenly cut through the silence like thunder. Thunder looked up to see an old man holding *Essentials of Scroll Engraving*, staring down at him.

Wasn't this the geezer from the admissions office? What was he doing in the library?

"You reading this?" The old man eyed him skeptically.

"Yeah."

"Not bad." The old man nodded. "A wastrel thunder mage learning scroll engraving—could be a path for you."

*That rumor reached him too?* Thunder's face burned.

"Tell me, why scroll engraving?" The old man smiled, plopping down cross-legged beside him.

"Just want to learn something useful," Thunder lied casually.

"You've studied before, haven't you?" The old man pointed at the diagrams Thunder had drawn. "No amateur could sketch like that."

*Damn sharp eyes.* Thunder erased the markings and nodded. "I've seen a few scrolls."

"A Scrollsmith! Hah! The continent hasn't seen one in centuries." The old man stroked his beard, laughing heartily.

"Scrollsmith?" Thunder frowned.

"A profession. Like mages or warriors—but far more formidable!" The old man's gaze turned distant.

"Seriously?"

"Young man, do you know how scrolls came to be?" The old man's eyes gleamed. Thunder shook his head.

"Before magic, there were scrolls. When humans first witnessed the raw power of nature—wind, thunder, rain, lightning—they sought to harness it. After ages of trial and error, the first magic scroll was born by accident… and with it, the Scrollsmith profession."

In ancient times, Scrollsmiths were the most revered. Thunder was stunned to learn that back then, no one could cast spells—they relied solely on patterns and elemental arrangements to unleash magic's power.

"But Scrollsmiths had one fatal flaw. Know what it was?" The old man paused, savoring Thunder's confusion before continuing. "Mana storage! Engraving scrolls isn't like casting spells. Casting uses ambient mana, amplifying a mage's reserves. But engraving? It drains your own reserves dry. External elements only help when the scroll is activated."

Thunder felt like clouds parting before the moon.

"Say two men have equal mana. A Scrollsmith might engrave ten fireball scrolls before exhausting himself. A mage? He could cast fifteen fireballs. That's the difference."

*So that's why!* No wonder Thunder's scroll output paled compared to Beatrice's spellcasting—his method was inefficient.

"Humans adapt. Once they saw this flaw, the Mage profession was born."

"Wait, if Scrollsmiths came first, and mages surpassed them, why call Scrollsmiths stronger?"

"A *true* Scrollsmith outmatches any profession. Know why they faded?"

Thunder had an inkling but played dumb.

"Engraving requires stricter precision and rare talent than spellcasting. Those two demands doomed Scrollsmiths to obscurity. But a *true* Scrollsmith? No risk of failure. In battle, they overwhelm foes with sheer volume *and* quality of scrolls."

The old man grinned. "The question is—are *you* that true Scrollsmith?"

A real Scrollsmith could stockpile scrolls for battle, never worrying about mana depletion like mages.

"Since you can't cast spells, engraving is your only path. Your mana reserves aren't bad—here's to your future."

Thunder's blood burned with excitement. So what if he couldn't cast? Scrolls would be his weapons!

"Take these books. The academy brats never read them anyway." The old man stood and left.

*This guy's no ordinary geezer.* His knowledge dwarfed even Professor Maria's.

But when Thunder opened *Essentials of Scroll Engraving*, he nearly choked. That crafty old fox! The entire history of Scrollsmiths and mages was written here.

**Will Thunder become the legendary Scrollsmith—or is this just another dead end?