Overlord: Welcome the Birth of the King

After mastering the skills recorded on the magic scrolls, Lyle opened his status panel to review his progress:

[Statusd Interface]

Innate Ability: [Player]

Overall Level: 6Lv

EXP Bar: 830/400

Professions:

Basic Professions: Genius Lv1 (Warrior, Priestess/Cleric, Alchemist, Pharmacist, Magic Caster, Thief)

Intermediate Profession: Sword Saint Lv5

Skill Points: 3

Passive Skills:

• Item Box

•Slash Damage (+4%)

Active Skills:

Warrior Skills: Instant Reflex, Fourfold Slash, Quick Slash, Stealth

Magic Skills: Paper Creation (Tier 0), Heating (Tier 0), Minor Healing (Tier 1), Magic Arrow (Tier 1), Odorless (Tier 1)

Professional Skills: Pharmacy, Alchemy

...

Defeating two members of the "Eight Fingers" gang had granted Lyle a significant amount of experience.

An idea struck him—he decided to spend his EXP to level up. He directed the newfound level increase toward his Sword Saint profession.

Genius Lv1 + Swordmaster Lv5 = Overall Level 6.

Among his newly acquired abilities, Lyle had also gained the Stealth skill from the thief he had defeated, thereby unlocking the Thief basic profession.

[Skill: Stealth]

Cost: None (1-minute cooldown) Description: In dark or shadowed environments, reduces your presence and increases agility by 10% for 30 seconds.

Lyle then turned his attention to two peculiar Tier 0 spells:

[Skill: Paper Creation (Tier 0)]↑

Cost: 1 MP

Description: Produces 1,000 sheets of low-quality paper. Each additional MP consumed increases production by 500 sheets, with no upper limit.

[Skill: Heating (Tier 0)]↑

Cost: 1 MP

Description: Heats an object to 100°C for 1 minute.

Examining these newly mastered spells, Lyle noted their minimal MP cost. This didn't surprise him much—Tier 0 life spells were rarely impactful in combat scenarios.

It now made sense why few magic casters in this world bothered learning lower-tier spells.

In the game YGGDRASIL, skill points were limited, and each choice carried weight. Meanwhile, in this otherworld, learning magic required effort, and each caster had a cap on the number of spells they could master at each stage. No wonder Tier 0 spells were seen as a waste of time.

Suddenly, Lyle's gaze locked onto something. Both Tier 0 spells displayed a "↑" symbol beside them.

"This is it!" Lyle's eyes widened as a shiver ran through his body.

He had previously speculated about this possibility. While reading through the magic scrolls in the Mage Guild's library, he had noticed both Tier 0 and Tier 1 versions of the same spell—Paper Creation.

This discrepancy puzzled him.

In YGGDRASIL, the magic system was rigidly structured, with spells clearly categorized by tiers. Yet, in this world, the life magic crafted by the local casters seemed capable of evolving between tiers.

This observation raised an intriguing question: Were the life spells created in this world fundamentally different from the game's tier-based magic?

This mystery was why Lyle had specifically purchased two Tier 0 spells—to test his hypothesis.

"Upgrade!"

Focusing intensely on the two spells, Lyle allocated one skill point to each. As he did, both spells underwent transformation.

[Skill: Paper Creation (Tier 1)]

Cost: 5 MP

Description: Produces 800 sheets of high-quality paper. Each additional MP consumed increases production by 400 sheets, with no upper limit.

[Skill: Heating (Tier 1)]

Cost: 5 MP

Description: Heats an object to 150°C for 1 minute.

Lyle reviewed the updated descriptions, his expression shifting between amazement and contemplation.

The results confirmed his hypothesis—life spells in this world could indeed be upgraded. However, the changes in functionality and cost were modest, leaving room for further investigation.

Notably, the "↑" markers beside the two spells had now vanished.

"According to the magic classification system, levels 1 to 7 can master Tier-1 magic, while levels 8 to 14 can master Tier-2 magic."

Lyle silently pondered to himself: "It must be because my level isn't high enough, so I can't upgrade for now."

At the same time, he speculated: If these two spells continue to improve, could they eventually reach the level of Tier-10 magic?

However—

If they truly evolve into Tier-10 magic, could these auxiliary spells, originally designed as Tier-0 magic, possess the destructive power of regular Tier-10 magic?

Whether this was practical was one consideration.

On the other hand, skill points were finite. Was it truly worth expending them to enhance this type of magic?

After all, life magic served primarily as a supportive tool—this was something that needed careful deliberation.

Taking a deep breath, Lyle's eyes remained filled with excitement and amazement.

Regardless!

This was an entirely unexpected method of potentially obtaining Tier-10 magic. After all, in this otherworld, very few people, if any, were capable of wielding Tier-10 magic.

If no one could use it—

It naturally followed that Lyle would hesitate to invest skill points into acquiring Tier-10 magic.

More importantly—there was no definitive evidence suggesting such magic didn't exist in the Great Tomb.

With his thoughts organized, Lyle rubbed his temples lightly to ease his mental fatigue, then collapsed onto the bed.

Most of his theories could wait for future testing!

What mattered most now was leveling up; he couldn't afford to sacrifice the core objective for the endgame results.

"Sleep!" Lyle muttered, suppressing his inner excitement.

At the crack of dawn, Lyle had already gotten up. Leaving the small inn, he began purchasing essential food and supplies.

Thanks to his enchanted item storage—a spacious interdimensional backpack—he didn't have to worry about food preservation or spoilage.

Spending two gold coins, Lyle managed to purchase nearly a month's worth of provisions. To avoid drawing unwanted attention by buying so much at once, he visited multiple stores, acquiring a portion of his supplies from each.

The grocery shopping alone consumed his entire morning.

After a leisurely lunch, Lyle moved on to procuring weapons. His trusty short sword was now riddled with cracks and completely unusable.

He purchased ten standard iron swords for one silver coin apiece. Additionally, he acquired a set of lightweight leather armor for protection, which cost him one gold coin in total.

Lyle headed toward the Magician's Guild once more. Since they had shown no intent to sell Tier-2 spell scrolls, Lyle was forced to reveal his status as a [Magic Caster].

Using this leverage, he successfully bought a Tier-2 scroll of Item Appraisal for three gold coins.

Although Item Appraisal was a Tier-2 spell, it was categorized neither as offensive nor auxiliary magic, making it relatively affordable, comparable in price to a Tier-1 attack spell scroll.

Lastly, he visited the Adventurer Guild to acquire detailed intelligence on the Forest of Tob, paying two additional gold coins for their information.

By the end of the day, Lyle had spent a total of eight gold coins, leaving him with only six gold and seven silver coins remaining.

On the morning of June 1st, Lyle donned a black cloak. He carried an iron sword on his left hip, a water pouch slung across his back, and set off from the city of E-Rantel, where he had rested for the past two days. His destination: northward.

The Forest of Tob was a vast, ancient woodland encircling the Azerlisia Mountain Range to the north of Yerantir.

This forest was home to a wide array of dangerous monsters and demi-human species. Considered one of the deadliest regions for humans, even elite adventurers rarely dared to venture beyond its outer periphery.