If one spell didn’t work, then he would simply try another.
Ivy Doom spent additional time familiarizing himself with the spell models of the other three cantrips.
To him, none of them appeared particularly complicated.
Yet every single one failed in exactly the same way as Mage Hand—the completed spell structure collapsed at the final moment before casting.
This time, Ivy stopped experimenting.
Instead, he looked thoughtfully toward his wand.
In DND magic systems, wizards required more than spell knowledge and spell slots.
They also needed an arcane focus.
Originally, Ivy had assumed his wand could fulfill that role.
Clearly, that assumption had been wrong.
So if not the wand…
What nearby object could function as an arcane focus?
Slowly, Ivy’s gaze shifted toward the Book of Ruin.
“It worked!”
Floating before him was a translucent blue spectral hand.
For the first time since successfully casting the Killing Curse, Ivy felt genuine exhilaration.
Now that he had successfully cast a spell, he immediately checked the attribute panel displayed on the first page of the Book of Ruin.
Sure enough—
Under the section labeled Class / Level, a new line had appeared beneath:
Level 15 WizardLevel 10 Ancient Magic Wizard
And now:
Level 0 Order of Scribes Wizard
“Order of Scribes?”
Honestly, Ivy didn’t remember this subclass at all.
Every edition of DND changed massively between versions, resulting in endless spellcasting classes, variants, subclasses, and strange archetypes.
And Ivy’s own knowledge of DND came mostly from video games.
Aside from a few classes with exceptionally cool names, he didn’t remember many specifics.
Order of Scribes definitely wasn’t one of them.
Focusing mentally on the new subclass entry, Ivy watched as the Book of Ruin automatically displayed detailed information.
The Order of Scribes turned out to be a wizard subclass introduced in DND 5th Edition.
Its defining feature:
A magical spellbook.
“So using a book as the casting medium is the prerequisite for this subclass…”
Ivy rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Though the lack of facial hair still felt strange enough that he quickly lowered his hand again.
The feat he had previously selected—Eschew Materials—wasn’t even from DND 5e rules.
The class and the feat belonged to entirely different editions.
In an actual tabletop campaign, this sort of rules interaction would absolutely drive the Dungeon Master insane.
Yet magic was magical precisely because it ignored common sense.
Ivy had somehow achieved the impossible anyway.
Sure, it was technically cheating through a magical golden finger.
But who could deny that cheating still required effort?
Continuing to read through the subclass details, Ivy arrived at the first subclass feature.
Wizardly Quill
“At 2nd level, an Order of Scribes wizard gains Wizardly Quill and Awakened Spellbook.”
The Wizardly Quill was a magically created feather pen.
It possessed several special properties:
Never required inkCould change writing color automaticallyCould write on its ownCould erase writing instantlyHalved the time needed to copy spells into spellbooks
“A pure flavor ability,” Ivy concluded immediately with a nod.
So-called flavor abilities were features designed primarily to reinforce class identity during tabletop roleplaying.
TRPG campaigns were essentially collaborative storytelling adventures between players and the DM.
Every player acted out their character as vividly as possible.
To help make characters memorable, designers often created unique stylistic abilities.
Shortly before his transmigration, Ivy had once played an Artificer in a tabletop campaign.
His character wore a self-made magical suit of armor.
Whenever combat began, he would dramatically raise his hand, activate the sapphire embedded in the gauntlet, and fire lightning blasts while pretending to be Iron Man.
Sure, the damage only dealt a pathetic 1d6.
But that didn’t matter.
It looked cool.
And in a magical world, roleplaying Iron Man was awesome.
That was why players called such abilities “flavor features.”
Stylish.
Distinctive.
Perfect for showing off.
Still, in the real world, Wizardly Quill clearly wasn’t only for style.
At minimum, Ivy could use it to complete homework assignments effortlessly.
A quill capable of synchronizing directly with its owner’s thoughts and writing automatically was unbelievably convenient.
Then came the real core feature.
Awakened Spellbook
First, it strengthened the connection between wizard and spellbook, allowing the spellbook itself to function as an arcane focus.
Clearly, the Book of Ruin already possessed this property.
Second, the Awakened Spellbook could alter a spell’s damage type.
As long as the wizard possessed another spell of equal spell level, the damage type could be replaced.
Which essentially meant Ivy could alter spell damage however he pleased.
After all, wizards practically specialized in learning as many damage types as possible.
Just imagine it:
A Fireball dealing necrotic damage.
Or psychic damage.
How terrifying would that be?
Ivy even vaguely remembered similar abilities existing in older DND editions.
Advanced classes like Archmage once possessed “High Arcana” abilities obtained by permanently sacrificing spell slots.
One such ability—Mastery of Elements—allowed the caster to replace elemental damage types.
Fire into lightning.
Cold into acid.
And so on.
But Awakened Spellbook was even stronger.
It altered not merely elemental properties, but damage types themselves.
That included:
ForceFireRadiantAcidPoisonLightningThunderNecroticColdPsychic
Ten total damage types.
An absolute nightmare for enemy resistances.
That feature alone already surpassed the old Archmage ability completely.
And there was more.
Awakened Spellbook also allowed ritual spells to be cast using their normal casting time once per day.
In other words:
A complicated magical ritual could now be condensed into a single spoken incantation.
Even limited to once daily, the utility was absurd.
“It seems Awakened Spellbook is the true core of the Order of Scribes subclass.”
Ivy nodded slowly.
Then he made his decision.
His first goal from this point onward:
Become a Level 2 Order of Scribes Wizard.
(End of Chapter)