CHAPTER 23: GETTING ABILITIES
Wallace finished the basic principle of magic within an hour and simply knew how it worked. First was the transportation of mana. When he tried to control an element in the air, mana moved from his body through a series of channels to his mage-root, which allowed him to control the element. The rate at which mana was consumed was determined by how pure the mana was, the mage's affinity with the element, how much of the element was being controlled, and how it was being used.
Different elements had their pros and cons. Fire element was extremely useful for attack because of its destructive power. One could use a series of attacks with it, but it was weaker in defense, though still better than most elements. Earth element was great at both attack, defense, and movement, and was simply one of the most versatile elements. Water element was considered useless because it was weak in attack and defense, except when facing fire, when it could only be used for control, so most water elemental mages were weak.
What if water was turned to ice, separating the temperature from it? It was easier said than done; it not only demanded a high affinity for the water element but also required a large amount of mana. As for Wallace, his affinity for the water element was simply the best. He controlled the water on the floor, and within a second, the water turned into ice that he shaped into a small spike. The series of movements just consumed almost five percent of his mana, and one only had to know that it was just a little bit of water. He couldn't help but click his tongue.
The mana of a rank eleven mage was simply useless, but that did not discourage him. He continued to analyze the information of the basic principle of magic. The lightning element was said to be terrifying but was useless for mages at low rank because there was no active lightning element unless it was the rainy season, and lightning element in the air was abundant. The only way they could attack was by reaching rank thirty, that's when their mana would fully take its form, and the elemental manifestation in their life palace would be strengthened, and they would be able to sense the lightning molecules in the atmosphere and control it. Wallace himself could sense the lightning molecules in the air, but it was faint, and he knew that controlling it with the little bit of mana inside him was close to impossible. His mana would be exhausted before it could even reach its target.
As for the wood element, it was a versatile element when in places full of trees or plants. It could be used to heal injuries by extracting the element from plants, it could be used for attack by controlling branches of trees, and also used for defense. It could also be used for movement in some cases, but these were only when they were in places full of abundant plant life. Outside that, a wood elemental mage was useless. It looked like in his mage form, only the water elemental element could be used by him in almost all situations currently. Because water was present almost everywhere, he could sense water underground, he could sense water molecules in the air, and could also control them. If not for him being able to freeze water, it would also be a useless element. Wood could only be used in the jungle, and lightning was not feasible for now.
He took out a large amount of water and continued experimenting with it. He would form spikes in a minute, he would form spears, he could also form swords, but aside from long-range weapons and shields, his mana wouldn't be able to support the consumption of short-range weapons for long. What he needed to control was his control of the element. He must be proficient in it so that he would be able to control it with a minimum amount of mana. With his mental power, it was not difficult for him to be proficient. It only took some minutes before he was able to control it proficiently.
Thirty minutes into the experiment, he formed a pure white halberd in his hand and was currently controlling it when the halberd suddenly turned into molecules of water, and he felt dizzy before the world around him changed. After he had awakened his mage root, the world around him had been colorful because he was able to sense mana and other elements, but suddenly the world around him had turned gray, as his senses had returned to before he was able to awaken the mage root, and this made him feel uncomfortable.
"I must be careful in the future" he thought, as he sat down to recover his mana before he continued practicing with the water element.
The weekend passed, and a new week arrived. Wallace felt vastly different from the previous week, and that was because of the breakthrough. The breakthrough opened a world of possibility to him, and his attack power had increased. He had not only become proficient in the water element but also his ability to control his mental ability that he learned from the psyche manual had increased.
This boosted his ability to control the water element, and he also gained a couple of new abilities from it. With his mental energy at five hundred plus, he was known as a psyche beginner, and there was an ability that he gained which made him delighted. It was the telekinesis ability. He always thought that the ability was a support ability on earth, but a world of possibility had been opened to him about this ability. Apart from just being a support ability, this ability could also be used to attack. With his dream-sense, he was able to sense the internal parts of a human body. With this dream-sense, telekinesis, and also a space ability he obtained, he could allow a weapon to become intangible, pass through a target, and suddenly solidify.
This telekinesis allowed him to manipulate elements in such a way that even he couldn't imagine. The last one he gained, which was the most powerful one, was a set of space abilities that he was able to unlock. The first space ability was teleportation. This teleportation allowed him to transport himself to a place he could sight at the moment. With the space manual, he was able to utilize a part of the space and use it to move anywhere he could sight. This was not only limited to him; using his telekinesis, he could move objects and also teleport them to a distance.
His mana consumption depended on how far he wanted to teleport and the amount of things he wanted to teleport with him. If he decided to teleport to a place that was too far and his mana was not enough, the skill would cancel itself, and the lost mana would not be recovered. He could only move himself to a distance of ten meters, and that too, five times, before his mana was exhausted. If he wanted to move himself and his mecha, they would only be able to move a distance of ten meters once before his mana was exhausted.
The skill was terrifying, and the advantage would start to show as his mana increased. The second skill was displacement, which could make anything intangible by transporting it to another space before it appeared again. The mana consumption depended on how big the size of the object he wanted to displace and how long he wanted to displace it for. It was mana consumption was far more terrifying than that of teleportation, but it could be used in many practical ways than teleportation.
He could simply displace an arrow formed from ice with his ability and allow it to pass through a target's heart before canceling the skill, and an ice arrow would appear in the body of his target, if it was the target's heart. The target would die without knowing how he died. He could only use it to displace objects of one meter long and a meter wide for ten seconds before his mana was completely consumed. It was not a skill he could use on a whim now, but he couldn't help but think about the future, how terrifying the skill would be.
The third one was switch. The ability was quite simple; it allowed him to change positions with a target he could sight. The amount of mana consumed depended on the size of the target and the distance between them. If the target fought back, the skill would be canceled, but the probability of a target fighting back was non-existent. It was also a skill that he could only use for a couple of times before his mana was consumed.
He spent the weekend practicing and perfecting the skill, along with his psyche ability, and he was able to perfect them thanks to his comprehension ability. He already decided that the space ability would be his trump card that he would only use in extreme situations, and anyone who knew about it must be shut up.