The groans of the Groaning Marsh

The blood blade hit the already wounded dragon, leaving another long slash on its thick hide before dissipating. Too bad it wasn't powerful enough to sewer the dragon's neck like Cael tried. After a moment of shock, the dragon rose to its feet and crawled forward with its jaws bared in a snarl.

But Cael didn't have the concentration to finish him, or do anything else but to try to keep all his adversaries within his field of view. All his focus was on the spell he was making—it wasn't the easiest one, and Cael didn't have a lot of practice with it before.

A second circle spell, Breath of Winter, formed in Cael's lungs, filling them with icy pinpricks. To think—only a couple weeks ago, Cael would have trouble gathering enough mana to cast it at all, while now this spell made only a slight dent in his mana pool. He really was a third rank mage now, even if his arsenal of third rank spells was low.

And THOSE really would've depleted his mana pool.