Chapter 11: Testing Powers

Insig prepared his mana heart. He 'looked' inside his body and sensed his mana heart, pulsating with life magic. He removed the life magic covering the death magic. He separated them and put them side by side.

Insig opened the entrance of the aquarium-like cage. He touched and caressed one of the mice inside. He then separated the mice as he doesn't want to affect other mice when experimenting on one of them. He put other mice inside the metal boxes that were included when buying the mice.

Seeing as all was prepared, Insig took a deep breath and remembered what he read about magic in the book.

[Magic is the product of manipulation of energy. To control the energy, you have to use your thoughts and imagine a 'hand' waving and shaping it the way you want it to be. Remember that you don't control the energy, you only guide it. (For lower levels only)]

Insig closed his eyes to do a light test and made a life energy in the shape of a sphere. He imagined waving his 'hands' in a circular motion to concentrate the energy in a circle.

Insig opened his eyes and was delighted to see a sphere made of life energy. He smiled and momentarily let go of his control. The magic was not yet stabilized and the shape was destroyed. There were bumps and dents appearing everywhere.

Insig hurriedly tried to control it but it was too late. The sphere broke into pieces and diffused into the air. There was no explosion as there was not much energy and the element was life magic, meaning the energy was not that violent.

Insig let go a sigh of relief as nothing bad has happened. Seiki then recalled the common magic techniques he read about.

The first one was shaping your magic power into a shape of a toothpick or larger. It was to focus your magic at one point, useful for attacking the innards of an organism. Indiscriminate release of magic can cause the effect to spread, decreasing lethality and efficiency. So this technique was rather commonly used in battles.

Insig controlled his death energy and willed a shape of a spear the size of a finger. It was rather dark and a creepy aura that makes your survival instinct kick in was oozing out. Seeing this, the survival instincts of the mouse kicked in. It tried to run away to escape but was met with a glass wall. He tried to climb it but to no avail as it was slippery and had no bumps.

'I'm really sorry.'

Seeing this, Insig felt even more pitiful but he still continued testing his powers. The world is dangerous and only power can save him. Pitying others would not lead him anywhere. He held the mouse with one hand so he would not miss. The mouse flailed and screamed but wasn't able to escape.

Insig pushed the 'death spear' towards the stomach of the mouse. It entered its body like a bubble as if nothing happened, but you'll know that something bad was happening as the mouse screamed in an even higher pitch.

It's beast instinct kicked in and bit Insig's hand. Insig accidentally let go of the mouse and it dropped on the ground, but it Immediately ran away. It was breathing heavily like it was tired.

Insig tried to sense what happened. He closed his eyes and sensed his mana heart. He followed the path that his death magic was leading to. He then sensed that his 'death spear' inside the mouse's body was met with resistance from the coin-sized mana heart of the mouse.

The mouse's mana heart instinctively moved and attacked the dangerous and foreign magic. The death magic and poison magic of the mouse fought inside the mouse's body. They tried to eat each other and damaged the surrounding magic pathway, causing injuries. But it stopped the invading magic nonetheless.

The mouse tried to save its energy by resting. Seeing this, Insig recorded what happened.

'Even though it was able to reach inside the enemy, the death magic was met with resistance from the mana heart. I would have to use a large amount of energy to kill an enemy efficiently. The movement of the magic was rather slow too, so there's a chance of missing if I attack far away.'

'Result is, I don't have much use for 'death spear' as they only work on weak and stationary or slow enemies and cost too much energy.'

Insig was rather disappointed from the result, he was slightly expectant from death magic as it was rather rare.

Insig removed the disappointment and moved on to phase 2. He tried to make a magic spear again but with life magic this time. He manipulated the life energy and shaped them into a spear. It was radiating an aura full of vitality and it was comfortable to look at.

Seeing this, the mouse didn't move but was looking at it with eyes that was like looking at your favorite food. Insig chuckled lightly at this sight and aimed at the mouse's wound. He slightly pushed the magic spear into the mouse but it hit his head instead.

'..... Are my shooting skills that bad? I guess I should train for a bit.'

Insig was a bit embarrassed so he took a deep breath to focus. Seiki closed his eyes to sense the situation inside of the mouse. He felt his connection to the life magic inside the mouse but he couldn't guide nor control it as it was outside Insig's body. Still, he can at least make sense of what was happening inside.

Ignoring his bad shooting skills, the spear of life entered its body and was met with no repulsion. It traveled through its body and attacked the nearest death energy. After that, like a magnet, it was attracted to the wounds and healed them.

Insig observed what happened and remembered them.

'The rules of life magic is an all-encompassing rule, meaning, it can harmonize with almost all elements. That's why it can enter the mouse's body with no resistance and is not hindered by the mana heart. The problem is, it has almost no lethality at all.'

Insig was in a trance as he thought about the pros and cons of life and death magic.

He noticed that the mouse was already energetic enough to try to escape but he ignored it.

'Life no resistance... death yes resistance... life has no lethality... death is lethal but is too slow.... If only I could combine them... Wait! Can't I combine them?'

Insig widened his eyes at the thought of this.

'The life and death magic can combine their strength to cover each other's weaknesses!'

Insig excitedly tried to incorporate this thought to his spear. He manipulated both energies and shaped them into a spear, but he met a problem. When he put the 2 energy together, the energy reacted violently and attacked each other, causing them to diffuse in the air.

'1st test, failed. Obstacle : disharmony of rules..... Should I add a cycle to balance them?'

Insig thought as he observed the problem in the experiment. He then tried to solve it by adding a cycle. The result was the energy in the spear has stabilized.

'Nice! Now, let's check the result!'

Insig aimed carefully at the escaping mouse and threw the spear towards it. He didn't hold the mouse this time as he wanted to imitate a real battle as possible.

Sensing a weird aura, the mouse looked at the approaching spear and dodge it. Seeing this, Insig was annoyed so he gave up trying to simulate a real life event and caught the mice. He held it in his hands steadily and closed its mouth cause he didn't want to get bitten again.

Seiki conjured the 2 element spear again. He pushed it in the mouse's body and sensed the result.

Long story short, it was a whole failure. After getting inside, the death energy was met with resistance but the life energy didn't. Insig didn't know how to solve this.

'This.... I can combine them but I can't dismember their strengths and weaknesses and arrange them in a way that's especially beneficial to me...'

Insig was disappointed as he met a wall in his test. He toyed with the mouse as he rested his head on his other hand.

'Geez! Why is the death energy facing resistance anyway..... That's right, why did the death energy face resistance but the life energy didn't?'

Insig opened his eyes as he contemplated this problem.

'Is it because of the rules of death energy? No! it's not just because of the rules! There must be something more that intimidated the mouse.'

Insig looked at the mouse, he then released a puff on death energy. He observed the reaction of the mouse. He saw that the mouse sensed something and grew irritable and nervous. It was as if the mouse sensed something dangerous. Insig's eyes widened at this sight.

'It must be the aura!'

Insig was excited at this discovery. He had an unconscious smile plastered in his face and his breathing unknowingly hastened. He then made a plan to hide the aura of death in the spear. He first made a spear of death energy, after that, he covered it with life energy. He then made a cycle referenced to the way he hid his death aura.(Chapter 5)

The spear he made was radiating a lively aura. But only he knew that it was 7/8 death energy and 1/8 life energy.

He opened his palm and released the spear. The mouse sensed a comfortable aura and looked eagerly at the spear. Seeing this, Insig smirked and threw the spear towards the rat.

The spear entered the mouse's body upon contact. Using his connection from his 'will' inside the magic spear, Insig closed his eyes to sense the spear. He 'saw' that the spear entered deep into the mouse's body unhindered, the life energy slowly diffused as it traveled towards the mouse's heart. The mouses let out an elated sound as it felt the flowing vitality within.

Upon reaching the heart, the spear slowly diffused and the death energy broke out, ravaging all the vitality within. The mouse suddenly stopped breathing as it was in wonderland, feeling the vitality flowing within.

The mouse's mana heart moved but was too late, the death energy had reached too deep within and reached the heart, killing the mouse. The mouse died without even knowing it. The death energy then slowly corrupted its body and all signs of life were gone. Its corpse has gone cold, its blood not flowing, its heart without a beat, and its eyes were lifeless.

Seeing this, Insig was happy that the test was successful. Insig felt slightly scared by how silent its death was. It didn't even feel any pain nor did it make any resistance.

But suddenly, a weird elation attacked his mind. Insig looked at the mouse and felt an unknown feeling crept up his heart. He suddenly felt an impulse and desire to consume and kill all living things. His hands unconsciously clenched and shivered while he bit his lips.

He instinctively wanted to hurt others. To spread death.

Just as this thought invaded his mind. his life mana heart moved instinctively and its aura burst out, negating the weird feeling within. Realizing what happened, Insig bursts out in a cold sweat. Insig remembered a line from the book he read, titled [Elements : Weaknesses and Strength].

The author said: [All elements release an aura that affects their surroundings based on their own rules. This means that the element of your mana heart can affect your thinking, attitudes, temperament, and body.]

When Insig read this, he thought about the flame element. People who hold the fire element tend to have an explosive temper.

Insig felt that the death aura must have somehow affected his mind. Causing him to develop an impulse to spread death energy.