A Skill Holder shouldn't be able to manipulate Ether without using the magical energy stored within their Mana Flame, but this new Skill Root I created actual broke that silent 'rule'.
I felt that my intimacy towards Light and Dark Ether had heightened through the Clockwork Radiance hovering above my hand, allowing me to manipulate all kinds of Ethers in a small 'territory' around my physical body effortlessly without needing any going through any specialised training!
I may not be able to learn Spell Circles to help manipulate Mana and Ether anymore now that I've I formed my Skill Roots. However, what I've gained as a result far exceeds what I've lost!
Although the area I could manipulate Ether wasn't that big, the precision of my Ether Control had risen. This in turn will definitely allow me to create more complex magical weaponry...!
I looked at the Warlock Hand I wore and used it to inject Mana into my physique. Then I observed as the Mana that returned to my body was split between my two Skill Roots: One storing the Attributed Mana into the Dark Mana within my flesh while the other half stored into the glowing sphere of psionic light above my palm.
I felt through my Clockwork Radiance that I could actually store Mana and Ether of all forms into it endlessly unlike my other Skill Root...!
I repeatedly injected Mana into my body absorbing the other Custom Spell I stored within it a few times in succession. That until my body could no longer hold anymore extra Mana.
I looked at the resplendent sphere above my hand and tried to return it to my body, but failed after experimenting a few times due to its Mana Density.
Not only was I unable to create a second Clockwork Radiance but I also couldn't return it where my Mana Flame had been previously. The only thing I can do is accept its existence.
From what I can tell, I COULD just waste some of the Light Mana within the sphere if I wanted to return it to its mist inactive stats... Even though that wouldn't be productive in any way...
I looked at the Molecular Sword once again and sighed. It was only after pondering for a good minute did try to use another Skill that seemed to originate from my subconscious mind.
[Variant Combo: Psionic Retrofit]
The sword in my hand shattered into numerous rays of energy and merged itself with the modern weaponry inside the box I had placed in front of me.
The pistol I had put back also flew into air along with the box as rays of Light Mana and Ether covered all the individual components I made for different weapons. The various modern guns and grenades I created with such hard work dismantled into tiny parts!
Well... it's not like I'm unable to understand the specifics of my own powers since Skill Roots worked like Innate Abilities. The only thing I'm not liking is... seeing all the weapons I took years of effort creating... suddenly being dismantled as if my diligence meant nothing... It tortured my weak heart to see the components this way~!
The parts that were hovering in the air sorted themselves into a thick wall of metallic and sometimes even synthetic plastic components, but it seems those parts weren't enough. I reluctantly took off my Warlock Hand after looking at the floating components in the air.
I covered Warlock Hand in the Light Attribute of my new Skill and joined the components of the modern era's hot weapons in ways people of Earth probably wouldn't be able to imagine!
After everything was set, I casually pointed at the mystical glove within the centre of the maelstrom of levitating components and sent my will into it.
The Self-Adjustment, Mana Charge, Mana Release and Spell Customisation Spell Circles that were embedded into it glowed lightly as they were extracted.
I looked at the Magic Circles with a pondering expression on my face as I gestured my hand. The four Spell Circles that were extracted from Warlock Hand and hovered before me.
I may not be an expert on drawing Spell Circles but I'm sure I could disassemble and reassemble what I've got using intuition. After all, mother would be disappointed if I couldn't...
This shouldn't be any different from before I reincarnated on Sphera, sitting at home all alone and playing with my collection of antique and modern guns.
After making up my mind, I stood up and looked through my drawer.
I think father gifted a book regarding Spell Circles structures a long time ago.
As I was looking through my things, the alarms I set up lightly chimed. This gave me no choice but to stop what was doing as I turned towards my door.
The some of bells I set up had already fell to the floor, but I didn't mind, I gestured my hand to cancel the Spell I used before retrieving all the bells.
"Big Brother, can I come in?" My little sister politely asked with a cute voice.
I looked at the components that were still floating in mid air and the book regarding Spell Circles in my hand for a moment with a conflicted expression.
However, it didn't take long for me to come to the decision that I didn't need to hide a 'normal event' like this. She isn't the type to spill secrets anyway.
And yeah, I said 'normal'. There were a lot of supernatural things seem to be just a regular occurrence in a magical world like this. That's why I casually walked over to my room's door and opened it, only to see something shocking! Unlike usual, Merilin wasn't wearing her adorable-looking maid clothes but instead wore a luxurious mystic robe fitted with a unique crest!
Why is she dressed up? Meh, it doesn't matter. It's just a change of clothes...
"You look nice in that." I complimented since it was the natural thing to do.
"Thank you." Merilin blushed happily.
She exclaimed in surprise after walking in. She then looked towards the floating components, the glowing Sphere of light, and the Spell Circles I extracted from Warlock Hand in midair. There seemed to be stars in her eyes as she stepped closer to them.
"Wow~ What are those things? Isn't that the present Dad gave you?" She asked curiously as she poked at the glove but I stopped her before she caused an explosion. Some of the materials in the air couldn't be touched due to their sheer volatile nature.
Why is that my luminous sphere of Light Mana or the marbles of mimicked elemental attributes floating around me didn't surprise her? This is weird...
I don't know whether I should be happy or sad... It's my Skill Root after all! I might not show off much but I like when others praise my magical skills!
"Mother was expecting Father to buy me something and Father was expecting Mother to buy me a gift. My 'real' present will probably be gifted later..." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Then who bought you that?" She asked in confusion like always. I'm probably the only person in the world who is so open with her when it comes to 'secrets' I usually kept to myself.
This wasn't due to me being taught to never lie to my siblings... The reason I would even think of telling her anything was because my cared for her.
"Mark did of course! Although he looks like a fool on the outside, it seems on the inside... He's actually really a nice guy...! Yeah..." Actually, after seeing that new side of him back then... I don't exactly know anymore... It now almost feels like he's always hiding secrets...
"Brother, you're staring to act strangely again. I didn't know you could actually praise..." She looked at me in shock before making expression of confusion.
"I praise you a lot, don't I?" I decided to use my ultimate 'bending rivers to save a nation' technique to change the subject. Taste one of my greatest skills!
"But that's just me, I'm a special girl so you HAVE praise me a lot~" She joked.
An expectant light arose within her eyes as she stared at me. It seemed as if she has worked hard to gain something in order to gain my sincere praise.
"You've been admitted to a Magic Academy?" I asked as I finally recognised the crest, which had a flying dragon engraved onto her little robes.
"They said I'm a really smart girl! Mom and Dad looked really, really happy for me~!" She fiddled with her fingers while practically glowing in content.
"Good girl!" I unhesitatingly praised without holding back and rubbed her little head. A proud giggle left her lips as she pridefully showed off her talent!
"You've made grandmother proud." I laughed with similar pride in my heart.
Our eccentric grandmother was considered to be stronger than even the Duke of the Swordwick Household! I don't know if it's true or not but I've heard she was awarded the title of an Archmage due to her extremely high mastery over Spells and Ether Control.
The reason I'm unable to figure out if the Duke is stronger than her or not is because there seemed to be something about his Skill Root that makes me feel as if he's hiding his trump cards...
Ha! What am I thinking? Even if the Duke is strong, there's no way he's stronger than my grandmother! She's a monster who is on an entirely different level from a mere Noble like the Duke!
"Big Brother, what are you doing?" She finally asked. It seemed she wasn't too surprised with my ability to make things levitate. Now that I think about it... It's probably not surprising considering how many Spells I had at my disposal... A 'mere' Levitation Spell is nothing in my talented sister's eyes...
Has she already forgotten that only C Rank Magical Talents and above could use Levitation Spells? Even the Weightless Breath Wind Art couldn't allow me to fly in the air telekinetically!
"I'm upgrading my Warlock Hand." It wasn't like I was destroying Mark's memento so I wasn't embarrassed to reveal my intentions. It's not like I couldn't put it back together later...
'Upgrading...?' Her eyes seemed to ask as she looked at the floating Spell Circles in the air, not understanding how I'd do so. I smiled at her while showing her the book in my hand.
"From what I read from this book father gave me, Spell Circles are hard to understand and inscribe so it should be impossible to upgrade my item through normal means. However. my method of upgrading is a little different from the what is usually done by Magic Blacksmiths." I pointed at the the illustration on the page that explained the basics of Spell Circles and started to explain my Skill Root's special effects.
She probably doesn't know much about Spell Circles yet so I went over the basics to make sure the explanation I was giving on my new Skill was perfect.
"There are two components that create a Spell Circle, the Inner Spell and Outer Circle. For magicians, an Outer Circle is the foundation while the Inner Spell is the seed implanted into it." As I spoke to there, I pointed at the Spell Circles before poking the four of them.
Once I did so, the the Spell Circles disassembled into two pieces in the air.
"Wow~ Big Brother is so awesome! Can you teach me that Spell as well?" She said with eyes as bright as the sun. My mouth opened, but I didn't know how to respond to her high expectations
I already knew that she'll be disappointed by my answer...!
"There's something I want to ask about first." I spammed 'blending rivers to save a nation' since there was no reason not to! I don't want her to barrage me with questions after all...
"Please do~" Merilin said excitedly as she thought of my 'upgrading magic'.
"You're not going to be attending the Drakeyol Kingdom's Magic Academy for now, right? Why have they made a uniform for you?" My smile vanished as I thought it this important fact.
"I'm going to be attending the Magic Academy!" Although these words sounded cute when she spoke. That didn't change the fact that I was extremely agitated by her response!
Too many things have happened to me today and this was the last straw that broke the camel's back.... There's no way I wouldn't believe there's some motive behind this as well...!
The fear caused by figuring out that I was under brainwashing previously kicked in as my face distorted. The result was the corner of my lips uncontrollably twitched in response!