Chapter 36: First tier spells

Mikaela felt tired and depressed. His goal of being manly was getting further and further away. Somehow, even his body failed to be manly. 

He was slender, his muscles tightened making him leaner. His slightly flat stomach hardened and formed some muscle lines.

With a down face, he walked out of his room and went out to practice. His heart pulsed more due to hesitation and nervousness. On the way, he swiftly wrapped his hands with bandaging cloth.

He found his training spot outside his yard and looked out at the snow-covered field he hadn't seen in a while. The morning breeze cooled his mind as he took a deep breath.

…

"Think about the feeling when you cast the spell and try to access your Circle Void."

This was the magic practice Lucien had been adhering to the past few days. His daily assignment.

With all the events taking place and hearing about Mikaela's suffering, he felt like he was somewhat lucky to be a mage. At least, he didn't have to go through such a torturing bath.

He suffered in another form regardless, he had to bleed his ears listening to Mikaela's endless complaints over trivial matters.

Lucien understood that Mikaela's suffering was due to his improvement with the sword. With that as motivation, he dedicated his full effort to his magic study.

He would leave his study room only when there were lessons with his Mom, meals, potty duties, and sleep hours. The rest of the day, he would spend time holed up in his room.

The latter half of the assignment was on hold. No matter how he tried, he could not access his Circle Void.

He only ever saw the mysterious beautiful void when he was advancing. 

Lucien didn't understand how to access his Circle Void when he couldn't understand what it was. After all, lessons on it were postponed until after he could access his Circle space.

It was a predicament he didn't know how to go about. No book he read on taught him any of this. He felt stranded on an island with no way out.

Lucien's first improvement, was his mana control his mana when spellcasting. He had finally grasped a gauge of how much mana was enough when casting and found efficient control of it. 

His spell-casting range had increased as well. He could cast a spell ten steps away. He could put his theory to the knowledge of the spells he had learned recently to practice.

Spells such as Blink, Daze, Darkness, and several others. Including Freeze, these were exclusively First Tier spells.

Blink was a spell able to move him to another spot very quickly. It was like an instance acceleration and one had to be in motion when casting it. It would move you in the direction you were facing in a straight line for two meters. At least, Lucien's limit was two meters.

He bumped into walls several times trying to master this spell. He could roughly control the distance given how much mana he poured into the spell. Less mana and he could move a meter at most. With more mana, he could go beyond the two-meter threshold but his body would face a backrush.

In theory, he could move endlessly if he poured mana endlessly, but there was a limitation of the body. His body could only endure a split second of that fast disposition.

Daze was a weaker version of the Hypnosis spell. It could put the target in a trance-like state for a few seconds depending on the level of resistance. It could be completely nullified if one had high mental power and resistance. The spell had to be cast on oneself while looking at the target. That eye contact brought the spell into effect. It was a convenient spell in combat but the drawback was its high mana cost. 

His third learned spell was Darkness, the counterpart of the Light spell. Lucien wondered why the Light spell could be cast before the First Circle while the Darkness spell could only be cast at the First Circle. 

Lucien understood it only after he got to the First Circle. Light, like Ether, was the source of things. The basic of basic elements. Darkness on the other side was born of light. It was a secondary element.

Regardless it was a founding element. One of the first elements to come into existence. 

While light was easy to understand and see, darkness was much harder to comprehend. There were many variations of light, it was uncertain what one could call complete darkness. It gave one the familiarity with death, a sinister and dark concept.

Lucien cast this countless times before he saw a silver lining of success. The secret didn't lie in the amount of mana or the perfection of the symbol but in the interaction of this spell with nature. Nature consciously negated darkness since it caused death and withering. It was a given.

Darkness naturally shadowed light. 

He sat down having memories of the symbol heart he closed his eyes. After figuring out the issue was interacting with mana, he needed to concentrate more on his mana and the latter part of the spell. He used his wand to draw the symbol,

अंधेरा

It wasn't complicated. Now after the first step, he proceeded to say the activation.

"Buio!"

A gentle wave of mana flowed from his body to symbol. The symbol lit up and began merging with the surroundings. 

Lucien felt his mana trying to suck everything in the surroundings. It formed something like a vortex sucking all light particles in the air. An area of absolute darkness formed with no light, it was still and serene, calming, and very quiet.

Lucien carefully opened his eyes and saw a small dark vortex swallowing any light that came close by. He felt like he had understood this spell slightly more. 

It was also the first time he cast it successfully. He was overjoyed. He wanted to brag about it but he understood after countless practice sessions that the probability of casting the spell twice in a row was harder than other elemental spells. 

Before going forward and practicing again, he sat quietly and contemplated the feeling. He always remembered the assignment his father had left him with.

AN! Fun Fact - The spell symbol and activation is the name of the spell translated in different variations of languages. Quiz:// Who can guess what language is used in the above spell?

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