Chapter 125: Spellwork

When Ciaran woke up he felt great. His power hadn't risen as much as before, but at least this time he didn't feel as if someone had ripped him up just to stitch him back together again. He checked his body and soul and found out they were fully recovered, as always his Master never disappointed… when it came to healing.

The biggest difference was in his connection to his Storm, it had deepened, even if only with his body. Ciaran could feel the feisty element coursing through his veins, even without him calling it. It was a weird change, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

He got up and found his body felt lighter than before. Then he tried infusing his body with the Storm. It came close and even became an external coating for the boy, but it once again refused to merge fully with him.

"Well, at least there is progress. " He said. As he tried to take flight. That was one of the few of his old abilities that he had managed to keep.

His flight was much faster, and with the Storm his 'Shifting' was different. If before it was quiet and deadly, now it was fast and forceful. His previous fighting style was one of a deadly hunter, waiting in the dark for his prey to make a mistake.

Now he was more of a diver, rushing down his enemies with speed and brutality. If there was one thing he could ascertain about his new self, it was that he was no longer going to be able to control every fight.

"Hey, do you think I can continue to fight like I used to or not?" He asked the nothingness."

"Come on guys, I know you are there, I can feel you're… You know what, I am talking to my Storm." He said, realizing what the winds were telling him.

His scouting abilities had also gone down, but in this particular case, he was thankful for his magical blindness.

After about fifteen minutes the dryads were back. Verdania had a massive grin on her face. She was almost shining with positive energy that Ciaran could swear made the local flowers bloom.

Eleftherios on the other hand had an expressionless face and was avoiding the boy's eyes like the plague.

Before they could speak he rushed at them, and shook his big sister's hand.

"I don't understand, and I don't care. Congratulations, on making the prude open up. Tell me about the details when we have more time. And no, conventional morality does not apply to me, I don't care about it, and I support you in your happiness. We are moving on." He said, without letting them talk about it.

He loved them, but they sucked at explaining complicated stuff like this, and he was even worse at comprehending them. It was much better to leave explanations for later.

"So, ah, you will need to get used to the changes, before we can, you know," Eleftherios said, glad to be done with the subject.

"Before we can cut you again, is what he wants to say. But don't worry, I believe in about a month you will be ready for another treatment. In the meanwhile please continue to integrate the Storm with your whole existence, and I do mean all of it, kid. That includes your mind." She said with a giggle.

Ciaran was honestly creeped out by seeing her so giddy, but he was happy for them.

"Ok, please give me tips on how to achieve your success Sis, I believe I will have similar problems in the future."

Eleftherios was startled, but Verdania just grabbed his hand with hers and nodded affectionately. Then she teleported them back to the mountain cave where he lived with his

roommates, and left.

The boy was once again on his own. He was fed, he was healthy and had a month before he had to kill another Mage. Going for another kill right now would be contra-productive.

If he killed a Mage it would be a waste. If he killed non-mages, the Hunters would be on high alert. As such he decided to just chill out and focus on his magic.

The last fight might have been short, but it showed him a myriad of flaws he had to work on. For one, the spells he had on hand were pitifully few. He had plenty of Wind and Water spells, but only three Storm spells.

Shift, which he just reworked from a similar Wind spell, his flying, which was a bunch of minor spells put together, and Storm Sphear, which was his only real spell.

He could use his Storm in multiple ways, both offensively and defensively, but that wasn't going to be enough against real opponents.

He had plenty of mobility, and his stealth was, even after his recent changes, decent enough. His defence and single target damage however were subpar at best. He had plenty of area of effect damage, but no way to focus it all on one opponent.

It had been more than obvious when he unleashed his spells on the Nature Mage and devastated the whole area around him.

He pondered what he could create with his element, and chose the lazy way out. Rather than starting from scratch, he would recycle one of his old spells, the icicle barrage.

There was more to a Storm than strong winds, it was usually accompanied by heavy rain, snow, or hail. And until now Ciaran had neglected to implement them into his repertoire. Of course, he also considered lightning, he still remembered the roaring thunders in his soul when he tried to swallow Dyrta's Storm.

It was strong, fast, and most importantly, a single target. And yet, it was not one of his elements. It would take too long to incorporate it into his fighting style, so he did the only thing he could and gave up on it.

The next few days were spent in constant practice. The Barrage was a spell that looked chaotic but required phenomenal levels of control. And he had next to none when he used it with his Storm. He wanted to create a few tornados, which would propel the icicles at his enemy. That boosted their speed and penetrative power to a staggering amount, but out of a few thousand projectiles, only a few hundred hit the mark.

The rest were either slightly off, or not even close. He tried and tried, but finally, he learned that it wasn't about control. If he split his focus and attacked multiple targets, he only had a few dozen icicles miss. His control was just as good as ever, it was just he had once again, created a spell to deal with multiple enemies.

It would still do damage, but if he had to fight someone like Rayon, who could ignore low-damage attacks, he would be fresh out of luck.

He was tempted to ask the bear for healing again but opted out of it. He still remembered its last advice.

"Wait, the bear, that's it!" He said, his eyes shining.

He switched the ice, with snow, and his Storm became much colder. It would not kill an opponent as sturdy as Rayon, but it would still slow him down a lot.

'And there is also this.' He thought as he made the frosty snow winds turn into scorching hot winds carrying scalding water. The drastic temperature change would lower the defense of any Warrior.

It was not what he wanted, but that's all he had right now, and he decided to work hard on improving his spells for the next month.

He once again had a strict schedule. After five days, of constant practice, then he would go back south to hunt for food, then twenty hours of sleep, rinse and repeat. His body was more than strong enough to handle that kind of stress, as long as he allowed himself two hours of sleep each night.

He also wanted to build up his connection with his Storm, so whenever he practiced, he talked to it.

'How would you do this?'

'Do you think we would look cool doing that?'

'Would this be enough to kill a Rank Five?'

Question after question the boy asked, and he found himself answering along with the Storm. At first, it was the only one answering, but after the second week, their voices began to merge.

He thought it was a normal thing for a Mage, but the bear and the bats found it very interesting. That was a thing that only happened in the mid realms or the mid ranks. It wasn't anything too rare for a Mage to achieve, but it wasn't that common either.

With steady progress, the boy had achieved almost nothing this month. He made progress, but what he was working on, were four different projects, and all of them required a lot of time invested in them to be completed.

He was more than a little grumpy when he left his cave to take out his frustrations, on the first fool, who crossed his path.