Ignoring the completed rune circle carving that spread all over the cave's floor, Rino looked at the tree in the centre and the branches he harvested. They would make a good rune plate base, but he lacked the dew needed for it.

Sighing, Rino decided to get one of his shadow summons to collect dew for him instead. He wasn't going to go out under this ridiculous afternoon sun to find dew. Heck, would morning dew even be around in the afternoon with the sun as hot as this?

He spent so long carving the rune circle that he missed his chance to collect what he needed for the runes.

Then, Rino paused. He checked his side quest once more. Nowhere did it state that Rino had to create low-levelled runes. Low-level runes were drawn by mana-less people as a medium to borrow the power of elements. For magicians, most of them used medium-level runes that were imbued with mana. Rino considered making medium-level runes instead. He did not have the rarer materials required to craft any higher level runes at this moment. It did not really matter as the runes served as an elemental sample and placeholder for this rune circle.

From above, the Gods watched Rino slice the magic branches with water magic, fashioning them into a hexagonal rune. This was a very familiar step, and the Gods relaxed when they saw the common rune language appear on these wooden plates. It was a universal symbol for air, water, earth, wind, light, and dark.

For now, these were simply carved wood with rune symbols. It did nothing, and Rino left them this way, carrying the rune plates over to the spot he created for them within his complicated rune circle.

The Gods observed curiously as the lich placed them in their smaller circles within the larger rune circle around the tree.

Rino walked back to the centre of the space near the magic tree and cancelled his nature magic supplement. The magic tree sapling sparkled weakly when the magic was cut. It also stopped growing new branches and leaves, twinkling feebly in the dark cave as Rino chanted.

The spell that Rino was chanting was very long. Although it was a language that the Gods could understand, they still could not identify what it was. Rino switched from one language to another, confusing even the oldest God by the reflecting pond. Was there a mage who chanted in more than one spell language?

Then again, this rune circle was written in more than one language. Perhaps this was the right way to prepare the activation.

"Wasser!"

The water rune lit up and pulsed with life at the activation command. The section of carvings that Rino created slowly glowed as if coming to life as mana poured into the circle, trickling from the centre to the end of the circle following a single path drawn like a maze towards the water rune plate.

"Ather!"

The second part of this circle lit up slowly as the second elemental rune plate pulsed to life. Rino continued pouring mana and forcing his shadows to create more. He finally understood why this was only possible in theory in his previous life. No mage could handle this alone. He needed an entire convent of magicians to perform this ritual.

"Erde!"

As the third elemental rune plate awakened, Rino felt the ground tremble a little beneath him. This was only half the circle activated, but already, the pressure in the atmosphere was starting to get a little too heavy for weaker monsters to approach. Rino hoped that he could hold on until the end of this spell.

"Feuer!"

His best element surged from his bones, and Rino bit back a groan to maintain the mana this hungry elemental rune drew. Now that the four basic elemental runes were active, Rino took a deep breath to hold the mana supply to this circle steady. The last thing he wanted was for the elements to clash and cause the spell to fail.

Nothing happened for three minutes, and the Gods watching RIno from above started rooting for him as Rino struggled to control the conflicting elements in the circle. Only light and dark elemental rune plates were unactivated, and the Gods wondered which element Rino would attempt to awaken first. Having all six elements to harmonise was something unheard of for mortals. Even for Gods, only a few have true mastery over every element.

Stephanie grimaced when Rino awakened the light elemental rune first. The circle flashed wildly, and Rino stumbled under the pressure of holding the circle up. He did not wait for the circle to stabilise itself before he called for darkness to come forth.

"Dunkelheit!"

The circle lit up fully, and now, it was clearer to see how RIno did not stick to the boring shape. There was a hexagonal pattern on the floor now that every element was activated. The pressure in the cave was so thick that Rino struggled to stand tall. His knees were bent in an effort to stand while his elbows were bowed, unable to support the weight of his boney arms.

With light and dark elements introduced to the circle, the two elements battled fiercely for control despite the magician's summons. Their fight inspired the other elements to follow their example, and Rino felt like he was going crazy in this hexa-elemental battle.

With so much mana stored in this array and still demanding more, Rino wondered if he miscalculated something somewhere. The shadow army was producing more mana now out of fear from this insane pressure, but it was nowhere near enough to keep up with the demands of this special array. Rino looked at the space rock by the magic tree sapling as it pulsed calmly. This mana battery was a terribly greedy little thing!

The magic tree started losing its leaves, and Rino became worried. Why was this tree withering?! Was it similar to the concept of withering under too much fertiliser? Fronzo told him about it briefly before, but Rino paid little attention to those words until now. Were all his efforts in vain?

Then, something strange happened. Rino saw how the tree that lost its leaves started to glow as new branches grew in every direction. The branches were alive, and although they moved slowly, they managed to embrace that space rock and grow around it protectively like a cradle. In no time at all, Rino saw how the space rock became part of this magic tree.

His magic circle was draining him dry, and Rino thought about his depressing memories to press on. He could see now how the magic tree was beginning to grow new leaves. It looked less like a sapling and more like a young tree now with the space rock embedded in its trunk. He needed just a little more!

As the magic tree slowed its growth, Rino felt the battle between the six elements reaching a conclusion as if they were exhausted. He had no idea how long he had been standing here, maintaining the circle, but when the circle finally stopped demanding mana from him, Rino fell to the ground.

The birth of the world's very first hexa-elemental mana tree was beautiful in all its glory. Too bad, rino was not able to admire it for longer as his vision blanked on him.