It took him a while, but after four attempts, each time going through the process of altering the spell in the magic abyss and getting more used to the pressure. Eldrian finally succeeded.

As soon as he managed to bring the last pathway down all the pressure on him disappeared. Allowing him to relax and looked at the changed spell. Relieved, and finding nothing wrong Eldrian left the magic abyss. As soon as he did he was so shocked that he immediately lost control of the spell.

Instead of seeing the grassland and the animals grazing nearby, his vision had been bombarded by a colorful mist of every color. Shaking his head Eldrian sighed as he thought he had to go through that again, however he found that he had gotten a system message.

One which made his dislike of the system lessen just a little bit.

[Player has modified a spell. Please cast the spell two more times to confirm creation and gain ownership over this spell.]

[Spell Type: Examination]

[Spell Tier: 2]

Okay, that makes going through the process again worth it. Eldrian thought as he first tried to simply cast the spell. For some reason this did not work, nothing happened when he did this and it felt like he was just thinking, not casting.

For the next hour, he tried casting the spell two more times, failing a couple of times when trying to modify the module. Each time he lost focus upon leaving the magic abyss, the drastic change in the environment making his focus slip. Luckily these still counted.

Finally, he succeeded and the system message prompted again, giving him some guidance on how to proceed.

[Spell successfully recorded, player can choose to name it. Note, the spell is not unique and others in the world also have access to it.]

[Please choose the name of the spell.]

Looking at the notification and the one before Eldrian thought to keep it simple. As such he quickly inputted Mana Examination as the name.

[Spell names: Mana Examination]

[A rudimentary spell that allows its caster to see the world of magic. Bringing the invisible into vision.]

[Note: Further fine-tuning is possible]

[Further note: Unlike the spell this was derived from, this spell can't show the mana flow inside of people. Only that in nature.]

Eldrian was quite surprised to find the system also adding a picture of the spell module of Mana Examination beneath all the text. He found this addition quite nice, and he also found that there was even a method of sharing this if he wanted to.

Finished looking at the report and just as Eldrian wanted to test out if he could cast it normally, he got another system notification.

[Player has been given the title: Modifier]

[The Modifier title will greatly increase the opinion of researchers and craftsmen. It is proof of your creativity and talent.]

[Titles are optional additions that players can choose to make visible. Doing so will allow others to see all your titles when using Observe on you.]

[Reward for gaining the Modifier title is 2 levels.]

That's a nice bonus. Eldrian thought, looking at his stats. The fact that he was now level 20 brought a smile to his face. While this wouldn't even put him in the top 100 of the entire game, it did do so for the empire of Floria. That simple achievement just made him feel much better about things.

Not to mention having actually succeeded in altering the spell which also made him feel filled with pride.

He was extremely curious to try it out. However, before he could he was surprised again by the system. It sent out a worldwide announcement, leaving Eldrian flabbergasted as he didn't know this game did that sort of thing.

[Player, Haru, has succeeded in successfully and fully modifying a spell; before Tier 5. As a reward his talent has been brought to the attention of the gods. Making him a target for nurturing for Kalos races, and a target to kill and snub out for the Kako races.]

What the hell? Eldrian questioned as he read through the notification, not at all happy about what it said. At first he had thought there would at least be another reward like in other games, and while they're technically was a reward, he felt more worried about the fact that he was now a target.

Dammit, why did it have to be shared? And how the hell was it shared? Is it the system or are the other AI just aware of things? Eldrian wondered, quickly receiving messages from the few friends he had added.

Before he could even reply to them he was shocked by another system notification.

[Player should take care. While currently, your importance in being killed for the Kako races is quite low, they will still send elite demons after you. Some of whom can use soul attacks which can severely injure your avatar.]

Fucking hell, that isn't something I want to hear. Eldrian felt like cursing this development, receiving another message before he even could.

[Due to your special method of growth, the danger is even greater. Eldrian, you are advised to not do anything dangerous, as soul attacks can influence you in reality.]

The fuck... Eldrian simply stared at the message for nearly a minute before coming too. Only to be shocked again when he reread it and realized for once he wasn't addressed as Player or User, no the system actually used his freaking real name.

What the actual hell? I need to ask Joren what that is about. Eldrian quickly thought, greatly disturbed by that part.

It took him a couple of minutes to recover, during which he opened the messages he had gotten. They were mostly just congratulations, with everyone making it clear he was going to need to explain when they met up later.

Elizabeth though again tried to rope Eldrian into joining her guild, she knew that just having Eldrian in their guild would immensely increase their prestige now. They might even directly start getting custom quests.

After replying, and as Eldrian wanted to get back to practice he found that he had another system message. Cursing at the sight he opened it with trepidation, finding his fear actually well placed.

[Player has reached level twenty, death penalty now increased to three levels. Quest XP also increased (Only affects F to C-ranked quests), this increase is permanent.]

Goddamit! Eldrian cursed, recovering after a moment as he realized this increase in the death penalty wasn't new. Only receiving a notification was. Entering the double digits, it had also increased from losing one level to two. Still, he didn't like this news.

Eldrian was slightly curious what the increase was about, but he had no quest that low ranked. Nelida's journey was the only quest he had gotten thus far that would have been affected, so Eldrian didn't much care for the increase. The penalty was a much bigger problem, but nothing compared to the previous system message.

Sighing after looking at that message again, knowing that he was going to be hunted AND the death penalty was now much worse, did not make Eldrian feel any better.

Again it took him a couple of minutes to calm his mind, finally returning his attention to practicing. Knowing that more than ever he needed to grow stronger, quickly. Envisioning the spell module of Mana Examination in his head, Eldrian failed again, leaving him stumped.

Not yet wanting to go through all the effort in the magic abyss. Eldrian quickly headed to the list of spells he had learned, which the system kept for him. Pulling up Mana Examination he looked at the text again, and then the spell module. As he stared at it his eyes flew wide open as he realized that the mana flow was indicated in this spell module.

That's it, that's why I have been failing. I forgot about the fact that my mana has to enter and flow inside the module in a specific way! Extremely happy Eldrian quickly envisioned the spell module again, quickly sending his mana into it in the way the system had shown him.

As he did his vision suddenly became obscured by mists of varying colors. The most common mist was a soft white one, with a white-green following close behind and then blue and red following after. While the sudden change in his sight was shocking, Eldrian was prepared for it. It was also much easier to keep his focus compared to when he left the magic abyss.

As such he succeeded in fully using the spell for the first time. Marveling at all the mist-like substances filling the air, Eldrian got the crazy idea of wondering what would happen if he could control it all. Though he quickly let that idea die down as he still didn't even fully know how to control his own mana.

"Let's see what happens when I cast other spells," Eldrian mumbled, upset that he wouldn't be able to use any Tier 2 spells. In fact, he would only be able to use spells he was extremely used to. Since he had to keep the spell module of Mana Examination constantly in his mind.

This was actually much harder than he thought, after a few failures he decided to simply see what happened if he used Tier 0 spells. Dual casting Mana Examination and a Tier 1 spell proved too difficult for him.

Even Frost Needle, which Eldrian could normally cast without thinking, resulted in his focus slipping just enough for Mana Examination to stop working. But Floga and Nidia, which took but a single thought, was simple enough.

Casting the first Eldrian wondered at the red mist moving from his hand and forming the flame he was all too used to. During this most of the blue mist near the flame retreated, while the close by red mist was absorbed by the flame.