The night sky grayed. Soren opened his eye and ended his meditation. He stretched his stiff body; a groan escaped him. He was craving a hot cup of cocoa. He had the ingredients in the kitchen.

Wan!

Wan!

Argus woke up too. He trotted after Soren.

“Hot or Cold?” Soren asked after picking him up and putting him on the kitchen slab.

Wan!

“It’s getting chilly lately. Drink hot.”

Wan!

Wan!

“Fine, fine. Just sit there and don’t move around.” He brewed a cup of hot cocoa for himself. And stirred a cold choco for Argus.

…….

He sipped his drink on the second-floor balcony. The sounds from the battlefield resonated once again. The green lush mountains in the distance looked serene. But they sounded chaotic. The vultures roamed the sky. Their ecstatic cries carried a somber truth. They were having a banquet. The war fed them well.

A crow cawed on his railing. Its head tilted, it stared at Soren with its black beads. Soren stared back and took a sip. But his mind was somewhere else. Thoughts about his Defensive Spell raced through his head. He didn’t want to visit the battlefield for now. His battles yesterday, they taught him a lesson. He wanted to develop his spell before going there again.

He already had enough contribution points too. He could finish it before the meeting tonight.

“Come up,” he said. His voice reached Hamish in the front yard. A whisper in his ear. Hamish flinched. The maids looked at him, confused.

“Yes, Sir.” Hamish bowed towards the balcony. The servants noticed it and copied him. He rushed towards the door. Soren let him enter the protective cover. He took his shoes off and came up the stairs.

“Go to the administrative building. It’s the one where we first went to after arriving in the town. Buy what’s written here. Use this ring. Just hand these over, they’ll know what to do.” He handed his ring and his communicator to Hamish. The crow flapped his wings away.

“Yes, Sir,” he said. He pocketed the items, bowed again, and went out.

…….

Half an hour later.

Hamish came back. He brought what Soren asked for. The information cost 450 points.

Soren waved him away and closed the door to his modified cultivation room. He sat, cross-legged, and checked the memory sphere. He cast his spell on it. Had Isaac scan it too. The result came back negative; the sphere was good.

He closed his eye and initiated the transfer.

He wanted his spell to be powerful. Yet, he wanted it flexible too. He’d thought about using ‘Vornea’ with it. Like his . He created a rough sketch and already finalized the spell formation. It worked and performed as he wished. Isaac confirmed it with his simulations too. But a problem arose there. ‘Vornea’ wasn’t autonomous; he needed to keep it active. The spell would tax him as a result. He couldn’t maintain it for long.

His had a similar problem. He had to adjust its movements before casting. It was far from his imagined spell. Yet, it was an offensive spell and had limited usage. But the defensive spell differed. He couldn’t handle it the same way.

His ‘Vornea’ was still in its basic form. This chained him down. He had high expectations from this, but it was a matter of the future.

So, he chose an alternative for his defensive spell. ‘Vornea’ was still its pivotal component. But he wanted to study a certain Bloodline Talent to make his spell truly autonomous. It was the homing beam attack. Soren suffered from it back in Eastwood. This attack acted on its own; that Initiator didn’t control it.

He already used little bits of it for his and his spell improved. But it wasn’t enough, far from it actually. The data came from the analysis of residue. It couldn’t compare to the detailed information.

Those little bits couldn’t improve his spell any further. It was the same with his defensive spell.

So, he bought the detailed one from the rewards list.

“Isaac, sort them out. And find the one I am looking for.”

“Understood, Master.”

“Also, look for other Bloodline Talents in the list that has a similar feature.”

…….

He spent about eight-nine hours and studied the talents in detail. Good news—he found more Bloodline Talents with similar effects.

He applied this knowledge. Scrapped the previous spell formation and developed a new one. Part by part the spell formation cleared up. One last stroke and he finished it.

“Isaac, start the simulation,” he said.

“Yes, Master.”

Seconds ticked by. Soren stared at the simulation screen. He held his breath, his fists clenched. He worked too hard for his; spent so much time. It would dent his plans if he didn’t succeed.

But he did. The simulation ended with a positive result. The spell succeeded.

He heaved a sigh of relief. His shoulders loosened, his back hunched. A bright grin crept upon his face.

He succeeded, he finally did it.

After a moment of elation, he ordered Isaac to run the simulation again. And again, and again; several times. He got positive results every time. His grin widened with each success.

It was now time.

[Initiating Spell Creation]

[Constructing the Spell Formation]

[.…]

[….]

[….]

[….]

[Spell Formation Finalized]

[Spell Creation Complete: New Spell Registered]

The notifications differed from his last two spells: and .

Was it because he created the spell formation from the scratch? he thought. He let the system create it for . And his came from his .

“Isaac, name it ‘Aegis’.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Aegis: A Defense Spell consisting of two elements. Ice and Darkness. Upon successful cast, the spell will create an orb that will revolve around the caster in its idle state. With its autonomous nature, the orb will only react to an attack that can harm the caster. From there, the orb will create a two-layered defense with a wall of ice on the inside. And a corrosive layer made of the Darkness Element on the outside. The orb’s reaction time will depend on the caster’s ‘Spirit’ stat. The defensive prowess of the spell will depend on the caster’s ‘Intelligence’ stat. The duration of the spell will depend on the caster’s proficiency level of the spell. Mana Cost – High.”

The spell registered in his ‘Innate Spells’ list.

Aegis!

He cast it.

A small black-white orb materialized in front of him. It hovered and revolved around him. He admired the scene; let it revolve for a few seconds. He touched it, poked it, flicked it, played with it. The grin never left him. He reverted to a child.

“Master….”

“I know,” he coughed and said. He began his experiments and noted down all its details. He wasn’t playing anymore but still enjoyed the process.

……

He spent an hour and understood what he could about the spell—given his current environment.

First part—the spell was indeed autonomous. But he could control it; to the core, every aspect. He expected this much though. A spell that its caster couldn’t control didn’t deserve the name ‘spell’. Regardless of whether it was autonomous or not. A caster could lack control over his spells. But it would be due to his inability, not the other way around.

Next part—he checked the spell’s durability. More like the concaved defensive wall’s durability. And it lived up to his anticipation. Its defensive strength surpassed his —the strongest defensive spell in his arsenal. Though he couldn’t do a live test right now, he was confident it could handle most attacks. And this was only the inner ice wall. He had yet to check the outer dark layer made of the Darkness Element; it needed live combat. The total defense would include its corrosive effect. Its effect made a hybrid; an offensive defensive spell.

Soren moved on to the spell’s flexibility. The black-white orb acted as the caster’s proxy. It performed well on this test; more than good enough to pass his bare minimum. The spell allowed him free movement. It didn’t hinder him in any way. Even after it cast the wall, Soren could still leave the area. And the orb followed him, ready to cast another.

Duration of the spell. This was a simple test. Soren cast the spell. And waited for it to terminate on its own. About ten minutes, the orb dispersed into motes of black-white light. Its duration would increase with his mastery level. And each level would add another ten, he speculated. But it was ten minutes for now. He calculated it with its idle state though. It didn’t reflect real-life situations. Once attacked, it would cast the wall and spend the stored Mana. Soren checked that too. The decrement came out to be one minute for each cast. The orb could cast ten walls at max, based on Soren’s current mastery level.

It's reaction time. Soren couldn’t test it right now either. As was the case with the dark layer, his surrounding wasn’t suitable for live combat.

And so, he finished his tests. But there was still some time left for the meeting. Thus, he practiced the spell, got used to it, changed his maneuvers, adapted his fighting style, mixed it in his arsenal. And the meeting time arrived.

Status: Healthy

Rank 1: Layer 1 [CP - 0%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 7.94

Agility: 9.71 (+1.90)

Vitality: 17.73

Intelligence: 21.26 (+7.20)

Spirit: 20.29 (+8.45)

Resistance: 9.11 (+2.35)

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 3/10

Innate Spells: 20

Innate Skills/Bloodline Talents: 7

Water Bubbles [7/7] – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Snow Blades [5/5] – Level 9/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Chakra [6/6] – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Create Undead: Low Tier Ⅱ – Level 7/15. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 1]

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Dark Raven – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Barrage – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dead Rising – Level 7/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Acid Needles – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Shadow Prison – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Frost Domain – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Elemental Sense – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dark Gravity – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Aegis – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – High. [Rank 1]

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Withering Wood – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Soul Rend – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Spikes – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Soul Search – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 1]

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Ice Wall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Waterball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Rainfall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Spark – Level 10/10. Mana cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Fireball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Space Snatcher – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 0]

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Mana Manipulation – Level 7/15

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Potioneering [Rank 1] – Level 1/15.

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Powered Vision – Level --/--

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Vornea: Basic Form – Level --/--

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Devour: First Evolution – Level --/--

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Second Intelligence – Level --/--

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Shadow Steps – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Equipment: Common Clothes; Magic Staff – Moonshard; Spirit-Pendant; Snake-Earring; Spirit-Ring; Resistance-Ring; Caster’s Bracelet; Agility-Boots; Dagger; Mana Touch – Gloves; White Ring [War Accessory] – 59.

Storage Pearl: Common Clothes; Hunter I.D; Mask; Egg – Crystal Albarose; Various Ingredients; Automatons x3; Beast Cores[Rank 0] x184; Beast Cores[Rank 1] x114; Rank 1 Potion Recipe – [Sun’s Afterglow, Soul Recovery]; Empty Memory Spheres; Books and Compendiums; Rank 0 Common Potions[Middle-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[High-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[Top-Grade] x0; Rank 1 Potion – Soul Recovery[Lowest-Grade] x2; Blood Essence – x3 Vials [Rank 1: Layer 1], x1 Vial [Rank 1: Layer 2], x1 Vial [Rank 0: Layer 9]; Green Blob of Light.

Mana Crystals: 2513 [Middle-Grade]; 223 [Low-Grade]; Myriad Items—Card [Value-500]; Six Mana Cards.