‘I can make the “Dark Rope“ work. It is a variable and flexible spell which should synergize well with other tools. It may be a weak spell model standing alone, but it will give me the flexibility I need.’

Still on the book page of “Dark Rope” Fraser continued to ponder. Choose “Dark Rope” as his first spell model or not?

‘I should continue to look for other spell models of the element darkness, maybe I will find another spell model which sounds interesting.’

Fraser continued to look for his first spell model and got surprised by the variety of the element “Darkness”. Apparently each element had different sub-categories which even though synergized with the element had different attributes.

For example there was the spell model “Poison Fog”, even though Fraser saw it in the plant element section as well, in the darkness section of the book there was a spell model with the same name. But the poisons were different. As the “Poison Fog” of the darkness attribute described a corroding poison, almost an acid like substance, the plant “Poison Fog” on the other hand described a green fog which had poisonous results like paralyzes or illnesses.

To say that these sub-categories spell models were a little bit more powerful were an underestimation. Even the academy book filled with the information said that these sub-categories spell models were more powerful than the more common ones like the “Dark Spear”, “Dark Net” or just “Dark” in front of them.

Yet the reason why Fraser saw the fellow students who protected him on the way casting mostly those “common” spells was the sheer amount of knowledge needed in order to control them properly.

The academy book even put on warn signs on all those element sub-categories, warning all fellow students that the students who tried to use those spell models without the proper know-how got killed by their own spell. As it backfired and killed them.

‘To be really special I should need to learn one of those spell models. Yet it is better to choose a common spell and then improve on it. I heard from Elise that the really powerful spell models are those that are modified.’

Fraser evaluated the options before deciding on buying a common spell model with the “Dark”.

As sub-categories tended to be dangerous without the necessary knowledge Fraser decided to learn a normal dark element spell before acquiring the necessary information. After all Fraser had no information how many magic crystals he needed to spend for the lessons.

Besides even the amount of knowledge variated. There was a dark element sub-category spell model which only required advanced knowledge in anatomy.

Here is the problem: Advanced knowledge in anatomy was extremely hard to get. One of the daily free lessons which Fraser attended had the title of anatomy of a normal fish. Even that turned out to be an endless flow of information during the time of the lesson.

Fraser had an AI in his mind so saving the information was easily done, yet Fraser couldn’t imagine a normal student memorizing the amount of information.

Though it was hard to have the qualification for a sub-category spell model Fraser still wanted to learn one in the future.

As almost each sub-category spell had a wide use, multiple fields of usability and were weird and bizarre.

Fraser only looked into the darkness element sub-categories spell model yet each fascinated him. A banshee summoning spell model, a spell model which turned your shadow into the most loyal and really helpful companion, a spell model which invoked a curse and weakened the receiver allowing an easy upfront confrontation, were only a few examples of the dark element sub-categories spell models.

Making his decision Fraser walked towards the receptionist who had taken a small nap but quickly opened her eyes as soon as Fraser stepped in front of her counter.

“What do you want.” said the receptionist with a monotone voice.

“I would like the spell model for “Dark Rope”.” replied Fraser while putting ten magic crystals on top of the counter.

The old women counted the magic crystals one by one before taking a thick book out and placing it on the counter.

On the book cover it read: “Spell model of Dark Rope”.

Taking the thick book Fraser quickly walked out of the Academy market and stowed the spell model of dark rope in his chamber.

However Fraser didn’t immediately opened the spell model of dark rope. Instead he grabbed a parchment and a feather and hurried back to the Academy market.

Back at the Academy market Fraser opened the book again and searched for sub-category spell models which he may want to learn in the future and copied down their knowledge requirement.

The sub-category spell model which interested him the most was the spell model which summoned a banshee. After all the banshee sounded really powerful and would allow Fraser to control the battle.

He still didn’t knew whether he needed to battle other Apprentices, but he remembered one of his instructors saying that competition between fellow members of the same organization may lead to death. He even told a few real life experiences where he mentioned that he was from a Knight Academy of a bigger empire and got injured by a fellow student.

As he got injured and couldn’t show the potential he once had, he got kicked out from the Knight Academy. Thus he, the instructor, said that he is pretty happy that the Duke of Rosethorn hired him as an Instructor.

The essence which Fraser took from the story was that in order to stay at the same position, one needed to have somebody soak up the major damage. After all the Instructor wasn’t the one who caused a fight or provoked anyone, instead he got hired to fight for another fellow student who had a lot of money.

This resulted in him getting beaten and injured.

After copying down the requirement for the sub-category spell model “Banshee Summoning” Fraser quickly walked back to his chamber. After all the spell model dark rope waited in his chamber and Fraser really wanted to learn a spell in order to become a real Magus.

Well not a real Magus like Magus Sept, as Fraser also realized that someone like Magus Sept was way higher on the power scale than Apprentices, but someone who could use magic or a cast a spell.

As soon as Fraser opened the thick book which contained the Spell model for dark rope, he could see pages full of runes.

There was only one book page which didn’t contained a single rune, the first page which had a short description on what Fraser had to do.

‘So I need to create the runes one by one and then link them with the other runes in order to create a 3d spell model which will allow me to cast the spell dark rope? It sounds rather easy but creating these runes in my mind will take a long time.’

When Fraser advanced to Apprentice Level one he could access a mind room which allowed him to create things out of his spirit. He played a little bit with the room but never explored it completely. Now he knew what the mind room was for, for the 3d spell models in his mind.