I already had a good enough control over my mana. Building up runes and using them shouldn’t be that hard. Moving to the side of those who believed they could already start learning rune formation I waited. Most of the students went to the other side. From the thirty or so people my group had about ten. When the groups had finished forming the teacher spoke again.

“So the first spell I will be teaching you lot is the simplest fire spell, spark. As its name implies it’s a simple spell to create a spark. Anyone should be able to pull this off”

After saying that he took out a piece of paper with the spell on it. It had Drawings of the runes used as well as the complete integration of them into the spell. Of course since this spell was so simple it only used two runes. He attached the paper to a tree with a dagger and then went on to show us the spell.

In his hand I could perceive the movement then a spark appeared atop his palm and banished soon after. Without saying anything else he left towards the other group. That was our queue to start practicing and so everyone gathered around the spell formula before going their separate ways.

I walked a bit further away, not wanting to be disturbed by the muffled groans of my peers. So dumb really, they are trying to move their mana through physical means like tensing their muscles and such. Well, I shouldn’t judge them too hard, after all, I have the cheat known as having a core.

After sitting comfortably on the grass I closed my eyes while concentrating on my mana and the patterns of the runes and the spell formation. First you need to build the runes using mana. If I were to compare it to modern technology it would be akin to building a circuit. After you build the circuit you put current through it and you get the results. In the case of a spell, the current would be more mana.

Even though my control over my mana is quite good building the spell is actually a bit hard. You need to keep a bit of concentration on what you have already built otherwise it will crumble as you build everything else. After a while I managed to get the hang of it and a spark appeared in between my palms.

However, I don’t feel satisfied with this result. I felt like there was a lot of wastage. Not only in the amount of mana that didn’t bake part of the spell but in the formation itself. I had tried to use the same amount of mana the teacher used and I got about the same result. Even so I couldn’t help to think that this process was still inefficient.

I began to think and rebuilt the spell in my head. Removing what I felt was necessary and adding things I felt were missing. For example, the way the two runes were connected felt like a pipe had been attached to another with tape. Not even duct tape, but mask tape, that tape that looks like it's made out of pare.

I spent some time trying to fix this, but in the end I realized that the two runes were simply incompatible. Because of this I decided to try and change the secondary rune to try and make them compatible. The result was good, the spell felt a lot more stable, that faulty connection was now fixed but there were a bunch of other problems I felt needed fixing.

A while later I was done with a bunch of other fixes and was ready to try my new and improved spark spell. I decided to use the same amount of mana as before to see the difference and check if I had improved it or made it worse.

First I began building the modified runes and connected them. This process felt a lot cleaner now and was far easier than before. Next I began pumping mana into the spell formation. The next second a spark appeared in between my hands. It expanded fast until it reached my palms burning the skin.

In an instant I knew I had fucked up. My soul ability reacted to my instincts and I could see in slow motion how the spark I had made continued growing engulfing my hands. The speed was too fast for me to move out of the way in time. Instead I decided to use my recently learnt mana shield to cover my body in an attempt to protect myself.

“Mother fuck-!”

I couldn’t finish my cursing as the explosion sent me a good ten meters away. The sound of the explosion reverberating in my eardrums. Thankfully I was unharmed, not like it would have mattered. I could heal whatever damage this small explosion could have cause me.

After rolling on the ground for another five meters I finally stopped and stood up. My uniform a tattered and burnt mess. At least it was still able to cover what was important to cover. Not for self, next time use the mana shield above my clothes to protect them too.

“What was that!”

The teacher came running in my direction, his face finally showing some emotions, mostly worry. I heaved a heavy sigh and decided to omit my tampering with the spell. After running some fast calculations I discovered I had made the spell at least a hundred times more efficient. If word got out I don’t know what bothersome situation I would get into.

“I was getting frustrated and ended up using too much mana”

I know, that is a bad excuse but I don’t feel like thinking too much about another one. Not to mention it should be believable. I blew up the crystal during my magic test so my amount and output of mana should still be unknown. It’s also still better for people to think that I simply used too much mana instead of knowing that I modified the spell.

To add to my lie I also did a bit of acting by scratching the back of my head with a dumb grin on my face. After a few seconds the teacher finally bought my excuse and sighed. I could also see his right arm twitch a bit, most likely he wanted to facepalm as well. In the end he looked at the crater I had made before speaking.

“Be more careful next time, I am actually surprised you are alright but whatever. Go get changed, and if you feel unwell go to the infirmary first. You are dismissed from class for today”

With that said he turned around and left to continue with the class while looking from time to time to the crater. I on the other hand learnt my lesson. No more testing modified spells with people around. Who knows what could have happened if I had modified a stronger spell. For example a hundred times stronger fireball. Yup let's be careful from now on.

I say that but I bet you can’t guess what I am doing right now. Well, to put it simply I am in the library with a few books around me about magic theory and my notebook. Yes, I am currently learning and modifying spells. No, I am not testing them, I don’t want to destroy the library.

For starters the fact that I improved a spell before doesn’t mean I will be able to do so with every spell I come in contact with. Moreover the more complicated spells are harder to modify. It's like the difference between modifying a simple handheld lantern and a computer. So the harder spells are a nightmare to even try and comprehend.

I have been reading on the theory behind spells to try and gain some insight into them. In the end I am just doing this because I am interested. If I fail, so be it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. As of now I have modified the basic spells of each element. However, I haven’t tested them so who knows if they work or not.

I am planning on testing them during the weekend outside the city in the not so nearby forest. Or I could go to the also not so nearby dungeon but whatever, I will think about that when the time comes.

Most important of all, I can’t wait for the weekend to come. Not because I want to test the spells but instead because I want to kick that Samuel guy’s ass. I can already see how it will go. He will come all smug with shiny armor that cost a fortune and think that it will be enough to beat me.

Oh well, I can only be patient now. At least I won't have to wait for long. Only two days to go hehe. Now that I think about it, tomorrow will be applied combat training. I managed to get placed into the rank ten class. I guess that was to be expected from my performance but I still wonder. The tests were about raw strength and going through that obstacle course. How is someone supposed to know your combat capabilities just from that? Whatever, I guess these people know what they are doing.

At the very least I hope it won't be some boring class where you just swing your weapon around repeatedly. Now that would drive me insane. I could expect that much from, I don’t know, rank one maybe? But if it's like that for the high ranks as well I will throw the biggest tantrum this entire academy has ever seen.

By that I mean I will go and beat the living shit out of the teacher as well as who ever thought about such a stupid way of training. I think I might be getting a little ahead of myself, I bet it will be fine and I am just overthinking things.