5 First step as an Arcanist
1 week quickly flew by.
Sorin at the moment seemed to be deep in concentration. He is currently on his last step to mastering his second Tier 1 spell that would give him the signal, allowing him to become an Arcanist.
He had to make sure that each elemental symbol harmonised perfectly.
Weaving the Mana that surrounds him into a precise and intricate shape. Sorin has no room for errors or his 5 hours of effort would go to waste.
Another few minutes pass when the Mana that could only be sensed, began taking shape in front of Sorin — a myriad of symbols and runes started manifesting.
Verdant strings seemed to be created and interwined together as it slowly formed into a transparent green spear, though it did look rather amateurish.
If this kind of spear were to to be on sale, no one would even spare a glance at it.
Gazing at the results of his efforts, Sorin was satisfied with how the spell he created had turned out. The tier 1 spell he had learnt was called Wind Formation. It allows the user to create various objects of varying shapes and sizes out of wind.
Many people overlooked this spell due to it's difficulty to learn it, and also it's lack of power, however if you learn it as soon as possible it is very rewarding. As Wind Formation is a control based spell — it is more versatile so it can also act as training to improve your handling on wind mana.
After finishing learning the foundations and meaning of his spell, Sorin took an hour of his time to completely regain his focus — learning that spell had been rather strenuous on his psyche.
After a moment of rest, Sorin felt it was time he advanced into a Tier 1 Arcanist.
Sorin had made sure the spells were perfectly learnt! These spells would be the foundation of his Mana Cube.
He even bought a Rozier Grimroot potion at the district owned by the Academy where students can buy, sell and trade items.
Sorin sat with his legs crossed on top of his bed, his mind in a state of serene focus, he was acutely aware of the weight of this moment.
Becoming a Tier 1 Arcanist wasn't just about obtaining two tier 1 spells, it was about mastering the spells and obtaining a deeper knowledge on how Mana worked.
Learning these two spells had costed him quite alot of arcane crystals. Despite being the lowest tier spell, the prices were ridiculously high for a student.
With a deep breath, he delved into his sea of consciousness, where the secrets of magic awaited.
Sorin was in a world of black — with the only thing illuminating this space being his glowing verdant cube.
In this ethereal realm, he had to revisit the two spells he had painstakingly learned.
Sorin's first task was to summon these spells from the depths of his being and lay them bare, their components, formations, and nuances vividly clear in his mind.
He had to not only understand the spells, but literally embody them into his being!
Sorin visualised the runes and symbols he had remembered to cast the spells. These elemental symbols were like the building blocks of magic: a perfect structure would mean a perfectly casted spell whereas a bad structure would mean the collapse of the spell.
He had to make sure the spells he were engraving into his cube were perfect!
Once Sorin had accomplished this profound connection with his magic, it was time to make it permanent.
With utmost concentration, he wove the spells into the very fabric of his being, etching their intricate patterns onto the Mana Cube.
Using his will, or what teacher Alexander calls the 'soul force', Sorin had to carve every symbol onto the Mana Cube.
His two Tier 1 spells had a total of 72 symbols — the majority of his symbols being in the first spell he learnt due to it being somewhat incompatible with his affinity.
Sorin began carving out his first symbol which looked like a 'K' with terrible handwriting. After a minute, Sorin successfully engraved the symbol.
Not wasting any time, Sorin continued the process.
Sorin had spent 25 minutes engraving a total of 14 symbols so far. His first symbol had required only a minute, but now it was getting progressively harder. Sorin started to feel his cognitive functions becoming slower and he even started to feel an acute pain within his head.
However, he can't stop the process until he finishes engraving the first spell!
This is because he was yet to become a Tier 1 Arcanist. If Sorin stops midway through engraving the symbols of a spell, the magical connections he's creating with his soul force would start to weaken.
These symbols aren't reinforced by anything apart from his very own energy — which means each of the symbols have to constantly be supplied with the soul force from him so it doesn't fade away!
Although he was 'engraving' the symbols, until he completely engraved all of it — forming a spell — the Mana Cube would reject the symbols and 'heal' itself.
This isn't a significant issue for a Tier 1 Arcanist as the Mana Cube could help this issue using it's stored energy, however it poses a significant issue for a beginner Arcanist like himself.
Each symbol is like a link in a circular chain, and if one link is missing, the chain breaks. This disruption causes the incomplete symbols to clash, canceling each other out and releasing a burst of chaotic energy.
This would cause a backlash and Sorin would essentially receive damage to his soul!
The damage correlates with how many symbols collapsed. So, if Sorin just stops now at 14 symbols, he wouldn't receive fatal damage.
Sorin could still bear the pain from the consumption of his soul force, it hadn't become too taxing yet so he kept persevering.
After 2 hours, Sorin had engraved 27 symbols and was on his last one to complete his Wind Formation spell.
Sweat dripped downed his forehead and Sorin looked noticeably paler. His face showed an expression of discomfort — the pain had dramatically increased.
'This is the last one and I can take a break!' Sorin reassured himself.
He then began engraving the last symbol.
Sorin immediately felt as if razorblades were wriggling in his brain, but he focused all his attention on the last marking!
After 20 minutes of torture, Sorin only needed to carve just a little more until the rune is finished! Using his remaining willpower, Sorin managed to carve out the last symbol!
His cube showed an immediate reaction by giving off a green glow.
The 28 symbols seemed to almost come alive as it danced around before merging together. Then, a singular symbol was left on one of the faces of the cube.
"I did it!" Sorin breathed out an air of relief as he collapsed on his back.
"Haha... that was a horrible experience. But, I still have one spell left." Sorin said with a strained smile.
"It's great that I bought that potion, else, I really just might die from the pain." Sorin chuckled.
With Sorin's second spell, he had to engrave 44 symbols. This would obviously be much more difficult, and even life threatening!
That had been the reason why he had bought the Rozier Grimroot potion.
A famous Tier 4 Arcanist called Rozier had created this potion in the past during the early times of her life. As a Tier 2 Arcanist back then, her talent in alchemy and potioneering was unprecedented!
Grimroot was the main ingredient. However, it was named Grimroot as it had quite dangerous properties — it's thorns capable of paralysing and disrupting the flow of mana of an Arcanist.
Rozier had somehow used this fact and researched it heavily in hopes of developing a Tier 3 potion she had needed. However, the result of her efforts was a potion only useful for Tier 0 Arcanists. Nobody knows whether she succeeded in the potion she had actually wanted to make. However, this potion in itself was quite groundbreaking. She simply let the entire world know about the recipe and gained a very good reputation.
As a Tier 0 Arcanist, you're cube was practically useless: a hollow shell that has no mana inside it.
Grimroot was only ever used to paralyse as it can only slightly disrupt an Arcanists' mana, having no effect on Arcanists of higher calibre.
With this potion, it sort of works like poking a hole into Sorin's Mana Cube before storing energy inside it.
This meant this potion would basically make him a fake Tier 1 Arcanist!
Since Sorin's Mana Cube still hasn't awakened, the Mana Cube would try to rid itself of the foreign mana — kicking it out.
This means if he engraves the symbols, it can be sustained through the mana that is exiting his cube!
This would make engraving the runes on his cube less strenuous.
Sorin first decided to rest his body and mind by going for a small nap.
Then, once he woke up, he casually did some stretches and had a meal before finally attempting to engrave the last spell!
Sorin picked up the potion and examined it — twirling it around which gave off a weird gloopy sound.
Obviously, Sorin had a rather disgusted look on his face as the liquid was black in colour and looked liked instant death itself once consumed!
"Is this thing even edible?" Sorin murmured.
Without putting anymore thought, Sorin popped the cork off the potion before downing the entire bottle.
"Bleghh!" Sorin almost puked before coughing violently.
'Here I was hoping it would have atleast tasted decent'
After a short moment, Sorin suddenly felt a prick to his soul before he noticed a change to his Mana Cube. Unlike the glow when he had engraved his first spell, this time, it had a dim yet constant glow: signifying the mana inside it.
Sorin also noticed that his body seemed colder as if an invisible energy is being released off of him. He immediately deduced it was likely his mana being released from his cube involuntarily.
