"I think I've got it down," Zane thought as he looked at the hundreds of scribbles on the Notes app on his phone. After more than an hour of practice, he had memorized the hand movements for the spell models of both the Mana Shield and Magic Bullet. Now that the first step of casting a spell was finished, it was time for the second test: true practice.
Zane glanced around his small, messy bedroom with the rows of books. It would be disastrous to try an offensive spell here, but the mana shield should not be an issue. So, he remembered the step-by-step process instilled in his mind on how to cast a spell.
First Step: Focus.
While this may seem obvious, it's one of the most crucial aspects of the process. Without sufficient concentration, the best-case scenario is that the spell is not cast, but the worst-case scenario is the spell malfunctioning and injuring the caster. Focusing is a way to manifest the small bit of mental energy an apprentice has.
Second step: Engrave the spell model.
Zane reached out with his hand and controlled his mana to channel it from his heart to the tip of his finger; he then used it as a brush to first draw a circle approximately 90 cm in diameter. At first, he feared the circle would look too terrible, but he was just overthinking. The special reward for one of his titles granted him steady hands, which allowed him to form a semi-decent circle. More importantly, the mana seems to have its own will, as the slightly oval circle turned into a perfect one without his intervention.
"How fascinating," Zane thought. He wondered why that happened. Did the mana have its own consciousness? Or was it following his will? Mental energy is the key to controlling mana, so did the mana know it wanted a circle and instinctively turn into one? But that would also imply the possibility of a will, or at the very least, a deep connection between the mind and mana.
As Zane was deep in thought, his concentration faltered, and the mana circle in the air collapsed, forcing him to start over. He drew the circle, followed by two rectangles — one vertical and one horizontal — which form a few perfect squares at the center. Zane then slowly inscribed six runes, one in each square.
"The more I look at the runes, the more they resemble some of the alphabet from the Gremorian Language," Zane analyzed. He wasn't a betting man, but if he were, he would wager all the money in his bank account that these two were related. However, he knew he wouldn't get an answer no matter how he thought about it, so he focused on the last step.
Third step: Incantation.
The last step is to activate the magic circle, which is where the incantation comes into play. The words were in Gremorian, and Zane understood their meaning. A rough English translation would be, "Let mana protect me."
As soon as Zane uttered the last syllable, the magic circle trembled before releasing a white light and disappearing. He immediately sensed a connection to a 4-meter-tall semi-transparent square wall in front of him. A sense of security arose deep in Zane's mind as he felt that if something were to attack him, the invisible wall would block it.
"Magic is wonderful," Zane praised. He's been saying this for a while, but he truly marveled at this new and wonderful power. Sensing the connected wall to himself, Zane wondered what else he could do with it. Does it just stand there, or could he move it? Curiosity was second nature to him, and when he wanted to know something, he would immediately search for an answer.
"It moved," he thought with shining eyes. Under intense focus, the invisible, or barely transparent, wall moved forward and backward, to his sides, back, and even defied gravity to float above his head. After a few more tests, Zane even discovered he could morph the wall into a dome to protect his entire body, but the process seemed draining on his mental energy.
"It seems I can only move this defensive shield within a five-meter radius around me," Zane analyzed. "Anything longer than that, and the wall collapses." The logistical abilities of this spell were tested to the limit, but now, Zane was concerned about something else: its actual protective abilities.
Can it protect him from a knife? A Gun? What kind of caliber? Or does this magic shield only work for other spells? He wanted to know all these things, but the tower provided too little information. As for testing out himself, he would love to, but the current situation was less than ideal.
"I need a private place to test out the offensive spell," Zane thought. His room was too small, so he started thinking of places he could use. As he pondered a solution, he remembered there was an abandoned graveyard about 15 miles from his house. "There is also that discarded Century Bob dummy in the trash. I could use it for target practice."
The idea of immediately taking that Century Bob to the cemetery to secretly practice was immediately embedded into his mind. As a man of action, Zane wanted to put his thoughts into action as soon as possible. Unfortunately, before he could get out of bed, his magic shield suddenly collapsed, his body dropped to the bed, and an immense sense of fatigue rushed through Zane's body.
Last November, he ran a marathon, and the ache afterward was one of the worst feelings he'd ever experienced. However, even that level of fatigue could not compare to what he was currently feeling. The pain was so intense that he almost passed out, and this terrible sensation lasted for ten minutes.
"What's going on?" Zane asked himself after finally regaining the mental acuity to think straight. It didn't take him long to realize the cause of his problem: his mana reserve had depleted. With an answer came a solution. Without wasting another second, Zane entered a meditative state while lying down.
The introduction to meditation book discussed two types of meditation: mana augmentation and mana restoration. The former increased the amount of mana of a mage, while the latter restored their mana reserve. In other words, one increases the size of the mana pool, and the other restores the water in the pool after it's depleted.
The process of mana restoration differed from mana augmentation. By visualizing the Meditation Rune Diagram, Zane can enter a deep state of meditation and clearly sense the mana in the environment. After, he only needs to preserve that state — without spinning the magic circle — and mana will enter his body on its own
Less than ten minutes later, Zane regained all his magic juices, and he felt refreshed. "I never thought the consequences of using all my mana would be so severe. That damn book only said a mage would feel a bit uncomfortable. Is that what they call a bit uncomfortable?" It took all the restraint in the world not to curse that damn book.
The sound of a deep exhalation echoed in the room. Despite this terrible ordeal, this experience also served as a warning for Zane: mages become powerless without their mana. He warned himself that no matter the situation, his reserve should never be lower than 5% — no, 10%. The last thing he wanted was for someone to catch him at his weakest.
The light piercing through the small window reminded Zane how early it was and the fact that he had to go to work in a few hours. His previous plan to start practicing the Magic Bullet spell would not work since he needed a large and quiet place to practice, meaning it was best to head to that abandoned graveyard in the afternoon.
The plan changed, and for the next few hours, Zane practiced casting the Mana Shield Spell. However, he always keeps a close watch on his mana reserve and recovers once he reaches a dangerous level. Finally, he headed to the auto shop in the afternoon. While at work, a brilliant idea hit him; he realized he could create a computer program that calculates the fastest way to draw the spell models.
Zane knew spells could be cast instantaneously. He saw his director do it. The only issue is whether only Grand Mages did not need incantation or draw the spell models. Regardless of the truth, with the programming and a lot of training, he might be able to cast his spells in less than 5 seconds, breaking the average casting time.
All afternoon, when there were no customers, Zane did not work on his vintage car, but built his program. In the afternoon, he wore a hoodie before taking the Century Bob dummy to the graveyard. This was not the first time Zane had passed through here, but today, this place seemed extra creepy. He could sense a cold, creeping energy everywhere that seemed to drain people of their joy. Luckily, it wasn't that intense.
Ignoring the strange sensation, Zane found a more peaceful area to start his practice. He stood five meters from the dummy before drawing the spell model. The Magic Bullet contained only 4 runes, and the design involved two large triangles and four small circles, each drawn at the point of a triangle.
After muttering the incantation, the magic circle trembled before releasing a blue light that rushed toward the dummy. "This speed is on par with a gun," Zane muttered. A quick check of the damage revealed a 3-millimeter entrance hole and one exit wound in the back.
"Based on the hole size and the penetration, this spell is on par with a Revolver 44 Magnum," Zane thought. An apprentice spell has such power. How terrifying are the higher circle spells? Zane could not fathom. However, one thing he was pleased with was his decision to choose this spell. It may be only in the middle in terms of power, but it was fast and had a short casting speed.