Zane closed the book, deep in thought. He had verified the professor's information and learned something new about Anti-Divination. However, he wasn't satisfied with the result. How long will it take him to reach the second ring? So, the only option is to buy an enchanted item, but after checking the price of 1-ring magical items, Zane didn't even dare to look at anything else.
"Divination is a rare field, which means its Enchanted Items will be even more expensive," he thought. Once again, he was limited by the beast that is called money. "Forget it. It's only a matter of time before I can afford it. As for my information being available to the US government? I'll deal with it when that comes."
Zane had no idea how the US government would deal with the extraordinary individuals; they could be recruited, imprisoned, forced into service, or even used as experiments. In his mind, everything was possible, so for now, all he could do was remain vigilant.
Diverging his mind, Zane began to ponder an idea he had after his fight with the sergeant: he wanted to create his own spell. Many ideas flashed through Zane's mind. It's only been four days, and the idea that he was ready to create his own spell is somewhat ludicrous — especially since his professor hasn't even fully taught them the deeper correlation between runes and Mana Directives, or how to mathematically calculate or design the diagram for any spells.
"Creating a regular spell is impossible, but it's still possible to create a ringless spell," Zane thought. Over the past few days, he realized there were spells even weaker than 0-ring, and the Water Condensing Spell was one of them. These spells only require one rune, fewer than 10 sub-runes, and usually two to three mana directives.
Without wasting any time, Zane conjured his hologram screen and began designing a Lightning Spell. He used the lightning evocation rune and added two mana directives, drawing on knowledge from the past few days, to stabilize it. The design was simple: two circles — an outer and an inner one — with a rectangle inside. The inner circle serves as a double safety measure to prevent the lightning element (electricity) from harming the caster. The rectangle is to facilitate the release of the lightning to electrify a target.
As for the four subrunes? Zane elected to place them directly inside the rectangle for a more potent release of the spell, rather than the steadier approach of placing them in the space between the two circles. The Mana Directives have already stabilized the spell, allowing him to focus on the lightning's potency.
As Zane glanced at his design, a small smile crept on the corner of his mouth for a few seconds before he suddenly frowned. Technically speaking, this spell should be able to create and release a small electric charge capable of incapacitating an adult man. However, there is no way to know without an activating incantation.
Unfortunately, without knowing how to create an incantation for a spell, his efforts were pointless. Unwilling to accept this result, Zane approached Madam Valeria and asked her about it. Sadly, she told him not to run before he could walk. After a stern warning about the dangers of experimenting with magic without a sufficient foundation, Zane gave up the idea of testing his spell.
He still created the diagram for other ringless spells, or cantrips, as he learned from Madam Valeria. Although he couldn't use or test whether they were correct for now, the designs are still valuable. And even if those spells have no fighting capabilities, they could still be useful in the right situation, as demonstrated in his battle with the sergeant. For example, if he had a spell that could conjure electricity, he could have electrified the sergeant through the water.
There were still a few hours before the Elite Class Lesson, time Zane used to continue enriching his mind with magical knowledge. He also decided to advance his second spell training to prevent conflict with the Elite Class. At around 7:30 PM, he finished practicing his aim and headed to the meditation ward for today's second meditation session. As he entered the blue world of mana, he immediately felt the difference: the energy concentration was 20% higher than the previous ward, meaning the ambient mana in the room was 70% higher than on Earth.
"I cannot lose my spot in the Elite Class," Zane thought the moment he opened his eyes. The benefit of a better meditation ward was enough for him to fight for his life, not to mention other perks such as a 10% discount on the Point Exchange List. Checking his phone, Zane then hurriedly picked up his stuff and rushed to Room 1-C.
"I'm the last one to arrive?" Zane thought, looking around.
"Since you're all here, let's get started," Instructor Seiya began. "#23, activate the True Hologram. Model: Stage 2 Orc."
Numerous motes of light suddenly condensed in the middle of the training room, coalescing into a green creature about 7 ft 3 inches tall, with a bare muscular upper body, a loincloth, a handcrafted ax, and two knives hanging at his waist. The creature glanced at the four of them, but despite his intimidating appearance, they didn't sense any aura from him; no, they couldn't even sense his life energy.
"No need to try and sense anything: this is just light condensed into physical form. His attacks will hurt you, but they will not cause any damage," Instructor Seiya explained. "Now, our champion — you're up first. Stand 15 meters apart, and wait for the countdown."
Zane immediately condensed his mental energy, then enhanced his motor skills and reflexes, completing his battle preparation. The orc's muscles were quite intimidating, so as soon as the battle started, he cast a defensive spell — or, he tried to. His circle hadn't even been completed when the creature suddenly threw his ax, forcing Zane to stop and evade.
However, such a small distraction was enough for the orc to close the short distance between them and deliver a powerful punch to Zane. Gritting his teeth, Zane channeled his mana into the life energy in his muscles to block the attack. An intense pain rushed into the depths of his mind; he knew that if he were facing a real creature, his bones would have shattered.
While he was still reeling from the pain, the orc's offensive did not stop. With a swift motion, the creature kicked Zane's ribs. The mage tried again to defend himself, but the sheer force sent him flying more than five meters before he crashed to the floor, grunting in pain. Instructor Seiya stared at him coldly before saying, "Second place, you're next."
The sergeant approached the target with a pondering frown. As soon as the countdown ended, he channeled mana in his legs to jump backward, trying to distance himself from his target. His approach was correct, as he easily avoided the flying ax without stopping his spell engraving. But the orc was not just a mindless program without tactics. After the first approach failed, the green giant immediately threw one of its knives; the sergeant evaded the first one, but his spell was interrupted by the second. What happened next was no different from Zane's situation. The orc closed the distance, and with only a few attacks, Sergeant Rhode's fate was the same as Zane's.
Keesha tried using her superhuman reflexes to dodge all attacks while casting her Mind Shock. But the orc soon proved that her so-called superhuman reflexes were nothing but a joke. Evelyn then found herself in a precarious situation. Her battle tactic was the same as the sergeant's, but even he failed miserably. The only good news is that she had more information than everybody else.
With great determination, she prepared to evade all the weapons. However, after the first knife, the orc didn't send the second. Instead, it suddenly roared so loud that Evelyn was disoriented, and then, she suffered the same fate as everybody else.
Instructor Seiya looked at everyone on the ground, groaning in pain. "Do you know what a Stage 2 Orc means?"
No one was in the mood to speak, so they just stared at him.
"It means an average adult male of the species, with no extraordinary abilities, no armor, basic weapons, and basic military training. That's all it took to wipe out all of you. Do you now understand how pitifully weak you are?"
A taut silence echoed in the training room.
"Alright, get up. We will start training [Motion Casting]. Although it's not officially recognized as a magic skill, it's still a battle skill you must master."
Three more orcs materialized in the room, one for each student. The orcs were less aggressive, only pressing the students by throwing their weapons, which they suddenly had an unlimited number of. Everybody's task was to evade these attacks while maintaining their engraving; if they failed, well, the pain of being hit by an ax or a knife was heart-wrenching, to say the least.