"Whoosh!"
Durin suddenly sat up, startled and covered in cold sweat.
"Another dream."
He frowned, turned to look at the sun reflecting through the window, got out of bed to change his clothes, and went to the washroom to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead with a towel.
This time, when he emerged from the dream, his mind felt full, like a sponge swollen from excessive knowledge absorption.
In this dream, every detail of the composite rune model for the first-ring spell, Fire Tongue, that Styraatu cast, was remembered by Durin with extreme clarity.
So, Durin began to recall the Fire Tongue spell Styraatu had cast in his dream, raising his hands into the air and beginning to gesture.
The hand gestures were casting gestures taught by Instructor Ashley in the Magic Runology course; for a Mage Apprentice, these were essential.
First-ring spells were different from cantrips; both the conversion of magic power into arcane energy and the consumption of mental power were extremely great, and a failed cast would result in a double depletion.
Casting gestures acted as a guide, reducing the likelihood of casting failure and lessening the damage from a failed backlash.
Once one could cast proficiently, guiding with one hand or without hand gestures was also possible. Later on, mages would even use casting tools like staves as mediums to reduce magic power loss.
Before formally casting, Durin had already practiced the gestures hundreds of times, making the movement an unconscious reaction of his body.
He also repeatedly activated the corresponding basic runes within his mental body. In less than five minutes, Durin used his mental power to redraw the magical circuit of the Fire Tongue spell's composite rune model from the dream.
When the magical circuit was completed, the free-floating fire elemental particles in the world would automatically fill the spell model, and then the magic power within his body would transform into arcane energy and be poured into it, thereby releasing a standard spell.
Construct, fill, launch.
These three steps were indispensable.
Although the magical circuit Durin constructed on his first attempt was very crude, it was already able to form a stable structure, creating a rough spell model for Fire Tongue.
But Durin was not in a hurry; he destroyed the spell model in his mind, then reconstructed it, destroyed it again, and reconstructed it again… constantly seeking a faster construction speed.
Because the composite rune model was formed by two extremely similar but actually completely different basic runes, rearranged and combined, making a mistake would lead to a backlash.
The smallest cost would be mental injury, causing a headache for several days, the kind that would be too painful to even read a book.
Even more terrifying was the possibility of a fatal spell backlash.
Therefore, to ensure no mistakes, Durin practiced for nearly an hour straight, constructing the spell model about ten times before his mental power was exhausted.
Due to excessive mental power consumption leading to a headache, Durin vigorously massaged his temples, trying to alleviate the pain.
Not only did he have a headache, but he also felt nauseous and wanted to vomit.
Durin estimated in his mind that his limit was probably no more than fifteen times. He had to at least reserve some mental power to convert the magic power in his body into arcane energy, meaning he could practice a maximum of ten times a day.
Fortunately, after about half an hour, Durin felt his pain slightly diminish.
He began to summarize his experience: the magic power within his body was like uncontrolled quicksand, while mental power was like spring water, and water could make sand particles stick together, which was enough to make the sand more substantial.
But Durin always felt something was off. He tapped his forehead and continued to ponder.
The spell's composite rune model, magic power, arcane energy, and mental power—there must be some special connection between these four.
Casting a spell, from its essence, was the same as a craftsman building a house. The spell's composite rune model was the blueprint for a house, magic power was like red bricks, mental power was cement, and the transformed arcane energy was the interior design style.
Because of this, the quality difference of the same spell cast by different mages was immediately apparent.
Theoretically, as long as your mental power is strong enough, even if your magic power is weak, you can still release the magical circuit constructed from a complete spell's composite rune model.
It's like mixing cement and sand to build a house; it's just a difference in quality. If the nature of the arcane energy is different, then the interior design style will also be different.
After understanding all this, Durin became increasingly proficient at controlling the Fire Tongue spell's composite rune model. He could now construct the spell model with magic power within two minutes.
The restless fire elements floating in the air automatically filled the spell's composite rune model, and a small spark gradually lit up.
Just as Durin thought the spark would quickly dissipate with a pop, in less than ten seconds, the tiny sparks rapidly expanded into a fist-sized fireball.
A translucent, rotating, orange-red orb of light was successfully levitated by Durin, and a faint red arcane glow emanated from his fingertips.
Durin looked at this translucent, rotating, orange-red orb of light with a face full of surprise. He already realized that with just a thought, he could release a tongue-shaped, five to six-meter-long raging flame, just like Styraatu in his dream.
A minute passed, and Durin didn't stop. He could sense that casting such a spell didn't make him very tired, which made Durin decide to test how long he could maintain it.
Two minutes passed… until three minutes passed, Durin seemed to feel his magic power depleting.
As the red arcane glow dissipated, Durin even felt his left fingers were somewhat stiff; he had concentrated his mental power too much to cast this Fire Tongue spell.
He quickly dispelled this translucent, rotating fireball emitting an orange-red glow. He planned to go to the Magic Academy's spell training base at Piltover University to test the spell's power.
Durin was very happy; for him, this meant a breakthrough from zero to one!
He had mastered his first spell in the true sense, the first-ring spell—Fire Tongue!
Durin took a sip of water. In a sense, he was now considered a mage. He glanced at the alarm clock hanging on the wall: 7:10 AM.
He still had to go to the Purple Rose Shooting Range today. Although he had made great progress in magic, learning about firearms was useless to him now.
But Durin thought that he had, after all, promised to attend. Breaking a promise was not his style, so he should at least go and inform them, lest they wait for him.
Moreover, joining a club would also earn him free academic credits, and credits were very valuable at Piltover University.
So, Durin put on his mage robe, took his study materials and his Darkin Harp, and left his room, taking the tram to the Jindai Luo Sphere plaza.
The Purple Rose Shooting Range was located next to the Mirror Tower of the Technology Academy, with an underground range. It got its name from the large batch of deep purple roses planted at the entrance to the passage.
When Durin arrived, it was exactly 7:50 AM.
The shooting range was very large, divided into several different areas, covering an area of approximately a thousand square meters. For Piltover University to have such a large underground shooting range, Durin was still somewhat shocked by the Gun Shooting Club's capacity.
After all, the Technology Academy and the Magic Academy were two different things; the former had strict teaching regulations, while the latter was purely hands-off management.
Most of the people here were from the Technology Academy, with only a few students from colleges like the School of Economics and Management.
Gunshots constantly echoed here, with bangs and cracks, making one wonder if a war over oil was taking place. The gunshots ranged from small, like pistols, to large, like rifles, rattling loudly.
Furthermore, the shooting range even had automatic target reporting systems and various thoughtful, humanized services. When you finished a magazine, another one was already loaded and waiting for you.
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