A New World, an immersive game experience

Chapter 92: Casting practice

Back on the ground floor of the magic tower, Eldrian took his time to prepare how he was going to cast the spell. Focusing on the feeling he felt, trying to imagine the first turning into the second.

"Anthos."

After saying this and simultaneously imagining the spell module and the feeling of mana changing form, Eldrian succeeded in casting the spell without the influence of the Magic Crystal. Feeling the relieving feeling flow through him Eldrian was certain he had managed to cast it.

"Seems like we don't need to use the Magic Crystal again." Dave commented, seeing Eldrian able to cast the spell on his own.

Eldrian smiled widely as he bathed in the feeling which had already past.That feels so refreshing, how do people not get addicted to it? Wondering this Eldrian cast the spell again, and again. Then some more, relishing in the soothing feeling brought by this spell.

"Take a break Haru." Dave said after Eldrian cast the spell for the fifth time. "You might be able to cast the spell but your control over your mana is extremely weak. You are more only hinting at what it should do, instead of taking control."

"But it feels so nice to just cast a spell." After taking a moment to think more clearly Eldrian shook his head to get those thoughts out of him. "You are right, but I don't know how how to control my mana. I also do not even know all the forms it can be in."

"You will learn the latter with time. For the other you need to follow the flow of mana as you cast the spell. I am going to get a book to read, continue practicing." Saying this Dave started climbing the stairs.

Eldrian did as told and cast the spell a few more times, simply enjoying the feeling. After which he told himself to get serious. Pushing past the nice feeling clouding his mind, he tried to focus on the mana inside him. Locating where it starts and trying to follow it as it moved through his body.

After around half an hour and 30 casts later he received a message from the system.

[Spell learned]

[Anthos, Tier 0, rank 0]

[Anthos is a refreshing spell, doing minor healing. The healing is limited to scratches and very shallow wounds, when focused.]

[Recovers 2 HP [Diminishing returns, zero recovery after three casts - 2 hours cd.]

[Cost 5 mana]

[No cast cooldown [Due to having learned the spell from root]]

Not impressive at all, 2 HP, really? And diminishing returns? Eldrian felt that the effort had exceeded the reward. Yet he knew that this was the weakest spell possible. He also knew he had spent most of his time learning magic, not the spell.

Eldrian was also confused in the contrast he felt existed, the soothing feeling certainly did not feel like just 2 HP.Wait what if 2 HP means 2%? Relieving 2% of your life or at least health. That is, a lot... Eldrian drifted off into thought for a while after thinking this, shocked at what HP could actually represent.So having only 10HP means you are only 10% alive. No... How does it work.

After a few more minutes Eldrian decided to drop it. He had no way to find the answer at his current level. Next, he wondered what the rank of a spell was. Tier is the only ranking I had heard of before. So what is rank?

Eldrian started casting the spell again while thinking of the rank, Dave coming back around this time. "Have you gotten used to casting it? Have you managed to follow the flow of your mana?"

"Yes, I can cast it easily now," Eldrian replied, having found it much easier to cast the spell after the system had given him recognition on having learned it.

"But I keep failing in following the mana, as soon as it starts changing I lose its location. Only managing to find it again when it is at the end result."

"Try casting one of the other spells, maybe it will help you. Do you remember the spell module for Floga? The Tier 0 fire spell."

"Yes, I remember all six you had given me. I had memorized them all."

"Good, try to cast any of them."

Eldrian did, yet failed.

"Cast Anthos now."

Eldrian did, failing to see why he was doing this. Dave then asked him to cast each one he knew between a cast of Anthos. Rotating through all of the spells he knew. After a few minutes he started feeling his mana churn for the other spells, yet it failed to move more than the initial reaction.

"Repeat this until you can't anymore," Dave instructed, finding himself a seat as he started reading the book he had gone to fetch.

Eldrian did as instructed, spending around another hour casting the spells. Making sure to mix up the order of the others, even if they were not casting. By the end of the hour he could feel the cool soft air feeling of mana swirling around his diaphragm when casting a spell. Yet as soon as he stopped he lost this location, even if all his focus had been on it. As if his mana simply disappeared.

At this time Dave stopped reading and looked at Eldrian, who had stopped casting spells. "Did you discover anything?"

"I think so, I can feel mana around my diaphragm, but only after casting a spell."

Dave cast Magic-Inspection to see what was going on, asking Eldrian to cast the spells a few times more. With Magical-Inspection Dave saw Eldrian's mana currently static at his diaphragm, only moving after he cast a spell.

This made Dave wonder a few things, the first being why Eldrian's mana was stationary. The other was why it was in the form of a pool and not the spread system he had seen before, when Eldrian had looked at the Magic Crystal. 'I should let him look at it again. Maybe he can gain something from it.' Dave thought, wanting to see if Eldrian's mana would change form again or not.

By now Eldrian was nearing Magical fatigue level 5, luckily he could continue casting even at that level. Only having far less mana to use and recovering the mana points took longer and longer. But his analysis after each cast lasted long enough for him to not really feel the regen slow.

After around another hour, 8 o clock coming around in the morning, Eldrian decided to call it quits for the day. He still could not follow the flow of mana, but he was becoming better at feeling his mana.

Just as he wanted to leave Dave stopped him, "I wonder if you want to try and look at the Magic Crystal again?"

"Why?"

"I think it awakens something of your elven part. Then again we should maybe wait until you get used to feeling your mana. Or this can help in that." Dave rambled, not even realizing that he had said the last two sentences.

"I guess we can try." Eldrian shrugged, feeling that it was worth a try. Last time he had simply fallen unconscious, so he doubted if something worse would happen.

...

Back in the dungeon Dave let the ice surrounding the Magic Crystal melt, letting the water join back into the air as moisture.

Eldrian watched it melt with a mix of emotions in his heart. He hoped this would enable him to do much more, he wanted to save as much time as possible.

As the crystal became visible Eldrian was worried he would faint, yet after a few seconds with nothing happening he started doubting if anything would happen.

Answering his doubts he felt his heart beating stronger and stronger, concentrating on himself he felt his mana moving rapidly from his diaphragm to his heart. Collecting into it, after it all collected into his heart each beat sent mana out.

What is going on? Eldrian wondered as he followed this flowing mana. Soon he also started feeling the mana change into a varied of other forms; scorching heat, freezing cold, lightness, heaviness, light and clarity, darkness and absence. He also felt soothing relief similar to the feeling when he cast Anthos, allowing him to take a guess on what each feeling represented.

As he lost himself in these feelings he soon drifted of and fainted.

'He managed to stay awake during the start, but it seems that the mana being active takes a toll on him.' Dave commented, quite happy with his experiment. He was certain that Eldrian had learned a lot from this. Considering the smile he had gone out with.

...

Waking up Eldrian found himself on the ground floor again.

"I guess we need to visit the Magic Crystal a few more times. What did you see?"

"I didn't see anything. I felt, the types, or... I felt the changes possible in mana." Eldrian answered, unsure how to put it into words. Yet he wanted to look at the crystal again, feeling that a few more tries would enable him to cast all the spells he knew.

Unfortunately, he found that his magical fatigue had grown, being level 7 now. Leaving him with only 11 mana. He had no idea what happened when he reached the max level for fatigue, and he did not want to find out.

Deciding to stop for the day Eldrian thanked Dave for his help and headed to Boran's