Arthur waited alone in the cellar for about six hours. Lucas had moved him quickly over to the cellar as the early morning light started to come in. No one was out so the outpost was quiet. Once he arrived he was locked up in the cellar and told not to leave. Arthur pushed them on why and Lucas told him that people who shouldn’t know him were here, so he had to stay inside for the time being.

Arthur chose to start passing the time by recovering his mana from the fight. As he neared completion on that he moved on to practicing his different sword techniques. He imagined another enemy his size and fought it off in his mind. He went through the different sword slashes and footstep combos he had learned. He also went through the process of combining the ones he had learned into modified versions.

After a time, he found himself bored of the sword practice and moved on to going through his arsenal of magic. He set his sword down and activated the target machine set against the wall. The targets lit up and moved around in a set pattern. He started with his base elemental spells starting with his favorite [Plasma Bolt] before moving through the others.

The targets glowed brighter each time they were hit signifying a bullseye. Arthur had practiced on this machine long enough that he had gotten the timing down perfectly. Once he was satisfied with each of the base attacks he moved on to his other spells. He started with the easy ones to cast in the cellar, [Earthen Wall] and [Sand Trap]. The dirt ground adapted easily to the spells and moved according to his will.

He continued going down the list of spells and cast them each once to keep them fresh in his mind. [Bubble Shield], [Fungal Spore], [Vine Trap], [Force Blast], [Mana Shield], [Plant Growth]. Some of the spells were less effective than usual because of the environment he cast them in, but it wasn’t important to him.

Next, he practiced aiming his [Multi Plasma Bolt] spell. His ability to aim this spell was different compared to the other spells. Because the spell split into five separate attacks he had to split his focus as well. First, he sent the spell at the targets without trying too hard on an exact target. The resulting effect was that only three of the five plasma bolts hit the targets. One of the missing bolts just barely missed its target while the other missed entirely and hit the ground in front of the targets instead.

Arthur took a step back and took in more mana while observing the targets. ‘When I cast this spell I can feel a connection to each of the individual pieces. Now I just need to start focusing on each of the pieces more. I know I can split my focus during battle so this shouldn’t be too different. Once this is done I can move on to new things. It is getting boring down here. I have seen these walls day after day, and I’ve memorized every piece of the cellar.’

Arthur recast the spell and this time focused on each of the five pieces as they formed. He started with their beginnings in his hands and saw their connection to him as they flew through the air. With his mind split, he calculated their trajectories and the movements of the targets. The necessary brain power for him to do so was relatively easy. The only more difficult part was the plasma bolts' tendencies to swerve and jump around in the air. Only one of the five bolts would complete a regular arc through the air with no interruptions.

After watching the spell again Arthur worked on adjusting the spell. He recast it a few more times and made adjustments each time. He found that he could push each of the bolts while in the air with some effort. After some more practice, he found that he could hit all five targets every time. Arthur congratulated himself silently before moving on.

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‘Because I have all this time to myself I should try to make a new spell or two. From using the [Multi Plasma Bolt] spell I already know how some of the additional spell parts and wrapper works. Now I just need to try adding it to one of the other base elemental spells. If I can get it to work then I will have added several spells to my repertoire without much additional effort. That is the hope at least.’

Arthur began preparing the next spell he wanted to cast, a [Multi Fire Bolt] spell. He started by creating the original [Multi Plasma Bolt] spell and the standard firebolt spell. Next, he began to untangle the plasma bolt from the spell. It took some time as he began to untangle the connections within the spell and identify the pieces he needed to keep. He worked slowly and once he got to a certain point in his work he started to reintroduce the firebolt into the spell. He felt his mind start to strain as he kept all of the pieces active in his head while he worked. He made sure to prioritize certain pieces of the spells as well so that they did not activate accidentally and if they did fail then they would dissipate harmlessly instead.

After a few more minutes he finished recombining the spells. Before he cast the spell he looked over it one more time to make sure there were no glaring mistakes and to memorize the spell fully before casting it.

With a flash of light, the spell activated, and five fireballs flew off to their targets. Arthur was so focused on getting the spell right that he didn’t try to direct the spell in any significant way. The result of the spell was that the targets were hit with four out of five score this time. Each target burned briefly before self-extinguishing.

To end things off he alternated between [Illuminate] and [Darken]. The two spells spread out from his core and found the holes in his metal exterior to shine through. The darkness spells spilled out like a liquid while the illuminate spell shone out with rays of light.

‘The others aren’t back yet,’ thought Arthur as he looked around the cellar. ‘I’m sure Ethan won’t get too mad if I practice one or two additional spells from his book. From my practice of the illuminate and darken spells the other spells shouldn’t cause any more trouble if I cast them internally.’

Arthur stood up from a solid wooden block he had chosen to make his chair and began searching the cellar.

‘I’m sure I left the book somewhere over here…’

Arthur paced around the room first searching a wall with a bookshelf and piled up boxes of miscellaneous magical ingredients. Arthur moved the boxes out of the way easily and looked through the bookshelf. After a quick search, he did not find it there. He further moved the boxes around but did not see the book in them or under them.

Arthur felt his worry grow as he moved into the side room. ‘Where could it have gone? Did Ethan take it? I’ll check in here anyways. Maybe the researchers were using it for something and misplaced it. I wasn’t going to use it right away anyway.’

Arthur walked through the side room. Magical instruments were set up on tables in the small room. Glass vials held various materials. Papers also sat in piles neatly organized. Arthur looked at the top ones as he looked around the room. He was careful not to disturb anything as he did so.

From some of the writing and the names of the ingredients, he realized that the work was from Ethan. Information about light and dark magic filled the pages as well as information on fighting the undead.

Arthur picked up one of the papers carefully and looked over it closer. The paper detailed information on different types of undead from skeletons and zombies to ghosts and liches. When he flipped the page over he saw what the ingredients were for. They when combined together with heat and spell words could burn undead so that they couldn’t be reanimated. The instructions further detailed how to add them into traps.

In Arthur’s focus on the reading, he didn’t notice someone approach him from behind.

“I see you like my research.”

Ethan dropped the paper hastily and turned around to greet Ethan knocking over a vial in the process. The glass shattered on the ground in relative silence while spilling out its solid contents.