Jonn felt his mind oscillating between his torch-lit room and an imaginary world that was vividly clear and filled with clouds. After witnessing the initial demonstration of the spell, he read a few more passages from the book, then once again found himself in that ethereal scene, observing another movement.
The spell book was unique. Each time he read to a certain point, the mana from his body and something inscribed in the book’s words would connect, guiding him through a step-by-step demonstration of the spell.
Jonn could grasp how it worked through [Analysis], as he immersed himself in these illusory demonstrations in his mind, repeating the steps taught by the cloud-formed figure.
[Essence of Life] built upon his experiences, and in less than half an hour, he had progressed from the beginning to the end of the spell book.
Suddenly, as his consciousness returned to his room for the last time, he saw the system’s blue screens appear before him.
{Ding!}
{Congratulations! You have learned the spell: [Air Palm].}
[Air Palm]
[Description: It increases your speed, your ability to dodge objects thrown in your direction and it can be used to attack targets by knocking them off balance or propelling them in the opposite direction of the Air Palm. It will only work in open spaces.]
[Type: Air spell, level 2.]
[Cost: 40 mana.]
[Duration: 5 seconds.]
[Range: 10 meters (32.8 ft).]
[Cast Time: 2 seconds.]
[Cooldown: 10 min.]
Jonn’s eyes glazed over as he felt the mana in his body almost completely exhausted. But the sensation of learning his first spell made him feel ecstatic. He almost shouted with all the power in his lungs to expose his amusement at getting [Air Palm].
{Ding!}
{+1 progress point in the mission [Save the Eternal Village].}
...
[Save the Eternal Village]
[Progress: 4/20]
...
{Ding!}
{+1 progress points in the mission [Magic Cave].}
...
[Magic Cave]
[Progress: 3/11]
He regained the progress point he had lost earlier, while getting another attribute point to distribute.
Jonn automatically moved his attribute point to [Intelligence], fully focused on leveling up.
{Name: Jonn Irondoom}
{Age: 17}
{Level: 1 (95%)}
{Reputation: Level 4 “Elder of the Eternal Village!”}
{Stats:
[Health: 175] [Mana: 195 (225)] [Stamina: 155]}
{Attributes:
[Strength: 15.2] [Agility: 14.4] [Dexterity: 14.2 (**)]
[Constitution: 17.5] [Endurance: 15.5] [Intelligence: 19.5 (22.5)]
[Wisdom: 15.5 (18.5)] [Charisma: 10.5 (13.5)] [Luck: 10 (12)]}
{Resistances: None}
{Skill: [Analysis]; [Essence of Life]; [Projection].}
{Artifacts: [Wildheart Talisman]; [Mysterious Magic Dagger].}
{Spells: [Air Palm].}
95%… I’m almost there. I should make progress in another day, two at the most, if I don’t advance further on the [Magic Cave] quest.
Jonn felt a thrill as he noticed the red indicator showing his current mana at 41 units after he allocated an attribute point to [Intelligence].
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
He left his house and headed to a secluded area, ignoring the darkness of the night and Phantom watching him. Setting up a target with the metal bucket he used to collect water, he stood 6 meters away from the silver object and prepared himself.
Positioning his feet 50 centimeters apart, he extended both arms forward as if preparing for a standing push-up. Then he retracted his right arm close to his body, pressing his right hand against his shoulder.
Keeping his hand open, he circulated the mana throughout his body, as he had seen and practiced in the illusion earlier.
Finally ready to attack, Jonn swiftly thrust his right hand and arm forward, speaking amid his attack, “Air Palm!”
The surrounding winds shifted, and magically, a semi-transparent palm burst from Jonn’s right hand, sending a powerful gust of wind forward.
The silver bucket flew 12 meters backward, and Jonn’s eyes widened as he experienced the sensation of casting a spell for the first time.
“Incredible!”
He only had 1 mana point left, but he couldn’t help shouting in excitement, wondering how a blow like that would fare in combat against a human, mage, or beast.
[Air Palm] is a level 2 spell, which means it has two levels. I’ve only mastered level 1. I can improve my efficiency in using the spell as I practice and increase my power as a mage.
“Sigh! That’s good for now,” he said with a smile, before walking over to his silver bucket. He murmured contentedly, “Time to rest. Tomorrow night, I’ll practice more!”
He returned to his house, feeling that tomorrow would be better than today, already planning to continue his reading in search of new spells or books useful to the village.
He postponed his visit to Count Francus’ cave until finishing his reading of the books he had brought the day before.
Jonn knew little about what would happen as he grew as a mage, but he sensed drastic changes would occur with each advancement. Considering the red mana crystals and traps he wanted to work on in that cave, he delayed his plans as he returned home.
After drinking water and removing his clothes, he lay down on his hard bed, quickly falling asleep.
----------------------------------------
For the next two days, the village remained peaceful, with no unknown groups passing through, the animals continuing their usual habits, and Jonn diligently working on his plans.
On the first day after learning [Air Palm], Jonn gave the farming book to Arber, instructing her on what to do with it once she finished it. He handed the war books to the council for initial study and gave Elia the book on Eldoria.
He read other books that day, discovering some interesting material for his village and some that weren’t as relevant. He didn’t find any new spells on his second day of reading, but that didn’t discourage him. After his daily activities with the animals, the plantation, the mine, and at the forge, Jonn trained his spell in the evening and maintained his rest routine.
On the second day, Jonn continued his reading and found something he considered important—a book on forging. He passed it to Tim, while the other books covered various subjects, including two diaries.
Among the diaries, one belonged to Count Francus Riverash, which Jonn kept for later study.
Thus, at the end of the second day, Jonn finished reviewing all the books he had brought from the cave. With a wealth of new information in his mind, he wasn’t disappointed about not finding a second spell.
Spell books were rare to find preserved or in simple libraries like that cave’s. Normally, mages didn’t take this kind of book with them anywhere dangerous. The risks of them falling and leaving such critical books for enemies were great, something unacceptable in the mage code of conduct.
[Air Palm] was not Count Francus Riverash’s spell, but the spell of an enemy he had killed during the war and had not had time to take the spell book back to his homeland. From the man’s diary, Jonn learned about the origin of his first spell, the importance of hiding spell books and where else he could find this kind of thing.
Apart from caves like the one in Count Francus, one could hardly get spells outside the headquarters or residences of mages!
Given that many of Valorian’s strongest mages had fallen, there should be many ruins with spells hidden around the continent.
But Jonn kept his curiosity to himself and didn’t intend to use this information in the short term. Having finished reading the books from the cave to estimate their value to the village, he focused on studying Count Francus’ diary in more depth.
With his [Mana] reaching 199, he intended to go to Count Francus’ cave the next day to level up and start his work there!
He focused this evening on reading the passage from Count Francus’ diary about the traps the man had set, in search of how these structures worked and tips on how he could use the place.
----------------------------------------
The next morning, Jonn went to the walled area of the village, as usual.
The 12th house in the village was under construction, and the workers informed him that in a maximum of two more weeks, he could move inside the walled area.
Moving on, he picked up his portion of Mimosa’s daily milk along with an ordinary egg and a plate of hot boiled potatoes from Tim and Molle’s house. Jonn knew how to cook, but he rarely did. He usually ate at one of the houses that had leftover food. Someone always invited him to eat, and he rarely turned them down.
After a brief conversation with the super-cheerful Tim, Jonn followed Asher, who was going to patrol one of the village mines until mid-afternoon. He chatted with the man for a few minutes before they parted ways, and he headed to the area he had marked as dangerous for villagers to approach.
He didn’t hesitate to enter Count Francus’ cave upon arriving, heading straight for the area with the pillar featuring the mage’s bust and some texts he still couldn’t understand.
Jonn went to the first of the four traps in the area and pulled out his Celestial Magnifying Glass to start studying it. He had already learned that the more he used his mana, especially his {Skills}, the faster his [Intelligence] seemed to grow.
Being one small step closer to advancing, especially after drinking Mimosa’s milk this morning—a routine he had maintained since helping the cow absorb the mana crystal—Jonn was on the verge of a breakthrough.
His nearly 230 [Mana], partly generated by the [Wildheart Talisman], allowed him to use the {Skills} of the Celestial Magnifying Glass for several minutes without exhausting himself. However, after almost two hours in the area, while analyzing the last of the cave’s traps, he reached his point of exhaustion.
Another lesson Jonn had learned was that depleting as much of his mana reserve as possible stimulated his growth more effectively than using small amounts of mana and then stopping.
As soon as his [Mana] was reduced to just 5 units, he paused his activities to rest and drink some water.
While in the cave’s bathroom, he relieved himself for almost a minute, recovering nearly 2 units of mana in that time. Once finished, he turned his attention to the mage’s diary, continuing to outline his plans, until suddenly his [Intelligence] shot up to 20, just before his mana base reached 200!
{Ding!}
{Congratulations! You’ve reached the mana base needed to advance to level 2!}
{Level advancement successfully started!}
The super-dense mana in the cave swirled around Jonn, as he felt a profound change occurring within him. This sensation wasn’t just physical; there was a spiritual component that Jonn couldn’t ignore.