Madi ducked as Orrin’s combination of [Gust] and [Fire Sword] super-heated the air above their heads.

“A new spell?” Daniel asked, leaning against one of the columns and peeling an orange. “That isn’t a great argument for increasing constitution over strength.”

Orrin considered using [Ice Sword] and [Gust] to freeze his friend in place but Madi narrowed her eyes and moved between them.

“Stop with the childish antics, Orrin. What did you want to show us?” Madi held out her hand and Daniel tossed her a quarter of the orange.

“It’s not a new spell. I’m combining two spells,” Orrin protested. He remembered the first time he’d seen the flow of mana and slapped his forehead. “Have either of you tried to see your mana when casting a spell?”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “What does that even mean?”

Orrin did his best to describe seeing the mana, using [Tilth] for his friends in an attempt to let them see what he could. He went over the lessons from both Wren and Anabella, leaving their names out from his explanation but cycling through different spell types. He had Daniel cast a few spells but his friend couldn’t see the magic.

“You don’t see the way the mana comes out of your body in spirals?” Orrin pointed to the fading remnants of [White Dwarf].

Cracks in the tiles spidered out from under Daniel as he lifted a foot to inspect himself. “Nope. Nothing there.”

Maybe an offensive spell would be easier for him to see? Orrin considered. [White Dwarf] increased Daniel’s weight, making it harder to move him and increasing his own power output if he used his body as a weapon. [Tilth] isn’t an offensive spell though and I could see the mana while using it. If he can’t…

Orrin’s thoughts trailed off as the spirals around Daniel began to form a pattern. It wasn’t something he’d noticed at first. Just as Orrin felt he was about to figure it out, the mana disappeared.

“Daniel cast that again.” Orrin blinked his eyes, feeling a slight headache begin. He was so close to understanding the wibbly wobbly spirals.

“Okay?” Daniel stretched out the word into an unasked question. He cast [White Dwarf] again.

A moment later, Orrin smiled at the sound of a ding in his mind.

[Space Ward] – creates a ward around yourself and your party within 50 feet that protects against Space Magic. 20 MP. -1 AP

“Yes. It wasn’t a fluke!” Orrin cheered to the confused glances from his friends and purchased the new ward. He threw the new skill box to Daniel. “I can stop your attacks easier now.”

“Did you buy a new space spell?” Daniel asked while reading.

“Nope. I figured out the mana of your spell. I told you that every magic type is unique. I might not have to buy spells anymore for new wards,” Orrin used [Identify] on Daniel, searching his spell list. “I don’t think you have any types of magic that I don’t already know. I need to find a metal mage and maybe visit Tony. Maybe I can block his mind magic spells.”

Madi took another bite of her orange slice. “Seeing the mana gives you that much of an understanding of the magic?”

Orrin shrugged. “Why don’t you cast something and try to see the mana leaving your body?”

“[Sunbeam] might be overkill for a demonstration and I haven’t spent my ability points yet.”

Orrin paused in his teaching attempt. “What? Why?”

Madi finished the last of her fruit and struck a pose of annoyance, her hand on her hip and her eyes boring into Orrin’s. “You reset my class last night. I have plans but need to read a few books before spending points on anything.”

“That’s… a good idea. Did you not see anything from our spells?”

Madi shook her head.

“Orrin, if this is you pulling our leg…” Daniel trailed off as he threw the peel into a waste bin.

“I thought you two would be able to see it,” Orrin muttered dejectedly. He knew that he’d skipped a class in school. Even Rhys was taking Sensing Magic before Mana Signatures. “Trust me. There’s a way to see your magic spells. The mana is different as it forms for each type of magic. I guess I really am a prodigy at it for some reason. Once you can see the mana, there is a way to combine spells as you cast them. I take the air mana from my [Gust] spell and infuse the fire mana from [Fire Sword]. At first, I could only make a little hot air—”

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“This sounds like hot air,” Daniel loudly whispered to Madi.

“—but now I can heat my [Gust] to the point it burns holes through people who interrupt me,” Orrin finished.

“How does this help us, O?” Madi entreated. “We can’t see the mana like you. We don’t get new spell options like you from random spell purchases.”

“You’ll need to practice until you can see the mana. I’ll contact Professor Wren and get her to help you two sense magic. It’s the least they can do,” Orrin said. He could [Teleport] the woman to Dey for personal lessons if needed. “I wanted you to see the magic in action because it’s easier to understand with the math.”

Daniel glared at Orrin. “Now I know you’re fucking with me.”

Orrin shook his head. “There is some overlap in two of the classes I was taking. In one of them, we learned how every type of magic has a different signature. There’s a core equation that each magic type relates to… but I’ll explain that later. In the other class, we learned how different magic types interact with each other, like how fire magic is weak against water magic. There are mathematical equations that can balance that out if you force more mana into a spell or have higher stat points. It’s all super interesting but constitution plays an important role. Knowing your own spell and the structure of them helps in figuring out the best way to attack two different targets.”

Orrin did his best to teach what he’d learned from Professor Hugh. Constitution gave more than health points. It increased your resilience to surviving attacks and let your body handle more powerful castings as well. Madi seemed interested in the formulas at least.

He also explained the few bits and pieces that Anabella had taught him. The way that even a newly increased strength stat couldn’t be fully utilized until a person acclimated. Constitution played a large part in the speed that Orrin’s increase stat spells or even a normally leveled up stat could be used to the max.

“Madi should increase her constitution so she can survive attacks better and benefit more from your buffs?” Daniel asked.

Orrin reminded himself that his friend was not an idiot. He was smart when he wanted to be.

“That’s like… the bare minimum of what I just explained. If you pay attention in a fight, you can use all this to figure out exactly how to win any fight. Or know that you should run in an unwinnable scenario.”

Daniel nodded and then grinned. “Or I could keep you by my side to do it for me. You tell me where to hit and I’ll swing Gerty.”

Orrin groaned as Madi covered a smile.

“I’m messing with you, O. This is super interesting and I agree we should prioritize con a bit more. If I can use the entirety of a boosted one hundred strength, it’ll be worth it. Oh, before I forget, I should share this,” Daniel said as he waved his hand.

Obtain Level 40:

Reward: [Hero Kit Level 5]

“Sorry, Madi. I can’t share the level thirty Quest.”

She shrugged. “I’m grateful for what I have. I’m at a higher level than my father was at my age and something tells me I’ll keep growing if I keep you two around. Orrin, if you have a few minutes I would love to write down some of those equations. It sounds a little like something Emily told me in the past and I want to test a few things.”

Orrin agreed. They spent time in the Catazano library, with Daniel getting bored within the hour. He excused himself to train with one of the weapon masters that Silas kept finding for him. The morning passed quickly and Madi also left.

“I’ll be in my room until dinner,” she confided in Orrin. “I’ve got spells and skills to buy.”

Orrin sighed as he looked at his own ability points and administrator points. He’d put it off for long enough. The fear that anything he bought would be sealed by the slave collar was fading and he’d hoarded the points for long enough.

It’s time to go shopping.

Orrin stayed in the library alone, his Status screen open in front of him.

“I have one hundred and thirty-seven ability points. That’s insane,” he murmured as he checked over the skills and spells he had. “I should find a metal mage for a new ward. If it works, I might be able to get a ward for every magic type.”

Orrin scratched some notes on a piece of paper. The Store had thousands of spells, most of which were useless to him. He had no need for [Reheat], a spell used to increase the temperature of a liquid. [Protect Seed] would be immensely helpful to a farmer who needed to keep bugs away from his fields but Orrin already had plant magic through [Tilth]. The crossover between plant and earth magic was something he hadn’t studied at all but if the one useless in combat spell wanted to count itself as both, Orrin was glad for double ward.

Going through, he wrote down the fields of magic to investigate. To Daniel’s dismay, he’d purchased the [Space Ward]. Metal and mind magic went on the list. After a few minutes of searching the Store, Orrin found a few spells for lightning. While lightning could be a type of fire magic, he wrote it down anyway. He found glass, wood, shadow, and blood magic spells as well.

A thought scratched in the back of his mind and he pulled up the [Demon Lord] Quest.

“Dark essence as a reward. It might be another type of magic.”

Orrin wrote it down on the list.

I can find some people down at the Guild that have the different types of magic I need. There’s no reason to spend my points on anything useless if it works. I wonder why [Blood Mana] didn’t give me a ward option.

Orrin cast a few buff spells, waiting for his mana to get low enough. He used [Blood Mana] slowly, trying to find the mana. He could feel something within himself changing but couldn’t see the mana. He wrote down “figure out blood?” on his list.

He looked at his spells and skills again. There were a few subskills of [Create Poison] that he could get but there wasn’t a particular need for that. [Alchemy] was still on his list of possible interesting things but there were more important things to consider with the [Demon Lord] approaching.

Orrin could buy any spells or skills in the Store. He thought about what to buy first. The way that he’d been fighting with wind magic and two swords had been born of necessity to hide himself at the Sanerris School but he’d come to enjoy using the combination. He’d seen what even a few levels of knowledge in a weapon could bring watching Daniel.

[Sword Proficiency] Level 1 – You are adept at using swords. -10 AP.

Would you like to purchase for 10 AP?

Yes or No

Orrin smiled as he selected yes and imagined Daniel’s face during their next bout. He’d freeze him using the [Ice Sword] and [Gust] combination and tap him with the [Fire Sword].

“One hundred and twenty-seven left. This is going to take a while.”