There were a few unique functions that his magic core had now.

The first was spell swap.

That's right! He didn't need to destroy his core to replace the spells.

You see... in the original magic system. Once you engrave a spell on the focus. It is permanent.

But John's magic core uses an entirely different design. It has chambers. The spells placed inside are like bullets.

They can be swapped out and changed without compromising the focus. But there is a catch. Once he becomes rank 2. He'll have to add another layer to his focus. This will make the spells in the chambers permanent at that time.

Second. There was a mode called 'phantom mode'. Just like how John was capable of turning his body into energy to having it sucked into his soul to remove traces of himself. He would have his core turn into an energy state and be similar to a phantom.

In this state. It was impossible for the core to get injured from external means.

Third. This mode was called 'Overload'. Similar to devil transformation. The core would stress itself beyond its limits to boost all of spells for a minute. It would then shatter afterwards. John could use his immortality to repair his core, although the more complex it became, the longer it would take to repair. The boost wasn't as crazy as a hundred times. At most it could double or triple the power of spells.

Fourth. He had an auto compressor created in a matrix around the magic core. It would automatically condense his mana. He wouldn't need to focus on turning his mana into a liquid and then a solid from its gas state.

Fifth. He had created a network in the magic core that could display his current mana into a percentage.

As a rank 1. He had 360 units of mana in the form of gas. His current conversion to liquid mana was at 0%

It would likely take a few years to reach 100% of his mana becoming liquid.

Overtime, from the mana flowing into your core from the matrix. Just like how a cultivator becomes more durable from Qi flowing through their meridians. Something similar happens here. Except, it isn't the wizard becoming more durable. But an upgrade in the quality of mana.

So the percentage upgraded carries over. Here's an example.

Say you have 1% of your pool of mana converted into liquid.

You would have 356.4 mana in the form of gas. But you would also have 3.6 mana in the form of liquid.

This conversion ratio also applied to new mana generated. So if you used all of your mana. Once it was restored. You would still have 356.4 mana in gas form. Along with 3.6 mana in liquid form.

So what was the benefit of having liquid mana? It was more dense!

The capacity of a mage didn't increase as they ascended the ranks. What instead increased, was the quality of the mana they could hold. 3.6 liquid mana was equivalent to 7.2 gas mana. 1 crystalized mana was equivalent to 2 liquid mana or 4 gas mana.

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When you became a rank 4 mage, your capacity would be upgraded by ten times. All of the mana from the matrix would also be condensed into a crystal sea.

What was the difference between a rank 3 and a rank 4? It was the point mass!

Rank 4's had a point mass instead of a focus. It was on an entirely different level of complexity and was almost like another magic core by itself. At rank 4. your magic core is imprinted on your very soul itself.

This brings about a qualitive change.

Passive spells hardly used any mana when running. It was only used when you were attacked.

John got mana from his soulverse. Since it was fresh from the source and wasn't from Mer's matrix. He could build up a backlog of mana. This essentially meant he had more then 360 mana! Although he could only have 360 at once. He could instantly pull from his reserves.

John had two passive spells for his focus.

'Hellfire Safeguard'

'Spatial Body'

But he needed to fill his focus completely before becoming a rank 2 magus. He also needed some rank 2 spell models for examples. He was a long way from becoming a rank 2 still.

He planned to stay in the academy and accumulate resources.

But he was quite tired of selling potions. He began to study the structure of low grade magic stones.

If he could conjure food and water, and even clothes. Why couldn't he do the same for magic stones?

He was capable of creating matter from his mental energy alone.

A single rank 1 spell model costed roughly 1000 low grade magic stones.

John began construction of a spell he called 'Conjure Magic Stones'.

It was a tier 5 spell. He could cast it four times and each time it would generate 50 magic stones.

It took about a little over an hour to recover all of his mental energy.

He could then cast it four more times.

This was 200 magic stones an hour! Far more efficient then brewing potions. He had also hidden his identity when buying the materials to breakthrough. People would assume his wealth was from the potions he had made.

But he didn't plan to spam this spell repeatedly. He began to study the structure of mid grade magic stones. These were worth 100 low grade ones for a single one.

He created a new spell called 'Greater Conjure Magic Stone'.

It was tier 6. It created a single mid grade magic stone.

These were far easier to carry around. He didn't feel like having to haul a cart full of low grade ones.

Now John just needed a channel to buy spell models.

Or... he could make the spells himself.

He already was quite familiar with rank 1 spells. In combination with his knowledge on a mental magic system as well as the books he had read from this world. Not to mention the lightning tree in his private consciousness.

He began to browse the memories of the supreme being and started to craft his own spells.

These are the six spells he ended up filling the chambers in his focus with.

'Greater Hellfire Safeguard'. - could protect against physical and magic attacks up to 500 tons of force (covered the body in blue fire).

'Spatial Body' - This could protect against all physical attacks, no limits besides the mana used.

'Energy Absorption' - This spell converted damage from energy attacks into mana that could be used.

'Body of Angel' - This spell allowed one to create their own leverage, effectively a flight spell.

'Chaos Pulse' - This created a strong impact that could send an enemy shooting far away from the user.

'Mana Vision' - This could help determine the level of the opponent.

Then there was a blank slot that was designed a bit differently. What it did was remove the magic barrier that all official mages had.

This meant to others. John would just appear to be an acolyte, if that.

All of his passive spells were active. But he could also rotate the chambers in his focus, like a gun. Selecting a spell to display. For example, if he had the chamber 'Greater Hellfire Safeguard' displayed. A magic barrier would be over him all the time.

But if he had the blank chamber set to display. No shield would be over him at all.

But the special thing about his focus was. All chambers could be active at once if he wished!

In combination with his immortality and cultivation. He had become an unstoppable force!