Right when it was 6 P.M. on Earth, the time flow on Seraphia accelerated to a 2:1 ratio, making time pass twice as fast. The players were also beginning to log back into the game in droves, like excited dogs heading out for a walk.
One player, in particular, was seemingly more excited than the rest: William, also known as Prominence. The longer-than-usual update had given him the opportunity to complete a new spell using the Spell Generator program, and now was the perfect time to test it. Eagerly, he rushed to the magic training area where players typically practiced their magic spells.
To his surprise, he was not the only one with the same idea, nor was he the first to arrive. Many other players had already gathered, each ready to test their new self-created spells — some were posing as if about to race in an Olympic.
As William darted toward the magic training area, a fellow player noticed and approached him. “Yo, if it isn’t Prominence! What’s up, bro?” It was Locktekei, a kindred spirit.
“Hey there,” William replied, scratching his itchy nose. “I’m here to test a new spell. It just so happened that the one I generated through the Spell Generator program just finished the other day. Are you by chance doing the same thing?”
“Damn straight!” He proudly thumped his chest and pointed at the other players gathered around the wooden training dummies. “We all are.”
Among the crowd, William recognized several noteworthy players, including GiveMeTheNuclearCode and Aphrodite96. As a fellow “enthusiast,” he could guess what kind of spells they had concocted. True to his suspicions, Aphrodite cast a spell and summoned a slimy tentacle from the ground, which promptly entangled a wooden dummy. He then laughed heartily at the success of his spell. This display elicited a mix of reactions, with several players, especially the female ones, looking visibly repulsed and backing away from him with disgusted faces.
Although William admitted that he was quite dirty-minded, he hadn’t used it for anything obscene yet. Creating even a single spell took weeks despite using a high-end computer, so he focused on something more useful in combat to compensate for his shortcomings. This spell was also meant to celebrate his advancement which was 100 percent going to happen today; it was supposed to be last night based on his progression, but the maintenance postponed it.
Without wasting more time in idle chatter, he went ahead to test his new spell as soon as an empty spot became available.
Taking a deep breath, William focused his mind, erasing any lingering stray thoughts. Despite the assistance of the Spell Assist feature, casting a new spell for the first time was quite challenging in this game. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for players to suffer injuries and backlash from complacency. Fortunately, none had died from such mistakes so far.
“{Flame Prison}!” he chanted. A prison of fire emerged, encasing the wooden dummy and quickly burning it to cinders. Not bad. Success on the first casting… though I guess I can do better with some practice.
“Nice.” Locktekei, who had been watching from the side, clapped his hands and added with a smug, confident smile, “Still not as good as what I’ve cooked up myself. Hehe.”
Reacting to his friend’s confidence, William said, “Then show me.”
“As you wish.”
Locktekei stepped forward, positioning himself in front of an empty spot. He took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing in concentration. With a fluid motion, he raised his hand and chanted, “{Storm Surge}!”
The air around him crackled with energy as he attempted to summon a swirling vortex of wind and water.
“A combination spell?!” William’s eyes widened in surprise.
According to the official website wiki, it was possible to cast a combination spell by merging two separate spells into one, though none of the players had successfully done this. Conversely, what Locktekei attempted was even more ambitious: casting a single spell that combined two elements seamlessly. If he managed to pull it off, he would become a legend in the game, with his name immortalized in the Hall of Fame.
However, instead of forming a controlled surge, the elements spiraled out of control. The wind whipped violently around him, and the water splashed chaotically, drenching him and causing him to lose his balance. Suddenly, there was a loud crack, and the backlash hit him hard. Locktekei stumbled, clutching his head as a sharp pain coursed through him and left him gasping for breath as the unstable energy dissipated.
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William rushed to his side. “Dude! Are you okay?”
Locktekei grimaced, rubbing his temples. “Yeah, just a minor backlash. Luckily, I was able to stop the spell in time, or else I would have suffered more than one day of respawn time… Guess using a combination spell like this is impossible…”
But was that really the case?
It could be said that William was one of the most advanced players in the game, but he knew that his progress wasn’t vastly ahead of others. What a single individual could accomplish paled in comparison to the potential of a collective effort. Perhaps their roles as acolytes in this academy were to research and innovate as well as collaborate with each other.
Shaking his thoughts aside, William helped him to his feet. “You should take it easy. Try a simpler, proven method listed in the wiki before delving into unknown territory. That way, you’ll achieve success more reliably.”
In contrast to his advice, Locktekei shook his head and laughed as if nothing had happened. “Ha! Failure is the mother of success. I’ll get it right eventually.”
Other players glanced over, some offering words of encouragement while others nodded in understanding. The training area continued to be crowded as more players practiced their spells, pushing their limits and striving for mastery in the game.
***
Amidst the buzz of the training area, a figure stood behind a large window on the topmost floor of the Headmaster’s Building, his arms folded behind his back. An intrigued smile spread across his face as a scene below caught his attention.
Of course, the man was none other than Victor.
“Interesting. So, the program has finally borne fruit,” Victor muttered, stroking his chin while observing the players testing their new spells.
The main reason behind the creation of the Spell Generator program was to diversify Victor’s arsenal of spells, but that wasn’t all there was to it. The spells personally generated by the players would also be available to him. After all, the players’ new spells were all saved by the Shadowlink Marks, allowing Victor to use them too, without their knowledge. When it came to creativity, nothing could beat these players who were filled with all sorts of imaginations.
“Hmm-hmm! Who else but me is the programmer behind it!” Lizbeth proudly patted her chest while sitting on the table with her legs crossed.
“Well, I have to give you that. Still…” Victor gazed at the list of spells on the holographic screen, his eyes twitching. He was quite dumbfounded to find several “questionable spells” among them. For example, there was one named {Harder Daddy} created by GiveMeTheNuclearCode, which summoned obsidian belts to whip the target relentlessly.
Despite its apparent uses for torture, Victor imagined that it would be utterly embarrassing to announce the spell loudly in front of others, especially other Magi. After all, the spell’s name was automatically translated into the ancient Seraphia language by the program, which other magicians could understand and potentially raise eyebrows among them. He definitely didn’t want others to mistake him as a masochistic individual.
Not only do their usernames sound trollish, but the names of their magic spells appear as if they were made by a bunch of perverts, Victor thought helplessly.
Seemingly to notice his dilemma, Lizbeth flew toward Victor. And he, being unable to keep this to himself, pointed to the spell on the list, asking, “Did you see this one?”
Lizbeth leaned over to look and burst out laughing. “Oh my, that’s indeed something. I must say that the ‘creativity’ of these players to input their fetishes at every opportunity never ceases to amaze me.”
Victor sighed. “Should I have implemented some guidelines for naming spells?” He began regretting giving the players free reins to name the spell except for clearly profane words.
“If you do that, where’s the fun in that?” Lizbeth raised her hands. “Besides, their creativity is what makes the Spell Generator program so successful.”
Finding some sense behind her reasoning, Victor nodded rather reluctantly. “True. I just hope they don’t get too carried away. We need spells that are effective in combat, not just ones that are amusing or embarrassing.”
Lizbeth chuckled. “Worry not, Master. We should just take the back seats and enjoy the show.”
“Alright then, let’s see what other gems they’ve come up with.”
Luckily, there were also some spells that Victor found useful even for his own use. Take the {Flame Prison} spell that Prominence created, for example. Despite its low rank, it was a spell that could come in handy even for an official Magus like him. There were also several other spells that he found intriguing, which could be useful in various situations.
One had to understand that even a nouveau riche individual like Graviel wouldn’t learn more than ten spell models for a few reasons. Not only was each spell model expensive, but mastering each one also took a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, acolytes like Jared tended to prioritize offensive spells over support spells because they believed those spells were cooler. As such, other than Graviel, the other three could be considered mediocre in terms of their combat prowess and versatility. In fact, Victor himself was a better fighter than all of them apart from Graviel.
By taking all of this into consideration, the players were truly blessed with outrageous cheats. They could test any spell without worrying about getting killed in the process, and they also had a feature that helped them master any spell. One could only imagine what they would become in the future. The notion sent shivers down Victor’s spine.