On the other side of the door was a yard filled with short grass, wildflowers and small shrubs. To the side was what looked like a shooting range and small circular fighting rings. We go up to the shooting range. Emir pointed at one of the targets and created an orb of mana, then imbued it with runes of Earth and Spike. Then rather than completing the spell and throwing it at the target, he said "ERUPTION" in an ethereal voice which is both a deep rumble and a soft tingle at once. I saw that the mana structure started to dissipate and thought that the spell failed. But then I noticed the brownish natura of the ground start to shift and suddenly a bout of stone spikes erupted from beneath the target and pierced it in many places.

The spikes then retract back into the ground. The dummy which was full of holes started getting fixed at a fast rate, it must be an enchantment. "Now that you have seen how it is done you should be able to do it with your aptitude. I cannot fully tell you how it will feel to connect with the Natura. However, I will say that you should enhance a binding-type spell. I should show you how to mark something so that you can better focus your magic on the target." Saying that he again summoned a glob of mana in his hand, this time instead of normal Genocy runes it was a complex intricate sigil that looked like a galaxy in the shape of a tree.

"Ah! I accidentally used my True Mark again!" He muttered in agitation. Then the sigil changes into a simple seven-pointed star. He then adds the Genocy runes of Imbue and Bolt. Then he launches the bolt which is nigh-invisible to my normal vision at the dummy. When the bolt struck it didn't do anything, but on a closer look I see that a faint shape of the seven-pointed star is attached to the dummy's energy signature. Then he quickly makes another mana orb with just the rune of Fire. Then he just says "PURGE THIS ENEMY". That makes a small ember shoot out of his towards the dummy and leave a small scorch mark on the dummy, on closer inspection I see that the ember had hit it right where the mark was but after getting hit by the ember the mark had dissipated.

"To make a rudimentary Mark, you need to picture a symbol that you find resonance with, then you imbue the intent and concept of Mark into the mana structure of a spell or enchantment to create it. You should try for yourself to get a better feel as you Otherworlder's sometimes feel the energies differently" Saying he muttered something and the dummy became as good as new.

I made a glob of mana in my hand and concentrated on thinking of a symbol to make my Mark. I think of many symbols and only find a faint resonance so I keep looking, after some time I stumble upon a symbol that holds a higher resonance. it was a round eye with a triangular pupil, yet it felt incomplete. Almost by instinct, I add a six-teeth gear around it and feel the resonance reach a point and the Mark snap into place.

I open my eyes to find myself staring at the dummy holding my hand in front of me with a small orb of mana in it. The orb was imbued with the Mark I just made. I add runes of Branding and Bullet on the mana structure, then open fire. One small yet fast bullet of magic hits the dummy right in the centre of its chest and creates a small shimmering symbol on it. It was the symbol of the Mark, yet what surprised me more was that it was even visible to the naked eye. I looked at Emir and asked him why my Mark was visible.

He nods and answers, "Good question! That is because you branded the Mark instead of imbuing it. The differences are that while imbuing may be easily removed, it is harder to notice and before you ask you were able to see mine because I let it be seen. Branding makes the imprint of the Mark more stable so that it doesn't get removed easily, it leaves a visible sign of its existence on the object which can be noticed by most. Though there is even higher on the list, that is engraving. Engraving needs to be done by hand and is very noticeable as a veritable beacon to most magical senses, though it also acts as a beacon and magnet to any magic tuned to it. Engravings are very stable and hard to remove, this technique is mostly used in contract markings and warding. And remember that to tune your magic to your mark just hold its image in your mind thinking of it as your target when you finalize the spell." I nod my head in understanding, turn to the target and prepare.

I had noticed previously that the Mark took a space on the mana structure just like a rune and I had some room left so I had added two runes to see my limit and found that I had space for three and a half but at three the structure started to destabilize. this time I used three again but kept an eye for any problems that might arise. I added the runes of Grave, Decay and Earth to the spell structure. Then I tried to connect it to the natura around me and felt it click without a hitch. I then started cycling a bit of mana in my voice and incanted while retaining a clear image of my Mark, "Entomb the Marked".

Then I felt the spell structure turn into dust and fall to the ground, soaking into the ground. Yet I knew that the spell had not failed as I had a connection to it. After a couple of seconds, the dirt beneath the dummy opens and swallows it halfway before closing on it. The top of the covered hole was loose dirt so someone might be able to just get out of it by pulling themselves up. But I felt that the spell was still ongoing so I waited patiently to see what happens. After about a minute the spell stops but the dummy remains buried.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

With a flick of his wrist, Emir pulls the dummy out telekinetically. We saw that the lower part of the body had rotten slightly, which must have been the effect of the Decay rune I had put in there. "Impressive! You even managed to add a secondary effect to the spell!" He said cheerily. "Now—" Before he could go on another tangent I stopped him and said, "You said that I should use a shield-type spell, but you didn't show me any."

He stopped suddenly, going very still, then he looked at me slowly, then sighed. He muttered something but I couldn't hear it. He regained his creepy smile all of a sudden and said, "I was just about to show you before you disrupted me. I will now create a shield around your power level and you will try to break it. How is that? You will not be able to see what runes I use to create the shield as in the real world that will be. But to create a shield-type spell you use appropriate runes while keeping the output of the spell in mind just like the previous spells. You should also remember that magic is not a rigid thing, but a flexible and changing aspect of the World. So be a bit more free with your experimentations while you are with me." He chuckled at the last part. But I nodded my head at his explanation.

He then went up the range and cast a spell very quickly. A wall of vines and dirt sprouted from the ground, flinging small bits around. Using my energy sense I saw that it had a natura in it, so he must have used an elemental spell. As he had not mentioned a timer I will experiment a bit. I gather some mana in hand and construct a ball of mana but this time I keep a small string still attached to myself. Then I imbued it will runes of Information, Weakness and Sense. The while concentrating I started to chant, "Reveal the Weakness".

The spell activated and the mana construct transformed into a crystalline orb that started to spew a fine mist around it and the string attached to me became a crimson fleshy cord that attached to the crystal orb. When the mist touched anything it lit up a bit to my senses but didn't do much, but when it hit the fencing or other structures of the range, they were opaque to my new sense, as if they didn't have any weakness. I see a lot of the mist go toward the fencing to find a weakness in it but I redirected it to go to the shield faster and ignore the other things.

When it arrived at the shield it was opaque just like the fencing, but the opaqueness felt flimsy somehow, like tissue paper instead of wood that was covering the fencing. But after a lot of the mist entered the shield I got a faint sense of it. The vines of the shield glowed a greenish tint and the packed dirt was yellow, where they overlapped it was orange, it seemed that the greener the glow the weaker that point was. I dismissed the spell construct, it felt easy now that I wasn't panicking.

I then prepared a Mark bolt with a branding rune and launched it at the shield. It hit almost the center of the shield and left a sizzling mark on the vine. Then I made another mana orb with about 50% more mana than the others. I added the runes of Propagation, Corruption and Assimilation in it. Then I chanted, "Go oh spore, become More". The spell activated and a small glowing spore flew out of my hand toward the shield. When about a quarter of the way to the shield it started to lose altitude. I quickly used my mana to connect to the natural energy and chanted, "Winds guide this child true."

A breeze then picked up. The spore then started to ride the wind and quickly approached the shield. Then the spore landed in the shield just above the Mark. On landing it stayed still for a second before bursting out into a mass of thin purple mycelial strings that covered about a hand span of space on the mass of vines. Then it started weaving into the vines. Where the purple strings were touching, the vines grew darker and withered before bursting into more of the purple mycelium. In about a minute the shield was covered in fungal growth. It even sprouted several stools and thick vine-like growths to replace the previous. Then suddenly the wall of vines crumpled and the purple fungus started draining mana from me at a moderate pace, it seemed that this spell had an ongoing mana requirement but it was draining it from the shield.

"Impressive! It is one of the most impressive self-replicating or assimilating from some this low tier! But I have to say that in a real battle, you will not have this much time for you to break a shield. It would have been way faster to use a fire, blight or poison-type spell. Nonetheless, it was impressive." I jumped a little as I heard Emir's voice from behind me, as I had last seen him going down range. I turn around to see him just standing there with glimmering eyes as he looks at the fungal growth that has replaced the vine wall.

He then continues, "And to say about your weaknesses gathering spell! Normal people wouldn't even be standing after using that spell as they would likely be overwhelmed by information overload as their brain tries to make sense of the new sense. But it seems like your traits and Skills let you parse through the information and give a synesthesia to incorporate the new sense into your mind. Marvellous indeed!" I just stared at him as he said that the spell could have fried my brain a bit. But before I could respond I saw a bolt of fire coming toward my face and dropped to a crouch to evade it. "Now it's your turn to defend."