Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.30]

There was so much to do that in the first days of his training Zeph had lost sight of his true goal.

Manacasting training was just that – constructing Spells over and over to better your control and familiarity with the shapes. But he had much more on his plate. He has been developing Spells and techniques much faster than any of the locals could dream of. Thanks to his Spell modification methods, Greater Willpower, Advanced Mana Manipulation, and a number of other factors, he could advance without any issues as long as he had Spell Matrices to play with. Because of that, he even caused Makani’s brain to short-circuit a few times during their initial interactions after he descended from one of the peaks of the Torrent mountain range.

But it was a curse in disguise.

He didn’t have enough knowledge or common sense – things that people acquired naturally during years of strict training. Worse, his list of available Spells’ Matrices was growing faster than he could realistically test and master, not to mention that he wasn’t yet able to indulge in his own studies of Mana after reaching civilization.

As a result, he could be compared to a man with an assortment of guns, knowing only how to use them and not how they worked, in what circumstances they worked best, how to take care of them, or how to effectively use them in a fight. Like a collector. And nothing would be wrong with that fact if he was a Spellwielder, not a person with skills comparable to Magistrus of Manacasting – a step beyond Makani’s title.

He had a lot to learn, and yet… the first thing he decided to test was his new or newly available Spell Matrices.

“You are wasting my time,” Makani commented constantly during those two days. The man was already grumpy because of the situation in his Tower – people didn’t like the fact that he took part in the Tournament directly – and was still forced to observe Zeph’s vast Matrix library and give comments.

Zeph didn’t care about his mood, though. He quickly learned that Makani was simply ostracized socially without any serious consequences, especially ones that could touch upon his position in the Tower. On the other hand, he really needed someone with ‘basic’ Manacasting knowledge, so he didn't see the point in sparing him from participating in the tests just to comfort him.

Zeph’s Class granted him a vast variety of Spell Matrices, but he also had unlocked branching Spells for all of his Tier 0 Spells – the cantrips, as he called them – by mastering their construction and turning them into Energy Enhancements. Then, there were Spells he invented himself. Without Makani’s knowledge, he wouldn’t know the first thing about their applications, relative power, and possible modifications.

With glee, Zeph tested his two Tier 2 Spells – Forced Ionization and Thermal Channeling. He finally had enough Matix Space and Mana Capacity to be able to construct them – the first required respectively 230 space and 1300 capacity, while the other just slightly less.

He also had a third one - Force Microscale Framework – but its requirements were almost doubled. Of course, he also had Kinetic Medium, a Tier 2 Spell created by his own hands. But, following the general trend, System’s Matrices required much more than his own Spellwork.

And, as it turned out, those two Tier 2 constructs were gigantic in comparison to Tier 1 Spells. If a construct of a cantrip wasn’t bigger than the tip of his pinky, and unchained Tier 1 constructs not bigger than 4 centimeters in diameter (with exceptions), then the Tier 2 constructs fit into his half-closed palm.

Moreover, both Spells sported multiple ‘active sites’ instead of only one, which didn’t make much sense for Zeph. Those were places where the final effect of Mana flow took effect. Their geometry was also strange – a lot less fluid spirals and folds, and much more seemingly random corners and almost geometrical patterns.

But when the Spell was finally cast and activated, the strangest thing of them all happened. Parts of the construct started to shift slightly, even disappearing and reappearing in places around the active sites.

Makani explained that it was normal for Tier 2 Spells and that those changes followed natural auto-shaping forces present in the construct, recurrently reforming themselves. As to why, he wasn’t able to tell. The process was, for sure, engaging his Soul to some capacity, but it was impossible to say what exactly was happening.

Zeph also was stumped. Both movement patterns seemed random and abrupt at moments. ‘4-dimension-ish’ movements, he would hesitantly say if not for the fact that different parts of the constructs behaved differently – most parts didn’t move at all. Besides, he never heard anyone talking about higher dimensions. Makani also was clueless.

Probably because of that glaring hole in their understanding, Zeph couldn’t even guess how the Spells were achieving their results. Even if his connection to the majority of produced Magicules was still intact, allowing him great control of the effects, it explained nothing about what exactly was happening.

Forced Ionization seemed to do exactly what the name suggested – ionize any matter that was coming into contact with the mix of resulting microstructures of Magicules. The behavior was very similar to Electrify, but the effects and control absolutely different. He could smell ozone in the air mere seconds after activation while blue discharges danced around his hand. It was proof enough that the Spell was working on the level of atomic bonds. It shouldn’t be possible, though – he was quite sure the Joules necessary weren’t adding up. Not to mention, the Spell was working universally on all matter and he could ionize even solid matter, although that was a very slow process. And yet, there wasn’t much light radiation or traces of aggressive chemical reactions.

In other words, he had no idea what really was going on. All he knew was that this Spell was powerful. He wouldn’t be surprised if proper usage would allow him to create violent explosions – like using it on water to cause hydrogen explosion – or even to produce plasma.

The best part was – the resulting ions could be manipulated with the help of Magicules formed by the Spell. He wasn’t proficient, but he could clearly feel it. Of course, moving around ionized gases was much easier than manipulating solid matter.

A shame the Spell was sucking more Mana per second than he could produce.

Thermal Channeling was another beautiful example of how to abuse and then throw away physics. The Spell could reverse the natural flow of heat, laughing raucously at Entropy and the order of the universe. It wouldn’t be that bad – sustaining the process was sucking a lot of his Mana – but, tragically, it wasn’t all. He could swear that some of the heat was being turned into Magicules.

Either way, he could now lower the temperature in the area. Another ridiculous notion. He had thought that it would work more like his coolant, but the hope was vain.

He was also sure that those Spells were hiding more utilities. Those were merely his cursory observations from initial testing.

He had spent almost a full day playing with those two Spells. If he could, he would try to combine them, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Finally, after seeing no further progress, Makani’s complaints managed to convince him to shift focus to the rest of his Spells.

It wasn’t like the Manacaster himself wasn’t fascinated, but hours of observing the same phenomenon was too much for him.

Juggling his Matrix Space, Zeph tested each of his Spells at least once. He catalogued them, writing down his notes and information given by Makani. He had found a few interesting ones, especially from the branches that he unlocked thanks to his cantrips, but most were useful only in very specific conditions.

However, before deciding on which Tier 1 Spells he should focus on in the near future, he wanted to cover all his bases.

It was time to learn new Spells altogether.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

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Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.31]

“It really won’t be a problem?”

“No, it’s even better that way, actually. You can be categorized as a youngster and you lack levels. People like you will be evacuated, either way.”

“It doesn’t feel right, though. What with the defense of the city? Of the Guild?”

Kwan smirked, leaning to the side and supporting her head on the back of her hand. “You would only get in the way. The true defenses are on in the walls. Secondary defenses are a part of the city’s infrastructure. Only after that do the field troops and buildings’ defenses come into play. At that point, you are near the bottom of the ladder.”

He crossed his arms and huffed. “I do have a few impactful tricks up my sleeve.”

“For very specific situations. Mainly – you can’t distinguish between friend and foe,” she countered, shaking her head slightly at his words. “And you are utterly unnecessary.” His eye twitched. “You should spend your time training and learning, not preparing for another fight. Especially because you can’t influence the outcome in any manner. Didn’t you read the reports?” she asked, sighing.

He did. The Fuminao Legacy Kingdom’s army was mobilized and would be soon sent to the east. Not only because of the horde but also because of the rebellious cities in the region. Most will land in Lurona city, though.

Strategically, the city was one of the most important assets to the kingdom as it had access to the sea and many production facilities. An attack from the direction of the sea was impossible for the horde, while the country could easily and quickly transport its troops to the region. Additionally, many people decided to evacuate before the expected attack. The city would also pay for evacuation and living expenses for the poor and weak. That would naturally free up many apartments. All in all, the logistics of moving and housing a big army were effortless.

That didn’t change the fact that Zeph was reluctant to be absent during the fight. Not a small part of him wanted to witness a fight of such proportion – to see firsthand what Spells, enchantments, and technology would be put to use. Especially because their Guild had an escape plan or five ready if worse was to come, so he didn’t feel endangered. They even could fly off, taking the core of their headquarters with them – the twins and Ghrughah finished all architectural preparations to do so.

The presence of at least four Shihans of Mana Arts – or Archmages, as Zeph liked to call them – was also assuring. Those people were Heads of the continental clusters of their Towers and possessed a tremendous mass-scale offensive ability.

On the other hand, it was expected that the city would be put on lockdown for an unknown amount of time. That, unfortunately, collided with his plans.

After hearing that the attack was expected in three months’ time, he started wondering if delaying his departure for a month would be worth it. That could be done. And then, he would be able to see at least the beginning of the fight before leaving. Although, how he would be able to see what is happening beyond the city walls, he hadn’t planned yet.

Stupid lockdown... what would that help with anything even? he lamented internally. Even if he understood the logical reasons, he decided to ignore them.

He sighed in resignation. It seemed his schedule wouldn’t change. “Don’t you have any methods of recording the events?” he asked with a grimace.

Kwan giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

“So, it was all about that? Even more reason for us to not risk smuggling you off after the siege starts.” He grumbled under his breath. She declined that outright when he had asked – military orders weren’t treated lightly here. “As for your question…” she tapped her cheek a few times, thinking. “If I remember correctly, System Onji has Skills in the exchange containing memories from historical events. You are a part of our Guild, so you should have access to those at the Exchange.”

Zeph shook his head with disappointment. “I am already imagining the prices for those…”

She shrugged. “What can you do? And it would be very difficult for you to actually see the main event, either way.”

Thus, the last nail was hammered into the coffin of his bright idea.

His shoulders dropped in resignation. I knew it was unlikely, but gods it stings… At least Makani will share this painful fate with me… he consoled himself.

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Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.02.11]

After cleaning his face with cold water to wake himself up and flush away the sleep crust from his face, he straightened and looked into a mirror.

Gru’s inert eyes were still sticking out of his skin near the corners of his eyes. He poked one with his finger, to no effect. Those black dots were hard like glass, yet Gru should have felt that. He wondered for a moment if damaging them would wake his bond up.

Two weeks have passed from the day he visited the Gibbons.

He was following quite a strict schedule the whole time: management work in the mornings, training with Makani for a few hours, consulting and helping the crafter team – mainly Irra, as she was still working on the gunpowder, Gru’s Mana battery, and a few adjacent projects – then training more alone, and finally meditating late into the night.

From time to time, he visited the Library to learn more from Alana’s notes and books. She and Alex finished their investigation a week ago, but the data was inconclusive. He had some clues as to what could have happened in his Soul that day, but these few pieces of the puzzle weren’t enough. As so, he threw himself at the books recommended by his old companions in hopes of developing Soul perception and other useful Soul Arts’ abilities. Those were required for Flesh Manipulation, either way.

Yet, he made no progress in waking up Gru or understanding the Soul scarring.

Patience…he reminded himself.

Taking and releasing a deep breath, he shook his head and pushed himself away from the wash basin. Returning to his room, he started preparing for the day.

During those two weeks, he had already achieved more than he thought possible.

With the use of the Cube, he was able to learn four new cantrips in a record time: Gas-thinning, Fluid-thinning, Gas-thickening, and Fluid-thickening.

Such effort should have taken him at least two months, but the Cube made the process trivial. Only two more Tier 0 Spells were left to gather the full set possessed by every Mechanic-focused Class: basic Solid-liquefy and basic Liquid-solidify. Those two, though, had a myriad of variants that were used for different materials, so he decided to first master the basics before trying his hand at those. Especially because similar, but universal, effects could be achieved through pure matter manipulation techniques.

Also, Makani didn’t know those two Spells, so he would have to find someone who could construct them inside the Cube.

Instead, he started learning two basic Spells of the Sound type from Makani. Both were Tier 1, so the process would take longer, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

Besides that, Zeph and Makani finally started to understand what was going on with the Tier 2 Spells. Knowledge on the topic was sparse, but after pooling their findings from the Library and from the Tower, it started to become clear that each Tier after Tier 1 Spell constructs had to be connected to an additional… resource, for the lack of a better word. Zeph’s Kinetic Medium was actively using his Will, which catapulted the Spell into the realm of Tier 2, while the Matrices of the other two were doing something with his Soul. It could be said that an additional ‘depth’ was required; an additional source of control or information.

Of course, Zeph had Spells that were in Tier 1 and still required a strange connection with his Soul, yet those were almost exquisitely the domain of his Profession – Shaman. It didn’t seem that strange if Zeph’s assumption about the Profession held true – that it touched upon spirituality.

“First, Irra,” Zeph said to himself after he felt ready for the day. “It’s time to test her progress.”

He opened his cabinet and retrieved a heavy suitcase. It contained a copy of his pistol, made by the giant himself. The blueprints for higher calibers were already on his desk, but they were waiting for Irra the final iteration of the gunpowder. The thing never reached the quality of Earth’s creation but they could strengthen the material of the gun himself to compensate for the stability. The aiming accuracy would drop, but Zeph never planned to use them from long distances. Even if they made a riffle. The fluctuations in atmospheric Magicule composition and density would worsen the aim, either way.

Kwan was happy. She always wanted a personal tool for self-defense that couldn’t be easily recognized or countered. It seemed that handmade guns had the potential to find a quite lucrative market. For those reasons, they decided that this would be Zeph’s next invention to propagate.

On the other hand, Ghrughah and P’pfel were already working on a cannon that would use Mana-saturated and enchanted bullets. Things like that already existed, but the technology was more dependent on Mana. The addition of gunpowder should increase the speed of the bullets and make them more useful long-range. The old models weren’t used often because of exactly that glaring flaw – the accuracy and maximal distance were very bad, and the distance itself wasn’t impressive. On the other hand, Mana cannons were much more reliable in short range.

Those could be produced en masse and would be sold as Guild’s products. Zeph, Irra, Ghrughah, and P’pfel would receive compensations according to the contract, but it would be fully in possession of the Guild. Ghrughah and Irra would be made directors of the project because it was a bit more personal affair for them.

Zeph was glad, he wanted to distance himself from the arms market. He was okay with getting money from a few guns sold mainly for self-defense because of the limited availability of the ammunition and weapon itself. But selling new inventions that could change the fate of kingdoms? No, decisively no.

The blueprints and knowledge were sold in an equal exchange. What they do with it now, Zeph didn’t care.

~~~

Opening the doors of a hidden tunnel, he entered a big, bright chamber. The smell of burned chemicals, oil, and overheated metal dominated the air.

Irra’s laboratory remained more of a cluttered shooting range at this point.

Looking ahead, he quickly found all three crafters. They were busy discussing something while standing around a metal table covered in papers, some random tools, and three helmets. Each of them wore full-body armor, just like him.

He quickly walked to them, it seemed that he was late.

“Hi, what are you discussing?” he greeted the group.

“Oh, Zeph! Good, you are just in time,” Irra nodded to him vigorously. “Just safety issues regarding storage. We are ready for the tests! The last batch is very promising!”

He grinned, placing the suitcase on the table. “Great! Let’s start then!”