My mana pool had reached a point where I could call on it to perform more intricate techniques. That was how father pointed it out to me two days ago. I knew I could do it with any spell I was already familiar with, but Barrett showed me what the intention of fire magic was.

With this new information and my assumptions, I had a perfect image of what I would cast.

The fire would begin in a central heating core that would then have a secondary fire sphere surrounding it and trapping the air inside.

I planned on having the air feed the intensity and expansion of the fire while also providing the force to make it explode. The inner core would then move in tandem with the outer sphere.

Once the outer sphere struck the dummy, the inner core would strike the edge of the sphere that made contact with the dummy. It would then force a hole into the outer sphere while the core merged with the remains of the outer sphere. This change to the air pressure and heat would no doubt force the fire to expand once it consumed the air that acted as its fuel.

All these thoughts formed my imagination and plan of execution for the spell.

The mana was already in place when I ignited it and quickly moved to the second stage of the fire explosion.

The spell was all but finished. I trusted that it would not go off before it would reach the dummy. It shot out to the dummy, and the only gesture I did was a sort of clap right as it made contact with the dummy.

It all happened so fast. The dummy burst into flames but right before that it simply blew into pieces that were caught on fire. I was a bit frightened that a piece might fly towards me and hit me. However the pieces despite flying off quickly turned to ash as the spell completed its effect.

The entire time I was casting I hadn't made a move until the very end with my clap.

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I."

Kraimer and my father were the ones to speak up first. My father sighed and shook his head.

I turned to see Barrett in slight dismay. Darvy on the other hand had his mouth agape.

"Uh, sorry if that seemed reckless Father, I didn't know it would work. I-"

"No, it's not an issue. You asked me before if it was okay, I said it was. I think you're first real lesson today is to ensure you act a bit more cautiously. It went right this time so I can't say you were careless, but I think from now on it would be best if you told me what you have planned before you ask for permission."

"Yes Father."

"On the other hand, I'm proud to see that you were able to combine what you learned about casting that water spell into your fire magic. Although your progress has not been due to my teachings..."

"That's not entirely true. I only got the idea to do that from seeing Barrett cast her spell. And you taught Barrett, so it's still the same as if I had learned it from you."

"Heh. Fred, you don't have to console your father, I'm not that prideful, these achievements of yours are from your own diligence. You stuck to the mana training, you paid attention to my lectures. And I'm certain you've been studying on your own time. Even if it feels as if I've hardly taught you anything, the least I can do is nurture your progress."

A hand suddenly ruffled my hair before it patted my back.

"No wonder dad wanted you to be in our group. You really are something, I didn't even know you could cast with just this."

Darvy reenacted my simple clap, and then he went on to giggle to himself.

"Yeah, I find it hard not to see why he chose to put you in here with us. You've got chant-less, gesture-less magic and you've even got a signature spell of your own. I wouldn't mind sparring you some time soon."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself Kraimer, he's still got to learn to defend himself."

"Not to worry Father, Fred's got to challenge me first if he wants it to happen."

Father looked a little concerned, but I thought he realized pretty quickly that it was Kraimer's way of acknowledging me and not a threat.

"You three are free to continue practicing, Barrett if you like you can spar with Kraimer. Darvy keep working on your earth spell it's missing variation."

"I think I'd rather work on another spell, Father."

Barrett voiced. It seemed like she was annoyed. I had no way of unraveling whatever she was thinking from merely her body language.

"Very well, do so carefully, feel free to ask for my help. As for you Fred, we're going to practice some defensive magic."

"Alright."

Father taught me how to conjure shields and defenses from the elemental set of magic, except for lightning.

Generally, earth magic would be best suited for overall defense against the rest of the elements including lightning.

Earth magic as it turned out was more or less the conjuration of material from mana. Even if no dirt was around you could make your own mud wall. Father even demonstrated that you could conjure a wall of iron if you had the mana for it. I was surprised to see him casually cast and dispel these structures.

Water magic was generally better for staving off lower tier fire and wind spells. It's considered marginally useful against lightning but given that lightning itself can simply charge and overwhelm a caster's control of the water spell which can just as easily become a liquid tomb.

Wind magic wasn't very good at stopping any magic other than fire spells that used the ambient air as fuel, like I had done earlier. On the other hand it was nearly on the same scale as lightning magic of being much harder to defend against. The only way to avoid it at a lower tier was to simply take control of the ambient air around yourself. Father told me how encasing myself in either a water sphere or an earth sphere made it easier for me to take control of this ambient air. However, I would also be trapped in a stationary position with earth and likewise struggle to allow 'safe' air to enter either elemental sphere.

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Fire magic had the least defensive capabilities. It was too dangerous to keep close to me, and as Father explained to me, fire magic when used defensively only offers marginal protection and works best as a counter attack rather than as a shield. Lightning could easily cut through a flame shield. Water magic that didn't have sufficient pressure to go through fire caused a cloud of steam to obscure the field, and the one using the fire magic would likely get steam burns if they didn't escape from it first.

Lightning magic was something that Father avoided teaching me altogether for today.

"Why?"

"Well, it's not that I don't trust you, but it is far more dangerous to practice than fire magic. I'd need to take you to a mountain peak or even just a clear area by the cliffs. The energy produced by lightning magic makes it really strong and harder to predict because its effects linger and cause more interference."

"You mean its impact is greater?"

"Huh? Yeah that's exactly right, the impact of lightning magic compared to the rest of the elemental set is worlds away. It also needs a far greater mana pool than what either you or your older siblings can do right now."

"I understand, I won't try to cast it on my own either without your permission."

"Good, I can see that you do understand."

My father would've been more skeptical if I had simply said ok. I hadn't yet grown into a rebellious phase, but the idea that I could might've worried Father.

"Oh. One more thing before you go back to your studies. You're still reading the first tome I lent you right?"

"Yes."

"I don't know if I told you in the note I left but make sure to read with an open mind, and by that I mean you should be critical of every word. Not everything gathered regarding the establishment of the church is accurate or truthful. That's why the second book I gave you acts more like a journal of what is definitive and what's pure speculation."

"How long ago was the first book you lent me made?"

"Around forty years ago."

My father looked at me curiously for asking that question.

"And the 'journal'?"

"I'll admit it, I don't like to boast about too much, but it was made by me, almost ten years ago now."

"That's pretty cool."

"It is isn't it?"

Father couldn't hide his prideful smile.

"Can you give me an example of what's in the journal?"

"Sure. I'm not sure if you've noticed yet but the amount of downplaying of styles, sword and otherwise. Makes it seem as though they'd never find any use in a world of magicians like ourselves. Yet the biggest contradiction is the Zen God himself. He was strong enough to be the so called savior. Heh, then there's our patron god."

I never found the time to ask my father before about our patron god, but I had a strong assumption that it would be the Fear God.

"Who is it?"

"The first Fear God. There's a strong case made by our ancestors that he... pardon, what chapter are you on in the book of the history of the Ruling Gods' Church?"

"Still finishing up on the second. I did ask you about reincarnates in the first place."

"Right. Well I won't spoil much more. You're headed over to read it right now aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Run along then. We'll continue your defensive training tomorrow."

I learned a lot about the way magic functioned in a combative way, but I started to wonder why it was so important for us to learn it as a form of defense first. I had little to go off of about the state of the world except for the visits to the city.

The tome I was reading yesterday laid open to the last page I read.

So I'm wrong about magic being overwhelming, according to Father at least, the book wasn't honest about this aspect. I mused.

This left me a bit confused about where the book was headed that Father preferred not to spoil for me.

I left off after the establishment of the rankings for the Ruling Gods. The period that came after was one that was particularly peaceful; many races begun alliances that were considered in the past to be nearly impossible.

However, this era of unity was short lived, in less than a century another war broke out. This time the reasons and grievances were easily determined, humanity had pushed the demons, angels and dragons into forming an alliance set on destroying them.

The influence of humanity at that point spanned the entire central sphere, even the Human Sphere had few to no interferences from outside politics. While on the other hand, every other race had at least one city filled with humans that ruled itself independently of the ruling race.

The central continent of the Central Sphere, Anui, was another story. It was completely ruled over by humans. There were immigrants from other races that occasionally made their way to the continent. Most were turned away, some starved and many were killed.

This set off a lot of arguments between the Ruling Gods and the kings that patronized them. They felt justified in their rancor which eventually led to the Ruling Gods, specifically the Ethereal Gods, deciding that they would allow the affected kingdoms to wage a holy war on the humans of Anui.

Anui was taken over by the invading army of the other race's kingdoms. However, it was immediately retaken and all of them were slaughtered by a Mortal God that did not agree to the actions of the rest of Ruling Gods.

The Ethereal Gods turned a blind eye and remained neutral for what came next.

The Astral Gods begun to choose sides. Starting with the rebellious Mortal God the Ruling Gods slew one another again as the war turned from a capture of Anui, into a war between races with humanity the sole target of genocidal intentions.

A decade into the war and the future was bleak for humanity, many of their kingdoms in the Central Sphere not near the path to the Human Sphere were destroyed. The Astral Gods and Mortal Gods that had sided with humanity were all killed and replaced by those who sought to end the perceived reign and oppression at the hands of humanity.

In these dark times one god rose to lead humanity in the final defense at the remaining kingdom within the Central Sphere. If he were to fail, the Human Sphere would be invaded by the other races and end up permanently cut off from the rest of the Seven Sphere World.

This was the first Zen God, known then as Lyle Platinumpeak.

It was the Zen God that turned the tide of the war. The Zen God's first opponent was the then Sacred God, the God which had mastered two of the ax styles. Though the two were style gods, the Zen God's swordsmanship overpowered the Sacred God's axmanship.

This victory gave the Zen God the twenty-fifth seat of the Ruling Gods.

Another wave of invaders arrived this time with an Astral God. The two Ruling Gods clashed but were unable to kill one another, this was unheard of. The Astral God's magic alone should've been able to overcome the aggression and threat of the close ranged brawler, but instead it was the Astral God that had to retreat from the battle. The Zen God's distraction allowed the human army to push back the invaders. In this same battle a saint ranked magician led the final push against the invaders, this would go on to inspire portions of the human army to serve the magi afterwards. The name of the magician was Jim Lee Honeythistle.

He later became the first emperor of the Moonwel Empire. Jim was also one of the few survivors of the invasion of Anui. He was just a child then.

After the second wave the Zen God sought after an audience with the first seat of the Ruling Gods, the Human God.

The Zen God did not ask why the Human God had abandoned his race or why he had allowed the war to take place in the first place. The Zen God simply wanted an end to the war. Three Ethereal Gods attempted to kill the Zen God for asking, or rather begging for this wish. They were killed by the Human God immediately.

The Human God proceeded to kill the rest of the remaining Ruling Gods beneath the Seven Race Gods, sparing only the Zen God.

The war was over but the Ruling Gods now had twenty-one open seats. The Zen God became an Ethereal God in name only, he held the ninth seat of the Ruling Gods. The eighth seat was held by an unknown god that had survived the Human God's rampage.

The chapter ended with the note of several of the invading armies being forced to return to their homeland or risk the same fate as the lesser Ruling Gods.

I already had an inkling of what Father mentioned before about the Fear God. He must've been the eighth seat, but his absence in the rest of this telling of history wasn't easily apparent.