12 hours. This is how long it took for me to reach tne next rank. magus rank, initial stage but...
"Ugh... uu... w-why is thiis so painful...?"
I am currently hugging my head while kneeling down. Although I did reach the initial stage of the magus rank, the mental strain of three continous breakthroughs came crashing down on me the very moment I stopped meditating.
Mages experience some mental feedback after breaking through stages or ranks, with the rank breakthrough's being the most severe.
Although I knew this fact from the magical knowledge I recently gained I had to take the risk. I know my current standing here in this world.
My only affiliate here is Frelinia who is unfortunately out of commission. So for now I am on my own. Therefore I have to find a way to protect myself.
The first rank, apprentice magus is a preparatory stage for mages to get used to manipulating mana and to build up their mana reserves in their core. In fact even if a mage reaches the late stage of the apprentice magus rank, after casting about ten low level spells that mage will have no more refined mana. Therefore it is foolhardy to engage in battle with only this amount of strength
Only if a mage has reached the magus rank can he/she be considered a competent combatant.
This is because the mage's mana core undergo changes in this level. After breaking through this rank. the mana core will get bigger about as big as an average person's fist therefore increasing the rate of generation of refined mana in the core as well as a larger refined mana reservoir inside the core. Therfore allowing the mage to last longer and be more effective in combat.
Now then... after my headache subsided somewhat it is time to work on my next objective...
Spells!
I have the know-how and capabilities to become a great mage but... I don't know any spells. This is the drawback that I am having now. Without spells I am basically a soldier who has bullets but no guns. Completely useless.
BUT! I've received two skills in exchange for having no knowledge about spells. Divine Art: Magic Creation Array and Divine Art: Mana Force Manipulation.
The personal skills of the Azeroth, the God of Magic and Change himself! Albeit a weaker version because true divine arts will burn my puny mortal body away.
The first skill allows me to create new magic spells but in the range of the nine elements.
The second... allows me to use an advanced version of "The Force" in the Star Wars film series I think... anyway it involves controlling the surrounding mana in area and willing it to do certain actions exactly like how those Jedis use the force. There might be more to this than I know but detailed experimenting can be done in the future.
I tested it out on a piece of stone in the pile of rubble. I willed the mana to act as a "hand" and picked up a stone the half the size of my head. Now its floating in the air. I tried willing the mana around the rock to spin it. And the rock spun.
Wait... this gives me an idea! I again willed the mana in the area to spin the rock faster. Now... that piece of rock looks menacing as it is rotating in absurd speed. Yup this is perfect. And then I willed the mana to launch the rock downwards.
*Boom*
Dust and smoke appeared at the origin the rock has been shot towards and blocked my vision for a while. After the smoke cleared I saw a at the point of impact a small crater. Cracked stone littered the inside as well as the vicinty of the one meter in diameter crater.
*whistles* I whistled in appreciation to the destructive power that "Divine Art: Mana Force Manipulation" is capable of dishing out with the right methods. Looks like its uses has just increased.
Now then. Let's test out "Divine Art: Magic Creation Array". From what I can understand, three components are needed to use this skill. One is of course, refined mana. Two is the imagination. The image that the beholder wants to create musr be firmly elaborated in his mind. Three is the person's will. The stronger it is the better the spell envisioned.
I imagined a bulky bullet , as big as my small arm, made out of hard compressed earth. Then I imagined a second bullet, only this time it has a sharp point, thinner and more inclined to a stream line shape. Its also made of the same material.
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I then willed my mana to create this images in reality. And right before my eyes, the two bullets began forming out of the refined mana I had emmited above my right hand.
After they finished forming, I willed them to rotate like with the rock but this time, using the Magic Creation Array (I'll just shorten it to MCA and MFM for mana force manipulation).
And like the rock they also rotated fiercely with great speed, albeit much faster than the rock uaing MFM. If I would liken the speed to a drill then the MCA would be a nicer quality than that of the MFM.
Satisfied with the results I decided to test the thinner earthen bullet. Using the MCA I willed the bullet to "shoot" towards the temple wall a few meters away. Then-
*FWOOOM*
Making a sound akin to that of an airplane, the bullet made a small hole in the 20 cm thick wall. Fumu.
It worked as intended. This spell shall be name 'Assasination Spike' and save. The hardest part in using MCM is the creation process and the action of the spell. Once they are all done, its a simple matter of the MCM saving the memory so that the next time it is needed, the spell will be instantaniously made.
Now for the bulky bullet. As I willed it to shoot towards the same wall-
*BOOOOM* *FWOOOOM* *CRACKING SOUNDS* *BAAAMM* *RUMBLE*
It made a very large hole in the wall and blew away the debris outside. Then it plowed through a line of trees only stopping when it had hit a cliff face and made a large crater at it.
"...L-Looks like the personal skills of magic god are absolutely amazing huh? Ahaha..."
I laughed weakly as I once again realized that gods were in a realm of their own. I wonder what would happen if this is used against a person... *shiver*.
O-okay let's get that terrifying and grotesque thought away. I think my firepower is equivalent to that of a basic attack spell of the elite magus rank. I shudder with fright and excitement when I thought of the spells that Azeroth was able to make as a god and the fact that I have the same potential as that god.
For now, I'll name this spell "Impact Bullet". By the way I still have half my mana left. "Assasination Spikes" probably took an eight of my total mana to cast while the rest was used by my "Impact Bullet". Luckily my affinity with all 9 elements lets all raw mana be processed and refined by my core semi-passively coupled with my own mana regeneration makes me recover almost immediately. And after 10 minutes, my mana is back to full. After that I created 2 more attack spells, 3 defense spells, 2 utility spells and 4 buff spells which I of course tested on myself and the temple ruins. The details will be revealed in the future. All this took up 6 hours. It is now early afternoon. How do I know? The position of the sun told me ( yeah I forgot to tell this because a world where you can't see shit will pretty much suck. So I assumed that you know that there is a sun here).
Surprisingly, the temple ruin is still standing even after taking heavy abuse from me... the architects who designed this must've been geniuses.
Having that thought in mind, I decided to take a peek at the place I am right now. And what I see are thickets of trees. Lots of green and brown in front of me with a steep cliff at my right (the one with that still has not been damaged by me).
Yup. I am in a forest.
*stomach rumbling*
"..."
Okay...?
Come to think of it, I haven't eating anything since I have been summoned to this world huh?
Never mind. I'll hunt something to eat and find a route to the nearest town. Hopefully I'll meet an elf in the forest!