With his experimentation done and the spell hopefully levelled up, he went over to the ritual status screen and activated it.
The full text of the spell appeared immediately.
Spell: Spark – Tier 0 (Level 27)
Create and control small streams of electricity near your body.
Sideways Evolution 1: You have 20% improved control over this spell
Sideways Evolution 2: This spell has improved potency. The stun component ignores 100% of resistances and has a 30% increased chance of stunning.
Threshold bonus 16: Volume of electricity produced is increased by fifty percent.
Note: This spell has been constructed from component parts without the help of the system. If Spark is used in future evolutions or transformations, instead of automatically forfeiting the base spell, you will have the option to keep it in its unaltered state.
There was a lot to unpack in the spell’s description.
Probably the most important thing was that his demonstrated proficiency had worked. For that one brief demonstration of skill, he had unlocked twenty-seven levels. That was half a decade of dedicated training achieved in a moment. A small part of him was disappointed he hadn’t pushed the spell to level thirty-two in order to get access to an extra threshold bonus, but he guessed beggars couldn’t be choosers.
The benefit of those twenty-seven levels was significant. If you included the threshold bonus they had granted, not to mention the power boost of each level, the efficiency of the spell when compared to baseline had just doubled.
The other important new piece of information was not the sideways evolution. While the second one was potent. it was not as significant as learning that peak-tier-created spells had permanency. The fact that he would keep Spark through evolutions was great. In his past life in Existentia, he had been forced to buy back Spark at a lower level after losing it via evolutions. If that happened again, he would not have to go through that process. Spark would be kept at its current level. Better still, the wording was pretty clear that this was a general system rule, so it would apply to Touch Heal as well.
In his last life, he had turned down a powerful regeneration trait evolution because he had chosen to keep the healing spell. That decision had been the right one, as he had saved Clare’s life a short time later, something he would have been unable to do if he had accepted the evolution. Despite it clearly being the right call, being forced to decline regeneration was a choice that still irked him. Now, because he was creating Touch Heal from scratch, he wouldn’t need to worry about things like that.
The important thing was…
He clicked his fingers.
Crack.
The spark flashed from his hand. The important thing was that he had a combat ability again. He could barely wait for the next trial session to check with April about how much this single ability had advanced his fighting prowess.
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He left the isolation room and headed toward the dodge pits to catch up with the others. There was a spring in his step, and he even threw in a couple of skips.
“Why are you looking so happy?”
Tom froze as he heard the voice.
Boreas had always been volatile, but since Arnali had died, he had gotten worse. Slowly, he turned to face the other boy and told himself he was not going to overreact.
“I said why are you looking so happy.”
“No reason,” he lied as he willed himself not to use his new spell in the coming fight. He felt helpless. The rumour mill had not painted Boreas’ recent actions in a positive light. If anyone deserved to be taught a lesson, it was him, and Tom could feel the fury radiating through him with every heartbeat. It was reacting to his emotions, and part of Tom wished he didn’t have to suppress it. Humbling this kid, humiliating him by having him be defeated by a five-year-old, would bring Tom pleasure. Especially when his fists removed that arrogant, superior smirk. He forcefully stifled those thoughts. Unfortunately, he needed to keep a low profile. But his efforts barely made any headway.
His animal self was already planning out ways he could cross the ten metres separating them to finish the fight quickly. Desperately, Tom tried to control himself. Boreas did not fight either fairly or safely, and, even if he was willing to go all out, Tom knew he might not win. Declan would interfere and, even with the extra attributes from his curse, Boreas, being twice as old, would be stronger and faster than him. This was not a contest he could win with blind aggression.
“Boreas, it’s just a snotty kid,” Declan said, grabbing his friend’s arm. “Let him go.”
“He was prancing around like a fool. Like a lot of people didn’t just die.”
“It was months ago.”
“Dragon you, Declan. It was my fault. I accept that. But dragon this guy, too, for acting like it didn’t happen.”
“You don’t know that it was your fault.”
“Shut up.” Boreas looked around with a grim smile. “We’re safe. No volunteers, no one to stop me. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this. This is the punk that broke my leg.” Boreas flexed his fingers and grinned. “And I’m going to dragon him good. You’re going to squeal, little boy.”
Tom was torn about what to do. With Spark he had a reasonable chance of winning, but he didn’t want to reveal his trump card too early. A still-five-year-old with access to a spell like that would draw attention, even if other kids his age like Briana had better spells. Revealing it now would not be a smart move. The anger screamed at him, but Boreas picking on him was not an injustice, and the stuff in the past was easy enough to discount.
Staying to fight was not in his interests. He would run, he decided; a confrontation in this moment was not to his advantage.
He attempted to step backwards, but he realised to his horror that his foot… no, not just a single foot, but both of them.
They were stuck firmly to the ground.
The bastard had somehow tricked him. While squabbling with his friend, he had obviously cast the spell, and Tom cursed at his lack of attention that had let it form while he was standing there like a dunce. He struggled desperately, but the ice had sufficient time to thicken, and was now too strong for his meagre strength.
He discretely applied a burst of electricity to see if it would disable the spell, but it didn’t. He was trapped.
“You’re not getting out of that.” Boreas promised. “I’ve had it tested. It can hold people up to rank nine. This first one is payback for your stupid grin.”
A ball of ice shot from his hand and smacked into Tom’s stomach.
He doubled over and almost vomited in response, but he deliberately pretended to be more hurt than he was to buy himself some more time.
His instincts were screaming at him. Something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put a finger on what.
Wiping his mouth, Tom stood.
The cruel smirk on Boreas’ face hadn’t changed. He was trapped, and the other boy was not known for stopping at a light beating, yet…
Finally, Tom realised what had been troubling him. There hadn’t even been a tingle from Danger Sense leading into the moment. That fact confused him no end. How could it stay silent like that? Why did it remain dormant instead of warning him? There had to be a reason, because there was no way Boreas had a skill to trump his ability, which, once adjusted for his affinity, was equivalent to a tier-seven version in terms of power.