Mark wondered why the Corruption would choose there to rest, but eventually, he decided not to mess with it any further right now.

Pulling his mind away from the Corrupted energy.

The temptation begged for him to return and when he didn't, It rounded on him viciously, turning up the pain for a moment.

Mark breathed through the cramps twitching across his body and eventually it dulled back down.

He had already discovered where it liked to collect if he kept prodding and poking it he may be tempted to start using it.

Which is exactly what it wanted. It was right there, within his reach. All it would take was a thought.

No. Mark reined in his will. With these kinds of tests slow and steady was the way to go.

Mark sighed out a ragged breath.

Using this type of energy had consequences. Not to mention the system would probably throw a hissy fit.

To distract himself he brought up a notification that he had been delaying.

Congratulations [Force bolt] has improved!

[Force bolt] has reached Rank 10.

The user may now improve an aspect of the existing spell or Evolve the spell into something new.

Improve/Evolve

Right, if he was honest he really liked [Force bolt] as it was. Evolve sounded like he would lose the spell and gain a more powerful version. The thing was he wasn't sure if it would still fit the role he needed it for.

Improving it sounded like it kept the same function but strengthened the spell in some way.

It really came down to what he needed it for and right now he needed a cheap spell he could spam.

If he needed more power he would compensate by using his other spells, that's what he had created them for.

Satisfied he chose the Improve option.

Another prompt popped up.

[Force bolt] Improvement beginning…

The world narrowed down, not unlike when he sunk into [Meditation]. The difference was he could still feel his surroundings. The system was guiding him through the process

An orb floated just out of reach. Stretching his hand out he pulled it towards himself. Immediately knew this was the spell [Force bolt] hovering in front of him.

As he inspected it he saw two intents in the spell matrix.

He hadn’t really understood what he had been doing when he created [Force bolt], but he could see it clearly now.

Pressure and Direction. These were the intents that made up this spell. Mark also noticed another slot opening up in the spell.

The system was making room for a third intent.

Whatever he added now would affect the direction of [Force bolt].

Mark thought it over. In what way was this spell lacking? Strength? Piercing power? Speed?

He dismissed those ideas, they would probably just increase the Mana cost of the spell. What he needed now was efficiency.

He realized he had been creating the force needed to make up [Force bolt] putting the spell securely in the Manifestation collum

The spell began the pull in the intent.

Mark realized changing it in this way altered the spell to Manipulation, However, he did not want to compromise the control he had over the spell, so he shaped the new intent around the old one's instead of having it be its own aspect. This weakened the Intent but Improved the overall effect.

He showed the spell where to draw the potential energy from when it could and make up the rest with his power.

The system showed him how to integrate the new intent safely.

The new intent sat securely in the spell and when the system notified him that all the cogs were playing nice he confirmed the improvement.

There was a pause and then the system pinged.

[Force bolt] has successfully been improved!

[Force bolt] rank limit increased to [20]!

Spell Improved: Force bolt - Rank 10.

The user creates or gathers a bolt of compressed force that can be launched in any direction, flight can be altered by the user depending on the user’s mental acuity.

Multiple bolts can be created simultaneously at a ratio of 5 Mana /1 bolt. The speed and strength of this spell are based on the Mana attribute and mental processing speed.

Current simultaneous creation limit: 23

Spell cost: 0.5 Mana

The system highlighted where the spell had changed. He moved to the practice range. By this time most people had left for the night. There were the odd few still practicing, but as a whole, the range was almost empty.

Casting [force bolt] he felt the spell complete and two bolts appeared in his hand for a single point of Mana. He sent a couple dozen forward at rapidly changing angles to make sure he hadn't lost any control. Overall the spell still delivered.

He also noticed he had little problem maintaining fifteen bolts around himself. It looked like his limit was improving. Though he attributed that to his new mental skill more than the spell improvement.

As a test, he tried pushing the new skill and for a second the world slowed as his processing speed increased.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

He simultaneously created all twenty-three bolts and launched them all at once.

Though even with his enhanced mental facilities he failed to realize what that many bolts all landing at the same time would do to a single target.

The thing detonated in a shower of rocks and dust, crumbling into a pile of rubble.

Mark released the skill and sent some Prana to soothe the building headache. He had only used it for a short while and it was already this bad. Unlike a broken bone that Mark could heal in seconds. Prana only seemed to speed up the rate at which his brain recovered.

Though he was still smitten with the skill. Headaches aside, it was an incredible trump card.

Mark once more returned to the two trees and dropped back down to a seated position. Seeing as personal time came so rarely nowadays he decided he need to do some tests.

He had been putting off a spell idea for a while now in favor of survival. However, now was the perfect chance to figure out if buffs were possible.

The first step was trying to figure out what kind of buff he wanted to achieve. From what he could tell of the system, nothing came without a price. Everything he could do had a cost in some form or another. Energy was needed to accomplish something.

He didn’t think he would be able just cast a buffing spell and boom 20% all-around increase to damage for that person.

No, he needed to start simple.

What he needed was a way to deliver a buff focused on a purpose.

Luckily Mark had just the spell to base it off, [Regenerate].

This spell did something similar. It used Prana as a power source and then depending on how Mark directed it, the spell would continue to work through its energy til it ran out.

Though Prana alone probably wouldn't be enough.

Mark had already found that enhancing someone’s body was not where Prana shined.

Without direction, Prana would always only heal and recover what was already there.

If he was honest Aura and Prana would work best here, but he’d work with what he had. He just had to go about it in a different way.

Mana was purpose without life. It gave shape to will.

If Prana was the driving force then Mana was the direction.

Mark needed each of these qualities to achieve his goals.

He would have to use Both energies in this spell.

He had never started creating a spell with both Mana and Prana, sure he had mixed the two once the spell was completed. Like [Shape Mana], but he had never mobilized both at the same time.

Mark took a moment to center himself.

When he was ready he began drawing both Mana and Prana at once.

At first, there was some difficulty drawing equal quantities, but when he got that down it became easier.

The Mana seemed to come to life and Prana sang with purpose.

Mixing not unlike they would out in the world, but with much more potency. For a moment Mark realized that this feeling was familiar. He had felt it in his void with his other magic.

This was the beginnings of Soul magic.

The Mana surrounded and protected Prana and in turn, Prana sustained the Mana.

The thing was unlike physical elements Mark didn't know where to go from here.

The energies were merging at a steady pace, almost of their own accord. This was the first time Mark actually felt like the spell was assisting him to come into being.

Pushing it to the threshold of his skin Mark attempted to enforce an intent onto it.

This is where things went wrong.

He had still been thinking about how to increase his mobility and as such -even though he knew it might not work- he attempted to have the spell make someone faster.

Right away he could tell he was missing a component. As he expected a direct body enchantment required Aura.

He thought that was it and began to let the spell go.

Only to realize, without his direction, the spell was continuing to grow. It was trying to complete the intent on its own.

Realizing what was happening he tried to stop it right away.

The Mana then tried to call Aura up from his Aura center to complete itself

Obviously, Mark had no real Aura to speak of, with the exception of the chaotic mixture of Aura, Mana, and Prana sitting in the broken throne.

So when the spell could not find his natural Aura it called to the only source it could find, his Corruption.

In a blind panic, Mark tried to shut the spell creation down.

If that enter the spell he had no idea what would happen.

But by now the energies were like a powerful whirlpool. If he wanted to stop this, he would have to slow down the revolving energies and let them dissipate, but he just didn't have the time right now.

Corruption was rushing excitedly toward the spell, he couldn't stop it before it got there.

Mark could not allow this to happen, so he flared his newest skill once more. Opening it as wide as it would go. The world slowed and his mind raced.

The spell was going to complete itself and he couldn't change that in time, but maybe he could alter its course.

Judging by the pace at which it was moving he had less than two seconds of real-time.

Mark pushed himself to think of a solution.

He had given the Mana an intent of speed. The direct approach had shot him in the foot, so he needed to change it.

Grabbing hold of the intent he pulled it from the spell, the need for Aura fell away.

Though the Corruption still rushed excitedly towards the spell.

He then replaced the intent with another.

Improve.

The spell shuddered like the changing of gears. Reaching the threshold of his skin, he discovered he still needed to complete the spell.

He had told the spell how to act, not how it should look.

With little time to spare he bagged the spell up in three more intents.

Store, Release, and Enchant.

This was the most intent’s Mark had ever used at once and there was a mountain of pressure behind the Mana, but this time the spell seemed to help him.

Almost as if it wanted to be released.

That, compounded with his straining skill, pushed the spell across the threshold, as the Corruption reached it.

The spell was completed just in time.

A ping went off.

Mark fell back and just sat there for a moment, releasing ragged breaths.

He directed Prana to his head for the second time today.

When the two energies had mixed they had become something else for a moment. It almost felt like the spell had been a living thing. He cleared his head and looked down at the purple glow in his hands.

Before he did anything else he opened his prompts.

Spell Acquired: Bestowal

Through the complex use of Mana and Prana, the user has learned to enhance what already exists.

Effects granted in this way vary depending on the desires of the caster.

The spell will continue to accomplish its design until all its resources are used up.

Duration can be increased or reduced for an inverse effect on efficiency.

The Mana and Prana attributes affect the strength and complexity of the spell.

Time will affect the integrity of the spell.

Only one instance of the spell may be active on a user at a time

This spell can be combined with all other types of magic, but the user must supply the direction.

Mark looked at the spell description and back at the completed spell in his hand. There was so much to unpack here, he didn’t even know where to start. It was an incredibly open-ended spell. The way he understood it he could use this spell in two ways.

The first was the way he had intended. He could enhance someone’s natural abilities. The Mana would take what was already there and stretch it, improve it.

The second was to introduce another magic to the spell, though he didn't quite get it yet.

The spell Mark held right now was the first version. Mark had his doubts though.

Placing his hand to his chest he let the spell complete while focusing on increasing his speed.

For a moment there was a warm sensation spreading throughout Mark's body and then it was gone.

He could actually feel the spell at the edges of his consciousness, like some invisible control panel.

It was currently taking in his Aura attribute to enhance his speed. The only problem was he had none. There was nothing for the spell to improve.

Mark rolled his eyes. Well, there goes another idea for his mobility.

This raised an interesting question though.

If the person he cast the spell on was strong, would the spell have more of an effect, or was it based on how big he built the initial spell?

Now he wanted to find someone to test it out on, but it was almost one in the morning. Not too many test subjects around right now.

The spell had a ton of potential, not to mention he hadn’t even worked out how to incorporate other types of magic yet.

There was just too much to learn and not enough time.