Slade ignored Nick's question and started speaking about the spell that he was going to teach Nick:

[I got the initial version of this spell from the records of a very old and infamous Mage when I was about your age. I altered it when I became a Regular Magician because I saw an interesting improvement that I could make. The spell is called 'Soul Pressure' and It can be used by Apprentice Mages as long as they have a strong enough affinity for soul magic which you should now have. The initial version of the spell worked by using the strength of your soul to suppress your opponents movements but after my enhancement, the spell can also use the strength of your opponent's soul against them inflicting real damage to their own soul.]

Nick became excited at hearing its description and asked:

"Wow, that sounds great but will it be suitable for me considering that I haven't even tried to strengthen my soul and how strong of a soul will the opponents at my level have anyway?"

Slade became frustrated:

[Kid, what do you think we have been doing since yesterday? Most people don't have a way to increase their affinity for soul magic even if they increase the strength of their soul. However, most of the rare methods that increase a person's affinity for soul magic also increases the strength of their soul by a decent margin because of the laws that have been newly added to the soul; think of it like giving a man steroids, the man gets stronger for the moment because of the increased muscle mass but he could have gotten just as strong by lifting weights and eating properly, well, think of what the magic formation did to you as giving you steroids except that you won't lose the increase in strength over time.]

Nick thought about it and what Slade said made sense:

"Okay, I'm ready to learn the spell."

[That's good. I will place the laws for the spell within your thoughts so that you'll be able to memorize it instantly but to form the symbols within your mindscape successfully will be up to you.]

Within a few moments Nick received the laws for the spell Soul Pressure in his thoughts. The laws were written in Valteese and seemed fairly complex, at least more complex than Nick's own spell, Big, when he had first created it in Valteese before translating it to Nickel.

(What would happen if I translated Soul Pressure to Nickel?)

Slade chuckled at Nick's naive thinking and answered him:

[You would most definitely fail at creating another version of the spell. Your mystical language, Nickel, was borne from your affinity with rule magic, correct? That means that that language is more suited for spells using rule magic. While using your mystical language to create another version of Soul Pressure is not impossible, without a far better understanding of soul magic that will never happen because the spell is based on soul magic in the first place. Just focus on learning to use the spell I gave you so that you can become stronger because right now you are pathetically weak, far from strong enough to help me.]

Nick felt a little hurt by the latter part of Slade's statement but he knew that it was probably the truth. Nick sat in the sand and began chanting his meditation, his consciousness entering his mindscape. Nick looked down at his endless road and saw the golden figure walking energetically on it and then turned his attention to his magic sea that shone with crystal blue water. Nick watched as the water became turbulent as he was preparing to draw the symbols for the spell, Soul Pressure. Symbols made of dull grey light began being formed in midair; Nick focused intensely on how he was forming each symbol and spent the next hour trying to complete the spell but when he was almost done, one of the symbols was malformed and a moment later all of the symbols faded away. Nick's consciousness was forced out of his mindscape and then he coughed up blood three times; Nick had suffered a backlash from failing to perform the spell successfully.

Slade commented:

[See, pathetic. Kid, I don't want you to think that I'm trying to say that you are a pathetic person but your ability to command spells is pathetic. You are a Magician which means that being able to cast spells is what you should mostly be concerned with. I was slightly surprised that you only knew one spell and now the consequence of that has appeared, you're having a hard time forming spells related to other types of magic. Studying magic isn't enough, going forward you must practise spell casting religiously or you won't make it in this cruel world that we Mages have to live in. Wipe that blood off of your mouth and try again.]

Nick felt the weight of Slade's criticism but knew that this was probable Slade's strict way of encouraging him. Nick didn't say a word, he started internally chanting his meditation again and his consciousness entered his mindscape. With his magic sea churning, symbols of dull grey light slowly appeared again but this time when Nick got half way into forming the symbols, they faded away; he had failed again.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

COUGH! COUGH!

This time Nick coughed up blood twice,

[At this rate, you'll die from blood loss before you can perform the spell but if you weren't prepared to die like this, you shouldn't have become a Mage. Do it again!]

Nick wiped the blood from his lips with his right hand and took out some water and a piece of bread from his space band; he drank the water and ate the bread and then started internally chanting his meditation again. Nick began forming the symbols for the spell in midair within his mindscape and after about thirty minutes when he was almost done casting the spell, the symbols crumbled once again.

COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!

Nick wiped the blood off of his lips and gritted his teeth, beginning another round of meditation. Nick's consciousness entered his mindscape and with his magic sea churning, he formed dull gray symbols of light in midair. After 20 minutes the spell was finally completed and the symbols shone brightly with grey light which filled Nick's mindscape. Unbeknownst to Nick, his soul began radiating a domineering aura and the color of his eyes turned to a pitch black hue, making Nick look menacing as he opened his eyes.

"The spell finally worked but without a target, nothing happened."

[The fact that you formed the symbols within your mindscape is enough. The first time casting a spell is always the hardest; since having a mindscape increases you mental capabilities, the more you experience, the more quickly you will adapt to the mental strain of casting the spell and soon you'll be able to cast in without too much effort. Did you realize that after each time you failed, it took less time to form the symbols?]

Now that Slade mentioned it, Nick felt that he had indeed taken less time to progress in forming the symbols after each failure.

[No more practising, leave this place by drawing this symbol in the sand and go kill every magic beast in the vicinity with the spell until nightfall.]

Nick looked up through the well and saw that the sun was directly above it, probably indicating that the time of day was around noon; Nick didn't want to use the clock on his cell phone because he had realized that something was causing it to move slower than it usually would. A symbol appeared in Nick's thoughts that seemed like a reverse E (Ǝ) so Nick drew that symbol in the sand and space warped around him again. Nick once again appeared outside the well and looked at the vast expanse of desert. Slade directed him:

[Move to the east along the path that I will place in your thoughts. Kill all the monsters in your path until you get to an area outside this desert where you'll probably be resting for the night.]

Slade had not misled Nick thus far so Nick followed his instructions, after receiving the information regarding the path in his thoughts, Nick ran in the eastern direction feeling excited for what was to come.

............................................

Moving past dozens of sand dunes, Nick finally met magic beasts when he spotted a pit full of serpents rolling around in a sand pit; Nick watched them from a high vantage point on top of a sand dune. These serpents were thinner than the ones that Nick saw before but were just as long and were more brightly and ridiculously colored, having a mix of pink, red, orange, purple scales on their body.

(Although color isn't the most accurate indicator but with all those brightly colored scales, I should assume that those snakes are highly venomous and they're so many of them. Getting in close would definitely be a sure way to die...)

Slade chimed in:

[It's good that you noticed. The range of Soul Pressure at your level should be around twelve meters which should cover almost half of those serpents. I don't have to tell you what to do, right?]

Nick focused and without his meditation, he started forming the laws for Soul Pressure within his mindscape. Nick cast the spell after ten minutes and his soul radiated a domineering aura that reached the pit of serpents. After being affected by the spell, almost half of the serpents in the pit were forced to stop moving and then died without a struggle.

Slade seemed pleased at the results while Nick was shocked at the effectiveness of the spell.

(Why did the serpents die so easily?)

[Most of the magic beasts in this desert have many soul magic related laws on their body; those are 'ghastly serpents' that are able to harm the soul of anyone that they bind, a very nasty bunch. I told you before that the spell can use the strength of your opponent's soul against them, well, the same applies to the soul magic related laws on their body. These ghastly serpents' bodies may be filled with those kinds of laws but because of their low rank, their own soul is fairly mediocre so the harm your spell did to them was amplified by the many laws on their body, crippling and destroying their own fragile souls.]

Nick's eyes shone with understanding.

"So you're saying that I can basically bully these little snakes to death, right?"