Kennon’s magic training was going well. He built the bridge the Bev insisted on. Slightly ahead of schedule. And had been given a basic run down on the construction of all of his spells.

  He was currently working on fire and lighting though.

  He used torch almost constantly, trying to master counter forces. He could still feel heat coming from it. But it was far less than at first.

  His primary focus though was on perfect casting spark.

  Tutor insisted that unless he could cast spark perfectly, in less than five seconds, with no help from the system, then high level magic wouldn’t be in his future.

  He thought it was exaggerating the importance of perfection. But Tutor was also the one in charge of handing him new spells. So he would listen.

  This morning something was off though. Waking to the sound of bird song, and the soft glow of his morning alarm he felt something in the air.

  It had been building for a while. He knew the realm was changing. But it was undeniable now.

  There was fire mana in the air.

  And not traces from a fire somewhere else. But fire mana was spontaneously appearing, and building up.

  He had already seen it affecting the plants. Fruit that once was sweet was becoming spicy. And he hadn’t seen a golden aloe in days.

  He wondered what was making it happen? Or how far it would go.

  One thing was certain T1 beasts would be far rarer. And T0 may go extinct.

  It was good in some ways. Their levels had stalled. He always knew fights were the best way to level. But he had expected all of Bev’s crafting to get them to level eight by now.

  Sadly Tutor confirmed that learning didn’t level you at all. So he hadn’t helped them much on that front.

  He hadn’t even gotten any new spells.

  Stronger beasts meant more levels. And if even the plants started to turn dangerous they wouldn’t have to go far to find a fight.

  Not that they would go looking for a fight till Bev’s armor was done.

  He didn’t think they actually needed it. At least not at the moment. But Bev was working so hard on it that he had to remind her to eat. And nearly had to drag her to bed each night.

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  Armor like this had been a life long dream of hers. So he understood. He had forgotten a meal or two when casting as well.

  Speaking of, he was nearing a breakthrough. He could feel it. Today would be the day he got lighting bolt.

  It was not that day, or the next. On the third day he tried casting spark again.

  It was hard. Spells only sort of worked if you did them imperfectly. He realized that now. They did their job. But they did it almost lazily. You had to corral it with your will to force it to move. And it was constantly fighting you. Trying to tear itself apart.

  The system ensured absolute perfection. The only difference between a perfect cast with the system, and an imperfect one was efficiency. Some of the mana was wasted. With an almost perfect cast there was no discernible difference. Not that he had seen a perfect cast.

  But when doing it on your own it was like trying to fight the tide. You knew you were going to lose, the question was just how long.

  Spark was not his easiest spell. But it was far from the hardest. And he wanted it perfect. It was becoming a matter of pride for him that he would force his spells to obey.

  It was coming. Each cast he got closer. And each time he got faster too.

  He started to cast spark. A simple two mana spell. He pulled fifty mana out and started to weave. He knew a great deal would be lost due to how long it would take.

  Over the next thirty minutes he wove the spell, pushing out all distractions. When it was done, before he even cast it, he knew. It was perfect.

  He was so excited watching the spell come to life without fighting him that he forgot he was casting an untargeted spell directly above his palm.

  “Ow!”

  He flinched back, and shook the tingles from his hand. At least it was a baby spell. A little mistake like that couldn’t reduce his joy. He had done it!

  Then came the messages

  Lighting magic level 3

  Lighting bolt unlocked

  Spark perfected. Imprint complete.

  He did it! He had lighting bolt! He almost cast it right then when he read the second message.

  Imprint?

  At the same time he felt something. Something deep inside him. It wasn’t his mana core. Or his soul fire. It was something, less real. But he knew the effect immediately.

  Over the next half second he cast spark again. Completely perfectly. And without the system.

  It had been burned into his brain. He felt he would have to work at casting it wrong now. It wasn’t quite as fast as inscribed spells. He still had to do the weaving. But it was as easy to him now as breathing. A part of him wanted to ask Tutor what this meant. But he realized he didn’t need to.

  Spark was now a part of him. Even more so than his inscribed spells. It would be his no matter what.

  Then he remembered something about lighting bolt. He told the system he wanted to cast it and the spell array appeared before him. It was almost entirely spark. Oh it had pieces moved around. Duplicated. But it was still there. Every bit of spark in the array screamed to him like it belonged to him. Then in just a second those parts were filled out. It took him only another ten seconds to cast lighting bolt. Less than ten seconds of weaving. And he was frying a tree from the inside out.

  It was incredible. Everything he knew about magic had just shifted. He needed to get fire bolt perfect. Now!

  Thank you for sharing my journey. To help me walk it I have a set up. It is 20 chapters ahead and releases at the same time as the Royal Road chapters.

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