Chương 9: 1.1.09 - If Only I Had A Hammer

I had my chin propped on my left hand while the elbow was resting on the kitchen table. The smell of floral soap was wafting through the open window as the heat from the summer sun made the whole place smell more like Bath and Body Works. The smell was a welcoming change to the smell of old linen that I had gotten used to. I was quickly browsing through Magical Beast Compendium to see if anything interesting jumped out at me.

I had asked Marta to buy some animal fat right before we left Hollow's Reach to make good on that promise I made to myself on making soap. But I also thought it might be something fun that could keep all the kids occupied for a while, so that I would have the peace of mind to get through the books I just bought. I had demonstrated how to make soap from lye water and animal fat.

While normally the soap needs to be cured to make it last longer, I had waited just two days for it to be hard enough to demonstrate its effects. I quickly added that wild flowers can be added during the process to give the soap the scent of flowers and the girls immediately got interested. I made sure that only the older kids and Marta handled the lye as it was caustic, and the other kids could help with the safer steps such as cutting and stirring the melted animal fat.

Our setup would have been considered child labour by modern society but thank goodness no one was around to judge. I made sure to educate and warn Marta on the dangers of lye water if handled improperly. While she appreciated the gesture, she only wondered how I knew about it, which I promptly attributed to one of the old books I read in the orphanage. I could tell she definitely did not believe me.

This gave me the needed peace and quiet in the last two weeks to get through the majority of the two books I bought, Fundamentals of Spellcraft, and Enchanting Basics. The only person who was not in on the soap factory was Gallum. I had seen him going through the final preparations in his room in the last few nights, though he barely had much to carry in his leather bag. I had insisted Marta used some of the funds we got from selling the extra boar meat to get Gal a decent bag and some change of clothes.

I assured her there would be more where that came from, though I only got a disapproving look with that statement. Gallum stopped by the kitchen when I was almost done flipping through the last book.

"I leave the day after tomorrow. Garrick's cousin runs the caravan doing the supply run to Tidehold, and it leaves then." Gallum said.

"They said I could ride for free if I tend to the beast and help with setting up camp every night."

"You know there are safer options than being an adventurer" I quietly added, knowing that would do nothing to dissuade him.

"But I also won't be able to see the world, I want to see what's beyond Hollow's Reach and more!" Gallum said with that hint of wanderlust in his voice.

"Well, now at least Marta can't blame me for not trying" I said teasingly.

"Also thanks" Gallum said as he showed off the leather sack he was holding in his hands. I did not tell him it was my idea but he was sharp enough to guess that the money probably came from all the boars I hunted. He also probably guessed that my core was awakened but it was a Don't Ask, Don't Tell kind of situation; and we were a tight-knit bunch. I could trust him to keep the secret.

"Well, try not to get yourself killed. Or at least wait till I could come to Tidehold one day" I said.

"I thought you said there were safer ways" he chuckled before turning solemn.

"Take care of Marta and the other kids when I leave. It should normally be Merv after me but we both know that's not the case." I just nodded as Gallum left the kitchen to finalise his preparation. I also got up as it was time for me to start my own preparations for the next phase of my plan. I walked towards the woods as I mentally recapped what I had learnt from the book regarding spell craft in this world.

I had lucked out with the first two spells because they were simple enough but in reality, most spells were cast with intent guided by runes you would normally shape within your cores. The outcome of the spell are guided by two main things. First, the type of mana a mage would feed the spell, which was determined by your core affinity. The second component was the trickier bit. The effect of the spell would be shaped based on the runes you put together, which had different effects, and guided by the intent.

Apparently the runes came from thousands of years of accumulation by research mages to further the study of magic. I could technically cast with just pure intent but intent is often ambiguous and not very well defined. Guiding the spell through the use of runes was much more precise. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The runes can also be broadly divided into three categories: Transform Runes which guides the shape of the spell or mana Operation Runes which typically guide how the mana behaves such as rotation, intensity control, and the lines Output Runes which guides how the spell or mana leaves the caster's body. The simplest of spells could technically only consist of the Output Rune which was what my Spark spell did.

It left the body in a discharge and I did not have to do anything to change the inherent nature of my lightning mana. I had tried weaving the runes without pushing any mana through in the last two weeks and I could do it quite easily, which I guessed I had my Perfect Lightning Affinity to thank. My affinity had also allowed me to brute force my way for my first spell, which was stuck now as I did not build it using a more sophisticated spell form which could be upgraded to a higher tier.

The book mostly covered examples on common affinities but a good example was the Ember Spell. The base spell would normally consist of a Projectile Rune combined with a Palm Discharge rune. That would form the basis for a Tier 1 spell. A Tier 2 fire spell would add the Arrow Rune on top of the existing runes for Ember, which is considered a Transform Rune and potentially upgrade the spell to Fire Arrow.

Of course a mage could use more than one rune of each kind and the runes are then further split into different levels of difficulty. It did not provide an example of what a Tier 3 or higher spell looked like but just briefly covered that it consisted of weaving several parallel runes with potentially more steps. Hopefully I am able to upgrade my spells and also create more spells with this in mind.

The book did say that most people rarely go beyond three spells as they will not have the time and focus to practice and level them. It was better to concentrate on a few and bring them to higher levels rather than have a wide range of spells at low levels. I had not settled on whether I would go beyond three yet but first priority was to actually have a ranged spell. What kind of mage only have a melee range spell? All those Isekai protagonists must have laughed at me for my pathetic short ranged Spark.

As I got to the required clearing by the woods, I could feel the temperature immediately cool with the shade coming from the forest canopy, and could smell that refreshing earthen scent. Another reason I picked this spot was not just to be far enough from the orphanage, but also to escape the summer heat. I tried to put into practice by shaping the Arrow Rune combined with Projectile Rune and the Palm Discharge Rune. I could feel the energy moving through my coils but somehow the spell was not taking shape.

I tried for the better part of an hour before I decided to take a break. In the back of my mind, my brain probably could not reconcile the shape of the lightning arrow with old world knowledge of how electricity was supposed to behave. The conflicting idea might have caused the intent to not be clear even though the runes formed cleanly in my core.

Part of the problem that most mages run into when upgrading their spells was apparently the lack of understanding of either the runes, use of the wrong runes, or lack of understanding towards the nature of their core affinity. In my case, I had a very good understanding of lightning, or at least electricity in my old world. I understood the runes, and I thought my intent towards the runes was clear enough. But maybe.... maybe I was approaching this the wrong way.

I quickly pulled out the book I brought with me and looked through the list of other available basic runes listed in the book. I was formulating a different version of the spell in my head. Air was a pretty good lightning insulator by itself. The problem with trying to discharge a large amount of lightning through the air was the resistance. But lightning from the sky does not have a problem doing that.

That was because an ionization trail usually formed between the clouds and the ground right before lightning struck. Rather than trying to dictate exactly the path of how the lightning mana should move, I only needed to create the path between the two points and let the lightning do its job. Instead of using the Arrow and Projectile runes, I decided to use two Operation Runes, which were Anchor and Thread. I decided to do this step by step.

First, I focused on the Anchor Rune, visualizing the spot of bark on the tree in front of me. Then I shaped the Thread Rune and only pushed a small amount of lightning mana through it. I could see a brief flash of Ionization Trail flash between my palm and the spot on the tree. So it seemed like the first Discharge Rune was only enough to release an ionization trail. I would probably need to cast a second Discharge Rune to release the lightning mana on to the trail.

With that idea taking shape, I decided to try casting the ionization with two discharge back to back. I could only attribute it to poor timing as what ended up happening was me casting the trail followed by a regular Spark. I had to take a few breaks in between as my core was being emptied from the casts. It was another hour or so of testing the timing, plus breaks in between to recover my mana, before I was successful.

The timing had to be precise such that the regular discharge was released just when the ionization trail was completed but had not dissipated yet. A bolt of lightning arced from the palm of my hand towards the tree, the sound of thunder cracked in front of me as the air around the lightning bolt was super heated. It was a split second but I could seem to trace the lightning bolt through the air, following the ionized trail. It struck the tree, blowing up the tree trunk and setting what remained of it ablaze.

Holy shit, I did it. A chime of notification appeared at the back of my head and I let the Weave appear with its usual notifications. [Your spell leveled up 'Spark' Tier 1 Level 10 -> 'Lightning Bolt' (Tier 2) - Level 1] [Your spell 'Spark' has been upgraded to 'Lightning Bolt'] [You have increased your Mana Core Capacity by 200] [You have leveled up 11 -> 12] If only I had a flying hammer, I could claim I was Thor's reincarnation instead of plain old Damian, especially with the state of my abs.

Author Note: This is the work of Josh Shoniix. This work of fiction will only be published on Royal Road and Space Battle for free. If you're reading this on another site or paid through Google Books, this work has been stolen.