Chương 396: Progress

Not being an S Rank, Damion was not permitted to attend the S Rank Assembly. However, the other members of the Atlantis City Council informed him their presentation went well. Headmaster Sorin in particular looked rather worried at the prospect of an investigation. With the danger of attack out of the way for the moment, Damion decided to turn his attention to filling in the gaps in his available spells. He needed an offensive and defensive spell for each of his elements.

Ice, Water and Spatial were fine, as was Earth. Though he did not have the best spells for his Earth affinity, he at least had an offensive one and defensive one and the Manipulate Earth spell offered him good versatility. What he did not have was a good defensive spell for Fire, and even his offensive spells were of limited use. Fireball was an okay spell, but it was still only tier 1 and Fire Wall was only good at containing a threat not defending.

Thankfully, the Repository Mage Teft had given him contained Fire Storm and Fire Lance. Both were powerful offensive spells, which left him figuring out a defensive Fire affinity spell. He was rewarded when he found Mantel of Fire. The spell was not the best for defense, but it was similar to his Ice Armor spell, covering him in fire that would not hurt him, but would burn anything trying to hit him. Against Nature or Wood affinities, it would likely be quite the impenetrable defense.

This left Damion with three affinities he needed to find spells for. Holy, Shadow and Poison. The Repository had no offensive spells for Holy, or defensive for that matter. Instead, Damion picked up two tier 3 Holy affinity spells. Major Heal and Regeneration. As one would expect, Major Heal was a greater version of the Minor Heal spell he already knew, but Regeneration was much different. This spell was as close to a passive spell as he had seen.

By channeling Holy mana into his mana pathways and holding it there, the mana would heal minor injuries almost as quickly as he received them. If it was not for the fact that the spell would end once the channeled mana was consumed and that it took effort to keep the mana in the pathways, it could have been a passive spell. Finding an offensive spell for his Shadow affinity was easy, he was actually surprised there were so many.

In the end he chose a tier one and two tier 2 spells and moved on to the final affinity he needed spells for. Poison. After reading through all the Poison affinity spells, their effects and their drawbacks, Damion decided the spells were not for him. Nearly every spell came with a warning that if too much Poison mana was used to kill a creature, it would be impossible to use the carcass for anything, even the core could be compromised and become useless.

Once Damion had selected the spells he wanted to learn, he pulled up their magic seals and let the System do its magic. Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Fire Storm - Active (F Rank 100 Mana 25 Mana P/S) Rain fire down on a targeted area. Lasts for 30 seconds. Can be continuously cast by using more mana.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen.

Please report the violation. Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Fire Lance - Active (F Rank 75 Mana) Launch a concentrated stream of magic at your target.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 2 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Mantel of Fire - Active (F Rank 75Mana 50 Mana P/S) Coat yourself in flames. Anything coming in contact with your fire will be scorched to ash.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Major Heal - Active - (F Rank 75 Mana) Channels your mana to treat major wounds.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Regeneration - Active - (F Rank 150 Mana) Channel and hold your mana in your mana pathways, as you are injured the injuries will repair themselves until the channeled mana is consumed.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Shadow Blast - (F Rank 15Mana P/S) Send out a burst of Shadow mana that impacts your target and has a chance causing internal injuries.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Shadow Blade - (F Rank 45Mana P/S) Condense your Shadow mana into a concentrated blade and slash your opponent.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] Ding {Magic seal recorded} [Shadow Bind - (F Rank 25 Mana P/S) Use your mana to manipulate shadows into tangible form and bind your opponent. Rank of the spell reflects strength of person you can bind.] Ding {Quest Completed} [Quest: Learn a Tier 3 Magic Spell – Status: Complete – Reward: 100 Experience, 1, 000 Store Credit.] With eight new spells learned, Damion decided it was time to increase his spell capacity. He was getting dangerously close to running out of spell slots again. Even if he would get more slots when he rose to A Rank, that was still a way off.

'System, purchase Increase Spell Slots.' {Affirmative.} {Increase Spell Slots purchased for 11, 389 Credits.}'System, purchase Increase Spell Slots.' {Affirmative.} {Increase Spell Slots purchased for 17, 083 Credits.} Ten more spell slots would let Damion have the room he needed if he wanted to keep learning more spells, but when he saw the cost of the next upgrade he swallowed hard. 25, 624 credits. He had now increased his spell capacity by forty and could learn a total of sixty-five spells.

Considering that most people had a cap of twenty spells, his versatility made him more than just formidable, he was approaching a force of nature. In the past few weeks, Damion had managed to push his credits in the Magic System to over four and half million. It was a tidy sum, and he considered spending more of it on other upgrades, but in the end he decided he should wait. He was making steady progress, but there was no telling when he might need a bunch of credits.

With the costs of some upgrades steadily increasing, he did not want to risk suddenly being short due to foolishly buying something he did not need. Pulling up his status in the Magic System, he took a look at the progress he had made while training in the A Rank floors of the labyrinth. It really was remarkable. If it weren't for wanting to come out every day to be with his family, he was sure he would be making even more progress, perhaps even being on the cusp of A Rank himself.

Still, progress was progress and even if it took him a few more months, he was already the youngest C Rank and B Rank in history, he was sure to set the record for youngest A Rank as well.

[Magic System] [System Level: 3] [User: Damion Wells] [Age: 19] [Magic Talent: EX] [Magic Affinity: Ice EX, Water E, Poison D, Spatial A, Fire A, Earth A, Shadow A, Holy C] [Mana: 10, 861/9, 874] (10%) - 10, 861 [Magic Power: 34, 780] (10%) - 38, 258 [Mana Recovery: 382 P/S] (10%) - 420 [Strength: 147] [Dexterity: 135] (10%) - 148 [Vitality: 418] [Intelligence: 148] [Experience: 17, 000/20, 000] [Store Credits: 4, 518, 920]