Chapter 85 - Spell Fusion

Chapter 85: 85 - Spell Fusion

His mother had told him to rest, but Adrien had no intention of spending the entire day sitting around doing nothing.

Every time he thought back to his fight against Gaspard, the same conclusion returned. His chances of dying had been far too high. If even one part of that battle had gone differently, he might not have returned to Greymoor at all.

Rest was useful, but so was making sure the next fight didn’t end the same way.

Besides, Adrien had the Dragonic Physique.

His recovery was already considerably better than that of an ordinary human, and there was little point in possessing something like that if he didn’t take advantage of it. He could train more frequently, recover faster and push his body harder than before.

Today, however, he wasn’t planning to focus on his body.

It was time to learn another Aqua spell.

This one would be different from Frost Lance, Ice Wall and Winter’s Reach. All three belonged to the Frost Aspect of Aqua, and Adrien wanted to expand what he could actually do with the affinity.

The spell he had in mind belonged to Mist.

After the conflict between House Clairmont and House Arquenay, there had been plenty left behind. Weapons, armor, magical materials and, more importantly to Adrien, spell scrolls.

Most weren’t particularly interesting. There were several variations of common offensive spells, including things similar to Frost Lance, but a few had caught his attention while reviewing the recovered items.

Adrien entered the storage area where most of the magical equipment was being kept and began searching through the scrolls.

He wasn’t looking for another offensive spell.

As a Mage, Adrien already had enough ways to attack people. What he lacked were spells that gave him more options during a fight. Compared to Knights, Warriors and other Paths designed for direct combat, a Mage was physically more vulnerable unless they had something unusual compensating for it.

Adrien obviously had the Dragonic Physique, but that didn’t mean he wanted to start fighting like a Knight.

After several minutes, he found the scroll he remembered.

"There."

He pulled it from between several others and opened it.

The moment his attention settled on the formation and mana structure written across the parchment, Absolute Comprehension activated naturally.

Information began arranging itself inside his mind.

The spell was considerably simpler than Lightning Bolt. There was no crushing pressure behind the analysis, no headache and no uncomfortable strain building behind his eyes. Adrien had grown stronger since the first spells he’d studied, and something at this level was becoming easy for him to understand.

The structure became clear within moments.

[Veil of Mist]

[Affinity: Aqua]

[Aspect: Mist]

[Rank: Two Stars]

The spell itself was simple in purpose.

It spread a thick layer of mist across an area, obscuring normal vision while slightly distorting the perception of movement inside it. It wouldn’t hurt anyone directly, but Adrien could immediately see plenty of uses for it.

Escaping.

Repositioning.

Breaking an enemy’s line of sight.

Forcing ranged opponents to attack without a clear target.

Even hiding another spell while preparing it.

Adrien continued reading until Absolute Comprehension finished resolving the final parts of the structure.

There was barely any mental strain.

’Two-Star spells really are easy now.’

That hadn’t always been the case. When his Mana Core had first awakened, even understanding relatively simple magical structures required more attention. Now that his Core, control and physique had improved, the difference was obvious.

A system notification appeared.

[Spell Learned.]

[Veil of Mist | 2 Stars | Novice 0%]

Adrien looked at the new spell for a few seconds before rolling the scroll closed.

Another spell added to his collection.

That thought led naturally to another.

’If I keep learning different spells, could I eventually combine them and create stronger ones?’

Adrien paused.

The system reacted immediately.

A new window appeared in front of him.

[Absolute Comprehension]

[New Function Available.]

[Spell Fusion]

Adrien stared at it.

’Spell Fusion?’

He focused on the new option, and additional information appeared.

[Spell Fusion]

[Through sufficient mastery and understanding, compatible spells may be combined into a new magical structure.]

[Requirement: Two spells at Sovereign Mastery.]

[Resulting spell will depend on the Rank, Affinity, Aspect, structure and properties of the spells used.]

Adrien read it twice.

’I could already do something like this?’

Apparently, yes.

More accurately, Absolute Comprehension made the process available to him once he reached the necessary level of understanding.

Creating spells wasn’t something unique to Adrien. Mages had been developing new magic for generations. Experienced scholars and powerful Mages could modify existing spells, create variants or even combine magical principles into something new.

The problem was that doing so required absurd levels of understanding and control.

A Mage needed to know a spell almost perfectly before attempting to dismantle its structure and rebuild it together with another one. A mistake during that process could ruin the spell entirely or make it unstable.

Absolute Comprehension simply gave Adrien a much clearer path.

He focused on the requirement again.

[Sovereign Mastery.]

That was currently the problem.

Adrien couldn’t reach Sovereign yet.

Frost Lance had already reached Refined 100%, but it had remained there because his current level wasn’t enough to cross the final threshold. Before, the system had simply stopped its progression once it reached that point.

’So I’ll have to wait.’

It was slightly disappointing, but not enough to bother him.

If anything, Spell Fusion gave him another reason to learn as many useful spells as possible.

’Once I can reach Sovereign, I can start experimenting. Frost with Mist. Mist with Lightning. Defensive spells with offensive ones...’

The possibilities depended on compatibility, but Adrien had plenty of time to build a collection before reaching that point.

He stored the scroll and headed outside.

For the rest of the day, Adrien focused entirely on Veil of Mist.

The forest clearing soon disappeared beneath a dense white layer. Trees became vague silhouettes, the ground vanished several meters ahead of him, and even familiar landmarks became difficult to distinguish with ordinary sight.

Adrien dismissed the spell, cast it again and adjusted the mana distribution each time.

Absolute Mana Sense made training inside the mist much easier. His eyes lost much of their usefulness, but mana signatures remained clear around him.

By evening, the entire clearing had been covered and uncovered more times than Adrien bothered counting.

Veil of Mist still had a long way to go before Refined, but that was fine.

For now, he simply kept casting.