Darius' current situation was neither strange nor unique, despite being an Adept. All Faustian mages were able to unlock a new element every time they climbed a stage.
Some unlocked one, some unlocked two or more. It, just like the number of elements one awoke with, depended on a myriad of factors that could be summarized and substituted under one word. 'Talent'.
Now how would a Journeyman mage who awoke with a single element go about adapting to another after climbing from the Amateur stage? The same way as every other mage did it, no matter their stage.
Just like Darius was doing right now, they'd all learn the Basic spell of that element and practice it.
Of course, the difference between an Adept doing so and an Amateur doing so, was that the former had greater stores of mana, allowing him to practice longer. The Adept would also have more expertise with magic and a higher Intellect.
The same went for Darius. His progress with the spell was astronomical and he was able to grasp the fundamentals in mere seconds given his above Grandmaster level Intellect.
Soon, he easily blasted out large volumes of water into the basin, creating a large pool of pristine, sparkling water. Darius was satisfied by this and exited this dome.
Outside, he created many more domes and square buildings of various sizes, some small and some large. He fully embraced his Stone to Mud spell as he experimented with what he could make and how to make it.
Soon, a small territory was carved out by him in this random desert in the middle of nowhere. As he had exhausted both his main mana pool and surplus mana - which existed thanks to his Draconic blood - he decided to take a rest in his cottage.
Darius was not tired per se, but he wanted to spend some time thinking. He generally planned to use this opportunity to hone his magic and practice it without the interference of the system.
He also wanted to create more spells for the Material element and utilize it as a replacement for Transmutation. He was aware of his reliance on Transmutation to solve many issues, but he did not regret that, as it was his most powerful tool.
Not using it would be foolish, but this experience would allow him to create a backup in case something like this ever repeated itself out there.
After reaching here, Darius sat down and focused. He noted that he did not have Miranda here, so he would experience significantly greater difficulties and consume more time creating any spell.
The worst part was that he couldn't actuate any of his upcoming spells, because he didn't have Transmutation to perfect them so that they grew 5x better than their peers.
In other words, he could only create the theory and general outline of the spells, as well as innately test them. However, he could never complete or cast them, otherwise, they would enter his repertoire without being boosted.
This was useless for his current situation but would benefit him greatly once he went out. For now, Darius spent most of his time practicing the Basic spells of all elements excluding Order and Chaos for obvious reasons.
He especially dedicated time to the Life and Wood element, since they were crucial in his plan to terraform this desert biome into something less harsh and hostile.
Darius' first foray to resolve this was creating a brand new Journeyman spell of the Material element, something which took him 3 months and a lot of pain to accomplish.
By the time he was done, he was utterly speechless and very solemn. Darius had greatly underestimated what the average Faustian had to go through when creating even a single spell.
He had Miranda to chart out routes and simulate them using his magical network, so A LOT of time and calculative effort had been saved for him. This was something Darius had been aware of but had not experienced firsthand.
After tasting it, he could confidently say that he respected all those mages who had actually survived such a gruelling process, even if they ended up creating shitty spells.
Don't forget, Darius still had the help of his Spiritual Senses, so it was impossible for him to explode when making a spell as long as he was patient and listened to it.
The reason his spellmaking had been so smooth had been a combination of Miranda making calculations and progression extremely fast and his high Luck making the dangers of progression almost disappear as long as he rigidly adhered to it.
This… put a significant dent in his plan going forward.
"Or does it?" Darius chuckled to himself.
Darius wasn't one to say something stupid like 'overreliance on tools makes one weak'. The whole reason why the human race could rise above superior predators was the clever use of tools and natural gifts.
A tool was a tool, made to be used until its value was no longer sufficient.
What caused those who 'relied' on tools too much to fail was not the act of constantly using the tool, but oftentimes not understanding the situation, nor the limitations of the tool.
It was a subtle difference.
Someone who would use a tool to solve all their problems, would form a belief that it was limitless and could not fail, only to eventually be proven wrong. The lucky ones would live and learn their lesson, but they would be a minority.
However, if one used the tool with the knowledge that it would one day not be enough, there was no problem.
Whatever the case, his plan wasn't as hampered as he had feared. He would just need to invest a lot more time and effort going forward, but that was fine. The goal was worth it.
Darius thought to here and patted his knees, stretching his body from his meditative position. He did not have the Supreme System with him to display it, but after using it for so long, Darius was used to its method of showing something.
So his mind worked on its own and conjured what should be a 90% accurate representation of the spell he had spent so long developing.
[Sand to Humus - Level 1 Spell
Grade: Intermediate
Cost: 20 MP
Description: Transform an area of 100 meters around you containing any form of sandy particles to humus of any kind (and vice versa) directly or remotely. The speed of conversion is 0.1 seconds per 100 meters and the effectiveness of the conversion is 100%.]
