In the southeast direction of South Ward stood a tall ash tree atop a mound. This was the usual hangout spot for Adam and his friends. However, today the youth was alone.
The sun was high up in the sky, its warm rays filtering through the canopy of the ash tree, casting dotted patterns on the ground underneath.
The youth wore black robes and a pointy hat of the same color, sitting beneath the shade of this tree, leaning against its trunk, and enjoying the breathtaking view of Moon City.
Beside him, a gray cat lazily slept on a comfortable patch of grass.
The raven-haired youth glanced at the cat and stroked his head fondly, "Val, want something to eat?"
Valerian's ears perked up and he looked at Adam excitedly. 'Meat!'
Adam couldn't help but chuckle at the little guy's response. The next moment, he waved his hand, and a bowl full of grilled meat shot out from his spatial earring and appeared before Valerian.
"Sorry, it's not warm." The youth smiled apologetically.
However, the young dragon didn't care. He enthusiastically started eating the meat, his tail swaying behind him gently. Seeing him enjoy the food, the smile on Adam's face deepened.
He then glanced at the city before him and went into deep thought, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. A gentle breeze blew by, carrying the scent of blooming flowers.
In one hand, he held a cup of red wine. He swirled the cup and took a sip from time to time. On his other hand, he held his grimoire. The youth glanced at its weathered pages which had his notes on the usage of spiritual power.
Ever since he had acquired Mathias' research on illusion magic, Adam had been constantly looking for ways to use spiritual power as fuel to cast spells.
There were two reasons why doing so was not feasible. Firstly, the amount of spiritual power a Magus had was nearly not enough to cast a spell.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Secondly, and most importantly, spiritual power was countless times more difficult to control than mana. The only usage of this energy was to carve the model component—the magic circle—for a spell.
However, Adam was different.
He had a considerable amount of spiritual power reserves for a Rank 1 Magus. But there was one problem plaguing him - he couldn't control it, making his high reserves practically useless.
For weeks, the youth had been reading countless arcane texts and jotting down important points in his grimoire, hoping that at least something could aid him in his quest to efficiently control spiritual power.
Alas, there had been no progress.
Not yet, anyway.
However, Adam wasn't demotivated in the least. If anything, he was filled with immense determination to look for clues. For if he succeeded, he wouldn't just have one source of energy, but two!
He took a sip of wine and then looked into the distance, his gaze landing on the Lunar Bridge. His mind, however, was somewhere else entirely.
Recalling the epic battle he had seen between the flaming crab and the frost spider in the Spirit World, he felt goosebumps all over his body.
Thinking back to how effortlessly the two creatures could utilize spiritual power and even use it to attack, the youth couldn't help but sigh.
What's so different between a creature of the Spirit World and a creature from the material world?
Is it only our physiology? Or is there something more?
"Myu~"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Suddenly, Valerian called out to him.
Adam was jolted out of his reverie and glanced at the little guy. He found that Valerian's bowl had become empty and he was looking at him with watery eyes. "Myu~"
Seeing him act like that, Adam couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine, fine, stop making that face already." The next moment, his earring flashed red, and the bowl in front of the young dragon was filled with meat once again.
"Myu!" Valerian clapped with his front paws and began eating again with great joy.
Adam smiled warmly and rubbed his dear familiar's head. Then, he took another sip of his wine and closed his eyes. As he delved deeper into the theory of spiritual power, the world around him seemed to fade away.
As he remained seated under the shade of the ash tree, his mind drifted away, trying to reach out to the mysteries of the soul. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself hovering before the white lotus inside his spirit sea.
He gently pressed his hand against one of the white petals of the lotus and softly muttered, "How should I control all this spiritual power?
"Do you know?"
The next moment, Adam couldn't help but chuckle to himself realizing that he was asking a flower for answers. He shook his head in a self-deprecating manner. "Haa… what am I even doing here? It's not like you're a—"
Suddenly, he paused.
His eyes gradually widened as realization suddenly dawned on him. He glanced at the humongous white lotus in front of him and muttered incredulously, "If you're an artifact… then perhaps I can…"
Adam hurriedly shifted his consciousness back to the real world. He set down his wine cup beside him and leafed through the pages of his grimoire, looking for a specific page of information that he had recently scribbled down.
He stopped at a particular page and read aloud the title written in bold letters, "Magical focus!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})In the olden days, before the principles of spell components were thoroughly researched and established by Magi, they used magical focus to harness the abundant mana in the air and subsequently cast spells.
A magical focus could be an arcane symbol or a special object, for example, a wand, staff, or even a crystal ball.
After the spell was cast, the magical focus would be damaged and the Magus would have to use another object as focus. Moreover, a magical focus also required a large amount of time to channel mana and cast spells.
With the advancement of arcane studies, Magi didn't use magical focus anymore. The three spell components—model, physical, and material—were far more efficient.
Adam's mind raced with possibilities as he read through the information on magical focus. His hands trembled in excitement as he mumbled, "What if… what if I use the white lotus as the magical focus to channel spiritual power and then cast spells?"
However, he soon shook his head. "No, that shouldn't be possible… I think. A magical focus gets damaged after a few uses."
But the next moment, his eyes flashed with eagerness as he thought to himself,
But the lotus isn't an ordinary item. If my speculations are right, which they most likely are, then it's a supreme treasure that is worth countless powerful Magi of the universe fighting and dying over!
I highly doubt it's going to get damaged...
The youth got to his feet and started pacing around the ash tree, mumbling incoherent words from time to time.
Valerian glanced at him in confusion. Has brother finally lost it?
After what seemed like forever, Adam stopped in his footsteps, his breathing ragged and his eyes flashing with brilliance. "This… I can work with this! Although I would need to experiment quite a bit, it doesn't matter. Trial and error is a natural part of research."
Adam raised his head and glanced at the setting sun. He clenched his fists, a bright smile spreading across his face. "I'll do whatever it takes," he muttered.
Under the shade of this unassuming ash tree, Adam's understanding of magic had changed forever. However, this was just the beginning. He had barely scratched the surface.
As the sun gradually dipped below the horizon, its rays stretched the youth's shadow behind him.
It was grand, imposing, and unfathomable.
