Ertaur bellowed in pain as his head was pierced straight through by Alephee's summoned beast. In the next moment, his mana body was dispersed.
Ertaur was forced to quit by Alephee's summoned beast using only one move. The Red Bull Rush combined with Blitz Steps was deadlier than Eren had thought. It completely outclassed Ertaur's own variant of the inherent spell.
Neither Ertaur nor his master could see Alephee's summoned beast coming. The beast had gotten so fast that for a moment that Eren's mana sense stopped tracking him. It couldn't keep up with the beast's speed for the time being.
However, Eren also noticed that the summoned red lightning bull had become unstable after using the BLitz Steps and Red Bull Rush together. His body was starting to fade.
Eren raised his eyebrows as he watched the supposed instability. Alephee's explanation came right after.
"This is not unusual. Since Blitz Steps was a part of the summoning spell, it was bound to have a limited casting time when the movement spell was activated. The Adept rank mana is still not sufficient in quality to sustain the integrated spell for much longer after all."
Eren nodded in understanding after realizing that the limitations came from the grade of mana and not the integrated spell itself. Just from the knowledge, he could deduce that the integrated spells were not meant to be used by lower-ranked entities. Alephee was making him engage in something that was beyond his rank.
Ertaur's soul was called back inside Eren's mana core. He wanted to get back out there to fight with the summoned bull some more. But Eren told him he did not have to since the summoned bull had disappeared.
There was no point in testing the effects of integrated spells anymore. He realized that integrated spells were the next step in the evolution of spell combos. In addition, integrated spells had far superior effects to spell combos.
The integrated spells were so potent that they could not be sustained with Adept-level mana. But using these spells would give Adept rankers a distinct advantage over the others despite their limited time.
Eren could also decipher that the time limit can be extended if the integration of spells is seamless. It meant that he needed the right set of spells, and sufficient elemental attainments in their respective elements to stand a chance to cast integrated spells. Then he needed to use the right blend of elemental and aspect fusions to make his integrated spells more powerful.
The butcher was sure that with the right combination of all these things, the time limit would practically cease to exist for him. But there was another problem with using these spells.
"Alephee, what about the mana consumption using these spells? You are relying on your abundant mana reserves as a Homunculus to stack these spells. I'll be running on fumes soon after I cast spells like you."
Alephee nodded her head in understanding after hearing Eren's words. She paused a bit to collect her thoughts before replying.
"You are right, Eren. It can be a bit taxing to use the integrated spells. But it is still better than casting two or more spells together. The trade-off is worth it.
Plus, the summoning spells using the connection with the beasts allow you to use the mana in the surroundings to cast their mana bodies. Thus, these spells are easy on your mana reserves.
This is another benefit of casting the summoning spells this way. Remember how Rodrick faught against Altashia.
That guy had the wyvern-type demon beast. So he used his connection with Aqua to cast a variant of the summoning spell, allowing him to summon her consciousness into the summoned mana body. Do you remember what he did to cast her mana body?"
Alephee asked Eren with a smile on her face. The latter took some time to remember his battle with Rodrick Renar. He quickly understood what Alephee was trying to imply.
"So choosing the right environment to cast the right summoning spell is critical. Rodrick had used the water surrounding the battle ring to cast Aqua's wyvern body. It still took some toll on him. But at that time, the royal scion of House Renar was in the Ace rank.
So the fact that he could use the summoning spell that way is still impressive. He could really become a skilled summoner with his talent."
As the Alephee kept reminding him about Eren's previous fights, he realized that people with connections were already in the know regarding these things. Altashia and Rodrick were already guided in the right direction by their respective families.
He was an Adept ranker in his previous timeline as well. But he never knew about these things in such depth. Then again, he was in the right position or with the right connections to know these things. It was only because he had raised himself to his current level in this timeline that had allowed him to see the demo of what Alephee was talking about.
Eren's fights with Altashia and Rodrick had suddenly turned into a valuable experience for him in retrospect. Additionally, he realized that having connections contributed to a great start, more so than he had initially thought of.
Eren would have kept walking on a rudimentary path if it wasn't for Alephee. He would be better than his previous self even in that situation. But he would never amount to something even greater.
The distance would have been made evident if he became a high-ranked entity and compared himself with other exceptional rankers with prominent connections. He smiled bitterly when the realization dawned on him.
The kingdom of Edinburgh was slowly becoming a small pond for the ever-growing Eren to live in. Minerva's Utopia was going to be a stable source of income for him for the time being. But he needed to invest in something beyond Edinburgh's borders to increase profits.
One of the biggest reasons Eren had stayed in Edinburgh all this time despite the risk of being caught as Osan Woods Butcher was because of Minerva's Utopia. The other reason was the fact that he knew what he needed to do to reach the Adept rank.
But at this point, he needed to think about the future. A future that was less familiar to him. Something he could not prepare for preemptively anymore.
