Ethan had seen some of the runes from the Book of Arcana. He wanted to cast a simple Fire Element Spell, Fireball. There were only 10 runes involved in this Spell, and each rune was Basic, meaning that each rune only had up to 3 strokes. A total of less than 30 strokes was needed to cast a Fireball.
Ethan further read up on the runes and drew them on a piece of paper to commit them to his mind. Each rune had a meaning and purpose in the Spell being cast. Fireball was only an Apprentice-level spell, also called a Level 0 Spell, so its runes were pretty simple.
He spent about 15 minutes memorizing the runes by writing them down. Now, it was time to cast the spell Airbound, meaning he would draw the runes in the air with his Spiritual Power and then run his mana through it.
The order of drawing the runes did not make a difference, but Ethan made an order for his convenience.He started manipulating his Spiritual Power to leave his body and stand in the air. He could see a light blue transparent ball in the air that he could move with his will.
He tried to command it to take the shape of the rune. His ball of Spiritual Power in the air started moving and changing shape, but it was slow and the shaping process wasn't precise.
Ethan spent a lot of energy and concentration going against gravity, trying to make the Spiritual Power take the shape he wanted and also to stop it from returning to its original shape. It was like trying to juggle balls while bouncing a ball with a single foot and keeping your balance.
Eventually, he managed to get the Spiritual Power similar enough to the first rune which was fortunately a single stroke. The second rune however was a double stroke rune. He had to do twice the work of the first one while maintaining the first rune. This took him almost twice the time as the first rune but he managed to draw it.
Ethan's Spiritual Power control was improving while he drew the runes in the air. Up until the fifth rune he was still managing to keep the rest of the runes, but on the fifth run he started sweating because his Spiritual Power was running thin with both keeping the previous runes and forming new ones.
Just as he started drawing the sixth one, all of the runes he drew before finally dissipated into the air while Ethan breathed out heavily. His head was hurting and he was almost out of Spiritual Power.
'System, is there a way I can increase my Spiritual Power?' Ethan asked his cheat which had helped him successfully get through all of the obstacles he came across until now.
"Host, Spiritual Power is only increased as a result of an increase of Mana or Dimensional Energy. If host increases his Mana, his Spiritual Power will also have an increase to be able to accommodate more Mana. The Spiritual Power increase resulting from Mana or Dimensional Energy will also affect the capacity of the other, meaning that huge increases of Dimensional Energy capacity will also result in some increase of Mana capacity due to the increase of Spiritual Power." The System once again explained everything in a single breath with a monotonous voice, showing off its extraordinary ability to confuse its Host.
'I understand, that also explains the increase of Mana I had last time.' Ethan figured out why his Mana had increased from 2 to 10 when he increased his Dimensional Energy last time.
'Right now, I can't increase my Dimensional Energy because I hit a realm limit, but I can increase my Mana limit. System increase Mana by my available Attribute Points.'
"Spent 12 Attribute Points. Mana: 0/14 -> 0/26." The prompt from last time was shown with different data this time, while the System Force started coursing through Ethan's body.
The System Force created a soothing effect in his head and Ethan realized that this was his Spiritual Power increasing.
Just as he was about to close the prompt, Ethan realized something else. Even though his Mana capacity was 26, he had 0 Mana! He couldn't cast the spell without Mana. He opened the Book of Arcana to find a solution to this problem. He found a single line in the book that he had skimmed over, the line said that Magicians use Meditation Techniques to gather Mana from the environment. There was no further explanation on that page, however there was an appendix at the back of the book.
'Appendix A: Basic Meditation Technique'
'Every Magician needs Mana to cast spells. Acquiring Mana can be done in various ways, including potions and Mana storage items but the easiest and cheapest way is Meditation. Meditation allows a Magician to gather the Mana flowing freely in the air into their body. This appendix describes the most basic technique of gathering Mana in one's body. The amount of Mana one can fill up their body with will depend on that person's talent and determination.'
'...'
This appendix described a Basic Meditation Technique to gather Mana. Ethan read through it while taking his time to understand the contents.
The principle of the technique was very simple but the workings of Mana was not. The Mana in the air was freely flowing at a fixed concentration, and one's body would also be filled with Mana at that concentration. However, that concentration in one's body was considered to be 0 Mana because it couldn't be used to cast spells until concentrated further. Meditation Techniques were used to concentrate the Mana in the body and take more Mana from the outside into one's body.
They required one to use their Spiritual Power to control the flow of Mana and its concentration. Ethan had understood the basics of this technique so he started channeling his will and Spiritual Power according to the technique.
Slowly, the Mana in his body became more concentrated and Mana started entering his body. He would see that his Mana was slowly increasing in his Status if he had it open. The Mana became harder to concentrate as his capacity started filling up.
1... 2... 4... 6... 10...
Almost an hour passed by before his Mana capacity was full. He felt his body filled to the brim with this magical energy. It was finally time to cast the Fireball spell.
He drew the first 5 runes much faster than before. Making sure that the runes were arranged correctly, he continued onto the next 5. The arrangement of the runes were simple for Apprentice Spells. They just had to be arranged in a circle in a specific order. One would also surround them in circles to create a wheel-like image in the air.
As he completed the circle, he once again felt the pressure on his Spiritual Power but he would be able to finish the spell before he ran out of Spiritual Power. He drew the tenth rune and created the wheel's two circles. 10 beautiful runes inside a wheel were presenting themselves in front of him; he didn't waste any more time and released Mana to the spell while imbuing the Mana with his Fire Element.
As the Fire Element came natural to him, he had no issues imbuing the Mana with Fire. The Mana entering the Runes slowly gained a tinge of red. When the all the runes were filled with Fire Elemental Mana, he ordered all the Mana to circulate through the patterns so that the spell was cast.
A Fireball started getting bigger in front of the Spell Wheel and Ethan could feel a connection with it. It reached the size of his fist before stabilizing. Ethan commanded the Fireball to move in his mind and the Fireball moved according to his wishes. There was quite a lot of latency between his will and the Fireball's movement but it was still him controlling it.
He dispersed the Spell Circle and watched the Fireball get smaller and smaller before disappearing. The realization dawned upon him that he had cast his first Arcane Spell. From being reincarnated to becoming an Arcane Apprentice and casting his first spell, Ethan realized that his mindset had changed. He was no longer concerned with success in life with comparison to his peers, but survival in a foreign environment without the support of his loved ones. He was both excited and anxious about his future.
He had to do something to make sure he could live in this world, and eventually even return to his own! He knew that the way to go about this required the System and his own efforts. He knew he couldn't waste his time because he had already become a breaker of the law of the country he was in. This also reminded him of Daniel's offer to teach him concealment.
He decided to immediately go to Daniel's and take him up on his offer. He couldn't even gather Dimensional Energy without danger if he didn't have concealment! Opening the door of his shack, he walked out to find Daniel at his home. He didn't even take a step before he saw someone he didn't expect.
"Hey, name's Ethan right?"