"Two moons!" Gerald walked around his room, visibly upset. "How long have I been here?! Am I blind? How could I miss two freaking moons?! I literally saw each of them every day and night and it just didn't click?" He rambled on and on...
"Am I getting sick? Is my brain still working correctly?" He stood in front of a mirror staring at his face while making various weird facial expressions.
"I missed something so obvious, but how?! This never happened to me before!" Suddenly a Potion of Focus materialized in his hand and he uncorked it and drank it all in one swift motion.
Slowly he calmed down and his mind returned to rest. There was silence... for a moment.
"No, it's probably because I was too busy with magic to notice a small inconsistency like that… Still, I'd better be extra attentive in the future."
Knock, knock!
"Young Master, are you still awake?" It was the butler calling. He returned with the loot! Unfortunately, he didn't bring any Light Crystals, but there were plenty of Fire ones to make up the difference.
Gerald patted the man's shoulder and said something along the lines of 'Good job' and gave him a thumbs up.
This time he ordered some better paper in hopes of making stronger spell scrolls. Though what he got wasn't really paper, but scrolls of refined leather of powerful beasts.
He finally had enough materials to increase his stash of Greater Fireball scrolls and so the next day, early in the morning, he got to work.
Bloody magical ink was drawn on the paper as the runes formed a magical circuit, imbuing the skin of the dead with great new powers. After a few exhausting hours of making the same thing over and over, Gerald decided to experiment a little.
Fire magic was one of his favorites in terms of looks and sheer destructive power, and one spell, in particular, was anchored in his mind from the very beginning.
It was the Fire Rain spell, the creation of the famous Mage, Spark!
He could imagine a dark night with streaks of flames descending from the heavens, setting the land ablaze.
"Hohoho…" Gerald couldn't help but chuckle while drawing runes for the spell. Although he never experienced magic like that before, his understanding of runes was already quite good. Now he just had to draw a few ideas and test them out to see if they worked.
He just had to leave the city and find a good bit of space to try it out, unless he wanted to have thousands of people try to kill him for setting the capital ablaze.
He soon landed in an open meadow among flowers and tall grass. There was no fear of a fire spreading since it was all green and growing.
"Let's try this one now…" Gerald took the first scroll, unfurled it, and triggered the activation rune.
"Uh-oh!"
BOOM!
The scroll violently ignited and exploded immediately after, blasting Gerald's hand into pieces like nothing.
Luckily he held it in his left, so only his silver fingers suffered damage, though he still felt pain all over his body, especially his ears, due to the powerful shockwave.
"Owowow… That hurt…" He quickly cast Recovery on himself before preparing to test the next scroll.
"Since that one didn't work, I guess this one might…?" He held the next one with Telekinesis, far away from himself.
"Or not…" He lifted his hands to protect his face just in time when…
BOOM!
"Oh, I think I know what's happening!"
Gerald quickly took the third scroll out of his Ring and activated it, only this time he paid especially close attention to Mana.
BOOM!
As predicted, the last one exploded upon activation as well, failing to display the desired result.
"So that's what's happening, huh? Seems like the magic circuit gets overloaded… Too many actions at once it seems… and too much energy."
He was wondering why people created unnecessary delays in the activation of a spell scroll, but now it appeared this was the reason.
"Though those weaker spells don't need to be delayed since they are too weak to trigger these phenomena, but then again, people are simply following a predetermined path…" Gerald sighed and shook his head.
Since magic was quite dangerous if not handled properly, the safety precautions taken were slowing down the advancements.
Only madmen would push magic to its limit, and that would result in a catastrophic failure more often than not. The damage and casualties would then serve as a reminder to be extra conservative and not deviate from the norm.
"Aiya, that's a pain in the ass… I guess maybe if I can use more ink I could… Tsk!" Gerald clicked his tongue, expressing his unhappiness. "No, the foundation on which I'm building is too weak, I can already see it… The spell will probably have to be powering up for a few seconds at least, instead of it being instant!"
He thought about it for a while and came to a realization, "The stronger they become, the more useless they are because of this weakness. If you know a mage is preparing his magic, be it manual casting or spell scrolls, can't you just run away, or kill him outright? So annoying!"
He kicked a small stone on the road while walking back to the capital. His head was lowered and his gaze angry enough to make newborns cry.
As he walked, he grumbled under his breath, his big figure appearing as an unstable volcano ready to explode at any moment. The travelers quickly hurried past or decided to take a rest and let him get in front, creating a certain void around him on the otherwise busy road.
"Unless… What if it's not a bug, but a feature?!" Gerald's face suddenly brightened. He quickly took one last spell scroll out and quickly wrote a few more runes.
"I can add delayed activation, but instead in the middle of the spell, I can add it at the beginning… Hmm, yes, yes!"
He hunched his back and rubbed his hands together like some sort of shady merchant as the ideas started forming inside his head.
"Explosion is an art! Humans became the most powerful and destructive beings on the planet precisely because they made good use of explosions!"
Guns, bombs, engines, rockets… They all worked by making use of a controlled explosion. Massive ships and planes that could travel across the world, all contributed massively to the expansion of the human race on Earth. But like any new technology, they all started small and weak, before eventually transforming the world around them.
"So we shall start small, and see where the road takes us…"
Gerald crumpled the scroll into a ball, only leaving a corner exposed. He then tore that piece off, and the spell was activated.
However, due to the runes added, there was a few seconds of delay, allowing him to toss the ball far away.
Boom!
And as you would expect…
"Aaaah! Run, he's one of those crazy mages!"
"Mommy!"
The sudden explosion scared many, and they quickly picked up their stuff and ran away from Gerald in fear. Nobody wanted to stay close to one of those delusional mages that constantly pushed themselves to the limit.
What if something went wrong and they exploded? Wouldn't the onlookers be showered with blood and guts? It was better to keep a safe distance.
People talked, shouted, screamed, and pointed with their fingers, but why should Gerald care for their opinions? He just created a hand grenade! And it was so easy!
Okay, easy and expensive. The materials alone set him back more than just a few gold coins. Processing the hide of magic beasts so they keep their magical properties wasn't easy or quick, and no sane person would try to make armor out of it for this reason. They were way too valuable for that. Might as well use silver.
"Hahaha! Who cares about Fire Rain! Carpet bombing it's where it's at!"
Amidst roaring laughter, Gerald suddenly rose to the skies, completely unconcerned about the witnesses, and flew back to the capital. No more hiding, no more staying low. War was coming, and he would stand straight, with his head held high!
It was time for this world to learn the true meaning of warfare!