Leon had spent a considerable amount of time working on his spells, but he hadn't forgotten to do his daily meditation and gather mana. He had reached rank six by the time he turned nine years old and was close to rank seven.
He had also managed to get both his fireball and breath of fire down to just a single word to cast it, not only that, but he had managed to form a useable blue fireball as well by injecting only one sixty-fourth the amount of air mana. The resulting explosion was intense but contained to being within just a few meters, it's potency was easily twenty times the standard fireball though.
It was a crisp autumn morning with a clear sky and the sun starting its climb to reach the zenith, Leon was sat in his bedroom when his father came to him.
"son, I'm planning on making a trip to Ashton and was wondering if you wanted to join along this time?"
"Really? will that be ok? you haven't been back there since you were attacked so I thought you wouldn't bother with that trade route anymore."
"Yeah, I guess you're right but it should be safe this time, nobody will know that we are coming in advance so there shouldn't be any issues," Kane said sounding as cheery as he could.
"I haven't left the village properly in a while and I've never been to Ashton so I would like to see the city once." came Leon's response, he did really want to go and size up the people who thought his father was an easy target.
"When are you planning on leaving father? I'm close to ranking up and would prefer to do so here so no problems arise," he said rather straightforward leaving a blank look on his fathers face.
"To be honest I'm not sure why I even get surprised anymore, a rank six apprentice at nine years old is a scary prospect anyway, to think you are about to hit rank seven, he said with a chuckle while shaking his head
" Don't worry about it we will leave once you have ranked up and stabilised your mana, is that ok?"
"Thank you father, it shouldn't be any more than two or three days."
Leon spent his remaining time working towards ranking up, rank seven was a special rank. His primary core in his chest controlled his absorption speed, then the following ranks after that were set in place in order to form his mana circuit. His stomach, left knee, right knee, left elbow and right elbow respectively. The final core would form in his skull at the top of his spine, this not only finished the circuit but controlled his overall comprehension capacity and also his mana output ability.
The mana output could control the speed at which he did things with his mana but could also be used to cast multiple spells at once depending on how adept he was at controlling it.
Leon managed to make his breakthrough right on time and two days after his talk with his father the same concussive force spread through his body, all six of his cores began to shift from a solid-state to a gaseous form. They each split perfectly and half began to follow an unseen path before converging on his spine and following it up to the base of his skull.
This core was different than the rest, it was slightly larger by half a centimetre and wouldn't just sit immobile but revolved on its own axis depending on the user's will. this was what allowed a rank seven spellcaster to use mana more effectively and split his cognitive function for multiple spells.
Leon tested this ability out immediately, as soon as he envisioned the spell path for fireball he found it ready to cast, he only had to say the name of the spell for it to materialize from mana to a tangible form, this saved him a full seconds worth of time instead of having to trace the path itself.
The same day he ranked up he went to find his father, he planned in showing him the fruits of his labour the past three years so he wouldn't worry about taking him on this trip to Ashton.
"Father, I've ranked up now and would like to show you something as well, but we need to go far out of the village before I do."
"Congratulations son! your talent and hard work definitely paid off, even your brother who is so many years older than you is only at rank 3 from what his letter last year said! What do you need to show me anyway?" although happy with Leon's progress he was still a bit confused and apprehensive, the last time Leon had taken his parents somewhere he had shown and told them too much for them to absorb at the time.
"Oh nothing major father, I've been working on a combination spell and wanted to see what you thought of it, it's something that can help us out on our journey if we run into trouble."
"What do you mean combination spell?" replied Kane appearing even more confused.
"It's best if I show you first and then explain." half an hour later Leon and his father had made it to his testing area, there were scorch marks and large fractures in the land everywhere they looked.
"What the hell happened here? This place used to be a large field with a small Mountain in the distance, but even that is gone!" Kane looked about bewildered, he didn't come here often with the last time being a few years but even so the change was drastic.
"This is were I've been perfecting my spells, it got a little out of hand I guess and well, I kind of destroyed the mountain by accident."
"What do you mean 'kind of destroyed the mountain'? it was solid stone what could you possibly do to destroy it?"
"Well that's what I wanted to show you, first off I will show you the perfected version that can be used in combat. I have another that would be better against an army or castle, that's the one that destroyed the mountain."
Leon began to draw upon his fire mana and visualized the spell path, in a split second he was adding in a small amount of air mana and holding it ready.
"Firebomb" he spoke slowly the name of his new spell and a golf ball-sized blue flame sprung into existence hovering over his right hand.
"This is the first spell I've created, it's a mix of both fire and air mana in a specific ratio, it's taken me quite a while to figure it out and as you can see around us, my first versions we're a bit much to use in a one on one scenario."
Kane was staring at the flame in Leon's hand with wonder in his eyes, he was half listening and nodding his head. Leon pointed into the distance where there was a large tree roughly half a mile out.
"One of the differences between this firebomb and the original fireball is it's the destructive power being over twenty times greater, but that isn't the only thing. The speed of this spell is controllable thanks to the wind attribute within it as well, watch closely."
Leon gestured towards the large tree with the hand holding the firebomb and in the blink of an eye it was gone, within a second the tree half a mile out exploded and was set aflame. The trunk which was the initial impact area was rendered to nothing in an instant while everything else became ash in less than ten seconds.
"This version of the spell contains lethal damage but is contained to a five-meter radius. The next one won't be as small," he said with a light smile.
He once more went through the process except he added three times as much wind mana this time, the resulting Firebomb was the size of a shot put. He gestured towards the same area and the spell took off at the speed of light, a second later an explosion took place that could be felt even from this distance, a bright flash of white light left Kane blinded momentarily and when he could see again a large mushroom-shaped cloud of fire and smoke was all that could be seen.
"How is such a huge explosion possible with such a small amount of mana? I've heard of spells for wizards and warlocks being capable of this but never anything at apprentice..." Kane really couldn't understand what he was seeing.
"This is just knowledge, fire uses oxygen and other gases as a fuel source, so if I increase it's fuel supply with another form of mana I can control how powerful it is." came a straightforward response from Leon
"With this even if we are attacked on the way I think we should be fine as long as we can put a bit of distance between us and them, what do you think?"
"Definitely, between the two of us, I think we won't have any issues. Even at my rank I definitely couldn't defend against that spell." Kane said while wiping sweat from his brow.
"I'm pretty much packed and ready to go as well father so we can leave whenever you want us to," Leon said with confidence.
...
The next day Leon could be found at his house, he was packing crates and other valuables into his families cart with his father, they were due to set off soon.
"Father, I've looked over the maps and read what I can of our journey, is there anything else I should know?"
"Not really, we only really have the one so-called dangerous point to pass through and that will be Rackter gorge you've probably read about, it gets called that because of the species of beast that live there. they can rank in power from apprentice rank three when young up to a disciple rank six when mature but the strongest I've ever seen was a disciple rank one."
"So it's a good place for me to practice some combat? what type of beast are they? what can they do?" Leon asked out of curiosity.
"They are a reptilian species, they stand on two legs and have shorter arms, long tails and a large head filled with many teeth. There are actually two types of Rackter as they have two different elements, one being water, and the other is what we will face which is earth." came his father's reply.
"So being reptiles they must be cold-blooded, so high temperatures will definitely harm them but anything low will be a beneficial effect for it right?"
"Pretty much right yeah, I usually just light fires as I go through and they tend to gather around it for the warmth and I can pass thoroughly safely. The stronger a beast is though the more intelligent so it won't work on the mature Rackters unfortunately."
"Well if need be I will just have to increase the power of my fireball and see how that goes, you are here as well father so we should get through this just fine."
Leon and his father set off on their journey after finishing their final preparations, it would be a week-long journey to get to Rackter gorge and would take around 12 hours to travel through at a good pace and a further week to make it to Ashton from there
They left the village the same as last time heading out to the east, instead of taking the path that forked up north towards Keytown they followed the eastern path which curved to a southern direction later on. The journey was comfortable and without any suspense, on these well-travelled roads any dangerous beasts would long be taken care of, they stayed at various places during the night and stocked up on supplies and good food for their journey.
Before long a week had passed and the large mountains in the distance loomed higher the closer they got, a gap could be seen right through the centre of the two mountains. The atmosphere at the entrance seemed inviting, no ominous signs and no Rackters seemed to be about. The gorge was directly east to west so visibility through the day wouldn't be a problem as it would have sunlight from sunrise to sunset.
On his own Leon wouldn't think this place dangerous at all from first impressions, if it wasn't for his father and the books he had read in the past he could have been in quite a predicament. The father and son duo set off into the canyon and made good progress during the first hour, no signs of any beasts or other dangerous situations making Leon think that they should pass through without a problem.
The first signs of a difficult situation came thirty minutes later, some movement could be seen roughly one hundred meters ahead, at first it looked like a lone Rackter foraging for food but quickly more large teeth filled heads could be seen popping out of the grass on either side of the path. Leon did a quick count and sent out his senses and discovered there was just over twenty Rackters and they seemed to be waiting in ambush looking in the direction Leon and his father were travelling.
The strongest Rackter was only at the six rank apprentice stage so Leon still felt the situation to be somewhat stable.
"Farther what should we do about them up ahead? they seem to be preoccupied with something ahead so should we use this chance to scare them off or kill them directly?" Leon asked his father
"The prey they have in this place doesn't warrant that many hunting at once, so I assume there is some other traveller about to meet some misfortune if we don't intervene" came his reply while thinking.
"You wanted some experience in combat so why not attack? If some manage to get away it won't be a problem so do what you think is best, I will stop the cart here and keep watch. I won't get involved unless I have to so be careful!" Kane was resolute in allowing Leon the experience he wanted and needed.
"Not a problem father! Just wait here and watch the show, it won't take long!" came Leon's reply full of confidence.
Leon dismounted the carriage and carefully walked ahead doing his best to not make any sound, although he had the dazzling improved fireball spells he didn't want to make his presence known immediately so he chose another method he had thought of. Leon drafted some wind mana between his fingers and kept condensing it to make a sharp needle, just like he used for his tattoo and looked for the strongest Rackter.
He found it lurking towards the back of the pack and assessed its body for a weak point, its torso seemed sturdy as did its head. The stronger they become the better their element control is and it seemed they would form an earthen armour over their bodies weak points, fortunately, they couldn't block their eyes and his needle would have an easy entry into its brain.
Once he figured out his plan he put it into action immediately, controlling his compressed mana needle with his willpower he brought it stealthily around to the front of the Rackter while following the mountain walls, once it was front of it he made it accelerate rapidly and in the blink of an eye the needle smoothly pierced its eye and entered its brain. He followed this up by releasing the compression and allowing the mana to expand rapidly and to the surprise of the Rackter pack, their leader had his head blown up!
His next follow up move came quickly and he formed two thumbnail size blue fireballs and threw them at the two next strongest Rackters, without any suspense both of them went up in flames. Their earthen armour seemed useless as they soon became lava that made them howl in even more pain, in mere moments Leon took care of the three strongest Rackters sending the rest of the pack into a panic. Leon decided to kill a few more before letting them go, in a few moments he lit up four more thumbnail fireballs above his fingertips on each hand and with a quick gesture and guided by his will, they each found their own target and another eight Rackters were turning to ashes on the floor.
After the quick massacre of half of their pack, the rest of the Rackters fled into the bushes and escaped into the gorge. Leon walked up to the body of his first kill and was inspecting it intending to draw out some blood, it would be a suitable medium for some low ranked earth inscriptions. Just as he was preparing his tools a rustle from the bushes behind him drew his attention, as he turned he saw a large Rackter covered in its earthen armour midair launching at him.
Its armour seemed thicker and of a darker colour than the one at his feet, his senses flared at last and discovered this one was actually on par with a rank one disciple! It had been lying in wait still and seemed to want to get revenge for the pack members that had fallen. Leon had no time to react and his mind went blank as he fell backwards onto the ground, just when he thought he was finished a flaming sword emitting a crimson radiance flashed into the neck of the Rackter and with a twist its head detached. The body landed in front of Leon and it's head onto his lap, he turned his head to the direction the sword came from to see his father walking over to him.
"You might be a genius son, but your experience really is lacking. Not that I can blame you for not sensing that Rackter as it was stronger than you, but if you had looked around more before you dropped your guard, then this situation would have easily been avoided." Kane was seriously instructing Leon now, no parent wants to see their child die before them so he wanted Leon to understand exactly what he had done wrong.
"You are right father, that's not a mistake I will make again I promise." Leon's reply was just as serious as his fathers chastising.
'It seems that my curse of arrogance and inattentiveness isn't finished yet, I've got to work harder!' Leon thought to himself and not for the first time.