Kyle told Alicia and Hannah the full story of his father's surprise visit. It shocked Hannah while Alicia asked a few questions. Kyle answered them all and felt his tiredness leave him. He got up and stretched a bit.
"Do you guys want to do a bit of studying?"
"Why?"
"Well... the rest of the exam's supposed to be like a questionnaire, so shouldn't we study?"
Hannah thought to herself before agreeing and pointing to the bookshelves.
"Those're probably meant for studying. Hopefully, we can find some material that would prove useful in the exam. I'm already familiar with this world's magic research, history and geography to a certain point so I can help with that."
"Ok, so I guess we should set up a studying location somewhere here."
"By the way... there are three rooms, yet this single one feels like it could house all our needs. Why don't we just share it?"
"No objections from me. I'll prepare the paper for studying. You guys can find a spot to do it."
Kyle walked over to the bookshelves while Hannah and Alicia headed to another corner where there was a dining table and several chairs. They moved all the utensils and crockery away and cleaned the table a bit. Kyle returned with a pile of seven books in his hands and set them onto the table. He then went back to the bookshelves while Hannah quickly checked the title of the books.
Thankfully, they were all written in the universal language of Englarcia and could translate into the holy language if she tried. She separated the books into easy, advanced and complex categories as Kyle brought more books.
Kyle brought 16 books before Hannah told him they would be enough. She then tore a few pages from the notebook that immediately refilled itself. She handed them out and opened a book in the advanced category. Hannah carefully read the title first.
[Magical constructs of Hypodynamic spell crafting.]
"This should be useful for physical spells in case you are low on strength. I've read it before and it can be quite useful onto physical objects and now that we are sure we have magic, I think we should test it out."
Hannah tried to simplify the contents of the book for all of them, and Alicia was going to be the one to study further on the topic. Kyle also tried, but the magical construct for {sword birth} had his interest but was too complex. He would study on it later when he had free time. He looked through the books in the advanced category and found something else that could be of use.
[Dimensional construct creation processes.]
This could prove to something very useful since he wanted to carry things around. At least that's how he thought it worked. He checked the first forty pages and was pleased to see that it worked the way he thought it did and could even perform better if he put in the extra effort.
So he focused on studying the theories in the book. Hannah watched their dedication with a smile and looked for a book herself. She looked through the complex category and picked up a book with a hard red cover and a gold spine. It was something she was sure would help in her theoretical knowledge of this world.
[Magical balance and its primary value.]
They put it in the complex category because it had a choking 2 thousand pages on theories, magic constructs, historical magic presences, and a bit more that Hannah couldn't finish earlier. She's determined to finish it now.
She walked to the sofa by the fireplace since she wanted to sit by the fire. She dragged a small coffee table and placed her notebook pages on it.
[Time to get to work.]
*******
(11 hours later, at evening)
They littered the area around the dining table with books that were haphazardly strewn everywhere. Kyle and Alicia had been exchanging the books they finished reading and when they're done, they would throw them haphazardly away to the side to pick up the next book.
Kyle especially liked the books on physical enhancements and magic conversion. Alicia found all the books useful and memorised the formulas for plans. Hannah was still reading her own book and was trying to simplify the theories, but to no avail.
They had cleared 4 books from the advanced category and all the books from the easy category within those 11 hours. Now they only had to practice the contents of the books and see how compatible they were with them.
Kyle got up from his chair and massaged his tired back. He picked up the books on the floor and placed them back into their piles and walked towards the centre of the room. The room floor was a total surface area of 900 metres in the shape of a square. Kyle looked to the female statue and with a powerful leap landed onto her open palms that were holding the blue crystal. Kyle picked up the crystal and observed it before returning it and jumping back down. The crystal was just an ornament and nothing more. Kyle then walked to an empty corner of the room and closed his eyes.
He was going to create a holy dimensional rift. It was going to be a simple derivative of the [pocket dimensional rift] spell that had been within the book. It relied on the theory of magic conversion into raw energy moulded into a shape that would then convert the raw energy into a new form of magic. The shape relied on how much energy was being converted and even had a time limit. If the energy conversion isn't on time, it would simply dissolve into the atmosphere and could only recover after some time resting.
Kyle was aware of the different shapes required, and he wanted to not waste any energy. He sat down in a lotus position, brought his palms together and closed his eyes. He focused on collecting magic into a single point with the maximum of his mental energy. He couldn't see the collected magic, but he imagined it as a small ball floating above his head. He compressed the magic tightly until he felt resistance and pumped even more magic into it. He felt a sharp pain between his eyes but didn't stop until he felt physically tired.
He was sure that he had an affinity with the holy element. So in theory, creating a holy dimensional rift wouldn't bear too hard on him. He then thought of which shape to use in converting the magic into a Spacial rift to a custom made dimension...
{Maybe I could use a circle?}
We could consider a circle a form of a gate. It posses a simple path between two separated objects and could form a gate between dimensions. He had to create the dimension as well, but that would also result from creating the gate. He released the compressed magic and felt a wave of relief wash over him and clearing the beads of sweat that had gathered. The raw energy was now around him, floating freely and his command on it wavering. He then imagined a large ring the size of him with a hazy centre.
The gate between dimensions.
He could feel resistance as the energy suddenly reduced, and he strained his mental energy. He could now see a circle before him in his mind as it was being formed by tiny particles floating off his semi-corporeal body. The circle then quickly formed and Kyle could now see the completed construct.
It was exactly as he imagined it, and he opened his eyes. He saw that his right hand now had a golden circle on the back. It glowed under the light from the ceiling chandeliers, and Kyle smiled.
He had made an extra dimension.
*****