The first thing Corrin did when he woke up was to check the progress of the Grimoire. If his and Ophion's predictions were correct, the circular bar should have progressed. They were right.
Due to the amount of squirrel-dogs Corrin had killed, the bar was now about an eighth of the way full. Corrin was happy with this information because now he knew exactly what he had to do to get more spells. In the meantime, however, he needed to focus on learning the spells he currently had access to.
"Hey Ophion, when can I start learning Natural Magic?"
"Honestly, probably right after you reach the next level in the Grimoire. When I said I learned a decent bit of magic before I was 25, it mostly had to do with the foundations of Runic Magic, and some magic theory about Natural Magic. So, I'm thinking that you'll get there fairly soon." Ophion responded.
"Okay, thanks, just wondering."
"Yeah, and learning Natural Magic will help out with Runic Magic, and vice versa. Learning Natural Magic spells will give you ideas for enchantments and making enchantments will help increase your mana control. It's a nice cycle."
Corrin pondered Ophion's words as he went back to his campsite and went through the process of butchering the squirrel-dogs. He had discussed with Ophion how the meat would probably spoil soon and that there wasn't really any point in leaving them in the Workshop to rot. Corrin decided to just cook as much meat as he could and store it in the Workshop. After making another Fire Spellstone, he spent about half the day cooking and butchering the meat, then transported the waste away by putting it in the Workshop then tossing it away in the forest. The Workshop had a very handy self-cleaning feature so the dried blood from the dead animals was swiftly cleaned up by some of the melted floor.
By crafting another Fire Spellstone, Corrin had learned that enchanting an object with an enchantment you have already used before makes the process easier than the first time. This reminded Corrin that he still had many more runes to learn from the Grimoire.
Accordingly, Corrin teleported back to the Workshop to figure out his next priorities for learning runes.
The runes he still had yet to learn were:
· [WATER]
· [WIND]
· [LIGHT]
· [DARK]
· [WHITE]
· [ALWAYS]
· [SWING DOWN]
· [ABSORB]
· [UNTIL FULL]
· [FORM ORB]
· [CONTROL ORB]
Corrin figured that since [ABSORB] and [UNTIL FULL] were really only useful for making permanent enchantments, which he couldn't really do right now, he would learn them last.
He then came to the conclusion that he already had sufficient activation runes for his current activities, so he should focus on learning the remaining mana runes first. Then, he would learn the command runes aside from the ones used for permanent enchantments, and after that the activation runes.
So, his priority list looked something like this:
1. [LIGHT]
2. [DARK]
3. [WIND]
4. [WATER]
5. [WHITE]
6. [FORM ORB]
7. [CONTROL ORB]
8. [SWING DOWN]
9. [ALWAYS]
10. [ABSORB]
11. [UNTIL FULL]
Corrin was very analytical, and he had a utilitarian outlook on his learning priorities. He wanted to learn what was most immediately useful to him. He had realized that he hadn't really thought about what Light and Dark mana was used for, so he asked Ophion.
"Light mana is normally used for any type of healing spells. Thus, if you are planning on making a Light Spellstone, it should act as a minor healing spell. Dark mana is a bit more complicated. Generally, Dark mana is used offensively. I do not know what a Dark Spellstone will do, so that's something you're just going to have to figure out by yourself. Dark spells used by Natural or Chanting mages usually cause pain and substantial damage. It is the opposite of Light mana."
This is how Corrin had decided his priorities for what he wanted to learn the soonest. Having access to Light magic would be extremely beneficial for Corrin, especially now that he knew he wasn't necessarily invincible after his scuffle with the squirrel-dogs. If he ever was injured, being able to use minor healing magic would help out a lot. Thinking of the scuffle made Corrin think about how he had turned all his personal mana into Wind mana. He still hadn't thought of a name for the technique, nor had he experimented more with it. He'd have to add that to the list of priorities too.
Corrin decided to learn the Dark mana rune next because it would add to his offensive repertoire. Instead of just his dagger, he would also be able to use Dark magic to attack. He decided that the Wind, Water, and White mana runes would be the least useful to him out of the mana runes, so it didn't matter to him what order he learned them in.
Corrin wanted to learn the [FORM ORB] and [CONTROL ORB] runes because he felt that these would also add onto his offensive repertoire. He was thinking about making several Fireball Spellstones and Dark Orb Spellstones that he could use in battle.
He didn't really have much use for the remaining runes, except for [SWING DOWN], so he didn't care what order he learned them in either. Corrin was interested in testing out [SWING DOWN] with his dagger but wasn't sure if it would break since it was technically still just a rock. So, this experiment wasn't really high on his list of priorities.
Corrin decided to play around with the mana technique he had invented during the squirrel-dog fight whenever he got bored of learning the runes. This way, he would have something else to do instead of the same thing every day.
The name for the technique that Corrin had come up with was Infusion magic. He thought that since it was basically like infusing his whole body with a certain type of mana, the name was fitting. He had theorized that different types of mana would do different things. Wind Infusion clearly made him faster in many aspects, so he figured that the benefits he would get from each nature of mana came from their biggest attributes. He assumed that Light Infusion would probably heal his body in some way, either through speeding up his regenerative abilities or just outright healing him. Earth Infusion would probably make his body stronger in some way, but Corrin thought that it would mostly be in a defensive way. Water Infusion might make him move…smoother? Corrin wasn't really sure on that one. He figured that Dark and Fire Infusion would both increase his offensive capabilities in some way, he just wasn't sure how.
All in all, Corrin had a lot of work to do, and he was happy to keep himself busy.
******
Corrin spent about a month learning the rest of the runes. He had followed his priority list and practiced his Infusion magic in between learning the runes. He had also crafted several Spellstones with the various runes he had learned.
Through his experiments with Infusion magic, he was able to understand what benefits each type gave to him specifically.
Wind Infusion made all of his bodily movements faster.
Earth Infusion created a sort of shield out of his aura. His aura would harden around his body like a second skin and it would take a certain amount of damage before his body felt anything.
Water Infusion made all of his movements smoother, made his body more flexible, and he could swim really fast by creating water currents with his mana zone.
Fire Infusion made his body physically stronger, so he could hit harder.
Light Infusion healed pretty much all of the damage Corrin inflicted on his body while experimenting. He wasn't sure if it could regrow limbs, but he didn't want to test that out.
Dark Infusion made him magically stronger, so whenever he activated enchantments while using Dark Infusion, their effects were amplified. For example, when he activated a Fire Spellstone while using Dark Infusion, the size of the Fire that was created was about double what it originally was. He could see this being extremely useful when he was able to use Natural Magic
Corrin's aura had gotten noticeably stronger and thicker, and his mana zone had begun to expand past his body. He had also memorized and learned how to form all the runes that he had access to.
He had created another dagger, which promptly broke after he enchanted it, so he created another one after that.
Corrin was most proud of his Spellstone collection, since he now had several dozen of them. They were mostly made up of Fire, Fireball, and Dark Orb Spellstones, but there were a few others. He just hadn't thought of many uses for other enchantments. He had created a few Light Orb Spellstones in case he needed a mobile light source at some point, and he created a few Water Spellstones in case he was ever far from a water source.
The final thing Corrin had learned in the last month was that learning runes increased the progress of Life Energy in the Grimoire. He had found this out when he went out hunting after he ran out of food. This was just around when he had finished the last of the runes he had to learn.
He went out and killed two chickens that had four legs and brought them back to his camp. Out of curiosity, he checked the progress in the Grimoire, wondering if the two chickens had made a difference, but he was surprised to find that the bar was now a quarter full. Corrin reasoned that it was impossible that killing two four-legged chickens would do the same thing as killing about a dozen squirrel-dogs, so he had figured that it was due to him learning the runes.
This cemented his future plans to learn as many runes as he could, since it would help him progress through the Grimoire.
At this point, Corrin had nothing to do except leave and hunt. Corrin had decided during his month of practice that once he had finished learning the runes that he could, he would leave the forest and search for civilization.
It was time to leave the forest.