Chaus started the day as he planned. He spent the morning cultivating his soul and the rest of the day practicing magic.
Chaus was talented, but even he was having difficulties learning magic. It was no wonder many people chose one path to follow. It was better to reach the end of one thing than to go halfway in two things.
Becoming a magician was many times harder than becoming a warrior due to the complexities of magic, and becoming a magic warrior was even harder. For every 1,000 warriors, there were 10 magicians. For every 1,000 magicians, there were 10 magic warriors. That was how difficult the path Chaus walked was.
Chaus didn't view becoming a magic warrior as a goal, but rather something necessary.
Although Chaus learned to cast barrier and creation magic, he wasn't efficient in it. His barrier leaked soul energy and lacked strength, and his creation magic created food with no taste. He wanted to have a perfect foundation in intermediate magic before learning advanced magic.
Chaus would read the book and practice according to the book's instructions. With Chaus's talent, he improved at a frightening speed, but Chaus only knew Dru so he didn't realize he had monstrous talent.
Two months passed like this. At the end of the two months, Chaus's magicical abilities improved drastically. His barrier grew stronger and no soul energy was wasted while casting it. His casting speed also increased due to his soul cultivation. Before, he could cast 'barrier' in 10 seconds. Now he could do it in 7. Chaus's creation magic also improved drastically. His food now held taste, and he could create a wider variety of treats and delicacies. Additionally, Chaus mastered recovery magic. He could now heal himself and others. This was the most difficult for Chaus to learn as it was the most complex out of the three. Lastly, Chaus's soul showed signs of growth. He reached the pinnacle of the revolution stage.
There was more intermediate magic Chaus could learn, such as illusion magic, but because all intermediate magic had the same foundations, it would be easy for Chaus to learn them quickly. Besides, it would be more useful to start learning advanced magic than to focus on intermediate magic.
Chaus believed he had mastered the foundations of intermediate magic so he decided to start learning advanced magic. Intermediate magic was more focused towards support, while advanced magic was focused towards offense and defense. Elementary magic, on the other hand, had no real use.
Chaus flipped to the section in the book that talked about advanced magic. It took Chaus two months to master the foundations of intermediate magic, and because advanced magic was far more complex, one could only imagine the amount of time it would take Chaus to master it.
Although the book gave clear instructions on casting advanced magic, Chaus was still confused. That was how complicated advanced magic was.
Advanced magic required Chaus to combine his willpower and soul energy. He had to integrate his willpower with his soul energy, much like integrating his body with his soul. Chaus learned to integrate his body with his soul by watching Carnak do it, but this time, Chaus only had a book to learn from.
Chaus began by letting soul energy flow out of his body. He then imagined his willpower and soul energy becoming one. Nothing happened. Chaus tried again and again with the same results. At this point, Chaus was certain he was doing something wrong.
The book said to combine willpower and soul energy, but nothing was happening. Chaus was stuck on how to proceed.
He flipped through the book for hours in hope of finding a solution. Eventually, he found out what was wrong.
Dragons were creatures favored by the world. They had strong willpower from birth. When a willpower is strong enough, it can take on a physical shape. This was an ability even newborn dragons could do, which was why it never occurred to the dragons that someone who couldn't turn willpower into a physical shape would learn from the book.
Chaus understood what he had to do. He had to somehow turn his willpower into a physical shape. Chaus knew he had a willpower strong enough to become a physical shape, but he didn't know how to proceed with it. The book had nothing on it and Dru was nowhere to be found.
Chaus began doing everything he could think of in an attempt to create a physical version of his willpower, but nothing worked. Chaus grew frustrated. If he couldn't create a physical version of his willpower, he wouldn't be able to cast advanced magic.
He suddenly remembered a book he had read while climbing the staircase. "The Applications of the Soul." In that book, it talked about soul manifestation: the creation of a physical object by using the soul. Maybe the same concept applied to willpower as well. To perform soul manifestation, one had to bring their soul energy outside their body and rapidly circulate it in order for it to harden.
Chaus made his willpower flow outside his body. He then began rapidly circulating it. A minute passed. Then two. After the third minute, a physical version of Chaus's willpower appeared. Chaus was elated, but controlled his emotions and quickly combined the physical willpower with his soul energy. It was a success.
"Fire." Chaus said. The combined soul energy and willpower gradually turned into blazing black flames. This was different from the burn spell. This fire was more pure and much more powerful.
That one spell took 20% of Chaus's total soul energy. Chaus was astonished at how much soul energy advanced magic took up. The spell he just cast was the most simple advanced spell. Granted he did waste soul energy while casting it, so it would be hard to say how much soul energy he would actually need to cast it.
With the success of creating the fire element, Chaus moved on to the other 3 elements: water, air, and Earth. Each time Chaus cast an advanced spell, the less soul energy he needed to use. He was improving rapidly. Even so, he could only cast a few advanced spells every hour.
For the entire week, Chaus practiced advanced spells. While casting them, he found out his hellfire didn't affect water, air, or Earth. When Chaus cast barrier magic, his barrier had hellfire on it, but hellfire was nowhere to be found when he cast water, air, or Earth spells. Chaus looked through the book and found out that hellfire didn't show up because water, air, and water were natural elements out of hellfire's domain. Traces of hellfire only appeared when Chaus cast advanced spells that dealt with fire. Because of that, fire was Chaus's strongest element.
A few months passed by. Chaus's physical body had turned 10 and he made massive improvements. Chaus reached the transformation state and could now manifest physical objects using his soul. It was easy for him to do so as he had learned to manifest willpower into a physical state and the two were quite similar.
Thanks to reaching the transformation stage, Chaus's soul expanded and it took a tiny amount of soul energy to cast simple advanced spells.
Chaus had also learned complex advanced spells.
Chaus began combining his willpower with his soul energy. He then shouted. "Rain of fire!" A magic circle 4 meters wide appeared in the sky above Chaus. Black bolts of fire started to rain down from the circle. When it hit the platform, large explosions rang in the air. An intense wave of heat could be felt by anyone who was near the blast radius. Chaus, however, couldn't feel anything as it was his own magic. Magic couldn't harm its owner.
Surprisingly, the platform didn't break. Rather it looked perfectly fine if not for the hellfire eating away at parts of the platform. Chaus still had a long way to go before surpassing Dru.
Even so, Chaus was satisfied. Rain of fire was a wide area of effect (AOE) spell used by dragons to destroy their enemies. He could only use it a few more times before his soul ran out of energy.
Chaus also learned complex water, air, and Earth spells as well.
"Wave of the King" created a large tidal wave made of water that could either be used to defend or to attack.
"Wings of the Dragon" created blades of wind that slashed away at anything that stood in its path.
"Ring of Bones" created pillars of Earth around Chaus that served as defense against attacks.
Fire was ferocious, water was versatile, wind was swift, and Earth was unmovable.
Even though Chaus had learned complex spells, he was still far from completely mastering the foundations of advanced magic. Once he mastered advanced magic, he believed with full certainty he could cast 'Rain of Fire' at least a dozen times before running out of soul energy.
Meanwhile at the base of the stone pillar.
Dru had spent months setting up the transmutation circle, but it was only a third of the way done. The circle was so intricate, even the greatest architect would bow their head in shame. The transmutation powder created many intricate characters connected to different shapes and other characters. The dragon stone lay at the center of the transmutation circle. Whatever Dru was planning to transmute, it would shock the world.
A year later.
Chaus had finally done it. He successfully mastered the foundations of advanced magic after a year. During that time, Dru came and went in order to watch Chaus practice.
Today was one of those days. Dru clapped his hands. "Well done."
Chaus smiled at the praise. "Shall we give it a go?"
Dru tilted his head. "The boy grew fangs and thinks he can bite."
Chaus opened his mouth to respond, but a bolt of fire came flying towards him. Chaus quickly reacted and created a wave of water to block the fire. Chaus then created stone pillars dozens of meters tall around Dru. Chaus used soul integration and then manifested armor made of hellfire around his body. He then proceeded to create a spear made of hellfire and charged towards Dru.
This time, instead of using a stick, Dru used a sword made from his own soul. The sword looked thin and waves of air were circulating around the sword. Dru had a soul of air.
Dru met Chaus head on. The sound of sword and spear clashing reverberated through the air.
"You've improved." Dru said.
Chaus's face was unreadable in the heat of battle. During the past year, Chaus didn't neglect his physical training. His Dragon Steps reached the beginning stages of the intermediate stage and so did his Spear of the Blood Emperor. The difference between the beginner and intermediate stage was the difference between night and day.
Chaus quickly backed away dozens of meters and used 'Rain of Fire. A shower of dark flames came flying at Dru.
Dru conjured a pillar of wind and the dark flames were sucked into it. The pillar of wind became bigger and bigger until it was 100 meters tall. The pillar of wind held immense power, but Chaus didn't back away in fear. Rather, he relished the feeling of battle.
Dru sent the pillar of wind flying towards Chaus. Chaus created pillars of stone in an attempt to block the pillar of wind, but the pillar simply split the stone pillars in pieces. Chaus gave up trying to destroy the wind pillar and instead chose to dodge it. The wind pillar followed him. Chaus cursed internally.
At that moment, Dru came flying at Chaus. Chaus quickly blocked Dru's attack. He was pinched. Dru was in front of him while the wind pillar was behind him. Chaus continuously clashed with Dru while the wind pillar was getting closer and closer. It took all of Chaus's focus to fend off Dru. Chaus couldn't spare any effort in stopping the wind pillar. When the wind pillar almost reached him, Chaus decided to take a gamble.
Still focusing on his fight with Dru, Chaus created a barrier made of black flames to guard against Dru's attack. Dru's sword hit the barrier and cracks appeared. Just as cracks appeared, the pillar of wind reached Chaus. It grinded against the barrier and even more cracks appeared. It was on the verge of breaking. Chaus cursed internally again. He put more soul energy into the barrier, but it only delayed the inevitable.
Chaus decided to ditch the first barrier and created more barriers. Crack. The first barrier broke. Then the second. Then the third. For every barrier that broke, the wind pillar lost power. Eventually only one barrier was left. The last barrier shattered but the wind pillar disappeared with it.
Chaus stood there gasping for breath. Before he could fully recover, Dru came flying towards him. It was too late to dodge.