The next day Trevor learned from his parents, that he would remain suspended, alongside Billy and Joe, for violence on the school premises. Despite the attempts to put pressure on the principal and the teachers, parents from the third district didn't achieve their goals, despite quite blunt threats. Mainly thanks to Trevor's dad, who kept insisting on punishing everybody, and even threatened to bring other parents to the table.
All of that was good news. There was a bit of regret in the boy's mind about not making up with Liv after the duel on the track field, but he was too proud to admit that even to himself. Instead, he put all of his resolves purely on the training.
It took him around a full week to finally raise his proficiency in 'Flare' to 100%. He was in the garden, as it happened, and his practice got interrupted by two familiar ping sounds. A bell icon showed itself in the corner of his vision.
- Open messages.
The semi-translucent window appeared and there was a new entry there. He focused on it.
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Congratulations on achieving 100% proficiency in your first spell, 'Flare'. As a reward, you've been granted access to the spell adjustment system. To access it, just select a spell in the 'Spells' tab in your 'Status' window.
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- Open status.
He just couldn't help himself, but just had to check what the new system was about. As he focused on the spell 'Flare' the display changed.
In the middle of the window was a big, elliptic shape, glowing with bright orange. It had a red symbol in the very center, which looked like a slightly curved F.
The shape was connected to other smaller points, which were round and grey. And those were connected to even more of those points.
Overall it looked like a skill tree, taken from some kind of video game. He quickly looked through everything, focusing on each element, and found out that the centerpiece was representing the spell itself, while the grey points were modifications.
He could change some simple things like the color of the flames, or the shape that the spell assumed after casting, but that was not it. He could also change some more fundamental things as the element of the spell and switch it from fire to something else, like ice. Although that option was still unavailable to him.
Mostly to the insufficient 'Control' but also something called 'Elemental Proficiency: Frost' in case of a freezing 'Flare', which he was reading about for the first time. As he soon discovered, he already had 5 points in his 'Elemental Proficiency: Fire', although he has never seen such a statistic anywhere in the system.
After thinking a bit, he came to a conclusion that he either didn't unlock it yet, or that was the place where it was displayed, and that's why he was reading about it for the first time.
There were also other fundamental options too, like increasing the condensation of magic, its amount, or the size of the spell itself. He could also add additional effects. Like an explosion, or even several ones.
In the end, he didn't pay too much attention to that, since basically all he could do at that point, was change some cosmetic things. Instead, he switched the view to missions, and just as he thought, there was a new entry there.
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Title: Flow of magic
Goal: Increase the value of your 'Control' to 25.
Description: To increase your 'Control' open the memory pack attached to the mission entry, and follow the instruction.
Reward: 'Flow of power'
Attachments: Adept's memory pack.
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He immediately opened the pack, which he instantly regretted, as the memories hit him like a fist to the face. He stumbled a few steps back, tripped, and fell on his ass.
- Ugh… - a groan of pain escaped his mouth. - At this point, you would though that I learned something about those memory packs...
The boy picked himself rather quickly, focusing on the new knowledge. A bunch of instructions on how to move the 'Energy' around his body in a motion that would over time give him a better grip on how to handle the magical powers by just manipulating the flow.
He attempted to do it, as he was standing and discovered that it wasn't that easy. The 'Energy' kept slipping through his grasp slowly, and returning to where it was stored, around his stomach area. Pushing the 'Energy' to his hands, or moving it around his belly was quite easy, but other parts of his body, especially the head, were very, very difficult.
After a few minutes, he arrived at a conclusion that practice in his room would be better, as he wouldn't be able to spend a few hours in a standing position, so he returned back home.
That was the start of another week filled with practice until he reached the amount needed to fulfill the quest. He also squeezed a bit of time practicing 'Energy Overcharge' and ended up with 'Energy at 30 and 'Control' at 26, which gave him the second skill - 'Flow of power'.
Tired because of all the struggle, and very little free time, he went to bed on the night before his comeback to school. A bit anxious because of the situation with Liv, but even more because his path would yet again cross with Billy and Joe. The bullies still remained unpunished for what they have been doing to him throughout all this time.
He went through his memories, bringing up every time he somehow got back on them using dirty tricks, like the sandwich with fart spray, or once gluing their backpacks to the floor, when they left them to chase some poor bastard, just like him. He also placed their modified pictures, to make fun of them around the school, but it all meant nothing compared to the physical pain and fear.
He would never admit it to anybody, even himself, but he was scared of them. Was, because now he wasn't afraid anymore, and was going to finish this one way or another.
With the resolve burning bright in his very soul, he closed his eyes, but the sleep wouldn't come easy...