Three days later.
....
With disheveled hair, a dirty face, and two red eyes, Leon let out a long sigh and closed the book that was on the table in front of him.
A moment ago, the alert tone of the Chip, which he had waited for a long time, finally resonated in his brain.
"Beep!"
"Data Model of Fire Arrow successfully constructed!"
Finally!
Looking back, the Blazing Hand was a spell that Leon had completely mastered. As long as he could cast it once, the Chip could visualize its model in Leon's Spiritual Dimension by accurately monitoring how he controlled his Spiritual Energy and the Spiritual Frequency he used.
It had been so simple and easy.
But Leon had not mastered the Fire Arrow spell... he still hadn't been able to cast it even once. Thus, the Chip's ability to record, store, and mimic his spells could not be utilized.
So Leon had to find another method, and thus he memorized all the magical theories and casting techniques related to the Fire Arrow. Then he let the Chip proceed with arranging and sorting them, analyzing them to find the best casting technique that suited him more precisely.
The Data Model that the Chip constructed with this method would not replicate a real Spiritual Model, which made it a unique experimental spell rather than an upgrade of an existing spell.
Leon massaged his forehead and took a deep breath. After that, he said, "Let's start the simulation!"
"Beep."
With a clear alert tone, an almost perfect virtual image of Leon was projected in his mind. Following the specifications of the Data Model, he began to recite the incantation of Fire Arrow in a loud, albeit blunt, voice.
Through his connection with the Chip, Leon's mind merged with the virtual image, following the recitation of the spell and adjusting the frequency of his Spirit to match the Data Model. At the same time, both hands of the virtual image made small gestures in the air, guiding the elemental energy attracted and shaping it into the form of an arrow.
"Fire Arrow~~"
"I conjure~~"
"Fire, come burn~~"
"Fire...."
Unfortunately, due to his lack of familiarity with casting, when he recited the 14th magical word, his hand gesture was clearly half a second too slow. Within Leon's Spiritual World, the half-formed Fire Arrow exploded, and a furious fireball instantly engulfed the virtual image.
"Boom!"
If it had been in the real world, perhaps nearly half of Leon's room would have been destroyed, but in this virtual world, simulated with Spirit energy, after the violent vibrations of light and shadows, the simulated explosion perfectly vanished, and the entire scene was restored to its initial state.
Although he knew beforehand that everything was just a simulation, Leon still couldn't help but break into a nonexistent cold sweat in his spiritual world.
Witnessing a massive fireball explode before his eyes and seeing his virtual body being torn apart, even Leon, who was not weak-hearted, felt his heart stop for a second.
To truly allow himself to experience the complete process of casting the spell, Leon put all his consciousness into the virtual image. Therefore, you could say what happened now, although not real, could be described as an unreal reality.
Leon did not rush back to practice but closed his eyes, meticulously studying his first attempt in his mind. After confirming the reason for the mistake, he opened his eyes and began his second simulated casting attempt.
"Fire Arrow~~"
"I conjure~~"
"Fire, come burn~~"
"Fire, accept my commands and take the form of an arrow...."
Unfortunately, it was a failure again! This time, he failed to combine his Spirit frequency with the 17th syllable. The semi-constructed spiritual model exploded once more. As a result, the enraged flames of the element again engulfed Leon's virtual body.
"Boom~~"
The digitized vibration of lights and shadows slowly disappeared.
Soon, his Spiritual World was restored to its initial state.
Leon let out a helpless and bitter laugh, then took a moment to calm himself. Soon, the sonorous and vigorous simulated voice of Leon once again resonated throughout the empty spiritual world.
Many explosions had occurred…
Each time, his mistake was almost the same. Either his hand gestures couldn't keep up with the syllables of the spell, or the Spirit frequency was incorrect. To simplify, no matter which part caused the issue, there was only one result: a massive explosion.
If this had happened in the real world, Leon's frail body would have been reduced to dust after the first explosion. But since it wasn't, he was sitting safely beside his writing desk, staring blankly into space.
After practicing so many times, his Spirit was finally exhausted.
Whenever his Spirit was completely drained, he would struggle to return to his bed and would fall asleep. Once he slept and restored his Spirit, he would go to the cafeteria, order a massive meal, then return to his room and start the next round of Spell Simulation practice.
With this incredible persistence and fortitude, finally, during a moment when everything worked perfectly, Leon successfully completed a simulated casting of the Fire Arrow.
When the blazing elemental flame formed into a magical arrow and was floating steadily between Leon's hands, he could barely hold back his tears. As he let himself get excited, a massive explosion once again engulfed his body.
But this time, he didn't feel discouraged. Instead, he let out a loud and satisfied laugh as his Spiritual World was destroyed around him.
...
Leon sat directly in front of the desk, opening his eyes for the first time in several hours. A look of joy could be seen in the corners of his eyes.
"Chip, do you have a recording of my last simulated casting attempt?"
The video had been recorded and saved. You can play it back at any time…
Leon tried his best to calm down and nodded, but the way he tightly clenched his fists revealed how excited he was.
This new feature found in the Chip was truly a great help for him.
Without the virtual spiritual world built by the Chip, Leon could only practice this spell in the Spell Practice Hall repeatedly. He would have to personally endure the backlash on his Spirit and body caused by his casting failures. Each backlash would require a recovery period before he could fully recuperate. Undoubtedly, this would severely delay the progress of learning any spell or advancing in his Spirit.
This was why most Apprentices in the Tower had only mastered one or two spells.
Of course, there was a possibility that some Apprentices were hiding what they knew, never revealing their true abilities. After all, the research and progress field of all Apprentices was secret, and attempting to learn about others' particulars was a significant taboo within the Tower.
There probably weren't that many Apprentices who hid what they knew; with the number of unfortunate individuals who were training hard, even among Beginner Mage Apprentices, that number was indeed quite high, and therefore there was little need to hide one's abilities. In the past, Leon had been one of them.
But with the activation of the Chip, Leon felt it was time for him to rise into the sky.
"Chip, show the recording of the successful casting!"
"Beep!"
With the appearance of data streams, a 'Leon' who was focused on spell casting was projected in his mind. Leon put all his focus into this virtual image, repeatedly observing the entire spell casting process. He watched every detail, not missing the slightest change in his Spiritual energy.
Although it was just a spiritual simulation, Leon's mind followed the normal casting process and completed it. Therefore, excluding the lack of real elemental energy, nothing was different compared to casting the spell in the real world.
It went without saying that this recording of a successful spell casting would greatly contribute to helping Leon master the magical spell. At the very least, it helped Leon save at least half a year of restless efforts and avoided the painful cycle of getting hurt, resting and healing, and getting hurt again.
Since he had a single success out of a hundred attempts, this meant that Leon's knowledge and skill were sufficient to meet the minimum requirement for casting the Fire Arrow spell. Thus, the only obstacle preventing him from mastering the Fire Arrow was his familiarity with casting the spell.
And that was the power of the Chip!
After repeatedly reviewing the successful simulated casting and ensuring he had mastered all the key elements of the spell, Leon left his room and headed straight to the Magical Spell Practice Room.
This was also one of the inconveniences that an Apprentice Mage had to face.
His mastery of magical spells was very low, which made practicing an unfamiliar magical spell in his own room very harsh. Thus, the only option for them was to rent the Magical Spell Practice Room in the Tower, allowing them to experiment with a new spell. That's why there was a saying: the mastery of a new magical spell has always been supported by an enormous amount of knowledge… and an incredible amount of money.
...
The Magical Spell Practice Room was located on the third floor of the Tower and was set up to handle all the mishaps that a spell backlash could cause.
Although it was part of the Tower, Apprentice Mages could only step on the first to third floors. The first floor was mainly for New Apprentices who had recently joined the Tower. The second floor was the residential space and recreational areas for Official Apprentice Mages. The third floor was a public area where they could experiment with magical spells and practice.
The areas where official apprentices were allowed to go included: the Library, the Potion Manufacturing Room, the Summoning Room, the Alchemy Laboratory, the Magical Spell Practice Room, the Sealing Room, the Curse Altar, the Magical Plant Cultivation Room… But, as the solitary wolf he was, the only places Leon usually visited were the Library and the Magical Spell Practice Room. As for all the other places, he didn't have deep pockets to waste money visiting them.
It was dinner time when he arrived, so there weren't many apprentices in this place.
After Leon impatiently paid 10 gold coins to Pedro, who was the administrator of the Magical Spell Practice Room, he received a special card. With this card, he had one hour to practice in a room.
For an Apprentice Mage, one hour of practice was considered very long. With their pitiful amount of Spiritual Energy, they could not last more than half an hour of continuous casting. If Leon didn't manage his spiritual energy production, he could exhaust it all within fifteen minutes.
Leon walked to a stone door that had a number above it matching the number on his card. He raised the card and waved it gently in the air. The heavy stone door immediately opened without making a sound as it did.
The so-called "Magical Spell Practice Room" was, in fact, a simple stone room that had about 40 square meters of space, but there was a gigantic human target made of stone placed at the other end of the room. The dark and gloomy material showed that it was made from dark augite stone, which was capable of repelling magic.
With the ability of an Apprentice Mage, the low-quality magical spells they managed to experiment with were definitely not enough to destroy such a robust and strong stone target. Therefore, it was the most suitable target for magical practice.
Of course, for those apprentices who needed to practice their Curses or some other unique types of magic, they had no choice but to spend money to buy some suitable demons as their practice target, or else they would have to sneak out of the Tower, where they could practice those bizarre spells in secret.
...
1996 Words