Nick proceeded to dissect the wicked bear's corpse wile thinking about his new spell:
(Spell making is really more of an art than a science. I was able to create Sever from the inspiration that I received from the effects of Growth giving me that sword path magic beast's experiences and by making use of some of the structure of my bloodline spell, Malevolent Shrine. The latter part was easy to do since I have an extreme familiarity with Malevolent Shrine due to the bloodline curse.)
Nick took out the wicked bear's heart, liver and brain and started eating them, as well as drinking the magic beast's blood.
(This wicked bear's organs have a sort of sweet taste to them. Speaking of the wicked bear, I named all of these magic beasts myself but I don't even have a reason to call this bear 'wicked', it just sounds cool.)
Nick chuckled to himself as he finished his meal. The magical laws that were engraved onto the wicked bear's organs were temporarily stored inside of Nick and were now attracting a great deal of magic energy to Nick in a similar way as meditation and with the characteristic of his mindscape that caused even more magic energy to come his way due to the high saturation, all of these factors made him radiate with magic energy. The wicked bear's laws within his body would soon fade away, though, so the effect was only temporary.
Nick activated his spell, Growth, and observed its effects.
(Huh? There is no change. Hmmm...I remember that in my vision, Growth said that years of time, endurance and persistent effort resulted in greater growth so I guess that I should continue using the spell even if I do not see immediate effects.)
Nick could not meditate here because of the danger so he continued hunting magic beasts throughout the rest of the day, practising Sever in order to get familiar with it and every time he ate the flesh of a beast, he would cast Growth. When it was nearing nightfall, Nick returned to his cave and thought back on his experiences:
(Sever is a rule path spell that makes use of the concept of separating one thing from another and this is done in a fashion similar to a clean slice so I've practically used rule path to mimic the effects of sword path, similar to how Slade said that Growth seemed to mimic the effect of wisdom path before, giving me inspiration.)
Slade chimed in on Nick's analysis:
[You have a very real talent for making spells, kid. Although Growth and Sever are only rank two spells, they are able to mimic other paths using rule path which is a big deal because most Magicians are not able to create such spells until they at least enter the Regular levels. I've assessed both Growth and Sever to be rank 2 intermediate grade spells and you created them while being rank 1 so you should feel proud, especially considering that their consumption of magic energy is so little.]
Nick felt a little pleased at Slade's compliment since he rarely heard those from him but the feeling soon went away, replaced with cold rationality.
(Slade what do you think the exact effect of Growth is, I have not noticed any changes since the second time that I used it?)
Slade replied with uncertainty:
[I don't know yet either but I can sense that there is some change occurring with how your body is processing magic energy. It's starting to feel similar to how a magic beast develops...]
(Huh, what does that mean?)
[I won't be able to explain it better until we have more information, just keep hunting and meditating and we'll probably see more results eventually. A Magician's growth is often akin to an experiment where you do not know all of the probable outcomes so don't try to explain everything in one go.]
Nick nodded his head in the darkness and then began his meditation. Nick's consciousness entered his mindscape and looked down at his magic sea. The results of his meditation over the last two weeks had become obvious as Nick's magic 'sea' had now frozen over by a large portion, going from having a few chucks of ice to a portion of it becoming a frozen tundra.
(I can't wait to see how this change progresses...)
...........
Over the next two weeks, Nick did nothing but hunt magic beasts and meditate all the while practising Sever until he could use it as if it was second nature. Nick used his spell, Growth, many times but still did not notice an obvious effect.
"This is the last day that I can explore the realm, come to think of it, I haven't taken a shower in a while, I kind of miss it."
Nick was running through the forest and had been doing so for close to an hour but did not find a single magic beast.
Slade commented:
[They seem to be avoiding you when you approach. Have you noticed that their footprints seem to frequently point away from you?]
Nick was confused.
(Why would they purposely avoid me, shouldn't I be prey to them?)
[I'm not sure yet.]
After searching for another two hours, Nick finally found his next target, a magic beast that he had never seen before. It looked like a very large komodo dragon with razor sharp fangs, a tail that had a sharp looking blade at the end of it and colorless, cold looking eyes. The magic beast was crawling out of a hole in the ground which was probably its nest when Nick spotted it; Nick hid himself behind a tree and stalked it.
(That doesn't look like a curse path magic beast, I'm getting a similar feeling from it that I got from that sword path crane that I killed a few weeks ago.)
Slade commented:
[Indeed, that is either a sword path or a blade path magic beast but just like the others, it is still just at the basic stage of rank 2.]
Although Nick had been here for a month already, he was only one person and could only move around in the day time so he had only been able to explore within a few kilometers of his cave so he was still unfamiliar with many of this realm's fauna which consisted of mostly curse path magic beasts but their were clearly magic beasts of other paths living here as well.
(I'll take it by surprise.)
Nick had this in mind but as soon as the magic beast crawled a few meters from its nest, it hissed at Nick's position, taking a fighting stance.
(It found me already? No matter.)
Nick jumped out and pointing his right index and middle finger at the magic beast, he cast his spell.
(I don't have time to waste today so I'll finish this quickly. Rumbling Pillar.)
The space around the reptile like magic beast started to twist madly but using an ungodly amount of speed, it ran away from the position that the spell affected before it was immobilized and crushed by it. After that, it ran straight towards Nick. Nick tried to back away and eventually cast another spell:
(Soul Pressure.)
The magic beast was slowed but still kept moving but Nick had already achieved his goal of dealing with some of its speed. Nick stopped backing away and instead took a firm stance and traced a horizontal straight line in front of his body.
(Sever.)
The magic beast halted its movement as some of its scales on its neck going all the way to its lower abdomen were ripped off, but within a few moments it continued to pursue Nick.
"Damn, this magic beast is actually so tough."
The magic beast had been quick to begin with so even with Soul Pressure slowing it down, it soon reached Nick's position and then lunged at him, trying to bite into his abdomen.
(Blink.)
Nick instantly appeared four meters behind the magic beast at a cost of 9,000 magical units, reducing his magic reserves to about half of its capacity.
(This can't go on. Why am I having so much trouble now?)
Slade chuckled:
[That's because, some magic beasts at the same level have greater defenses and combat capabilities than others; their rank is dependent upon the quality of their magic energy, not combat ability and this magic beast seems to be proficient in combat. To be honest, considering your rank, it is a miracle that you could even survive in this forest, even rank 2 Apprentice Magicians would not try to hunt magic beasts so recklessly as you have because they simply don't have the magic energy capacity to outlast a strong rank 2 magic beast who will use its body to attack them. In addition, magic beasts up to rank 4 do not commonly use spells and instead rely on the toughness of their body granted by the laws engraved into their flesh to fight. The curse path magic beasts that you have been fighting were not proficient in combat and the only reason that you killed the sword path crane so easily was because it was already injured and Malevolent Shrine has a strong killing potential.]
Nick's mood took a turn when he realized that he was not as strong as he thought but he quickly normalized his mental state.
(It doesn't matter if this thing is tough, I still have to kill it or it will kill me.)
Nick ran towards the magic beast as it turned around to face him and used a spell.
(Soul Quake.)
The large reptile's stance became shaky and it shook its head three times before looking straight at Nick again but Nick had already prepared his next move, he only wanted to slow down the magic beast's reaction by a little. Nick looked squarely in the magic beast's eyes from two meters way and cast his spell:
(Ghost Eyes.)
The magic beast and Nick both stopped moving and stared into each other's eyes. A battle between their souls was now taking place and within a minute the results were clear. Nick coughed up a mouthful of blood and the magic beast oozed blood from its mouth and eyes; they both suffered damage from the effects of Ghost Eyes. Nick cursed inwardly.
(Damn it, even this thing's soul has about the same quality as mine. I only have around 5,000 magical units left. My last attack has to finish this.)
Nick and the magic beast were still two meters apart but the magic beast had not collected itself as yet and was still standing in the same spot shaking its head, trying to cope with the damage done to its mind due to Nick's soul path methods. Nick quickly folded his hands into each other and cast the spell he was hoping to end this conflict with:
(Malevolent Shrine.)
The radius of fifteen meters around Nick was now covered with a feint darkness and piles of bones appeared all over the ground, in addition, an old rundown temple stood erect behind Nick as he remained standing firmly, facing his enemy. The magic beast noticed the change and hissed at Nick menacingly but it was too late for it to do anything about the circumstances.
Within the next moment, the magic beast was spit in half from its midsection through to its spinal column, both halves falling to the ground with the organs contained in each spilling out slightly.
Malevolent Shrine faded at that moment and normalcy returned. Nick patted his chest and breathed in deeply.
(I was actually able to finish this magic beast off before things got desperate. With its speed, I don't know whether I could have out run it if I was not able to kill it.)
Suddenly, Nick heard the sound of movement from the magic beast; it was actually still weakly hissing at Nick even though it organs had spilled out of its body and it was losing a large amount of blood each second. Slade commented at this time:
[Magic beasts can be extraordinarily tough, and this is why Magicians of your rank don't normally spend their time exploring realms.]
"Hmph."
Nick traced a horizontal line in front of him and cast a spell:
(Sever.)
In a moment , half of the head of the magic beast starting from its upper mouth to its crown flew into the air and landed beside the rest of its body which poured out blood like a fountain from its upper end.
"Finally over."
Nick walked to a nearby tree and took a seat at its base, watching the magic beast's carcass as it bled out. Five minutes later, after recovering his magic energy reserves, Nick went up to the carcass and retrieved its heart and liver, devouring both quickly and casting his spell, Growth.
Nick felt a rush of energy and his body felt oddly warmer than usual. Nick disregarded the feeling because he was not done with his hunt. He made his way towards the Magic beast's nest and took a look inside the hole which was big enough for Nick to crawl through. After crawling through the hole for six meters, Nick encountered an area covered in leaves and dried grass that was home to four grapefruit sized eggs, one of which was different from the others as it had green circular spots all over it while the others had a completely plain white egg shell.
"Why is this one different?"
Slade offered a guess:
[Sometimes some magical beasts are born with different potential and abilities than their kin and these magic beast are usually able to ascend a higher rank that normal once they mature. This 'mutancy' usually presents at birth when they are born with extra limbs, different complexions, better senses or in this case for a reptile like magic beast, it is being incubated within a strangely patterned egg.]
Nick didn't care much about those details now since he was starting to feel fatigued and so he picked up each egg and broke its shell, sucking out the contents and casting Growth.
(These eggs taste disgusting but they are filling me with warmth.)
Nick saved the weirdly patterned egg for last and as soon as he swallowed its contents, a rush of magic energy came to him and his blood felt like it was boiling at this moment. He quickly cast Growth.
"Its time to meditate."
Nick remained in a lying position and began chanting his meditation. From outside of the magic beast's nest, magic energy began to flow into it violently, entering Nick's body. Nick's consciousness entered his mindscape and watched as a torrent of magic energy pored into his magic sea, infusing itself with the 'water'. Much of the magic sea had already turned into ice but as if a qualitative change was occurring, the magic sea began to visibly freeze over during Nick's four hours of meditation after which all of the water had become cold hard ice. A change happened with the stars in the mindscape's sky as their patterns shifted to form new and more complex laws.
"Is Malevolent Shrine evolving?"
These were not the only changes. The concrete road that had floated above the magic sea had now merged with the ice and the road no longer had cracks in the surface as the golden figure of light continued to walk on it. Nick took a closer look at the human shaped figure; the light it exuded seemed to have dulled by about half but there was now a word on its forehead written in Nickel, Nick's own mystical language. Nick looked closer and said the word in English:
"Devour?"
Nick pondered a little on the possible meaning that this change represented but could not think of an answer but he was too excited to become hung up on it.
"This is definitely the qualitative change that I've been working towards. I've finally become a rank 2 Apprentice Magician."
Nick's consciousness left his mindscape and he crawled out of the hole that he had been in. It was dark outside now as it had become night while Nick was meditating. Nick could feel that he had changed significantly since before his meditation, especially the quality of his magic energy.
Nick wasn't exactly sure how to describe it but if he had to associate the feeling that his magic energy was giving him with a word, the word would be: 'violent'. Nick wasn't sure why but that was the word that came to mind.
Slade spoke at this moment:
[I can tell you why, kid, but first let me say that the length of time that you took to become rank 2 wasn't without justification, your growth has certainly been unpredictable. Go ahead, use your Malevolent Shrine on the surrounding forest.]
"Huh, why?"
[Just do it.]
"Fine."
Nick folded both of his hands into each other and focused on the laws of Malevolent Shrine within his mindscape. Before, Malevolent shrine could have only been considered a rank 1 spell since Nick himself was rank one but it had the raw killing power to rival advanced grade rank 2 spells. Now, Malevolent Shrine had transformed into a true blue rank two spell and its complexity clearly increased; Nick focused on the laws of the spell and began to feel a power come over him immediately. Two seconds later, he cast it:
(Malevolent Shrine.)
The surroundings within a thirty meter radius was now covered in a pitch black miasma but this did not hinder Nick's vision; bones of varying sizes filled the surroundings and a bigger and more decrepit temple stood erect behind Nick. As the spell resolved a moment later, all of the trees, rocks and magic beasts that were within the spell's area of effect were cut into pieces, not one thing remaining intact other than Nick himself.
Nick assessed and Slade asked:
[How would you describe the spell's increased effectiveness?]
Nick spoke flatly:
"Violent."
Slade asked another question:
[What was the magic energy consumption like?]
Nick assessed and spoke:
"Only 3,000 magical units out of..."
Nick paused for a while after noticing the capacity of his own magic energy reserves.
"My magic energy reserves actually reached 45,000 magical units. Most rank two Apprentice Magicians only had a capacity of 7,000-12,000 magical units."
Before Nick could celebrate, the wristwatch like magic tool on his wrist began to ring and at the next moment, the space around him warped and when things normalized he stood on the Jenners' estate as two women talked excitedly in front of him but stopped when they noticed Nick's arrival.
Carla Jenner spoke while slowly turning her head to look at Nick:
"Welcome back Nick, I'm glad..."
When Carla looked at Nick, she paused in surprise. Alicia who was standing beside Carla raised both of her eyebrows, saying:
"Well, he must have had an interesting time exploring our realm."