Chapter 19: Becoming A Real Beginner Magus
I sent the Grimoire the mental equivalent of a high five, I only got a smug feeling in response and it bobbed up and down in the air for a second. Cheeky book, apparently it's getting to know me. Now let's see what new spells we have to choose from.
<Fire Magic:
First Rank:
- Fire Dart
- Flame Bolt
- Warming Embrace
- Burning Hands (Able to be used with melee weapons)
- Flame Imbue (Can only be used with weapons)>
<Water Magic:
First Rank:
- Find Water
- Water Shield
- Ice Bolt
- Chilling Touch (Able to be used with melee weapons)>
<Earth Magic:
First Rank:
- Rock Spike
- Earth Ripple
- Trackless Movement
- Rock Wall>
<Wind Magic:
First Rank:
- Wind Needle
- Wind Slice
- Wind Shield
- Minor Haste
- Wind Imbue (Can only be used with weapons)>
<Dark Magic:
First Rank:
- Shadow Cloak
- Cloying Darkness
- Shadow Jump
- Shadow Claw
- Shadow Bolt>
<Light Magic:
First Rank:
- Orb of Light
- Radiant Arrow
- Dazzling Ray
- Light Mirror>
Even at level 5 I was still only able to choose from the first rank of spells. A few new spells were added, and plenty of long range attack spells at that. Exactly what I needed, now which six to choose? I had to put a lot of thought into my choices, I never wanted to be in the same position as I was in a few hours ago. I nearly lost my life; my arm was still reminding me of this fact by constantly aching. I reminded myself that I still had 20 free stat points from leveling up that I could use, but I would leave those till after I picked my new spells. The time for saving these points passed, the wolf proved that point.
I started to study the spells, each one I either mentally put a 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe' next to them. I wanted to look through all of them before making my final decision. After a while I finally made my decisions, and with a grin confirmed my choices.
*Ding* <You have learned Fire Magic!>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Fire Dart>
<Fire spell: Fire Dart, a thin condensed dart of fire mana is conjured and is rapidly fired towards the target, with practice more darts can be condensed at a time. A new target can be designated for each dart conjured. Darts inflict 5 Fire damage. Range: 15 yards; Duration: N/A; Cooldown: 5 seconds; Mana Cost: 15 mana>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Rock Spike>
<Earth spell: Rock Spike, a dense rock spike is conjured at a designated location within range, that can then be propelled towards a target. Spike deals 25 damage. Range: 20 yards; Duration: N/A; Cooldown: 15 seconds; Mana Cost: 25 mana>
*Ding* <You have learned Wind Magic!>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Minor Haste>
<Wind spell: Minor Haste, you bestow the aid of the Wind upon a target. Target receives +25% to movement and dodge chance. Range: 5 yards; Duration: 15 minutes; Cooldown: 25 minutes; Mana Cost: 55 mana>
*Ding* <You have learned Dark Magic!>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Shadow Jump>
<Dark spell: Shadow Jump, you can instantly use shadows to jump to a new position within range. Can only be cast if shadows are present. Range: 10 yards; Duration: Instant; Cooldown: 45 seconds; Mana Cost: 75 mana>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Orb of Light>
<Light spell: Orb of Light, condenses an orb of light that can be controlled by the caster. Emits the same level of light as a torch. Range: 5 yards; Duration: 30 minutes; Cooldown: None; Mana Cost: 10 mana>
*Ding* <You have learned the spell: Radiant Arrow>
<Light spell: Radiant Arrow, conjurers an arrow made of light that is then propelled towards a target. Radiant Arrow is nearly impossible to dodge due to its immense speed, deals 75 damage. Range: 50 yards; Duration: N/A; Cooldown: 1 minute; Mana Cost: 55 mana>
*Ding* <You have taken your next step on the path of a Magus and have learned spells from all the Elemental Schools. The first blood Key will be activated, Congratulations Magus!>
Before I could even begin to try and understand what a blood key was, I started feeling a pounding inside of me. My heart started to race, I was about to try and enter mediation to see what was going on but another notification popped up. I gave it a quick glance.
<For learning spells in all the Elemental Schools, you have received the title of 'Elementalist'. The difficulty of commanding the elements is reduced, they will see you more as a friend than an outsider. Benefits: Unknown.>
I quickly dismissed the notification and tried to clear my mind. My entire body felt like it was pounding, yet there wasn't pain per say, just an intense uncomfortable feeling. With immense effort I was able to enter a meditative state and took a look inside my body.
My blood and mana were racing through my body, the twelve symbols were still dim. No, the symbol near my right shoulder was getting brighter before dimming again. It would then start the process over; this was happening in rapid sequence. Each time it dimmed again was when my body shook, it was causing a tremor to travel through my blood and my mana at the same time. This didn't look good. I focused in on the strobing geometrical symbol.
Before when I looked at the symbols I couldn't make heads or tails of them, yet this time I actually started recognizing parts of this design. The major symbols of the elements were all interwoven in this complex pattern. I started trying to understand this symbol, thankfully whenever I learned a spell all the information that was needed to learn the spell was placed in my head. So, at this point I had all the knowledge of learning 10 spells from the Elemental Schools, I should be able to figure out what this symbol was.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Unknown to me, the black leather book that I had gotten my 'Universal Language' ability from started to glow. If I could have looked inside it the same symbol I was trying to figure out was being revealed on the first blank page of this book. And for each part of it I started to comprehend, notes of what I had learned started to appear beneath the symbol in the book.
________________________________________________________________________________________
I was slowly working out the meaning behind this symbol. The more I understood the longer the symbol remained lit up. The geometrical symbols were like a story and a textbook at once. It was the law of nature, and how all the elements were interconnected.
I gained a deeper understanding of the elements the more I understood this. The elements required each other, there must always be a balance that is maintained for life to continue. It was fascinating, the more I understood of these basic elements the more I wanted to know. There were plenty of hints of other elements made from the fusion of different basic elements. There were also vague hints at something deeper but was still too far outside my grasp.
It finally hit me what I had to do when the light was still unsteady but was no longer completely going out. I had to manipulate my mana to match the symbol, and somehow I knew that I couldn't have done this until I had understood the meaning of the symbol.
I thought trying to start my mana flow was hard. If that was hard mode, then this was Hell mode. I would get the symbol partway done before the mana would fall apart, I tried again and only got a bit further before I failed again. I continued trying, while studying the symbol more.
Five hours later I succeeded! The symbol gave off a bright flash, then remained glowing gently. I opened my eyes, the fire had burned down, only a few flames were still visible. I tossed the rest of my firewood onto the fire. It was at this point that I noticed I was covered in sweat, and I was physically exhausted. I tried to chew on some jerky, but I fell asleep with the jerky falling out of my mouth.
I never even noticed the blinking notification icon...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ariauth
Ariauth Thanks for reading! Hope you are enjoying the story so far. If you like the story please consider voting with a powerstone to show your support. Also if you have any comments please post them! Any support given, even just reading the story, is greatly appreciated!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone