Chapter 67 - Magic

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AuthorWiz’s Comment: First. (don’t forget to vote your Power Stones!)

The Comment Camping Sect can’t take First comment if I leave the comment in the chapter, now can they?

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Dorian looked up at the towering World Bridge, his feet itching. The huge structure was awe-inspiring. This was the second World Bridge he had seen, but that didn’t shake his amazement. Such a large pillar of land, shooting straight up into the air was incredible to look at.

The twisted gravity at the base of the World Bridge was another odd, but fascinating function.

He had a bit more time, now, to safely observe his surroundings than he had the last time he was walking on a new World Bridge.

As he continued jogging forward in great leaping bounds, he paid close attention as he reached the base of the World Bridge.

Gravity began to shift, going from down being towards the center of Taprisha, to pulling towards the center of the World Bridge.

Dorian shook his head in amazement as he began to go up the edifice, taking a moment to look back at Taprisha.

It was actually rather disorienting, he noted.

He felt like he was in the movie Inception from Earth. The planet of Taprisha, and the plateau that held the City State of Hebbedon looked like a giant wall spreading out off behind him, while the ground he stood at felt firmly like the normal ground.

A long, widespread forest spread about before Dorian as he began to scale the World Bridge. Thick foliage and trees scattered in every direction, teeming with life. He saw several different breeds of deer, bears, and other types of wildlife, already in just a few minutes of travel.

After moving for around a mile, he made it to one of the large rivers that were present on the World Bridge. A clear, rushing stream that stretched around 12 meters wide.

He leapt over the stream in one massive jump, laughing with exhilaration. The sheer fact that he could leap so far was a massive rush to him.

On the other side of the stream was a wide, 10 meter wide cut stone road, paved by the City State of Hebbedon. It was the most commonly used road for travel to Blizzaria.

Up ahead, Dorian could make out a large, stone gate, protruding at the edge of the portal that connected the World Bridge to Taprisha.

It seemed that, just like Potor City, Hebbedon protected its borders just as strongly.

The wall was around 22 or 23 meters wide, built out of a faded, greying stone. Dorian could make out several groups of people milling about near the entrance of the wall, waiting to pass through it.

He began to run forward, staring intensely at the wall in front of him.

As his pace began to pick up, he began to go all out, stroking his muscles to the extreme.

When he was just a hundred meters from the wall, a few shouts rang out as various guards and Wizards spotted him. Some of the groups waiting in line turned and stared at him askance. Some of them were fighters or Wizards, heading off for Blizzaria in groups sent by merchants, but many of them were also simple hunters or gatherers, intent on searching the World Bridge itself for resources.

Dorian ignored that as he took one final sprint forward and then bent down, his knees trembling with energy.

“Haaa!”

With an explosive yell, Dorian blasted into the air, rocketing straight upward.

As he flew, he drew upon his will.

He willed himself to fly further, focusing his soul on pulling out every possible iota of force possible.

His body shivered slightly, and Dorian felt, for an instant, some type of outside force sweep over him.

WHOOSH

Dorian’s body soared up high into the air, flying far higher than he had expected. His mouth fell open in shock as he found himself nearly 100 meters in the air.

“Oh dear.” He muttered, looking down at the distant ground.

Dorian could leap supernaturally high in his Ifrit form, but he wasn’t sure if he could leap 22 meters high vertically. Therefore he’d decided to test using his will and twisting Fate, giving himself a bit of a boost.

He hadn’t actually tried this before, and now, as he looked at the sheer height he was starting to fall from, he mentally swore to test every skill or power he had before he used it.

“Ahhh!” Dorian yelped out involuntarily as he crashed down towards the ground, well past the checkpoint. Flames burst from his knees and arms as he strained, readying himself to collide with the stone floor.

BOOM

Dorian landed down hard a good dozen or so meters away from the road, thankfully not impaled on a tree. A small, five meter wide crater of rock and dirt formed as the impact kicked up a cloud of dust, sending stone shrapnel out flying.

He landed on one knee, with his right arm planting firmly into the ground beneath him. The classic superhero landing pose from Earth.

He winced as he felt at his knees. Landing like this hurt a lot more than the movies made it look. Thankfully his body slowly began to regenerate from any damage left behind by the impact.

At least his landing looked cool, he mentally comforted himself.

“What the hell…?” A voice sputtered out.

Dorian looked up, startled.

He had landed around 30 meters away from a group of fighters, all dressed in faded blue armor. Several of them had bows on their backs, and they all looked worn and weathered. A group of hunters, setting off to make the day’s catch.

The group stared at Dorian in shock. A few of them had drawn blades or knives, blocking the shrapnel that shot their way.

“My bad.” Dorian nodded apologetically. Before they could respond he made his escape, dashing up the World Bridge, leaving the group slack-jawed in astonishment, staring at the crater he left behind.

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Dorian covered the ground at a voracious pace. In six hours, he’d easily moved more than 600 miles across the bridge.

Along the way, he constantly practiced his Warm Hands Spell, and, finally, to his great delight, he managed to successfully master casting the Spell.

While it was merely a weaker version of his own Flame Claws Ability, it was still an achievement.

In terms of magic, mastering a Spell merely meant one was able to cast it adeptly, in the minimal amount of time necessary, without straining one’s soul.

Dorian’s soul was already very powerful. Thanks to that, he could easily bear the strain of casting multiple spells and practicing them, over and over.

Practicing Spells for a long enough time would concentrate the laws of the universe near one’s soul, as you constantly used energy from it, over and over. This was what people referred to as a ‘baptism’ of the laws of the universe.

This not only allowed one to gradually increase the level of their Soul Spell Matrix, but it made it easier for them to cast Spells of a certain Element, making it take less concentration and use less energy.

As one progressed in the study of magic, eventually they would begin to gain an understanding of the laws of the universe that touched their soul. To break their Soul Spell Matrix through to the Lord Class, one would need to pick a single Law among the infinite number and study it intensively, gaining enough of an understanding to form an ‘Aura.’

Most Wizards studied laws that were related to the type of magic they studied.

For example, Helena focused on the Law of Might, a Law closely related to the field of Impact Magic that she studied.

Dorian’s soul was strong, and thanks to the innate powers of his Ifrit form, his soul was as equipped to handle the Element of Fire as a Sky Class Fire Wizard. In terms of the Element of Life, he was at roughly the level of an Earth Class Life Wizard, despite never having cast a Life Spell.

Casting stronger spells without laying a strong foundation could lead to him damaging his soul as his inexperience caused a backlash. Just because his Soul Spell Matrix was at the Lord Class didn’t mean he could ignore the laws of this universe.

However, thanks to his unique form, all he needed to do, before he reached the Sky Class in terms of Spellcasting, was memorize the Spells and practice them enough to get the hang of them.

His soul was already strong enough to cast more powerful Spells, allowing him to skip past slowly leveling his Soul Spell Matrix.

“Alright.” He nodded his head as he paused briefly,

“The next Spell I’ll focus on will be this one.” He clasped his hands together.

“Fire Magic: Fire Flower.” Atop his hand, a small blob of fire that looked like a sad, defeated flower formed. Red sparks flash off it as it almost immediately went up in smoke, leaving behind a few embers that quickly faded.

The Warm Hands Spell had been a Mortal Class Spell. His Fire Flower Spell was also a Mortal Class Spell, but one at the very peak of the Mortal Class.

He needed to guide the energy in the spell to flow into the shape of a small lily, forming a complete ‘Fire Flower.’

It was quite a bit more complicated than the Warm Hands Spell.

“Hmm.” As Dorian cast the spell a second time, he felt an odd connection with the energy he needed to guide.

“Just like this?” His will took over as he focused, swiftly controlling the energy. It came to him completely naturally, as if he had done this many times before.

WHOOSH

A small, delicate lily of fire appeared in Dorian’s hand.

He had succeeded on his second try.

If any Fire Wizard had been in the vicinity and learned of this, they might have dropped dead in sheer shock. It was a commonly accepted fact that the more complex a spell, the more time it took to master and cast it.

“It’s just like that, huh?” Dorian realized, staring at the fire in delight. He continued his loping pace as he practiced his magic, moving along the stone road next to the river with no issues. He had yet to encounter any groups that would cause trouble, or marauding beasts.

Spells that required him to guide or control the energy in his Soul, he discovered, came to him naturally. Unlike the Warm Hands Spell which focused mostly on him forming a mental image of his hands, and forming several mental symbols in his head at once, the Fire Flower Spell had a larger focus on adeptly moving energy.

And for Dorian, who was trapped alone in a mental prison where the only thing he could practice for almost 9 years was using his will and guiding around strings of energy… it was like throwing a fish into the sea, and challenging it to swim.

In a short span of fifteen minutes, Dorian managed to reach a level where he could easily cast the Fire Flower Spell.

“Hahaha!” Dorian laughed out loud, pleased beyond belief. He made a mental note to focus more on mastering Fire Magic Spells that required moving energy around. It seemed he would have an innate advantage now, thanks to his handy experience.

That said, living in that mental prison had still been hell, and he would never do so again, no matter what benefits he could obtain from it. He would never allow his soul to fracture to that point again.

“Fire Magic: Fire Sword.” Dorian clasped his hands together as he attempted to cast his first Earth Class Fire Spell. He had around five dozen other Spells he could study, gathered from his various excursions into Magic Shops in Potor.

WHOOSH

A small beam of fire fizzled in Dorian’s hands and then vanished in a puff of smoke. Dorian flexed his hand, frowning. He winced, feeling a spike of pain in his head that quickly vanished.

The complexity of an Earth Class Spell was several times that of a Mortal Class Spell. He would need to keep practicing this Spell before he could use it at will. While his innate energy control would give him an advantage, he still needed to take things step by step.

“A little annoying, but what can you do.” He shrugged, preparing to cast the spell a second time.

If any Fire Wizard witnessed Dorian complaining about how this was slowing him down, they might have tried to wring out his neck then and there. The huge advantages Dorian had were already accelerating his growth in magic at an unheard of degree.

As he was readying himself, a mental alert went off in Dorian’s head.

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Genetic Repair Complete – Ifrit form fully adapted – Data fully gathered

–

“Oh?” Dorian pulled up his status.

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Dorian – Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Early)

Health: Perfect

Energy: 10,167/10,565

–

Besides some energy he’d used for casting spells, running, or drawing upon his will to twist Fate and jump that wall, Dorian was fully restored.

He grinned, pleased. He pulled up a list of his current, stored bloodlines that he hadn’t used yet. He made the list show only the Grandmaster Class bloodlines. Weaker bloodlines wouldn’t generally have that large an effect or have useful Abilities, though he’d double check at least the Master Class ones later. There was no harm in being careful.

(Author’s note:The – – – – – are just to separate bloodlines, and make them easier to see.)

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Stored Bloodlines

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Grandmaster Class

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Solar Rock Lizard (Pseudo-Lord)

True Vampire – – – – – Heavy Scaled Lizard

Black Ambian Eagle – – – – – Midnight Bladetiger

Ester Ground Dragon – – – – – Giant Bore Snake

Tayzon Rhino

–

“Excellent.” He glanced over them. He would need to pick one to Evolve into when he settled down to rest, picking up new Abilities and a new form.

First, however, there was something else he needed to check,

“Ausra, do a full scan and run of all bloodlines my Ifrit Form can combine with, and list out the possible hybrid forms.”