Chapter 42 – Skill Innovator

[Plant Spirit (E) LV.7]

“Hello, Sprout, I hear that you’ve been enjoying the river.” Maximus smiled as he crouched next to the spirit.

He activated his World Sense and observed the river and Sprout. The thick blue liquid numina flowed alongside deep blue water mana, all of it intertwined with spirit energy, and it all streamed into Sprout through his roots, into the small humanoid body, and then out through the roots back into the river.

“Aren’t you something else? You are actually cycling all three energies and taking only what you need to grow; this way you don’t force anything; you let it flow as it does in nature. If only my body could work like that and not go into panic mode as soon as any mana is forced in.” Maximus paused for a moment and observed Sprout’s channels. There were countless of them flowing through its whole body, but each transported only one type of energy and stored a sliver of each in a different place.

Spirit energy flowed into Sprout’s spirit core, a small transparent crystal-like organ at the center of its being. The water numina remained in the leaves on top of its head, and the water mana was kept low in the roots.

“By the stars, this confirms my theory! You can keep all three; you just need channels for each. Well, in my case, Numina is not the problem, so I indeed need two sets! Good, good, amazing, this is what I needed, thank you, Sprout, my friend. Here, take this.” Maximus took out one of the Emerald Crystals he had saved and placed it into the shallow waters.

“Feed, grow, become the strongest plant spirit in all of the realms!” Maximus laughed a bit eccentrically as he sat on the shore, turning inward.

He noticed his seed had remained the same; he hadn’t really managed to cultivate it, but the crystal roots had grown deeper and had entered his channels, flowing through them and effectively doubling his output of spirit energy.

Once the roots grow fully, I can attempt to split the flow into two and then condense my first circle around my heart, unlocking the Mage path, but, and a big but, before any of that, I need to rebuild this body, which wasn’t made for containing mana whatsoever. He smiled; his elixir was missing one last ingredient, and he would finally be ready to attempt the reforging.

Let’s research this Solar Pyre spell. I’d love to test the Sanctuary as well, but it can only be used every six hours. What nonsense, why limit the use of a skill like that…? Maximus shook his head in disbelief. The old him was only limited by his knowledge and his almost limitless mana, and now some arbitrary rules were set upon him, restricting his actions for no reason at all.

He cast Solar Pyre, and a large magic circle appeared in the sky. He managed to pause the activation long enough to read through the formula and frowned. It cannot be edited; it’s too precise; it actually works like a magnifying glass, enhancing the solar rays and then igniting them through spirit energy combined with fire numina. He frowned as he released the spell. A large pillar of light descended at the designated spot and detonated in a flash of brilliance, leaving a human-sized crater where it landed.

“Boss, are we under attack?” Vesper jumped out from the shelter, ready to fight.

“No, no. My apologies, I was testing something.” Maximus bowed apologetically.

“I see… Boss, you are stronger now than before?” Vesper asked as he stared at the crater that still flickered with small yellow flames.

“I am… a little bit,” Maximus said modestly. He truly believed it; to him, all of this was still far too weak, barely noticeable.

He then opened the list of his skills and nodded at the ever-growing library until he suddenly paused, and a mischievous smile crept upon his grime-covered face.
What if I merge these two? They are both linked to celestial bodies, and both are types of fire. If I could reach something close to Celestial Magic, it could be my secret skill in case of an emergency.

He then activated Lunar Flare and Solar Pyre and paused both magic circles that shimmered into existence high in the skies. He activated World Sense alongside Eagle Eyes and observed the formula of both in the greatest of detail.

Yes, it should work. I can apply the principle of Starlight and Solar Flare, a strong burst of heat. I’ll remove the overtime effect of Lunar Flare and intensify the burning effect of Solar Pyre while merging both into one.

He nodded and smiled at his idea and carefully merged the two.

BOOM!

As soon as the two magic circles layered over one another, they detonated in a flash of light and heat.

“Damnit!”

“Boss, was that you again?” Vesper asked, frowning.

“Yes, Vesper, it will be me for a while now. Bear with me, please.” Maximus replied with a sigh.

I should remove the formula glyphs from the circles and then merge everything back one glyph by one. He noted this and sat down to meditate for a while until his spirit recovered before trying again.

This time, the magic circles merged seamlessly, but once he started merging back the glyphs that contained the formula, it detonated again.

“By the heavens, this is harder than I thought.” Maximus frowned and went back to the drawing board.

Like that, he spent hours until finally an idea hit him. He layered the circles and split the glyphs into basic runewords, showing the full calculation within the structure. He then changed the calculation to adjust to the influx of cold and hot fire while altering the entire formula to expand instead of constricting into a focused beam. Once he was satisfied with the combined structure, he slowly merged it back into the magic circle, and the spell finally took form.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The circle turned silver with a violet outer border, and it activated. As it did, it expanded and surrounded the field across the river in a five-meter radius before unleashing head-sized comets of pure starlight that crashed into the ground and exploded in bursts of hot and cold fire, leaving large patches of land burning with silver and violet flames.

“Yes! That’s it. It touched upon Starfire, a far cry from a true spell, but this is the next level!” Maximus cheered as the system chimed.

Skill Unlocked: [Starlight Shower (B)]