Chapter 317: Selecting Spells

Slapping of boots over an amber wood floor came sounding behind the two. Barbo carries a bag of cloth with the materials they needed.

"How did you open that book?" Barbo managed to mutter words over his pipe.

"I infused my mana into it," Ned said.

"Then…" Barbo said. The tall and muscular blacksmith went over to the closest cabinet and put the things he was carrying and went to check the book Ned was holding. "But the merchants I tried to sell the book says they can't open it even if they cast mana to it."

Ned frowned. All he did was inject his mana and the lock opened with a click.

Barbo held the leather-bound book midair, trying to distinguish the book if it was the real one or not.

"I-I." Mina scratched the back of his head. "I thought the book is useless, Uncle Bo. So, I gave it to Master Ned."

Barbo handed the book back to Ned and rolled his eyes to Mina then back to Ned. "About that," he said "you will be our Master from now on, Master Ned.

"I got half of the materials needed: teal sand will be added for the body of the weapon which was being cooled off after we managed to mold it last night. Melted thread, and pig silver for the battery coating. Thunder Mock's scales for the grip. To increase the heat resistance, I will be melting Fer shards to the final product except for the tip since we needed it to be as pure as possible to avoid untimely breaking. Mind you, Master Ned. I'm following the layout you gave us, but I will be adding sorts along the way. So the final product might be a chip away different than the actual weapon. I'll also be adding magic-enhanced blade in case you needed them. For that, I need the help of my colleague."

"Don't tell me…" Mina cut off Barbo. He was ashen hearing him that they needed additional help. "You sure you need him, Uncle Bo?"

"More than ever." Barbo glanced at Mina, snorting along the way. "I know, you don't like him. But, do you want us kicked off the House. Again?"

Mina swallowed a lump of his saliva. "No, Uncle Barbo."

"I'll be calling a friend. He's a Master Alchemist—kind of. But he's a good one."

All these and Ned was left to nod. "Please do what you must, Barbo-sir," Ned said and added. "But I want this work to be privy as possible. Also, I do not have the gold for the moment. But if you are accepting mana stones… then."

"I told you, Master Ned." Barbo held a finger, looking at Ned as he was kept on sitting next to the table with a spellbook held in his hand. "We do not accept mana stones. It will only bring us trouble. But… we might want to have one or two of it to test the weapon when done—make it three. We needed to test a lot of it. "

Ned hovered his hand over the table. With a thought, mana stones, four instead of three, rolled over the table.

Their reaction was different than the other Ned had encountered so far. These two appeared normal than the other as they gazed at the mana stones.

"You may want to come back after a week—wait. You're going for the Hunter's Exam so it's safe to say that come back here a couple of weeks. You may want to test the weapon by that time and we can have more…"

Barbo went on and Ned had heard enough. He was more concerned and excited about the book he held.

"Book of Magic, huh," Ned muttered of what was supposed to be his thought.

Barbo stopped. "So, magic, huh," and said, "you want to check it out, Master Ned?"

Ned nodded and as soon as he does, Barbo gestured to another room. One behind them hidden behind a curtain of dusty green with edges burned to black.

Ned walked into this room with a nod to the two blacksmiths. A gesture that the two understood immediately: do not disturb me.

As soon as Ned entered the room, he was greeted by the stacks of boxes and rust-laden weapons scattering on the chipped floor. Sunlight seeped through the gritting window over the ceiling which in return lighten the room by a quarter. Dust flickered through the room as though dandelions were blown by a gust of wind.

To Ned's left was a stool, and a table clamped with smithing tools. Ned slightly brushed off these tools and blew air to clear the table of dust.

Ned rested the spellbook with much care and opened the cover. "Elementary Books of Spells." Ned's eyes flickered, his silver hair hung loosely before his eyes which he fingered that enabled him to see the rest of the writings.

"Accumulation of Elementary Spells throughout the Kingdom of Both by Alnene Vol Noir."

The writings were written in a language easy to understand.

"Kingdom of Both?" Ned frowned yet continue to flip open the pages.

After an hour, Ned has finished skimming an inch thick book.

"Damn." Was all he could spell. "And this one's Elementary Rank."

Ned manages to learn how the book was constructed in a way that one would need to practice the spells from the lowest Tier to the highest in a steady flow. It was also written that one must learn the spell without skipping.

The first element on the list was Fire, followed by Wind, then Water, and Terra. But the author was conflicted if whether Terra was the right term or Crystal since after learning the Tier 1 Terra magic, the rest of the spells were conjured Crystal type of spells instead of the usual soil, or mud.

Now that he read the book, Ned remembered how Hunter Jo conjured Terra magic in a crystal form instead of ground.

But Ned could only conjure Fire and Wind type of spells—at the moment.

Ned flipped pages to the lowest Tier of fire spells. There were dozens of them and Ned's first thought was a defensive spell. Depending on the Profession were the conjure time, the amount of mana, and the speed on which the spell travels.

Take Fireball for an example. Any of the three basic Professions: Warrior, Rouges, and Mages, could conjure Fireball. But Mages has the strongest firepower and speed of conjuration while Warrior has the weakest, slowest, and mana consumption, and Rouge has the fastest travel speed of spell. Overall, Mages has the advantage in terms of spell devastation.

But Ned was trained as a Knight, which was under the Warrior Profession. And Knight has a slight advantage in terms of spell firepower against Warriors

But Ned had Fireball already and Firelance which he rarely uses, and Egnious as his main attack spells.

Ned read the list of spells under the Fire element:

'Trial Flame: a spell where beginners among beginners must learn. It is used widely especially during Raids and monster hunting. But remember to bring a kettle.'

Ned sighed reading the description of the first fire spell in the list. Trial Flame was used only to boil water.

Ned's eyes swept down the list.

'Trial Flame un: now we are talking. Remember how you manage to boil water effortlessly? Good, now is the time to bring in a cauldron.'

The Tier 1 spell was taught for the Magic Capables to learn and control their mana, which Ned passed a long time. To his surprise, Fireball was at the bottom of the Tier 1 list.

Ned flipped for the Tier 2 fire spells. Still, there was nothing that caught his attention. Ned flipped again to Tier 3 and from there, the spells were far powerful than the later Tier.

His attention focused on one of the Spell under the Knight Profession.

"Oblix Peruro," Ned muttered the spell name. "An Ancient type Firespell exclusive only for Knightly Profession. Remember to coat your skin with mana before conjuring the spell."

Each of the spells has an amateur drawing on how it would look like once conjured. The image shows the Oblix Peruro being conjured along with how to guide the mana that flows in the body. This one was different from the spells Ned had seen and conjured so far.

The spells listed have one thing in common: gestures. Depending on the spell was the gesture. Fireball uses both hands along with the mana flowing from the Core of the conjurer down to the tip of the fingers.

Oblix Peruro on the other hand needed only the mana and the body to conjure. Once successful, fiery light would then burst out from the conjurer's body and wrapped them in an armor of fire.

But one thing Ned has yet to understand. The exact amount of mana to be used to conjure the spell. According to the text, Oblix Peruro needed a tenth of the conjurer's mana to perform, and it must come exactly from the Core.

But Ned doesn't have a Core to start with. His crystal Core was created only after Rassus manifested himself inside Ned. His mana on the other hand was scattered all over his body; all over his blood.

"Should I just use my mana naturally? Or should it be tenth of it exactly?" Ned whispered and for a moment, he could not find how to conjure it. "Then one way to find out… to test the spell."