Though they agreed to buy the spell, their dwindling balance of mana shards didn’t allow the purchase. So, they put the agenda on the back burner and toured the street market. They visited the corners and alleys they hadn’t seen before and even met Byram who was lugging bags of rice and wheat with his two bulls for the coins. After a short break together where they ate some brunch, the three bid him a bye and returned to the shack to continue their routine of spell practice and meditation.

  The next few weeks of radiation shower pushed Thorin’s ‘Spirit’ up. 2.61, 2.62, 2.63…

  ? Eventually, when the month was at its end, his ‘Spirit’ reached 2.70. Since he balanced his meditation time with his spells, their mastery kept up with his growth as well. The

  spell was already at the adept level, so he’d switched to training other spells. Before long, his spell broke through to the adept level too. Its radius of effect had increased in size, and the temperature it could reach plunged with each level up.

  Though it remained unfit for regular combat, its freezing effect could damage the mortals now. Not to mention the specialty it gained by reaching the adept level—the mirror casting. If Thorin used that to cast the spell twice in quick succession, even a Magus would feel the twinge. Yet, its inability to directly reach the target smothered its potential.

  Luckily, it wasn’t all bleak that drowned him. The information he’d learned till now about the classes and the Arcanas in general had some positives for Thorin. Thus, he hungered for the rite of Arcanist.

  It required the mastery of one spell for each arcana to reach the adept level. He’d cleared off two spells so far, so he moved on to the third. His next pick was the spell.

  There were two paths for the spell’s progress. He could either create more inventory bubbles, or he could add more space to his current inventory and shrink it further. Thorin chose the latter. He strained his spirit to compress the space bubble, and when it was small enough, he added more space to it and let it bulk up again. The repetition of the process pushed the spell’s level up. When it reached the pathfinder level, it was time for another hunt.

  ……

  The tasks from the guild earned them extra, so they planned their hunt around it. After an hour-long trek on the familiar trails, the task’s details led the three to a lake that kissed the shore with its gentle waves. Another group was already hunting in the premises. They most likely had the same task. So, they shared an amicable nod with them and chose their hunting spot at a distance. Neither side would disturb each other with this much gap.

  “I’ll go in first,” Thorin said. “As planned, start attracting the fishes when I activate the spellcard.” He held a deep breath and dove into the lake as Clay and Quin prepared the pile of bait.

  The water muffled all voices of the world, and an absolute calm doused Thorin. When he passed a shred of mana through the Waterscreen spellcard, a flimsy water barrier isolated him from the lake. The spellcard turned into ashes, and a sense of comfort and security embraced him.

  Their target this time was the Steam Piranhas that had increased their numbers to an extent that they threatened the balance in the lake. Their mission was to control their population and to shelter the endangered species. Either way, killing the piranhas could do the job. Thus, they’d chosen the simplest approach.

  Quin and Clay spilled a handful of bait into the water, and it attracted a piranha within seconds. They had long become the overlord of the water, so the fish gobbled the bait without minding Thorin. Since it dared to serve itself on a platter, he didn’t shy away.

  Icetouch!

  The drop in temperature from the spell slowed the current around Thorin. Though the majesty of the lake didn’t allow any shards of ice in it, it didn’t protect the piranha. The colder water hindered the fish that obtained its power from a hotter arcana. More so when Thorin applied the second cast of the spell. The specialty of the adept level—mirror casting.

  Icetouch!

  The fish couldn’t slip away from the chilled currents and decelerated before Thorin. It ate his dagger. A single stab ended the piranha’s life. Its blood muddled the water and added to the bait. When Thorin hurled it out to his brothers, two more Steam Piranhas approached him. However, they took him as their enemies this time.

  The spellcard did its job and shielded Thorin from their fangs and their sizzling breaths of steam. Even when they countered his spell and boiled the water around him, the barrier from the spellcard held fast. And so, Thorin let go of his concerns and brandished his spell and the dagger.

  Icetouch!

  He traced the spell model and cast to balance the piranhas’ attacks as the cuts from his dagger bloodied the water. In the end, when one of them chomped on the Waterscreen, Thorin grabbed it by its gills and jammed his blade into its eye. The other piranha rushed at him but couldn’t break his defense either. Instead, Thorin used the second cast of the spell, and the currents slowed down again. When it hindered the fish, Thorin finished it off.

  Before another batch of fish greeted him, he surfaced on the lake and refreshed his breath. His turn wouldn’t end as long as the spellcard stayed in effect. Thus, the tussle in the water reddened the lake by the second.

  Thorin battled several batches. Eventually, the group of fish went from a couple to a school. They bit and gnawed the Waterscreen, and it finally relented. As the barrier trembled under the onslaught, Thorin unleashed a storm of his wired blades. The water stifled his moves. But the relentless waves of his blades chipped away at the school of fishes. Soon, with the addition of his spells, the piranhas started to die from the accumulated damage.

  Finally, when the sole remaining fish collapsed from , the Waterscreen flickered for the last time. Thorin exited the lake with gasps, dragging as many corpses as he could. The rest was on his brothers. He tapped out.

  The water was too red here to continue the hunt though. So, Quin and Clay brought out the rest of the corpses and switched places.

  After holding a deep breath, Quin went in.

  ……

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  They were careful with the level of piranhas they attracted. Whenever the mana tester showed even a hint of shifting away from the safe white, they pulled back and waited by the shore. The water hushed down as the powerful Steam Piranhas swam by. The fear they commanded stilled the section of the lake. When they moved away, the weaker fish came out of hiding and Quin dove again. His brute force approach struggled under the water, but he hunted a good number as well with the help of his cousins.

  The day passed by. Soon, the red of the dusk matched the bloodied water of the lake. The three cousins carried wide grins on their faces after the successful hunt. Apart from the wires that still bit into Thorin’s flesh and some bites that reached Quin and Clay, they didn’t suffer much. Instead, the huge population of Steam Piranhas in the lake gifted them a loaded haul. Even the other groups of hunters that joined later smiled and laughed and walked on air with light steps.

  “Too bad we can't repeat this task,” Clay said, reining in his grin.

  “Even if we could, our method is not sustainable,” Thorin said as they trekked back. “We were lucky today that we only used the defensive spellcards. That alone will make a dent in our earnings. If we’d used other spellcards too, we would say goodbye to any profit.”

  “We still earned a lot,” Quin said, unable to contain his smile. “Not to mention the gains in our spells. My leveled up a lot.”

  “That is true,” Thorin said. “I thought the spellcards would reduce the threat and the sense of danger. So, the level up of spells would be slow. But my surprised me.”

  He waved at the floaty words that the Archive showed him.

  [Spell mastery level-up.]

  [Icetouch -: Adept Level 5/5]

  After the extensive usage of the spell where he twisted and bent its applications to the absolute limits he could approach, his mastery over it soared. Because of the requirement for his class ‘Arcanist’, he had to push five of his spells to the adept level. Since was already there, he was of the mind to shelve it. Reaching the scholar level would do wonders for his spell, but it wasn’t a necessity for him right now. Still, it lay a hair’s breadth away from the next stage… His drive to push it over the edge burned brighter.

  Tonight, he would work on this spell and touch the scholar level, he decided.

  However, a long howl of a wolf shattered his thoughts and snatched his attention. Every Magus on the path halted their steps. They stared at the ravening eyes of the lone Direwolf that blocked their path. Its gaze hungered for flesh and blood, and so did its fangs. For a moment, only one idea blared in the area.

  “Run!”

  ?

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