"Small Fire Spell!" His hand lit up on fire without any form of pain, and he focused as the fire concentrated on one spot and glowed brightly.
"Puddle of Water Spell!" From his fingers dropped many water droplets that extinguished the fire until it formed a small puddle in his curled up hand.
He sprinkled lumps of clay, he picked up near a lake, in his hand. "Shaping Mud Spell!" The clay, and the little bits of sediments in it, mixed with the water and formed into mud. He willed it into a small rod, then into a circle and then finally into a bowl.
The bowl changed into a hard texture with the heat coming from the small fire spell. He put that bowl on the desk near him.
Magic Progress - 4 Spells Unlocked
Fire Element Aspect (Fireball Spell - 0.1%
Small Fire Spell - 40%)
Water Element Aspect (Puddle of Water Spell - 60%)
Earth Element Aspect (Shaping Mud Spell - 40%)
"Hahh.. Wind huh.. Damn it.. After almost another whole week, I still can't do it.. Ugh.. I want my magic progress to look pretty with all four elements.." Sam thought as he stood up. On their 'collective' desk, little was the devices of his roommate and more amount was from the odd shaped and some better shaped things Sam kept making from the clay.
He picked up some of the good looking ones and stored it in his inventory.
"Come out."
The Spirit popped out of his right hand, and he could use the purple thread as a sort of leash, as the wolf's ethereal form was solid enough to take it up on a walk.
Outside his room was the usual day in the Imperial Academy.
Foot long lizards, Eagles snatching out food from some innocent bystanders, the fiery gorillas that ran rampant and disturbed some concentrating ones. That was it for the kids who were familiarizing with their spirits and advancing steadily through cultivation.
The Enlightenment ones were always doing some sort of experiments, blowing up chemicals and ruining evenings of some love buds. They always seemed to avoid their cliched groups of followers of gods that they were divided in.
The Demonic Weapon ones were always training. Their destiny path was difficult enough, achieving raw strength and then only could they handle their evil weapons. So you could always see most of them hitting the blunt side on either practice dummies or whatever they could find in nature, disturbing it too.
Magic children were the ones with least vigor, as the teachers didn't teach them any the spells yet. But everyone knew that they will also make the most mess when they do learn spells in the future.
"Such a peaceful day." Sam says to himself moving through the hallways. He reached the gates of the Academy, where the same woman who welcomed them at the very start was sitting in an office of her own.
"I would like to use the weekly teleportation pass to the Capital City."
***
"5 Copper coins. That's the most I can do." The man in tattered robes spoke, sitting on the dusty ground.
"Whaat? Come on.. I brought so many.." Sam replied while looking at the bundle of hardened clay trinkets, bowls, glasses and cups.
"Listen here kid. I'm still being generous for even buying this crap. No one in these streets will buy these makeshift clay pots. Now, you got a mouth on you for asking more. Decide and scram before I change my mind."
"A-Alright then." Sam took the coins from the man hurriedly.
[ Inventory ]
Copper Coins × 7
Copper Bits × 27
Clay (Lump) × 4
...
"Hahh.. Guess I'm running low on the clay supply.."
Sam moved through the markets a bit more. He went near the crater of the castle. Railings with Magic Barriers encircled it. People could peek through and see the activity inside. Apparently, since the castle was mostly floating, hence the name 'Floating Castle', that's why the officials thought to make use of this empty space. For many years this Big Hole is supported by the workers inside it, who go through the tunnels dug into all around its walls. The tunnels connect through the whole city underground, so they can work efficiently and reconvene at this hole whenever necessary.
"Hm.. interesting.." Sam said to himself and then nudged his wolf out of the railings and moved to walk outside the city.
***
Outskirts of the Capital City. Near the Imperial Academy, was the big forest to the east. The forest was a natural occurence which was disrupted by the academy grounds and it went on miles away in the east of this Continent until being regularly disrupted again and again by some settlements or man-made business.
Sam was in this forest now, he found a spot not too deep and just near the Academy. At that spot was a beautiful lake that he couldn't make about where it started or ended.
The wolf spirit roamed free in this forest naturally, although it could now move much more farther than Sam, it was still connected to his soul orb by the faintly visible purple thread at all times.
Sam crouched down and digged at the mushy soil near the lake, until he found the place where his week long supply of clay and more came from.
"Hahh.. is this all this amounts to? Digging in the dirt, making weird pottery and selling it all day.. ugh.. I never knew I could still be this hopeless with magic too.." He digged with his hands as it felt better, then he put it all into his own makeshift container of, obviously, clay.
When he was done, he laid, on his back, on the ground and looked at the canopy of trees. The chirping of birds always sounded pleasant to him under the red light hinting that sun might be setting soon.
A few minutes later, the wolf spirit came to him happily, with its tangible mouth holding the swarm of worms. He sat upright with his elbows and said. "Uhh.. I don't need them.. you can eat them.. you know. You'll grow more strong.. I guess?"
The wolf spirit did so willingly, as it had grown a bit more warm towards him since Sam regularly took it on walks. It didn't eat the worms, instead absorbed their life-force and spit out the black mess of a mixture of the dead worms. Its purple spirit glowed brightly again, it had grown a bit more stronger.
"Hahh.. I guess I should pick up on my training too huh.. don't gotta waste any second.."
He practiced with the puddle of water and shaping mud spell a few times, as he wasn't sure to put out a small fire in this forest.
His Water Spell progress increased to 80% and Earth Spell increased to 50% and with it he had a few more pots in his inventory.
Then he stood up, the dire-wolf observed earnestly its master and was subconsciously supporting him. Sam first punched the air at the most speed he could. Then he kicked at a similar speed.
When that didn't work, he breathed in and out multiple times, trying to blow some leaves, until he felt weakness in his abdomen and landed on his buttocks.
"Wh.. Whahh.. What the f-fuck do you mean system.. how swift you want me to be.. please unlock it for me.. ugh.. why can't I get this right, when it seems so simple with this wind spell.."
"Interesting.." The Voice of a girl prickled the ears of Sam.
He immediately stood upright. 'Crap.. did someone follow me? Fuck. If someone is from the academy, they might report me.. after all I played out my spells in the open.'
He calmed down and spoke. "Who is it? Show yourself. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty dangerous." He said as he looked here and there in the big forest.
"I'm already here dumbass. Look Up."
Sam looked up in the trees. There he saw, the young, but seemingly older than him, elf girl sitting so effortlessly on that thin branch of the tree and as her orange hair fluttered and mixed in with the setting sun.
"Um.. W-What do you mean by that.. 'interesting'.. are you following me?" Sam asked.
"I was already here, and you came up after me. And I was simply observing your little charades. Heh." Then the girl scrutinized the boy and spoke, "So, you must be from the Academy? Considering you have two destinies and are bold enough to roam near it. Anyways, I wanted to know who taught you these spells.. which teacher was it?"
"Uh.. it was.. it.. No, What's it to you? Wherever I learned it, it's my problem. Why should I tell you? Or more like, who are you? Are you also from the academy.." Sam said nervously.
The girl chuckled, "Haha.. interesting, again. To not know my name or face, I guess I have to increase my popularity huh.. You will know sooner or later in that Academy. For now, I'm just one with the nature, roaming free. You may keep your secrets, but I may help you if you want it."
'What?! I mean I don't go out of my room that much.. and I was just transmigrated.. so who is she? Ugh.. whatever I can't just ask her for help, she might be trouble.' Sam then spoke out loud, "No thanks. I can help myself. Just don't recognise me in the academy now.. I don't want any trouble."
Sam started to walk away, but the girl suddenly jumped down from the tree and smoothly landed infront of him. "You are the most interesting person I have met since coming to this continent. Not recognising me, refusing my help, and more importantly how you pulled off those spells. I must say, whoever taught you did a pretty good job. That's why I wanted to compliment that teacher. But I guess, you can keep it a secret for now, until I find them myself."
"Compliment? What are you some sort of royalty to compliment a teacher? Anyhow, I still want to return back to the academy. The night is coming."
"Hehe.. I may be, or may be not. But regardless, I noted another interesting thing from you." The girl suddenly got behind Sam and grabbed his hands. She pulled her hands up suddenly as his arms got straight. "You must be having problems with the wind element huh.. even though you are not following the usual 8 schools approach. Well I can still help you, close your eyes."
"Huh- What? What? Get.. get away.. what are you doing.." Sam was embarassed as even her grip was strong enough that he couldn't free himself.
"Do what I say, trust me. It will help you achieve the wind element even smoothly. Now, Close your eyes." The girl was persistent.
Sam hesitantly closed his eyes.
"Use your ears. Where is the wind coming from?"
"My left."
She adjusted Sam's position to align with the wind. Then she stepped away. "Alright now, can you feel the air brushing past you?"
"Yeah.. I-I can.."
"Good. Now use that sense and think about.. going with its flow. In the direction of the wind, make quick movements, and at the same time let the wind guide it, your movements. So it can make it even smoother and more swift."
Sam did so. He started out with the Punches. They went along with the air and now made crisp Whooshing sounds. He threw some kicks as the leaves naturally blowed far away.
He had an instinctive feeling to do something. He suddenly opened his hand and threw out the palm ahead of him. He opened his eyes at that instant, to see the Big Gust of Wind, as the dust and leaves formed a boundary around it, the gust went forward, Striking a tree and breaking 5 of its branches at once.
He looked near him in joy, but to his surprise the girl was nowhere near him. He did hear the familiar robotic voices in his head.
[ Complete Mastery Over Gust of Wind Spell Achieved ]