If he increased the amount of time mana too much, it would become harder to control, and sometimes the overwhelming amount of time mana would collide with the space circle, resulting in the destruction of the mana circle in space. But if he wanted the spell to last longer, he needed to supply more time mana to the delay spell.
In the end, it all came down to maintaining the perfect amount of time mana—not too much to make it harder to control or to overwhelm and collide with the space circle, and not too little to shorten the duration of the delay spell.
[Delay spell cast successfully]
[Mastery of the delay spell at 100%]
After a few more tries, Auran managed to achieve one hundred percent mastery of the delay spell. At that point, it took him one minute to cast the spell, and it lasted for two minutes and thirty seconds, delaying everything thrown at it.
At one hundred percent mastery, it was the peak of what Auran could achieve. But that was only because he was still an apprentice magician—he hadn't graduated yet and wasn't bound to time magic. There was a possibility of improving the basic spell's capability once he became more skilled in the time field.
After finishing the delay spell, it was time to move on to the other spells. But first, Auran took a break. It had taken longer than he expected to learn just one spell. Looking at the golden sky outside his window, painted by the slowly setting sun, Auran knew the day had come to an end.
He was exhausted physically and mentally, but it was nothing like the pain he had endured as a worthless failure who once walked a doomed path. Remembering those times—and how he now had a clear path ahead—a rush of happiness and excitement overwhelmed him. As a result, he continued his work without bothering about the world outside his door.
"Second basic spell, let's see."
Eyes tightly shut, Auran browsed through the notebook and read the instructions for the second basic spell.
Unlike the first one, which could be used in creative ways, the second was an offensive spell.
"A time-based offensive spell named Blade of Time."
Reading the name of the spell, Auran was excited. Usually, in every magic field, there were at least two or three basic spells that could be used for offense, and this Blade of Time was the first time-based offensive spell Auran learn in his field. Now, he didn't have to rely on offensive abilities from other fields for duels—which was a bit of a shameful thing for a magician after choosing his own field.
Auran continued to dive into the description of the spell and extended his hand to cast it as instructed.
"Hmm, seems my judgment was correct. The space field and time field are constantly entangled with each other, even when casting spells."
It was a thought that came to Auran's mind as he read the description. To cast Blade of Time, he had to use both space mana and time mana in constant balance. Thankfully, the space mana used in the spell still belonged to the basic field and did not extend into the advanced field.
Just like before, the first step was to draw out the mana circle to channel time mana. However, unlike when casting Delay, the space circle for Blade of Time was a bit larger. After the time mana flowed out, Auran drew another circle in front of the previous one. He controlled the time mana and guided it toward the new circle. Once the mana reached it, Auran shaped the time blade. The time blade that reached the new circle gradually transformed into a half-moon-shaped blade, which stayed in a frozen-like state above the circle.
Auran knew he had to act quickly. Looking around his room, he soon found a target. From his snack bucket, he took an apple and placed it on his working table. Then, he turned the direction of the space circle toward the apple and released the spell.
Swish!
Crack!
A moment after he released the spell, the perfectly fine apple sliced in half at a speed Auran couldn't even catch with his eyes.
"Is this really a basic spell?"
The effect of the Blade of Time even scared the caster himself. Now, witnessing it firsthand, Auran finally understood why everyone admired the time field as one of the most terrifying and effective ones there was.
[Blade of Time cast successfully]
[Mastery of the basic spell Blade of Time at 10%]
Afterward, Auran continued his work, nonstop using Blade of Time and steadily increasing his mastery. Sometimes, he took breaks to recover from the loss of empty mana in his body, then started again until the moment he reached full mastery.
Similar to the Delay spell, Auran managed to increase his mastery to seventy percent when he was able to narrow down the casting time of Blade of Time to just one second. Then, after a few more rounds of experimentation, he learned that in order to increase mastery further, he had to increase the length of the Blade of Time.
But that came with risk. If he increased the length of the time blade beyond its normal range, the spell would become unstable, and the time mana could collide with the space circle—resulting in the spell breaking.
So, in the end, perfect balance was necessary to master it fully. After achieving this, Auran did not stop. He continued with the third basic spell and practiced through the whole night until dawn came.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At the Malckoy Family Academy, there was a specific, enormous hall where the head committee of the academy gathered.
The purpose of this hall was to test whether a theory submitted by a student was valid or not. The hall had a massive pillar structure with eight seats surrounding a circular stage where the student would stand. It was the student's responsibility to demonstrate the effects of their theory in the center of this circle.
At that moment, all eight seats on the pillars were occupied by unidentified figures, each with the upper half of their bodies hidden in shadow. In the circle surrounded by them stood Henry Malckoy, holding a piece of paper in his hand.
On the paper was the theory he had written. After reading it aloud, Henry lifted his head and gazed up at the highest point of the pillars.
"Should I begin?"