Over the next few days, Luca spent the rest of his time in the cellar practicing the Salamander's Breath spell. He did not immediately write off the spell as useless just because of how impractical the requirements were.
It made sense for Scry to have such requirements because it was from the School of Astromancy, and it even leaned more towards being a ritual, as it was used to get a glimpse into the Sea of Fate.
And it made even more sense for the Binding Pact ritual to have such requirements, as it was a ceremonial act that needed intense time and preparation to be performed.
But Salamander's Breath? He did not understand why he needed to use catalysts and engrave so many glyphs as well as such a complicated spell structure.
So that was what he dedicated most of his time to. His new tailored clothes would take a full week to be ready, and he had gotten enough food to last him a while. This allowed him to concentrate to the maximum.
So far, he had made great progress. Occasionally, he went into the Veil whilst he slept, studying the glyphs in the sky in an attempt to understand more about the mysterious letters. The Veil allowed him greater freedom in the practice of glyphs, as the glyphs could be spoken in that world.
"Why can the glyphs be spoken in the Veil but not here in the physical world?"
If he figured it out, the advantages would go far beyond just allowing him to quick cast without being a mid-level mage.
Right now, though, he was in the cellar. He stood opposite the wall that was now charred and burned after countless jets of flames struck the bricks. It was surprisingly sturdy.
Luca spoke, "Test number fifty. Eliminated all unnecessary catalysts. Spell structure altered into a triangular shape. Medium: palm."
Spells were cast using three essential elements: the glyph, the catalyst, and the medium.
The original Salamander's Breath used three glyphs, multiple catalysts that were combined into a single concoction, and the medium, which was originally supposed to be the ground.
For casting spells quicker, he needed to strip an element from each of those three. Over several tests and experiments across the last few days, Luca came to a satisfactory conclusion.
He raised his palm. A triangle with a single glyph lay on the smooth surface, drawn with black ink. The now-familiar cool feel of mana passed through him, concentrating squarely in the glowing spell structure drawn on his palm.
"Incinerate!"
A short burst of flames flew out instantly, exploding against the brick wall. The wall shook, and the burst of cinders clung for life, eating away at the stone even further till they finally dissipated a second later.
Luca smiled proudly at the altered spell. It was his first time trying this version.
"Test successful."
The first step was to make the catalyst more sustainable. So he simply used it to make ink. Now there was no need to draw the circle after every single cast. Next, he altered the glyphs inside the heptagram to form a single glyph, as well as changed the heptagram itself into a triangle, which was far easier to draw.
This involved a lot of trial and error, but it eventually led to the development of a new spell as well as items the book described as talismans.
Incinerate — 0 Degree Elemental Spell — 1 star.
Description: An offshoot of the Salamander's Breath spell made using the Combustion Glyph. Unleash a short but powerful burst of flames.
"Almost blew myself up a few times, but luckily it paid off." he grinned stupidly
He was also able to gain a foundational glyph from the results of the experimentation.
Another glyph rotated in the circular axis opposite the dark energy and the glyph of Convergence. This glyph was the complete opposite of Convergence. It was a dot with three arrows pointing outwards.
Its meaning was apparent:
Expansion.
This was one of the key elements of the glyph within the triangle, which was called Combustion.
All in all, this was not the only improvement he had made in the time he had spent mostly underground. Incineration was now the third spell he had cast, and the first he had made himself, albeit with a guideline to follow.
"I suppose it is time to get to work now," he muttered under his breath, grabbing all his things off the floor of the cellar and heading up the stairs.
…..
He closed the door of the cellar and manually locked it. He had spent about four days there and had lost most track of time. It was nighttime now.
'What is that?' he thought, furrowing his brows as he noticed something strange in the air.
At first, he tried to ignore it, but it was akin to the smell of a corpse lingering in the breeze. Eventually, it was too difficult to ignore the pungent energy. Luca prepared several items before putting on his coat and walking out of the house.
The streets were empty, as was to be expected, illuminated by scant, dim torches here and there, which cast large shadows. He quickly ducked into one of the alleyways to avoid being spotted by someone, or worse, patrolling guards.
A strange energy had permeated the air when he came out, and it clung to his senses like an invisible weight.
He continued moving adeptly through the darkness, following the source of the energy until he gradually came to where it originated. It was from the outskirts of the city. The cobbled paths stopped after a certain point, leaving only a plain dirt trail.
Luca was familiar with the area and some parts of the surrounding forest. He readied his mana and prepared to cast Incineration at any time.
Besides that, there were also several wooden talismans in his inner pocket, which were some of the products of his initial experimentation. They were inscribed with a version of the Salamander's Breath skill that was far more powerful but unstable.
The forest was absent of any light except that of the moon and stars, but Luca made do with what he had.
He stopped at a tree just before a clearing, finally seeing why the air was so thick tonight.
A singular person stood in the clearing wearing dark robes, arms raised. Now that he was close, Luca could see the energy directly. Thick miasma gathered around the person's arm and entered his body.
In front of him, an elaborate magic circle drawn with blood lay glistening under the faint moonlight.
Luca drew two deep breaths.
A mage. And not an ordinary one either.
No matter how he looked at this, it was not a battle he wanted to fight, nor one he could win from what he was seeing. Luca wanted to turn to leave, but suddenly the other mage's head spun towards him.
WHOOSH.
Before he could even react, a dark sphere of energy was hurled towards him.