To draw the rune, he didn't have to expend any mana. However, it required absolute concentration from him. It was not really a chore he could do half assedly.
'Drawing the runes will exhaust me. Would I be able to complete my version of the mana gathering spell before dawn?' Zephyr wondered, covering his mouth while yawning.
'It is a game of chances. I hope I find the right rune fast.'
He added while looking at the core, gently floating inside his mindscape.
A mage's strength was measured based on the size of the core. A beginner mage who just formed a core would usually have a ten-centimeter-wide core in their mindscape.
A stronger mage, someone who stepped into the intermediate level, would have a core 30 cm in diameter. Only those who reached this level deserve to be called a wizard.
Above them, there existed a rank of mages called master with a mana core in size ranging from 60 to 90 cm. These ranks of mages were strategic weapons on their own that could do crazy things in a war. So, they were some of the most powerful people in the kingdom.
Therefore, the larger the core, the stronger the mage.
However, a mage cannot grow stronger by just having a larger core. Because ultimately, it was the spells that they could use that determined their worth. But those who grew to higher ranks would certainly have a lot of spells in their arsenal.
And, the mana storage ability of cores vastly changes depending on the quality of mana stored. So, the step from beginner to intermediate to master all comes with a leap in mana quality.
'And yet…my core is like that.'
Zephyr was disappointed in his core size. But he could do nothing about it yet.
'Let's try channeling mana into the engraved rune first.' He thought, focusing on it.
The core was small, and the rune engraved on it was even smaller.
Zephyr willed his mana to fill in the groves of the rune. Then he waited for it to activate.
Once the rune was filled, it shimmered for a second, utilizing the mana he provided.
But after that, nothing happened.
The shimmering rune went back to its normal look, and the glow above it disappeared.
'Dud?' Zephyr wondered.
'If it is not a dud, it must be an augmentation type of rune which should be executed after the primary rune.'
'Although nothing happened, it's still good. I gained valuable information.'
A bulb went off in Zephyr's mind as he found a better way to optimize his process.
'I can cross-reference the original mana gathering spell to find the rune that it was augmenting.'
With a smile, Zephyr exited the mindscape.
Opening his eyes, he swiftly moved to look at the original spell structure.
'The rune which it augments would be in front of or behind it.'
'Why would a rune be in front?'
'Perhaps to pass on some information to add a function to the primary one.'
'Anyway, I don't have to think that hard. The original mana gathering spell is a huge circle with runes arranged on its perimeter. There are only two possible runes from the thirteen I selected that I can find next to the one I just tested. I should test those two first.'
After thinking that, Zephyr continued his experiments.
It took a while, but at the end of the experiment, Zephyr had a very promising result. He didn't even have to exhaustively try all the thousand or so combinations to reach this point.
Through his experiment, he found out that one rune among the thirteen he selected was indeed the rune that allowed the user to gather mana. However, the rune without its twelve augmentation runes was abysmally slow at gathering mana. And the mana it gathered was not inducing enough pressure to grow the core.
'It was a delicate balance. Mana-gathering spells will have to spend some mana to absorb more mana than they spend. By pulling out random runes, I broke the balance. Although I still gain net positive mana, it was too slow without augmentation. I need to make it faster. I need an infinite loop that can be executed without end and an augmentation to make it faster.'
'Or else, I would have to consciously intervene each time.'
Currently, Zephyr was consciously injecting mana into the runes to execute the single rune spell. But he would have to automate it to make it viable for future use.
'Uh…Anything is better than nothing.' He said and decided to just engrave three mana gathering runes without their augmentation on his core.
Figuring out how the augmentation works would take time. But for him, it can wait.
It was important to know if three tandem mana-gathering runes working in tandem would be enough to generate enough pressure to grow his core.
If it was not enough, he could try to use his consciousness to control the mana and layer it on top of the core.
Like that, he went on to engrave three mana-gathering runes on his core.
However, even that was not enough to produce the natural pressure needed for core growth.
Zephyr intervened at that moment with his conscious control of mana, compressing it while layering it over the core.
However, even that failed.
His core was unresponsive to the pressure he induced. It was just chilling, floating in his mindscape.
'My core is resisting growth. The core growth experiment is a failure. If it did grow, I would have seen some form of growth, even if it is by a millimeter.'
After seeing how ineffective the core growth idea was, he decided to go back to his initial idea—multi-core creation.
Multi-core creation didn't depend on his defective core at all and had a higher chance of success.
–
Zephyr let the three mana-gathering runes work simultaneously, waiting for his mindscape to be filled with mana.
Usually, the mana in it would have slowly infused into the core, making it grow. But his defective core was seemingly incapable of growing.
Hence, the mana condensed and formed a cloud in his mindscape with his conscious effort.
Sensing the mana quantity in the cloud reaching a similar quantity to his original core, Zephyr willed for it to focus on a single point.
Absolute mana control made the mana move according to his will and condensed.
From a cloud of vapor, it condensed to form a milky liquid ball twice the size of his original core.
'It's not enough.'
Zephyr thought, concentrating harder. If he were unfocused for even a second, all the mana gathered would rapidly leak from his body.
He couldn't afford to be unforced.
The only thing holding the milky ball of mana was his consciousness and absolute mana control.
A typical mage would have never been able to do something similar.
'I need to exert more pressure. I need to solidify it to a core.'
Zephyr screamed in his mind, holding his breath.
With each passing second, he tightened the area around the mana ball, pushing it harder and harder.
Zephyr felt his head throb as a piercing pain assaulted his brain. And yet, he stood absolutely still, compressing the mana.
"BOOM!"
Suddenly, with a loud implosion, the mindscape quaked.
The milk mana ball spinning next to his original core warped and compressed, taking on the form of a crystalline, transparent core.
Instantly, the pressure building up in Zephyr's mind eased, the throbbing pain receded, and indescribable euphoria washed over him.
It was as if he were being born again.
'I did it.' He silently said with a smile.