Having finished her lunch, she sat by the edge of the river, feet in the water, looking up at the clouds, deep in thought. What could she do, to grow stronger? And what was her end goal?
She knew, she wanted to grow stronger than her classmates, but they were summoned heroes. She'd gain 5 attribute points whenever she leveled up, while they would gain 10. So even if she got to level 100, they'd be about the same strength as her at level 50. Not to mentioned, they leveled up twice as fast. Had she really made a big mistake, choosing to forgo the status of summoned hero, in order to be free from responsibility?
Well, it all depended on whether her experiment would work. She had risked everything, on her own unique ability, "Magic Creation". An SSS rank ability, so it was bound to be crazy powerful. She had not wanted to think too deeply about it while she was in the presence of the Goddess, fearing she would read her mind and spoil her plans by denying her this skill, but now she was here, skill in hand.
Her theory was, what if she could create a spell which allowed her to permanently increase her mana-pool? Since she was an elf with more or less an unlimited life-span, even if the process was slow, she would eventually reach a point where she had an enormous amount of mana. The only question was the rate of conversion between mana spent to mana permanently added.
She gathered her mana around her once again, and used her skill "Magic Creation" to envision the effects of the spell she wanted to create. She closed her eyes, letting the mana flow through her, concentrating hard.
There was a small ding, and she felt the mana subside. She had been successful! She checked the new spell, in the spellbook section of her status screen.
"Create Mana.The caster may spend their own mana to permanently increase their mana-pool. This spell has a conversion rate of 1000 to 1."
A thousand to one, that was doable, Lyra mused. That means, every thousand mana spent would add 1 permanent mana to her mana-pool. She reached for a stick and drew in the sand by the riverbank. If she kept 100 mana for emergencies each day, she still had 200 mana to freely spend. If she spent 200 mana, that would increase her mana by 0.2 every day. So it would take her 5 days to increase her mana by 1. 50 days, to increase her mana by 10. 500 days, to increase her mana by 100.
But, every time she increased her mana, she would have more mana to spend, as well. So as time progressed, the amount of mana she could permanently add to her mana-pool would also increase. To make things easier, she'd just consider her mana to be in blocks of 100. So keeping a block of 100 as safety every day, after 500 days she would have 300 mana free to spend. Now it would take 100 days to increase it by 30. 300 days to increase it by 90. 330 days ish, to make it another 100.
In total, 500 + 330 days to add 200 mana permanently. But after that, she'd then have 400 mana to play around with.
0.4 x 250 = 100. It would only take 250 days to add another 100. Which means in 500 + 330 + 250 days, she would have doubled her current mana of 300 up to 600. That's... 1080 days, which is just shy of three years. So it would take her three years, to double her mana. But... could she double her mana again in another three years? She moved to another section of the river, as she had run out of space to draw in the sand.
Now she had 600 mana after 3 years. 100 mana left in reserve every day, so 500 to spend.
0.5 mana increase every day. Meaning it would take her 200 days to increase her mana by 100. Then she has 600 mana to spend. 0.6 mana every day, which is 166 days to make it 100.
0.7 mana increase every day, takes 143 days to make it 100.
0.8 mana increase every day, takes 125 days to make it 100.
0.9 mana increase every day, takes 111 days to make it 100.
1 mana increase every day, takes 100 days to make it 100.
And finally, 1.1 mana every day, takes 90 days to make it 100.
At that point, she would have a total of 1200 mana, counting her 100 mana reserve. Which means... 200 + 166 + 143 +125 + 111 + 100 + 90 days, which is 935 days. Some 150 days less than her previous doubling. Safe to say, she could easily double her current mana pool every 3 years. Which means, in about 10 years time, she could have about as much mana as a max-level summoned hero, if they have a balanced build. That thought filled her with confidence. And why stop there? She could keep going. It is not like she was short on time. Still, it was a lot of time and mana invested. Then again, she'd also gain more mana and stats as she leveled up naturally, in the future, as well.
Mana was by far the most important stat for her, since that was the limiter to her ability. With over a thousand mana, imagine the kind of spells she could create. So, she now had a goal. Survive here for at least ten years, and reach 2500 mana.
She took a moment to gather her resolve, then her mana, and then she did her spell.
"Create: Mana!" she chanted loudly, and tried to judge her mana consumption in order to spend only 200 mana. Once the spell faded, she checked her status window.
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Name: Lyra Lunarsong
HP: 30/30 MP: 100/300.2
Level: 1
Race: High Elf
Age: 17
Stamina: 3
Strength: 3
Agility: 5
Spirit: 5
Intellect: 30
Job: Mage (Apprentice and Novice level spells costs 50% less mana to cast.)
Skill: Magic Creation (SSS) (The User may create spells with their own unique effects, the manacost is proportionate to the effect of the spell)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She had done it! She had permanently added 0.2 mana to her total available pool. Superficially increased her mana, without leveling up! She punched the air a few times in excitement, then jumped up and down, shouting with glee. Now, she just had to be consistent the coming years...