Chapter 110: Spell Mastery

Chapter 110: Spell Mastery

Having read the book once, he closed his eyes and recalled how the bandit leader did it. Then he simply imagined himself encased in this rocky armor for a while.

The human brain is a tool for simulating the future. The more accurate the simulation, the better the results in reality.

After establishing a foundation in his mind he, of course, had to test it in reality. As such, Gerald stood up and walked to the gravel road. Taking a deep breath he stimulated the Mana inside him. Like hundreds of little tentacles, the Mana spread out and picked up hundreds of small rocks and stones.

Soon he was covered from head-to-toe in stone armor, and only his eyes were left unprotected. Just as he thought, his movements weren't impeded at all, as there was a small gap between the overlapping stones and his body.

"Hmm, not bad! It's full-body protection, much better than the metal armor you can buy in a shop! " He observed the structure of the rock with interest.

Differently from the iron plates that were held up by leather straps in low-end armor, this stone shell had no gaps, as the stones overlapped each other while still leaving room for movement.

Of course, if you had enough money to pay for a full-plate armor, the gaps would also be minimal, covered by other smaller plates with chainmail underneath. Such exquisite armor was only for the rich, as it cost up to fifty gold, depending on the ornaments and engravings it had.

A defensive spell, such as this Stone Armor, was mainly used as protection when you were in a pinch.

"Hmm, it uses almost 7 MP/min and it's weaker than my Stone Body Combat Art But it can make use of the Mana inside Earth Crystals so it's still useful!" Gerald scratched his chin as he calculated various possibilities.

"I got it!" He suddenly got a flash of inspiration, "I can use this as a cover for my Stone Body! If people can see this Stone Armor, although it can be considered valuable, it's still in the realm of magic these people use"

He rubbed his hand together as he thought of this, "Now I finally have use for these accessories from that Stone Face guy"

With his right hand, he touched the shirt under which a beautiful gold necklace rested. That, combined with the two bracelets on his hand, conveniently came to be just about 70 MP.

"Ten minutes And then it will have to recharge for more than a week! Ugh No wonder mages are always on the lookout for more accessories" nove(l)bi(n.)com

Mana inside people recharged slowly, but inside the jewelry, it happened even slower. As such, poor people were basically incapable of becoming mages.

"I'll seriously have to get another source of income Just five to ten gold profit each week is way to slow now that I think about it!" Gerald squeezed his fist in determination.

Since the test with Stone Armor was done, he tried out a few Wind Blades. Even though he learned it not even a week ago, he could already be considered to have mastered it.

Mastery of spells went from beginner, intermediate, advanced, and master.

Beginners had to concentrate for a while and cast spells with long chants. If their state of mind wasn't proper, the spell could either not work or even backfire and damage the caster.

Gerald shook his head, "No need. Actually, it would be best if you keep a low profile"

The old butler immediately understood, "Don't worry young master, this old servant knows how to keep his mouth shut. Nobody will learn about young master's orders."

"Good!" Gerald was glad his order was understood. Just before leaving he also added, "If you see Xilia on your way out, tell her to meet me in my room."

"Yes!" The butler bowed once more and then left.

Gerald returned to his lab and opened another crate of Healing Roots and started processing them.

The process was slow, but he did not complain. Taking a few hours each week to make some potions was nothing much. He had plenty of time.

A few minutes later, Xilia came knocking on the door.

"I heard from Sebas that you wanted to speak to me?" she came in, asking.

"Yes!" Gerald nodded, "Come, sit down. I have a few things I wanted to speak to you about"

After she took a seat, he continued, "Your process of learning magic Can you tell me exactly how it went?"

"What do you mean?" Xilia asked doubtfully, she was confused as to what Gerald wanted to hear.

"Just tell me when you started learning, what was the process, how did it go, your experiences with it" he explained while calmly peeling the Healing Roots.

"Err, okay then" Although she was still confused, Xilia started with her story of learning magic, "The one that thought me magic was my uncle. At the age of twelve, he began teaching me how to sense Mana"

"Having no prior experience, it took me almost two years to fully grasp it. At the same time, I was also learning to vividly remember and visualize the spells that my uncle showed me. I was able to cast my first Wind Blade at the age of fifteen and Wind Body at sixteen. Unfortunately, we were captured soon after and so I was unable to advance much further"

"Hmm," Gerald frowned, "You needed two years to learn to sense Mana? Isn't that a little too long?"

"Well" Xilia thought for a while about how she should word this, "It's not that simple I was able to sense Mana after about a year already, but for casting a spell, it was still far from sufficient. Only after hundreds of repetitions did I get a grip on it and managed to hold my concentration for a long-enough time."

"And what did you do to learn to sense Mana in the first place?" Gerald probed further. He was currently almost half-done with peeling those chubby roots.

Xilia frowned, "Why are you asking me all this basic stuff? Aren't you much better at using magic than me?"

"Just answer the question." He was genuinely curious about the way people learned magic in this world. After all, he was self-thought and there were bound to be some noticeable differences. But, of course, he couldn't say that out loud.