The late spring sun was just reaching its zenith as I stretched out my arms and wiped away the sweat beading on my forehead. Casting Waterball in succession so many tis was exhausting, not just on my mana stores, but also ntally. Continually using the Eyes of Fate added to the burden, although that took a lot less strength than Lysander led to believe.
Despite my fatigue, tremors of excitent shook my hands as I prepared myself. It had been over a month since I last tried casting a spell chantless, but the mory was fresh in my mind. I envisioned the necessary runes and magic circle, then slowly reached for my mana.
The sweet, seductive warmth flowed into my body, renewing my strength and sending a thrill of anticipation through my body. I took a long, deliberate deep breath to quell so of the impatience, as that could be detrintal to the spell. Finally, I was ready.
"Waterball," I murmured.
I directed my mana to move in the sa patterns a chant would, slowly Constructing a series of runes and placing them within the magic circle. The manual control took much longer than using a chant, eating up my willpower over the course of several minutes. By the ti the last rune fell into place, my arms trembled from exertion, and my legs were ready to collapse. I grit my teeth and persevered, unwilling to let anything disrupt my concentration.
At last, the final rune fell into place. Closely observing the magic circle, I sighed in relief. It was a perfect replication, but I didn't release the spell yet.
Mustering what little remained of my dwindling mana, I tweaked a few runes, adjusting their placent within the circle. After a few other changes, I cut off my mana, watching as a spherical ball of water ford in my palm. It didn't appear any different than a typical Waterball, but it was hard to suppress the smile threatening my lips.
Letting the water drop to the ground, I quickly cast another Waterball, foregoing the chant once more. With my previous experience, I moved through the process much quicker, taking barely twenty seconds to cast both the spell and make the adjustnts.
When the spell resolved, I had used barely half the mana required for the Waterball spell. This ti, I really couldn't hold back a smile, the corners of my lips twitching uncontrollably.
"Is that a smile?"
I jumped as Selena's voice startled into dropping the Waterball. It exploded when it hit the ground, splashing water all over my ankles.
"Sorry," she said quickly, "But even if it was small, that's got to be the first ti I've seen it. What's got you so happy?"
Didn't I smile a lot though? Thinking back, I quickly sobered as her words seed to be the case. The only ti I ever felt happy enough to smile was with Soltair, and that was rarely, if at all. I jumped again as Selena cleared her throat, breaking from my thoughts.
"It's nothing much. Just so progress on a spell."
"Oh? Ready to show ?"
I looked at her carefully. Modifying spells was nearly unheard of, as most people lacked the control to even properly feel mana, much less manually control it. The rare instances of doing so usually sent waves through the world, as their work was passed on and recorded ti and ti again. The small incident of the light spell from day one had been covered up by Selena, but I had no doubt even that would stir up trouble.
"It's okay if you don't want to, but rember I'm on your side."
Her face seed to glow for a second, lit by a smile that brought anything I'd ever imagined to sha. Reluctantly, I nodded.
"I was practicing with the water ball spell when I realized the chant used the mana rather inefficiently. I think I've got it fixed to optimize mana consumption, but I doubt it's anywhere near perfect. I'm pretty experienced, and-"
"You fixed a spell?" She asked dumbly. "Wait, is this like the light spell? You cast chantless again?"
"Well, technically. But I did it the right way and still manually used runes, instead of just forcing what I want to happen!" I said hurriedly, trying to assuage her fears.
"Even so, I wish you'd at least consult with first."
I felt a little bad at her disappointed look but pushed onward. "Here, if I cast it like this..." Casting the modified Waterball spell before her, I grinned proudly. "See? It's like twice as efficient!"
She looked at it carefully, then turned her gaze to . "It doesn't look any different to . What exactly did you do differently?"
"I just made so changes to the order of the runes, and a few minor tweaks to the one dictating the actual creation of the water." I quickly cast again, pausing the spell shortly before it resolved so she could examine the magic circle.
"Ah, I see. And how did you know to do that?" She asked curiously.
I froze, feeling like a mouse before a cat. "Uh, well..."
"Is this that ability you ntioned before? Does it allow you to see mana?" She asked, eyes widening.
I nodded dumbly, not exactly sure why I felt ashad. "Sothing like that." Maybe it was because I was hiding sothing from her. She had done nothing but help , yet I couldn't even share the truth.
"If it truly reduces mana consumption, that would be incredible. By any chance, did you figure out a new chant for it?"
"I'm not great at the whole chant thing, to be honest." The way the sounds connected with the mana was completely beyond , and I had no idea which syllable of the chant to even start with.
"Then why don't you spend a few days at the library? There are a few books on the origin of chant that might help you understand them. Until then, let's keep this a secret between you and ."
"Do you have any recomndations?" I asked hopefully.
"Hmm, not really. It's not sothing I've taken a particular interest in, but I'm sure the librarians can help you out."
As we talked, a sense of warning filled , accompanied by a writhing surge of mana. Turning quickly, I stared in shock as a ball of fire crashed toward us, setting the air itself ablaze with its fury.
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