Casual Heroing

Do I know a spell for breaking rocks?

It’s a good question but with a negative answer.

But I brought something to help me with it.

We slipped past the guards who were stationed quite far from the actual place. I mean, you would expect them to be right in front of the entrance, right?

Instead, they have a very large perimeter; they keep their distance.

I’m not going to complain.

So, let’s learn some new magic, shall we?

“Book, I know you said I can’t learn new magic, but I practiced all your Cantrips without batting an eyelid,” I say after fishing out the Omnium Compendium. “Now, I bet an [Archmage] would be honorable, right? I need a low-level spell to break the rocks over there because my friends are trapped, and no one else wants to risk their lives to save them.”

Jet-black ink slowly appears on the pages.

‘A true [Archmage] has to show his magnanimous spirit. Magister Mulligan himself would probably give his disciple a prize after practicing so much. One spell will be granted to you. The best tool for the current situation is a simple [Earth Split], a 1st tier spell. It’s the basis of much stronger spells like [Earthquake], [Terraforming], [Earth Titan], and—’

Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get to the end.

‘Use it to separate the rocks while expending the minimum amount of Mana possible. Efficiency is paramount!’

I click my tongue, interested. I can feel Lucillus’s and Antoninus’s presence by my side, but they are silent. They don’t really know much about the book, and I hope they will not figure out that it is actually a legendary relic. You know, I like the lads, but this book’s real value should stay hidden as long as possible, even forever, if I can manage that.

[Advanced Mana Sense]

That’s the usual skill, right? But look at this now.

[Single-Minded Focus]

Why is it this color? I don’t know.

That’s how I see it in my mind.

I gained the skill after losing myself in magic for almost two days straight. I told Stan I needed time to crack one of the hardest Cantrips yet – don’t worry, you will see what I had to deal with soon. And after burying myself in the depths of magic to ignore the stray thoughts that irreparably went to Lucinda, I had this weird, very weird experience.

Have you ever thought, ‘I just found out one of the biggest secrets of this world’?

It’s the kind of feeling you get when you read Seneca, the Latin philosopher. The way he writes stuff makes the most complex thoughts seem trivial, as if he had everything figured out. It’s marvelous. As a side note, I don’t like people who pride themselves on being ‘stoic’ but have never read Seneca.

Anyway, what happened was that I got – and this will sound cringe as hell – enlightened. Yep, I said it. And it’s not an Instagram post about some rich girl going to a meditation retreat.

I don’t know; maybe we will revisit it later.

For now, I’ll show you what it does.

As I activate the skill, every single thought disappears.

My ears withstand true silence.

I look at the spell, [Earth Split]. The pattern is much different from [Light], and the very energy in the squiggly lines has a different feeling. That would have been a problem if I hadn’t practiced my Cantrips so diligently.

Different energy for different spells.

Attunement.

Synchronization.

Hue.

Color.

There are many things I haven’t shown you.

I don’t even notice whether I’m breathing or not in this state. My body relegates such distracting functions to a subconscious part of my brain.

This spell is quite easy.

I superimpose the spell with the first huge rock, and I see the matrix sinking into said rock.

Beautiful.

Magic is truly everything one could wish for.

I slowly trace the squiggly lines, and I notice an intrinsic polarity in the spell. No, not polarity. A part of the squiggly lines moves around and starts tracing a natural anti-matrix. Not one, wait. Two.

I see.

This spell has moving components already. They are much more intricate than what I’m used to.

But that’s not a problem.

All this practice wasn’t for nothing.

The first rock silently splits in two as if bisected by an invisible blade. From there, it starts separating, with one piece moving to the left and one to the right. That’s what the anti-matrixes were for—moving the pieces.

If I used it on a small rock with the same amount of Mana, the two separated pieces would veritably fly away from each other.

I start grinding away at the entrance. The spell is conveniently silent. Or maybe it’s just my execution. I can’t know for sure.

I drop the focus skill after a bit to avoid taxing my mind. After having understood how it works, it’s pretty straightforward.

It takes a good twenty minutes to open a man-sized hole.

I look at the darkness with a quivering heart.

Am I ready for this?

Is there even a way I can be ready for this?

[Light]

I throw my most practiced spell towards the entrance with ease. I’ll need it to see those…

What’s their name again?

“Lucillus, what are the monsters called?” I whisper.

“Skraktalosia,” the voice comes from thin air.

My invisibility spell is almost fully gone. I’m barely translucent at this point.

It would have been a good idea to maybe stealth our way up to Gaius?

Nah.

I was never good at that stuff in military video games. I’m more of a gun-blazing player.

“A single Skraktalosia is a Bronze threat. A nest of them, a Silver one. A Mother, instead, is a Gold-rank threat. That’s because she can keep spawning and spawning monsters without rest.”

Such a treat, huh?

“Well, let’s get to work then,” I crack my neck. It’s not for show. Try staying put and cast the same spell over and over for half an hour. Yep, not the best.

I take a sip of one Mana potion and exhale.

I don’t even try to think this might somehow go well. I know how Lady Luck works. Who whines, wins. That’s my new motto. Confidence is for people who want to die.