Energy Missile

Energy Missile

"What a rare find. There was actually a water source here..."

Ronan soaked his feet and let out a contented sigh.

"I should mark this spot. I can run this way in the future."

He usually fetched water from the lakeshore, filling two large water containers at a time—enough to last him three to five days.

Rustle!

A sudden sound came from nearby.

Ronan quickly turned his head and spotted a patch of bushes trembling slightly.

It was probably some small animal that had been startled and run off.

Ronan paid it no mind.

But after thinking it over, he still felt uneasy. He dried his feet, put on his shoes, and slowly walked toward the shaking bushes.

After pushing aside several low shrubs covered in red berries and walking forward for over ten meters, a small Dark Green treehouse appeared in Ronan's view.

"Someone lived here?!"

Ronan was startled. He quickly stopped, then slowly backed away along the same path.

Running into other wizards in the Treehouse Area was common enough. Ronan had previously spotted signs of people living along the way and always kept his distance. He had not expected someone to live even in such a remote place.

"I can't come here next time... I'll need to adjust my route a little."

Having made his decision, Ronan hurried away.

He was drenched in sweat. After returning home and resting briefly, it was still not even nine in the morning.

Ronan's studies continued.

"Meditation is the only way I can increase my strength at this stage. The book said that meditating after completely exhausting my mental power will improve the results considerably."

Sitting beneath his oak tree, Ronan munched on wild fruit picked from the forest while studying the meditation book in his hands.

The meditation book stated that a person's soul was like a container, while mental power was the water contained within it.

If the water in the container was first drained dry, then refilled, the container's capacity would noticeably increase during the process.

The key was how to quickly exhaust his mental power.

"All wizard activities require mental power.

The more common ones are alchemy, enchanting, forging, and Rune Inscription. Naturally, spellcasting consumes the most."

Ronan put down his meditation book and picked up another wizard book with a black leather cover—the Complete Compendium of Zero-Order Spells.

This book had also been obtained by the previous owner of his body from Hoddam Academy.

Though it was called a compendium, it actually only recorded the casting methods for five zero-order spells.

They were—Fireball, Ice Ball, Energy Missile, Charged Weapon, and Detection Spell.

Ronan studied the descriptions of the five zero-order spells and perked up.

His greatest problem right now was his weak combat ability. No, to be precise, he had no combat ability at all.

Learning a combat spell was urgently necessary at this stage.

Ronan carefully read through all five spell descriptions. After weighing his options, he ultimately chose Energy Missile as his primary learning target for now.

He had Non-attribute Affinity, so Fireball and Ice Ball, which clearly leaned toward elemental energy attributes, were naturally not his first choices.

Charged Weapon required a weapon to cast, while Detection Spell was an auxiliary spell. Thus, Energy Missile, a long-range spell with no attribute requirements, became the most suitable choice for him.

The principle behind Energy Missile was simple: through incantations and hand gestures, one caused mental power to resonate magically with the free-floating energy particles in nature.

But actually performing it was not easy.

"Ulu... Babachi."

Ronan stumbled through the not particularly long incantation. Every syllable required a corresponding gesture. Whenever Ronan focused on chanting, he neglected the gestures; when he got the gestures right, he forgot the chant.

After practicing for several hours, Ronan was drenched in sweat and his mouth was dry, yet he still had not successfully cast even a single Energy Missile.

"Damn, this is way too hard!"

Ronan stared at the thick spellbook, deeply suspecting that he had practiced something wrong or failed to grasp the real trick.

Normally, in a situation like this, having someone guide him at his side would have been ideal.

Hoddam Academy offered that kind of service.

As long as he enrolled in the Energy Missile spell course, an experienced old wizard would break down every casting technique of the spell and explain it thoroughly, helping him avoid countless detours.

But Ronan had no money.

Ten Low-Level Magic Stones would practically kill him.

"I'd better practice on my own..."

Ronan let out a long sigh and continued burying himself in practice.

He did not even stop for lunch. Whenever he became tired from practicing, he meditated for a while.

He practiced until the sun began to slant westward. It was around four in the afternoon when—

"Ulubabachirdam!"

A string of strange, tongue-twisting syllables flowed accurately from Ronan's mouth. His ten pale, chubby fingers shifted rapidly through various hand gestures in time with each syllable, without the slightest error.

The instant the incantation and gestures were both completed successfully, Ronan instinctively heard a humming tremor beside his ears.

Immediately afterward, a large portion of the lively, transparent mass of mental power in his mind was drawn away.

The next second, the air in front of him distorted. A colorful sphere of light the size of a ping-pong ball appeared out of nowhere. With a slight shift of his thoughts, it shot out with a whoosh.

It struck an unfortunate oak tree ahead and exploded with a bang, blasting a large spray of wood chips from the trunk.

"It worked?!"

The success had come so suddenly that Ronan did not react at first.

A few seconds later, immense joy and accomplishment surged over him like a tide.

"It worked!"

Ronan rushed over excitedly to inspect where the Energy Missile had landed.

A deep, saucer-shaped crater remained in the oak tree's trunk, which was as thick as a person.

"This is even more powerful than a shotgun!"

Ronan looked at it again and again, marveling in amazement. But when he finally looked away, countless complicated emotions rose within him.

A wizard!

At this moment, he finally counted as a true wizard.

He possessed extraordinary power beyond the reach of ordinary people.

And something called confidence gradually took root in his heart.

"Huu..."

Ronan exhaled a breath of stale air, and his heart unexpectedly became very calm.

Rather than immersing himself in the joy of success, he continued practicing.

With the mental power Ronan possessed as a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice, he could cast Energy Missile about twice before exhausting it completely.

And casting two Energy Missiles took little more than two minutes.

His goal of quickly exhausting his mental power had been achieved as well. Everything seemed to be slowly getting on track.

After carelessly dealing with dinner, fireflies rose in the forest, yet Ronan was still practicing his spells.

For some reason, ever since successfully casting Energy Missile for the first time, his later practice had gone exceptionally smoothly.

Ronan chanted faster and faster, while his accompanying hand gestures became increasingly fluid.

He almost never failed to cast. Only once did he fail to complete the spell because mental fatigue had caused his mental power to fluctuate violently.

Late at night, Ronan dragged his exhausted body into the treehouse. The moment he entered, he collapsed onto his small bed and opened his Character Panel.

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level 1 Wizard Apprentice (88%)

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Beginner 11/100)

Energy Missile (Beginner 14/100)