Fireball

The biggest changes were to his attributes.

His Stamina had gone from 8 to 10. After clearing the Kobold Den, he'd received 2 free attribute points and put them into Stamina.

His Spirit had gone from 18 to 19, thanks to his hard studying over the past few days and his persistent meditation. Meditation worked quickly at first, but progress slowed afterward. Raising his Spirit to 20 through meditation alone would be a long road. Who knew how many days it would take?

There was another unexpected change, too.

The quest interface now had a new side quest, in addition to the ever-present main quest, "Upgrade the Space Garrison to the Garrison of God," the mage class quest chain's Novice Mage promotion quest, "Beginning of Arcane," and the unfinished side quest, "Golem Heart."

"Side Quest: Arcane Saint."

"Quest Objective: Become the first Novice Mage in human history."

"Quest Description: Impossible, impossible! How could there be a mage more talented than you? Defeat Meryl Winterstorm! Beat him and make him kneel and sing his surrender! Become the first Novice Mage and earn the title 'Arcane Saint,' personally bestowed by Emperor Thoradin."

"Quest Reward: Blue-quality rare equipment, 'Ring of the Arcane Saint.' Upgradeable."

What was the greatest help the Space Garrison had given Shawn?

The Portal of Time and Space?

The various buildings?

No, no, no. It was all the quests!

Quests meant rewards, and rewards meant endless benefits!

Clearly, the upgradeable blue-quality rare equipment offered as a quest reward was a powerful temptation for Shawn. He knew he'd given in when he saw himself drooling.

"For the reward... uh, no, for my dream! Work hard, work even harder! I'll become an Arcane Saint!"

Then Shawn gave up on sleeping and began to meditate.

Early the next morning, Shawn appeared before Meryl and the Elf Sorceress with dark circles under his eyes.

"Shawn! Were you up all night?" Meryl was instantly inspired by Shawn's diligence. "You're amazing, Shawn! I'm going to follow your example and work hard with you!"

Hearing that, Shawn felt his whole world collapse. He nearly toppled over.

It was bad enough that Meryl was so talented. If he worked hard, too... would there be any hope for those of us with mediocre gifts?

"Ahem. Let's work hard to defeat the trolls." Shawn tried to change the subject and rally them with a slogan.

The little miser Meryl had no such awareness.

But the Elf Sorceress immediately turned serious and clenched her fists. "Let's work hard to defeat the trolls!"

And so their training became even more grueling.

Though Meryl was more talented, there was no denying that Shawn's Spirit of 19 gave him a tremendous advantage. By the time Meryl was still an ordinary person, Shawn could already summon a Water Elemental.

And by the time Meryl could summon a Water Elemental, Shawn could summon a Fire Elemental.

Unfortunately, just as Shawn had once suspected, he could only summon a tiny flame, while Meryl summoned a whole bucket of water from the sky and drenched him from head to toe!

"Meryl, you did that on purpose, didn't you? You did it on purpose, didn't you? Didn't you...?" Shawn was furious.

That evening, he sat alone before the fireplace, staring at the modest flames within.

His thoughts drifting, Arcane Energy rippled, and the flames in the fireplace flickered gently.

Shawn's eyes slowly lit up.

Talent didn't decide everything. Neither did elemental affinity.

There were still many ways for Shawn to surpass Meryl Winterstorm.

Pure arcane magic, for instance. Studying both fire and ice. Or... drawing on outside forces!

If the Fire Elemental he summoned wasn't enough to shape into a concentrated fireball, why not shape an existing flame instead?

Shawn focused, gathering Arcane Energy. A fist-sized fireball slowly took shape within the flames of the fireplace...

In a sense, being able to cast Fireball meant Shawn had already become a Novice Mage!

Though he hadn't summoned a Fire Elemental and then used Evocation.

Though neither the Elf Sorceress nor Emperor Thoradin would recognize it.

Though it wasn't a Fireball in the strictest sense.

Still, successfully forming a fireball improved his rapport with the fire element through their interaction. The number of Fire Elementals he could summon gradually increased.

The amount of Fire Elementals you could summon depended not only on your elemental affinity, but also on your Spirit's ability to direct the elements!

With the same affinity, the more skillfully you used your Spirit and the better you understood the elements, the more you could direct! And if your affinity was high enough, you could summon a large number of elements, but without the ability to control them, you still couldn't... use Evocation.

That was also why Meryl could summon a bucket of water but couldn't turn the Water Elemental into a Frostbolt. His Spirit wasn't strong enough, he was poor at using it, and his understanding of the elements was nowhere near sufficient.

A confident smile touched Shawn's lips.

Though he still couldn't summon as many elements as Meryl, Shawn believed he would eventually surpass him. That day wouldn't be far off.

The day he surpassed Meryl Winterstorm was just around the corner.

For more than ten days straight, he barely slept. When he was tired, he meditated; when he was thirsty or hungry, he ate in his room. When he felt refreshed, he sat before the fireplace and communed with the flames, strengthening their bond. Shawn neglected his appearance and didn't care how dirty he got. His only goal was to improve as quickly as possible and cast his first true Fireball.

Time flowed like a river.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Over those ten days, Meryl Winterstorm made rapid progress.

With his extraordinary affinity for the Water Elemental, he never had to worry about running short on elemental energy. He was only one step away from casting Frostbolt, but that step wasn't easy.

He still had a long way to go in using his Spirit and understanding the Fire Elemental.

So he needed to commune with the Fire Elemental, use and train his Spirit as much as possible, and meditate persistently until his Spirit reached 10.

Of course, Azeroth didn't quantify spiritual power like that. Shawn was simply using his own attribute panel as a point of reference.

According to the Space Garrison's measurements, one needed a Spirit of 10 to cast true first-tier spells such as Frostbolt and Fireball, and to qualify for advancement to a formal mage.

The Space Garrison's measurements were beyond doubt.

Meryl Winterstorm's Spirit had already reached 9, just 1 point short of his goal. With his extraordinary elemental affinity, once his Spirit reached 10, casting Frostbolt would come naturally.

Shawn faced a tremendous challenge.

But he was confident.

On the twenty-seventh day after arriving in Stromgarde, Shawn could finally summon a basketball-sized flame, then use Evocation to condense it into a fist-sized fireball.

A fireball with tremendous explosive power.