Ruger looked at the last book. Choosing these three spellbooks that day had taken quite some time. As he struggled to keep from being overwhelmed by the dazzling selection, he had also admired the patience of that rotund old wizard. Perhaps the old wizard, who was always saying he had little time left, had developed his habit of dozing off this way-through repeatedly serving people like Ruger, who took such pains over choosing spells.
The last book also contained an interesting spell.
Ainige's Heart Chamber Arena, a Third Ring spell.
It was another spell that constructed a Spell Heart. After years of research and constant refinement by its creator, it had acquired several effects. Desire drove progress, and the creator's original desire had stemmed from his poor aptitude for mental power. He was a wizard with both a low mental power limit and poor recovery. In everyday use, this Spell Heart served as a temporary storage vessel that also tempered mental power with each beat.
Within the Spell Heart, mental power split into three streams that circulated with its beating, then converged at one point to compete and fight. Their collisions and contests made the mental power purer and more compact, slightly improving its quality.
This peculiar arena also played a role in battle. It was like a war drum, drawing in both the caster's own heart and that of the opponent before him. Under the pulsing of the Spell Heart, they would engage in a special contest-a duel between their hearts. By pouring large amounts of mental power into the spell and channeling it into the Spell Heart, the caster made his own heart and his opponent's pound violently, as though they were colliding.
The heart of a wizard with a weak constitution might burst outright. Even a physically