At dawn the next day, before first light, Ian quietly left the gathering point.
He traveled north for about an hour, finding a small clearing deep within the dense forest, far from all known paths.
The clearing was not large, but it was enough for him.
Ian set up simple Warning Runes around the area, released the [Eye of Vigilance] overhead, and lit a stick of calming incense beside him before sitting down cross-legged.
[Lesser Frost Ray: First Limit Break (798/800) (Limit Break Special Effects: 1. Twin)]
Only two more points remained before the Second Limit Break. When that happened, its power would rise to another level, perhaps even rivaling [Scorching Ray].
He took a deep breath. Within his Mental Sea, the Frost Rune representing [Lesser Frost Ray] slowly emerged.
After undergoing one Limit Break, this rune had become far more complex than before. It looked like two intertwined ice-blue vortices, with fine frost patterns spreading from their edges.
Yet in Ian's perception, many parts of the rune's structure remained blurry, and the paths through which its energy flowed were not entirely smooth.
"Let's begin!"
Ian closed his eyes and began operating the spell model.
Rather than directly releasing the ray, he repeatedly traced, refined, and optimized every detail of the rune within his Mental Sea.
He started with the energy absorption nodes, then moved on to the conversion structure for ice-element Magic Power, followed by the rune arrays for compression and activation...
He dismantled the entire model into dozens of sections and refined them one by one.
[Lesser Frost Ray Proficiency +1]
Proficiency did not have to be gained solely through casting. Constantly analyzing and improving a spell model could earn it as well.
Time slipped away amid his concentration.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in