Developing Magic

Cain was no longer troubled by money for the time being, so he turned his attention to magic.

More precisely, he wanted to develop magic suited to himself—yes, his own original magic.

Cain currently knew: Radiance, Light Rain, Light Shield, Adamant Chains, and Light Feather Explosion.

His offensive spells were Light Rain and Light Feather Explosion, his defensive spell was Light Shield, his control spell was Adamant Chains, and his support spell was Radiance.

Though his abilities were fairly well-rounded, Cain still felt it was not enough. For example, he had yet to make use of the restorative effects contained within Holy Light Magic.

However, the Light Element Magic recorded in the guild did not include any recovery spells.

This gave Cain quite a headache, and he spent several days with a deeply furrowed brow.

Gray and Cana became curious about what had happened. After asking, they learned that Cain had run into difficulties developing magic, but neither of them had any good ideas.

Wakaba, who was drinking nearby, overheard their conversation and spoke up. "You could ask the master. Maybe he'll have a solution."

"Right, how could I forget the master?" Wakaba's words immediately woke Cain up. He had been overthinking things these past few days.

The three youngsters went over to Makarov. "Master, I want to develop a support spell that suits me. Do you have any ideas?"

Makarov looked at the three before him and could not help praising them. "Kids these days are really impressive. At your age, you're already thinking about developing your own magic."

After praising them, he continued, "Have you thought about what direction you want to take? Detection, for example, or enhancement?"

Cain had already thought that through. What he wanted was something like Wendy's magic in the future—able to fight and heal.

Seeing that Cain already had a clear direction, Makarov continued, "Mm, your magic is indeed quite suited to that type. But unfortunately, I don't know that kind of magic either."

Upon hearing that, the three of them let out disappointed cries, their expressions making no attempt to hide their disappointment.

"But—"

Hearing there was still hope, the three immediately stared intently at the master. Makarov did not beat around the bush. "You can go ask Porlyusica."

Makarov's words made Cain realize it at once. That was right—Grandma Porlyusica was not only an apothecary, but also an exceptionally skilled healing mage.

Now that he knew whom to seek out, Cain immediately bid Makarov farewell and ran outside.

When Cana and Gray tried to follow, Makarov stopped them. "You two shouldn't go. Porlyusica rather dislikes humans."

Deep in the forest east of Magnolia.

"So you rushed all the way here just to learn support magic from me?"

"Mm-hm."

Seeing Cain looking at her expectantly, Porlyusica thought for a moment before saying, "The magic I know isn't suitable for you. But since you want to develop your own magic, it would be good enough as a reference."

She went inside, brought out a book, and handed it to Cain. "It records three support spells: Defense Increase, Speed Increase, and Attack Increase. Take it back and have a look."

Cain found that the book was not very thick, only around a dozen pages. Before he could thank her, Porlyusica urged, "All right, hurry up and leave."

Cain did not linger. He took the book back to his dormitory and began studying the three basic support spells.

Cain first drew one of the magic circles on paper, then began breaking it down.

Breaking down a magic circle was not easy. First, he had to identify its core formation, middle formation, and outer formation.

Next, he had to locate the connection points between the formations. Finally, he had to use those points to divide the magic circle into three parts.

After about four days, Cain had broken the Defense Increase magic circle into three sections.

After dismantling it, Cain needed to replace and reorganize it, using his own Holy Light Magic in place of the core formation so the spell could be successfully cast.

This was also the hardest and most crucial part.

Cain was stuck here for several days. The core formation of Holy Light Magic simply would not connect smoothly with the middle formation of Defense Increase.

Just as Cain was thinking of how to solve the issue, Gray's voice sounded outside the room. "Cain, are you in there?"

"Ah, I'm here. What is it, Gray?"

Cain opened the door and looked curiously at Gray standing outside.

Seeing Cain standing before him safe and sound, Gray could not help letting out a sigh of relief. "You haven't shown up at the guild these past few days, so everyone was worried. They sent me to check on you."

Only then did Cain remember that he had been immersed in researching magic for the past few days and had not gone to the guild. "Sorry for making everyone worry. But I'm fine."

Gray recalled Cain mentioning the development of magic before and asked curiously, "Good. How's your magic development going?"

"I ran into a problem. I don't know how to solve it."

Seeing Cain's troubled expression, Gray did not have any good ideas either. After all, he did not understand things like middle formations and outer formations.

Ur had never taught him those things. She had only said that Maker Magic was free and should not be restrained by rules and regulations.

"If you can't figure it out, then stop thinking about it. Come on, let's go out for a walk."

Without waiting for Cain to respond, he grabbed him and dragged him outside. He kicked open the guild doors and shouted inside, "I brought Cain back!"

When everyone in the guild saw Cain at the entrance, they immediately began talking over one another. "I thought the kid got kidnapped!" "I say Cain was definitely at home sleeping in!"

"Now that Cain's here, let's start the party!"

"Oh!!!!"

Cain was touched by everyone's concern. He decided to put aside the matter of developing magic for now and simply enjoy the party.

That night, after returning to the dormitory, Cain looked at the messy papers on the table and encouraged himself. "Come on. I can definitely do this."

Why did the flow of magic power become so uneven after replacing it with Holy Light Magic?

Cain unconsciously placed the previous core formation beside the core formation of Holy Light Magic for comparison. He realized that the Holy Light core formation was far more complex than the original one.

At that moment, Cain understood. That was right—the Holy Light core formation was too complex, so two connection points simply could not support the flow of magic power from the Holy Light core formation into the middle formation.

Put simply, there was too much water, but the pipe was too narrow.

Now that he knew the crux of the problem, it was easy to solve. If two connection points were not enough, then he would add another.

Having figured it out, Cain began working on where to add the new connection point.

The next day, Cain looked at the successfully activated magic circle in his hand, his heart filled with accomplishment.

"I'll call you Holy Light: Guard. Simple and clear. Next, I need to test how much the defense has increased."

Cain found Gray, who had just gotten out of bed. "Gray, hit me with everything you've got."

Cain's words left Gray somewhat dumbfounded. He wondered if he was still half-asleep. Who voluntarily asked to be beaten up?