Ice Crystal Technique

Dago left the academy administration office and casually found a long bench in a corridor somewhere in the castle. He sat quietly, watching the people passing by.

There were quite a few people in the corridor. Most wore apprentice robes, while a small number wore instructor robes. The two were easy to distinguish: apprentice robes had gray bases, with the academy emblem embroidered on the chest in silk thread.

Instructor robes were different. They had white bases, beautiful patterns embroidered along the edges and corners, and the academy emblem on the chest was stitched in silver thread.

Dago also noticed that the collars and cuffs of those instructor robes were embroidered with intricate wizard runes. Every rune seemed alive, glimmering faintly beneath the light.

The fabric looked exceptionally soft, as though woven from delicate spider silk, yet it possessed a resilient texture.

As time slowly passed, fewer and fewer people walked through the corridor. It seemed they were getting ready for class.

"If this keeps up, these ten Low-Grade Magic Stones will turn into nothing more than tickets for an academy tour!"

Dago thought anxiously.

He could not worry about that anymore. Hugging the black leather book to his chest, he followed behind a wizard wearing an instructor robe marked with blue dots.

From behind, she appeared to be an elderly female wizard. Her hair was completely white, like the first snowfall of winter.

After turning two corners, Dago followed the elderly instructor into a small arched classroom. The old desks, chairs, and blackboard all carried the marks of age, proving that this was an old classroom.

Small groups of wizard apprentices sat at the desks. Some flipped through books, while others whispered to one another. There were not many apprentice wizards in total, only around ten.

Holding his book, Dago casually found an empty desk in the corner of the classroom and sat down. He glanced toward the podium.

The elderly instructor sat quietly at the podium, looking at the sparse students below. A hint of disappointment showed in her eyes.

Deep in her gaze, it was as though she had crossed through time, carrying the ancient weathered memories of the past.

"Apprentices, today we will mainly study beginner ice-element spellcraft: the detailed pronunciation technique for the sixth syllable of the Hail Spell incantation. First, press your tongue against the roof of your mouth..."

A kindly smile hung on her face as she adjusted the reading glasses on her nose. Her slightly weathered voice rang out, like a rusty key turning the locks in the students' eyes, instantly drawing the apprentices' attention.

Dago stared blankly at the podium. He felt that her words were like seeds from multiplying vines; once they entered his ears, they took root, their veins growing into Roman columns within his cochlea.

He listened to the entire lesson in utter confusion. Thirty minutes passed, and he had learned absolutely nothing.

When the lesson ended, the apprentices packed up their books and left the classroom.

Only Dago remained sitting in his chair, negotiating with his brain in an attempt to salvage some lingering knowledge.

The elderly wizard saw his comical appearance and shook her head with a smile. She gathered up her thick teaching materials and prepared to leave as well.

Dago hugged his book and quickly rose to follow her, stopping her in the corridor outside the classroom.

"Hello, Instructor Rosalyn. I am Dago, a newly enrolled apprentice of the academy. I accidentally followed you into that classroom. Could you serve as my guide at the academy?"

Dago asked Rosalyn sincerely. He had only learned the elderly instructor's name by asking an apprentice sitting two seats away during the lecture.

For that, he had received several vicious glares from the apprentice, but at least he had gotten the elderly instructor's name.

"You did not even know this was a classroom dedicated to teaching ice-element spells? Still, I can see that your attitude toward learning is very sincere. I can be your guide at the academy."

"However, I have been rather busy lately and do not have time to teach apprentices individually. I have an ice-element spell here, which I will give you as a gift upon our first meeting."

Rosalyn pulled a thin manuscript from the thick teaching materials in her arms and handed it to Dago. It was covered in her graceful handwriting.

At that moment, Dago felt she was like a warm stove at the entrance of an old alley, always offering warmth when someone needed it.

"Your sincerity has moved me. Although the number of wizards studying the ice element at the academy is gradually decreasing, I still hope to contribute to its growth."

"Still, I must emphasize that ice-element spellcraft has its drawbacks. As your cultivation deepens, it will gradually affect your mental power, even your soul, causing you to reject spellcraft from other schools."

"That is why there are fewer and fewer apprentices cultivating ice-element spellcraft. I hope you will consider this carefully. It is a path that becomes harder and harder to turn back from."

Wizard Rosalyn earnestly warned Dago several times.

Dago took her words to heart. He accepted the A4-sized manuscript and thanked her with tears in his eyes.

Wizard Rosalyn said nothing more. She gave him a deep look, then turned and left.

Dago carefully tucked the manuscript into his black leather book. Afterward, he wandered aimlessly through the academy castle to familiarize himself with the surroundings, only returning to his little shelter once he was tired from walking.

At the shelter, Dago changed into a light hunting outfit and sat on a tree stump outside. It was already past five in the afternoon.

Beneath the gentle sunlight, Dago read the manuscript in his hands. He had actually skimmed through the black leather wizard book before, but it was obscure and difficult to understand, requiring a certain foundation in reading.

After weighing his options, he chose the simpler ice-element incantation spell—Ice Crystal Technique.

It was the spell recorded in the manuscript Wizard Rosalyn had given him.

The principle behind the Ice Crystal Technique was simple. It used an incantation to call forth the strange energy particles hidden within the Spirit World, then used mental power to control and gather them.

The incantation looked extremely simple, consisting of only two syllables. Dago tried pronouncing it according to the instructions on the paper.

"Kryos... Thalassa..."

However, after trying it in practice, Dago found that the actual pronunciation was far from easy.

After babbling away for an hour, Dago's mouth was dry, yet he had not succeeded even once.

"This is way too difficult!"

He looked at the thin manuscript and wondered whether he had practiced something incorrectly.

"Forget it. I'll eat first. Once I'm full, I'll have the strength to practice again."

With a sigh, he quickly went to wash rice and cook it, then chopped up some dried meat to boil with it. It made for a simple meal.

Before he knew it, the sky had darkened, and the twin moons hung overhead.

Night fell like an enormous black curtain, silently enveloping the Emerald Forest. Moonlight struggled through layer after layer of branches and leaves, scattering broken silver across the ground.

The sounds of the forest were like an eerie symphony. The cold wind swept through the treetops, releasing low, mournful wails.

Dago lit a bonfire in the clearing, driving away the darkness and bringing warmth.

By the firelight, he carefully studied the manuscript again. This time, Dago was determined to carve it firmly into his mind.

Instructor Rosalyn's handwriting on the manuscript was beautiful, filling the entire page. Much of the knowledge had been explained in painstaking detail, giving Dago a much deeper understanding of the Wizarding World.

Instructor Rosalyn believed that an incantation was like a "key" that opened a door connecting to another layer of the world.

Those strange energy particles could then emerge from behind that door and descend into the natural world.

Some strange energy particles disliked the heat of the natural world, transferring that heat through an unknown method to strange energy particles that liked heat.

Energy could only be transferred; it could not disappear from nothing. This was a truth discovered by the Wizarding World only within the past century.

The strange energy particles that disliked heat were called ice elements in the Wizarding World.

The strange energy particles that liked heat were naturally fire elements.

All spellcraft that controlled and manipulated these energy particles of the world—whether fire, earth, ice, wind, and other elements, or acid, alkali, electrical energy, and mechanical energy brought about by the advancement of civilization—was collectively known as energy-shaping wizardry.

These spells could cause massive destruction to the natural world in a short time. Of course, the Ice Crystal Technique did not possess such power; it was merely a basic ice-element spell.

Most of the knowledge had been expanded upon by Instructor Rosalyn through the Ice Crystal Technique.

Tucking the manuscript back into the black leather book, Dago closed his eyes and carefully savored every sentence on the paper. When he opened them again, a sapphire-blue glow flowed through his eyes.

"Kryos... Thalassa..."

The strange, awkward syllables left Dago's mouth with perfect accuracy.

The instant the incantation ended, a large portion of his mental power vanished, as though something had gnawed it away.

Dago looked around. Scattered ice elements, like specks of dust, abruptly appeared around him, hovering in the air as they continuously drew heat from the atmosphere.

The temperature around Dago plummeted, making him shiver from the cold.

He hurriedly used his mental power to gather the emerging ice elements one meter in front of him.

The ice elements rapidly condensed into a blue energy sphere the size of a pigeon egg. A large amount of water vapor quickly condensed and grew around the blue sphere.

As more water vapor flowed in from afar, the blue energy sphere grew according to his will, forming an arm-thick ice crystal pillar that floated in the air.

Countless icy flowers drifted slowly from the ice crystal pillar. Under the moonlight, they looked dreamlike and illusory. With a slight shift of Dago's thoughts, the pillar shot forward with a "whoosh."

The icy flowers trailed a dazzling tail behind the ice crystal pillar. With a "bang," it embedded itself into a tree more than ten meters ahead, then vanished as it melted into a puddle of water.

Overwhelming joy and accomplishment washed over Dago as a system notification appeared.

[Detected improvable skill: Ice Crystal Technique. Would you like to improve it?]

Dago immediately chose yes, and the system panel changed.

[Universal Wizard Meditation Method (Beginner 111/1000); Air Bullet (Beginner 123/1000); Ice Crystal Technique (Novice 1/100)]

It seems that any spell I successfully cast for the first time can be loaded into the system.

Seeing the Ice Crystal Technique loaded into the system panel, Dago let out a breath of relief.

His heart unexpectedly calmed considerably. Rather than indulging in joy, he continued practicing.

With his current total mental power, he could cast the Ice Crystal Technique roughly twice before exhausting himself. The Ice Crystal Technique required far more mental power than Air Bullet—roughly three Air Bullets for one Ice Crystal Technique.

So now, each time he meditated, he cast three Air Bullets and one Ice Crystal Technique, repeating the cycle over and over.

After cultivating for three hours, Dago finally dragged his exhausted body into the shelter. He changed out of his sweat-soaked hunting clothes, quickly washed up, then collapsed onto the small bed lined with deer hide.

He reviewed his evening's cultivation. As the Ice Crystal Technique improved, his control over ice elements became increasingly effortless. Moreover, as its progress value increased, the requirements for the incantation's syllables were actually decreasing.

Perhaps in the future, he would be able to cast spells without chanting. With beautiful fantasies of the future in his heart, he gradually drifted into sleep.