Deriving Seventh-level Magic

With his spiritual force having reached the level of a Seventh-level Mage, his speed of refining magical power had also become incredibly fast.

By a stream in the back mountains of Ernst Academy, Arnold sat cross-legged, quietly refining magical power.

Within Arnold's body, at the location of the Middle Dantian in his chest, the ochre mist and pale green mist had become terrifyingly dense. As their density continued to increase, the mist in his dantian finally reached its limit.

Slowly, a droplet of ochre liquid and a droplet of green liquid appeared within Arnold's Middle Dantian. Soon after, more and more ochre and green liquid droplets emerged, growing from one to ten, a hundred, a thousand...

The most fundamental difference between a Sixth-level Mage and a Seventh-level Mage was that magical power began to liquefy!

By all rights, Arnold should have been very happy after becoming a Seventh-level Mage. Yet Arnold was quite displeased. Ernst Academy simply did not teach Seventh-level Magic or anything higher. Unless Arnold agreed to join some major power, there was no way to learn it. Fortunately, he had Morin's book; Morin understood earth-element magic from the Seventh-level to the Ninth-level.

Arnold naturally had no Seventh-level wind-element magic, but the Seventh-level Magic Flight Spell was originally an extension of the Levitation Spell. Arnold had already improved so many spells that he could naturally derive the Flight Spell as well. Based on books concerning the principles of wind-element magic that he had read in the academy library, Arnold had been constantly experimenting with the incantation for Flight Spell.

But after all, it was Seventh-level Magic. In the back mountains of Ernst Academy, Arnold had not dared to conduct many experiments, fearing that if someone saw him and exposed his strength as a Seventh-level Mage, it would not end well.

Having reached the level of a Seventh-level Mage, Arnold first increased the power of several earth-element spells to the Seventh-level, such as Gravity Spell.

The Seventh-level Magic Arnold named Greater Gravity Spell could increase gravity to eight times normal.

As for the Seventh-level Magic—Jade-Tier Earthquake Sacred Armor—Arnold had long since tested the concept for Earthquake Sacred Armor that had come to him during his moment of enlightenment.

Originally, the Seventh-level Magic Jade-Tier Earth Guardian Sacred Armor had nearly ten times the defensive power of Sixth-level Magic. Arnold's improved Earthquake Sacred Armor was even more remarkable. When Arnold cast Earthquake Sacred Armor on himself, it appeared identical to the original version on the surface. But if an enemy launched a magical attack against it, because Arnold stood on the ground, he could even guide half the attack into the earth. Its defensive power was the same as the original version's, but its endurance was more than twice as great.

Because Arnold's Gravity Spell was too effective, under four times gravity, even the blood and meridians inside the body had to endure four times the gravitational force, let alone eight times gravity. This caused his strength to soar, and it had now reached the level of a Third-level Warrior.

Some Fifth-level Magic, when cast with the strength of a Seventh-level Mage, was effectively Seventh-level Magic.

For example, Earth Spike Spear Array and Gravity Spell. Having reached the level of a Seventh-level Mage, Arnold's strength could be said to have risen to another level. First, his physical strength had reached that of a Third-level Warrior. Second, a Seventh-level Mage possessed far more magical power than a Sixth-level Mage and could cast many more spells. Combined with Arnold's improvements to magic, the power he could unleash had risen to an entirely new level.

Arnold could not stop thinking about the power of vibration. Previously, he had only mixed vibration into Earth Guardian Sacred Armor. Now that he had reached the Seventh-level, Arnold began researching offensive magic that could incorporate vibration.

What form should this offensive magic take? Arnold thought of the famous ninjutsu from a certain manga—Rasengan.

Rasengan was a technique that gathered chakra, compressed it into a confined area, and spun it at high speed, using the enormous tearing force produced to destroy the enemy. It formed a palm-sized chakra sphere and attacked the opponent. Once it hit, it could not only damage the surface, but also briefly disrupt the enemy's chakra.

Converted into magic, chakra could be replaced with a fusion of magical power and earth elements. However, condensing Rasengan into a sphere and attacking an enemy that way resembled a warrior's methods too closely. To turn it into magic, Arnold certainly could not simply condense Rasengan in his hand and then strike the enemy.

But he could use Shattering Stone as a reference. Arnold immediately cast a First-level Shattering Stone at random. As Arnold silently recited the incantation, earth-element magical power surged from his chest, and the earth elements between heaven and earth were drawn toward him as well. The ground beside him split open, and five head-sized stones rose into the air, floating above Arnold's head. Arnold controlled the five stones with his spiritual force and smashed them into the ground nearby. A rush of wind sounded, and several pits were smashed into the intact ground.

These stones merely gathered earth elements together, giving them some destructive power, but not much. If Arnold wanted to realize Rasengan, he needed to add the concept of vibration during the process of condensing them to achieve the effect he wanted.

Wind Blade worked in much the same way: a blade-shaped wind with cutting properties formed by condensed wind elements. Arnold mixed vibration into Shattering Stone, studied it for some time, and prepared to begin testing it.

Silently reciting the improved magical incantation, Arnold caused the nearby ground to split open again. Five head-sized stones rose up and floated above his head. Arnold controlled these stones and hurled them at a distant tree.

Bang!

The five stones surrounded by ochre light struck a tree trunk as thick as a bowl at the same time. The trunk shook violently but still did not break, and the five stones eventually fell to the ground.

Arnold stepped closer to inspect it. The surface of the trunk had only lost a little bark, but when Arnold exerted a bit of force and peeled back part of it, the entire tree fell straight down. The inside of the tree at the point struck by the stones had been reduced to wood chips. The vibration from the stones had directly ground its interior into splinters.

But this power was still not strong enough. He continued improving it, changing the shape formed from earth elements into spheres.

Arnold named this newly improved magic Spiral Sphere. It counted as Second-level Magic, considering the power it possessed. The ground split open, forming five head-sized spherical stones. Arnold smashed them directly into the ground, creating five round pits with diameters of half a meter.

These Spiral Spheres were formed by combining earth elements with soil from the ground, but they were far too slow. Arnold improved them once more. The Spiral Spheres would no longer form from the ground, but condense in the air.

This time, the Spiral Spheres were formed from a large number of earth elements in the air, while chunks of soil rose directly from the ground, wrapped around the earth elements, and formed ochre spheres once more.

After briefly testing their power, Arnold found that they were no weaker than the original Spiral Spheres, while their speed of condensation had increased tremendously.

Arnold continuously derived this Spiral Sphere all the way to Fifth-level Magic. A Fifth-level Spiral Sphere could form twenty-five stones twice the size of a human head within a four-meter diameter centered on Arnold. Its power was no weaker than even Sixth-level Magic.

Arnold had also derived a Seventh-level Spiral Sphere, but he had not cast it even once. According to Arnold's estimates, a Seventh-level Spiral Sphere could form thirty-five massive stones within a ten-meter diameter centered on the caster. Its power was too great, leaving even Arnold afraid to test it.