Kroya threw himself into meditation.
With a special meditation method and thirsty sea glow algae to help him, coupled with his exceptionally powerful mental strength, he progressed incredibly quickly.
By noon on the third day of his "seclusion," the breakthrough came.
A brand-new magic vortex appeared in his mana pool, doubling its capacity and slightly increasing the purity of his mana.
From that moment on, Kroya was a second-level mage-a rank the body's original owner had failed to reach despite wasting years trying.
Clearly, a special high-level meditation method and outside assistance were crucial.
"Level two. Now I can learn more spells, study the second movement of the Song of Red, and complete the Seven Luminaries Divine Law Array... My ability to protect myself has improved quite a bit, too."
Kroya felt the mana circulating through his body.
The sensation of being brimming with power was truly wonderful. No wonder those mages all wanted to advance and obtain more resources.
"Mages, huh? Heh."
He sneered. In theory, advancing meant he could apply to the Mage Association for more resources, but he had no intention of doing so immediately.
Even counting every day, he had only been here for a little over a month.
"Kroya" had gone from a useless failure to a second-level mage. If those people suspected he had stumbled upon some extraordinary opportunity, it would be troublesome.
Mages had never had any shame.
If word got out, it might attract mages with ulterior motives who wanted to exploit him.
Then he would truly be in serious trouble.
He still had little ability to resist higher-level mages. His foundations were too shallow, and he had had too little time to develop.
Rather than ask for those inconsequential resources, he would forgo them, keep quietly building his wealth and power, and claim everything in one go once he reached level six or higher.
Level six and above meant the rank of archmage. By then, he would also have had enough time to develop his island and establish good relations with the merfolk.
At that point, even if he had encountered some extraordinary opportunity, his strength and influence would ensure he had nothing to fear from anyone coveting it.
"Study first, then the array, then look into more magic plants and magical beasts..."
After sorting out his plans for the coming period, he considered things briefly and decided to continue studying the next part of the Song of Red first.
The Poem of Rainbow Light was his second-greatest trump card after his cheat ability. Naturally, he had to study it thoroughly.
He eagerly began his research.
When he had read it earlier, the second movement of the Song of Red had opened with a special spell called "Crimson Rondo." It allowed Kroya to cast two spells simultaneously and also came with his first offensive spell, "Crimson Light Chant."
In simple terms, he would chant to gather mana in his throat, then release it in the form of musical notes.
It was a rare spell with no upper limit. In other words, the more mana Kroya possessed and the better his understanding and control of the Poem of Rainbow Light became, the more powerful it would be.
It could also be used together with the other six colors.
Another point worth mentioning was that the Crimson Hymn could also be layered using Crimson Rondo.
Kroya could scarcely imagine how terrifying an already powerful spell would become when cast twice at once and made to resonate with other types of mana.
"Pretty powerful. Let me give it a try..."
After finishing his reading, he enthusiastically began experimenting. The laboratory promptly filled with strange sounds like "ee-ya-ah" that scarcely sounded human.
It took roughly three hours for those strange noises to turn into beautiful, pure musical tones.
They sounded like jazz drums, rapid yet rhythmic, rolling out in waves like the tide.
Their manifestation in the physical world was a series of invisible sound waves issuing from Kroya's mouth, accompanied by bursts of red mana shaped like musical notes.
They shot forward at tremendous speed and struck the wall with a series of bangs.
The impacts stood in stark contrast to the beautiful music.
Under such a devastating assault, holes of various sizes immediately appeared in the unfortunate wall. Despite being made of stone, it looked ready to collapse beneath the strain.
Was it really that powerful?
Seeing this, Kroya hurriedly stopped. He had no desire to destroy his own castle.
"Let's go outside."
Still, he needed to keep testing it, so he immediately left the laboratory and headed to his private grounds on the hill behind the castle, where he unleashed the spell without restraint.
Invisible sound waves and visible musical notes poured out alongside the pleasing melody.
"~~~~~"
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The rock face before him, several times a person's height, truly could not withstand the relentless bombardment of sound waves. It soon shattered into a heap of rubble.
Only then did Kroya finally feel the emptiness of his mana running dry.
"It's this powerful?!"
His eyes widened. Its power was practically comparable to the sustained bombardment of the third-level spell Chain Fireballs, yet he had only just become a second-level mage!
And that was without considering how much more demanding Chain Fireballs was in terms of mana control and incantation arrangement. It was not a spell one could learn easily.
"Excellent. This spell is excellent."
Satisfied after testing the power of Crimson Light Chant, Kroya nodded. He was just about to turn back when he unexpectedly noticed a glimmer inside the rock he had shattered.
Even beneath the broken stones, the object still reflected the midday sunlight.
"An unexpected find?" Kroya approached curiously and discovered a piece of... coral among the stones.
Judging by its appearance, though, it was probably crystal coral.
It seemed to have already broken apart. Only a small piece lay before Kroya, resembling a translucent dragon horn amid the gray rubble.
He could sense no trace of life from it.
Yet a notification suddenly appeared-
[Magical beast suitable for Astral Spirit Inscription discovered: Air Coral. Please activate the inscription technique to view the magical beast's astral spirit body and inscribe a spell.]
Kroya was surprised by the description.
This thing was actually a magical beast? There was no trace of life in it. Still, wasn't coral supposedly formed from the accumulated remains of dead coral polyps?
In a sense, it probably did count as a magical beast.
He went ahead and activated the Astral Body Inscription Technique. What appeared before his eyes was an enlarged version of the coral, riddled with countless holes.
Nearly colorless, transparent threads wound around its exterior.
Whispers came from within the holes-
"Air! Not the ocean!"
"Boo-hoo, we finally got to breathe air!"
"We want to give off air, too!"
After the first two statements, the third repeated endlessly, densely overlapping as though countless beings were speaking at once and resonating together.
It made Kroya's head ache slightly.
He had heard of coral purifying the air, but never of it giving off air. Wasn't that supposed to be the work of plants?
Coral that wanted to give off air... Hmm.
Kroya immediately set his mind to work, considering what kind of spell would suit them.
Before you continue