Proofread by Thomas F
Margaux Swan
I took a breath, gripped the beautiful paintbrush a little too tightly, then released it.
I am standing in the spell room of the Mage Suite, as I have done hundreds of times before, but today I am nervous.
I have never done this in front of anyone until now; it's just me. Figuring out on my own. Usually, I tell the teacher and discuss things with him, but he is busy with his duties and mine.
'Just do it already!'
I said to myself, raised my hand, and activated Steady Hand, Deft Hand, Fine Focus, and Balanced Grip.
I didn't just activate Painter Class Skills, but also Stable Flow and Mana Efficiency from the Mage Class and Tranquill Mind from the Scarlet Headmistress.
Immediately, the mana flowed out of my body into the brush, and the paintbrush glowed with its prismatic bristles shining up beautifully.
As it did, I moved the brush through the air, with the painting's composition and clear spell intent in my mind.
I moved the brush, and the glassy, translucent red and orange ink flowed from it.
It streaked through the air, like it were a canvas. I added another stroke before twisting the brush in a small spiral. The glowing lines folded inward around themselves, layering like swirling paint on canvas.
I pulled the paintbrush back, and as I drew a burst into the bright flames, it transformed into a fireball.
It looked slightly different from a conventional fireball.
Slightly smaller, denser, and more beautiful? For the last part, maybe I am biased. I laughed internally and turned to the fireball, which shot forward at high speed and struck the runic wall.
It exploded a moment later; the runes glowed before numbers appeared on the wall. Measuring different aspects of the spell, from the power to the mana.
"Incredible!"
The teacher applauded, his eyes wide and his voice filled with awe, which couldn't help but make me feel embarrassed.
And also a little proud.
He is the only person other than Carla, Master Silver, and Stone who knows I could do this. I didn't even tell my daughter about this.
"I heard of this medium of casting spells, but I have never seen it, and you did that in just half a year." "Did it on your own with no help," he said as he appeared beside me.
"I had plenty of help, from the precious books and this incredible brush," I said, looking at my precious brush.
A few days after I got the brush, I had asked Lord Silver whether he could get me a few books on casting spells through painting.
A week later, five rare books came in; the books that aren't sold on the market. Among those books was a diary of a painter who reached Grand Mage.
It helped tremendously.
"It's not as easy as you are saying, girl. People take years to learn such things with all the knowledge and guidance," he said, shaking his head.
"You are the most talented mage I have ever taught. If you learned the spell craft from an early age, I am sure you would have been at least a High-Mage now."
"Might have even been a Great Mage,"
Hearing that, I couldn't help but laugh. Great Mage, how hard is it to reach that level?
I looked at him, but teacher Aldridge isn't laughing. He is looking at me with all seriousness.
"How many spells can you cast with this method?" he asked.
"All the Grade I, I know, and nearly all of Grade II, but I am making fast progress. In a few weeks, I should be able to cast all the Grade II spells I know through this method," I replied, and could see his eyes widening.
"Don't you need to study and change those spells to suit this method?" he asked, and I shook my head.
"I already studied the spells, and there is no need to tinker with them. As long as I understood the spell, I only needed an intent, just like conventional mages do, but composing it in the painting, that is a real challenge."
Every spell is different and needs a totally different composition. Here, an analytical mind is useless, not useless, but requires a more artistic fluency.
There is also one other difference.
In conventional casting, mana is shaped internally, but in painting, it is done outside.
"Do you use any paint or just the power of the artifact?" he asked. "Only its power, but if I use the paint, the spell becomes even more powerful," I replied.
The paintbrush creates its own ink, but it also has ample space to store paint.
Through the spells, conventional paints didn't work. It needs a specific type of paint. The one that is mana-dense, with elemental attributes, if I am casting an elemental spell.
"Even without paint, your fireball was 20% stronger than the conventional fireball you cast,"
"Is it the same for all spells?" he asked, and I shook my head. "No. The light and crystal element spells are stronger," I replied, and he understood immediately as he looked at the brush in my hand.
It is a light and crystal elemental artifact.
"How is it as a focus?" he asked. Focuses are important; the staff and wands of mages aren't just for show. "It's not focused on mage sense, but it does what staffs do and does it much better," I replied.
It is sensitive to mana; it provides mental clarity, magical and physical stability for perfect strokes.
Not to mention the enhancements the spells get.
These abilities are not as powerful as the general artifact, but a combination of them provides an incredible effect. Sometimes I feel the brush is made to cast a spell instead of pure painting.
"Have you cast through the emotion essence?" he asked, and I nodded, which helped tremendously.
The brush loves the essence. It is one of the reasons why I can learn paint-casting quickly. My mana is limited, but not emotion essence. With it, I could paint as many spells as, I can.
"Okay, now we are going to cast…paint every spell you know through the artifact," he instructed, and I nodded.
Once more, I raised the brush and, gently, painted a pale green streak in the air. A moment later, it turned into a wind blade and shot forward. Then it was Mana Bullet, Earth Dart, and others.
Minutes passed, and I cast spell after spell while the teacher watched.
I could feel him using the skill to watch, and one even covering me, which I let him. There is a powerful resistance; one needs to be really powerful to use skills on us without our permission when we are in the city.
Finally, I was reaching the end of Grade I spells when I spent nearly all my mana.
I have large mana storage. I may be Lv. 23 Diligent Mage, but I am also Lv. 29 Evening Atelier and Lv. 39 Scarlet Headmistress, which is my main class. I have a lot of attribute points, and half of them I have spent on mana.
I stopped using my mana and started using the mist to cast the spells.
I feel guilty using it, given how precious it is, but there were no restrictions. Lord Silver even said, as long as it is used in learning, I could use it as much as I wanted.
Soon, I finished Grade I spells and started on Grade II.
I feel tired. I may have an unlimited supply of mana, but it also requires a huge mental effort. The teacher seemed to see that as he activated his skill on me.
Immediately, the tiredness receded and reached manageable levels.
It's a powerful skill of a High Mage, but as the minutes passed and I cast more spells, the tiredness returned. I didn't stop and kept casting until I reached my last spell.
My hands were shaking; even the artifact and skill couldn't still them. I painted a long arc in the air, and a moment later, Wind Arc came out of it and struck the wall.
Seeing that, I smiled tiredly and sat down before wiping the sweat off my brow. I have the skill for that, but I didn't have the energy to activate it.
He said nothing for minutes and simply sat down beside me while I rested.
"From what I could see, it gives you superior control over spells compared to conventional casting, but it is also a lot slower, it has high spell understanding requirements, and mental overhead."
"The spellcasting will be affected by your emotional state and leave you more vulnerable during casting because of its high casting time."
He laid out the reasons, good and bad; most of them were stated in the book. Conventional spell-casting may not be perfect, but it is the best among all.
The niche one's might give one stronger spells, but they also have tremendous disadvantages.
I won't be slinging spells in battle anytime soon.
"Don't be disappointed; it could do many things that conventional spell casters would have a hard time doing," he said, with excitement lighting up in his eyes.
"From what I could see, this is a method very suitable for layered and fusion spellcasting."
"The spells of this method are a lot more stable, which will help you with high-grade complex spells and multi-element spells." He consoled.
It put a small smile on my face. It's not like I have to fight battles. I learned it because I liked it, and I also want to protect my girls if something threatens them.
Though the second reason is unlikely to happen. The legacy is protecting them.
Still, given our luck, I am completely sure about it and would like to be prepared.
"Thank you, teacher," I thanked, pushing away all the stray thoughts.
"Now, you practice it daily and take up enchantment. I guessed you might be good at it, but seeing you, paint spells. I am now confident you will do well with it."
"Though you don't have to learn the enchantments immediately. First, learn to cast all the spells you know with your paintbrush before moving to learn enchanting," he advised.
It couldn't help but surprise me.
I have even thought about enchanting, but I don't think I will take it. I didn't have time.
I barely get time to practice spells and paint from my duties. Taking enchantment wouldn't work. Some of my girls are learning, and I know how difficult it is.
"You don't think about it, as I said. You should first focus on spells," he said, reading my mind.
We talked for a few minutes before I got up.
"How are things with the mine?" I asked. We were only talking about myself; I didn't even ask him how he was doing.
"Good, the new pen master had nearly finished building the pen for the monsters. Those restriction collars have also arrived and are being put on the monsters."
"If everything went well, we would resume the mining of that section within a week," he replied, sounding relieved.
"Do you really think there is something deep in the mine?" I asked. "Absolutely, I am sure of it," he replied with a voice full of confidence.
He is a scholar mage; if he is not sure about things, he wouldn't have said it with such confidence.
"What do you think there will be?" I asked, and the man shook his head. "No idea, but whether it's good or bad, we need to find it and deal with it,"
"Wouldn't it be better to just leave it be?" I asked.
Thaddeus and Carla had told me a few things about it. From that, I believe they should have just let it be. We already have so many things to be worried about.
We should deal with them first before finding another problem to add to our growing list.
"No," he replied before sighing.
"Such things are complicated, and they have a habit of springing on us when we are least expecting them ."
"Consider this: if those mutated shardmaws attacked us and we were not ready, what would have happened?" he asked with utter seriousness. "Catastrophe," I replied, and he nodded.
"Those five Grade V shardamaws would have been enough to slaughter the thousands in the mine, even the people of the city."
"General Azalia alone wouldn't have been able to deal with them, even another two Lv. 40s wouldn't have been enough when we are unprepared to go against them."
I shuddered when I heard that.
Even the first time Shardmaws attacked, they had killed a lot of people. The casualties were manageable because Lord Silver was present.
They were the weakest shardmaws we faced. If they were mutated shardmaws, they would have laid waste to everything that came in their path.
"It is why we should face it on our terms, and if it is something good, we should get it as soon as possible."
"God knows, we need all the help we could get, with sharks circling us for the blood in the water."
I know bad things are; there are enemies on all sides. If they see a chance, they will attack us from all sides. That is the worst outcome we could hope for.
A few minutes later, I walked out of the mage suite with a mind to work harder than before. So I could protect my girls from any danger that wants to harm us.
Diligent Mage Lv. 24