Nick did not bother returning to the Academy Mission Hall and made his way back to his commercial building. He instructed Dewy to have some fried chicken and rice sent up to him later, then he went to his second floor's workspace.
"After developing that formation to clean the lake, I have an overwhelming urge to create. Since my soul has became far stronger, I now have the qualifications to use a better array of soul path spells during combat. That will significantly increase my combat power. Now, all I need to do is choose some good spells from Slade's inheritance..."
Nick thought about it for a while and eventually rejected that idea.
"I am a soul path scholar and my experience in spell creation is not light. I should be developing my own style of soul path combat and not strictly using the spell's in Slade's inheritance. I don't think that they suit me very much either."
Nick sat at his work stool, thinking for a long time about the direction that he should go in in as it relates to his soul path powers. Nick soon realized that his space path powers had started to move towards the control of weight and gravitational forces as evident by his creation of Mars, Venus and Jupiter and Nick thinks that this style suits him very much.
"Now its time for me to develop my own style with soul path. Something that is uniquely me."
Nick thought about how cool it looked when he used Reinforced With Soul to condense his soul into wearable and flexible armor and then he remembered the abilities of his Soul Capturing Coat.
"Hmmm...I like the utility of Soul Capturing Coat and I like how my soul can be used to reinforce my body to be more physically offensive and defensive. A style that combines offense, defense and utility into one."
As soon as Nick decided on a direction, ideas began to flood into his mind and he summoned a notebook from his space band in order to jot them down. Nate, Dewy's grandson, soon came up to Nick's workspace with the food that he had instructed Dewy to prepare but Nick didn't even look at the tall, brown eyed youth before telling him:
"Take it back down. I'm busy."
Nate observed Nick for a few moments. He wanted to say something but he ultimately decided against disturbing Nick any further and returned to the ground floor. Nick remained within his workspace for four days to brainstorm ideas about new soul path methods. He only occasionally took breaks to shower and eat french bread that he would summon from his space band.
On the fourth day, Dewy came up to his workspace and announced:
"Sir, a Carla Jenner is downstairs and requesting that you come down to meet her."
Nick suddenly remembered that Carla had said that she was going to visit him in order to discuss the business. Nick instructed:
"Tell Carla to come up here. I am currently in the middle of something important."
Dewy creased his brows in response to Nick's instructions. Even if he was not a Magician, he could tell just from the woman's presence that she was not ordinary and she even specifically told him that Nick was to appear downstairs immediately.
(She seems to have more authority than Nick. Should I really make her come up here. It's a but musty from all the work that Nick is doing and the fact that there is no air conditioning on this floor makes it unsuitable to entertain guests.)
Nick purposely removed the air conditioning on the second floor in order to keep his mind alert and uncomfortable using the heat. Dewy tried to convince Nick on another course of action:
"Sir, I think that it would be better if you met the lovely lady downstairs."
Nick stopped his work and turned to look at Dewy. Nick was a little annoyed that Dewy did not carry out his orders immediately like usual but he could understand his intentions since his workspace was not really fit for a meeting. Nick thought some more and then decided that he did not care. Carla was his fiance, not his boss and even with her rank 4 status, she had no right to disrupt his cultivation. Nick ordered while turning to face his work again:
"Tell that fiance of mine that her bread-winner is in the middle of some serious work. She should either come up or leave."
Dewy was shocked internally:
(Fiance? It is the first time that I am hearing of this. Sigh, I suppose Nick has his own way of doing things.)
Dewy silently went downstairs and conveyed Nick's message, word for word, to Carla. Carla, who was standing in the waiting area on the ground floor, became furious when Dewy gave her the message, to say the least.
"Bread-winner? Listen here Nick, when this lady gives you a command, it is in your best interest to obey!"
Carla rushed upstairs to the second floor on foot so that she could find Nick and to give him a piece of her mind.
(He thinks that because I put a ring on him, that I can't put him in his place. I will teach him otherwise today.)
Carla soon came to Nick's workspace but when she saw all the papers filled with notes lying around on his work table, her rage subsided. She sighed, thinking:
(We are both Magicians. Telling him to meet with me while he is cultivating is unreasonable. It would be one thing if he was my employee but we are to be married. His cultivation comes first.)
Carla slowly approached Nick and spoke softly:
"I am here."
Nick's spine suddenly straightened as he finally realized that Carla came up. He was too engrossed in his work before to sense her presence. Nick replied while still sitting on his stool and looking Carla in the eyes:
"So, why are you here?"
Carla plainly replied:
"I need a seat first before I begin talking."
Nick summoned a tall, padded chair from his space band and gave it to Carla so that she could sit at his work table with him. Carla momentarily glanced at Nick's notes but realized that they were written in a mystical language that she did not recognize. She asked:
"You know more mystical languages that just Valteese?"
Nick maintained his usual indifferent expression and replied:
"Sure I do, don't you?"
"No, I don't. Valteese is the only mystical language that I have used since becoming a Magician. I have always found it sufficient."
That surprised Nick, since his Nickel and D-Soul were so powerful in terms of using them to write laws, he thought that everyone would try to gain an understanding of other mystical languages besides Valteese.
"Don't mind these. They are just chicken scratch."
Although Nick said that, she could tell by the intensity in Nick's eyes when he looked at his notes that they were not just chicken scratch but since Nick did not want to talk about them, she changed the subject:
"I am having a problem implementing your production method for the soul healing scrolls. We have hired a few dozen rank 1 Magicians in order to begin production but their output is too low because they have limited magic energy and skill level. The fact that they only work in eight hour shifts doesn't help because this prevents them from getting better quick enough. Currently we have only produced a fraction of our target for this period."
Nick thought for a moment before suggesting:
"Why not just hire more rank 1 Magicians or better yet, hire rank 2 Magicians."
Carla shook her head in unwillingness:
"Hiring more rank 1 Magicians increases our labor cost out of proportion with the benefits to be received since we would be paying more people to do the work that less people should be capable of doing if they were skilled enough; I cannot accept that. Hiring rank 2 Magicians also increases the labor cost substantially but does not really solve the problems that we are having. Manual production of the scrolls is too time consuming and Machines that can copy the laws as they are intended based on your production method do not exist."
This problem has been plaguing Carla for weeks and she has been trying to find ways of dealing with it but it is too difficult since she is not even a soul path expert or an experienced spell maker. She even tried to get a mechanic to determine if it was possible to build machines that could do most of the work but the mechanic said:
"Your product's production method encrypts it laws. I cannot create a machine to do that without the help of the person who designed this process and even then, much of the process to create these scrolls still need a Magician to cast spells."
Nick mused:
(I know nothing about magical machinery so I did not develop the production process to be compatible with machine development. I also did not develop the production process to account for the lack of skill and low magic energy reserves of the staff.)
When Nick produced the scrolls himself, he had high skill and high magic energy reserves so these things were never a problem for him. Nick thought about ways that he could solve Carla's problem.
(Trying to find a method to automate the processes wasn't a bad call but machines are not my area of expertise. I think that there is another way to achieve a similar automatic effect that solves the insufficient skill and magic energy reserves problem.)
Nick picked up a few blank pieces of paper from off his desk before placing them down in front of himself and began drawing symbols on them. Carla saw his actions and asked:
"What are you drawing?"
Nick replied:
"A magic formation to solve your problems."
The look on Carla's face became weird and her thoughts became doubtful:
(Now that I think about it, he did use a magic formation in the beast store while he was consuming magic beast souls. That's not so peculiar since someone could have easily given him the formation but now it looks like he is going to design a magic formation from scratch. How could that be possible?)
Formation path Magicians were rare and expensive to employ, even rarer than mechanics who were not common themselves. Carla found it hard to believe that this young man could also create magic formations but seeing his serious expression, she felt that it would be appropriate to wait to see the results of his actions.
Nick focused his mind and continued designing a magic formation that incorporated all the processes involved in creating soul healing scrolls.
(The formation would definitely have to be a soul path magic formation and it would have to accommodate many people so that many scrolls could be created in sequence by one formation.)
Nick worked on the design well into the night and then into the next day and then into the day after that. Carla did not leave Nick's side the whole time, neither to eat, drink nor relieve herself. Since she was rank 4, her constitution was abnormal and she had great command of her bodily processes; she also had a self cleansing spell that replaced her need for a shower.
Nick's constitution was no where near as abnormal as Carla's but he was used to suffering so he could handle long periods of hunger and thirst and if he reinforced his bladder and bowels with magic energy, he found that he could delay the need to go to the bathroom for a long time. He, however, did not have a self cleansing method so his body soon started to develop an odor.
Carla noticed the odor but did not care since during the past three days, Nick had been doing what she thought impossible.
(He is actually close to completing the design for a magic formation. If I didn't see it first hand, I wouldn't believe it.)
Nick spent another twelve hours in order to finally complete the design for a magic formation that mostly automated the process of creating soul healing scrolls.
(Each magic formation requires about twenty rank 1 Magicians to simply pour their magic energy into the right section of the formation at the right time and the Magic formation will take care of the rest. That deals with the problem of low skill level of the Magicians and the insufficient magic energy reserves of each Magician. This magic formation was not hard to develop but it took fairly long because I had had to consider soul path and formation path materials as well as how to maintain the encryption of the scrolls while they were being produced so that the Magicians operating the formation cannot simply copy the scrolls essential laws.)
Nick then handed a stack of papers with the formation's designs and explanations to Carla. Nick spoke to her with exhaustion embedded on his face:
"You just need to follow those designs to the letter and the written instructions to create a twenty man operated magic formation that can create dozens of soul healing scrolls within a few minutes or so. That solves your problems and will keep labor costs low relative to production volume if you set up a tens of magic formations."
Carla held the stack of papers in her embrace like they were treasures. She did not know whether the designs were viable yet but she was willing to bet that they were. She ignored Nick's odor and gave him a kiss on the cheek before going downstairs to the ground floor and leaving.
Nick immediately went to relieve himself and take a shower. After he was done with that, he chose to get a few hours of sleep before returning to his work. When Nick woke up, he had Dewy bring up several servings of peas soup with beef pieces and pig's tails mixed in. Nick ate at his work table before continuing to work on his ideas for a set of soul path combat methods.
An entire month passed with Nick remaining mostly at his work table, drawing laws and working through theoretical concepts.
"I finally know how I am going to develop my soul path combat methods going forward."
In the beginning of a Magician's journey, it was fine to mix and match different spells so long as they allowed you to fight and be effective at tasks but at some point, if a Magician did not develop a distinct and uniform way of fighting and moving, they would be inferior to other Magicians who had a distinctive style.
"Take William Rollins for example, his light path methods are clearly incredible, not just because they are powerful but also because of their uniformity - their effects stack onto and complement each other. That is what I am trying to achieve here but I only managed to develop the concepts to produce one spell for now..."
Nick compiled his sheets of notes and after going through them again, he started transforming his notes from concepts into a viable spell. Nick worked day and night using D-Soul and Eyes of the Fated to create his spell. Even with his advantages, the concepts that he had worked out for the foundation of his continued soul path development were difficult to realize in practise.
Nick planned for his future soul path cultivation by creating his new spell based on concepts that could be improved later on as his cultivation rose and his body and mindscape could handle more and more strain.
While working tirelessly, two months passed...
Nick slowly crawled his way out of bed. He had not left his commercial building in months and he was starting to miss the view of the outside since his second floor did not have windows.
Nick had spent the past two months developing a new spell that was very different from his other spells that he had developed because he felt that it suited him perfectly and had no obvious flaws whatsoever as he had fine tuned it to the best of his abilities using the very best that he could squeeze from his scholar attainment level in soul path.
Nick was excited but also exhausted after so much months of non-stop cultivation. Nick went to the bathroom to shower, then got dressed when he was done. He proceeded to use Blink to get to the restaurant across the street where he ordered several servings of pancakes, eggs and sausages with Canadian maple syrup. Nick ate slowly so he could savor the sweet taste of his meal.
After a few minutes, someone suddenly sat across from Nick, interrupting his meal. Nick slowly moved his eyes from his plate to look at the person and who he saw caused his stomach to churn. The young woman in front of Nick greeted him respectfully:
"Hello, brother Nick."
Nick muttered a name that he hadn't thought about in years:
"Tracy Capitol."
The brown skinned woman in front of Nick who had long, straight, black hair and wore a yellow sleeveless dress was indeed his younger sister, Tracy Capitol. Tracy looked at Nick with curiosity since he looked a little different than how she remembered, especially his seemingly magical eyes. She started off the conversation:
"Long time no see, Nick."
Nick looked at her with an indifferent expression as many negative memories flooded his mind. After he had forced the memories to subside, he said with a cold tone:
"Listen, I don't want problems. Just leave me in peace."
Nick ignored Tracy and continued to eat his breakfast but the food tasted bitter now. Tracy frowned in response to Nick's coldness and complained:
"How can you act like this? I know that we had a difficult upbringing but isn't it time that you let go of the past."
When Nick heard that, he stopped eating and dropped his fork. He then looked at Tracy with murder in his eyes.
(Dreadful Aura.)
Tracy was suddenly enveloped by an aura that forced her to tremble uncontrollably and she fell out of the booth and onto the floor where she spasmed. Nick calmed his emotions, withdrawing his dreadful aura and looked at the frail Tracy who was currently hugging her knees and trembling on the floor while tears fell from her eyes to the right side of her face, ending up on the floor. Nick was confused:
"Huh? You're not a Magician yet?"
As if reacting on queue to Nick's question, a young man who was sitting in a booth further back in the restaurant yelled:
"Tracy! Are you alright?"
The young man was dark complexioned and had short, neatly trimmed, wavy hair. He stooped down in order to try and help Tracy to get to her feet and after two minutes of struggling, both of them got up from the floor. The young man looked at Nick with disappointment and complained:
"Aren't you her older brother, how could you do what you just did? Are all the people in this place crazy?"
Nick ignored the contents of the young man's questions and after checking one more time, Nick concluded:
"You are not a Magician either."
The young man frowned in response to hearing Nick's words but he admitted straight away:
"No, neither of us are Magicians yet."
Against his better judgement, Nick asked a simple question:
"Why?"
The young man's expression became awkward and he stayed quiet. Tracy, who had mostly stopped trembling, warily looked at Nick and answered with a soft tone:
"We both have no magical background and limited talent. Although we are here on scholarship, we have no money to buy information that guides us on how to become Magicians."
Nick raised his right eyebrow in confusion and replied:
"That's what the library and classes are for."
Tracy explained:
"We don't go to classes because the other students make things difficult for us. Apparently, they somehow know about our backgrounds and are not afraid to bully us. As for the library, we've read some books but most of the information is vague and since we are only allowed to borrow one book at a time, we're slow in catching on."
Nick asked another question:
"Did you get your hands on the academy's standard meditation and get a set of foundation laws from the Magical Archives Office?"
The young man decided the speak this time:
"Yes, but without guidance, we don't want to make use of them aimlessly. We were planning to study some more before trying to become Magicians but the end of year exam is coming up and we are worried."
Now Nick understood.
(It is near the end of the school year and these two are still normal people. I thought that was weird but since I know that Tracy came from the same background that I did, it's not surprising. My saving graces were that I was an adept reader and did not care about how the other students treated me. These two are clearly different. To be poor and ostracized in this place must be hell for normal people.)
Nick remarked:
"You do know that depending on the nature of the end of year exam, you could end up dead if you participate the way you are now?"
Tracy and the young man frowned and both replied almost simultaneously:
"We know."
"We know."
Nick shook his head and said:
"Well, I've said all that I need to. Goodbye."
Nick got up from his table and was about to cast Blink to leave when Tracy burst out into tears, saying:
"You're my brother, please help me."
The young man beside Tracy did a Japanese styled bow and said sincerely:
"I know that you and I have no relation but Tracy and I have been close friends for years. I don't exactly know what went down between you two but please, help us or at least help her."
Nick scratched the back of his head and was momentarily stumped.
(This guy's sincerity is really troubling.)
Nick could feel the eyes of the other customers burning holes into the back of his head as well. Nick was slightly annoyed but decided to do something since they were directly asking for his help.
"Follow me."
Nick walked out of the restaurant instead of using Blink to leave and the young man and Tracy looked at each other before following Nick to the outside of the restaurant. Nick continued walking until he reached his commercial building and then opened the door, holding it open for the two young people. They understood Nick's intent and went into the building but were uncertain as to where Nick was taking them.
Once all three were on the ground floor, Nick told them to take seats at one of the tables. Nick then called Dewy on his smartphone and asked him to come to them. Nick took a seat across from the two and began to speak:
"Look, Tracy and..."
Nick looked at the young man and realized that he had not learnt his name as yet so he paused, waiting for the young man to fill him in. Understanding the purpose behind Nick's sudden pause, they young man said:
"My name is Jacob, Jacob Argant."
Nick nodded once in response and continued:
"Look, Tracy and Jacob, I understand your struggle since I was at a similar place once and because I understand it, I am going to help you out this once."
Nick summoned a piece of blank paper and a pen from his space band and started writing on it and did so silently for the next two minutes. Tracy and Jacob watched Nick silently as he wrote on the paper without saying anything, not knowing what to say. Jacob looked at Tracy in the eyes as if to ask:
"Do you know what he is doing?"
Tracy responded using a look of uncertainty that implied:
"How would I know?"
When Nick finished writing on the paper, Dewy appeared, coming from the first floor and stood at Nick's left side. Nick made introductions:
"Dewy, this is Tracy and Jacob. Jacob and Tracy, this is Dewy, my steward."
Dewy looked at the two and nodded silently and the two responded with the same greeting but awkwardly. Nick continued:
"What I have written on this paper is a list of reading materials that are specifically geared towards teaching novices how to become rank 1 Magicians. They are sold by the academy's Magical Archives Office and are fairly expensive, valued at a total cost of £150,000 but well worth the price if you want to become a Magician and don't know how. Dewy, I want you to take these two to the Magical Archives Office and buy each a set of these materials as well as a set of meditation, foundation laws and two spells each of their own choosing. I'll give you a spending limit of say...£2,000,000 each."
Tracy and Jacob gasped when they heard Nick's words and momentarily found what he was saying unbelievable. They wondered if he was playing a joke on them but that notion quickly died when they heard Dewy's response:
"Certainly, sir. I am ready whenever they are."
Nick nodded his head in approval and said:
"Good, you can use the car to drive them there and then to their dorms."
Nick then looked at Tracy and said with a very stern tone:
"You asked for my help and I have helped you. Whatever you think I owe you from being your brother is now paid. Do not come looking for my help again...that goes for you too, Jacob."
Both young students gulped in trepidation as they listened to Nick's cold words. Tracy mustered her courage to say:
"Thank you, Nick. Narissa told me that she had met you the year before I got accepted to Richter Order Academy but she was unsure that you would be interested in even talking to me. I doubt that she'd believe how well you seem to be doing."
Tracy wasn't dense, the mere fact that Nick had a steward and could afford to purchase magic related materials for them meant that he had resources to spare. This was in contrast to how they grew up, that is, with very little; that was more so truer for Nick than for Tracy. Nick replied:
"I don't care what Narissa would believe. You two may go now. Remember my words, don't come to me for any more help."
The two nodded their heads in understanding but had expressions of disappointment on their faces. Tracy thought:
(I guess Nick doesn't plan to forgive me, Narrisa or Irene. Fine, this much help is good enough. I won't try to impose any further.)
Jacob had his own opinion of the situation:
(This guy seems cold but I can feel his good intentions. Weird, I've noticed since coming to this academy that it's actually the overly genial people who are the most selfish. I can't believe that he is helping me just the same as Tracy. I won't for get this.)
Jacob spoke with deep emotion in his tone:
"Thank you."
Dewy motioned the two young students to follow him and soon, the three left the commercial building through the front door. Nick sat is his seat and seemed to stare blankly into space for almost thirty minutes, memories playing back in his head. Nick soon closed his eyes and sighed softly and with deep emotion before opening his eyes again.
He got up from his chair and left the building by using Blink. After casting Blink multiple times, Nick arrived in front of the academy's Battle Simulation Building. Nick went inside while making sure that Failed Tool and Pressure Piece were securely attached to his waist. He walked up to the clerk on duty and said:
"I need a simulation with one strong, rank 2 human enemy, preferably in a flat, unobstructed setting."
The clerk asked for Nick's ID so that he could process the request and after the formalities were taken care of, the clerk instructed:
"Please head to room number 21 and the simulation will begin as soon as you enter and close the door behind you."
Nick did just that and as soon as he closed the door, the white painted room around him warped into becoming a vast expanse of rocky, hard ground. Nick was satisfied with the terrain since this was what he had basically asked for.
Just as Nick was about to look for his opponent, a pillar of flames that reached up to the clouds suddenly and violently rose up over thirty meters away from him. When the flames soon dissipated, a white man wearing a flame red Magician's robe stood in that spot and eyed Nick from afar with his crimson colored eyes, sporting a head full of neatly trimmed, short, black hair. The man said nothing and Nick did not plan to speak to him either.
Nick just formed the laws for his newest soul path creation within his mindscape. Not even one second had passed before the laws for his advance grade spell were completed and both his arms rapidly oozed a silver miasma that quickly flash with silver light, then condensed at and fused with Nick's arms. When the flash of light faded, Nick's arms, from his shoulder joint to his finger tips, appeared metallic silver in color and texture like stainless steel.
(Battle Armor.)
Since the starting of forming the spell's laws and all the way to the manifestation of the spell's effects, only about one and a half seconds had passed.
(This spell is advanced grade but has a quick cast time mostly because of my soul path scholar attainment, the conciseness of its laws despite its complexity and because I memorized it laws until they are like second nature to produce.)
Nick raised his hand and clenched them into fists, observing the effects of the spell.
"It's like my arms are made of steel now."
Sensing Nick's magic power, his opponent did not just stand idly by. The man clasped his hands together and a harsh blast of flames emerged from near to the man's feet, beginning at a curved angle and rushing forward almost like a one and a half tall meter wave of water, covering about three meters of distance horizontally as it rushed forward.
The flames rushing towards Nick moved rapidly and had almost reached his position after only a few moments but were doomed to miss their target. Nick cast his spell:
(Dominate The Space.)
A grey magic power quickly spread out from Nick in all directions and then he immediately disappeared. The incoming flames moved past his former position while only managing to char the ground black where he had stood. The man in the distance was alarmed by Nick's sudden disappearance but did not have a long time to consider his next moves because Nick instantly appeared behind him at the spot where the flames did not touch.
Nick punched out at the man's upper back with his right fist, at which point when Nick's arm went straight through the man's back and out his chest, flames started slowly emerging from the man's wounds and Nick's right arm heated up. Nick mused:
(That didn't feel like I actually hit flesh. What is this guy made of?)
The man's body immediately began to glow in a molten orange color and then with a bright flash, he exploded.
BOOM!
The explosion threw fire, heat and smoke in all directions. When the smoke and fire quickly dissipated, the crater formed from the explosion only seemed to have one person standing in the middle of it and his feet was firmly planted onto the ground.
This person was covered with a metallic silver color and consistency from head to toe which even covered the swords holstered and sheathed at his side. Nick quickly manipulated his spell and the silver enhancement receded back to just covering his two arms. His Battle Armour had clearly protected him from the heat and shock waves produced from the explosion.
(Battle Armor is a soul path method that uses my soul to enhance the hardness, strength and magical resistance of the materials that it comes into contact with, that is, my body and most things that my body can physically touch. It's basically a more extreme form of Reinforced With Soul. The spell can do something else too...)
Nick looked around the six feet deep crater that he was in and since he did not see his opponent anywhere, Nick decided to draw him out. He stooped down and quickly stuck his metal pole like fingers into the ground, following which his arms sparked with silver light and generated pulses of formless energy that moved in all directions throughout the ground with Nick as the center. Nick's soul that was currently glowing internally within himself with an intense silver light radiated a profound magic power at the same time, feeding Nick's method with the power needed to generate the pulses.
Nick's arms remained sparking for the duration of his move and within two seconds of sending pulses throughout the ground, the ground suddenly began to fissure and quake violently for meters all around, so much so that by the time that Nick retracted his hands from the ground and stood up at the start of the upheaval, the entire terrain around him was ruined with the ground's surface and the layers up to eight meters below it being completely fissured and broken up as if the area was hit by a devastating earthquake.
At this point, Nick cast Blink in order to get to and stand on the fissured surface just to see a large portion of the ground in the distance some twenty meters away glowing molten orange and appearing to have a molten consistency. Nick's opponent stood on the molten surface while staring at him with seriousness that could pierce through iron. Nick mused:
(Did he melt the ground to mitigate the fissuring around him so that he could maintain his footing and resist the influence of my magic power in the process. That's actually smart, provided that he could still stand on the molten surface which he apparently can. If he had not done that, even if he was just standing on the ground, he would probably had suffered heavy damage from my method.)
The method that Nick used to fissure and break up the ground was still Battle Armor but simply a different application of its principles. While the spell could enhance materials using the power of Nick's soul, it could also project that power outwards by using Nick as a conduit.
(The soul is an interesting object. It is filled with energy and can be boundlessly strengthened in order to store and produce copious more amounts of energy. Because my soul has been strengthened through my cultivation, it stores magic power that can generate destruction equivalent to an atomic bomb. Of course, I can't use that power all at once but I can siphon off a fair amount of it to use for purposes such as I did with Battle Armor, either infusing my soul and its power into materials in order to enhance their physical qualities and magical resistance or with me acting as a conduit, for projecting magic power outward in some predefined manner. The latter's result is predefined because based on the strength of my soul and its laws, I can only do limited things with the power it projects. In the case of my last move, I was only able to use my soul's power to excite the particles of the objects in my surroundings enough to make them quake violently. When done directly to the earth, the result seems like an earthquake, causing fissuring and breaking. If done directly to a human body...the results would be crippling without sufficient magical resistance.)
Nick developed this spell while thinking about the qualities of many other spells in his possession such as Soul Capturing Coat, Rumble and Reinforced With Soul. Battle Armor's design included many of the before mentioned spells' principles that were adapted to be more robust, flexible and lethal.
(Despite its short cast time and flexibility, the spell is incredibly complex, even exceeding Grey Room in that regard by a few levels. If I wasn't a soul path scholar, I would never be able to use it in battle.)
Nick's opponent quickly pointed his right index finger at Nick and a red laser beam instantly shot out of it and made contact with Nick's chest but did not immediately do any damage. Nick was confused at first but then he felt his chest area heating up and he immediately acted to spread Battle Armour to cover his entire torso, resulting in even the front of his polo shirt becoming metallic silver in color.
Within moments, Nick's chest area began glowing with a molten orange color and he gasped at the intense heat affecting his heart and lungs.
(If it wasn't for Battle Armor, I would have sustained heavy internal injuries from this attack.)
Nick gritted his teeth.
(Absolute Pull.)
The fire path Magician was immediately raised one foot off the ground and came flying forward in an upright position. He was forced to cancel his method due to loosing his footing and control of much of his movement which prevented him from focusing the laser beam accurately.
Nick raised his right index finger and a basket ball sized sphere of red light formed at his finger tip before shrinking to the size of a marble. Nick quickly blew the red marble forward so that it could move straight towards his incoming opponent.
The man saw the glowing marble and although he felt no magic power coming from it, he would not underestimate it. He quickly crossed both his arms over his chest and cast his method:
(Burning Rush)
The man was immediately enveloped in red-orange flames that burnt with high intensity. The flames on the man's body then grew larger and radiated intense light. Somehow, the man's body was then propelled ten meters upwards with a glowing tail of flames leading away from his previous position towards himself.
Nick had instantly sensed when the man's method forcefully dispersed Absolute Pull's effects and was inwardly shocked:
(That fire path spell effectively countered my space and soul path method and I have no idea how.)
There were innumerable ways to design spells and just as innumerable principles to base those designs on, so different paths could often counter each other in unpredictable and seemingly unlikely ways.
The man had avoided coming into contact with the red marble by just a few seconds and by the time he had moved ten meters with his spell, the red marble burst out with light in all directions and then receded into nothingness within moments.
(Blink.)
Nick disappeared from his position and immediately appeared in midair, in front of the fire path Magician. Nick quickly bowed his right arm and clenched his right hand into a fist, then struck out with his fist, punching his opponent squarely on the left cheek, instantly sending the man flying into the ground below, resulting in a loud crashing sound.
Nick unclenched his silver right fist and a sphere of red light once again formed at his right index finger tip before shrinking to the size of a marble. Nick blew on it quickly, causing it to rapidly fly towards the fire path Magician's grounded position. Nick internally remarked while still in midair:
(Let's see just how much you can take.)