Now that his first ring was stable, he could move on to the next step—creating a spell.
'I wonder if it's still here.'
He closed his eyes and activated one of the basic spells every magician knew: Mind Reflection.
White light enveloped his body, and his consciousness drifted inward.
Soon, he found himself floating in complete darkness.
A translucent figure appeared before him, glowing sky-blue and at least a hundred times his size.
'I knew it. My soul reflection is still intact.'
This was a game changer. Before its conception, spells had to be engraved as formulas directly into the rings.
However, the rings' limited space allowed only essential spells to be stored, while more complex ones still required chanting or other traditional methods.
With the advent of the Soul Reflection, magicians could bypass these lengthy processed by storing the formulas within their soul.
'It should be somewhere around here…'
He spotted a complex formula, one composed of at least twenty million Alpha characters.
With a faint smile, he traced an imaginary finger across it.
Next, he began manually activating the spell. With only one ring, it was difficult, so he stripped away features and reduced it to the bare minimum—a simple, basic version.
[Arcana Magic System Activated]
A mechanical voice echoed in. It was far too robotic, so he adjusted it, shaping it into something more feminine and soothing.
'That's better.'
The A.M.S wasn't like those magical systems that pop up out of nowhere with zero explanation.
This one required a mix of mental, visual, and other forms of magic to function as a proper personal assistant for magicians, keeping their spells neatly organized.
It would be a must-have spell in the future along with Soul Reflection.
"Copy One-Ring spell number 12, 15, 36…"
He ordered the system to extract the spell from his soul and engrave it onto his ring.
To put it in everyday terms, it was like transferring an application from a 10-terabyte HDD to a 128-gigabyte SSD.
Formulas and symbols streamed onto his ring like a printing press, and within ten minutes, twenty basic spells were complete. This would have taken a day or two without the system's assistance.
When he gained more rings, he could upgrade his system to do more than simple copy-pasting of spells. But that was for later. Now it was time for real-world testing.
Back in the present, he gathered oxygen from the air and compressed it.
"Ember"
A spark of mana struck, and a small flame instantly burst from his palm.
It danced across his palm, changing shape as he condensed and expanded it at will.
With the data engraved in his ring, he only needed a single word to activate it almost instantly.
After testing a few more spells, he stopped only when he exhausted his mana.
'That's enough for now.'
He sank onto the bed and shut his eyes. His reserves were nearly drained. With such a weak core, recovery would take far longer than he wanted.
Unfortunately, the resources to strengthen it weren't available to the public yet.
They do exist, but various supernatural organizations control and regulate them due to their scarcity.
'Should I join one?'
The advantage was gaining resources right away, but it also meant exposure to the underworld.
It wasn't rare for young geniuses, especially those like him without a powerful family background to be assassinated by rival factions.
Best case scenario was to stay incognito, dealing only with trusted contacts until he was strong enough protect himself and his love ones.
knock! knock! knock!
"Dinner's ready, son," Maya's voice called from the other side of his door.
Daniel stood up, deciding to put that choice on hold for now.
At the dining table, Aika bounced in her chair while their father sat across from her. Danny had the same black hair, but his rounder eyes hinted at his Western roots.
"There's my boy!" his voice boomed from across the table "Feeling better?"
"Much better, Dad." Daniel took his seat next to his little sister .
The aroma of his mother's cooking filled the room—roasted chicken with herbs, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables.
"I told everyone at school that you're completely healthy now " Aika chattered while stabbing at her potatoes. "Jenny didn't believe me, but I said you promised to take me to Fantasy Land!"
"Fantasy Land?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "That place costs a fortune."
Maya shot him a warning look. "Danny..."
"What? I'm just pointing out the facts. We're not exactly swimming in cash right now."
He noticed the tension between his parents. In his previous life, he had been too young and sick to pick up on these subtle cues.
"Don't worry about the money," Daniel spoke up. "I'll figure something out."
Maya pinched her husband's side for saying something so thoughtless.