While Aurus and Horell were just starting their operation to reduce the combat power of Chonk's army, with Herellia not knowing the extent of Aurus' retaliation, a different thing was happening in the Arcana Tower of Seraph Kingdom.
"[Aqua Sphere]!" A young woman shouted these words, which resounded throughout the decently sized room she was in.
Whoosh!
Not long after, a single-layered magic circle appeared on top of one of the young woman's palms, taking on a blue hue as the blue fog, that was covering her body while casting the magic, had made its way towards the magic circle. A few seconds later, the blue magic circle shrunk in size as a ball of water gradually manifested on top of the young woman's palm. Eventually, the blue magic circle had disappeared, leaving a decently sized ball of water hovering over the young woman's palm, mimicking the natural movements of water…
Until it didn't.
Splash!
The ball of water had mimicked the natural movement of water for around ten seconds or so until it was abruptly changed into a clockwise movement akin to a raging tsunami. Noticing this, the young woman could not help but let out a sigh as she muttered to herself, "12 seconds, around 7 seconds longer than the previous attempt."
Fwoosh!
After muttering those words, she dispelled the water ball she had conjured before making her way towards a chair and a slanted table, sitting down as she looked at the thin book on top of the slanted table. While looking at it, she could not help but lightly frown as she scratched her head. A few seconds later, she said, "According to this scripture, as long as I mimic the natural movements of water for 30 seconds, that would be enough for me to be considered a master of the [Aqua Sphere] spell. It has given me enough methods to increase the amount of time for me to mimic those movements, but why can't I seem to hold it for longer?"
Letting out all of her frustrations, she let out a deep sigh before lying down on the slanted table, staring at the book by its side as she said to herself, "Calm down. This is just a small trial in the face of becoming a stronger God level being. You'll still have to face multiple trials of power after this."
Surprisingly, saying these words to herself worked, gradually removing the frown on her face as she sat upright again, muttering, "System, how can I improve my mastery over the [Aqua Sphere] spell?"Ding!
Not long after, a holographic screen appeared in front of her field of vision. On it was the system's reply to her question. Reading it with a single glance, the young woman could not help but lightly frown as she muttered, "I'd have to buy another scripture in order to extend the time? And it's a scripture that most Rank 2 Acolytes would kill to get?"
"Haah…" Closing the holographic screen in front of her, she then squeezed the skin between her eyebrows with two fingers in slight annoyance. After a few seconds, she stood up from her seat and walked towards the door, muttering, "I can be selfish for once, right? Since I'm participating in the war for the throne, Teacher would definitely allow me to buy this scripture, right?"
With that in mind, she then unhesitatingly went out of the room she was in, heading towards the upper floors of the Arcana Tower in order to seek out her teacher.
This young woman was none other than Erea, while the teacher she was referring to was none other than Dane. It had been a day since the two met up with each other to talk about Erea's invitation to become a part of the Ninth Prince's party in the war for the throne. After accepting the invitation, Erea told her teacher about the problems she came across while trying to master the [Aqua Sphere] spell she bought to fulfill her teacher's goals. Being her teacher, Dane told him all he knew regarding the methods to master the spell at a faster rate, even recommending a scripture related to the [Aqua Sphere] to her, taking into consideration the amount of contribution points she had.
After that, the meeting between the two ended, with Erea hastily buying the scripture that her teacher told him to buy, reducing the amount of contribution points she had to a double digit number. Nevertheless, the investment was worth it. By the time she had entered her training room and read through the methods written on the scripture once, she was able to mimic the movements of water for 2 seconds. After taking around six hours to digest the information written on the scripture, and look at it from another perspective, she was able to extend this time to 5 seconds.
As for the current time she had achieved, this was all due to her thinking out of the box, creating her own ways of fusing the multiple methods on the scripture together without them clashing. Not only that, but she had also peered through a bit of the scripture's essence, which might have influenced the time a bit.
It did not take long for her to reach the upper floors of the Arcana Tower, using a basic movement speed boosting spell on herself. At the moment she had arrived at the floor where her teacher was, she showed a badge that told the ones guarding the floors that she was a disciple of a High Mage at this floor, giving her access to the floor, allowing her to head into the room that her teacher was usually in.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Arriving in front of the door of her teacher's room, she listened if there were any sounds in the room for a bit, wondering if there were any other people inside the room. After hearing that there was nothing, she then went ahead and loudly knocked on the door, saying, "Teacher, can I come in? It's me, Erea."
"Ah?! Erea?!" Expecting that she would get a normal response from her teacher, what she got instead was her teacher speaking in a surprised tone, as if he never expected that Erea would come to his room. After that, a small ruckus could be heard happening inside Dane's room, with the sounds of magic being cast in between. Eventually, a normal response was received by Erea, with Dane clearing his throat as he said, "Alright, come in, my student."
Although she wondered as to what the ruckus was, Erea shrugged her shoulders before opening the door, allowing her to see her teacher seated on a chair, his appearance akin to that of a scholar. But what she did not expect was that, on a chair slightly distant from his teacher's chair, was a beautiful female mage that wore the same colored robe as her teacher. The female mage's face was slightly flushed, which made Erea think that the ruckus was due to something indecent.
Nevertheless, she shrugged this off as she did not want to interfere with her teacher's business, just as how he did not interfere with his.
She made her way towards a vacant chair, sitting down on it as a tense atmosphere appeared within Dane's room. Not long after, as if she could not handle the tense atmosphere, the female mage abruptly stood up and politely bowed in front of Horell, saying, "Thanks for teaching me those things, Horell! If you have anything else you need from me, just ask!"
After that, the female mage scurried off, leaving the two by themselves with an awkward air between them. Dane was the first one to break the silence, awkwardly laughing as he said, "Uh…it's not what you think."
"I don't really mind it, Teacher," Erea replied to her teacher's words before adding with a smile, "Teacher is human too, after all."
Hearing such a response from his student, Dane let out a sigh of relief before clearing his throat while the aura he gave off returned to normal. With a serious yet smiling face, he then asked Erea, "So, what brings you here to my room?"
"Well…I bought the scripture just like you said, teacher. That allowed me to mimic the natural movements of water for 12 seconds," Erea replied. She then added, "But for some reason, I feel like that's the limit of the scripture, not allowing me to extend the time any longer, even though the time needed to be considered a master of the [Aqua Sphere] spell is 30 seconds."
"Hmm…" Dane pondered over her words for a bit. A few seconds later, he responded with, "Can you show me how much of the [Aqua Sphere] spell you've mastered so far? You can also tell me your insights regarding the spell as well."
"Alright." Erea nodded to her teacher's words, standing up before a blue fog converged around her body. Not long after, she held up one of her palms as a magic circle appeared on it, with the blue fog converging towards the magic circle not long after.
"[Aqua Sphere]!"
Whoosh!
Unlike before while she was in the training room, the speed at which the water ball had manifested was many times quicker, with the magic circle shrinking in an instant, a decently sized water ball replacing it soon after. This water ball moved like how water would move if it were floating. Dane then stood up and touched the water ball, seeing the ripples his touch made on the water ball.And then, after some time, the water ball became unstable, abruptly changing its form back to a raging tsunami that circled in one direction. Seeing that, Erea dispelled the spell, looking at her teacher and saying, "Teacher, I think I need to buy another scripture related to the first scripture if I want to extend the time the [Aqua Sphere] would be like that."
"What scripture are you planning to buy?" Dane asked his student.
"{Beryl's Aqua Spells}," Erea responded without hesitation.
"Hoh?" Dane raised his eyebrows after hearing the scripture his student suggested to buy. He could not help but ask, "What gave you the idea to think that a scripture like that would help you?"
"Uh…" Erea pondered over her words for a bit, knowing very well that she can't say that it was because of the system helping her out. Eventually, fusing together what she knew about the scripture she said, as well as the experience she had while using the scripture her teacher recommended to her, she was able to give out an answer.
"Well, although {Beryl's Aqua Spells} is more on the expensive side for someone like me, it would allow me to obtain inspiration from the highly refined spells it has, reducing the mana consumption of [Aqua Sphere], as well as extending the time it could act naturally. Not only that, but it would also allow me to obtain more insight on the other Water-based spells there are, as well as refine it due to my affinity for the four basic elements."
"So…did you come to me because you need contribution points to buy it?" Dane pondered over her words and her abrupt appearance in front of him for a bit, replying with this question.
"Er…" Erea dawdled a bit over her response, before deciding to just get straight to the point and reply with, "Yes."
"Well, I guess it's your lucky day," Dane replied to her response with a smile, standing up before heading towards a nearby bookshelf to grab a blue book out of it. He then gave it to Erea, who looked at the cover of the book in shock after reading the title written on it.
"{Beryl's Aqua Spells}…?" Erea could not help but look at this book she had received and her teacher again and again in slight shock. Seeing this, Dane could not help but laugh as he said, "I bought that at the time when I needed the inspiration to ascend to the Rank 3 Mage class. You can borrow it for now. Once you ascend to your Rank 3 class, give it back, okay?"
With eyes filled with elation, Erea stood up and politely bowed in front of her teacher, replying with, "I definitely will!"
Seeing how touched she was from receiving a scripture she needed, Dane let out a chuckle as he said, "Don't let me down. You're destined to do great things."
In response, Erea nodded before hastily heading out of her teacher's room, making sure to close the door behind her as respect. Other than that, she used all of the movement speed boosting spells she knew to reduce the time she took to reach her training room. It took around five minutes or so for her to return, slamming the door to her training room shut as she arrived.
She then grabbed the scripture that was on the slanted table before placing the two scriptures on the floor, opening both of their first pages as she said with confidence, "Since the system says this is what I needed to finally master the [Aqua Sphere] spell, it's time for me to become a Rank 3 class holder!"