CHAPTER 91: FIRST SPELL

It was different with Kaedros and Rauk.

Nyra didn’t push them hard in the first few days. Instead, she helped them adjust to their Flows while she began teaching them the principles of spell formations, something very different from what Kaedros had known in his world.

In his world, spellcasting was simple, you wove the spell in your mind, merged it with mana, and unleashed it.

But Nyra’s method was both rigid and flexible, more structured but still adaptable mid-cast. The key difference? The formation materialized physically when arcane was channeled through it.

"See?" she said, raising a paw.

Above her, a silver formation appeared, circular with intricate angles and glyphs. It gleamed like forged steel, suspended in the air.

"This is a formation. Not all spells require one, but most do. And the size of a formation doesn’t determine its level."

"So large formations don’t mean stronger spells?" Rauk asked, raising a brow.

"No. It depends entirely on the function of the spell," Nyra replied. The circle above her shrank rapidly until it was the size of her paw. "Some spells prefer complexity, not size. Others favor minimalism and precision. But some need to cover large areas."

She sighed. "Now... time for the boring part. Let’s talk about the language of formations."

Turned out, formations did have a language. The arcs, symbols, and angles each carried meaning. Nyra broke it down slowly, teaching them how to read and combine them.

They listened while practicing their Flows.

Rauk’s Dominium Terrae Flow felt like breathing in great gusts of air while calculating every drop of mana taken in. It refined his magic control and made his core more efficient, his spells were becoming faster, more malleable. Like clay in his hands.

Kaedros was different.

His Sol Invicta Flow felt volatile, burning his lungs like hot liquor. It made his mana feel alive. Unstable. Like playing with fire, or getting close to the sun.

Magic surged through him with such violent heat that sometimes it felt as if his core would rupture.

More, be could now clearly distinguish the different magics that made up Light of Annihilation.

She only smiled. "I want you to cast a spell," she said. "Then you’ll understand."

She taught him how to cast formation spells, step by step:

First, visualize the formation clearly in your mind. Fix the design, every angle, every line.

Then, materialize it by channeling just a little magic into the image held in your mind.

Once it appears physically, push more magic into the structure, and the spell activates.

"There’s always a link between you and the formation," said Chef, who had been quietly listening behind Nyra. "It’s invisible, but real. The formation draws power through it."

"But I’ve never seen either of you use formations," Rauk said, frowning. "Why’s that?"

Nyra chuckled. "We can use them. But we’ve long since moved past the need to visualize spells. Eventually, you’ll reach that level too."

"But not yet," she added, raising her voice. "So stick with your formations!"

And so they did.

For two full weeks, Kaedros and Rauk did nothing but memorize spell structures and visualize them. They discovered why mages struggled on the front line, concentration. Visualizing a single spell in battle was mentally exhausting. Casting multiple spells? Nearly impossible without exceptional mental strength.

Nyra and Chef didn’t make it easy either. They had to swing swords while focusing, multitasking constantly.

"You must learn to fight like a mage and a warrior!" Nyra barked whenever they complained. "Thalso said it and this is what he meant!"

Their training wasn’t as physically intense as Taria’s, not even close. But mentally? It was just as brutal. By the end of each day, their minds were drained, their bodies sluggish, and their focus dulled. They couldn’t even think straight only stare into space, too tired to talk.

But finally, after those two weeks, something changed.

Rauk stood before a metal dummy, blade in hand. He swung his sword in a wide, horizontal arc.

A grey formation small and intricate flared to life just above his descending sword.

It happened instinctively.

He poured magic into the formation without thinking.

The spell activated.

A twisting, grey energy wrapped around the blade. His eyes lit up, solid grey for an instant as the power surged. His blade, now shrouded in magic smoke, cleaved through the dummy cleanly, slicing it in two.

He froze.

Did that just happen? he thought. The evidence was right there, two halves of the dummy clattered to the ground.

The spell had cast flawlessly.

His sword was cloaked in swirling grey, the metal beneath nearly invisible under the thick arcane mist.

"Did I just cast my first spell?" Rauk whispered, stunned. He hadn’t forced the connection, the formation had simply responded to him, as if they were already linked.

And the level of power far surpassed what he had done before he started learning the Flow.

"You just did!" Nyra cried, voice proud and motherly.

"But how? I wasn’t even trying! It just... came!"

Kaedros grinned and gave him a light slap on the back. "That’s how it is, Rauk. That’s exactly how it is."

Rauk blinked, then grinned back.

His stomach fluttered with excitement. He’d done it.

And now?

He couldn’t wait to see what else he could do.

After a while, Rauk looked at Nyra and raised his sword, arcane still swirling along its length.

"How do I turn this off?"

The formation’s link still tethered the spell to his blade, it pulsed faintly like a rope of light feeding arcane from his core.

"Just will it to stop and it will fade naturally," Nyra replied. "Or, better, cut off the arcane flow directly. That gives you more control."

Rauk nodded and focused. In his mind, the link felt like a thin but sturdy thread, vibrating with power. He visualized the flow slowing, easing off and the thick grey arcane cloaking his blade dimmed until only a wisp remained.

"Well?" Chef said with a sly grin, eyes glinting. "Going to practice with it or just admire yourself?"

Rauk smirked and pulsed more arcane into the spell. The grey mist flared up once again.

"But why does it cling to the sword? I thought it would... I don’t know fire something out."

"That’s because of the nature of the spell you cast," Chef explained. "It mimics what essence warriors do, infusing their weapons with power. The difference is you’re doing it externally with magic, not internally with essence."

Rauk gave the sword a test swing.

To his surprise, a twisting beam of grey arcane burst from the blade, shaped like a sword slash, and tore into the dummy across from him, cleaving it neatly in half.

Chef blinked. Even though the dummies weren’t protected by glyphs or infused with arcane, the destructive force of that single cast was undeniable.

Too powerful for his stsge, she thought. And not just him, these kids, all of them, had larger cores than usual. It had to be the Shadow Blades, enhancing them in quiet, hidden ways. Their Flows, too... she and Nyra had lied. These weren’t beginner-tier Flows.

Or...her eyes turned to Kaedros. ’..Don’t tell me he’s unintentionally...?..’

Still unaware of her thoughts, Rauk continued swinging his sword, until he staggered and clutched his chest.

"I almost drained my core!" he gasped, quickly severing the arcane link.

"What did you expect?" Chef scoffed, uncorking her bottle and taking a long sip while eyeing him. "You think you can fire off sword beams all day and stay full?"

Rauk grimaced. "Well..."

"Do it," she ordered flatly.

He blinked. "What?"

"Drain your core. Then use your Flow to refill it. That’s your next phase of training."

"Why?" he asked, confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Because that’s how you advance, by pushing your core to its limits over and over again. Now get to it."

Rauk sighed but obeyed. He cast the formation again, slashed it, and the mist returned. He raised his sword and fired another arcane blade.