Chapter 83 : Chapter 83

Chapter 83. Creating a Spell (Part 2)

“It does not look very powerful. It cannot really serve as an offensive spell.”

Elan was quite surprised that Fran had actually managed to cast a completely new spell. However, after thinking about it carefully, he felt that the spell did not seem very useful.

Its power was not particularly impressive either—what exactly could it be used for?

Although it technically fulfilled the requirement of creating a new spell, the spell itself seemed rather impractical.

“I can still increase its output,” Fran explained. “But it works best in a sealed environment. Only then can it produce significant offensive power.”

She had deliberately held back. If not for the many scattered items in the room, she could have demonstrated how everything in the room would be blown into the air.

Moreover, the spell she had designed was not meant to be used directly as an attack. It was intended to work together with another spell she was planning to develop.

“There is another spell I have not finished designing yet. Only when it is combined with that spell will it truly be useful.”

“Oh? Tell me about it.”

Elan turned around and looked at Fran with astonishment.

From his perspective, the spell Fran had just demonstrated was already satisfactory. Judging by the magical fluctuations he had sensed, it was undoubtedly a legitimate spell.

He was well aware that Fran had not used the spell at full power, which was why its destructive force appeared relatively modest.

The signature spells of various schools had all undergone countless revisions over long periods of time before reaching their current forms—refined to the point where further improvement was nearly impossible.

For Fran to cast a newly created spell so smoothly was already quite remarkable.

In Elan’s view, the spell bore a strong resemblance to the techniques used by the Elemental School.

The way it manipulated elemental power was strikingly similar to the elemental spells he had seen before.

Most likely, Habos had explained in great detail how elemental spells were cast, allowing Fran to apply that knowledge when creating her own spell.

However, since Fran was not a student of the Elemental School, Habos would never have formally taught her their spells.

The fact that she could create such a spell without having actually studied elemental magic demonstrated just how extraordinary her magical talent was.

Of course, Elan did not know that Fran had secretly learned a few spells beforehand, which had helped her quickly develop Steam Jet.

“For the second spell,” Fran continued, “I want to convert the steam produced by this spell into kinetic energy—just like the steam engine I built.”

Although Elan had not fully understood Fran’s blueprint the last time he saw it, he did know the basic principle of the steam engine she had constructed.

It converted thermal energy into mechanical energy, allowing machinery to produce force.

“How far along are you?”

“Almost finished. I just have not completed the spell structure yet. If I had another spell to use as a reference, I would already be done… It should take about two more weeks.”

Elan looked at Fran with disbelief.

Ever since the weapon forging class, she had continued to overturn his expectations again and again.

He had never imagined that Fran would possess such remarkable talent in every aspect of being a mage—especially in the creation of spells.

If Elan himself had possessed such talent for spell creation, he might already have become a Second-Tier Mage by now.

Wait…

Suddenly, a frightening thought struck him.

Fran had already completed two of the required trials.

That meant the only remaining requirement was achieving a certain ranking in the assessment.

And judging from her abilities, that requirement seemed almost trivial.

With her swordsmanship alone, Fran could easily secure a mid-level ranking. Combined with the spells she already knew, her chances of achieving first place were by no means small.

Even if she did not come in first, she would almost certainly place within the top ten.

Any of those rankings would essentially guarantee the completion of the third trial.

In other words, she might become a formal mage by the end of this year.

Elan still remembered the first time he had encountered Fran. After learning that she was an apprentice from Cuilan Academy, he had deliberately looked up her records.

The records clearly stated that Fran had enrolled at the academy at the age of fourteen. This year, she was fifteen.

Normally, apprentices were only sent to the City of Apprentices at around sixteen.

However, the orphanage where Fran had grown up had shut down due to a lack of funding.

Coincidentally, her Mental Power talent had been discovered at that time, and the recruiter had brought her to the academy because she had nowhere else to go.

If Fran successfully advanced to a formal mage by the end of this year, she would have achieved that rank at the age of fifteen.

Since she had been born in March, advancing at such an age would be nothing short of astonishing.

She would likely become the youngest formal mage in the history of the City of Apprentices—someone whose name would be recorded in its chronicles.

Even within the mage families scattered across the Alliance, it was rare for someone to advance to the rank of formal mage at such an age, despite receiving magical education since childhood.

What made the situation even more shocking was the time it had taken.

If Fran advanced by the end of the year, then the total time from when she first began studying magic to becoming a formal mage would be only two years.

That alone would perfectly demonstrate her extraordinary talent.

Members of mage families studied magic from a young age precisely to increase their chances of advancement and shorten the time required to reach that rank.

For the apprentices of the City of Apprentices, the average time required to advance to formal mage was five years.

Once an apprentice had spent more than six years without advancing, the probability of success dropped dramatically. If someone could not grasp magic by then, they likely never would.

In the entire history of the City of Apprentices, the number of apprentices who had advanced after six years could barely be counted on two hands.

In earlier years, the fastest advancement Elan had heard of was a neglected member of a mage family who came to the City of Apprentices and still required three and a half years to succeed.

Elan himself had advanced to formal mage at the beginning of his fourth year.

At the time, he had been quite proud, believing himself to be a genius. He had even thought that he might reach the Second-Tier Mage rank in another four years or so.

However, after the Law School had been expelled from the City of Apprentices, he had planned to apply for the position of investigator in order to gain access to resources for advancement.

Instead, he was told that since his school was no longer registered within the City of Apprentices, he was not eligible to apply.

When he attempted to apply elsewhere within the Alliance, the staff simply told him to return to the location where he had advanced to formal mage.

The entire affair had infuriated him.

In the end, he had no choice but to remain in the City of Apprentices and take on administrative duties.

As for advancement, he had not progressed a single step beyond the newly promoted formal mage he once was.

Therefore, when Selin ordered him to approach Habos, he had not resisted the disruption of his many years of quiet life.

Instead, he felt conflicted and somewhat lost.

Did he still possess the determination to continue advancing?

“Excellent. Go and prepare for the assessment. You will probably not need to participate in matters here anymore.”

Elan knew that with Fran’s talent for creating spells—and with a Fourth-Tier Mage as her mentor—her future would never stop at the First-Tier Mage rank.

She would likely reach the Second-Tier Mage rank very quickly as well.