Chapter 38: Inner Circles.

*Flicker*

A Rope made of flames was formed.

"Fuck! Finally!!"

Vaan exclaimed out loud as he stood from the chair.

Then, with a confident look on his face, he extended his hand forward, the Rope moved and caught the jar that was placed on another table, Vaan then pulled back his hand, pulling the Jar towards him with the help of Flame Rope.

"I did it!"

Vaan clenched his fists and heaved a big sigh.

It had been 8 hours since he had been working on this new spell.

[Fire Rope that Binds the Enemy without burning him.]

It was a Spell created by an 8th Circle Mage Vilarian Aira Vesta, since he had a middle name, Vaan realized that he was from the main Vesta Bloodline just like him, however, that didn't matter.

The thing was, Vaan was frustrated.

'Why in the hell was the book full of so many Magic Theories? It had everything but the most important thing. Would he have died if he had drawn the Magic Patterns he used to cast the spell?' He snorted inwardly.

Honestly, if Vaan didn't have to waste his time looking through different books to find what Magic Patterns Mage Vilarian used to cast [Fire Rope] and [Fire with no heat] spells, he would have mastered this spell within 5 minutes.

Yes, he wasted around 8 hours in just searching through different magic patterns and cursing the author of the spell book.

Of course, it wasn't the author's fault either, how could he have imagined that unlike normal mages, who needed to understand the Magic Theories before they could even try and cast magic, there would be a monster who can simply look at the Magic Patterns other Mages used and cast the said spell on his own?

'Tsk, what a waste.'

Vaan snorted again.

He had decided, he won't be learning any more spells. He can do that with Elara's help, he just needed to see the patterns she used and cast the spell without wasting any time. That is much more efficient than learning spells through spell books.

These books weren't written for him.

With that thought in his mind, Vaan shifted his attention to the Inner Circles.

This is where the distinction between different mages is made.

This is where the importance of Magic research, the amount of time and effort a Mage put to work on himself, the number of spells he had learned, and all other factors come into play.

These inner circles were like stored smaller spells that help a Mage cast his spell without wasting much time.

For example,

Rather than,

[Conjure Fireball that changes its direction according to the amount of Mana injected into the Circle]

One can simply store, [Fireball] and [Direction Manipulation] inside 2 Inner Circles,

Then, the previously long Magic Pattern just becomes,

[Link 1 and 2 and conjure]

A 1st Circle Mage like Vaan has 4 inner circles inside his Magic Circle, which meant that he can store 4 smaller spells.

Unlike the Magic Patterns, a Mage cannot draw Inner Circles when in battle, therefore carefully selecting what spells to store inside the inner circles and getting used to them was an essential step in the journey of any mage.

It was only 4 Inner Circles at the start, however, as a Mage grows and the number of Magic Circle he can summon increases, the number of Inner Circles increases as well.

The quality of spells stored inside these inner circles was a major factor in a Mage's strength. Of course, getting used to these Inner Circles was very important as well, it would be useless if a Mage ingeniously stores the best possible spells in his Inner Circles but later forgets which spell was stored inside which inner circle.

The 4 spells Vaan chose for his Inner Circles were,

[Fire Spike], [Direction Manipulation], [Speed], and, [Clear].

Out of these, [Clear] was of absolute importance, it was a simple spell that allows a Mage to 'clear' the Magic Pattern inside the Magic Circle and draw another Magic Pattern without needing to summon a new Magic Circle again.

This way, a Mage didn't have to waste his time in breaking his Magic Circle, gathering the outside Mana, moving it around his body, forming another Magic Circle, and then drawing the Magic Pattern to cast another spell.

He can simply use [Clear], then absorb Mana, circulate it, and draw new Patterns to cast another spell, saving at least 2 seconds for every mage.

[Clear] was a spell that almost every above-average mage had stored inside his Inner Circle and of course, Vaan was going to do the same as well.

Magic was cool and all, however, just as Vaan mentioned before, its battle efficiency is too low because of the time it takes to cast a spell, so anything that improves his speed was extremely important for Vaan.

That was also the reason why he added [Speed] in his Inner Circle, it was a simple spell that increases the movement speed of his spell depending upon the Mana he feeds to the circle.

[Direction Manipulation] and [Fire Spike] were self-explanatory, unlike many mages, Vaan chose to store [Fire Spike] instead of [Fireball] because of the extra damage.

Anyways, with his mind set on the above 4 spells, Vaan took out a paper and pen.

Storing the Magic Circle inside the empty Inner Circles was a complicated process. It was recommended to draw the Circle on the paper, fill in the Inner Circles with the spells you want, then practice and summon the Magic Circle you drew on the paper.

With a determined look on his face, Vaan started drawing the Magic Circle on the paper, but then suddenly,

"Krrriii~"

The little spirit appeared in front of his eyes with a bright smile on her face.

"Flamey! You are back!"