Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 55 - Mana Control Exam Demonstration

Previously:

Kady Ailert and Rau Eryey explain how Kiel and Elaru will be tested in the upcoming spell control exam. Examinees are given a cube that they will control with complete spells - Temperature and Light. Through their control, the cube will pass an obstacle race against time. Kady and Rau demonstrated how to use the cube with the Temperature and Light spell.

* * *

After several seconds of demonstration, Kady's cube floated down on her hand. Her gaze passed from face to face, her soft smile never leaving her face. "Alright. Let's move on."

She controlled the cube, heating up its sides, making it fly out of her hand and slide into the opening on the bottom of the cylinder.

As soon as the cube entered, a click could be heard and suddenly, the needle piercing the hourglass pinned on the metal stand of the glass tube, moved back, letting the blue liquid pass through the bottleneck.

The liquid slowly seeped into the bottom half of the hourglass, drop by drop.

Kady controlled the cube, making it fly upwards, expertly avoiding the brightly colored strings. After a while, for the sake of the demonstration, she stopped her cube and intentionally made her cube come in contact with the strings.

As soon as the cube touched a string, as if it was made out of the most fragile substance imaginable, the string instantly snapped. When it snapped, the needle piercing the hourglass moved back. In that short moment, the dripping speed of the liquid increased considerably. The number of drops that would usually need several seconds of time to slide down passed through the bottleneck in an instant.

After the cube had passed through the web of threads, Kady made it enter the indentation on the top of the glass tube. When it slid inside the indentation, a soft click was heard, and the needle in the hourglass moved to block the flow of the liquid.

After the demonstration, Kady looked around the room and inquired: "Are there any questions? If not, you may begin with your practice."

After waiting several seconds without anyone speaking up, Kady snapped her fingers. The sand hourglass on the teacher's desk flipped upside down.

"You have 5 minutes. Begin."

Before starting to weave, Kiel inspected the cube thoroughly. He could sense a complicated spell, rotating slowly in the center of the cube - the enchantment that turned this cube from an ordinary cube into a magic artifact.

Kiel started weaving the Temperature spell carefully. After getting down the basic shape of the spell, he pushed his mana through the surface of the cube. This action was easier than he expected it to be - the material of the cube didn't put up much resistance.

He continued weaving the Temperature under the surface of the cube, surrounding the spell in the center. He was careful to keep his spell from coming too close to the enchantment spell.

If his spell touched the enchantment spell before he managed to fully form it, the enchantment spell would cut through his non-solidified mana like a hot knife through butter.

Even if his spell didn't come into direct contact with the other spell, if it came too close, the two spells could experience destructive interference. If the nature of the reality altering phenomena caused by the spells conflicted, it would cause a battle for supremacy between the two.

Keeping his distance was the optimal course of action.

After positioning the spell inside the cube, he spread the spell roots outwards. His mana created a web of threads on the surface of the cube. Unlike elibu who had to target the area above the surface of the cube as their source of light, Kiel had to directly heat up the surface of the cube, so his spell target was naturally the surface itself.