Chapter 324: Equivalent Exchange
Picking up his pen, Dhruv began writing about the second step.
The second was a bit unique. In this step, the blueprint of the spell would appear. His hands increased in speed as he found this step the easiest among them all.
Here he didn’t have to do anything; everything would be done automatically. After making its appearance, the blueprint would begin its search. It would begin searching for any sign of authority.
If the blueprint found something worthwhile, it would automatically engrave some runes upon itself and enhance the effect of the spell... the more it found signs of authority, the more runes would be added, thus increasing the overall power as well.
If there was no authority around him, the blueprint would take the authority he had over his body and allow him to move to the next step.
Writing down the steps, Dhruv couldn’t help but think what would have happened if he didn’t have authority over his body... would the blueprint just decrease the power of the spell?
...Or would it simply cease to exist?
’Sigh! There is no simple loss... it would probably cease to exist,’ Dhruv thought after piecing together some of the hints.
’I was lucky to not choose this evolution during the third tier...’
The more Dhruv learned about the affinity, the more he thanked his past for not selecting the evolution into a progenitor during tier III. He couldn’t even imagine the result if he were to do all this.
Taking a deep breath, Dhruv began writing the third step which was probably the second most difficult one.
’Why do I have to continue chanting mantras again!?...’ Dhruv thought as he remembered the information about the step.
To continue moving forward, he had to chant mantras which, in turn, would create a channel in the blueprint.
Dhruv couldn’t skip these steps—considering that even if it was possible—as these tunnels would be exactly what he needed to use in the later stage to fill the blueprint with mana.
At this stage, the first step truly shines, as for him to properly channel the mantras into the blueprint, he had to be in an extremely calm state again. So, all in all, he had to continue being in a meditative state for the entirety of spellcasting.
When Dhruv had read about these steps during his limited research prior to the duel, he had asked Aurora if the mantra she was chanting was what she was chanting as well.
But to his surprise, the answer was no... what she was chanting wasn’t mantras but words of some ancient origins.
Aurora was murmuring the words she had learned from a skill. Why she knew it wasn’t mantras because there was no mention of words being the mantras in the description.
Her murmuring didn’t have any great purpose, as it was used to somewhat speed up the process of spellcasting and enhance the spell effect... nothing like creating channels in the blueprint and all.
Similar to her, Dhruv also knew what he had to chant... just him chanting mantras would have a totally different effect.
Even after learning both of their effects, he couldn’t help but try to find any link between the two... but soon he had to give up, finding himself not very adept in the theoretical field of magic.
Flipping his page, Dhruv moved to the next one and began writing the fourth step of Authority spellcasting.
’Tsk! Why is this step even necessary...’ Dhruv thought, writing about the step.
Like the third step, he was not fond of doing the fourth one as well. This was the weirdest and probably the hardest step of them all. What increased its difficulty even more was that he had to do this step along with step three.
Here he had to visualize some complex shape or form.
To increase the difficulty, the shape he had to visualize would be that of three-dimensional objects. When he tried to imagine them... the only thing he got in return was a headache, and all this when he had a Parallel Thinking Brain.
’If I were human with no mutation, then wouldn’t my brain be fried doing all these things at the same time?’ Dhruv thought, shaking his head. After some thought, he understood there would be some sort of skill to help him here as well.
What made this step even more frustrating was that he didn’t even know what effect it had on the spell. He would be doing this step because he was told to do it... nothing more than that.
Pitying his future self... Dhruv moved to the fifth step, which was the step he had done the most. In the fifth step, he just had to move his mana—Authority mana—to the blueprint.
There was a bit of a problem with this step as well, and that was that changing raw mana to Authority seemed twice as hard as its elemental counterpart.
Writing these words, Dhruv flipped pages and wrote the title: Effect of the Spell.
’Now we’re talking...aren’t we.’ Dhruv thought, remembering the effect.
Like everything in the cosmos, the spells were equivalent in exchange as well. Considering the difficulty of casting it, the result it provided was great as well.
The spell being strong compared to other elemental spells was only the start. The smile on his face seemed to get broader as Dhruv realized the extent of its effect.
In simple words, Authority spells would have a very long-lasting effect... a very long-lasting effect. The spell would continue to exert power even after the mana holding it dissipates.
The reason for this is that when its own mana ran out, it would automatically begin to absorb mana from the surroundings and replenish itself.
’Doesn’t that mean the spells of Authority can continue to have effects indefinitely...’ Dhruv thought, a smile appearing on his face.
Learning about this new aspect, he couldn’t help but think how long and how much of the spell’s strength would remain. He wanted to try it as soon as possible but couldn’t help but sigh after remembering he didn’t have a spell to cast yet.
But that was about to change... putting the diary back, Dhruv leaned forward. Thinking of Authority Manipulation he began searching for spells.
