Chapter 54: Tier 1 Spell!

Chapter 54: First-Rank Spell!

Li Wei returned to his room and finally exhaled deeply as he sat down at the desk.

“The dream grows ever more perilous.”

This time, several nightmares had appeared—none as fearsome as the Nightmare Snow Bear.

After all, that beast had absorbed over a decade of Guo Ze’s nightmares; it was nearly second-rank.

Fortunately, he’d escaped unscathed.

And he’d obtained what he sought.

Li Wei gazed at the memory shard in his palm.

Yet more than its contents, he wondered about the four streaks of light that had flown into his body upon the nightmare’s death.

The same thing had happened when he killed the Snow Bear.

But then, the nightmare core had mingled with the memory fragment—he hadn’t yet distinguished the two.

This time, only the core came forth, no fragment. Only now did he realize they were different.

After some searching, Li Wei finally understood what slaying a nightmare granted him.

【Great Dream Soaring Art (Zero-Rank)】 360/10000

Experience points for the Great Dream Soaring Art.

Upon this realization, Li Wei fell into deep thought.

“If I obtain others’ memory fragments, I gain cultivation experience.”

“Killing nightmares grants me experience in the Great Dream Soaring Art—the art and nightmares share the same origin.”

“And when I cast the Great Dream Soaring Art, becoming a Dreamwalker… I become a nightmare myself!”

Reflecting back, the things he did were no different from what nightmares did.

No essential distinction—both stole power from others within dreams.

“The nightmare… was me all along.”

Li Wei could only laugh bitterly.

He didn’t know whether this was good or ill.

No dark god had appeared—yet he was almost no longer human.

He shook his head, casting the thoughts aside.

“Never mind. One step at a time. If worst comes to worst, I’ll simply stop using the Great Dream Soaring Art.”

He picked up George’s memory shard and began absorbing it, sifting through the memories.

Fragments flashed through his mind like scattered leaves, until he locked onto the spell models.

Within them, he found two complete forms:

*Small Fireball*, *Fireball*.

After a long while, Li Wei opened his eyes. Words floated before him.

【Small Fireball (Zero-Rank, Minor Mastery)】 3666/4000

【Fireball (First-Rank, Initial Step)】 300/1000

【Invisible Armor (Zero-Rank, Minor Mastery)】 656/4000

【Great Dream Soaring Art (Zero-Rank)】 360/10000

【Ice Arrow (Zero-Rank, Proficient)】 200/2000

Digesting George’s memories had greatly increased his proficiency in Small Fireball.

And he had gained a new spell—Fireball!

A smile spread across Li Wei’s face. “At last, a first-rank spell!”

“This brings me one step closer to advancement.”

“But how do I explain learning a first-rank Fireball?”

He frowned, troubled.

After much deliberation, one name surfaced—Mage Alan.

He could claim Alan taught him.

Given how the Mage Tower treated Alan, no one would bother verifying it.

Ice Arrow could remain hidden, unused. But Fireball would become a staple.

He must resolve the issue of its origin—lest it become a future liability.

With a solution in mind, Li Wei dismissed further worry.

He cast Fireball.

Having gained George’s cultivation experience, Fireball had reached the initial stage.

After mentally simulating the spell model several times,

Li Wei wove mana into the formation of the spell.

A first-rank spell was far more complex than zero-rank ones.

Small Fireball had only six magical circuits; Invisible Armor, seven.

Fireball possessed sixteen.

This made it more powerful, more stable.

Ten seconds to construct the model. One point five seconds to fill it with elemental force.

A fireball the size of a basketball hovered before him,

roaring with flame, radiating searing light.

Li Wei sensed its stability—far greater than Small Fireball. Left untouched, it could burn for twenty to thirty minutes.

This meant Fireball’s range surpassed that of Small Fireball.

With a thought, his will guided the fireball in circling arcs around him, spiraling outward.

“Easier to control than Small Fireball. Maximum control distance doubled—to twenty meters!”

“And flight speed is much faster, roughly twice that of Small Fireball.”

The Nightmare Snow Bear materialized in the room.

The hovering fireball detected its target and shot forward like a comet.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion erupted, engulfing the nightmare in blinding fire.

Even ten meters away, Li Wei felt waves of heat and pressure roll past.

“The destructive power rivals an exploding fireball… perhaps slightly stronger.”

The nightmare snow bear had vanished without a trace.

With a mere flick of his hand, Livi restored the ravaged room to perfect order.

"Conclusion: the power of First-Rank Fireball is more than five times that of Minor Fireball, and it far surpasses in stability, controllability, attack range, and flight speed."

"But its mana cost is ten times that of Minor Fireball—twice that of Exploding Fireball!"

The mana consumption of first-rank spells was indeed staggering.

Even with his current reserves, he could cast such spells no more than four times at most.

Yet their destructive power was equally astonishing—

a basic-level spell capable of effortlessly obliterating a nightmare snow bear.

As spell proficiency increased, so too would the spell’s might.

Livi gazed at his skill panel, arms folded in contemplation.

"Minor Fireball has low consumption—that's an advantage. I should keep grinding it, aim for perfection."

"Fireball drains enormous mana, but it's tied to awakening my supernatural trait and advancing to full magehood. I must invest time into mastering it."

Having clarified his path, Livi quickly formulated his future training plan:

temporarily suspend practice of the Invisible Armor spell, focus all efforts on Fireball, strive to awaken his supernatural trait as soon as possible.

He wouldn’t abandon Minor Fireball either—less than four hundred experience points remained until the next level.

He looked forward to witnessing the effects of a perfected spell.

Chain Minor Fireballs was merely an application technique of Minor Fireball, not an independent spell—

just like Charged Fireball or Exploding Fireball.

Within the dream realm, Livi ground relentlessly at Fireball.

When time was nearly up, he withdrew from the dream.

Dawn had not yet broken when everyone was roused for departure.

"Commander Aorn said we must reach the battlefield by tonight! Everyone, rise and prepare to move out!"

They stirred, made brief preparations, and resumed their march.

Breakfast was dry rations eaten on the move.

When Livi awoke, the burrowing-beast-drawn cart he sat upon had already left camp far behind.

Guze glanced at him, broke a large flatbread in half, and handed one piece over.

"You're awake. I saw you sleeping, so I didn’t wake you."

Livi took the bread—it was hard, coarse, mixed with dried meat bits and flour, rough in texture.

This meat-studded flatbread was special rations for supernatural-class warriors.

Ordinary soldiers only got plain wheat flour cakes.

He grabbed his waterskin, rinsed his mouth, spat out the water,

then sat down to chew the bread—only washable down with water.

Livi asked, "Nothing happened last night, I hope?"

(End of Chapter)