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Chapter 749: Seven and Eight
🕑 Added 2023-12-28 21:36:59 +0000 UTCAlexander Roth embraced the feeling burning inside him.
As energy flowed from his natural mana pool to the artificial one, the new construct blazed, filling him with more power than he’d ever known. He felt like two fiery hearts were inside him, beating as one, pumping blood back-and-forth, supporting each other. The energy built, flooding his being with powerful mana, feeling more intense than ever before.
It was intoxicating, he felt himself smiling, laughing, wanting to leap off the table and sprint through the Cage bars.
“I could get used to this!”
The artificial mana felt even better than Professor Val’Rok had promised: he felt energised, like he could cast spells without stopping—even fifth-tier ones— without fear of running low on mana. He could feel his mana charging, sparking, the two pools fusing together, giving him more than enough mana to cast the complex magic circuits of seventh, eighth and ninth-tier spells.
A new door had finally opened for Alex, he was free of the Fool that had held him back, and now, his increased mana had brought him to the threshold of the most powerful levels of wizardry.
And he was ready to step through.
“Alright, time to learn some new summoning spells. I want to try some seventh, eighth, and if I can cast those…then ninth-tier spells. I’ve got the mana, the higher-tier summoning guides from Brightfire, so I should have all that I need to give them a try.”
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Alex was in one of the sanctum chambers, looking at a magic circle carved into the stone floor. Kelda had created a room specifically for safely summoning monsters, complete with a summoning circle that was as secure as any in the Cells. No doubt she’d made it for her assistants to use.
It was perfect for Alex's purposes today.
Birger and Bjorgrund were still in the lab—working on routes to herd their enemies through the sanctum. The portal to the summoning chamber was temporarily shut down for the giants' safety.
“If anything nasty escapes this summoning circle,” he whispered, going through the summoning spell-guides. “Then it won't kill them: it'll be trapped in here and I can teleport out of here. But, just to be extra careful, maybe I should only summon things that are less likely to be hostile.”
With that, he chose his first seventh-tier summoning spell.
Summon Celestial Roc.
Rocs were immense, house-sized birds of prey that looked like eagles covered in feathers as strong as steel. Their plumage was green with splashes of red, and those fiery coloured highlights were what had started legends of the creatures being distantly related to phoenixes.
As far as Alex knew, though, those tales had never been proven.
They were dangerous, with the largest specimens being capable of swooping down on an elephant and carrying it away. But, the celestial kind wasn't overly belligerent, and with their immense size, there would be little chance of one escaping the room.
“I’m giving myself a safeguard by summoning the biggest creature I can,” Alex laughed, flipping open the book. “Professor Jules would be proud. Or, the exact opposite of "proud.”
He examined the spell-guide closely, studying the intricacies of the spell array.
Professor Mangal wasn’t exaggerating: seventh-tier spells are on a whole different level from sixth-tier ones. The array was complicated, generating a magic circuit that was extremely complex. There were a lot of places along the circuit where things could go wrong, and the backlash from miscasting it would mean a mana reversal and worse.
But in return, its magic was amazing and worth trying.
It would take an enormous amount of mana, but—in return—the summoner would wield a titanic amount of power.
He was almost salivating to try it out.
“Even without the Mark of the Fool's interference,” Alex mused. “I'm going to have to be really careful with this. With so many places for things to go wrong, it would stink if I got rid of the Fool only to destroy my mana pool through my own incompetence. Well, I guess ‘careful’ should be my favourite word for the day.”
Alex flipped open a notebook, writing a new notation:
Seventh-tier summoning spell: Summon Celestial Roc.
Beginning Progress: 0%.
Attempt 1 Progress:
He cracked his knuckles. “Seeing how much trouble this spell gives me should give me an idea of whether or not I should try to break through to ninth-tier before we go after the church. If seventh is really hard, that would likely mean ninth will be too dangerous to try, or at the very least, take more time than we could have. If it's too much for me to cast, I’ll just have to adjust my goals down to only trying for eighth-tier.” He took a deep breath, then slowly released it. “Alright, enough delaying.”
Alex flipped open the spell-guide to the first page, speed-reading through the entirety of the thin book. He focused the Mark of the General on the task of memorization, learning all aspects of the spell’s incantation, spell array, and magic circuit.
He marvelled at the amount of detail that made up the spell, then cracked his neck and prepared to cast it for the first time.
Taking another deep breath, he launched into his first seventh-tier spell.
He could feel his mana rising—already surging from his mana pools like a storm—rushing to form the beginnings of the magic circuit. Within him, the Traveller’s power rose, supporting the spell. He focused the Mark on pronunciation.
No interference clouded his thoughts, his mind could concentrate on what it needed to.
But, even without a torrent of failures crushing his mind—along with the General’s support—trying to control the power was difficult. The syllables soon became jumbled in his mouth, sticking to his tongue, and the magic circuit began warping; making him cancel the spell.
“Phew!’ He blew out a breath. “That was tricky.”
The young wizard recorded his first attempt, surprised at the number.
Attempt 1 Progress: 20%.
“Twenty percent from my first try!” He cried. “That's really good. A lot better than I expected: the Mark seems to really work well with Hannah's power. And my mana…”
The seventh-tier spell had taken a lot of energy to start forming the magic circuit, yet he hardly felt his reserves decrease. His artificial pool was working well. Very well indeed. He had to tell Val’Rok when he saw him again.
“I can repeat this spell as many times as I want,” he said. “Let's go again.”
Calling on his reserves, Alex attempted the seventh-tier spell again and again. Each time he cast it, his progress was better, he was completing another five, or even another ten percent of the spell array.
The magic circuit was complicated, but it felt more natural as he uttered the incantation.
Eventually…
He felt it complete in his mana pool, flaring to life. Alex’s mana and Hannah's power sped from the material world, reaching across the boundaries between realms, worlds, and planes, touching the celestial realms high above.
It reached out, nudging an ancient mind, one that was both old and proud, Alex felt something approaching him.
Moving quickly.
In less than a heartbeat, the summoning circle was filled with power.
Air shimmered, then came a deafening cry from a bird’s beak, echoing through the room, a great wind swept through the chamber, announcing the presence of a massive creature, snapping into being before Alex.
In an instant he was tilting his head back, looking up into the eyes of a great bird of prey.
The roc was no smaller than Birger and Bjorgrund’s cottage, its green and red feathers gleaming with a metallic sheen. Its aura was imposing, looking every bit like an apex predator.
The raptor looked down at the wizard who’d conjured it in silence.
Alex looked back without fear, watching its eyes closely.
Both froze.
Heartbeats passed.
The young wizard showed no fear, even as the roc puffed its feathers and scraped sword-sized talons across the stone. At last, it lowered its head slightly.
A corner of Alex's lips crooked up. “Welcome to the material world my new friend. I’m glad you’re here…wait, what's that wonderful scent? It smells like some type of food! Were you…making something?”
The raptor gave a low cry.
“Oh, sorry to take you away, because whatever it is, it smells absolutely delicious! I hope I’m not being rude, but it must be tricky for you to do with just those talons and no opposable thumbs. And, umm, while I’m at it, please forgive me for this too, but uhm…do I know what the roc is cooking?”
For some reason, the bird gave him a withering look, though he wasn’t sure exactly why.
“Well, you look like you're going to be a good addition to my army,” Alex grinned. “The question is, what can I do for you? I know rocs like food. So, how about all the freshly caught Ravener-spawn you can eat? And since you like cooking, I can do some cooking for you too. How does that sound?”
The roc nodded.
“I like it when things are easy,” Alex said. “Alrighty, well, big guy you're a little…big, so I'm going to send you back now and summon you when it's time to knock some heads…or, you know, pick up some heads…attached to some bodies, and drop them a thousand feet to their deaths.”
With a nod of thanks, he dismissed the roc, sending it back to the celestial planes.
“Time for eighth-tier. I could use a monster for my army that has a lot of different uses, and I know just what would work well in the sanctum.”
He picked up the spell guide for eighth-tier summon elder air elemental.
“You'll be an interesting addition…and for battles under the open sky, you and a flying creature as big as the celestial roc will make a great team. Yeah, you'll do fine, and since you can squeeze through small spaces, you'll also be a great fighter in the sanctum.” He grinned. “Elder air elementals are like mini tornadoes! We'll see how the First Apostle likes that! Let's see how…oh…oh wow!”
Seventh-tier spells were extremely complicated, but as Alex looked through the spell-guide for eighth-tier, he quickly realised how significantly less complex than eighth-tier spells they actually were. The very act of tying eight magical circuits together was going to be as rough as herding cats: but he had to try.
“Well, nothing for it,” Alex said. “The magic isn’t going to get any easier if I just sit here and wait, and besides, it only took me a little more than ten tries to get the seventh-tier spell. So, I might as well push on.”
He began speaking the incantation for Summon Elder Air Elemental, channelling the mountain of power within his body. The Traveller’s energy joined with the spell, calling out across the planes. There was something electrifying about the words of the incantation as he conjured a creature as old as the world: the type of monster that was the architect of storms, and the parent of whirlwinds.
He managed to get through five percent of the spell before he had to cancel it.
The words left a tingling on his tongue, leaving him eager to try again.
Time after time, the General of Thameland practised the spell, using the Mark, the Traveller’s power, and his focus honed from dealing with the Fool’s Mark. Minutes passed, becoming hours.
At each difficult point along the spell, he paused, studying it, recording the different aspects of the magic circuit and spell array. He learned the intricacies of the magic.
The entire time, his mana pool continued blazing with energy: even eighth-tier spells were barely touching it.
He completed most of the magic circuit, it was taking hours.
At last, the summoning spell and the Traveller’s energy reached across the planes, touching the elemental plane of air, finding an enduring presence there. A wind as old as the continents poured from the summoning circle, it seemed to shake with the power of the entity within it.
Lightning streaked through the circle.
Thunder awoke and the wind howled.
As the air shimmered, a hungry storm cloud appeared within the summoning circle, immense, vaster across than Bjorgrund was tall, sparking with primordial power.
Lightning crackled as it hissed in an ancient tongue of elemental air.
Its words were at once both a whisper, and the sound of thunder.
The creature floating before the young wizard was one that would have given even greater demons pause, and yet, he’d brought it to the material plane with his mana and the words of an incantation.
“Greetings,” Alex said to the elder elemental. “Welcome to the material world. I'm the wizard who summoned you, and I’m named Alex Roth. My hope is that you and I can work together: if you share your storms with me to destroy my enemies, I will share my magic with you to destroy yours. Together, we will be the storm clouds that split the sky asunder.”
The elder air elemental did not challenge him; it knew well that if he had the power to conjure an eighth-tier spell, then he would have the power to command it as he wished.
Instead, it whispered words of alliance to its summoner, and Alex nodded.
Though his mind was already elsewhere.
He glanced at the ninth-tier summoning spell guides.
He’d broken through to eighth-tier in a matter of hours.
Now, he knew he had to keep going.
There was no reason to stop. He’d done most of what he’d set out to do and broken through to seventh and eighth-tier, he didn’t have to adjust his plan, he could move forward. He could try his hand at ninth-tier summoning spells…
…the most powerful tier of spellcraft.
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Author's Note
Hello thirty-six cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
Yes, soon. SOON.
Ninth level spells are bullshit, haha.
Cya tommorrow!
Comments
James Mckenzie
9th tier is the maximum for pathfinder which is what this series is heavily based on, higher level spells do exist but they're from what we call "Epic Level" play. And while Baelin is most certainly at epic level, our hero here is not.
lenkite
Wasn't he supposed to get in touch with his professor first - thought she had said she would guide him for the ninth tier summon when he made it to that level. Also, its a bit strange that T9 is the max tier of spellcraft in this world. Inventor wizards at the level of Baelin should have already expanded spellcraft to T11/T12.
Together_Comic
I'm almost certain they picked a Roc just to make that joke.
Surgebinder
I remember Alex stealing spell guides from Brightfire not summoning guides. Didn’t he learn summoning from his professor?
SwiftFate
Can't wait to see the General summon the literal embodiment of a General lol
Stephen
Omg. This chapter was amazing! Definitely exciting! Happy Alex finally got his mana pool to be crazy big. Hopefully Teresa gets to kill the first apostle and Alex can make the Hunter regret coming for him. I can’t wait for the conversations with Baelin and ValRok. I’m assuming in book 9 this will take place.
Logan
Getting your meta on with the Rock joke I see
Al
That was an odd 4th wall nudge
BelligerentGnu
You should be so terribly, terribly ashamed of that reference.
SUBLIME SMITER
"what the roc is cooking?”... No, you didn't!!!! LOL... and FINALLY!!!! Please tell me this is where we get to meet the UNMAKER. Have been waiting for that Chekhov's pistol to go off.
Isiah Debarros
He can probably use the 7th tier summon Ally and say her name to summon her
Alex
He probably can summon Carey with 9th tier spell. She should be transformed into some higher being, maybe some kind of angeli?
Isiah Debarros
Well, I mean he has the market in general, which allows him to learn things really fast. He also has an affinity for summoning, and he has the mana for the spouse now him being able to catch the high-level skills for summoning, specifically makes sense in my opinion. Now, if he was randomly started unlocking, the higher tier elemental spells without him learning them at the lower tiers first, I would be incredulous
Bunny Waffles
Presumably there absolutely is. However that would more be the purview of someone on Baelin's level and above. Alex may have grown and his potential unshackled, but he isn't up to Baelin levels yet. He is gonna need time to consolidate and grow before he reaches such lofty heights.
Code Reed
I probably would have studied every spell I could get my hands on in preparation of being able to use it. Even if I couldn't use them, the mark let's you remember everything, so would have been easy to just recall those study sessions and have an arsenal at his fingertips. But hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
George R
Thanks for the chapter chapter cool summons
Code Reed
I think he might be getting ahead of himself a tad bit. I can't help but feel rushing up the teirs is a bad idea. Maybe it's just that, in most stories involving magic that I've ever read, a wide, sturdy foundation is practically a necessity. Sure, he does have a decent foundation, but it's been scewed because of his limitations. Now that he's free of those limits, it feels like he's drunk off the freedom, and neglecting all the tier 1,2,3,4 spells he could practically master in minutes. So far, he has his normal repertoire, a pretty good force armor, and now a couple of high tier summoning spells. It just feels weird, since he's been pretty methodical up until this point. Sure, he's kinda up against a wall, but I can't help how I feel about it.
Nicholas Andrews
Not gonna lie the pacing is feeling a little weird. I get the explanation behind the reaching new spell tiers so quickly but it feels like the importance is being swept under the rug. Like reaching a Tier of spellcraft most wizards in this world will never even glimpse is just checking off something on the old To Do List
Decide
Calling it now, Alex is going to be the first to create a 10th-tier spell. He still needs to figure out how to summon Carey, too.
Jay Allen
Idk if spell tiers get that high lol
Voror
I wonder if he goes right for that one spirit he was warned about but got the name of at least. He's not restricted by the Fool anymore and to have it battle am ancient being that's managed to survive thousands of years with its own army seems like a proper sort of setting it would like
Owen Kaz
I'm kinda hoping for Alex to take 1 look at the 9th tier and just go "What the fuck is this?!"
Panzer
“The most powerful tier”? There’s no tenth tier?
Xyminimal
I can just imagine the first apostle and the stalker pulling up to the sanctum ready to finally kill Alex only to get jumped by an army of 7th, 8th and 9th tier summons. So hype
GuyWhoReadsALot
He should summon Baelin.
Bob Bryan
Title of this chapter should of been "I wanna roc" otherwise good to see him expanding
Linkneo5
Training montage!
mhaj58
First lol
