ALL NOVEL Chapter 357: Energy
Mike is 14 years old this year. Over the past years, he has been in school, training and learning new spells. He still has some time to go before he can graduate, as he is not yet mature enough to cast high-grade spells. It can be said that without the ability to cast high-grade spells, humans stand no chance against adult demons.
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Mike browsed through a newly published book with great interest. The book is about behavioral studies, personality disorders, and the connection and effect of the soul on one's mentality. It includes the most cutting-edge information and research available.
After an hour, he looked at his magic watch and reluctantly put the book away; he had to attend an elemental spell class in less than ten minutes.
"Soul studies are so interesting! I should read more books about the soul!" Mike thought as he stood up. The topic he was most interested in was not becoming a doctor and diagnosing personality disorders, but the soul itself.
According to the book, personality disorders result from hidden injuries on the soul. It theorizes, albeit with unconvincing evidence, that all human souls are the same, and what sets them apart are the hidden injuries they accumulate after each life. These hidden injuries eventually heal and cause changes in the soul. For example, the death of a loved one can cause such deep sadness that it injures one's soul. Even if that person dies and is reborn, the injury remains, most likely causing them to have a sad and depressed personality. However, after several rebirths, these injuries would heal.
An injury to the physical body is different from an injury to the soul. For example, a cut on a finger would eventually heal, but it wouldn’t make the finger stronger. Physical injuries don’t make one stronger, even after they heal. A soul injury is different; the soul can become stronger once the injury heals. Of course, it's also possible that the soul deforms during the healing process, permanently damaging it. Souls that are permanently damaged would eventually be absorbed by 'Reincarnation Forgery' and reforged into new souls.
The book presented a lot of evidence to support these claims, but much of it was suspect, and some were outright false. For example, the book claims that all souls are forged by what they call 'Reincarnation Rorgery.' Mike knew this to be false; after all, he was not from this world, and his soul wasn’t created by 'Reincarnation Forgery.'
However, some of the book's claims were probably true. For example, it mentioned that a demonic bloodline could accelerate the healing of the soul. Mike himself had a few behavioral issues, such as weak communication skills, but since coming to this world, he has been constantly improving. This improvement was most likely connected to his demonic blood concentration.
The book also explored a few spells that could treat an injured soul, as well as a few offensive spells that could injure the target's soul. It didn’t contain any actual spells; these were just theories of what might be possible. Soul-related spells are top secrets and are rarely used, even by demons. The main reason is that the world's consciousness frowns upon harming the soul. Damaged souls cannot be reincarnated and must be reforged, which costs the world a lot of energy. If someone dares to unscrupulously damage souls, the world's will would not stand idly by. It wouldn’t send tribulation clouds like some worlds do, but it would respond.
Despite the world's consciousness, both sides—humans and demons—possess offensive and defensive soul spells. After all, the world's consciousness is slow to respond, and one must be prepared for both defense and attack at all times. Relying on the world's consciousness is not a habit of either demons or humans.
Mike left the library and headed to the elemental spell training ground.
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The elemental spell class is one of the most important. Grades in this class significantly impact student rankings, unlike history class, where grades are less critical.
There are two broad types of spells: bloodline spells, which are mostly irrelevant for humans, as they cannot cast them without taking grave risks, and invented spells. Invented spells are divided into two further broad categories: pure energy spells and elemental spells.
Pure energy spells are cast using power drawn from one's demonic bloodline, while elemental spells require both energy drawn from one's bloodline and an element, which could be fire, ice, or even a made-up element. Pure energy spells are easier to cast, whereas elemental spells are harder. Generally speaking, most low-level curse and blessing spells are pure energy spells, and most low-level direct offensive and defensive spells are elemental spells. However, this is not an iron rule; there are many curse and blessing spells that can be cast using elements, and many pure energy direct offense and defense spells; it is possible to modify most spells to add elements into them, but doing so for low-level cursing and blessing spells is a waste of time.
Technically, it's possible to cast all spells solely with energy without using any element at all. Even a Fireball spell can be cast without any fire elements. However, doing so would increase the energy cost. Professional mages always manage their energy carefully and would never be wasteful enough to use power to replace elements.
One main reason mages prioritize energy over elements is that elements can be carried outside the body, while energy can only be drawn from one's bloodline. Even energy crystals cannot be used to quickly recover energy. Once one's energy is depleted, they would be unable to cast any spells, whether elemental or pure energy.
It might seem logical that top mages, with their large energy capacity, would care less about conserving energy, but that's not the case. The stronger the mage, the more they care about saving and managing energy. The best mages cast few pure energy spells and primarily use elemental spells. No matter how powerful, demons with pure blood are much stronger, so even top mages must be extremely careful with their energy usage, replacing whatever they can with elements instead of using energy.
The best spells aren’t those that deal the most damage but those with the highest element-to-energy ratio. One must not underestimate the importance of energy. The most important factor determining victory in most battles is energy, not the strength of spells.
The elemental class Mike attended was not about theory. The theoretical part is left to the students to study on their own. Those interested can visit the library to learn more. The class focuses solely on the combat application of elemental spells.
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"Today, we are working on another elemental spell you've already learned: the Infernal Ice spell. We have as many elements as you need. Your mission is to cast the spell using 51% elements and 49% energy. Whoever does it first will get an A+. These devices measure the spell composition in detail. Now, start!" the teacher shouted.
The students, all teenagers, had been deeply educated in many spells. By this point, they had already learned all the low-grade spells they needed. The class was not about teaching new spells but about making their spells more efficient by using more elements and less energy.
Top mages can cast spells composed of 95% elements and 5% energy. These students, however, are far from reaching that level. For them, it would be considered a success to cast a spell with a 51% element mix; of course, doing it once is not enough; only if they can do it with a success rate of +99% would it be counted as a small accomplishment.
Casting spells with more elements than energy is no easy task. Elements are not as flexible as energy and make the spell formation more rigid, exponentially increasing the spell's failure rate. Successfully casting a single spell is only the first step; the most difficult part is training enough to become skilled at casting spells with a low failure rate.
For students of this school—the best in the Human Civilization—achieving this is not too difficult. Most would succeed after a few months. Mike is far ahead of his classmates. He is now working on increasing the element portion to 64%; he can already cast the Infernal Ice spell with a 63% element with over 99.999% success rate.
Mike's success is mostly due to his pure bloodline. The purer the bloodline, the easier it is to interact with energy and elements. Therefore, it’s wrong to say that one can eventually succeed if one works hard enough. Most students at B-grade and lower-grade schools, no matter how long and hard they work, may never succeed simply.
The students all nodded and sat down to meditate; it's best to meditate before spellcasting exercises.
After a few minutes, they began standing up one by one, casting elemental spells. Initially, the failure rate was practically 100%. Fortunately, the training ground was covered in a formation that absorbed all backlash from the spell failures.
By the end of the day, half of the students had cast their first spell, with over half of the mix made of infernal ice elements. These students were all geniuses; no wonder they were admitted to the S-Grade school of the capital.
Infernal Ice is an element made by the Human Civilization; it burns and freezes at the same time.
Mike failed to increase his percentage to 64%, but he did reach 63.4%, which was good enough for one day of training.