Chapter 149 (2/2)

In the field of vision, Link saw a red-colored atmosphere flowing in from all sides into this red magic structure, forming a large flame giant with a finger two times larger than the elephant’s leg. The color of the hand was incandescent and surrounded by a red fire. The flame, on the outside, was a billowing heat wave.

“It’s not bad, but it’s just the regular version,” said Link in his own realm of consciousness. “I’ll modify it.”

As soon as he had the idea, the Flaming Hand in front of him disappeared and turned into its basic spell structure. Link then began to modify it based on the ideas that he had when observing the regular version earlier.

He had been playing with the ideas of ways to modify the spell a dozen times in his head, so he took less than five minutes before a completely new spell structure was created.

After checking it one last time and confirming that there were no defects, Link said, “Simulate spellcasting.”

The spell structure began to oscillate, and the red flames began to pour in. Soon afterwards, the Flaming Hand began to take shape and was about to come into its perfect from when suddenly there was a flash of light and the Flaming Hand scattered and collapsed.

Simulated casting failed. The new structure was flawed.

Link was not discouraged, though. He knew that it would take more than one trial to succeed.

“Can you repeat the process?” asked Link. “And make it slower too.”

Yes.

And so, Link once again observed the whole process when the Flaming Hand collapsed. The speed was slowed down by 5 times so Link could very clearly see the whole process unfold and identify where it had gone wrong.

Link finally spotted all the flaws after a few seconds. He pondered on a solution for about three minutes, then started to make slight alterations. This time, he spent about ten minutes on it. After making sure that everything was in place, he once again said to the gaming system, “Simulate spellcasting.”

The red gas flowed into the spell structure once again, but this time no accidents happened. The giant hand appeared, although its appearance slightly differed from the regular version. Its surface was still an incandescent white, but it was glowing very dimly and the roiling waves around it were now controlled. The barrier between the Flaming Hand and the air around it was now clear-cut. Additionally, there was a transparent force field around the giant hand.

This force field wrapped around each finger of the Flaming Hand. Under the influence of the fire elements on the force field, red rings of fire appeared around these fingers.

The texture of this novel Flaming Hand was similar to that of Link’s Glass Orbs. The reason being that both spells condensed all of their fire elements tightly inside their cores.

Splendid, Link thought. Now I can completely control the flame and direct it to explode at the exact time that I wish it to. There are still some flaws here, though. The control of the flame’s energy is still imperfect, but I can change that.

Link liked spells that he could control, which was why he had developed the Flame Blast with high target accuracy and the Glass Orb with almost all of it fire elements constrained inside the orb. Right now, he wished to create a modified version of the Flaming Hand of which he could completely tweak its surface temperature to his desire.

After the completion of its basic structure, he now began to make the final improvements to the spell.

It took him more than half an hour this time. After modifying it five times, Link was finally content.

Though half an hour might seem like a brief period of time, Link had actually spent more time because he was in the realm of his own consciousness. Because Magicians usually possess fast thinking speed, one second in the real world was like a hundred seconds in their realm of consciousness. Link, on the other hand, had such a lightning fast thinking speed that one second in the real world could be as long as 200 seconds in his realm of consciousness. Combined with the boost he received from the gaming system, that was how he managed to modify a spell in less than an hour.

“Now,” said Link, “imprint this spell onto the Glyph of Soul.”

Are you sure?

“Yes.”

As soon as he made the reply Link felt as if something was slamming against his head. He could almost hear a clanging sound in his head, as if someone was hitting on a big brass bell. He had a throbbing headache when he finally regained consciousness. Nevertheless, the Flaming Hand’s structure had been clearly imprinted in his mind and he could recall it with all its minute details in no time at all.

He had a feeling that as long as he triggered his Mana he could construct the structure of this Level-5 spell instantaneously. Then, a notification popped up on the interface.

Player acquired a new soul spell. Please name the spell.

“Call it… the Vulcan’s Hand”, replied Link. He had wanted to call it the Buddha’s Palm but he thought it sounded too grandiose and arrogant to name a spell he created himself something like that.

Player successfully created a new Level-5 spell – the Vulcan’s Hand. Player receives 10 Omni Points and now has 210 Omni Points in total.

Link took a quick glance at the notification then made it disappear. He rubbed his throbbing temple and closed his eyes to rest for a while. About ten minutes later the carriage gradually slowed down and came to a stop.

“Mr. Link,” said the coachman, “we’re at the castle gate now.”

Link opened his eyes and peered out of the carriage window and discovered that he was now at the Hamilton family’s castle gate. By now the guards on the castle wall had noticed the carriage approaching the moat, though they made no move to lower the bridge.

“Who goes there?” shouted one of the guards. “Report the name of the gentleman in the carriage!”

“Tell them it’s Link Morani,” said Link to the coachman, who then shouted the reply.

The guards on the castle wall were taken aback by the name given by the coachman. They knew that the Viscount’s third son had left the castle to study magic a long time ago and were surprised at his sudden appearance now.

Why did the young master come back so suddenly? Did he hear that the old Viscount was sick in his bed and rushed back to make sure he got his share of the inheritance?