Who would have thought that diligent practice would actually pay off and make me better at casting magic? I mean… some might say that it seems obvious, but to those people I say… shush yourselves! Nobody asked you anyways!

I’m rapidly closing in on the next rank of my fused, Omni-Elemental Mana specialisation, which is exciting, but more than that, I’m happy that my mastery over the Singularity has grown more and more pronounced.

After breaking the spell into many, many segments and then practising each one ad-infinitum, I’m most of the way through the construct now and it is absolutely flying together. When Propellant demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique, she showed that she was not only able to cast a Fire Bolt much faster than I could, but pack in way more power as well. Her training had made the casting of the spell so second nature that she could not only construct it with incredible efficiency, but condense the mana as she did so.

Now, I have way more brain power than Propellant, who’s only tier six, so I should be able to replicate her efforts, but I’ve restrained myself for now. So far, I’ve put almost all of my energy into developing speed rather than power, since I really don’t think the Singularity needs to get any stronger. In fact, if it got any stronger, it might cause problems. It’s already hard to limit the things that I blast a hole in since the spell bores through most things in a fraction of a second.

As long as I can produce the damn thing quick enough to use in a fight, then I’ll be absolutely delighted.

“Eldest! How goes the practice?”

Well if it isn’t my two favourite fire and ice mages here to check in!

“Propellant, Coolant! Good to see you again.”

“Hello, Eldest,” Coolant says as she approaches.

Every time I see her, she looks colder than before. Ants aren’t meant to be blue.

As always, there’s a small weather system developing between the two siblings as the waves of heat rolling off Propellant and her back volcano hit the frozen air rolling off the ice all over Coolant’s body. It’s fascinating to watch if I’m honest. If they stood still long enough, it might start raining on the ground between them….

“How has your training been going?” Propellant asks again, burning with curiosity.

Literally burning.

“Good, I think. I haven’t actually cast a Singularity yet, but I can pull the spell construct together pretty darn quick now. Way quicker than before.”

“You haven’t cast the spell?” Coolant asks me curiously. “Not even once?”

I rub the back of my head with an antennae.

“Well… it’s pretty destructive and I haven’t left this chamber in ages. I suppose we may as well head out so I can give it a test run while you’re here.”

“I’d like to see it,” Coolant said with visible interest. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the kind of spells your special brand of mana can produce now.”

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I think Invidia is on the closest platform right now. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I poke my nose out there for a moment.

[Invidia, can I head out onto the platform? Want to test my spellcasting.]

[Of courssssse.]

[Thanks.]

With Propellant and Coolant in tow, I make my way out there to find that the wave is doing what waves usually do, except… more.

The mana is unbelievably dense down here right now and I still don’t think we’ve hit the peak yet. With such high levels of mana come high rates of monster spawns. Already I can see that they are popping into existence, jumping out of the tunnel walls at a truly absurd rate. The fighting is constant, loud and savage as the strange monsters of the original fifth battle and absorb each other, growing more complex and powerful as they do so.

Invidia is there, throwing out frequent explosions to keep the hordes back from the platform while several battalions of ants make sure to sweep up anything that makes it past him.

[Thanks, Invidia. Looks like you’re doing a good job here.]

[I take my work sssseriously.]

[Good! This won’t take long, I just want to fire off a spell and then I’ll head back into my chamber.]

Stepping over the massed ranks of ants, I head to the edge of the platform.

“Make sure you stay behind me,” I tell Coolant and Propellant, who follow my advice and stay back.

Ah, the Singularity. The main problem I have casting the spell quickly is that the construct is fiendishly complex, and takes an absolute gaster-load of mana. So not only do I need to weave ten tapestries at the same time, I need to move a mountain of arcane energy, also at the same time. Needless to say, it’s hard. Puts a bit of strain on the old noggin.

My training has been dramatically improving my speed with the construct, and hopefully my juiced-up brains are going to help significantly with the mana-moving part.

Alright, here we go!

I’ve spent days and days doing nothing but weaving this lousy spell together over and over again, it’d be absurd if I wasn’t able to do it faster than before.

Dozens of mind constructs start weaving as my main mind takes hold of the mana and pours it out, feeding it into the rapidly developing construct. The first slice of the spell goes together rapidly and I quickly move into the second while straining to pull out as much mana as I can as fast as I can.

Like an orchestra being directed by a single hand, my mind constructs work in beautiful harmony with the coordination cortex keeping everything in balance, letting all of my brains talk to each other with incredible rapidity.

Over my head, the spell starts to take shape as I move into the third slice. Then the fourth. Then the fifth.

Up to here, everything has been woven together easily twice as fast as I was able to do before, but at this point I start to come a little unstuck. I haven’t practised the latter half of the spell nearly as much as the first, and working with a full payload of Gravity Mana is a hell of a lot harder than weaving with whisper-thin ghost threads.

Irritated, I have to slow down to make sure my weaving doesn’t slide out of control while the two rotating spheres of gravitational power fill overhead.

A little further and… there!

I tie off the final thread and watch with satisfaction as the two spheres sink into each other before the spell ignites.

Immediately the world turns white as a beam of sizzling radiance blasts outwards, annihilating everything it touches. For ten long seconds the beam continues to fire, roaring with fury as it rends the very air itself.

When it finally peters out, the tunnel is deserted, nothing but the smoky residue of monsters left in the Singularity’s wake.

“That was pretty good!” I declare. “If I keep practising, I can knock even more time off the cast, I’m sure of it!”

What had been a thirty second cast time has been cut down to fifteen. A little more and it’ll be properly battle-ready! I’m excited!

“That was… impressive, Eldest,” Coolant says.

“It’d be better with fire,” Propellant mutters to herself.

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