Core Spell!

Matthew raised his hand, palm facing upward. With a slight nudge of his thoughts, his lips parted slightly.

As his thoughts stirred, his Spirit acted like invisible strings, gently plucking the surrounding energy particles. A faint, almost imperceptible breeze rippled through the air, seemingly drawn by a distinct rhythm as it gathered toward his palm.

It took only an instant.

A milky-white Energy Missile took shape, floating naturally about an inch above his palm as if it were breathing. A warm, gentle light flowed across its surface, its edges clear and stable. The light rippled like water, without the slightest tremor.

It was as if it were not a spell, but a patch of quiet moonlight that belonged there all along.

Seeing this, Matthew felt a sudden jolt in his heart. His calm face, which had been completely devoid of emotion a moment ago, could no longer hide a trace of surprise.

He could clearly feel that the smoothness of the entire casting process and his ease of control over his Spirit far surpassed his pre-breakthrough state. Before, casting Energy Missile required a certain degree of mental focus to guide the energy. Now, it felt as if the spell materialized naturally with just a nudge of his thoughts, as effortless as breathing.

This was not a fundamental change in speed or casting form, but a sublimation of his control at the very foundation of his Spirit.

With a flick of his finger, the milky-white missile shot out silently, as fast as a streak of light.

Boom!

The boulder in the distance acting as his target shattered on impact, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Once the debris settled, the destruction revealed was far more thorough than his previous test. Not only was the crater larger, but the cracks spiderwebbing across the remaining stone were also much finer.

The power had indeed increased, but it was far from a qualitative change. It had not brought about an explosive leap in power like the transition from Novice level to Basic level Fireball.

This enhanced destructive power was rooted in the qualitative change of his Spirit.

A more condensed and resilient Spirit structure allowed the energy to remain highly concentrated during the spell's formation, minimizing dissipation upon release. Naturally, the final explosive impact was far superior.

However, the energy framework of the basic spell Energy Missile itself had not changed, meaning there was a visible ceiling to its power increase.

Matthew stared at the pile of shattered stones. The shock in his eyes gradually subsided, replaced by a calm, analytical evaluation.

“The improvement is significant, but still within expectations.”

“It isn't as massive as the transition from Novice to Basic.”

He understood.

“It seems that to achieve a true transformation in combat strength, the key lies in practicing more and raising the spell to the Practiced Rank as soon as possible.”

Matthew shifted his thoughts, turning to test the Fireball spell, his most frequently used spell of late.

However, compared to the near-instinctive smoothness and significant power increase of Energy Missile, the Fireball spell's performance made him frown slightly.

As his Spirit surged, an orange-red fireball quickly took shape above his palm, its surface rippling with flames that radiated a scorching heat. It was still stable and swift, the casting process no different from before his breakthrough.

But when the fireball shot out and struck the distant rock wall, the resulting damage was only slightly deeper than before, and the exploding sparks did not seem any more intense.

The power had indeed improved, but the magnitude of this increase was far from being as significant as that of Energy Missile.

“Strange...”

A trace of doubt rose in Matthew's heart. In terms of mastery and practice frequency, his proficiency with the Fireball spell was by no means inferior to Energy Missile. Logically, there should not be such a distinct gap.

He focused his mind and looked inward, feeling the surging Spirit in his sea of consciousness that had already undergone a qualitative change. A thought flashed like lightning.

“Of course! Elemental affinity!”

Sudden realization dawned upon him. The condensation and growth of his Spirit provided a stronger foundation of control over various elemental energies. However, this increase in control did not seem to treat all elemental attributes equally.

After his breakthrough, the essence of his Spirit had become more condensed and neutral. This might have invisibly strengthened his affinity and mobilization efficiency for non-attributed or basic energy.

Therefore, when casting Energy Missile, he was able to convert the advantage of his Spirit's qualitative change almost perfectly into a massive surge in power.

On the other hand, the core of the Fireball spell lay in the fine guidance of the fire element and the release of its violent characteristics. Matthew had no special talent in fire elemental affinity, and previously relied more on practiced casting techniques and sheer Spirit strength to drive it.

Now, although his basic Spirit had greatly increased, his understanding and resonance with the fire element itself had not undergone a qualitative change. This resulted in the upper limit of the spell framework remaining as it was, and the power increase naturally encountered a clear bottleneck, making it appear far less impressive.

“It seems that the quantitative and qualitative changes of Spirit cannot be completely equated with the sublimation of control over specific elements.”

Matthew thought to himself, gaining a clearer understanding of this discovery.

“To truly unleash the power of high-level fire spells, I'll likely need to specifically improve my elemental affinity or look for higher-level spell models.”

“At least at this stage, practicing Energy Missile to a higher level is a wiser choice...”

But Matthew was in no hurry.

After all, now that he had broken through to Second-Grade Apprentice, his internal reserves of Spirit had also expanded. He would no longer grow instantly weak after casting just two 0-Circle spells like before.

Therefore, he had more Spirit to spare for spell practice. It probably wouldn't take long before he could push Energy Missile to the Practiced Rank!

Once he achieved that, Matthew was confident he would have the power to protect himself even when facing a Third-Grade Apprentice!

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