Chapter 188: Circle One Sorcerer

Circle One Sorcerer

Even though this era produced several sorcerers simply by acquiring better knowledge from the Ruins and gaining greater control over their mana, half of the entire world that had never been exposed to sorcery would never get the chance to attain a Mana Circle, a magic system developed by Sorcery.

It was simply a painful process of repeating the same thing over and over again. One had to attain more knowledge by studying sorcery through the knowledge that some Runic Gates provided, exhaust oneself so that the mana inside one’s mana core could develop on its own while ensuring that one wouldn’t fall into Mana Overload or Mana Drain, and much more.

The most common sorcerers were Circle One, while the threshold where most people struggled to break through was Circle Three. Attaining more than three circles was very difficult, and right now, the highest Circle that anyone had achieved was Six. That achievement belonged to the genius of the Mandate Family, the current Arch Mage.

Cillian remembered this strongest Sorcerer because he had seen her information back then when he was looking through the notes for the Academy Tournament, Capture the Flag.

Particularly during the trivia part, which Ulrich revealed when informing them about the theme.

Cillian set it aside for now and put his focus on the current job at hand, which was attaining the Circle One Sorcerer.

"Pheww... Okay."

The dangers of forming a Circle weren’t as dangerous as Cillian had made them sound to both Phillip and Vin.

The good thing about acquiring a Mana Circle was that any Sorcerer could try repeatedly as many times as they wanted. The really hard thing about it was knowing the right time to acquire a Circle, since most people were very unfamiliar with how it worked.

Thankfully, Cillian had Darwin to ask this question, since the principal was a Circle Three Sorcerer himself.

What kind of advice did he get from him?

-Your mana core will give you some signs. Like a hunch. Yeah, you will just know it.

Cillian didn’t know what that hunch meant until he fought Noah a few days back and felt something change within him and in the way he handled his spells.

His Mana Core was squirming to be upgraded, in a way.

That’s why today would seal the deal.

He wouldn’t allow himself to fail now.

"Watch me."

Cillian began to lie down properly as the duo checked if there were any objects that could potentially hit him in case something went awry.

Then, Cillian began to navigate through his Mana Core, slowly and steadily. He was confident that he would be able to do it.

He was deep state of flow.

Before, it had only been a feeling, but now he was certain he could pull it off instead of waiting for another day because he was unsure whether this was real or not.

Then, he began the Circle Formation.

At first, Cillian felt nothing.

Then, something inside his body shifted.

It wasn’t pain but a pressure of a strange, concentrated force gathering deep within his core. His mana began to move on its own, circulating through his body before slowly converging toward a single point.

Cillian’s breathing stopped for a moment.

The mana that had once flowed freely through his body was now beginning to form a circle.

Round and perfectly balanced, it spun inside his core like a miniature wheel, continuously drawing in the mana surrounding it before sending it back through his body. Every rotation became smoother, faster, and denser.

It was forming his first Mana Circle.

Steadily, Cillian could feel the difference as time went on.

His mana wasn’t simply increasing.

It was slowly becoming organized.

’Focus... focus...’

His strength wasn’t experiencing an explosive increase, nor was there a drastic change in his outward appearance that would immediately tell someone he had gotten stronger.

It was something more fundamental. The efficiency of his mana had improved, along with his control and stability.

The moment he knew it, Cillian was done.

He had achieved Circle One Sorcery.

[Congratulations, Cillian!]

[A scent of Death within you gives a round of applause.]

The moment Cillian broke his focus, the screens of both entities inside him appeared before his face, and he couldn’t help but smile.

’I’m the best.’

He looked around his room and saw the nervous faces of his group before asking,

"So, how well did I do?"

"Very well."

Vin then added,

"You’re so good that you’ve been lying down for almost an hour."

Cillian couldn’t help but sit up as he jolted awake when he realized that his focus on creating a Circle had taken much longer than he had imagined.

’I thought only a few minutes had passed, but it was as if the world had sped up and made me think that only a small amount of time had gone by. So it really is true. The higher one climbs in Sorcery, the more time it takes to create a Circle.’

Having that thought, Cillian immediately stood up from his place before conjuring a Fireball. This time, he did it by activating a ’circle’ that looked flashy when viewed from the outside, while also forming hand seals to make it more secure and stable.

The difference could be felt right away.

If Cillian had previously been using both magic and Sorcery to conjure spells, this time, he added a ’circle’ to make his Fireball more prominent as it hovered above the palm of his hand.

The Mana Circle continued to rotate around his Mana Core, and after a few more attempts at conjuring Fireballs, he immediately drew a conclusion.

’I’m not using more mana than I did before. I’m just wasting less of it. Hehe, with this, spamming Fireball won’t be much harder. Even conjuring basic spells from other elements is going to be slightly easier for me.’

Cillian knew he had almost reached Mana Drain when he was battling back in Viola. That’s why he noticed how his Fireball had flickered at one point, as if it were running out of mana to remain conjured.

Now, he could feel like he could conjure three Fireballs at the same time.

’Now this is really an upgrade. I think I’m ready to challenge Xesie now.’

With his kit from being a Ruiner, his combat skills, and his Sorcery spells, Cillian got ready, as he was going to take matters seriously from this point onward.

The first day of the Academy would finally begin.

Again.