The spells Emery had learned had taken from a couple of minutes to two hours at most. At first, Emery believed he had fully mastered [Darkness Infusion], however, according to Magus Xion, learning how to cast a spell was different from mastering the flow of spirit energy. This was what Emery was trying to learn by repeatedly casting the infusion spell into the long blade of grass.
Normally, when an inexperienced acolyte casts a spell, they either put all they can or only a fraction of their spirit energy into the spell. This resulted in a highly inefficient method. The reason why the grass was shattering or not lighting up at all with the darkness element was due to the unstable flow of energy.
The stars were the only company for Emery throughout the whole evening. Looking beneath him it was as if a massacre of innocent plants had happened, countless pieces of shattered grass laying around. He had stopped counting his attempts after the first 15. Slowly but surely, he was able to extend the stable flow of spirit by a second more each time. By the time the horizon no longer had any traces of the sun's existence, the long blade of grass he was holding was true and straight with the dark aura. He was finally able to keep the flow from his spirit core stabilized for more than an hour.
The moment he relaxed, the erect elongated blade grew limp, while Emery pulled away his flowing spirit energy. He let out a sigh of satisfaction as he sat down, he comprehended what he had learned during the whole night. In his meditation, a strong beat erupted from the inside of his spirit core.
[Spirit Core of Darkness has reached stage 2]
Opening his eyes, he didn't notice that dawn had already broken behind him, as he could still feel the upheaval beating of his spirit core. Emery stood and took out his tier two sword, after giving it a few swings, he cast the [Darkness Infusion] spell. At first, the dark-flame like aura covered the whole body of the sword, until he focused and controlled the output of his spirit force to what he thought was correct for the tier two sword. The dark light seemed to disappear, almost not visible to the eyes, but when Emery sliced the wind, he could tell the strength of his slash had improved by at least twice.
He was busy giving a few swings with the sword, when the wind behind his back suddenly blew in his direction, lifting his sword, the metal sparked as he parried an incoming attack from an unknown assailant.
Clankk!
Then it was revealed to him the unknown attacker was Magus Xion. He was about to say something when the magus laughed and said, "Not bad! Not bad! Good sword defense posture and the flow of spirit power in your sword is above all the other second year acolytes in the Darkness Institute."
While still pushing swords toward each other, Emery returned thesmile and said, "Thank you, master."
"No, no, you're still not good enough to call me master," replied the magus with a cheeky grin before quickly adding "If you can defend against my advance for three minutes, maybe I'll consider it."
Without further notice, Magus Xion lowered his hand, a black smoke came out hindering Emery's vision. Emery raised his sword and jumped back, preparing to defend determined to do his best, as if this was a real battle, to not disappoint the magus.
The light from the sky, however, didn't give him much vision, so Emery used the [Nature Sense] spell. The spell allowed him to detect movement even without personal visibility. So the moment he cast it, Emery could 'see' and 'feel' the magus through the grass he was connected to.
Then, the grass on his right was stomped hard, Emery side-stepped, blocking Magus Xion's attack. Sparks flew inside the black smoke as the magus once again disappeared into the darkness.
Magus Xion's voice rang out from every direction, "Very good! I will start using my spells now. Don't worry these are all lower tier spells, nothing fancy".
[Shadow Steps]
Emery connected himself with the plants around him again. He noticed the steps of Magus Xion had become erratic. It felt as if the magus was at multiple places at the same time, Emery was jumping based on how hard the grasses were being stomped on. Knowing he wouldn't be able to win this spar with him being conservative, Emery screamed and tapped into his bloodline.
[Fey form stage one activated]
In his fey form, Emery's movement became as erratic and fast as Magus Xion's. And with his innate skill called [Wild Hunt], which also increased his senses, he could finally distinguish which of the steps the magus was doing were fake.
A voice echoed in the black smoke saying, "Are you ready now, Emery?"
Emery didn't answer, his ears twitched and it looked like Magus Xion had become a bit more serious, for he couldn't distinguish the steps on his left and right moving closer to him! When it felt extremely close, only then he realized the footsteps on the left were real ones.
He raised his sword once more and managed to parry the magus' sword a couple of inches away from his throat: the first attack was parried. However, the magus didn't stop as he stooped low and delivered a wide swing from below. Emery reacted in the last second, doing a jump and rolling on the ground after.
His heart was beating fast for he knew his opponent had just dashed behind him only a few steps away. Suddenly, he racked his brain to come up with a way to dodge. Then, he suddenly felt his body being sucked into himself. An image of stars and odd symmetrical shapes appeared in front of him and before he knew it, he had appeared in a different place a few meters, outside the dark smoke.
It occurred to him a second later that he had just used the [Blink] spell he had received from Killgragah. Even though it didn't seem to be on purpose, Emery was very surprised he was finally able to do it. The black smoke finally dissipated and Emery saw Magus Xion was as shocked as him, if not more.
The magus then sheathed his sword and made it disappear into his ring. Shaking his head, he said, "You really are full of surprises, Emery, aren't you? Was that it the [blink] spell that you just used?"
Emery nodded, "Yes, magus."
"That's a pretty rare darkness spell, and it's also not easy to master from what I've heard. You see, the darkness element spells are normally based on shadows. Within the darkness element, there are categories, shadow and space are two of them. The [Blink] is an advanced spell categorized within space magic of the darkness element. I'm very impressed at how fortunate you are. If only…" the magus then changed his mind from speaking.
Emery noticed then and frowned. He asked, "What is it, Magus Xion? Please tell me."
The magus appeared hesitant. "It's about your spirit core of darkness. It's no easy matter, Emery. Again, I'm not the person who can tell you more about it, that's all I can say at the moment."
Emery could tell that the magus was not telling him the full story. But since Emery didn't want to force him and his immediate concerns were somewhat resolved, Emery let it go and changed the subject, "By the way, can I call you master now? I did manage to spar for more than three minutes."
Magus Xion laughed while looking at Emery's cheeky smile. "Haha, I like you Emery, so I'll allow you to call me master. As for being my actual disciple, I honestly want to grant you that, however, that's a complicated matter. Still, if you make a good impression at the Magus Games, it is possible that someone else may take you under their wings. You may even get a grand magus as your master".
"I understand, master" Emery said with an emphasis on the word 'master'. Both of them smiled for a moment.
Deep down, Emery felt there were more things he had yet to uncover within the Magus Academy. There were more mysteries to be found, he had just scratched the surface. But from what he had understood, they all seem to lead to the Magus Games.
While he was busy thinking, Magus Xion said, "Actually your training hasn't yet been finished, Emery. Now that you have mastered the infusion spell and balancing the output of your spirit energy. It's time for you to learn the way to cultivate your spirit core, courtesy of my master, Grand Magus Zenoia."