The Ascendant Wizard

The process of engraving the spell took much longer than a day, slowly blending into a routine she followed over the next few days.

Morena woke, practiced, attended class, returned to her room, practiced again, exhausted her mana, meditated, then repeated the process until sleep took her. There was very little room for anything else.

During this time, she didn’t visit the library, nor did she linger in class or speak to any of the people she had become somewhat familiar with.

They had invited her numerous times to join them for things, but each time she had kindly denied the offer with the excuse of practicing something.

Even during Verra’s lessons, her attention was divided. She still listened and had the AI record and store anything that was useful, but beneath it all, a part of her mind kept circling back to the spell model.

It had become familiar to her after days of repeated practice; she hadn’t mastered it, but she understood its structure. She knew the outer structure, the inner marks, the distribution of mana needed to keep it from collapsing, and the exact points where she had failed again and again.

The first day had been almost completely useless. She couldn’t quite figure out how to even shape it because her mana refused to properly stay the way she wanted it to. During the first day, she practiced learning to control her mana rather than learning the model.

The second day was worse in a different way because while she could shape it thanks to her better control, she couldn’t keep the details from warping and creating an unstable look.

The third day, she realized that engraving the shape would be very hard with her mana control, as she ran out of mana multiple times. It was around this time that she realized that her control was pretty bad, as, even with the amount of mana she had, she couldn’t properly form it.

By the fourth day, she had figured out a way around this by meditating in between each attempt to keep herself from running out. It worked pretty well, not only helping her recover mana but also allowing her to make more attempts.

On the fifth day, she reached the threshold.

[Deviation: 2.8%.]

[Structural Memorization Complete.]

Morena had stared at the words for several seconds before finally releasing a sigh of relief. Now, on the sixth night, she sat in the center of her room, the booklet closed on the desk, and the improved model projected entirely in her mind.

There was no point relying on the booklet anymore.

"Run final check."

[Matrix Stability: 41%.]

[Mana Reserves: 96%.]

[Mental Fatigue: Low.]

[Spell Model Deviation: 2.7%.]

[Engraving Risk: Low.]

[Recommendation: Abort if deviation exceeds 7%.]

Morena closed her eyes.

"Let’s begin."

She focused her mind on her mental space; this was no longer practice. Before, she had only been forming the spell with mana, holding it outside the Matrix, letting it collapse without consequence. Failure then was annoying, painful at times, but not permanent.

Engraving was different; if she made a mistake now, the flaw could be carved into her Matrix itself. It could injure her at best, or cripple her Matrix at worst.

Morena steadied her breathing and controlled her mana. The spell model slowly sank toward the Matrix, and the moment it touched, pressure bloomed inside her mind.

Her fingers twitched against her knees, but she did not open her eyes. The sensation was unpleasant, like a hand pressing against the inside of her skull. Not enough to break her concentration, but enough to remind her that she was doing something dangerous.

[Initial contact stable.]

The first part went well, but Morena did not rush the process. She let the mana press the spell into place bit by bit, keeping the structure whole as the Matrix accepted it.

The model trembled.

[Deviation: 3.4%.]

It was still safe, but she quickly made an adjustment, causing the trembling to ease slightly.

The first section locked into place, and a faint coldness spread through her mental space. With it came the first real drain; mana left her faster than it ever had during practice.

She kept breathing evenly and began the second section.

This was where she had failed the most during practice. The smaller patterns required too much precision, and even a slight mistake in proportion made the model unstable. Now, under pressure from the Matrix, the difficulty increased again.

[Deviation: 5.1%.]

Morena stopped pushing forward and instead focused on correcting the existing details, making sure not a single one was out of place or warped.

The patterns refused to hold their shape at first, with mana gathering too heavily along one side and dragging the rest of the structure with it. She loosened her control, then tightened it again, guiding the shape back instead of forcing it.

[Deviation: 4.3%.]

She made corrections with each notification of the AI; its help was very valuable in finding errors.

[Deviation: 3.6%.]

The room was silent, but inside Morena’s mind, every second felt like days. The spell model had to remain complete even as parts of it were carved into the Matrix. She could not focus only on one section; she had to hold the whole thing, carve the details, maintain the mana flow, and respond whenever the AI detected instability.

Sweat gathered along her back, and her mana reserves began to drop rapidly.

[Remaining Mana: 72%.]

Then 61%.

Then 49%.

The spell was more expensive to engrave than she expected.

[Warning: Mana expenditure above projected average.]

"It’s within expectations, warn me only if it falls below the critical failure range."

The AI did not argue, and she moved on to completing the third section, and then the fourth.

The pressure grew sharper, and for a moment, Morena felt the spell model pull out of balance; it was as if her mind was tearing itself apart, it was unbelievably painful.

[Deviation: 6.8%.]

[Warning: Approaching abort threshold.]

Morena’s eyes tightened, and she temporarily stopped trying to force more of it. Mana froze in place around the half-engraved structure.

Her Matrix felt tense, resisting the unfinished spell, but she did not move forward. The mistake was small; one inner symbol had twisted slightly out of shape, causing the surrounding structure to strain around it.

If she pushed forward, the whole spell might break, and it could affect her.

’Highlight the error, I’m going to attempt to reshape it mid-attempt.’

Trying to reshape an already engraved symbol during the process of engraving would normally be impossible for an apprentice; it would take far too much split focus to do that while holding the rest of the model in place.

But she could do it with the AI. She pulled back the mana around the flawed point, not enough to tear it free, just enough to loosen the pressure. It hurt, her head throbbed, and her stomach turned, but the mark shifted slightly.

[Deviation: 6.1%.]

Once more.

[Deviation: 5.2%.]

Again.

[Deviation: 4.4%.]

She held it there until the trembling stopped and the shape properly formed, fusing into the rest of the model, and by the time the final part of the spell began to sink into the Matrix, her body was shaking.

[Remaining Mana: 22%.]

[Mental strain rising.]

[Recommendation: Complete within current attempt or abort.]

There was no second attempt; she did not want to stop mid-process just because of some strain. Morena was foolish like that; she was greedy.

Morena guided the last section forward.

The spell resisted for one final time, but then it settled. She could feel every part of it now, each pattern, each layer, the flow of mana woven into a single complete model.

Then it locked into place, and almost instantly the pressure vanished.

For one breath, there was only silence.

[Engraving complete.]

[0-Circle Spell: Sensory Pulse Model Three engraved successfully.]

[Matrix Stability fluctuation detected.]

[Current Matrix Stability: 40.8%.]

Morena opened her eyes, and the room returned to her slowly.

She was still seated on the floor, but her hands were clenched so tightly against her knees that her nails had left marks through the fabric.

Her mana was nearly empty, and her head felt as if it had been beaten by a hammer. But inside her Matrix, the model of the spell had fully engraved itself and was rotating around it; an extension of herself.

Morena remained still for a long while, letting her breathing settle. She was too tired to even feel happy, but she was, as the reality of what she had done sank in; the corner of her mouth lifted.

"That wasn’t too bad, was it? Scan for any issues."

[Engraving result stable.]

[No major defects detected.]

"Minor defects?"

[Minor inefficiencies detected. Within acceptable range, no immediate correction recommended.]

Well, that was to be expected; nothing was perfect, and she didn’t expect this to be either. In fact, this was far beyond her original expectations; this success was amazing.