A Feeling of Freedom
"Evolve [Low Spirit Spell Core (Wind Variant)]."
Ding!
Not being a system that delayed anything anymore, the system instantly popped a screen in front of Aurus' field of vision.
'[Low Spirit Spell Core (Wind Variant)] has been evolved to [Middle-Low Spirit Spell Core (Wind Variant)].'
Seeing that the evolution was successful, Aurus removed the screen in front of his field of vision and noticed that there was a small screen on the far right of his field of vision. He didn't know when it popped up but he checked it anyway, only to be slightly surprised.
'[Supreme Purity Spiritas SP Vessel] has leveled up thrice.'
'[Condensed Spirit Energy Core (Wind Variant)] has leveled up twice.'
'[Condensed Spirit Energy Core (Wind Variant)] has reached the MAX level.'
'[Condensed Spirit Energy Core (Wind Variant)] has met the necessary requirements and is ready to evolve.'
For a bit, he was dumbfounded as to when these two skills leveled up, only to remember that these skills level up whenever SP is used. Continuing to roll, he commanded the system through his thoughts. "Evolve [Condensed Spirit Energy Core] through the option of purer energy."
Of course, he knew what the choices were for skills that were related to SP storage. It would always be purity, storage size, and recovery speed. Since he already chose the route to pursue the highest degree attainable for SP, he didn't hesitate to choose the same option for the Spirit Energy Core.
Ding!
'[Condensed Spirit Energy Core (Wind Variant)] has been evolved to [Purified Spirit Energy Core (Wind Variant)].'
With that taken care of, he then checked the details of the newly evolved Spell Core. The first thing that caught his eye was the increased amount of damage his skills would deal. Before he evolved it, that amount was 10%, after evolving it, it increased to 15%.
The next thing that caught his eye were the three spells that were newly added to his spell repertoire...well, a new spell thanks to the skill evolution and two spells that came from leveling his Low Spirit Spell Core to the max level.
But only the former caught his eye as it was a shortcut to his dream for movement. Although it only lasted a short time, it still allowed to savor the feeling of being free.
Thanks to the evolution of the Spirit Energy Core that halved the SP cost of all his skills and spells, Aurus was able to conjure the magic circle for this spell at the cost of 100 SP, less than one-third of maximum SP amount.
Whoosh!
Herellia, who was still looking in front of their path, suddenly heard a gust of wind blow just a few meters beside her and turned her field of vision around to face the direction of the sound, only to be shocked.
Aurus, whom she thought was only able to roll on the ground...was actually hovering! Although it was not at a level that could be considered true flying, it still allowed him to move at a speed unlike before.
Aurus looked at Herellia and gave off a cheery aura as he said, "Looks like we can get to the place faster than usual."
"What?" Herellia was definitely confused. She didn't know if Aurus was hiding tricks up his sleeve or something, but when she sensed the cheery aura exuded by him, he knew that it was sincere happiness rather than a sneering one. "H-How?"
"I just evolved my Spell Core and it gave me access to Lower Level 1 spells, greatly superior to Higher Level 0 spells if you ask me," Aurus replied. "Just a bit more and I can be on par with Horell in terms of spells. Haha."
When Herellia heard Aurus' answer, a memory of Horell flying around the hall of their alliance all of a sudden was imprinted in her mind. To her who was not a mage, it was definitely exhilarating to finally evolve her movement skill to allow flight.
"I see," Herellia didn't get angry at Aurus since she knew that Aurus worked hard to evolve his Spell Core to the stage where he could fly for a short moment. She then asked, "Is it similar to the [Hover] skill Horell unlocked when he evolved his Spell Core?"
Continuing to savor the feeling of flight, Aurus then said, "Well...it does have the word 'Hover' attached to it, but I'd say it's better."
"What do you mean by it being better? What is the spell's full name?"
"[Gale Hover]."
________
[Gale Hover]
One of the most basic Lower Level 1 spells learned by a mage, allowing them to move at higher speeds thanks to their body slightly floating above the ground, reducing friction. Only lasts for 5 minutes.
> Movement speed is boosted by 100% for the duration of the spell
> Movement speed is further boosted by 50% due to reduced friction
SP Cost: 100 SP
Cooldown: 10 minutes
________
After replying to Herellia's question, Aurus then looked ahead of them as he tried to remember the exact place of where the skills were located. After a few minutes of recollection, he then asked Herellia to follow him as they flew through the air, arriving at the place not long after.
"Haah...if only [Tempest Burst] wasn't on cooldown."
...
"Here we are, the place where we could get the skills." Landing safely on a nearby flat ground, Aurus looked at Herellia and said this statement.
"This place?" Herellia didn't know what she would do. She wondered if she would laugh at his words or hit him hard enough to teach him a lesson. Why?
The place in front of them was barren. Herellia had this belief that a place with skills would most likely be inside an abandoned building or a secret temple, but there was none of that in front of them. Only unstable walls and piles of rubble could be seen.
"Are you serious, Aurus?" Herellia looked at Aurus, now with a gaze filled with slight distrust.
Aurus did not mind this and said, "I am. Anyways, we aren't at the exact place yet but I'll tell you something before we get there."
"Once we arrive at the place, make sure to chant these words to enter the place. I will only say it twice so better listen well," Aurus looked at Herellia for a bit and exuded a serious aura, letting Herellia know that he was not joking.
Herellia let out an affirmative aura afterwards, letting Aurus know that she was listening.
"Here is the chant."
"Holos Miselus Maximus. Tetraholos Inheras Singulus."
"I'll repeat, Holos Miselus Maximus. Tetraholos Inheras Singulus."
After repeating it twice, Herellia felt that she was listening to gibberish that didn't make sense. Feeling that she was still being duped, she asked, "What is this chant?"
Aurus looked at Herellia for a bit before continuing to roll at a certain direction.
"The entrance to the Tempest Inheritance."
...
With Mira casting [Fly] and [Child of the Wind] on her and Artan's body, they were able to traverse the 1.5 kilometer distance that separated them from the Spiritas within a couple of hours. Now you may ask, why did it take them a long time to traverse that distance while it could only be traversed within a few minutes?
Well the answer to that is...the difficulty of traversing the ruin itself. The Tempest Ruin is located at the center of the Tempest Cliff, where the strongest and most tempestuous winds are located. Combined with the multiple amounts of tall yet unstable walls that could fall off with just a strong gust of wind, it would definitely take them a long while to traverse that distance since not only were they flying against the wind, they also tried to dodge the walls.
Not to mention, with their strong presences, beasts of the lower ranks jumped out at them as they wanted to eat the two of them, prompting them to retaliate and kill them off.
Once they reached the place where the red dot last blinked, Artan couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he said, "Finally. We're at the place where that Spiritas is. Mira, could you use your detection skill and see if the Spiritas is here?"
Mira tilted her head for a bit in confusion and said, "My detection skill only works on living, breathing beings. How could I detect a Spiritas that's basically non-living? You have the tracking crystal Dane gave you, right? Why don't you use that?"
Slapping his forehead, Artan rummaged through his pockets and fished out the crystal that he used outside the Tempest Ruin a while ago to check the Spiritas' whereabouts.
At first, the red dot within the crystal furiously blinked at the place where they stood. Then, a few seconds later, it instantly vanished without a trace.
"Eh?" Artan was shocked. Mira saw Artan's expression and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"T-T-The Spiritas is gone."