Trip

Hera explained to Leo how the spell worked, but even so, the hunter wasn't that excited. Actually, he was interested but the idea of letting Tiger be a test subject was a deal breaker. In the end, he only agreed to let Hera test that spell if she tried it on a few random monsters first. It was a good idea, this would be the first time she would ever be trying to do something like that, and even if it worked, she had no way to know what would happen with the monster she tried to use the spell on. Her attempt could come up as nothing, and even worse, there could be side effects that put Tiger's life in danger. Hearing the hunter's arguments made Hera realize that she was too excited about the spell. Of course, she would have to test it thoroughly before using it on Tiger or any pet.

To start off, she used the time they were in the camp to understand the spell circle and how it worked. It was something similar to code, and she had no idea how copying the runes would work with her subjective nature. Just writing it down and putting mana on it didn't work. Nothing happened, even when she tried weaving the spell circle with her mana. Talking with some people around, they all agreed that it wasn't just about copying the spell. She had to understand what each part of the spell did. That was the whole reason why people only used spells in a certain way. Mana was something fickle. It would behave according to the user's will and require a deep understanding of each step before working. That's why making new spells wasn't as easy as thinking 'make a light' or 'create water.' Magic asked for a reason, a logical explanation as to why it could go against all logic. It was a bizarre and contradictory concept, but no one could go against it.

For Hera, who wanted to use that spell, this was frustrating. Unlike the scrolls made by the Yellow Naga, the spells made by the tamer weren't exactly beginner-friendly. There was very little explanation about what each part did and only a general idea of what happened. In essence, it was like trying to read a research paper about a very advanced subject that expected the reader to have a lot of knowledge in the area. To Hera, it was as if she was trying to learn calculus without even knowing basic multiplication.

Hera had to start from the basics. She tried to cross-reference the spells on the scrolls made by the yellow Naga, or at least were found in that room, to see if there were runes matching the same symbols she saw in the tamer's spell. This ended up being even harder than figuring out the hidden spells, not just because Hera had no idea where each rune would stop and a new one would start, but the tamer's handwriting was awful. It took her almost a full hour just to find something even close to matching anything in the Naga's scrolls. Hera kept thinking that the tamer should've taken some calligraphy lessons if she wanted to actually pass her spells to someone else.

Alex was trying to help Hera for a while, but it didn't take long before the assassin grew bored. Looking for the spread-out pieces of the spells was much more exciting than translating documents from two different languages and trying to make sense of them.

"Quick question. How can you tell that the runes are even part of the same language?" Alex turned to Hera.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the spells the Naga made are in their own weird language that requires infrared to be read properly. Why would the tamer use the same language? Whoever they are, they are not part of the Naga race, are they?"

Hera stopped for a moment. She was going off the assumption that spell circles were a universal thing. Following the same rules and language, it didn't matter where they were from. However, if that wasn't the case, trying to match the symbols would be useless. She thought the runes were wrong because of the tamer's lousy handwriting, and if that wasn't the case, she had to go about it in a different way.

For the next couple of days, where Hera had to be around the Naga tomb to open it, she kept trying to figure out the spell she was calling 'Imbue Element.' In the notes left by the tamer, this spell was referred to as 'A spell to give elemental properties to allied monsters,' but that was too much of a mouthful. Blue was training with Leo, Mylo, and Tiger. She only stopped complaining when the party agreed to run some dungeons after this was over. People had found a couple in this room that that controller was excited about.

During that time, Alex tried to figure out the Naga fighting style. Thanks to the suggestion of one of the archaeologists, she figured out that the best way to mirror the movement of the green Naga was to use a spell to let her glide or ski through the floor. That way, she could replicate how the green Naga moved. With that, it didn't take long for her to get them a skill for that. It was called 'Dorohla Style,' and it was perfect not just for Alex but also for Blue. The entire idea was to dodge and spin around your opponent to confuse them with quick snake-like movement and wait for an opening to defeat them in a single strike. Adding that to Alex's new quick draw, she was quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Hera kept that in mind, and she would try to get the fighting style later, but she was focused on the spell for now. After spending some time talking not just with the people on the camp but also with Helena and Bonnie. She managed to create a spell circle that could work for the 'Imbue Element' spell. To do that, she had to almost develop her own set of rules. Each part of the circle had a meaning that she took from how mana behaved while she tried to cast spells. For the foundation, she used a web-like structure similar to the one she used to cast her mana reinforcement spell, but weaved in between each thread was a strand of DNA. The tamer explained that for the spell to work, one had to change the very essence of the creature, and what was the essence of a living being if not their genetic code? However, that would only be the last part of the spell. Guided by the loose explanation given by the tamer, Hera continued making the spell.

First, there was a ring on the outside of the circle that would be filled with mana. Not elemental mana, but pure raw mana. Then, using the base idea of Helena's affinity sight, she could make the spell see the creature's affinity before going to the next step, which was to change the mana into the element that most fit the creature. Part of her wanted to add all the possible affinities to that piece of the spell, but since there were countless possible elements, doing that would be impossible. Hera even considered doing just the most famous elements like fire, water, earth, and air, but after a test run with nothing inside, the elements started to clash with each other dispersing the mana before it reached the central part of the spell.

Using a different approach, Hera made another layer to the spell, which would grab the element that the affinity found and change the entire spell to match that mana. Bonnie was the one who helped the most at that point, this followed her modular spell idea almost to a tee, and when the mana had changed completely, it would go to the final part, where her mana reinforcement would be entwined in the target's DNA.

Even after completing the spell circle, Hera didn't get a notification about making a new spell. However, Helena had warned her that this could be the case. After making a spell using a circle, you had to cast it and have a result before the system would recognize it. So, for her to know if this spell would work or not, she would need a Guinea Pig. After asking around the camp, people were interested in not just helping but seeing her spell for themselves. Spells that gave someone or something an element weren't unusual, but when she said that this should be a permanent effect, everyone got curious. If it was just something that a random person told them, they would all think that she was just naive, but since this all came from an ancient tomb, they were cautiously optimistic about the idea.

Mylo, Blue, Leo, and a man named Charlie, one of the people in the camp, went looking for a small monster that could be used for Hera's test. In less than half an hour, they came back with a spider that was sleeping thanks to one of Charlie's spells. They dragged the creature to where Hera had set up the spell circle and added a small cage surrounding both the monster and the markings made by the explorer on the ground to guide the mana. With that ready, Hera stepped forward and began casting the spell. Telling her mana how it should move and where it should go. Doing that only cost her a couple hundred mana, which was the first red flag. The second one was that the magic seemed to be stuck on the ground. Yes, the spell was starting to go off, but it wasn't able to leave the spell circle. The energy was stuck inside instead of going towards the creature.

Luckily, the spider was still sleeping, so Hera had a chance to tweak the spell. This time, she understood why every spell circle had a more intricate pattern on the center. More than it simply being because of the lack of space, she had to direct the spell somehow. Going back to the tamer's spell, Hera spent a few minutes coming up with her own version of a direction rune, and she made a new spell circle beside the one she created before. With the help of the others, they transferred the spider to the new and improved version of the runic circle and created the stone cage again.

Hera started to cast it one more time, and in just a few moments, she already noticed the difference. The mana wouldn't be stuck in the spell circle anymore, but it would start to coat the spider and seep into its skin. The problem was how much mana was being used. Hera could feel her mana dropping rapidly, and it didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. Pulling mana from her earrings and bracelet, Hera flooded the spell circle with energy. It became so dense that the soft glow coming from the drawing turned into almost a small structure. The circle itself was surrounded by a fence made out of mana about 40 centimeters tall.

When there was less than three hundred mana in her bracelet, the ravenous spell circle stopped eating Hera's mana, and a notification appeared in front of her.

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Spell acquired

Imbue Element - flawed imitation

The spell allows you to imbue a creature with a random element permanently. The affected creature will have access to new abilities and a new affinity, making it stronger depending on the element received. However, due to the lack of understanding of the spell by its creator, the element will burn the creature's life force to power itself, leading to its eventual death. The more it burns, the stronger the effects will get.

The amount of mana required for the spell will vary depending on the conditions and target.

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"What do you mean lack of understanding? She's the one that can't explain her work," Hera huffed while reading the description.

She didn't have time to worry about that. A loud scream came from the spider that was now glowing with a yellow light. It tried to slam its body against the stone bars of its cage, but the attack didn't connect. In fact, just as the monster was about to touch the rock, it blinked and appeared outside of the cage with its body surrounded by lightning. No one was expecting that since the spiders in here had either rock, poison, or stealth affinities. There was no reason for it to get something related to electricity.

The spider screamed again and started to run away from the camp. Hera quickly got up and started chasing it. She understood that the spell could eventually kill the monster, but that wasn't a guarantee, and if some random person found it, they could end up getting seriously hurt by this creature that she had just buffed. Her friends started running with her, but they were a bit late to the draw. Without stopping, the monster kept moving in a straight line, heading directly to the edge of this side of the chasm. Hera tried to hit it with her poison needles, but the creature was too quick. She triggered her [All in], focusing on her legs. She knew that she could use the skill like that even if it was a bad idea. As long as the rest of the party was coming behind her, all she had to do was stop that monster. As they got close to the mist coming from the chasm, the glowing yellow spider jumped up, and the light that it kept giving off vanished.

Hera stopped running and just got as close to the mist as she felt comfortable with and tried to see if she could find the spider.

"Hera!" Blue's voice came from a few meters behind her, just as the explorer tried to use her [Observe - Red sight]. There was a heat spot going up to the mist, but it came back towards the valley. As Hera followed the trail with her eyes, the spider dropped from above, and in an explosion of lightning, it launched itself towards the explorer, flinging her towards the mist.

Alex and Blue just saw Hera being tossed towards the fog, the spider's body tumbling backward motionless, and Hera's scream as she fell into the misty abyss.