The journey begins

Being only able to only create four spell runes which would all be stable there was a need for spells that could be used in many different situations. For now he needed to focus on the basics, to start of it would be best to pick spells that would allow him to attack, defend, constrain and distract.

From the spells he could choose most were from the conjuration school which was his field of expertise outside of that he knew quite a bit of illusion and divination spells while he had barely dabbled in the other schools.

Picking any of the first tier summoning spells would cover both attack and defense to a certain degree but once it was summoned, while it would obey his commands he would be unable to do anything himself except for summoning another one when it either died, was dispelled or the summoning time ended.

Therefore it would probably be for the best if he simply picked spells that filled these roles instead. After some deliberation his choice came down to ice shard for attacking and shield for defense. While he knew two other spells for attacking, thunderwave and shocking grasp. Shocking grasp was the absolute strongest when it came to pure destruction but it required him to actually grasp his targets in his hands. Thunderwave on the other hand was also a great choice that would deal damage in a circle around him which was great against multiple opponents, it also held the weakness of a very short range barely having an effect up to five meters around him.

Ice shard would create an ice shard the size of a hand which could then be launched a great distance for a good amount of damage while delivering a chilling effect.

He only had two defensive spells at the first tier which were shield and reflected image, reflected image would create an exact copy of himself that would mirror his movement a few meters away from him which was quite good but it only gave him a fifty-fifty percent chance of being hit or not. So if the enemy chose him instead of the fake the spell didn't actually do anything and he wasn't comfortable with leaving it all to chance especially when the odds were so bad. The second tier spell mirror image was a much better choice while it had the same effect it could create up to ten copies and they could all move a fair distance away from him while also throwing out fake spells and make evasive movements towards attacks on their own.

Shield was the only real choice here since it could create an invisible barrier that would surround him and protects against anything harmful towards the caster for a few seconds.

For his last two spells he had chosen minor illusion and sleepiness. Minor illusion was one of the most diverse spells that could be used in almost any situation since it allowed one to fool either sight or hearing by creating an object or sound, the limitation being its range and that it only lasted for at most a minute.

Sleepiness was a variant of the sleep spell, while the sleep spell would make its targets instantly fall asleep for a few minutes it held the weakness of the fact that because of its strong suggestion it was easier for its targets to try and resist against it. Sleepiness on the other hand was like a slow acting poison that affected almost everyone and would eventually cause anyone to fall asleep, the only problem was that it was unclear how long it would take so it was rarely used during combat.

He had wanted to pick the fury spell which would make a target go berserk but the problem was that if there was only a single enemy it would have no effect outside of making the target attack him so it was only really effective if there were multiple enemies.

Going about the process of creating the stable runes took most of his remaining time and just as he finished the separate space created by the maze spell crumbled.

Upon opening his eyes the previous calm meadow was no where to be seen and instead the ground looked as if it had been bombarded for a long time as half burned trees laid tossed about and a few new craters from where small strands of smoke rised up had appeared.

"It would seem it was a good thing to avoid that thunderstorm. Just look at all of the destruction it had brought" Richard said in relief.

'Are you sure this was just a thunderstorm and not something else? I can smell a hint of divinity in this area.' Bai stated while scrunching its little nose after having sniffed the air and seemingly finding something it disliked.

"Haha, we are the first to arrive where the heavenly tribulation happened!" Before he was able to question what Bai meant an ecstatic voice came from close by and more voices discussing in delight could be heard drawing closer.

"Maybe we'll find a treasure!"

"Master always said that that heavenly thunder would only appear if someone really powerful was making a breakthrough or a heavenly treasure was appearing or being created!"

"Thankfully we seem to be the fir..."

The last voice trailed of as the group out of the forest and into the open area the thunderstorm had brought about. They quickly noticed Richard standing there alone with a white kitten by his side, a moment of silence came about as the two groups simply sized each other up.

The group that had appeared looked to be filled with youngster in their late teens, they were made up of five males that were all wearing the same set of red robes with a symbol resembling a sun embroided on their right chest. A sword was strapped to the left side of their waist and they all quickly put their hands on their hilts upon having noticed him but appeared to relax upon further inspection of Richard.

Richard on the other hand was wearing simple villager clothes, having long gotten rid of his purple robe to appear more inconspisous. While his now nonfunctioning stormlord heels had blocked most of the lightning some of the force had gotten through and tears had appeared in his clothing that made him look more like a poor and dirty village child then anything else. Which had led to the other group releasing their vigilance.

Unsure on how to handle the situation but remembering their talk of treasure, Richard believed this was the perfect opportunity to lead them away and avoid any kind of unnecessary confrontation between them.

First he would use minor illusion to create a sound over in the distance before using it again to create a flash of gold. Most people would go crazy with the prospect of making a fortune, especially if he used it a third time to include voices having found the treasure.

Happy with his flawless plan and quick thinking, he hurriedly casted minor illusion towards some trees that would lead the group away from him.

"Hey kid, did you see anything out of the ordinary around here!" One of the youngsters barked at him.

Thankful for this question Richard pointed to his right where his spell was about to go of at.

As everyone turned to look to where he was pointing a small floating orb the size of an orange appeared out of nowhere, it was made up of a shiny kind of pink and constantly deforming as if its inside was boiling.

After just a few seconds it started to expand and shortly after covered a circumsphere of almost ten meters before bursting with a pop. Nothing came out of it but everything that had been swallowed inside of it, rocks, trees, grass, simply everything had turned into a bright pink. Insects scurrying of were easily noticeable as their new color scheme clashed against the green grass or brown wood.