The Nature of Spells

With the incident wrapped up for now, Serina invited Shui and Fatty for tea. Kasia was in an awkward position so she couldn't state her opinion while Sasha, who confronted Kasia, and Julie approved the invite. Though Shui's aura appeared ordinary, his appearance was still fascinating so Sasha was very enthusiastic about serving him tea, but afterwards she politely allowed the three of them time for themselves. Fatty was saddened that he wasn't given any special treatment, but even in his fit form he didn't believe he could surpass Shui in terms of good looks even though he had the manlier appearance which Shui wished he possessed.

Fatty started by asking Shui where he had been for the past few days.

"I was just focusing on my cultivation. To be honest, I would have stayed locked up for a while longer if I wasn't worried about you two."

"You were that concerned about me Boss?!"

"Thank you, Shui. Did you know that something like this would happen?"

"I wasn't certain, but you could say I had a feeling like that. So, did anything else happen while I was cultivating?"

Fatty and Serina then talked about how their days went in his absence and the three moved on to casual topics such as what their housemates were like and what they liked about the manor. They ended up staying together for lunch, which Sasha, Kasia and Julie them joined them for. The lunch was uneventful so afterwards, Shui checked Serina and Fatty's progress in cultivation, gave them advice, and returned to his residence for a longer seclusion. Since he had a promise with Nathan, he planned to continue his seclusion until the full moon came.

When he was near his home, he noticed a couple disciples waiting for him in the area. They didn't seem to come with the intention of challenging him, but he didn't feel like indulging them so he silenced his presence and then slipped into the house through the backdoor. He didn't know what those disciples wanted, but they would simply have to wait until he finished his business.

A couple hours later, the disciples continued waiting but most of them had gotten impatient. Each of them were accomplished inner section disciples that were sent by various elders and departments to invite Shui. At first they thought that the other disciples would be the main obstacles in completing this task, but now it seemed they would first have to drag Shui out. After coming to a temporary truce, one of them knocked on the door of the house.

With fear and anxiety blatant on his face, Tyrone carefully opened the door.

"Ah, how can I help you?"

"We're here to see Shui, do you know where he is?"

"Oh, well, he said he would be cultivating in seclusion in his room."

Tyrone felt his stomach churn as he faced these famous disciples, but he still managed to deliver the excuse that Shui left for him.

When the messengers heard this message, they were upset but also helpless. Though they wanted to drag him out, as fellow cultivators they knew how rude it was to interrupt someone's cultivation. It would be one thing if they only needed to bring him, but since their masters wanted to please him it was important that he had a positive impression of them. Still, no one wanted to be the first to leave so they used artifacts and other means to send messages to their masters and only left after getting approval.

From that day on there would always be a couple pairs of eyes watching the house, but Shui remained indifferent to the situation.

While Shui focused on cultivating, Nathan was making his final preparations for the battle under the full moon. Even before Shui showed off his talent, Nathan had noticed him. At first it was just because he had the attention of Kate, who was the best talent in the clan, but eventually he saw him as a rival. Shui eventually proved himself unmatched in their generation, and if it wasn't for the incident in the Ancestral Lands, then he would probably be a direct disciple with a high chance of becoming the next manor lord.

However, none of that mattered. Even after the incident, with Shui a cripple once again, Nathan never forgot about him. He had considered killing him while he was weak, but he always felt like it wouldn't be enough. The one inside him was more than willing to eliminate any uneasy elements, but he held it back. He didn't know back then, but perhaps he had been hoping for something like this to happen. For the day when Shui returned as his rival.

Shui's current cultivation was far below his, but he couldn't wait any longer. The fate between them had to be settled. His mind wondered to Kate and his fallen clan, but he quickly shook off those thoughts. At this time, nothing was more important than his fight with Shui.

Two weeks later, the day of the full moon, Shui opened his eyes. There was no obvious change in his cultivation, but he knew the difference best. He raised his hand and gathered the air above his palm. The air condensed into water, then froze to become an ice rose, and finally the rose petals scattered. It seemed like nothing but fancy tricks, but even if each transformation was simple to manifest, doing all of them in sequence was of a much higher complexity.

While cultivators at their level seemed to have full control over nature, low tier spells weren't so flexible. Generally, spells of tiers 0-3 had one effect. Even if the way to use the spell was varied, the spell itself only had one function. In the case of the body modification spell, it moved and condensed fat and muscle, but it could only affect either fat or muscle during any single activation of the spell. Although spells appeared to do a lot, they were very strict in terms of what they could do. However, Shui had two methods of using spells without sticking to these strict laws.

The first method involved using a combination of inscriptions to mimic the effect of spells. Unless there was close examination, it was hard to tell the difference between a spell and a mentally drawn inscription even for a Master. While this method produced a greater mental strain, he had much more control over the power and effects of these fake spells. However, what Shui just tested was a result of the second method.

Above spells were cornas, which offered more freedom in how they were expressed. Cornas were the main attack methods of Masters, but it wasn't cultivation that allowed these figures to bend nature to their will, it was comprehension and energy control. If spells were considered as blueprints, then to use a spell for more than it was intended, the blueprint had to be remade, and this required insight generally absent from cultivators in the Soul Realm. However, this was no problem for Shui who could gain knowledge from the Primordial Library and had a soul as powerful as a Master's to process it.

Nevertheless, in addition to comprehension, sufficient energy control was necessary. It was said that even a mortal could defeat a Master provided that he was unquestionably better at him at controlling foundational energy, and there was no lie in this claim. Cultivation could be considered as the process of getting better control over energy and so it was more of a means rather than the end.

As long as his control over energy was good enough, the world would bend to his will, but for now he had to settle for being able to manipulate the elements freely.