Determination

After Leus was done experimenting with Fireballs, he decided to go for the next element

'Only three elements are left!'

First, Leus decided to start with Earth

'I'm not really sure, but common sense says that Ice and Water will be similar in some way'

'So it's better to start with Earth and then master both Ice and Water together'

Leus went, opened the book, and started reading about the next spell

(Spear: A spear that can be used for defense against swords or thrown at opponents.

Keep in mind that the spear might break if you decide to fight swords with it.

It'll parry one hit or divert its direction if you're lucky, but that requires both skills and timing.

The main use of spears is obvious; throw them at enemies, just like Fireballs.

However, apart from the elemental difference of course, Spear is sometimes better than Fireball. For instance, if you're in a small enclosed room, then you don't want to burn the room and kill yourself by choking to death, right? That's when Spear is better.

Note: Spears are physical objects made of Mana, they won't harm you as long as your will controls that Mana, and they will disappear after you stop controlling them)

Leus liked this spell

'Interesting ...'

'I wonder if I can adjust its size to make it the size of a dagger when I silently cast it'

He closed the book and went to the garden

'Hmm, what do I throw these spears at?'

He looked around him but he didn't find anything ideal, so he decided to try the spell and think about this later ...

Leus repeated the incantation, and a spear around the length of 2 Meters instantly appeared ...

As he was casting, Leus took note of everything he was feeling

'There's a faint control over the length and the speed of the spear'

Naturally, it was not nearly as much as what Silent Casting gave

' ... But it's still there'

He also noticed something else

'If I spend more Mana, I can make the spear sharper or harder, but only to an extent'

There was something like a set limit that beyond it, no matter how much Mana Leus added, the hardness wouldn't increase

'I guess that has to do with the quality of my Mana ... I remember that Sal's companion said something like that when she was talking about Magic'

After Leus was done focusing on the feelings the spell invoked, he decided to hurl the spear into the sky like he did with fireballs ...

He looked up and willed the spear to launch ...

WHOOSH

It was hurled into the air

He repeated the process a couple of times, and that's when he noticed something

'If I spend more Mana and make it stronger, the spear takes longer before it dissipates back to Mana'

'So it doesn't only control the sharpness but also its vitality'

' ... Fireballs didn't have such complicity'

He thought about the reason for that and then came to a conclusion

'I wasn't able to control the temperature of the fire, only its size and speed'

'This means that the sharpness of the spear is equivalent to the heat of the fireball'

'Interesting'

He wasn't exactly sure of what that meant, but he knew one thing

'There are a lot of details that I'm not aware of ...'

Regardless, Leus didn't need to train for long; after only a couple more tries, he understood everything about the spell.

However, to begin silently casting it, he would first need to learn how to transform his neutral Mana to Earth Man

'And that is going to take a while'

He began training ... and quickly, he became disappointed

'It's as difficult as the wind'

He sighed

'It will take me two months ...'

That wasn't a pleasant realization ...

'But it's not like I have other options'

'I need to do this to make Mom happy ...'

'Also, power is good to protect me and my family'

'Maybe it will provide us a decent lifestyle too'

'I need to strive for it'

He encouraged himself

'Ideally, power will give me and my family safety, wealth, and happiness'

'It's worth suffering for'

'Without power, Mother wouldn't have been healed by now'

'Power is good. And if the price I have to pay is to keep training for a couple of years, then so be it'

'I have to do it'

'I will do it'

With that mindset, Leus' determination never wavered ...

In itself, power was never Leus' goal

'It is only a means to achieve my goals'

He wanted to become powerful to both protect his family and be happy

'It'd also be nice if it makes me rich too'

He smiled wryly, but quickly, he removed the smirk off his face

'My father keeps risking his life for us'

'It's only natural that I keep training'

And like that, Leus resumed his training ...

He'd spend all his day training ...

The more he trained, the bigger his Mana Pool became, and the more his Mana Pool increased, the longer he was able to train.

It was an endless cycle of training to be able to train more ...

'At least, because my Mana Pool has become bigger, I should be able to finish it in sooner than two months'

And so, he kept training ...

Days passed ...

Weeks passed ...

The first month passed ...

Two more weeks passed ...

One more week passed ...

And that was it!

After a month and three weeks, and when Leus was almost two years and ten months old, he mastered transforming Neutral Mana to Earth Mana!

'Fourteen months are left'

'Time is passing really fast ...'

He wasn't pleased with his speed

'I need to work harder ...'

After he learned how to create Earth Mana, Leus decided to immediately begin silently casting Spear ...

As always, he went to the yard, then he tried the spell

As he expected

'There's much more control over everything'

'But that makes it much more difficult than just chanting ...'

He was able to control the length, sharpness, and speed

'Well, just like with Fireball, I've to fully master the spell and then adjust the variables as I like'

Leus decided to create three different spears

'One with more sharpness and less length'

'One with more length and speed but less sharpness'

'And one with a very short length, like a dagger'

He had many ideas in his mind, and he wanted to try all of them ...

A smirk appeared on his face

'This will be fun ...'