As the students received the announcement about the Mid Term Examination, a meeting was ongoing in the Faculty Council.
"So, are we going through with this format?" Elsa asked Xander.
"Yes, for others, we don't have to think much, but these two teams have many Rankers," Xander replied.
"We will increase the difficulty accordingly but make sure you guys follow them at all times," Xander looked at the chosen instructors for this Mid Term Examination for the First Years.
This meeting discussed how the Mid Term Examination would be carried out and how they would grade the students.
There were many variables in a Dungeon Run, so they needed proper planning before they went with the format they were aiming for.
"Make sure that the difficulty is enough for this team especially," Xander said, pointing at Asher's team.
Many professors looked at the name, and in front of Asher's name, it was stated that he was a D+ Rank Hunter.
"But doing too much will affect the rest of the team," Professor Neyman said, and many agreed.
They couldn't increase the difficulty too much for Asher as that would make others in his team that were behind him in Rank suffer.
"That's why we will split the Examination into two parts, with a Dungeon Exploration and the test we discussed," Xander said, looking at Neyman.
They wanted to prepare a test that ensured both teams could compete equally and they could grade them at the same time.
While the Faculty Council was busy with the meeting, Asher was again heading towards the Great Library.
He had generated enough Mana to practice his spells much more freely, and he could learn more now.
Asher entered the Restricted Area again, and the old man allowed him to enter as Asher had not used his total time for the month yet.
"I should learn about the Black Element," Asher remembered Helena had told him to use the Library to learn about various spells.
And the Restricted Area was where various powerful magic and knowledge about the theory behind them were stored.
And right now, his priority was learning about a few Black Element spells he could use.
Asher entered the Black Element section and looked at various books. He could see mentions of various types of Black Element magic.
"Something that works with this," Asher looked at his hand, which got covered with a black shadow.
[ Host has used Shadow Control Rank D ]
Asher used the same spell that Helena had taught him, which worked well with him.
The Black Element has various elements, and learning all of them would take time, but right now, he wanted something that was combat-related.
"Theory of Control," Asher muttered the name of an old book and picked it up.
Unlike Runes, old books about magic could contain more powerful spells than the current ones.
Magic depended a lot on a Mage's talent, so the spell created by one person was often not used by others as they simply couldn't.
And such cases increased as the difficulty of the spell increased.
Right now, Asher was looking for Tier 2 Spells, which he could cast freely without worrying about his sword art, which also used a lot of Mana.
"Understanding the black element," Asher read through a few pages, and the first instruction to learn anything was to understand the basics of the element itself.
The Black Element was a highly complex element but not as complex as Space.
All the spells derived from this element were used to curse or induce fear in your opponents or use it as a combat spell.
Casting illusion-related magic was also possible with the Black Element, but illusion magic was not limited to it.
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
Asher kept looking at various ways a spell could be implemented, which increased his understanding of magic.
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
Asher kept turning pages when he saw another spell similar to Shadow Control.
Shadow Control skill that Helena taught him was the most basic spell of the Black Element that she created herself and used as a base for all her spells.
Not only did she give her own spell to Asher, but she showed all the variations she created for that one spell alone.
It was a spell that was greatly related to Asher's understanding of magic and the Black Element.
Shadow, which was what people named the energy, was similar to shadow and darkness and was one of the uses of the Black Element.
The energy was corrosive to others, but unlike other elements, it moved with the wish of its user.
Unlike Fire Element, where the spells would surely hurt others if they touched it, Black Element did not follow the same rules.
And this was one of the reasons Black Element mages were highly regarded, as they could be reckless with some of their spells without harming their allies.
"This should be a good spell," Asher looked at one of the Tier 2 spells mentioned in the book.
Shadow Bind, a tier 2 spell that was used to restrict your opponent, could restrict even B Rank Monsters if you could maximize its use and supply enough Mana.
But what interested him, even more was one of the variations that Helena had shown him.
"This should work," Asher started analyzing the spell pattern that was explained in the book.
It was a difficult spell to cast as the structure had to be maintained for a long time, but Asher didn't want to become a pure mage.
He wanted spells that could complement his Sword Art, and he could remove the current bottleneck that was hindering him from completing the technique he couldn't last time.
"Shadow Steps," Asher looked at the next few spells, some of which were masking spells.
The Black Element was mostly used by those who delved into Stealth Magic, and it allowed many Hunters to safely ambush monsters in the Dungeon or kill people.
But unlike Kai's ability, the Black Element didn't make people disappear completely but allowed them to mask their presence.
And the number of movement techniques used in the Black Element was numerous.
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
Asher kept using his Mana to replicate those spells, and then he would try to change them to suit him.
It was not as if the spells were not good enough or their explanation was not good, but Asher was not a pure mage. He didn't want to constrict himself to casting such spells the way they were meant to.
"This should work," Asher imagined the Black Element and tried to form a chain-like structure.
"Shadow Bind," Asher muttered, and various black chains emerged from the floor.
But they soon dissipated as Asher canceled the spell.
"This is not good enough," Asher noticed the mana consumption, and it was too high.
"Let's use his technique," Asher remembered a certain person from his previous life.
The only person that Asher felt could rival him due to the nature of their bloodline abilities and the person who sacrificed his own life to save Asher.
Lucas Greville, who was known for his endless Mana, and the only person who could counter Asher's original Bloodline skill, Ruler of Mana.
Asher stopped his mana flow momentarily and used his mana core to attract the Mana inside his body.
It was a strange process that could not work without his Mana Flow skill, allowing him to control his Mana like this.
But unlike Lucas, who had his bloodline ability to assist him, Asher was changing the method to suit him.
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
[ Host understanding of magic is increasing ]
[ Host has reached Intermediate Mastery in Magic ]
Asher was deconstructing the spell to the basic while making his Mana Core attract the Mana around him. He had stopped the mana flow that made his body feel tired.
It was almost like the energy around his body had halted in one place.
This technique differed from his Mana Doping Methods, as this only allowed Asher to cast spells differently than other mages.
And there were no harmful side effects from using this technique.
Unlike others that used their Mana to fuel the spell, he was going to use the Mana around him to fuel some part of the spell but doing so required him to attain the feeling of commanding the Mana around him.
And he was replicating that feeling with his mana core which was dense enough to hold a lot of Mana.
"Now let's form the spell," Asher muttered as he started to form the spell formation around his mana core, using the Mana around his mana core to make part of its structure.
This time, shadow energy erupted from the floor, and chains started forming, but the speed of the spell was much quicker than before.
And the mana consumption was lower, but the power behind it remained the same.
[ Shadow Control has increased to Rank C ]
[ Shadow Bind Rank C is learned ]
[ Host has reached Intermediate Mastery in Magic ]
"Good enough," Asher looked at the results, and forming spells in this way allowed him to create a spell that required less concentration to maintain itself.
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