Geometric Mage: First Spell, Circle

"Here you go. Were you saying something earlier?" Lian smiled faintly, a triumphant expression on his face. I embarrassed you, did I not? he thought.

"I cannot believe it—" Torin stared in disbelief at the Runic Tablets floating before him. He grabbed one with his hands, bringing it closer.

Despite the evidence before his eyes, it was clear Torin had his doubts. After recovering from the shock, the gruff boy began to question Lian.

"Kid, you do not expect me to believe you created three sets of runes in so little time, do you? Not to mention the amount of mana required to do it all, the mental stamina needed to use the Core Extractor is considerable. Plus, you would need to be lucky if one out of three attempts succeeds—"

Torin took a deep breath. He stepped closer, his eyes narrowed as he leaned in to scrutinize Lian more closely. "I sense little fatigue in you and only a slight drop in your mana. There is definitely something off—"

Lian did not know what to say. Huge amounts of mana and mental stamina required? Are we sure? His thoughts were completely opposite to Torin's. But one thing was clear. What Lian had accomplished was not common.

Before he could respond, Torin continued. "Stop playing dumb, or you will embarrass yourself even more. And I warn you, if you disturb me again to mess with me, I will make sure to report it to Master Corvan. Think carefully."

With those words, Torin grabbed the Runic Tablets with a simple gesture of his hand and returned to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Lian's mouth was open, his expression one of disbelief. "What the hell just happened?" he murmured quietly, trying to process what had occurred.

He had simply extracted the runes from the Mana Cores, that was all. Yet it seemed like an arduous feat, not as easy as Lian made it appear.

The boy began moving again toward the center of the large hall, next to the Core Extractor. His eyes were fixed on the machine, its center faintly glowing with blue light.

"So the average success rate is one rune extracted successfully every three attempts? This means that to create a set of three runes, you need at least nine—ten to be safe—Mana Cores?"

A small smile crept onto Lian's lips.

"Interesting—" he murmured before doing some quick calculations. "Torin gave me a total of 150 Mana Cores: 100 Bronze 3, 30 Bronze 4, and 20 Bronze 5. He asked me to create as many sets as possible, and according to the average Rune Master's ability, it takes at least ten Mana Cores to create one set of runes. That is 15 sets in total…"

Lian could not help but smile. "This means only one thing—I am rich!"

Without wasting more time, Lian got to work. He began extracting runes one after another. His mana seemed to go wild with euphoria as it aided Lian in the arduous task of extracting runes from the Mana Cores.

One hour later…

"Damn, Torin was right… it is exhausting—" said Lian, grabbing the last tertiary rune he had just created and placing it on the Runic Tablet. The set of three runes took shape. "And with this, that is six sets created successfully. I only used 18 Mana Cores, which means, in theory, I should have only managed to create two sets, not six."

Lian smiled again at the thought. "That is my profit, then!"

At that moment, Torin emerged from the door. The frown on his face had softened, his gaze slightly gentler. He took two steps forward, only to observe Lian, sitting on a chair, breathing heavily.

But before he could say anything, his eyes landed on the table, where a Runic Tablet glowed faintly yellow. "Tsk, at least you managed to create one set in this hour. See, I was right? Extracting runes, despite how it seems, is not a simple task. Sure, creating one set in an hour is rather… mediocre as a result, but you will improve with time."

Torin had a look of approval as he approached the table to grab the Runic Tablet. But before he could, something appeared in the air in front of Lian.

"In fact, I made two. Here is the other one." After thinking for a few seconds, Lian decided it was better to give Torin the other set as well. This way, he would be seen as a small prodigy, not mediocre, as Torin himself had claimed.

The boy in the gray, dusty robe softened his gaze even more as he looked at Lian as if he were seeing a rare gem.

"Lian, huh? You did a great job here. These two sets, plus the three from before, will help me a lot. It does not matter that you made them yesterday; what matters is that you gave them to me. But try not to trick me again, understood?"

Lian did not expect this change in attitude toward him. He nodded distractedly at Torin, his lock of hair falling over his eyes as he watched him take the two Runic Tablets.

"Mhh…" After a few seconds of contemplation, Torin glanced at Lian sideways, his arms crossed over his chest. "Come with me. I am in a good mood right now. I will show you how to create an artifact, all right?"

Lian, who at that moment was already thinking about how to steal a Runix Stylus and a Runic Seal to practice in his dormitory room, snapped his head toward Torin. "Seriously?!"

"Of course I am serious. I am not like you, you know. Hurry up before I change my mind—"

"Coming—" Without needing to be told twice, Lian stood up. He knew the method for creating an enchantment from a set of runes; now he needed to learn how to embed them into an artifact.

Master Corvan had not been very clear on this step, rambling nonsense about Lian not being ready yet.

If I can successfully steal the tools and understand how to create an artifact… does this not mean I can start creating my own personal artifacts?! Lian's thoughts were a jumble of ideas as he followed Torin with extreme excitement.