Hero of Darkness

The next morning, Kahn stood in the underground training facility while being dressed in casual indoor clothes. 

The new mansion he bought a few weeks ago had a history behind it. This property previously belonged to a fallen noble clan that served in the military and had hundreds of their members train under this facility. And the clan head was a female centaur, one of the rare species in the empire. 

But after she fell in a war with one of the nearest empires 2 decades ago, the clan fell from prestige and authority since none of the descendants crossed the saint rank. And after being unable to maintain the clan's expenses as well as struggling to hold their positions in the military despite being a military-oriented clan, the leader had to put the mansion up for sale and move the clan headquarters to a more affordable place. 

And coincidentally, Kahn was looking for a new place to live and as soon as the house selling company informed him about this mansion, he bought it without a second thought. 

And the main reason was this training facility which was made over decades of hard work and devised to help nearly 500 soldiers at once, let it be mages, archers and melee classes. The whole facility was something Kahn desperately needed for quietly training without holding back and so did his subordinate. 

The entire place spanned for 2 kilometers in radius with hundreds of instruments, training arenas for specific job classes and hundreds of magic formations and artifacts installed in here to hold its foundation and it could even easily withstand a full-powered attack from a semi-saint. 

To Kahn, this would be his own Batcave. 

There were two sections that were currently useful to him, one area filled with wooden tables and chairs to study magic while the other was an open ground where multiple stone monoliths were fortified with magic formation to make them durable enough to stand against large & powerful spells at the same time. 

He intended to use them for target practice and try variations of magical spells & skills he had. 

After spending a few more hours and reading the beginning chapters of magical books of various elemental magic spells, he learned that unlike the majority of the isekai world's he read and watched in mangas and novels, you couldn't outright perform and use any elemental spells just because you could use magic. 

In Vantrea, you must have the core knowledge and understanding of the type of element you were using to cast a spell. For example, if you wanted to cast a water-related spell, you must study and understand the mana signature of these elements. Just like how DNA inside every human differentiated them from others of their species. 

Then use that knowledge to adjust and manipulate the mana you had access to for matching the properties of these elements. After your mastery over mana manipulation over that element increased, you could ingrain the same composition in a spell. 

So that way, as long as you have enough understanding and experience of a particular element, you could cast spells related to it and then increase your mastery. 

But since Kahn's foundation itself was non-existent when it came to magic & knowledge of mana manipulation.. All the magical skills he had by absorbing others were like a house of cards. Easy to break with a small breeze. But because of his levels and rank, they were far deadly to many people he faced till now. 

But it was one thing if he was in Flavot city where not a single saint existed but in Rathna, he would be chewed out by the true experts before he could even cast a single spell. 

And this was the main reason why Solomon had completely suppressed him during their fight just with 4 different types of elemental attacks. Compared to the elven mage's spells, the ones Kahn could use were like a sheet of paper facing a bullet. 

"I guess I should start from the basics even though I can already use many spells. The spells & skills I have because of the Ability Absorption divine ability will only provide me with superficial force. But not the maximum output or effectiveness. " said Kahn and came in the open arena. 

Lighting & ventilation wasn't an issue in the place & plenty of artifacts were installed in the facility which prohibited any sound from leaking outside. 

First, he held a glass of water in his hand. Kahn then created a big blob of water in his left palm and tried to feel the structure of water itself in both of these samples. 

Before, he thought it was just a state of matter but due to his rank, Kahn could now feel a slight amount of mana infused in the original glass of water. It wasn't just a physical state of matter.. But also a force was a part of it that had a big influence on its structure and current physical form. 

"That's it!" exclaimed Kahn as a sudden realization struck him. 

As per the Law of Conservation of Energy; energy can neither be created nor be destroyed, it can only change one form to another. 

Like how the water turned into Ice in a solid state and then into vapour in the gaseous state. But in Vantrea, mana itself was energy and you could change the state of the matter itself while casting a spell and use the mana present in the world to change its structure and give it any form you want. 

Kahn dipped his fingers in the glass of water while maintaining the blob afloat in the air. After feeling both of them, he felt like the original sample in the glass was much denser and contracted than the water from the spell he created. 

Despite the same state of physical form, the mana density of his spell was only 40% of the original sample. In other words, his own spell was less than half times effective compared to the original thing. 

"No wonder all of my skills and spells with mana are very weak compared to others. So that's why Arkham's mana-infused skills and attacks were many times stronger than my aura blades." said Kahn. 

Even his swordsmanship skills had mana factored in them. So if he had only half-ass mastery over one thing, he would never be able to break past his limits and none of the merged skills he had from Synthesis divine ability would ever cross the saint rank. 

[The first thing I must learn is not to study the spells but the elements themselves. And then use them to create the elemental spells with real power behind them. Although it will take more time than my original estimations.. It would still build me a strong and firm foundation.] thought Kahn as he tried to manipulate the density and structure of mana in the spell while trying to match it with the original water sample in the glass.

There were steps you simply couldn't skip in pursuit of power and mastery. This wasn't about training his physical skills and weapons techniques anymore.. 

But to train his mind & soul as well if he wanted to be the strongest guy in the room.