When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin successfully returned to his room.

He had hidden a set of clothes at the abandoned distillery on the way out. So, with the help of the Water Ball Spell, he showered, took off his beggar costume, changed back to being the rich young master he was and safely returned to the Lithur household. It was as if he merely took a leisurely walk this afternoon.

At this moment, he has just finished dinner and was seated on his own bed, looking at the small mirror in his hand.

After leaving the prison ruins, he did not return home immediately. Although he was worried about the Church’s attack, the Church was currently in a frenzied state and definitely would not be able to respond quickly. Thus, before the Church began their search, he could move around without too much concern.

This was why he went to the "same old place" Michelle told him about, found the third tree and dug up Annie’s things.

Although Annie betrayed Michelle and their relationship was all sorts of pretenses and facades, her parting words were true.

She had indeed left Michelle some things, but Michelle had ignored them. If it were not for Benjamin’s obsession, these things might be buried under the withered tree forever, never to see sunlight or the sky again.

Fortunately, he went and was rewarded.

The mirror in his hand was one of the magical instruments Annie left behind.

But for reasons unknown, he felt that this mirror was slightly different from the other magical instruments.

For example, the ring and cross he acquired from the pastor, Benjamin could feel its slight magical aura at close proximity. But this mirror was different. No matter how close he was, he could feel nothing.

And because of this, he almost mistook it for an ordinary mirror.

However, when he focused his energy on the mirror, the mirror would suddenly emit light and an apparition who looked identical to him would appear in front of him.

When he first saw the apparition, Benjamin was very startled. It was like seeing a ghost during the day. But upon recovering from his astonishment, he discovered that he could use his energy to control this apparition, letting it leap up, jump down or make any vivid expressions.

Except for not being able to make a sound or be touched, the apparition was lifelike to the point it was praiseworthy; it could even fool magical elements. There was nothing to worry about even if Benjamin used Water Particle Detection to sense the apparition; no flaws could be detected.

Not only that, he also quickly discovered that whatever the apparition sees, it all showed in the mirror.

He immediately realized the immense value this small mirror held.

Not only can it baffle the opponent and lay down deceits, during extraordinary situations, the apparition summoned can take the place of its master to scope dangerous places.

Really, this powerful item, how had Annie obtained it?

Even more peculiar was that she didn’t use it, but instead buried it in the soil and said she left it for Michelle – what in the world was she thinking?

He could not understand.

But Annie had already died. No matter how puzzled Benjamin was, no one will jump out to answer his doubts anyway. So, he quickly pushed this matter to the back of his mind and focused on exploring this little mirror.

However, a few experiments later, Benjamin regretfully discovered that the distance between him and the apparition cannot be more than 500 meters. He could control the apparition to walk precisely 500 meters from him but if the apparition takes another step forward, it instantly disappears with no trace in sight.

What a pity.

If the distance was further, this item could be labeled as a divine instrument.

But it was not bad the way it is. Benjamin did not plan on forcing anything. He did not have expectations for the items Annie left behind in the first place, so the discovery of a decent item has already satisfied him.

People cannot be too greedy.

Apart from this mirror, there were not any more valuable items from the pile of Annie’s leftovers. After some thought, Benjamin decided to not throw out some of the items such as a comb, a doll and some small objects. He was prepared to hand them to Michelle when the opportunity arose someday, which also counted as fulfilling Annie’s words during her farewell.

Thinking along those lines, Benjamin sat on the bed, looked over the mirror a few times, and kept it properly. Then, he took out the three magical instruments he plundered from the pastor.

He also found their respective uses.

The cross pendant functioned to strengthen one’s affinity to the holy light, which was naturally useless to Benjamin, so he stashed it at the bottom of a box, allowing it to gather dust.

As for these two rings…

One of the rings, when Benjamin wore it, made him feel a slight increase in his energy and naturally lifted his spirits. The other ring, after putting it on, surprisingly made his body feel lighter, as if his movements were a little faster.

So it can do this too? He could not help but be surprised.

He suddenly thought of the time when the pastor lazily rolled like a donkey and avoided the rebounding Holy Light during their fight. He was somewhat astonished by the pastor’s quick reflexes but thinking about it now, it probably was all thanks to this ring.

For a magician, agility is pretty useful.

He finished going through these magical instruments. A ring that promised +2 to energy, another ring which +2 to agility, Benjamin kept them carefully, prepared to wear them when needed -- after all, these were plundered items, he should be careful when it came to using them.

He quickly laid on the bed, closed his eyes, entered his consciousness and continued his magical training.

But this time, he did not begin meditating.

He wanted to begin delving into what was known as "non-verbal spell casting".

The experience of using ice needles to sneakily attack the Holy Knights reminded him and allowed him to realize the shortcomings of his ambush techniques – in whatever situation, his skills seem to fall short. If he used magic and summoned the Ice Needles first, he would have to toddle back to ambush them. Most of the time, he would need to summon the Ice Needles on the spot and stick them into someone’s shoulder without missing a second.

And because of this, Benjamin thought of non-verbal spell casting.

If he could use magic without chanting the spell, then the success rate of his ambushes would increase.

He also remembered in the book "Divine Arts 101", it was stated that the method of opening up one’s space of consciousness to practice can lead to performing non-verbal spell casting. Unfortunately, the book did not introduce the basics of doing so. Thus, he could only resort to studying himself.

After some thought, he started experimenting in his space of consciousness.

He closed his eyes, felt the water particles in his surrounding, spoke the incantation for the Water Ball Spell in his heart and the result was as imagined – nothing happened. But soon, he realized that runes are the foundation of everything, and so he changed his strategy. He began to feel the water runes. At the same time, he focused his energy, chanting the Water Ball Spell silently.

Sadly, he opened his eyes and saw emptiness in front of him. Still nothing has happened.

Benjamin felt a little defeated.

He was aware that the release of magic is due to the vibrations of the runes as they guide the surrounding water particles, finally resulting in magic. But if he does not speak the incantation, how else can he make the runes vibrate?

With this thought, he walked to face the Water Emblem and stared hard at the shining blue triangular emblem hovering in the air.

Is it only the Water Ball incantation that can make it vibrate?

But ... non-verbal spell casting is all about not speaking the incantation and still allowing magic to be released.

What now?

He was out of ideas so he could only stare at the Water Emblem, chanting the incantation again and again in his heart.

Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times… it was like he was back where he started: He had not opened up his space of consciousness, did not know how to learn magic and could only repeat this short yet profound Water Ball incantation on loop.

Just maybe, maybe, to break through the stump he was in now, he needed this repetitive hard work?

He made up his mind.

It was only a few ten thousand times of Water Ball incantation anyway, what is there to be afraid of? He had chanted it once, so what if he has to do it another time? He has a lot of time so who cares if he was not sleeping tonight? This hurdle was now his foe!

Thus, he stared really hard at the triangular emblem and began the single loop in his heart.