After gaining a new loyal follower, Adam discussed the future development of the current organization with Will. Once their conversation concluded, Adam decided to leave, returning to the Bokuh family estate. Jin soon departed, not engaging in further conversation with Adam.
Tonight, it seemed that Jin had no time to rest. Adam noticed a box on the table—inside it were the materials required for the Invisible Blade spell.
The spell itself was not particularly high in rank, but because it involved the use of rare natural forces, the materials were equally rare.
"Earth marrow stone and Night's Blossom are the primary ingredients for this spell," Adam mused as he studied the materials. Normally, spellcasting required only a mixture of powders, but in this case, the box contained a fist-sized piece of earth marrow stone and a full cluster of Night's Blossom flowers.
Holding the earth marrow stone, Adam immediately felt the gravitational pull around him shift unnaturally, as if he were submerged in water, with an invisible force dragging him down. The next moment, he felt as if an invisible weight was pressing down on him, forcing him to expend several times more energy with each movement.
"Is this stone affecting gravity?" Adam wondered. Sensing the discomfort in his internal organs, he moved away from the stone and relied on his mental power to observe the shifting natural forces around the earth marrow stone.
As his mental power adjusted to the stone's movements, Adam began to feel the deeper, denser forces at play, realizing that his mental power could manipulate these forces. However, once he moved away from the stone, that sense of connection vanished.
"It's difficult for pure mental power to perceive such natural forces... so this is why the materials are necessary," Adam reflected, beginning to understand why semi-solidification techniques were so important. It was essentially an enhancement to one's ability to sense external natural forces.
"Night's Blossom is similar," Adam observed, his gaze falling on another cluster of flowers. This cluster glowed faintly in the dim light.
Unlike the earth marrow stone, Night's Blossom didn't possess any special properties except its glow at night. However, mages had discovered that its growth pattern was intricately tied to the movement of the sun and the arrangement of the stars, making it a rare material.
When used in spells related to starry forces, adding Night's Blossom greatly improved the effect. For the Invisible Blade, the addition of Night's Blossom made the spell more stable and more versatile.
Adam used his mental power to carefully examine the properties of the materials, familiarizing himself with their unique traits. He then opened the book containing the model for the Invisible Blade spell and, using the light from the Night's Blossom, began studying it.
The spell model wasn't two-dimensional, but three-dimensional. Each page of the book contained various angles and cross-sectional views of the model. Without spatial imagination, one could scarcely envision what the model looked like as a whole.
In the end, the goal was to construct this model with mental power and embed it into his mental power's operational framework. Within his meditation, it would manifest as a building constructed within the barren realm of the soul.
Luckily, Anthony had previously explained some of the terminology used in constructing models, as it was difficult to represent mental constructs in the real world using mere diagrams.
For example, some parts of the model needed mental power to merge, while others required mental power to collide. On the diagrams, the connections appeared uniform, with just a symbol marking the distinction.
"Being a mage really isn't a job for just anyone," Adam muttered, making note of the model and accompanying terms.
This was, in fact, a misconception stemming from Adam's unique situation. Anthony had initially been a cultivator before turning to magecraft, and the same went for Alva, a fellow genius. Due to their limited exposure to other mages, they assumed most mages learned in a similar fashion, believing that these simpler steps could easily be taught.
As a result, Adam had assumed that most mages were trained in this way, which led him to the conclusion that magecraft wasn't something just anyone could pursue.
However, most mages required one to six months of meditation to complete the basics. During this time, they would study a great deal of foundational knowledge. Adam had bypassed this step, as his mental power was naturally capable of leading him without the need for meditation.
He also advanced to semi-solidification techniques with just one session, while other mages would still be reinforcing their basic knowledge.
Though Adam was somewhat mistaken in his understanding, he was aware that his foundation was lacking and planned to focus on improving it in the coming days.
He crushed some of the earth marrow stone into powder, plucked a petal from the Night's Blossom, and combined them with a few other materials for his first attempt at casting the Invisible Blade.
Wrapping the materials in his mental power, Adam began to distribute them at different positions to construct the mental model. With his soul's weight tilted toward the soul itself, Adam controlled his mental power with utmost precision. Quickly, he built the spell model.
"Stability is key. Otherwise, the spell will fail," Adam thought, but he wasn't overly worried. After verifying the correct distribution of the materials, he used his mental power to initiate the ignition.
Invisible forces were drawn in, enveloping the mental model in a peculiar manner.
Perhaps due to it being his first attempt, Adam's mental model successfully activated, but some parameters were off, causing the resulting Invisible Blade to take on an odd form.
He could feel the shape clearly—twisted and even wavy, with the blade's edge undulating.
"Controlling it isn't stable either. This counts as a failure," Adam remarked, guiding the blade through the air. The wave-like form caused the force field to distort, rendering the blade unable to cut anything.
Quickly dispelling the spell, Adam checked his mental power and found that there was still plenty of it left. After adjusting the model slightly, he tried again.
This time, with the experience of his failure, the attempt appeared far more successful.
The model was still imperfect, but at least the spell seemed to work. The Invisible Blade now took on a slightly curved single-edged form, about the length of a palm. It flew silently through the air, only slightly disturbing the air around it—likely because his model was still unfinished.
"As long as the blade is thin enough and the air disturbance minimal, this Invisible Blade could truly disappear from perception."
"Of course, that's not the main point." Adam controlled the blade as he looked over at the small birds asleep by his pillow.
He could sense that as the blade formed, his mental power could seep into the wound along the blade's edge, sharpening his mental power.
It could cut through the target's mind, or perhaps directly alter the life force flow within them.
"Because my meditation method leans toward the soul and life force?" Adam considered that his original choice of this spell might have been the right one.
With this external force, he could transform animals, guiding them to adopt similar meditation techniques or the state of a life map.
After successfully cultivating his soul meditation technique, Adam had sensed that he could use his mental power to influence the life force and mental power of other beings. Without the spell's assistance, however, his mental power had been too scattered to produce any significant effect.
"Transforming the life map seems easier. The meditation method is much more difficult." Animals generally possessed weaker mental power than humans, although some larger creatures had stronger life forces.
"I'll need more experiments." Adam thought for a moment before dispersing the spell. He refrained from practicing on the birds.
The techniques used by human knights and the life maps had been the result of long-term exploration. Modifying them for animals would require a deeper understanding of knightly cultivation and a substantial number of animals for experimentation.
Clearing his mind of distractions, Adam entered a meditative state again, continuing his studies in magecraft.