"Yes, Father."
Anvis nodded calmly, ignoring Marquis Kallen's helpless expression.
"I'm preparing to choose between two terrain-type spells:the variant magic of the Spirit Wind Domain—the Frostwind Field, a dual ice-and-wind spell;and the variant magic of the Domain of Light Illusions—the Illusory Iceglow Field, a dual ice-and-light spell."
"Is that so?"
The marquis nodded, his expression returning to stern seriousness.
"I recommend the Frostwind Field. This spell can affect the battlefield on a large scale, combining the control of ice magic with the acceleration of wind. It can also summon wind blades at any point within the field by expending extra mana.
And once your power reaches the seventh tier or higher, it can even manifest some of the power of a ninth-tier domain.
Magic and Combat once stated:A psion is one who uses wisdom to reshape the world.
In battle, a psion must first construct a battlefield environment advantageous to themselves.Then, by using chains of low-tier instant spells, they should constantly control, disrupt, and weaken their opponent—gradually stacking advantages.
Like placing weight after weight onto one side of a scale, until victory becomes inevitable."
Listening to this, Anvis' expression turned slightly odd.
The Frostwind Field was a spell invented by Kallen. Magic and Combat also had no listed author—but Anvis knew Kallen wrote that too.
Praising himself this hard… wasn't it a bit too much…?
"I understand. I will consider it carefully…"
"You don't need to take your father's advice too seriously, Anvis.Just follow your own heart!"
Elena shot Kallen another glare.Illusory Iceglow Field was her spell, after all, and she never bragged about it like this man did.
Marquis Kallen simply pretended not to hear her, wearing a completely natural smile.
"And besides—Magic and Combat is truly an excellent book. Written by a wise and great tenth-tier psion.It contains many valuable techniques.In your spare time, you should read it several more times."
"..."
Elena froze mid-sentence. Her amethyst-violet eyes blinked with question marks, and the corner of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Taking a slow breath, the duchess forced down her urge to test how thick the marquis' skin really was.With elegant composure, she turned away and refocused on her meal.
Leonard lowered his gaze in silence, pretending he had heard nothing.
"Yes, Father."
It took Anvis considerable effort to stop himself from rolling his eyes.He squeezed out a stiff smile—his understanding of the marquis' self-confidence rising to a new level.
After dinner, Anvis returned to his room.
Before that, the marquis handed him a ring filled with consumables required for his advancement to the first tier.
Yet at this moment, on the eve of advancing, he instead felt momentarily dazed.
Leaning against a black-velvet lounge chair beneath the carved arched window, his mood grew extraordinarily calm.
The bright, hazy glow of the twin moons slanted through the window, enveloping the chair in silver light.
He did not turn on the lamps—his legendary bloodline allowed him to see perfectly in dim environments.
Tonight was the eighteenth of May—the night of the full twin moons.
This was the result of him deliberately controlling his meditation speed.According to large-scale secret experiments conducted by the family, only by condensing the Mental Core under the full moon could one achieve the most perfect advancement.
The advancement from tier zero to tier one was an extremely crucial transformation.
Like sinking a deep foundation—the height of the future building entirely depended on its depth.
Using a proper combination of resources at this moment could yield twice the result with half the effort.
But once the foundation was set, further enhancement would require extremely rare treasures—providing only minimal improvement at great cost.
After reviewing his advancement plan one last time and confirming everything, Anvis took out a plate of aurora-colored dream-dust and placed it beneath the moonlight.
The moment it touched the bright moonbeams, the powder in the crystal dish began burning silently, like encountering flame.
It transformed into shifting ribbons of radiant rainbow light, circling around him.
This was a rare treasure capable of stabilizing the mental sea and increasing advancement success rates.Even for the Kallen family, the yearly harvest was scarce.
To guarantee absolute safety, Anvis used ten times the standard safe amount.
Seated within the shimmering halo, he then took out a half-meter-wide miniature inscription array, set it beside him, and placed ten standard units of super-mana crystals into its core.
Once the environment was prepared, Anvis retrieved a small transparent crystal vial—no larger than a fingertip.
Within it was a liquid clear as pure water, yet glowing faintly blue like moonlight.
Moon's Mercy, perfect-grade.Effective only for those below tier one, yet more difficult to refine than even peak tier-three potions.
Most importantly, only a true master alchemist could create a perfect-grade version.
It could accelerate mental power growth without side effects, and further purify it—one of the best aids for spellcasters advancing to the first tier.
After examining it briefly, he uncorked the vial, swallowed the potion in one gulp, and activated the inscription array.
To be honest, it tasted no different from plain water.
Moments after consumption, Anvis felt a swelling ache in his head.
His mental power had already reached its limit.Now the potion forcibly increased it without allowing his mental sea to expand further—causing the Chekaman effect.
Enduring the discomfort, Anvis silently operated his meditation technique, sinking his consciousness into his mental space.
Beside him, the activated array caused the super-mana crystals to release dense, ghostlike origin energy.The aura spread outward but was immediately bound and compressed by invisible force fields.
As time passed, the concentration of origin energy within three meters rose sharply.
Within his mental space, Anvis suppressed the instinct to break through immediately.Instead, he guided the rapidly growing mental power to condense shimmering spell-nodes.
He intended to use this surplus mental power to construct his initial spell.
After much consideration, Anvis ultimately abandoned the Frostwind Field and chose to construct the Illusory Iceglow Field.
This spell created a fifty-meter domain filled with tiny complex magic-ice crystals that refracted light, enhanced illusions, and disrupted enemy mana perception.
The caster could also expend additional mana to form ice lances at any point within the field.
Compared to the Frostwind Field, the model of the Illusory Iceglow Field was more complex, with a different focus.
The Frostwind Field emphasized slowing foes with extreme cold and speeding oneself with wind acceleration.
The Illusory Iceglow Field focused on indistinguishable illusions and disorienting interference.
For offense and rapid field control, the Frostwind Field was superior.But for safety and unpredictability, Illusory Iceglow Field was the better choice.
Anvis had once imagined constructing both—but the models were far too complex, and his mental power would never allow him to have everything.
(lol and bruh)