Ace woke up early in the morning just before sunrise. That was earlier than usual for the young gas mage, but he had a very busy day planned out ahead of him and he knew what had to be done. He had slept with so much on his mind that he completely forgot about the letter. The young chocolate skinned boy had a long studious day followed by an intense training session lasting nightlong to master a couple new spells that he needed in his arsenal. Luckily for him, he was more intelligent than most of those in his age group. That made it easier for him to absorb new knowledge and grasp new concepts given the advantage that he was also energetic and youthful. Though his magic was intricate and hard to master, he loved the challenge it offered. Not all magic was created equal. The gas mage believed in that quote and related to it deeply.

Due to reading all those ancient history books during his internship with the Rune Knights, he came to realize that several different scholars have founded the variety of magic present today at different timestamps. Needless to say, every scholar came from a unique background with completely different needs for the harness of their mana. Also, what surprised the young reader the most was the scholars’ different timestamps was indirectly related to how complex the magic was. His Delirious Gas Magic was founded by an ancient Fiorian scholar who surprisingly had minimal contact with magic prior to his discovery. In addition to that, a biography that was written by one of his students who’d mastered the magic several years after the death of the founder stated that his disciples numbered less than five. With only three of them getting a full grasp of the magic’s full potential, and one of those three moving out of Fiore on a journey across the lands to expand his knowledge, only to never be heard of again. As a result of that, the generations that followed barely had any students to pass it on. There remained a few families that incorporated the magic as heritage and kept its books and teachings safe. Eventually though, the magic died out. There was always an easier magic to master thrown out there somewhere with official schools and libraries dedicated to spread its teachings. Other scholars who’d expanded their schools back in the day and accepted more pupils than others gave stronger references to the newer generations. There were countless intricate studies on magic available that even the families who once held onto the Delirious Gas Magic teachings sacredly eventually let go. Still, their families cherished this great accomplishment of their ancestors and held onto it even after the magic was lost.

The Brookes happened to be one of those families. They were in possession of the books and the scrolls but with missing pieces here and there. Their branch of the family came from the second disciple. As he grew up, Ace always knew about the magic and how it ended up where it did. His grandfather had absolutely no clue or the interest to bring that magic back to existence. Nor did his grandfather’s father, nor his grandfather… From a young age, Ace made it clear to his grandfather that he was to become a renowned mage. His grandfather suggested that he follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. Seeing how intelligent and dedicated the boy was at such a young age, his grandfather believed in him. At first Ace looked for something new and exciting that would appeal to him. He spent a large chunk of his time reading up on all the magic before he eventually got back to his roots. Upon finding a read in the library from the first disciple, the young boy started spending more of his time researching magic in his own little home, reading up on the scrolls and getting translation books from ancient Fiorian.

By the time he was twelve, Ace had already dedicated himself to this ancient magic. It wasn’t completely lost. There had to be someone else out there who shared the same passion as him and thrived to learn more about it. He just had to make a name for himself. A name so big that the other person would have to hear of his accomplishments and travel half way across the world to meet him. The young mage knew he had big shoes to fill, and so with his dedicated work ethic made his starting steps into the magic.

After almost three years from taking his first steps in, the gas mage was right here. Still reading up on different effects his gases had. Still researching how many grams of the toxins he should mix in without affecting his own body’s tolerance. Still finding new ways he can utilize these noble gases. There was always more he could learn about it, and he loved that.

He had already stacked a couple books that he thought he might need for today’s studious journey. There was no specific order or pattern as usual. He just had to dive straight in, be creative, research, research even further, then finally practice. He took a seat on the little desk provided at the inn he was staying at. It wasn’t even dusk yet, so it was quiet and peaceful. Had it gotten noisier later on he’d just have to relocate and find somewhere else he can work efficiently. He switched his little desk light on and gently placed the bulky textbook on the smooth wooden surface. He sort of knew what he wanted for his first spell, he just had to make sure it was viable. C for chlorine. He flicked through the old withered pages neatly until he’d gotten to the element he wanted. He was familiar with chlorine in particular since it was the very first element he’d ever researched when he first started using the Delirious Gas Magic. It had taken him so long to get the basic hang of things back then, but with the experience he possesses now it was surely going to be an easier task. He was looking for a similar objective to one of the spells he already uses, he just needed to up the dose and find a way to keep the gas stable while he did so. He pulled up his small notebook where he wrote all what he’d deduced from using a single gas element. He then proceeded to rip out a piece of paper from the back of the notebook for rough calculations. A few minutes of him neatly scribbling at the top of the paper and he’d already gotten the dosage for his new spell. That was the easy part done since all he had to do was recalculate the ratios for a different sum of magical energy consumed based off his original calculations. He was now on to the more tricky aspect of figuring out if the gas would be stable or not based off of paper calculations and theoretical assumptions.

520

Total WC
1184 | 7800

This next step was going to be based off his experience with the gas’ stability, as well as the recorded experimental values from the disciple’s books. He went back and forth between two books and a notebook, throwing values for pressure and temperature in his equations to see what worked best. It was more of a trial and error than anything else. The best he could do was give educated guesses on what he thought might fit the equations given with the constants filled in for chlorine. Roughly ten minutes later and the gas mage thought he got it down as best as he could. He knew the parameters and initial conditions he had to conjure the gas with, but what about the spell itself? How was the final product going to be hurled at his opponents? That was open for more creativity than anything, though he still had to make sure the gas could withstand the variables’ changes without weakening the effect of the spell. Although it sounds ridiculous, but a slight mess up in this initial ‘design’ stage and things could go very wrong. Ace had to be as cautious as he could and include a high factor of safety when designing his spells.

He sat around for a couple minutes pondering how it would be most effective to deliver a mere trace of chlorine into his victim’s system. Apparently, more chlorine was the way to go. It was going to take up roughly the same amount of magical energy, so why not put in as much as he could to widen the stream. After all, he only needed a tad bit of it to make contact with his target. And just like that, his end product was complete and ready to be tested. The cautious fourteen year old went through the tedious task of going over the spell once more to assure everything was alright. That was that. A one meter diameter wide stream that shoots forward from his index and middle fingers at twenty meters per second. Once traces of the chlorine transude into the opponent’s bloodstream, the toxic gas particles will hinder the respiratory system’s transportation of oxygen.

His next spell wasn’t going to be a walk in the park like that last one was. It was going to be the gas mages’ first time dabbling with krypton. From what the ancient scrolls said, krypton wasn’t one of the hardest gases to conjure nor tame and utilize, but it was a tricky gas to handle given its proven different behavior based on who the mage was. An unpredictable gas, but Ace thought it would suit the amount of magical energy he had in mind perfectly. Plus given the output of damage it dealt, it would be very handy to master the use of this gas early on in his career. Over time it could be a go to element in his combination spells as it plays an essential role in high pressure offensive situations. He had a lot of creative ideas in his head for now, but passing the initial calculation stages was essential to understanding its fundamentals better. From there he’d start building his way up.

532

Total WC
1717 | 7800

The initial stages were nothing new. He couldn’t tell how the gas would react when he conjured it anyway until he actually put it to the test. What he had to do for now was set his options based on his own bodyweight and the graphs plotted in the textbooks. Numbers scribbled down the sheet of paper he had for rough calculations. Before he could come to a final answer his stomach broke the silence with a long deep growl. He looked outside to see the sun starting to peek behind the clouds laid out on the horizon. “Most places would be open by now” he thought to himself. It was about time to go for some breakfast to maintain his energy and efficiency. The young apprentice left his books the way they were and walked out of his room quietly trying not to disturb anyone who was still asleep. He slipped his shoes on and walked out into the chilly morning breeze. His large afro blowing lightly in the wind as he closed the door behind him. The weather in Fiore was due to get warmer any week now. It was usually around this time of the year where the whole of Fiore experienced drastic changes.

Another cold breeze brushed past his soft skin as he reached for his pockets and began walking. He found a paper in his right pocket and so pulled it out in confusion. The gas mage didn’t recall leaving anything in his pockets. In fact he usually emptied his pockets as soon as he got back home. It was an envelope, still unopened from yesterday. A letter that he’d gotten from one of his superiors but was too busy to open yesterday. “Completely forgot about this to be honest…” He murmured to himself while his left hand clenched the back of his head. He stopped in the middle of the street. The sun still peeking out over the horizon as more and more people rushed through the street to get to their everyday jobs. The gas mage being the only one standing still, ripping the envelope open gently and inspecting its contents.

The letter read,

Ace Brookes, As you’ve already heard, rifts are still spawning all over Fiore. The demons emerging from these dimensional tears are stopping at nothing as they shred through our front lines. As Rune Knights it’s our duty to step in whenever we can and lend a helping hand. For the past couple weeks we’ve gotten orders from the Council to strengthen defenses and send in finer troops for battle. The most recent letter I’ve gotten was an urgent call. Hence, why I’m assigning yourself and other Knights to several predicted rift locations. I understand the threat level of this mission and I believe you are capable. You have been assigned to the city of Astera. Expect another letter with specific rift coordinates shortly after. Don’t let us down. Captain Itsuki

“Astera huh…” He whispered to himself as he looked up at the sky.

Not only was Astera far enough from Magnolia, but the amount of spells he had to train and work on was immense. His deadlines were all crammed together. Who knows, if it was someone else in his shoes they might’ve just postponed their training. Ace dislikes postponing any work he actually has to get done. It wasn’t out of great work ethic or anything, he just hated having something lingering around in the back of his head. He was organized and hated anything that interfered with his planning. Working overtime was fine so long as he got his chores done. In a way, having more spells in his arsenal was going to be an advantage for him as he stepped on the frontlines. The question was, was he actually going to be proficient at using them or not? Well, that’s what the training is for. Being on the frontlines was no walk in the park either so having “ok” spells wasn’t going to do it. Whether it was a minor tear, major rift or anywhere in between, it was a risk being there. The lives of innocent people are resting on your shoulders. So if you fight you better put everything you got out there. Although young and experience-less, he was aware of that and ready to put out the best he got.

He felt the warmth of the sun’s bright rays on his cheeks as he walked down the streets of Magnolia. “Next week is definitely not going to be this peaceful” he sighed out loud as he looked around to find a restaurant to his liking. His mind was too preoccupied to realize that he’d gotten an actual letter from a Captain who knew of his name specifically. The thing was he’d never actually met Captain Itsuki before. That must’ve meant the young mage was getting somewhere with all his hard work and dedication.

“Ahh there we go.”

His head turned to a long ramen restaurant. The mage walked in and made his way to the bar through a pack of occupied wooden seats. Must’ve been a popular spot for the Magnolians before work. He sat amidst a couple stocky men with his head barely showing over the counter. His hair made the waiter aware of his presence though. “Can I get you anything?” The waiter asked. “I’ll have the chicken. One bowl please” he replied immediately. The restaurant was packed with all shapes and sizes of customers, including school students. He blended in naturally. If one was to look into the shop, the last thought that would cross their mind was that this young middle school student was going to be fighting on the frontlines for someone like that stocky man to keep food on his family’s table. Then again, Ace wasn’t one to judge a book by its cover. He kept his own assumptions to himself and hoped that people could do the same sometime.

The steaming bowl of chicken ramen was put in front of him. “There you go” the waiter commented.

“Thank you” The gas mage plainly replied. He picked up a pair of wrapped wooden chopsticks and proceeded to have his breakfast. The nutritious meal was going to give the young knight enough energy to push through his research.

After taking his time with the bowl, the young boy got up and left the restaurant leaving behind the jewels for the ramen plus some change too. Now that his stomach was full he would be able to go back to the inn. So he did. Ace walked back to the inn as the streets of Magnolia got more and more crowded and the chatter of the people grew louder as well. It was a lively city that seemed to rarely die out. Its streets were constantly busy and rarely ever seen a moment of complete peace and quiet. The young mage was getting attached to the city the longer he’d spent time in it. Soon though, it was time for him to make a move to Astera for Fiore’s safe future. Who knew where the winds would take him after putting his life out on the line. He was still young and had a long way to go before getting anywhere near accomplishing his dreams.

He opened the door and walked upstairs heading for his room. Along the way the gas mage’s mind never really took a break. Constantly thinking of the ways he can conjure his new spells and put them to effective use. Once again the young mage sat at his desk and flipped through the hefty book in search for the section covering krypton.

He was curious about the gas in general and so started reading from the very top. The title read “Discovery and Naming”.



By x437, two members of the noble gas family had been found. They were helium and argon with atomic numbers of 2 and 18 respectively. But no other elements in the family had been discovered yet. Giovanni, the first scholar and known founder of the delirious gas magic, was early in the stages of studying gaseous elements back then. The table of known elements contained empty boxes between helium and argon and below argon. The missing noble gases’ atomic numbers were 10, 36, 54 and 86. Other scholars thought of empty boxes as “elements waiting to be discovered.”

Since the two known noble elements, helium and argon, are both gases, Giovanni hoped the missing elements were also gases. And if they were, they might be found in air. The problem was that air had already been carefully analyzed and found to be 99.95 percent oxygen, nitrogen and argon. Was it possible that the missing gases were in the last 0.05 percent of air?

To answer the question, the scholar worked not with air itself, but with liquid air. Air becomes liquid simply by cooling it far enough. By harnessing mana into a form of ice based magic that had been previously founded, the scholar was able to study the components of air using the help of other scholars. The colder the air became, the more gases within it turned into liquids. At -182.96 degrees Celsius, oxygen changes from a gas into a liquid. At -195.79 degrees Celsius, nitrogen changes from gas into a liquid, and so on. Eventually, all the gases in air were made to liquefy.

The reverse process also takes place. Suppose a container of liquid air holds 100 liters. Less mana will be supplied into cooling the air, thus warming it up slowly. When the temperature reaches -195.79 degrees Celsius, liquid nitrogen changes back into a gas. Since about 78 percent of air is nitrogen, only 22 percent of the original liquid air (22 liters) will be left. That was the main principle that Giovanni had implied to further analyze the air.

When the temperature reaches -182.96 degrees Celsius, oxygen changes from a liquid back into a gas. Since oxygen makes up 21 percent of air, another 21 percent (21 liters) of the liquid air will evaporate.

Giovanni’s work was very difficult, however, because the gases he was looking for are not abundant in air, krypton, for example, makes up only about 0.00014 percent of air. For every 100 liters of liquid air, there would be only 0.00011, or about one-tenth of a milliliter of krypton. A tenth of a milliliter was about a drop. So Giovanni – although he didn’t know it- was looking for one drop of krypton in 100 liters of liquid air.

Amazingly, he found it. The discovery of these three gases was a great credit to his skill as a researcher. He named the new element krypton, taken from the Sevese word kryptos for “hidden.”

Upon finishing that section of the book, Ace recalled a short excerpt from the biography written on Giovanni Marquise by his disciple.



Before he was renowned for his discovery of Delirious Gas Magic, Giovanni was a man of knowledge, long known for his contribution to the table of elements. In fact most people these days (x498) knew nothing about his magic and rather mentioned his name when referring to the table of elements and his related accomplishments.

Which brings us on to this section. His utilization of the gaseous elements which resulted in his Delirious Gas Magic creation originated from a period of solitude in the scholar’s life. In other words, not many people knew of Giovanni’s magic until after his passing.


That was an interesting read for the young mage. Peaking his interest in his magic even more and adding to his general knowledge. The gas he was about to work with was only found in 0.00014 percent of air. Luckily for him, Delirious Gas Magic studies have made it easier for users like himself to conjure the gas. What he basically had to know was a set number of parameters to be able to form the gas within his body. The tricky part, as mentioned before, was making sure the noble gas’ behavior remained steady. The past cases showed that the gas acts unpredictably when wielded by different users. The best way Marquise’s disciples mapped these effects for future predictions was simply by plotting body mass figures against symptoms and effects noted. Needless to say this method proved to have little correspondence with the data collected. Especially since the number of proficient magic users weren’t enough to back most of the claims.

The reason they believed body mass was the main contributor to how the gas acted was because of it being a part of the noble gas family. These noble gases were given the name “noble” because they act as if they are “too arrogant” to react with other elements. Krypton in particular, when utilized by Delirious Gas Magic users, showed signs of rejecting bodies depending on how much oxygen flowed through them; or so they thought. Again, to this day, Delirious Gas Magic users don’t know the exact reason why this happens as no certain trend is portrayed by the gas. Still, it was a powerful gas to utilize and the young mage was willing to take the risk. His goal of becoming a proficient mage required him to master all the gases that the founder worked with.

The young gas mage then carried on to read the properties of the gas followed by his initial calculations. He ripped another two pages from the back of his notebook and started off. His body mass, his heartrate, the gas’ properties. It took him around ten minutes to finish off the last bits of his calculation.

“That should be it” he thought to himself. The next part involved his creativity and the revision of his calculated figures. So the main plan for this offensive spell was to target the opponent from the side, giving Ace the opportunity to tackle his opponent’s blind spot. He wanted the gas to follow a predetermined path, which he knew required practice.

The predetermined path would make it easier for Ace to cast the spell and maintain his focus on his opponent while he deal with it from either side. That allowed the young gas mage to ambush his opponent with another spell in the meantime. Which he thought would be a very effective strategy. Of course he wouldn’t know for sure until the spell was actually put to the test. But by theory, it seemed to have a very little margin of error.

Most of the Delirious Gas Magic spells involved compressing mass amounts of gases in very little areas. That was one of the most essential skills a gas mage had to master. The more gas particles there were, the stronger the effect of the spell most of the time. Debuff spells associated with the magic were mostly overdoses or traces of toxins. As for offensive spells, they mostly relied on a mechanical pattern of some sort to perform certain tasks. The user would essentially be a mechanical orchestrator of wind. Whether his spells followed the mechanical patterns of wind turbines/blades, wings controlling aerodynamic patterns or even fluid pressure mechanics, it was always altering the cyclic motion of his gases. In turn, the user had to control the pressure of the gases as well.

The young mage had planned some sort of a pressure pocket that was to be filled with krypton, after which will be released towards a given direction in a spiral pattern. This opening in the pressure pocket would open what is known as a “Gate of Wind”, where the gas bursts forward as if through an imaginary gate. If he was to form this pressure pocket around his fist, then he would be able to control its exit path best from the tip of his finger. Where all he had to do was swing his finger in an arc to shoot the spiral of gas. Easier said than done. In practice, there was so much that could go wrong. All he could do for now was plan and wait till he tested the spell out properly tonight.

He drew two lines page wide to indicate the end of this spell.

He turned his notebook back a couple pages to see what other spell ideas he’d already sketched down. He checked through the list of spells. Chlorine debuff, check. Krypton gate of wind, check. Cyanide. He wasted no time and immediately turned to his textbook in search of the element. He read a couple facts about the gas and got more familiar with some of its properties. One of the little details he had to watch out for was the high density of this gas. It would rise very quickly due to its density compared to air. The young mage would have to hold it down during the duration of the spell, thus making it hard for him to sustain the gas at high amounts.

The plan was to have another offensive spell of the same caliber as the krypton based spell. Except this spell was supposed to cover a certain area rather than shoot out some type of projectile. He had some type of tornado based spell planned for a while, but never really got the chance to put it to the test. He checked to see if he could plug in some of the values associated with cyanide into his previously made formulae. With a few changes, it was made possible. He would theoretically be able to create a vortex of cyanide gas and oxygen to shred through a certain specified area. He had to think of dimensions and casting motions to bring the spell to life effectively. Surprisingly, there wasn’t as much work involved with the creation of this spell as much as he’d thought.

That left Ace with one main spell on his checklist. This was planned to drain the most magical energy from the young mage. He thought this spell would give him the upper hand in battle. It wasn’t purely creative as some Delirious Gas mages relied on spells of this base type to weaken their enemies. The gas typically associated with a spell of this rank to debuff constitution was none other than one of the most harmful gases wielded by this magic; carbon monoxide. It was a gas hard enough to conjure by gas mages. So it would be expected that the user takes their time practicing conjuring this gas within their body before it could even be released. Carbon monoxide turns into a dark green smoggy gas when under the influence of Delirious Gas Magic. In the scrolls of the scholar’s studies, carbon monoxide was one of the later discoveries, yet proved to be one of the most useful at high levels. Conjuring mass amounts of the gas wasn’t a problem, hence why it was so useful. The only issue as stated before, was the user’s ability to form the right variant of the gas within their body.

He looked for the gas’ description in the bulky textbook. The young gas mage had already read about the gas briefly before out of interest. He was just looking to refresh his memory and look into more details to help him write up his spell as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

He skimmed through the sections and their titles, eventually coming to a stop where the title read “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning”. This was the most relevant section to see how his gas was going to debuff others’ overall constitution. The text that followed the title read:



After carbon monoxide invades a system, it enters the bloodstream and mixes with hemoglobin (the part of red blood cells that carry oxygen around a body) to form carboxyhemoglobin.

When this happens, the blood is no longer able to carry oxygen, and this lack of oxygen causes the body’s cells and tissue to fail and consequently die.

The wording used for carbon monoxide “invading” a system was intentional. Carbon monoxide is one of those malicious gases that will get fully sucked into a target’s system through one point of contact to perform its job. It would then be fully up to the user to decide on the dosage (based on their mana pool and competency at conjuring the gas) and the method of exposure.



The young mage paused for a second as he explored his options. He had a lot of ideas floating around the usage of this gas, but there seemed to be one that would optimize the success rate of the spell; or so he thought. Once again, all this work was theoretical and he had to put it all to the test later tonight.

Ace had made up his mind at this point. All these spells were to be finished tonight. He was going to make the move for Astera tomorrow, and that was final.

The young mage flicked to a new page in his notebook and set his textbook up right next to him. He was about to dive into the standard debuff calculations for this new carbon monoxide based spell. He needed a couple things to get started such as the compound’s molar mass, density, boiling point and solubility. They were all given and so all he had to do was copy the figures off and plug them into his calculations. There were given dosages in the scrolls that outlined the minimum amounts of gas to have an effect. As he’d already planned, this spell was to take up an immense amount of magical energy from him. Thus he went for a higher dosage and finished his calculations off as such. What the young mage needed was practice to actually create the gas.

It wasn’t much longer before the young knight had everything he needed. Most of his spells were done out on paper. He looked outside his window to realize it had already been mid-day. He must’ve been here for long, too occupied with his spells and research to even pay attention to the time. He stretched out of his chair and stood up with his notebook tucked under his arm. It was time for him to head out and get a bit of practice in before it got dark. He at least needed to test out his spells once under the light to be able to observe the outcome clearly. He got changed as fast as he could, threw on a light windbreaker jacket and rushed downstairs after locking his room.

The young mage walked out thinking if he’d forgotten anything. It would’ve been such a hassle to go all the way back to the inn had he forgotten anything. Nope, that was it. Everything he needed was now written down in his notebook. All the little details and descriptions were copied on in case he needed them. It was going to be too troublesome for the young mage to carry his textbooks along as well, considering how heavy and bulky they were. He looked around thinking what direction he should head off in. Was the east forest going to be better or the south gate park. By the time he would’ve gotten to the south gate park it would already be getting darker. That was just how big of a city Magnolia was. Effectively, it was closer and safer for him to go to the east forest for training. The south gate park was definitely not the most suitable place to try out your spells, but Ace thought he might just wander off to the very end of the park. Again he eventually settled for the closer east forest. After all, he had to go back early enough to pack everything he needed for Astera.

Shortly after, while on his way, the gas mage got daunted thoughts when thinking about his trip to Astera. What if it was his last time leaving Magnolia? Was he really going to be strong enough to face a threat level so high like that? It was all a new experience for Ace. Perhaps even a huge step forward for the young knight. He was only but an apprentice with the Rune Knights. He started to wonder why the lieutenant even chose to summon him to one of the rift locations. However the young mage quickly shook these thoughts out of his head. Of course, he was working this hard to take such risks. His whole life, going through hardships, it was all a prop for a time like this. A time where he needed every ounce of courage and bravery he had.

His own internal conflicts were normal. His goals and morals were clearly pushing him towards going to Astera, however his age probably played a part? As much as he wanted to believe he was qualified, he knew damn well that he was by far the youngest Rune Knight. Let alone be the youngest Rune Knight with no experience to fight at the frontlines to defend the country. It was a test no doubt. It has undoubtedly changed men who stood in the face of the demons. Either ways, he was slowly convincing himself that he got this. One of Ace’s strong points was his ability to pep talk himself. He was a smart young lad who knew how to weigh out his options in the nick of time; and that’s what he did.

He pep talked himself throughout his journey to the east forest. He put his emotions aside and read in between the lines. Why not? He had what it took. He was a part of the Rune Knights, which also made it his duty. In fact, with these couple spells in the bag he’d feel sorry for whatever demon had to stand in his path. The gas mage was becoming even more creative and crafty with his magic with each passing day. Most importantly, when everything was put aside, including the nerves, he knew he would become one of the greatest to ever use the Delirious Gas Magic. The young man believed in himself just as much as his grandfather did and there was no stopping him from getting to that goal.

Ace Brookes was already leaving the city at this point. The pavement had faded away to the rugged forest floor and the buildings replaced with scattered trees. This was it, the east forest. All he had to do now was find a suitable space where he could cast his spells while dealing the least amount of damage to any of the trees.

After a short while, the young mage came across an open space. He felt comfortable and so wasted no time at all. He gently placed his notebook open on the ground. His first spell’s description laid out in front of him. He read from his own handwriting:



Chlorine Poisoning Spell

• Form and spread chlorine throughout. (20 DGU for every milligram of fat)
  
• Concentrate supply to either hand’s median nerve.
  
• Chlorine releases from index and middle fingers into a beam like spell.

“Alright then…” He said to himself quietly as he positioned himself in the middle of the open space. The young gas mage started normally by casting and spreading the chlorine around his body. That part was nothing new to him since he already had experience working with this gaseous element before.  He then proceeded to lift his index and middle fingers to face his target, which was the open space in this instance. In a blast the gas burst out into a beam-like fluid structure. The stream was roughly around a meter in diameter which proved his calculations to be relatively accurate. This indicated that the spell should also have the same effect as planned.

“Chlorine Poisoning spell, I’ll come back to you later.” He said to himself.

He bent over to his notebook and flicked to the next page where his next spell was listed. This was going to be one of the harder spells to get down. Unlike the last spell, he’d have to start out slower with this one. He wouldn’t be able to know for sure how the krypton would react until he started forming it within his body. The top of the page read:


Krypton Gate Spell

• Form controlled pressure pocket (Vacuum Initially) around either hand to comfortably hold 6.3 DGU of gas.
  
• Create a minimum trial dosage of 0.05 DGU of krypton per mg of fat inside the controlled pressure pocket.
  
• Check the stability of the gas with double the dosage.
  
• Adjust the structure of the gas as per necessary then repeat doubling the dosage.
  
• After two or three cycles a clear pattern should become available.
  
• Record outcome.
  
• Slowly fill up the pocket with sufficient krypton. Don’t overfill yet.
  
• If the gas seems unsteady follow section three of Giovanni’s krypton description scroll.
  
• Record which of the tips had the best effect.
  
• Once the gas is steady and seems responsive enough, double the amount of present particles.
  
• Hold krypton in the pocket for a few seconds before opening the gate.
  
• First run in a straight line.
  
• After the desired outcome is met try bending the gate’s angle of trajectory.
  
• Overall dosage should match 12.6 DGU of krypton.

He stood up straight once more and turned towards the open space. This shouldn’t be much of a problem considering the factor of safety implemented in the work. Starting with such a low dosage in a controlled volume would most definitely foresee any possible issues with the spell.

The young mage followed the first couple steps smoothly. The controlled pocket was made, nothing new to him there. He then formed krypton for the very first time within his body. At such a low dosage the gas seemed to act naturally. He doubled the dosage a couple times and watched how the gas reacted. Surprisingly, it was all normal for now. It was only until he tested the responsiveness of the gas did he find a problem. It was slower and lacked the bursting energy levels it was supposed to possess. He held the gas in for a few seconds then released the gate. The outcome was disappointing. The stream of gas that was supposedly going to burst forward with great power and energy only loosely left the gate. Unfortunately this wasn’t of any use to the young mage. Krypton wasn’t toxic enough to harm anyone. The main purpose of the spell was to use the high pressure this gas can have at very high concentrations.

He went back to his notebook and recorded this odd behavior. The young mage didn’t want to push the boundaries too far, but he had to do something to test why the spell wasn’t working as planned. He slightly upped the dosage from 12.6 to 13.2 DGU of krypton inside the pocket. That was almost 5% more gas than planned. He knew a mere 5% could hardly affect the whole outcome of the spell, but it could at least help him identify the issue in some way.

Once again, the gas seemed unresponsive enough. The young mage didn’t have any excess energy to be wasting and so didn’t bother releasing the spell had he not felt a significant difference in the gas’ reactiveness. He once again upped the dosage by a further 5% from the original planned amount. This time bringing it to 13.9 DGU as opposed to the original 12.6 DGU. Again, unresponsive. In fact there was almost no difference in the responsiveness of the gas at all. A 10% increase in dosage was supposedly significant enough to tamper with the gas’ properties yet surprisingly had almost no effect in this case. Up 20%... This brought the dosage to 15.12 DGU and the gas still had no effect. He thought that 20% was surely going to make a difference and so opened the gate anyway. Nothing. Still a weak seemingly unresponsive stream. More magical energy wasted. The gas mage was starting to lose his patience at this stage. According to the changes he’s seen, even a 100% increase wasn’t going to do it.

He started from scratch and filled the pocket with 25.2 DGU of krypton. Two times the initial dosage. Heck, if this had no effect, he didn’t know what would. This time however, the young mage hastily formed his pressure pocket in an attempt to not waste any more valuable time. His carelessness left a couple air particles in the pressure pocket. He only realized this when plugging the amount of krypton gas in, his whole arm was shaking violently. At this stage the gas mage was panicking, not knowing what to do with the mass amount of krypton that was violently circulating around his hand. All he knew was keeping it trapped any longer wasn’t going to help at all. He swung his finger in an instant to release the gas and tried making the gate as large as he could to release the pressure from the blow. Unfortunately it seemed like nothing was going to soften the recoil of this shot… The stream erupted forward violently in a wide uncontained pattern, sending Ace flying back. Five meters back, scraping against the rugged forest floor and then finally crashing into the tree where his notebook was sitting. Blood was dripping down from his arms. Luckily for him, nothing seemed broken. The five meters he tumbled back slowed down the impact of the crash. Had he not widened the gate’s opening too, he would’ve been in even bigger trouble. The force of the blow would’ve been concentrated in one direction. A couple drops of blood splattered on the open pages of his notebook.

“Arghhhhh” the young knight groaned in pain.

Well looking at the bright side, at least he now knows how to make the gas more responsive. The textbook did state how it was different for each person, but this was a bit out of hand. Had he not gone through this experience, he probably wouldn’t have had a spell with the base gas as krypton.

He picked his notebook up and started recording his findings. He added to his calculations and roughly tried finding out how much air would be sufficient to activate the spell. He wasn’t done with the spell yet. He still had to master changing the trajectory of the gate, which shouldn’t be much of a problem as long as the gas was responsive enough.

After a short rest, he got back up to run the spell again. This time, reverting back to the original dosage he had planned. 12.6 DGU with almost 2% of air left in the pressure pocket. Surely this increased the pressure on the krypton itself, but it was something he could make up for with the opening area of the gate.

The gas was fully compressed and just as responsive as he wanted it to be if not slightly more. Ace released it in a straight path towards a branch. Needless to say, he was satisfied with the results. He then went for it again a couple times on a lower scale, in attempt to not waste as much magical energy, this time arcing the path of the stream. A few tries was all it took, and this spell was starting to look a lot better. He recorded his final experience with the spell once more before deciding to move onto the next spell.

He flicked to the next page:


Cyanide Whirlwind Spell

• Create a 4:1 oxygen to cyanide ratio within respiratory system.
  
• Concentrate in chest area.
  
• Prepare the gas in a cyclic mix.
  
• Use one finger to draw the gases out towards an intended location as a concentrate.
  
• Spiral of gases erupts into a toxic and corrosive whirlwind.

This spell didn’t take much of the young mage’s time. In fact, four parts of the mix was a gas he was already so used to using in his spells; oxygen. While the only other part that was new to him was one fifth of the mix which was to be cyanide.

Not long after, and the gas mage was conjuring cyanide within his body. The rest of the spell felt like something he could get used to doing easily. It wasn’t like the gases reacted negatively with each other or anything. It was more like a simple, yet powerful spell. Which made Ace wonder why he’s never really thought about adding it to his arsenal earlier.

It was starting to get dark at this point. Ace had one more spell to try out before it was all too dark for him to see a thing. It wasn’t a problem after he’d practiced all spells at least a couple times in the light. The next stage was a mana draining cycle of polishing the spells finishing touches.

He quickly came back for his notebook and flicked to the last spell he had planned out. The page read:


Carbon monoxide raging winds

• Build up a total of 500 DGU of carbon monoxide for every mg of fat.
  
• Contain the gas by constantly moving it at rapid speeds throughout the body..
  
• A buildup of raging winds is a good sign. Carbon monoxide’s enormously high concentration and velocity is bound to affect the surrounding air.
  
• Allow the gas to escape briefly through the palm.
  
• The rest of the gas should erupt out following the initial spurt.
  
• Record the diameter of the toxic stream roughly.

The young mage wasted no time as he stood up and practiced creating the proper dosage of the gas and containing it through a motion of cycles. Surprisingly enough, this spell wasn’t hard to master either. It was however draining. All that carbon monoxide drained Ace rather quickly. He was lucky enough to have some energy left when coming in to practice for it.

Anyways, it was time for him to take a small break then get back at it to polish the spells. Later that night he had to go back and pack his stuff. There was a letter waiting for him at the inn which specified the rift location. It was the official call to Astera.