Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-21

Mana Bolt, Mana Shield, Mesmerize, Cleanse, and Force Push...

These are the spells that Ashton had to work with for now, every single one of them are Basic Level Spells so they aren't that strong but they should be more than enough to get him used to casting a spell.

'I'll try it out with Mana Bolt first...'

'System, I'd like to charge Mana Crystals to grind the Mana Bolt Spell.'

[50 Mana Crystals deducted from Inventory to raise the Spell: Mana Bolt to Lv.1]

[Estimated Time of Completion: 24 hours.]

As soon as his order was acknowledged, Ashton felt a slight pull coming from within him.

He felt his vision blurring for a bit and he started seeing something different. He found himself standing in an empty space faced with a training dummy with a target pain on its head and body.

When he blinked, he found himself inside his bathroom again.

The sensation caused him to shook his head in confusion but then he remembered how the Grinding Slots work.

'Oh right! Idling. The training will happen in the background while I go on about my day. How convenient.' Ashton chuckled to himself.

As he began scrubbing the dirt away from his body, he remembered something...

'How much would it cost me to open up another Grinding Slot?'

[The next one will cost you 500 Mana Crystals, Host. Reminder: The price will increase the more slots are opened.]

'How much would the total be if I want to open 4 additional slots?'

[A total of 5,000 Mana Crystals, Host.]

Ashton felt pained upon hearing that. He pursed his lips and opened his Inventory to check how much wealth he accumulated so far...

[Federation Dollars: 500K]

[Mana Crystals: 450K]

Admittedly, it's a little ridiculous for Ashton to feel pained for paying 5000 Mana Crystals to open up spots when he has 450K in his Inventory. The thing is, Ashton is quite stingy when it comes to spending money.

He wouldn't hesitate to spend when the situation calls for it of course but it doesn't mean that he feels good about doing it.

The only reason why he amassed quite a bit of wealth without actually doing anything is because of the Sign-in Function...

More often than not, Ashton would sign-in at his home and he'd receive some wealth as rewards for doing so. He would've added this to his bank account but it would be troublesome to explain how he got it so it stays in his Inventory for now.

That being said, the amount displayed in his Inventory isn't counting the cheques and coupons he had in there. He's keeping those for emergencies.

'Fine. Open-up four more slots, System. Register the rest of the spells I have while you're at it.'

[5000 Mana Crystals were deducted your account to open up +4 Grinding Slots.]

[2000 Mana Crystals were deducted to your account to train spells: Mana Shield, Mesmerize, Cleanse, and Force Push to Lv.1]

[Estimated Time of Completion: 24 hours]

'Alright, all of the spells should be finished around the same time tomorrow. I'll relax for the rest of the day for now. A lot has happened after all.'

After registering the spells to the Grinding Slots, Ashton decided to let it run on its own as he relaxes. Truly, a lot has happened today.

He succeeded in his Mana Circulation, learned five Basic Spells, has his Aptitude changed dramatically and the memories sealed within him had broken free.

There's also the Exam Week approaching...

There's a lot for Ashton to think about right now and honestly, he just didn't want to deal with them right now. This is already too much for a single day. He deserves a break.

After cleaning himself up and feeling refreshed, he dried his body changed into a new set of clothes. He inadvertently looked at his reflection in the mirror again and couldn't help but to click his tongue in wonder.

"Dayum...hot guy alert!"

Ashton chuckled at his ridiculousness and stopped paying attention to his face. He went down and joined Jerry to enjoy a sumptuous feast.

Next day, around 1pm in the afternoon...

Ashton was relaxing on his bed, reading some study materials in preparations for the exam week when all of a sudden, continuous System Notice flashed past his vision.

[Notice! Spell: Mana Bolt grinded for 1 day and has now became Lv.1]

[Notice! Spell: Mana Shield grinded for 1 day and is now Lv.1]

[Notice! Spell: Mesmerize grinded for 1 day and is now Lv.1]

[Notice! Spell: Cleanse grinded for 1 day and is now Lv.1]

[Notice! Spell: Force Push grinded for 1 day and is now Lv.1]

[Would you like to claim the Experience?]

Ashton blinked and stared at the notifications for a good five seconds before realizing it.

'Oh yeah, I did this yesterday. I actually forgot about it.' Ashton chuckled to himself and shook his head, it seems that he had been a bit immersed in his own leisure that he completely disregarded this after doing it.

And since it's running on the background, he didn't really remember it until the System notified him.

'Do it one at a time so that it won't be confusing. Starting with the Mana Bolt first.'

[Transferring Mana Bolt experience to Host.]

Ashton then felt his mind warping for some reason. He lost his focus and a stream of information suddenly started making its way to his brain.

The funneling was a bit disorienting at first but his mind adjusted to it rater quickly.

He then saw himself performing the act of casting Mana Bolt over and over again. Once, twice, thrice...it went on until he lost count. He appeared to be a tireless machine constantly dishing Mana Bolts and never running out of Mana to do so.

With every succeeding attempts, the form and stability of the Mana Bolt steadily increased until it finally resembled a proper projectile that did damage to the Training Dummy, the accuracy and precision of each shot was acceptable too. Of course, it could be a lot better.

This feeling was sensational. Ashton was fully cognizant that he didn't work this hard to reach this stage but he felt like he did it. The experience was immersive too, he completely familiarized himself with flow and emission of Mana for the spell to work. It's as if he was actually there doing all the practicing himself. But in truth, he was not.

At some point, the experience transfer ended and Ashton could feel his body heating up. It's like he did yet another work out just now.

Unable to help himself, Ashton he jumped out of his bed and went down to the Training Room.

Upon entering, he began going through the information he received and conjured a Mana Bolt with his hand. He aimed it at the training dummy in the room.

As a result, he did it on his actual first try. He didn't feel weird. Actually, he thought he'd be excited about succeeding but no, he just felt calm. It's as if he's used to it. Which kind of make sense since he had experiencing casting this spell many times in a row already.

Ashton did notice a few things though...

'Casting time is around 5 seconds...' He murmured to himself, 'I don't know if that's bad but if I am in the heat of a battle, it will most certainly will be. I wonder if I could shorten that by levelling this up?'

'It also doesn't spend as much Mana as I assumed.' He continued while staring at his hand. 'I'm not Lv.1 yet but I managed to cast it, this should be a proof that the benefit I received from my Magical Artifact is working.'

'At most, I need to cast 5 Mana Bolts in a row before I'm completely drained. And that is weird on it's own. There shouldn't be any Lv.0 like me who can do something like that.'

'This means my Mana Capacity increased and I only noticed it now. It's probably due to the changes of my Aptitude.'

'As for how this change's going to factor in my progress...I guess I'll just wait and see. For now, I have other spells to gain experience from.'

'System, do the Mana Shield next.'

Upon Ashton's orders, the System funneled the experience of Mana Shield to him. And this lead to Ashton discovering more peculiarities about the Grinding Slots.

Well, it should make sense but the training methods for each spell will vary depending on its type. Since Mana Shield is a defensive type of spell, in his training he's inside a room where there's a mechanism that will fire projectiles at him.

His Avatar casted Mana Shield over and over again. At first it shattered, and on the second attempt too but as it continued, the shield grew more solid and managed to block the projectile shooting at it.

The change in training methods also applied to others spells. In Mesmerize, he was given a live target, a squirrel to confuse. On Cleanse, he was given all sorts of animals with de-buffs to get rid off. For the Force Push, his was given a ball which he had to push around without using any physical means...

This meant that the Grinding Slots will adjust to any kind of spells he placed in them and set-up an training method to increase its efficiency using the best method.

'Yep, the System is really awesome!'