Now that his immediate financial struggles were resolved, Cain shifted his entire focus back to magic.
More specifically, he wanted to develop spells that were uniquely tailored to his own needs.
In other words, he wanted to invent original magic.
Currently, Cain’s magical arsenal consisted of: Radiance, Radiant Rain, Radiant Shield, Adamantine Chains, and Radiant Plume Detonation.
Breaking it down, he had offensive capabilities (Radiant Rain and Radiant Plume Detonation), defensive capabilities (Radiant Shield), crowd control (Adamantine Chains), and utility (Radiance).
While it was a well-rounded kit, Cain felt it was far from complete.
For instance, the potent, natural healing properties inherent to his Holy Light Magic were completely unutilized.
The major issue was that the standard Light Element Magic textbooks recorded in the guild’s library didn’t contain a single page regarding restorative or supportive magic.
This gave Cain a massive headache, leaving him walking around with a deep frown for days on end.
Seeing his constant brooding, Gray and Cana asked what was wrong.
Upon learning that Cain had hit a brick wall while trying to develop new magic, the two younger kids tried to brainstorm, but they couldn’t offer any practical solutions.
Wakaba, who was sitting nearby nursing a drink, overheard the trio’s conversation and chimed in, “Why don’t you kids just go ask the Master?
I’m sure the old man will have a way.” “Oh, right!
How did I completely forget about the Master?!” Wakaba’s casual remark woke Cain right up.
He had been completely overthinking things and blinding himself these past few days.
The three children immediately scurried over to Makarov’s side.
“Master, I want to develop support and enhancement magic tailored to my Holy Light element.
Do you have any advice on how I should start?” Makarov looked at the trio in front of him and praised them warmly, “My, children these days are truly incredible.
Wanting to develop your own original magic at such a young age.” After giving his praise, he stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Have you decided which specific direction you want to take this enhancement magic?
For example, are you focusing on sensory detection, or physical augmentation?” Cain had already mapped this out perfectly.
What he wanted was to eventually be like Wendy Marvell—capable of dealing heavy damage while simultaneously acting as a top-tier support and healer for his team.
Seeing that Cain already had a definitive direction, Makarov continued, “Hmm, your Holy Light attribute is indeed perfectly suited for that field.
However, unfortunately, I don’t know any support or healing spells myself.” Hearing Makarov say this, the three kids let out a collective, disappointed “Ah…” their crestfallen expressions completely unhidden.
“However…” Hearing that there was still hope, the children’s eyes locked instantly onto the Master.
Makarov didn’t tease them.
“You can go ask Porlyusica.” Makarov’s words made it instantly click for Cain.
Of course!
Granny Porlyusica wasn’t just a world-class apothecary; she was also an exceptionally skilled healing wizard.
Now knowing exactly who to consult, Cain immediately said goodbye to Makarov and sprinted out the door.
When Cana and Gray tried to run after him, Makarov held up a hand to stop them.
“You two stay here.
Porlyusica despises humans; it’s better if too many people don’t crowd her.” Deep within the East Forest of Magnolia.
“So, you ran all the way out here in a frantic rush just because you want to learn support magic from me?” “Yes, yes!” Seeing Cain looking up at her with eyes full of anticipation, Porlyusica thought about it for a moment before replying, “The magic I use isn’t suited for your element.
However, since you are attempting to innovate and forge your own magical path, giving you some foundational material to study as a reference shouldn’t hurt.” With that, she walked into her clinic, pulled out a thin book, and tossed it to Cain.
“This text records three basic support spells: Fortress, Haste, and Might.
Take it back and study it.” Cain noticed the booklet was very thin, maybe about a dozen pages long.
Before he could voice his deep gratitude, Porlyusica waved her hand dismissively.
“Alright, you’ve got what you came for.
Get out.” Cain didn’t push his luck.
Clutching the booklet tightly, he returned straight to his dorm room and immediately began dissecting the three basic enhancement spells.
He decided to start with the defense-boosting spell, Fortress.
He neatly sketched the entire Magic Circle onto a sheet of paper and began the process of deconstruction.
Deconstructing a pre-existing Magic Circle was an incredibly tedious task.
First, one had to accurately isolate the Core Array, the Mid-Level Array, and the Outer Array from the overlapping lines of magic formula.
Next, you had to map out the exact nodes where the separate arrays connected.
Finally, relying on those nodes, you had to carefully dissect the single complex circle into its three fundamental components.
It took Cain about four full days of grueling mental labor to successfully separate Fortress into its three core elements.
With the deconstruction complete, the next phase was substitution and reconstruction.
Cain needed to swap out the original generic core array and insert his own Holy Light Core Array, effectively anchoring the spell to his own unique element.
This was by far the most difficult and critical stage of the entire process.
And this was exactly where Cain hit a massive roadblock that lasted for days.
No matter how he tried to weave them together, the connection between his Holy Light Core Array and the mid-level enchantment array of Fortress refused to flow smoothly, causing the magic formula to constantly destabilize and collapse.
Just as Cain was pulling his hair out trying to find a workaround, Gray’s voice echoed from outside his door.
“Cain?
Are you in there?” “Ah, yeah!
I’m here.
What’s up, Gray?” Cain slid the door open, looking at Gray curiously.
Seeing Cain standing before him completely in one piece, Gray let out a visible sigh of relief.
“You haven’t shown your face at the guild for days.
Everyone was starting to get worried, so the Master sent me over to check on you.” Hearing Gray’s words, Cain finally realized how deeply he had lost track of time while buried in his magical research.
“Sorry for making everyone worry.
I’m completely fine, just got a bit carried away.” Gray remembered Cain mentioning his goal to innovate new spells and asked curiously, “As long as you’re good.
So, how’s the magic development going?” “I hit a bit of a snag.
I can’t seem to figure out a specific connection issue.” Looking at Cain’s frustrated expression, Gray couldn’t offer much help.
After all, concepts like mid-level arrays and outer arrays sounded like complete gibberish to him.
When Ur taught him, she had never forced him to memorize rigid formulas or academic structures.
She always told him that Ice-Make Magic was entirely about freedom of creation, and it shouldn’t be constrained by strict rules and textboxes.
“If you can’t figure it out by staring at it, then stop staring.
Come on, let’s go out and clear your head.” Without waiting for Cain to protest, Gray grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the dorms.
He forcefully kicked open the double doors of the guild hall and shouted inside, “I brought Cain back!” When the guild members saw Cain walking through the doors, a chorus of voices immediately erupted.
“Hey!
I thought the kid got kidnapped or something!” “If you ask me, Cain was definitely just slacking off and sleeping in!” “Since Cain is back, let’s kick off the banquet!” “YEAAAAAH!!!” The genuine warmth and camaraderie of the guild deeply touched Cain.
He decided to completely put the magical formula out of his mind for the night and focus entirely on enjoying the rowdy banquet.
Returning to his dorm late that night, Cain looked at the messy sheets of paper scattered across his desk and pumped his fist to motivate himself.
Let’s do this.
I can definitely figure it out.
Why exactly does the magic power become unstable and bottleneck the moment I substitute the core with my Holy Light element?
Cain placed the generic core array design directly next to his own Holy Light Core Array for a meticulous, side-by-side comparison.
Suddenly, it hit him.
His Holy Light element was vastly more pure, complex, and dense than a standard elemental core.
Because the Holy Light core generated such an immense volume of magic energy, the original two connecting nodes of the Fortress spell simply couldn’t handle the sheer flow of power transferring into the mid-level array.
To put it simply: the water pressure was too high, but the pipe was too narrow.
Now that he had identified the exact bottleneck, the solution was incredibly straightforward.
If two nodes weren’t enough to distribute the power, he just needed to manually engineer a third node into the connecting formula!
With the epiphany guiding his hand, Cain immediately set to work calculating the perfect placement for the additional node.
The next morning, staring at the perfectly stable, glowing Magic Circle hovering above his palm, a profound sense of accomplishment flooded Cain’s entire being.
“I’ll call this spell Holy Light: Aegis.
Simple, elegant, and straight to the point.
Now…
time to test exactly how much it boosts defense.” Cain tracked down Gray, who had just rolled out of bed, and look at him seriously.
“Gray, I need you to hit me with everything you’ve got.” Cain’s bizarre request left Gray completely flabbergasted.
He genuinely wondered if he was still dreaming.
Who in their right mind wakes up and voluntarily asks to be beaten up?