Chapter 73: Effort


    If you are ever employed somewhere you dont particrly like, <em>dont </em>try hard. <em>Do not</em>. The harder you try, the more work will be assigned to you. Thats a very simple A to B rule. You work hard, you get more work.


    You want to do <em>less </em>work? Well, no one gives more work on a deadline to someone who can barely do their job. Thats the sweet spot. Be a decent employee, someone who cannot be fired because well, he <em>is </em>useful  hes just not <em>that </em>bright.


    The sweet spot.


    What Ive done here is the opposite.


    How?


    Well, buddy, if a book tells you that the second exercise is much more difficult, but you find out that you already have a solution for it, guess what that means.


    Yeah, I worked too hard!


    Ok. First, apparently, I did <em>not</em> have to multi-cast the [Lights]. I just checked.


    Second, I think I should have done what Domiti and Lucinda do. They control the spell matrix from the <em>outside</em>. They do <em>not </em>influence the matrixs prity from <em>inside </em>the matrix. The book threw me off when it talked about matrixes and prity because I was fixated on the squiggly lines.


    And remember how the book hesitated in answering some of my questions? Well, I think I just made up something new or, at the very least, extremely advanced.


    And if, on the one hand, Im proud of the good work, on the other, the work is <em>too</em> good. And if you know me, it means that this will backfire spectacrly.


    How?


    I dont know yet; I dont have a crystal ball.


    But yeah, apparently, I made a huge mistake.


    Well, lets get this over with.


    I make a [Light], anchor one point of the spell matrix, and give the rest of the spell some prity by distributing the starting points unevenly.


    A [Light] orb appears and starts rotating in ce while spinning onto itself.


    After what feels like a minute  I dont have a clock here  I dispel it and look at the book.


    Well, that was the second one, book.


    <em>Congrattions onpleting the Second Cantrip. Beware, the third one requires great focus.</em>


    Yeah, yeah.


    <em>For the Third Cantrip, Magister Mulligan wants you to make two [Light] spells spin on themselves for ten seconds.</em>


    Is this for real?


    I just repeat the procedure while multi-casting it.


    I see the fresh ink already shifting.


    <em>Congrattions onpleting the Third Cantrip. Beware, the fourth one tests your casting speed.</em>


    <em>For the Fourth Cantrip, Magister Mulligan wants you to cast ten [Light] spells in under five minutes.</em>


    Are you kidding me?


    I do it in batches of three and then thest one. It probably takes me less than thirty seconds.


    My mental capacity seems to have also somewhat increased since the first day. Now, multi-casting three [Lights] is a breeze. Plus, thanks to [Mana Well], I cant feel any strain yet.


    <em>Congrattions onpleting the Fourth Cantrip. Beware, the fifth one tests your control of the spell.</em>


    <em>For the Fifth Cantrip, Magister Mulligan wants you to cast a [Light] spell and have it travel for ten yards.</em>


    I open the stupid window of this stupid room and shoot a [Light] in the air with minimum effort. It goes on for more than a hundred yards before it flickers out into the night.


    <em>Congrattions onpleting the Fifth Cantrip. Beware, the sixth one tests your wit.</em>


    <em>For the Sixth Cantrip, Magister Mulligan wants you to cast a [Light] spell shaped like a stick and have it spin on itself for five seconds.</em>


    [Light Shaping]


    I modify the matrix with my skill and simply anchor the center of it, creating an anti-matrix for the prityno, two anti-matrixes on both halves.


    What would be the problem here? People would probably learn to control two parts of a spell to make a <em>stick </em>rotate, right? Well, thankfully, I learned how to do much more than that because Im an idiot.


    Man, I could have saved myself so much time


    The light stick starts spinning, and I look at the book again. The ink shivers for a second as if the book was having a seizure or something.


    Well, you didnt expect that, huh?


    My body starts seizing from the current.


    Come on, now! I say as soon as the [Thunderbolt Curse] lets go of me.


    <em>Congrattions onpleting the Sixth Cantrip. Beware, the seventh one tests your power.</em>


    <em>For the Seventh Cantrip, Magister Mulligan wants you to cast a [Light] spell with a diameterrger than two feet.</em>


    Yeah?


    I visualize the same matrix as always, just bigger.


    I also overload the squiggly lines with my Mana.


    And there we go.


    A huge ass [Light], probably three feet in diameter at the very least, starts hovering in the center of the room. If I did not have my [Eyes: Major Light Resistance], I would probably be blind by now.


    Next.


    I work up my way to the 23rd Cantrip in the span of an hour. After that, I can feel my body getting tired. I had a few interesting ideas while working on the Cantrips, the most important one being how to separate pieces of the main spell matrix to add a beautiful shedding effect.


    Thats going to do well with thedies, I think.


    Well, lets sleep for a second.


    As soon as my head hits the pillow, I can hear the words in my head.


    [Light Mage Level 8!]


    [Conditions Met: sh  Advanced sh!]


    [Conditions Met: Light Shaping  Advanced Light Shaping!]


    Stupid ss, just let me sle


    <em>Zap.</em>