Back in Eversnow, Sokram lay sprawled on the cold stone floor of the training grounds while Cecille examined the apple.

  “Impossible! How?! This…”

  Leona approached her wife, pulling her into a hug, “Calm down, Cecille.”

  Picking the apple from her hands, Leona took a bite.

  Cecille’s eyes narrowed into slits, a low, dangerous growl vibrating in her chest, “What are you doing?!”

  “Seeing if it tastes right, and it does.” Leona grinned at her and with apple juice still wetting her lips, she gave Cecille a peck.

  “Don’t worry, although mana-tainted, the fruit will only do her good if she eats it. Might even strengthen her mana senses for a while.” Sokram muttered, feeling a throbbing migraine behind his eyes as he struggled to stand up, his limbs shaky.

  “See? Nothing to worry about.” Leona grinned.

  She was about to release Cecille and help him stand up when Hilda and Kasine appeared beside him.

  Hilda, trying to conceal her worry, looked at him and asked, “Are you alright? Your nose is bleeding.”

  But Kasine didn’t bother hiding her worries at all. “That spell was heavier than the one you used for the pill, right? What are you trying to do, fry your brain?”

  “I miscalculated how much of a punch such heavy calculations would pack. Ugh…” Sokram muttered, rubbing his temples as the world tilted and colors bent at the edges.

  “I guess dealing with it on a molecular level is still too much for me. I’ll have to readjust to the cellular level for organic matter and the Crystalline Structure and Mixtures level for non-organic.” But to them, Sokram was speaking another language, except for Cecille.

  “If you can adjust your formula to the point you can choose the structural level it can disintegrate and reassemble matter, why go straight to the highest level?" Cecille's question snapped like a whip.

  But Sokram only grinned back at her, “Master said you get quite cute when you act all exasperated like that, I agree. Haha. Ouch…” Seeing Sokram teasing Cecille like that, Hilda and Kasine pinched his sides.

  If he was good enough to flirt, he could endure it too.

  “Tsk!” Cecille’s face tightened. She spun on her heel and marched away, refusing to grant him another word.

  Sokram’s display of Magi shocked her so much that she even forgot what she’d gone down there for.

  Once she remembered, she was already standing in front of her Tower’s door, and she had no choice but to return there, only to see Sokram trying again.

  This time, despite his obvious chanting and hyper-focus, Sokram succeeded effortlessly.

  Besides, after readjusting the formula, he managed to do it faster while spending much less mana, barely needing the girls’ siphoning mana to him.

  After reducing the calculations to the cellular level, he managed to disassemble and reassemble another apple.

  Managing to perform the same process at least three times before emptying his mana pool.

  Only then did Sokram begin using the mana that was being siphoned to him.

  He even altered the apple’s pigmentation. The first shimmered yellow with scattered red spots; the second, a perfect half-and-half. The last blazed red, save for a few defiant yellow freckles.

  “Alright! This is it! Next test!” Sokram cheered himself, while the others could barely focus on their own training, watching him.

  “Hey, girls? You’re fine? Can you keep going?”

  Savannah, Amber, and Lucy barely felt any mana leaving them, so Savannah nodded, “Yes, barely any strain beyond the first trial.”

  “Good, then let us keep going. We’re doing something real with Magi in here today!” Sokram was feeling really motivated.

  The truth was, he was astounded that he could handle that level of magical calculations using solely Magi.

  Had it been Aether, the energy of creation, it would be a lot easier.

  But controlling matter at that level using only mana was something far more challenging.

  The reason was that Aether was an energy found in the core of every atom and electron, so even Magi contained it.

  Breaching the fabric of reality or bending the laws of physics by creating a bridge with the energy of creation was simpler than brute-forcing it with Magi alone.

  Having the mental strength to do something like that, using only mana empowered by Chaos Energy, was something to be very proud of.

  Sokram moved on to the next test: not only to disassemble and reassemble something, but to create something else with the disassembled particles.

  From his Void Glove, Sokram took an aluminum bucket filled with water, a pack of sand, and an iron bar. The materials shimmered before him, awaiting his command.

  With a slow breath, Sokram began to chant.

  The first thing he needed to ensure was that the molecules and cells wouldn’t be carried away with the air.

  That was something he had noticed happening with the cells from the apple.

  Even if no one else could see it, the apple was slightly smaller at every reformation, a minuscule but measurable loss of cells he was determined to stop.

  This time, using his knowledge of spacetime, he conjured the most obvious natural structure to store particles, a very contained, tiny black hole.

  He bent space upon itself with Magi, forcing a temporary pocket to form.

  It wasn’t super dense like a real black hole, and if Sokram released his control over it, space would unwarp naturally.

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  He was trying to create a storage, not unleash a catastrophe.

  In the space pocket, he would store all the particles from the disassembled materials. Be they Crystalline Structures, Mixtures, or Cells. Then he would be able to reassemble them without losing a single particle.

  For that, he also needed a filter not to suck in cells or molecules that were already in the air.

  The filter was a masterpiece of calculation, allowing not even photons to pass through. This added another degree of complex calculations, consuming Sokram's mental ability.

  And lastly, he would apply the first disassemble and reassemble part of the spell.

  Once his chant was complete, a pinprick of absolute shadow shimmered into existence in the middle of the objects and materials.

  The black hole hissed, first swallowing the water in a silent vapor. Then the metal bucket shimmered and vanished, followed by the sand, and lastly the iron bar.

  Once everything was disassembled and stored in the pocket black hole, Sokram noticed that the mana consumption and the strain on his mind lessened considerably.

  Enough that if he just maintained it, he could keep up with its mana consumption by himself.

  It was like keeping a spatial enchantment alive, something that even ambient mana could do.

  After calculating and conjuring, he didn’t need to calculate it again, as his subconscious would maintain it for him.

  Sokram finally took a deep breath. Not realizing that the world around him had stopped to watch him.

  Weapons stilled mid-swing, mana circles flickered out, and a hush rolled over the grounds.

  Looking at the girls, he confirmed the mana they were siphoning to him was causing them no bother whatsoever.

  The shock almost made him lose focus, surprised he had been using only his own mana so far.

  Regaining his focus, he continued his task.

  As he considered what to form with the stored material, he saw Leona and Kasine watching him tentatively, and that gave him an idea of what he should create.

  First, he extracted the quartz from the sand to form the shape of a katana blade, initially purely made of what looked like liquid glass.

  But Sokram didn’t let it solidify yet.

  Instead, he separated a few of the minerals he could identify in the sand beyond silicon dioxide to strengthen the mixture later.

  Next came the crystalline structures of iron and aluminum from the iron bar and the bucket.

  Two metals and a ceramic that naturally would be impossible to alloy, but Sokram had a plan.

  After setting the other compounds apart from the sand, Sokram mixed those in the water.

  The water, being monomolecular, didn't add much of a strain to his mind.

  What pushed his mental calculations to the next level was to use his mana, empowered by Chaos energy, to create a specific catalyst.

  Sokram mixed that chaotic substance to create an instantaneous, powerful reaction between the two metals and the silicon dioxide.

  In the two seconds that it lasted, Sokram could see it. He didn’t know how, but he could see it happening at the atomic level.

  What escaped everyone’s notice, besides Nhiria and her Paragons, was that for those two seconds, a golden light flickered in Sokram’s silvery irises.

  The chemical compound reacted with the three components, forcing bonds to break.

  At the same time, the Chaos in his mana forced the impossible to happen.

  The three became one, forming a much durable, lighter, and denser new solid structure.

  It wasn’t a typical metal, glass, or standard ceramic.

  It was something entirely chaotic and new.

  Sokram finally solidified the mixture into a type of composite material that began darkening until it became pitch black.

  But when light touched it, the material reflected a bluish luster.

  Sokram brought it to him, feeling the balance of it.

  He adjusted the weight, density, and strengthened the material until he was satisfied.

  With every adjustment he made, the katana would release vapors that were promptly sucked into the black hole.

  Sokram wasn’t satisfied with it and took out a bottle of his special blood-ink, a few dozen gold coins, and an old cotton shirt.

  He quickly evaporated everything into the pocket black hole, except the blood ink.

  The blood ink stayed floating and bathing in the mana used in the spell. But just as quickly as everything was dissolved, the particles began flowing out almost in liquid form and assembled into the katana, adorning it.

  Once Sokram was satisfied with his black and gold katana, which had had some draconic runic marks engraved along the pitch-black blade’s ridge, the guard, blade collar, handle, and pummel were made of gold.

  The cord warp was made of cotton and what remained from the silicon dioxide from the quartz in the sand. Sokram made it warp it around the handle while it still wasn’t solid. Only to solidify it, forcing a fusion, making it stronger.

  As for the edge of the blade, Sokram made it sharp to a semi-molecular level.

  After feeling the blade in his hands, he used the rest of the material to form a sheath with the word Dracnakrid in ancient draconic.

  Still using the Matter Manipulation Spell, Sokram added the blood-ink, which had been bathing in mana until now, to the engraving he had molded in the blade’s ridge and covered it with gold.

  The reason he picked gold was that it was one of the best mana conductors, like silver, mithril, and diamonds.

  After making sure everything was solid and perfect, Sokram, who until this point had not stopped chanting as if his mind had been working close to the level of having parallel thoughts, finally cancelled his Matter Manipulation Spell.

  But cast another runic spell right after to enchant and activate the runes he had engraved.

  After enchanting it, he was truly done.

  And finally, he could breathe.

  Taking his new katana in hand, the sword settled with an instinctive comfort, the weight and balance perfectly married to his grip, an extension of his will.

  Infusing his mana in it, the blade vibrated in his hand, warmth pulsing through the black metal like a heartbeat.

  His eyes met Cecille, who was once again watching from the entrance, and he flashed her a grateful smile, “Without the knowledge in your Tower, I would never be able to do this. Thank you.”

  Cecille’s cheeks flushed at his sincerity, but she also felt ashamed, mostly because her thoughts were filled with envy as she watched him.

  But to his words, she only had the strength to nod in acknowledgement, before leaving without a word.

  By then, his eyes were back on his katana. He could feel the mana coursing through the alloy.

  Alive, volatile.

  He knew it was a mana-tainted alloy, the only one of its kind, a creation touched by Chaos itself.

  Ignoring a couple of notifications screens that popped up from the Records, Sokram turned back to the girls.

  Seeing that they were fine, he confirmed that the only mana he used to do all that was his own.

  But he still asked, “I didn’t use any of your mana? At any point at all?”

  “Except during the first trial, the pull was insignificant,” Savannah answered leisurely.

  Yet, in her eyes, Sokram saw a glint of astonishment, curiosity, and even fear.

  “Master, that was the most brilliant display of Magi I have ever seen!” Amber eyes shone with sincere admiration.

  Sokram was about to thank her for the compliment when he heard Kasine speaking. “Child, that was the most brilliant display of Magi even I in all my 19 centuries of life have ever seen. What was even that?”

  Sokram was taken aback, not because of Kasine’s words, but because behind her, everyone was looking at him.

  They had all stopped their training to watch.

  Now, a heavy, shared silence descended, their eyes glued on him, their astonishment a palpable pressure in the training grounds.

  “That is how I plan to build our new home, haha.” He rubbed his neck, grinning like a child caught red-handed, embarrassed by having created such a spell merely to build their new estate.

  Astrid, knowing her brother, realized why he truly created it, “You created this solely to build our new house?”

  But the look on her face didn’t match the tranquility of her words.

  “Well, as you can see, it can be used to create weapons too, and some other stuff. But, yes, I will call it Matter Manipulation Spell. Inspired by Paragon Ariana’s Absolute Destruction, which is basically atomic disintegration. But I can’t use it on her level yet.”

  And while his family stood there in stunned silence, Leona, who accepted the ground-breaking magic show as something her disciple would do, asked him, “What is that dark metal?”

  “Oh, an alloy I created with a bit of alchemical knowledge. Still don’t have a name for it, though, but it’s mainly a super reinforced glass… So maybe… Magi Dark Glass?” And after Sokram said that, the Records closed one screen and another popped open with another notification.

  [The name for the alloy you created has been recorded as Magi Dark Glass.]

  Sokram's eyes widened a bit, but he was also regretful because he was merely speculating about the name.

  But there was no crying over spilled milk.

  When his eyes shifted to the next screen, he couldn’t contain the grin that formed on his face.

  [You have been recognized by the Records as having potential for an Ancient Subclass:

  Magnus Thaumaturgist

  Requirements Met: Advanced Runic Mastery (Knowledge and feats), Advanced Geomancy (Knowledge), Advanced Arcane Alchemy (Knowledge and feats), Advanced Arcane Smith (Feat).

  Missing Requirements: Advanced Geomancy (Feats), Black and White Smithing (Mastery), Biomancy (Subclass).

  Time until offer expires: 50 years.]