The fifth circle. Only the talented and hard working people can achieve this level of power at a young age.

And Roland was one of them. His talent shone brightly with his work ethic. Right now, they were beyond the edge, on the rock platform, made by Silas’s spell.

Silas had all four elements, so he could craft every elemental spell with enough time. For a simple platform, he didn’t need too much time.

Just Tier 2 spells will do a good job and with a lot of mana to support and increase the durability of the platform.

He wasn’t sure why he decided to make the platform durable. It was not like they were going to fight or something. It was just a simple test.

He fired and looked at how much Roland could handle. Silas wasn’t worried about killing the knight at all.

Fourth and Fifth circle were in vastly different realms of power. And the 90 percent conversion rate was terrifying.

He won’t want to face him as a mage. Or even as a knight.

Roland stood on the platform and stomped a few times, checking it.

"It is hard." He said.

"Glad you like it." Silas joked and put on a serious expression.

Roland walked on the opposite side and took out his sword, channeling the energy in it. He then lifted up and took a guard stance. He wore his usual mask of professional urgency.

Silas tilted his head, staring deeply at the sword.

"Do you even need the sword?" He said, pointing out.

"Of course. It is not perfect yet. One of the conditions I set is with the sword. Since I am a swordsman, I need a sword to perform." Roland explained, slashing across the air, without making a noise.

He then flashed a big smile and motioned his head in a way that invited Silas’s attacks.

Silas smiled and snapped his fingers, activating the first circle.

"Really? Come one, start with the big stuff." Roland said.

"Nah. Let’s take it slow." Silas said and fired a bunch of Pierce spells at the knight.

The knight didn’t even bother to block the spells and released a wave of energy shield. As soon as the spell hit the spell, it was absorbed by it.

Silas felt his grasp lost when Roland devoured his mana. He tried to fight off the devouring act but he didn’t even last a second.

"Rapid firing of low level spells doesn’t work on you." Silas noted and yelled. "Can you deploy the shield quickly?"

"Yeah. With a sword, I can deploy in an instant."

"Very good." Silas said and changed the spell.

He then conjured a set of Tier 1 elemental spells to see how they would interact with the shield.

Will they absorb the mana in the elements or completely absorb the elements itself?

Well, only one way to find out.

Silas fired a bunch of spells.

Fire was completely absorbed by the shield. Water and wind also acted the same. The only difference was Earth.

The shield absorbed the mana inside the earth.

It was strange. Since even Roland didn’t know about it they moved on.

’Water serpent is not good. It is the same as the water spell I just threw but a bit higher in power.’

"What about your third circle? Come on, show me. You know about mine?"

"Ahem." Silas coughed. "I don’t know about your Fourth and Gift yet?"

"You said you didn’t want to know about my gift. Remember?"

Silas looked away, feeling embarrassed about the past. "That was in the past."

"Well, it is too late for that." Roland smiled. "I won’t talk about the gift but I will show you my fourth technique later. Now show me yours."

"I see." Silas nodded. "Good. Good. My third circle is a simple flight spell."

"Simple?"

"I lie. It is a super complex flying spell. I conjured up a wind like this." Silas said and demonstrated the effect by tapping into his third circle, pouring out the mana into the spell inside.

Invisible wind spread out from his back and feet like a pair of wind.

The wind embraced him and lifted him up, by changing his feets, he flew through the sky, air with moderate speed.

Roland looked up, the look on his face screamed that he was not impressed by this. He bored a bored expression and spoke.

"Really? This is not fast at all."

Silas sighed and yelled. "I know. I don’t want to move fast. It is not good for my heart."

With that demonstration, he landed on the platform with grace etched on his bones. Roland clapped for him, cheering with sarcasm.

Silas smiled and bowed.

"Now, I only use the third circle for an easier activation of the fourth. Prepare, Roland. This is my strongest attack." Silas declared with pride.

He put a lot of thought into the spell and carefully chose the most suitable one. As a result, he wasn’t like a typical mage with a long ranged spell.

That was fine by him since he got a talent for swords.

Roland nodded with a serious expression. The energy surged out from him like a volcano.

Seeing the knight’s excitement, Silas decided to get serious. Since he came here to this world, he never tested his own power to the max. He had experienced near death because of his carelessness.

Silas stood firmly on the platform and let the wind around him fly like a spear, aiming the tip at Roland.

Then he called out his Water Serpent, the wet serpent coiled around the spear and melted, becoming one with the wind, turning into a water wind spear.

He closed his eyes and envisioned the spear rotating at a high speed for penetration. The mana followed his vision and did it. The spear spun fast, staying at one place.

Now, for the final step. Silas tapped the fourth circle and called out the crest.

The crest of concept.

The power of this crest was elusive and vague. It was not from the elements or mana. The power directly came from the concept.

The concept of thrust made it into power.

The mana inside his core flew smoothly and created a force behind the spear. The force contained by his will.

He stacked the force. Again and again. Until, he couldn’t. Until, the world rejected such logic.

The preparation took him about 10 minutes.

"Fly." He muttered and let go of the force.

The spear in front of him vanished. Its speed was so fast that the sound failed to catch up. Then the howling came.

Roland tightened his sword and braced for the impact.

Immediately, the spear appeared and tore through the shield like a paper. The devouring failed to keep up and it pierced through. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Roland looked back and saw the spear vanished in the sky. Words failed him, just as he failed to absorb the spear.

"That was fast."

"I know. But the preparation takes too long." Silas muttered as he thought about a way to improve upon.

But all his theory and crafting led to one answer.

Fifth circle.

Upon reaching the Fifth circle, he would gain an additional circle to add. Another instant usage of the spell.

And he just needed to implant a useful crest into the circle and his fighting style was complete.

"Can’t you use your Fourth circle on Pierce?"

Silas shook his head in disappointment.

"I can’t. It didn’t match well."

He tried. That was the first combination he came up with when he thought about magic. Super laser.

Nothing beat the bullet in his opinion. But Pierce can’t keep up with Thrust.

The spell collapsed under the speed. Since Piecer was made from mana, it had to rely on its weight.

He could modify Pierce on his circle to get the result he wanted but that wasn’t an effective solution.

The modified Pierce to match Thrust would be just a block of mana. And to attack instantly, he needs to use both spells.

Sure, the effect would be greater than regular Pierce but the trade was mana cost. By weighing the two things, he gave up.

He could still fire Pierce by crafting a crest outside manually.

It took him about 5 seconds. And he was trying to close the time but his knowledge wasn’t enough.

Silas shook his head and continued attacking Roland.

After testing the shield with everything he got, he smiled in satisfaction.

The platform was still standing and Roland was also the same. There were a few bruises from the test as Silas wanted to try burning his skin to see how he would handle it.

Nothing serious but it reminded him of the explosion they encountered.

Silas sat down and took out a lot of mana crystals from his pocket. He then crushed with his physical strength and absorbed the mana into his body.

The mana was not pure but it was enough. He could release the impurity after circling a few times inside.

And he didn’t have enough time for that.

Silas patted down Roland and signalled him to stand up.

"Next is breaking down the barrier."