For the current Zephyr, he had no interest in the quality of the mana gathering spell. After all, the higher the quality, the larger the spell will be.
His core was not large enough to fit that many runes.
'I need to simplify it.'
Zephyr glanced at the mana gathering spell drawn on the paper.
The runes were arranged around a circle.
'The runes are executed in a clockwise direction. Once all runes are executed, the spell is activated.'
Zephyr looked closely at the starting and stopping rune. It was the same across all spells, so he knew they were important.
As a studious young man, the original Zephyr had all the relevant knowledge of these runes stored in his mind. When the new Zephyr looked through the runes, the relevant information he had was slowly being remembered.
'Rune that 'start'. Rune that 'end'. Rune that 'stabilizes' and many more.' Zephyr silently mumbled as he watched them.
Most runes were unrecognisable. But few of them could be.
So, Zephyr wasted no time in slashing down the ones that he thought were useless. For example, the stabilization rune was the first to go.
'Here on out, it was a process of trial and error.'
Zephyr intended to use mana-conducting ink to draw the mana-gathering spell without many of the runes to identify the simplest form, which would allow mana gathering.
Because of his trait of absolute mana control, much of the runes needed for stabilization or amplification of the spell were not required. Even control switches embedded in the spell can be deleted.
'Once I am done with it, it should just have runes that gather mana. The gathered mana should be less than the mana cost for maintaining the spell.'
Zephyr mumbled and slashed a few more runes down from the spell circle. After that, he leaned back on the chair and extended his spine.
Unknowingly, a lot of time had passed. As a storm keeper, he had his duty to fulfil.
Zephyr rubbed his head just thinking about it. The exhaustion was finally getting to him.
—
A few minutes later, Zephyr changed his clothes and donned his grey, washed-out mage robes before walking out of his house.
The small house he occupied was situated on top of a nearby hill, just a few kilometres away from the lighthouse.
Zephyr's job as a storm keeper was to go to the lighthouse every day and use the magic tools the tower provided to predict the weather. If the weather was bad, he had to inform the lord of the land and the fishing village chief.
It was not a difficult job, but he would have to expend all the mana he had in his tiny core to activate the tool, thus sending him back to the clutches of exhaustion.
Zephyr felt a chill travel down his spine just thinking about it.
'The tower is deliberately making my life difficult. For a normal mage, it would have been an easy job. But for me…daily usage of mana without a mana gathering spell active means I would live in exhaustion forever, with no hope for improving my mana core size.' Zephyr chuckled.
It was a depressing chuckle.
'They want me to quit or live a life of hopelessness.'
'The old colleagues at the tower are a bunch of bullies.'
He chuckled again while exiting his house.
Using an old lock, he locked the front door of the house and stepped out.
Watching the familiar garden outside, which was sparsely populated with flowering plants and decorative bushes, somehow lifted his mood.
As a modern man, Zephyr was not used to the luxury of owning a garden. Somehow, he felt richer noticing the flowers bloom.
Zephyr smiled slightly, rubbed his cheeks and walked through it, making his way to the road.
On both sides of the road, there were trees of all kinds, some even encroaching onto the road.
Zephyr carefully walked through the unpaved path.
To reach the beach, he had to go a few kilometres west. So, he walked along the path silently, thinking about his future plans.
Even then, his body continued to sweat profusely. Just a few hundred meters of walking had exhausted him.
"I am…" He took a deep breath and wheezed. "…or this body is supposed to be…Uh! …sixteen years of age. Why is his physique so bad?"
While complaining about his body, memories of what he had eaten over the past year came to mind.
"Ah! Just carbs and a few vegetables here and there. How could he not have a bad body? He wasn't even exercising."
"Were all mages like this?"
"Ah! What did he do with all the money he made?"
Similar to before, complaining about money reminded him of the lavish spending he had done by buying books and paper.
"This Zephyr was a bookworm. A good student. And someone with a nice personality, unlike me."
Zephyr, for the rest of the way, complained a lot, and each time, new memories emerged, making him understand his situation better.
Finally, after walking for an eternity, he reached the base of the lighthouse.
Along the way, he met some villagers and just nodded, making his way into the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was a tower built on the edge of the land protruding into the sea. It was a colossal building made of special black rock fused with magic. At a glance, it looked like it was sturdy enough to survive a tsunami.
Zephyr felt at ease knowing the magical creation wouldn't tumble down easily.
Then, without delay, he climbed the spiralling stairway to reach the room at the top of the lighthouse.
The room, or what could be called an office, was situated just below the colossal light-focusing mirror. Currently, the spinning machinery was not working. Therefore, it was pretty quiet up there if you disregard the swooshing winds.
Zephyr opened the door, walking into the small room.
Although he had the memories of the original Zephyr and how he operated the magical instruments, he still felt a little unnerved.
Without further ado, he silently moved his gaze to the table nearby. On it, he could see the ends of metal pipes extending to the roof, maybe to the top of the tower.
The metal pipes were attached to a long metal slab with runes engraved on it.
'I have to channel mana into the instrument and wait for it to spit out the result.'
'If there is a chance for a severe storm, it will light up in red. Moderate rain and high winds will cause it to glow a yellowish hue. And if there is no weather anomaly, it will light up green.'
'Easy enough.'
Zephyr walked to the table, dragged a chair over to it, and sat down next to it.
'Now, the mana channelling part.'