Arran looked at the two memory amulets in his hands with frustrated eyes . One of them held a terse set of instructions on the Forms, while the other held a detailed set of notes to accompany the instructions .
And both, it seemed, were completely useless .
He'd studied the amulets' contents for nearly two weeks, using the student's notes to make sense of the instructions . As he'd soon discovered, the notes were a necessity, since the instructions had clearly been written to accompany personal instruction, rather than to replace it .
Combined, however, the two amulets were just enough for Arran to understand the instructions . And eager as he was to learn more about the Forms, he'd spent two weeks painstakingly studying everything contained within the amulets, making sure not to miss even a single word .
Yet the result was not at all what he had expected . In fact, it was the complete opposite .
The amulet that held the instructions had been divided into two portions, and the first of these covered all the Forms that Arran already knew . Except, the versions described in the amulet were worse in every way — slower, weaker, less efficient, and far harder to combine .
Still, Arran had diligently studied these inferior Forms for several days, hoping that they might somehow prove useful . Yet while learning them had been simple enough, he'd soon grown convinced that they were every bit as useless as they seemed .
But if the first portion of the instructions was disappointing, the second portion was downright infuriating .
The Forms Arran had learned from Anthea separated spells into individual components, making it possible to create new spells at a whim . At least, that was the theory . In practice, using the Forms was far too slow to be useful, and the resulting spells were laughably weak compared to real ones .
The second portion of the instructions, however, took this a step further . Instead of giving a way to combine the Forms, it took the Forms themselves and split them into thousands of even smaller techniques .
The results were every bit as disappointing as expected .
Combining these smaller Forms was every bit as slow and difficult as combining the larger ones had been . Even recreating Anthea's Forms from the fragments was nearly impossible, and there was no need to even think about using them for real spells .
Arran had hoped to find a way to combine the Forms more effectively . But instead, what he got was the opposite — a far larger set of techniques that were even less suitable for practical use .
Worst of all, neither of the amulets contained any information about how to actually combine the Forms .
A deep frown appeared on Arran's face as he pondered the matter . The glaring omission surprised him, and he soon realized that none of the possible explanations boded well for his chances .
Perhaps Elder Nikias had never bothered to write down the method to combine the Forms, instead explaining it to his students in person . If so, Arran would have to discover the method himself — a task that would take decades, if he could do it at all .
Worse, however, was the possibility that the Elder had intentionally omitted the method from his writings . That he had kept the most crucial part of the Forms concealed, to stop it from falling into the hands of others .
The thought was discouraging, but the more Arran thought it about it, the more it made sense .
The Forms he'd learned from Anthea were simple, and the ones he'd found in the student's void ring seemed even simpler . But perhaps the Forms weren't the true secret . Perhaps the true secret was how to use them .
If that was the case, then no amount of study would help him . Not unless he found the key to unlocking the Forms' true power . And if Elder Nikias had intentionally kept that a secret, Arran's search had reached a dead end .
With a sigh, he stored the two amulets in his void ring, then stood up and stretched his limbs .
He spent the next hour eating a large meal and taking a long walk through the dark forest that surrounded the glade . After being focused on the memory amulets' contents for two full weeks, what he needed more than anything was to clear his mind and find a new perspective .
He had barely walked three miles amid the trees when he stopped in his tracks . Suddenly, he realized what he had overlooked — the other memory amulets . In his focus on the Forms, he'd ignored the most obvious source of information .
He turned around at once, then hurried back to his small camp . And when he arrived, he sat down again, then retrieved the four amulets he'd only given a cursory inspection .
The first amulet he examined was the one filled with poetry . If the student had wanted to hide any secret information, endless lines of stilted poetry and awkward metaphors would certainly be a good place to do it .
For several hours, he struggled through the students' writings . Yet all he found were a thousand different ways to describe sunsets and flowers, none of which was the least bit useful in understanding the Forms .
Still, when he finished the amulet's contents, he found himself more relieved than disappointed . While he hadn't found anything useful, at least he wouldn't have to read the student's tortured verse ever again . Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www . webnovel . com for visiting .
He ate another quick meal — his body was still recovering, after all — then moved on to the journal .
The journal proved much more tolerable than the poetry collection had been, and as he read it, Arran soon found himself engrossed in the students' story .
The student — the journal didn't mention his name — had started the journal when he was just a novice . And from what he wrote, Arran understood that the young man's talent had been middling at best .
He'd spent well over a decade as a novice, struggling as he tried to reach the skill to become an adept . While he had started as a member of the House of Flames, he had been removed when his progress stalled, after which he had joined one of the lesser Houses .
But there, too, his talent had proved insufficient .
After several years of training without any progress to show for it, the lesser House had removed him as well . And after that, he had spent the next two years living in a tiny room in one of the many inns within the Ninth Valley's capital, paying adepts for lessons whenever he had any coin to spare .
That Elder Nikias had taken him as an apprentice was a matter of luck more than anything else .
Eager to impress a serving girl at the inn, the student had boasted about his skill in magic, claiming that he was preparing himself to be tested by the Elder . The boast had won him the girl's attention — though not her affection — but afterward, he'd been forced to maintain the lie .
Several months later, however, it was announced that Elder Nikias was holding trials for new apprentices . And after months of lying, the student had no choice but to go even though he was certain he had no chance .
The journal made no mention of the trials, nor of the student's performance in them . Yet in the next entry, the student's complaints about Elder Nikias's arduous training made it clear that he had somehow succeeded .
After that, the entries in the journal grew sparser, with weeks or even months passing between each . And when the student did write, he wrote briefly, most often merely noting that his training was progressing at a steady pace .
The young man did not describe the training itself, but it was obvious that his progress was fast — barely a year after joining Elder Nikias, the journal noted that the student had finally become an adept .
The entry contained none of the jubilation Arran would have expected . Instead, the student merely mentioned it in passing, then continued to observe that his insights were still growing steadily .
The comment was made casually, but at once, Arran recognized its importance . And after rereading it several times to make sure he wasn't mistaken, his expression turned excited .
The student had not mentioned skill or spells, but insights . This was something the Ninth Valley's Matriarch had mentioned before — that the Forms relied heavily on insights .
Arran spent several minutes contemplating how the Forms related to insights, and as he thought it over, he began to suspect that the Matriarch had it wrong .
He'd studied the Forms carefully, both the versions Anthea had taught him and the versions described in the student's memory amulets . Between the two, Anthea's versions seemed more like real spells, while the ones detailed in the amulets more resembled training exercises .
And now, he thought that might be exactly what they were . Training exercises, but for insights rather than spells . The Forms didn't rely on insights, as the Matriarch had believed, but instead developed them .
Arran immediately set to work on testing the theory, quickly looking up the technique among the Forms that most closely resembled severing . With his true insight, it should be an easy matter to find out whether his suspicion was correct .
Finding the proper technique barely took any time at all, and he began to practice it at once . Except this time, he did not try to make the technique into a spell . Instead, as he executed it over and over, he carefully watched for similarities between the technique and his true insight .
The work took him several hours, but slowly, he began to understand how the technique was supposed to be performed . And as his understanding grew, he realized he'd been right — what the technique taught was a path toward insight into severing .
The path wasn't a perfect one, he saw . If someone other than him followed it, it would not lead them to a true insight . But what it would do was give them a foundation to build on — a way to build their insights .
A shiver ran down Arran's spine when he realized the implications .
Using the Forms, mages could gain insights into every single element of a spell . Every spell they cast would be near-perfect, terrifying in power even with limited Essence . And if a spell could be built from insights they already possessed, they would instantly surpass even people who had studied the same spell for centuries .
But that was just the start of it .
The further their insights grew, the stronger their magic would become . Lesser insights would already grant a staggering amount of strength, and greater ones would grant unrivaled power . And if a mage managed to turn his insights into true ones…
Suddenly, Arran's eyes widened in shock, as he realized what the Forms truly represented .
What they offered wasn't just a path toward becoming a powerful mage . It was a path toward becoming a Sage .
Long ago, Snowcloud's grandfather had explained to Arran that Sages' power came from their unparalleled insights into magic . And as Arran had later discovered, just a few insights were already enough to grant a stunning level of power .
Elder Nikias had somehow devised a path toward gaining thousands of insights . Which meant that he must have been on the verge of becoming a Sage when he died, if he wasn't one already .
And still, he'd been defeated .
Arran could not help but shudder at the thought . If the Hunters had defeated a mage that powerful, there would be truly monstrous warriors among their ranks . And Arran had not forgotten that his task was to infiltrate those ranks .
An uncomfortable frown crossed his face as he considered the danger . Yet he knew there was an opportunity as well . If the Hunters had techniques that allowed them to match even an Elder on the verge of becoming a Sage, learning those techniques would be invaluable .
Arran sat silently for some moments, then shook his head . There was no point in dwelling on whatever the future might hold .
He'd finally found the secret behind the Forms, and now, it was time to put his discovery to use .
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