’Wan’t the magic supposed to be enjoyment? Why is it soo tedious to do?’ Just the first step was enough for Dhruv to hurl curses.

Having the initials done, he was now struggling to make the thread enter the needle.

’When I can’t even do this with all this much calmness... how am I supposed to achieve this when in the real battle...’

As he thought about the difficulty, a newfound respect appeared in his eyes for Lucian and even the hunters who were able to effortlessly cast the spell.

Dhruv was right to respect them because of this exact reason; the number of mages was dwindling day by day.

Slapping his cheeks, Dhruv closed his eyes and picked up the needle.

Sigh!! Let’s focus, I can do it as well...’

Feeling the core shimmering with energy, Dhruv moved the needle closer to it and showed it inside the core.

After trying everything his has come down to shoving the needle in the core until something looped in it. But even this wasn’t doing anything good for him.

’Man... is magic really not for me?’

Whipping the sweat of his face, he thought of going back to his past and bring the blueprint of a gun.

With the automatic rifle in his hand, there is no need for any magic. Sigh! Only if this were that easy...

Dhruv thought, knowing the problem in creating the modern weapon here was even harder than learning magic from scratch.

First of all, there wasn’t any craftsman in the dungeon, and the ones who were available aren’t capable of creating something of this caliber. Even if they were capable, the material for the gun was nonexistent.

Despite the difficulties, Dhruv wasn’t the one to give up. He had made up his mind... no matter how much time it took, he would introduce guns to the primitive world that still believes in bow and arrow.

’Taste of freedom is too good to be missed like... ahh! Why am I getting distracted?’

Stopping himself from daydreaming again, Dhruv turned his attention back to the needle and began thinking about it from a different perspective.

Should I ask Lucian?

Dhruv was contemplating asking the little vampire when he remembered the conversation they had about the Manipulation.

Needle is just an abstract, and I can think of anything... hmm! Which means the thing that mattresses here the most here is my will to control the thread... hmm!!

As he pondered this, something clicked inside his head.

Wait... can I take the thread from the core and move it?

"Maybe?.." Whispering Dhruv closed his eyes and got to work.

Instead of forcing the needle into the core, he gathered his will and focused entirely on the core. He was hoping to draw one of the threads out from within.

Dhruv had fully expected nothing to happen. Yet, against all odds, he saw it. A single thread trembling as it slowly slipped out of the core.

’Fuck yaa let’s gooo...’

Seeing the success, he got so excited that the whole flow broke down.

A tear nearly slipped from his eyes as Dhruv watched the thread sink back into the core, while the needle crumbled apart into nothingness.

"Dammit..."

Slapping himself across his cheeks, Dhruv took a deep breath and focused all of his attention on the core.

Following his will, the thread moved out and slipped into the needle’s hole.

Let’s take it slowly this time... 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Wiping the sweat from his face, Dhruv remembered the pattern. The most basic and simplest of them all was the Rot Touch.

Let’s start with that... thinking Dhruv willed for the needle to move in a spiral pattern. Midway to the completion of the spiral pattern, Dhruv realized a problem.

The whole spell isn’t made out of a single shape... Thinking Dhruv remembered the patterns.

Hmm! The rot touch is made out of a big spiral, which forms a ball sort of in the middle. A pentagon and five independent small circles. They aren’t connected with each other, so I have to independently make them and then add them together?

How to do it?...’ He was confused about how to proceed with it and wanted to ask Lucian, but stopped himself.

Let’s try to figure out things first... if not, then I can ask him. Always asking him will create a bad image of mine. I’m the master here, not him.

After a moment of thought, Dhruv chose to weave the largest part of the spell first—the spiral. It was a simple shape, so forming it didn’t take long. But as soon as he moved to thread in the shape of a pentagon...

...the spiral unfolded and began disintegrating.

What noo... noo... Panicking, Dhruv quickly went and got hold of the spiral. This prevented it from disintegrating, but the problem remains.

The moment he let go of it... the spiral would unfold.

What now if I let it go, it would disappear... but if I hold it in the spell wouldn’t be complete.... Thinking Dhruv realised the grind he was about to undergo.

Man, what have I signed up for?

Having the initial knowledge, it didn’t take long for Dhruv to figure out two ways that could help complete this process.

The first was to manifest a needle for each of the independent shapes and weave them together. There wasn’t any limitation on the number of needles one could make.

Yet not having a limit doesn’t mean everyone can do it.

With how much willpower it took for him to maintain a single needle, Dhruv wasn’t sure he could manifest two needles at a time... let alone a needle for each of the shapes.

Second option it is then...

Knowing his limitation, Dhruv quickly moved to his second idea. It was to hold the weave in its place with the help of willpower.

This is it...’ Thinking of giving it his all, Dhruv started weaving.

As usual, he started with the spiral.

The thin black thread answered his will as it curled around the center in a slow, steady path. Dhruv didn’t rush the process. He guided it circle by circle, making sure each turn stayed smooth and even.

When the spiral was complete, he imposed his will upon it and held it in its place.

Biting his lower lip, he let go of the spiral, and it didn’t break down.

"Yesss!!" letting a small whisper of joy out, he started the hexagon.

Then he started the hexagon.

A new thread moved, forming one straight line, then another, until six sides joined together. The shape trembled for a moment, but Dhruv tightened his focus and forced it to stay firm.

Let’s hold them both together...

It was getting crowded as sweat began to gather on his forehead.

Finally, he moved to the Five Points.

One by one, he formed the thread into dots and placed them on the outer edge.

The moment the last of the dot was placed... something happened in his mind. It was complete, and the spell asked him its purpose.

’It’s beautiful...’ Looking at the pattern, Dhruv willed it to move to his hand.

The spell followed, and soon a dark mist began to rise from his hand.