After a few headache inducing hours this is the result of all those spell backlashes. The spells themselves really are the same with the exception being the element they represent. Minimal is an understatement though. The chunk of what I now know has to be mana that is leaving my body is a less then when I use my [Study] spell but definitely more then what I would consider minimal. It's also unusual that the size of the chunk also differs based on which element I am using with air being the least and stone being the most. I bet this has to do with affinities and based on how many of these bolts all these elementalists are blasting out their affinity must be pretty high. It's an interesting hidden mechanic the game built in. I wonder if the affinities are assigned at the start of an account or only until they choose a specialization for the first time. Wait no that wouldn't make any sense for the latter since I have affinities. It must be like Father Jonathan said, we all have affinities to different branches of magics here preassigned but probably further boosted by our specialization through the 'Great System'. Well I have all the bolts possible, at least for this stage in the game.

  Casting a spell is a weird feeling, it's like the system takes over your body and performs a pre-recorded action. I wonder if there is such a thing as free-form magic then instead of the pre-made spells. But to do that the game would have to make up a way for us to feel something that doesn't exist in our world. Hmm. As I ponder over that I get up from my bench I have been using to [Study] people's spells from and make my way over to the target range.

  After casting a few times I notice that there is a general shape that gets produced in front of the hand I use to aim. It's a bit hazy right now but it seems to be a circle with a bunch of shapes encased inside of it. Moving my hand in front of myself with the palm facing forward towards a target about 20 feet away, I mentally shout the spell I want to cast.

  [Air Bolt]

  For a fraction of a second a hazy ring of something about a foot in diameter floats right in front of my open palm and before I could glean any more information a bolt of hazy mint green air forms and flies out of my hand hitting the target off to the right a bit.

  Gotta work on my aim. Still I wish there was a way I could see what is going on. If only there was a way to slow the spell ring down a bit. Holding my palm back up at the target I cast the spell again but this time I try to will it to slow down. I felt something in me strain before releasing itself and the spell completes shooting another bolt of compressed air completely to the left of the target, missing it entirely and almost hitting another that is currently being used by an archer.

  "Hey watch it, maybe learn to aim your spell noob." The Archer in question shouts angrily at me as he was about to shoot but was interrupted by my missed spell.

  "Sorry, trying something out. I'll move down though." I said before relocating towards a more deserted area of the range section.

  I was definitely onto something though. It was almost indiscernible but the circle was visible for a fraction of a second longer than previously. Slowing it down however strained some mysterious muscle that I seem to have. It felt like trying to do a sit-up without moving my muscle at all. Is this the free-form mechanic they created?

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  Focusing I once again cast [Air Bolt], this time I try to clench that new muscle as hard as I can. An unknown pressure slowly builds inside of me as I notice the pressure is snaking its way into my arm and slowly forming the circle, this time it is in full view. A dizzying amount of shapes and lines fill themselves within the circle. Looking at it the whole diagram is eerily similar to circuitry, with some lines being thicker and coil into each other while others are thinner but there are more connections. Then there are these shapes that all seem to have a different usage. Where my mana is going into the circle for instance leads into what looks like a smaller circle with a whirlpool and my mana is traveling from the center point of the circle outwards where there are a few small thin lines connecting to different areas of what I am going to call a spell diagram.

  It seems to be some sort of input node which takes in mana and evenly distributes it to as many connection points as it has. The mana then travels to what appears to be two different nodes, one appears to be a thicker squiggly looking line that seems to slow down the mana while the other is a diamond shape with some sort of symbol inside of it. The mana is slowly traveling along the squiggle while the other is taking in mana at a fast rate and turning it the same mint green before sending it off to a triangular node as fast as it could. Eventually the mana in the squiggle reaches its end and it instantly sends mana to the triangular node. It is at this point that a mint looking bolt is formed in front of the spell diagram and released at the target with a moderate bang.

  So we have the input that evenly distributes power or mana to the other portions. There seems to be a node made for elemental alignment? Converting raw mana into its wind element while the squiggly node looks like a timer to allow for proper build up. I wonder what would happen if I were to shorten the timer?

  Trying my idea I reform the spell, this time to make sure to continue to keep it slowly forming. The strain is quite a bit but it seems easier this time. As the raw mana is forming the spell diagram I try to flex this new muscle and will the timer node to be shorter. At first I feel immense strain as if something is blocking me from doing this but after a battle of wills with some unknown entity something gives and the timer is noticeably shorter. Loosening my control of the spell causes exactly what I thought might happen. The amount of mana gathered in the triangle before the timer ends in less and the resulting bolt that strikes a target is noticeably weaker. However it did shave off a small amount of time to cast the spell. A few notifications appear before me.

  So it seems there is a system in place for more freeform magic. My guess is in order to make more unique spells the caster needs to spend time changing and refining their given or learned spells into something they like more. Only after a successful modification does it seem the system will change their given spell to the superior one they managed to create. However it said that if the spell was too far derived from the original spell then it could be classified into a new spell entirely. Either way this opens up for so much more customization then we thought. Seems like I need to perform more tests to see what each change does. For now I selected no on changing air bolt as the current base spell seems better.

  Spending some more time experimenting with this spell I have come to the conclusion that the squiggly is the timer which directly changes how much power is built up before being released by the triangular output node. Shorten the timer too much and you get a small weak puff of green air. Lengthen it and you receive a higher mana cost but something that easily punched through the wooden target I was aiming at. So, power or speed. I guess it makes sense to have to sacrifice one for another. I settled on keeping the spell as it is however it seems my extensive practice has levelled it to level 5 which was unexpected. I wonder if I can change this on the fly when casting so I can choose how strong to make the bolts. It would be nice if I could also change how the bolt is shaped as a thick cone of air could be compresses into a smaller size which might help with the power vs speed problem. Either way, this sure has been enough experimentation today.

  Going back to the skill board I decide to skip the spells as my specialization seems to be geared towards a jack of all trades in magic since I can acquire new spells fairly just by studying them, I see no reason to pay for new spells especially when I can sit at the arena for a few hours and pick up the heal spell when I am ready to. The constant headaches weren't exactly fun though, hopefully that gets better with usage of my skills. Anyways, I decide to spend my tokens on the more physical skills and take "Slash" , "Brace" , "Taunt" , "Basic Survival" , and "Hide". The idea is to give myself a good enough base to work with as an all rounder until I find what role really fits me more. Each selection of a skill on the board had a popup requiring me to use my skill tokens to take the class. After using all my tokens I am directed further into the tower where the Slash skill instructor is located. A solid black door with a hastily scrawled sign that read 'Slash Training' is all the confirmation I need before heading inside.