Thankfully, just as Frinnol had assured him he would be, the older mage was given permission by the other Cloud Whisperers to share the runic formation for Create Cloud with him the very next day. Vin wasn't certain just who this missing avisul named Quill truly was, but it seemed that the Cloud Whisperers were desperate to get him back for whatever reason.

"While this is the final runic formation I will share with you, there is quite a lot of flexibility to be found within this lone spell," Frinnol explained as he drew out the runic formation in the air between them. "The more you experiment, the more you will learn how to tweak the spell, simply by applying different concentrations of mana, air, or water into the cloud's formation, or altering your concept of a cloud while the spell is cast."

"So long as I'll be able to make a cloud that won't shatter and fall apart under me, I'll be happy," Vin said, his eyes eagerly devouring the newest runic formation. He did have to be a little careful at this point. Create Cloud would now be the fifth air-aligned spell under his belt. Without factoring in Mana Well, his safe limit was now up to seven spells of any one type without risking gaining an affinity. Even with the passive giving him a bit more of a buffer than most had, he'd rather not toe the line just in case he stumbled upon a remarkably useful air-aligned spell and wanted to learn it.

Or decided to create his own, seeing as he could do that now.

"You'll be able to do that and more," Frinnol chuckled, the old avisul finishing the formation before folding his arms across his chest. "At the speed you learned those spells yesterday, I figure you'll have this one done by lunch, just to make me feel inadequate about my time spent as a young mage. Just knock if you have any questions."

With that, Frinnol turned and stepped onto a cloud that hadn't existed moments ago. A gust of wind was conjured out of nowhere, and the cross-armed man rode the cloud five stories up to the top of the house before stepping off and vanishing inside. His cloud dissipated shortly after, and Vin could only roll his eyes at the blatant attempt at showing off.

Despite what he'd just said, Frinnol had just displayed both silent casting and the ability to work two different runic formations at the same time. The avisul was clearly an extremely competent mage. And seeing as he lived at the top floor of the strange cloud building, Vin had a strong suspicion he was the unofficial leader of the Cloud Whisperers.

Putting those thoughts aside, he slipped into Introspection and got to work.

The runic formation for Create Cloud was an interesting one. Vin had experience using spells of one affinity to help learn spells of completely different affinities that worked similarly, but never before had he tried to combine affinities. Creating Fireball had been close, but that had been more so replacing chunks of the runic formation rather than blending them together. This spell built off of both Create Air and Create Water, but curiously, the end result was a spell that had solely the air affinity. Part of him would have expected it to have created a brand-new cloud affinity, but it seemed that wasn't the case, for whatever reason. There were still so many strange, hidden rules regarding magic and runic formations that he didn't understand, and seeing as he was effectively banned from the only place he figured had all the answers tucked away within its tomes, he would just have to figure them out for himself.

He liked that idea better anyway. It certainly felt as though it fit with the theme of his Adventurer of the Arcane class.

Seeing as he was tackling a brand-new magical technique, and how this spell was in fact a tier 2, which made it noticeably harder than the other spells he'd been given by the Cloud Whisperers, Vin did not have the spell mastered by lunch as Frinnol had predicted. In fact, by the time he did finally crack the spell, having only suffered two minor runic backlashes that had caused a wet fog to explode out of him each time he lost control of the formation, it was well into the night. He'd met with Frinnol first thing after breakfast, which meant the spell had taken him the entire day.

Even so, he'd take that for a tier 2.

I'm getting better at copying runic formations, he smiled, stretching and finally getting up off the ground. The nice thing about meditating on a cloud all day rather than hard ground was that his rear wasn't incredibly sore once he finally stood up. He was sure his high endurance attribute factored into that as well, which was certainly something he wouldn't complain about.

New spell learned! Tier 2 Air Spell (Create Cloud).

Despite the continued lack of experience for learning new magic, Vin wasn't all that upset. Finally, after all the time he'd spent worrying, he had an answer to his greatest fear.

"Create Cloud," he muttered, feeling the sliver of mana vanish from his core. Without altering the spell or giving the mana any instruction, a simple, fluffy white cloud spun into existence before him, only about the size of a beach ball. He grinned as the cloud hovered before his face, and all it took was a quick poke with his finger to confirm that the cloud was about as solid as any regular cloud back on Earth.

Alright, that's not going to hold any weight. Let's try again.

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Dissipating his first attempt with a few waves of his hand, he tried casting the spell again, this time focusing on heavily layering his mana similarly to how he'd felt the cooking pot that the avisuls used for the eternal stew. Rather than form a soft, fluffy cloud, something grey and lumpy formed in the air, before crumbling and falling apart. The different pieces dissipated as they hit the cloud beneath his feet, and he shook his head.

Right… Those objects they create are unique. The Cloud Whisperers have some sort of special technique they use to make permanent stuff out of clouds. Even if I wanted to try and learn that someday, that's not what I'm after right now.

Thankfully, Vin knew just what to do. The trick was in fact hidden within his very first arcane discovery he'd received after earning his new class, and he visualized the strange concentration of mana, air, and water that he'd sensed from the first solid cloud he and his friends had landed upon when Lumel had teleported them into the fragment.

The spell followed his directions, and moments later, he had another new cloud floating in front of him. This one was far more stable-looking than the first, and not at risk of crumbling like the second. Holding his breath, he hopped up onto it.

And blinked as he landed on the cloud like it was solid ground.

Letting out a boisterous laugh, Vin stood there, suspended a few feet off the ground on his own spell. He had made a cloud capable of supporting the weight of an entire person. He had literally dozens of spells under his belt at this point, but for some reason, never before had he felt like a true mage until this very moment.

Despite the late hour, he immediately began playing around with his newest spell.

Just as Frinnol had promised, the spell was remarkably flexible. Vin was able to create solid clouds large enough for his entire team to stand on, clouds barely a foot large that were still sturdy enough to hold his weight, and even figured out roughly how much mana equaled how long a cloud would last before dissipating naturally all on its own. This last discovery was a game changer, as he realized he could functionally set his own timers for things now. For example, he could create a cloud with enough mana layered within to dissipate after roughly four hours, and if he entered Introspection while sitting on it, the bump he'd receive when the cloud finally dispersed and dropped him would be enough to notify him it was time to leave the featureless void.

It wasn't until he was testing this, creating small clouds with only enough mana to last a couple of minutes, that he realized something rather important.

It's already totally dark out…

Where's Lumel?

He'd gotten so caught up in playing with his new spell that he'd completely forgotten that Lumel was supposed to show up and bring him back to the main island at the end of the day. She should have showed up hours ago.

Maybe she saw me deep in Introspection and decided to come back later. Though if that were the case, I would have expected her by now.

Frowning, Vin contemplated his options. As it was, the Cloud Whisperers' private cloud was drifting about a hundred feet behind and above the main island, connected by a fluffy tendril that didn't look wide or stable enough to safely walk down. He could try and wake up one of the Cloud Whisperers and ask for a ride, but they were probably already asleep, and he didn't want to be a bother. As much as he hated the thought that popped into his head…

Now was the perfect time to conquer his newfound fears.

Slowly, Vin walked over to the edge of the cloud, his heart racing as he peered down into the darkness. They were high up enough in the cloud layer that he couldn't actually see into the darkened depths, but he knew that they were down there. And drifting along inside were who knew how many monsters capable of killing him and everyone he'd ever met without even noticing.

His heart was pounding hard enough that it felt as if it risked bursting out of his chest, but he refused to let himself step back from the ledge. Some part of him knew that if he didn't force himself to keep moving forward now, he'd lose a part of himself that was even more important than he could imagine. Taking a deep breath, Vin did the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life.

He kept moving forward.

Stepping straight off the edge of the cloud.

Yet rather than plummet to his eventual demise, he cast his newest spell, silently weaving the runic formation together with speed that could only come from having such a high focus attribute. Before he'd even begun falling forward, his foot landed on something that hadn't been there a split second before.

A small, secure cloud had popped into existence directly under his foot, like the Gods themselves had given him a tiny stepping stone to walk upon.

Vin wanted nothing more than to jump for joy and immediately turn around and leap back to safety on the far larger island he'd just stepped off of. Instead, he gritted his teeth and took another step. Again, a small cloud manifested directly under his foot, catching his weight and taking him slightly farther from safety. Again, and again, and again, Vin cast, walking ever further into the air and leaving the island behind him.

Glancing down, Vin couldn't help but let out a small laugh that was half exhilaration, half hysterical, as he realized he was now nearing the halfway point between islands. The further he walked, the less mana he'd started shoving into the clouds he was creating, meaning his fluffy stepping stones were beginning to dissipate behind him only a couple of seconds after he'd used them. There was nothing separating him from the yawning abyss beneath him other than his own magic, yet strangely, that thought reassured him. Doubling down on his determination, Vin began walking down, continuing to form small cloud after cloud as he continued on his journey toward the main island. The Cloud Whisperers' private cloud was floating higher than the one supporting the village, which meant his descent was necessary.

He supposed he could just make it above the main island and then cast Slow Fall, but for some reason, that felt like cheating. No, he had to cross this distance with his own two feet, and that included the downward slope.

Finally, after what could only have been a minute or two but had felt like an hour, Vin stepped off the last of his tiny clouds, landing on the massive cloud making up the main island. He took a few more steps robotically, before realizing he'd actually done it. He knew it was rather late at night, but after turning to look at the Cloud Whisperers' island floating a good hundred feet away and up above them, he couldn't help but pump his hands in the air and shout his victory at the top of his lungs.

In his own, tiny way, he'd finally bested the World Eaters hiding down below.

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