This is an ideal time for me to describe how spells beyond the class nine work. Well, calling them spells would not be correct exactly. They are closer to a set of runes than a spell model. In class nine, most spells that are inscribed have only a single function. That would be the task that they are meant to do, which is a reason that class nine spells are so easy to inscribe. The spells inscribed into it are often direct copies of spells that are normally used by people.

  For example, a druid using iron skin would be using the same runes that I have inscribed into the formation. There might be a few changes in the runes that define the shape of the entire thing. A person could make use of my formation core to learn every single one of the class nine spells that I have inscribed on it, maybe with a few modifications. This is granted he knows of a few spells similar to the spell that he is trying to decode.

  From class eight though, the spells inscribed tend to have two major parts. The first part would be the spell itself. It is like the mind of the formation, given the ability to make use of every component of the spell (including the ten inscribed class nine spells.). The formation stick links to this part of the class eight formation only.

  The second part is meant for the managing of the remaining spells on the formation core. It creates a network between everything in the formation, allowing for the formation stick to control everything. If the spell part is the mind, this is the nerves of the formation.

  Regardless, the point I wanted to make was that a class eight formation is fundamentally different from a class nine formation. This is especially true during the process of designing it. (Even understanding a few designs is so hard.) As my master likes to say, every man in the continent can make a class nine formation if he spends enough time on it. From class eight onwards, formation is the domain of the formation mage though. Only with a self-designed class 8 formation does my master consider a man to be a formation mage.

  Well, I am one formation closer to that particular goal. The eighth class formation that I have built now is a standard design for the druids. We do not know the name of the formation but we know its purpose. It is a standard nurturing formation that works on nurturing a bunch of trees. (There is no one-to-one correlation to a particular spell here. Even if they took a spell as the base, the modifications done would make it very hard to find the actual spell.)

  My master named the formation "metalbark core". The reason for that is this formation can give good results in the nurturing of almost any metal bark tree. A few examples of metalbark trees are iron bark, copper bark or bronze bark. Such formation could be found at the center of any druidic forest or village. They act as the core of their defense and work to make druidic villages survivable. It is a pretty versatile formation that can be used in any place regardless of the surrounding region and its mana concentration.

  To describe the class eight spell I have inscribed is a domain spell. Once I activate the class eight formation a domain of water, earth and metal mana is going to form around the fort. This also means that it should in theory make the surroundings of the fort free of ice mana. Well, I have never seen the formation work in a region so focused on a single mana. So I can't tell just how effective the domain will be but there should be some effect.

  It would help out the soldiers who have been afflicted with the chill. They need something to help. The storms have picked the exact worst time to grow worse. The injured soldiers cannot be taken back to the frozen peak and they can't be healed here. With the storm, it is taking them longer to heal. The only way to help them is to activate the formation.

  If I could activate the formation, I would be doing that right now. The problem in all of this is the fact that the formation base is still not at the threshold for activating the formation. The formation base had been emptied quite a few times in the last couple of weeks. (Well, that is why I was so reluctant to activate the formation prematurely.) the process of its recharging has been annoyingly slow indeed. At least it should not take long before I have enough though, so that is a positive. The only mana reserve that I have at the moment that can be considered to be behind the threshold needed is the water mana reserve. With the way that I have been using it, it is not a very big surprise.

  The formation is going to require a particularly large amount of mana from each of the elements for the creation of the domain. That is the nature of domain spells, especially due to the ice mana outside. Thankfully that absurd cost will only exist in the case of starting the formation. After the creation of the domain, such a cost should be reduced quite dramatically. At least an amount that is enough for the elemental nodes to be able to manage it on their own. That reminds me that I have to tell these guys to arrange other sources of mana for this area. The elemental nodes should be enough in the short term. But a few months or years down the line it will be emptied. If the ore down there was not disturbed, it could have lasted for centuries as well.

  If Shamon doubted the approach of the snowlord, he is sure of it now. I just wish the man would slip and tell me how he knows the snowlords are approaching. He did not even need to come down here and inform me about that. It can be seen in the way that he has taken to pacing through the fort, fretting about everything.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He is presently coordinating our soldiers throughout the fort trying to patch up all of the holes in the fort. One of the benefits of such a storm is that at the very least the snowlord will not have a cohort of ice beasts with him. Such bad weather is quite deadly to the ice beasts as well, it seems. It is the reason that the snow lords don't tend to move much in this period. That means that from now on it should purely be my work from now on.

  All that is left of my work is the last step, that I don't want to do. Well, I have been dreading this particular step of the process since the moment that I decided that I was going to be making this formation. As for what that work is it would be digging into the ground. Anywhere else there would be entire teams to whom I would have given the task. The soldiers here are already overworked and even if I wanted to give it to them, honestly I should do it on my own. Right now it is more important than they patch up the wall. That still does not change the fact that I detest the hard labor that I am about to do. One of the sad realities of being a formation mage is that we are not exactly the most physically fit.

  As for why I need to do this. One of the conditions that need to be satisfied before I can activate this particular formation is that it needs to be placed inside the ground. After all, there would not be much reason for nurturing the plant if it just lay on the floor of this room, now would it? The druids make it a clear requirement by introducing certain runes that do not activate until they come in contact with the ground.

  Well, if I knew exactly which runes were responsible for this particular effect. I could have modified the formation to remove this requirement. I have memorized the runes without much understanding of the runes themselves. (Hey, understanding the runes is not easy. I can barely do it for some class nine spells.) Anyway, that might have led to problems that I might not have expected anyway. Messing with already inscribed formations is like playing around with a pack of cards. You never know what could happen.

  Anyways, it would be stupid not to do it. The formation has nurturing in its name. It would be kind of stupid not to do it. If the tree were to grow there would be plenty of benefits as well. For one, it could store more mana in its body. For another, the domain will become stronger the larger the tree is.

  That is why I am standing in the cellar with a pick that I have borrowed from Shamon. It is the kind that is used in construction. It is meant to be used by mages, so it is strong enough to break through the floor. It should also be durable enough to not break due to a particularly strong swing of mine. It should be enough to dig a decently sized pit in the room.

  Thinking this I swing the pick with all of my might right into the location that Shamon has picked for me to dig. I feel the pick pass through the floor, but not an inch beyond that. I am not surprised though it is a bit embarrassing. The land of this region is supposed to be hard enough to rival iron during the winter. My formation certainly must not be helping in that regard. With hindsight, I should have begun digging before I put the last spells into the formation. It would have been worth it if it made my work a fraction easier.

  Well, this is a bit embarrassing. Granted that I had not used my vital mana, this is not the feat of strength that I would want to show to my soldiers. After all, this entire structure should be built by the construction corps and they should not be much stronger than the soldiers here. I would have assumed just my brute strength to be enough. Well, most of the people in the room are sleeping. The couple of soldiers that are awake have other things to worry about. (Mainly about freezing inside out)

  Well, I raise the pick with all my strength and make it hit the same location, with the ground giving way a bit more. It is not much and I can already feel a dull throb in my arms. This is not going to be pleasant. Thinking this, I begin to cycle my mana into my arms. Let's get this done quickly.

  (After an hour.)

  With quite a significant chunk of my mana used I have finally managed to dig a decently sized hole in the ground. I can feel a dull throb in my arms, even after strengthening with mana which showed just how much of a challenge this is. Now I have to wonder what is exactly the strength of the construction corps here if they have built the fort in a week. They must all be mages.

  To get back to the topic, the hole is smaller than I would have liked but it will have to do for now. Picking up the formation core I throw it into the ground as my mana strings enter into the class eight formation. I can feel my mana strings flow smoothly throughout the formation without any obstruction. If I were to try that with the entire thing out of the ground, my mana strings would have simply not been able to touch the formation core. The runes would rip it to pieces.

  With that confirmation I felt the entire thing, feeling the walls vibrate in this tune that was not a tune. I wonder if I should be feeling a sense of success or relief, though I have to admit that I am feeling nothing at the moment. It won't take me long before I start wondering what could go wrong with the formation and if there are any tweaks that I should be doing.

  I know myself. Without anything to do, I am going to be even more exhausted than now when I am building the formation. At least with the formation, my mind was not idle. If anything it has been the opposite with this project. Well, let's try and rest at the very least, though it is easier said than done.

  After all, I will have to be at my maximum freshness before I go and get my formation active. Using any new formation is not supposed to be particularly easy and I do not think that I am going to get much opportunity to practice with it now. The least I can do is get familiar with the entire thing. After all, I might have to end up designing the formation stick for this formation myself as well. That will require me to study the thing anyway.