The Greatest Sinner

Emotions are one of the most important aspects of every person's life. Not only do they brighten and add variety to life, but they also give strength at certain moments. A person overflowing with joy can easily do things that he has not been able to do before. If someone is enraged, he will lose his composure, but he will acquire the strength to break down all obstacles.

Of course, emotion works the other way, as well. A person who is depressed or apathetic is unlikely to do anything heroic. But sadness and longing may well lead to an unusual outcome.

Nevertheless, all of this can hardly be called a real strengthening or weakening. One does not truly become weaker or stronger. It just seems to him that way, which makes him confident in his actions and vice versa.

It seems to be simple and almost everyone knows or understands this, but the world is a very complicated thing. Ordinary people really can't get supernatural powers just because of the feelings they are experiencing right now.

As for magicians, there was a little different situation with them. They were people capable of creating natural disasters out of an unusual substance called mana. Their emotions did affect them, but not all of them, not always.

Simple anger or resentment won`t give strength to a magician or to an ordinary person. But when the magician's emotions intertwine with his aspirations and reach his soul, then the magician can fall into - "Gust".

When all of the mage's thoughts and desires are focused on one goal, he tries to achieve it. However, it is not always possible to achieve the goal, and then bright and strong emotions come to the rescue. They dominate in this triplet and at that moment, the magician falls into the "Gust".

In this special state, the magician can indeed perform miracles. Depending on the emotions that gripped him, the effects can vary: all five of his senses can be heightened, his body strengthened, his speed and the strength of his blows increased, or, as in Evan's case, the magician can overcome his limits.

Emotions are, literally, imbued with mana and become something real from a material and physical point of view. Evan was lucky to be able to get into "Gust". But it's not luck that should be thanked, it's his drive, self-confidence, and selfishness.

If another man had done something perfectly, he would have been unspeakably happy about it, because he had reached the limit of skill. Evan thought very differently. He had surpassed himself countless times in his past life. Those who were content with their perfection, were left far behind and died because of their weakness, not even understanding why they could not advance further.

As Evan said in his battle with Abigail Whitehead: " Ideal is impossible". Not being able to be better and not having mistakes is a flaw, but only a few people understand that.

In the same way, if a person does not succeed in something, he tries again or changes his approach. In some cases, that's actually the right thing to do. Evan, however, wasn't about to walk around obstacles. Why keep away from them when you can destroy them with your own hands? That way you become stronger and more willful.

Evan was angry that he had cast the "Magic Missile" perfectly, and trying to outdo himself, he made his "Warp" spin furiously. He poured far more mana into the spell than was necessary. As punishment for such an overconfident act, the "Magic Missile" should have destabilized due to the overabundance of mana and exploded in his hand. His action was one hundred percent a mistake.

Nevertheless, life is amazing and inexplicable. Strangely enough, it`s only because Evan gave in completely to his selfish desire to do things his way, the mistake ceased to be a mistake. It`d become his blessing and a gateway to a still uncharted path.

As ironic as it sounds, Evan was able to enter the "Gust' only because he intentionally had made a gross mistake.

Whoosh.

Evan was in the "Gust" and didn't quite know what was going on. He was concentrating only on surpassing his past score.

The bright white dot that should have turned into a beam began to increase dramatically. Evan wasn't just using ten or twenty percent of mana more than he needed, he was using it several times as much!

It was a grave mistake that should have caused the "Magic Missile" to explode.

Whoosh.

The dot grew to a large size and was ready to explode, when suddenly the following happened. The dot shrunk to a microscopic size in an instant and then exploded.

Boom.

Evan covered himself with his arm as quickly as possible, trying to shield himself from the blast. The force of the impact sent the young man flying into the wall, and the cabinet, the table, and everything else was shattered. However, that was not all.

Simultaneously with the explosion, a dense white-white beam flew out from the other side of the dot. It reached the wall in a split second, and there was another deafening explosion.

This was due to a huge overabundance of mana and it was enough to overload the spell and destabilize it, as well as to cast the spell again. Nevertheless, it was wrong. The "Magic Missile" should have just exploded, that's all.

It was the effect of the "Gust". As it had stated earlier, Evan wanted to outdo himself and the mana-soaked emotion helped him do so. Despite his injuries, he had overcome his limit.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Evan struggled to get up and looking at the mess in the lab that he himself had made, said harshly: "Bitch! It hurts so badly, and the lab is totally unusable now. Fuck!"

He was very angry. His hands were covered in burns as well as part of his chest. The blast was powerful enough to tear the ordinary man to pieces. Evan was only able to get rid that easy because of his strong body.

Evan stood up and headed to the table with the scrolls, he hoped that at least something was still intact. But as he took a few steps, something else caught his eye. There was a large hole in the middle of the wall where the dense white beam had hit. If it had been ordinary wood there would have been no surprise, but the walls in the lab were very solid.

Moreover, in that moment Evan realized that he had not only been wounded, but he had managed to outdo himself. The situation was dangerous though, but Evan was able to increase the power of the "Magic Missile". This was the first step in reaching the first stage of "Awareness".

"Hahahahaha, looks like I was able to get over the threshold after all. Then let's not stop there!"

Despite the pain and burning from the burns, Evan put his hand out in front of him and began to gather mana for the "Magic Missile" cast.