Thank you for clearing that up! I think making the lightning at the ground a little thicker would definitely help, maybe even something like a hole the lightning is coming out of or some debris that’s being shot up would also help make it clearer? Right now with the way the lightning interacts with the ground and how the branches on the ground dim as they get further from the center point, it looks like the ground is being struck instead.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t even realize there was a mage until you said that, I’m sorry. I’m a huge fan of color coded characters, but I think the challenge here was the color you used for the ground. It looks good with the sky and lightning, but I don’t know if there are a lot of other colors in the palette that contrast well off of it.
But hey, for your first time doing something like this and in that short amount of time, you did a really good job! You should absolutely be proud. At least now you’ve learned something new, right?