@mlmanga in all fairness, in most magical world settings, the most optimized magic is often compared to programming in our world and... that makes sense. Refining magic spells and artifacts is akin to optimizing a program, code. As in programming school you learn to refine a code to be as flawless and efficient as possible, magic schools teach the exact same thing, except they are spells, formulas, etc.
To be honest, an artifact that can change the climate isn't much of a stretch in a high-magic setting or, in this case, a world of mid-magic who has a high-magic past. Considering he is about on par with the ability of the strongest magicians of all times after his "training"; changing, refining and modifying the spell ran by such an artifact is barely a challenge.
This is why powercreep isn't too interesting. You are left to enjoy the story building of a character that will most likely only have opportunities and no real challenge.
I would have much rather wished to see an actual curse spell with a magic circle written as is, that cannot be modified: either it needs to be destroyed/dispelled or left as-is.
Gaining control of the whole region's climate by finding an artifact with a magic stone that by itself is enough for whole countries to wage war is... boring ?