The atmosphere at meals was slowly shifting and John could tell he was likely overstaying his welcome, in fairness he had been living in their house for the better part of a month and he hadn't even offered to pay anything. He should probably work on getting to a point where he could develop his magic and produce scrolls and books as he had agreed to. The agreement he had with the college made sure that they would be his exclusive customer, though they would buy them at a fair price. The exclusivity meant they weren't particularly concerned about how long he took but they would likely get impatient if he started pushing it.
Still, he was going to take the day to work on figuring out some cool spells. Thinking about it, it would likely be better to go to a training room in the college rather than doing this in his room like he originally planned. He approached the reception and explained what he was wanting to do and was quickly lead to a room. It was almost entirely empty, except for some desks and chairs at one end. It was maybe the size of a football field and about 20" high. He had the room for the day, another perk of his arrangement with the college.
Getting to it, he started drawing runes with mana manipulation.
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He learned a few things quickly. First that certain runes counteracted others. Life and death, Negate and anything other than the shape runes, Heat and Freeze, Haste and Slow. He also learned that he could currently only use 2 elements and 3 runes per spell with his current level in spellcraft. Those were the boring things though.
Freeze and Burn formed a cold burning fire that would freeze what it touched rather than burn it.
Similarly with combustion but instead the frostfire (as he dubbed it) would explode out.
Spray paired with anything that created an element would create a fire-hose effect, shooting water, flames, wind, shadow that would stick to things and linger, or a low powered laser with light that used up a ridiculous amount of mana.
Condense would increase the density/intensity of an element, Darkness became thick enough to slow movement, light would be brighter, fire would be hotter and denser, water and wind denser.
Enhance was similar to condense, however, instead of creating a more dense version of something, it just made it better. Flames would burn hotter but look the same, ice would be colder, darkness would linger longer and stick to things better, light would just be brighter though.
He was not willing to practice on himself and there was nothing living to test on so he could not see the effects of life and death.
Strength would increase the impact of anything it was coupled with.
Harden would increase the physical characteristics of whatever it was paired with and was almost indistinguishable from Condense except it didn't increase weight, similar to enhance.
Growth would cause things to grow more rapidly, flames spread faster etc
Accuracy would add a small amount of homing to a spell
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Haste would increase the velocity of a spell
Spark would give whatever it was paired with electrical effects, lightning shooting through the ice, fire, cloud of darkness etc. Shock did the same but was stronger.
Attract would pull things towards a spell, sort of like a homing but on the target, repel would do the opposite.
Glow would cause spells to cast light
Sight would give a new kind of vision, infrared, darkvision, tremor sense, much-improved vision underwater. With gust became came an enhanced version of the base rune, a form of far-sight that gave a sort of zoom.
Consume was interesting when paired with something it would reverse the effect of a spell. Consume and enhance/condense/strength would weaken the spell. With gust it formed a sort of vacuum, pulling air towards it. Burn and heat would act as freeze, Combustion would cause an implosion, growth would cause decay etc.
In learning all of this, his spellcraft increased to 7, his meditation to 9, his mana manipulation to 6 and his elemental magic to 4. He had spent the whole day in there, he still could only use 3 runes and 2 elements. He knew there were more combinations to try out but he was exhausted. Tomorrow he would learn to make scrolls and books and start earning some money.
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The next day he approached the receptionist again. The techniques for creating books and scrolls was something else the college didn't teach students, only researchers that needed to know it so he needed special permission. This time he was taken behind the receptionist and down the stairs to where the old man was.
"Ah miss Steambink, I was wondering how long you were going to make me wait." He said grumpily but with a look in his eye that made it clear he wasn't actually upset
"Yes sorry sir, I kind of got carried away and couldn't wait to learn everything I could" John did his best to look sheepish and sound meek as he said it
"You're a weird one lass," The old man said with a slight frown "Anyhows you can just call me Aldred, no need for any titles, now sit down and let me teach you something about books
John was confused about what he did that made the man think he was weird but just shrugged and listened. The process was very similar to enchanting, however rather than writing runes you instead wrote in words, infusing mana and intent into the book. It could take days, weeks or longer to create a full spellbook depending on the number and rarity of the runes, so they stopped once he got the skill. They then went on to do the same with the scrolls, he was however able to make one scroll of frostfire bolt before he got the skill.
Skill Gained NAME: Scribe You can scribe books with your mana and intent to teach the reader a spell if they have appropriate skills and affinities. Effects- spellbooks are 1% less expensive and 1% faster to make / skill level MP cost- Varies Activation Time- Passive Level 1
Skill Gained NAME: Scroll-craft You can inscribe a parchment with a spell and mana to produce a spell scroll Effects- spell scrolls are 1% less expensive and 1% more powerful/ skill level MP cost- Varies Activation Time- Passive Level 1
"There you go, the college will buy any multi-element spell you make, how much you get will vary based on the number of the elements, the number of runes and the rarity of the runes used. I can give you 300 Mana in crystals for this one, it's a simple spell a lot of mages have made in the past but scrolls of this sort are always handy to have around. You will have to buy materials, I can sell you some suitable parchment for 50 mana a sheet and a book capable of holding up to 5 rune spells for 500 mana."
John's eyes bulged at the cost of just the blank book, for now he just bought 10 sheets of parchment and went home to rest.