For the first time in an immensely long time William was giddy. He had never really taught anyone so focused on his words or the gestures of his hands. He had taught his juniors at the firm once he got recognized as the senior engineer out of the group. But those ‘youngsters’ as he put it to himself then didn’t really show interest. Their eyes were hollow no flame of curiosity burned just indifference. It had saddened him to watch them never learn or take to his words. Those that had a spark of passion were usually snuffed by the bureaucratic overload and then quit.
Kena on the other hand didn’t have a spark, a fire, or bonfire, no she was a raging inferno. William had found a kindred spirit to him and his wife. Ever searching, ever learning, maybe not the same topics or the same ferocity but the ever present need to consume knowledge.
Kena nearly jumped off her stool but he had quickly brought his hands to her shoulders to stop her. William felt like a one way valve holding back the torrent of by sheer mechanical advantage. “Now I know you want to jump right into this but as your teacher I need some reciprocity. I literally have no idea how the systems magic works at all. So to help you better match an idea to a concept of the fundamentals, I need a basic running knowledge or we won’t get anywhere alright.” To William it was heartbreaking to splash water on the fire but looking around at the various large craters he felt justified especially if she accidentally made something like a black hole. While he would survive spaghettification Kena wouldn’t, so knowing the magic system would definitely help.
Kena eventually sighed and sadly said “Yeah…you are right.” She took a breath fixed her hair then continued “Ok, so you said a basic running understanding. So the system splits the types of ‘magics’ into three separate groups. The first is arcane magic, the second divine, the ‘third’ is innate. The only differences between these three categories are there sources. Arcane magic is the manipulation of natural or innate mana to your (Will) then releasing it in various forms. Divine is pretty self explanatory your belief translates into various gifted spells from the gods domain. Then using (Will) or some say belief a divine caster twists it with their mana to release the spell. Innate magic is really hard to give a broad sense of how it works since its so different for every case. But its usually a class skill that is used similarly to a spell. There is no manipulation of mana or called belief there is just a brief mana pulse as the trigger goes off it can’t be countered in anyway. The cost for such a skill it usually pretty high but as it levels it either is more efficient or potent. This innate casting is often found in melee classes or mundane ranged classes like the one Cluri will probably pick up when he turns eighteen. However there have been cases where this notion fails.” Kena stopped for a moment letting William soak in everything. Sounds like I am an innate caster. That’s cool to know. If I grow a sizable manapool and no one can counter [ Create ] and my library is well stocked I can just lay a field of [ Create ] ed objects. After contemplating for a bit longer looked at Kena to continue.
“So while there are only three groups or types of magic underneath all spells of any group are categorized by a school. There are nine or ten in total but new schools do appear on the occasion when enough spells are aggregated to allow a new school to be created. Now each school is pretty self explanatory but the list is as follows. Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation, and finally the catch all Menagerie. The currently debated school is War.” Kena continues by explaining every single school to Will who can only think. So its basically all the schools and rules from fifth edition D&D well that’s easy to remember. Williams thoughts come back to Kena’s explanation when she goes into Menagerie and War.
“As for Menagerie as I said before it truly is a catch all. If a new spell doesn’t fit into another school it gets dropped into Menagerie. Casters that make use of the Menagerie school are often feared opponents as their spells can’t be predicted. It also goes without saying such casters go to great lengths to keep this advantage. As what to expect it can be anything not in others time some say sometimes psychic spells can end here and if I had a guess many of the weirder spells that we eventually make will end up in this school no doubt. As for the school of War it’s debated as many of its spells are unable to be cast by low level casters none of the schools spells have a cost less than ten thousand. Most of the spells are used to destroy stone, steel, or flesh. However destruction isn’t the only thing they often protect, heal, or a slew of other things that don’t necessarily mean destruction. However these other effects often affect an extremely large group. They all have a long range. School of War casters are a dime a dozen but anyone can learn the spells but of course that goes for any spell. Many arcane casters have to create their own spells if they are starting out however some will go to a wizards college and gain spells directly from the institution. I think that mostly sums up spells in the system and most magics. There are of course magics for massive group rituals and other such things but they don’t really fall into basic understanding. Anyways are there any questions or can we finally create my first spell?” Kena was literally bouncing on her non cushioned stool.
William thought for a moment then came to a question. “Can two or more people share their mana pools, for one of them to cast a spell higher then what they can accomplish on their own?” “Kind of however its really not recommended as one or all participants can have their natural mana channels destroyed. Meaning they will never cast again. There are some artificial ways but are incredibly inefficient and don’t preserve the mana for long. Rituals are the safest as the ritual circles blend each participants mana into a whole to complete the ritual.” “Well that’s a shame though maybe this world hasn’t tried hard enough out of fear of the consequences. Anyways I think we can start my first idea is a simple self protecting area of effect spell this will teach you how to manipulate gravity with the best efficiency I believe.” Kena nods her head fervently. "Ok little lesson first. Think on that sheet of space-time. Place yourself as the object in the middle but instead of taking something and flinging it we’re going to try something a bit more in tune with something a bit more advanced that sorta breaks the sheet of space time idea. There are these things called pulsars they emit so much energy that the energy causes ripples like in a pond out from the pulsar. Taking that I want you to try ejecting mana from yourself and cause ripples in the sheet of space-time around you. Now there are two ways I see you could take the spell. Either something that is a one and done or a constant effect like that of a pulsar. That’s up to you though to be honest both sound great. So have at it!” Kena jumped up from her stool and ran a fair distance away from William. Lets see how this goes.
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At first nothing really happened then something very interesting happened that William was expecting somewhat. There was the slightest distortion around Kena. Light was bending around her as she focused. As William watched the slight distortion began to emanate from Kena. More effectively fear conducing was the sound as each wave reached about fifteen feet from her. A dull bass sound that had the fitting tempo of beach waves on stone ‘Voom’ ...‘Voom’...‘Voom’. After several minutes of this Kena jumped in surprise she did bit of victory dance laughing the entire time. William however was not impressed as he watched the metronome like waves continue but also move around with her. He watched as she got near one of the upturned crater edges. The portion of the crater that fell within the spell was flattened to the height of the ground Kena was dancing on. The dirt not at level however exploded away from Kena with a speed almost characteristic of a shrapnel round from a cannon. After that happened Kena looked at the flattened area covered her mouth with a hand then canceled the spell and walked back to William she meekly asked “Th…Tha…That’s gravity?” “Yeah it is. It can be very powerful also word of warning, it’s the weakest of the four fundamentals.” If William wasn’t trying to be serious he would have laughed aloud as Kena’s eyes went as wide as saucers.
“Alright, so what exactly did you get? You were doing quite the little dance before you flattened a part of that crater.” Kena looked a little sheepish at the mention of the dance but then proudly said “The system gave me ‘Pulsar’s Pulse’ not very imaginative of the system but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.”
“A good start as any. Alright, so next how about another defensive spell this time it’s something that could allow you to move around or even create a shield for many others nearby. Same concept as the last the last with you in the center except maybe push the center of the gravity well out from yourself to create a bubble except this time instead of waves pushing out just make a strong well of gravity around yourself and whomever you choose nearby. Also think of giving nearby stationary objects a little boost and then they will circle or ‘orbit’ the area around you. Now because of the massive gravity well you can choose to either redirect, capture, or return to sender. This is a bit more complicated then the other so I will be making some objects to throw at you. It won’t hurt if it does hit you though, trust me on that.”
This new spell idea in mind the two went to work. Hours were put in and to William, Kena was doing well but she needed to learn to expand the area of control and protection. Currently it was still just around her but progress was made the area was maybe half a foot away when it was inches at the start. Everything else about the spell was top notch.
William had taken some of Cluci’s targets and shifted them into certain sizes and shapes. He then tossed them at Kena. The larger she would use as shields the smaller ones were either redirected to the side or were retained gained speed from the gravity well then jettisoned in a specific direction.
Eventually William called it quits the sun was nearing dusk and it was a long walk back to the village. Kena was a little disappointed. However, Will was quick to quench it “Now, now no disappointment. You must rest think on what I taught you but know this if you learn all the fundamentals you might have a better understanding of natural phenomena than anyone in the world. Also the next fundamental should allow you to help me greatly after we get the wall up.”
“Wall? You mean like a palisade we could but the imperial legion will just burn it.” “Wooden wall she says bah I say ‘bah’. Gods no I mean a stone wall except it will be stronger then stone and leagues easier to repair.” “A stone wall? That would require a stonemason we don’t have one at the moment.” William smirked as they walked. “If I was to tell you I could mix gravel aggregates and a very special substance with water and make a wet paste like material that is stronger then stone when dried. What would you say?” “I would say you are a madman and a charlatan, but I think I might start placing more of my bets on you.” “Grand! You would be right to do so. Now can you tell me if Runick has a set of caves that have pillars and spikes abound within.” “Yeah there’s a whole system by the lake the mouth to it is set into one of the hills.” “Good, good, perfect even. Now does everyone know of these caves?” “Yeah, all the villagers at least.” A grin spread across Will’s face. His thoughts? Everything’s coming up Willhouse.