[A comical picture of a werewolf standing upright after having stepped on a rake, the handle of which swung up to strike its snout.]
W is for werewolves, the lycanthrope cursed. Of Kaltis’ monsters I’d say they’re the worst. But have you no fear, dear child of mine for what they lack in kindness, they also lack in mind.
-Sally Rider’s ABCs of Magic
—
Kole ran back to his room in the library. He had five hours to study if he skipped lunch, and he didn’t want to waste any of it. He didn’t know what would be required of him to pass his classes now that he w as receiving private tutoring, but he didn’t expect it to be significantly different from before. He needed to be able to cast three spells in a day to pass WIZ 105 and he was getting close.
With a capacity of 46, Magic Missile and Shield each costing around 20, and Thunderwave costing 15, he had to either increase his capacity by 10 in the next 4 weeks—extremely unlikely unless he fell into a year-long stint in the dungeon, at which point his task would be easy—or he’d have to make his other spells collectively 20% more efficient. A daunting task, but a possible one.
So, he dove into his studies as soon as he got back to his room, digging into the book Efficient Pathing for the Traditional Wizard, not even noticing the return of the furrier of his two roommates until he started rummaging through his pack for food.
After a few hours of reading, with the occasional jaunt to the Arcane Realm to perform some tests, Kole felt that his mind had begun to circle a bit, so he switched over to working on Magic Missile. The process of reconstructing damaged spellforms was far from the creative endeavor that was creating new versions of Thunderwave, but the familiar task was almost a comfortable form of rest that allowed his mind to wander.
As he worked, copying spell form components from his references books into his newest version of the spell, he thoughts returned to Zale.
Should I tell her what I saw? He wondered. But did I really see anything? It could have been anyone. Harold does have a very generic and boring face…
Mind free to wander, he debated internally before eventually he had to stop working on Magic Missile at all, returning to Thunderwave just to occupy his mind fully, resolving to talk to Rakin about it as soon as he could.
Kole’s alarm went off, breaking him from his focus—eventually. Deep in the depths of his mental vault, the sounds of the world were easy to ignore. So, with only a little bit of dead-on sprinting despite his weariness, Kole made it to the office shared by the history teaching assistants in the academics building.
“You’re not late!” Zale said with a smile.
She’d been free of her disguise this morning, but now once more had her illusion active to appear as a normal half-elf after getting changed after practice.
Zale noticed Kole giving her appearance a once over and shrugged.
“I don’t know this guy, and figured it was best to not make him uncomfortable,” she said, and then added. “And I’m meeting Harold later and can’t wear this with my other complexion.
She gestured at the clean white tunic she was wearing, ornate with golden embroidery.
“It makes me look like I’m walking around topless,” she admitted, blushing slightly.
The door opened, revealing a young orc in wrinkled scholarly robes.
“You’re not a human,” Zale said, dumbly. “I mean! I’m sorry! I’m Zale, I’m also not a human!”
She fumbled trying to recover from the verbal vomit, growing more embarrassed as she went.
“It’s fine,” the orc said in a practiced tone. “I get it a lot. Korin Kalis is a very human name. I’m adopted. I’m studying my people’s ways under Professor Gromk. Please come in.”
They entered the cramped room. It had a small window and a single desk. The shelves that lined the walls as well as the desk were covered in stacks of paper and books.
“Sorry about the mess,” Korin apologized. “I share the office with a few other teaching assistants.”
He cleared the stacks of papers from the two guest seats, and after looking around the room for a place to put them, gave the stack a quick perusal before dropping it in the trash can.
“Flooding Percival,” he muttered under his breath.
“Please sit,” he said in a louder voice, directed to them. “Let’s get you up to speed on a few thousand years of pre-Flood history.”
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Korin began by verbally quizzing each of them to understand where they were in the class’s planned curriculum. After that, he assigned them each a few books to read and assignments to go along with them. Afterward, he spent the remainder of the time asking them questions and leading a discussion of pre-Flood orc clan conflicts, making sure each of them contributed.
“I’ll be honest,” Korin said before they left. “You two are probably going to be fine. The final exam will be an essay, and then you’ll be interviewed by Professor Gromk or a teaching assistant about it afterward. I could keep meeting with you two and practicing those types of discussions, or you can just do the assignments and we can all keep this hour free.”
“Let’s do the second one,” Kole said quickly, before Zale could volunteer them for any extra work.
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“Fine,” she agreed.
“Great!” Korin said, his exhausted and overworked face finally showing a flicker of energy. “Come here every Tuesday then at three to turn in your old assignment and get a new one. I’ll be here during the normal scheduled times if you have any questions.”
Outside the office, Zale frowned at Kole, but before she could complain, excused himself.
“I have tutoring with Professor Underbrook in fifteen minutes. Got to run. Would hate to be late!”
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Professor Underbrook’s office was in the Dahn, on the floors above the library, though Kole never walked up any steps to get there. The halfling wizard’s office was much larger than the cramped one Kole had just left, but equally as cluttered, with spellforms and spellbooks all over along with maps and random odds and ends Kole thought might be trophies from the professor’s career as an adventurer.
“Ah, Kole! Is it that time already? Do come in,” Underbrook greeted Kole as he knocked. “Please make yourself comfortable, just throw that stuff on the other chair there.”
Kole did so, and sat, expectedly.
“So, you may wonder why I have chosen to tutor you personally,” Underbrook said, and Kole nodded.
“You may also wonder why Lonin is also tutoring you,” Underbrook added.
Kole nodded faster.
“I have no idea,” Underbrook admitted. “He said he’d meet with you on his days off. No explanation, only said that he’d cover the spellcraft areas of the curriculum. And since he’s the boss, and that’s the boring part I didn’t complain.”
“Do you think he’s going to offer to mentor me?” Kole asked, voicing the hope he’d been afraid to even consider.
Underbrook hesitated, but then said, “No, probably not. His rule on adventuring is very firm. I brought it up again after your miraculous return, and he said ‘He’d not have needed a miraculous return if he’d not gone off on some frivolous adventure.’”
“That’s not fair!” Kole complained, “We had no control over that!”
“I agree, but you see, he's the boss, so I just nodded along,” Underbrook said with a smile.
“So, since the Grand Master is going to handle the theoretical aspects of the class, let’s talk about the practical.”
They pair moved on to discuss Kole’s final plan for the spells he would seek to learn over the next year. Underbrook revealed his final requirement for passing the class would remain unchanged, he’d need to demonstrate the mastery of three first-tier spells, but part of the class also required Kole to plan out a path for his future magical studies.
“I don’t know what specifically I will learn next, but I’m going to focus on either a Light or Mind spell,” Kole explained, sharing his recent decision.
“Hmm, smart. So, you’ve decided to embark on the path of traditional wizardry?” Underbrook said, seeing Kole’s aims.
Kole nodded.
“Yes. Creating Thunderwave was a lot faster than my work on Magic Missile and Shield. The spell started with a comparatively lower Will cost, and I have room to improve it. I’m starting to suspect that I wont be able to get Magic Missile or Shield below 15 Will each, and Thunderwave began there.”
“Wise decision,” Underbrook agreed. “While you may have a staggering large Will capacity for your age, you must still be judicious in how you use it to further your wizardry. So, any thought as to which spells?”
“I need to replace the blasting rod, so some sort of offensive Light attack. I’ve read up on it some, and there are a few, but I’ve yet to decide which.
“Have you put any thought into second-tier spells?” Underbrook asked.
Kole hadn’t and admitted as much.
“No,” Kole began. “Lately I’ve actually been thinking about going back to cantrips. All those I know are based on the offset gate spells I learned back home. With the progress I made with Magic Missile and Shield, I should be able to cast Force and Barrier cantrips for a much more reasonable cost if I base them off of those. For Thunderwave, I could probably cast one for the Font of Sound for free as they are intended.”
“That’s good,” Underbrook acknowledged. “Wizardry is not always a march upward and onward. Sometimes we must look back to from which we hail with new eyes. So, what do you see when you look forward to the second tier?”
“Those have always felt so beyond my immediate concerns I’d never put much serious thought into which I’d learn—aside from Clean of course.”
“Of course,” Underbrook agreed. “So why don’t we talk about it now?”
“Well,” Kole said and then stopped to consider. Thinking aloud he continued. “I picked Thunderwave on the assumption I’d have a relatively easy time pathing to the Font of Sound due to its connection to the Font of Illusions. That proved correct, so Light and Mind are options. A single-target offensive attack from one of those three should really be my next priority, but after that… something to debilitate? Phantasmal Force could be an option. Or something to deal with groups of smaller enemies without having to get up close, like Shatter. My mobility is bad, and I don’t see that improving so it would be best if I could stay at range. I’ll also need to see how my friends develop so I can pick spells that fit best with them.”
Kole had never voiced the thought aloud that he hoped to stick with his current team beyond the current semester and found that he had no doubt in the matter at all. In the few months they’d spent together, they’d built a bond through their trials and no part of him doubted or feared they would choose different teams as he once might have.
He went on to explain how Zale’s abilities allowed her to be immune to his Thunderwave.
“Well that is a powerful combination,” Underbrook agreed. “Have you put any thought into supporting the team in similar ways?”
“I have,” Kole said, after thinking a moment and finding that to be the case. “I think if I learned a Light spell, Zale could trace the connection back to that Font. I could then do something similar with her, like making a flare she’s immune to, or possibly an offensive radiant beam attack I didn’t have to fear hitting her with in melee. At higher levels of Mind magic there are spells that befuddle everyone in an area, if she could block those as well, it would be a powerful combination.”
“Hmm,” Underbrook said as he contemplated. “Have you put any thought into anyone besides Ms Wood?”
“Umm… No.” Kole began and found himself blushing. “It’s just that her ability is so useful.”
“I’m sure,” Underbrook said with kind smile. “Well, think on it. You have yourself a Spacial primal Blessed by Assuine, and a Stoneweaver with… a touch more. They may be working on mastering their abilities, but trust that they each will overcome their own impossible hurdles as you seem to be doing.”
Underbrook looked at Kole knowingly as he skirted around Rakin’s connection to the Font of Fire.
“One last question before I give you back your evening. Have you considered making any spells? The Illusion Font is new and some inroads have been made. You could try adapting your traditional methods to the newer forms of spell construction.”
“I… hadn’t really considered that lately,” Kole said, the embarrassment of before gone to be replaced with a new one. “At first I wanted nothing to do with the Font. Illusions are a force multiplier in battle, but the force I could multiply was zero with my magic how it was. I’d tried learning a modern Illusion spell back home, but it obviously hadn’t worked. Now… I could probably figure one out, but I’d rather spend the time elsewhere. There are a small handful of Illusion Font spells, but there is a vast library of Sound, Mind, and Light spells going back a thousand years or more. Until I can craft spells myself from scratch, I think I'm better served to stick to the proven methods of the pre-Flood traditional wizards.”
“Well, I think that has given you enough to noodle on for now. Come back Thursday with at least a few ideas on your next spell which we can discuss.”