- Dear students - started Professor Winchester, as he placed his both hands on the top of the rostrum placed on the elevation at the front o his classroom. - Today we are beginning an important part of this course, which will also be the project you need to make to pass the class. Then next lessons will, in different shapes or forms, prepare you to fulfill the task. So... How many of you heard about spellbooks?
As he asked the question few hands shoot in the air, which caused him to smile a little.
- Good that some of you are familiar with that word, and bad that some of you are too lazy to raise your hands - said the teacher, and looked at Lena.
She had her hands crossed on her chest and immediately rolled her eyes.
- For those, who have no idea what we are talking about, the spellbook is a handy tool that almost all of us, mages, use. It's a special kind of book that is connected to our minds - he touched his temple briefly. - And let us remember more spells than our memories would normally allow. For now, you only know the simple ones, so this might not sound so interesting to you, but with time passing, you will collect more and more of them and they will, especially those complicated ones, challenge your memory.
He moved from behind the rostrum, and began a slow walk across the elevated space, waving his hand in the air as he spoke.
- As you already know not finishing the spell, or making a mistake makes the energy injected into it disperse in the air for the outer manifestation. As for the inner ones, the consequences are not so bad. So imagine now a spell that would take you a few minutes to complete. How many details it would have? And a single mistake is equal to a failure. This is when the spellbooks come in handy, as they allow you to remember every part, as you would have a step-by-step manual in your hands.
He paused for a moment, as he took a few more steps.
- But creating a spellbook is not an easy task, and although I hope all of you succeed in doing so during your first year here, I also have to say that you will end up destroying your first spellbook anyway, to simply make a better one, as your skills progress.
He stopped and faced the class, to scan through the faces of a few students.
- Ok. Without further ado, let us begin - he clapped with his hands and then rubbed his palms together. - I hope all of you followed my instructions from our last class and brought the quills with you because they are going to be crucial today. One of the easiest, but very good in terms of overall effects, exercises to improve your control over the energy is, to use it to manipulate objects. Since students tend to note a lot in school some professors, quite a long time ago, thought it would be a good idea, to make the quills write for you, to kill two birds with one stone. And let me tell you, it was a breakthrough...
The teacher went on the move again, to come back to the rostrum, and pulled a box hidden inside it. He placed it on the top, opened it, and pulled a quill, to then present it to everybody on top of his open hand.
- As you can see, this is a quill, just like the ones in your possession. What I want you to do, is to hold it just like I'm doing right now, and then infuse it with your energy. It might be difficult at first, but work hard to achieve it and you will succeed in no time
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As he spoke, his hand flashed with dull grey light, that quickly surrounded the object in his hand.
- The next step, much harder, is to force the quill to levitate - he said and the quill on top of his palm started to slowly drift upwards until it stopped a few centimeters above. - When you achieve that, I want you to position the quill vertically.
Just like before, the object followed his narration.
- The last thing I want you to do is to write down your own name on a piece of paper while controlling your quill this way. This might take you a few lessons even if you practice on your own time, but it's important, so I want you to not get discouraged despite slow progress, and keep on working. As soon as the majority of you succeed, we will progress with the course a bit further. I believe that at this point you should begin creating your own enchantments during the basics of enchantments class, so the transition to our next topic is going to be easy.
He paused again to look around at the students. Most of them were already focused on the quills placed on their open hands, instead of him.
- Let's begin! - he shouted.
Trevor was no different than other teenagers, and his hand was already shining with blue, as he tried to move the energy into the quill. He succeeded after a couple of minutes, which only increased his motivation, but the next part of the task proved to be much harder.
The concentration necessary to even budge the quill was tremendous. He started sweating and could feel a dull pain in his head as time passed, but couldn't lift the feather.
Suddenly a loud ping hit his ears several times, and a bell icon appeared in the corner of his vision. It surprised him and made him look around if anybody noticed, but the students were too consumed by the task to see anything else than their quills, so there was no way anybody would notice his reaction. As for the sound, it was only in his head.
He opened the messages window, and a new entry was there, awaiting to be opened - which he immediately did.
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Congratulation on achieving 100 points in your 'Control' ability!
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After reading the message, he switched the window to Missions. There were few new entries there.
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Title: Elementalist
Goal: Increase the value of your 'Elemental Proficiency: Fire', 'Elemental Proficiency: Frost', 'Elemental Proficiency: Earth', 'Elemental Proficiency: Air' to 10.
Description: To increase your elemental proficiencies open the memory pack attached to the mission entry, and follow the instruction.
Reward: A random spell
Attachments: Elementalist's memory pack.
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He read the first one quickly and then switched to another one.
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Title: Even more power!
Goal: Increase the value of your 'Energy' to 500.
Description: By any means necessary increase the amount of your 'Energy' to the required number.
Reward: A random spell
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He quickly scanned through the words and then focused on the last entry.
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Title: Adept of the flow
Goal: Increase the value of your 'Control' to 200.
Description: To increase your 'Control' open the memory pack attached to the mission entry, and follow the instruction.
Reward: 'Energy Overcharge' skill evolution.
Attachments: Novice of the flow's memory pack.
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The last entry shocked him, because of the reward. He didn't expect the skill to be able to evolve and got very curious about what I really meant.
- Stop spacing out - Lena suddenly whispered to his ear, as she jammed him with her elbow.
It was quite painful, since she used too much of her strength, probably not even realizing it, so he wasn't angry because of it, but nevertheless, it hurt.
He armed himself with a fake smile, and then nodded, thinking that it may be a better idea, to check the new missions when he will be alone. Then for a moment, he massaged his side to make the pain go away and finally returned to the task given by the teacher.