14 Magic (1/2)
As the stars gleamed brilliantly above them, Arthal resumed his speech.
”This.” Arthal said with satisfaction, ”Is Arcane magic. The root of all magics, any magic you perform will be created with arcane magic as its basic form, and given another attribute to fill in the vessel that arcane magic can create. Today however, you will be grasping the basics of using arcane magic.” Pausing, Arthal walked over to a table tucked against the corner of the room where he grabbed a small box. Making his way back he gave the box to Calyn.
”Please distribute these beginner's wands to the recruits.” He instructed her, turning to retake his place in front of the group.
Calyn quickly handed each student a wand from the box. As Eric received his he examined it. It resembled a tapered stick, with a handle carved from the wood of the base. A small clear crystal adorned the tip of the wand, giving it a slight resemblance to a children's toy with a glass ball on the end.
”Ahem, now that everyone has received their wands I shall explain how to cast the most basic of arcane attack magics. While I would prefer to teach you something more practical such as a light spell, someone has deemed it necessary to begin with attack magic.” Here Arthal glared at the ceiling of the tower before continuing.
”The name of the spell you shall be learning is Arcane Strike. It is the most fundamental of all attack magic, nearly every offensive spell you learn from this point on will have arcane strike as its starting point. That is because arcane strike as its core is simply the act of gathering mana and causing it to shoot outwards. Watch as I demonstrate.”
Arthal walked towards the center of the room, unbeknownst to the students Calyn had set up a target dummy behind them while Arthal was giving his speech. Pointing his wand at the target, Arthal performed a quick circular swishing movement with his wand, upon the completion of which a ball of brilliantly glowing violet energy shot out and impacted with the dummy.
”Whoa.” The students quickly gave Arthal a round of applause which he waved away with an embarassed look.
”That is the most basic of attack magics, all you must do is create the form of a circle using the tip of your wand and then will the mana in your mana vessel to fill that circle. Once the spell is created you may direct it to shoot in any direction you please. I would ask that you all shoot it towards the dummy though. Now does everyone understand?”
Calyn gave a short cough. ”Yes?” Arthal asked, perplexed by her sudden intrusion.
”Maybe you should tell them how to draw the magic from the mana vessel Arthal?”
Calyn sighed, shaking her head as she did so. Then she walked over to where Arthal stood and took aim at the dummy, her fishing rod clutched tightly in her right hand. Looking closer, Eric suddenly saw that her fishing rod had bits of crystal embedded in the tip, as well as along the sides.
”In order to cast a spell there are three basic conditions you must fulfill. The first is that you must create the magical formation using arcane magic. This is the vessel of the spell. The circle is the most basic formation and only creates a minor arcane attack. It is not even at the level of a single mana arrow.”
Demonstrating, Calyn first created the circle that Arthal had created, firing an Arcane Strike at the dummy. Then she created a slightly more complex formation, a circle with a triangular head. No longer a circle the formation now resembled a teardrop. As she cast the spell, this time instead of a shapeless orb of arcane energy, a much more powerful arrow of arcane energy shot out and slammed into the head of the dummy, sending it reeling backwards.
Turning back towards the group, Calyn checked to make sure they all seemed to understand before continuing her explanation, ”The second condition is that you must designate an attribute for the spell, for arcane spells there are no attributes. And you may skip this step. But you must add a second formation to the first in order to meld the structure of the spell with a secondary attribute. The most common example of this would be an element. For example if I add the fire element to the Mana Arrow I used just now I would cast the Fire Arrow spell.”