Chapter 9 - Battle magic assessment (II) (1/2)

Kalin Magic Academy

Two hours had passed since the first fight of the battle magic assessment between Clyde and Brandon took place. All of the students had fought their second match, and everyone was now preparing for the third and final match. Everyone had carefully watched their classmates throughout their fights, discussing areas they were lacking and coming up with ways to improve themselves as well, while also planning what to do if they ended up fighting that student.

In addition to the students informal evaluation of each fight, the academy's staff and professors were conducting their own assessment of the fights as well. Some of them complimented the students for their progress and creativity, while others chastised them for being too slow at casting spells. It wasn't uncommon for a student to spend at least ten seconds just to cast a 2nd tier spell.

During their first two years in the academy as junior mages, all the students had been taught how to deploy a magic spell, as this was the most fundamental skill a mage could have. This deployment could be divided into three separate parts: the preliminary stage, the completion stage, and the release stage. Mastering each of these three stages was crucial for the future success of any mage.

The preliminary stage referred to the chanting of the spell, the pooling of the element and forming the appropriate resonance magic. Each of these required a mage to use their spiritual power to guide the mana. With enough practice, a mage could shorten the time required to chant a spell, or even use voiceless incantation once they reached a certain level of mastery.

The completion stage referred to the creation of the spell formation, as well as the visualization of the appropriate magic circle. It was possible for advanced mages to craft a spell up to this point and then extend this stage, chanting another spell and then release both spells at the same time. This process was known as dual casting.

Finally, the release stage was simply the stage where the mage defined a target and powered the spell formations with the power they'd gathered.

So far, all of the students fully mastered all three stages, but 90 percent of them were still unable to shorten their spells yet. They'd been taught the theory, but they were simply unable to grasp the concept, which gave the professors many headaches as they were repeatedly asked questions on how to do it. At least in terms of mana control the students had a firm grasp on the basics, even though they are still far from the level of prodigies such as Clyde and Wilsin. Good mana control is vital when it comes to fights between mages.

Measuring mana control was very difficult to do accurately. For example, if a second tier spell required 30 units of mana to cast, then a mage could use more or less mana than that depending on how he or she wanted to use the spell. If they used more mana, then the effect would become stronger; but if they used less mana, then the effect would obviously weaken. Knowing how much mana to use in a fight and in different situations was referred to as mana control. This was one of the largest differences between a senior mage and a junior mage, since this type of control was a direct result of both talent and experience.

Out of all the students, the only one that the professors could not accurately judge was Shad. In both of his fights so far, he did not use a single magic spell. In his first fight he simply threw his opponent bodily out of bounds, while in the second fight he punched the hell out of his opponent before throwing him out of bounds as well. He was fighting more like a warrior than a mage. There was no rule saying that a contestant could not use physical attacks in the assessment, so no one was able to protest as he used nothing but physical strength and saved up his mana.

Shad didn't really like to show off, and he didn't want to become overly reliant on spells as a combatant. Even if he did get in a pinch in a real situation, he could always use the ability to channel lightning out of his body without the use of a spell. This was thought to be impossible in this world, which is why he would only use this when he was trying to kill someone. Like they say, a dead man tells no tales.

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