The Soldier Mage 6 Chapter 6

Wilfred sat in the cla.s.sroom almost half-asleep, listening to the lecture. Professor Mcray had interesting material but always found a way to make the lesson boring. This time, the professor was explaining how to create new spells.

"You see, it's rather rare that a new spell is created. But I have a theory that perhaps it's not actually that rare but simply lack of sharing. A mage who creates a new spell may not wish to share it with others, as it's their own discovery. A lot of effort goes into creating a new spell. A high Wisdom stat is needed and one must spend much time experimenting. In order to create the spell, you need to have the ideas in your mind, the full visualization of what is done, how it works and why it works. I strongly believe that the King should offer some stipend to incenti…"

Wilfred raised his hand, interrupting the ramblings of the professor.

"Yes Wilfred?"

"Is there a list of all spells created and known? How would one go about to create say...A spell that was very specific, like shooting six ice shards to the right and five to the left."

The professor rubbed his chin, thinking on the specifics of that problem.

"Well for starters, you need to know some spell of water magic, more specifically Ice magic. It's the same element but there's another layer of complexity as you also need to control the temperature. Then, you'd need some ranged throwing spell. It's often understated but language, words, have a very profound and impactful meaning on how magic activates. So you'd try different combinations, all while a.s.sociating these words in your mind to the spell and effect. In regards to your previous question, the Pedestal of Knowledge's library would have all you need. Bear in mind that creating new spells is rather advanced knowledge and you'd be better off learning new spells the regular way; by leveling up after meeting the stats requirements. Now, resuming my lesson.."

When you probed him the right way, Professor Mcray had the most fascinating of explanations. He was a combat mage, now teaching after many years of battle, but he wasn't such a great teacher as much as he was a great mage.

After cla.s.s, having 2 hours before the next one, since Wilfred now skipped Ranged Spell Practice, he headed for the Library. Wilfred saw a few students this time around in the halls, most in groups of 2 and chatting about mundane things.

Opening the large doors to the Pedestal room with a bit of effort and a grunt, Wilfred basked in the light from the dome at the top. Over 40 foot high ceilings and natural light drifting inside. Books lined every inch of the walls, almost up to the top. An elongated wooden ladder stood on the side to grant access to those hard to reach books. In the center of the room stood the Pedestal, which the academy uses to test the novices. Arrayed off the side are a few tables and chairs, presumably to study the immense library here.

But where to start? I should research about what my skill does and how to use it. Trying [Construct Artifact] out loud had done nothing. I'll try shelf per shelf and keep notes, there doesn't seem to be any index.

Taking the ladder and laying it against the northernmost bookshelf, Wilfred scanned the shelves one by one, going up as he went along and reading the t.i.tles printed on the side of the books.

Finding 3 tomes of relevance, he took a look around from the top of the ladder, looking at the room. Only a single table was occupied. Looking more closely, a student, female, is sitting with a pile of books, a dozen of them.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go and sit next to her. Maybe she'll have recommendations for me if these don't work out, given she seems to be studying really hard.

Wilfred made his way to the table, tomes in hand, and sat down at the girl's table.

"Hey do you mind if I…"

Peering back from behind the pile of books on the table was Lucy Avarte, one of his cla.s.smates that had mistaken him for a child. She paused her reading to look at the speaker and was as equally surprised to see him here.

"Fine but you better keep to yourself!" She exclaimed, quickly going back to her book.

Wilfred rolled his eyes, why couldn't it ever be normal.

Picking up the first tome, a large thick leather bound book with the t.i.tle of 'Introduction to Spellcasting', Wilfred opened it and started reading. It contained a rough outline on how voice activated magic and the author's theories on it. One interesting part that drew Wilfred's attention was about how to learn initial spells. It suggested that by observing for long enough certain spells and leveling up, one had a chance to acquire such spells. The author had trained a long time with his mentor and had learned the spell [Fireball] that way, simply by seeing it cast hundred of times and then when he leveled up he learnt it as well. Furthermore, some spells have stats requirement in order to learn as well as the mage's elemental affinities, just like Mcray had explained.

Putting down the book and stretching, Wilfred looked up and noticed the light from the dome had dimmed considerably. Looking over to Lucy, on her end of the table she had gone through more than half the pile of her books. Looking more closely at her, she was quite attractive on second glance. Her blonde hair was cut short, ending just above her shoulders. The irises of her eyes were brown but when she read, there was something cute about the way she remained so focused, her lips lightly parted. Wilfred dismissed the thought; whilst attractive he absolutely despised her personality, plus the fact she was twice his age in this world.

Not having found anything about skills bugged Wilfred. He was really curious about his own skill. He decided to try with Lucy.

"Hey, I have a question, please."

She kept reading for a few moments and then looked up at Wilfred.

"What is it?" She asked with a sigh, the disturbance annoying her.

"Do you know any books about skills? That would describe what they do? How to use them? I have this skill I'm not even sure how to use…"

She rolled her eyes, acting as if the question was a simple one.

"You'll want Rythear's compendium of skills. It's pretty old though, would likely be at the very top of the southernmost shelves. I saw it some time ago."

"Thanks a bunch, saved me a lot of time spent looking."

She lifted a single hand and waved him off, delving deeper into 'Histories of the Demi-Human Kingdoms'.

Moving the ladder and finding the proper book, Wilfred came back to the table and dove right in. A few minutes later, after gleaning the proper information from the index in the book, Wilfred learnt that skills behave differently than spells. They encompa.s.s a very wide range of things including but not limited to: martial arts, weapon attacks and other types like alchemy and smithing. Skills could be placed in two categories, natural ones such as being born with a skill and acquired ones, such as honing your skill for a long time with a weapon and developing special attacks.

Trying to find specific information about his skill was nigh impossible. But further along, in the annexes, the author included a list of all skills currently known and recorded. Finding one such skill, called [Create Relic], Wilfred hoped to find similarities that could help him solve his skill's ability. [Create Relic] allows one to make, using mana, a piece of equipment made from magic. The item in question is stronger than what is available to be made by a smith but it's also only temporary, dissolving after some time. Looking at another skill [Golem Construct], that one allows the user to construct a large statue of various materials, which can be animated by magic. The statue is permanent though, unlike the create skill but becomes deactivated when it runs out of magic.

So, I can create permanent artifacts? That sounds pretty good. What's an artifact though.

Scanning all the other pages yielded no result for artifacts. Getting up from his book, Wilfred noticed that Lucy had already left, her stack of books no longer on the table. The bright light that was coming in from the domed gla.s.s ceiling was now instead pitch dark, it was time to go back to his rooms.

Deciding to keep the books for a little while longer, Wilfred brought them along with him and headed for his room with a stack of books in front of him, partially obscuring his vision. Just after leaving the library, something hard got in the way of his right leg and he fell down, books scattering everywhere.

"Ach! Ouch.."

Gathering himself up, Wilfred barely had time to register the kick coming for his face.

"Prodigy my a.s.s! Why does he get special accommodations? My uncle is a count and I don't get any privileges!"

The foot hit his jaw with a tremendous impact. A loud 'tock' resonated in the empty corridors of the academy as he fell over, losing consciousness.