Stages of Spellcasting
"So... would you mind teaching me some magic?"
At the sight of such a humongous and intricate dragon construct, Great Mage Sev fell to his knees. He was already amazed by the comparably simple brush earlier, let alone an impossibly large and near perfect dragon.
"How is this possible..." the jaw of Great Mage Mirlie dropping in absolute shock.
To other those below the stage of a Great Mage, such a sight would only cause awe, to a Great Mage such a sight could instill fear. By the time someone became a Great Mage they could somewhat manipulate all the mana within their body, yet still preferring their Mana Pool for its ease and assistance in control of the unwieldy Mana. Both Great Mage Sev and Great Mage Mirlie had both attempted to create tiny constructs but the sheer amount of corrections one would have to continuously undergo for a construct to maintain its shape. They had failed at tiny constructs such as the brush Nora had created earlier, let alone such a humongous construct. It would be nearly impossible for one to even come close to creating such a feat.
Seeing Great Mage Sev fall to his knees brought a smile to Nora's face. She decided to further push the situation.
Slowly, another dragon construct emerged, unlike the previous one which was based around the fire element, the second dragon construct was based around the wind element. A flurry of wind encompassed the dragon, making it seem almost ethereal. Under Nora's guidance, the two constructs circled and coiled around each other.
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[Skill Level Up]
Mana Mastery : 3
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Due to Nora not wanting to miss a single moment of the sight before her, she ignored the prompt.
Such a sight pushed Great Mage Sev passed his limit and caused him to pass out. Nora now felt the effects of drawing mana out from one's body, she felt rather sluggish and her body slightly unresponsive.
Wanting to actually learn some magic and not just scare her teachers, she cancelled the constructs and they instantly fell apart, causing the elemental particles to scatter and the mana to dissipate.
Percy who had been completely engrossed in the cultivation manual only now looking up, "Why is Great Mage Sev on the ground?" somehow managing to have been completely oblivious to what had just occurred.
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Great Mage Sev awoke a few minutes later, Great Mage Mirlie beside him, comforting Great Mage Sev who had collapsed.
The first words out of Great Mage Sev's mouth immediately were, "Please tell me it was a nightmare..." still not wanting to believe that Nora was such an impossible being.
Wanting to console Great Mage Sev, Nora walked over to him and spoke, "I'm really sorry... I think I took it too far Great Mage Sev... It was just too funny seeing you in shock"
"Nora, it's alright... From now on, you can drop the prefix, just call me Sev. With such an impossible degree of control over Mana, it won't be long till you surpass me anyway..." the statement hurting Sev's pride more than he'd ever admit.
"Nora," Great Mage Mirlie added, "since you're already capable of controlling mana to such a degree, I don't see a problem with teaching you how to cast spells"
Both Sev and Great Mage Mirlie rose from the ground, Sev physically dusting off the feeling of defeat he had just felt.
Great Mage Mirlie walked over to the large board at the front of the class and began,
"Percy, you should listen too, it may help you in the future as well. Spells are primarily broken down into 3 stages. Spell formulas are what make up the spell. They are what allow a Mage to create supernatural feats with ease.
The first of the stages is 'Incantation'. During the beginning of one's path as a Mage, people often have to recite a passage which help's one properly activate the spell formula. The words which are spoken often help guide the Mana to create the desired effect. Although this process is by far the easiest, it is also extremely inefficient and beyond dangerous in battle. Making a Mage nearly useless in battle due to the long delay between them starting combat and actually attacking.
The second stage of spell casting is 'Meaning', the process in which someone endows a selection of words with a spell formula. Shortening the process of spellcasting, instead of one reciting a long passage, they only need to say a few words, such as Fireball." the utterance of Fireball creating a large red sphere of flames on Great Mage Mirlie's hand. "At the second stage combat becomes viable if not slightly hazardous due to most intelligent enemies being able to prepare for you attack as you state the select words.
The final stage of spell casting is 'Intent'. The final stage allows one to imbue their actions with a spell. Such as a simple wave of the hand allowing one to cast a fireball instead of having any verbal requirements. By far the most viable in combat and the most useful. At a certain point, most Mages have mastered most of their spells to the 'Intent' stage due to the larger their options in combat, the larger chance of them remaining unharmed is multiplied."
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Shortly after Great Mage Mirlie finished her brief lesson, she wrote out a Level-0 spell formula. She explained to Nora that the spells are divided into ranks. In this case, the Level-0 spell formula refers to spells which although aimed at Mages, is of lesser complexity and difficulty than the proper Level-1 spells of a proper Mage.
The Level-0 spell in question was Mage Hand, an extremely common spell which nearly all Mages have mastered. It allows one to create a hand out of Mana which can carry non-magical objects that weigh less than 10kg's at will. Only with the small downside of having to sustain a constant supply of minimal mana.
Percy who had been quiet for quite some time, as soon as he heard the description of the spell he couldn't refrain and spoke up, "I swear I've seen this spell before..." after a few brief moments he shouted, "This spell is straight from D&D!"