Ch. 35 - Rune Magicians

"Praccipio tibi ut oriri! Praccipio tibi ut oriri! Praccipio tibi ut oriri!"

"Stop it Azrail. You're doing it incorrectly." (Valde)

"What am I doing wrong? I'm following the motions and chanting the verses correctly."

"You're not using your mana pool. Right now, you're just making the motions and chanting the verses without actually imbuing any magic in them." (Valde)

"How do I imbue magic in my actions and words?"

"You just have to feel it." (Valde)

"That's not very helpful."

"It's different for everybody. Try imagining a pool of magic in your body. When you chant the levitation spell, imagine part of the pool in your body flowing to your wand and mouth. That's the best I can describe it. You'll get there soon enough, I'm sure of it." (Valde)

I sighed in annoyance and gave Valde's idea a try.

I imagined that inside my body, there existed a pool of magic splashing around. I proceeded to start executing the movements and chanting the verses of the levitation spell slowly. As I was imaging the magic in me flowing through my limbs and tongue. I suddenly heard a small gasp. I immediately opened my eyes to see that the feather on my desk was shaking slightly as if something was tugging at it. However, the feather stopped moving when I lost focus on casting the levitation spell.

"Congrats, you've cast your first spell." (Valde)

"But it didn't levitate though."

"Baby steps Azrail. Baby steps." (Valde)

"You're right. I should be happy that I managed to cast the levitation spell, albeit not to a great extent."

"Now it just comes down to practice. The more you practice, the better you'll get." (Valde)

"And practice I shall do."

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Wow, look at the time, class sure went by fast. Seems like you have to delay the practice till after school today." (Valde)

"That's not a problem, and it isn't the end of the world for me if I'm unable to practice the levitation spell at this split moment."

"Let's go to our next class now." (Valde)

Today's magic in combat class was very similar to yesterday. Trainer Kuzman just had us do some more physical exercises. I admit it was pretty tiring, but nothing outside the realms of comfort for me. The same was true for our potion-making class. Professor Llewellyn gave a lecture today about various potions, their uses, and their potential dangers.

The school day passed very quickly, and before I knew it, I had finished all my classes.

"Hey Azrail, Ronald and I are going to go to the library to finish our homework. Let's go." (Valde)

"Sorry, I can't go right now. I have to do something first. I'll join you guys when I finish."

"Ok, see you soon." (Valde)

"See Ya."

—In Professor Costanzo's office—

"You're two minutes late." (Professor Costanzo)

"Sorry master, Professor Llewellyn's class went on a little longer today."

"That is fine. He does that pretty often." (Professor Costanzo)

"What are we going to do today, master?"

"Did you manage to cast the levitation spell in class today?" (Professor Costanzo)

"Yes, however, I only managed to make the feather shake."

"We all have to start somewhere, don't beat yourself over it. I wasn't able to cast a spell until after weeks of diligent practice and training. You're doing good." (Professor Costanzo)

"Thank you master."

"Let me see your wand." (Professor Costanzo)

I handed Master Costanzo my wand that was more tree branch than it was wand. Holding my wand in his hand, Master Costanzo's brows clenched.

"What happened?" (Professor Costanzo)

"Wandmaker Bumstead refused to tailor me a wand because I'm a thin-blood."

"I understand." (Professor Costanzo)

"...Azrail. Do you know why we use wands?" (Professor Costanzo)

"As a medium to cast magic as you've taught us in class today, master."

"Yes, but that is a very general statement that applies to all mediums. I'm asking, do you understand exactly what purpose the wand serves?" (Professor Costanzo)

"No. I do not know master."

"Sit down. I'm going to give you a quick lecture about the inner workings of the wand." (Professor Costanzo)

"How does one actually cast a spell? If stripped to its barest inner workings, a spell is just a model. Injecting mana into this model is what we call casting a spell. But the model is detailed and complex. Any mistake in the model will result in the failure of the spell. How do we make the modeling process easier then? Simple. We create the models beforehand. And that is what a medium is. It is a model that casts a spell as long as magic is injected into it." (Professor Costanzo)

"Wait, so wouldn't someone be able to carve all spells into objects and just inject magic into them to cast magic without having to learn the spells?"

"Yes, exactly, this is what rune magicians do. They carve models of spells into runes and simply inject magic into them when they need to use it." (Professor Costanzo)

"Why don't we learn to carve magic spells in class then?"

"Have you seen any rune magicians in this school?" (Professor Costanzo)

"No."

"Exactly, because rune magicians are not a popular subclass of magicians." (Professor Costanzo)

"Why?"

"The most prominent problem rune magicians face is their lack of versatility and the astronomical costs associated with being a rune magician. Runes do not last forever. Casting spells is a very taxing endeavor, and most runes are only good for one or two uses before they crumble. This, in turn, makes rune magicians lack versatility and combat potential because they are defenseless when they run out of runes to use.

Additionally, to cast stronger magic, the material rune magicians carve on must also be better in order to endure the spell. Btoials translate to more expensive and rarer materials. So only someone who is rich can bear the costs of being a rune magician.

However, do not ever underestimate a rune magician. They are overpowered when it comes to duels. One thing the rune magician has over other subclasses of magicians is that they can cast magic exceptionally quickly and on the move. They don't need to concentrate while casting magic as we must do; they simply need to inject magic into their runes. This also means they could cast multiple spells simultaneously by merely injecting magic into multiple runes simultaneously. By doing this, a rune magician can annihilate their opponent in a one-on-one fight by simply bombarding them with all their runes in quick succession.

Additionally, rune magicians also tend to be the wealthiest people. The nature of the runes means anyone could use them as long as they have enough mana to activate the runes. Runes made by rune magicians fetch a hefty penny in the market, let alone the powerful runes that get sold for insurmountable amounts of money." (Professor Costanzo)