Unruly Summon Chapter 9: Spells (Patreon)

I peered at Wendy suspiciously. What had started as a lesson in background theory had somehow escalated into her wanting me to cast what was apparently high-level fire magic. Magic that some actual qualified mages didn't even have the mana to cast.

... Wait, that phrasing was inaccurate, given how mana apparently worked. Didn't have the control over mana to cast? Whatever. That wasn't the point. The point was that I'd rather not suffer another body strengthening type mishap.

"Shouldn't we start with something a little smaller?" I suggested.

"It's not interesting if I know you're going to pull it off first time, and besides, we're kinda in a rush."

"Uninteresting is good. Uninteresting is safe."

Wendy shrugged. "Didn't have you pegged as the boring type, but if you insist. Ignis Pila, then. The image is simple enough; gather mana in front of your palm, crush it into a sphere, then set it alight. Similar to Lux, except you really don't want to be holding the resulting fireball. As you chant, aim it, and will it to move."

She demonstrated as she spoke, holding a palm vertically in front of her, aimed at one of the archery targets that were lined up on the far side of the courtyard.

"Ignis Pila," she chanted, and the air in front of her palm caught alight, then shot off at the target, scoring a direct hit. Fragments of burning wood erupted into the air as the football-sized fireball detonated, thankfully at sufficient distance that our group had nothing to worry about.

"That's not a low-level spell, either, is it?" I asked dryly.

"Of course not. The lowest level of fire magic is Parvus Ignis, but a hero like you isn't going to need weak spells like that. No point wasting your memory on it."

She cast it as she spoke, pointing a finger right at my forehead. A tongue of flame a couple of inches in length burst from her fingertip, flickering harmlessly in the air for a few seconds before burning out, not coming anywhere close to reaching me.

"What if I want to... uhh... set some kindling alight?" I tried, but I had to admit, that spell was pretty weak.

... It was also made up of words I already knew. In that case, could they be combined in other ways?

"Sanatio Pila," I tried, aiming my palm at another target and trying to form an image that mixed my healing magic with the fireball. A ball of yellow light launched itself at the target, striking exactly at where I'd aimed, but having no discernable effect.

"What was that?" complained Wendy, sounding more disappointed than surprised. "I don't know how much more healing magic Mary has been teaching you, but we're supposed to be learning offensive magic right now. Long range healing isn't really something you're likely to need."

"I didn't teach him that," denied Mary, shaking her head. "I only know Parvus Sanatio."

"I was just wondering if the common use of 'parvus' meant that 'pila' was equally common, so I thought I'd give it a go," I explained. "Besides, I thought healing magic would matter less if I missed the target, but that doesn't seem to be an issue."

"No. It takes a very special kind of talent to miss a stationary target with aimed spells. They will always strike exactly the point you imagine them striking. And yes, there are a set of standard spell modifiers. Once again, that's a topic I was intending to get to at a later date. For now, since you were the one who insisted on learning Ignis Pila, would you please cast it?"

"Ignis Pila," I chanted, aiming at the same target again. Once again, my spell impacted it dead centre, but this time it had a very discernable effect indeed. Once more, splinters of burning wood rained down upon the opposite side of the courtyard, and I couldn't help but notice that the effect was exactly the same as Wendy's.

"Ignis Pila," shouted Mary, holding up her hand, but nothing happened. "Aww."

"I don't believe you have an affinity with red magic?" asked Wendy.

"Nope, but I thought I'd try anyway!"

"Can we get back to theory for a bit?" I asked. "I've noticed with both Lux and Ignis Pila that my spells are identical in power to others. Is it standard?"

"Oh. I didn't even think to cover that, because it's obvious. Yes, of course. Ignis Pila is Ignis Pila, no matter who casts it. If you want a different effect, you cast a different spell."

So it made no difference how much mana I imagined pouring into a spell. The effect would be the same regardless.

"Okay, next question. What are affinities?"

"Something you don't need to worry about, because heroes have all of them. You can use any colour of magic without penalty."

I peered at Wendy, frowning. She didn't half seem to be skipping a load of stuff.

"There's no point looking at me like that. What do you want from me? The mage course at the royal academy is fourteen seasons long. Fourteen. Seasons. I've been told to raise you into a world-class combat mage within a week. We don't have time for an in-depth discussion of theory, or to learn every single minor spell. You need to learn how to reduce entire battalions to ash, and to prevent them doing the same to you. That's all."

... I hate this.

Here I was, in a fantasy land, with magic quite literally at my fingertips, and I didn't get to play with it because they needed to mould me into a weapon of war? If I pulled it off, I still wouldn't get to play with it, because I'd be automatically sent home, and if I didn't, it would be a moot point on account of me being dead. I understood their desperation, but even so...

"I still don't know how long a season is."

"Ah, right, you heroes come from a world that orbits its sun, and use that for time keeping. This place is more static. A season is fifteen weeks."

So... the academy was four-ish years, then. And was fifteen weeks chosen at random, or did it delineate something? And how did this planet not just fall into the sun? Far too many questions, and far too little time.

"Fine. What's the image for Conflagratio?" I asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Gather the mana above yourself, compressing it, but in a much larger volume. More of a cloud than a sphere. Then fling it at your target, and imagine it catching alight on impact. I'll demonstrate."

Wendy took on a look of concentration, eyes closed, one arm held directly above her, palm open and facing the heavens. Nothing visible happened for a few seconds, until her eyes snapped open. "Conflagratio!" she yelled, and despite nothing visible moving between herself and the target, the far end of the courtyard erupted into flame. The heat was palpable even from where we stood, the fuel-less fire raging for a full twenty seconds before it died away. The rest of the targets had simply ceased to exist, with even the exterior wall of the castle left scorched.

Wendy staggered slightly, beads of sweat running down her face that had nothing to do with the heat. "Like... Like that," she panted. "Now... you try..."

Wasn't she supposed to be a wind mage? Yes, she was left exhausted, but it had been a pretty big fire spell. In fact, so far she'd cast nothing but fire spells. Despite her opinion, I felt like I'd quite like that explanation of affinities.

Leaving my teacher to get her breath back, I tried to replicate the feat, drawing in mana to the air above me. If it was present in infinite amounts, what meaning did compressing it have? Likewise, why did I need to draw it anywhere if it was there already? I could guess it was to do with the 'breadth' of my mana control, placing a limit on the amount of mana I could extract from one unit of air in one unit of time, but I really would appreciate it being explained properly at some point.

"Conflagratio!" I shouted, pointing at the exterior castle wall at the far end of the courtyard, in lieu of any surviving targets.

Nothing happened.

"Hah. So even our wonder-boy hero can't cast every spell first time," smirked Wendy, who'd got her breath back while I'd been attempting my cast.

"Is there any way to make mana visible?" I asked. "How am I supposed to know where I went wrong if I'm working completely blind?"

"Yup. I suppose learning that would..." started Wendy before freezing. Her eyes flickered from me to Mary and back, before deciding the ground was in need of a careful inspection. "Actually, the image for that one would need a week or two of background knowledge to even attempt. I'll cast it myself and describe to you what's happening. Magus Visus."

... What?

What in the heck was that? She'd obviously been about to teach me, but then changed her mind. The excuse was obviously an excuse, despite being perfectly reasonable. Had she come out with it immediately, instead of looking so incredibly guilty, I'd have thought nothing of it.

"Conflagratio!" I shouted again.

"You aren't gathering anywhere near enough mana," she informed me. "You need to triple the amount you're putting into it."

"Huh? I'm already gathering as much as I can!"

"Hmm... Were the mana reserves of a hero supposed to be so small? Maybe it's because you've only been here for a day..."

"Yesterday, a single cast of Sanatio almost knocked him out," pointed out Mary. "He's already cast two spells of the same level today, and doesn't even look tired. Try again tomorrow, maybe?"

"Huh..." I commented, not having even noticed that I'd already blown yesterday's limit. Didn't that imply my mana capacity had more than doubled since then? Or had my body strengthening attempt consumed some of it yesterday, leaving me with less?

"Then we'll need to train the breadth of your mana capacity. Hmm... Try Maius Ignis Pila. Much the same as Ignis Pila, but pour additional mana into it, and build a bigger fireball."

Then 'maius' was the modifier for making a spell stronger, like 'parvus' made it weaker?

"Maius Ignis Pila," I chanted, launching an empowered fireball at the castle wall. The thing had enlarged from the size of a football to a beach-ball, and I could feel the heat radiating from it.

"Hmm..." commented Wendy as the spell was still in flight. "Perhaps I should have..."

What she should have done I never got to hear, for two reasons. The first was the wave of dizziness and nausea that seemed to accompany overuse of mana. "Tom!" exclaimed Mary as she caught me, thankfully preventing me from face-planting into the packed dirt.

The second was because the fireball impacted.

The explosion was smaller than Wendy's Conflagratio, but it was more focused. She'd set half the courtyard alight, while my fireball was 'merely' beach-ball size. As such, while she'd only scorched the wall, I managed to shatter its surface. Small shards of stone rained down over the courtyard. Some of them were molten.

"Scutum," chanted Wendy absent-mindedly, a flickering transparent brown square snapping into existence in front of us. A few of the stone shards pinged off it.

The three of us stood and watched the destruction die down, Mary supporting my weight.

"As I was saying, perhaps we should arrange some proper magic targets," continued Wendy, her voice barely audible above the ringing in my ears. "The ones with the reinforcement enchantments that dissipate elemental mana."

I was fairly sure I could hear shouting from various directions, too, but once again, the ringing in my ears—caused by the noise of the explosion—was getting in the way. "Parvus..." I started, unthinkingly trying to fix myself without regard to the fact that I'd already overdrawn on mana. Before I could finish the chant, my nausea doubled and my vision blackened.

"Tom!" repeated Mary as I fell limp in her arms.