The second stage was the Design segment, and here one would lay down the actual process for the spell's framework.

Using the earlier example, if one chose to make a spell that could cut off the heads of 100 men using the wind, one would now have to use their magical expertise to create the sequence of magical events that created such an outcome.

This sounded difficult and almost impossible, but in truth, it was largely tied with how extravagant and detailed your theory was, as well as your own magical talent.

How so? As for how it related to the Theorize stage, it was self-explanatory, but the matter concerning the requirement for high talent in magic was crucial because it created the foundation in such one would familiarize themselves with magic.

Hm… to put it simply, this was not a talent related to 'Intellect' or 'Comprehension', but solely about how you awoke as a magician and what kind of resources you used until becoming a Journeyman.

As stated before, one would awake either naturally or artificially. If natural, one would learn the basic spell of that element automatically in relation to their talent. If artificial, one had to rely on a spellbook to fill in the gap.

The quality of the basic spell when awakened naturally depended on magical talent, while the quality of the basic spell learned artificially depended on the spellbook.

Usually - and Darius himself had made this mistake before - one would look at this from the perspective of power/utility. If someone could cast Ember at 30% efficiency, he would naturally be more dangerous than someone who could do only do it at 5%.

Either way, Ember was merely a cantrip, so its overall output wasn't impressive unless one was a monster like Darius who could raise his Intellect to Adept level as an Amateur and increase his skill to the rank cap of level 20 while also having that spell at 500% efficiency due to Transmutation.

However, the power aspect was never important. Amateurs were not held in high regard for their power, but their potential and talent. It was only when they became Journeyman that one would begin to wield actual power.

What was most important about basic spells for Amateurs? It was the repetition and casting!

Well, it should be obvious, shouldn't it?

Not everyone was like Darius who could benefit from the System Targeting which did everything for him autonomously. Everyone else either had to chant or make various movements to cast and the speed, as well as fluidity of this, depended on their talent!

Why was this important for the Design stage? Because by continually casting Basic spells, an Awakened mage would come to feel and understand how magic of that element was cast!

They would feel how the mana flowed through their body, which meridians or nodes it passed through, how it converted itself into a specific element, and how it was expunged from their bodies to either attack, defend or support/heal!

Without this foundation, how could they possibly Design a spell?

Were they supposed to now dig to the roots of magic to find out how even basic mana worked? That was something that even the almighty Elves had yet to crack, much less the human race.

This was the answer to Darius' nagging question of 'why did the universe/laws of Faust create Basic spells but not anything that came after? What the hell was even the purpose?'

This was why.

There was one spell of each element for the Basic grade, just one spell. Until one became a Journeyman, they could not learn anything else, not even how to modify the only spell they had by a small amount.

Every element had its own circuit, conversion process, and fundamental method of emission. If you had that element when you Awakened, you would definitely know how it worked too when you reached the Journeyman stage eventually.

However, talk is cheap. As stated earlier, one's talent decided how good they would be at this.

If one had high magical talent and awoke with say, Fire and Water, they would have an advantage over another person who awoke with the same Fire and Water element but to a weaker degree.

How?

If Person A's Ember was at 50% while their Pulse was at 45%, they would be able to feel the flow of magic and how the element works much better than Person B who had Ember at 30% and Pulse at 15%.

As such, when the two become Journeymen and began creating their own spells, Person A would have a much easier time controlling his elements to produce the results he wanted compared to Person B, because their talent gave them different levels of familiarity/understanding of magic from the onset.

Knowing this, it should make sense why older mages had Official and Unofficial Apprentices. If one awoke naturally and had good talent, they would be taken up swiftly because their future was bright.

If one had average or lower talent, they could persist to grow on their own in this oppressive profession. As for those who awoke artificially, it was mostly the wealthy who could afford the scrolls like Foldo.

However, unless it was a scroll made by a master to his apprentice, they would never be treated seriously. After all their 'talent' was dependent on the quality of the scroll and the spellbook they received.

As seen before, the quality of both these things was abysmal, to say the least. It might even be better to naturally awake and have poor talent than to artificially awake with such shitty resources around.

Of course, this created a very interesting situation that Darius could profit off. With his scrolls and potions, he could literally mass-produce talents that started out with 5 elements of their choices and they would auto-learn the basic spells of their elements too.

If he wanted to raise their Int stat quickly, he could make potions or have them read his transmuted Basic spellbooks which would easily do the task!