Not for the first time this summer, Eric found himself holed up inside on what promised to be a wonderful summer day. Just outside, a pleasant summer breeze rustled the leaves, providing relief for those taking advantage of the wonderful weather, and taking advantage they were. Kids ran across the path, kicking a ball and screaming excitedly as they played their game while the adults watched on, too busy with their work to do anything more than admonish the children for being too loud. Throughout the village, washing could be seen draped across clotheslines, fluttering in the breeze that did not yet contain a promise of the coming autumn.

Eric, however, was not partaking in any of this. While his friends were all outside, practising their swordplay or just enjoying the day, he was curled up in a chair in the front room of Morningstar Manor with a book in hand. To others, seeing a teenager voluntarily spending their time indoors studying during the height of summer might have seemed odd. However, Eric was no ordinary teenager, and it was no ordinary book that he was reading, but rather a book on magic.

Eric, you see, was the half-elf apprentice of Lucy Morningstar, mage of Tonbura and one of the most accomplished casters of her generation. It was under her tutelage that Eric had flourished as a mage in the past few weeks, studying magic in the library as his teacher performed research several floors above. Today was no different, and so, despite the lovely weather, Eric was seated once more in the manor’s library with a book in hand.

He was a skinny, auburn-haired youth with the look of a man who had recently been given a new purpose, but was still unsure of how to go about it. His tunic was loose on his frame, with scorch marks visible on the rolled up sleeves, while his pants were frayed near the bottom, evidence of his lack of concern for fashion.

Although he gave off the appearance of a scholarly youth, seated as he was with his nose in a book, his toned forearms and the large sword resting against the side of the chair told a different story. The sword lay in a rough leather sheath, slightly curved with a hilt made of what appeared to be white bone. The guard was simple and utilitarian with no adornments or markings. All-in-all an eye-catching but not overly interesting item, at least at first glance.

Reaching the end of the book, Eric closed it and set it aside on a nearby side table as he leaned back in the chair, his eyes closing as he reviewed the information he’d just read. Resting his hand on the arm of the chair, his fingers brushed lightly against the hilt of the sword. Cracking an eyelid open, Eric stared at the sword, his mind flashing back to the events of that day.

It had only been two days since the assault on the goblin bases in what had come to be known as the Battle of Lichfrost. Under the command of Lord Alistair Crowsea, the militia had launched an enormous offensive against goblins of the Ironfrost Horde who’d set up bases in the forest to the north of Novanalba. Alongside more than two-thousand other militia fighters, Eric had set out to do battle against the goblins, ready to sweep them from Novanalba once and for all. Unfortunately, their platoon had been ambushed. Led by the hobgoblin lord, Grimarok, more than seventy percent of the Crowsea platoon had been wiped out, including several of Eric’s companions. It was only after Eric had managed to defeat Grimarok in one-on-one combat, while his allies fought and died around him to buy him time, that the platoon had gained victory over the goblins.

The sword that now lay next to Eric had been Grimarok’s. Technically speaking, it was actually a sabre, but that hadn’t been a distinction Eric had made when he’d been attempting to avoid having it cut off his head, and it wasn’t really one he cared to make now.

Resting one hand upon the pommel of the sabre, Eric fell into contemplation as he pondered the battle. Despite training as a mage under the expert tutelage of Morningstar, he’d been forced to rely heavily on close quarters combat in tense fights. Is magic really the way to go? Eric wondered, staring heavily at the sabre beside him. Engrossed within his thoughts, Eric was startled when he looked up to see a pair of bright green eyes staring at him, catching his own dark green eyes in a mesmerizing stare.

“Yes, master?” Eric asked politely. Doing his best to appear unperturbed by the sudden appearance of his teacher.

Lucy Morningstar was the mage of Tonbura Village. The apprentice to one of the kingdom’s greatest mages, she had been forced to leave the capital after her fiery temper had gotten her into one too many disputes. Secretly, Eric thought that there was more to the story than she let on, but it wasn’t really something he could ask about. On more than one occasion, his teacher had demonstrated why she was considered one of the brightest mages of her generation and the results were always explosive.

“Are you finished reading?” Lucy inquired, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at her apprentice.

“Yes master, I finished a few minutes ago. I was just taking a quick break,” Eric hastily explained.

"Did you?" Lucy asked, her gaze settling upon the book Eric had been reading. "Then I'm sure you'll be able to summarize the theory behind the Whisper spell?"

Eric nodded. “The Whisper spell allows for long-distance communication with others. It relies on a pair or series of linked magical foci that can communicate instantaneously with each other to deliver messages between the recipient or recipients of the spell. The more recipients there are, the more powerful the focus must be and the greater the mana requirements become.”

“Mmmmmh. And what are the minimum requirements to use the Whisper spell? Also what is the most commonly used type of focus?”

“The book didn’t go too in-depth on the minimum requirements. It merely stated that a competent journeyman should be able to cast the spell with some difficulty. As for the focus, crystals that enhance the ease of mana transmission are the most commonly used materials for foci designed solely to use the Whisper spell,” Eric responded.

Lucy nodded, her expression softening slightly.

“Good. The minimum requirement to cast it is technically a proficiency with arcane magic surpassing most journeymen mages. However, these days, we simply say that it’s a spell that can be cast by any mage who is recognized as an intermediate mage,” Lucy explained.

“So I can cast Whisper then?”

“You’ve reached the Intermediate level?” Lucy asked, surprised.

“Yup, earlier today,” Eric replied with a proud look.

“Well, you’re a little slower than I’d hoped you’d be. But not too terrible, I suppose,” Lucy commented.

“What do you mean not too terrible? I’m probably one of the only otherworlders with an intermediate skill in existence right now! How fast do you want me to be? Hell, how long did it take you to reach the intermediate level?” Eric asked indignantly.

“I became an intermediate mage at the age of eleven,” Lucy replied with a deadpan expression.

“So how do I cast Whisper? Do I need to buy a crystal?” Eric asked, changing the subject before Lucy could deal a finishing blow to his wounded pride.

With a knowing smirk, Lucy responded, “You’ve already got a crystal focus. The Gods saw fit to give one to each otherworlder. Simply infuse some mana into the crystal and it should activate. You’ll see a series of basic runes, those are the runes used to communicate with your personal crystal. In order to communicate with others, you merely have to infuse mana into the crystal and concentrate on the runes corresponding to who you wish to talk with. As long as you’re infusing mana, the connection will remain open between the crystals.”

Following Lucy’s gaze, Eric realized that the crystal she was talking about was the status stone attached to his storage pouch. Placing a hand on the crystal, Eric focused on the mana in his mana pathways, sending it coursing through his arm and into the stone. With a small glow, the crystal lit up, eleven runes appearing in the air above the crystal as Eric concentrated on keeping the flow of mana steady.

Observing the runes floating next to Eric, Lucy produced a crystal of her own. As Eric watched, her crystal began to glow, although unlike his crystal, no runes appeared above hers.

“Really, it’s just a simple matter of mana manipulation,” Lucy whispered.

Starting slightly, Eric stared down at his crystal, the glow disappearing as he lost control of the mana. Lucy’s voice had emanated from the crystal, causing him to lose his focus for a second. Staring curiously at the crystal, he infused mana into it once more. As the crystal began to glow again, a strange expression crossed his face. Continuing to focus, he looked up at Lucy who had a small smile on her face.

“Can you sense a new set of runes within the crystal now?” Lucy asked.

“Yes.”

“Those are the runes that correspond to my crystal. If you focus on them, you’ll be able to communicate with my crystal, although I can’t guarantee I’ll answer.”

“So the crystal remembers the runes of any crystal it comes into contact with?”

“Exactly.”

“So it’s like caller ID then?”

“Caller what?”

“Never mind.”

“Mmmmh,” Lucy gave Eric a stern look before continuing her explanation. “The Whisper spell also has quite a few useful derivations. That militia badge of yours follows a similar principle of using linked magical items to deliver a message. Of course, the message that your badge can deliver is far more limited,” Lucy explained, reverting back to lecturer mode.

“Makes sense,” Eric replied, looking down at the silver pin fastened to the breast of his tunic.

“Now then, were there any other questions you had before you left? You’ve been unusually silent ever since you participated in that expedition to the north.”

Eric considered the question briefly, before taking a small book out from his storage pouch and showing it to her.

“I won this mana technique in the militia tournament. It works fairly well, but it mentions storing mana. I can’t find any mention of storing mana in the library, so I was wondering if you knew what it meant, master” Eric inquired.

Wordlessly stretching out her hand, Lucy took the book from Eric, who stood silently by as she began leafing through the pages with an interested expression upon her face. Seemingly arriving at an understanding, Lucy snapped the book shut before fixing Eric with a strange look.

“I’m not sure where Korin got this, but it’s a somewhat older technique,” she said at last.

“Korin?” Eric asked with a confused expression.

“Wavesun, the strategist for the assault, and the man who was responsible for giving out prizes. An egoistic ass who’s vain as a peacock,” Lucy said, an annoyed look crossing her face as a vision of Wavesun floated through her head.

“Ah.”

“Anyways. It’s incomplete, but for now that won’t matter as you won’t have any troubles using the technique up to the professional level at least. But as an older technique, the wording it uses is outdated, follow me.”

With that, Lucy turned and left, her robes swishing as she departed from the library, Eric’s book still in hand. Scrambling after her, Eric followed his teacher as she led him upwards through the manor, passing through narrow hallways with doors to rooms full of various magical items. At last they arrived at the top of the manor, where Lucy’s study was located in the manor’s upper spire. Opening the door, Lucy led Eric inside to where he was greeted by the sight of his teacher’s enormous dimensional nullifier, a brightly glowing orb which absorbed and negated the effects of any spells cast in its vicinity.

Tossing Eric’s book on a nearby table, Lucy rolled up her sleeves, a wand appearing in her right hand as she turned back to face her confused student.

“Storing mana or storing a spell is the old term for what we now call Delayed Casting,” Lucy explained. “Normally, when you cast a spell, you cannot cast another spell using the same focus until the first spell is cast. To put it simply, if you use your wand to cast an Arcane Strike, until you cast that Arcane Strike, you cannot cast any other spells using your wand as a focus. Does that make sense?”

Seeing Eric nod, Lucy continued, “Delayed casting, however, changes that rule. Instead, it allows the caster to store the completed mana structure of the spell inside either their body or their focus, freeing up their focus to cast another spell. The first spell can then be cast at any time, and does not need to be cast from the same focus that was used to cast it originally.”

“That sounds really powerful, what’s the catch?” Eric asked.

Lucy grinned. “Glad to see you’ve been learning properly. The catch is that it’s actually a somewhat dangerous technique. You’re not storing mana, but rather a completed spell. While some spells are totally harmless such as the Pointer spell, and you don’t really care if they go off while still being stored or not, other spells are a little more volatile. For example, can you imagine what would happen if a Flaming Sphere was suddenly cast inside your arm?”

Eric shuddered at this as images of flying chunks of roast meat filled his mind. Seeing his reaction, Lucy laughed.

“Exactly. It’s a very powerful technique, but it’s also rather dangerous if you haven’t perfected your control over mana. Generally, this is a technique that mages are taught once they reach the intermediate stage, but only with spells such as Pointer or Ball of Light. It’s not until the professional level that true combat spells should be attempted and, even then, using delayed casting in battle is something that even many Masters refuse to use as they simply aren’t confident in their control. Because of that, it’s quite interesting to see a mana technique that specializes in delayed casting. I’d be quite interested to see the completed version.”

“Is delayed casting really that powerful?” Eric asked curiously as his teacher stared at the cover of the book that now lay on a table nearby

Giving him a glance, Lucy turned towards the glowing orb in the centre of the room, her wand glowing slightly as she concentrated. Moving elegantly, Lucy began to trace runes at a rate faster than Eric could follow, her wand turning into a blur of light as countless runes appeared in front of her. Flicking her wand slightly, the runes disappeared, but no spell came out. Instead, Lucy began again, repeating the movements from before, weaving a glowing tapestry of runes into the air of the study.

With a satisfied look, Lucy aimed towards the dimensional nullifier. As Eric watched, an enormous fireball burst from her wand, soaring through the air towards the glowing orb. Before the spell had even made it halfway to its destination, a new spell emerged from Lucy’s wand, a second fireball burning brightly as it traced the same path the first one had taken.

With a roar of flames, the first fireball exploded, shimmering runes appearing as the glowing orb negated the spell, preventing its effects from destroying the papers and shelves that littered the room. As the flames surged angrily against the protective barrier, the second fireball landed, causing the explosion to swell ferociously within the runic walls as the two spells battled to escape the magical boundaries.

Not wanting to miss even a second of the spectacle, Eric watched, entranced, as the two fireballs began to fade, strands of mana flowing into the dimensional nullifier as the spell structures collapsed.

With shining eyes, Eric looked towards Lucy who arched an eyebrow in response.

“If you want to learn this, study harder. I refuse to teach delayed casting to a student who’s only just entered the intermediate stage.”

“What do I have to do?”

With a wave of her arm, Lucy drew an unfamiliar rune in midair. The rune was shaped similarly to Eric’s dart rune, with a narrow, reverse V-shape that opened up at the top. Where the two lines forming the tip of the V met, a third line emerged, piercing upwards through the mouth of the V. Satisfied with her rune, Lucy pointed towards Eric.

“Once you can cast this rune, I’ll teach you how to perform delayed casting. Until then, don’t bother bringing it up.”

With that, Eric was unceremoniously kicked from the manor. Doing his best to memorize the rune that Lucy had just shown him, Eric hummed to himself as he set off for the northern gate. It had been a very interesting afternoon so far, and he didn’t intend to let it end here.