The Demon King stood in front of his creation, shaded by their shadow.

“As you can see, incantation spells require just that, an incantation or any verbal component, really. I’ve seen spells that only require a word or a sound and others that require hour-long speeches to activate, It all depends on the spell.”

“So It's just a really powerful cast?” Hailey wondered

“No.”

“What's the difference then,” Ali asked with a dubious look

“I was just getting to that! The reason why incantations can be as effective as they is because they don’t waste mana creating something only moving them around. That spell i just used would have been much less impressive if there were less obsidian in the ground here and wouldn't work at all if there were none. As another example, Ali’s Ice bolt is a cast and creates ice. It would work even in the hottest environments by forcibly freezing the water in the air with mana, and if there’s no water mana will condense to act as the needed component. On the other hand, an incantation meant to do the same thing can’t do any of that, so if there's no ice in the environment you’re SOL”

“Then why would anyone want to use an incantation then?”

“Like I said it uses less mana for the task resulting in being able to accomplish bigger things. I could do this with a cast” He gestured to the stone pikes “but if you tried you’d die instantly from using too much mana too fast. Plus sometimes you don't want to create something you just want to move it, sure a cast is likely going to be the best option for you in most circumstances but what about Hailey? Directly making more flesh to fix a wound or providing energy to the cells to make the repair is inefficient, would it be better to move biomass already in the body? What about Giel or Kenn? You rarely want to make more weapons during a fight or metal for that matter, but if a sword is nearing your throat you may want to move it. Even for you If you happen to be on fire, making more of it-”

“Okay... you made your point” The gnome huffed

Sandra giggled at Ali’s clear discomfort “You need to lighten up Al, “She looked to the Demon King “You still haven't explained skills. I was a gamer and read a bit of Litrpg, so I think I can guess but...”

“Yes let me explain them for the uncultured.” The demon laughed “Skills are just simple magic used to enhance tasks, picking a lock, starting a fire, easy stuff you know how to do the mundane way. They can be done on any node with pretty much any mana type. Which is why i hesitate to designate them as a spell type of their own they’re really- Okay! Okay, you win. They’re really... a subtype of spell rather than a type of themselves. ”

“You really do sound like a tutorial” Hailey commented

“I Know! It awful.” the demon groaned, “But, here comes the fun part.” Reaching into his jacket In a way that reminded Kenn of a slimy salesman or a flasher (Honestly he wasn't sure which he’d prefer) The Demon King pulled out a neat stack of thin leather-bound books, there was no way they had fit in any pocket, but Kenn was getting to a point of not questioning anything the demon did “These are for you” The Demon King said popping in and out of existence in front of each of them to hand them a book. Kenn tried his luck and took a stab at the Demon King while he took his, but the man was already gone before the sword could connect.

With the books passed out, the Demon King appeared in front of them, smiling.

“What are these...?” Ali asked holding her copy away with two fingers as if it was something foul.

“Just look inside and see.”

Opening the book Kenn found this printed on the first page,

‘My First Spellbook

This book belongs too: Kenn

The first book of spells for any little mages in training

Ages 4-10’ All written in colorful ink

“Really...?” Giel asked raising an eyebrow

“Grimoires are expensive!!” The demon said defensively.”ANYWHO, that's just the cover you still haven't looked inside.”

Kenn turned the page, revealing a six-sided shape that reminded him of a flattened die, there was an ‘x’ shape running through the center separating the shape into sections.

Under the shape was a set of notes

‘Manacut

Element: Sword/Blade/Weapon/Armament

Type: Cast

Difficulty: simple

Infuse the edge of your sword with mana sending your next slice forward as a hardened mana projectile. This is the most basic spell of sword magic’

On the next page, he found another symbol and a similar description

‘Armorers Echo

Element: Armament

Type: incantation

Difficulty: simple

Spoken component: ‘Blacksmiths Soul, reforge and shape’

Makes minor changes to a weapon’s or armor's form with available materials.’

The next two pages had symbols on them as well but the captions only read,

‘Basic cast sigil’ and ‘Basic incantation sigil’

Kenn wasn't a genius, but he could put two and two together.

“These are spell sigils, right?”

“No, they’re art practice” Ali groaned with an eye roll

“Whatever they are they’re pretty cool sounding” Sandra cooed “This one will let me make spikes come out of my shadow! Ooh! And this one lets me make poison come out of my fingers how badass is that?! I could just be like,” She Danced around pretending to be tagging invisible foes.

The Demon King cleared his throat “Glad you like my little gift. There’s a few casts and an incants for each of your affinities plus a few skill spells in the back. Oh, and I also added a few multi-element spells for you Hailey. The rest is blank for whatever spells you guys create or just need to write down”

Hailey looked confused and was obviously doing math on her fingers “When did you have time to make these? We just learned our affinities like an hour ago”

“A magician never reveals his secrets”