Wilt’s classes were going well, or at least he thought they were. The past week of classes had given him a good foundation for chanting. The lessons alternated between chants at every lesson, that way they could avoid forming an attunement for a single element or type of chant. However, the classes were only one part of his lessons.

Councilor Janette’s faction, and the after-class meetings she held with him were much more beneficial. She wasn’t always the teacher, and he occasionally had another student teach him some things. Surprisingly, her lessons would focus on chants and the making of his own chants, and it was the older students who taught him about wards.

He had been very excited to learn about wards, but both councilor Pali and councilor Janette had prevented him from studying it excessively. Apparently, it would be a waste of his potential to form an attunement for wards. For now, he had been given specific instructions to avoid forming any attunement. He didn’t understand why, and the explanation he received was insufficient. He could still remember councilor Janette’s words from that time.

She had explained that his high Ein values would mean that efficiency wasn’t important, so it would be better to form an attunement that would improve his potency. Both councilors were working on an attunement for the students who had such Ein values and would tailor it to them. Creating an attunement could not be easy, and he wouldn’t waste their efforts by forming another one accidentally.

That wasn’t the highlight of his week though. No, that title belonged to his time spent with the terrasix. The creatures were extremely friendly, and his abundance of Ein made them eager to receive his attention. His father had never let them get a pet, stating how it could damage the books. Spending his time with the overly excitable and large terrasix, Wilt understood his father’s rationale. That didn’t mean he agreed with it, as he definitely would have preferred a pet over a few books. Especially now that he had experienced what it would be like, although with something a bit fiercer than what his father had been thinking about.

The teacher in charge of the beasts was extremely nice too, and Wilt had enjoyed his lessons the most. It wasn’t an official faction or class, but the man had shared his knowledge freely. He described how there were many creatures like this, and he could arrange for Wilt to meet them at a later time. Apparently, his home had specially designed spaces for different creatures to come and go freely. Wilt wondered what he meant by that, but the man only laughed and said he would leave it as a surprise. The teacher was called Mr. Limington, and Wilt really liked the man.

Even with all that going on, he found time to make his sister’s gift. There were only a few more things he needed to do for it and was excited to finish it. Although most of the credit went to the older students that had been helping him with wards, and Alice who he occasionally met at the library. However, he couldn’t do that just yet, as he had been called to a meeting by councilor Pali. The meeting annoyed him a little, as it was scheduled after all normal institute activities. The councilor’s schedule was the most filled, and he always had awkward times for his lessons. Often councilor Janette had to step in for him during some lessons. Either she managed her time better, or councilor Pali was really that busy. Wilt found the latter more believable as the man seemed so orderly and stiff. The perfect soldier in a sense.

As Wilt stepped into councilor Pali’s office, he was surprised to see two others in the room. His granddaughter, Ashley was sitting at one of the chairs in front of the councilor’s desk. The wooden desk was long easily spanning the length of two doors. At the center was a map, and it was surrounded by piles of neatly organized papers and books. After having spent some time with councilor Janette, Wilt understood that councilor Pali was the more neat of the two.

The other person in the room was a boy with dark, oddly green hair. Wilt actually recognized the dyed hair, as the man had been part of his classes this past week. Thinking about it for a moment, Wilt remembered that his name was Richard. The man looked back at Wilt, Richard’s brown eyes scrutinizing him for a second before turning back to the desk. There was one more open seat, and Wilt walked over to it.

The room itself was neat, and the floor was covered in a fine rug. Unlike Janette’s office, there were no windows in this room. Wilt slid into the brown leathery chair, and it squeaked a bit as he sat. Once he was seated, the councilor began speaking.

“You three are the most capable of the students. As such it has been decided that your education needs to be further developed. After talking with the other councilors, I have agreed to share some of my secrets with you three. If you attempt to share what you learn here today, the council will know.”

He paused giving each of them a meaningful look in the eye, and Wilt saw Ashley visibly stiffen underneath the man’s gaze. The reaction seemed almost automatic, and Wilt sat a bit straighter as Pali continued. Even if he didn’t threaten them directly, Wilt still felt a little apprehensive towards the man.

“First, my attunement. I am attuned to direct applications of Ein. That means the use of Ein without using any chants. I can still replicate most chants with my Ein, but there is a weakness to my technique. The Ein I use must be done directly, whereas a chanter could rely on their chant to handle the Ein. Chants also enable more complex usage of Ein, which has become rather annoying for me to perform.”

It looked like it physically grated at the councilor for admitting his faults, and Wilt was glad that he joined councilor Janette. She was very open with her shortcomings, and very proud of her strengths. It was clear that councilor Pali did not share in her opinions and looked like every word had taken effort to speak. Wilt had never been the prideful type, and that still hadn’t changed. The councilor wasn’t done though.

“What I am going to be teaching you is not to remove the need for chants, but to be able to make chants as you wish. For example, summon cold fire to freeze instead of burn.”

As the councilor finished speaking a blue flame sprung into existence, and he threw it at a nearby wall. It was slower than a traditional fire spell, and when the flame touched the wall, it began spreading like normal fire would. However, rather than leave the wall marred with burns, it was coated in a thin layer of frost. Wilt could feel his mouth moving but couldn’t even begin to say anything. He didn’t even know what to say, and it looked like no one else did either.

“That was not a proper chant. Not everyone could make that work. Chants as we use them are extremely natural things of nature. To break that one must create their own chant and force it to work. Only those with extremely large amounts of Ein could do that. You have learned a little about shortening chants in class, but this is even more powerful. However, the Ein requirements of this are even greater than that. I will be trying to get you to form an attunement to this type of chanting, and during class you attempt to form an attunement to the shortened chants. If even five of you can successfully form an attunement to either, it would significantly increase our fire power in the coming war.”

Finally, the councilor seemed to be done with his introduction, and was waiting for the students’ reactions. Wilt stayed quiet, only nodding in understanding. He knew the stakes and was honestly excited to learn about making custom chants. Was that how they did the thing with the chalk? He would love to try that for taking notes or working on wards. After the silence lingered for a little bit, the councilor finally decided to continue.

“The chant I used for the cold flame is the most basic of the ones I can use. I want the three of you to attempt to replicate that during this lesson. I will provide pointers if needed, but your true help will come from one another. For now, I will answer any question you have, but will only answer one each.”

Wilt jumped in his seat a little at the request, eager to ask his question. He had been considering it for a while and wanted to take the opportunity to ask it.

“Why not make the chant longer? In fact, why don’t we do that with other chants. Like what if I changed the one you said to be something like…um, summon cold fire to freeze instead of burn that will cover the wall in thick ice.”

It was a mouthful, but he thought that it would improve the chant significantly. Plus, longer more specific chants tended to use less Ein so long as their effects weren’t overly complex. There was a strange balance between Ein use and chants, and many different things affected that. The councilor smirked a little before answering.

“I am a little disappointed Alrick. You should have first checked with your allies before asking your questions. However, I will do as I promised and answer your question. A more complex chant such as the one you said would use less Ein, though not much less. Furthermore, it is impractical. In a fight the shorter a chant is the better. Ideally you would learn to perform chants without speaking them aloud, though that is horribly inefficient.”

Wilt wanted to ask more, but he had already used his one question. The other two students talked among themselves, before Richard asked his question.

“Why not use something short then? Just cold fire or something like that. The shortened chants in class do that.”

The councilor nodded before responding.

“While your question isn’t bad, it is something you could have easily discovered through testing. First, the Ein cost would be ridiculous. Even the two of you would only manage to perform something like that a handful of times. The shortened chants work by mixing a person’s will with a chant. In a sense it is the same as forming one’s own chant, but instead uses a preexisting foundation. Let me give you a small demonstration of what I mean. Light!”

The councilor spoke a shortened chant, and an orb of light appeared beside him. Then it began moving and changing color. It moved around in a circle before dissipating slowly. As Wilt watched the man, he could tell that it took a lot of concentration to do that. After the light vanished, he continued.

“Doing something like that would be ideal, but it is simply not functional. If I used that same chant and just wanted to replicate the normal effects of the light chant, then it would only use a little more Ein than the normal chant. However, each change I made that caused it to deviate from the original chant would use increasing amounts of Ein. If you wish to try and form an attunement for that, then I will not stop you. That would be the most ideal outcome, though you will likely stumble onto one of the other two attunements before that happens. Now for your final question.”

Finishing his answer, the councilor turned to face his granddaughter. Ashley paused for a second, taking a deep breath before speaking.

“How were the original chants formed?”

That was an odd question to ask. Everyone knew that the answer to that question was God, though he wondered if the councilor knew something that he would not. Wilt had never been very religious, and it sounded like Ashley wasn’t either. The councilor didn’t even flinch at the question as he began his response.

“I do not know. While I may not believe that some higher power had made them, I don’t know who did or even could. It would need to be someone who could see the natural tendencies of Ein, as the original chants are designed to follow those paths. That is the reason they are so efficient. The original chants simply follow the paths that are available to all Ein. That was the final question, and even if the answer was unsatisfactory, it still counted. Now begin!”