“The first ten levels of learning any spells school are simply about acclimating your mana core to a new mana type. No more, no less. The next ten levels are where you learn some minor level of control -- spells which allow you to vary the amount of mana you use to achieve stronger or weaker effects -- as well as work your spells into your daily routines so they become second nature.”

The archmage matter-of-factly rehashed our earlier lessons as the uncountable number of mana threads continued to thrash to and fro about his body. I tried to make out some meaning to the chaotic movements only to be struck by a bout of vertigo.

“During these levels, essentially all of a caster’s spells are handled directly by the system. You can think of a system-recognized spell as a stencil of sorts, or perhaps a stamp. You unstopper your inkwell, the ink spreads through all the predetermined channels of the stamp, and out comes the image without any true effort on your part.”

I found myself slightly bristling at his description, thinking back to all of the life or death situations I’d used mana in. Somehow it felt wrong to say that casting spells required no effort on my part. It was hard to completely disagree, though -- had I tried to cast one of my spells just using my own mana manipulation skills, I would have failed miserably. More than that, I had absolutely no idea how my spells worked other than that they did.

“The Apprentice rank is where the training wheels come off, so to speak. Or at least they can be taken off. Some fools choose to continue to forever cast cookie-cutter system spells, never bothering to delve deeper into the roots of their power.” He scoffed, the threads around him pausing in their dance to stab outwards, making him look like a polychromatic porcupine of sorts. “Thus, the first major difference between a fool with a high magic level and a mage is the pursuit to understand magic. And the first step in that pursuit is, in some sense, literacy. Observe.”

At this, a collection of threads sprouting from the archmage’s hand all turned a fiery red and extended outwards, weaving between one another to form a three dimensional image. When at last they completed their movements, the entire pattern hummed with mana.

A small flame suddenly flared into existence atop the archmage’s finger. Before I could make the connection, Identify Skill did it for me, informing me of the spell’s name. It was none other than my own Flameploof spell.

I was about to ask exactly what it was that I was supposed to be observing when the flame abruptly changed. It flickered from red to green to black to white. Perhaps more importantly, however, each time the color changed, I noticed a small section of the spell diagram changing as well.

As requested, I observed, honing in on the segment in question, trying to make even the smallest bit of sense out of the shifting threads of mana. I failed.

And then the color changing was over. Instead, the flame now grew taller and taller before shortening until it was barely visible. It continued to oscillate in such a fashion, and just as before, I could detect a corresponding section of the spellform changing alongside it.

Okay, so different parts of the spellform mean different things. Not altogether too shocking, but then again, if I’d been told it was all make-believe and good vibes, I would have believed that too. It was magic, after all.

Wordlessly, Xander’Callis cycled through half the sections of the spellform, modifying them in dozens of different ways as I looked on. The flame’s intensity, width, location, steadiness, scent, and more were all altered in turn as I stood there squinting with a frown.

I’d already had a fairly full day, and it was starting to get late. Right as I was beginning to consider interrupting the man, however, I was sent reeling as the mental equivalent of an icepick tore into my head.

I rapidly shifted my attention to my Stygian Citadel to find a mass of… something was streaming into my mind. From every direction of the pitch black sky, a wave of force pressed down on the fortress before seeming to get sucked directly into the palace. Its journey ended there as it sank into the walls, the floors, the entirety of the palace itself.

Um. Okay, I guess? That was a new one.

I tore my attention from my mental space, directing it back to the archmage and his flame. I was intent on asking him what the hell had just happened, but the very moment my eyes refocused on the spellform, understanding washed over me.

Oh. That one makes it flicker, doesn’t it? And over there’s the section for brightness. And then- Wait, what the hell?

In the very same instant, the flame winked out of existence, and the archmage surged forth, closing the gap between us. He brought his skull unpleasantly close to my head, as if trying to visually peer into my mind.

“That was unexpected. Something changed. Read off your notifications for me.”

I was fairly sure that kind of command was pretty taboo, but given that he’d already seen my entire character sheet and wrapped me up in oaths and geasa, it felt like a moot point by now. Still, I made sure to read through my notifications on my own first.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Spell Insight

Grants greater insight and knowledge into the inner workings of spells and their constituent parts.

That part was fairly expected considering it was what I’d come to the archmage about in the first place. What was notably unexpected was what came after.

Prerequisites met:

25 Perception

25 Intelligence

25 Wisdom

Identify Skill ability

Spell Insight skill

Congratulations! Your God’s Mind ability has evolved.

Your Identify Skill ability has evolved into Understanding.

Understanding

Gain an instinctual understanding of skills, spells, and other system workings. Whenever you see a spell or skill being used, there is a chance to completely identify it based on its complexity compared to your Perception and Wisdom.

When you fail to completely identify a spell or skill, you may still gain a partial understanding of its purpose. Additionally, greatly increases your innate understanding of spellwork, augmenting and boosting the leveling speed of your Spell Insight skill.

The notification came as something of a shock if for no other reason than that it had been so long since God’s Mind had given me anything new. I’d certainly take it, though. It didn’t look all that different from the previous version, but the extra Spell Insight would hopefully come in handy.

I rattled off the update to the archmage, curious to hear his take. In response, he clapped his hands together, the bone on bone creating a sharp clacking.

“I suppose congratulations are in order, then. I personally believe you’ve been robbed of an opportunity to learn from the ground up, but I will not deny that such a boon is far more powerful than you can likely appreciate presently. I dare say most fledgling mages would kill to have an ability like that.” He chuckled somewhat darkly. “Literally, I’d imagine.”

With his curiosity partly satisfied, the archmage backed off, returning back to his crystalline chair. “Come, let us see how far it goes.” The many threads of magic erupted from him once more, and a series of spellforms wove themselves together all about him.

“That one. What does it do?” He gestured towards a simple spellform of light mana.

Laser Pointer. The answer came to me unbidden, and I blurted it out just as fast.

“Good. Tell me what the various parts do. That one first.” Once again, he pointed, but this time more precisely at a segment of the form.

“Width,” I replied. His bony digit swiveled to the side. “Color.” It moved once more. “Intensity.”

On and on it continued through different cantrips and then different Initiate spells. It was only when we hit the Apprentice rank that things started to trip me up. Even when my new ability didn’t fully identify each spell, I still could usually describe what it did, but various subsections of the spells utterly confounded me.

“A rather potent ability. I believe we have the measure of it at this point; however, just for my own curiosity…” While the rest of the spells the archmage had cast had been instant affairs, the next formed over the course of a good ten seconds, a full legion of threads jumping about. The bulk of them were a sterile gray, but a few were a deep, fathomless black.

I didn’t need to wait for the spell to complete before Understanding kicked in, though. Even from the outset, I found myself frozen in place, every hair on my body standing on end. Only by repeatedly reminding myself that the archmage (hopefully) didn’t want to kill me did I keep myself from bolting for a window or taking out one of my recall gems.

“Death,” I preemptively answered. “Something cold and far away and utterly final.”

All at once, the spellform shattered, the tension in the room disappearing entirely.

“Fascinating!” the archmage shouted out. “It even gives a vague sense of higher level spells. That’s a solid ability you’ve gained, and thank you for an amusing digression.”

A trickle of sweat ran down my neck, and before I realized what I was doing, I cast Dampen, Dry, and then Chill to wash it off and cool myself down. A cloud of mental fog rushed through my mental space before sinking into the cracked door of the Dungeon of Tragedies. I thought I saw the cracks widen ever so slightly, but it was over as quickly as it began, the fear of the preceding moments completely sucked away.

“Do I get to know what you were just casting?” And exactly how high leveled had it been?

Xander’Callis waved my words away with a bony hand. “Likely better that you don’t. You’ll sleep better.” Choosing not to elaborate any further, he moved on immediately. “Now! Godly abilities aside, the second part of our lesson remains much the same: Spell Adjustment. Fundamentally a very simple affair, but listen closely nonetheless. What you’re going to want to do is…”

Especially with my newly heightened insight, the instructions proved fairly straightforward. Instead of watching the archmage cast the Flameploof spell, this time I tried it myself, only very, very slowly.

After casting the spell and holding it in place, I focused on the spellform, picking out one of the simpler subcomponents: the intensity. The change was as simple as thickening a few threads and sending some more mana through them. Of course, it was easier said than done -- with my mana manipulation still at ten, the threads resisted me fiercely -- but it was only a matter of a few minutes before I succeeded.

The flame leapt upwards, and with it came a welcome notification.

Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Spell Adjustment

Aids in the modification of existing spells through swapping out and altering their constituent parts.

“Good!” The archmage congratulated me as I told him of my success. “Now that you’ve begun to learn to adjust your spells, you can understand why I never bothered to have you shoot for any particular Initiate-rank augments for your cantrips. The vast majority of cantrip augments are things any competent mage can do on their own.”

Huh. I spent another few moments focusing on my spellform, picking out the sections that were responsible for changing it from a brief tinder-like spark to a full continuous flame. I guess he’s right. I could probably do that with a few more skill levels.

On the one hand, it was nice to know I was becoming more versatile, although on the other, it was sad to know that most of my augments were now effectively obsolete.

“I believe that concludes all I have for you today. Barring anything strange, I’d recommend coming back after you hit level 20 in at least two spell schools. Most of the more fascinating aspects of magic start at that point, and I’ll teach you a bit about composite mana types and intent-altered magic. Something to look forward to, yes?”

Composite mana, I was already somewhat familiar with, and I was looking forward to picking a few up. Not only would it fulfill class quests, but also it would give me new variants for my class skills. I had no idea what the whole “intent” business was, but then again, that’s why I was here, wasn’t it? I was learning.

I thanked the archmage for the lesson and readied myself for the impending teleportation. Before he returned me to the foot of the tower, however, the archmage left me with one last remark.

“Gods and Protagonists and all manner of bothers notwithstanding, I’m finding myself rather pleased to have taken you on. And endless source of fascination, and I dare say that even without your boons, you’re not half bad at this! Until next time, then.”

Before I could eke out a single word in response, I found myself standing at the base of the glossy, rainbow mage’s tower, a flicker of a smile on my face.

Huh. I’m not entirely sure if “a source of fascination” is what I’m shooting for, but I’m pretty sure that was a compliment! After a moment of thought, I discovered that I shared the sentiment, too. Oaths and illusions and creepy skeletons notwithstanding, I had to admit I was enjoying myself too.

Nice. Now lets see exactly how much I play around with my spells, yeah?

Far, far away in an entirely separate realm, beasts of pure darkness prowled about endlessly. Beady eyes scanned through the expanse of black around them, alert for even the slightest of motion. The noses of vicious predators took in each and every scent, primed to track down even the smallest of discrepancies.

Alongside the monsters were the traps. Vast expanses of wards were inscribed into the ground, the sky, and everywhere in between. Pitfalls, pressure plates, and a host of other unpleasant mechanisms dotted the landscape, strewn about haphazardly without any rhyme or reason.

Throughout it all, one rogue slank about, unseen.

Calilah, the high and holy Princess of Ftheran, took in her bleak surroundings. Had she not risked discovery by doing so, she would have sighed. Or maybe swore. Both felt fitting in the current situation.

Instead, she settled for a silent thought.

Gotta say. Really looking forward to going home after all this.