"So the last part of the lesson.... magic!!!" Scarlet smiled filled with so complete excitement.
"Ummmmm.... could I get a drink first?..." I requested lying on the floor trying to recover.
"Yeah sure." She smiled walking up to her armour and dipping her hand into it and pulling out two flasks out.
"Here she said handing it to me and taking a seat beside me.
"It's embarrassing..... But my rank during the first exam I was ranked F... Calista said it must have been the lowest ever recorded" I confessed feeling down taking a small sips out of the flask of water.
"Nothing wrong with that??...." Scarlet asked concerned at my reply.
"Really?.... It seems pretty important to me…." I quietly replied.
"Don't worry it's only a preliminary test, it's only because you're from Consecratus is why your preliminary results were so low... trust me if you're from there and you got picked.... you're gonna be a great wizard." Scarlet explained.
"That's what everyone tells me... but I really doubt it." I replied honestly to her.
"Sadly the process for you is abit longer and harder.... everyone else has an easier time because they grew up using Arcanum.... when you haven't.... but you can go far beyond what everyone even what I am capable of if you're dedicated enough." Scarlet explained.
Despite her explaining everything the reason..... And knowing way more about this world then I do.... I was still felt very doubtful.
"So... special individuals such as you, Paul and I have a very rare trait called Innate Casting. Humanoid races aren't born with the ability to use Arcanum that is why we need to train our bodies to and require spell focus to channel the Arcanum unlike normal living creatures…. So most humans focus and channel the Arcanum through primarily wand or staves but there are also many other types of weapons that can channel Arcanum. Innate casters have the ability to use their bodies as the spell focus meaning there is no need for a wand or items to channel Arcanum through. This particular trait is something everyone in your plane seem to be born with." Scarlet explained.
"... so does that mean I don't need a wand to cast spells??..... If I'm understanding correctly..." I asked feeling like I understood what she said.
"Yes but its far stronger then that….. So to cast a spell off successfully there is a Verbal and a Somatic component as well as needing the adequate amount of Arcanum to cast the spell….. Innate casters like Paul and I who have successful mastered it can cast spells without Verbal a Somatic component and cast it through thought alone…. So you can imagine when in a fight how much of an advantage that is." She explained
"Somatic?.." I asked slightly confused at the vocabulary.
"Somatic is relating to the movement of the wand when you cast a spell." She answered.
"I see." I nodded in understanding.
"So how do I begin learning to cast without a wand??..." I asked a little excited at what I can do.
"Heh slow down..... You need to walk before you run." Scarlet smiled.
"By the way what are the 6 books Paul carries with him that seem to cast on their own??.." I asked remembering him use it during his school tour and freshman demonstration.
"Ohhh.... that's something his previous teacher gave to him.... Each of his books follows his commands and cast on their own accord." Scarlet revealed.
"Ummm…. Cast on their own like a separate wizard?..." I asked not really sure of her answer.
"Yup." Scarlet nodded smiling
"...…. Isn't that a bit ridiculously strong?....." I asked
"Yup.... it's one of the reasons why I lost..... The amount of damage he can dish out is pretty immense when he gets serious..." She answered.
"I guess there's also something special with his giant scythe..." I asked a little curious about why he would wield such intimidating looking weapon.
"Yeah..... It's a cursed weapon..... That hungers for souls.... so anything cut by it will have its soul ripped from their body..." Scarlet answered.
"That's so gruesome..." I gasped in shock hearing her description shocked at why Paul would even consider using something so disgusting.
"He only ever uses it if he can't ensure everyone's safety and will need to deal with the fight swiftly with minimal casualties, I've never seen him use it myself and we have been in a lot of scrappy close fights." Scarlet replied trying to reassure me noticing my reaction to her answer.
"Still seems pretty evil." I argued quietly.
"You're not wrong..... It's is a horrible way to die.... but like I explained he only uses it as a last resort. The reason he pulled it out in the desert is because Eshia houses the most S-ranked equivalent students of all the school..... that along with the increase activity of Death Worms.... if we were to get into a prolonged fight it would attract more students as well as more Deaths Worms sensing the battle, he only drew it out because if a fight was about to break out we would have ended it swiftly and prevent you guys getting hurt.... because he brought you guys there and your safety was his responsibility." She explained trying redeem his actions.
"I see...." I nodded in understanding..... Remembering that the moment there was news of someone approaching he instantly placed us all in a barrier. ".....It's still a terrible sounding weapon to wield.." I replied.
"There's no doubt... it's quite a cruel weapon...." Scarlet agreed.
"What other things does he use?.." I asked.
"... Ohh wow... he really has a lot of stuff on him at all times.... he likes to be prepared...." Scarlet sighed.
"Really?.." I asked kind of remembering how he would always be prepared for everything thinking of the infinity number of outcomes and preparing for the most probable outcomes, even when he first confessed his love to me.
"Yeah..... Artificing in particular has him on edge, so he works closely with Ashley to specifically have anti Artificing equipment. He says that Magic and spells are old…..and that Artificing is what innovative new and unpredictable. That is why he works closely with Ashley learning the trade and understanding it. So his other equipment are small devices that help him neutralize Artificers as well as incapacitating enemies." Scarlet revealed.
"Does he always incapacitate enemies?..." I curiously questioned.
"Yes as the first rule of Atlantis he will always try and use non-lethal force unless the safety of innocent and other students." Scarlet answered smiling. "Anyways let's start with spell casting!" She instructed.
"Sure." I agreed standing up but still feeling doubtful.
"So Paul tells me that you've only mastered Cantrips...." She said.
"Cantrips?.." I asked slightly confused.
"Yeah Cantrips are the lowest level spell....." Scarlet answered.
"Yeah... I didn't managed to cast them all… but I did manage to cast one from every group." I answered her.
"Ahhh that's great!!!..... Spell casting takes practice.... you need to perfect three components before the spell can be cast... the Verbal, Somatic and Arcanum requirement." She explained demonstrating each component. "Since like me you're an innate caster... Imaginations and resolve is something you will need to practice as well......" She smiled.
"Ummmm okay....." I hesitantly nodded in understanding.
"Don't worry you'll get it... Today we'll start with offensive spells." Scarlet replied with a smile. "So lets get started.... first we have three types of ways to deliver spells... Touch, Ranged and Area of effect." She explained walking into the central arena. "Computer Training dummy please." She shouted.
The computer responded with a series of beeps and a Human materialized in front of us. "Okay now this spell is call Inflict wounds, Don-Vulnero!" She said firmly grasping the arm of the human dummy. As the spell finished green fissures violently erupted all along the arm throughout the entire body like cracks in the ground and suddenly the fissures erupted with blood momentarily.
"What was that???!!!" I asked surprised.
"Inflict wound... if you was to do it you'd probably only cause a limb to erupt with blood." She answered. "So that's a touch spell..... A range spell would be a spells similar to your firebolt. An offensive area of affect spell would be something like fireball...." She said walking back from the human.
"Igna-Maximus" she said holding out her hand causing a large ball of fire to generate in her palm and shot out hitting the floor near the test dummy, letting out devastatingly large explosion the heat and flash forcing me to take a few steps back turning away shielding myself from it. "That was a fireball similar to firebolts but much larger and more devastating.... but unlike firebolt you can aim at floor or objects and still hit the desired target or targets." She explained.
"Okay." I said nodding in understanding listening intently making sure to absorb everything in.
"Next we have buff and debuff spells... these spells momentarily bestow boons on your teammates to help them better in combat or curses the enemy to hinder them." Scarlet began to explain. "So during the Freshman Demonstration did you see the spell Paul cast on me causing me to faintly glow red and start moving at extreme speeds?.." Scarlet asked.
"Ohhh yeah I remember! Jay said it was a haste spell." I answered proud that I knew what she was explaining.
"Yeah so Haste is what we call a buff spell that only last a few minutes..... And the downside is that the individual will feel extremely exhausted once it runs out... so if you were to ever use it..... Make sure you end the fight quickly or make enough distance to be safe. The plus side it will make you extremely quick allowing attack more, cast more and be more evasive." Scarlet explained.
"Then we have Debuff spells........ these spells are used to mess with your opponent, some will cause your opponents to doubt themselves, some will make them scared and one particulate spell that does the opposite to haste called slow... which will slow your opponent dramatically. You could also use a silence spell to stop amateur spell casters from casting as they cannot invoke the verbal component of the spell.
"And lastly the type of spells are what we call CC spells..." She carried on explaining.
"CC?" I asked feeling a little unsure of the abbreviation.
"CC is short for crowd control..... When fighting large number of enemies Crowd Control spells are extremely effective at balancing the number or disabling particular or potentially dangerous individuals." Scarlet explained.
"Okay..." I nodded.
"So if you remember when we first met.... you was paralyzed on a chair?.." She asked.
"Yeah I remember." I answered remembering the strange sensation of being unable to move but nothing restraining me.
"So that was me using a combination of two spells on you... the first being a spell called Hold Person... it Paralyzes and individual making them unable to move..... So I'm sure you can tell how powerful that spell is when paralyzing someone with someone like me to finish them off. The second spell I used was-" She carried on explaining.
"That must be the silence spell you explained earlier." I proudly answered interrupting her.
"Ahhh good yes it was! You was listening." She replied with a smile looking proud at me. "Enough talking..... Let's try some level one spells!" She said with a giant smile.
"Yeah!!!" I replied super excited pulling out my wand.