In the morning Mercer and Lera got up to do their daily chores. Lera went off to wash and fold the hang the laundry to dry, while mercer had to collect enough water for the day requiring multiple trips to fill their water basins.
Overall their chores took a few hours to complete. Once they had finished they met up in the house to prep their day trips. Lera grabbed her climbing and spelunking gear so that she could explore the caves she had found, Mercer grabbed his journal and a supply of plants that he had been studying.
After packing they set off together, talking a bit about what they were planning to do, before splitting up. Lera went off a bit to the east, Mercer continued north to the clearing where Mirnia had given him the stone. He had decided to go there since she had mentioned that he should practice there, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it had something to do with the mysterious flower.
Upon reaching the clearing he took out the stone and his journal. Flipping to his page on the stone he could see the two Command phrases he had been told, 'Limui'ilamolo Tasilu'u to open and Limui'ilamolo Liatelu to close.' he held the stone in his palm and spoke the first phrase.
"Limui'ilamolo Tasilu'u!" His eyes wided and his mouth opened slightly as the ground he was on faded away to reveal a large flat black stone that had runes all along it's edge. In addition to the appearance of the rock, a small slightly see through figure appeared above the stone.
"Hello Mercer... I believe you met myself yesterday... I am Tu, a ghost projection of an Magic Intelligence created by Tumuo to help him." The figure which had just spoken gave a short bow towards Mercer.
"Um, hello. Can you explain what this place is?" Mercer looked around at the runes on the edging, not quite sure in his capabilities to translate.
"Ah of course, this is called a magic tablet. It is a sheet of Alerite rock inscribes with a runic core that enables repeated inscribing with a magic wand. Speaking of which, I don't think you have one just yet, that will have to be your first lesson. Anyways, Alerite has the remarkable property of being able to withstand Runic Core inscription and use without dissolving after a period of time that varies with spell strength." Tu then pointed towards a small flower at the edge of the stone.
"Hey, the flower regrew!" Mercer walked closer to it to inspect it.
"Yes, it is an Eldar flower which is often used to make wands. To begin you must place your hand face down over it and focus on the flower." Mercer did as he was told. "Alright, good, now close your eyes and feel the energy emanating from the flower. A wand can take any shape you want. A staff, a bracelet, it's always up to the Wizard, though some shapes may require ingenious ways to use them. The shape can always change later as you need."
As Mercer focused on the flower he could feel it changing beneath his hand, becoming more focused and stronger. After a few minutes he could tell that it had finished and he opened his eyes. Where the flower once was now lay a beautiful staff with what open socket at the top.
"Ah a staff, it is almost always the favored choice of master wizards and arch mages, specifically for it's ability to possess a spell core and it's most beautiful appearance. Though it's form is generally a bit more limited with a spell core imbedded in it." Tu gave another short bow. "It is also of course the favored choice of master Tumuo, though he has not used it in many, many, years."
"What about the spell core, what will it be?" Mercer looked up at where the socket was in the staff.
"Eventually, over the course of many years of your life, you will create an intricate spell core that will help you perform feats of magic unfathomable to normal wizards. Most often a Staffs spell core becomes a magical intelligence and helps process all new spell cores that are created by the wizard in order to significantly speed up cast times." Tu created a mini spell core in his hand and then shot a mini fireball at a bush, which immediately vaporized into nothing but a small pile of ash. "As you can see I can near instantly create a micro version of an intense power spell."
"Wow! When can I start doing that!" He stared in awe at the small pile of ash.
"Not for a while now, first you will learn Runic cores until they are easy. This may take a long time, or perhaps, you will be blessed by a power beyond your understanding. For now however, how about you start by making a runic core that simply heats the space around it, take a while to think it through, if you need help call out for me." The figure vanished leaving Mercer alone.
Mercer thought for a moment about how he could draw the circle with his staff. He decided on trying to just form the circle from the end without any actual drawing as the staff would be too unwieldly. He pointed the staff at the center of the Alerite and focused on creating a magic circle. On the stone at the end of the staff a circle formed over the course of a few seconds. Mercer was elated that what he had tried had worked. That is, until he realized he forgot to actually use runes to make it into a runic core, but he disregarded that and decided this was a good step.
Over by a tree Mercer had sat down and was writing in his journal trying to figure out how to create a runic core to heat the space around it. For a first try he decided to simply use the word for heat. When he went back over to the stone he realized that the circle he had inscribed was still there. He remembered that Tu had said it could be reused many times but how did he clear it. He figured it would be another command word and decided to attempt the word clear. Simple first he supposed. He translated the word in his head and spoke the command.
"Limui'ilamolo Limeluasi!" Immediately a wave washed over the Alerite clearing away the inscription allowing him to begin a new test.
Aiming his staff at the Alerite he focused on creating his first Runic Core, A simple one with just the runes for 'heat'. On the stone the Runic Core formed and shortly after the air and stone became hotter around it. It didn't have much of a radius, but it was a start.
Tu reappeared once the circle began radiating heat and looked at the rune. "Impressive, fastest I've seen someone learn. Next you will have to learn to separate runes, One that cools the air, and one that heats the stone. To complete the challenge... Combine the two runes into one, to minimize magic draw on the wizard make it transfer the heat from the air and put it into the stone.
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~Heat~
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(A Runic core was drawn here)
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Uses just word for Heat, Tiluasu
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