The day after his talk with Kate, Typhon had just finished up a high-intensity workout in the gym and was now standing in one of the many training yards on campus. Ten meters in front of him stood Carmine, with her arms folded in front of her and a puzzled look on her face.
"Hey, have you gotten taller?"
Typhon tilted his head to the side.
"I don't know, everything feels like it was when I woke up in the hospital."
Carmine shook her head and shrugged.
"Oh well, I suppose it's not important. What is important is making sure you learn this spell by the end of the day. Once you grasp the concepts behind this, learning new spells should be an easy matter."
Typhon nodded and got into a stance with his arm by his side and legs splayed apart. He flexed his fingers and stretched his wrist by rotating it.
"I'm ready."
"Okay. I want you to raise your arm and ball your hand into a fist. Every spell has unique hand gestures used for both channelling and activating the spell. One of the reasons magic missile is such an easy spell is because the channelling gesture is just a fist and the release gesture is just opening your hand."
Typhon did as Carmine explained as he listened to her explanation of gestures and the ones to use for this spell. While he had read about gestures before, it was always good to reinforce basic concepts when one was learning from scratch.
"Now, while you're holding that pose, try and condense some mana into your fist."
"How do I condense mana? The textbooks said it was different depending on how you felt mana but they didn't give any examples."
Carmine sighed.
"It really is weird to talk to someone with so little knowledge of magic. In basic terms, how you made your circle is similar to how you condense mana. For beginning mages, it is recommended they use a command phrase or word that helps them recall the sensation of forming their first circle. Do you recall a tingly feeling after forming the circle?"
Typhon recalled the blue pulse that shot throughout his body when he completed his circle and the ripple he felt when it was completed. According to Carmine, that ripple he felt was him sensing mana. Having some idea of the feeling he was looking for, Typhon closed his eyes and began focusing on the outside world, looking for ripples in the air that he could identify as mana. Once he started focusing, he was surprised at how easily he identified the ripples in the air, almost as if they were calling out to him as he looked, vibrating excitedly as his attention focused on them.
"Alright, I can sense it."
"Now can you call for it to condense in your fist?"
Typhon redoubled his focus and tried to summon the ripples to coalesce, yet they stubbornly refused to listen to Typhon's wishes. After trying for a few minutes, Carmine's voice cut through his concentration.
"Remember that sometimes beginning mages need to use a phrase or keyword to help. Recall what it was like to form your circle and say something related to how you did it."
Typhon didn't have to think too deeply about what to say. Forming the circle had left a large impression on him, and he often thought about the moment when he was reading his textbooks, trying to relate what he went through to the descriptions in their passages.
"Yield."
That simple word rang out over the silent training yard. The moment it left his lips, the ripples began rapidly coalescing in Typhon's clenched fist. Eventually, there was so much mana in his hand that Carmine could physically see the waves of energy terminating from his hand. She had never seen so much mana gather in such a short time. If this capability stayed with him, she figured that Typhon could instantly complete the mana requirement for 4th circle magic.
'What a monster, not only the first recorded cultivator and mage but also an insane talent in both..."
She shook her head and focused back on Typhon, who was now holding the mana in his fist, waiting for her guidance.
"Alright, good job. Now when we form spells form gathered mana, having solid mental images of the spell is important. For now, disperse the mana by commanding it like before and focus on me as I demonstrate my magic missile a few times."
Typhon internally commanded the mana to disperse, and the ripples left his hand, spreading back out into the air around them. He opened his eye and looked at Carmine, awaiting her demonstrations. Carmine began her demonstration without wasting any time, raising her arm up and clenching her fist. The gathering of mana for her was just as quick but silent, the mark of a more experienced mage.
Carmine opened her hand, and a translucent bolt that looked like an arrowhead shot forward from her hand, leaving a sparkling blue trail behind it as it flew through the air and stuck one of the training dummies set up in the yard. Carmine did this a few times, curving her missile's trajectory in different ways, showing the versatility of the saying method. After firing off 10 missiles, she turned to Typhon, who was watching with rapt attention. A satisfied smile found its way onto her face.
"As you can see, magic missile is a very versatile combat spell that scales well with a mage's proficiency. My own magic missile is slightly affected by my natural elemental affinity and yours will likely take on its own properties as time goes on as well. For now, though, it will be colorless and translucent with barely any distinguishing features unless you have some innate talent in a specific element."
Typhon paused at her words. If innate talent in the elements could cause different properties in a magic missile, then there was a high chance one of his natural elemental affinities changed his magic missile. As the Heavenly Dragon, he was well known to be a master of all the base elements and the secondary elements. He was even beginning to understand space and time arts, but he died before reaching any good foundational understanding.
"What if someone has an affinity with more than one element?"
Carmine tilted her head to the side as she thought about his question. In her experience, those with high affinities with the elements tended to pick one to focus on, so the dominant element took precedence in a spell like magic missile.
"Usually, whatever element affinity is stronger will manifest in the magic missile but for someone like you, you'd have to have a pretty high natural affinity for any of its properties to show in your magic missile. As for if someone had two evenly balanced elements... Well, I don't really know. I'm still very much a student so I can't answer something so high level."
"Understood. Then, I'd like to try shooting my own magic missile now."
"Sure, I'll walk you through the steps for the first time and then I'll let you figure it out as you go."
Typhon retook his stance and gathered his mana after saying his keyword. Now with a fist of potent mana, he waited for Carmine's instructions.
"Okay, so the first step is to imagine the form you want your missile to take. Something that you are intricately familiar with is best as to not muddle up the shape of the spell."
Typhon was a master of many weapons, but besides the bow, he was rather inept in terms of projectile weapons. Yet, despite not having a good grasp on projectile weapons, he had many experiences fighting with ranged spiritual arts. Recalling a staple art he frequently used from his past life, the mana took the shape of a perfect sphere in his fist. Noticing that his mana had taken form, Carmine continued explaining the steps of magic missile.
"Now that you have a form, you need to plot the trajectory of your spell to the target. We call this step 'actualization'. I want you to select one of the training dummies as your target and keep a good mental image of it in your head. Once you do, release the projectile from your hand by using the release gesture."
Typhon looked at the row of training dummies and picked the middle one. Keeping his focus trained on that dummy, he quickly released the projectile from his hand. A translucent ball of shimmering energy shot forth, leaving a faint golden stream behind it as it sailed toward Typhon's target with blazing speed. The ball smashed into the dummy with immense force, kicking up dust from the force of the impact. Carmine, eyes wide with shock, looked towards the dummy to see that it was slightly cracked where Typhon's magic missile had hit it. She looked back to Typhon, who was standing there, arm still outstretched.
"W-What the hell was that!?"