'Wow,' Hariot thought in honest surprise 'I... Am still quite ignorant in the realm of magic.'
He snapped the book he was reading- 'Novice's guide to magical components'- shut, and put it back on the shelf it laid previously.
He was quite amazed at what he had found, the ability to use spoken words in order to both catalyze and smooth the casting process, using certain materials too, and a lot more.
It was all heavily essential to non-beginner magic, allegedly.
Which meant he had allegedly not used any Novice spells so far- Which was quite reasonable in fact, since he hadn't really used any spells from his class so far due to fear of being caught by a Seer or something.
There were a few types of components; Verbal components, non-verbal components, material components, and spiritual components.
-Those were the ones he got from the very beginner friendly book that probably left out a lot for ease of comprehension.
Verbal components were, well, verbal. Be it a chant, a speech, or anything else that could be considered 'verbal communication' could be used as a helpful little tweak.
Non-verbal components was something somewhat similar to verbal components, but not verbal. Usually being hand motions and the like or writting, but also paintings and other such things.
Then, material components; Which was what those pavis lupus eyeballs was being attempted to be used as. Though apperantly this type of component was not the most popular, as if consumed materials which were usually somewhat expensive.
Finally; Spiritual components, it was... Pretty rare, and also frowned apon. Since it was the sacrifice of spiritual things like; Your mental energy, your sanity, your memories, your sense of self, your emotions, your ability to form emotions... And a lot more.
-Oh, you could also use your imagination as fuel- Like the creations of your imagination, not your actual imagination, though that's probably also possible.
This part of spiritual components was said to be the most easily accessible for non-spiritual component focused mages and least frowned apon by the general community. Though claimed to be a 'Gateway' to the 'Real' spiritual components by the book he had read;
Which also cautioned the use of said magical means due to it being such a 'Gateway'.
So Hariot obviously just ignored it, and though about what he should do to get a feel for components- And see if it was possible for him to get component-based masteries as a Necromancer.
He wasn't entirely sure if he could though, since the compatibility with components depended on the mage class.
Such as; 'Arcanist' was a class that didn't have any support for components, and reportedly had a higher difficulty reaching higher ranks and skills levels if they were used. While something like 'Arcane scribe' was basically made for non-verbal components.
It all really depended on the class, sadly he knew almost nothing to the specific masteries his Necromancer class would support.
It was possible to get masteries outside your class, but it was extremely difficult, overly time consuming, had a far higher difficulty of advancement even after gaining it, basically; Not a good idea to go for one, but getting one incidentally wasn't really a negative either.
But one thing was obvious; He had to experiment a bit with components, maybe try recording a few more things with {Mental grimoire} for his own ease.
But he wasn't doing any of that in the open, especially not while in the forest with pavis lupus or beyklir sneaking about.
So it was time to go back to the room in that inn he's still paying for!
"This is the first time I've seen you with a... Large smile?" Seria said as she entered the room, somewhat hesitant to say the last part of her sentence.
Hariot's face instantly snapped back to his passive smile at her first word, reproaching her words with his own "Wow, amazing discovery you made there; Yes, I have emotions. I've totally been trying to hide it all this while."
His words resounded without even the slightest trace of sarcasm, as if every word was said with totally honesty. Confusing Seria at the dissonance between the words and the tone.
He sat on the bed as Seria did her own thing- Sitting in the corner like the good girl she was.
Hariot thought for a moment, and chose to try with a verbal component first. He was of course going to start with magic bolt, because system support was nice.
There was sadly no clear answer to how one ascertains which components work with a spell, specifically verbal- And non-verbal- components.
He took a deep breath and took out his hand, and chanted with pure 'Feeling' as his guide "As the minister of magic, I demand, form a bolt of magic to slay all those I demand."
As he let his chant leave his mouth, he did as he always did and forced out 10 mp out of his hand and formed a ball- Then stretched it and weaved in a bit of mental energy before turning it into a spell.
...Nothing changed.
Back to the start, with knowledge that just using feeling, like what the book suggested, wasn't very consistent.
'Why is there so little about components anyways?' He pondered for a moment, before waving it away as a lack of possible precision since he wasn't in the mood of sleuthing the truth.
But there were many questions, was there one specific chant? There probably wasn't since there were multiple ways to add a verbal component outside of words.
-Like screams, wails, grunts, humming, and such things.
But the real question was; Was there some way to, you know, not rely on pure luck?
'Maybe rhymes aren't allowed?' He thought to himself, but then he refused the notion; A rhyme wouldn't stop his component dreams.
Though... It wouldn't be bad to try.
He forcefully dissapated the magic bolt, stopping it from increasing his rental costs by destroying a wall.
"I, as the ruler of the immeterial, demand the formation of a bolt of magical forces bound by my soul." He called forth, confusing Seria as another bolt of mana formed.
There wasn't any difference, so he started to think again.
-----
Hariot walked between the thick tree trunks of forest north of the city with a sour mental expression, he had failed in his mission. Which probably meant there was no fate between him and componentry- Or whatever else the use of components in magic was called.
With a sigh he held a ball of mana within both of his hands, hidden from the eyes of all outsiders- Him even forcing the signs of mana down a notch with what he had gained from {Mana-concealment}.
-Which he had newly decided to use at all times, unless conditions are unfavourable of course. A prudent man would never resolutely swear an absolute action.
Today he was to kill a few Pavis Lupus, finally stepping up the ladder. He might even use them as a stepping stone to Novice rank!
'But,' He thought with a very dubious moral compass as his core 'Should I allow Seria to watch me use necromancy? Or... Should I just kill her?'
'No, no...' He thought after a few moment, shaking his head 'I know that she's troublesome right now, but her progress seems pretty steady. If I could just find a way to assure her loyalty it'd be fine.'
Keyword being 'If', him not being able to kidnap her family and use it as a ploy to control her for the rest of her life- Maybe even killing her family to not have to deal with the bother of keeping them alive.
It was a shame he couldn't use this classic tactic, learnt from the best his small time as merchant's apprentice and blackmarket accountant could offer.
He once again sighed mentally, maybe it was for the best. The whole 'Kidnapping their family' scheme wasn't the most safe of plots, the person he had stole- 'Plagiarized' it from dying from it backfiring right in his face.
Sadly he didn't have many other binding schemes he could use, poison wasn't really something he could get his hands on- Nonetheless the imaginary poison that was floating around in his mind.
'I really should put more effort into being able to control spells after they're cast- That'd be a great way to train {Mana-manipulation}! It'd also get me closer to putting a mana ring around the serf's heart which I could constrict at will!'
But he really wanted to get access to components, even if he didn't get a mastery- Though it would be a shame- just having access to them would make it so much easier to hide his class.
He wasn't entirely sure, but it would be reasonable if the 'Proper authorities' knew if it was compatible or not, which would mean; If it was supported, why would they suspect him even more? But if it wasn't, they'd be more likely to gloss over it if there were ever any traces of necromancy appearing.
With the sounds of steps in the nearby area which was not of either Hariot or Seria, he quickly took out his sword and prepared to start examining the common behavioral patterns of Pavis Lupus.
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So uh... Skipped a week, I really don't have the most consistant upload schedule, do I? I was hoping to get a backlog going, but there was only one time where I had a backlog of a whole one chapter...
This little delay is mostly due to my lack of ideas regarding the specifics of components, and which conditions they need do meet, so I just skipped over it and brought forth the new hunting ground... I do have ideas about components now, and a bit of world building.