Casual Heroing

“Common knowledge it is not,” Lord Juler says, almost tripping on his own words, “but magic and enchantments are what those who refuse classes live on. Magic is the most tangible path one can take outside classes and levels. We mentioned the supposed origin of Enchantments, or Cantamen, as you might know them, as a gift from a Cantus. But the Canti have little to do with the dissemination of those. In fact, one could argue that the cults that many now see as little more than madness nestings are the real [Enchanters]. The greatest techniques discovered during the primitive enchantment era come from them.”

Alba raises a hand, curiosity trumping her fear of the old man.

“ Yes, child?”

“Is there a book we can use as a reference for this? I’m afraid that if we were to write this down in our assignment, our [Professor] could disqualify the information as little more than a rumor.”

Lord Juler raises an eyebrow at that and smacks his lips.

That’s probably one of the angriest gestures I have seen the old man partake in. His knowledge being questioned by an ‘inferior institution,’ as he would put it, is probably something beyond his ‘great tolerance.’

“Joey Luciani, stop giggling like a toddler,” he says. “I’ll retrieve an accurate historical rendition of the book and contribute its content to your pitiful academy. I’d rather avoid having to level it to the ground because some half-wit [Professor] called me a liar.”

Everyone smiles at that remark, probably taking it as no more than jesting. On the contrary, knowing Lord Juler and his crazy people, I’m actually quite happy that Alba asked the question and unknowingly avoided an international accident.

I have to admit I should be more careful around the Vanedenis. You can mess with other species, races, people; whatever, really. But the Vanedenis? Oh, they don’t play around.

“Classless people have always been more receptive to the importance of perceiving Mana. Unlike us, they can’t simply get their hands on a skill to replicate a matrix out of the blue. It took literal centuries before the knowledge of tier 2 spells could be attested among them. And that’s marvelous, isn’t it? Imagine these people going on with their lives and building their knowledge little by little instead of pursuing shortcuts...”

Lord Juler takes a deep breath.

“There are obscure and dark theories arguing that magic and skills should never cross, that the epitome of magic cannot be reached through levels. Is it true? It’s a fascinating theory, for sure; it’s also what guides many of those who never accepted a class. But, as with all fascinating theories, the truth is hidden deeper than many will ever dig. There might be certain advantages to that approach, but there might be as many drawbacks. Building on the shared knowledge we have--let’s go back to the topic.”

By now, it’s probably been almost an hour since he started talking. Sure, it didn’t feel like an hour because Lord Juler is a [Supreme Archmagus] at the end of the day, meaning that he could entertain students of magic for weeks without boring them.

“The main doctrine we share among [Mages] is to look at the world of magic with our eyes. Now, for those communities that did not accept classes, that was simply impossible. They couldn’t just alter their eyes to perceive Mana and much less create a spell to do so. A spell replicating [Mana Sense] is, at the very least, a tier 4 spell. Depending on how fine the details are, bordering on [Advanced Mana Sense] level, we are talking about tier 5. I don’t believe in tiers of magic as much as others do since there’s great variability in spells – but take that as a relative measure to establish the complexity of such a spell. And since they could barely use tier 1 spells, how were they able to create Enchantments? Isn’t that a fascinating question?”

Lord Juler moves his wiry hands in the air, slowly drawing out a simple spell matrix with [Light]. Funnily enough, it’s a [Light] spell matrix made from a [Light] spell.

“They had no idea that a [Light] spell had this form and that it could be so simple. It was one of the first spells they discovered, nonetheless. They yearned for something that resembled fire, that could shine light upon the darkest moonless nights. And they looked for what [Light] felt to them. What does a cooked meal taste like compared to a raw one? What did the sun feel like on their skin? What did they smell when water dried out in the open air?”

Lord Juler sighed.

“As you might have noticed, many of these questions were incorrect, children. But they looked and looked, trying to understand with their other senses how they should shape Mana. After a long time, they finally found it. It was a specific sensation that encompassed all their senses. It took a long time, and they had to observe a lot of the world, but--”

Lord Juler makes a poignant pause with a sly smile on his face.

“Their [Lights] shined brighter than any other [Mage]’s. They could only cast one spell, sure, but all those who learned how to do that originally managed to create perfect spells. That is, if you want to mention it, at the base of the critiques of our current magic system. I don’t know whether anyone is still working on that theory, but some believe that empathetic magic is much more complete than simply dealing with spell matrixes. Some reclusive [Scholars] in my family postulated that basing spellcasting on sight alone was the equivalent of sculpting a block of marble by making a clay copy.”

Everyone looks confused at that.

“Yes, they spent too much time on their own,” Lord Juler laughs.

“But back to the primitive enchantments,” he says with a smile, clearly enjoying himself, “their backbone is connected to the empathetic feeling developed by these groups. It might sound counterintuitive in this era, but they did not have any trouble developing Enchantments. It was the natural development of their magic; binding the same feelings that spells gave out to objects came as second nature to them. Now, it’s necessary to mention that some of these groups were affiliated with the first Cantus, Mer. Supposedly, she was Classless. And--”

Lord Juler makes a slight pause, looking at each face, and shaking his head.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s stay on topic.”

I frown. There’s something wrong with the old man, I think. He’s usually so very eager to explain stuff to people that it’s impossible to stop him. But now--I don’t know. I might be imagining this.

“The core of primitive Enchantments is their stark difference from the present ones. Nowadays, we imitate the spell matrixes by creating artificial Mana carvings inside the material, which are supposed to guide the Mana in the same shape as the spell matrix. That’s why most Enchantments are just very inferior versions of the original spell. Instead, the primitive Enchantments were as powerful - if not more powerful - than their modern counterparts.”

Amelia raises a hand, clearly extremely curious.

“Excuse me, if they are more powerful, why are they not still used?”

Lord Juler laughs to himself.

“Because most of the original groups who developed those spells died in wars. Their knowledge has been passed down, but it suffered terrible setbacks. They can barely cast tier 1 spells. It might take them decades to research a new spell. There are certainly some Enchantments circulating that hold the same capabilities, but their production is undoubtedly minimal compared to how easily we can create normal Enchantments.”

“Hypothetically speaking,” Anneus intercepts the conversation, “how strong would a Tier 4 or 5 spell be if cast through ‘empathetic methods’?”

“The greater the spell, the greater the complexity of the spell matrix. If you could pin down all the empathetic aspects of a [Meteor]? It’s impossible to define,” Lord Juler ponders while stroking his beard, “however, it’s likely that it would skip one tier in strength. A tier 4 spell cast through empathetic means might be considered a tier 5 spell. Maybe even tier 6 – we don’t have any trusted sources on this topic, only myths and legends.”

“Anyway,” Lord Juler waves his hand, “you can now use any [Student] skill you have spared so far, and then we’ll proceed to you asking questions to clarify your knowledge. Does any one of you have [Always the Right Question]? It is a rare skill, but it’s not too hard to get. If no one has it, we might be able to have it appear before the lesson ends.”

Man, sometimes I wish I got the [Student] class like Domitilla. I bet there are some neat memory skills packed in there. Now that I think about it, I never really asked her what kind of skills she got thanks to it, did I? Or maybe I did? Who knows.

“Excuse me,” Amelia raises her hand with a cringing face, “it might just be me, but what is the [Student] class?”

Huh?

Lord Juler frowns and answers matter-of-factly: “The class that every student gets when they join the Nine Towers Academy?”

“I didn’t get no class,” Anneus says.

“Me neither,” Marcellus adds.

Both girls say the same thing.

“Joey Luciani, did you get the [Student] class?”

I shake my head.

“Domitilla has one after I made her sign the contract you gave me, but I never got one myself.”

“Are you children telling me that no one here, save for Joey Luciani, even heard of the class?”