Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Good reflexes,» Kyron complimented. «They’re actually reinforced, so you don’t have to worry about dropping them too much.» He took one of the spell rods they used in class and grasped it firmly in his hand. «Let me demonstrate something to you. Throw one of the plates to my left.»

Zorian immediately complied, and Kyron wordlessly pointed the rod in the plate’s general direction and fired. He was wide of the mark, but the bolt of force actually homed in on the plate anyway, curving through the air to intercept it. The plate shattered into dust and sharp fragments.

«Again,» Kyron snapped.

Zorian threw another plate, and another bolt of force sped towards it. This one was different, however — it was longer and thinner, like an oversized needle. It hit the plate, but instead of smashing it to pieces it went right through it, punching a hole through the center before dissipating.

«Throw the last two together,» Kyron instructed.

Two plates flew into the air, and Kyron once again pointed the rod in their general direction. Zorian waited for the bolt of force, but none was forthcoming. Instead, both plates were suddenly cut in half by some unseen blades.

Kyron lowered his hand and began to speak.

«The reason I’ll be spending so much time on magic missile is because it’s a very versatile spell,» Kyron spoke. «In its simplest form, it takes the form of a shining bolt of force that travels in a straight line, delivering concussive blasts of force to whatever it impacts. This variant is often called the smasher, and it is a very simple and effective spell. A skilled mage can do so much more with it, however. You can use animation magic to make it home in on a target. You can sharpen it into a point that will pierce things instead of batter them, or a line to cut them — the piercer and cutter, respectively. You can fire multiple missiles instead of one — a swarm, even, if you have the reserves and skill to pull it off. And, of course, you can make the projectile invisible.»

«Invisible?» asked Zorian.

«Yes,» Kyron agreed. «A perfectly cast force spell is completely transparent. The lightshow you usually see is magical leakage resulting from an imperfect spell boundary. The speed with which combat magic is cast virtually guarantees that some mistakes in constructing the spell boundary will be made, and even if no mistakes are made the large amounts of mana pumped into the constructs can easily distort or unravel some of the pieces.»

«So I’m messing the spell up?» summarized Zorian, thinking of the brightly shining projectiles he always got when he used the rod. «Wait, your missiles normally shine too. Is that—»

Kyron chuckled. «Like I said at the start — there are plenty of magical disciplines where great shaping skills are an asset, but combat magic is mostly about power. Most battle mages can’t even make a simple magic missile transparent, much less one of the higher level force spells. It doesn’t hold them back any. Even I usually don’t bother, since the benefits are so marginal. You, on the other hand, need every advantage you can get.»

Kyron pushed the spell rod and the accompanying booklet into Zorian’s hands.

«You are right that you won’t learn much in class in the next month or so. The smasher may be simple, but more than half of your classmates are having trouble with it as it is, and you’re the only one that truly has a good grasp on it. So read the booklet, find some targets to practice on, and make sure there is a friend nearby while you practice to get help if you screw up big. Oh, and don’t hurt anyone with the rod I’m loaning you or I’ll be mad. Come back to me in two weeks so I can see how you’re progressing.»

«Right,» agreed Zorian enthusiastically. This went a lot better than he thought it would.

«Now get lost,» Kyron gestured towards the door. «You’ve wasted my entire coffee break already.»

Zorian dropped the stack of books on a nearby table and surveyed the shelves. He had decided to try his luck as a library employee again, hoping he would find a way to get around spell restrictions as an employee. Zach had been absent from class for a couple of days at this point, probably still suffering from the aftereffects of the soul spell, so he couldn’t simply trick the answer out of his fellow time traveler. And besides, he wanted to learn those book divinations he was promised before being brutally murdered, and all.