Chapter 9

"Scholars of magic have devised a loose measurement of spell cost. This is based on the unit of mana that is required to activate a cantrip. We call this unit a mana point or MP for short. Qi warriors have a similar measurement, but their method is far more crude, their qi point (qp) is equal to their simplest skill 'Bird Eyes".

"Jess could you make a HUD like display based on this measurement for my mana?" Jason asked feeling somewhat excited about the fact of a hard measurement of his power.

"Yes, I can. is there anywhere in particular that you would like me to place it?" Jess asked in return.

"Hmm...how about the top right hand corner. That way it won't distract me but it will be easy to find when I need it. Speaking of now that I've reached mage apprentice lvl 4 how many mp do I have?" Jason wondered.

"No problem, and there you are. As for your question. you currently have 470 MP. based on what I have observed most people have 50 mana points for each level they have in mage apprentice tier. Your capacity should be so large mainly because of the Forging Iron Divinity technique you are practicing with that old man.

Unaware of the converstion going on, Tobias continued his lesson. " most level 1 spells require between ten too fifty mana to cast. There are a few that can require up to one hundred and fifty mp to cast. All the spells I will be giving you today only require ten mp, except two. The first is mana shield as it is a life saver, but it costs one hundred mp to cast. The second is levitate, this is an extremely rare type of spell for a level one spell, it has no set cost and it instead costs five mp per second. Now therw are a few super level one spells that can break this rule as well but they are usually made by geniuses as their trump cards and are there for not shared or taught to others. You can later try creating your own if you are confident. I recommend that you share it with a higher level wizard you trust to make sure not to blow yourself up."

"These are a few of the most basic spell sigils. They are: levitate, mana bolt, mana shockwave, mana shield, mana trap, mana landmine, mend scrapes, You should have already become proffecient in the basic sigil-les cantrips such as warm, spark, ember, and clean. Now it is time to learn your first spells. After learning them you will have a dual based off these spells. Make sure to do your best. The Marquess has decided to give an award to the winner. I do not know what it is so no need to bother asking, Anna" Tobias said with a light smirk.

Anna embarrassedly glared at Tobias before sticking her tongue out. "Just you wait for the 'award' I got for you" she mumbled.

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Most of the sigils only had 5-6 runes. The only exception was mana shield, which had eight. After looking over the runes in mana shield Jason realized that the extra runes in a mana shield made it permanent.

When Jason tried to find what was unique about levitate to change its mana cost, instead of an extra rune, he found there was a swirl set in the center of the sigil with each arm reaching out to one of the five runes on the ring.

After enjoying looking at the sigil for a short time, Jason, began to study the placement of the runes for each sigil. He would reference the beginner guides book for the meaning of any new rune he came across.

Thanks to Jess helping him learning the meaning of the runes and growing his knowledge on the placement of runes, Jason was able to more quickly learn them. During his fifth sigil he finally came across an excerpt in the book that explained why the placement was so stringent. It turned out that different runes had different mana needs. The amount of mana would put strain on the sigil, only if this strain was perfectly distributed would the sigil succeed, otherwise it would shatter.

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A few hours later Jason found out that he had already learned and could perfectly recall all the sigils Tobias had given him. He was about to go practice the actual visualization and casting of magiv. But, seeing that he had almost finished the beginner guide to runes he choose to finish the book first.

On the last couple of pages there were no more runes but instead some information. "Runes have levels. There is the initial 'fire' rune but there are far more complex runes that also mean 'fire' these more complex runes have far more power. There could be thousands of runes with the exact same meaning or only minute differences that could only be a change in power level. You may wonder why you would need so many runes that means the same thing especially the weaker ones. The answer is that you can only have a rune appear once per sigil, but it is ok to have runes that mean the same but are different in the same sigil. In other words you could put five 'fire' runes, of different makes into the same sigil making it over far hotter and even comparable to a higher level spell. Unfortunately the more runes a sigil contains the smaller the runes must be as well as the more complex the math for their distribution.

Jason closed the book lost in thought. Imagining what this new news whould mean for his path as a mage.

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Jason practiced the basic spells he had been given. He had initially thought that having a photographic memory would allow him to perfectly instant cast all spells. Unfortunately while he remembered everything perfectly, when he visualized a sigil outside his body there was some kind of resistance that made the sigil get messed up.

After talking to Tobias he learned this resistance was called the World's Will. He also explained that this only effected mana or qi that left the body. Apparently certain combat skills would release energy as well, such as 'Flame Slash' which would this out a wave of sharp flames.

"You have perfect memory!" Tobias screamed in shock.

"Yes, but there's no need to get excited, because of the World's Will I still won't be able to instant cast. So all it can do is speed up the learning of a new sigil by a little bit." Jason responded believing it wasnt a big deal, At higher levels with the increased IQ learning new sigil would be a breeze and the slight advantage he had would disappear .

"You fool! With perfect memory all you need is to practice enough and you will be able to cast spells on the SAME RING AS YOURSELF! IN OUR ENTIRE KINGDOM THERE ATE ONLY THREE PEOPLE KNOWN TO HAVE THIS ABILITY!" by the end Tobias was screaming every word from frustration and excitement.

"Come with me, we have to see Her Ladyship" Tobias reached out and grabbed Jason. There was a blast of glaring light and Jason felt a pulling sensation.

Ten second later they stopped Jason feeling a cool air cushioning his body so he wouldn't be hurt. "You had better have a good explanation for using 'Light Stream' to run into my meeting hall. You know it's against the laws of our land so I will have no choice but to punish you if you do not have a reasonable explanation. " Tabitha stated with minor worry and a little anger for being put in this position.

"My lady, it is because of Jason, he shared shocking news with me. " Tobias began.

"Is that so?" Tabitha asked, finally noticing who it was Tobias brought to her. "What is so wrong that you violated the law bringing him here instead of walking like civilized people? Jason shouldnt have left the castle so I can't imagine what he's seen that could warrant such urgency." Tabitha said starting to become more irritated, now she was almost sure she'd have to punish Tobias, who was a close friend and even her cousin.

"I don't fully understand why it's such a big deal, but it's about me not forgetting something I have seen. I have perfect memory and after I told Tobias he freaked out and brought me here, Ms. Tabitha. " Jason politely answered, still shocked from the whole ordeal.

Turning to Tobias, "Is this true? have you witnessed it?" Tabitha asked all anger gone.

"Yes, he instantly memorized all the sigils I had given him to study today. " Tobias answered.

"Keep this news quite for now. You are having him try proffesion next week right?" Tabitha questioned.

While Jason was confused about the direct change in topic, Tobias seemed to have realized something as his eyes lit up. "Yes ma'am, and the results should be out the following Sunday. "

"Good, after the results are in we can talk again. Jason you should continue to train as my daughter is very competitive and will do her best to crush you." Tabitha stated with a smile.

While Jason was beyond confused he already knew he wouldn't recieve any more clarification, so instead of asking he pushed the conversation out of his mind and went back to training.