Chapter V: The first lecture (Part 2)

"What is Magicka?"

Tiberius raises his hand at this and the Archmage points at him "It is the fuel we use for our magic?" he says somewhat unsure.

Savos nods "True, when it comes to application it is indeed the fuel to our fire so to say, but what is it? Anyone else?" He looks around the room and points to Marwyn who is still as shy as yesterday.

"I-is it the energy that makes up a being's spirit?"

"While it doesn't make the entire spirit it is the thing that gives it 'weight' " he says with air quotes. "But that is merely one of the things that it is. Does anyone else have an idea?"

I try to remember either from my previous or current life and hesitantly raise my hand. He nods my way and I speak "It is the raw energy that permeates all of existence, it is the building blocks of reality, and when focused can be directed to change said reality?"

He seems to agree and nods "Indeed, it can be called that and can be used to alter the world, but it does have limitations" He turns toward the other Dunmer in our group who rose her hand "And what do you think Miss Moabain"

She calmly says "It is the cosmic energy flowing from Aetherius to Mundus through the sun and stars, left behind by Magnus after the creation of our world, it is as my colleague said the material from which the world itself was made"

The Archmage seems satisfied with our collective answer "Indeed Magicka, being the Ayleid word for magic or mana as some cultures call it, is all these things and more. It is the tool that we use to become more than what we were born with and with which we ascend beyond the mere mortals who fear and loathe us. It is also a drug so addictive that skooma might seem like a morning snack in comparison." Very dramatic, but also true. The feeling of it flowing through your body is like a constant high, no wonder most mages are depicted as cackling madmen.

"That is exactly why you must remember that while it is a great gift and power, it is also a great burden. Don't let the meager strength you achieve get to your head and lead you down a path of foolishness or into the maws of beings far more powerful."

Without context this is just a boring 'with great power' speech, but knowing his backstory he really does just want us to be cautious and not get ourselves enslaved by Daedra or worse.

The Archmage takes a moment and starts speaking once more "Now that we have something close to a consensus of what Magicka is, let us move on to a very simple application of it" He casts a candlelight in his right hand and raises it "This is the novice level spell Candlelight, it is very simply a focused ball of Magicka mixed with the intent to create light, I want all of you to try this."

We all immediately get to casting, Edrasa and the twins manage it immediately, likely having already learned it. I take some more time trying to get the intent part of the spell right but am soon successful. It takes about a minute more for everyone else to get it.

The Archmage nods, satisfied "Good, now that we have an example I will explain how the act of doing magic works. As you might have learned from doing any spell, magic consists of three main elements: The will to enact it, the energy to fuel it, and the intent to guide and shape it."

He starts walking around while showing us illusions to best help us understand his explanation "The most basic applications of magic start simply with an intense wish to do something, this can best be shown by the flames spell: You desire to burn something, the Magicka within you reacts and is transformed into flames. This is how the first Ayleid sorcerers learned magic."

"Over the millennia the study of magic has become more and more advanced and complex until at one point mere intent could no longer suffice. That is when mental images, self-hypnotism, and finally runes came into play. The mages of old realized that creating an association in one's mind and then using said association to direct a more complex spell can produce far better and safer results than merely wishing something hard enough and ramming a shipload of Magicka into it."

"There are many different runic languages across Tamriel usually applied in enchantments, but for spellcasting most mages use the arcane script which was created over millennia of trial and error." He creates a large illusion showing over a hundred symbols written in a similar style.

I raise my hand and he nods at me "So why haven't some of us had any interaction with said script, we are already apprentice mages, there should have at least been a hint of it"

He thinks for a second before asking "Have you ever read an adept spell book?"

I shake my head and he nods in confirmation "Then that is why you haven't yet had any interaction with it, most spells below the adept level do not need the arcane script, and to be fair it is very difficult to find the script itself written down beyond a learning institution or an old magical family. Any copy of it is usually confiscated for even the most minor of infractions to keep it from the wrong hands, well in most places that is. Trying to take it from a Telvanni mage usually results in explosions or an army of Daedra." We share a chuckle with Edrasa joining us.

It's a shame that most of my father's stuff got disappeared after he died, but I guess old Bobby didn't want to give me an entire library's worth of spells without any effort.

The Archmage continues his explanation "After a very long time of using the arcane script the world itself started associating certain symbols with certain effects, that is why we don't need to spend years training our subconscious to use the script" Thank fuck for that. "Now for the best part of any learning experience!" He spreads his arms overdramatically, my fellows seem excited but I already know where this is going... "Homework!" sigh... yup.

Everyone deflates faster than a Thalmor does a racism, while the Professors quietly laugh at our misery. The Archmage continues "I want all of you to memorize the entire script by the end of your first year, it is a long-term project yes, but if you want to keep up with your peers you will need to be able to read, write, and most importantly understand the arcane script, otherwise learning anything above low-adept spells will be extremely hard and not to mention the casting being incredibly inefficient."

The students accept their fate and the lesson soon ends with the Archmage waving at us almost mockingly. Guess he experienced something similar when he first started out, oh well if he wasn't at least a bit petty I would think him unworthy of a position of authority.

Most of the apprentices head back to the dormitories while I head off towards the library, If I have to learn some squiggly lines to become powerful I will learn the damn squiggly lines!

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A/n: I hope that I chose the right system of magic, there weren't many explanations that I could find online for the more complex spells so I went for this style.

If you have liked reading my work do toss me a stone and/or review.