Incantation, Part 2

Then there was the matter of length.

An incantation couldn't be too short, or a wayward thought might set it off, though this was rare. At the same time, it shouldn't be very long, or else there'd be no point. The best length for an incantation was two to five words, not too long, but not too short.

Next was the choice of words to use.

Many Mages simply used the name of the Spell as their incantation, but the book highly discouraged this practice. Instead, it recommended personally assigning a phrase to the Spell.

This, in the book's words, allowed the Mage to "better connect with their Spell," but it didn't elaborate further.

Finally, there were Spell types.

The four types of Spells were, in descending order of power: permanent, temporary, continuous, and strike.

Permanent lasted forever, temporary for a set amount of time, continuous for as long as Chimh was supplied, and strike was only a one-and-done kind of thing, like a bolt of lightning.

Each type was easier to learn than the one before it and also had a shorter casting time. As an example, a temporary Spell would be faster to learn than a permanent one, and would also take less time to cast.

Splinter was a strike-type Spell, based on its description, and it would be relatively easy to apply an incantation to it.

When he was finished reading, Morne once again reached for his Chimh, a phrase formulating in his mind.

Five minutes later, he pointed his finger at the wall again.

"Splinter shot."

A bolt of energy flew out of his finger and collided against the wall.

The incantation had drastically reduced the casting time. While it took twenty seconds before, this time it only took the time to say those two words.

Like this, it would actually be useful in combat, if only marginally.

Morne nodded, satisfied, only for a slight headache to start thumping away in his head. He also suddenly felt peckish, and recalled that Splinter used his life force to operate.

He went down to the innkeeper and grabbed a quick meal, bringing it back up to his room. He ate the meal of beans, bread, and chicken legs as he read, careful not to get anything on the book.

With his first Spell learned, Morne wanted to learn another, only to be stopped by words at the bottom of another Spell's page.

"Recommended to master Spell to Emel before continuing to Practitioner Spell."

This advice was underneath the Spell "Invigorating Touch," a Spell that allowed the caster to bestow a tiny amount of their own life force onto another living organism through touch.

But what was "Emel?"

Morne scoured the book for answers, finding them not long later in the glossary section, where he had found the information on Towers and Chimh Wells.

"The stages of mastery of a Spell indicate the proficiency with which one can cast said Spell," he read.

The stages were Em, Eme, Emel, Emeln, and Emelna.

Em was the base stage. A Spell at this stage could be cast at its designated Grade. In Splinter's case, casting it as a Novice Spell was enough to reach the Em stage, a feat Morne had already accomplished.

Following Em was Eme, where a Mage could cast a Spell one Grade higher than its base. For Splinter, this would mean casting it as an Apprentice Spell.

Then there was Emel, where you could cast it up to two Grades higher; Emeln, where you could cast it up to three Grades higher; and Emelna, where you could cast it at whatever Grade you wished, provided you had the Chimh to do so and it was at or above the base Grade.

A Practitioner Spell could never be cast as an Apprentice or Novice Spell, for example, but it could be cast as an Adept Spell if you were an Adept yourself.

Each stage above Em also brought with it more efficient usage of Chimh, allowing for stronger effects at the base Grade, while also shortening the natural casting time.

Furthermore, incantations could not be applied to a permanent or temporary Spell until one reached the Emelna stage of mastery with it, for reasons the book didn't explain.

One needed to know the Spell intimately to advance to another stage of mastery, to the point that the Spell's Mark evolves with the next casting.

This could come with practice or through enlightenment. Most Mages would just cast the Spell until they reached that point, feeling their Chimh change to power the Spell and monitoring every second of the process.

A Mage would know when they achieved a new stage of mastery when they cast the Spell again. The Spell's Mark would appear on a higher floor of their Tower, like from a Pebble floor to a Stone floor, gaining access to the greater power of that Height.

The previous Mark wouldn't vanish, so a Mage could choose the Grade they wished to use on the fly.

Going back to the advice at the bottom of Invigorating Touch's page, and then checking the Practitioner Spell, Morne understood.

The Practitioner Spell required Invigorating Touch as a Practitioner Spell to make use of, and as mentioned before, the Apprentice Spells were simply a build-up to the Practitioner Spell.

Casting Invigorating Touch as a Practitioner Spell required mastering it to Emel, hence the warning.

Morne frowned. This would be troublesome.

He couldn't think of a way to practice this Spell without unnecessarily draining himself. There was another Spell, Withering Touch, that could potentially offset this, but where would he find something to cast the Spells on?

The book didn't say anything about needing a valid target to improve one's mastery stage, but Morne wasn't keen on throwing away life force. The book had nothing on what the effects of that would be, but he imagined it wouldn't be good.

He took another bite out of the loaf of bread as he thought, his chewing slowing as his eyes landed on the bread.

'Would this work?' he thought.

Bread was made of wheat and yeast, after all, something he had learned after helping make it back in his village.

He didn't know if either one would be alive after baking, but maybe he could acquire some dough from the innkeeper.

Morne stored his book with a muttered word and went down to the bar to do just that, leaving what was left of his dinner on the bed.