Arik returned from escorting the trader across the land and protecting the man from a group of troublemakers he'd affectionately dubbed the "Checkerboard Bandits". Not because they stole checkerboards, but because they looked like them. His pockets were significantly heavier from the money he'd been paid for the job, and his arm significantly more sore. He'd rested up, and the walk back had given him a lot of time to think.
In his hands, Arik held a small, blue-bound book and a pen. The inkwell was clasped tightly in place between Arik's left elbow and chest, well away from the book. He'd spent the walk back with his staff strapped across his back, thinking and writing his thoughts. The poor book had been filled nigh to the brim with ink, the pages almost completely full. Arik's mind wandered a lot, but on the subject of magic that could be a good thing. Even errant thoughts could be relevant, given time to be thought on, which is why Arik used this book to write down everything on the subject of magic he could. In particular, his thoughts had given him possibilities for not one, but three spells. One of these was the simple gravity manipulation that enabled mages to fly. It wasn't his own spell, but he thought he'd made a breakthrough that might let him utilize it without a half-hour of preparatory ritual. Two others were variations on light magic that seemed useful for self-defense, a niche he'd thought he needed filled after that fiasco with the bandits.
He scarcely noticed the gates of Magnostadt, save to conjure up a simple spell of light to serve as his identification since he wore no Academy robes. His suit earned him stares much like the robes that many students and teachers wore would earn them stares in any other city in the world. Arik walked straight to one of his favorite practice rooms and set the ink down upon a bench, reaching down to the sand beneath him and picking up a handful of the loose particles to blot the fresh ink. The sand was there in case a magician fell while practicing; while uncomfortable, it was more forgiving than stone by far.
Flipping through the book, he settled on one of his simpler theories. A spell of light, focused into a small enough point to cause a direct burn. It had little in the way of advantages over the ball form that Arik had already used, but it was always nice to know more than one way of doing things. Setting the small blue book down, Arik picked up his staff and strode to the center of the room, facing a straw-filled sack that would serve as his target.
He didn't cast his spell immediately. He rehearsed the construct in his mind over and over. To an outsider, he would've looked like he was just staring at the target dummy, but he was doing so much more than that. Light magic like the spell he was about to cast had two stages, and the second was easier than the first. First one had to create a mental construct of what the spell would fill with light, and then one conjured up light to fill the construct. That was why he used words; if he rehearsed a construct enough with the words he associated with it, it would become much easier to use the spell.
In this case, his construct was a narrow ray. The construct appeared in his mind's eye as a narrow tube of dark glass, though nobody else would see that when the spell was cast. It was just a visualization, albeit an accurate one. The spell gathered, reflected, and concentrated the light within it. Arik created the spell's construct from scratch over and over in his thoughts, muttering the words he'd decided on under his breath every time. "Thrysta Garjzla, Thrysta Garjzla, Thrysta Garjzla." It went on for a minute like this before Arik felt confident enough to actually fire off a spell. "Thrysta Garjzla!"" A ray of light, just a few inches wide but ten meters long, shot out of Arik's staff and hit the sack of straw.
The impromptu target caught fire, and Arik cursed himself for forgetting how flammable these darn things were. The heat couldn't have been that intense, but straw went up so readily it hardly mattered. Yet another reason for the sand, he thought to himself as he grabbed a pail and filled it with sand before dumping the contents over the flaming target to smother the flames. He returned to his bench, leaned against the wall, picked up his book and pen, and put a small check next to the details of the first spell. "Two to go."
~801/250 for Thrysta Garjzla.~
In his hands, Arik held a small, blue-bound book and a pen. The inkwell was clasped tightly in place between Arik's left elbow and chest, well away from the book. He'd spent the walk back with his staff strapped across his back, thinking and writing his thoughts. The poor book had been filled nigh to the brim with ink, the pages almost completely full. Arik's mind wandered a lot, but on the subject of magic that could be a good thing. Even errant thoughts could be relevant, given time to be thought on, which is why Arik used this book to write down everything on the subject of magic he could. In particular, his thoughts had given him possibilities for not one, but three spells. One of these was the simple gravity manipulation that enabled mages to fly. It wasn't his own spell, but he thought he'd made a breakthrough that might let him utilize it without a half-hour of preparatory ritual. Two others were variations on light magic that seemed useful for self-defense, a niche he'd thought he needed filled after that fiasco with the bandits.
He scarcely noticed the gates of Magnostadt, save to conjure up a simple spell of light to serve as his identification since he wore no Academy robes. His suit earned him stares much like the robes that many students and teachers wore would earn them stares in any other city in the world. Arik walked straight to one of his favorite practice rooms and set the ink down upon a bench, reaching down to the sand beneath him and picking up a handful of the loose particles to blot the fresh ink. The sand was there in case a magician fell while practicing; while uncomfortable, it was more forgiving than stone by far.
Flipping through the book, he settled on one of his simpler theories. A spell of light, focused into a small enough point to cause a direct burn. It had little in the way of advantages over the ball form that Arik had already used, but it was always nice to know more than one way of doing things. Setting the small blue book down, Arik picked up his staff and strode to the center of the room, facing a straw-filled sack that would serve as his target.
He didn't cast his spell immediately. He rehearsed the construct in his mind over and over. To an outsider, he would've looked like he was just staring at the target dummy, but he was doing so much more than that. Light magic like the spell he was about to cast had two stages, and the second was easier than the first. First one had to create a mental construct of what the spell would fill with light, and then one conjured up light to fill the construct. That was why he used words; if he rehearsed a construct enough with the words he associated with it, it would become much easier to use the spell.
In this case, his construct was a narrow ray. The construct appeared in his mind's eye as a narrow tube of dark glass, though nobody else would see that when the spell was cast. It was just a visualization, albeit an accurate one. The spell gathered, reflected, and concentrated the light within it. Arik created the spell's construct from scratch over and over in his thoughts, muttering the words he'd decided on under his breath every time. "Thrysta Garjzla, Thrysta Garjzla, Thrysta Garjzla." It went on for a minute like this before Arik felt confident enough to actually fire off a spell. "Thrysta Garjzla!"" A ray of light, just a few inches wide but ten meters long, shot out of Arik's staff and hit the sack of straw.
The impromptu target caught fire, and Arik cursed himself for forgetting how flammable these darn things were. The heat couldn't have been that intense, but straw went up so readily it hardly mattered. Yet another reason for the sand, he thought to himself as he grabbed a pail and filled it with sand before dumping the contents over the flaming target to smother the flames. He returned to his bench, leaned against the wall, picked up his book and pen, and put a small check next to the details of the first spell. "Two to go."
~801/250 for Thrysta Garjzla.~
- Spell Description:
- Name: Thrysta Garjzla
Tier: D
Cost: 10
Element: Light
Class: Offensive
Range: 10M
Duration: Instant
Cool-Down: 2 Posts
Description: This spell projects a thin, focused ray of light from the tip of Arik's staff. The light travels at 10 m/s and causes burns equivalent to sunburns on contact. The ray is scarcely three inches across, but it's all the harder to see coming because of it. Not that an attack made entirely of light can be subtle in any sense of the word.