Chapter 47: Understanding Supplementary Spells
The Library at the General Wing was a different marvel on its own. It was the greatest collection of books in the entire kingdom, with no comparison to the one at the Academy wing.
This library was also nearly filled with mages who were already members of a guild, compared to the near-empty one in the Academy wing.
Aiden walked in without needing to verify his identity this time, given that he was wearing a guild’s uniform. That was enough identification for the librarian whose table was closer to the entrance of the library.
When he walked in, the stares started coming. There was obviously one reason why; his score during the magic assessment. There was no way they wouldn’t recognize the face behind the highest magic strength this kingdom had seen in ages.
However, Aiden paid the stares no mind and simply walked into the section of bookshelves.
After some moments of finding the right section holding the books for supplementary spells, he finally picked one out and got into it.
This was a book of spells containing different supplementary spell types. Its pages possessed mystical symbols and diagrams used to aid in the explanation of each spell within the book.
After a few minutes of reading, Aiden had finally come to understand how it worked.
It followed the process of envisioning the spell’s instructions in your mind, and with the right amount of mana infused, casting the very spell.
However, there were a few problems with getting supplementary spells right. The first one was understanding the instructions themselves. One had to understand the right instructions to cast it correctly or paint the image of the spell to be cast the right way.
The second was infusing just the right amount of mana to fuel the spell.
Using too much mana to fuel a spell that only required very little, or using very little for a spell that needed much more, would only result in certain failure. It had to be just the right amount.
An instance to explain the point would be the supplementary spell of Levitation. The instruction behind it was envisioning your body to be light enough to achieve flight, after which you would need to channel and maintain the right amount of mana through your body to carry out the instruction.
Too little of the required mana would not lift you off the ground at all, and too much would make you unable to control your flight; it would feel as if you were a leaf moving in the direction of wherever the wind carried you.
So while the General Library contained spell books for study of these spells, most mages still lacked when it came to the usage of supplementary techniques.
The spell book Aiden was currently studying contained only three spells. One was a transformation spell, a Master level supplementary technique.
The pages trying to explain the transformation spell were numerous and had lots of diagrams of different human faces drawn side by side. Those were diagrams to explain the body transition process from one form to another.
That was the only spell in the book that seemed intriguing to him. The other two were an intermediate-level spell to ward curse spirits away and a basic-level spell to open up a lock.
He discarded that and picked another, and after a while of studying, he found only two spells worth trying. One was the advanced-level invisibility spell, and the other was a Master Level spell called "Immobilis."
The last spell he didn’t take much interest in was a basic spell to unknot ropes in a bind.
Once he had understood these spells, all that was left to do was actually practice them so that he could gain the rewards accrued to his special quest.
However, just before he moved on from reading spell books on supplementary spells, he decided to check some other spell books. Without reading the details, he flipped through the pages to see if he would find spells of much higher levels than Master.
He found none. Even for master-level spells, they weren’t exactly common; maybe finding one in every ten books.
It didn’t matter, at least not yet, so he moved on to his Daily Mission: reading about Mana Circulation.
It felt pretty annoying because who didn’t know about mana circulation? It was like a default thing about being a mage, knowing how to circulate mana.
However, after about an hour of picking and reading the right books, he would come to understand that it was more complex than he thought.
Mana coursed through the body of mages through a Mana Pathway System. They were the points within the body that channeled mana through it.
Simply put, if blood flowed through blood vessels, mana flowed through the mana pathways.
"Which means if those points are blocked, a mage can’t use mana, and in turn becomes useless," Aiden whispered to himself.
He was referring to the six major mana flow points in the body: two points on the knees, one point at the heart, two points on the arms, and one point at the head.
Once he was done reading, a notification reward popped up:
[Daily Mission: Read a book on Mana Circulation → Complete]
[+2 Available Stats Points]
[You have gained +300xp]
"Good, good," he whispered to himself. "Now to grab the experience points for the other quests, and then we can start leveling up."
He stood up, returned the books to their sections, and proceeded to make his way out of the library.
However, reaching the entrance, something he had realized while checking for books came to mind. He turned toward the librarian who was reading a book.
The old lady looked up toward him and asked how she could help.
"I noticed that while looking at spell books, I didn’t see any with King to God level spells," Aiden said.
The old lady looked at him for a moment, then looked at his uniform. She didn’t see the special badge pinned that indicated he was at least at Initiate rank.
She turned toward him and said, "Spells like that can only be provided for Initiates or with special permission from the Grand Magus."
"Oh," Aiden muttered, then nodded his head and left for the Training Room.
...
Soon after, he arrived at the training hall, and it was probably the grandest space he had ever seen.
He saw different mages with different uniforms practicing different spells, whether it was for their origin magic or supplementary magic.
It looked like most here were failing at it, but when he took a closer look, he realized that some of them were also Academy-level mages who were trying to successfully create a spell, especially knowing that it was a criterion for being granted the rank of Initiate.
At one corner was an instructor who simply oversaw the whole place and offered advice where needed.
Aiden moved to a certain corner to begin his practice.