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Chapter 7: The first practice

"I have to inspect the condition of our border guards," Gianni said over breakfast this morning. "Vittorio, you will go with me. Cael, practice on your own. I will see to your training when I return."

Cael was disappointed, but could only agree. Besides, he was itching to try out all the spells he knew.

The training hall was almost on top of the Oliveira tower and took most of the floor. It was a spacious round room, with lines of magical stones and glyphs creating a protective net that covered all its walls, floor, and ceiling. There were no windows. Instead, against the walls stood racks with training weapons and armor. Instead of mannequins, a round stone panel on the wall allowed visitors to summon illusions of enemies.

In short, it was the second most expensive room in the tower after the library.

Cael came to the panel and moved his hand over the engraved words. After some consideration, he touched the engraved word "bandit". A moment later, near the far wall appeared a realistic illusion of a hairy, dirty thug in chipped armor.

Cael cracked his knuckles, recalled the magic words, and touched another word on the panel, "fight".

The bandit sprung to life. For several seconds, it just stayed there, looking around and giving Cael time to prepare. The illusion, even if it looked real, was completely soundless, though. He still moved his lips as if roaring a battle cry when it charged at Cael, swinging his sword.

Cael took a deep breath. This was just training, and the illusion couldn\'t harm him, but he still felt his heart beating faster. Not from fear, but from anticipation of using power.

He stretched his fingers, as if drawing an invisible bow, and rapidly chanted, "*Arrow of magic, fly true!*"

Mana surged within Cael in response to the Arcani words, and he focused it in one direction, pouring it into the spell\'s mold. A half-transparent, purplish arrow of pure magical energy formed between his fingers.

By then, the charging illusion was only three steps away from Cael, but he didn\'t even blink, knowing that it was harmless. His mind was clear as still water, and the time seemed to slow down. Was that an effect of adrenaline, or of his mind upgrade?

Cael let go of the arrow.

It flew true, though from this distance, it would\'ve been impossible to miss. The sharp projectile pierced the thug\'s chest, going straight through it.

The thug disappeared with a soft popping sound, and the arrow hit the far wall. It broke on the protective array, leaving only a rapidly dissipating cloud of sparks.

"Nice," Cael grinned, looking at his hands. This spell he used was, by existing classification, just a zeroth circle spell, or a cantrip. But it was a cantrip that could deal actual damage, while using very little mana.

He only spent maybe one thirtieth of his mana pool. But Cael was eager to try something more powerful. A proper first circle spell, one that is likely to kill an ordinary, unprotected person even if it doesn\'t hit a vital spot…

But this was only one spell. And the easiest one. Now Cael wanted to try out something hard—hard enough that he didn\'t need another illusion for a challenge.

Grasping Vines spell.

Cael bit his lip. This was a first circle spell—but it was a spell of the Plants subschool of the Nature school. Most of those spells were much harder to cast outside of natural environments… Like in this stone training hall.

But if one of his selves was a genius who became a ninth rank mage in twenty one years, then Cael would be forever ashamed if he won\'t be able to cast some first circle spell!

He closed his eyes and concentrated. The text of the book on Plants spells appeared before his mind\'s eye. To cast Grasping Vines somewhere in nature, you only needed to alter an existing plant.

To do the same where there were none, the mage needed to create a magical simulacrum of a plant. The text of the spell stayed the same, but the flow of mana changed. The book had illustrations on how to act in both cases.

Still with his eyes closed, Cael slowly read the spell, focusing on each letter and on the responding surging of his mana.

"*Spirits of nature…*"

Cael\'s mana rose in a wave, seeking an appropriate vessel for a spell—but there were none. It was going to splash at the room\'s barriers, completely wasted, but Cael grit his teeth and held on to it. The mold for the plant simulacrum was a part of the spell, and following the book\'s instructions, Cael poured his mana right into it.

"*…awaken and grow…*"

Mana, the disobedient thing, was so eager to escape, especially from his complex spell. He had to concentrate as hard as he could, and even so, part of it escaped his hold, dissipating in the air.

Before his mind\'s eye, he could see the spell slowly solidifying. But until it was finished, the spell trembled each time Cael\'s hold on it weakened even slightly. If he lost concentration, it would shatter without a physical anchor.

"*…no trespasser…*"

He was close, he could feel it, but it was taking much more mana than Cael expected. He poured almost a half of his mana pool into the vines, and only then did they finally grow stable enough to let go. With relief, Cael finished the spell.

"*…shall leave thy domain!*"

He opened his eyes. A six-meter-wide circle of snaking vines was growing under his feet. The plants, thin and leafless, moved on their own. Some of them already entwined Cael\'s feet to his knees with their long stems, and more were moving to join them.

Cael grinned and forcefully pulled his foot, tearing the vines—but new ones came in its place. Anyone who walked through this space would be severely hampered. Easy pickings!

But then Cael looked at his half-empty mana pool and sighed. His control of mana was abysmal. He could feel all the wasted mana simmering in the air. Must be a quarter of his mana pool.

This, though, was just the beginning. There were still a lot of spells to try.