EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 15: Reprimands

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Arthal's furious roar filled the room. Dashing over towards the smoke, he quickly ground to a halt as the smoke and steam surrounding Eric began to clear. Eric lay on the ground, barely conscious, with his wand smoking quietly a few feet from his sprawled out form.
Arthal growled and pointed his wand at Eric's form, creating a formation at a speed faster than the students could see, a green light shot from the completed spell and merged immediately with Eric's unconscious body. As the light disappeared completely, Eric stirred and let out a groan.
Hunching down in front of him, Arthal's face was the first thing he beheld as he returned to his senses.
"And what do you think you were doing there?" Arthal asked him, his voice ice cold, without a hint of its former burning anger. The fury in Arthals voice woke Eric up, looking around he quickly beheld the results of his spell.
Eric was surprised, he hadn't expected the spell to contain such power. He'd just been intoxicated by the beauty of magic and wanted to create something even grander than the Arcane Strike.
"I. Uh. Sorry. I don't really know, I just wanted to cast something really cool." Eric said miserably, dropping his head as he beheld the anger in Arthal's gaze.
Seeing Eric's miserable att.i.tude, Arthal let go a short sigh.
"Calyn, take over the cla.s.s. I'm going to have a chat with this one." He told her, yanking Eric out of the room as the other players stared in shock at the devastation caused Eric's spell.

Dragging Eric out of the room, Arthal quickly pointed his wand at Eric's face.
"Are you really an otherworlder who has never used magic before?" He asked seriously, his wand flaring dangerously as he did so.
Eric gulped, "Yes sir, I've never used magic before just now. After I cast the first spell I felt incredible. It was a euphoric feeling, like I'd just discovered I could talk after a lifetime spent as a mute." He explained, laying out exactly what he'd done to Arthal.
Dropping the wand Arthal sighed, "I didn't expect to meet a natural spellcaster among the otherworlders, at least not among the first batch." He muttered, returning his wand to the sleeves of his robe.
Giving Eric a proper look for the first time, Arthal observed the young half-elf. He wasn't all that remarkable looking, with perhaps slightly above average features, dark green eyes, and hair that hung low just above his eyes, slightly obscuring them from view.
Fetching a potion from his robes, Arthal thrust it into Eric's hands. "Drink." He commanded. As Eric looked between him and the potion questioningly, Arthal explained.
"The reason you fainted was because you overdrew the mana from your mana vessel. You cast a spell beyond the capabilities of your body and the backlash you received caused you to faint. The fact that you could cast the spell at all is slightly impressive but both the spell and your mastery over mana are very sloppy."
Eric's face fell at these words, despite the fact that he had done something he shouldn't have. He'd been hoping that perhaps he was a prodigy in magic and that he'd somehow triggered a hidden quest, instead he was being scolded by the magic teacher and told his magic was sloppy.
Seeing Eric's crestfallen gaze Arthal smiled to himself. It would do the boy no good to be told he had talent and make him conceited. Instead, he should be given honest criticism, and encouraged to seek magical education once he left the floating island. Clearing his throat, Arthal continued.
"The spell you just cast was a modified version of Flame Strike. By linking three flame strikes together as a single spell you do not merely triple the power of the spell, but rather square it. You also performed another modification that I can't quite figure out, but that modification caused the fire mana inherent to the spell to strengthen the bonds between the individual strikes. Rather than nine bolts firing and striking separately you caused all nine to link together and strike the target as one."
Moving towards the window, Arthal demonstrated, using his wand to slowly draw three interconnected circles, each marked with that reverse V that gave them the flame element. Satisfied with the form of his spell, Arthal nodded once and cast the spell. As his spell flared to life, nine flaming bolts emerged from the formation, furiously streaking off into the distance where all nine slowly converged. As the orbs touched, they suddenly exploded into an enormous burst of flame and smoke, obscuring the sky just beyond where the island dropped off into nothingness.

Eric watched in awe. Arthal's spell had been far more complete than his own, or from what he had seen of his own before pa.s.sing out, he thought wryly. Where the orbs of flame that Eric had summoned had been erratically shaped, with obvious protrusions emerging from their forms, Arthal's had been perfectly formed spheres of fire. The fire dancing within tiny globes of arcane power. In addition, Arthal's spell had been far faster than Eric's own. And while the explosion had not been as destructive - owing to the position of the flame rune surrounding the strike runes rather than having a single flame rune merging each of the three strike runes as Eric's had - the concentration of Arthal's explosion had been far deadlier, causing an enormous explosion to ripple out from the s.p.a.ce where the nine orbs had met.
Turning back to Eric, Arthal was pleased to see the admiration and awe in Eric's eyes.
"You do have a small degree of talent in magic. If you work hard on the formation of your runes, the proper use of mana, and perhaps find a tutor to teach you the structure of magic, then you may become a fairly decent mage in the future. However, all of this you must work hard for. Magic is not like swordsmanship or archery, one cannot get by merely through increasing his strength or his accuracy to increasingly high levels. No. Magic requires finesse, it requires quick thinking, and above all it requires ingenuity. The modification to the Flame Strike spell you performed was quite good. However, Flame Strike is an extremely basic spell, modifying it is simple. As you reach greater heights in the world of magic, you will see that spells become masterworks of mana and artistry. Many mages dare not even draw the runes of higher level spells themselves lest they make a critical mistake and find their spell backfired upon themselves. It is a harsh and unforgiving discipline, but it also rewards its pract.i.tioners the most of the three main branches of combat arts in Nasvencia. If you would like, I can give you a recommendation to a magic academy. There, you might find yourself a tutor who can teach you the secrets of magic."
Eric's eyes began to sparkle, this was a hidden quest! And not just any hidden quest, but a hidden cla.s.s quest! Bowing quickly, he responded before Arthal could take back his words.
"That would be an amazing gift my lord, the secrets of magic truly do dazzle and astound me. But learning them on my own seems to be a daunting task, I fear I would end up dead if I tried to divine them without learning first the knowledge of my betters who have come before me. Please grant me this recommendation."
Arthal broke out into a wide smile, this brat sure knew how to flatter a man!
"Ahem. Yes." He said, causing Eric to look back up. As he did so, he noticed a slightly yellowed scroll clutched in Arthal's hand, extended towards him.
"Here is the letter, if you go to the town of Filoketh, somewhere to the north of where you will be teleported concluding these cla.s.ses, you will find a mage academy. Deliver this letter and give them my name and you should be accepted as a student."
Taking the letter Eric burst into a grin, "I shall do my best to make you proud, my lord." He responded, tucking the letter away safely into the small pack he'd been given by Calyn.

"Alright, let's get you back in to the cla.s.s. You may practice Arcane Strike with the rest of your comrades. But I had better not catch you trying to cast anything else for now." Arthal warned as they returned to the upper room of the tower. As they entered the room, Eric could see that his fellow players had begun to grasp the use of magic. Several of them firing Arcane Strikes at a row of dummies that had been set up in front of the balcony. Among these players were Astrid, the shy brunette, and the middle aged man who'd excelled at fishing.

Taking the dummy next to Astrid's, Eric reached for his wand only to remember that it had been destroyed when he'd cast the Flame Strike. With a sigh, he turned back to ask for a new one only to catch himself midstep. Arthal had said something about being able to cast without using a wand. And he had not said anything about attempting to cast without a wand, just not to cast other spells.

Eric began to trace the rune for Arcane Strike in the air, taking care to attempt to infuse his mana into his fingertips. The first few attempts failed, with the mana returning to the vessel before he could draw the rune, or the mana infusion faltering mid-drawing and the spell failing with a tiny sputter.
Eric could feel the rebound from the failed spell, but luckily the base Arcane Strike truly was the most basic of all attack magics. After a few moments of steady breathing, he was able to attempt the spell again.
Over and over, he attempted to draw the rune in midair without a wand. Sometimes he would get so close only to fail at the last moment. The mostly drawn rune collapsing into tiny violet sparkles that fluttered down to his feet as the spell formation collapsed.
Calyn had long since noticed Eric's efforts and pointed them out to Arthal, but both of them stayed silent and merely observed his progress as they instructed the other players who had yet to succeed in casting their first spell.

Again and again, Eric attempted to cast Arcane Strike without a wand. Finally, on his thirty-second try, he succeeded. The rune flaring to life and a violet Arcane Strike appearing, glowing a brilliant violet as it crashed into the target dummy. Exhilarated, Eric attempted to repeat the process only to fail. However, now that he had succeeded once, how could he be deterred?

Closing his eyes, Eric attempted to think back on his lone success. How had he managed to create the spell that time? How had he routed the mana from his mana vessel to his index finger? How had the mana been consumed when he activated the spell formation? How had he drawn the rune for Arcane Strike? Silently, Eric pondered over each of these questions before attempting to cast the spell again.

As Calyn and Arthal observed, Eric began to succeed increasingly often at casting without his wand. His success rate quickly soared from one try in twenty, to one try in ten, then one in five. As the last player finally succeeded in bringing their spell formation to life, sending an Arcane Strike rocketing into the dummy, Eric had succeeded his fourth attempt in a row.
'So,' Calyn mused to herself. 'We have a genius with the spear, a true archery prodigy, and now this half-elf seems to have the makings of a talented mage. Not a bad group for our first batch of otherworlders.'

"Ahem," Arthal cleared his throat to gain the attention of the players. All of which had been engrossed in their spellcasting endeavours.
"With this, you have officially completed the basic militia training course. Once we send you to the mainland, you will be greeted by various factions. For those who wish to merely live an ordinary life in Nasvencia, you may become a civilian of the town or village you are sent to where you may pick up a profession to help support both the town and yourself. For those who wish to lead a life of adventure, the Mercenary's Guild is always hiring. And for those who wish to dedicate themselves to the defense of their fellows, the town militia welcomes new recruits and provides a path to join the standing army of whichever fief or county you are sent to. I truly hope that we may one day meet again. Until that day, I bid you adieu."
With that, Arthal raised his hands, as he did so a truly incredible amount of arcane energy began swirling through the formerly quiet tower. As the players began to panic, a surge of white light blinded them as the tower faded from view.