The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 198

Chapter 198 – Custom Spells

Another day, another chance to instruct my pupils. I set the other students to their training, and took the two arcanists to a warded practice chamber. We were going to work on customizing their spells, which meant actually casting spells. And even I did not wish to suffer the Librarian’s wrath if we began using anything more than a simple light or levitation spell in her domain.

Looking at the two, I smiled. “So, it is time for the two of you to learn how to customize your spells. As we said earlier, there are reasons for any mage to do this. More importantly, there are reasons why it is more important for an Arcanist to do this than any of the other paths. To be blunt, only an Arcanist truly needs to customize their spells.”

Almir raised his hand. “Why is that, Mistress? Surely any of the three paths would benefit from the customization?”

“You’re not wrong about that, Almir. However, this comes down to the differences between the three paths. A Sorcerer’s spells are innately customized, as they forge their will into a weapon and get the world to respond to it. Any spell they cast is going to be affected by their own imagery and design, regardless of what happens. That is a fundamental truth to their kind of spellcasting.

“A Witch, on the other hand, is less likely to personally customize their spells, but, rather, because she is casting with the environment, instead of against it, the spells and effects are different from day to day. The Witch is a guide, not a conductor. They lead the mana to move as they wish, but they do not force it, like a Sorcerer does.

“And then, there is the Arcanist. You do things ‘by the book’, which is both blessing and curse. It is a blessing, because you can pick up the work of another arcanist, and follow their instructions so long as you have a certain base level of knowledge. Meanwhile, a Witch or Sorcerer must fumble through the dark, finding their own way to new magics. Even if they have someone teaching them, they are limited by how much they truly understand of the spell they’re trying to use, which can leave gaps in the spell, leading to uncontrolled or dangerous outcomes.

“The Arcanist is cursed, however, because they do things by the book. Which means that, if they do not put in the effort to customize their spells, then their Fireball spell will look the same as any other arcanist’s. They’ll also have all the little inefficiencies and generic qualities that are inherent in a spell for the masses, compared to something they made to suit their needs. Think of it like the difference between clothes you get off the rack at a store, and ones that were professionally tailored to fit your form. One is just better than the other.”

I paused, to look them both in the eye. “A ‘by the book’ arcanist spell will also be easier for enemies to analyze, predict, defend against, and even counter. Most spells do not travel at light-speed. Even those that do have a bit of a delay. The Lightning Bolt or Laser spells, for instance, have to focus the power before it is unleashed, or you have chaos instead of precision. Even if you are casting a ‘fuck everyone in that direction’ spell, you still have to focus long enough to ensure that you are limiting it to that direction, and aren’t catching yourself in your own spell, for instance.

“At your current level, that kind of groundwork, with a by the book spell, would still take a second or two to complete. Long enough that someone could attempt a defense, or try to dodge. They might even try a counterspell. In the worst case, they’ll simply hit first, to try and disrupt your concentration. Naturally, none of those outcomes is ideal.

“The answer to this is to customize your most-used spells. If we start with Almir, and what an Aeromancer might do, then the first place to start is the Wind Bullet spell. This focuses Air mana into an orb which shoots forth to strike the foe. Simple, really. However, the base spell, that you would learn from a student’s grimoire, has inefficiencies to it, because it is a generalized spell.

“You lose some energy to keeping the wind contained, as it ‘bleeds’ into the surrounding air. The typical Wind Bullet is a blunt force, not a piercing attack, which means some forms of armor are better at resisting it. And so on. The spell is not flawed, but it is basic. Great for target practice, or hunting low-level monsters, but terrible for fights against other mages. There is a reason it is one of the first spells any Air mage learns, after all. Customizing the spell allows you to turn that basic spell into something far more useful in actual combat.

“There are three main areas where a mage can customize their spells. Form, Function, and Fuel. Form is simplest: what does your spell look like? The basic Wind Bullet is an orb of air. Any mage who sees it can tell that it is an Air spell, and use defenses tuned to fight Air. However, what if you make the Wind Bullet look like it is full of dark smoke, or green vapor? Now, it is less clear. Is it an Air spell? Or is it Shadow? Maybe the green is an Earth-based Acid spell, or a Life-based Poison spell.

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why you should go to the effort of altering a spell, just to make it look different, yes?” I smiled at the two arcanists who were listening with proper intensity. “The point of changing the spell’s form is to make your enemy guess. A Wind Shield spell is only truly effective against Wind spells and physical projectiles. Other elements have an easier time getting through. A Mana Shield is effective against all elements, but is more mana-intensive to cast and hold, and less efficient overall. And a Life Shield might not stop Wind at all, just as an example.

“A good mage will recognize the nature of your spell the moment the first one hits them, or their shields. However, if you make them guess, and guess wrong, then they will be on the back foot, forcing them to adapt to your tactics. Strike hard enough, fast enough, and the battle may be over before it has truly begun.”

I paused, more for separation than anything, and then continued. “The reason for customizing Function is simple enough. If we go back to our Wind Bullet spell, then there are two simple modifications that a mage might make, both involving spin. Spin the orb faster around its vertical axis, and you concentrate its power, making the attack more powerful, and allowing you to release the energy as a blast on impact, which is the halfway point between the Wind Bullet and the Wind Blast spells. Spin the orb along the horizontal, however, and let it lengthen, and you get an attack that is better suited to piercing defenses, leading you towards the Wind Arrow spell. Indeed, both Wind Blast and Wind Arrow are evolutions of the basic Wind Bullet, customizations that have become so commonplace that they were called spells in their own right.

“Or perhaps you want something that can cut, instead? Then you flatten the orb into a plane as thin as you can manage. The Wind Bullet is now the Wind Blade. Add spin to the Wind Blade, like a circular saw, and you have a Wind Cutter. And so on.

“Of course, every modification you make needs to be supplied with mana, which is where we look at the third type of customization, Fuel. The basic spell form is designed for anyone to use. It draws from your mana directly, and is done with it. This is simple, and fast, but inefficient. Like simply using a flame spell to light some wood on fire for a campfire. If you take the time to arrange the wood properly, add kindling, and such, then the amount of flame needed to get the fire going drops dramatically, and the fire will last longer. The same is true of spellwork.

“Every mage’s mana flows through their body like a living being’s blood. Yes, the basic map of a human’s circulatory system is the same for everyone. However, heart rate, blood pressure, damage from prior injuries, good genes giving people stronger organs, and so on all change how the circulatory system works in practice. Your mana is the same. Customizing how the spells you cast are fueled tailors the spells to your own flows of mana, working with it instead of against it.

“As you might imagine, this is something that Sorcerers have more trouble with, which is why they have a reputation for greater power, but less stamina and control. On the other hand, Witches do this instinctively, which is why they are masters of control, and can do more with less. For instance, when I went to clear out the rebels that had claimed the site of the Seal of Air, a newly awakened Spiritualist was able to tap into the Death mana from all his comrades who died in order to create a shield that held back several wraiths from my army for an hour. Oh, they could have broken the shield with force, but I’d ordered them to use as little of their power as possible, since we were unsure how the Seal would react to too much power.”

Tabia nodded slowly. “This goes back to what you were talking about with the differences between paths, right? A fresh Sorcerer will likely overpower an Arcanist of roughly the same level, while a Witch in an area rich with their element will outlast the Arcanist. To combat that, we need to work and customize our spells, or try to arrange our fights so that the Sorcerer is not fresh, and the Witch is away from their element, right?”

“I am certainly the last person who should talk about picking one’s battlefields and forcing the other side into situations where they are at the disadvantage,” I chuckled. “I would not have been able to accomplish all I did in the other world if I did wait until I was firmly established to make my move and begin the war against the Demon King. But you will not always have twenty years of being ignored to gather strength and prepare for your next move. Especially not with a mortal lifespan. So, you should not count on being able to force your enemies to follow your tune. Which means that customizing your spells can be the difference between life (or unlife) and death.”

I let that ominous statement hang in the air for a moment, before saying, “Now that we’ve established why customizing your spells is important, how do you go about doing it? You should both have notebooks for works in progress, and personal grimoires for finished works.”

I tapped my finger in the air, and used a bit of mana to cause the spell formula for the basic Magic Missile spell to hang in the air. “The key to customizing a spell is looking at the individual parts of the formula, and figuring out which parts do what. It is like a computer program, in that way. And, just like with computers, the ‘language’ used in creating the spell can make a difference. Part of the reason High Athelian was used for magic in Athelia-that-was and continues to be used for such in Risen Athelia is because it is a dense language, where a few characters can convey more information than ten times that many in English. And the more characters are in a spell, the more power it takes to fuel.

“On the other hand, some languages have words or concepts that either don’t exist, or are cumbersome to describe in another tongue. And even if the words translate, the meanings might not. This means a spell that might work flawlessly in High Athelian would be a cumbersome mess in German, while a spell crafted in English with concepts that do not translate well might be all but impossible to cast in Japanese. In other words, customizing a spell means looking at a spell, figuring out what each part does and how it does it, and then seeing what you can change, shave off, or translate.

“Your first customized spells will involve a great deal of trial and error. Mostly error. Which is why young Arcanists begin learning to customize with the simplest spells, with an experienced hand looking over their work, to ensure that they do not do something too catastrophic. I will tell you this now, you may work on theorycrafting your spells wherever you wish within my domain, but until further notice you are forbidden from practicing the spells in progress unless you are in this room, and I, or another mage of at least Master level is with you. This is not a request or a suggestion, but a direct and ironclad command. If a spell undergoing an incomplete customization goes wrong, the best-case scenario is that it only blows up in your face, possibly maiming or killing you in the process. A Master level mage can step in and stop the worse possibilities from unfolding, if they are watching you in the casting.

“Let me be perfectly clear, this is not a ‘just wing it’ kind of situation but a ‘measure twice, cut once’ situation. You will do the ‘math’, show your work, check and doublecheck it, and then practice with someone watching over you when you finally try it. Because when you’re playing with the fundamental forces of creation, a misplaced decimal point can have horrifying implications. Do I make myself clear?”