A Soldier's Life - 406 - Options

Chapter 406: Versatile Options

The dreamscape appeared just as I had left it, and I immediately went to my shelves to retrieve spell forms for the energy affinity. I had three distinctive tomes on the affinity: one from the Telhian Mage College, one from the Esenhem elves, and a third from the Milvanoris elves. I had paged through the last tome in Elaro’s study in Gramney and added it to the dreamscape.

Oscar was barking for attention, so I blindly threw him a ball while I worked to combine the three reference books into one. It was slightly more complicated than I had thought it would be, as I also had to translate Elvish to Telhian. It would probably have been easier to translate Telhian into Elvish, but it’s too late now.

The compiled book featured six lesser spell forms, five mid-tier spell forms, and four high-tier spell forms. Although there were references to other spell forms in the books, I did not have those texts available. The Telhian book was straightforward in introducing the spell form, explaining its function, and then directly diagramming the spell forms for imprinting.

The Elvish books took a more scholarly approach. They described the origin of the spell form, almost always from a dungeon spellbook, explained the utility and limitations, and then detailed the process of imprinting with notes on how previous Elven mages were most successful in using the spell.

The Elvish books described the energy affinity as aether turned into raw power, and as commonly appearing among mages. Using it to create lightning was a common use of the affinity, but it could do so much more.

Since my energy affinity was only likely to reach between 15 and 20 after I consumed the last eight minor essences, I focused on the lesser spell forms first, noting the suggested minimum affinity for each spell form.

Energy/Lightning Lesser Spell Forms
Aetheric Missile – 10
Detect Life – 10
Light – 10
Energy Dart – 15
Aether Shield – 20
Force Hand – 20

Aetheric missile was the most common spell form for a combat mage with a low affinity to learn. This spell form created a projectile the size of an arrow that could be sent against a target at modest speed. It had an impressive range of three hundred feet and could track its target. It took about three heartbeats for a mage to clear and cycle aether through the spell form to send another missile.

The biggest drawback was that it lacked real power at ten affinity. Raelia had used one of these wands on me when I hunted her down during our second meeting. While it could burn through my legionnaire armor, it only slightly cooked my flesh underneath. It was painful, and if I hadn’t had the armor, it could have been much worse. Against enemies with armor or high agility, I didn’t see its utility. The power of the bolt doubles in impact every 10 points of affinity, but it also doubles the aether required to trigger the spell form and does not increase its range. At forty affinity, it could puncture metal and cook the flesh beneath.

The second spell form, detect life, was from one of the Elven books. After reading the description, I thought a better name for the spell would be 'detect essence' or perhaps 'read aura'. The range of the detection was limited to ten feet with a ten affinity, but that doubled with every ten points of affinity.

It surpassed my earth speak spell form because I did not need to send out an echo pulse and interpret the feedback. Instead, every living thing in range glowed softly in a color that matched its strongest attribute. I could deduce that what I saw represented the likely essence a collector would yield. It could also see through invisibility easily, but my aether sight handled that well enough already.

The light spell form had several variations in the books, but they weren’t particularly useful to me. The energy dart was referred to by different names throughout the books and was a favorite defensive spell form among mages. One of the Hounds in training with me had known this spell form. It created a small concentrated energy dart that could paralyze opponents. Its range was limited to just fifty feet before it dissipated, but the higher your affinity, the stronger the paralyzing effect. The Esenhem reference book warned that around forty affinity, it could stop a man’s heart.

I was well acquainted with the aether shield from my amulet. The aether core-inscribed version had the advantage of being able to reset after it was triggered following three heartbeats. The amulet was slightly superior in that, once charged, it would trigger in response to any imminent threat. The spell form version required the mage to maintain the spell form actively. If a mage was surprised, it was unlikely to be active. At higher affinities, you could expand its range, as Durandus had done by making it a sphere when fighting the Storm Giant, and it could also maintain its integrity through multiple attacks.

Force hand was the spell form Konstantin had—or a version of it. The spell form essentially enabled the mage to encase an object in a thin layer of aether to move it. It was telekinesis in a sense, but had many limitations. First, the heavier the object, the more aether was required to move it, and it was a sustained investment. Second, the concentration needed to move an object took a lot of practice and patience. And third, with a low affinity, the object could not be moved very fast.

The appeal was that the higher the affinity, the faster you could move an object. Around a fifty affinity, you could match the speed of an arrow, and I could imagine how dangerous a projectile would get at even higher affinities.

The aetheric missile spell form was probably the most tempting option on the list for me at this moment. I lacked a reliable ranged attack, and if I continued to increase my affinity in the future, the missile would become more and more powerful. Although I knew my affinity would not be able to reach the mid-tier spell forms, I reviewed them anyway.

Major Energy/Lightning Spell Forms
Lightning Blade – 25
Lightning Resistance – 30
Lightning Bolt – 30
Explosive Rune – 30
Aetheric Disruption – 40

Even before studying the descriptions, I wanted all of them. Lightning blade was not quite what I had thought it to be. Instead of coating my weapon in lightning, it created a blade of blue energy. The blade was light, making it easy to swing and often caused an explosion of sparks upon striking metal. It easily damaged the edges of non-runic metal weapons.

This weapon also had some drawbacks. Its brightness made fighting with it difficult, but I had my aetheric sight, which could filter the brightness. The second major drawback was that the blade was hot and could burn the mage and his retinas. The elves noted that a number of mages using this spell form over the centuries frequently needed to have their eyes healed. Not an issue for me, since I could self-heal.

Lightning resistance was an advanced version of the aether shield. It grounded any lightning attack at a mage into the ground. From the description, it created a Faraday cage around the mage, making them impervious to lightning-infused attacks. It could also deflect normal attacks, but then the protective shell needed to be recast.

Wielding the power of Zeus was tempting. The lightning bolt was as advertised, with a three hundred-foot range and increased power the higher the affinity. It only traveled in a straight line, but could pass through multiple opponents. It was many-fold more powerful than aetheric missile.

The explosive rune was extremely useful. You laid the spell form on the ground, and the first person to walk across it would trigger it. It was a powerful explosion, but the limitations noted by the elves were that even a mouse could trigger it. Still, it had its uses in a defensive setting.

Castile’s counter spell was aetheric disruption, or a version of it. I would need to ask her when I saw her next to confirm. It aligned with what I knew about her spell form. Any spell form that materialized outside a mage’s body could be disrupted, even if it was already fully formed. Spell forms that only function inside a mage would need to overcome their aether resistance, which was very unlikely. For instance, Castile couldn’t counter my self-healing or purify self spells. However, offensive magic was always cast outside the body.

The biggest boon of the spell was the range. It had no limit as long as the mage could see the spell form they wanted to disrupt, but the further away, the more aether was required for the disruption. Mages who were highly skilled knew exactly where to pull spell forms apart to use the least amount of effort and aether to counter another mage. Castile also said Lesna’s spell forms were tight, and her aether-twisting method made it very difficult for her to disrupt them. And Castile had countered the Telhian Emperor, the most powerful void mage on the continent.

I paged through the higher spell forms in my ad hoc book to see what was offered, but unless I found another source of energy essences, it would take time to reach

Apex Energy Spell Forms
Compressed Lightning – 50
Chain Lightning – 50
Force Prison – 60
Force Wave – 70

Compressed lightning, as I understood from reading the elven studies, was a plasma bolt. Essentially, it was a compressed and superheated mass of air held together in an aether envelope. It resembled an aetheric missile on steroids, capable of punching holes in almost anything. The cost in aether was extremely high. 

The chain lightning spell was less impressive than I had hoped. I had envisioned it forking and hitting every enemy on the battlefield. In actuality, when the mage cast it, he predetermined the path of the three-hundred-foot-long bolt of lightning. The mage couldn’t alter it once released, but it traveled at the speed of light, making it essentially instantaneous, meaning that no targets could escape. The energy of the lightning was more powerful than that of a standard lightning bolt cast with a fifty affinity and increased in strength with higher affinities.

A force prison was an advanced aether shield, featuring extensive overlapping reinforcement, according to the elven mages’ investigations. It was much stronger than an aether shield, and the mage could feed it aether to sustain it under heavy attacks. It had a low aether cost to maintain and repair, making it an ideal prison. The mage could also place himself inside.

The final spell was the ultimate spell in terms of destructive potential. The force wave centered on an outward blast from the mage that could reach hundreds of feet, depending on how much aether the mage invested at its inception. It was always focused on the mage, who was protected from the initial blast but could be injured by debris after the spell concluded. Since the spell expanded in all directions, the mage would need to be prepared to arrest his fall as the earth beneath his feet would be blasted away or compressed.

I had spent much of the night reading the details on the spell forms, and if I had to start studying a spell for today, I would most likely start working on the aetheric missile. With its range, rapid cast time, and ability to be enhanced if I raised my affinity, it was the correct choice.

I hadn’t fought many mages, but I did not fondly recall my battle with the summoner and the fact that I only won with the luck of having magebane. Being able to frustrate a mage with aetheric disruption was my first choice if I had a high enough affinity. It was too dangerous to hunt wisps at the moment, but perhaps in the future I could return.

I exited the dreamscape after playing ball with Oscar for a bit, and Konstantin and the others looked at me, disappointed that I didn’t play with them too. I lay on the floor with a mild headache, probably from creating and translating the combined tome. It was still a few hours before sunrise, and I was considering my options.

I had nine minor aether pool essences in my space. That might just be enough aether to make learning a displacement spell form worthwhile. I had been looking over the spell forms for dimension door intermittently but hadn’t made a lot of progress, and maybe it was time to devote serious effort to imprint that spell form.

Subconsciously, it was likely a stall tactic in hopes I could find more energy essences and learn aetheric disruption. I knew aetheric missile would only take me a week to imprint if I focused due to its simplicity. But I only got one spell form for each affinity.

Blaze was hanging half off his bed, and Benito was snoring above me. I sent out an earth pulse to confirm the others were well before I silently went down the inn’s common room to study a new spell form.

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