Jas froze a mont, suddenly glad he was sitting behind everyone else. At least they weren't all staring at him, just the teacher.
"Uh, it's putting… magic… in an object, I think?"
The room was utterly silent for a mont, and Jas' heart sank. But then Enchanter linda nodded.
"That's a good answer—straight to the point," she said. She turned and began drawing on the blackboard with a piece of chalk and Jas breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Ricardo dutifully wrote what Jas had said in his notes, once the teacher had confird it was correct.
linda drew a square on the blackboard, and an X shape next to it. Then, an arrow pointing from the X into the square, and then she drew a new square with an X inside it.
"At the most fundantal level, what Jas said is correct: we Enchanters put magic into objects. Now, Isabella." She turned and faced the young girl. "What is magic?"
At first, Isabella was confident, head held high, shoulders thrown back. "Magic is…! Uh, magic, is…" she started to curl in on herself as her confidence flagged. "Uh, magic…"
linda cut her off. "Students, if you don't know an answer to a question, and can't venture a guess, quickly admit your ignorance so that we don't waste ti."
She turned to the red haired boy at the end of the row. "Ewan, what is magic?"
He jerked upright at suddenly being called upon. "Er, isn't it like magic spells and things?"
"We don't define a term with that sa term, but partially correct as an example. Spells are a kind of magic."
She turned to the other side of the room now. "Ricardo, na two thods of casting spells. Three if you can think of more than two."
Ricardo furrowed his brow. Three ways? "Spells are cast with skills, no?"
"That is one way, what's another?"
"I'm afraid I don't know."
"Very good."
linda set the chalk down, apparently done drawing for now. She gazed down at the seated students before her.
"Spells can be cast via prepared catalysts; such is the domain of wizards. The use of skills empowered by mana is also considered a kind of spell. Divine rituals perford by priests are spells, and are in practice the sa as ritual magic practiced by Mages working in tandem. Finally, I personally consider Baking Magic to be capable of casting spells, but I'm in the minority in that debate."
"Baking Magic?" Ewan asked incredulously.
linda nodded gravely. "I once witnessed a baker tear the very fabric of reality when she baked a portal through ti. It was terrifying."
Jas blinked.
Baking magic?
"Now, Raven, are enchantnts spells?"
Raven thought a mont, then shook her head.
"No, I don't think so."
"Correct, can you guess why not?"
"No."
"Enchantnts linger," linda answered her own question. "Though the effect of an enchantnt—once activated—may end, either because the magic has taken effect or the magic power has run out, the enchantnt itself remains. Spells are magic that have a defined beginning and end, while enchantnts are, as Jas said, magic put into an object. The object itself, once enchanted, thus has more of a weight on reality. Did all of you notice this weight, or presence, when you ca to the Guild today?"
Everyone nodded except for Isabella, who, after looking at everyone else, raised her hand.
"Yes, Isabella?"
"Uhm, I don't know what you're talking about... mada."
linda's eyelids flickered a mont. "Ah, that's right, you've yet to take your Classes. When is your Choosing day?"
Jas was shocked, but he didn't see anyone else react, so he contained himself.
"It's in twelve days."
"Oh, excellent." linda smiled. "I'm sure you've already begun to train your mana control, but you should work on your magic sensitivity, as well. See after class today and I'll give you so exercises to work on outside of class."
Isabella bit her lip, but nodded.
"Now, besides mana converted into magic power by the human body, there are other forms of energy relevant for enchanting: essence, spirit, the energy of life itself, and… souls may also empower enchantnts."
She frowned at them severely, and her intent pressed down on them harder than it had so far. Jas felt like he could hardly breathe.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"I tell you that souls can be used to empower enchantnts out of completeness, but you are forbidden from ever doing such a thing. Do not ever create such enchantnts, nor use them. They are anathema, taboo, and least of all, illegal. If you co across magic empowered by souls, you are to destroy it. If you co across a mage involved in such business, you are to capture them if you are able to do so safely; otherwise, kill them without hesitation."
Jas swallowed thickly.
"It is best to capture such villains so that they may be interrogated and their evil thoroughly purged, but it is a hazardous endeavor, lest your own soul be captured. None will think less of you if you simply kill them when discovered."
And suddenly, the weight was lifted.
"With that out of the way— yes, Raven?"
Jas wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow and looked at the pale, trembling brunette. "D-don't the Priests do soul magic?"
"An excellent question. No, what priests do is different, and is powered by divine power, also known as Divinium."
She paused a mont before continuing. "There is, in fact, an outstanding question whether or not Divinium can be used to empower enchantnts. So far no one has managed it."
Jas then raised his hand and spoke when called upon. "Is that like Holy magic?"
"Another excellent question. No, Holy is an aspect, a derivative of Light, as is Sacred. Curse and Profane are also aspects, though they are derivatives of Dark."
linda turned to the board and drew three lines intersecting at a center-point, then drew the runes for the six basic elents in a hexagonal shape. Light and Dark, Water and Fire, Air and Earth; each across from the other.
"What does this show? Ricardo."
"The six basic elents, each paired with their opposite," he answered.
linda nodded. "And does every elent have an opposite?"
"Ahh… I don't know," he admitted.
"Good," linda praised and then continued on like a rushing river. "The answer is no, and the mistaken idea that all elents have an opposite is called the 'symtrical fallacy.' It is an attractive idea, but one easily proven wrong.
She drew a new rune, further from the center point but sowhat between the Earth and Light runes. Her gaze swept the students and saw that none of them recognized it, so she continued without asking.
"This is the rune for the Poison aspect. Most often it is considered a derivative aspect of Earth—" she drew a line between the two runes, "—but it is also a derivative of Light." She drew another line between Poison and Light. "The symtrical fallacy would posit that there is an aspect opposing Poison, but this is not true: the opposite of the Poison aspect is Poison."
She paused to let that sink in. "Suffice it to say, as the Apothecaries do, that 'the dose makes the poison.' To go further would be beyond the scope of the basic course. Simply be aware that if you make any enchantnt using the Poison rune, that you must be particularly careful of magic power regulation."
The Smith made a connection, then, as to why the bat monsters had been on the first floor of the Dungeon, and had contained purple magic stones half the ti.
She drew two more runes on the board, and drew lines between them. From Light to Holy, and from Holy to Sacred. Then she drew a circle around everything except the Sacred rune.
"Although there are Basic level enchantnts for any given aspect, for this course, we will restrict ourselves to the basic and primary derivative aspects. Secondary derivative aspects and beyond can be set aside for now."
linda moved to another part of the blackboard and began drawing an enchantnt pattern Jas was quite familiar with: the Basic Air Enchantnt: Rapid Blow. She looked over her shoulder and asked, "Who knows what enchantnt this is?"
Jas and Ricardo raised their hands.
"Ricardo."
"It's Rapid Blow, using the Air rune."
"Correct. Is anybody confused about what this enchantnt does? No? Then let us dissect the pattern and learn what each part does."
Jas leaned forward.
This was it.
Until now, he had just been blindly copying patterns without understanding what they did. As if he had been illiterate, and tried to copy a book by drawing the shapes on the page without understanding the letters and words. His very soul quivered in anticipation.
And then Ewan raised his hand.
"Uh, Enchanter linda? Are we going to learn any Skills in this class?"
She paused. She had been drawing enlarged portions of the enchantnt pattern, the better to explore, but she put the chalk down and turned to face the red-haired boy.
She very slightly narrowed her eyes at him. "To answer your question, yes. I now ask you a question in turn: why are we not starting with learning Skills?"
Ewan tilted his head a mont, then answered, "Because Isabella doesn't have her Classes yet?"
Isabella gasped in outrage, and Raven slapped her palm into her forehead.
Jas, though, considered. Why hadn't they started with Skills? Thinking back, ridox had said his apprentices practiced drawing the patterns when they started, and they hadn't done that yet, and the sun was falling closer to the horizon already.
linda shook her head. "No, Ewan, that is not the reason. Are you aware that it is not only Enchanters who can perform enchantnts?"
"Huh? Really?" he asked, astonished.
"Yes. Anyone with mana can perform an enchantnt. Mages can learn the Basic Elental Enchanting Skill, and even perform enchantnts of their affinity without the need for a catalyst, provided they have or can create their own Aqua Magia." She gazed at him intently. "So, then, what is the point of Enchanters? Why do we have our own profession, our own Guild? Why do we have this course? If all one needs is to create an enchantnt, one could just blindly follow the pattern, with prepared catalysts, and press the magic into the object by force. Crude, but effective."
Jas had been disappointed by Ewan's distracting question, but now his focus was locked in.
"What we Enchanters do is create enchantnts," linda said with emphasis. "Each enchantnt must be tailored exactly to the object being enchanted. To do any less is to vastly reduce the magical effect produced by the enchantnt. Take, for instance, this pattern." She tapped her chalk on the Rapid Blow pattern drawn on the chalkboard. "This pattern is arranged for application onto a sword, or any other long, flat, thin object. If you were to apply it to sothing short, round, and thick—like a hamr head, for example—you would drastically reduce the enchantnt's effect. The reason we are starting with the basics, and not with learning Skills, is precisely to avoid making such foolish mistakes."
The Legendary Smith cringed in embarrassnt.
Editor's note 1: The information on Enchanting contained in this chapter has been adjusted so that no known inaccuracies are contained within. For primary sources on the material taught in the Enchanter's Guild of Cordova during the Smith's ti, the University of Cordova has an excellent archive. It should be noted that Poison can also be a derivative aspect of other elents, but limiting the explanation to two has pedagogical value in this instance.
Editor's note 2: Yes, the instructor for the course the Smith took did actually use the application of [Rapid Blow] to a hamr as an example of what not to do. This was not sothing Andrew of Longthorn added to the text.
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