A Practical Guide to Sorcery (Books 1 & 2)

Chapter 20 - Practical Will-based Casting (Part 3)

The student shrank back, but didn't leave.

Professor Lacer motioned them up to the front of the class, where a pallet filled with squat cylindrical containers and small oil braziers appeared against the wall the same way the practice dummy had. "They are marked by difficulty. If your Will capacity is over one hundred fifty thaums, see me." He glanced briefly at Sebastien.

Curious, Sebastien eyed the cylinders, which were shaped like six-inch cross-sections of a tree trunk. Or a wide wheel of cheese. They were glass-topped and seemed to be filled with water and a metal ball. When she approached, Lacer pulled out a similar squat cylinder from under his desk. It was filled with transparent sand instead of water, and the metal ball nestled within was jagged, and bigger than the ones in the water containers.

She wasn't the only one to get sand, which was a bit of a relief after the other students' showing in Intro to Modern Magics. 'I suppose it makes sense that the smartest, most hardworking students would be the ones to take Lacer's class. Among the larger student population, I don't really stand out at all.' The thought disappointed her a little, even though she knew it was best that no one had a reason to look at her too closely.

Suppressing a grunt of effort, she picked up the heavy glass wheel and returned it to her desk.

Professor Lacer then instructed them place the wheel inside the Circle carved into their desks, drawing the Word over the glass top. With only three glyphs and a single numerological symbol, they were to send the iron ball rolling around the cylinder, reversing direction at random. For extra difficulty—and again he looked at Sebastien—they were to keep the ball from touching the outer edge of the wheel as it spun around.

"In this class, we will attempt to move away from the reliance on a complicated written Word. To become a free-caster, you must be able to hold the entirety of the Word within your own mind. I am going to improve not just your Will's overall capacity, but also the other facets—explosiveness, endurance, clarity, force, and soundness. However, you will start with casting spells of moderate difficulty for long periods of time, till you are able to hold them almost without conscious effort. It has to become instinct. It will take years of effort to become proficient. The difficulty of this first exercise depends largely on how quickly you move the ball through the medium. Attempt to reach a stable output no more than seventy percent of your maximum capacity. Do not stop casting."

With that, he turned away and plopped down at the desk at the front corner of the room.

Sebastien drew a triangle, since this was transmutation—heat energy into kinetic energy. A pentagon was more versatile, but she didn't think she needed it, here, and a tighter fit to the purpose of the spell could improve her efficiency. For the glyphs, she chose "fire," "movement," and "circle" the last of which she had learned recently.

After only a few minutes of forcing her ball through the sand, Sebastien began to feel the fatigue.

When a couple of other students stopped casting, Professor Lacer looked up, his lazy expression contrasted against the snap in his voice. "If you are not approaching Will-strain, I expect you to continue casting. If you are approaching Will-strain already, I suggest you drop this class and return to it in a term or two when you have built up your stamina." He didn't look at Sebastien this time, but she took the words to heart.

She settled back in her seat, relaxing tense muscles and taking her eye off the circling ball. It continued moving, and she settled into deep, slow breaths, watching with an unfocused gaze. She had always been one to practice casting almost obsessively, even if not so deliberately as Lacer had instructed. She had often played with whatever small new spell she'd learned until Ennis grew irritated with her. It served her well, here. Sebastien didn't know how long it had been when her mind started to burn. Not a real sensation, like the burn of overworked muscles, but a feeling, a strain. She breathed deeper and sank into it.