He shook his head, abandoning that train of thought. He was getting ahead of himself. He needed something more concrete than a fuzzy notion of greatness to guide him — a clear set of goals to achieve, and courses of action to pursue. Right now, the only thing he could think of was harassing Zach for some tips, raiding the library for more spells, and leveraging his curious monetary situation to improve his alchemical skills.
He was leery about relying on Zach for help. Even if the boy would be cooperative, there was only so much he could learn from the other time traveler without revealing that he too retained his memories each time they reverted to the past.
The library was full of spells, of course, but anything ‘serious’ (that is, that could be used for combat, crime, or spying) was restricted, and he knew from talking to older students that teachers were really stingy with permission slips. Not even Fortov succeeded in getting one, and he could charm a troll into not eating him.
Honing his alchemy skills was definitely an option. The only reason he focused more heavily on invocation thus far was because he had to buy any ingredients he wished to work with, and he was trying to save money. Any serious study of alchemy required a lot of funds — alchemical ingredients were expensive. With his saving account spontaneously refilling after each restart, however, monetary concerns didn’t limit him as much as they did before.
It wasn’t much, to be honest. He needed a better plan. With another sigh, Zorian pulled out his trusty notebook and began to plot and write.
«Something I can do for you, sonny?» asked Kyron. «The class has been dismissed, in case you didn’t notice.»
«Err, I noticed. I just wanted to talk to you about something,» Zorian said. Kyron gestured him to keep talking. «I hope you don’t find it insulting, but your stated program seems a bit… easy. Practicing magic missile for a whole month seems rather pointless to me, since I already have a pretty good grasp on it.»
Kyron stared at him for a few seconds. Zorian suppressed the instinct to shuffle nervously in place and returned the man’s stare. Kyron seemed like a sort of person who would be impressed by that.
«I hope you don’t find it insulting, sonny, but you just don’t have enough power to be a proper battle mage,» Kyron finally said. «Your shaping skills are rather impressive for your age, but you tire after only 10 shots from the rod. And that just won’t do in any serious combat.»
«Well, I kind of know that,» admitted Zorian. His reserves had increased slightly from what they were when he first tackled this class, so 10 shots was actually an improvement. «Incidentally, is there anything I can do about that?»
«Nothing I would recommend,» Kyron said, shaking his head. «Your mana reserves will grow as your proficiency in magic grows, of course, but so will everyone else’s. You will always be at a disadvantage against naturally powerful opponents, which would be most of the professional battle mages. Of course, I cannot forbid you from pursuing a career as a battle mage, but I definitely advise you against it. There are plenty of magical disciplines where great shaping skills are an asset, but combat magic is mostly about power.»
«I see,» said Zorian. He didn’t intend to become a battle mage, but he had a feeling he was going to need some combat magic, whether he liked it or not. At the very least he wanted to be able to deal with any stray winter wolves or trolls he might encounter during the invasion. «Though my point still stands. Since I can already do the spell well enough, and that’s the only thing you intend to instruct us in for the foreseeable future, I can see little point in attending the class for the foreseeable future.»
«Hmph,» Kyron snorted. «Trying blackmail on me, sonny?»
«Er…»
«It’s fine, I don’t mind. And I do understand your point of view here…» Kyron rubbed his chin for a second, mulling something over in his head. «Wait here.»
15 minutes later Kyron returned with another spell rod, a small booklet, and four ceramic plates. He threw the plates towards Zorian, who hastily caught them before they shattered upon the ground.
«Good reflexes,» Kyron complimented. «They’re actually reinforced, so you don’t have to worry about dropping them too much.» He took one of the spell rods they used in class and grasped it firmly in his hand. «Let me demonstrate something to you. Throw one of the plates to my left.»
Zorian immediately complied, and Kyron wordlessly pointed the rod in the plate’s general direction and fired. He was wide of the mark, but the bolt of force actually homed in on the plate anyway, curving through the air to intercept it. The plate shattered into dust and sharp fragments.
«Again,» Kyron snapped.
Zorian threw another plate, and another bolt of force sped towards it. This one was different, however — it was longer and thinner, like an oversized needle. It hit the plate, but instead of smashing it to pieces it went right through it, punching a hole through the center before dissipating.
«Throw the last two together,» Kyron instructed.
Two plates flew into the air, and Kyron once again pointed the rod in their general direction. Zorian waited for the bolt of force, but none was forthcoming. Instead, both plates were suddenly cut in half by some unseen blades.
Kyron lowered his hand and began to speak.
«The reason I’ll be spending so much time on magic missile is because it’s a very versatile spell,» Kyron spoke. «In its simplest form, it takes the form of a shining bolt of force that travels in a straight line, delivering concussive blasts of force to whatever it impacts. This variant is often called the smasher, and it is a very simple and effective spell. A skilled mage can do so much more with it, however. You can use animation magic to make it home in on a target. You can sharpen it into a point that will pierce things instead of batter them, or a line to cut them — the piercer and cutter, respectively. You can fire multiple missiles instead of one — a swarm, even, if you have the reserves and skill to pull it off. And, of course, you can make the projectile invisible.»
«Invisible?» asked Zorian.
«Yes,» Kyron agreed. «A perfectly cast force spell is completely transparent. The lightshow you usually see is magical leakage resulting from an imperfect spell boundary. The speed with which combat magic is cast virtually guarantees that some mistakes in constructing the spell boundary will be made, and even if no mistakes are made the large amounts of mana pumped into the constructs can easily distort or unravel some of the pieces.»
«So I’m messing the spell up?» summarized Zorian, thinking of the brightly shining projectiles he always got when he used the rod. «Wait, your missiles normally shine too. Is that—»
Kyron chuckled. «Like I said at the start — there are plenty of magical disciplines where great shaping skills are an asset, but combat magic is mostly about power. Most battle mages can’t even make a simple magic missile transparent, much less one of the higher level force spells. It doesn’t hold them back any. Even I usually don’t bother, since the benefits are so marginal. You, on the other hand, need every advantage you can get.»
Kyron pushed the spell rod and the accompanying booklet into Zorian’s hands.