Casting Spells

Delving into his memory of wizardry lessons, Du Pont took a deep breath after a long while, his fingers beginning to move rhythmically. Seconds later, the previously invisible Arcane Arts energy in the air emitted a faint blue color before him, making him feel as if he were immersed in the universe, freely experiencing the power of the stars.

This was the true state of meditation.

Having resolved the preliminary issues, Du Pont began to attempt spellcasting.

Spellcasting was neither easy nor difficult. Complex spells required a combination of incantations, gestures, magical implements, and spellcasting materials. Simple spells only required one of these. Once a wizard had undergone extensive training and possessed sufficient understanding of a spell, they could skip these steps to achieve instantaneous casting or increase the spell's power and effect.

This was the concept of metamagic among wizards.

This was somewhat beyond Du Pont's current level. The spell he was casting only required him to use gestures to manipulate Arcane Arts energy, arranging it into the correct spell model, and then using the correct incantation to assemble these models into a spell. The magical implement served to assist in assembling the spell model faster.

However, with the changes of the times, wizards could use a more ingenious method: directly obtaining the desired spell from the Weave using incantations and gestures. They could even use this method to discern spells. As long as they had the corresponding spell slot, they could cast the spells they had learned, and there was no longer the issue of memorized spells having to occupy a fixed spell slot.

Understanding this, Du Pont vaguely felt enlightened, but this did not change his situation: if he wanted to transcribe a usable magic scroll, he had to rely entirely on his ability to control the Arcane Arts to imprint the complete spell on the scroll, rather than taking a shortcut and releasing the spell onto the parchment.

Thinking of this, Du Pont wrote the incantation on the scroll, the elegant Elvish script flowing rapidly. After a few seconds, he repeatedly read it several times, then placed the quill on the ink bottle's cap.

It was similar to what he remembered; it should work.

School of Conjuration one-ring spell: Mage Armor.

The spells Du Pont knew did not include any offensive magic, but both Mage Armor and Grease could be considered popular spells.

Especially the former, which was a fundamental School of Abjuration spell that all wizards had to master.

'No matter what situation or enemy you encounter, Mage Armor will effectively increase the wizard's chances of survival, giving us ample reaction time. As long as we can survive, we have the opportunity to create miracles, no matter how dire the scene or enemy we face.'

Wizardry Practical Introduction First Lesson

Du Pont closed his eyes and opened his hands, using his consciousness to sense the ubiquitous Arcane Arts energy in the air. As his fingers moved according to his memory, faint blue light spots gathered above his fingers, and a string of powerful, mysterious characters was chanted from his mouth.

"LoricaMagica!"

As the incantation neared its end, pale white light gathered around Du Pont's body. After uttering the last letter, Arcane Arts energy converged in mid-air to form the string of characters, identical to what Du Pont had just written.

A hint of joy flashed in Du Pont's eyes. The pale white light and characters had now completely disappeared, and his originally unremarkable robe was as tough as scale armor, yet it caused him no discomfort when worn.

Success!

Du Pont was somewhat excited by his successful first spellcasting. However, due to the special circumstances, he had no way to test whether this Mage Armor was as tough as chainmail, but the white light that flashed on the robe earlier was basically consistent with his memory.

Should be fine?

However, when it came to transcribing the scroll, Du Pont felt difficulties piling up again.

He could use gestures to manipulate Arcane Arts energy, but how could he imprint the Arcane Arts energy on the scroll?

He tried several times and found that he could not find the way. After thinking for a moment, he realized that he had entered a misunderstanding.

This parchment, which could imprint one-ring spells, inherently possessed a certain amount of magic. What he needed to do was not to imprint Arcane Arts energy on the scroll, but to mobilize the Arcane Arts energy in the parchment into the correct spell model. Then, he only needed to input spell energy into the scroll to succeed.

No wonder it was called a one-ring spell parchment; the magic of this scroll could only store and release the energy of a one-ring spell.

Having figured out the key, Du Pont began to write.

His familiarity with Elvish allowed Du Pont to quickly transcribe even without looking at the scroll. The elegant and beautiful font was comparable to the most noble Sun Elf royal family. The ink with a bloody aura completed the writing of the last character, and a flat map composed of Elvish characters faintly appeared on the parchment in front of him, with some of the incantations shining.

His mobilization had already combined part of the Arcane Arts energy in the parchment into a part of the incantation, but his ability/method could not command all the energy to enter it. He needed to use his mental power to restrain the remaining energy and fill the written incantation to the extent that it could activate the spell.

This was the entire process of transcribing a scroll.

With clear thoughts, Du Pont put aside distracting thoughts and concentrated on slowly changing his fingers, controlling the unruly energy in the parchment and guiding them to the correct position.

This operation required great care. Once an error occurred, the energy inside would quickly dissipate, and the incantation might become invalid.

If the parchment was not used, the energy inside could remain for several years. But once transcription began, even without errors, the Arcane Arts energy inside would slowly dissipate in more than an hour until it became a wiping paper.

Perhaps a few minutes, perhaps half an hour. When the Elvish characters on the scroll in front of him shone brightly, Du Pont breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead.

This exertion of mental power was indeed a burden, but this transcription met his expectations.

He succeeded, in just one attempt.

After confirming with the System that there were no problems with his transcription method, Du Pont opened his eyes and left the meditative state.

The luxurious training ground and the towering Mage Tower had disappeared. All that belonged to him was this dirty and messy hut.

This was somewhat discouraging, as if what he had just seen was just a false fantasy, but Du Pont's eyes could not hide his excitement.

He succeeded in both casting and transcribing the scroll on his first try. Looking at the 40% success rate, it was difficult for him not to feel complacent.

That Du Pont had studied for two and a half years, but neither his practical skills nor his writing were as good as this newcomer who had just arrived in this world. This could be said to be a dimensionality reduction strike.

Although that expensive linguistics course had helped him a lot, he was still in a weak state, and spellcasting was starting from scratch.

Am I a genius, one in a million? Touching his smooth chin, Du Pont couldn't help but laugh.

Wiping away his sweat, Du Pont picked up the milk and took a gulp. The fragrant and fishy taste made him frown.

Forget it, I'll take a shower first. Du Pont picked up the wooden bucket in the room and went to the public washroom to get hot water.

The dormitory had a bathroom for washing, but it was small, only about three square meters, and basically only had a toilet and a place to wash your face.

However, according to his memory, the things in the washroom were not used much except for the toilet. Many apprentices sometimes used a Dust Removal Spell to clean their bodies when they didn't have time. Only when they had free time would they fetch hot water to wash their bodies and soak their feet.

Du Pont still preferred hot water. It would be even better if there was a bathtub to take a bath in. Unfortunately, it seemed that only those advanced apprentices who were close to graduation or the rich had that luxurious space. It was basically out of his reach in the short term.

There was a bathhouse in the academy that charged two Silver coins per wash, but he couldn't afford to be extravagant at this time. It was better to save some money to avoid starving to death.

However, when he arrived at the washroom, he found that there were several teenagers hiding inside smoking cigarettes. When they saw him coming, they immediately received several hostile glances.

Du Pont frowned when he saw this, remembering the conflict that had occurred in the dining hall.

Were they ambushing him here?