New Spells (III)

Gao De was engrossed in reading. The workshop was silent, broken only by the occasional rustle of pages as he turned them.

"Schools of Magic. Spells produced endlessly varied effects. Based on their effects and the way mages wielded mana, the multitude of spells had been divided into different categories, known as schools of magic. Schools of magic were artificial classifications, serving only as supplementary descriptions of spells and carrying no rules of their own. There were eight schools of magic."

"School of Abjuration: The essence of abjuration spells was protection, though some also had offensive applications."

"Abjuration spells could create barriers, counter harmful effects, injure intruders, or banish creatures to other areas."

"School of Conjuration: Conjuration spells involved transporting creatures or objects from one place to another. Some spells summoned creatures or objects to the caster's side, some transported the caster elsewhere, while certain conjurations could create objects or effects out of thin air."

"School of Divination: Divination spells revealed information."

"This could take the form of lost secrets, glimpses of the future, the hiding places of treasures, the truth behind illusions, or unusual phenomena concerning distant people or regions. The scope of such information was too vast to summarize one by one."

"School of Enchantment: Enchantment spells could influence the minds of others, altering or controlling their behavior."

"These spells might make enemies regard the caster as a friend, force creatures into certain actions, or even manipulate other creatures like puppets."

"School of Evocation: Evocation spells shaped magical power into desired effects."

"Some evocation spells called forth bursts of lightning or flame, while others guided energy to heal wounds. In short, among all schools of magic, evocation spells possessed the greatest destructive power."

"School of Illusion: Illusion spells could deceive the senses and even the minds of others."

"They could make people see things that did not exist, or fail to see things that did."

"They could also make people hear things that were not there or remember events that had never truly happened. Some illusions could be seen by anyone, while the most uncanny kind could even be planted directly into a creature's mind."

"School of Necromancy: Necromantic Spells manipulated the energies of life and death."

"Necromantic Spells could grant creatures additional vitality or draw life energy from others. They could create undead creatures, even an alternative form of 'bringing the dead back to life.'"

"Note: The creation of undead creatures through necromantic spells (such as Animate Dead) had been strictly forbidden!" Gao De noticed this annotation, heavily circled in pen by Mage Seda.

"School of Transmutation: Transmutation spells altered the properties of creatures, objects, or the environment."

"They could turn enemies into harmless creatures, strengthen the power of allies, bring objects to life to obey a mage's commands, or enhance a creature's innate healing ability and allow its injuries to recover swiftly."

"."

"Although spells were divided into eight major schools, mages themselves were not divided by school. Under normal circumstances, a mage ought to have some command of spells from all eight schools. Few mages specialized in a single school—nor was that wise; it could even be called foolish."

Closing the Mage Apprentice Handbook, Gao De let out a long breath, feeling that he had benefited immensely.

His understanding of spells had truly been far too limited, almost entirely unsystematic.

This introductory book called the Mage Apprentice Handbook was worth its weight in gold to him at this moment.

"A mature mage, one who had mastered spells from all eight schools, could indeed be called capable of anything, to a certain extent."

Gao De sighed. At last, he understood why the beginning of the book contained such an apparently outrageous claim as, "Spells can do anything."

Spells simply encompassed far too many fields.

Before this, he had viewed spells more as a powerful kind of force.

Now, it seemed that they were—but not entirely.

Power was only one part of spells.

This also explained one question Gao De had:

In a world so steeped in mysticism, why was magic the only supernatural power?

Because anything other supernatural powers could accomplish, spells could accomplish as well.

Yet other supernatural powers might not necessarily be able to accomplish what spells could.

"Two transmutation spells, two conjuration spells, one abjuration spell..."

Gao De reviewed the spells in his spell repository and felt more keenly than ever how barren it was. He had not even gathered half of the eight major schools of magic.

"Fortunately, I can expand my spell repository now." Gao De picked up the five thin booklets beneath the Mage Apprentice Handbook.

That was right. These booklets were the spell formulas Mage Seda had left behind!

Filled with excitement and anticipation, Gao De carefully began to read through the five spell formulas left behind by Mage Seda:

Tracking Mark (School of Transmutation, 0th circle):

Touch any exposed part of a creature's body. If the creature did not resist, leave behind an indelible mark.

As long as the mark remained, you could sense the creature's whereabouts. However, the range could not exceed fifty li, or it would lose effect.

The mark could be scraped away with a sharp blade.

The mark would disappear after the caster died.

Color Spray (School of Evocation, 0th circle):

Create an explosive flash of light that dazzled creatures within ten meters.

Creatures without vision, or creatures already dazzled, would not be affected by Color Spray.

Touch of Fatigue (School of Necromancy, 0th circle):

After touching the target, you could cause it to fall into fatigue.

You had to strike the target with a successful touch attack.

The target would immediately enter a fatigued state for the duration of the spell.

This state of fatigue differed from ordinary fatigue; the effect would disappear once the spell's duration ended.

This spell had no effect on creatures already suffering from fatigue.

Under normal circumstances, the spell lasted for six seconds, though this was affected by the target's constitution and even its Mental Strength.

Detect Magic (School of Divination, 0th circle):

You could detect the auras of spells and Magic Items within twenty meters: determine whether Magic Auras were present, and perceive the number and strength of those Magic Auras.

After their source was destroyed, in the case of a Magic Item, or dissipated, in the case of a spell, Magic Auras would leave behind lingering traces. If you used Detect Magic to observe and focus on those locations, the spell would indicate that a faint aura was present there.

The duration of a faint aura's lingering traces depended on the power of its source.

The amount of information you could obtain depended on how long you maintained the spell.

Detect Magic had a range of twenty meters, and the object had to remain within your line of sight.

Flame Arrow (School of Evocation, 0th circle):

You hurled a bolt of flame at a creature or object within 120 feet (40 meters), making a ranged spell attack against the target. If it hit, the target suffered fire damage.

Flammable objects struck by this spell would be ignited.