For Nalant, this was simply harder than drawing a circle with his left hand and a square with his right, because that was merely splitting his attention in two.
Casting magic, however, required splitting his attention three ways, and both the process and the pattern he had to trace were far more complicated.
"This is going to be a pain. Why couldn't you mage pioneers come up with a more convenient casting procedure?" Nalant grumbled helplessly.
If these steps did not need to be synchronized and coordinated, he could complete them easily even with his eyes closed.
Especially tracing the hexagram rune in his mind with spiritual power. That might be difficult for the natives of this world, but for Nalant, who had received nine years of compulsory education, it was quite easy.
Whether it was understanding rune patterns or tracing them, he had no problem with either.
But if all three steps had to be carried out at once, there seemed to be no shortcut. He could only honestly grind away at it with time.
And that was precisely why many apprentices, even with talent, still needed several years to become junior mages.
"If only I could leave out one of the steps. Splitting my attention three ways is a little difficult even for me, but splitting it two ways is barely manageable," Nalant complained helplessly.
Still, complaints were complaints. According to the book's notes, none of these three steps could be omitted.
The rune pattern in particular was the key to making magic produce different effects. It was like symbols on a keyboard: if you pressed A, the computer displayed A; if you pressed B, it displayed B.
But without the rune pattern, all that would ultimately appear would be spells like the Flame Spell or Water Ball