B3 – Chapter 47: Lots of new spells

Morning came swifter than Tristan would have liked, as he stirred awake alongside Felicity who was still snoozing and mumbling nonsense as she dreamed some vivid imagination. Instead of waking her, he chose to just lay there and re-line out his plan in the lead-up to the Fey Realm opening its rift to the Citadel of Essence for a week. A chance for students from the Citadel to experience the Fey Realm, to sell wares and goods of peerless craftsmanship, but more importantly to hold up Tristan’s end of the bargain with the Headmaster of the Citadel.

Felicity stirred soon enough and he gave her a few loving kisses on the cheek as she pushed back into his embrace. “Good morning,” she mumbled out before yawning. “What’s the plan?”

Tristan whispered back, “I’m going to be spending most of my time in the Fey Realm, practicing with Zeltana in my inner world. Except today, I’m going to go and do some practice in one of the study halls.”

She yawned once more and nodded, “Okay. Come back here to spend the night. I’m going to be focusing on learning as much as I can about transmutation. Memorize a whole load of spells.” She wriggled in his embrace until she was facing him. “Sound good?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tristan replied.

Tristan got his gear and used the Citadel Pin to transport to The Archive. Heading along to the back, he arrived at the hall that led to the various study rooms that would make twenty-four hours seem like a single hour. Stepping into one of the rooms, he shut the door and went to the desk, flipping open his Omnitome.

First up, the dragonbane spells for Fourth Order, he thought as he flipped open the book. Already having cast Elemental Imbuement-Multi the other day to improve his sword; which used the exact same spell gesture as the Second Order, lesser variant, with simply the phrase “and see my prowess with it!” added to the end…he hardly needed to practice that further. Plus, it is now in my sword. No need to manually use it unless I’m left without the weapon for some reason.

Reckless Challenge (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: Come at me, and break yourselves on my blade!

Spell Gesture: Stretch your hand out before you, in front of your torso, fingers extended to point as one. As you state the spell phrase, pass your hand across whomever you wish to affect.

Other Notes: Just like Imperious Challenge, but this is the multiple-target version. Good for getting a whole bunch of people to attack you.

Dragon Leap (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: The skies unfold before me!

Spell Gesture: While in mid-air, curl your legs and push down, with toes pointed directly down.

Other Notes: You will effectively jump off of the air. The more you tilt your feet so the toes point to the ground, the higher you go. I highly recommended that you cast Wing Glide right before using this spell. You’d be a fool not to. Practice over water.

Well, Tristan thought as he faced the wall. I won’t be able to test out Dragon Leap until I’m back in the Fey Realm. But I can at least memorize the gesture and try to get used to tilting my feet properly. Plus, Reckless Challenge can be drilled.

He spent the next thirty minutes bracing his legs, muttering the spell phrase for Wing Glide, and then jumping up. It took several tries to get the rapid-fire speech properly enunciated to get one spell after the other to activate properly, and tilting his feet at the wrong time led to several painful falls that he used the stored Cure Wounds spell in his belt was able to soothe away.

But, after several attempts, he finally got the timing down. He had to jump, and then immediately tilt his feet as they left the ground – it gave him enough time to speak both of the spell phrases in rapid succession, and after practicing the motion dozens of times, he was more than confident he could use the spell properly. It’ll need to wait until I reach the Fey Realm to properly be practiced, he thought. But it would be nice to get up to the top boughs with a single leap.

Moving back to the Omnitome, he flipped open to the section on ice elementalism. Now this is something I can practice in here. He chose to ignore the spells that were not offense or defense focused, knowing that he could reference those if he needed.

Hailstorm (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: “Spüren Sie, wie der Zorn der gefrorenen Wut vom Himmel herabregnet, und beugen Sie sich der Macht des Sturms.” (Feel the wrath of frozen fury rain down from the skies above, and cower under the might of the storm).

Spell Gesture: Raise both hands above your head, crossing your wrists and flaring out your fingers. Then, as you say the spell phrase, wiggle your fingers and bring both hands down in front of you – never letting contact between the wrists stop. At the bottom of the movement, you will flourish your hands out to your sides.

Other Notes: This spell will manifest a devastating rain of spherical ice from above. The affected area is approximately a one-hundred foot radius in all directions around the user. The user will not be struck.

Frozen Bulwark (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: “Das Herz des Frostes schützt mich; ein Bollwerk, das ich zur Verteidigung schwingen kann.” (The heart of the frost protects me; a bulwark to wield in defense).

Spell Gesture: Ball your hand into a fist (either hand), raise it in a diagonal across your torso (so that your chin is above the forearm, it extends up and towards your cheek, and the elbow is down closer towards the stomach). Essence should be focused into the forearm. Then, you will move the arm out to your side, rotating from the elbow, and then straightening the arm.

Other Notes: This spell functions as a longer lasting version of Frost Screen. It does have weight, and will chip and degrade over use, but has the same stopping power.

Raising his hand, Tristan balled it into a fist and made the spell gesture for Frost Screen, but then followed through by rotating that arm out to the side at the elbow, and straightened the arm. Repeating the motion several times until he had it memorized with both hands, alternating left and right, he began muttering the spell phrase without essence added to the mix.

Over and over, he drilled the spell phrase and gesture, until, finally, he began spinning his crucible and pushed the cooling essence down shoulder and into his arm, feeling it pool under the forearm. “Das Herz des Frostes schützt mich; ein Bollwerk, das ich zur Verteidigung schwingen kann.”

A large, round shield of ice appeared on his left forearm and grew in size until it covered a half of his body. It was hefty, and even with his prodigious strength, it was irksome to hold. But, bracing it in front of him and crouching slightly, he saw how effectively it covered his body. The only downside, he thought, is that you can’t see through it. I probably won’t use this much – but I’d rather have it memorized than not.

Letting the essence fade, he reached back and snagged his Omnitome, pushing essence into the amulet with Pocket Dimension II. Once the book was safely inside that space, he began reciting and repeating the spell gesture for Hailstorm. Over and over, repeatedly, as he practiced, drilled, and memorized. Finally, when he had it down, he spun his crucible and surged the essence through his whole body as the spell did not specify where to send it.

Nothing happened. Strange, he thought. Well, maybe to the fingers, then. Starting from the top, he did just that, feeling the tingling sensation as the cold spread from his chest, through his arms, and up to his fingers. Wiggling them, he brought them down – keeping the wrists crossed. He felt the essence slip from his fingertips as he incanted the spell phrase; “Spüren Sie, wie der Zorn der gefrorenen Wut vom Himmel herabregnet, und beugen Sie sich der Macht des Sturms.”

The ceiling above him was dotted with dozens of silvery circles that produced fist-sized balls of ice that crashed down onto the ground, shattering and melting away. The force with which they pelted the ground made Tristan wince – easily the weight of a hefty Warhammer blow. If this was done on an unarmored host, they would be heavily injured.

He felt the essence expenditure of the two, Fourth Order spells weigh on him, and as the spell faded, he sucked in deep breaths, heart racing. That’s…okay…a lot of essence. He tried to steady his breathing, and noted the slush and ice on the floor remained for a few moments before slowly melting to water, and finally evaporating into a shimmering, silver glow.

That’s two spell types at fourth order memorized, he thought as he made to sit down in the chair – but then winced as he realized his Hailstorm spell had smashed the chair and desk to wooden slivers. These study halls are not very good for practicing spells. But, they didn’t raise a fuss last time.

Waiting a while for his essence to regenerate, he sat down and when he had enough, activated his storage spell, flipping to the next section on fire elementalism. Just the one spell that would activated the ignite effect on those I hit with a Fireball or Inferno Trigger.

Rising Flame (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: “Sturm unter dir, erhebe dich und verzehre die von meiner Flamme Geplagten in einem Scheiterhaufen von sengender Hitze.” (Tempest below, rise up, and consume those afflicted by my flame in a pyre of searing heat).

Spell Gesture: Cross both wrists at waist height, with palms facing up, and fingers extended. Slowly bring them up, in front of the abdomen, chest, then above your head – making a “come hither” motion with all of your fingers (except the thumbs – those remain flush with the other fingers). End above your head, then extend arms out to either side in a flourish.

Other Notes: All targets currently suffering from the Ignite effect that you applied, and are within the 500 foot range, will have their Ignite condition consumed. This spell does not work unless Ignite is applied. While it lacks the area-of-effect capacity of Fiery Burst, its single-target damage is much higher.

I’ll need a target that is ignited, Tristan thought as he flipped to the back of the Omnitome and ripped out several pages from the endless document. Grabbing bits and pieces of the fragmented wood, he made a small pile in the corner of the room. By the time he had the small pile of kindling made up and ready, his essence was about half full.

Practicing the spell gesture and phrase repeatedly, he felt he had it down and memorized. Now, to apply an ignite effect. Holding his hand in front of him, palm up, at chest height, he tucked his thumb and pinky into the palm, and held the other three fingers out. “Ich beschwöre Feuer und Hitze, forme deine Macht zu einem Ball: werfe diese auf meine Feinde, sodass die Flammen sie verschlingen möge.” (I summon forth the rage of heat and flame: form a bolt that will burn and sear my target).

The small bead of fire manifested above his palm, and before it grew too large, he flung it. The bead shot into the pile of tinder, and began to smolder before a silver and red flame flickered up. Now for the new spell. Spinning his crucible and directing the essence into his hands, down to his fingertips, he performed the appropriate spell gesture, slowly raising his arms as he flexed his fingers in the proper way. “Sturm unter dir, erhebe dich und verzehre die von meiner Flamme Geplagten in einem Scheiterhaufen von sengender Hitze.”

At first, nothing happened despite Tristan becoming winded and almost collapsing from exhaustion as his essence was drained dry. He staggered and placed a hand on the wall as he finished the flourish gesture – and then winced as a massive column of fire appeared where the pile of wood and paper was in the corner. A white-hot flame that shot straight up and left a black scorch on the corner, the ceiling, and the floor. Pure black, as dark as pitch. A testament to the heat of the blaze.

Okay…really powerful…that applied to a lot of foes at once…He was once more humbled by and both respected and feared the power of fire elementalism he saw on display. Definitely something to look at using.

Then the backlash hit. He hadn’t noticed the ice elementalism backlash, as he practically suffered none. But he felt this. Even the fire dragon blood he had consumed only somewhat protected him as he felt sweat profusely rolling down his body, and saw his hands begin to turn a red as if he was fighting off a fever. He felt light-headed, and sat down.

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The higher Order spells have a really shitty side effect, he thought as he panted and waited for his body to cool down. The idea of using lightning elementalism, after his last experience where he had suffered immensely thanks to a seeming inability to cope with the backlash thanks to his heritage, caused him to make a decision on the spot. I’m not using the Fourth Order lightning elementalism spell. Not unless it’s stored inside an item with artifice. The memory of how badly the lightning affected him last time and the pain from the muscle spasm and seizing was still vivid, and he shuddered at the recollection. I’ll look it up, and memorize it along with the gesture, so I can store it later.

But, he was still exhausted and knew he had been burned a bit from the backlash. As he sat there, recovering and waiting for his essence to regenerate enough to use the stored Cure Wound spell, he couldn’t help but think about the Twelfth Order fire spell Obadai had used. That must have been excruciating, he thought. No wonder people don’t go for the higher Order spells when essence-weaving. The cost is so taxing. He held an even more profound respect for the Archon rank of those capable of the highest order of essence-weavers, and it now made sense to him why there were almost no spells written down above Tenth Order. You’d have to be mad to be willing to risk injury for a spell of that magnitude.

Recovering enough essence to use his belt, Tristan spun his crucible and activated Cure Wound, feeling the warmth spread through his body as his skin returned to its snow-white appearance. He let out a sigh of relief, and stayed seated as he flipped open his Omnitome to the section on lightning elementalism.

Boltstorm (Fourth)

Spell Phrase: “Zerreißt die Wolken und ruft den Zorn von oben herab. Die Bolzen der Rache stürzen auf dich herab und schlagen dich nieder” (Tear the clouds asunder and call down wrath from on high. The bolts of vengeance crash down upon you, and smite you).

Spell Gesture: Hold both hands out to your sides, at chest height, arms fully extended. Have the fingers lined up, thumb tucked into palm, and bring them forward in a slow, gradual motion until they meet in front of your chest. The end of the movement should see your thumbs connecting, the tips of your fingers connecting, and a small, triangular hole down the center when viewed from above.

Other Notes: Choose a location within 1,000 feet. The spell will affect every viable target within a one-hundred foot radius of that point. Applies the charge affliction to foes. It is highly recommended to follow this spell up with a First Order Bolt spell to activate the discharge on the group.

Tristan stood up and went through the spell gesture and phrase. Over and over, repeating the process of memorization through rote repetition just how his mother had taught him when they were studying how to speak Elvish. Just how he taught himself from grandfather’s texts on dragons. The process was almost meditative in a way, and once Tristan was confident in the spell and his knowledge of how to use it properly, he turned his attention to fortune. I haven’t looked at any spells beyond the First Order, he thought. So this will probably take some time. Thankfully, they were written in Elvish, which made perfect sense to Tristan, as Elves were seemingly the one Heritage that fortune seemed to work for. Sadly, there were none above Sixth Order. A shame. Means I’ll have to invent once I get to that essence capacity.

Bad Luck (Second)

Spell Phrase: “Toivon sinulle pahinta. Löytäköön sinua kaikki maailman huono onni.” (I wish the worst upon you. May all the ill fortune of the world find you).

Spell Gesture: Tuck your fist into your chest, with the thumb facing up. Extend the thumb, and curl in all the other fingers (you are effectively giving a “thumbs up” but close to your chest).

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