Chương 189: Turning In

Even though Damion went to bed, his mind was still working. He had been so focused on creating a spell for so long even though he tried to stop working on it, his brain refused to shut off. The longer he lay there trying to stop, the more he realized he could not. Instead of getting out of bed, Damion worked on the magic seal in his head. He was used to viewing the magic seals he knew mentally through the Magic System, now he was simply viewing the magic seal he was in the process of creating.

What Damion did not realize, that in his half-asleep state, he was actually able to better see and establish the correct relationships between the glyphs. Before he knew it a notification from the Magic System sounded off and Damion realized he had succeeded. Ding {New Spell Created} [Ice Familiar - Active Permanent - (F Rank 250 Mana) You have modified the Ice Clone spell to allow yourself to bond to a creature with a similar affinity. You and this creature now can innately understand one another. As Rank increases the bond with your familiar will increase and you will be able to share more than just concepts and emotions.] Ding {Hidden Quest Completed.} [Quest: Create a Spell] [Description: By delving into the knowledge of Nashto you have managed to devise a spell of your own making, furthering your and the world's knowledge of spell crafting.] [Reward: 100 Experience, 500 Store Credit]"I did it!"

Damion shouted excitedly, waking Elicia up in her room causing her to run to his to make sure everything was alright. When she burst into the room Damion was surprised to see her, but after a moment he realized he had woken her up with his shout.

"Sorry."

"I take it you managed to create your spell," Elicia asked once she saw everything was fine.

"Yes. I can't wait to show if off tomorrow."

"You do that," Elicia told him as she turned around and left his room hoping to be able to fall back asleep. When morning finally came, Damion was quick to go through his exercises and eat breakfast. Professor's Toole's class was in the afternoon, so Damion had to sit through the last day of most of his other classes before he could finally show off his spell.

"Alright class," Professor Toole said as Damion and the rest of her students took their seats.

"As you all know, today is your last day to be able to turn in your assignment. A few of you have submitted magic seals that, while technically are spells, are so poorly crafted if anyone actually tried to learn them, they would be putting their lives in danger. Does anyone else have a submission? Or should I start handing out points for the term?"

"I would like to make a submission," Damion said standing up.

"Very well Mage Wells. Do you have a copy of your magic seal, or do you need to draw it on the board?" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"My magic seal can't be drawn on the board, and I can't make a copy since I haven't saved my spell to my tablet," Damion's words started the class murmuring, questioning what he was talking about. Why he even bothered to claim to have a submission if he could not provide a copy of it.

"But I can show you and maybe you can make a copy?" Damion stretched out his hand, palm up, and summoned his newly created magic seal to his hand. Two layers of spinning glyphs appeared and caused a collective gasp of shock from the class. Even Professor Toole was a bit taken back by what she saw. A tier 2 magic seal.

"Tier 2. I suppose making a tier 1 magic seal was too simple for you, so you had to show off a bit," one of the students in the class sneered.

"I bet it is useless, no way someone could make a tier 2 spell in half a term," another student commented. Damion did not rise to the bait. He simply kept his magic seal summoned while Professor Toole recorded it with her tablet. Once Professor Toole took her tablet away, Damion stopped channeling his mana and the magic seal vanished. Professor Toole on the other hand, was too busy studying the magic seal to say anything to the class.

"Remarkable," Professor Toole finally muttered after she had finished studying the glyphs in Damion's magic seal.

"Have you cast this spell yet?"

"Not yet," Damion said. He planned to, he even had the perfect Ferocious Beast to bond with, Phil, but he had to wait until classes were over.

"I hope you find a suitable partner for it. Your spell, if we can adapt it to other affinities. It can open up entirely new avenues of magic. To bond with a Ferocious Beast, possibly even a Demonic Beast, it could add an entire new dimension to magical combat. Not to mention magic research."

"What does his spell do?" A few students demanded.

"It allows him to form a bond with a creature of his affinity. To bind a… familiar."

"I call it Ice Familiar," Damion said. The class was left in stunned silence by Professor Toole's comment. A spell to create a familiar was not new, Damion's Ice Clone was an example of that. But a spell to bind a living creature to oneself. This was a new concept. Professor Toole knew spellsmiths had attempted to create such spells in the past, but they could never resolve certain issues in the glyphs, so the spells never worked properly.

The closest anyone had ever come was with magic seals used by what people called the Charm affinity. This affinity allowed casters to use empathy in order to create temporary bonds of familiarity, even affection, it was a very rare affinity, and it had its drawbacks. Charm affinity users could seduce or manipulate almost anyone, but the effects were temporary.

As soon as the caster moved too far away or they ran low on mana, the spell effects would end, and the target of the spell would know immediately what had happened. Other than manipulating others, there were no offensive magic spells for the Charm affinity. Its users had to rely on artifacts or physical skills to fight. Despite the drawback of the affinity, Charm mages were still sought after by the Adventurer Association, guilds and noble families.

The Association wanted them to capture Ferocious Beasts to use for knight aptitude tests, guilds would do the same. Noble families however, tended to use Charm mages in less than ethical ways. Which in ages past led to a ban of Charm users ever using their spells on another person that carried through to current times.

"I take it I have passed," Damion said to Professor Toole.

"Yes. And since you created this spell, even though it was a class assignment, you will be rewarded. I can't say for sure what the reward will be, but I will push for a Repository pass for you. Is there anyone else who would like to turn in their assignment?" After a pause and no one responding Professor Toole carried on.

"Class is dismissed for the term then. I will see you all in two weeks." As the students filtered out of the class Professor Toole could be seen working on Damion's spell. He did not mind handing his spell over without the certainty of a reward. He was certain Mage Teft would push for a good reward for him once she found out. Turning it over would advance the knowledge of magic and lead to the growth of humanity.

Damion believed all mages should be working towards that goal, even if it seemed like many were too self-absorbed to put in the effort. Damion's last class of the day was Thaumaturgy with Professor Holden. The final assignment for this class was writing an essay on the practical uses of spells, and how they can be used to improve the lives of ordinary people.