"A spell is composed of two aspects, and I've explained the runes to you — they are the central command that determines what the spell does. So, what about these geotric shapes?"
Professor Burbank wrote sothing on the board: Mana Directive/Rune Frawork.
"Those shapes are referred to as Mana Directives or Rune Frawork. Can anyone tell what they do?"
No one raised their hands, and Professor Burbank wasn't too surprised. "Do you guys know that the creation, or maybe I should say the usage, of the circle was one of the single most important inventions to magic? Don't believe ? But it's true."
However, the student's eyes fully displayed their lack of faith in his words. If not for his authority as a professor, so people might even have laughed at him.
"Alright, I can see you don't believe . How about a demonstration to show you how important it was? Mr. Skylar, stand up, please."
"Alright." Zane stood.
"Please cast the Water Spell on the board for the class."
Zane did not hesitate to engrave the spell diagram in the air; the process was swift because the spell was simple, with only three sub-runes and two Mana Directives. However, once he was done, Zane looked at the professor, waiting for his next direction.
"What are you doing? Activate it."
"Hmm, sir, I don't know the incantation."
"Where is my mind?" Professor Burbank gently slapped his head. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the chalk began to write the incantation in Gremorian beneath the spell diagram.
Zane glanced at it and uttered, "Water — the source of life — congeals and manifests so you can nourish ." Imdiately afterward, a small puddle of water slowly converged in front of him; he couldn't help but smile, having learned a new spell. Although this one had no offensive or defensive capabilities, it was still a spell for surviving in the wild or any place without clean water.
"Excellent," Professor Burbank nodded. "Now, try again, but this ti, you just need to engrave the Water Rune and recite the incantation."
Zane was imdiately intrigued, so he tried it out. First, he swallowed the water he had created. Interestingly, his connection to the spell ended as soon as the water entered his stomach, which ant he could recast it as the professor had instructed. At first, Zane thought there would be an issue with the subrunes levitating in the air without the circle, but the engraving process displayed no problem. So, he uttered the incantation.
Zane didn't know what he expected to happen, but it wasn't what actually occurred. As soon as he finished the incantation, he sensed his connection to the spell, but there was nothing in front of him. Following his feeling, Zane turned around to see a puddle of water condensed above the head of a student who sat about 15 ters behind him. He instinctively tried to control the water to return it to his side, but he had lost the potent control he had over his spell, causing the water to fall onto the student's head.
"My apologies. I didn't an that to happen," Zane hurriedly explained.
"No need to apologize," Professor Burbank stated before casting a spell of his own above the student's head. His magic circle created a small electrical net that generated the precise amount of heat needed to instantly dry the student's clothes and hair.
"Before the creation of Mana Directives, magic was a wild, untamable force. In fact, historians have labeled this type of magic as Wild Magic, and it's one of the many unique fields of magic studied by mages." Professor Burbank continued.
"What's the point of studying sothing outdated?" a student asked.
"What did I say about studying only for a purpose?"
"No, I an, besides for historical purposes, does Wild Magic have other…applications?"
"Nice save," Tom Nguyen muttered under his breath, and Zane — who had heard him — smiled.
Professor Burbank briefly glanced at the student, "In enchanting, there is a technique called Free Rune Engraving, which ans using only runes and not the full magic circle with the directive. This technique is common and widely used in this field, and across the Astral Cosmos, many races use the Free Rune Technique as the basis for their Enchanting System. And you can imagine where this technique originated from?" A chalk began writing the word [Wild Magic] on the board.
"Sir, what's enchanting?"
"You must have seen all those beautiful and wonderful magic tools in the plaza's shops, right? Well, that's what Enchanters do. We will cover the different magic professions in the next few days," Professor Burbank replied. "Now, let's get back to the topic. Where were we?"
"Magic as an untamable force."
"Ah, yes. At first, mages used incantation to ta the beast that was mana. To be specific, this tradition began with shamanism. Through words and incantations that praised nature, spirits, and the Gods, shamans created fla, bringing humankind out of the age of eating raw food. The earthlings in this dinsion have done an excellent job deducing and analyzing the evolutionary benefit of the fla, so I won't get too much into it; you can read more on the subject if you wish."
There are a few constants throughout the Astral Cosmos, and the evolution of humans from primitive tribal society to modern or magical civilization is one of them. Humans are one of the few races not created by a God or higher being — at least, that's the case in 99% of dinsions. Instead, they have evolved, which makes them either very special or odd, depending on who is answering.
"Incantation Magic used to be the mainstream for a significant part of magic history," Professor Burbank continued. "However, there was a major problem with this form of magic: it took too long to cast. Now, even the most difficult spatial spells only take an average of 3-5 minutes to cast, but back then, those numbers were for ordinary 0-ring spells. Trying to cast a spatial spell using Incantation? A mage might have to spend hours reciting and pronouncing, and if even one word is wrong, the caster has to start over."
"That would have been a pain," Zane thought. "Not to ntion, such a slow speed ant magic would not have been as effective against modern weapons or modern military. It seems magic — as a civilization — had to experience trials and tribulations; it had to evolve before establishing its current dominant status."
"The creation of runes was a major step in the rise of magic," Professor Burbank continued. "At first, mages only wanted to reduce the length of incantations, then Rune Saint Rudus Daliphini discovered that so symbols or sigils can not only resonate with mana, but also imbue it with anings and power. He spent more than a century testing countless symbols; he traveled the world to discover new sigils, observed nature for inspiration, which led to the discovery of many naturally ford patterns, and he even created and tested symbols himself. And right before his death, he created the first Rune Dictionary and shared it with the world."
Professor Burbank paused for a few seconds, as if to pay due respect to the Rune Saint who dedicated his entire life to the advancent of the magic civilization. Although the earthlings did not know this man called Rudus Daliphini, they understood the concept of standing on the shoulders of giants. Earth's current scientific and technological advancents were the result of countless brilliant minds who ca before.
"Runic Magic was a creation of epic proportions, but as you can imagine, it was also flawed. Magic had beco faster and more potent, but it had also lost all its safety chanisms. Mages beca capable of casting spells in a few minutes or two, but every ti they did, it was unknown whether the spell would explode in their face or imdiately lose control.
"Many mages died during that era, and more importantly, magic had a terrible reputation because of all the death and destruction it had caused. At so point, it was even called the [Devil's Power].
Professor Burbank sighed deeply:
"Then, everything changed when the Rune Frawork Saint, Eleanor Hartifilia, was inspired. Her husband was an Army Engineer, tasked with designing a new cannon for their Empire. He was at his wits' end, so he asked his brilliant witch of a wife to help him. While looking at gun barrel tubes and how it's designed to keep the cannon ball in check, Saint Eleanor was inspired, and the first Mana Directive —which was then called the Rune Frawork — the circle, was born."
Professor Burbank drew a circle with his mana in the air.
"A simple creation or solution if you think about it now, but its discovery fundantally altered the course of an entire civilization. With that simple circle, runic magic beca a controllable power. It allowed mages to contain any spell within a designated scope, instead of the effects materializing randomly.
"It allowed mages to safely delve into concepts such as space, ti, life, and death, without killing themselves or others around them. I don't think I need to remind all of you of the necessity for a civilization to experint and explore the world around them safely."
Zane nodded. In his opinion, two things are instruntal to the developnt of a civilization's technology: the mindset and safe experintal tools. A perfect example of this is the history of dicine. For many years, the mindset of the populace was to shun people who study cadavers. Such a mindset — along with many other issues — severely delayed the developnt of biology and modern dicine. But now, people are more open-minded, and new systems and tools have been created to foster a better environnt for studying the human body.
"Alright, enough with the history lesson. Let's continue with a demonstration. Mr. Skylar, if you don't mind, I want you to cast the spell again, but this ti, replace the outer circle with a rectangle."
Zane nodded before following the direction. However, before reciting the incantation, he readied himself for possible chaos. He had made the right choice. As soon as the water condensed, it began spreading everywhere. Zane tried to control it, but it wouldn't work. On the contrary, the more he tried, the more uncontrollable the situation beca. Luckily, he was in the front, and Professor Burbank was prepared with a magic shield that protected him from being drenched.
"Rectangle, as a Mana Directive, is often used for large area effect spells — spells that want the power or effect to spread as far as possible. It's also common in Enchanting because the enchanter might want the magical effect to spread to every part of the item, not just one localized area," Professor Burbank explained. "Try again, but this ti with a square."
Zane exhaled before modifying the spell diagram as instructed. A significant portion of water manifested, but that was not the anomaly. The water instantly condensed into a protective wall around Zane, which should have made him feel safe. However, he did not like this water wall. Unlike his other defensive spells, which he had absolute control over, this one didn't seem to be responsive to him at all.
"Squares are often used in defensive spells or spells that use more rigid or stable elents, such as earth or space," Professor Burbank explained. "Again, and this ti, with a triangle."
Zane nodded, but soon stopped as he realized the conundrum he was in. He was still inside the water protective wall, and unlike before, he couldn't just swallow all that water. As for canceling the spell? Unfortunately, this non-circular spell was not under his control. Luckily for him, the professor noticed his situation and snapped his finger, canceling the spell.
Sighing in relief, Zane nodded to him before casting the spell another ti. The result was unexpected. Zane discovered he had imnse control over the water; he could separate it into two smaller portions, condense it into cones, or even arrow shapes. However, he could not move the water even an inch to his left or right.
"Triangles are used for more fluid elents, such as water and wind. It's also one of the keys to Elental Transformation. So, when you see spells such as Water Arrow, Firebird, or Lightning Spear, the core directives are usually triangles."
Professor Burbank paused for a few seconds to emphasize his next words: "However, these are just the basics. Mana Directive Theory is a vast subject with countless rules, theorems, formulas, and mathematics. For today's class, I will give you a brief introduction."
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