The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 192: The Three Major Spell Systems

Vol 2 Chapter 192: The Three Major Spell Systems

"It's been a long time, Instructor Seraph."

Seeing this instructor she hadn't seen for over two years, Sylutia respectfully bowed and offered a welcome.

"It's been a long time, Ya." The refined scholar nodded, looking around the environment with a hint of curiosity. "The air here is quite nice, the environment is elegant. It's a good place for research."

"Thank you for the praise, Instructor. It would be even better if you stayed here permanently; I would be most welcoming."

"Heh, then I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you for a while. I am indeed very interested in this area." He smiled and nodded. "Sit, no need to be too formal. Ya is a big shot now too."

"Instructor is teasing me again." Sylutia shook her head with a smile, then sat down opposite him.

"How has your studies been during this time? From what I know, you've been quite busy these past two years."

"Indeed, as you said, I'm afraid I've fallen behind on quite a few lessons." Sylutia answered, feeling a bit embarrassed. "This time, I was hoping to ask you to help me catch up on some things."

"Heh, no problem. Make your requests freely. As long as it's something I know, I will certainly teach you everything I have."Afterwards, the two discussed Sylutia's progress and the subsequent study plan and schedule.

"Since I'm here this time, I recall I promised you before that if you reached the Third Tier, I would teach you a Verdant Nectar Aspect spell, 'False Bouquet'. This is a good time to pass it on to you." Seraph mentioned the incentive from back then.

"You still remember that, Instructor?" Sylutia was slightly surprised.

"Of course. I am a 'Secret Word' Aspect scholar. If I couldn't even remember that, wouldn't it be too embarrassing?" He commented that Sylutia had forgotten the characteristics of the various Aspect professions. "The concepts and abilities of the 'Secret Word' Aspect are mostly related to 'knowledge', 'history', 'memory', 'text', and 'code'. Their memory is enhanced as their Aspect tier increases. By the high tiers, almost all possess instant memorization and photographic memory abilities. You could say they are walking human libraries."

Hearing Seraph say he would teach the 'False Bouquet' spell, Sylutia gradually grew curious about this spell ability and began to ask questions. "What exactly is the difference between spells and the abilities we commonly use?"

"You are quite perceptive. Spells are indeed vastly different from abilities." The erudite scholar began to explain to Sylutia. "In fact, based on their main focus, we can roughly divide them into three major systems: 'Wizards', 'Mages', and 'Scholars'."

"The spells used by Wizards are mostly ancient in history. Their earliest origins were likely the abilities of certain powerful creatures. For example, ancient Wizards witnessed the 'Phoenix', a powerful creature born from flames that could command vast infernos. Envying the Phoenix's power, Wizards began trying to obtain this strength. Their initial thought was to transplant its bloodline, to become a 'Phoenix' themselves, but this was extremely difficult, bordering on impossible."

"Later, they imitated the Phoenix's physical structure, conducted anatomical research on it, and recorded the Patterns of its bloodline. If these bloodline Patterns were copied onto human flesh, even if the effect was less than one percent of the Phoenix's, they still gained power. This method was very popular in the early days. Even now, you might have heard that some shamans in remote areas carve beast-war Patterns onto warriors with knives to grant them great strength."

"After initially obtaining this power, Wizards gradually became familiar with it, discovered and summarized its underlying Rhythms, and further refined them. This was the origin of ancient runic inscriptions. Later generations of Wizards went a step further, using these runic inscriptions as a foundation to construct spell models that didn't rely on physical entities at all, obtaining spell prototypes. These spell prototypes were often very crude and had to be continuously researched and improved over generations before they were finally popularized. The inscriptions of these spell models were often the secrets of various schools of that era, never taught to outsiders." Seraph explained in detail.

"Up to this point, it should be easy to understand." Seraph looked at Sylutia, saw her nod, and continued. "However, humanity's pursuit of power has no limits. Ancient Wizards gradually diverged in the subsequent development of spells. Some wished for spells to be as powerful as possible, even hoping to create spells more extreme and powerful than the original. The spellcasters following this line of thinking are the 'Wizards' and 'Witches' we are familiar with today."

"Another group had different ideas. They believed that singular strength often couldn't adapt to complex survival and combat situations. If they could flexibly switch and combine, they could achieve unexpected effects and create brand new abilities never before seen in the world. Following this line of thinking, they continuously delved into the secrets of runes, constructed more complex and precise spell models, and began discussing rune standards, meaning fixing the size, shape, and specifications of all runes completely. This was to facilitate mutual learning and borrowing of spells between different schools, similar to standard measurements in the craftsman industry. Compared to Wizards, their spells were often less powerful but exceptionally flexible, allowing for easy switching. The spellcasters following this line of thinking are the 'Mages' you occasionally hear about."

"The final group, although also spellcasters, didn't put their energy completely into spell models. They only needed spells with a few specific effects. So, they also created spell templates and could switch them to a certain degree, but their flexibility was inferior to Mages, and their power was inferior to Wizards. It was a compromise between the two. This compromise brought many disadvantages, such as difficulty in improving spell models, not being able to iterate as easily as the other two. But the benefit was that they only needed to specialize in specific knowledge, occupying fewer card slots and consuming less energy. This was very suitable for 'Scholars' who needed a certain degree of self-protection ability but were unwilling to invest a large number of card slots."

"The spells you learned at the Hidden Grove are basically the secret transmissions of various schools, meaning the spells of the 'Wizard' system. They have no relation to each other, cannot be used interchangeably, and are powerful."

"Powerful?" Sylutia tilted her head.

"Correct. As a gardener, you've also learned 'Vine Overgrowth', right?" Seraph asked with interest.

"Yes."

"Then, can you use vines to crush stones?"

"I could do that when I was Third Tier." Sylutia nodded.

"Don't you think that's quite abnormal?" Seraph responded with a smile. "Think about it more carefully. Since your vines can crush stones, wouldn't it be not much harder to wrap up and strangle a knight of the same tier?"

"It seems... yes."

"You didn't find this strange? Knights are often among the strongest in their tier, powerful individuals who can match beasts of the same tier. Yet they can be bound by vines from a gardener of the same tier, losing their ability to move. They focus on enhancing strength and combat skills, yet are defeated by your single ability. Don't you think that's somewhat unfair?"

"There is a bit of that." Sylutia thought deeply.

"Of course, your own talent is also exceptional. Other gardeners of the same tier certainly couldn't do it as easily as you." Seraph added. "But that doesn't affect the overall point. As a gardener of the same tier, being able to bind a knight with vines is actually an extraordinary feat. Normally, since you focused on gardening, other aspects would certainly be inferior to professions focusing on those areas. But surprisingly, you can indeed do it. This is the effect of continuously iterating and specializing spell abilities. They are powerful."

"A Mage of the same tier would find it very difficult to directly restrain a knight. Spells they cast, like 'Binding Circle', would often be violently broken by a knight of the same tier, only holding for a short while. However, Mages often have many methods. They can flexibly change tactics, for example, creating extremely smooth surfaces to make the knight struggle to walk, constantly falling, achieving the same goal of restraining someone."

After listening to Seraph's explanation, Sylutia nodded slightly, gradually understanding. "But how do they achieve flexible spell transformation?" The young woman asked curiously.

"Let me give you another analogy. You'll understand quickly." Facing the clever student, a smile appeared at the corner of Seraph's mouth. "Wizards are like using a beautifully carved scepter made from a single tree root. Sturdy, durable, powerful. Mages are like using a scepter assembled from over a hundred building blocks. Flexible, fragile, versatile. They can also turn the blocks into a longsword, shield, house, armor, table, chair, and so on. Scholars are like using a scepter assembled from six components. More reliable than what Mages use, but not as sturdy as what Wizards use. However, these six components can also be assembled into a chair for resting, serving two purposes. It's quite economical and saves materials."

"When a Wizard advances to the Third Tier, they condense a unique spell based on their core secret art. When this spell is used, it often gains powerful effects exceeding those of others at the same tier. For example, some Black Wizards of the Death-Flame Aspect choose 'Lament of the Tenacious Weeper' as their core secret method. When this spell is cast, it can tear at the souls of creatures of the same tier, with astonishing power."

"But some Mages of the Gold Steam Aspect choose 'Spell Forge' as their core secret method. In combat, they only need to reproduce the spell models recorded in their spellbook within the 'Spell Forge' to cast that spell. The Spell Forge is that box full of building blocks. The spell model is the assembly guide. When a Mage casts a spell, they pile up the blocks according to the guide to produce the effect."

"And a Scholar of the 'Castle' Aspect only has three fixed-shaped stones. The spells they can assemble are extremely limited, but the effects are indeed a bit better than those of Mages. Now do you understand the specific differences between the three?" Seraph finished explaining the differences between the three major spell systems.

"Now I understand." Sylutia nodded in comprehension.

"Good. Now I can begin teaching you the 'False Bouquet' spell. It is a spell under the Scholar system. It's not as powerful as spells under the Wizard system, but the benefit is that you can adjust the effect type based on the 'flower' used, and you can later convert the blessing effect into a curse..."

In the empty classroom, Sylutia listened attentively to this instructor's teaching, beginning to learn a brand new spell.