Explaining his thoughts to his father, though, was a challenge as he had to find a simpler way to explain it, given that computers at this time were nonexistent.
After Nick asked him for his permission to use him for the test, Jonathan could hardly contain his excitement at finally having found a theory that made sense, as he was a scholar; the apparent randomness of Magic was making him go insane.
To proceed, they first tested Jonathan's baseline wisdom, quick arithmetic, square roots, multiplication, and so on, then they tested his memorization abilities, and finally they tested his baseline reflexes by throwing fruit at him with progressively faster speed.
However, given that the spell was in Old Norse and filled with symbolism from their regions, he had to first rewrite it to Ancient Greek and reword it, so it called upon the symbolisms commonly used in Ancient Greece.
He used his presence to make sure the spell's interference field, as he came to call it, was unified every step of the way while creating the spell. During the spell crafting, he figured out that anything more than 3 sentences in Ancient Greek would immediately throw the entire interference field off whack.
Even the previously unified symbols would be thrown into chaos and cause disharmony in the field. Thus, he had to keep the chant to under 3 sentences.
Then, as there was no other preparation needed to do the spell. He simply started chanting the spell, with his Ancient Greek rolling off his tongue like a long-forgotten native tongue.
"Ἄνεμε, κάθαιρε τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ·
Wind, cleanse his mind;
Ῥίζα γῆς, κατάσχες τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ ἡσύχιον·
Root of earth, hold his mind in stillness.
Ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ ὄψιν εὑρίσκει, ἐν ὄψει σύνεσιν.
In stillness, he finds sight, in sight understanding."
With that, he saw a thin smoke-like fog gathering from all directions, threads of it emerging out of thin air, coating his father's head. He could immediately see Jonathan's face transform from barely suppressed excitement into a serene calm.
Nicholas could immediately tell that the spell worked. He and Jonahtan again performed the baseline tests of his mental skill; the results were amazing.
Arithmetic that only mere moments ago took an entire minute was now completed in 20 seconds, and fruit that moments ago flew by him, he now caught effortlessly.
However, before they could test Jonathan on more complicated problems, the effect and the smoke-like threads disappeared. When they looked at the stopwatch, it indicated that 3 minutes had passed.
Nick was quite pleased with the amount of time that the effect had lasted, seeing that all he did was say a few words, though he did find it interesting that the effect lasted as a multiple of 3 instead of a multiple of 9, as rune magic lasted.
Even though the length wasn't quite good enough to be used permanently, it could still be used quite practically in fights in order to boost the reflexes of allies.
Nicholas's next step involved testing magic that was not involved in the domain his mother was the Goddess of.
He figured that if that too succeeded, it would basically be confirmation that his theoretical system of magic was correct, as otherwise this could have been a previously undiscovered power of his mother manifesting.
To make sure no other variables would taint the test, he decided to create the chant entirely.
First calling upon the elements of earth, water, air, and fire. In Greek thought, these elements were the world itself. Every ritual, every invocation, everything powerful always ties back to them in some way.
They represent the totality of existence, the stage on which all things happen. If Nicholas was correct and the theory held, its symbolism would boost his voice sufficiently to create some form of effect.
And the sun was an obvious inclusion. The sun is fire made visible, fire magnified, fire that rules the day. The sun is the perfect conduit for energy, for illumination, for… power.
Through his research into crafting a spell, he also figured out why the number three apparently underlines the Greek system, the three main gods, the Greek spell lasting 3 minutes, the spell structure going crazy when he went over 3 sentences, and Greek philosophers also exalted it as the perfect number.
It was because it represented the 3 aspects of a being as described in Greek myth: the mind, soul, and body.
So by invoking it in my spells, it symbolically represented the being's participation in the spell itself.
He then used his prescience to fine-tune the spell, so as to make sure the symbolisms meshed together to make one thread of meaning.
As it was a spell of his own creation, he felt that the interference was way less potent and allowed him greater insight into spell crafting.
As there was no longer any interference or obstruction, the information he received was now not just images and feelings; it would provide real, tangible, informative feedback to his spell during its creation.
When, where, and how each meaning should be spoken and the length of time it should be spoken were all important variables to make it coherent, and now he was practically a natural at spell creation as his prescience served the information he needed on a silver platter.
Thus, he settled on chant and said to his father, who was currently sitting next to him reading, "Step back, I'm trying to test something."
Jonathan immediately obeyed and retreated to the back of the room. Nick then continued by raising his hand, palm facing upwards, and started chanting.
"Στοιχεῖα γῆς, ὕδατος, ἀέρος, πυρός, ἀκούσατέ με — τὴν φλόγα τοῦ κόσμου καλῶ.
Elements of earth, water, air, and fire, hear me — I call the world's flame.
Ἥλιος ὑψιπέτης, πῦρ ὁρατὸν, ἐν χερσίν μου χύε τὴν δύναμιν.
Sun on high, fire made visible, pour your power into my hand.
Ἐκ βάθους κόσμου καὶ πνοῆς αἰθέρος, φλόγα φανερωθῇ.
From the depths of the world and the breath of the ether, let the flame appear."
Again, the same wisps of mist appeared gathered into a ball, then collapsed to a point right above his palm, right before a small ball of flame the size of a golf ball burst out from the singularity.
All Nick could do once he saw this was smile straight from the heart, while a proverbial parade straight out of Aladdin went through his mind.