Now this spell was quite useless, truly, unless you want to give someone a small blister; however, its implications were staggering.
Given that his mother's authority mostly extended to Wisdom, War, and Knowledge, it was quite a surprise that it was even as effective as it was.
He wagered that if a chant was geared towards War or Battle instead, it would be quite a practical spell since it would enjoy the boost granted by his mother's domains "listening" more closely.
So that was his next test; however, before he did that, he wanted to have his father perform the same chant. According to his theory, if his father said the chant, barely anything should happen, as he didn't have sufficient authority.
Surely enough, once Jonathan attempted the chant, there was barely anything that happened.
The same smoke that gave birth to his fireball did gather, however, before it could condense into anything resembling fire, it quickly winked out of existence.
Jonathan could barely hide his disappointment at not being able to do magic on the fly, but it was quickly suppressed by the idea that they finally had some idea of how magic actually worked.
"So? What are our next steps?" Jonathan said.
"First, I need to create some spells in connection to War, that would help me in case of an actual battle. After all, my strategy can't just be running away from the monsters my entire life." Nicholas was already going over the options in his head.
And so that was what they did for the next 6 months.
~6 months later~
The past 6 months were spent in a whirlwind of theorizing and creating every spell Nick could think of under the sun.
He created 3 spells connected to his mother's domain of War.
Aegis Phylax – The Guardian Shield
This spell is used for protection in battle. It drew on the idea of his mother's shield, Aegis, as a symbol of defense. When cast, it creates a barrier that turns aside harm and weakens attacks.
When used by Nick, it created a barrier that, upon testing, was able to block any mortal attacks.
Testing the mystical protection, though, turned out to be not quite as simple as just using prescience as before, as asking anything about what would happen if the monsters attacked the protection just returned vague answers.
So his only guess there was that either it didn't protect against monsters or it could only block part of the damage.
To test that, however, involved testing its efficiency against mythical threats; to do so, Nick cast the spell on his father and tried attacking him, as he was the only mystical being he could find and thus the only way to test any mystical attacks in a safe way.
The spell only appeared to block approximately 40% of the force of the attack, as opposed to the ritual that blocked Nick's entire attack. The spell turned his punch to the face into a mere slap, so he determined that the efficiency against mystical opponents would still be somewhat sufficient.
Kratos Enagonios – Strength of the Spear
This spell calls forth inner strength in moments of combat, calling upon his mother's spear and the earth Element.
The user feels heavier, grounded, and more connected to the world, as if the weight of the earth supports their movements, and after testing it, it increased Nick's strength by over 3 times when he used it. This allowed him to feel like a tiny Hercules.
Tachys Ops – The Swift Eye
This spell sharpens perception and reflexes, calling upon the owl's eye as a symbol of his mother. Instead of speeding up the caster, it slows how the world appears to move, allowing them to react before danger fully forms. The senses heighten, every detail becomes clear, and movement feels instinctive.
This spell, when tested, allowed Nick to observe the path of bullets. When tested with his father's handgun, it allowed barely able to follow their path.
This spell's effectiveness was way higher than he was anticipating; however, his theory was that it was significantly boosted by his own innate ability of prescience, as they had significant overlap.
All of these spells took approximately 10 seconds to cast, lasted for 3 minutes, and were 3 sentences long, calling upon various symbols connected to his mother, such as the eyes of the owl, her aegis shield, and her spear.
He spent the rest of the time creating cantrips, small magic tricks that were 3 sentences long and each took 8~10 seconds to cast. These spells were not meant to be used for combat, but they gave him significant experience in what makes a more efficient, powerful spell, and what makes a bad, short-lived one.
He figured out that if he was able to sacrifice one aspect of the spell to boost another, that's what allowed him to, for example, make a spell that lasted days and months, if only with a minor effect.
For example, the blessing on his father's intelligence once reworded allowed for a minor boost in intelligence that lasted for 3 months at a time before having to be redone; the same holds for the harm protection spell.
When optimized for length of use and reworded as such, it allowed for the same length of 3 months and resulted in a reduction of 50% of damage done by mortals lasting as long as 3 months. It was sufficient to say that it was now constantly applied to both Nicholas and Jonathan.
He also created other cantrips, minor magical spells, such as a spell that cleaned a room, calling upon the winds of the 4 directions.
This was made as a precaution, as any intrusion in his private quarters and room designated for calling upon magic were now strictly off limits to all staff.
He also created a spell to invoke the wind to create a breeze.
However, this magic was way more effective than he had expected; instead of creating a mild breeze, it created a small gale, strong enough to topple a child.
Upon further investigation, he found that in Greece, the soul and mind were connected to the Air Element and thus by his nature as a demigod of Athena.
It could, however, also be due to the fact that his grandfather was Zeus, the God of Sky and Air, that the Air spells were more effective.
Other spells behaved more like he expected them to such as Minor Healing (Heals small scratches or wounds), Earth Manipulation (This one allowed him to create tiny sculptures to be used in minor Rituals from stone), Fire Manipulation (This one allowed him to start a fire with no lighter or give someone a nasty blister if they stood still), Heat and Cold Insulation charm (This one allowed him to go outside with no clothes on and fear no mortal heat or cold, as a bonus it lasted for 3 hours as it was relatively minor), Water Spell (which barely allowed him to draw some drinking water out of the air) and many other more.
He also created one of his currently most useful spells, the Confusion Charm. The charm was eerily reminiscent of a mix of Harry Potter's Imperio and Confundo Charms.
It essentially allowed him to manipulate mortals and their memories in any way he chose by calling upon the Mist, which amplified this charm beyond anything he could cast with his current authority.
Small alterations to their memory or behavior could last essentially forever, but big alterations, such as making them obey his commands to harm somebody else or themselves, would last a really short time.
All spells, apart from the Wind Manipulation and Confusion Spells, were useless, but they did allow him to feel like Harry Potter and give him more intuition about spell craft and about how to best use his prescience to aid him in creating spells and even Rituals.
In fact, it was during this time that he came upon the idea for the next project.