Eventually, Alec had to pack up the book he had used as cover and head to Wilcox's lesson. He was still hungry, but the three condensation methods had given his mind some food for thought, which kept him occupied. Hopefully, Wilcox's lesson would be interesting enough to keep him distracted.
It was.
The only thing that distracted Alec during Wilcox's lesson about the three parts of spell formations was the dawning realization that he liked magic.
'I guess it's not that strange. I write and read fantasy. Of course, I'm obsessed with magic.'
After that stray thought, Alec listened with rapt attention as Wilcox went through the Core part of the spell. Usually, it was a single rune that determined the nature of the spell, especially for common elemental attack spells like Fireball, Waterball, Airshot, and Pebbleshot.
Then came the Regulator part. It controlled the spell's output by regulating the amount of mana it drained from the mage casting it. It also controlled how quickly the spell used that mana.
For spells like Fireball, too much mana could lead to instability, which, if the mage casting it was lucky, led to the spell fizzling out. If they were unlucky, it exploded in their face before the mana could reach the Frame part.
Spells like those also used most of the mana almost instantly. However, for utility spells like Lightbringer, a prolonged and effective mana usage was more important.
That was where the Frame part came in. A large part of a spell's mana efficiency lay in the Frame since that was where the magic generated by the Core rune was given purpose.
The Frame decided the spell's shape, velocity, direction, force, blast radius, and any other necessary parameter. Messy Frames led to poor mana usage. Complex Frames were the same. But they were essential for advanced, multi-purpose spells.
It sounded simple enough.
It was far from it.
Cores were simple. Many of the more common spells used similar runes for their Cores, which the students wouldn't have much trouble memorizing. More importantly, the Cores for the spells they were learning only used one or two runes.
The Regulator part wasn't that easy. It used anywhere between ten and a hundred runes, almost all of them different. The good part, though, was that many spells of the same type had similar Regulators.
The real troublesome part was the Frame.
Runes as they were weren't specific. For spells to work, their Frames needed to be excruciatingly precise. To do that, those who made spells used a tedious amount of runes to piece together a specific result that would give them only the outcome they desired.
With how many parameters and variables the Frame needed to control down to the hair, it took a lot of runes.
As if that wasn't enough, the runes were alive.
They didn't have sentience or anything, but they reacted to the presence of other runes. It was an ever-changing language that was incomprehensible to humans.
Runes on their own looked one way, but a completely different way when in combination with one set of runes, and a third way in combination with a second set of runes. Then, there were runes that changed their appearance depending on who looked at them.
That was why Wilcox told his students not to try to understand runes.
They were to memorize the spells and spell formations they wanted to learn. Memorize. Write down. Use. Over and over.
Do not understand. There's no need to. The spell will work regardless of whether they know what every rune in it means.
Besides, people don't know what every rune means. They know what the specific runes do in specific situations and use them for that. Nothing else.
If they want to research runes in the future, they can do that in the future. It isn't a wasteful career by any means. But it was beyond their current selves.
Sound advice.
Alec heard none of it.
He was in a trance as he looked at the spell formations that Wilcox had started to draw on the blackboard. He hadn't done much more than the Core and Regulator of a couple of spells, but that was probably for the best.
If he had drawn the Frame as well, Alec's brain would have melted from [Reader] automatically translating the jumble of runes.
Even now, Alec's brain was boiling from the onslaught of information being dumped straight into it. It was too complex, too advanced, and too much.
He ended up closing his eyes and pinching them shut tight. Still, his vision swam with flashing images of the runes and their meanings.
"Psst, are you alright?" Taryeon asked. Somewhere through the siren of his headache, Alec heard him and managed to squeeze out a nod. He hoped he did, at least.
Alec was out of it for the rest of the lesson. Fortunately, there wasn't much left, so Wilcox didn't question him. Deep down, he was hoping that it was a sign of Alec awakening to Aether.
Given the sensitivity of his mind that he showed during the entrance exam and yesterday's lesson, Wilcox didn't think it impossible. Awakening to Aether so quickly wasn't unprecedented, after all.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Alec was just suffering from a skill too powerful for his current self.
Still, he couldn't stop grinning as Taryeon helped him out of the classroom and to a bench outside in the fresh air.
He had known about [Reader]'s ability to translate any written language from the start. He just hadn't known that the runes on which the magic system was built counted as a language.
He had an unimaginable advantage over every other mage.
Alec couldn't even grasp exactly how overpowered [Reader] was for his life as a mage. He just knew that it was ridiculously unfair. He couldn't wait until he had better stats that would let him put the skill to full use.
Having to restrain himself made him feel imprisoned.
Alec was like a tiger restlessly pacing in a cage too small for it, eagerly awaiting the day it could be free and unleash its power upon the world.