"Oh, put your magic away, it was just me," Henry said, waving his hand. As he did, there was a pulse of magic, and the sparks and shadows in the air both snuffed out. He stifled another yawn. "By the gods, why do I schedule this course for eight in the morning… Alright, morning kids. You all wanted to actually learn magic this semester, right?"

At our collective nods, Henry sighed, then rose from the tree, standing and popping his back.

"Fine. We're going to start with three spells useful for the subterfuge part of the course: invisibility, lockpick, and knockout ray. All of these spells are illegal to know without registering at the Department of Magical Affairs, so don't tell people you got it. Or go to the government and fill out the paperwork, I don't care."

I paused at that, arching an eyebrow at how casually the Erudite disregarded Cendel law, then glanced at Yushin, who answered my question before I could voice it.

"All people in illusion, enchantment, or other high risk courses have to register in their first year. I have already done it, as Salem likely has," she said, and Salem nodded that he had. "Being known as an illusion mage is… frustrating. However, I do understand why it is needed, in order to prevent crime and barbarism."

"Frankly, the spells are near impossible to regulate anyways. The library means that most students can gain access to them if they're stubborn and skilled enough, which feeds into black market copies of the spell. Most of the time when someone uses invisibility to steal, they're unregistered."

"And you putting them out there without going through due process also makes that easier," Jackson pointed out, a slight frown on his face. "We should register, if for no other reason than to avoid drawing attention to us."

I refrained from sighing, but only just, and the Erudite just shrugged as if he didn't care one way or the other. He lifted a finger and began to trace shapes into the air. Where his finger trailed, thin ribbons of flame emerged, lingering behind them to create spell formulae in the air. I pulled my grimoire out and flipped to an empty page, then began to note down the formulas for the three second circle spells.

Once I did, I examined the spell for invisibility. Yushin had mentioned before that it was incredibly delicate, making it almost impossible to attack while invisible, and that even sprinting could disrupt it. I figured that I had to be missing something, though. The lines that made up the spell were a bit thinner than average, sure, but I'd held spells with more delicate components before.

"Invisibility," the Erudite said, vanishing and re-appearing. "It's a useful spell for a variety of tasks, and not just criminal activity. Sometimes you just don't feel like talking to people, and this is a great spell to dodge unwanted conversations."

I snorted in amusement, even as the Erudite continued.

"That said, it's also excellent for subterfuge. If all of you had this spell last mission, then you could have entirely bypassed the first guard check, and wouldn't have been forced to stash Jackson away in hidden hideaway. Now, the tricky part of this spell comes from the visualization element. If you just cast the spell and push power through it…"

He flicked his fingers, and the light around him seemed to blur, making his form indistinct, but still clearly there.

"It's like throwing a blanket over your body," the blurry Erudite said. "Through visualization and applying thin currents of ether, you can learn to wrap the blanket around you, molding it to your body."

He vanished completely from sight, then stepped forward, and his form became blurry again.

"The problem is, this only works while holding still. You have to adjust the weave of the spell with each step, something that requires near constant visualization," he explained, before releasing the spell and leaning back against the tree. "Despite that, it's a spell that has a place in every mage's repertoire. Now, our next spell."

He gestured to the lockpick spellform floating in the air. This one was far more complicated than either of the other two, and it reminded me of the levitation cantrip, or the coinshot spell, but more restrained and focused.

"There are actually two primary unlocking spells that can be used within your spell circle: lockpick and forced entry. Forced entry is easier, but is the equivalent of setting off a fireball to start a camp fire. Sometimes you might need a fireball, but most of the time, blowing up the lock isn't the optimal solution for breaking and entering. Lockpick is more subtle."

He held out his hand, and a thin mist of blue ether seeped from it, looking semi-solid.

"It forms a thin layer of telekinesis that actually gives tactile feedback. If you press it against a lock, the mist filters in, allowing you to manually pick it, without the need for complex tools, and bypassing many of the more skill-based requirements, though some skill is needed. Particularly if you're dealing with tricky locks. Learning to recognize various types of pins is an important skill."

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I perked up at that. I could already pick locks, though I was far from perfect at it, so a spell that operated on those principles was well within my wheelhouse. Henry gestured to the third spellform, which wasn't quite as simple as most normal offensive spells, but also wasn't as complex as lockpick. More like the invisibility spellform.

"And knockout ray. It's a simple spell, essentially a focused mental attack that renders the target unconscious for the better part of an hour, and makes them much harder to wake up than the standard sleep spell. It's an excellent method of non-lethal disabling someone."

To demonstrate, he lifted his finger and shot a near invisible ray of blue-gray magic into the air, nailing a chipmunk that was scampering across the school grounds. The chipmunk froze, then toppled to the side asleep.

"I picked out each of these spells not just for their utility, but also for your abilities. Each of you has relevant skills to teach the others."

"Even me?" Jackson asked.

"Yes. You've woven light with some of your blessings and spells. That's useful for invisibility. You also are the most well versed in obliteration magic, which should help with the knockout ray, even if it is still a mental attack. I meant it when I said that all of you have skills that will help one another. Now, I'm going to perform the chant and gestures for each spell, so watch carefully…"

We spent the rest of the period working on the three spells. They were each only second circle, so they weren't incredibly difficult, but nor was it fast enough that we were able to learn all three of them in such a short time. After the class period ended, we ate a quick lunch, then split off our separate ways for our next class.

When I shuffled to professor Gemheart's class, I was stopped at the door to be tested for my competence with the transmutation focused ether manipulation techniques. As I worked my way through the shaping exercise, I felt a small gnawing of guilt in the pit of my stomach. Between practicing Jadis' remodel, as well as the new braid and surge techniques, my work on the five names technique, and the time on the buckler spell, I knew that I wasn't up to par with what the professor had shown us.

"Hm. It's clear you're skilled at ether manipulation, but you don't have the polish to this technique that comes from practice. We'll check in again at the midterm, and you can bring it up as a remedial grade."

"Thank you professor," I said, and he waved me inside, where I took my seat next to the druid-blooded treefolk. When professor Gemheart walked in, the chalk rose and began to sketch three second circle spells on the board.

"We've got a lot to cover this semester if we're to understand the principles behind each of these spells, so there's no sense in wasting time," the dwarven professor began, tapping the first of the spells. "Can anyone tell me what force this spell alters?"

I stared at it, then shook my head, but someone else in the class raised their hand.

"Gravity."

"Correct. This is the levitation spell. It allows you to negate the pull of the planet's gravity upon an object, letting you lift it with a simple cantrip. The effect of the spell is constrained by volume. Notably, it's not constrained by mass – this is despite the fact that the gravitational attraction between two objects is their masses multiplied together with the gravitational constant, divided by the square of the distance between them…"

He continued to lecture on the mathematics behind it, while I furiously took down notes on paper. When he gave one particular tip, however, I underlined it to make sure I noted it down.

"Some of you may be wondering what the practical applications of this spell are, given that it only lasts for a few minutes, and cannot be made permanent with the permanency spell or imbued into an object. The answer is simple: flyte. The flyte spell, as well as flying objects, have to lift your weight. By negating the pull of gravity, your weight drops to zero, which synergizes to allow the flyte spell to direct more power to the actual act of flying. Despite using the power of a second and third circle spell, you'll actually fly faster than layering two flyte spells together. On top of that, when used in construction, it allows…"

We continued for a while longer, before he let us take a quick break to use the restroom, and we returned to focus on the second spell, and we were again asked what principles it acted on. This time, however, I was able to raise my hand and answer, as I'd seen it in animal shape and in shield vitality.

"Life force," I said. "The spell seems to be converting ether into life force, and directing it into a portion of the body."

"Indeed! This is one of the transmutation spells that shares commonalities with the school of restoration, though it doesn't heal. That seems to be the main factor that Magyk used in categorizing spells as restoration. This spell is known as sharpen senses. It directs a flow of life force to your eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, temporarily stimulating them beyond humanoid baseline."

"Wouldn't that cause the body to begin purging the area?" I asked, only for professor Gemheart to shake his head.

"A good question. While there are certain spells that operate similar to cultivation, this works in a similar manner to the druidic branch of life enforcement, only instead of drawing on the power of ambient life energy, it converts it from ether. There's actually some research that indicates that all other energy systems come from ether, but there are just as many that indicate that life force, destiny pools, or tonal magic came first. It's…"

He trailed off as he seemed to realize that he was ranting, then waved his hand.

"Another day, perhaps. But no – to grossly oversimplify this spell uses the temporary life energy to connect with the sense of this realm, rather than transforming body and spirit to align with a concept that filters through Etherius. Now, if everyone will take out Ying's manual, we can take a look at flows of life energy extant within the body…"

We spent another long while on that spell, before we finally turned to the third and final spell on the board. I wouldn't have known what it was, if I hadn't just seen it in another spell, so I was able to answer again.

"This bends light. Or… something with it? It's directly bending light, though."

"Ah, very close. It absorbs and stores light! This spell is known as sphere of darkness, and it's a fun little spell."

He raised his hand, and the room was plunged into darkness for a moment, then returned to light an instant later.

"For a long time, it was thought this spell created a sphere of darkness, but with the study of light and of darkness, we have learned that darkness is the absence of light. Said absence does serve to generate certain unique spiritual principles we still don't fully understand, but normal shadow is merely a lack of light. This spell creates a sphere where light is entirely reflected, rendering the exterior a mirror-polish, and the interior perfectly dark. Now, if we look at Meditations on Light by…"

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