After three cups of coffee the following morning, I was starting to feel mostly sapient again, and was able to make my way up to my Introduction to Abjuration. Curious, after having had it pointed out during Fundamental Magecraft, I took a look around. Sure enough, a good chunk of the class was gone, made to take remedial courses, or perhaps even having been dropped from the university.

When everyone had entered, professor Caeruleum gave us a broad smile and congratulated us for making it this far, just like Silverbark had. Their speech deviated at the end, though.

"And unfortunately, more of you will be forced to repeat at the end of the year," they said, giving a patient, almost sad, smile. "In order to complete this course, each of you will have to be able to stretch to cast the fourth circle spell, as well as master a handful of third circle abjuration spells. If you gained admittance to this university, you are already capable of casting third circle spells, at least to some degree. But this will be the real trial."

"Why?" one of the students asked. "It's just one circle higher. Is it like the difficulty jump from second to third?"

"Similar. The jump from first to second feels large at the time, but it's truly not that much. Second to third is much larger. Third to fourth is larger still, as is fourth to fifth. The jump from fifth to sixth circle is a massive gulf, as you begin to shape ether in three dimensional patterns – there is a reason that it's reserved for postgraduates."

They flicked their fingers and spells began drawing themselves on the blackboard. The shape of the spell looked incredibly familiar, and as I studied it, I realized that the entire first circle of the spell was exactly the same as arcane armor.

"But all of that is for another time. We'll start out with the third circle spells you're going to learn this semester. The first of which is greater arcane armor. It is far and away the simplest of the third circle spells, and it creates a much more robust set of arcane armor around you. If the original spell is a padded gambeson, this is full plate, so to speak."

They grinned at us, then shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't take that too literally – I'm no armorer. But it truly is a massive upgrade in the spell's durability and protective power. The next spell we will focus on is called disrupt casting."

The spell began writing itself out on the board as well, and I squinted, staring at it. It was an incredibly strange spell, one that I'd never seen before, with portions that looked like ethersight, shield, and energy barrier, as well as huge swathes that I'd never seen before.

"It is a complex spell," professor Caeruleum said. "Notably similar to dispel magic, which you will learn in Fundamental Magecraft – my course should actually give you a leg up, there. This spell tweaks the ether in the air and attempts to unravel a spell as it's being cast. It takes a massive amount of ether, with the cost scaling depending on how much work the spell has to do. If you know exactly what spell is being cast, the cost is high, but manageable. If you know the general school, it's very high. If you're unsure, the cost is massive."

I wrote down the name of both disrupt casting and dispel magic in my grimoire, with a little note that they were similar.

"If you have the time for it, a dispel is always more ether efficient," they continued. "Unfortunately, dispel magic takes ten minutes to cast, if done perfectly, and will thusly take up a huge amount of space in a mage tool. This spell can be completed like that!"

They snapped, the sound resonating through the classroom.

"It has a three word chant, and only two gestures, so its speed is limited more by your ability to shape the ether of a third circle spell than anything. But, as I've said several times now, it drains your ether pool extremely rapidly. Still, if you ever find yourself in a life or death situation against another wizard, you'll find yourself grateful for it."

I had to resist the urge to sigh. I knew that they were right, but a part of me had hoped I'd be able to wipe out bloodline magic with it too. I returned my attention to the board as a new spell took shape on it, a familiar one – spellglyph.

"Spellglyph is one of the most versatile and powerful spells in a wizard's arsenal," they said. "Anyone with the spell, time, and money, can hit considerably harder than they should. It can defend your homes or treasures, especially if paired with arcane seal…"

They went on for a little bit longer, explaining the complexities of the triggering mechanisms and storing spells within it, before they finally drew out the last spell on the board.

This one had several aspects in common with suppress enchantment and energy barrier, but it was clearly its own spell. It also had a few small parts in common with shadecoat, the cantrip I'd learned to conjure a coat of shadows that protected against heat and sun by melting shadows.

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The interesting thing was, this spell had a good bit of overlap with some summoning magic that I'd studied. It was less like calling a creature than it was like conjuring up an object or teleporting, but there were definitely some small bits of overlap. It was like it was calling on something, and imbuing the power into something that was distinctly abjuration, an arcane protection.

I could see why the'd left it for last. Even though it didn't have the same variability in nature as spellglyph, it was a ridiculously convoluted amount of ether shaping, not entirely dissimilar to the amount needed to perfectly cast water to wine.

"One of the spells that I've found to be of considerable utility when I've delved into our library," professor Caeruleum said fondly. "Abjure shadows. A spell that calls on radiant energy to banish away most magical darkness, several illusion spells that weave shadowstuff into their creation, and to force back or injure many incorporeal creatures."

I frowned, leaning forward. That sounded familiar for some reason. The professor fished around for their necklace, then raised it and began the spell, demonstrating it slowly and surely. When they finished, a wave of white light erupted from their body, washing over the room. The shadows dimmed, then returned to normal, and I realized where I'd seen the spell before – in the library, a third year student had used it to banish, destroy, or dispel a bunch of the real and illusionary monsters that had been following us.

"It's not a hard counter to everything in the library," the professor continued, "but it's useful against many of the weaker threats and problems. I've lobbied to have it put into Fundamental Magecraft for that reason, but…"

They trailed off, then waved their hand to dismiss the topic.

"Well, anyways – onto the fourth circle spell."

It began writing itself on the board, and it swiftly became apparent just exactly what professor Caeruleum had been speaking about when it came to the increased difficulty.

It was easy to think of it as only one unit, but that wasn't how the area of a circle worked. The jump from three to four nearly doubled the amount of spellcraft that I had to hold in my mind and understand, just by virtue of the amount of area.

Of course, it wasn't perfectly reliant on the area. The density of etheric channels and symbols in that area played a massive part in complexity, and was why there were arguments to be made that lifeberry was more complex than many second circle spells, despite it being first circle.

But this wasn't an especially easy spell to shape, and with the extra area, it made water to wine seem rather puny.

"Dimension ward," professor Caeruleum announced when they finished. "This ward is laid over an area while casting, and it lasts for a day. The ward blocks any foreign teleportation or dimensional magic from passing through. Your enemies cannot summon new creatures, or teleport into your sanctum, or use many spells that exist to perceive you across realms. While not a perfect, absolute defense, it is quite useful. More importantly, it's one of the spells that can be modified with permanency, creating a permanent lock."

They clapped, and the spell wiped itself off the board.

"Well, that's just a sneak peak. We're going to focus on learning the third circle spells for now. How about we start with greater arcane armor, since I know everyone here is already familiar with the base spell? Everyone to your mats! I'll demonstrate several times, then drift around to help."

I headed to the mat and noted down the motions and words, then began trying it on my own, drawing up the power of Caeruleum's affinity to improve the speed at which I learned to cast. As I was working, the professor drifted over and gave me a leisurely smile.

"You already know spellglyph," they said. "And add more power in your finger motions there. They should pop."

I did as they said, nodding my agreement.

"I do. Is there another spell you'd like for me to learn instead?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," they said, smiling in a slightly unnerving way. Their blue hair shone slightly as they spoke, the power of their angelus bloodline on full display. "I'm not only able to cast abjuration spells, you know. Tell me, do you know much about restoration magic?"

"Not a lot," I admitted. "I know spellcraft is generally considered to be weaker than divinity when it comes to healing, but that there's a lot of overlap. I think the reason it's seen as weaker is because most divinities are instant to use, while the spells are all complex and take time, and are more prone to failure if you don't understand the underlying life arrays and biology?"

"More or less true, though it's not always the case. You know that you can't take any foreign magic into the arena with you, yes? But there's some leeway there – you can bring in components, for example."

"Alright," I said, knitting my eyebrows together. "I'm not following."

"There's a restoration spell called holy healing," they said, flicking their hand and conjuring a spell guide. "Second circle. It uses the blood of a creature from a divine realm to create a steady regeneration effect that lasts about a minute or so. It's a bit fussy, as the creature has to have a bloodline that's compatible with it, and the blood has to be relatively fresh, no more than three days old. But it requires no understanding of biology or life arrays."

"So even if I couldn't use a healing potion, I can still use holy healing," I said, my eyes widening slightly.

"And anyone with an angelus bloodline of sufficient potency could donate beforehand. It's just a component, after all. Study that spell during the time the class is learning spellglyph, and I'll see if I could be convinced to donate a few vials to let you practice."

I looked up at them, and it took a few moments for me to figure out what to say.

"Thank you," I finally said. I didn't know what else I could even say. It was perfect.

They winked at me, then wandered away to help the rest of the class with greater arcane armor. I took a moment to flip through the spell guide, looking it over, and I wondered if this was the missing bloodline spell. After a moment, I decided it likely wasn't. It wasn't a spell that changed a bloodline in any way, it just needed a bloodline as a spell component. If it was the missing bloodline spell, then water to wine was a metal spell, since it used metal dust as a sacrificed spell component.

I looked over the spell twice more before tucking it into my bag and going back to practicing greater arcane armor.

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