Abuse of Magic

(YOU HAVE COMPLETED IGNITE FIRE AT THE BASIC LEVEL OF COMPREHENSION)

There were two days to go, before they would arrive at the border, but Joseph couldn't wait any longer. The first thing he went to cast, was PURIFY FOOD. It could be cast as either a single target or area around him, but he wanted to target a single meal. It would remove all of the impurities from the food.

Wanting to experiment, he took iron shavings and added it to the soup that was cooking, much to the confusion of the chef. He was hoping it would raise the iron content. Then he mixed saw dust into the flour for the bread and left the dirt on the vegetables.

When he cast TEST FOOD, it showed up iffy, but not poisonous, which was interesting to him. He threw the bread into the soup, so it would soak it up, and everything was ready. Focusing the rune inside of himself, he used the information from the TEST FOOD to cast the spell. Staring at the bowl in front of him, he willed it to change the way he envisioned. The iron would be absorbed and the extra removed, the dirt would go away, and the sawdust would break down into cellulose fibers, but not so many as to mess with the texture of the bread. And then, all of the bugs, fungus and other microbes and parasites would be destroyed.

Circulating the mana to form the food rune, he could feel each cell of his body start to draw it out and focus it in his chest. There was a pulse and to everyone else it happened almost instantly, but to him, he was conscious of every small change that occurred. Nothing small would remain without his permission.

Stella and the mage knew when he was done, but everyone else was standing there, waiting for something fabulous to happen, like when he had cast the spell before.

(DUE TO YOUR INCREDIBLE FOCUS, VISION, AND UNDERSTANDING OF FOOD CONTAMINANTS, PURIFY FOOD HAS ACHIEVED INTERMEDIATE PROFICIENCY.)

(YOU HAVE CAST THE SPELL FOR THE FIRST TIME. YOU ARE AWARDED 1 LIFE POINT.)

(YOU HAVE ACHIEVED INTERMEDIATE LEVEL IN A SPELL FOR THE FIRST TIME. YOU ARE AWARDED 5 LIFE POINTS.)

(YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAST AN INTERMEDIATE LEVEL SPELL. YOUR AWARD FOR THIS SPELL HAS ALREADY BEEN AWARDED.)

(YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PURIFY FOOD IS SO HIGH, 10% OF THE UNDERSTANDING FOR PREPARE GAME HAS BEEN GRANTED.)

(FOR ACHIEVING INTERMEDIATE UNDERSTANDING, PURIFY FOOD IS NOW CHEAPER TO CAST AND AFFECTS ALL FOOD/MEALS WITHIN 1 YARD OF YOU AUTOMATICALLY. AREA EMISSION AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL ALLOWS YOU TO SELECT MEALS THAT WILL NOT BE AFFECTED AT THE TIME OF CASTING, EVEN IF THEY ARE WITHIN THE AREA.)

(DUE TO A COMBINATION OF SKILLS, THE MANA COST FOR CASTING PURIFY FOOD IS REDUCED TO 0 WITHIN 1 YARD FROM YOURSELF AND REDUCED TO 1 PER YARD OF AREA EFFECT. 4 YARDS WOULD COST 3 MANA AS AN EXAMPLE.)

Joseph could only sit there, stunned for a moment, before breaking out laughing. Everyone was confused, but he quickly took a chunk of the bread and ate it.

"MMMmmmmm."

He held out a piece to Stella, who did not hesitate to take a bite as well. She smiled as she chewed.

"That's delicious!"

Joseph wore a big grin on his face. He was so pleased with himself as he pulled himself up to the table and started eating. He kicked his feet in glee while everyone looked on stunned.

As everyone was dished out a bowl, they were all astounded at the texture and flavors. It was even better than when they didn't add all of the contaminants.

"Master Joseph, how did you do that? I could feel something, but it was gone so quickly!" said Stephan, the healer that his father had sent to travel with them.

"I'll tell you once it's safe, I assure you."

Stephan nodded, and joined everyone in eating their food as quickly as possible, because Joseph had another spell planned.

Everyone who was in attendance, were slaves of his father. All of the king's men were on the other side of the camp, so Joseph had an area set up for his next spell.

"And now, for my next trick," he muttered to himself, as he climbed down from his chair and hurried over to the prepared area. He knew he could cast ignite fire as a regular spell, but he wanted something a little more flashy as his first time casting the spell. It was his hope that he could permanently alter a spell by deliberately casting it differently on the first try. So, he was going to cast it as an area spell.

Joseph hadn't told Stella, in case it backfired. He didn't want her to worry. He only had to do it right.

Seven stands of thatch bundles were in front of him. Instead of targeting only one, he intended to target them all at the same time. And instead of emanating the magic from him, as the center, he was planning on having the center be on the pillar, and spread enough for the six surrounding pillars, two yards away.

Taking a breath, he looked around to make sure that there wasn't anyone outside of those who knew he could do magic present. This would definitely be an offensive spell, and he couldn't risk the king hearing about it.

Shiny blue and gold mana particles started to flow out from his body and started to swirl in a storm in front of him. Everyone gasped in delight. Dozens of smaller runes were made in the air, like he was going to carpet bomb the area. He knew that he shouldn't be doing this as soon as he started. It was a technique far higher than what he should be doing. But he also knew that if he tried to stop, the backlash would be horrendous.

The small runes began to line up and form the shape of the IGNITE FIRE rune. He knew that if Selena were there, they would have behaved beautifully, but for him, they moved almost grudgingly. Then the blue and gold mana particles began to turn a dark blood red and a headache started to pound behind his eyes. He almost lost his focus.

Stephan was quietly losing his shavist as he stared at the runes. He wasn't even drawing them in the air with his finger. He was directing the mana outside of his body and forming a two tier IGNITE FIRE. It took a tremendous amount of concentration.

Right as the spell was about to go off and ignite, Stella tackled him from the side. He was barely able to complete the spell, despite her.

BOOM!

A pillar of fire blasted into the air, and a shockwave hit them, pushing them farther away from the site of the blast.

Stella tucked him in and rolled with him, so that they ended up safe next to one of the carriages parked nearby. It was awesome, like she was a superhero saving the day. His ears were ringing as he looked up at the fire. His head was throbbing and he couldn't tell if it was the explosion or the headache from trying to control so many mana particles.

Everyone else was busy picking themselves up, and it didn't look like anyone was hurt. Turning to Stella, who was still holding him, he sat up and fell back down. He was woozy.

"STELLA, ARE YOU OKAY?" he asked, but he couldn't hear her response, only her head nod confirmed she was fine.

Glancing back at the site of the spell, it looked like a bomb had gone off. The thatch and area around it burnt in a perfect circle, with the center bundle being the origin exactly as he planned.

Oh, Shavist! He hadn't thought about the effect of instantly igniting a large area. It must have consumed all of the oxygen. It ended up being like a mini dust explosion. If he had used CREATE FIRE, it would have just filled the area with flames, but IGNITE FIRE forcibly consumes the oxygen and burns everything it can.

Stephan came running and healed his ringing ears. The look in his eyes attested to how scared he was for him. Joseph guessed he should have stood back a little further, but didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that just yet.

(YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAST YOUR FIRST FIRE SPELL. YOU HAVE EARNED 3 LIFE POINTS.)

That made 10 now.

(YOU HAVE LEARNED THE SPELL DETONATION.)

(FOR CREATING A NEW SPELL, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED CREATIVE.)

Joseph grinned and turned back to Stella, but the look on her face caused it to disappear very quickly. He glanced around and saw that he had scared the horses and other slaves, not to mention most of the king's men and maybe some coyotes in the distance?

"Master Joseph, you could have been killed!" Stella said close to tears. "I can't keep you safe from yourself!"

"I'm sorry Stella, I didn't know it would be that big of an explosion!" said Joseph, finally climbing to his feet.

(YOU HAVE BROKEN INTO THE REALM OF MANA EMISSION MASTERY THROUGH SHEER WILLPOWER. YOUR LACK OF SKILL AND EXPERIENCE PREVENT YOU FROM TRULY ACHIEVING THIS REALM, HOWEVER INSIGHTS GAINED FROM GLIMPSING INTO THIS REALM HAVE ALLOWED YOU TO LEARN THE GRAND SKILL MANA CONTROL. MANA CONTROL CONSUMES AND REPLACES MANA EMISSION AND ALL SUB SKILLS AND ADVANCES TO THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL. GRAND SKILLS REQUIRE TWICE THE EFFORT TO ADVANCE AS NORMAL SKILLS BUT ARE MUCH MORE POWERFUL.)

-Mana control (Intermediate)- reduce mana cost of all spells by 3, all spells may be cast as regular, missile, gaze, breath, area, or jet at will, mana is absorbed from surrounding mana at all times restoring 1 mana per minute, all negative effects of mana overexposure or mana sickness are negated, cost of area spells is reduced from total area to radius or 1/10 whichever cost is less, area spells may be shaped however you desire as long as the total square yardage is not exceeded and is continuous, jets may take any shape , extend from any part of the body, be flexible, and extend to 4 yards at base cost, aiming of missile spells is automatic, missile spells home as long as the target is still visible up to the spells max range, missile spells charge to a maximum of your magery without additional concentration, missile spell max range is increased by 25%, breath spells may be shaped, gaze spells will hit any target within spells range that is being stared at, mana can be consumed to replenish fatigue lost to exertion, all targets in the area of effect of any spell you cast may be avoided if desired, runes may be circulated internally or externally, use of two different runes is possible externally, use of rune within a rune is possible for the same rune but consumes 5 times the magic of the normal spell for twice the effect.