Never Die Villain

Practical Casting II was exactly what the name implied.

They would be casting, moving around, sparring, and eventually putting everything they had learned into actual fights rather than sitting behind a desk discussing how a spell was supposed to work.

Ilya was rather curious about this class.

After all, the way he used magic had already started developing in a direction of its own.

Sixteen years of training with a sword didn’t just disappear because he had become a wizard, and whenever a fight started, those old habits tended to take over before he even thought about them.

His first instinct in a fight was rarely to create distance and start throwing spells from somewhere safe.

If anything, he had the opposite tendency. Ilya liked getting close. He was accustomed to reading an opponent from within striking distance, watching their shoulders and feet, forcing reactions, and attacking before they had enough time to properly respond.

Even after exchanging his sword for magic, that part of him hadn’t disappeared, and instead, he had simply started finding ways to fit spells into the way he already knew how to fight.

He had seen plenty of wizards fight before.

The most boring ones, in his opinion, were those who just stood at opposite ends of a battlefield and threw spells at each other until someone’s defenses finally gave out.

Of course, that wasn’t how every wizard fought.

Experienced combat wizards moved constantly, concealed their constructions, manipulated distance, interrupted enemy casting, and used the environment whenever possible.

There were entire schools of combat magecraft built around different ranges and methods of engagement, so Ilya certainly wasn’t arrogant enough to think he had somehow discovered the revolutionary concept of moving while casting.

"Alright, settle down."

The conversations around the room gradually quieted as Professor Hakon Vinter entered.

Since it was still the first week of the semester, there wasn’t much practical work planned for the day. Professor Hakon spent the first portion of the class introducing himself and going through the course requirements and the usual safety regulations that came with letting students throw magic at one another.

He also explained that this would be the only class they held inside a lecture hall. Starting from their next class on Thursday, Practical Casting II would be held entirely in Training Hall Seven, where most of their lessons, exercises, and examinations would take place.

Once all of that was out of the way, Professor Hakon finally moved on to what they would actually be doing throughout the semester.

"Now then."

He closed the folder in front of him.

"Let’s talk about casting."

Professor Hakon stepped away from the podium and looked across the lecture hall. His eyes moved between the students for a few seconds before settling on someone near the middle rows.

"You there. Henrik, was it?"

"...Henrik Larssen, sir."

"Larssen, then. Explain to me the process of casting a spell, from beginning to end."

Henrik seemed confused by how basic the question was at first, but nevertheless stood from his seat a moment later.

"First, the caster draws mana from their Circle and begins circulating it while constructing the spell according to its formula. Once the construction is complete and stable, the spell manifests, and the caster releases it."

"Correct, although rather simplified." Professor Hakon picked up a piece of chalk and turned toward the board. "Construction, manifestation, release. There are additional processes happening between each stage, but for the purposes of this discussion, those three are enough."

He wrote each word on the board.

"Now, how long does that take?"

Henrik hesitated. "That depends on the spell."

"And?"

"The caster’s proficiency, Circle, familiarity with the spell, the complexity of the formula..." Henrik thought for another second. "Whether an incantation is being used, their current mana control, and probably their physical condition as well."

"You forgot one factor, but I don’t blame you." Professor Hakon turned toward the board. "Most students your age tend to overlook it because you haven’t learned enough about your own magic to notice what it’s doing yet. Your inner realm."

Several students began writing.

"Before a spell manifests in reality, it first takes shape within the caster’s inner realm. Whether you’ve manifested a Domain or not doesn’t matter, because the inner realm already exists within every wizard long before a Domain ever becomes visible to the outside world."

Professor Hakon tapped the chalk against the board.

"Think of your Domain as something that develops alongside you. Every spell you learn, every affinity you develop, every experience that changes your understanding of magic, all of it gives your inner realm more information to work with. Eventually, once enough of that has accumulated and the wizard has developed far enough, traces of it begin appearing in their magic."

He paused before continuing.

"For students who began studying magic from childhood, the earliest signs commonly appear around eighteen, nineteen, or twenty, although there are plenty of exceptions in either direction. At first, they’re usually minor enough that the caster doesn’t even recognize them for what they are, perhaps a spell behaving slightly differently from the formula they learned, or an affinity becoming more pronounced than their technical ability alone should allow."

Ilya paid close attention.

"Over time, those changes become harder to ignore. Your magic begins taking on characteristics that belong specifically to you, and once your inner realm develops enough to impose those characteristics upon reality rather than merely influencing your spells..."

Professor Hakon drew a circle around the words Inner Realm.

"That is when we begin talking about a Domain."

The mention of Domains immediately caught everyone’s attention. For a wizard, manifesting one was often regarded as the final destination of everything they had spent years studying and practicing, the point where their magic stopped being merely something they had learned and became something that was their own.

Yet in another sense, a Domain was also considered the beginning of true magecraft.

No textbook could tell a wizard exactly what theirs would become, nor could a professor just teach them how it should function.

It was shaped by the wizard themselves, influenced by everything they had learned and experienced until their inner realm finally developed enough to manifest beyond the boundaries of their own mind.

"Which brings us back to Larssen’s answer."

Professor Hakon turned toward Henrik again.

"Two wizards can possess the same Circle, learn the same formula from the same instructor, and spend the same number of years practicing it, yet they still won’t necessarily cast that spell in exactly the same way. The more developed their inner realms become, the more noticeable that difference will be."

Henrik slowly nodded. "So the inner realm is affecting the spell before the Domain itself manifests, sir?"

"Exactly."

Professor Hakon smiled.

"And that is where casting starts becoming interesting. To expand on Larssen’s explanation, there is quite a bit happening between deciding to cast a spell and actually seeing it appear in front of you."

He turned back toward the board and began adding to what Henrik had already described.

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