Chapter 9: Cast Time
Nessa knocked on the office door again.
Professor Avery had asked to meet her here one hour before dinner and she was five minutes early.
Nessa gave another series of knocks, silently wondering how the training session with Professor Avery would turn out. If she needed to eat like a maniac, surely it wasn't anything fun.
Moments later the door to the office opened. Professor Avery appeared with a stern look on her face.
"I asked you to meet me one hour before dinner," she said. "Not one hour five minutes before dinner."
Nessa just stared at the Professor. She didn't think she was doing anything wrong by being minutes early. She even felt it was a good thing, but clearly Professor Avery had a different idea.
A voice sounded from the office. "Avery is that Nessa?"
"Yes Hund." Professor Avery answered. "We have things to discuss, if you could excuse us."
Nessa peered into the office and saw Professor Hund rising from a seat. He had a confused look on his face but he didn't say a word. Moments later he walked past Nessa and headed down the corridor without doing as much as turn around.
Nessa arched a brow at Professor Avery.
"Forget about it," Professor Avery said. "Come in."
Nessa walked into the office.
"Sit," Professor Avery pointed at the chair Professor Hund had been sitting on.
Nessa hesitated for a moment before sitting. Professor Avery walked to the other side of the desk and sat on chair.
Moments passed before anyone spoke.
"Hund told me, you can already use magic."
Nessa nodded, unsure whether that was a statement or a question.
"That's good," the Professor sounded. "It means you are going to progress faster than I thought." Then the Professor sighed before getting up. "But it's still not fast enough. Get up."
Nessa stood immediately.
"Show me your magic" Professor Avery demanded.
Nessa breathed then started the process from the top, trying to access her Ki.
"Stop," the professor said, cutting her short. "You can't keep doing that."
"Doing what?" Nessa was forced to ask.
"Accessing your Ki takes way too much time..."
"I use ten seconds," Nessa interrupted.
"Which is at least nine seconds more time than a strong opponent needs to murder you."
Nessa's voiced crawled back down her throat.
'Damn, she's right.' Nessa thought. 'I thought I was doing well, but how much use will magic be in a fight if I need 10 seconds just to access Ki?'
Professor Avery's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Magic would be completely useless in battle unless you are able to completely cast magic in two seconds."
Nessa almost choked on air. Two seconds? That had to be impossible. Or at least she thought it was until Professor Avery demonstrated. In less than a second a fire ball appeared on her hand while an orb of light appeared in the other.
"You are using two elements." Nessa yelped
"Just two?" Professor Avery asked with a glint in her eyes.
Nessa was confused. For all she knew, light was one element and Fire another. How could she be using more than two? After a few moments, Nessa saw it.
"Air," she said.
The Professor smiled. "You noticed."
It would have been difficult if Nessa wasn't deliberately searching for something. Although air magic was invisible, its effects weren't. Nessa could see the professor's properly coiffed hair been tousled like a small breeze was blowing it.
"Now," The professor said. "This is tri-casting. Although it is possible, it is difficult for just any mage to achieve. It requires extreme concentration."
"What's the highest possible number of simultaneous casts?" Nessa asked.
"Seven," The professor answered.
"But there are six elements."
"I'm very much aware," the professor said in a tone that meant she wasn't ready to discuss the issue. Nessa changed the subject albeit slightly.
"So how many elements can you simultaneously cast?"
Professor Avery seemed like she was about to brag but then she said. "That's not important. What's important is, you reduce your basic magic cast time to two seconds. Until you can do that," the Professor paused briefly. "I wouldn't teach you anything."
Nessa was tempted to just stand up and leave. After all, Professor Avery had been the one who asked to train her, not the other way round.
But then she understood that the Professor was right. If she couldn't even cast basic magic in two seconds, of what use would she be. Besides, from what she had seen so far, the two Professors had used far less time than that. She clearly needed to learn more.
Nessa breathed deeply. "How do I do it?" she asked the Professor.
"I'm afraid there are no shortcuts. You have to keep practicing until you are able to do it."
At this Nessa bowed her head in frustration.
"How long would it take?"
"A few weeks." The Professor shrugged. "One at least. But you begin learning now."
Nessa watched as Professor Avery walked to the door with her hands behind her back. Moments later she opened the door and just before leaving she said "I'd be back in a few hours. By the way, take a meditative posture, it helps."
The Professor closed the door behind her without another word. Nessa stared at the door for some seconds before sitting on the floor and crossing her legs like she was some priest in a Buddhist temple.
Then she thought about what she needed to do. In a nut shell, Nessa needed to access her Ki, successfully retain it and then expel it in at most two seconds. She sighed as she begun the process.
This time, it took her thirty seconds to retain her Ki and thirty extra seconds to successful expel it as darkness. Nessa sat crossed leg for more than three hours, looking for ways to access her Ki faster and retain it twice as fast. She also studied the exact pattern the Ki flowed in her body. But by the time Professor Avery returned, Nessa's cast time was still approximately twenty-five seconds.
"Have you been in that position since I left?" Professor Avery asked looking genuinely surprised. "If you tell me yes, I'd tell you a trick to reducing your cast time."
Nessa smiled. "Yes,"
Then Professor Avery laughed as she walked to the table and dropped a plastic bag. "I promised without even a way to ensure you tell me the truth. It doesn't matter, I'd still tell you."
Nessa nodded and waited for the Professor to speak. The professor raked her brain for a way to help Nessa without really helping her. Moments later Professor Avery asked. "Is it easier to access and successfully retain Ki, when it's smaller or larger?"
"Smaller,"
"So how much Ki do you think you would need to cast a dark energy ball?"
"About 2% of my entire Ki reserve." Nessa answered, unsure where the Professor was going with this.
Professor Avery continued. "So how much of your Ki do you access at a go?"
"About 25%," Nessa answered finally understanding what Professor Avery was trying to say.
"Exactly," the Professor said. "I don't blame you for not realizing it sooner. Try one more time and when you're done you can eat."
Nessa's stomach rumbled. She had been so immersed in reducing her cast time that she had forgotten about food. Now she understood why Professor Avery had advised that she ate as much as she could.
That little old...
Nessa tried again, this time accessing 2% of her Ki. She retained it in about one second due to the small amount of Ki she needed to retain, and then four seconds later a dark energy ball appeared on her hand.
Professor Avery clapped. "Excellent, you're officially talented enough my student."
"But," Nessa spluttered. "I used five seconds."
"And just three hours ago, you used about a minute to cast the same technique. It is impossible for you to learn how to cast in two seconds, at least right now. For that you need loads of experience and a higher cursor level."
Nessa's face brightened. So the higher her cursor level gets, the less time she needs for casting.
"Normally the average cast time for a person with an orange cursor is thirty seconds." Principal Avery said. "And for someone with a red cursor is one minute. At least now I know you have talent and I wouldn't be wasting my time teaching you."
Nessa suddenly had a question. "How come I have an orange cursor?"
Professor Avery squinted her eyes like a bright light had suddenly appeared in the office.
"To be honest, I'm not sure." she said. "I have some theories but they are not solid enough to be considered anything."
"So you're not going to tell me then?" Nessa asked.
"Not unless you want to miss dinner." Professor Avery said holding up the plastic bag in her hand.
A glint in Nessa's eyes. She tried to stand up but her legs were sore from sitting in one very uncomfortable position for far too long.
"Calm down," The Professor said before handing the bag to Nessa. "Take your time."
Nessa unfurled her legs and searched the plastic bags immediately. She had never been this hungry.
Nessa brought out a plate filled with rice and beans as well as more plates with sugar filled pastries. Sadly there were vegetables but Nessa wasn't too bothered.
She stuffed her mouth and literally bit more than she could chew. Minutes later, when most of the hunger had passed, Nessa asked.
"Using Ki causes hunger?"
'Wow,' Professor Avery thought. 'Now I see why Hund noticed you.'
"Good observation. In fact as a mage in this world you need to eat a lot more than someone who doesn't practice magic."
Nessa nodded slowly digesting what she had just heard along with the turkey she had just swallowed.
"So since you have agreed to train me," Nessa said moments later, "when is our first real session?"
"You'll hear from me when it's time," Professor Avery answered. "In the meantime, go to your room, rest and practice using your magic."
Later that night, Nessa lay in her bed after taking a bath. She had used up 50% of her Ki 'practicing' that night. Now she was exhausted and despite the feast she had had at Professor Avery's office earlier she felt slightly hungry.
Moments later, Nessa fell into a dream-filled sleep, oblivious of how much more her life was going to change.
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