For the first two full days that they were at their new residence, Cain did nothing but study Spell Crafting. Though he had managed to learn a few spells in advance, he was really only a sixth of the way through the book. Unless he could master the principles to the very end, he didn't think that he could manage to fix or destroy the Vortexes.
So, he set his mind to study as he had never in two lifetimes done before. The first section of essential skills that he had made it through so far was more like a tutorial, an introduction to Spell Crafting where the student was walked through step by step. Even the bit where he had to fill in missing sections of spells was still very clearly laid out for him. Cain had hoped that the entire book would be that way, step-by-step learning that he could follow with relative ease. Unfortunately, there was a very large step in the middle, and he wasn't quite sure how to overcome it.