Though we got a quick lunch, I had to leave sooner than I would have liked in order to make it to class in time, and even had to lean on my bloodline in order to make it there in time. Professor Gemheart was standing at the door to test students, and he let out a chuckle as I blasted down the hallway and skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Well, that's not a sight you see every day," he said. "Alright, go ahead and demonstrate."

I nodded, stopping to catch my breath for a moment before I started to cast. Levitation came first, as it was the simplest, followed by sharpen senses, before I finished with sphere of darkness. The last one was the hardest to practice, due to the facts that its array was the most complex, I was still getting used to spells that interacted with light, and that it was the hardest to actually practice, given it created large spheres of darkness. When I finished, professor Gemheart's face broke into a smile.

"Ah, well done. I admit, with your performance on the ether shaping, I was a touch worried you had over-booked your schedule and wouldn't be able to give my class the attention it needs. Are things doing alright?"

"Well enough. I'd love to find a way to cram more hours in the day, but I think I can manage."

"Don't we all," professor Gemheart chuckled. "Well, go on in. There's a quiz on your knowledge of and ability to perform the mathematics of light on the desks."

I thanked him and entered, working my way through the quiz on my desk. It wasn't easy, but nor was it as grueling as it could be, especially since he'd given us a list of reference values and formulas. In his own words, 'in real life research of magic, if you don't know the exact formula for double refraction in an anisotropic crystal, you look it up. What is important is that you know how to perform and apply said formula, not that you have the information memorized'. I wasn't sure I agreed entirely, since I felt there was a time and place for memorized knowledge, but it was certainly not a viewpoint I was confident enough in to fully argue with him on.

When the quiz was finally finished, professor Gemheart collected them, gave us a five minute break, then began class. He drew multiple spellforms out on the board, then wrote the name of the relevant informational text on the board underneath the spell, before turning back to us and lighting up his pipe. As the smoke started to curl up around him, he spoke.

"I'll get your quizzes back to you by the next time we meet. For right now, we're going to spend the rest of the semester working on third circle magic. Third circle is one of the largest leaps in terms of magical power and capability, and is often seen as the mark that distinguishes a hobbyist from a real caster – which is why it's the minimum needed to enter our current three year advanced degree program. This sentiment holds even more true in transmutation than it does in most fields however. Last year, we went over some simple but useful spells to lay the groundwork. This year? We're going to start with learning how to control time."

That caused a ripple of excitement and anticipation to go through the class, and the professor seemed to bask in it for a moment before eventually holding up a hand to get us to quiet down.

"The spell you see before you is the haste spell. Many wizards learn this spell due to its sheer utility, but few wizards actually break down the arrays and learn to understand the magic. That is a shame, though it is probably for the best, as time magic spells are fiendishly complicated bits of magic. For those of you interested in the field, I recommend you seek out a spell guide for slow and bring it to my office hours. I'll help you break down its interactions with time."

One of the students put up a hand, and professor Gemheart nodded for her to speak.

"Is time travel possible, then? Maybe using ninth circle magic or something like it?"

"A good question, and one with a complicated answer that is a bit more than yes or no. I myself am a time traveller. I am capable of casting myself or another forward several seconds in time, and of sealing myself outside of time with a specific trigger to return to the normal flow. But neither of these quite match the ideal of 'time traveller', do they? No, going forward is all well and good…"

"But can you go back?" the woman asked, picking up on his leading tone.

"Indeed, that is the question. No. I can't, nor can anyone I am aware of. I've even met a few people with a time affinity, rare though they may be. Each of them could speed up, slow down, or freeze time in an area. One of them could even travel forward in time at a whim, casting himself months or years forward into the future. None could rewind even a second. There are a lot of theories as to why – perhaps it is a rule that even Magyk herself must follow, perhaps it is a rule she actively chooses to enforce, perhaps it is possible, and we just have never noticed… But the truth is, it seems to be impossible, and nobody is quite certain as to why."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He turned and tapped the board, indicating the haste spell again.

"As far as Haste is concerned, it's a fairly simple time manipulation spell. Your personal time flow is doubled, effectively letting you move, think, spellcast, and more at twice the speed. When the spell ends, you are hit with a staggering backlash, as you are slowed thirty-two times over until your total time has evened out."

"Why is that? Couldn't we just remain at the same speed after?" someone asked.

"Well, many who have the ability to modify the spell do that. I personally suspect the spell was built that way to avoid addiction and burning your life out. It's very tempting to spend as much time as possible hasted, letting you work twice as fast. The spell has a hefty up-front cost, but is fairly cheap to maintain, so why not just spend a bit more time hasted? More than one archmage has modified the spell, and wound up dying after twenty or thirty years, old while the rest of their friends are in the middle of their lives."

"Can you tell us more about modifying spells?" I asked, raising my hand.

"Not here and now. Once you're in your third year, ask professor Silverbark. He's likely the best versed in the entire school on the topic. I've only done it a few times. Now, onto our next spell."

He gestured to the second, and I took a moment to examine it. The spellform was constructed entirely unlike anything that I had ever seen before, and I really didn't know what to make of it.

"The unburning flame spellform," professor Gemheart said. "If you've been reading your required reading, you should know that generally speaking, combustion reactions are practically irreversible. This spell doesn't undo all combustion reactions, let alone all forms of reactions, but it can undo a few. It can unburn paper, vellum, and most other writing substances, which makes it sought after in detective work. On top of that, it can unburn wood or coal."

"There has to be a catch to that, or we would be using it everywhere," the treefolk next to me pointed out.

"Other than it being a highly complicated third circle spell, you mean? Well, yes. There is. The spell takes an inordinate amount of ether. Even something as simple as restoring a single sheet of writing paper takes far more ether than it would take to throw a fireball, or even cast a fourth circle fire pillar. Worse, the cost scales up the more mass you need to restore. It's generally much cheaper to fuel a magical fire than to unburn wood for a mundane one. Still, it's an excellent example of magic bending the rules, and what those spellforms look like."

He tapped the third spell on the board, and I leaned in. There were components of this spell clearly related to life force, and portions related to animation. It reminded me a little bit of the animate plants spell that I had learned the previous year, but it was also fundamentally different. It didn't just boost life force, it… something? On top of that, it had an entire swathe that I just didn't understand.

"Animate clothes," the professor said. "This spell is borderline golem creation, as well as having portions in common with necromancy and enchantment. You take a set of clothes and infuse a current of artificial life force through them, as well as imparting specific skills and knowledge from your own mind. That gives the clothes life, and allows them to perform tasks for you."

I couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle, and professor Gemheart chuckled, nodding along.

"Indeed, it is a formidable spell. The animated clothing obeys your mental commands, has roughly the same strength as an unempowered human, and the animation lasts for twenty-four hours. The permanency spell can be cast on it to create permanent magical clothing for you. They make for excellent workers to do things like make tea and do laundry, and if you have knowledge of fighting, they can even fight in a pinch. Though, they are made of clothing, and too much damage to the clothes that make them up will disrupt the flow of the artificial life force and render them inanimate. Still, a useful spell for any wizard who wants to go into the creation of golems, or other animation magic. Now, onto our last, but not least…"

I studied the final spell. This one also looked to be some sort of life force related spell, and it had transformation portions that looked similar to the animal morph spell I had learned. Even the portions that referenced the life force patterns within a sample substance were the same. Where it was different was the direction of the effect. It didn't enter the caster, but instead into… something else? Seren burbled and said he thought that this was another imbued spell, a notion that was proven right when professor Gemheart started to talk.

"This is an imbued spell that can be cast onto a staff – that does include your magical staff, though an ordinary wooden walking staff can also work, and is often sold as a magical item. The spell is staff to snake, and it uses a sample of serpent skin and the patterns of life within to temporarily animate the staff into a copy of said serpent."

He held up a finger, and a delighted, mad researcher glint entered his eye.

"Interestingly, this does include serpents that possess a bloodline! They take much more ether to cast the spell normally, or additional ether crystal dust if the spell is imbued into a staff. But it can be done."

I perked up at that, even as another student asked what happened if the snake was killed or cut in half or something of the sort.

"In that case, the halves fly back to the person who activated the imbuement, and it returns to being a normal, undamaged wooden staff. Now, the spell in the imbuement can only be activated once every day, perhaps less in areas of low ambient ether, but it is still a useful trump card to pull out. Casting the spell ordinarily is also more useful than some give credit to – few people are ready for an anaconda flying swiftly at their face."

That got a few snickers, and the professor just rolled his eyes, then started outlining the sections of each book that we would need.

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