Chapter 53 - Mana Economy

"What is this?" Al said while holding the wand in his hand and inspecting it. "It's kind of... cute," he commented with a chuckle.

Guy smiled wryly and responded, "It's a wand. I made it to assist Markus during spell casting."

Al nodded and added, "Yeah, I was expecting this when you set out."

He then reached into his pocket and touched his storage plate and channelled his mana into it, "Here, take a look!"

A staff with a massive gem at its tip materialised in his free hand. It had a weaving design that sort of resembled a stereotypical magical staff from the fantasy movies back on Earth.

"This staff is enchanted to be able to cast a large |Fireball|."

The corner of Guy's mouth twitched as he held the staff in his hand in defeat.

"So you're saying that you had the answer to my problems all along? Why didn't you tell me from the beginning?" Guy asked in exasperation. "Do you know how long I spent just to end up with this?"

Al smiled an innocent smile and replied apologetically, "I'm sorry. It's been a really long time since I've had to guide others. I only recollected the application of magical staves after you left my office. I was going to inform you the next time we met, however you never came back after that day..."

Guy closed his hands into a fist and exhaled loudly through his nose to calm himself, "It's fine... What matters is that I did it..."

"But why is your... staff... so small? Won't it shatter under the stress of casting such large spells?"

Guy quickly corrected Al, "First off, it's a wand. And two, it's not the size, but how you use it that matters."

Guy coughed to cover up his inadvertent double entendre and continued, "I don't plan on using it to support the weight of an entire spell. It will only be used as a supplement to reinforce ranged spellcasting."

Al hummed in appreciation. "Let's test it out!" He then declared.

Without waiting for Guy's response, Al activated a |Teleportation| spell and displaced Guy to his own testing ground.

Guy found himself in a familiar room; it was the same place where Al demonstrated the difference between the two types of enchanted swords. Just like last time, there were two intact training dummies prepared to bear the onslaught of Al's spells.

Al grasped the wand by its grip and pointed its tip towards one of the dummies.

"So, how does it work?" He asked in anticipation.

"You need to manifest the spell circle for the spell and impose it onto the gem on the wand. Then, you channel your mana through the spell circle like normal AND activate the gem at the same time."

"Got it!" Al affirmed and immediately began to form the design for a modular |Fireball| spell. Al had familiarised himself with Guy's modular spellmaking techniques and had become proficient in forming a myriad of simple spells.

He had also figured out a way to only rely on his mana to fuel a fire. While it was inefficient and required a large amount, Al found that the consumption was still lower than a regular |Fireball| spell.

Within a span of half a second, the spell circle materialised in a plane normal to the vector the wand was pointing towards, and a spinning fireball took shape.

Al flicked his wrist through intuition and the fireball propelled itself at a high speed and collided with one of the training dummies. The impacted dummy exploded magnificently, leaving only a wooden stump in its place.

"My word!" Al exclaimed. "It barely used any mana!"

Without taking a pause, Al started to repeat the process at a much higher frequency. A continuous stream of fireballs began to shoot out from the tip of the wand - it was as if a machine gun was firing balls of hot, burning gas instead of bullets.

And without a target, the fireballs collided against the farthest wall in the training area, leaving a scorched mark and a growing crack after each impact.

Guy slowly distanced himself from Al, who was wearing a manic smile and bellowed with a crazed expression.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Al cackled as the fireballs boomed in the room unceasingly.

After the impact from the 300th fireball, by Guy's rough estimate, Al stopped and took inventory of his mana levels.

"This is amazing, Guy! I used little to no mana. And the mana gem replenishes faster than it is being depleted to propel the fireball!" Al said while raining his praise on Guy.

"What's the wand's condition?" Guy asked in concern. Al quickly ran an |Inspect| cantrip on the wand in his grasp and conducted a thorough search for any physical or magical problems.

"No effects as far as I can see," he assuaged, and then shifted the topic, "Honestly, I'm impressed by your inscription technique. I have never seen anything like this before, but somehow it feels familiar."

"It's something I came up with. I took inspiration from 'Journal of Maine Baxter - Incomplete Tests and Theories' in their entry on the variable enchantment."

Al snapped his finger in recollection and chimed in, "That's right! I was also planning to recommend that book to you after explaining about magical staves." And then in a low voice, he muttered, "Damn! If only you had visited me once again after our meeting, I could have saved you so much time..."

"Anyways, I just can't get over how well your enchantment works in conjunction with the modular spellmaking method. By offloading the contribution for the ranged component of the spells to the mana gem, the stress on the caster is lowered significantly. The best part is that it appears as if the mana contributed by the gem is at the breakeven point and matches the rate of repletion."

Al paused for dramatic effect and evoked with gusto, "You've developed a way to cast spells for free!"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration! |Fireball| is a pretty basic Tier-1 ranged spell. I don't think the mana required to sustain a fireball would be excessive," Guy retorted. Deep down, he was also quite excited. When he tested the wand earlier, he took note of this peculiarity as well, however, he wanted to get confirmation from someone more experienced first.

"Let's not split hairs about the specificity of the claims! Markus can effectively cut down on mana consumption by using physical fuel as a source. If he relies on mana just as a catalyst to facilitate the combustion reaction, he can cast as many fireballs as he wants as long as he doesn't run out of fuel. And then, he will still have enough mana to cast 100 other spells! Do you understand just how absurd that sounds? If someone told me that a Middle or Late-stage Mana Condensation mage could cast 300 spells consecutively, I would cut open their skulls and check to see if their brain was intact!"

And then, with a serious expression, Al asked, "Are you sure you want to hand this to Markus?"

Right as he finished, Al summoned the |Teleportation| spell circles and whisked himself and Guy back to his office.

Guy wasn't distracted by the sudden shift in scenery, he was preoccupied with the intricacies of Al's seemingly simple question.

'Right! Should I give this to Markus?'

Guy was reminded of his earlier conversation with Al in this very office. After months of diligent research and effort, he had created an item - a tool - that was a boon to someone like Markus, who was magically challenged. However, it was only after testing the tool that he realised its propensity as a weapon. And a devastating one at that!

Sure, the wand only presented its advantages at the lower Tiers of magic. It wouldn't offer similar ease when casting higher-tiered spells such as |Earth-Shatter|, |Flamestrike|, and so on. But he couldn't discount the dangers of a rogue and unfettered |Fireball|. While mages would still be able to contend against it, it wasn't the case for regular mortals.

Ultimately, this was a question of ethics. However, Guy recognised that he couldn't apply the same standards of ethics from back on Earth when analysing the situation. So in the end, he relied on his gut.

"Yes," Guy declared confidently.

Al raised his eyebrows, "How are you so sure?"

Guy shook his head, "I'm confident with myself,"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Al retorted in confusion

Almost on queue, a series of knocks interrupted their conversation, "Teacher Jeeves, Master Larks? It's me, Markus."

A familiar voice resounded from the other side of the door. Al waved his hands and the door swung open slowly.

Markus walked in with a bright smile and bowed respectfully at the two occupants.

"It's my responsibility to properly train my students and teach them to respect and value their powers. If they cannot do something so simple, they shouldn't be allowed to train as a mage. I am confident that I've taught Markus well," Guy said to Al in a voice only the two of them could hear and picked up the wand placed on the table.

"Let's go, Markus! I have a gift for you," Guy exclaimed cheerfully while guiding Markus by the shoulder.

Al was left alone in the room. The man sighed out loud and chuckled with a trace of bitterness mixed in.. His eyes glazed over as he reminisced about his past with his first student, Ziva Lune.