123 Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three – Tyranny of Rep Counts II (1/2)

It took Hazé twenty days to solve the puzzle of Weirding the Silent Spell Meta. Able to use Valence II's to cast now, she could do eighty Casts a day with I+I's. Thirteen days after that, Still Spell was done. Eschew Components was inbuilt as a Sorcerer, she happily didn't have to pay for it.

In thirteen more days, she Weirded the base Shards spell by using Brutal, a +I, just in case. Weirded Shards, -1 to total cost of Metamagic applied to it. So with Brutal, it was +0. Brutal added +2 damage to each target of a spell, per Valence of the spell. Not a lot, but it all added up, and once Weirded, was 'free'.

Shards could now reduce the cost of adding a Meta by 1, fitting more of it within the structure of the Valence. Still and Silent Spell had been harmonized to her Valence I, and could now be cast for +0 when stacked onto any spells from that Valence, effectively freeing up her entire Valence I spell list.

Naturally, Weirded effects didn't contribute towards Rep Counts. So, no making Purified, a +1 effect, +0 with Weird Shards and getting in cheaper Rep Counts to Weird down its cost at the same time. Likewise, couldn't reduce Shards down to Cantrip level.

But with Still and Silent spell out of the way, Hazé could now use Valence I spells easily. That meant she had defense, offense, and utility spells, even if they were only apprentice level.

That was fine. She could do a LOT with basic level spells. She just had to be careful not to burn out her Wand...

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Energized Shards followed. This was a +II Meta that increased the damage of the spell by 50%. It gave her more damage punch, while staying within the limit of her Wand. It was still low, but enough to deal with a minor threat.

A thousand castings, twenty days, and it was time to do a Valence II Still and Silent, slow and careful and without her Wand. Two thousand Castings per Meta, forty per day to start. Fifty days for Still, forty days for Silent once it was done and the cost reduced. Three months to run through both of them, but when she was done, she could cast all of her Valence II spells without using higher Slots.

She moved right to Valence III's. She had to get this out of the way, get access to as many spells as possible in case something came up.

Four thousand reps, at only thirty per day, to get Still reduced, over four months. Another hundred days at forty per day, to get Silent.

She was almost a year old now, and could finally cast her III's from base Valence. It felt very liberating.

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Mama's house was also changing. Unlike her instructor and adopted daughter, she had no problems with the spellcasting now that she had a teacher, especially one who could link with her telepathically and show her what to do.

They discussed matters before taking the first step, which was about which Class she wanted to pick as Primary. As an Herbalist, and seeing the benefits of Star Wizardry, she went with pure Wizardess, which would affect all her training. Secondary Class wizards couldn't learn Star Wizardry... and for a Hedge Wizard, which she definitely was, and not the most gifted of students, a variety of spells to solve problems was much more important then being able to cast a lot of them.

Wizardry it was.

There were two major paths of Wizardry, which were Warcasters and Tome Wizards.

Hazé was a Warcaster, whose primary feature was doing more damage with spells through Warcaster's Edge, and learning how to cast them smoothly and efficiently in combat. Their limit on maximum spells known was ten per Valence, + Int bonus, with penalties for researching new spells.

Tome Wizards were the researchers and theorists of wizards, discovering and designing most of the spells, focusing on the principles and mysteries behind magic, getting into the nuts and bolts of how they worked. Their limit on Spells Known per Valence was their Intellect score, + any spells they researched themselves, which they did without penalty.

It could be said that Warcasters were the jocks of the Wizard world, and Tome Wizards were the geeks. One discovered and understood them, and the other used them better.

The non-violent mindset was definitely better for Mama, who had no desire to run off to a battlefield and get herself killed. She already had a fairly deep understanding of life and its cycles through her herblore and minor Alchemical studies, being a Tome Wizard just let her spread her wings across a greater area.

Her first Valence I was Enrune, the ability to put one's own personal Rune down on something, as a marker, indicator of ownership, something to be tracked, or even a tattoo or something, very similar to a magic signature.

The design was a runic form done in a dozen different leaves from floral stems, laid end-to-end, the pattern forming the signature, not the shape of the stems.

And then she placed it all over her house, and the objects within it. With Detect Magic, a Cantrip, she could then see all the Marks clearly, what they outlined, or use them as points of reference.

Suddenly, she could navigate her house seamlessly and without needing to be wary of bumping into something. Even if something was moved, as long as it had her Rune on it, she could see it and avoid it.

Soon enough, she was Enruning stones, posts, trees, fence lines, the collars and livery to her pony and goats, her small wagon, flowerpots, even her silverware and china, making them all visible to her and easy to find.