As I slipped into professor Caeruleum's classroom the following morning, I was still somewhat recovering from the effects of the all-nighter, and resolved that in the future, I'd only have them on Saturdays. It was a promise that, unfortunately, I suspected that I wouldn't be able to keep. But I made it anyway, alongside a promise to go delving in the library, looking for something to help me sleep better. Or faster. Preferably faster. The amount of extra work I would be able to do if I never needed to sleep…

I tuned out the thought as I took my seat, and looked up to see professor Caeruleum writing out three spells on the board, all of which were second circle spells. The first one was remarkably cramped, to the point that I suspected that it might actually be either a ritual spell that had been reduced in scale to fit neatly on the board.

Seren, sitting on my shoulder, hissed like water touching a hot fire and spoke in flametongue.

"Maybe… imbued? Like flying broom."

I whipped my head around and looked at him where he sat on my shoulder. None of the beings that were supposed to be summoned through conjure lesser elemental were sapient, they were too weak – most elementals didn't gain sapience for quite a while. Like professor Toadweather had said, one of the nice things about establishing positive relationships later was cheating and using lower circle spells to summon beings that really shouldn't be able to be called with the spell.

I'd noticed that Seren seemed to be getting more intelligent as I'd carried him around, far more than Orla was, and hadn't honestly thought much of it. But… infusing the spell with dragonfire had seen a considerable boost to his power.

Still, being able to go from the impressions of thoughts to outright speech...

"You may be right," I agreed. "How long have you been able to speak?"

"Little bit. Thinking… difficult."

"Don't strain yourself, buddy," I told him, reaching up and gently scratching his flaming head. "It's okay. I'm proud of you. And you're right – it might be an imbued spell."

Seren let out a hiss again, this one more like green wood being placed on the fire. We didn't have much longer to converse, however, as professor Caeruleum began the class.

"Welcome back everyone! Has everyone managed success with their first couple of days of the buckler ritual?"

There was a general sound of assent from the class, though I wondered if anyone was lying to just not lose face in front of the rest of the class. Caeruleum must have had a similar idea, as they nodded along before speaking again.

"Excellent! Well, if any of you do have any trouble, you're welcome to visit me in my office hours, or even schedule a one on one meeting with me. For right now, we're going to be focusing on a handful of useful spells. All second circle, but–"

"Why?" a tall, partially giant student asked, cutting the professor off mid-sentance. "We learned fourth circle spells last semester. Why are we going back to second? Third, maybe, but second?"

"Oh, shield's worthless? After all, you're a high and mighty fourth circle caster, three circles above the simple shield spell. You've also abandoned clean, arcane missile, and hidden conversation? And of course all your second circle spells too – arcane seal is worthless, as is energy barrier, and–"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Geez. There's no need for you to be so rude about it."

I refrained from pointing out that he had been the one who had interrupted the professor first, but only barely. Professor Caeruleum smiled and tapped the first spell on the board.

"This is a great example of utility. It's a spell called ward tome. As some of you have guessed, it's an imbued spell, much like flyte. When cast normally, the spell lasts for roughly twenty-four hours, sometimes a bit longer with skill and extra power. But, if you cast the spell over a course of seven hours, using roughly ten silver of ether crystal, three ibis feathers, a two ounce bundle of spider silk, and a one ounce marble of polished white jade, the spell permanently binds to the book, infusing it with protection."

They waved their hand and their grimoire – at least, what I assumed was their grimoire, given that it was bound in a soft blue leather with constellation patterns – appeared. The professor snapped, their fingers bursting into flame, which they held to the paper pages of the book.

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"The spell provides the book a reasonable amount of resistance to being burnt, ripped, stained, waterlogged, and almost any other form of damage. Now, don't get me wrong, it doesn't turn your book into a combat spell, it won't take the direct breath weapon of a phoenix and emerge unscathed. But it will stop most incidental or day to day damage. The wonderful thing about this spell is that, while it works on your grimoire, it can be cast on any book."

They suddenly looked a touch embarrassed, and gave an awkward smile.

"For those of you who were in the smaller course last year, and who already learned it, I'll come around in a bit to help teach suppress enchantments. The larger first year class wound up learning it instead of ward tome, due to suppress enchantments being able to counter mental combat effects like dragonfear."

They didn't look at me as they said that, but I still felt my cheeks grow hot. It was both embarrassing and touching that the first year course had been altered for me, made worse by the fact that thanks to the rite of centered mind, I hadn't used the spell in my fight against Gerhard. I took some solace in the fact that if I hadn't had my ritual mental defense, I would likely have used the spell to suppress the effects of dragonfear, saving me a bit of fire.

"Our next spell is an excellent utility spell – windshield. The spell creates a sort of zippering motion in the air around you. It's not powerful enough to protect from most offensive abilities, but it can keep off gusts of wind, sands, as well as even severe rains. It's not a ritual spell or imbued, but it can be placed on a location or object with the permanency spell to make the spell permanent. That means you can protect an open roofed carriage, stop rain from leaking through windows, and a dozen other useful things. But more importantly, the spell combines marvellously with flyte to reduce air resistance, allowing for far faster speeds than could be managed even with two flyte spells cast on you at once."

I felt my eyebrows raise at that, as this was the second time this week that I'd heard of something like this, and I resolved to test the effectiveness of combining levitation, windshield, and my broomstick for the purposes of flying. Eliminating the pull of gravity and sharply reducing air resistance should likely work well together, as opposed to interfering in the way that using multiple gravitational based spells might.

"Our final spell for the class is known as shield from arrows."

The professor held their hand up, and a soft bubble of blue light enveloped them, somewhat similar to an energy barrier.

"This spell's structure is actually rather interesting, as it decelerates incoming physical matter. Now, it's not a guaranteed complete immunity, but it should serve well to slow or stop many ranged attacks – arrows, spears, slung stones, and more. When combined with greater arcane armor, it should allow a powerful mage to walk through a hail of arrows without fear."

They turned and gestured to the three spells, letting the shield of light around them fade away into nothtingness.

"Now, you may have noticed that the second two spells are relatively simple. Indeed, the structure of shield from arrows is remarkably similar to energy barrier. Windshield is incredibly similar to the umbrella cantrip, and its changes to the air should look somewhat familiar to anyone who has taken classes in force, air, or transmutation magic. That's because, much like the first year course, you're only going to have a week to reach a basic competency with casting these spells. The bulk of the semester is going to be devoted to third circle spells. Next semester, in the second half of the course, you'll be focused heavily on fourth circle casting."

"Are we going to need to learn any fifth circle spells to pass, in the same way that we had to learn a fourth circle spell to pass last year's class?" one of the other students asked, and the professor smiled at them.

"An astute question! The answer is no… and yes. There will be a fifth circle spell included in the final practicum, and failing to cast it will count against you. But it's not a mandatory requirement to pass the course and enter the third year, so long as you manage to do well enough on the written exam, and demonstrate skill with the second through fourth circle spells."

They held up one finger to forestall any further questions.

"Before any of you have the idea to, say, skip practice on the fifth circle spell as it isn't needed, I would like to remind you that demonstration of the ability to cast at least three different fifth circle spells is required in order to graduate, and that a variety of fifth circle spells will be focused on during the third year course. Not only that, but if you don't do well on your written, then automatically losing the points on the practicum is downright foolish."

They fished their amulet out of their neckline and spun it lazily. Magic surged out of them, filling the room, and I could feel the press of their abjuration affinity smoothing along the casting and learning of spells within its purview.

A moment later, bags full of components appeared on the long table next to them, including the ether crystal – I was a touch surprised that professor Caeruleum had used the discretionary fund to fully pay for ward tome for everyone, but it was fairly cheap. Roughly ten silver in ether crystal, feathers, spider silk, and a jade marble couldn't be that expensive.

"Now, let's scatter about and get to practicing! I'll go around and meet with those of you who already know ward tome…"

The class left our seats, shuffled down to collect the materials, and made our way to our mats. I put aside ward tome for now – while learning it would be nice, I intended to test how dragonfire would improve the spell, and that would be better tested in private. Instead, I reached out for the affinity power as I began to work on learning windshield, flipping over to learn shield from arrows whenever my focus slipped. Professor Caeruleum swung by a few times to check on my progress, and by the time class was over, I'd mastered the shield from arrow spells. They'd been right – it was very similar to energy barrier.

With the course done, I ate some lunch, feeding some of the bacon sandwich to Seren, then headed out to the pixie castle.

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