“Valence I spells can only improve their damage so far, referred to as a damage cap. As you enter higher Valences, that damage cap rises higher. However, you can learn how to artificially expand the damage cap of a spell, a technique called Delimited Spell, which raises the damage cap by five increments.”

Deep blue, violet, black, white, and grey Shards swirled into existence around my arm.

“You can specialize in Shard attacks and learn to eke another one or two out of the magic.” An iridescent and a quicksilver Shard joined the other ten around my arm. “And you can lose the auto-hit effect to empower yet one more, or take extra time gathering Mana to yield up yet another one.” A mottled black on white and a mottled white on black Shard joined the rotation, a swirling line of fourteen Shards around my wrist.

They all stared at the fourteen missiles there, impossible to miss, very flashy... and only glimpsed when I’d really been unloading on something.

“There are quite a few other effects you can then layer on Shards without changing their Valence.” Magic swirled past them, and multiple hues of fire, lightning, cold, and even bubbling acid swirled around the Shards, which abruptly grew to nearly a foot long, seething with internal energy and all sorts of danger now emanating from them at the intensity of the magic on them.

“This is not the same as advancing the Tier of your Stars,” I told them, lifting up my arm with the roiling, seething mass of energy-laden Force missiles ready to discharge. I flicked my hand, and the Shards vanished instantly, dispersed back into the Manafield, and all the men jumped despite themselves at how abruptly it was all gone, especially since they didn’t feel any wave of returned Mana. “This is based purely on knowledge, and on skill. It does not require any physical investment, magical resources, or expensive reagents.

“It requires time, practice, Intellectual ability, and knowing what you are trying to do and how to do it, henceforth to be shortened as the Tyranny of Rep Counts.

“Let me give you a more direct analogy you can probably feel more accurately.” I brought up the very basic Fire Magery spell again, and they all leaned forwards to look at it.

Their jaws dropped as I wove Elemental energies of other types around it and through it, and the spell seethed and grew without any internal Mana being added to it. But the time I was done, the simple ball of fire was wound about with nine colors of flame, sparkling with Heavenly vigor and Elemental fury.

“I can toss this little basic ball of fire a couple thousand feet. It will hit harder than a Tier-3 version. The ‘tightness’ you feel around it is its Spell Penetration, which has been enhanced to be at roughly +19 versus opponents, on top of my Caster Level. This jumps the basic effectiveness of the spell up to Adept, making it easier to harm things.

“Now, I’m going to add the effect of Tiering.”

They were on the edge of their seats as the spell grew, and grew, and grew. Two, Three, Four, Five, Six... and then Seven Tiers of enhanced Stars went by.

I was holding an inferno in my hand, as potent as any Adept Fire spell, and yet they could clearly see it was still the Novice spell.

“I’m not sure how far I can toss this spell, but it’s probably close to a mile. The blast should be at least forty feet across, and it will stick to and burn anything it touches if they cannot extinguish it.”

I blinked at the spell, and the Wizardry around it poofed out of existence. It devolved back to its core of a still-seething Tier-7 Novice Fire spell, but was clearly far, far less than it had been.

I stepped the spell back down from Seven Tiers to One, and they all shook their heads slightly at my precise control as I did so, stripping everything away so they could see the changes going down as well as going up.

“As you could see, many of the additional changes still aren’t as powerful as what the Tier-3 Adept magic can accomplish... and you’ve all seen true Mages tossing spells, and how powerful those are.” I waited until they all nodded. “Thus, Wizardry is about broader, lower power spells, and making the most out of them. If you really, Really, REALLY work at it, it can rival a higher Class of spells.

“Or, you know, you can just Cast the higher Class of spells.”

They chuckled despite themselves. That was exactly what most people attempted to do, of course, grabbing the more powerful spells for more power. It was bloody hard to improve the lower-Class stuff, so why do so? If you were powerful enough, like an Archmage, you could toss off this kind of stuff with a wave of your hand if you were so inclined. There was no reason to take such huge steps.

But to lower-order Casters, this was a total godsend!

Red flicked up his basic Fire spell, and compared it to the spell blazing in my hand. He slowly advanced it to Tier-3, and it was plain mine still had more energy.

“Yours is 4d6 of damage, and mine is 5d6 via Caster Level,” I told him, seeing what he was doing. I flicked mine up to Tier-2, and the amount of energy promptly doubled as the tightly-held fire swelled to the size of my head. “10d6.” I moved it up to Tier-3, and it roiled and chased itself around, grown to twice the size of my head. “The extra energy went into area. It can splash onto and around the original target, hitting multiple targets or setting a larger area on fire, and will burn longer and more fiercely than yours.

“The range on it is also a hundred and fifty yards, improving with Caster Level. It’s less thrown than impelled by willpower.” I bounced it into the air with a flick of my fingers, making them all tense as it came back down and I caught it in my palm without it blowing up.

They all exhaled, even shaking their heads.

“So, becoming a wizard means the basic power of our spells will improve, even if we don’t get any further in Magery?” the Mick asked carefully.

“Remember that Caster Level and full Stars are the two main requirements for breakthroughs to a higher Class. If your Wizard Level means you are five Caster Levels above your requirements, it is as easy for you to break through an Elemental Level to Mage as it would be for an Archmage.”

Which was basically a near-guarantee... without needing a Nebula Vein. They all shivered in excitement, despite themselves.

“Now, the fact remains that you are all also going to be guinea pigs, too,” I went on calmly, raising their eyebrows. “I am a natural wizard. You lot are already mages with Awakened Elements. Thus, the magic you can wield as a wizard will be constrained by your Magery.

“Spells in Wizardry work different than in Magery. You don’t just connect Stars and wowza, everything is laid out for you to work with. No, no, no. Wizardry is about finding out how and why the magic works, pulling strings, arranging threads of control, and then executing spells based on what you know.

“Magery is more like getting on a bicycle and going for a ride. Wizardry is putting the bicycle together... after you figure out how to make all the parts. And if you don’t get the parts to spec, you try again until you have them.

“But because you made the parts and then put the parts together, you understand the magic in a way a mage never will. The mage will have the time and power to be an awesome bike rider, but his actual understanding of making the bike is going to be extremely superficial compared to any wizard.”

I tapped my skull significantly as they all considered that. “Wizardry runs off Intellect, and Intellect alone. Charisma and Wisdom are non-issues and not all that helpful to wizards. Exceptional wizards are geniuses in the real meaning of the term: they are extremely smart, innovative, flexible, cunning, adaptive, with great memories, speed of thought, breadth of knowledge, and lateral thinking. They are not people who have some mutant ability that makes them more natural at magic.”

The men all nodded quickly now, eyes on their Intellect Stats. They all had at least 13’s there, meaning being smarter than most folks was the one thing they all had in common.

“The key to being a successful wizard is a 14 Intellect, and build it to the moon from there. Since you don’t all have that, that’s the first step we’re going to be taking.” I pulled my new Tattoo kit out of my Pocket and waved it about. “We’re going to give you a magical Mark. Its primary purpose is psychic communication among Mark wielders, channeled through the Master Mark, i.e., me. So, don’t use it for talking about sex.”

Every single one of them promptly blushed beet red.

“The range is unlimited, barring deliberate and powerful magical interference. I could speak telepathically with any of you on the other side of the world, for instance, and if you cared to allow me, I could look out your eyes and see everything you are seeing, hear everything you hear, and even smell, touch, or taste. It is neither intrusive nor secretive, so don’t be worrying about mind control or subtle spying or the like. When the Mark is active, mentally it’s like a big door opens in your mind and the light of the minds on the other side are glaring at you. It’s a subtle as a fist in your face.”

I watched their flickers of worry go away, and they all looked interested now. “Also, you can refuse to open the door and hang a ‘Don’t Disturb’ sign on it, although someone can knock on it real hard for your attention. Abuse the privilege, and I’ll cut you out of the Markchat. It isn’t a game.”

They nodded slowly. A secret form of communication which could extend across the planet was one Hell of a nice perk!

“The Mark’s secondary function is enhancement of exactly ONE ability score. This is a derivation of some of the Blessing Magic. It can potentially raise your Intellect by up to +4.” I waved my hand, and all their Intellect Stats ticked up one by one by one, opening their eyes wide in shock. “Then you get your Intellect raises by wizard Class Levels,” at Four and Eight, for starters, “invest in Intellect Masteries,” another one and two added on, “and then get the Mage improvements going from Ten to Eleven,” another +2 went on across the board, “and you should have no problem being excessively competent wizards, I should think.

“Your dream goal is, of course, a 30 or higher Intellect, so that you might become a Wizard Sage.”

It was a long way to go. They stared at the gap between that goal and where they were now, and swallowed.

“That’s a long way to climb,” Big John murmured for all of them.

“Oh, it definitely is. But, you will have the time.” I tilted my head slightly at them. “Every level of wizard comes with ten years of extra lifespan in your prime years.”

“WHAT?!” They all jumped to their feet in shock at that news, gaping at her. “Are you joking?” the Mick blurted out in disbelief.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” I replied calmly, sort of looking down at them. “Seriously, Magery does something similar, albeit not as effectively. Why are you looking so surprised?”

They all still looked thunderstruck, sitting back down slowly as they looked at one another.

“I can see why we had to take an Oath,” Red murmured. “Pardon my cussing, but holy shit, Lady Fae!”

I waved it off dismissively. “Gaining Class Levels in Wizard and similar Classes adds ten years to your prime years.” I flipped up a Holo ‘0-19 Child, 20-40 Prime Years, 41-60 Aging, 61-80 Elder, and 81+ Venerable’ above me, flipped on ‘Wizard/10’ above it, and the numbers went to 20-140, 141-160, 161-180, and 181+.

They stared at the numbers in shock and awe.

“This is retroactive, a magical rejuvenation. So, for instance, you all are about 25, 26?” I hazarded, looking at all of them, and they nodded dumbly. “So, if you were to reach Wizard/10 within a year, you’d be the equivalent of 21 or 22 again. I don’t expect that to happen, and it’s actually unwise, but it is possible.

“So, you don’t lose anything if you take a bit longer to get there, it’s all just absolutely fine. Even one or two Levels of wizard, and you’re being rejuvenated.”