The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 158

Part 24

“A week?” Karz asked in surprise. “And your most complex spell? Now you’ve got me intrigued. I mean, I could find a good magic teacher and take a Reading of his entire course to Journeyman level, then distribute it. It wouldn’t take that long and it wouldn’t be that complex, except for the sheer volume of the information. So you must really be making something special.”

“Thanks, I am.” Val smiled, closing her eyes to preserve enough concentration to converse without losing her train of thought on the project. “At the core of it is my magic instruction course, and I think I’m a pretty good teacher, at least when the subject is magic. But it has every method of teaching, including direct psionic placement, and it constantly Reads the student and adapts to their individual traits.

“If a student has the required if latent psionic talent, the magic talent, the intelligence, and the mental capacity, the spell will simply Link with them and shove the entire education into their brains in a chunk. But I did a quick psionic survey among the new wizards, and that level of talent is pretty rare.

“If they have no direct psionic learning capability at all, the spell will provide them with every other form of learning; Readings and Revealings of lectures and demonstrations, Speakings with just the spoken voice so they can just listen while they ride a horse or whatever, parchment scrolls and charts and diagrams. And every part of the education will be available in all those forms. Luckily, a complete lack of direct psionic learning capability is also pretty rare among the new wizards, but even those can take a Speaking or a Reading and review it until they’ve learned it. And they’re susceptible to basic psionics to increase their concentration and their motivation, so that’s in there too.

“Most of ‘em will get a combination of direct psionic and conventional teaching, and like I say, the spell monitors them and adapts to their needs; it’s patient when they need it and hurries them when it’s practical, and it focuses on their strengths and directs them into their most productive specialties within general magic use. They’ll all learn as fast as it’s possible for them to learn, given their individual traits.

“With the educational systems that were in place only a year ago in real time, it took an average of twelve years of magic education to produce a Journeyman wizard. I figure this spell will take an average of one year and two months.

“Then, once I’ve got all that, I’ve got to make a translated version in every language spoken by all the students. No one really learns well in a second language or through a Translation spell, so they all need it in their native tongue. I’m getting help with the translating; even the best Translation spells aren’t as good as an expert translator, and the ones I’m getting are all Journeyman wizards at least, so they know the material as well as the languages. I found that I’ve been so dependant on Translation spells my whole life that I’m really no good at actually learning other languages, even with magic assistance.

“Of course it’s all self-powered and self-replicating, and it’ll seek out every magic user who isn’t as good as a Smingan Journeyman and teach them until they are, unless they blatantly refuse it.”

“Damn. That’s good.” Mark stated, visibly impressed. “You know, after you’re done that, you should make another one to teach the first twelve years of the basic schooling in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and the rules of reality. You could call it Valentia’s General Education.”

“Sure.” Val grinned, eyes still closed. “I’d put another billion or so people out of work, but I’ve already replaced most people’s jobs anyway, so why not? I’m just glad I won’t have to be the one who rebuilds the economy after the war.”

“The economy after the war will be unrecognizable from the one that existed a year ago.” Alilia declared. “Trade will be vastly reduced, as people will no longer need to trade for goods and services that they can provide themselves. Any Journeyman wizard can provide their own food and shelter and other necessities by themselves, from scratch if necessary, and do the same for a hundred others. Trade will be limited to luxuries, entertainments, tourism, and the products of specialized knowledge. I expect the world will be a paradise. Largely thanks to you, my brilliant daughter.”

“Not just me!” Val giggled. “Without what I’ve learned from all of you I couldn’t do any of this. I didn’t invent more than a tenth of the sub-spells and techniques I use; Fire and Six came up with more than half of them. I just put it all together.”