After laughing, Winters still kindly reminded Ike: "The description of magicians in ancient books must be exaggerated, but since the court mage can serve as the emperor's royal thug, he must have real skills.
If one day you really encounter a court mage, be very careful. Don't confuse us spellcasters with court wizards. We and they are fundamentally two different types of magic users. "
"I think maybe they deserve to be called magicians, and we are just casters." Winters said self-deprecatingly: "I think the generals in the Army Department also think so, so they call us 'spell casters.' You don’t call us ‘magicians’, we are just the alliance’s mass-produced magic warfare tools.”
"Don't belittle yourself. Magic must be of great use on the battlefield." Although Ike has never been on the battlefield, he is obviously a firm supporter of the Army's spell caster policy: "Why else would the Army value spell casters so much? Magicians are crazy. Cha’s most trusted executioner.”
"That would require a very, very powerful magician. There is currently no spellcaster as powerful as the Mad King's court mage in the entire alliance." Winters put his hands around his mouth to make a loudspeaker shape: "When I get to the battlefield, I just use a personal shouting microphone. It's like a cone made of tin sheets, with the tip removed. The dean of students holds the shouting microphone for swearing every morning."
Ike didn't understand what Winters was saying. Winters said bitterly: "I didn't say that, it was General Taylor who said it. When he came to inspect last year, he spoke to the caster students alone."
Speaking of enthusiasm, Winters imitated General Taylor's hoarse drake voice: "The most useful spell in war is the amplification technique! This amplification technique is very useful for commanding soldiers. You don't have to worry about being shot. The sound of the artillery was covered up and the snare drums were eliminated. You must practice your amplification skills well and stop doing other messy and useless tricks."
"Listen to what the top figure in the federal army said about spell casters, useless tricks?" Winters suddenly had a funny idea: "If there is portable fire, fire spells will be eliminated. If one day someone If a tool is invented that can amplify sounds without magic, all the spellcasters in the Army might be out of a job.”
"What tool men? You are all the treasures of the army!" Ike pondered for a while, then made up his mind and said to Winters: "Have you heard of the 'Ten Years Personnel'?"
Winters thought about it carefully and shook his head.
Ike explained: "It's normal that you haven't heard of it. It's all discussed by those of us who don't have magic talents. In order for an army officer to be promoted, in addition to completing the military service, there must be a vacancy, right?"
This is common sense that all Army officers and associate officers know, so Winters answered without thinking: "That's right."
"But there are many officers in the army. Even if they have enough military age, they can't be promoted. They can only continue to get seniority." Ike's tone is not very sure: "But many people say that as long as the spell caster officers have enough military age, they can't be promoted." You will definitely be promoted, so you will definitely be promoted to major within ten years, and you will definitely be promoted to colonel within twenty years.”
Winters was shocked when he heard for the first time that there was such an unspoken rule within the Army. This is actually normal, just like no one would talk about a bully in front of a bully, which classmate would talk about a spell caster in front of a spell caster?
Ike's words made Winters' cheeks feel hot, because he found that he was the beneficiary of an unfair system, and it was his friends and classmates who were oppressed in this unfair system.
"If there really is this unspoken rule, then it is obvious discrimination and it is unfair." The education Winters received since he was a child emphasizes fairness and justice. This policy of the Army obviously violates the principle of fairness.
He said from the bottom of his heart: "Soldiers should be promoted based on their ability and merit. I don't think magic talent has any special value in commanding the army. It is a disorder of the army's government to do this."
Ike realized that he had made Winters feel guilty, and he hurriedly said: "Don't pay too much attention, it's actually nothing. Officer promotion will definitely not only rely on spell ability, but it is also reasonable to take spell ability as a bonus after comprehensive consideration. .”
Ike gave another example of even more unfair treatment: "Those officers who came out of the 'crash course' will not even be able to become colonel officers in their lifetime, so aren't they more discriminated against?"
Seeing that the topic of the conversation was about to turn into a critical meeting of the Alliance Army's decision-makers, Ike now particularly regretted discussing ten-year personnel matters with Winters. He quickly brought the topic back to magic: "You just said that fire spells are useless, how come fire spells are useless? Isn't it great to control flames?"
"Fire magic does not control flames, but uses magic instead of flames to achieve some effects. For example, for non-flammable materials like stone, no matter how much magic I use, I can't make it burn." Winters quickly corrected Ike Misconceptions about magic.
"But to be honest, the power of my fire spells may not be as powerful as just holding a torch." Winters said helplessly: "I can only vaporize a little water with all my strength, but if I hold a torch, it can vaporize a little bit of water." Can dry out water.
Sound spells do not require casting materials, and acceleration spells only require some hard objects. Most of the fire spells require casting materials. If I really get to the battlefield, I'm afraid you'll kill me with one sword before I even take out the casting materials. "
"How could it be? Didn't you burn a hair just now?" Ike said with a smile: "If we were to fight with real swords and guns, wouldn't you win by setting my hair on fire?"
He does not mean that. This obscene idea made Winters take a breath of air: "I actually never thought about using fire to ignite the enemy's hair."
The more Winters thought about it, the more interesting the idea became. He stood up and said excitedly to Ike: "Your idea is really dirty. I like it. I want to record this spell in my spell book."
"Haha, you also have your own original spell. How about calling it Axel's Hair Burning Technique?" Winters said while pacing: "The Hair Burning Technique doesn't sound powerful enough. Otherwise, call it Axel's Hair Burning Technique." Serge’s head-burning technique? Face-burning technique? Hair-burning technique?”
"Does this count as the invention of a spell?" Ike laughed dumbly: "Isn't this too childish?"
"Why doesn't this count as inventing a spell? You invented a unique use of fire magic." Winters retorted seriously: "They are all swinging arms and swords, and they can be divided into so many postures and moves. Invent a Why is the unique use of magic not considered an invented spell? Why do you think fire magic is classified into the same category? Because their principles are the same and the only difference lies in their usage.
"Okay, okay, let's call it the hair burning technique." Ike replied casually.
"Although it has not yet been verified, this idea is really strange. We have to find some real hair and practice it a few times to see how we can make the hair burn faster and more vigorously." The more Winters thought about it, the more interesting he became: "Now I finally understand why the general said: 'There are no bad spells, only stupid spellcasters. A spellcaster must first be a smart person, and then he can be a spellcaster.'
"My thinking is rigid. The only thing I can think of to use in actual combat is flash. Instead, you woke me up." Winters said seriously: "Ike, you are really a genius. If you have magic talent, you will definitely He is a spell caster a hundred times more powerful than me."
"It's not that great. Stop bragging." Ike felt that Winters was making a fuss out of a molehill: "What if I shave all my hair?"
"This..." Winters' breath was stagnant: "...Then I can only use the flashback technique again."
Ike laughed loudly, and after laughing, he said to Winters in a sincere and yearning tone: "I really want to be a spell caster, even the worst spell caster. Even if I only know the burning skills that you dislike the most, Even the most basic spells of fire spells. I don’t want to be a spell caster because of the ‘Ten Years Talent’, I just want to be a spell caster. I really want to know what it’s like to use magic.”
Winters could understand what Ike was talking about. Who didn't fall asleep with the fantasy of becoming a knight and a magician when they were young? When he learned that he could learn magic, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.
It's a pity that although the spell abilities of untrained potentials are like little sparks. But if you want the fire to burn brightly, you must at least have small sparks. How to make a fire if there are no sparks?
"Are you so disappointed that you can't be a magician? If you really experience it once, you will probably feel that it's just that" and you will be disappointed. And let me tell you, I have become particularly lethargic since I received the spellcaster training. I seriously doubt that this is Side effects of learning spells." But Winters still wanted to try his best to enlighten Ike:
"If I could, I would rather trade my spellcasting ability for your swordsmanship. Do you know how much my heart hurts when I never hit you once? Do you know that every day I hide in the toilet and wash my face in tears because of this? Besides, maybe Court mages are different, but us spellcasting officers are really just tools."
This nonsense made Ike smile: "Your liking to sleep has absolutely nothing to do with becoming a spell caster. You just like to sleep in. Okay, let's not talk about impossible things. Tell me again. Tell me what it’s like to use magic. Is it just painful to use magic?”
Winters thought carefully about the feeling of using magic, and said with a blush: "It was really painful, like going through torture, but other than that it was also very...exciting. Painful, and happy, at least for me. It feels like this. And every time I stop casting, I still feel a little empty, which I think may be a symptom of addiction."
"Using magic is so exciting? Is it so exciting that you're addicted?" Ike was shocked.
"Yes." Winters' face turned redder.
Of course, using magic can be addictive, but the spell casters of this era did not know the underlying reasons. Later researchers discovered through MRI technology that when a spell caster uses magic, almost the entire cerebral cortex will be violently active, with active patterns and " The activity patterns of the cerebral cortex are very similar when the brain rewards human reproduction. This state of setting off fireworks in the brain will of course bring intense pain and... pleasure similar to when the brain rewards human reproduction.
Without this compensation, humans would simply not be able to withstand the added pain of casting spells. Later researchers even discovered that the physiological structure of the brains of spellcasters was different from that of ordinary people. The cerebral cortex of spellcasters was thicker and the medulla was smaller.
"How cool is it?" Ike asked seriously.
"It's great." Winters replied seriously.
"Isn't it because you have a special type of desire?" Ike asked suspiciously.
"I'm not a masochist!" Winters fumed.
"Don't say anything, not tomorrow, just today." Ike held Winters' hand tightly: "When get out of class is over, please take me to find that so-and-so... Teacher Christian After testing it, I now feel that... I am very likely to be a fish that slipped through the net!"
