Hours 38 - 40: Mastering Magic

I devoted the next few hours to tinkering with spell creation, testing out the spells, and returning to the University to tinker some more. On my wanderings I happened upon a distraught man whose wife had been killed by Goblins - I avenged her by slaying the tribe who killed her, and returning her necklace to him. After a while I settled on several custom spells: Weakness to Fire (100%) for 20 seconds (a stand-alone spell), 'Soulfire' (25 fire damage x3 seconds, soultrap - I made both a ranged and 'touch' version), and 'Immolate' (25 fire damage x3 seconds, Drain Life 100 over 3 seconds, on touch). I also created a pure Drain Life x100 spell.

My tactics now consist of casting the Weakness to Fire from a distance, then when the enemy gets close I cast Immolate. Over 3 seconds, this should do 150 damage to them, and at the end of the 3 seconds they'll die if they have less than 100 health remaining, due to the 'bonus' 100 damage that Drain Life does. It effectively, then, does 250 damage, although if they survive it then they get the 100 'drained' health back. I am not sure, but from what I've read it seems that 2+ castings of Weakness to Fire should stack - if this is true, it should do 325 damage if they had been hit by two castings of the Weakness spell, although this would enormously drain my mana reserves.

The basic Drain Life 100 spell is enough to kill almost any weak enemy (such as rats, and some goblins). Everything else goes down very quickly if hit by one cast of Weakness and one cast of Immolate. I prefer using Immolate (which is a 'touch' spell) to a ranged spell because, although not extortionate, these spells cost a lot more to cast than my previous ones. Each spell which misses is therefore a much bigger blow, and ranged fireball spells are fairly difficult to get right every time, especially as many enemies dodge and weave about.

I bought 'Summon Gloom Wraith' (I'm now an Expert in Conjuring), upgraded my Turn Undead spell, and with my new-found magical prowess decided to see if I could take on Howling Cave this time. I returned, and it was still difficult (I died again initially) but the difference was apparent immediately - I was still vulnerable to being mobbed, due to my low defenses, but if I managed to get a few spells to connect, my enemies crumpled. My new Feather spell proved useful in allowing me to carry an absurd amount of loot back to the Imperial City.

Above: the Market District: my favourite District of the city. It's packed with quaint shops, some tucked away in the corners.

To make a bit of pocket money (and help pay for the spells I'd created) I ploughed through a few more opponents in the Arena. Nearly all of them fell to one or two castings of my spells - I am beginning to feel like a truly powerful mage now. A couple of them gave me trouble - they were very fast, and were able to dodge even my 'touch' spells at close range, which left me quickly drained of mana and fleeing from their swinging weapons, but if I managed to stick it out, all it took was a couple of good hits and they went down. At one point I resorted to climbing up on a pillar to let my mana rejuvenate.

Above: the blood-soaked passageway leading from the training rooms out into the Arena.

With my magic proficiency seriously improved, I feel ready to cease my wanderings and continue with some more quests. My weakness at the moment is taking damage - I wear robes and have no decent protection spells of items. That's something I'll have to look into.