The Greatest Sinner

Arve canceled the spells and quickly drew two Magic Circles of the zero-level spell, "Fire Ball."

He then turned and, pointing at a random student, said: "Look closely at these two Magic Circles, do you see the difference between them?"

The student stared intently at the two Magic Circles for a while but was unable to answer. Then Arve asked several other students, but none of them could see the difference in a minute. 

When another student could not answer, Arve calmly said: "You all understood that the change was small, but you couldn't see it, now I will show you."

Arve's spatial ring glowed, and a pointer appeared in his hands.

"Look at the left Magic Circle - this is the standard version of the "Fire Ball", and now look at the right one, the difference is right here," Arve said calmly, pointing to one of the runes.

In addition to the basic structure, Magic Circles consisted of dozens of runes and various symbols. The more complex the spell was, the more of them there were. One spell might have only a hundred symbols, while another might have a hundred thousand.

Naturally, if the various symbols and runes were numbered in the thousands, the number of possible combinations was infinite. Nevertheless, only some of the thousands of those combinations could become a spell of some kind, and it was unlikely that it would be powerful or useful.

The rune Arve pointed out was indeed slightly different from the one on the left Magic Circle. But, it was almost impossible to see unless you looked specifically at the place.

"That's the slight change that affected the color of the spell. Probably some of you are thinking right now that actually creating or changing spells is not as difficult as I said. If you think you can just learn all the runes and symbols, their variations and combinations, and use them to create spells, then you are a fool. Even if you spend a million years on it, you still can't memorize and learn an infinite number of variations." Arve said harshly.

"But, then, how should we proceed? Can't some experienced magician who has already created several spells share the studied combinations by writing, for example, some manual? A girl asked, puzzled. She didn't understand why combinations that had already been tested couldn't be used.

Arve quickly answered, "First, it doesn't make any sense, and even if it did, no magician would disclose information like that. Secondly, some combination may have no effect, but if you replace even one rune or symbol in it, it can become an incredibly powerful spell." 

"There were cases when some magicians changed already seemingly perfect combinations, and they became even better, of course, these are isolated cases. Simply put, if you use tried-and-true variants, you won't achieve anything. You should go your own way if you want to succeed. Arve said calmly.

Arve adjusted his glasses and continued: "As for the question of how you should proceed, I'll give you a simple example - chess. It's a very complex board game with a huge but not infinite number of variations. Let's assume that you are an unprecedented genius and can calculate all moves without exception. In that case, you will always win. But what if the number of cells on the chessboard increases tenfold? It's impossible to calculate that many variations."

"In the process of creating spells, the situation is the same. Unlike chess, the number of "pieces" and "cells" here is many times greater and each Magic Circle has a different number. Moreover, if you put three different chess pieces in a row, they won't become one, like runes or symbols in different combinations."

Arve sighed and said seriously: "How, then, is it possible to find a way to success if it is not possible to calculate all the options? Rely on luck and conduct countless experiments? Yes, that's one option. After you make thousands of attempts, you might get lucky. But, if the ingenious magicians who created so many spells relied only on luck, we would have been extinct long ago."

"It's all about flair and how well you understand magic and the spell you create or modify." Arve finished his long and detailed explanation.

He was silent for a while, giving the students time to absorb what he had said. Creating spells was not some coin flip, it was an extremely complex art. Compared to that, even alchemy and blacksmithing were much easier.

The spell-creators spent years experimenting, honing their skills, trying to find the one path that would lead them to success.

True magicians had no problem creating dozens of the 1st and 2nd level spells, as good as the rarest of spells at the same level. 

The point was that if a magician had a talent for creating spells, his skill grew with each attempt. Over time, he intuitively understood which direction he should go and how the whole system worked. 

But even if a magician had an incredible talent for creating spells, it would only make itself known after countless trials and errors. Only then, his talent could unfold, and the magician began to know and understand what he should do to create a spell.

Imagine a huge labyrinth with endless forks. But, at the same time, there are places in the maze where you can get out of. What's more, the maze is constantly changing, making it impossible to make any kind of map. 

The spell-casters with awakened talents would easily find each of the exits. They would need no luck, only a few tries at most, after which their experience, skill, and instinct would lead them to the right place.

Spell-making was about as much of a maze as it gets. That's why spell-creators relied on more than just luck.

There was still silence in the classroom. The students were pondering Arve's words, it was a great shock to them.

Nevertheless, there was one person in the audience who had very contradictory feelings. It was Evan. He had discovered at a glance the difference between the two Magic Circles while others couldn't even see it in a few minutes, but that wasn't what had unsettled him.

What Arve was talking about was rather difficult to understand. Creating spells was indeed much more complicated than the students had imagined. And that was considering that now Arve had just warned them, they hadn't even begun the process themselves yet.

Evan wasn't flabbergasted like the other students. He knew it wasn't easy, but what Arve was talking about was very similar to how the sigils differed from each other. It only needed to change one small detail, and the sigil was no longer of the first level but the second one.

<I originally thought I would do alchemy or blacksmithing soon, but spell-making looks more intriguing.>