difficult. This kind of spell is a compromise - a cheat if you will. Instead of creating form from scratch, we use forms that are abundant in the realm and just add on a spell layer that gets the job done. Using bigger pieces is progressively more difficult. A dirtball is not very useful by itself, but you can use the same principle with earth-based shield spells or offensive shard projectiles."
"Can I try?"
"Sure."
Lucy knelt down, dug her fingers into the soil and tore out a big piece of the ground. She stood up and threw it above her head. Immediately after, she made a magic sphere which sucked in some of the dust, but not all. The rest of the cloud fell slowly to the ground.
What she was left holding looked like a very dirty magic sphere, not resembling Annie's dirtball at all.
"Don't worry, it takes practice to notice and grab the tiny particles with your mind, and sweep them up in the motion you want. It's a good start."
Lucy let the sphere dissipate, and rubbed her hands to get rid of the dirt. "Is that all?"
"Well, I can show you a proper earth sphere too, but it's difficult even for me. It might take a while."
"I don't mind, I'd like to see."
"Okay."
Eric, who followed the demonstration only intermittently, felt a foot slamming into his side.
"Pay attention, this should be interesting," Lucy said.
Eric stood up reluctantly and stepped away from the edge. Rose did the same, and she was rubbing the side of her back too.
Annie made a large magic sphere, with its circles and rotations clearly visible to Eric. It shrunk, expanded again, and repeated the process each time slightly faster than before. It looked like there were two spheres, one expanding and one contracting, and then they would switch directions. They were moving quite fast.
Three spheres... no, four... five...
all changing into one another. Eric lost track and stared at the strange, self-moving shape without trying to understand it.
"The goal is to pack the motions into a form that is stable. If it is stable, that means the earth mage doesn't have to concentrate on maintaining form with awareness and imagination alone. That's a plus. The stability of form is often measured and tested by its resistance to change: if it is too resistant, the mage has to invest energy into changing it again for her own purposes. That's a minus."
The sphere condensed into some kind of metallic fluid; waving, making perturbations and spiky protrusions. With a final wave, the metallic ball 'clicked' into motionlessness, and fell into Annie's palm.
"This thing's heavy, catch."
Eric caught the ball with one hand, and it immediately pulled him down. It felt like metal, looked like metal, smelled like metal. He used both hands for support and lobbed the thing to Lucy.
Lucy passed it to Rose, who passed it to Annie again.
"Neat, huh? Also not very useful, unless you have great hand strength or a cannon to go along with it. Practical earth magic is about creating forms that are stable in some directions and unstable in others, so the mage may control through the path of least resistance. The earth element is well suited as a component in complex spells, but the spells of other elements can be easier to use and more directly appliable in simpler situations. Especially in air-based realms."
"Can you make it heavier?" Eric asked.
"I can compound more mass, yes."
"How heavy can you make it?"
"I dunno, let's see."
Annie tossed the ball up and it remained floating above her hand. Its surface turned liquid and began pulsating once more.
Giant, barely perceptible magic spheres faded in from seemingly everywhere; the rotating edges came from the sky and the horizon, passed through Eric and the others, and now strong, sunk beneath the surface of the metallic liquid. One after the other, the whole world seemed to be pulsing only to shrink and bombard the space above Annie's hand.
"I'm approaching my limit. The awareness differential between this form and its background is
"Can I try?"
"Sure."
Lucy knelt down, dug her fingers into the soil and tore out a big piece of the ground. She stood up and threw it above her head. Immediately after, she made a magic sphere which sucked in some of the dust, but not all. The rest of the cloud fell slowly to the ground.
What she was left holding looked like a very dirty magic sphere, not resembling Annie's dirtball at all.
"Don't worry, it takes practice to notice and grab the tiny particles with your mind, and sweep them up in the motion you want. It's a good start."
Lucy let the sphere dissipate, and rubbed her hands to get rid of the dirt. "Is that all?"
"Well, I can show you a proper earth sphere too, but it's difficult even for me. It might take a while."
"I don't mind, I'd like to see."
"Okay."
Eric, who followed the demonstration only intermittently, felt a foot slamming into his side.
"Pay attention, this should be interesting," Lucy said.
Eric stood up reluctantly and stepped away from the edge. Rose did the same, and she was rubbing the side of her back too.
Annie made a large magic sphere, with its circles and rotations clearly visible to Eric. It shrunk, expanded again, and repeated the process each time slightly faster than before. It looked like there were two spheres, one expanding and one contracting, and then they would switch directions. They were moving quite fast.
Three spheres... no, four... five...
all changing into one another. Eric lost track and stared at the strange, self-moving shape without trying to understand it.
"The goal is to pack the motions into a form that is stable. If it is stable, that means the earth mage doesn't have to concentrate on maintaining form with awareness and imagination alone. That's a plus. The stability of form is often measured and tested by its resistance to change: if it is too resistant, the mage has to invest energy into changing it again for her own purposes. That's a minus."
The sphere condensed into some kind of metallic fluid; waving, making perturbations and spiky protrusions. With a final wave, the metallic ball 'clicked' into motionlessness, and fell into Annie's palm.
"This thing's heavy, catch."
Eric caught the ball with one hand, and it immediately pulled him down. It felt like metal, looked like metal, smelled like metal. He used both hands for support and lobbed the thing to Lucy.
Lucy passed it to Rose, who passed it to Annie again.
"Neat, huh? Also not very useful, unless you have great hand strength or a cannon to go along with it. Practical earth magic is about creating forms that are stable in some directions and unstable in others, so the mage may control through the path of least resistance. The earth element is well suited as a component in complex spells, but the spells of other elements can be easier to use and more directly appliable in simpler situations. Especially in air-based realms."
"Can you make it heavier?" Eric asked.
"I can compound more mass, yes."
"How heavy can you make it?"
"I dunno, let's see."
Annie tossed the ball up and it remained floating above her hand. Its surface turned liquid and began pulsating once more.
Giant, barely perceptible magic spheres faded in from seemingly everywhere; the rotating edges came from the sky and the horizon, passed through Eric and the others, and now strong, sunk beneath the surface of the metallic liquid. One after the other, the whole world seemed to be pulsing only to shrink and bombard the space above Annie's hand.
"I'm approaching my limit. The awareness differential between this form and its background is
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