Explaining his thoughts to his father, though, was a challenge as he had to find a simpler way to explain it given that computers at this time were very much not known about.
After Nick asked him for his permission to use him for the test Jonathan could hardly contain his excitement at finally having found a theory that makes sense, as he was a scholar the apparent randomness of Magic was making him go insane.
To proceed they first tested Jonathans baseline wisdom, quick arithmetic, square roots, multiplication and so on, then they tested his memorization abilities and finally they tested his baseline reflexes, by throwing Nick throwing fruit at him with progressively faster speed.
However given that the spell was in Old Norse and filled with symbolism from their regions he had to first rewrite it to Ancient Greek and reword it, so it called upon the symbolisms used there.
He used his presence to make sure the spells interference field as he came to call it, was unified every step of the way while creating the spell. During the spell crafting he figured out that anything more the 3 sentences in Ancient Greek would immediately throw the entire interference field out off whack.
Even the previously unified symbols would be thrown into chaos and cause disharmony in the field. Thus he had to keep the chant to be under 3 sentances.
Then as there was no other preparation needed to do the spell. He simply started chanting the spell, with his Ancient Greek rolling off his tongue like a long forgotten native tongue.
"Ἄνεμε, κάθαιρε τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ·
Wind, cleanse his mind;
Ῥίζα γῆς, κατάσχες τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ ἡσύχιον·
Root of earth, hold his mind in stillness.
Ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ ὄψιν εὑρίσκει, ἐν ὄψει σύνεσιν.
In stillness he finds sight, in sight understanding."
With that he saw a thin smoke like fog gathered from all directions, threads of it emerging out of thin air coating his father's head, he could immediately see Jonathans face transform from barely suppressed excitement into a serene calm.
Nicholas could immediately tell that the spell work. He and Jonahtan again performed the baseline tests of his mental skill, the results were amazing, he was able to think 3 times faster.
Arithmetic that only mere moments ago took an entire minute no was completed in 20 seconds, and fruit that moments ago flew by him, he now caught effortlessly.
However, before they could test Jonathan on more complicated problems, the effect and the smoke like threads disappeared. When they looked at the stopwatch it indicated that 3 minutes had passed.
Nick was quite pleased with the amount of time that the effect had lasted seeing that all he did was say a few words, though he did find it interesting that the effect lasted as a multiple of 3 instead of a multiple of 9 that rune magic lasted. Even though the length wasn't quite good enough to use it could be used quite practically in fights in order to boost reflexes of allies.
Nicholas' next step involved testing magic that was not involved in the domain his mother was the Goddess of. He figured that if that too succeeded, it would basically be confirmation that his theoretical system of magic was correct as otherwise this could have been a previously undiscovered power of his mother manifesting.
To make sure no other variables would taint the test he decided to create the chant entirely.
First calling upon the elements — earth, water, air, fire — they aren't just random. In Greek thought, they're the world itself. Every ritual, every invocation, everything powerful always ties back to them in some way.
They represent the totality of existence, the stage on which all things happen. If I'm correct and the theory holds, its symbolism would boost the my voice sufficiently to create some form of effect.
And the sun — obvious.
The sun is fire made visible, fire magnified, fire that rules the day. If I'm invoking flame, I might as well call on its ultimate symbol.
The sun is the perfect conduit for energy, for illumination, for… power. It gives me something to focus on, a point to channel the elements through.
So the chant has to do both: acknowledge the world, give it form and intent, and then pull the flame through the sun as a symbol of fire itself.
He also figured out why the number three apparently underlines the Greek system, the three main gods, the Greek spell lasting 3 minutes, the spell structure going crazy when he went over 3 sentences and Greek philosophers also exalted it as the perfect number.
It was because it represented the 3 aspects of a being as described in Greek myth, the mind, soul and body.
So by invoking it in my spells it symbolically represented the beings participation in the spell itself.
He then used his prescience to fine tune the spell, as to make sure the symbolisms meshed together to make one thread of meaning.
As it was a spell of his own creation, he felt that the interference was way less potent and allowed him greater insight into spell crafting, it was no longer just images and feelings it would provide real tangible informative feedback to his spell during its creation.
When, where and how each meaning should and the length of time it should be spoken were all important variables to make it coherent and now he was practically a natural at spell creation as his prescience served the information he needed on a silver platter.
Thus, he settled on chant and said to his father who was thus far keeping silent while Nicks thoughts were racing faster than some computers "Step back, I'm trying to test something "
Jonathan immediately obeyed and retreated to the back of the room, Nick then continued by raising his hand palm facing upwards and started chanting.
"Στοιχεῖα γῆς, ὕδατος, ἀέρος, πυρός, ἀκούσατέ με — τὴν φλόγα τοῦ κόσμου καλῶ.
Elements of earth, water, air, and fire, hear me — I call the world's flame.
Ἥλιος ὑψιπέτης, πῦρ ὁρατὸν, ἐν χερσίν μου χύε τὴν δύναμιν.
Sun on high, fire made visible, pour your power into my hand.
Ἐκ βάθους κόσμου καὶ πνοῆς αἰθέρος, φλόγα φανερωθῇ.
From the depths of the world and the breath of the ether, let the flame appear."
Again the same whisps of mist appeared gathered into a ball then collapsed to a point right above his palm right before small ball of flame the size of golf ball burst out from the singularity.
All Nick could do once he saw this was smile straight from the heart while a proverbial parade straight out from Alladin went through his mind.
Chapter 9 Practicing the Art of Spell Craft
Now this spell was quite useless truly, unless you want to give someone a small blister, however its implications were staggering.
Given that his mother's authority mostly extended to Wisdom, War and Knowledge it was quite a surprise that it was even as effective as it was.
He wagered that if a chant was geared towards War or Battle instead, it would be a quite practical spell since it would enjoy the boost granted by his mother's domains "listening" more closely.
So that was his next test, however before he did that, he wanted to have his father perform the exact same chant. According to his theory if his father said the chant barely anything should happen, as he didn't have sufficient authority.
Surely enough once Jonathan attempted the chant, there was barely anything that happened.
The same smoke that gave birth to his fireball did gather however before it could condense into anything resembling fire it quickly winked out of existence.
Jonathan could barely hide his disappointment at not being able to do magic on the fly, however it was quickly suppressed by the idea that they finally had some idea of how magic actually worked.
"So? What are our next steps?" Jonathan said.
"First, I need to create some spells in connection to War, that would help me in case of an actual battle. After all, my strategy can't just be run away from the monsters my entire life." Said Nicholas already going over the options in his head.
And so that was what they did for the next 6 months.
~6 months later~
The past 6 months were spent in a whirlwind of theorizing and creating every spell Nick could think of under the sun.
He created 3 spells connected to his mother's domain of War.
Aegis Phylax – The Guardian Shield
This spell is used for protection in battle. It drew on the idea of his mother's shield Aegis as a symbol of defense, not from divine power but from one's own determination to stand firm. When cast, it creates a barrier that turns aside harm and weakens attacks.
When used by Nick it created a barrier that upon testing was able to block any mortal attacks.
Testing the mystical protection though turned out to be not quite as simple as just using prescience as before as anything after mortal just returned a vague no so his only guess there was that either it didn't protect against monsters or it could only block part of the damage.
To test that, however, involved testing its efficiency against mythical threats, to do so Nick cast the spell on his father and tried attacking him as he was the only mystical being he could find and thus the only way to test any mystical attacks in a safe way.
The spell only appeared to block approximately only 40% of the force of the attack turning his punch to the face into a matter of a mere slap, so he determined that the efficiency against mystical opponents would still be somewhat sufficient.
Kratos Enagonios – Strength of the Spear
This spell calls forth inner strength in moments of combat calling upon his mother's spear and the earth element. The user feels heavier, grounded, and more connected to the world, as if the weight of the earth supports their movements, and after testing it increased Nicks power by over 3 times when he used it. Which allowed him to feel like a tiny Hercules.
Tachys Ops – The Swift Eye
This spell sharpens perception and reflexes calling upon the owls eye as a symbol of his mother. Instead of speeding up the caster, it slows how the world appears to move, allowing them to react before danger fully forms. The senses heighten, every detail becomes clear, and movement feels instinctive.
This spell when tested allowed Nick to observe the path of bullets when tested with his fathers handgun it allowed him barely be able to follow their path. This spells effectiveness was way higher than he was anticipating, however his theory was that it was significantly boosted by his own innate ability of prescience as they had significant overlap.
All of these spells took approximately 10 seconds to cast, lasted for 3 minutes and were 3 sentences long calling upon various symbols connected to his mother, such as the eyes of the owl, her aegis shield, and her spear.
He spent the rest of the time creating cantrips small magic tricks that were 3 sentences long and each taking 8~10 seconds to cast. These spells were not meant to be used for combat, but it gave him significant experience in what makes a more efficient powerful spell, and what made a bad short lived one.
He figured out that if he was able to sacrifice one aspect of the spell to boost another, that's what allowed him to, for example, make a spell that lasted days and months if only with a minor effect.
For example, the blessing on his father's intelligence once reworded allowed for a minor boost in intelligence that lasted for 3 months at a time before having to be redone, the same holds for the harm protection spell.
Which when optimized for length of use and reworded as such allowed for the same length of 3 months and did a reduction in 50% of damage done by mortals lasting as long as 3 months. It was sufficient to say that it was now constantly applied to both Nicholas and Jonathan.
He also created other cantrips, minor magical spells, such as a spell that cleaned a room calling upon the winds of the 4 directions.
This was made as a precaution as any intrusion in his private quarters and room designated for calling upon magic were now strictly off limits to all staff.
He also created a spell to invoke the wind to create a breeze.
However, this magic was way more effective than he was expecting, instead of creating a mild breeze it creates a small gale allowing almost strong enough to topple a child.
Upon further investigation he found that in Greece the soul and mind were connected to the air element and thus by his nature as a demigod of Athena.
It could however also be due to the fact that his grandfather was Zeus the God of Sky and Air that the Air spells were more effective.
Other spells behaved more like he expected them to such as Minor Healing (Heals small scratches or wounds), Earth Manipulation (This one allowed him to create small sculptures to be used in minor rituals from stone), Fire Manipulation (This one allowed him to start a fire with no lighter or give someone a nasty blister if they stood still), Heat and Cold Insulation charm (This one allowed him to go outside with no clothes on and fear no mortal heat or cold, as a bonus it lasted for 3 hours as it was relatively minor), Water Spell (which barely allowed him to draw some drinking water out of the air) and many other more.
He also created one of his currently most useful spells, The Confusion Charm. The charm was eerily reminiscent to a mix of Harry Potters Imperio and Confundo Charms.
It essentially allowed him manipulate mortals and their memories in any way he chose by calling upon the Mist which amplified this charm beyond anything he could cast with his current authority.
Small alterations to their memory or behavior could last essentially forever but big alterations such as making them obey his commands to harm somebody else or themselves would last a really short time.
All spells apart from the Wind Manipulation and Confusion Spells were useless but they did allow him to feel like Harry Potter and give him more intuition about spell craft and about how to best to use his prescience to aid him in creating spells and even rituals.
In fact, it was during this time that he came upon the idea for the next project.