Re: First day at the job (Scintillance, look here!)

[Silvern Gleam]

That was inefficient, to say the least. Modifying a spell or destroying it was one thing, but keeping a foreign, collapsing spell alive? Sil didn't give herself more than a few minutes. Alright, let's get you accustomed to that sense before I run out of magic. The complete spell consists of a structure around the target, a structure around your horn, and three connections between them. You can focus on the different parts of the spell, it should be quit intuitive. Simply concentrate on a part of the feeling and it should get clearer. Try to make out the three connections.

[Lance]

Scintillance let Silvern take her grip, and quickly tried to make sense of what he was seeing, with haste though, as Silvern didn't sound like she expected to be able to hold for long. "well, I think I can see the three structures... and the connections are... between the horn and spell, between the spell and the target... and... I'm not quite sure about the third..."

[Silvern Gleam]

Sil couldn't help but chuckle at his findings. Seems you got it the wrong way round. What you described as connections are the main parts of the spell, around the horn and around the target. The three structures between them connect those two parts. Each connection is for something else. You already know about the feedback channel, the other two are the control and the power channel. I'll explain them properly later.

The power channel should be possible for you to identify, it's the strongest of the connections, she said and pointed her eyes expectantly at Lance, waiting for him to find it.

[Lance]

Scintillance gave a slight chuckle, "Only looking everywhere I shouldn't, huh?" he refocused, and tried to break down what he was seeing. "well, now that you mention it, I suppose... yep, I can see it. a bit too close to each other to notice at first, but yeah, these three... "connections" are there... and if the power channel is that big pulsing one, then yep, that's it..."

[Silvern Gleam]

Silvern nodded, and immediately moved on. We'll have to remove the pulsing, a steady energy stream is much better, and I think that's a good point to start, she said. Try to control it, like when you're controlling the power level of a spell. Keep a steady pressure on your horn, hold your breath for a moment if you need to.

[Lance]

"Steady an intangible energy stream that I have never seen heard felt or even known about ever in my life, got it..." he replied in such a serious tone, but the words betrayed a sarcastic response. It would take  him a good thirty seconds, more or less, 'feeling' around and prodding randomly into what felt more like a whole different world to him, trying to reach out to that pulse. when he finally did, it shifted to pulse a lot faster, and at certainly worse, unfocused stream.

"whoah! OK, OK, that's... that's not good. at all." he finally opened his eyes to see how things were doing in the "physical" world, and his golden aura on the ruby, normally appearing  as a  weird, liquid, intangible form was seemingly... waving. back and forth, in and out, like wild waves on an ocean surface. "Nope, not good at all, other way other way!" he reached back to what he thought he changed, and tried to do... the opposite. whatever that couldcould have been described as. rather than pushing to strengthen the stream, he condensed it, pulled it together like he would in his conjuration, and the stream softened, slightly smaller, but the pulse shifted to dimmer.

"I think... I got it... Silve?"

[Silvern Gleam]

And there goes my magic, Sil commented as the spell broke down only seconds after Lance had managed to mostly even out the energy flow. She had stopped her efforts before she completely ran out of magic, not wanting to run into magic fatigue. This went better than expected, but as long as you're not able to keep up the spell yourself, practical training won't be much longer than just now. Maybe we can do another session towards the evening, depending on how much work comes in, but for now, let's turn to theory.

What you sensed was the most basic spell structure possible for targeted spells. A structure around the horn that can be manipulated directly and a structure around the target manipulated per remote with the help of the three connections between them. The feedback channel sends information about the spell's structure, the control channel allows you to do manipulations in remote parts of the spell, and the power channel is the energy supply for those remote parts.

When you lock on a target, even without wanting to cast a specific spell on it, this basic structure is created automatically, and for the start we'll leave it at that. It's hard to consciously create the channels, in case of simple spells they are the most complex part, the structure needed around a target to let it float is actually pretty simple, so we'll tackle that first.

What followed was... well, theory. Silvern brought writing utensils for Lance to take notes as she explained some of the basics of how magic influences the physical world. After about an hour of explanation and discussion, the crystal above the door of the enchanting room became magically active. Somepony was approaching the shop. I'll be back in a moment, Sil told Scintillance and walked into the selling room. She didn't worry, it was probably some friend or customer, as almost always when the proximity sensors detected something. In this case, it was a friend. Lance could hear friendly chatter, and soon the voices got louder when Sil opened the door to the back rooms and came back with her guest.
I'm curious what you'll produce now with an assistant. I'm sure you could put up something even crazier than the generator.
Not anytime soon, but eventually, Silvern answered grinningly as she walked into the enchanting room, accompanied by a green unicorn. Skry, this is Scintillance. Scintillance, meet Skry, a friend of mine.

[Lance]

Upon being left alone, Scintillance wasted on moment in trying to gather the scattered sticky notes he managed to lose track of. by the time Silvern and Skry returned, Lance was pretty much covered in yellow, square notes attached all over himself, and still collecting. of course, on realizing he wasn't alone anymore, lance immediately shook the notes off himself, to meet this new pony with what little dignity he could still salvage.

however, upon hearing the name, it was too reminiscent of "Sky...light... I-I mean Skry, nice to meet you! I'm sorry, your name just sounded a lot like a... friend's... anyway, nice to meet you!" Lance pulled a somewhat sheepish grin, and had a hoof rub the back of his neck; he was pretty sure he wasn't making a good first impression.

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