The construct of flame was truly unique as it didn't seem to fight against the fire's nature as Jien would have expected it to. Instead it seemed that the formation had simply stretched the flame itself. He could see smaller flames at the end of the wispy red branches, flickering lightly as if mere cinders about to be blown out, yet strong enough to visually show as if leaves.
Holen, unlike her first scrawlings let this formation sit undisturbed as she started back to her lecture. "The outer edge of the formation, as you all can see is a circle." She pointed at it with her pointer but did not touch it. "This is a representation of a cycle but also acts as a barrier for the mana within. Without an outer wall your formation will fail, and rather explosively at that. Even a small weakness in the outer layer can lead to devastation if the controlled mana is released haphazardly."
After she let her words sink in for a few moments longer than Jien felt was actually necessary she pointed to the inner design of the crossed diamond. "Symmetry is key within your diagram. This is to keep the load of mana even. If your formation lacks symmetry then mana will build in the asymmetrical area until it cracks the outer wall and causes devastation." She did not stick on this point as long as the prior, the giving it a few moments to sink in as well.
"Regardless of the shape of your formations' inner workings symmetry is key as I said. The shape you give that symmetry should reflect the complexity of what you are trying to do. This in itself is a simplified version of the pattern that a similar spell would have to take through your body before being released into the world." She carefully traced over the crossed diamonds, making sure not to actually touch them. In doing so she showed how the flow of mana would pass through the shape.
"The patter being held in the circle allows the mana to cycle through the pattern repeatedly, allowing it to continue to refresh at intervals that are controlled by the complexity of the pattern and the purpose of the runes." She then pointed at the lines of runes lining the different lines of the diamond shapes as well as the circle that contained it.
There were runes written on both sides, some simple and others a complex blend that almost looked like scribbles. The only thing that was truly uniform was that the runes themselves seemed to connect, even if with just the faintest of strokes. "The runes you use are the spell you cast. They represent what purpose you are giving the mana at the end of the pattern. Simpler casting requires fewer runes, the more complex the more runes are involved and the more powerful the working generally becomes, even if the output does not seem so."
"Runes themselves come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Each of the gods or goddesses you follow likely even have a collection of them that are their own. However, for this course you will be using the Standardized Runic Alphabet and nothing else." Her last sentence was sharp and seemed to echo throughout the space. It was abundantly clear that regardless of what runes they may know or come to know that she was not going to let them get away with using anything but the standard.
"Now we get to the more fun part of the discussion. The truth is that you can turn any spell you can think of into a formation. When I say this I mean it. The only barrier is the mana that is needed to power it." Holen quickly tapped on the raised platform, outside of the formation itself. "These platforms can provide a large amount of mana for formations. They however are not bottomless supplies and if you try and treat them as such expect punishment equal to the expense of the overuse of mana." As she spoke these words her eyes seemed to become surprisingly sharp, as if she were dissecting each of them to find the one that would cause trouble.
"The fact that formations can represent any spell learning to measure the mana required for a casting is a necessary step. In many cases you won't have a well of mana to draw on. In most cases you will be the fuel for the working yourself and you don't want to experience what happens if it sucks you dry so think very carefully before you turn a spell into something as perpetual as a formation."
After she had made that final statement she tapped the platform with her pointer, allowing everyone to see the small light of mana at the end of it. As soon as the platform interacted with her mana they felt the mana shut off for the formation before seeing it. The feeling was like a cool breeze washing away the heat of a sunny summers day.
They soon saw the pattern of the formation dim uniformly until it was once again just lines of chalk on the stone platform. "If drawn correctly and without any weaknesses a formation will light uniformly and so will it extinguish. If you see any hint of the mana lighting a formation unevenly make sure to cut the mana supply. If you are fast enough it may just fizzle, if it gains momentum you may create a small energy release. If you let it continue to run rampant, well, I've seen an entire one of these specially designed and reinforced studies go up in a blast."
These words were particularly impactful, even if they were spoken with the casualness of discussing weather outside. To know that a formation if drawn incorrectly and left to its own devices without being monitored could destroy a building that was more in line with a reinforced bunker was eye opening, even to Jien who had some knowledge on the topic.
With the demonstration out of the way Holen simply added. "For the remainder of the class you will be copying the first fifty characters of the Standard Runic Aphabet. Your assignment is to draft a simple formation using at least ten of those runes and bring it with an explanation of its purpose and the required materials to our next lesson."