Best Beginner spell I can think of(that's not busted) is spatial designation. It's pretty much a kiddy version of area lock, you designate an area and form a spatial border around it.
I love the idea. One could even go deeper into the matter and introduce: reverse spatial designation. Instead of the area surrounding it getting stretched, it now gets squished, meaning whoever enters it, get's a speed boost.
Combining reverse spatial designation and spatial designation, to an area that triggers the buffs and the debuffs depending who enters it, could be amazing.
As for the updated version of spatial designation, I think "
Gabriel's horn," would fit better to it.
We just have to add imagination and say: space gets stretched to infinity. Within it, there is no escape out of it, until the Caster runs out of mana, or someone reverses it from within.
That would probably be a more fitting "evolution" of the spell
Invisible Hand:
Allows the user to move small objects using nothing but the space around it. Really only limited to anything less than 300-500 grams, and the lighter it is, the faster it gets. Basically, a glorified party trick if you spend half a year mastering it so that casting only takes a few minutes. Not much practicality in combat, since you will be bombed to death by literally any other magic. (Further ranks would be able to sling around rocks, swords, and arrows like nothing at Mach 1)
A better upgrade would probably be that the caster can not only manifest multiple hands, which non space mage can hardly sense, as they leave no trace unless they move. But the caster can use it to pick up trash or clench someone’s trachea out of nowhere with it. Kinda like force choking.
