runic mage ability

You are able to extend the duration of your spells that last longer than instant. You simply spend 1/2 of the Soul cost for each additional round you wish the spell to continue. 

With this ability you can begin casting a spell right before the battle begins. What this does is allows you to go ahead and subtract your runic speed from the casting speed of the spell before the beginning of combat. If this means you can cast the spell right away then you will cast it right at the start of your turn and thusly be free to cast another spell during your turn. Otherwise this will speed up the casting of longer to cast spells. 

This ability allows you to use vitality to cover Soul if you do not have enough soul to cast the spell.

This runic mage ability decreases the casting speed of your spell by 1. If it decreases to less than 1 it becomes a free cast allowing you to cast another spell, however you cannot use quick cast on the following spell. 

You can increase your spell damage or healing power by an extra runic power each time you double the required casting speed. If the casting speed is 2 and you channel casting the spell for a casting speed of 4, you can add a second runic power to the spell. If you channel that spell to a casting speed of 6 you get to add yet another runic power to it. You can only channel a spell up to 4 times.