"Frost blast!"
Raymond had long since moved past the time when he still had to chant the spells he casted out loud. He had also long since moved past the need to use a medium like a staff or a wand, along with the need to wave/point said medium.
But he still did all of those things.
Why?
Because it made his life easier. That was all.
Saying the chant out loud helped to reduce the mental strain he would have to do. Using a magic medium improved his spells based on the medium and waving or pointing the medium helped him to aim his spells more accurately.
Sure, he could choose to not do any of those things. But when given the option to make your life easier, why wouldn't you make your life easier?
He would only ever not do any of them if he truly had to. If he was fighting an intelligent race for example, he wouldn't just yell out the names of his spells out loud—that was just a stupid thing to do.
His mind briefly flashed an image of Zachary, only to be quickly wiped away.
