Magic Level

Magic Level is a measurement of the player's strength as a mage in Ars Magica 2(AM2). It is display as a numeric value between the player's health and hunger bar, by default it's always visible but can be hidden by using the command /amuicfg and changing the value of Minimal Hud to No. Keep in mind that doing so will also hide your Mana, and Burnout bar and Affinity meter - these, including AM2's XP bar and Magic Level icon, can be moved around in the amucfg window.

The player's Mana and Burnout pool is determinate by their Magic Level, a higher level results in a greater pool allowing for more powerful spells casting or more spell casting in general. Additionally, if the player possess the Mage Posse talent and a high enough Magic Level then Light Mages will agree to become their partner - aiding them during battle and lending out extra Mana for them to used.

Gaining Magic Level
Obtaining the Arcane Compendium will allow you to reach a Magic Level of 1. To reach level 2 and beyond, experience will need to be gain by successfully casting spells. A spell is successful when one or more of it's component(s) is properly used - Eg: a projectile spell with the component Blind will only grant experience if it was able to apply the blindness effect to its target but if it contains the Dig component then even if it's cast into the ground (Dirt cannot be blinded) experience will still be granted as Dig was successfully activated.

The remaining experience needed for the next level can be seen in AM2's XP bar located above the Magic Level icon, by default it's hidden but can be reveal when the player gains experience form spell casting or using the command /amuicfg and changing the value of XP Always Visibe to Yes. The XP bar can be moved around in the amucfg window.