Mages – their development.

2 Salomon, Chaos magic is very useful. An explosion combined with the Mark spell is a death sentence for enemies. It won't surpass Shadow League, of course, but it will be very close. As for whether Light magic is needed here, I'm not sure. In general, Light is needed for warriors when the hero moves less often, and the troops should move more often. But for mages, on the contrary, Darkness is more useful, so that the hero moves more often than the enemy's troops, because he is the main force.

2 Alan, I have a completely different opinion. When playing as an Academician, especially against a strong opponent, I generally don't have the opportunity to cast Explosion during a battle, because the damage that Explosion deals, even with a spell power of 20-25, is not comparable to the role that Summoning magic plays (Phoenix, Phantom, Elementals, Reanimate Dead, etc.). Light magic (General's Blessing, Anti-Magic, Resurrection) can also be useful. So, in my opinion, it's not worth leveling up House magic for Academicians at all, because during a battle, you rarely have time for it, as sometimes you have to cast Phoenix every time, because the opponent uses Banish. And Light magic will not affect the hero's "initiative" in any way, because Academicians have Sorcery leveled up.