Usually giving 2 or 3 will be enough. There are spells in that range which provide boosts. There are also equip items that can be built at those levels (after researching contruction to 2/4/6/8) and those items give boosts of 1 or 2 different magics. And of course there is empowerment.
So a mage with 3 air can create the Bag of Wind to get another notch of air magic (and a good battle summons). Then create the winged helm for another. This brings him to 5 in air. If you mention the level and which magic then we can give specific examples.
ALso since 2 or 3 tend to find the right sites thats another kindof closed loop. Lets say I have a pretender with 3air, 3nature, 3death; and I search my provinces. If I find alot of death sites giving me alot of gems then I might complain because I dont have the mages to make good use of it. But if Im getting too many death gems to use then I can use them to empower some mages to the level I need. So a Rainbow Pretender tactic would be to allow the sites, and gem income, decide what you need to make for best use.
I know some hate to play that way. They prefer plans and strategys laid out before the game. But personally I like making use of quirks that pop up.
edited: Type my answer and hit enter just to see there is already half a dozen good answers. OK Im going to start doing my answers in notepad. Then refreshing the thread. And then IF no one has already given a perfectly good answer THEN I will hit "Post Reply" and paste it in.
[ January 19, 2004, 16:59: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]