'Twas a bug now fixed in 0.8.4. Increase casting gives +0.5 every level, meaning a SUCCESSFULLY CAST level 8 should give +4 in a random spell sphere. The only exception to the rule is the level 1 spell, which considers 0.5 a full +1 (meaning level 1 and level 2 would give an increase of only +1).
Topic closed.