Supreme Magus

Chapter 4414: Mental Projection (Part 2)

’What do you say if we use Friya’s method?’ Menadion asked. ’She told us that the key to crafting a dimensional crystal was understanding when she was on the wrong path and looking for the right one.’

Friya had glossed over any important detail of the Suneater’s lessons, but she had shared the struggles that had led her to enlightenment with her friends.

’It’s a good idea.’ Solus nodded. ’Take a break and come here, Lith. Let’s watch Mogar’s answer again with the assumption that everything you’ve done so far is wrong. We need to look for a new path that fits everything we’ve learned about Dread and Void Magic.’

’I’m ready when you are.’ Mind links were fast by nature, and Lith’s interaction with his shadow-self had lasted barely a second before he was forced to retreat.

In a single minute, Lith and Solus studied the fight a thousand times and from every possible angle.

’Dammit, I wish I attempted to get close to that thing more than once.’ Lith snorted. ’We’ve watched that spell until we’re sick of it, yet we haven’t found a single clue about how to replicate it.’

’I wouldn’t be so sure.’ Solus replayed the memory one last time. ’Look at the sequence of the events. The Void Demon Dragon attacked you with the six elements, then he recalled them and merged them into Spirit Magic, and lastly, he switched Spirit Magic with that deep blue energy.

’Since your question was about how to reach Void Magic’s full potential, we can assume that the first part of the attack was either a Tower Tier spell or an application of the technique Grandma showed us.’

Salaark had mastered Void Magic to the point of being also able to control the elemental energies released by the effect of a spell. A fireball would release a flash of light and a shockwave upon exploding, allowing the Overlord to weave all six elements in a new spell with Void Magic.

’The second part is easy to understand. We did the same thing during our apprenticeship under Faluel while learning how to isolate the single elements in Spirit Magic.’

’I remember.’ Lith nodded. ’We combined six elemental streams of equal intensity and injected a spark of life force into them to obtain Spirit Magic. We couldn’t do it without the Hands, though.’

’If I’m right, that’s not an issue.’ Solus replied. ’Mogar showed you the extreme form of Void Magic. What you would achieve when you have complete mastery over all the elements, including those generated by Dread Magic.

’Which leads us to the final part.’ She froze the image at the emerald turning deep blue. ’The sequence is clear. Elemental energy, Spirit Magic, and then whatever that is. According to Mogar, you can’t obtain that blue energy without adding Spirit Magic to the mix first.’

’And how is that-’ Lith stopped talking and started thinking.

Menadion was eager to know what he might have understood from the Solus’ observation, but she knew how dangerous interrupting a mage on the brink of a breakthrough was.

’Answering my question would take him a few seconds, but it might also cost him countless hours of work just to reach this same point again.’ She thought.

’What if this is just a variation of what I did to obtain tier four Dread Magic spells?’ Lith said to himself as he conjured the Bazek rune in his right hand and a stream of emerald energy in the right.

’Maybe I lack the skill to apply Void Magic to Dread Magic in a single step, but what if I split the process into smaller, controlled steps?’

He amplified the earth and air aspects in the Spirit Magic to the extreme, feeling a slight pull at the Choke and Corruption energy in his right hand. At that point, Lith stabilized all three elements with Domination to ensure that not one iota of mana would move without his permission.

He placed the air and earth aspects in the Spirit Magic at opposite sides of the elemental stream, so that the other four would work as a buffer. Choke entered from the left side of the Spirit stream and fed on the earth aspect, while Corruption entered from the left and attacked the air aspect.

Part of the Cursed Elements reverted to normal while an equal amount of the elemental aspects turned into their Cursed counterpart. Still, Lith kept the Spirit Magic balanced by letting the newly formed Dread elements neutralize each other.

The inner layer formed by the other four elements slowed down the process and allowed Lith to force the Dread Elements to form and disappear at a pace he could follow.

The Choke and the scattered Corruption entered the emerald stream of Spirit Magic, painting it deep blue. Lith had no idea what its effects would be and no time to program the Firing Range properly.

He opened a Warp Steps as far away from the tower as he could and released the blue mass of energy where it wouldn’t hurt Solus.

The explosion that ensued generated a noise that could be heard for over a kilometer and a shockwave that shook the treetops of the north side of the Trawn woods so hard that not a single speck of snow was left.

"That’s it?" Since Baba Yaga’s focus was already broken, she assessed the destructive power of Lith’s spell before starting over. "I expected more. Any tier three spell worth its name can do as much, if not even better."

"I know." Lith nodded. "And I would agree with you, if I had used a tier three spell instead of chore magic."

"That was chore magic?" The Maiden’s eyes went wide in shock. "I stand corrected. That was amazing."

"Thanks, but it was also very volatile. I had to throw it away in a rush, or it would have exploded in my face." Lith replied. "Moreover, I have no idea how two chore magic spells could unleash such a destructive power.

"Do you mind taking a look at my memories and giving me a second opinion?" He offered his hand to Baba Yaga, and she took it.

Solus and Menadion had already reviewed the images several times, but having only theoretical knowledge of Dread Magic, there was only so much they could understand.

"I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the same elemental layers you used as a buffer to buy yourself enough time to use Void Magic are responsible for the explosion." She said after a while.

"Once you let go of the spell, Corruption and Choke flowed into each other faster and faster until the balance of Spirit Magic collapsed. The barrier formed by the life force fell apart, letting the six elements interact with one another in an uncontrolled way.

"Congratulations, Lith. Based on what Mogar said, you’ve just cast your first tier six Void Magic spell. The mix of one Cursed Element and its counterpart with the other four regular elements."

"Tier six?" Lith frowned. "Do you think there’s also a tier seven?"

"If you can perform a tier five Dread Magic spell with two Cursed elements, then yes. Otherwise, no." Baba Yaga said.