Supreme Magus

Chapter 4373: Wide Chasm (Part 1)

"First of all, I need you to drop the dimensional-sealing arrays of your lair, Faluel." Tezka replied. "I know it doesn’t sound like a smart move when dealing with an Eldritch, but you know we are here to practice dimensional magic, right?"

The Hydra clenched her jaw and whimpered, but did as bidden.

"Perfect. Now, we need three already cut white crystals." The Suneater said. "Size doesn’t matter for a beginner, but a novice won’t notice their progress if they use something too big. Crystals the size of an apple would be perfect."

Faluel closed her eyes and summoned three pristine white crystals from her treasury.

"Put down your crystals and pay attention to me. I’m about to give you a practical demonstration." Tezka said. "Crafting a dimensional crystal requires two steps. The first one is similar to what you do for elemental crystals, just much harder.

"Dimensional magic requires all six elements, so you must enhance all of them. You had the right idea, Friya, but applied it the wrong way. This is what you did."

Tezka turned the white crystal orange by isolating and amplifying the earth element. Then, he repeated the process with the air element, but only a few yellow streaks appeared across the gemstone.

"See? Two elements can’t coexist inside the same mana crystal. Enhancing more than one is not only useless, it’s also dangerous." He said. "There is only so much world energy that a mana crystal can store at full capacity.

"Even if I could somehow make all six elements coexist at the same time inside a crystal, they would only have access to one-sixth of the total world energy.

"As you know, weaving a dimensional spell requires a delicate balance that changes according to factors like the distance you need to travel, the size of the dimensional passage you want to open, and even your current environment.

"Blinking amid a storm requires little water and air elements, but a lot of earth element. In such a situation, one-sixth of the world energy would not contain enough earth element to Blink, making your dimensional crystal useless.

"On top of that, once isolated inside a mana crystal, an element becomes unable to interact with other elements. Otherwise, mages specialized in a specific branch of magic would use what I call combination crystals.

"For example, a Light Master like Dawn would craft light and fire crystals to fuel the enchantments of her equipment, would she not?"

"I hadn’t thought of that." Friya admitted. "Why dangerous, though?"

"Look closely." Tezka extended his hand towards her. "I’ve amplified only two elements to the same degree, yet this is the result."

Friya could feel the heat radiating from the conflicting energies. The air steamed near the crystal, and its facets quivered uncontrollably despite the Suneater’s firm grip.

"Faluel?" The Hydra had been so engrossed in the potential of the hypothetical combination crystals that she had spaced out for a moment.

She leaned in closer, admiring Tezka’s handiwork despite his failure.

’I’ve never managed to do something like this.’ She thought. ’A failed elemental crystal is supposed to revert to white, yet Tezka’s mastery over the elements is so great that he can bend the world energy contained in a mana crystal to his will until it cracks.’

"I see." She nodded. "But I still don’t understand how this is supposed to work. You just said that dimensional magic requires six elements, and then that you can’t enhance more than one. Isn’t that a contradiction?"

’What if it’s something akin to the white crystals on Solus’ Fury, Master Faluel?’ Friya asked via the mind link. ’They can turn into all kinds of elemental crystals, but they can still enhance only one element at a time.’

’That’s one of Salaark’s secrets and one I doubt she’d like you to mention to one of her fiercest rivals.’ Faluel replied. ’Keep it to yourself.’

’But Bytra and Xenagrosh know about them already.’ Friya countered.

’Yeah, just like they know that Solus is Epphy and Lith owns Ripha’s tower.’ The Hydra snorted. ’Yet they kept both pieces of information secret from the Organization. Don’t let your admiration for Tezka blind you to his real nature.

’He’s great with kids and kind to you, but he’s also a monster who could slaughter the entire Kingdom while laughing at his own quips.’

"That’s because it is a contradiction." Tezka replied, snapping the two women out of their secret conversation. "I said that crafting a dimensional and an elemental crystal are similar procedures, not that they are identical.

"To craft an elemental crystal, you have to isolate and enhance one element as I’ve just shown you." He let the earth and air elements disperse, and the crystal returned to normal.

"To craft a dimensional crystal, instead, you have to enhance all six elements without isolating them. Like this." Tezka’s hand was still extended, so Friya and Faluel noticed immediately when the white of the crystal fractured into a prismatic vortex.

The six different colors ebbed and flowed, growing weaker and stronger but never fully disappearing. Tezka had the crystal turn almost completely into each elemental color, but the other five always remained as radiant shooting stars.

He needed but a thought to spread them across the crystal’s facets or compress them into points of light at will.

"What? How?" They said in unison, and they would have done it even without the blood bond they shared.

"Later, kids. Let me finish." Tezka tutted. "This is just the first step of crafting a dimensional crystal. As it is, it’s useless. The elements are scattered, making it worse than a regular violet crystal.

"If you embossed this in a weapon or armor, its enchantments would become unstable. As I said, dimensional magic needs all six elements, but it’s not an element in itself.

"To obtain a dimensional crystal, you must harness the six elements, and weave them together into something greater than the sum of its single parts. The result must be a dimensional spell that has no shape or form.

"A blank canvas that the dimensional enchantments of your equipment can use to paint the spells they contain, no matter how different their effects are. If you do it right, you obtain this!" The six colors merged into a deep purple that was too dark to be a violet crystal.

Friya stared into her own reflection, noticing how deceptive the appearance of the dimensional crystal was. The purple surface seemed placid, but she could feel the six elements churning underneath in violent currents.

They were stable, but not inert. They twisted, clashed, and mixed non-stop, like soldiers engaged in a furious battle. The stillness of the energy stored within the dimensional crystal was only apparent.

It was Tezka’s will and mastery that brought order and harmony where otherwise there would be chaos and conflict.

"This is what you obtain once you complete the second step, kids." The Suneater said. "A crystal that holds the power of a dimensional fissure that has no destination, forever on the verge of opening yet never truly forming.

"Make it explode, and it will bend the space to create a passage to a known place, fueling any dimensional spell you can conjure.