Supreme Magus

Chapter 4375: Anchor Points (Part 1)

Friya, instead, had grown to admire the Suneater more than she feared him.

"May I ask you how you’ve spent your time while we trained, Elder?" Thanks to the many defensive arrays of her home, Faluel detected a slight change in the Fylgja’s aura that she would have missed otherwise.

"I must apologize to Xenagrosh when I return home. I expected she had shared the news of my recent breakthrough with Lith, and he had done the same with you." He half-smiled as he furrowed his brow. "Fine, I’ll tell you since at this point it is no secret.

"As you can see, I made progress in merging my life forces, but it was just one step forward. I have a long way to go before achieving significant changes in my condition. That’s why I have to circulate my life forces often."

"Is that even possible?" Friya asked in confusion.

"It is, but it’s also completely pointless for a healthy individual like you or a natural hybrid like Lith was." The Suneater nodded. "His multiple life forces only needed a vessel strong enough to contain them before reaching their final state.

"Mine, instead, clash a lot, and need to develop a resistance to each other before they can fuse into one. It’s the reason I created a breathing technique that allows me to stimulate my life forces to exchange energy slightly below their current tolerance level."

"That’s... amazing." Faluel said, yet if Tezka weren’t standing right before her, she would have said terrifying.

’It’s not just his life forces that have improved.’ She thought. ’My arrays detect a minuscule but definite increase in his Spirit Magic readings. What will happen when Tezka recovers the seventh element? How powerful will he become?’

"Could your breathing technique be useful to Lith, Solus, and all the evolved humans whose mana organs are atrophied?" Friya asked.

"Maybe." The Suneater rubbed his chin. "I’m not sure, but I can’t afford to share it. It would reveal too many details of my current research."

"I would never ask you to share it." Friya raised her hands in apology. "I was just curious."

"Still, you got your answer." Tezka replied. "Let’s go home. It’s almost dinnertime, and I never miss a meal with the kids."

The Vastors returned home as soon as Tezka arrived. Friya and Faluel remained as vague as possible about the content of their lesson, explaining just enough to vent about how difficult it was.

"No offense, but if crafting dimensional crystals was easy, finding one wouldn’t be such a big deal." Solus said. "This only proves how lucky you are to have a skilled mentor to guide you."

"I guess you are right." Faluel sighed. "Please, make no mention of this in front of my mother. The more she understands how precious the knowledge our Hydra bloodline is missing out on is, the more she is going to suffer."

She turned to Friya, her left eye slightly twitching with envy.

"I’m so proud of you, pumpkin." Orion laughed with joy. "Between my new Crystalshaping technique and your dimensional magic, your cadet branch of the Ernas household will have a proper legacy of its own."

"Only because I found two generous masters willing to bestow their knowledge upon me, Dad. Thank you for everything you’re doing for Nalrond and my unborn children." She replied, holding his hand.

"Don’t mention it, sweetie."

Those words stabbed deeply at Quylla’s pride, who belonged to a cadet branch as well but had nothing aside from the bloodline abilities from her husband’s side.

’Shut up and smile.’ She thought. ’This is Friya’s moment. Don’t ruin it by being an insufferable, envious prick.’

"Too bad about the breathing technique." Lith said after the discussion about Friya’s lesson had run its course. "Solus could use it to help her life forces to merge and stimulate her atrophied mana organs. Luckily for us, it’s no big loss."

"What do you mean?" Tista asked.

"We’ve already learned how to do it the Indech way with Ryla’s help." Lith shrugged. "Once Solus masters the various skills and exercises we have developed, she will catch up with us in no time."

"Also, if the Sage Staff can help me as it did in Teneb’s stronghold, I’ll progress by leaps and bounds. It’s just a matter of patience." Solus was referring to her life force healing as the tower rebuilt itself, and everyone understood it.

"When is your next lesson?" Aran asked.

"Tomorrow." Friya whined.

***

Tezka arrived with the Vastors at dawn, giving Friya an early wake-up call. She had barely time for a quick breakfast before leaving for Faluel’s lair.

"Be nice, and don’t stray out of the Mansion’s arrays." Tezka said to the kids and Zinya. "Don’t be rude to our hosts and practice the training spells I taught you diligently. And remember, no sharing!"

"Yes, Uncle/Dad." The Vastors replied.

Filia and Frey considered Tezka their best friend, while Zinya couldn’t help but consider him a father figure.

"Good. Let’s go, Friya." The Suneater said.

At the end of the second day, Faluel managed to harness four elements at once, and so did Friya.

"This is not fair!" The Hydra grumbled. "How is this possible?"

"Your centuries of experience don’t mean much because only a few notions among those you’ve acquired over the years overlap with this discipline." Tezka replied. "That gave you an early advantage, but Friya’s experience and talent as a dimensional mage have already filled that gap.

"Her bond with you makes you an artificial dimensional mage, but your talent is your own. You need to cultivate it as you did with any other skill you’ve already mastered."

"I understand. Thank you, Elder Tezka." Faluel said.

"Speaking about your bond, I know little about how having a Harbinger works, but let me be clear. You are not allowed to share anything you learn with each other. Success or failure, it must be your own.

"Shut down your mind link, blood bond, or whatever that is. If you don’t, you’ll succeed faster, but your understanding will remain shallow, and you might miss an enlightenment that you would have otherwise experienced."

"Yes, Master/Elder Tezka." The two women gave him a deep bow, struggling to repress their smiles.

’It’s exactly what I/Faluel said to Lith and Solus during their- What are you doing here? Get out of my head!’ The closer physically and emotionally Faluel and Friya were, the harder keeping their minds isolated became.

"Whatever that was, I hope you haven’t just defied my orders." Tezka snarled as he saw the two women jumping up and exchanging glares.

"We didn’t." They said in unison, giving themselves the creeps. "It’s just-"

"Shut up and focus on your telepathic defenses." He cut them short. "The dam is broken, and you are in synch. Rebuild it before your minds mix to the point you don’t know where one of you ends and the other begins."

Faluel and Friya followed his advice and erected sturdy telepathic defenses before another single stray thought crossed their minds.

"From tomorrow onwards, I expect you to devote one of your seven heads to keep the connection between you two closed. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Master/ Elder Tezka."

By the end of the third day, Friya managed to harness all six elements and Faluel only five.