Supreme Magus

Chapter 4410: Dualistic Nature (Part 2)

"Even if I fail to regain control of my experiment, I can perform multiple attempts to fix the situation and get an idea of what works and what doesn’t before the wild mana blows up in my face.

"It would save me a lot of time, especially if I come here and borrow the Eyes." The Maiden said.

"That’s a great idea, yet I’m a bit disappointed by the array." Lith used a stick of ice to push a glass of water inside the magical formation, yet no ice formed. "Regular Zero freezes both matter and energy."

"Yeah, but that’s a single, focused blast, whereas this is still a tier one spell spread over a large area." Solus pointed out. "Also, what would be the point of affecting both? You couldn’t do anything without you or your magic freezing over."

"Kill, or at least trap an enemy without their allies being able to save them." Lith replied. "That would be great against enemies who tend to run away like Meln."

"Let me try again, then." Baba Yaga dispelled the first array and conjured another that froze the glass and its contents the moment it formed.

She shot a few water bubbles, and they turned into ice as well, but being made of mana, she could move them freely and recall them without effort.

"I don’t know if it’s because of tier one or if it’s the nature of Zero arrays, but I meant to affect everything." She tried with the other elements, and none of those without a physical component suffered any change.

Earth spells became covered in ice, but their movement speed was the same as always. She then tried using tier two and three Dread spells, but to no avail.

"Nothing." The Maiden said. "I can only have the Zero target matter or mana, not both. Maybe I could succeed if I double cast Zero into an array with two effects, but that would require tier four and with a double Dread element at that."

"Forget about it for now." Lith shook his head. "You focus on studying Dread arrays while the Lodestar still works. I have something I want to try."

He left the Maiden in the Firing Range while he and Solus returned to the bottom floor of the tower.

He conjured the Jerak rune in his left hand and the Iratho rune in his right, trying to change one into the other.

’Do you think it’s really possible to apply Void Magic to Dread Magic?’ Solus asked as soon as he stabilized the Cursed elements and took a break to revise his findings.

’Normally, I’d say no.’ Lith replied. ’Void Magic requires turning an element into its counterpart through the connection they share with the world energy and reversing the sign of the energy at play.

’Cursed elements have not only the connection with their counterpart severed, but they are also polar opposites to each other.

’If turning fire into ice is like pushing the brakes to slow down your car until you can go in reverse, turning Cinder into Zero should be like grabbing a rocket in mid-air, turning it upside-down, and hoping it doesn’t explode in your face.’

’Either you don’t have the strength to stop the rocket, and it rips your arm off, or you do, and your grip destroys the rocket.’ Solus inwardly nodded. ’That’s what I thought.’

’I thought that too, but then I remembered something.’ Lith used a partial mind fusion to replay the events of his audience with Mogar in the Fringe down to the smallest detail.

Lith focused on the part when his own corrupted version used a blue kind of magic.

’I asked Mogar to show me how to tap into Void Magic’s full potential, but back then we hadn’t completed the upper tiers of Void Magic and had yet to discover the existence of Dread Magic.’

’You are right.’ Solus’ eyes went wide in understanding. ’Whatever that deep blue magic was, it had uncanny destructive power that closely resembles Dread Magic. Yet it formed from the combination of the six elements with Spirit Magic. What can that possibly mean?’

’No clue.’ Lith shrugged. ’The only thing I know is that there is some kind of eight element and Void Magic applies to it. Mogar never lied to us. She only gave us clues in the form of riddles.

’After experimenting with Dread Magic and getting hurt by it whenever I failed, I’m confident that deep blue energy was Void Magic applied to the Cursed Elements. I came back here with the hope that the Lodestar can help me figure out how the two disciplines are connected.’

’I wish I could help you, but my life force doesn’t contain Cursed Elements, and I have no innate understanding of it.’ Solus sighed.

***

By lunchtime, Baba Yaga had confirmed the effects of arrays woven from one Dread Element, but had yet to find a way to conjure a magical formation without giving her enemy plenty of time to leave its area of effect.

’The little bastards are too fast.’ She inwardly grumbled. ’I think Epphy’s method is not suited to cast an array. I have to train more to withstand the number of Dread runes that conjuring a proper tier four magical formation required.’

She had to walk down the stairs to the Lodestar since the tower needed every bit of world energy to keep the floor active for as long as possible.

"What in the gods’ names are you doing?" She walked through the door as Lith fired a stream of Zero into another of Cinder.

His red and blue eyes burned like torches, and his willpower filled the world energy in the room to the point that she could feel it crawl along her skin. Yet judging from the disgruntled expression on his face, things weren’t going his way.

"Failing with style." Lith pointed at the puddle of steaming water formed by the conflicting spells.

A brief explanation later, Baba Yaga was up to speed and completely baffled.

"The idea sounds interesting, yet I don’t see that happening." She said.

"Was Mogar lying then?" Lith asked.

"No. That’s impossible." The Maiden shook her head. "Mogar never lies. She has no need to. At most she ignores your questions."

"Then there must be a way." Lith pointed out. "Do you have any idea what that multi-elemental stream combined with Spirit Magic might mean?"

"Vaguely." She took a chair out of her omni pocket and sat down. "First of all, I suggest you reconsider your training method. Void Magic requires a high degree of mastery over the elements, and you are just a beginner in Dread Magic.

"Yet you are trying to manipulate four Cursed Elements at the same time. You are trying to switch the Zero and Cinder you are firing at each other while also manipulating their scattered counterparts to protect yourself.

"That’s tier five Void Magic, and you don’t even know how to apply it to tier one Dread Magic. In your shoes, I’d use Dread Magic’s dualistic nature to my advantage. Switching a Cursed Element with its scattered counterpart is the simplest Void Magic exercise you can try.

"If you can’t do that, you’d better wait until we reach a deeper understanding of Dread Magic before trying again."