Supreme Magus

Chapter 4378: First Magic Rune (Part 2)

”He’s right.” Faluel pondered. ”Tier zero gravity magic does exist. Everyone in the Awakened community knows how to use it. Yet there is something that doesn’t add up. I’ve seen, learned, and practiced tiers four and five gravity magic myself.

”If dimensional magic’s lower tiers are gravity magic, then how can both disciplines have their own set of higher tiers?”

”The same way light magic does.” Tezka replied. ”In its basic form, light magic is about healing. Once it’s developed past tier three, you have two possible outcomes. Either you keep developing the healing side and achieve Body Sculpting, or you discover the offensive side and learn Light Mastery.

”Both disciplines employ the same element, but they work in two completely different ways. Gravity magic is our equivalent of healing magic, something that any mage can do as long as they possess the talent for it.

”Dimensional magic, instead, is akin to Light Mastery, an extreme application of its original discipline. Instead of conjuring hard-light constructs, however, it exerts enough strength to bend space and force the coordinates of two distant points to overlap.

”It’s the reason dimensional and gravity magic are two sides of the same coin. They share the same root, but develop in different directions.”

Friya and Faluel pondered his words for a while, his answer raising many more questions.

”If gravity magic is the ’easy’ branch, then how come very few people can use it whereas almost everyone can learn dimensional magic with enough time and effort?” Faluel asked.

”Because I could never figure out Eternity Magic and only worked to simplify Infinity Magic.” Tezka said with the first proud smile the two women had ever seen on his snout. ”Think about Light Mastery.

”From time to time there has always been a genius like Manohar who learned it by himself. The problem is that most of them kept it a secret or taught Light Mastery only to the members of their bloodline, as Wyverns and Griffons do.

”To make matters worse, geniuses are usually terrible teachers. Everything is obvious and comes natural to them, so they can’t relate to the struggles of those who lack their innate talent.

”A genius can leap from step 1 to 4 of a discipline without the need to understand 2 and 3. A normal person needs to master all steps, while the less talented need a series of exercises that work as step 2.1, 2.2, and so on, or they’ll never reach step 3.”

Suddenly Friya understood why Selia had taken months to complete the Loop spell that Friya had learned hours after mastering the proper multicasting technique.

”Light Mastery never spread because nobody bothered to simplify it for everyone, and the clans who know it don’t share it. Moreover, the Griffon and the Wyvern way to practice Light Mastery is so difficult that only those of sufficient talent among their members can learn it.

”Nelia tried to teach me, but emitting and controlling that much light element takes me too much effort. I could have learned it, but never mastered it as long as my cores are faulty.

”If the legends about Dawn are true, instead, she did for Light Mastery what I did for dimensional magic. She dumbed it down enough for children to learn it.”

”How does one do that?” Friya asked.

”I don’t know about Dawn, but this is what I did.” Tezka replied. ”First, I taught dimensional magic to the most talented members of my clan, and then tasked them to teach it to those slightly less talented than them.

”They had worked hard to fill the gaps in my explanations and could teach my subject better than I did. Then, when the students with second-rate talent learned dimensional magic as well, I had them teach it to the Fylgjas with third-rate talent, and so on.

”I followed every single class, learning from my own students the key points that I had overlooked because I considered them obvious and those I had missed because they were so easy for me that I hadn’t noticed they even existed.

”It took me decades, but thanks to those less talented than me, I was able to understand dimensional magic much better than when I created it. It allowed me to strengthen my foundations and reach even greater highs.

”At the same time, after compiling the data from all the different classes, I found the perfect teaching method for dimensional magic. It’s thanks to my relentless work that the Fylgja Clan became the Summoner Clan, and once they shared dimensional magic, everyone could learn it.”

’Dawn must have done the same.’ Friya recalled everything she knew about the Rezar clan and how the Horseman had used them as her unwitting test subjects. ’As a prisoner, she couldn’t practice light magic, so she developed a way to teach it to the Rezar.

’Then, once she escaped, she exterminated Nalrond’s clan because she knew that if one of them survived, she would have lost the exclusive on her best weapon.’

”If you are done with your questions, let’s get back to your lesson.” Tezka said, snapping Friya out of her daze. ”As I was saying, the second and final step to craft a dimensional crystal is to weave the six elemental streams into dimensional magic’s first rune.

”It’s the origin of all dimensional magic spells and its very foundation. Using it as your starting point allows you to conjure all other dimensional and gravity spells, no matter how complex.”

The Suneater focused on the white crystal in his hand, conjuring a prismatic vortex within it and then having the six elements merge into the deep purple of a perfect dimensional crystal.

”Could the same be done with Spirit Crystals?” Faluel asked, her seven sets of eyes brimming with greed. ”If one discovers the first magic rune for Spirit Magic, would it be possible to overcome the limitation of one Spirit Spell per artifact?”

”In theory, yes.” Tezka nodded. ”Yet I’ve never heard about anyone learning such a rune, and I failed to discover it as well. Before you ask, remember that I’m older than the Guardians, but I’ve lost my ability to use Spirit Magic millennia ago.

”If no Guardian ever did it...”

”It takes a special kind of talent.” Friya completed the phrase for him. ”I mean, history is full of things that the Guardians learned from mortals.”

”I was about to say, nobody can, but I like how you think.” Tezka laughed. ”The explanation is over. Get to work, or you won’t get anything done. We only have a few hours left before dinner.”

”Wait, you haven’t told us what the first magic rune for dimensional magic is.” Friya said. ”How are we supposed to weave it if we don’t know it?”

”That’s your new task, kid.” The Fylgja tutted. ”Showing you the rune would be spoon-feeding you knowledge. You would be done in minutes and learn nothing from this exercise.

”Letting you discover the rune on your own, instead, will teach you about dimensional magic more than I ever could.”

”I understand.” Friya nodded and turned to Faluel after noticing the Hydra’s confused expression. ”Think about it. Lith learned Light Mastery on his own by practicing light magic until he realized the hidden potential of its chore magic rune.”