2445 Pride and Admiration (Part 1)

'A more proper explanation would require teaching them covalent bonds as well as ionic bonds, but I don't have the means to prove their existence to the class nor the time to deal with the consequences that such revelation would cause.

'I can't explain to them that earth generates a magnetic field while air creates an electric one and that is by manipulating the resulting electromagnetic field that you use Void Magic.

'If I drown them in complex, foreign notions I'd just make things even more confusing. I only need to push the academies toward developing technology alongside magic and sooner or later they'll get there on their own.

'Their talent for magic gives Mogarians an instinctive understanding of the natural forces, they just put them all together under the word magic. Once they start asking themselves the right questions, the rest will come easy.' Lith actually thought.

Another wave of his hand split the mist into magnetite dust and pulverized ore, sending them back into their respective bags.

Alama gaped at Lith, the feelings of rage and humiliation replaced by deep admiration.

"How did you do that? Was that Void Magic?" The Headmaster stuttered every word but he was too excited to care.

"No, they were just first magic spells of earth and air." Lith shook his head. "Void Magic is doing what you have just witnessed on regular mud, earth, and rocks. Also, it allows you to conjure earth even when apparently there is none."

Lith took the ore and the magnetite out of his pocket dimension one at a time, giving a practical demonstration and generating bolts of lightning from each one of them.

After that, he put them away again and generated a powerful electromagnetic field that collected the dust, dirt, and residues from all around the classroom, generating a sphere of earth apparently out of thin air.

"Like this."

"Can you please give me those sandbags again?" Alama asked, his tone excited like a child on his birthday.

"I can but I won't." Lith replied. "That's the final exercise that you have to complete before moving on to Void Magic. Today, you have to start from the basics. Detach the magnet fragments from the metal plates using only first magic.

"The first step is splitting them in one go. It will give you an understanding of the forces you have to manipulate. The second step will be taking the fragments away one at a time. It requires not only understanding but also fine control.

"Only when you manage to do that we'll move on to the last step. Learning how to manipulate the forces between multiple objects with fine control and amplify the interactions between them at will."

"Do we all have to start from the earth element as well?" Archmage Lema, Headmaster of the Fire Griffon asked.

"No need." Lith shook his head. "I've prepared exercises for all three pairs of elements in order to guide you step by step toward Void Magic. You can start from whichever you like."

"I'd like to start with fire and ice." Lema said and the Headmaster of the Crystal Griffon nodded along with everyone with red or blue streaks in their hair.

"Easy enough." A flash from Lith's professor ring made several glasses of water appear on their desks. "Your first step is to learn to distinguish between cause and effect.

"Heat and cold are two sides of the same coin. They are comprised of the same energy, the only difference between them is the direction in which they move. Heat is up."

The water boiled into steam despite the distance and without producing any flame.

"Cold is down." The mist suddenly froze in thin ice that fell down on the desk, shattering. "Start by heating and cooling the water from a distance. If a flame appears or ice forms, you have failed and have to start over.

"Another important point is that you mustn't change the temperature anywhere between you and the glass. That counts as a failure as well."

"What about light and darkness?" Headmaster Distar, Brinja's husband and head of the Black Griffon asked, quickly followed by Marth and Vastor.

"That's actually much more complicated." Lith sighed. "It would be simpler if you were Light Masters, but since that's not part of my deal and I'm saving it for my legacy, I had to get creative."

This time he needed the help of an assistant to bring to the center of the classroom what looked like an empty fish tank.

"Do you know the saying: you can't catch a fish in clear waters?" He asked.

"Yes." A male student stood up to answer the question. "It means that even being too clean is a problem. Muddy waters mean that algae grow there and that there are fish in the area who can feed on them or on other fish.

"If the water is crystal clear, then there is no local flora or fauna. It looks nice, but it's actually dead."

"Correct." Lith clapped at the student. "That's because life is dirty. You need to eat, sweat, change your old skin, shed blood when you fight, and of course, empty your intestines and bladder to make space for your next meal. What goes in has to go out.

"This stands not only for humans, but also for fish, plants, fungi, and even the smaller beings. Life is constant change and the by-products of change are what we call waste." Lith dropped powdered dried food in the tank and used a basic light spell.

The water started to get muddy, as if something was growing but no matter how hard the students looked, the tanks seemed empty.

"Death, instead, is static. Once you die, you have no more needs. Your flesh becomes food or fertilizer until only your bones remain. In time, something will feed on them as well and nothing of you will remain.

"I know what you are about to say. Once someone dies, they start to rot and insects lay their eggs, but that's not change. It's just the now dead flesh being devoured by fungi and bacteria.

"Once we die, we just became part of the life cycle of other creatures that cause the change. Some of them are very small, like the ones in this tank." A spark of darkness magic and suddenly the water cleared.

"For those who want to learn Void Magic about light and darkness, your first step is to learn how to feel the flow of life with light magic and how to stop it with darkness.

"Light magic heals because it nurtures and amplifies the energy of the living, that's why it doesn't work on corpses and relies on the life forces of our patients. Darkness magic kills because it brings that very same energy to a halt.

"In a way, it gives a taste of death. By using them both to control the growth rate of the small organisms in this tank, you'll discover that once again, they are the same force. Yet while light accelerates, darkness stops.

"It's different from water magic because water slows down, darkness aims to put an end to the movement. Forever." Lith took a brief pause to let them understand how deep the difference was.