Supreme Magus

"What the heck?" Friya blurted out.

"As I said, pure mana. To affect something, most of its strength is focused on its point, making the tendril just a conduit. An impact strong enough can cut the tendril and any kind of foreign mana disrupts Spirit Magic in its first magic form.

"Potions, spells that make you emit an aura like Full Guard, fusion magic, all of them make Spirit Magic a complete waste of mana. If not for it being invisible and effective on non-magical creatures, one might think that Spirit Magic is useless.

"Yet they couldn't be farther from the truth." Faluel recalled the tendrils, using them to form a translucent emerald barrier around herself. "Feel free to attack me as you like."

Each one of her students cast a tier three spell of a different element and threw it against the barrier. Instead of just hitting it as they expected, the spherical barrier was actually spinning on itself, capturing the spells and sending them back to their caster.

"I could have easily used your spells against someone else, but my aim is to teach you, not to harm you. Spirit Magic can resemble Light Mastery at a first glance, but they are very different.

"Spirit Magic is as fast as air magic, as sturdy as earth magic, it can shapeshift like hard-light constructs, but it has none of the limitations of the other elements. Its greatest downside is the huge mana expenditure it requires due to not using any elemental energy. Any question?" Faluel said.

"I thought you would teach me Spirit Magic only after we completed Healing Magic and Forgemastering. What made you change your mind?" Lith said.

"Nothing. That's still the plan. What I'm going to teach you today is not like to weave Spirit Magic spells, but how to add Spirit Magic to your tier four and five spells like you would with any other element." Faluel replied.

"What? Are you saying that Spirit Magic is actually the seventh element?" The entirety of the class was flabbergasted and the non-Awakened felt envy eating at them from the inside.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. That's why Awakened consider themselves superior to everyone else. We are the only ones who can use the seventh element. Not the Abominations, not the children of the Guardians, not even the greatest genius can use it.

"I'm sorry, but that's the truth." Faluel gave them a few seconds to let the news sink in until their wounded pride stopped being the only voice they heard.

"Even in its first magic form, Spirit Magic can be mixed with the elements to create new effects. If used in combination with light magic, it becomes a new limb that overcomes the short range of both healing and diagnostic spells."

All those who had witnessed Faluel treating Rena's unborn child finally understood what had happened.

"If used with darkness or earth magic, it makes them faster and easier to manipulate." Faluel flicked her wrist, shooting a sphere of darkness as fast as a bullet that was the size of a marble.

It dug deep in the rock wall thanks to the darkness energy being focused on a single point instead of being spread over a huge mass. Then, Faluel raised her hands, conjuring six rocks the size of an adult man that struck at her students.

Despite their speed, Lith and Phloria managed to dodge it while Nalrond conjured a hard-light construct to defend himself. Unfortunately for them, the shooting stars shapeshifted into chains and changed their trajectory to follow their respective marks or get around their defenses.

"What the heck?" Even though he was using Fusion Magic to boost his enhanced body, Lith wasn't able to break free from the chains.

"As I said, easier to manipulate. By adding kinetic energy to an element, Spirit Magic allows us to dramatically alter the effects of common spells. By adding Spirit Magic, water not only pierces its target, but it can also hit like a blunt weapon.

"Fire magic can use the same principle to strengthen the shockwaves it produces, making the explosion more dangerous than the flames themselves while air magic can add the pressure from the mana to its own and repel almost all kinds of attacks.

"Remember that those are just examples. I'm not going to teach you my spells, only how to defend against Spirit Magic and how to mix with the other six elements." Faluel said.

"Wait a second." Quylla took out her Royal Forgemaster wand and made a thin silvery mist came out of its tip.

She closed her eyes to remember everything Faluel had done and produced six silvery tendrils. One for each of her classmates and another for the Hydra.

"Something like this?"

"Great Mother almighty!" Faluel recognized at first touch Spirit Magic despite its unusual color and it being unnaturally visible to the naked eye. "Where did you get that wand?"

"All Royal Forgemasters have one. They use it to safely interact with unknown enchanted items from a distance, cast their Forgemastering spells, and activate unknown magical formations." Quylla said.

"I knew the wand had to work on Spirit Magic because I used it against Mage Slayers to project my spells without touching them. Maybe it's not just limited to Forgemastering spells, but I could use it with all elements."

"First, remember your oath. If you divulge any of what I'm teaching you, we'll become enemies." Faluel's eyes were reduced to fiery slits brimming with mana.

She had never expected that fake mages would come so close to one of the Awakened community's most prized secrets. Yet her rage lasted only for the time she needed to see the huge silver lining in the matter.

"Second, I advise against it. Generating a strand of mana is one thing, but using enough to empower a spell might kill you. Unlike Awakened, you need a set of runes to draw mana from your core. Runes that no one researched for Spirit Magic.

"The wand takes one of your hands increasing your cast time and even if you managed to use Spirit Magic in battle, the strain on your body would be too much. You have no mana flow to temper your body nor can you perceive your core's conditions.

"One mistake and you'll deplete your mana and die."

"It's still worth a shot." Quylla replied. "I find it amazing to have finally discovered a field of magic where no other mage has ever set foot. Secrecy is no issue, you have my word.

"I'll work on the runes in my own free time."

"Count on me, sister." Friya took her own wand out of her dimensional amulet.

She was no Forgemaster, but Orion felt bad leaving her out when he had gifted the Wands to his daughters. Until that moment, Friya had only considered it a cute trinket that proved how much her adoptive family loved her, but now it had gained a purpose.

"What about me?" Nalrond said, feeling left out.

"I'm sorry, kid, but I can't make those things and I doubt Quylla will let me study it." Faluel shook her head.

"No way. I won't share my Kingdom's secrets with you just like I will not share yours. My Dad's life is on the line. By now everyone probably knows that my sisters and I have followed Lith, so if Faluel starts making silver wands, he'll be held responsible." Quylla replied.