Supreme Magus

Faluel pointed at how Tista's body was just enveloped by a cyan aura that pulsed rhythmically, whereas Lith's mana flow was a maelstrom full of vortexes that never clashed with each other.

"Fake mages can have cores of all colors, whereas blue is the cap for most Awakened. The breakthrough to violet doesn't happen naturally and must be induced by the mage.

"The vortexes are the sign that Lith is no longer limited to absorb world energy through his core, but also through the rest of his body.

"An Awakened violet core is formed when each of those vortexes merges with the blue core, creating a power on a completely different scale." Faluel said.

'The vortexes must be related to my organs almost achieving a core of their own during the breakthrough.' Lith inwardly cursed at Invigoration's inability to reveal them.

'Right now, they are just like Adamant that only draws the world energy while the violet core probably requires my organs to become like Davross, capable of also storing it.'

"Wait, so are non-Awakened more powerful since they don't have such a cap, or is an Awakened violet core superior since it's more difficult to achieve?" Quylla asked.

"It's more accurate to say that non-Awakened violet cored individuals are more common, since they just need to be blessed by talent, but the power is actually the same. A violet core is always violet, no matter how you got it.

"The difference is that an Awakened with a violet core has a body comparable to your legendary heroes. They can recover both their physical and magical strength at a rate non-Awakened can only dream of, making them virtually unstoppable." Faluel replied.

"How do you achieve a violet core?" Tista asked.

"It's only possible when mind, body, and mana are in perfect synch. Up to the blue core, you only need to refine your body and lower the resistance it offers to the mana flow by removing impurities.

"A purple core, however, requires that even the mind must not be a hindrance. Using magic must become akin to breathing to you. Moving a finger or casting a spell should require you the same focus.

"You need to deepen your understanding about the nature of magic until you make it flow instead of letting it flow. To give you a clear example, an Awakened achieves a violet core when become akin to a Mage Slayer.

"Fake mages, like Quylla, need chants and hand signs to weave magic, true mages, like Nalrond or Tista, can do it with just their minds, while a violet cored Awakened can perform magic just by moving their bodies.

"Those like me can form the runes and weave them while they walk, gesture, and even when they fight. That's what makes the violet core so powerful. Even in close quarters combat, I can still cast all the spells I need."

Faluel's words shocked everyone. Being able to cast tier five spells in the middle of a battle would allow anyone to easily turn the tables in an instant.

"How can we reach the violet core exactly?" Lith asked. He had tried to whole time to cast a first magic spell by moving his arms to no avail.

"That's a secret each bloodline protects with their life. I've used my ancestor's method and I will only share it with my heir. Sorry."

"I'm sorry, but I fail to understand how any of this will help me to become a better Forgemaster." Lith said. "What you said is just common sense for an Awakened."

"Believe me, you'll soon thank me." Faluel smiled and brought a simple dagger in front of the class before activating her breathing technique again.

Lifestream made both the pseudo core and its mana pathways visible to the naked eye.

"As you can see, an enchanted item has a core, just like you. The lines you see surrounding it are called mana pathways and have the task to keep the energies of the pseudo core from dispersing since inanimate matter can't store huge amounts of mana.

"Now, how many Forgemasters do we have here?" At Faluel's words, Quylla, Phloria, Tista, Solus, and Lith raised their hands.

"Tell me, how do you shape a pseudo core?"

"You draw a magic circle with the runes, fill the circle with mana, and-"

"Wrong. Anyone else?" Faluel cut Quylla short.

"You must simply use your mana to form a core according to the magical properties you want to reproduce-" Lith couldn't see the point in all that.

"Wrong again." Faluel cut him short as well. "Allow me to borrow a page from your academy's book. Tier four spell, dimensional ring."

It was the very first Forgemastery spell that Lith had ever learned and he still used it up to now.

"At the academy, you did it like this." Faluel took out the special ink, drew both the circle and the runes on the ground, and filled the latter with mana.

"If you paid attention in my previous classes, you should have noticed that even though fake mages are unable to use Spirit Magic, they have developed from Silverwing's teachings the tools to use pure mana.

"This ink and the Royal Forgemaster's wands are just an example. Lith, your Forgemastering technique is great, but up to this date, you only managed to improve other's people works. You have no original creation of your own, correct?" Faluel said.

"Correct, but that's only because I have access to a limited number of enchanted items. Shaping a pseudo core requires deep knowledge of each enchantment you want to imbue." He replied.

"Wrong." Despite her warm smile and silvery laughter, Faluel was starting to pissing him off. "It's because you are blinded by the academy's teachings. You keep thinking like a fake mage, not like an Awakened.

"Non-Awakened can't use Spirit Magic, so they split everything into smaller, more controllable steps. That's why they need the runes and the circle. What if you inject the mana directly into the runes?"

Faluel flooded the circle with her mana, making the runes lift from the ground and spin in a circle above her hand.

"At the academy, the mana would be compressed by the runes into a sphere and then injected inside the vessel. That's the illusion that you've been trapped inside until now. There is no compression nor a pseudo core, just runes."

Faluel made the set of floating runes flow into each other, just like an Awakened would do inside their mind for a normal spell. The result was that the mana stored inside the runes brought them together, fusing them into the pseudo core.

"Are you telling me that…" Lith and Solus were flabbergasted.

"Yes. Instead of studying the pseudo cores, you should have studied the runes in the circles. Let's say I want a dimensional item that's also capable of producing light." Faluel waved her hand, creating the set of runes of the dimensional storage spell and another for a simple lighting spell.

Once again, when brought close enough, the runes formed another pseudo core, more complex than the previous.

"As you can see, the more enchantments you add, the more complex a core becomes and the more energy it requires until it's more efficient to shape another one as it happens for elemental weapons." Faluel said while generating a third set of runes that assembled into a second pseudo core engulfed by flames.