Supreme Magus

2496 Creation Magic (Part 2)

'How did it go? Lith was now panting as well and his violet mana ran on fumes.

It went great!' Solus gave him a telepathic applause. "You really are a talented Forgemaster. By my Mom, I wish I had a violet core too. At my current level, I lack the raw power that good Creation Magic requires.

"Even using Domination to simplify things can only bring me so far. "

"Wait, you managed to mix Domination with Creation Magic? Lith blurted out in surprise, receiving a nod in reply. Also, are you telling me that I just succeeded?"

"Define succeeding"

A cracking noise had him turn back to the dagger as the first fissure appeared on its surface. The Davross screeched like an agonizing beast as the internal pressure due to the compressed metal and faulty spells built up.

"Was that sarcasm? How do you call this talent?"

'Are you kidding me? Solus replied with equal outrage. "Not only did you make everything by yourself instead of splitting the tasks with me like we are used to, but you also managed to stabilize the dagger for much longer than before.

Usually the Davross would crack right after the Creation Spell is completed and crumble in an instant. This time, instead, the cracks have yet to reach the mana crystals She had just finished thinking those words that the damage teared the gemstones apart, making them explode.

A snap of Lith's fingers returned the conjured materials in their energy form that couldn't hurt them due to bearing Lith's signature.

Way to jinx it. He snorted. "What were you saying about Domination?

First, I didn't jinx anything: Solus pouted. The Forgemastery succeeded, but the Creation Magic failed hence it wasn't a matter of if it would explode, only of when. Second, using Domination during the process is not that hard if, like me, you don't have enough mana to conjure powerful enchantments.

"I use it to cleanse the materials from darkness magic before imbuing the pseudo cores and aligning them with the mana circulatory system. I also use Domination to nudge the Forgemastering process in the right direction whenever I feel I'm losing control. She sighed both physically and telepathically.

"If you can do this much already then why are you sighing? Lith asked.

"Because I'm still behind you. She replied. "My core greatly limits the number the enchantments I can conjure with Creation Magic so I have enough focus left to use Domination as a crutch.

"Yet despite that, my creations blow up the moment I'm done Forgemastering. It doesn't make me feel better, it just makes my failures more aggravating Solus was so angry with herself that she dispelled her human body and went back into the stone ring to hasten her recovery.

"Well, what did I do wrong this time? Knowing there was nothing he could say to make her feel better, Lith just changed the topic.

You failed to completely remove the darkness element and the pseudo cores didn't overlap properly: She replied while showing him a replay of the Creation Magic process as she had seen it through the Eyes of Menadion.

Using Davross as a base material presents another unexpected complication. You did factor in for its amplifying ability but you failed to take into account that Davross has its own flow of world energy.

"When you exploited its ability to channel the single elements, part of the darkness magic you used to destabilize and reshape its form got carried along with the world energy. It created a flow of impurities that escaped your detection.

"Even if you didn't fail to align the pseudo cores, the dagger would have collapsed the moment the lingering darkness clogged the mana circulatory system and sent it into overload.

"How did I fail to align the pseudo cores, exactly? Lith tilted his head while replaying in his head the different steps of the Creation Magic spell. It's something I've done countless times in the past and this never happened before:

That's because you are used to doing things one step at a time: Solus replied. "Bonding, runes, then pseudo cores, and lastly mana pathways. With Creation Magic, instead, it all takes place at the same moment.

'Each pseudo core experiences a different level of resistance from the mana circulatory system so even if you push them with the same force, they end up in different positions.

A misalignment means that the pseudo cores don't receive enough energy from the mana crystals to sustain their existence or that when two enchantments are activated simultaneously, they short-circuit each other.

In the former case, the pseudo core fades after a while. Its disappearance disrupts the balance of the remaining enchantments and triggers a domino effect that leads to the destruction of their vessel.

In the latter, instead, the artifact would appear stable but blow up in your face when activated."

'Since I didn't even have the time to imprint the dagger, I made the first kind of mistake, right?' Lith asked.

'Actually, you did both: Solus highlighted the various parts out of alignment. 'But yeah, the first one caused your piece to crumble.

'Damn, this is hard!"

"What did you expect? She chuckled. That we would breeze through something that baffles even millennia-old beings?"

"Yes! I mean no. I mean, heck, this is still tier one Creation Magic and the so-called "easy part". Dismantling is much harder than Forgemastering because it requires undoing enchantments and imprints made by someone else without ruining the base materials.

If you consider that after over a month we are still stuck at this level and we still have no clue about Rebirth Magic we

'Slow down, Lith: Solus cut him off. 'In less than a month we have tackled Creation Magic and Void Magic. Do you think is wise to also worry about Rebirth Magic?

'Don't you think we are already doing enough? We spend our mornings teaching and the afternoon experimenting

"Do you want to abandon your family, stop sleeping, or what?" Her question remained unanswered so she continued.

Also, we've learned from experience that it's pointless to bang our heads against an unsolved problem non-stop. You always get your best ideas while you are relaxing because you finally give your brain the time to unwind and piece together everything we learn through our failures.

"We have amassed a crapload of data that needs unraveling. Adding more will do us no good. We need a break:

"You are right, Solus. I think we should- She came out of the ring, conjuring another block of Davross that she tried and failed to enchant with Creation Magic. 'Wow. Hypocritical much?

"No, smartass. She panted even in her mind. 'My blue core also limits the amount of practice I can do before getting tired. With this, I just performed half the number of your experiments. Now I'm ready to throw in the towel.

Thanks to the tower and Lith's presence, Solus would quickly recharge her body, but the mental exhaustion had reached the point where any further exertion would make her fall asleep.

Just half a day had passed and her breathing technique had already lost most of its efficacy, needing a full night of rest to reset.