Supreme Magus

Chapter 3450 The River and the Ocean (Part 1)

?Chapter 3450 The River and the Ocean (Part 1)

"Okay" Leria glanced at the clock on Salaark's mahogany desk and realized there wasn't much time left before lunch.

She went back to her spot but instead of starting to work on a water spell, she focused on her condition.

'Based on Uncle Lith's Void Magic, each element is one side of a two-elemental coin. My light affinity helped me come up with a darkness spell just like my fire affinity should do with water.

'Yet before that, I must answer the question: what am I doing right? Leria studied both the big and the small light.

By the time Rena came to pick her up for lunch, Leria had noticed that while the smaller light felt somehow familiar and obedient, the bigger one was alien and indifferent. She was certain never to have felt the power of the bigger light before. "What did you do when you were slumped?" Leria asked Aran while devouring her food rather than eating.

"I tried harder." He looked at her with compassion, knowing how exhausted she must be. "But I also followed Onyx's advice and rested once per week. Isn't this your seventh day already? It should have been your day off!"

"You're right, dammit! I forgot about that." Leria sighed.

"Also, Abominus tells me you study right after lunch. I took a nap before studying because otherwise, it was torture." Aran added.

"That's another great idea. Abominus, why didn't you point these things out to me?" She glared at the Pyrmir in his boy form.

"I did." He replied with a snort. "I also asked you to take a break from time to time but you didn't listen."

Leria was about to go on a tirade about how Onyx had taken such good care of Aran when she realized Abominus had done just the same. The difference wasn't in the Emperor Beasts, but in their human companion.

Aran trusted Onyx enough to listen to her whereas Leria was deaf to Abominus' suggestions due to her pride.

"Gods, I'm so sorry, Abominus." Leria dropped her silverware and hugged him. "I've been such a jerk to you. Please, forgive me."

"I forgive you." He patted her back. "I know how competitive you are, but remember what I told you. This isn't a challenge to Aran but to yourself. If you rush too much, you risk missing details along the road that point to your destination."

"You are very wise for your age, son" Senton said. "Leria is lucky to have a friend like

you."

"I know, Dad" She replied. "Mom, can we do something together with Dad tomorrow?" "Of course, dear." Rena nodded. "Anything you want."

Leria spent the following morning with her parents, visiting Zekell and Lutia, and the afternoon playing with her friends. She learned nothing but the rest healed her body and gave her brain the time to reorganize what she had learned during her relentless practice.

She resumed her attempts to Awaken on the ninth day, starting from where she had left.

'What are these things?' Leria tried casting chore magic spells and studying the lights but nothing happened.

At least until she tried the spells she had invented in the previous days. As she evoked the runes of the light magic spell, powering them with just enough mana to manifest them, she noticed an anomaly.

A very small copy of that rune appeared in the small light. From there, the rune produced a tendril as thin as a hair that moved on its own toward the bigger light, where a second bigger copy of the rune formed.

When Leria completed the spell, she noticed two things. The complete sequence of runes appeared in both lights but while the sequence in the bigger light moved following a clear pattern, the runes in the small light didn't move from the spot they had appeared.

'Could this be?' Leria then cast the fire and darkness spells and the same thing happened.

There were now three sequences of runes in each light and every sequence in the big light moved independently from the others while its distant twin remained still.

The burning sensation in Leria's abdomen returned as strong as the seventh day but. thanks to Salaark's reassurances, this time her focus remained steady.

I get it now! The small light is my mana core and the big light is the world energy all around me.' She thought. 'My spells are too weak to Awaken me but, by exploiting my elemental affinities, they allowed me to connect with the world energy and gradually enhance my perception.

"The purpose of the spell is irrelevant. What matters is that with every true spell I create, I can perceive a different element inside of me and in the world energy!' She worked on her water spell, completing it on the tenth day and moving on to an air spell.

Now the bigger light had come close enough to reveal itself as a flame while the smaller light had grown big enough for Leria to study it with ease. She could use the

amallar light along with har intuition to find the correct runa in the sannance

A right rune would appear and establish a connection with the world energy. A partly right rune would take longer to connect, and a wrong rune would form no connection at all.

On the thirteenth day, she had completed all six elemental spells and was capable of projecting them in her core at the same time. Each one of them was short, barely four magical runes each, and with no practical use.

'Okay. Now I can feel my mana core and I can feel the world energy. What's next?'The bigger light was now a roaring flame that painted the darkness around her bright blue and her mana core was perfectly visible but there were still no signs of Awakening. "Think, Leria. Aran and I received the same lessons from Uncle Lith. I know because I asked them. Aran and I know the same things. He never considered Awakening until our last vacation. What did we learn there?"

Leria found nothing relevant in her memories, except for the fishing trip.

"The water and the river thingy! Aran didn't stop talking about it for days.' She thought. 'Of course! Awakening requires a mana flow. My mana is the water and I'm the river. It's not enough to conjure the elements, I must also carry them.'

Leria focused on the runes inside her mana core, willing them to move just like she had moved the mana along the lake's surface. It was an artificial flow that resisted her attempts, coming to a halt whenever the different sequences of runes clashed. Moving the six spells at the same time without them hindering each other was a mammoth task made harder by the rising pain in her abdomen. Leria had just managed to make the six spells go a full lap without clashing when she noticed

another change.

'Is it me or is the bigger light even closer now?' Surprise and Rena's hand made Leria

lose her focus.

"It's lunchtime, sweetie, and you need to rest. Rena said, using a towel to dab to sweat drenching her daughter.