Chapter 1294 - Circle of Life (Part 2) (1/2)
Conjuring a building needed tier three magic whereas the kids could only use chore magic. Leria shook her head and followed Lith near the lake again.
”Today your training will be all about control. I want you to practice both air and water magic so that once we go back home, you can start helping your mothers with the house chores.” His words made the children groan but Lith ignored them.
”No matter how boring a task seems, as long as you perform it with magic, it will give you precious experience. How can I trust you with spells that can part the sea if you can't even wash the floor properly?” Lith said while looking at Aran.
He made a few random gestures while counting from one to three in English and the waters of the lake opened forming a path a few meters long. A wave of his hand made the soil solid, allowing him to walk without sinking in the mud.
”Without control, the water would turn into a blade and cut all the poor fish or become unstable and drown us.” The kids had followed him and were now below the ground level, surrounded by water walls from three sides.
They understood his words, yet they felt no fear as they trusted Lith too much and were engrossed by the sight of the underwater wildlife. As Lith moved forward, the water opened in front of him, offering the kids the next best thing to visiting an aquarium on Earth.
The phenomenon caused sparkles of light that lured the fish, allowing the kids to see them from up close. They all had plain and dull colors, but they moved with grace. The bravest and the dumbest among the fish even dared to jump past the gap to reach the other side.
”Can we really learn to do something like this just by washing floors?” Leria asked while putting her hand in the water wall and yet finding it dry once she took it out.
”Wax on, wax off, Daniel-san.” Lith replied.
”What?” The kids said in unison.
”It means that you must have a solid grasp of the basics before being able to perform a complex craft.” Lith sighed as he walked them back to the shore of the lake.
”Water and air both follow the same principle. They are only as hard as you make them. They can be soft.” A wave of Lith's left hand generated a thin mist while that from the right conjured a gentle breeze that ruffled the hair of his apprentices.
”They can be balanced.” The mist turned into a water whip that struck the ground, leaving a deep mark, while the breeze turned into a storm that made it hard for the kids to stands.
”And they can be hard.” The whip broke out into several ice shards that pinned to the ground a different blade of grass each while the storm turned into an air blade that mowed down the vegetation near the camp.
”If you don't learn how to handle their hardness, you won't be able to use light and earth, while if you don't master their softness, you'll have no control over darkness and fire.” Lith said.
”How long does it take to learn all of this stuff?” Leria suddenly felt dispirited. She had always believed that love for magic and good intentions would suffice whereas being a mage seemed to require a lot of hard work.
”It doesn't take long to learn it, but you need time and practice to master it.” Lith replied, giving them the time to ponder his words.
”I don't plan on teaching you everything in one go.” Leria and Aran sighed in relief. ”I just want to give you the tools you need to practice on your own without harming yourselves or others.
”Leria, yesterday you worried so much about the fish, yet based on what Rena told me, you find it funny to make people slip on your ice and fall. What if they hit their head or break a bone? Are people less important than fish in your eyes?”