Chapter 3447 Lesson in Hunger (Part 2) The idea of a starving baby using sheer willpower not to cry and keep himself from stealing food almost made Kamila cry. Her first instinct was to run to the crib and check if the babies were hungry with her Dragon Scales. Elysia and Valeron were not only well-fed but also in the middle of a happy dream that spread soothing waves through Kamila's body. 'You two have no idea how lucky you are.' She thought. "Hunger is easy to induce and easy to get rid of without leaving you upset for the rest of the day." Lith explained. "When you are angry, sad, or anyt-" Suddenly Kamila hugged him tight, cutting his explanation short. "Is everything alright with the babies?" "Yes, don't worry." After checking that he wasn't hungry either, she returned to her seat. "As I was saying, any violent emotion behaves similarly to hunger. The purpose of this exercise is twofold. One, now that your mind's and body's desires are in synch, you must learn to feel the stirring of your mana core and control it along with your physical reaction. "Two, to reel your mana in with willpower, you have to infuse your core with it. It's the same thing you'll have to do when you learn how to cast tier five spells. Through this exercise, you are going to learn how to control your spells under stress." Lith used fire magic to keep the cookies fragrant and air magic to fill his students' nostrils with the sweet smell. "Begin." Aran and Kamila reacted to the olfactory onslaught by emitting tendrils of Spirit Magic that Lith stopped with his own. "This is a bit cruel but really smart.' Menadion thought. I wish I could still feel hunger. I would love to put my self-control to the test.' 'I find it sad.' Solus replied via a mind link. 'But I share your feelings.' "I want to participate too!" She used Invigoration to make herself hungry. Solus too produced tendrils of Spirit Magic but managed to stop them just a few centimeters away from her body. "Well done, Solus, but a mage with your experience can't enter the rankings." Lith said. "Come on, guys. There's just two of you so if you get second, you get last!" "Aunt Kami shouldn't count too." Aran tried and failed to control his mana core. "She has practiced Spirit Magic for months." "Not like this and now I'm hungry for two, you runt." Kamila couldn't stop herself from producing mana tendrils either. "You have the advantage here." "No, you both suck." Lith replied. "Stop bickering and focus. Arguing adds another layer of difficulty that we'll reserve for later." "We do?" Aran and Kamila exchanged a glance and stopped talking. A few minutes later, right when they were about to succeed in stopping the tendrils from reaching the cookies, Lith tapped their shoulders and Solus, turning the hunger up a notch. "Hey! That's cheating!" All three of them lost control and their mana grabbed a cookie. "What?" Lith scowled at them. "Do you think you won't get hungrier or angrier during a fight? Do you expect the enemy to play fair and not to taunt you to make you lose your cool?" "No." They all lowered their gaze and put the biscuits back on the plate. Solus felt so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear. "Things can always get worse during a fight, but they can also get better. Yet no matter if the ally you believed dead is actually alive or if your enemy has a hidden card. You must keep your focus or you'll lose control over your mana and with it the battle." "Yes, Professor." They said, making Menadion chuckle. "You're an incredible teacher, Lith. I wish someone taught me this lesson." She sighed. "Maybe I-" Everyone was looking at her with eyes filled with compassion. "I'm sorry for speaking out of turn. Please, don't mind me and continue." She said, but it was too late. Aran and Solus were already on their feet and hugged her. "I wish you could join us, Mom." Solus said. "Me too. My Big Bro is the best." Aran said. "Don't worry, Grandma. We'll protect you." "Thank you, sweethearts." Menadion caressed them both. Over an hour and several taps on the shoulders later, the cookies were untouched and the stomachs roared like a pride of lions. "That's enough for today." Lith rewarded his students with plenty of biscuits and honeyed milk. "We'll continue tomorrow." He waited for everyone to be calm and sated before resuming the lesson. "This is just for you, Aran. Solus and Kami already know how to use Life and Fire Vision, but they are free to join us." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 "Cool! How do they work?" Aran asked. "It's actually pretty easy." Lith replied. "It's similar to the process of making your eyes glow, but instead of using all the mana, you need to enhance the light element to get Life Vision. If you use the fire element, instead, you get Fire Vision." "Like this?" Aran's eyes glowed silver. "I don't see any difference, though." "That's because you are filling your eyes with light element." Lith shook his head. "It's no different from casting a healing spell on your eyes. If it were that easy, fake mages would use Life Vision too. "Try again. Send your mana like you would with Spirit Magic and then fill it with light element." Aran's eyes flared deep green yet nothing happened until the light element coated the mana, becoming a filter to look through the world energy. Suddenly everything turned to a shade of grey. Only living things had colors but they had nothing to do with their physical appearance. Lith and Menadion appeared to Aran as roaring fires. Kamila produced just a bright light while Solus was even dimmer. "Why does Aunt Solus look weak? Are you ill?" Aran asked. "No, it's because of this." The moment Solus took off the cloaking rings, her aura flared up as well. "Cool!" Aran said as he noticed his body emitted light as well. "The brighter someone looks, the stronger they are." Lith explained. "It will take you time and experience to learn to distinguish between magical and physical strength and even longer to recognize the level of the core of those you're looking at. "Now switch to fire, please. We don't have much time left." "Why is that?" It took Aran a few tries before activating Fire Vision. "I still have plenty of mana." Now Mogar looked like he was wearing thermal goggles. Cold things were of a uniform blue while the warmer something or someone was, they turned green, then yellow, orange, and red. Menadion was pale green whereas Lith was a red blot. "Less than you think." Lith said just a second before Aran felt tired and hungry. "This doesn't make sense." He panted. "I just ate." His whole body ached but his eyes felt worse. "What you are experiencing is mana abuse." Lith explained. "Using pure mana drains you many times faster than elemental magic. Eating helps you refilling your core but it takes time for mana to form." "Can't I use Invigoration?" Aran asked. "You can but I don't recommend it." Lith shook his head.