Chapter 4073: Too Perfect (Part 2) ’You were right yet wrong, whelp.’ The Guardian appeared out of thin air, joining the small crowd. ’Back then, the Drakes were the only Lesser Dragons, and I felt bad for leaving you behind. I left my notes about Spirit Fusion to you because I hoped that one day something like this would happen. ’I’m not a soothsayer. I never predicted the Madness, the Infirmary, or the Harmonizer would ever be created. Nor did I ever imagine one day someone would use Spirit Fusion like you just did. ’That’s your achievement, Ajatar the Sapphire Dragon, and yours alone. Welcome to the Brood.’ Leegaain gave Ajatar a small bow and disappeared. ’Did you hear that, Master Ajatar?’ Morok asked. ’Your work got recognized by Leegaain himself. You should be proud of yourself.’ ’Believe me, Morok, I am.’ Ajatar replied. ’The hardest part was timing Spirit Fusion to start exactly with the shift of my life force and end immediately after. The whole process lasted the blink of an eye. ’There was no space for hesitation, nor margin for error.’ The Sapphire Dragon looked down at his hands and noticed for the first time how small everyone else seemed to have become. ’Gods, I still can’t believe I’ve become a Dragon. ’It will take me a while to get adjusted to my condition, and even longer to discover any power I now possess. I also need a sparring partner. Lith, would you please- Lith?’ Only then did the rest of the group avert their gaze from the majestic gem-like scales of the Sapphire Dragon and notice that Lith was spacing out, his stare blank. ’That’s it!’ Lith said as his mind was spinning at full gear. ’The timing of the shift must be in lockstep with the flow. Yet that’s not enough. One must also picture the process not like the sudden flip of a switch, but rather as a quick yet gradual transformation. ’Just like I switch from one aspect of my life force to another, or like Ajatar’s body reassembled itself!’ ’By my Mom, you’re right!’ Solus said, jumping to Lith’s neck in joy. ’You did it!’ Lith lifted her in the air and then spun Solus around under the flabbergasted stares of the others and Kamila’s frown. ’Not to ruin your moment, but you are kind of ruining mine.’ Ajatar said. ’This is supposed to be my triumph.’ ’I’m sorry, Ajatar. I got carried away.’ Lith put Solus down, who apologized as well. ’What’s done is done.’ The Sapphire Dragon sighed. ’Since everyone now is more curious about you than me, the least you can do is share your achievement with us with words we can actually understand.’ ’Fair enough.’ Lith replied. ’Let me start by thanking you, Ajatar. If not for you, I don’t know how long it would have taken us to complete Void Magic.’ ’Is it done?’ Kamila asked. ’You solved the tier five issue?’ Quylla brimmed with joy for her friends and also for herself. She needed Void Magic to develop her own branch of magic, but in its previous incomplete state, it limited her research. ’Yes, we did it.’ Solus said above the hubbub, gesturing for silence. ’Or rather, Lith did it. He started the Void Magic project, and now he finished it. It’s poetic.’ ’Thanks, Solus, but finished is a big word.’ Lith replied. ’We finally have a working theoretical solution, but we have yet to put it into practice effectively.’ To prove his point, Lith conjured a scaled-down version of Raging Sun and tried to turn it into Frozen Wasteland with Void Magic. He pictured the blazing lava exploding into a sea of fire that instantly cooled down, turning into a storm of ice and lightning. The violet flames generated by the Raging Sun erupted into a blue cloud the size of a handkerchief before fading away with a pop like a firework. ’Something like this, but better.’ Lith said. ’I failed to convert the runes fast enough, and the conflicting instructions in my willpower made the spell implode.’ ’It’s still much better than usual.’ Solus pointed out. ’This is the first time Void Magic does more than collapsing a tier five spell.’ ’And I still don’t understand how my use of Spirit Magic helped you.’ Ajatar said. ’Also, are you sure you can afford to go deep into detail? Void Magic is your creation, after all.’ ’Yeah, sorry. I’m too used to working with Solus. She’s always in my head, so she needs little to no explanation to follow my reasoning.’ Lith replied. ’Also, yes, I’m sure. Void Magic is our creation, but it’s our legacy as Magi. ’It’s meant to be shared with everyone.’ Lith referring to Solus as a Magus made her blush a little and her heart flutter. ’I’m supposed to teach Void Magic to the six great academies and the Royals first, and only later to the public, but you are my friends. I trust you.’ For anyone who knew him long enough, those words were as amazing as heartwarming. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 Just a few years ago, Lith would have trusted no one. Even his academy friends had learned about Solus’ tower and Awakening only after the end of his tour as a Ranger, and only because Phloria’s life was at stake. Even Faluel hadn’t received his trust until after the events of Kolga, when Lith had gifted her the Hands of Menadion. She already knew about Solus, but Scarlett had imparted to Faluel that knowledge, and the Scorpicore knew nothing of the tower. ’As you all should know, Void Magic is the art of converting an element into its twin.’ Lith switched light with darkness, earth with air, and water with fire. ’The problem with tier five Void Magic was that I could switch the runes at will and obtain tier four spells, but willpower isn’t so easy. ’You can’t order fire to freeze or earth to blow. The conflicting thoughts resulted in a lapse in the willpower, a judder, if you may, that threw the mana flow of the spell in disarray, making its runes fall apart. ’Your use of Spirit Fusion gave me a glimpse of the solution, Ajatar. Just like you, I have to time the switch of my willpower to perfection, but unlike your body, my spell doesn’t rearrange itself on its own. ’That’s also something I must control, guiding the flow of the elements in the right direction and switching them not all at once, but in a smooth transition as I do with the different aspects of my life force. ’Magic is all about imagination and willpower. If I can visualize the elements transforming into their twin, the willpower will follow. I’m not ordering the fire to freeze anymore. ’I’m telling the fire to go away from the humidity in the air so that it can freeze.’ Lith gave them another practical demonstration with Raging Sun. ’I see.’ Ajatar said. ’And I mean literally. Gods, if I love Dragon Eyes.’ ’Did you really learn a perfect way to cast Void Magic before even Lith did?’ Fyrwal stared at the Sapphire Dragon in a passionate way that irked Faluel to no end. ’I wish.’ Ajatar laughed at the idea. ’I just got a huge headache and understood perfectly why the spell failed.’