"In theory, if you cast a spell like this, there’s no limit to what you can do." Water, earth, and light fused into a shield construct while air, fire, and darkness formed a small cloud of black flames. Then the elements split and rearranged into a heat ray, darkness-infused bullets, a snowstorm, and stone blades. "In practice, however, this is nigh impossible." Quylla shook her head. "Conjuring multiple elements in a neutral state is just too hard. "The elemental god series forms four spheres of a single element despite being a tier five spell because you need enough raw energy to manipulate it freely and skip the materialization step as you shape it in different spells. "If there’s too little elemental energy, you need to waste time conjuring more and the entire spell becomes slightly better than a tier four spell." "Four spheres?" Solus asked. "I’ve always seen only three… The armor!" "Exactly." Quylla nodded. "One fourth of an Elemental God spell is consumed to protect the mage. If you sacrifice that, this is the best you can do." Another wave of her hand generated three spheres of light and a fourth of earth. "This is something anyone can do. The problem is that there is not enough earth element to affect the light component. This is what I’m working on, instead." Quylla opened her other hand, conjuring three spheres of fire and another of earth. "Earth again?" Lith asked in confusion. "Wouldn’t air or water achieve more versatility?" "I’m not done yet." Quylla replied. "Remember that these are just two tier five spells, like that Behemoth did." She joined her hands and the various spheres of the same element merged into one, leaving three elemental spheres orbiting around her. "I see now." Solus nodded. "You chose earth as the same extra element for both spells to combine them." "Yes, but that’s not the only reason." Quylla replied. "Air and earth are almost everywhere. Unlike the other elements that require to be condensed at high-density to be effective, I can increase the size of the earth sphere by taking more from the battlefield. Now watch." She cut the air with the fingers of her right hand and the light sphere turned into darkness. First in the form of a black fog and then into an array. The darkness turned into light again, forming a small army of constructs that fused with the fire spheres to form burning weapons and earth spheres to form heavy shields. "Void Magic?" Lith was flabbergasted. "Only for the light and darkness element." Quylla sighed. "Even with the power up from the babies and their affinities, I can’t figure out the rest. Yet imagine if I knew Void Magic. "I could switch all elements and achieve the closest thing to Tower Tier spells with just two tier five spells." "Indeed." Solus pondered. "But doing that in the living room of our house is one thing. Conjuring two spells on the battlefield is another." "Yes and no." Quylla showed them two elaborate rings on her fingers, each powered by a white mana crystal. "Tier five spell-holding rings are a thing. I had Dad make two for me, but with your Forgemastering technique, Lith, one ring would be enough." "Then why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?" Lith asked. "You got this far on your own already. If I taught you Void Magic and gave you one of my rings, you would have progressed much more in your research." "And ask another mage to share his opus and secret Forgemastering techniques with me for free?" Quylla snorted in outrage. "That would have been so rude that I might as well have asked you and Solus for a foursome." A mage’s research was something sacred. The only law that every continent and country of Mogar had in common was that no mage could be forced to share their work with someone else. Even the local Awakened Council and political ruler were no exceptions. Without such law, not only would every mage hide rather than risk being extorted for their hard work the moment they achieved something, but also magical research would come to a screeching halt. What point would there be pouring time, sweat, and blood into any line of research if it was going to be taken away the moment significant progress was made? Mages would just do standard work that had no risk of being stolen by someone more powerful, and the magical disciplines would become stale and rot. "You could have at least asked." Solus said and the others stared at her like she had gone insane. "About Void Magic! I was talking about Void Magic, not the foursome. We are already teaching it to the fourth-year students of the six great academies, their professors, and the Royals. "Including you in our lessons, Quylla, would have cost us nothing and just required permission from the Royals. With the Ernas family’s standing, the King would have never refused your request. You guys have a perverted mind!" "Solus has a point about Void Magic." Lith glossed over his perverted mind. "As a Magus, sharing part of my work is not an issue. On top of that, I don’t need to reveal my Forgemastering technique to you. "I just need to craft one of my tier five magic holding rings to help you with your studies. You would just be one of my many clients." "True, but asking for so much help still hurts my pride." Quylla sighed. "Everyone called me a genius since I entered the White Griffon academy, yet years after graduating I have not made any groundbreaking discovery. "By my age, Manohar had already learned Light Mastery as a self-taught and found a cure for degenerative diseases while working full time in the Light Magic Department. I want to create a new branch of magic, share it, and fulfil my dream of becoming a Magus. "I wanted to achieve it by myself, not rely on someone else’s work. It sounds stupid, I know, but I didn’t want to share the spotlight with others not to end up like Bytra. Her work brought us where we are today, but many people consider her a lesser Magus because she ’just’ improved on Menadion’s work." Solus lowered her eyes at those words, knowing that she had been one of those people and vocal about it. "I see your point." Lith nodded. "But those people are wrong. What Bytra did was incredibly hard. So much so that nobody else before and after she divulged her discovery made a single improvement on Runesmithing. "Also, consider this. My Void Magic was born when I saw Manohar and Scarlett switch the light and darkness elements. You could say that I just improved on their research and extended it to the other elements. "Yet even if you did, I wouldn’t feel offended." "You wouldn’t?" Quylla asked in disbelief. "No. I would just point out that not only have I made a discipline that only geniuses could practice accessible to everyone, but I have also brought it further than its inventors ever believed it possible. "Scarlett and Manohar never worked on the other elements. They were as blind about the nature of the world energy as everyone else."