Chapter 3982: Unknown Variable (Part 1) "I sure am." Baba Yaga nodded. "Normally, Cursed Elements have to be conjured in pairs and... you were not done talking." "No." Lith shook his head. "As I was saying, I can’t risk Solus’ health, and I know how much you care for her. That’s why I called you here. Work together with me and I’ll share with you everything I learn." "You are going to practice Zero magic with me?" Baba Yaga was flabbergasted. "Yes, but in the safety of the tower and inside the Firing Range." Lith nodded. "Unlike you, I’m resistant to Cursed Elements, and as long as I don’t keep my Dragon form, cold shouldn’t be too much of a threat." "You had me at stable Mirror Magic, but you thoroughly convinced me at the protecting Solus part." Baba Yaga extended her han,d and Lith shook it. "We have a deal." *** Due to the dangers of Mirror Magic and its negative effects not only on the body, but also on the mind of its practitioners, Lith and Baba Yaga agreed to work on Mirror Magic only for half a day at a time. Moreover, they decided that training would be interrupted the moment either of them experienced the slightest shift in their personality. Being a white core made Baba Yaga’s body indestructible, but her mind possessed no self-healing properties. It was the reason most white cores at some point in their lives went insane and either took their own life or had to be put down. Lith spent the mornings reassuring Elysia, playing with her and Valeron, and practicing with his Indech wings until he couldn’t sustain Swirling Wind any longer. His training sessions developed his human aspect and allowed Garrik to act like a normal kid for a few hours, so no one complained. Right after lunchtime, when the babies and most of his family napped, Baba Yaga came to the tower for her first take at Zero magic with Lith. "I’ve done my part." Menadion said while handing Lith and Baba Yaga two full suits of armor. "The power core of these babies is imbued with the best thermal insulant enchantments I could come up with in the little time I had." The Molten Core armor was the result of Ripha’s studies about modern magic and the materials conjured by the Workshop. This way, Menadion could learn from her mistakes without wasting precious ingredients or taking anything out of the Crucible. After lending Tista the magic metal that she needed for her armor, Lith’s reserves of Adamant were at an all-time low, and every second of refinement in the Spark mattered. "Thanks, Ripha. It’s perfect." Lith could feel the Molten Core armor absorbing the searing heat of the Desert amid its scales and keeping his temperature constant. "It’s not perfect, but it will be. You have my word." Menadion replied. Lith’s dedication to protect Solus and his willingness to sacrifice for her had earned him Menadion’s gratitude. She had poured her heart and soul into the Molten Core armor, yet she knew it wouldn’t be enough. It stung both her professional and maternal pride, but the latter was the one that pained her the most. ’I wish I could practice Zero magic as well, but studying its effects on my darkness body would provide data irrelevant to assessing Zero’s effects on a living being.’ She thought. ’Even worse, sanity is a Demon’s weak spot. ’We are constantly torn between the desire to move on and the oath we made to protect our loved ones. If Zero magic pushes me so far that not even resting in my Void Sigil can keep my longing for Threin under control, I’d abandon Epphy again.’ "Jerak!" Lith hadn’t paid so much attention to accents and hand signs since his days at the White Griffon academy, but it turned out to be like riding a bicycle. A bicycle without a seat that sped out of control on a bumpy downhill road. The tower countered the small Zero bullet by conjuring a wall of fire that restored the elemental balance before the Firing Range suffered any damage, but not before the entire floor became covered in a thick layer of ice. Lith’s body was weaker than Baba Yaga’s, and he needed the help of the Molten Core armor to survive his attempts despite his innate resistance to the Cursed Elements. The forefinger he had used to draw the hand sign froze to the bone, and it would have fallen off if not for Menadion’s masterpiece. The Molten Core armor used the stored heat to slow down the Zero as it seeped inside the metal and released warm waves that allowed Lith’s blood to keep flowing. "Shit." The freezing was painless, but the thawing process hurt like a swarm of red ants on steroids. "What did I do wrong?" "Nothing." Solus checked the readings of the Ears and Eyes of Menadion. "Both the hand sign and the magic word were flawless." "Then why did this happen?" Lith showed his armored finger covered in hoarfrost that was still pulsing red with controlled heat. "I have no clue." Solus said while triple-checking the readings. "It doesn’t make sense. Unless... That’s it! It’s because of the hand sign!" "You just said it was perfect." Lith furrowed his brow in confusion. "It was." Solus nodded. "I said that the problem is the hand sign, not that you made a mistake." "Solus, I’m older than I like to admit, yet even with everything I’ve learned in my long life, the words that come out of your mouth make no sense." Baba Yaga said. "To put it simply, we underestimated the effectiveness of Elysia’s Jerak rune." Solus replied. "The moment Lith completed the hand sign and injected it with mana, the Zero rune caused a sudden drop in temperature. "His finger got frozen because Lith didn’t pull it away as fast as you do, Malyshka." "This kind of damage from mere proximity?" Lith’s finger was still slowly and painfully recovering. "Then what’s supposed to happen when I conjure the Jerak rune with true magic instead of using fake magic? "Is my head going to freeze if I don’t think of something else fast enough?" "That’s a very good question." Solus nodded. "Malyshka?" "Do you really expect me to prove your theory by letting my head fall off just because I can grow a new one?" The Red Mother snorted. "Even though I can quickly recover from any kind of mutilation, it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel pain. "Before indulging in experiments that require self-harm, I say we work out the major problems." "I agree with Yaga." Lith grunted. "This is still a chore Zero magic spell, and is already deadly. We should avoid taking unnecessary risks, especially those that involve our heads. If Baba Yaga goes insane, even for one second, we’d be in big trouble, Solus." "Point taken." She shuddered at the idea. "What about using fire fusion, then? By circulating the fire element through your body, you should lessen the adverse effects of Zero by immediately reverting it into regular water magic." "I thought about that, Solus, but I decided not to." The Red Mother replied. "We are trying to understand the basics of stable Mirror Magic, and our foundations are shaky at best."