Supreme Magus novel Chapter 30

When they finished comparing notes about Solus’ explanation for true magic, it was already late. Lith had to rush to get out of the woods before it became too dark. He wasn’t afraid of night time predators, his mother Elina, though, were another story.

"If I come back too late, I’ll get grounded for weeks. Darn it all, I hate curfew so much!"

He did not want to come back home empty handed, so he took out of the pocket dimension a couple of fat blinkers he had saved for moments like that.

The next day, Nana informed Lith that the Count had agreed to help, and that some of his best books were on their way.

Lith was forced to pretend being still engrossed in Nana’s history book, it was too big to finish it in one go. He spent that day abridging all the tier one spells on his grimoire, keeping only the name, hand signs and pronunciation instructions and a short description for each spell.

"I don’t need to waste precious pages on this cr*p. I can fake out the hand signs by moving my hands fast, but I still need to remember each new magic word when I pretend to use fake magic.

Also, if Nana wants to put me to test, I need to show her my proficiency. Sigh, all this brainless memorizing will drive me crazy. The silver lining is that by learning this stuff I can predict an enemy’s spell and counter it if necessary."

More than once, Lith found himself wishing Solus could move his body at will. She had a much better memory, and it would save him a lot of time and effort.

The only spell Lith was really eager to try was the air magic Floating Body. With this incantation one could make float in mid-air anything or anyone weighing less than one hundred kilograms (220.5 pounds).

It had many uses, like braking a free fall, moving a severely injured patient without bumps, or moving without leaving traces and making noises while hunting or on scouting.

This was something that Lith had attempted many times on his own but with no success. He could easily make others float with spirit magic, but not himself. It was really hard balancing his whole body while focusing on the spell, the same could be said about using air magic instead of spirit magic.

A minor mistake would make him float upside down or make him spin like in a washing machine. Lith never managed to float properly, let alone moving.

"If Solus is right and fake magic is a training course, I can use this Floating Body to learn how to float for good. Then, the most natural step is evolving it into a flight spell. I can’t wait to soar through the skies like my childhood heroes!"

Right after lunch, Lith went back into the woods and started practicing. Floating Body’s magic word was "Brezza Ri Lak", so he had no problems with pronunciation. The hand signs, instead, were quite complicated.

Having learned from his mistakes, Lith first made sure he had got the magic word right before moving to the hand signs. He took it slow and easy, he didn’t need to learn how to fast cast it, only to learn from the spell how to distribute the energy.

After only a few tries, Lith managed to cast the Floating Body properly. It was an odd feeling, much different from what he had expected.

To float it did not require a single strong updraft, but hundreds of them at the same time, each one pushing upwards with the same force to keep the balance in check.

"This is much worse than I had anticipated. No wonder I always failed in the past. Now, according to the book, Floating Body makes me weightless, standing in place. To move I need either external support or air chore magic."

Lith started to generate weak winds, moving around like a toy drone.

"This feels great! This spell has countless applications, I wonder why it’s just a tier one despite being so elaborate."

"Because it lasts only one minute" Solus reminded him while Lith was already falling to the ground.

After experimenting with Floating Body a few times, Lith used his own mana flow to replicate the spell. Soon it became apparent that he wouldn’t be able to do it in a single afternoon. True magic, after all, was really more difficult than its fake counterpart.

Angry and frustrated, Lith started grumbling non-stop.

"It’s all so annoying, having to learn two kinds of magic for every damn spell. I’m telling you, Solus, I have seriously considered using Floating Body instead. But if I am stupid enough to do so, then I would be forced to learn all its upper tier versions, and who knows at what step lies actual flight.

This way, instead, once I get some solid foundations, everything else should come easy. Or at least I hope so."

Lith spent all day and night practicing his new spell, Levitation, but when morning came, he had yet to succeed.

The following day, a small crate of books was delivered to Nana’s house, and she promptly handed it to Lith.

"If they were mine, I would never allow you to bring them out of my house. But the Count explicitly told me you are free to bring them home as you see fit. Lark is a very generous man, don’t abuse his trust."