Supreme Magus novel Chapter 89

"First of all, Wanemyre said that the size of the circle matters, and you made it too big for a pebble. A smaller one would have been better to save ink and better focus the mana.

Also, you formed the mana sphere too fast, not giving it enough time to get properly imbued with magic. Then there is the matter of how you arranged the runes..."

Solus started nit-picking every single mistake he had done. According to his own earlier analogy, more like someone playing a symphony, Solus was making Lith feel like a button masher had attempted to go pro at fighting games.

Everything she said sounded right, and that made her even more irritating.

"Well, why didn’t you tell me all of this earlier?" He grunted.

"How could I spot mistakes you had yet to do? It isn’t my fault if being the wise one I am capable of learning from others’ mistakes, while normies like you must stumble and fall before walking properly."

"Oh yeah, miss wisea*s? If you are that good, why don’t you come here and show me how is done?"

"Gladly."

The room started pulsing with a white light, the crack in the floor disappeared. Then, another pebble flew on the ground, while several drops of ink hit the floor, forming the runes again in a perfect circular pattern.

"You have forgotten the circles, Solus. So much for being a wise one." Lith playfully mocked her.

"Do you mean this?" Suddenly the space around the pebble was filled with mana, perfectly contained in a circular shape, just encompassing the runes.

"How did you..."

"I learned Invigoration from you, and we are actually sitting on a geyser of world energy. Is not that hard to keep it stable, for someone capable of space displacement." She proudly explained, cutting him short.

"Do you mean in this form you are capable of keeping the mana stable without a limit?" Lith stopped their cheerful quarrel, shocked by the revelation.

"Well, duh! Why?"

"Because that means that time is no matter an issue, at least while I practice in here. This is a perfect magical furnace for a complete beginner like me!"

Lith weaved the thirteen spells again, following Solus’ instructions and earlier advices. No more worried by the mana dispersal, he bid his time, making sure that the mana sphere was strong and stable, letting the energy seep in the pebble before the final step.

And so, the pebble melted before he could even attempt the fusion between matter and energy.

"Another failure! What did I do wrong this time?" Lith asked in frustration.

"Honestly, I don’t know." Solus mind-shrugged.

"There were some things you could have done better, but in theory it should have worked."

Just to be sure they weren’t missing anything, this time Lith put on the ground one of the spare rings, and with Solus’ assistance, they repeated the whole process, but this time using fake magic.

The forgemastering went without a hitch.

"What the heck?" Lith could not understand why true magic was failing him.

"We did the same thing, step by step. Why did it work this time?"

"Third time is a charm?" Solus said without actually believing it.

They kept crushing, melting and vaporizing many pebbles, but at the end of the day their only success was the low-grade ring made with fake magic.

"It’s almost noon, better stop, or your mother will worry."

"Yeah." Lith left the lab, heading back at the ground floor. His eyes wandered inside the bedroom, whose door he had left open.

"Solus, do you remember my comment about the dirty mind of those who designed the academy’s rooms?" He asked while rising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yes, why?"

"Why does my room have such a big bed? And why the hot tub is clearly designed to comfortably accommodate two persons?"

"Well, I thought that maybe, sometime in the future, you would like to have some company." If he didn’t know her any better, Lith would have swore there was a hint of mischievousness in her voice.

"Thanks for your concern, but I’ll give a hard pass on that. I’ll never reveal to anyone your existence, it’s too dangerous."

With a sigh on her side, both the bed and the tub shrank.

"On second thought, keep the bed big. It’s more comfortable that way."

Ignoring Solus’ grumblings, Lith was about to exit, but stopped at the last moment.

"Is the coast clear?"