Supreme Magus - Chapter 30

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 . "

At first, Lith was really pissed off . He had completely forgot about his plea from help, and now he was flooded with useless books that he had to pretend to read . After two whole days as a shut in, his body was craving for some action .

But then he noticed that there weren't that many history books, most of them were biographies and autobiographies of past and present prominent mages, archmages and Magi . He finally had at hand the information he needed about how much talent he could reveal safely .

Lith could finally see a light at the end of one of the many tunnels he was stuck in . So far, his apprenticeship had only added more problems to his life, getting lucky for once, made him feel really good .

He took note in his grimoire of all the feats his role models accomplished and at what age they managed to do it . Then it came the most serious part, deciding how far to push his act .

"I'm of humble origins and with no backer . Mimicking a Magus is like courting death . If even revealing less talent than Nana brought a noble to try to kill me, showing so much skill would put me on the hit list of all the major families . "

"Agreed . " Solus chimed in .





"The best choice is to keep being below Nana's talent . If Count Lark starts protecting you, you can ramp you up to her level . A male mage of that skill would definitely be noteworthy . From then, is better to adjust your power talent based on how things develop . "

"My thoughts exactly . " Lith mind nodded .

During the following weeks, while at Nana's house, Lith and Solus split the tasks at hand . Lith crammed all the tier one spells while Solus would read the Count's books and take note of every relevant detail .

Lith gave her control over both spirit and water magic, making her possible to flip books and write an appendix on the grimoire .

During the afternoon, instead, they would try to make Levitation work . Little by little they were working out all the problems, sometimes even improving Floating Body foundations .

Lith completed Levitation after over a month of hard work, and by that time he had also already mastered all the tier one spells, but he was forced to wait . According to the Count's books, that was a feat worthy of a future archmage .

So, he had to wait for another half a month before revealing to Nana the fruits of his endeavours . She was truly impressed by Lith's skill and determination .

Nana had told him that back in the day she had needed less than a month to memorize all the book, and despite Lith being of lesser talent, he had managed to accomplish the same result with just two weeks of delay .

Nana had expected that it would take him no less than two whole months .

Nana offered him to help her during the busy hours, and Lith gladly accepted . Until completing Levitation he had not hunted for over a month . Not only the reserve of game he kept in the pocket dimension was almost depleted, but that huge break had also costed him a lot of money .

Lith needed to make up for the lost time . Officially he only knew two tier one light spells, Vinire Rad Tu (the illness/injuries detecting spell) and Vinire Dan, a basic healing spell, capable to treat coughs, light colds and not too deep cuts .

Hence, most of the times he would only get the diagnosis fee, since it would be Nana treating the patients . He could only get to heal minor injuries, yet his profits weren't that bad .

Nana's business had deep roots, people from all the neighbouring villages would come to seek her aid .

By spending more time in the front office, Lith discovered that Nana was so much more than a healer for the people of Lutia . She was also their protector and the strongest law enforcer .

Simply by living there, most bandits would avoid the village, and those who were brave enough to attack would quickly meet their maker before doing any real damage . Nana was also the shield for all the local merchants and population .

No foreigner merchant, young master or young mistress could bully the people of Lutia without incurring in her wrath . Sometimes she would be called even to put an end to a drunken brawl .

Lith found hard to believe she had such disposition toward the people she served, always standing ready to intervene whenever was necessary .

One day, after Nana taught a lesson to a young noble and his bodyguards, believing that he could forcefully take any maiden that suited his taste, Lith decided to find out the truth .

The old hag had already proven that she cared about money more than everything . Lith had fallen for her kind act more than once, so he wanted to know what her real angle was .

Being rude to his mentor was definitely a bad idea, so he went with a subtler approach .

"Master, I really don't know how to express my admiration for you . Taking care of the safety of the village, basically all by yourself, and asking nothing in return . It's really impressing of you . "

Nana laughed out loud, sounding ominous like the plumber, back on Earth, that once Lith had been forced to call during a national holiday .

"You really are hilarious, kid . Sometimes you are so wise I almost forget you are just six years old . But whenever you come out with this nonsense, you really look like a naïve child . Off course I get something in return . Have you ever wondered why my treatments are so expensive?"

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