Supreme Magus

Chapter 3836: Not Like Breathing (Part 1)

"Ripha is wondering if your bond with Solus also added the necessary enchantments to support the elemental abilities of your eyes to the tower since Ripha already gave it human wings-like properties." Morok said.

"That’s... accurate." Menadion said, trying and failing not to sound surprised.

"I see your point." Lith nodded. "What’s our next move?"

"Off the top of my head, take Ryla’s lessons." Quylla replied. "The wings and eyes of different evolved human species might not work exactly the same way, but it should give you guys a starting point.

"Also, in your shoes, I’d consider sharing this news with Silverwing and maybe involving her in your training."

"Not a fan of the idea." Lith said.

"Me neither." Quylla sighed. "There’s no telling how she might employ her apex form. Yet if it turns out to be similar to Valeron’s, we’d have a full set of evolved humans. From Friya’s top of the rank 0 to Silverwing’s perfect rank 4."

"This is definitely a decision for another day." Lith stroked his chin. "We already have a lot on our plate. I say we do everything we can on our own, and if that fails, we consider the Silverwing option. Anything else?"

"I still can’t explain the resonance between you, Solus, Ryla, and the human members of the allied forces. Sorry." Quylla shrugged.

"I can explain that. At least in part." Menadion reexamined the data from the Eyes and Ears in light of Quylla’s discoveries. "The resonance started between Ryla and Lith, with her eyes acting as a framework for Lith’s dormant abilities.

"As he followed Ryla’s lead and his eyes amplified her power, the energy from the Elemental Storage stimulated his wings by infusing them with massive amounts of already split elements.

"This activated the latent abilities of Lith’s human side, which in turn created a second resonance effect with Solus. At that point, the tower noticed her awakening potential and restructured its enchantments to support her.

"The tower scanned Lith and Ryla with the Eyes and Ears, learning from them how to bring out Solus’ powers. Yet due to their bond, Lith and Solus have the same abilities, so the tower supported him as well."

"Let me get this straight." Lith said. "Fighting together with Ryla helped me tap into my evolved human abilities. Then, due to my bond with Solus, she experienced the same changes in her life force, and the tower altered its enchantments based on Valeron’s apex form to support her.

"Yet by helping Solus, the tower also helped me and Ryla, generating a feedback between the four of us that stimulated our life forces in a loop."

"That’s the only possible explanation for the tower’s logs about the phenomenon." Menadion nodded. "Yet how the changes spread to Ryla and the other human species is anyone’s guess."

***

Later, that afternoon, Lith, Solus, Morok, Tista, and Garrik sat in a corner of the Mansion’s park.

"I’m sorry if I can’t explain myself very well, but I was born with my abilities, and I never had to think too much about how they work." Ryla said. "I’m going to pass on to you the same teachings my father imparted to me and I imparted to Garrik.

"Calling upon the elemental abilities of a Fomor or a Balor requires a four-step process. The first step is to move the mana from your wings to your body, leaving them an empty vessel." Ryla breathed out, and her wings became dull and grey.

"Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the world energy. It will flow inside your wings, filling the void you created and allowing you to feel how your wings ’breathe’." Then, she took a deep breath in, and her feathers regained their luster.

"The second step is to recognize the world energy that has replaced the mana in your wings and connect with the element of your choice. It’s no different from what you do with elemental magic, but you have to tap into the world energy inside you, not around you."

As she spoke, her white feathers turned yellow and started to move as though ruffled by an invisible wind.

"For the third, do not mix your mana with the elemental energy like you do to cast spells. Bring it to your corresponding eye, focus, and amplify it as much as you can." Ryla’s yellow eye shone with the air element, producing short jolts of electricity.

"The fourth and last step consists of activating your bloodline abilities and projecting them outside your body, like this." At a wave of her hand, five small streams of golden lightning erupted from each of her fingers and empowered her students.

"Sounds easy, right?" She said with a warm smile that no one returned.

"Sounds complicated to me." Morok scratched his head in embarrassment. "I hope you don’t expect us to complete all four steps today."

"Of course, not." Ryla replied. "You are not Fomors and will learn at your own pace. Today’s lesson is about achieving the first step. Imagine that you are breathing through your wings and draw in the world energy. Begin."

At a clap of her hands, everyone tried to apply the breathing rhythm of their Invigoration technique to their wings, but nothing happened aside from a lot of huffing and puffing.

"How should I do it, exactly?" Tista grunted after several minutes of failure with no progress, glaring at her wings as if they had betrayed her.

"Like this." Ryla gave the class another practical demonstration, but the world energy seeped inside her wings as fast as she recalled her mana.

It was such a seamless process that neither Life Vision nor the Eyes of Menadion could follow.

"Can you go a bit slower, please?" Lith asked.

"I can try." Ryla shrugged, wondering if it was even possible.

It took her a few minutes and countless attempts, but she managed to empty her wings of mana slowly enough to allow everyone to notice. The Eyes also unveiled why the process was so elusive.

The life force in Ryla’s wings mixed with the incoming flow of world energy without purging it from Mogar’s energy signature. It made the world energy almost identical to mana, but with one crucial difference.

By preserving Mogar’s energy signature, the world energy entered Ryla’s wings without encountering any resistance, allowing her to replace the world energy as she consumed it.

At the same time, Ryla’s life force acted as an insulator that kept the world energy confined to her wings and prevented her core from suffering from mana poisoning.

’It’s more like opening a channel than breathing.’ Solus shared the readings of the eyes with her friends via a mind link. ’The world energy is like a river, and Ryla’s mana is like a dam.

’When she retracts her mana, the world energy has free access to her wings until she puts the mana back into place and pushes the world energy out.’

With that information in mind, everyone attempted to put Ryla’s lesson and Solus’ explanation into practice. Yet more than one and a half hours later, no one had figured out a way to open their wings to the world energy.

"Does anyone have a clue about what we are doing wrong?" Morok asked.