Chapter 4309: Imagination and Willpower (Part 1)

"Now it’s no different." Baba Yaga said. "Researching Cursed Runes and normal runes is the same thing, yet back when you were a kid, your own ignorance shielded you from fear and expectations."

"You strived forward, Lith, whereas now you are staring at the stable Cursed Runes and hope that somehow more runes will fall into your lap. Casting the basic runes will only produce their basic effects if you do it by rote.

"How can the Lodestar inspire you if you imagine and will for nothing? How can you and Elysia hear a new rune if you are not looking for one? You find nothing because your mind has remained empty since the moment we got here.

"Being in the Lodestar won’t be of any help unless you decide what you want to achieve and what form it must take. Having a guide is useless if the traveler refuses to move his feet.

"Even a journey of a thousand kilometers starts with taking one step. That’s how you created your first spells as a child and how you tapped into Zero Magic as an adult. You wanted something to happen, and magic answered your will, turning it into reality."

Lith nodded and traced the rune for the Chaos Element again.

"Ekrasu!" The hand sign and magic word were the same, producing another small Chaos bullet.

Yet this time, Lith imagined the spell to be stronger and split into several small bullets like buckshot. There was no change in the spell before the Firing Range neutralized it, but a new rune formed in Lith’s mind.

"Ekrasu Situ!" Lith drew what looked like an inverted seven after the double-slitted eye and conjured the tier one Chaos Spell, Murder Rain.

It was many times stronger than the chore magic bullet and released a swarm of Chaos Needles. Lith’s mind, however, had already moved on to the next spell. As the Firing Range neutralized Murder Rain, he willed the Chaos needles to merge into a protective barrier.

"Ekrasu Sath Rheta!" Lith traced a flourish from left to upwards right after the base stable Chaos rune, and the tier two Chaos Spell, Hollow Buckler, conjured a circular plate in front of him.

He dispelled the energy shield and recalled the many times he had witnessed the tier Chaos Spell, Howling Void, in the past. Lith willed it to appear at a safe distance in front of him, and imagined it as a tree-thick spear that pierced through his imaginary enemy, killing him on the spot.

"Ekrasu Sath Ghata!" The three runes appeared in a triangle formation from the center of which emerged a bolt of Chaos energy that matched Lith’s mental projection.

"This is incredible." Lith would have never believed it possible if he hadn’t just done it himself. "And also exhausting. These spells consume a lot of mana for being low tier."

"Then take a short break and let me practice a bit." Baba Yaga said. "With this concentration of world energy, using Invigoration is dangerous, but also useless. You should recover your strength if you rest for a few minutes. Eyes of Menadion on me, Solus."

The Mother cast Lith’s same spell, copying his movements and words to perfection and obtaining the same effects. Then, she made the more common mistakes a less talented mage would make while handling those new runes on purpose.

A small imperfection in the execution of the spells destroyed her fingers at tier one, her hand at tier two, and her arm at tier three. A major blunder would have easily killed anyone without the regenerative abilities of a white core, obliterating about half of Baba Yaga’s body.

"It’s not as bad as it looks." She replied to Solus’ worried gaze. "It’s much worse. Even healing is painful. The lingering Chaos feeds on the light element of my spells and would make it tough to save someone whose life is hanging by a thread.

"Now I’m going to try and create a Chaos Spell by myself, Solus. Wish me luck." Baba Yaga cast the Ekrasu rune, picturing a ring of Chaos energy forming around her that instantly expanded outwards for dozens of meters.

Two unknown Chaos runes flickered in front of her eyes, but they blurred out before the Mother could see them clearly. She tried a second and a third time, but her whole being seemed to balk at the vision of the Cursed runes.

A primordial fear and sense of dread shook Baba Yaga’s nerves, disrupting her focus at the crucial moment.

After many tries and several minutes, she finally conjured the tier three Chaos Spell, Reaper’s Halo.

"I can’t believe it. It took me a boatload of mana and hundreds of attempts to come up with a single new Chaos Spell while you created three of them in less than a minute." She had already recovered her mana, but she sat down anyway.

"Fair warning, child. I’m happy for you, but if I ever hear you whine about being unlucky in the next few months, I’ll kick your ass."

Lith mastered her spell at the first try and then created a few more of his own.

’Thank Bohr I didn’t mock her, or my ass would be experiencing the kicking of a lifetime now.’ He thought.

"I think this is more than enough for Chaos Magic." Lith actually said. "We should move on to the other Cursed Elements and gain solid foundations about them while the Lodestar’s effects last."

"It’s a great idea." Baba Yaga grunted in mild annoyance. "I’m eager to see if it’s possible to weave tier four and five Cursed Spell, but with only two elements, there is only so much we can try."

"Do you think we can mix two different Cursed Elements to obtain the upper tiers of magic?" Solus asked.

"That, or maybe combine one Cursed Element and one normal element." The Mother replied. "It would be an amazing breakthrough anyway. The only tier four and five Chaos spells I’ve seen Eldritches use were just Chaos imbued with willpower and part of their bloodline abilities.

"High-tier Mirror Magic conjures multiple Cursed Elements at the same time, but they never mix. They each act on their own and always strike in sequence, never together."

"Did Elysia have any idea or reaction as she watched us training?" Lith focused on the first rune of Cinder Magic, Iratho.

"No." Solus cleared her throat. "She fell asleep during Malyshka’s turn and has yet to wake up."

"What a disrespectful, sleepy little imp." Baba Yaga gently caressed the baby girl’s head, being careful not to disturb her.

"Bring Ely back to Kami, Solus." Lith said. "If imagination and willpower are the key to learning new spells in the Lodestar, I’m afraid what she might witness if she dreams about something exciting during her afternoon nap."

Solus Blinked in and out of the tower, returning alone with the Eyes of Menadion pointed at Lith and ready to record the new spell.

He traced what looked like an asterisk in the air and spoke the chore magic word, conjuring a jet stream of Cinder. At the same time as the Firing Range neutralized it with a Zero blast, Lith willed for his spell to spin on itself at high speed like a drill and then explode.