"Air magic is not as simple as you make it. You are just using power where finesse would work much better. Look carefully. Brezza!" Lith twirled his index and medium finger into a short spiral, the rune of air.
He created a gentle breeze that turned into a strong wind and then into a series of air blades that progressively cut a bush shorter until it was shaved off the ground. Aran was still watching with his mouth agape when a small bolt of lightning turned the now exposed roots into a charred mass.
"One rune, one word, and yet four different effects." Lith showed Aran his right arm where a snake-shaped lightning kept slithering from his fingertips to his elbow.
Leria stopped her training to admire the conjured creature. The snake was so life-like that it hissed at Aran, baring its radiant fangs when he tried to touch it.
"How do you do that, Uncle?" She asked.
"Air magic is more than putting mana into the wind. Air magic is about manipulating the natural forces that generate wind and lightning. What your mana does is just charge both your body and the air element so to generate a push. That's how you obtain wind.
"If you overcharge only the wind so that the air results densely packed, not just compressed by brute force, a wind blade is born." Lith flicked his fingers, producing a several centimeters deep cut into the ground.
"If you overcharge both your body and the air, there comes the lightning."
'I wish I could explain magnetism and polarity, but even Earth children would have trouble understanding it at their age, let alone those born on Mogar, where science is still backward.
'Luckily for them, the runes allow Mogarians to understand and control the phenomenon by instinct if they practice enough.' He thought.
"Water magic is different, but it still works in a similar way. Water is present in the humidity of the air, inside the plants, inside of us, everywhere. To generate mist, you must spread your mana thin in a wide area so that the water remains suspended in the air.
"Too much and it will condense, too little and it will remain invisible." Lith raised his hands generating a thin mist that slowly became denser until it turned into a fog that made it difficult for the children to see farther than their nose.
"Water is shapeless, but ice is not." The fog suddenly moved into Lith's hands where the mana compressed it into water and then stripped the water of its warmth until it froze.
"To obtain ice, you must infuse the same water you conjured with more of your mana to alter its properties, otherwise you'll just conjure more water. Once you do that, the mana and the ice become one and you can move it as if the ice is one of your limbs."
The two spheres of ice opened like eggs, turning into a Phoenix and into a Dragon, each one as big as an eagle. They climbed up Lith's arms until they rested on his shoulders.
"Does water magic make sense now?" Lith asked, receiving nods in reply due to the children being incapable to move their mouths. "Very good. Get back to work, then."
Lith sent the ice constructs above the children's training spots and made them burst into a fine ice mist. Above their heads now they had one rainbow each. Not only it had the most brilliant colors they had ever seen, but it was also so low that they felt like they could touch it if they had just been a bit taller.
"Magic is amazing! Scary, but amazing." Leria couldn't look away from her rainbow and stumbled a few times on her way back.
"Do you think I'll ever become like you?" Aran asked.
"Of course you will." Lith c.a.r.e.s.sed his head, reassuring him to not create another Trion. "But only if you always work hard, never give up nor rush things. Remember that in life and magic there are no shortcuts."
At those words, Aran turned his frown upside down and started practicing air magic back from scratch before working on water spells. Before lunchtime, he could already produce proper air blades and emit sparks of lightning from his fingertips.
Leria, instead, had learned how to throw a few air blades in a row with different piercing power, but had yet to understand how to conjure lightning.
"The food is ready." While the kids practiced, Lith had fished, cut off the head and tail to not make them look like living beings, destroyed all the nonedible parts with darkness magic, and grilled the tender white meat with some seasoning.
"In a minute. I think I'm close to freezing the water while conjuring it instead of in two separate steps." Leria replied. Freezing a water pool was way easier than straight conjuring ice.
"I need some time, too!" Aran was still working on his lightning. Aside from sparks and making his hair stand up, he had yet to achieve any result.
'He is just a blonde dye away from a Super Soyan.' Lith thought while conjuring a slow breeze that carried the smell of grilled fish to the children, crushing their focus like an elephant stepping on an ant farm.
"Too bad. I can't let good food go to waste. I'll give it to Abominus and Onyx and prepare more once you are done."
The sight of big chunks of fish ending up in the opened mouths of the magical beasts that immediately begged for more made the kids rethink their priorities. The practice of magic consumed a lot of energy so that the moment they stopped, they realized how tired they were in both the mind and the body.
"Don't tell Mom I said it, but I think you are the best cook in the family. I never like vegetables when she's the one preparing them." Leria gnawed her food so fast that Lith had to slow her down more than once to keep her from choking on too big mouthfuls.
"That's because I don't like them either so I had to find a way to make them tasty." Lith accepted the compliment with a small bow.
'I don't care how disgusted you still are from Ezio's shadow, I think you would make a great Dad.' Solus was moved to see all the attention he gave to the children. 'Mogar is right and Fenagar is wrong. You do more than just killing.'
"Onyx, stop ruining my lunch!" Aran said.
The Shyf had emitted low growling for a while, begging for food. After getting tired of seeing the others eat, she had tried to take some fish from the plate with a sleigh of the paw.
Unfortunately for Onyx, her paw was bigger than the plate and quite hard to miss.
The rejection made the beast lower her ears and emit a sad meowing that broke the little boy's heart until he shared part of his meal. Lith had prepared plenty for the three of them, so feeding a bit the two magical beasts wasn't an issue.
"Thanks for the meal." Aran and Leria thanked Lith before cleaning their dishes, eager to put their skills to the test.
"Not so fast." Lith stopped on their way back to the lake.
