"Just as I thought. You know squat, that was simple mastery, something that even fake mages know how to do. Hit me." Faluel said. Lith flicked his finger, sending a small shard of ice against her.
Faluel's eyes turned blue and the shard went through her as if she was a ghost before turning around and hitting Lith's forehead with enough strength to make him bleed.
"What the fuck?" He blurted out.
"Dominance is the ability to not only take control of a spell, but also of its mana." Faluel explained.
"With Dominance, I can return the spells sent against me to their casters, killing them on the spot. Most mages are so used to be immune to their own mana that they don't even bother defending against it."
Lith then told her about the God's Will array he had faced in Kulah and how it had been even stronger than Arthan's Sword.
"That's exactly what Dominance is, but as you witnessed yourself such a perfect form requires too much energy to be of practical use." Faluel couldn't believe such an ancient and idiotic race could have stolen the Hydras' secret.
The idea of how many of her kind had to have suffered and fallen at the hand of the Odi, made her wish to be able to resurrect them just to kill them over and over again.
"Dominance is a great tool, but it's not all-powerful. As you have noticed, only spells without willpower can be easily highjacked, but that it's only the first step. The second step consists in injecting your mana along with your will into a spell.
"You must use enough to make it harmful for the opponent, but not so much to replace all of its mana with your own, like the Odi did. Otherwise it would be much easier to dodge and cast it yourself since the mana cost would be more than doubled.
"Another thing that you must consider, is that Dominance can rarely be used to affect spells imbued with willpower. That's because just like the Odi, you would need to inject it not only with mana, but also with enough will of your own to overwrite that imprinted in the spell.
"Since most tier five spells are as fast as they are lethal, standing still is not a wise move. Unless you're suicidal, of course."
Lith had experienced the fear of losing control of his own spells against Thrud and the Odi, so he immediately realized how powerful dominance was. Tier Five spells were uncommon and most of them could be used solely if certain prerequisites were met.
Most magical battles were based only on tier three and four spells, with tier five magic used mostly as finishers. Dominance could easily turn the tide of a battle.
"So, are you going to teach me Dominance?" Lith asked.
"Yes and no. I'm going to teach you how to activate it only because it's the only way you can learn how to avoid using it in the presence of witnesses. You must always kill those who see you use Dominance.
"Us Hydras are considered to be part of the lesser Dragons because we lack Origin Flames and flight, but no one knows about Dominance. I'd like for things to stay that way." Faluel said.
"You're not going to teach me even if I become your apprentice?" The words 'waste of time' were appearing in Lith's mind again.
"If I take you as my apprentice, I'll teach you Dominance as well as Spirit spells, but only once you're ready. First, you'd have to focus on our common specializations, Healing and Forgemastering." Faluel took a bite from one of the plates in front of her.
Such was her grace that even the simple act of eating was a pleasure to watch. Yet what all of her beauty managed to do was to make him miss Kamila more with each second. After the night at Protector's house, every positive emotion he felt reminded him of her.
"Our specializations?" Lith asked.
"Your memories had a great effect on Protector's mind. He sought my help because I'm a Master Healer and Forgemaster. There's a reason why legends say that Hydras can regenerate two heads if one gets cut off." She giggled.
"You offer is very alluring, but as long as I'm serving my time in the army, I can't spend much time here. Moreover, I doubt you would do it for free." Lith said, obtaining a nod in reply.
"One more thing before discussing my apprenticeship. Why do you say when I'm ready? Are Dominance and Spirit spells that hard?"
"Very hard." Faluel nodded. "They are both techniques that are mostly situational and require an outstanding amount of focus. More importantly, they both require you to do everything without the help of the world energy.
"So far, to cast your spells you only needed to mix you mana with elemental energy, whereas these two disciplines work each in a way of its own. Dominance requires you to identify and infiltrate with your mana and willpower the focus points of a spell.
"Too little and you will be struck down like a moron, too much and you'll spend more mana than if you cast the spell yourself. As for Spirit spells, they are entirely made of your own energy, so they are really mana expensive.
"Just like Dominance, Spirit spells have to be used only when necessary. Rookies tend to get excited and abuse them, ending up dead. That or exhausted first and dead later."
Lith pondered her words. It was true that without the aid of a medium like the Odi and Thrud did, a single mistake could lead to taking the full power of a potentially lethal spell.
The only thing he wanted to learn as soon as possible was how to make barriers out of spirit magic. He had seen plenty of mages, Awakened and not, creating them thanks to magical items, and even though that kind of protections was mana consuming, they were the ultimate shield.
Unlike earth magic they could be used in mid-air, they couldn't be pierced by heavy objects like happened to air barriers, and they blocked the entirety of the damage whereas darkness magic could only weaken incoming attacks.
"Let's start with Dominance." Faluel said. "I noticed that in your hybrid form your eyes are always burning with elemental energy, which is good if you have to use Dominance and terrible if you need to hide it. Try to shut them down."
Lith remained in his human form, making his eyes turn red, then black, and lastly blue, to remember the feeling of controlling the elemental energy. After Phloria had pointed out to him that his eyes sometimes remained lit, he had practiced controlling the phenomenon, at least for his human form.
It had been quite easy since when not in his hybrid body, he needed great focus to achieve such a state due to his lack of attunement with the elements. Then, he shapeshifted and tried to make his eyes go back to plain yellow.
Much to his surprise, he only managed to depower the blue eye, no matter how hard he tried. The moment the water element left it, the eye closed shut against Lith's will.
"What the heck? Why did it close and why can't I turn them back to yellow?" Lith asked.
"Extra limbs are hard to manage, especially when you're not born with them." Faluel explained.
