Kael returned to his courtyard, pacing restlessly in his room.
"Master, what troubles you?" Scarlett's voice echoed in his mind through their master-servant bond—a perk that allowed seamless telepathic communication, though Kael could mute her perception at will.
"Magic," Kael replied curtly before shutting out her presence, diving back into his thoughts.
Ethan's earlier demonstration had brushed against an elusive insight, yet its essence slipped through his fingers like smoke.
Scarlett, now accustomed to her role as a "maid" after days of adjustment, stayed silent, respecting his focus.
Blocking her voice entirely, Kael sank deeper into reflection.
In the illusory realm Ethan had conjured, the old mage had cast two high-tier spells: one fire-elemental, one water-elemental. Both carried cataclysmic power—enough to level a city, had they been unleashed in reality. Yet what lesson lay hidden here?
A vague idea flickered in Kael's mind, shapeless and fleeting.
He quieted his mind, shutting out distractions, and replayed every detail of Ethan's spellwork. The firestorm. The glacial surge. The earth fracturing under their combined wrath…
Hours slipped by, dusk deepening into night.
With his match against the Golden Lions scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, Kael had less than a day left. But urgency only bred chaos; he steadied his breathing, clinging to clarity.
Wait—
Fire and water.
His eyes lit up.
"I've got it!" He sprang to his feet, fist clenched.
A grin spread across Kael's face as the puzzle snapped into place. At last, he understood what his magic had been lacking: combined elements.
Kael had always specialized in fire magic. The arcane world was vast, and most mages followed this path—mastering one element as their primary focus in both study and combat.
Yet he'd neglected other schools entirely.
Mastering one element didn't mean abandoning the rest!
His flaw lay in over-reliance on fire. While it remained his strongest offensive tool, he rarely tapped into other elemental forces.
Ethan's demonstration had been a revelation. By casting fire and water spells in succession—scorching the earth, then flash-freezing it—the old mage had shown how combined elements amplified destruction. The land shattered under their dual assault, proving that synergy outweighed singular power.
"So that's it…" Kael realized this wasn't his oversight alone. Even peers like Korgoth, Cruy, and likely Dylan had fallen into the same trap—a near-universal pitfall for mages chasing mastery.
Focusing on one element wasn't wrong. But ignoring others? A grave mistake.
Thrilled by this epiphany, Kael rushed to test his theory.
"Since I've mastered fire, why not pair it with wind?"
Eager, he began experimenting at home, wisely opting for low-tier spells:
Fireball (Tier 1)!
Gale (Tier 1)!
With his casting speed, both incantations finished near-instantly. The feeble flames of a Tier 1 Fireball surged under the Gale's force, swelling into an inferno that threatened to engulf the room.
The blaze roared so fiercely that Kael had to douse it with a water spell:
"Springwater!"
As he extinguished the flames, he surveyed the charred room with a wry chuckle. Yet the chaos only fueled his excitement.
"Combined elements magnify power exponentially. I've overlooked this—and so have Korgoth, Cruy, even Dylan! They chase raw strength in a single element, blind to synergy."
But to call Dylan's approach wrong would be unfair. In a mage's early stages, specializing in a single element undeniably accelerates growth and ascension.
Combined Magic.
Without doubt, this was Ethan's lesson.
"Even knowing this, execution is another battle," Kael muttered. "Tier 1 spells like Fireball and Gale have simple incantations—nearly instant casting. But higher-tier magic, say Level Six or above? Their chants are intricate, time-consuming. By the time I finish casting the second spell, the first's effect may already fade."
That was the crux of combined magic's difficulty.
To dual-cast Level Six spells, Kael realized, his chanting speed for both elements would need to reach Silver Star Rune proficiency—a legendary standard of fluidity. Fire posed no issue, but wind magic?
Well… not even close.
He grimaced, admitting his near-exclusive focus on fire had left other elements neglected. Truthfully, most mages below Level Seven followed this path—it streamlined advancement. Only upon becoming Arcane Masters did they diversify their elemental arsenal.
Unbeknownst to Kael, Ethan had inadvertently "set him up." The old mage never expected his apprentice to grasp this principle so soon—Ethan himself had only mastered combined magic in late Stage Seven.
Ignorant of this, Kael charged ahead with rookie fervor. In his courtyard, he began drilling wind incantations, ruthlessly compressing chant durations.
"Tornado!" He cast the Level Six wind spell, restraining its fury to a harmless whirlpool of air.
Again. And again.
The monotonous grind didn't deter him—it ignited his competitive fire. Each repetition edged him closer to synchronizing wind and flame.
"I've merged several runic syllables, shortening the incantation time—but it's still far from Silver Star Rune's casting speed." The night deepened, cold stars his only witnesses.
After countless repetitions, the courtyard lay in ruins: soil upturned, grass scorched, reduced to a wasteland. Thankfully, Kael's rented estate was spacious, and he'd restrained the spell's intensity to prevent collateral damage.
Now, exhaustion gripped him. Over a dozen hours of relentless casting—the same spell, again and again—had drained his mana and frayed his focus. Drenched in sweat, pale and trembling, he staggered toward his bed.
"Reaching my limit…" He dragged his exhausted body forward. Though iron-willed, even Kael couldn't defy such fatigue. Collapsing onto the mattress, still clad in his robes, he fell into instant, dreamless sleep.
An indiscernible time later.
A gentle breeze and soft footsteps roused him.
"Mmm… What's that smell?" Kael rubbed bleary eyes, slapping his cheeks to shake off grogginess. A headache pulsed behind his temples—the toll of overtaxed mental reserves.
The aroma of savory food hit him, and his empty stomach growled in response.
"That smells amazing—wait, who's cooking in my house?" He lifted his head to spot a white-clad girl bustling in the kitchen. It was Amelia…