The reward for winning the Lightning leaderboard event was finalized. As promised, the prize was tripled. Corvin sat before the instructors of the Lightning Hall and calmly made his selections.
He didn’t ask for weapons, magical scrolls, or titles.
Instead, he requested access to advanced lectures. Three lessons each in four specific magical affinities: Gravity, Aether, Life, and Plant.
His choices surprised many.
He didn’t include Lightning or Space, the two elements everyone knew he was already skilled in.
Within an hour, his request was approved.
He would attend three classes each in Gravity and Aether, both considered advanced arcane affinities and three more in Life, which healing was a under and Plant magic, generally were often overlooked.
He wanted to understand the foundations, the passive effects, and any advanced uses these elements had to offer. He needed to grow beyond raw power.
Gravity would naturally build on his Space affinity, improving his movement and control.
Aether, however, was still a mystery. Even most instructors treated it as something vague. But Corvin had siphoned enough minds to know it was connected to higher magic. Possibly close to divine power.
One faculty member finally asked the question everyone was thinking.
"Blackmoor," the instructor said, glancing at the list. "You skipped Space and Lightning. We assumed you’d want to refine what you already use. Why these four?"
Corvin looked up, calm and direct.
"Because I have time to master what I already own. I need to understand what I don’t."
No one questioned him after that.
Corvin wished he had more spores.
He had just finished his first Gravity Magic lesson, and to say it was amazing wouldn’t be enough. The ideas were deep and detailed, challenging both his thinking and instincts. Even the visual spell diagrams taught him new ways to approach battle and movement.
As usual, he siphoned the instructor and the two students with the strongest Gravity affinity. He had picked them carefully using the teacher’s own memories. Even though he needed to save spores for other lessons, these three were more than worth it.
Gravity Magic wasn’t just about crushing things. It was a core force in the world. Learning to bend gravity meant learning how to slow, control, or speed up everything around you. In battle, mages could create invisible zones that froze opponents midair or shifted a spell’s path by changing pressure zones. Gravity could also stop fast projectiles, mess with balance, or throw off timing by changing how heavy something felt. Though none of the factions will send mages with arcane masteries to the front lines.
Outside of combat, Gravity Magic had major uses. You could levitate heavy cargo or move platforms with no wheels. Some mages even built entire floating buildings by changing the gravity around them. Elevators could rise hundreds of meters without machinery. Even simple spells could make flight easier or let you glide with almost no energy.
Corvin’s affinity increased fast.
That was expected, raising low level affinities was easy. The real difficulty would start after S+, but for now, the boost felt powerful and clean.
His next class was Aether Magic, starting in less than an hour. He would need to use the rest of his spores wisely.
He was only getting started.
Corvin entered the Aether class and chose a seat in the back. Twenty four students were already there. They were quiet, well dressed, and focused. This was clearly one of the more advanced groups. He calmly scanned the room, marking those he would siphon later. After three sessions, most of their knowledge would be his.
A few minutes later, the door opened.
The instructor stepped in. A tall, graceful dark elf with long silver hair and deep set turquoise eyes. Her robes shimmered faintly with glyphs only visible when in contact with mana. Her name, which Corvin later learned from her memories, was Magistra Valyne Yrithis.
She took one look at him and frowned.
"I don’t know why you’ve joined this class, Mr. Blackmoor," she said, not even bothering with introductions. "But I expect silence. Aether is complex and hard to understand. Everyone here needs to focus. I won’t allow distractions."
Corvin nodded and smiled slightly.
His spores were already moving.
One by one, they latched onto Valyne and then two students with the strongest affinity for Aether. He found them through Valyne’s memories. Bright, focused minds buried in theory.
The knowledge came quickly.
Aether wasn’t just powerful. It was potential itself. It was raw mana in its most flexible state. You could turn it into any element you wanted, given the caster understood the structure of that element. It had to be known how it worked on a deep level.How fire burned, how water flowed, how stone held together.
Casting wasn’t enough. It needs to be comprehended, in chemistry and structure.
Aether was like magic clay. It could be shaped it into whatever needed.
It also made other magic stronger. Fire burned longer. Lightning hit harder. Ice froze faster. Aether was like a booster that made spells more stable and more powerful. It didn’t destabilize them like some power enhancers did. It made them cleaner.
The effect depended on how strong the caster’s Aether affinity was, and how well understood the spell caster was enhancing. Someone with both would create spells that acted almost alive.
Even more than that, Aether could help strengthen his own magic systems. It could expand mana pool, reinforce internal channels, and reduce how much energy used to cast spells.
Corvin’s eyes widened.
This changed everything.
He hadn’t realized just how central Aether could be. It wasn’t just support. It was a key to mastery. If Space Magic was canvas, and Gravity shaped movement, Aether painted the spell.
His affinity increased.
Not surprising, given how advanced Valyne’s knowledge was. She had studied Aether for decades, pushed her limits, and failed thousands of times just to understand one more layer.
His mind was spinning. He had just claimed the blank element. Now, it was time to learn how to turn it into a scalpel.
As the class neared its end, Magistra Valyne stepped in front of the board, her robes catching the light of the floating crystal orbs above. She moved with a calm, fluid grace, but the sharpness in her turquoise eyes made it clear she was preparing for something more than a routine conclusion.
She glanced over the class with her usual composed gaze and then asked, "Tell me. How would you convert Aether into thunderbolts?"
The question hung in the air like a spell about to be cast.
Her gaze swept the room once more, but this time her eyes lingered on Corvin longer than necessary. Her expression didn’t shift, but the weight of that look pressed on several of the nearby students. With her flawless robes and carved cheekbones, she had the presence of someone who expected results.
One student offered something vague about polarity alignment. Another stammered through an explanation about unstable mana and elemental cores. A third gave a half formed answer that tried to blend wind and fire magic principles. Completely off topic.
None of them were right. Not even close.
Valyne’s frown deepened with each wrong answer. Her perfectly drawn lips thinned. A faint shimmer ran across her aura as her mana subtly flared in annoyance.
Then, Corvin raised his hand.
The movement was calm. Controlled. Predictable to him, but unexpected for her.
Her sharp eyes snapped to him like a hawk spotting movement in tall grass. "Yes?"
Corvin’s voice was even and precise. "To convert Aether into thunderbolts, you first have to destabilize the mana’s baseline frequency, essentially charging it so it can support a high energy voltage signature. That requires reshaping it at the substructure level to allow it to retain an unstable charge temporarily. Once it’s ready, you channel the mana using directional compression spells, guiding it along a magnetic field line, much like how natural lightning follows atmospheric charge differentials."
He continued, unfazed. "The end result behaves similarly to natural plasma arcs. Fast, high temperature, and pressure responsive. The key is shaping the flow so the spell mimics the resistive pathways of charged air, giving it the impact and explosiveness of a thunderbolt."
Silence swept the room.
Valyne blinked once. Then again.
He had just articulated a working theory that most advanced mages struggled to grasp. And more impressively, he had done so with clarity, without hesitation, and without the ego she had expected.
She had assumed Corvin was another arrogant student drawn to her class by her appearance. It happened often, students lured in by her beauty, thinking they could gain her attention through flattery or posturing.
But this... this was different.
Corvin had come prepared. He had studied. Understood. Delivered.
He had shown more than theory. He had shown mastery.
Valyne gave a slow nod.
"Correct," she said, her voice quieter now.
Then she turned back to the board, but her stance was different. Less rigid, more thoughtful.
Something had shifted.
There was respect in her tone.