This was my next lesson in the crafting magic department. This included breaking down complex substances such as rock and metal. Maybe this was because I had knowledge on atoms because this was very easy to understand. Two days after completing my body training under Mr. Albert, I started the practical exercise I matter disintegration. I started with simple objects where I turned grains of sugar to fine particles the size of flour within a few minutes. I then went on to try turning a rock to fine grains of soil. This was harder than expected but I succeeded within an hour. In the next 2 hours of the lesson, I perfected and trained the art of turning rocks into soil to an acceptable degree. I then went on to train my body in the afternoon. I could now make a wood, metal and rock membrane. A rock membrane seemed like the best choice when looking for hardness and comfort. The surrounding temperatures did not greatly influence the rock membrane as much as the metal membrane while still offering a high level of protection. I had also increased my speed in covering any point of my body with a membrane.
[Affirmative. Comparison. (1) Wood, insulation 6/10, protection 1/10 (2) Rock, insulation 4/10 protection 3/10 (3) Iron, insulation 1/10 protection 6/10(4) Beetle exoskeleton, insulation 6/10 protection 8/10(5) Emperor dragon scales, insulation 10/10 protection 10/10]
An emperor dragon huh, that is not something I can easily find. The last time one was spotted was around 600 years ago. It is very likely that it is sleeping or in a hibernation mode. There is absolutely no need in poking a dragon's nest.
[Affirmative. Would you like to cover your body with crow feathers or Alphas fur and hide?]
My body mimicry ability had grown to a point where I did not require to hit a target numerous times. Just by touching the target, it was possible to mimic it.
[Negative. You have yet to learn about matter combination. However, once you do it is possible to mimic the features of animals and birds.]
[Noted.]
The bird cages for my crow were coming up nicely. Though I call them cages, it was basically a wooden structure with a small opening where they could come and go as they wished. Water and some meat were always provided to them in small quantities. The rest of the time they were required to salvage for what to eat. All in all only one crow evolved and as a result had the ability to speak. This changed the dynamics of power because he was now larger than all the other crows, I would say one and a half times larger than the second place. This made him the de facto ruler of the group.The lessons in matter disintegration continued and I was now able to disintegrate blocks of metal instantaneously within two days. Everything seems easier to learn now, I would say the difficulty level has plateaued. The next lesson was about disintegrating spells. Miss lavender was also a fire mage and with her explanations, I understood how dispelling worked. Within 4 days, I could dispel Miss Lavender's fire magic, Nathans wind magic and Mr. Albert's earth magic. The process was very frightening. "Is it possible for any other group to beat a dark magic user?" I asked. "Yes, a White Eagle with any element can beat the strongest dark magic user. This is because it is impossible to dispel legendary grade spells. An example would be the meteors incident with the human dragon. It would take an enormous power to dispel just one of the meteorites. To put this into perspective, it rained hundreds of them within minutes." Miss Lavender answered. "What about the other normal mages? Do they have a chance?" I asked. "Yes, a wind mage that can manipulate lightning and a light mage who can shoot beams of light can win against most dark mages. This is because the speed of their emissions is too high to dispel. If caught unaware without a sturdy membrane, dark mages will always lose." Miss Lavender answered.After successfully completing matter disintegration, I was now learning about matter combination. This is the skill paramount in coming up with new type of spells. It is basically the opposite of disintegration. Simple substances can be combined to form complex object. Miss Lavender demonstrated this by forming a barrier with the surrounding air. The barrier covered an egg and I was asked to smash the egg with all the means at my disposal. I tried smashing it with my bare hands, didn't work. I then turned my arm to metal but that didn't do anything to it. My last trick in the book was matter disintegration followed by smashing it with my steel arm. The rate of regeneration of the barrier was higher than that of erosion caused by disintegration. In the end, it also did not work. "As you can see, my barrier is small covering the surface of an egg hence very dense. With enough training, you should have the ability to break through such a barrier with ease." Miss Lavender said. I was then asked to create a barrier offering the same protection to the egg. I succeeded within the hour however my barrier was inferior. Miss Lavender would only drop a stone twice the size of the egg from a height of 1 meter. It would always break the egg on impact. What the hell am I doing wrong? I am pouring all my strength in making and maintaining this barrier. [Perhaps you should leave an air cushion between the barrier and the egg shell to absorb the impact.]
I was not really hopeful with the idea but due to lack of any better ones, I decided to implement it. It worked! The air cushion transferred all the pressure from point of impact to the surface area of the whole egg. What kind of physics professor am I? Of course increase in area reduces pressure yet somehow I doubted the idea. "It seems you have learnt the secret with barriers? Very good. Now I'm going to teach you how to deal with fire magic." Miss Laender said. The short version of the lecture was that the fire mages have the ability to subconsciously separate air and light it. According to my previous knowledge, they can separate oxygen from the air and light it to conjure fire. With this knowledge, I decided to try it. It took less than 10 tries to conjure my first flame.
[Learning fire magic successful.]
"Excellent. That is how fire magic works. I can only perform fire magic because of my limited mana supply but I think you should try others as well. Maybe ask Mr. Nathan to teach you wind magic. I only know the theory behind it. The texts say that wind mages control atmospheric pressure. With change of pressure, the wind moves. Maybe you can try it." Miss Lavender said. Miss Lavender concluded that her lessons with me were over. I had learnt the basics in matter disintegration nd combination. Anything else I would have to research it for myself. She offered to provide books on Crafting magic where I could experiment with different ideas. With that, I went over to Nathan. It seems that lately we do not talk with Nathan as much as we used to. It can't be helped because after mother left, I have been undergoing serious training within the last 4 months. "Hey young master, what are you doing around this areas?" Nathan asked. He was referring to the horse stables because I rarely went there. "I am looking for you actually. I am thinking of learning wind magic. Could you teach me when you are free?" I asked. "Wind magic you say. Aright give me 10 minutes to finish up here and I will be with you outside." Nathan answered. I waited for a little while and then he appeared. We went to the left side of the house where it was more of an open field with only grass I sight. No trees, buildings, shrubs and bushes just grass. Nathan explained wind magic in more detail. How to create pressure cells and how to form lightning. His training took a few days and I was now able to manipulate wind and form lightning bolts. Although, I could only perform the lowest level spells with both wind and fire magic. My bolts of lightning for example, the biggest one was formed between my thumb and index finger. That was the maximum size of bolts I could form. In comparison, Nathan would form bolts his size and throw them to the sky where they would disperse. "By the way, your combat instructor will be here in the next two days. Are you excited?" Nathan asked. "Yes, this will be my final training then I can relax and start thinking of other things besides training." I answered. "That would be good at least you should visit your mother. The letters are not enough." Nathan said. It has been 4 months, although we keep in touch with mother through letters, it would be nice to see her face to face. I continued training with wind and fire magic until the sun went down.