CHAPTER 81: GREATEST

"Care to explain why that’s bad?" Corvinus inquired, interested to see how Zephyr would respond.

Zephyr flipped the grill, thinking for a second before continuing.

"All things in nature fall to the ground. The same goes for a spell that is out of the mage’s control."

He pointed at the roof.

"The roof was completed last. She formed it, and her attention was still on it when she relinquished her control and turned it into solid."

Zephyr was very sensitive to mana. He could clearly sense the way it flowed when it was outside of a mage’s body.

"Thus, the roof began to solidify first, and the pillar supporting it solidified a beat later."

Corvinus nodded as Zephyr explained.

"If she were building a larger construct, the roof would have been too heavy for the softer base to support, and it would have collapsed. Fortunately, the rate at which the stone hardened was quick." Zephyr added as a finishing touch.

Zephyr was an intuitive thinker. The reason for his quick reaction was his intuition. The reflexes of his, honed to sense threat, were always firing, searching for the next sign of danger. He had sensed the danger the roof posed the moment it began to solidify.

"Great!" Corvinus clapped, surprised by the explanation. "You explained it well."

He turned to Aurelia.

"Do you understand what you did wrong?" He asked.

Aurelia plastered a wide grin on her face to hide her embarrassment and nodded.

"That’s good. Next time, when you cast a spell like that, I won’t be there. So, you need to think about causality and how objects interact with each other outside of magic before you cast a spell. Any mistake could bury you and your party alive within a pile of boulders. And...if you are not confident, don’t form a stone construct above your head. It’s better if you build it separately to verify if it can hold up." He pointed at the roof.

"Also, try to be as efficient as possible. I have told you this before: a mage without mana is just a normal person. You can’t waste it however you want. At all times, you must think of conserving mana and utilising it perfectly."

Aurelia nodded.

Elenor watched everything with awe, carefully noting down Corvinus’ teaching in her mind.

Zephyr was the only one casually flipping the fish.

’A mage without mana is like a stallion without any...’ was what Zephyr was thinking when he was broken out of his train of thought by Corvinus.

"Hrmm...Is it done?" He asked as the aroma of fresh fish floated towards him.

"Almost there." Zephyr flipped the fish again.

Both sides were caramelised within the sizzling oil. The fish were red snappers similar in size to the one he caught before. They looked delicious.

The three of them, sitting on their stone chairs, gulped down the saliva that flowed out uncontrollably in their mouth.

Zephyr could hear them and smiled.

Corvinus, though he carried an air of arrogance when he dealt with the Storm Tower, was actually a gentle old man. When he was with his students, he didn’t put on airs or behave in an unnatural manner.

Zephyr found it a little amusing to see the old man wait patiently with a smile.

While he was finishing up the fish, the crab roe he had placed on a shell nearby let out another wonderful aroma. Unknowingly, his stomach groaned, taking him by surprise.

Hearing him, the old man chuckled.

"Kid, I only need a small portion." He said, turning to his students. "But they are gluttons." He added and chuckled again.

This made Aurelia complain. On the other hand, Elenor was thrilled to hear the person she admired the most call her a glutton.

Zephyr ignored them for the moment, taking out the fish that were cooked out of the grill. Then he plated them neatly on large ceramic plates that the Master carried with him.

Supposedly, the old man had a spatial artifact that could store a large amount of items. So, he provided the plates for the day.

Zephyr wanted one of the artifacts himself, but it was not something that could be bought with money alone. Besides that, he already has a debt to repay. It was not the right time to think about buying artifacts.

He shook his head, plated the fish before moving onto the crab.

Breaking the hard shell was a chore considering he lacked one arm. So, he handed it over to Aurelia and Elenor while moving away to plate the crab roe.

The intermediate mages easily broke the crabshell using some odd spell Zephyr had never seen before. It piqued his curiosity, so he asked them if he could have the spell formula.

Aurelia hesitated for a moment, but still gave him a small book carrying a dozen or so spells.

It was quite an interesting book filled with many beginner spells. Most were miscellaneous spells lacking offensive power. But it still thrilled him nonetheless.

He quickly placed it within his inside pocket before turning his attention back to the feast he prepared.

Seeing the neatly placed plates on a newly built stone table, he smiled. It was time to eat all the protein.

"Let’s begin." He said, swallowing his saliva.

Immediately, they dove in.

Meanwhile, Corvinus took out a giant loaf of bread from his spatial artifact, placing it on the table.

"Here, have it along with it." He said with a smile.

He personally sliced a hefty portion and handed it to Zephyr.

Zephyr took a deep breath and brought it to his plate.

"Kid, I will find some way to fix your arm. Don’t worry." Corvinus said suddenly.

"Hmm..." Zephyr was perplexed.

"And, you don’t have to pay me anything. I will also take care of your debt."

"Why?" He asked.

"Just cause I find you interesting. I think you have what it takes to be a great mage."

"Well, the storm tower doesn’t." Zephyr rolled his eyes.

"They are a bunch of fools who chase after strength. But the truth is that strength alone doesn’t make you great." Corvinus looked far away at the horizon.

Then, he asked.

"Do you know who the greatest mage to have ever lived is?"