Pax found the process already feeling familiar, despite working to unlock lightning for the first time inside someone else. It didn’t take Amil long to get ready. When Pax sent his mana sight inside, the size of the two collections of mana Amil had summoned, as well as his control, surprised Pax. For all his joking, it was obvious he’d been working hard to improve.

  “I’m starting. Keep everything stable,” Pax said in warning.

  “Got it.”

  Pax pushed aside all distractions and focused on duplicating what he’d done with Rin and Dahni. With a stretch of his mana skills, he formed the conduit and smiled in satisfaction when Amil’s flame and air connected inside it.

  Wrapping the two volatile magics up in bands of his own mana, Pax increased the pressure by small increments. The slipperiness of the two mana types was the first sign that he might run into trouble. Amil had more air mana than Rin, and when Pax pressed it up against a rope of volatile flame mana, it created an unstable combination.

  Pax focused harder and spread out his mana to better engulf the combination. Still, segments of Amil’s two mana types bulged out from any gap in his coverage, like powerful snakes trying to push their way out of a thin bag.

  Pax frowned as the mana types resisted his attempts to merge them. Forcing them together wasn’t working, even when he did his best to thread both his light mana and lightning among them. It seemed the more pressure he applied, the more unstable they became.

  Then a thought struck him. A memory of a storm he’d once observed. The air currents picked up debris, household items and even a dog, whirling them up and around with a power that was incredible to behold. Maybe he needed to use his new mana skill to manipulate the mana thread into a pattern of movement that encouraged them to combine.

  Brute force wasn’t working very well, so Pax got busy with his new idea. He leaned into his manipulating skills, using his light mana to push the flame and air into a rotating pattern.

  It took a few long moments before he made enough progress to see. The unruly flame and air finally moved in a spiral around each other, his light and lightning wrapped around and guiding them. For the first time, Amil’s two mana types stopped fighting each other. The air currents didn’t fight the flames, but carried them in an ever-tightening rotation.

  He shifted his focus, releasing the tension in his own mana. Instead of squeezing the flame and air mana together, he coaxed them into moving faster in a spinning movement that mimicked the natural motion of a storm. He visualized the air mana wrapping around the flame, not to suppress it, but to fuel it, creating a vortex where the energies could dance together without clashing.

  As he did this, he felt the pressure easing, the chaotic mana types settling into a rhythm. The swirling motion accelerated, and within the heart of the vortex, his own lightning sparked. With a sudden flare, a new flicker of lightning burst into life.

  Pax’s eyes widened in delight as he felt everything to do with mana suddenly come easier. Innately, he knew his Ascendant skill had just leveled. And he’d discovered a new key. The flame and air didn’t need to be forced into submission. They needed to be guided into a motion that helped them harmonize.

  With renewed focus, Pax refined the vortex, carefully adjusting the balance until the spark grew into a steady stream of lightning. Holding the motion steady was almost effortless, giving Pax hope this process would be even easier in the future.

  Pax held a firm grip on the stream of his mana being sucked into the creation of Amil’s lightning and cut it off when the process had generated a decent amount. With satisfaction, he carefully extracted his own mana from the process.

  The spiral of flame and air slowed and stilled before separating. As Pax dissolved his conduit, the various energies separated back to their respective areas, leaving a pulsing ball of lightning that jumped and twitched with an almost uncontrolled power. Pax shook his head, wondering exactly what he’d done by giving Amil lightning.

  Now that he had the attention to spare, Pax read his flashing notifications.

  ***

  Skill Boost: +11 to Ascendant Mana Integration Level 1 (Legendary-evolved) - 105/100

  Congratulations! Ascendant Mana Integration is now Level 2

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  You’ve earned 1 Leveling Points and 0 Evolution Points

  Mage Leveling Points: 42/45

  Class Evolution Points Unused: 13

  Crew Quest: Part 3: Learn how to unlock secondary mana types for rebel mages - 3/4 (+2)

  Reward: Each member of the crew who assists will receive a crystal mana battery that can store a single elemental type and be linked to their personal mana storage even while in inventory.

  ***

  Even though he’d only received one leveling point and no evolution points, Pax couldn’t be disappointed with all the power his newly combined mana skill gave him. Not only that, if he leveled it one more time, he’d get the points he needed to reach mage level 4. He was so close and with all the mana work he had planned, it shouldn’t take long at all.

  Being so close to completing Part 3 of the Crew Quest, Pax took a moment to read over the reward section that he usually skimmed. The first part leaped out at him. He’d only had the mages in his crew helping with the process. But was there a way to get Bryn, Tasar and Tyrodon involved with the last mage he helped? What counted as assisting? They all had Mana Sight, so if he had them join in to watch, would that work?

  Pax planned to approach Crissim to be the fourth with a secondary element. He’d had his minor air magic a lot longer than any of the Tribal mages and Eldan which hopefully meant he had both the quantity and control needed to be successful. Pax made a mental note to add those ideas to his list.

  When Pax finally opened his eyes to see how Amil was doing, he saw pure joy lighting up his friend’s face.

  “You actually did it.” Amil’s voice was soft, with none of his usual teasing. “You gave me lightning.”

  Pax nodded, happiness filling him at seeing how much it meant to his best friend. “Just be careful what you do with it.”

  Amil nodded before his expression turned serious and he held up one finger. “Except in battle. With all our additional elements and spells, the empire won’t know what hit them.”

  Around them, their friends murmured their agreement.

  “I assume you have a spell picked out?” Pax looked at Amil.

  A wide grin split his expression as he bobbed his head in happy agreement. “Of course. I’ve had it since we first found that stash of scrolls in Nyxaria’s crazy hoard in the student vault.”

  When he didn’t continue, the others made impatient sounds.

  “Are you going to tell us what it is?” Dahni asked.

  “I’m not sure.” Amil looked thoughtful and tapped at his chin. “I think it might be more fun as a surprise.”

  Rin smacked him across the back of the head, hard.

  “Hey.” He rubbed his head and gave her an affronted look.

  “We told you about ours, so you need to tell us yours.” Rin gave him a mostly serious glare.

  “And we’ll need to practice coordinating before you use it in battle.” Bryn’s tone was admonishing.

  “Fine. Fine.” Amil leaned back, grinning and waving his hands defensively. “I was just kidding. None of you can take a joke anymore. Here, let me read off the description to you. It’s called Tempest Smash. Doesn’t that sound awesome?”

  When the others smiled but only gave him impatient looks, he relented.

  “Alright. Tempest Smash is an elite spell that allows a mage to execute a powerful leaping attack while channeling raw lightning mana into their weapon, ideally a blunt or melee one. Upon striking the targeted enemy, the impact releases a devastating burst of lightning, causing burn damage and stunning the target for up to three seconds. The lightning also has a 10% chance to arc to nearby foes, dealing additional damage and briefly slowing their movements. As the spell levels up, the stun duration will increase, and the chance for lightning to arc to additional enemies improves.”

  Amil stopped reading and when he saw the impressed expressions, he grinned and continued. “It’s a melee spell but the leap range can go as far as fifteen feet. The downsides are a high mana cost as well as a cooldown of two minutes. But can you imagine if I use my Cyclone Vortex to suck in a whole group of enemies before using this skill on the central one? Kaboom!” Amil clapped his hands together, flung them out in a simulated explosion and then looked at his friends for their reaction.

  “Alright, that’s a pretty incredible spell.” Dahni shook his head and clapped Amil on the back.

  “Our next practice will be very interesting.” Tasar’s quiet comment got chuckles out of everyone else.

  As they all stood and put away their chairs, Pax held up a hand for their attention. “As soon as we finish eating lunch, I plan on our first attempt at awakening Jules.” He frowned. “I tried to convince her to let me make the first attempt with Kai, in case something goes wrong. But she refused.

  “And I don’t blame her. She’s been training and working for this since Titus got them out of Thanhil. So, just like the other day with Rin and unlocking her ice, she won’t wait for this. The best I can do is take every precaution.”

  The mood turned both serious and excited.

  “I’d like Rin and Dahni to join in as the water and earth mages for this attempt. I’ll ask Eldan to take the air position.” Pax hesitated before giving Amil a helpless shrug. “And I hope you don’t mind, Amil, but I want Incedis to take the flame position, at least this first time. You’re the one who’s been practicing with us, but the more I learn about the process, the more it’s obvious how much power I’m going to need from the supporting mages. Then, with what Fenix said about the last step and the power requirements, I think this’ll give us our best shot.”

  To Pax’s surprise, Amil nodded without a trace of resentment. “Hey, this is Jules. Anything that gives her a better shot and keeps her safe, I’m all for. In fact, I can chat with Incedis beforehand and give him a rundown on what I’ve learned about the process.”

  “Really?” Pax asked, feeling a rush of gratitude for his friend.

  “Definitely.” Amil gave him a firm nod. “And it’s not like I won’t have plenty of time to help in the future. Once you figure this out, we’ll have a lot of littles to awaken, right?”

  “That’s the hope. Thank you, friend.” Pax gave Amil a grateful smile. “Now, let’s get some lunch.”

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