With things calmed down, Eldrian had multiple meetings with Ziraili throughout the following weeks.
Most of these meetings happened within his soul world. It was the simplest method for the two to meet and sufficed when no physical lessons were planned: those were limited to once a week.
During the more classical lessons, Ziraili was bringing Eldrian's knowledge up to the level that he needed to make some decent progress.
As much as Eldrian felt he understood things, he only had a high school education. He might have some vague understandings, but he didn't really understand how the world worked.
Sure, he had answers. But they only went so far. And as much as the world could be divided into simple, then complicated, then simple again. One couldn't ignore a step before getting to the next one.
It was like the concept of atoms. To modern humans, it is such a basic concept that everyone just simply understands that the world consists of these minuscule particles. Yet, just a few hundred years ago, almost no one had any understanding of the atom.
Now, this didn't mean no one had thought of it. It just took a few thousand years to become proven and accepted as the truth.
Now, the situation around this example isn't important. The important thing is that while Eldrian understood, he did not have all the information.
Ziraili's aim in their lessons was to fix this. And as simple as it sounds, it takes time. There is a reason no one graduates from school or university in only a few weeks or months. It takes years of hard work to grasp the concepts of one's studies.
They didn't have years. But they also weren't limited to words and pictures either. And, if it came to it, Ziraili could share her understanding with Eldrian directly. This contained many dangers. Thus, she wished to refrain from doing so if possible.
"And that is how lightning forms," Ziraili stated, finishing her lecture on the properties of air and how it changes to accommodate the phenomena known as lightning.
To aid her, she had been supporting her lecture with an illusion world of the molecular realm.
It wasn't a perfect depiction; such a thing would be meaningless to Eldrian. Knowing this, she didn't actually depict the atoms making up the molecules. Instead, much like in scientific equations, she used their symbols.
Atoms, were, after all, almost entirely empty space. Trying to depict them in a realistic manner would be meaningless. Not to even touch on the uncertainty principle that electrons adhered to.
What separated her illustration from the norm was that she could show Eldrian how they moved—in slow time—all the way up to the ending.
She could also edit the illusion as she talked with Eldrian and got a better feel for his level of understanding. Letting the world change according to his view.
Ziraili even used this at times to show Eldrian what happened when things that he thought were right weren't; or were. It allowed him to see the reactions happen, stall, or something entirely else happening.
While this might have increased the time it took to explain things. It did allow Eldrian to grasp the importance of not making assumptions. That half-arsed knowledge was worse than no knowledge. At least if he admitted he didn't know, he didn't risk letting his spell run wild.
And as easy as it sounds, it is hard to accept and adhere to. Any doubt, no matter how small, could lead to disaster.
Learning always to stop when in doubt takes a lot of willpower. After all, if you are 90% sure, you are almost certain. Most people wouldn't think that they were wrong at that point. It was important to still stop, ask, research, and confirm.
"Lightning isn't just a movement of charges. Yes, this is the simplest explanation. However, the movement of charges caused the surroundings to change, which then aids further in the entire process. This is why you can always smell lightning."
"What you are smelling is the ozone which lightning produces. And that isn't the only reaction that happens."
Here, she had paused. "Do your spells cause that smell?" She had asked, and Eldrian had admitted that they did not.
"I'm sure you can connect the dots. But let me say it so it's abundantly clear. It is because you are ignoring reality and forcing the magic to happen through will and vision."
"As I said before, spells are composed of three things: Will, vision, and understanding. Only two need to be met. Yet, a spell that meets all three will be far stronger than one that only meets two."
Of course, to advance to the next Tier, one needs to first get a feel for how a spell of that level feels.
Eldrian always solved his issue of lacking knowledge by first casting a spell through its spell module. This let him learn how the spell ought to feel and figure his way from there.
However, it meant he never really understood the spell to begin with.
"You were throwing your image of lightning and a lot of mana into your spell to force the issue. If you want your spell to reflect reality, you need to let your mana mimic what nature does. Not just what you see."
"Envisioning a bolt will give you a bolt. But that is no lightning; it is simply mana moving and giving off heat. The efficiency is terrible, yet the spell is powerful. So you might feel it is good enough. It is not."
This lecture came because Eldrian had started training his casting of lightning again after sorting everything out. Ziraili had taken notice, especially of Eldrian's crude method of forming the spell.
Unlike water and ice, Eldrian had no clue what was happening at a scientific level. He only knew that lightning was electricity, charges moving through the air. That was why his composition for the spell consisted of air and light.
As luck would have it, those were the right elements.
In the simplest terms, lightning was simply the collection of positive and negatively charged particles within a cloud. It forms with the addition of water and ice, but those elements aren't part of lightning, only the formation of the conditions that allow it to develop.
The critical bit is that charges build up until they reach a point where they need an outlet, and depending on the situation, different types of lightning occur.
If all that Eldrian wanted was lightning, he could have ignored air and gone just with light.
Light and darkness allowed the manipulation of energy. If the aim was simply to cause lightning, then all Eldrian had to do was send a spell out with the image of charging the particles around him.
Admittedly, controlling the spell without the air element would be impossible. It would always take the path of least resistance.
Still, he would have cast a more realistic version of lightning by only manipulating the flow of energy. The chemical reactions this flow caused would then be, perhaps not natural, but closer to it than his spells.
"Now, these are the following reactions that can happen..." Zirali went on to explain.
"These are the different formations that are possible..."
"This is how you can manipulate things to generate different results..."
This went on for a few hours. Ziraili concluded with the statement that Eldrian didn't need to limit himself to one bolt or even several. If he practices his control, he could charge his surroundings. Leaving the entire area in a state of near-instant reaction.
In such a situation, he could form a lightning bolt anywhere within his controlled surroundings. Lessening the travel time by that fraction of a second might make the difference.
And by gathering the charge to the point of near failure, Eldrian could produce an attack far more powerful than the one he releases as soon as he forms his spell.
"Yes, this is much, much more difficult. But, this way, you can lessen the amount of mana you need."
"I think I get how..." Eldrian answered, deep in thought.
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