Chapter 94 - Light Ball

Zell and Qamra walked out of her underground home. The opening was a few feet away from the stream and the sound of flowing water filled their ears as they emerged. The sun was illuminating the area through the small beams able to pierce the canopy.

"So, Zell, holy magic is unlike any magic you have learned so far." Qamra said. "I used to believe one had to achieve balance to use it, but now I know it is simply a desire to use it that is all that the magic requires. Do you wish to learn and use holy magic?"

"I do." Zell said.

"First I shall teach you the most basic of holy spells." Qamra said. "It is called light ball and it is what I used down there in my house. To use it you must focus on light itself, gather its holy energy and form it into a ball in your hand."

"Wait, I have a question." Zell said. "You just said holy magic, but also said light is holy. Are you really considering the light from a star holy?"

"Well, yes." Qamra said. "The stars are gifts from the divine and harnessing their light is a holy task.

"Interesting." Zell said. "So, I helped my grandson with a school project once. It was about how stars worked. I learned a ridiculous amount of information about stars, mostly thanks to the internet, but I can tell you that the energy from a star is not divine. It is two atoms fusing together into something else.

Earth's star fused hydrogen atoms into helium atoms, that is why it was yellow and of a smaller size in relation to stars. The radiation that is released when those two atoms fuse is what causes the star to be bright and hot. It is what releases the photons which are light particles. But they also travel with a gambit of other radiations and spectrums of light.

Is all your so-called holy magic dependent on light? If so then it's a magic of radiation, and not holy at all."

"Earth sounds like such an interesting place." Qamra said. "So holy magic is broken into two fields. One is light and the other is divine. For the divine branch we cast spells using the magic of the multiverse itself, something that even predates the gods."

"Yes, I know all about creation magic." Zell said. "I have used it in a few spells."

"Yet you do not know how to use it properly." Qamra said. "This barrier is a spell crafted from creation magic. It requires intricate weaving and construction. You must assemble each thread of magic like weaving a basket. You do not just gather it up and cause an explosion. Creation magic was never meant to be used like that. It should be used as the name suggests and used to create things."

"I see." Zell said. "So, the barrier is woven with layers of creation magic." He focused on the barrier's magical imprint and could see what Qamra was talking about. It did look like a woven basket, only the weaves were so small it was hard to discern it from just a flat wall. "I can see it now."

"It took my brother six months of intense meditation and casting to create such a woven barrier." She said, ``It is a level of mastery that impresses me, far more than I have achieved. I have spent some days just staring at the beauty of his hard work."

"Alright, I feel like we got off track a bit." Zell said. "Let's skip the part about light magic, and just move on to the creation magic."

"No!" Qamra demanded. "The light is important! By learning to control and manipulate light you will learn to do the same with creation magic! You cannot just skip the foundation of the training! That would be like building a house on the sand with no foundation beneath it! It would all just come crashing down!"

"Alright!" Zell replied. "Calm down, I didn't mean to offend you like that."

"I just wanted you to know how important it was." Qamra said. "Now focus and create a light ball. Use a light beam if it helps you visualize what you need to do."

"I think I can do it." Zell said as he held out his hand with his palm face up.

"Oh, and I know hand signs that will help you focus!" She added excitedly.

"That's fine, just let me try it first." Zell said, trying to focus on his task. [Alright just focus on the photons and trap them in a sphere. That's all you need to do.] He thought to himself. After a minute a small glimmer appeared above his palm. A minuscule sized ball of light began to take shape. Its brightness was incredible despite its small size. Zell had to squint his eyes and Qamra covered hers.

"That is amazing!" She yelled. "I have never seen anyone produce a light ball so quickly, and one so pure and dense at that."

"Yeah, being level two million has its advantages." Zell joked. "Having a really high intelligence stat makes me learn and understand magic at unheard-of speeds. Also gives me excess mana to burn."

"I see." Qamra said, noticing his ball growing in size and lumines. "You may want to stop gathering the light energy now it is getting very bright."

"Right." Zell said. "So, what do I do now?"

"Now use your ball and shape it with your mind." She explained. "Use your thoughts to change that ball into a cylinder."

Zell focused, thinking of a can. He thought of the ball becoming stretched and widened and getting flat on the top and bottom. He could picture it as a can and the more he focused on that thought the more the ball began to move and shake.

"Think very clearly about it!" Qamra encouraged.

After a small amount of time Zell successfully changed the ball into a cylinder. "Okay now what?" He said.

Qamra had him change the shape of the light over and over into more and more complex shapes.. They practiced all day until the light of the moon could be seen from the canopy.