Chapter 15: The Study of Fire-and-Ice Balls
"Are you saying that the powerful elemental force can only be triggered when the fire-and-ice ball is in your hand?" Hawk Fernas's expression was far from his usual relaxed and playful demeanor. When it came to magic, he always took things much more seriously than at other times.
"Yeah." Lin Yuan nodded. "I've experimented many times. To be precise, it doesn't necessarily have to be in my hand. As long as the fire-and-ice ball explodes close to me, the power will be that strong."
After rushing back to the academy with the students, Lin Yuan hadn't even had time to seek out Hawk when the latter had already sent someone to summon him.
Upon seeing the long-lost Hawk in the dean's office, Lin Yuan couldn't wait to bring up the issue. However, he hadn't expected that even as a Grand Mage, Hawk couldn't immediately provide a perfect explanation.
After pondering with his hand on his chin for a while, Hawk suddenly stopped and pressed something on his desk.
The bookshelf beside them slid open, revealing a dark doorway.
"Let's go to my lab and see for ourselves," Hawk said.
Following Hawk down a descending passage, they arrived at an underground room that was nearly a hundred meters in diameter.
Lin Yuan couldn't help but marvel inwardly. Even with the aid of high-tech machinery in his previous world, it wouldn't have been easy to excavate such a vast space underground. Here, where the level of science and technology was much lower, it was even more impressive.
He had to admit, Finor Magic Academy was truly wealthy.
"Go ahead, throw a fire-and-ice ball from a distance," Hawk urged before Lin Yuan could even take in the details of the room.
As a Grand Mage, Hawk was no ordinary opponent, and Lin Yuan wasn't worried about hurting him. Without hesitation, he summoned a fireball and a water ball in his hands.
"Wait..." Hawk suddenly signaled Lin Yuan to stop. "Do you always have to summon a fireball and a water ball separately like this every time you use a fire-and-ice ball?"
"Yeah. What else would I do?" Lin Yuan was puzzled.
"Actually, you could try summoning water and fire elements at the same point and then form a fire-and-ice ball directly in your hand."
Lin Yuan was taken aback. "Is that even possible? Fire and water elements are conflicting."
"How did you create the fire-and-ice ball in the first place?" Hawk's question left Lin Yuan speechless. Reflecting on how the fireball and water ball fused, he realized that Hawk's idea was highly feasible.
The difficulty, however, lay in summoning two conflicting elemental forces at the same point, something he had never done before.
After several attempts, Lin Yuan finally managed to summon both water and fire elements in his right palm.
No sooner had the two elements gathered than they began to swirl violently.
"Not good!" Lin Yuan's warning came just as the two elemental forces collided fiercely in his palm, causing an explosion.
Fortunately, the amount of magic gathered was minimal, so the explosion wasn't powerful enough to do more than cause him pain.
"What's going on?" Lin Yuan turned to Hawk for an explanation.
Hawk pondered for a moment, then said, "Watch me and try again. Think about attacking me as soon as the fire-and-ice ball forms."
"Could it be that Old Man Hawk is thinking the same thing as me?" Lin Yuan glanced at Hawk, who had positioned himself as the target, and began summoning the elemental forces again.
This time, the water and fire elements didn't conflict. Unlike when the fireball and water ball fused, the two elemental forces intertwined from the start, gradually forming a spherical shape. Compared to the fire-and-ice ball created by fusing a fireball and a water ball, this directly generated fire-and-ice ball had a much more orderly and tightly packed internal structure.
"Throw it over here and let's see," Hawk beckoned.
Lin Yuan nodded and, with a thought, sent the fire-and-ice ball flying towards Hawk.
Just a meter away from Hawk, the fire-and-ice ball seemed to hit an invisible barrier and couldn't proceed further. Immediately, a ripple of transparent energy spread out, and the fire-and-ice ball vanished without a trace.
Lin Yuan was taken aback. Although he knew Hawk's magical prowess was unfathomable, he hadn't expected him to use a magic he had never seen before, and it wasn't even his specialized water magic.
"Strange, why do I only sense fire elemental energy?" Hawk looked down at the small puddle of water in front of his feet and fell into deep contemplation.
Lin Yuan also began to ponder. What he focused on first was the different characteristics of the two elemental forces under different circumstances.
During his previous experiments, he had already noticed that when he had a target in mind, the two elemental forces wouldn't conflict during fusion. However, when he didn't have a target and merely tried to bring the two elemental forces together, they would clash violently as if they harbored a deep-seated grudge, resulting in an explosion.
If he was correct in his guess, the elemental forces in this world were not just energy sources to be harnessed by mages. Judging by their behavior in mixed magic, they seemed to possess a form of consciousness. This consciousness wasn't strong, but when a mage—specifically Lin Yuan—summoned the elemental forces for an attack, they would cooperate and ultimately form the peculiar fire-and-ice ball.
Of course, Lin Yuan himself was an anomaly. Although many mages could use two different types of magic, so far, he was the only one who could use them simultaneously. Moreover, if the elemental forces were not gathered by the same mage, they would never fuse, even if they had the same target, due to differences in magical signatures.
"Ding——"
The sound of metal striking something light jolted the two men out of their reverie.
Hawk glanced at the wall of the basement and said, "It's almost time for the speech. Lin, I can't figure this out in a short time. It might require a lot of magical experiments. But for now, we have to attend the academy gathering. It's my duty as the dean."
"Come on, you've been off on your vacation for so long. Now you're talking about duty? Don't you feel embarrassed?" Only Lin Yuan dared to joke with Hawk like this. First, he had spent a considerable amount of time with Hawk and knew he was just an old rascal. Second, as someone from another world, he didn't have many notions of hierarchy.
"Alright, when it comes to paying your salary, I'll conveniently forget about this duty."
"Hey, old man, you can't do that. I'm almost broke here..."
...
The first-year students at Finor Magic Academy were truly excited today. After more than a month at the academy, this was the first time they were seeing Dean Hawk Fernas, and their hearts were overflowing with excitement.
Most students chose Finor Magic Academy over other prestigious magic academies largely because of one of the two Grand Mages on the continent.
On the Farinos Continent, wherever you went, mages were respected, and Grand Mages, the crème de la crème of mages, were revered by the majority.
For these students, who were still in the learning phase of magic, a Grand Mage was more than just an idol.
Becoming a Grand Mage was the dream of every mage.
The study and research of magic were often tedious and flavorless. Without a goal and sufficient motivation, even a mage with exceptional talent might not be able to persist.
It was precisely because of the existence of Grand Mages like Hawk Fernas that all mages knew that Grand Mages were truly possible. With hard work, any mage could potentially become one.
What becoming a Grand Mage meant varied from person to person, but the significance was undoubtedly immense.
It was for this reason that when the neatly seated students on the field saw an old man in a deep red robe, symbolizing a Grand Mage, and a dark-haired, yellow-skinned individual who looked like a college teacher, arm in arm on the stage, they were utterly shocked.
The older students were somewhat better off. Having spent a considerable amount of time at Finor Academy, they had not only seen the dean with their own eyes but also heard various rumors about him. Knowing the dean's character, they were surprised but could accept the situation.
However, the first-year freshmen could not accept it at all.
Could this unremarkable-looking old man be the idol in their hearts, Grand Mage Hawk Fernas? He not only lacked the demeanor of a top-tier mage but was also chatting and laughing with a strange person.
This was far too disrespectful!
It wasn't that Lin Yuan had intended to act this way. He simply hadn't anticipated that after returning to his office, the old man would use a small-scale teleportation spell to transport the two of them directly to the stage.
Seeing the various looks from the students below, Lin Yuan was at a loss. As a modern person, he naturally knew how fans would feel after their idol had been disrespected.
"Damn it, this old man is just getting back at me," Lin Yuan cursed inwardly. He didn't dare to say much and quickly scanned the crowd below, spotting the location of Class 3, Grade 1. He swiftly cast a Wind Riding spell and floated over.