Core Knowledge (2)

"Did that female mage leave? Seeing her every day is really annoying. It's a shame I don't know Arcane magic, so I can't discuss spells and such with you. But if I find out you're showing signs of being unfaithful, hehe, just wait and see!"

Sylvanas sat back in the lounge chair with her arms crossed, her right foot resting atop her left and swaying gently. Because of her posture, the ranger skirt armor had slid backward, making what lay beneath easy to see.

Shane thought it was best to go along with her at a time like this. He brewed two cups of hot tea, sent them floating before Sylvanas with Mage Hand, and sat across from her.

"There's only a colleague's friendship between Solarian and me. Don't overthink it."

"Hmph!" The female elf took a light sip and set down her teacup. "I hope so. I'm thinking of Vereesa. Keep yourself in check. I don't want my little sister getting her heart broken by some elf, hmph!"

After saying that, Sylvanas lifted her teacup again. Her irritation had eased considerably, and her tone became lighter. "You just advanced?"

"Yes. I took a short rest this afternoon and advanced." Shane lifted his own teacup as well.

"When I arrived, I could sense that the scent here had changed. It's better than before. Unlike the Sunwell's rich feeling, this place is much fresher. Your scent has improved too, hasn't it?" The female elf looked eager to try, provocatively licking her upper lip. In the end, though, nothing happened. Neither of them wanted to break their unspoken understanding.

"Continue your evening studies. I can take care of myself." Sylvanas picked up a book from the table and began flipping through it.

"Mm." Shane gathered his magic power. Pyroblast could still be improved in terms of compression. As the temperature rose, the color of flames shifted from the red spectrum toward the violet spectrum, while the activity within them grew increasingly intense. As long as he could straighten out the internal Brownian motion, the energy could be compressed further. The temperature he had demonstrated to Solarian had reached the golden-white spectrum, yet it still did not feel like the limit of the sixth circle.

"Oh, right. The humans have sent envoys. They'll pass through the Ghostlands in five days, and I've been notified to escort them." Sylvanas suddenly spoke. Whenever politics were involved, she never had anything nice to say. "Couldn't the people up there be any more creative? They probably sent me to say, look, this is our recently famous hero. You lowly humans should feel honored."

"Humans? What are they coming for?" Shane cared greatly about news of humans and pricked up his ears for what came next.

"I heard that the prince of Lordaeron was born. The king sent envoys to inform every nation that their prince would inherit Lordaeron in the future, so the various countries would recognize the legitimacy of the heir."

"What is the heir's name?"

"I don't know. Elves rarely care about human affairs."

Sylvanas stayed until Shane finished his evening studies, then departed.

Shane even considered teleporting to the border to find out what was happening, but as an Arcane spellcaster, he could not lose his ability to make calm judgments at any time. He studied new spells during the day, practiced spellcasting techniques at night, and patiently waited for the envoys to reach Silvermoon City before teleporting over to gather information.

After advancing to the sixth circle, the core knowledge of the Conjuration school had opened up. Three new spells had left their "click-to-cast" mode, and learning them required mastering a great deal of prerequisite knowledge.

Conjuration School: Dimensional Anchor: Seals spatial changes related to teleportation within the spell's range.

Conjuration School: Portal: Establishes a stable teleportation passage for large numbers of units to pass through.

Conjuration School: Planar Creature Summoning: Calls forth a planar creature that responds to the caster's mind.

Their functions differed, but all required an understanding of spatial changes. Yet the insights in the three spellbooks were very simple, with no detailed explanations. Having no clue where to begin, he set them aside for now.

By his calculations, the humans had almost reached Silvermoon City. Shane used Fixed-Point Teleportation to teleport there. His designated coordinates were at the mentor's tower. Teleportation felt as though he had been folded onto a plane, then pulled out from the other side.

"Does it feel different after advancing to the sixth circle?" Shane remembered that it had previously felt like taking a single step. I'll think about it slowly later. Business first.

When he arrived at the mentor's tower again, apprentices bustled around him. He extended his senses and listened to what they were saying, filtering through everyday chatter such as, "Met some female elf one day and asked her out that very night," "Had a huge gathering with a few friends one day," and "I'm going to burn that little bitch who stole my man to death."

Then Shane heard what he wanted: "Humans casually have an heir and come to notify us. Who do they think they are?"

"You, come here." Shane pointed at that apprentice.

"Lord Shane?!" The apprentice recognized the elf calling him and immediately bowed. "Your orders, my lord."

"What is the human prince's name?"

"Let me think... I think it's Arthas."

It had begun. The moment he had been waiting for had begun.

"That's all. You may leave." Shane waved a hand. He was calmer than he had imagined, yet his sense of crisis had not diminished. How many more years can the elves' peaceful days last? Most apprentices in the tower talk about pleasure, and I rarely hear anyone discussing Arcane arts. Their destruction is inevitable. At the very least, I must accomplish what I want to do.

"Lord Shane, the master requests your presence on the seventh floor." An apprentice approached and said.

"I'm on my way." Shane replied, using the teleportation array inside the tower to see his mentor. He had many questions to ask as well.

His mentor's room was very tidy. It seemed his mood had been good lately, because his mentor only thought to clean his room when he was in a good mood.

"Sit, my student."

"Thank you, Mentor."

"Every time I see you, you bring me a surprise. Mm... I said the same thing last time too."

Shane saw his mentor drawing something in the air with his hand and did not interrupt.

"The sixth circle is a new starting point. We call it the beginning of mastery. Though not every seed can sprout, only those of the sixth circle have the ability to learn core knowledge."

The space before his mentor's fingertips twisted, opening a narrow gap. Shane could see a shallow sea within, sunlight rippling across the seabed as schools of fish swam by.

A crab landed on the table with a plop.

"Summoning is one application of the Conjuration school's core knowledge. Whether it is willing or not, as long as I find it, it must obey my will. Its corresponding application is calling, which requires a creature to respond to you. That is to say, you have no right to compel it. To fully master it, you must first learn to project your mind into outer space."

His mentor moved his fingers a few times, and the crab vanished, teleporting to the top of the bookshelf on the left. With another movement of his fingers, the crab teleported back.

"Teleportation, as the name implies, is the ability to move across space and even dimensions. It is the most intuitive and fundamental application of Conjuration school knowledge. What is space? You must understand it, or it will be difficult to advance any further."

As he spoke, armor grew over the crab's back, and blades armed its pincers. Its eight legs kicked wildly against the tabletop, as though it wanted to charge sideways.

"Creation. I summoned the materials that make up the armor, assembled them, shaped them, and sustained them with mana. This application is rather difficult, but it is not the most difficult."

The mana in the air grew dense to the extreme. In Shane's perception, countless singularities opened, piling and overlapping.

With a tearing sound, the crab that had still been brandishing its claws was split into four pieces. A cross-shaped rift appeared where it had been, revealing an unknown violet-red realm beyond. Then the cross-shaped rift generated a suction force and drew the crab's remains inside.

"Tearing space apart is currently the most difficult application. Shane, can you understand the power of the Conjuration school now?"