Countering an unknown spell inevitably caused a short delay in the Firing Range’s response.

Even with the full power of the tower core and the support of the Eyes of Menadion, the Firing Range couldn’t stop something that wasn’t recorded in the tower’s runes database, which had become part of the Runescape.

The initial countermeasures would contain the threat until the enchantments of the Grimoire fully analyzed the unknown spell and found the perfect response. Now that the Firing Range knew what it was dealing with, the Cinder Spell wouldn’t manage to burn even confetti.

"Iratho Ghet Rekhat!" Lith spoke the magic words for Fire Stab, but didn’t perform the hand signs to complete the spell with fake magic.

He weaved the three runes with body casting, conjuring them inside his open palm to put his theory to the test without the risk of suffering a fatal injury.

Solus stared at the exploding vortex with her mouth agape, while Baba Yaga erupted into a silvery laughter of excitement. The Firing Range had neutralized Fire Stab to perfection. The Cinder Spell failed to affect the air temperature and humidity.

Yet Solus expected that much.

What she hadn’t expected was that Lith’s hand had suffered no wound, and the energy field of his armor had not activated. There wasn’t so much as a burnt mark or a boil on his skin.

"Are you crazy? That was stupid and dangerous!" Solus had the Eyes of Menadion perform a full check-up on Lith as she examined him with her new breathing technique, Sky Radiance.

Neither found anything wrong with him, which surprised Solus even more.

"How is that possible?" She asked. "Just a few hours ago, you almost got hurt despite conjuring Fire Stab as far away from yourself as you could. Now, instead, you released the spell straight from your palm, yet nothing."

"Easy. I followed Lady Yaga’s teachings and put my imagination and willpower to use." Lith replied. "I willed the Cinder to take the shape of Fire Stab and the scattered Zero particles that came with it to shroud and protect me."

Solus was so shocked that she took a step back as if the revelation had physically struck her.

"Of course!" Her eyes lit up with joy, and her mouth closed in a bright smile. "It’s so obvious yet so brilliant. That’s why Elysia can always conjure the stable Cursed Elements without all the precautions we always take.

"It’s not just because her spells are weak or thanks to the stable Cursed Elements in her life force. She’s a naïve baby, and she doesn’t worry about how to obtain what she wants. She just wills to have fun with Cursed Magic, and that’s what happens."

"Exactly." Lith nodded. "We had the answer right in front of us the whole time, yet our need to understand how our spells work blinded us from the truth. Stable Cursed Elements are dangerous for their caster, but only if the mage doesn’t employ all of their parts properly.

"The scattered opposite Cursed Element is not just a side effect. It’s an integral part of every Cursed Spell we cast. We’ve gotten hurt during our previous experiments only because we ignored the scattered Cursed Element’s importance.

"Even in their chore magic form, Cursed Spells are as complex as tier four spells. They are comprised of two Cursed Elements, one to conjure the desired effect and the other to form a protective barrier around the mage."

"Does that mean that I can use Cursed Magic as well?" Solus asked, her eyes brimming with enthusiasm.

"I don’t see why not." Lith shrugged. "Once properly developed, Dread Magic is something anyone can wield safely. We could teach it to Tista and every other member of our family.

"It would make up for their weak mana cores and give them a last-ditch ace in the hole."

"But only after Lith and Yaga perfect it." Menadion chimed in. "You can’t afford a single mistake while dealing with such destructive energies, Solus, whereas they can. Lith because of the Cursed Elements in his life force, and Yaga thanks to her white core."

"Ripha is right." Lith nodded. "Also, I’m not going to teach anything to anyone until Dad and the others become proficient with regular magic. Explaining Dread Magic to them now would be like giving a bag of Fire Seeds to a kid.

"He’d mistake them for candies and blow himself and the whole house up."

"Fine." Solus grunted. "But I can at least start conjuring the basic stable Cursed Runes, right?"

"Wrong." Lith, Menadion, and the Mother said in unison. "First, I need to devise a suitable exercise routine for you to learn how to sense and control the scattered Cursed Element. I’m a natural at it thanks to my life force, and so is Elysia.

"You, instead, don’t have a single spark of a single Cursed Element. Remember how even someone as powerful as Yaga got her head frozen, blown apart, and incinerated when she used the basic runes."

"I’m wrong, and you are right." Solus raised her hands. "I yield."

After Lith explained his method to control the scattered Cursed Elements to Baba Yaga to the best of his abilities, they moved on to Zero Magic.

Lith performed all the spells he had already created back in Amrok with body casting, starting with the Jerak rune. He experimented with emitting the Zero beams from his fingers, palms, and elbows, never suffering so much as frostbite.

Then, he practiced the only tier one Zero Spell he knew, Snowfly, and created a few more. He used fake magic to try out the new spells since he had no idea how they would manifest and too little experience with the matter.

Only once Lith understood how his imagination and willpower shaped each Zero Spell did he conjure them again with body casting.

"I wasn’t imagining things. My hands get slightly colder every time I conjure a tier one Zero Spell." He brought his fingertips to his lips.

"Weird." Solus pondered. "You didn’t have such a problem with Fire Stab, and that’s tier three. Maybe it’s because of your Fire Dragon nature. It grants you a strong connection with all kinds of mystical fires, and maybe Cinder Magic is no different."

"I believe she’s on to something." Baba Yaga said. "You displayed the greatest degree of control with Chaos and Cinder Magic. It must be due to your natural affinities as a Tiamat."

"Whatever the answer, I need more practice." Lith cast the tier one Zero Spells until the scattered Cinder neutralized the Zero completely.

At that point, he moved on to tier two spells, improving his control over the scattered Cinder again before attempting to use body casting for tier three spells.

Once he was done, Baba Yaga followed in his footsteps, starting from Jerak and trying to sense the scattered Cinder. When that failed, she used body casting nonetheless.

Her hands shattered, and her arms exploded into frozen shards, but her severed limbs would regenerate in a heartbeat.

"Stupid, fearful brain." She grunted. "I had to tap into my survival instinct to overcome my fear enough to detect the scattered Cinder. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, but I’m going at it until I’m sure I’ve gotten the hang of it."