Professor Naeric turned to face the class.
"What is Composite Casting Theory?" he said.
There was no greeting. No warmth in his words.
Just a natural expectation of attention towards his speech.
"This is an elective that exists because students are, unfortunately, curious, they are ambitious, and irrefutably as well as frequently foolish. The Academy has deemed that foolishness contained inside a supervised classroom is preferable to foolishness expressed privately in dormitories, training halls, gardens, rooftops, and, in one memorable case, a dining room."
A few students shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
I chose not to wonder.
Professor Naeric's eyes moved across the room.
"Composite casting is the practice of producing a spell effect through a structured interaction of two or more affinities. It is not merely using two spells at the same time. It is not throwing fire and wind together and hoping the result is an impressive explosion of gust and flames."
My attention sharpened.
'A combination? Interesting.'
I felt the Codex stir faintly in the background.
[RELEVANT SUBJECT DETECTED]
'Not now.'
[OBSERVATION STORED]
Several rows ahead, I noticed a girl sitting with her back straight and her hands folded over her notebook.
She had an energetic stillness to her, if that combination made sense. Her posture was disciplined, but something bright and restless showed in the way she kept shifting her weight, as if sitting still were an act of heroic restraint.
She was shorter than most of the nearby students.
But athletic, and definitely expressive.
There was a slight confidence in her shoulders that reminded me of someone who was preparing to punch a mountain simply because it looked at them wrong.
'Is that Ilya?'
Ryn had described her more than once.
Usually badly.
According to him, Ilya was "that commoner girl who looks like she's about to challenge gravity to a duel and somehow win." He had also mentioned something about clapping before spells, Terra affinity, and a terrifying purple punch.
'Or was it magenta?'
The girl ahead looked like she might fit the description.
I considered saying something to her after class, but then imagined approaching her and saying, "Hello, are you Ilya?" only for her to turn around and reveal she was, in fact, a completely different person who now thought I identified people based on vague Ryn-generated observation.
'That would be... extremely embarrassing.'
[ASSESSMENT: USER CURRENT EMBARRASSMENT BASELINE ALREADY HIGH]
I froze internally.
'Excuse me?'
[HYPOTHETICAL EVENT WOULD NOT SIGNIFICANTLY WORSEN EXISTING SOCIAL PROFILE]
'You are getting much too comfortable at insulting me.'
[USER HAS DEMONSTRATED INCREASED TOLERANCE]
'That doesn't mean you get permission to do so anyway.'
[NOTED]
My thoughts were abruptly stopped as soon as I saw Professor Naeric lift one projection from his hand to the main screen in the room.
"Combining affinities is dangerous because each affinity carries its own tendencies. Ignis converts, consumes, releases, and transforms through heat. Ventus moves, disperses, redirects, and shapes pressure. Terra anchors. Aqua conducts, adapts, and stores. Lux reveals and orders. Umbra conceals and distorts. Vita repairs, grows, and binds living continuity. Ferrum conducts, structures, and remembers force."
Professor Naeric continued.
"When a student attempts composite casting without understanding those tendencies, the affinities conflict. Conflict leads to waste. Waste causes instability. Instability causes explosions, backlash, core strain, or in some cases, death."
His delivery was perfectly calm.
Making its effect in the room even worse.
"So, does anyone here know the likelihood of an average Aether user wielding more than one affinity?"
A hand rose near the front.
A noble girl I did not know, with dark hair braided over one shoulder.
"Yes?" Professor Naeric said.
"Many mages can wield dual affinities at reduced purity," she said. "Some rare individuals can access three. But there has only been one recorded case of four affinities being wielded simultaneously at functional combat level."
Several students nodded.
I did not.
'Ha! Yeah, the history you guys know. I wonder how many of you and how much you people know about Alaric and his monstrous capabilities.'
The memory of that prehistoric battlefield rubbed against my thoughts again.
It wasn't painful this time, but it was awfully close.
Professor Naeric looked at the girl who answered.
"That was a great answer," he said.
The girl straightened, visibly pleased.
Then Professor Naeric continued.
"But not a factually correct one."
Her expression instantly collapsed.
A few students winced in sympathy.
Professor Naeric turned back to the projection.
"The common explanation of affinity rarity is imprecise. Any mage in the world can, in theory, wield all affinities."
The room was startled. Whispers sparked immediately.
Professor Naeric raised one finger.
"I want to repeat. In theory," he repeated. "Do not confuse a theoretical possibility with a practical one. A person may produce a spark of Ignis, hurl a breath of Ventus, or disturb a cup of water through Aqua under sufficient instruction. That does not make them a true wielder of that affinity."
The projection changed.
A central core appeared, with several affinity streams extending from it at different thicknesses.
"Your so-called main affinity is the channel flow through which your Aether expresses its greatest purity, stability, and resonance. Secondary affinities may be present, but their purity can be so low that using them in serious spellcraft is inefficient or dangerous. The rarity is not in touching multiple affinities."
The streams brightened.
"The rarity is in wielding multiple affinities at a level comparable to your main affinity."
I sat a little straighter.
It was clear that the distinction he had just made mattered, and that was the one thing we had to take away from the lesson.
Professor Naeric continued.
"A dual-affinity mage whose secondary affinity is "three levels weaker" than their primary is not equivalent to a mage whose two affinities develop in parallel. The first can supplement. The second can truly composite cast."
The overlapping circles on the projection changed. The unstable colours smoothed slightly.
"Composite casting therefore demands more than access. It demands compatibility, comprehension, and the discovery of a shared principle."
'Shared principle.'
The phrase landed hard. I thought of the training hall.
'What if I mixed Ignis: Implosion and Ventus: Null Vortex. A Fire collapsed inward through heat and pressure, and a wind that collapsed movement by removing a path, creating a pressure failure, a space where force was swallowed rather than redirected.'
Two different spells.
Two different affinities.
One shared idea.
My fingers moved to my notebook before I fully realised it.
I wrote one word.
Null.
Then beneath it:
Implosion?
The Codex pulsed.
[POTENTIAL COMPOSITE STRUCTURE DETECTED]
[AFFINITY COMPONENTS: IGNIS / VENTUS]
[KNOWN SPELLFORM REFERENCE: IGNIS: IMPLOSION]
[KNOWN SPELLFORM REFERENCE: VENTUS: NULL VORTEX]
[SHARED PRINCIPLE IDENTIFIED: INWARD PRESSURE COLLAPSE]
[WARNING: STRUCTURE THEORETICAL]
[WARNING: INSTABILITY RISK EXTREME]
My pulse quickened.
Professor Naeric was still speaking.
"The purpose of this elective is to support creative curiosity in a protective environment. You will not be rewarded for recklessness. You will be rewarded for identifying where affinities agree before forcing them together."
I stared at the projection.
Forcing them together.
Against each other.
Like I had done with fire and the environment.
Professor Naeric's voice seemed to fade slightly as the idea sharpened in my mind.
Most students tried to combine elements by impact.
For example, fire plus wind equals a bigger flame.
It was obvious and useful, but certainly crude.
What if the better question was not what two affinities could do when thrown together?
What if it was about what principle could be used to combine the two in one fluid spellcast?
Ignis could compress heat into a collapse.
Ventus could remove motion into a void.
Together...
A spell that did not explode outward.
A spell that made the target's own surrounding force fold inward.
The Codex displayed one final line.
[COMPOSITE SPELL CONCEPT ARCHIVED]
[POTENTIAL DESIGNATION: NULL IMPLOSION]
I stared at the words.
Something cold and excited moved through me. It's dangerous, unfinished, and completely theoretical.
But real enough to have a name.
Professor Naeric turned toward the class.
"Now then," he said, "shall we begin the class with a little bit of failure?"
Several students looked alarmed.
Professor Naeric picked up a small Aether crystal from his desk.
"You will observe what happens when two affinities are combined without principle."
The crystal flared.
The projection circles collided.
The room filled with light.
And I kept staring at the phrase still burning in my mind.
'Null Implosion.'