324 Elemental magic 1

With a single word incantation, the target dummy made out of solid metal started melting, in seconds it was reduced to a messy puddle of half molten metal as some of the sensors inside it started burning before the area around it was quarantined by a glass cylinder as the automatic fire suppression system kicked in.

"... Amazing."

Mostly at a loss for words even as she saw it for the 10th time, Ra quickly snapped out of her daze and made sure all the data of the event had been recorded correctly. Unlike the spells Ra had seen so far, this was something else entirely, the scale of destruction, speed of spell construction and efficiency were miles above anything she could construct herself.

"This sure is something else entirely… Although I hate to admit it, I have no current way of matching that level of performance. What about you Solaris?"

"Nope, although I feel like I've seen something like this before, from an archangel which had fought during the great calamity. Her spells were on a different level than anything those who came after her could do, and it is remarkably similar to something like that..."

Even Lilly and Solaris had no way of matching what they had just witnessed, even Solaris who had seen something similar when she was a child had no way of replicating it, it felt like there was some kind of difference between the kind of magic she wielded and what Ke just had shown off.

"Ah, it's been a long time since I've seen that kind of magic~✿"

Only one member of Dax's team seemed to be able to discern the difference between the magic people like Terra and Solaris had been using up until now, and what Ke just demonstrated, unluckily for Dax it was Ifrit.

"... Hey, you just thought of something really rude just now, didn't you?"

"Not at all, on a completely unrelated topic, when were you going to tell me that there were different kinds of magic? Perhaps it would have been very useful to know that there were more efficient ways to use mana."

Catching Ifrit's head in a vice like grip, Dax showed a warm smile to them, only his eyes weren't smiling.

Not even in the slightest.

"W-w-w-wait a second!- Ah, my head~ You're squishing it!"

"I am aware, that is my current intent. Also, stop with the strange noises or I will melt you down to scrap metal!"

Lifting Ifrit off the ground with a single hand as he steadily increased the pressure, Dax quickly made it very clear that he was going to crush Ifrit's head if they didn't start talking, something they also realized, as evident by the increasingly desperate clawing on Dax's arm.

"I didn't think to mention it because I believed that much was obvious! Have you ever seen anyone use magic like that demon we subjugated at the magic academy or in the vain of that I use!?"

Falling deep in thought, Dax thought back to the elders from the lost sanctuary, the fact that they were former qitons who had given up their bodies and the presence of advanced technology hidden in Solaris' sanctuary. Whatever was going on, everything seemed to be connected, the way Dax currently saw it there was a single faction behind the great calamity and the current dimensional convergence, the fact that the same faction was in possession of lost technology and supported Emergence notwithstanding, this was extremely bad.

(The way everything is looking, this is a threat to the galactic empire… Or even the entirety of this dimension?... I am so fucking underpaid to deal with all this bullshit, I should just retire already.)

"AW!~ Aaaaaa please let me go already! Dax, you're crushing my skull!"

Finally realizing he was in the progress of cracking Ifrit's (empty) skull, Dax dropped them before apologizing.

"Ah, sorry, I was lost in thought… It does make sense for there to be multiple magic systems now that I think about."

Turning to Ra, Dax glanced over her shoulder to look at her tablet and what data she had already extrapolated.

"It is the same virtual particle alright, but after that, I honestly have no idea what is happening… The best theory I can come up with so far is that it's an entirely different system, just like Ifrit said."

"... Is Mu coming over?"

"She's on her way right now."

Sensing that they had stumbled on a massive discovery which needed immediate attention, Dax wanted to get both Avoaxians on the subject as soon as possible, luckily Ra agreed with his assessment.

"Ke, how does the magic we've used so far look to you?"

While waiting for Mu to arrive, Dax and the others sat down with Ke to find out more about the type of magic she used, but to have an effective baseline Dax started with finding out how the magic he had used up until now looked to her.

"Inefficient is the best and politest way I can put it, without attuning the mana to an element before casing much of its potential is wasted."

"An element? Like what, the power of friendship?"

"No, like air or metal… What even is the power of friendship?"

Not understanding Dax's untimely joke, Ke was just about to continue her explanation when Mu arrived and quickly took over.

"So what are these elements exactly?"

From Ke's explanation, Ra and Mu learned a lot. Firstly, the type of magic they had currently used and believed to be the apex was something Ke referred to as non elemental magic, the least efficient and potent of all the schools of magic she had learned about from her mother. Elemental magic was just that, magic which used elemental attributes to greatly increase the potency of mana itself, but while the potency of elemental magic compared to non elemental magic was great, elemental magic also came with some considerable limitations. For one, it was simply impossible to utilize an elemental attribute without the personal aptitude for that element, attributes were something born with, ingrained in ones 'soul' or 'ego' which only living beings had, meaning it was impossible for a system like Ra and Mu's mana forge to cast elemental magic. Without the specific elemental attribute, a person couldn't cast the spell using said element, but most people had at least one or two different attributes, Ke, for example, made use of both the fire and light element. As for the elements themselves, it appeared there was no clear structure to them, while earth, wind, fire and air were the most common, Ke had also heard about elements such as metal, wood and even gravity, it wasn't currently clear what natural phenomenon and forces could be considered elements and which couldn't. 

Most importantly it is possible to determine what elements an individual is able to use and make it easier for the person in question to make use of them with a special ceremony which required multiple skilled spellcasters and a complicated rune formation, but preparations for said ceremony nevertheless started immediately.