"I can only hope that when they grow up, my sons will be able to mend their relationship. I can't force them to get along."
And so, he accepted.
A few weeks later, Lith was headed to Selia's house for the usual cleaning, before going hunting. The dawn's light made the world around him look like out of a fairy tale.
The thin layer of snow was immaculate, reflecting the orange light over the weeds and trees along the way. His surroundings were completely silent, the world still and at peace.
At the next clearing, Lith took out the magic stone out of his pouch, observing it in the morning light.
During the winter months the magic stone had mended most of the teeth marks. Both its life force and mana flow had tremendously improved, but it was still useless as the day Lith found it.
"Just my luck." He sighed. "I risked my life facing that Ry for nothing. Let's hope I can find something in Nana's books, otherwise my only option it's to find someone willing to buy it."
Lith was really impatient to start his apprenticeship.
It meant being finally able to study magic from books instead as a self-taught. Also, as an apprentice healer, he would get practice magic and be paid for it, gaining the village recognition and respect.
So many birds with just one stone.
After putting the magic stone back into the pouch, Lith arrived at his destination and opened the door. That day Selia was out of town to sell her merchandise, so she had left the door open for him
It didn't take him much time to clean everything and leave.
As soon as he walked out the house, he got hit in the head by a wooden stick.
Lith's eyes went blurry, he felt someone pushing him back inside, making him fall to the ground with a kick in the stomach.
"Look who's here, the little Leech!" Lith recognized that voice, he was one of Orpal's friends.
Four boys quickly surrounded Lith, kicking him while he was still down, while a fifth closed the door after checking that no one did notice them.
"You little arrogant piece of sh*t! Orpal told us all about you. How you humiliate him every day, how you even dare stealing his food!"
"Yeah!" Another one yelled. "He is your big brother, it should be him getting the best part of the game, not you, little ungrateful runt!"
"Less yelling and more kicking, Trant! Remember Orpal's words, if Leech gets the chance to use his magic, we are finished!"
Despite Lith was curling up, desperately trying to shield his head and stomach, another kick grazed his face, making one of his baby-teeth fall.
"I know what to do!" Trant moved forward gripping Lith's hands with enough strenght to crush them. "Let's see how he does magic without hands!"
By coming that close, Trant had forced his friends to stop kicking, and a moment was all that Lith needed.
He released all the lightning he could muster, shocking Trant out cold.
But before he could do anything else, the wooden stick hit him in the head again, making him collapse.
"You d*ckhead! How dare you hurt your seniors! You deserve to die!"
The beating resumed, this time with no hint of mercy or holding back. Lith started coughing blood and teeth.
The four had him surrounded, Lith tried multiple times rolling out of the encirclement, but he would be sent back in the middle every single time.
Lots of feelings were ravaging his mind, while his body was burning with pain. The spite for his brother's betrayal, the rage of being assaulted by boys with double his age and size. But most of all, he felt helpless, and afraid of death.
"Damn magic! What use are you if I don't have the time to concentrate? Stupid stone, I kept you hanging from my neck for months, do something! Help me! Somebody, anybody, help me!" All his silent pleas went unfulfilled.
While his conscience was fading, Lith started cursing himself for his weakness and helplessness.
"Magic, martial arts, all that careful preparation, useless." Oddly, his last thought was not for his family or revenge, but for his last opponent.
"If only I was as strong as a Ry! He stopped my spirit magic so easily by…"
His survival instinct kicked in, his mind and body acting in unison.
"By infusing himself with mana! And I can do that too! It's the same principle behind Life and Fire vision!"
With each breath he started calling upon the elemental energy, but instead of wasting time giving it a form, Lith let it merge directly with his mana core, infusing himself with earth magic.
His whole body started hardening, the pain getting duller and duller. Lith also infused himself with light magic, accelerating his healing and preventing himself from losing consciousness.
Soon he was able to ignore the kicks, springing back up in one fluid motion.
"What is earth? It's just a mix of minerals and organic matter, the same as my body. I can be immovable like a mountain!"
With that thought, he further hardened his head, before headbutting from below the chin of the assailant in front of him.
Before the remaining three could recover from the surprise and resume the encirclement, Lith raised his guard. The left arm forward for blocking, the right arm ready to strike.
Orpal's friends were scared, after Lith knocked down their leader with the headbutt, the only thing on their mind was to prevent him to use magic, so they rushed forward, not giving him time to recover.
The closest assailant tried to punch Lith in the face, to disrupt any casting he could attempt.
"60% of the human body is made of water. I can be formless like water."
Lith's left arm, imbued with water magic, coiled around his opponent's right arm like a snake.
"The body burns calories to produce heat and energy. I can be destructive like fire!"
Fire magic burned through his muscles, granting Lith short bursts of explosive strength. By flexing his left arm, Lith broke the immobilized limb in three points, elbow, ulna and radius, while his right fist hit the opponent on the nose, pulverizing it.
The pain made the boy faint, his nose bleeding profusely.
The remaining two fell into panic, and tried to run away.
"Nerves, synapsis all the information and orders in the body are transmitted via electrical impulse. I can be fast as lightning!"
Lith imbued all his body with air magic, becoming fast enough to blink in front of them, punching both in the gonads at the same time.
All of his opponents were down, sobbing in pain or fainted.
Lith spit a mouthful of blood, while contemplating the results of his last experiment.
"Seems that this new magic puts too much strain on my body. Maybe I'm too young, maybe I took too much damage, whatever. I have all the time in the world now."
"I need to decide what to do with you motherf**kers." Lith said while using light magic to heal his internal injuries.
"It may take a while, but you'll get my undivided attention. Enjoy your stay."
Lith sat on the couch, his left hand on the chest, performing the healing.
The right one was open in front of him, releasing five streams of lightning that enveloped the five boys like tendrils, making them scream with agony.