"It's Lìtuh, not Litùh!"
After a series of non-life threatening failures, Lith had to admit he wasn't able to learn both the pronunciation of the magic word and the hand signs at the same time. So, he had to sit down and recite the spell until he got it right.
After that, he had to face head on his poor hand-eye coordination.
"That's not a seven, more like a one. Do the second line steeper!"
"You are supposed to draw a circle, not an egg!"
"Will you stop your left hand during the last movement, please? Otherwise we'll never see the end of it."
Failure after failure, Solus kept nagging in Lith's mind, correcting the many mistakes he did during each try.
"If you are so good, why don't you do it yourself?" Lith rebutted, bursting with frustration.
"Sorry, I do not have a body. Not to mention I cannot perform any spell unless a) you first know how to do it and b) you give me the permission for it."
It was a long afternoon for Lith, full of cursing, sweating and casting, not necessarily in that order, before he finally managed to get Piercing Ice right.
He kept repeating the spell until it became a second nature to him.
"I can't believe I had to work so hard for the simplest spell. I have barely an hour before the sunset. Hey, Solus is it enough time, or do we wrap things up for today and go back home?"
"Is more than enough. Tell me, how does it feel using magic that way?"
"To be honest, it does not feel at all. I'm so focused on all that cr*p that I can barely breath."
Solus mentally nodded.
"Perfect. Now cast your Ice Spears spell, shooting only one spear."
Lith was so tired to need to actually use the magic word.
"Jorun!" With a flick of the wrist, Lith conjured a slender, sharp ice javelin that struck the nearest tree faster and harder that the Piercing Ice.
"Now focus, how did you do it?"
Lith couldn't understand all those apparently stupid questions, but he trusted Solus enough to know she wasn't just trying to piss him off.
"Like usual. First, I mentally visualized the effect of my spell, things like the shape of the spear, the trajectory, etcetera.
Then I used my mana core to generate enough mana to support my spell, taking in account the size of the spear I wanted to conjure and how strong I wanted it to strike.
Finally, I projected my mana on the outside, mixing it with the world energy to have access to the water element and voilà! Order up."
"Okay, now use Piercing Ice, again. This time do it slowly, try to feel how your mana flows according to the spell."
Lith needed a few tries before succeeding in the task Solus had assigned him, the result was astonishing.
"What the heck? As soon as I start with the hand signs, a portion of my mana leaves my body. And there is more. The magic word determines how my mana interacts with the world energy, in this case the water element, while also giving the spell its shape and size."
Lith could tell that if Solus had a face, now she would have had a smug grin from ear to ear.
"You are almost at the finishing line. Do Piercing Ice again, but try making the ice shard bigger."
"I can't." Lith was flabbergasted. "If I try adding more mana the spell becomes unstable and dissipates."
Solus asked him to try generating a second ice shard, then to make the single shard faster and finally to alter its trajectory right after it materialized. Lith's answer was always the same.
"I can't. The whole spell is set in stone. Once I learned the proper signs and pronunciation, I became nothing more than a mana source and a targeting system. My mana core and imagination play no part in this type of spell casting."
Lith suddenly reached enlightment.
"And that's why you consider it fake magic!"
"Calling it fake magic is a little extreme, but for simplicity's sake let's call it that."
Lith could sense Solus brimming with pride.
"Now I can finally share my theory with you. First of all, I'd like you to think back about all the steps necessary for you to use true magic."
Solus paused for a moment, giving Lith time enough to think.
"What's your point?"
"My point is that what you so casually dismiss as 'usual', is actually a really complex feat, much harder than fake magic."
"Hmmm. Sorry, I still can't follow you."
Solus mind-snorted in frustration.
"True magic isn't as simple as you make it out to be. It requires to be aware of your own mana core and to be able to generate the right amount of mana for each and any spell. Too much mana and it would backfire on you, too little and it would not succeed.
It also requires to be able to project your mana outwards, reaching out to the world energy by yourself. I doubt even Nana would be able to do that."
Lith found that last part hard to believe.
"When you put it that way, sure, is not an easy feat. But is what everyone does with chore magic. What's the difference between true and chore magic? Why no one else uses it?"
"The difference is in the amount of mana required. Chore magic needs little mana, so you can use it even without activating your mana core, while true magic may require great amounts of mana, according to what are you trying to accomplish."
Seeing as Lith was struggling, Solus started to use a monotone, lecturing tone.
"Chore magic is the very foundation for magic, it teaches you everything you need except how to activate the mana core. Fake magic is like a crutch, a foolproof 'magic for dummies' spellcasting method.
You only need to learn a few words and gestures and it does everything by itself, as long as you have enough mana. My hypothesis is that chore and fake magic are taught in this order as a training course towards true magic.
But only few, like the Magi, understand that fake magic is not about finger movements and spelling words, is about perceiving the mana flow and learning how to control it.
Your breathing exercises are a crutch as well, but a good one, since they helped you accessing the mana core, making you aware of the mana flow. Fake magic, instead, is a bad one, since it makes its users too reliant on its power.
Most fake magic users are so obsessed by details like hand signs and pronunciation, that live their whole lives without noticing what lies beyond. Fake mages, especially those with great talent, become so complacent being able to do what no one else can, that they never stop for a moment to ask themselves why. Is kind of ironic."
Lith was astonished. Everything made perfect sense.
"But if you had all this figured out, why didn't you tell me? What are those holes in your theory you mentioned earlier?"
Solus was embarrassed, but replied nonetheless.
"Because I can't answer some key points of my own theory. If I am right, why is fake magic the only one available for everyone? Why true mages kill whoever tries spreading it to the whole world?"
"Say what?!?"
Solus merged their minds, showing to Lith all the things she had noticed reading the history book. How so many theorists and rising mages had all died in accidents or mysterious circumstances, often right after announcing to the magical community a ground-breaking discovery.
Others, instead, would be dismissed as frauds, before going mad and disappear.
Lith could only laugh his heart out.
"Oh, my. Solus, you are so smart and yet so naïve in the ways of mankind. The answer is really simple. Do you know why back on Earth we had traffic jams? Because everyone could get a car.
Would you really let any madman, any naïve fool gets his hands on this kind of power? Fake magic is a mean to control the masses, it's not the final test like you think.
After one discovers true magic, the final test is proving to be smart enough to silently join the club and reap the benefits. And if you don't like the club rules, the only way out is death."