Shen? Where are you? → Sylvia
Suddenly Sylvia contacted me through telepathy.
Sorry Sylvia, it seems I’ll have to keep some company to my disciples. I made them feel lonely lately. → Shen
I said with a dry laugh.
Fufufu~. You’re really getting along well with children. You’ll be a good father in the future. → Sylvia
Sylvia said with a sweet voice. Even so, I still felt some kind of anxiety from her words.
W-well, first we have to save a world, don’t we? → Shen
I said a little bit perturbed by what she said. Even though I don’t hate children, I’d rather not have any until I discover some more about this world. Besides, I was able to feel something inside Sylvia’s heart when she was talking about children so I thought she wasn’t that inclined to have some, either… Or at least, that’s what I thought.
I see… So you’re still thinking about that, don’t you… → Sylvia
She asked with a saddened voice. Every time she felt the weight in my heart, she’d feel more guilt, knowing she is the one which placed all that burden on my back without a second thought. Unaware of what she was thinking, I rushed her to bed, knowing that tomorrow will be another long day.
Sylvia, we’ll talk some more tomorrow. I told the little brats I’ll teach them about stars and how to create them. If you wish, you can come to our room tomorrow in the morning to hear me out. Maybe it might help you with something. → Shen
I said with some sleepiness in my voice.
S-Stars?! You can make starts?! → Sylvia
Sylvia was dumbfounded. Even though she could [Summon the Sun], it wasn’t really a true star but more like a huge fireball with burned stronger than a normal one, giving the illusion of a sun.
Yeah. Sort of, more like a little imitation? Well, I’ll show you tomorrow, let’s go to sleep for now. You’ll learn everything tomorrow. → Shen
I said calmly then entered meditation inside Theo’s bed. I started to cultivate chi while stabilizing my breathing.
The next day in the morning, Theo, Melinda, Ashura and Sylvia sat down on two beds and one chair while I stood in front of them beside a table. Theo, Melinda and Ashura listened with curiosity while Sylvia listened with fire in her eyes. It seems she really wished to upgrade her spells.
“Ahem. First of all, if you wish to know how the stars were made, you first need to understand how the gravitational system works. I’ll try to simplify it to maximum: if I’ll have to compare space itself, I’ll compare it with this paper.” → Shen
I grabbed the white clean paper on the table and showed it to them.
“Whatever it’s inside this space has a mass and that mass has a ‘weight’. Now, see this pebble? If I put it on the paper while I’m holding it, this happens:” → Shen
I dropped the pebble on the paper and it sunk by bending the paper.
“Now if I drop anything else in here, this would happen:” → Shen
I dropped a pen and it rolled toward the pebble, stopping right beside it.
“See? This is ‘gravity’. The space bends and the more mass the respective object has, the stronger the gravity.” → Shen
I pushed the stone harder and the piece of paper bent even more, almost collapsing.
“Now, let me ask you lot, what happens if the ’mass’ is too much for the ‘space’ to handle?” → Shen
I asked and everyone looked with big eyes at me, in the end, Sylvia answered in uncertainty.
“Does it, perhaps, tear the space…?” → Sylvia
“Indeed, space collapses and in the respective zone, a black-hole appears.” → Shen
I pushed the stone till it fell on the other side, making a hole through the paper.
“After such things happen, the black-hole will absorb the space around it to repair the damage caused by the collapse, absorbing different elements and matter, including a hell-lot of gas.” → Shen
“B-but where do all these elements go after getting absorbed by the black-hole?” → Theo
Theo asked with big eyes.
“Good you asked: the gas and everything else is torn apart by the sucking force then compacted together. After that, they’re ejected again in space, through another part of the space. Now here is the starting process for our star to be born: All the gas absorbed, after being compressed in huge amounts, they start to form their own mass because of the huge amount of compressed gas.” → Shen
“Gas having weight? What? Does that mean that the air has weight, too?” → Melinda
Melinda asked dumbfounded.
“But of course, everything has weight. We don’t feel the air because it’s scattered everywhere in the atmosphere. Now let me ask you, which is heavier, a kg of feathers or a kg of iron?” → Shen
“Sir Shen…I’m no good at this but… aren’t both of them 1 kilogram? Doesn’t that mean they weigh the same?” → Ashura
In the end, Ashura asked unsurely.
“Indeed that’s right. It’s just like that, to make a kilogram of feathers you’ll need to amass a huge amount of feathers in one place to make one kilogram. While one kg of iron it’s as big as my palm, maybe even smaller. You understand now? The quantity of gas gathered by the black-hole can be measured in trillions and millions of tons, all of them then combining and uniting to create a Sun.” → Shen
“How can some compressed gas transform into a sun?!” → Theo
Theo was still confused.
“Simple. The gas, while combining, it creates tiny little explosions that emanate light and heat.” → Shen
I took two iron swords from my inventory and collided them. Sparks emanated from the collision.
“See? This is what happens with an intensity of billions and billions of times bigger inside an actual sun. This is not actual fire, but the radiations and burning light emanated from these little particles of gas, called plasma. They combine and unite in the center of the star while the mass of the Sun grows till it absorbs all the gas around it. The gas which isn’t absorbed yet, flies wildly around the nucleus and gets in contact with other little particles of gas, colliding and making more plasma, emanating heat and light. After that, it stabilizes itself and continues to combine in the center, at first creating gas, until it forms solid matter like iron and other metals inside the nucleus.” → Shen
“Iron inside the sun?!” → Everyone
They were shocked by the news.
“How can there be metal inside the Sun?” → Ashura
Ashura asked incredulously.
“Iron is just another form of matter. Everything that is ‘matter’ is created from atoms. These atoms, we can control them with mental power, chi or magic.” I opened my palm and accumulated mana. A little blue globe of energy appears with the sound of zap zap, in my open palm. “This is plasma, an accumulation of gas which is being compacted, making the little atoms of gas collide, creating heat and light. Now if we condense it…” → Shen
The ball of lightning becomes smaller and smaller while it became brighter and brighter. In the end, it turns into a little white dot in my hand. I try to cool it down slowly with frost magic then defrost it back. After is completely cooled, it looks like a little metal ball of not even one mm. I dropped it on the table with a light sound.
“It’s metal now?!” → Everyone
Everyone was shocked, they expected for it to explode or something. And their expectations would’ve been right if not for my improvisation. I made a wry smile and shook my head.
“Well, it is metal. But because I didn’t have enough gas around and because I didn’t wish for nuclear fusion to happen, I only used some elements to materialize a metal ball. But more or less, the structure it’s mostly the same: All the gas united from the pressure, the light was emanated from the collision between the atoms and after every single atom united, it became a little metallic ball.” → Shen
Of course, the process is much more complicated but I’m not going to change the subject now. Adding in the nuclear fusion, the forming explosion, the death of the black hole and so on would make their heads spin.
“ Let’s get back at our talk about stars. Now, how stars die after they were formed: While they exist, they would unite the mass of atoms from inside, the hotter the sun, the faster the burning process, making its life shorter but brighter. While the milder the temperature, the more it would survive but it won’t shine that bright. When the sun absorbed and combined all the gas from inside and around, at first it would look like a huge red plasma-ball with a weak shine. After that it would become smaller and shinier, transforming itself in a white dot which burns stronger than ever. This means it literally burns its own life-force. After that, it has two ends:
- It can explode in the form of a supernova, releasing what it created in the universe so other stars or planets can be born from them.
- Space collapses from the huge mas, destroying the sun and absorbing it with everything around it, making the process to repeat itself. But this happens only to the ridiculously huge stars and is an extremely rare occurrence.
Okay, this is all I can explain without going through more complicated details. I wish you all understood something from what I said.” → Shen
“…”
They all looked at me in a daze, until Melinda shook her head with a tearing face.
“Why is it so complicated?!” → Melinda
“Ya brat! I tried to make it so even like kids like you could understand!” → Shen
“Uuu~, but still…” → Melinda
“Then, what you didn’t understand?” → Shen
“Well, I have a question.” → Sylvia
Sylvia said while raising her hand.
“From what I understood, to create a star, we need a black hole to absorb the gas around…? How can we make it?” → Sylvia
“To create a black hole you need a huge amount of compressed mana and mental power to tear a little hole inside the space. It’s quite the High Ranked Spell, this thing I want to teach you… Oh, you can also choose to compress it on your own but is not recommendable.” → Shen
It has something to do with nuclear fusion, but I seriously don’t wish to talk about it now! → Shen
“The first mode needs a lot of mana in an instant and strong control over the black-hole. You also need to be sure the star its stable before you deactivate the black-hole, or else it would blow up right in your face.”
I said so while a wry smile formed on my face.
“…Shen? Did that happen to you?” → Sylvia
Sylvia asked me with narrowed eyes. She already knew my habits when I did something stupid.
“*Cough*…well…do you remember when I fought the 5 guardians…?” → Shen
“Yes…?” → Sylvia
“…I tried to make a sun but it exploded right in my face, making more than half of the injuries I had at that time, be from my failed spell.” → Shen
I said with an awkward smile.
That damn grandmaster. If he weren’t there to stop me when the little star just stabilized itself, I would’ve succeeded from the first try. → Shen
I remembered when that grandmaster rushed at me while I was creating the little sun, attacking the sun and making it explode.
“…”
Everyone looked at me with dumbfounded faces.
“Haah… what did I tell you? Your worst enemy is yourself. Not the 2 empires, not the beast-waves, not the Ragnarok, but yourself… haah~….” → Sylvia
Sylvia said while sighing non-stop.
“Master…I think the ones who injured you the most are not your enemies but… you…” → Theo
Theodore shook his head.
“Sir Shen, even I’m not that reckless…and I can self-regenerate.” → Ashura
Ashura commented with a dumbfounded face.
“…Okay, okay I got you all, no need to say anymore.” → Shen
I got pretty annoyed then continued.
“Anyway, that was for today. Sylvia, you could try it without many problems. Your control over magic is first-class. Theo, you have a ridiculous mana-pool but you must focus more on how to control it. Melinda, your mana-pool it’s alright and your control over mana is better than any normal magician so feel free to try it. Being an elemental fairy can give you a boost in controlling it. And Ashura…man…you focused too much on martial arts.” → Shen
I said while seeing Ashura’s circulation. His chi circulation was monstrous but his mana pool and mana control were the lowest.
“I can’t make you do this, you won’t even be able to make that ball of energy I made just now.” → Shen
“Ugh…” → Shen
Ashura was stabbed by the truth.
“But I might give you a set of martial arts made for the elements of the Sun. Seeing your chi so pure, the essence of yang it’s the strongest in you.” → Shen
“WHAT?!” → Ashura
Ashura and Sylvia looked at me shocked. Even Theo was dazed while Melinda was confused by their reactions.
“Eh? What’s up with that reaction?” → Shen
“What do you mean?! You want to say you can simply create another set of skills just like that?!” → Theo
Theodore was completely shocked, he forgot to use “master” just like he always did.
“Well, it’s not that easy. I need to focus on the respective element while meditating. In my head, some moves will appear which represents the element. While making the steps, the elements will take control over my body and correct the moves, making them summon lightning or wind. Or destroy mountains and shatter the earth. The hardest part is to focus at first so I can get the so-called ‘dance’ of the elements.” → Shen
I described to them and they became more shocked.
“S-Shen, what kind of prodigy are you…?” → Sylvia
Sylvia was surprised beyond words.
“Who in the world it’s so loved by the elements?” → Sylvia
“…I’m nothing of the sort. It’s just trial and error. I try whatever comes in my mind and see if it works. If not, then I get wrecked. If it does, then I win incredible knowledge. That’s all.” → Shen
I said with indifference in my eyes. I never thought of’ trying something new’ as being a genius-thing.
“Shen. To have the courage to do that is already incredible. A lot of people tremble only at the thought of how to make new forms of magic without losing a hand or even their life. But you’re able to risk your life for your researching…even though I can’t agree with such decisions, this is your wish so I’ll respect it and being able to find more and more new forms of magic and martial art skills is already more than what any master would be able to do. Take pride in what you’re doing, Shen.” → Sylvia
Sylvia said seriously then smiled beautifully.
I was dazed by the smile and what she told me. I smiled then said.
“Well, if you say so, then it might be really incredible, maybe.” → Shen
She laughed then hugged my arm.
“Ashura, I’ll see tomorrow if I can come up with a nice Yang set for you.” → Shen
“Alright. No need to rush. I’m not searching for too much power at the moment…” → Shen
He looked at his own hands with some sadness.
“I understand and don’t be anxious. That fear of your own power shows that you’re more than prepared to handle it, being afraid of something means understanding the destructiveness behind it. If you understand that then you also have the spirit to control it.*I got closer to him and batted his shoulder*-You know? I can’t see why your teacher named you Ashura. You might have the physical power comparable to a semi-god and have a wild style of fighting, but your soul is pure and strengthened by the deepest hell from this earth. You’re forgiving and your soul is white like snow. More than an Ashura, I see you like a Dhavala. I shall call you like this from now on. You’re no demon controlled by rage, but a young man with a serious and pure white soul.” → Shen
“Ashura, now named Dhavala by me, looked with big eyes at me, not knowing what to say” → Shen
“M-me…? Dhavala?” → Ashura (now Dhavala)
“Yes. Remember well this name. It comes from “Dhav” which means “White” and dazzling, also can mean beautiful and handsome…Which fits you pretty well if I look better. You need to know that, the spirit makes the man, not his power or looks. Be who you are and remain true to yourself. Understood, Dhavala?” → Shen
I look at his red eyes which was a huge contrast from the white skin and hair, making him look like a fearsome white spirit. I said while using power in my last word.
“-Wah?!” → Dhavala
Dhavala started to shine brighter and brighter with a white glow. He looked at me with confusion but only saw a serious face with a slight grin on my face. He was surprised by my expression then he looked seriously at me.
“I understand. But I still wish to keep the name given to me by my master, he wished to give me a future, even though I ended up in that laboratory, it wasn’t his fault. If it’s possible, I want to keep both names Dhavala as my name while Ashura to be my surname.” → Dhavala Ashura
“As you wish.” → Shen
I said with a smile.
“Thank you, sir Shen.”→ Dhavala
Dhavala bowed his head and looked at me with respect and gratitude. I walked outside the room and entered my own while Sylvia entered inside hers, trying out the new magic she learned.
Shen…we need to talk. → Ryu
Ryu’s voice suddenly appeared in my head. I wasn’t surprised at all and asked back.
