Mash decided to work on his skills first. His core was something that he could upgrade whenever he wanted to. There was a straightforward method for that, and he was fairly certain he could manage it later. It felt a little like cheating though, so he decided to focus on something else. His wooden creations were lagging behind compared to his other abilities. They just didn’t have the power needed to fight at his level. It was useful when he was fighting lower-leveled monsters, but it didn’t do much when fighting adequate opponents. The only use he had for it now was to channel lightning through. The aptly named thunder wood was good for his lightning magic, but he couldn’t channel anything else through it. It was a good place to start, and he had an expert at magic to work with.

[Can we just mix all of my affinities into the wood when I make it? Like I did for those duplicates earlier?]

He made it sound like an easy task but already knew that it wasn’t. If it was that easy, she would’ve suggested it before.

[It is not that simple. Some of your affinities are incompatible and others I have not tested. I suggest you separate yourself from the others before testing.]

Priscilla knew that she couldn’t stop him. He was determined to try and improve the skill, and the best method in his mind was forcing it to some extent. It would be a good test for the limits of the wood, plus it would probably be fun. Although, he took her advice into consideration and glanced around.

He had his own little section of the arena, but he was still somewhat close to his friends. He had gone a bit further away from the other two but was still only twenty or thirty feet from Luke. There was plenty of unused space in the arena, and he walked toward the back wall. It was far enough away that he felt comfortable testing his magic. Jill also went to one corner of the room as anything to do with space magic could prove quite destructive. Mash even noticed that Fifty-One watched her more closely than the rest.

The ground in the arena was made of plain dirt. It was plain compared to the rest of the building, but there was something comfortable about solid dirt. It just felt familiar and made him feel like he was freer to destroy the ground. Mash’s first thought was about trying to figure out what affinities mixed and what didn’t.

[Priscilla, which affinities are incompatible?]

This was the first thing he wanted to test. Her earlier warning made him curious, and he was excited to test it.

[Lightning and fire are not compatible.]

Mash paused at her statement. He had a fire affinity. He thought about the creatures he had eaten and remembered that there had been a few that had fire-like attacks. It might be a good idea to make a list, but that would be pointless with Priscilla around. She could always tell him if he ever wanted it. It was something worth testing. The question now, was how to combine the affinities?

He thought about his duplicates, and what he had done at that time. Priscilla could make outlines for his magic, but he didn’t need them. For him, magic was a matter of imagination, and he had become quite adept at picturing what he wanted. He wanted to mix the two immediately but had to visualize it first. What did fire mix with lightning even look like? He considered it and found that he had no answer. Red lightning, blue fire? No, neither thing was really mixing fire and lighting. If the color was the only result of mixing magic then nobody would bother.

There was more to it than that, but what was it. He tried to imagine how his lightning magic bounced around his fingers and body when he used it. Then he just made it happen on his right hand. He watched the faintly blue streaks of light flash between his fingers. They happened randomly and instantly, and it stung his fingers slightly. Mash didn’t notice the slight pricks when in a fight, but he could feel it now that there were no distractions. The next thing he did was form a flame in his other hand. He had Priscilla help him get started. He could do it on his own, but it was easier to let Priscilla do it and then replicate it later.

A flame formed in the palm of his hand. It spread until his whole hand was covered in flame. It swayed slightly as he moved his hand. Hit was hot, and Mash could tell that it was hurting him. It wasn’t burning his skin, but it was slowly heating it up.

“You know fire magic as well? Hmm, that wasn’t on the list.”

Mash jumped a little as Fifty-One’s voice came from the flame in Mash’s hand. That alone would’ve been an incredibly uncomfortable feeling, but that was just a small part of it. The flame grew out of Mash’s control, and a part of it broke off and fell to the ground. It kept growing and started shaping itself to match a human body. A second later, Fifty-One stepped from the flame as it shaped to form his body. It was a fascinating and disturbing sight. The man had easily taken control of Mash’s magic. Plus, Mash hadn’t even noticed. It just happened; he never even had the opportunity to resist either. One of his unique skills?

It didn’t really matter, and more importantly, Mash didn’t want to deal with the man anymore. His excitement at testing his magic was being ruined by Fifty-One’s presence. The logical answer was to ignore the man and just continue with what he had in mind. Mash stared at the flames that were still on his hand. The lightning was in the other. Before doing anything incredibly stupid, he partially changed to his dragon form. Scales formed over his body. They would protect him from the worst. He was confident in their magical resistance.

Then he clapped his hands together. Fifty-One was still nearby and was talking excitedly about fire magic. Mash ignored him and made sure to smack his hands together as loudly as possible. He hoped for an explosion but was rewarded with nothing. The lightning and fire spread a little bit, but it wasn’t the bang he hoped for. He stared at his hands, both seemed entirely the same as before. One was still coated in flames and the other buzzed with lightning.

“That was rather anticlimactic, was something supposed to happen?

[That isn’t mixing anything. You just pushed to things together.]

Priscilla’s information would’ve been more useful a couple of seconds ago. He had already made a small fool of himself. Instead of responding, he just glared at Fifty-One but made sure to direct inward too. He ignored both responses but rethought his method. Mixing his affinities wasn’t just smashing them together. What was lightning? It was something that only appeared in storms. He knew it had something to do with energy. It flashed between objects. Even when he didn’t aim it. It just got drawn to whatever was closest.

The fire was different. He actually knew more about it, despite not really using the affinity much. It was about heat and air. It required fuel, and the air could provide that fuel. It was something that was in the air that reacted with fire starters, he knew that much. When made by magic, the mana or energy was needed to start the fire. That was similar to lightning and all magic. Unlike lightning, fire was attracted to anything. It scoured everything that it could; burning all that was around it. Fire’s nature was spread and consumption, but lightning was about motion. It was a transfer of energy. An instantaneous eruption of heat and light as the energy moved. The question now was how to mix the two.

Could he make a fire that moved with the speed of lightning? Or maybe it was possible to make lightning that clung to and consumed the things it struck. How would that even look? He tried to imagine it. He stared at the two magics in his hand and tried to figure out how they would look mixed properly. An idea popped into his mind, and he crossed his eyes. The fire and lightning on each hand met in the middle. He saw a fire that sprouted strands of lightning instead of embers. The center of the flames thrummed as strands of lightning bounced between his fingers. That seemed like a workable image.

Mash’s expression changed, and he grinned despite Fifty-One continuing to mutter beside him. With the image set, he tried to form his mana to make it. The lightning and fire came out together, and for a brief moment, he thought that it would work. Priscilla's words echoed in his mind. These two magics were incompatible according to her. It wasn’t a matter of complexity or control. They simply weren’t meant to mix.

He still tried it though. As the lightning and fire started appearing on his hand, he felt his whole arm vibrate. Pain spread from his palm and crawled up his arm. It stretched onto his shoulder, and only then did the magic in his hand explode. It was loud, the sound of thunder echoing in the room as both he and Fifty-One were carried off their feet and sent flying. Mash flew almost ten feet before landing on his back and skidding across the dirt. Fifty-One reacted a bit better and managed to adjust his flight with fire. He landed on his feet and only skidded on the dirt for a few moments.

The explosion had been hot too, and his face felt hot. Even the scales weren’t enough to stop the heat, and Mash did not enjoy the feeling. Lightning and fire were not meant to mix. It was good to know, but also a little disappointing. He really thought that he might have discovered something new there. The fact that it didn’t work didn’t put him down though. It gave him an idea of how to mix his wood with his other affinities. He rose to his feet quickly, brushing off some of the dirt while Fifty-One complained beside him.

“You really couldn’t have given me even the slightest of warnings? I mean who just explodes in front of someone.”

Mash continued to ignore the voice, but his explosion had drawn people’s attention. Mash felt some eyes on his back, and he turned slightly. Luke was giving him a questioning look, and Mash waved him off. He wasn’t hurt and didn’t need any healing. He knew how to mix his magic, now it was just a matter of testing and time. Although, he didn’t know how to make it affect his skill. It was one thing to simply do something with magic, and another to make it into a real skill. Still, he had a path now.

A different yet familiar explosion brought him out of his thoughts. The world seemed to ripple for a second. His body warped along with the rest of the space, and Mash saw Fifty-One look genuinely alarmed. Mash saw the man’s head dart back and forth, as he examined the room and everyone in it. He had obviously been neglecting his duties to bother Mash and had no idea about what had happened. Only Mash knew, and he turned toward Jill who was grinning wildly. Her javelin rested in her right hand and an impressive crater had formed in front of her. The dirt didn’t get pushed to the side but was just gone. Erased as if it had never existed. Then she turned and spoke with a smile on her face.

“I did it!”