After listening to Ordina's explanation, Bai Shi became lost in thought. He was beginning to understand. Glintstone sorcery was remarkably intricate and followed strict rules. The shape of the glintstone formed from magic, along with the force and velocity of its launch—all of these were determined at the moment of its creation. One could say that the creation of the glintstone was the core of every glintstone sorcery. Once it was formed, all that remained was to launch it. Gravity magic was similar. The crucial step was converting ordinary gravity magic into forms with different properties. Once that conversion was complete, one could wield it at will. With this new understanding, Bai Shi tried again. Bai Shi tried for a long time but failed to convert his gravity magic into the force of attraction. However, this wasn't his fault. His intelligence stat was high, and he had an additional bonus from the white dwarf star. He was already the most gifted individual in learning gravity magic, second only to the star-fallen races themselves. Even Radahn, who had also studied under a White King, had spent a considerable amount of time before mastering the highest forms of gravity like attraction and repulsion. Seeing Bai Shi struggle without success, Ordina gave up on the idea of having him master attraction in one go. Ordina slowly dissipated the gravity from his hand. "It seems we must proceed step-by-step... Let's leave topics like attraction for later." "For now, let's start with the simplest, most fundamental use of gravity." "This is where true gravity magic begins." Although Bai Shi was a little frustrated, he had to admit that directly converting gravity magic into attraction was difficult to grasp. From the sound of it, it was a fairly advanced technique. It was better to start with the basics. Still, Bai Shi wanted to understand more about attraction and repulsion. "Teacher, could you explain attraction and repulsion in more detail?" Ordina thought for a moment. "Attraction and repulsion are the two poles of gravity magic, the very essence of gravity itself." "Once you master both, you can use any gravity sorcery." "When you master attraction, you will naturally gain some grasp of repulsion, and vice versa." "However, the part you master incidentally will not be very powerful." Bai Shi nodded. It seemed that Starscourge Radahn had mastered attraction to its absolute limit, and in doing so, had incidentally mastered repulsion as well. "So what will we be learning next?" Ordina extended his palm toward the ground. "Let's begin by controlling gravity to coalesce rock." As gravity magic emerged from his hand, shards of rock began to cover his palm, piece by piece. Then, the rocky fragments were stripped away from his palm, gathering in the center to form a floating stone orb. Ordina casually tossed the stone orb at a nearby cliff face, instantly creating a large web of cracks upon impact. "Without using attraction or repulsion, simply using the force of gravity to draw rocks to you is the most basic application." "First, try to cover your body in rock. You've only mastered this step once you can do it successfully every time." "Then, try to separate the rock from your body and form it into an orb." "Once you have mastered this, applications like a rock sword or a stone projectile will be no problem." This time, Bai Shi's progress was very smooth. After all, he had already used a stone greatsword a few times before with the greatsword from the ruins. However, separating the gravity from his body to form a floating sphere of rock proved a bit difficult. Fortunately, after a few attempts, Bai Shi succeeded in that as well. Seeing this, Ordina nodded in satisfaction and praised him: "Good. You are truly gifted." "Now, for the real lesson." Ordina plunged his meteoric ore blade into the ground. A gravity wave immediately formed in the surroundings, pulling everything toward the center. Bai Shi stood his ground, resisting with his own gravity, and was not pulled in. After the demonstration, Ordina said to Bai Shi: "This is a gravity wave. It can pull enemies toward you. In a sense, it is the technique closest to pure attraction." "Sense the nature of attraction from this." "Once you've mastered it, I will teach you a more profound technique, the signature skill of the White Kings—the gravitic surge." After a period of practice, Bai Shi finally learned the gravity wave. He felt as though he was now just one step away from grasping attraction. Thanks to his physick flask mixed with crimson and cerulean tears, his stamina and FP were not an issue, and he could continue. However, he was feeling mentally exhausted. Bai Shi decided to rest for a bit. Taking this opportunity, Bai Shi started a conversation with Ordina. Bai Shi was quite interested in the Black King and White King races. They were clearly important figures in the lore of gravity magic, yet the information about them was scarce and repetitive. Bai Shi asked Ordina: ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥 "Master Ordina, were you General Radahn's teacher?" "I heard General Radahn studied gravity magic under a White King in the town of Sellia." Ordina shook his head. "I don't know where that rumor came from." "I've heard about that kinsman and Radahn, but I was simply looking for a place to settle down." Bai Shi glanced at the barren wasteland where they currently stood. To be honest, Bai Shi couldn't quite understand why he chose this place. Right outside was a graveyard. "So, you chose this place?" "There's nothing here. Aren't places all over the Lands Between?" "The Carian Royal Family once tried to win us over, citing the teacher-student relationship between Radahn and that kinsman." "But very few responded. I was one of the few who came, but due to certain events, nothing came of it." "I didn't intend to stay here, but eventually, I just couldn't be bothered to move." "I have no demands, nor are there things I must do." Bai Shi shrugged. That was certainly living life on a whim. Come to think of it, the Black and White Kings were quite low-maintenance. They just fell from the sky and wandered about. But the Carian Royal Family trying to recruit the White Kings? The Carians had likely wanted to form a pact with the White Kings, making them allies. The Carian Royal Family was known for forming alliances with all sorts of creatures, be it wolves, trolls, or dragons. The powerful White Kings would have been a very suitable choice for them to consider. Bai Shi suddenly remembered something about the area behind Caria Manor. It seemed there was a Black King imprisoned in an evergaol there. "By the way, Master Ordina." "Is there some feud between the Black and White Kings? From what I've seen, you don't seem to get along." Ordina looked up, as if gazing at the starry sky, and only spoke after a long pause: "It's not a deep-seated hatred, just some friction. We just look down on each other." "Fundamentally, you could say we are the same type of being." "But just as gravity magic has the opposing poles of repulsion and attraction, our relationship is similar." Ordina spoke a few sentences, but it didn't really clear things up for Bai Shi. It was probably just an innate friction between their races, something he might not fully understand himself. Ordina suddenly added: "By the way, if you encounter other Black or White Kings out there, a conflict is highly likely." "Someone as reasonable as me... no, someone as articulate as me is a rarity." "Many Black and White Kings have been in the Lands Between for a long time since their arrival, yet they can't even speak the language. They're ill-tempered, too, and will kill if they feel offended." "When that time comes, don't hesitate. Just strike them down." Bai Shi was a bit surprised. Based on Ordina's demeanor and the story of Radahn's tutelage, he had assumed all White Kings were capable of communication. He didn't expect that illiterate ones were the majority among both Black and White Kings. Bai Shi concluded his studies for the day, planning to resume tomorrow. Although he was inside the Academy of Raya Lucaria and couldn't see the sky outside, he figured it was already late at night. Bai Shi planned to learn ancient dragon incantations from Selinsax during the day and gravity magic from Ordina at night. This way, he could master both skills quickly. He would have a relatively free period coming up, and once he learned them, he could go elsewhere to practice. Once he had completely mastered gravity magic, Bai Shi was going to pilot his own colossus. Dragon lightning plus a giant mecha—who would dare say he couldn't form his own Susanoo? On top of that, Almighty Push, Universal Pull, and Planetary Devastation would all have to be on the menu. Since Bai Shi could recover by using his physick flask and resting at sites of grace, this intensity was manageable. However, looking at the glintstone crystals below, Bai Shi remembered that there was an Abductor Virgin down there. This particular Abductor Virgin doll was special; hidden within it was a teleportation sigil leading to Mt. Gelmir. Since he was here, he might as well check it out first. Bai Shi leaped down from the platform, landing steadily with the help of a gust of wind to cushion his fall. Looking at the bleak scene before him, Bai Shi shook his head. The situation at the bottom of the ravine was not optimistic. When the Academy destroyed the waterwheel earlier, the wreckage had fallen straight down. Now, the ravine was almost completely filled with the remains of the waterwheel. Bai Shi searched below for the possible corpse of the Abductor Virgin doll. Fortunately, the doll's size and shape were very distinctive, and Bai Shi quickly found its remains among the rubble. At this point, "a heap" was the best way to describe the Abductor Virgin. The entire thing had been smashed into a flat iron pancake, and the flesh and blood inside had been squeezed out like juice. Bai Shi picked up a piece of iron plating sticky with gore and examined it in his hand. This thing... can I still use it while it's fresh? No, no, it's in this state. The teleportation sigil must be unusable. Bai Shi casually tossed the piece of metal aside. He'd have someone clean it all up later. He thought for a moment. The absence of the teleporter wasn't a big problem. He could just have Selinsax fly him up to the Altus Plateau anyway. It was merely the loss of a shortcut to kill Rykard. If Bai Shi truly wanted him dead now, he wouldn't live to see the next day.