Currently, Williams cooler ideas were just scribblings on paper. They were much less finished than a blueprint, one of the chief reasons being making it operate. Removing heat from an area wouldn’t be difficult, but the issue would come in controlling that. After all, if he continually removed heat it would become a freezer instead- useful, but not what he currently intended. It wasn’t possible to remove all of the heat, reaching absolute zero. At some point, the rate at which mana and therefore power flowed into the area became a limiting factor, unless it got its own power source. However, that would mean the temperatures would fluctuate with the ambient temperature around… and William was fairly certain it would drop below freezing most of the time, with the types of formations he had planned.
Then there was the other issue. While cooler temperatures slowed down most chemical processes including ripening, food would still get old and stale. Over the course of months, which was the plan, it could also grow mold. Cold temperatures wouldn’t entirely eliminate that. William had the idea to use magic to keep away particles of fungus, and while he was at it he would try to include bacteria. William thought he could do so manually, but there wasn’t really any way to test. After all, he couldn’t see bacteria or any other things on that scale, so whether his chanting and magic had any effect was hard to tell. He had some ideas for how he could test his control over things on that level, though he didn’t have time to do so just yet. It was now time to harvest various things, and his parents needed his help with that. Beyond that… he had to teach Stefan magic.
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William’s family was perfectly aware that he could do magic- though that wasn’t particularly special. His parents weren’t cognizant of his full capacity, but they knew he had purchased instructional materials and studied magic during his free time. They had also taught him all of the necessary “spells” for the normal operation of the farm. It was now his turn to teach Stefan, who was showing interest in learning magic. His parents assured William- known to them as Josef, that he could come to them if he was having any trouble. William did have to admit that, in the area of the spells they commonly used, they had more experience than him. Elsewhere, there wasn’t anything they could help him with… but he wasn’t going to say that out loud.
As a demon- gevai, Stefan was capable of seeing mana. Unlike humans, who had to go through an awakening and then concentrate, gevai could see mana from the time their horns finished growing in, if not before. Thus, Stefan could learn magic at any time- assuming he was willing to learn. Though he was only five years old, that didn’t make him unable to perform magic. Even humans who could see mana, with proper training, would be able to perform magic immediately.
That brought into question what proper training really was. Barend and Anselma had an easy time with William because he already understood basically how magic worked. William wouldn’t expect the same explanations given to him to be of the same use, and even his introductory magic book was beyond what he expected Stefan to comprehend. Stefan had only just started reading… but he could talk and see mana, which were the key components. Though William had spent most of his second life teaching magic at a university level, he still knew how to teach younger people.
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The first thing to remember was that most young children were not Lila. Among other things, that meant they couldn’t be expected to perform a spell successfully the first time. Stefan had been learning the basic spell to help mold the dirt from their parents, and he had the words memorized. “O’ earth, heed my call. Change thine form to nourish the plants of the earth, and to hold them in your care.” As expected, by William anyway, there were no results. William saw Stefan about to tear up. “See? I told you I… *snif* I can’t do it.”
William patted him on the head. “It’s okay, it’s okay. What did you imagine when you tried to cast the spell?”
“I just… I thought of the same thing you did,” he pointed to the area where William had created an example, “Just like that. But I can’t do it.” William didn’t like seeing Stefan look worried and sad, but he realized that normal children of that age couldn’t really control their emotions, and didn’t really understand when things were worth crying about. He realized that sometimes there was nothing that could be done.
“Stay right here, I’ll be right back.” William walked away, and a few minutes later came back with a large rock under his arm. He dropped it to the ground, where it hit the soft dirt with a quiet sort of splat. “Okay Stefan, move this rock over there.”
“I… don’t know a spell to move rocks.”
William shook his head. “Not with magic, with your body.”
Stefan went up to the rock, which was a significant portion of his size. He first tried to pick it up, but couldn’t shift it at all. Then, he tried pushing on it from various angles. He even lowered his body to get a better angle. It still didn’t move. “I can’t move it.” He paused for a moment, and William was about to continue with his plan, when Stefan’s face lit up. “Wait, I have an idea.” Stefan looked around, and walked a few steps away to pick up a stick. He stuck it under the rock to use as a lever, and managed to roll it. He did that again and again, until it was where William had told him to move it. He turned to face William with a grin on his face.
“...Huh.” William’s point was ruined, but he couldn’t help but smile. This was possibly even better. “Good job! Doing something in a smart manner makes it possible to do things you couldn’t otherwise. Now then, can you do that with the dirt?”
Stefan pushed the stick into the dirt, and levered it up… but the dirt merely rolled off of the side. He shook his head. “I don’t think it will work.”
“I meant using magic.”
Stefan shook his head again. “Even if the stick was magic, the dirt would still fall.”
“Good point, but I was thinking of just anything clever, not necessarily by using a stick. Come with me, but do bring the stick.”