Kiran and Surabhi left the class with their shoulders hunched, their heads down and their tongues silent. There was little to be said after the recent lecture.

And although Guru Pranay had not called out anyone, the two, just like the rest of them, had taken his words personally. After all, neither of them had lost even a single hair yet.

“How is Alchemy?” Kiran broke the silence, yet his voice was quiet and subdued.

“Not good, honestly.” The girl grimaced. “All I am doing is memorising herbs and plants. What about you? How is healing?”

“It's not as bad.” The boy sighed. “Although I have to memorise a lot too, there are a lot of samples within the Healing Hall, so it's okay.”

A sigh escaped the girl’s lips and she shook her head. “We can’t keep going like this.”

“I know.” The boy grimaced. “But I have been meditating daily for hours! It has had no effect.”

“My parents said that I need to focus on my image. And when I have achieved that, I should try to separate my hair from that image.” The girl’s face twitched in displeasure. “But I can’t even begin to form my own image. Let alone separating my hair from it.”

The two children sighed again and left for their separate paths.

Various versions of similar conversations occurred in most friend groups and the many decided to increase their study time. But these were kids that were thirteen years of age.

Moments of passion ruled their lives and the decision to work harder proved to be just another such decision.

0.0

‘No improvement.’ Pranay’s gaze passed over the children. And with each child, that he glanced past, his mood soured further. ‘Not a single more promising pupil.’

“Settle down.” His voice echoed across the platform and the chill of dying winter seemed to intensify. “I will be talking about Class, Skill and Spell Tiers.”

“Though, anything I say about the Skill Tiers will also be the same for Spell Tiers. They are much the same.”

“Talking about Classes first, all Classes, despite how powerful or powerless they may seem, can be divided into four stages, called Tiers. From Level 1 to 25, Tier 1. Level 26 to 50, Tier 2. Level 51 to 75, Tier 3. And Level 76 to Level 100, Tier 4.”

“At each of these stages, the name of the Classes change. It is for this reason that they are called paths.” The man eyed the class before he continued. “For example, the progression of this path, that most of you will fail to follow, starts at [Shishya] to [Brahmin] to [Muni] and finally ends at [Hrishi].”

“At each Tier, a person usually receives a Skill and a Spell. Though cases of just two Skills and no Spells are not uncommon.” The saffron-clad man droned on. “At each Tier, you can also gain either an additional Skill or a Spell, through an Inheritance Scroll. But as you were sent here, the chance of that happening is rather low.”

The children stiffened at the slight at their backgrounds but there was little they could do in the face of truth.

“Advancing from one Tier to the next is not as easy as merely raising one’s level from 25 to 26. Instead, at these watershed Levels, one must manifest a Breakthrough Skill to raise their Tiers.”

“There are three Breakthrough Skills. Often, they are also called the three Spirit Skills. Namely, [Spirit Ghost], [Spirit Tool] and [Spirit Summon]. From their names themselves, you can estimate just how important the Attribute [Spirit] is.” The man glanced at the children and ignored the lingering resentment from his previous remark.

“It is only after the manifestation of one of these Skills that a person can move onto the next Tier. Countless people get stuck at their watershed Levels and die because they couldn’t manifest any one of these Skills.” The gaunt man’s voice became heavy. “Do not underestimate the difficulty of this task.”

“Had there been any improvement in your batch, I would have told you all more about these Skills.” The man announced without any inflexion in his voice. “But as it is unlikely for any of you to even reach Level 20, I will save my breath.”

“Coming onto Skills. Skills, much like Classes, are also divided into Tiers, ranging from 1 to 4. Their brackets are quite alike Classes, with Tiers ending at Levels 25, 50, 75 and 100.” The man informed the class as he changed the topic. “But unlike Classes, Skills do not change their names when they go up a Tier. Thus, a Skill such as [Mana Manipulation] will remain named such no matter it's Level.”

“This, of course, does not mean that their function remains the same in all the Tiers. At each new Tier, every Skill will develop a new function alongside its original function. For instance, at Tier 2, [Mana Manipulation] lets the user choose a Ghost to synchronise with. Thus, allowing easy conversion of mana into that Ghost mana.”

“Coming back to the watershed Levels,” The gaunt man continued on carelessly. “There is no such thing for Skills. Skills and Spells simply go from Level 25 to Level 26 and gain an additional effect.”

The children began to chatter as kids began to make grand plans.

“However, don’t start dreaming just yet.” The bony man began and the class immediately silenced itself. “You cannot have a low level for your Class and endlessly Level up Skills. That just doesn’t happen. The cost of the Skill increases monstrously as they Level up and a Skill that once had cost 10 MP, might as well one day cost 10,000 MP.”

“The second and the more practical reason is that Skills are capped at Class Level. So, your Skills can never exceed the Level of your Class.” The man rolled his eyes at the dejection that spread through the children.

“As a result, Breakthrough Skills become a barrier not just to your Class but also to your Skills and Spells.” The saffron-clad man then got up and dismissed the students.

The class, on the other hand, merely watched as their teacher left.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-