Assessment

It was finally Monday, day of Gaius’ assessments. The first one began at 8:00 and consisted of a comprehensive medical exam.

It was held in a complex located within the training grounds, since it was the place most likely to have injuries besides the magic research workshops. Aside from this one there was one in the residential complex and one in the school grounds, so as to give the swiftest response possible.

The exam tested all possible issues that an inhabitant could have, from mundane illnesses, to curses and supernatural afflictions. Gaius’ results were normal for a Senjutsu practitioner, except for one thing, his immune system.

“Well, results are standard,” began Dr. Igarashi Osamu, “you have a stupidly healthy body, but that's expected from you. Your lifespan should be longer than a normal human's, about a hundred and thirty years according to our predictions. Usual for ki users, if a bit high, but that's probably due to Senjutsu. The Head also showed increased lifespan when he learned Senjutsu. But there's a problem, your immune system could counter all of the illnesses I know of.”

“I don't see a problem in that.”

“The problem is that some of those bacteria and viruses are not natural, and should have not been exposed to any human. So any idea why you can counter illnesses you can't have ever encountered?”

Gaius thought about it and it occurred to him that his ‘inviolability’ must have included illness protection, and since his source of knowledge had access to everything on Earth it might have coded all possible illnesses and cures in his immune system, maybe even in his genome. As such his body remembered how to counter all illnesses of earthly origin, and some that might not even have existed in this universe.

He chose to explain all this to the doctor, withholding how that situation came to be, since his past was meant to be a secret. The association may face backlash from the Oracle’s ‘death’ after all.

“So let me get this straight, you have the greatest medical discovery in history in you, but you know and refuse to say how it happened.”

“I was ordered not to say.” Shrugged Gaius

“At least tell me, can it be replicated?”

“No”

“Fuck. Sorry. Ok, would you agree to let me take some samples from you in order to clone them to get a source of antibiotics and antiviral for currently incurable illnesses?”

“Please do so. That's something I can't reject in good conscience.”

“Ok. In less groundbreaking news you'll probably never have an allergic reaction due to that, so, congratulations, you're the healthiest person in the world. You do need to increase your fat levels, you are a little lacking right now compared to your size and musculature”

After the medical exam came the fitness exam, and after that at 9:30 came the qigong and martial arts practice.

The qigong test seemed easy to Gaius, since he had long since learned to control it, with its only techniques being using it to increase your physical abilities or using to invigorate or scan others, and his Touki was naturally better.

In Touki control he had a bit more difficulty, but managed to complete all exercises that his examiner, Akemi Michi, one of the 50 odd Touki users the association had, gave him. Showing he was past the point where he could be taught. Now only being able to explore and create his own abilities, but actually beyond the skills of the examiner, who never thought to use it in any way that ki couldn't, an apparently widespread misconception of Touki’s characteristics.

Finally came his weak point, martial arts themselves. The exam was a spar with Akemi.

The spar began, the two fighters took stances ten meters apart. The examiner crossed them in a third of a second and opened with a kick to the ankle, which Gaius jumped back to evade. The other fighter followed with a straight punch to the chest that Gaius redirected with his forearm, the punch creating a shockwave, before he moved in and did an uppercut. Akemi tilted her head to dodge and used the opening to punch him in the side. Gaius’ was unfazed, she had underestimated his toughness, and headbutted her. She staggered but recovered before Gaius could take advantage. He proceeded to try and hit her in the head but she caught him and threw him to the floor with enough force to crack the nephrite jade floor. She then proceeded to stomp on Gaius’ head, but he rolled away, her foot only breaking the floor further. Gaius opened space between them but she pursued and caught him, unleashing a flurry of attacks. Gaius began losing ground and stepped back while trying to block. From then on the woman kept the advantage managing to beat Gaius.

After the fight Gaius sat on the floor pained and panting.

“Y-you know, I've neve, gulp, never been this tired and pained since I got Senjutsu. Though it's still less than my workouts used to leave me like, before that.”

“You are one durable bastard, I've never had to kick someone so much so they'd stay down, not even Touki users. Now I want Senjutsu.”

“Don't. Unless a practitioner tells you you are prepared that's a bad idea.”

“I know, I know. Assessment then. You have rock solid basics, know to punch, to parry, block and can take care of an opening. Your big problem is that you lack experience, you don't know when to dodge, when to attack, and most importantly, how to CREATE an opening. Second big problem is that you lack techniques, you don't know how to use your opponent's momentum against them, you can't counter their techniques. I guess you don't have formal martial arts training?” Explained the woman.

“No, I only had books and self training.”

“That seems right. I don't know how your Touki techniques would level the field. So let's spar again. Again.” The woman said, with a wide smile on her lips.

Gaius stood up and took a stance again. This time he began, setting himself on fire, the air being distorted, so that she may not grab him again, and punched her with an electricity filled fist. She dodged and punched him in the gut, she then jumped back, feeling the heat. Seeing that fire didn't work fast enough Gaius also infused himself electricity. Now with lightning flowing through his skin Akechi began being harmed when she punched him as well as when she was near him from the heat. Taking advantage of her reticence he rushed forward, his arm flowing with a blue substance that ate away Akechi's Touki when he punched her. Using the opening in the flow of Touki, he gathered his strength and punched her with all his force, lightning and fire coalescing in his fist, and exploding on contact. Akechi was blown back and impacted the barriers of the ring, making the enchantments glow under the strain. She them fell and coughed a bit of blood.

“Heh, heheheheheheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She laughed, before massively increasing her speed and strength, arriving near Gaius instantly and blowing him away.

She smiled before a startled expression appeared on her face.

“Oh, shit sorry! I got so excited I forgot to hold back.”

“You. Hit. Like. A. Fucking. Truck!” Managed to slip Gaius, cradling his chest.

“I hit way harder than a mere truck. At least like a train.”

“Was. A. Figure. Of. Speech.”

“Uh, do you need a doctor?”

“No. Give. Me. A. Minute.”

And so she did. Once he had recovered they sat down and she gave her final assessment.

“Before anything else, how long could you keep fighting at that level and how long would it take you to recover? Also, was that hit your maximum strength?” Asked Akechi.

“Half an hour, three minutes and yes, but I can throw more.” Answered Gaius.

“Senjutsu’s broken. I want that shit like, right now. I'll have to ask the Head.” She whispered to herself. “Well then, I welcome you to Rank 4 strength! Congratulations, now you can punch a tank and win. Though it's only your raw strength and stamina that's 4. Your lack of experience and skill downgrade you to middle tier three. Your strength is sufficient but a skilled opponent will run circles around you. You should take intermediate martial arts practice, there you can get all you need and it's only three hours a week, so that leaves you to that magic stuff of yours.”

“You do know that magic is more useful that ki, and Touki only surpasses it in a few areas, right? Everyone should know at least the basics.” Questioned Gaius.

“Yeah, and I do know the basics, but it's too complicated for me to reach the truly useful stuff. I've only gotten advanced combat magic and and basic ward-breaking. That's all from me, I'll see you again if you reach advanced martial arts. I'm looking forward to your growth. Also can I come to your Touki classes, lighting yourself on fire is too cool to pass on.”

“Thanks and sure, just ask the Branch Head.”

“Awesome. See you next week.”

She left soon after and Gaius rested for a while. He then headed for the showers and went to the school to begin the magic assessment. After lunch that is, he was famished.

When he arrived at his assigned classroom there was a slender man waiting for him.

“You are Gaius Atiius Quadratus, correct? I am Kawashima Raidon (thunder god), and yes, I use lighting, no it's not because of my name. Before testing I want you to give me a rough overview of magic, what it is, how it's powered, where it comes from, how it works, the importance of symbols, why do we invoke supernatural entities in incantations, and it's similarities and differences from ki. Begin.” The man said, not giving Gaius time to answer.

Gaius begin thinking and finally answered.

“Magic is a natural law, it is as fundamental to the universe as gravity or electromagnetism. Those who say is something unnatural or foreign don't know what they're speaking about.

Magic is powered by a form of energy, normally called magical energy, but also mana, prana, etc. Unlike ki magic energy doesn't come from the self, but from the outside. In the universe there is a field of energy, undetectable to current science, that nonetheless is affected by matter, magic pools towards places with gravity, as such the higher the gravity of a place the higher the density of mana. However magic energy phases through matter without problem, and spreads equally through the gravity field, decreasing in quantity as the field decreases in intensity. However a place can't be devoid of magical energy naturally and as such even in deep space there is mana, the lowest quantity found between galaxies at 5% saturation rate, with Earth being at 100% saturation rate. As such spells that rely on ambient magical energy are far weaker.

A mage passively absorbs magical energy from the field, but they can concentrate to boost their absorption rate. All mages have a magical energy reservoir within them, that has defined limits. Unlike what some tell you a mage doesn't increase the quality of their magical energy to increase their power. That is a myth, and a lie. What a mage can do is practice, use magic time and time again, increasing the limits of their reservoir and their absorption rate, or concentrate to draw more magical energy that they can withstand into themselves, for faster results than practice, however this is a dangerous method that can lead to injuries or loss of magic for a time, with varying intensity, though nobody on recorded history has died, you just can't draw that much more energy than you have onto yourself, since absorption rates are proportional to reservoir size.

Only living and spiritual beings can use magic, though some materials can have a spiritual nature and thus magical properties. Of note is that having a soul is enough to use magic, regardless of organic state, as demonstrated by the poor Solomon the Petrified. However no human has managed to grant a soul to something, only granting salience has been shown to have such an effect, and nobody knows how to give that to inorganic materials. So magic using AS, artificial sapiences, are theoretically possible.

In order to use magic a certain Pattern must be established. Human mages have no inborn Patterns, except people with Traits, such as Ryuunosuke’s Word of Might or Akiras Eyes of Magic Analysis, but supernatural creatures can have them. Patterns are formed from magical energy and are composed of Shape, Intensity and Direction. That is their shape, the intensity of magical energy and the direction of the flow of energy. Of note is that spells can be overcharged, as long as the intensity is proportional in all places to the normal spell, for greater effects. As such all spells can remain useful. Such an example is the solar light, which may be used to illuminate a book on the dark, or kill weak vampires. All spells have a minimum energy cost due to Intensity, and a magical energy manipulation skill requirement due to Shape and Direction. The more complex the Pattern the more powerful the spell tends to be.

Symbols can enhance or hinder the effects of magic. A symbol is something that is heavily associated with a concept in the collective of sentient creatures, such as a cross for holiness, or the Elder Futhark for magic. That belief grants depth and power to the symbol, granting a spiritual ‘weight’ that has power of its own. As such crosses can hurt vampires and demons by themselves, even if they're not consecrated. Due to this the older and more well known they are affect how effective a symbol is. A symbol can support a spell that is aligned with it or hinder one it runs opposite to its nature. Such as a rune for fire increasing the power of a fireball or heating a freezing spell.

Invocations may seem similar to symbols but they're not. In invocations you ask the help of the one you're invoking, and as such it will always enhance the spell and may even lower the spell requirements. However it's most effective to ask a spirit of fire to empower a fire spell.

However this invocations have a price, from a small piece of magical energy, to sacrificing whole towns of innocents, passing through worship or following a way of life. For example being a virgin hunter for Artemis. Also the invocated, if powerful enough may take control of the spell, and if the entity is malicious that can end badly.

It's similar to ki in that it's the manipulation of energy, but it's far more versatile and generally useful. Even more than ki’s upgraded form, Touki. However it's far more difficult to control than ki and less instinctive, as such many can't pass through the first stages and remain weak spell casters.”

After Gaius finished the man nodded.

“You do know what you're speaking about, that was correct. All right I'll begin testing your knowledge of the 10,000 basic Patterns, and then more advanced ones. Then we'll test your knowledge of the magical world.”

Four hours later the examination had finished and the man produced his verdict.

“You pass all basic courses, but not a single intermediate one. Except Summoning and Dimension ones, in all of which you are above the graduation level, and near specialisation levels. Though your knowledge is archaic.” He said narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“My master was indeed a master of Summoning and Portal magic, but little else. As for the fact that my knowledge is archaic, I can't say anything.” Answered Gaius.

“Alright, I'll just have to ask the Branch Head. My recommendation is you choose whatever you want to learn among the intermediate courses, and take remedial lessons to update your knowledge about Summoning and Dimensions.”

The man left after that. Gaius finally felt at ease after finishing all the assessments, before he groaned at remembering that he still,had mundane exams for the rest of the week. Grumbling he left to go home.