PATHS OF MAGUS

Despite the fact that Lynne thought it would be a whole lot more troublesome with him living with Samuel, he actually rarely saw the latter over the course of the past two days. Due to the fact that they were extremely busy trying to discern who was leaking information, they had little time for free chatter, and Samuel would usually just sleep for two or three hours before leaving off to somewhere. To Lynne’s surprise, he still wasn’t summoned by the King which had confused him slightly, but he didn’t pay it much heed.

As he was just a ‘pretend guard’ and didn’t have to do any of the other guard duties, it meant that Lynne had a lot of free time. And, similarly, as people from the Palace knew that visitors from the Academy were Mages first and whatever they were doing in the Palace second, they were all given private courtyards to train in. As Lynne was recommended by the Headmaster himself and was assigned directly to the King, his courtyard was much more luxurious than others’, especially in terms of natural energy, which directly influenced how much Mana one could absorb. In addition, the courtyard was rather spacious, roughly twenty by twenty meters, and even had a small pond of water which was constantly refilled at the corner.

Even though he was almost reaching the peak of the One Star Master Magus, Lynne was still undecided over the primary path he would take in terms of Mana Absorption. The earlier one decided, the earlier they would be able to train with it, and so far Lynne mostly ‘winged it’ with all kinds of different techniques. Auldin had warned him that he should probably choose a path before reaching Two Stars, as then the difficulty would quadruple, so now he was sitting in the courtyard, cross-legged, pondering in silence. Generally, there were endless paths one could take when it comes to Mana Absorption, Mana Manipulation and Mana Exertion. Those three processes were directly related to one’s ability to cast spells, and everyone would usually try to sync up all three to follow the same route for the same progress. However, despite how many general paths there were, all are commonly categorized into seven:

- Physical Magus – Mana is absorbed directly like air itself. During the first few times, the pain would be excruciating, but as the body got used to it, every part of it would be refined and strengthened. Those who took this path were usually experts in melee combat and would use spells to enhance their bodies – from something as simple as turning their fists into the iron, to something as complex as generating outer-shell gauntlets of fire to punch their enemies with. These types also usually had extremely sturdy bodies and headstrong personalities, and those who never had any talent past attaining ‘Master Magus’ rank usually took this path as it offered the greatest chance of survival in the war.

- Elemental Magus – Mana is processed through Magic barriers before being taken in. This way, everything outside elemental essence would be discarded, giving the Magus extremely sensitive body when it comes to elements themselves. They usually excelled in prolonged fights as well as large-scaled battles due to developed affinity to elemental spells. They are usually masters at long ranged combat, and would usually specialize in one of the elements to the highest of mastery possible, which would be their ‘breakthrough’ to the rank of Archmage.

- Blood Magus – Mana is absorbed solely into the veins and pumped directly into heart. Blood Magus tend to excel during the bloody battles as they gain more and more Mana the more blood is spilled. Technically, during a long battle, Blood Magus wouldn’t ever run out of Mana and would be able to constantly cast spells. However, the drawback to this is their terrible base Mana. As all of the Mana is stored directly in the heart, there’s a tight limit to how much can be stored. Their diversity, though, makes up for it, as they can be masters of all kinds of combat, or simply jacks of all trades. Not many choose this path, though, because Mages are very rarely part of the prolonged battles.

- Skyfire Magus – Mana is absorbed by tempering one’s body directly with it. Upon direct contact, skin would fall under burning sensation – hence the name of the path – and one would have to go through complete transformation before even absorbing a sliver of Mana. It’s the most-commonly practiced way in the Skyfire Academy, and it is rumored that only those who followed this path could attain the title of Skyfire Magus. Mages following this path excel at controlling natural and tempered fires, and are considered jacks of all trades, as they don’t have any clear drawbacks or any true overbearing strengths.

- Void Magus – Mana is absorbed like water, without any filtering, directly into one’s soul. The distinctive fact about those that follow this path is their nigh-infinite Mana supply towards latter ranks, whereas they could seemingly cast World Borne spells infinitely. However, their skills at manipulating Mana are at the absolute low, and speed at which they cast is usually subpar. However, rumors are that the current King of Artan Kingdom, west-most Kingdom in Alloy, is Void Magus with innate Gift of Mana Manipulation, making him one of the most terrifying existences on the continent.

- Spellweaver Magus – Mana is absorbed in short bursts with great density and speed. Those that choose this path are usually quick-casters who weave in and out of battles by continues usage of movement spells and quick-cast offensive spells. They are one of the rarest types, as skill required in Mana Manipulation department trumps all other paths. As they are usually required to cast three-four spells at the same time, with even slightest of mistakes in careful manipulation, the spell could backfire and end up wounding the caster. Due to this nature, no one really pays much attention to their Mana reserves as their spells are usually Low Borne and require very minimum Mana usage. They also usually fashion elemental weapons through spells as they fight at mid to close range.

- Summoner Magus – Mana is absorbed directly from another living being. As the name suggests, Mages use summoned spirits or beasts to do their bidding. They are the rarest type, as one has to posses innate Gift of Bestiality in order to even attempt following this path. In addition, results don’t really show for a very long time, as each summoned spirit or beast needs to be tempered and strengthened individually. However, one expert Summoner Magus is perhaps worth more than an entire elite army, so their value can never truly be underestimated.

Even though there were some others, more unconventional methods, nigh everyone followed one of the seven paths. As Lynne pondered, he really had hard time deciding. He immediately discarded Physical Magus as he was unwilling to subject his body to any excruciating pain. Summoner Magus was also out of the way. Even if he had Gift of Bestiality, which allowed him to communicate with spirits and beasts, he’d still never follow this path as his ultimate goal was gold, and this path was basically gold devourer. Although he was slightly tempted by Void Magus path, he still decided to ignore it, as, similarly to Summoner Magus, he’d only see true benefits way later down the line, and he simply wasn’t willing to wait that long. Blood Magus also fell out of discussion, because Lynne never really wanted to participate in wars where Blood Magus and its incarnations would shine. It fell down to three categories: Elemental Magus, Skyfire Magus and Spellweaver Magus. All three had their strengths and weaknesses. The reason he was tempted by Elemental Magus path was because he listened to his father sometimes tell him stories of Mages who would cast a bolt of fire from miles away and still destroy the entire city. It was also a rather balanced path, and as long as no one attacked you from up close, you were practically invisible. On the other hand, Skyfire Magus was truly the most balanced path, albeit slightly lest diverse and destructive. It focused solely on control of elemental fires, but also provided solid body tempering for little physical pain. And it’s also the path he would be given the most help with, as even Auldin and Headmaster of the Academy followed it. And then there was the Spellweaver Magus path, seemingly the riskiest of all. Unlike Physical Magus, they didn’t have any strong defenses, yet were constantly in the thick of things. They relied on combining various different spells and causing havoc in short bursts while constantly dancing at the edge of death. However, to Lynne’s surprise, this path was also the most tempting – mainly because he could earn the gold with it the quickest. He had already met the requirements, as his Mana Manipulation skills were definitely above average, which is one of the reasons he can combine two opposite elements while casting a spell. Also, he didn’t need any special tempering and lengthy training to his Mana reserves as even the one he had now would be somewhat enough for the immediate future.

In the end, he decided to follow the Spellweaver Magus path with grave heart. Although they say that ‘Skyfire Magus’ can only be someone who followed that path, I’ll damn rewrite that rule all by myself, just you watch!

As he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, he remembered the way he’s supposed to absorb Mana – in short bursts. It meant that he’d immediately absorb as much as someone else would do in days, and then process it directly through casting spells and exercise. This meant that it also required the least amount of ‘boring part of the training’ which involved sitting on your butt and willing Mana into your body.

As he tensed his muscles slightly, he took in a deep breath and cast his senses around him. He felt the richness of natural energies around him and vast quantities of Mana within them. He immediately rounded out two meters around him, as he didn’t want to risk taking in any more than that, and forcibly pulled everything within it into his body. As vast quantities of Mana rushed in, he felt perplexing pain flow through every inch of his body. He felt his veins double in size, his heart speed up, and his muscles tense as if they were just crushed under extreme pressure. However, all this last only for a few minutes, as all absorbed Mana was led into a temporary storage within his soul. Unless he properly processed within the next few days, it would implode and kill him from within. Damn, why didn’t I just take ‘Skyfire Path’? It’s the least risky and the steadiest! Damn me!

However, it was too late for regret, since, by the time he’d processed all of the Mana he absorbed, he’ll probably be at the Four Star Master Magus level – perhaps even at the peak – just one step away from stepping into the coveted Archmage rank. Lynne held a lot of confidence in being able to take that step, which is one of the reasons he immediately discarded the Physical Magus path, as he believed that those who had potential for becoming an Archmage and still took that path were complete lunatics or world-renowned masochists. He could barely hold on for a few minutes of somewhat unbearable pain without screaming out and calling for his mom; he couldn’t even imagine how he’d do it if that processed was prolonged to hours… or days at time, and pain was tenfold as much. Freaking lunatics, to the last one of them!