When Irwyn awoke it was already dark outside. Looking around himself, someone must have had carried him to his bed, the most likely culprit being the girl sitting by a table nearby.

"You are finally awake," Elizabeth smiled and picked up a bowl of something that looked like soup from the table. Magic clearly began to sparkle between her fingers.

"How long have I been unconscious for?" Irwyn sat up, slightly shaken by the little he could recall from the dream. Perhaps it was because his eternal goal was so near, that the memories he had long locked away began to cascade back onto him. Moreover, he knew there was something terribly wrong with what he saw, yet the details were too hazy. In fact almost unnaturally hazy. However, Irwyn could only throw his suspicions away after a moment of consideration: The only living being who could affect his soul to such an extent was after all still locked away for all eternity.

“For about a day and a half. Or so the healer claims, I have only been awake for a couple of hours myself,” Elizabeth stood up from her chair and handed Irwyn the warmed up bowl of soup. Hearing that he had been unconscious for so long, Irwyn just now realised how hungry he in fact was.

“Thank you,” Irwyn accepted the meal and quickly swallowed a few spoonfuls. An idea also popped up in his head. It was unlikely that they would both fall unconscious because of something like the binding of a weapon. In that case, there was only one other likely option

[Showing status]

[Name: Irwyn von Blackburg]

[Race: human (pure)]

[Keystones: True mage]

[Soul grade: peak transcendent (sealed)]

[Maximum mana: 24,000]

[Active Classes: Ruler of flames (T 2/7) 1/60]

[Worship: none]

[Essence: 15,230]

[Unspent points, level: 0, attribute: 0, upgrade: 2]

[Titles: Herald of Lumen, Herald of Ignis, Reincarnator, Martyr to the crown, Ignis Lumen]

[Magic: flame magic, general magic]

[Skills: Overseer, Requiem, Wielder of Equilibrium]

[Dormant classes: Herald of light, Swordsman of Equilibrium]

[Attributes:]

[Magic capacity: 240]

[Constitution: 91]

[Strength: 84]

[Intellect: 109]

[Dexterity: 85]

[Soul: ###]

Just as he had thought: He had reached the second tier. It was common for someone to fall unconscious during their advancement for the second tier, although Irwyn usually avoided that thanks to the fortitude of his will, it would appear that the binding of Equilibrium had a deep effect even on him.

"Yes, we have advanced to the second tier," Elizabeth confirmed by the side, apparently getting good enough at reading Irwyn's expression to tell what he was thinking.

"That also means we can begin the next stage of your training," Irwyn smiled back at her. At least he would have something to distract himself with now, "Go and bring Alice over, she can also learn from this."

"Alright," Elizabeth smiled joyfully, and left the room. The fact that she enjoyed studying magic was another advantage added to her already great talent.

"Now then," Irwyn spoke to himself, quickly finishing the soup and putting the bowl away. For most people the second tier was not that important. The doubling of their class' initiation bonus was nice, however the difference was simply not that high. Yet for Irwyn the gap between the first and second tier made an immense difference. That was all thanks to something he was about to teach Elizabeth. First, though, he had to properly prepare his own body.

[Change T1 class to Herald of light?]

[Change successful. T1 class is now Herald of light (T 1/6) 10/25]

Irwyn finally saw these boxes after a considerable amount of time. One of the attributes of Logos was adaptation: The system adapted to the user to make things as convenient as possible. For example, Irwyn who did not particularly care about most messages would simply cease to see them. The only unfortunate thing about that feature was that it would reset whenever Irwyn died.

Now that he had the class Herald of light equipped he could finally utilise light magic, and he did so. The room glittered as a string of pure light left Irwyn’s body and began to circle around him. At first, the string was barely incandescent and thin, yet soon the light grew more brilliant and condensed as more and more strands of light left Irwyn’s body. Soon enough, it was as though Irwyn was surrounded rivers of light, flowing around him like water, intersecting and separating endlessly. With that Irwyn could consider this a success, and he withdrew the power back into himself. He was mostly trying to get his body used to the usually gentle power of light. Most casters would take years to properly accomplish that, but with Irwyn’s extensive experience, and the class Herald of light, it took merely a few minutes.

“Knock,” at that moment a gentle knock sounded at the door. Irwyn felt that behind it stood Elizabeth as well as another person, likely Alice. He could only confidently say it was Elizabeth because of the brand he had planted in her soul. He couldn’t yet recognise people just by their magical power, especially not someone like Alice who was not particularly powerful. At least for now.

“Enter,” Irwyn took this opportunity to sit down by the table. Elizabeth and Alice entered and he beckoned them to sit down with him. They naturally followed his lead without any qualms.

“So, are you familiar with the term: Prismatic magic?” Irwyn asked the two girls. Both of them took a moment to think before they shook their heads. Not a surprising result considering that the two hadn’t seen much outside the first tier.

“It is a rare and immensely powerful power. In order to use it, one does not only require great skill in magecraft; the caster must also fulfil an even more difficult condition,” Irwyn explained.

“What could be even more difficult?” Alice asked with a raised eyebrow. Someone who sought power like her would naturally be curious, especially since she was well aware of the difficulties of magecraft thanks to her perpetual training during these past few years.

“A condition even you, unfortunately, cannot fulfil. In order to cast prismatic magic a mage requires to bend and fuse the power of two different elements,” Irwyn spoke. When Alice heard those words she didn’t have to be the genius she was to realise something. She looked at Elizabeth beside her and laughed: “So, you have even more tricks up your sleeve.”

“I do indeed have another elemental affinity,” Elizabeth confirmed, “however, I am completely unfamiliar with it. I would have trouble using it by itself, much less merge it with my flame.”

“That can be remedied by training,” Irwyn smiled, “The reason I brought this up already is because of how important for you prismatic magic is going to be. Although it is difficult to fuse two utterly different forces into one the reward is naturally nothing to scoff at. Especially for you. Prismatic magic between a major and minor element would result in one-sided domination and minimal empowerment. However, when two major elements are combined they will increase their mutual power exponentially based on their mutual affinity. And your flame and void combine into one of the two strongest types of 2 elements prismatic magic. Voidflame.”

“One of the two strongest,” Alice repeated Irwyn’s words, “In that case, which is the other one?”

“This,” Irwyn smiled as he raised his hand. A small burning flame appeared above his palm, right next to a strand of light. The next moment they began to encroach upon each other. At first, the flame churned furiously as the light encircled it, however, after a few moments they reached an equilibrium, as they grew closer and closer to each other. Eventually, they reached so close the two elements became indistinguishable from one another. When that happened there was no longer a strand of light and an orange flame above Irwyn’s palm. Instead, there was luminous white flame swirling elegantly, “The combination of light and flame. Starfire.”

"I will give you closer instruction on training later on. Alice, you should carry on with your current training. Don't get too consumed by it, though. I have something very interesting planned soon," Irwyn finished with a mysterious smile on his face. Unable to get any answers, Elizabeth and Alice could only leave.