“Duhurl Alcazar, Celestial Spirit Possession” muttered the new buff-looking Sigurd.

Suddenly a glowing light came out of Sigurd’s body and flew over the top of his head.

It looked like your typical mana orb at the start but soon it started to get bigger and brighter. In mere seconds it was so bright that even after covering my eyes I could still see the light coming through my closed pupils. It was as if the mana orb had turned into a mini sun.

“What the-”

“Get back!”

“I am scared! *sobs*, mom!”

“Hey, close your eyes!”

Both the 2nd tier and 1st tier candidates were all shocked seeing Sigurd suddenly using a spell of such a large scale. I could hear the uproar of everyone’s surprised yell, the 1st tier candidates were making quite the ruckus. I couldn’t see anything but my ears could make a clear picture of the current situation of the candidates.

I was a bit puzzled. Why was the old fart suddenly using such a powerful skill right off the bat?

I quickly covered my eyes to shield them from the blinding lights.

Spirit Possession is one of the superior abilities that allow mages to infuse their soul with their contracted spirit. This technique requires immense skill and power to utilize it. It also gives mages a temporary buff almost to the state of enlightenment as the divine spirit takes over the host’s body. They also receive huge powers, the arsenal skills of the divine spirit, and even a high state of mind and body.

Spirit Possession could only be done by ‘True Mages’.

The Mages are divided into two major categories- Mages and True Mages.

First, you must understand the basics of mage tier ranking to learn the difference between the two categories. Let me give a brief summary of how the mages are segregated to let you get a basic understanding of how the mage ranking tier works.

There are about 6 tiers in the basic ‘Mage category’

There are the ‘0 tier’ candidates who were able to clear the trials assigned by the ceremony organization but weren’t able to manifest mana orbs. Such people are no different from the commoners who failed the trials and were never meant to be a mage. Most of these people who managed to clear the trial will just live an ordinary life like the rest of the commoners.

Then there are the ‘1st tier’ mages, who can create simple mana orbs by using just pure condensed mana. Mana orbs creations are basics to start learning the use of mana arts. These pure mana orbs are only useful for training, generally, these orbs are useless most of the time other than passing free mana to your comrades so they can replenish their mana reserves.

The mana orbs are generally glowing floating fluff balls without a definitive shape. The pure mana creations are generally useless in a combat situation against other fellow mages. If you were to just use pure mana creations in a fight, the opposing mage would be unscathed. Instead of getting hurt, he/she would just assimilate your pure mana creations within their own mana reserves. Rather than defeating your enemy, you are just giving them free mana.

Pure mana creations are not used most of the time except in some situations.

Some skilled mages, like myself, can really concentrate their creation to form sharp objects like knives and blades. It takes a lot of skill to create such things, although blades made of mana can be useful to cut little things like ropes or branches at best. They are still useless against your average mage as they can still absorb your pure mana blades. Not to mention pure mana creation uses much more of your mana reserves compared to your normal mana arts.

To put it in a simpler manner, anyone who manages to create mana orbs fall in the ‘1st tier’ mage. 1st tier mages are not that big of a deal, of course, there are exceptions like myself.

The ‘2nd tier’ mages are those who have finally discovered their affinity towards certain mana arts. Able to create a little spark of fire, your fingernails extending, and able to create objects from thin air, are a few of the basic abilities the ‘2nd tier’ mage starts to display. Only after reaching this stage, 2nd tier mages can people distinguish which category they would eventually fall in; (Elemental, Psychic, and Mutant Mage categories)

2nd tier mages then have to train and sharpen their skills and get familiar with their abilities. They must incorporate their new profound abilities into their daily use until it just feels natural like breathing. Once this is achieved then only they are promoted to the ‘3rd tier’ stage.

The 3rd tier mage then begins to train and gain experience as his/her mana core starts growing until it reaches the maturity point. Once the mana core ripens their growth reaches a standstill, this is the ‘4th tier’ stage. They will not be able to increase their skills any further until their mana core develops further. This stage is also called ‘The Great Filter’ as the majority of the mages are stuck in this tier.

Once your mature mana core evolves only then will they reach the final tier ‘5th stage’

There are always a handful of 4th-tier mages blessed by mana whose mana core then evolves into 'A Mana Heart’. This is said to be a rather painful process but it's worth the pain for every 4th tier mage who yearns to reach the next stage. The mages with their new mana core are then ranked as the ‘5th tier’ mage, the last stage of the ‘basic mage’ category.

The 5th tier mage’s power and skill don’t change as they are the same as they were in the 4th tier ranking. The only new thing is the mage’s ‘mana heart’, a very crucial piece needed to form a contract with a divine spirit.

Once the 5th-tier mage successfully forms a contract with a divine spirit, he/she finally promotes to the ‘True mage’ category.

‘True mages get a whole new set of powers and fresh new abilities that they acquire from their divine spirit. It's basically the 2nd awakening of their abilities. There are even more stages in the ‘True mage’ category similar to basic mages.

Although if I start explaining that, this whole chapter will be just one gigantic info dump.

So what I meant to say is that the ‘Spirit Possession’ can only be done by a true mage of a very high-tier stage.

After waiting for a few minutes, the blinding light eventually faded and I was finally able to open my eyes. I gently opened my eyes, and the first view was kinda fuzzy and blurry. I had to wait a few more seconds to let my vision stabilize to see what just happened.

I looked toward Sigurd, “Is that really the same head mage?”

There stood Sigurd in the flesh, shirtless with a buffed muscular chest and biceps like some professional bodybuilder. There were battle scars scattered all around his body, which just goes to show how much battle experience he possessed as a mage.

But the more shocking change in the head mage was right now his body was surrounded by strange yellow light. It was as if he was wearing an armor of yellow light like some kind of barrier. Sigurd had a serious expression and his eyes were glowing with a yellow light. Right now Sigurd looked like he was a manifestation of god itself.

Not long ago Sigurd was just a hunchback old man with sunken dead eyes, who required staff to walk around. But now look at him, he looks like he just reverted back to his 15-20 years of age and returned back to his prime.

He looks like those badass muscular old grandpa who would mess you up just for upsetting his grandkids.

Although Sigurd’s new appearance was really otherworldly, at this moment he wasn’t really the center of attention as of now.

“What is that?” asked Jason tilting his head upwards.

Marcia hid behind Jason,

“*sobs* I just want~ want to go home. Mommy!”

The 1st tier candidates seated on the seats who were really noisy quickly fell silent as they watched the arena in a dumbstruck manner. Even the 2nd tier candidates had their jaws wide open as they stared overhead above Sigurd.

There was a big shadow being cast over Sigurd and the place where he was standing.

I slowly followed everyone’s gaze to take a look-

A strange rock-like thing floated above Sigurd’s head as if it was levitating in the air. I had to squint my eyes to get a better look. That's when I noticed it wasn’t just a big floating rock. The thing floating over Sigurd’s head was a miniature fortress made of an orangish-white sandstone-like structure.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

Sigurd stood under the floating miniature fortress and stared at the fortress. I also noticed that the glowing light aura around Sigurd’s body was actually coming from the floating miniature fortress.

As I tried to recollect the current events suddenly it struck me. That floating miniature fortress is actually the Manifestation of Sigurd’s divine spirit! That explains most of the strangeness.

Alright, this is quite shocking. I never knew buildings could also be divine spirits. I read a lot of books and the famous mages had a different divine spirit helping them, but this is the first time I am knowing that there are human structures that can also be a spirit.

I guess that's the extent of what I could learn about this world by merely reading books.

Seems like I have learned something new.

I observed the floating fortress, and to my surprise, the building was in ruins as if it were incomplete. I am saying this because there were parts of the fortress that were missing. It was similar to the way jigsaw puzzles are missing some parts.

As I was observing the fortress I also saw tiny little miniature cannons kept on the top of the walls. The cannons were arranged in a rather orderly manner but it felt like it was missing a few of their cannons. Not only that, the fortress windows had missing window glasses.

Also, some chunks of the fortress walls were missing giving us a tiny peek into the interior. Fencing around the walls was also missing some of the railings. Meanwhile, at the entrance, there was a big rusted iron gate that seemed to be the only entryway within the castle.

This fortress looked like it was just 60% complete.

This is understandable because the divine spirits are said to be just mere fragments when they form contracts with their mages. They slowly start to grow and form a full spiritual body as the fellow host mages and their mana heart grow simultaneously.

Sigurd’s divine spirit, the fortress seemed to be about 60% complete which just shows that he was already at least higher than the rest of the True mages. This just shows how experienced a mage he was. It's not really easy to collect the fragments of your divine spirit, it's quite an arduous task. But the growth of the fragment certainly does make mages stronger and gain more skills.

Divine spirits also known as the celestial spirits are the ultimate spirits that help the mages to reach new heights. They are also powerful beings that instill fear among the beings of this mortal realm.

But to be honest, Sigurd’s miniature floating fortress didn’t give rise to fear. The miniature fortress was as big as the size of a big wagon and not the actual size of a real-life castle. Those little cannons, small windows, and even mini stairs leading up to the watchtowers; all looked quite adorable.

This fortress evoked cuteness.

It didn’t look much different from the dollhouse that my childhood friend, Heather plays with. The only difference between that doll house and this fortress looked detailed and looked like a real thing. Also, it had mini cannons that made it look cool. I certainly wouldn't mind playing with a doll house if there were such versions in the market.

I was not the only one who was struck by the fortress's beauty.

“That fortress looks so cool!”

“Wow! Head mage’s divine spirit is already more than half complete.”

“I wish I could form a contract with a floating castle as well!”

“Guys there are cannons! Do you think it can fire like the real thing?”

“Of course, it can! It might be powerful enough to blow away this amphitheater.”

“This isn’t how I imagined divine spirits to be like.”

Even the 2nd tier candidates who acted headstrong and acted like arrogant brats of nobles changed their tone. Right now they were really talkative like some crazy fanboys. Even the uptight Trisha stared at the castle with wide eyes. Meanwhile, boys with monster arms were also the same.

Meanwhile, Jason was really ogling at the floating fortress as if trying to memorize its appearance. He was really studying the castle in detail like if he bats an eye he might miss something.

Whereas, Marcia had latched on Jason’s back like a baby monkey wrapping its arms around their mother. She had finally stopped sobbing but looked quite terrified.

Sigurd finally started walking toward the center of the stage as he stretched his arms,

“Alright chosen candidates, let's head down to the divine hall where your ascension ceremony trial will be held. The moderators as well as the grandmasters of the royal academies have all gathered in the divine hall and are eagerly waiting.”

The floating mini fortress followed Sigurd overhead like a loyal pet as he walked to the center of the stage. There was a constant stream of glowing light coming from the fortress and wrapping it around Sigurd. This must be the source of Sigurd’s crazy power, it also must be why he looks so different now.

Spirit possession happens when the spirit possesses the mage’s body increasing all attributes from mana power, skills, and reserves to a whole new level. Sometimes the mages also become invincible but sometimes they lose their rational ability to think. Also, there’s the drawback of using such power depending on the mage.

“Step away from the edge of the stage. Gather around me or you might get hurt.”

We candidates quickly gathered around Sigurd keeping a few meters distance, of course.

Seeing that we had gathered around him, he then stretched his muscular arms forward. He then squatted down and spread his legs like a sumo wrestling posture. With one hand he made a fist and with another, he stretched his palm.

Sigurd had a serious stern expression,

“Estate Hijack”

*Rumble*

We were then hit by a fierce rumbling as our stage shook fiercely.

Although it didn’t last long and quickly stopped.

Marcia started sobbing once again,

“I really wanna go home! Mommy!” hugging Jason from behind.

She didn’t even care that Sigurd was just standing next to us.

The 2nd tier candidates around us were clearly glaring at the two of us like we must do something about Marcia’s sobbing. I in response stared at Jason. Jason had already befriended Marcia, might as well just do his part of what a good friend should do.

Jason noticed the glaring he quickly covered Marcia's mouth with his hand,

“Ssh! The ascension ceremony is really going to start soon. Your crying might anger the head mage.” muttered Jason in a low tone.

“~I~I bawhaa Goo Haam~” mumbled Marcia in a muffled voice but we could clearly make out what she meant.

Thankfully Sigurd wasn’t bothered by this little commotion here.

The floating fortress seemed to be channeling more and more power to Sigurd as he stood in the squatting posture. The next instant he joined his palm with his fist, “Descend”

All of a sudden, the stage we were standing on started to sink into the ground.

The stand seats where the 1st tier candidates stood, and the amphitheater's big pillars all were rising steadily as our platform went downwards.

It was as if the entire big stage was turned into an operating lift that was taking us, candidates, down into the basement of the amphitheater. The 2nd tier candidates were all awestruck and had turned into a bunch of curious kids during their first field trip. They all looked at this skill marvelously.

The platform descended deeper and deeper and there were only rocky walls surrounding us.

The only thing we could see was the light coming from above which was shrinking as we went deeper and deeper.

I was really excited that finally I can participate in the ascension ceremony.

The ascension ceremony is basically a ceremony to determine the affinity and potential of the young mages.

This means that I can finally discover my affinity and know what type of mage I will be.