Free Web NovelChapter 9: Chapter 9: Mages don’t decide
He was ready to be fully immersed.
He just noticed he wasn’t the only one.
Everyone here seemed to be eager.
Solomon began.
"I’m not about to say something novel or whatever. It’s really just simple stuff."
"I’ll explain once."
"He always says that," Gwen whispered.
"Mages are ranked as we all know from S to F conventionally."
He began.
Roe was kind of disappointed.
He thought he was in for something flashy, not some boring flat speech exposition.
’Oh it’s just this,’ he thought.
He looked around.
The others were still excited.
He decided to not count it out yet.
’I mean these guys seem to be expecting something. I’ll wait.’
’I won’t judge and write it all off right now.’
"The different mage classes come with different talents that help in determining if one is compatible for combat," Solomon continued.
This had caught Roe’s interest.
He’d never heard of anything like this.
For Solomon to even imply it...
"When facing a mage. It’s important you...." Solomon said.
’When facing a mage. I knew it,’ Roe thought.
’Is he implying situations will come where we’ll have to go up against fellow mages?’ freewёbnoνel.com
It wasn’t unheard of.
It was however extremely rare.
Like really rare, he thought.
"This is where things get interesting."
"There’s 20 known talents in this world."
"Merlin described 19. Vlad described 1."
"All the talents came to be as a result of these two."
’All the talents? Vlad described only one.’
’It wouldn’t really be an oversimplification to say Merlin created them all,’ Roe thought.
He wasn’t wrong.
He just didn’t know Vlad didn’t create just any talent but the Energy type.
"These talents are assigned to mages at what seems like random."
"No visible patterns you could say."
"There’s a pattern alright."
"Not too visible but it exists."
"For every rank of awakening, there’s a group of talents that circle said rank."
"For example. Energy-based type has only ever been wielded by S ranks."
"This is no mistake."
"There’s a very valid reason this is the case."
"This will continue being the case for awhile if not forever," Solomon continued.
"We all know that only mages of C rank and higher get to become attack mages who may proceed to take flight and help in the greater fight against the rifts that ravage our skies."
"This is pretty common knowledge, right?"
He didn’t expect them to respond.
In fact he didn’t even give room for a response.
He just continued.
"I won’t go into all the talents."
"He never does," Gwen whispered again.
"But all regular elements are reserved for B and C ranks." freewēbnoveℓ.com
"Should a mage have Flame, Wind, Earth, Thunder, Ice and so on, then chances are said mage is a rank B or lower."
"When a mage of a higher rank possesses an elemental-type talent, then that mage’s command would be of never-before-seen or thought-of proportions."
Everyone looked at Jack and Julian.
This was exactly their case.
Although the siblings were yet to show unprecedented mastery of the Flame.
They all had expectations of the brothers.
Solomon as well.
"A ranks specifically tend to get outliers that aren’t so overpowered but still cracked in their own way like Soul, Light, Darkness."
"It’s not unheard of for an A rank to develop talents of an S rank."
"It happens."
"It’s just usually bad for the mage as they would have a hard time using it."
"It would cost way too much mana and as a result be pretty inefficient."
"S ranks may be of only 3 types."
"Time, Space and the Energy type."
"You would think that encountering a mage with a Time or Space talent automatically means that said mage is S rank, but that wouldn’t be true."
"I’ve already talked about the possibility of an A rank developing such talents."
"The same applies here."
"Since that’s the case, you’ll have to use elimination to figure out the mage’s actual rank."
"The degree of using the talents is the best indicator."
"If the mage can’t spam their own talents then chances are they’re not as compatible."
"Meaning in this case, an A-rank awakened to an S-rank talent."
"Then there’s the Energy type."
"This is the only talent type with no room for guesses and whatnot."
"It’s only attainable by S ranks."
"It’s just difficult to use by their standards."
Roe noticed something.
The moment Solomon began talking about the Energy types, everyone’s attention became even more focused.
"You’ll find out why later," Solomon paused.
"Shit. He did it again," they all lamented.
"It’s always later. You never tell us."
"Ok. Ok. I get it."
None of the others seemed to notice.
"The reason others can’t become good at using their Energy-type talents is the same reason A ranks with S-rank talents are usually a bust."
Roe was smiling.
In his mind he’d just figured it out.
’This is why Solomon had me be hush hush about my rank.’
’The Energy-type talent isn’t for regular S ranks.’
’It’s for those of higher ranks.’
’S ranks can’t use it as well cause it’s not an S-rank talent.’
Roe smiled.
He truly did.
He seemed right.
He wasn’t exactly as he hadn’t considered the other notable user of the talent who existed.
He never accounted for Vlad.
By Roe’s logic, Vlad wouldn’t be an S rank.
As already established, Vlad was one.
Something wasn’t adding up.
Roe was too ignorant to realize it.
Or maybe Vlad wasn’t.
Maybe he is.
The information Roe presented wasn’t sufficient to prove anything.
He was working with essentially nothing.
"Now that I’ve talked about talents, let’s continue on with staffs," Solomon said.
"The staffs are instrumental to say the least. They help conjure spells."
"Most of you, like most mages, received theirs from Merlin or like others from the association or council."
"There exist a select few who create their own."
"Everyone here received one from Merlin. There’s no exception," Solomon said.
This was another lie.
’What is the master doing?’
’Why keep all this from them?’
’I created mine,’ Roe thought.
Solomon continued to explain the significance of the staff.
The staffs allowed mages to fly.
There’s mages who can without it, but the average mage required it.
It was a vehicle.
The mages were the riders.
When aboard their staffs, they could defy gravity.
Staffs not only aided mobility but they were the basis of combat.
They could be used to strike as regular swords would or even to cast spells.
This was their more popular use case.
"With the exception of masters, there exists no mage out there who can cast a spell without the use of a staff."
"This has been an irrefutable fact of the world," Solomon said.
Little did he know that world facts could change.
This one was no different.
