Mimic Awakening

Chapter 26: Levels Of Magic

On the sixth floor of the dungeon...

"FIREBALL."

Whoosh.

In his lesser dragon form, Azrael fires a meter wide sphere of flames from the magic circle he conjures and aims it at the empty corridor. The fireball spell is rather flying a lot slower than his wild magic, dragon fireball, but it is faster than a typical mage can do.

(You are getting better at this, Azrael. At this rate, you can reach the level of an elite magic knight in no time.)

(You are a court mage, right? I wonder how powerful you are compared to that.)

(Most of the elite magic knights in the kingdom can do B-tier or high-level magic at most. There are some who can fire supreme-tier spells by doing it through ritual casting. Meanwhile, I can repeatedly fire supreme-tier spells in succession without breaking a sweat. Such a huge gap, yes?)

(It’s gonna be a long day.)

In this world, through the agreement of the experts and scholars, magic is categorized by tiers. Depending on their base firepower, destructive capabilities, and area of effect, magic spells range from F-tier or basic tier, to A-tier or the supreme level.

F-tier magic spells generally consist of basic spells that every person can do. Most of these spells are commonly used for everyday life like conjuring a small flame on fingertips to ignite firewood. Basic tier spells are purely non-offensive magic.

The next level is the E or low tier magic. In this level, spells are starting to show combat capabilities that can cause harm. It is still a low level tier that almost everyone with mana can use. To put it simply, a duel between E-tier spells is no different than a fist fight in terms of intensity and fatality.

D-tier or the intermediate level is what everyone considers the starting point of true combat magic. The most common spells like fireball, water spear, and earth arrow fall in this category. Everyone who can cast magic spells at this level can be considered a mage, albeit the lowest ranking.

A level above D-tier is the C-tier or advanced level. In addition to greater destructive power, spells of this tier are getting wider coverage. Spells of this level can destroy a house and, depending on the power of the caster, a single advanced-tier magic can burn a small city block to the ground.

The magic spells at this tier start to get more complex and require an amount of mana that can be lethal to a regular person. The average adventurer and mercenary mages can cast this level of magic.

Magic starts to get more dangerous and destructive at the B-tier as known as high level magic. The spells of this level have become powerful enough to destroy a small town. Magic casters of this magic are usually the best combatants in a nation and are essential for the overall firepower of an army.

Above that is the A-tier or the supreme level, a level of magic so devastating a single spell can erase a city. Supreme-tier spells are composed of powerful spells that have engraved in history such as the Tremor that trampled a former capital into ruins and the Judgement Lightning that allegedly one-shot a greater drake in one of the bard songs in the Siafran Empire.

Supreme-tier casters are generally considered one of the most valuable assets to a nation. For that reason, their existence is being kept secret. There are a few exceptions to that, though, like The Great Sorceress, Claire, of the Roheazul Kingdom and The Limitless Sage of the Sorcerer Elf Kingdom, whose names are feared through the continent.

Due to their destructiveness and unbelievable complexity, A-tier magic spells are widely accepted as the peak of magic by the commonplace, but that is not actually the case at all. Beyond what everyone considers the pinnacle is a level that only a handful of individuals know exists.

"And then there’s the ultimate-tier, I assume?"

"That’s right." Claire’s soul nods. "All thanks for my awakened ability that I am aware of the existence of that level of power. Similar to the tiers of magic, ultimate magic is also a spectrum."

Currently, the lesser dragon is resting on the sixth floor to have a proper conversation with Claire. He has fallen into the depths of his thoughts as he listens to her magic lessons in the mindscape. She has deployed a barrier around him to fend off hostile monsters trying to disrupt his meditation.

"Interesting. Which means there are levels of how powerful ultimate-tier magic spells are. Some spells might be exponentially more powerful and broken than others."

Although Claire’s Gramarye does not categorize ultimate-tier magic by their potency, she can classify them by their purpose and the amount of mana required to cast. After years of studying, she categorized them into five classes: operational, combat, warfare, apocalypse, and unranked.

"—I put spells that I failed to comprehend to unranked. Magic that involves rewriting the laws of reality is just too much for my mind to digest."

"I see. Thank you for your explanation. Ultimate magic is really out of this world."

Learning that there are spells that are too complex and absurd even for The Great Sorceress to understand, Azrael has raised his hopes that there might be something that can help him go back to his previous world.

Even though his life was not that good back there, at least he has his family and he can do the things he genuinely cares about. In this world, he has yet to form a solid attachment that anchors him to stay.

If there was a spell like that, he would eventually demand Claire to do it or teach it to him if possible. But if it was the opposite, he would have to accept his fate of living and surviving in this world. Along with it, he would seek the secrets of otherworldly transmigration and find out why and how he was transported to another world.

It might take a long time, but I will definitely find a way to go back, he promises to himself.

"If it weren’t for ultimate magic, I would have died a long time ago."

"Did a certain ultimate magic save your life?"

"Not really saved me from a life and death situation. Rather than saving my life, an ultimate magic spell helped me extend my lifespan. You probably know what spell that was."

When Claire says that, Azrael starts recalling everything about his encounter with her. He does not need to think deep enough to remember a certain scene and determine the spell that Claire has been talking about.

"Extending one’s life..." He then takes a glance at his surroundings. "Isn’t it Astral Invasion?"

"Correct." Claire affirms Azrael’s guess. "How old do you think I am?"

"Physically, I think you are in your late twenties or early thirties. But appearance can deceive one’s eyes, so you can be older."

"Twenties, you say? Fu." Claire let out a soft chuckle. "I am flattered by your compliment. But I am actually over three hundred years old."

"Three hundred?! Wait, if this world has 304 days per year, then she can be younger than that... But it’s still over two hundred...!"

"I don’t know what you are mumbling about, but it’s true that I am that old. Or do you find it unappealing?"

"Well, it’s no trouble at all. But Astral Invasion, huh?" freewēbnoveℓ.com

"Every time I feel like I was out of my prime, I started looking for a suitable vessel to transfer my soul into." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"So how would you do that? I mean finding a new body."

"Simple. I would go to orphanages and look for a magically gifted kid, or anyone who has a high mana reserve, to adopt. I always choose girls, by the way. After adopting them, I would train them, which usually takes years, to reach the desired condition to safely implant my soul in them. If I didn’t do that, they wouldn’t have the sufficient power to contain the power of my magic core."

"..." Azrael does not expect those words coming out of her. Although it is kind of cruel and unfair, he thinks it is understandable for a person to do anything in order to achieve their goals.

"But there’s no way that they would fully accept that fate, as every person should be. Alongside training, I conditioned them that they exist to sacrifice themselves for me. Basically implanting it like a doctrine. Do you think I am no different from the preachers of the temple?"

"Wow, I never thought that you were that kind of person. I don’t know how religion works here, but I can see the similarities. After all those years, you must be the most powerful person in this world."

"I wish that was the case but I am not. There are people out there who are far more powerful than me. I am just the most powerful in Western Revoria."

The continent of Revoria, the largest landmass in this world, is divided into three regions: the Western, Central, and Eastern Revoria. Western Revoria stretches from the west coast to the Sulvan Mountain Ranges.

This region is where the Kingdom of Roheazul and the Empire of Siafran is situated. But more than half of the region is still unconquered by humanity as the dreaded Forest of Detho prevents the expansion of the Siafran Empire.

"Are you perhaps the reason why the empire can’t just invade the kingdom?"

"That’s right. The empire actually has more military prowess than we have, but they lack a powerful trump card— a second awakener."

"Hmph. You are quite boastful for someone who is in life support."

"I couldn’t disagree with that, unfortunately."

"At least you know your place." Azrael scoffs. "But having the knowledge of all magic must be nice. Ultimate magic might come in handy in the future. I have to master magic as soon as possible. Will you help me achieve that?"

"As you will, Azrael. It’s not like I have another choice."

Even though Azrael has a lot of mana reserve together with a high magic power and great proficiency in wild magic, he admits that he is not good at casting human magic spells.

For comparison, Claire’s normal casting of fireball is several times larger than he can do and deals more damage to the targets. Against a regular dragon, Claire’s spell fatally injures the target while Azrael only tickles it.

For that reason why Azrael practices magic on the sixth floor of the dungeon. The monsters spawning on this floor are weaker compared to the ones below and they are perfect target practice for his novice magic.

"What?!"

As he is in the mindscape, his radar, which can be conveniently activated when he is in a dormant state, suddenly picks up some strange presences. To say they are strange is wrong, it is more like a familiar feeling.

Alarmed, he immediately exits out of the soul space to double check what he just sensed. Azrael quickly looks above and discovers that they are on the floor above. Noticing that, Claire immediately inquires of him what is up.

(What’s the problem, Azrael?!)

(I just detected some human presence on the floor above.)