The time had finally come for Brand to test out of the last of his basic mysteries. After three months of study, he now knew more than even Azmina did before they all entered the Hall.

Most of what he’d learned had been superfluous to his overall goal of getting stronger. He could now purify water, light candles, float objects, and many more enjoyable yet rarely useful things. He also knew almost every basic attack spell in the hall’s repertoire even though casting any with a decent amount of strength was impossible.

Brand could convert his mana into wind pressure, electricity, fire, and even anti-mana also known as death magic that could kill an enemy from mana depletion upon contact. But knowing them and using his new spells effectively were two different stories.

With his limited mana capacity, even though he could use every spell Merwyn taught the class none were viable options in combat. In the battles to come, he’d be forced to use his strength of arms in lieu of arcane powers. Even so, this didn’t dissuade Brand.

He was now the only one in his group to have made it to the third gate thanks to his unrivaled mana control. With such a small mana pool, he was able to cultivate much easier than everyone else. Even now he cultivated with the mana swirling across his body still unnoticed because of his focus.

He knew that a mage’s path was beyond him, but his ability to throttle mana to a ridiculous degree made it irrelevant in his mind. In the coming mysteries, if someone tried to throw spells at him, he would increase his speed and strength to dodge or breakthrough whatever they sent at him. He would be an unstoppable force as soon as he passed whatever test Merwyn had planned.

Merwyn began explaining the topic of her test. “Ragnar Lothbrok was the man most of the rumors about magi come from in this part of Midgard. With his power, he was able to take control of a large part of Europia before Ragnarok.” Her voice became more excited as she continued. “He first conquered the sea of monsters by taking control of the raging waves with the force of his mana. When great monsters attacked his ships, he was able to kill them single-handedly. In later wars, he raised an entire fleet of ships into the sky to raid inland cities. The commonly ridiculous thought that magi can create mountains and destroy cities came from his march on the east when he abandoned his own kingdom to wander the continent.”

Brand was embarrassed to know he once believed in such ridiculous feats of magical might. After a few weeks at the Hall, it was clear that Ragnar couldn't have possibly done half of the things Merwyn claimed.

Levitating an object became exponentially more difficult the more weight and volume the object had so for Ragnar to levitate ships was simply impossible. The same went for calming a violent sea. Even if controlling the mana wasn’t necessary, channeling that much should surely kill him.

The greatest reason for Ragnar's feats to be impossible was the amount of mana necessary to complete them. There were ways to gather mana from outside the body, but the collected mana would clash with your own causing backlashes more often than not; If there even was a way to generate that much power. If the assignment was to explain why Ragnar could not possibly exist, then this test would be an easy one.

“Your assignment,” Merwyn finished. “Is to explain how Ragnar was able to achieve such power and give me a legible enneagrammatic of his method.” There was a long pause before Merlin spoke again. “And the spell circle you create from this diagram cannot result in death or you will fail.”

“Bullshit,” Brand said as the rest of the class echoed his befuddlement.

“That's not possible.” “It can't be done.” “This has to be a trick.”

A thunderclap from Merwyn put the protest to an end. “If anyone has a complaint, stand one by one and tell me.”

Godric was the first to comply. “Miss Merwyn, Ragnar had to have been a demi-God if not a wandering God. There’s no way any mortal could possibly hold that kind of power.”

“Even so,” Merwyn said smiling. “Ragnar claimed that he was no god, and a demi-God of such strength would have no problem ascending to godhood so let's assume he wasn't. All I want is a theory on how it could be possible. Think about what factors he would have needed, or which factors he would have been able to overcome.”

The complaints went on and on but Brand ignored them. There was no point in arguing with Merwyn. That gleeful smile told him she was profoundly serious.

Creating a thin sheet of mana in front of him, Brand began drawing out the runes and circles he thought might work. Seeing him take the lead, many others started doing the same.

“Don’t forget to add a cloaking spell to your work,” Merwyn warned. “I better not catch anyone cheating. You have three hours.”

After the hours passed everyone’s work was on display for Merwyn and their pairs to see. She walked past each one making small noises of appreciation for the few she paused at.

“Turning sunlight into mana is a good idea and has been practiced, but on the scale at which it would have needed to be done would be impossible for one man. At least only one type of mana would be entering him at a time so the chances of a backlash would be negligibly low.” She pointed at a particular part of the circle. “What are these for?”

“Those are connections for objects that would be capable of collecting the sunlight and transferring it back into the caster,” Marla said proudly.

“Smart,” Merwyn complimented. “It would increase the sunlight collected but your mana conversion wouldn’t be able to keep up resulting in a fiery death. But you haven't actually added in whatever the collection device will be, so I'll let it slide.”

“This one is very similar,” Merwyn deduced, pointing at the circle Godric made. “You would convert heat from volcanoes into pure mana. Heat is by far the easiest element to convert but assuming you could find one you will need to be in its proximity at all times to use the mana. Not to mention the farther you are from the source the more unstable the connection becomes yielding less and more unstable mana. There’s also the problem of the lava cooling leaving only hard rocks in its place.”

She moved on to the next circle and smiled after quickly looking it over. “As unethical as some might assume this to be, it's actually quite brilliant. You’d absorb the death magic from around the area cycling them through a staff with focus points at each end. The energy would constantly swirl between them, delaying the eventual breakdown of whatever you used to contain the power. Seeing as Ragnar was almost constantly at war, this could work but it would be useless at sea or in the air.”

Tanya tried to look as small as possible as many in the class looked at her. She hadn’t wanted to use death magics, but she couldn’t think of anything else that might work. Brand also sunk down into his seat when Merwyn came to his spell circle. Unlike the rest, she hadn’t slowly sauntered over. She froze when her eyes laid upon his work.

She looked at it for several minutes longer than the rest, never taking her eyes away from it. After the minutes grew long, some of the students started to interpret the circle themselves.

“What is that even supposed to be?” Brand heard from within the now uncomfortably small room. “I think I see light, fire, and lightning conversion. And what’s with all those random runes strung about?”

No one seemed to understand Brand's methodology. He now wished he’d used a simpler method like everyone else. He'd over-thought this assignment by leaps and bounds. The others hadn’t failed even though their magic theories were wrong but being completely right didn’t seem to be the point.

Merwyn suddenly turned to face Brand. “Explain,” she demanded much more seriously than usual.

“Um,” Brand muttered. “I just made something that would handle just about anything.” Merwyn gestured for him to continue when he stopped. “Ok. So, I don't think Ragnar could just absorb any old type of mana. If he could, this assignment would be pointless. Anyone could make a circle that draws in lots of power, it's making it usable that really counts. But there isn't one source potent enough to draw that much mana from, so I tried to pull from them all, or at least all I could think of. That circle can convert light, lightning, heat, death, and kinetic force easily. On a hot sunny day with a strong wind, he could cast a net to collect all the forces he could, turning them into power for himself. It’s also primed to link other people and objects so they could share mana over a distance.”

Merwyn pointed to a particular part of the circle. “What about this area right here? This doesn't make any sense. It's not even finished.”

“That's because it’s not meant to be,” Brand said. “If there are new sources of mana to be found that’s where they will be added. Also, if Ragnar somehow had a focus that could really power all his magics then he’d be able to convert whatever he used into lightning, fire, death, and whatnot. If the circle were complete, the effect would be stronger but completing it depends on whether its user is satisfied with what he’s got.”

Brand breathed a sigh of relief when Merwyn nodded her head and moved on to the next circle. For a long moment, he thought she was about to fail him which actually made him feel sick. When she was done evaluating the diagrams instead of stating who passed she simply stated who failed. They were only a handful of students with obviously lethal spell circles.

As everyone left the class, most for the last time, Merwyn got Brand's attention calling him. “Brand, do you plan to forgo the arcane mysteries from now on? I know most cultivators do.”

“I was,” Brand admitted. “Don’t really see the point of learning how to sling spells. No matter what I do my mana pool is going to stay E-ranked for most of my life.”

Merwyn shook her head. “Brand do you have a powerful focus?”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, can you shoot fire, control the wind, create physical projections, or control unholy beasts, anything you can use to fight without your strength of arms.”

“Not really,” Brand said with a shrug. “But I’m a damned good cultivator though.”

Merwyn sighed. “Here’s some advice, a cultivator stands little chance against a mage unless he has a focus that can close the gap in their abilities. And against a fellow cultivator with a decent focus, the results are usually the same.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you may be the best cultivator in this class, but in the next, you’re going to be one of the weakest students.”

“You’re saying I’m weak,” Brand said. He tried to keep the insult from his voice, but it wormed its way out as he clenched his fist.

“No I’m not,” Merwyn said, patting the air with her hands.

“It sounds like you’re calling me weak, like I’m not the best cultivator in the class.”

“You are but,” Merwyn said and hesitated.

“But what?” Brand demanded his voice rising. “If this is about my spell circle-”

“Calm down,” Merwyn said, cutting him off with a sharp tone and a wave of blue mana that threatened to knock Brand off his feet. “I can see that you’re troubled, but that's why I’m talking to you.”

She took another moment to think and from the look she held, her next words wouldn't be pleasant, “From what Elof said, you don't need to learn how to fight so you should hold off on the martial mysteries that teach martial arts. What you need to do is figure out a way to use the little mana you have effectively. Sadly, nothing comes to mind, but I can assure you, ignoring the arcane mysteries will hurt you in the long run.” Merwyn pointed at the spell circle Brand created. “You’re also one of the best students I've ever had. That circle is terribly close to ones used in more advanced magics. I’m amazed you came up with this in just three hours.”

Brand chuckled. “It's not really all that good. About a third of the mana is wasted due to entropy.”

“The fact that you can see that proves my point. You have the makings of a thaumaturge.”

“And what do they do?”

Merwyn smiled, the pitch of her words rising with excitement. “We study magic, all magic. And it's your one and only hope of making it through the next combat mystery.”