A few days had passed since the night of fireworks.

“Today, we will learn more about Arte variations and intricacies,” Nakala said in front of the class.

Hm, it’s been a while since this kind of lesson. Viers thought.

“As you all know, each of us has our own affinity to a particular element. The most common was the four basic elements, earth, wind, fire, and water. If you have been studying, you’ll know there are also Arte that don’t need a particular affinity to be used. We call this kind of Arte the neutral element.” Nakala continued, the chocolate skinned teacher wrote things on the blackboard while explaining.

Mm yes, like Fierce Stab, Hard Impact, Sharpened Hearing, Deodorant, Void Punch, Stalwart Poise… that kind of Arte. Viers listed the Artes that he knew and witnessed.

“Each element have their own strong and weak points; for example, fire is good for attacking and earth is better at defending than most. When pitted against each other, some elements have superiority against another. For example, Water is strong against fire and weak against lightning.”

True, true… I mean, duh? Isn’t it obvious? Then again, not all people are a game expert like me. Especially in the videogame-less middle age era.

“While the Path-seeker’s level and skill played a greater part, it is common sense to avoid people or monsters who posses your elemental disadvantage. Therefore good adventurer groups consist of people with varied elements and roles.”

Nakala’s lessons sometimes made Viers sleepy but not this time. The other kids also listened intently, especially the boys. Some kids were even taking notes like an honored student.

“Different elements also have their own specialties. Fire elements have great attack power and highly destructive. It’s very good at attacking, the characteristic also shows in fire Artes. A lot of fire Arte for burning down things while almost none for healing.”

Fire healing… it wasn’t unheard of but certainly rare. Especially in low-level areas like this one.

“Slowly learn about the characteristics of your element. Or it could be a fatal mistake that has serious consequences. For example, throwing a wind Arte to a fire Arte could make the fire bigger. Imagine that if you’re in the middle of a fight. You guys don’t want to die because of your own stupidity, wouldn’t you? Now, are there any questions?” Nakala asked, and Paina raised her hand before long.

“Ms. Nakala, since each element has its own advantage and disadvantage, possessing more elements to cover our element’s weakness should be ideal. Wouldn’t it?”

“Good question Paina. Yes, you’re right. Many people also thought so since ancient times. However, things are not so simple. Supposed you’re a water user and want to cast a fire Arte, it wouldn’t work. Not only it’s bad for your body, it also took a lot more resources to cast. You shouldn’t try it.”

“I see,” Paina muttered.

“Not quite, Paina. Your line of thinking is correct. Our predecessors clearly saw the benefit of wielding multiple elements so they strived to do so. The result is the Ixi Arte.” Nakala wrote the words Ixi Arte on the blackboard and underscored it.

“Ixi Arte is Arte that makes you could use other elements in a limited way. Let me put it this way, if you burn things, there’re smokes, yes? And after burning things, ashes remain. Fire is closely related to smoke and ash. A fire Path-seeker could use an Ixi Arte to utilize other things closely related to fire.”

The kids became rowdy and excited.

“Earth users could manipulate minerals, ores, and metals using Ixi Artes; they could even use the magma underground. Wind users are closely related to weather such as lightning and cloud. In terms of Ixi Arte, the water user have the most options. Water have so many forms and so the Ixi Artes of water are similarly numerous. Water is closely related to ice, steam, mist, cloud, rain, and other things. Note that through Ixi Arte, wind user and water user could utilize cloud Arte. Fire and earth users also overlapped in controlling magma. In short, Ixi Arte breaks you from the confines of a single element to manipulate.”

Mm, neat. Ixi Arte, huh? Indeed I have superiority in this, water is everywhere in nature. More specifically, living beings! Perhaps I could use Ixi Arte to directly draw the blood and moisture of my enemies from their bodies! Hur hur hur… but since Monica didn’t do so, I’m guessing such insta-kill method aren’t available during a real fight. Just like my water spheres during my fight with the five church boys. If they’re at equal level with me, they could disturb my water manipulation by hammering their Victa with it. It only succeeded because I’m a level 1 and they’re a level 0.

Nakala’s explanation of Ixi Arte made the TC students eager to experiment.

“Hold your horses everyone, while Ixi Arte is versatile, it isn’t so easy to use. At minimum you have to be level 2, the Ixi Arte is also rarer than normal Arte. Because you are basically working with another element, without sufficient understanding and comprehension of that element, your Ixi Arte won’t work. And as I said earlier, Ixi Artes are limited to things closely related to your element. Fire and water are conflicting attributes, so water Path-seeker trying to utilize flames is almost impossible; similarly with earth and wind.”

So fire and lightning are off-limits for me… as for earth department that closely related to water… mud path? Need more study. In other novels with elemental setting like this one, the MC definitely have more than one element. Quite regularly the MC’s cheat makes him able to wield multiple if not all elemental attributes. I wonder if that is the case here?

Viers raised his hand and asked another question.

“Are there people that have multiple elemental affinities? Not through Ixi Arte. I mean, for example, having water affinity of 3 and lightning affinity of 3.”

The class’s rowdy atmosphere toned down, the kids also wanted to hear the answer to that question.

“Yes, but such cases are extremely rare. Actually we all have other affinity but normally, besides our primary affinity, they are too low to be of use. Only people with special circumstances or characteristics could have affinity higher than tier 3 in two elements. And two are the limit, three or more elements in one body then the Mana inside your body is conflicting too much. No man could survive that kind of strain, they would burst from the inside.” Nakala explained.

Except for the MC! I see, I see, two element users are rare but not unheard of so if there are people wielding three or more elements, they must be another cheat like me. Another reincarnator or transmigator perhaps? I’m still not sure which kind of world this is, the kind with only me as the reincarnator or multiple people.

“We’re a bit off-topic, Ixi Arte and dual affinities are lessons for another time. Let’s return to the basics, Arte. Earlier I told you about the characteristics of the elements. Now, it’s about Arte. Do you know why Mr. Teldo taught you from simple Arte and you have to cast it over and over again to familiarize yourself? The main reason is the backlash.”

Nakala wrote the word backlash on the blackboard then draw a cloud spouting a lightning bolt on the word.

“Simple and elementary level Arte don’t have serious risk because of backlash but as you use higher level and sophisticated Arte, the risk rises exponentially.”

Hm, this part is very xianxia-ish. Backlash of a technique’s failure or somesuch…

“During combat, you can be interrupted during casting your Arte, especially mage-types. Although warrior-type oriented Arte tends to have a short cast time, one second or less, the mage-type's Arte inclines longer casting time. Two seconds, three, or more. If during the critical moment of the Arte activation you’re interrupted, a backlash could happen. Imagine this, you’re about to sneeze but your mouth and nose are blocked. And instead of the expulsion of air, that sneeze was a fireball. The result is not pretty,” warned Nakala.

Hmm, something to be wary about indeed… Viers didn’t take this piece of information lightly.”

“The next most common occurrence of backlash is during Arte activation. In this case, Arte could be differentiated into two things. The instant activation kind or the channeling kind. You all know fireball, wind blade, water arrow, rock punch Artes and the like, yes? These are all instant activation type, after you finished casting it, it activated. At this stage, the Arte is complete, no backlash to you.”

“But there are Arte that need you to keep channeling it even after the activation is complete. The examples of these kinds are ritual-type Arte, battlefield-type Arte, and sustained-type Arte. Ritual and battlefield Artes are pretty self-explanatory so I’ll use sustained-type for my explanation. Some barrier, shield, bulwark, defensive Artes could be injected with Victa continuously.”

“The upside of this is the defensive power will increase significantly. The downside is if the barrier breaks because of overwhelming force or the caster is interrupted, you’ll suffer a backlash. It’s like suddenly having internal wounds, your organs injured and blood vessels ruptured. Depending on the severity of it, you could even directly lose your life.”

“Naturally, the channeling kind is not limited to defensive Arte. There definitely exists Artes for offensive, observation, body strengthening, and other things. But if the user is skilled enough, channeling type Arte could be a great tool instead. Breaking the channeling before the enemy could break it for you significantly reduced the backlash. And that is only one way to mitigate the backlash, there are many others. In short, the user’s skill determines everything.”

“The defensive Arte you all learn, the Water Barrier, Fire Shield, Earth Shield, and the like, are all instantaneous type. After you cast it, the barrier appears on your body, it has time limit and damage threshold. If exceeded, the barrier break but you suffer no backlash. You can simply cast the Arte again. Depending on the user’s skill, the Arte could be stronger and harder than others. Arte has many faces but it’s a tool, and we are the hand that wields that tool.”

“Phew, that was a lot of explanation. Don’t try to dabble channeling type before Mr. Teldo gives you an OK sign. That’s it for today’s class, work hard on your training. Toddle loo~”

After Nakala left, the trainees were in the process of moving to the field for the practical lessons with Teldo. Paina made a conversation with Viers along the way.

“Viers, can you spar with me again today? I think I’m getting the hang of that trick you told me before.”

Viers sometimes spar with Paina and told her some tips and tricks during battle. Of course he reduced his strength to a level 0 with tier 2 talent. The things he told Paina were just a bit of friendly advice.

“I can’t today, I already took a quest from the guild.”

“Oh, okay then. Be careful okay?” Paina wished him well.

“Thanks, I’ll need it.” Viers returned to the dorm and get ready.

The time is right, I have already prepared for the trip. It’s time to go back there.

With a clear goal of killing a level 2 this winter, Viers renewed his desire for power. After grabbing his gear, Viers went out of town. His objective, was a certain cave below a lake.