Most mages were born with an affinity towards earth, air, fire, or water. Though these were considered the basic affinities, they were also extremely reliable. Earth had hundreds of uses. Air allowed one to fly. Fire was a powerhouse of destruction, and water could easily be changed into ice.

However on rare occasions, maybe once every 100 mages, there would be one to awaken with a different affinity. Some were more suited towards necromancy. Others could control electricity or gravity. In Ethan’s case, his specialty was illusions.

Unfortunately, since everyone above rank three could see right through them, and many of those below could find ways around his techniques, the boy’s early days as a mage were anything but easy.

In everyone's eyes, he lacked talent, so nobody was willing to teach him. He was dirt poor, so a lot of his time was spent making a living. On a planet where rank was everything, Ethan had to struggle tooth and nail for even the smallest of progress.

Even so, the boy persevered regardless of the odds. Until rank six, he was an underdog hiding in the shadows while watching others surpass him time and time again. After rank six, his efforts paid off and all those who mocked or dismissed him were thoroughly dealt with.

Even so, every bit of progress was still achieved through painstaking work. Accomplishments which took him dozens of years, more talented mages would do them in one. While his spells were the result of countless hours of magical research, his adversaries’ earth-shattering techniques were often mastered in a day.

‘I thought after reincarnating and starting over, I would finally be something special,’ The boy lamented while watching the giant fire spirit turn the sand he stepped on into glass.

Many people thought spirits were natural occurrences or the work of mages blessed by nature. However, summoning them was no different than raising the dead. Just because a corpse was not used, ripping a soul out of the reincarnation cycle wasn’t any less creepy or messed up.

Seeing Ethan’s reaction to her creation, Stella was obviously pleased.

“So, here’s the deal,” she explained. “If you can beat my summon, the match is yours. I will forfeit right away. In exchange, you have to promise not to attack me directly. After all, I’m a fragile young maiden.”

‘...Fucking prodigies.’ muttered a dispirited Ethan. He was a fool to have thought there’d be less of them after thousands of years had passed. In fact, he’d encountered more monsters in this tiny city than in some of the Kingdoms of his past.

‘Nothing’s ever going to be easy, is it?’ he thought before slapping his cheeks to wake himself up. After shaking his head a couple of times, the youth met Stella’s eyes with newfound determination.

“I accept your offer,” he declared. “But, if you change your mind…” ‘I will rip out your soul and put it in a cockroach.’

“No worries,” Stella answered while walking backwards. “I’m a Lady of my word.”

As soon as she was out of range, the peak rank three flaming monster charged towards Ethan with the force and speed of a hundred horses. While spitting in frustration, the boy took out a scroll and ripped it in half.

A rank two gravity bomb exploded, yet not even the spirit’s outer flames were affected. Instead, it was Ethan who was thrown 50 feet back. The creature resumed its attack, and the boy was forced to rip another scroll blowing himself further.

Similar to shades, spirits didn’t have a physical body. Physical strikes would be useless against them, and spells would just lower their mana. To deal enough damage to take one out, an enormous amount of energy would have to be spent. Ethan would have to endlessly chip away at its flames using more time, effort, and energy than needed for half a dozen mages of the same rank.

‘Either that, or I can take out its soul,’ thought the boy while smashing into a wall. Though the fire spirit was 20 feet away, it extended its hand as if to punch him.

Fortunately, he dodged in time, but the wall and all those sitting in the first three rows were obliterated. As if this was normal, the four rows closest to the arena were cleared in an orderly manner, and everyone crammed into the seats above.

“How many scrolls do you have left?” asked Stella seemingly amazed by the commoner’s stamina.

“More than your corpse has flames,” grinned Ethan while flying into another wall. ‘Normal corpse, mana corpse, they’re all the same. Consciousness spreads its energy within the body creating order and life.’

The spirit jumped into the air, and Ethan was forced to once again run. The burst of wind he summoned sent him flying just before a crater was formed in his wake.

‘So, if I can find this thing’s center, the place where consciousness hides…’

Normally, Ethan would have no way of doing such a thing. Messing with consciousness was the realm of necromancers, of stupidly strong ones at that.

However, just like this world was different from his past, the boy was also no longer the same. He’d gained numerous new abilities, and more importantly, tools.

“Is that a spirit weapon?” asked Stella upon seeing the knife that appeared in Ethan’s hand.

“Sure, blondie. Call it whatever you want.”