Book 1: Chapter 10

Baccaus applied a stern, contemplative look and stroked his goatee with his right hand.

“Yes. They would absolutely do that. And much more! Whatever you can think of they will do! So you must never tell anyone. Also, don’t let anyone know about your saint attributes. Meaning don’t use your saint magic unless it is absolutely necessary.”

“But how am I supposed to become strong without using magic?” Cyil was confused.

“That’s easy! You will secretly train as a mage but openly be a warrior!” Baccaus continued to goad the little boy so that he would willingly accept the demonic physical training he was about to enforce.

“A warrior! Like my dad! I want to be the strongest warrior! Will you teach me how, Grandpa?” Cyil immediately agreed.

“This boy is very gullible,” Baccaus laughed and thought to himself.

“Ahem but warrior training is so difficult. Much more difficult than the mage meditation you just experienced. You might even get hurt and be in a lot of pain. Do you still want to become a warrior, despite all this?”

“Yes! I am not afraid of pain. I once scraped my knees falling down a steep hill but I only cried a little. Then mom kissed my injuries and I was all fine!”

Baccaus almost felt bad for the boy as he would be put through pain far more traumatic than scraped knees, but Baccaus gritted his teeth and pushed on. This is for the boy’s own good, Baccaus thought, consoling himself.

“Alright then! I’ll dual train you as a mage and a warrior at once! And don’t worry about not being able to use magic at all in front of people. I know you youngsters are hot-bloodied and might start fights so I have a way for you to use magic. As for how, it’ll be a secret until you reach rank 2 mage and rank 4 warrior!”

“I agree Grandpa! I just want to become strong so I can protect everyone!” Cyil smiled and thought his grandpa was the best person in the world.

“Sorry Cyil. Be strong,” Baccuas said to himself.

“Okay, I will make you the strongest warrior this continent has ever seen! Follow me Cyil, for you’ve surely missed the sun and I have stayed in this cave for too long! Let’s have a change of scenery!”

Nodding in affirmation Cyil followed Baccaus as they both stood up off the dirty ground and began walking into the darkness.

They travelled upwards, following the long narrow tunnels. Baccaus was leading while Cyil tailed behind. Cyil estimated the tunnelled twisted half a mile deep into the ground.

After 10 minutes of climbing they reached the mouth of the cave. Piercing the quiet darkness was sunlight, sounds of birds chirping and wind swishing by. As Cyil squinted and as his eyes readjusted, he could see a sea of trees beneath him. Looking down, he found that the cave entrance was on a ledge on the side of a mountain!

A strong gust of wind, courtesy of Baccaus, suddenly slammed pass the ledge and threatened to carry Cyil away with it.

“Ahhh,” Cyil yelled and quickly dodged back to the safety of the cave as Baccaus burst out laughing.

Seeing the laughing Baccaus, Cyil immediately thought back to what Baccaus’ first element was and he instantly connected the dots. “Grandpa that was mean! What if I was really blown off?”

Baccaus, still laughing, answered, “I would naturally have saved you. I didn’t work this hard to bring you back from death to have you die from falling down half a cliff.”

“Come,” Baccaus gestured to the timid Cyil who reluctantly approached him. As soon as Cyil was in range Baccaus grabbed him with his right arm and dragged him off the cliff with him.

“Let us fly,” Baccaus said cooly to the surprisingly calm Cyil, who seemed to have complete trust in his grandpa.

The two plummeted towards the trees below at an astonishing rate and just as they were about to collide with the treetops a gentle breeze lifted them up and carried them forward.

Feeling the force lift them, Cyil gawked. “Amazing, so this is magic?” He thought to himself silently and took in the feeling of flying and the various scenes.

They two flew over the treetops with the occasional bird accompanying them from afar. They were flying forward at a moderate speed of 30 miles per hour and soon left behind the small mountain range where they had stayed for close to three years.

Baccaus began to instruct Cyil on various aspects of spells and magic as they flew.

“This is the Fly spell. It is a rank 5 level 5 spell. The fundamentals behind this spell is to use wind elemental particles to make your body lighter and to push against gravity to keep you from falling.

This concept sounds simple but it requires fine control, otherwise you would just be floating in the air not going anywhere. But worst than that is when you haphazardly use up your elemental energy faster than you can take in. Then you could very well fall to your death. That would put us Wind mages on a pedestal for all others to laugh at.

Because the Fly spell is not only difficult to execute, but also requires a large pool of spiritual energy to support it, this spell is classified as a rank 5 level 5 spell. The truth behind these classifications is to make sure young mages don’t get ahead of themselves and try something out of their league because it is entirely possible to use the Fly spell as a rank 3 mage. It’s just that the effect of the spell will be too weak and the overconsumption of spiritual energy can cause a backlash. There is also the technical skills you would have to learn that a rank 3 mage should not be able to fathom.

Of course, there are freaks who have the knowledge and skills to use spells above their ranking and levels, but those are geniuses that are seen only once in a few decade. Either way, they will not likely use spells above their ranking and will mostly focus on meditation- trying to rank up.”

“Grandpa, are you one of those geniuses?” Cyil asked with a candid tone.

“Ahem ahem, well, of course I am!” Baccaus said aloud and proudly straightened his crooked back.

“I knew it! Grandpa is the best!” Cyil praised Baccaus, unbeknownst to the fact that Baccaus only mastered the fly spell as a rank 6 level 3 mage and that he was one of those Wind mages who almost fell to his death.

“Moving on,” Baccaus continued after basking in praises from Cyil for a while. “Every mage has innate spells that they automatically learn when they reach rank 0 level 1. This is a one time thing and the spell you receive can be influenced by the grade of your elemental body but it’s mostly by luck. You’ll know what spell you receive and its effects instantly.

These innate spells are special because they cost the least to spiritual energy to cast and most importantly, they can improve with you! Everytime your rank increases your innate spell will also raise in power! This is why the innate spells is the third most desired thing for a mage.”

“What are the other two things mages desire most?” Cyil scratched his head trying to think of an answer. But the only two things he came up with was first, love and second, meat!