《Dragon Cross》Chapter 12: The Mask [Part 3]
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Jack was stunned. He asked, “I have obtained the approval of Dark Elves as well?” Raelag nodded his head and explained, “The Dark Elves are actually a mutated version of the Elves. They had been tainted by Dark Magic so they were rejected by their Elven brethren.”
Raelag let out a sigh as he said, “Elves felt as though the Dark Elves were an abomination and even tried to exterminate them, so when the Dark Elves banded together, they had a very strong sense of brotherhood.”
A gleam of light was visible in his eyes, beneath the Mask as he said, “To earn the Dark Elves approval you need to be willing to lay down your life for your comrades, much like you did when you saved the three Squads from certain death.” Jack let out a bitter laugh as he thought to himself, “No wonder that no one was able to obtain the Legacy. Most people that get the approval of the Demons don’t have the character to earn the Dark Elves approval. However, the opposite is also true….”
As Jack mused that to himself, Raelag rose up from his throne and said, “I have now told you about my origins and about the Plane. It is time for your Soul to be baptised and inherit my Legacy.” Jack immediately froze and asked, “Wait, what?” Raelag just repeated his words, “Your Soul needs to be baptised to receive my Legacy. With a Cultivator Soul you will never be able to use my Legacy. So your Soul needs to be baptised to become a Magus Soul.” Hearing this, Jack felt awkward as he asked, “Magus Soul?”
Raelag froze and suddenly slapped his forehead and said, “Of course, I keep forgetting that you have only lived for 15 years….” He then turned around and sat back down again as he started explaining, “Although every Soul is unique, they have their own classifications like Cultivator Soul, Magus Soul, Demon Soul etc.”
He took a breath and continued, “Although, they have no obvious differences, the differences lie in the progress of advancing in power. For example, it is very hard for a person with a Cultivator Soul to train as a Magus or a Demon.” Saying so, he let it sink in to Jack for a second and then continued, “The baptising you need to pass it to change your Soul from a Cultivator Soul to a Magus Soul, so you can train in my Flame Angel Art. It is an Art that belongs to the Magus Path of Cultivating.”
Jack seriously nodded his head understanding what Raelag was saying. He then asked, “Is it completely impossible for example someone with a Cultivator Soul to train in Magus Path of Cultivating or vice versa?” Raelag shook his head as he said, “No it isn’t completely impossible but you would just progress very slowly. You would probably die from old age before you reached a sufficient enough level.”
Jack asked in return, “What are the main differences between Mages and Cultivators?” Raelag’s eyes flashed as he said, “Good question. You see, a Cultivator gathers Qi inside himself and builds his cultivation off of that. He absorbs Qi, tempers the body and so progress happens. However, Mages are different, instead of taking the Mana in they learn to better tap into the Mana in the surroundings. They too gather it and temper their body but they do not build their progress on that.”
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Jack tilted his head in confusion as felt extremely confused. Raelag. Seeing that, decided to simplify it by giving an example. He said, “It can be best explained by bringing the difference between Alchemist Cauldron and Artificers Furnace as examples.”
He took a breath as he started, “An Alchemist creates his own Flame that refines the Pills inside the Cauldron. So technically, the source of fuel is himself. If he runs out of Qi before the refining is done, the refining is failed. Understand?”
Jack slowly nodded his head as he understood this example, “However, and Artificer’s Furnace is powered by Earth Fire, so an Artificer expends less Qi by only controlling the amount of heat that power’s the Furnace instead of creating the fire source himself.” Raelag explained the other part.
Raelag then concluded by saying, “The difference between a Mage and a Cultivator is the same. Cultivator’s are like Alchemist’s as all of their Techniques are powered by the Qi they have themselves. Mages are like Artificers, they use small amounts of Mana or Qi to make use of the outside source of power.”
Having it explained like that Jack showed astonishment on his face as he realized that Mages are practically meant for extended battles. Their Qi or Mana usage is dozens of times smaller than a Cultivators so the longer a battle continues, the higher a Mages chances of winning grow by the second. However, also it was true that Cultivators were stronger in a short fight. This was what made Jack very hesitant, both sides had their good sides but at the same time, they had their downsides.
Suddenly Jack asked, “Can your Art be practised in our Cosmos, there is no Mana here, no?” Raelag just chuckled as he said, “Mana, Qi, Essence, Battle Qi…. All of them are the same form of Energy just by a different name.” Hearing this Jack asked immediately, “They are the same?”
Raelag once again nodded his head and said, “Actually, everything is made up of Primordial Energy but there are different names for this Energy in each Cosmos. This is also why people can actually travel to another Cosmos as a powerhouse and still be a powerhouse there. Otherwise, as long as you exhausted the other person’s Energy, what threat would he be?” Hearing this, Jack gave an awkward smile.
However, now he was a bit confused as he asked, “Didn’t you say that Qi was forbidden in your Cosmos?” Raelag then chuckled as he answered, “Yes I did. The path of Qi Cultivating was and still is forbidden in Ashan Cosmos. Instead people use Mana. You will be able to feel the difference after you accept my Legacy.”
He then shook his head slightly as he sighed, “It is hard to explain the differences but the end goal is the same, just the path taken there is different.” Hearing the final sentence, Jack decided to hold all the questions for now. It is obvious it is hard to explain something like this and it is actually even harder for Jack to understand it.
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It was only thanks to Raelag travelling a lot and studying cultivation as well that he was able to explain the differences as good as he could. Jack however, had no idea of Magic, so it was very hard for him to understand it. It was the same as one person described a certain location to another. The person who had the location explained to will only be able to have a vague understanding of the place but since he hasn’t seen it for himself, he wouldn’t be able to picture it like the person who has.
Seeing that Jack did not ask any more questions, Raelag stood up again and gestured for Jack to follow him. This time, Jack also stood up and followed Raelag into a side room. Inside the dimly lit room was only a giant complicated Formation Circle. Seeing this Jack studied the complicated Formation on the ground with interest. However, to his astonishment, he couldn’t understand much of it as it seemed familiar to Formations used by cultivators but it was completely incomprehensible to him. Raelag chuckled, “Don’t be so impatient. You probably won’t be able to understand anything of the Magic Circle on the ground.”
Hearing Raelags words, Jack’s ears perked up as he asked him, “Magic Circle?” Raelag nodded his head as he said in a serious tone, “This is a Magic Circle. It looks similar to a Formation Diagram but the basic principles it works on are actually completely different from the ones used by Formations.”
After listening to Raelags explanation, Jack glanced at the Magic Circle again as he muttered to himself, “Looks similar but is completely different, huh? So it truly is Baptising through Fire….” Hearing the words “Baptising through Fire” Raelag looked at Jack like he was a monster. He had not mentioned that this was a Baptising Circle, for all Jack knew, it could be a Teleportation Circle. He had also not mentioned anything about it being Fire Based. For Jack to understand this even though he had no prior knowledge of Magic Circles left Raelag completely shocked.
He thought to himself, “What kind of perception is that?!” As his mind reeled, he suddenly heard Jack ask, “Do I just stand at the centre or something?” Luckily, Raelag was wearing the Mask, so Jack could not see Raelags expressions.
Raelag immediately answered him in a cool tone, “Yes, go and stand inside the pentagon area. It is the place made by the lines that connect to the pentagrams corners.” Jack looked at the Magic Circle on the ground and quickly found the pentagon area that Raelag was talking about and stood in the middle of it.
He glanced around and saw nothing else in the room so he looked at Raelag and asked, “Here is good?” Raelag nodded his head and said, “Yes, it is good. You might want to sit down because this is going to hurt a lot. “Hearing that, Jack’s eyes showed panic as he quickly asked, “Hurt a lot?!”
Raelag crouched down and put his hands on the circle that ran through the five points of the pentagram and explained, “I am going to change your Soul on the fundamental level, so yes, it is going to hurt.” Jack felt cold sweat form on his forehead as he thought to himself, “What did I get myself messed up in….”
However, it was already too late for regrets because he himself knew the best that his road as a cultivator was gone now. His dantian had been completely and utterly destroyed so no matter which miracle Pill he consumed, it would not help him. He also could understand that Raelag knew that as well, that was why he had come forth now instead of before.
If he had come out and told him everything before, when he was still a cultivator, he would have rejected this Legacy without a doubt. However, currently he had no other choice if he wanted to one day find his way back home and find out who he exactly was.
After clearing his mind, he took a deep breath, sat down cross legged and closed his eyes. Seeing this, Raelag took a deep breath as well and the circle started lighting up. In a few moments, Jack was completely consumed by the light of the Circle.
***
Inside a little courtyard on the Floating Dragon, a pair of young women were currently chatting. One of them was Sandra and the other seemed that she was not older by a lot, maybe a year or two. Her hair were snow white, her build was slender and her face was also quite beautiful. If she did not have vertical golden eyes like a tiger’s, she would look like any other person actually.
Sandra seemed to respectfully listen to her lecture and when the lecture had ended, the oyugn woman asked, “Did you understand? If you have any questions, ask them now.” Sandra thought about it for a second and then shook her head.
Seeing this, the young woman nodded her head happily and said, “Then, from now on I take you on as my Disciple. Here are the things you need.” As she said that, she passed a Spacial Ring to Sandra. Inside it were her Identity Tile, Cultivation Art, a few pills and an introduction to Weapon Arts.
The young woman then said, “For now, familiarize yourself with the Cultivation Art and also the Encyclopedia of Weapons that work best with the Art. Once you find a suitable Weapon for yourself as well or you encounter some trouble, come and find me.”
Sandra respectfully nodded her head as she said, “Yes, Master!”
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