As Jack read the introduction on the [Seven Flames Saint] Art, his eyes were shining. His innate constitution was inclined towards Fire, so it was already a good stroke of luck to get an Art like [Flame Angel] Art.

When trained to a higher degree [Flame Angel] Art will give you a body of Fire. It manifests itself in the form of wings on the back but these wings aren’t there for a decorative purpose but to replenish Fire Energy at a faster pace.

When used in cultivation, it would speed up the absorption and conversion rate of the Energy, while in combat, they will help you replenish your Energy faster and also help you convert your Energy into spells better.

The spells will be completed faster and they will exhibit more strength as the Energy is purer. This [Seven Flames Saint] Art however is made on the principle of tempering your body in the [Seven Flames Hell].

The [Seven Flames Hell] is a special Formation custom tailored to the [Seven Flames Saint]. To temper your body according to the Art, this Formation is a must have thing. Without it, training in the [Seven Flames Saint] is multiple times harder. However, to put down this Formation, one needed some rare resources that were not so easily obtained, however for Jack, it was not that hard.

In the Spacial Ring Xia Hao had given him all the materials to lay down a Top Grade Formation were present. Depending on the materials used in setting down this Formation, the grade of the Formation will greatly vary.

For example, if one used low quality materials to lay down this Formation, it will only speed up the cultivation of [Seven Flames Saint] Art by one and half, maybe two times but if someone used high quality materials and manages to put down a Top Grade Formation, then the Formation will speed up the tempering of the body by tenfold.

Also, the body tempered in a Top Grade Formation will more perfect and will have fewer impurities than a body that has been tempered in a Low Grade Formation or without the aid of a Formation.

The Formation was hard to change once set down, so to use the best materials available on the first try was the best choice. However, this Formation was extremely complex and Jack had no way of setting it down himself.

It had nothing to do with talent or affinity but rather it was a problem of not having enough experience in setting down Formations. The Formations Jack had set down before were some simple sound isolation or presence hiding ones. To set down a Formation this profound by himself was currently only a pipe dream.

Besides the obvious benefits from training in the Art, Jack had one other reason picking the [Seven Flames Saint] Art. It was that it might be possible to incorporate the [Seven Flames] into his own and augment his Spells with them.

Although Mages had a large repertoire of spells, at each rank, they can learn one of the spells as an Innate Spell. For Mages, Innate Spells were the Spells mainly used in combat. The maximum number of Innate Spell each rank is three.

Also, Innate Spells are unchangeable, once you choose one as an Innate Spell, it will remain as your Innate Spell to the end of your days. One of the most important things in choosing Innate Spells is affinity with the element and another is kit versatility.

Affinity with an element is obvious as it would be very detrimental to choose [Water Bullet] that belongs to the Water Element when your affinity with the Water Element is very bad. In the pointers Raelag left behind, he mentioned that many Acolytes have cut off their own paths by choosing Spells that weren’t from the element that they had the best affinity with.

He also mentioned that although using the Spells of multiple elements isn’t completely wrong, what matters is whether they complement each other. For example, many Mages that mainly used Wind Element Spells also have one or two Offensive Fire Spells.

Wind complements Fire, so by combining the two spells, they can dish out damage far beyond what it should be.

For the moment, Jack hadn’t chosen any of the three Innate Spells because he currently had no hurry with it as Raelag had already chosen the best three spells for Acolytes. [Magic Bullet], [Armour of Flames] and [Flash Step], these three were the Spells chosen for him by Raelag.

Raelag even explained why he chose which spell. For example, although [Magic Bullet] is a Non-Element Spell that doesn’t need any particular Elemental Affinity, it has low Mana cost and it’s strength is also quite average.

Each of the Innate Spells can evolve to a certain degree depending on when it was chosen as an Innate Spell. That is also why choosing the first three Innate Spells is very important. These three spells will strengthen and evolve as Jack himself progresses on the Path of Magic.

After Jack becomes a Mage, [Magic Bullet] will gain an effect called [Explosion]. When Jack uses it in combat then, it will explode on contact or when Jack chooses to detonate it.

[Armour of Flames] is what the name says, you engulf your body in flames as though it is an armour. It will absorb and disperse a certain portion of the damage dealt to you.

[Flash Step] is a short distance relocation spell. It is useful for running away, repositioning, closing a gap with an enemy or just travelling. Each cast takes a tiny portion of ones Mana, so using it to run away or chase someone is recommended.

After Jack read Raelag’s explanation on why he chose these three Spells, Jack decided to trust Raelag’s judgement because even with a glance one can say that the three spells cover three important aspects of Offense, Defence and Relocation.

For offense, it is [Magic Bullet], for defence it is [Armour of Flames] and for running away or chasing someone there is [Flash Step]. The kit itself was well balanced and brought a lot of versatility in terms of attacking. With the first string of Spells being chosen already, Jack put his focus on choosing a suitable Body Cultivation Art.

Now his only problem was finding someone that could set down this Formation for him so that he can finally get started with his training. To solve this problem, Jack went to see Shu in hopes of him knowing someone that may be able to set down this Formation. After explaining his problem to Shu, Shu fell into thought as he thought of a suitable candidate.

Suddenly Shu opened his eyes wide and said, “Let’s ask John. He should be the most proficient person with Formations in the entire Sect.” Jack nodded his head as he trusted Shu’s choice in this. John was the Forging Halls Ancestor and George’s Master. Every Artificer had to be proficient in Formation in order to forge higher grade Artefacts.

Shu pulled out a Communication Seal from his Spacial Ring and as he poured Qi into it, an image of a robust middle aged man with a bare upper body suddenly appeared. The man turned around and Shu let out a laugh, “John, Lil’Jack needs a favour.”

John exclaimed with raised brows, “Hoo, what ya need? A custom made Artefact?” Jack shook his head and explained the reason he needed John’s help. John’s eyes furrowed as he said seriously, “Without seeing the Formation Diagram I have no confidence in saying I can lay down the Formation as fast as you need.”

He took a breath as he crossed his hands on his chest and continued, “The more complex a Formation is, the harder it is to successfully set down. If I start setting it down without first understanding it completely, it is going to end up as a failure without a doubt.”

He then let out a sigh as he apologized, “Also, from you words I understand that this is quite a complex and profound Formation, so I most likely will not be able to set it down anytime soon. Where did you get such a Formation any ways?” Shu also turned his head to glance at Jack.

It wasn’t that Formations that accompany certain Body Tempering Arts were rare but rather neither John or Shu had even heard of this kind of an Art before. Most certainly Dragon Cross did not have this Art. Jack just gave a bitter smile to the tactful rejection John had given him and told them that it came with all the materials that Xia Hao had given him.

John then asked, “Why not ask Xia Hao set it down? His knowledge in Formation is miles ahead of me? Also if I am not mistaken, then this Art itself is something that he himself cultivates as well.” Jack was startled as he thought to himself, “That old man….”

However, Jack found another problem, “How am I supposed to get in contact with him? I mean, he said that he will watch over me from the shadows and I haven’t seen him once after that day.” As Jack pointed this out, Shu also thought about this problem.

They can’t just run around yelling “Xia Hao! Xia Hao! I need your help!” With having no way to contact him, they could only leave it up to luck. Since John had no way of helping the two any more, he returned to his own duties while Shu also apologized about not being more helpful.

Jack didn’t hold it against either of them because it was a fact that this Formation was complex and profound. Also, since they had no way of initiating contact with Xia Hao from their side, Jack could just fumble around on his own with this. Luckily he had mountains of lower grade materials, so he can study the Formation on his own while cultivating his Mage Path.

Since the seven elements of the [Seven Element Saint] were the same with the elements used at the Ashan Cosmos, it was beneficial either way. The Elements were: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Light and Darkness.

There were two types of Magic Circles used in Ashan Magic: Five Element Magic Circles and Seven Element Magic Circles. The Five Element Magic Circles were simplified and easier to use but you could only use up to Medium Grade Spells with it.

To use High Grade Spells and Top Grade Spells, you needed to comprehend the Seven Element Magic Circle and also be capable of drawing it. Usually, Acolytes start learning on how to use the Five Element Magic Circle and then work their way to the Seven Element Magic Circle as they gain knowledge and experiences but Raelag had forbidden him from relying on the Five Element Magic Circle.

Raelag had explained that it was easier to comprehend the Seven Element Magic Circle without learning how to use the Five Element Magic Circle. Since the Five Element Magic Circle is the simplified version, it is technically an incomplete Magic Circle and if you learn to use the Five Element Magic Circle first, then you will have a harder time turning it into the Seven Element Magic Circle because their build up is completely different.

So since you got to learn from the beginning again, why waste time on learning something that you will discard soon? Jack just let out a deep sigh as read Raelag’s explanation. It was obvious that just because he wasn’t here personally, he wasn’t going to lower the bar for Jack and Jack wasn’t angry about it either.

What he hated the most was wasting time on things that had very little benefit. So heeding Raelag’s advice, he started observing the various Magic Circle Diagrams of the Seven Elements.