Chapter 143: 143 Mediocrity is the Final Enemy of Prosperity

Kino landed on the ground and the semi-transparent wings behind her disappeared. Her green eyes were fixed on Eren before she spoke.

“Hm. I don’t mind telling you how to use your Hex gear, Eren. But you should know what Hex magic is before you use your armor.”

Kino said and started walking in circles around Eren. She pondered for a bit before continuing.

“I know you have something extraordinary about you. A transcendent-grade treasure? Or something even more profound? I’m not sure.”

As Eren heard Kino’s words, he had a tense expression on his face. He was about to say something in clarification when the caretaker of the testing ground spoke up suddenly.

“Don’t worry. I won’t try to probe you for your secrets. Everyone has secrets they want to keep to themselves. What I wanted to say was that you could be an ideal candidate for being a Hex user due to your peculiarity.”

When Eren listened carefully to Kino’s words, he understood that she was considering his spell spamming abilities as something that could be useful when casting the Hex magic. As a result, he was intrigued by the Hex magic even more than before.

Kino saw Eren’s curiosity in his eyes and chuckled before speaking further.

​ “There’s a core difference between working with normal magic and Hex. Normal magic depends too much on using mana circuits. The rules and restrictions of using normal magic are set and predefined. And the most you can do to the standard spell is get familiarized enough with it so that you can tweak its output.

But is using normal magic all that fun? Especially when you can use a different branch of magic that is so liberating?”

Eren had to agree with Kino that the spells he had learned so far were too rigid in their execution. Even a minor difference in activating the mana circuits or changing the flow of the mana would result in spell deformity or spell backlash.

Thus, Eren needed to invest time in practicing spells when he had managed to obtain them. Before casting them in battle, he had to get acquainted with the pneumonics and algorithms recorded in the spell.

Eren was intrigued by Kino’s words because they indicated that there was a way to cut down on the trial time. This would make casting his spells a more liberating experience for him. As a result, he had to ask her about the same.

“Do you mean to say that Hex magic doesn’t require the Hexers to learn the mnemonics of their spells?”

Kino shook her head and laughed before answering Eren’s query.

“Nothing worth having comes easy in any world, silly. The Hexes are more liberating because they build up your foundation to cast spells as a high-ranked entity. As a result, you need to solve the problems faced by the higher ranked entities themselves.”

Eren shrugged his shoulders before coming clean.

“I don’t know the difficulties faced by the higher-ranked entities. So why should I care now? Let me first get to know them. Only then can I tell you if Hex magic is for me or not.”

Kino smirked when she heard Eren’s answer. However, she also found that it was reasonable. So she continued.

“Alright. I’ll try to explain it in simple terms, Eren. so be sure to listen carefully.

Normal magic doesn’t require you to imbue your will into spells. To grant your spells the intended effect, it uses the restrictions and rules of mana and the world’s will. It’s like filling out an application form.

You don’t have to defy or erase the World’s Will, which is integrated into world laws. You don’t have to change anything about the mana you use. You don’t have to expend your will to cast magic.

When one considers that one doesn’t have to imbue the spells with their will, normal spells are still easy to learn and use. Normal magic is for everybody.

However, mediocrity is the final enemy of prosperity.

You won’t make much progress through the ranking journey if you stick to mediocrity. If you truly want to prosper as a ranker, if you truly want to stay liberated no matter which world you are in, Hex magic is one of the sought-after answers you should look for.”

Kino said and raised her palm in front of her. In the next moment, a flame appeared on her palm. The flame stretched to 30 meters in height as soon as it appeared before it shrunk down to only an inch. During this period, Eren did not notice any mana fluctuations that could tell him that Kino had tried to control the spell.

The flame appeared to have a will of its own that made it stretch for 30 meters before becoming as tiny as the flame found in the lamps.

“This is a Hex spell in its most simple form. As you can see and feel, I didn’t need to modify the spell externally to tweak its appearance, operation, or area of effect.

Hex spells do not use mana sense externally. Do you understand what it means?”

Kino asked while looking at Eren with an intriguing expression. The latter scratched his chin and pondered for a while before coming up with a response.

“So the Hex spells rely on a ranker’s will, or something else, to cast them. In doing so, we can operate on the spells more freely.

The ability to imbue your will into the spell– is the key to using Hex spells. And that’s what sets it apart from normal magic.”

Kino nodded her head immediately and smiled at Eren before adding up.

“Good. You are a quick learner. That makes things a bit easier for me.”

After dispersing the flame on her palm, she added up.

“A successful Hexer doesn’t have to follow the rules set by the world’s will. They can override the World’s Will that is integrated into the very core of the world to make the most of their spells.

Thus, we can say that the Hexes cast by Hexers become more Hex-like when the caster can exert their will onto the mana efficiently.”

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