《The Arcane Healer》


 First Battle

    Baron Werston was a fairly unremarkable man. He was neither a great mage nor a great politician. Perhaps the only times he caused others to pay attention to him was when he married his wife and when his son¡¯s talent affinity grade was revealed. Although he was busy training all day and overseeing the occasional battles across the fiefdom, he still made sure to take some time out of his busy schedule for his son.


    As his only son, Baron Werston made sure to spoil and pamper his son¡­although a bit too much. A few people did share their concerns to him, as too much pampering might turn his son into a useless who only knew how to bully the weak. Fortunately, such a situation never came to be. Silver Werston had grown with virtues of kindness and morals instilled in him. He never treated wrong those below him and was nice to everybody! How could anyone not like such a lovable boy? Especially when the said boy in question was also House Werston¡¯s greatest source of pride!


    Silver Werston had his arcane talent inspected at age 8, as this was the age where young started to develop and show their affinity with the arcane. Baron Werston specially invited a specialised mage for this process. Such a service was generally only affordable for those with status and money like nobles. Commoners had to wait till they reached 12 years of age before they could go to the Mage Academy and have their talent inspected. When Silver was revealed to have a talent grade A affinity for the Arcane, the entire family was exuberant! Such a talent grade was rare throughout the kingdom. Even if Silver lazed around and barely did any training, he was destined to become a great mage in the future. Maybe the heydays of the House Werston had finally come after its many generations of fading into the background!


    Although the proper training for a mage only starts when they reach the age 12 when they are able to choose their Paths, Baron Werston believed that every little training was a way to get ahead of the competition. He took it upon himself to start Silver¡¯s mage training. He bought many different books on the basics of Arcane Training for Silver to get started.


    And Silver proved to be an excellent learner! Silver was extremely passionate about his training and was just as curious about the arcane as every mage should be, which was a huge relief for the Baron as he had no idea what he would do if his son suddenly told him one day that he didn¡¯t want to become a mage. After studying day and night, in just three months Silver managed to get a rudimentary perception of the arcanite particles inside him. After another three months, he was able to closely feel the movement of the particles inside his spirit. It took Silver a year to finally gain some control of the arcanite particles inside him.


    Arthur Werston smiled with pride as he watched his son training in the distance. Silver stood in the empty field with his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. His arms were raised up high in the sky and his palms were folded, as if he was holding a ball between them. Arthur had repeatedly reminded him that there was no need for such theatrics, but Silver had still retained this habit, saying that it felt ¡®cool¡¯ to do so. Arthur could only sigh and shake his head. ¡°Kids these days¡­¡±


    Silver abruptly opened his eyes and brought his arms down and his palms in front of his chest. Nothing happened. Another useless gesture. He only needed to hold out his palm and focus on drawing out the arcanite particles inside his spirit and gather them in the space above his palm. Such useless and time-taking theatrics might end up costing his life in a battle! But since he was still learning and yet to participate in a battle, Arthur let him be as he would sooner or later realize this lesson.


    Silver kept repeating this gesture. Closing his eyes and raising his arms high up in the sky. Opening his eyes and rapidly bringing his arms down in front of his chest. Nothing seemed to be happening, even as sweat started pouring down Silver¡¯s face. But Arthur¡¯s keen perception picked up the gathering arcanite particles in Silver¡¯s palms every time he brought them in front of his chest. Although they were still too far spread apart to be able to produce any reaction and quickly returned to their positions when Silver released his force on them, they seemed to be getting increasingly closer to each other with each attempt.


    At the eleventh attempt, a change happened. As Silver brought his palms in front of his chest, a small spark lit up in the air. Although it dissipated immediately after, it still brought a wide smile on the face of Arthur. He heartily guffawed and clapped his hands.


    ¡°At just the eleventh attempt! You¡¯re getting better and better. It won¡¯t be long before you can finally-¡±


    Arthur stopped mid-sentence and watched with wide eyes as Silver didn¡¯t seem to be intending on stopping. He started his next attempt! Usually after Silver managed to create a reaction between the arcanite particles, he immediately dropped down on the ground, filled with exhaustion. After all, repeatedly drawing out the arcane particles from your spirit was a very exhausting process! But this time he seemed to be intending to continue with the training. Although Arthur was a bit concerned, he didn¡¯t stop Silver as he could see that he still had the energy to continue on.


    Just like that, two more hours passed. Silver had already created a small spark three more times but he didn¡¯t seem intent on stopping. Just when Arthur felt like this was enough and was about to stop Silver, a new change occurred. A spark appeared between Silver¡¯s palms. But it was different from its other three previous versions. It was much bigger and still seemed to be getting stronger and stronger as Silver applied more pressure on it.


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    Slowly, a transformation took place. The spark of fire in Silver¡¯s hands morphed into a brilliant fireball! Arthur was shocked and looked closely to confirm whether he saw right. Silver¡¯s shoulders shook, giddy with excitement. He turned towards Arthur, and cried out, ¡°Father, look I did it!¡±


    As soon as he said this, the fireball in his palms flickered out. Silver¡¯s smile dropped. Arthur looked at his cute reaction and laughed boisterously. He walked over to Silver and picked him up, putting him on his shoulder. ¡°Yes, my son is the smartest and most talented mage ever!¡± Silver giggled along with Arthur.


    Arthur grinned. After months of boring and repetitive training, he decided that Silver was finally competent and ready to experience his first battle.


    ***


    Two weeks later when Arthur accompanied Silver to his training ground, a few additional people were present. His wife, Sylvia Terran-Werston, was standing beside him. In contrast to Arthur, who looked like a muscle-headed brute, she was a woman whose entire presence demanded attention. With beautiful long-flowing platinum blonde hair and dazzling forest green eyes, she was a person who would attract second glances from everyone. Back then there had been quite a long list of suitors aiming to marry her, but as fate would¡¯ve willed it, she fell in love with Arthur, even though his name probably came at the bottom of that list.


    Sylvia looked at Silver, holding her hand beside her. She had concern etched on her face as she asked Arthur, ¡°Will it be fine?¡±


    Arthur had a relaxed expression as he waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯ll be absolutely safe. I¡¯m not going to let him get close to it, just aim a fireball from a distance.¡±


    She looked at Silver, who was holding her hand, with concern etched on her face. ¡°Will he be fine?¡±


    Arthur waved his hand. ¡°It¡¯ll be absolutely safe. I¡¯m not going to let him use a weapon, just aim a fireball from a distance.¡±


    Silver looked at them with na?ve innocence and confusion. ¡°Father, Mother, what are you two talking about?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon, honey.¡± Sylvia said as she smiled at him lovingly. Arthur looked at the mother and son and sighed. Silver had inherited almost all of his features from Sylvia. Most people considered that to be good news, much to Arthur¡¯s dismay. Even Silver¡¯s name was so similar to Sylvia, Sylvia-Silver. Although Sylvia argued that the main reason for the name was that Silver¡¯s hair appearing almost silver in color, Arthur still felt grumpy about it. All of these reasons made most people forget about Arthur when the mother and son were together, making him almost look like an outsider. Alas, he could do nothing about it.


    Soon the trio saw two guards standing in the distance with a big cage sitting between them. Arthur nodded at them as they greeted the three of them. Arthur looked at the big cage in front, his eyes gleaming.


    ¡°Now Silver, we are going to commence with your first battle. You shall take your first blood.¡± Arthur framed his words such a way that they would excite any normal boy of Silver¡¯s age. They didn¡¯t seem to have the desired effect on Silver as he instead frowned at Arthur. ¡°What are you talking about, Father?¡±


    Arthur awkwardly coughed and gestured at the guards to open the cage. The two guards nodded and went towards the cage. After opening the cage, they immediately backed away a good distance away from it as if something fearsome was inside. After a few seconds, a creature slowly slithered out of the cage.


    It looked like a creature that had stepped out straight out of a child¡¯s nightmare. It was a long worm, reaching as tall as Silver. Although that wasn¡¯t too big for Arthur, it would be another thing for Silver. The worm¡¯s entire skin was coated with a slimy liquid, which it secreted on the ground as it crawled forward. As it came in contact with the new environment, it looked around in confused at first. But then it spotted the family of three in the front. It opened the small opening on its face, which was probably its mouth, and revealed a horrifying sight. Numerous sharp and terrifying teeth were embedded haphazardly between the flesh of its mouth. It gazed threateningly at them, as if challenging them.


    Arthur inwardly gloated praised himself for his brilliant mind. This worm was named Ropos, one of the most common Dungeon Arcanite beasts. He knew that with Silver¡¯s personality, he would certainly be unwilling to hurt anybody or anything. Thus, Arthur ordered his guards to capture this Ropos. Although a Ropos was an arcanite beast, it was still extremely weak and could be defeated by a small squad of mortal soldiers.


    But its weakness was just one of the factors for Arthur to choose this beast as Silver¡¯s first battle opponent. The main factor that made Arthur choose this beast was that it was too ugly! It was disgusting, gross, and slimy! Arthur was sure that Silver would have no qualms about hurting and killing such a disgusting looking beast. Arthur would thus be able achieve two goals through this training exercise: One, Silver would be able to obtain his first blood which would forge his future Path as a Battle Mage. Two, by defeating such a dreadful looking creature, Silver would learn to overcome his fears.


    Sure enough, as soon as the Ropos opened it mouth, Silver gasped. Arthur put his hand on Silver¡¯s shoulder and spoke in a righteous tone. ¡°Son, defeat this evil abomination. Throw a fireball at it and vanquish it!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s also okay if you don¡¯t want to do this, Silver. Just let us know and we¡¯ll try this some other day.¡± Sylvia gently told Silver and touch his other shoulder. Though Arthur wanted to be firmer about this matter and force Silver to kill the creature even if he was afraid of it, Sylvia was too obstinate about this, thus Arthur had no choice but to concede.


    Silence. There was no response. Arthur and Sylvia looked over and saw that Silver kept staring at the Ropos with a gaping expression, with his eyes widened and moth open. Arthur frowned in worry. Did the beast scare Silver so much that he instantly went into a shock?


    However, the situation went entirely opposite of Arthur¡¯s expectations as Silver opened his mouth.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­SO BEAUTIFUL!¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    Silver ran towards the disgusting monstrosity, eyes gleaming with brilliance.

 Killing

    Silver looked at the long worm in front of him and his eyes widened. It looked absolutely beautiful! He had never seen such a beautiful creature in his life ever before! Was this a pet Father and Mother had bought for him? If so, he loved it!


    Before Silver could even finish marvelling at the masterpiece of creation, an even magnificent sight presented to him. The worm opened its mouth and revealed its teeth. Huge, sharp and shiny! The worm even made a threatening posture towards them, as if challenging them. Cute! Silver¡¯s heart melted. The poor creature must be scared of them, that¡¯s why it was acting like that! Yes, that must be it! Silver ran towards the scared worm to comfort it.


    As Arthur saw Silver running towards the Ropos like it was a giant piece of candy, he began questioning his sanity. What is happening? How did this demonstration end up having the exact opposite effect of the one he intended? Also, why was he running towards the Ropos?! It was a Ropos, a freaking Arcane beast! No matter how weak it was, it still had enough strength to bite off the head of a human child!


    Arthur and Sylvia ran after Silver to stop him. Arthur caught Silver by collar of his shirt and picked him up. ¡°What in world are you doing?!¡± He asked sternly.


    Silver looked confused upon Arthur scolding him. ¡°Father, I was just trying to comfort the poor wormie. See, it looks so scared!¡±


    Poor Wormie?! Arthur glanced at the Ropos which still poised in a threatening posture, its mouth baring its big deadly fangs. Blasphemous! If the Ropos knew what it was being referred to as, it might just kill itself out of anger.


    ¡°That is an Arcane Beast, Silver, not some normal animal. Haven¡¯t you read about Arcane Beasts in your studies? You should know how deadly they are!¡± Sylvia explained to Silver, who was still suspended in the air by Arthur¡¯s hand.


    Silver clapped his hands on his cheeks and exclaimed in realization, ¡°An Arcane Beast! So that¡¯s why it looks so beautiful! A mortal beast can never look as beautiful as this!¡±


    Beautiful?! Both Arthur and Sylvia were speechless. Arthur again took a look at the Ropos, wanting to see which part of the Ropos looked beautiful to his son. But when he glanced at it, he realized it was nowhere to be found!


    ¡°Lord, be careful!¡± One of the guards warned, pointing at the Ropos crawling towards them at quick speed.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s coming to greet us!¡±


    Arthur ignored Silver¡¯s comment as he formed a big fireball in his right hand, much larger than the one Silver had formed, and threw it at the beast. The fireball quickly incinerated the Ropos. It could only struggle for a few seconds before it was swallowed by the fire and all that was left was black ash.


    ¡°Ha! Not on my watch you sneaky beast!¡±


    Silence¡­


    Arthur soon realized that perhaps he should¡¯ve been a bit more considerate as a deafening silence spread across the field. Arthur turned his head to see Sylvia glaring at him and Silver staring at the black ash in a daze, the only memento left behind by the Ropos.


    A few seconds later a bawling Silver was being comforted by Sylvia. Arthur began massaging his head to calm down his rising headache. Why had this gone all wrong¡­


    ***


    Arthur was not willing to give up just yet. A week later, he brought Silver to hunt another Arcane Beast. Why an Arcane Beast again? This was because hunting Arcane Beasts was a very lucrative business! Almost every Battle Mage regularly participated in hunts of Arcane Beasts. Their various body parts can be sold at high rated and some rare parts can even be sold at astronomical prices. These hunting activities also helped cutting down their numbers, preventing them from going after weak mortals.


    Thus, it was quiet customary for Battle Mages to form hunting parties regularly. This helped them earn money and also improved their battle experience by experiencing near death battles. After all, when there is no war going on, Battle Mages rarely get any opportunities to experience battles and improve themselves. By challenging ferocious Arcane Beasts, they can keep improving themselves.


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    This time Arthur gave explicit instructions to Silver, explaining him what he had to do in advance. It wouldn¡¯t do if he ran over to hug the beast again. Similar to last time, two guards were waiting for them at the training grounds. This time the cage was relatively smaller. The guards opened the cage and quickly backed away. A cute furry creature walked out.


    The beast Arthur had chosen this time was a Vareol. A Vareol was a rather deceiving Arcane Beast. In appearance, it was a small and cute furry animal, not capable of doing the slightest harm. However, you should never judge a vareol by its appearance! This was the mistake usually made by most mortals and ignorant mages before it ended up costing them their lives.


    A Vareol was not as strong as a Ropos. However, using its deceiving appearance, it was able to more easily catch prey than a ropos. The reason Arthur chose to have a Vareol captured was because he suspected that Silver had a weird liking for ugly looking beasts. Thus, he wanted to try a different tactic this time. The vareol¡¯s appearance was a sharp contrast to that of the ropos. While the ropos had looked like it had walked straight out of a horror story, the vareol had a cute and harmless appearance. Relief washed over Arthur when he saw that Silver¡¯s face crumbled up upon seeing the Vareol.


    ¡°So ugly,¡± he muttered.


    Arthur¡¯s lips twitched. Why had he never known his son had such a quirk? Anyways, at least he found the beast ugly. ¡°Son, vanquish this vicious evil ugly beast before it goes about hurting weak mortals!¡±


    ¡°Weak mortals?¡± Silver frowned in contemplation. He didn¡¯t want this ugly beast to hurt weak mortals¡­He hesitantly formed a fireball, aiming at the Vareol, as instructed by Arthur beforehand.


    The Vareol which was watching its surrounding with caution instantly became alert upon seeing the fireball. It was much smarter than a Ropos, which would just idiotically charge headfirst at the prey. This prey looked very dangerous and not like someone it could defeat. It decided to flee!


    Silver threw the fireball at the Vareol, though he may or may not have intentionally aimed it a bit away from it. With the Vareol running away, the fireball completely missed the mark. The Vareol immediately skirted away. The guards wanted to stop it, but stopped when they realized that instead of them capturing it, it might end up as them getting heavily wounded. The Vareol was certainly capable of that. Although it was weak, at the end of the day, it was still a fully-fledged Arcane Beast.


    Arthur was stunned for a second before he came back to himself. He immediately ran after the Vareol to catch it himself. However, he felt a hand pulling his clothes. He looked back to see Silver shaking his head at him. ¡°Father, just let it go¡­¡±


    Arthur frowned a bit but he still acted gently. He bent down and touched Silver¡¯s head. ¡°Silver, don¡¯t you understand? That¡¯s an Arcane Beast. If you don¡¯t kill it right now, it will kill and prey on innocent mortals in the future.¡±


    Upon understanding this, Silver¡¯s face flustered a bit in embarrassment. ¡°I know that, Father¡­but I just can¡¯t bring myself to kill it.¡±


    Seeing Silver¡¯s embarrassed face, Arthur¡¯s heart softened. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t force yourself. I¡¯ll do it myself.¡± Silver looked visibly relieved after hearing that.


    Arthur got up and silently chanted a spell. Since the Vareol had already run so far away from them due to their distraction, a basic fireball won¡¯t be able to reach it. He needed to cast a spell for this. A huge fireball formed in Arthur¡¯s hands, much bigger than ever before. It was a lot larger than the one used to kill the Ropos. Silver got excited upon seeing this. He rarely witnessed his Father using spells, since they were too dangerous and energy-consuming.


    Arthur threw the fireball at the fleeing Vareol. As the creature felt the intense danger coming from behind, it tried to run even faster. However, it could not outrun the fireball. The creature didn¡¯t even get a chance to resist before it was burned to death.


    Silver felt a bit morose after seeing this, but not too much. He knew that the Arcane Beast would later hurt innocent mortals if left free to its devices. Also, the creature looked really ugly, so he didn¡¯t feel much remorse over its death. It was just that for some reason, he didn¡¯t want to be the one who killed it.


    Arthur smiled at Silver, letting him know that it was okay to feel so.


    ***


    At night, Arthur and Sylvia¡¯s bedroom.


    Arthur sighed as he laid down on the bed. ¡°He didn¡¯t want to kill the beast. It must be because of his kind-heartedness. The question is whether this is just the naiveness of childhood or would he forever be averse to killing?¡±


    Sylvia sat down beside him. ¡°You and me both know that it doesn¡¯t matter, Arthur. Our son is just not made for killing. We just have to accept this fact. Even though I too would like for Silver to become a Battle Mage just like us, we can¡¯t force Silver into this direction if he¡¯s not meant for it.¡±


    Arthur nodded his head in understanding. ¡°I know, I have also realized this. The look he gave me told me all what I needed to know. I just wanted for him to be strong enough to protect himself if he¡¯s ever placed in a dangerous situation. With his talent, he will surely attain great accomplishments.¡±


    Sylvia smiled gently and took his hand in her own. ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much, Arthur. If Silver chooses a path other than that of a Battle Mage, he won¡¯t even have to put himself in a dangerous situation. There are a lot of other important Paths such as an Enchanter or an Artificer. If he takes such a path, he¡¯ll be a lot richer than us. If he makes great accomplishments, he¡¯ll also be respected just as much a Battle Mage, if not more. If by chance he does end up getting caught up in a dangerous situation, I¡¯m sure there will be Battle Mages to protect him.¡±


    Arthur chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m just thinking too much. I just need to get into terms with the fact that my son will not become a Battle Mage just like me.¡±

 Book of Paths

    Sunlight filtered into the study through the large window. Big bookshelves containing a variety of books filled the study. Silver sat alone at a large table, engrossed in reading a thick book. This Study was the equivalent of Silver¡¯s personal library, as neither Arthur nor Sylvia was interested in reading books. Arthur did, however, stack up a lot of books in the study after realizing that Silver liked reading books.


    So focused into reading, Silver didn¡¯t notice when Arthur quietly stepped into the study. He was jolted up by the sound of knocking. He looked up to see Arthur standing by door, holding a large book in his hand. He hastily got up to greet him. ¡°Father.¡±


    Arthur waved his hand. ¡°Sit down, sit down.¡±


    Silver obediently did so. He was a bit nervous and guilty to face his father ever since that day at training. He felt like he had let him down. Arthur also must have realized that as he kept reassuring him that nothing was wrong. Still, Silver couldn¡¯t get over the incident.


    Arthur walked over to him and placed the book in his hands onto the table. Silver noticed the big title on the book.


    ¡®BOOK OF PATHS¡¯


    Arthur sat in the chair beside him.


    ¡°When I was a kid just as old as you, my father gave me this book. I don¡¯t know from where he got this, but it is quite detailed. At that time, however, I had already fixed my mind to become a Battle Mage, so I didn¡¯t pay it attention to it as it wasn¡¯t of much use to me. It might be a different matter to you. Try reading this, and then see what Path attracts you the most.¡±


    Silver looked at the book curiously. Arthur ruffled his hair. ¡°Just remember that Father and Mother will support you no matter what Path you choose.¡±


    Silver hesitated for a second before nodding. Arthur smiled and left the room, leaving Silver alone to ponder over the book. Silver picked up the book and opened it, filled with curiosity.


    BOOK OF PATHS


    A comprehensive study of all the known Paths across the continent of Valdour.


    By Delvin Ragor


    ¡°Delvin Ragor? Never heard the name.¡± However, Valdour was a huge place. Even though Silver had read many books, he couldn¡¯t say that he knew the names of all the scholars, so he ignored it and moved forward.


    Silver quickly became absorbed in reading the book. The index page of the book introduced all types of Mage Paths, the names of some of which Silver had never even heard of before. The most common path chosen by most of the mages- Battle Mage was introduced at the beginning.


    The Path of a Battle Mage was not a specific Path per se. It was a Path that eventually divided into numerous Sub-Paths. For example, Silver was aware that his father was a Fire-type Battle Mage. He was most adept in using fire type spells. Though he could use the basic spells of other fields, he would never be able to become as proficient in them as a genuine mage of that particular Path. Also, he would have to expend a disproportionate amount of energy into learning those spells, compared to fire spells.


    Though Elemental-type Battle Mages were the most common, there were a lot of Battle Mages who ended up following other Sub-Paths too. Transformation-type, illusion-type, weapon-type and strength-type were just a few of such examples.


    Beside the section of each Sub-Path of Battle Mage, a complex rune was illustrated. Silver was only somewhat aware about the function of these runes. Each Path had a rune representing it. These runes were known as Leone Symbols. A Leone Symbol was essential to a Path. Without a Leone Symbol, the Path couldn¡¯t exist and no one would be able to follow it. This was because a Leone Symbol was necessary for the process through which a Mage attains a path. Silver, however, was completely oblivious as to how that process went about.


    Silver read some paragraphs from the sub-section of Fire-type Battle Mage, which was at the very beginning of the Battle Mage Path section.


    ¡°The Leone Symbol for the Sub-Path of Fire-type Battle Mage was one of the first known Leone Symbols across the continents of Arcane. It was a gift by the Arcane Ancestor, along with the Leone Symbols of the other five primary Elemental-type Sub-Paths, on his first journey to the continents of Arcane. These six Leone Symbols then formed the basis for the innovation of the symbols of other Elemental-type Sub-Paths, such as Lightning which was first known to be innovated by¡­


    ¡°Though many philosophers like to believe that it was the Arcane Ancestor who was the creator of the system of Leone Symbols and thus the originator of Paths, there are some theories which suggest that these symbols might not have been actually created by the Arcane Ancestor as the name ¡®Leone¡¯ doesn¡¯t belong to him¡­


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    ¡°Fire-type Battle Mages uses fire as their primary conduit for magic. Their spirit mainly consists of fire aligned arcanite particles and rejects the intake of other aligned particles¡­¡±


    Though Silver wanted to read more, he felt like even if he spent the entire day reading, he might not reach the end of even the sub-section for Fire-type Battle Mage. Since he was not interested in becoming a Battle Mage, he decided to just lightly skim over its various contents and only paid attention to interesting facts. As Silver reached the end of the section for Battle Mage, he noticed that at the last page of the section, a thin crystal was embedded.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Silver observed the crystal. It was in the shape of a diamond, and had a glistening surface. He touched the crystal in order to see what it felt like, but as soon as he touched the crystal, glowing lines started slithering across the crystal. Silver immediately pulled his hand back. It was never too safe to be extra cautious about things that interacted with the arcane. This was a lesson his father had hammered into him since the first day of his training.


    Silver frowned. ¡°Is this dangerous? But Father said that Grandpa once gave it to him. In that case, how can it be dangerous?¡±


    In the end, Silver decided against reporting the strange thing happening in the book to his father. The weird glowing lines kept congregating across the crystal. Only after an entire minute, did they stop slithering and seemed to have reach a focal point. They abruptly gathered into a single glowing point. A beam of light shot out from that glowing point. Silver fell from his chair. He crawled away from the table.


    ¡°This¡­looks more dangerous than I thought.¡± Probably should¡¯ve reported this to Father. But he didn¡¯t say that thought out loud.


    The shooting light stopped in the middle of air and started expanding. Silver watched with awe as the light transformed into a screen suspended in the air. The screen was blurry for a few seconds, before it gradually became clear, and a clear scene was projected from it. It was a mage. An Earth-type Battle Mage to be accurate. The mage was alone, fighting about ten opponents.


    ¡°This is so cool! I¡¯ve never seen anything like this!¡± Silver excitedly cried out, astonished to his core.


    The mage was quick on his feet, dodging the spells from his opponents. He also used his own spells to attack and defend. His spell casting speed was very fast, much faster than his father. His spells were also much stronger from the spells his Father had displayed to him. Although he was aware that his father hadn¡¯t displayed him his truly powerful spells, he felt that even his ¡®truly powerful spells¡¯ would not be able to match the scale of power demonstrated by the spells of this Battle Mage.


    On the other hand, the spells used by the ten opponents of the Earth Mage were much weaker. Silver believed that these ten more closely matched the power of his father. Still, although individually these ten mages were weaker than the Earth Mage, collectively they were putting a lot of pressure on the Earth Mage.


    Silver watched with full interest as the Earth Mage kept on getting bombarding with spells. He seemed to have given up using any attack spells. He went on full defensive. Silver frowned when he saw that. His defence would eventually wear away if he kept on insisting on this tactic. Offence is the best defence, that¡¯s what his father had taught him.


    However, his eyes widened in astonishment after a few minutes. Even after a lot of successive spells bombarded his defences, they weren¡¯t able to break through them. Silver was very confused after witnessing such a scene.


    ¡°The Earth Mage didn¡¯t hold that much of an advantage over these ten people at the beginning. Why did he suddenly get so strong that he is able to resist all their spells together?¡±


    As soon as he said this, a change occurred. The fighting scene projected on the screen paused. Silver panicked after seeing this. Did he break the magic spell powering this strange show? Was he not supposed to ask such a question?


    However, his worries were unfounded as a bunch of words soon appeared on the screen.


    AN EARTH-TYPE BATTLE MAGE IS NATURALLY ALIGNED TOWARDS DEFENCE. WHEN THE BATTLE MAGE CHOSE TO GIVE UP ON OFFENCE, AND STARTED FOCUSING SOLELY ON DEFENCE, HE FOUGHT THE BATTLE TO HIS ADVANTAGE, THUS MAKING IT HARDER FOR HIS OPPONENTS TO DEFEAT HIM.


    Silver¡¯s mouth opened in wonder. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what happened! Also, this strange magical equipment can even answer my questions! This is even cooler than I thought!¡±


    Silver was yet to truly enter the world of Mages. He could only be considered hilly-billy in magic-related matters, whose entire knowledge about such matters was derived only from his father and mother. Perhaps if he was a fully-fledged Mage, he would¡¯ve realized the significance of such a spell and how extraordinary it was.


    ¡°Resume to the battle scene!¡± Silver yelled at the magic screen. The screen seemed to understand him, resuming to the battle scene, just where it left off. The Earth Mage kept warding off all the attacks through his superior defences. The ten Mages kept trying to break his defences, only for it to be in vain. As soon as the Earth Mage¡¯s earth shield got even slightly damaged, he re-used his spell, recovering it to its full strength.


    Through such a repeated process, the ten mages gradually exhausted all of the energy stored in their Arcanite Well. As soon as the Earth Mage became sure of that, he undid all of his defences. He then used simple attack spells to knock out all the defenceless and exhausted mages.


    Silver was a bit nervous that the Earth Mage might kill all the opponent mages. After all, his mother had told him many stories about how the good guy always killed the bad guys and made sure they were dead, so that in the future, they don¡¯t come back for him to get revenge.


    However, his mouth soon opened in shock when he saw the Earth Mage waking up all the opponents he knocked out. He then shook hands with all of them, who acted respectfully towards him.


    ¡°So they were all acquaintances, and were just doing a friendly spar! I never would¡¯ve guessed that! They even got so wounded!¡±

 Deciding Paths

    After the battle scene ended, the screen became blurry once again. Silver eagerly waited to see what would happen next. In just a couple of seconds, another scene was projected on the scene. It was another battle scene! And another Earth Mage fighting outnumbered against several opponents¡­


    Silver¡¯s face puckered a bit. But soon his interest was piqued as he saw the Earth Mage using different spells than the previous one. This Earth Mage also seemed to be focusing entirely on defensive spells. However, a different outcome took place this time. Minutes into the battle, the opponents of the Earth Mage were easily overpowering her defences. The opponents of this Earth Mage were clearly stronger than that of the previous one.


    Silver wanted to see more about what spells the opponents were using, but since the battle scene was mainly focused on the perspective of the Earth Mage, all he saw were large unidentifiable projectiles crashing against the Mage¡¯s defences. The Mage¡¯s earth barriers soon broke.


    However, Silver was soon shocked and realized that this battle might be a real battle. The opponent mages didn¡¯t hesitate to send spells crashing into the Earth Mage¡¯s body. Her body tore apart and blood spilled everywhere.


    ¡°W-what in the-¡± Silver¡¯s mouth was left agape as the screen became blurry.


    Silver didn¡¯t get to finish his words as another battle scene was projected on the screen. This was in the perspective of another Earth Mage! At least unlike the previous two times, the Mage this time was fighting a hoard of Arcane Beasts. But Silver was having none of it!


    ¡°No! I don¡¯t want to watch any Earth Mages anymore!¡±


    His words brought the battle scene to a halt. The screen became blurry before it cleared again, displaying words on it.


    SLECT THE SUB-PATH WHOSE BATTLE VIDEO YOU WANT TO VIEW.


    ¡°I can choose any Sub-Path?¡± Silver hesitantly asked. He was still traumatized by the bloody scene he just witnessed. He had never seen anyone being killed. He was unsure if he should still continue watching these so-called battle videos.


    The screen clearly didn¡¯t deem to answer his question as the projected view remained unchanged. In the end, Silver¡¯s curiosity still triumphed over his discomfort.


    ¡°I¡­want to watch the battle video for an Illusionist.¡±


    The Sub-Path of an Illusionist interested Silver a lot. He was mystified how a Battle Mage could use illusions to defeat their opponent. Unfortunately, he had already decided that he will not become a Battle Mage. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve considered adding this Path to the list of prospective Paths he might choose.


    The screen showed a new battle video. This time there were only two people on the video. One man was carrying a light sword, while the other was empty-handed. Before the Swordman could do anything, the empty-handed woman bent down on all fours and started running towards him. Her arms and legs buffed up visibly and her nails turned into long sharp claws.


    ¡°Wow, is that a Transformation-Type Battle Mage? She looks so cool!¡±


    However, something strange happened next. The woman stopped midway through her run. Her ferocious expression turned serene and her eyes became fuzzy, as if in a trance. The swordsman, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed by this anomaly.


    Silver was confused with this strange display. After a few seconds, he saw the swordsman began running towards the woman. He raised his sword and sliced with it at the unprepared woman¡¯s neck-


    ¡°NO! STOP! I DON¡¯T WANT TO WATCH THIS!¡±


    Silver rubbed his hand against the crystal. The screen immediately disappeared. The glowing point on the crystal dispersed back into numerous glowing lines, which also gradually faded away. Silver breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, satisfied.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try something else.¡± Silver was no longer willing to watch any battle videos. He had seen too much bloodshed already.


    Silver flipped the page to the next section- Alchemist. He definitely knew about this Path. The Path of Alchemy was quite an important and respected Path in the Mage community as they fulfil many significant functions.


    One of the most important reasons they are highly relevant among Mages is because they are responsible for producing healing potions. Healing potions are a necessity for Mages, especially Battle Mages. Any Battle Mage who doesn¡¯t carry at least one healing potion with him before participating in a battle would be considered a fool.


    ¡°The Path of Alchemist is one in which a Mage, using the mystical powers of Arcane, is able to create powerful arcane potions. The powers these potions contain is limited only to the Alchemist himself. The most basic potion effects can range from healing, invisibility, anaesthesia, temporary transformation, water-breathing etc¡­¡±


    ¡°There is often contradiction on the topic of who is the creator of the Leone Symbol of the Path of Alchemy. This is because multiple people around the world innovated different alterations of this very same path around the same time. Due to historical inconsistencies, it is dubious as to who first create its Symbol¡­¡±


    As Silver read more through the information on the Path of Alchemy, he learnt that the Path of Alchemy also had its own Sub-Paths! For example, one of these alterations was dedicated entirely towards making offensive-type potions, such as fire potions, poison mist potions, etc.


    The difference between the Path of Battle Mage and the Path of Alchemy, though, was that unlike a Battle Mage, an Alchemist had the choice to follow the generalized Path of Alchemy and not choose any Sub-Paths. Such a choice increased the Mage¡¯s options and would not limit them in one particular field.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    However, the book specified that such a choice was usually not advisable as choosing to follow the generalized Path made it difficult for the Mage to advance their skills and rise up in ranks.


    ¡°Since I don¡¯t want to become a Battle Mage, should I become an alchemist?¡±


    The reason Silver said so was because one Sub-Path in particular caught Silver¡¯s attention. The name of this Sub-Path was Shamanic Alchemist. This Sub-Path focused on the creation of Healing Potions. Although alchemists from other Sub-Paths also picked up this skill because of the profitable business it presented, they usually had to work harder to make such potions and were not as good at it as a Shamanic Alchemist.


    A Shamanic Alchemist was able to make healing potions that were more specialized towards healing specific injuries which could not be treated with normal potions. They could also make higher tier healing potions that were able to treat injuries that were more grievous.


    ¡°Hm, I like the idea of saving lives much more than taking them. The Sub-Path really seems to suit me.¡±


    Silver continued turning pages and when he finally reached the end of the section, his eyes gleamed.


    ¡°I knew it!¡±


    A familiar thin crystal was embedded in the last page. Silver was curious. Would this crystal show him the battle videos of Alchemists fighting? But Alchemists weren¡¯t supposed to fight, right?


    He touched the crystal and a familiar screen came in view. A scene was soon projected from it. Unfortunately, the scene projected was not a battle video this time.


    Silver couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed. What happened next was one of the most boring experiences Silver had ever had the pleasure of experiencing.


    An alchemist appeared on the screen. A large cauldron rested in front of him. He poured out water from a bucket into the bucket and started heating up the cauldron through a fire spell.


    Silver was a bit puzzled by this. ¡°That fire cannot be produced by just basic arcanite manipulation. He is clearly using a spell. How can an alchemist use a spell? I thought only Fire Mages could do that.¡±


    The answer soon came.


    THE PATH OF AN ALCHEMIST IS ALIGNED TOWARDS THE ELEMENT FIRE AS PRECISE CONTROL OF FIRE IS ESSENTIAL FOR PRODUCING POTIONS. THIS MAKES IT EASY FOR THEM TO LEARN FIRE SPELLS, THOUGH THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AT IT AS FIRE-TYPE BATTLE MAGES.


    Silver nodded in realization.


    The fire kept on burning and the cauldron kept on boiling. This went on for about ten minutes.


    Silver audibly yawned. ¡°Can¡¯t this be faster? This is so boring.¡±


    There was no response from the screen, as expected. Silver pouted. Fortunately, the Alchemist finally did something new. The screen focused on his hand as brought out an ingredient and starting mashing it.


    Silver, who expected something interesting to finally happen, was again disappointed.


    ¡°Do all alchemy processes take this long? This seems really boring¡­¡± Silver frowned. He now felt a lot more reluctant about choosing to follow the Path of Alchemy.


    Silver was much fonder of the excitement of battlefield, as shown in the battle videos of earlier, than sticking through long and arduous processes of making potions.


    But this presented another dilemma for him.


    ¡°If I¡¯m so averse to killing, how can I even take part in a battle? Also, if I choose not to become a Battle Mage, would anyone even let me set foot in a battlefield? And even if they do so, what would be my purpose there?¡±


    The mage poured the mashed contents from his bowl into the cauldron. Such a process repeated several times. The mage would mash an ingredient and pour into the cauldron. He would then stir the contents in the cauldron, and adjust the fire on the cauldron. After all that, he would bring another ingredient and start mashing it.


    After a half-hour long struggle, Silver finally had enough.


    ¡°Enough! Stop!¡± Nothing happened. Then, he remembered it doesn¡¯t work like that. He touched the crystal and the screen went away.


    Silver huffed and turned the pages to the next section. He had already made a decision. He was not going to follow the Path of Alchemy! Even if he did not want to become a battle mage, he would never become something as boring as an alchemist!


    However, to Silver¡¯s horror, his disappointment was just beginning.


    The next section described the Path of Artificery. Artificers were mages who created arcane artifacts. Their creations could be anything, ranging from a simple bulb which produces light through arcane current, to powerful armaments that were used by Battle Mages.


    However, Silver soon learnt that the Path of Artificery was similar to the Path of Alchemy in the regard that it also took a long and boring process to create arcane artifacts.


    Silver pouted in discontent as he shut down the screen by touching the crystal. He was once again let down. However, he was still not willing to lose hope! There must be a Path out there which suited him!


    Alas, he was only to be further disappointed.


    Embroidery ¨C Creating Arcane clothes with mysterious and powerful properties.


    Too boring and exhausting! Also, stitching clothes is too demeaning of a task for the mighty Silver!


    Botany ¨C Growing up arcane herbs, essential for making of arcane potions and sometimes also used by artificers.


    Skip! Takes too long!


    Divination ¨C Prophesising the future and calculating the luck of heavens by studying the stars.


    Sounds cool but studying the position of stars every day for hours sounds extremely boring!


    ¡­


    Beast-Taming ¨C Taming arcane beasts.


    This finally got Silver to pause a bit. He liked arcane beasts! Especially the ones that looked like the wormie his father had got for him AND KILLED RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. Silver shook his head to get rid of that traumatic memory.


    Beast-Tamers had some similarities with Battle Mages in the fact that their tamed beasts can also fight for them. However, taming ferocious and battle-focused arcane beasts was just one of the Sub-Paths of the Path of Beast-Taming. It had so many other Sub-Paths which focused on taming unique Arcane Beasts for other purposes such as harvesting them for their meat or the stuff they produced.


    Silver touched the Video Crystal for Beast-Taming. He had started calling these crystals ¡®Video Crystals¡¯. Not very creative, but it did the work.


    Silver face grimaced when he saw the Beast-Tamer taking months, and sometimes even years to try to create a bond with the Arcane Beasts and tame them. Thankfully, the video was in a fast-forwarded motion and the timespan was written at the bottom of the screen.


    These Beast-Tamers were practically babying the Arcane Beasts! In fact, they even cleaned their shit for them! Blasphemous! How can the pristine and noble Silver ever clean someone¡¯s shit!?


    This is a skip too! Not interested!


    Silver¡¯s shoulders sagged down. There seemed to be no Path suited for him. Were all of his hopes to be vanquished?


    He turned the pages to the next section of the book.


    The Path of Healing.


    Healers seemed to be rather unpopular among mages because they were pretty much declared as useless. Their work was the same as that of Shamanic Alchemists¨C healing people. But the problem was that their healing powers were weaker than that of healing potions crated by Shamanic Alchemists. Their healing process also took longer than the amount of time taken for a healing potion to work on a person.


    Their only upside was that they require the use of precious herbs to facilitate the healing process. But this wasn¡¯t enough to make the Path popular.


    Silver also agreed with this sentiment. ¡°This Path seems pretty useless-¡±


    His words died in his throat as his eyes fell upon one of the Sub-Paths of the Healing Path.


    Battle Healer.