《The God of Lightning and ice.》 Prologue It was midsummer¡¯s day in the year 4237 at that exact date a child was born in a big castle. This child was born in the Heinrich family a noble family in Waldreich. He was the son of Erzherzog Reinhardt and erzherzogin Ishilde. ¡°it is a boy Herr Heinrich¡± said the midwife. Reinhardt looked at the boy with a smile. The child was handed to him while he announced the name they choose for his son Siegfried. As Reinhardt looked at his sons eyes which had just opened he found out that they had different colors one was purple while the other was blue. He knew that this meant the possibility of becoming a mage was significantly higher than normal. Showing his sons to the room ¡° look at his eyes two different colors we have another possible mage in our family!¡± the people in the room looked in awe as they realized what this meant. The Heinrich family is an ancient noble family while the last generation didn¡¯t have any mages they now had another promising child who might become a mage just like the previous two family heads.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The generation which Reinhardt is part of didn¡¯t have any mages but did have outstanding warriors. This however weakened them in comparison to some other noble families at that time. Even if the generation of Reinhardt did not contain any mages the family is still a powerhouse and second only to the Kaiser¡¯s family in Waldreich. They own a large piece of land which is the same size of the biggest K?nig Reich in the continent. It covered the entire northern part of the which is in total 1 third of the entire Kaiser Reich. This made it a very strategic place as it has only one neighboring country they are located in the east it is protected by the largest mountain range in the continent and a very cold climate making it one of the safer places in the Kaiser Reich. You might wonder why the Henrich family hasn¡¯t declared to be a K?nig Reich there are two reasons the first that they grew up with the Kaiser¡¯s family like siblings each generation and the second was due to the mountains and cold their land didn¡¯t have a high population considering it size. The years went by and on midsummer¡¯s day I Siegfried turned 6 and was in my room waiting for the celebration. Chapter 1 - The test My father summoned me to the great hall after putting on neat clothes and fixing my white hair. I left as soon as possible because it was my sixth birthday and time for the magic test. While entering the great hall I see 8 persons dressed in different colored robes and hoods standing next to father. Feeling a strong presence from these 8 persons there was only time I felt something similar that was when great grandpa had become serious. While I was standing waiting for something to happen dad started speaking ¡°son these 8 persons are mages each of them specializes in one element. They will check if you have a enough energy inside you after confirming you have enough energy the will test one by one what element(s) you have affinity for.¡± When dad stopped talking the person next to him takes a step forward let down his hood and revealed a middle-aged face. In a baritone voice ¡°come forward and let me see if you have abundant energy to become a mage.¡± I nervously started walking towards the man. Hoping that I have enough energy to pass the test it should be at least size of a chicken egg. While in front of him the mage placed his hand on my chest and closed his eyes for a moment before exclaiming. ¡° You pass the test with energy the size of an goose egg this is commendable for your age.¡± ¡° However in terms of water magic you have only 25% affinity which isn¡¯t at the threshold of 40% to be considered for learning.¡± Hearing this I am a bit disappointing but there are still 7 more elements to be tested. One by one the mages put their hand on my chest to check the affinity with their element. The first mage to check is the fire mage. ¡° You have no affinity for fire it is less then water with only 10%.¡± Disappointed in myself for not having an affinity for fire. This is because I always like fire magic from the stories that mom tells me every night and playing with my friends. The test continued by the end of the 4th mage I still had no magic I had affinity with earth came close with 35% but still not breaking the threshold while with air I only had 20%. Dad looked worried as by now half of all elements have been checked and most of them not even close to the threshold. I tried to keep up a strong front. It doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t practice these elements just that they would be extremely hard for to advance in. The next element to be tested is ice the mage put his hand on my chest immediately after the mage face turned to shock. ¡° we have found you a match Siegfried you seem to have 90% affinity towards ice.¡± The sentence echoed through the hall and everybody stood speechless. I know that having an affinity higher than 70 makes it is easy for to learn and raise skills quickly even if you have a small amount of energy. I however had an abundance of energy and an affinity much higher than 70%. My excitement was showing on my face.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Dad is also showing a lot of excitement. ¡° My son come here I will get you whatever you want today.¡± I walked over to him. ¡° Father I wish to continue the testing.¡± This didn¡¯t shock the mages or father as it is custom to finish the entire test even if you have found your affinity. However if you have such a high affinity for one element it most likely means that the other elements don¡¯t have enough affinity. Hearing this dad laughed out loud. ¡° If that is what you wish then it will happen, but remember to not be disappointed if you can¡¯t practice any other as you already have an amazing one.¡± I nodded to dad that I understood what he meant. the next mage came to test me for the affinity of darkness quickly after testing he told us that there is only 5% affinity. Then it was the turn for the light mage to check my affinity visibly shocked. ¡° Siegfried you have an affinity of 45% to light magic.¡± this was quite a shock as this means I was able to become a strong dual mage. Any mage could practice more than one element however if you don¡¯t have enough affinity it would be more wasting time and talent of your other element(s). finally the last testing as the lightning mage touched me he immediately let go with a bit of pain in his hand and absolute shock on his face. Trying to remain calm and speak clearly he looked to both me and my father. ¡°M-m-my l-l-lord your son has full affinity for lightning.¡± We all heard him say that sentence everybody in the room froze. I did not only have full affinity for lightning but was also able to become a potential triple with ice as nearly full affinity. While everyone is trying to remember how many people had perfect affinity within the Reich before I dad knocked the mages unconscious before they have regained their posture. Dad turned to me and explained that in the whole of the continent there are only 10 other mages with full affinity. While there are even less triple mages he only knows of 1 person from this Reich. To have both was thought to be impossible by many before this moment. He told me to stay here while he would go and get the previous heads of the family. After only 5 minutes dad came in with great grandfather Dietgard and grandfather Eckhard they are shocked by the scene in front of them. Dad turned to Dietgard and Eckhard. ¡°as you know at the age of six it is possible to check if someone is capable of practicing magic.¡± Father explained what had happened during the testing and why he had attacked the mages out of nowhere seeing how it is too dangerous for anyone to know about my capabilities besides to most trusted persons. If anyone finds out they would try to steal/brainwash me or worse. I don¡¯t understand what he means with worse but I will ask later. The two family elders agree with my dad¡¯s judgement. they decided to not kill the mages seeing how Dietgard was specialized in darkness and has the ability to drain people this also meant draining memories. It would also attract attention how all the mages disappear after checking my affinities. The memory of this incident would be difficult to destroy seeing how this is a once in a lifetime memory. It could not be completely destroyed by great grandpa Dietgard so he altered their mind for the lightning making it unremarkable. The mages would not notice anything even if they feel like something special happened as I was still a duel mage with high affinity. We still had a problem with training me they could not just hire three mages to train me this would raise suspicion amongst other factions. After debating for a while my elders have decided that grandpa Eckhard shall be teaching me lightning he is also a mage in that element but we will be keeping this a secret to anyone even the rest of the family to not involve them and increase the risk. It would be better to have as few people to know about my situation they debated if my direct family should be told after a while they came to the conclusion to tell anyone who was directly related to me when they have become adults at 16. To come up with an excuse why Eckhard would teach me. We would inform the other family members and servants that he will be teaching me history of our family and the continent. We debated about which two mages in the elements of light and ice will be teaching me who we can trust as being a dual mage is still a big risk. Father decided to ask Rayner the kaiser¡¯s brother if he would be willing to teach me light magic this was decided quite easily as the entire royal family could practice light magic. Seeing the history between our families he was one we trusted the most and might be willing to teach me as we cannot ask the Kaiser to teach me. With the approval of the former patriarchs he will talk to him later today. Chapter 2 - First Lesson To celebrate my birthday we went to the dining room where my mother and siblings Godfrey, Ida and Rosamunde are waiting for me and want to hear the results of the test. As we enter the dining room and look at the table filled with food. My mother starts walking towards me and hugs and kisses me. Then my siblings started coming first to congratulate me was Godfrey my older brother he gives me a big hug. Then Rosamunde the youngest of my siblings, she is only one year older than me and is one of my best friends as we are still too young to be allowed out of the house on our own. Finally Ida embraced me she dotes on me a bit too much for my taste. She herself is training to become an air mage she has 50% affinity with it. After breakfast was served we gather at the garden were the whole family is standing as are the high nobles of this Reich even from past the border some families came. The first person to come up to me was my grandmother Gerlinde who gives me a hug and kiss. She gifted me a small dagger with our family crest engraved she told me to not play around with it and always keep it close. I have to meet a lot of people today all waiting to hear if I can become a mage. Dad proudly started telling everyone I was capable of becoming a mage without telling them too much to make enemies for us. As I walked around I found my two childhood friends Kai and Eloise of Waldreich. Kai is the third son of Rayner and Eloise is the second daughter of the Kaiser Theobald. Kai is one year older than me while Eloise is my age. We grew up together since my home was near the capital of the Reich. Their home is surrounded by our herzogtum but is considered a province by itself in order to avoid conflict. How this situation came to be is our families go back more than a thousand years as allies. We are the family they trust most and so they put the capital near us to be a united front against traitors in the Reich. The terrain of our herzogtum makes it easy to defend if there was going to be a war. While my father started talking to Rayner. We fantasized about becoming the strongest mages in the empire. My sister Rosamunde approached us last year we had determined we would form a party once we all go to the same school this is still going to take another 6 years. After a few minutes of talking about our dreams Eloise couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. ¡° What was the result of the test.¡± Kai also looked at me with excitement. I know father forbid me from telling everything but I was allowed to say I was a dual mage with high affinity in ice. ¡° I have affinity for both ice and light, ice is the one I have a better affinity with just don¡¯t tell anybody else this.¡± As they all looked at me with surprise in their eyes the first to speak was Kai ¡° So that is why our fathers are in a conversation right now.¡± ¡° you¡¯re right.¡± Rosamunde was the next to speak ¡° Since we can finally start a party knowing every bodies strengths. When we are older we have the potential of having three mages who can heal and buff us, one who can use strong attacking spells and me as a warrior. We will have great defense and attack both long range and short range.¡± Eloise still shocked asked ¡° Can I tell my father?¡± I didn¡¯t see why not as he was the Kaiser and felt like an uncle to me. ¡° Of course I doubt my father won¡¯t tell him.¡± Afterwards we started talking for a few more hours about what we have been up to till now and if we should ask our parents if we are allowed to practice light magic together. Rosamunde was feeling a bit down as she was the only one who couldn¡¯t become a great mage. I tried cheering her up. ¡° Even if you can¡¯t become a mage you can still ask to join the lessons to learn how the spells work in order to be a better warrior.¡± Rosamunde knew this was just to cheer me up but still seemed determined to go to the classes as well. The four of us started walking towards our fathers and asked if it was possible to start learning light magic together. Rayner and the Kaiser didn¡¯t think this was a problem while my father was still thinking if it would benefit us as they might start slacking off in class. Rayner ensured my father that he will make sure that there will be no slacking off as he will personally punish us if we did. Satisfied with that my father approved of our request. My father did have a small issue that needed to be taken care. Even if our homes are close to each other they still are at least a three hours horse ride away from one another. Father takes me to grandpa and tells him what is bothering him. Grandpa had also thought of this. ¡° There should be no problem if Siegfried and I will live in an estate in the capital.¡± Dad agreed to this solution and set out to buy a house near the home of Rayner. They asked me what I thought of it. Although I would miss my siblings and family I knew this was for us to get better. ¡° I will miss everyone here but I understand this is for the best.¡± The next day my father and grandpa travelled to the city Waldheim named after the royal family. There they bought an estate in Upper West Waldheim this is the district where nobles and rich families have their homes this is as close as you can get to the Smaragd Palast the home of the royal family. The Palast got its name from the material and color from which it was built. This was by far the most expensive building in the entire continent. It was built entirely out of smaragd and was an astonishing 100.000 square metres and had a height of 70 metres. Considering that the gemstone Smaragd is one of the scarcest minerals in this continent it left everybody who looked at it in awe.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. When father and grandpa returned they summoned me and told me to pack my back as we start leaving in a few hours to go to my new home. Whilst packing my suitcase somebody knocked on my door as I open the door Rosamunde and mother are standing there with tears in their eyes. It came as a shock to them that I would be leaving them so soon and for so long. I could only visit them when I was free which was only in the weekends. My mother handed me a small box and said ¡°this is our parting gift don¡¯t open it till you have reached your new home okay sweetheart.¡± I nodded while my sister looked as if she was about to cry. She would be left alone in this castle with no one to play with of her age. I made a promise to her that I would return every weekend to play and talk with her. Soon after me, grandpa, our personal butlers Johann and Walter stood in front of the gates of the castle I grew up in ready to begin the trip to the new home I will be living in. Everybody who worked in the castle and family was waving us goodbye. Three hours later we arrive at the front door of our new home in Waldheim. The house itself is relatively small compared to other homes in the neighborhood being only 200 square metres but since the four of us are the only ones living here it was plenty. Johann and I went to my room to unpack my back while Walter started to cook for us. While unpacking I remember the gift my mother had given me I took it out of my pocket and opened it what was inside made me unable to move for a moment. It was a ruby ring with our family crest on it. These rings are incredibly expensive because ruby has the ability to speed up ones energy intake and would slowly increase your capacity. I immediately put it on my left index finger and started looking at the symbol engraved on the ring a polar bear I now had to items with my family crest on them not counting my formal clothes. After unpacking everything I walked to the dining room waiting for my grandpa before eating lunch. Grandpa arrived shortly after the food was ready as he took his seat across from me. ¡° Siegfried we have moved here so you don¡¯t have to travel to get lessons from Rayner. I will be teaching you Lightning, explaining how the world is divided and explain the fundamentals of magic. We still need to find an ice mage we can trust to teach you. After we finish lunch we will begin the first of your lessons.¡± I didn¡¯t expect grandpa to be so serious and had hoped that I would have some time off before lessons begin. Complaining won¡¯t have any use by how serious the tone grandpa told me therefore I just complied. When lunch was finished grandpa walked out the room I followed him through to the garden there was a small building in the back of it. When we entered the building the first thing I noticed is a handmade pond inside it didn¡¯t look like normal water as it is slightly glowing purple. ¡° This is a pond with regular water infused with my lightning energy which makes it perfect to recover your lost energy during the lessons. Any mage with more than 50% affinity for lightning will recover in this pond.¡± I was extremely glad I know that using a spell cost quite a bit of energy. Considering I was just starting out even the smallest spell would at the very least drain a lot of my energy and the only way to increase the amount of energy you can hold was by meditating or going up a rank. ¡° We will now begin the lesson. This world is separated in five continents they are separated by an ocean on each side. In the north west we have the continent of elves this continent is filled of beauty, plains and forests. This is the biggest continent but it has the lowest population. The continent is not divided as elves see themselves as one race. All elves are born with the ability to use magic but this comes at a cost they can¡¯t learn fire and darkness element as this goes against their nature. Elves have a fairly weak body they do however have excellent control of their bodies and eyesight so there are still warriors within their ranks mainly as archers or assassins which don¡¯t need a sturdy body but require nimble movements and great eyesight. Elves are immortals by age, they look and have the same build as us the only differences are that their ears are pointy, they all have flawless skin and have either green or purple eyes. In the south west is one of the smaller two continents it is ruled by monsters and is the second most populated continent. Monsters come in all different shapes and sizes. The continent is divided in areas which you could see as countries these areas are ruled by different species. The larger ones are ruled by dragons, griffins and other mythical monsters. The monster continent is considered one of the weakest if it wasn¡¯t for the few mythical species if these disappear the continent would be done for. These species are small in numbers but the strongest one of each of these species can conquer or even destroy Waldreich if they wanted to. This is why no other continent dares to attack them recklessly as they would have to face multiple of these strong monsters and suffer heavy losses. The middle continent is the second largest one by size and is ruled by demons it has a small population barely any larger than the elves. To make up for that they are on average the strongest of all races. The sole reason they haven¡¯t conquered the other continents is that they are extremely weak against any light magic it doesn¡¯t matter what type of spell you would cast even a healing one would damage them instead of healing. This is why the Kaisers family is one of the most important families in our continent. They are not the biggest or strongest family in the entire continent all of them can learn light magic this happened a few centuries ago some of their ancestors were Elves this is considered extraordinary Elves are very proud and look down upon any other race. The demons can learn any destructive magic especially darkness. Most demons are born as warriors but are able to become mages. The continent isn¡¯t divided they are simply ruled by the strongest demon this position isn¡¯t taken nor given they feel it when a Demon is stronger than the rest of them. The refer to the strong as leaders this means there is a set structure of power. Demons just like the Elves are immortal by age. Unlike the Elves they are a warmongering species and attack at random other continents. The south east continent is average in size and is populated by beasts. They have a similar but different build as us they are larger, bulkier, have their body covered in fur and have animal characteristics mainly visible at their head and limbs. They can only become warriors and don¡¯t have any affinity to magic. Even if they can¡¯t become mages they have high defenses and have minor resistances to magic. The continent is divided in countries which are ruled by a few strong subspecies which have claimed it theirs. The rulers of these lands are always weary of the others to plot and take over each other. Despite this they hold annual meetings with each other in order to protect themselves from the other continents especially from us. We have quite the history with them this is mainly as when we crossbreed you get strong and beautiful mixed race this resulted in many wars and slavery was a thing until a few centuries ago. Last but not least there is our continent in the north east it is the smallest continent but it has the highest population it is ruled by us humans. In terms of strength we don¡¯t have the brute force like the beasts, monsters or demons nor do we have the affinity with magic like the elves, monsters or demons. The reason we exist is solely due to our population. As you know this continent has 5 countries each ruled by a king or emperor. The difference between a king and an emperor is that a king has a smaller piece of land than an emperor. The countries in our continent are Aurilupus the biggest empire, Waldreich the other empire, Frj¨®saheimr the biggest kingdom next to Waldreich in the north, Bhadar in the south and the smallest kingdom Bahalfa in the middle which is one big dessert. Due to alliances between continents there is stalemate this is why the continents live in relative peace. Each continent is always training for an invasion or invading another continent. These alliances are the humans with the elves and the demons with the beasts. The monsters are on good terms with both elves and demons. While us humans and beasts have a troubling past and the elves and demons are polar opposites that hate each other. The monsters however do not participate in the stalemate as they refuse to see anyone as their equal.¡± Chapter 3 - Finding spells After the first lesson I had in my life I finally began to understanding how the world works and why I never hear of any big conflict. ¡°do you have any questions regarding this lesson?¡± ¡°Grandpa you told about the continents but are there any other pieces of land in this world?¡± ¡°Good to ask there are a few small islands although they do not belong to any continent they are protected by the nearest continent. Besides these small islands there are three big island the size of our land these don¡¯t belong to any continent and are what we call free islands. A lot of trade happens in two of these islands as one of them is unhospitable seeing how it is colder then here. They are one of the few places where the races live amongst each other without a lot of hostility. But only traders, thieves or adventurers go there so you should be careful when traveling there.¡± Grandpa advised me to rest for a bit before the next lesson about mages and warriors starts. Johann escorts me as we went to the city to look around some shops and sightsee the city. Normally I am escorted by a few guards seeing how I haven¡¯t learned magic yet or have trained in the warrior skills but going with Johann should be enough he is after all a former warrior at the rank of knight and should be able to hold off any problems. I have never seen such an enormous city this is the biggest city in the empire. I want to go to a store for magic spells as I am going to be a mage so we searched and found a shop called The Mystic Mythic. When we got inside we were one of the few customers. We walked towards the clerk behind the desk and asked him. ¡°Where can we find beginner spells for ice?¡± ¡° If you want beginner spells they are in the bag and are placed by element but be aware that any spell books cost a lot of money.¡± We thanked the clerk and walked towards the end of the store. When we arrived at the end of the store we started looking for interesting spells in ice and light. ¡° Johann can you look for ice spells.¡± ¡° certainly young master.¡± while secretly searching for a lightning spell I found an interesting spell book called shock it did not start out strong it did however grows in strength by how much you used it and the amount of energy you used to create it. It had the ability to evolve into a shockwave this is a must have for me. While searching for light spells I found a book with a spell for increasing concentration this would go hand in hand with training any other skill. Finding an ice spells took longer until Johann showed me a book called ice spike which was just like spark and is able to evolve into ice spear. After finding these three spell books we walked back to the clerk to purchase them. ¡° Johann can you wait outside while I purchase these books.¡± ¡° Yes young master but if you aren¡¯t outside within three minutes I will be back.¡± The clerk looks at the books and says ¡° You know that these spells are from different elements?¡± I lied saying my friend isn¡¯t rich and can¡¯t afford to buy them so I will buy them for him the clerk was surprised by the answer. ¡°He sure is lucky with such a friend. The total will be 10 silver coins.¡± I hand over the coins I wondered if anybody who had an affinity with an element would even be able to buy these spells or afford a teacher before going to school. Even if I was raised a noble I know that living in this world an average person earns 5 bronze coins per day. The conversion rate is simple 1 silver coin are worth 100 bronze coins. While 100 silver coins are worth 1 gold coin. Lastly 100 gold coins are worth 1 platinum coin. For example the earnings my family makes in an entire year is 365 platinum coins a year. This might seem to be a lot but that was before any expenses like the army, workers, roads, cities and of course paying the Kaiser. After all these expenses only 50 platinum coins are left this has to be divided by the whole family which existed of 50 persons consisting of my siblings, parents, the elders, uncles, aunts and cousins. So even if my family earns a lot most of it is gone and the last bit is divided the portion anyone from my family gets is still incredibly much by normal standards. As I walk out the door Johann and I go home since enough time has passed for the next lesson to begin. When I arrive in front of the building in the garden I knock on the door asking to come in. ¡° Come in your next lessons will now begin.¡± I walked inside and sit down in front of grandpa. ¡° This lessons will be about mages and a little bit about warriors as I am not a warrior and can¡¯t tell you exactly how they work. First of magic is categorized in 8 main elements they are air, earth, fire, water, ice, lightning, light and finally darkness each of these have certain characteristics and you can divide each of these in more sub categories. I will explain each of these elements in their basic forms for this first lesson. Air magic is the only element not categorized as defensive or offensive since it doesn¡¯t have a lot of spells in either category. This doesn¡¯t mean that it is useless as air magic characteristics are speed and vibration. Both of these could be placed in either offensive or defensive. Speed will make you able to attack quickly or react fast to an attack. Vibration is the same you are able to make the air vibrate and damage an opponent internal if needed or create a force that hurts the body while it could also be used as defense by vibrating the air so an attack slows down or is torn apart. besides that air magic makes you able to fly from the start and lets you breath anywhere these don¡¯t cost a lot of energy and are easy to learn. This makes air magic extremely useful in fights involving 1v1 or large groups against each other however if there are multiple opponents against 1 air is too weak to do enough damage or defense.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it then we have earth magic which unlike air which is categorized as neither offensive or defensive earth is categorized as both. It has a lot of defensive and offensive spells since earth is sturdy it is a great way to stop a lot of attacks and because of how sturdy, hard and heavy it can be used to deal a lot of damage making it a useful offensive and defensive magic. Of course like every magic even earth has it¡¯s downsides there are two big downsides in earth magic one of them is that earth magic is rather slow. The other downside is that not all terrains are useful for earth like in the water or air. Fire magic is focused on offense as it barely has any defensive spells and the ones that are defensive are only there for a short while. Fire has besides offensive spells quite a bit of buffing spells. Buffing is very useful the only problem with most fire spells that buff have one common side-effect it makes it so you want to fight or go berserk this is because it could be described as fueling anger or igniting a flame in your body. A fire mage is capable of all kinds of fights if it is 1v1 big groups or even multiple enemies. Fire also enables you to fly however in comparison with air it consumes quite a lot of energy and is hard to learn. Water magic has two things it specializes these are defensive and healing spells. Most magic spells involving water are defensive. Water magic is a counter to both fire and earth it can dissolve fire and erode the hardness and sturdiness of earth decrease making it far less powerful or easier to penetrate. The healing spells are a bit harder to learn then the defensive spells. A water mage is able to breath under water. The defensive spells of water magic are the strongest ones around they don¡¯t last as long as earth spells but they are harder to destroy. This makes it so that water magic is mainly used in big group fights or in a party in the back. Ice magic is a very strong offensive type just like fire but unlike fire which makes you able to use buffs ice magic debuffs the opponent and also has some strong defensive spells. This is possible by the side effect of ice which is freezing you could lower your enemy¡¯s accuracy by making the ground or any object icy so they have trouble being steady or even slow them down by freezing them. The defensive spells are nearly the same as the ones earth magic uses like creating a shield or wall in front or around you. For the offensive spells ice can be used to make weapons from ice which unlike fire are physical and leave holes they can make you bleed out. This is a magic that is very strong the problem with it is that it can be countered by a few things such as fire that melts the ice and it doesn¡¯t have a high effect on water mages as it would have on other mages. The next magic that you are able to use is lightning which I will teach you 5 days a week. Lightning as you can guess is used offensively. Just like air it increases your speed lightning mages are the fastest of all the mages and lightning is the most destructive type of magic. There are unfortunately no defensive spells however you are able to set traps and use magic up close seeing as how a mage is resistant to his own spells and lightning can stun an opponent. Lightning can be used in any kind of battle the only problem with lightning is that most spells are used for areas and could also hurt allies within a certain perimeter this makes it so that lightning mages prefer fighting alone. Using lightning will cost quite a bit of practice as it is very quick and you need to focus where you want it to hit. The last magic you are able to use is light magic. This type of magic is used in big battles or in parties mainly because it is used to buff and heal people. That is why light magic is also called divine magic it is the strongest in both buffing and healing. The healing skills you learn as a light mage are even at a low level enough to stop somebody from dying immediately however if no further help is given the healed one will still die after a while. The biggest problem for light mages is that they do not have many defensive or offensive skills so they need to be protected. If you ever meet a light mage that is travelling by itself there are a few possibilities the first is that he is a warrior next to being a light mage, another one is that he is a dual mage and lastly it means that he is a very high rank seeing how all light spells become stronger by each rank. Of course every magic increases in strength when going up a rank but for light magic it seems to always double the amount of another type this might be because the ranking is based on becoming a god. Now the last one is darkness magic which as you know is used by my father your great grandfather and is the most cunning magic type as it is an offensive type for two different reasons. First of all a lot of darkness spells are a bit overpowered and can corrupt the opponent in process of the fight. Second of all it is hard for a warrior to come close because darkness gives you the ability to summon creatures. That means that darkness mages prefer to travel alone and fight hordes of opponents as they can summon creatures to fight for them. The higher ranking darkness mages can even summon an army if needed. The problem for darkness magic is that it consumes quite a lot of energy and is very weak against light magic. Now that I have given you basic knowledge of all the different types of magic I will explain how the ranks work for mages there are 10 ranks in total for mages. These are novice-acolyte-apprentice-elite-master-grandmaster-king-emperor-saint-deity each one of them have 4 levels they are as follows beginning-early-mid-late this stops at the deity part where there are different levels demigod-false god-god-high god. At the rank of emperor every mage is able to fly. Between every rank there is big difference the only ones able to beat somebody of a higher rank are dual mages but they still need to have both types of magic at the rank below and at the very least mid-level. Raising your level requires overcoming a bottleneck for mages this is having enough energy. For overcoming the bottleneck of a rank is different and much harder to do this requires understanding a part of the element you are using. Here comes the reason why we suggest having an affinity of at least 40% knowing that affinity effects how quick you understand the element you are using. For warriors there are different and less ranks they are recruit-guard-squire-soldier-knight-high knight-saint-deity. As you can see both mages and warriors have the saint and deity however there is a difference. At the rank high knight a warrior can start using magic. The levels are the same for warriors and mages. Each time you go up a rank you are able to become older but only from the moment you are a saint you are immortal by age for us humans. For both mages and warriors to become a saint you need to understand 70% of your element this is much easier for mages as they have been using their magic since the beginning for warriors this means that it takes an incredibly long time to go from high knight to saint. To go from saint to deity does not only require you to have an understand of 90% it also requires you to make your own spell or skill which is why there are people who have been saints for thousands of years and still haven¡¯t been able to become a deity.¡± Grandpa pauses for a bit to let me understand all the information he has given me. the world This world has magic there are however few people who could become mages. To become a mage it requires a lot of energy. While everybody had some energy inside them. It was hard to increase if you didn¡¯t have the aptitude or necessary resources. This made it hard to become a mage but every child at the age of six was tested for affinity. besides mages it is also possible to follow the path of the warrior. This requires a strong vitality and lots of practice. Even if warriors are more common than mages by about 4 to 1. This doesn¡¯t mean there are a lot of warriors as only 1 out of every 10 people are able to become a warrior. Even if mages and warriors work together or are born in the same family most of the time they look down upon each other. There are a few reasons why in the warriors mind he could defeat a mage at his stage or one which was 1 stage above him if it is in close combat. Mages think they are superior because they would be able take on 5 warriors up to one stage higher if it wasn¡¯t a close combat fight. This is considered cowardly by warriors since they worship physical strength.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. There are families which have a lineage of warriors and or mages. These families are the nobles of this continent. These families make sure that they wouldn¡¯t lose their power by arranging marriages between other powerful families or exceptional mages and warriors. The strength of a family was equal to the rank of nobility they have this means that every time a generation died or was born it could rise or diminish in power and rank. To keep the land from changing to much it would take at least 2 generations to pass in order for land to be redistributed. The rank however did fall by each born or dead family member. However to become nobility is only possible by the king or Kaiser of the country you were born in. The ranking of the nobles is as follows Freiherr-Graf-Markgraf-Herzog-Grosf¨¹rst-Erzherzog-K?ning/Kaiser. below will be three maps first the world containing the continents and their capitals, then the human continent and finally Waldreich the empire our hero Siegfried was born in. Chapter 4 - Light magic After the explanation how combat was done. Grandpa then asked me to take out the spell book I had bought in between the lessons. ¡° Before we start practicing magic you need to learn how the spell works on a fundamental level since you have full affinity this shouldn¡¯t be hard. The spell you choose is shock this is an excellent and quite common spell used for beginners as it lets you understand the basics of how lightning starts and it grows each time you use it more proficient. In order to use lightning magic you need to be able to feel the different particles all around us and try to force them together this creates tension. Another word for this type of tensions is spark when you are able to create a small spark you have to practice a lot until it becomes big enough to create a shock. But before practicing lightning I want you to fully understand and feel the particles in the air. For the best results is to stand in the pond to absorb the energy while training since you don¡¯t have a lot of energy yet. The pond is also calming for a lightning mage and will allow the users to concentrate and meditate better. Be careful when practicing as errors or misunderstanding can halter your growth to become a mage.¡± We walked to the edge of the pond before I started to submerge myself in the pond it gives off a tingly sensation all throughout my body at first after a while it calmed down and made me able to focus more on everything around me. Before long I started to feel small differences everywhere I closed my eyes in order to not be distracted by anything. I started to try to feel the particles on myself and around me. After for what felt like an eternity I felt the different particles clearly and was even able to guess where they are going. Opening me eyes and staring at grandpa. ¡° Grandpa I can feel the particles around me and even know where they are going to.¡± He turned to me with a smile on his face. ¡° You say you are able to feel and guess where they are going after only two hours of training? This must be what it is like to be a prodigy in lightning. It took me well over 3 days before I was able to do this. Let¡¯s not rush this and make sure you are able to fully understand the element I want you to keep doing this for the coming week before we start using magic.¡± Hearing what my grandpa just told me I am a bit disappointed I want to learn magic as fast as possible but I trust my grandpa so I will follow his advice. The lesson was over and it was time for dinner. After dinner grandpa took me to an empty room. ¡° you should know that you are special in your ability to practice three types of magic. That makes it very important to keep it hidden that you are able to practice lightning. There are a lot of dangerous people in this city. They will try whatever method they can to take you away from us when they find out. News will also spread fast and the stalemate between the nations will be broken. If word got out to the other continents I expect that they will attack us at full force in order to maintain order. When you have achieved the rank of king as a mage in both ice and lightning this makes you able to hold a low leveled emperor at bay. When you have gotten that rank king both my father, you and I will be able to hold of three emperor level mages or five high knight level warriors. This will give enough protection for you to finally be able to show all of your abilities. We don¡¯t have to worry about mages that are saint level or above they are few and scattered around the world and only involve themselves if the lives of their species are in immediate danger. These mages will not be interested in you so long you don¡¯t do something dangerous. While they might hear of you eventually they are trying to improve themselves in order to ascend to the realm above and don¡¯t like to be interrupted or disturbed.¡± After being told this I finally understood the dangers we are facing not only as a family or country but even a continent if word got out. Johann and I went to the house of Kai to play around and fantasize about tomorrow. Both of us will be learning light magic in the same class Kai already has been taught light before but still wasn¡¯t to far ahead of me. The next morning I wake up by the smell of breakfast. Start to get dressed and went to the dining room to eat half an hour later I would be going to Rayner¡¯s house to learn light magic. I am still tired because the sun is only starting to rise just now. When I arrived at the mansion one of the servants of Rayner welcomed us and showed us the way to the room I will be taught in. As I entered the room I see that Kai has already taken a seat near the window I decide to sit next to him. While waiting for Eloise to arrive we started talking about the coming lesson. ¡° Do you think your father will be strict?¡± ¡° Of course not I have never seen him serious or strict before.¡± ¡° Who taught you before we decided to take lessons together?¡± ¡° It was one of the mages who serve the royal family I didn¡¯t like him he was very quiet and surly.¡± After about 10 minutes Eloise arrived at the room. Rayner didn¡¯t seem too happy about this. ¡° The lesson is supposed to start at 7 it is now nearing 7:15 why is it that you¡¯re late?¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡° Uncle it is so early and still quite dark outside and it is only a bit after 7.¡± This answer seems to not be the correct one as Rayner starts to frown he decided that because she is late she has to clean the room after we are done with the lesson. Eloise wasn¡¯t happy with this and says she will tell her father about this, Rayner scoffed at the remark and reminded her that he is her teacher and can choose how to punish an disobedient student. He increased her punishment for defying his order by having her stand the entire lesson. ¡° It seems that your father is totally different when teaching us.¡± ¡° Yeah I didn¡¯t know he would be this strict I guess this is how he treats his students or men when training or fighting in wars.¡± ¡° I hope the three of you now understand that I take these lessons serious and will not allow any mischief or slacking of in class. What I expect from you is total obedience and participation during the lessons. Don¡¯t hesitate to ask any questions about the lesson if you have trouble understanding something. It is important for any mage to fully understand what they are doing or there will be consequences. Now that we have cleared that we will start the lesson. First I will tell you how light magic works before anything practical begins. Light magic is a magic that is different than any other magic it requires the person to not act on emotions, keep a calm mind and inertly be a good person. This doesn¡¯t mean that anyone who practices darkness is evil they just act on emotions especially strong ones like wanting something. To be able to practice light magic you first have to calm your mind and shut yourself of emotions. When you have entered a state of tranquility you are able to practice light magic when entering that state this is what makes it so difficult for people to use light magic for it is difficult to enter or stay in this state when a fight has begun. What I want the three of you to do for today is to make your mind calm this will be difficult since this is your first lesson together and trying to remember everything I said without panicking or be excited. While you try to get a calm mind you can ask me anything furthermore I will give pointers how to attain this calmness as the lessons go on I will also try to distract you so in the future you won¡¯t easily lose control.¡± We are all shocked by this straightforward demand and lesson of Rayner he just told us to calm down and do nothing in order to slowly reach the state we have to be in. The three of us started the lessons trying to get a calm mind for Kai this was easy as he was already taught this Rayner had come up with a solution to this by taking him to the other side of the room and keep ticking on his shoulder to annoy Kai. Eloise it was hard to get a calm mind as she was still upset about the punishment and was by nature very curious. It was just as worse for me I was pumped up this morning to learn light magic and be in the same class as my friends. By the end of the lesson none of us have been able to enter in a state of calmness however Rayner doesn¡¯t seem to be angry or disappointed. ¡° from my estimations Eloise should have been able to have a calm mind but because she came late to class I had to punish her this in turn made it near impossible for her to attain a calm mind. For Kai and Siegfried they would not have been able to get a calm mind with how I had the lesson planned. What I hope you have learned today is to try and not act on impulses in order to keep a calm mind. We will continue this until all three of you can keep a calm mind while I try distracting you.¡± After the lesson the Kai and I waited until Eloise was done cleaning the room we then decided to go and have lunch in the city. This in order to show me around town and have some time to give our thoughts about the lesson. While walking trough the city both Kai and Eloise told me all about the different shops, market places and restaurants there are in the city. What I am most interested in are shops for magic spells or items to enhance your ability to use magic. We went into a bistro in a famous shopping street with high end products. Kai choose boeuf bourguignon which is braised beef in red wine with carrots, garlic and onions garnished with mushroom, pearl onions and lardon. Eloise being raised as a lady and princess decided to go for a salad ni?oise this consists of tomatoes, olive oil, egg, artichokes, bell peppers, black olives and either anchovies or tuna. Coq au vin was my dish it is rooster braised in red wine, mushrooms, lardon, onions and most of the time garlic. For dessert we choose Tarte Tatin it is a pie turned upside down with the fruits caramelized in butter and sugar it is normally made with apples. After lunch we parted ways and I walked home with Johann to start training with grandpa again. As I enter the garden house grandpa just finished replenishing the pond with his energy. Before we continued where we left of grandpa has something to tell me. ¡° Siegfried as you know we are currently searching for an ice mage that is capable of training you to become one of the best next to being trustworthy. We have found three possible teachers they will arrive here tomorrow you have to decide which of these mages will be teaching you.¡± Overcome with joy I started to jump up, jump up and got down. When I calmed down some questions arrived in my head. What would they look like? Will they be as patient like my grandpa and Rayner? What am I allowed to tell them about myself? ¡° Grandpa since one of them will be teaching me they will know at least of my dual affinity. What can I show in front of them?¡± ¡° There is no problem in showing them that you are able to use both ice and light magic but keep hidden that you are able to use lightning. Even if we trust them we can¡¯t be sure that they will be persuaded by money or prestige.¡± It makes it at least easier to be around them when I didn¡¯t have to hide too much. After confirming this we went on where the lesson had left of. I entered the pond and started to meditate it became easier this time thanks to Rayner to give tips and training us to maintain a calm mind. While meditating I try to differentiate the particles further by having my eyes closed and guessing what the particles together form as a shape. This is a lot harder as some particles aren¡¯t in connection with lightning or ice. These particles I have trouble to visualize before me. Opening my eyes and sighing as in the end I didn¡¯t gain any insights how these other particles work. ¡° Grandpa why can I see other particles but don¡¯t see them as clearly as the lightning or ice ones shouldn¡¯t I just see them but not able to control them?¡± ¡° Everyone with an ounce of affinity of the type of magic will be able to see them but they will be more blurrier and harder to control than the magic they match with.¡± ¡° Does that mean that when a person finishes understanding their type they can move on to another type?¡± ¡° It means exactly that however a mage even if he is already a saint rank in one type will not effect his training speed and ability to use another type therefore each mage first tries to finish the ones they are already strong in as this increases their power tremendously instead of only a little.¡± I understand the sentiment behind it however it bothered me a bit. It seems to me the more you know of one type another one will be more difficult to learn as they both have different laws / understandings. This will effect your ability to train another type as you might stubbornly deny a different understanding. What bothered me the most how some of the types seem close to each other most beings don¡¯t have an affinity for both take for example water and ice we all know that the most common way to make ice is water however a mage in either of these types might have no affinity for the other this doesn¡¯t make sense to me. There are other types that should share some characteristics like fire and air, fire and lightning it might be that some higher form denies us this.