Chapter 2: Body Refinement Path
Acolytes within the world were classified in three sub realms, from weaker to stronger : Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
A beginner acolyte would usually only be able to cast one or two spells, and his knowledge was very limited.
Intermediate acolytes were apprentices who had grasped a couple of laws, and were more proficient with one element and possessed a specialization.
Advanced acolytes were the strongest and rarest apprentices, having all chosen one path to walk. It could be the bloodline path, where they integrated a magical beast's bloodline, the mechanical path, where they merged with mechanical constructs, the elemental path, where they chose one element and focused on it, etc...
Of course, you did not need to become a advanced acolyte to choose a path. You could do it whenever you wanted to.
Greem Steelguard was already 15 at this point, and he had joined the tower four years ago. At first, he lived a harsh life as a probationary acolyte, forced to copy magical books on the whims of the librarian Jess, a mean girl that decided to bully him for his cute looks. These manual tasks had provided him with a priceless opportunity to learn more about magic, and he ended up graduating from his probationary status very early on, becoming a beginner rank acolyte at the age of 11, which was a massive achievement for someone like him.
However, four years later, he was still in the middle stage of the beginner acolyte realm despite working twice harder than everyone, never missing his daily cycle of meditation. This harsh reality could be associated with his talent.
He possessed [Upper Low Grade Talent], which was below average in the tower. Often, Greem would envy the top talents that entered the tower at the same moment as he did, worked much less yet gained so much more from meditation.
Looking at the sheet of paper lying on his desk, Greem smiled bitterly.
The tower possessed an evaluation floor where apprentices could evaluate their attributes and strength.
[Name: Greem Steelguard
Rank - Beginner Acolyte
Strength - 6 | Agility - 4 | Vitality - 4 | Magic Power - 6
Talent - [Upper Low Grade]
Affinity - [Water]
Perk - Knight Physique
Spell mastered: [Frozen Enchant] (Zero Circle)
Skill mastered: Greenhill Breathing Technique (Knight Level), Greenhill Military Swordsmanship (Knight Level)]
His physical stats were above average, in the sense that most adults would only have 2 or 3 points of stats. Having reached such high standards of strength, agility and vitality at the age of 15 was quite an extraordinary feat in itself.
Knowing that he lacked magical talent, he had picked up a sword and learned how to wield it from [Knight Zackari], the sword instructor who was given authority by Magus Rutherford and a small part of the training hall. Apprentices in the tower knew him as a drunkard who blaberred nonsense. However, many acolytes who had yet to learn a spell would learn swordsmanship from him.
In five years, Greem had learned a lot from Knight Zackari, to the point that he no longer felt the need of spending any more gold coins in his apprenticeship. After all, Greem had reached the [Knight] Realm, both in physical attributes and skillwise,
Having low magical talent, there was one harsh path that suited him: the Body Refinement Path.
He remembered Great Magus Rutherford's writings in the library: "The Body Refinement path is filled with pain and cuts, but it is also the most straightforward path towards true strength. Walking this path means that you will have to train both your body and spiritual force on a daily basis, while using spells to complement your physical assets. Many tried to walk this path, but without the proper spirit, you will face a plateau very quickly..."
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