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653. The Empire's Age of Exploration: Jean Claude's Hope
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 18:13:56 +0000 UTCClaude’s battle tactic was pretty standard: the spell casters first cast buff magic on the others before the archers started their arrow volleys. Lieutenant General Kossir ordered something, and a group of blue-skinned humans with staff started chanting, which created a shield around this legion. Afterward, the blue-skinned also used their archers.
The two teams fired at each other while marching, resulting in casualties on both sides. Then, when they were less than a hundred meters apart, the spellcaster started firing their spells.
Claude calmly watched this, recording all the data from the BlueSkins (the temporary name of this race until further investigation). As for the casualties on his side? This was war and thus expected. This Knight Legion was only a small portion of the ones he brought, and these people were not technically dead since he had a Revival Pool in his tower with their Soul Imprints. Bringing them back to life was only a matter of cost.
“The infantries are about to clash,” someone commented. The screen showed a battle between the dwarf's shield and human spears against the BlueSkins’ warriors.
“These warriors have enhanced physiology, and it is detected they are using mana to do so,” reported someone.
“Someone just used an elemental attack.”
“Which element?” Claude asked
“Flame.”
“Show me.”
A few screens appeared before him, and he saw countless BlueSkins using elements like flame, wind, and lightning. “So, not just regular warriors, but Magic Warriors? Have you detected their level of Magic Immunity?”
“Preliminary Analysis is that their magic immunity is 23% higher than the average [Aura Master],” the Sorceress reported.
“So high?” Claude has his reasons for being shocked. Since the Age of Exploration and getting acquainted with other planes and civilizations, it became apparent that Arcanists were the highest standards in most things, especially regarding humans or subspecies.
Claude’s screens changed, and he immediately saw how the BlueSkins warriors died at a higher rate from arrows than from spells. “What an interesting civilization,” he uttered with a smile. He had a feeling that this expedition would bring him immense wealth and status.
“Sir, we have gathered enough preliminary data. Should we wrap up this battle?” asked one of the commanders.
“What’s everybody else’s opinion?” Claude asked.
“Agree.”
“No problem.”
“Alright, do it,” Claude nodded. “Also, don’t forget to record these knights’ merit properly.” These knights signed up for the Knight Legions with the intention of improving their lives or their planes. So, they care very much about how much contribution or merit they have after each battle.
The Command Center relayed a new order to the legions, primarily the Spellcasters. Without hesitation, these mages started using War Spells, which were essentially spell combinations. The Spellcasters were trained to resonate their mana and chant together to cast vastly more potent spells. War Spells are not a new concept and have existed for a long time in the Empire. Their knowledge is one of the few publicly shared with the conquered planes.
As soon as the spellcasters started their bombardments, this battle soon came to an end. Lieutenant General Grandax tried one last desperate attack, but he was blown to smithereens by one of the spells. Finally, the Knight Legion killed most of the BlueSkins and captured a few to bring back.
…
Claude stood before the dissecting team with two BlueSkin on different tables: one warrior and one spellcaster.
“Let’s start with getting basic information about their race’s language, culture, and society,” Claude ordered. The Sorceress cast the Legilimency Spell, starting with the warrior.
“They called themselves the Styrex race, and in their language, it means the ones blessed by mana,” the Sorceress stated. Their world is ruled by three major Empires: the —”
Countless alarms suddenly rang as the warrior started seizing while blood oozed out of all his orifices. “What’s going on?” Claude asked.
“His soul is collapsing,” the Sorceress stated. “No, even worse, his Soul Dimension is collapsing.”
“How can that be?”
“Look at this.” She showed them a piece of data.
“How can his Soul Dimension be so small and frail?” Claude frowned. The subject was the equivalent of a Tier 4 Aranist in terms of energy level, so even if he was not a spellcaster, his soul and dimension should have received feedback from his powerful body.
“Check the other one,” Claude ordered. As expected, the Spellcaster’s soul dimension was also tiny and frail.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Claude frowned. Without a powerful enough soul, it’s impossible to control mana and cast spells. “Does this world have any special rules? But that usually only applies to the environment.”
There are planes with special rules; for example, a plane whose fire elemental rules will only give birth to fire-based creatures and resources. The oddest of these planes that the Empire encountered was a plane with a special Ghost Rule. Ghosts in that world are immortals as long as they never leave the plane.
“Do you want me to search the spellcaster’s mind? We may be able to get more information about the matter,” the Sorceress suggested.
“Go ahead, but be more meticulous to prevent his soul from collapsing,” Claude nodded. Meanwhile, he activated the room’s enchantment, and it scanned the warrior’s body before showing him a holographic expression of the latter’s anatomy.
“Skin, bones, muscles, and every part have been strengthened by mana,” Claude summarized. “The overall anatomy is close to humans, but this race has evolved a few magical organs.” Claude saw the organs that allowed this warrior to access and store mana in his body.
“Their physiology is extremely complex,” he commented. The more information the body scan revealed, the more awe Claude became. The complexity of this warrior was better than the Empire’s Magic Circuit. The speed and efficiency at which mana flows through every aspect of his body was mind-boggling.
“Could this species have evolved to make up for the flaw in their souls?” Claude theorized. He commanded the tower to send another test subject, but this time, it was a second spellcaster. He scanned the latter’s body, and the result was similar: extremely well-designed and complicated magic organs and systems.
“The warrior is designed for internal application for energy while the spell casters for both internal and external,” Claude analyzed. Spellcasters had specific organs in their throat, mouth, hands/fingers, and feet.
“So, these are the places they can release their spell’s effects?” A Styrex’s spellcaster can release flame, ice, and other effects by opening their mouth. It’s the same for their hands or feet.
“However, the spellcasters we encountered did not fight as such. They released spells like normal spellcasters.”
“Those were middle and high-level spellcasters,” the Sorceress suddenly said.
“Did you find something?”
“Yes,” she replied before showing him a memory. The Spellcaster was training his casting by using martial arts movements. Each routine, which can involve everything from kicking to punching to doing flips up, will result in different spells, mostly elementals.
“So, the martial arts movement are their spell models,” Claude concluded. While Arcanists used runes as their spell models, this race used their body movement.
“It’s an excellent way to bypass the limitation of their souls,” Claude praised. “What about the high-level casters you mentioned?”
“According to the memory, middle-level casters used incantations to control the vibration of their muscles, bones, and internal organs —”
“Thus recreating the effects of the martial art movement,” Claude finished. “Brilliant.”
“Meanwhile, high-level casters don’t even need incantations. They have trained their brain to have micro-level control over their bodies to facilitate better casting. Their wands are also created to better help control vibrations.”
Claude’s eyes flashed excitedly: “Sorceress, do you think I can become a Tower Master by fusing this plane’s magic system into the Arcane System?” Every Arcanist hopes to become a Tower Master and one day have a floating city. The latter is currently not possible, but there are plenty of Tower Masters, all of whom represent the pinnacle of wealth, talent, and magic in the Empire.
“Yes.”
“Oh? Tell me what you think?”
“Replicating this race’s internal energy circulation will be enough to raise the magic affinity and resistance of all Arcanists,” the Sorceress analyzed. “However, that is the bare minimum. Having a body that can cast spells without the reliance on the soul is game-changing for the overall survivability of all Arcanists, and it can also increase our overall strength by mastering a double-casting method of body and mind.
“With such an achievement, becoming a Tower Master is almost guaranteed.”
Comments
hector lyng
I loved the detail of the explanation, thank you very much for all the effort made, thanks for the chapter
Plenit
I love the explanation of the difference in the structure of the magic system
