Wizard Schools

Rayne almost got up and left when he heard the word "free."

The free stuff is always the most expensive, isn't it?

Back when he was young and naive, he had been fooled by countless games advertising themselves as "free." He had jumped into one pit after another, spent countless amounts of money, and wrecked his health in the process. Only in the end did he realize that he had merely become a paid companion for those rich second-generation heirs who spent money like water, providing them with their gaming experience.

Thinking of those painful memories, Rayne actually forgot to respond right away.

Viola watched his expression shift repeatedly, and he seemed somewhat displeased. She wondered if she had said something wrong, but for a moment she did not know what to say either. An awkward silence fell over the room.

"Ahem..."

Rayne finally remembered that this was not a game. He cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "Lady Viola, I truly haven't given careful consideration to the direction I should take as a Transcendent. Could you tell me about it?"

The half-elf nodded slightly and said seriously, "Mr. Rayne just completed the Soul Test and lasted twenty-five minutes. Such talent is already extremely rare. Among the three academies in Longshande, there may not even be a few geniuses like you."

Rayne waved his hand in feigned modesty, though he was secretly delighted. Hearing a beautiful woman praise him to his face made him feel positively radiant.

"With your talent, your first choice of profession should naturally be a Wizard."

Viola raised a hand and tucked a lock of golden hair behind her ear, revealing her pointed ear. She continued, "The Empire is protected by the Goddess and ruled by Wizards. Wizards are also humanity's oldest and most powerful Transcendent profession—perhaps without equal. No matter how you look at it, you should become a Wizard."

Rayne deeply agreed.

In fact, in the Aurelian Empire, the Transcendent profession people yearned for most was the Wizard.

Wizards were always the first choice among Transcendents!

Although other Transcendent professions were also powerful, and even surpassed Wizards in certain aspects, very few people would give up the opportunity to become a Wizard if they were qualified.

Of course, Wizards had extremely high requirements for talent. Of those who completed the Soul Transformation Ritual, perhaps only one in twenty had a chance to change professions into a Wizard. They were the most gifted among them.

Therefore, nearly all of the Empire's most powerful figures were Wizards.

The main reason Rayne had not immediately agreed to Roger's offer to become a Demon Hunter was that he was wondering whether he had a chance to change professions into a Wizard. If he did not, he would then settle for becoming a Demon Hunter.

At this point, Viola did not make any visible movement, yet a raven made of flame appeared out of thin air before her.

The Fire Raven had a wingspan of about half a meter. It was so lifelike that it looked like a real bird of prey.

It circled once around the room, then grabbed a cup of tea from the table and flew toward Rayne. It hovered steadily before him, without spilling a single drop from the tea held in its claws.

"Please have some tea." Viola made an inviting gesture.

Rayne took the cup. The Fire Raven immediately dissipated, as if it had never appeared.

However, in his Soul Eye, the Fire Raven broke apart into red energy. It flowed toward Viola, sank into her forehead, and entered the illusory tower within her soul. On the bottommost level, the Demon Soul of a Fire Raven reappeared.

Rayne had known for a long time that Viola was a Wizard, but he still pretended to look shocked.

"Lady Viola, so you're a Wizard!"

Viola was very satisfied with Rayne's reaction. Only after showing off that trick did she ask, "Mr. Rayne, do you know what Schools and specializations Wizards have?"

"Three Schools and eight specializations?" Rayne answered uncertainly.

Wizards were the Transcendent profession everyone yearned for, but they stood high above the masses and were extremely mysterious. People outside the Transcendent community knew very little about them.

The teachers at the academy often mentioned Wizards, but they were not Wizards themselves. They only knew a few terms and could never clearly explain what Wizards were actually like.

Viola looked somewhat surprised. "So, Mr. Rayne, you aren't completely ignorant about Wizards."

"I heard about them once from a teacher at the academy. They introduced some famous Wizard professions, such as Myriad Spirits Wizard, but I don't know the specific Schools or specializations." Only after finishing did Rayne realize that he had inadvertently revealed that he was an academy student.

A smile appeared in Viola's eyes. She said, "Your teacher was right. Wizards are indeed divided into three major Schools and eight specializations."

She then explained Wizard professional knowledge to Rayne in great detail.

The first Transcendent profession to emerge among humanity was the Wizard.

At first, humanity's ancient sages sought to imitate the spellcasting abilities of Elf Mages. Later, with the inspiration and assistance of the Goddess of Magic, they gradually perfected the Wizard system, turning it into one of the most powerful Transcendent professions.

Traditional Mages had eight Schools, divided according to their spellcasting methods and spell effects. Wizards, on the other hand, were divided into three Schools based on differences in how they fused souls.

They were the Spell Seal School, the Soul Control School, and the Combat School.

The Spell Seal School increased Soul Power by fusing Spell Seals.

The essence of a Spell Seal was an element. Wizards separated Arcane Element from Demon Souls and made them into Spell Seals, fusing them into their own souls. They then used Soul Power to drive the Spell Seals and cast spells.

The Spell Seal School had four specializations: Elementalist, Arcanist, Psion, and Shadowmancer. These were all advanced professions and required the corresponding elemental affinity element.

Among these four specializations, the most common was the Elementalist.

More than half of all Wizards were Elementalists. Due to differences in their personal elemental affinities, Elementalists specialized in different categories of spells. They could be further divided into nearly ten types, making them quite complicated.

Arcanists wielded arcane energy. Among the four specializations, they had the highest talent requirements and were extremely rare.

The other two specializations, Psion and Shadowmancer, were also uncommon. The Spell Seals for these two categories were difficult to find, making it hard to improve one's strength. As a result, few Wizards chose either specialization.

Next was the Soul Control School. Its members drove Demon Souls to fight.

Soul Control Wizards ignited the Soul Fire through meditation and constructed a "Soul Gathering Tower" within their souls. They fused complete Demon Souls into the Soul Gathering Tower, nurturing and strengthening them.

When necessary, the Demon Souls in the tower could provide the Wizard with combat power.

The Soul Control School had three specializations: Shapeshifting Wizard, Thousand Spells Wizard, and Myriad Spirits Wizard.

The three specializations represented three different fighting styles.

Shapeshifting Wizards were also known as Shapeshifting Wizards. They allowed Demon Souls to possess them and grant them transformation abilities, then cast spells through their new forms. After stacking the possession of multiple Demon Souls, their close-combat and spellcasting abilities both far surpassed those of the Demon Souls themselves. Their fighting styles were ever-changing, their uses broad, and they could adapt to nearly any environment. They were extraordinarily difficult to kill.

Thousand Spells Wizards, as the name suggested, were Wizards who mastered a thousand spells.

Of course, "a thousand spells" was an exaggerated expression, but it still described the defining trait of Thousand Spells Wizards: they mastered a vast number of spells.

Thousand Spells Wizards also nurtured Demon Souls within their Soul Gathering Towers, but the Demon Souls they chose were mainly Elemental Creatures, spirits, and aberrations.

These three types of Demon Souls were usually born with multiple spells and possessed powerful, rare spellcasting techniques.

Thousand Spells Wizards cast spells through Demon Soul possession. They could also switch the possessed Demon Soul in an instant, thereby mastering all the spells of the Demon Souls within their towers. By combining different spellcasting techniques, they could produce unexpected spell effects.

Moreover, when necessary, Thousand Spells Wizards could directly summon all the Demon Souls from their towers and have them cast spells together, bombarding their enemies with magic.

The final specialization in the Soul Control School was the Myriad Spirits Wizard.

Because of the popularity of the Myriad Spirits Card, Myriad Spirits Wizards were so famous that almost everyone had heard of them. Even ordinary people, regardless of whether they knew how to play cards, had heard of this Transcendent profession.

Some ignorant people even believed that all Wizards were Myriad Spirits Wizards.

In reality, Myriad Spirits Wizards were merely one branch of the Soul Control School, though they might also be its most powerful branch.

Myriad Spirits Wizards were more like summoners. They could also allow Demon Souls to possess them and temporarily strengthen themselves, but their most relied-upon method of combat was still summoning the Demon Souls within their Soul Gathering Towers. They used Soul Power to form physical bodies for the Demon Souls and commanded them to fight.

Myriad Spirits Wizards pursued quantity. By combining various types of Demon Souls, they achieved different combat objectives.

Besides the Demon Souls nurtured within their Soul Gathering Towers, Myriad Spirits Wizards could also turn Demon Souls into Soul Crystals and carry them with them.

Because Soul Crystals looked like individual cards, they were also called Soul Cards.

Myriad Spirits Wizards infused Soul Power into Soul Cards and could summon Demon Souls from them as well.

The Demon Souls nurtured within the Soul Gathering Tower were called Inner Souls, while those summoned through Soul Cards were called Outer Souls.

Inner Souls could be recalled at any time, and the remaining Soul Power forming their bodies would also be recovered. Even if they were killed, they could be resurrected after being nurtured again. Outer Souls, however, disappeared when killed and became one-time consumables. Moreover, regardless of whether an Outer Soul was killed, the Soul Power forming its body would be lost forever.

Even so, with the assistance of Soul Cards, Myriad Spirits Wizards became one of the most powerful Wizard specializations.

The known Demon Souls in the world were divided into sixteen major categories. Each major category was further divided into hundreds of minor categories, and there were countless Demon Souls with unique functions.

Myriad Spirits Wizards were the experts who understood Demon Soul varieties most thoroughly. They cultivated and strengthened Demon Souls, summoned them, and formed unique combinations to use in different combat situations.

As a result, different schools also emerged among Myriad Spirits Wizards. They were called Soul Card Combinations.

For example, the most popular "Beast Garden," which specialized in summoning magical beasts; the "Legion," which summoned humanoid Demon Souls; and the "Swarm Nest," which won through sheer numbers.

Each Soul Card Combination represented a summoning style.

Myriad Spirits Wizards loved collecting Soul Cards. Many alchemy shops specially made various kinds of Soul Cards for this reason. Sometimes, they sold complete, mature sets of Soul Cards at even higher prices.

The Myriad Spirits Card was a card game that imitated the combat style of Myriad Spirits Wizards.

The only difference was that people's cards could not summon Demon Souls.

Viola herself was a Myriad Spirits Wizard, so she explained everything in great detail, with a hint of pride in her voice.

Finally, Viola introduced the Combat School.

When she spoke of the Combat School, her expression became rather playful. It had the fewest members of the three major Schools, and it possessed only one specialization: the Combat Wizard.

Rayne had never heard of Combat Wizards before, and his interest was immediately piqued.

"Combat Wizard!"

"This profession sounds incredibly powerful."