The Nature of Rank

"Okay, thank you, Society President."

Fran had originally intended to refute Iris's misconceptions about mathematics, but since Iris had already expressed her concern, Fran felt too embarrassed to argue.

I could only offer my thanks, and then I began to ponder what Iris had just said.

She understood perfectly: the Chief of the Transmutation School had his eye on her, or more precisely, on the Paper she held.

Even before this Paper was published, she might have been targeted by Habers because of her status as Harbos's student.

However, the Chief of the obvious Transmutation School recognized the value of her Paper and therefore paid even more attention to her.

In such an unknown situation, it is indeed necessary to disguise oneself well and avoid revealing oneself.

"Um, Society President, what is this ' Aether ' you mentioned earlier?" Fran recalled a seemingly random question Iris had asked her at the very beginning.

Seeing the obvious interest on Fran's face, Iris stroked her chin for a moment and then said:

"The Mana Communication System probably doesn't have these things. If you're interested, come back here in a while, and I'll get some information from the Alchemy School for you."

But then she became a little curious.

"Who taught you math?" This question puzzled Iris greatly. Since Fran hadn't studied under Alchemy School, where did she acquire her mathematical skills?

Even she had to admit that without a high level of mathematical expertise, one could never have produced such Paper.

"I learned it from a book; those books have related content..."

"Oh." Only after seeing Iris simply respond with a "yes" to indicate that she understood did Fran's tense heart finally relax.

It seems Iris has no intention of asking her which book she got her knowledge from; if she were to actually ask her for that book, she wouldn't be able to come up with it anytime soon.

She could copy the contents of those books from her past life and write them in a book to disguise it, but that would be quite troublesome.

Iris pondered for a moment, then said:

"Alright, everything should be fine now. You can go. If you need anything, feel free to come find me."

"Okay, thank you, Society President."

After Fran went downstairs, thinking it was a lucky coincidence, she went straight to the first floor of the mage's tower, found a seat, and took out the receiver panel.

She thought she might as well get the Promotion Method to Second Order Mage as well, so she wouldn't have to go through the process again.

She opened the Mana Communication System and saw her registered account name ' Lai ', next to which was a string of numbers.

[Contribution Points: 313]

Apart from that, there's no other place to display numbers, no Paper published under my account, and no details about where these Contribution Points came from.

It simply displays Fran's Contribution Points.

Even more outrageous is that if Fran wants to view her own Paper on the Mana Communication System, she has to use Contribution Points to purchase it so that it can be displayed on the system.

Fran stared at her Contribution Points for a long time, but the numbers didn't continue to increase. So she guessed that it was a settlement system where her Contribution Points would only be calculated at a specific time.

Fran didn't care about anything else and simply paid fifty Contribution Points for the book titled "Some Discussions on the Advancement of Second-Tier Profession Elite Mage" in the selected book. Then she glanced around and saw that no one was with her.

Only then did she manage to focus her attention on it.

[The essence of Order is a leap in life level; this is a law of the world, difficult to change. The world dictates that Order will always possess far greater abilities than Order, and this is beyond question.]

[Of course, aside from the fact that the First Order merely makes one's attributes unattainable by ordinary people, higher Order involves more than just improvements in attributes.]

[For example, Tier 3 is a major hurdle for all Profession; once you cross it, you'll be a significant figure even on the entire continent.]

[This includes the fact that advancing to the third tier will directly change your life form, allowing you to survive without relying on a physical body.]

[Even if a third-tier mage's physical body is destroyed, they will not die, nor will they develop into a spirit like those in Necromancy School; instead, they can survive as a composite of Mental Power.]

[This is the life level enhancement brought about by Order, and there will also be a preliminary change in life level during the process of advancing to the second rank...]

Fran read the text above and suddenly thought of her most powerful spell— Blood of the Furnace.

This spell can now easily kill even a Second Order Profession User, which shows just how powerful it is.

Based on the description above, it seems that her Blood of the Furnace is not very effective against third-tier Profession, since others can survive even without a physical body.

However, Fran thought of a method for using the Blood of the Furnace she had not yet successfully used—that is, after turning something into a liquid, there is still a plasticizing process.

If these red liquids are not shaped, they will revert to their original state, except that the living organisms involved in the transformation will die.

However, Fran realized the true purpose of 'Shaping': to kill third-tier Profession.

Since those third-tier Profession won't die easily even if their physical bodies perish, I might as well mold their bodies into something else, or into a Mental Power aggregate that can control them.

Fran could roughly guess that this spell was developed by Harbos specifically to kill Third Order Professional.

It's estimated that by the time she can fully unleash this spell, she'll likely encounter a Third Order Professional who can directly turn the opponent's spirit and body into red liquid, and then cast it into a mound of earth.

This is the true use of the Blood of the Furnace; however, up to this point, she has only used this spell to transform life forms and has not yet reached a higher level.

But even knowing this wouldn't be of any use to her right now.

Even at the second tier, she estimated that she might be able to expend a lot of Mental Power to use the Spell Ring to achieve the true effects of the Blood of the Furnace. Right now, she couldn't even move the red liquid to a different location.

Furthermore, she is currently only a junior mage preparing to advance to the second tier. If she were to actually encounter a Third Order Professional, she probably wouldn't be able to cast any spells before she dies.

As she continued reading, she saw that the author was already describing the characteristics of Second Order Profession User.

A typical Second Order Profession User is likely to have the following characteristics:

1. All the Arts one can use, including Combat Technique and spells, can be enhanced and released, but this enhancement will consume some resources.

2. Many fatal wounds become insignificant, but only a few fatal wounds, such as being cut in the waist or having the neck severed, do not damage major organs such as the heart and brain.

3. Their energy will be much greater than in the First Order, and many things will become extremely efficient here. For example, they can sleep for the same amount of time as usual, but the time they are energetic will be at least three times longer than before.

After Paper the characteristics of Second Order Profession User, the author finally gets to the part about how to advance in rank.

[Aside from a few factors like bloodline or extraordinary items, the simplest and best way to advance to Second Order Profession User is through Profession advancement.]

[The Profession advancement method, refined over thousands of years, can be used at least up to the Fourth Order of advancement, and becomes extremely stable at the second tier.]

Simply put, as long as you have a Tier 2 Profession, it counts as an advancement.

[But how do we acquire it? That's the key point of this article.]

[Note: Although theoretically, even if you have not reached Formal Rank yet, as long as you meet the requirements for a second-tier Profession, you can still be considered a Second Order Profession User.]

However, this method carries significant hidden dangers, which vary depending on the specific Profession and are not limited to issues related to subsequent promotions.

Therefore, the existing methods on the mainland are to directly upgrade the Profession obtained during the First Order advancement, or to advance to the corresponding Profession after changing Profession at the First Order.

The safest approach is to ensure that every Tier 2 Profession corresponds to a First Order Profession...

Upon seeing this, Fran suddenly remembered a Profession Promotion Method that was still displayed on her Panel; that Profession was called [Sunflame Knight].

Fran frowned. The description of [Sunflame Knight] had two stars, which meant that, in the eyes of the Panel, it was a second-tier Profession.

According to this Paper, is the [Sunflame Knight] a Profession that cannot be promoted on the continent?

But after thinking about it for a while, Fran gave up. What did the affairs of the continent have to do with her own Panel? At this point, she even felt that if a certain Profession disappeared from the continent, as long as Fran met the specific conditions, she would definitely be able to obtain that Profession.

She continued reading and finally saw the specific methods for promotion.

This article provides a relatively mainstream Promotion Method, namely, the advancement of the Elite Mage Profession.

A mage who wants to advance in rank (excluding the Sword Chant School), that is, to advance within their original School, must meet the following conditions.

1. Master the spells corresponding to the three specializations gained upon advancement in this School. (Those without specializations should refer to the section on acquiring specializations.)

2. After fulfilling the first condition, use your Mental Power to construct a spell structure in your mind, using at least three spells as a base. (This requires a certain amount of Mental Power; if your Mental Power Mental Power is insufficient and there is no way to increase it, you can abandon this method of advancement.)

3. Have a certain understanding of the spells of your School. (If you are a researcher and have published several Paper on your School, then you should meet this requirement.)

Note: If you cannot meet the third requirement now, I suggest you read more Paper from this School. Perhaps you will be able to truly understand those spells without having to write down your understanding. This understanding is sufficient as long as you truly understand them.

After completing the above three steps, your School Mage Profession will transform into the corresponding Elite (School) Profession.