Promoting to the Second Order

Fran arrived at her rented house, which was previously where she kept her alchemy equipment. Now, she had specially cleared out an area to use as her training ground.

She placed a cushioned chair in the middle, sat down, and adjusted the lighting to ensure a comfortable environment.

Meanwhile, she had already set up Magic Trap and warning signs in the house in case anyone disturbed her.

Fran took a deep breath and then took out a stack of papers, which were the Promotion Method as a mage that she had printed out through the Mana Communication System.

After checking it again, she put down the paper, pushed all the items to the other side, and sat down alone in the chair to begin her first attempt.

Transforming one's own School mage Profession into the corresponding second-tier Elite Mage Profession is no easy task.

Even if you've joined those large societies, within those societies you only gain the qualification to exchange for corresponding spells; you don't yet have the resources to exchange for those spells.

Even Nora, who joined the Yobner Society, lacked the resources to exchange for spells within the Yobner Society, a consequence of the mages' belief that knowledge should have a price.

So no matter how much Iris thought highly of Fran, her help to Fran was always indirect, such as providing her with advantages in identity and procedures.

She didn't give Fran a large amount of Contribution Points or Battle Merit merits to Fran, even though she knew that doing so would greatly shorten Fran's development time.

Even Fran's mentor, Harbos, only selectively gave Fran some hard-to-obtain knowledge and spells, rather than giving her money directly. This is because mages all agree that all knowledge should be exchanged for something of equal value.

No monk will give money directly to his disciple unless the disciple is related to the monk by blood.

Therefore, it is quite difficult for a normal mage to collect three spells that match their specialty, because it requires a lot of effort to accumulate enough resources to exchange for them.

Another thing is to practice the spells you acquire and then master them.

This alone can stump countless people, because not everyone has Fran's Panel, which allow her to be certain that she can master a certain spell.

In many cases, many mages practice this spell for three years but still don't reach the point of mastering it; they can only cast it fluently.

At this point, the mage will begin to practice other spells, perhaps finding that a spell of similar difficulty is easier for them to master.

It all depends on your affinity with the spell. Once you're compatible, you can basically master the spell.

Unless you're an exceptionally talented individual, once you've mastered three First Order spells that perfectly match your specialization as First Order Mage, you'll essentially have seven or eight First Order spells at your disposal.

At this stage, a mage who has been promoted can be considered a true elite.

Fran's situation is somewhat special. Although she knows relatively few spells in the Elemental School, the effect of each one she casts far exceeds that of a normal First Order Mage.

This is not only due to the proficiency bonus from the Panel, but also the effects of her powerful enhancement traits and extremely high Mental Power.

These abilities allow her to unleash elemental magic, and when others see her, they will surely consider her to be an elite mage.

Fran memorized the spell structures of the three spells: [Earth Uplift], [Howling Gale], and [Greater Fireball], and then focused her mind on them.

She closed her eyes and slowly constructed a structure with her Mental Power.

As she drew a square with her Mental Power, she could feel the faint light shining on her eyelids suddenly disappear.

Instead, a black curtain composed of Mental Power appeared before her eyes, Fran could write and draw on with her Mental Power.

She didn't waste any time; the appearance of the black curtain and the need to draw on it with Mental Power were details she already knew.

However, she didn't rush into painting, because she knew that starting right away would be too hasty.

While she was searching for information about advancing to the Elite Mage, she came across such an experiment.

[On exploring the optimal solution for describing the spell structure used in the advancement of elite mages]

Fran didn't see the strange experiments the other person had done, but she still largely agreed with their conclusions.

"When drawing spell structures, the more standard the drawn spell structure, the greater the improvement one seems to receive after advancement."

Fran remembered this conclusion and thought she could give it a try, so she planned how to draw a more standard spell structure before she even started.

The structure of a spell is actually a rather abstract model that can be perceived by Mental Power, and the structure of each spell is different.

Furthermore, even if you make only slight changes, the corresponding structure of the spell will change, making it seem as if each spell is unique, because the spell structure can distinguish any two spells with different effects.

Fran's previously memorized spell structures came in handy here. Not only her, but all mages who chose the path to becoming Elite Mage had to memorize their spell structures.

Even if they have memorized it, carving the spell structure on the black screen still consumes Mental Power. Generally speaking, many people only sketch a rough outline when they advance in their careers.

A mage with immense Mental Power can use more of their Mental Power to refine the details at this stage, making the spell's structure more perfect.

This is a unique advantage of mages with immense Mental Power, which is more in line with the concept of 'elite' in the Profession that require advancement.

Fran was not content with simply sketching and then carving; she felt that this was not 'standard' enough.

She used a portion of her Mental Power to create several 'rulers' in her mind.

Then, she carefully measured the edges of the black curtain with a ruler and marked several important nodes on it. She was going to use ruler and compass constructions on this 'black curtain' to draw a more standard model.

These are some clever ideas she came up with from her past life experiences; she believes they are more reliable than relying solely on intuition to paint.

Perhaps because Mental Power is so precious during advancement, the mages of this world are unwilling to waste their valuable Mental Power on trivial matters, which is why they haven't thought of this point.

After all, just constructing three spell models is quite difficult. Countless people are stuck at this point, unable to advance to the Elite Mage level due to insufficient Mental Power.

Fran, however, was not afraid, because her Mental Power had surpassed that of a normal First Order Mage, and this loss of spell power was nothing to her.

She could even use that much Mental Power to complete two promotions without having to be stingy at all.

She used a ruler to mark the distances, and then drew the pictures in the areas marked on it.

In the blink of an eye, she had almost completely drawn the spell structure of the three spells on the black screen.

"My method might consume some extra Mental Power, but in terms of 'standards,' it seems to be much better than all the methods used by previous mages."

After all, the power of tools is something that is difficult to achieve by relying solely on human hands, although mages will greatly increase their thinking speed as they advance in rank.

However, in this area where speed of thought is less important, mages face some difficulties, which is where the usefulness of tools becomes apparent.

Perhaps at a higher level, after one's life level is improved, one will be more powerful in this aspect than by using tools, but for now, this is an advancement from the First Order to the second level.

Fran erased all the auxiliary lines and converted them back into Mental Power at a reduced rate. In the end, she still had more than half of her Mental Power left.

This made Fran realize that perhaps she could publish this Paper, describing her Promotion Method, which could be used as long as one's Mental Power was slightly stronger.

This adds another achievement to our portfolio.

Fran put these matters aside for the time being. After carefully checking everything and finding nothing missing, she gently wiped the ruler away.

Following the method described in the Paper, she channeled her Mental Power into the center of the three magical structures—a midpoint connecting the three structures.

At this stage, with just a small amount of Mental Power, one can directly advance to the level of Elite Mage. After all, most people who reach this stage have very little Mental Power left.

Without hesitation, Fran poured all of her remaining Mental Power into it.

There doesn't seem to be a mechanism here where "the more Mental Power you have left, the stronger you become after advancement." She only injected a little Mental Power, and the entire black curtain lit up.

The next second, she saw a glimmer of light shining on her eyelids in reality.

By this time, she could already feel the changes brought about by the promotion.

Her body felt lighter, and she could feel her Mental Power flowing through her body. This flowing Mental Power could reduce external damage and give her resistance to many things.

More importantly, there was a change in her Mental Power. She could feel that her Mental Power had broken through a certain barrier, making her incredibly energetic.

Fran silently recited the command on the Panel.

[Name: Fran

Profession: Elite Elemental Mage (Two Stars)...(omitted)

Attributes: Constitution 10.5, Spirit 36.4

Arts: Earth Uplift (Mastery) (Proficiency: 4501/10000)

Howling Gale (Mastery) (Proficiency: 4631/10000)

Greater Fireball (Mastery) (Proficiency: 4319/10000)

(Beginner) (Proficiency: 0/10): A spell you have mastered, but you currently cannot cast it correctly.

...(slightly)

Trait: Multi-Element Mastery (You have a strong understanding of the three elements: fire, wind, and earth, which can help you enhance your spells.)

Perfect Mage (Your advancement process is perfect; when you mobilize your Mental Power Mental Power, you can enhance its effectiveness.)

...(slightly)]

Fran's first reaction upon seeing the Panel was surprise.

"Promotions are based on skill level?!"

"And what is this Arts with all these question marks?"