Benefits of the Spirit Realm

In the Spirit Realm analysis course, Ichi just explained how to deal with various unexpected events encountered in the Spirit Realm.

He looked at the seats, which were already half empty, and felt a sense of unease.

Every time this course starts, a large group of people come to listen, but after learning more about the Spirit Realm, many people choose to give up and stop coming to class.

After all, the growth of their strength is what the apprentices desire. After learning about the difficulty of advancing through the Spirit Realm, many wise apprentices chose to give up.

The only purpose of this course was to provide him, a person with nothing else to do, with a job.

Just as he finished packing up his things in the lecture hall as usual, a familiar voice called out to him again.

"Teacher, can we find a quiet place to talk?"

Ichi looked up with some confusion, and after recognizing Fran, who had asked him the question in the first class of the school year, he said:

"It's you! I thought you weren't coming. Is there something you need?"

"I had something to do in the last class, so I didn't come. I wanted to ask about the Spirit Realm Trial. I got a key."

Fran missed not only the Weapon Forging class last time, but also many other classes; building Steam Engine also takes time.

"Oh!?" Ichi looked at Fran's chest with a strange gaze. There was a badge on her robe, which was engraved with the shape of a hammer.

Although Ichi didn't know which School the pattern corresponded to, after all, information about each School was very tightly controlled, so it was normal for an unheard-of School to suddenly appear.

But Ichi himself, as Formal Mage and having taught for some time, was very clear about the specifications of a standard School emblem.

In his view, the badge was very standard, had the necessary the Alliance markings, and its design was very clean, making it a good representation of the School.

It's highly likely to be a genuine School emblem, but since that's the case...

"Let's talk in my office."

The two went to Ichi's office, where Ichi eagerly tried to dissuade them:

"You should give up that key... Now that you've joined the School and have another path, don't trespass into the Spirit Realm again. It's not a good place."

Fran immediately explained:

"Teacher Ichi, you've misunderstood. I don't want to advance in the Spirit Realm; I just want to ask you a question."

"My question is, if one has already been promoted to Formal Mage, can one still obtain power from the Spirit Realm?"

Ichi immediately perked up, stroked the books on the table, and said:

"You mean, after you become Formal Mage, you can still pass the Trial of the Spirit Realm and obtain Spirit Realm power, right?"

Most of those who could choose his classes were apprentices who had not joined School, and these people naturally had no chance of being promoted to Formal Mage.

Those apprentices who had already joined the School generally did not achieve a ranking in the assessments. Those who did achieve a ranking would receive instruction from the mentors and learn the promotion process.

Knowing the promotion process, they would naturally choose another path that is more acceptable to the City of Apprentices, and would no longer choose the Spirit Realm.

Fran clearly already knew the process of becoming Formal Mage, but she was somewhat greedy, which is why she came to him to ask about it.

Ichi smiled; he was quite pleased with Fran's choice of a different path, so he decided to answer the question.

"Once one achieves Formal Rank through methods in the Material Realm, one will be protected by the Material Realm and immune to the Spirit Realm's rule against learning Material Realm magic."

"At this point, some mages started thinking. Although I couldn't improve my Mental Power through the Spirit Realm, and it was difficult to obtain useful spells Spirit Realm, there was still something very important."

"These mages have conducted many experiments in an attempt to obtain the most unique quality of Spirit Realm Mage — Talent."

"This is the biggest difference between advancement through the Spirit Realm and other methods, and it's also the key to making up for the inability to improve Arts in the Spirit Realm."

"Some Talent can greatly enhance Profession's combat power, while Talent can continuously strengthen Profession's basic attributes through certain methods."

"My Talent is called Invigorating Spell, which grants a 25% boost to the next spell cast after a spell hits a target."

"This is a pretty good Talent; many people's Talent even have negative effects, but even so, I can't advance..."

He gave a wry smile and continued.

"Getting back to the point, many Formal Mage desire to obtain Talent from the Spirit Realm to enhance themselves; however, during their investigations, they discovered that this is extremely difficult."

"The process of entering the Trial went smoothly, and almost everyone who tried succeeded. However, they soon discovered that they could not cast spells far beyond the apprentice Order in the Spirit Realm."

"Once you do that, it will attract the attention of the Spirit Realm, and you will feel yourself being pulled out of the Spirit Realm."

"Once a certain level is reached, one will be directly kicked out of the Spirit Realm, resulting in failure of the Trial."

Fran seemed to understand, and said:

"Does that mean we can't use power exceeding the apprentice level during the Trial?"

"No, it can still be used a few times. If you use it too much, you'll be kicked out of the Spirit Realm."

Fran clicked her tongue in amazement. Being able to use the spells of Formal Mage was a huge advantage in an apprentice -Order Trial, but even so, she had never heard of many Formal Mage having Spirit Realm Talent.

Logically, if this path were so simple, it should be the only option for all those seeking promotion.

"Then, these mages encountered their first hurdle: how to complete the Trial."

"For ordinary Spirit Realm ascendants, the difficulty is high, but it can be completed with some effort. However, the Trial these mages encounter are different."

"Trial are usually completed by multiple Spirit Realm Traveler together, with both cooperative and competitive goals. However, those mages have found that, despite completing the same goal, others pass the Trial while they are shown as having failed."

"Through continuous experimentation, the mages concluded that they had to complete more of the task than other Spirit Realm Traveler, otherwise they would find it difficult to pass the Trial."

"And so, after many attempts, some of the mages finally received notification that they had passed the Trial."

"But..."

Ichi paused for a moment, and Fran couldn't help but speak.

"Did they all fail to acquire their Talent in the end?"

"No, it's not that none of them have it, but rather that some people haven't been given the Talent."

"This is a topic that is still being researched: why can't those who are formally ranked obtain Talent when participating in the Spirit Realm Trial?"

"Some people do indeed acquire a Talent, while others do not."

Fran frowned and asked:

"What exactly is the reason?"

Ichi smiled and said:

"It's the recognition from the Spirit Realm. They've discovered that the recognition from the Spirit Realm is the key to acquiring Talent. In other words, you need the Spirit Realm's approval to gain Talent."

"Then how do we gain recognition from the Spirit Realm?"

"I don't know about that. That's higher-level content. There should be some research on it in various School, but they've all blocked that knowledge."

"However..." Ichi changed the subject. "I think it might be related to your performance in the Trial, your own strength..."

"And it's related to some strange items you encountered in the Spirit Realm."

Ichi pushed a chair back, lay down comfortably, and said:

"Actually, you can give it a try after you become Formal Mage. What if you're lucky?"