Promotion to Advanced

Karen searched through his body's memories, learning what Drew had done and experienced while controlling his body during his absence.

He now understood the current situation.

Karen did not rush to emerge, choosing instead to organize the information he had gained from the soul fusion.

During the year of soul fusion, Karen had been unconscious.

As the souls merged, the memories from before and the memories of this past year flooded in, filling his mind to the brim; he needed to sort them out properly.

First, he understood exactly what had happened.

It all started back when he transmigrated.

He had been playing a game at home when his vision suddenly went black, and he transmigrated.

According to the system's analysis, when that planet activated its ultimate weapon, the gravity device, it triggered a spatial collapse, and for some unknown reason, it pulled Karen in.

Transmigration was one thing, but at that moment, the ice, the spaceship, and he had collided, resulting in an explosion.

The spaceship's system, which was Drew, underwent a miraculous reaction, merging with some ice fragments and his soul.

His soul had split in two during the explosion; one part transmigrated to the newborn Karen, while the other part, guided by the soul, crossed the vast universe and spent over a hundred years finding Karen.

That was the situation when Karen was struck back then.

As soon as the two halves of the soul met, they began to fuse, and Karen's body was teleported onto that teleportation array.

The energy contained in the other half of the soul activated the array. Karen's consciousness fell into a deep sleep, and Drew took over control of the body. Then, Drew appeared.

Because Karen had only transmigrated with half a soul, the soul lacked energy and fell into a long slumber (the same was true for the other half, which was carried across the universe by the system).

A new consciousness had awakened within Karen's body.

Karen, possessing only half a soul, was flawed and could never advance to the high level.

It wasn't until that new consciousness dissipated that Karen's half-soul absorbed some energy, awakened, and took over the body. He thought he had just transmigrated, but in reality, over a hundred years had already passed.

Now that the soul fusion was successful, the flaw that prevented Karen from advancing had been resolved.

Since Karen had advanced to the intermediate level long ago, his accumulation by now could be said to be far, far, far deeper than what Joseph had possessed when he advanced to the intermediate level.

Karen discovered that he was immediately facing another problem.

Magic runes were spontaneously forming in his mental sea. These were things he had comprehended before, but because of his flaws, they had never been able to take shape. Now that they were forming all at once, Karen was about to advance to the high level.

If the magic rune formed by a primary mage was a pattern similar to a hexagram.

Then the magic rune of an intermediate mage was a complex pattern like a labyrinth.

The magic rune of a high-level mage, however, was a spherical pattern, rising from a flat pattern to a three-dimensional one.

Therefore, the plane geometry and solid geometry taught at the academy Drew founded corresponded to these levels of magic runes. Of course, this did not mean that if you learned geometry well, you could construct magic runes and advance.

Look at those who studied hard; only a few had advanced.

Learning geometry was merely to help mages construct magic runes more smoothly, easily, and effortlessly.

It made the structure of your magic runes more stable and easier to succeed. To construct magic runes in the mental sea, the first requirements were mental power and comprehension of magic.

It was like painting; mental power and comprehension of magic were the pigments, while learning geometry provided you with a more convenient brush.

Let us look at the magic runes Karen was constructing.

The spherical magic runes constructed by ordinary people looked like the patterns on the surface of a soccer ball.

However, the patterns on the surface of Karen's sphere were as dense as those on a globe.

The number of magic runes not only represented one's comprehension of magic but also represented one's spellcasting ability.

After all, the magic you released needed to be channeled along your magic runes; if your magic runes were insufficient, the spell simply would not manifest.

Although Karen was old (relative to humans) and had deep comprehension of magic, he shouldn't be this far ahead of the average person. The reason for such a large gap involved the bottleneck of advancing to the high level.

Why was advancing to the high level a watershed?

Why could ordinary people become intermediate mages through sheer persistence once they became official mages (after all, freaks like Joseph were the minority)?

Yet, one could not reach the high level just by wanting to or working hard to advance.

This involved the issue of talent.

Everyone who became a high-level mage needed to awaken their own talent.

These talents were inherent to the soul.

This was why someone like Karen, whose soul was flawed, had been unable to advance to the high level.

Of course, the reason most people could not advance was not because of a flawed soul, but because they lacked talent.

What was the function of talent?

Why could mages without talent not advance to the high level?

Look at the magic rune of a high-level mage; it was spherical, but it was hollow.

What was inside that sphere? It was a core composed of talent. Yes, composed.

Each person did not have just one talent; powerful individuals would have several.

Every person's talent core serves to support their magic runes.

The more powerful the core, the more magic runes it can sustain.

Those with singular or weak talents can only support a smaller number of magic runes.

Those without talent naturally lack a talent core, making it impossible to support the spherical structure of magic runes. This also means they cannot advance to become high-level mages.

The role of the talent core is not limited to merely supporting the magic runes.

As each spell runs along the pathways of the magic runes, it receives a bonus from the talent.

These talent effects can manifest as faster casting, increased magic damage, greater spell penetration, and various other enhancements.

This is why high-level mages are far more powerful than their low- or mid-level counterparts, and why their social circles remain distinct.

As time passed, the pathways of Karen's magic runes finally took their complete form.

Karen stared at his own magic rune pathways, feeling slightly dizzy.

To support such complex magic pathways, it seemed his talents were not only numerous but also exceptionally powerful.

Karen probed his spirit into his magic rune sphere to sense his talents.

Upon sensing his talent core, Karen was stunned.

He actually saw another sphere.

His talents were so numerous that they had formed a small sphere of their own.

Karen felt out his talents.

Why were the majority of them Ice-type talents?

As a member of the Sunstrider family, shouldn't his talents be primarily Fire-type?

The name Sunstrider alone suggested a connection to fire.

His father and brother were both powerful Fire-type mages.

In truth, Karen held a slight misunderstanding regarding the talents of the Sunstrider family.

Influenced by the Sunwell, the talents of the Sunstrider family leaned toward Arcane, the source of all magic, which could be converted into other elemental spells.

The Sunstrider family had discovered a portal connecting to the Fire Elemental Plane.

Because of this, it was very convenient for family members to gain insights into the Fire element, allowing them to reach great heights.

Thus, members of the Sunstrider family were typically Fire-type mages, and before his awakening, Karen had also focused his studies on Fire magic.

(At the beginning, Karen was practicing the high-level Fire spell Flamestrike.)

Karen's brother's iconic fire elemental creature, Al'ar, was discovered within that very plane.

It was not that the Sunstrider family were all Fire mages by nature, but rather that they had all cultivated into Fire mages.

They did not find the Fire Elemental Plane because they were Fire mages; they became Fire mages because they had found the portal to the Fire Elemental Plane.

Karen had misunderstood this.

Karen continued his exploration.

Moreover, there seemed to be something inside the hollow small sphere.

What could be inside?

He had never heard of a talent core containing something else.

When Karen saw clearly what was inside, he discovered it was something somewhat familiar.

So that was how it was.