Great Deed Profession

Facing Professor Gideon's question, Cecilia, standing before the desk, fell silent.

Her bright eyes lowered slightly, her fingers unconsciously twisting the lace trim of her skirt.

After a long while.

She finally shook her head gently.

Gideon looked at the girl before him, delicate as a porcelain doll, and sighed inwardly.

Of course, he understood why she was so conflicted.

The root of it all lay in the talent she possessed—a gift enough to drive countless mages mad with envy, yet rendered unbearably awkward by her bloodline.

It was a result confirmed only after dozens of mana regression assessments conducted jointly by several professors from the academy's Department of Truth.

[Mana Tree (Sapling): Transcendent Talent]

[Description: The mana circuits within your body are as exceptionally stable as the roots of the World Tree.]

[Effect: When casting any spell, you can output an additional 20% mana beyond that spell's limit and convert it into a pure increase in power. At the same time, you possess 30% resistance to mana backlash caused by spellcasting failure.]

[Status: Growing]

This was why Cecilia was known as the "Pearl of Violet."

In the world of magic, every spell model had a limit to what it could bear.

It was like pouring water into a balloon. Once it exceeded the critical point, not only would it fail to increase its power, it would instead cause the model to collapse.

The most terrifying outcome was a mana detonation, where the caster would be blown to pieces on the spot by violent elements.

But Cecilia was different.

Her talent was like a voltage stabilizer, allowing her to gain an extra twenty percent of power out of thin air.

And this boost applied to every school of magic.

The higher-tiered and more destructive the spell, the more terrifying that additional twenty percent became.

More frightening still, this was merely a sapling that was still "growing."

According to those old scholars, the endpoint of this talent was legendary.

At that point, it would evolve a new trait called "Absolute Spellcasting Authority," meaning her spells could never be interrupted by external forces.

She was a turret born for magic.

Thus, the moment Cecilia enrolled, she was assigned directly to Gideon for focused training.

However.

Success and failure both stemmed from the same cause.

That astonishing talent had now become the greatest obstacle in her choice of profession.

The crux of the problem was her bloodline.

She was the descendant of a human and an elf—a half-elf.

In this profession system, which held rigid requirements for bloodline purity, those of mixed heritage often pleased neither side.

"Are you still conflicted about the [Mana Bombardier] profession?"

Gideon tapped his fingers against the desk, hitting the nail on the head.

Cecilia bit her lip without refuting him.

Mana Bombardier.

Among the profession systems currently recorded by Violet Academy, it was the starting profession most suited to her talent.

This profession first appeared during the era of the Third Hero. It had been the profession of the chief mage in the Hero's party at the time.

It could maximize mana output and push a caster's destructive power to its absolute limit.

Unfortunately.

It was a "human-exclusive" profession.

Its qualification requirements imposed strict conditions on the purity of one's human bloodline.

Meanwhile, the high-tier professions suited to her on the elven side likewise required one to be a pure-blooded elf.

This left Cecilia, despite possessing top-tier talent, in the awkward position of having no profession she could take.

Gideon rose to his feet, walked to the bookshelf behind him, pulled out a hardbound book, and placed it before Cecilia.

"Treatise on the Origins of Professions."

"What exactly is the essence of a profession? There is still no definitive answer to that question in academic circles."

"But two points are universally acknowledged."

"One is great deeds, and the other is the development of the times."

Gideon turned to a certain page and pointed at the faded illustrations upon it as he spoke earnestly.

"In that barbaric era when the first Hero appeared, there was no concept of professions at all."

"Those earliest powerhouses simply continued tempering themselves. When their abilities reached a certain threshold, they naturally sensed an opportunity for transcendence."

"They recorded that process, and thus became the earliest profession holders."

"At that time, the choices were simple."

"When you became strong enough, the laws of the world would give you feedback. You could choose to take a profession, or refuse and continue honing yourself in search of a path better suited to you."

Gideon's voice echoed through the quiet office.

"Later, as more and more people recorded their experiences, those who came after began following in the footsteps of their predecessors and developed all kinds of profession systems."

"For instance, there were originally only mages. But after learning a great deal of knowledge about evocation spells, one day they suddenly discovered that they could become an Evocation Mage."

"That was a new profession born in response to the development of knowledge in its era."

At this point, Gideon paused.

"In this world, profession holders have clearly defined ranks."

"From level one to level twenty, there are four tiers in total."

"Levels one through five are Ordinary, levels six through ten are Excellent, levels eleven through fifteen are Transcendent, and levels sixteen through twenty are Legendary."

"Professions are not immutable, nor is there any absolute distinction between superior and inferior."

"Even the most basic common professions can undergo a second profession change through continuous leveling once they reach the Excellent or even Transcendent tier."

Gideon looked at Cecilia and offered his final advice.

"Many rare professions do indeed provide special bonuses, but that does not mean common professions are necessarily weak."

"Like those earliest profession holders—you should have read of them in books. Later scholars generally agreed that they were no weaker than the profession holders who came after them."

"And the professions they took were the most common ones in our lives today: swordsmen, mages, thieves, archers..."

"What determines a profession holder's strength is never the name of their profession."

"It is your personal talent, your bloodline, the sweat you have shed, and the skills you have mastered."

"Even if you only become the most ordinary [Mage]."

"With your talent, you will still be Violet Academy's sharpest sword."

"Do you understand, Cecilia?"

Faced with Professor Gideon's painstaking persuasion, a bitter expression appeared on Cecilia's delicate little face.

She shook her head gently, and that gesture of refusal caught Gideon somewhat by surprise.

"Professor, my father has only one child."

Cecilia's voice was soft, but her words carried a heavy weight.

Hearing this, Gideon froze for a moment before slapping his forehead.

"Ah, listen to me."

The old man sighed in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, child. I'm old, and I tend to forget things easily."

Cecilia's full name was Cecilia Rosenthal.

Her father was the current head of the Rosenthal family, which wielded immense influence in White River Province.

As his only daughter, she was destined to take over the entire vast family in the future.

And the Rosenthal family had an ironclad rule that had been passed down for centuries.

Before formally succeeding the position, every generation's family head had to take an extraordinarily special profession.

Within the knowledge system of profession holders, such a profession was thousands of times more unusual than ordinary rare professions.

Academia called it a Great Deed Profession.