"The clan gave me life; that's something I can never change. But my mother is not from the clan. This means the clan only gave me half my life. The other half has nothing to do with the clan, and this is why I was abandoned and forgotten in a castle deep in the frozen mountains," Cate said as she moved away from the lead examiner and closer to Jordan. "I gave you seventeen high-grade magic coins just a few hours ago. Have you forgotten why I gave you those coins?"
Jordan was stunned by this harsh reminder. When Cate had handed over the magic coins, her intent was clearly to cut ties with the clan. She had used the coins to pay back the clan for anything they had ever done for her from the moment she was born. For Jordan to now bring up Cate being part of the same clan was laughable. When the onlookers remembered that this had indeed happened right before their eyes, they looked at Jordan as if she were nothing but a shameless hussy.
Before Cate created the spell, Jordan had been very harsh in how she spoke to her, but now she was changing her tone since there were benefits to be had. Jordan didn't buckle under the shame of what she was doing. Even the silent admonishment from the crowd did nothing to stop her from moving forward with her desire.
"I took your magic coins, but I am not the clan head. I simply accepted your coins so that I can take them back to the clan to be appraised, and then the clan leader and the elders would make the final decision about your desire to leave the clan. In my opinion, your seventeen coins are far from enough to compensate the clan for all we have done for you. All the pain and betrayal you brought to our clan must also be taken into account. In short, you are still part of the clan and thus bound by the clan's laws. This is something that you can never change."
Jordan was very good with her words. She had a goal, and she used everything she had to reach it.
"Some people are truly unwilling to repent until they see their coffin. I will help you out with your death," Cate said. Everyone looked at her with confusion in their eyes.
"Give me a few moments to deal with this impudent fool," she said to the lead examiner before taking a step toward Jordan. This single step allowed her to somehow cross the distance between them. She now stood before Jordan, and the two were sharing the same air.
Jordan was startled by this specter-like movement. She staggered backward, but she was no fool. She understood that shit had just hit the fan. She immediately reached into space and pulled out a long spear. This was her mage treasure. Mages used them to channel their power. One could only create their Mage weapon from the aspect of the world that they understood the most. It now seemed that Jordan understood the workings of space. Her spear appeared to be crafted from a fragment of space itself. This showed that her understanding of space had reached an incredibly high level. She swung her spear around, and in the next moment, she disappeared. She had become invisible.
All the participants moved backward, since none of them wanted to get caught in this fight. The lead examiner had no desire to stop this fight, as she believed that with Jordan's death, this would reduce the number of claims on the spell. She would then only have to deal with Cate, and that would be the end of her troubles.
Cate understood the examiner's thinking, so she wasn't worried about being stabbed in the back, at least not until she had finished off Jordan.
"Hand over the spell, and I will let you keep your life," Jordan's voice rang out.
"What kind of magician do you think I am?" Cate asked. She remained calm even after Jordan revealed her terrible power.
"You are a mage. I know that Father sent you a maid who was well versed in magecraft. She was supposed to be your teacher," Jordan answered after a brief silence. She couldn't figure out why Cate would ask this kind of question now. Even the lead examiner was confused. This was because she clearly remembered that on Cate's application papers, she had claimed to be a master mage.
"From a very young age, I never wanted anything to do with your clan. This was why I refused to learn any of your magecraft," she said as she moved in a seemingly random direction. "I found another magician who was willing to teach me magic, and that is how I became a sorcerer. It turned out that I am very gifted with sorcery, and that is how I ended up becoming a master sorcerer. After learning this, do you still believe that your magecraft can match my power?"
When Jordan heard this, she immediately realized that her being invisible was of no use. Just as mages tapped into magic by comprehending the workings of the world, sorcerers tapped into magic by honing their willpower. This allowed them to do many things that didn't follow any kind of logic. They didn't need to understand what they were doing; they just did it. The drawback to being a sorcerer was that advancing was very difficult, since one not only needed to increase their understanding of magic but also increase their willpower, something that was very difficult and troublesome.
Apart from the difficulty in advancing their capabilities, sorcerers faced a great danger in having the largest possibility of going insane. To tap into magic was an unnatural thing for a mortal, and yet magicians were able to achieve this wonder. The risk was that if one looked too long at the nature of magic, they ran the risk of frying their minds. This was called the Magic Burn, and it was a threat to all magicians. Sorcerers were the magicians at the greatest risk of Magic Burn, and this was because they directly tapped into magic using their will. Still, this allowed sorcerers to be the most powerful magicians. They were also the most mysterious and dangerous. This was why there were so few sorcerers.