"This isn't necessarily so."
Viola gracefully shook her head, and her shining golden hair cascaded over her shoulders in a wave, flashing with a fleeting gleam that left Reyn momentarily frozen, enchanted.
It hit him. With a single thought, he activated the camera function on his phone.
[Click!]
A mental click sounded, and that beautiful moment was captured, becoming the first photo in his gallery.
Having snapped the picture discreetly, he didn't forget the matter at hand and asked curiously,
"Why do you say that?"
Viola thought for a moment before replying,
"Battle Mages are the most unique among the eight specializations. The gap between their maximum and minimum combat potential is enormous.
"At the same professional level, a Battle Mage can be the strongest, surpassing all other supernatural professions, or the weakest, barely differing from an ordinary Iron Guard.
"Of course, these are extreme cases. Most Battle Mages aren't weak and are comparable to other mages."
Reyn listened, stunned.
Those capable of becoming mages were all exceptional talents, and their power was natural. But how could they be so weak as to barely differ from an Iron Guard?
One had to understand that Iron Guard was the most common supernatural profession.
Anyone who underwent the Soul Transformations ritual could become an Iron Guard—it could be said there was no entry threshold. If one didn't advance to other professions, the power of an Iron Guard essentially remained at the lowest level.
"So what are Battle Mages really like?" Reyn asked in bewilderment.
"It's the result of a special method of fusing demonic souls that they use," Viola explained. "You already know that the fusion methods for mages of the School of Seals of Law and the School of Soul Lords differ from the standard ones in other supernatural professions.
"Mages of these two schools use spiritual power to cast spells, making them pure casters. So their own physical might isn't that great, and close combat becomes their inevitable weakness.
"Even shapeshifting mages, who possess extremely strong combat skills in their altered form, only stay in it temporarily. The transformation is essentially an enhancement spell, and once it ends, the body returns to normal, becoming vulnerable again.
"And the School of Battle Mages was created precisely to eliminate this weakness.
"The theory of the School of Battle Mages is actually simple: like members of ordinary supernatural professions, they directly fuse the entire demonic soul with their own, without needing the preliminary special processing required in the other two schools.
"They have very high requirements for demonic souls. The soul must contain numerous elements—ideally both 'bodily elements' that enhance one's own strength and defense, and 'arcane elements' that allow spellcasting with spiritual power. Thus, a Battle Mage can combine close-combat prowess with spellcasting abilities!"
Finishing her explanation, Viola gracefully sipped tea from the cup on the table.
"And that's allowed too?" Reyn frowned, lost in thought.
Normally, a demonic soul contained various elements, each representing a specific ability. All elements in the world were divided into three types: bodily, arcane, and unusual ability elements.
Bodily elements could only be activated by the power of one's own muscles, blood, and bones. Examples included "Stone Skin," "Tenacity," "Prolonged Endurance," "Bloody Fury," "Nimble Hands," "Gigantism," and so on. These elements could be enhanced by fusing more demonic souls to accumulate the same element, granting even greater bodily power.
In general, bodily elements focused on physical-level effects, while arcane elements were mainly tied to manipulating various energies.
Arcane elements were essential for casters; only spiritual power could activate them.
Each arcane element was a spell: offensive ones like "Fireball"; defensive like "Elemental Armor"; enhancements such as "Psionic Saturation"; or healing ones like "Regrowth." Their number was vast, and the variety so great that they were the most numerous of the three element categories, with no one knowing exactly how many spells existed.
Arcane elements didn't stack, but they could be enhanced by investing spiritual power to raise their circle—from the lowest first circle to the highest ninth.
The last type was the extremely rare unusual ability elements.
They could be activated by either physical or spiritual power, like a hybrid of the other two types, with no restrictions.
Each such unusual ability was unique, and most were extraordinarily powerful—people craved them, but few obtained them.
Among all supernatural professions, mages' power rested on a vast number of arcane elements, so they didn't worry about demonic soul conflicts. Thus, they had the most formidable casting abilities, but their lack of bodily elements made close combat their weakness.
Professions unlike mages—such as Berserkers, Rangers, Shadow Warriors, Archers, Iron Guards, Fighters—underwent a less complete soul transformation in the ritual and couldn't master meditation, leaving them with these more basic professions.
Inability to practice meditation naturally meant no spiritual power.
These basic professions could only increase their power by fusing whole demonic souls. Even if a demonic soul had arcane elements, without spiritual power, they couldn't cast spells.
Moreover, the main issue with fusing whole demonic souls was their mutual conflict.
Most demonic souls in the world were incompatible with each other; it was nearly impossible to find two fully compatible ones—only the degree of affinity varied.
Strong conflict and low affinity led to loss of the demonic soul's elements and even regression of one's own power.
Thus, many supernatural beings chose a conservative development path.
At one stage, say from first to third level, they preferred fusing three identical demonic souls to strengthen existing elements, reducing conflict intensity.
However, this approach increased the number of elements in the soul slowly, leaving the ability set relatively sparse.
Of course, some supernatural professions had slightly higher talent than basics. They could master meditation and develop spiritual power but still fell short of mage level. Examples included Demon Hunters, Blood Warlocks, Mechanics, and Plant Shepherds.
Many church professions also had casting abilities, like the Holy Swordsmen of the Church of Justice, priestesses of the Church of Earth, and so on.
All these semi-caster professions, not true mages, faced demonic soul conflict issues.
But thanks to predecessors' research and church efforts, their development paths were well-developed into established fusion systems.
Which demonic soul to fuse as primary after first transformation, and which as auxiliary—all was known, minimizing conflict, ensuring successful fusion and gaining more elements and abilities.
Subsequent soul transformations, rank and level increases, even reaching legendary status—all followed a proven scheme, as long as one had the right demonic souls to fuse sequentially.
"If you think about it, how do Battle Mages differ from these semi-caster professions?"
The only difference was that Battle Mages had a complete fusion system, which had to be stronger than semi-casters' and ensure higher soul affinity!
Reyn wasn't sure and asked,
"Do Battle Mages have their own legacy passed down through generations too?"
"No."
Viola shook her head.
"Battle Mages are rare. In our Longsand, you could count them on one hand. What legacy system are we talking about?"
Reyn was somewhat flustered, his doubts only growing.
There were so few Battle Mages, no established legacy, and their overall power in the mage school hierarchy was evidently at the bottom, giving them no say. So on what basis were they a separate specialization?
Viola smirked, as if reading his thoughts,
"Battle Mages undoubtedly have a unique advantage, and it lies in high soul fusion affinity.
"High affinity?" Reyn vaguely guessed what she meant.
"Yes," Viola dropped the suspense and explained, "Battle Mages master a special meditation technique from the high elves called World Tree Meditation. It was perfected by one great mage, allowing practitioners to reduce demonic soul conflict and increase fusion affinity.
"World Tree Meditation... great mage?"
Reyn pondered seriously for a few seconds and realized, to his shame, he'd never heard of this prominent figure.
Viola's expression turned solemn, and she said reverently,
"O Soul Saint Mage, Oroine Mithrandir—you must have heard of him?"
"Of course I know him!" Reyn was shocked. The Empire had only twelve Soul Saint Mages, and every name was known to all. "Magister Oroin is the founder of the School of Battle Mages?" he asked in astonishment.
Viola nodded,
"Magister Oroin wasn't just the founder; he was a Battle Mage himself.
"That's it!"
Reyn suddenly understood. So the progenitor of Battle Mages was one of the Empire's twelve Soul Saint Mages. No wonder they became a separate mage specialization!
Viola continued,
"Mages' talent surpasses other professions by nature; their soul transformation is more complete, giving them an edge in demonic soul fusion. And with meditation reducing conflict, they can discard some worries, widening soul choices. Naturally, this makes them stronger than ordinary semi-casters.
Reyn finally got it.
But he didn't blindly believe every Battle Mage was stronger than others.
And indeed, Viola added,
"Battle Mages still can't fuse demonic souls completely freely. Conflict persists, just less intense, with slightly higher fusion affinity.
"Moreover, the demonic souls Battle Mages choose are usually very strong and contain many elements. Even with some advantage, failure risk remains significant.
"In case of failure, they must wait for the next level-up or soul transformation.
Reyn nodded. Every demonic soul fusion was a tough trial for a supernatural being—only success was allowed. Failure meant falling behind peers at the same level, hard to catch up.
Even as a Battle Mage, fewer demonic souls than others undoubtedly meant much lower power.
And multiple consecutive failures? You'd truly be weaker than an Iron Guard at the same level.
"The Battle Mage profession is truly fascinating.
Reyn laughed. He finally understood why Viola had that odd expression when talking about Battle Mages. Anyone hearing about them for the first time found it quite unusual.
It was a supernatural profession where potential and risk went hand in hand.
Choose the right demonic soul—skyrocket to the heavens, gain unrivaled power, become a fearsome universal supermage, master of both close combat and spells. Choose wrong—plummet to dust, lost in the crowd, omnipotence turning to utter failure, possibly at the bottom among same-level professions, trampled by others.
Opportunity was rare, but risk even greater.
Reyn figured only those absolutely confident in their talent, or gamblers, would choose to become Battle Mages.
Viola, noticing his thoughtful look, suddenly smiled mysteriously and said,
"Lord Reyn, if you're considering becoming a Battle Mage, I happen to have a World Tree Seed. It's a spiritual power catalyst for practicing World Tree Meditation. I wonder if it interests you?"