Chapter 23: Wizard Schools

Lei En heard the word "free" and almost got up to leave.

"Free is the most expensive, alright?"

Thinking back to his naive youth, he was duped by countless games advertising "free," leapt into one pit after another, spent endless money, even sacrificed his own stamina, and only in the end realized he was merely a paid playmate for those spendthrift rich second‑generation kids, becoming their gaming experience.

Lei En thought of these painful experiences and actually forgot to reply immediately.

Viola watched his expression shift, seeming a bit displeased, wondered if she had said something wrong, and for a moment didn't know what to say, leaving the room in an odd silence.

"Cough—…"

Lei En finally remembered this wasn't a game, cleared his throat with a dry cough, and, a little embarrassed, said, "Ms. Viola, regarding the choice of a transcendent profession, I truly haven't given it detailed thought yet; please, Ms. Viola, tell me about it."

The Half‑elf nodded slightly, earnestly saying, "Mr. Lei En just completed a Soul test, lasting twenty‑five minutes; such talent is already extremely high. In our Longshande's three academies, we might not even find a few geniuses like Mr. Lei En."

Lei En feigned modesty with a wave of his hand, though he had already been secretly delighted; hearing such praise from a stunning lady made his heart swell with pleasure.

"With your talent, the primary career choice must be Wizard."

Viola lifted her hand, tucking a strand of golden hair behind her ear, revealing pointed ears, and continued, "The Empire is protected by the God of Magic, ruled by Wizards, and Wizards are humanity's oldest and most powerful transcendent profession—perhaps unrivaled. From any perspective, you should become a Wizard."

Lei En expressed strong agreement.

In fact, in the Oriense Empire, the most coveted transcendent profession is the Wizard.

Wizards are forever the first choice of transcendants!

Although other transcendent professions are also formidable, even surpassing Wizards in some aspects, anyone qualified to become a Wizard rarely gives up the chance.

Of course, Wizards demand high aptitude; among those who have undergone the Soul Transformation ceremony, perhaps only one‑twentieth have the chance to transition to Wizard, and they are the most gifted segment.

Thus, the Empire's most elite powerful figures are almost all Wizards.

Lei En had not immediately accepted Luo Jue's offer to become a Demonkin hunter; the main reason was he was pondering whether he could transition to Wizard, and only if not would he settle for the second‑best option of Demonkin hunter.

Viola, having said that, made no further move, and a crow formed of flame materialized out of thin air before her.

The fire crow's wings spanned about half a meter, lively and vivid, like a real raptor.

It circled the room once, then snatched a cup of tea from the table, flew toward Lei En, hovered steadily before him, and the tea in its claws did not spill a drop.

"Please have some tea," Viola gestured a polite invitation.

Lei En took the cup, and the fire crow instantly dissipated as if it had never appeared.

However, in his soul‑eye, the fire crow broke down into red energy, flowing toward Viola, merging into her forehead, and in the illusory tower within his soul, the lowest layer again manifested a fire‑crow demon soul.

Lei En had long known Viola was a Wizard, yet he still pretended to be greatly surprised.

"Ms. Viola, so you are a Wizard!"

Viola was pleased with Lei En's reaction; after showing that move, she asked, "Mr. Lei En, do you know which schools the Wizard has, and which specializations?"

"Three schools, eight specializations?" Lei En answered, uncertain.

Wizards are a transcendent profession everyone aspires to, yet Wizards are lofty and extremely mysterious, and people outside the transcendants know little about them.

Teachers in the academy often mention Wizards, but the teachers are not Wizards; they only know some terminology, and they can never clearly explain what a Wizard truly is.

Viola was somewhat surprised, "Mr. Lei En is not completely ignorant about Wizards."

"In the academy I once heard a teacher talk about some famous Wizard professions, like the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard, but I don't know the exact schools or which specializations," Lei En said, then realized he had unintentionally revealed that he was a student of the academy.

A smile appeared in Viola's eyes as she said, "Your teacher was correct; Wizards indeed are divided into three major schools and eight specializations."

Next, she detailed the Wizard's professional knowledge to Lei En.

The first transcendent profession born among humans was the Wizard.

Initially, early humans sought to imitate the elves' mages' casting abilities; later, under the inspiration and aid of the God of Magic, the Wizard system was gradually refined, becoming one of the most powerful transcendent professions.

Traditional mages have eight schools, divided according to casting methods and spell effects; Wizards, however, are divided into three schools based on differences in soul‑fusion methods.

They are the Law Seal school, the Soul‑Guiding school, and the Combat school.

The Law Seal school enhances soul power by integrating Law Seals.

The essence of a Law Seal is the Element; Wizards extract secret‑type Elements from demon souls, forge them into Law Seals, merge them into their own souls, and then use soul power to drive the Law Seals to cast spells.

The Law Seal school has four specializations: "Elementalist," "Arcaneist," "Spiritualist," and "Dark Mage," all of which are advanced professions requiring the corresponding Affinity Element.

Among these four, the Elementalist is the most common.

More than half of Wizards are Elementalists, and because each one's Element Affinity differs, their primary spell categories vary, allowing nearly ten sub‑types of Elementalist—quite complex.

Arcaneists master Arcane energy; among the four specializations, they have the highest talent requirement and are extremely rare.

The other two specializations, Spiritualist and Dark Mage, are also uncommon, because Law Seals of those types are hard to find and strengthening is difficult, so few Wizards choose them.

Next is the Soul‑Guiding school; they command demon souls in combat.

Soul‑Guiding Wizards ignite the soul fire through meditation, constructing a "Soul‑Gathering Tower" within their soul, merging whole demon souls into the tower to nurture and enlarge it.

When needed, the demon souls in the tower can provide the Wizard with combat power.

The Soul‑Guiding school has three specializations: "Shapeshifting Wizard," "Thousand‑Spell Wizard," and "Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard."

These three specializations represent three different combat styles.

Shapeshifting Wizards, also called Transform Wizards, let demon souls possess them to gain transformation abilities and cast spells through new forms. After multiple demon‑soul possessions stack, their melee and casting capabilities far exceed the demon souls themselves; their combat style is endlessly varied, versatile, adaptable to almost any environment, and extremely hard to kill.

Thousand‑Spell Wizards, as the name suggests, are Wizards who master a thousand spells.

Of course, a thousand spells is hyperbole, but it illustrates that Thousand‑Spell Wizards possess a vast repertoire of spells.

Thousand‑Spell Wizards also nurture demon souls in the Soul‑Gathering Tower, but they primarily select demon souls that are elemental creatures, essences, and exotic monsters.

These three types of demon souls are naturally endowed with multiple spells and possess some powerful, rare casting techniques.

Thousand‑Spell Wizards cast spells via demon‑soul possession and can switch the possessing demon soul in an instant, thereby mastering all the tower's demon‑soul spells, combining different techniques to produce unexpected spell effects.

Moreover, when necessary, Thousand‑Spell Wizards can summon all demon souls from the tower, having them cast together to bombard the enemy with spells.

The final specialization of the Soul‑Guiding school is the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard.

Because the Ten Thousand Spirits card game is popular, the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard's fame is immense—almost everyone knows it. Even ordinary people, who may never play cards, have heard of the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard profession.

Some uninformed people even think all Wizards are Ten Thousand Spirits Wizards.

In fact, the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard is merely a branch of the Soul‑Guiding School, possibly the strongest branch.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard is more like a summoner; they can also let demon souls possess them to temporarily strengthen themselves, but their most relied‑upon combat method is still to summon demon souls from the Soul Gathering Tower, forming demon‑soul entities with soul power and commanding them to fight.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard pursues the quantity of demon souls, combining various demon souls to achieve different combat goals.

Besides the demon souls nurtured within the Soul Gathering Tower, the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard can also forge demon souls into Soul Crystals to carry with them.

Because Soul Crystals look like sheets of cards, they are also called Soul Cards.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard injects soul power into Soul Cards, which can likewise summon demon souls.

The demon souls nurtured inside the Soul Gathering Tower are called inner souls, while those summoned via Soul Cards are outer souls.

Inner souls can be recalled at any time, and the remaining soul power that forms the soul body is reclaimed; even if killed, they can revive after nurturing. Outer souls, however, disappear when killed, becoming single‑use consumables, and regardless of whether an outer soul is killed, the soul power that formed the soul body is lost forever.

Even so, with the aid of Soul Cards, the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard becomes one of the most powerful Wizard specializations.

The known demon souls in the world are divided into sixteen major categories, each further split into hundreds of subcategories, with countless demon souls possessing unique effects.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Wizards are the most thorough experts in studying demon‑soul types; they cultivate and enlarge demon souls, summon them, and create unique combinations for use in various combat situations.

As a result, different schools have emerged among Ten Thousand Spirits Wizards, called Soul Card Combinations.

For example, the most popular Beast Garden that summons beast‑type demon souls, the Legion that summons humanoid demon souls, or the Hive of Insects that wins by sheer numbers, among others.

Each Soul Card Combination represents a summoning school.

Ten Thousand Spirits Wizards are keen on collecting Soul Cards; many alchemy shops even produce various Soul Cards for this purpose, sometimes selling a complete set of fully developed Soul Cards at higher prices.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Card is a card game that imitates the Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard's combat.

It's just that people's cards cannot summon demon souls.

Viola herself is a Ten Thousand Spirits Wizard, so her introduction is very detailed, with a hint of pride and self‑esteem.

Finally, Viola introduces the Combat School.

When she talks about the Combat School, her expression is rather playful; the Combat School is the least populous among the three major schools, and it has only one specialization, called Combat Wizard.

Lei En had never heard of a Combat Wizard before, and it instantly sparked great interest.

"Combat Wizard!"

"This profession sounds really impressive."