Chapter 24: Combat Wizard

"That's not necessarily so."

Viola tilted her head lightly, a cascade of brilliant golden hair swayed like waves, flashing a faint light that made Lei En momentarily dazed.

He had a flash of inspiration, mentally triggered his phone's camera, and with a "Click" in his mind, captured the beautiful scene before him, making it the first picture in his gallery.

While snapping, he didn't forget the matter at hand, and curiously asked, "Why do you say that?"

Viola thought for a moment and said, "Combat Wizards are the most unique among the eight specializations; their upper and lower limits of power differ greatly."

At the same professional rank, a Combat Wizard could be the strongest, surpassing all Transcendent professions, but could also be the weakest, barely better than an ordinary Iron Guard.

Of course, that's the most extreme case; most Combat Wizards aren't weak and are comparable to other Wizards.

Lei En was stunned by what he heard.

Those who become Wizards are top talent, so great power is normal, but how could they be as weak as Iron Guards?

One must know that Iron Guards are the most common Transcendent profession.

Anyone can switch to Iron Guard by undergoing the Soul Transformation ceremony; there's essentially no threshold. Unless they advance to another profession, the Iron Guard's strength is basically at the bottom.

"What exactly is a Combat Wizard?" Lei En asked, puzzled.

"It's the result of their way of fusing Demonkin souls."

Viola said, "You already know that the Law Seal school and the Soul‑Guiding school Wizards differ in their fusion methods from ordinary Transcendent professions."

"Wizards of these two schools cast spells using soul power; they are pure spellcasters. Therefore, their own strength isn't outstanding, and close‑quarters combat becomes an unavoidable weakness."

"Even shape‑shifting Wizards with strong melee ability have only temporary transformed forms; transformation is essentially a strengthening spell, and after it ends, the body returns to its normal state, still with weaknesses."

"The Combat school was created precisely to solve this weakness."

"The theory of the Combat school is simple: like ordinary Transcendent professions, they directly merge the entire Demonkin soul into their own soul, without the special pre‑treatment required by the other two schools."

"They demand a lot from the Demonkin soul: it must contain multiple Elements, preferably including 'Physical‑type Elements' that boost strength and defense, and 'Arcane Elements' that allow spellcasting with soul power. That way, a Combat Wizard can balance melee and casting!"

After finishing, Viola lifted the tea on the table and drank an elegant sip.

"Is that even possible?" Lei En frowned and thought carefully.

Generally, every Demonkin soul contains Elements; each Element represents a capability. All Elements in the world are divided into three categories: Physical, Arcane, and Psychic.

Physical‑type Elements can only be activated by one's own muscles, blood, and bones, such as "Stone Skin," "Toughness," "Enduring Stamina," "Blood Frenzy," "Dexterous Hands," "Giantization," etc. These Elements can be reinforced by merging more Demonkin souls, stacking the same Element to gain greater power.

Generally, Physical‑type Elements affect the material side, while Arcane Elements focus on manipulating various energies.

Arcane Elements are a prerequisite for spellcasters; only soul power can drive Arcane Elements.

Each Arcane Element is a spell: there are offensive "Fireball," defensive "Elemental Armor," supportive "Spiritual Infusion," healing "Restoration," and countless others. Their sheer number and variety make them the most numerous among the three Element types, and no one knows the total count.

Arcane Elements cannot be stacked, but one can invest soul power to raise the ring level, minimum one ring,

maximum nine rings.

The last type is the very rare Psychic Element.

Psychic Elements can be triggered by bodily strength or by soul power, like a hybrid of the two, with no restrictions.

Each Psychic is a rare ability; most are extremely powerful, and people yearn for them but cannot obtain them.

Among Transcendent professions, a Wizard's strength rests on a large number of Arcane Elements, so they need not worry about Demonkin conflicts and thus possess the strongest casting ability, but the lack of Physical‑type Elements creates a weakness in melee combat.

Professions other than Wizards—such as Berserkers, Rangers, Shadow Warriors, Gunmen, Iron Guards, and Martial Artists—do not undergo a thorough Soul Transformation in the ceremony, cannot master meditation, and thus can only choose these more basic professions.

Without the ability to practice meditation, they naturally lack soul power.

These basic professions can only merge whole Demonkin souls to boost strength; even if the Demonkin contains Arcane Elements, without soul power they still cannot cast spells.

Moreover, merging whole Demonkin souls brings the biggest problem: conflicts between Demonkin souls.

Most Demonkin souls in the world are hard to reconcile; it's almost impossible for two Demonkin souls to be fully compatible, only varying degrees of compatibility.

Severe conflicts and low compatibility cause loss of Elements within the Demonkin, even regressing one's own strength.

Thus, many Transcendent beings opt for conservative upgrades.

Within the same stage—say from level 1 to 3—choosing to merge three identical Demonkin souls to stack and reinforce existing Elements reduces conflict intensity.

However, this makes it hard to increase Elements in the soul, so abilities remain relatively scarce.

Of course, some Transcendent professions have higher innate talent, can master meditation, cultivate soul power, yet still don't meet the requirements to become Wizards, such as Demon Hunters, Blood Source Alchemists, Engineers, and Pastoralists.

Additionally, many church professions also have casting ability, like the Holy Swordmasters of the Justice Church and the Earth Nuns of the Earth Church, and so on.

These semi‑caster professions outside Wizards also face the dilemma of Demonkin conflicts.

However, through the exploration of seniors and the church, the upgrade paths for these professions have become relatively mature, forming a fixed fusion system.

After the first Soul Transformation, which Demonkin soul to use as the Main Soul and which as the secondary soul are all known, reducing conflict to a minimum, ensuring successful fusion while gaining more Element abilities.

Subsequent Soul Transformations, advancements, upgrades, even reaching the Legendary Realm, as long as the appropriate Demonkin souls are available, the step‑by‑step fusion proceeds.

With that in mind, what difference is there between Combat Wizards and these semi‑caster professions?

Unless Combat Wizards also have a complete fusion system that is stronger and has higher compatibility than the semi‑caster professions!

Lei En wasn't convinced, so he asked, "Do Combat Wizards also have a lineage?"

"No."

Viola shook her head, "Combat Wizards are rare; in our Longshandecheng, you could count them on one hand, so there is no established system of inheritance."

Lei En was speechless, and his confusion deepened.

Combat Wizards are so few and have no lineage; overall strength is clearly at the bottom among Wizard schools, with no voice—so why are they listed as a specialization?

Viola instantly guessed Lei En's thought, smiled lightly, and said, "Combat Wizards definitely have a unique advantage: high fusion compatibility."

"High fusion compatibility?" Lei En vaguely recalled a possibility.

"Yes." Viola didn't linger, and explained, "Combat Wizards possess a special technique derived from the highest meditation of the Elf race, called the World Tree Meditation, which, after refinement by a great Wizard, lets Wizards lower Demonkin conflicts and raise fusion compatibility."

"World Tree Meditation, great Wizard?"

Lei En thought seriously for a few seconds, realizing he was ignorant and had never heard of such a figure.

Viola's expression grew solemn, and with reverence she said, "Holy Soul Wizard, Orolin *Mislanger, you must have heard of him, right?"

"Of course I know." Lei En was greatly surprised; the Empire has twelve Holy Soul Wizards, each a well-known figure, and he exclaimed in astonishment, "Is Ouroin Master the founder of battle wizards?"

Viola nodded and said: "Ouroin Master is not only the founder, he himself is a battle wizard."

I see.

Lei En suddenly realized; it turned out that the patriarch of battle wizards was one of the Empire's twelve Holy Soul Wizards, no wonder it became a specialization among wizards!

Viola continued: "Wizards inherently have better talent than other professions, their soul transformation is more thorough, they have an advantage when merging with magic souls, and by using meditation to reduce conflict, this lessens some concerns, greatly expanding the range of magic souls they can choose, naturally making them stronger than ordinary semi-spellcasting professions."

Lei En finally understood.

However, he did not blindly think that being a battle wizard automatically makes one stronger than other professions.

Indeed, Viola then said: "Battle wizards cannot freely merge with magic souls; there is still conflict, but it is less severe, and the degree of magic soul fusion will be somewhat higher."

Moreover, the magic souls that battle wizards choose are usually very powerful, possessing multiple elements; even with some advantage, the possibility of fusion failure is not low.

If fusion fails, one can only wait for the next level up or soul transformation.

Lei En nodded; each magic soul fusion is a difficult trial for transcendent beings, allowing only success, no failure. The consequence of failure is that one's strength falls short of peers of the same rank, hard to make up.

Even for a battle wizard, if they have fewer magic souls than others, their strength will surely be greatly reduced.

If they fail several times, they could even be inferior to same-rank Iron Guards.

The battle wizard profession is truly interesting.

Lei En laughed; he finally understood why Viola's expression had been so strange when she mentioned battle wizards earlier—perhaps anyone hearing about battle wizards for the first time finds them quite novel.

This is a transcendent profession where opportunity and risk coexist.

If one chooses the right magic soul, they will soar, their strength surpassing others, becoming a formidable all-round melee and spellcasting super wizard; if they choose the wrong magic soul, they will fall into obscurity, their omnipotence turning into utter incapacity, even ranking at the bottom among peers, being trampled underfoot.

Opportunity is rare, but risk is greater.

Lei En thought that unless one has absolute confidence in their own talent, only gamblers would choose to become battle wizards.

Viola, seeing his thoughtful expression, suddenly gave a mysterious smile and said: "Mr. Lei En, if you wish to transfer to a battle wizard, I happen to have a 'World Tree Seed' here, which is a soul power medium for cultivating the World Tree meditation method; are you interested?"