Chapter 21
“Eh?”
Deon stared at his score in disbelief, his mind going into chaos. ‘I only got 1% throughout the five days of meditation?’
“So you’re the wonder boy,” Instructor Edder said
As the instructor of the newly high knights, he knew all the results of every apprentice knight during the awakening ceremony, but he was also very thorough and wanted to confirm the results with his own eyes. That’s why he made the new knights retake their test.
“Introduce yourself to the class,” Instructor Edder said, waking deon up from his stupor.
“Yes, Sir, My name is Deon from the 24th Imperial Knight Institute, Nice to meet you all,” Deon said as he gave a small bow to the crowd.
“Good, Go back now,” Instructor Edder nodded in satisfaction before calling another youth to the crystal ball. “All right, you… You’re Next”
Deon returned to his position and couldn’t help but think about his result with a frown. “How come it only increased by 1%? Have I been doing meditation all wrong? But if that’s true, I wouldn’t have gotten 86% in the first place.”
“What’s wrong?” William asked since he saw deon was not satisfied with his result even though it was a shocking result
“It's nothing. I thought it would be a lot higher now with all the meditation I did,” Deon replied
“What?... You’re disappointed because of that?... You already have the best score in the entire class,” William said
“I know, but I can't be lazy now, can I?” Deon said, “Besides, just because I have the best score now, doesn’t mean I would have the best score in the future… I need to improve more.”
“… I guess that’s true,” William softly replied, not knowing what to say or feel. He thought deon would become arrogant with his result or at least become complacent, but in the end, it became his source of motivation to improve, which he found quite odd.
…
After a few minutes
Instructor Edder nodded in satisfaction as he confirmed the results. He clapped his hands before the servant took the crystal orb.
“All right, now that is done. I will show you guys to your new classroom so you don’t have to gather at the training ground every morning.”
Instructor Edder led the youths inside the fortress and into a secluded part of the second floor before stopping in front of a large classroom.
“All right, Find your seat so that we can start our lecture,” Instructor Edder said as the rest of the newly high knights entered the large classroom and began looking for their seats.
The classroom is built to accommodate a significant number of students and promote efficient learning.
The classroom features rows of desks or tables arranged in a way that allows students to see and hear the instructor clearly. The desks or tables were arranged in a traditional lecture-style format or in a more collaborative, group-based layout. The chairs or seats in the classroom were designed to be comfortable for extended periods of sitting.
Deon and William sat together near the front of the classroom. Deon wanted somewhere he could easily hear and see the instructor.
“Tomorrow, you guys don’t need to gather at the training ground for the morning assembly and just come in here in this classroom, I will be starting my lecture around 8 am, and I also want to let everyone know that the lectures are not mandatory and you can choose not to attend my lectures, but if you are planning on attending my lecture I won't tolerate any tardiness, so if you are late, don’t bother going to my lecture or ill just kick you out, do you all understand?” instructor Edder strictly said
“Yes, Sir,” the group replied
“Good,” Instructor Edder nodded in satisfaction. “For today, I will only be doing an introductory lecture about the basic of magic, and it all starts in the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life exists within every single one of us. Although it does not have a physical manifestation, it is part of our bodies. It is the source of our life force and soul, which also means that it is the source of our mana.
The Tree of Life consists of One Soul and Ten Life Gates, connected by twenty-two paths. They are arranged in a specific pattern, with the highest being the soul, representing our individuality, creativity, and free will.
And below the soul are Ten Life Gates or Ten Life Sphere that host our Life flame, representing the source of our lifespan and mana.”
Instructor Edder drew a diagram of the Tree of Life on the blackboard, giving the students a visual understanding of his explanation.
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eqfk8xJiH_jyU8x7TKVNoVTPaWiQEt7B/view?usp=drive_link]Tree of Life [https://scontent.fmel16-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/291185646_102140155900392_8093052592246989841_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=zP7KaUwDS7wAX88HKgT&_nc_ht=scontent.fmel16-1.fna&oh=00_AfBCZoUJnXTLThGHzd7QhsyhuWuDRh2NIOuzpRIYebFt_g&oe=649786AE][https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=102140159233725&set=pcb.102140449233696]
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“The awakening ceremony that our kingdom does every year is about connecting our soul to our first life gate, and with the help of divine power, we are able to open our first life gate, which means all of us here today have an opened first gate, thanks to the awakening ceremony” Instructor Edder explained as one of the new high knights raised her hands “Yes? Any questions?”
“Does that mean we have to do another awakening ceremony if we want to open our other life gates?”
“Excellent question but no. Once you open your first life gate, you can use that first gate to open the rest of your life gates or, to be precise, use your mana to open your other life gates, but you can only do so once you have complete control over your first life gate.” Instructor Edder said
“Wait. So we still need to open nine more gates?”
“How do we use our mana to open them?"
“I thought we only need to train our magic, but we also have to train our tree of life?”
Countless whispers echoed throughout the classroom, with countless questions filling the air as the students tried to process the words of their instructor.
“Quiet!, If you have any questions raise your hands but for now, just listen carefully and reserve those questions for later,” Instructor Edder said as he continued his lecture.
“Mana-users have a hierarchy of power; for mana-users, the more mana you have, the higher you are in the hierarchy. The hierarchy is divided into three ranks: Rank 1: Untapped Potential, Rank 2: Realized Potential, and Rank 3: Profound Potential.
Rank 1 is further divided into ten stages, with each stage representing one of the life gates, which means all of you here are Rank 1 stage 1 mana users as every one of you has only opened one life gate, and once you opened another, your stage will increase.” Another student raised his hand for a question making Instructor Edder sigh, “What is it?”
“What about rank two and rank three?” the student asked.
“You don’t need to learn about rank two and rank three today as they are far in the future for you guys but know this, the Rank 2 mana-users are the pillars of our kingdom, they are the experts and powerhouses that make our kingdom strong, and as for rank 3, throughout our kingdom, there is only one person that is rank 3,” Instructor Edder said, but before he could move on to his lecture, more student raised their hands.
“Lower your hands if your questions are about rank two and three. I do not intend to waste my time answering your questions, you will learn it in the future, but for now, you all need to focus on the basics,” as the students lowered their hands.
“Good, Now where were we?... Right… All of your ranks are Rank 1 Stage 1, and if you want to increase your stage, you can do so by meditating. I’m sure you guys already know how to meditate, as none of you have less than 5% control over your life flame.
To those that are unfamiliar, the test we did earlier represents the control over your mana flame, so if the result you had earlier was 20, then that means you have 20% control over your life flame.
And the more you meditate, the more control you will have towards your mana flame, and once you reach 100% control over your life flame, your other life gates will show itself.
Each person progresses at their own pace, which is influenced by their level of talent. The greater the talent, the quicker the rate of improvement.
The beyonder association has made a study about the number of hours needed to obtain 100% control over your life flame with each talent class: Top-class talent needs around 1825 hours to have 100% control from 0%. High-class Talent needs around 3650 hours, Mid-Class needs around 7300 hours, and Low-class talent needs around 14600 hours.
If you don’t fully understand this number, think of it like this, if a top-class talent were to meditate five hours a day, it would take that person one year to obtain 100% control, and two years for high-class talent, four years for mid-class talent and eight years for low-class talent, and that is only for one life gate, so if you want to calculate your overall meditation time, just multiply it by ten.”
The students stared at their instructor, dumbfounded as they tried to absorb everything that the instructor said, including deon
Deon thought about what Instructor Edder said and his own situation. ‘Is this why I only got 1% control even though I meditated for days?... but that means the awakening ceremony gives a lot of life flame control even though I only meditated for a few hours… Hm… no wonder the books I’ve read said not to skip the meditation phase three even when one awakened successfully.’
“It also because of this study that our imperial knight order only wants a mid-class talent since a low-class talent would need at least 80 years of meditation to just reach stage 10 of rank 1,” Instructor Edder continued. “But talent doesn’t guarantee that you will rank up, as it is possible to be stuck in one stage and unable to open any more life gates. I have seen many talented people be stuck in the later stages as they couldn’t open their life gates anymore, so do not be arrogant just because you have a higher talent, as you might find yourself the same fate as those people. Now, Let's move on,” but before Instructor Edder could continue again, one of the students raised her hand again. “What is it?”
“Do we have to meditate five hours a day? Or can we meditate for 10 hours daily so our progress doubles?”
“You can, but meditating for five hours is already not an easy feat, much less 10 hours a day. Very few people can do 10 hours of meditation every day, but if you think you can do it, then by all means. I do have to remind you, though, that not everything is about meditation or mana. You also have to balance your meditation with your magic education since even if you have the largest mana reserve than any of your peers, it would be meaningless if you can't do any magic. Mana does not equal strength, and likewise, a magic spell without sustainable mana won't make you strong. You need to find a balance between your mana training and magic spell training.
In my opinion, magic educations are far more important than mana training, and here’s why: with a strong magic spell, you can easily defeat a mana-user of higher rank than you, but with more mana, you can last more in a fight.
But the sad truth is that we can only be awake for 16 hours a day, and if you want to spend 10 hours of that just for meditation, it will lower your magic education than your peers. Is that something you are willing to do?
All of you need to understand that our Order needs a strong knight that could defend the realm, and having more mana does not do that, so I suggest that you spend 5 hours in meditation and the rest with magical education, but you could also do 8 hours meditation and 8 hours magical education, it is up to you unless, of course, you can meditate in your sleep” Instructor Edder said, trying to make a joke to ease the tension in the air.
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Thought For Thoughts
* Recommended Hours: five hours of meditation every day
* Top-class – 1 year per Life Gate
* High-class – 2 years per Life Gate
* Mid-class – 4 years per Life Gate
* Low-class – 8 years per Life Gate
Talent system
Rank 1 (Per Gate)
Talent
Exp (Hrs)
Overall Exp
Top
1825
18250
High
3650
36500
Mid
7300
73000
Low
14600
146000