Three months quickly passed and it was time for the Symposium. All the people who wanted to participate were chosen by Morgana and Edward based on their applications.
The chosen ones included diverse people from arcanists to magetech engineers, to normal scientists. In other words, the elite of the Empire was gathered together to deal with the upcoming issue.
The venue chosen for this event was the Academy City. The security was drastically intensified as the Imperial Guards were deployed, along with the Ghost Squad secretly protecting the venue.
After all, the people attending this event are considered the elites of the Empire. If something were to happen to them, this would be a great blow to the whole nation as a whole.
At 3 P.M., all the invented people entered inside a room where there was a large circular circle. His Majesty was sitting along with a few members of the royal family. The participants saw name tags on the chairs and proceeded to take their seats.
Finally, the meeting began.
"I know that majority of you are here for the Tier 5 knowledge, and since this meeting involved this topic as well, let's begin with it," said Edward.
Many people indeed came for this reason. In the past three months, many people have reached tier 4 after strengthening their bodies to withstand liquefied mana.
And when it came to the way forward, many people were slightly puzzled. From the information they knew, as long as they engraved the Extension Charm on their cores and increase their mana, they should be able to reach Tier 5 eventually.
Even if someone did not liquefy their mana, they could still reach Tier 5 by expanding the amount of mana inside their cores.
So, the arcanists wondered what other method is there to reach Tier 5? Soon, people began to theorize that the Emperor invented a way to crystalize mana.
After all, there is already the Philosopher's Stones as an example.
They also quickly realized the advantages of this method. Whether an arcanist goes through the liquefy or crystallization process, the amount of mana inside their bodies did not change: it is still 100 times that of an adult wizard, which is also the limit after the Third Limiter.
The main difference is that the quality of the mana as an energy has drastically changed, thus making it more powerful or destructive. The capacity of their magic core has not changed, so it is easier for them to fill it up.
However, if they decided to use the Extension Charm and expand the capacity of their core, according to calculation, the amount of mana needed to reach Tier 4 is at least 1000 times that of an adult wizard.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
A ten-fold increase and that's the lowest estimate. A person with a level 5 talent–which is the highest level– would take between 160 years to 200 years to reach Tier 4 by normal training and meditation.
With potions and other resources, this process can be reduced by a few decades.
As for Tier 5, the calculations are in the hundreds of years if not thousands. However, the method of liquefying mana drastically decreases the time necessary for the promotions to months and a few years.
Of course, other requirements are needed as a result. One, the body has to be of a certain level before the advancement can be successful. Luckily, the Emperor has always emphasized that all wizards and mages should have strong bodies and know self-defense in case their magic does not work.
On top of that, Aura was invented to accelerate the process.
Another condition for advancement was the soul. Without a powerful enough soul, it is virtually impossible to control liquid mana.
As such, in the future, only the truly talented and hard-working will be able to become Tier 4 and 5 Arcanists through Liquefy and Crystallization Process.
…
After saying these words, Edward sent a file with more information about Tier 5 and the advancement procedures. Of course, the actual method was not shared yet.
Then, a large holographic screen appeared in the middle of the room. It showed a video of Edward using a large-scale spell to destroy the continent of Asia.
Following this, it also showed a few other people destroying other continents as well. These people were the death row prisoners that Edward experimented with back in the Full-Metal Alchemist World to gather data on Tier 5.
"As you can see, the destructive power of Tier 5 is too large to ignore, not to mention higher Tiers," said Edward calmly. "As such, a few restraints is required to ensure the safety of every individual of the Empire."
Although many people already expected this when the library was updated, a few people were still not happy. However, they remained silent and did not show any abnormality on their faces.
"The first rule, and the most obvious one, Tier 5 Arcanists cannot use spells with a large area of effects. According to the empire's law, no one should be using dangerous spells in public anyways.
"Second, every Tier 5 individual must be registered and have public records of their level. Hiding your strength will be considered a violation of the law and will be punished. The severity of the punishment can vary from imprisonment to instant execution."
This time, a few people could not keep their facial features under control. However, Edward ignored them and continued:
"Third, after advancement, every Tier 5 Arcansits must undergo a psychological evaluation. Once people attain power, it is easy for their minds to be influenced. We have to take precautions about this.
"Fourth,..."
Edward went on to list a few dozens more rules. As a result, many people were not happy. Once he was done, he paused for five minutes to allow people to digest his words.
"Now, I understand that many of you are not satisfied with the stringent rules, so I have two ways out of for all of you. One, according to the law of the Empire, beat be in a duel and become the new Arcane Emperor; that way, you can make the rules instead of following them."
Many people became speechless after hearing this. Forget the fact that the Emperor is the pioneer of the Arcanist Path and the first person of the empire to become Tier 5, these people just learned that there would be further classification amongst Tier 5.
The lowest level is the people who only increase their mana to become Tier 5. These people are considered the weakest and are classified as Bronze-grade tier 5 Arcanists.
The level above that are people who managed to liquefy their mana to become Tier 4 but failed to crystalize their mana to become Tier 5. Then, they increase their liquid mana to the point o becoming Tier 5. They are classified as Iron-grade.
Silver-grade Tier 5 Arcanists are the people who crystalized their mana.
Golden-grades are the people who fused with a Lesser Philosopher's Stones made of emotions after crystalizing their mana.
Platinum grades Tier 5 are the arcanists who fused with a Greater Philosopher's stone made of souls. This is the highest grade shown to these people.
However, as intelligent as they are, they do not believe for a moment that there was not a higher grade that the Emperor reserved for himself and the other members of the royal family.
This is only logical since the royal family would like to ensure their control over the Empire. No matter how generous and open-minded the Emperor is, he is still a ruler after all.
He has to ensure his power.
------
So, I'm not too very fond of this grading system. I wanted to use normal, elite, boss, and so on but I also did not like this method. So, if you guys can give me a better suggestion, I will gladly change it.