“Rather than look for an elixir, I wanna believe that we could just look for another archmage that could take her place, but she's got a pretty big role, and I don't know if we can trust other archmages to be able to fill the gap she would leave.”
“Additionally, archmages aren't the sort of people that can be easily made to risk their lives like mercenaries do, sir. I'm sure Draven is of the same mind.”
Noah sat in silent contemplation for a moment and exhaled, but abruptly paused in the middle of it.
“Wait. I'm technically an elementalist. I don't seem like one since I usually have better options for anything in mimicry, but in this case, my nymph form with mimicry couldn't manipulate nature to the same extent as an elementalist probably could, even if it does have more control. Anyway, I could just replace the magical barrier with a physical one tomorrow. Then Seraphina wouldn't have to work herself.”
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
-
Elementalists differed from mages in their overwhelming firepower as a result of their mana canyons in exchange for their inability to use magic above the third circle. They were labeled as elementalists colloquially due to their use of elemental magic most of the time, but in mage academia, they were called split-mages, while the usual spirit-building mages were termed circle-mages.
Noah, being one who had split his spirit, was a split-mage, an elementalist. For an elementalist, mana pool played a larger role, and as an otherworlder, using his absurd mana pool to construct a sturdy earthen wall to keep out intruders for a few days was trivial.
And so, that was what he did. Floating a hundred meters in the sky at the top of a wall a dozen meters high was Noah with his harpy wings and Seraphina with her Seventh Circle - Spatial Levitation—were looking down at mages between five to seven circles along with chief-ranked warriors with enchanted bows and arrows shoot down monsters that attempted to jump or fly over the wall while standing on top of it.
“You know, Seraphina. Please inform me the next time something like this happens. We almost fumbled the bag with this. You were just following contingency plans, but please do get the other two to send a message to me for this sort of thing. This was more their fault this time, but let's not let it happen again, yeah?”
“...sorry.”
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“Haha, don't pout; I'm not mad. Let's go back now, it'll get dark soon. Ariel probably misses her training buddy too.”
“Alright!”
At the mention of Ariel's name, her eyes brightened up like twin suns, eliciting a chuckle from Noah. It seemed that Ariel, who had been a recluse her whole life in order to train, had finally made her first friend, and a part of Noah found joy in that.
“By the way, Seraphina, I take it you know about Ares, right?”
“Oh, yes! So they told you! Have you tried it yet?”
“I will soon. But now that I've realized my prowess as an elementalist, would you say that this Ares form you've come up with would be able to maximize what I could do as an elementalist?”
Seraphina took a moment to think before she spoke in response to his question.
“Hmm. With mimicry, you're looking at vastly more efficient mana usage due to it being an innate ability. Something like the blood control of a vampire would always be a tier above the water control of an elementalist, and even when you're not a vampire mimic, it would be because you're using another form that can draw out more power for that situation, meaning even the more efficient blood control would be overshadowed by a need for another mimic in that scenario, so even if you're able to control water when not a vampire mimic, it'd likely not be the most useful. Point is, using mimicry would be vastly more beneficial than elementalism.”
“Still, there's undeniable merit in seeking a path that utilizes being an elementalist as well as mimicry. Also, there are some things that elementalism can pursue that mimicry can't, like how my nymph form can't manipulate nature on as wide of a scale as I can as an elementalist, but has more precise control.”
Seraphina nodded in agreement to his words.
“Hmm. That's definitely true; at the end of the day, your possibilities are expanded. However, a big part of the prowess of an elementalist, from what I know from history, is their vesatile casting with their innate magic nodes, which will drain them of their stamina quicker. Unfortunately, Ares was not built with elementalism in mind, though it would undoubtedly still allow for it. I would not suggest that you try to do so in this coming invasion and only focus on mastering Ares, though. All we have is three days, unfortunately, and squeezing in more abilities and trades into Ares’s already packed arsenal would only end up weakening you.”
“Yeah. I'll leave you three to figure out an even more efficient form that accommodates elementalism after we beat up these demons.”
Seraphina smiled with the arrogance that came with the territory of any professional confident in their field.
“Some might say that finding a form more fine-tuned and combat-ready than Ares would be impossible, but for me, in Ariel’s words that she's picked up from you recently, ‘light work’.”
Noah chuckled.
“Haha! You say that, but the last time took nine months!”
“...that's different. We have data now!”
“Mm. I hope.”
Noah’s smirk almost caused steam to billow out of Seraphina’s ears.
“I'll tell Ariel you tried to flirt with me.”
“Huh? Wait, huh?”
“It's not disobedience, just telling my friend about a conversation I had with her husband. If you order me not to, it’ll be like you're trying to cover this up, making you even more suspiciou-”
“Okay I'm sorry, I take it back, I take it back!
Three minutes to sunset.