While the old man was obviously countless times more knowledgeable than these children, he did not look down on them. He understood that the minds of children were filled with endless ideas and their thinking was usually flexible and creative unlike adults whose thinking had long turned rigid and inflexible. As for the boys, they were all enlightened after listening to the vice-head’s teachings. Their last class for the school day had already started yet they did not even notice the passage of time. After realizing how late it had gotten, they said their farewells to the vice-head and headed for class.
However, before he left for class, Mwana who was still worried continued to ask, “Affinity. When does it stop mattering elder?” He asked the question with hope. As someone without matching affinities, the elemental warrior path that a majority followed was not suitable for him.
The old man stroked his beard before replying playfully, “When you become a Lord.”
“Old man you are pulling my leg!” Mwana woke up to leave in a huff before adding, “and return the things you borrowed!” While he was a vice-head at school, the old man was one of Mwana’s neighbors. He also had a good relationship with Mwana’s uncle, Jua Vumilivu. As a bachelor at his old age, the old man was known for borrowing essential items. He had borrowed an old special wine gourd and even a unique rocking chair that lessened back pain from Mwana’s family along utilities like salt and sugar.
With a pout that did not seem to fit his age, he replied to Mwana, “Kid you are too two-faced. Aish.” However, Mwana had already left following Damu.
Cheza on the other hand was chuckling and made sure to leave a parting sentence for the old man, “Everyone knows when you owe someone you should do your best to flatter them.”
Mwana walked towards the next class while huffing and puffing. He was right to be mad at the old man for his ‘joke’. ‘How far is the Lord rank! To actually make a joke like that!’ Using the village warrior ranks as an example, the Lord rank was 7 ranks away from Mwana’s current rank. These ranks were: Junior Warrior, Intermediate Warrior, Senior Warrior, Young Elder, Core Elder, Senior Elder, and finally the Grand Elder. In a simplified manner:
- Junior Warrior: Level 1 to 3 of Mortal Body Forging. Mwana was only a Level 3 Junior Warrior.
- Intermediate Warrior: Level 4-6
- Senior Warrior: Level 7-9. Warriors above the 7th level could use Bloodline Magic such as Beast Transform.
- Young Elder: These were warriors at the 10th level, the Apex of Mortal Body Forging.
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- Core Elder: Earth Rank warriors – these were the strongest fighters in Jua village and considered beyond mortals. They had completed forging the Mortal Body and entered the Earth Rank. There were only a few warriors of this caliber in Jua village.
- Senior Elder: Sky Rank – they could be counted on one hand in Jua village. Apart from the Chief and a few extremely old men, Mwana did not know of other villagers in this rank.
- Grand Elder: Void Rank – this was the highest rank an ordinary warrior could achieve in the Zika world. There was only one person of such strength rumored to exist in Jua village, the Sword Elder. However, he was living in secret and whether his strength was at that level was unverifiable.
The Lord rank only came after the Void Rank! The Void Rank was already a myth by itself so what of the Lord Rank. In the Kingdom of Toro, Mwana did not even know if there was an expert of that caliber. After all, the rank of a Lord meant that one had enough power to lord over a region of a continent. It was the power of rulers not warriors! Even Crystal Warriors were still warriors. However, a Lord was someone who had far surpassed the mere classification of a warrior, a foot soldier, and they had risen to the ranks of Rulers!
As far as Mwana understood, the ordinary martial ranks in the Zika world were: Mortal Body, Earth Body, Sky Body, and Void Body. For children his age, they were just in the third level of the first rank of Mortal Body Forging.
Mwana also understood that Crystal Warriors had slightly different ranks. Specifically, an extra rank involving Solid Body Casting was added to prepare the body for Crystal Infusion. This was because an unprepared body could even explode because of the high energy contained in Crystals. The rest of the ranks remained the same as other ordinary warriors. The only difference was that Crystal Warriors would be much more powerful and advance much faster due to the Crystals embedded in their bodies. The Crystals basically made them walking batteries unlike ordinary warriors of similar rank who would still have to rely on external natural energy.
The Crystal Warrior Ranks were: Mortal Body, Solid Body [1-3 Crystals], Earth Body [4-6 Crystals], Sky Body [7-9 Crystals], and Void Body [Crystal Fusion/Fusion Core].
A Lord was therefore someone who had surpassed a Fusion Core level Crystal Warrior!
Mwana threw the old man’s comment to the back of his mind to save his blood pressure and focused on the solutions. First, he could take the old man’s advice and seek the Sword Elder’s help. Second, he could seek apprenticeship under the Shrine Master. If Mwana wanted to pursue pure soul training, he could look to the village shrine or temple. The shrine was headed by a Shrine Master while the temple was headed by the Village Priest. These two were part of the three spiritual pillars of the village.
Apart from those two, the village also had a Master of Ceremonies whose responsibility was to oversee births, initiation ceremonies, marriage ceremonies, funerals, and memorials. He was the last of the village’s three major religious leaders. Out of the three, one of them was rumored to be one of the most powerful people in the village with their soul power rivaling the physical might of the strongest village elder. There were also other minor spiritual figures such as diviners, rainmakers, fortune tellers, and spiritual masters whom Mwana could seek teaching from with regards to matters of the soul.