I've failed, haven't I? Amy thought, the first one she'd had after coming to consciousness. Her eyes were still shut, too tired to open them, the only other thing she was aware of being a bed underneath her, a vague smell in the air. Her eyelids drifting languidly open, she took in her surroundings, finding herself at home. The blankets on her bed were different and the pillows smelled of various herbs. The whole bed had also been moved closer to the window and the door, strangely enough. Maybe so Felin can watch me better. And is that Foxtongue I'm smelling? That's the only one I can pick out either way; and I claim to be a herbalist. Oh well.

"Amy! You're up!" Felin shouted, somehow sensing she was awake without watching her. His feline form soon zoomed out from the side and through the door however, and floated down to the side of her bed. A wide smile split his face in two, the cat clearly proud, rambling, "Sure gave this old Archfey a scare, didn't you? No more of that out of you, Amy, no more!"

"Wha-," Amy croaked, pausing at her voice cracking. She cleared her throat and continued, "What happened?"

"You ascended! You became an Apprentice!" Felin grinned, moving closer. I did?

"I did?"

"Of course, what else did you think happened?"

"I mean... I woke up here, didn't I?" Amy said, looking out the window towards the still stormy weather.

"Indeed you did. Quite unusual, I admit, but I understood why quickly and you recovered just as swift. It's only been about a day since your ascension."

"A day!" Amy exclaimed, sitting up abruptly, her muscles aching in complaint.

"Yes, longer than anyone expected. Concerning, but it wasn't bad per se. Just gave me a little scare. Nothing to worry about, I assure you," Felin said, his eyes Fae-green.

"If you say so," Amy acquiesced, leaning back again. "Apprentice, huh. It doesn't... feel different - to Mageling, that is."

"It shouldn't, really. It means your body has fully adapted to the mana's changes to it."

"What do you mean?"

"Unlike the Mage Sight of a Mageling, the enhanced mind of an Apprentice is passive and always in effect. It doesn't require your input to activate. It's always on, infusing and enhancing your thoughts."

"It is? My mind doesn't feel any different," Amy frowned, trying to think of any changes to her thoughts.

"At Apprentice, this enhancement is small. Minor improvements to things like hand-eye coordination, thought speed, comprehension speed, and reaction time. At higher Tiers, these passive enhancements become very much more noticeable. However, Apprentice's also have the ability to actively enhance their mind. All of these passive effects are boosted, and become far greater in effect, though at a high cost to your mana pool."

"Still doesn't really feel like anything's changed," Amy said.

"Here, then, catch this," Felin smiled, a ball coming out of nowhere on the periphery of her vision, already quite close. With one easy movement, her hand came up quickly, catching the ball straight away, perfectly. For Amy, who wasn't very athletic at all and hadn't played any sort of sport, she couldn't help but be surprised at the ease of it. It had required no effort or particular thought, yet she had caught it. While she was still a bit shocked at having caught it, the ball dissolved into mana, the curls of Illusion clearly visible at its edges.

"I can see the Illusion easier now; so it's better too," Amy observed, thinking back to how she had to strain her Sight before. Wait, Amy realised turning to Felin, "I haven't activated my Mage Sight. How can I see mana?"

"At this point in the Tiers, the merging between your regular mundane senses and your Mage Sight has begun," Felin explained. "It only becomes more apparent as you ascend until you reach Monarchy, where the two are indistinguishable."

"Isn't that... distracting?" Amy asked, trying to find the right word for it.

"It can be, but just like your own mundane sight, you gain a lot more control over your Mage Sight and can fine-tune it. As it is now, your integrated Mage Sight should be relatively unobtrusive, only rearing its head in moments like this; ones where you see something magical happening, and you wonder how."

"Alright then," Amy nodded, sinking deep into thought. As I ascend the Tiers, it's like my body's becoming more magical. And as more parts of it become infused with mana, they... resonate better with each other, and become even more enhanced. So, if my mind and my senses have been infused, I imagine next would be parts of my body, wouldn't it? "Is the next Tier to do with infusing my body with mana?"

"Something like that," Felin smirked, "I thought it would've taken you longer to realise, to be honest."

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"It's obvious, thinking about it. You hear all these stories about Mages doing superhuman feats, yet magic can only do so much. If the human body isn't made for such stress and strain, how could it survive? Not without further enhancement using mana. The Mage Tiers are an adaptation, to survive the harshness, the deadliness of magic."

"Not quite like that... but something along those lines," Felin said, tilting his head to one side.

"Why isn't the body done first then? Rather than the mind. If you have such an enhanced mind, then it's useless without the needed body to support what it demands."

"Hmmm," Felin hummed, considering. "This has to do with how Mages ended up discovering and... 'formalising' the Tiers you could say. Humans before properly discovering Spells were either Aspirants and Magelings, the distinction between the two not even recognised. They casted only Cantrips and workings, thinking it the peak of magic. Some people did try and flesh out the forms they saw in the mana after weaving workings, but it was usually unsuccessful. The ones who did figure it out, kept it to themselves.

"It was only when human Mages began to study mana beasts, that they discovered the path forward. At least, they thought they did. Mana beasts also advance through a sort of Tier system, but the intricacies of the Tiers are very different compared to ours. An 'Apprentice' Tier mana beast would be on the same level as a Journeyman, rarely even Archmage, Tier Mage to put it into human terms. Mana beasts grow to power much faster than humans, but are slower and weaker in the later Tiers because of it. So, humans, without even knowing what lay beyond Mageling, studied the mana beasts. In doing so, they discovered 'Apprentice' Tier. Infusing their body with mana."

"I... I think I see where this is going," Amy murmured.

"Indeed. In infusing their body before their mind, forsaking the greatest boon of sapience for the brutality of sentience, they went slightly insane. Their bodies, without the proper control of an enhanced mind, ruined themselves. And, in the end, they became more beast than man. Only when they studied the later Tiers of mana beasts, when they obtained sapience, did they discover the true path ahead. Infusing the mind first, before the body."

"Why didn't they look towards the other races then? Surely they would've figured it out, with them being magical and all," Amy said.

"Remember, at the time, humans were the only people on this continent. It was only when they sailed the seas and discovered the other continents did they find other peoples, and found out the true path of a Mage. I remember one of my contractor's reaction fondly, dead by many millennia, when the elves laughed at hearing what past humans tried to do. Of course, the laughter was a mix of horror and genuine mirth, but these humans didn't really know the cultural differences between the species too well at that point. They couldn't have known that elves laugh at pretty much everything."

"Why do they laugh like that, anyways? I assume it's to do with their voices and singing, but I was never too sure."

"Indeed. With how intricate their voices can be - they can cast Spells with song, after all - a more vocally oriented culture soon emerged, over the more, frankly, visual one of humanity. Laughter was simply one of the more well-ranged expressions they could choose from."

"Makes sense," Amy said. I wonder how many of the old Mages went insane from incorrect advancement. Maybe the majority did, considering the attitude other species have towards humanity. At least the older ones. Could... could it be to do with that 'loss' I felt? Do all Mages go slightly insane as they ascend the Tiers? Is the insanity only mitigated, not erased? I would hope that Felin would've told me, though, if I do go insane. If not that, then what?

My mana pool too, Amy remarked, focusing inwards. Revealing itself to her, her innate mana was no longer a puddle. It truly earned the name 'pool'. It felt deeper, more ingrained into her being than before. As if it was an intrinsic part of herself. It feels different. The increase in size is of course more than welcome, but there's something else too. Like I have more control over it... and not, at the same time. Something to do with the 'loss' too? And my mana pool increases at each Tier also. Does the 'loss' also increase in response? Or am I assuming too much about it all in the first place? Either way, I'm much more capable now. I can actually use my mana pool for Spells without harming myself and my future advancement. It's more than a drop. All I have to do for more... is to ascend again. Again, again, and again. Until Monarch. Doesn't that feel strange to say, Amy?

"I'm guessing I now have to follow the next maxim again?" Amy asked, staring out again into the rain.

"Well, now that you're an Apprentice, I have a few more liberties on explaining the Mage Tiers to you. Nowhere near the full picture, but enough that it should be satisfying for you to hear."

"What do you mean?"

"While there are indeed only... 6 Tiers, that is not the end of the story. Mages' advancement through the Tiers are not always as clear cut as the delimitations of the Tiers themselves. Many Mages reach the peak of their Tiers and find themselves stuck between their current and next steps. These 'peak' Tiers have their own associated maxims and names, which, while they are not official designations, are very useful to know."

"Is there one for the 'peak' of Apprentice?" Amy sat up, intrigued. I had guessed at something similar to this, but that the peak Tiers have actual names? Now that's exciting.

"No, unfortunately, the peak Tiers only begin at the next Tier. At the peak of Journeyman, just before Archmage, there exists the Master Tier, and, of course, Master Mages. And, at the peak of Archmage, though not necessarily before Monarch, there exists the Lord Tier, and, hence, Mage Lords."

"Why the technicality with the Lord Tier?" Amy frowned, creasing her brow.

"Some Mages reach the Lord Tier before they ascend to the peak of Archmage, and thus, not all Lords are peak Archmages and vice versa. The reason for this involves some things that you are, sadly, not allowed to know this early on. You'll find out soon, however."

"How soon, Felin? I mean, I get the need for secrecy, but I'm getting the feeling that Mages might be just secrets all the way up," Amy complained.

"I guarantee you that you'll find out before reaching Journeyman. Trust me," Felin smiled, his green eyes trained on her intently.

"Alright Felin, I'll trust you," Amy nodded, her mind still somewhat elsewhere. Maybe it's related to the 'loss'?

"...Good," Felin said, turning his head away. "I'll leave you be then. I'll still be close but I did not expect you to collapse like that, and I want to make sure there's nothing wrong. You took in so much and... well, your body obviously took it's time adjusting."

"Mmm," Amy hummed, resting back in her bed, "Maybe I'll study Monstrous Visage's runes; the weird half-Spellform I saw when I casted the working."

"You do that then, young Apprentice. No magic from you though."

"I know, Felin, I know."