Chapter 5

Although children automatically became a Rank 1 warrior upon turning 8 years old no matter what as long as they had what it took to walk the path of a cultivator to pursue immortality, Leo was still very surprised because this signified he was no longer a cripple! This alone would allow him to live a somewhat more peaceful life, but would also help him work towards a certain role within the village like being a guard or taking up a trade such as farming or other things which he could not do before.

Mortals who were unable to cultivate could still fulfill roles such as farming, but since he was now at least a Rank 1 warrior, Leo would be able to be more than just a farmer and would have a leadership role as an example if he were to pursue that route for work.

In general, Rank 1 signified the ability to pursue the path towards immortality and meant that although weak, he was no longer considered less than trash also known as mortals who could only be peasants who had to serve those who were able to cultivate regardless of their level of weakness as cultivators. This was how one's class was immediately determined by society's standards, but this did not mean that a Rank 1 cultivator was considered not trash either.

With all of this in mind, he still had to choose whether to walk the path of a warrior or a mage, but at least he could now choose and walk said path which was exciting for him. Since he had prior experience with building strength through the use of his physical body as a former hero who did not use elemental magic but used a sword to slay numerous foes, he could easily now pursue the path as a warrior similar to his father who was a Rank 3 warrior due to the same issues that he had a low affinity with the earth element.

So unknowing how high of an elemental affinity he had, Leo like others who were unsure would presently pursue the path as a warrior. He could check this immediately, but since he already had a training plan in place and his own knowledge of how to proceed, there was no reason to spend time looking at yet another path of training presently. The warrior class was considered weaker and more common, but slightly easier to train in.

Depending on foundation and resources one had at their disposal, one could have an easier time becoming a higher ranked warrior and this was what many commoners chose to do because as long as a cultivator reached Rank 2 in their cultivation, they could join the military and would not only have access to resources that they could only dream of being commoners, but they would be able to raise a family much easier and could potentially reach a high rank within the military over time which by itself offered many more opportunities for growth, wealth, and personally strength building.

A warrior trained solely on their physical conditioning and battle qi, while a mage trained by becoming one with an element of their choosing. Both were considered classes of a cultivator but becoming a high ranked mage was not very common and depending on where you were, a mage at the seventh rank would be treated like a noble compared to a warrior at the seventh rank which would not be treated poorly, but could only receive high paying offers from organizations rather than a nobility title.

Majority of cultivators would pursue becoming a mage instead of a warrior due to society based class differences, but if the speed of becoming a stronger warrior compared to a very weak mage was similar, it was a better idea to become a stronger warrior due to salary differences and career path options. The reasoning behind this was because with each rank, a cultivator's life expectancy through aging would increase by quite a bit. So if you were able to become a Rank 6 warrior instead of a Rank 4 mage, you would be able to live many years longer which was also something cultivators took into consideration since sometimes depending on talent level, living a longer life was more important than having a higher role in society.

One out of one hundred cultivators had the qualifications to pursue becoming a mage, while one out of one thousand had an above average or high affinity with an element. This meant that out of one hundred cultivators presently in the world, only one of them would pursue becoming a mage due to their talent to pursue that path. This did not mean that every cultivator thought this way, but it did mean that the majority of high ranked cultivators walked the path of a warrior which made mages very rare, especially mages with actual talent!

High ranked mages are considered high nobility in this world, but high ranked warriors were able to receive nobility titles as well but slightly less glamorous. The reasoning behind this is because mages could use their elemental powers to do things that warriors were unable to do in order to generate more wealth. It was also difficult for a warrior to have a mid range and especially long range techniques unless they focused on doing something like archery, while mages had an established arsenal of both including close combat techniques at their disposal.

So with all of this in mind, Leo would still check to see what his talent looked like to pursue the path of a mage, since there was something that existed called a dual expert which was a cultivator pursuing both paths at once, but no matter what, Leo felt that he had the ability to become stronger as a warrior initially and would more than likely just focus on that above all else for the time being.