Diversity In Knowledge

Raiyen stopped dead in his tracks, causing Bryan to bump into him. After looking at a staggering Slayer, Raiyen finally opened his mouth.

"You knew from the get-go that Baldwin uses the Element of Necrosis?" asked Raiyen.

"Ya, is there a problem with that?" asked Duncan, scratching his head.

"Nah... There isn't, and you aren't in trouble. If anything, you've just beaten all the Founders in a smell test. Baldwin was fooled for nearly a century that he had the Darkness Element."

Wait... I thought the Darkness Element is the general term for all the Elements linked to Darkness? The longer this conversation, the more question marks were on top of my head.

"Notice. The Darkness Element is a general term used for a Mage that can perform all types of Darkness Element. From the Shadow Element to the Necrosis or the Hate Element, these Mages of Darkness are masters of it though they don't settle on a single type."

Jack of all trades, master of none. Thanks for the info, Vania.

"On a side note, why did you not learn to use the Darkness Element? Were you scared of it?" asked Duncan.

"You don't actively seek a class for the Darkness Element. Back in the day, Magecraft has deemed a curse rather than a gift. So Baldwin hid with his daughter for over half a millennium before they decided to go out."

"Is that so? Mother Mav teaches us how to use most Elements, like the Basic Element plus the Light and Dark Element."

"Why would she be teaching you Elements other than your own?" asked Tomoe, confused.

"Well, it isn't wrong to learn more about other Elements before stepping into the arena. However, the Darkness Element shouldn't be taught to youngsters like your group. So I have no clue what's going on in that Valkyrie's head," replied Raiyen disapprovingly.

"Diversity. The more Elements you understand and know, the easier you can counter them. Understanding how the fundamentals of Elements work and trying them out is a great top to learn for growing Mages. Especially for our Pillars."

"Remember, we are the attacking ace, the front liners. We would be at ground zero on the battlefield. I'm not saying the rest are left out, but our Ark seems more dangerous to be in compared to the others."

"We fire that first shot, so we must know how to counter the enemy fire. By letting the underlings understand and use other Elements, Lady Mav is giving them a chance to grasp how powerful the Elements are," explained the Slayer, without giving anyone an inch to cut in.

"That's a positive way to look at the teachings, but using the Darkness Element is still considered dangerous. Especially since most areas are just coming out of their shell to understand Magecraft. Having powers blooming from hate and anger isn't very beneficial to humans."

"On another hand, even if you claimed not to use the Darkness Element before, you've used a variant of the Black Lotus before, but it was a long time ago, right?" asked Tomoe.

The Time Mage instantly flushed red when Tomoe casually dropped that bomb. Ah... So this Time Boy has dabbled in the Dark Arts before.

"Hush it, Fox. Besides, that was years back when the Arks weren't even established yet. You can't blame me if you were in my situation since the foe I was up against was the old Commander of the Congregation, Old Man Pond."

"That guy deserves to have the entire world's Darkness on him because he's such a monster. That Poisoned Pond was the source of Baldwin's heartbreak and Z's guilt. And he was the main reason Mavislin was forced to kill her twin. HE was the one who made my precious girl cry."

"And anyone who makes my Mavislin cry deserves to feel the meaning of wrath."

Raiyen looked downwards, so his fringe covered his eyes, making us slightly terrified of him as he spat out those last words. His voice struck trepidation into our hearts as we continued walking onwards. Sometimes, I forget that this scrawny teenager is worthy of being a Founder.

Not only are the Time Mage's stats beyond my capabilities, but his Element is far superior to other novice Mages. But it should be expected since he was running an Ark by himself, a department focusing on gathering information for the development of the Mages.

The more I pondered about it, the more it felt like Raiyen was only tagging along because he was bored with the usual regime. But I was still confused... What did Old Man Pond do to the Valkyrie Twins? I thought it was a natural thing that occurred without the influence of another entity?

"Are you confused, Lizzie?" asked Bryan, looking at me weirdly.