Chapter 3

Arcane utilized spells on different natural elements, such as water, fire, earth, and wind. It used the arcana sphere for its foundation; the more spheres you had, the stronger you were. There were ten ranks of spheres, varied by the number of spheres you had: Arcanist, Seeker, Magician, Grandmaster, Mystic, Master of Elements, Stellar, Veiled, Weaver, and Luminary. 

As for advancing sphere ranks, Seth couldn't find the information about this in the booklet. 

The first rank of the sphere, Arcanist, laid the basic foundation of arcane threads. The second rank, Seeker, was a period of seeking and developing one's foundation by capturing wild natural element arcane threads within one's sanctuary. These natural element threads were categorized by color: earth threads were green, fire threads were orange, water threads were blue, and air threads were grey.

Naturally, these natural element threads varied according to the environment within your sanctuary. For instance, oceans and rivers corresponded to the water element, volcanoes and magma lands represented fire element, floating valleys embodied the air element, and forests symbolized the earth element.

Upon reaching the rank of Magician, arcane users could develop different types of threads in their sanctuary, incorporating various aspects such as mystery, lightning, healing, and ice. Each aspect had its distinct thread color: mystery threads were black, lightning threads were light blue, healing threads were yellow, and ice threads had a blurry, icy hue.

And as for the other ranks descriptions, only the first to third ranks were written here.

As for Mauler, it was a pathway that utilized control over raw physical strength. There were also ten ranks, namely Warrior, Bruiser, Centurion, Smiter, Juggernaut, Goliath, Overlord, Horror of War, Abomination of Nature, and Luminary. 

Unlike Arcane, which used arcana spheres for its foundation, this pathway didn't need a foundation; instead, it faced certain waves in the sanctuary, which, after passing, allowed you to advance to the next rank. As for the descriptions of these ranks, there were none written here.

And lastly, Majeure, this pathway was really unique, mysterious, and rarely seen. It utilized physical force on your surroundings, which could get you to move certain things. 

This also didn't have a foundation; it was quite the same as Mauler, but instead of passing waves, this pathway needed to pass layers. And there were ten ranks of layers and titles for them, namely Forceborn, Motion Maverick, Force Warden, Guardian, Magnifier, Warper, Morpher, Artist, Pioneer, and Luminary. As for the descriptions of these certain ranks, there were none written in this booklet.

'The tenth title of every rank in the three pathways was the same; why was that?' Seth thought but he eventually threw this back into his mind. 

'I'm quite interested in Majeure; it's like a telekinesis ability on Earth.'

Seth looked around at his surroundings; there were already quite a lot of people.There were probably a thousand people here now.

'I wonder what pathway I could have?' Seth looked up and began to wander his thoughts. As he heard countless different conversations near his surroundings

⊹

Then the clouds slowly turned translucent, as the night sky slowly revealed itself. 

"Look, it's starting!" 

"Please, please god…" "

"This is…"

"Truly a fascinating sight to be seen…"

In the night, the stars slowly revealed themselves to the naked eye. These stars formed like a compass, with the arrow rotating slowly, pointing towards the north.

This was truly a breathtaking experience for Seth; after all, with just his naked eye, he could truly see the movement of the stars! 

On Earth, you need to use devices to record it, but in this moment, it truly went beyond the norms of Earthlings, not just the movement of the stars but also the form of it. 

Then the arrow stopped and pointed at the north; suddenly, in the center, the Jade Stone Ruin emitted a bright green light. This green light spread towards the surroundings people and Seth also got swept into it, and his vision turned white.

He looked at his surroundings and found himself standing in a different space. In this space, he saw a particular scene. In front of him were countless white threads slowly emerging from thin air; Seth was familiar with these white threads, as he had seen them on Mysha before. 

"So it's arcane…" Seth said as he suddenly noticed something beneath his feet. 

Seth looked down and around, taking in his surroundings. A forest with tall trees stood amidst a grassy field dotted with blooming flowers, but what struck him as odd was the water that seemed to blanket the ground. It was as if the forest was floating on water. He then looked up, there he saw floating valleys in the air, some of these valleys are made of ice, and some are made of magma and sometimes it will spit fire. He turned, he noticed three open spaces in the forest, each offering a distinct view. In one direction, he saw raging waves crashing in the distance.

"Waves? Mauler Pathway?" Seth wondered aloud, unsure what was happening.

His gaze snapped back to the white threads, which were slowly gathering themselves. Curious, Seth took a step forward, inspecting his surroundings more closely. The water-covered ground seemed to coexist harmoniously with the grass, trees, and flowers.

As he turned to examine the second open space, he saw nothing but a vast expanse of grassy terrain with water glistening on its surface. Taking a step forward, he suddenly bumped into an invisible barrier. Stumbling back, Seth's face registered shock rather than pain.

Rubbing his face, Seth cautiously extended his left arm, and to his surprise, the invisible wall flickered into view, emitting intermittent flashes of white light.

"A boundary?" Seth thought, unsure what to make of it. He knew layers were associated with the Majeure Pathway, but this seemed different.

As he withdrew his hand, the white wall vanished, and his surroundings returned to normal: the serene forest landscape with water and the distant sound of raging waves.

Seth then looked back to see the white threads had started to form into a white sphere. He slowly walked back to it and observed it for quite some time; then, he sat cross-legged. 

'It will probably take me back the moment this sphere forms, right? This seems to be what they call the 'sanctuary'; my consciousness is here, and my body is outside.' Seth thought as he looked up to the sky.

Then, in his sight, there were full of grey clouds, slowly emitting light blue light thunder from time to time, but the strangest thing was that there was no sound from it. Seth was quite perplexed by this but soon retracted his gaze towards the white sphere that was almost completely formed. Then, while he was looking at it, a cracking sound was heard. Seth heard this and looked up again, seeing a blue-white light in his vision as a thunder struck him. 

Seth was stunned; he was looking up in the air in a daze motion. He had just been struck by lightning, yet he didn't feel any pain. Instead, he felt something entered in his mind and body; he didn't know what it was, as his vision turned black, and with his body's instinct, he opened his eyes.

He was still looking at the sky, but there was already no night sky and stars. It was only gray clouds again. 

He looked around; he heard and saw some people crying, dazed, shouting in joy, and cursing. 

Seth then stood up; his face, mind, and emotions were calm and tranquil. Only his grey eyes carried a deep curiosity and anticipation.

'What's more can this world show me?' 

Then his surroundings changed; it was now a grassland. He looked at the person in front of him, clad in a gray robe; his face was decent-looking, with black hair and blue eyes. Looking at these blue eyes was quite familiar to Seth. Not long after, he heard this man say: 

"So you're the child my younger sister told me about…" 

Seth was still looking at this man; the man then continued his words: 

"You passed your admission with an aptitude for arcane. Congratulations; next, you will take the test to open your pathway, not just you, though." Saying so, he waved his hands, and three more people appeared.

The three looked mostly like teenagers; one was a male wearing a blue robe, and two were females, one wearing a purple robe and the other wearing a brown robe. Then the man said: 

"Don't resist; this is merely an illusion to let you experience near death without dying. This near-death experience will help you open your pathway and form your sphere into a half-complete one." Then the man disappeared, and the surroundings changed, but only for the other three people. Seth was still looking normal; he then closed his eyes.

But seeing no change, he didn't open them as he began to think. 'Seems like I already skipped this part, since a near-death experience will open the arcane pathway and form a half-complete sphere. But in this regard, I already died before, and this made me skip this part and immediately form a complete sphere in the aptitude test, I should just check out my sanctuary.'

Time passed by; the first one to regain consciousness was the female wearing a purple robe, the second was the male, and the third one was the female wearing a brown robe.

The female wearing a purple robe had sweat on her forehead; she was wearing a purple robe, her hair was long, and she was a quite a beauty. The male and the other female had pale faces and sweat dripping from their faces. The man wearing a gray robe nodded upon seeing this and said: 

"Congrats for becoming arcane…" 

The female wearing a purple robe had an indifferent face, while the female wearing a brown robe had a weak smile on her face, and the male wearing a blue robe shouted: "Hell yeah!"

"Slap!" The female wearing a brown robe immediately slapped this male teenager's shoulder and said: "Be quiet, Rion; don't be a disturbance." 

'Ah…' Rion immediately looked beside him and saw a young boy sitting cross-legged with closed eyes, wearing a quite loose black robe and appearing 'unconscious'. 

"Sorry…" Rion immediately apologized to the man wearing the gray robe.

The man smiled and didn't mind it. He instead looked at Seth, chuckled, and said with an amused tone.

"Okay, you can stop pretending now." 

The three teenagers immediately looked at this young boy wearing a black robe. Seth's who was at his sanctuary heard this; he slowly opened his eyes. The female wearing a purple robe, had her mind immediately shook as she thought: 'How long did he pretend to be like that? Did this kid finish earlier than me?'

The man then answered what the female wearing a purple robe thought: 

"The first one to awaken is you, kid with a loose robe." He pointed at Seth. 

The female teenager wearing a purple robe was internally shocked and asked the man: 

"Uhm, Honorable Elder Rue, may I know how? No, I mean how fast did he wake up?"

Indeed, this man's name was Rue, and this girl had some kind of information about it.

Elder Rue looked at this female teenager wearing a purple robe, raised his hand, and gestured three fingers and said: "In just three seconds." 

'Three seconds?!' The three teenagers immediately looked at Seth; all of them were deeply shocked. 'Even the shortest period in arcane pathway opening recorded was only fifty seconds, yet this kid did it in three seconds?' 

Coincidentally, all three teenagers thought the same thing: 'Who is he?' 

Yulin asked herself and racked her brain to find this kid's face in her list of potential opponents.

Seth was still looking at Elder Rue, and he suddenly said, making the three teenagers' thoughts stop. 

"Elder Rue…" 

Elder Rue smiled and said: "Yes?" 

"Can you send me off now?" 

Silence. 

"Hahaha, alright, alright." Saying so, Elder Rue flicked his finger. In front of the four, there were their uniforms for their respected academy with their badge.

Elder Rue then said: "Loose shirt kid and purple robe girl, you both will attend Ellen Academy on the Elyria Continent, while you blue robe boy and brown robe girl will attend Terak Academy on the Suda Continent. Now, say your goodbyes to each other; although it's only momentary meeting, it's better to make some connections, right? Then let's meet again in the future, kiddos." Saying so, Elder Rue disappeared.

Only the four of them were in this grassland. Their bodies soon started to fade. Rion then shouted: "Alright, let's get each other's names! I am Rion!" 

The brown robe girl nodded and said: "My name is Ryen, and I am is his twin sister." 

The purple robe girl looked at Rion and Ryen, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "My name is Yulin." 

Then the three of them looked towards the young kid with a loose black robe.

"I am Seth." 

'Seth.' These three students engrave this name into their mind, specifically his face and grey eyes.

As soon as they finished introducing themselves, all of them faded.