Warrior Training System-Chapter 348: Paths of Power (Mages)

The Magisterian soldiers had set off in high spirits, but hours into the night march, most of them had already dozed off. The caravan rolled forward, the rhythmic clatter of hooves and wagon wheels lulling many to sleep. Only a few remained awake—drivers guiding the horses, guards keeping watch, and the occasional soldier stifling a yawn.

Inside one of the carriages, Cassian was fast asleep, his head resting on Lumine’s as hers leaned against his shoulder. Nearby, the siblings had slumped together in a similar tangle of limbs, while Robert had slid halfway down the window, mouth slightly open as he snored.

The only one still awake was Wanni. Balancing two mana circles in her hands—one a soft glow of light, the other a shifting sphere of water—she pressed them together experimentally. The magic flickered as the circles destabilized, but she kept at it, carefully trying to merge the two into one.

The unstable magic fizzled out with a sharp flash of light, jolting Cassian awake. Wanni offered an apologetic grin as his bleary eyes focused on her.

"Sorry," she whispered. "Just practicing."

Cassian rubbed his face, then carefully adjusted Lumine against his shoulder, letting her settle more comfortably against him. "It’s fine—wasn’t planning to sleep this long anyway." He nodded at her hands. "What were you trying to do? Looked interesting."

Wanni summoned two fresh mana circles—one glowing softly, the other shimmering with liquid blue light. "Trying to merge two spells," she explained, holding up the first. "This is Luminous Healing, a standard light-based recovery spell." She gestured to the second. "And this is my own version—Water Healing. Same effect, but using water mana instead."

She let the circles hover, watching as their energies resisted blending. "I’m trying to combine them into something stronger. There are already spells like that out there, but..." She smirked. "It’s better to craft your own. Teaches you how magic really works."

"That’s really interesting," Cassian said, watching the shimmering magic pieces. "Would something like this help you advance as a mage?" His knowledge of magic was limited—Katherine rarely discussed it with him, and his warrior friends understood just as little.

Wanni grinned as the mana circles fragmented like puzzle pieces, their edges jagged yet strangely compatible. "It’s complicated..." she murmured, carefully slotting the broken fragments together. Despite coming from completely different spells, the pieces fused seamlessly, forming a new, unstable circle that pulsed with combined energy.

"You remember the different mage professions I told you about?" she asked, maintaining focus on her weaving magic.

Cassian nodded. "Right—Spellcrafters, Elementalists, Diviners, and some others, what about them?."

Wanni was fitting the last pieces of the merged circles when the construct shattered again. She sighed, letting the fragments dissipate.

"See, mages don’t advance like warriors," Wanni said, twisting her fingers as a glowing blue droplet materialized above her palm. The tiny sphere pulsed like captured starlight. "While you guys just add another circle, we have to evolve our mana cores - though the process varies by profession."

She flicked the floating droplet, making it ripple. "That said, the first three advancement stages look similar for everyone." The droplet’s glow intensified. "This is a Flickering Ember - basically just a spark of raw mana near your heart. Every mage starts here."

The droplet expanded, its surface cracking with veins of blue light. "All cores start this way, then grow into a Smoldering Core." As she spoke, the unstable sphere transformed into a clear water orb that suddenly ignited in blue flames, the fire moving like flowing water.

"This is Burning Sphere," Wanni said, rotating the flaming water globe. "These are just visualizations - mine might look different, but water-based cores usually resemble this." The sphere morphed unpredictably. "Beyond this stage, cores take unique forms - shields, stars, weapons, instruments - though the rank names stay consistent: Radiant Flame, Crystal Flame, Aether Core, Astral Flame..."

"That only covers up to Astral Mage rank," Cassian said, leaning forward with genuine curiosity. "What about Mage Ascendant - the eighth rank?" This was his first real insight into mage rankings. While basic magical knowledge was widely available to train low-level mages for merchant guilds and workforces, advanced magical theory was closely guarded.

There was good reason for this secrecy. Unlike circle warriors, who needed moral discipline to advance, mages progressed through pure knowledge - whether used for good or evil mattered little in their ascension. This was why dark organizations always had more high-ranking mages than warriors. Most morally-corrupted warriors never broke through humanity’s natural limits to become true Domain Shapers - the path to godhood demanded more than just power.

"That knowledge isn’t shared with low-ranked mages like me," Wanni admitted, swirling the blue mana droplet between her fingers. "We only learn those secrets when we reach the Luminara rank." Cassian nodded in understanding - it made sense. Even warrior circles kept their higher-level advancement methods secret to prevent students from obsessing over distant futures instead of focusing on their current training.

"But tell me this," Cassian leaned forward, genuinely curious, "how will you advance your Flickering Ember to a Smoldering Core?" For warriors like him, advancement came through perfecting mana rotations and testing their will in battle. But mages clearly followed a different path.

Wanni’s fingers danced through the air, weaving increasingly complex patterns as two glowing blue mana circles expanded before her. "For a dual-specialist like me," she explained, "I need to fulfill both professions’ requirements. With water elementalism, I have to deepen my understanding - whether through healing applications, defensive techniques, or studying its fluid nature. Then I transform that knowledge into arcane magic."

The circles pulsed as she layered more intricate patterns. "These aren’t exactly spells in the traditional sense - more like permanent magical abilities, similar to your warrior techniques. But they’re actually massive magical constructs. The advantage of studying both spellcraft and elementalism is that I can design an ability that satisfies both disciplines’ advancement criteria at once-"

Cassian frowned, struggling to follow. "Wait, abilities are a warrior thing though, right?"

"Like I said, it’s arcane magic, not exactly..." Wanni began, but the carriage suddenly lurched to a stop. Her painstakingly crafted circles shattered into blue sparks as everyone was jolted awake. Lumine groaned, rubbing her eyes as she lifted her head from Cassian’s shoulder. "What’s going on? Why are we stopping?"

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