"... How's your progress with your training?" Criselle asked.
"I'm doing fine. But I'm still trying to figure out if there are other ways other than the things you mentioned to me earlier about how to train my Physical Arts," Vivian said.
"Oh..." Criselle said and nodded. "Are you struggling to train your Physical Arts?"
Vivian shook her head.
"Not really. I'm just wondering if there are other ways."
"Have you ever been to the Training Grounds' Gym? I don't think I've seen you there other than the time you underwent those Awakening Ceremonies for your [Fire] and [Wind Mastery]."
Vivian shook her head once again.
"No, I've been busy."
"If you want, I can be your sparring partner."
"If I chose to train my Physical Art by sparring with a person, would it be faster compared to doing real battles?"
"It depends. If you're going to use Physical Art skills, because I'm assuming that it's an actual life-and-death battle, then no."
"So using Physical Arts is faster?"
"Allow me to give you a quick summary on how to properly train Physical Art Masteries.
"If you're going to choose to spar with someone, aside from using the weapon of the Mastery you want to train, your sparring partner must at least be as strong as you.
"Let's say my Physical Force is Mihtril while your Physical Force is Iron. Now, because my Physical Force is 2 Grades higher, if we spar, only your Physical Art Mastery will increase while mine will remain stagnant. However, if we use Physical Art skills on each other during our fight, the Mastery of the Physical Art skill that we used will increase."
"So it's based on the person's Physical Force?" Vivian asked.
Criselle nodded.
"Yes."
"What if yours was Silver and mine was Iron?"
"As long as it's not beyond 2 Grades, both fighters will benefit."
"What about using Physical Art skills on yourself?"
Criselle nodded again.
"That will also work.
"As Priestesses, we have [Heal] from the [Light Mastery] and we also have [Greater Heal] from our Class Magic. So that's not a problem for us.
"However, the issue lies with the mana, specifically Mana Potions.
"The more you drink Mana Potions, the lesser its potency will become that you will need to take a break from drinking Mana Potions and it could be for a day, a week, a month, depending on how many Mana Potions you consumed.
"It's like drinking wine or alcohol. The first time you drink it, you get drunk right away after 1 glass. However, if you constantly drink for days, weeks, months or even years, your body starts to develop a natural resistance that it's going to take several glasses of wine for you to get drunk. However, if you stop drinking for a month, a couple of months, or a year, your resistance to alcohol weakens.
"So instead of using Mana Potions to train your Physical Art Masteries, it would be more efficient to use Mana Potions in training your Magic Art Masteries and then train your Physical Art Masteries through sparring."
Vivian nodded.
"I see. Just out of curiosity, if a person has [Halo] and a Magic Item with mana boost recovery effect, they're able to recover 1 mana point every 2 minutes, right?"
"Yes."
"Which is faster? Sparring with someone or killing someone? And let's say I didn't use a Physical Art skill, like [Power Fist], but I punched someone to death with my fist?"
"I believe killing someone is faster."
Vivian nodded once more.
"I see, I see…" she said and then stared at the table, lost in her thoughts.
And after a moment of silence, Criselle spoke.
"By the way, sister."
Vivian raised her gaze and looked at her.
"Yes?"
"You opened your [Fire] and [Wind Mastery] not long ago, right?"
Vivian nodded.
"Yes."
"Be careful not to overtrain your Magic Force or make it exceed 2 Grades higher compared to your Physical Force."
Vivian knitted her brows.
"Why?"
"The moment your Magic Force exceeds 2 Grades higher compared to your Physical Force, a nerve or vein inside your head will pop and you will die."
Vivian's jaw dropped.
"What…?"
Criselle nodded.
"It's the truth. And even if our Brothers or Sisters cast [Resurrection] on you, the moment you start thinking, a nerve or vein inside your head will pop right away and you will die. So please be careful in training your Magic Art Masteries."
"And there's no way to cure that…?"
She shook her head.
"Not that I know of."
"But why? What's wrong with having your Magic Force exceeding 2 Grades higher than your Physical Force? What about if your Physical Force is 2 Grades higher than your Magic Force?"
Criselle was about to answer but stopped when the waiter from earlier brought over their orders on a tray.
He turned to Criselle.
"A slice of Russ Cake and a glass of Sun Tea," he said as he placed her order in front of her.
He turned to Vivian.
"A slice of Fineas Cake and a glass of Iced Junea tea," he said as he placed her order in front of her.
He stepped back and bowed.
"Please don't hesitate to call me in case you need something else. Please enjoy, Honored Priestesses," he said and then left.
Criselle noticed that Vivian didn't touch her cake or drink.
"To answer your questions, let me start with the first one. Have you ever experienced concentrating or focusing and the world starts to move slowly?"
Vivian nodded.
"Yes."
"That's one of the benefits of having Magic Force. And the higher your Magic Force, the slower the world moves.
"As a matter of fact, according to Scholars, they say that for a person with Iron-Grade Magic Force, they're able to see the world 3 seconds slower once they concentrate or focus. Silver-Grade is 6 seconds slower, Mithril is 9 seconds slower, Orichalcum is 12 seconds slower, Adamantite is 15 seconds slower, Rainbow Steel is 18 seconds slower and Spirit Steel is 21 seconds slower.
"Naturally, to be able to do such a thing is beyond normal human capabilities and is therefore very taxing to do the body, which is why you will also need a body that can withstand doing such things. And to achieve such a body, you will need to increase your Physical Force.
"And also according to Scholars, when it comes to Physical Force, the Iron-Grade Physical Force allows the person to move 3 seconds faster, Silver is 6 seconds faster, Mithril is 9 seconds faster, Orichalcum is 12 seconds faster, Adamantite is 15 seconds faster, Rainbow Steel is 18 seconds faster and Spirit Steel is 21 seconds faster.
"So to put it simply, well, let me give you 3 scenarios.
"The first scenario, let's say your Physical Force is Silver which allows you to move 6 seconds faster while your Magic Force is also Silver which allows you to see the world 6 seconds slower.
"With this combination, there will be no issues because your Physical and your Magic Force are balanced. If you move 6 seconds faster, your eyes and brain are able to catch up due to your eyes being capable of seeing the world 6 seconds slower. On the other hand, if you concentrate or focus and the world moves 6 seconds slower, your body is able to react accordingly because it's capable of moving 6 seconds faster.
"Now let's go to the second scenario. Let's say your Physical Force is Iron which allows you to move 3 seconds faster while your Magic Force is Mithril-Orichalcum -- remember, Mithril Magic Force allows you to see the world 9 seconds slower while Orichalcum Magic Force allows you to see the world 12 seconds faster -- so you with a Magic Force of Mithril-Orichalcum, you're able to see the world 10.5 second slower.
"With this combination, because your Magic Force is more than 2 Grades higher compared to your Physical Force, the moment you think, a nerve or vein inside your head will once again pop and you will die.
"Now for the third scenario. Let's say your Physical Force is Mithril-Orichalcum which allows you to move 10.5 seconds faster while your Magic Force is Iron which allows you to see the world 3 seconds slower.
"With this combination, even though your Physical Force is more than 2 Grades higher compared to your Magic Force, you won't die. However, you will face 2 issues.
"The first issue, once you move at the speed of Mithril-Orichalcum-Grade or 10.5 seconds faster, because your Magic Force is only Iron which allows you to see the world 3 seconds slower, your eyes and brain won't be able to catch up.
"It would be like moving with your eyes closed because your eyes don't have enough time to see what it's looking at, send it to your brain, allow your brain to understand what it's looking at, and then inform you what you're looking at. By the time your eyes and brain have done all that, your body has already moved at least 7.5 seconds ahead and your eyes and brain have to do the same thing to the things that happened within those 7.5 seconds.
"Your only choice, if you don't want to move or walk around blind, is to not move beyond Mithril-Grade or beyond 7.5 seconds faster.
"The second issue, Physical Force doesn't protect you from Magic Art spells. When it comes to spells, their offensive and defensive power depends on the caster and the opponent's Magic Force.
"For example, let's say your Physical and Magic Force is Mithril. Meanwhile, your opponent's Physical Force is Rainbow Steel and his Magic Force is Orichalcum.
"Even though his Physical Force is 3 Grades higher than yours while his Magic Force is 1 Grade higher than yours, if you throw a [Fire Arrow] at him, he will be affected by it or it will penetrate his defense.
"I'll give you another example. Let's say your Physical and Magic Force is Mithril. Meanwhile, your opponent's Physical Force is Orichalcum-Adamantite and his Magic Force is Rainbow Steel.
"This time, although his Physical Force is 1 and 1/2 Grades higher while his Magic Force is 3 Grades higher, if you throw a [Fire Arrow] at him, he won't be affected or will be invulnerable from it."
"For a person to be vulnerable against another person's spell, it should be 3 Magic Force Grade higher?" Vivian asked.
Criselle nodded.
"Somewhere close to that."
"So no matter what scenario, a person must balance or at the very least not let his or her Physical and Magic Force differ more than 2 Grades from each other if he or she doesn't want to suffer any unnecessary disadvantages?"
Criselle nodded again.
"That is correct. This is also why those who have a higher number of Magic Art Affinities are valued in society. Call it unfair, superficial or whatever, but that is the reality of the world. However, whether those people have the patience and discipline to train their Physical and Magic Art Masteries or not, that's a different story."
Shit…
So whether I like it or not…
I have to train my Physical and Magic Art Masteries equally…
But what exactly is more than 2 Grades…?
Vivian tried to recall what Criselle said about the seconds slower and seconds faster.
When it comes to Magic Force…
Iron-Grade allows the person to see the world 3 seconds slower, Silver-Grade is 6 seconds slower, Mithril is 9 seconds slower, Orichalcum is 12 seconds slower, Adamantite is 15 seconds slower, Rainbow Steel is 18 seconds slower and Spirit Steel is 21 seconds slower…
And then when it comes to Physical Force…
Iron-Grade allows the person to move 3 seconds faster, Silver is 6 seconds faster, Mithril is 9 seconds faster, Orichalcum is 12 seconds faster, Adamantite is 15 seconds faster, Rainbow Steel is 18 seconds faster and Spirit Steel is 21 seconds faster…
So Iron is 30 points, Silver is 60 points, Mithril is 90 points, Orichalcum is 120 points, Adamantite is 150 points, Rainbow steel is 180 points and Spirit Steel is 210 points…?
Is that it…?
She shook her head mentally.
I don't want to jump to any conclusions…
I mean…
I don't want to die because I miscalculated…
That would be such a pathetic way to die…
Death by your own stupidity…
"Sister, do you know anything about STR, VIT, AGI and INT when describing Physical and Magic Force?"
A confused expression appeared on Criselle's face.
"ST…R what?"
"STR for Strength, VIT for Vitality, AGI for Agility and INT for Intelligence when describing Physical and Magic Force."
She shook her head.
"I'm not familiar with such terms."
Figures…
So no one in this world really has a Status Panel…?
And no one knows about STR, VIT, AGI and INT…?
"One more thing, sister," Criselle said.
"What is it?"
"Are you aware of the 'One Magic Art = Two Physical Arts' rule?"
Vivian knitted her brows.
"The what rule?"
Criselle cleared her throat.
"Basically, for each Magic Art Mastery you have, you have to partner it with two Physical Arts.
"Since Physical Arts doesn't require any Affinity and can be learned by anyone else, one of the most common mistakes that young people make is that they would open multiple Physical Art Masteries in order to bulk up Physical Art skills and also Physical Force.
"Yes, it has its effectiveness -- you have multiple Low-Tier skills so it gives you this sense of diversity and you also get to build up your Physical Force quicker.
"However, once you reach around the Orichalcum-Grade or meet people on that Physical and Magic Force Grade, that's when specializing in a Physical Art or two would start to make a difference. Because as you increase the proficiency of your Physical Art Mastery, you will also acquire higher-tier or more powerful skills. And the higher the Grade you climb, the more pronounced it will only become.
"Hence why those with a proper education or training would only focus on two Physical Arts for every one Magic Art they possess right from the beginning or what they call the 'One Magic Art = Two Physical Arts' rule. Although it may take time, they would have a huge advantage once they reach around the Orichalcum-Grade Physical and Magic Force."
Vivian knitted her brows.
"I'm sorry, sister, but can you explain it step-by-step? You see, I really don't know much about training."
Criselle shook her head.
"I'm sorry, sister. I know I promised that I would answer your questions about training, but I didn't expect that it would be to this extent. There are unspoken rules on what you can and can't discuss about training, and Physical Arts and Magic Arts in public and I've already spoken too much."
What the hell…?!
Why didn't this bitch mention this earlier…?!
What is even the point of this meeting then…?!
"I see."