Two Paths

"All right, Jin. That should be enough," the Professor said from behind the kid.

However, Jin was now thoroughly enjoying the look of admiration from Catherine, so why would he stop just because he was told to do so?

"Cool, isn't it?" Jin flexed his arms to show off his tiny muscles. "This is the power of an official mage! Do you know that only less than ten percent of mages are able to hit Rank 1 by the age of six? And what do you know? I happen to be one of them!"

The Professor felt like slapping himself on the forehead.

This Jin really takes a little too much enjoyment in showing off.

"If you don't stop now, we won't be having McDonald's for dinner."

These words were spoken as nonchalantly as before. But this time, it drew an instantaneous response from Jin as his facial expression froze.

"Too bad, that's all you will get to see," Jin immediately wrapped up his show in a dignified manner.

The raging flames around him vanished in an instant, leaving only the white smoke that lingered in the room.

His swaying hair fell back down, evidently unharmed by the flames. His skin remained soft and supple as well, which was especially obvious now that his clothes had been burnt off to reveal his full naked body for all to see.

Catherine: "…"

His clothes got burnt off by his own magic?

Is this really supposed to happen?

"What's wrong? Even after seeing this, you still find it hard to believe me?" the Professor asked. At the same time, he nonchalantly took out some clothes from his briefcase to pass to Jin.

He could see that Catherine's expression did not seem too good.

"No, I do believe you," Catherine let out a helpless sigh. "I was just a little surprised. Did you call it the Flame Body earlier? Is that the name of the magic?"

"Spell. It is the name of the spell, not magic," the Professor corrected her with a smile. "How about it? Are you excited to learn it?"

"Not at all," Catherine quickly shook her head.

"Eh?" the Professor was taken aback by her unexpected response. "What do you mean, no?"

Aspiring mages were usually filled with big dreams, all of them eager to learn as many spells as they could.

He had asked aspiring mages this same question many times, and this was certainly the first time that he had gotten no for an answer!

"No, I mean, of course I want to learn magic if possible. However, maybe I will pass on that spell," Catherine forced a smile as she tried to clarify things. "No, not just that. Perhaps I will pass on anything that has to do with fire."

"Oh?" the Professor glanced over at Jin who was still dressing himself, then broke into a hearty laughter. "Hahaha, don't worry. As you are right now, it would be difficult to learn it even if you wanted to. In order to even qualify to learn spells like Flame Body, you need to first become an official mage."

"An official mage?" Catherine asked.

She had heard Jin mention something like that earlier, but she had not paid too much attention back then.

"Mages are split into ten different ranks, from Rank 0 to Rank 9," the Professor explained. "Now that you have successfully undergone mana awakening, you can be considered a Rank 0 Apprentice Mage. As I said earlier, this means that you have taken your first step into the world of mages. However, you will only be recognised as an official mage after you complete the Two Great Purifications and form your mana core. That is when you will finally be considered a Rank 1 Elementary Mage, the first level of an official mage."

Catherine nodded in response, trying to digest all that information in her head.

"You don't have to worry about all that for now. Before that, there are some things that I need to tell you," the Professor continued. "As someone who has just entered the world of mages, you need to choose between two paths. One is to join an existing lineage or organisation, while the other is to try carving out a path by yourself."

Catherine nodded again.

She already had quite a few questions in her head, but decided to hold back and not interrupt the Professor for now.

"Usually, your teacher should be the one guiding you on this. But since you don't have a teacher, you will just have to decide on your own," the Professor said. "As you have probably guessed, there are pros and cons to both paths. Most mages will choose to join a lineage or an organisation. In exchange for working for them, these lineages or organisations will provide the guidance and resources necessary for growth. For the same reason, most unaffiliated mages don't do as well since there is no one to guide them and provide them with resources."

"But even if I want to join them, will they accept me?" Catherine asked.

She was a complete newbie with zero knowledge about anything to do with mages. No matter how she thought about it, why would any organisation want to accept her?

No, how would she even find an organisation to join in the first place?

"You don't have to worry about that," the Professor patted his chest reassuringly. "Since I am already helping you, I won't leave you hanging. If you wish to join an organisation, I can introduce you to a few that I know. They should be willing to allow you to join, at least on probation."

Probation…?

Catherine could not help but think how similar this was to joining an actual company.

"What about you, Pro... fessor? Which path did you choose?" Catherine continued to ask questions.

"Me? I am an unaffiliated mage, but you probably shouldn't take me as an example," the Professor answered with a smile. "After all, I have a spectacular talent in learning spells that surpasses most others, allowing me to get to my current position while relying on nothing by myself!"

"Is that so?" Catherine could not quite believe the Professor, especially after seeing the little Jin faceplaming by the side. "In that case, I will think about it seriously before making a decision. Can I let you know after I decide?"

"Sure, but it would be best to decide as soon as possible. If you wish to join an orgnisation, the sooner you do, the more beneficial it will be. Of course, there are also some mages who only join an organisation years later," the Professor said. "In any case, now that you have awakened your mana, your next step will be the External Purification."

"External Purification…?" Catherine could only repeat after him blankly.

"That's right. In order to do so, you will need to acquire some materials…" the Professor glanced at Catherine before continuing. "Don't worry, I will help you keep a lookout to see if anyone has any extras that they want to give away. So, just wait for my good news."

"Thank you for the offer. But even if I do get the materials, I have no idea how to go about doing this..." Catherine scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"It's easy! So don't worry about it!" Jin answered.

"Jin is right. Don't worry too much, I will let you know how to do it when the materials are ready," the Professor said. "For now, you just have to keep practising the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method while waiting for my good news."

"By practising, do I just keep reciting the words from earlier?" Catherine asked.

"...Yes," the Professor felt the corner of his lips twitch.

Such a basic question...

He forgot just how little Catherine knew about the world of mages!

"I understand," Catherine nodded profusely. "I will definitely keep reciting those words!"

Even though she had been told the words while in a state of semi-consciousness earlier, Catherine realised that as long as she tried to think back to it, she would still be able to recall the sounds rather vividly.

Reciting them would not be a problem.

"Speaking of the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method, let me tell you just how good it is and how fortunate you are to be able to practise it," the Professor added. "As a Rank 0 Apprentice Mage, you have to go through the Two Great Purifications before forming your mana core. The Two Great Purifications refer to External Purification followed by Internal Purification. These are processes that cleanse the body of impurities in preparation for the formation of a mana core, each taking around six months to complete. This means that the total time taken will be around a year."

"But with the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method, the amount of time can be halved without compromising on the results!" the Professor continued excitedly. "This means that you will only need six months to complete the Two Great Purifications, saving a full six months! Of course, this is only possible if you have the necessary materials to undergo a proper purification. Otherwise, things might take slightly longer, though it will still be half that of using most other foundation meditation techniques!"

"Half the time without compromising on the results? Really?" Catherine raised an eyebrow.

People often say that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Not to mention the cases reported on the news, Catherine's uncle and aunt had also fallen for an investment scam in the past.

Had the Professor not mentioned anything like that, she would definitely have studied the 106th Steel Hunter's Meditation Method like a textbook.

But now that the Professor was selling the technique in such a dubious manner, she could not help but feel sceptical!

"What's the catch?" Catherine asked.

"To earn my grace before gaining access to the technique," the Professor answered in a heartbeat.

Catherine: "..."

"Are you doubting my words?" the Professor asked with a smile. "But this is the truth. This is a technique that I came up with, so I'm naturally the gatekeeper to learning this technique. In fact, you can count yourself lucky that you needed a foundation meditation technique to recover earlier. Otherwise, I would never have let you practise it so easily! Now that you have already started practising it, it would be harmful to switch your foundation meditation technique halfway, too. So I decided to just leave you bed."

Catherine mused.

That made sense.

If the Professor had taught her the 106th Steel Meditation Method in a bid to save her life, it had to be a rather safe technique.

Wait, did he say that he came up with this technique?

In that case, could he simply be using her as a live experiment to test if the technique actually worked?