6 New Master

Anderson nodded respectfully to this elderly man, who was the oldest and wisest member of the village, at nearly a century in age, on top of which he was also a Level 4 Mage that had taught his own father, "Elder, by supervision, I mean that at least four of the town guards I choose will accompany him. Their orders will be simple: they can only protect his life should it be threatened, help him should he need it, and restrain him before returning to the compound. They cannot assist him with any trickery, threatening, pranking, extortion, bribery, or anything criminal. They also cannot assist with fights unless it becomes too serious and requires intervention. Would this set your mind at ease, Elder?"

The old mage nodded, "That it does. And, if I may, might I suggest the lad be entrusted to me as my last student?"

While Anderson didn't fully understand what the centenarian meant by this question, Darius Bradley did, as he looked down at Luca, "Young man, I know the Elder very well, and this is also his suggestion as compensation for what you have unjustly endured. You do have talent in magic, so with the Elder's guidance, you may reach his level as a mage. Are you willing to be his last student?"

In Luca's mind, the System stated, "As you are knowledgeable of the state of the world right now, the current strongest human mage is only at Level 14. To find a Level 4 Mage outside of a city is an extremely rare chance. The laws of magic are more complex than just the spells and rituals of the game you knew. It is recommended you accept this opportunity. It will save you a long amount of time compared to self-study, even if not by much."

The young boy seemed, at least to others, to think to himself for a brief moment before responding, "This student greets the master."

Seeing the bright eyed and brave youth refer him as master, the old man laughed, "Hohohoh, just call me mentor. My old eyes tell me you'll surpass me in no time."

Anderson clapped his hands and brought the event filled with shock to a close. Luca left with the aging mage, while the two Bradley boys were attached to each other, still crying their eyes out, and the crowd made their ways back to their normal routine, all with new stories and gossip.

___

A week passed by in the blink of an eye, and very little changed to Greenwood Town in the short span of time, aside from having to update the citizen logbook to include a new resident. In the backyard of a well-constructed but small home, a borderline pale boy with white hair that reached the middle of his back (he didn't really know why the God of Light made it so long) tied with a strap of leather and bright blue eyes sat in the lotus position, a ball of water in one palm and a ball of fire in the other, each no bigger than a marble. Wiggling his fingers, the two Level 0 spells changed shapes and wove in and around his hands. Several animals watched him silently but curiously from a small distance, though one brave cat decided to lounge lazily at his feet and closely follow the ball of water.

This young boy with hair that made him easily mistakable for a girl was Luca after having been thoroughly de-grimed. His pure white hair made him stand out from the townsfolk, who had been just as surprised as him at its pristine color, but he didn't mind it at all. After all, it didn't stand out near as much as his talent did. In just one week, he had become a Level 0 Mage, a task that would take most a full year. According to this world's system of knowledge, a mage increases in level when they can prove they are capable of casting a spell of the next level. A Level 0 can only become a Level 1 upon casting a Level 1 spell. However, the System, and Luca himself, had much higher standards. A true mage must completely master at least one spell of his level, else they are second-rate at best.

Extinguishing the two spells and sighing to himself, Luca mumbled, "Compared to the game, magic is so different. It's not 'have enough mana to cast the spell' anymore. You have to actually understand it now... Being a full-fledged mage is going to be difficult."

The System, which had been oddly quiet for a while, said, "Originally, I did not intend to bring this up, but I believe that the God of Light gave this to you for a reason, so I shouldn't hide it any longer. There is an alternative class, per se, that you can take, but all of the contemporary classes you know of will no longer be available to you. That being said, it has the potential to, and has in fact been proven to be, exceed all four at once."

This intrigued Luca, who asked the System curiously, "Before you tell me what it is, do you want to tell me why you wanted to hide it?"

"I would have to explain it first, so I will do that instead. We should start from the beginning. Before the Sages brought wisdom and order to the world, there was the Chaos Era that stretched beyond all known history, even those that have been discovered during it. Numerous civilizations did exist, but none truly left any marks behind other than a fleeting spark in the darkness before being overrun and destroyed. Of those civilizations, there was one in particular that was very odd. Long after their demise, the one thing that they created persisted all the way up until 100 years before the Chaos Era, give or take a few. The first instances of the four contemporary classes appearing was 150 years before the Sages appeared, so it only survived 50 more years after they spread. Unfortunately, while the total users of it still existed, due to it being before written history, all that was known was by spoken word. As users of it died off faster due to the surge in the four contemporary classes popularity, what was passed down verbally for decades lost numerous details before it was first written down, at which point it sounded more like myths than truth. An ancient class that preceded the Sages, the four classes, and written history, was lost to history, and next to none knew it had ever existed by the time the Sages appeared. Thus, such a glorious piece of history was buried for eternity, its glory lost in the endless struggles of the Chaos Era."