98 || Monster Among Geniuses

"Tell me, what do you think about young Izel?" The voice that asks this question is scratched with age and wisdom. Golden reptilian eyes stare intently as square irises watch the person before them. With her age, the Director of the Arcanist Academy often gets mistaken for a green or even emerald dracokin depending on the season. She usually gives a small peal of laughter at the assumption but those that know her closely are aware that she's a noble bronze scale.

A man with triangular ears adjusts his glasses. "Academically, she's one of the brightest students we've had in several centuries. If I recall correctly the last person who got a perfect score on the entrance exams was you, Madam Director. While a little socially awkward, she's incredibly gifted in a wide variety of fields. That said, with her recent ban from the testing field due to her prior explosive results with arcane tools, it seems there is a limit to her ability."

"I suppose the little nobles feel smug about that fact, especially when they can't overcome her on the testing wall. Those in the Enhancer track were able to keep some dignity, lucky she chose the Inducer track instead of going undecided." The Director muses.

Izel had made many friends in the different departments with her odd yet open personality. Whether it was the Arcane Tool Department, the Maselic Scroll Division, Magic Circle Research Hall, or even the reclusive Historical Tome Office, Izel had fit herself without issue while drawing many to her orbit. It was this magnetism plus her record breaking scores at the weekly tests that drew the ire of the noble families not used to being second best.

In Izel's Story, the world followed two unique energy circulation techniques. The first involved hone one's mind in physical reaction, bodily coordination, or mental calculation. These folks were known as Inducer Arcanists. The second were those who formed on the exterior body were known as Enhancer Arcanists who displayed explosive strength, unfathomable speed, or impossible reactions. For Inducers, their magic flowed according to their nervous system or arcane channels. For Enhancers, their arcane energy follows along their artery network, arcane paths, with a birthmark like tattoo forming somewhere on their body as the focus point.

Inducers focus on studying how to use and manipulate energy through arcane tools, scrollwork, and most importantly researching on how to get better quantity and quality of magic!

Enhancers put their talents in priming their body for combat or manual labor. Both groups had the initial goal of forming what was known as an Elemental Arcane Core. Whether Inducer or Enhancer, once a person has circulated enough arcane energy throughout their being, a crystal of their efforts and talents will be created naturally within their body. Like an extra organ, the Arcane Core helps energize the mind and body while filtering and revolving the arcane energy.

Arcane Cores have several stages: Ruby and Topaz for Beginners, Garnet and Peridot for Novices, Sapphire and Amethyst for Masters, and finally Lazulite with Diamond as the endpoint for Sages. To become a Sage one had to be once in a milenia geniuses. Even then, there are differences among the Arcane Cores. The number of sides determines the quality, recovery, and quantity of one's magic.

Anyone with a single to three sided Arcane Core would unlikely reach the Peridot stage with Sapphire stage a far off wish. Four to six sides had a slim chance to become Masters if they were talented enough while anyone with seven or eight sides were guaranteed to be Masters in their lifetime. Those with octogonal Arcane Cores were even rarer than Sages, the amount in recorded history counted on one hand.

"It's a shame they're a step behind, both the noble Inducers and Enhancers," The Director laughs. A look of confusion crosses the teacher's face. He hadn't heard such a heartfelt and comfortable laugh from the Director for some time now. "Do you recall what Izel made for the arcane tool entrance exam?"

"Somehow, using the materials provided, she was able to create a basic spatial ring. But what exactly--" He pauses as the Director causes a screen to appear silently, showing Izel's crafting process.

There's no prepwork, no incantations, nor any spell circles. Instead Izel is waving her hands and fingers as if she's conducting an orchestra, humming silently to herself while her eyes blaze with focus and elation. Each of the nine basic materials has a trace of a single element, the ninth being a rare shard of Spatial Crystal no bigger than a fingernail. It's this small item, that even Lazulite stages do not mess with carelessly, is the focal point of the ring.

Izel effortlessly finds the balance of all the elements as they float and change to her very will. Soon enough a purplish-black ring is formed but under the right angle, in the right light, one can see a collection of seven other colors. This particular exam of crafting an arcane tool from scratch was an hour long, but she was done in half that, using the rest of the review and revised what she could have done in a tiny notebook.

"H-how did she-?" He couldn't even finish the thought. Even when checking the exam recordings of the Academy's best and brightest for the last two centuries, none had shown such a display of freely controlling magical energy. Not at least until they were close to the Lazulite Stage.

"A nine colored spatial ring. Does that remind you of anything, V'risd?" The Director's eyes glow with excitement as the sunlight behind her makes her scales shine bronze instead of green.

"Wexism...the first of the eight of their rings...but that's impossible? Isn't she from some nameless village on the outskirts of the empire?" The Head Teacher, V'risd cries out.

"Do you have any idea what she's been making in her Arcane Tool Crafting that got her banned from the testing field?" The Director ignores the question, though she has her own theories, but that's for another time. "Among the various different creations that I can't even begin to explain what they are nor how they function, one of them caught my eye. Young Izel turned her rod into some kind of staff that is open on one side and fires energy from that end."

"Weapon Configuration? But only Enhancers have the innate ability to turn their rods into projection weapons?" It's at this V'rsid stands up, the clattering of his chair ignored as he begins to pace. Just Izel's test scores classified her as a genius while the ring she made--as well as how she did so--made her a once in a generation genius. This news...was terrifying. What kind of monster floated in their halls?

"Izel has somehow figured out how to have both arcane channels and paths. Her synapses should be inhuman for what she's able to do without forming a Core, while from what I observed, her paths allow her to increase her accuracy and perception. I'm not even sure if she's aware of any of this, frankly, but now you can see why I said the nobles won't be able to catch up."

V'rsid stops pacing that the Director's words, slumping messilly and exhaustingly in the other still standing chair. A child of Izel's caliber won't have an Arcane Core with less than six sides--and that's without any real effort put into it. If Izel tried then it wouldn't be unrealistic for her to have a heptagonal Arcane Core! What would her abilities look like then?

"With her nature as we've seen her, Izel likely has an inkling to Wexism's identity and that they left an inheritance. However, we will do nothing but observe and guide her as best we can. With a proper hand and direction, she could bring about a revolution like we haven't seen for at least a thousand years. Keep what we discussed a secret for me, will you, Sid?"

As for the subject the Director and Head Teacher were discussing, she was none the wiser of the attention she had brought upon herself. Instead she was focusing on a new development that had just occurred from a system notification!

[Congratulations! You have created Twin Metallic Cores]

[Twin Metallic Cores: Nonagonal Ruby]

"Oh good, it seems I finally have results! The Pallidum Body and Mercurial Heart Retention Techniques complimented each other very well! I'll have to thank Pakeej for sharing them with me. Though I feel as if there's certainly room for improvement, having two cores at such an early stage is enough for now." Izel mutters to herself, not even glancing at the transparent screen as she continues her work.

She can already feel how much easier it is to control the magical energy both internal and atmospheric. If before she was at 95% with her control she's at 97% right now. Though it wasn't a lot, the effects were crucial to her foundations for later down the tiers. "It's curious though, my Spell Prowess seems stuck at 30 despite new additions. I'll schedule some tests later, maybe have Hanit do another duel again. It's been about a month since then?"

That's correct, Izel had a higher number than Asuka when it came to prowess. At 25 Spell Proficiency, Izel found that her performance and effectiveness of all her spells had tripled. Now at 30, she could completely ignore spell casting time of any Porcelain tier spells while Iron tier spells were cut in half.

As for how Izel made a replica of Wexism's First Ring? That was an easy answer, as Izel pulled up a secondary screen without a look and tapped with her free hand.

The title of this screen read [Wexism's Core Primer]. Izel upon awakening had been blessed with the Fabled Title [Daughter of Magic]. This came with several things, but what led to her finding this book was her arcane sensitivity that had been granted to her. Izel had actually been born in a nameless town that had been covered by history and numerous changes of power, hiding the ruins of Wexism's birthplace. After an adventure or two, she had come to acquire this first inheritance piece of the Octogonal Sage, Wexism Thysalus.

In the book, which was more like an autobiography than an instructional, Izel learned more about the world she lived in and got to see a rare, unorthodox take on magic. Izel was able to interact with arcana so easily because it was just like coding. Of course it wasn't the biggest surprise, as she would have eventually figured out a way to turn casting into coding without Wexism's input, but appreciated the old timer's expediting the inevitable. No, in fact, the truth she had learned was much more groundbreaking:

One's Arcane Core shape was limited by one's birth! In the same way a person's Arcane Core could shift stages, so could the shape of that core! One simply needed a circulation technique to practice before the activation of one's arcane channels or paths, allowing them to lay down a good foundation to build upon. That, along with a pure energy source allowed one's future magic core to be more malleable and influenceable.

Wexism theirself did not realize this until they had already become an Octogonal Sage in their later years. The only way to achieve this would be to reset their core from the beginning, provided someone could survive such a suicidal act.

For Izel, who at the time didn't have any channels or path while also always being one for experimentation, she couldn't have been more excited to try it. With her two Retention Techniques to build both arcane channels and paths, the Soul Realm for direction from Aelix, and the pure Lunar Energy from the gathering technique from Tara, all these things coupled together nearly flawlessly to create Izel's current stage. Now, using Wexism's Core Primer, she learns a concealing spell to use on her Twin Metallic Cores.

Thankfully, despite being a Porcelain tier spell, Izel was certain only the Director would be able to tell this secret. Izel's certain some of her others have been noticed already...