The Lone Wanderer

Chapter 628 – Sixth Circle

It soon became clear that the architectural style of the capital was just like that of the space station – or rather, it was probably the other way around, since the city likely predated the orbiting structure.

The interior of the building Kassorith was teleported into was decorated by wooden walls and antiquated pottery, though the exterior of not just that building but also every other in the area was made of bland metal adorned with glowing runes. Maradorians seemed to favour this dichotomy between a modern and practical exterior with a cozy and traditional interior.

Surprisingly, the ground was also the same as that of the space station. Be it the floor inside the buildings or the streets outside, they were made of thick, transparent glass that allowed one to view the breathtaking scenery beneath their feet.

Only, instead of seeing the whole planet from above, it was the depths of the Maradorian ocean that were visible this time. The dark waters were illuminated by glowing orbs enchanted to float at fixed intervals, surrounded by marine creatures of all shapes and sizes.

‘Wow, these people haven’t spared any expenses to set all of this up, have they?’ Micky mused. ‘Even for a peak faction, building this city must have consumed a lot of time and resources.’

Percy nodded. ‘I suppose that a display like this is the gentlest way possible to remind the lesser members of the alliance of their place, so that nobody gets any funny ideas of revolting against the founding factions.’

There was no question that the floating capital was beautiful, but it was probably as much of a political play as it was an expression of art.

Another detail that had been readily apparent since they stepped tail on the planet was that ambient mana was even denser here than it had been on Thess’kala. Percy was pretty sure by now that this was caused by another common type of Decree that was popular among greater springs – much like those granting bloodlines or Statuses.

He couldn’t wait for Remior to develop one of their own, though Percy knew that it would be a very long time before he was personally qualified to cast one. Humanity’s hopes rested with the Divine Order for the foreseeable future. If they got lucky, one of their current gods or demigods would become a titan sometime in the next few centuries.

Regardless, he and his host hadn’t come here for sightseeing.

Thankfully, the tournament’s participants were greeted by attendants right outside the building they had been teleported in. Percy finally got a chance to examine the natives of this planet as they led Kassorith and the others to their next destination.

His first thought about Maradorians was that they looked like frog people. Their skin was smooth and glossy. It wasn’t covered in granules and warts but vibrant, colourful patterns that varied greatly from person to person.

Judging from their webbed digits that reminded Percy of Enki’s, these were the first people he had seen since Atlantis that could live underwater. That said, they clearly weren’t an exclusively aquatic people, as they didn’t seem to have any issue walking on solid ground or breathing air. Furthermore, Percy had seen plenty of cities scattered across the planet’s landmasses before descending to the surface.

‘They’re amphibians then,’ he concluded. ‘Must be convenient to be able to colonize every square centimetre of their planet.’

Kassorith had informed him of their ancestral Decree earlier, and it was another rather powerful one. Every Maradorian was apparently born with a second, lesser magical affinity that was denoted by the colour of their skin.

This secondary affinity wasn’t one that they could directly wield, but it granted them the same enhanced resistance to the corresponding element that a mage with that affinity would normally possess. It also made it easier for them to convert mana of that type to their own, which resulted in slightly faster mana regeneration at all times.

Finally, their lesser affinity provided them with some unique benefits in the Concept realm. While it didn’t allow them to directly infuse an additional element into their internal world during their ascension, it gave them a much easier time branching into that mana type later, during the Elemental Acquisition stage.

This might not sound like much, since it would “only” save them a few hundred millennia of effort, but Maradorians were universally thought to be among the races with the highest chance of acquiring a rare element and stepping beyond the known limits of the Concept realm – provided that they had the right lesser affinity for it.

It hadn’t happened yet, but every god in the cosmos was basically competing to get there first, and these people had quite the advantage over everyone else.

Either way, their secondary affinity wasn’t correlated with that of their cores at all. A majority of Maradorians were born with different primary and lesser affinities, though some unlucky few were cursed with the same element twice, which gave them no benefit whatsoever.

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Luckily for them, their secondary affinity was also semi-hereditary, meaning that they had a small chance of inheriting one from their parents. This apparently played a big role in Maradorian culture, greatly affecting the way they selected their mating partners. It was usually better for them to marry someone who didn’t share any primary or secondary affinities, to maximize the odds of their children manifesting a favourable combination.

‘Well… it’s a useful Decree for them, but it sounds like it would be more of a hassle for us,’ Percy told Micky. ‘I guess that it’s not such a huge loss we won’t be able to obtain this one…’

Considering how many affinities they already had, and how easy it was to obtain more through their familiars and aspects, getting an extra lesser affinity wouldn’t be much of a blessing. Especially if they didn’t have any control of it and were likely to end up with a duplicate element that painted their skin into a weird colour for nothing.

The attendants eventually led the group to a huge building a few blocks down the street, motioning for them to scan their identification badges and enter. Once inside, Percy realized that this was some kind of stadium where the first phase of the competition would be held.

The building was segmented into several smaller sections. The attendants asked the participants to form several queues that matched the number of rooms in the stadium, escorting the mortals to the assessment centres one at a time.

Thankfully, Kassorith was smart enough to slither near the front of his queue as it was forming, so it only took about an hour for his turn to come. A female attendant with a Green core and a water affinity, yet bright orange skin that would indicate a lesser affinity for fire, led them to their room.

“The first test will check your durability. You will have to stand in the middle of the room and endure round after round of increasingly powerful attacks. You are allowed to use your mana and willpower to defend yourself in any way you please, but you can’t dodge the attacks. If you move outside the indicated circle, you will automatically fail the test. If you use any external equipment or potions, you will be disqualified from the tournament,” she helpfully explained.

Percy couldn’t help but crease his host’s forehead. “What about equipment forged out of my mana and enchanted personally by me?”

“It’s allowed as long as you produce everything during the test. Anything that you have prepared beforehand is against the rules,” the attendant replied, her expression remaining flat. This was probably a common question.

“And what’s the condition for passing the test?” Kassorith asked, taking control of his mouth back.

“Since you are a Blue, you will begin the test with five circles glowing around you. The sixth one will slowly light up as you endure increasingly powerful attacks. You need to last long enough for it to grow as bright as the other five circles, indicating that your durability is that of a Sixth Circle mage.”

Kassorith frowned, clearly unfamiliar with the term. Percy and Micky hadn’t come across it either. Noticing their confusion, the corners of the attendant’s lips curled up slightly as she answered the unspoken question.

“I can see that you’re from Thess’kala. If I’m not mistaken, your people refer to Blues that can fight against Violets as elite disciples, Violets that can fight against Whites as grand elders, and so on. Terms like that are popular among lesser and greater springs, though they are somewhat tedious for peak factions.”

Percy mentally nodded, understanding what the woman meant. Anywhere else, people who could fight above their grade were rare, and they were usually limited to a single step. However, peak factions had plenty of people like that, as well as those who could fight two or even three grades above their own. Clearly, it wasn’t practical to come up with a different name for each combination, so a more streamlined system was necessary for classifying a person’s strength.

“On Marador Prime we use the universal standard that those accursed Moirai have popularized. As hateful as they are, their system is admittedly quite practical. According to this standard, a regular Red is considered a First Circle mage, an Orange is a Second Circle mage, and so on, up to a regular demigod who would be classified as an Eighth Circle mage. However, as we all know, a mage’s strength isn’t always limited to their grade. A Blue capable of fighting against Violets is a Sixth Circle mage, which is the requirement for passing these assessments.”

Kassorith nodded, accepting her explanation. “From what I’ve been told, participants capable of fighting two grades above their own often appear in the void tournament. In my case, that would mean Blues as strong as Whites, so… Seventh Circle mages?”

“Correct,” the attendant replied. “At the upper end of the spectrum, a Tenth Circle mage would refer to a demigod who can fight two grades above their own, or a White who can fight three. That is generally considered the absolute limit of a mortal’s strength.”

“What about paragons?” the Thess’kalan protested.

“Paragons, or demigods who can fight three grades above their own do emerge from time to time, though they are extremely rare even among peak factions. Since they are as powerful as newly ascended gods, anything from the Eleventh Circle onwards is indicative of divine strength.”

“I see,” Kassorith replied. “So I need to meet the standard of a Sixth Circle mage in three out of five tests to qualify for the second round, but I’m guessing that this won’t be enough to get me very far into the tournament.”

“I’m afraid not,” the woman confirmed. “Unless you can display Seventh Circle strength in at least two tests, you are unlikely to even reach the knockout phase – let alone win. You are free to continue the test after the sixth circle lights up if you wish to test your limits. The enchantments will protect you from any serious injuries but note that you will fail the assessment if the runes activate to save you before you pass.”

Kassorith thanked the attendant as she showed him into the room and closed the door behind him.

Percy suddenly felt more tense about the test. Durability was one of the areas where his host excelled due to his mutations and metal mana, so he hadn’t worried too much about passing this one. However, he now understood that merely reaching the sixth circle wouldn’t cut it. Unless they could push themselves all the way to the seventh, they might not stand a chance in the next round…