Flavian was dumbfounded as he heard the prompt of System. A vein popped upon his head as he asked fiercely, " So, were you misleading me all this time?"
[ As mentioned, the Initiating Mission is nothing but a trap for a new user. There is no sense to acknowledge someone who is irrational in nature and can't even figure out his own priorities. A person needs to live long enough to reach the pinnacle. Hence, the trap was laid out by Owner when he formed the System, to test the wisdom and rationality of a new user.]
Flavian took a deep breath as he calmed down his anger, and said, " Show me the cultivation method."
*Beep*
Suddenly, a small black coloured drawer materialised in front of him in the form of a realistic hologram. Flavian was intrigued as he reached out his hand to open it. He couldn't feel any difference between a real drawer and the one in front of him. Inside the drawer, he saw a black leathered book.
The book was titled as 'Concentric Mana Vortex'. Flavian opened the book and started reading its introduction. However, he suddenly stopped and asked the A.I., " Is this a cultivation method for Magi?"
[ Yes.]
" But I am training as a Knight. Isn't it better to give me a Knight cultivation method?"
[ The rewards cannot be changed. It was already mentioned to you about the type of cultivation method you will get.]
Flavian tried hard to recall about his interactions with the A.I., yet he couldn't remember anything. He said fiercely, " You clearly didn't say anything."
[ It was mentioned that you would get a peak grade Arch rank cultivation method. Arch rank doesn't exist amongst the knight cultivation methods.]
" You didn't mention anything about the difference between cultivation methods."
[ You didn't ask.]
"..."
Flavian once again took a deep breath as he forced himself to calm down his anger. It really was his fault. He should have asked about anything that he didn't understand.
However, he was expecting the mission to fail and hence didn't pay much attention to it. He made a mental note to follow Tasha's advice and go to the library to enrich his knowledge about knights and magi.
He suddenly remembered another thing, as he asked, " What is my talent on the path of Magi? How are talents differentiated?"
[ Your soul talent is Iron level. Mortal grade talent is differentiated by the five common metals found amongst the mortals, namely- Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold and Black Gold.]
Flavian felt depressed hearing about his soul talent. Didn't it represent that he was as talented as some random person casually chosen from a street? The thing that depressed him further was that the random person may even have a higher talent than him.
Thankfully, he had a relatively high body talent, or he would have felt terribly ashamed about being labelled as a ' candidate for the throne of Almighty'. Though, he still felt that he didn't deserve that title.
He quickly swept away his depression, and asked curiously, " Why did you choose me as a user? I am sure there are better options to choose from."
Flavian didn't believe that having a Silver level body talent warranted some special attention from the System, which was alleged to help him ' ascend the throne of Almighty' or something. It all felt too unrealistic to be true.
However, unless he found out that A.I. had developed wisdom or was programmed to specifically lie to its users, Flavian had no choice but to believe some of its claims.
In fact, he had already witnessed some of its miraculous capabilities. He had no idea about the difficulty of restoring the memories of his past life, but he was sure that the process was nigh impossible to even comprehend for any powerhouse that he read about in the books! Unless...
Flavian suddenly thought of something and asked before the A.I. replied, " Unless I have some special ability that is hidden within my body!"
[ You are absolutely wrong, user.]
" Then why?"
[ Just assume that you were extremely lucky.]
Flavian became silent for a bit, then asked rhetorically, " Even you have no Idea about why the System chose me, do you?"
[...]
Flavian frowned and pondered about some time, then asked about something he had ignored, " What is black gold? Why not keep it simple and use platinum instead?"
[ When the gold that has been under the exposure of magic for a long period of time, it loses its shine and becomes extremely dull. This type of the gold is termed as Black Gold. It is a consensus amongst the Magi that platinum is more valuable than black gold, as it contains higher amounts of magical properties.]
Flavian was curious about the magical properties of platinum, yet he didn't ask anything further. He shifted the topic and asked, " Why didn't you directly put the cultivation method in my brain? Just like you had easily restored the memories of my past life, isn't it more convenient to directly make it a part of my memory?"
[ According to the Memory Decay theory, Interference Decay subsection, a sudden thrust of a large amount of knowledge about various things inside a human brain will make the current memories be displaced and.....]
" Okay! Stop! I get it!" Flavian stopped the A.I. before it went deeper into the nuances of memory transfer, as he recalled the unpleasant feeling while he restored his memories from his previous life. He nearly forgot the memories of his current life at that time.
It seemed that the memory transfer was a highly dangerous method. He didn't want to risk his memories from getting 'displaced'.
Flavian then remembered that the A.I. of the System had knowledge about a large number of things, so he asked " Is there any way to do so while preventing my brain from becoming dysfunctional?"
[ User will have to increase his cultivation.]
" Which path of cultivation should I improve upon? Knight path or Mage path?"
[ Improvement in either path will lead to an increased memory capacity.]
" Aren't Magi supposed to be more awesome compared to the Knights?"
[ You shouldn't believe in unproven and false conjectures of ignorant authors inside the books you have read.]
Flavian suddenly realised that the books he read in the dungeon were not important books. Other than the languages and geographical knowledge which was the main subject he was taught, all they contained were hearsay and rumours.
" How does memory capacity increase upon increase in cultivation?"
[ Knight path concentrates on the body development and Mage path concentrates on the soul development. On the Knight path, each major breakthrough results in development of body, including the brain.
Neurons start to have longer lifespan and neurochemical memory traces start to be engraved deeper into the brain upon its development, hence increasing the memory capacity.
Whereas on the Mage path, each major breakthrough results in development of soul. Studies have revealed that soul is deeply connected to the subconscious mind, having little control over conscious mind due its intangible nature.
It is believed to be the final repository of memories, where every single memory, whether forgotten or remembered, leaves a minute memory spirit trace.
However, the traces are jumbled up and unclear in nature, thus being unable to influence the consciousness. The dreams are believed to be the result of the jumbled memory spirit traces influencing the subconscious mind.
As the soul develops, it gains higher control over the conscious mind, which leads to the conscious mind being more dependent on the soul. That in turn results in it being able to glean information from the memory spirit traces, which become more untangled and clearer as the soul develops.
Thus, developed soul begins to act as an alternative reservoir for the memories along with the brain, which leads to the overall increase in memory capacity.]
Flavian listened in an extremely serious manner throughout the entire explanation given by A.I., and finally concluded, " So, brain development and soul development lead to better memory."
[....That's the gist of it all.]
" Why did you need to go so much into the details? A single sentence was all that was needed to be said.", snapped Flavian, clearly angered by A.I. due to its complex and long-winded explanation damaging his brain cells.
[....]
Flavian put down the Mage cultivation method, and took out the Knight cultivation method. He began reading the introduction. After a short while, he looked up from the book, and asked, " What are the rankings of the cultivation methods of Magi and Knights?"
[ Mage cultivation methods are ranked as follows-
Novice Knight cultivation methods are ranked as follows- Novice ' Hmmm... The Knight cultivation method provided by the leader is a peak grade True rank method. This means that I have a better method with me provided by the System. However, I have better talent on the path of Knights as compared to the path of Magi...' Flavian asked, " On which path will I train faster given my current circumstances?" [ Taking into account your talent and the rank of cultivation methods, your cultivation speed will be equal in both the paths.] Flavian was surprised at such a revelation. He thought, ' It seems that there is a huge gap between different ranks of cultivation methods.' However, he had already prepared to train as a Knight because of two major reasons. First of all, his talent made it so that he had a huge advantage on the path of Knights as compared to the path of Magi. As for better Knight cultivation methods, they could be obtained from completing the missions. As the A.I. had mentioned, Knight path and Mage path are equal, so he won't suffer if he chose to become a Knight. Secondly, he had no choice! If he neglected his Knight cultivation, then his captors won't be happy about it. He had to abide by their whims for now. So he would discard the notion of becoming a Magi if it hindered him. However, he was prudent this time, as he asked the A.I., " Isn't it better to focus on the path of Knight? I have better talent for it, and training as a Mage would consume my time as well." [ Your talent can be increased. As you have completed the Initiating Mission, you can check the System store. You can cultivate simultaneously as a Knight and a Mage.]