Isaac's reaction to seeing Iracuz was relatively normal. He was surprised. The young man's mana circuit was developed, almost like Rebecca's, but what surprised him mostly were its nodes.
Unlike the young woman's nodes which regularly absorbed the surrounding mana, the young horseman's were strange. They were irregular and the mana inside was very unstable.
The circulating manicles moved in blocks rather than as a liquid like those circulating in the circuits of all living beings that Isaac had seen. Something strange was going on in the young man's body.
Rebecca and Raphael quickly noticed Isaac's puzzled look but said nothing. Rebecca on her side had her gaze fixed on Raphael who had his hand on his sword, ready to send a ball of fire at the man the second he drew.
Although she knew her master was more than capable of defending himself on his own, that was no reason to let anyone attack him. After all, if he were to fight all the hotheads wanting to test their strength, Isaac wouldn't have time for her or his research at all.
As silence reigned in the room, Isaac's voice suddenly rang out.
- "Is something wrong?" he said, passing his gaze over the tense expressions of those present.
Isaac was already uncomfortable with Iracuz's stare. The fact that the atmosphere was tense had therefore escaped him since he was focused on the young man in front of him.
- "Y -... You are not human ... right ?" Iracuz answered suddenly.
Immediately Isaac arched an eyebrow. He definitely had a suspicion about the young man. How had he known he wasn't human?
- "Why do you say that ?"
- "Your aura" he said pointing his finger at Isaac.
It was a rude thing to do in the presence of the master of the house, especially if it was a mage. Raphael as well as Rebecca knew this very well. However, Isaac's expression didn't change a bit, which surprised Raphael.
However, the former's gaze suddenly darkened.
- "I asked you a question ..."
Isaac's aura suddenly began to spread and filled the entire room, slightly choking those present, Rebecca and Artiel included. His gaze was weary.
- "He is not a mage, he has a gift but not enough to become an apprentice mage!" Raphael hastened to answer, slapping his brother on the back of the head to get him back.
The pressure of Isaac's aura suddenly vanished as Iracuz awoke from his trance before he turned to his brother with a sorry expression.
- "I'm ... sorry, I don't know what got into me ..." he said before turning to Isaac. "Your magical power was much stronger than any I have encountered so far. I was taken by surprise ..."
Although the young man was still curious as to who Isaac was and how he had such great power, he restrained himself when he saw his brother's gaze and fell silent.
Isaac smiled. It wasn't everyday that people praised him, especially people who had met other mages. His ego was flattered.
- "No problem" he said at last.
Seeing that the situation had resolved, Rebecca, Artiel and Raphael relaxed slightly, but still wary of each other. The next moment the captain decided to pick up where they left off, stammering at times.
- "We have received a report concerning events in the sanctuary and we have been sent to investigate their sources ..." he said, pausing.
- "It's me" interrupted Isaac.
- "Sorry ?" Raphael asked without really being surprised. After all, something is happening at the shrine and when they arrive to investigate, a strange fort was being built. The reasoning was simple and quick.
Isaac wasn't quite sure if he should tell them his story and his rank as Administrator, especially not knowing what that might mean in a world ruled by magic. Will the Church of the Sun launch a crusade upon learning of its existence? After all, the existence of an entity more powerful than their god was simply an abomination.
So, he had decided not to linger and to keep his story and origin to himself until the right moment appeared.
- "I am the one who caused these events" resumed Isaac.
- "May I ask you for details?" he asked politely.
After all, Raphael was facing an extremely powerful mage. The small town of Erivia could probably do nothing for them if they were to be imprisoned.
- "I am the owner of the premises, don't I have the right to do what I want with it?" he said, looking at the captain calmly.
Raphael looked at Isaac seriously and coldly. For him, Isaac was just a mage who had come to appropriate the place, a vulgar opportunist.
- "Monsignor, with all due respect, I do not think that you are in the right to take the rights of a thousand-year-old place" he said quite simply before continuing. "This place is an ancient shrine. So you must understand that when the King finds out about this matter, your fort will be of no use to you," he said with a small smile.
From his point of view, the person in front of him was probably a very powerful mage, but against the royal army, he had no chance of victory.
- "Listen, you came first and secured the premises, His Majesty the King will probably accept the right to some advantages if you do not resist…" added the captain.
Isaac had his gaze fixed on the captain and sighed for a moment. He expected no less from a small town cavalry captain. Their loyalty to their kingdom, if not their pride in the might of their army, was almost complete.
After all, in a medieval world, to keep the people in check, manipulation by the ideology of Nobility and Royalty as chosen beings of the Gods was the easiest way.
- "So you say that you are going to take my home by force?" he finally said.
- "Monseigneur, this place does not belong to you any more than to the kingdom… You should understand that before you regret it" added Raphael with a slight prideful tone.
He had enough to threaten the mage after all, even if their city wasn't able to save them, once the King knew about the shrine, the royal troops wouldn't waste time heading here. He was sure that the mage was very intelligent and could therefore understand what that meant.
Isaac's expression didn't change at all and remained calm. He sighed again, looking at the captain. Behind, Rebecca had her hand wrapped around her wand in her pocket, casting a murderous stare on the captain.
"They didn't attack us, that's it already," Isaac thought.
- "You seem to be a remarkable mage Monsignor. His Majesty would be delighted to take you under his service" announced Raphael confident.
- "Archmage" answered Isaac.
- "Sorry ?"
- "I am not a mage, I am an Archmage" repeated Isaac.
- "And?" Raphael said, a little surprised and confused.
Mage, Archmage or Megamage. What was there that was different? He is only one person after all. How could a person resist against an army? This was what the captain thought with the little education on mages he had received.
For his part, Iracuz had received the basics of an education as a child and had therefore learned the classification of a practitioner of magic, also called the Riggs scale.
In all, ancient texts divide the power of a spell into classes and practitioners of magic into 19 levels.
As far as spell classes are concerned, it is basically a way of measuring the power of the latter. Although a spell model can be more powerful depending on the amount of mana blown, it has a minimum amount of mana to be casted.
Classes are based on a unit of measure of the amount of mana a "Promising One" can handle and advance exponentially. Class zero indicates a spell that a Promising One can cast.
Class one requires the mana of two Promising One, class two requires four Promising One, class three requires eight, and so on.
Also, a class six spell requires the combined strength of at least sixty Promising Ones, and a class ten spell nearly a thousand.
Next come the ranks of practitioners. The Promising One, a person with a sufficiently developed mana circuit to be able to perform magic up to a certain threshold. Iracuz was at this level and could use his mana to increase his physical abilities officially.
Although they represent the lowest rank of the practitioner ladder, they are quite formidable in the face of a normal person. After all, with their increased physical abilities, they could be considered supermen. Faster, stronger, an average Promising One could fight five average soldiers alone with equal arms.
Then there is the apprentice-mage grouping together the Promising Ones having enough abilities to have chances of becoming mages and are under the training of a beginner or higher mage. Rebecca is at this rank. They are able to cast spells of class one or even three for the more gifted.
Then come the beginner mage, the intermediate mage and the official mage who group together both criteria of ability, knowledge and skill and able to cast spells ranging from class four to class nine.
Once the most complex aspects of magic have been acquired, an official mage can then claim the rank of Master Mage if the latter possesses the necessary power to cast a spell of class ten or higher.
Finally, comes the rank of Archmage whose power is known to be able to cast spells of class fifteen or higher.
At present, the maximum rank reached by humans was that of Grand Archmage occupied by a single person under the orders of the Draconic Emperor coming just after that of Archmage and capable of casting class twenty spells according to legends. .
Many other ranks followed, but Iracuz's memory was far too fuzzy to remember. After all, since no human had reached them, why learn them?
Iracuz's mind swirled around when he heard the rank of the person in front of them. That explained a lot of things including his mana capacity.
If they were to be ordered by the King to attack this man, it was certain that several thousand would die in the ensuing battle.
Immediately, Iracuz came to put his hand on his brother's shoulder and shook his head negatively. It was true that they were in a position of strength because of their numbers, but victory would likely cost them many lives. The deads would be so many that the kingdom could even find itself far too weakened to counter an assault from the principality for a long time.
They were not to misstep here and Iracuz's gaze passed that on to his brother who immediately understood and gave him a nod before turning back to Isaac.
- "Let's make a deal" he said.