During these past few months, life has been simple for Acheron. After a lot of cultivation and combat training, he's successfuly reached the peak of Revolving Core realm, merely a step away from the Nascent Soul realm, the beginning of Heavenly Ascension stage, his unusually large energy core occupying a big portion of his dantian.
Acheron has also managed to finish all of the courses he signed up for, way in advance. All while steadily revealing his cultivation. Currently, the entirety of the academic faculty was aware of him reaching the peak of Revolving Core, surpassing all of the third year students.
Without even having to fight, he was given the top spot of the overall Student Rankings, much to the dissatisfaction of the previous strongest student, assuring him of being able to enter the Arantara Alliance when the time came.
That being said, there was nothing else to gain from remaining in the academy. Thankfully, headmaster Kelos agreed to grant him the freedom to leave, for an indefinite amount of time. The only thing the headmaster demanded was his presence when the alliance envoy appeared, one and a half years later.
Acheron, using a discount from the headmaster, decisively used most of his academic points to exchange for a small spaceship along with a storage ring. Though it was categorized as 'small', it had more than enough space to fit a few dozens of people.
Stocking up on a ton of magical beast meat and other necessities, he boards his new spaceship and takes off. Leaving the Marhem planet's orbit, Acheron enters the coordinates provided by Fire Magus.
It took pretty long considering his spaceship was using a warp drive. Regardless, two weeks later, he manages to find the hidden Minocus planet, a small continental planet accompanied by two moons.
Reaching the planet's orbit, Acheron receives a communication request from the planet.
"Please state your identity and purpose of visit." a cold voice commanded him.
"I am called Acheron. I was called here by someone who called himself Fire Magus. My purpose is to join your organization." explained Acheron patiently.
"Alright. We've already been told about your impending visit. You may land at the forwarded coordinates."
After receiving the coordinates for the place of landing, Acheron pilots his spaceship towards it.
A large empty plane with various parked spaceships appeared in his view. Acheron picked an empty spot and landed. Exiting his spaceship, he finds the man called Fire Magus waiting for him.
"Do not resist my energy. I shall bring you to meet the master of our Magus Order. If you have any questions, wait for after you've met him. Also, do not be impetuous, although our master isn't human and is a bit eccentric, he has a pleasant personality. If he decides to accept you into our organization, he will most likely teach you the art of magic personally." says Fire Magus as he grabs Acheron by the shoulder.
With a powerful force of wind, Fire Magus and Acheron fly rapidly towards the east. This confirmed to Acheron that mages weren't limited by affinity like magical beasts.
After a few minutes of flying they reached the vicinity of a large stone temple-like structure. It was as big as a castle, with many smaller buildings all around. The architecture felt ancient, simplistic, and looked beautiful at the same time.
They stopped flying, and began walking on foot towards the giant temple. The small city seemed like a ghost town, nobody making any noise. It felt empty.
"Most mages prefer peace and silence. Every structure has large underground laboratories where they can research spells." said Fire Magus after feeling his confusion.
As they entered the giant temple, many beautiful ornate rugs were placed on the ground. In the depths of the temple, they finally stopped a few meters before a hooded meditating figure.
"Master, I've brought the one I talked to you about." said Fire Magus, with slight reverence in his voice.
The figure looked up and took off his hood, revealing his appearance. When Acheron looked at him, it felt as if it was difficult to see him, his face obscured by an ethereal fog that kept diverting his focus. The only feature he was able to see were his eyes. His eyes were like two deep pools of golden water, attracting all of Acheron's attention.
After they looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Fire Magus's master finally speaks "Indeed, great mental resilience and remarkable willpower. I also sense a great affinity with the life element and its subsidiary elements. Unfortunately, although we do possess some life spells, their combat power is weak, which is probably not what you seek."
"What about the blood element?" asks Fire Magus.
"While the blood element has great combat power and potential for growth, it is an ardous path. It is up to him whether to walk it or not. Boy, what is your name?"
"I am Acheron. Please accept me into the Magus Order and teach me the ways of magic, master."
"In the vast universe, this is merely a branch of the Magus Order. I was sent here because of humanity's great potential for magic. Although I am not worthy of being your master, I can be your teacher instead. Do you accept me as your teacher? If so, I shall guide you down the path most suitable for yourself."
"I accept, teacher. I also accept the ardous path of the blood element." Acheron agrees quickly.
"You may call me Jin, of the Shen lineage. Considering your acceptance of blood path, I shall give you the magus name Xue Shen. Huo Shen, give him his magus robes and show him to his accomodation. He may come back here by himself afterwards." the leader of the Magus Order says to Fire Magus.
Receiving his black-colored magus robes, Acheron wore it directly over his combat suit. Matching his hair and eyes, he now looked like a learned scholar.
"The robe is just as resistant to damage as your current combat suit, if not more. It also has a self-repair quality. You don't have to worry about damaging it in battle." says Huo Shen.
After being assigned a small home which he didn't bother studying too much, Acheron quickly returns to his new teacher. Jin then begins to explain about the Magus Order.
"In the Magus Order, we prefer to use the language of Chi, Qi, or more directly, energy. This is the origin of our magus names. While it seems similar to what you would call chinese, it has its differences. You may learn it at your own discretion. Learning it helps with deepening one's understanding of the forces that run the world, of the universal laws. You probably have many questions. You may ask and I shall answer.
Besides this, make sure to use your magus name when introducing yourself to other branches of our Magus Order. You are in the database." explains Jin at a brisk pace.
"What is the connection between the magic core beasts have and the art of magic that the Magus Order teaches? Why are beasts limited in the elements of their magic? Are humans also limited in their array of magic?" asks Acheron, his abyss-like eyes flashing with the desire to learn.
"Astute questions. The truth is, they aren't all that different in essence. When a beast evolves into the Heavenly Ascension stage, their bloodline awakens, providing them with spells that are compatible with their physiques. This is the only way for them to learn how to use their magic core.
The limits of their elements appear from their bodies and bloodlines. Also, they only understand how to use spells at an instinctual level. They do not understand how the spells actually work.
It is also worth mentioning that humans are not limited in the magic they can use. The affinity we previously talked about is related to one's soul. As an example, Huo has an affinity with the fire element, meaning he has great talent in researching spells related to fire.
The difference between us intelligent lifeforms and magical beasts is that us humanoid creatures need to form our magic cores by ourselves, while magical beasts' magic cores are formed naturally as they eat and grow." explained Jin patiently.