The vice president took on the lead of the meeting again as he facilitated the discussion between the various alliances that they will forge across the world. With teleportation formations and various devices, communication and travel had become easier with the passage of time.
The beast race had been in contact with the Republic for a long time now, and the growing relationship between them can be attributed to generational peace. As for the other races like dwarves, fairies, and other sentient creatures, a peace treaty and civil communication is attainable. The only problem they had were the demons. They have no interest nor intention to join the war with abyssals, they are descendants of these creatures after all.
After a few hours of deliberation, the discussion slowly went towards the worst-case scenario: the descent of the Abyssal Emperor.
"Are there any progress towards interstellar travel in case the world is destroyed?" A middle-aged man with green flowing hair, chocolate-like skin, and possessing eyes that seemed to contain thunder and storm asked in a stern voice.
"Lord Mistral, the barrier surrounding our planet, Gaia, is still covered and we are unable to break it even with the highest tier of spell that is available." A woman with petite frame, lavender-colored hair, and fair skin replied. Stella Lockheart, the youngest Senator, also the youngest in the council is also one of the strongest mages in the republic, wielding aether sealing arts.
"Gaia, Elyra, Amon, Therion. Whoever among those gods is named after our world doesn't matter as long as we're stuck here. The path beyond rank 7 is severed - our impending fate of death is a forgone conclusion." A man covered in a pure white mask and large dark hood said, his pessimism almost spread in the chamber if it weren't for another member.
"Stop being so pessimistic, Senator Ranid Venturi. Didn't you see the ten glowing rings of light four years ago? It was a sign of hope, and maybe this impending disaster is only a challenge for us to overcome before we find a new path." Andreus Bolt, an aged senator with a rotund body replied with enthusiasm.
Most people in the room seemed to agree with what he said, and murmurs could be heard in the crowd. The meeting went on for another few hours before it had concluded.
In the president's closing remarks, he asked for the cooperation of everyone in the room and thus, the historic meeting of the most influential people in the Republic ended.
----
Kyrian and Horace could be seen back at the arena where they first conducted their training session. Right now, in the middle of the two was a spherical artifact and a tablet that seemed to contain words and data.
"Touch the sphere and move your innate mana towards it."
Kyrian placed his hands around the sphere. He focused on the sphere and activated his mana eyes and willed his own mana to move inside the sphere. As his mana touched the sphere, it glowed gradually. At first it was gray in color, then it changed to black, then white, and then more colors appeared in it until it was the iridescent color of rainbows.
His master's face was covered in disbelief as numbers and various texts appeared in the tablet he was holding. In the tablet, it wrote:
[Innate Talent: Limit Break, Eyes of Divinity, ❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏❏]
[Mana Quality: Supreme]
[Attributes: Light (100%), Darkness (100%), Steel (100%), Fire (100%), ❏❏❏❏ (100%)]
[Current Rank: 2]
"By the Goddess Elyra!" Horace's eyes went wide, and his mouth were wide open as he saw the results of Kyrian's evaluation. He rushed to his apprentice as he hugged him so hard a few bones creaked.
"Master! Ughh… Get off me!" The boy struggled to escape his master's bear hug.
"I'm going to be the master of the greatest and strongest being in the world!" The bald man let go of his apprentice as he held his stomach in laughter. He couldn't hold back his joy and happiness and he wasn't afraid to express it.
"Do you understand the implications of your talent, my boy?"
"Based on the tablet, I can see how amazing I am." Just as the master was proud of his disciple, Kyrian was also proud of himself. "But what are these symbols? They don't seem to give out proper results."
"Of course, this artifact can't measure it. We would need to travel to the capital and register for the use of a better artifact in Arcana to get an accurate reading of your attributes. Usually, these kinds of unique talents signify great changes in the human world. For example, Aurelius Aurum, the current president of the Republic, possesses a unique magic called Void magic. It can make anything disappear without exception. It's silent, unseen, but beyond deadly."
'Void magic, huh. I wonder what unique magic I possess.' Kyrian thought to himself.
"As of now, I have confirmed that you have perfect affinity towards steel and fire magic, but also rare attributes like light and darkness. I can lend you spell books for fire magic from the Pyrus family, but I'm afraid light and darkness are too rare for me to provide you with books. Only the Lumenharts had proper cultivation method for light magic, while darkness magic is used by demons."
"Don't worry too much about your other attributes. As a mage that has perfect attributes, you will develop your own innate spells as you go through the ranks. You can also research them on your own when you grow up!"
"I'm really grateful to you, master." Kyrian's golden eyes went moist as he saw his master give him a scroll containing his unique magic arts called [Steel Emperor], and a book called [Embers of Life].
"Sometimes, I forget that you're still a kid." Horace scratched his long beard as he looked at his disciple in satisfaction. "There's no need for thanks. It is natural for me to guide you as your master."
"Master, I want to go up in ranks, and I have read that to reach rank 3, one must form a mana core. Based on the results of the artifact, I'm only rank 2. How is that possible?"
"There are some irregulars that do not follow the standard path towards immortality. You are an example of such irregularity. Generally, to get a proper classification of rank 1, one must experience an awakening. A telling sign of a rank 1 is the ability to sense mana. If a person can sense mana, they will have the ability to move it and cast spells or use it according to their will."
'I remember seeing mana particles in the waterfalls back in Iavrin, the eastern continent. It seems that it wasn't due to my rank, but my innate talent: Eyes of Divinity.'
"Next, to reach rank 2, a rank 1 mage must accumulate mana in their mana circuits to the brim and reach their limit. This usually takes a year or less if the environment is saturated with mana, or resources are given to speed up the process. Some resources can make shortcuts but doing so ruins the potential of a person."
"Then what about me? Is my foundation ruined? I took less than a week from awakening to turning into a rank 2 mage and forming a mana core."
"I thoroughly checked your body, and I didn't detect any signs of instability in your foundation. It also weirded me out how abnormal your body works. Human bloodlines usually cannot handle fast cultivation speeds."
"Maybe I'm just blessed with this power!"
"Yes, that is also possible."
Horace thought to his head the possibilities of Kyrian not being a human, but his blood showed that he has the normal human bloodline, thus removing his doubts.
"Going back to topic, once rank 2 is reached, a mage will be able to see and perceive mana in their surroundings granting them better control to their powers. With their heightened control and ability to see mana, rank 2 can almost always beat rank 1 mages, with the exception of monstrous talents like you."