Two hours later, Wallace arrived back at his house. He sat down in the training room and closed his eyes to notice his mage root and the meridians inside him and also the connection to his stomach where the vessel that will hold the mana is currently. There are nine main cultivation stages and each cultivation stage is further divided into ten ranks. It is called the nine transformations of the mage core. When a mage unlocks their mage root they automatically break through to rank 1. Rank one to rank 9 requires absorbing the mana from the air through the mage root into the vessel in gaseous form and these people are simply called mages.
When it reaches rank ten the mana will be compressed and will turn more tangible but the volume of the mana in the body would have been reduced by that time. Rank ten to rank nineteen requires the mage to absorb mana and make the vessel full again and when it reaches rank twenty the mana will be forcefully condensed into a more tangible form. These people are simply called mage adepts. Rank twenty-one to rank twenty-nine will also absorb more mana to make the tangible mana in their body sublime, then when it has been fully sublimes, the mana will compress and turn into a liquid form. This is where they will not have to worry much about their mana running out during a fight because the rate at which it is expended will slow down. They are called the magico.
Rank thirty-one to thirty-nine will require absorbing more mana into the body to condense more drops of mana. The mage vessel will then expand and turn into mana-ocean when they reach rank 40, at this stage, they don't have to worry about their mana running out because they will have a massive amount of mana in their body and they can fight and wield spells for days without their mana running out. They are called meta- magico. Rank forty-one to forty-nine require absorbing mana to make the ocean full then it will expand again in rank fifty. They are called divine magico.
Rank fifty-one to fifty-nine requires absorbing more mana to make the ocean full and it will expand to rank sixty. Rank sixty-one to sixty- nine requires the expansion of the mana ocean and also the strengthening of the walls of the mana ocean. At rank seventy, apart from the expansion of the mana ocean in them, the mage must start the preparation for their mana to turn into a mana core so they will start a formation of vortex in the mana ocean. When the first vortex has been formed, they won't have to worry about their mana running out, this is where they enter the world of supernatural beings. Their body will be significantly strengthened. Before rank seventy, every increase in rank gives a mage two times boost in their body stat but when they reach rank seventy, after they've formed a vortex, their body will be boosted by ten times. These people are called magus.
From rank seventy-one to seventy-nine, they have to absorb more mana to fill their mana ocean and when they reach rank eighty, they will form their second vortex. People in this stage are usually called divine magus. From rank eighty-one to rank eighty-nine, the mana would have been compressed by the two vortexes into a viscous form
When they reach rank 90 they will be able to form the third vortex which will in turn allow them to condense an elemental core. This is the realm of the real powerhouse, they won't have to worry about their lifespan because their life span will be expanded and their body will undergo evolution from the very basis of their cell. A drop of blood from them at that time will be able to blow a hole into a mountain. With a swing of their sword, they will be able to part the ocean. They can slice mountains, it's the absolute peak of the world. The empire has seven of them currently. They are called supreme magus and every stage from ninety-one will be like the previous ten ranks with their lifespan being strengthened and also their body.
Just one percent of the people on the Midgar planet can become a mage while out of that mage, ninety percent of them will stay in mage real for their whole life unable to break through because of their mage root and also their body potential. Even though mages are generally stronger than a normal human, they still are inferior to other creatures, their strength is only in their spell casting. Only less than one percent of the mage can step into the magus realm in their life and as for the supreme magus, it's not about talent, it's only about a matter of luck.
Three factors determine their progression, the first is their mage root. Mage root is what enables a mage to be able to absorb mana into their body. Inferior mage roots can spend close to ten years just breaking through from rank one to rank ten and they won't be able to move forwards. The second one is the body potential, the reason for the body potential is that the mana vessel is inside the body, and weak body potential will only be able to hold a weak mana vessel which will hinder the breakthrough of mages the third factor is the development of bloodline. After these three factors is a lot of luck.
Only less than one percent of mages have a bloodline in the world and bloodline is the access to break through to the magus realm. The human body is just too weak and the potential of the human body is limited so it's very rare for a human without a magic bloodline to be able to break through to magus. Lucy tells him that he can break through to the Magus realm if he is lucky because she thinks that he does not have a magic bloodline. It can only be acquired from magical families, that is to show the rarity of magic bloodline amongst mages. Without bloodline, talent plays a very minor role in breaking through to rank seventy.
He closed his eyes as his internal sense sunk into a mythical place in his body. It's called the mage palace, every mage that has awakened their mage root has this palace and this is where their elemental imprint is. He looked around and saw various runes glowing in his mage palace. There is grass growing in his mage palace with a gigantic tree with towering branches in the middle of the grass. While some people may have the same elemental affinity their talent in controlling the element varies and this is reflected in their mage palace. The mage association does not have much equipment to measure his degree of affinity so that will be saved for when he has to go to the mage academy in six months.
In the sky of his mage palace is a stretch of white and red lightening that is occasionally roaring and in the middle of the lightening is a creature that looks like it has blended with the lightening and is currently closing its eyes. In a part of this world is a body of water that is calm but this water is pure blue and there are occasional waves in it, the breathing of a creature could be heard in it. In another part is what looks like a river or nothingness that stretches across the ground to the sky and a creature is shuttling in and out, it looks like a phantom. In another space is what looks like a golden world.
The mark on his head shone as his mage root was activated and he could sense the water molecules in the air, he could feel the water molecules in the sky and the clouds that store lightning. He also felt a little bit of wood element in the city while he could see the structure of space. He focused his sense and it spread out, a model of the world ten meters around him appeared in his mind in a moment. He sensed everything but he can't communicate with them yet because he does not have any mana in him. He started to absorb the mana surrounding him into the mana vessel in his stomach region.
The mana rushed into his body and it was quickly transferred through his body into the vessel in his stomach. There are nine equal compartments in the vessel and he knows that he has to fill one of them up before he can break through to rank two. He continued to absorb the mana and his mage root turned them into his mana before entering the compartment. Without knowing how much time passed, a mild headache assaulted him. He knows that he is reaching the limit of his meditation for the day. He looked at the progress he has made and he know that in three days, he will be able to break through to rank two. He was already a rank-one mage when he unlocked his mage root. He stopped the cultivation and started to utilize vigor. Within minutes, his body has already been refreshed and he has returned to his optimal condition.
That's one of the perks of the internal energy inside him, he doesn't need to sleep every day due to the internal energy, with vigor he will be able to return to his peak condition in a moment but the effect will reduce each time he uses it and he will later have to sleep to reset it. With a little bit of mana inside him, he can sense all the elements in the air with immense clarity, that's how it is for mages. They can sense their elemental affinity when there is mana inside their body but once the mana in their body is exhausted, their connection with the element will be cut off and they will return to the normal grey world. Yes, the world around mages is usually colorful and to them the world around normal people is gray, if their sense was returned to the world around normal people, they would be uncomfortable.