22 Rumors

Class had just finished and Dean had already met up with Leonard to learn from his experience.

Although Leonard couldn't be considered to have the most profound thoughts about Magic, he had the basic info Dean needed.

Gathering all the info needed, Dean left to contemplate the new found knowledge and prepare for his next plan.

There was one experiment that he wanted to try using the [Battle Intent Manual]. Arriving into his room for the privacy that hopefully no one would interrupt, Dean entered a concentrated state.

Taking a deep breath and blocking out the outside world's disruptions, he began to focus on his cultivation.

With the use of Heaven's Authority that Leonard made. Dean's cultivation improved at a consistent rate compared to the years he wandered around the forest.

Although the pills were one part of the reason why his cultivation increased but Dean felt there was another factor.

Meeting Rose.

The constant hatred within his heart was reinvigorated after their reunion and his cultivation had a huge boost.

The aid with internal an external support allowed Dean to reach a conclusion that he was close to breaking into the Nascent Soul 3 stage but the time wasn't exactly ripe.

There were too many things he had yet to know and if Rose had already told Christian about his existence in the school then he could be sabotaged.

Christian should be a third year in Red Wood Academy since he was two years older than Dean and have already created his own group due to his ambitions.

Using his connections that have been built up over the three years at school or maybe the wealth accumulated from hard work.

He could easily dispose of Dean who barely showed any potential in an instant which meant that every move he made had to be done with the utmost caution.

Sighing at the unpredictable future, Dean payed more attention to the Magic aspect of this school.

Leonard had given Dean a simple incantation to help attract Magic Essence however he wanted to try something before using that.

[Battle Intent Manual]

The book prided in it's non-linear method and had not established that it was Qi or Magic.

Dean just naturally used Qi to create Battle Intent as that was the one energy he knew how to control.

With the realization that Magic Essence was similar to Qi, Dean tried to sense Magic Essence.

A couple hours had passed and Dean could feel this 'Magic Essence' despite the originally faint sense.

Magic Essence was similar to to Qi as they were both lively energy sources but Dean realized the benefits of Magic Essence.

It was no wonder that people looked down on Martial Arts!

Dean originally sourced it to the unoriginal style that most would consider distasteful but there was another reason Magic Essence seemed superior to Martial Arts.

Speed!

Magic Essence was the life source from the surroundings that each had their unique attribute. This could be the reason why Elemental Magic had it's own category when other branches could essentially copy it.

It was the attribute of Magic Essence.

Because it was night, Dean could feel a lot of Magic Essence with the majority having a grim and ominous feature to suggest it's dark nature.

Waking up from the cultivation session, there was something that Dean could agree with.

For one, the [Battle Intent Manual] has the capability to use Magic Essence and could possibly use Magic Spells.

Another was that Magic could improve at a faster rate, Dean didn't agree with just following one path.

He was given the fortune of learning both paths without a problem.

With that fact and the Heaven's Authority pills that Leonard can supply was the main reason that Dean could be able to learn Martial Arts and Magic.

Balance was key during this peaceful moment, so Dean desired to start learning Magic Spells so that eventually his skills in Magic Spells would be equal to his Martial Arts.

Resolved to master both paths, the only place to learn Magic Spells was the public library in the school that allowed the students to learn from the available books.

Entering into the building, Dean took a gander that the architecture that was suited for this school.

Just from the entrance, one could see that the center contained chairs and tables for students to study and memorize while the building was colored in two fashions.

One half had a neutral grey color tone to signal that magic books could be found in that direction while the other half was for Martial Arts that had an old traditional look.

The combination of the two was eye-catching however Dean rushed towards the second floor in order to find Magic Spells.

Counting the floors one by one, there were altogether 11 floors.

This probably originated from the cultivation level of Magic that Martial Arts later followed.

Ground floor consisted of simple techniques open to all students and had theories that would mainly be discussed over in class.

Floor 1 was the floor above the ground floor and contained Level 0 Magic spells. On the other hand, Martial Arts had difficulty establishing what specific name could be used to categorize their techniques and didn't shamelessly copy Magic's system.

Leading to the present situation where they were nameless and placed in certain floors from the comments of elders that found it difficult while other manuals with value could be placed on higher floors.

Very traditional families may use categories such as "Yellow Low Grade" "Heaven Mid Grade", etc but that didn't catch on with many people.

Using numbers instead, it turned into "Tier 1 Mid Grade" as numbers were easier to follow.

The higher the number, the stronger the power,

The top floor consisted of Forbidden Spells or Forbidden Grade techniques.

Only high level teachers or anybody in a higher position can access that location to learn those mysterious books.

Apparently, a legend briefly indicated that if one can master the forbidden technique and use it to the fullest, a person can destroy a country in exchange for his life.

Some believe it's a myth but Dean didn't care as he had Battle Intent which could eventually do the same thing except he didn't have to sacrifice his life.

Taking a look around all the possible Dark Magic Spells, Dean was enlightened as he felt the books were easy to comprehend and if he wanted toattempt the spells right now, he would be able to do it confidently.

A problem stopping that was his location, a library. Using Magic in a place meant for quiet learning was inappropriate and Dean didn't want to have popularity that would originate from this.

Some spells had interesting names and descriptions:

Death Snake - A concentrated sphere that swerves from left to right towards a direction

Dark Ball - Beginner magic, compiles Magic Essence into an orb that can be thrown.

These were the very basic spells but Dean was compelled to go to the higher levels

Darkness - A black hole devours an opponent until they leave the area

Silent Cage - Envelopes the opponent in darkness until their 5 senses are partially blocked

Some descriptions were rather vague and gave Dean the option to add his own creativity to the mix.

Surprisingly no one came to stop Dean from entering the higher levels despite his age but there could be an underlying meaning behind that fact.

If there were repercussions for using high level spells then the person would be injured. Having to be healed by the school and needing medication, Red Wood Academy would still make a profit out of that situation.

Dean exited the building without any books in hand as the entrance had a large board full of rules.

Afraid that students could destroy or lose books, the school forbade anyone from borrowing the books but Dean imagined that there could be a few exceptions given enough money.

It was already dark and Dean felt like it was time to eat dinner.

Heading to the canteen there was another reason that Dean wanted to eat in a public place.

The gossip!

Many people would eat at the canteen for the cheap and sometimes free food.

Due to that reason there would be large crowds with people having different origins that gave chance for Dean to learn a few things.

Taking a few steamed buns Dean sat from place to place after finishing his food and grabbing more to not seem suspicious.

"Did you hear? Joe is going to fight Bridget at the arena over Jessica."

"Really? When was Jessica going out with someone?"

...

"Who's your favorite out of the four beauties?"

"I think Ayesha's my type, what about you?"

...

"You going to join the Autarch Society?"

"Nah, I heard their leader, Christian is quiet a jerk to his subordinates. I don't want to work under a boss like that."

"Are you sure? If you reach a high enough rank you could reach a similar level to his underlings. Pierre and Anne are treated with respect and maybe you could reach that level."

"...Can I also get paid to advertise?"

...

"You going to the engagement?"

"Who's?"

"Christian and I think, her name was... Rose? Offering so much gold to her, why couldn't it be me?"

...

Dean finished his buns and licked his lips

"Maybe I should start making my move."