Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

As soon as he returned to his room, the first thing Priam did was use his potions. Even though he didn’t have a conventional class, it was impossible to use all of them at the same time, since he couldn’t make his meridians both rigid and flexible simultaneously.

Since his fighting style was focused on close combat, the obvious choice was the Rigid Meridian Potions.

He spent an entire day absorbing the potion. After that, he focused completely on raising his level.

That was when he realized just how shockingly easy and fast the process had become. He could circulate Ether through his entire body in just a few minutes, and almost no impurities were expelled at the end of each cycle.

’The baptism of a Heavenly Punishment is unbelievably useful... Maybe it’ll be worth attracting something like that again in the future?’

The thought was insane, but he decided to save the idea for later.

...

In just two days, Priam jumped straight to Level 9!

Excitement filled his chest. His overall power had increased tremendously in the blink of an eye.

From the knowledge he had acquired, Priam already knew that, for a disciple in a Divine Sect—one enjoying abundant resources like those cultivation caves—leveling up within the Mage Disciple or Mage Master Rank was the easy part.

An average disciple would reach Level 9 within one or two years.

The real bottleneck was breaking through to the next Rank. That transition could take decades—or even an entire lifetime.

Advancing to Mage Master was so difficult that fewer than five percent of Mages from the Mortal Plane ever managed to succeed.

In contrast, among natives of the Divine Plane, roughly two-thirds reached that milestone.

Another thing he learned through the system’s knowledge was why Mages from the Mortal Plane could never become Mage Masters.

To break through that limit, it was absolutely necessary to use liquid Ether—the purest possible form—combined with an extremely specialized technique used to forge the so-called Heavenly Ether Rune.

Liquid Ether simply didn’t exist in the Mortal Plane.

On top of that, the method for constructing the Rune was absurdly complex. Even if that technique were made public to the Mages back home, it wouldn’t help. Without an experienced instructor or high-level manuals to guide them, their chance of success would be zero.

Within the sect, every Level 9 disciple had access to lectures given by experienced Sages, teaching every detail of the process.

Priam, on the other hand, didn’t even need to attend those classes. The system had already provided him with knowledge that was incomparably richer and more detailed.

As for liquid Ether, that was even simpler. All it took was a handful of points to exchange for a generous amount.

After thinking it over for a while, Priam reached a conclusion.

’I don’t have enough points left to enter the Timeless Space and speed up my studies right now. I’ll have to spend some time in the real world carving this Rune and breaking through.’

Although he had received the knowledge and taken the time to read everything, he still hadn’t fully absorbed all the fine details. The amount of information was enormous, and his previous priority had been mastering the Wind element.

***

The days dragged by slowly. At one point, a worker came to Priam’s faction and handed him a set of Jade Slips. They contained all the beginner-level knowledge of Alchemy and Inscriptions that Priam had won from the bet against the sect’s 8th branch.

He stored everything away, having no interest in studying any of it for the time being.

Time continued to pass until, at last, the appointed month came to an end.

Priam stepped out of his cave with little Mirra resting on his shoulder. He walked calmly while giving his partner a few final instructions.

”You need to behave, got it? Don’t leave the Inner Space unless I tell you to. You can already give me all the support I need from in there.”

”Meow!”

Mirra let out a bright little meow, overflowing with excitement.

Then she switched her metamorphosis, returning to her ethereal form. Without wasting any time, she went back into Priam’s Inner Space.

For now, Mirra’s role was limited to healing Priam’s injuries.

In the future, however, once she learned how to manifest the power of Nature in more advanced ways, she would be able to fight freely on the battlefield. Nature’s defensive power was extraordinary. Taking her down would be extremely difficult, and because of that, Priam had no worries.

As he crossed the boundary of the central mountain, Priam found every member of his faction gathered together, waiting for him eagerly.

His gaze swept across his generals and his vice leader.

Dandara had reached Level 7, just like most of the soldiers. Since they had started at a slightly higher level than the members of the Ylisse Clan, they had maintained a steady pace and advanced as far as possible, exactly as he had ordered.

Lumiere, Flaris, and Shione, on the other hand, were now Level 6. The trio’s progress had been remarkable, taking advantage of the fact that leveling up in the early stages was much easier.

In just over four months since arriving at the sect, everyone there had advanced multiple levels.

That pace was above average even by the Ironweald Sect’s standards. And the reason behind it was simple: the potions they had received.

Priam let out an involuntary snort just remembering the nightmare of spending days locked away producing that mountain of potions. He had hated every second of it. Becoming an alchemist was completely out of the question.

”Let’s go,” he said, making a small gesture as he held up the leader’s emblem.

...

Priam and his faction appeared once again in the enormous central plaza. Around them, the other four factions arrived almost at the exact same moment.

Sallya, Daraen, and Inigo stared at Priam’s group in utter shock.

All nine hundred combatants displayed incredibly high levels, matching the strongest soldiers from the other factions. On top of that, they radiated solid, dense auras typical of high-level Mages.

Farther back, Priam locked eyes with Walhart, who was watching him with a cold, icy expression.

Behind his rival stood a little over eight hundred disciples. Walhart had expanded his faction, welcoming with open arms every traitor Priam had expelled from his own.

The moment Priam’s soldiers recognized their former companions, they clenched their fists tightly, their eyes burning with pure hatred.

Those people... didn’t even deserve the air they breathed.

Every single one of them had been saved by Priam during the initial trial. He had given them knowledge, shelter in a high-level location, and placed his trust in them. Yet those bastards had chosen to scheme in the shadows for the sake of an enemy.

They had been exposed and expelled in time, but under any other circumstances, they would’ve paid for that betrayal with their lives.

The factions had no time to dwell on old grudges.

The fabric of space above the plaza suddenly warped, splitting open like a transparent rift leading to a distant place.

On the other side of that ”window,” another enormous plaza came into view, packed with disciples. There were thousands of them, all radiating incomparably stronger auras. They were the sect’s Mage Master division and their respective factions.

Every faction in the sect had been summoned for this competition.

This was no longer a simple controlled contest.

It would be a real battle—where the smallest mistake would cost you your life.

Hundreds of Elders appeared in the air moments later. At the center of the group stood a man whose overwhelming presence made him stand out from the rest.

His gaze swept across the crowd before his voice thundered through the plaza.

”You will be deployed to a real battlefield,” the Elder declared bluntly. ”One of our sect’s most renowned strongholds, Gray North Star, is under constant attack from the Sorcerers and their Corrupted Beast armies. Our branch has been assigned to defend it for a period of 275 days.”

The disciples’ expressions immediately turned grim. Those born in the southern region had fought enemies like these before and knew exactly how terrifying they were.

”All factions will work together to defend the fortress,” the booming voice continued. ”This is a genuine war—bloody and merciless. The good news is that the enemy’s strength is under control. There won’t be any Corrupted Beasts beyond your ability to handle. Even so, on a real battlefield, fortune can change in the blink of an eye.”

”Recording bracelets will be distributed to everyone. Every enemy you kill will be recorded, and the target’s strength will determine how many points you earn. The factions that keep their members alive while accumulating the highest number of points will be declared the winners.”

”In short, you have only one mission: exterminate the enemy,” the Elder continued in a sharp, icy tone. ”But remember, this is not an exercise. If anyone loses their nerve and flees without direct orders, even if their entire faction is wiped out, that coward will be executed on the spot by the sect.”

A chill ran down the disciples’ spines.

They were now soldiers under martial law. The fortress’s survival was the absolute priority, and insubordination meant a death sentence.

”The responsibility of defending the fortress belongs solely to Mages,” he explained seriously. ”The entire Gray North Star is protected by our sect’s most powerful Space-Time Inscription. That barrier prevents enemy supreme entities from launching an assault, keeping the situation under control. However, it also prevents our own Sages from entering to assist you.”

”You will endure a true hell for 275 days, with very little time to rest. However, there is one great advantage... outside the domain of the inscription, time flows differently. More precisely, ten times faster.”

”In other words, by the time your mission ends, years will have passed in the outside world. You’ll receive every monthly point reward corresponding to that period, in addition to the points you earn in battle. By the end, the survivors will become unimaginably wealthy. You’ll have enough resources to buy whatever you want—some of you will accumulate so much wealth that you won’t even know how to spend it.”

A wave of excitement lit up the crowd’s eyes.

For every disciple, points were the key to growing stronger. Facing nine months in hell seemed like a fair price for the promise of returning covered in riches.

”You will now be transported to your assigned defensive sectors,” the Elder concluded, his voice echoing one last time. ”Remember this well: if even a single enemy breaks through the perimeter of your sector, not only will you lose every point you’ve earned, you’ll also face severe punishment!”

The very next moment, the space around everyone began to ripple violently.

A planet-scale teleportation had begun.