OVERPOWERED CHAPTER 7: EXTRA CLASSES
THE MONARCH'S TANTRUM, OUTER REALM OF MONSTERS AND BEASTS
Felix once again found himself waking up from unconsciousness and smelling food cooking. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he slowly started to wake up again and checked his right arm in fear that he might have lost it like the left. To his immense relief he finds his right arm where it always has been since he was born and the left still devoid of an arm.
Laying back on the bedding and pillow he awoke from, Felix started contemplating the certainty of his ass being kicked in this world constantly. It seems no matter how hard he tries he will always find himself getting to know death personally and getting his body tenderized like a cheap steak. His pessimistic thoughts were interrupted as his saviour/ torturer approached him with a bowl of food.
The old man maybe a closet sadist with questionable origins but his cooking was amazing. The meal he received was another soup but this time made with fresh fish cooked with herbs. It seems that the old man decided to use the herbs that he gave him as partial payment to his medical treatment to cook a savoury and bitter fish stew.
"Rise and shine sleepy head! Lunch time." Jasper said a greeting before handing the herbal fish soup to Felix. "This is my famous bitter fish soup. Slow cooking the herbs with fish infuses the naturally sweet flesh of freshwater fish with a slight bitter flavour. The flavours compliment each other and revitalizes the body. And with the inclusion of herbs it also acts as medicine to help with healing, enjoy!"
Any thoughts of retribution to his sadist trainer were dashed as he tasted the herbal fish soup. Jasper was right! The flavours of the soup meshed well together and created a whole new flavour profile that is indescribable, but the one thing he can say about it was that it is delicious.
"Consider this an apology for going a bit too far in your first lesson. I'm a bit used to fighting a bit too hard ever since starting my travels in the outer realm so I hope you can understand the harsh methods I use." Jasper looked very apologetic and Felix couldn't find it in himself to hold a grudge so he let bygones be bygones.
"Just try and not roast me alive like you did earlier old man. By the way can you teach me how to do magic like that?" Felix may not enjoy being roasted by fireballs but he certainly will enjoy being the one to incinerate stuff with awesome fire magic. Aside from the magic he used to enhance himself and recently his weapon, he doesn't have any other offensive flashy magic yet.
Jasper looked contemplative as he thought about whether to teach magic to Felix already before deciding. "Well you proved yourself very capable in casting magic in the third tier so why not. But before we get into your lessons into magic, how much do you know about magic in this world as well as tier magic?" As Jasper has tested Felix in his battle capabilities, it seems now he wishes to test the novice's magical capabilities.
Felix started picking his brain and tried to remember what he read about YGGDRASIL lore on magic as well as the various forums and wikis that he read regarding magic prior to his isekai journey here. He knew that the main form of magic system in YGGDRASIL was called tier magic and that it was divided into 10 tiers, with the last tier after the 10th tier being called super tier because of how game breaking its effects are that the tier numbering system cannot calculate their power anymore.
He finds himself drifting away again in thoughts regarding his character creation. Did he even take job classes to perform magic? No that isn't possible since he chose that special mode in gaining jobs in adventuring rather than pre-selection. Storing those thoughts later, he proceeded to answer the old traveller.
"Well, I know that the main magic being used here is tier magic? So that means tier magic in the third tier are the norm while only pro adventurers and magic casters will have magic in higher than that, probably possessing 10th tier magic and above. And for the magic I used sorry to disappoint but what you saw me casting was perhaps the first time I used the magic consciously instead of nearly dying to activate them when I fought the direwolves.
Jasper looked quite shocked after being told on the basics of magic as well as the average level of tier magic Felix thought is the norm in the New World. He proceeded to let out a hearty laugh for a few minutes before giving his verdict. "Oh lad you never cease to impress and also having a good sense of humor! But I'm sorry to disappoint but no, 10th tier magic is not normal for anyone to possess even those who are in the realm of heroes. The highest tier any human can hope to achieve is the 6th tier, with the most well known human capable of such magic being Fluder Paradyne of the Baharuth Empire. Even then it took him 200 years of study and experience to reach where he is right now."
"Huh…Guess I overestimated the strength level of New World inhabitants. But what right do I have to talk about strength when I probably won't measure up to a fraction of their power right now." Felix began contemplating what he was told about the true average magical capabilities of the New World before Jasper continued his explanations.
"It seems that we have even more work to do regarding magical lessons. For now, lets just finish up our meal and rest, for tomorrow we will be diving headfirst into the history of magic! Get ready to take some notes my boy, you're gonna have one hell of a history lesson again."
Jasper proceeded to take out several papers from his pack as well as some quills and a pot of ink. It seems the New World really is going with the medieval theme along with the fantasy elements. Some of the papers that his teacher brought out were maps detailing areas and others had words written on them, however it seems that the language used is not one familiar to him. He brought this up with Jasper and surprisingly the old man proceeded to cast spell on the papers, the alien language slowly translating to the familiar language of English.
"Wow old man you know a lot of magic even for translation. Are you a mage too?" Complimented an impressed Felix on his teacher's affinity for magic.
Jasper gave a light chuckle on his student's enthusiasm before answering. "Like I said lad, once you get to my age you learn many things. But on the topic of magic, I like to think my skills are passable."
Felix finds it unbelievable that the amount of knowledge his teacher displayed in magic were 'passable'. With that thought in mind, he also felt a bit suspicious at the amount of knowledge Jasper possessed not just about magic but the world in general.
"He just continues to be even more mysterious than before I knew his name. Who exactly was he before coming to a place like this. In fact, what is a guy like him doing in the 'realm of beasts and monsters? Shouldn't he be a big shot in that 'realm of man' that have regular people to worship him as a hero?" Finding his list of things to think about grow longer, Felix decided to once again shelf his musings and continue with his tutelage under the very learned but mysterious stranger.
"Now on to the lesson today which is magic! As I already told you before, tier magic is the mystic art brough into this world by the beings known as the Six Great Gods, the patron deities of the Slane Theocracy. It was through their use of this new magic as well as their powerful abilities and artifacts that allowed the Six Great Gods to carve their names into the annals of history and perpetuated the survival of humanity from hostile entities that view humans as cheap labour as slaves or food." Jasper wrote the names of the gods on a piece of paper, with Felix making out names such as "Surshana, god of death" and "Alah Alaf, god of life".
"Long after the establishment of the Slane Theocracy and the deaths of his peers, the god of death Surshana was the only one left to govern the human nation and maintain the status quo that he and his fellow deities created. Eventually Surshana met his end fighting against the Eight Greed Kings who arrived 100 years later, replacing the Six Great Gods as the prime rulers of the world as well as ironically continuing their work in safeguarding humanity and spreading the use of tier magic." Jasper proceeded to write down the names of the Eight Greed Kings right under the name of the Six Great Gods. Before Felix had a chance to read out the names of those who replaced the principle deities and guardians of humanity, he had to snap at attention towards Jasper continuing his lecture on magical history.
"The Eight Greed Kings had greater effectiveness in spreading the knowledge of tier magic by annihilating the most proficient masters of Wild Magic, which were the Dragon Lords. While the Six Great Gods were largely ignored by the Dragon Lords, the Eight Greed Kings waged war against the former masters of the world. Even their mastery of Wild Magic was worthless against this new enemy the dragons never faced before, with the very magic they draw their strength from ineffective and resulted in their near extinction once the Kings finally ended the war to fight each other."
"My knowledge on Wild Magic is lacking since not much is known about the original mystic art to begin with, but from what legends and stories tell it was similar in potential to what tier magic could do. However, the mastery of such magic is limited to the former rulers of the world which were the Dragon Lords. All you need to know is that the magic itself is largely extinct in usage since tier magic had a larger variety of use and more easily accessed, but I would advise caution in facing anyone who wields Wild Magic since its effects are unknown so anything could happen."
Felix was unsure whether Wild Magic was in YGGDRASIL or not. Since the game is infamous for having many secrets, Wild Magic could have been a secret feature never discovered in the game. But he'll take Jasper's advice and be extra careful if he ever faced someone with this mysterious power.
As Jasper finished up his short discussion on Wild Magic, he proceeded to bring up other powers and arts in the world. He once again wrote on a piece of paper to give a visual focus for his lecture and began his next lecture on talents.
"Now I'm sure you know what Talents are already, but it wouldn't hurt to give more details on it. Talents are a unique ability that a few people in the world are born with. Its little understood how talents manifest but it has many unique effects on the daily lives of those who possess them. An extremely rare ability that 1 in 100 people can possess, talents can range from enhanced magical prowess or an increase in martial arts abilities." His teacher started scribbling down the various talents ranging from the mundane ability to gather more crops during a harvest to the lessening of mana usage for spells.
"But the downside of talents is that they are randomly distributed to the rare amount of people who receive them. A talent that boosts magical power is quite impressive, but a simple farmer or warrior who specializes in martial arts would find little to no use for it. Sometimes several people will have similar talents that can range from being superior or inferior to each other."
Once again Jasper scribbled down the examples on the piece of parchment with his quill, this time detailing similar but different talents. One of the lines read out about a talent that enhances the mastery of a single weapon compared to the mastery of any weapon, showing the inherent superior and inferior nature of talents.
"Finally, we touch upon the last power you would end up facing off in the future. This power's name is Martial Arts. Martial Arts are named so because it is basically an enhancement of fighting techniques that do not require the use of mana but the potential and physical capabilities of a fighter". Jasper jots down the final notes on martial arts. It seems like the power he used to enhance his own body but rather than giving additional effects, martial arts seem more straightforward in its use to enhance physical abilities and techniques. "One thing to note that despite its name, Martial Arts is technically also a magic but catered more to warriors and those who focus on their abilities in pure physical combat".
As Jasper finished writing down the notes for Felix to review alongside the maps and more historical notes in regard to magic, he put down his quill and stood up. "Well, now that we have things covered in the basics of magic, let's start doing practical work". Jasper finished his statement with a confident smile, but that just made Felix worry about what is waiting for him in the end of this lesson.
Once again Felix finds himself in an open area with plenty of room for casting any destructive spells that might blow stuff up. Bright side is that he won't find himself knocked out like last time as Jasper said they would only spar with magic once Felix is proficient enough in it. Good thing too since injuries inflicted through magic won't leave much room for survival and kill him for sure.
"Learning the art of tier magic is not a clear-cut method. Like how Talents are born to a lucky few, the ability to use and learn magic is dependent on a person's potential. Anyone can pick up a tome and study it while practicing the spells all their lives, and they would be extremely lucky to even be capable of using a tier one spell. The average users who can use tier magic itself can be less than 10%, while those who have the capability to even reach tier 2 is even less."
Felix seemed to severely underestimate his own capability if the average users of magic are that low. It seems he was right that any moderately strong player would be seen as gods here since casting tier spells around the 9th tier is to be expected of veterans, and that's not even counting players that have reached the endgame of their builds. Still, he was hopeful he might reach a level to competently defend himself or give a good fight before dying against a player he might meet.
Jasper proceeded to talk more about the intricacies of tier magic. "The method that I will teach you tier magic is not the only one and it might not work for you, but do not lose faith. With the magics that you can perform you might even grasp this method better than I did! Now watch carefully how I cast the spell. Once you observe the process of its creation, picture in your mind casting the spell and start reaching for your mana to cast it." With his final instructions to his young student spoken, Jasper pointed his hand out to a tree and casted his most used spell; [Fireball]
Fire manifested at the palm of his hand before coalescing into a fireball and shooting towards the tree. The effects were fiery and beautiful, the once thriving tree burst into flames as the fireball impacted it. The flames continued to burn until the tree was reduced to ashes in the wind. Jasper then turned to Felix gestured him to do what he just did.
"Alright I think I got the general idea for this. Okay I saw how he casted the spell, the fire appeared suddenly at the palm of his hand, but it didn't spread and burn him to a crisp. He willed it to form a sphere and directed it to the tree. Time to be a wizard!"
After making his thoughts on the process of creating his own fireball, Felix began focusing and clearing his thoughts. He focused intently on the properties of fire; how hot it is and untameable the element was. Fire was the bringer of death and the purveyor of life; a force of nature that was tamed in his original world to forge civilization and now chained through the laws of magic to do the bidding of mortals and gods. With a clear picture of fire in his mind, Felix proceeded to pull at his mana reserves and casted the spell; [Fireball] towards a different tree close to the one that Jasper burned down.
The effects were like Jasper's as the fireball flew swiftly to the unfortunate tree and burned it to ashes. Felix was enraptured by the destructive power he is now capable of unleashing. All the pain of that he experienced up until now has seen him finally taking a step up the world's pecking order if only a little.
As Felix continued to celebrate his small victory, Jasper walked up to Felix and patted his back. "Well done son, always knew you could do it! I promise you, with further training and studying you'll be able to reach great heights. Perhaps the realm of heroes might not be too far you!" Jasper warmly congratulated his student in casting his first offensive third tier spell.
The realm of heroes. A state of power that even geniuses can only dream to have their foot into. Even the strongest heroes in legends were said to have only been on the outskirts of this mythical level of power, with only gods and monsters having their entire being in this realm and beyond.
But as Felix continued watching the tree he casted [Fireball] burn, he dreamed of not only reaching the realm of heroes but also beyond it. Not just becoming equal to gods and eldritch abominations but to be truly… Overpowered!