Every person with an aptitude in magic would be able to sense the Weave. Naturally, the better their aptitude, the better and faster they would sense it. The Weave was the powerful fabric magus accessed in order to cast their spells. Two methods to access it were either by internal means, grabbing it using their personal understanding, or by other external means, where they took advantage of artifacts or divine beings.
Any magic practitioner would be able to sense the Weave and nurture it into his or her spirit core.
There were two types of magus, a combat magus and spirit magus. A spirit magus was a magus who simply used the power of spirit to cast myriad types of spells, ranging from offensive, defensive and even auxiliary.
Meanwhile, the combat magus was an extreme opposite of the spirit magus. They were practitioners that channeled the spirit into other means: a technique or the physical body of the user itself. It was similar to enchantment magic, but it always conjectured with certain techniques.
Eyeing the five puzzled acolytes in front to him, Lord Izta asked a question that brought them into deep contemplation.
"If both types of magus are of the same rank and the same level of spirit force, which one would overpower the other?"
Thrax immediately chose the combat magus when he heard the question, which earned him a passive gaze from the magus champion. Meanwhile, the others kept their mouth shut as they continued thinking about it. Emery, on the other hand, replied with an answer that said neither,
Emery believed the ability to determine and use the right choice of spells at the right moment was the most important factor that decided the outcome of the fight.
Hearing Emery's answer, Lord Izta exclaimed, "You're one hundred percent right!"
"Ha! This one kid is quite clever, isn't he?" Lord Izta said, talking once again with his imaginary friend.
Returning his attention back to them, he energetically said, "The combat magus usually excel in prolonged battles. Most combat magus champions can fight non-stop for months without the need to rest. They can stay much longer in battle, because they use both their spirit power and stamina to maintain their skills."
Upon hearing this, Thrax's eyes lit up, as he grew even more excited.
"What about the spirit magus, Lord Izta?" Klea asked in curiosity.
"Practicing a combat magus technique is not an easy matter, whereas if you have no talent in it, you will never master it no matter how hard you try. However, the same could be said on mastering a spell."
"Mastering a spell?!" asked Klea in confusion as she didn't even think that she could 'master' a spell.
"Ha! I'm surprised that a talented girl like you still hasn't figured this out. It's truly a wonder how you all can become the top 10. All of you are truly in need of help, badly."
Lord Izta then beckoned Julian to come closer and used his [Stone Skin]. Scanning Julian's body, the magus said, "Even though you have dual affinity, I can tell that you are practicing your earth element much more than your other element."
"You are right, Lord Izta. I indeed prefer my earth element more as I find it much easier to understand."
Lord Izta then reminded them of the previous test that they did, where the [Granite Skin] spell that Emery used, which was a tier 3 spell, appeared not much stronger compared to the [Stone Skin] Julian used. When the five of them heard that, they realized what the magus said was true. Even though Julian indeed had a shield at that time, the tier 3 spell [Granite skin] which should be superior to [Stone Skin] did not show too different a result.
Pointing his finger at Emery, Lord Izta said, "You, my boy. Is a very fortunate person, to have 4 affinity elements. However, your four affinity will also be the reason for your downfall. It's indeed true that having more elements means more options for magus to choose. However, it's also true that by having 4 different elements, your attention will be split up between them which will result in a half-hearted result."
"Therefore, you must choose one element over the other, or just master a certain spell from your many elements. This will allow you to focus your concentration when practicing, thus producing better outcomes."
The words spoken by Lord Izta were like a splash of water to his face, which made Emery see the direction in developing his skills and skill repertoire.
Seeing that, Lord Izta opened his mouth again, "You see… Now, it's really your choice on whether you use your time to study battle art technique or mastering spells. In the end, a suitable approach is the one that will decide the winner between the combat magus and spirit magus."
Lord Izta then suddenly looked a little gloomy. However, he quickly schooled his expression and turned towards Thrax.
"Now, let me tell you the reason why I say that you are a fool for focusing only on combat technique and neglecting the mastery of any tier 3 spells."
"The ratio of combat magus who can reach the grand magus level compared to spirit magus is 1 to 100. I used to think the same as you, that spells weren't important, thus I didn't improve my mastery over spell. And now, look at me, young boy. I have been a magus for over 2.000 years and always unable to achieve breakthroughs. Do you understand what I mean here?"
Hearing the information that had just been revealed to them, Emery and the others were thinking hard about the path they would choose, especially Thrax.
Seeing their serious expression, Lord Izta couldn't help but say, "You can slowly think about this matter later. As for now, you all should start by improving your physical bodies. Now, I will set a training regime for all of you, and don't you dare disappoint me. I expect that after being trained by me, you must reach that top 500 at all costs!"
Lord Izta then instructed them all to practice using combat puppets and chose at least one battle art to learn.
For Thrax, Lord Izta drove him to the fire institute to master one of the fire spells. Only after he succeeded that Thrax would be allowed to come back here.
Currently, Emery was once again faced with a familiar wooden puppet. Staring at this puppet, he thought, 'I think it's a good opportunity to think of a suitable combination of weapons for me.'