The Sixth School Ch. 021

'The reason they are given this designation is that they are no longer in the normal progression of the mages that rely on mana and their understanding of magical principles to grow more and more powerful. Tier zero is less of a stage of being a mage and more of a death sentence for those that get it. The reason for this is simple. Human beings, no matter how powerful, are not built to handle the kind of power deities have. Sure, one who was initially a mage will last longer as a tier zero mage than one who wasn't, and one who was a higher tier mage will last longer than one who was at a lower tier. The end result for all of them, however, is that their bodies, and sometimes even their minds, eventually break down as a result of being forced to handle a kind of power and knowledge that they were never meant to handle,' She explained. 'Think of it like a candle. The flame a candle produces isn't that hot or bright. But it is precisely because of this that a candle can last long. If the candle suddenly started to produce the heat equivalent to a furnace, it would melt in a matter of seconds,' She declared.

'Your uncle is a mundane human. His body hasn't even learned to handle normal mana let alone the kind of divine magic deities employ. Every time he uses that magic to cast a spell, he is burning his vitality away in exchange for that power. Even if he was to stop right now, he'd live no longer than a month. His body has already been touched by something it should never have come in contact with. It's breakdown is now imminent and can no longer be reversed. It's no longer an issue of if, but when,' Olivia relayed. 'If you wait him out, you can win without even having to lift a finger,' She informed him.

Greg could read between the lines of what Olivia was saying and couldn't help the anger in his voice as he asked his familiar. 'I hope you are not asking me to abandon my family to that lunatic just to save myself!' He growled mentally.

'I'm only making you aware of all the options open to you,' Olivia replied, clearly not bothered by his anger. 'I may have just told you of all the dangers of becoming a tier zero mage, master, but make no mistake, a tier zero mage is one of the most powerful foes you'll ever have the misfortune of facing,' She cautioned. 'Especially if driven right to the edge where they stop holding back and decide to draw on every bit of divine power they can. Not even I can confidently say that I'll come out on top in that fight,' The familiar admitted without the slightest bit of shame. 'This is why it's always advised that when facing a tier zero you take them out in as few moves as possible. If you can't do that and you give them the chance to go berserk, chances are, you won't win that fight," She informed him. 'If you can't take out your uncle in ten moves or less, then it's not a fight that you can win, master. If you get killed trying to be brave, your family won't be any less at the mercy of your uncle than if you were to allow him to self-destruct. The only difference is whether you'll be alive or not at the end when it's all said and done,' The familiar advised.

Greg could feel his jaws clenching. He couldn't really fault Olivia for saying what she had. Greg could see where she was coming from and why she would advise him to run away from this fight. Heck, he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't afraid himself. This was a deity that they were talking about, after all! A very big part of him wanted to agree with her and just avoid having to face his uncle altogether. 'I'm sorry Olivia, but I can't abandon my family,' Greg voice what the other smaller but much more stubborn part of him kept shouting to him. 'Even if it takes everything I have to do so, I will keep my family safe!' He declared in a tone that relayed that he was saying this just as much to himself as he was to her.

A resigned sigh was transmitted across their connection by the familiar, followed by a radiant smile. 'I am yours to do with as you please master,' Came the words of support from his familiar.

Greg could tell that she meant every word. A frown, however, crossed Greg's expression at the familiar's words. 'I don't plan on giving you up in exchange for my family, Olivia,' Greg spoke up.

An amused smile crossed their connection as the familiar asked. 'You don't have any magic Greg, whereas I am a tier two mage,' She relayed. 'This isn't about giving anyone up, it's just a simple look at who has the better odds of coming out on top,' She declared.

'We have about one point three six million magic points,' Greg declared after checking in his system. These were the magic points that he'd earned when he had the healer try and heal his scars. The total had initially been one point four three million magic points. It had, however, gone down by roughly seventy thousand points as a result of all the items and potions that Greg had bought in preparation for facing his uncle. Greg had told Olivia to not allow him to touch the one million magic points he'd need to buy the awakening potion. So, for all intents and purposes, he'd only had three hundred and sixty thousand magic points to spend. Things, however, were different now. 'Let's spend every last point if we have to,' He declared. 'I'm sure we can come up with some way to kill my uncle,' he urged.

There was a bit of silence from Olivia's side before she spoke again. 'Okay then, ask the boy to tell you every single spell and ritual that he's seen his father cast,' She instructed. 'Just like normal mages, not all tier zeros are equally powerful. The fact that he was a mundane human before becoming a tier-zero mage is already a plus for us. Without great knowledge of magic and its principles, he won't be able to make full use of the power that he has gained. If we can get a better measure of just how powerful our foe is, we may be able to come up with an effective strategy to deal with him,' Olivia relayed.

Greg proceeded to do as instructed and questioned his cousin. "What rituals and spells have you seen your father carry out?" He asked.

"I haven't seen my father perform many rituals," Nolruk replied. "He mostly keeps me around either as an errand boy or as someone to help him up whenever the magic takes too much of a toll on him. I've only seen him perform two rituals so far," His cousin continued. "The first was when he was sacrificing your father. He was the one carrying our water that day and had laced it with a drug that would make one weak, disoriented, and sleepy. You were completely knocked out by the drug, but your father, being much stronger than you, was weakened and disoriented, but not knocked out by the drug. My father had to use his magic to restrain him and force him onto the ground," he explained. "Once that was done, he began drawing strange symbols on the ground and chanting in a strange language as he moved around your father. And... and then..." there was a pause in Nolruk's words almost as if he wasn't sure how to explain what happened next. "There was a tear in the air," He said. "It's almost like someone had punched a hole in reality," His cousin relayed.

'Damn!' Greg heard Olivia curse in his mind. There was no panic in her voice, just consternation. 'Opening a doorway between two planes without knowing where the other side leads to, is a very dangerous and stupid thing to do,' She stated. 'If the wrong thing had come through that doorway, there is almost no limit to the amount of damage that could be done,' She informed him. 'This very mountain we are on could have easily been leveled if not worse,' she relayed.

"My father had planned to finish the two sacrifices in one go," His cousin had continued talking. "Unfortunately for him, he had overestimated his abilities. By the time he finished with your father, he was too strained and in no shape to carry out another ritual. My father, however, is nothing if not stubborn. Besides, he was afraid that if you woke up, you would reveal everything that had happened. So he insisted on going through with the sacrifice," Nolruk explained. "Everything went wrong right from the start. When the tear in the air opened once again, it was immediately clear that it didn't lead to the same place that the first doorway did. The feeling that the first tear gave off was baneful, malevolent, and terror-inducing. It's almost like it led to a place where all the worst things that a person could imagine, existed. The second tear, however, was far... far worse," His cousin reported, a visible shudder going through him. "On the other side of that tear, was something so powerful that if it had deigned to look through the tear, the very act alone would have probably destroyed the world and everything in it," Nolruk recounted with fear. Greg wanted to believe that his cousin was just exaggerating in his telling of the events. He, however, remembered that his cousin had taken the confessor's tincture. A potion that only allowed him to state what he truly believed. Perhaps it was his unfamiliarity with magic that made him give the overestimation, Greg decided.

His cousin looked up at him, a small smile on his lips "I was right!" he said, much to Greg's confusion. "I kept trying to tell my father, but he wouldn't believe me," Nolruk stated. "Not that he ever does. But I was right!" He declared once more.

"What are you talking about?" Greg asked, unable to follow the sudden twist in the conversation.

"When he saw that the ritual had gone wrong, my father immediately began trying to undo the ritual. Luckily for us, erasing the symbols he'd drawn on the ground seemed to be enough to destabilize the tear and cause it to start to close. Also, whatever it was that was on the other side of the doorway wasn't interested in us enough to try and keep it open," he relayed. "I was busy helping my father erase the symbols at the time, however, as the tear was closing, I'm almost certain I saw something cross over and enter your body Roka!" Nolruk declared. "That's how you gained magical abilities just like my father, isn't it?" he asked, sounding convinced that he'd arrived at the correct conclusion.

Greg barely heard the rest of Nolruk's flawed conclusion. His eyes had gone round as saucers when he heard his cousin's revelation. A single question kept ringing in his head. W... was the ritual Roka's uncle had botched the reason that he had crossed over into this world?...

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