Supremacy Games

Just the three leaders of those races were enough to make Felix feel nervous about dealing with them.

Who could blame him? Duchess Alina of the vampire race was ranked twelve in the empyrean rank!

Felix knew that with his current strength, he was barely capable of dealing with those ranked in the top 100.

So, he really needed to step up in his preparation to bridge that gap as fast as possible.

'I need to learn at least one space or time spell before the start of the war.' 

Without further ado, Felix contacted Selphie and requested that she meet him in their practice hall.

Sometime later, both of them were seen sitting in front of each other while sharing serious expressions.

"You aren't ready." Selphie said.

"We won't know until we give it a try."

"Are you questioning my teachings?" Selphie pouted, clearly upset that Felix didn't believe her. But, she couldn't scold him for it.

"That's the last thing I will do." Felix smiled, "Your teachings in the past years have already proven to me that you will be the best spellcaster in the history of the universe."

Felix wasn't saying so to butter Selphie up or take advantage of her feelings to him.

He truly believed that even if he spent most of his time on just mastering runic spells, he would still not surpass Selphie if she kept going at this pace.

His affinities to space and time might be higher than her, but her talent in runic understanding was just on a different league than him...Even when he posessed the real divine codex.

"But, I really feel like I am ready to give space/time spells a shot." Felix requested sincerely again, "Please give me a chance."

"Why are you rushing?" Selphie sighed, "Everything was going great just a few days ago."

"I can't tell you, but it's something serious, and it requires me to have as many weapons as possible." Felix answered.

'Something serious? Is he preparing for a new dangerous adventure or attempting to push his rank?' Selphie thought with an alarmed expression.

Selphie knew that with Felix's current strength, there shouldn't be many things that make him feel weak.

Unfortunately for her, he didn't want to speak about it.

"I don't know what you are preparing for, but if you really feel ready to learn those highly complex runic spells, then we can give it a go."

Before Felix could feel delighted at the news, Selphie added with a hardened expression, "However, if you failed to learn one spell in a single year, we will return to our previous schedule."

"I understand." Felix nodded with a firm look.

He knew that Selphie didn't want to make it impossible for him as she simply requested that he learn one space/time spell instead of mastering it...There was a huge difference between them.

"Alright, we will start with a lesser space spell." Selphie informed, "Space is less complex compared to time spells. So, you might learn and master a space spell in less than four years."

"Four years?"

Felix was slightly taken aback by her conclusion, not knowing whether she was underestimating his affinity to space runes or she was on to something he was ignorant about.

'She is generous for giving you four years.' Lady Sphinx said calmly, 'You will understand when you see what you are dealing with.'

Before Felix could reply, he was forced to focus on four giant holographic pages filled with clustered runic letters.

"We will start with the most basic space spell in terms of complexity." Selphie said as she pointed at the top of those holographic pages.

When Felix glanced there, he mumured a single word with chills coursing on his spine, "Teleportation."

"Yep, you will be learning teleportation." Selphie extended her hand at the holographic pages and said, "This is the activation sequence for it. As you know, to learn a spell, you need to rearrange the spatial runes around you in this exact order in less than a second."

"To master it, you..."

"I need to do it in less than a 0.1 second..." Felix gulped a mouthful as his widened eyes kept looking back and forth on those pages.

There were so many runes in them, Felix couldn't even read them in one go!

He was always told that rare elements were extremely complex in terms of runes and that only a selected few throughout the history of the universe were capable of wielding them.

Yet, he always had some misgivings about their complexity due to Selphie spamming time spells faster than he could use even a greater sand spell...

Only now did his eyes were open to the dreadful truth!

The easiest f*cking space spell had more than 95% of runes than the hardest omnipotent sand spell he mastered!

"This is why I wanted you to master a few more omnipotent sand spells." Selphie said, "Their complexity might not come close to this spell, but the more you master, the firmer your foundation will be when you start with rare elements."

"I appreciate your care, but I can't delay this any longer." Felix shook his head after regaining control over his emotions.

So, what if things were difficult than he believed? Felix didn't reach this far by being fearful of challenges.

"As you wish." Selphie expanded the first holographic page and explained, "The reason most rare elements spells are unbelievably complex is because they are a concept that has a tremendous effect on the universe."

"You see, a fireball spell merely requires you to create short runic sentence of the fire particles to manifest a ball of fire. But in the case of space, if you want to create a spatial ball, it's almost impossible without creating a runic book with thousands of pages to make it happen."

"The same applies to time, life, death, creation, illusion, and destruction spells." Selphie asked, "Why do you think so?"

Felix thought about it for a few moments before finding the connection between those elements and the difference they had with other elements.

"They are a close to a concept instead of an element." Felix answered, "It's hard to control concepts without having the energy to support it...So, it requires much more work to achieve the same result."

"Exactly." Selphie approved.

"But, isn't charm a concept while void isn't?" Felix frowned, "Doesn't that mean charm spells should be just as hard to master like space/time while void element should be as easy as other elements?"

"Charm is also a concept and can be derivative from illusion...To create impossible spells like charm spheres will be considered a challenge too." Selphie explained, "However, the rest of spells that harness the true power of charm can be easily mastered since their complexity can never be on par as these mentioned rare elements."

"After all, there is simply no way to compare the results of using a teleportation spell to a charm spell."

When Felix thought about it closely, he understood her point.

Concept elements were neither energy based like electricity, gas based like fog, liquid based like water, or solid based like earth.

However, there were degrees of complexity to each concept based on its involvement and effect on the universe.

For example, space spells were capable affecting the fabric of the space while illusion affected the reality itself.

On other hand, charm's effect were basic and non-threatening on a universal scale.

In other words, an omnipotent charm spell would probably require merely half a page of runes to activate them if the spell itself didn't push the boundaries of the concept too much.

Meanwhile, an omnipotent space spell capable of opening wormholes or such would need hundreds of runic pages to pull it off if the spell respected the boundaries of space concept.

"Since void element is an energy-based element, it will be easier to create void balls and such, but the moment I attempt to learn void rift or void blink, the complexity will jump through the roof and match other rare elements." Felix asked, "Am I right?"

"Yes, but not completely." Selphie added, "Even creating void balls will be more complex than some greater spells from common elements...That's because the energy itself is unique and more complicated than fire or electricity."

"I see." 

Felix understood what she meant as void energy was one of the few energies capable of deconstructing matter to nothingness!

There was no way it could be compared to fire or lightning.

This was the reason void element was considered a rare element even though it wasn't a concept...Everyone knew where to get it and how to get it, yet no one could.

Charm element might be a concept, but its resources throughout the universe were accessible as there were many natural treasures and elemental minerals with charm-based effects.

Even charm elemental stones were obtainable in the right environment compared to other rare concepts...So, it was ranked as uncommon.

"If it suits you, we can start with void spells." Selphie proposed, "You told me your runic familiarity with void element is on the same level as sand element. So, you might master many lesser void spells in a few years at best."

"No." Felix declined while thinking to himself, 'I have enough void users under my command.'

It was stupid to waste his time on learning void bombs and such useless spells when he had an army of void creatures.

"I want to master teleportation." Felix narrowed his eyes, 'With such spell, I can dominate the battlefield!'