THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

The three qualities of Magic Circles: Minor Circle, Major Circle, Grand Circle, and Ultimate Circle. Only three of them were known to the public, and one of the three was said to be only something that lucky individuals could ever have.

Everyone knew that once one had a Grand Circle, one's worth would rise exponentially along with one's prowess. They believed, however, only those blessed children of the heavens could ever possess Grand Circles.

Knowing that having Grand Circles was pretty much a fleeting dream that would never come true for most of them, they only aimed to fill their Realm with as many Major Circles as possible.

... At least, until it was revealed that Magic Circles could be "upgraded." Since then, many tried their luck in attaining a Grand Circle.

While it did seem like Magic Circles could be upgraded, in truth, the upgrade process was the completion of a close to complete Magic Circle.

The idea of categorizing Magic Circles in three different qualities that was found by the people was embarrassingly wrong, as the "quality" that they had come to call was actually a Magic Circle's stage of completion.

Basil, who was possibly the only possessor of Ultimate Circles, even with his vast knowledge regarding Magic, also didn't know anything about this in his past life. Like the others, he had also believed that Grand Circle was the highest quality of Magic Circles.

Upon returning to the past—upon being the host of the Guide however, he immediately found out the whole truth about Magic Circle's qualities. The Guide had allowed him to know that the quality of one's Magic Circles didn't depend on one's talent.

What mattered was one's way of Carving one's Magic Circle and one's understanding towards it. Once one got everything right, one would get the complete Magic Circle—the perfect Magic Circle that was on the pinnacle of Magic Circle's quality.

... Ultimate Circle.

There were many conditions that needed to be fulfilled to have one, and one of them was having a Mana Heart, which one cultivated naturally.

It was allowed to use a Dragon Heart, but normally, not a single beginner Mage would be able to withstand the overwhelming Mana stored inside the Heart.

Only Senior Mages could have a Mana Heart, and by then, possessing an Ultimate Circle was a waste of time, because they had to sacrifice their existing Magic Circles and restart all over to have Ultimate Circles.

This was the reason why Ultimate Circles needed to be cultivated since one started paving one's way as a Mage, and for that, one also needed to know about how to cultivate one's Mana Heart.

Since not everyone was as lucky as Basil, who had the Guide to provide him with the best Mana Heart Cultivation Technique, very little of them could ever possess an Ultimate Circle.

They didn't even believe that one could create one's Mana Heart due to their lack of knowledge regarding Mana Heart Cultivation Technique, so that further diminished the probability of Basil encountering another Ultimate Circles possessor.

With that being said, what was actually the difference between each of the four qualities of Magic Circles?

As what had been mentioned earlier, the difference between each Magic Circle of different qualities was their stage of completion.

Ultimate Circles, the complete Magic Circles, had 9 Sub-circles, meanwhile Minor Circles, the premature Magic Circles, had 3.

Major Circles, the half-completed Magic Circles, had 5 Sub-circles, and Grand Circles, the pseudo-Ultimate Circles that were hailed as the perfect Magic Circles by the people, had 7.

Appearance wise, only the first three stages of completion made Magic Circles look different from each other. Grand Circles didn't look that different from Ultimate Circles, since the two extra Sub-circles on Ultimate Circles weren't very noticeable.

The only thing that made the difference between the two apparent was their performance.

Ultimate Circles could process and hold way much Mana than what Grand Circles could. In other words, on top of being able to allow the possessor to fuel their Spell with an unusual amount of Mana, it also helped them control their Mana better.

Ultimate Circles were actually what made a true Mage, but unfortunately, not many people knew about the way to attain them, nor did they really care about it.

For the people who had accepted an incomplete Magic Circle as the lowest quality of a complete Magic Circle, possessing Ultimate Circles was something that they couldn't even ever dream of.

For them, being able to use Magic was already enough to make them a Mage.

What about Magic Circles upgrade, then?

With all things regarding the truth behind the quality of Magic Circles having been explained above, at this point, it should be easy to figure that the quality of one's Magic Circle would change once one had a higher stage of completion.

As long as one knew how to resume Carving one's Magic Circle, which required one's understanding towards it, one would be able increase the amount of Sub-circles one's Magic Circle had.

In turn, one's Magic Circle's stage of completion would raise a level higher, which equalled to one's Magic Circle being upgraded. To simplify the matter, upgrading one's Magic Circles was the same as picking up where one left off.

Of course, a certain condition still needed to be fulfilled for this to be possible: only those who had deep enough understanding towards their Magic Circles could have an "upgrade."

For those, who had only relied on a Circle Carving Manual—those who didn't understand their Magic Circles at all, could only dream of ever getting a higher quality Magic Circle.

One's lack of understanding equals to ignorance, and anything that is built upon ignorance will never posses a meaning.

Those who couldn't relate with their Magic Circles—those who didn't feel a strong connection with their Magic Circles had definitely Carved their Magic Circles wrong, and because of that, they would never be able to complete a single one of them.

"How long did it take you to complete it?"

"My Magic Circle?"

"Hm."

"I think it took me around two weeks to complete it."

"Were you helped by Professor Brayden in those two weeks?"

"No, I did it all by myself."

As the others heaved a sigh of envy, Basil and Iliana stared at Xiu Li intently, making said person sweat nervously. Although for different reasons, the two were intrigued by his talent in Magic.

After all, "upgrading" one's Magic Circle didn't only require the correct method, but also one's meticulousness in handling it. Xiu Li's success to raise his Magic Circle's stage of completion means that he was better than most Mages.

'I wonder just how much of this boy's potential that still remains unawakened,' Iliana mused.

'Wei Xiu Li... His eastern name should have made him stand out enough amongst Mages, but I can't recall if there was a Mage named Xiu Li on my past life.' Basil frowned. 'Is his emergence caused by my intervention?'

Since the two were thinking quite hard about what they had in their mind, their intense gaze on Xiu Li was intimidating him. The others also felt like the two were trying to figure him out, and they were conflicted about what to do.

"Oh, you don't have to worry. I don't have any intention to bully you," Iliana remarked calmly with a smile. "You have just managed to pick my interest, and I can't simply hold my curiosity back."

"O-Oh, is that so?" Xiu Li put his hand on his chest and sighed in relief. "That was a relief. I thought you have come to hate me for a second."

"Don't overestimate yourself, Xiu Li. You have nothing on you that we should envy of," Basil stated bluntly. "I do want to [Soul Scourge] you however, since I am curious about something," he muttered fairly audibly.

"T-That! Do I look that suspicious to you, Brother?!"

Basil merely quirked his eyebrow at Xiu Li's bewilderment, and waved his hand nonchalantly. The matter was easily dismissed, but it still made Xiu Li curious about what Basil and Iliana had been actually thinking about him.

As they had already been caught up to each other, their talk for the next few minutes was about trivial things. They eventually decided to end their gathering afterwards, since Basil's presence was needed in the sudden Legion Commanders' meeting.

They actually still had many things to ask to Basil, but they still didn't want to bother Basil, who had just gained a new responsibility after what he had done a few hours prior (defeating Cabalen), so they let him go without a fuss.

"That kid, Xiu Li... His existence will be a problem in the future."

"Heaven favours the genius, meanwhile earth condemns them."

On their way to the meeting of Legion Commanders, Iliana and Basil were talking about what would possibly entail Xiu Li's success as a Mage. It wasn't a good thing unfortunately, and it made them slightly pity him.

"Wei family is one of the prominent families in the Country of Hua. Having a descendant who possesses no talent of being a Daoist must be a huge humiliation for them."

"How did you know about this? Has he opened up to you? If my memory serves me right, the East is pretty tight-lipped about their internal matters." Iliana quirked her eyebrow at Basil.

"I have many ears and eyes," Basil replied mysteriously. He, of course, had figured Xiu Li's background out by asking the Guide about it. "We are close, but I don't think he is ready to open up about it, so I made an initiative."

"Well, look at you. I won't consider breaching someone's privacy something that a close friend normally does." Iliana smiled in amusement.

"No one shall be accused of peeking if he sees something that is out in the open," Basil replied calmly. "He can only blame his family's lack of meticulousness for it."

"That is so you..." Iliana shook her head helplessly with a smile. "Anyway, what happened to the kid? Did he escape his family's assassination plot? Is that why he came here?"

"He is a castaway, to be exact. His family, who see no worth in him, sent him here so he could keep a low profile—so they could make everyone forget about the disgrace of Wei family ... Apparently however, that castaway makes a good Mage."

"What a twist of fate..."

By the time they stopped talking, Iliana and Basil had already arrived in front of the room where the meeting would be conducted.

They could already sense the solemn mood from the outside, and they immediately understood that the battle would be resumed soon.