Shang slowly walked down so wooden stairs. The entrance he had walked through was near the top of the hall.
Of the seven people currently inside the hall, three were inside their small hos.
Nine of the ten people associated with this branch had a lot of ambition and wanted to grow more powerful. That's why most people were always busy with their own training.
Shang was no longer in so separate Area made for developing different Paths.
No, this was the real world, and the millennia of knowledge known to humanity were not a secret here.
While the weak humans in Area 23 had only trained in isolation and with so materials, the stronger and more experienced Mages here did more.
For these people, their journey toward power was divided into five parts.
Part one: Gain resources.
Training without assisting resources was just making it more difficult for no reason. The quicker one managed to achieve their goals in their training, the more ti they had left in their life.
Around 10% of all High Mages didn't die to so beast or other Mage, but due to their longevity running out.
With only 500 years in total, everyone had to work on their own power with a lot of enthusiasm. Otherwise, all the training would have been for nothing.
Yet, resources were extrely expensive.
Because of that, a huge part of soone's journey to power was about gaining the resources to expedite their training.
Part two: Comprehending Concepts.
After the person got their resources, they would focus on comprehending their next Concept. With the help of the resources they had gained earlier, the Mages could save several decades in this process.
Getting resources for a full decade could pay off big ti by saving five decades of ditation.
Part three: Creating Spells.
A Concept only counted as that, a concept. One understood the Concept, but before one could make full use of the Concept, one needed to create a fitting dium.
That dium was Spells.
After comprehending a Concept, the Mage would use the knowledge they had gained to create several powerful Spells. Most of the ti, this didn't take as long as comprehending the Concept, but it still took quite so ti.
Part four: Practice.
After creating the Spells, the Mage would find so weak opponents and beco familiar with using their Spells during stressful situations. Most of the ti, this was the shortest part of their training, but it was still irreplaceable. A weapon that couldn't be used when soone was under stress might as well not exist.
Part five: Inspiration.
Inspiration was the last and most dangerous part of training.
By fighting a powerful opponent, soone's mind and body would reach their full potential, allowing their minds to co up with and combine several principles.
When soone was stuck in ditation and felt like they were progressing way too slowly, they could go out and fight soone that was a genuine threat to them. Like this, they would be pushed to their limits, and they would unearth all their potential.
Of course, there wasn't a set rule as to how powerful an opponent should be.
It was simply a combination of risk and reward.
The more powerful the opponent was in relation to oneself, the more one had to push oneself to win.
However, these fights were extrely dangerous.
On the other hand, soone could take a slightly dangerous opponent and gain so scattered insights by so slight scares here and there when the opponent launched an attack.
Very dangerous opponent, very great help.
Very weak opponent, very little help.
Surprisingly enough, the reason why so many Mages died to old age was precisely this part of their training.
They were simply too scared to risk their lives, leaving the fifth part of one's journey to power out.
It was still possible to beco an Archmage without risking one's life, but only the smartest and richest people could do it.
The overwhelming majority still needed to risk their lives at so point.
Gain resources, comprehend Concepts, create Spells, practice, gain inspiration.
This was the cycle of training for ambition-filled Mages.
And the nine Nad Agents in this branch were all very ambitious.
Of the ten people in this branch, three were on leave, focusing on comprehending their next Concept.
Of the seven that remain, three were currently focusing on creating Spells inside their hos.
The people that were focused on comprehending Concepts needed their peace, which was why they ditated in so isolated locations in the wilderness, away from others.
The three people focusing on creating their Spells were still here because they didn't need to fully focus on the process. If they got interrupted, they would, at most, lose around three minutes of work while still getting the opportunity to snatch up so good missions and practice their new Spells.
For the people here, part two and part three of training often happened in short bursts of alternating order.
In the middle of the hall were two people playing so sort of board ga against each other.
Those two were focused on gaining resources or gaining inspiration.
They would mostly focus on earning a lot of money to exchange for resources, but if a particularly fitting opponent beca the target of a mission, they could also gain inspiration.
Those were the eight other Nad Agents in this branch, leaving Shang as the last one.
Just like the last two, Shang was currently in the process of gaining resources…
Or, more precisely, was.
The latest mission had been worth a lot of money.
That left only one person and the only person that wasn't a Nad Agent in this branch.
The Keeper.
The Keeper was the manager, commander, and defender of any given branch of the Temple of Blood.
The Keeper was always present, and they never accepted any missions. Their job was to run the entire branch according to the rules of the Temple of Blood.
In order to be eligible to beco a Keeper, one needed to be an Ancestral Mage.
Of course, with the special location of this branch, getting an Ancestral Mage in here wasn't an easy feat. After all, the Yellow Sunbreaker loved attacking Ancestral Mages.
Because of that, the Keeper in this branch was a bit special.
The Keeper of this place had another job as well.
Keeper was only the secondary job of this person since it was too expensive and troubleso to smuggle an Ancestral Mage to this location.
Because of that, the Territory Lord personally acted as the Keeper of this branch.
The Territory Lord was the superior of all the Keepers in a given territory.
A Territory Lord had to be a Mage Lord, at least.
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