A Cripple's Journey To World Domination

A week had passed. After a tearful goodbye from the Wess.e.x Mansion, Wu Fa headed towards the orphanage with Sharon, an old couple from the Wess.e.x kitchen, and an ice mage. Behind them followed a carriage filled with sugar, fruits, and other items that Wu Fa had requested. Only milk had been left out, as it would be delivered daily to Wu Fa's shop by local farmers. The ice mage was a lad a tad older than John. He had silver hair, sharp grey eyes, a slim build, and pursed lips. This lad's name was Kor, and he was a talented Grade 2 Mage despite his young age. Duke Wess.e.x had payed him well as a bodyguard to Wu Fa.

"Hey Kor, can you explain the whole mage grade thing to me?" asked Wu Fa.

Kor looked at Wu Fa with some surprise. "Seems like you really did lose your memories. Mage grades are given from examinations held by the Mage Guild, an organization that spans all five continents. Mage grades go from Grade 1 to Grade 10. Surpassing Grade 10 is the legendary Supreme Grade, but the last person to reach Supreme Grade was the legendary wizard Wiz who disappeared hundreds of years ago. Do you know about the internal magic levels?"

"Ah, uh, is it the Qi Condensation, Spirit Realm, and whatnot?" asked Wu Fa.

"Yes, the first rank of internal magic is Qi Condensation. The second is Spirit Realm, then Martial Warrior Realm. Afterwards comes Sage Realm and finally King Realm. The strongest internal magic user on our continent is a King realm cultivator. Supposedly, there are much higher realms found outside the Western Continent," replied Kor. He then sighed and continued, "It isn't that worth it to cultivate internal magic. A Qi Condensation expert can match a Grade 1 Mage. A Spirit Realm expert can match a Grade 2 Mage and so on so forth. The highest King realm cultivator can only match a Grade 5 Mage, but our continent holds even Grade 9 and 10 Mages, so you can clearly see the disadvantage there."

"Why do people still cultivate internal magic then?" asked Wu Fa. Inwardly he thought, "Dang, these guys don't even know about the realms surpassing King realm? That sucks. But Grade 9 and 10 Mages? That would be around Divine Sovereign and Divine Master Realm level right? I guess this continent isn't that weak."

"Internal magic is rarely cultivated, but that gives internal magic users an element of surprise. Also, internal magic and external magic can be trained together. They aren't mutually exclusive. For two mages of the same Grade level, if one has internal magic and the other does not, the one with internal magic holds a large advantage. Therefore, most people still practice it a bit," replied Kor.

"What's the strongest level warrior in our Kingdom?" asked Wu Fa.

"The strongest mage is a Grade 4 elder from the royal family. The strongest internal magic cultivator is your father who is a Martial Warrior realm expert," replied Kor.

"Dang our kingdom is weak," commented Wu Fa. "But, hey, you're pretty good. Aren't you already a Grade 2 Mage despite being so young?"

"Haha, the difficulty of going from Grade 2 to Grade 3 is much harder than from Grade 1 to Grade 2. It's even harder to go from Grade 3 to Grade 4. A single Grade 4 Mage can wipe the floor with over a hundred Grade 3 mages easily. I still have a really long way to go," replied Kor. "As it is, I'll be enrolling into our Kingdom's Magic Academy after we make it to the capital. Another ice mage will come on my off days."

"Oh, I see, so you're basically guarding me as a part-time job for some extra cash. Nice," commented Wu Fa. "Oh, hey, we're here at the orphanage again! Oh lookie! It's Bo, Pika, and Mittie and they're all ready to go!"