"You might wonder why I was fighting a giant three headed dog with anger issues, well, to give an answer, we have to go back in time, to when I was at home and not in this forsaken red land called the Underworld ".
***
"Thanks Jarnathan, now I can have my greatest wish come true " the young white haired man said.
"Iode, are you sure letting go of Igor's powers is the best idea? ". Jarnathan, an old man with grey hair asked.
"Yeah, Igor already approve of this – not like I need his approval. Anyways, the preparations are set, I've made available items required for the operation, all you have to do Jarnathan is to contain the power ". Iode, the white haired man said.
"Sigh, if that's what you want, I'll help you, you've been a good kid ". Jarnathan said.
"Kid? At my age? You know I'm far older than what my face appears to be. I'm close to being a middle aged man ". Iode said.
"Hahaha, quite unfortunate I must say, you wouldn't have looked like this if not for the Valkyrie siege on us wizards ". Jarnathan said.
"Saddening, but what has happened has happened, let's begin ". Iode said, he stepped into a large sigil drawn on the floor. Across the circumference of the circle, different herbs, leaves, mummified beasts and human-like people were placed.
Candles were also placed amongst these items. Iode sits at the middle of the circle, crossed his legs, brought his hands together and made several hand signs simultaneously one after the other. He begins to recite and chant spells — his eyes closed.
Without warning, the base of the room, which was the basement of a large building begins to quake, everything shakes violently, Jarnathan was not able to remain on a spot, however, Iode remains still and unmoved even with the shaking.
Soon, his eyes glowed brightly in purple, dark shadows begins to seep out of his body. The candle flames change from burning yellow to indigo. The materials which were around the sigil's circumference all began to glow purple, energies starts to ooze out of them.
The energies from the materials procured, especially the human-like people which were a wizard, a stickman and a troll, was enormous and were all converging towards Iode.
The dark shadows seeping from the man in operation were moving up towards the ceiling of the basement, converging together. In the process, Iode gnash his teeth in discomfort, his body was trembling and straining, his muscles contracting and relaxing simultaneously like seizures, but he has to endure.
"Gah!!!". He screamed from the pains that tears him from the insides, he feels as if his body was being torn apart mercilessly.
' I've gotta endure this pain no matter what, I have to do this '. He said in his mind, he opens his mouth and glowing eyes gape from the unforgiving strain of pain that runs across his body.
The act continued for about thirty minutes before a sudden explosion ensues, causing smoke and dust to rise within the perimeters of the basement.
"Cough cough... Iode are you alright?!" Jarnathan asks, he could not see in the thick smog that filled the entire room.
"Jarnathan use your lightning to stun it, it's coming". Iode said weakly.
"Groooooowl!". Within the heavy smog, a sound echoes. Suddenly a purple glow in the shape of eyes opens, it begins to move erratically within the basement using the thick smog as cover.
"Tch, chains of suppression!" Iode casts, but to his surprise, there was no effect, Iode widens his eyes in astonishment, he checks his heart area and discovers that he has become a one star, however his mana vessel and Mana pool remains the same.
Mana pool is the amount of mana energy a person possess. The larger the mana pool, the more spells a person can cast in succession without drawbacks if it is a magic oriented user, for a swordsman, it makes the person use mana without tiring fast.
Mana vessel is the container that holds the Mana pool. If a mana pool is more than what the mana vessel could contain, it causes inefficiency in spell casting and mana infusion to weapons, it also causes mana sickness due to the excess mana seeping out uncontrollably.
Which is why anyone who uses mana, would first increase the size of the Mana vessel before increasing the amount of the Mana pool.
A star level or stage shows the strength of a magician or a swordsman. The lowest star is one star which is in the low level category. For most nations, the Nine star is the highest a person could reach, however to the wizard tribe of the magical nation, the highest is the Twelve star, even though most of her citizens usually stop at the nine star which is general for everyone.
Iode is a magician from the wizard tribe, he is one of the few people to reach the twelve star which is usually called the legendary stage. However he was able to reach this far because of the power he inherited from Igor, one of the five icons of the wizard tribe.
Iode widens his eyes in absolute surprise, he had always thought the powers of Igor only strengthens his spells and sword attacks and never influenced his level of power. Iode is the only magic swordsman that hails from the wizard tribe, he stopped the stereotype that wizards cannot be a magic swordsman. He trained hard everyday to sharpen his spells and sword skills to match even the most skilled swordsman from around the world.
However, all his hardwork has gone, together with the power he just let go, he clench his teeth in anger and yells:
"Igor! You bastard this isn't what we talked about, you didn't explain into detail about how I'll lose my powers to you once I let go of your power, this isn't fair!"
Soon, a howling sound echoes around the room, wailing and shrieking follows.
"I've got you ". Jarnathan said, he lifts up his hands, a black substance starts to reside into a small chest he holds.
Simultaneously, the stigma that was etched on Iode's left wrist begins to glow, sparks of electricity starts to form around him. He looks at himself in surprise and sees the shimmering mark, he was perplexed.
"What! I still have the emblem of Valier on me? How, I already gave up Igor's powers, his soul is no longer fused with mine". He said in shock.
Without warning, the sparks of electricity intensifies, shocking him painfully, at that, a portal opened from the stigma, swallowing him. During that time, the dust have settled and Jarnathan has successfully captured the dark substance into the chest, however, Iode was nowhere to be found.
"Iode?" Jarnathan asks blankly to himself.
At the other side, a portal opens up in the red sky, something shoots out from it like a shooting star, it crashes into the red ground. Looking up close, you would see a young man lying unconscious, it was Iode, he laid there...