Chapter 17: Professional Distinctions…

“What? Warriors don’t use Battle Qi, they use Mana too?”

Looking at the contents of the second Enlightenment Book, Zheng Yichen wore an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

“Battle Qi?” Loris thought for a moment. “Some Warriors can indeed cultivate a power through physical training that is not Mana. That power is indeed very strong, but it is too different from Mana.”

“For example?”

“Mana can more easily touch Elemental Power to invoke and channel it, whereas the other power forcibly extracts power, transforms it through one’s self, and then releases it.” As an old monster, Loris knew far too much. She could easily explain Zheng Yichen’s confusion. “There is related content in this book.”

“Is that so…” Zheng Yichen tapped the ground somewhat vexedly. So the Warriors and Mages in this world basically both used this power called Mana…

Continuing to flip through the second Enlightenment Book in his hand, he indeed saw some related explanations. Although both Mages and Warriors used Mana, the methods of application were completely different. To put it simply, it was the difference between hot weapons and cold weapons.

A Mage’s use of Mana involved processing it with Rune Patterns into various types of ‘ammunition’ for use. A Warrior’s use of Mana, however, involved more channeling it to enhance themselves. By channeling Mana to empower the body and circulating it along different pathways within, they could unleash a series of body-related Combat Techniques. These Combat Techniques placed great demands on physical strength.

As for Magic, it placed great demands on Spiritual Power.

Mana, anyone with some Talent could possess it. The issue was simply that if one’s mental potential was insufficient or their relevant aptitude was lacking, they couldn’t become a Mage. Even if they grew stronger later, at most they could master some low-level Magic and could not achieve anything greater in this area.

People who could accumulate Mana could at least meet the conditions to become a Warrior, even if they couldn’t become a Mage. If they didn’t even meet the conditions to accumulate Mana, then they could only rely on rigorous physical training, striving to take the third path—the path of what Zheng Yichen called ‘Battle Qi.’ In this world, it was called Battle Qi.

Mana Warriors and Battle Qi Warriors, practitioners of these two different powers, once had a period of dispute over which system’s power represented the true orthodox Warrior path. Mana Warriors had numerous and richly developed techniques, whereas the power of Battle Qi Warriors was extremely simple and brutal.

Battle Qi didn’t have the rich variety of techniques that Mana Warriors possessed, but it had extremely potent power, as if all attribute points were allocated to destructive force, resulting in this power lacking overly elaborate techniques.

For example, when a Mana Warrior mastered a Combat Technique that enabled flight, a Battle Qi Warrior of the same strength could only fight on the ground. Even if they could temporarily enhance themselves with the violent power of Battle Qi to leap dozens of meters high, that was just jumping high, not flying.

Simultaneously, it was extremely difficult for a Battle Qi Warrior to get started; it required extremely arduous training.

In short, Mana power was universal, but because the focus between the two differed, the branches that developed were completely different.

“Battle Qi is a very special power. Each person’s Battle Qi is unique. Those injured by Battle Qi suffer continuous damage due to its violent nature, making it very difficult to expel.”

After Zheng Yichen finished reading the book, Loris, seeing he still seemed interested in ‘Battle Qi,’ continued discussing content not found in the Enlightenment Book.

“If Mana is like water, Battle Qi is like oil. It is special and also extremely difficult to blend with other powers to exert wider area destructive force. Therefore, Battle Qi Warriors are poor at area attacks, but their direct killing power is only comparable to single-target Magic.”

“Also, Battle Qi can allow its practitioner, like a Mana Warrior, to quickly strengthen their physical body through Mana and training. However, because Battle Qi is overly violent, it also causes damage to the body while strengthening it.”

“Battle Qi grows with the Warrior’s physique. Therefore, Battle Qi Warriors always find it difficult to fully adapt to the power of Battle Qi while strengthening their bodies. Consequently, Battle Qi practitioners generally do not live very long. If a Warrior can fully control the violent nature of Battle Qi, they can eliminate the damage Battle Qi inflicts on themselves, allowing Battle Qi to have only an enhancing effect on the body, similar to Mana… or even, because of Battle Qi’s characteristics, their physical enhancement speed would be faster!”

“Such Battle Qi Warriors are even rarer.”

“Hmm… Couldn’t Mages also strengthen their bodies using training methods similar to Warriors?” Zheng Yichen suddenly thought the Mages of this world all seemed to have the potential to become Gandalf!

“They can. You could even pursue the training paths of a Mage, a Mana Warrior, and a Battle Qi Warrior simultaneously, as long as you have enough time and energy. Humans live very short lives.”

“Hmm, I probably don’t need to worry much about time right now.” Zheng Yichen looked down at his Dragon’s Claw. With the Enlightenment Book and Loris’s detailed explanations, Zheng Yichen had a fairly clear understanding of these three professions now.

A Mage was a Mage; this required Talent. Mana Warriors could tentatively be considered Magic Swordsmen, right? Magic Swordsmen didn’t require high Mage Talent; just a touch of it was enough. It was an alternative path for those who couldn’t become Mages. As for Battle Qi Warriors… Zheng Yichen thought, damn, these were the pure Warriors!

Not flashy, with devastatingly strong attack power, risking their lives. After all, Loris had evaluated Battle Qi Warriors like that, meaning Battle Qi power was certainly incredibly potent.

This world didn’t have the concept of profession conflict, but mastering everything was an immense trial for humans. That Mages required Talent already indicated the difficulty of learning Magic. If one divided their attention to pursue other things while learning Magic, even if their Talent met the standard, without sufficient subsequent accumulation, their achievements wouldn’t be high.

As for Combat Techniques, they sounded somewhat like internal martial arts moves. Even if learning them wasn’t as intricate and complex as mastering Rune Patterns, they weren’t necessarily easy either. For Battle Qi Warriors, what was needed was large amounts of time spent training the body.

Each of these required considerable time. So pursuing multiple paths… For creatures like humans with only a few decades of lifespan, if their Talent was insufficient, it was truly almost like seeking death.

“Not necessarily. Your growth rate is very abnormal,” Loris said calmly. “Having growth speed several dozen times faster than the Dragon Clan norm, it’s not strange for your lifespan to be shorter. Besides, before you ‘crossed over’ into this Dragon Body, this Dragon Body itself was already dead.”

“But I haven’t grown at all for over half a month.” Zheng Yichen scratched his head. When he noticed his body was growing rapidly, he would measure his height every couple of days out of idleness. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it changed daily. But then, just over half a month ago, the rapid growth buff vanished.

“Perhaps you haven’t experienced the Dragon Clan’s first growth dormancy period,” Loris said to Zheng Yichen after some thought. “Have you ever had the feeling of wanting to sleep for a very long time?”

“…Never.”