When a magician awakened their powers, the mana in their body would be like blood flowing through their veins, nothing too difficult to understand. When they reached the 2nd stage, the mana flow around the body would give rise to small essences around it, known as Magic Triangles.
A level 1 Acolyte was nothing more than a magician with one of these triangles formed. In contrast, a level 5 Acolyte was someone with five of these essences.
When the five triangles came together at the end of the 2nd stage, they formed the Mana Vortex, which would give rise to the River of Mana at the end of the 3rd stage. From the river of mana, one's mortal body and magical soul would be separated.
Only then would one be freed from mortality and be able to perform completely abnormal feats for humans, no longer depending on food, rest, or ordinary mortal things.
Their powers would also increase greatly!
However, what mattered to Vicente now was that he already had one of the five essences needed to create the Mana Vortex. Although this was one of the essential parts of his progression to the 3rd stage, it was a part of him that could be used when absorbing the second pentagram.
As something superior to normal mana for his body, such an essence was the greatest weapon Vicente had to absorb the yellow pentagram successfully.
Aware of this, when he succeeded in positioning the yellow pentagram in the space available for his second pentagram, he immediately used his first triangle to mark the new essence of his being.
As he did so, small inscriptions appeared on the new pentagram, and Vice felt a change in his connection to it.
If before such an essence had been in sync with him, now it was integrated, allowing him to see new possibilities as his magic foundation stabilized.
The rays of light connecting his first pentagram and the gem disappeared. Soon after, his physical and mental attributes began to rise rapidly, making him realize what had just happened.
'I did it!' A satisfied expression appeared on Vicente's face as he felt the heaviness of a moment ago disappear, felt his muscles stronger, the mana in his being denser, and an elemental affinity more refined.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the world in greater depth. But he also realized the situation of his men, who were desperately fighting the insects surrounding them.
Vice was not surprised to find himself in such a different situation than when he had begun the process of absorbing his second pentagram. He knew that someone had moved him.
When he saw his surroundings, he simply stood up from where he was, eager to test his new abilities.
When one absorbed a new pentagram, in addition to solidifying one's magical foundation, which became unstable after one stage advancement, one would also gain a new unique ability and increase one's physical and mental affinities and characteristics.
This wasn't really an advancement because most of these abilities were already present in that body and just needed to be 'unlocked' to be achieved.
In a sense, these improvements came after one had advanced a stage, but it was after one had absorbed a pentagram that one would achieve sufficient mastery to have all of their improvements at their disposal.
In any case, one would feel stronger after absorbing a new pentagram. Sensing this amid so many training options, Vicente moved with a smile on his face.
"Thanks for protecting me, guys. Time to return the favor." He said as he activated his first pentagram, feeling his material manipulation skills strengthen.
Pentagrams formed naturally, without the involvement of living beings, could evolve. That was the case with the pentagrams provided by gems. Consequently, by conquering his second pentagram, Vicente and everyone else would have their first ability strengthened.
He sensed the metals in a much larger area than before and felt a much more refined control over the metals in living bodies, like those insects.
But before he attacked them, Vicente activated his new ability, Electromagnetic Sight!
As he activated his new power and the yellow Magic Pentagram appeared around him, Vicente's eyes lit up as he perceived the world around him through magnetic and electrical patterns.
Seeing the field lines of the world, but also the living beings around him, Vice combined his two abilities and manipulated the electromagnetic field lines in the environment.
As Vicente and his companions moved about, jumping from side to side, they noticed that the beasts around them began to behave strangely.
Some of those attacking Vicente's men acted as if they had found invisible shields in their path. In contrast, others lost contact with the ground and floated in the air.
Seeing it, the strongest teacher of the group dropped his weapon and watched as the air in front of him distorted.
He tried to extend one of his arms in that direction, but the further he went, the slower his movement became.
It was as if it had suddenly become impossible to reach that point in space as if the space between him and that point had become infinite!
'This...'
No one there, except Vicente, understood exactly how his new ability worked, but everyone was shocked by its power.
.
But Vicente, who had studied modern physics, knew what was happening!
The field lines didn't cross!
Combining his two abilities, he gained control over the electric and magnetic fields, enough to create barriers and much more.
Finally, he stopped moving around the area, looked at the level 3, 4, and 5 creatures around him, and clenched one of his fists.
At that moment, several bodies exploded around Vicente's group, staining the side walls of this underground area lit by the torches of the Mazzanti family men.
Amid this, an electromagnetic pulse emerged from that area, exploding in all directions, with bluish rays appearing in the area, hitting the legs, forefeet, and other pointed statures on the bodies of those insects that survived.
In the blink of an eye, Vicente killed more than half of the insects that had previously been around his group, deeply shocking the teachers of Ironcrest.
The men there watched with open mouths, seeing the first magician to conquer a second Magic Pentagram of the Yellow rank, a monster in many ways.
Seeing the surroundings stained with dark blood, with various remains of the exploded creatures or even whole bodies, Julian looked at Vicente and sighed.
"You really survived... Lucky for us. I'm glad I was wrong in my thoughts." He said as he fell to the ground in exhaustion.
"Hmm? But you said..."
"I know. But I didn't think you would survive anyway." Julian bitterly laughed.
"You bastard. I can't believe I saved you twice." Vicente closed his eyes and laughed, too, but he wasn't angry with Julian or the other teachers.
Yet, he quickly became serious when he realized the group was too small.
"Where are the others? What happened after I started absorbing the pentagram?"
