"Pray tell me a greater battle that one would face against a stubborn master who continued to linger and not relinquish the remote to watch that damned cooking show?!" Libra howled as he wrote on the parchment.

"But so that my efforts would not be in vain, and so that the other Shining Ones would not fall to ruin, I fought in the battle! I damaged my liver to the point of death, and I don't even have a liver! All those ten excruciating episodes I demanded and wrestled with him, as Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord! And if not for that perfectly flipped omelet that was set before the rice and became a perfectly executed Omu-rice, I would not have won him over! I grappled the remote and forced him to watch the next shows!"

Libra's spectral mist quivered with indignation, his writing carving into the glowing parchment with wild, slanted lines.

"I forced the Remote to load the next program: Mana Basics 101. The teacher was Edwin Maginstrate, and before you mock the title, know this. Heaven hides crowns under sackcloth. For in this next show, I understood that there was indeed provision and guidance from the Most High. This time, He used me, a rebellious angel."

Libra sighed deeply, the glowing quill burning faint smoke trails as he wrote.

"Thus continues my recounting of the trials I endured during my Master's third binge-watch…"

The parchment shimmered, and the memory unfolded.

...

...

"JUST LET ME WATCH WHAT I WANT?!" Thane roared.

"WASN'T THIS ENTIRE OPERATION YOUR IDEA?!" Libra howled back.

Thane was sprawled on his bed, hair disheveled, one boot missing, the Celestial TV hovering like a glowing ghost before him. Libra's skull floated nearby, twitching in agitation.

"Come on, Libra! The cooking show is inspirational! I feel like Garron's trying to tell me something about life!"

"He's telling you how to boil monstrous chicken eggs!" Libra snapped.

"That is not life, that is cholesterol!"

"I can multitask! Spiritual enlightenment and omelets."

"No!"

Thane grumbled something incoherent and pointed at the floating TV.

"Fine, fine! Next show. But just saying, Garron's character arc had potential."

"Master," Libra said through clenched phantom teeth, "if you mention character arcs again, I will show you an actual arc. One made of divine lightning."

"...Right. Carry on."

The screen flickered, and a dimly lit dormitory appeared. A thin young man sat before a crystal camera. His cheeks were hollow, his robes worn, and his mana core flickered faintly through his chest like a candle about to die.

"Hello, welcome back," he said cheerily, as though nothing were wrong. His voice was soft, bright, and painfully optimistic.

"I am Edwin Maginstrate. Today, I will show you a theory that I believe could radicalize the way we view magic. I discovered the path of Aetherion's unfinished journey. You see, Aetherion could not explore this possibility, for he was already a completed mage. But now... I know that it is possible."

He smiled faintly, eyes gleaming despite the bruise forming under his left eye.

"Is he... wounded?" Thane was confused.

"He does seem a bit... in pain," Libra added.

"Forgive my appearance. I have had a little scuffle with the Feral Beavers that I have been experimenting on..."

"Feral Beavers?" Thane's eyes lit up.

"Master, if you desire to argue with me to watch a show about Feral Beavers, I will dim the brightness of your screen so that all you can see is your ugly, yellow, no-good keister on the screen in front of you!" Libra roared.

"Fine… I'll behave."

Before Edwin could continue, the dorm door burst open.

BANG!

A large man with slicked-back hair and heavy robes stormed in. "Hey, loser, give me your staff!"

"What? Why?" Edwin blinked in disbelief.

"Just give it to me! I need it!"

"That's my staff! I bought it!" Edwin shouted back, his voice trembling with anger and fear.

POW!

A fist struck his cheek, the crystal recorder rattling as it caught the blur of violence.

"You useless weakling!" the intruder barked.

"Hand it over, and I'll consider this month's rent paid."

"What?! That staff's worth a year of rent!"

"Then think of it as protection money," the man sneered.

"For your little issues with the Red Chains!"

He ripped the staff away, but Edwin tried to fight back.

Thane could see a strange force envelop the man, just as it did to Vayne and Sayla, and even the Barbarians.

"A power user? Is that a battle mage?"

The camera toppled, the sound of scuffling filled the room, then a loud crash, and silence.

The feed cut.

When it returned, Edwin's eye was swollen, his lip bloodied, but his composure had returned. He adjusted the crystal lens with steady hands and smiled again, as though nothing had happened.

Thane's brow furrowed.

"Poor guy… And hold on... Did he just say Red Chains? The same group those barbarians were from?"

Libra hovered closer to the TV, studying the glow of the crystal recorder. "

Master… this is modern. The tools, the mana threads, his attire, they're all contemporary. This isn't a historical record like the outfits that Aetherion and the people of his time had. This looks like a broadcast from the current world."

"So I could meet him?" Thane whispered, leaning forward in awe.

Edwin, on screen, lifted a piece of chalk and drew three glowing circles on a black slate. His voice steadied, the tone of a man teaching not for applause, but survival.

"Magic divides into three disciplines," he continued even as his voice quivered.

"Casting, Channeling, and Contain. Casting is the swift release of energy, the art of instant creation and discharge. Channeling is the gathering, the amplification, the breathing of magic as a rhythm. And Cont... ah, Contain is the embedding and bestowing of power into matter, the craft of shaping enchantments."

He drew lines connecting each circle, then added complex notations as though writing music.

"Each discipline builds a different body. Casters hunger for speed. Their Cores emphasize rotation and circulation, like storms in miniature. Channelers desire depth. They form reservoirs and compress energy for sheer endurance. Containers, meanwhile, seek stability as they refine their lattices to hold mana without leak or waste. A slow, deliberate build, but one that lasts."

He paused and glanced toward a tattered textbook on the table beside him.

"This," he said, lifting a huge book.

"...is the foundational work of my great-grandfather, Forstern Maginstrate. The world does not remember him because the Norverus family erased him. They stole his research, suppressed his work, and mocked my father, who tried to defend it. But I will prove them wrong. This… this is the true path of magic. The Norverus are widely regarded as the ones who built the path and allowed others to be capable of embarking on this journey, but it isn't true. It was my great-grandfather, and later my grandfather, and even my late father who truly mastered this."

The Celestial TV flickered again. Now, hand-drawn animations filled the screen, sketched by Edwin, showing three figures standing beneath glowing runes.

"Spell Casters are those who create magic from within. They generate and expel energy through rotation. Fire, lightning, and light are pure examples of this. They burn bright and must be sent out with haste and speed."

The first figure launched a flaming sphere from its hand, its body glowing with a rotating core. Other arts appeared, casting lightning and even wind.

Next came another sketch.

"Spell Masters command the elements outside the body. They are conductors of mana, bending external flow through their inner reservoirs. Earth, wood, and formation magics rely on Channeling. They are slower, but steady, to take control of the magic. Earth and Wood are great examples of how channel magic"

The drawn mage shaped earth into pillars and trees, the animation lively and crude yet beautiful in its dedication.

"And then there are the Spell Enforcers. The artists of permanence. They inscribe, seal, and bind mana into the world. Their bodies are slow but precise. Theirs is the path of the Enchanter, the Artificer, and Healers."

The last drawing showed a figure engraving runes into a sword, the metal glowing softly.

"Now, for the beginners listening, don't get me wrong! All mages can Cast, Channel, and Contain!" Edwin explained.

"But none can master all equally. Casters will find it difficult to contain magic. They can create, but the flow of their mana dies out too quickly. Any auxiliary spell they cast would last up to three to four times less compared to those with a body that is focused on Containing Magic. Channeling Experts will have a delayed casting speed compared to Casters. They use the flow of magic to command mana, and their bodies are not built to create magic from within. And Enchanters and Support Magicians are incapable of high-level channeling because they would have the smallest mana pool among the three."

Thane's expression changed.

"I get it... A focus on magic. If I want to be a summoner, I would need Containing and Channeling, right?" Thane confirmed. "Yes... But that would sacrifice Casting." "I know. If I tried to build a hybrid body that balances Channeling and Containing, I'd have a mid-sized mana pool and slow casting speed! These two classes conflict with each other, after all!" Thane sighed.

The scene on the TV returned to Edwin, who wiped his hands and leaned closer to the camera. His eyes shone with stubborn determination.

"If our bodies are the vessels of the arcane, then perhaps it is not the mana that is flawed… but rather our design. We have been taught that because these magic paths existed, it is impossible to make one that can satisfy the requirements of all! But my family rejected this! Yet, the magical society of that time was indwelt in politics. It still is now today. If a new path of magic appears, one that challenges the current form, then businesses and even guilds would collapse! But in theory, we could learn to shape all three flows! To Cast swiftly, Channel deeply, and Contain perfectly! And that body, I call the Body of Magic, the Path of a Convergence!"

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