NOVEL NEXT Chapter 98: Complexity of hex art
Instructor Luna shook her head in denial. "No, it is still a one-star hex art. Here, I just used two one-star art pieces one after another."
The guy who had asked mumbled, "Okay."
She once again flicked, and a massive 2-meter-wide wind arc moved toward the board.
A few placed their hands on their ears, but the moment the arc collided, most of it disappeared, leaving just a small 2-inch-wide arc that sliced through the middle of the wooden board.
She did not stop there and flicked her hand again.
This time, 5 small arcs appeared in front of her.
Four of them targeted the 4 corners of the board while the last one moved toward the middle.
The one going for the bottom left corner slashed the board while the others disappeared.
The last time, she did not even flick her hand, just whistled, and the next moment an air bullet formed in front of her mouth and blasted a hole in the center of the wooden board.
After taking so many hits, the board crumbled apart, and Instructor Luna just stamped her feet, burning all the pieces into ashes.
She walked back to the center of the podium with a smile. "Well, what do you guys think about the last three hex arts?"
This time, the response was mixed. Some shouted, "Two one-star hex arts."
Though the majority still shouted, "Instructor, those are 2-star hex arts."
She nodded her head. "Mmm, correct, that is a single 2-star hex art used in different ways. The key that separates the 2 hex arts is how to integrate the 2 components so they work together as one, not just at the same time. Are we clear now?"
Xane squinted a bit and asked Zayn. <Her hex art uses wind blade and illusion components, right ?>
Zayn mentally nodded. [Yeah, it's just the difference between the primary and secondary components.]
Xane tilted his head. <What's that?>
[Every hex art has one primary component that decides which path the hex art belongs to. In the first big wind blade, the primary component was illusion.]
[That entire wide blade was an illusion with the small wind blade hidden as the second component. It was hex art that heavily relied on illusion.]
Xane rubbed his chin as he heard Miss Luna clear other doubts.
He asked Zayn. [Is it the same with the second hex art?]
Zayn shook his head. [We do see multiple wind arcs, but all are used as secondary elements, while the core of this hex art was just the wind blade. This hex art will definitely have the illusion of a wind blade name or something along those lines.]
<Oh, but what about the third one? It looked like a completely new art.>
Zayn paused for a bit and said. [Nah, it's the same. You see, the wind bullet coming out of her mouth is an illusion.]
<Wait, really?>
[Yeah, I noticed her hand flicking sneakily. Although I noticed this all because I already knew about these hex arts beforehand.]
Xane nodded his head as he realized her whistling was something she used to distract everyone.
He suddenly asked, <Wait, so will these hex arts count as separate hex arts or a single hex art?>
Zayn thought for a bit and said, [Well, technically we could place 2nd hex arts as separate hex arts, but if somebody learns any of the three versions, as their mastery of hex art increases, they could use all of them. Though I'm sure we could probably buy all three as separate hex arts.]
<Mastery, huh? This hex art really feels more like magic.>
Zayn clicked his tongue. [Well, only because Instructor Luna only used beginner versions of hex arts of invocation. It is more in line with magic, though in that sense, the hex art of fleshcraft and the hex art of cursed weapons would start more like learning martial arts.]
Xane nodded his head as one more thing hit him: all these hex arts that Luna showed actually lacked the cursed property of her hex energy. These were more for show.
At this time, Instructor Luna looked around and said, "A two-star hex art is much more versatile than one-star hex art, and there are around a couple of million 2-star hex arts in the academy library you can choose from."
After telling them the insane amount of 2-star hex arts available, she asked, "So, what do you guys think 3-star hex art is?"
Eline said from the middle, "Instructor, I think if we add one more core hex art component, then the combination of 3 core arts will be 3-star hex art."
Instructor Luna smiled. "Well, this may sound simple, but the complexity and versatility of 3-star hex arts are in a different league than 2-star hex arts. Just to give you an idea, let me tell you there are only 156 hex arts within the academy library that you could buy."
Silence!
For a moment, they thought they had heard it wrong.
One guy even asked, "Instructor, did you say 156 thousand?"
"Nope, only one hundred and fifty-six."
"What?"
"Why so low?"
"Is 3-star hex art that tough?"
"There are so few options for us…"
Chaos started as everyone started asking multiple things, and some even started complaining.
The instructor just tapped her heel on the platform.
Tak! Tak!
Everyone became quiet, staring at the instructor, waiting for her response.
She took her time and said, "You will understand the reason in a few minutes. Before that, let me mention that there are 6 levels of proficiency for each hex art."
"Starting from Trace -> Attunement -> Grasp -> Command -> Transmute -> Assimilation. The only way to track your proficiency in hex art is through your hex core status. I won't go deep into this. You just have to know that to become a level 1 Hex Master, you need to learn one hex art up to Transmute proficiency."
At the mention of Level 1 Hex Master, everyone's eyes shone.
Xane even heard murmurs beside him as he realized many were checking their hex core status.
Too bad he had not learned any hex art, so there was no point in checking his status.
Instructor Luna clapped her hands. This snapped them out as they once again focused back on her.
She asked with a smile, "You guys remember how you formed your hex core?"
Everyone nodded with pride. After all, it was because of that they were sitting here.
She said with a smile, "To become a level 1 Hex Master, you have to repeat the same process."
"What!!!"
A collective shout came from the students as many at the back even started shivering.
While those at the front did not show that big a reaction, a couple of them had pale faces.
Instructor Luna shook her hand. "Don't worry, it's not the same as the trial. In simple terms, to become a level 1 Hex Master, you need to evolve your hex core. Now, you guys remember the two main components of a hex core, right?"
A guy from the front shouted, "Instructor, it's hex energy and cursed property."
She shook her head. "You are correct about the hex energy, but not the cursed property. Nythra is the source of the cursed property, not the hex core."
Someone else shouted, "Instructor, then is it the shape of the hex core?"
She shook her head again. "No, think about what else you gain after you become a Hex Master."
This time, Kaia said, "It's a hex skill, Instructor."
Instructor Luna smiled at her. "Correct. To evolve your hex core, you need knowledge to create your second hex skill."
"Second hex skill?" Many gasped at this.
Suddenly, Instructor Luna asked. "Have any of you guys ever thought that the only correct way to use hex energy is by learning hex art?"
"But then there are the hex skills, through which you can use the hex energy without learning any rules or caring about the danger of backlash. Why is that?"
A silence formed in the class. Even Xane became lost in thought.
This time, he was not as clueless, as even though he still had not figured out everything about his hex skill, he at least knew there were two modes present in it.
The current Shroud mode that Zayn controlled, and the Madness mode.
For Shroud mode, it was clear that it suppressed his hex energy to the point that the outside could only perceive the purity of his hex energy at the silver potential level.
But how did this skill achieve that? He did not think it was the same as in a video game, where you just use passive skills with no consumption.
'There must be some kind of consumption, but is it hex energy or…' Xane looked down at his chest, where his hex core was located.
Another possibility that came to his mind was life energy. It was possible that the hex core was constantly consuming the nutrients from his body. He was just not too sure about this.
After all, if that were the case, his speed of recovery would not be so fast.
Even Zayn was similarly lost in thought as hundreds of questions also emerged in his mind.