Professor Burbank answered a few more questions before continuing the previous topic about Arcanist.
"Back then, there was no such thing as a standard Essence Rune. In fact, there is some evidence that no Arcanist has ever condensed anything less than an excellent-quality mana ring, but that's a highly contentious topic. Now, if you think the mana ring was the only thing that distinguished an Arcanist from a Mage, you'd be wrong.
"The Gremorians were a people who loved and worshiped knowledge; their endless pursuit of the truth was the foundation of their society — it was what made them great. But they were also a war-mongering empire; they invaded and conquered countless dimensions, plundering resources and knowledge. As such, an Arcanist was not just someone with immense knowledge; they also needed to have excellent combat capabilities.
"Records have shown that the training process of Arcanists involved using a technology similar to the Virtual Learning Lab to train in combat. The Arcanist Test also involved defeating an automaton designed with mastery of countless magic skills. But even that was not all the requirements."
"There is more?" someone asked.
"Two more requirements," the professor nodded. "First, it was the physical test. An Arcanist's body must reach a certain threshold before receiving the title and honor associated with that word. Secondly, they needed a profession. It could be anything: alchemist, potion maker, healer, researcher, teacher, or even a magic chef."
"Isn't that too much?"
"Maybe by today's standard, but the Gremorians didn't think so," Professor Burbank replied. "With such a massive empire that spanned thousands of dimensions, there were more than enough capable individuals. No, it could be said there were too many people competing for that title."
"I can understand now why they had such a brilliant civilization," a student sighed. "But, I would never wish to live in such a stressful environment."
"I second that."
"Regular corporate competition is already too much for me."
"I disagree. There is nothing I like more than a challenge."
"I know, right? With my competitive spirit, I would thrive in such an environment."
The class became rowdy for a few seconds until the professor calmed everybody down and continued. He switched the hologram to this magnificent black tower, even larger and longer than the Empire State Building. However, the most surprising thing about it was the fact that it was in the air, floating among the clouds as if it were its natural habitat.
"Is this tower in the air, or am I still hallucinating from yesterday's drugs?" A cacophony of laughter spread throughout the classroom, but the professor ignored them and continued.
"Arcanist was not the limit of titles and achievements during that epoch. Above that were Grand Arcanists, but as far as I know — besides being a Grand Mage — the other requirements for this title are a bit iffy. First, a mage needed to raise their ranks from 1-star Arcanist to 4-star, a process that requires contributing knowledge, innovation, and resources to the Empire.
"However, there are records of 4-star Arcanists who were not Grand Arcanists, which led historians to theorize that other criteria were needed, including having the financial capabilities to build a Floating Mage Tower, also called a [Void Tower]."
"How is that a requirement?"
"There must be something unique about these towers, right?"
"You would be right, Mr. Williams," Professor Burbank nodded. "You can think of these floating towers as interstellar spaceships. Grand Arcanists used them to travel through the Material and Astral Planes — hence the name, [Void Towers]. They also served as research labs, military deployment bases, resource gathering hubs, libraries, and much more. As you can imagine, the wealth required to build such a marvelous magical technology is out of this world. And that's even more so in the current epoch."
"Sir, are you saying the floating tower has survived to the modern epoch?"
"That's right."
"Wait, the tower that appeared on Earth — could it be?"
"That's right. That's Lord Drakken's floating tower," Professor Burbank nodded.
"Does that mean the school, plaza, and even the dimension shifts are all inside the tower?"
"Duh, isn't that obvious?"
"You say that so casually, but I've been to the Hunting Guild. Considering that there are dozens of floors, maybe even hundreds, each being its own small dimension, it's truly remarkable when you truly think about it."
"I suddenly want a magic tower; think about how cool it would be."
"Are you mad? You can't even afford a single magic crystal, but you want to own one of the magical world's crowning jewels of magical engineering? Keep dreaming."
"It is free to dream, so I'm rebuking all your negative energy."
"Alright, calm down," Professor Burbank stated. "If you think the tower is marvelous, wait until you see what's next."
The tower disappeared, replaced by what appeared to be an entire city floating in the sky. No, not just one city, but countless of them, forming an array in the sky similar to military jet formations. The crowd looked at the picture in shock, with most unwilling to close their eyes.
"This was the defining technology of the Arcane Empire — the floating city," Professor Burbank explained. "It was something that only Legendary Arcanists had access to, and they were the keys to the Gremorian's dominion of the epoch. "
The professor looked at the city, not hiding his awe, reverence, and desire.
"I've mentioned how the gods held absolute dominion in their kingdom? Well, that was no longer completely true. The Arcanist System allows an Archmage to condense a [Domain], which can temporarily block the effect of a Divine Kingdom. But the duration varied from individual to individual, and even the best of them could last only a few hours.
"However, if an Arcanist had a floating city to power up their domains, they could not only resist, but also annihilate the gods in the place where they were the strongest."
The students took a deep breath; just imagining these towering cities attacking and killing gods had their blood boiling. These students finally had an inkling as to why the Gremor Empire had such a huge impact on the Astral Cosmos; why they are considered the pinnacle of magic.
While everybody was excited, Zane was thinking of something else, "If this city is supposed to function similarly to the tower, there should be a powerful shield to protect them from the [Void]. But, isn't it impractical? Wouldn't it be better to encase the city in metal? Energy barriers require energy to maintain, but that's not the case for metals or alloys — unless no metal can resist the [Void]?"
Zane raised his hand and asked about his concerns.
"Thinking like an engineer, huh? Good," Professor Burbank nodded. "To answer your question, it's because of a core technology: the Space-Time Lock. Upon activation, all floating cities will become a self-sustaining dimension. Anything that tries to come near it — including the Void — will have to pass through a space-time barrier as thick as any dimension's crystal wall.
"The lock also allowed the floating city to regulate the atmosphere for normal people to live in any environment."
"One more thing," Zane continued. "Why build a city? Why not just build a bigger tower since they can expand the internal dimension?"
"Another good question. Does anyone have a guest?"
"Is there a limit to how much the internal dimension of the tower can expand to?"
"Good guest, but not quite," Professor Burbank shook his head.
"I think they did it to look cool," someone said, eliciting a few chuckles.
"I believe it was because of community."
"Oh? Keep going, Ms. Connor."
"These Gremorians could probably build or replicate an entire nation inside a tower, but the people would know that it was fake. A true city, on the other hand, feels more real and more open, and is generally a better environment for humans, who are social animals. Humans — no matter how powerful — need community, and a city can better represent that."
"You are partially correct," the professor nodded. "The floating city was designed so that every Legendary Arcanist was a small nation — a small empire — of their own. There are records of Gremorian Law guaranteeing citizenship and rights to people born in floating cities. There are diaries of people who have spent generations in one city, never having been to Akasha or any other dimension.
"The design concept of the city was self-independence. Every Legendary Arcanist was an independent military country that could be deployed at any time. And in the event of a catastrophe to the entire civilization, any of these cities had enough resources, population, and knowledge to continue the Gremorian Empire somewhere else."
"Spending generations in one city? How is that possible?"
"Archmages have many ways to extend their lifespan, so it's normal if some of them spend hundreds of years studying one thing in some random place in the Astral Plane," Professor Burbank explained with a small sigh full of envy.
"I'm so stupid for forgetting about that."
"I haven't. One day, I'll be immortal."
"Sir, what's an Arcane Emperor?" Zane asked. He still remembered the quote in his meditation book from Arcane Emperor Jo'si Delphina: Magic is omnipotent, but mages are not.
"That's a good question. The Gremor Empire was ruled by a Senate divided into three courts. Mages and non-magical individuals ruled the Lower Courts. They were primarily involved in the empire's local government. Well, in this case, local meant there was a lower court in each dimension under the empire's domain that reported to the Middle Court.
"The Middle Court — which was ruled by the Arcanists, especially the Legendary ones — supervised the ins and outs of the Empire. Their core was in Akasha, the home and origin of the empire. Under normal circumstances, they had the most power, dictating the laws and the empire's economic and military policies.
"However, the true rulers of the civilization were the Upper Court, ruled by the Arcane Emperors. They are the ones who dictated the direction the empire would go: things like invading a powerful civilization, focusing on developing a specific piece of technology, or maybe focusing all the Empire's resources on achieving a specific goal.
"However, records showed that as the Empire grew more powerful, the upper court decreased its intervention, only taking control when there was a serious situation."
"Were the Arcane Emperors [Sages]?"
"Not at first," the professor shook his head. "We have a complete record of the requirements to be an Arcane Emperor. First, you needed to score in the 90th percentile of Magic Theory. I keep reiterating how vast the Gremor Empire was and how many geniuses there were, so you can imagine the challenge of being in the 99th percentile.
"The second requirement was to be among the top 30 of a chosen profession. And lastly, an Arcane Emperor must be the best in their chosen magic field, which means there can be at most 16 Arcane Emperors in the Upper Court.
"Sometimes, during the middle of the Arcane Epoch, the Sage Path was opened up, and it also became one of the requirements."
"Being the best among trillions upon trillions of people? I can't imagine how rough the process must have been."
"True, but knowing you are the best of an entire civilization — that feeling must be wonderful."
"These Arcane Emperors were probably the most egotistical individuals in the world."
"And rightfully so."
"Even so, I'm willing to bet they were insufferable."