A portal appeared behind Edward, and the sorcerers followed him. They found themselves in a large, dimly lit room. However, no one cared about the room’s ambiance, as their attention was immediately drawn to a towering gate before them with symbols and runes engraved on it. It was beautiful, majestic. All the sorcerers could not remove their eyes from the gate.
“What is this?” asked a sorcerer.
“This is the Gate of Truth,” said Edward in a calm voice. “I created this for three purposes: to increase your talent at sensing and controlling energy, to increase your soul’s ability to bear certain energy, and, lastly, as the name implied, to contain knowledge beyond your imagination.”
The sorcerers looked at each other, but before they could begin murmuring, Edward pointed at Wong and said, “You’re first.”
“Me?
“Yes. Put your hand on the gate and close your eyes.”
Wong hesitated for less than a second before walking to this intimidating gate. He closed his eyes and did as instructed. A white light enveloped his body, scaring a few of the sorcerers. Wong opened his eyes and clenched his fist as he felt he was somehow different but could not explain it in simple words; he could feel something in his mind, no, his soul, when he closed his eyes — another gate.
“Try a spell you would normally rely on a Relic,” Edward instructed. Wong thought briefly before jumping in the air. A yellow energy materialized under his feet, and he used it as a lever to keep moving upward; he jumped more than ten meters before slowly descending using the same method.
“The Vaulting Boots of Valtor,” commented a sorcerer, realizing what spell Wong used. The sorcerers became excited once they realized Wong had normal shoes on and used such a powerful spell.
“Now, it’s your turn,” said Edward. One by one, the sorcerers walked to the front and placed their hands on the gate to acquire their own Gate of Truth. Given the large surface area of the gate, the process took less than an hour.
“I’ve said the gate contained knowledge beyond your comprehension, and I was not kidding,” said Edward calmly. “However, such precious knowledge cannot be given for free. Before anyone raises their disagreements and talks about Karma Taj’s policy on knowledge for everybody, remember what I said — things will be different now.
“The knowledge behind this gate will allow you to bend the universe's natural laws as your plaything. It can show a path to godlike powers. Such power cannot be accessed by anyone.” Edward paused to give everyone time to process this news.
“So, how do we access all this knowledge?”
“Good question,” said Edward. “I’m a believer in the Laws of Equivalent Exchange. In other words, you exchange knowledge for knowledge. However, I also understand that innovation is not everyone’s forte — especially when we do not have enough time for research. So, I’ve created another system for the exchange.”
Another portal appeared next to Edward, and the sorcerers followed him. They were now in a red room due to the immense heat and the distinctive sound of machines. A towering cauldron was at the center of the room, releasing the heat and making the noise. Edward raised his hand to summon a dead interdimensional creature and dropped it on the floor. The creature suddenly disappeared, and after a few minutes, two orbs the size of marbles and a potion appeared before him.
“Recognize these?”
“Talisman of Strength,” said a female sorcerer.
“And this one is a Beast Repelling Talisman, capable of repelling certain animal-based creatures.”
“I don’t recognize this potion.”
“Healing Potion,” Edward stated.
“Our new systems at Karmar Taj involved being more proactive. You will have more missions or actively participate in invasions against more aggressive enemies. Then, you will take their bodies to the Cauldron Room, where they will automatically be refined into magical artifacts, relics, and potions for the upcoming turmoil.”
“In other words, we’re building armament for battle.”
“That’s correct,” nodded Edward. “The more enemies you kill, the more weapons we have, and the higher our chances of surviving. Of course, you own 30% of the relics created in the Cauldron Room, while the rest will be reserved for sale or future use.
Everyone was quiet. Although they knew that they had signed up, the reality of the situation was finally dawning on them, and some people started regretting their choice.
“Sorcer…I mean, Arcane Emperor. You said about buying the relics. Are we going to start using money?” asked a sorcerer with a frown.
“No. We will start following a point system based on your missions or the enemies killed,” explained Edward before waving his hand to show everyone a list. The list contained missions, many of which involved traveling to other dimensions to recruit magical artifacts, make allies, or infiltrate enemies to gather information or sabotage them. Each mission rewarded different Mystical Points based on its difficulty level (F to SSS rank).
The list also contained a list of the most frequent invaders Karmar Taj faced and how much they were worth.
“The Mystic Points will be our monetary system from now on. If you want knowledge from the gate, you must use it.”
“What about the ones in the library? The ones we already have access to — will those also require a price?”
“No, they will remain free to access,” replied Edward.
“How do we access the knowledge from the gate?”
“You only need to close your eyes and access the gate. There is a system that records your available points, and you only need to touch the gate in your soul, which is connected to the main gate, to access the knowledge,” explained Edward. “The good news is this system can ignore most dimensions, so if you’re in another realm and need information to help in your mission or are in trouble, you can use the gate to save your life.”
“What about the non-combatants? What roles do we play? How do we acquire Mystic Points?”
“The non-combatants have many roles to play,” replied Edward. “I will eventually open new Sanctorums to strengthen Earth’s defense, and it will be your job to oversee them. Jobs like teachers, librarians, and others will be paid monthly like any actual job.
“Secondly, we must increase our numbers. Kamar Taj recruits sorcerers who are destined to it, but we must now take a more active role and recruit more sorcerers.
“Finally, non-combatants can learn a crafting skill to supplement the Cauldron Room. You can sell whatever you make; all the points belong to you. The Cauldron Room will even buy the things you buy at a fair price.”
The non-combatants sighed in relief as they realized they would not be ostracized because of their decision. Despite their decisions, they loved magic and wanted to do their parts to protect the world, so they also wanted mystic points and to acquire more knowledge.
“Any more questions?” The sorcerers had many questions but felt they were not important to raise now; they were more involved in the nitty and gritty of certain things, but they could all be figured out after this meeting.
“Very well. In that case, let me show you Kamar Taj's final change.” He pointed into the void to open a small black portal. “I want you to sense the power and energy coming from the dimension behind this portal.”
“This...” muttered the sorcerers. Their senses took them into a purple world with a power that they could only describe as beautiful and fascinating.
“This energy is called mana,” explained Edward. “It is, in my opinion, the best mystical energy due to its ability to virtually do everything. And I’m only using the word virtually because I do not deal in absolute. This entire dimension belongs to us, and you can use all its power as you like without any restraint or conditions.”
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