The Extra's Rise

Chapter 544 - 544: Gold-Rank Guild (3)

The Fuller Method had a reputation that could walk into a room before its name was even spoken. It was the blueprint. The go-to. The gold standard for ascending into seven-circle magic and reaching the vaunted Ascendant-rank, where mages stopped worrying about basic spell formations and started worrying about existential threats and continental politics.

But was it the best?

That depended on whether you were the kind of person satisfied with reliable progress or needed to push beyond conventional limitations entirely.

The Fuller Method was, in essence, the everyman's path to ascension. It worked for most people the way established roads work for travelers—reliable, predictable, well-maintained. It was standardized, safe, and thoroughly tested across generations of mages. That wasn't a flaw. It was by design. It gave people a structured path to power, a stable framework for circle development. No wild variables. No risky improvisations.

But that very simplicity was its ceiling.

Because the world didn't end at Ascendant-rank. Above it loomed the realms of the Immortal-rank and the Radiant-rank, where conventional magical theory became more suggestion than law. Talents capable of reaching those heights would find the Fuller Method something akin to using basic training wheels—functional, but ultimately limiting for those with greater potential.

Which is where the Astareus Method came in. Developed by the Creighton family, who were widely regarded as the most powerful spellcasting clan not currently governing their own magical territory, it was a method forged not just in magical theory, but in generations of practical innovation. It was complex, specialized, and highly customizable. It didn't provide hand-holding—it offered tools and expected mastery through personal understanding.

Most people couldn't even begin it. But if you could? You didn't just climb the established path. You carved your own route through uncharted territory.

And then there was Charlotte. Who, being Charlotte, had taken one look at the vast, intricate legacy of spellcasting theory and decided she could do better.

"I created this method for seven-circle spellcasting," she said, with the quiet confidence of someone unveiling revolutionary re

But perhaps that rivalry was exactly why she should be concerned about Arthur's growing connections to both families.

She set down her pen and walked to the window, looking out over Avalon City's sprawling magical districts. Arthur was already learning the Astareus Method from the Creightons—through his relationship with Rachel, no doubt. Now he wanted to master the Alaric Method as well. And he was proposing collaboration on aetherite research.

Was this simply naive optimism, or was Arthur Nightingale positioning himself as a bridge between the two most powerful magical institutions on the continent?

Charlotte smiled slowly as the possibilities took shape in her mind.

Perhaps young Arthur was more politically astute than she'd given him credit for. Perhaps his "naive" suggestion contained more wisdom than she'd initially recognized.

The Tower of Magic and the Creighton family were indeed bitter rivals. But they were also the two most advanced magical research organizations in the world.

And Arthur Nightingale was quickly becoming indispensable to both of them.