Magic Rank System

Mages and swordsmen of this world are ranked on a single seven-tier ladder of mastery, reflecting the level of power attained. From the bottom up the tiers are: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Emperor and, finally, God — the supreme, all-but-unreachable summit.

The three highest tiers are named for the nicknames of the legendary founders of each element: Saint, King and Emperor. For mages the element is paired with the word 'class': thus Roxy Migurdia is a Saint-class water mage (Water Saint-class). The first mage of the Water God Style, by legend, wielded magic of the very God-class.

Advanced mages are prized beyond measure, for they are a great rarity. By Roxy's account, only one person in twenty can fight; among them a mage is one in twenty — so a mage is found roughly one in four hundred people. Of a hundred mages, only one completes full schooling to become an Advanced mage — meaning an Advanced mage is found one in forty thousand.

An Advanced mage's power multiplies if he commands combination magic — blending spells of different elements to reproduce natural phenomena. Mages are so prized in this world that a home tutor in Asura must hold a qualification no lower than Advanced rank.