Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 13: Star Law
"Why do you say that the magic we learn is a severely castrated version?"
On the way, Liliana seemed a little unconvinced and asked.
"Because according to what you said before, the current magic foundation is built on the laws of the stars, right? Then as long as this is the case, you learners are destined to never be exposed to truly complete magic."
"Why? As someone who claims to have been asleep for over a thousand years, can you still understand how the laws of the stars work?"
"I can."
William looked at Liliana and answered.
"Because the prototype of the Star Law - the Star Circuit - was an idea that I came up with with a few friends from the Mage Guild back then."
He replied calmly.
The other party's casual answer caused an uproar in Liliana's heart.
This is impossible.
This was an idea that popped into her mind.
"The formulation of the Star Law was a massive project that took nearly fifty years to complete, and was carried out by the great sage Yezhi, the court mage of Terra I, eight hundred years ago. It was more than two hundred years later than the era in which you were active."
Liliana said in disbelief.
"The basic theory was proposed in my time, but the conditions for realizing this project were not available on the continent of Vic at that time."
William replied.
"The original idea of the Star Realm Circuit was to build multiple star lighthouses across the continent by imitating the distribution of the constellations, and to guide the magic of the star realm into a magic network covering the entire Vic continent. This would allow everyone on the continent to resonate with it through their own numerology and constellations, and allow ordinary people who originally had no affinity for magic to also feel the magic."
William looked at Liliana expressionlessly, which made the latter feel a little nervous.
"Do you understand? It's about allowing ordinary people who don't have an affinity for magic to feel magic, rather than asking those of you who have an affinity for magic to only learn the few spells prescribed by numerology and horoscopes, and calling those who don't do so heretics."
William still remembered that in the last chapter of the Mage Guild quest line, "The Dawn of Magic", he chose to disclose all the information about the Astral Circuit technology. He hoped that future generations would be able to complete this great project, so that magic would no longer be a privilege for a few lucky people, and completely break the monopoly of magic on the continent.
So this is how they fulfilled his expectations over the past thousand years?
"Even so... the Star Law has greatly lowered the threshold for learning magic. It directly establishes a magical channel from the astral world to personal ether through numerology and constellations, replacing the long and tedious meditation process in classical magic practice, allowing all mages to spend more time studying the essence of magic..."
Liliana recited the contents of "Introduction to Modern Magic" but her tone did not sound that confident.
"What you call studying the nature of magic..."
William sneered and raised his hand, and an illusory raven was outlined on his palm.
"It divides magic into nine stages, and in the end, all you have to do is master the spells of the legendary realm?"
The raven in his hand quickly transformed from virtual to real, then it screamed "ga" and jumped out of William's hand, flew around Liliana's head twice, and finally landed steadily on her shoulder.
"This, this, this, this...is this an illusion?"
Feeling the real weight falling on her shoulders, Liliana asked stutteringly.
William nodded.
“But it’s real.”
As Liliana spoke, she reached out and stroked the shiny feathers of the raven on her shoulder. The touch was exactly the same as the raven feathers she had used in alchemy class.
"Divine level illusion [Shadow of Truth]."
William snapped his fingers as he spoke, and the raven that was perched on her shoulder instantly disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.
"This raven is just the simplest demonstration. With my ability, I can even visualize a real dragon fighting for five minutes... So now you can understand why illusion is the most profound type of spell?"
William continued to speak to the already stunned Liliana.
"When you learn illusion to the divine realm, you use illusion to cover reality. From this perspective, you can even say that all spells in the world are variations of illusion. After all, the essence of magic is to replace reality with the caster's false ideas. So what are you studying now? Are you trapped in the ninth-level thirteen-system spells defined by the Star Law to explore the essence of magic?"
To this, Liliana replied quietly.
"We have learned how to construct spell models and control the rhythm of magic chanting..."
"Do you understand? The magic you are learning now is like a tree without roots and water without a source. You have put all your energy into how to better please the system. You have never thought about the essence of magic, and..."
William said and closed his eyes.
"And even your lifeblood is in the hands of the operator of this system. He only needs to adjust this system one day to silence all your magic. In this way, he can completely monopolize the uncontrollable force of magic in his own hands."
His words reminded Liliana of the rumor: heretic wizards who betrayed the laws of the stars would not be able to obtain magic power from the astral world.
William opened his eyes and looked at her and asked.
"Let me ask you, can people without magical affinity use magic now?"
"That is of course impossible..."
"Then there is no need for this system to exist."
William said lightly.
"One day, I will go and destroy it myself."
…………
When they were about to reach Thorn City, William drove away the two zombie horses that had brought them here.
The zombie horse, whose soul fire was almost burned out , turned into ashes the moment it was dispersed. William carefully collected the ashes and buried them underground.
"After the corpse raised by the necromancy spell is finished being used, the remains must be burned to return it to the cycle of the living world. This is the only way to maintain the balance between life and death."
Perhaps noticing Liliana's puzzled look, William explained.
"Otherwise, the undead that cannot be naturally degraded will become uncontrollable decay. That belongs to the realm of Lady of Hunger and Corruption Camilla, and will potentially strengthen Her power."
Liliana nodded, not quite understanding. During this time, she had become accustomed to this person stating theories she had never heard of as if it was a matter of course.
The two walked along the gravel road. William remained silent all the way, as if he was thinking about something. Liliana prayed silently to the Seven Holy Spirits in her heart, praying that this man would not do anything as exaggerated as he had said before in Thorn City.
William finally broke his silence until the gate of Thorn City could be seen in the distance.
"We're here."
