Volume 3: The Land of Mist Chapter 9: The Magic Book
"Are you planning to lure out the people behind you in this way?"
Looking at the person in front of him activating the magic-sealing rune engraved with the communication spell by himself, Green asked tentatively.
"There's no need to go through so much trouble to deal with those things. This is just for the sake of an experiment."
After William finished speaking, a flame flashed in his hand, and the demon-sealing rune instantly turned into dust and dissipated.
After doing this, he dusted off his hands and sat back in his seat opposite Green.
"What experiment?"
"An experiment that has nothing to do with you."
William answered, then he crossed his fingers and asked:
"So, you betrayed your students. What did they promise you?"
"They" naturally refers to the restorationists in the Rose Palace.
Green replied:
"Restore the previous order."
"The Law of the Stars? You actually think that can be called order?"
"That is the only order among magic casters. Without it, what is the difference between us and those barbarians in Daemon Continent who wield magic like swords?"
"Then you must also think that a beautiful cage containing a bird can be called order."
"The fence that separates humans from wild beasts must be order."
Green replied sharply.
Star Law is a very broad concept. It not only includes the actual "hardware" such as the star circuit system connecting the thirteen constellations of the star world and the star lighthouses spread across the entire continent. More importantly, as its name suggests, it also regulates the laws that magic casters should abide by.
The Star Law clearly defines the lofty status of mages, establishes the corresponding responsibilities of these powerful people, and divides a stable promotion system and etiquette system according to the rank. Not only that, it also strictly limits conflicts between magic casters, and watches the death of every registered mage equally through a spell called "reverberation".
Why, when magic casters are so powerful, do lords in every place still need to maintain a sizable secular army?
One reason is that magic casters are few in number and cannot cover every place. But the more important reason is that the Star Law strictly stipulates the circumstances under which magic casters can use spells in public - although the specific clauses are as complicated and lengthy as bureaucratic jargon, in summary, there is only one point: they can only be used when facing supernatural threats passively.
It is unheard of for Vincent to mix magic casters into secular troops and various production departments and use supernatural powers in public in a high-profile manner.
"Then before the Star Law was proposed, there was no order among the magic casters on this continent?"
William crossed his fingers.
"Yes, and then those orders were defeated by the Star Council."
Green shrugged and continued:
"Besides, there were far fewer magic casters back then than there are now. The chances of a child from a commoner family wanting to become a magic caster were also much smaller than they are now."
He was telling the truth in this regard.
Although William had not made a specific statistics, in that era in the game, the number of magic casters was limited by the influence of the mentor system. At that time, the conditions for becoming a mentor who could impart knowledge were extremely harsh. And even if you had that qualification, as a mentor, you would usually only teach three to five apprentices in your lifetime. Therefore, the number of magic casters in the entire continent at that time was far less than that of the empire today.
After hearing what the other party said, William thought for a while and then asked:
"Then forgive me for asking what your current rank is? As the president of Blackwater Offa University."
Upon hearing this, Green Gordon couldn't help but reveal a barely perceptible smile on his face. He leaned back slightly in his chair and said:
"A master-level King's throne magic caster who has reached the pinnacle of master-level in earth magic."
William didn't mean to laugh at him, but he couldn't help but said, "There seems to be a hint of pride in his tone.
"In the past, at the Blackwater University of Magic, this level of skill would have been a stretch to be a deputy in a mage tower."
At the same time, William corrected himself in his mind, saying that there are far more people who call themselves "magic casters" in this era than in the past.
Hearing William's words, Green seemed a little unconvinced and said:
"When do you mean the past?"
As a person who reached the peak of the master level before the age of 40, Green can be regarded as the most talented president of Blackwater Offa University in recent decades.
You know, because his family was not prominent, when he was promoted to the master level, he had to wait in line for nearly five years to get the promotion quota. If it weren't for those five years, he would have reached the peak level of the master now.
He even felt that if he didn't die of old age before finishing the queue, he might even have a chance to reach the legendary realm in the future.
"In Violet Grant's time... back then, it was unthinkable to let someone who hadn't reached the divine realm serve as the principal. At that time, even the master of each wizard tower had to be at least a master at the peak level."
William said so.
In response, Green just felt that the other party was arguing with him.
Violet Grant, a truly powerful person who has mastered the five types of spells to the level of God's Realm, and one of the founders of the Mage Association. This is a name that everyone who graduated from Blackwater University of Magic will remember.
But is it interesting to use the greatest president in the history of Blackwater Offa University as an example? At that time, William Kane was an honorary professor of Offa University. Does that mean we should infer that even the external professors hired by the college in the past were at the level of Holy Spirit?
Green felt that there might be something wrong with the person in front of him who suddenly started giving him a history lesson.
"Compared to him, well... not just compared to him, compared to many people in the past, I am indeed not even a deputy. But so what? This is no longer the heroic age. The problem now is that without the assistance of the Star Council, we can do nothing."
As Green spoke, he felt himself becoming a little irritated.
"So even though I don't know who you are, and I don't know who is in charge between you and Vincent, I still feel that I need to give you a few reminders."
Looking at the other person's face that suddenly calmed down, William spread his hands and motioned for the other person to continue speaking.
"Regarding the coup by the Restorationists, although you have the initiative and are likely to win, I still have to say that this does not mean anything, because the other party can at least propose a plan to return to the laws of the stars. Although this is an old path, it is effective."
Green straightened up and continued:
"But you are unable to plan a new way out for the entire Offa University, the entire city, or to put it more broadly, for the entire Blackwater Province."
Since the Stranger Star Lighthouse was shut down, what is the future of those hopeful children with magic affinity, and those students whose mental strength standards have been met but who lack promotion quotas?
Sometimes, he would even maliciously speculate on the real reason why Vincent blocked the Star Lighthouse. Could it be because he himself was abandoned by the Star Law and his title as a registered wizard was erased, so he wanted all the magic casters in the entire Blackwater Province to feel the same pain as him?
If this problem is not solved, what will happen even if a coup is prevented?
Now, many magic casters have chosen to leave here and go to other provinces to seek development. If this situation continues, the magic caster heritage of the entire Blackwater Province will be discontinued in a few years.
Hearing Green's words, William replied:
"You just said that the Star Law is an old path, but in my opinion it is not that old."
As he spoke, he took out a brick-thick magic book from the storage space and slapped it on the table.
The cover of this book seems to be made of the skin of some amphibian, and the skin keeps changing its color as if it were alive.
Green looked at the old tome, then looked at William in confusion.
"Open it and take a look."
William didn't explain much.
Green opened the first page of the book and saw the following words:
Introduction to Illusion: The Art of Manipulating Light
Author: Violet Grant
If we admit that everything in this world is a disguise of light, then adding another layer of illusion on top of this lie is nothing. We must know that light not only solidifies everything, but also shapes our basic understanding of worldly things. The main perception of mortals comes from the refraction of light, and unsolidified light is the most changeable and easily distorted bridge, so illusions that manipulate mortals' minds through light have also come into being.
Perhaps many people would think that compared to the Transfiguration spell that can permanently change the nature of things, the brilliance and splendor manipulated by the illusion is only a temporary illusion, and will eventually turn into fragmented bubbles and dissipate. However, they forget that the cognition affected by the false illusion is also real.
The two magics of Transfiguration and Illusion are essentially the same, because both truth and falsehood are ripples that reverberate in everyone's mind. After stripping away all the disguises, everything that is revealed is the appearance of the mind. Therefore, for each specific person, the reality of this world depends only on the appearance he observes.
…
Seeing this, Green raised his head and looked at William and said:
"This is……"
"It's Liliana's real 'Illusion Teacher'."
"If I want to buy the book, no, if I want to borrow it for a period of time, what do I need to pay? I will be responsible for the maintenance costs of the book itself."
Green immediately asked seriously.
Violet's introduction to the five magics of Transfiguration, Illusion, Fire, Frost, and Light were once the most valuable assets of Blackwater University of Magic. However, during the Great Book Burning Movement, they were all moved to the Ring of Magic City by the Star Council.
It is said that the later star laws, the main body of these five systems of magic, were developed through the theories of these five books.
In the process of practicing magic, there are many transcendental feelings that cannot be described through words or pictures. And if you can only rely on completing the construction of spell models and controlling the chanting rhythm, you can only reach the expert level at most.
Therefore, relying on things like magic books can only introduce some basic general knowledge, just like giving someone a text textbook on the phoenix-tail harp. Even if this textbook is written by the troubadour laureate, it is not as good as the hand-in-hand teaching of the tavern poet next door to your house.
But the magic book is different. The magic chanter who writes the magic book needs to engrave his own power and ethereal perception in the book - in the form of dividing and freezing his own soul. And the person who reads the magic book, if he has this talent, can really feel the author's perception from it, thus avoiding a lot of detours.
Grimoires are extremely precious throughout the continent. Splitting one's soul and engraving it in a book will undoubtedly cause a significant loss of one's mental strength. Generally speaking, only some poor wizards who are short of money would do such a thing that would destroy their future. Grimoires from powerful people are usually written down for various reasons, and some are even written before death - these books contain more than just the author's insights.
This means that the magic books on the market are either of insufficient level and useless, or very dangerous, and may even cause schizophrenia after reading them.
It is rare to find someone like Violet, who hopes to pass on the torch in the future and wrote fifteen magic books in one go before retiring, and who has transformed herself from the realm of gods to a legend, in hundreds of years.
This is also the reason why William insisted on retaining the establishment of Blackwater Offa University instead of starting a new one.
After Green saw the book and felt the ideas contained in it, he couldn't help but request a transaction.
William shook his head.
"Sir, strictly speaking, this is something from Blackwater Offa University..."
"Back then, Violet left behind three sets of magic books, one of which was kept in the library of Offa University. You gave it away in the past thousand years and failed to live up to his expectations. Now you tell me that it belongs to Offa University?"
William raised his voice slightly.
Green was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say in response.
Then William continued:
"By the way, that girl doesn't need to wait for that damn promotion quota to be promoted now. Your previous concern for her was a bit redundant. Her etheric domain has been directly connected to the star realm without passing through the transit of the star lighthouse. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Classical magic system..."
Green murmured, then looked at William and said:
"So this is what Vincent really wants to do? To convert the future Blackwater Province to the classical magic system, just like Ava Continent?"
"You just made three mistakes in one sentence."
William replied:
"This is what I want to do. In the future, I will rebuild a new magic system across the entire Vic continent, and the classical magic system is only the first step."
Reconstruct a new magic system?
Green felt that converting the entire Blackwater Province to the ancient ways was fantasy enough.
"Sir, although I don't know who you are, are you clear about what you just said..."
"I'm William Kane."
"But even if you are William Kane, you can't rely on just one book, or one set of... Wait, what did you say?"
William looked at Green, who had a confused look on his face, and did not repeat it.
After being confused for a while, the other party reacted like a normal person.
"I thought you were not that crazy and would make up some more plausible reasons to try and convince me."
He stood up and said.
Some people do speculate that the whereabouts of the last set of magic books was taken away by William Kane, just like now all the missing treasures on the continent are blamed on each other.
In this regard, Green felt that this was just an excuse for losing something. When William Kane left alone, how much could he take with him?
“I didn’t try to convince anyone.”
As William spoke, a deep portal opened behind him.
On the other side of the portal was a perfect storm sweeping across the sky and the earth, a reef that seemed as if it could be submerged by the wind and waves at any time, a dilapidated and quaint fortress, a collapsed lighthouse, and flocks of crows circling in the sky.
Before Green could react, a sudden hurricane rolled out from the portal, and the salty sea water soaked him completely.
He wiped the sea water off his face awkwardly, and then discovered to his horror and amusement that although he was soaked, there was not even a drop of water on the other furniture in the room.
What was going on? I had clearly set up a shielding space teleportation spell in my office, so how could the other party open a portal of this size?
And what is this sea? It is both real and unreal, it is like...
"You can choose to come or not."
Also in that hurricane, William, who was not wet at all, put away the magic book.
"But I have to remind you that I usually only give you one chance. What will your choice be?"
"Will you choose to be arrested as an accomplice of the Restorationists and spend the rest of your life with rats in the dungeon? Or will you choose to join me in reviving the former glory of Blackwater Offa University?"
…………
+He left the city of thorns+
The Moon Realm, the Lake of Entropy, the realm of Lady Hunger and Corruption.
In the distance, it seemed as if a giant hand was pouring something onto the originally calm lake.
There were countless piles of half-cooked grains, dying small animals, struggling large creatures, and injured people.
Everything was dumped into the calm lake.
The lake remained calm, and it looked as if this place had a low-quality background texture without a collision model.
And the things that were dumped did not drown or sink to the bottom of the lake.
They also floated on the lake like floating garbage.
Then, they began to corrupt rapidly.
At first, the skin ulcerated, then the flesh and blood rotted. In the blink of an eye, the fresh rotten flesh turned into black and smelly rotten flesh, and finally it fell off the body like dregs.
The calm lake surface began to ripple slightly, gradually swallowing up the completely corrupted residue.
But the debris did not sink completely, but swirled in a vortex not far below the lake surface.
Until everything was swallowed up by the lake, the vortex began to slowly shrink, and finally turned into a human figure composed purely of flying corrupt debris.
It slowly emerged from beneath the lake, holding a scepter made of blackened bones in one hand and three worn bells in the other.
+Demon General, Eclipse+
A weak female voice appeared above the entire lake.
+This is your destiny, to bring death to disaster+
