The Discovery part I
Part 1
A week had passed.
Zal was still diligently studying with Sandro as his guide.
Sandro had scheduled the mornings for apprentice mage lessons, and the afternoons for conjurer lessons.
It was morning, but because the realm always felt like night, Zal, who was still adjusting, was somewhat sluggish.
“…You’re still casting too slowly…”
“Uh…
but casting with bare hands, this is as good as it gets.”
“…Bare hands should be faster…
Kids these days rely too much on technology…”
Zal frowned slightly before trying to cast ‘Fireball’ again.
Magic casting typically involved visualizing magical runes in the mind and channeling magical power to release the spell.
Different types and levels of magic required different runes, and more complex spells needed more runes, necessitating the use of a magic circle as a template to help organize the numerous runes.
In the past, using magic was much more complicated, requiring long incantations for each spell component.
Even ‘Firebolt,’ the most basic level fire spell, required chanting for five to six seconds.
However, advancements in magical technology led to the invention of runes that could replace entire incantations.
The lengthy paragraph of the ‘Firebolt’ incantation was thus reduced to a single rune, significantly decreasing the time needed for casting.
‘Fireball,’ a second-level spell, was consisted of three runes.
Zal’s task was to visualize these three runes in his mind and channel his magical power to cast the spell.
Although it sounded simple, accurately and precisely imagining unique and complex runes required concentration and skill.
Magical wands had a system that allowed users to preset commonly used runes.
Higher-tier wands could simulate several runes or even whole magic circles, enabling users to cast spells without having to formulate the runes or magic circles themselves.
They simply had to channel magical power into the wand to cast the spell.
This made wands incredibly convenient tools that facilitated the use of magic.
“Ah…
darn it!”
Due to haste, the runes were incomplete, and the ‘Fireball’ he attempted to release failed.
Instead of a large fireball, a slow-floating air blob appeared.
“…It’s alright…
Things like this take experience…
Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to do it…”
Sandro offered encouragement while Zal was frustrated with his failure, but he understood her intent with the rigorous training as he had already studied the structure of magical runes to some extent.
Even though they were all runes of the same element, there were countless differing forms and structures.
By modifying the structure of magical runes, one could limitlessly adjust the effects of the spell.
For example, modifying the fire element runes in the ‘Fireball’ spell could increase or decrease the blast radius of the fireball, while modifying the air element runes could increase or decrease the speed at which the fireball moved.
The simulated runes created by a magic wand were fixed and not modifiable.
The caster could not vary the casting pattern, so their flexibility was lower than that of spells casted manually.
Additionally, even though high-tier wands could significantly enhance the ability to cast spells, this became a double-edged sword because mages who relied too heavily on the enhanced features of wands developed their own basic abilities more slowly.
If, during combat, they were disarmed or the wand was knocked out of their hands, their ability to fight decreased significantly.
Therefore, high-rank mages focused on practicing spell casting on their own and used wands only as supplementary tools, to ensure that this convenient device did not hinder their own development or became a weakness in combat.
Zal understood this rationale, so he tried not to complain too much, even though he felt Sandro’s standards were a bit too high.
The magic training continued until his magical power was completely depleted, which coincidentally was around lunchtime.
They then took a break to eat before starting the afternoon session.
Both ate together as usual, a grand feast as if designed for a family.
The table was laden with grilled lamb ribs, steak with sauce, whole steamed lobsters and Alaskan crabs, along with a bowl of salmon salad.
Sandro consumed all this with a large bowl of plain rice.
Near her chair was a wheeled counter stacked with various desserts, including cheesecake, ice cream, and pudding.
Typically, Sandro’s expression was impassive, but she showed occasional brief smiles of genuine pleasure when tasting particularly delightful food, surprising Zal, who had not expected such emotion during such timing from the stoic Sandro.
He had heard that liches did not need to eat, so he asked her curiously,
“Sandro, does that body need to eat?”
Having finished her savory food and starting on the desserts with pudding first, Sandro swallowed her bite and then answered his question,
“…Not really necessary…”
“Then why are you eating?
(And you eat so much at that)”
“…Because it’s delicious…”
“But isn’t it unnecessary?”
“…Not necessary for the body…
but necessary for the spirit…”
“Huh?…”
Zal still did not quite grasp what she meant, while Sandro, who was prompted, seemed to try a bit harder to maintain her composure.
After spooning another bite of pudding into her mouth and showing a contented expression, she quickly returned to her usual impassive face and continued to explain.
“In the past, those who advanced to become liches…
as time went by, their minds would turn increasingly towards evil…
It was hypothesized by scholars of the dark arts that this was because this form was easily overwhelmed by darkness, or because the soul, having lost its human body, began to turn demonic…
But serious studies revealed that the reason liches’ minds changed was due to the loss of various joys and pleasures…”
“Joys and pleasures?”
“The early forms of liches had nearly no human sensations left at all…
Eyes that saw everything as vague, detail-less forms, seeing living beings merely as outlines of souls…
Even though they knew what they were touching, they felt no contact…
Their noses could not smell anything…
They didn’t need to eat or rest…
The truth is, they couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep…”
This was different from what Zal had heard or could be considered another side of the truth.
In the records he had read, these things were portrayed as positive attributes of being a lich.
But hearing it from Sandro made him realize it was not so great.
“So it’s no different from a corpse then?
Just to have an immortal body?”
to fully harness magical powers from a dimension called the ‘Nether Realm’.
Early liches could draw nearly unlimited magical power from the ‘Nether Realm’ and possessed indestructible bodies…
making them much more powerful sorcerers than the liches of today…”
“Unlimited magical power, wow.”
“But because the cost was to live like that…
the minds of the liches began to lose their humanity gradually…
Being unable to see the differences in things, they couldn’t appreciate beauty…
Lacking bodily sensations, they couldn’t enjoy touch or warmth…
Unable to smell, they couldn’t take pleasure in scents…
Unable to eat, they couldn’t savor tastes…
Unable to sleep, those voids just doubled in duration…
All these led to a gradual deterioration into evil, as they could hardly experience any happiness at all…”
Imagining it, Zal felt that being a lich, devoid of all senses, was almost like being tortured.
If one were born that way, it would be one thing, but for a human accustomed to those sensations to suddenly lose them and live in a completely insensate body, how many could endure that?
“Hmm…
so that was the case.”
“That’s why there has been a redesign of the lich form…
to have sensory nerves more similar to humans…
capable of sleeping and eating…
For me, this is the most crucial part…
Otherwise, just being a necromancer would suffice…”
“Eating and sleeping are normal human activities, aren’t they?
There’s no need to be a lich for that.”
“…Eating isn’t the important part…
It’s that in this form…
I can eat as much as I want!…”
“What..?”
“…In this form…
no matter how much I eat in a meal…
no matter how many sweets I consume…
I will never gain weight!…
It’s a perk even greater than eternal life!…”
Sandro said, her eyes sparkling as she scooped another spoonful of pudding into her mouth, her face beaming with joy.
“So, you became a lich for this reason?”
“…Exactly…”
“…Not for power or eternal life, but so you can eat whatever you like?”
“…Is there anything more important than that?…”
“I see…
So, Sandro is really an auntie fa…t ack!”
Before Zal could finish his sentence, he was punched squarely in the forehead by Sandro, causing him to fall and slump in pain for a long time, while Sandro continued eating sweets as if nothing had happened.
After finishing her desserts, Sandro took Zal to the library of Malachite Keep to start studying summoning magic in the afternoon.
Part 2
Over the past week, Zal had almost completely understood the basics of magic circles structure.
With his knowledge of the structure and components of summoning circles, he had been able to take existing circles and separate their components to modify and change their properties as he wished.
His faithful summoned wolves had now evolved into a minions, boasting greatly enhanced attack power, durability, and speed.
It could even be equipped with up to three combat skills, using only slightly more magical power than before.
Having achieved this, he aimed for a higher goal: to create a new minion from a bare circle.
Zal thought it would not be difficult; he just needed to assemble the desired structures together.
However, the reality was that summoning circles themselves had rules of balance and compatibility.
Many structures, unless specifically crafted for the purpose, could not be combined or used with others.
Zal tried to modify the structures he borrowed as much as he could, and eventually created a circle close to what he intended.
However, he encountered the perpetual problem of summoners: the summoning failed because the summoner did not have enough magical power.
“It’s really frustrating, especially since I tried to limit the magical characters to use the least amount of magic power.”
“The properties you’ve incorporated are still too many…
You need to cut or reduce some features further…”
“At this rate, it’s nearly back to being a level one minion.
If I reduce the features any more than this…”
“The rune models that are currently usable can only do so much…”
“Looking at the summoning circle designs recorded here, the dark scholar’s necromancy science should have advanced far beyond ordinary magic.
Then why don’t the runes used differ much in quality?
They are still old characters that consume a lot of magic power.”
“That’s because dark scholars have several ways to compensate for the power…
allowing them to focus on the quality of the summon…
without worrying much about the cost…”
“How do they compensate?”
“For necromancers, there’s a spell called ‘Soul Trap,’ which captures the souls of living beings in a Soul Stone to be used as additional magical power during summoning…
Or they might use a ‘Blood Pact’ to sacrifice a portion of their own life force in place of the cost…
As for liches, they already have immense magical power from the ‘Nether Realm,’ so they hardly need to worry about summoning costs…”
“Those are all forbidden spells…
But I guess I understand now.”
Because there were many forbidden spells that helped increase the limit of magical power, the power needed for summoning was not much of an issue for dark magic users.
They, therefore, focused on developing the efficiency of their summons without developing the runes themselves.
Ordinary people could also use magic stones for this purpose too, but magic stones were expensive magical items, and using them this way would be quite extravagant.
“If you’re interested…
I could teach you necromancy…”
“But aren’t those forbidden spells something you must bind yourself to the dark element before you can use them?
If I’m bound to the dark element, won’t my ability to use other magical elements decrease?”
“…You just won’t be able to use light element magic…
and your fire element abilities will decrease, but you can still use earth, water, and air elements normally…
Your dark element abilities, however, will be enhanced.”
Although there were no restrictions on learning different disciplines in this world and adventurers could train and learn from any class as much as they want, certain specific spells, especially elemental secret spells, required the practitioner to first bind themselves with Devotion to the element of the discipline’s origin to train and use those spells.
Binding oneself to an element changed the practitioner’s primary element from neutral to the one they were bound with, which increased their ability to use that element’s power and allowed access to high-level spells unique to that element, in exchange for losing abilities in the opposing elements.
“Doesn’t it make you more vulnerable to light and fire element attacks?”
“Just avoid them…”
“That’s easier said than done!”
if you can dodge, you can kill…
This is the creed of a mage.”
“There is no such creed!?
And when you fought that swordsman (Paraven), I didn’t see you dodging anything!”
“A lion doesn’t need to dodge the attack of termites…”
Zal clenched his teeth in frustration, not knowing how to argue further, and let the conversation drop.
“I still want to maintain neutrality because there are many other classes I want to learn, and many minions I plan to create which require the power of both light and fire elements…”
“If that’s the case, then there’s nothing I can do…
You’ll just have to find ways to improve the quality of the runes yourself…”
“Isn’t there another way to increase magical power?”
“You’re already doing it by wearing these bracelets…
In the future, you’ll definitely be a mage with more magical power than others of your generation…
But it takes time…”
Although Zal quickly understood how to design and write the structure of the magic circles, developing runes to heighten its’ efficiency required another level of knowledge and a great deal of time.
Being young, he felt it was a tedious path and wished for shortcuts that could spare him years of researching and developing new runes without knowing if they would be as effective as intended.
“Maybe…
other sciences of dark arts might have something that could be adapted instead of forbidden spells…
Oh right, Sandro still hasn’t shared the secret of how to raise a skeleton army.”
While it was the first thing he had wanted to know when he arrived, he had been so captivated by all the new and intriguing things that he had forgotten about it.
“Oh…
that thing?
Follow me…”
Sandro touched Zal’s shoulder and teleported them both out of the library together.
The place where they teleported to was a building within Malachite Keep.
Zal noticed that this building was not underground as moonlight streamed through the windows.
In front of them was a large hall, at the center of which stood seven pillars; six were arranged in a hexagon, and the seventh stood in the middle.
“This is a ‘Spawning Circle’…
It’s another form of summoning circle developed for creating permanent pets continuously…
as long as there is magical power available…”
“Huh…?
You can do that?
Summoning permanent pets indefinitely like that must consume a massive amount of magic and take a long time to recover.”
“About 48 hours…”
“Hmm, so these six circles can produce about three minions per day, that’s ninety skeletons in a month.
Not bad at all.”
“48 hours is just the recovery period for the circle…
If you include the time to gather the magical energy, it takes a total of 72 hours to summon one minion…”
“The time to gather magical energy?
Isn’t Sandro transferring the magic herself?”
“These circles accumulate magical power from the surrounding area on their own…
Once the required amount of magic is gathered, they automatically summon a new minion without me having to transfer magic or initiate the summoning…”
“What!?
You can do that?
How?”
“The outer circle that envelops the summoning circle acts as a collector, drawing magic from the surrounding area to feed the inner circle…
The structure of the inner circle is set up to automatically summon a minion once it has gathered enough power…”
“But the natural magical power shouldn’t be sufficient to summon level 3 minions, right?
Even if you collected for years.”
“That’s because of these pillars…
Take a closer look…”
Zal examined the pillars that were purposefully bordering the summoning circle, noticing that they seemed to be lined with red gems, but on closer inspection, he realized they were different.
“Are those…
magical stones!?”
“Yes…
Magical stones naturally emit magical energy…
When arranged together in large numbers, they significantly increase the density of magical power in the atmosphere enough to be used for summoning…”
“So this is how it works…
This creates a self-sustaining summoning cycle that operates endlessly on its own without needing maintenance or magic transfer.
Amazing!!”
“It’s not that impressive…
This production cycle only works with low-level minions…
High-level minions like ‘Bone Dragons’ have months of recovery time for the circle and take years to gather enough magic…
Technically, if you had a large number of high-quality magical stones to build the power pillars, it might reduce the time…
but it’s a very expensive method.
You might as well use that many magic stones to create a realm instead…”
“So that’s how it is…
But aren’t liches able to use unlimited power from the Nether Realm?
Why not use that power to fuel the circles directly?
It would be faster, and you could create high-level minions at will, right?”
“The power from the Nether Realm has unique properties…
While it can be used as a general energy source for casting spells, it cannot be utilized in creating minions…
Actually it can create them, but the summoned entities created with Nether Realm magic will not obey commands and will act on their own accord…
It’s said that this is because the Nether Realm itself has its own ‘consciousness’, and using its energy to create minions leads to these issues…”
Sandro’s explanation immediately gave Zal the chills, as the idea of minions acting independently was quite frightening.
He thought to himself that the Nether Realm was indeed a mysterious and dangerous realm best left alone.
“Okay…
That’s really interesting technology though.
Does dark science have many more such technologies?”
“There are quite a few technologies that are still in the experimental phase or have been abandoned…
This is one such research project.”
“Then show me around!
Maybe we’ll find something cool!”
Zal urged excitedly, while Sandro looked a bit hesitant before agreeing to Zal’s request, with a condition.
“Okay…
but you are strictly forbidden to try these experiments on your own without me.
It could be dangerous, understand?”
“Okay!”
After they agreed, Sandro teleported with Zal to an underground library to study more dark science research.
Read ‘Doombringer the 5th’ before anyone else with more chapters at https://www.jinovel.com/en