Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 371 Magic

Looking at the statue in front of him, Xuan Yuan Muze couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect him to be so sentimental."

The dean chimed in, "Yes, my master 'Ellie' once said the same thing. His Majesty is a very sentimental person. It's really hard to imagine His Majesty's past. What kind of tumultuous life could have led to such an immortal legend?"

Xuanyuan Muze then inquired, "May I ask if your master, 'Ellie,' is also a magician from the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races?"

The dean nodded and replied, "Yes, she was the first dean of the Presidium Magic Academy and the founder of our witch clan. My master is the adopted daughter of His Majesty the Dragon God. The familiar magic practiced by the witch clan was also created by my master and improved by His Majesty the Dragon God himself. It is a powerful magic system. Any child who awakens the familiar system through magic selection can join the witch clan to practice familiar magic. Of course, the witch clan has no gender requirements. However, familiar magic is created by imitating succubi, which results in the body of the practitioner having extremely high plasticity, allowing for endless transformations. Familiars are cultivated with charm, hence the name 'witch'."

It's a pity my master passed away two hundred years ago due to old age; otherwise, perhaps the magic of familiars could have developed even further.

Xuanyuan Muze then asked out of curiosity, "Speaking of which, I've always wanted to ask you about the principles and structure of magic. This mysterious thing really intrigues me."

The dean then readily explained, "Magic is actually quite simple. Closely related to magic is the soul of life. You can understand the soul as the dark side of the universe that gives life its power and origin. The stronger a creature's soul, the more it will receive the favor and grace of the universe and nature. In other words, the soul can be understood as a way to communicate with the universe. Even highly skilled magicians, such as His Majesty the Dragon God, can directly enslave the universe as their servants."

Magicians communicate with nature through their souls, harnessing its elements for their own use. This is the foundation of magic. You can also understand the soul as representing the authority to manage the entire universe. The stronger your soul is developed, the more cosmic resources you can access. So-called magical spells are simply 'management programs' written by our predecessors. These 'programs' allow magicians to gather as many natural elements as possible with a lower soul strength. However, the key to activating these programs is that you, like a magician, must be able to communicate with the universe at the soul level and possess sufficient management authority.

So, in reality, we magicians are special beings from various races who, by chance, were endowed with more souls by the River Styx. Our cultivation method is to develop the latent power within our souls. Don't you have a professional term in your hometown called 'brain development level' to describe the level of a magician's cultivation?

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuan Muze could only laugh awkwardly and say, "Our word is actually used to describe the level of intelligence."

The dean asked in confusion, "There is no essential difference between the two, is there? As the soul is developed, the level of intelligence will gradually increase. The lowest level of magic apprentice is at least eight to seventeen times more intelligent than the average person. Of course, this is only the intelligence level of potential magicians who have magical talent but have not yet begun to cultivate. Magicians who have truly cultivated are at least hundreds of times more intelligent than the average person."

Xuan Yuan Mu Ze asked incredulously, "You mean magicians are all highly intelligent beings, like humanoid computers? Then why do you even study magic? Wouldn't it be faster to just develop technology?"

The dean scoffed at these words, saying, "Technology is not necessary for magicians. Technology is simply not worthy of being compared with magic. Although the essence of technology and magic is similar—both involve intervening in the material universe using rules—magic is much more direct. An individual can easily achieve with magic what a civilization takes decades or even centuries to accomplish. And we don't need those cumbersome experimental institutions to understand the rules of nature. If we want, magic will provide us with all the mysteries of this world. Furthermore, due to His Majesty the Dragon God's gradual expansion of the magician training system, a forbidden spellcaster can actually do far more than many advanced civilizations. Remember, the lower the threshold of a system, the lower the upper limit of the power one can obtain. Therefore, technology is indeed the lowest level of development system in the universe, without exception."

Therefore, I must remind you that if your homeland ever ventures out into space to confront a civilization possessing magic, your only chance of victory is to eliminate them before their magic develops. Believe me, this is your only opportunity, because while it may take magicians some time to develop magic, developing technology to overwhelm you is a piece of cake.

But Xuanyuan Muze still retorted, "That's not necessarily true. Even if we are overtaken, there are technological explosions between civilizations. In terms of technology alone, it's still uncertain who will win or lose."

At this moment, the dean ruthlessly denied it, saying, "The so-called technological explosion is actually just the limit of a civilization's development speed under ideal conditions. Under ideal conditions, a civilization finally understands and stops fighting among itself, rationally allocating resources to development, allowing talented people to give full play to their talents and bring about the sublimation of the race. But don't think I'm being harsh, my friend, the so-called technological explosion is just the upper limit of development speed. However, the lower limit of the development speed of magical civilization is faster than the technological explosion speed of many races. You should know about the development speed of the Arcane Empire, right?"

In fact, once a magical civilization in the universe becomes aware of the existence of technology, it would only take one or two hundred years for it to develop into a level seven civilization that is infinitely close to the level of a technological god, as we define it. The reason it didn't have technology before was simply because its belief in a god blocked its access to technology.

However, I can understand your thinking. After all, we have seen records about us in many of your foreign books and documents. You... seem to look down on us magicians and even enjoy insulting us for your own amusement.”

Xuan Yuan Muze, bewildered, retorted, "Insult? We have never insulted magicians!"

The dean retorted somewhat angrily, "Your books actually say that we magicians are a bunch of physically weak trash, that we have to rely on staffs to cast spells like beginners, and that even those advanced magicians who have cultivated for fifty or sixty years have to rely on external objects to fly like useless people?! We can't even do the most basic thing of controlling the elements of heaven and earth and rising out of thin air. Are you praising us?"

In your books, we mages can only cast low-level spells, unable to even destroy a city. Although I am only a 13th-level forbidden spell mage, I am more than capable of destroying a star system with my full power. Yet, in your literature, we are even wantonly humiliated and trampled upon by lowly technological beasts. How is this any different from an insult?

What's even more infuriating is the wand in your book. The purpose of a wand is to help low-level mages gather more elemental energy. High-level mages, at the legendary archmage level and above, wouldn't need such external objects to cast spells because it's an insult to us. This description is as malicious as telling an active track and field athlete that they need crutches to run.