Chapter 851: Learning Magic
A few minutes had passed since the last particles of Aurelia’s light faded, and Daniel and Serys had returned to the VIP guest room.
The room had once again fallen into a heavy silence.
Neither Daniel spoke, nor could Serys break the silence.
The old files were still scattered on the table, and the magical candles cast long shadows on the walls.
Finally, Serys took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on Daniel.
"Now what?" She couldn’t bear the silence any longer and wanted to know what they should do now.
Even Aurelia had confirmed that her death was a murder, not a suicide.
Daniel glanced at her quietly but didn’t answer.
Serys continued.
"We have no evidence. Nothing has been proven against Lioran. Even if we’re sure he’s the killer, without evidence, we can’t do anything."
"What are you going to do? Maybe it would be a good idea to summon Aurelia’s spirit in front of the tower’s leader. If he hears his daughter’s words, he’ll surely understand the truth."
Daniel stared at the small candle flame for a few moments without answering.
"You’ll find out soon." Then he said with his usual calmness.
Serys frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Daniel yawned briefly and rose from his seat.
"I’m tired for now. I want to sleep."
Serys still had many questions in her mind.
"But..."
Daniel opened the door without letting her continue.
"Good night."
A few seconds later, Serys was practically standing outside the room. The door closed quietly. She stood there for a few moments, staring at the door.
"This man really knows how to get on people’s nerves..." She muttered under her breath.
But a few moments later, a faint smile appeared on her face.
"...But so far, everything he’s done has worked." She finally sighed and left the hallway.
She didn’t want to bother, annoy, or anger Daniel. This man was here to help her, and he hadn’t asked for much in return.
So the least she could do was at least not be annoying.
As the sound of Serys’s footsteps faded, silence once again ruled the room.
But this time... Daniel’s expression completely changed. That carefree demeanor was gone. His eyes closed quietly. Simultaneously, dozens of transparent layers formed one after another around the room.
A layer to prevent eavesdropping, a layer to prevent spiritual intrusion, a layer to prevent mana tracking, and finally... a layer that even Divine Mages would struggle to detect.
All the shadows in the room suddenly came to life.
One...
Two...
Three...
Five shadows emerged from the darkness.
"Master." The Fallen all knelt.
Daniel looked at them. After hearing Aurelia’s words, an idea had come to his mind. An idea that might help them find evidence against Lioran.
But first, he needed to understand how that girl had been killed, and for that, he needed to enlist the help of the Fallen and give them new missions.
He quietly explained their new mission to them.
No further questions were asked. They all bowed, and their bodies quietly dissolved into the shadows.
And the room emptied again. Only Daniel remained. He glanced at the special library in the room, at the books.
Books about mana structure, the history of magic, mana rings, spell construction models, law resonance.
These were all the foundations of the magical world, and he had nothing to do until morning, so it was better to learn magic while he was free.
He studied each page at an incredible speed. Sometimes he noted a few lines, sometimes he crossed out entire pages, sometimes he just closed his eyes for a few seconds and performed thousands of calculations in his mind.
"Interesting... this world’s method of teaching magic is very inefficient."
"But..."
"Some ideas are really worth exploring." He noticed many problems in the foundations of magic. For example, the idea of having multiple mana rings.
Why should there be multiple mana rings? Couldn’t one just have a single large mana ring in the body? Having multiple required extra mana to maintain their balance and function.
While with a single large mana ring, there would be no need for extra mana, and one could ensure its functionality with minimal mana.
But on the other hand, there were other problems. A single large mana ring had space limitations, and solving this problem wasn’t easy, at least for others.
His idea was to solve this problem by creating an infinite-like space in the body using the Law of Space or the Law of Infinity.
The easiest way to do this was simply to create a technique that would do all of this.
He contacted Serys through a talisman and told her to bring books on the fundamentals of magic when she came in the morning.
His gaze fixed on one of the formulas. He took several blank pages and began drawing complex diagrams.
In his mind, the same idea that had come to him while clearing the fourth floor of the tower came alive again.
The complete union of Bloodline and Race.
Until today, these two had evolved separately, but the more he thought, the more he felt their difference was only superficial.
Both ultimately expressed one thing: the nature of existence.
If that was the case... then perhaps they could be merged into a single core. He drew dozens of different structures.
One after another, but each time, he ultimately crossed them all out with his pen.
"No..."
"This one breaks the balance."
A few minutes later, he wrote another formula, crossed it out again. Finally, he put the pen on the table.
"I’m missing a connecting ring..."
His gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"A fundamental principle... until I find it, complete integration is impossible."
At that moment, the sound of knocking came from the door.
He thought he had found a way, but his idea hadn’t worked. All the ideas that had come to him in the tower had also failed.
Then the sound of knocking came again.
He raised his head and looked outside, realizing it was morning.
"Come in."
The door opened quietly. Serys entered.
She carried several thick, very old books in her hands. At first, she thought Daniel had spent the whole night meditating, but when she saw the inside, she froze for a few moments.
The entire table was covered in magical formulas. Papers were scattered on the floor.
More than twenty books were open, and Daniel was still writing.
"You..."
"How do you people learn magic?" Daniel asked without even looking at her.
He was going to spend two weeks here and wanted to use the opportunity.
Serys was silent for a few moments, then laughed.
"That’s it? I thought you were going to ask a harder question." She placed one of the books on the table.
These were the magic books Daniel had requested.
"Almost all mages have a fixed path. First, they memorize the spell structure."
"Then they learn the mana flow path, and then they practice until it becomes instinct."
Daniel thought for a moment.
"Why this path?"
Serys blinked.
"What?"
"Why should mana flow through this path?"
"Because... it’s always been this way."
"Why this rune?"
"Because the founders designed it that way."
"What if the mana flows in reverse?"
"Well..."
For the first time, Serys paused.
"It’s never really been tested."
"What if the fundamental law changes?"
Serys no longer had an answer. The more questions continued, the more she realized she had never thought about the roots of magic.
They had only learned what previous generations had built.
But Daniel... was questioning the very foundation of magic. A few minutes later, Daniel picked up one of the basic spells from the book.
He erased a few runes, removed two mana paths, completely extracted one energy ring from the structure.
Then he activated the same spell. The spell executed without the slightest problem; in fact, it was even more stable than the original version.
Serys’s eyes widened.
"This... this is a thousand-year-old spell... you modified it in ten minutes?"
Daniel closed the book.
"No. I just removed its mistakes." Though saying they were mistakes was itself a mistake; more precisely, they were redundant parts.
He didn’t know who had founded this world’s magic system, but he could say that person loved complexity, because the entire system was complex and theoretical rather than simple and practical.
Serys felt that all the knowledge she had worked hard for years to acquire had been turned upside down in a few minutes.
At that moment, a quiet sound was heard from behind the door.
Knock...
Knock...
Serys turned around.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A middle-aged man with silver hair and a purple robe entered the room. His face was calm, but his gaze was very sharp. On his robe, the seven-star insignia of the magic tower could be seen.
Upon seeing him, Serys immediately rose from her seat.
"Professor Varcas."
Varcas responded to her greeting with a brief nod, then his gaze fixed on Daniel.
He smiled faintly.
"So... you must be the new genius everyone in the tower is talking about."
"Hello." Daniel greeted respectfully as well.
"No need for such formalities. I am one of the tower’s senior professors, the Professor of the Four Elements, Varcas."
Varcas stepped forward a few steps. His gaze fell on the scattered formulas on the table, then on the modified spell, and surprise appeared in his eyes.
He was silent for a few seconds.
"It seems you’re learning the laws of magic, and more importantly, correcting them." A smile appeared on his face.
He had come to see the genius who had managed to comprehend 100% of the tablet and caused quite a stir in the tower.
He wanted to see if he could take him on as a student.
"Yeah, but I wish there was a faster way too." Daniel smiled faintly.
Varcas was silent for a moment, then gave him a deep look.
"There is a faster way. Of course... its speed depends entirely on your talent, understanding, and power."
"Oh? What?" For the first time since the conversation began, Daniel became truly curious.
He wouldn’t mind using a faster way.
Varcas smiled very mysteriously.
"Have you ever heard of the ’Trial of a Thousand Spells’?"
Upon hearing that name, even Serys stared at Professor Varcas in disbelief.
