mijobooks Chapter 56 [The Eternal Codex of Arcane Arts]
Chapter 56 [The Eternal Codex of Arcane Arts]
Eastern Forest, Arcane Sanctuary.
Thea's consciousness has merged with the Heavenly Dao mycelium network that spans the entire continent of Asem.
Thoughts can extend infinitely, crossing mountains and rivers, and in an instant reach the frigid north.
The golden pillar of light soaring into the sky from the solitary sacred mountain—that being already knows everything it has done.
She heard Lin Qi's divine pronouncement resounding through the mountains, and she saw his resolute departure, never to look back.
Gods cannot linger in the mortal realm for long.
This conclusion was drawn from observation: the existence of things exceeding the standard is itself a disruption to the world's balance.
The separation of gods and mortals is an inevitable result of the system's self-preservation.
The will retreated from the North and, before the remnants of the World Tree in the Arcane Temple, reformed into an elegant form.
"Summon the Supreme Council." The order was transmitted to the minds of every core member through the magical network.
Valen and Lila were the first to arrive at the hall.
The three of them were alone in the spacious main hall.
Valen stepped forward, his voice urgent:
"Teacher! Ger has retreated! He has missed the best opportunity to consolidate his power, instead sealing his strength away on a mountain! And the Black Tide Lord in the south is also consolidating his Demon King's Palace, with no immediate intention of expansion. This is our chance!"
"We should immediately assemble an Arcane Legion, using your divine power as our spear, to spread the light of magic to every corner of the continent. We should build a unified magical empire that no one else could achieve!"
Lila took a small step forward, calmly interrupting his impassioned speech.
She didn't argue with Warren, but simply raised her hand silently.
A three-dimensional star map composed of magical particles unfolded in the center of the council hall.
That star map was a real-time magical network projection of the entire Ashem world.
The outline of the continent, the flow of magic, and the distribution of life are all displayed on it.
One of the unusually bright red dots was located at the Arcane Temple.
It represents Thea, and the consumption value marked next to it is an astronomical number that would make any archmage dizzy.
Li stretched out her finger and gently tapped it.
"According to calculations, maintaining a single deity in the mortal realm would consume more than all the magical resources that all living beings on the continent could draw upon from the magic network; if unrestrained military expansion were to occur on this basis, the entire world's magic network would be exhausted within one hundred and twenty years."
She stated the facts in a straightforward manner.
"The final result is the complete collapse of the world, and everything will return to death."
To make her argument more convincing, she lightly tapped her fingertip, activating the accelerated deduction of magic.
Above the star map, the blue halo representing the world dimmed, turned yellowish, and finally went out.
The magical empire that Valen envisioned ultimately became nothing but a cold darkness.
Valen's face flushed red, and his breathing became heavy.
He wanted to refute her, but faced with Lila's deductions, his boastful words would only bring him shame.
Thea finally spoke: "Valen, your vision is still limited to territory, armies, and conquest; this is the old-fashioned mode of warfare."
"Lila's deduction is correct, but the conclusion is pessimistic; the withering of the magic network is not inevitable, but only because our way of using and exploiting it is too poor."
Thea's gaze swept over the two disciples; their thought patterns were all within her observation.
"We do not need to occupy a piece of land, nor do we need to directly rule any living being."
"What I want to control is knowledge itself."
She paused deliberately for a moment, giving her disciples time to understand and digest the information.
Valen looked bewildered, while Lila seemed to have grasped something.
"I will build a system, a system that no intelligent being in Ashem can bypass," Thea continued to explain her idea.
"In the future, whether it is the natural magic of the elves, the runic craftsmanship of the dwarves, or the new systems that other races may create as they take the stage, all their extraordinary powers must operate within my framework."
"They are free to create millions of applications and combine them into billions of different effects; but every spell they write and every magic they cast originates from me."
"Territories can be conquered, empires can be overthrown; but the transmission of knowledge, once defined and popularized, will become eternal; as long as this world still needs magic, it will never leave me."
Valen stood there, stunned. He knew his mentor had farsightedness, but he had never experienced it so vividly before. Now, he had.
Lila pondered for a long time before she realized how terrifying this operation was.
She bowed slightly, this time with genuine reverence.
"Teacher, I understand. Please instruct us on how to implement this specifically?"
Thea turned her gaze to her, her eyes revealing approval.
"The first step is to reform the Arcane Council; from today onward, the Arcane Council will no longer belong solely to the elves, but to the entire world; it will be open to all races, with no status requirements, and the only standard will be talent."
"Lila, you are responsible for establishing branches of the Arcane Council in various strategic locations across the continent; connect them with a magical network to form an academy network system covering the entire continent; these academies are our 'channels' for spreading knowledge."
"Yes," Lila answered readily.
"I will take care of the second step."
Thea's gaze fell upon the remaining branch of the World Tree that floated beneath the temple's dome.
Her consciousness was once again deeply connected with it.
Countless precise logical symbols emanated from her body, swirling and dancing around her before finally merging into the dome of the temple.
In her vision, the magical elements of the entire Ashem world were initialized and no longer complicated.
From the most basic questions of why fire burns and wind flows, to how mental energy distorts reality and how energy circuits are efficiently constructed...
Under her authority, the underlying logic of all power systems was analyzed one by one, broken down into the most primitive grammar and the most basic formulas.
In this way, anyone with even a little talent can easily arrange magic itself, just like their predecessors.
Similar to the magical programming games of the previous life, the threshold for magic skills has been greatly lowered, no longer being so high and mighty.
That pure knowledge, free from any impurities, eventually coalesced into a thick legal code.
On the cover of the legal code, a line of ancient characters that automatically formed appeared.
Arcane Codex
Thea raised her slender finger and gently touched the Ashem energy star map that Lila had previously constructed in the center of the hall.
The Codex of Light broke down into billions of tiny points of light, which, along with an invisible magical network, were projected onto the coordinates of the hundreds of academy branches scattered across the continent that Lila had just planned in her mind.
"This is my legacy."
From then on, whoever, wherever, attempts to learn magic will follow the logic of this "Arcane Codex".
He may not know of the existence of the goddess of magic, Thea, but he must first learn the basic formula defined by Thea.
In every corner of the continent, amidst abandoned ancient ruins, in a desolate valley beside an orc tribe, a small glimmer of knowledge awaits to be discovered by a curious soul.
As the reissue of "Arcane Tome" spread, countless faint but unwavering sparks of inspiration were ignited around the world.
A vast network of knowledge covering the world has taken shape.
Thea withdrew her gaze. The mortal realm was still too fragile and too small for her.
"Lila, maintain the basic operation of the mortal magic network. The establishment of all branches should focus on guidance and enlightenment, and avoid investing in additional resources." Thea gave the final instruction.
"Teacher, then you..." Lila keenly sensed something.
Thea did not answer.
Her gaze pierced through the material dome of the Arcane Temple, crossed the sky of the world of Ashem, and looked towards that higher-dimensional, dazzling sea of stars that mortals could never reach.