Chapter 2:Burial of the Moon
Felix had only been in control of this body for a short time, merely three years.
During these three years, he had to act as a useful pawn for Count Visak while also learning the complex and glamorous etiquette of the nobility. In fact, he had very limited time to study magic.
The tedious lessons were not a problem for his mature soul. His elegant and humble demeanor was enough to make any noble in Ellisitan City unable to find any flaw in him, and his almost unearthly handsome features could make any lonely young noblewoman's heart skip a beat.
It was only after Felix mastered the art of casting warding spells that he could truly free up his nights. Even so, his time for studying and meditation was still scarce.
A competent mage or arcanist must spend at least six magical hours each day studying magical texts, recording magical experiments, and writing down insights with their personal magic runes.
In addition to these six magical hours, excellent mages and arcanists would spend at least another three magical hours studying magic circle knowledge, orthodox alchemy, or conducting bloody and dark live experiments. As for the top mages and arcanists, they often forget the passage of time altogether.
Even the laziest spellcasters spend at least six hours a day in basic meditation.
In reality, the time Felix had for himself barely allowed him to complete the last task, and that was only possible by employing some special techniques. There's a branch of hypnotism called self-hypnosis, which is further divided into light and deep self-hypnosis.
To ensure the quality of his meditation, Felix spent three months using a more dangerous mental suggestion technique from deep self-hypnosis to enter a 'micro' meditation state. Fortunately, his mature soul was stable, and there were no signs of a split personality emerging.
After reviewing several special magical experiments from the book "Introduction to Shadow Alchemy," Felix placed the three magic books back into the hidden compartment. Magic books have always been called "the second wand of the spellcaster." Many times, they replace the wand as the channel connecting the spellcaster to the magical elements of the outside world. Only when summoning minute or rare magical elements do spellcasters pick up their heavy wands, embedded with leyline crystals.
The books "Three-Dimensional Analysis of the Magic Web Axis" and "Arcane Fundamental Laws and Array Guide" were infused with elemental fusion magic circles at the time of their initial printing. This was to facilitate beginners' magic experiments, so they could consult the book if they forgot the direction of the magic runes, an effect a cumbersome wand couldn't achieve.
"Introduction to Shadow Alchemy" was a handwritten magic book, and every character on it was branded with the writer's magic rune marks. Handwritten magic books are the true "second wand of the spellcaster." Each word on them is akin to an inscription within a magic circle, and the book itself is a vessel for the magic circle. When a spellcaster channels their magic power into it, it forms a magic web channel, connecting to the magical elements of the outside world.
Therefore, magic books are far more practical than wands.
At midnight.
The dark red moon hung high in the night sky, and under its illumination, the chirping of insects around became clearer.
Felix looked up at the reddening moon and closed his eyes, sensing the shift in magical elements. Sure enough! Every year on the 15th of July, the 'Filth' element would lose much of its inertness, and its activity could even be on par with the six primary elements.
Felix picked up the oak staff by his bed, which was the lowest-grade staff that Count Visak had bought for him with sixteen Caesar gold coins. To channel the not-so-active 'Filth' element, Felix, whose magical power was not abundant, had to use this heavy oak staff.
The book "Introduction to Shadow Alchemy" mentioned that every year on the 15th of July, around the time of the 'Ghost Festival' in his previous life, the activity of the 'Filth' element and the dark gold material would reach a peak under the influence of the 'Burial Moon.' It was the best and most dangerous time for all sorts of 'heretical' magical experiments.
The violent and highly dangerous dark elements could bring about ultimate perfection or a dazzling explosion.
Felix clutched the heavy oak staff, gazing nervously at the carved wooden table where the metal box lay.
To prepare for an unpredictable future, he had to have a trump card, and the crucial step in making this card depended on what he would accomplish tonight.
Felix reached out to open the metal box, inside of which were thirteen adult 'Saville' Shadow Moths he had collected. At the bottom of the box were agarwood leaves that could render the 'Saville' Shadow Moths unconscious.
The 'Saville' Shadow Moth was a strange insect. It inherently had the shadow element and carried a certain level of toxicity and corrosion effects. Once it was invaded by the 'Filth' element, its shell would turn into dark gold spellcasting material, carrying a significant amount of the 'corrosive' element.
Dark gold spellcasting materials were prohibitively expensive. Felix, who didn't have many Caesar gold coins to spend, could only try to create a usable 'substitute' during the annual 'Burial Moon.'
"Decay!"
A large number of 'Filth' and 'Corrosion' elements gathered on the oak staff, finally turning into a dark red beam that shone on the 'Saville' Shadow Moths. 'Decay' was the most appropriate dark magic that Felix could think of. Its principle could be simply explained as using the unique magical element called 'Filth' in this world to damage the cell activity inside a living organism, causing it to age rapidly until death.
'Decay' was a level 36 dark magic spell. Without the increased activity of the Filth element under the 'Burial Moon,' Felix couldn't cast this mid-level spell. When casting the dark magic 'Decay,' it was common to attract the surrounding 'Corrosion' elements. This was because the Filth and Corrosion elements were companion elements with strong attraction between them. When they collided, their activity would increase dramatically.
Thus, the 'Decay' spell often carried intense corrosion. Many Gamma mages and dark magicians used it as an enhanced version of the 'Corrosion' spell.
Under the influence of 'Decay,' the 'Saville' Shadow Moth died from the corrosion elements mixed within. Its shell gradually turned from green to red under the erosion of the Filth element, finally becoming a bloody dark red.
Felix put down the heavy oak staff, drew a dagger from his waist, put on gloves, and carefully cut off the head of the Saville Shadow Moth. After such insects died, their internal fluids would have strong corrosion properties, hardly inferior to sulfuric acid. Magical experiments often carried high risks, and even a small mistake could lead to unknown dangers.
"Determination defines the achievement of a spellcaster. Details determine the fate of a spellcaster."
These words were printed on the first line of the cover of "Basic Magic Course." In the realm of magic, a small detail can cost you the chance of seeking 'eternity,' or it may cause you to be blown to pieces.
The path of a spellcaster is one where the foolish only end up throwing their lives away.
Felix carefully picked off the tail shell of a Saville Shadow Moth with a dagger and then placed it into a porcelain basin. Using a pestle carved from marble, he ground it into powder. After being eroded by filthy elements, the tail shell of the Saville Shadow Moth would have a certain corrosive property, which can be simply understood as how sulfuric acid reacts with iron.
The ground dark gold powder should absolutely not have too much contact with iron objects, as that would affect its purity.
Felix used a soup spoon to divide the dark gold powder into three portions and put them into three porcelain bowls. According to the orthodox experimental process, he should now use transparent and expensive enamel crystal bottles, as they have a certain anti-magic property and will not affect the purity of the casting materials.
Before conducting this magic experiment, Felix had spent three full months surveying the movement of the leyline magic network. He was just a small spellcaster, though his almost photographic memory had granted him the strength of a level 1 mage, level 1 arcanist, level 1 dark magician, and level 2 Gamma master.
But all of this was still far from enough. He was too weak. Without ample time for meditation, he couldn't rely on his meager magic power to complete today's nearly insane 'transformation.'
In this world, there is an incredibly powerful force that only the craziest and most obsessive spellcasters dare to use. Even the gods above all heavens don't dare to attempt to master this power. This power is called—leyline energy!
Apart from the beginning of time when there were no gods and only a group of ancestral shamans could merge with nature and use this power through bizarre totem pillars, only the insane alchemists dare to do so.
To create a powerful puppet, one's own magic power is not enough. It is necessary to borrow the power of heaven and earth to make the alchemists' puppets achieve perfection and eternity!
Felix was an alchemist, and also a shadow alchemist destined to be accompanied by darkness, a bloody Gamma master.
Felix didn't know what his future would be like. To the Fairmuth family, he was just a delicate gift, and to the soon-to-be-met Lady Elizabeth, he might just be a beautiful puppet.
Justice does not lie in the heart; right and wrong depend on strength.
To escape the shadow looming over his head someday, Felix felt he should take a risk and use what is called 'leyline magic network' in the academic world—this wild energy. In his understanding, this energy was somewhat similar to a magnetic field.
Two portions of dark gold powder were scattered on the floor, where Felix had meticulously engraved a formation. To complete this bloody 'transformation,' Felix had to prepare three formations.
The first formation was under his feet, a spirit-gathering formation called 'Wail of the Undead,' from which Felix had removed the central magic eye. It was used to mobilize the surrounding filthy and corrosive elements while drawing on the unstable shadow energy under the 'Buried Moon.'
The second formation was inscribed near the wall corner. Although Felix's courtyard was very remote, the leakage of a large amount of filthy elements would still attract some attention. He had to inscribe an 'Elemental Imprisonment' formation to prevent the fluctuation of magic patterns from alerting others.
The final magic array was inscribed on Felix himself, and it was the most crucial part of the entire process. Anything can conduct magic, but the strength varies greatly. Among all known conductors, the human body has the strongest ability to conduct magic. However, the human body is extremely fragile and can easily fail due to the slightest mistake. Still, spellcasters who pursue the ultimate in magic often prefer to use their own bodies for magic experiments or special 'modifications.'
Felix's goal was to inscribe a powerful spell on himself, a trump card that could drag his enemies down to hell with him even on the brink of death.
"Paralysis," Felix muttered.
He watched as his left hand gradually turned blue and numbness spread from his hand to his shoulder, where the magic finally ceased. He was constantly under the watchful eye of Visak Fairmuth, and Felix couldn't acquire any anesthetics without alerting the Count. Therefore, he had to resort to using a 'paralysis' spell from dark magic, despite the potential harm it might cause to his body.
Felix had already drawn the dark magic array on his left arm, and all he had to do now was to carve it anew. He set down his heavy oak staff, pulled out an iron dagger that gleamed with a cold light from his waist, and disinfected it over an alcohol lamp. When everything was ready, he used the sharp blade to cut the skin on his left hand and began carefully carving along the lines of the array.
After completing each line of the magic pattern, he would pause, put on a thin glove, and sprinkle some of the dark gold powder onto the wound. White smoke would rise from the flesh, accompanied by a sizzling sound. Excessive blood loss made Felix's handsome face extremely pale, but his determined expression, like that of a vampire lurking in the shadows ready to strike, was piercingly pale and sharp.
Humans possess unparalleled potential. Under pressure from their environment, they can unleash incomparable fighting power, such as learning to endure, be tenacious, withstand pain, be cruel to themselves, and even to others.
Felix was inscribing a 65th-level dark shadow magic spell on himself, an aggressively powerful dark spell known academically as the Gamma Ray. However, people preferred another name for it – Death's Touch!