05. Magic, Visitors(2)

There are no parents, relatives, or friends.

As an orphan living on a continent filled with people with hair colors very different from him, Zen's life has been very difficult since childhood.

Even if he tried to work, no one would accept a blonde child without parents like him.

Zen was forced to steal.

Sometimes, he managed to get caught and beaten to the point of making his whole body hurt.

With that wounded body, he can't steal anything, so he could only restrain himself and eat grass.

If he was lucky, he would find some wild fruits growing in the bushes.

In the cold autumn and winter, he was forced to crowd with children with a fate similar to him.

They mostly don't know each other, but they have a tacit understanding to give each other warmth if they don't want to die in the cold.

Every day, just to survive, he lives like a cockroach.

Stealing, or collecting the remains.

At that time, what made him choose a cultivation path?

Zen began to recall the reason he was cultivating.

Not. He didn't want to be immortal.

At that time, he was still very young and didn't care about anything other than getting more food, money, and a comfortable place to live.

So, what triggered him to cultivate?

That's right...

The memory had been buried too deep within Zen, so he had long forgotten about it, but the reason he was cultivating...

The reason he tried something dangerous like trying to achieve immortality was...

Just to achieve something simple and easy to understand...

He wanted to become stronger.

He was frustrated.

Every time he was beaten, due to his weak young body, he could only beg for mercy without having any chance of resisting at all.

He wanted to be a cool figure like a strong swordsman.

He wanted to be strong enough to protect himself and live comfortably.

Originally, it was only for that reason that Zen began to try to find a way to cultivate.

Back then, the cultivators still had traces among ordinary humans.

So, with luck, Zen managed to find some scraps of records about different cultivation arts, martial techniques, and even meditation techniques after searching everywhere.

All of those records are incomplete. Some even have only one or two sentences in it; It is not much different from just an empty word because it is too fragmented from its original form.

However, Zen did not give up.

He at least realized at that moment that it was extremely impossible for him to obtain resources and ways of cultivation for free and complete from others.

He could only rely on himself.

Thus, he ventured himself to combine the cultivation arts he had found.

Fortunately, he had little reading ability, so he understood quite a bit of what was contained in the notes.

Zen scrambled the notes, pieced them together into a seemingly plausible verse, and then immediately tried them.

For the first try... He failed.

That's very clear.

There was no way that one could assemble a cultivation art that easily.

However, Zen kept trying.

Day after day, month after month, year after year...

Aside from keeping trying to continue to sustain his small life, Zen continued to accumulate what he saw as something related to cultivation.

He kept trying.

And, as it can be seen, he succeeded.

It took years and countless trials, but he succeeded.

As a result, he even developed the ability to string together his own cultivation arts, martial techniques, meditation techniques, and magical arts, as long as he had the basic materials.

Zen was initially discouraged after learning that there was no Spiritual Energy in this world.

However, now that he had recalled how he had gone from an insignificant homeless kid to a Spiritual King that many people feared, Zen encouraged himself.

At that time, the situation was much worse than now, but he still succeed.

Don't forget.

Your ultimate goal is indeed to Immortality, but what makes you pursue Immortality is the desire to achieve a comfortable life.

Don't rush.

Look, think, find the solution.

Zen smiled.

That smile had appeared many times before and frightened many of his enemies.

The Crow's signature smile.

A smile full of cunning and an unyielding fighting spirit.

It was as if, as long as he was not broken into millions of pieces and sealed, he would not be able to be stopped.

"No spiritual energy?"

Zen laughed.

He laughed at himself.

"Ridiculous! Since when did I become so ridiculous?"

Zen turned his gaze towards the shelves filled with books.

"Well... The usual way won't be reliable here, so it seems like I have to make a new path?"

Creating a new cultivation path was definitely not something that could be used as a joke.

That's not an easy thing.

The Cultivation art itself, although it was said to be a different way to cultivate, still followed the foundation of the way of cultivation that had long been discovered and established by the countless sacrifices of Cultivators in the past.

The essence behind any cultivation art remained the same, only the focus and inclination of its development were slightly changed.

Creating a new cultivation path meant changing the essence and core of cultivation .

Is Zen capable of doing it?

No one, not even Zen himself, could confidently say that he was capable.

However, this was the only way for him.

***

On Earth, magic energy exists.

Magic energy on Earth often used as a means for most western practitioners, such as: Holy Knights, and Witches, to gain power.

Other than the Witches, who were able to extend their lifespan slightly as the depth of their magic increased, none of them were able to promise eternal life.

Naturally, there were some legends that said that the Witches were able to create some kind of Elixir of immortality in some way.

However, it was achieved by using medicine, not from the development of magic energy itself.

It was very different from the spiritual energy that cultivators had developed and was able to prolong one's lifespan for sure.

However, the question is, how can Zen make magic energy capable of exerting similar effects as spiritual energy do on human lifespan?

In order to find that answer, Zen needed to study magic and its history. The more he knew about magic, the smoother the process of forging this new path of his cultivation became.

History is to understand the point of view of the discoverers of magic about magic energy itself, and Magic can provide direct knowledge from the development of these discoverers.

Zen would be able to determine his research path after knowing where he should step on the knowledge path of magic.

Next to the small crater he had created, Zen sat at another table with a stack of books in front of him.

"Elemental Magic, Rune Magic, Magic Circle, then... Origin Magic?"

As expected. Zen was studying magic.

Elemental magic.

It was the most popular magic used in the world. At least, before the Zombie Plague came to attack.

This magic is very easy to apply. One only needed to sense the key particles of the element they wanted to learn by spreading their magic energy.

After that, they could slowly add elemental particles to their magic energy. With this, they would trigger changes to their magic energy and produce various artificial natural phenomena as they wished.

Zen had even heard and seen the Witches on Earth using similar magic.

Rune Magic.

As a relic of ancient times of magic greatness, Rune Magic contained many mysteries.

By simply drawing a few mysterious symbols and letters, someone who didn't know about Magic was even able to use Magic.

Although less efficient, the Writers of books that Zen read about Rune Magic say that Rune Magic is a very potential field that needs to be researched.

While reading it, Zen slightly felt that this Magic Rune slightly resembled an Array that formed a talisman that could be made and used by cultivators, while ignoring the depth of their cultivation, as long as they had adequate tools and materials. And of course, also adequate spiritual stones(If in case, the Cultivator chooses to buy instead of make talisman theirself).

Magic circle.

A magic formed using a combination of Runes implanted into the user's body or a magical tool.

Because it was formed using Runes, Magic Circles had a potential that was no less great than Runes.

In order to bring out the effects embedded within the Magic Circle, one needed to channel their magic energy into it.

The advantage of the Magic Circle is that it can be used as long as one has magic energy, and it can continue to be used countlessly, as long as it is not accidentally removed and damaged.

Although their applications were different, Zen felt that the magic circle resembled a portable Formation Array that was activated by simply composing the tools and channeling a small amount of spiritual energy.

Then the last one - Origin Magic.

This magic is also a relic of the ancient era of magic greatness.

This magic is very unique. In contrast to modern magic that relies on the elements, this Magic only relies on the magic energy itself.

In other words, they use Mana directly without changing it first.

The Origin Magic discussed in the book that Zen read only explained the existence of Origin Magic.

There are no instructions for using any Origin Magic. It seemed that the magicians of this world had not yet solved this one ancient knowledge.

"Even so, this knowledge may only be recorded before the Zombie plague strikes. After the Zombies attacked... I wonder what happened?"

Seeing the widespread Magic, Zen believed that the absolute end could be avoided by the humans of this world. However, he was not sure how the humans of this world resisted.

Zen spent 3 days in total accumulating magic knowledge. Now was the time to practice this magic so that he could feel it directly with his body.

Zen's Zombie body was naturally very sensitive to magic or Mana energy. After all, he lived with it as a source of energy.

Because of this, Zen was quite confident in his magic talent.

"According to the book, one can check their elemental Affinity using an Affinity Orb or something, but..."

The library didn't have anything like that.

Other parts of the town might have them, but Zen was lazy to look.

His body had itched to return to cultivation.

For the sake of that, he had to learn everything about magic immediately!

'Besides...'

Zen looked at the other remaining Zombie Librarians.

"I'm not sure this body is completely risk-free even though it can live forever in theory."

Looking at the condition of the other Zombies, Zen was worried that this body had an extremely dangerous effect on one's sanity. He would probably turn into a mindless creature before he knew it.

Sure, Zen had known this for a long time.

One of the reasons he cultivated was for the sake of overcoming this.

Every time he made progress in cultivation, this hidden danger became more and more distant from him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Martial Realm alone was not enough to overcome it.

He had to continue cultivating.

***

"Alright, stay there well, okay?"

"Graohh..."

In the middle of the large stone street, Zen tied a Zombie to a pole. The zombie just growled and tilted its head listlessly, looking confused.

The reason Zen tied up the Zombies was obvious. He wanted to use it as a shooting target.

Why should it be a Zombie and not just a random object? Because Zen felt that testing the power of magic on living beings would be much more effective!

Considering what he learned from the books in the library, Zen decided to start by learning Elemental magic because this magic was the easiest to learn.

Sitting cross-legged, Zen closed his eyes.

He emptied his mind before focusing on manipulating the magic energy that naturally flowed within him.

He spent the first 1 hour of training meditating and feeling his magic energy.

Afterwards, Zen began to push his magic energy out of his body.

Zen was a little squinted in the first try. His entire body felt amused when it released magic energy. He felt as if countless strands of hair had suddenly grown out of his skin.

Zen felt intrigued because this 'strand of hair' continued to sway when it came into contact with the surrounding Mana atmosphere.

Of course, these strands are invisible.

These strands were just a manifestation of Zen's magic energy that he had released with the intention of sensing what was around him.

These strands elongate and 'touch' everything around.

"-!?"

Zen gasped.

He was shocked to learn that he could see and feel anything that his strands of magic energy touched.

Zen stared at both of his palms.

"... Spirit Body?"