Everything

What was magic?

According to the theory of the Tacma Church, the founder of the classical magic system, and the creation model of the Seven Holy Spirits built by the first crown in the first year of the Platinum Calendar, magic was a transformation from unresolved possibilities to confirmed facts.

The material world in Currere was a confirmed reality, so ores were ores, steel was steel, and swords were swords. If one wanted to turn ores into swords, one had to burn and smelt them into steel. Then, they had to forge steel into swords—not one step could be missed.

However, for magic chanters, they could skip all the steps: a mage proficient in transformation could transform ores into swords, and a powerful Illusion mage could even draw a sword from the void.

This was because in the eyes of a true magic chanter, be it ores, steel, or swords, these observable substances were only embellishments. Their essence was solidified magic power.

Everything is magic—this was the core of the Tacma Church's theory. At the same time, it was the cornerstone of modern magical theory. Everything, including the operation of the Astral Laws, had to follow this ironclad rule.

In the Tacma Church's framework, the original world was a place with only light, and light was endless magic that contained infinite possibilities.

In a huge event called Creation, a portion of magic power left the Realm of Light and sank and solidified, turning into this solid and certain physical world.

This concept inspired Proteus to propose a model of the creation of the Seven Holy Spirits, ultimately creating the Holy Spirits Church that unified the entire Vic Continent's mythological system.

Of course, this was all in the future.

Matter was solidified magic, or it could be said to be the magic of death. Therefore, magic chanters couldn't use them to change reality. At most, they could only use them as a medium.

All the magic chanters could use were active magic power from the Realm of Light that had never participated in the creation of Currere. They used the Astral World, the Moon Realm, and everyone's souls to flow into the world, turning them into the constantly changing power of the physical world. Otherwise, all of Currere would be a rigid specimen.

Therefore, when magic chanters used magic, even if it was only a level-1 trick, it was essentially a miniature genesis.

The magic chanters were like the Seven Holy Spirits of Creation. They guided the magic power of the Light Realm to Currere and used the concept in their minds to transform the infinite possibilities of magic power into solid reality.

From this perspective, there wasn't much difference among magic chanters. After all, what they did was use magic to reconstruct reality.

The things that truly divided their strength were easier.

The scale and depth of power.

Scale was very easy to understand. It was obvious at a glance who was stronger between a mage who could only blow leaves and a mage who could stir up a storm.

Vincent had seen many people constantly study and explore the scale of magic. Even the current Astral Council regarded the scale of strength as the most important quantitative standard for mages.

However, after reaching Vincent's level and status, he gradually understood that the true standard to determine the strength of a magic chanter should be the depth of their strength.

True magic should be a miracle, not a tool.

It was very simple to light a branch. Even mortals without magic could rely on drilling wood to light it up. It was not a big deal even if an entire forest was burned to ashes. Even without using magic, just letting a spark land on a withered branch at the right time could do the same deed. Anyone could do it.

This was because wood burning was a part of Currere's laws. Using magic only compressed the preparations needed to light them.

The depth of strength was the level that magic had come into contact with the rules of Currere. Ignition of the forest didn't reflect this. Letting steel, rocks, or even water or frost burn, creating miracles that couldn't have happened, was the embodiment of the depth of strength.

Stopping time involved the deepest and most basic rules of Currere.

Among all the Creation Gods, time was always the first thing to appear.

Or rather, the concept of 'sequence' originated from the appearance of time.

Changing time was a miracle that only magic chanters who had reached the Divine Realm could complete.

However…

"How is this possible?" Vincent asked. His tone was more indignant than puzzled.

"How can anyone step into the Divine Realm under the tyranny of the Astral Laws?"

Now, even if he wanted to advance to the Legendary stage, he had to obtain the approval of two-thirds of the Astral Council members. Those spots had basically been monopolized by the royal family and other noble families.

This was also an important reason why he followed Duke Simon and sought the independence of the Blackwater Province. He was even willing to indulge his colleagues' Moon Realm beliefs.

As long as the Astral Laws continued hanging above every magic chanter's head, one had to obtain the Astral Council's approval to open up the path to the Astral World for advancement.

Without the authority to enter the Astral World, one would be like Vincent. Even if one's mental strength had long crossed the threshold of the Legendary stage, one would not be able to obtain enough magic power to support the scale and depth of their strength. They would only have the title of the number one person below the Legendary stage.

If he wanted to bypass the Astral Laws to obtain enough strength without killing the innocent and using a large number of souls as his magical power fuel, he could only do it through the Moon Realm or ritual magic.

If this was the case at the Legendary level, there was no need to mention the legendary Divine Realm.

It was said that because the amount of magic power required by Divine Realm magic chanters was too large, the magic power pathways built in the Astral World might be consumed because they couldn't withstand their power. Therefore, there were less than five Divine Realm magic chanters in the entire Empire. Moreover, they had to suppress their realm to the Legendary level all year round to avoid destroying the Astral Laws.

Here was this man in front of him, whom he had never seen before, casually using a Divine Realm-level spell.

This was unacceptable to him.

The person said, "This power is more reliable than trading with the Void Sovereigns and going through an incomplete King and Rebel ritual, right?"

"Who are you?" Vincent asked in a deep voice.

The other party's words were filled with disdain for the Moon Realm. Unless this attitude was fake, it was impossible for his strength to come from the Moon Realm.

If he wanted to reach the Divine Realm by extracting the souls of mortals, he had to imprison at least half of Thorn City's population's souls as a source of magic power.

Therefore, the man's magic power could only come from the Astral World.

However, he wasn't restricted by the Astral Laws. How was this possible? Unless he was a magic chanter who had reached the Divine Realm before the Astral Laws were established.

Vincent shook his head in his heart. No mortal could live for so long.

"You can call me Presiding Judge. If you agree to my conditions, I'll be the person who can fulfill your long-cherished wish," the person said.

The slag that stopped in midair landed with a faint rustling sound.

Vincent asked, "Then what are your conditions? What do you want?"

"What I want is…"

As the other party spoke, he opened his hand before clasping it tightly.

"Everything."