Chapter 36: The Master's Judgment

The weak need a loneliness like fireworks, for their whole lives they yearn for a dazzling moment of brilliance.

Felix doesn't need that.

His loneliness is like wine; rich, intense, and fermenting with perseverance and madness. When a lonely soul becomes persistent, the near self-destructive frenzy that follows is terrifying.

The stubbornness in his bones is like wild grass rooted deep in barren soil. It's not about growing into a towering tree, but about drawing in more nutrients to survive. The same persistence, the same stubbornness, and the same madness are all ingrained in him…

You cannot imagine the expression on a child's face, just turned fourteen, as he carves complex and intricate magic patterns into his own flesh with a cold, gleaming dagger. His pale face, tightly clenched lips, the blood that spills over, and his trembling hands as he sets down the dagger...

Eighteen hours of near self-destructive training every day bring a deep sense of fatigue to Felix's soul. He suppresses this fatigue, pushing it down, forgetting it. His spirit is tense as a bowstring, he even needs the help of black magic just to sleep! He dares not relax, nor does he want to. A fully drawn bow might break, but it might also shoot the most dazzling and brilliant arrow between heaven and earth!

Overexerting energy, will, life, and even soul, is the best way to temper the spirit.

A damaged body can be slowly nursed back to health over time, but one act of giving up means the next time, you've already lost your courage...

These fifteen days of isolation in the Saint Erde Cathedral have been the most tiresome and painful time in Felix's life. During these days, he even feels as if he's tormenting his soul to the point of imperfection. The only thing that keeps him going is his thirst for power!

He once longed for the power to change his own destiny, now he craves the power to talk to Mrs. Ireland as an equal, at least, without having to look up to her...

In these fifteen days, Felix completed the analysis of "Holy Cross - Instruction" with an almost 'headstrong' perseverance, successfully deciphering the magic network channel between "Holy Cross - Judgment" and "Holy Cross - Decision." Meanwhile, his nearly self-destructive madness also broke the physical shackles on his spirit!

His magical power hasn't even touched the edges of the "Golden Realm," but his spirit has opened its own "Realm"!

"Sub-plane Conscious Space" — After stepping into the Golden Realm, only the most talented spellcasters can open this spiritual world!

A spellcaster's realm doesn't help much in battle; the influence of the spiritual world on the material plane is pitifully small. Even someone as powerful as the Shadow Queen Christie can hardly extend her spiritual world into the material reality. The greatest use of the "Sub-plane Conscious Space" is for thought, serving as a buffer between the spiritual world and the material plane in terms of contrasting time flow.

Spellcasters with a "Sub-plane Conscious Space" can even enter deep meditation in one second, and then stand up the next second as if nothing happened, dusting off their buttocks. If others dare to do this, the surging magical power would trigger the external magical elements, exploding their heads like watermelons in the next second!

A spellcaster's perception of the outside world can be simply divided into three realms, representing "Elemental Transformation," the "Silver Realm," and the "Golden Realm," respectively.

"We feel, we perceive, we 'see'."

The sixth sense tells us what it means to feel, the abnormal surge of elements teaches us what it means to perceive, and the soul freed from the shackles of the flesh teaches us what it means to 'see'...

Any strong individual who steps into the "Golden Realm" can never avoid facing their own soul directly!

In the world of the spirit, the soul is the master!

...

"Saint's Cross - Judgment," a level 65 Holy Light spell, initiates with "The Lord's Verdict." Its casting time is fifteen seconds, followed by a sequence of "Saint's Cross - Judgment," "Saint's Cross - Decree," and "Saint's Cross - Purification"! If you're powerful enough, you can even finish with the ultimate move, "Saint's Cross - Redemption"!

Felix's meager magical power couldn't sustain him through "Saint's Cross - Purification," the spell in "The Lord's Verdict" sequence that deals the most damage to dark creatures. The bit of magic he'd gathered in a short time could only support him through the first two spells of the sequence before he had to cast a basic "Healing Spell."

After accidentally opening the "Sub-Plane Consciousness Space," Felix's mental strength became unnervingly formidable. Inside the "Sub-Plane Consciousness Space," he daringly used the Holy Light spell in reverse, memorizing the magical pathways as the magic surged backwards!

Ultimately, Felix succeeded in decrypting the "Saint's Cross - Judgment" and "Saint's Cross - Decree" spells in a way that would be nearly suicidal in the physical realm.

Simulations in the mental world don't stir up the magical elements as they would in the physical realm. Constantly innovating, magic can be deadly if new spells are created in the main material plane. It's akin to risking your life nine times out of ten!

Wise spellcasters create new magic in the mental plane, decode it using a 26-character alphabet, and finally translate it into a new magical incantation. This is the process by which magic of all levels is born.

Deciphering the spells marked a new height for Felix. Even though he hadn't touched the three-dimensional world of the magic net, he'd at least extended his hand beyond the plane that confined his thoughts.

Two instant-cast level 65 "Saint's Cross - Decree" spells undoubtedly gave Felix a monstrous burst of power! As long as he could decrypt the magic net pathways, with his abnormal mental strength, he could perfectly replicate any spell within his magical capacity, achieving instantaneous casting in the literal sense.

A three-second magic gathering time compared to a fifteen-second spell chant is a world of difference. In a caster's battle, being just one second faster could change one's fate...

...

With excitement in his bones, Felix left his room for the first time in half a month. As the innocent nun changed his clothes, he even felt playful enough to lift her smooth chin, then smiled and gently scraped her blushing, delicate nose...