Chapter 1480: The Bird and the Return (25)_1

Constantine's eyes widened. He first glanced at Shiller, then at Bruce, and then back to Shiller, saying, "Is this your teaching method? No wonder you two tormented each other for four years. If my teacher expected me to memorize all this in three hours, I would definitely..."

Before he could finish, Bruce had already stepped forward, calmly flipping through the three books. He nodded and said, "My memory system is a bit problematic right now, affecting the upload and download speed, so it might take two reads to record them. Usually, one read would be enough."

"Go." Shiller pointed with his cane to a table and chair next to the bookstore window and then looked to Constantine saying, "Take me to your warehouse, I've recently developed an interest in the ritual part of the mystic world."

Constantine, craning his neck, looked at Bruce, noticing that he had indeed sat down to read seriously. He shook his head, sighed, and led Shiller into the warehouse.

Two hours later, as it had become completely dark outside, Shiller emerged from the upstairs study. A dejected Constantine followed him. Shiller descended the stairs, and Constantine spread his hands saying, "…why are there so many whys? The rituals in the magic realm are all passed down orally. I just do what others do. How would I know why?"

"Moreover, I am already one of the most well-learned and versatile magicians in the magic realm. I'm familiar with the habits of pretty much every demon and angel, even grand mages like Andrew have called to ask me about the weaknesses of lesser-known gods."

"Yet you don't even know the source of the same symbols that appear in four rituals." Shiller pointed out.

Constantine sighed deeply, leaning on the handrail as he descended the stairs, saying, "You can think of it as inherent terms in mystic symbolism, just like nouns in English. We just use them, without needing to understand them."

"Isn't understanding them the key to using them better?"

"No." Constantine denied, walking up to Shiller and looking into his eyes, "Magic power is borrowed. As long as someone is willing to lend you power, even a three year-old child can cast magic."

"Have you considered this might be a trap set by the gods?" Shiller said as he leaned against a table at the front of a bookshelf, "The form of existence of gods and demons is completely different from humans. Yet the powers they lend to humans can perfectly fit their bodies. It's clear that this cannot be their origin power, it must have undergone some sort of processing."

"In theory, they could require their hosts to adapt to them without such processing. Do you think demons and gods are kindly doing the work for magicians?"

Constantine stared at him blankly, after a while he frowned and asked, "You're saying this could be a conspiracy?"

"All gods and demons, without any exception, modify the powers they lend to humans to perfectly fit the human body. Can you think why?"

Constantine furrowed his brow deeper, as someone who was once a magician, he has experienced much more magic than Shiller and had to admit that most gods and demons lend powers that humans can easily control.

Having read many magic texts, Constantine knew that in ancient times, there were several examples of magicians who died from loss of control of the power. But he hardly heard of such accidents recently. Magicians who fell ill mostly did so due to paying the price, not inability to control the power.

Even more, many of the gentler powers do not cause any minor damages when passing through the human body. This is odd because the human body was not born to accommodate energy.

After pondering for a moment, Constantine stated seriously, "I can only tell you that what you're talking about does exist and indeed the power of demons and gods is purified for human compatibility. In ancient times, only the most talented mages could manage to control violent energies. In recent years, magic practitioners are getting younger, with many even proclaiming that 'children are natural psychics.'"

"In the two books I just read about magic rituals," Shiller said as he lightly tapped the table with his fingertips, "the magic rituals of ancient times were incredibly complex. Mostly comprised of patterns, materials, energy, singing, and ceremonial dances. But in modern times, having just one of these components suffices for a perfect execution."

Constantine nodded. He looked away and gazed at the ceiling, as though recollecting, "That's right. I prefer using magic arrays, or patterns, as a means to cast spells. Female mages lean more towards chanting. Like Zatanna, she uses antilanguage magic, which involves chanting."

"Do you think this is really a good thing?" Shiller also looked at Constantine with a furrowed brow, asking, "Lowering barriers, growing power, increasing number of mages, and a gradually growing debt. Is this truly a god's grace?"

Constantine fell silent as Shiller went on to say, "They are making the borrowed energies more and more suitable for humans and simplifying the casting methods. It cannot possibly be for the sake of making it easier for humans."

"Just like credit cards, banks are relaxing approval criteria and raising loan limits. Is that for the public's benefit? No, they just want people to form the habit of spending beyond their means, then borrowing more, because they have the ability to force people to pay."

"Extra-human beings are lowering the barriers to borrowing power, luring more and more youths, even teenagers, into becoming mages, all for the sake of extending more credit and collecting more interest."

"And the fatal flaw in this is, if the process is very simple, no one would bother to inquire into it. Isn't this the case with the magic realm now?"

"The ancient mages were still studying the structure of every rune that could retain energy, how to improve the runes and code words to form more efficient patterns to control power." Bruce's voice came from the left, he was still reading, just quietly joining the conversation with Shiller and Constantine.

The two turned to look at him, and Bruce went on, "I've seen traces in these books of the ancient wizards gradually controlling the wild power step by step."

"Back then, many mages devoted their entire lives to optimizing a single rune, and an entire school would only master one pattern, then study its mystery for generations."

"Some mages even observed the origin of cosmic power through the magic gateway, countless speculations about the origin of the world and magical energy were passed down from mouth to mouth among various schools. Today, these classics have become sidelined knowledge put on a pedestal."

Bruce looked up at Constantine and said, "Since humans learned to make fire, we have never stopped studying the origin of the world. The question 'how does the universe exist' runs through all fields of scientific learning. It's the starting and ending point of humanity's scientific journey."

"But the magic realm has completely given up on research." Shiller picked up, lowering his eyelids and sighed, "Like you said, who wouldn't be tempted to have the power far superior to ordinary people just by having a few words with a demon in a dream, to leave behind the commonplace society, and embark on a journey to the mysterious and splendid magic world?"

"And how many people, in the process of recklessly flaunting their powers and fantasizing that they are magic geniuses, have considered that there might be Gods deliberately pushing it all too easily?"

Constantine remained silent for a long time in place, and the room returned to quiet. Bruce turned his attention back to the book. After a while, Constantine's voice, young beyond his years, rang out.

"Do you know? This kind of discourse of yours is regarded as heresy by the younger generation of mages. The current trend in the entire mystic world is that only humans who are talented and lucky enough have the possibility to control magic."

Shiller shook his head, "John, I think you know, any society that denies the meaning of effort is unhealthy. The purpose of talent-only theories and bloodline-only theories are more sinister than you think."

"Now every young wizard pretends to be a genius." Constantine pursed his lips, "I know, many of them can't even draw a complete magic array. They only pay a higher price to gain stronger power, and then they go on to tell others that they are of astounding talent. I find it pitiful for them."

"I have always been very opposed to the trend of solving everything with magic, but as you can see, mages like Zatanna, who have noble blood and unique talents, are the ones who are admired in the circle, while I am nothing more than a destitute dog chased by creditors."

"But you are actually much stronger than Zatanna." Shiller looked up at Constantine, "This is also why I hope you won't use magic. For people like us, magic is nothing but a hindrance."

Having said that, he turned to look at Bruce, who was still immersed in the world of books. Constantine followed his gaze. After a while, he laughed bitterly, "Are you planning to establish a new school and reform the magic realm? I can only tell you, it's not that nobody has tried to do this, but it's very difficult."

Constantine swallowed and began to explain to Shiller, "You might think mages generally get stronger as they age, but the exact opposite is true. The younger and stronger a mage is, the more capital they have, and the more cost they can afford. Naturally, this can lead to stronger power. The stronger the mage, the more say they have. Therefore, the magic realm has always been ruled by young and strong."

"Most mages don't live to old age. Those who survive are not necessarily stronger than others, but they either find a way to avoid some of the cost or use their power very carefully, which allows them to live longer than others."

"Because they are old enough, close enough to death, they have to choose their payment more carefully, or they might die as a result. That's why most elderly mages hide in their mage towers and rarely go out to socialize."

"This has led to a problem where young mages have power but no brains, older mages have brains but no power, and there's a mess of fools who have neither. Those few prodigies who have both have a hard time shaking the entire magic realm with their meager numbers."

"But do they have Batman?" Shiller asked Constantine as he looked at him.

Constantine opened his mouth. Just as he laid his eyes on Bruce, Bruce looked up at him and said, "I've finished."

Constantine was left speechless, then he heard Bruce say.

"And according to the article 'A Century-Long Study on the Generation and Evolution of 623 Affinity Runes by Priscita Fraubon and her disciples', on June 16, 1992, at 3 PM, the two magic circles you drew were completely wrong - a real mess."