Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 523 Eternal Darkness
The anger on Katpera's face suddenly froze. After a moment of stunned silence, his expression turned solemn. He took a deep breath and said, "Of course I've heard of the Unification Theory."

"Since ancient times, countless scholars have devoted countless efforts to exploring the essence of divine power and magic. Although the mainstream school of thought concluded as early as the middle of the Star Moon Era that all natural energy traces back to the runes of the Forge of Life, no one has ever been able to explain why runes only exist in two stable forms: natural divine power and natural magic, let alone achieve the universality of the two primal forces."

"Over the millennium, there have been many madmen who proposed the idea that 'gods and demons are one, and that demons and prayers share the same origin,' even speculating that this is the path to transcending the gods and dominating all things. However, whether it was the once-prosperous Star Moon Civilization or the chaotic world of the resurrection era with its myriad races, all pioneers who attempted to delve into this field could only end up failing miserably. By the time of the Golden Age, with the rise of fundamentalism, this theory had become taboo in Asia and Ningmgford."

Lucia noticed that Katpera seemed to want to say something more, but stopped herself before she could finish, saying, "In short, this matter is no less dangerous than burning your source. If your trump card is to forcibly mix all your divine and magical power and use it all at once, you should stop as soon as possible."

Lucia shook his head, spread his five fingers, and unleashed a thin, transparent, shimmering blue force field in front of him, saying, "Try using any spell to break through first—know that you can break through it with your full strength, find one that makes less noise."

Carter Pella glanced at the force field, then casually shot out a magical sword. A beam of blue light pierced through the narrow space between the two and landed squarely in the center of the force field!
The next instant, the surface of the Shining Sword trembled almost imperceptibly, then glided across the arc of the force field at an extremely fast speed, shooting into the sky with a whoosh, and dissipated below the treetops under the exquisite magical control of Katopella.

"Can you feel it?"

Katarina looked surprised. "Just a moment ago, the magic in my shining sword suddenly lost its connection with the body and became uncontrollable, as if it had been assimilated by a force field."

"Tops Field - This is the recent research result of a highly renowned scholar from the Reyalucaria Academy. It aims to use a few simple spells to disperse and recombine the enemy's magical energy with very low mana consumption, blurring the boundary between one's own and the enemy's magical energy in the field, using the weaker former to attract the stronger latter, and thus deflecting the trajectory of the enemy's magic."

"Tops is also extremely famous?"

Katerpera shook his head, recalling the names of the old guys he remembered, and said, "I have no recollection of them at all. Rea Lucaria has become increasingly decadent in recent years. Among the younger generation, only Seren is worth mentioning. The Five Great Classrooms and the Two Sages were abolished last year, and now there are only four Great Classrooms left. I've never heard of this person among those old relics."

"Ahem." Lucia was just telling the truth, at most exaggerating a little for his subordinate, but he didn't expect that Katpela knew so much about the academy.

He could only explain, "Mr. Tops has only been a member of the academy for a short time, and given the North's isolation from the outside world, it's normal that he hasn't heard of it. But gold always shines. Once you've witnessed this magic, you should understand what level of achievement this is."

After pondering the principles of force field magic for a moment, Katpera affirmed, "Indeed, even if his academic achievements in this lifetime stop here, it is enough to open a new classroom."

“Now that you understand force field magic, it’s no wonder my technique just now is so surprising. I did the opposite, embedding the concept of a ‘force field’ for defending against external spells within my body. I used the purest primordial magic to ‘deceive’ divine and magical power with a mimicry technique, drawing it into my blood and qi, and releasing it in one strike, thus achieving a result that is close to a unified technique.”

"The integration system you mentioned fuses many forces into one. I have been trying to figure out this technique in the memory battlefield for the past two years. However, due to the great strain on the body, it is probably no less harmful than burning one's own essence if used rashly. It is only because my physical strength has improved recently that I dare to try it out."

After saying that, he looked at Katpera and thought to himself that although this technique was unconventional, Katpera should be able to understand its feasibility given his background.

Divine power, magical power, and physical strength—countless renowned powerhouses throughout history have only been able to specialize in one of these three. Those who have reached the pinnacle of two have invariably become overlords who dominate an era. The fundamental reason lies in the fact that the barrier between divine power and magical power is too difficult to overcome. The more one's power reaches its peak, the more clearly it suppresses the other.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for a top-tier priest to also become a top-tier mage, and those with excessive physical strength will also find it difficult to control the other two natural forces.

Even someone as exceptionally talented as Michaela was limited by the overly pure and refined Golden Divine Power, thus preventing her from awakening her primordial magic.

The current King of Elden, Radagan, has dedicated his life to becoming a "perfect" being. He studied magic in Kalia and prayer in Rodel, but ultimately could not master everything and could only rely on the combination of golden prayer and combat skills as his main means.

Other demigods, such as Godwin and Ratan, have achieved profound mastery of all three elements of power, but none of them have yet been able to fuse and use these three powers together.

Lucia's method has not yet achieved true "fusion," but as Tops reported at the last forbidden research conference, it can use trickery to temporarily combine the three elements, creating an extremely terrifying explosive force in a short period of time.

In his view, this was the only and best way until a truly unified formula was developed.

Sure enough, after hearing the explanation, Katpera paused for a moment, then let out a soft breath and said, "You're incredibly audacious."

"Did you know that during the heyday of the Star Moon Civilization, the Eternal City conducted an experiment to forcibly fuse divine power and magical power? The consequences of such a fusion are far more than just one plus one equals two. Rather, they are superimposed, intensified, and fused together, ultimately creating an effect no less than creating a small life furnace on the spot and then detonating it instantly."

"The Grand Masters of the Eternal City were not satisfied with this outcome. Over the centuries, they made countless attempts to intervene in the fusion process. Although they could never make it as controllable as ordinary magic, they ultimately achieved a kind of 'relatively controllable loss of control'."

"It is said that each time it is released, it drains the magic power of more than ten Origin Mages. However, the effect it can produce is even greater than this terrifying consumption. According to the remaining historical records, the moment that 'eternal darkness as black as night' opens, all magic, prayers, and even divine punishments personally descended by the gods within the domain will be devoured and transformed into a surging power that can be driven by the caster."

She raised her head and gazed at Lucia, as if the black silk that covered her eyes was the eternal darkness lost a thousand years ago.

"You know its name—every loser who was crushed to dust by the enraged gods for this transgression should remember its name, shouldn't they?"

"Eternal darkness."

"Lucia said softly."

(End of this chapter)