A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 100: The Limitations of the Truth

"Partial truth?" Rorschach believed that Dryaz was emphasizing the last sentence.

"That's right, I don't want you to be misled into thinking that this is all there is to magic. It's just a silhouette we see from the symbolic realm. Like a tree, when you look at it from the ground and from above, the tree is still a tree, but the form you see is completely different."

"I think I understand some of it." Clearly, magic has conditions, costs, and rules for its realization, and the upside-down "tree" we see now merely reflects the origin and evolution of magic and its current operation.

"If you can remember this scene, it may greatly benefit your future path. As far as I know, few mortals have arrived here since the Age of Silence. Originally, the will of the gods should be visible here." Dryaz glanced around, but the space they were in only contained Him and Rorschach.

"The so-called Silent Generation, perhaps the gods are indeed gone. I am nothing more than a ghost resurrected from the past."

"They might also become gods of the new era." Rorschach recalled the mythological legend of Vidal, who, along with his brother Vali, would be the new gods of the new world after Ragnarok.

Dryaz did not respond, but said calmly, "This place is still under the scrutiny of a great will. We should not linger here. Let's go."

Ripples spread, and they returned to the stream.

Rorschach thought of a common saying: "Is the symbolic realm behind what we often call the 'veil' of the material world?"

"The world we live in, including the sub-dimensions, is a place where symbolism and reality intersect, a place where the two permeate and mix. This process of permeation is the existence of the material world thinking, imagining, and invoking miracles, while the existence of the symbolic world projects onto the material world in the form of miracles, thus giving rise to magic and divine arts."

So when you try to "penetrate the veil" in the prime plane, what you see is merely the result of symbolic projection and the trajectory of magical movement. For example, some people can see the spirits of the forest, but in essence, they live in the same space as us.

Only by traversing the obscuration of the uncertain dust and ascending to the Astral Plane, or entering the divine realms of the gods within it, can they correspond to the Primordial Plane we perceive, both being shrouded in the High Heaven. In fact, our entry into the Primordial Plane inevitably leaves a projection on the Astral Plane, and vice versa. Like a mirror, except it has no distinction between inside and outside; both sides are real.

Can one ascend to the astral plane and glimpse the divine realm and the primordial layer?

Rorschach thought of the pathways representing each elementary step, and the intersections of the constantly lighting up and going out. If he could observe all of this in the astral plane, wouldn't he be able to grasp the casting principles of all spells and monitor the dynamics of all spellcasting?

Finally, I thought of the Star Trek Project that Kano was dedicated to researching. It turns out that my mentor wasn't just working on an alternate world version of "Grandpa, I Want to Be an Astronaut."

Due to the Imperial Royal Magic Academy's neglect of basic magical theory education, intermediate mage Rorschach only belatedly realized the extent of his mentor's machinations.

Actually, this is not the fault of the Academy or Rorschach. Since the New Age, such conjectures and theories about the origin of magic have become unverifiable metaphysics. Modern mages prefer to study more practical issues in order to publish papers.

If Rorschach were to write down what he saw and heard today and send it to the Magic Guild, tomorrow some old scholar would be arguing with him, pointing out a hundred errors in his writings, and they would still be at an impasse. However, a paper titled "A Study on the Influence of Humidity in the Casting Environment on the Power of Third Ring Lightning" would be much easier to get approved.

"You must cherish this opportunity and ponder it carefully. Nowadays, even the most skilled monks cannot ascend to the astral plane or directly observe the original text layer; they can only speculate based on the manuscripts and materials of their predecessors."

Why could people in the past achieve what people today cannot?

"The Second War of Gods, which accompanied the collapse of the old empire, resulted in the shattering of numerous divine kingdoms and the generation of uncertain dust from the clash of powers. You often call it the Transmutation Dust."

They fill the gap between the real and symbolic planes, being both matter and a dangerous source mixed with chaotic divine power and magic. These crystals not only envelop the sky in the material plane, but also symbolically separate the prime plane from the symbolic and astral planes.

That's why I didn't pull you up to the Astral Plane, but instead directly pulled you to the Symbolic Plane through my image. Although at first, for some reason, you ascended directly to the High Heavens.

It felt like some local villager was acting as a tout, helping me sneak into the scenic area for free by climbing over the wall.

Dryaz smiled: "My power should also be within the Endless Crystalline, after all, I also perished in the War of Gods. Alas, my divine kingdom, Landveti Palace, was also completely destroyed."

Sister, you can still laugh like that, you're so strong.

Rorschach wanted to ask about the War of the Gods, a topic that many myths and scriptures avoided discussing, and the collapse of the old empire was only recorded in terms of mortal power struggles. However, the girl didn't give him the chance:

"Our time has come. I hope we can meet again under some tree somewhere in the world someday. Thank you."

"goodbye."

In fact, Rorschach still has many questions, such as what is the boundary and connection between the astral plane and the universe as Rorschach perceives it, and the real starry sky?

For example, who is the great will of the highest heaven? Is it the origin of the world or its end?

For example, if there are no other wills in the symbolic realm, then where are the wills of the Mother Earth, who is confirmed to exist, and the God of Light and Order, who is most likely still in office?

But all I can do now is open my eyes.

Rorschach lost consciousness and fell asleep during the day, but now it's nighttime, the time when everyone else is sleeping.

"Awake?" It was Master Cano's voice; he had clearly been captured to keep watch. The archmage examined the map by the campfire; if he wasn't mistaken, it was Cavendish's alchemical "navigation."

At this point, Rorschach and his team were already in the ruins of an elven village, where they had set up tents as a temporary base.

Kano put away the map and asked the boy, "Is the matter with Deliyaz over?"

"It's over."

"Alright. I'll wait for the guild members to receive the corpses of these evil creatures, the creations of these elves, and the data. After you return to the Holy Kingdom, write me a report that includes the performance of your apprentice Cavendish."

Why is it always another report? Rorschach reluctantly agreed. He caught Cano's meaning: "You're not coming with us?"

"I'll stay behind as the representative of the Tower of Stars to distribute these materials. Also, cough cough, didn't I come here through the Anywhere Door?"

Rorschach suddenly realized: "Oh right, you smuggled yourself into the Empire."

"What do you mean by smuggling? We mages can go wherever we want, right? But if the Empire finds out, it'll be a real hassle. We'll have to register, report to the Holy Kingdom, get certificates, and submit documents. It'll be a huge pain. I'll just go to the Forest Tower and use their teleportation array to discreetly return to Valuwana."

Luo Xia sat up from his sleeping bag: "There really is a fixed magic array for the successor! I want to use it too!"

Kano waved his hand: "Go away, go away, we'll talk about it when you become a great mage."

Firstly, the energy consumption of the teleportation array is much greater than that of the letter delivery system, making it unsuitable for widespread use.

Secondly, this is a restriction imposed by the various nations on the magic guilds and our magic towers. They can't control how we use it ourselves, but we can't announce it, understand? So, under normal circumstances, only archmages can use it, and it's only for teleportation between the magic tower and the guild's central stronghold.

Every regime is sensitive to the movement of people and the deployment of combat power. While the Magic Tower can ignore the nobles who express "serious concern" every day, the Magic Guild has a large number of apprentices, subordinate merchant guilds, and farms, with piles of bottles and jars in every country that they are reluctant to break. So, under the guise of "energy conservation," the Arcane Senate restricted the teleportation array network for teleportation personnel.

"Come with me when you're awake, let's go to the basement and pick out some books. Let's grab the good stuff first, don't be shy with the Forest Tower."

The Grand Master stood up and moved the stone slab aside to greet Rorschach.

Then, in the Elf Elder's study, the two encountered Mr. Kober, who held a dimensional bag in one hand and a book in the other.

Thank you to readers "雾骇zjl" and "退咯1就咯老啦" for their monthly tickets! Thank you to readers "SEERS", "刺客567-DA", "夜光照在屁屁上", "执夷道长", "风舞重阳", "伊奥", and "轻吟忆中悲伤" for their recommendation votes!

The Black Forest arc is finally coming to an end. Some readers have commented that the scene transitions were a bit disjointed, so I'll revise the connecting sentences. Sorry, and thank you all for reading!

(End of this chapter)