When a world's basic structure consisted of the four elements of wind, fire, water, and earth, rather than the microscopic particles of a certain world, then this world would no longer be related to science.
However, there were some things in common. For example, intelligent lifeforms' methods of researching the nature of the world. This was determined by intelligent lifeforms' different yet similar ways of thinking and evolution. If science was humanity's exploration and development of Earth and nature, then magic would be the mages' understanding and development of the world's essence.
Since this world's basic structure consisted of the four elements, no matter how far magical civilization had advanced, elemental magic would always be the foundation and technical reserve for many types of magic. It was just like how a certain world's technology had already reached the age of spaceflight, while the pinnacle of physics had actually reached the microscopic world. Yet, the theories and research results of these two worlds were actually able to complement each other and help each other out. The most famous of these two worlds was probably the theory of relativity and its subsidiary research. His explanation of spacetime and gravity was the foundation of modern aviation, while his analysis and understanding of the microscopic world such as electron movement.
This world's Truth Seekers were all like this as well. They would boldly make inferences, carefully verify, and gradually analyze the nature of the world. This was the only goal that every mage had in common. Sometimes, understanding the microscopic nature of the world seemed to be nothing more than a useless theory, but it could actually result in the rapid advancement of practical technology (magic).
Perhaps nobody would have expected that in that sudden battle, the person who gained the most wasn't Roland, who was currently bathing in dragon blood. Nor was it the Goddess of Wealth, who had received an explosive increase in her Wealth Points and believers as well as pain in her divine soul. Instead, it was the loser of this battle — Zero.
In the Tako Republic's language, "Hasse" meant "amber." And in the middle of the snowy mountains was the core of the Ice Plane — Hasse Castle.
The ancient ice castle was decorated in a "historical" style. Unlike Aso, who had been born as a slave, Zero's era was the Tark Republic's most prosperous era. The decorations had sharp edges, geometric patterns on the towers, divine beasts with rings in their mouths on the main doors, ice crystal waves on the frozen rivers, and life-like shoals of fish. These were all remnants of ancient civilizations.
In the garden, maids made of ice were slowly moving about, serving guests who were also made of ice. Artists were currently performing. Apart from the normal sounds of people and the music that should be playing, this castle seemed to still be in operation. However, in the empty hall of ice that had been lost in history, there was only a lonely throne. The master of the castle was sleeping on that throne, her long and slender dress extending all the way to the bottom of the stairs.
Zero was in a deep sleep. Her appearance and attire were exactly the same as when she was in the mortal plane, but there was now a small golden crown on her forehead.
However, she did not seem to be in a good state at the moment. The left side of her body was filled with bone-piercing cold air and white frost, while the right side was burning fiercely. There seemed to be a dividing line in the middle that isolated all these changes so that they would not interfere with each other.
The ancient emperor slept there, just like he had for the past thousand years. Only, at this time, more icicles extended from one side of the throne, while the other side began to melt, as if hinting that some changes were happening.
In this world where everything had stopped, time was meaningless. After an unknown amount of time, the outside world was still covered in ice and snow, and the sky outside the window was still gray. But suddenly, a soft sigh echoed in the empty hall.
"… As expected, that's the only possibility … I never expected that I would be taught a lesson by a junior … Is this one of the foundational natural laws of the world?"
Although she was asking herself this question, she didn't need to answer it herself. At Zero's level, her knowledge was already capable of changing the world.
"… Energy … is actually the law of conservation?"
For the master of this dimensional plane, words were power. Her understanding was the truth. The moment she said this, the entire world lit up. A golden light extended from the throne, and many things were changed wherever the light reached.
Observation existed. Under the gaze of the Great Emperor, the world was changed. It was as if an invisible brush was painting over the world.
The snow-white walls of ice and snow were now covered in the color of dust, as if they had been baptized by history. The doll-like ice maid's skin now had the color of flesh and blood. Apart from her crystal-clear eyes, she was basically a living person.
The ice flowers in the garden were dyed in all sorts of colors. The ice fish jumping in the waves finally reappeared in the water. The Wheel of Time, which had stopped for thousands of years, began to spin again.
The surroundings of the ancient castle had completely changed. The original snowy mountains had turned into lush green mountains. The frozen wasteland was once again dyed with a yellowish-brown color. The Amber of Ice had turned into a bright pearl among the lofty mountains.
"… Is this the feeling of breathing? Is this the melody of heartbeats? "
The person who had changed the most was probably Zero herself. Her translucent skin now had white flesh and a blood-red color. Her incorporeal dress had transformed into solid silk.
* Thump … Thump … Thump. *
Zero's heartbeat, which had stopped for tens of thousands of years, suddenly became alive again. Joy and nervousness spread through her veins. An indescribable change was happening to Zero's body. Her accumulated power over tens of thousands of years had been replenished by something else in this world. It was as if she was a stubborn rock that had been transformed into gold. Perhaps she would still be an Undead Emperor, but the current her was neither dead nor alive. She was no longer her past self.
"Zero? No, from today onwards, I shall be known as' Conservation. '"
Only the equally ancient Archons knew that in that era, naming oneself after one's greatest achievement was a personal convention that abandoned the "zero" in one's name.
Ice River, Ice Snow, Frozen Sleep, Beneath the Ice, and Zero. These represented the five stages of Zero's life. The name "Zero" had been with her for the longest time. Today, she had finally changed her name yet again.
However, the incomprehensible part was that the image of ice on the left and fire on the right still hadn't disappeared. Her soft and smooth skin was now split into two halves. The left side of her skin was white, while the right side was crimson. The left side of her hair was silver-white, while the right side of her hair was fiery orange-red. At her level, even though she could easily change her appearance, she ultimately decided to retain this unique characteristic of her appearance.
"This … shall serve as a souvenir."
But suddenly, she paused as she had just woken up from her joy. She recalled the projection clone she had lost. It was likely that Conservation was currently analyzing it. Since she was able to obtain information on Conservation and greatly improve herself, that meant that Conservation would also be able to analyze her clone and obtain the same level of information.
"I don't think so … It's just a clone. If it doesn't have a deep understanding of heat, it shouldn't be able to reach such a level …"
In a place that she had never expected, in a small world that she had just visited, there was also a painting brush that was truly coloring the world. The white ocean was painted blue, the pale sunlight was painted orange-red, and the running wolves were painted green.
While Conservation's physical body was in a deep sleep, that man's will descended upon Conservation's territory and casually changed this monotonous world.
And, the body that Conservation's will had descended upon and was diligently coloring the world was the lost incarnation of a certain Undead Emperor.
"No wonder this evolution is ranked higher than Dragon Blood. I've truly picked up a treasure this time. I've obtained the key that I've been missing the most. "
…
From a certain standpoint, there was no foundational difference between undead mages and mages. Unlike Bloodline Warlocks, who were born with the ability to cast spells, undead mages were also scholars who pursued the truth. They were skilled at transforming knowledge and theories into actual power.
If one had to find a single difference, it would be that undead mages generally had lower limits. Not only were they unafraid of the dangers and taboos of ordinary people, but more importantly, they focused their research on "life" itself.
"Why are these limbs working like this? Why can't a person move without this organ? Then, can't I just put all these pieces of flesh together and be able to move? And … just what exactly is a soul!? "
When it came to the more detailed aspects, due to the fact that there was a limit to one's energy and knowledge, it was just like learning a certain subject to a certain degree. Undead mages naturally branched out into different branches of research.
There was no such thing as being superior or inferior. Just like how technology wouldn't make any less money than top-notch physics, an archmage specializing in Undead Calamity forbidden spells wouldn't necessarily be able to defeat an alchemist specializing in the creation of Abominations. If one really wanted to compare who was superior or inferior, it would depend on how far they had progressed in their respective paths. Only then would they reach the levels of Myth, SemiGod, and so on.
Since they were all Mages, just like how an ordinary Mage's truth-level research results were the only way to become a SemiGod Mage, if one wished to achieve something on the path of a Necromancer, he would also have to reach the peak of his own research field.
Once an undead mage reached a certain level, it would be even more difficult for them than an ordinary mage. Perhaps it was because the world was unfriendly toward the undead that it was the most difficult for the undead to advance in power level. Ordinary SemiGod mages were equivalent to Myth-ranked undead. They were already the authorities in their own field of research. Meanwhile, Undead SemiGod Emperors weren't simply the authorities in their own field of research. They had even created their own field of research that only they existed in. They were the sole owner of a certain blank space in their field of research, which meant that they had reached a level where the world didn't recognize them. Yet, they just happened to exist in reality, which made them the enemies of the "world."
This was also the foundational reason why Undead Emperors were able to enjoy the treatment of other Evil Gods and Gods from other dimensions, even though they were only SemiGods. From a certain standpoint, they had indeed ventured far too far into forbidden territory, and had already reached the most dangerous boundary.
But no matter how far one ventured, one would still have to start from a foundational research topic. If my foundational research topic was "the quality of one's soul," then judging from the mysteries contained in my projection, "Zero's" research topic was "the temperature of one's life."
"Why is one's soul 21 grams?" "Why is the body temperature of most life forms (mammals, birds, etc.) fixed at 37 ° C?" In some ways, these questions were similar. They all seemed like simple questions that could be easily answered. But if one wanted to answer them, one would have to ask all the way to the very core of the world — the essence of the soul and the secrets of life.
That's right. From the very start, the undead mages who researched the structure of zombies and the strengthening of ice dragons were all idiots who had been blinded by power and had gone down the wrong path. When the four major elements reached the extreme, they would return to the very essence of the elements. That was how Frigid Maw's foundational magic and simple yet powerful forbidden spells came into existence. Meanwhile, undead magic started from researching the living and the dead, and the final research topic was still the same — the soul and life.
For me to be able to progress so far in the study of souls, apart from my own determination and the accumulated knowledge of two lives, my soul, which would never fall into the Cycle of Reincarnation, could be considered unparalleled in the world. And in order to reach the level of Undead Emperor that would be impossible to reach through normal means, apart from the 99% of hard work, the 1% of talent was also necessary.
Although this sounded rather depressing and negative, since Undead Emperors were "unreachable through normal means," it would indeed be impossible to reach Undead Emperors without countless geniuses blessed by the heavens. No matter how hard you worked, it would be impossible to reach Undead Emperors. Perhaps you were just a tiny bit away from Undead Emperors, but that was the difference between victory and defeat.
For example, if I didn't have the experience of tempering my soul in the Cycle of Reincarnation, personally witnessing the essence of the soul in the Cycle of Reincarnation, singing and bathing in the River Styx, and repeatedly repairing my damaged soul, it would be impossible for me to reach the level of Undead Emperors.
As long as there were enough undead and the environment was good, it would still be possible to have .000 … .001% talent. Perhaps I should call them geniuses blessed by the heavens, or miraculous geniuses. But if they wanted to temper their talents to the extreme, to the point where they would need to use a genius blessed by the heavens in order to win, it would probably take hundreds of years of hard work, as well as luck from winning a great prize. Naturally, there would be very few undead emperors. Since it was far too difficult to reach the level of "impossible to reach", theoretically speaking, it was impossible for an Undead Emperor to reach the level of Undead Emperors younger than two thousand years old …
There were exceptions? I wasn't even three hundred years old yet, yet I had already reached such a level? From a certain standpoint, I had to thank my System. Without her assistance, I wouldn't have been able to accumulate so much power, nor would I have been able to reach this level so quickly. Not only that, I also had the knowledge of two lives, the greatest cheat of all. In the field of research, looking at things from a different perspective would cause the scenery to be completely different. Changing one's way of thinking would be the most difficult part. How many geniuses with astonishing talent would be stuck at the moment right before they reached the level of Undead Emperors …? I definitely wasn't mirroring that silly cat. Her problem was different from most Myth-ranked undead.
Cough, cough, getting back to the main topic, from a certain standpoint, "Zero" was doubtlessly a genius blessed by the heavens as well. She had spent countless years to reach this level. As for her age … Fine then, just like how I didn't care about Harloys, Little Red, and other ancient elves' ages and Immemorial Dragons' ages, as a gentleman, I shouldn't care about these ladies whose ages were calculated in units of ten thousand years.
Yep, it definitely wasn't because I was worried about accidentally thinking too much and letting the silly cat bite my head off. Nor was it because I had recently been so poor that I needed the silly cat's help in order to not starve … Zero, as a pet, actually had a secret stash of money! I couldn't believe it!
Cough, getting back to the main topic, "Zero" was a ghost. Her natural talent was the ability to steal away the heat of anyone she came into contact with. This wasn't a rare talent, nor was she a special high-level undead. Her growth rate and combat strength would be extremely limited. However, there was something slightly different about Zero's ability to steal heat. While other ghosts would steal as much heat as they could when they came into contact with them, Zero would meticulously divide the amount of heat into units, and use her precise calculations to do all sorts of tricks.
Perhaps this talent of Zero's wouldn't be very useful in battle, but her incredibly precise control over energy allowed her to make tremendous progress in her research on negative energy. She finally reached the pinnacle of her research. And, what truly helped her reach the "unreachable" realm of Undead Emperors was her research on "the effects of energy on living creatures".
With her natural talent, all changes in energy could be seen at a glance. She was able to meticulously observe the changes in the temperature of ordinary living creatures. In fact, she was even able to create the "negative energy temperature" of the negative energy magnetic field around undead creatures. With her special vision, she was able to determine a person's or undead's strength with just a single glance. She was one of the top Undead Emperors in her research on how to use negative energy to drive undead creatures. Her undead army was a true perpetual motion machine and a source of negative energy radiation. She was one of the scariest existences in a protracted battle.
And when she viewed energy as the source of all living creatures' existence, she also gained the ability to transform into energy and split energy. Zero's most frightening aspect was her perfect control over energy. Fortunately, only her main body was capable of using her full power. Roland had only faced less than 0.1% of her true power.
However, this was where Zero stopped. She only knew about the effects of energy on living creatures and undead, but she was unable to understand the effects that energy had on the entire world. This wasn't because she was stupid or conservative. It was because undead mages' vision had always been focused on the soul and life. They had no interest in the environment that was made up of inorganic matter. And if they ignored the changes in energy in the environment, how could they possibly obtain the truth from a single individual's research? Unfortunately, most research in this world of magic was based on the idealism of "I can see it, so it exists". It would be incredibly difficult to obtain the truth.
Perhaps someone had warned her before, or perhaps she had learned some secrets from literature. But for Undead Emperors at their level, their inner understanding of the real world was so different from the real world that they could even project projections to affect the real world. It would be incredibly difficult to shatter past beliefs and reorganize them.
Finally, when a similar existence used the real world to viciously slap her in the face in a way that her theories couldn't explain, she felt pain and annoyance, but this also woke her up.
"So, energy is conserved. Energy can be transferred from the sun and moon to plants, from plants to humans, and from human corpses to nature. Perhaps our world isn't isolated after all. Negative energy can also be transferred and converted. Perhaps the end of the negative energy that drives the undead to move is the positive energy that allows living creatures to move. "
But after she changed her beliefs, her world finally took another step forward. The conversion between "negative energy" and "positive energy" broke through the boundaries between life and death. Fortunately, Undead Emperors were already the highest level of undead. Otherwise, it was likely that they would have to create a special title and rank for Undead Emperors.
From a certain standpoint, this was the result of Roland's research. It was the crystallization of both Undead Emperors' knowledge. And when Zero evolved into "Conservation" because of this, Roland, who had obtained a portion of Zero's research results from Aso's incarnation, used a different method to supplement his own theories, and obtained even more.
Originally, it would have been impossible for Roland to analyze Zero's incarnation. However, Aso had given him a large amount of undead knowledge. Although Aso's knowledge wasn't necessarily superior to Roland's, as the true and exclusive research results were still sealed away, Aso's knowledge was the standard teaching materials in the Tark Republic, as well as the common research theories used by high-level undead mages. Zero himself had also grown up step by step through these theories. With this knowledge, it was as if he had the key to opening a door. That was why he was able to successfully analyze Zero's incarnation.
"… The world's energy cycle has been reconstructed. This isn't the Earth that only has positive energy. The cycle of negative energy is one of the foundational reasons for the existence of souls. This is the true secret of this magical world. Zero's eyes are just too useful! What I see isn't necessarily reality. I've been limited by my past beliefs. This isn't the purely physical world of the past. This is a world constructed from both the spiritual and the physical. While Zero has been trapped by this world's beliefs, I've also been limited by the scientific knowledge that I previously viewed as a treasure. "
At this moment, the previously shattered "Undead's Crown" was reconstructed. However, unlike the completely repaired Ice Treader, this Soul Imprint of undead magic was the crystallization of the three Undead Emperors' knowledge. However, this Soul Imprint had already taken a completely different path. An even more arduous path was now before Roland.
This Soul Imprint was the face of a man. However, it was split in half along the middle. One side was a skeleton, while the other side was a living person. The dead side was smiling, while the living side was crying. This Soul Imprint had broken through the boundaries of life and death and understood the very essence of souls. He was …
"… Since he's mastered the cycle of life and death, then the judge of the dead is the most suitable for him. In that case, let's call him the 'River Styx Judge.'"
None of the Undead Emperors were easy to deal with. Zero was able to obtain inspiration from Roland and improve. As the victor, Roland obtained even more. It was just that he was limited by his power level, so it wasn't completely obvious. However, some of his gains could be seen.
At the same time that Roland achieved a breakthrough, my System also gave me a notification. The power that I had been looking forward to for so long had finally arrived.
[Congratulations to host for successfully repairing your Soul Imprint. You have awakened the SemiGod level racial talent, 'Gaze of the Hell God!' System Notification: This talent is extremely dangerous. Please use it with caution. System Notification: This talent has the potential to evolve further. Please use it with caution.]
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