Throne of Magical Arcana

As Memphiste, the Ice Duke, strode into the tavern, the place immediately became lifelessly quiet, like the frozen plain covered by the blizzard; cold, silent, and never to change.

“Thirty years is better than thirty thousand years?” The old man, who was likely to be a legendary sorcerer in the field of souls, chuckled. It was obvious that he thought the Lord of Mysteries was carrying out his specialties as a devil and bluffing other people with the exaggerated truth that was not to be believed. “In the past ten years, you barely walked out of the Silent Glacier. I almost suspected that you had quietly arrived at the main material world. To what do I owe your visit to my little tavern today?”

He was reminding Lucien that the Lord of Mysteries might be concocting a great scheme that involved the main material world during the past ten years so that Lucien wouldn’t be tricked.

Memphiste laughed aloud and sat next to Lucien. He took a bottle of “Fire Liquor” and a bottle of “Water Soul Wine”, blending them into his favorite mix. “You can ask Evans whether or not it was an overstatement. In fact, he is the best evidence himself.”

He acted as if he were Lucien’s best friend.

Of the three legends, one was mixing the wine behind the bar counter, and two were sitting on the high chairs before the bar. On the bar counter were delicious wine, cups, and dim candles, exactly like any other tavern looked like. Who could’ve thought that they were three legends?

“Huh?” The old man paid attention to his statement after hearing Memphiste’s repetition. “In the first thirty thousand years of the Magic Empire, many legendary spells were invented, different schools were classified, a preliminary magic system was established, the fundamental knowledge of mathematics and astrology was concluded, the attempts of alchemical items were made, and blood power was synthesized. Could they have been done in thirty years?”

Having been born in the last glorious phase of the Magic Empire, he was like an old noble who clung to the former glories. Therefore, although he paid attention to the Congress of Magic and the development of arcana, he did not really join it. Also, he could not accept that “arcana” could accomplish what the Magic Empire achieved in thirty thousand years with only thirty years.

The Ice Duke looked at Lucien, who had been listening quietly as if it were none of his business, and chuckled. “During the thirty years, the major achievements include the discovery of the mysteries of gravity and the localization of the sun…”

He was not an arcanist, and naturally, his words were not too accurate. If it were Lucien, he would’ve only said that there were preliminary achievements on the nature of gravity.

“What? The sun has been found?” The old man dropped the cloth with which he was wiping the cup. He interrupted Memphiste and looked at him and Lucien in shock.

The location and the very existence of the sun had been a conundrum that bothered the Magic Empire for tens of thousands of years. There were no sorcerers who did not want to unravel the secret. He was not an exception either. However, even the brilliant geniuses like the Sun King, the prophets like Mr. Maskelyne, and the experts who were as strong as demigods like the Stellar Mentor—he was the first top legend of the Magic Empire—had to lower their proud heads before the problem and admit that there was still a long way to go for them to reach the truth of the world.

Now, the sun had been discovered?

The Ice Duke did not mention why he came at all, as if he was here specifically to enjoy the old man’s shock. He pointed at Lucien with a smile and said, “Naturally, you are looking at the discoverer of the sun and the founder of the relativistic system.”

“You discovered the sun? The relativistic system?” the old man asked in a hurry. What is the relativistic system? 

When he left the main material world, there hadn’t been such a term in the Congress of Magic. After only a brief thirty years, the world had become so strange?

Lucien did not give a straight answer but answered with the rigorousness of arcanists, “Technically speaking, the main reason for the discovery of the sun was not the relativistic system. It was only a secondary factor.”

I don’t know much about arcana. You must be fooling me… The old man couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. He hurried to take out his crystal ball that had been covered in dust for years.

Because he was in the Silent Hell, the effect of his prophecy was limited. However, the Ice Duke knocked on the table and released the suppression of his demiplane. So, the old man drew the conclusion. “The sun has really been discovered… What’s wrong with this world?”

The sun had a special position in astrology. It was also a special symbol in the spiritual domain.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with this world either, but now that a top legend has come to the Silent Hell, I have to check on him, in case the Silent Glacier is attacked someday in the future and I don’t know what’s going on at all,” the Lord of Hell said merrily, as if he were not checking on the enemy but closing a deal with Lucien.

“A top legend?” The old man stared at Lucien again. Although he did not know all the senior-rank sorcerers and archmages of the Congress, he did know most of the Highest Council. Thirty years ago, the young man couldn’t have been a legend, and after thirty years, he had reached the peak of legendary? It was even more unbelievable than Brook!

“As far as I know, it’s only been a dozen years since Evans began to study magic. Well, he did not become an official sorcerer until the year when the former Ice Duke died,” the current Ice Duke added. In the old man’s shock, he observed, “Now is not the ancient times, when the big shots could hide for decades but still retain the ability to change the situation. Today, whoever lives in seclusion and does not pay attention to the development of arcana, he’ll be completely outdated in ten years. Instead of being a mastermind or a key force, he will be crushed by the wheel of time.”

He seemed to be mocking the old man for his confusion after living in isolation for thirty years.

“A dozen years…” The old man could not express anything with language now. What could be achieved in a dozen years? After he began to learn magic, it took him a dozen years to become a fifth-circle sorcerer.

Confirming the information that Lucien did not cover with his crystal ball again, the old man heaved a long sigh. “The very existence of you has suggested the terrifying development of arcana in the past decades.”

After his remark, his eyes suddenly turned passionate, and he stared at Lucien. “Just now, you mentioned that the Congress of Magic almost made a breakthrough on the studies of the soul, didn’t you?”

“Theoretically, yes.” Lucien did not understand why the Ice Duke was helping him to convince the old man, so he was rather prudent. “Mister, what’s your opinion on the nature of the soul? For example, if a soul loses the past memories and can never regain them, and it does not have the way of thinking and the personality before, with the waves and vibe of its spiritual power changed too, can we still say that this soul is identical to the soul in the past?”

“Well…” The old man hesitated. He had considered the question before. His wife next to him was a vivid but not extreme case. His special mark had prevented the soul waves from changing.

It was both a philosophical question and one that touched the nature of the soul. Obviously, it was not easy to answer. After a long time, the old man finally replied, “I don’t think so. After the five main features of the soul are changed, it will be a new soul.”

“Then, if we give the soul memories of the past, raise the previous way of thinking and personality, and forever change its spiritual power and vibe with magic, will it become the previous soul? Is the soul natural-born and above society, or is it social and can be artificially ‘raised’?” Lucien proposed a sharp question. “A different case. If another soul is melted with this soul and inherits its memories, thinking, personality, and wave frequencies while retaining its previous memories, will it equal to the current soul?

“For example, if Duke Memphiste occupies your wife’s soul and simulates her memories and other features, will he be equal to your wife? What’s the most fundamental quality of the soul?”

Looking at his “wife” next to him, the old man looked gloomy and could hardly give an answer. The Ice Duke intentionally enlivened the atmosphere. “As a matter of fact, the most fundamental quality of a soul for me is the devilish core.”

“I wonder, what’s your opinion on the question, Mr. Evans?” The old man looked at Lucien both earnestly and expectantly.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien said, “I have been to the World of Souls, where I saw the Furnace of Souls.”

“The World of Souls? The Furnace of Souls?” The old man further felt that he had been abandoned by the passing of time.

Lucien briefly introduced the World of Souls and the Furnace of Souls, and instead of telling his central studies, he said more abstractly, “I believe that the soul should have a quality that is of a higher level and more fundamental. It is deeply associated with the Furnace of Souls. As for the specific conditions, I’m afraid that I can only discuss with the arcanists with papers after I return from the primeval hell.”

Looking at the Fire Liquor before him in silence, the old man did not say anything until a long time later. “I have some studies about the soul myself. I would like to exchange our works.”

As expected of a legendary sorcerer. He knows what I am implying clearly. Lucien smiled in satisfaction and had a fair and square exchange with the old man with his current understanding about the soul, excluding the parts that involved other arcana knowledge and a certain model that was to be confirmed on this trip.

The old man’s files on the soul were very detailed, including his works on the soul and two legendary spells about the soul. Some of the experiments were too cruel for Lucien to complete himself. He had been looking for other ways to confirm the results until he got the information here. Also, the old man provided his knowledge about the primeval relics in the depths of hell, which added to Lucien’s confidence.

The old man also thought hard as he read the files that Lucien provided. He rubbed his forehead nonstop, as if it disrupted something that he always believed in. He said to himself, “… In such a case, resurrection, phylactery, and the effect of the Sword of Truth can all be explained self-consistently…”

Next to him, the Ice Duke put on a solemn expression as he looked at Lucien and said, “I’m here today to ask for your favor, Lucien. I’ll provide more detailed files about the primeval hell.”

Crossing his hands, Lucien did not give a reply immediately. Was it his attitude, or the Lord of Hell’s?