In the Chaotic Dogma Realm, Izroth and his party faced a rare boss called the Silverline Entity. One of its defining traits was its ability to copy the skills of the opponents it was fighting—even skills they had never used in front of it.
The Liquid of Silverline Izroth acquired from the boss drop functioned on a similar principle at its core. It, too, possessed the ability to learn and adapt depending on the situation.
In truth, ten seconds was hardly enough time for Izroth to completely decode and unravel every layer of the tombstone while a magic code was protecting it. Therefore, he had to improvise.
‘Even with the Liquid of Silverline, there’s not much room for error. The amount of magic sequences is not too high, but the number of magic cycles and strands entangled together is rather troublesome… I suppose I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.’
Normally, there was a correctly structured order when it came to how strands and magic cycles were paired, yet what was Izroth was currently looking at was a mass of disorder. It was no wonder why the tombstone was slowly killing the Death Emperor!
‘If he was not at the peak of the legendary realm, I doubt he could have survived for so long under these conditions.’
Izroth could see several flames flowing out from cracks on the tombstone. These fractures were invisible to the n.a.k.e.d eye; however, Izroth was able to perceive them with his Energy Vision Sense. If he wanted to repair the tombstone to its original state, he would first have to find a way to seal the cracks. Otherwise, even if he fixed the magic portion of it, the same thing would occur again.
After some thinking and determining his approach, Izroth moved the tip of his carving knife to the top left corner of the tombstone, where one of the fractures was formed. He then utilized as little of his Essence as possible and began to carve various symbols into the tombstone.
The strange thing about these symbols was that they were silver in color, and instead of staying carved onto the surface of the tombstone, they would sink into it after a few seconds passed.
Approximately nine seconds later, the fracture on the tombstone sealed shut, and the flames that Izroth could previously view with his Energy Vision Sense were no longer present.
‘9.7 seconds… It’s closer than I expected. That’s one down, and 3,499 to go.’
If he were just 0.3 seconds slower with his actions, the magic code would have changed, and the fracture on the tombstone may have become even bigger as a result—at least, this would have been the case before he used the Liquid of Silverline.
“Oh? This kid is more skilled than I gave him credit for. I thought he just had a few tricks hidden up his sleeve, but to think he could seal a fracture before the magic code shifted…” The Death Emperor internalized.
What Izroth did earlier to his tombstone when he kicked it was a quick fix, so to speak—a temporary measure to prevent the death energy from spilling out of the tombstone in vast quantities. However, what he had accomplished just now was an authentic restoration!
“Nevertheless, the real hardship has yet to begin. Brat, don’t blame this old man for being unfair. No matter the price that has to be paid, I must leave this place.” The Death Emperor thought to himself.
Repairing the fractures on his tombstone may have been impressive, but if it were just that, then he would not have suffered for so many cycles in this Minor Realm and could have easily fixed the problem himself.
Meanwhile, Aurie watched on in awe. She was not as well-versed in repairing magic sequences compared to true scholars of magic, but she certainly understood more than the average person.
“My knowledge of magic is far from profound, but even I’m confident in fixing fractures of that level. However, to do so in less than ten seconds… I’m afraid this is out of my reach.” Aurie said to herself. She was curious about the method Izroth employed but did not want to risk breaking his concentration.
At the same time, Izroth started to grow more comfortable with the fracture repairment. Since this was his first time trying something of this nature in RML, there were still many uncertainties at first. But, after seeing how smoothly everything flowed, Izroth’s speed slowly started to climb. Izroth’s initial 9.7 seconds soon turned into 9.5 seconds, then 8 seconds.
6 seconds…
4 seconds…
2 seconds..!
“This is…” Aurie was speechless as she witnessed Izroth’s flawless precision with the carving knife in his hand. In just a few moments, he had gone from taking almost ten seconds to fix a single fracture, all the way down to a mere two seconds! The word incredible was a gross understatement! Even some highly skilled magic scholars she knew would not be able to achieve such outstanding results in the same span of time!
Aurie was not alone in her disbelief. Even the Death Emperor was at a loss for words. The magic codes were still changing every ten seconds, so how was this human adjusting so swiftly?
“The silver liquid contained within that vial… It has to be the key.” The Death Emperor speculated, and his theory was correct.
The Liquid of Silverline Izroth coated his carving knife with copied the magic code attached to the Death Emperor’s tombstone. In other words, whenever that magic code for the tombstone changed, so did the magic code for Izroth’s carving knife. In this way, he no longer had to concern himself with the forever shifting magic codes and could turn his full attention to fixing the fractures. If not for this, Izroth would have been continuously walking a tightrope with zero room for error.
Once he found his rhythm, Izroth resembled a machine with how fast and precise his hand swept across the tombstone carving magic symbols.
…
Approximately seven hours later…
‘That should do it.’
After working nearly seven hours straight, at last, Izroth finished sealing the final fracture on the Death Emperor’s tombstone.
Now, instead of death energy being released from the tombstone, it was actually being drawn in!
“I haven’t felt this alive in years… Ahahaha! Kid, despite your unlikeable attitude, you aren’t half-bad, not half-bad at all. Ahahaha!” The Death Emperor bellowed.
“Coming from someone like you, I’ll take my unlikeable attitude as a compliment,” Izroth replied as he closed his eyes and began to circulate his Source Chant. At the moment, his Essence was in a pitiful state after repeatedly utilizing his Energy Vision Sense; however, Izroth was extremely cautious so as not to overexert his Essence and enter a state of Soul Weakness.
Therefore, although it should not have taken him more than two hours to complete the repairs, he took several breaks in between to replenish his lost Essence to a safe point. But, it was not over just yet.
‘I got the most time-consuming part out of the way, but the real trouble lies in correcting the disorder of strands and magic cycles.’
Typically, when it came to strands and magic cycles that fell out of order, the magic sequences created from them would stop working. At that point, the spell in play would also cease its original functionality. However, for some reason, that was not the case with the magic involved in the Death Emperor’s tombstone.
Somehow, despite the chaotic strands and magic cycles, the magic sequences and the spell it formed were still intact. This phenomenon puzzled even Izroth as he had never encountered or read about anything like this in RML.
‘This concept may be above my current understanding of magic in RML. But, as long as I have a solid comprehension and foundation surrounding magic, finding a solution is not beyond my grasp.’
While he was repairing the tombstone, at some point, Izroth began to move on pure muscle memory as his mind entered a state of deep thought.
Spells were formed from magic sequences, magic sequences from magic cycles, and magic cycles from strands. Then, what were strands created from? What about the thing that formed strands—what was that made from? Where did it end? Were strands truly the first step to all magic?
What bothered Izroth was that there were three different types of strands—light, medium, and heavy. However, wasn’t this too complicated? Not in terms of understanding, but in a way that did not make fundamental sense. At least, not in a world like RML.
The system in RML was capable of deciphering his heavenly laws. A system that advanced—how could it be satisfied with such a shallow level of fundamental principles?
That’s why Izroth believed there was a deeply hidden truth to the magic of RML, and perhaps even everything related to the various unique power sources such as mana, energy, or even the Essence from his Source.
‘What creates strands..? If I can find the answer to this question, then…’
