Magic

To be honest, this had come earlier than Wang Rui had expected.

He closed his eyes and appeared in his Spiritual Sea.

Wang Rui landed on a reddish-brown leather sofa. Before him stood a coffee table piled with books, while a crystal chandelier radiating golden-green light hung overhead.

Before he had returned to his spiritual space, it had been a modern bedroom suite filled with books.

"I have now experienced just how endlessly changeable your spiritual space is," the white-robed old man sitting opposite him said with a smile. He looked perfectly at ease, as though he were in his own home. "The mind and consciousness are among the most profound fields. The scenery within most people's Spiritual Worlds remains fixed and unchanging... Yet you can manipulate your spiritual space and transform it at will. This shows that your control over your own mind is nothing short of astonishing."

"You flatter me." Wang Rui giggled, then asked tentatively, "That contract magic you mentioned just now...?"

"First, tell me about this ability you developed to unite humans and magical beasts... no, soul beasts," Electrolux said seriously, tapping the table.

Wang Rui did not hold anything back and told the Holy Necromancer all the results of his research over the years.

"Interesting." The old man stroked his beard and muttered to himself, "I never expected you to use the Power of Destiny to such an extent... In my remaining memories, even those professionals from my original world who could touch upon the Power of Destiny could not achieve what you have."

"However, the flaws in the system you researched are obvious... First, both parties to the contract must spend a long time cultivating their relationship. Second, you must personally handle everything, so the efficiency is low. Third, this method places particular requirements on the races and martial souls of both parties, making it difficult to popularize on a large scale." Electrolux pondered for a moment. "But in my world, humanity's study of magic was built on knowledge left behind by the Ancient Elven Race tens of thousands of years ago. For you to explore a nearly brand-new system from scratch on your own, refine it, and bring it to its present state... is already remarkable."

Being praised by a genuine genius instead made Wang Rui feel a little embarrassed.

Then Electrolux gave him a general explanation of the magic contracts popular during the era of the Glorious Papacy.

In the neighboring world of Throne of Seal, contracts were broadly divided into equal partnership contracts, master-servant contracts, and the more extreme blood contracts.

Yet these contracts were all clearly biased toward humans.

Even equal contracts were, in reality, human-centered and carried the nature of commands. Moreover, magic contracts could be formed directly without cultivating a relationship over a long period. They seemed highly efficient, but they could also be betrayed at will.

Humans could simply allow others to kill their contract partners without suffering any punishment.

This meant Wang Rui could not directly copy magic contracts. He needed to improve them substantially before integrating them with his Fate Contract.

If he truly dared to promote such magic contracts on the Douluo Continent, certain great sects or imperial nobles would order low-ranking disciples to contract soul beasts, then kill their contract partners to obtain soul rings for the sect's Core Disciples.

Wang Rui had always had great faith in the depths of human greed.

But the advantages of contract magic were equally obvious—the sheer accessibility that allowed nearly all professionals to use it, even without knowing summoning magic. More importantly, it possessed a complete set of "summon-locate-teleport" functions.

Magical beasts could normally inhabit their own territories, teleporting to their partners' side to fight when summoned. And when magical beasts encountered danger, they could also summon their partners for help.

It offered greater mobility and stronger concealment.

These were all advantages Wang Rui needed to incorporate into his own contract system.

"If you integrate this contract magic, you can make up for the shortcomings of the contract you invented," Electrolux said with a smile. "In my world, this magic has already developed simplified templates that everyone can easily use. I can directly tell you how to cast contract magic. But if you want to improve it and integrate it into this world's power system, then you must deeply study the complicated principles behind it."

"Of course." Wang Rui nodded.

"These are the most basic materials, including rune patterns, incantations, the principles behind condensing magical power, and so on. Read them yourself first. The powers of different worlds actually share common ground. If there is anything you do not understand, come ask me." Electrolux elegantly extended a hand and casually grabbed at the air, pulling several thick, heavy books out of nowhere. They were foundational magical knowledge manifested from his memories.

"That's it?" Wang Rui raised an eyebrow. "I don't need to take you as my master or anything?"

"Don't pretend to be a child for so long that you start treating yourself as one." The old man smiled teasingly. "By age, you are several thousand years older than I am. An old monster like you, wearing a child's appearance while hiding eight hundred schemes in your heart, calling me teacher? I could not bear that."

Wang Rui froze slightly, but quickly concealed the oddity on his face.

The red-haired youth shrugged and grinned. "What can I do? I'm still a baby among my own kind. Powerful soul beasts measure their lifespans in tens of thousands of years."

Soon, the smile faded from his face. Lightly tapping his knee with his index finger, he asked seriously, "Your memories have not fully recovered yet, have they? I thought you would continue recuperating and observing this world. Why did you choose to help me directly?"

"I like this Jade City you have built," Electrolux said mildly. "Amid this world's dark laws and humanity's bottomless greed, you built such a city. It is like erecting a lighthouse proclaiming hope and peace upon a pitch-black sea. Besides those likewise drawn to the light, there are also greedy demons and monsters seeking to steal its flame."

"Of course there are." Wang Rui smiled rather nonchalantly. "But there are reefs beneath the lighthouse too." His words carried another meaning.

The Gu City adjoining Jade City was no mere decoration, either.

"Oh? Then it seems I need not remind you." Electrolux raised his eyebrows.

Through the peaceful and beautiful Jade City, Electrolux could see ambition blazing fiercely.

The laws of this world forced humans and soul beasts to become mortal enemies. Wang Rui and the entirely new system he sought to establish were a challenge to the world's laws. If made public, they would inevitably shake the interests of all cultivators across the world.

Behind the refined, gentle face of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion stood an arrogant person determined to change the entire world, one who had chosen the most difficult path.

"In my fragmented memories, I remember witnessing the darkness of the human world, and I once brought an even darker terror upon that world. But you—you wish to establish a new system representing light and hope beneath this world's dark cultivation rules," Electrolux said slowly. "You want items that aid cultivation to become equal partners, even family. You seek to overturn the rules of the entire world and shatter everyone's understanding. You will inevitably become a target of all."

Wang Rui did not deny it.

"How could I possibly leave such an interesting matter without joining in?" The old man suddenly laughed heartily. "In life, I too was once a man who held the sun and moon in his grasp and plucked stars from the heavens!"

Wang Rui smiled. The corners of his lips rose, and then his grin widened further and further.

He had misjudged Electrolux.

He had once believed that, after coming to his senses, this Holy Necromancer had become tranquil as still water and would no longer be moved by worldly affairs.

After all, that was indeed how Electrolux had behaved in the original work. Other than his concern for Huo Hang, he had essentially cared little for external matters.

He had been mistaken.

This was the firebrand who, in pursuit of revenge, had directly turned from light to the undead, unleashed the Undead Scourge, and defied the entire world without hesitation.

Betrayed by his lover? Beaten down by society?

No problem. Electrolux would turn around and beat the entire world senseless!

What kind of harmless man could someone who had beaten up the entire world possibly be?

Wang Rui gazed at the old man's illusory face.

That aged face was filled with proud, unruly spirit and the boldness unique to the strong.

Even though the figure before him was only a fragment of the Holy Necromancer from those years, Wang Rui could still grasp the bearing of this genius.

"Come, then. Let us see just how far I can go with your help." Smiling, Wang Rui reached out and accepted those heavy books.

Let me ramble for a bit.

Wang Rui and Electrolux were not in the kind of master-disciple relationship seen in the original work.

Wang Rui was different from the usual transmigrators. At this point in time, he was already fifteen thousand years old—older than Electrolux.

Of course, it was not as though Electrolux judged people purely by their age. In the original work, he looked down on the four-hundred-thousand-year-old Ice Empress and the million-year-old Tian Meng, but what kind of lives had those two lived, and what kind of life had Wang Rui lived?

Wang Rui and Electrolux's relationship was closer to this:

A former villain who had been disappointed in the world and prepared to destroy it was defeated by persuasion, lost his memories, and moved into the home of a current villain who was preparing to overturn the world and establish wonderful new rules—though he had not yet grown strong. Although the former villain could not remember the past, he found the current villain's plan extremely interesting. The current villain's invention happened to be stuck at a bottleneck, so the former villain provided some technical support and said, This is too interesting. I'm joining too...

Electrolux: Build up my strength, overthrow the empire, kill everyone, and take revenge.

Wang Rui: Build up my strength, crush humanity, strive to flatten the soul master system, and establish a new order where humans and beasts coexist harmoniously.

Electrolux: Hm? Interesting. Let me join and see whether you can succeed.

Wang Rui actually did have a bit of that idealistic madman quality in him (?).

There were many ways to save soul beasts.

Exterminating humanity was indeed impossible, but he could have found ways to act as a hidden manipulator and weaken humanity.

With the Divine Realm around, escaping Douluo Star was impossible too. But he could have researched a small plane and hidden there. Once the Divine Realm was gone, he could have immediately fled to another planet.

All of that would have been much easier, but he insisted on establishing a once-and-for-all Pokémon—not really—new order of peace between humans and beasts.

Honestly, he was pretty wild.