Breaking Convention

He sat cross-legged and gripped his palm in the air, causing a purple orb of magical energy the size of a chicken egg to manifest; it was extremely dim, flickering as if it might vanish at any moment.

"The magic power within my body has already run dry."

He spoke softly, his face devoid of expression.

The key lay in constant trial and error, followed by continuous modifications.

He worked to minimize the risk of a magical backlash by following the node pathways provided in the scroll, immediately switching to a different route whenever one failed.

Through constant shifting, he sought to discover that final magical node.

"Then, what exactly is my final node?"

His eyes brimmed with intense curiosity; possessing a soul from another world, he always felt that this so-called final magical node was something special.

Why would such a unique magical node exist within the human body? That was the question.

"Hoo—"

He took a deep breath to steady his mind and began to meditate according to the magical nodes described.

Without needing to refine the natural magic from the outside world, he gathered it all here through the boundless void.

These magical energies surrounded Aurelian, transforming into colorful specks of light that poured into his body, causing his form to glow.

Since the year 1000 of the Era of the Human King, the world's original magic power had begun to dwindle.

To absorb magic through meditation, one had to extend their spirit into the unknown void.

The void was unknown; no one knew what existed there. Some magic practitioners, too absorbed in their work, eventually fell into madness, babbling incoherently and unable to extricate themselves.

The void was dangerous, but it held infinite, inexhaustible magic power!

"Ugh!"

He let out a muffled groan, his brows twitching as he sank deeper into the process.

The mottled, mixed-attribute magic caused him unbearable pain, as if insects were tearing and gnawing at every inch of his flesh.

This was his body's instinctive resistance, attempting to forcibly expel this impure external magic.

Yet Aurelian accepted it by force, continuously guiding the magic to flow according to the nodes on the scroll.

Every time a magical adaptation failed, he would proactively abandon it, switch to another node pathway, and begin the guidance process once more.

This time it went smoothly; the flow was unobstructed, and it did not trigger a violent rejection from the magic within his body.

His tightly locked brows slowly relaxed; he hadn't expected to be so lucky as to succeed on the second attempt.

Just as the mottled external magic flowed unimpeded and was about to reach the central magical node:

Boom, boom—

The magic throughout his entire body suddenly boiled, spiraling toward a total loss of control!

"Damn it!"

Aurelian gritted his teeth and hurriedly modified the magical node route.

Gradually, the magic on the verge of a runaway surge began to subside.

Although the chaotic magic had calmed, Aurelian's heart hung even higher in his chest.

He knew the final magical node was indeed fraught with hidden dangers at every turn; one careless mistake, and his life would be forfeit.

He continued to focus his mind on navigating the magical nodes.

While meditation was beneficial, time in the outside world was slipping away rapidly.

Aurelian had already attempted over a thousand magical node pathways, all of which had ended in failure, and on several occasions, the magic had nearly spiraled into a true catastrophe.

Had he not reacted in time, he would already be a corpse.

His face, usually handsome and gentle, was now unnaturally pale, devoid of any color.

Meditation was not a case of "the longer, the better"; beyond the danger of madness, it also caused excessive exhaustion of both body and spirit.

"My body can no longer take it. To avoid becoming the first person in history to be exhausted to death by over-meditating, I will try one last time."

He concentrated his focus and slowly channeled the natural magic.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck his mind; this time, he chose a completely different magical node route.

He intended to reverse the process, absorbing the natural magic directly into the central node and then pushing it back out.

But to reverse-channel magic was absolutely shocking; not a single person in this world dared to do such a thing!

Was he tired of living? If you reverse-channel magic, it bypasses the inspection of the nodes and is guaranteed to spiral out of control.

There was no "why"—just as one plus one equals two, and the void repels powerful living beings, this was an immutable truth!

Yet Aurelian, having tried so many times, suddenly birthed this idea: if the forward path doesn't work, I will try the reverse; I must attempt every possibility!

Having transmigrated here, he was not bound by common sense, which was precisely his most valuable trait.

"Let's give it a try."

Although this was walking a tightrope, Aurelian could not suppress the impulse in his heart.

Just this once.

With that thought in mind, he completely released the magic nodes in his body, allowing natural magic to surge in endlessly from the void.

Barrier after barrier seemed to be thrown open; the magic, now without obstruction, became reckless and unrestrained.

Aurelian's entire body trembled, and his eyes began to bloodshot, with red veins surfacing.

It felt as if a primordial beast were locked within his heart, constantly battering against it, and his tension instantly reached its peak.

Stripped of its restraints, the natural magic surged instantly toward the central magic node.

The Star Magic that had originally gathered there began to churn in disorder; it was as if the magic had suddenly gained consciousness, actively resisting the influx of the foreign energy.

The two types of magic were like fire and water, ready to explode at the slightest touch!

It had reached a dead end!

Yet, there was a fire in Aurelian's heart; he had to keep going.

Perhaps the next step would be a cliff overlooking a bottomless abyss, or perhaps it would be a smooth, wide road.

His wine-red hair whipped about, and his eyes turned completely blood-red.

"Ah! Push through for me!"

Aurelian roared hysterically, and the bright candlelight throughout the room was extinguished in an instant.

Suddenly, a burst of intense red light erupted, as if flames were about to set the place ablaze.

A sound like a heavy membrane rupturing echoed here, and the red light vanished in an instant.

Dead silence, nothing but dead silence.

"Cough, cough, cough—"

Violent coughing erupted, echoing through the pitch-black room.

Aurelian rubbed his chest and stood up.

He extended his palm, and a radiance of magic as brilliant as the stars flickered in his hand, illuminating his handsome face.

Magic flowed continuously; he felt as if he were connected to the entire void!

Endless.

"I succeeded."

A brilliant smile appeared on his handsome face.

It turned out that some things truly required breaking convention to be achieved, and so, he had done it.

Aurelian felt as if his meridians had been cleared, and his entire being felt much clearer.

A special magic node had appeared within his body.

That's right, it was the Final Magic Node; natural magic was being fed in from there continuously and then released.

It was just like a sluice gate.

"From now on, whoever refuses to submit, I'll backhand them with an Excalibur!"

Of course, he was just joking; with his Lower Rank magic level and capacity, he was nowhere near the level required to release city-level magic.

The Final Magic Node was like a faucet, while he himself was a reservoir; he had to use the water inside the reservoir before more could be added, otherwise, it would overflow!

He stood up, and under the illumination of the magic light, he opened the tightly shut door and walked out of the basement.

"I wonder how much time has passed outside."

Perhaps a day, perhaps longer.

He pulled open the iron door and stepped out.

Returning to his bedroom, he discovered that the orb was no longer on his bed.

A strange look appeared in his eyes; had Jeanne taken the orb away? Usually, Jeanne would be waiting for him at the door of the room.

At this moment, the old butler Will walked in with a group of servants, all carrying brooms and buckets; it seemed they were here to clean the room.

"Mr. Will, do you know where Jeanne has gone?"