Great Power Belongs to the God Emperor, Decline Begins with the Magic Tide

The Barbarians' large-scale mobilization did not stop Landen from continuing to study this world's calendar and natural knowledge.

What shocked him most at the moment was neither the two suns and three moons in the sky, nor the incredibly complex calendar and climate they created, but the green box in his hand.

Back in Landen's hometown, there was a belief that the precision of a civilization's measurements could attest to its level of development. In his homeland, ancient people could initially only use rope and wood to roughly convey the concept of length.

As civilization advanced, benchmark concepts for weights and measures such as "foot," "inch," "yard," "tael," and "catty" were proposed. However, these concepts varied somewhat across different eras and dynasties.

Yet such discrepancies were tolerable before the Industrial Age, because handicrafts at the time did not require large-scale production or coordinated division of labor across industrial chains.

Only after the Industrial Age did assembly lines and mass production place ever-higher demands on the processing of every component, while allowing ever-lower tolerances for differences between individual parts. The more precise the industrial product, the greater the precision required.

At that moment, Landen held the Alchemy Calendar in his hand. There had to be at least several hundred, if not over a thousand, landed nobles throughout the Human Empire. Each of them possessed one with standardized units of measurement. That indicated that, at the very least, the Human Empire had industries requiring close coordination between different regions.

But weren't they a feudal empire? Wasn't he acting as a Baron? A wild Baron scratching out a living in the wilderness, chased by Barbarians every day—where was this industrial-chain coordination supposed to come from?

Not only in this frontier Barony, Landen had never heard other nobles, Knights, or merchant caravans use expressions precise to the hour. Everyone said things like a certain day in the first half of the month, or a certain time on a certain day—yesterday, the day before yesterday—such as morning, afternoon, or evening.

No one had ever said something like ten o'clock in the morning on September 14th, 996. Such expressions showed that life around Landen remained in the traditional agricultural age, where people only needed to know the approximate date and climatic patterns of the day.

Yet the calendar before him directly shattered Landen's preconceived notions. This feudal Human Empire not only clearly understood the significance of time and precise weights and measures, but had also established standards through magic that exceeded society's practical needs. But what was the purpose of such precision?

"Uncle Albert," Landen could not find the words for a moment. "This... this calendar has so many functions!"

"Isn't it amazing?" Albert's face even carried a faint, barely perceptible pride. "Precise control over time and space is a basic principle for nobles. You may not often encounter situations in your life where you need this Alchemy Calendar, but that is only because this place is too remote. In the major cities, a precise concept of time is extremely important."

"What do these nobles need precise time for?" In Landen's impression, what urgent business could feudal nobles possibly have?

"Meetings!" Albert answered with absolute certainty.

"What?" Landen was stunned. He had not expected that, after arriving in this extraordinary feudal world of swords and magic, he would still encounter meetings that had to begin on time.

"Magic is very wondrous. As early as a thousand years ago, Mages invented alchemical tools that allowed people to see those on the other side. After several centuries of innovation, the latest Alchemy Mirrors could simultaneously show the people on the other side of three to five other mirrors. Every Kingdom had a dedicated Mirror Hall used to contact Counts and Marquises.

"The Kingdom had designated meeting times. Whenever a meeting began, the King entered the Mirror Hall, and the Counts dressed in formal attire and stood before the mirrors to hold a high-level conference for the entire Kingdom. The Imperial Capital had a similar system, only far more complicated."

So this feudal nation not only held meetings, but video conferences at that. What did they even discuss in those meetings? Coordinating flood control and drought relief, or collecting summer grain?

"These high-level meetings are timely, but when it comes to actual implementation, don't mid- and low-level nobles like us still have to rely on messengers riding horses? What timeliness can these meetings really have?"

"They do matter. They report the movements of Legends. Every Legend is associated with a Kingdom, an Imperial department, an academy, or a sect. Legends themselves can travel to other locations through Teleportation Portals. But according to Imperial rules, when a Legend travels to another Kingdom or territory, they are responsible for notifying the local Legend or Kingdom."

"Legends are already Demigods. Why are they still subject to territorial administration?" Landen found it interesting. Wasn't this world supposed to respect the strong above all else? Why did Legends have even more rules to follow?

"Precisely because Legends were once Demigods. Many Demigods are gods of a particular region. When a god travels from their own territory into another deity's territory, shouldn't they notify them?"

So these Demigods were basically local earth gods and city gods. Landen grumbled inwardly, then suddenly remembered something. "Albert, there's one more thing. Why is our unit of length the meter and our unit of weight the gram? Are they unified throughout the entire Human Empire?"

"Yes. Not only that, they are also unified among the Beastmen and Elves."

"Huh?" Landen felt that humanity was rather impressive.

"To be precise, these are standards left behind by ancient civilization. Such Ruins exist in every large city of Humans, Elves, Beastmen, and even Dwarves and Mermaids. All civilized cities were built around Ruins, so many standards became unified. As for the terms meter and gram, the God Emperor unified pronunciation and language across the entire Human Race after ascending the throne."

"The God Emperor not only established unified standards for measurement precision, but also standardized language and writing?"

"Yes. Not only that, the God Emperor also founded the first official school, established unified examinations, invented the paper most commonly used today, and improved printing technology.

"Then, based on His discoveries, the rank originally known as Demigod was divided into three Legend ranks. He passed knowledge of Transcendent professions to non-noble students, allowing Mana-Wielders from ordinary backgrounds to have the chance to become Legends.

"The Tower of Purity He established could accommodate students from different regions, social classes, ethnicities, and even races." Landen could hear Albert's overflowing admiration and longing in his tone.

"At that time, the Human Race had never developed so rapidly. Specialties from cities were transported through Teleportation Portals. Human exploration teams could be found in the skies, the oceans, forests, and mountains. New schools of thought emerged constantly, the mysteries of the world were continuously discovered, and the riddles of history were continuously unraveled." Albert's tone suddenly softened. "After a century of exploration, humanity discovered that the vast starry heavens held numerous planets that could be explored and developed."

Huh? They had started spaceflight before even inventing trains? Landen wondered if he had missed something.

"Space Mages among the Mages discovered that the coordinates of the stars could be used to develop other celestial bodies. The God Emperor's most famous disciple, the Legend Starry Sky Mage Klein, was the first to uncover the mysteries of the stars. After discovering several habitable planets with relatively low mana levels, humanity entered the age of stellar exploration."

"By the year 600 of the God Emperor, humanity possessed not just one colony, but four planets slightly smaller than Alivia and eight planes that did not qualify as planets. By then, humanity had surpassed the achievements of the ancient civilization in history and stood shoulder to shoulder with the divine descendants."

All right, the level of civilization of the entire Human Empire rose considerably in Landen's mind. If they were exploring the stars, then precise time was indispensable. Though the logic behind such exploration was unfamiliar to Landen, its purpose was the same as all exploration and expansion: to expand the living space of one's race and civilization.

"What tools did we use to explore space and the stars?"

"Magic Arrays. In large cities, every noble's castle and every Archmage's tower required hundreds of complex Magic Arrays. Through magical methods such as Magic Arrays, Magic Patterns, and Magic Matrices, mana was directed according to requirements to achieve corresponding effects. Complex Magic Arrays were composed of dozens of smaller ones and required close coordination of space, time, and distance.

"Only powerhouses at the level of Archmage or above could successfully draw such Magic Arrays." Albert could not help but sigh. "Landen, the strength of our Human Empire is beyond what nobles in a place like this can imagine.

"With Two Suns above and Three Moons sharing the sky, the greatness of the Human Empire began with the God Emperor's ascension. For a thousand years, humanity drove out the Beastmen, intimidated the Elves, opened up the stars, and created Legends. This is humanity's greatest age!"

Seeing Albert's praise, Landen asked, "Let me ask you something. If our Human Empire is already like this, then why is my Baron family being chased around by Barbarians?"

Albert looked at Landen and smiled in satisfaction. "Great power belongs to the God Emperor; decline begins with the Magic Tide."

The Magic Tide was a mana phenomenon lacking certainty. When the Two Suns and the first five planets of the Laya Star System aligned, a Magic Tide would occur. If the three moons were also on that line, it would form a Super Magic Tide. Depending on the planets' exact positions and angles, the strength of the Magic Tide varied.

The most powerful Super Magic Field usually occurred once every thousand years. When a Magic Tide occurred, the mana level across the entire planet rose from low to high, then fell again before returning to calm, just like the tides.

A Magic Tide often lasted only a dozen minutes or so, but the sudden surge of mana within such a brief period affected many highly precise Magic Arrays. The Magic Tide did not merely create an instantaneous fluctuation in mana; it also caused instability in space.

"During the last Magic Tide, the entire Human Empire suffered tremendous consequences. Not only did the Gallop Kingdom fall, but many human Teleportation Arrays were shut down due to the Magic Tide's effects. Many Legend powerhouses lost contact because they happened to be stationed in various colonies. Other races used the Magic Tide to launch massive invasions into human territory, leading to the decline of the Human Empire."

"Teacher, you know so much. Did you learn this in Bristle-Wolf City, or in Dragon Tooth City?"

Landen was rather curious, because this kind of popular knowledge was not simply collected. Organizing knowledge and historical materials, simplifying them into teaching materials that fit historical logic and value orientation, was also part of a civilization's development.

It showed that the mainstream of this civilization was actively constructing a narrative framework. Its current narrative was that great power belonged to the God Emperor, while decline began with the Magic Tide. What intrigued him most was who, in a feudal age, was trying to construct such a narrative.

"Neither. There is no school in Bristle-Wolf City, only Count Bristle-Wolf's private academy. That academy only accepts students at Knight Apprentice level or above, and eighty percent of them are children of the Bristle-Wolf Family. The other twenty percent are children of Viscount or Baron families who wish to join Bristle-Wolf House."

What Albert meant by joining included marrying women of Bristle-Wolf House, becoming family Knights of Bristle-Wolf House, and so on. If a female Mana-Wielder appeared anywhere in the entire northwestern Count's territory, she would generally be sent directly to Dragon Tooth City for education.

"Dragon Tooth City does have a noble school. If you want to attend, it costs roughly two hundred Gold Coins every half year. That is about the income our territory earns after a year of trade, but our territory does not have many Gold Coins. Most trade is barter.

"And the young people who go there often only do so to meet the girls there." Albert's attitude toward the schools in the two cities could not have been clearer.

"There is only one place with true inclusiveness, regardless of gender, race, age, or family background: the Tower of Purity in the Imperial Capital. That great Magic Tower is one hundred stories high, and dozens of Archmages and more than a dozen Legend powerhouses reside within it."

"The school is inside the tower?"

"Of course not. The schools are spread throughout the Imperial Capital. The Imperial Capital has established sixteen Magic Schools. The first eight are Intermediate Mage schools, while the latter eight are Junior Mage schools.

"Children aged seven and above who are confirmed to have awakened mana can apply to study at Junior Mage schools. If they can advance from Mana-Wielder to Mage Apprentice before turning twelve, or become a Junior Mage before sixteen, they can proceed to an Intermediate Mage school, where they study for five years.

"If they can achieve a breakthrough to Intermediate Mage, they qualify to compete for a position as an Archmage's assistant in the Tower of Purity.

"If they can achieve a breakthrough to Advanced Mage, they can enter the Tower of Purity directly." Albert now wore an expression of incomparable reverence, as though he were speaking of the Divine Kingdom he worshipped.

Landen knew that Albert had probably studied there for several years in the past but failed to become a Mage, and naturally could not enter the Tower of Purity. Landen very much wanted to tease him, but feared discouraging Albert.

"Isn't the Imperial Capital where Mages gather? Shouldn't there be numerous Magic Towers? Why does it have to be the Tower of Purity?"

"Because the Tower of Purity is where the most Legends have been born. The first group of Archmages trained by the God Emperor—Klein, Zhuoqin, Karl Red-Dragon, and Nick Cuckoo—all later advanced to Legend within the Tower of Purity. The God Emperor not only discovered the path to Legend, but also the method of cultivating Legends. That is what makes the Tower of Purity so attractive.

"Landen, the path for humanity's Transcendents is already clear: from Mana-Wielder to Transcendent, and from Transcendent to Divine Rank. Take the sages of the past as your teachers, make ascension to godhood your aspiration, and regard the revival of the Gallop Kingdom as your duty."

"Okay, so what are we eating tonight?" Landen truly did not want to keep eating dry flatbread. He wanted something that would not choke him so badly.

Thanks to @Four Seasons Little Zombie Pure White Egg Custard for the recommendation votes.