Reflection Tower

Before long, the girl Anthony had called Xilin walked in, a book in her hands.

After setting the book aside, she left again.

Anthony picked up the book and said to Adam, "A sorcerer is one of the extraordinary professions. What they mainly cultivate is the power of the soul to interfere with matter—mental power."

"Its ultimate purpose is to uncover the mysteries of the soul."

"Mental power has many uses. It can strengthen one's bearing, or be directly controlled with the mind and turned into tangible force. But that uses mental power far too inefficiently; it is an enormous waste."

"So people developed sorcery. By studying the forces within the natural environment, they made their mental power resonate with those forces and thus displayed extraordinary miracles."

"However, most sorcery cannot be cast immediately, which is why spellbooks came to exist." Anthony opened the book. Every page within was not paper, but a hard sheet of some unknown material.

"The pages are forged from rare ores capable of retaining mental power. Simplified rituals are inscribed upon them beforehand with mental power, and when they are needed, they can be activated directly to release sorcery."

Holding the book, Anthony watched as a circular array suddenly appeared on its first page, branded into the surface.

"I have left a spell on it. You can connect to it with your own mental power and cast it. Although the mismatch in mental frequencies will halve its power, it can still provide you with a Dustless Shield for roughly three minutes."

"It is yours now." Anthony placed it before Adam, making Adam feel a peculiar impact.

To be honest, Adam had been reincarnated in this world for nearly fourteen years, yet he had hardly possessed anything valuable. Today, he had been directly given a spellbook that looked priceless at a glance.

Just think of how, under Alva, apprentices could only do menial labor, while here with Anthony, one word of "teacher" had immediately earned him a spellbook, with a protective spell even thoughtfully left inside it.

For an instant, Adam felt a little lost. But he quickly accepted the spellbook. He was an aberrant being; that origin could not be changed. If he had truly been an ordinary person, he might really have stayed here in peace and devoted himself to cultivation.

"You should part your hair a little more." Anthony smiled, glancing at the scar on Adam's face. Shaking his head, he said, "People need a little confidence. It is only a scar."

"..." Adam smiled, lowering his head slightly. "I'm used to it."

"Come with me." Anthony rose and headed outside, and Adam immediately got up to follow him.

"Using the Reflection Tower's reflection, I opened up a corresponding space within. I call it the Reflection Tower. We are actually in an upside-down state right now." Anthony walked ahead, occasionally turning around to speak to Adam, his words carrying a hint of boastfulness.

"I live at the top of the twelfth floor. My laboratory is there as well." Anthony introduced the place to Adam bit by bit.

"There are twelve floors in total, with twelve rooms. The place from earlier was the reception floor." Anthony waved a hand over the door, and an Ⅰ lit up upon it. "Unfortunately, there have never been many visitors."

Along the way, Anthony taught Adam how to use the gold coin bound in chains to travel to the corresponding floors.

Each of the Reflection Tower's twelve floors had its own purpose, but Anthony had currently only granted Adam access to the first, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth floors.

As for the other floors, Anthony said there were some dangerous things there, making them unsuitable for Adam.

Their final destination was the tenth floor. There was a library here, and most of their future lessons would take place within it.

Anthony waved a hand, summoning a book and placing it before Adam.

Unlike Jin's teaching style, which pursued practicality and broke all foundational knowledge into pieces for Adam, Anthony first taught Adam about the history of sorcerers.

"The third child gave birth to a pair of children, a boy and a girl, named Di and Yi."

"Di and Yi joined together and gave birth to forty-nine children."

"When Yi gave birth to the fiftieth child, her blood would not stop flowing. Even when her belly had shriveled flat, no fetus was born."

"Yi suffered unbearably. She gathered soil stained with blood and, disregarding Di's attempts to dissuade her, began studying how to bring the fiftieth child into the world."

"On the first day, Di brought the forty-nine children, but Yi did not open the door."

"On the second day, Di led forty-eight children there, but Yi did not open the door."

"Until the first child and his father Di knocked on the door together, Yi still did not open it. The father and son forced their way in, only to find Yi, reduced to skin and bones, raising the wailing fiftieth child."

"When the first child took his brother, Di discovered that Yi had already died."

"One was born, and one died." —Divine Word: Records of the Children

Anthony softly read this passage from the Divine Word, a trace of loneliness in his voice, before speaking to Adam.

"To bring the unborn into life—later churches interpreted Yi's actions in all kinds of ways. Some believed she should be canonized as the Holy Mother, while others believed she was a sinner."

"But to sorcerers, Yi is regarded as the origin of sorcerers."

"The fiftieth child is regarded as the entirety of sorcerers."

"So the answer was the Born Again?" Adam recalled the question Xilin had asked when he arrived at the Reflection Tower.

"More or less." Anthony closed the book in his hand and smiled. "Sorcerer is the common term everyone uses for this profession today."

"In fact, in ancient times, professions such as sorcerers and witch doctors had not yet been separated. Anyone who cultivated mental power or studied the power of rebirth called themselves the Born Again, or the fiftieth child."

"And the earliest meditation methods also came from here." Anthony patted the Divine Word. "Di brought his children to knock on the door every day, asking Yi to open it, yet he never succeeded."

"This demonstrated the most important quality of a sorcerer: focus."

"Meditation methods are the same. Block out all other senses and focus only on the senses derived from the soul, allowing yourself to gradually perceive the existence of mental power."

"Our brains are that house, and our hearts are that door. Close it, and once you have achieved results, open it again."

"Yet this step is dangerous. Although Yi achieved results, she died because of it."

"On the foundation of this meditation method, later generations continuously improved and expanded it, creating the various advanced meditation methods of today."

"But since you have already awakened mental power on your own, you do not need to practice a basic meditation method. You can begin directly with an advanced meditation method."

"Next, I will teach you the advanced meditation method I practice: the Nether Soil Meditation Method." Anthony was not stingy in the slightest as he slowly revealed the mysteries of his meditation method.

It was still derived from Yi's story. Later generations believed that the fiftieth child had been stillborn from the start, that its body had long since turned to bloody water, and that its soul, not yet reborn, had already returned to God's embrace.

This was also the point over which the various churches disputed Yi most fiercely. They believed Yi's sorcery had summoned back a dead soul, an act of disrespect toward God.

Of course, others said that the fiftieth child's soul had remained with God, and Yi had merely summoned its projection.

Later, the fiftieth child's body was formed from soil stained by bloody water. That soil was also called nether soil.

The Nether Soil Meditation Method was derived from this. At its core, it was the study of souls and life.

"As sorcerers developed to this day, with their knowledge continuously expanding, the profession gradually became subdivided as well." After explaining several key points of the Nether Soil Meditation Method to Adam, Anthony spoke of the meditation method's later development.

"After practicing the Nether Soil Meditation Method, the mental power it produces tends toward control over souls and alteration of life."

"From there, one may delve into the categories of creation, summoning, curses, and necromancy among sorcerer spells. However, curse and necromancy spells are rejected by the churches, so it is best not to use them."

"The spell I used to build the Reflection Tower belongs to the creation category. The spells I teach you in the future will mainly be creation and summoning spells." Anthony then explained the Nether Soil Meditation Method to Adam once more and warned him not to be impatient in his practice. If anything abnormal happened, he was to come to the Reflection Tower and find him at once.

"I understand, Teacher Anthony." Adam nodded, filled with respect for Anthony. Anthony was undoubtedly someone worthy of his respect.

"There is one more thing." Anthony hesitated before saying, "After you leave, there is no need to hide your identity as a sorcerer, but do not tell others that you are studying under me. If anyone asks, say that Alva taught you. He will also apply for a place for you in the church."

"Do not even mention that I am still alive."

Thanks to Zerozero_, Shigong Shiori, Wind Rises Beyond the Nine Heavens, gdhbv, and Merciless Cultivator for the rewards. Thank you for your support.