Great Creation Art

At this moment, two mages were engaged in a magical duel at the center of the venue. Judging by the badges pinned to their chests, both were junior mages.

The mage on the left waved his wand, and the temperature in the air rose sharply as vast quantities of fire elements surged toward him.

The instant the spell finished forming, a massive fireball emerged from the tip of his wand and swept toward his opponent!

Its power was several times greater than Zeliel's Fireball.

The mage on the right was no less willing to fall behind. Under his control, an equally powerful spell took shape.

He held his wand level, and a projectile formed entirely of pure mana appeared before him, blasting straight toward his opponent's enormous fireball.

"Bang!!!"

The two forces collided fiercely in midair, erupting in a dazzling burst of white light.

Mana waves rolled outward with the gale, slamming hard into the protective array around the edge of the venue.

Although no mana leaked out, Zeliel and Bev still instinctively raised their arms to shield their eyes. The other watching mages also hurriedly moved to avoid the blast.

The roaring continued for several seconds before gradually subsiding.

"Both of them are amazing..."

Zeliel murmured in amazement.

At the same time, two lines of text appeared beneath Spell Structure Evolution.

Flame Dragon, analysis progress: 1%.

Arcane Missile, analysis progress: 1%.

But the analysis progress for Flame Dragon suddenly trembled, then began skyrocketing!

Under Zeliel's astonished gaze, the progress for Flame Dragon shot all the way up to 54% before stopping.

Th-This... what did that mean? It gave me 54% progress for free?

Zeliel frowned. After thinking for a long while, he finally sorted out a rough idea.

It was probably because the spell structures of Flame Dragon and Fireball were highly similar. When analyzing the spell structure, the overlapping portions were skipped directly, which was why the progress bar had increased so much at once.

Spell Structure Evolution actually had a function like this...

In the arena, after all the lingering shockwaves dissipated, the mage who had cast the magic projectile was clearly in much better condition than his opponent.

If both sides had gone all out, Arcane Missile might have already taken out the other side.

Naturally, he won the sparring match.

"Sure enough, compared to Elemental School magic, Arcane School magic is more powerful," Bev said, looking as though this was exactly what she had expected.

"Elemental School, Arcane School... what's the difference between the magic of these two schools?" Zeliel asked.

Bev had received a professional magical education and understood many magical theories. This was knowledge Zeliel lacked.

"Of course there's a difference. Simply put, Elemental School magic tends to use mana to invoke natural elements for casting, such as Fireball, Wind Blade, or Water Ball."

"Arcane School magic, on the other hand, is magic released purely through one's own mana, like the magic projectile you just saw."

Bev explained.

"In terms of attack power, Arcane School is definitely stronger. But this kind of magic has its drawbacks too: it consumes too much mana and is difficult to cast repeatedly. Elemental School magic, however, has lower consumption and far more varied forms."

"I see..."

Zeliel nodded thoughtfully. He suddenly remembered the Great Creation Art in his analysis queue.

Judging from the name alone, he could not guess what kind of magic it was.

"By the way, Bev, have you heard of the Great Creation Art?" Zeliel asked.

"Huh?"

Unexpectedly, a trace of disgust appeared on Bev's face when she heard those words.

"Why would you ask about that... Did those wandering Imaginist School mages fool you?"

"Uh... no. What are Imaginist School mages?" Zeliel asked tentatively. "I only heard about it from someone else. Does that magic not actually exist?"

"Of course it doesn't exist... How could there possibly be such magic?"

Bev sighed.

"Forget it, I should explain it clearly to you, so you won't be fooled in the future."

"The term Great Creation Art mainly comes from mythology. The general idea is that the place we originally lived in was a broken, decrepit old world, where evil gods ran rampant and monsters ravaged the land, like hell itself. It was under those circumstances that the Great Creation Art appeared out of nowhere."

"According to legend, the Great Creation Art was an omnipotent magic. As long as you imagined something and willed it, any idea could become reality, any enemy could be erased in an instant. You could also call it a wish-fulfillment spell."

"It was precisely through the Great Creation Art that the Creator God swept away all the evil gods and wicked entities of the old world, then created the new world we live in today."

So there was a legend like that...

Zeliel nodded slightly and asked again.

"Then how do you know the Great Creation Art is fake?"

"Because it's simply impossible. Think about it, how could there be magic like that? A legend is just a legend."

Bev tapped Zeliel on the head.

"But there really are some people who believe the Great Creation Art exists and have been trying to recreate it."

"Those are the Imaginist School mages you mentioned?"

"Yes. They were given that name because their heads are full of impractical ideas. If you had received a professional magical education, you would know that every spell structure is extremely rational and logically rigorous. Take the simplest low-level elemental magic as an example."

Bev began gesturing in the air with her fingers.

"The spell structure of elemental magic consists of many tiny parts. From the mana interface to the base position, then the framework that shapes its form and the stabilizing anchors that prevent mana from going berserk. The position of every rune and the curve of every conduit all matter."

"They work like gears, meshing together with precision. Only then can the final effect be achieved. This is an art. Without decades of dedicated study, it is simply impossible to fully understand it or create new magic."

Zeliel closed his eyes and recalled what he had seen, then could not help nodding.

Indeed, magical spell structures were extraordinarily intricate. Every small pattern represented a different function. If they did not follow the established paths, the spell simply could not be cast successfully.

"But those Imaginist School mages don't see it that way. They believe the supreme Great Creation Art can't be recreated by rigidly following rules. They must find another path," Bev said.

"Then what do they plan to do?" Zeliel asked curiously.

"What do they plan to do? Scribble randomly, of course." Bev curled her lip.

"Huh?" Zeliel was somewhat surprised.

"Don't be surprised. Those people really are that absurd. They completely ignore the requirements for creating magic and refuse to follow the logic between spell structures. Like children scribbling aimlessly, they hope to recreate the Great Creation Art, placing all their hopes on a miracle."