Arnold's Wild Ideas

Over the past month and a half, through numerous battles, Arnold had not only become highly proficient in the use of magic, but had also developed his own understanding of the Gravity Spell.

When a fifth-level earth-element mage cast the Gravity Spell, the gravitational pull on objects immediately started at double strength. Sometimes, Arnold had a sudden whim and tried to increase the Gravity Spell's effect to fifteen times normal gravity, but after experimenting for a long time, he got no results.

Arnold believed his level in the field of magic was still too low; he could not even alter magical incantations. To modify magical incantations, extensive reading was indispensable. His own strength also had to reach a certain level. Arnold now had an idea concerning the Gravity Spell, but limited by his strength and experience, he could not make it happen.

After this training expedition, Arnold planned to spend more time in the academy library.

In truth, drawing on the experience of a young man from Earth, Arnold had a vague speculation about this fantastical world of the Yulan Continent.

Cultivators on the Yulan Continent were divided into warriors and mages, who used battle qi and magic respectively. Warriors ranged from first-level warriors to ninth-level warriors, and mages likewise ranged from First-level Mages to Ninth-level Mages. Above them were the legendary Saint Domain experts. Although Saint Domain warriors and Saint Domain mages were distinguished from one another, they were actually collectively called the Saint Domain. This showed that at the Saint Domain stage, warriors and mages shared at least some common ground. So how did warriors and mages come to share something in common?

Arnold guessed that it was the so-called Laws! At the Saint Domain stage, whether warrior or mage, they likely comprehended Laws. The manifestation of Laws for mages was forbidden magic, while for warriors, it was likely their offensive methods.

Take the wind-element's basic spell, Wind Blade. After advancing, it became Wind Blade Chain; after advancing further, it became Wind Blade Soaring Dance and Vacuum Binding Art. Clearly, this was a series of branches. Along another branch, Wind Blade could eventually evolve into the strongest forbidden magic, Dimensional Blade...

Clearly, these first-level to ninth-level spells were the most basic foundations of elemental Laws. As long as one thoroughly researched and understood these spells, perhaps one could comprehend those so-called Laws.

However, there was one point Arnold did not understand. Taking the earth element as an example, its forbidden spells included Earth-Rending Rupture, Meteorite Descent, Earth Guard, Pulse Guard, and Earth Guardian Sacred Armor.

According to Arnold's understanding, when an earth-element mage cast Earth Guardian Sacred Armor, the sacred armor covering the entire body was composed of diamonds formed by magic. Its defense was tremendously powerful. Earth Guardian Sacred Armor was essentially an application of earth-element energy.

Then there was Earth Guard. This Earth Guard was extraordinarily powerful and was the strongest single-target attack of an earth-element Saint Domain Archmage. Earth magic also had an eighth-level spell—the Earth Howling Wolf earth puppet—an elemental puppet formed from earth magic and earth-element energy. Both the Earth Howling Wolf and Earth Guard could be viewed as applications of earth-element energy. They were fundamentally the same as Earth Guardian Sacred Armor, merely different applications of earth-element energy.

Once Earth-Rending Rupture was unleashed, the ground churned like ocean waves. Houses collapsed, cracks split open across the earth, magma erupted from beneath the ground, and countless people were killed or injured.

Once Meteorite Descent was unleashed, countless enormous meteors crashed down from the sky. In the blink of an eye, it could even turn an entire city into ruins.

Earth-Rending Rupture, Meteorite Descent, and Earth Guard could all be seen as different applications of earth-element energy, but Pulse Guard was different.

Once the large-scale forbidden defensive spell Pulse Guard was cast, everything above and below a city, in every direction, was defended without flaw. Even if a lightning-element Saint Domain mage cast Thunder Annihilation, it could withstand it. Arnold understood Pulse Guard as a defensive spell that used a special power of the Earth Element. It felt fundamentally different from forbidden spells like Earth Guard. Yet if asked exactly how it differed, Arnold could not say.

Furthermore, the earth nurtured all things and could encompass everything. Arnold gave this understanding a name: Life Force. But this Life Force should clearly belong to the domain of life magic.

On the surface, elemental magic on the Yulan Continent was divided into seven major elements: earth, fire, water, wind, light, darkness, and lightning. Yet the Radiant Pope could cast Great Prophecy, which clearly did not belong to any of those seven categories. Furthermore, legends of undead magic and life magic also circulated on the Yulan Continent. Although a commoner like Arnold knew only this much, he himself guessed that these three types of magic were somewhat special and had not spread widely, likely concealing secrets.

Then, throughout all earth magic, only the Gravity Spell stood out as an anomaly. It had no advanced spells and no lower-level spells. Yet the Gravity Spell was clearly related to Earth's gravitational pull. In other words, the Gravity Spell should be a branch of a unique earth-element Law.

Arnold summarized it. Within the field of earth-element Laws, he had independently deduced several kinds: the most basic Earth Element; the gravity-related one, which Arnold named Gravity Law; the vitality-related Life Force; and the one related to Pulse Guard, which Arnold named Pulsation...

After reaching this conclusion, Arnold was dumbfounded. These branches manifested by earth-element Laws should all be part of earth-element Laws. Could it be that to fully comprehend earth-element Laws, one had to comprehend every branch they manifested?

Moreover, there were certainly other branches within earth-element Laws that Arnold had not yet identified.

Arnold estimated that the things he had summarized could only be comprehended upon reaching the Saint Domain, at the very least. He also speculated that perhaps once a Ninth-level Mage grasped even the slightest superficial understanding of a Law, they could advance into the Saint Domain.

Ordinary people on the Yulan Continent had lifespans of one hundred twenty or thirty years. Powerful mages and warriors generally lived much longer, usually two or three hundred years, even three or four hundred. The maximum human lifespan was five hundred years, as demonstrated by Ninth-level Mages. Only by reaching the legendary Saint Domain could one possess an extraordinarily long life, nearly as endless as infinity.

Why were Saint Domain experts so special? Arnold guessed it was related to Laws. Even their long lifespans might be connected to comprehending Laws.

At this point, Arnold really wanted to complain. The Yulan Continent had two legendary god-level figures, the War God and the High Priest. There was actually a third, but Arnold had only heard of those two. It was said that both had lived for over a thousand years. Clearly, these god-level experts possessed infinite life, and Arnold believed that. But why could Saint Domain beings, a level below them, also possess infinite lifespans? Arnold guessed that perhaps the Yulan Continent had especially dense earth elements, and this was why legends circulated that Saint Domain experts possessed infinite life. Perhaps on another continent entirely different from the Yulan Continent, Saint Domain experts only lived ten thousand or a hundred thousand years?

Of course, Arnold had no way of knowing that Saint Domain experts in all planes possessed infinite lifespans.

After all this analysis, Arnold set his path for himself. He decided to focus his research on the Gravity Spell in order to touch upon the existence of Laws. As for those forbidden spells with clearer directions, perhaps once he encountered them, he would be able to comprehend branches of Earth Law in other directions.