Promotion

Ace sensed the surging spiritual power within the mural and the magic power being automatically drawn toward it. A unique Soul Rune structure was actually forming on its own. Ace watched with rapt focus. This was the first time he had ever seen a Soul Rune structure naturally generate.

The surrounding Tzimali people held their breath as well. They thought Ace was admiring their masterpiece. It was an exceptionally magnificent work of art, and they too were intoxicated by it.

Using the spiritual power within the mural—with Ace as the main pillar and everyone else as supporting beams—as its framework, the Soul Rune took on its initial form. This was similar to when Ace had first copied a Soul Rune with spiritual power, but what followed was different.

After constructing the Soul Rune with his spiritual power back then, Ace had tried to activate it. His spiritual power was quickly exhausted, and the rune structure dissipated.

The naturally formed Soul Rune structure was not activated at all. It continued drawing in magic power, and the absorbed magic power unexpectedly transformed on its own into Magic Particles, much like the conversion performed by Magic Crystal Runes. The Magic Particles then formed all manner of new, matter-like entities.

These matter-like entities possessed a substance invisible to the naked eye. They were undeniably real to spiritual perception, yet utterly nonexistent to ordinary sight. They could be understood as existing on a different plane.

Though these matter-like entities appeared different from one another, they swiftly combined with the Soul Rune framework formed from spiritual power, filling it out.

In Ace's spiritual perception, rainbow light flashed brilliantly at that moment. Then the Soul Rune fully formed, and the matter-like entities became difficult to observe again. The Soul Runes combined, generating a new rune structure.

Ace sensed what the new rune structure conveyed. His will and spiritual strength seemed to have been enormously enhanced, and he was deeply moved by his insight into life and living. Perhaps this was a rune structure centered on will.

Under the halo of this rune structure, he clearly recalled the emotions he had felt when he first arrived in Tzimali, during the Bonfire Festival. His spirit felt warm and overflowing with vitality, and it was rapidly growing stronger.

The surrounding magic power gathered at breakneck speed, rushing toward him as if afraid to fall behind. He had no time to do anything—and did not want to do anything. Like an outsider, he silently watched it all unfold.

Magic power flowed in and clung to his spiritual power. Infected by the existing Magic Particles, it automatically transformed into Magic Particles as well. The excess magic power could not enter his spiritual power, so it flooded into his body instead, accelerating the "magical transformation" of his flesh.

Ace felt as though he had begun to float, flying higher and higher, as if all things in nature were whispering to him.

He listened closely, yet could not make out the words. He did not know how long this state lasted before he suddenly began to fall—an uncontrollable plunge.

Looking down, he saw another himself standing on the ground, surrounded by the crowd before the mural. Ace felt an immense force of attraction dragging him into that other self.

That is my body. Ace broke free from that near-sleepwalking state and suddenly understood. He was currently in something like a soul state. He stopped resisting and followed the pull back into his body.

Boom!

It seemed as though a deafening explosion had occurred. After returning to his body, Ace continued to fall into endless darkness, struggling with all his might. After an unknown length of time, he saw light—scattered points of it, gentle yet steadfast.

He drew closer bit by bit until he finally touched the light. It was as if he had entered a mysterious otherworldly space. He had neither form nor substance, yet here, he could do anything he wished. He tried to leave that space.

Ace opened his eyes. Moving his body, he looked at the crowd around him, their eyes brimming with tears and their expressions resolute. He looked at the mural suffused with gathered magic power and knew that he had returned to reality.

He used his spiritual perception to examine the mural's rune structure again and unexpectedly made a new discovery. He could once more observe the matter-like entities that had previously been impossible to see. They existed within the Soul Rune in a denser, more concealed form.

"My perceptive ability has improved enormously. I can observe far finer details now. It seems I've advanced to a new level."

"When Sharp died, a spirit body appeared briefly, but it could not last for long. I just experienced something similar to a soul leaving the body, and it should have lasted longer than his. Soul departure, that mysterious otherworldly space, and my understanding of Soul Runes—all of it needs experimental verification. I may have to overturn everything and understand it anew."

"What is magic power? What are Magic Particles? And what are those matter-like entities? The relationship between them and Soul Runes, and the relationship between Soul Runes and degraded runes—perhaps all of it should be tested."

Ace thought to himself.

He turned and left the crowd. Not even his advancement could ward off his exhaustion. He needed a good sleep.

At noon the next day, Ace woke naturally.

Several hundred Tzimali people had gathered outside the inn where he was staying. The moment they saw him emerge, they enthusiastically greeted him.

"Master, Master, could you paint something for me?"

"Scholar Ace, I like you so much!"

"Salutations to you, Favored of Pontos."

Ace returned the greetings of the enthusiastic crowd, only to ignite even greater fervor. It was a long while before he managed to extricate himself.

He walked over to his mural and found many people gathered around it, leading to another round of eager pestering. At last, Ace reached the painting and began studying the Soul Rune again. He tried to recreate the process by which the Soul Rune had appeared. In everyone's eyes, the great painter was lost in contemplation, and no one dared disturb him.

After a long while, through observation and imitation, Ace finally succeeded in replicating the process by which Magic Particles combined into matter-like entities. He had not yet understood the principles involved; for now, he had merely forced himself to memorize the combination.

The earliest stage of research was often the imitation of experience. This was followed by principles distilled from vast amounts of experience—logically speaking, incomplete induction. One then used the principles obtained through incomplete induction to verify, compare by analogy, boldly hypothesize, cautiously seek proof, and constantly draw nearer to the truth.

Though he had merely memorized it by force, he had still succeeded. Ace reproduced a Soul Rune. He named those matter-like entities Magic Essence, or magic essence for short.

The process by which Magic Particles combined into Magic Essence was called Magic Element Composition.

By way of analogy, Magic Essence was the molecular structure of magic.

The Soul Rune floated in the air. It was fairly stable, but it was difficult for it to endure as long as the Soul Rune within the mural. After roughly an hour, the rune vanished.

Ace continued reproducing runes. As his precision improved, repeated reproduction deepened his understanding of them. The Soul Runes he replicated became increasingly similar to those on the mural, and their duration grew from one hour to four.

Ace had already deciphered the meanings of the runes. Beyond those he had already discovered, he found two new types: the Will Rune and the Empathy Rune.

The Will Rune could alter willpower and spiritual strength. The Empathy Rune allowed people to feel the same emotions, strengthening their sense of identification and unity.

Ace had condensed his own emotion into the mural, and all the Empathy Runes expressed that emotion. The longer someone looked at the mural, the more easily that emotion would spread to them.

The reproduced Soul Runes found it difficult to exist indefinitely. Ace once more tried using his spiritual power to activate a rune structure that had taken him several hours to reproduce. A sudden mutation occurred.

The instant the Soul Rune structure came into contact with Ace's spiritual power, it did not activate. Instead, it surged along his spiritual power and into the depths of his soul.

Boom!

Ace found himself entering that mysterious otherworldly space again. The Soul Rune he had just reproduced was quietly floating within it.

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