Chapter 210: Drawing a New World
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
I still remembered when the Lion King Frigid Nightmare had asked me, in the snowy mountain, what my most fundamental magic was and how I learned of magic. I had laughed out loud at the time.
“I’ve already found it; it’s always been by my side. My magic is to draw my mental world, in which case all I need is a paintbrush.”
That’s right, after re-obtaining the Ice Treader Soul Imprint, my path of ice and snow was quite clear now. I would follow nature, imitate nature, recreate nature, and surpa.s.s nature!
“Fundamental magic—Ice and Snow Brush.”
Materializing the ice element and changing its form was just a basic-level snow and ice sculpting technique, which every mage knew how to use. After all, before tossing out any ice shards, you would have to at least make them sharp enough to harm others. Ice magic wasn’t the only one to have this basic spell; all elemental magic, as well as other types of magic and techniques, had the same concept.
“Using magic to control the elements to create a stone wall or an ice sculpture is something that perhaps any acolyte could accomplish. Yet I doubt any of those novices know how much really goes into the magic. After all, all they’re doing is imitating what they’ve learned as they utter the incantations and pay the required amount of mana. As for how magic fundamentally works, I doubt any of them would think too much of it.”
“Elemental sculpting? The most basic elemental spell with zero attack power? Haha! It seems we’ve met an incredible apprentice. We thought that we’d meet yet another idiot who was allured by high-level magic and would choose some strong attack magic. Yep, I definitely wasn’t talking about my first-generation partner. He may have been an idiot, but he was a nice guy.”
I still remembered how when I had chosen elemental sculpting, those old weirdos were laughing so happily, as if I had done something amazing.
Elemental sculpting may be simple, but it was the foundational magic for every other type of magic out there. It was only the simplest rearranging of the elements, and by itself, it basically had zero attack power. Yet I still had unhesitatingly chosen it.
“Hu! Controlling magic, synchronizing it with the elements in nature, communicating with the elements, calculating the shape desired, transmitting your will into creating the shape, paying the required amount of mana, gathering the attracted element, arranging it into the necessary shape, and completing the sculpture are the basic steps for normal elemental sculpting. But if it’s to be used as a fundamental magic, it must be like an instinct; only one step is necessary—telling the element what you want. The rest will all be skipped.”
I extended my arms and caused formless female ice fairies to appear. The moment they appeared, they started frowning with their delicate eyelashes. It was obvious that the thick earth element here made it difficult for them to breathe. This was no environment they enjoyed being in.
Yet, under my willpower, they still began to dance and create the scene in my mind.
These ethereal fairies showed their true forms in the air. One, two, ten, a horde, countless numbers. The ice fairies on the outer circle began creating an isolated area, while the dancing ice fairies in the middle were dripping with silvery-white light and created a huge ice river where the droplets fell.
These crystal-clear fairies weren’t true existences. They were creations of the combination of my magic and the ice element. In the past, I could only use forbidden spells to see them, but now, casting my fundamental magic required their aid. They were a source that even fundamental magic couldn’t reach.
A ma.s.sive ice mountain suddenly appeared in this windy and sandy location. Before this mountain, even a mountain giant was nothing more than a dwarf. Unlike its image in my mind, this was an actual, real ice mountain; even in the mortal plane, I would be unable to create such a large ice mountain. The speed of fundamental magic meant that I would conserve a large amount of mana, which was the only way I could create such a large ice mountain domain.
“Since I now have the paint and brush, let’s begin drawing.”
For a Silver-ranked mage to do all this would be considered unbelievable, but for me, this was just the beginning. What I was about to do next was the second reason I needed to be far away from the prying eyes of the G.o.ds.
“Now, then, let’s create a world that belongs only to me. Recreate, Wall of Frozen Earth!”
I chose to reincarnate to cultivate again rather than fixing up my phylactery, mostly because a SemiG.o.d undead was limited in potential, and my future opponents were far too strong.
With the onset of the Elemental Tide, invaders from various planes would revisit the mortal plane and enjoy the Holy War. But the most difficult part to deal with of all would be the revival of those ancient G.o.ds.
“Forget about the others; no matter how strong they are, I can at least attempt something. If the two highest G.o.ddesses of Chaos and Order revive—no, they don’t even need to revive—if they only send out a part of their will, all we could probably do is watch and helplessly laugh.”
Yep, I considered it. If my plan still had any holes in it, it would be that the two G.o.ddesses of Chaos and Order ended up reviving, or if they noticed that something was wrong and forced themselves to revive prematurely even at the cost of injuring themselves, and what would happen in that scenario.
“Who cares! We’d just all die in three seconds flat. After all, even I can’t block a casual attack from them, even if they’re currently weakened. This has nothing to do with power levels; after all, they’re the children of the G.o.ddess of Creation, the true rulers of this world. They were born with this special power.”
That was what Ayer had said when he mentioned how he wouldn’t be able to stand up to them for even three seconds. He had such a relaxed expression, as if he had accepted this long ago. For me, however, even if their power was impossible to resist against as I expected, once I finally truly confirmed that their powers were high to the point of completely being helpless, I still felt bitter inside. After all, if a plan had a critical flaw from the very start, it would cause anyone to despair. And in that “future,” there was n.o.body that could stop the revival of the two G.o.ddesses, which ended up causing the world’s catastrophe.
Eich created this world, and her power was inherited by the Order and Chaos G.o.ddesses. That meant that any life, concept, or item born whatsoever either belonged to Chaos or Order, with zero exceptions.
That meant that all residents of this world were utilizing this world’s power. For the two G.o.ddesses, it was no different from using fire to attack a fire elemental; simply meaningless.
Then, did this mean that they were truly undefeatable?
Perhaps, for everyone else, this was true. I, however, still denied it.
I wasn’t a soul from this world, nor was I obeying the cycle of reincarnation!
Even if there was a natural law in this world that made the attacks of this world’s residents ineffective against the G.o.ddess of Creation, my soul wasn’t from this world to begin with. The Power of Law I created was destined to be their natural counter.
Yet just this alone wouldn’t be enough. The Power of Law tended towards protection and was Chaos among Order. Only having the power to defend wouldn’t give me any chances at victory. If it could be considered a solid s.h.i.+eld, I still required a sharp sword—one that could threaten even the highest of all G.o.ds.
How to find something that was even more powerful than the G.o.ddess of Creation was destined to be an unsolvable paradox.
Yet what I excelled at the most was to find a solution when there was supposed to be none. At this moment, even if there was clearly no correct solution in front of me, I was still going to forcibly create one of my own. If I didn’t mind that I would have to use crooked methods and devious means, then there was indeed an answer.
“If I can’t find anything in this world, then I’ll just have to create a new world.”
Yep, even I myself found it unbelievable, but I was indeed intending to challenge the G.o.ddess of Creation’s right to create worlds.
“You’re literally insane!”
“Heh, you just learned this?”
Alright then, just mentioning this very idea of mine made Ayer think that I had gone insane, but since my enemy was the highest G.o.ddess of all, who had created this entire world, any normal method would be ineffective from the very start. No normal person would even think of challenging the Chaos and Order G.o.ddesses. If I went about it with insanity from the very start, perhaps I might have a slim chance at victory.
How to create a world? Um, I don’t know either… Fine then, this was a far too difficult process for me, but I could imitate—imitate the true G.o.ddess of Creation of this world, Eich.
Since her power separated into the two powers of Order and Chaos, then did that mean I could comprehend Eich herself as the combination of Order and Chaos? In that case, could I understand it as the “G.o.ddess of Creation” requiring both powers and ident.i.ties as part of Chaos and Order? And that her soul couldn’t be a part of this world she created herself, in order to prevent being bound to it?
When I came up with this conclusion, my first reaction was instead to…
“System, be honest with me, did you plot this from the very beginning? Why did you provide me with this physical body containing two different types of powers? No, I should say, why did you entice me into choosing this physical body?”
Remembering back to that scene, this physical body and the other available bodies were completely on different levels, and the points required were just perfect, so choosing this one seemed only natural. And when I saw Ayer again after that, he even exclaimed, “I have no idea how you recovered to having such a body with just so little blood left; it’s truly amazing, just like the G.o.ddess of Creation’s power.”
But my question only received a mysterious response.
[…]
Alright, I won’t comment on why it’s obviously refusing to answer but still gave me an ellipsis. It’s basically just trying to say “there is no treasure buried here” when there really was, but from a certain standpoint, its silent admittance definitely caused me to sense a plot.
But before I could challenge it or threaten it by saying I wasn’t going to do anything anymore, my system spoke up first.
[We’re on the same side, and our goal is the same. You die, I die. You live, I live.]
In the end, the System was serious for once in a rare occurrence. It answered me using the standpoint of its personal survival. Even if it didn’t directly answer what I asked, its intention was obvious—”I won’t say the specifics, but we’re on the same side, so I didn’t do wrong by you this time. Rather the opposite; this selection was correct all along, and your guess is also correct.]
Of course, I couldn’t be satisfied with such a vague response. However, the system had accompanied me for over three hundred years already, and I still hadn’t found any methods to make it materialize so I could beat it up. In the end, I could only helplessly accept it.
Alright, after resolving the question of how to go about being a Creator, what was remaining was just how to create, and what to create.
What to create was decided from the very start. Of course, I would create the scenery which left the deepest impression in my soul—that frozen Northlands was the home in my heart. Transforming it into my creation was my only choice to begin with.
And as for how to create it, that was even easier. All I had to do was imitate Eich.
Eich used the four elements to create the world, and those four elements were supplied by the Four Elemental Planes. The Four Elemental Planes’ history was even longer than the Chaos and Order G.o.ddesses, and directly using elemental power was even one of Chaos’ powers. However, using the power of the four elements to create a new world was outside of the two G.o.ddesses’ divine powers.
I didn’t need to create a true new world. All I needed to do was create my mental world of the “Infallible Diffindor” here again as well as recreate the northern frozen planes that were etched into my soul. Just creating a small isolated world would be enough.
Perhaps this isolated world would become an existence that could even threaten the G.o.ddesses of Chaos and Order. Perhaps, as long as I could pull the two G.o.ddesses into this isolated world, we’d have a chance at victory. Perhaps this isolated world would be able to cancel out their Divine Obligations and cut them off from the limitless power supplied to them by the world of Eich. There were too many possibilities that were impossible to calculate, but at the very least, we would finally have some chance at victory.
When I came to this realization, I began my preparations. From reaching my goal to the steps that were necessary, after my hard work all this time, I had quite a few pieces in my hand.
Lacking in magical logic? Margaret and Amelia both provided me with large amounts of information, and the information on the elements gotten from—okay, stolen from Karo City were precious as well, but what gave me the biggest clue was Elisa.
She was able to use the elements of ice and fire that countered each other to create her own Soul Imprint, which gave me a huge clue. At the very least, it proved that the relations.h.i.+p between the elements wasn’t as simple as countering each other.
“The four elements that create the world? In Eich, it’s wind, fire, water, and earth, which is basically the exact same as my previous world of Earth. When Earth was still ruled by idealism, the east believed that the world consisted of ‘earth, water, fire, and wind,’ while the west also believed in the four elements of ‘earth, wind, water, and fire.’ In a way, everything was astonis.h.i.+ngly similar.”
Lacking in actual logic required to create a world? The above was doubtlessly the best evidence of all. All I had to do was lay on the four elements. The ancient curse known as the Seal of the Four Elements that created an isolated, sealed dimension was doubtlessly another form of creation as well.
Needing to use four different types of elemental magic simultaneously? Hehe! Now you realize why I spent so much effort on developing the Four Elemental Swordcasters, and why they could obviously use more than four sword seals but I still addressed them by this name.
When the four elemental sword seals activated simultaneously, they would be able to create a relatively perfect elemental loop. Now then, this part was down pat already, but the next part was rather problematic. In order to create a sword seal that could be the foundation for an entire new world, the materials I needed would have to be at a minimum at a G.o.d Equipment’s level.
Earlier, the only item I possessed which met those requirements was Sidunwar’s Ocean Bottle. With only one G.o.d Equipment, I wouldn’t even be able to take the first step of my experiment. Luckily, after ‘killing’ Emordilorcan on that day, he left a gray Earth Elemental Heart behind for me, which was also a G.o.d Equipment-level elemental material.
Currently, runes were inscribed all over these two G.o.d Equipment, and they were already beginning to create internally within themselves. Of course, in terms of level, the Earth Elemental Heart was far inferior to Sidunwar’s Ocean Bottle, but it was still good enough for an experiment. As long as it succeeded, I could always prepare new subst.i.tute materials.
What subst.i.tute materials? How about Emordilorcan’s real Earth Elemental Heart after defeating him here? This would be the exact same thing but higher quality, and the divine soul contained within it would be perfect for being one of the four pillars of birthing a new world.
Yep, from the very start, I didn’t have good intentions.
All the problems were solved, all the obstacles were dealt with, and all the various a.s.sortments of necessary pieces were collected. Finally, it was time for the critical first step.
It was just drawing the frozen Northlands in my heart with elemental power, but after reaching this step, just creating a magical version of the world in my mind could never satisfy me. What I wanted was to use my own paintbrush to create a true new world! This was the path that I chose!
“Hehe, come, Original Sin Demon Form, War Angel!”
A blinding golden light and molten magma red crossed with each other. After pain shot through my entire body, they naturally combined with each other and emanated a calm, white light, akin to the sunrise.
When too many colors mixed together, they would either become an endless pitch-black or a peaceful combination of pure-white. Without a doubt, this white light represented a miracle. The Order and Chaos bloodline from the same source was actually beginning to combine.
If it weren’t for reaching this step, perhaps I never would have realized that the “Arbitrator Bloodline” that I possessed with two seemingly contradictory talents was supposed to be used from the very start by combining them.
My feelings mysteriously managed to calm down, as everything around me entered my senses. My molten skin transformed into dark-red runic armor, and my body naturally began floating in midair. Under the frame of a demon’s meaty wings were also the wings of light that only the highest-level angels could possess. I was filled with limitless power.
For any fanatic believer, this form, which represented Chaos and Order within one body, would be the greatest sin of all. If it weren’t for the fact that the Earth Elemental Plane blocked off the view of the G.o.ds, trouble would likely instantly come looking for me.
I also knew that my time was limited.
Just a few seconds used up much of my mana. Under this form, my magic power was comparable to any Legend-ranked archmage, but I wouldn’t be able to maintain it for more than a few seconds.
“Whether I live or die will depend on this next step.”
Even if I had already formed my theory, there were still too many holes in it, and don’t even mention the differences between theory and actually putting it into practice. But right now, I didn’t have any way to continually experiment; I couldn’t change the course of the arrow that I had shot!
“Recreate, Wall of Eternal Ice.”
In the ice mountain, Sidunwar’s Ocean Bottle was beginning to s.h.i.+ne with a snow-white light, while that Earth Elemental Heart was also beginning to float in midair. Its earthen-yellow light had already created a vicious sandstorm. If it weren’t for the fact that I had already set up an ice and snow barrier, probably anyone even thousands of kilometers away would be able to see this phenomenon.
The Earth Elemental Heart was struggling, as if it knew its end was coming, but it now had nowhere it could escape.
“Only having ice and snow won’t be a true world. In that case, let this world of ice and snow have its own true frozen earth.”
While something was happening in the Earth Elemental Plane, the divine domain where the G.o.ds resided suffered an earthquake, or perhaps it should be termed as a dimensional quake.
Indeed, apart from incredibly few existences, they weren’t able to see through to the Elemental Planes, but some things didn’t require vision to detect.
“Lord Ayer, I have an inquiry from the G.o.ds. The Temple of Fate suddenly had an earthquake, which indicated that something critically important must have happened, but when they asked the G.o.d of Fate, the G.o.d of Fate only shook his head and did not say anything. Now, rumors are flying everywhere and the situation is quite chaotic, which is why the G.o.ds are requesting your presence for a discussion.”
The messenger, Flying Wing Airos was once a famous hero in the mortal plane, who gained fame for being able to fly a thousand kilometers in a single night. However, in the Death G.o.d’s main sanctuary, he was nothing more than a low-ranked messenger who didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.
“…That’s why they’re coming to ask me? Usually, they don’t even know how to self-reflect.”
Ayer’s calm words had a tinge of dissatisfaction to them. When faced with one of the most ancient G.o.ds of all, the Death G.o.d, even G.o.d Envoys would be filled with fear. If Ayer decided to vent his displeasure against the G.o.ds on Airos, he wouldn’t even be able to escape as he was only a mere heroic spirit.
“Wait a moment, I’ll come along with you. I just happen to have a few things to chat about.”
This seemed too good to be true, and Airos was delighted to hear such words, but Ayer continued speaking.
“Go ahead without me, I’ll come after I make some preparations.”
What else could Airos say? He hurriedly left as if he had been spared from some punishment. The Death G.o.d’s sanctuary was far too much pressure for him to bear.
But right after Airos left, the cold-faced Ayer suddenly broke out into laughter, and the sandbox behind him began to automatically rearrange its sand. The next moment, Roland and the situation around him was shown in front of the Death G.o.d.
“Roland, you interesting fellow, you truly dare to do what n.o.body else does. You even managed to find the correct path. Perhaps everything truly will be able to change because of you.”
If anyone else had been present, they likely would never have expected to see Ayer who was famous for being cold-faced for thousands of years to be smiling in such satisfaction. In the next moment, the Death G.o.d began moving, but before he left, his black-robed arm lightly slapped down on the sandbox.
*Boom!*
All of the sand turned into nothing but loose sand, and in the next second, Karo’s connection to the mortal plane was entirely cut off—no, it should be said that the entire Earth Elemental Plane’s connection was cut off.
After that, though, Ayer began hesitating, and then he slapped the sandbox three more times.
*Slap* *Slap* *Slap*
This time, the Wind, Water, and Fire Elemental Planes were also cut off from the mortal plane. Only then did Ayer leave in self-satisfaction.
“What excuse should I use? A sudden dimensional quake shattered the barrier between dimensions, causing a temporary stoppage in the connection between dimensions, especially the Elemental Planes. It will not be possible to reach them until several months later. Yep, this is a nice excuse.”