Chapter 195: World Resonance
Zyrus felt a familiar sensation as he was dragged away by the chains. Every second seemed to stretch infinitely in his perception.
[Eye of Annihilation]
[Heavenly Eyes]
He activated both of his eye skills at the same time, making his vertical pupils glow with a reddish white halo. The effects and scopes of the skills became more and more bizarre with the experiments he was doing. Seeing the souls of his blood fusion targets, witnessing the law threads that governed the system, finding core of field bosses like the Nidhogg king, and now deconstructing skills and authorities. The day Zyrus underwent another transformation wasn’t far away.
As a dimensional mage himself, Zyrus was no stranger to the aspect of teleportation. Still, the current scene was an eye-opener for him. The ability to lock down a region of space from far away, and then teleport it back to your desired spot…this was the power used by the natives.
It wasn’t that Zyrus couldn’t do this at the peak of his life. What caught his attention was how efficient this process was. If he or any arcanist he knew were to repeat this phenomenon, they’d have to be near lv 200. The natives’ feat of achieving this below lv 50 was nothing short of marvelous.
‘And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the experiment.’
Zyrus was sure of this. This was why he was even more impressed by his enemy and the way they were using mana, or runes to be precise.
‘The natives had a high talent for laws even before they were dragged into this.’
It made sense in a twisted sort of way. If someone planned to sacrifice whole five islands to achieve their goal, there was no way they’d not think thoroughly. The ones living here must have been at the forefront when it came to utilizing laws and concepts.
Previously, Zyrus had devised a simple theory after his personal experiences with the power of laws. The composition of mana was extremely complex. Nonetheless, it was a proven fact that it contained countless laws and energy.
Jormungandr had also told him about the realm of order. It comprised of everything within the observable universe. Burning of wood, hardening of soil, and water that could douse the flame and moisten the soil. Such things were deemed as rules of nature. This was no different from something that everyone knew even back on earth.
What the natives were doing was to use these fundamental concepts and laws to create runic combinations.
To take an example, let's assume that a unit of mana was used to cast a fireball spell. The amount of energy in that unit of mana is fixed, so in theory, the power output of that spell should be fixed as well.
But that wasn’t the case. Arcanists researched about this for centuries and came up with terms like skill proficiency and attribute affinity. They were able to quantify the power through various means, and yet, they failed to answer the fundamental issue: The amount of energy in a unit of mana is fixed. Attribute affinity and skill proficiency were unable to explain where the excess energy came from.
‘The combinations of law, concepts, and mana.’
A spark of inspiration lit up in Zyrus’s head. Previously, he had thought that the answer to this question was related to laws. The energy in that unit of mana was used to activate the laws of fire. The difference in power was due to passive vs active utilization of laws.
His theory was correct in the sense that he was able to use more power via his 13 curses of void, power that someone at his level shouldn’t have.
But what the natives were doing was different. Zyrus used his willpower to activate the laws, so what about the natives?
‘I was genius…yet stupid.’
Setting aside his hypotheses, Zyrus focused his gleaming red eyes on the approaching castle. His vision was filled by towering ivory walls and black cannons that were mounted on it.
*Thwaamm*
It was as if a celestial hammer was struck on the earth. Zyrus and the 100-meter space around him were slammed into the ground. The green grass of the wilderness stood in stark contrast against the paved roads that led to the capital.
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“Velk.”
A cold voice reached his ears from the faraway walls. Zyrus didn’t have to take a second look to know who the man wearing the golden crown was.
Barrels of oil were released all around him. Judging from the cannons that were ready to spew out fire, it didn’t take a genius to guess what the enemy intended.
Zyrus knew that he would be able to use his mana soon, but it wouldn’t change the current predicament. The enemy king was meticulous enough to use something like grass in his plan, so it was unlikely that he’d miss an obvious flaw.
‘I planned to slip away from the start…but not now.’
World resonance, World essence, and World core. These were the first three realms he came up with after he finished studying the records of the martial arts civilization.
He thought that the first realm was achieved when one came in contact with the laws, and the second realm was when one could use the ‘essence’ of those laws.
Willpower was the key to achieving the second realm, and he had long since succeeded with that. It wouldn’t be wrong to call him a genius since he achieved the second realm in a short time.
It was only today that he realized that he was mistaken. His conjecture of world essence was correct, but he grossly underestimated the scope of world resonance. Law, concepts, mana, and willpower. He needed to combine everything. It would take some trial and errors before he reconfigured his current skills and curses of void, yet just this realization had increased his strength by a notch.
*Bang*Bang*Bang*
Hundreds of cannons fired off one after another, painting a beautiful trajectory that left no room for escape.
[Shackles of Nihility]
Black chains arose from the ground and bound the balls of flames within. The bright balls of fire were reduced to nothing under the clasp of purple shackles.
No matter how many cannonballs were fired, they could do nothing against the chains that roamed the sky like a hydra. Zyrus knew that if he wasn’t restricted by the role of a king, the shackles of nihility would have reached the enemy castle by now.
The power he wielded left him brimming with joy. The true purpose of the world resonance was to ‘connect’ one’s self with the world.
Taking the previous example of 1 mana unit, the purpose of energy wasn’t to activate the laws and cast a skill. The energy was used to resonate the mana you possessed with the mana in the world around you. At the same time, the targeted laws and concepts would resonate as well.
If previously he used mana to form shackles of nihility and used the void laws to increase their power, then now he was using the mana around him to resonate with the void laws; and by extension, activate the shackles of nihility from all around him.
The difference in efficiency was obvious, not to mention the chains made by this method were stronger than before.
*Drrrrt*
Rolling sounds reverberated across the castle walls as the cannons retreated from the front. Instead of feeling relieved, Zyrus was even more cautious.
There was no way the enemy didn’t have a counter against something like this, and indeed, he was proven correct.
The space around him cracked under the influence of mana, and at the same time, hundreds of ballistas replaced the cannons.
“Tch… that’ll be troublesome.” Zyrus muttered to himself and activated his summoning skill. Thanks to the recent breakthrough in knowledge, he was able to summon more troops compared to before.
It was arguable if the ballista would be more effective than the cannons, but what mattered here was something different. The arrows used by the ballista were made up of metal, something that was overflowing with the power of laws.
It was without a doubt that they held the power to counter the chains used by Zyrus. But Zyrus was also prepared. How couldn’t he when he planned to face the enemy’s strongest force from the start?
[Radiance]
This was the crown’s authority that he rarely used. A pale blue aura encased the summoned abyssal legion and the group of ophidian warriors.
Elsid and Zirnitra stood beside Zyrus and looked at the approaching arrows with cold eyes. The projectiles broke the dome and struck down on their bodies. The laws of metal were more than capable of annihilating them, yet under the gentle blue light they failed to do so.
System held the absolute power within the sanctuary. It restricted Zyrus’s usage of laws, and the natives were no exception. It was for this reason that he was focusing so much of his time on improving his range of abilities.
- Radiance
-Field area = User’s level x 10 feet.
-Buff: All stats +5, HP +100
-Debuff: All stats -5, small chance to inflict ‘Fear’ effect.
-Note: Buff and debuff will be enhanced depending on the user’s level.
This was the effect of ‘Radiance’. It was obvious that it didn’t have the power to deal with a law-infused attack, but what mattered here was the HP buff.
One cannot die in the sanctuary unless their HP reaches zero. If timed right, the +100 HP buff could save the lives of many.
Of course, its weakness was obvious. Radiance would be useless against the second volley of attacks. But from the start, Zyrus needed something else from the authority; namely the bright light that it produced.
“Stall them for a while and then retreat,” Zyrus ordered Zirnitra and surveyed the surroundings. The natives were in for a surprise if they thought they could corner him this easily.
[Earth Movement]
In the midst of clashing metals and dying ophidian warriors, Zyrus burrowed into the ground without anyone’s notice.
The final phase of his plan was put into motion.