Chapter 187

Underground secret chamber.

Meidia Na held a bottle of wine, gulping it with a "glug glug" sound.

She drank half a bottle in one go before stopping: "I was lucky this time; I quickly met the legendary mage Na Ya and told her about your situation."

"Another stroke of luck is that Na Ya has just stepped down from the position of Guardian Archmage of the Navat Republic, giving her plenty of free time, so she not only let me bring this spellbook to you, but also specially crafted a magical artifact for you."

Meidia Na pointed at the odd, fist-sized magical artifact in Luosen's hand.

"This is called the Rewind Ring; its function is that when you enter the Eleventh Ring but fail to successfully condense the legendary heart, it weakens your soul's intensity, sending you back to the Tenth Ring to avoid the doom of soul disintegration."

Luosen's knowledge of souls deepened greatly; after careful observation, he grasped the artifact's principle and found its design extraordinarily ingenious, beyond what ordinary people could conceive.

He clicked his tongue in amazement: "This is truly a fine piece."

It's essentially a regret‑cure for cultivation.

He became very curious about that distant nation called a Republic.

Because the term 'Republic' only appears once a society reaches a certain level of development.

"Is Lady Na Ya, as a legendary mage, merely the nation's Guardian Archmage?"

Having spent a long time in this aristocratic world, his thinking had been subtly reshaped; subconsciously he assumed that this legendary mage should be the absolute ruler of the nation, even higher than the emperor.

Meidia Na, of course, understood Luosen's meaning.

She smiled: "At first I also found it strange, but now I fully understand, and I think the Navat Republic's system is the best way for mortals like us to resist the invasion of gods and demons."

Without waiting for Luosen to ask, she began a detailed explanation.

"In the Navat Republic, a legendary mage's legendary power does not come from personal cultivation, but from the support of the people."

"This support is similar to 'faith', yet not exactly the same. It does not worship a specific deity, but a concept of 'guardianship'."

"The Guardian Archmage is an honored position surrounded by a holy aura."

"In other words, if you serve as Guardian Archmage, you gain the people's faith support, thereby obtaining the power to break through the Eleventh Ring."

"But once you step down, the people's faith leaves you and falls onto the newly appointed Guardian Archmage."

Luosen understood: "So the retired Na Ya no longer possesses legendary power?"

"Correct, she now only has the power of the Ten Rings Apex. The newly appointed Guardian Archmage is named Sasmar, also a highly talented Ten Rings Apex mage."

She paused, then added: "In Navat, the term of a Guardian Archmage is ten to twenty years; after twenty years a replacement is required."

"It's not that Na Ya performed poorly; mortal souls and bodies cannot bear the sustained pressure of legendary power. Over time they must rest, or risk soul disintegration."

Luosen was surprised: "After promotion it's only a temporary breakthrough, not permanent?"

"Of course not forever."

Meidia Na shrugged: "Even low‑Ring mages, if they cease cultivation for a long time or age, will regress rings; the legendary realm is even more subject to regression."

"The legendary realm is like a bird soaring into the sky—of course it flies, but the cost is enormous, so it can't stay aloft forever. When the time comes, between crashing to death and voluntarily descending, one must choose a fate, right?"

It was a vivid metaphor; Luosen nodded in understanding, growing more interested in the Navat Republic's situation.

"Mei— give us more about Navat."

Meidia Na, having drunk, was already in high spirits; when Luosen asked, she naturally spoke without holding back.

"The Navat Republic is a true nation of sorcery. I have traveled across many planes, seen countless mortal realms, and never encountered a nation with as many Ultra‑High‑Ring mages as Navat."

"Because Ultra‑High‑Ring mages are so numerous, the qualification to become a member of the High‑Ring Council, which wields the nation's highest authority, is Ten Rings power."

"Currently, the council has 102 members."

Luosen felt a shock inside and guessed: "Navat must have fully disclosed the principles of magical cultivation and implemented the most extensive sorcery education, right?"

"Exactly. Every child begins enlightenment at six; once they show outstanding magical talent, they are immediately noticed and given focused training."

"The Republic boasts a population of 1.6 billion, surpassing the combined numbers of the Natural Alliance, the Radiant Nations, and the Sacred Elven Empire, thus wielding a sorcerous might that makes even gods and demons tremble."

Not to mention gods and demons, Luosen already felt a bit frightened, yet he wondered: "What force drove the emergence of such a colossal entity?"

A populace of 1.6 billion not only forms a mortal nation but also shares a unified mindset, allowing the concentrated faith power to thrust mortals themselves into legend.

Strangely, its achievements in world exploration are not particularly high—certainly not to a despairing degree—so it feels somewhat discordant.

It's like many pseudo‑science fictions on Earth that possess interstellar travel technology yet still resort to fist‑and‑foot warfare.

"There are many reasons; the biggest is external pressure."

Meidia Na clutched the bottle, a hint of terror on her face: "Do you know that the plane where Navat resides is being targeted by three great demons simultaneously."

"Any single plane being eyed by one great demon is enough trouble; here there are three, each unbearably cruel. In just twenty years they plunged half the plane into absolute darkness."

"In the crisis, a Ten Rings mage named Feidemonte appeared."

"He roamed the nations, rallying strongmen, forming the High‑Ring Council, which became the predecessor Navat Empire of the Navat Republic, and that held back the first wave of the great demons' invasion."

"Yet they still lost more than they won; through continual battles to unify the mortal world's power, the empire gradually transformed into a republic, establishing a stable system that consistently produced legendary mages. This steadied the situation, not only withstanding the heavy pressure of the three great demons' incursions but even launching counter‑attacks in certain regions."

Luosen listened quietly, clearly feeling from Meidia Na's words the courage and wisdom of countless mortals battling fate.

He couldn't help a long sigh: "With a mortal body confronting gods and demons, Feidemonte truly is a model for mages like us."

"Who says it isn't?"

Meidia Na gave the information: "Thus, the Guardian Archmages of the Navat Republic all call themselves 'Disciples of Feidemonte', intending to inherit Feidemonte's will and completely expel the invading gods and demons from the plane."

Luosen asked: "In your view, do you think they can succeed?"

Meidia Na shook her head, a bewildered look on her face: "I don't know."

"We mortals possess both demonic and divine nature. Feidemonte awakened the divine, while the demons continuously provoke the demonic; until the final moment, no one knows who will prevail."

"But I remain optimistic about Navat, because they have successfully resisted for 800 years without defeat, and have even grown stronger."

"Of course, I sincerely hope Navat can win."

That succubus could say such words, showing her broad and far‑reaching insight; Luosen even felt the term 'succubus' was an insult to her.

He smiled: "I hope the same."

Then he opened the spellbook Meidia Na had brought back, and found the original text of the pages was a completely unfamiliar script, but at the beginning a mind spell was handwritten using the Natural Alliance's common script.

The handwriting is elegant and delicate, yet it contains a grand aura, carries a faint scent of ink, and one can vaguely sense that the writer is a refined, graceful, meticulous, powerful mage.

"This Naya is also a remarkable woman," Luosen thought to himself.

The mental spell is called "Eye of True Sight," functioning like a real‑time translation program that can render the common language of other planes into the reader's native tongue.

The spell is not difficult; the Natural Alliance also has a similar spell called "Eye of the Mind," and the principles of the two are alike.

Luosen studied it briefly, mastered it, and then could read the contents of the spellbook. The title is "Legendary Spell Rings."

The first line on the page reads:

"Attention!"

"The path of legend is an extremely perilous road of cultivation; each mage has a legend path unique to them, and all advice from others can only serve as reference, not as guidance."

Luosen felt a slight tremor in his heart as he read, and he immediately continued reading.

"As a young mage from another plane and a pioneer, I cannot teach you how to achieve the legendary path; all I can do is describe the various characteristics of the Eleven Spell Rings to you."

"As for how to cope, no one can help you; you must rely on yourself."

After reading those sentences, he looked up at Mediana and said, "It's not quite what I imagined."

Mediana evidently had also read the spellbook, and she shrugged.

"The legendary path is like this: although the High Ring Council members of the Navat Empire are numerous and have very rich practical experience, only nine of them ultimately have the ability to serve as Guardian Archmage."

"It's like a fish leaping onto land without dying, or a beast galloping on the ground soaring into the high heavens."

"Precisely because it is so arduous, it truly deserves to be called a legend."

Luosen nodded in agreement: "Indeed."

If the first Ten Spell Rings are likened to the surface of a living planet, the Eleventh Spell Ring represents entry into outer space.

For mortal life, it indeed counts as a transcendental elevation of essence, and it is certainly a massive adventure.

He began to turn over the contents of the spellbook.

The book spans about fifty pages, describing the characteristics of the Eleven Spell Rings in great detail, but it largely adopts Mage Naya's first‑person perspective, and many sections are filled with idealistic descriptions.

This is normal, because magical power derives from soul cultivation, and soul cultivation is inherently idealistic.

Precisely because it is idealistic, it is difficult to promote on a large scale.

Luosen read quickly; the first pass was just a skim while feeding the information into Laifu's database, then he closed his eyes and, using Laifu's data‑analysis capability, began a second and third close reading.

The contents of the book were extremely valuable, providing Luosen with great assistance; combined with data from various experiments in the medical laboratory, a feasible ascension method formed in Luosen's mind.

"My ascension cannot rely on faith, because the power of faith I currently possess is far too weak to let me stand firm in the Eleventh Spell Ring."

Mother Nature's faith base comprises fewer than 500 million people, all holding the most primitive and faint worship of deities; compared with the lofty convictions of the Navat Republic's guardian plane, both in number and quality the gap is enormous.

"Therefore, I must employ the Soul‑Burning Method, drawing power directly from the Eleventh Spell Ring to maintain the soul's stable existence."

The Faith Method is akin to pulling an oxygen tube from the bottom of the atmosphere into outer space.

The Soul‑Burning Method creates a "Spiritual Power Pump" within the soul, pumping the thin energy of the Eleventh Spell Ring into the soul.

The existence of the "pump" simultaneously solves the problems of "spiritual power backflow" and "energy supply."

The operation of the "Spiritual Power Pump" requires energy, so the soul must be burned to obtain that power.

As long as the amount of spiritual energy burned is less than the amount pumped in by the "pump," the soul can exist stably within the Eleventh Spell Ring.

But how to make the soul undergo controlled combustion rather than turning into a blazing fireball, how to craft a precisely structured "Spiritual Power Pump," how to ensure the pump's operation does not damage the soul's main structure while maintaining high efficiency, and finally how to perfectly adapt it to a mortal's biological brain without scorching the brain.

All of these, each one, is an extremely tedious and highly precise undertaking.

Just thinking about it makes it clear that this is many times harder than low‑ring cultivation.

Even if it succeeds in the end, it will inevitably consume the vast majority of one's mental capacity to keep the "pump" running, leaving nothing else doable.

Luosen dares to attempt this mainly because he possesses Laifu.

A mortal brain cannot handle such delicate work; no problem—train Laifu to do it, and once Laifu is proficient, allocate part of its computing power to maintain the Spiritual Power Pump.

While pondering, Mediana's voice sounded beside him: "Duke, where is my reward?"

Luosen, of course, had already prepared, pulling out more than fifty pre‑synthesized, flawed Soul Gems, each about the size of a fist.

"Here you go~"

"Haha~~ What a bountiful harvest! Wait a few days while I rest, and I'll set off to the next plane to seek High Ring knowledge for you."

Luosen laughed, "No problem, I'm especially interested in converting base energy into noble energy; pay attention to knowledge in that area."

"Alright~~ Any wine left?"

Luosen pointed to the small door of the secret room: "Behind that door is a wine cellar storing various fine wines; help yourself to drink."

He pointed to another small door: "That door leads to the surface; you can go out anytime to stroll and experience the city's scenery."

"At least in Weilan, you are free."

"Take this money as well; you can spend it freely in Weilan City and Dawn City."

He produced a leather case; opening it revealed paper money worth one million Klei, which actually amounts to over six hundred Gold Ogre.

That said, in Weilan City, the purchasing power of one million notes is still quite good; as long as you don't spend it on bulk goods or gambling, it can comfortably sustain daily needs for a long time.

"Not bad~ really not bad~~"

Mediana was very satisfied with Luosen's arrangement.

Having arranged for the succubus, Luosen didn't rush to leave: "Mage Naya helped me greatly; how should I repay her?"

Mediana smiled faintly: "I knew the Duke would say that."

She pulled a thumb‑sized Soul Gem from the package and handed it to Luosen: "This is a plane beacon of the Navat Empire's plane; if you have time, go there yourself."

"After hearing about you, Mage Naya is also very interested in you."

"She believes you can raise your magical power to the Ten Rings pinnacle in a short time; your magical talent is unprecedented. Of course, I share the same view."

"She has just stepped down from the Guardian Archmage duties, has plenty of free time, and wishes to exchange cultivation insights with you."

Luosen understood; of course he was more than willing to exchange insights with such a powerful mage, even calling it an honor.

After the Magic Method Exchange Conference, I'll go to the Nawat Empire.

Then, he didn't delay even a moment, immediately returning to his Magic Method Laboratory.

The existence of the demons outside the ring placed considerable mental pressure on him.

He used to think that the peak of the Ten Rings was the ultimate limit of personal cultivation, so his training had been lax; now that he has pressure, he also has motivation to move forward.

During this period, he truly devoted all his efforts to research.

I thought I wouldn't accumulate enough knowledge so quickly, but La Fengge directly gave him a big gift, saving him at least several years of research time.

Now everything is ready, and with a life-saving magical item like the Reversal Law Ring, it's also time to attempt a breakthrough to the Eleven Law Ring.

(End of chapter)