Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 198: Height of the Technique

In general, elemental runes and theurgy runes could not be mutually compatible; the only outcome from forceful mutual replacement would be the spell going out of control —— those priests would explain this as the gods being supreme; thus, the powers bestowed by the gods were also above the spells that mortals used. Low-level spells naturally could not be mutually compatible with high-level theurgies. However, in Gawain’s surmise, he believed that this was only due to the two’s challenging compatibility or “common frequency region being overly narrow”.

This surmise did not come without cause, but a rational guess that emerged because of the historical facts of the transition of Druid theurgies to magic, as well as the fused magic circle discovered in the ruins in the mountains —— now, it turned out that his guess was correct.

The so-called divine power wasn’t superior to magical power. It was only because the connection of theurgy runes and elemental runes wasn’t as easy as that between elemental runes, and in the situation where theoretical guidance was absent, finding the correct permutation amongst the vast number of runes was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Thus, the scholars believed that these two systems were incompatible.

The Gondor Master Mages from 1,000 years ago seemed to have found this “needle”.

The Druids’ theurgies were already invalid. After the source of energy that was derived from the gods’ “gift” vanished, they had to draw magical power from nature to utilize the former “theurgies”, and theurgies became magic in this process, while theurgy circles gradually became ineffective historical heritage as reasonable remodeling ways could not be found. However, the “interface” that Pittman found gave the ancient abandoned theurgy circles the possibility of operating again. In Gawain’s opinion, the mysterious veil of theurgy circles had been completely uncovered right at this moment.

They were actually magic circles; sacred runes were actually some kind of special magical runes (independent of the elemental rune system); only its energy could not be derived from nature but required a layer of “filter” or “conversion” before it could be used. The inversion circle was the key to carrying such conversion.

Gawain’s reasoning extended—— he thought of those mysterious gods. What role did those gods assume in this process?

Perhaps… they were the earliest and also biggest inversion circle.

The gods purified and extracted nature’s original basic energy to transform it into the so-called “superior energy” that could release theurgies: for example, the forces of nature, the Holy Light, divine war power, and more. Then, with strict religious doctrines as the “authorization standard”, they allowed those mortals who carried out religious rituals to borrow these secondary energies that had been transformed. If this was on Earth, it would be equivalent to a developed country monopolizing the entire world’s fossil fuels, solar energy, wind energy, and all primary resources, as well as the corresponding electricity generation technology. Then, the country converted these resources into electricity and exported it to a certain primitive country —— the latter would, therefore, enter the age of electricity in one swoop, but so long as they did not find the way to generate electricity, they would forever be stuck in this state —— leading a life of electric lamps and telephones on the surface, but a primitive and backward life in reality.

Because they were missing the technology of the most important “conversion step” in the middle.

Humankind was the only intelligent race on Earth, and the disparity between people was limited; thus, such monopolization was difficult to achieve. But in this world, the gods possessed powers that far exceeded the imagination of mortals; therefore, they succeeded with such a monopolization.

The “White Starfall” 3,000 years ago was the beginning of the breaking of the monopoly. On that day, the God of Nature worshiped by the Druids disappeared for some reason. Consequently, the refinement authority of nature’s divine power was released, and mortals obtained the ability to use the magic of nature. The Master Mages who studied the flesh of gods in the Dark Range a thousand years ago further reinforced the breakup of the monopoly. They used an even more aggressive method to bypass the “authority lock” set up by the gods and achieved success.

However, the overall monopoly still could not be broken. The gods, who stood in great numbers in the world, were still present. Mortals, still, could only obtain the corresponding divine power by praying to the gods, but the key to breaking the monopoly was already held in Gawain’s hand.

As Gawain’s mind calmed down, he looked fixedly at Pittman and asked, “Do you know what this ‘inversion circle’ signifies?”

The old Druid smiled. “I do. To be honest, I’m pretty proud of it.”

“The entire world will see us as their arch enemy,” Gawain warned slowly. “Ninety percent of the clergymen will come huffing over.”

Pittman batted his eyes, revealing a trace of slyness in them. “Not just those priests, there’s also the ‘gods’ behind them.”

Yes, there were also the gods behind them.

Although the Eternal Stone Slate divulged the information that “the gods were dead”, the fact that divine power still existed in the world was irrefutable. Gawain had no choice but to beware of those “gods” hidden behind the scenes. Were they the resurrected gods? Or some kind of “usurper” who took advantage of the empty position and took the role? Regardless of what was responding to the mortals’ prayers, they probably wouldn’t like to see their monopoly being broken.

“Do not use the inversion circle technique on any other theurgy circles other than those of the Druids for now,” Gawain said solemnly.

He did not know how sharp the gods’ eyes were. He could only assume that they would jump up even if one leg hair of theirs was plucked.

“I understand.” Pittman nodded. He evidently didn’t dare to mess around in this aspect.

“This technique, we need to package it.” Gawain took a breath and went on, “This was an attempt to convert Druid magic into ‘magic circles’, and due to the origins of Druid magic, ancient theurgy symbols naturally existed in the magic circles. This happened naturally. Do you understand?”

“Of course. I am merely a low-ranked Druid. How would I know the technique to steal divine power?” Pittman stroked his beard with his eyes narrowed. “I’d merely copied the ancient Druid theurgy circles from books, then connected the Magic Web recklessly. As for the so-called inversion runes… given the brains of the majority of the spellcasters and clergymen of this era, they would only pay attention to whether the item was usable or not. Who would care about the theories and functions?!”

Gawain detected deep disdain and even a hint of resentment towards conventional spellcasters from Pittman’s tone. He knew that there was definitely a story there, but he only gave the other person a long deep look and didn’t pursue further.

He nodded. “These deluding statements are just to be on the safe side. So long as we do well in keeping the technique confidential, we do not have to worry about the dangers that would occur after it has been leaked. There are only the three of us present here today. Before I believe that the time is right, we will be the only ones aware of this secret, and at the most, the core technicians added in in the future. Understand?”

Pittman nodded lightly, while Amber suddenly stared at Gawain with a terrified look. “You can’t be thinking of killing me to silence me, right?”

Gawain casually knocked on this half-elf’s head. “Are there any normal operations in your brain?”

“Damn, silencing a person still isn’t considered normal?”

Gawain helplessly darted a look at Pittman. “To be honest, how did you and your old mate educate this lass back then?”

“Sigh, we didn’t expect her to grow up into this,” Pittman sighed dejectedly. “Her adoptive father and I worked conscientiously the whole time to earn money and raise the kid. We taught her stealth, poisoning, grave digging, exhumation, swindling and bluffing, pilfering, and even got the best shadow mentor for her. We were so serious in our education. How did she go astray…?”

Gawain: “…”

Damn it, how could she not go crooked with this education? That Amber only had some faults of pilfering till now was already considered having a naturally good soul, huh?!

“…I’ve got to properly rectify your values.” Gawain resignedly waved a hand at Amber and turned back to look at Pittman. “Sort out the new flow of production and technical requirements of the various equipment into a detailed file. I will arrange for the industrial department to start designing the corresponding equipment and workshop. It is just nice that it’s winter right now. If we complete it within these few months, it can be used just in time when spring comes. In addition, I remember you recruited a batch of apothecary apprentices. Can they be put in important positions?”

According to Gawain’s directive to “increase talents”, Pittman recruited a group of apothecary apprentices in the territory to impart the way of nature —— those plots in stories where a child randomly taken from a poor family possessed unusual talent and became a nature-defying genius with some nurturing did not happen. Not a single one of the dozen had Druid aptitude; only two or three possessed the weak ability to sense magical power but found it strenuous to even be a Mage apprentice. Fortunately, there weren’t only spells in Druid knowledge; knowledge about all sorts of potions, animal domestication, and plant cultivation could be picked up by laymen. Thus, these apprentices were considered to have grown swiftly under Pittman’s lead. At present, they were doctors and apothecaries of the territory, and when needed, they would also help Pittman concoct those catalytic potions required for agriculture.

“Saying they can be put in important positions would be flattering those young fellows, but they’re considered hard working. Their fundamental alchemy skills are alright.” Pittman touched his beard. “You have arrangements?”

“Using the reaction vessels to prepare magical medicine is a technical job. Laymen who haven’t been trained won’t be able to handle them. After the pharmaceutical synthesis factory has been completed, on top of workers doing the chores, we also need technical personnel who know the ropes in there. Select a few reliable and steady apprentices. We’ll let them manage the factory.”

Pittman was a little surprised. “I thought you would have wanted me to manage the factory.”

“What you ought to be managing is the research and development system that’s at an even higher level, and not a concrete factory.” Gawain darted a look at Pittman. “There won’t only be one pharmaceutical factory in the territory in the future, and the Druids’ ancient theurgies… aren’t only used to concoct medicines either.”

“It seems you’re thinking very far ahead.” Pittman nodded. “I understand. I will pick a few suitable apprentices to train and get them to go to the steelworks and mechanical research station to familiarize themselves with ‘factory production’.”

Gawain let out a breath. “Then… apart from completing these tasks, I think you ought to consider the next research project .”

Pittman blinked. “Next step of research?”

“That is to study ‘why’.” Gawain looked at those theurgy runes and elemental runes on the alchemy platform, as well as the “inversion circle” serving as the conversion interface. “Why can the inversion circle convert primary magical power into so-called ‘divine power’? Why must secondary energy that has been converted be used to drive theurgy circles? What exactly is the difference between magical power and divine power?”

Gawain eased his tone, but his expression was especially solemn. “Conventional spellcasters rarely pay attention to spell theories at a deeper level, and you’ve also mocked this point earlier, so we absolutely cannot be like them. Especially with the inversion circle technique —— it is a technique that was excavated, a property of the ancient Gondor Empire. It isn’t some god bestowed item that cannot be analyzed, but something that ancient Master Mages who were also humans studied and came up with. And very luckily, we happened to have the chance to study it. We definitely cannot let go of this opportunity.”

Pittman faltered for a while before he suddenly broke into a smile. “Whenever I believe that I’ve thought far enough, I’d always find that you’re already standing somewhere even further, waiting for me to catch up…”

Before Gawain could respond, Amber had already voiced what he was about to say for him. “This is the wisdom of the elderly.”