Throne of Magical Arcana - Chapter 823

Chapter 823: Path of Immortality (End of the Main Storyline)

Seeing that, Viken grinned hideously in his heart. His body that was flashing and twisting erratically suddenly collapsed, turning into two worlds where light and darkness overlapped. One of the worlds was evil and corrupt, brimming with pain and desperation, and the other was lofty and sacred, with singing angels everywhere.

The remainders of the primeval hell and Mountain Paradise reappeared, forming the previous balance again. Viken was briefly given the feeling that he belonged to and did not belong to this world again.

Such a transformation suggested that Viken had completely abandoned himself. He would rather retrograde and perish in order to find an opportunity to deal a critical blow on Lucien so that he could only “return” millions of years later like the mysterious existence of the World of Souls!

Such a feeling was already close to the vibe that Lucien gave other people. The two of them seemed to be in the same world!

Gotcha!

Viken grasped Lucien’s air instantly!

However, at this moment, he realized that the space around him became dark and deep, with brilliant stars scattered everywhere. The edge of the space far away vaguely constricted, and the power of the wind that represented electromagnetism was divided into parts, as if it was exchanging something. Below him were elements in different colors that were similar to planets. Electrons surrounded the atomic nucleus and dispersed into a cloud. Above his head, there was an enormous fireball.

It was Lucien’s “cognitive world”?

I could actually break into his “cognitive world”?

No, it’s because our current state is similar to the status of the cognitive world, which does not entirely belong to this world but is connected to it in a certain way.

Viken thought quickly and basically understood what was going on.

Of course, he also knew that there was still a major difference between their state and the cognitive world. He was able to break in obviously because Lucien intentionally adjusted the status of his cognitive world.

Why is he doing this?

In any case, now that he dares to let me in, I will completely ruin his cognitive world. It will be even more difficult for him to recover and return!

When countless thoughts flashed in Viken’s heart in the blink of an eye, he made a decision quickly. The primeval hell and Mountain Paradise began to expand.

Suddenly, he saw the Lucien who was in the “cosmos” far away putting on a gentle and graceful smile again. In the meantime, the enormous fireball above his head was turned to the back of a cluster of intense darkness.

The darkness that even rays of light could not leak out of released an unimaginable and most horrifying attraction force. Immediately, Viken, including his primeval hell and Mountain Paradise, was attracted to it!

In the normal space, any of Lucien’s Host Stars of Destiny couldn’t have influenced the material world effectively. However, Viken’s status was synchronized with the cognitive world at this moment.

Under the all-absorbing attraction force, the expansion of the primeval hell and Mountain Paradise was stopped, and Viken was devoured by the darkness before he was able to let out a scream.

Lucien, however, was not relaxed. He was even more solemn than before. His cognitive world quickly faded. The perspective of the shadow universe behind his back changed, displaying indescribable darkness instead of the gigantic fireball and the blue planet.

The darkness was even more intimidating than that inside Lucien’s cognitive world. Even though it was in a different universe, the demigods like Douglas and Maltimus still realized that it was powerful enough to tear them apart easily.

Then, the darkness in the cognitive world had minor “communication” with the darkness!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The stars in Lucien’s cognitive world were absorbed into the darkness. Everything was trembling. However, the items inside the darkness also flowed into the other darkness through the channel of communication.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

A soundless scream burst out. Lucien hurried to abort the connection and turn the darkness backward, redisplaying the gigantic fireball. However, even though he had done everything perfectly, his cognitive world was already an utter mess. His body slightly dimmed. It was obvious that he had been badly hurt.

Viken had been completely done for!

Maltimus was feeling rather sympathetic after witnessing the scene. Lucien was too strong right now!

At first, he thought of helping Viken flee in order to maintain the balance of the situation. However, neither Douglas nor the Silver Moon loosened their wariness of him. Therefore, he could only choose to submit in the future…

The shadow universe and the projection of the cognitive world were slowly gone. Lucien’s body quickly turned concrete. He slightly nodded at Douglas, Silver Moon Alterna, Fernando, and the rest of them.

The darkness in the sky was gone, and the bright sunlight sprayed on his body, covering him in gold.

In Allyn and Rentato, although nobody cared about the battle any longer, many people were still mumbling to themselves, “It was a trick… It was a trick…”

……

One day later, in Babel in the Atomic Universe…

Hardly had Lucien come out of his laboratory when he saw Natasha appreciating the cosmos outside of the window, which was entirely different from that in the main material world, with a glass of red wine in her hands.

“Have you found a way to recover Mr. Maskelyne?” Natasha asked in concern.

Lucien nodded but shook his head. “I’ve found something, but more research is still necessary. Even though I am a demigod, I am not omnipotent.”

When Viken melted Mountain Paradise, the seraphs who were capable of fleeing like Maskelyne hid in the Realm of Gates. After all, unlike the primeval devils, they were not deeply connected to the primeval hell.

“A demigod…” Natasha grimaced, indicating that she would work hard herself. “What exactly is the high-dimensional soul you talked about? Do they have self-consciousness? Can they control their respective projections?”

She was quite interested in Lucien’s model. Although most of it was too confusing, she finally understood the key to her advancement. However, she had her concerns, fearing that the soul essence in the high dimension could control her. She did not feel quite comfortable when she thought that something mysterious could control her and wanted to slay it, even though it was another “her”.

“I don’t know. If I could completely understand the nature and status of the high-dimensional souls, I would already be a ‘true god’. For now, I can only make speculations based on the phenomena as well as the things that I’ve felt after I became a demigod. For example, it is possible that the high-dimensional souls are in chaos, and only after they are projected to different parallel universes and combined with matters will the unique self-consciousness be generated. That’s why one’s memories and ways of thinking will be gone after death. They do not belong to the soul essence in the high dimension.” Lucien spoke of his thoughts which he wasn’t quite confident about.

“There won’t be any self-consciousness until it is combined with matters? But there are a lot of souls that are separated from their physical forms, like ghosts, aren’t there?” Natasha said like a curious arcanist.

Lucien thought for a moment and said, “The souls that I often talk about are more like shells that are made of electromagnetic fields and the special isotopes of certain elements. They’re matters, too. At least, I think that the projection of high-dimensional souls has to be based on matter in our universe.”

Natasha scratched her chin. “What about the starry sky of destiny? There isn’t any matter in that. Also, why do the stars that exist in reality indicate our fate?”

“You’ve answered your own question.” Lucien was amused and took over the champagne that Natasha poured for him. “Through the connection between the high-dimensional souls and their projections in a material world, we can grasp all the traces of the souls in the material world. The mechanism is the same as that of God’s Arrival, except that God’s Arrival is used for destruction purposes. In the high-dimensional state, all the traces of all lives must be overlapping or entangling. That’s the real appearance of the starry sky of destiny. So, when there are changes on one side, the other side will sense it.

“When there are all the traces, we will be able to infer some of the future changes. It’s like all questions can be answered when there are enough equations. However, since the ‘future’ involves too many factors and unknowns, there can only be rough, indefinite predictions.

“Such overlapping or entanglement in the high-dimensional state can only be seen when we meditate through the cognitive world or when we perform astrology. Its projection is also based on matters. So, it is manifested through the stars, and the information is hidden in the law and status of different Host Stars of Destiny.

“Therefore, the starry sky of destiny shares the same law as the starry sky in reality, but it runs in very different ways. Mr. President successfully advanced into the demigod level mainly by grasping his Host Star of Destiny, or the traces of his own soul.”

Hearing Lucien’s brief description, Natasha nodded thoughtfully. “Therefore, the starry sky of destiny reflects most of the laws of the stars in reality, but the stars in reality have barely anything to do with fate?”

“Yes.” Lucien did not think that Natasha could understand any further interpretations right now. So, he nodded his head in approval.

Natasha seemed to be in a better mood. “You’ve touched the essence of high-dimensional souls through the connection of two souls. How are you going to become a true god and realize immortality?”

She had already learned from Lucien that he melted a soul of his own from another universe. That was why he could advance into the demigod level so quickly. However, Natasha did not have many complaints. After all, she did not even know Lucien back then. The Lucien she knew had always been the one after the melting.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien said, “It is impossible to calculate the essence of the original soul in reverse with the answer and part of the laws of projection because equations are not enough and there are too many unknowns. Therefore, in order to realize immortality, we can only find ways to go to other parallel universes to search for our other ‘selves’ and learn more answers and laws. Then, we will be able to solve the simultaneous equation and find out the math model about the essence of the soul.

“So, find more ‘selves’, obtain more information, and advance through meticulous math models. That’s an arcanist’s path of immortality!”

Natasha said enviously, “The direction is very clear… What about knights?”

“The further you go down on the path of immortality, the more similar things you will see. After all, it is already close to the essence of the world. Therefore, the path of knights and the path of arcanists should be basically the same except for some of the details.” Lucien chuckled. “The advancement cannot be made based on natural instincts anymore. You have to figure out the corresponding things and compare yourself with more of yourselves.”

Natasha’s lips twitched and decided not to consider such a troublesome question for now. “Why do you think there is magic on our side but there isn’t on the other universe?”

“The power of soul projections has different influences on fundamental matters. Also, time flows faster on our side and more slowly on their side. So, we can make use of the rising and ebbing ocean of energy on their side, but they cannot use ours.” Lucien’s voice became low.

“However, since there is an intersection, there should be corresponding changes on that side too, shouldn’t there?” Natasha asked in confusion.

Lucien put down the cup and walked to the window before he replied with a smile, “Perhaps there are like macro electrons[1] and ball lightning…”

“What?”

“I was just kidding.”

(End of Volume VIII and the main storyline)

[1] The macro electron is a concept that Liu Cixin, a Chinese writer whose most famous works include The Three-Body Problem, created in his science fiction, Ball Lightning.