CHAPTER 107 (1): SILVER CROSS - GOD, LIFE, VOID, SELF

“Life Magic?!” Wayne looked curiously at Silvia. He was eager for his master to elaborate.

He remembered hearing someone bring up Life Magic. If his memory served him right, it was back in Enrod, from the Geocentrism Sect that gave out free eggs. At the time, he had merged with the Book of Greed, taking on a more inhuman form, and his opponent blurted out something about Life Magic.

The Geocentrism Sect worshipped the Lord of the Void, a former legendary mage of the Church of Nature. It wasn’t surprising that he knew Life Magic, but... Wayne’s instinct told him that this was important. It wasn’t as simple as he thought.

“Life Magic concerns more than the Church of Nature. Only by combining Nature with Sun and Moonlight could one use Life Magic. It’s advanced divine art involving three different faith-based magics.”

Silvia cut herself off, regretting even going into it. Her student was so incredibly talented. If he became interested in Life Magic and started messing around with the Church of Sun and Church of Moonlight, wouldn’t she be pushing her student away?

She knew Veronica had a roommate: a blonde named Vera, who spent her days fooling around and constantly orbiting her student, clearly up to something. If that blonde used faith magic as bait to make her move, and her student, for the sake of learning...

No! Not happening!

“Master, you’re a Gold-rank mage and a Dragonblood. From your perspective, what is true life?” Wayne asked with genuine interest. He had a feeling that Life Magic involved body modification and could eventually break human limitations. The churches had to have developed a complete path of evolution after all these years.

“It’s too early for you right now, Wayne. Don’t worry about it yet.” Silvia interrupted him with a dark expression. “How’s your hexagram? Tell me where you are now.”

Annnnd here you go again. What kind of teacher stops explaining after getting their student curious? Wayne thought with disappointment. Still, it didn’t matter. He could ask Planck about it when the bandit came for the antique silver coin.

“I’ve filled up my life essence and lit up the four elements, void, and self. I’m currently working on maintaining balance. I should be able to activate the hexagram soon.”

Wayne brought up the strange part of his hexagram: it was difficult for him to grasp its balance. The four elements were nearly maxed out, and he still hadn’t sensed any sign of things falling into place on their own. He couldn’t max everything out, could he? He’d never read or heard about such a case!

“Already?” Silvia asked in surprise. “You work too hard. It’s not necessarily a good thing to rush. Take a few days off and rest properly. Don’t think about training all the time, and don’t pressure yourself. Go out, take walks, and maintain a tranquil heart.”

She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a green light flickered in her eyes as she quietly observed the hexagram within his body.

Eye of Nature’s Contract!

The six points of Wayne’s hexagram had all lit up, occasionally showing connecting lines, but they were just short of forming the star.

The boy wasn’t lying. He had been working too hard! She had a newfound admiration for her student’s dedication. Given his diligence, he would succeed with or without supervision, making her feel somewhat unnecessary as a master. Not only that, she also felt like she had been neglectful.

The bastard was right. She shouldn’t think about work all the time. She should spend more time with her daughter and student, passing on her experience in training.

Were Auston here, he would’ve denied saying that. He was telling her to spend more time with her husband and daughter!

Realizing that Silvia was checking his assignment, Wayne sat upright.

“You possess a rare discreet mana, Wayne, but your hexagram isn’t hidden. Someone competent enough can inspect it with a little effort...”

Silvia started teaching him how to conceal his hexagram. It involved advanced mana control that was difficult for beginners to master. Once reaching the Silver Cross stage, mages had much better control over their mana and could use the technique perfectly at will.

Wayne tried following her instructions, but such fine mana control was incredibly difficult. For the longest time, he had been overly reliant on his abundant mana and always opted for brute force. The concept of conserving mana was entirely foreign to him. It was challenging to suddenly go from maximum to minimum output.

Across from him, Silvia couldn’t help but gulp when she sensed the overwhelming amount of mana in her student’s body. Even before his hexagram took shape, his mana reserve already far exceeded that of a typical Silver-rank mage. She thought she had overestimated her student’s talent, but apparently, she had underestimated it.

Magic was heavily dependent on talent!

Anyone could be a mage because the barrier of entry wasn’t high, but talent was exceptionally crucial to anyone aspiring to become a powerful mage. Take Silvia and Veronica as examples, as Dragonbloods, their life essence was far greater than that of ordinary people. During the hexagram stage, they could store more of the four elements, and their thoughts were stronger than others’. To ensure their hexagrams could take form, they had to learn more knowledge to prevent the void component from holding them back.

That was talent. From the starting point, they were already ahead of ordinary mages. The gap would only widen by the Silver and Gold stages.

Moreover, many mages were limited to the Silver rank their whole life due to a lack of talent, never reaching Gold no matter how hard they tried. Like the three priests who had latched onto Sidney—they were high in status but mediocre in actual power, climbing to their positions purely through politics and accumulated merit.

Wayne’s talent, on the other hand, went beyond even Gold rank, and he also had his terrifying elemental affinity. Silvia allowed her imagination to run wild. The more she thought about the possible future, the more lovely her student became in her eyes.

Unlike a certain someone. Despite sharing the same hair color, he only seemed more and more annoying the longer she looked at him.

“Master, fine control is difficult. I can’t tame my mana right away.” Wayne frowned. He tried, but his mana was stubborn and unruly, always rampaging about recklessly with no grace at all.

“That’s supposed to be difficult. It’s a technique only Silver-rank mages can master.”

“Master, would you tell me about a Silver-rank mage’s training? I’d like to prepare myself.”

“I can, but I’ll only explain part of it to give you a rough understanding. Don’t dwell on it.”

Silvia conjured a hexagram with a wave of her hand. The ethereal glow cast her entirely in green. Through the glow, Wayne felt as if he was seeing Auston and Megan rolling around in bed[1].

“The Black Forge Hexagram consists of earth, fire, water, wind, void, and self. That you already know, so I won’t go into it.” Silvia made a pushing motion with both hands, evolving the hexagram into a silver cross. “The Silver Cross Star has four components: god, life, void, and self.”

“Life is the life essence, consisting of earth, fire, water, and wind, while god derived from the original void and self. This stage is essentially about enhancing the void and the self in preparation for the later Gold Triangle.”

As she said, the six points of the hexagram broke into parts before recombining into a cross.

“You know about life, void, and self already. The key to the Silver Cross Star lies in god, which involves faith. It’s a crucial part. God is your guide, closely connected to your thoughts and the knowledge you possess. This would determine your future path...”

“Since we’re disciples of the Goddess of Nature, our god is, of course, Nature!”

Wayne was just getting into it when Silvia dismissed the cross star with a wave, ending the lecture early.

Why stop again at a crucial moment? Are you conditioning me?

He almost pouted. He wanted to learn more, but Silvia shook her head to deny him. If she spoke even more, it would only hinder his development.

Resigned, Wayne suppressed his curiosity, planning to ask the bandit when he visited.

Silvia knew that her student was eager to learn, but it was too early. What she couldn’t say really should not be said, or she would regret running her mouth and leading her student down the wrong path.

She went back to talking about the magical knowledge at the hexagram stage, redirecting his attention back to the present. Training was about making the right steps in the right order. It wasn’t a good idea to wolf down too much at once, even worse to crave what was on another’s plate.

Time flew by in their questions and answers. When class was about to end, Wayne glanced at his watch.

Oh no, Kristen must be getting impatient waiting!

1. ’Wearing green hat’ is an expression that means getting cheated on in Mandarin, and it evolves into different expressions involving green to mean the same thing. ☜