GIFT OF INFINITY

Lynne woke up with a grueling headache. He rubbed the temple lightly, groaning in a low voice. He had truly exhausted his mind to the last whisk. It felt as if he had been chopping wood for ten years straight without taking a break. Still, after a brief desolation, excited look appeared on his face as his lips curled up in a smile.

With but a thought, light flashed as two identical weapons appeared in his hands. Lynne could feel every inch of them, every small gap, every single strength and weakness – truly, it was as if they were always a part of him, since the day he was born. He fiddled around with two Chakrams, throwing them up in the air, rolling them about, flinging them forth slightly, casting chains that would wound around the handle and then spinning the weapon in a circle… for about an hour, he did nothing but familiarize himself with his new weapons.

“Indeed… I made a right choice!” Lynne exclaimed happily. “Hmm… I’ll call them Divine Soulstone Chakrams! Heh, I can’t wait to test them out on some weak fools…”

“Brat, we’ve been here for over two weeks, and you still didn’t give me any pills or potions!” the monkey suddenly sounded out from the corner.

“Ugh, fine, you bloodsucking fiend,” Lynne groaned lowly as he inspected the black pouch, taking out roughly twenty pills and potions. He didn’t recognize any one of them, but he did recognize that most of them ranged from Rank 8 to Rank 10, and had pretty decent quality. He immediately handed them over to the monkey, upon which the beast greedily licked his lips as he began processing the new-found wealth.

On the other hand, Lynne sat cross-legged as he slowly restored his peak condition. As there were still two days until the group departed, he thought for a moment before focusing his attention on the six symbols embedded deep in his mind. In truth, progressing further within the Origin Paths was fifty times harder than progressing in any of the Spell Arts.

It wasn’t simply uncovering profound truths behind the symbols, but even actually being able to read them was a monstrous achievement. Of both, Lynne manged to briefly scrap the very edges of the first symbols within two Origin Paths. In reality, he didn’t gain a single thing from it except purifying his Mana slightly. This, though, didn’t discourage him. The Magus path was a long one, and no one became a powerhouse over night. He had already decided he’d climb as far as he could, and he had many long years before him.

However, he still desired some form of immediate rise in strength; after all, it has been almost seven months since Highlind fell, and his father’s execution would occur within less than five months. Even if he couldn’t save him in the end, Lynne felt he needed to be there. He needed to see the faces, the expressions, the everything of those who sentenced the only person he ever truly loved in his life. The only person he ever considered a friend.

Lynne, throughout eighteen years of his life, has had many lovers and many ‘friendships’. He had circles upon circles of people who’d gawk at him when he was throwing gold at the undressed women in a brothel. However, he never had a true friend, one with whom he could share everything. In the same vein, he never had a true lover. Lynne never desired to have hundreds and thousands of women wait upon him in a majestic mansion; he certainly desired majestic mansion, but, deep in his heart, he always felt one was more than enough. Still, that was but a dream at the moment. If he wanted to immediately increase his strength, then understanding Spell Arts wasn’t a way. He couldn’t break through to the Master Archmage rank any time soon, so that only left the six symbols.

As he took a deep breath, he dwelt deep into his mind, observing the six sky-towering symbols. They were gigantic yet also miniscule at the same time; they were deep, yet also shallow; they were profound, yet also quite simple. It felt as if he was dancing in the same, neverending loop of confusion each time he pondered upon the symbols. If someone asked him to explain them, he couldn’t; it felt as if any and all knowledge he acquired from the symbols could never be spoken, could never be put into words. It simply felt as if he understood, but couldn’t explain that very understanding.

One hour… two hours… three hours… Lynne sat in a deep meditative state, shutting out the world around him, focusing entirely on the six symbols. He pondered and pondered, trying to unveil the endless mysteries behind them.

Origin Paths, in and of themselves, were actually very simple. Each path offered inherent abilities unique to them, and Origin Paths were no difference. The difference lied in the depth of the path; all other sub-paths could be fully comprehended by the time one reached Dominus Magus rank. Later on, it was simply consolidating the already obtained knowledge. Origin Paths, though, were much more deep than that; Lynne suspected that even leaving the Magus Realm and entering Grand Realm wouldn’t be enough for him to comprehend three symbols, let alone six.

Ten hours… eleven hours… Lynne was still fully focused on trying to unveil the slightest of mysteries. The monkey had already processed two Rank 10 pills and was currently observing Lynne from the corner. Due to his inherited memories, he had slight understanding about the Origin Paths. The greatest advantage of Origin Paths didn’t lie in their depths and profoundness. It didn’t even lie in the fact that only by following Origin Path could one ascend to Grand Realm. It lied in the simple fact that by following Origin Paths, one could obtain Gifts.

Gifts should – at least in theory – be only ‘awarded’ by birth. Using Lynne as an example, he had three innate Gifts: Comprehension, Mana Manipulation and Elemental Affinity. Even if he was a talent seen once in a thousand years, it was still far from enough to progress greatly on the path of Magus. It needs to be said that there are thousands, if not millions, of innate Gifts. So, while having three upon birth is definitely rare, it isn’t sky-shaking. However, by having three, Lynne had obtained requirements to follow Origin Paths – and the further one progressed on this path, the more ‘innate’ Gifts they would obtain, which in turn would qualify them to follow even more Origin Paths. The crux lied that most people didn’t even realize they obtained Gifts; nearly everyone who somehow managed to follow an Origin Path believed that they were obtaining Spell Arts or Origin Arts. Perhaps, even Lynne would think the same once he reached the first level of success.

At that moment, Lynne’s body suddenly shook; a great surge of Mana enveloped him, and a deep, azure vortex appeared behind his back, spinning around endlessly. As it spun, it began sucking all worldly energy around, processing it into Mana, and then pouring it into Lynne. Oh? Already reaching Three Stars Dao Archmage, huh? Not bad… the monkey thought as he watched the phenomenon unfold.

At the same time, Lynne was completely indifferent to his sudden breakthrough; rather, he was deeply immersed in a singular concept he managed to understand from the symbols. He simply understood it as Infinity. Nothing less and nothing more; it was not the word itself, but merely Lynne’s understanding of the concept he unveiled. It was but a tinge from the six symbols, yet he felt as if he inherited ancient knowledge of some powerhouse. There were neither words nor sounds as he began uncovering the mysteries behind the concept; there were only understandings of his own, ones he could never utter, as he had no means to.

Within Lynne’s own understanding, he quickly discovered something. This concept of ‘Infinity’ appeared to be a Spell Art, yet, at the same time, Lynne felt it was somewhat different; it had no layers, it had no deeper understandings, it didn’t have possibility of evolution… it was simply stagnant in its origin form, something akin to his Gift of Comprehension. It was always there, but it never evolved, it could never progress further, because it was at its apex form since its inception. This concept of ‘Infinity’ was quite similar, so Lynne decided to name it Gift of Infinity.

From his own understanding, he concluded that the Gift of Infinity did indeed act like a Spell Art, as it needed to be activated. Upon activation, he would be able to wantonly cast spells without needing to worry about Mana for upwards of 20 seconds. However, with his current strength, even enduring for 4 seconds would be a miracle. Naturally, the longer the usage of the Gift, the greater the backlash; Lynne felt that if he extended to 6 seconds, he’d either die or become crippled to the point of becoming a plant.

Still, he didn’t despair; when things really got out of control, 4 seconds was more than enough to reverse the situation. For other Mages, regardless of their talent, 4 seconds would be enough to cast at most two spells due to the ‘buffer time’. However, Lynne would be able to cast as many as eight simple spells, and two to three truly complex ones. It wasn’t a stretch to say that this became his first, true life-saving treasure of sorts. While he had Heaven’s Writ, that only worked on creatures and not other Mages.

After plundering the Magus Tomb, Lynne truly gained massive benefits from it; even on the count of Spell Arts, pills and potions he obtained, it was an extremely bountiful harvest. Beyond that, he also managed to forge Soul Weapons, something that no other Dao Archmage, or even Master Archmage, could even dream of having. In addition to that, he also broke through to become Three Stars Dao Archmage. While it doesn’t seem like much, in truth, he nearly doubled his Mana reserves, further purifying them as well.

He was now confident in being able to battle peak Master Archmage for at least ten breaths, and this was only due to his innately low Mana reserves. If he could increase them to a greater standard, even he didn’t know how much stronger he’d become.

From Archmage to Dao Magus, progress was relatively simple, as one only needed to increase their Mana reserves and comprehend advanced understanding of a Spell Art. This, in turn, would evolve their aura, making it so that others would recognize the increase in strength. From Dao Magus to Dao Archmage, the most important thing was the purity of Mana, as well as comprehension of other Spell Arts to advanced level. However, Lynne took a different path, as he broke through while beginning to follow two Origin Paths. This purified his Mana solidly, and one could argue that what he achieved with two Origin Paths was much more profound that understanding ten or even a hundred Spell Arts to advanced level.

From Dao Archmage to Master Archmage, things become a bit more difficult. One needs to evolve their Origin Spell first, and even Lynne won’t be able to skip on this. In addition, they’ll also have to create a second Origin Spell, or, if they find that too hard, understand six Spell Arts to at least grand level.

Within each rank, stars are used to indicate one’s Mana purity – rather than Mana reserves – and glimpses of understanding within same level – such as basic, advanced, grand and so on. So, while one star difference doesn’t seem like much, it indicates that one has purer Mana and deeper understanding that the one with lesser star rank. This is especially the case with Lynne, who’s following two Origin Paths.

Beyond the increase in ranks, there is also the Gift of Infinity, which is definitely far more important than anything else he obtained – perhaps even Soul Weapons. Even if he failed these past two weeks, he’d still eventually craft Soul Weapons, and, what’s more, they weren’t truly life-saving treasures. They would only increase his battle prowess, but are far from enough for guaranteeing him another trump card. Gift of Infinity became exactly that – his first, true trump card that he’d only use when he had no other options.

Two days passed in a blink, and it was time for departure. From the expressions of Anna and Elynal, it was clear that both of them also had their own successes over the past twenty days. With 47 days remaining until the opening of Ancient City, the little group first climbed to the peak of the mountain and pulled reluctant bird away from its natural habitat, before heading off further east, seeking more lucky chances as they neared their destination.