Chapter 155: The Incarnation of Worldly Truth

A cart full of materials and objects was moved into the new house, and Granny Truth settled down in Flower Town.

At the luncheon, Liszt hosted Glanny at the castle, gathering the town's nobles and would-be nobles. The atmosphere of the banquet was, however, just so-so.

The mage wasn't as aloof as one might imagine.

Of course, it wasn't exactly lively either. Most of the time, Gort and others were entertaining themselves, while Glanny simply ate and drank, seeming more like a creature lost in his own world.

The materials needed to craft the black pearl were not yet sufficient.

Thus, after the banquet ended, Glanny's work from the afternoon onward primarily focused on imparting knowledge—he still had the task of crafting crystal lamps, but that required the cooperation of a crystal craftsman, as mages did not carve crystals.

The Flower Caravan had already invited the crystal craftsman Brad, who would likely arrive in a day or two if he wasn't busy.

"Magic, like Aura, is a form of mana."

Without any preamble, Glanny began, "The world is triangular: matter is one corner, spirit is another, and mana is the third. This is our mages' understanding of the essence of the world, and the source of magic. Specifically, the spellcaster is matter, the power of meditation is spirit, and the combination of matter, spirit, and mana creates magic."

"What about knights?"

"I've said it before; magic and Aura are both forms of mana, released by the wielder and the power of the spirit, creating various Aura techniques. The difference between mages and knights lies in how they view themselves—knights see themselves as triangles, while mages integrate themselves into the larger triangle of the world."

He paused, asking, "Do you understand?"

Liszt nodded as if he did, saying, "A triangle, the most stable structure." In truth, he didn't really understand anything about big triangles or small triangles.

Then,

Glanny continued with his theory of the triangle, much like how Taoism divides the universe into the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and Buddhism summarizes matter into earth, water, fire, and wind. Mages believe the world is divided into spirit, matter, and mana.

It was a broad concept, whether correct or not was unknown, and the content was extremely dry.

Glanny wasn't a good teacher either, making his explanations even more boring. For the entire afternoon, he repeated the triangle theory, almost putting Liszt to sleep several times.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he interrupted, "Mr. Glanny, I understand the triangle theory now, let's skip it. What I want to know is how magic is released, why mana is divided into different properties like water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, light, ice, and darkness. Also, I want to witness real magic."

Glanny frowned.

Being interrupted during a long lecture was disappointing.

Fortunately, he knew Liszt was the financier, so he raised his left hand, slightly spreading his fingers, and quickly formed a fireball. The fireball appeared out of nowhere, growing from a tiny flame to a fist-sized ball of fire. With a sudden push, the fireball shot out of the castle window and exploded in mid-air nearby.

"Fireball, the lowest-level fire magic."

"Do it again," Liszt squinted, activating his Mana Eye. He wanted to observe closely—when he observed magical beasts casting spells, their internal mana condensed and was expelled from their mouths, naturally forming the spell.

Glanny nodded.

Raising his hand, he formed another fireball.

This time, Liszt saw clearly—Glanny had only a small amount of mana within him, chaotic and colorless. When he cast the Fireball spell, the mana at his palm rapidly turned red, becoming fire attribute mana. Then, bits of red mana from the air were attracted to the mana at his palm, condensing into a ball and forming the fireball.

Pop!

The fireball exploded outside the castle.

In the vision of the Mana Eye, those fire attribute mana particles dispersed suddenly, as if they had never existed.

He had a rough idea of the process of casting magic.

However, why it could condense into a fireball remained unclear. The Mana Eye couldn't detect what force caused the mana to condense.

Perhaps, as Glanny said, it was the power of the spirit.

Just like himself, a single thought could drive the Aura within him, following his thoughts. As for why it followed his thoughts, it was inexplicable.

At this moment,

Glanny continued casting magic.

"Meditation allows your spirit to build a bridge with mana." His voice was somewhat ethereal, his eyes fixed on his palm, completely immersed in a certain state, "Mana is the third existence beyond matter and spirit. It has emotions; experience them, befriend them, and they will serve you."

Gradually,

a gray-brown substance appeared in his palm, which was mana-formed earth.

The small ball of earth gradually grew larger, his voice still ethereal: "Meditation is a necessary step to build the bridge. Only when your spirit is calm can you touch the existence of mana. They are everywhere, dancing and leaping. Find them, befriend them, and you will gain magic, then understand this world!"

Finally, the small ball of earth expanded to the size of a fist and gradually solidified, forming a sharply edged rock.

Glanny didn't stop, continuing to cast magic, compressing and solidifying the rock until it cracked. Only then did he stop.

With a shake of his hand, the rock shattered completely.

But unlike the previous fireball, the shattered rock did not disappear; it remained in the form of fragments: "Rock Flight, a low-level earth magic, similar to Fireball. However, I don't master it well. I specialize in water and fire magic, with some knowledge of wind and earth magic, but not proficiently."

"What about lightning, light, ice, and darkness?"

"I haven't studied these four types of magic and cannot cast them."

"But I heard that mages can master and cast every type of magic."

"If I progress further towards truth and become a Great Mage, perhaps I'll have enough energy to study lightning, light, ice, and darkness magic. But I am far from truth now; my spirit isn't vast enough. Mastering water and fire magic is already challenging."

"What is a Magus like?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Glanny raised his head, his hooked nose pointing towards the sky. "A Magus is the embodiment of truth walking in the mundane world, an existence that mages must look up to. Baron Liszt, why do you think I would understand Magi? Even you, do you truly know what a Dragon Knight is?"

Such a counter-question left Liszt speechless—he had always assumed that a Dragon Knight was simply a knight riding a dragon.

However, above the advanced Aura of Sky Knights lies the Dragon Aura, rumored to be shared with dragons. As for what Dragon Aura entailed, among the relatives and friends he knew, not only did the Earl lack this knowledge, but even Marquis Merlin, a seasoned Sky Knight, remained ignorant.

All noble knights dreamed of becoming Dragon Knights.

Yet, knights who possessed dragons were exalted beings, far beyond the reach of ordinary people—even kings with dragons, like the Sapphire Duke, likely had no idea what it felt like to be a Dragon Knight. The original Sapphire Duke was a Dragon Knight, but the current Sapphire Duke was merely a companion and caretaker of dragons.

No chance to ride them.

"Alright, let's change the topic. Why does rock formed by condensed mana continue to exist?" He posed a question that had puzzled him for a long time.