Chapter 130: The Magician’s House of Divinity! Part 2

I am the Fourth Servant of the goddess Liphyue and a Magician of Tetradia, Sangdishu Branchev.

How can both the servant of a goddess and a Magician of Tetradia exist within a single body?

If you ask me so, then I have no choice but to recall my childhood.

Indeed. I, Sangdishu Branchev, was born the third son of a common tenant farmer in a rural domain…

…What I must ponder is this: ‘Why can divine power and magic power not be wielded together?’

The greatest reason must be talent.

Handling magic power and awakening magic is purely a matter of innate talent.

No matter how much one grinds their bones or spits blood with effort, it’s said that ordinary talent cannot pass beyond the 4th Circle in magic.

‘Then what of divinity?’

Truly, divinity is entirely a matter of talent as well.

On the premise of basic sincerity, it is one chosen by the gods.

That’s right. I, Sangdishu Branchev, am a genius among geniuses, blessed with both talents.

So much so that, looking back…

…We young Magicians bonded over this opportunity.

The old-school Magicians called us the ‘X Generation,’ declaring us the worst generation who would shake the very foundation of magic, but we did not give up.

Stagnant water will always rot.

Orthodoxy is to be respected and remembered, but to cling only to it is foolish and dimwitted.

Defying the gods, creating the ultimate magic to overturn the laws…

What an outdated, fossilized way of thinking that was.

These days are truly an age of great harmony. Even gods and magic can coexist now.

We thought so, and in the end, we achieved it.

Of course, in that process, the extraordinary genius Magician chosen by Liphyue, I, Sangdishu Branchev, played a decisive role…

‘The core was initiative. Which would you empower?’

If you primarily relied on magic power and only supported it with divinity, it became pointless.

It only became unnecessarily more difficult and complicated—no different from other magics.

Thus, place divinity as the main force and let magic power support it.

That was the answer.

Yet, there was no dramatic change that shocked the world.

It was somewhat better than existing divine techniques, but considering the effort, time, and talent required, the improvement was slight.

We needed more research. If we saw things from the same perspective as others, we would only see the same things.

So we lowered our gaze even further—to see more closely.

Not magic power, but divinity.

Magic power had already been dissected by the giant collective that was Tetradia, but divinity had not.

And as I was a servant of Rie, I was well acquainted with the workings of the cult.

Only faith and prayer were emphasized. Unlike Magicians who analyzed everything, they did not analyze or delve into the power of the gods.

Some priests even considered such analysis blasphemous.

But I was both a priest and an officially recognized Magician of Tetradia.

Those who walked with me were… well, a bit below me, but still quite decent.

So we dug deep into divinity.

And we discovered it.

That there are types of divinity.

Depending on which god you serve, which order you belong to, the nature of the divinity is distinct.

The divinity of Liphyue was hope.

It was not the brightest, but it always shone.

Not the highest, but always present for all to see.

Never from behind. Always shining ahead and lingering in the future.

Such was its nature.

As I was not a god, I could not wield all that power, so magical support was essential.

Thus was my divine magic completed.

‘How can I express this emotion?’

Clutching the magic I had forged, I wept all day.

This is hope.

I can declare with certainty, it is the magic closest to hope.

Not as splendid as the divinity of love, not as lofty as the divinity of dominion, but this is hope.

Longing for the day the whole world would look upon it and think of hope, I wept endlessly.

Just a little more polish and I would register it as an official spell.

I am confident it will become the first divine magic recognized by both Tetradia and the Order of Liphyue.

This is an unprecedented war.

Faced with a calamitous disaster, we stepped forward.

At the lead were the young Magicians who had completed divine magic.

A priest and Magician serving the god of death, Berin Vadim.

A priest and senior Magician serving the god of love, Roycia.

A priest and Magician serving the god of hope, myself, Sangdishu Branchev.

I will survive the coming disaster.

My magic is hope itself, so I must survive.

For Liphyue.

For this beautiful continent, I shall gladly become hope.

That is the reason I completed divine magic, and the reason the goddess granted me divinity.

That is what hope must be.

Therefore, I shall return and continue my record.

…Without fail.

Hio closed the book and let out a small sigh, sinking deep into the chair.

That was the end. No further records followed.

Though many pages remained.

“Sangdishu Branchev. The Magician who pioneered divine magic…”

He muttered, glancing around.

Magician’s House of Divinity, Basement 3rd Floor.

A vast space.

Every shelf, even the walls, was lined with books.

Traces of efforts to combine divinity and magic.

Analysis and research of methods for the same.

And the record of Sangdishu just read lay open on the desk.

The ink was dry, the quill ruined, but the book itself was untouched, unblemished.

-Sangdishu Branchev. That’s a familiar name. Back then, young Magicians banding together attracted plenty of bad attention… Looks like in the end, he formed his own beliefs and completed his unique divine magic.

A Magician from the same era as Furnel.

But while Furnel belonged to the Necromancer School and, right before the war, became a Specter due to a jealous master, it seemed that in the meantime, Sangdishu completed divine magic and even took part in the war.

“…You’re not one of those old-school Magicians mentioned here, are you?”

W-well? I-I wouldn’t know about that.

“Ugh, thought so.”

Even from his reaction, it was obvious.

As now, so it was then—Furnel was a talker, fond of old stories, a Magician who liked to smile creepily at corpses.

-Not quite that much…

Basement 3 was practically a small library, filled with books.

Thus, upon arrival, Hio knew he’d have to stay for quite some time and established a base.

There were a few small incidents in the process, but… they were overcome safely.

At least outwardly, the Magician’s House of Divinity was being reborn as a neat, ordinary two-story house.

“Still, I never thought there’d be different types of divinity per order.”

-I feel the same.

“So then, is the divinity I possess the divinity of Rie?”

-Well… When designing the system with all variables accounted for, surely every god participated. To know whose power you possess, you can compare through that.

The method was plainly written in the books lying everywhere here.

Studying and researching it would be quite a headache, but compared to Magicians like Sangdishu who started from nothing, it was nothing.

Well, Furnel was here, too.

And most importantly—

“This… this is a sacred object?”

Here in the basement 3rd floor of the Magician’s House of Divinity, there was an object equivalent to a sacred relic.

Of course, this meant by the standards of that time, not today’s.

***

After confirming no Airlights were around, Hio took a small stone out of the Pocket Dimension Pouch.

Tiny as a fingernail, yet emitting a gentle, sacred light.

「Liphyue’s Small Stone (Divinity)」

A stone containing the divinity of the goddess of hope, Liphyue.

「Because it holds the essence of divinity, unless destroyed, infinite divinity flows from it.」

‘Brings stability to all beings within range of ‘Divinity’.’

「While possessed, stat ‘Divinity’ +65」

「Divine power recovery speed +150%」

「All effects related to divinity +150%」

This was the source of the strong divine power felt in the basement 3rd floor.

Liphyue’s Small Stone.

Even then, it was considered a sacred object.

The fact that it was here meant…

-Stole it, no doubt.

‘Sangdishu wasn’t even of cardinal rank, so how else would such an item be here?’

It was obvious.

-Sangdishu wasn’t exactly normal, either.

He was a priest but a Magician to his bones.

A group of madmen who would even steal sacred objects for the sake of magic research.

That was what Magicians were.

“At any rate, this relic definitely contains Liphyue’s divinity. So if I analyze it and compare…”

The tasks ahead had suddenly increased.

He still had to research the [Ancient Grimoire: Book of Dragon Summoning] received from the goddess Liphyue.

He had to go to the Tower of Mages and reach the 5th Circle.

His head throbbed, but now he also had to study a completely new style of divine magic…

Maybe that’s why he hadn’t moved on to Tetradia yet, even after confirming there was a 4th basement floor.

-Besides, if you look at the records, there’s value in seeking out the divine magic of other orders as well, don’t you think?

“True. If divine magic really is that valuable, I should look for other types of divinity, too.”

-If you search all these books, you’ll probably find hints about other Magician’s Houses of Divinity. Still… take your time. There are already plenty of fun research topics piling up.

“Fun for you, maybe… For now, I guess I’ll just hole up here and pretend I’m dead.”

There wasn’t much time to spare.

With the failed conquest of the 51st floor, Gates had opened up everywhere in the world.

Things were just starting to settle.

So before the 52nd-floor Gate Break was activated, he needed to quickly advance.

-Precisely in times like this, you should do things one by one, step by step. If you get greedy and jump from one thing to the next, you’ll only make it more complicated.

“That’s true. The 5th Circle is a must, deciphering the ancient dragon summoning magic, and then there’s this new type of divine magic… None of it’s easy.”

He needed to settle on one, master it, then move on to the next.

-Then choose: 5th Circle, the ancient dragon summoning magic left by the goddess Liphyue, or divine magic. Which will you do first?

“Which should I learn first…”

It was a more important question than he’d thought.

All three would take a considerable amount of time, and since he’d decided to personally participate in the Abyss Gate from the 52nd floor onward, the order would greatly affect the outcome of battles.

He needed to be careful.

So, even though he’d mostly made up his mind, he pondered again.

After some time, no matter how he thought about it…

“Still, in the end…”

The answer was already clear.

“I’ll learn divine magic first.”

Hio quietly gazed down at the small, pure white stone in his hand.

The soft, white light that poured from it seemed to resemble its master perfectly.

Not flashy, but calm and gentle.

Just like the image of the all-white goddess, now surely in deep sleep.

A hope that might never be seen again.

“Hope, huh…”

It was the image of hope, engraved in Hio’s mind.

***

After deciding to learn divine magic first, things moved swiftly.

Once the decision was made, there was no reason to hesitate, and he began voraciously devouring the books piled around him.

Following what was written in the books, he analyzed the types of divinity.

First, he compared Liphyue’s Stone and the divine power he possessed.

“…No, they’re different.”

They were not the same type.

The divinity radiating from Liphyue’s Stone had a distinct character, but Hio’s own divine power was, how should he put it—

It was a divinity created for everyone, so to speak.

Divinity for divinity’s sake, lacking any strong defining feature.

That was the feeling.

-But with the sacred object Sangdishu left behind, you can at least use Liphyue’s divine magic.

The fortunate part was that Hio possessed divine power on par with any high priest.

And his stat for divine power could still increase.

-So there’s no shortage of divinity. Keep experimenting.

A few more days passed like that.

The top priority was to change Hio’s divine power to match the divinity felt from the sacred object.

It was the first step to using Sangdishu’s divine magic.

And since all the necessary materials were already here in the Magician’s House, no time was wasted.

He reread Sangdishu’s research materials over and over.

He extracted divine power, sealed it in a special container, compared and distinguished the differences.

In that process, he learned: the divine power Hio had obtained through the system did, indeed, contain elements of Liphyue’s divinity.

Not just Liphyue’s, but the divine power of countless other gods was mixed in as well—a massive amount of information.

But because there was so much, as it was, he couldn’t use Sangdishu’s divine magic.

He needed to remove everything except Liphyue’s divinity, leaving only that—at the very moment the spell was cast.

And that wasn’t all.

At the same time, magic power had to function as a support.

The Circle’s engraved pattern also needed to activate, drawing out the unique traits of divinity.

In short, it was extremely difficult.

But wasn’t he a genius at magic power resonance?

He’d accumulated experience up to the 4th Circle.

Handling divine power was similar in the broad sense, so he adapted quickly.

In a few days, his skill and sense in handling divine power improved dramatically.

There was progress.

“…Now I see why this place is so big, with so many books and strange instruments.”

Stripping away the countless other aspects in his divinity, leaving only the identical divinity as Liphyue’s.

It was far more complex than expected.

It was like, from thousands of substances inside a tiny, almost invisible object, extracting only what you needed and removing the rest.

Without Sangdishu’s research and all these magical instruments, it would have been impossible.

His skills in handling divinity had grown so much during the process that he managed to succeed, if only just.

But this was only the beginning.

He now had to harness this refined divinity and fuse it with magic power to draw forth the desired strength.

To do so, at the precise, perfect moment, with no margin for error. That was the completion of divine magic.

-Now that you’ve come this far, the outline is starting to show.

The outline was forming.

The divine magic written in the records—its effects were starting to become clear.

“This… This is divine magic.”

A revolution, truly. If this had surfaced a little sooner, before the war, much might have changed.

Its content was so radical that even Hio and Furnel were momentarily at a loss for words.

What Sangdishu created after long research were three divine spells:

「Hope Divine Magic: Heart」

— One of hope’s traits is that, the moment you embrace it, your heart becomes energized and fulfilled. This is the first spell based on that.

「Hope Divine Magic: Light the Fire」

— Hope becomes more radiant the more dire the situation. The more people cherish it, the brighter it shines. Thus, the harder things are, the more eyes upon it, the less likely hope is to ever falter. The second spell expresses that trait.

「Hope Divine Magic: Wish」

— Hope is ultimately the earnest wish to achieve something. The desperate prayer. Thus, the third spell is hope itself—the wish held within. This is the ultimate magic that can be called hope incarnate.

After countless attempts, the first divine spell was successfully cast after pouring in two full weeks of time.