Chapter 44: The Mechanism of the Realms

Back in the underground laboratory, Borne placed the "Golden Scroll" on the table.

He had already read nine volumes of the Golden Scroll, each time within the academy’s forbidden chamber, and always under strict time constraints—barely enough to skim through once. Borne knew that one day he would have the chance to read the scrolls freely, perhaps even gain the right to safeguard them. He simply hadn’t expected that day to arrive so soon, even if only for a week.

He was surprised by Rodney’s arrival, but not entirely unprepared. Rodney’s identity as a Scholar of the Archives was something Borne had come across in the research rooms of the Arcane Society. As the founder and first president of the Society, there was no way the records would fail to mention him. Although most of those records had been destroyed, memory does not so easily fade. The second president of the Arcane Society, Rodney’s own successor, had noted this information in the "President’s Memoranda," and the title "Scholar of the Archives" was hardly common knowledge.

Even Borne’s grandfather, the Earl Iolam, likely had no idea—he probably believed Rodney to be an ordinary cleric from the Temple, unaware of the true nature of his responsibilities. Thanks to memories from his previous life, Borne understood the peculiarities of this calling better than anyone. The Earl had only mentioned that Rodney was his earliest student, never thinking to warn Borne to be on guard.

“If I’m not mistaken, he’s here to recruit someone—just as he himself was once lured away! Poor grandfather, never realizing that the disciple he was so proud of was, in fact, converted!”

Borne shivered. Such direct brainwashing and hypnosis amounted to a complete replacement of a person’s personality. Was the person who remained even the same as before?

He recalled the way Rodney had looked at him, as though he were a rare treasure—the sheer force of emotion in that gaze was enough to make Borne’s heart pound. If not for the anti-magic properties of his own "Qi," he might very well have fallen victim to it today.

“It seems I must develop a constant spell akin to ‘Mind Lock.’”

The events involving the Arcane Society members today had truly shaken Borne. These individuals, all competent mid-tier mages, had been so easily ensnared by mental control. The memory still left him uneasy.

With the chip’s simulation, Borne arrived at what he believed to be the most likely conclusion: it was his mastery of "Qi" that protected him. Qi, the latent energy within the body, is the sublimation of one’s life force. When awakened, it acts instinctively; Qi can even purge externally absorbed mana, and the divine power bestowed by the gods—being an alien force—will inevitably clash with Qi.

Unless Borne willingly embraced the faith, attempts to indoctrinate him through “magical” brainwashing would only provoke Qi’s backlash. Rodney’s formidable divine power was certainly beyond what Borne’s humble Qi could withstand. But if Qi were gone—

He would not survive at all…

“If he’s given up on recruiting me, then why offer the Nather Scrolls as a reward?” This was a question Borne could not comprehend.

But since he couldn’t puzzle it out, he decided not to dwell on it. Strength was the only truth! Time is money! Borne conceived a daring plan: to record the entire contents of all the Nather Scrolls into his chip. He knew that, before long, these hundred golden scrolls would be either lost or destroyed.

Upon opening the scrolls, Borne discovered that these ten volumes formed an entire set—more precisely, a series. The Nather Scrolls formed the foundation of Natherian human magic; their content, arcane secrets, was encyclopedic, brimming with knowledge. For the present and for some time to come, every mage proficient in any field of the arcane drew their knowledge from the Nather Scrolls.

The contents of these two Nather Scrolls were divided into five chapters:
1. Introduction to Arcana (Basic Principles of Magic)
2. Magical Creation (Art of Conjuring)
3. Advanced Creation (High-Level Conjuration)
4. Mechanisms of Dimensions (Dimensional Studies)
5. Arcane Treatises (Artifact Crafting)

Borne skimmed through and found that these ten scrolls were all dedicated to the fourth section—Mechanisms of Dimensions—a study of dimensional realms, with detailed descriptions of interplanar teleportation, methods for defending against extraplanar harm, and ways to mitigate the effects of foreign realms.

“So this is the theory of spatial magic?” Borne was inwardly shaken.

No ordinary mind could finish, let alone retain, the entirety of the Nather Scrolls. The human brain had its limits, while the scrolls forcibly poured vast amounts of information directly into the reader’s mind as long as one’s eyes remained upon them. It mattered not whether the mind could bear it—the transmission would not cease until contact was broken. In the early days after their discovery, there were those whose minds snapped from reading the entire set, driven mad as their brains were overwhelmed.

A person of strong intellect and mental fortitude might last until midway through the eighth page; the less robust could become deranged as early as the fifth. This led to the scrolls being stored separately, to prevent madness from overexposure. Even if a mage’s insanity was cured by magic, the cost was a severe diminishment of magical ability. There were even high-level casters who, after reading the scrolls and being cured of insanity, were reduced to the ranks of mid-tier mages, never to advance further.

There was but one way to avoid madness: to have divine power nearby as support. Although Borne had no such divine presence to aid him, he had his chip. By absorbing the faith energy from the lizardman idol, the chip had acquired a touch of divinity, imbuing it with divine properties. The chip’s other unique feature was its storage capability.

During his reading, Borne used the chip as a buffer, frantically absorbing the knowledge from the scrolls. Even if he couldn’t remember everything at once, the chip could store it for him. As Borne devoured the scrolls with relentless determination, word spread outside.

Attentive individuals noticed that a sign had been posted outside Borne’s underground laboratory on the riverbank: "In Seclusion for Research—Do Not Disturb!" Not only that, but a protective barrier had been set up outside, and numerous magical traps had been arranged. As the academy’s "hidden" chief and most powerful figure, his every move attracted attention.

On the third day, Rayleigh even stopped by to investigate. As a bloodline sorcerer, his bestial instincts could detect the powerful surges of energy beneath the ground. Onlookers watched as Rayleigh departed, his expression grim, and speculated that Borne was experimenting with powerful spells.

After all, Borne and the Arcane Society had recently acquired a large number of points, which they could use to exchange for advanced magic—perfectly normal behavior. The society’s members had also gone to the mage tower’s experimentation zone to conduct spell research. In recent days, frequent explosions in the experimental area had become the talk among students.

Some even wondered whether Borne was testing fifth-tier spells or researching mid-level arcana. A few busybodies even started a betting pool—and people actually placed wagers.

The week sped by, and it was only when the chip issued a reminder that Borne realized his time was up. Rubbing his reddened eyes, relying on sheer force of will and stamina, Borne had endured for seven sleepless days. He had gone through the ten Nather Scrolls four times, and, as he suspected, the contents changed slightly with each reading. The differences were minor, but after fully comprehending the material on the first read, subsequent readings offered even more detailed explanations.

…