Chapter 64: The Sages, Part 1
While the legends and deities were deep in thought over the 'information bomb' thrown by the Knowledge Seizer, the Elite Squad, who had been forced to receive the relevant information alongside everyone else, found themselves in a bitter predicament.
—Wait a minute, Teacher, isn't this kind of thing something that small fries like us shouldn't know?! Are you just going to casually release these critical details for us to see without any precautions? Don't you need to keep it confidential?!
At this moment, Priest's instincts were screaming warnings. By now, he was fully aware that the reason they had been invited here was to provide circumstantial evidence proving the bizarrely ancient history of the 'Knowledge Seizer' race. They had existed for at least 770,000 years, but even with the space-time distortions of Mycroft World, the time difference between the Lost Star River and the Multiverse Star River was only tens of thousands of years.
They were ancient to an absurd degree, but precisely because of this historical length, the assembled experts could infer the truthfulness of the information they had provided.
However, whether it was intentional or the experts truly didn't care, the Elite Squad, who should have presented their data and then obediently left, ended up staying in the conference hall, forced to listen to most of the intelligence... Were they going to be silenced?
Although he knew this thought was absurd and utterly impossible, Priest inexplicably felt a sense of panic. This anxiety filled his mind, making him feel as if he had forgotten to do something.
Meanwhile, his teammates were also communicating.
"Are we going to have our memories wiped later?"
The priest exchanged a glance with the knight, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
"You're telling me to keep quiet? That goes without saying, but I'd need the guts to do it!"
Based on past experience, the knight understood the hint, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
"It sounds like the 'Knowledge Seizer' is actively trying to exchange information about the 'Sage'... Something about the Saint? But I also heard terms like 'Sage of Magic'—what does that mean?"
The mage, however, was lost in thought. As a spellcaster, he was naturally sensitive to such terms, a cold light flickering in his eyes.
The alchemist, seeing his teammates' eyes flashing with various lights, assumed they were amusing themselves. He smiled confidently, and his modified eyes emitted a rainbow gradient of light, instantly causing the other team members to concede defeat in admiration.
Leaving the Elite Squad, who had begun to find joy in their misery, Joshua started to analyze the information sent by the Knowledge Seizer in the simplest and most straightforward terms, speculating on their origins.
First, in the ruins of the ancient civilization on World 39958, a highly advanced alien civilization warship had indeed been discovered. This warship belonged to the Knowledge Seizer, had crashed out of control into a planet-destroying crater while fighting an Evil God, and had been preserved to this day.
From this short piece of information, many details could be inferred. First, about 770,000 years ago, the Knowledge Seizer was fighting alongside its allies against an Evil God, suffering immense losses. The homeworld of the Flesh Seizer was destroyed, its civilization annihilated, and the homeworld of the Knowledge Seizer likely suffered the same fate, forcing their civilization to transform into its current fleet-based form.
Undoubtedly, the war between civilization and the Evil God 770,000 years ago was on a massive scale. This could be seen from the war ruins scattered throughout the 'Origin Star River,' all with histories spanning hundreds of thousands of years. In that war, the Evil God emerged victorious, turning the entire Origin Star River into a desert of civilization. It wasn't until hundreds of thousands of years later that the accidental emergence of the Spirit Clan from an unremarkable world led them to believe they were the first and only intelligent life in this star river.
However, the Knowledge Seizer was not destroyed after their defeat. They silently roamed the Multiverse Star River, collecting 'knowledge,' or rather, the 'intelligence' they sought. To the Great Khan or other local star river civilizations, the Knowledge Seizer seemed like a mechanical, silent, and efficient civilization that harvested knowledge—something to be kept at a distance. But now, with the Mycroft Civilization aware of their true purpose, it was clear that the Knowledge Seizer's aimless wandering across the Multiverse Star River was likely a search for super-civilizations like Mycroft, which possessed the legacy of 'Supreme Beings' like the Saint.
"Undoubtedly, 'The Last Inheritor of the Primordial Path of Magic' and 'The Knowledge Collection Seizer' are their self-designations. For this civilization preserving the legacy of the ancient Sage, the Mycroft Civilization, which once had a Saint, is what they call the 'People of Radiance.'"
Holding a thin scroll made of special materials, Joshua pointed to the first and second paragraphs of the Knowledge Seizer's message and calmly analyzed: "As for the 'Pioneer of Order,' 'Nameless Creator God,' and 'Teacher of Instruction,' they should be the individuals or civilizations that held and passed on the 'Sage of Magic's' message to intelligent beings thirty million years ago, before the Knowledge Seizer."
This analysis was flawless, and no one objected. In fact, everyone felt that these names were likely just a few of the civilizations known to the Knowledge Seizer. After all, the time span was thirty million years, and it wouldn't be strange for the legacy to have changed hands countless times. The Knowledge Seizer's seventy-seven thousand years of wandering through the star river was probably considered a long duration.
"The 'Sage of Light' is, as the name implies, the Saint. From this, it can also be seen that the 'Knowledge Seizer' is likely actively collecting the messages or legacies of the 'Sages.' Their infamous reputation as a 'calamity civilization' probably stems from this unrestricted information-gathering activity."
Joshua's words caused a stir in the conference hall. In fact, this was exactly what everyone had been discussing earlier.
Since other civilizations had clearly mentioned Sage-level existences similar to the 'Saint,' how many such beings were there? What did each correspond to?
For now, even the legendary mages who were reluctant to accept that 'magic, like holy light, was a supernatural force modified or elevated by some great being,' had subconsciously attributed the origin of magic to the 'Sage of Magic.' After all, discomfort was one thing, but truth was another. Although it couldn't yet be determined which side was correct, based on the Saint's power... it seemed likely that this was indeed the case.
'Divine Power,' 'Psionic Energy,' 'Magic,' 'Elemental Force,' 'Aether,' 'Life Energy,' 'Holy Light,' 'Shadow Essence,' and the 'Malicious Chaos' held by the Evil Gods—distinct from the primordial chaos of creation—these were the 'Core Supernatural Forces' summarized by the many experts of the Mycroft Civilization. All other seemingly bizarre supernatural forces were merely derivatives or fusion variants of these.
First, [Divine Power] originated from the First Flame, a supernatural force directly derived from the Great Source. Its essence was the most fundamental and powerful. Based on current knowledge, there likely wasn't a 'Sage of the Divine.' It might have been the earliest supernatural force, appearing in beings like the 'Steel Serpent' and other primordial gods.
Second, [Psionic Energy] represented the origin of the mind—the power of thought, logic, emotion, and will. It was the earliest example of 'will influencing reality.' Its origin had no recorded information; all known civilizations defaulted to the idea that psionic energy and the soul were natural components of the multiverse. This precisely indicated how ancient psionic energy was, likely having passed through countless cycles of civilization birth and death in the multiverse.
A 'Sage of the Mind' likely existed. They might not have been the first being in the multiverse to wield psionic energy or possess a soul, but they were undoubtedly the great sage who elevated this supernatural force and inscribed it across the entire multiverse.
As for [Magic], it was more complex. Based on research from the Era of Radiance and speculation from the Era of Falling Stars, magic was likely a primordial force that spread across the multiverse at its birth, as it expanded. It was probably a decay product of the First Flame's existence, allowing it to transform into any known matter or mental phenomenon. It could even create things and phenomena that had never existed in the multiverse.
If psionic energy represented 'mind altering matter,' then magic represented 'the phenomena of all things.' Their connection ran deep, possibly even stemming from the same lineage. The development history of supernatural forces in Mycroft World began with psionic energy, which then evolved into magic.
Individuals with naturally strong minds in psionic families could sense magic and elemental forces better than ordinary people. They used the power originally meant to directly alter the material world to influence magic, thereby creating phenomena that psionic energy alone couldn't easily produce. Of course, in the early multiverse, inert magic was likely difficult to utilize. The first being to awaken magic was truly gifted and eager to explore new paths. Otherwise, with their talent, becoming a 'Psionic Sovereign' would have been effortless.
Following this came [Elemental Force] and [Aether], terms often linked with [Magic]. These three supernatural forces were the core subjects for spellcasters to study, as all spells originated from them. They shared commonalities: [Elemental Force] represented 'nature and change.' The existence of elements 'labeled' all supernatural forces, making many originally vague phenomena and changes clear and visible.
Fire magic gathered fire elements; lightning magic gathered lightning elements. The significance of [Elemental Force] was like naming all things and phenomena in the world—seemingly insignificant, yet establishing the foundation of order. The mutual generation and restraint of elements, and the relationships between the six major elements and other scattered elements, were lifelong subjects for mages to study.
Just like the relationship between psionic energy and magic, elemental force and magic were also closely related. It could be inferred that the 'Sage of Elements' was an ancient being who had cultivated magic to an extremely high level, opening a new path beyond pure arcane magic.
Compared to common terms like elemental force and magic, [Aether] seemed relatively obscure. However, representing the most basic 'force and direction,' aether was the source of many supernatural worlds' existence.
Aether allowed for the creation of many special environments and constructs, whether floating mountains, floating islands, floating cities, or flying ship worlds. Without aether—this pure supernatural force controlling 'force and direction'—it would be nearly impossible to create power sources like void battleships using magic and elemental force alone. The overflowing energy would burn out the entire engine core. Only aether, which was almost unaffected and simply controlled the direction of force, could bind intangible magic and elemental force together, giving birth to modern 'magic' and the 'mana industrial system.'
For example, if one wanted to create a controlled nuclear fusion reaction using only materials and various phenomena, it would be extremely difficult. The requirements for nuclear fusion were so high that no material could stably contain the fusion core, and the radiation produced would destroy any seemingly indestructible material at the molecular level. However, if there was a spellcaster specializing in aether, they could directly use aether magic to create a field, constraining all emitted heat and radiation and redirecting them to another controllable direction.