Book 3: Chapter 276: The Missing Piece

High atop the tower, Sylutia gradually came to understand the knowledge imparted by the Named One, Sordas, grasping the true essence of composite Aspects. They were not merely two things stacked together, but organically fused, giving rise to entirely new reactions and effects.

"Over this period, you should have come to know that you are a child naturally favored by the Luminous Moon. Allow me to simply lay things out for you, the uses of combining the Luminous Moon with various other Aspects."

The elder raised his hand, and the whiteboard covered in writing and diagrams was withdrawn. A brand new board appeared, and at its center, a moon symbol emerged, representing the Luminous Moon.

With that symbol as the center, Sordas drew line after line, each one listing a composite Aspect.

[Luminous Moon·Secret Word]: By harnessing the power of the Luminous Moon, vague and hazy history and past events become clear. One can easily ascertain the specific times of artifacts, ruins, and historical events, and even recreate portions of scenes and records that once existed.

This was the core system of the Origin Hourglass School in ages past, and the mandatory advancement path for many archaeological scholars. Relying on such abilities, we have recreated countless ancient records, recovered many lost secret arts and knowledge, and even brought the bloodlines of extinct creatures back to this land.

The two dragon-slaying secret arts Sylutia had previously learned, and the ancient Primordial Beast Blood Origin Black Lion that Carmilla had recreated through secret arts, were all developed through this method.

One could say the impact of the Luminous Moon·Secret Word combination flourished the Origin Hourglass, and in turn, flourished the Mage Alliance.

Furthermore, Luminous Moon·Secret Word can imbue decrees and laws constructed from text with power in the spiritual domain, using it to intimidate, impact, and restrain others. The Sovereign Spells Sylutia had previously encountered and used operated on this very principle.

[Luminous Moon·Gold Steam]: The power of Gold Steam is transformation and forging. When infused with the Luminous Moon's power, the transformation process can eliminate large amounts of impurities and reduce loss, producing purer substances. This trait has led many alchemists to choose Luminous Moon·Gold Steam as their advancement path, allowing them to refine pure intermediate products and distill high-grade gems or metals with minimal waste.

[Luminous Moon·Alien Star]: A rarely seen advancement path in the present day, but one that was popular for a time within the Star-Gazing School several hundred years ago. Those who choose this path can wield the power of the star domains to intervene in the mortal world, using the Luminous Moon's clarity to guide developments toward specific directions. The scenes ultimately revealed to the world resemble prophecies.

This was the path chosen by the prophets of ancient eras. They used the radiance of the Star and the Moon to guide direction for the lost masses.

[Luminous Moon·Verdant Nectar]: When faced with the chaotic properties of medicinal herbs, the Luminous Moon can clearly discern, purify, and refine them. This is the preferred advancement path of many apothecaries, allowing them to leverage the strengths of both Aspects to produce Spiritual Medicines of extremely high quality.

Whether human, Elf, or Fairy, nearly half of all high-tier apothecaries come from this path.

[Luminous Moon·Beast Fang]: This composite Aspect is rarely seen in human society, appearing far more often among the Moon Rabbit tribe. The advancement secret methods and knowledge of this path are almost entirely controlled by the Moon Rabbits favored by the Fantasy Black Rabbit.

[Luminous Moon·Dragon Eye]: This was the path of the previous Luminous Moon Hours, the Silver Moon Dragon's favored followers. The Silver Dragon descendants all chose this advancement direction, but after the Silver Moon Dragon passed away, the Silver Dragons gradually withered, and this path became rare in the world.

[Luminous Moon·Bloodline]: This flourished during the era of the Blood Dynasty, so much so that at one point, the dynasty's emblem was the Blood Moon. The Luminous Moon's power could be used to help resist the corrosion of Distortion. This was why the Blood Dynasty royalty, in their later period, chose to incorporate the Luminous Moon's power to keep themselves lucid and avoid descending into madness.

[Luminous Moon·Dead Embers]: Pure spiritual consciousness and things that should have died. This is the foothold upon which many specters exist. Ancient shamans, wizards, and the soul-summoners of the East all relied on such abilities to command the dead and ghosts.

[Luminous Moon·Castle]: The Silver Radiance Church walked this path extremely far. Using it as their foundation, they carved out Cleansing Sanctuaries in the Shadow World, establishing the basis for all current Shadow World strongholds.

[Luminous Moon·Vaulted Sky]: A path known to few. Perhaps it is connected to the Angels.

[Luminous Moon·Distortion]: Fire and water cannot mix. They are impossible to combine.

[Luminous Moon·Insect Moth]: The Golden Honey Dynasty once hoped to master the Luminous Moon Hour position, using the path of the firefly to intrude upon the dream worlds of all living creatures. Unfortunately, that plan ultimately ended in failure.

[Luminous Moon·Slumbering Winter]: The pallor and clamor of the spiritual world, this is the path that drives all things into slumber.

[Luminous Moon·Scorching Sun]: Proud Sun and Phantasmal Moon, brilliance gathered into one. (A path expressly forbidden by all civilized nations.)

After sorting through all the options, Sylutia felt a sense of sudden clarity. All the knowledge she had learned and understood before manifested in another form at that moment, clearly presented, and interconnected, forming a web of relationships.

The Luminous Moon was relatively weak among the various Aspects, yet its influence was extremely wide. That was precisely why it was called one of the eight lower-ranked Aspects by the world.

The dragon runes of the ancient era, the Blood Dynasty, and the Golden Honey Dynasty had all once coveted or controlled the Luminous Moon's power. It might be somewhat weak as a sole core, but when paired with other Aspects, it could produce tremendous amplification and bring about entirely new changes.

If she had never come to the Mage Alliance and stayed in the Hidden Grove, her most likely choice would have been to walk the Luminous Moon·Verdant Nectar path, becoming a powerful gardener and apothecary. In fact, the Clear Dew of the Bright Flame Flower (Fifth Tier·Verdant Nectar·Luminous Moon) she had refined before leaving already represented one foot through that door.

Should she return to the Hidden Grove Alliance in the future, she would likely pick up that path again and continue walking it.

As for now, since she was to inherit the secret arts of the Origin Hourglass School, she would inevitably choose Secret Word·Luminous Moon as her advancement direction. She was merely uncertain whether this would conflict with the Astronomical Clock Page she had advanced with previously.

Clearly, the Astronomical Clock Page belonged to the Mithril Clock School's system, and was meant to prepare for a future choice of Secret Word·Alien Star.

After voicing her concerns to her teacher Sordas, Sylutia quickly received an answer.

"If you're worried about that, there's no need." He stroked his beard, then explained the reasoning.

"Perhaps you don't know, but when Abellid advanced back then, he also absorbed theories from many schools, especially in the domain of time. I helped him improve a great deal of it to suit the power of the Alien Star."

"While such advancement would easily go wrong for ordinary people, the two of us are the founders who opened up this advancement path. Tailoring a brand new advancement system specifically for your situation is hardly a difficult task, it would simply take a bit more time."

"Ah, this..." It was at this moment that Sylutia truly realized what being a Named One actually meant.

Though they did not govern a specific path or Aspect like the Hours, they were already extremely close to the source and essence of power. One could say that as long as the Hours were absent, they were implicitly the half-masters of that path. Such beings creating a new advancement system was hardly a challenge.

At this moment, Sylutia recalled the holy scripture she had read, the records of Meleranke's past. That saint had, before even becoming a Named One, slowly forged an entirely new system and framework on her own. No wonder she was regarded by all parties at the time as the one most likely to succeed the Luminous Moon Hours.

People often grow so close to certain great beings that they gradually forget how rare and magnificent the miracles gathered within them truly are.

"Thank you." After a brief pause, Sylutia couldn't help but utter those words.

Having two demigod-like Named Ones devote their thoughts specifically to her, rewriting an entire advancement route from scratch, was the kind of thing that made it hard not to be moved, even overwhelmed with gratitude.

Because in Sylutia's view, no matter how outstanding her talent, it shouldn't warrant such solemn treatment from several Named Ones. They were existences capable of participating in the shifts and transformations of the entire world's landscape. The geniuses ordinary people praised meant little to them by now.

After that lesson, Sylutia began receiving specific guidance on the advancement secret method. It involved constructing a more refined, concrete Moon Clock upon the foundation of the Astronomical Clock Page, one capable of descending into the material world.

Third Tier mages choose either the Spell Frontispiece or the Spell Forge during advancement to gain spellcasting abilities. But by the Fifth Tier, both the Spell Frontispiece and the Spell Forge prove quite insufficient. The former because the illusory frontispiece cannot bear the intense inscriptions required by high-tier spell runes, and the latter because the forge is too crude to achieve precise spell operation.

So at the Fifth Tier, the Spell Frontispiece and the Spell Forge converge, both leading to the same result, the construction of one's own casting artifact. This artifact is the ultimate product of the mage system, combining everything a mage has learned, their skills, their understanding of the world, and their methods of changing it, all presented in the form of a single object.

The Moon Clock was the casting artifact Sylutia would complete as her own. Its internal textures and structures represented the inscription of runes; the process of crafting it represented the practical application of her many skills; its precise, flawless operation represented her deep understanding of the world; and its final presentation as a timepiece represented her method of influencing the world.

With the specific direction confirmed, the tense yet orderly preparatory work began. After obtaining the Moon Clock's advancement secret method, Sylutia not only had to understand its principles but also make appropriate adjustments based on her own circumstances, ultimately finalizing the design, structure, and selection of runes.

This time was different from when she had advanced to the Third Tier years ago. With the support of several Named Ones, and the considerable wealth she had earned as the stationed mage of Mishil District, Sylutia could now freely select all kinds of rare materials to prepare for crafting the Moon Clock.

Thinking back to years ago, she had to take on one or two months of missions just to gather the materials she needed. That was the result of her exceptional talent and superb skills. An ordinary mage apprentice would probably have needed to work for decades to gather the resources for the advancement she achieved back then.

Mages really were an expensive profession. Requiring all kinds of metals, gems, and other resources to complete advancements. No wonder the Mage Alliance, barely one or two hundred years into its prosperity, was already beginning to face the problem of gradually depleting resources.

If she had chosen to be a gardener instead, not only would she consume less than half the resources, but the gardener could also produce a certain amount of high-tier resources, giving back to the world.

During her studies and preparations, Sylutia couldn't help but complain inwardly.

No wonder the other major powers of the Fourth Continent were all worried about the Mage Alliance heading down the path of expansion and war. In their view, with the Alliance's current model, it would inevitably reach that point sooner or later, otherwise it would only weaken.

This world had no coal, no petroleum, none of the pre-prepared industrial lifeblood of Earth. This caused the system established by the mages to not fully transition into industrialization, remaining at a state of partial industrialization while the majority stayed in the form of manual workshops or forges.

The refined operations of workshops were like meticulous farming. Though time-consuming and difficult to standardize completely, the advantage was a relatively high utilization rate of resources. Relying on the alchemists and mages of the workshops to make adjustments on their own, they could maximize the use of each material's characteristics and avoid waste.

If only they could solve the resource problem, or the energy problem.

Sylutia had seen the mural in the hall at the top of the sky tower. In the blueprint of the Gold Steam path depicted by the three Named Ones, the magnificent vision could never complete its cycle due to the lack of a powerful energy source.

The most perfect way to fill this missing piece would be to obtain the support of the Scorching Sun Aspect. The Scorching Sun was practically the source of all life and vitality in this world. If the Scorching Sun could provide assistance to the Gold Steam, then the dream of reshaping the world would have a real chance of being realized.

But unfortunately, this was a wish unlikely to come true.

Because the one currently governing the Scorching Sun path was none other than the most powerful Hours in the world, the Corona Dragon. His power could easily destroy an entire continent, and he had actually done so in the previous epoch, annihilating the Fifth Continent with the dreadful calamity of heavenly fire, severing the Golden Honey Dynasty.

It was only after several hundred years had passed since that natural disaster that the Fifth Continent slowly regained its vitality, with settlements and nations emerging once more.

Relying on this terrifying power and combat strength that had destroyed a dynasty and a continent, no other Hours had dared to challenge his authority since. As such, the Solar Dynasty protected by the Corona Dragon was not only the strongest power on the First Continent, but also the pinnacle existence of the entire world.

As for the Mage Alliance, they hadn't even unified the Fourth Continent yet. For now, they could only barely claim to have caught up with the former peak of the Silver Radiance Church, far from matching the Golden Honey Dynasty at its height, let alone the powers of the First Continent, or the Corona Dragon above them all.

One could only say that the Scorching Sun suited many people and powers, and everyone yearned for it. Unfortunately, such a perfect source of aid was beyond what the Mage Alliance could ever dream of.