Chapter 10: History and Runes

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: History and Runes

After his senior sister left, Chen Shang sat in the quiet room, looking at the silver-white round disc on the table. He picked it up and began to operate it.

Lines of a catalog floated before his eyes: Introduction to Runes, Wizard Common Language, Basic Elemental Theory, Basics of Meditation...

He scrolled down and finally saw a book titled *Brief History of Wizard Civilization*. After opening it, a line of text caught his eye:

"Wizards are not a race born of nature, but an inheritance of thought."

Continuing to read, he found that the book divided wizard history into seven parts: [Rise of the Barbaric Era], [War of Faith], [Clash of Civilizations], [Establishment of Dynasties], [Rule of Scholars], [Era of the Diverse Star Sea], and [Era of the Pan-Wizard Alliance].

Every era was delineated by its own iconic milestones.

Chen Shang systematically began reading the history of the first era.

"Hmph, the damn Wizard Alliance. These young brats actually made an old man like me supplement the history of the Primitive Era.

"Haha, how ridiculous. I can’t see the meaning of this kind of work at all. Can we even learn anything from history?

"Fine, for the sake of two flesh crystals, let the great Black Wizard Ruxi unravel the fog of history for you all.

"The Primitive Era was a ruthless time. The ancient ancestors of humanity fought for the right to survive alongside many terrifying races. It was a brutal era devoid of right or wrong, morality or ethics—only flesh and blood.

"In the early Barbaric Era, the Rigel Event erupted. A glacial period lasting three hundred thousand years struck, forcing humanity’s ancestors to leave their cradle—the Lu’an Grand Canyon—and migrate toward warmer lands.

"However, human ancestors weren’t the only intelligent beings. And so, undoubtedly and inevitably, war broke out.

"Compared to those damn terrestrial behemoths, stealthy ambushers, and soaring sky predators, human ancestors truly had no obvious advantages.

"But fortunately, we are a race that excels at learning. We didn’t just learn from those diverse races; everything in nature—wind, rain, thunder, lightning, the earth, the sky, and the sea—could give us inspiration.

"When the first flesh rune was discovered, the bloodline warrior was born!

"Although I am very reluctant to admit it, those weak bloodline warriors were indeed the prototypes of warlocks and the initial form of bloodline wizards.

"Even today, there are still some warlocks who inherit the power of their ancestors. Of course, from a professional perspective, I have to say those feeble bloodlines really aren’t worth much. There are too many outstanding races in the Endless Star Sea. Nowadays, you can simply spend some wizard coins to replace these bloodlines in the Flesh Abyss.

"However, at the time, these bloodline warriors made great contributions and preserved the continuation of the race. Initially, for humanity, it was purely a war for racial survival. But as more and more humans died, the survivors were imbued with too much hatred, leading to the birth of the Black Demon Virus.

"It nearly annihilated every living creature other than humans.

"This was the prototype of the wizard’s second concept level weapon, the [Genetic Weapon]. Genetic weapons are highly efficient, low-cost, immensely destructive, and extremely intimidating. As a result, they run through the entire history of wizard development and are still frequently used to this day..."

...

The history stories were captivating, and Chen Shang unconsciously spent over half an hour reading them. Of course, besides history, he also gleaned a lot of common sense knowledge.

For instance, the mentioned "bloodline wizard" was a wizard classification, grouping together all wizards who walked the path of flesh and blood evolution.

In addition, there were "elemental mages," "mechanical wizards," "soul wizards," and quite a few other classifications.

Perhaps "classification" wasn’t accurate; they should be called research directions. If a mechanical wizard casually unleashed an elemental-type forbidden curse, it would be nothing out of the ordinary.

Chen Shang understood this. After all, if wizards were viewed as a group of scholars, interdisciplinary practices couldn’t be more common.

As for the "Flesh Abyss" mentioned, it was a super faction dominated by bloodline wizards, even housing ancient monsters that had survived since the Primitive Era.

In the Wizard World, there were nine such top-tier factions, including others like Elemental Storm, Magic Potion Association, Mechanical Throne...

Then there were the concept level weapons mentioned in the book. They were the most powerful type of weapon in the entire wizard civilization, condensing the wisdom of countless wizards and possessing unimaginable might.

For example, the [Genetic Weapon]. As long as one obtained the life information of a world’s creatures, they could rapidly wipe out every living being in that world.

There were also other concept level weapons, such as the [Wizard’s Will] that sheltered all wizards, the [Wizard Celestial Net] that shifted knowledge from linear iteration to exponential iteration, and the endless energy spring, the [Vacuum Catastrophe]...

Of course, the book only provided a brief overview. A deeper understanding required purchasing premium knowledge.

But what Chen Shang valued most was the "rune" mentioned in the book.

Runes were fundamentally a language—a language used to communicate with the world. Anything between heaven and earth could be expressed through runes.

Fire had fire’s runes, water had water’s runes, and gravity had gravity’s runes. Even abstract concepts like "speed," "temperature," and "distance" had corresponding runes.

One rune represented a single concept. A combination of two runes was the superposition of two concepts. Boundless runes meant boundless combinations.

Theoretically, as long as one had enough wisdom to deduce a sufficient number of runes from all things, they could express everything in the world.

From a ball of fire to a storm, from a drop of water to an ocean, from a stone to a mountain, from life to death—it was simply an alternative form of omnipotence.

At this moment, Chen Shang thought of his own entry system. The entries brought not just talents and abilities, but also profound mysteries he had yet to understand.

Even an idiot might become a top-tier expert by relying on entries. However, Chen Shang was clearly not satisfied with just that. He wanted to learn and become a wizard, to develop and utilize his entries; that would be an inexhaustible treasure trove!

Chen Shang calmed his heart spirit and began to read about the meditation method.

The introduction to meditation was very detailed. It involved constructing a rune array within the spirit. Successfully engraving a complete rune array would make one a first level apprentice.

Runes were very versatile; they could be written on paper, carved into stone, or embedded into metal. However, the highest tier of rune carrier was spiritual power.

A rune array constructed within spiritual power wouldn’t be destroyed by external forces, wouldn’t be worn down by time, and would become a part of oneself.

This was also the reason why wizards had a spirit talent threshold—one’s spiritual power aptitude had to be capable of bearing the most basic runes to continue cultivation.

After reading all the introductions and steps, Chen Shang closed his eyes in deep thought.

"First, I need to choose a suitable basic rune..."