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15.64% Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos / Chapter 365: History

Chapter 365: History

The 'Age of Myths' was defined as the period in history dating back nearly six-hundred-million-years ago. It was a time when the world was a singular plane and gods freely roamed the nearly infinite landmass of the primordial land known as Aiua. During the Age of Myths, the gods suffered no restrictions to their powers at all and many possessed a singular Divinity which gave them absolute influence over a set of laws. By working alongside each other, they were able to create hundreds of small worlds that were populated by strange and wondrous creatures. As even the gods had yet to understand the meaning behind their existence, they sought purpose for themselves through their creations and endeavored to create a nigh-infinite number of entities as a reflection of themselves and the Divinities they embodied.

For several million years, other than some small interaction with each other, the gods, which would later be known as the 'Primordial Deities', kept themselves busy with their own creations without interfering with each other. However, this would not always be the case as there were several gods that began to lose interest in their own creations that were limited by their Divinities. They sought stimulus through observing the creations of others and began to form relationships and bonds with like-minded gods and goddesses. After nearly one-hundred-million-years had passed, the gods had split into several groups of varying sizes and combined their Divinities to make entire worlds in their image. Unfortunately, none of the creations of the gods were entities that possessed a soul, nor were they truly sentient.

Though they could create life in an endless variety of forms, it wasn't truly 'alive' in the same vein as the gods saw themselves. Everything they created was simply 'temporary' and they grew bored of it quickly. Since there were no new gods being born, it got to the point where several gods began to lose their sense of 'being' as there was no true stimulus, just fabrications they had made to distract themselves. Though they found companionship in each other, even this became a temporary reprieve when taking into consideration concepts like eternity. Some gods even grew desperate and tried to destroy the primary shards that represented their Divinity in order to escape the endless monotony of their lives. However, regardless of the power they wielded in creation, they were unable to destroy the Divinities that gave them their power.

A great divide occurred between the Primordial Deities as many began trying to find way to enter long slumbers, while some even made an effort to break free from the constraints of the world entirely. Some believed that, because there were powers behind the scenes that allowed for their existence, there had to be a way to interact with, or even break free, of them. The leader of what would later be known as the Discordant Gods were two Primordial Deities named Nyx and Erebus. They gathered a large number of Primordial Deities with Divinities relating to Darkness, Yin, Time, and Destruction. The mission they had set for themselves was to either find a way to discover a means of 'True Death' for the gods, or the find a path to break free of the constraints of the world they were unjustly born into.

Opposing the Discordant Gods were the two Primordial Deities known as Ouranos and Gaia. They led the group of gods that were most heavily involved in the 'creation' of things and directly opposed the Discordant Gods who reveled in destruction. Because of the fundamental differences in their nature, the two sides weren't able to come to a compromise and there were several instances where they would clash against each other which resulted in realm-wide devastation in the worlds they had created previously. Even though their creations didn't possess 'True Life', it was still very demoralizing for the Primordial Deities of Creation since their opposition of the Discordant Gods inevitably lead to the destruction of the things they held dear.

Throughout the fighting, Ouranos continued to watch over everything as an objective observer and tried to mediate between the two factions since he considered it his duty to do so. He controlled the principle Divinity of Space and, alongside Gaia, they were the two responsible for the structure of the current realm. Gaia grieved at the devastation wrought by the Discordant Gods, but Ouranos advocated that both Life and Death were necessary and that the world must maintain a balance or it would stagnate and lead to the propagation of the monotony that was so trying for many gods to bear.

For nearly seventy-million-years, the two sides continued to clash until the entire realm, and all worlds contained within, had been devastated to a point where many worlds couldn't sustain life in any shape or form. Many of the gods that possessed Divinities related to creation simply gave up creating new things because it was always painful when the Discordant Gods inevitably destroyed them. Though it might have been something to celebrate since they had technically won the fight, the Discordant Gods began to fight amongst themselves after there was nothing new to destroy. Without having new things to ruin, many of them began to lose their minds and even tried to force the creation gods to make new things without any success.

Seeing what had become of their forces, Erebus and Nyx finally tried to compromise with Ouranos since he had always advocated the necessity of both sides. However, when they finally went to him, Ouranos simply stated that it was the right of all gods to choose to use their power at their leisure. Though they had taken sides, there were no entities above others and everyone had the same rights to choose how to live out their eternities. Ouranos told the two that, if they truly wished to reconcile with the gods of creation, they would have to show it through their actions and come to a compromise. Since it was the Discordant Gods that caused the problem, it was their responsibility as gods to clean up the mess they had made. If they truly desired 'change', they needed to focus less on destroying things mindlessly and proactively contribute to maintaining the balance lest they invalidate their own purpose.

Because of their pride, Erebus and Nyx weren't able to agree with Ouranos and they continued trying to find a way to force the other gods to do as they willed. However, though they all controlled various different laws, all Divinities were fundamentally equal in power. No matter how hard they pressed, the gods of creation simply shrugged off the various different attacks, schemes, and plots that had been created by the Discordant Gods. The gods of creation knew that, without their creations, the Discordant Gods would eventually break down and it was much easier to tolerate creating temporary existences than trying to preserve things just so that others could destroy them later.

As expected, the Discordant Gods broke down long before the gods of creation since, without a way to express their Divinity, they quickly began to deteriorate and there were several that had retreated to distant regions of the realm in order to try to seal themselves away in solitude. Unable to persist with their old methods, the Discordant Gods approached Ouranos and Gaia and undertook the first vows. They swore to uphold the balance between creation and destruction, but only if the gods of creation helped pursue the concept of 'True Death'. There were several Primordial Deities that had started to turn catatonic as they were unable to express their Divinities. Ouranos agreed to their terms and the two sides came to the first meaningful compromise in history.

After the vows were officially made, there was a drastic change in the nature of the realm itself and both sides felt the echoes. All of the Primordial Deities that were part of the vow suddenly became much weaker as their Divinities began to nourish the realm together in a manner unseen since the dawn of the Age of Myths. The Primordial Deities didn't understand the changes at first and went about their duties as normal until a goddess named Nuwa created a small creature that was a peculiar existence compared to anything she had created before. Unable to understand what was unique about the small, six-legged creature, Nuwa showed her creation to the other Primordial Deities and they quickly discovered the incongruity in the creature. Against all expectations, the small, six-legged, nine-eyed, bulbous, creature possessed the first 'mortal' soul in all the realms. Unlike the temporary creations of the past, this creature was capable of rebirth and, as long as the cycle of creation and destruction was balanced, would continue to be reborn infinitely in various different forms.

Spurred by Nuwa's 'discovery', the creation gods entered a mad frenzy of creating new worlds once again and noticed that the majority of their creations were still 'normal' and only a few possessed souls. Dissatisfied, they began working alongside the deities capable of creating 'True Life' and contributed their Divinities to create a variety of different entities as all the Primordial Gods began to watch their creations in interest. Even the Discordant Gods were satisfied with the changes in the realm because, even without them having to act personally, destruction was wrought by the creatures that were created. Because they possessed weak souls, the creatures were capable of evolving over time and repeated and endless cycle of death, rebirth, life, and eventual death once again. Since life evolved in many unexpected ways, the gods were no longer 'bored' and proactively watched over the various different worlds with interest. Whenever the monotony got difficult to deal with, the only thing they had to do was introduce new variables and watch how the creatures within the worlds would react and change under the new stimulus.

By the time nearly three-hundred-million-years had passed, there were more than a billion different worlds within the realm that were visited by the various different gods of creation and destruction. Now that things were balanced, the realm had stabilized a lot and most of the gods found purpose in observing the changes within the world while only taking action whenever they wanted to see what changes would occur from their interference. However, this turned out to be a temporary peace as the Discordant Gods that had fled to the distant corners of the realm began to return. Unlike their old selves, they had changed into monstrous creatures far removed from the immaculate existence of the other Primordial Deities.

From the moment the first god returned, the gods of creation and destruction noticed a drastic change within the realm. One of the strange, tentacular, gods began to rampage and destroy several worlds that had existed for millions of years without a single thought. When other gods tried to approach the inconsiderate god to reason with them, the monstrosity lashed out at them and, for the first time in history, a god was killed. A stir occurred within the realm amongst all gods because they were all omniscient and had immediately learned of the incident as it happened. It turned out that, after their compromise which brought balance to the realm, the excess power had been absorbed by the slumbering gods at the edge of the realm. Though their Divinities had warped into something chaotic, almost unrecognizable, they were much stronger than any of the other gods within the realm.

During their emergency meeting, these returned gods became known as the 'Old Gods', because they still had the incredible power that Primordial Deities possessed before the compromise a hundred million years prior. Though there were several that still sought 'True Death', the gods of destruction were unwilling to seek assistance from the Old Gods due to the fact they were not simply killing the gods they struck down, but they were absorbing their Divinities and imprisoning the essence of their victims inside of themselves. If they weren't stopped, the Old Gods would eventually consume all of the other gods and bring absolute destruction to the realm. Many began taking up arms to oppose the Old Gods, but Ouranos continued to observe the events in solemn silence as they transpired.

A long war was fought between the gods of the realm, both creation, and destruction, against the Old Gods that sought nothing but chaos, destruction, and the propagation of madness. In the resulting conflict, nearly all gods were destroyed and assimilated by the Old Gods before they were eventually defeated when Gaia, Erebus, Nyx, and the god of Light, Aether, sacrificed their lives by fusing their Divinities together in a desperate attempt to save the realm...When asked about his decision to not interfere at the end of the long war, Ouranos would remark to his fellow god who was on the verge of death, "Life and Death, be it mortal or god, these are both necessary for the world to change and move forward. Had I died in the conflict, that would have been my fate...I will continue to watch over this world and maintain this realm, so go peacefully my old friend..." With these parting words, Ouranos held the body of his longtime companion Gaia as her body dissipated into oblivion...

By the time the war had concluded, there were only seven Primordial Gods remaining including Ouranos, Nuwa, Brahma, Tiamat, Amenominakanushi, Ymir, and the enigmatic Tartarus. Using their powers, they endeavored to restore the realm to stability before consuming the majority of their own Divinity to reverse the devastation that had been caused by the Old Gods. They were able to turn back time nearly to the point before the first conflicts between the gods of creation and the Discordant Gods in the past. Though they were unable to revive the dead gods, they were able to return the Divinities to the realm before shattering them into smaller shards to increase the stability of the resultant realm.

Because there weren't enough gods to keep the worlds from destabilizing, they split the realm into three different states before sealing the majority of all Divinities within the new realm that became known as Heaven. As time passed, the fragments of Divinity regained sentience and this resulted in the creation of the first generation of gods in Heaven. Not all the Primordial Deities stayed in Heaven though, Nuwa and Tiamat both remained in the old realm of the gods which became known as Hell. Tartarus had sacrificed her own body, while retaining her Divinity, to become the bridge between the three realms while her main body became the foundation of the mortal world. Ouranos, Brahma, Amenominakanushi, and Ymir remained in Heaven to guide the new generation of gods to be better than their past selves while teaching them to cope with the various fragments of Divinity they possessed.

The period of time after the Age of Myths came to an end was known as the Age of Darkness, since there was not a single entity within the mortal world that drew the breath of life. All of the souls that had been created in the past were still within the cycle of reincarnation, but there were no gods to breathe life into the world for a very long period of time. By some strange twist of fate, Nuwa was the one to come up with a solution to the problem as she used a large amount of her power before feeding it through Tartarus and into the Mortal World. She nearly exhausted all of her Divinity, but various creatures began to appear in the surface world with a single sentient species that became the progenitors of all humans.

With the birth of primordial man, the gods within Heaven gained a new purpose and began following the path of their ancestors and working to regulate things within the mortal world and ensure the continuation of life and propagation of the human race. Unfortunately, since Nuwa had been unable to control her power through Tartarus, the strongest creatures on the surface were not humans. In fact, due to their weak souls, humans were one of the weakest species in the entire world and were easily killed without Divine Intervention. Worried that humanity would be wiped out, several gods worked together to speed up the development of the more docile creatures in the mortal world and eventually created the entities known as spirits. Because they possessed a small portion of the power of the gods, the spirits were incredibly powerful and even possessed a certain degree of immortality. Representing the gods in the mortal world, the spirits went to the aide of humans and thus started the Age of Heroes as Humanity fought alongside Spirits to reclaim the surface.

Though spirits weren't supposed to be able to bear children, fate seemed to be whimsical as there were several humans whose souls increased in strength over several generations and they eventually managed to impregnate several spirits over several millennia. This was how all of the races that are currently present in the world came to be, the result of the bond between humans and spirits. As for the High Elves, who pride themselves as the 'Descendants of Spirits', the only thing that made them truly unique was the fact they had performed selective breeding early on to ensure the purity of their bloodline to cultivate the power of miracles that was used by the spirits, which would later be known as magic. The High Elves weren't the only species to develop a unique culture since the majority of the races were inhabitants of specific regions and didn't spread from them for several thousands of years. By the time the various races began to interact with each other, their common ancestors were no longer important and they focused more on the differences between the races than their shared qualities.

Not long after the surface had started to become peaceful, the various different descendants of primordial man began to wage war against each other for superiority. Disconsolate about the state of the world, a large number of gods began to pressure the Primordial Gods, who were then known as Elder Gods, into coming up with a solution. Ouranos initially resisted but, after recalling his 'failure' in the past, decided that his resistance against the gods was actually going against the principles of allowing change to occur in the world. He decided to use the ancient bridge created by Tartarus to establish a pathway between Heaven and the Mortal World, but one that could only be used after the gods underwent several vows to restrain their power.

Ouranos descended with the first batch of gods, which also included several first and second generation gods and goddesses such as Odin, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Amaterasu, and a plethora of others. The spread throughout the mortal world and sought out champions to continue the fight to reclaim the surface while also trying to put an end to the strife between the different races. Ouranos found a human with a powerful soul named Albert Wallenstein and bestowed him the first Falna, the blessings that humans received from gods to break the limits of mortality. With his allies, including the spirit Aria, Albert traversed the continent that became known as Eden and helped to resolve the differences between the various species while eliminating the powerful monsters that still roamed the surface. It wasn't until Albert's death against the Black Dragon that the Age of Heroes came to an end.

With his death, the Tower of Babel, which had been constructed in Heaven to act as the anchor between the Mortal world and Heaven, was brought down to Eden to act as a seal to cover the living Dungeon where the now One-Eyed Black Dragon fought its climactic battle against Albert. Drawn to the Heavenly tower that had appeared in the mortal world, representatives from every race began to gather around the tower and this became the foundation for what would one day be known as the City of Orario. True to his neutral nature, Ouranos declared the City to be a sovereign nation that accepted all races in an effort to draw new heroes to the City in order to challenge the Dungeon and eventually grow strong enough to defeat the dragon sealed within its depths. For the last 997 years, Orario had continued to develop and had become the central power within the entire continent and had now grown to the point that it was unrivaled within the world...

(A/N: 'In the beginning...','Ouranos, the Eternal Watcher','Perpetuation of the Natural Cycle...')

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Level 1 Vahn: https://imgur.com/a/zFOLFrT

Courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/robusta-mania

Chapter 366: Preconceptions

At the end of Riveria's long recounting of events, Shizune raised her tiny hand and asked in a somewhat childish voice that suited her body, but not her age, "That is a very interesting story, but I don't understand what it has to do with magic~?" Riveria snapped the book she had been reading shut before turning to the kitsune girl and saying in a plain tone, "It is important to understand the History of all things when discussing magic. Magic is derived from the miracles that had been created by spirits in the past...those miracles only existed because of the natural forces in the world that had been established by the gods that had helped shape the world in Heaven. Understanding magic is understanding the very structure of the world and peeking into the laws that govern everything, not just in the Mortal world, but also Heaven and Hell. When you're chanting magic, you are recounting stories, legends, and myths in order to draw upon their power and recreate it in the present."

Vahn stroked his chin in thought as he listened to Riveria's words before asking, "So...when a new magic is born, it is because a new story, or legend, had been created? By that logic, doesn't it mean that anyone should be able to create a magic spell as long as they have an understanding of the elemental laws governing it and are able to convey their intent to the world itself?" Hearing his question, Lefiya's eyes opened wide while Riveria nodded in approval and said, "That is correct, Vahn, very well deduced. This is why the chant could vary from person to person even when casting the same spell and also why not all grimoires are compatible with people. Without understanding the story and legend behind the spell, it doesn't matter if you know the chant for the spell...well, there are exceptions to everything..." In the latter half of her words, Riveria had turned her attention to Lefiya and made the bashful elf blush.

Though he had turned his attention to Lefiya and smiled at her reaction, Vahn was actually lost in his own thoughts as the processed the information Riveria had told him. Most of his magical knowledge came from his interactions with Eva and Vahn understood that, while both systems were different, they actually used very similar logic. Vahn began to wonder if this was the case for magic systems in all worlds and began wondering if magic was simply the product of a powerful story. With this thought in mind, Vahn thought about how Eva formed her magic and realized she only ever used chants whenever she wanted the spell to be stronger. This meant that she was able to form the spell using her imagination and understanding of the spell structure without requiring a chant at all. Chantless magic didn't seem to exist in the record of Danmachi, but Vahn assumed it should be possible since magic circles existed and skills like Riveria's, which allowed her to extend chants, also existed.

Seeing Vahn lost in thought, Riveria squinted her eyes in interest before asking, "Did you think of something, Vahn?" From what Riveria understood, Vahn had an inexplicable ability to intuit things using a form of common sense that was founded in rationality but held few similarities with anything she had observed in her 97 years of life. Most of his thoughts were revolutionary and he was able to make logical leaps that others simply weren't capable of. He was like a blank slate where anything could be written and, after a certain amount of time passed, the slate would be able to provide a solution to the problem, even if it was something that confounded scholars for generations.

Vahn turned his attention to Riveria and saw a strange sparkle in her jade-green eyes, like the light of expectation, or maybe even 'hope'. After thinking how to best answer her question, Vahn decided to say, "Maybe...can you show me one of your magic using a chant? I want to see the magic circle that is created by your [Mage] Development Ability." Riveria considered his words for a moment before nodding her head, raising her hand toward him, and saying, "Assemble, breath of the land -my name is Alf." During the short chant, a forest-green spell circle appeared under Riveria's body before a green glow surrounded Vahn and he could feel an invisible layer of protecting covering him from head to toe.

Though it was very brief, Vahn could replace the scene of Riveria casting her magic over and over in his mind, even in slow motion if he wanted to. When he focused his attention on something, The Path enabled him to 'record' everything his sense picked up and play it back just by making a request of Sis. She could even analyze the data for him while he focused on other stuff and help provide a solution at a later date when it was more convenient. Using this 'replay' feature of his mind, Vahn slowed down the image of Riveria casting her spell and noticed that, though the magic circle seemed to appear all at once, it actually formed in a specific sequence.

Vahn blinked to snap himself out of his reverie and activated his [Eyes of Truth] before saying, "Please, Riveria, can you cast the spell again? I think I might have picked up on something..." Without hesitating, Riveria nodded before pointing at Lefiya and using the exact same spell, this time drawing it out a bit more for Vahn's benefit. With his [Eyes of Truth] active, Vahn was able to see that, not only did the magic circle not form all at once, but it also had a different distribution of mana circulation through it in a complex structure. When Riveria finished the chant, the structure would 'freeze' for a brief moment before 'dissolving' and infusing itself into her target. Though it no longer had the same shape as the magic circle, the structure of the spell didn't change between the time it was a magic circle and when it had been infused into someone else's body.

The most important thing to note, however, was that Vahn's 'translation' function in the system actually allowed him to interpret the magic circle as language. Though he didn't entirely understand how it worked, the magic circle Riveria made had a complex structure that, when translated, literally meant 'Assemble, breath of the land - my name is Alf'. It was exactly the same as her chant, without a single bit of inflection or deviation. After playing the sequence over and over in his mind, Vahn held out his hand and, at the same pace as the circle was formed in his mind, said, "Assemble, breath of the land - my name is Alf." There was no magic cirlce that appeared and Riveria gave Vahn a strange look since he had pointed at her while 'mimicking' her chant. She thought he might have interpreted things in a strange manner before she suddenly felt a formless energy cover her body and her eyes widened in abject shock.

Vahn, however, didn't see any changes and just felt a powerful throbbing sensation from his temples as he began to rub them to alleviate the discomfort. Before understanding the changes that had happened, Vahn said in an apologetic manner, "Sorry, I guess I made a mistake..." While he was trying to alleviate the pain in his head, Vahn sensed Riveria approach him quickly so he turned his eyes and saw the shock on her face as she said, "You didn't make a mistake...I don't understand what you did, but whatever it was, it worked. Please, Vahn, explain what just happened." Seeing the confusion on his face, Riveria unsheathed a small dagger and cut towards her own arm before a green light shone and completely deflected the dagger. Vahn immediately understood what Riveria meant now so he said, "I copied the magic circle in my mind...and then just repeated your words as the circle formed..."

Hearing Vahn casually mention that he had duplicated her magic circle in his mind, Riveria actually showed an awkward smile before laughing in a strange manner. As if she was copying Vahn this time, Riveria lifted her hand to her head and began rubbing her temples. She understood that Vahn was likely telling the truth, but it turned out that the truth was something inexplicable, almost impossible to even comprehend. Elves had studied magic circles since the existence of the [Mage} Development Ability was known yet, after nearly a thousand years of study, hadn't been able to understand their structure at all. Yet, here Vahn was sitting at his little desk telling her he had seen through it after watching her cast the spell twice...the most problematic thing of all, however, was that the magic she had used was 'Elven Magic'. There hasn't been a single instance in the history of magic where someone from a different race was able to emulate, much less duplicate, the magic of another race. Specifically, Vahn had used magic that was only useable by High Elves within the direct lineage of the Royal Family...he even used the Royal Family's name 'Alf' as the activation key...

Riveria sat down at the desk she had set up for herself before waving toward everyone in the 'classroom' and saying, "Everyone is dismissed for the time being...go have lunch and then come back in two hours. Vahn..." Riveria looked up and showed a somewhat tired expression on her face before shaking her head and saying, "There are a lot of things we need to talk about. Lefiya, you can stay as well, I don't think I'll be able to make sense of everything if it's just me alone." Though they were confused at first, the girls listened to Riveria's words when Vahn reiterated them. After hearing it from him, the girls all left as Preasia walked over to wake up the sleeping Fenrir before taking her with them. When everyone else had left, Lefiya looked up at Vahn before saying, "Vahn, I'd like to see your Status Board...I want to confirm with my own eyes that you don't possess any skills to emulate magic like Lefiya."

Knowing that Riveria wouldn't be able to see through his Innates, Vahn nodded his head in agreement since she had allowed him to see her Status Board the previous night. Vahn stripped off his tunic and stood bare-chested before the two elven girls as Riveria looked at him with a plain expression while Lefiya turned her face away with a blush. Pulling over one of the chairs, Vahn sat down and allowed Riveria to look at his status after she pulled out a strange, blood-colored, vial of liquid and placed it on his back. Vahn knew it was the illegal magic item known as 'Status Thief', but he didn't really care since he had allowed her to view his Status freely.

Though she couldn't read all the hieroglyphs making up his status, Riveria was able to understand the majority of it and noticed that Vahn had two magic she had never seen before, but neither of them explained his ability to duplicate the magic of others. Most importantly, Vahn possessed no racial traits or skills associated with elves and his status clearly listed him as a human. Just to be sure, Riveria asked, "Can you show me both of your magic skills, please...?" Vahn nodded his head before immediately disappearing from his spot and reappearing three meters away.

Before she asked, Vahn said, "That is my chantless magic, Shundo. It's a movement type magic that links two points in space and allows the user to transition between them. It's hard to explain, and it's not a magic I'm trying to popularize, so you'll have to forgive me for keeping the finer details a secret." The last thing Vahn wanted to see was a bunch of people running around using Shundo and using it for devious means. Just imagining an assassin capable of using the skill sent a shiver down his spine and he had long ago committed to only teaching the skill to people that had taken a vow of secrecy to protect the information.

Riveria nodded her head, because she could understand why such a skill should be kept secret. It was a powerful ability and likely one of Vahn's core strengths and it was his right to teach others about the skill at his leisure. Seeing Riveria nod, Vahn showed a small smile before thinking about Haruhime since she was the first person that came to mind when he was thinking about racial traits to copy. Using his [Thria*Mimos], Vahn turned into a male Renard with blond hair and aquamarine green eyes while standing in front of the two elves who were shocked to see his sudden change. Vahn flexed his hands and said, "This is my magic, [Thria*Mimos], it allows me to mimic the traits of animals and beast humans, though it prevents me from using the majority of my other skills in the process."

Seeing that Vahn had transformation magic, Riveria thought there was something unique about his 'pseudo-divinities' that hadn't come to light yet. After thinking how best to structure the question, Riveria asked, "Vahn...have you always been human?" Vahn blinked for a moment since it wasn't a question he expected. Without much hesitation, Vahn nodded his head and said, "Yes...I've been human for as long as I can remember..." Hearing his words, Riveria released a sigh before saying, "That magic you used earlier, it should be something unique to High Elves. Lefiya is able to copy my chants with her skill, but that is a unique ability that is incredibly rare within elves...you shouldn't be able to use the magic at all since you're a human."

Vahn thought about her words for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "No, that doesn't make any sense Riveria. Like you said during your History lesson earlier, everyone has a common ancestor and all the races within the world resulted from the union between primordial man and spirits. Though we have different racial traits, the core structure of all the races in the world are fundamentally similar. If magic is the culmination of a person's understanding of a story, legend, or myth, it means anyone able to understand the structure of the spell should be capable of casting it."

Riveria was surprised by Vahn's rebuttal but couldn't help but agree that his speculation, at least in theory, was correct. However, all of the studies related to magic were the evidence against his claim since, other than Vahn himself, there has never been a single other exception to the rule. One of the biggest points against his theory was the fact that most half-breeds couldn't even use magic at all since the changes in their body made them incapable of forming anything but a few fundamental magic spells. While she was thinking over matters, Riveria noticed Vahn's eyes had changed colors as he passed his gaze of herself and Lefiya as if confirming something. They were the same eyes he had used when watching her cast her magic earlier and Riveria couldn't help but feel like he had just seen through her completely.

Before she asked, Vahn started explaining, "Other than a few physiological differences, the basic structure between elves and other races is the same. There are a few differences in how the mana is formed within your bodies, but that isn't something that can't be emulated by others..." Vahn got lost in thought for a brief moment before saying, "If I emulate the flow of mana, I believe I would be able to become an actual elf after a few weeks passed." Vahn knew his body could change depending on his perception, so if he changed the flow of his mana and wanted to become an elf is should be possible.

Not just Riveria, but Lefiya looked at Vahn in confusion before he said again, "I'm telling the truth...though I wouldn't be a natural born elf, I can almost guarantee that I'd be indistinguishable from the real deal. It might even update on the status board if I maintain the image for a long enough period of time. If the only difference between races is minor fluctuations in the energy contained in their bodies, it isn't impossible to alter the structure of the body...besides, I seem to have a talent for transformation magic and understanding the physiological structure of other races. Remember what I did for Tsubaki?" With Vahn's reminder, Riveria remembered how drastic the change in Tsubaki had been and began to seriously consider his words.

Thinking she didn't believe him, Vahn tried focusing on his own image within his mind by passing his perception over his own body. He was already made of pure source energy and had incredible control over the energy within the bodies of others, so it stood to reason that he could replicate the changes in himself. He tried imagining himself as an elf and began 'willing' the energy in his body to emulate the flow he had observed in Riveria. She and Lefiya had minor changes, probably because Riveria was a High Elf while Lefiya was a normal elf. Vahn figured it would be more 'believable' if he emulated a High Elf since it should be marginally more difficult to pull off.

Since they were both very perceptive to mana, Riveria and Lefiya turned their attention to Vahn and saw something that was hard to describe since both of their minds blanked. Vahn's dark-brown hair began to turn into an emerald green from his roots and his tanned skin actually started to turn lighter at a visible rate until he became somewhat fair-skinned. Since he hadn't been wearing a shirt, the girls saw his body become thinner as his ears began to increase in length before coming to a point. Even his height began to increase marginally before he opened his now jade green eyes and inspected his body before pulling out a mirror for a better view. With a satisfied smile on his face, Vahn paused for a moment before turning to the girls and saying in a confident manner, "That wasn't as difficult as I expected. Though I won't be able to hold the image for too long, I should have become a High Elf now if you'd like to check my Status Board to confirm."

For several long seconds, Riveria just stared blankly at Vahn because his appearance was actually very similar to her own and she knew he had used her as a base when changing his body. She had no words to refute his earlier claims because he had clearly shown that his words were credible and that all preconceived notions of magic were flawed on a very fundamental level. Riveria knew that Vahn would likely revolutionize the very concept of magic in the future and it would likely be usable by anyone that made the effort to study it. For now, however, Riveria was most concerned about checking the veracity of Vahn's words as she used Status Thief to reveal Vahn's crest. As he had claimed, his race now showed 'High Elf' instead of 'Human' and everything Riveria thought she knew about magic shattered into pieces...

(A/N: Character Popularity Poll: http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5c0af404e4b095756bdd4e61)

(A/N: Special Christmas chapters for those that get in the top of the rankings~

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn's casual mimickry','Theories only exist until new Theories emerge to replace them','Riveria gets broken...')

If you'd like to support me as a writer so I can write even more stories in the future, please follow the Patreon link below (O,...,O)~! Stay beautiful <3. Since it was requested, I also added a Paypal link if that is preferable~!)

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=14397149

paypal.me/Einlion

Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/Jwa8PKh


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Einlion Einlion

Level 1 Vahn: https://imgur.com/a/zFOLFrT

Courtesy of https://www.deviantart.com/robusta-mania

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