Chapter 42: Soul Sanctuary

Ace once again felt the ubiquitous and omnipotent sensation within the mysterious dimensional space. He calmed his mind and sensed everything around him.

Gradually, Ace perceived that this dimensional space resided deep within his soul, a projection of his mind. He cautiously poured a portion of his mental power into the dimensional space, which the space easily absorbed.

He did not feel any discomfort; instead, he felt a warmth. He increased the input, and after putting the vast majority of his mental power into the dimensional space, he noticed a significant difference.

The dimensional space deep within his soul was no longer hidden and began to manifest. It was located in the very center of the brain, existing in a state of being both present and non-existent.

Similar to the existence of Soul Runes, it could only be perceived by mental power and was invisible to the naked eye. Even if someone dissected his skull, they would not find it.

Once the dimensional space stabilized in the center of his brain, Ace’s mind could enter and exit freely. He named this dimensional space, which manifested deep within his soul, the Soul Sanctuary—a hidden realm deep within the soul, a projected space of the mind.

Ace discovered that the Soul Sanctuary was very miraculous. If a Soul Rune replicated in the air had a Mana essence structure that was a close match, the replicated Soul Rune could be absorbed by the Soul Sanctuary.

Once inside the Soul Sanctuary, the Soul Rune would transition from a metastable structure to an ultra-stable structure. In other words, they could exist permanently.

After multiple attempts, runes inside the Sanctuary could also be dissolved by using the reverse method. This dissolution would cause the Soul Sanctuary space to vibrate. It would be unable to absorb new runes for three days after the dissolution, but no other adverse consequences were observed yet.

The imitation of Soul Runes could be continuously refined. It took about three weeks, but Ace finally forced himself to understand how the Mana essence in the Will Rune and the Empathy Rune was formed. He discovered and confirmed 21 different types of Mana essence and 156 effective combination formulas.

This method was an experiential summary, remembering the construction method of Mana essence through continuous trial and error. During the experiment, Ace discovered the importance of mathematics.

Mana essence, or at least the Mana essence at his current level, required extensive use of basic elementary mathematics knowledge—coordinate systems, vectors, basic axioms of planar geometry, the square root function of real numbers, and pi—when analyzing and replicating its structure.

The mathematics of his past life played a huge role in analyzing the structure of Mana essence and accurately replicating it. If he hadn’t had any mathematical foundation, the sheer step of replicating Mana essence would have taken Ace an unknown number of years.

If Ace were truly a native of this world, even the value of pi could have troubled him for his entire life. It might take dozens or even hundreds of generations for Magic to develop step by step. Given the suppression by supernatural powers in this world, the probability of Magic developing was negligible.

Ace once again felt that the objective and neutral research spirit, the logical way of thinking, and the mathematical methods from his past life were his weapons for exploring the true knowledge of the supernatural.

Ace possessed three Wonders with Soul Runes: the Eye of Illusion, the Ring of Protection, and the Burning Short Sword. He decided to analyze the Soul Runes of these three Wonders first.

The sublimation of his soul essence granted Ace more powerful perception abilities. This time, he could clearly perceive the interior of the Burning Short Sword and understand why mental power was burned and blocked from perception.

The Soul Rune itself comes with a powerful scorching effect. Only strong mental power can endure the scorching and perceive the structure.

With the foundation of the preliminary analysis of Mana essence and the patterns derived from incomplete induction, Ace’s efficiency greatly accelerated. In less than two weeks, he analyzed all the remaining Soul Runes and replicated them into the Sanctuary space.

The Soul Runes Ace currently possesses are as follows:

• Foundation Runes: Mana, Mana-Crystal
• Auxiliary Runes: Reinforced Siphon, Mana Order, Mana Consumption Reduction, Mental Consumption Reduction; Potency, Weakening
• Element Runes: Fire Element
• Tool Runes: Fear, Affection, Aversion, Illusion, Suggestion, Calm, Mental Shock, Guard, Damage Reduction, Scorching, Luminous (Variable Rune), Explosion, Will (Variable Rune), Empathy

There are a total of 21 Soul Runes. There are also 7 Lesser Runes for which Ace does not have the Soul Rune version, but he already has an idea.

A Soul Rune can be degraded into a Lesser Rune. The process involves ignoring the Mana essence structure and simplifying the internal structure of the rune. Therefore, can he not also reverse-engineer and deduce the Soul Runes of the Lesser Runes?

Ace felt he could try. He included this plan in his Magic Diary experiment schedule.

Right now, the most important task is to combine the Soul Runes to create brand new Soul Spell Models. After his promotion, Ace’s mental power and perception have greatly increased—to about 121 units of mental power—but his combat power has not yet qualitatively improved.

Ace must combine new Spell Models in the Sanctuary space to achieve a complete sublimation of his combat power. Through research, he found that runes in the Sanctuary space can be replicated directly. This replication does not require the reconstruction of Mana essence, which greatly increases efficiency.

He divided the runes in the Sanctuary space into two regions: an upper layer for Spell Models and a lower layer for individual Runes. The newly combined Spell Models float in the upper layer, all replicated and combined from the individual runes in the lower layer.

Ace combined the Mana #2 Rune and Mana-Crystal Rune with four Auxiliary Foundation Runes, along with the Calm Rune and Will Rune, to form the optimal Spell Model for meditation.

He used the newly obtained Will and Empathy Runes to modify the rune structure in the Eye of Illusion, deriving a new Spell Model.

Ace has only combined planar Spell Models so far. He attempted to combine the planar Spell Models to form the three-dimensional Spell Model found in the Eye of Illusion.

The planar Spell Models slowly moved closer but strongly repelled each other. Ace was nearly exhausted of mental power, and the three-dimensional Spell Model was not successfully combined.

“One necessary condition for combining a three-dimensional Spell Model is higher mental power. The sufficient condition is unknown,” Ace recorded.

He temporarily gave up on combining the three-dimensional Spell Model and focused on planar Spell Models.

He found that the new spells require simultaneous consumption of mental power and his own Mana, and the Mana siphoned is also greatly increased.

“Own Mana” refers to the Mana that is inherent in the body and soul after they have been “contaminated” by Mana—it is the inherent Mana of the body and soul, also called Inherent Mana.

If expressed as a formula: Inherent Mana = Mental Power x 4. Siphoned Mana = Mental Power x 3 + Inherent Mana x 3 = Mental Power x 15. Ace records 100 units of mental power as 1 Mental Power Unit, and 1 Mental Power Unit can influence 15 Siphoned Mana Units.

After conversion, Ace currently has 1.2 Mental Power Units and 18 Siphoned Mana Units. Since the Mana consumed by spells is Siphoned Mana, the commonly referred to “Mana” is Siphoned Mana.

In the past, he called himself a Wizard Apprentice. After his promotion, Ace, after comparison, believes he is equivalent to a Pseudo-Hero. His new spells have power that is inferior to the Hero’s Authority he saw in the Dream Theater.

He believes the Formal Wizard he envisions is someone who can rival a Hero, so he refers to himself as an Advanced Wizard Apprentice.

Ace’s new spells are: Advanced Apprentice Meditation, Spell Hand, Controllable Light Orb, Burning Hand, Illusion Barrier, Potent Stun, Hammer of Oblivion, Eye of Emotion, Charm Human, Charm Monster, and Mana-Crystal Protection Membrane—a total of eleven Soul Spells. He opened his Magic Diary and recorded the details of the spells.

Advanced Apprentice Meditation:

【Consumes 1 Mana Unit. Meditation time is 4 hours. The mental power limit increases by 0.05 Mental Power Units with each meditation. Mana increases by 0.75 Mana Units. Will and physical strength will also increase.】

Spell Hand:

【Consumes 1 Mana Unit and an additional 0.1 Mental Power Units. Forms a highly flexible and somewhat autonomous Spell Hand composed of Mana Crystals, which can be enlarged and shrunk.】

【The active range is a spherical area with a radius of 80–100 meters centered on the Spellcaster. Duration is 1 hour. Medium-speed flight. Executes simple commands. Possesses strong offensive power, defensive power, and resilience.】

Controllable Light Orb:

【Consumes 1.2 Mana Units and an additional 0.1 Mental Power Units. Forms a light orb within a casting range of 150 meters.】

【The orb can emit and absorb all brightness within the visible light spectrum, achieving effects like illumination, dazzling, blinding, and darkness. The maximum effective range is a radius of 300 meters from the orb.】

Burning Hand:

【Consumes 2 Mana Units and an additional 0.1 Mental Power Units. Forms a fire-attributed Spell Hand within a casting range of 100 meters, with extremely high heat, strong scorching, strong penetration, and unstable explosive properties.】

【Maximum duration is 0.5 hours. Medium-speed flight. Executes simple commands.】

Illusion Barrier:

【Consumes 2 Mana Units and an additional 0.2 Mental Power Units. Forms an Illusion Barrier in a radius of 300 meters centered on the Spellcaster. Duration is 1 hour.】

【Creatures entering the barrier are forced to undergo a slight reduction in will and are forced to undergo a will check every 30 seconds. Failure to pass the check will result in being completely trapped in the illusion, having their five senses manipulated, and their emotions and thoughts largely induced.】

Potent Stun:

【Consumes 1 Mana Unit. Forms a powerful mental shockwave within a casting range of 200 meters. The affected area is a radius of 10 meters. The impact effect is strongest at the center and gradually diminishes outward.】

Hammer of Oblivion:

【Consumes 1 Mana Unit. Casting range is 10 meters. Utilizes different frequency mental shockwaves, combined with Suggestion and Illusion effects, to randomly replace the target’s memories from the past minute. The replaced memories are generated by the target’s subconscious and cannot be manipulated by the Spellcaster.】

Eye of Emotion:

【Consumes 1.1 Mana Units and an additional 0.1 Mental Power Units. Projects the Spell Model onto the Spellcaster’s eyes, lasting 1 hour. The person being gazed upon will undergo a compulsory slight reduction in will and continuous will checks. Failure to pass the check will result in their emotions being easily manipulated.】

Charm Human/Charm Monster:

【Consumes 1 Mana Unit and an additional 0.1 Mental Power Units. Casting range is 100 meters, affecting multiple supernatural targets. The target undergoes a Suggestion that lasts for 1 minute. Success results in a Soul Rune structure appearing on the back of their head. Failure results in a brief increase in will and being enraged. In the enraged state, the target is more aggressive and lacks calm thinking.】

Mana-Crystal Protection Membrane:

【Consumes 1.5 Mana Units. Forms an eggshell-shaped protective membrane with full coverage and no blind spots. Maximum duration is 1 hour. The membrane has the property of uniformly distributing force. Attacking any point on it will distribute the force across the entire membrane.】

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