I Pioneered Scientific Magic

To break through his limits, Victorio truly walked the line between life and death, and the memory still haunts him.

The complete disintegration of the physical body and the soul's envelopment by thunder were far from pleasant experiences. Even without the organs to perceive pain, the soul's sensitivity was heightened to an unbearable degree, feeling as though it was cast into a furnace... His will was being eroded, a sensation far more terrifying than death itself.

Victorio shared his harrowing experience during the ascension ceremony, highlighting several issues encountered, particularly the need to adjust the frequency of energy input and output. Their initial calculations were off, failing to account for the energy loss as electricity passed through the soul.

"If there's one thing crucial to ascension, it's energy, computational power, and willpower," Victorio mused thoughtfully.

Building a body of energy is a meticulous task. Victorio had developed a spell called 【Shape - Shell Reformation】, hoping for a one-step completion. Yet, it couldn't withstand the onslaught of powerful energy tides, forcing him to endure the agony of his soul being eroded while he painstakingly constructed his body bit by bit using his computational power.

The process was mentally exhausting, and had he been even ten seconds late, his soul would have completely disintegrated. The final moments were endured purely through his sheer determination to ascend.

"You're lucky to be the first to ascend," Harof said, still feeling the aftershocks of the ordeal.

Harof had once vied for the opportunity to be the first to ascend to legend, having waited for this moment just as eagerly as Victorio. However, it's now clear that the ceremony's perfection leaves much to be desired, and the risks involved were greater than anticipated.

Given Victorio's extensive experience across various fields and his exceptional computational power, even his near mishap highlights the difficulty of the process. Harof doubted he could think to use soul power to adapt electricity for magical compatibility or divide his computational power to control arrays and adjust energy transfer efficiency like Victorio did.

Energy could be supplied by magic stones and the fusion reactor, and when it came to willpower, Lynn felt no less capable than anyone else.

As for computational power...

Although currently only a fifth-level grand wizard, far from reaching the pinnacle of this realm, with the support of the magical network, his computational power could even surpass that of ordinary sixth-level wizards. However, Lynn quickly dismissed the thought, considering the soul's strength as a significant factor, and decided against taking any unnecessary risks.

Amidst this congenial atmosphere, Tiek, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, asked, "Councilor Victorio, what exactly happened? I heard from Councilor Harof that this was an ascension ceremony to legend?"

The alchemists present were equally bewildered, overwhelmed by the evening's surprises, from the 'mini sun' suspended in the underground space to Victorio's death and rebirth in a peculiar manner, which was beyond everyone's comprehension.

Victor Victorio, seeing the puzzled looks, explained with a smile, "What do you think legend is?"

"Obviously, an existence that surpasses a grand wizard," an alchemist responded without hesitation.

According to the council's classification, wizards can be divided into four major realms: apprentice, formal wizard, grand wizard, and legendary wizard, with the latter representing the pinnacle of wizardry.

"In truth, before this, being called a legend was merely a title," Victorio said with a sigh.

"A title?" Tiek frowned in confusion.

"Yes," Harof nodded, taking over the explanation. "In fact, reaching the sixth-level grand wizard is the limit for humans, and legend is a title given to those who exceed this limit, to be on par with those so-called false gods..."

Harof spoke at length, summarizing the belief wars and information about false gods and spiritual power from centuries ago. This secret knowledge had always been a taboo within the council, tightly sealed because, before finding a reliable path to ascension, spreading such information could cause immense chaos. Wizards stuck at the grand wizard realm and unable to breakthrough might turn to dark paths, as the secret arts of soul consumption offer a real shortcut to ascension.

But this shortcut leads to an endless swamp that silently engulfs people. For those who have lost their way and can only wait for death, any risk is worth taking. The chaos caused by the heretic mages in the past is a prime example.

An entire school of spiritual power, tens of thousands of innocent poor people died for the ambition of a heretic mage, Merk, to become a god. Now that the path to legend is open, there's no need for secrecy.

Becoming a false god requires reaching the

sixth-level grand wizard first, and not everyone is cut out to be a false god, not to mention the risk of losing oneself and becoming a puppet of belief.

"So, you're saying you were all 'pseudo-legends' before?" Tiek blurted out, then quickly realized his phrasing might be somewhat impolite and inappropriate!

After all, the classification of legend was defined by themselves.

Harof wasn't offended but casually agreed, "You could say that!"

From now on, the classification of wizard levels needs to be redefined. Only those who complete the ascension ceremony and construct a body of energy can be called legends, or seventh-level wizards. The rest will be categorized as sixth-level wizards or pseudo-legends, including himself and Aurora!

Of course, this is only temporary. Before long, they too will ascend to this realm and become true legendary wizards like Victorio. Harof had no doubt about this; as the pinnacle of thousands of wizards, if even they couldn't complete the ascension, then no one else stood a chance.

"If I'm not mistaken, that false god 'Aila' should also be at this level," Victorio suddenly said.

Lynn looked interested, turning to Victorio, who, having completed his ascension, naturally had more authority to speak.

In fact, the concept of constructing a body of energy was based on the study of Judge Joshua's body.

"Can you now do the same things as that false god? Like freezing time, descending a divine kingdom, having words become laws, reshaping the body..." Harof asked curiously.

They had encountered 'Aila' twice, once in its true form and another time as an avatar, both leaving a profound impression.

The true form was formidable, nearly annihilating them in a single encounter.

Even against an avatar, the four of them could only barely hold it off, eventually relying on a great nuclear spell to turn the tide!

This is the power of legend!

A qualitative gap exists between each major realm.

"Reshaping the body shouldn't be a problem," Victorio said thoughtfully.

His body, appearing flesh and blood, was actually composed of magic and energy. Even if destroyed, it could be quickly repaired using 【Shape - Shell Reformation】.

The core component, a magical reactor in the heart, autonomously absorbs ambient magic and energy to sustain itself, maintaining daily consumption.

This isn't a significant weakness; even if the reactor is destroyed, it only temporarily loses the ability to automatically absorb energy for sustenance. It can be reshaped without fatal consequences.

"Doesn't that mean an immortal body?" Tiek exclaimed.

Quick recovery from any injury, even decapitation or dismemberment, couldn't be fatal. Such an opponent was terrifying.

Harof and Aurora frowned, pondering countermeasures.

"No, of course, there's a way!" Victorio shook his head, hesitating momentarily before deciding to share, given the impending confrontation with that false god. He expanded his domain to include Lynn and the others, isolating an inner and outer world, before carefully speaking.

"There are roughly two methods I can think of. The first is soul-level attacks, targeting the source. Any damage to the soul is difficult to repair and requires extensive nourishment."

Destroying the soul directly renders any bodily repair meaningless.

"The second is that repairing the shell consumes vast amounts of magic and energy. If severely damaged multiple times in a short period, the body cannot draw enough magic and energy for recovery..."

The nuclear blast destroyed 'Aila's' avatar because its power could disintegrate the body thousands of times in an instant, leaving no chance for repair.

Lynn nodded, his thoughts aligning with Victorio's...

"As for divine speech, freezing time, descending a divine kingdom, and other abilities, I have some hypotheses but need time to verify," Victorio said, somewhat embarrassed.

Legend was uncharted territory for them. Victorio had just broken through today and hadn't even fully understood his own state. It would take some time to develop corresponding magic based on this breakthrough.

However, the power gained from ascension made Victorio increasingly wary of the church's false god.

Their encounter a few months ago left him with an unsettling guess.

'Aila's' condition might not be as they had speculated; it could have escaped the constraints of belief and found another path. With centuries of accumulation, it's unlikely to be just a seventh-level legend, possibly advancing to the eighth or even ninth level!

As for the exact disparity, Victorio couldn't assess at the moment.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Unless... they could encounter its true form again!

"No matter, if we're unsure one-on-one, we'll just gang up on it!" Harof said without hesitation.

Once they all ascend to legend, it'll be three against one!

If that's still insufficient, the council has several other sixth-level wizards. Although not all may succeed in ascending, they can significantly narrow the gap in combat power.

'Aila,' no matter how

strong, as long as it hasn't transcended the legend's boundary, teamwork can be effective!

Lynn and the others discussed the 'god-killing' strategy within the domain, while Tiek and the rest, isolated outside, could only see their mouths moving without hearing a sound.

Half an hour later, the domain was lifted, and the discussion had long concluded.

Under Victorio's guidance, the wizards present began wrapping up, checking for any damage to the alchemical arrays during the ceremony.

"Guiding arrays are all normal!" "About thirty percent of the conversion runes are damaged..." "The reactor's surface shows signs of melting; it's recommended to reinforce it with magic."

With the efforts of hundreds of alchemists, all data were quickly compiled. Thanks to Lynn's foresight during the array's creation, damaged runes didn't affect the overall structure and could be easily repaired.

What truly pained the councilors was the consumption of sixty percent of their magic stone reserves!

These were all the council's remaining reserves. Fortunately, they had recently discovered a new magic stone mine, or else they'd be worrying about securing magic power now!

"Should the remaining forty thousand magic stones be enough for one more person to ascend?" Aurora speculated.

Harof also considered this, as the ceremony had used up sixty thousand magic stones, but that was due to Victorio's first-time ascension and unnecessary magic consumption. If they could adjust the energy transfer to be more efficient, even a slight increase in ascension probability would be worthwhile.