NOVEL NEXT Chapter 82: Concepts
Time is perhaps the most valuable for mortals; many are willing to trade all they have for the chance to live a bit longer.
Longevity is, of course, a matter solely dependent on a world.
One may modify the code of a world to make every mortal's lifespan limitless.
Still, it is not a recommended way of running a world because a lack of longevity will disrupt the balance.
The consumption for mortals below rank 0 is not significant. However, consumption for those of rank 0 and above, up to rank 9, is very severe, to the point that it can exhaust a world's resources in the long run.
Mortals are on one side, immortals on the other. Opposite to mortals, a rank 10 and 11 world's codes cannot in any way affect immortals' lifespan. Immortals are immortal, able to live for as long as the universe unless others kill them.
As for rank 12 worlds, they can affect even immortals' lifespans. Only those with universal law can resist the codes of rank 12 and rank 13 worlds.
However, almost nobody will try to restrict immortals.
Opposite to mortals, immortals are independent, not a burden on the world; their presence might instead strengthen the world.
Trying to limit immortals' lifespans would not only not save any resources, but it would also cost resources. For this reason, for anyone rank 10 and above, time is worthless, a currency without value.
...
5,000 years later.
Savior was immersed deeply in experiments.
When he had just arrived at the moon's core, he thought he had nothing useful to research.
But after a few years, he realized that the way of the undead is not necessarily evil. It's very mysterious and can have many uses.
At first glance, it looks unbelievable if one says that Negative life energy can possibly be used for good purposes.
But, Savior now believes it to be the case.
After experimenting for a long time, he discovered how to combine life energy with negative life energy and mix them in a stable form.
It requires the way of life, death, transformation, continuity, fragment laws of life and death, change, management, etc., all of which should be in an exact amount and a specific formation.
Fortunately, all these materials were in storage in the moon's core; even if they weren't, he traveled to his home world to get them.
Rachel didn't imprison him; occasionally, he was allowed to leave.
The results are excellent.
The resulting 'material' can heal the living, heal the undead, turn the undead into the living, and turn the living into the undead.
Still, some noteworthy problems needed to be sorted out.
For instance, when one turns the undead into the living, the soul won't return, resulting in a numb body with no soul.
In contrast, when a living person turns into the undead, the soul starts to dissipate.
Savior experimented on the undead but didn't experiment on turning the living into the undead.
That would be evil, far beyond his bottom line, not much better than his father.
Instead, he created clones of himself with artificial souls.
For this reason, he isn't 100% sure about humans turning undead.
As far as he experimented, one can conclude that the transition into undeath is a one-way street. Nobody in their right mind would want this.
If it could have been reversed, it would have been instrumental.
Undead have many weaknesses and many strengths.
They are resistant to poison, never die of old age, and are immune to negative energy, and it's much harder to detect undead with tracing spells.
In addition, some undead have special skills. Vampires can heal any wound with sufficient blood. Higher-level zombies never die, even if their brain is reduced to pieces. As long as a cell remains, they survive. If one could turn into those at will and turn back, it would be revolutionary, capable of saving many.
Savior was interested in these issues; he continued his intense research without caring about other affairs.
He had long left a clone in his home world, and once in a while, he would go and charge it so he wasn't worried about his home.
He would not abandon people who relied on him.
With his research here, it might not take long before he can truly discover the formula for a complete law.
He still has not chosen any name for it.
Still, he is rank 8, so even if he learns the complete law's formula, it's estimated that he can only actually create it after at least one hundred thousand years.
He needs to first reach the peak of rank 9, with no way around it.
...
Zagronan finally finished the blue dragon scene!
"Finally, after 5,000 years, you succeeded," Rachel smiled.
He looked very irritated when he heard '5,000.'
"What do you mean 5,000? I've been here for at least a billion years! I counted it, and with my memory, it's definitely true!" he said.
He was proud of his memory.
"Remember? Time is an illusion here!" she said.
"Then, why have 5,000 years passed? It's not an illusion if it really passes!" he said.
"Every time you die, you technically get out of the illusion world for just a bit, so time passes a little," she explained.
"If I get out, why am I still here?" Zagronan was not happy.
Even after so long that one's mind can go wild, he still felt he had no talent in illusions.
"Zag, don't worry so much! I'm careful about your mental state. Why do you think you still act normal after a billion years? I saved and locked your brain in its state when we just entered. Long stays here are not going to make you suicidal or leave mental scars. It's a pure benefit of learning the concept of illusions. It's very beneficial," she said.
"What is my level of mastery now?" he asked.
"There are many ways to calculate it. I'm just going to describe how I, Rachel, classify it," she said and took a deep breath.
"First, it's 'Master.' 'Master' is what one can understand before having contact with the supernatural."
"Masters only have ordinary understanding. For example, a master's understanding of Formations may help them in engineering, chess, agriculture, and anything that requires a formation.
"Second, Great Master! Great masters are usually below rank 10. Other civilizations may have many more levels between rank 1 and 9, but I believe those are unnecessary. There isn't much difference between ranks 1 to 9, as they all lack a clear understanding of how the universe and their world work."
"Great masters are at a level that allows them to use their mastery to improve their combat powers. A mage with a Great Master in the concept of Formations can completely outclass any mage of the same rank if they set up a formation in advance. It's even possible to challenge mages of higher rank. Great masters are rare, with the overwhelming majority of mages not mastering any concepts in their lifetimes."
"Third, it's Grandmaster! Grandmasters are either very talented rank 9s or talented rank 10s. Now, is it possible to have a rank 8 Grandmaster? Of course, it's also possible to have a rank 10 in only Great Master, but those are exceptions."
"Grandmasters are extremely capable. A Grandmaster in Formations can learn Coding much faster, set up a world on instinct, and easily defeat any mage of the same rank. Of course, if the opposing mage also has a Grandmaster understanding of some concept, then it wouldn't be so simple."
"Fourth, Great Grandmaster! Great Grandmasters are usually at rank 12 or 13."
"Great Grandmasters, especially in the concept of formations, are typically, but not always, the best coders in the universe.
They can set up protective formations that defend against all incursions and use complete laws to resist some universal laws temporarily."
"However, it's not economical because millions of complete laws are needed to resist just for a while. After all, the power difference is way too big!"
"Finally, the legend, Supreme Grandmaster! Supreme Grandmasters are at rank 14. Well, most of them are, but I know of some rank 13s who have supreme grandmaster understanding of some concepts."
"As for what they can do, a Supreme Grandmaster in formations can use material of only rank 10 to defend against universal laws. Although it's just a moment, it's very terrifying. Of course, those who attack a Supreme Grandmaster must have some supreme Grandmaster concept themselves, so it's not as simple as I sound."
Zagronan was listening carefully.
He was familiar with these classifications, but it was his first time hearing Rachel's classifications.
What he heard before was rank mastery. From rank 1 to 14, it was straightforward. In his opinion, Rachel's way just made it more complicated.
Anyway, he asked, "What is my mastery of the concept of Illusions?" After a billion years of trying, he estimated his mastery to be around 5th rank.
"You are on the edge of breaking through the Grandmaster realm!" She said.
Zagronan was surprised. "Why so high? Am I talented?" he asked.
"No, you are trash! A potato could have become a Grandmaster after a billion years!" she indignantly said.
"Then why? I thought I was only around 5th rank!" he said.
"The rank system is not reliable! Just trust me. After a few million years, you can reach Grandmaster. With Grandmaster, integrating illusion into Wisdom should be much easier," she said.
Grandmaster is possible for rank 9s. As for Great Grandmaster mastery ... without having a universal law, it's very close to impossible.
"Why should I do it? I'm not talented! Let me do the concept of Killing, Fire, or something more fitting. You can do illusion yourself!" he said with frustration. He hadn't seen Lana for thousands of years! Who knows what happened to her after so long?
"I am doing it like I have from countless years ago! I have Supreme Grandmaster mastery in many concepts. If I want, I can immediately help you integrate illusion into Wisdom. However, you must do it alone."
"Why?" Zagronan asked.
"It's classified," she said.
Zagronan sighed and started exploring the illusion again. This time, he should start the green dragon part.
...
Lee was sitting cross-legged. She had long finished the dreamland.
After many years of accompanying Karl, Lee finally reached its end. Dreamworlds are varied. Some are extremely dangerous, while others are very peaceful. It depends on the person.
Karl's dreams were peaceful, set in a very calm and lawful world. It was like food waiting to be chewed.
Lee, disguised as a two-meter-tall woman, not much taller than the average woman in the dream world, began to have a romantic relationship with Karl. She had no problem with it, as Karl was not real; he was only a dream.
They even gave birth to a boy named Alex.
After five thousand years, Karl finally died, and the dream world ended. She gained all of Karl's accomplishments and masteries.
Karl was a rank 13 existence when he was alive.
He had Great Grandmaster mastery in concepts of relations, law, books, justice, prison, bind, seal, imprison, guard, and moderation.
Grandmaster in Flowers, buildings, water, fire, soil, stone, iron, thread, tie, seconds, minutes, years, etc.
Great Master in papers, pen, pencil, Lawbook, pills, etc.
Along with all of those, Lee also gained some mastery of the concept of dream, although not enough to reach Great Master.
Concepts are frankly not difficult to understand.
When someone has mastery of the concept of fire, it means they have an intuition regarding all matters that involve fire.
Because a lot of matters involve fire, Fire mastery is very useful.
When one has a mastery of the concept of Lawbook, it means they have intuition regarding lawbooks.
Lawbooks are generally used mainly by mortals and are barely used beyond that; for this reason, mastery of lawbooks is nearly useless.
Not all masteries are equal.
She might be able to modify her Fragment laws with all these masteries.
She took Alex, who, after thousands of years, was still a baby for some reason and was teleported away by Rachel.
...
Dyer was happy.
After Dyer 'cleansed' Lewis, he began working hard to reach rank 10.
Today is the day!