Everyone leapt onto the frozen lake and landed safely.
"Ah! Our fish!"
Stark imdiately let out a miserable scream.
Before they had fallen into the water, they had left a huge pile of fish on the ice. But now, only a scattered dozen or so remained. Most of them had vanished without a trace.
Fern crouched down to inspect the area.
Sure enough, she found animal footprints left behind on the ice.
"Looks like they stole them while we were gone."
"Ahhh..."
There were plenty of animals in the forest that didn't hibernate during winter, like wolves and foxes. Leaving such a massive pile of fish beside the lake was basically an invitation for them to co feast.
The fact that they still had over a dozen left was already incredibly lucky.
While everyone packed up the remaining fish, Shane lowered his head and looked at the object resting in his palm.
It was a tiny circular tal plate.
It looked a lot like the small hand mirrors noblewon often carried around.
This was the token of gratitude left behind by the Lake Fairy.
A line of pale blue text floated before his eyes.
[Test Subject No. 7]
Status: Damaged
Attributes:
[Reflection in the Mirror (Blue/Rare)]: A remnant of the "Replication Experints" conducted by Ewig during his early research into the "Water Mirror Demon."
Evaluation: Failure, failure, failure————
Reading the description, Shane imdiately thought of the [Nurical Mirroring (Purple/Epic)] he had obtained before.
That attribute had co from a torn page of Diary of Sage Ewig, and its description had ntioned sothing similar. [Nurical Mirroring (Purple/Epic)] was a magical formula Ewig had derived from studying the Water Mirror Demon.
And this attribute in front of him, one tier lower in quality, looked like an earlier failed prototype.
Replication experints?
Could it be that this legendary Great Sage had actually been trying to replicate a Goddess?
The revelation left Shane deeply shocked.
Setting aside whether the Goddess truly existed or not... was it even possible to replicate a god?
Shane let out a sigh.
The horrifying experints of the Mad Sage Sharl had mostly been built upon the theoretical foundations laid by this Great Sage Ewig.
Who would've thought these two were each crazier than the other?
As expected, geniuses were rarely normal.
On the way back, everyone chatted idly while traveling.
They were all curious about the "little tal plate" Shane had obtained. Frieren even asked him about the Lake Fairy.
"How did you restore the Lake Fairy's power for a short ti?"
Hearing that, the others also looked over expectantly.
Shane smiled.
"Because magic is the manifestation of imagination."
"..."
"..."
Everyone fell silent.
Frieren even gave him a aningful look.
Cough.
Shane shrank his neck slightly and began explaining seriously.
"Do you rember what the Lake Fairy said? She said she was born from the bottom of the lake and could hear the villagers' prayers. After being born, she began devouring storm clouds according to the villagers' wishes."
"What does that make you think of?"
What did it make them think of...?
Fern honestly shook her head.
Frieren stroked her chin and fell into thought before uncertainly saying, "You an... the Lake Fairy was actually imagined into existence by the villagers?"
Shane nodded.
He raised the little tal plate in his hand and continued, "More accurately, the villagers accidentally triggered the residual magical formula [Reflection in the Mirror] left within this tal plate. The magic manifested their imagination, and thus the Lake Fairy was born."
"The people's original expectation for this magic was to solve the bad weather, which is why the fairy could devour storm clouds. But the residual magical formula had limited power, so once the weather grew worse and worse, the fairy could no longer deal with it."
"As for her final disappearance, it wasn't only because the villagers left. The magic itself was also steadily decaying."
"What I did earlier was simply imitate the villagers' actions and reactivate the magic one final ti, exhausting the last remnants of its power."
Of course.
When Shane said he wanted to try earlier, he wasn't being modest. He genuinely wasn't sure it would work.
After all, everything had only been a hypothesis.
"A Great Sage from the Mythological Era really was incredible... to think they could create a magical tool like this."
Frieren sighed in admiration.
"Mr. Heiter once said that a Sage is a profession capable of creating miracles."
Fern nodded along.
"Then has any Sage ever made magical tools for combat?"
Stark suddenly beca interested.
"Combat magical tools, huh..."
Frieren rubbed her chin and sank into thought.
Shane stopped listening to their casual conversation. His thoughts remained fixed on the small tal plate in his hand.
What he had done earlier wasn't rely to fulfill the Lake Fairy's wish. In truth, he had been testing a hypothesis.
It was a hypothesis he had ford ever since his spiritual power had advanced.
Back then, Frieren had asked him how he felt after leveling up, and he had joked that he simply felt more enduring.
But that wasn't all.
In the past, he had relied heavily on the ability of [Wisdom Under a Simple Mask (Gold/Legendary)]. No matter what skill or magic it was, once it had been simplified into an attribute, he would learn it directly without much thought, swallowing everything whole and using it imdiately.
But now, after advancing, he had gradually begun understanding the profound principles behind those magics.
He was beginning to view problems from the perspective of a true Sage.
First, [See].
Then, [Understand].
Based on his previous experiences, he guessed that this was likely the progression path of Sage cultivation.
And he had just crossed beyond the stage of [Seeing] and entered the stage of [Understanding].
Thinking of this, he looked toward Kraft and asked,
"Kraft, do you know anything about the Sage profession?"
Hearing that, Kraft thought for a mont before gently shaking his head.
"The last ti I t a Sage was over a thousand years ago. Back then, I hadn't yet beco a monk, and I wasn't interested in those leisurely people who spent all day buried in libraries."
"I see..."
"However, if you want information about that field, you could go to the City of Magic, Äußerst, or further north to the forr capital of the Unified Empire, the Imperial Territory. The great libraries there should still contain books on the subject."
Shane nodded.
Indeed, in the Southern Lands, magic wasn't considered mainstream. Even in the great library of Gostan City, he had only managed to find relatively recent historical records, with very little information regarding Sages.
At the end of the day, the birthplace of human magic was still the Northern Lands.
If he wanted to investigate ancient history, or even the magic history of the Ancient Era and Mythological Era, he would have to head farther north.
"Oh right, the last Sage I t seed to be called... Sharl?"
"I heard he once held a court position within the Unified Empire."
Shane's eyes widened instantly.
"Who did you say?"
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