Chapter 77: The Sixth Magic

Suya always felt this world was quite strange. In fact, it was so strange in so many places that he instinctively formed a fixed stereotype of it, as if the world was always meant to be this way. Living humans, those heroes of history, should inherently possess superhuman strength.

However, this is actually incorrect; it goes against common sense. Those figures who dominated their respective eras, in their respective timelines and worlds, were actually not that different from normal humans. They still had to eat, sleep, and, from a self-serving perspective, strive for various benefits.

Perhaps some were born with divine strength, capable of lifting cauldrons; some were born with innate wisdom, knowing from birth. But they couldn't possibly defy the laws of physics. One who could lift a cauldron couldn't lift a hundred-ton king, and one who knew from birth was only a tiny bit smarter than others.

The only thing that differentiated them from ordinary people was that history, based on their achievements, bestowed upon them mystery and legend. This legend materialized as miracles, as Noble Phantasms that conformed to their deeds in life.

And in the worldview Suya always believed it to be—a world similar to a Lostbelt, similar to the Type-Moon universe—when mystery and legend materialize, they can transform into superhuman power—Servants.

However, the prerequisite for this is: You must be a 'person' who existed in history, or to put it more bluntly, you must be dead.

In such a world, even if you trained for decades following Saitama's workout routine from One-Punch Man, when you punched, steel and concrete would still teach you how to be a humble person.

If you want to become stronger, excellent, there are three paths:

Join the Church: Train according to the methods of the Church's Enforcers. At your limit, you might reach a tree-breaking level like Kirei Kotomine.Join the Magus Community: In the modern era, you rely on inherited Magic Crests and innate Magic Circuits to cast spells that modern technology could also replicate, aiming to reach the Root and True Magic. In the Age of Gods, there were more complex methods, but overall, it was still a feasible path, though it largely depended on talent and intellect.Find some strange thing to bite you: Turning into a vampire, werewolf, or other variant. You'd immediately gain power a little stronger than a normal person, but not exaggeratedly so.

In short, if you are an 'ordinary person,' in this worldview, setting aside the powers of the magical side and the True Magic side, if you train purely physically, no matter how much you train, you cannot be a match for those named combat-type Servants projected from history.

If you train to the human limit, even breaking through the gene lock, breaking through the second limit, at most you'd reach a level roughly equivalent to E-rank in this world. Suya before his transmigration was at this level. To go further, perhaps after exposing his identity and achieving great feats that would go down in history,

In other words, after death, it might be possible. But for him, alive, there was no path forward.

Correspondingly—when those historically famous figures came to life and found themselves in their respective eras, they too would face the same struggles as Suya. Humans have limits. The difference is that the limits of the dead are clearly higher than those of the living, because the dead can be exaggerated. The living, no matter how much they're exaggerated, are limited by their carbon-based bodies and can't truly become divine.

However,

However,

When Suya heard what Lucan said, he immediately deduced from the underlying logic of his words—this world was completely different from what he had imagined! There was a fundamental difference from the very root, from the deepest underlying logic!

Attendant, Professional, Master, Hero, Legend, God.

This world had an additional path that even ordinary people had hope of climbing!

He had thought it would be like what was described in some fictional novels, where this world naturally contained some sort of 'battle aura' or 'spiritual energy,' peculiar things that were visibly and actually present, allowing people to break through limits and grow stronger.

But—what was analogous to 'power' in this world was actually [Faith]!

Suya had thought that the 'Qi' of this world was something like 'battle aura.' But once he actually got started, he realized that this peculiar supernatural power, rather than being materialized energy, was more of an abstract concept.

What was needed to become a Professional from an ordinary person, fundamentally speaking—was to believe in oneself. Believing in oneself, thus swordsmen developed 'sword qi,' and assassins developed 'chakra.'

And from Professional to Master, according to Merlin, what was needed was money. What Lucan said was the path of faith. Both might ultimately point to the same thing—that is, the belief of others.

The more belief one gains, the stronger that person becomes!

Then, by analogy,

The [Charisma] needed by a Master;The [Deeds] needed by a Hero;The [Legend] needed by a Legend,

all refer to the same thing—the materialization of [Faith]!

Because there are no gods, the path of faith has fallen to humanity. Every human, or rather, every living being, is granted this qualification that rivals magic and distorts reality—

No longer requiring historical recognition, the scales of the Counter Force,

Only requiring the convergence of faith, one can cross the boundary of life and death,

Recognition in reality can allow living people to seize the power of Servants, or even surpass Servants, transcend the limitations of time, and directly obtain the power fitting the legendary Heroic Spirit's true self!

This is undoubtedly magic! It transcends the limits that magecraft and human reason can achieve. It comes from the Root, directly stripping away the rights of gods, constructed upon this godless world, a miracle that does not exist in the present—

The Sixth Magic: Faith Materialization.

In just a moment, Suya understood from Lucan's words what kind of world this truly was.

But soon, a worry followed. If a Master could still achieve their status through 'power and position' within the social structure, then what about a Hero?

Hector, a Half-Hero, was the son of Parmenion, the second-in-command of the Macedonian Empire, and the leader of the Companion Cavalry. Even within the entire Macedonian Empire, there were few positions higher than his. This meant that even in an empire as vast as Macedon, there were only a few positions that could allow someone to become a Hero.

And to become a Hero, Hector could openly abandon soldiers fighting on the front lines to travel the world seeking a knight named Edoardo, to perform a ritual for him, attempting to pursue deeds to become a Hero.

This was still a knight with professional integrity.

In such a world where everyone had a chance to become a Hero or a Legend, and becoming a Professional only required believing in oneself, and becoming a Master only required a little worldly power and money—

Wouldn't Professionals be as common as dogs, and Masters running rampant everywhere?

And what would those Professionals, unconstrained by numerous knightly vows, do to become Heroes or Legends? Would directly slaughtering a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand people count as deeds?

This world, which seemed somewhat orderly on the surface, looked like a pot of boiling water about to explode. When the lid suppressing its chaos finally blew off, what kind of scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood would it be?!

Most importantly—

Damn it, dragon slaying definitely counts as a deed!!!

At this thought, Suya couldn't help but feel a chill, shuddering uncontrollably a few times.

Beside him, Lucan, seeing Suya's reaction, couldn't help but feel curious:

"My King, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Suya forced a stiff smile: "Let's depart quickly. I can't wait to return to the capital and inherit the throne!"