With meditation techniques ranging from low‑grade all the way to mid‑grade.
Most of the methods available within the academy now fully analyzed and cross‑referenced, Leylin possessed a clearer grasp of the standard path of magus advancement.
He knew every milestone, bottleneck, and established ritual the world's magi had walked for past few millennia.
Yet the deeper he delved into his own discoveries, especially the mechanics behind natural runes and bloodline atavism, the less impressed he became by this "tried and true" path laid down by his forbearers.
The pioneers of old built well enough and explored the great possibilities of interacting with mana, Leylin can admit to himself calmly that their achievements deserve respect and to serve as inspiration for future generations… but only as a starting point.
In his old world, it was said that the new generation stands at the shoulders of those in the past, that is true, in this world the new generation stands on the bodies of the weak.
To simply follow in the exact footsteps of the pioneers in the fields of magic would be nothing more than walking a track that someone else have already paved, limiting oneself to boundaries already set.
There's nothing wrong with that but Leylin knows he can do better with what he possessed.
'One must walk their own path… especially when you have the means to build a better one.'
Glancing around him, his quarters were no longer just a bedroom it has become like a private vault.
Shelves, tables and floor spaces were stacked neatly with rare, element‑aligned materials like glowing crystals of pure fire essence, cold cubes of liquid‑like water jade, blocks of heavy earth‑core ore, vials of swirling wind‑storm mist, shadow‑veined metal ingots, light‑refracting glass, specimens of life‑rich wood and vials of crackling lightning salts. All fundamental forces of this world were represented, gathered, sorted, and waiting.
From studying magical beasts, specifically on how natural runes formed spontaneously within flesh and blood to grant innate affinities.
When he conceived the bold, revolutionary idea of artificially inducing and stabilizing every elemental affinity within himself he didn't expect that it would take this long to prepare.
The sheer amount of magic crystals needed to make what he wanted is so staggering that any normal magus of rank one would feel envious.
"Replication of the natural rune formation is now complete. The question remains.... can I actually reproduce the natural rune formation process artificially across all elements?"
[Calculation complete. Biological formation principles fully understood. Current integration precision yields 80% Success Rate per element. Risk of conflict or resonance interference is manageable.]
"And the imbalance problem? Why mages naturally lean toward one or two affinities?"
[Natural competition. Without precise control, stronger affinities consume or suppress weaker ones. Magical beasts only develop what is inherited from parents, what suits their survival instinct, and their environment.]
"Then I will simply force balance where nature can only settle for compromises. Now that we have the materials and the resources we need. Let's begin mapping the artificial rune formation sequence."
Right then, before he could dive deeper into the schematics, his HUD flared with urgent new alerts.
[Network Signal Detected — Farlier Encryption Protocol Recognized]
[Connecting…]
[Authenticating Biometric Signature…]
[Verification Complete — Connection Established]
[Connection Established with Evernight City Base — Online]
[Connection Established with Grey Stone Castle — Online]
[Connection Established with Witch's Garden Outpost — Online]
[Connection Established with Black Gull Harbour Node — Online]
[Synchronizing Global Data… 47%… 92%… Complete]
[Receive Incoming Compressed Transmission? Y/N]
'Yes!'
Leylin's heart held genuine excitement, this was the first full stable link from the South Coast.
Reports flooded in as soon as the link stabilized.
[Core administration of Evernight City infiltration at 69%; key nobility replaced.]
[Trade tariffs adjusted, resource flow secured. Low profile maintained.]
[Grey Stone Castle has been taken through gradual influence infiltration; military command fully seized]
[Project SKYEYE delayed... Delay Cause: Massive mana interference zones, signal loss and unit destruction.]
[Encounters with established powers: Oathbreakers, Nightless Clans, and wandering organizations.]
These groups proved far more wary, powerful, and internally cohesive than Leylin expected.
According to reports, the direct replacement attempts seems to have failed repeatedly as these groups possessed bloodline markers, soul oaths, and identification techniques that are yet to be analyzed.
Leylin studied the overview, the map dotted with bright green lights representing secure footholds, but vast stretches of lands are still grey and unclaimed.
"That is good progress," he murmured, "but we've only scratched the surface."
Leylin pondered for a bit before making his mind.
'I see... Transmit the full dataset on natural runes to all nodes. Expand the scope of my project immediately. Designate highest priority to capture, contain and perform deep research on high‑grade magical plants and beasts, every specimen, every bloodline, every variant matters. I want every natural rune we can lay our hands on to be recorded, analyzed, and optimized.'
Leylin's earlier excitement faded completely, replaced by that familiar, cold, absolute focus.
'Let us proceed to making the very first Artificial Genius of the Magus World.'
The blueprint unfolded within his mind. What appeared is an elegant and revolutionary design that not only copied every natural rune formation currently contained within Leylin's database but also optimized and combined them into a state of stability.
Instead of scattering runes haphazardly across the flesh or forcing conflicting elemental patterns into the same tissues, he would align perfectly with the natural structure of living beings.
This means matching each fundamental element to a core internal organ, grafting and etching complete affinity rune networks directly into his body just as how it worked in nature.
Standard mages suffer crippling disadvantages when straying from their native affinity.
First, spiritual force must be laboriously converted into the desired attribute, incantations would not just be lengthened but also necessary, control would fray, and spell efficiency plummets.
Oftentimes one spell costing double, triple or more mana for half the effect, while casting drags out as formulas struggle against conflicting elemental signatures.
Most magus never even bother to look at other elemental spells unless their lives depended on it.
They accept this limit as some kind of law in nature. If his Artificial Genius worked as intended, Leylin would have to suffer no such handicap.
By mastering the root source, all derived forms would come naturally with no conversion penalty, no affinity friction, no extra cost or delay.
Theoretically, every spell, of every variant, would function at full efficiency, as if it belonged to his nature from birth.
'Let us begin!'
[Commencing Etching Sequence]
[Initiating Organ Rune Integration — Synchronized Deployment]
[Target Sites: Heart, Kidneys, Lungs, Liver...]
[Protocol: Parallel Nano‑Etching — Artificial Bio-Resonance Calibration Active]
Swarms of mana‑infused nanites flooded inward simultaneously, behaving less like machines and more like enchanted symbionts capable of weaving into cell membranes, embedding within mitochondrial structures, and rewriting metabolic pathways.
[Initiating Phase‑Transition Rune Seeding]
[Epigenetic Rune Encoding — integrating affinity patterns]
[Mana‑Reactive Bio‑Ceramic Lattice forming…]
[Elemental Resonance Anchors bonding to organ meridian nodes…]
[Cross‑Conduits establishing harmonic flow between all affinity systems…]
It was not carving, it was more like an artificially induced growth.
The runes, albeit artificial will become part of the very function of Leylin's organs.
Soon enough, the Heart began to metabolize fire essence as naturally as oxygen, Kidneys stored water mana within ionic gradients, alveoli in the Lungs developed micro‑valves that filtered wind currents from ambient air, and Liver cell structures crystallized into dense earth‑mana capacitors.
[Fundamental Affinities — Embedded.]
[Status: Stable.]
When the last rune locked into place, the primal forces did not remain separate, they began to resonate.
[Harmony Index: 98.1% — Exceeded Theoretical Projection.]
'Hmmm? Exceeded?'
Then as if on cue something shifted.
[ANOMALY DETECTED — ]
Lines of elemental influence, balanced and perfectly weighted, started resonating across biological and magical boundaries.
This resonance formed a complete, self‑sustaining cycle deep within his physiology.
The feedback loop spiraled upward, exponential rather than additive.
[Unscripted Cross‑Affinity Resonance...]
[Spiritual Force Rising: 19.8 → 21.4 → 24.7 — Accelerating!]
Leylin who just reached rank 3 apprentice now possessed a spiritual force that exceed that of what a newly promoted magus should have.
If he was anyone else, he would have already exploded a few times over. Thankfully, his augmented physique saved him from the fate of exploding into minced meat.
The problem however wasn't really addressed or solved, it just meant he has a higher capacity than most. With continuous accumulation, he is still in danger of exploding, only much stronger than normal.
[Warning: Exceeding predefined safety thresholds — 25.0 breached. Buffer capacity insufficient.]
'What is happening? Show me the resonance graph.' Leylin asked internally.
[Element cycle achieved perfect equilibrium. System now functions as closed‑loop mana amplifier. Energy is regenerating, compounding, and reinforcing spiritual force in turn. Current rate: +0.7 Spiritual Force per minute and climbing.]
"Estimate peak containment."
[Projection: Structural limits will be reached at approx 38.2 Spiritual Force — in 24 minutes 15 seconds.]
'What if it exceeds that threshold?'
[Beyond the projected threshold— tissue destabilization, mana crystallization, spontaneous detonation probability: 91.6%.]
'Show me the options for stabilization.'
[1: Sever cross‑connections — revert to separate affinities. Success: 100%. Consequence: discard entire breakthrough, regress to standard model. Soul damage.]
[2: Install artificial dampening arrays — bleed excess energy continuously. Success: 74.2%. Consequence: permanent power loss, spiritual force leak, premature explosion, death.]
[Solution 3: Construct and inscribe Rank 1 Spell Model promoting to Rank 1 Magus. Success Probability: 89.7%]
Mental pressure continued to built inside him like a star collapsing inward, fire, wind, water, earth and other elemental mana are continuously absorbed by his cells and directly refined into spiritual force.
Unlike normal Magi who needs to purify their spiritual force for elemental conversion, Leylin only needed to absorb everything. Which became the problem now, crushing weight pressed against the boundaries of his swelling sea of consciousness.
Despite the danger, Leylin felt no spike of adrenaline, no cold knot of panic in his gut.
The fear was there, he could feel it press against his will. It's just that the fear response simply… activated a different set of operating protocols for him.
He sat perfectly still, pulse steady, gaze clear and cold.
An absolute composure, legacy of a world where machines hunted man at every turn, where only total clarity can keep you breathing.
John Connor had learned never to flinch before the dark, and as Leylin, he might have become a little toned down but is essentially the same man.
"Lets go with the third option," he stated calmly. "Build the spell model for me. Do not create a destructive spell. Design a spell that can be an extension of my awareness with a pattern that matches your core functional logic.]
[Rendering Spell Architecture]
[Expanding Red-eyed Crow innate ability as foundational structure...]
[Simulating...]
[Simulating...]
[Simulating....]
[Stable Structure Found...]
[Optimizing...]
[Isolating successful results...]
[Simulating integration procedure...]
[Spell Creation Complete]
[Spell Function: Receive, process, decode, amplify, broadcast mana‑encoded data across vast distances, and act as organic transceiver.]
"Refine efficiency. Merge mind‑rune processing pathways directly into the spell matrix."
[Integrating… Blueprint Finalized. Model ready for inscription — immediate execution required.]
"Then begin."
[CRITICAL PRESSURE — Spiritual Force: 31.9 — Containment failing —]
'Inscribe the spell model now!'