"Damn…"
This discovery changed everything.
Be it his old life or this new one, all the rules and limitations that applied to Theo… no longer did.
The world of magic was all about the precise use of it through logic and algorithms, expressed in all kinds of ways or forms. Some used wands and staff, embeeding them with the spell formulas. Others learned the long-winded inctantations that served the same role. Some dabbled more into formations, engraving the logic into physical items and then channeling mana through those.
All of those methods only served to capitalize on one trick.
Rather than using mana directly to cause a phenomena, one would use their own mana to control the world's mana around them instead.
Through this leverage, the magic civilization old Theo knew managed to reach as far as the might of even the eight realm. As for the legends about the chosen ones reaching ninth realm, Theo never gave them much credit.
When it came to cultivation, however, it was a method that utilized mana - or qi as Theo came to know it in his new life - to reinforce the structure of their bodies instead, over and over again and then to some absurd degrees.
The mana-gate that mages used to either gather the mana from the air or to expel it when casting spells became an integral part of the cultivator's everyday life, similar in from most angles to breathing.
And it was through this insanely long-winded method that the cultivators allowed to change what shouldn't be possible to change.
They would improve their body's ability to handle the qi. Instead of casting spells, however, they would directly inject their mana into their techniques.
By all means, the magic of Theo's old life was overwhelmingly superior when it came to casting and its primitive imitation within the world of cultivation. When it came to just how deeply one could connect to the mana itself and make it an integral part of one's existence?
In that regard, cultivation stood out.
"To a degree, one could claim neither is effectively better than the other," Theo summed up his thoughts as he used most of the energy he regained to push his head up and his eyes towards the sky while he rested his back against the very same boulder he was cultivating on just a few moments ago.
But…
It didn't take a genius to figure out the benefits of combining the perks of both the disciplines!
"First, let's test it out."
As long as the force Theo could all around was the same as the one his old self knew, then…
Once again, Theo gulped his saliva down his throat, lowering his eyelids a bit as he reached his hand out.
'Reste.'
The mana between his fingers flared up, creating a small spark between his thumb and his pinky.
It was one of the simplest spells, one that changed the nature of the mana from magical to electrical.
But the fact that it worked was enough to prove the only thing Theo needed to know.
'That really does open a number of possibilities, doesn't it?'
Theo took a deep breath, pushing aside the exhaustion from the recent attack of the brutal headache before putting all of his strength into standing up.
With a flick of his fingers, a bunch of stones floated up, the long formulas for this specific kind of a spell momentairly flashing up in Theo's mind.
What his old self lacked in physicality, he had an abundance off when it came to his understanding of the magic theory. And after years of carefully laying down dozens upon dozens of interlocking arrays and formations across all of his labs, he could summon every last nitty gritty detail of the formulas at will.
'Let's go with…' Theo hesitated for a bit, 'this design?'
Not sure himself, Theo pushed his mana out of his mana sea and into the world. When it came to work that fine and detailed, nothing could beat the precise, direct control over one's personal mana.
A moment later, the stones scattered through the alcove, thrown into a specific yet relatively simple pattern.
'If this works, then this place's mana and magic work exactly the same!'
In his head, Theo could already see his problems just dissolving.
Becoming a powerhouse within two years and finding his way back to his lab?
With both cultivation and magic at hand, he would have to be stupid not to achieve at least this much!
Stopping Celeste's political marriage, a deed Theo considered impossible just a moment ago?
With those two magic techniques combined, it wouldn't be long before all the world's kings would have to bow down to his feet!
"Everything rides on this, now," Theo whispered as all the stones found their designated places, turning the simple, private cultivation alcove into a relatively simple sigil.
A single-purpose formation that all disciples as any mage tower could construct while drunk out of their minds and caught off-guard.
A sigil of gathering.
And at first, nothing happened.
Then, Theo felt it.
A small shift in the air, as if the wind turned, allowing Theo to smell the different breed from flowers from the opposite end of the alcove. Then, the air felt just a little bit heavier. And the amount of mana in the air, within the sigil, started to grow at an unnatural pace.
An effect locals could only replicate when absorbing expensive spirit stones, Theo could do pretty much at will, with just a bunch of stones.
Back in his old life, each his shoes would have a grade five gathering sigil, turning him into a walking-talking bubble of condensed mana.
The effect that this first-grade sigil had was minor at best…
But it showed no signs of stopping or losing its power. Quite the contrary, as time went on the mana within the sigil continued to accumulate, soon bound to create a mana heaven within this remote corner of Theo's sect.
In Theo's old life, this kind of sigil would sit on every tile, every item and every surface of the magic tower's town, severely limiting the effects of each and noticeably affecting the flow of mana all around.
Which led Theo to yet another, even more profound realization.
"Is it just me, or…" he looked through the decorative entrance to his small cultivation garden and back into the sect's main area, a huge estate enclosed by a solid wall with endless paradise of farms surrounding it from every direction and stretching as far out as Theo's eye could see.
A place so empty, so full of nature, Theo suddenly felt… weird just standing out in the open, with no dense infrastructure anywhere around.
But there was no time for him to waste.
As great of a position he found himself in, nothing would be done without putting his honest effort into it. At the same time, though, Theo had no plans to just lie low and slowly build up his power.
He simply had no time for this kind of sneaky build-up… nor the intention to do something so severely inefficient.
No, if there was a first step for Theo to make, it couldn't be any more obvious.
First, he had to cast off his shackles.
//Chapter is still a subject to stylistic rewrite/edit//