Seeing someone completely ignore the barrier and brazenly teleport to the headquarters of the Copper-Black Cross, rather than feeling alarmed, the first emotion the association members experienced was shock.
After the initial shock, everyone wasn't particularly afraid.
Not to mention that the Copper-Black Cross was a renowned prestigious family among the many magic associations, nor that the association's commander-in-chief Saint Paolo was a famous Paladin.
Even setting aside these advantages, just looking at Erica who happened to be present, everyone had no reason to panic.
Although it hadn't been completely confirmed, their young lady was suspected to be an existence at the level of a Campione.
What reckless fool would dare to come knocking at this time to provoke the tiger's whiskers?
Under their somewhat proud gazes, sure enough, Lady Erica walked toward the intruder.
Was she going to teach the opponent a lesson, or capture them for interrogation?
Under everyone's expectant eyes, Erica... Erica...
—She actually knelt down!
Huh?
The magicians of the Copper-Black Cross were stunned on the spot.
When had this young lady ever shown such a humble attitude? Even if she wasn't a Campione, she wouldn't need to bow and scrape like this, would she?
This doubt instantly vanished after hearing Erica's words.
It turned out it wasn't groveling, but the basic etiquette toward the lord to whom she had sworn loyalty.
At this moment, the strange man's identity no longer needed to be questioned, and the reason why Erica was unwilling to reveal the truth was also extremely obvious.
Everyone immediately panicked and knelt down on one knee in unison.
"We humbly welcome Your Majesty the King!"
"Mm."
Looking at the dark mass of people kneeling at his feet, Ryuga nodded lightly, not particularly surprised.
Most of Europe's magical world had been severely disciplined by Marquis Voban, and they generally had considerable psychological shadows regarding Campione.
Although there was no shortage of fools who wanted to test a Campione, most people were more obedient than the magical world in Japan.
Ryuga had no particular need for such pageantry, but for him, everyone's attitude made communication very convenient, so he had no intention of changing it.
"Except for Erica, everyone else may withdraw!"
With a casual command, the other magicians all felt as if they had received a great pardon and immediately expressed their compliance.
Even though this was their magic association's headquarters, in front of the Demon King, no one dared to assert any so-called sovereignty.
Soon, everyone filed out, leaving the entire hall to Ryuga and Erica alone.
"Lord Ryuga, news of your becoming a Campione probably can't be kept secret anymore."
Although she knew Ryuga probably didn't care, Erica still reminded him.
With so many people present, this news would almost certainly leak out.
"It doesn't matter, there's no need to deliberately hide it."
Ryuga shook his head.
If he cared about this point, he wouldn't have teleported over directly.
"Rather than that, didn't you mention before about having the magic association collect magical materials in advance?"
"Yes!"
Hearing that Ryuga seemed to care about this, Erica immediately became excited.
She immediately spoke in a tone as if seeking credit.
"These books are now arranged in the sealed study upstairs. If you want to see them, we can go there right now!"
She knew Ryuga might be interested in these things.
"Well done."
Ryuga naturally didn't stint on praise for his subordinate's hard work.
However, he wasn't interested in ordinary magic now.
After deeply analyzing divine cores, what he needed most now was a certain special type of magic.
"Among these materials, are there any rituals related to summoning gods?"
"Magic related to summoning gods?"
Erica quickly reacted.
"Are you planning to use it to summon Heretic Gods?"
"That's right."
Ryuga nodded.
"I made some discoveries while researching divine cores and need a large number of divine cores to confirm a hypothesis."
Through experimental research using himself as a test subject, Ryuga gained more insights and intelligence than theoretical research alone.
After repeatedly dismantling and fusing divine cores, Ryuga confirmed one thing.
That is, there indeed exists a material structure carrying mythological information within divine cores, and it is precisely this structure that determines the specific attributes of divine cores.
After multiple experiments, Ryuga discovered that in a normal state, this unknown structure only possesses basic gravitational effects and is not affected by electromagnetic forces or strong/weak interactions.
But when in an activated state, this structure would express itself like DNA, capturing and interfering with external free energy to transform it into divine power.
According to Ryuga's speculation, if this structure could be completely stripped from existing divine cores, it's very likely that this structure could not only gather divine power but also process and transform it into divine cores.
If this hypothesis holds true, then as long as one could master this structure, it would be extremely possible to replicate, or even mass-produce divine cores!
If gods are energy life forms descended from mythology, then this structure is the key bridge connecting mythology and matter!
Just like molds in a foundry, as long as one masters this structure, divine cores would no longer hold secrets.
Even controlling mythology would no longer be impossible.
After discovering this structure, Ryuga naturally wanted to master it as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, after designing several experiments, he realized that the number of divine cores he currently possessed was still too few, and the errors and interference caused by differences in divine core attributes were too great.
To obtain more reliable data, he must acquire large-scale data through numerous divine cores, and only then could he perform data processing and effective analysis.
After confirming this point, Ryuga temporarily suspended his research and left the Netherworld.
In this world where Heretic God disasters occur frequently, there should be similar summoning magic.
To be continued…