Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 107: Chapter 84: The End of Gods and Wizards

Translator: 549690339

The little surprise foretold by Astrology was within reach, and Selene finally made a decision, which put Hecate in a rather good mood.

She casually dealt with the strange-looking sea monster, extracted its essence of flesh and blood, and then took the Moon Goddess to a nearby island.

There, she prepared a dinner for the two of them, accompanied by drinks made from various plant fruits.

Although Hecate had learned how to brew Nectar, she admitted that many fruit wines tasted quite good, but she still didn’t like drinking such things.

As for the kind of drink that dulls the mind and casts aside worries, perhaps deities who rely on instinct and authority like it, but Hecate avoided them.

Compared to that, the thing called ‘tea’ seemed a bit more interesting.

After thoroughly enjoying the sumptuous dinner, casually transforming a branch into a set of table and chairs, Hecate happily assumed the role of mentor.

In the past, she was always the one being taught, only in recent years did she begin discussing with the precious tablet. But now, it was her turn to teach others.

“So, Selene, before we officially start learning witchcraft, let me ask you, what is witchcraft in your understanding?”

Hecate tapped the table, recalling the content the tablet had first taught her, and mimicked its style.

Simply instilling knowledge might not always have a good effect, allowing the listener to think during learning leads to better results.

“Hmm… it’s using Spiritual Power to combine with the particles that exist between all things to form what you call ‘Magic Power,’ or directly using spirituality itself to harm others, I guess,”

Selene said somewhat hesitantly after pondering for a while.

Divine vision could directly observe the flow of elements, but the Moon Goddess knew that witchcraft couldn’t be so simple.

She could directly manipulate the elemental particles scattered in space with Divine Power. But Hecate was able to release a much stronger force using the method named ‘witchcraft.’

Those trajectories etched by spirituality seemed to contain deeper secrets.

“That is just the surface, Selene. Using spirituality to influence elements is the simplest and crudest method. If the spirituality is strong enough, without having learned any witchcraft, without mastering the refining of Magic Power, one can still manipulate elements for their use,”

“Just like wielding Divine Power directly or utilizing authority, gods amplify their power millions of times through the Law of the world, hence whether one has authority or not is the key distinction between a True God and a territorial god. The same is true for witchcraft.”

With an unusual seriousness on her young face, Hecate concluded:

“The essence of witchcraft is to borrow power, to borrow from the mysterious Origin, from the great beings, from the past and the future, and of course, the simplest is to borrow from the world itself.”

“By understanding and mimicking the rules of the world’s operation, then learning from them, you make the world’s rules consider you as part of itself, and naturally, it will provide feedback to you. It can allow you to leverage a small force to elicit a thousandfold response, and unlike those with their own consciousness, as long as you fit the rules, the world itself will never reject you.”

With sudden clarity, Selene, although listening about witchcraft, started making comparisons with her own Divine Power.

Her Godhood of The Moon, although weak, was also part of the world’s Law. She had known, under the influence of Godhood, the effects of Divine Power would become stronger, also carrying different attributes. She did not know why this was, and most gods didn’t either, but they didn’t care.

Just as mortals do not understand why exercise makes them stronger, they do not grasp the logic within such behavior, but that does not prevent them from utilizing it.

“I understand!”

“Be it witchcraft or Godhood, it’s really about how close they come to the Origin. The closer to the rules themselves, the more a small amount of energy can shake the world!”

Feeling excited, for the first time Selene felt as if the secrets of the world were unfolding before her eyes.

“Yes, and this is even the direction for the ascension of deities,”

Hecate nodded lightly, remembering what the tablet had told her.

Even gods were just using their authority to harness the rules, not becoming the rules themselves. Only the legendary Great Divine Power could merge directly with the force behind the authority, the Origin of everything, which is why they were powerful, because they were a part of the Origin themselves.

However, a normal psyche and will cannot maintain such ‘integration’ without losing the integrity of their own personality. Thus, even Primordial Gods, when they manifest in a personified form, are no longer able to fully display their power.

As for the speculation of the tablet, ‘creating something out of nothing’ is an even higher realm, that of transforming from the rule itself into the definer of rules, something that only the Chaos World itself can accomplish. Just as the primitive chaos was empty before the blurred instinct of the world defined concepts such as The Earth, Darkness, Abyss, leading to the continuation of the world.

The ultimate goal of all powers, gods included, is to become an existence equivalent to the world, the source of all things, the initial one, rearranging everything by its own will. And the practice of a Wizard is firstly to mimic the deities, to wield the rules as they do, and ultimately to converge on the same path.

According to the tablet, this is called ‘all paths lead to the same destination.’ But how exactly to enable a Wizard to wield the rules just like the gods is something even the tablet does not know.

It could only guide Hecate to become a deity through weaving the Magic Net but could not enable her to do so through methods outside of that. For this, it hoped that future Humans could fill in this step with their Wisdom.

Although the red-haired witch did not believe Humans had such ability, since it was stated by the tablet, she tentatively expressed her acknowledgement.

“Having discussed witchcraft, it’s time to move on to the most fundamental power of a wizard, meditation and magic power,” said Hecate.

Her thoughts were fleeting, and Hecate came back to her senses, continuing to explain to her friend:

“Do you know the source of magic power?”

“A combination of spirit and element?”

This time the answer came quickly, after all, she had seen Hecate extract magic power more than once.

Although it was her first encounter with witchcraft, the delicate Moon Goddess’s interest grew increasingly strong. These topics related to the very nature of deities and the world might not directly grant her power, but they seemed to have opened a door for her.

In the past, the power of a god was fixed at birth, and only a few beings, like the Sea God, could increase their divine power by expanding their domain. This was why Selene had little interest in many things.

Her only wish was to find a powerful individual and live happily under his protection. But now, she suddenly felt that, if possible, she would like to hang and beat an insolent individual like the Golden Mane they encountered last time, just like Hecate did.

“You’re right, but in actuality, the key to magic power is the special sublimation that takes place after the combination of spirit and element. Just like witchcraft, magic power is also an imitation of divine power. Perhaps at the very peak of its continual sublimation is an alternative form of divine power.”

Unaware of her friend’s thoughts, but sensing her enthusiasm, Hecate felt more motivated.

“As a deity, you should know that divine power is an omnipotent force. However, without the corresponding divine authority, gods would have to expend millions of times more energy to achieve what those with authority can do at will.”

“Mhm.”

Nodding, Selene knew this to be true about divine power.

Just like in later myths, many gods could age mortals or restore youth, animate inanimate objects, or turn people into creatures, all of which showed that divine power in itself is omnipotent.

However, such omnipotence was predicated on disregarding any loss. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, could, at the expense of her divine power, turn a sculpture into a living person. Yet without authority over life, she could do this for just a few more statues at most, which was her limit.

Causing a city to experience abundance or drought was something many deities could accomplish. But to stop all plants in the world from growing, that was an authority only Demeter could wield. Not even Zeus could stop her. If he wanted the earth to rejuvenate, he had to negotiate and compromise with his sister who presided over harvest and growth and could not forcibly end her will.

“I understand now. Those particles you call ‘elements’, scattered among all things, each has its own characteristics.”

“But the magic power you refine by combining them with the spirit and sublimating them can express various properties. You want it to burn, it manifests the aspect of ‘Fire’. You want to create a flow of water, and it demonstrates the aspect of ‘Water’, this is a kind of ‘omnipotence’ in the Elemental Domain.”

Once again amazed by the wonders of witchcraft, the Moon Goddess’s eyes lit up.

“Exactly. Imitating divine power with magic power, and imitating godhood with witchcraft, the earliest forms of witchcraft were in fact an imitation of natural divinity. Sadly, it can only go this far for now.”

“What is imitated can never compare with the original. Divine power comes from divine authority, but magic power stems from within oneself.”

“How can the strength of an individual compare with the laws of the world?”

Shaking her head, Hecate said, “Well, let’s not talk about that anymore. Next is meditation, which is currently the most useful part. After all, without relying on the Tome of All Spells, my strongest method is still the mind arts.”

“As a deity with authority, you actually don’t need to meditate on celestial bodies in the Spirit Realm like I do. On the contrary, mortals could actually meditate on you, creating something like a ‘Selene Meditation Method’, haha~”

She laughed, but then Hecate said with confusion, “But your Moon seems a bit odd; it has an unusually weak presence in the mystical domain. If it were like the Sun, you could just meditate on the symbol of your own godhood.”

After a pause, Selene knew the reasons; they were promises made by both her father and the Divine King. One had done so generously on behalf of others, while the other hadn’t expected the Moon to become his daughter, leading to the current situation.

Due to certain sentiments, few deities mentioned this matter, so it was normal that Hecate, who rarely socialized with other deities, was unaware of it.

But after so many years, Selene felt somewhat relieved. If she had been a Moon Goddess with intermediate divine power, she might now be like her brother, driving a silver chariot for the Divine King or, like her father, sealed within the Moon and unable to emerge.

Then she would not have had the chance to travel the world, let alone make a good friend like Hecate.

“Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. As the Moon Goddess, even though the Moon in the Spirit Realm is not under your control, it will certainly be very close to you.”

Looking at her silent friend, Hecate thought she might be silently grieving, so she quickly changed the subject.

She took out a special blend of incense from a small bag and lit it with fire, and a unique fragrance wafted through the air.

“A mix of acacia tree gum and sandalwood in equal proportion helps relax the mind during meditation. This is also useful knowledge for beginners.”

“I’ll take you for a glimpse of the Spirit Realm’s July first, which is one of the largest sources of Spirituality in the world. As for the rest, I’ll tell you later.”