The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 49, Section 47: Ain and the "Ain Stone"

The patrolling mages were extremely surprised to learn that there were actually human settlements outside of Eldoron.

In particular, it is astonishing that a high-level mage could be born in a human settlement outside of Eldoron!

They reported the information to their superiors, contacted the floating city high in the sky, and relayed this astonishing message to Elian's palace.

Finally, after obtaining remote permission from Elion, the surface mages used flying carpets to transport the woman who called herself "Aenelia" to the floating city.

Before the palace of this sky city, the goddess of knowledge finally met the creator of this human kingdom that revered knowledge—Arcane Emperor Elion.

This is a legendary mage, although only at the [Elementary Legendary] level. But, there are actually legendary mages among the human race... Ain only glanced at him and immediately discerned Elian's level, while feeling slightly surprised.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the Arcane Emperor, the Supreme Mage of the Human Kingdom, the King of All Mages of Eldoron, the Great Emperor Elion!"

"It is my honor to receive His Majesty's summons and to behold His Majesty's countenance."

Ain uttered polite words befitting his public persona and bowed to the imperial monarch.

Seeing the respectful expression on Ain's face as he bowed to him, Elion couldn't help but smile inwardly:
"Oh, isn't this the goddess of knowledge?"

"They're quite the actors."

"They even deliberately transformed into human form. They're exactly what humans will look like in the future era when they rule the land!"

Yes, Elion recognized her the moment he saw Ayn:
Aion, the goddess of knowledge and prophecy, the omniscient mentor, and the female teacher among the gods.

Elian also knew that the classic magical item that would appear later, the [Ain Stone], was named after her.

In his previous life, Elian had a rather good relationship with this goddess of knowledge.

Long before Elion became a god in her previous life, Ain would often descend in an avatar to Elion's mage tower to discuss the mysteries of the forefront of magic with him.

After Elion became the God of Magic, he and Ian often strolled through each other's divine realms, discussing the truths of the universe together.

Unfortunately, when the apocalypse came, Ain was the first to fall, becoming one of the first gods among the giant wheel gods to perish.

Otherwise, she might even have become a follower of Elian in her previous life.

Elian was quite pleasantly surprised to be able to meet his friends from his previous life so quickly in this life.

"I didn't expect to attract the attention of this goddess of knowledge so quickly."

"Eldoron today is the land on this continent that most reveres knowledge, so it is only natural that it has attracted the attention of the god of knowledge."

"They did benefit from the early years..."

In much more distant times, the gods did not walk on the earth as they do today!

Back then, it was a million times more difficult to meet the gods than it is now.

The gods of this world are not the cunning and selfish beings depicted in some stories; rather, they are very pure beings.

It's as if the god of knowledge is the embodiment of the concept of knowledge, and forever loves knowledge.

"Hello, mage lady named Aenelia, what brings you to visit me?"

Elian didn't want to expose the goddess's true identity, so he went along with her and asked.

Ain smiled and bowed:

"Your Majesty."

“I come from a human settlement in the far west of the continent. I left my homeland many years ago and have been traveling on this continent.”

"Not long ago, I arrived in your land and discovered that the people here have such a prosperous civilization."

"Your Majesty Elion, your kingdom terrifies me."

"Here, I see that every child can go to school and learn all kinds of knowledge."

"They learned to read, arithmetic and geometry, learned about the past history, and appreciated the charm of arcane magic."

As expected of the god of knowledge, he places great importance on the transmission of knowledge... Just from the other party's joyful expression, Elion could sense that this god had a great deal of goodwill towards the newly born Eldoron.

This means there's room for negotiation!
Compared to racial gods such as elven gods and orc gods, these gods, who are not limited to any particular race, are targets that the human kingdom of Eldoron can win over!
Although, in this age when human numbers are scarce, Elian could not expect the goddess of knowledge to be entirely on the side of humanity.

But for a true god of moderate divine power, even the smallest gift is of utmost value to the newly born Eldoron!

"Yes, knowledge itself is a kind of power."

As Elian spoke, he strolled with the goddess of knowledge to the fence of the floating city, seemingly chatting casually:

"Humans do not possess the strength of orcs, the innate magical abilities and agility of elves, or the massive, mountain-like bodies and indestructible scales of dragons."

"Knowledge is humanity's only weapon."

"Knowledge has given humankind the ability to create tools, harness extraordinary power, and defeat enemies who are inherently more powerful than us."

"Furthermore, I have also discovered that although humans have a very low level of basic intelligence, their learning ability far surpasses that of other intelligent species."

"I think that the human race is perhaps the race on this continent that is most naturally suited to the transmission of knowledge."

Elian deliberately guided the conversation with words, subtly influencing the true God's perception.

"Your Majesty is right. Perhaps the pursuit of knowledge is the most suitable path for humankind!"

Ain nodded in agreement, finding the words of the Lord of Eldoron to be quite reasonable.

In his heart, his favorability toward the newly emerging race of "humans" undoubtedly increased even more.

Listening to their conversation, Gutt frowned slightly, a strange feeling creeping into his heart.

"What is His Majesty El-Erian saying?"

"The way you're saying that makes it sound like the other person isn't human."

Aren't both parties in the conversation human?

"Isn't the more crucial question now to ask this female mage about other human settlements?"

Gutt couldn't help but interject:

"Ms. Aenelia, what is the human settlement you come from like? Approximately how big is it?"

"The humans from your region also possess magic? And they've even managed to cultivate a high-level mage like yourself?"

Ain shook her head:
“The human settlement I come from is very small, just a village of a few hundred people, far less prosperous than your Eldoron.”

"It wasn't until recently, when I set foot on your land, that I truly witnessed that humans could also establish such prosperous kingdoms on the continent, just like elves and dwarves!"

“Our village, unlike yours in Eldoron, does not possess the power of arcane magic.”

"I learned my magic during this more than ten-year-long journey of wandering, due to some unexpected events."

So that's how it is. The human settlement from which this mage lady comes doesn't actually practice magic...

Two slightly conflicting emotions suddenly arose in Guter's heart—

As a human supremacist, he felt a slight sense of loss knowing that there was no other human magical kingdom.

But as the Archmage of Eldoron, knowing that his kingdom far surpassed other human settlements, he felt genuinely proud!
I know some people might say that the Ioun Stone in D&D is based on the arcanist Congenio Ioun from the Netheril era.
That's the setting of a forgotten land.

The pan-cosmic (not limited to any particular world) theory of the origin of the deity Aion is another explanation.

It is also highly probable that the two are the same person—the arcanist Aion is male, and the goddess Aion is female.

That's how D&D is supposed to be—it contains many contradictory legends and settings. The hosts can choose what they like to combine them into their own world.

In the real world, the creator of the Ain Stone is Jack Vance, the author of *The Dying Earth*. Gary Gygax, the founder of Dungeons & Dragons, specifically asked Vance if he could include it in his game, and Vance agreed.

In D&D, both the arcane mage Ain and the god Ain are origins traced back to in Lore.

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(End of this chapter)