Mythology: Ragnarok

After everyone had gotten to know each other, the formal course finally began.

So Catherine stepped onto the stage and began her speech: "Thank you all for your wonderful introductions. I now have a basic understanding of everyone. So let's begin our first lesson. First, let's learn about magic."

As she spoke, the chalk behind Catherine suddenly flew up and began to write on the blackboard. Catherine continued speaking while using magic to control the chalk to write.

"Magic is a means of living in harmony with nature. We communicate with nature by chanting and drawing magic circles to obtain their assistance and power. This is the essence of magic. Magic is a means of perfectly combining with nature, and therefore, magicians, by borrowing the power of heaven and earth, have become the highest level of beings..."

Just as Catherine was giving her passionate explanation, Agreed shook his head and muttered, "No, this is not right. I have written this before. This is not the essence of magic."

As a great mage, Catherine's senses were extremely sharp, and Agreed's whispers naturally did not escape her ears. When she heard someone causing trouble below, Catherine was immediately displeased. Catherine knew that this student named Agreed was one of the "adopters" that the school recruited every year, but she never expected that he was not only an adopter but also a troublemaker.

Most teachers don't give a friendly look to students who aren't particularly bright, so Catherine immediately stopped her speech and scolded, "Agreed, you seem to have some brilliant ideas? Why don't you stand up and share them with everyone?"

Argreed was taken aback when he was suddenly called on. Who would have thought that his whispered conversation had been heard? Knowing that he was in the wrong, Argreed immediately stood up and sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry, Ms. Catherine, I shouldn't have talked to myself in class. Please forgive me."

Catherine reprimanded him mercilessly: "Some of you shouldn't think you know something and then arrogantly offer your opinions. These theories were summarized by our predecessors over thousands of years. Do you think you're smarter than them? It's important to know your own limitations. Without talent, without effort and respect, you'll only live at the bottom of human civilization! Agreed, you'll be standing for this class."

Over the next few days, Catherine would frequently bring up Agreed to make an example of him, not only being sarcastic but also belittling him in various ways. The lesson Agreed learned from this experience was that you can know a person's face but not their heart, and from then on, Agreed learned to control his mouth in every class.

The day's studies came to a quick end, but Agreed still hadn't found the answer he was looking for: what exactly is magic?

Agreed hurried along the stream toward his little cabin. First-year students at the magic academy weren't allowed to stay on campus, so Agreed would have to return to that dilapidated cabin to live for another year. If he saved every penny he had, he figured he could make it through the year, so he didn't try to find any more money. After all, if he couldn't stay at the magic academy after a year, there was no point in staying in the country.

Agreed continued walking forward, and suddenly he saw two children arguing excitedly about something a few meters apart. Out of curiosity and human nature to join in the fun, Agreed walked over.

"That stone is white!"

"Nonsense, it's clearly black!"

After listening for a while, Agreed guessed the gist of the story: there was a small stone between two children, one side of which was black and the other side was white. The children must have been arguing about the color of the stone by chance. In fact, the reason for the argument was that neither of them had considered the stone from the other's perspective. Neither of them was wrong, but neither of them was right either.

Children's thinking can sometimes be very one-dimensional. They make their own firm judgments without ever trying to see things from the other person's perspective, which made Agreed laugh. But suddenly, Agreed realized something!

“Perspective, yes, perspective! I’ve never explained magic from their perspective! I’ve only ever explained magic with my limited understanding! I understand, I understand!” Agreed shouted excitedly, grabbing the two children’s hands to express his gratitude, and then ran home as fast as he could.

In his excitement, Agreed tripped over a stone and fell flat on his face. The two children, seeing his embarrassing state, laughed at the fool in front of them. Thus, the two stopped arguing, held hands, and skipped away.

Ignoring everything and seemingly oblivious to the pain, Agreed stood up and ran while shouting, "I know, I know!" This mad-like behavior made passersby think she was some crazy person who had been left unattended.

Agreed ran all the way back to his cabin, took the Bible of the Dead from the pendant around his neck again, placed it on the last page, and wrote his answer to the question that had troubled two generations.

"The essence of magic is a means of enslaving nature!"

Agreed wrote down his answer, realizing that his perspective was far too limited. If his father was right, then the person who wrote this book must be at least a god-like being. How could a god possibly revere nature, which was so insignificant in their eyes?

This time, Agreed was right. The book finally reacted differently. The question and the answer disappeared on the last page at the same time, and a new question emerged.

"So how do we enslave nature?" This is the new question that the book raises.

Agred looked at the question and nervously wrote down what he considered to be a rather blasphemous answer.

"With an infinite body, I govern a finite land; heaven and earth are my servants, all things are my playthings; my words are the Way, my principles are the Law."

In an instant, the Bible of the Dead shone brightly. Agred covered his eyes to shield himself from the intense light. Fortunately, the light was not strong; otherwise, if it had attracted some important figure, Agred would probably have been killed before he even got there.

Then the light faded, and the Bible of the Dead before Agreed revealed its true form. All the words on the book were rearranged and combined to form a brand new book, with the words "Soul Forging in the Styx" prominently displayed on the cover.

Agred stared in astonishment at the transformed Bible of the Dead before him. He tentatively placed his hand on the book, unaware that it would change his life forever.

Just as Agreed was about to open the ancient book, an ancient voice suddenly called out, "You've finally appeared, boy who suits my taste."

Agreed was startled by the sudden noise. He quickly looked around to find the source of the sound, but the voice rang out again with a wicked grin: "Don't bother looking, kid. With your current level of soul cultivation, you can't see me."