The old lunatic Nietzsche was a miner in Duke Town just like Amon when he was a teenager, and that was more than a hundred years ago. At that time, Barun, Assyria, and Hatti were experiencing chaotic wars, and the rulers of the Syrian city-states had changed hands several times. The living environment in Duke Town was much worse than it is now, and there was often a shortage of living materials.
The barren land here can only grow a small amount of barley and beans to satisfy our hunger, and there are very few sheep grazing on the edge of the Black Fire Forest. It was one spring, and the sheep were all eaten. Nietzsche really felt that his mouth was tasteless, so he entered the town. Go hunting in the deep mountains and jungles in the East. A strong miner can also become a good hunter if he masters skills. Although the depths of the jungle are dangerous, the old lunatic has hunted wild game in the fringe since he was a child.
This time Nietzsche traveled a long way, hunting prey all the way to dry dried meat and carrying the floss on his back. Unknowingly, he had passed through the deep mountains where cave-dwelling dwarves were distributed, and entered the steep Youdi River Canyon. When he was chasing a horned deer, he accidentally stumbled and fell from the cliff. Fortunately, he was entangled by vines in mid-air. After pulling off many vines, he stabilized his figure and climbed to a very secret place. As a result, he was sunken inward under the rock A body that had just died not long ago was found in the shelter of the rain, and the remains of this person were obtained.
The deceased was a mid-level divine magician who escaped hunting with the help of divine magic props during the melee, and fell to this remote place due to serious injuries, and finally died of his illness. The sorcerer came from the Marduk Temple of Baron. At that time, Baron and Hattie were fighting. He should be the enemy of Hattie. He left his last words and wrote them on the cave wall with a knife.
The difference between Nietzsche and ordinary miners in Duke Town is that he can read and write. Nietzsche's grandfather used to be the clerk of Duke Town. During the war years, he didn't know which dynasty's laws he violated, and he was punished and deprived of the lowest noble status. In the last few years of his life, he spent teaching his grandson to learn clay knife and book.
The place where Nietzsche fell was far away from human habitation, facing the rushing Yudi River, and behind him was a steep cliff. The seriously injured magician lacked food and potions. In pain, he begged and prayed to the Marduk god for seven days and seven nights, trying to gain mercy and salvation, and finally despaired before he died.
In his last words, the desperate magician stated that he no longer wanted to return to the temple. If someone could find him, he would request to be buried here in the traditional way of his family, and to bring his relics to his wife and children. In return, the divine magician left behind the secrets of divine magic cultivation that he knew, not only including the various stages from low level to intermediate level, but also the content of how to advance from intermediate level to high level that he has not yet learned. Among his relics are an inscribed staff and several valuable artifacts of the divine arts.
From then on, Nietzsche's life turned around, and he learned magic in private. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured, and fortunately there was enough food in his backpack. He stayed here for several days, recorded all the content of the magic spell, and buried the magician. Relying on his strong body, he climbed up the cliff along the vines with the magician's relic a few days later.
The people in Duke Town thought that Nietzsche was missing and died deep in the dangerous jungle, but ten years later Nietzsche returned to Duke Town, claiming that he was captured by cavemen while hunting and worked as a slave in the wildman's village for ten years. , until now finally had a chance to escape from the mountains.
But no one knew that Nietzsche was already a magician at this time, and he had just returned from a long trip to Baron City, the capital of the Baron Kingdom.
He went to Baron City to return the magician's relics. Nietzsche was already a third-level magician, so as long as he was careful, he could deal with many situations on the way. In the outside world, Nietzsche realized the strangeness of the miner's skills he had learned since childhood. When he obtained the magician's relic, he already had the skill and reaction of a second-level warrior. It was not entirely luck that he was able to save his life when he fell off the cliff.
But after he obtained the classics left by the magician, when he performed the "power awakening" ceremony, what he obtained was the so-called power bestowed by the gods that communicated with external energy. Of course, he chose to practice magic.
In the city of Barron, Nietzsche finally found the widow of the magician, but found that the family had declined and happened to be in trouble. Most of the priesthood of the temple is hereditary, inherited by the son or eldest son who is most suitable for practicing magic in the family. The magician is a priest of the Marduk Temple in Baron City. His only son is still underage and cannot inherit Priesthood.
The husband's whereabouts are unknown, and the magician's widow has owed a large debt in recent years. The creditor was a nobleman in the city and asked the widow to marry him for the sole purpose of seizing the land and inheriting her husband's priesthood, which was common in times of war.
The arrival of Nietzsche relieved the magician's widow, because the magician's relics were very valuable, almost equivalent to half of his family wealth, otherwise his disappearance would not have caused so much difficulty to the family.
The widow was very grateful to Nietzsche, and told him privately out of good intentions: "If according to my husband's last words, you have studied magic in private and achieved something, and become a magician, then you must not reveal your identity, and you have to bear it until the end." Become a great magician, and then everything may change dramatically, if you are lucky!"
After saying this, she told Nietzsche to leave as soon as possible, otherwise there might be trouble. Her worry was indeed correct. Nietzsche was hunted down after he left the city of Barron, perhaps because the nobleman whose plot failed was to vent his anger. Nietzsche used divine magic to kill his pursuers, worried that his identity as a magician would be leaked, and sneaked back to Duke Town.
Nietzsche lived in Duke Town for another ten years, just like other miners, without any abnormality. Ten years later, he left Duke Town again to travel to the mainland, and he didn't seem to take the decree "Duke Town's registered miners are not allowed to leave without permission". At that time, he was already a seventh-level magician. division.
Nietzsche traveled around the Tianshu Continent for another ten years and had many unimaginable experiences. When he returned to Duke Town again, he was already an eighth-level great magician. It is said that the mayor of the town at that time wanted to hold Nietzsche responsible for leaving without authorization, but for some reason it was not resolved. Nietzsche has been living in the town since then, and no one cares about him, only treats him as an old madman who talks nonsense.
Physical and divine arts cannot be practiced at the same level. This is the oracle and the law since ancient times. After Nietzsche got the relics of the magician, he awakened the "power bestowed by the gods" and began to specialize in divine arts. to the highest achievement. But then there was a problem that bothered him. Before learning divine arts, he had actually started to learn skills similar to physical arts, and had reached the level of a second-level warrior.
When the men in Duke Town came of age, the blessing ceremony hosted by the priest in the Muyun Temple was actually similar to the awakening ceremony of some kind of power.
Nietzsche didn't know anything about it at the time, so he gave up physical skills and completely practiced spiritual skills, and he became a great magician. So he began to suspect that there might be some secrets unknown to people, but when he wanted to start practicing physical arts again, he found it extremely difficult. Even the strength of a second-level warrior was lost when he was young, and his physical strength was barely equivalent to that of a first-class warrior. level samurai.
After all, he is old and hasn't practiced physical skills for many years. Having an eighth-level divine skill makes him very powerful, but it is already very good to keep his body healthy and stronger than ordinary people. This unsuccessful attempt made Nietzsche frustrated and even more confused, and seemed to be troubled by it, and his magical achievements always failed to break through the ninth level.
So Nietzsche often disappeared from Duke Town, and came back after a while. Of course, no one cares about this old madman anymore. The old lunatic inquired about the anecdotes he was interested in all over the mainland, the stories of famous great magicians and great warriors, their lives and cultivation processes, etc., as well as the legends about the gods in the major temples.
The old lunatic began to suspect that some so-called gods were described in the stories as demigods, and they were no different from ninth-level great magicians or ninth-level great warriors. So, were they only demigods or did they become true gods later? That being the case, is it possible for a mortal to become an immortal god? If so, how can one become a god
He also suspected that divine arts and physical arts could be practiced at the same level, or they were originally one, but were artificially divided into two parts, making it difficult to practice at the same level. There may be some undiscovered mystery in it, containing the secret of becoming a god.
The old lunatic didn't get the answer. After he was over a hundred years old, he realized that it was impossible for him to prove it himself, so he placed his hope on the successor. He searched in many places for a long time, and finally found a child with outstanding aptitude in a small village to which the cape city-state belonged. His name was Bell, and he was the son of a shepherd.
The old lunatic taught Bell everything he knew, and he only hoped that he could solve as much as possible the mystery that he had been thinking about for most of his life.
Needless to say, Bell finally escaped to the canyon forest where the Youdi River crossed the deep mountains. He may have wanted to come to Duke Town to find the old lunatic, but he couldn't get rid of the large number of pursuers. I don't know what magical magic Bell cast on a cat. The cat was able to pass through the siege and the steep mountains to Duke Town, and brought a message to the old lunatic.
It wasn't that the cat could speak. One of Bell's best magic spells was information magic. He sealed a message on the cat. After the old lunatic read it with divine magic, the message disappeared naturally.
The message from Bell reads as follows:
Dear teacher-
Your guess should be right, it's not impossible for a mortal to become a god, the secret lies in the cultivation of divine arts and physical arts, no matter which one it is, breaking through level nine or above is the achievement of a god. But it is extremely difficult to simply practice divine arts or physical arts, and there is almost no possibility of further advancement. This is the conclusion I have reached after consulting the biographies of countless great warriors and great magicians in history.
In fact, it is impossible to practice divine arts and physical arts at the same level, at least what we have seen is the case. Except for one exception, that is the most basic and almost insignificant skill of miners in Duke Town, which was first taught to me, teacher. But you are also a miner in Duke Town. Later, you made great achievements in spiritual arts, but you were unable to make breakthroughs in physical arts. Apart from age and physical reasons, this is indeed a kind of confusion.
I may have discovered a secret over the years, that is, physical training is the same as spiritual training, and it also needs to pass various tests. This kind of test is not specifically mentioned, and those advanced warriors may have reached the requirements inadvertently, but there is no clear and clear summary. If this is the method left by the gods, it is possible that something was deliberately ignored from the beginning.
There are many more people who practice physical skills than divine skills. Many people don't know what kind of test they have passed unintentionally. They just think that what they rely on is hard training, tenacious will and a little unclear luck. They are right, but I want to unravel the secret behind this luck, people don't get lucky out of thin air.
I have studied the experience of countless samurai, no matter whether it is low-level or high-level, and I have summarized some rules in their experience, which may be the content that was deliberately ignored in the classics.
If divine art and physical art are originally one, and they are combined as a cultivation method, then there is a special order in it, just like the rhythm, which cannot be confused, otherwise there is no way to practice at the same level, and you can only give up. One achievement leads to another.
If you go astray from the beginning, it will be very difficult to give up the strength you have gained and start again. I'm still not sure about this, it's still just speculation, and the secret of becoming a god may lie in it. Even if it is indeed the secret to becoming a god, most people can only look at it with a sigh, because whether it is a ninth-level magician or a ninth-level warrior, it is already quite rare in this world.
I'm in the process of thinking about summarizing, and I haven't come to a firm conclusion yet. I took away the saintess and the tears of the gods from the Temple of Isis, which may be helpful for me to unravel this secret. Therefore, I was hunted down by a large number of magicians and warriors and could not escape. I can only convey this to you, teacher. information.
— Your student, Bell.
The old lunatic finally finished talking about the past, sat down again and began to drink silently. Amon also didn't speak for a long time. Even if he had a stomach full of questions, he couldn't ask them. These topics seemed too advanced for him, and the depth was beyond imagination.
They had been talking all afternoon without knowing it, and the sky was getting dark, and it was time for Amon to go home for dinner. At this time, the old lunatic had already drank a jar of wine, but there was no hint of drunkenness in his eyes, just a trace of inexplicable tiredness. He put down his glass and said, "Amon, I have watched you grow up, and I have also cultivated you since childhood, you His potential and qualifications are even better than Bell's."
Amon let out an "Ah", but didn't answer. He felt that the old lunatic had something in his words, as if he was trying to get something out of him.
Sure enough, the old lunatic went on to say: "I originally wanted to train you to be an outstanding great magician, but every time I think of the message from Bell, I always feel that I should be more cautious, and the first step must not be wrong. .”
"I...?" Amon only said half a sentence.
The old lunatic looked at him and smiled, this smile was a bit sneaky: "Of course it is you, otherwise why would I have taught you so much over the years, you can write two languages that are commonly used in the mainland, and I have taught you in another way How to mine the sacred stone, so that the body and mind can get the best exercise, but without really learning the magic and physical skills, what is waiting is this day."
"What happened to this day?"
The old lunatic didn't answer, but changed the subject and said, "Amon, if you become a magician, you should understand from my experience with Bell that if you want to ensure your safety, you have to wait until the day you become a great magician." Of course, the status of a warrior may be a good cover, if you learn both physical and divine arts at the same time... Children, don’t you want to? Even if it’s to repay an old man like me, it seems that you shouldn’t refuse.”
Amon touched his head and replied: "Yes, what am I not willing to do? I am just the son of an ordinary miner in the town, why do I refuse these? Even if it is not for repaying you, I will be willing, and you won't hurt me."
The old lunatic smiled wryly: "Killing you? I don't know if I'm hurting you. But I often think of Bell. If it counts as hurting him, he would be very willing to be murdered by me in order to have such a wonderful life... I I have only one wish for you, and that is to unlock the secrets of the gods."
Amon: "What you said is too far away. How I can compare with Bell's achievements can only be imagined now."
The old lunatic shook his head and said: "Success is only human-made. If you really do it, you probably won't succeed, but if you don't solve the mystery, you will live in the chaotic world forever, so we can at least try our best. "
Amon: "How do you want to teach me?"
The old lunatic nodded with satisfaction and said, "You are such a special child. Although you were shocked and puzzled, and heard me say so many incredible things, you still remained calm and sober... Let me tell you, I don't know either. What kind of mystery Bell finally solved, but I have established one thing myself."
Amon: "What's the matter?"
The old lunatic: "That is the first step in gaining strength."
Amon: "Awaken two powers at the same time? You already have a way?"
The old lunatic laughed again: "You are so smart. After listening to my introduction, you immediately thought of this. But there is a slight deviation. Either awaken two powers at the same time, or awaken one power. This power contains two sides of one body. I Look back at the experience of this lifetime, and then back to the source, inspired by the miners' skills in Duke Town.
Gabriel asked if you have learned physical skills, but in fact you have not, you just have a strong body, plus some uninitiated divine skills. Now I am going to test you to see if you can begin to awaken that power. But you have to pay attention, awakening the power of two sides of one body, at the same time awakens the desire of two sides of one body, which also includes the first test that practitioners of body arts have to face but have been ignored. "
Amon: "How do you want to test me?"
The old lunatic's eyes narrowed: "Go to Hanquan to do something tonight, and come to me after you succeed."
…
Background to the pantheon of this chapter—
Marduk: The main god of the Kingdom of Baron, which symbolizes royal power, is also the patron saint of Baron City since ancient times. According to myths and legends, he belongs to the same pantheon as Enlil, the main god believed by Assyria and Hatti Kingdom. It is said that Marduk's father was named Ea, and both "Ea" and "Enlil" were the sons of the god "Anu".