Emperor of Steel
chapter-26

The Magi’s Crystal.

It was discovered in the past when warlock Saymon was doing a special study.

During that time, Luke was completely occupied with revenge.

After overcoming the devil that was summoned with his own blood, he continued to grow in a way that deprived the others of power and magi.

For warlocks, the creatures that came in contact with the magi were out of control.

The warlocks, who were dominated by the devils, ran wild, and the place with magi would turn them into much more monstrous creatures.

And not wanting to give up his humanity for the dead Katarina, Saymon performed a much closer analysis on the magi.

In that process, he found out a surprising fact; it was that the magi and mana did not have much difference in terms of their nature.

Puzzled, he stopped his work for a while and dug up some old literature.

‘When you look at the early records of the birth of magic, mana or magi was never mentioned. Only Aether is mentioned!’

Aether was a substance that got mentioned in mythology.

According to ancient mythology, when the gods were said to be born, the whole world was said to be filled with Aether.

That was the nature of Aether that got mentioned in the old literature and ancient mythology.

Aether was the Divine Force, in other words, it also had the characteristics of Mana and Aura which transformed into physical force.

It also contained the dark and chaotic nature of the magi.

‘In other words, Aether is the foundation of all power.’

It was interesting to note that in ancient times, the world of wizards wasn’t just divided into good or evil.

They divided things into darkness and light, or yin and yang, and emphasized the need for the two opposing qualities to have harmony.

But as magic began to flourish, the whole white and black theory began to form.

In the process, only white magic, which was the most used magic, was recognized as a status and degree, and dark (black) magic and spirit magic were treated as outcasts.

The most oppressed among them was the dark magic, and in fact, it was classified as an apostle and treated as an art of grief.

From that point of time, all the wizards began to focus on the concept of mana rather than on Aether.

Why did the theory of magic change?

Luke, who hadn’t found an answer to that question, noticed that the time of the establishment of magic was the same as in the days of Saint Ramiel, the elder of the El Kassel denomination.

‘Religion and theology flourished during the early days, so magic must have been affected.’

Because of that, the image of dark magic, which was related to darkness and chaos was expelled.

In addition, the magic that was the basis for the dark magic was the main source of energy for the demons and devils.

The devils, who enjoyed destruction and slaughter, hated the word of God.

‘But the devils did that for a reason.’

The later known fact was that the magi and the devils existed in their world called ‘hell’.

With sulfur fumes floating like clouds in the sky, the rivers and the oceans there were filled with mercury

A desolate world filled with all kinds of toxic substances that would do harm for the living. The devils couldn’t help but focus on weak meat preservation.

Catching the weak and then eat, that was the simple mindset of those who were in there, so it was natural that they wouldn’t go well with the humans.

And after learning the truth behind the history and the ecology of each race, Luke found out that the magi was the driving force behind the devils.

Magi evolved their bodies and souls to adjust to that environment.

‘Myths state that the world was born out of chaos. Then wouldn’t it be possible to create new creatures or to evolve oneself with a strong chaotic nature?’

As far as his thoughts extended, Saymon thought of summoning more devils to do further research on magi.

The magi that got extracted, collected and filtered was the ‘Magi’s Crystals’.

‘It was hard to make, but I had no use of them.’

The magi’s crystals weren’t powerful enough to create a new life.

And even if the creature could be evolved, it was of low level. It only had strong bones and agility.

Moreover, Luke was an 8 circle warlock. He was far beyond any human status, which meant that he didn’t have to rely on the magi crystals.

Eventually, the magi crystals were forgotten by Luke.

After waking up in Luke’s body, he went to that place because he needed a strong power.

‘The curse on the descendants of Rakan is very strong. But this thing might be able to change this fragile body a little bit.’

Luke soon unsealed the vial and inhaled the magi crystals, taking it into his mouth.

“Kuak!”

At first, he felt an unpleasant feeling like swallowing a live slime, making his limbs tremble.

The magi, which were concentrated in the vial, slowly spread through his blood vessels and nerves.

“Kuaahk!”

The pain was spreading all over him. Luke fell down on the floor and rolled over.

Normally, when a human takes in raw magi, they either die immediately, or they become contaminated, turning them into a mutant.

However, the magi crystals were different.

The reason being, the devil’s thoughts, and their toxins were all removed and filtered in the form of Aether.

Luke’s frail body couldn’t withstand such filtered magi.

No, it was actually much harder to handle because magi were much closer to the original Aether.

There were no records saying that humans could either absorb or manipulate aether.

‘Keuk! What is this pain!?’

It was much more painful than the time he got stabbed by Rakan’s Orichalcum sword.

The pain, however, was not in his body but in his soul. It never subsided, which made Luke struggle for a while.

But at one point, the energy of the black smoke rose from his whole body. Not just that, Luke’s eyes turned red and black, like that of a devil.

“Kill! Destroy them! Destroy everything!!”

He heard a cry, more like a scream in his head.

At the very same time, beastly sharp nails emerged from Luke’s fingertips, and he also grew sharp fangs.

Was he overwhelmed by the deadly thoughts and the toxic nature?

Luke, roaring like a beast, slowly got up.

Hweeee?!

Dark magi burst out of his whole body, swirling violently like it would blow the underground laboratory at any moment.