"What do you think of this world's magical development?"
Lucius sat at a desk, holding a grimoire sent by the Bronze Black Cross, silently asking the little demon in his mind.
"It's pathetic. Are all the humans in this world useless?" Mozlis let out a soft "tch," Her face brimming with undisguised disdain.
Lucius continued pondering the contents of the grimoire, unfazed by Mozlis' words.
For a beginner like him, the book's contents were already quite profound.
Having claimed the title of Campione, he naturally wouldn't hold back.
Campiones fought Heretic Gods, and the mystic community offered their resources—this was the world's consensus.
Failing to adapt to his situation or being overly sentimental was what he found incomprehensible.
Over the past few days, he had ordered all of Italy's mage associations to gather as many grimoires as possible.
Though he couldn't learn everything in a short time, it was still a valuable gain.
"Pathetic, huh? Why such an assessment?"
"Nearly all magical knowledge relies on mythological systems, begging power from this world's so-called gods. There's no direct use of this world's rules at all."
Lucius instantly understood.
Mythological systems were humanity's creation in this world, perhaps their greatest achievement.
After mastering these systems, they only knew how to borrow power indirectly, forgetting how to bypass them entirely.
It was like forgetting how to walk after inventing cars.
And there was a more critical point.
Though this world held higher levels of power, its magical systems couldn't reach them.
But on reflection, this made sense.
Since most of this world's magical systems relied on praying to gods for power, it was only natural that their strength would always pale compared to the gods'.
When humans realized the convenience of tapping into mythological systems, focusing on short-term gains over long-term progress, they lost the potential to advance.
Confirm cause—
Skip process—
Reach effect.
In an instant, the grimoire Lucius had only read a few pages of was now halfway through.
His ability to link cause and effect wasn't limited to combat.
Rubbing his temples to ease the dizziness from absorbing so much knowledge at once, Lucius continued reading the grimoire.
The only downside was that each use of this ability consumed a significant amount of magical power.
As a potent ability that could manipulate cause and effect, the cost was inevitable.
Moreover, there was a cooldown between uses, and the more complex the process skipped, the longer the cooldown.
Thus, it couldn't be used continuously.
Otherwise, Lucius could simply skip the "process of becoming stronger" To instantly reach his peak strength—wouldn't that be grand?
For now, he could only familiarize himself with the ability's output and corresponding cooldowns, optimizing it to acquire knowledge as efficiently as possible.
Having arrived in this world and gained access to supernatural knowledge for the first time, Lucius's thirst for it was beyond what others could imagine.
Even if Mozlis scoffed at this world's magical knowledge, it didn't change his desire.
Absorbing knowledge at an astonishing rate, Lucius felt as refreshed as if he'd put on new clothes on a festive morning.
Though this world's magical systems had gone astray, magical knowledge likely shared commonalities across worlds.
And what Lucius sought wasn't this world's magical system but knowledge itself.
Knowledge is power. In a world where magic existed, this was an iron rule.
"Finally done and memorized." Lucius rubbed his temples wearily, tossing aside Mana, Magic, and Gods and picking up Odin and Runes.
"Hey, you're just the same as before!" Mozlis, bored in her bottle, shouted with a glare, her tone dripping with dissatisfaction.
Lucius's current behavior was making her feel incredibly bored.
And boredom was the thing she hated most.
"What's the problem?"
Lucius casually grabbed a teapot from the side, only to find it nearly empty. Even tilting it fully yielded just enough tea to barely cover the cup's bottom.
"Tch." He tilted his head back, downing the scant tea, and carelessly pushed the cup aside with the back of his hand.
"You just went through a big battle—shouldn't you relax a bit? Burying yourself in books now—what's wrong with you? Are you dumb? Don't you know how to enjoy yourself?"
Mozlis scolded loudly.
"If nothing else, go find the other Campiones or Heretic Gods in this world and have a proper spar! You've got power now—don't you even want to test your strength?"
"No need for that yet," Lucius said calmly. "I'll wait until I have a better understanding of this world's magical systems."
"And after you understand them better?"
"Then—" Lucius paused, feigning thought. "I'll keep learning even more!"
"I knew you'd say that, you idiot!"
Tears instantly streamed down her face.
While Lucius focused on studying this world's magical systems, the little demon had no such inclination.
Naturally, she was quite upset.
"Wahhh, I'm out of here! You idiot, go spend your life with your books!" Mozlis wailed, wiping her tears.
Normally, few people enjoyed someone chattering while they read, but if the voice was pleasant, it might be a different story.
Though Mozlis was never quiet, Lucius didn't feel particularly disturbed.
As he read to the sound of her fake crying, a sudden knock came at the door.
"Oh, it's that human female," Mozlis said, blinking with interest, showing no trace of her earlier tears.
***
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