Wizard: I Have a Cultivation System

As she spoke, her gaze drifted involuntarily back to the Morning Star Bell suspended from the dome, her light brown eyes filled with unconcealed awe.

"Honestly, every time I sense the life-giving radiation coming from this bell, I find it absolutely incredible."

"I really don’t know where the First Pope found this bell, or how he acquired it. The Law it embodies is so unique—it can actually heal the effects of aging, slowing or even reversing decay at the cellular level. Just look at the creatures in this ’Cradle.’ Their growth is accelerated, they’ve doubled in size, and the limits of their cell division seem to have been extended. The erosion of their telomeres has been significantly slowed, or even repaired."

She paused, a flicker of contemplation in her eyes.

"The way this power works is completely different from how we Wizards use Ritual Magic and Elementalization to resist aging."

"When you think about it, this might be a Path we’ve overlooked. Aging... in a way, it might just be a disease that we mammals acquired through evolution."

"Look at reptiles, amphibians, even certain fish and plants. Their aging curves are completely different from ours. Some even exhibit what’s known as ’negligible senescence.’"

"If we could understand and reverse the parts of our own genetic code that lead to inevitable decay, then extending our lifespans—or even maintaining our peak physical state for longer—might no longer require difficult Ritual Magic and Elementalization."

A Wizard Apprentice’s lifespan is no different from that of an ordinary person. In fact, before the age of the Church Court, they often had shorter lives due to the corrosive effects of radiation.

But once one becomes an Official Wizard, they can use certain specific Ritual Magic to extend their lifespan.

However, these spells are all closely tied to a Wizard’s ’Path’ and are ineffective on ordinary people or Priests.

The next step for an Official Wizard is Elementalization, which completely changes their life form. Naturally, their lifespan makes a quantum leap as well.

As she said this, Flora glanced thoughtfully at the Morning Star Bell.

"Come to think of it... could the Church Court’s suppression of the Wizard’s Path over the millennia be related to this? Is it possible they discovered long ago that a Wizard’s Cultivation and connection to the Source Sea accelerates some kind of ’wear and tear’? And could the power of this bell be the very thing that neutralizes, or even repairs, that damage?"

Murphy spoke calmly. "Flora."

At his voice, Flora instantly reined in her speculative thoughts. Her expression became respectful and focused. "Your Excellency."

Murphy said coolly,

"Of course, I’m not trying to stop you from speculating. Having ideas is a good thing. Without them, how would Science progress? Where would technology come from? Wouldn’t you agree?"

Flora immediately bowed. "You are correct, Your Excellency."

Murphy’s gaze swept over her before returning to the faintly glowing Ancient Bell. His voice was level, but it carried an undeniable weight.

"But you must remember this: regardless of where the First Pope obtained this bell, and regardless of whatever the Church Court may have used it for in the past—now, the Morning Star Bell belongs to me."

A shiver went through Flora. She answered with solemn gravity, "Yes, Your Excellency. I understand."

...

「Holy City.」

Inside a study, deep within an unremarkable courtyard at the northeast corner of the Chenxi Hall complex.

The last rays of the setting sun streamed through a high window, falling upon a heavy oak desk and illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.

An old man with a white beard and hair, dressed in the deep red robes of a Cardinal, sat in a large, high-backed chair. He held a dossier, but his gaze was fixed on something far away.

’Ten years.’

It had been exactly ten years since that October when sunlight had pierced the dark clouds and the Holy Sword had blazed upon the altar.

He—Ambrosius Marconi—was still sitting here, still a Cardinal.

But some things had changed completely.

He remembered the distant past, how he had climbed step by step from a regional Bishop to the core of the College of Cardinals. He remembered accumulating prestige under the radical rule of Pope Fuer II. He remembered even more clearly how he had assessed the situation when Noe VII returned with the winds of reform, swiftly adjusting his stance to become the New Pope’s right-hand man.

When the Wizards invaded and Noe VII was trapped in the Sanctuary, he had keenly sensed the rise of the Saint Cyril Faction. He had offered his crucial ’loyalty’ just as they were on the path to the coronation, securing his position in the era of Pope Ete I.

The world was a chessboard, and he always knew when to make a crucial move. Though he was not one of the players, he always managed to stay on the board, often in a favorable position.

This was his talent, the art of Ambrosius’s survival.

’And yet... Elizabeth.’

The young woman who, ten years ago, was merely a "Saint" pushed onto the stage by Saint Cyril.

When she put on the crown within that pillar of light that pierced the heavens and became Vesta I, Ambrosius, though stunned, had not been entirely unprepared.

He had immediately adjusted his strategy, attempting to display his ’understanding’ and ’support’ for the New Pope—at least on the surface.

’It was just another change of power,’ he had thought. ’The process was simply more dramatic, the protagonist younger, and her backers more powerful.’

’The rules were still the same rules. The game was still the same game.’

’He was wrong.’

’Utterly and completely wrong.’

Ten years later, Ambrosius finally understood. Vesta I had not brought another round of carving up the political pie.

She had brought a "new world."

A "new world" shrouded in the power of that demonic "Holy Sword" and driven by the absurd slogan of a "Holy Light Industrial Revolution."