Yuuki had never expected that the ten magic stones were artificially created.
He had always assumed they were natural products of the world.
After all, those ten magic stones had threaded through nearly five hundred years of history, entangled with the elves' reincarnation, devils, and a long chain of monumental events.
Five hundred years ago, the elven race was annihilated under the schemes of the Word Soul Devil. In order to prevent the elven leader Licht's five-leaf clover grimoire from falling into the devil's hands, Secré, the attendant of the First Wizard King, used the power of the magic stones to activate a forbidden spell and seal the Word Soul Devil away.
At the final moment, however, the devil seized the opportunity to activate Forbidden Magic: Reincarnation, reincarnating the elves whose souls had been tainted—while also placing itself within the reincarnation ritual.
As long as the elves' reincarnation was triggered, the Word Soul Devil could break free of its seal as well.
Due to the backlash of forbidden magic, Secré transformed into a creature similar to an Anti-Magic Bird—the very same bird that often accompanied Asta, later known as Nero.
Not only that—
Before the forbidden magic completely consumed her, Secré also sealed a portion of the First Wizard King's power into a stone statue.
By using the magic stones, that power could be released again, allowing the First Wizard King to temporarily revive and prevent a crisis should the Word Soul Devil reappear.
In that long chain of events, the magic stones played an irreplaceably important supporting role.
Several large-scale forbidden spells had all relied on their power.
And yet—
Throughout all of this, whether it was devils, Nero, or the elves themselves, they merely used the magic stones as tools to amplify mana.
But the records Yuuki now held stated something completely different.
The true purpose of the magic stones was to serve as the core medium for completing the Apotheosis Ritual.
"…What a shame. It failed."
Yuuki spoke softly. Though his words expressed regret, his expression was brimming with excitement.
It felt as though he had discovered another path entirely—one that didn't rely on evolving a three-leaf clover grimoire into a four-leaf clover.
From the mountain of documents, Yuuki extracted the two most critical records.
One was the handwritten notes and journals of the elven clan leader who had created the magic stones.
The other was the forbidden spell and ritual diagram for the Apotheosis Ritual itself.
None of the surviving records mentioned the final fate of that elven clan leader. But given that these materials had been casually discarded into a dusty corner—ignored even by the Witch Queen—it was obvious that the clan leader had not only failed, but failed utterly.
From the journals and notes, Yuuki could also understand why these records had been abandoned.
"What an utterly unrestrained idea…"
Yuuki fell silent for a moment, then couldn't help but sigh.
If one were to use the Witch Queen's words—it was nothing short of delusional.
In that elven clan leader's worldview, God was vast, boundless, unseen, omnipotent, and omniscient.
To paraphrase his metaphor:
In complete darkness, a person cannot perceive the existence of charcoal. But once the charcoal is ignited and bursts into flame, its existence becomes observable.
However—
What people perceive is the flame, not the charcoal itself.
God was the same. No matter how powerful a being became, what they observed was merely one expressed aspect of God's nature.
With a mortal form, it was impossible to perceive the totality of God.
This fundamental contradiction tormented the elven clan leader for years—until one day, he devised a solution.
And this was why Yuuki called it a flight-of-fancy idea.
That elven clan leader intended to simplify God.
To divide the unobservable "God" into ten observable attributes, and then create ten magic stones to represent those ten divine powers.
The so-called Apotheosis Ritual was the act of gathering these ten powers into oneself—transforming a mortal into a god.
"So the ten powers represent ten different forms of magic. Using the magic stones to condense each attribute, then fusing them all into a single body…"
"Tch. An absurdly bold concept. A single body enduring that many different attributes? Failure was inevitable."
"Even Julius only unified four powers in the end. If someone truly gathered ten—even if they didn't become a god, they'd be close."
Yuuki shook his head in amazement, then turned his gaze to the forbidden ritual diagram.
The entire spell array was preserved in pristine condition. Clearly, the Witch Queen saw no value in it whatsoever.
But what truly caught Yuuki's attention was something else.
The ritual diagram was identical to the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
And the ten magic stones corresponded exactly to the ten spheres of the Tree of Life.
—Wait.
Yuuki's mind jolted violently.
He had overlooked something critically important.
"How could a single body withstand so many different forms of magic…?"
He murmured the very words he had spoken earlier, his expression turning blank with shock.
Wasn't he doing exactly that already?
Not ten—he possessed dozens of magical attributes.
Yuuki slapped his palm against his forehead.
His thoughts were in chaos—like he was on the verge of grasping something profound, yet it kept slipping through his fingers.
Lowering his head—
Yuuki returned to the elven clan leader's journals, reading them again with unprecedented focus, scrutinizing every single word.
Half an hour later.
Yuuki slowly raised his head.
The confusion in his eyes had vanished, replaced by tightly suppressed excitement.
"I get it now."
"My Replication Magic… is special."
Yuuki whispered to himself.
Mages capable of using multiple attributes were rare—but not unheard of. Across the long history of the Clover Kingdom, there had been quite a few.
Even in the present era—
There was Raia of the Third Eye with his Imitation Magic, and the former Wizard King Conrad with his Key Magic—both capable of wielding multiple attributes.
But Yuuki's Replication Magic was fundamentally different.
Imitation Magic and Key Magic only borrowed or accessed other mages' spells on the surface level.
Yuuki's Replication Magic, however, directly replicated the mana source itself.
That was a qualitative difference.
"According to the elven clan leader's theory, the ten powers condensed through the magic stones weren't merely ten spells—but ten mana origins."
"If that's the case, then from the very beginning, my body has already contained far more mana origins than required. That shouldn't merely increase my mana reserves."
"So the key to the ritual isn't just possessing multiple mana origins—but making them interconnect, or even fuse."
"Only then can true qualitative change occur."
Yuuki spoke with rising excitement, his thoughts racing forward at full speed.
(End of Chapter)
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