I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 179 - 179 178. Three-way handshake_1

Chapter 179: 178. Three-way handshake_1 Chapter 179: 178. Three-way handshake_1 Although he had to pray every day to master spells, Lu Ban felt that even learning one or two, even just to conjure fireballs, would be very useful.

He didn’t have much faith before, but now, if the gods of the Night Country were willing to give him a bit of power, Lu Ban wouldn’t mind believing a bit; after all, it didn’t cost money, so it wouldn’t hurt to believe a little.

“First, you need to go through a simple ritual to connect with the Magic Network of the Gray Tower and sign an agreement, becoming a spellcaster acknowledged by the Magic Network. This step is usually done at the age of fourteen in the Gray Tower. I have a basic template here; there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Once you become a spellcaster of the Magic Network, you will have the right to pray for Prayer Magic from the gods within the Magic Network. At first, you might only have one or two, but as you continue using magic, or keep learning, or become a Chosen by Gods, everyone usually ends up with about ten common spell slots, and the powerful ones might have more.”

“Hmm, the process of praying is somewhat complicated. To put it in terms you can understand, think of it as a three-way handshake between the spellcaster and the Magic Network.”

“For the first handshake, you reach out to the Magic Network and wait for a god within to respond; after a god receives your prayer, they will give you a response, letting you know they have heard you, and that’s the second handshake; finally, when you hear the god’s response, you must continue praying to inform the god that you have received their response. At that point, the third handshake is established, and you can receive the knowledge bestowed by the god.”

“Last, what you need to do is connect with the Magic Network after midnight and then pray for the spells. These spells will be infused into your brain through the Magic Network as temporary knowledge, and you’ll be ready to cast spells.”

“Of course, these spells are essentially blessings from the gods, not truly your own, so once midnight passes, this knowledge will disappear, and you’ll need to pray for the spells anew.”

Shia rattled off, then looked at Lu Ban with an expression that suggested, “Pretty simple, right?”

Lu Ban didn’t understand; he was now somewhat relieved that the fantasy movies he had seen never went into much detail about the composition of magic.

It seems that the story of someone who’s academically poor in this world suddenly becoming a genius upon arriving in a magic Another World is utterly fictitious.

“It’s quite simple. We can try it now, but this Foreign Domain is different from our world, so the connection to the Magic Network might not be smooth. Sometimes it can take a while for the gods to respond.”

Shia pulled out a piece of parchment and a feather pen from somewhere and began writing rapidly, creating what looked like a contract document.

“Here, this is the most basic spellcaster agreement, usually given to children to try out spells, and it only lasts for an hour. Let’s give it a go.”

Shia seemed quite excited about these matters.

It was like a straight-A student who, bored at home during vacation with the biggest hobby being high school exams, found that the last question of the final math problem from last year’s Jiangcheng exams had three different solutions.

Lu Ban took the parchment; he had never seen the script before, yet he quickly understood it.

It wasn’t any pact of selling one’s soul to the devil, just an agreement akin to a user agreement.

He didn’t understand how Shia managed to remember all that intricate information. Lu Ban read through it and found it basically the same as the paperwork for purchasing electronic products.

He signed his name.

“Next, you just need to recite the sentence written here, and you’ll be able to attempt the first handshake.”

Shia pointed to a passage on the parchment.

Lu Ban recited the passage.

“Observer of the Gray Tower, I implore you for knowledge, truth, and the reality of all things.”

As soon as he finished reciting, Lu Ban felt the immediate surroundings suddenly darken.

The light of the campfire dimmed considerably, even the night sky became deep and mysterious; he could not see Shia who was next to him, as if he was alone in a void. In such a void, it seemed stars were lighting up.

“Hmm?”

Lu Ban quickly realized that while there were stars in the sky, they seemed rather indifferent, twinkling in isolation.

“Is anyone there?”

He asked.

There was no response.

“Could it be because I’m in a Foreign Domain, so there’s higher latency?”

Playing domestic games while abroad also results in higher lag; Lu Ban felt it was similar to the magic of the Gray Tower.

He waited for a while, and those stars that had still been visible one by one went out.

It was as if, out of curiosity, they had come out to watch the commotion, but after seeing it was Lu Ban, they decided to go home.

“???”

Lu Ban felt deeply hurt.

He waited for a while longer, but still no star showed any response to him. Lu Ban felt the brightness increase around him, and soon he saw a campfire, the silvery desert, camels, and luggage, and beside him stood Shia clad in armor.

“How did it go? What spell did you pray for?”

The young girl looked at him excitedly.

“…Is there a problem? It seems like no god has responded to me?”

Lu Ban said somewhat hesitantly.

“That can’t be right; even common people, once they’ve signed this contract, should definitely catch the Magic Network’s attention. Even if they don’t obtain a spell, a deity should respond.”

Shia seemed surprised, hastily leafing through books but finding no relevant explanation.

“Impossible, impossible, it’s absolutely impossible.”

She was a bit disheveled.

“Could it be that we are too far away for your gods to find us?”

Lu Ban tentatively asked.

“I just prayed for a spell; there’s no way the connection can’t be made… unless…”

Shia suddenly fell silent.

“Do you remember what I told you earlier? To use the spells of the Magic Network, one must pray to the gods, and then through one’s own study and practice, increase the number of spells they can use.”

“However, there is another kind of person, those who from birth can connect to the Magic Network, or rather, when these people are born, a deity has chosen them, and only that deity can respond to their prayers.”

“These individuals are referred to by Gray Tower as ‘Chosen by Gods.’

“?”

Lu Ban sensed a serious problem.

The Chosen by Gods of the Silent Lands and the Chosen by Gods here were clearly two different things, or else Shia wouldn’t have been able to come here.

He was just an ordinary young man; how could he have been chosen by the gods of Gray Tower?

Or could it be that the deity was not from Gray Tower, but from his own world?

Thinking of the stars he had once seen at Jiangcheng Grand Theater, Lu Ban suddenly realized something.

“Could it be that at that time…”

“How does Gray Tower usually deal with a Chosen by Gods?”

Lu Ban asked curiously.

“Praying to a deity for a spell and being actively watched by a deity are completely different; the former is just borrowing knowledge from the deity, whereas the latter is pursued by the deity’s knowledge. The Chosen by Gods recorded in the history of Gray Tower…”

Shia chose her words carefully before responding.

“All met very tragic ends.”