Under the rapidly passing Sands of Time, Rody found the undying divine fire growing larger, gradually spreading over his entire body. Simultaneously, the Fountain of Life worked its magic, with his body being burned and regenerating flesh at the same time, the pain far exceeding his tolerance. Seeing himself turn completely into a fireman, his body increasingly in agony and unable to think of a way to snatch the holy silver cross and hourglass, he summoned everything from the eternal storage space and hid inside it.
Rody initially thought he could escape the divine fire's burning in the timeless storage space, but to his surprise, the Fire God's undying flame continued to burn even in the eternal space.
Left with no choice and unwilling to endure the accelerated passage of time outside, Rody endured in the storage space. After an indeterminate period, he was startled to find the divine fire diminishing, only to realize it wasn't being extinguished but transferring.
Under normal circumstances, Rody couldn't sense his soul, but now he could clearly see the divine fire burning it. Initially terrified that he would be doomed, he was relieved to find that, despite the extreme pain, his soul showed no signs of vanishing.
Enduring excruciating agony, Rody came up with a plan to use mental power to forcibly repel or separate the divine fire. However, his normally infallible mental power melted away upon contact with the divine fire. Shocked that he could lose his mental power, Rody quickly retracted it and discovered a thin gold strand, stronger than his previous mental whip.
Considering the possibility of a golden mental whip or hammer that could even harm a magic grandmaster, Rody decided to take a risk. In an attempt driven by excitement and pain, he threw all his purple mental power into the divine fire for tempering, watching it return as golden strands. He then wove these into a thin whip.
Despite enduring endless torment, Rody felt he had truly stepped onto the path of a strong warrior. Trapped in the Spatial Fortress, he had ample time to train. The endless pain allowed his mental power to surge at a rate beyond his imagination. This was the price of enduring the divine fire's torment, a cost Rody was eager and desperate to pay.
Unaware of how much time had passed outside, Rody in the eternal storage space had grown accustomed to the soul-burning pain of the divine fire. The agony was still there, intensifying, but Rody learned to endure and distract himself, simultaneously bearing the pain and doing what he wanted.
Rody, with his soul engulfed in divine fire, continued to delve into ancient magical tomes. He was astonished to find that as his mental power underwent a qualitative change, more spells became available in the magical hall. Clearly, the magic Rody could learn or sense was not all-encompassing. With enhanced mental power, he could now learn more spells, and previously challenging mental magic became easier. The painful trials of mental magic, which he once found extremely difficult, now seemed trivial compared to the eternal burning of his soul by the divine fire.
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Rody quickly mastered various mental magic spells like ‘Temptation’, ‘Hypnosis’, ‘Control’, ‘Sorrow’, ‘Despair’, ‘Fear’, and then moved to more advanced group mental magic like ‘Utter Despair’, ‘Unwilling to Fight’, ‘Heart-Shocking’, ‘Joyful Inspiration’, ‘Resolute Death’, ‘Fighting in Blood’, ‘Unyielding’, ‘Wild Rage’, ‘Deep-rooted Hatred’. He felt that with these spells, no soldier by his side would retreat in battle, and the enemies would flee at the mere casting of his spells. Only then did he fully comprehend the terrifying nature of mental magic.
The only drawback of learning mental magic was that one had to first endure the pain and damage of mental power before inflicting it on others. Without the torment of the divine fire, Rody would not dare to explore these terrifying realms.
What pain could surpass the constant burning of one's soul by the undying fire? If he could endure the fire's torment, then surely the pain from mental power was bearable. Rody bravely tried all the mental magic he could, but the six most advanced mental magic spells remained beyond his reach, showing no response to his mental probes. He recalled a servant of God once telling him about his great potential in soul and mental power.
Rody, without hesitation, temporarily set aside necromancy to focus on soul magic. He believed that learning in his strongest area would yield the best results. Unaware of when the Power Angel might disrupt his training, enhancing his abilities to stand against the angel became his primary goal.
Soul magic, to Rody's surprise, was not as peaceful and gentle as he had thought. Contrary to being about redemption or protection, soul magic possessed offensive power comparable to, if not surpassing, mental magic. A master of soul magic could directly destroy a person's soul, especially effective against evil souls, easily judging and annihilating them. Against a soul as pure as gold, typically found in virtuous individuals, soul magic was almost powerless. In essence, the more evil the individual, the weaker their defense against a soul mage.
The study of soul magic came with a daunting stipulation that made Rody nervous. Before learning each spell, the caster had to first endure the spell's full force on their soul. Rody worried he was an evil being, as he didn’t consider himself good. If not for the Treant Elder Toka's assertion about Rody and Gill having golden souls, Rody wouldn't have dared to try soul magic. During the divine fire torment, he saw his soul as purple, not the golden color Toka had mentioned.
The first soul magic spell he chose was 'Soul Cleansing', not the risky 'Soul Judgement'. This spell was said to make evildoers feel as if they were being cleansed in hellish lava. Sweating profusely, Rody feared whether he could endure it. Surprisingly, the experience was less painful than he expected, making him wonder if he wasn’t as evil as he thought, despite his many misdeeds and killings. After learning the spell, his soul color lightened, hinting at a purplish-gold hue.
Further learning led Rody’s soul to gradually turn into a bright gold. Bravely, he eventually confronted 'Soul Judgement' and found it had no effect on him, filling him with exhilaration and momentarily making him forget the pain of the divine fire. He wasn't a saint, but not a great villain either, which boosted his confidence. Armed with mental and soul magic, Rody felt he could look down upon many strong beings, despite being under the curse of the magic and martial arts ban.
The only regret was that soul magic required the opponent to be of equal or lesser strength for successful casting. Against much stronger opponents, the spells would fail. This, Rody realized, was akin to elemental resistance. Superiors were so because they transcended the ordinary in all aspects.
Rody studied soul magic purely to enhance his abilities, not to judge a magical saint. It seemed reasonable that if he could use soul magic to judge those far stronger than him, then dark gods or their minions would be doomed.
'Soul Cleansing', 'Soul Insight', 'Soul Redemption', 'Soul Comfort', 'Soul Fortification', 'Soul Judgement', 'Soul Burning'... The array of soul magic spells not only fortified Rody's mind but also his soul, increasing his resistance to the torment of divine fire.
Unexpectedly, Rody found a tiny, undying flame within his soul, possibly a transformed fragment of the divine fire. He entertained the thrilling possibility of turning all divine fire into his soul fire. The prospect excited him to the point of tears, recalling a saying: If heaven closes all doors, it leaves you a window.