"Hmph! Shut up!"
Genie Sylas waved his hand, and the Scarecrow immediately lost the ability to make any sound.
That surprised Ethan, "Archmage Sylas, you can hear him talking?"
"I can hear him. What's strange about that?", Sylas shot Ethan a disdainful look, "The universal language of all realms is a required skill for mages. Even those wandering merchants in the wilderness know it. If I didn't even know that, what face would I have to live in this world?"
"Heh! Heh!"
Ethan felt a little embarrassed and quickly changed the topic, "By the way, Archmage Sylas, can you turn him back into a human?"
"No."
Sylas shook his head directly and firmly, "That state of his was done by a Wilderness Witch, right?"
"Yes," Ethan nodded and tried to provoke him on purpose, "Could it be that a grand Archmage is inferior to a mere Wilderness Witch? Why can she do it, but you can't?"
"Bullshit!", Sylas snapped in anger, "A mere Wilderness Witch, what does she have to compare with me? When I was studying magic, those Wilderness Witches didn't even know where they were."
"Then why…"
"Stop trying to provoke me. That trick doesn't work on me," Sylas glanced at Ethan, "If you want to know the reason, I'll just tell you!"
"Magic isn't what you imagine, where you can turn anything into whatever you want."
"The core of magic is actually similar to alchemy."
"For example, if I want to cast a Great Fireball right now…"
As Sylas spoke, a fireball instantly appeared in his misty hand, and it kept growing bigger and brighter.
In less than a blink, the fireball in his hand had already surpassed the one White Eagle had gathered before.
It even felt like a small sun was rising from Sylas's palm.
'Could this… be the strength of a grand Archmage?'
Ethan sucked in a sharp breath. He was nearly two meters away from Sylas, yet he could clearly feel the scorching heat coming from that fireball.
It was like a hundred heat lamps shining directly on him, making his skin feel like it was burning.
Not only that, the fireball carried an overwhelming pressure.
Ethan had no doubt that if that Great Fireball were hurled into the stone chamber, it would blast the whole place apart.
Even though Sylas hadn't thrown it yet, Ethan was already worrying where he was planning to throw it.
But the next second, Ethan once again experienced how terrifying a grand Archmage truly was.
Snap!
Sylas merely flicked his fingers lightly.
And the Great Fireball that had looked like a small sun simply vanished in front of them, as if it had never existed.
"For example, if I want to cast a Great Fireball…", After finishing the demonstration, Sylas continued, "Where do you think the fireball in my hand came from?"
Ethan answered, "Naturally from gathering fire elements."
"Correct! That fireball was condensed from the fire elements in the air," Sylas explained further, "In other words, the fireball does not appear out of thin air. It has to be gathered."
"This is the same as the principle of equivalent exchange in alchemy."
"No matter what it is, nothing appears out of thin air, nor does it vanish into nothing. If something disappears, it has merely been exchanged."
"Uh…"
Ethan half understood, "Then what does that have to do with the Scarecrow? Don't tell me his body was also exchanged through equivalent exchange?"
"Exactly!"
Sylas said, "His flesh didn't vanish for no reason. The Wilderness Witch exchanged his original body with that of a scarecrow through equivalent exchange. That's why his body became that of a scarecrow, but he also gained certain traits of a scarecrow."
"For example, as long as the soul is not destroyed, a scarecrow can live forever without dying."
"And the trait of not needing to eat or drink."
"So he can never change back?", Ethan felt sorry for the Scarecrow, "But I remember he said the witch promised that as long as he guarded the garden for ten years, she would turn him back into a human and give him freedom."
"He can," Sylas said, "It's still the principle of equivalent exchange. Since the Wilderness Witch promised ten years as the price of exchange, then after ten years, he can naturally reclaim his original body through the contract."
"Even if his body is no longer around?"
Ethan was puzzled.
Besides wanting to help the Scarecrow, he also wanted to understand more about this world. About magic. About the principle of equivalent exchange.
"His body cannot simply not be around," Sylas said, "The moment the Wilderness Witch exchanged his body with the scarecrow's, his original body was already preserved in a special space."
"We call that space a Realm, or the Boundary of Ten Thousand Realms."
"If your ability is strong enough, or if you become a great astrologer like that big fool at the gate, you can calculate which Realm your body was stored in, tear open the void, and retrieve it from that Realm."
"A bit difficult, but it sounds interesting," Ethan nodded, "So in this world, as long as your level is high enough, you can accomplish anything you want?"
Sylas nodded, "In theory, yes."
"Since a grand Archmage is so powerful," Ethan asked curiously, "How did you end up like this?"
"Can you not poke at my sore spot!", Sylas flared up immediately, "Are you going or not? If not, I'm going to sleep!"
"Going! Going! I'm going right now!"
Ethan stopped talking nonsense and directly pushed open the door leading to the Shadow Guard's stone chamber.
At the same time, he took out his magic book and glanced at the time on it.
Two in the afternoon.
He hadn't even noticed how much time had passed. Only two hours left before it got dark.
Even though he now had a grand Archmage by his side, he wasn't sure whether the Archmage could protect him. So Ethan decided to quickly finish dealing with everything in this treasure land and head back as soon as possible.
But just as he was about to put away the magic book, he noticed the 99+ symbol on the Regional Channel, 'Did something happen again?'
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