Chapter 73 – The Divine Descent Era

Chapter 73 – The Divine Descent Era

Mo Lan had only read a few pages about the Divine Descent Era before she was stunned by the chaos of that age.

She had originally assumed that humans were simply the first intelligent race of Valen, and that the various other intelligent races had gradually evolved afterward.

She never expected that only humans, the witches who awakened from among humans, and the Sorceresses who awakened from among witches were native intelligent races of the world of Valen.

Angels, Demons, Dragons, Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Merfolk, Sirens, and other races had all migrated from other worlds during the Divine Descent Era.

They descended from the heavens, possessing extraordinary powers that humans had not yet mastered, and were mistaken for gods.

The Divine Descent Era was the period during which the Continent of Valen broadly accepted the migration of foreign races into their world.

During this time, the foreign races grew and expanded, claiming territories for themselves.

Native humans survived in the cracks between these foreign races, but the presence of the outsiders also influenced humanity, accelerating their growth and evolution.

This continued until the middle of the Divine Descent Era, when angels and demons descended—one setting its sights on human faith, the other on human souls.

Together they drove the other foreign races, along with magical beasts, out of the central continent, corralling native humans there like penned livestock.

Both angels and demons cloaked themselves in the vestments of the Church.

The angels fabricated a God of Light, preaching among humans that faith in the God of Light would free them from the hardships of life.

The demons fabricated a God of Contracts, luring people with the pretense of fair exchange, claiming that by trading with the God of Contracts and paying a certain price, one could obtain whatever one desired.

Both churches declared that those chosen to become priests and knights—those permitted to study divine arts—were people blessed by the gods.

Outside the Church, anyone who displayed unusual abilities was branded a blasphemer who had forsaken the light and been tempted by demons, and had to be put to death by extreme punishment, lest they bring calamity.

The irony was precisely this: even the demons used the specter of demons to eliminate dissenters.

The so-called blasphemers were really just people with magical talent outside the light or dark systems—such as witches.

One could say that during the Divine Descent Era, the explosive growth of the human population was partly thanks to the angels and demons.

While becoming livestock penned up for the harvesting of faith and souls, humans had at least finally gathered together and gained a homeland free from the threat of magical beasts.

Under the deception of angels and demons, humanity passed through an age of ignorance.

Whenever a spellcaster appeared among humans, they were either absorbed by the Church and became premium livestock, or sent straight to the burning stake to be executed.

It was only when humans gradually realized that everything was nothing but a scheme by the angels and demons that they began to resist the Church.

In the late Divine Descent Era, the human race rose up and the Church fell. The angels retreated to Heaven’s Peak in the west, the demons withdrew to the Abyss underground, and the central continent became humanity’s domain at last.

After that, the various human nations and other races alternated between friendly exchanges and friction.

It was not until the Well of the Sky appeared—when no new foreign races descended, and the existing powerhouses no longer had to confine themselves to Valen’s limited territory but could explore other worlds and continue to grow stronger—that the Divine Descent Era finally came to an end.

What followed was the world’s growth: energy density increased, the number of extraordinary beings exploded, and the magic of every race entered a period of great development.

If the protagonists of the Divine Descent Era were the angels and demons, then the protagonists of the Magic Era were the Sorceresses.

From the moment Sorceresses appeared, occupied the Wilds, and began sheltering witches, wars between the different races on the Continent of Valen decreased dramatically.

By now, even the occasional conflict was little more than a minor skirmish.

The top combatants of every race were busy exploring the Well of the Sky.

“So it seems Valen right now is in an era of peace!” Mo Lan mused with a sigh.

Though she didn’t know how long the current peace could last, Mo Lan was still happy about it.

War brought nothing but suffering and dealt devastating blows to civilization.

If world-ending weapons of war ever appeared, once deployed, they would be a catastrophe for the entire world.

Earth was a cautionary tale. She never wanted to experience anything like that again.

Peace was good. From the perspective of a girl who lived through the wars that destroyed Earth it was incredibly good.

Coming back to herself from the book, she checked the time and found it was already past midnight again.

Lady Amisha’s reminder still echoed in her ears—insufficient sleep would slow the growth of her Mana. She needed to hurry and wash up, then get to bed.

After lying down, she remembered that she hadn’t looked at next week’s class schedule yet.

She rolled over, and the Grimoire on her nightstand floated over to her, opening to the page for the Mo Lan grabbed it and flipped to the 《Newcomer’s Guide》.

“Hmm! Nothing’s changed!”

If it hadn’t said “First Year, Week Three” at the top, Mo Lan would have thought the schedule hadn’t been updated at all.

This week’s classes were exactly the same as last week’s. It seemed she could spend the whole weekend doing whatever she wanted—she didn’t even need to preview new lessons.

The Grimoire fell shut with a soft thud, and she closed her eyes and was asleep in an instant.

The next morning, the moment the Academy bell rang, Mo Lan got up and headed to Breadfruit Grove.

She plucked bunch after bunch of Breadfruit and carried them back to the Dormitory.

It took many trips back and forth before she’d moved them all.

In her mobile kitchen, she could use Culinary Magic to levitate a bag of flour, but once she left that familiar kitchen, she couldn’t even lift a single Breadfruit with Magic—she had to carry everything by hand.

Every time she was hauling things back and forth until she was gasping for breath, Mo Lan envied Senior Lilith and her Levitation Spell beyond measure.

Without the slightest effort, Lilith could lift an entire mountain of Breadfruit.

Come to think of it, where had the Levitation Spell been learned from again?

Senior Lilith had only just started her second year. The Levitation Spell was either taught in first-year classes or something she’d studied on her own.

Among the required reading for classes, none of the books seemed to have anything to do with the Levitation Spell.

“I’ll know if I check 《The Witch Magic Catalog》!”

After finishing her Breadfruit harvest, Mo Lan flipped through 《The Witch Magic Catalog》 and looked up the entry on the Levitation Spell:

“Reference book: 《Levitation—Your Invisible Hands》?”

That book wasn’t even on the elective reading list, so naturally she hadn’t copied it down.

She didn’t even know if the first-year library in the Castle had a copy.

And even if it did, she didn’t want to waste several hours trekking to the Castle just to transcribe a single book.

She still had so many books she’d already transcribed that she hadn’t had time to read yet!

“Looks like there’s no way I’m learning it this weekend.”

Mo Lan felt a moment of regret, then let it go:

“No matter. The Breadfruit I picked today is enough to make fruit cakes to last me an entire week.

I won’t be needing the Levitation Spell anytime soon. I’ll learn it later!”

She washed the Breadfruit, juiced them and made fruit cakes, staying busy for over an hour.

After storing all the juice and cakes away, the Academy bell struck exactly nine times.

“Nine o’clock! Visiting the young witches at this hour shouldn’t be a bother, right? It’s time for Miss Snail to make her entrance!”

Mo Lan popped a piece of freshly made fruit cake into her mouth, tucked her Wand into her pocket, and headed out the door.