The First Magiial of Nothingness sounded simir to thought-based magecraft.

  After all, when one perfected thought magecraft to its highest degree, it ossible to shape reality with the force of will, creating something seemingly from nothing. However, the two were fually different.

  The First Magic truly created matter from nothing, while thought magecraft merely bent or modified the existing rules of the world through immense mental energy and willpower.

  In parison, the First Magic was far superior. At the very least, it didn't drain the user's mental reserves the way thought magecraft did.

  As for the elusive Fourth Magic, it remaihe most mysterious of them all.

  Modern knowledge about it ractically ent. What little informatioed only firmed its authenticity, its existence wasn't a myth, but its effects and ws were pletely unknown.

  "Chihiro, are you alright?"

  Zhang Jiao, notig Chihiro standing frozen in thought after opening his treasure chest, waved his hand in front of the young man's face.

  Chihiro snapped out of his daze, smiling lightly. "It's nothing. I just opened something amazing."

  Zhang Jiao raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what might that be?"

  Without hesitation, Chihiro expihe First Magic he had just acquired.

  "The First Magic? A form of sorcery?" Zhang Jiao murmured in shock, stroking his beard as he ied Chihiro curiously.

  "What's with that look, Zhang Jiao?" Chihiro asked, feeling slightly unfortable under his panion's scrutinizing gaze.

  "I was just thinking," Zhang Jiao replied with a chuckle, "how someone as ordinary as you have such extraordinary luck. If I were skilled at divination, I'd want to read your fate and see what kind of fortune you carry."

  Zhang Jiao then sighed in admiration. "Even among the gods, it seems no one has fully mastered this ability. The First Magic truly lives up to its legend."

  Sigurd, standing nearby, joihe versation. "Is it difficult to use this magic?"

  "It depeirely on what you're trying to create," Chihiro admitted, rubbing his hands together. "Simpler things should be retively easy."

  To test his newfound power, Chihiro decided to start small. With a focused mind, he created a piece of paper.

  However, the result left much to be desired. peared in his hands was limp and flimsy, more akin to toilet paper than a proper sheet of A4.

  "It seems precision is critical when using the First Magic," Chihiro muttered, immediately uanding his mistake.

  He realized that wheing an object, it wasn't enough to visualize just its appearance. One also had to at for its texture, material, and other defining characteristics. His earlier pse in tration had caused his thoughts to drift toward toilet paper, resulting in the current oute.

  Being skilled ial discipline from his training, Chihiro refocused his thoughts. This time, he successfully produced a proper sheet of A4 paper, identical in every way to the ones he used regurly.

  Enced by his success, Chihiro decided to experiment further. His creation was a steamed bun.

  The bun looked perfect white, fluffy, and soft to the touch. But when Chihiro took a bite, his excitement quickly turo disappoi.

  The bun was tasteless.

  The dough had no sweetness, and the filling, while having the texture of meat, cked any fvor. It was as if he were eating a hollow imitation.

  Chihiro frowned. Did this mean that, in addition to imagining the appearand texture of food, he also had to envision its fvor?

  Determined, he tried again, this time trating oaste of the bun. The creation was a signifit improvement, both the dough and the meat filling had fvor.

  However, whe into it, he noticed another problem.

  The bun was cold.

  Clearly, he o factor iemperature as well.

  On his third attempt, Chihiro mao create a warm bun. But as he raised it to his mouth, another issue struck him—it had no aroma.

  So, st arate factor from fvor.

  Finally, on his fourth try, Chihiro created a perfect steamed bun. It was warm, fragrant, and delicious, indistinguishable from the real thing.

  "Unbelievable," Zhang Jiao said, marveling as he took a bite of the bun. "To think even food be created."

  Sigurd nodded in agreement, equally impressed.

  Emboldened by his success, Chihiro tinued experimenting.

  Wheried to create a cell phohe result was disappointing. While the exterior looked fwless, the phone was merely ay shell, Chihiro cked the teical knowledge to replicate its internal pos.

  Simirly, wheempted to create ginseng, the result was just an ordinary tree root. Without an uanding of the pnt's medial properties, he couldn't replicate its true nature.

  However, when it came to a on, Chihiro mao create something uhe sword he produced was remarkably thin, almost paper-like in appearance, yet it possessed the hardness of steel and incredible sharpness.

  Sigurd ied the on in awe. "A bde like this couldn't possibly exist iy. Its position defies all known limits of material strength. This must be a result of the 'rules' you assigo it when you created it."

  "Let's try something alive ," Chihiro suggested, eager to push the boundaries further.

  Instead of attempting something grandiose, he started with a simple mosquito.

  Slowly, a tiny mosquito materialized in his palm. It fpped its wings and hovered in front of him.

  But there was something off. The mosquito didn't behave like a real creature—it simply floated there, unmoving.

  "It's alive, but it has no sciousness," Zhang Jiao pointed out.

  Chihiro houghtfully and tried again. This time, the mosquito moved as expected, flying to his hand and starting to suck his blood.

  However, things quickly spiraled out of trol. The mosquito didn't stop feeding, its abdomen swelling unnaturally until it eventually burst. Even then, its severed head tinued sug blood until Chihiro ied it with a flicker of fme.

  "You still didn't give it true sciousness," Zhang Jiao expined. "It's just like a puppet, mindlessly following a single directive."

  Chihiro uood. To grant a living creature full sciousness, he would o include emotions, thoughts, memories, and instincts, araordinarily plex task.

  No wohe Kuonji family had opted to use fairy tales as a tempte for creating familiars. The predefined characters and personalities within those stories saved them from having to build everything from scratch.

  Reizing the limits of his current ability, Chihiro decided to end the experiments for the day. The repeated use of the First Magic had drained his mental energy signifitly.

  As Zhang Jiao and the others opeheir own treasure chests, the atmosphere lightened.

  Zhang Jiao's chest tained a single-use magical attribute card beled "Imaginary Number." This rare item could grant its user access to the Imaginary Numbers attribute. Zhang Jiao, however, wasn't certaiher to use it or save it for ter.

  Meanwhile, Hassan of the Hundred Faces opened an exclusive item—Library of Hundred Men specifically tailored to enhahe skills of his es. Unfortunately, with only a few es avaible at present, its potential couldn't yet be fully realized.

  Sigurd, oher hand, received a gift depig a familiar blue-eyed woman wearing a kimono. Chihiro immediately reized her as Aozaki Aoko—the ior of the Fifth Magic.

  Sigurd's reward, a gem called the "Moonstone," increased the user's charm drastically. Finding it useless for himself, Sigurd ha over to Chihiro without hesitation.

  Feeling exhausted, Chihiro excused himself auro his room, where two unopereasure chests awaited him.

  Starting with the silver chest, he found a photograph of a beautiful woman with burgundy hair, seated against a wall with her clothing loose enough to expose her pale skin and ample figure.

  From the open nee, it was clear she wore nothing underh.

  ***

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