My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 172 According to the epic, the hero Sildenas once killed the king of the gods with a stone.
Xue was stunned for the first time, and he even began to doubt whether there was an error in the translation module.

Although the things left behind by the great sage are useful, the chance of them having bugs is not zero. He also encountered situations where the functions scanned by the panel differed from the actual functions.

Because on this blue planet where magic has been banned, he couldn't imagine anyone becoming a traveler within his body...

After all, even the weakest old undead is a legendary existence, and according to the later classification, he should be placed in the category that is close to the quasi-mythical level.

"Um, may I ask who you are?" Xue Dinglu asked tentatively.

The old gentleman, who seemed to have only heard his voice but not seen him, became even more respectful and immediately bowed slightly before saying, "I am but a humble astrologer and mystic, and I once served as a professor of astronomy at Boston University."

Xue Law: "..."

Good heavens, it's not a translation module problem, it really is a human from Earth!

Xue Luding immediately became curious. He could indeed sense the magic power within the old man's body, but his magic power was completely different from that of a normal mage. It was as if he had been permanently banned from using magic. Xue Luding couldn't even accurately determine how to classify them.

The only one in a similar situation was Old Watson, who was under the spell-banning spells of Xue's Law. This court mage from the Silver Kingdom was like this during the spell-banning period; he could not feel the flow of magic, but he could know that there was a great amount of energy in him.

Now, it seems that, like the other mages on Fairy Tale Star, most of Old Watson's magic has stopped working, but some magic is still usable, including the Bread spell modified by Xue's Law.

He also had to act as both father and mother to the rest of the Silver Kingdom, while simultaneously researching a brand-new magic system and providing the people of the Silver Kingdom with an endless supply of bread and accelerating the growth of vegetables. This seemed to be one of the few spells of his that did not fail.

Xue Dinglu was afraid that the next time he returned to the back mountain he had contracted in Baiyin Kingdom, he would find an old mage who had died from overwork on that mountain.

Xue's Law's thinking has gone a bit too far.

On the other side, the old gentleman chatted with Xue Luding while also observing the entire consciousness space, marveling at it.

For him, the teleportation portal was the most novel thing, but perhaps due to his manners, he didn't touch it directly. Also, seeing the school's style filled with fantasy and fairy tale elements made him even more surprised.

However, he kept it well hidden and did not do anything impolite.

At the same time, Xue's Law also turned off sharing.

Obviously, if he were a human from Earth, Xue Lude would be completely unable to determine his good or evil alignment based on information from their world (tokusatsu dramas). However, he clearly overheard some information that could be investigated further.

"Mysticism?" Xue Luding felt this was familiar. He immediately looked up the school of thought online, and then leaned back tactically.

The origins of mysticism can be traced back to around the same time as the birth of alchemy in Western history, but mysticism in its true sense was born in the 17th century, a time when science was just beginning to emerge.

The earliest group of scientists all had some theological background, such as Darwin, Mendel, and Sir Isaac.

Furthermore, because science and technology were in their infancy during that era, many theories and scientific concepts were not yet systematic and were largely unknown to scientists at the time, with conjectures and hypotheses making up the majority of scientific content.

As a result, mysticism began to flourish in that era. The essence of mysticism is the study of "supernatural disciplines that do not conform to science".

In that era when science and technology were just beginning to emerge, it was one of many nascent "scientific hypotheses," belonging to the most obvious transitional school between theology and science, and also a doctrine that uses science to interpret theology.

It belongs to an early hybrid discipline that combines physics, psychology, classical magic, alchemy, and philosophy.

Although it is very abstract, mysticism often has an outward manifestation that is not much different from alchemy, but it belongs to classical science.

Because there were so many things in that era that people could not explain with scientific theories, the scholars of that time used the mysterious perspective to explain natural phenomena and laws that science could not explain, and the mysticism began to flourish. The most popular period of mysticism was the Victorian era and the period after the Amerindian independence movement.

Xue Luding doesn't understand mysticism, but he's a standard Earth mage who's now incredibly skilled at using magic runes and magic circles. He's decided to have a serious discussion about "magic" with this mystic.

Then, Xue Dinglu arrived in the consciousness space and began to show this new guest around the school while discussing mysticism with him using his knowledge as a magician.

Clearly, the old gentleman was immediately surprised upon seeing Xue Dinglu's appearance. He even slightly turned his head away, not daring to look at Xue Dinglu's face. His expression was respectful, yet wary.

Xue Law: "..."

Is he some kind of ancient god? He's so unbearable to look at?
"Your appearance is truly divine. I apologize, but I'll need to devise a simple ritual." Xue Dinglu watched as the man removed his monocle, adjusted his glasses, and added completely redundant mechanical structures.

A minute passed, and a set of rotating gears appeared on the monocle. He clipped the monocle to his eye socket before daring to look directly at Xue Dinglu, and he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Xue Law: "..."

Old Deng, were you doing something extremely rude just now?

"May I take a look at your glasses?"

"Okay...okay." The old gentleman was somewhat flattered. After handing over his monocle, he immediately turned his head away again.

Xue Dinglu picked up the glasses and looked at them. Wow, the old gentleman's facial features had completely disappeared, turning him into a faceless man. He took out his phone, opened the front camera, and looked at his own face. Behind the lenses, he too had become a faceless man.

These glasses are amazing! Didn't they just add a gear in terms of physics? How did this unscientific situation suddenly occur?

It's not only unscientific, but also not magical; Xue's Law cannot sense any magical fluctuations above it.

Is this the mysticism? It's got some substance.

Judging from the gentleman's attire, Xue Daolu felt that he was still a modern person, or at least not too far removed from the modern world. So Xue Daolu returned the monocle and asked, "Sir, how many years have passed since the birth of Jesus?" The old gentleman was taken aback for a moment, then realized what Xue Daolu was trying to say and immediately replied, "2026 years since the birth of Jesus."

Boston in 2026?
Wait, 2026?
Where did this time traveler come from?
Xue immediately realized that things were not simple. This old man might not be from his timeline, but from the future. He felt that chatting with the old gentleman was too tiring, and it would take a long time to obtain a piece of information.

He immediately stopped acting and laid his cards on the table. The next moment, the illusion materialized and conjured a set of tables and chairs out of thin air in front of the two of them. Then, a werewolf stood in front of the table like a butler, holding a tray in one hand and with the other hand behind his back.

The werewolf has not been given life; it can be seen as a robot in the form of flesh and blood at this point.

The scene of this illusion materialized immediately stunned the old gentleman. He seemed too shocked to speak. Only after Xue Dinglu gestured for him to sit down did the old gentleman hurriedly sit down and say, "Sir, could you be the legendary magician? A being completely different from us mystics who play tricks."

"You can think of it this way, sir. I'd like to know roughly what happened on your end, and also about the situation with the occult." Xue Luding decided to reveal his purpose.

At this moment, the old gentleman seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and he immediately began to recount a lot of information as if pouring out beans.

……

The old gentleman was a mystic; they were a group of people who studied folklore, ancient culture, and all sorts of strange and unusual knowledge, and it seemed that they had actually figured some things out.

Mysticism is a kind of "trick" that can produce a reflection at a specific time through specific rituals and preparations.

He called his ability "magic tricks." Indeed, Xue's law found that mysticism is incredibly demanding in terms of the complexity, precision, and requirements of rituals, while the effects achieved are generally very weak.

Therefore, after witnessing real magic, he naturally realized that his knowledge of mysticism was nothing more than a trick.

However, Xue also greatly admired that these mystics had actually created a ritual that could be used without magic on an absolutely magic-free Earth, and that it had become a separate discipline and spread far and wide.

Mysticism, in essence, exploits a loophole on Earth: magical rituals that can be performed without the aid of magic.

That's why Xue Dinglu found it novel. He learned a lot about mysticism from the old gentleman, including many "ancient gods" and folklore, the hypothesis of the extinction of the classical pantheon, and the opportunity for the birth of mysticism, etc.

He wasn't from Boston, but a renowned occultist from the city. After receiving an invitation, he traveled to Salem, a small town in the far west of Boston, to participate in a large-scale occult ritual, which seemed to be related to some kind of war.

But his memory ends there. He only remembers participating in that massive occult ritual, but the specific details, what he did, and everything afterward are completely gone.

Xue's Law: Tactical Lean Back.

He may have died in that massive occult ritual, but given his current state of ignorance and confusion, Xue Luding was certain that he couldn't get any more details about the ritual.

However, mysticism is only a discipline that uses magical rituals when there is no magic power. It is a special edition of Earth, so there shouldn't be any overly outrageous rituals. If they were too outrageous, my mom wouldn't allow it.

The upper limit of that mysticism is probably just that.

However, Xue was incredibly impressed by the old gentleman's many hidden pieces of knowledge, especially his knowledge of the customs of various civilizations, as well as those ancient anecdotes about various civilizations that were more like "unofficial histories," all of which broadened Xue's horizons.

Until the old gentleman said, “We have been studying the demise of the Age of Gods. Strangely enough, the Age of Gods disappeared around 1000 BC in all parts of the world. That coincides with the end of the Age of Gods in ancient Greece, the end of the Shang Dynasty in the East, and the disappearance of myths in various civilizations.”

Even King Solomon, the king of mysticism in later generations, was only the king of mysticism, not the king of magic.

"However, later we found the decisive evidence!"

The old gentleman was very excited; Xue was even afraid that the monocle would pierce his eye socket.

"That's the discovery of Homer's epics. We now have a general understanding of the reason for the end of the Age of Gods. According to the epics, the Age of Gods ended because Zeus failed to usurp the power of God. The epics also say that the hero Syldras defeated Zeus with a stone, ending the end of the world and bringing the Age of Gods to a close..."

"puff!"

Xue Daolu sprayed all the tea from his mouth onto the werewolf butler beside him. The werewolf butler remained expressionless, faithfully carrying out his orders like a real robot.

However, Xue Dinglu choked and coughed incessantly, completely disregarding the fact that his image seemed to crumble in front of this mystic.

"Sir, is there a problem?" the old gentleman asked immediately with concern. He simply couldn't imagine why this "god" who could create things out of thin air would choke on his tea.

"No, it's nothing... Your world's epic records are really outrageous..." Xue Dinglu complained.

When he heard the "Epic of Sildenas" being spoken seriously by someone from Earth, instead of in a joking manner as if talking about a movie character, he had a bad feeling.

"Tell me more about Homer's epics from your world," Xue Dinglu asked hastily.

He couldn't imagine what kind of monsters and demons existed in this old man's world from the future. If Xue Lude said that there was a big guy sitting on a golden toilet in their world, he would be willing to believe it.

The old gentleman adjusted his monocle and began to slowly recount the ancient epics he had collected: "According to the epics, the hero Xerathus led the Thunderfury in a final battle against Zeus, the king of the gods, and defeated Zeus with stones, ending the Age of Gods. From then on, the Great Source of Magic disappeared, and we mystics can only use the Lesser Source of Magic to perform rituals."

Xue Law: "..."

He didn't come from the Earth of official history, but from the future of that parallel world where Xue's Law changed history...

But wasn't that world merged by Mom? It should have disappeared by now.

Xue Luding's pupils were full of doubt. He believed half of the old gentleman's information, because the other half might be because his source was unreliable.

And why does this epic sound like a little textbook about gratitude? Is it really possible that records from the age of gods would be so distorted when they are passed down to the modern era?
(End of this chapter)