Legendary spells were completely unique because they could only be learned by a single person in a generation until that person died. The reason for this rule was that the very property of the magic worked in a way that became entirely unique to the person who mastered it during that generation.

Once a soul locked onto the core logic of a legendary spell, the universal laws prevented anyone else from tapping into that specific frequency until the current user passed away.

The Crown of Force was supposed to be learned only by the direct descendant of the Sovereign Dragon who inherited the Crown of Sovereign from their ancestors.

Only with this specific bone fragment could a mage learn the spell without the mana cost instantly skyrocketing far above their natural capacity.

[The Crown of Sovereign acts as a direct bridge between thought and reality. Normally, for a mages to cast the Crown of Force, every single thought they try to project requires mana to manifest.

As a mages ranks up, the weight of their thoughts increases, and so does the required mana. This exact mechanic was what made the spell so incredibly costly with mana for normal mages.

With the Crown of Sovereign bone fragment, there was no need for mana to manifest those thoughts into reality, allowing the spell to cost the same as other standard ranked spells.]

"Oh," Rhys nodded as he imprinted the spell structure of the Crown of Force directly into his spell book. He did this carefully just in case he should ever forget its incredibly complex geometric layout.

After all, he did not possess a photographic memory, and missing even a single line of this draconic matrix could prove disastrous later on.

Furthermore, this spell was inherently different from any other spells Rhys had learned up to this point. Simply burning his lifespan to project the spell structure outside his body to cast the spell would never work here.

He had to completely manifest a clear thought before activating the spell. It required a concrete thought which he needed to manifest into the physical world.

Rhys turned his head to look at Diamantakos, making the completely oblivious horse shiver involuntarily under his intense gaze. The poor animal backed up a step in the straw.

’How good it would be if you turned into a unicorn,’ Rhys thought in that exact instant.

Suddenly, a massive, invisible weight appeared right on top of his head as a glowing psychic crown manifested smoothly above his hair.

"You have a thought."

Rhys almost jumped in fright when a cold, mechanical voice appeared directly inside his head.

"What the hell! The spell can talk?" he asked aloud, his eyes widening as he looked around the empty stall.

[Legendary spells have their own unique consciousness, host,] the system explained.

"Holy..."

[They can easily reject a mages if they are not satisfied with their natural talent or their bloodline purity.]

"That means the spell actually accepted me?" Rhys asked, a bit of clear pride slipping into his tone as he straightened his posture.

[What you are giving the spell is the absolute purest form of all energies in the universe, host. Lifespan. The spell’s consciousness would have to be an absolute idiot to reject you.]

"Uplifting a race to a higher race falls under the absolute authority of Ascension," the cold voice of the spell echoed inside his mind once more. "Calculating the total lifespan required for this specific thought to manifest."

A brief pause followed before the voice returned.

"Calculated lifespan: 49.098 million years."

"Fuck! This... this is higher than an Archmage spell!" Rhys took a sharp, ragged breath, his heart hammering against his ribs. "That is almost twice the cost of an Archmage spell. And that is too for a fucking two minutes of manifestation. Gosh!"

"Sufficient lifespan is not detected. Insufficient lifespan."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Rhys sighed, instantly canceling the spell. "It is not like I actually want to make this idiot horse a unicorn anyway."

Even though his very first try of the spell failed because of an insufficient lifespan pool, and knowing the actual lifespan required to cast a real thought would be significantly higher than he initially expected, Rhys was still incredibly excited.

This spell literally gave him the potential to wield a power that went far beyond an Archmage!

A slow, wide grin appeared on his face as he rubbed his palms together in the dim light of the stable.

Innovations were also once nothing more than simple thoughts in someone’s head. In that sense, wouldn’t this legendary spell enable him to create the specific outputs of completely different kinds of spells whenever he needed them?

If he could think it, and if he had the years to pay for it, the crown would force the universe to comply.

’Crazy,’ Rhys thought.

But he knew the lifespan he would require for grander thoughts would be absolutely immense. He would need to farm a lot more insects and monsters outside the city walls.

"System, what will happen to the physical spell structure now since I already learned it?" Rhys asked, thinking of the jade slip he had just returned. "Would it shatter or something?"

If that were the case, he wouldn’t be able to explain the damage to the MSFRM staff when they inspected the vault later.

[The jade slip will stay exactly as it is. The physical structure will remain intact. But because your soul has already claimed the concept for this generation, no one else in this world can learn it from that stone.]

"Well, it is not like anyone else could easily learn it anyway," Rhys thought to himself, completely unaware of what was happening elsewhere.

Far away from Azure City, somewhere deep within the dark, dangerous untamed lands, a young man with half his body covered in thick dragon scales crawled slowly under a massive, twisted tree.

He was breathing incredibly hard, his chest heaving as he nursed severe injuries all over his bleeding body. His breathing was ragged and uneven as he looked around the brutal carnage he had just created.

A large portion of the surrounding forest land was completely scorched in black fire, with the countless dead bodies of high-tier monsters scattered wildly across the dirt.

In his trembling hand, the dragon-scaled youth held a small, transparent crystal ball. Inside the sphere, a miniature Fire Drake was swirling around frantically.

He did not hesitate, pushing the solid ball straight into his mouth and swallowing it whole, groaning in deep contentment as the burning draconic energy flooded his veins.

"Will this finally be enough for me to master that spell?" the young man asked aloud to the empty forest, his voice full of desperation.

Suddenly, a cold and arrogant voice sounded directly in his mind, dripping with absolute ridicule.

"Not even a single percent chance, you idiot. You just need to do exactly as I say. With your pitiful level of talent, you will need at least a thousand territory cores of pure dragon bloodline to ever cast a single simple thought using that power.

I do not even know how someone as weak as you pulled my soul into your body in the first place. Even a wild horse has a higher natural mana capacity than you."

"You! How dare you compare me to a common horse?" the young man snapped, his fist clenching tightly into the dirt.

"Oh, sorry about that," the arrogant voice replied inside his head, chuckling darkly. "The horse would probably strangle itself with its own reins if it heard that I compared it to you."

"You!"