ã€ŠThe Good Teacherã€‹


 Chapter 1 A Life Cut Short

    Luck is something that truly exists in this world. Regardless of how hard someone works, luck inevitably ys a crucial role in their sess. A man can work his ass off through college and university and still end up working as a peon, or a man can cruise through easy courses and end up with a lucky internship in a mega-corporation from the get-go.

    In many ways, luck can make or break someone''s future.

    Guy Larks was a special case. He was born with heavenly fortune - to a family with wealth oozing out of their pores - and that too in the most favourable position, as the youngest of three siblings. His eldest brother - now 30 years old- would inevitably inherit the Larks family''s multi-billion dor business, and the middle sister - now 27 years old- was sessful in the art business and had a growing entertainment corporation. His parents did not have any expectations from him, and he was free to live a prodigal life as an 18-year-old.

    But Guy Larks didn''t. Even with all the wealth, his parents lived a traditional life. From a young age, the siblings were brought up personally by their parents and grandparents. This in turn inculcated strict morals in the three kids. His eldest brother remained chaste until his marriage at the age of 27, and his sister was still in a long-running rtionship with her college girlfriend, now turned business partner.

    Although Guy was never under any pressure from his family to achieve anything, he still wanted to make some impact in society. And thus as soon as he graduated from high school, he started travelling the world doing charitable work in third-world countries and regions of conflict. Initially, his travel had a selfish motive to bring his family into the spotlight. But as he saw the struggles of the folk he met through his travels, his psyche started to change. He truly wanted to help them.

    At the age of 20, Guy enrolled into the top university in the field of teaching and pedagogy and worked himself to the bone to finally gain aplete Master''s degree within 4 years. Following that, he started to revisit the ces he went to before and started to improve the logistics in the impoverished nations. Building wells, better sanitation, sustainable housing, and finally better educational facility.

    With that he started to go around the world teaching in different ces, meeting kids from all walks of life. Over time he realised that teaching was his greatest passion, something he wished to pursue for the rest of his life.

    Guy Larks had umted a lot of good karma in his life.

    But surprisingly, at the age of 30, the still single Guy Larks found out that he had cancer. It would have been fine if it was a cancer of a single organ. Since with all of the family''s wealth, treatment would have been a piece of cake. However, Guy had cancer of the lungs, liver and breast.

    For someone who had never indulged in any vices, this was a massive blow. What of all the good deed he''d done in his lifetime? The poor guy was also about to die a virgin!

    Guy was a little enraged about it. While he wasn''t religious, he still started to curse all the gods and goddesses from various pantheons for the misfortune ''blessed'' upon him. But as time passed he started toe to terms with his illnesses and decided that death was the less painful option as opposed to undergoing a battery of toxic treatments.

    Guy would have died as a baleful spirit, if not for what happened as hey in his death bed. In his final two years, all the kids and teens he''d helped over his charitable travels came over to offer their prayers and love. With every child he met, Guy finally realised the amount of impact he made in this world. His greatest fear, that his life would be wasted, was alleviated.

    And so with his dying breath, Guy''sst words weren''t a string of curses on the unfairness of the world, but the following: "I wish I could continue teaching¡­"

    At the age of 33, Guy Larks died.

    ____

    (What a wonderful life. You should see what the others, who were in your exact position, did in their lifetime.)

    ''Wait! I didn''t die?''

    Guy found his consciousness in an endless void. He looked down and found that he was just a disembodied wisp.

    (You did. What you''re seeing is your soul.)

    ''What''s happening to me? Is reincarnation real? Is this purgatory? Wait! is religion real?

    (Woah! Woah! Chill! Let me introduce myself. My name is &#%@*.)

    ''Huh?''

    (Oh right! You can call me Mast. My name has multiple dimensions to it, for beings such as yourself, it will only sound like gibberish. You''re the first human I''m talking to, so I sort of forgot.)

    A burst of mirthfulughter resonated across the void.

    ''Why am I here Mr. Mast?''

    (No need to be so polite with me. Your predicament was partially my fault, so I don''t deserve your respect.) Mast spoke with a crestfallen tone.

    ''Your fault?''

    (Well you see, what you did was a little special. With all the good work that you did, you unknowingly disseminated your abundant good luck and absorbed all the bad luck of the people you interacted with.)

    ''You can do that?''

    (It''s a statistic in my world you see. Usually, when people do charity work, there is usually a middle-man who is somewhat disconnected from the charity work. This way while good luck is disseminated, it is not absorbed by the donating party. Moreover, not many people of massive fortune tend to get so personally ingrained into their charity work. The work that you did personally, and the scale of it, was truly massive.)

    ''Wait does that mean doing charity work is bad?''

    (Well not technically. Doing charity work is the best way to disseminate good luck, so the more people do it the better. You on the other hand did it all personally - that''s the keyword -pared to others. And the level of work you did was well beyond the scale of other charitable organisations on Earth.)<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy nodded, causing the wisp to bob in ce. At the end of his life, he read a few news articles that ran aplicated algorithmic analysis that qualitatively assessed the impact of the various charitable organisations. And his name was miles ahead of others.

    As he absorbed all the information, Guy started tough self-deprecatingly. All the good work that he did caused his death. How ironic¡­

    (Now, now. Since it was my fault that you died, and since you brought to light a significant oversight in my world''s programming, I would like to offer you some form ofpensation.)

    ''Compensation?''

    (Yes. I''m going to offer you a second opportunity.)

    ''Awesome! I can be with my family again!''

    (Not really. I can''t send you back into my world. I''m not allowed to do that. I am what you call a world builder. The stability of the world I tend to will determine whether I live or not. The world you''re from is one that I made. As a builder all I''m allowed to do is make minor changes to thews of the worlds, micromanaging can lead to significant deviations.)

    ''Then how will I get a second opportunity?''

    A devious chuckle reverberated throughout the void. (You see, my elder brother just started a new world. His first world is pretty stable so he technically has a backup. You get what I''m saying?)

    ''You want to mess up his new world?''

    (No! I''m just "contributing" by doing what you people call beta-testing his new world.) Mast chuckled.

    ''Hmm. Whatever you say¡­'' Guy replied sarcastically.

    (Anyway, here''s the n. I''m going to transnt your soul into anotherpatible body in his world. How does that sound?)

    ''Well, it sucks that I won''t get to meet my parents. But what you suggested does sound fun.'' The still virgin Guy''s mind wandered into some special ces as he finished that thought.

    (Yes. I know how you humans like to perform acts of procreation for pleasure.)

    Guy''s wispy body turned a vibrant shade of red.

    (So what do you say? Wanna do it?)

    Guy pondered on it for a while. Although at the end he felt that his life was fulfilling, when he thought back to it, there were a lot of things he wanted to aplish that he never got the opportunity to do. Since Mast was offering an opportunity for a second chance, Guy felt that there was no loss. He already lived one life. Since he was getting a second one as a freebie, he wouldn''t mind.

    So without hesitating any longer, Guy affirmed. ''Sure. I want that second chance.''

    (Wonderful!)

    .

    .

    .

    ''Hello?''

    (Wait! I''m searching for a spot where my brother isn''t paying attention.)

    ''OK.''

    .

    .

    .

    ''Umm. Is there anything I can do here? I''m a little -''

    WHOOSH

 Chapter 2 What Kind Of A System Is This?

    Guy Larks died at the age of 33. He thought that was the end of his life, but he was given a second chance! Unfortunately, it was about to get cut short too.

    "URK!" Guy''s eyes bulged out as he felt a constricting feeling around his throat. He was getting choked.

    In a state of panic, Guy quickly scanned the area around him to get a better bearing on what was happening. Next to him, he saw a chair, which was a small distance away from his hanging legs. Around his neck was a tight rope, a noose.

    ''Holy shit! I''mmitting suicide!''

    As Guy struggled, he found the rope tightening. He tried to wriggle his fingers between his throat and the tightening rope to relieve some of the pressure. He then angled his body to get a foothold on the chair nearby.

    ''I''m not dying! Not again!''

    With great difficulty, he managed to ce his feet on the chair. Without his body weight pressing down on his neck, the impending threat of suffocation was alleviated.

    After gaining a momentary respite, Guy slowly started to inspect the rope for a way to untie it.

    ''Oh thank God it isn''t a Hangman''s knot! Wait, is there a God? Thank Mast?''

    (You''re wee?)

    ''Holy shit!'' The sudden voice that spoke inside his head nearly caused Guy to trip. To be safe, Guy very carefully started to shift the chair to a more stable position under his body.

    As Guy untied the knot, he called out to the voice inside his head.

    ''Mast is that you?''

    (Shhh!)

    ''Excu-''

    (Shhhhh!)

    Before Guy could verbally retaliate, a sudden pressure descended upon the room. It was as if multiple eyes were peering into every nook and cranny. The weight was especially heavy on Guy, whose palms started to sweat causing the rope to slip continuously.

    After a minute that seemed tost for an eternity, the pressure lifted.

    ''What the hell was that?!'' Guy thought to himself.

    (That was my brother. You see I sort of separated this body''s soul and put you in its ce. There must have been a discrepancy in the bnce sheet so my brother came to check it out. That meticulous bastard!)

    Guy finally managed to untie the rope around his neck, and he then copsed onto the chair underneath his feet. Withstanding that pressure hadpletely exhausted him.

    ''Where the hell am I? Don''t tell me! I got transmigrated into a different world! Hell yeah!''

    In his final years, Guy had nothing to do. In his "free time" he used to read a lot of books. At first, he read academic works in the fields he was interested in. But after some time, it started to get a little boring so he shifted to consuming casual literature such as web-published novels and series. Due to the nature of those works, it was quick to read and didn''t involve much thinking. One of the genres he enjoyed the most was the "transmigrated into a different world" or "isekai" novels. He liked them because he really wanted to be one of those main characters who got a second chance, given how screwed up his current life was.

    (Yes. You''re in my brother''s world now. I have this body''s soul with me. Let me transfer all the pertinent information into your head now.)

    Guy braced himself for a splitting headache.

    He waited.

    And waited.

    ''What the hell? Did you do it yet?'' Guy asked impatiently.

    (Yes. I did it a minute ago¡­)

    ''What? I didn''t feel-'' As Guy started to recollect, novel memories materialised inside his head. It was as if these memories were hidden behind closed doors in his psyche, and all he had to do was ess them. There was notency, it was immediate recollection.

    The body he was in had the same name as Guy.

    ''At least I don''t have to get used to a new name.'' Guy sighed in relief.

    The world he was in right now was simr to a fantasy world from the middle ages. But there were minor differences. He saw that there were elements of Eastern fantasy in it as well. Especially with regards to how the levels of magic were categorised.

    ''What a new and original world! This would be hard to ssify in those web-publishing sites.'' Guymented while staring at the fourth wall in his room.

    The original "Guy Larks" was a Teaching Apprentice in the Radiant Academy - a school for mages. He chose this job because Guy Larks was a massive coward. He didn''t like to fight, and he didn''t want to take any risks in his career. Thus he felt that teaching would be a safe and stable option.

    To pursue this, "Guy" enrolled into his alma mater for a teaching position. To start off he had to work as a Teaching Apprentice. This was basically like a teaching assistant, in which the apprentice had to work under an established teacher and handle some of the teacher''s students. During a two-year-long apprenticeship, the apprentice had to take on his or her own personal student and train them for a year. At the end of the year, the student wouldpete in an internal tournament. Those apprentices whose students managed to gain the top 50 positions would have a secured job, and those that didn''t would be disqualified.

    "Guy" was in high spirits as he started his job. He worked under a new teacher, called "Blevin Hinds", who didn''t have any apprentices. Usually, the fewer apprentices a teacher had the better it would be for the apprentices. They would be able to gain more experience and would have more resources to work with.

    The teacher he was working under was a little arrogant. Since the former managed to reach the Foundation Establishment realm at the ripe old age of 21, he looked down upon most of his apprentices who were the same age but were still in the middle-tote stage of Mana Condensation.

    Of Guy''s three colleagues, only one was able to meet the teacher''s expectations. Although her aplishments were well-founded, the envious "Guy" wrote it off as a result of her impressive "assets". The current Guy shook his head at the original''s bigoted views.

    ''Clearly, feminism isn''t a thing in this world¡­''

    Guy and his colleague "Jo Way" were nothing short of pathetic. While Guy was a coward with an inferiorityplex, Jo was a show-off. Guy yed it safe, but Jo just had to take on more than he could chew and identally screwed over the cultivation of one of Teacher Hinds'' students. Following a series ofwsuits andints, which in turn resulted in an in-depth investigation into the quality of the hired teaching apprentices, Guy and Jo found themselves on the chopping block.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The higher-ups increased the stringency of the apprenticeship and made it so that if Guy and Jo couldn''t get a student under them and prepare them for the uing internal apprentice tournament, not only would they get fired but they would be cklisted from applying to another teaching establishment.

    Guy, with his inferiorityplex, stewed in the misery of not being able to seed and decided to off himself before even taking a shot at it. His final thoughts were: ''What''s the point? No one will want to be my student. I''m going to fail anyways¡­Since I don''t have anyone, no one will even miss me.''

    And that was where the most recent memory ended.

    The newly transmigrated Guy sighed as he tried to digest all the information he just learned. Which then inevitably led to the question.

    ''Why am I in this body?''

    (Many reasons actually. First off, I couldn''t put you into a body that attracted too much attention at first, lest my brother takes notice of it. Secondly, I saw that when you died thest time, you wished to teach more students. So I figured this body was perfect for your needs.)

    ''That''s true. But there''s one big problem though. My knowledge may not apply to this world. I can already see that there is magic in this universe, which basically changes a lot of things.''

    (Hmm. You''re right! Do you have any suggestions?)

    ''Well in most books that I read with a simr premise, the person who gets transmigrated gets some sort of a special system.'' Guy responded while scratching his head.

    (What''s a system?) Mast inquired.

    ''Well, a system is basically like a special ability, power, dimension or cheat that the transmigrator has ess to that makes their life easier in some ways.'' Guy answered mentally in his signature "teacher''s voice".

    Over his teaching career, Guy had developed this voice to ovee his naturally sharp tone. Most kids wouldugh whenever he spoke normally as he sounded like an adolescent going through puberty. But his teaching voice was deep and gravelly. Itmanded respect. Though it basically wrecked his vocal cords.

    Thankfully this body''s voice wasn''t as sharp as Guy''s from his previous world. Appearance-wise this body was just average in Guy''s opinion. He was now around 1.7m - not too tall or short. His hair was dark brown, the same shade as his eyes - unassuming. Even though this body was only 21, there were crow''s feet and wrinkles forming on his face. Most likely due to the constant stress the coward was under. His facial structure was simr to those from Middle East from his old world. His face was a darker shade of sandy brown and was clean-shaven. The one redeeming quality of his was his sparkling eyes. They radiated wonder and excitement. Too bad the old coward always looked at the floor and hid those gems.

    As for clothing, Guy wore an outfit that adhered to local standards. Cotton based fabric dominated the industry, due to the region''s tropical climate. Guy was also wearing a robe over his shirt and trousers, which had Radiant Academy''s logo, and a blue-white colour scheme.

    Guy shook his head and stopped admiring his new appearance. He then asked Mast who was now inside his head, ''So what''s it going to be?''

    (Well since I''m not really human, or a living entity for that matter, I don''t really have any idea about this "system" you talked about. But given that your preferred profession is teaching, I guess giving you some form of help so that you can get started and thrive in the industry is paramount.

    Based on an analysis of what is needed from a teacher, and a bunch of other data that I found from my own world and this one, I think this would be perfect~)

    Guy pumped his fists inwardly at the thought of having his own system. His golden finger! But his fantasies were cut short as a sudden headache assaulted him.

    After squirming on his room''s floor for a minute like a salted worm, Guy slowly stood up.

    ''What was that Mast?!'' Guy screamed internally. But as he did so he noticed an additional "thing" inside his consciousness. He didn''t know how to describe it, but he could observe it with his mind space. It was a weird feeling.

    Guy probed the "thing" and he found himself getting pulled in. When his consciousness cleared up, he found himself inside his old library from his original world.

    Guy loved to collect and read a lot of books. In his old world, he had an entire floor filled with books and memorabilia from his travels. The library he was currently inside looked almost exactly like his old one but seemed a lotrger. Not only that, but this library went in all four cardinal directions, endlessly.

    As he was engrossed in the visuals, a hand tapped his shoulders. Guy turned around and found himself facing himself. Not his current self, his old self. The self from his original world.

    ''What the hell?'' Guy eximed.

    (Rx it''s me.) His old body replied.

    ''Mast?'' Guy probed, to which his old body nodded.

    (I''m using this body because it''s convenient. I don''t want to have to mould a new one, it''s a headache. We world builders aren''t really creative folk. Anyways wee to your so-called "system". I like to call it, the -)

    ''It''s the Library of Heaven''s Path!'' Guy eximed in excitement.

    (What? No! It''s the Repository of Knowledge. Call it RoK for short.) Mast shot Guy down unceremoniously.

    ''What all can this do? Can I observe people''s weaknesses and find out how to improve their cultivation? Can I figure out the qualities and special abilities of artefacts? Can I develop divine potions?'' Guy rattled off as he indulged himself in his fantasies.

    (No.) Mast replied without emotion.

    ''No to what?'' Guy probed.

    (It doesn''t do any of that.)

    Guy''s dreams that were soaring up in the heavens crashnded. ''Then what can it do?''

    (Basically, this Repository holds all the books that you''ve read from your old world, and all the books this current body has read in this world.) Mast started getting excited. He had actually looked into some RPG games from his world when he made this Repository. (Well I haven''t included ALL the knowledge from your old world. They''re behind barriers that will open up when you aplish certain achievements.)

    Guy, who was notpletely downcast, decided to hold on to some hope and asked, ''So does this mean I can recollect any of my old knowledge instantly?''

    (No. If you want to ess knowledge that is in these books, you obviously have to read them.)

    And then there was pin-drop silence.

    ''WHAT KIND OF SYSTEM IS THIS?'' Guy''s voice echoed across the RoK.

 Chapter 3 Guys Goal In Life

    Guy was a little disappointed with his system. Howe all the other MCs get some uber cheat-like skill while his is just a useless library of books?

    (What''s the matter?) Mast was a little bummed out at Guy''s response. He expected Guy to be a bit more positive because he had put a lot of thought into it. World builders weren''t exactly imaginative and inventive beings. Mast had to borrow from different sources to create the RoK.

    ''It doesn''t do anything man. It''s just a library. I thought it would be¡­ I don''t know¡­ more awesome I guess?'' Guy muttered in a low voice.

    Mast furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to decipher what Guy meant.

    (You said you wanted to teach. And based on my research, this library would be an amazing resource for any teacher to have.) Mast tried to exin his point of view.

    ''I know¡­ It''s just that I thought the system would have something more to it. Like maybe it could trante people''s capabilities into book form so that I can read it and get to know them better. Or maybe itpiled simr books into one without any errors in it.'' Guy tried to exin his reasoning.

    Mast finally understood why Guy was so disappointed with the RoK. And so with a stern voice, Mast responded. (But that would be cheating. All the things that you just said are part of what makes a good teacher. To know a student''s weaknesses and tailor the lessons to their needs. Toprehend and apply knowledge. To provide guidance both academically and in some cases provide emotional support. If I gave you a system that did all that, what use are you?)

    The gut-punch threw Guy for a loop. He went into deep thought; it was true that he had be a littlecent after transmigrating.

    (What is your goal?) Mast asked with an imposing voice.

    ''To be a good teacher!'' Guy responded almost subconsciously.

    That was it! His goal was to be a good teacher. Nothing more nothing less. In his entire previous life, the happiest he had ever been was seeing the cheerful faces of the kids whose lives he''d changed. All he wished for in his death bed was to keep spreading that happiness. After transmigrating into this world, Guy had gotten too caught up in the fantastical elements. His goal was never to rebel against authority or to overturn the heavens and earth. He just wanted to teach, and give those without any power some hope.

    As he finished his thoughts, Guy mellowed out. His anger dissipated and was instead reced with immense shame. Guy realised that he had been ungrateful. While Mast yed some part in his death, it was not something he intended to do. In fact, he even gave Guy another shot at life. He even made the RoK for him!

    With a resolute expression, Guy bowed and apologised profusely. ''I''m sorry Mast. You''re right! The RoK is perfect for a teacher.''

    Mast was ted to see that Guy liked his gift. In response Mast added, (Well. I considered everything you said, and I guess I could add something extra to the RoK. A cheat if you will.)

    With that Mast snapped his fingers, and an archaic-looking printing press materialised next to the desk at the centre of the RoK.

    With wide eyes, Guy approached the contraption. ''Woah! What is this thing?''

    With a smirk Mast moved towards the press and ced his arm on it. (It is a Printing Press or PP for short. It''s pretty big ain''t it.)

    Guy didn''t know if Mast did that on purpose or not, but he still went along with it. ''Yes. It''s¡­ huge. Anyways what does it do?''

    (As its name suggests, it prints books from your library.)

    Before Mast could continue Guy eximed, ''That''s awesome! Now that''s what I call a cheat!''

    (But! The press can only print multiple copies of books that you or your students publish, or books that don''t exceed 40% simrity with the contents of this library. You can only print one exact copy of a book from the RoK. Actually, it is set that only one hard copy can exist outside of the RoK. The moment you print another, the first will disappear.)

    Like a burst balloon Guy''s expression deted once again. ''Why just me or my students? Why can''t I publish any book from the RoK?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    (It''s obvious. What if you mass print a rare book and sell it for a profit. You''re a teacher, not a capitalist.)

    With a wry smile Guy inwardly cursed Mast''s intuition.

    (On top of that, these books aren''t originally from this world. The knowledge they contain is not chronologically urate either. We can justify the spread of new knowledge in this world if it is from a primary source as it is contained and measured. However, if unregistered knowledge is disseminated through secondary sources, there is a high probability of it blowing out of proportions uncontrobly. This will inevitably draw my brother''s attention. And we don''t want that. Not at this point, anyway.)

    And with that, Mast dematerialised from the RoK, leaving Guy to his own devices.

    Guy decided to explore the RoK by himself. He found that the shelves could be reordered based on certain search criteria. For instance, if he was interested in searching for cultivation techniques with a focus on fire-based arts, the shelves would rearrange themselves. And based on closeness to the search parameters, the most relevant books that he''d read would move towards the centre of the room, while the least relevant ones would be pushed further. The time for the rearranging was negligible and almost instantaneous.

    After that, Guy decided to take a walk around the RoK and observe if there were any hidden secrets of mechanisms. As he walked further from the centre, the shelves started to be emptier. Evidently, the original body hadn''t read a lot of books. It was a sad sight.

    A little further down the shelves, Guy found himself before an imprable barrier. Beyond the barrier, he could see shelves that were fully popted, and that too with books he''d read in his previous life. He figured those would be essible to him once he aplished those hidden achievements Mast was talking about.

    Once Guy had had enough, he went with his instincts and pulled his consciousness out of the RoK. The process felt different. When before there was a feeling of entering a vacuum, exiting felt like he was being shoved into a pressure vessel. In a quick moment, the sensation dissipated and he found himself back inside his room.

    The room Guy was currently living in was subsidised by his school for its teaching apprentices. It was like a studio apartment, with a small kitchen, bedroom and living room all inside one square space. The building had a shared bathroom on each level. The building itself only had 3 floors but each floor was quite wide, simr to the tube-shaped apartments, and had a rustic feel to it. If Guy was toment on the design, it felt like old Greek architecture with its decadently designed pirs and open courtyards.

    His room was clean and empty. Apparently, Guy didn''t own a lot of possessions. When Guy peered into the old body''s memories, he found that he truly was alone in this world. His family passed away when he was still 15 years old during a territory dispute between neighbouring fiefs. Being passed from orphanage to orphanage, no wonder the poor guy developed a crushing inferiorityplex. This world was not kind to the weak!

    Guy decided that it was necessary to fully internalise his body''s old memory. He didn''t want to arouse any suspicion from those that knew this body. He nned to slowly transform into his true self so that it would feel natural to others.

    Of all the information Guy internalised, one thing that he paid close attention to was magic and cultivation. Since this was a fieldpletely novel to him, he wanted to make sure that he didn''t miss any detail. He was supposed to be a teacher after all. The worst mistake a teacher can make is to teach something they themselves aren''t sure about. In his experience from his old life, one thing Guy had learned was that an arrogant teacher does more damage to the student than themself.

    His least fond memory from his old life was when Guy was in his Physics sses in high school. Of all the teachers from his old school, the physics teacher was the one that hadsted the longest. Through multiple rounds of restructuring, hiring and firing, that old physics teacher persisted like a weed on concrete. He wondered how the man managed it; he still hadn''t figured it out.

    His physics teacher was a good man, but a horrible teacher. He never bothered to update himself on modern advancements in science and always spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. As part of a graduation project, Guy had to work in a subject of choice under a teacher who specialised in it. Since it was his most favourite subject, Guy chose physics and inevitably worked under the old physics teacher.

    As he made progress in his project, Guy never failed to ascertain if the direction he was going in met the criteria and was sufficiently rigorous to meet the marking standards. Every time he asked his supervisor, the physics teacher said that it was all good.

    You can imagine the oue. Guypletely failed that project and had to redo it. It was at that point when Guy realised the price of arrogance. In fact, when Guy brought it up with his supervisor, the physics teacher just brushed it off and said that it wasn''t his fault.

    Anyways. After that experience, Guy swore to himself that if he was to ever teach someone, he would make sure that he was sufficiently knowledgeable about it, and would straightforwardly say that he couldn''t teach them if he didn''t know the subject.

    Once Guy absorbed all the memories from the old body, he went up to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. There wasn''t much except for a few snacks. Guy didn''t feel like going out to buy anything, and so he chose to fill his stomach with junk food.

    After he consumed for the sake of sustenance, Guy started to peruse the various books stored in the RoK while taking notes. One great feature of the RoK was that there was aputer inside that only had word-processing functionality. That way, Guy could both read and take well-formatted notes at the same time. This was something Guy was thankful for since his own handwriting was horrendous.

    And that was how Guy spent the rest of his day.

 Chapter 4 (Un)Fair

    "Psst¡­ Wanna be my student?"

    "Eww! Get away from me, you creep!"

    "Damn it!" Jo cursed as the teenage girl he was talking to ran away towards her group of girlfriends.

    "I don''t think that was a good way to approach them¡­" Guy muttered incredulously. Inside, Guy was cursing his old self''s luck for befriending such an idiot.

    "It''s thest day of fresher''s week man! It''s now or never! It''s not like some bloke with heavenly luck is going to drop into ourps. We have to be more proactive!" Jo started to pump himself up.

    "Rx Jo -"

    "It''s Zao." Jo interrupted.

    "Excuse me?"

    "It''s pronounced Zao, first name Weist name Zao. It''s uh¡­ oriental name. Yeah, that''s right!" Jo started to rattle out quickly.

    "That''s not how you spell it though. And I don''t think there is an Orient here." Guy pointed out.

    The two "friends" were currently strolling around Radiant Academy''s grounds. The academy was one of the centralndmarks in Radiant City, which was part of the Maika Duchy.

    This new world, called Gaea, was somewhat simr to Earth. Except it was still in the middle ages. With the presence of magic and mana, technological development had stagnated and hadn''t advanced for a few 1000 years. There were various empires and kingdoms dotted across the globe, most practised feudalism, while others had variations orpletely novel governmental structures.

    The kingdom he was currently in was called the Sr Empire, and within the Empire, the Academy was in one of the less prominent Duchies which was controlled by Maika n.

    In this world, people could use magic. From birth, everyone had some level of affinity to using magic and spells, but those with proper aptitude and skill that chose to go further in the field were called mages. The more advanced the mage was, realm-wise, the stronger they were and the longer they lived. Hence it was inevitable that most people in positions of power had some form of cultivation since the prevailing philosophy of this world was "might is right". There was no ce for weakness.

    With regards to cultivation, a budding mage had only a few options to choose from. But regardless of their choice, they would almost always share the same starting point.

    Nearly all individuals who aim to be a mage would first opt to enrol into an Academy. These were neutral establishments that were generally affiliated with the authority where they were established. For instance, the Radiant Academy answered to the Maika Duchy, which answered to Sr Empire.

    These magic academies were fairly pricey to enrol into and would only support the students till they reached Foundation Establishment, that too only for 5 years at max. If a student failed to reach Foundation Establishment within that time frame, that meant they didn''t have any aptitude in magic. That is why students usually dropped out within their first two years if they found themselves progressing at a snail''s pace.

    Once a student graduated from a magic academy, they would be faced with four options. The first and most straightforward option was to pursue magic as a rogue practitioner. Rogue practitioners were few and far in between. This was because advancing in magic is a resource-intensive endeavour, and sourcing resources is naturally difficult for unaffiliated rogue practitioners. That did not mean that rogue mages weren''t sessful. There have been historical records of various renowned rogue mages. But the fact remained, it is not a path suited for the average.

    The second, and the rarest of options was to find tutge with a certified teacher. Within academies, the teachers essentially held the highest authority. Due to the neutrality of schools, teachers hadplete freedom when it came to where they sought employment. There were certification tests that teachers could take to gain prestige and raise their employability and fame. Teachers were also not restricted by political boundaries. This inevitably meant that they weren''t allowed to interfere in political conflicts.

    Should a certified teacher recognise your skill, they would decide to take the student under their wings as a disciple. Being a renowned teacher''s disciple was also a prestigious opportunity. Due to their neutrality, they would often obtain many opportunities from powerful figures and organisation. And these opportunities would naturally trickle down to the teacher''s disciples.

    The other three options included joining a n, sect, or private organisation. A n status is awarded torge and prominent families. Most ns have deep roots and lots of clout. Large ns usually had control over vastnds, which were further divided for the smaller ns under them. It was properly feudalistic. If one decided to join a n and work their way up, they would bepletely tied to the n. However for ns, if the mage showed promise, the amount of resource they would receive would also proportionally increase.

    A sect is something like a n except there are no blood ties between its members. mages can opt to join a sect, but they will most likely have to go through a gruelling entrance exam. Within the sect, there are levels, which the mage can ascend by taking missions or gaining achievements. The sects have some leeway with regards to entering and exiting, but once you reached a high enough position, leaving wasn''t an option. Sects usually remained unaffiliated, but proximity and positioning usually decided which faction a sect aligned itself with.

    Finally, a mage could also seek to gain employment with a private organisation. Companies and organisations naturally needed their own muscle. To do this they would cultivate loyalty into the mages from a mouldable age. Bing an employee for a private organisation usually came with huge rewards, but equally high risks. There was always subterfuge and wars of attrition urring between organisations. Since capitalism never rests.

    There were many other lesser-known options for mages, but the above options provided more guarantees and were generally more sessful.

    It was still early in the morning, and the apprentices had nought to do except troll for some prospective students. Since this was thest day, only the most desperate teachers and students remained.

    As the day progressed, fewer students remained, and even fewer apprentices were standing student-less. Those that did remain were ones without any prospects. All except for Dahrk Boise, the star of the current generation of apprentices. He was considered to be the cream of the crop, the academy''s poster boy for the next generation. He was a breath away from breaking into the Foundation Establishment realm and had numerous aplishments. All the students that he taught showered praises upon him, which in turn elevated his supervising teacher''s ranking within the academy.

    Dahrk was currently standing in a very conspicuous position at the centre of the yard, his eyes scanning the crowd. On an obfuscated corner of the yard, a few teaching apprentices, including Guy, were talking amongst themselves.

    "Why is Dahrk still without a student? I thought he''d take one on the first day. There was literally a huge line of students begging to be taught by him. Damn it! Pretty boys get all the luck!" One of the apprentices grumbled.

    "Apparently he''s waiting for a ''promising seed''. Yech! What arrogance!" Another chimed in.

    "You''re just jealous that he has a choice. Once the week ends and he is still without a student, I bet you the Academy will personally assign one to him. They may even strip one from under the tutge of another apprentice." The first one retorted.

    "Look! Another student''s approaching him!" The second pointed out.

    Back at the centre of the yard, a dark-haired and scrawny boy confidently strutted towards Dahrk, with a resolute expression dyed across his face. He looked a little malnourished for a 12-year-old, but his visible muscture indicated that he had undergone some form of formal training in martial arts.

    As the boy approached Dahrk, slowly his resolute expression started to wane. And by the time he was standing before Dahrk, his body nearly crumpled into itself as he struggled to look the apprentice in the eyes.

    With great difficulty, the boy mumbled, "Teacher Boise! I¡­ Please take me in as you student." and bowed showing his respects.

    Dahrk nced at the boy. His eyes threatened to prate the boy''s soul.

    "Who''s that kid?" One of the apprentices next to Guy asked.

    "Holy shit! That kid''s the third son of the Bori n." The second apprentice answered without missing the beat.

    "No way! Gaige Bori! The kid who was already into Middle stage Mana Condensation when he joined? I heard he lost his cultivation though," the first one recollected and voiced out loud.

    "Yeah. Poor guy. He was a hardworking one, that kid. Even worse was that after his cultivation regressed, the marriage he had lined up fell through, now it''s his second brother who''s set to marry the girl," the second apprentice voiced emphatically.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Y''all are just tossing out exposition left and right huh?" Guymented casually. The other teachers looked at him with a questioning gaze to which he simply waved his hand and pointed at the spectacle before him.

    During the time when the two apprentices were providing story-specific exposition, Gaige had now gotten down on his knees and was begging profusely for the teacher to ept him. He promised that the regressed cultivation was only momentary and he could feel deep inside that he''d make aeback. Unfortunately for him, Dahrk didn''t even bother to look down at the prostrating kid and walked away.

    Looking at the sorry state of the kid, Guy felt a little bad. And that''s when it hit him!

    "That''s an MC temte!" He muttered. But what surprised him even more, was that Jo, who was standing next to him, actually said the same statement out loud.

    Guy turned towards Jo, who was enthusiastically walking towards the grovelling Gaige with a spring in his step.

    ''Something''s weird¡­ Hey Mast, do you get a feeling that Jo is acting a little weird?'' Guy spoke inwardly.

    (Hmm. Let me see.) Mast said and then disappeared from his head.

    By this time, Jo was already standing next to Gaige and was talking to him with a serious expression on his face. Reading Jo''s lips, Guy could make out a few words.

    ''-raconic Bloodline?¡­ Oh Draconic Bloodline! Is he just spewing bullshit now? Woah, look at how wide that kid''s eyes are! Jo must''ve been right! But how?

    Hold up! That doesn''t matter! that kid''s golden! Damn it why didn''t I get to him first. The MC''s thigh should have been mine to grab!'' Guy cursed inwardly while metaphorically raising his fist towards the heavens.

    Just as Guy wasmenting his misfortune, Mast dropped another bomb. (Damn! That''s my sister!)

    Guy was shocked. ''Where? I thought this ce belonged to your elder brother!''

    (I meant that man, Jo, you were talking about. I inspected him, and my sister''s inside his head! Hahahaha! He''s another one like you!) Mast mirthfullymented.

    [Yo Big Brother!!] A cheerful feminine voice resonated inside Guy''s head.

    (Hey &&#$*! Wait, let''s use your plebian name Moni. My guy here doesn''t understand high-dimensionalnguages,) Mast spoke calmly.

    [Sup! So you brought one over too huh?]

    (I made a mistake and had topensate this one. I heard Big Bro is trying some new stuff with this world and was struggling. I wanted to check it out, and well this was a pleasant opportunity. So what''s up with you?)

    ''Wait wait! You''re saying whoever is inside Jo is also a transmigrator?''

    [Yup! I brought that one from my world!]

    Guy had a lot of questions, but he asked the one that was on the tip of his tongue. ''How different is your world from Mast''s?''

    (There''s something called life force or ki in her world. There are also a few more ''alien'' lifeforms in close proximity to Earth.)

    ''So does that guy also have a system?'' Guy asked Moni cautiously.

    [What is with you humans and your systems? Yes, he does. The guy practically begged me to give him one. Basically, he worked as a librarian in my world, so he wanted a library that could record data on things he touched. Like everything from strengths, weaknesses, methods to improve and so on.]

    Guy screamed internally, ''He has a Library of Heaven''s Path! Damn it Mast!''

    Mast ignored Guy''s tantrum and calmly instructed Moni. (You have to be careful Moni. Don''t mess too much with Big Bro''s world, otherwise, he''s gonna really lose it.)

    [I know. I know.] Guy could almost hear her wave her hand dismissively.

    [Well. I''m gonna go have some fun! By the way Guy, do you want me to tell him you''re a transmigrator too?] Moni asked.

    Guy thought about it for some time. But then he decided to let it be. Since the two of them weren''t from the same world, there was no point. Besides, Guy really didn''t like that Jo guy''s character. He reminded him too much of one of his college professors who could never take a loss. That professor would always try to argue with his students whenever they asked a counter-question.

    With all that said, Moni evacuated from Guy''s mind. By the time Guy came to, he saw that the apprentices next to him had already dispersed and had presumably found a student. Near the end of the day, in the yard, there was only one student left and Guy.

    Guy looked at the student and the student looked at Guy. Guy regretted that he didn''t act when he saw the MC temte character.

    ''Hmm, what to do?'' Guy sighed.

    Mast calmly spoke up. (What about that kid over there? He seems to be looking for a teacher.)

    ''Ah! But that kid''s not as good as the MC temte. He probably has a low potential. I don''t know if I can save my job if I take him in¡­'' Guy replied.

    (Low potential doesn''t mean no potential. I thought teachers never discriminated when it came to teaching students?) Mastmented offhandedly.

    Hearing that, Guy both inwardly and outwardly pped his forehead. He had nearly fallen into a trapmon amongst teachers. It was usual for teachers to have favourite students, and students they hated. Most teachers hated student who disrupted their sses, cked off or were generally weak in learning. It is a natural human reaction. But it was the worst thing a teacher could do.

    Studentse to school to learn, it is their only chance to advance in life. For a lot of them, the world has given up on them and this is the only way for them to escape. The kids that act out are basically seeking attention because either they''recking it in their own families, or are struggling inside. If even their teachers give up on them, then the students are damned to eternity.

    Guy''s face morphed and exuded seriousness. With long and confident strides, Guy made his way towards the lone student at the other end of the yard.

 Chapter 5 Markus Reva

    Markus was distraught. Today was supposed to be thest day to secure for himself a teacher. Although it wasn''t mandatory, to be a personal student of a teacher had a lot of benefits. There were increased ess to resources to cultivate, better living arrangements, and much more.

    As an orphan, Markus didn''t have a lot going for him. He had a simple dream, to be able to protect everyone in the orphanage. The life of orphans in this world wasn''t easy. There were dangers everywhere, be it beasts or even humans themselves.

    For that, they needed strength. And of all the other orphans in the orphanage, Markus disyed the greatest level of perception of mana. Humans weren''t naturally predisposed to magic, unlike most other species in this world. It was only those that could sense the flow of mana in the environment that had some level of aptitude in pursuing mage-hood.

    With that in mind, the other orphans and Markus scrounged, did odd jobs, and finally earned enough to pay Markus'' enrolment fees. His goal was to advance far enough to be able to protect the small orphanage he lived in and the caretaker mistress that ran it.

    But his dreams died a slow and painful death with every day that passed during his time in the Academy. He was only a simple 12-year old who was thrown into the deep end with no friends or acquaintances. With the constant bullying from his peers and hisck of potential, Markus'' spirit was gradually waning. He was doomed to be stuck at the lowest level of the Mana Condensation realm.

    Technically, those at the Mana Condensation realm and aspiring to be mages are called mage practitioners. This was because almost everyone with a base level of mana perceptivity could practice basic cantrips. Cantrips are spells that depend on the most basic mana maniption. Spells such as |Magic Missle|, |Inspect|, |Mana Ball|, and |Mana Wave|.

    But cantrips couldn''t help mages to advance. To progress within the Mana Condensation realm one needed to exercise their mana pathways. This could be done in two ways. The first, and the mostmon, was to utilise a cultivation method that resonated with the person. Cultivation methods included insights and mantras that exercised the mind and will. When the mind resonated with these insights, the mana within the body would circte.

    Markus tried countless cultivation methods in the Academy library. None of them resonated with him. They were either too profound or delved into abstract ideas that didn''t make any sense to him. He couldn''t ask anyone for help since everyone edged away when he approached them.

    The second method was to exercise the pathways by casting spells. It was a cruder strategy, akin to brute forcing through the first realm, but it worked. The only issue was that all spells, apart from cantrips, were Rank-1 inplexity and required the person to be at least in the middle stage of Mana Condensation.

    This was also impossible for Markus who was still stuck in the lowest stage of Mana Condensation.

    After the end of the first semester, there was usually a fresher''s week where newly enrolled students could look for prospective teachers who would take them on as personal students. Generally, all students would get picked since there was usually a simr quantity of students and apprentices.

    Only those students that couldn''t stand out, yet still wanted to take a final gambit, would attend these fresher''s weeks. The gifted students would be plucked by the certified teachers much earlier.

    As ast-ditch effort, Markus decided to attend the fresher''s week. And that was the decisive blow.

    During the entire week, every teaching apprentice Markus approached would send him away politely or straight up reject him to his face. With each rejection, Markus'' self-esteem took a hit. On the final day, in the final hour, there was only him left in the yard. Markus was distraught. He was at a point where he was regretting ever joining the Academy.

    ''Why bother? People like me aren''t meant to cultivate,'' he said while slowly started to internalise his shattered self. If he were left to his devices at this point, Markus would have been truly lost. But something, or someone, saved him that day.

    Before Markus left the yard, he looked up and his eyes met another person''s who was standing on the other end of the yard. The person''s attire indicated that he was a teaching apprentice. Markus didn''t hold any hopes, there were still a few students who didn''t have a teacher that didn''t show up today. The teaching apprentice would probably pick from them.

    ''Why would he pick me?'' Markus scolded himself for raising his expectations.

    As Markus observed the man''s face, he saw that the man was thinking about something.

    ''Will he pick me?'' Markus asked himself. ''No!''

    But then the most surprising thing happened. The man''s expression morphed from uncertainty to unwavering confidence. He then started to walk towards Markus. Markus looked around him, there was no one else. If the man wanted to leave the yard, he would have to walk the other way.

    ''He''sing this way!'' Markus eximed excitedly.

    Each step the man took was like another inch of rope descending into the dark well Markus was currently stuck in. By the time the man was an arm''s length away from Markus, the rope was practically dangling in front of him. Markus wanted to grab on, but he was apprehensive. He had learned better than to have false hope.

    "Excuse me. Hi Mr¡­" the man searched for Markus'' name tag, "Ah! Mr. Reva" The man spoke with respect. This startled Markus. This was the first time someone extended a modicum of respect to him.

    "Yes?" Markus asked.

    "Hi. My name is Guy Larks. I''m a Teaching Apprentice. I came here to inquire whether you''re looking for a teacher? Because you see I''m looking to take on a personal student, and I wanted to know if you were interested?" Guy enunciated his words steadily and kept his eyes locked onto Markus''.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Markus was a little shaken at the development. He wanted to ept right then and there, but involuntarily, he blurted out, "Why me?"

    "Huh?" Guy was taken aback at that question. Observing the expression on his face Markus swore inwardly. He just got an opportunity and he blew it!

    "Why not you?" Guy asked inquisitively.

    "Umm¡­ I''m still stuck in the lowest stage of Mana Condensation realm. And I couldn''t find a suitable cultivation method from the school''s library. I''m afraid I am unsuitable to be a mage. So I was just wondering why you chose me?" Markus asked cautiously.

    Guyughed out loud. "Young man you have the worst case of low self-esteem I have ever seen. Do you think you''re the only disappointment in this Academy? Look at me, I''ve barely reached thete stage of Mana Condensation! Worry not! I chose you because you seem to be looking for someone to help you out of a dark ce. And you see I am also stuck in a dark ce myself. Why don''t we both help each other? Hmm?"

    Markus waspletely taken in by Guy''s response. If he wasn''t actively holding himself back, Markus feared he would have burst into tears right then and there.

    Guy was a little worried observing Markus'' silence, so he decided to borate further. "Here''s the deal. You are looking to advance, correct? Well, I need to hold onto this job too. So I''m going to make a promise. I promise that by the end of this semester, I will find a way for you to advance in your cultivation. If I fail, I will lose my job. You on the other hand won''t have anything to lose. What do you say?"

    Guy extended his arm towards Markus, who involuntarily flinched. But seeing that the Guy was asking for a handshake to seal the deal, Markus, who was at first on the ledge, readily grabbed it and shook it aggressively. With each shake, Markus slowly ascended from the dark well of despair.

    Guy radiated a warm smile. After working as a teacher and meeting a lot of kids, he could easily read their expressions. Markus, while he tried hard to hide his emotions, wore his heart on his sleeves. Guy empathised with the poor kid, he had seen students who were so bullied that their entire psyche was shattered. He had taken a few courses in child psychology whenpleting his teaching degree, and Guy had be more astute in picking up on clues.

    Guy truly wished for him to have sess. The promise he made was not half-hearted, he was prepared to go all out to help Markus ovee the shadows in his heart.

    "Alright, so let''s get ourselves registered and settled in shall we?" Guy pulled Markus towards himself and the two walked side-by-side towards the student registration building to officially enrol Markus as Guy''s personal student.

    As they entered the registration office, Guy picked up on some conversations from one of the other offices.

    "Did you hear? That Jo¡­ Yea that kid who caused one of Teacher Hinds'' students to suffer a deviation in his cultivation¡­ He picked up a personal student and you won''t guess who! No¡­ No¡­ Alright alright, I''ll tell you. It was that crippled Bori kid! Yea Gaige Bori! HA! Those two wastes joining in, what are they going to aplish? That Jo made a bet with me that he could get Gaige to enter the middle stage of Mana Condensation within 2 weeks, and that the loser would run naked around the schoolyard¡­ Yea of course I took on that bet!"

    Guy coughed loudly to attract one of the clerks'' attention. A plump woman slowly made her way from inside. She wore a pleasant smile and had cheeks so rosy you''d want to pinch them until they fell off.

    "Hello, Apprentice Larks. How can I help you?" the clerk started.

    "Hi. This student here, Mr. Markus Reva, would like to be my personal student. I''m here to go through the formalities," Guy spoke politely.

    "Sure! Sure!" The clerk eximed.

    The entire process was fairly basic. Signing a few forms, applying for new amodations, picking up a few items. The usual.

    Once everything was done, Guy and Markus made their way towards Markus'' new living amodation.

    "It was a long day today, so let''s not exhaust ourselves. I want you to rest well. Since you''re my personal student, your morning sses have been moved towards the evening. So I want you to meet me outside the library first thing in the morning," Guy instructed.

    Markus nodded excitedly and thanked Guy profusely for epting him as a student. Guy simply waved it off and gently shoved Markus into the building.

    That night Markus found it difficult to sleep. Usually, it was because his roommates would assault him or cause some disturbance. But now that he was in a solo room, there was no such problem. The reason why he couldn''t sleep was due to the sheer excitement!

    Although he was only 12 years old, Markus was more mature than other children his age. He already knew that advancing for him was difficult. Even with a teacher, he didn''t have any expectations. All he was thankful for was that there was someone who didn''t give up on him straight away. Someone that actually wanted to help him.

    For many people, even basic respect was something hard to get.

 Chapter 6 Library Etiquette

    Guy woke up early and was walking towards the academy library with a spring in his step. Yesterday, after he recognised Markus as his personal student, Mast sent out a notification that there had been an update in the RoK.

    While hey in bed, Guy checked out the new functions and found that the first barrier in the RoK had been lifted, opening up ess to a massive collection of elementary to middle school level study materials from his old world.

    As a teacher, Guy used to spend a lot of time going through different publications to figure out the best options for the kids he was teaching. Since most of his students were living in poverty, Guy could not provide a long purchase list of textbooks - it would be impractical. Instead, Guy would stitch together content from a wide range of textbooks and provide a chimaera-book, as he used to call it, that went through all the pertinent topics with high efficiency - which means to have meaningful content and fewer pages. This was so, that should the students lose their books, the printing cost to get a new copy wouldn''t be astronomical. Through this method, Guy had unwittingly read through a lot of different books.

    While Guy didn''t know whether those books would be of any use to him in this magical world, he would never look a gift horse in the mouth.

    Guy thought that he had arrived early, but just as soon as he stopped next to the library''s entrance, he saw Markus running towards him. The boy''s face emanated excitement, but as he noticed Guy standing outside the library it subtly shifted into shock.

    Markus wanted to arrive early as well, but seeing his teacher waiting outside the library he started to panic.

    ''Oh no! I hope I didn''t make Teacher wait too long,'' he reprimanded himself.

    Markus increased his pace and quickly arrived at his teacher''s position. While struggling to breathe, Markus apologised, "I''m so sorry to keep you waiting Teacher Larks."

    Guy waved his hand, "Don''t worry about it. I came early because I was a little excited. You came just in time!"

    Guy let Markus catch his breath before he continued, "Let''s talk inside. I booked a table for us inside," and then guided Markus into the library.

    One good thing about being a coward was that the old Guy never offended anyone in his lifetime. In fact, apart from the infrequent disdainful res, Guy was basically an invisible character in the academy.

    Once the teacher and student scouted a sufficiently isted desk in the library, they sat down and started their discussion.

    "So if I remember correctly, the first time we met, you said that you already tried all the cultivation methods in this library?" Guy probed.

    Markus nodded with a trace of disappointment in his eyes.

    "I''m going to take it that you tried everything properly, and won''t go over them again to save time. Is that OK with you?" Guy tried to confirm.

    "Yes. I tried every single cultivation method here that was essible to me. The problem I''m facing is that they just don''t resonate with me. Some of them are so abstract that I can''t wrap my head around them. Others talk about such profound thoughts that it doesn''t really rte to me," Markus exined.

    Guy nodded along and thought about his n of action. The Mana Condensation realm was the first realm for any mage. Once a prospective mage managed to clear up their mana channels and cast basic cantrips they''d be considered an Early Stage Mana Condensation mage. Within this realm, the main goal is to expand the mana channels that are oveid on top of the blood vessels in the human body.

    The purpose behind widening the channels is twofold. The first is to amodate mana in its condensed form. Generally, mana is stored in the body of a Mana Condensation mage in a gaseous, wispy form. As the mage advances from the Early to Middle to Late stage, the size of the wisp inside the human body increases.

    Once the mage gains sufficient insights and manages to break through to Foundation Establishment, this wisp condenses into a liquid-like form causing the impurities inside the human body to be expelled through the now widened mana channels, which is the second purpose.

    To advance within the Mana Condensation realm, having a suitable cultivation method is the safest strategy as it naturally allows the mage to advance into Foundation Establishment. Cultivation methods also have tiers.

    The Common methods are the lowest tiers. They are basic and can at most allow a mage to reach Core Formation Realm. They are basic as their contents touch on topics superficially, and hence the insights that can be gained from those methods are limited.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Advanced methods are a tier higher and can provide more insights. They are generally a continuation or expansion of Common methods and can usually carry the mage through their entire cultivation journey. Within the Common and Advanced tier, there are implicit subdivisions that depend on the specificity, rtability, applicability, and simr factors pertaining thot he method itself.

    Specialised methods are those that are tailored to specific individuals, bloodlines, physiques, or even species. Depending on the applicability, that is the number of people that can use the method, the cultivation methods can have a higher rarity.

    Ancestral methods are those that are passed down from generation to generation. These can be restricted to specific ns, sects or organisations. These are highly guarded and are passed down personally.

    In this day and age, there are quite a few cultivation methods, both real and fake, floating around the market. Academies usually hold legitimate copies and segregate them based on quality and rarity. Most of the cultivation methods on the general floor are Common tier and with the lowest rarity. These work for 80-90% of the poption.

    For the unfortunate 10-20% that can''tprehend or pick up a cultivation method, a lessmon method is to forcefully expand the channels by casting spells.

    "Even though you are my personal student, I don''t think we can ess the more advanced cultivation methods in the library''s higher levels. The methods down here are the mostmon and generally widelypatible. But since we already know that you aren''tpatible with them, I guess our only remaining option is to brute force our way through and practice spells," Guy dered.

    Markus didn''t disy a positive reaction to that. He was even less confident about this method because there was an implicit requirement. "I don''t think that option will work for us either. I''m only in the Early stage, even the most basic spells they teach are Rank-1 inplexity. If I can''t even sustain a spell, how will I advance?" Markusmented.

    Guy furrowed his brows. The situation presented an endless circle. To advance, Markus needed to cultivate. But without a suitable method, he could only forcefully expand his channels. However, as he was stuck in teh Early stage, he couldn''t cast any spells till he reached Middle stage or higher. To do that, he had to cultivate!

    Guy hurriedly stopped his train of thought and calmed Markus by saying, "Hey! Let''s not count our chickens until they''ve hatched. There are so many books here on spellspared to cultivation methods. I bet you haven''t looked through all of them. Let''s see if we can find one that can work for us. First, I want you to go through the library and mark for me the books that you''ve already looked into."

    And with that, the two dispersed.

    Guy started from the first shelf and picked up the first book titled "Comprehensive Guide on Fire Magic". This particr book was not already in the RoK, so with every page he read, a copy materialised in his mind. Although the book stated that it was ''Comprehensive'' it was not that long, and Guy managed to finish it in around 10 minutes. Once he returned the book to its shelf he started to scan the adjacent shelves for books that weren''t already inside his RoK.

    While he shuffled along, he noticed one of his colleague teaching apprentices sitting down at one of the desks between two rows of shelves. Mai Louts was her name, and she was the third teaching apprentice under Blevin. Her appearance was nothing short of exceptional. She had a perfect figure by Earth standards. Her face, like most others in this city, had a sandy brown hue, but her eyes were entuated with a chestnut grey colour. Her dark wavy locks rested on her shoulders and waved as her head swivelled in ce.

    Mai felt as if someone was staring at her and looked up from her book. Guy''s and her eyes met. Guy involuntarily nodded his head as a salutation, but Mai didn''t respond and lowered her head with an arrogant sneer.

    ''Guess my colleagues aren''t my fans,'' Guy thought to himself and moved on.

    While he was doing so, Jo strutted into the library. Guy was a little peeved about the unfairness when it came to system distribution, but he couldn''t find a valid argument to move Mast, so Guy just dropped it.

    Jo waved superficially waved towards Guy - to which Guy responded - and then walked towards the shelf farthest from the entrance. On his way, he greeted Mai, who gave him her regr response.

    ''I have a bad feeling about this¡­'' Guy had a sudden premonition.

    Guy decided to push down his uneasiness and continued reading his book. But not 5 seconds after he resumed, an ungodly, periodic "Shh Shh Shh" sound echoed in the library.

    ''Oh, here we go...''

 Chapter 7 Kerfuffle In The Library

    ''What the hell is he doing?'' Guy eximed as he tried to divert his attention from the irritating noise.

    The sound continued for a minute and then stopped. But then immediately after, it resumed. It sounded as if someone was aggressively turning the pages of a book.

    ''Who even reads like that?'' Guy asked himself sarcastically.

    The noise attracted the attention of Mai, who was sitting across from Guy, and she irritatedly stood up and walked towards the source.

    Guy had an inkling of what was going to happen. He had read way too many novels, and this scenario looked like ayup right into a m-dunk. He was up for some entertainment so he stealthily moved towards a seat closer to the show. All he was missing was some popcorn.

    "What are you doing?" A feminine voice spoke up first. This caused the aggressive turning to stop.

    "Reading," a nonchnt masculine voice responded.

    ''Wow, what an asshole. Does it count as reading if you swipe through pages after a cursory nce?'' Guy ran hismentary.

    "What''s with the mountain of books? Are you going to read all of them?"

    "Yes," Jo replied.

    Guy really wanted to punch his face after hearing the way he spoke. ''This dude really knows how to push people''s buttons.''

    The girl responded with the formic "hmph!" and stomped out. Guy figured this girl wouldn''t let Jo go that easily. After all, it''s the integrity of one''s face we''re talking about here.

    Guy returned to reading his book while trying really hard to tune out the horrendous noise of aggressive page-turning. After a while, he got used to it and it turned into white noise.

    Compared to the rate at which Jo was consuming books, Guy was a lot slower. One thing Guy didn''t understand was the reason for Jo''s urgency. There was at least a year left till the next apprentice tournament. And given that he only had one student there shouldn''t have been a need for Jo to hoard all the books in the library.

    Sure he had an almost cheat-like ability to perfectly copy books by just scanning through the pages. But that meant that he had an advantage!

    Shrugging off the absurdity of the current situation, Guy returned the book he was currently reading and picked up the next one.

    As he moved across the rows of shelves, he saw Joing out from one row and entering the next. Guy watched enviously as Jo continued his usual shenanigans.

    The library itself wasn''t as big as those back on Earth. The books here were specialised and were primarily on magecraft. So there were sections for cultivation methods, basics of beast taming, alchemy (the medicinal kind not the one where they turn metal into gold), spell-casting, and some primers on enchanting and smithing.

    Every time Guy found an interesting proposition for Markus, he would take down some notes for future reference. Since Guy had only recently entered this world, he was still a little green when it came to casting spells and cultivating in general. Guy wanted to shore up his basics so that he could practice by himselfter on and gain some experience.

    Whileying in bedst night, Guy tried to cultivate by following the method the old body used. It was called ''Way of the Burning Fist,''  and it was a martial-arts centric cultivation style, which happened to be the mostmon type in this world. As its name suggested, the method enhanced the user''s affinity with the fire element and naturally infused the user''s mana with burning properties.

    As he read through it, Guy couldn''t help but facepalm. It was filled with lines that reminded him of those bogus motivational books. The first chapter was full of drivel asking the reader to imagine ''You''re a great big burgeoning me. A bright orange light that burns everything in its path. You consume everything indiscriminately. You are fire! Be the Fire!''

    Guy nearly tossed the book in the trash. Unfortunately, he couldn''t delete books from the RoK. Guy tried to console himself by saying that the original body chose this because it looked easy to learn. But after looking through a few others, Guy really wanted to quit being a mage.

    The worst offenders were the styles that catered to a singr element. They almost always contained simr mantras asking the reader to ''be a sturdy tree'', or ''be flowing water'', or ''be lightning''. Guy could empathise with Markus after reading those books. What the hell does ''be lightning'' even mean? It was such an abstract statement that offered nothing in terms of insight.

    There were other cultivation books in the RoK and the academy''s library. Some were more profound, asking the reader to consider ideas and thoughts simr to those in philosophical discussions from his old world. For instance, one style asked the reader to ''consider the need for material possessions.'' That particr style encouraged the reader to pursueplete dissociation from the world and to achieve a state free of earthly restraints. As a person borne from a capitalistic family, separating himself from his material possessions was asking for death.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy wanted to delve deeper into what made a cultivation method, but the Sword of Damocles called the apprentice tournament hung over his neck!

    Another observation Guy made was about spells. There were many kinds of spells recorded in the library. Essentially, they could be ssified into three main categories: ritual-based, chanting-based, and circle-based.

    Ritual-based magic generally required preparation. The effects of these magics were massive in scale and would require a lot of reagents andplicated inscriptions and chants. These magics were tier-less, only requiring a fixed amount of mana which in turn could be extracted from nature, or multiple mages all involved in the ritual. These rituals could be self-sustaining as long as the appropriate reagents were provided.

    Chanting-based magic was the mostmon type. Its advantage was that the caster only had to remember the exact series of phrases and intonations corresponding to the magic they wanted to cast. The words were in anguage called ''Ancient Tongue'' which had very strict semanticws, ensuring that its meaning could never be misunderstood. Because of that, thenguage was highly mana resonant. The only disadvantage of this type of magic was that the spell must meet the nature of the user''s cultivation style. A mage practising earth-based styles couldn''t chant fire-type magic, no matter how hard they tried.

    The final type was circle-based magic. This type of magic was cultivation-neutral, which meant anyone could use it. The only disadvantage was that the caster had to memorise a convoluted diagram called formations. The diagram was usually enveloped by a circle, with theplexity of the designs inside it corresponding to theplexity of the magic itself. There were many familiar geometric shapes, however, he couldn''t figure out their purpose. He would have to break it down and evaluate everything in detail to properly decode how this magic worked. He also found some text in Ancient Tongue inside some of the shapes.

    The tiers of thest two types of magic depended on the amount of mana required. There was usually a range that determined where these spells ranked.

    Guy straight-away crossed out ritual magics as an option since they were tooplicated, expensive and time inefficient. He also cancelled chanting magic, as it would require a cultivation style toplement it. The only option left was the circle magics.

    Guy then began keeping an eye out for some promising spells to tryter on. But as he was doing so, he saw that Jo had finished his hoarding and was now leaving the library.

    On his way out, Jo was stopped by Mai.

    "Wait! Jo, I have a question. I saw that you were reading the book on mana-efficient alchemy, I have a doubt about one topic brought up by the author. Can you help me out?" Mai asked. Even though Guy couldn''t see her face, her voice clearly carried a hint of condescension.

    ''Is this the legendary face-pping?'' Guy prepared himself.

    Jo responded dismissively, "Sure ask away."

    "It said in the book that ''siphoning raw mana into any mixture while aerating it was found to increase the efficiency of the infusion process.'' I don''t quite understand why."

    Jo smirked and said, "I know what you''re talking about, but you see the book had a typo in it. You don''t aerate the mixture, and you don''t siphon raw mana. You are actually supposed to circte air-infused mana to the mixture. The information was corrected in the book''s afterword which waster attached as an additional page. The reason for the method should be self-evident, so I won''t go into the details."

    Mai was taken aback. She ran to the shelf where the book was kept and quickly navigated to the final page.

    Guy could swear he heard a palm hitting soft flesh, like an unceremonious p on a tender face. Or was it just inside his head?

    Mai returned the book and slowly walked back to where Jo originally was. On her way, she noticed Guy trying to muffle hisughter. Guy quickly coughed and put on a neutral expression. But when he looked in front of him he saw that he too had subconsciously built a fort out of books. Guy''s eyes widened.

    ''Wait! Is it my turn? Girl ready your other cheek this daddy- wait where did she go?'' When Guy looked up, Mai was nowhere to be seen.

    As he swivelled his head he heard a feminine voice moving farther away from the library.

    "Jo! Wait for me! I have some more things I want to discuss!"

    Guy sighed, ''How does this even work? Why is she even attracted to him? Why do face-ppers get all the girls? Are these girls masochists? Mast please help!'' He cried internally.

    (¡­)

 Chapter 8 Wei Zao The Transmigrator

    A/N: Hi guys! This is the author from the future. When I started this book, I intended it as a parody of existing novels of this genre (teaching, cultivation, transmigration, etc.). Jo Way/Wei Zao was a character I created for this purpose (he would be a parody of typical MCs from books of this genre).

    HOWEVER, as I kept writing and listening to reader feedback, my characters gained new life. So, I chose to pivot and change the vour of this book. It turns from a parody to original work. This change bes evident around CH25. After that point, Ipletely removed Jo Way/Wei Zao POV chapters and slowly phased him out to an intermittent character.

    So. Before you guys draw an opinion of this novel, I request that you please stick around till at least CH30. Thank you for your patience :)

    ____

    Wei Zao died while reading a book and got transmigrated into another world. He didn''t even bother asking the important questions such as:

    How did I die?

    Why am I here?

    Instead, he just went with it. It was a second chance for him after all. His dead-end job as a librarian wasn''t taking him anywhere.

    The world he was brought into was one filled with magic. There existed something known as mana in the environment, that people known as mages could use to do extraordinary things.

    It was all very daunting. But the deity that brought him to this world offered to give him a system. Something that could support him in this world.

    Since he spent most of his past life in the library as part of his job, the first thought that came into his mind was to have a library that could give him the answer to anything.

    For the diety, this wasn''t a hard task to aplish. And thus started his adventure in this new world, with his Omniscient Library System.

    "Jo! Wait for me! I have some more things I want to discuss!"

    A sweet voice echoed from behind him

    Wei Zao hurried his steps to add distance between himself and the woman chasing him.

    ''Damn it! Why is this woman trying to find trouble with me?''

    But no matter how hard he tried, Wei Zao just couldn''t outrun a mage just on the cusp of breaking into Foundation Establishment.

    "Jo, why don''t we continue our discussion over lunch," Mai dered matter-of-factly.

    Wei Zao''s eyes twitched when he heard her tone of voice.

    ''It''s like she''s doing me a favour.'' But of course, he didn''t voice that thought out loud.

    "No thanks. I have better things to do," Wei Zao replied and turned to leave.

    Mai stood in ce, stumped. For someone who was used to getting her way most of the time, this was her first rejection, and that too from someone that she considered beneath her.

    She snorted in derision, ''He probably got lucky and remembered the contents of that book. I''ll get you another time.''

    But Wei Zao had already erased that whole interaction from his mind. His main goal in visiting the library was to umte more technical knowledge from this world to find a solution for his student''s problem. Although he asked the deity to provide him with a system that could answer all of his information, it seemed that it was iplete.

    ''System why aren''t all the book already inside the Omniscient Library? Should omniscient mean to know everything?'' Wei Zao asked in an annoyed tone.

    [To have everything from the get-go can be overwhelming. It is safer for your sanity if only the pertinent information is avable at the required time.]

    Wei Zao sighed. ''But why do I have to scan through the entire book before getting it inside the library? Why can''t I get it copied by just touching the book?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    [There is a saying to never judge a book by its cover. It is possible for the contents of the book to bepletely different from what is written on the cover.]

    ''Stupid system, you''re just making my life harder aren''t you?'' Wei Zao chided.

    [¡­]

    An interesting feature Wei Zao discovered in his library was its ability to correct any errors in texts. For instance, Wei Zao knew of the typo in the book Mai brought up way before he even reached the afterword because the library highlighted the text and provided a correction for it.

    ''In that sense, I guess you are omniscient. Fake news is dangerous after all.''

    Wei Zao''s first student, Gaige Bori had atent draconic bloodline. In this world, humans can have special physiques or bloodlines depending on the make-up of their lineage.

    Humans are one of the most vani species in this world. A base human does not have any inherent advantages. Compared to other humanoid species such as elves with their high affinity to natural mana, and dwarves with their naturally high strength, a human is as basic as it gets.

    However, when a human mixes with another species, the offspring is guaranteed to be human but with a special boost which is the special physique or bloodline of the other species.

    That begs the question, how does it all work? Naturally, procreation should be impossible across different species! And that fact remains true as long as the human and the other species haven''t yet reached the Core Formation realm.

    Once a mage, regardless of species, breaks through Foundation Establishment into Core Formation, they are no longer considered as a member of their base species. For elves and dwarves, this is when they branch out into different sub-species.

    For elves, depending on their cultivation method and alignment, they either be high elves, dark elves, wood elves, mers, or fae. As for dwarves who live in isted ns, they advance into the inner circle of their respective ns such as the Ashfire dwarves, or the Bluesteel dwarves.

    As for beasts that have reached Core Formation, they gain the ability to adopt a new form based on their cultivation method and alignment. Many chose to adopt a humanoid form, others choose to push deeper with their current form.

    Nheless, once they reach this stage, mages can copte cross-species. Which opens up the world to a more varied gic make-up. It is analogous to jumping from nucleated ponds to onerge ocean.

    In the case of Gaige, it just so happened that his mother had an extremely pure draconic bloodline. His father, during his travels, once met a beautiful woman out in the woods. Her raven ck hair, deep blue eyes, and slender and seductive figurepletely enamoured him. After spending a few years with her, one day she just left. His father searched far and wide, but never found her again.

    10 yearster, a baby was dropped off in front of the Bori household with a letter. It was from the woman Gaige''s father met. The letter affirmed that the child was his, but Gaige''s father was sceptical. That was until he looked into the babies eyes and saw the same deep blue void that belonged to that woman. He knew right then and there, without a shadow of a doubt that the baby was his.

    He took the baby in and raised it diligently with his other children. Since Gaige was from another woman, his presence was always a scar in his current mother''s heart. She thought that Gaige''s father strayed and had rtions outside of the marriage. No matter how much his father tried to rify that he didn''t, Gaige''s current mother just didn''t believe him.

    What his parents failed to realise was that Gaige''s birth mother was a Core Condensation stage Abyssal Wyrm in human form. Wyrms have naturally long gestation periods, it was only 10 years because the other half was human, otherwise, she would have carried the child for half a century. His father had an inkling that the other woman was of a different base species. But which one, that detail forever remained a mystery.

    This also meant that the potency of the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline in Gaige''s body was extremely high, he just didn''t know it.

    While this signified that Gaige had a limitless future, when it is inert at the early stages of cultivation, the Abyssal Wyrm''s bloodline is highly vtile

    Nearly all bloodlines and physiques naturally activate once the mage breaches into Foundation Establishment. It is at that realm when their inherent advantages start to be visible. It is also unsafe for a Mana Condensation mage to activate their bloodlines or physiques as it can cause adverse effects on the unprepared body such as abrupt mutation, rapid cellr regeneration resulting in tumorous growths, and even death.

    So for Gaige, his problems were two-fold. First, his current cultivation method was the Bori n''s ''Bright-Fire Path''. It was naturally attuned to the light and fire elements, which weren''tpatible with his bloodline. Second, the inert Abyssal Wyrm bloodline would randomly wreak havoc as he tried to advance his realm methodically.

    After going through the academy''s library, Wei Zao had developed a two-pronged solution. First, he had to develop a cultivation method aligned with darkness. And second, he had to devise a strategy to either suppress the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline or activate it safely, so that Gaige could advance in his cultivation.

    Getting a darkness aligned cultivation method was easy. After collecting a series of dark-type cultivation methods, the Omniscient Library coted a fitting style that closely matched Gaige''s bloodline and could support him till Foundation Establishment. To go further, Wei Zao would need to collect more Advanced methods for his library.

    For the next step, Wei Zao decided to use special potions that would facilitate partial bloodline activation. For those, he needed rare ingredients that weren''t readily avable in the academy.

    And that''s why he was now standing outside the Alchemy Guild''s Building.

 Chapter 9 Wei Zao The Serial Page Flipper

    Wei Zao stood before the Alchemy Guild''s building. Before he took over this body, the original "Jo Way" had tried to apply for an alchemy license, only to fail miserably.

    Thankfully this was in another city. Just thinking about the mess the original body made sent a shiver down Wei Zao''s spine.

    For teachers, having a practising license in another upation was a huge plus. Having a certification in another profession would automatically make a teacher more desirable.

    Teachers could be ssified into tiers based on the number of teaching stars they earned. A teaching apprentice who advanced to be a teacher would have zero stars. Once a zero-star teacher earned a 1-star license in one of the many side professions in this world, they could take a certification exam with the Teaching Association to get promoted to a 1-star teacher.

    The difference between a starred teacher and one without was like heaven and earth. A starred teacher could be considered a global entity not tied down to any political power. But an unstarred teacher was still beholden to the powers that operated in the area they worked in.

    To move from a 1-star teacher to a 2-star teacher, the teacher in question would need to hold at least two 2-star licenses in any side upation. This pattern followed in that manner, and the difficulty to gain more stars as a teacher rose exponentially with each step.

    The highest number of teaching stars held by any teacher living or dead was 5. The number of 5-star teachers that existed in this entire world could be counted in one hand, and these entities were veritable powerhouses in the field of cultivation and magic.

    With regards to side professions, the ones that offered certification had their own official guilds and associations. Unfortunately, not all side professions were ranked equally. For instance, holding a 2-star chef certificate was less sought afterpared to a 2-star alchemist''s certificate.

    Starting in these certifiable upations was simr to teaching, in that the person had to first take a practising test and earn a license for it.

    Wei Zao calmly entered the guild''s building and sauntered over to the receptionist''s desk. Seated there was a beautiful young woman who was reading through a book on recognising medicinal wildflowers.

    "Excuse me. I''d like to apply for the practising license," Wei Zao said to the receptionist.

    The woman looked up from her book and pointed towards a bulletin board to the side where the sign-up forms were posted.

    Wei Zao walked over and checked out the test schedules. There was a practising licence test in an hour, on top of that there was also a 1-star certification test right after. Wei Zao didn''t want to waste too much time so he decided to pick up the sign-up sheets for both the tests and walked back to the receptionist.

    "Excuse me, miss. Can you please tell me the general overview of the contents in the practising license and the 1-star license tests?"

    The woman looked a little annoyed, but she answered nheless. In fact, she was only at the receptionist''s desk temporarily. The actual receptionist was taking the practising licence test and so she was temporarily holding down the fort.

    In actuality, the woman was a 1-star alchemist called Eida Barr who ran the support workshops for alchemy practitioners.

    Eida was annoyed with Wei Zao''s questions because the answers to them could be found on the disy boards all around the building''s ground floor. If only the man bothered to look around him, he''d notice them. She automatically had a poor impression of this impertinentd. But since she was technically a "receptionist" answering these trivial questions fell within the job description.

    "For the practising licence, the test consists of identifyingmon ingredients and listing their uses. It''s fairly simple. For the 1-star licence, the test involves brewing a potion or a pill that is at least 1-star in difficulty. For that, you will have supervised ess to our storage. You can use all the ingredients you want, but depending on the sess or failure of your attempt you will have to pay for the ingredients," she rattled monotonously.

    "That sounds easy," Wei Zao murmured, which was promptly heard by Eida.

    "Miss, for the tests preparations, would definitely be necessary. Is there a book repository or library that we have ess to?" Wei Zao asked with an expectant gaze.

    Noticing the man''s excitement, Eida''s harsh assessment softened a little and she pointed him in the general direction of the public repository.

    Wei Zao quickly walked towards the library to gauge out the number of books he''d have to go through for the tests.

    After he saw that there weren''t that many topics being assessed for the tests, he quickly signed up for the practising license test and began the process of assimting the books into his Omniscient Library.

    What followed were a series of periodic sounds of aggressive page-turning. After "practising" back at the academy library, he was sort of an expert in this. He now used all the fingers in his hand while turning the pages. That saved a lot of time!

    While he was doing this, Eida happened to enter the repository to give him some advice in case he needed it. Most budding alchemists couldn''t make heads or tails of how to start their journey, and it was her role to help them out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But as she neared the repository, he heard loud noises echoing from within. It sounded simr to someone venting their frustrations on books. She quickly rushed in to make sure nothing was wrong, and she was weed with a sight of a man quickly pulling out books and swiping through them like a madman.

    Although she was greatly angered by the callousness in the way Wei Zao handled these precious books, she was kind of impressed by how he got the whole process down to a science. If she didn''t know any better, it looked almost as if he had practised this many times before.

    She quickly shook that stupid idea out of her head and tapped on Wei Zao''s shoulders.

    "Excuse me. Is there a problem? Can I help you in finding what you''re looking for?" Eida calcted her words.

    Wei Zao put on an amicable smile and answered, "No thanks. I''m just memorising the contents."

    Eida''s brows copsed into her eyes, and her skull threatened to swallow them whole.

    ''Who the hell memorises by rapidly shuffling through the pages?'' She questioned internally.

    Either she was an idiot all this time for reading books slowly and this man was a genius of immeasurable proportions, or that this asshole was trying to act overconfident and putting on a show.

    As a human being that firmly believed in logic, she was leaning towards thetter exnation.

    She exhaled out a long sigh and decided to let the man continue with his charade. Before she left she made sure to point out that the books in the repository were expensive and that he should practise caution when handling them.

    And with that Wei Zao returned to his leisurely page-turning.

    There was still a little less than half an hour left to the practising licence test, and he was nearly finished with scanning all the books in the repository.

    Of those avable to the public, only a few handfuls were required for the practising licence. The contents of those books mainly pertained to safety procedures, basic skills, and foundational theories. The remainder were for the aspiring 1-star alchemists and included more advanced topics more geared towards application and brewing.

    By the time he finished umting all the books, there was still 10 minutes left. Wei Zao quickly looked through the contents in his Omniscient Library and found that simr to the books on cultivation methods, the potion brewing recipes were also edited. However, unlike with the cultivation methods, the number of additions to the recipes were staggering. They went into so much detail that even apleteyman would be able to follow them. Wei Zao was feeling confident, so before going towards the testing hall, he decided to submit the 1-star license test sign-up form along the way.

    Just as he arrived outside the testing hall, a representative walked over with the list of applicants. Coincidentally, the representative happened to be Eida. Wei Zao was pleasantly surprised as he had a good opinion of the well-meaning woman.

    Eida looked through the sheets in her hands and called out the names of the examinees, indicating for them to enter the hall. For the test today there weren''t many applicants - only 6.

    When she called out the final name, she looked up and saw a familiar face.

    "You? Didn''t you just start looking through the examination contents?" She asked in shock.

    Wei Zao nodded his head and tried to assuage her worries. "I did. But don''t worry ma''am, I''ve memorised it all."

    Eida was still not convinced and so she tried to issue a subtle warning. "Well, I can''t stop you. But just know that you only get three opportunities to take the practising licence test. And you have to wait for at least 5 years before attempting it again."

    To be honest, Eida didn''t care about the man. Even though she was the same age as him, she had already seen many kinds of people walking through the building''s halls. And while he was respectable, she felt that the man was acting a little too callous.

    She had to work tirelessly to earn her 1-star licence and while she didn''t wish ill for him, she hoped that his failure today would be a teaching moment for him about the difficulty of her upation.

    Seeing as Wei Zao was adamant about taking the test, she decided to not push any further and gestured him to enter.

    She had washed her hands of the responsibility after issuing that previous warning. If anything were to happen in the future, she wouldn''t be held liable.

 Chapter 10 Wei Zao The Genius

    The testing hall was fairly spacious. There were tables ced with around 6-feet of separation between them row- and column-wise.

    The examinees started to take their seats starting from the front-most spots.

    Eida walked up to the examiner''s table right at the front of the hall and handed out the test papers face-down to all the upied desks.

    Following that, she waited for the clock at the front of the hall to perfectly reach the next hour and gestured for everyone to begin.

    The test was an hour-long and there were 20 questions the examinees had to answer.

    As Wei Zao inspected the questions, he quickly recollected where the pertaining information was located in the books inside the Omniscient Library. Cross-referencing was reasonably easy; the moment he thought of a particr search term, the library brought books rted to it to the forefront.

    Wei Zao found that nearly all the questions could be answered from the information in his Omniscient Library. So without wasting any more time, he started to write his responses.

    Eida was observing the examinees from her desk. She saw a lot of confused expressions. Evidently, a lot of them weren''t prepared. But as her eyes fell on Wei Zao, she was surprised.

    The man was happily jotting down answers one after the other. As she saw his actions, she noticed that every time he finished a question he would read the next, stared nkly at the wall for a quick moment, and then answered it unwaveringly.

    She didn''t know what to think of his behaviour. She questioned whether he had already learned the basic knowledge and was purely reviewing the content back in the repository. That would make sense given how unperturbed he was in answering the questions.

    Just as she was about to move her gaze back to the other examinees, Wei Zao stood up from his seat. Not even half an hour had passed and he already stood up? Eida thought he was giving up after realising that some of the questions were quiteplicated. She wanted to return some words of constion but to her surprise, he said, "I would like to hand in my answer sheet."

    Observing his genuinely calm smile threw Eida for a loop. Without wasting a second she snatched the sheets from his hand and flipped through them.

    ''He answered all the questions! And that too in one shot? There aren''t any scratches or error markings!'' She eximed internally.

    Without even reading the answers she knew that the man before her was quite knowledgeable. It was almost impossible to bullshit such verbose answers in a short time frame. He would have to prepare them before entering the hall, and who would do something so stupid?

    Eida calmed herself and waved for Wei Zao to leave the hall. As he walked out, the other examinees sent a myriad of gazes his way. Some were envious, others were disdainful. But Wei Zao didn''t care. He was confident in his responses, and he was already preparing for the next test.

    As soon as he exited, Eida started to thoroughly read Wei Zao''s answer sheets.

    With every passing line of text, her expression grew more agitated.

    The answers were precise to a T. It was almost as if he copied them from a book. That was definitely not the case since the hall was lined with ritual formations that recognised any transitioning mana fluctuations. Furthermore, he couldn''t have smuggled in a book. This only meant that the man had properly memorised all this information.

    Breaking protocol, she started to correct the answer sheets right there. As a 1-star alchemist, she was allowed to do so, but it was usually done after all the tests were collected.

    Unsurprisingly, Wei Zao scored full marks. There weren''t even any spelling mistakes. It was just too perfect.

    Eida calmed herself and waited for all the examinees to hand in their sheets. Thest one handed in his sheets right at the final minute, which irked Eida a little. Mainly because he had already closed his answer sheets and was simply staring at her during thest 15 minutes.

    With the answer stack in hand, Eida rushed out in a brisk walk towards the branch manager''s office.

    Beyn Barr was the current manager of Radiant City''s Alchemy Guild, and he was a 3-star alchemist. He was also Eida''s father.

    Eida impatiently knocked on the door and walked in as soon as she heard an affirming hum from within.

    "Dad, check this out!" She said as she slid Wei Zao''s paper across Beyn''s desk.

    Beyn nced at the paper. As an advanced alchemist, the test was a trivial matter for Beyn. With a cursory look, he could determine the uracy of the answers.

    "Hmm. There doesn''t seem to be anything wrong with it. What''s the matter?" Beyn asked with a confused gaze.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The examinee answered the paper in less than half an hour!" She eximed.

    Beyn''s raised his eyebrows. "The candidate is definitely impressive. He would be a good addition to our guild."

    "I know. I was going to present him with the licence personally and possibly offer some personal tutoring. What do you think?" Eida asked in an expected tone.

    "That''s also a good idea! You are close to earning a 2-star licence, this could be a good opportunity to get yourself a promising apprentice. You know what? Let''s go probe him out!" Beynmented excitedly.

    As the father-daughter duo made their way through the hallways they had a spring in their steps. The sess of the different guilds depended primarily on the quality of the members in them. Alchemy was a difficult and expensive profession to get into. That, in and of itself, was a steep step to sway away potential entrants. Not even the prospect of raking in a boatload of cash,ter on, was sufficient to draw in more people into the profession. This was why Beyn was excited at the prospect of unearthing an alchemical genius. Not only would it be beneficial for the branch, but it would also raise thepetence of the guild as a whole.

    Furthermore, there was also a custom amongst alchemists to take on an apprentice once they earned 2-stars. It was a tradition put in ce to raise the skill floor of the guild members, and to improve the rtionship between skill tiers within the guild. Ultimately, this custom favoured the apprentices as it gave them ess to a high-level contact in the guild as well as a credible source of guidance in the profession.

    Beyn''s second purpose in personally visiting Wei Zao was to cultivate a decent student for his daughter. She was an extremely promising seed herself, and if her student wasn''t up to the mark it would also hinder her progress.

    Once the duo reached the front halls, they started to hear amotion near one of the testing halls.

    "Young man you cannot take the test! You don''t have a practising licence yet!" A familiarly deep voice echoed from within,ced with a tinge of annoyance.

    "But Sir, I just took the test. It said on the board that I''d receive the licence within half an hour from the test. But there seems to be a dy. I expressly signed up for the 1-star test consecutively after the practising licence test because of that," a younger masculine voice answered.

    Beyn turned to his daughter and saw her furrowing her brows. He guessed that the voice probably belonged to Wei Zao. They hurried their steps and arrived outside the testing hall.

    Outside the hall, one of the 2-star alchemists who usually handled the 1-star tests was irritatedly reprimanding Wei Zao.

    "First off! You just attended the practising licence test. How can you be so certain that you even passed it?"

    "I''m 100% confident that I passed it!" Wei Zao dered righteously.

    Before the proctor could retaliate, Eida quickly interrupted and rified, "Alchemist Rao, I procrastinated and dyed posting the marks. I actually came here to congratterade Way, and present him with the practising licence."

    "Alchemist Barr. It''s all well and good that he passed, but does this make sense to you? This man just attempted the first test to qualify as a practising alchemist, how do you expect me to trust him with the equipment and materials from our storage?" alchemist Rao questioned.

    Eida smiled wryly and turned towards her father. At this point, Beyn was a little disappointed with Wei Zao''s behaviour. The man came across as extremely half-hearted. While Beyn was willing to believe that the man was a genius, to rush directly from the practising licence test to a 1-star test was asking for death. The jump in difficulty was not linear in any way. The former was fully theoretical and thetter involved practical work.

    After contemting, Beyn spoke up. "Alchemist Rao, let the man attempt the test. If he fails he will just have to reimburse us. The materials and tools essible in the 1-star test are receable."

    Beyn smirked faintly. If the man wanted to show off, Beyn was willing to entertain his antics. Like his daughter, he too believed that learning by falling was the best way. Right now, the man was probably riding high after passing an easy theoretical test. Experiencing the difficulty of brewing a potion would give him a rude awakening.

    Again, while Beyn didn''t wish ill of the young man. He hoped that the failure today would be a teaching moment for him about the difficulty of the upation.

    With that, alchemist Rao apprehensively led Wei Zao into the guild''s storage.

    While Wei Zao walked between the multitude of shelves, he was fascinated by the variety of interesting looking nts and ingredients. Most of them had such vibrant colours and shapes that he waspletely daunted. One could never find anything like them in his old world. Some nts looked like animal parts and some animal parts looked like nts. Some fungi had a metallic appearance, and some metals sprouted like fungi.

    For the 1-star test, the examinee had to brew a 1-star potion at a minimum. They could push for 2-star or above, but those were extremely tough since they involved mana infusion and otherplicated techniques.

    At first, Wei Zao was hoping to brew a basic revitalisation potion. After he earned the 1-star, he could gain ess to the more obscure ingredients at a subsidised rate and brew the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion for his student.

    But he quickly changed his mind once he reached one of the farther shelves inside the storage room. In one of these shelves, Wei Zao found Abyssal Demon w shavings.

    Wei Zao''s eyes widened in shock. But they quickly gained rity as he changed his n of action.

 Chapter 11 Wei Zao The 1-Star Alchemist

    To partially awaken the Abyssal Wyrm''s bloodline within Gaige. The most optimal strategy would be to brew a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion with an Abyssal Wyrm''s vitality base. These vitality bases could be in any form as long as they held the bloodline''s fragment.

    Initially, Wei Zao was nning to source out an Abyssal Wyrm scale, even a tiny sliver of it. But finding an Abyssal Demon nail shaving caused him topletely change his initial n.

    In his Omniscient Library, there was a recipe for the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion listed under Gaige''s information. This recipe was formed once Wei Zao assimted the books from the academy and the alchemy guild. As soon as he touched the Abyssal Demon nail shavings, the recipe updated and another variation was provided. The only difference was that this new recipe was a little vtile and utilised a lot more ingredients to mould the vitality fragment in the nail shavings to fit the Abyssal Wyrm''s bloodline.

    As he scanned through the list of ingredients, Wei Zao was a little relieved. All of them were readily avable in this storage facility. Furthermore, with the highly detailed instructions, Wei Zao was confident that he could brew the potion. The best part was that he wouldn''t even have to shell out any money. This was a double whammy!

    Without wasting any more time. Wei Zao carefully collected all the required ingredients and moved towards the testing hall.

    Beyn and Eida decided to monitor the test as well. Eida was a little resigned at the new developments. She didn''t expect Wei Zao to pull such a stunt. In fact, she too was kind of looking forward to gaining a promising apprentice. But after the recent fuss, she wrote Wei Zao off. The man wasn''t worth the trouble.

    Beyn was simply there to watch an interesting spectacle unfold.

    Unexpectedly, he saw the subject in question walk in with a hodgepodge of ingredients. Beyn nearly lost his shit right there! What the hell was the man doing?

    Silently, Beyn prepared his retardant talismans for a possible catastrophe. Alchemist Rao was practically sweating a river at that sight. But he chose to keep quiet as the manager hadn''t said anything yet.

    Once all the candidates were prepared, alchemist Rao signalled the start of the test.

    Beyn had his focuspletely on Wei Zao. He wanted to see what the man was going to do and be ready to respond to any dangers at a moments notice. He was not going to have the guild building copse under his watch!

    The first thing Beyn saw was the young man staring out into space nkly. Beyn was slowly growing impatient. It was almost as if he was watching a ticking time bomb.

    ''Move, damn it!'' Beyn cursed inwardly.

    Almost on queue, Wei Zao slipped out of the trance and started working with a firm expression. First, he lit up the burner under the standard brewing crucible. Most training crucible nowadays had a magic apparatus that read the temperature inside them. Gone were the days of alchemists eyeballing the conditions of their crucibles.

    As the crucible was heating up, Wei Zao filled it up with distilled water based on the amount listed on the recipe.

    Watching the man work, Beyn was a little assuaged.

    ''At least he is being a little methodical and not throwing all the ingredients inside at once.''

    But Beyn couldn''t finish that thought. Because not a second after the water reached boiling point, Wei Zao unceremoniously tossed three-quarters of the ingredients on his side into the crucible.

    Beyn''s words were stuck in his throat. He was prepared to evacuate the testing room. He saw the crucible shake violently, it was a sign of an imminent explosion.

    Bracing for impact Beyn circted the mana inside his body and reinforced his muscles. He then started chanting an impromptu warding spell to protect Eida and his colleague.

    Right before the crucible reached the point of no return, Wei Zao added the rest of the ingredients barring the Abyssal Demon nail shavings.

    As the newly added ingredients entered the mix, the vibrating crucible stopped shaking, until it reached a standstill.

    It was at that moment that Beyn realised what had happened. He started to recollect the list of ingredients the man brought with him and the entire process. The ingredients were clearly for a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion as well as a vitality cleansing and reconstructing catalyst. Noticing the Abyssal Demon nail shavings remaining on the table, theplete picture dawned in Beyn''s mind and he involuntarily eximed, "He''s forging a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion for a darkness aligned bloodline!"

    Eida and alchemist Rao turned their heads in surprise.

    "But that''s a peak 1-star potion!" Eida added.

    Alchemist Rao nodded in agreement. He reassessed the s¨¦ young man''s earlier actions.

    "He definitely has a strong foundation. But I think his brewing technique is a little mechanical," Raomented.

    "It''s obvious that he hasn''t brewed this potion before. Actually, the way he is handling the crucible and the other equipment indicates that he probably hasn''t brewed many potions either," Beyn nodded in agreement.

    With a final flourish, Wei Zao added the shavings and doubled the heat. Slowly, the liquid in the crucible started evaporating. After a measured minute and a half, Wei Zao extinguished the burner and allowed the concoction to settle.

    Once the fluid cooled down to a handleable temperature, Wei Zao retrieved four containers with stoppers and carefully poured the potion into them.

    "Such a high yield! Alchemist Rao, once this is finished, I want you to go and take note of the ingredients the young man used. There were a few newbinations I have never seen before. The brewing method was fairly basic, so I guess that those newbinations somehow increased the yield," Beyn pointed out.

    Wei Zao copsed onto the seat next to him and started to inspect the potions. The Omniscient Library provided an evaluation on them. Only one out of the four gained a high rating, while the other three were only satisfactory. Wei Zao sighed in relief and carefully closed the stoppers.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He then approached the examiners.

    He said, "I''ve brewed a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion for the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline. Please take a look," and handed the four containers.

    The three alchemists carefully opened each container and inspected the potion inside. Alchemist Rao and Beyn were more knowledgeable than Eida in this matter and were able to immediately discern the quality of the potions following a cursory evaluation. Eida performed a series of tests to determine the efficacy and potency of the potions, and she too was surprised after the fact.

    "Such a wonderful concoction. All of them are of good quality. But this one in particr is perfect. Young man, you could earn a fortune with this one if you auction it!" Alchemist Rao eximed.

    "Wonderful! Marvellous! I know this goes against protocol, but congrattions on gaining a 1-star licence, Alchemist Way," Beyn added.

    "Would you like to sell them through our guild? You will receive 90% of the profits from your sales?" Beyn asked.

    Wei Zao was a little shaken by the fact that he could earn a fortune with the sale of the high-quality potion. He was extremely tempted to do it, but he remembered his original purpose. And so he replied, "Apart from the perfect potion, I would like to sell the rest."

    Eida sent over a questioning gaze.

    "You see, my original intention to enrol into the Alchemy guild was to get a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion for my student," He added.

    The faces of the three alchemists softened when they heard Wei Zao''s full exnation and purpose in pursuing an alchemy license.

    "I am envious of your student for having such a diligent and caring teacher," Beynmented in admiration.

    Alchemist Rao said, "Yes. Back when I was a student in the Radiant Academy, my teacher never even looked at me. My aptitude in cultivation was quite poor, my strengthsy in alchemy. But he didn''t even bother to evaluate my potential properly."

    Beyn carefully packaged the perfect-quality potion and handed it over to Wei Zao. While doing so, Beyn said, "Come over tomorrow to get your official 1-star certification. Once you have it, you will be recognised in any of the alchemy guild branches across the world. And if you have any problems or queries, make sure to ask my daughter Eida here. She is also a 1-star alchemist who is about to take the 2-star certification test. I saw that you arecking experience in brewing. Don''t hesitate to ask her for guidance, I have taught her everything personally."

    Wei Zao turned to Eida and shed a bright smile and bowed. "Then I will be in your guidance ma''am."

    Eida blushed and waved her hand.

    Since Wei Zao had aplished his goal, and that too in a single day, he was in an uplifted mood.

    When he exited the building, he saw that the sun was nearly setting.

    ''I guess Gaige''s probably back at his dorm.''

    He then started to make his way into the student''s quarters.

    Gaige had called it an early day and was in his room trying to cultivate. Even after failing continuously, Gaige was tenacious and refused to give up.

    Teacher Way had said that he would find a way to help him out. In the beginning, Gaige was excited. Wei Zao even said that he had an Abyssal Wyrm''s bloodline. Although he was sceptical, the details Wei Zao went into during the recruitment were too convincing as a lot of the symptoms he described, even some obscure ones that popped up near his genitals, matched up.

    But after asking around, he found that teaching apprentice Jo Way was an infamous figure for messing up a student''s cultivation.

    That key fact caused Gaige to rethink his decisions. He was tempted to drop out of Wei Zao''s tutge, but he decided to hold out.

    Gaige had a strong sense of righteousness. Ever since a young age, he just couldn''t take it when someone was being wronged. He was holding out to see whether the rumours on Wei Zao were true. If the "help" his teacher provided was crooked in any way, Gaige was prepared to report him to the management and have him fired.

    While Gaige was contemting on his next n of action, a series of knocks interrupted his thoughts.

    ''Who could it be at this time?'' Gaige scratched his head.

    As if answering his doubts, Wei Zao''s voice resounded from the other side, "Gaige! It''s me! Teacher Way."

    Gaige opened the door. He wanted to ask Teacher Way why he was visiting him sote. But he didn''t get an opportunity to voice it out, as the other man quickly shoved two items into Gaige''s empty arms.

    Wei Zao then rattled out a series of instructions, "That right there is a cultivation method aligned to your specific constitution. And this is a Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion for the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline. Drink the potion and practice this cultivation method. Don''t go back to your old one, that will cause irreversibly harm to you. Once you''ve done that, meet me tomorrow at the sparring yard. Alright, so I''m gonna go," and simply left.

    Gaige remained standing at his doorstep with a nk look on his face.

    ''What the hell just happened?''

 Chapter 12 Teachers Vow

    Gaige was sitting in the lotus position inside his room, staring at the book and the potion container in front of him.

    He was feeling a little conflicted. Not even a moment ago, he was silently bad-mouthing Teacher Way, only to get such expensive gifts handed to him.

    He knew just how expensive the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potions were. He was a little suspicious about their quality, but he couldn''t question the alchemy guild''s certification attached to the container.

    The cultivation method was what threw him for a loop. After reading through it, Gaige had a good idea that it was genuine. The methods and the insights in the book were top notch! As a son from a prominent n, he had the opportunity to observe different cultivation methods. The nameless book before him was definitely new, but it was a specialised method and was perfectly tailored for him. To a frightening degree at that.

    The information in some of the pages was so personal that even Gaige was surprised. Was Teacher Way spying on him?

    Gaige quickly swivelled his head in ce and put on a jacket to cover his body. He then closed the curtains and double-checked the locks on the door.

    With a satisfied nod, he returned to face the two items.

    Gaige''s eyes reddened as tears threatened to burst out.

    After his failure, a lot of bad things happened one after the other. Although his father didn''t despise him, Gaige could see a hint of disappointment in his gaze. His mother, who was already averse to his presence, became even more disinclined. The worst part was that his childhood sweetheart, the person he was set to marry in the future, summarily cancelled the engagement. The emotional gut-punch turned into an unrelenting groin barrage when her family offered the marriage alliance to his elder brother.

    He was thankful to Teacher Way for providing him with another opportunity. He vowed that even if the potion and the cultivation method didn''t work, he would be forever grateful to him.

    And then without a second thought, Gaige popped the stopper, brought the potion towards his lips, and drowned it with an audible gulp.

    As the liquid descended his gullet, Gaige quickly returned to the lotus position and followed the instructions on the new cultivation method.

    ''The darkness swallows everything. It is endless and all-epassing. To be one with darkness is to be a devourer of light¡­''

    As he mentally chanted the mantra, he started to feel the familiar churning of mana inside his channels.

    With a smile on his face, he continued. But after a while, the mana inside him started to be turbid.

    Gaige frowned. It was happening again. He was preparing himself for the inevitable bacsh. But contrary to his expectations, a new heat started to resonate from his core. It felt both scorching and soothing at the same time. It was as if a new body part was being added into his body forcefully, but it didn''t feel foreign at all.

    Gaige scrubbed his unnecessary thoughts and continued his cultivation.

    The heat in his body started to spread with the mana in his channels. Following every cirction, the heat in his core started to subside, while a cooling sensation permeated through his body.

    After a while, the instability inside Gaige started to settle. With one final cirction, everything returned to normal. Just as he opened his eyes, a surge rushed through his mana channels.

    ''I''m breaking into the middle stage!'' Gaige eximed.

    The surge burst out from the pores in his body causing his body temperature to lower slightly.

    Once the dust settled Gaige stood up in ce, his legs shivered in excitement.

    ''It worked!''

    As he tried to circte his mana once again, he didn''t feel any obstructions, nor did he face any irregrities. In fact, the whole process felt much easier.

    Gaige couldn''t contain his glee and screamed out loudly, "YES!"

    "Hey! Shut UP! People are trying to sleep here!"

    ____

    It was now three weeks since Guy first started his delve into the academy''s library. Over those weeks, he had exhausted all the books essible to him.

    He first went through all the avable spellbooks. He listed down the most basic spells and had Markus try casting them. Unfortunately, none of them panned out.

    Guy then went through the books on ritual formations. He wondered if he could boost Markus'' mana capacity, or offer any casting cost reductions. While there were some options, none of them was sufficient to offer any substantial gains. Most of the boosting ritual formations were percentage-based, and would only amplify based on the individual''s base capacity.

    Exhausting those options, Guy apprehensively went through the books on alchemy. Guy was a little averse to this topic because he had a poor experience with toxic medications from his past life. After being pumped with deadly chemicals as part of his chemotherapy, he was a little jaded with alchemy as a whole.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ording to the literature, alchemical potions were basically poisons that offset the damages they did to the body with the massive benefits they offered. Guy would not, in good conscience, subject an average Joe like Markus to such a torturous experience.

    However, although he was reluctant, he still went through the alchemical books for any possible solutions.

    There were none.

    For the heck of it, Guy decided to look through the other books in the library holding on to a modicum of hope that there would be some hidden or obscure solutions. ording to most of the novels he''d read, the main character always found some heavenly cheat in thest ce anyone would look.

    But the reality was a bitch!

    All he gained from his fervent search were a bunch of books in his RoK, as well as empathetic looks from the librarian, Al Jeeves.

    Al Jeeves was a Core Condensation realm mage who had been working in the Academy''s library for over 50 years. In fact, he was overqualified for this position as a librarian since Al held 2-star licences in alchemy, painting and sculpting, smithing and runecrafting, cooking, as well as herbology. With such a foundation, earning a 2-star teaching licence or higher would have been a piece of cake. But Al didn''t pursue that path and had settled after gaining the 1-star licence.

    His main goal was to keep learning since his cultivation method was built upon the foundation of increasing one''s knowledge. After realising that teaching and pushing his cultivation forward would conflict against each other, he decided to focus on thetter.

    He was a highly renowned figure in Radiant City as well as the Sr Empire. He chose to settle in Radiant Academy because he wanted to work towards a beast-taming 2-star licence. Radiant City was close to Green-Sky Forest, which was home to a myriad of beasts - some that were rumoured to be in the Tesseract Formation realm, which was a realm higher than Core Condensation.

    The closeness to such an abundant resource had sling-shotted the beast-taming guild''s achievements in the city. Thus Radiant City became the unofficial Ma for beast-tamers in the Sr Empire.

    Over the past few weeks, Al and Guy had gotten really close. After observing the diligence with which Guy researched for his student, Al was greatly moved and did his best in helping Guy in his efforts.

    Every evening, when Guy left the library, the old librarian would offer some consoling words and take him out for dinner. Before they parted ways, Al would always gently urge Guy to give up.

    Noticing the exhausted Guy slouched over a book, Al slowly approached him and patted his back.

    "Come on now, Guy. You''ve looked through everything. There''s nothing that you can do to help your student," he said gently.

    "Ah! Mr. Jeeves." Guy jolted up and rubbed his eyes.

    With furrowed brows, Al handed Guy a cup of hot beverage. "Here, drink some of this!"

    "Thank you for this, I really needed a pick me up!" Guymented.

    As Guy slowly drank the beverage, Al pulled over a seat and sat near him.

    "You''ve looked through all the books Guy. There is no solution. There is nothing you can do. That child Markus just isn''t meant to walk the mage''s path," Al said while consoling Guy.

    Guy carefully ced down the empty cup and smiled. "I get what you''re saying Mr. Jeeves. But it isn''t fair."

    Al''s ears twitched and his eyes darted to a spot directly behind Guy. But he quickly lowered his vignce after confirming something.

    Guy turned his seat to face Al and continued, "If we follow orthodox logic, then only the people talented enough to walk the mage''s path are worthy to be invested in. Those that don''t have the inherent talent should resign themselves to their lives.

    But what about those that don''t want to resign themselves to their fates? Is it right for us, as teachers to tell them to just give up? Tell them that ''life just isn''t fair, deal with it!''?"

    Guy''s gaze turned serious as he dered confidently, "If the student is unwilling, then as a teacher it is my job to support them all the way. I promised Markus that I would find a way for him to advance, and I don''t n to give up."

    Al smiled wryly while shaking his head. As he stood up to leave, he added, "Well, good luck. I''ll keep an eye out for any good literature. Just don''t exhaust yourself Guy¡­"

    Guy was a little conflicted himself. He spoke all righteously and confidently, but deep down he was extremely burnt-out. He had essentially wasted 3 weeks!

    With a long and dejected sign, Guy decided to turn towards Mast.

    ''Mast. Can you help a brother out?'' Guy asked with a hint of expectation.

    (I¡­ can''t,) Mast replied.

 Chapter 13 A New Solution

    After entering the RoK, Guy was now face-to-face with Mast''s avatar. With an irritated growl, Guy started to vent his frustrations.

    ''Why can''t you help me? You saw how hard I worked the past 3 weeks. I aplished diddly-squat!'' Guyined.

    (It''s not that I am unwilling to help you. While you were busy, I looked around for possible solutions myself. But you see, there aren''t any existing solutions in this world to your problem,) Mast soothed Guy.

    Guy''s eyebrows furrowed. He probed, ''But aren''t you like a god? Can''t you figure out a new method?''

    Mast sighed as he replied, (World builders cannot innovate. Creativity and inventiveness are not within our capacity.)

    ''But you made the world I came from.''

    Mast nodded, (If we''re talking semantics, then I didn''t make that world I birthed it.)

    Guy was a little confused about the underlying meaning of that sentence, "What''s the difference? birthing the world, making the world, they both sound the same to me."

    Mast hummed as he thought of a suitable reply. (Think of it this way. Let''s say my world is a tree. If I made the tree, that would mean one minute there was no tree, and the next minute there was a tree. Everything about the tree is known to me and controble by me down to the tiniest of detail. In the future, I can change the tree whenever I want. On the other hand, if I birthed the tree, I simply nted the seeds for the tree and let it develop naturally. While I know all the tiny nuances of the tree''s gics, I cannot change it at a snap.)

    ''So it''s like you wrote the basic code for your world, and you let it grow naturally?'' Guy said to confirm his understanding.

    Mast smiled and nodded, (That''s the gist of it. World builders program thews and truths of their worlds, and the world does the rest by itself. I don''t control anything. However, what the inhabitants of my world create or develop, will naturally be avable to the world builders themselves. In fact, in the past few weeks, I''ve been using a back door in this world to ess the knowledge developed here. Unfortunately, I couldn''t find anything of help¡­)

    Guy started to walk around the RoK as he pondered on the revtion.

    As he strolled through the rows of shelves, hemented, ''Damm. So there''s really nothing I can do huh? Well, at least I tried everything¡­''

    Mast interrupted Guy, (Not everything), and pointed towards the previously locked section of the RoK, which held books from Guy''s original world.

    Guy raised his eyebrows while inquiring, ''What use are those book? They are rted to my old world right?''

    Mast affirmed in response, (They are indeed rted to the rules from my world. But the programming for this world is actually much closer to mine than you realise. The only difference is the existence of mana. To be honest, I don''t understand how elder brother managed to include such a cheat without causing his world to copse. The amount of contradictions mana introduces to some of the interactions between thews and rules of this world are unbelievable.)

    Guy exhaled in amusement as he gently picked up one of the books from the shelf.

    ''Mast, how close were we to the rules andws that you programmed into your world?''

    Mastughed as he replied, (If I''m being optimistic, I''d say barely 5%.)

    Guy choked on his saliva, or at least his consciousness did. ''Only 5%?!''

    (Come on now! You humans barely left your. Most of the rules andws you formted to describe my world were only half-baked. Given the rate at which you humans were progressing, I''d say maybe in 1000 years you all would have figured out maybe 10% of the rules of my world. But after that, things would be exponentially more difficult as some of thews are interconnected. Ha! The %#*#% species were further ahead of you guys in that regard.)

    Guy''s eyes narrowed, ''%#*#%? Who are they?''

    Mast coughed, (They''re an alien species. No point going into it now since you aren''t in my world anymore¡­)

    Guy gave Mast the stink-eye as he returned to reading the book in his hand. It was a science textbook at the elementary school level. Its contents were highly simplified and went into the core concepts that the more advanced theories were built upon.

    As he flipped through the pages and immersed himself in some nostalgic thoughts, a drastic thought shed across his mind.

    ''Wait a minute, let me get this straight! If we were to remove the existence of mana from this world, are you saying that it would be the same as your world?''

    Mast nodded.

    ''Then what does mana do?''

    (I don''t want to get into too much detail because I don''t think you will understand it. Mana in the most general sense acts as an exception use. You know that gravity pulls masses towards each other, but with mana, it is possible to introduce exceptions to this rule. There are many ways to implement these exceptions, magic spells are one of them.)

    Guy''s eyes widened, ''That really is a cheat!''

    Mast snickered, (I know what you mean. But after double-checking the programming, there are some parameters concerning mana that ensures that the world remains stable. For one thing, some rules andws are more important than others. Thew of gravity supersedes some piddlyw like convection. So the amount of mana required to create an exception is proportional to the significance of thews being undermined.

    Furthermore, while mana can be influenced through some natural phenomena, a sentient will is important to manifest it. That is why the cultivation methods in this world augment the mage''s will. By gaining insights and increasing their resonance with the natural mana, mages gain a better understanding of the myriad of ways in which mana can be used to circumvent naturalws. For higher-level mages, this bes as easy as breathing.)

    Guy resolutely closed the book in his hand as he asked one final question, ''Compared to humans from my world, how close are the sentient species in this world to understanding the natural rules andws, excluding mana of course?''

    Mast replied, (Less than 1%. The existence of mana makes it inherently more difficult to pinpoint the naturalws. With all the exceptions, the theories developed are extremely flimsy and filled with contradiction. And I would also add that the 1% cap is kind of t across the board. Unlike in my world, the alien species here haven''t breached beyond certain bottlenecks.)

    ''I know what to do!'' Guy dered.

    Guy returned to the center of the RoK and began to filter out the shelves ording to a set of search parameters. In the end, only the books on circle-based spells and ritual formation remained.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy pick up several books off of the shelves andid them open on the floor. He turned the pages to the spells pertaining to the fire element such as |Fireball|, |mestrike|, and |Fire-Whip|, as well as and ritual formations that included fire element such as |Fire Infusion Array|, |Burning Field|, and |Fire Strike|.

    Standing amidst the open books, Guy started to scan the magic circles and the formations.

    Mast slowly approached Guy, who looked both excited and stressed at the same time.

    (What are you looking for?)

    Guy thought for a while, and answered, ''I''m looking for simrities and patterns.''

    Mast was a little confused, (Why?)

    ''My hypothesis is that since mana and magic are used to introduce exceptions in the naturalws, the spells themselves must contain simrities that correspond to those instructions that apply these exceptions,'' Guy exined.

    Mast nodded in affirmation, but retorted, (If that''s the case, then I don''t think this will work. As you can see -) he spread his arms to epass all the books in the library, (-there is way too much content to go through. It will take ages.)

    Guy smiled wryly at that realisation. But then he proposed, ''Is it possible to turn the RoK into something like a time-dilution chamber. So that time moves much faster in here, than outside?''

    Mast shook his head and replied, (I cannot mess with the flow of time. It is one of thews that supersedes everything else. If I was to turn this into a time-dilution chamber, then my brother would no immediately.)

    Guy copsed into a squat and hugged his knees, ''What then? I can''t afford to waste any more time.''

    But Guy quickly thought of a solution, ''Although we can''t speed up time, we can speed up my productivity.''

    Turning to Mast, he proposed, ''Can you make it so that thisputer has all the other functionalities from the PC in my world?''

    Mast nodded and snapped his fingers, causing an explosion of particles to materialise above theputer at the centre of the RoK for a brief moment. Once the particles subsided, theputer had turned into theptop Guy used to own in his old world.

    (That is possible? But it won''t have ess to the Inte, since that doesn''t exist here.)

    Guy grinned and added, ''Can you also add a high-quality and high-speed scanner that can be connected to theputer?''

    Mast furrowed his brows andplied by snapping his fingers again. This caused a familiar machine, that had an appearance of a scanner, to materialise next to theputer.

    Guy sat down before theputer at the centre of the RoK and booted it up. While he began working, Guy started to exin his n, ''As you said, it will take ages to go through all the intricate spells and formations to iste the specificponents. There''s only so much work the human brain can do, right?

    So what I''m going to do is to leverage the power of thisputer- oh by the way, can you boost thisputer''s processing power and memory the PC from my old world was pretty basic because I couldn''t travel with a gargantuan monster?''

    Mast sighed and acquiesced onest time by snapping his fingers.

    Guy then continued his exnation, ''So I''m going to leverage the power of thisputer and run an image recognition algorithm that takes in the spells'' image and istes simr shapes and designs. It''s pretty basic.''

    Mast smiled as he understood Guy''s intent, (That''s pretty smart.)

    Guy smiled gloatingly and began to scan each of the books one page at a time.

    Mast pondered for a while and said, (Since I know what you intend to do, I think I can make it a little easier.)

    He snapped his fingers, and the scanner transformed into a in grey box.

    Guy nudged the machine and lifted its lid. Once opened, all he saw was an empty space.

    ''What does this do?'' Guy asked.

    (ce the book inside and close the lid.)

    Guy did as instructed. He opened the lid and ced the book inside. Almost immediately, a series of shes blinked through the sides of the box, and a pop-up appeared on theputer screen.

    ''It scanned the entire book in one go!'' Guy eximed in excitement.

    Guy looked around the library and exhaled with vigour.

    ''In those other novels, the main character travels the world, collects women, ps face, annoys young masters, and does badass shit.

    And here I am, digitising books.''

    Guy raised his fists and eximed, ''Let''s do this!''

 Chapter 14 Giving Up

    "Look it''s that squib again. Why''s he wasting his time?"

    "Heh! People should know when to give up."

    During the past three weeks of the semester, Markus would punctually arrive at the public practising grounds at 7 am and would diligently run through a list of spells provided by Teacher Larks.

    Over time, he had grown numb to the jeering remarks his so-called peers would throw his way. They''d call him a squib. A waste of time. A stray. Sometimes they''d get creative and direct their insults to his deceased family.

    He didn''t know why they did these things. What had he done to deserve this? That''s when he realised that this was how the world worked. Only those with power were allowed to hold any ambition. What''s the use of dedication?

    In the beginning, Markus had a drive. That one day he''d grow, and rise above his "peers". But with every failure, his drive was punctured, until it reached the state it was in right now.

    Meeting Teacher Larks, and studying under him gave Markus a way out of the mire. Teacher Larks'' unorthodox views thawed into Markus'' jaded heart. He felt for the first time that his diligence wouldn''t go to waste. He realised that not everyone saw the world as an unforgiving jungle.

    The first week under Teacher Larks'' tutge, Markus worked in overdrive. Whenever he was given a new spell to try out, he''d try casting it again and again. In the end, he went through over 30 different spells, without sess.

    ''No matter,'' he told himself. ''Teacher is still searching for more options.''

    The second week was approached with less enthusiasm, but it was equally bright for Markus. This time, he went through 15 spells, without sess.

    It wasn''t that he was unable to cast them. He could very easily form the circle with his will, but when he activated it by feeding it mana, it would simply copse with an inaudible poof.

    Near the end of the second week, the insults and remarks that were directed his way, which he had initially tuned out, started to resonate inside him again.

    ''Did I raise my hopes for nothing?'' He questioned. ''No. There''s still more, there has to be a solution!''

    The third week was catastrophic. He practically ran through a single spell every day, only to face utter disappointment by seeing the circle poof before him.

    ''That''s it!'' Markus eximed internally. ''I give up!''

    And he marched back towards the library. He ran through a speech in his mind. He would first apologise to Teacher Larks. He would then thank Teacher Larks for the efforts. He would then go to the administrative department and drop out. Markus was physically and emotionally drained.

    With firm resolve, Markus stepped into the library. He knew where Teacher Larks usually set up shop and made his way there with long and confident strides.

    But just as he approached the shelf before his teacher''s spot, he overheard a conversation.

    "You''ve looked through all the books Guy. There is no solution. There is nothing you can do. That child Markus just isn''t meant to walk the mage''s path."

    That voice belonged to the librarian, Al Jeeves. Markus was acquainted with him. Mr. Jeeves usually never paid attention to the students that came and went, unless they caused trouble or caused a ruckus. But after Teacher Larks built a nest of books and metaphorically settled into the library, Mr. Jeeves and his teacher had built an informal rtionship. After that, Mr. Jeeves would always offer words of encouragement to Markus. Sometimes he''d even give him some of his delicious home-cooked meals.

    Markus slowly inched closer to the shelf and pushed his ears closer. He heard his teacher''s reply, "I get what you''re saying Mr. Jeeves. But it isn''t fair."

    Markus sighed, but he quickly covered his mouth. He didn''t want to interrupt.

    "If we follow the orthodox logic, then only the people talented enough to walk the mage''s path are worthy to be invested in. Those that don''t have the inherent talent should resign themselves to their lives.

    But what about those that don''t want to resign themselves to their fates? Is it right for us, as teachers to tell them to just give up? Tell them that ''life just isn''t fair, deal with it!''?"

    There was a long pause, after which his teacher continued, "If the student is unwilling, then as a teacher it is my job to support him all the way, Al. I promised Markus that I would find a way for him to advance, and I don''t n to give up."

    Markus could feel his nose itch as tears started to flow from his eyes. He felt inadequate. Here he was, ready to give up and throw in the towel, while his teacher was giving it his all.

    Markus was ashamed. He quickly turned and ran out from the library. His emotions were in turmoil, and he felt that he was going to bawl.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With great effort, Markus suppressed his emotions and returned to the public practising grounds. He had regained his frame of mind from three weeks ago. He would never give up. Not until his teacher decided to do so. Someone was willing to believe in him, and that was sufficient!

    The other students at the grounds were disdainful when they saw Markus leave. They felt that he was simply wasting time. He clearly had no future, why was he putting in so much effort? To them, his very presence and unbending attitude were sufficient to receive their scorn. His failures made them feel superior, and so they vented on him. Little did they know that if Markus left, the next one on the spotlight would be one of them. It was an unending cycle of violence and trauma.

    Markus didn''t give any of that his attention. He began his routine.

    With new vigour, he even revisited some of the older spells to see if he could implement any changes in the way he cast the spells. Maybe feeding mana more slowly would work? No? What if he activated it in pulses? Not that either? No matter, there are many more possibilities.

    He kept going, all the way till sunset. As the sky gained a vibrant red hue, the students at the grounds started to vacate. He was the only one left. He was going to continue for another half an hour and call it a day.

    Just as he was about to cast a spell, he heard a familiar voice calling his name!

    "Markus! I did it!"

    A man with an excited smile stered across his face, with his eyes bulging in his sockets, was running towards him.

    It was his teacher!

    ____

    Guy hadpletely transferred all the spells constructs into hisputer and programmed a simple image recognition and dposition algorithm that ran through the contents in a folder.

    He was currently focusing on fire-based spells since he felt they''d be easier for him to visualise and drawparisons.

    As the algorithm ran, it would copy snippets from those spells into folders in a different location and categorise them withbels indicating which spell they came from. The algorithm also added a cross-reference to the original image, so he could check out the context of the spell. This was in case there were dependencies, and the shape required another one to run.

    With Mast roiding up Guy''s dingyst generationptop, the algorithm finished running almost instantaneously. Guy was awestruck by the efficiency of thisputer.

    ''If only I had something like this back in my world,'' hemented. His oldptop had travelled the world with him. And inevitably, it had be a shadow of its former self. Even starting it up was a monumental effort.

    Guy recollected a fragmented memory from his past when he tried to run a Bill Nye the Science Guy video from hisputer, only to have it loop at the theme song, "Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!"

    He shook the thought immediately. He didn''t want the song to get stuck in his head again!

    And so he began to peruse the dposed images. As he opened the directory holding all the folders, he was assaulted by a truckload of data.

    ''Oh Shit! That''s a lot!''

    There were innumerable distinctive shapes within the spells he fed into the algorithm. Guy realised that this brute force strategy may not be as efficient as he had thought.

    Guy was thankful that he was currently inside his consciousness. He feared that if he saw this sight in real life, he would have sweated through his outfit.

    Rather than waste any more time, he started toe up with a more efficient strategy to tackle this problem. It wouldn''t make sense to go through each and every single geometric shape that the algorithm gged. There were no guarantees that the shapes had any substance to them, for all he knew they could be random figures with no purpose.

    Instead, it would make more sense to start with theponent shapes that were mostmon between the spell constructs. Logically, all the fire-based spells should contain some base structures that defined them. If he had surmised correctly, Guy theorised that these archetypical shapes would be the boilerte temte that formed every fire spell in existence.

    With that in mind, Guy changed the sorting parameter from alphabetical order to frequency and saw the folders rearrange themselves before him in real-time.

    Guy exhaled to calm himself down and psyched himself up. ''It''s OK! You can do this Guy!''

    He opened up the top-most folder and viewed theponent shapes stored within.

 Chapter 15 Modular Spellmaking

    Guy picked the firstponent shape on the list and tried to cast it in istion. With circle-based magic, this was possible as long as the spell could be standalone. Someponents had dependencies. For those spells, Guy would have to work backwards and cast the dependencies in tandem with it.

    While the RoK greatly amplified his rate of progress, it was technically considered an isted space. His body was not physically present in here, only his consciousness was. Therefore, Guy had to alternate between the RoK and the real world when testing the spells. And so, Guy optimised the process by grouping up spells together and testing them in bulk to reduce the number of transitions.

    As Guy went through the process, he gradually started to understand the perspectives of the people indigenous to this world. For them, magic was an arcane process in which the end justified the means. With things that didn''t make any sense to them, they simply chose to overlook it since all they cared about was the oue.

    "This spell creates fire¡­Why? Who cares! It makes fire, that''s all that matters," was themon thought process.

    While there were groups that specialised in spell research and development, the way they went about itcked generalisability and repeatability. Essentially, their methodology was unique to the school of magic they were trained in, and an outsider would not be privy to the process. This inevitably led to a regression in the rate at which new spells were developed.

    Unlike back in Guy''s original world, where knowledge was essible at everyone''s fingertips, this world, which was still stuck in the middle ages, kept knowledge on a need-to-know basis.

    Ultimately, this problem was circr. Without dispersion of knowledge, there was ack of varied perspectives, resulting in technological stagnation. And the advancements that did ur, happened at a snail''s pace.

    Thanks to Guy''s out-of-this-world experiences, and with the help of the RoK and the technology within it, Guy was able to approach the problem with a unique perspective.

    As a modern man who was initiated in the scientific process, Guy was able to systematically go through the dposedponent shapes and take pertinent notes on their purpose and effects.

    After a primary run through theponents that worked in istion, Guy realised that in each fire-based spell, there was aponent that infused inmmable properties to mana. This produced what the locals called fire-infused mana or mana attuned to the fire element. There were additional properties to the mana such as conductivity to heat, which were implicit.

    What Guy realised was that the magic in this world went for a one-size-fits-all solution.

    "Want to make a fire? Well, first let''s change a part of your mana to be inmmable. And while we''re at it let''s make it conductive. Oh, and why not make it vtile. And I almost forgot, the fire needs to burn continuously, lets add an oxidising agent as well!"

    Guy felt that the whole idea was redundant. There were already inmmablepounds in the air, there was also oxygen to sustain it. Why bother changing mana if a resource is already avable with all the required properties?

    The dependentponents that followed added to this base infusion step and performed actions such aspression, dispersion, concentration, diffusion, repulsion, attraction, energising, de-energising, and so on. Those were the names Guy gave to those spells since their purpose was implicit in their effect.

    Guy decided to categorise theseponents as "Action Components". They performed specific actions and were dependents. In order to gauge their effects, Guy used a basic spell called |Inspect|. It was considered a cantrip, but it was moddable to perform different tasks. Guy modified |Inspect| to observe the molecules of the substances in the area affected by the spells.

    He then documented those Action Components forter use.

    After that, Guy moved on to the less frequentponent shapes captured by the dposing algorithm.

    Most of them were duds and didn''t have any purpose in the grand scheme of things. But the ones that stood out, were dubbed "Source Components" by Guy.

    These Source Components were different from Action Components because they were independent. By design, they appeared simr to the fire-infusionponent. But instead of sourcing mana, they sourced naturally urring substances.

    For instance, one Source Component appeared to draw in arge quantity of air from the environment to increase the size of a |Fireball| spell.

    And so, Guy scoured through the folders and managed to gather a list of Source Components.

    This entire time, Guy had a particr goal in mind. When he worked as a teacher, he primarily taught kids who were in elementary school or middle school. While he did teach a few high-school courses, he preferred interacting with little kids over those hormone-fueled monsters. Furthermore, his charity efforts were geared towards increasing the base educational level and inevitably forced him into that speciality.

    As a teacher, Guy aimed to increase the approachability of knowledge to those that didn''t explicitly show any interest in learning. For little kids, going to school and sitting in sses was simply a chore. It was something they had to slog through.

    It was his job as a teacher to make them interested and capture their curiosity. To aplish this, Guy would regrly scour various teacher forums and discussion boards to find novel ways to engage his students.

    One of the topics he found most difficult to teach kids was coding and programming. In the age of information, working with technology and automation had bemonce. It was almost impossible for someone to survive in apetitive STEM industry without having some knowledge of how to code. So it was inevitable for the topic to enter the school''s sybus.

    At first, it was only a high-school requirement. But over time, the topic began to breach into middle schools, and finally into some elementary schools.<novelnext></novelnext>

    One can only imagine how hard it was for a teacher to get a child interested in printing "Hello World" on their monochrome consoles windows.

    To them, the conveniences provided by knowing a programmingnguage were irrelevant. It just wasn''t exciting enough to learn. Guy med the media for morising the idea of programming for theyman. Typical coding sessions seldom involved flickering screens, lines of scrolling text, and intense techno music.

    In Guy''s experience, a typical coding session usually meant hours of cursing at his screen, downing cans of caffeine-filled energy drinks, sleepless nights, and frantic searches on StackOverflow.

    So the question at hand was: How to get kids interested in coding?

    Guy found that kids preferred it when their work disyed tangible results. Most of the time with coding, the results were abstract. Things happened on the screen, and lines of text were spewed out. They weren''t interesting at all.

    From various forum threads, Guy managed to find a coding framework perfect for kids called "Scratch". It was a programmingnguage that waspletely visual.

    It contained specialised blocks that performed specific tasks and could be chained to form a script or a function. The best part was that the result of running a script was automatically evident in a graphical user interface. It was also possible to program peripherals using thisnguage.

    Introducing that kid-friendly programmingnguage showed immediate results in his ssroom. His students started to take initiative and came up with novel projects. The best part was that when those students reached a higher level and learned of the inherent limitations in thenguage, they were able to assimte advancednguages more easily.

    Guy''s end goal in his current endeavour was to develop a method to create spells simr to the way Scratch worked. He already had "blocks" that performed actions, and blocks that were sources. He wanted to figure out a way to efficiently put these together and still have a functioning spell.

    Based on his observations, the spells had to have a circr construction to work. He didn''t know if it was a strict requirement, but it was a usible conclusion given theck of spells that suggested otherwise.

    So in his experiments, he started with arge circle. Next, he began to fill in the circle with theponents for a simple spell thatpressed air and rotated it into a ball in the palm of his hands.

    He first ced theponents in a symmetric pattern inside the circle. He then tried to activate the spell, but it failed to even initiate. It was aplete dud.

    After pondering on it for a bit, Guy hypothesised that a specific ordering was required. Just cing theponents didn''t provide a proper sequence for theponents to activate. It didn''t make sense for air topress before actually sourcing it.

    And so, he connected theponents using straight lines and achieved some sess. Although a ball formed in his hand. It was unstable. It would frequently flicker and would disperse intermittently.

    After activating the spell a few more times, Guy found out that the result was because of a sudden interruption in the influx of mana. Compared to published spells, this construct would often sputter. If the spell construct was equated to a long and winding length of tubing, it was as if there were sudden knots in between causing the water pressure to build up and disperse irregrly.

    Guy wasn''t knowledgeable enough to figure out the nitty-gritty details of the whole spell casting process. His current methodology was purely led by his preconceived logic and concepts. So after getting stuck at such a critical juncture, he began to push his mind toe up with a suitable solution.

    "Theponents work. The spell circle works. Then what is causing the mana flow to choke? It most likely has to do with the interconnects between theponents¡­"

    As he spoke out loud, Guy was struck by a sudden thought! "Is it because the connections aren''t closed?"

    This idea sprouted from his understanding of modern electrical circuits. Guy equated the spellponents as electricalponents in a circuit, mana as current, and mage as the energy source. With that analogy, it made sense to him that the lines which connected theponents must form a closed-circuit. The existing set-up left everything open; there wasn''t a line joining thestponent with the firstponent.

    With that in mind, Guy redrew the spell circle. Before cing theponents, Guy drew a star with the same number of corners as the number ofponents being ced. When drawing it, he never lifted his writing utensil; it was drawing in a single line. He then ced theponents on the heads of the star and activated the spell.

    Eureka! It worked!

    Guy congratted himself and performed an impromptu dance solo in the confines of his RoK.

    After a quick 5-minute dance break, Guy calmed himself and started to create a |Fireball| spell using his newly developed method.

    But Guy faced a roadblock. In nearly all the Source Components, there were fragments of Ancient Tongue that provided targeting. If Guy wanted to source oxygen from the air, he would need to include it in the Source Component. But the problem was he didn''t know what oxygen was called in Ancient Tongue as it was a deadnguage.

    "What to do now?" Guy muttered solemnly.

 Chapter 16 Bane Of Students: Maths

    Guy felt that he hade too far to give up now. The amount of progress he made in one hour blew thest three weeks out of the water.

    As a logical thinker, Guy decided to use deductive reasoning to figure out a possible solution.

    In some spell books, there were crude circles where the author tried using Common Tongue. While the spells worked, the mana expenditure was massive. With this, Guy developed a train of thought.

    ''Ancient Tongue is used because it is precise. The more precise the magic is, the less mana it uses. So if I use precisenguage, it should work, right?''

    Although Guy knew Common Tongue thanks to this body''s memories. He still felt that thenguage, like all others, was inherently ambiguous. In fact, there weren''t many words to describe some things such as Oxygen, or even Molecules, that were present in his old world.

    He contemted using English or one of the manynguages he was fluent in from his original world. As a world traveller, Guy was fluent in quite a handful ofnguages. That was the only way he could develop a personal connection with his students since one couldn''t expect those from impoverished nations to learn fluent English. They had their own problems; it would be selfish of him to expect them to speak in unadulterated English.

    This avenue was also a dead-end. While the words he wanted were present in thosenguages, he felt that there was still some ambiguity. So Guy shifted his direction slightly. He concluded that ''for it to be precise, when a person simply sees or hears the word the corresponding object must be immediately brought to the forefront of their mind.''

    That narrowed down his search considerably. What was the onlynguage that transcended all cultural barriers back in his world?

    Maths!

    Guyughed maniacally as he remembered all the groaning faces from when he taught maths to his students.

    ''You can run as far as you can, even transcend worlds, but Maths will always find you. One way or another. That tenacious bastard!'' Guy cheered.

    Guy realised that using mathematical and scientific notation would alleviate his precision problems. If he followed the standards used by experts in the field when they submitted articles or proceedings to globally published journals, he could get as close to precision as humanly possible.

    With that problem out of the way, Guy started to formte the spell chain.

    He had to concentrate the oxygen in the atmosphere into one ce and pressurise it. He then needed to concentratepounds with mmable properties. Since he wasn''t sure if there was sufficient methane in the air, he decided to use solid hydrocarbons such as coals. He then needed to bring them together and energise them. To ignite the mixture, he needed to provide sufficient activation energy. Seeing as howbustion was self-sustaining, initiating a single reaction would be sufficient.

    As he observed this chain superficially, Guy felt that it would work.

    Guy immediately put together the spell and printed it out from theputer in the RoK.

    Magically, the paper materialised in front of him in reality. Guy grasped the paper and rushed towards the librarian''s desk.

    "Mr. Jeeves! By chance, do you have any coal?" Guy asked excitedly.

    Al mimicked cleaning his ear to make sure that he heard correctly, "Coal? What do you want coal for?"

    Guy calmed himself. This was a massive breakthrough, he couldn''t fumble his words. "I think I did it! I found a spell that might work. But I need some coal."

    Al became serious, "You found a spell? I''ve read all the books here. I don''t think there''s a spell that fits your needs," he asked sceptically.

    Guy tried to brush off the inquiry and spoke hurriedly, "This one isn''t from here. I¡­ remembered this one from way back. I don''t want to get into it right now, I need to see if it works."

    With an apprehensive gaze, Al went towards the heating furnace at the back of the library and fetched a palm-sized piece of charcoal. Although it was possible to set up a heating formation and maintain a steady temperature in the library, ritual formations used mana crystals or expensive catalysts. Alternatively, furnaces used coal or charcoal. By virtue of economic frugality, using a furnace was optimal.

    With the charcoal in one hand, Guy started to measure his breath. This was a momentous asion, and he could not afford to make any mistakes.

    Guy carefully ced the paper with the new magic circle in front of him and inspected it. He had already cast a few spells after transmigrating into this world. His old body''s memories and experience yed a key role in his adapting. And so he was confident that he could cast the spell. Whether it worked or not, that was apletely different matter altogether.

    Carefully, Guy began to construct the magic circle with his will. To cast any spell, the will of the caster yed a key role in materialising the spell''s framework. Without a proper framework, the spell couldn''t be activated by channelling mana from the caster.

    Al stared at the weird-looking magic circle in front of him. In all his years, he had never seen anything like it before. Although he could see some familiar shapes in the spell, the construction was a little different. Usually, magic circles had a sprawling form, but this one was more separated and modr.

    Al shifted his attention to Guy, and saw that he hadpleted constructing the circle. That meant that the spell would work. If the caster couldn''t build the framework of the spell, either through chanting, rituals or circle constructs, that meant that the spell was a dud. Al was pleasantly surprised at the oue. Now all that was left was to see if it provided the desired oue.

    Guy channelled his mana into the construct that was levitating on his free hand. As the mana escaped from his fingertips and powered the construct, it started to light up. On the other hand with the charcoal, a smaller circle formed and started to rotate.

    Simultaneously, an orange ball of fire lit up on his free hand.

    Both Guy and Al stared at the fireball.

    Before Al could say anything, Guy quickly extinguished the fire and bolted out of the door with the charcoal in one hand and the paper with the spell on the other, leaving Al with his mouth agape like a fish.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy sprinted in wild abandon, shedding all pretence of his stature as a teacher, towards the public practising ground. He knew that Markus usually stayed there till sunset, and he didn''t want to miss him.

    When Guy cast the spell back in the library, he could feel the difference in the mana expenditure. It was significantly lower. His mind started to formte some theories, but his emotions got the best of him. He really wanted to show it to Markus. Guy was confident that this was it!

    Everyone in the hallways and grounds saw a blurred figure run past them. For those in the Foundation Establishment realm and above, they were able to determine who it was with their advanced senses. But since no one had an opinion on Guy, they simply brushed it off shing a disdainful gaze at his poor behaviour.

    By the time Guy reached the practising grounds, he saw that there was only one sorry looking figure standing there. Even from this distance, Guy could recognise Markus.

    Guy felt a little ashamed. He was supposed to be a teacher. A person that students depended on. But the past three weeks weren''t exemry. With his unfocused floundering, he was sure that Markus was disappointed in him.

    But Guy quickly shook his head. Although it waste, he was sessful. He was proud of himself. He managed to keep his promise, in this foreign world, by relying only on himself and his capabilities. Sure he had Mast''s help in providing theputer and the RoK. But everything from researching, experimenting, and creating the spell was done by him alone. He was sure that even if Mast wasn''t there with the assist, Guy would have still aplished the task, albeit he would take much longer.

    In the middle of the run, Guy went through a multitude of emotions before settling down and centring himself.

    As he approached Markus, Guy screamed, "Markus! I did it!"

    Markus turned towards the source of the voice in confusion. What he saw was his revered teacher, running towards him with a piece of paper in one hand and a block of charcoal in the other. Not something Markus could have ever imagined in his lifetime.

    But after hearing his teacher''s exmation, he was shuddering in anticipation.

    ''Teacher found a solution?'' he repeated in his mind. With each repetition, his heart pumped harder.

    Guy stopped next to Markus and wheezed as he caught his breath. He had sprinted without pause from the library to the grounds, which was evidently much farther than this body could handle. Guy silently told Mast to remind him to work out afterwards. This just wouldn''t do. He had to uphold a certain image in front of his students. Guy conveniently erased the whole spectacle of him running like a maniac from his mental history.

    Guy handed Markus the piece of paper with the spell and the charcoal.

    "Try it! Make sure you keep the charcoal in your mana domain when you activate the spell though," He instructed.

    The mana domain was a region of mana around the mage that was under the mage''s control. Although the mana in this region was not mouldable by the mage unlike the mana inside them, it was under their influence and could be controlled.

    The mana domain expanded as the mage advanced in their cultivation. For an Early stage Mana Condensation realm mage practitioner, the domain formed a sphere of a radius ranging between 2 to 3 metres from their core.

    Markus calmed himself and focused his mana on the charcoal. Once he was sure that it was stable, he started to go through the magic circle on the sheet.

    The construct looked novel to him. He had never seen anything like it in the library. But there was no room for doubt. His teacher handed it to him confidently, which meant this was legitimate.

    Markus carefully formed the construct using his will, and it materialised on his free hand.

    Markus exhaled and started to channel mana into the construct.

    With every passing second, the tension inside him grew.

    ''Would this fail?'' he asked himself. ''Please work!'' he pleaded. ''COME ON!'' he screamed.

    Lo and behold. A ball of fire materialised on his free hand.

    "YES!" Guy screamed. "We did it!" Guy said looking at Markus, who was nkly staring at the fireball in his hand.

    "Markus?" Guy nudged him.

    ____

    Al was following Guy at a brisk pace. He was also a little excited. That magic circle waspletely new, and Al was thirsting for some of that juicy new knowledge.

    By the time Al reached the practising field, he was shocked by the sight.

    Right at the end of the field, Markus was on his knees and bawling. The raw emotions emanating from the wailing boy moved Al''s heart.

    There was unbridled sadness, anger, relief, and even gratitude. Al knew right then and there that Guy had seeded.

 Chapter 17 Scrutiny

    Unsurprisingly, Markus passed out in exhaustion.

    "The poor boy was holding in a lot," Almented as he carefully inspected the sleeping Markus'' condition.

    Al and Guy were now back at Markus'' dormitory.

    "I can imagine. I''ve seen kids like this before. He had nearly lost all hope. His soul was burnt-out and lifeless," Guy spoke morosely.

    "By the way, where did you find that spell? I''ve never seen anything like this before," Al asked inquisitively.

    "Umm," Guy searched for a decent response. He didn''t want to tell him that he made it himself. While it would be the truth, Al wouldn''t believe him, and in the end, it would only alienate their rtionship as Al would think Guy was trying to be disingenuous.

    Al thought he stepped on some forbidden ground. There were always secrets when it came to cultivating. "If it''s a secret, you don''t have to say anything," he said while trying to smooth things out.

    Guy shook his head in reply, "It''s not that I don''t want to tell you. I''m just apprehensive because I worry that you won''t believe it..."

    Al tilted his head in contemtion, and smiled, "You can try me."

    Guy wore a shy expression and replied, "Back when I was at the orphanage, a travelling merchant once passed by and sold arge stack of books that talked about strange ideas and inventions. At first, I read it for fun. But over time some things started to make sense. However once I grew up, I kind of threw them away at the back of my mind. When I was struggling toe up with a solution for Markus, my mind just recollected all that information and I felt it wouldn''t hurt to try it out."

    Of course, that was all a lie. If the old Guy had such an encounter, he wouldn''t have been stuck in such a dead-end position.

    Actually, Guy formted this backstory based on a whim. He didn''t want to leave any loose ends that Al couldter catch onto, and so he thought that it would be best to chuck all of it to a fortunate encounter in his past. Nearly all sessful mages had such encounters, so Guy figured that Al wouldn''t pursue it any further.

    Al nodded and then shrugged, "I guess you had a fortuitous encounter. Those things are few and far between. Surprisingly it was more helpful for your student than yourself," hemented as he turned to face the sleeping Markus.

    Al tapped his thighs as he stood up, "Alright then. It''s getting prettyte. Why don''t we discuss this again tomorrow? I''m really interested to know more about it!"

    And with that Al departed from the dorm.

    Watching Al''s departing figure, Guy exhaled in relief. He had his fingers crossed and his breath held the entire time. He worried Al wouldn''t be convinced and would push him to reveal more. Seeing as his gambit worked, Guy was relieved.

    He then turned to face the unconscious figure in bed and smiled bitterly. On one hand, Guy was happy that Markus had such an emotional catharsis. But on the other, he was worried by the sheer magnitude of the release. It was extremely unhealthy for an adolescent to hold in so much. And so, Guy decided to stay back until Markus woke up and smooth things out through a meaningful heart-to-heart conversation.

    ____

    [There''s a discontinuity here!] #**$#@, or Tron for the lower-dimensional peasant-folk, eximed as he rewatched the sequence of events leading up to a sudden surge in progress.

    Through past experience, he had a general idea of how sentient beings in a world developed.

    There were usually one of two trajectories. The first, and the one he hated the most, was the sequence based on non-secr reasoning. In his old world, one of the more advanced sentient species saw a tree fall in the forest. Unlike its brethren, the being decided to ponder on why the tree fell. Who was pulling the tree down?

    The being looked around but didn''t find anyone. Considering itself to be smart, it decided to recruit a few of its kind and started to dig under the fallen tree. Maybe there was someone below pulling it down.

    After an unsessful excavation, all it was left with were a few bruises after its brethren vented their anger for wasting their time, a massive hole in the ground, and a lingering question.

    Who pulled the tree down? Who pulled me down? Who''s pulling everyone down? Give me answers damn it!

    Screaming into the high heavens, it still didn''t receive any answers. At the point of giving up, the being had an epiphany.

    ''Of course!'' it eximed. ''It has to be the almighty Earth Spirit,'' it concluded. And thus the lore of how the Earth Spirit was holding down the world was born.

    Tron hated these. The conclusion was never built on facts, and it always irked him when the sentient beings attributed his designs to an artificial construct.

    [It''s not the Earth Spirit damn it!] He would scream. s, no one would hear it.

    He didn''t have a godplex per se. It''s just that he preferred it when the discovery was properly supported and disputable. Because it was only then that society would advance, and new creative juices would flow. And creativity was how the world builders thrived.

    Apart from a stable world, a world builder aimed for a world that could output a lot of creativity. It was an abstract concept, but for the inherently insipid world builders, the machinations of the sentients in their worlds were equivalent to giving colourblind sses to a colourblind person. Once a sentient being in their world expired, their soul, or the core of their being, is absorbed by the builders and gets recycled. During absorption, the builders get to experience everything the being went through in its life cycle.

    A few world builders would simply create a basic world that could sustain itself for eternity. But that was never enjoyable. How fun would it be to observe balls of gases or rocks floating in a void? Sure the world builders would live, but their life would be devoid of any colour.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And while most world builders usually registered creative progression once they received feedback from deceased souls, Tron was an experienced veteran. He already had another world that was in its mid tote stages of development. He had formted a method to gauge progression in its early stages. It was an arcane process - not something lower-dimensional beings could fathom.

    [How did hee up with this idea? He didn''t read any books about it. There shouldn''t be any books about it yet. This progress doesn''t follow the proper sequence,] Tron murmured as he metaphorically scratched his head.

    He was currently observing the series of events leading up to when Guy first cast the modified firestarter spell.

    [Let''s see here¡­] Tron scrolled through the timeline. [He spent three weeks without making any progress, and then a massive leap within 2 hours!]

    [Who is this guy? How did I miss him?] Tron went further back.

    [Wait a minute, I remember this one!] Tron recollected the time when a particr mismatch in the sentient soul bnce sheet had urred.

    [He was ready tomit suicide here. But then not a minuteter he changed his mind?]

    Tron scratched his head as he tried to decipher what was happening. For a logical being such as himself, it made absolutely no sense.

    [And what the heck?! He lied over here,] Tron eximed as he saw how seamlessly Guy stitched together some bullshit about a fortuitous encounter. [He''s hiding something!]

    [I can''t take this! I need to check this out myself!] Tron dered and zoomed into Guy, who was currently sleeping while seated on a chair in Markus'' dorm.

    Guy was sound asleep on the chair next to Markus'' bed. He was initially waiting for Markus to wake up, but in the process, his drowsiness got the best of him and he nodded to sleep.

    All of a sudden, an immense pressure descended on him, which jolted him awake. It the same feeling he experienced when he first entered this world. Mast''s brother was observing him in person.

    Struggling to catch his breath, Guy slid limply from his seat and started to crawl towards the window. As he fell with a thud, he caused Markus to wake up. Noticing that his teacher was struggling on the floor, Markus quickly got up from his bed and rushed towards Guy.

    "Teacher Larks!" he eximed as he grabbed Guy under his shoulders and supported him to stand up.

    "Teacher Larks¡­. I¡­." Markus started to panic! He was just a 12-year-old boy. It looked as if his teacher was drowning. He didn''t know what to do.

    Just as Markus was about to break down, the pressure lifted from Guy. He wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. The experience was much worse than before, at least back then the observation was only cursory. This felt as if someone was digging into his soul and putting it under a microscope. He definitely did not want to experience this ever again.

    ''Mast! What happened?'' Guy interrogated.

    (My brother got suspicious. The spell you made was a massive leap in advancement in this world. It caught my brother''s attention. And well, your history doesn''t offer a genuine sequence to support it,) Mast replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

    ''You should have told me to be careful! I nearly died!'' Guy cursed.

    Mast shook his head and replied, (He can''t kill you. If he does it would cause this world to copse.)

    ''But still¡­ I felt as if I was drowning,'' Guy mumbled

    (Don''t worry. You''ve set a precedent, so anything you do from now on shouldn''t raise his suspicion. Besides, as long as I''m inside you, he won''t know a thing!)

    Markus interrupted Guy''s internal conversation with a worried probe, "Sir, are you alright?"

    This caused Guy to turn ad face the panicking boy close to tears. Guy''s heart softened and he gently patted Markus'' shoulders, while he stood up shakily.

    "Don''t worry about it. It''s a persistent health issue. Happens from time to time. I''m sorry for causing you to worry."

    Markus sighed in relief. He quickly rushed to his study desk and poured out a ss of water. He carefully handed the ss to Guy and sat down obediently on his bed.

    Guy downed the entire ss and ced it on the bedside table next to him.

    Markus broke the lingering silence first by saying, "Teacher Larks¡­ I¡­" he quickly stood up and bowed at aplete ny degrees. This was a sign of respect in this world.

    "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart! I don''t have much to offer as a token of gratitude, and I know that I''m being presumptuous with this request, but I implore you that you please ept me as your disciple!" Markus eximed without stop.

 Chapter 18 First Disciple

    Disciples and student may mean the same thing by their definition. But in fact, there was a massive gulf that separated the two statuses.

    A student could be anyone enrolled in an academy or teaching establishment. It could also be someone that frequented lectures or talks given by notable individuals. In essence, students are affiliated with any organisation or individual. Personal students are just regr students but with a temporary supervisor.

    Disciples, on the other hand, are special. Disciples are directly connected to their Masters. Bing a disciple of a teacher was akin to gaining a new parent. The master would hold many responsibilities apart from simply rying knowledge to their disciples. They would also be required to raise them and guide them in their path. As a result, disciples tended to follow their masters in their journeys.

    A master-disciple rtionship is evoked through an informal process. There aren''t registries that indicated whether someone was a disciple of a particr teacher or not. This affiliation is ascertained by the coat of arms or symbol adorned by the disciple, matching their master''s. Qualified teachers, especially those with a star certification, would develop their own unique seal. When the teachers took on disciples in the future, they would allow them to decorate their outfit with this seal. This would be an indication that the disciple is affiliated with said teacher.

    Although the initiation was informal, the master-disciple bond is taken very seriously. One doesn''t invoke this rtionship on a whim. Breaking a master-disciple bond was a shameful deed, biased in favour of the master. Even if the disciple''s rank and capacity far exceeded their master''s, the master-disciple connection would still remain. The disciple was naturally required to be respectful to their master. This was why Guy advised caution at Markus'' seemingly impetuous decision to establish a master-disciple rtionship.

    Hearing Markus'' resolute deration, and his bent figure, Guy was taken aback. Based on this body''s memory, taking on a disciple or recognising a master was considered a huge deal.

    While he was fine epting Markus, Guy admitted that he was probably viewing this situation from a modern man''s lens.

    In his old world. The idea of bing a disciple was an archaic concept. While it still persisted in some old customs, with the ubiquity of the inte most knowledge was no longer hoarded or withheld like in the olden days. If someone wanted to learn a new skill, finding a skilled teacher was more often than not only a few clicks away.

    Guy realised that such ubiquity was not a thing in this world. Even within the Academy''s library, which was supposed to be a public repository, there were closed-off sections inessible to the regr folk.

    And so Guy decided to caution Markus, "While I would love to ept you as my disciple, I do have to warn you. I am just a teaching apprentice. I want you to think carefully before you make this decision."

    Markus smiled self-deprecatingly, "You don''t understand, Sir. That day, during fresher''s week, I was this close to giving up," he said while pinching his fingers.

    Markus sighed and continued, "As you already know, I''m an orphan. I am from an orphanage in a sparse vige five days away from Radiant City. The vige is right at the foot of the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range, bordering the Green-Sky Forest. To get there, you need to take a long detour from the trade routes. You can already guess, the security situation. We live on the edge every day."

    "I''m the oldest back at the orphanage. My siblings and I scraped and scrounged to save just enough to send me here. I have just enough to pay the fees for a year and a half, only just," hemented solemnly.

    "I¡­ I¡­" as he tried to continue, tears started to flow down his cheeks. "I was ready to give up everything! I was¡­ I was going to ¡­"

    Markus quickly brought his sleeves to his face and dried his tears. He wore a serious expression and continued speaking with a stable voice.

    "You have no idea how much this means to me," Markus dered as he picked up the neatly folded spell diagram.

    "You''ve given me hope. It would be my absolute honour to be your disciple. So please," Markus stood up once again and bowed at a ny-degree angle, "I want to be your disciple, Master!"

    Guy smiled warmly and stood up in front of Markus, "Well, as long as you are confident and have thought it through."

    He ced his palm on Markus'' shoulders and dered, "I, Guy Larks, ept you, Markus Reva, as my first disciple!"

    Markus straightened his back and beamed in excitement. He then lowered his head and brought his hands together in a praying gesture. "I, Markus Reva, greet my Master, Guy Larks!"

    Guy returned the gesture andpleted the ceremony.

    ____

    Markus called out, "Master," and then smiled as he mentally processed his new master-disciple rtionship. Although his master wasn''t a certified teacher or even aplete teacher for that matter, he was extremely ted. He held immense respect for his master. His master never gave up on him and aplished something that most people had written off as impossible. He had found a way for Markus, who was magically inept, to advance in his cultivation.

    "Sit, sit! I hope you had breakfast? We have a lot to go through today," Guy said while gesturing for Markus to take a seat next to him.

    The two were back at the library at Guy''s usual spot. It was sufficiently secluded that other''s wouldn''t be disturbed by their hushed conversation. Although, most advanced mages could still hear them with their improved senses.

    "Yes, master!" Markus answered sheepishly and sat down obediently in a chair next to Guy.

    "Alright, so-" but before Guy could continue with his lesson, a familiar call interrupted him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wait for me!"

    Guy and Markus both turned in the direction of the voice and saw an excited Al walking briskly towards them. Al shamelessly pulled a seat opposite Guy and looked at them with an expectant gaze.

    Seeing as the two were simply staring at him, Al waved his hand and said, "Go on! I''m just observing."

    Guy nodded and diverted his attention back to his disciple, "Alright, so I guess you have a lot of questions?"

    "Yes, master. I -" but again they were interrupted by Al,

    "Master? Hold up! Did you ept this kid as your disciple?" Al eximed in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice.

    Guy looked at Al in defeat causing the guilty party to gesture by pressing an extended index finger against his lips. Guy exhaled and indicated to Markus to continue.

    "So during breakfast, I was going through the spell construct once again. As you already know, I''ve studied quite a few spells from this library, but I don''t think I''ve seen anything like this one," said Markus in a confused tone.

    Guy nodded in affirmation and replied, "Of course it isn''t here. I developed it."

    The revtion received simr responses from Al and Markus. For Al, it was a little bit more exaggerated since he actually knew, as an intellectual, exactly how difficult it was to develop new spells.

    "Well, I didn''t make it from scratch. I put pieces together and developed them. If you look at it carefully, the spell is basically a modr construct made up of both sequential and parallelponents," Guy exined while pointing at the pertinent sections on the spell construct.

    "What are these symbols?" Al asked. Markus nodded as this was also something he didn''t fully understand.

    "Remember when I told you about the books I purchased from the travelling merchant? These symbols were scattered in it, with exnations supporting what they meant," Guy articted while infrequently ncing at Al. When he saw that Al was nodding in contemtion, he rxed. Guy wanted to make sure that there weren''t any holes in his exnation. He knew Al was a smart cookie, and so he couldn''t half-ass it.

    Markus scratched his head, "Which book are you talking about, master?"

    Guy smiled wryly and began his anecdote, "When I was little, I used to love to read a lot of books. As you know, books can get expensive, and since the orphanage I lived in was quite poor, we had to make do with very little. Luckily, the matron was acquainted with a travelling merchant that passed through our vige regrly. Every time he stopped by, he would unload stacks of books that were about to fall apart. He would donate those books to the orphanage. I used to always look forward to those days when he would stop by."

    As he spoke, he modted his tone to his signature teacher''s voice. "One day, he brought a stack of books that were in near-mint condition. When I asked him, he said that he tried selling them, but no one would buy them. The customers alwaysined that the contents made no sense, and were really boring.

    For me, that didn''t matter. Books were books, I didn''t have the luxury to be choosy. And so I started reading those books. At first, things didn''t make sense. But after I finished them once, and read through them again. I got a clearer picture of what they were talking about."

    Guy paused and gauged the mood of his audience. As a teacher, orating was a valuable skill. Especially back when he was going from vige to vige in his old world. He had picked up methods to quickly attract the attention of little kids and keep them hooked. Unsurprisingly, he hadpletely bewitched Markus. When he turned his head, he saw Al looking at him with a very weird gaze. It was almost as if he wanted to devour Guy whole. It gave him goosebumps.

    He quickly shook it off and continued speaking, "The books were actually records written by a long-forgotten race from an old realm."

    That revtion registered gasps from both his audience members. Although, Al was wearing a sceptical look.

    ording to Guy''s research, realms were a highly debated topic in this world. The word itself was used ambiguously. Some said that a realm was an alternate dimension. Others said that realms connected to different worlds. As a world-traveller, Guy was somewhat of an expert in this field. Well no one else apart from him, and maybe Jo, had traversed from another world so he was the expert by definition.

    But Guy decided to gamble on this ambiguity and make an assertion, "The race was called Homo Sapiens, and the realm they lived in was extremely scarce in mana."

    Guy saw that Al had loosened his frown. It appeared as if he bought this lie. After mentally pumping his fists, Guy continued, "Since the worldcked mana, the Homo Sapiens had to make do and develop ways to survive in their harsh environment.

    And it is their unique perspective borne from the unusual circumstance that led them to develop in apletely novel direction."

    Guy took a deep breath, grit his teeth and stated, "They theorised that the world was inherently devoid of mana. They called this model, the ''True World''."

 Chapter 19 Science In Magic

    Earlier, when Guy and Markus split up for breakfast, Guy was in a bit of a pickle. Although he didn''t want to lie to his disciple, he couldn''t just reveal that he was from another world. Although he believed in the free dissemination of knowledge, there were some things best left unsaid.

    And so, Guy spent a good chunk of timeing up with a decent exnation to support his new "discoveries". That was how he came up with the idea of the True World Theory.

    Guy was unskilled in stitching together mistruths out of nothing. Therefore, he resolved to borrow from Earth''s history and made modifications here and there so that it would make sense for the people in this world. The True World Theory was an appetion he threw together that corresponded to the amalgamation of all the knowledge he brought over from his original world. He nned to use it as a convenient catch-all for ideas and concepts that were foreign in this world.

    In the end, though, he only needed to build a facade that could stand on its own at a cursory nce. He wasn''t expecting anyone to obsess over it. Even Mast''s sibling wouldn''t preupy themself over it. Guy was convinced that Tron would probably write it off as a revolutionary thinker trying to stay low-key to not attract too much attention.

    Evidently, the result was a tad oundish and a little fanatical. As Guy listened to himself say it out loud, he felt as if he was a preacher initiating new members into an up anding cult.

    ''Believe in the True World, and ascend!'' Guy delivered internally. He quickly shook that thought away and returned to his audience.

    "True World?" Al muttered as he digested the new information. "But how were they able to arrive at that conclusion?" he asked in response.

    Guy answered, "ording to the books that I read, it said that when they travelled to other realms, they were able to sense mana. It was only their realm that was devoid of it. They then began to conduct experiments in all the different realms they had ess to and found that without mana, certain behaviours and phenomenon were consistent. But when they introduced mana, these behaviours began to deviate and that too without any consistency. Following that, they concluded that in a world without mana, the True World, things worked the way they were supposed to. By introducing mana, you essentially lied to the True World and caused it to deviate."

    Al scrunched his eyebrows and probed, "How did that lead you to develop this spell?"

    "I used that ideology to guide me as I developed the spell. The books from the travelling merchant didn''t contain any spells. All they contained were the theories developed by the Homo Sapiens. I used their theories as a basis and created this spell, which is as close as we can get to the True World," Guy replied.

    Markus tilted his head and spoke sheepishly, "Master, I don''t understand¡­"

    Guy nodded knowingly and presented an analogy, "Consider the following case. An acquaintance of yours asks to borrow some money from you, but you know that he is unreliable and don''t want to give him any money. However, this acquaintance is pretty close to you and you don''t want to spoil your rtionship with him. How would you get out of this predicament?"

    Markus pondered for a bit and said, "I''d think of an excuse."

    "OK! What excuse can you think of?"

    "I''d say I don''t have any money to lend," Markus replied confidently.

    Guy shook his head and retorted, "He would know your mary situation before asking you for money. If you tell him you don''t have any he''d only get more suspicious."

    "Then I''d show him proof. Maybe I could ask my sister to hide the money away when he isn''t looking¡­" Markus started to conjure up an borate strategy to convince this hypothetical defaulting rtive.

    "Stop, stop! You came with such a long-winded strategy to aplish something so simple. Can''t you just tell him that you''re saving up to purchase something big? He would immediately give up since you were upfront and transparent with him," Guy proposed.

    Markus opened his mouth as it dawned upon him that an easy solution was right before his eyes.

    "The purpose behind this whole exercise was to show you how this spell works. The other spells that you see here in this library are like a longwinded lie. They contain way too many unnecessary details and use up a lot of mana to hold up. This spell is a short and straightforward lie. It hits only the important points and requires only the amount of mana to just get the job done.

    So in other words, spells are lies you tell the True World to make it do what you want. And how do you spin the most convincing lies? You keep it as close to the truth as possible. That is the importance of the True World Theory."

    As Guy exhaled a long breath, his audience members nodded their heads vigorously as they digested everything.

    Al felt the information was revolutionary. His foundation was literally bursting from within, urging him to devour this new knowledge. He held himself back with great difficulty while soothing himself, ''One at a time now, first the Beast Tamer license, then this.''

    Guy closed the topic with a question for Markus, "As it stands, I can give you two options. One, I will try to develop a few more spells and hand them to you. You can grind them and push your cultivation forwards. Two, aside from grinding, I can also teach you about this True World Theory so that you can gain a better understanding of what you are doing. Since you are my disciple, I highly rmend option two. But in the end, it''s your choice. What will it be?"

    Markus dipped his head and stared at the spell construct in front of him. He spent the entire breakfast time deciphering it, but he ended up short.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He replied resolutely, "I also think option two would be better. In fact, I want to know more about how this spell works."

    Guy smiled and reached into his carry bag. He pulled out a workbook and handed it to Markus. Apart from building up a decent lie, Guy didn''t ck off during breakfast. He used theputer in the RoK topile the introductory chapters from the elementary school science textbooks into a workbook. Presently, the book was iplete. Guy nned to fill it up as Markus worked through it.

    Markus carefully held the workbook and opened it up. On the very first page, the following words were written: "To learn about the True World, One must follow the scientific method."

    Markus asked, "Master, what is the scientific method?"

    "It is the way by which Homo Sapiens did their research. It is a very rigorous process that ensures the integrity of their experiments, and the uracy of their results. Instead of telling you about it, I think the chapter should help you figure it out. But I''m going to leave you to work it outter. Give the book here for a second."

    Guy took the workbook from Markus and turned to a different page, "This should exin how the spell works."

    Al scooted over to Markus, leaned in and started to read through the workbook as well.

    Markus started to read audibly, "For a fire to burn, it needs three things: Heat, Fuel, and Oxygen."

    "Master, what''s oxygen?"

    Guy replied, "It is a type of gas that exists in the air. It is the same gas that you breathe."

    "So you''re saying that there are different types of gases in the air?" Markus asked in disbelief.

    Guy nodded. Al thought about it and speed read through the rest of the chapter. Within the workbook, there were experiments that Markus could perform, and space to jot down his observations.

    Al looked through the methodology and quickly pulled out a palm-sized te from a pocket inside his jacket.

    He then channelled his mana into the te. Almost instantly, a myriad of apparatus and items materialised on the table.

    "That''s a storage disk!" Markus eximed. Al smiled and sorted the items on the table. He had pulled out a transparent beaker, a set of transparent test tubes, a heating and a cooling rack. The racks had spell formations etched on them that ensured the items ced in them were at a steady temperature.

    He also removed a piece of coal from his storage disk and, using a knife, cut out equally sized small pieces.

    He ced one of the coal pieces on a fire-proof pad and ignited it. As the me bloomed, he followed the first instruction on the workbook at covered the me with the beaker.

    Markus and Al both moved closer to observe the me. As seconds passed, they saw the me decrease in intensity until it waspletely doused, while the piece of coal remained.

    "It really does breathe," Al murmured. "How do you know what gas is being used?"

    Guy thought about it and replied, "There are methods that can be used to differentiate between the gases. To understand them you''d need to learn more. It won''t make any sense otherwise."

    The teaching voice resurfaced as he borated, "An intuitive way to go about it is to think about how cksmiths stoke their mes. If you blow on fire, it burns out. But if you lightly fan it, it starts to grow. We can surmise that the gas you exhale is detrimental to the fire. Naturally, that gas must also exist in the atmosphere. So if the me grows when you fan it, that means that in the air you exhale, there is less of the gas beneficial for fire, and more gas that is detrimental to it."

    Al nodded and continued with the experiments. The next thing he did was ce a coal piece inside a test tube and ignited it. He then lowered the tube into the cooling rack and observed the me. As described in the workbook, the me slowly diminished.

    Finally, Almented in awe, "These experiments are really interesting. In fact, we already know all these mechanics throughmon sense, but we don''t think too deeply about it. The way this book breaks down theponents and istes them into different controlled tests is quite fascinating."

 Chapter 20 My Face-Slapping Sense Is Tingling!

    While Al was experimenting, Markus was taking down notes on the workbook ording to his observations.

    In this world, the field of education had stagnated significantly. While there were courses on basic arithmetics, arts, civics, literature, and philosophy, there wasn''t any field simr to science from Guy''s old world.

    The only "technology" that was in this world was tied intimately with magic and mana. These included magical engineering, enchanting, and alchemy to name a few.

    So when Markus was exposed to this fascinating new world of science, he was immediately taken with it. Everything made sense. And things that didn''t make sense could be verified by simple tests and experiments.

    On top of that, one didn''t need to have a profound cultivation realm to get involved in it! Compared to the almost nonsensical cultivation mantras he read through before, this was more coherent.

    Al and Guy both observed the excitement with which Markus filled in the workbook.

    Al reached into his storage disk and retrieved a badge with a symbol of an open book on it. He handed it to Markus.

    Markus jolted in his seat and quickly shook his hand, "Sir! I cannot ept your seal as I already have a master."

    Al patted Markus on his shoulder and instructed, "Rx. I assume that you will need ess to the Academy''s alchemyb to conduct most of the experiments in this book. Show this seal to the caretaker, and he''ll let you in. You can also check out items under my name."

    Markus'' eyes widened in excitement. He turned towards his master to ask for permission. Guy couldn''t bring himself to say no in front of those pleading eyes, so he nodded in affirmation.

    Markus carefully pocketed the badge and continued filling in the information in his workbook.

    Guy diverted his attention to the mana-powered clock at the back of the library and nearly jolted in his seat.

    "Markus we need to go! We need to check in with my Supervisor, Teacher Hinds."

    Markus carefully closed the workbook and packed up his stationery. The two then briskly walked towards Blevin Hinds'' office.

    An academy''s fame and prestige was directly corrted to the number of aplished teachers that were in its employ. More specifically, it depended on the number of teachers with starred licenses.

    In Gaea, individuals with licensed certificates in particr professions are valued highly. It is a direct indicator of how proficient they are in that singr field. Of them, the teaching license holds the highest position. This is because the metaphorical distance between levels of a teaching license is exponential, as opposed to other professions where it is mostly linear. A 2-star teacher must hold 2-star licenses in two different professions. Simrly, a 3-star teacher must have 3-star licenses in three different professions.

    While Blevin had secured a position as a teacher in Radiant Academy, he was not an officially certified one. In fact, he was currently working towards a 1-star enchanting license so that he could finally be eligible to apply for a 1-star teaching license.

    To academies, teachers such as Blevin Hinds were considered promising investments. Whenever an employed teacher showed potential, the academies would sink more resources into nurturing them and pushing them forward in their careers.

    Once these talents achieved their starred teaching licenses, they would inevitably raise the value of the schools they were employed in.

    Sure, it was a possibility that the newly licensed teachers would leave their current academy. But that rarely happened because they would subconsciously feel a sense of gratitude to the academy for supporting them.

    This was one of the ways academies retained talents. As opposed to hiring externally, organic growth was sustainable. Additionally, as academies grew in fame, more aplished teachers would be drawn towards it, since an increase in fame and power would correspond to growth in wealth and ess to rarer resources.

    As of now, Guy wasn''t sure of what he wanted to achieve in this world. His motivation was to teach, but he couldn''t decide whether he should work towards a teaching license. As a new migrant into this world, he was still trying to figure things out and he didn''t want to make any hasty decisions.

    ''One step at a time,'' he told himself while knocking at Teacher Hinds'' office door.

    An affirming grunt resounded from the other end. This was how Blevin usually indicated for visitors to enter. Blevin didn''t know whether the visitors were of a higher position, or if they were below him. But he grunted nheless. Apparently, his arrogance didn''t discriminate. Guy kind of respected that...

    Guy slowly opened the door and performed a salutation offered to individuals of a higher stature by bowing in a light thirty-degree angle.

    The room was moderately sized. There was a desk for the upant at the back of the room, and right next to the entrance there was a table with a few seats next to it, to hold impromptu meetings.

    Not all teachers in the academy could enjoy the luxury of having an individual room. This mere detail spoke volumes of how valuable Blevin was for the Radiant Academy. It was highly unusual for a 21-year-old Foundation Establishment mage to qualify for a teaching position. There were usually multiple stringent tests following the teaching apprenticeship that evaluated the basics of cultivation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Most individuals would extend their apprenticeship for a few more years just to gain more knowledge and broaden their horizons. Ultimately, the average age of earning a teaching position was 25 to 27-years-old.

    "Larks? Why''re you here?" Blevin remarked curtly. Clearly, he wasn''t pleased to see Guy. To Blevin, apart from Mai Louts, his other two apprentices were eyesores. He could tolerate Guy, but he simply hated the guts on Jo Way!

    "We were supposed to check in today to track our student''s progress," Guy reminded him.

    Blevin scratched his head while wearing an annoyed expression. He flipped through a book on his table to verify. Once he found the entry for today''s date, he clicked his tongue and scrunched his face.

    He then pointed at a table near the entrance. Guy and Markus respectfully sat down around the table and waited for the meeting to begin.

    Not a minuteter, another knock was heard from the door, to which Blevin unleashed his standard grunt. The door opened with a confident swing, and a familiar woman stepped in.

    The frown on Blevin''s face evaporated instantaneously.

    "Apprentice Louts! You''re right on time. Please take a seat," he said with a sweet intonation.

    Although he was ogling at the woman''s near impable face, he failed to observe the clear displeasure rendered on it.

    Mai strutted towards the table and pulled out a seat opposite Guy and sat down. A student that looked like a spiritual carbon copy of Mai strode in arrogantly and sat down beside her teacher.

    Markus nodded his head to greet the student, but the girl snorted and turned her head perfunctorily.

    Markus lowered his head in embarrassment. He criticised himself internally for reaching out. After basking in the open and jovial environment cultivated by his Master, he had forgotten the cruel indifference of the world around him.

    Guy shook his head and patted Markus'' shoulders. He had also observed the interaction between his and Mai''s students. Although as a modern teacher he was inclined to reach across the aisle and instruct the girl to be more aodating of people, he held himself back. This world didn''t consider bullying to be detrimental to student health. It actually encouraged such "friendly rivalry".

    While he knew that to others, such behaviour was eptable and a natural course in a student''s life, Guy was not willing to budge on his stance on bullying. He sincerely wanted to seek retribution for Markus, but his logic prevailed and held him back. He knew that as a grunt in society, he didn''t have any power or hold any influence. He could only swallow his grievance and support his student emotionally.

    Meanwhile, Blevin finished his tasks and walked towards the meeting table, with a wooden box in his hands. He gently ced the box on the table and sat down close to Mai.

    Mai wore a pleasing smile but slowly nudged her seat away from Blevin. Her face and bodynguage spoke two different things. She was disgusted by Blevin''s tant toadying, but she could only swallow her disgust and ingratiate herself to the man. He was her superior after all.

    This was another thing that irked Guy. As a man, he recognised his privilege. Even in this world, where both genders potentially have the opportunity to stand equally as mages, men had a distinct advantage. The issue was not rted to physical strength, but mental and emotional conditioning. As this world was still in the dark ages, women were conditioned from a young age to be submissive. Even with the power to overturn the universe, the goddess immortal would subconsciously act reservedly to a male opponent of equal strength.

    So presently, Guy could only watch as Blevin started to get handsy with Mai, who was fidgeting in difort.

    What surprised Guy, though, was that they werepletely ignoring him and Markus. It was as if they were invisible.

    Guy coughed audibly and still didn''t receive any reaction.

    ''Hey, Mast! Is there some kind of an luding ritual or spell in motion?''

    (Nope. They just don''t care about you,) Mast replied.

    At this point, even Guy was feeling queasy watching the tant sexual harassment. Just as he was about to speak, the door burst open and a familiar face walked in.

    "Good afternoon, Teacher Hinds," Jo Way said as he walked in nonchntly.

    As Guy observed the self-important way in which Jo just burst into his supervisor''s room, he felt the hair at the back of his neck stand upright.

    ''My face-pping sense is tingling!''

 Chapter 21 Wei Zao Vs. The First Arrogant Young Master

    A/N: Hey there! Author from the future, again. This and the next chapters are the LAST Jo Way POV chapters in this novel. Thank you for sticking around this long. You''re almost there!

    ____

    Wei Zao and Gaige were making decent progress towards the apprentice tournament. While Wei Zao hadn''t advanced in his cultivation, which was still at the Late stage of Mana Condensation, Gaige had advanced to the Middle stage. Over the past few weeks, Gaige had also stabilised his cultivation.

    After taking the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion, Gaige''s affinity with darkness aligned mana had skyrocketed. With the assistance of the Specialised cultivation method, Gaige was making amazing progress in hisprehension of the darkness element and was bing increasingly familiar with how to use it. Although, his temperament was also growing more morose and taciturn, which was to be expected.

    Since cultivation methods are inherently designed to broaden a mage''s will, they tend to askew the practitioner''s personalities ordingly. A mage practising a cultivation method based on fire would subconsciously have a passionate and intense personality, while a mage practising a wood-based method would be more quiet and contemtive.

    This doesn''t mean that every fire focused mage is a hot-head. There are variations as not everyone obtains simr insights in their cultivation.

    Ultimately, the duo hit a roadblock. As they calcted their rate of progression, they realised it would be impossible to break through to Late stage Mana Condensation realm by the time the tournament arrived.

    While it wasn''t a necessity to reach that stage, it definitely increased the chances of winning the tournament.

    The issue they faced was that they just didn''t have enough resources to facilitate the advancement. In actuality, a mage could advance organically by cultivating diligently. But this method is painfully slow.

    It may take an average mage over 5 years to reach Foundation Establishment from Early stage Mana condensation. This assumes that the mage achieves an insight in their cultivation that resonates with them and is stable enough to act as a foundation to build upon.

    This process can be sped up through the use of Mana Crystals and Mana Replenishing Potions.

    The mage''s body naturally regenerates mana at a rate proportional to their cultivation realm. This can be sped up by meditation, taking regenerative potions, absorbing mana from mana crystals, or relocating to a ce that is dense in mana.

    During cultivation, as the mana is circted along the body''s mana channels, it is naturally used up. A mage can deplete their entire reserve just by cultivating continuously for 2 hours.

    Without an assistive resource to regenerate this mana, the mage is doomed to wait for at least 4 hours to replenish their reserves.

    This is why Wei Zao even bothered to attend the periodic check-in sessions with his supervisor. Teaching apprentices are allocated a fixed amount of mana crystals and mana replenishing potions to be used on their personal students. They can only retrieve it from their supervising teacher.

    After exhaling a long and drawn out breath, Wei Zao opened Teacher Hinds'' office door and stepped in.

    "Good afternoon, Teacher Hinds," Wei Zao said as he walked in nonchntly.

    Wei Zao noticed that everyone was seated around a meeting table, and so he pulled out a chair and sat down.

    "Gaige, sit!" He said while tapping another seat next to him.

    Wei Zao conveniently missed the increasingly distorted expression creeping on Blevin''s face. The hate Blevin had for Wei Zao was ingrained into his bones. When Wei Zao deviated Blevin''s student''s cultivation progress, the academy had held Blevin responsible for the matter. Although he had some goodwill due to his rapid progression and superior aptitude, the academy had to acquiesce to the usations of the student''s parents and settle for marypensation. The amount was deducted from Blevin''s ount. Even since then, Blevin had an even greater dislike for Wei Zao.

    Curbing his hatred, Blevin resumed his previous "conversation" with Mai.

    "As I was saying, Apprentice Louts," he started while slowly inching toward Mai Louts. Since Wei Zao was seated next to her, she couldn''t retreat any further and had to bear with Blevin''s disgusting advances.

    Blevin continued, "my connection at the logistics department managed to source a Thunderbird Tailfeather. I know that your student has an affinity with the lightning element, so I asked him to pass it to me."

    He then carefully opened the wooden box and revealed a vibrant feather. It was sshed in a rainbow colour which was osciting periodically. Thunderbirds were known for their high affinity to the lightning element and were indigenous to the highest peaks of Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range. It was a belief that when a thunderstorm urred during a particrly droughty season, it was the blessing of the majestic Thunderbirds.

    Thunderbirds regrly shed their feathers as they channel natural lightning and manufacture thunderstorms. Once shed, these feathers deactivate and only hold a dormant lightning essence. The tailfeather in the wooden box was of that kind. It would have no other use apart from brewing a potion that can contain this essence. On the other hand, if a Thunderbird''s feather is physically dislodged or plucked, then it would contain essence of an extremely high concentration. That can be used to manufacture weapons and far superior potions. But no one really wants to court death by sneaking up on a Thunderbird and plucking its feather.

    Mai didn''t want to amodate Blevin''s foul advances, but she recognised the benefits the tailfeather would offer to her student. Grinding her teeth, Mai reluctantly epted the gift and handed it to her student. But deep down she felt icky.

    Blevin smiled triumphantly as Mai epted the offer. He had cashed in a lot of favours to get his hands on that tailfeather. He was satisfied with the oue though. At least now Mai would be grateful to him and look at him in a favourable light.

    He suddenly seemed to recollect something and stood up abruptly from his seat. "Oh! Don''t forget to take this month''s allocation of mana crystals and mana replenishing potions."

    Blevin returned to his desk and retrieved another, less decadent, box and brought it to the table. He ced it carefully and slid it towards Mai.

    Guy furrowed his brows. Those were supposed to be equally distributed amongst all of Blevin''s apprentices.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy spoke audibly, "Umm, what about ours?"

    After he finished he waited for an exnation. But no one even acknowledged him.

    ''Mast, are you sure that there isn''t an isting ritual in ce? Why can''t they hear me?''

    Mast signed and responded, (They heard you. It''s just that to them, you''re an insignificant presence.)

    Guy refused to ept this! But before he could do anything about it, Wei Zao spoke up.

    "Wait a minute! I haven''t received my student''s allocated resources!"

    Blevin sneered and scoffed in response by saying, "What''s the point? Does he even stand a chance? It would be wasted on him."

    Wei Zao knitted his eyebrows and retaliated in displeasure. "How can you say that? You aren''t being fair -"

    Blevin mmed his fists on the table and interrupted Wei Zao. In an aggressive tone, he jeered, "I get to decide what is fair and what isn''t. Do you know why? It''s because I am stronger than you."

    As a man from the modern era, Wei Zao still hadn''t gotten used to this world''s skewed perspective on how "might makes right". It just didn''t harmonise with his inherent worldview.

    And so, with a morose expression, Wei Zao replied, "We live in a civilised society, not awless jungle."

    Blevin guffawed in response, "Stop being so naive. Thews you talk about are made by those with the strength to enforce them. If the Duke of Maika says that all men must chop off the tips of their ears, then all the men under the Duchy''s umbre must do it. That is strength!" he said in a patronising tone.

    Wei Zao''s eyes widened as it suddenly hit him. This entire time he''d been cruising through this world treating it as an extension of the world he came from. Even though he had the old memories of his current body, he didn''t take it seriously primarily because he wasn''t there to personally experience them.

    Blevin''s revtion summarised themon belief of this world sinctly. As Wei Zao pondered over it, the expression on his face solidified and evoked a sense of immense confidence.

    Guy, who was observing the situation, noticed the changes in Wei Zao''s face and sighed while lowering his head. Markus leaned towards Guy and whispered, "Is there something wrong Master?"

    Guy shook his head and answered, "It''s nothing. I''m just a little disappointed."

    "Why, Master? Is something wrong?"

    "I just wish I could stand up for you and fight for you. But I''m not strong enough," Guymented.

    Markus curled his fingers into a fist. His body started to shake as he disgested his Master''s words. He wanted tofort his Master and tell him that he didn''t care about any of that. He also wanted to tell his Master that it was alright and that the lengths his Master had gone through for him were memories he''d cherish his entire life.

    But Markus just couldn''t verbalise his emotions. He also didn''t want to offend his Master by implying that he was weak.

    Wei Zao stood up from his seat and resolutely challenged Blevin, "If that''s the case, then I challenge you to a duel! If I win, I get double the allocated resources for my student -"

    Mai quickly interrupted Wei Zao by poking him with her elbows. Frankly, she had no idea why she acted that way. It wasn''t her problem if Wei Zao wanted to have a bout with Blevin who had a clear advantage.

    But she was a little amazed by how he was so willing to stand up for his student even in the face of adversity. So as a sincere gesture, she chose to warn Wei Zao so that he could save himself from some face.

    Wei Zao, though, took the gesture to mean something else altogether. He was also observant of the awkward and one-sided advances Blevin made towards Mai. So when he saw her nudging him with a pleading gaze, he boldly added another deration.

    "- and I want you to stop pursuing Apprentice Louts."

    Mai''s eyeballs nearly burst out of their sockets.

    ''What the hell are you doing?'' she screamed internally. ''That''s not what I wanted!''

    But of course, Wei Zao couldn''t hear any of that. He was stubborn and just couldn''t take Blevin''s sleights anymore.

    Blevin sneered in response and epted the challenge, "Fine! But if I win, then you will resign from your apprenticeship and leave this city. If I ever see you again, I will break every bone in your body and hang you on a pole by the city''s walls! Don''t me me for being ruthless," he said in a threatening tone.

 Chapter 22 Wei Zao The OP MC

    It was not umon in this world for individuals to resolve their differences throughbat. With the existence of magic, it was a trivial matter to treat most injuries that would have been fatal back in Guy''s old world.

    Therefore, within Radiant Academy, there were multiplebat rings distributed across the campus. There just so happened to be one right next to the wing where the teachers'' offices were located.

    The news that the academy''s poster boy was challenged to a duel was too juicy! A crowd was forming around the duelling ring, filled with people providing pertinent exposition in the form of generic dialogue.

    "What''s happening here?" Mob character A asked.

    Mob character B, who was already part of the crowd provided a sufficiently descriptive response, "Jo Way challenged Teacher Hinds to a duel."

    "What? Is that braggart crazy?" Mob character A eximed. The situation did not conform tomon logic after all.

    Mob character B realised that this individual wascking information on the backstory surrounding this confrontation. So being the friendly bystander that he was, he borated, "Apparently Teacher Hinds was holding onto Jo''s student''s allocated resources. And so Jo challenged Teacher Hinds for it."

    Mob character A finally understood the context and, as a being capable ofplex thought, offered his opinion, "That''s admirable but still! How does he expect to win against a Foundation Establishment mage when his realm is only at Late stage Mana Condensation?"

    "I''m going to tear you apart Jo Way!" Blevin arrogantly dered.

    Noticing how the others were looking at him with a distorted expression, he realised that he came across as a bully who targeted the weak. So he then added on magnanimously, "As your senior, I will give you a 5 hit head start."

    That caused the spectator''s expressions to soften.

    On the other side of the ring, Gaige and Mai were trying their hardest to discourage Wei Zao from going through with the duel.

    "Teacher Way, why don''t we leave it? I don''t need the academy''s resources, I can try contacting my family," Gaige said while trying to reason with his teacher.

    "I agree with Gaige, Jo. I think you''re being really reckless here. I appreciate you standing up for me, but you''re justing across as a brash braggart!" Maimented as she tried to suppress her growing difort.

    It wasn''t that no one had ever stood up or spoken up for her. As a woman with remarkable beauty, it was amon urrence. But usually, those pursuers would give in if they were forced to confront someone superior. It was a natural reaction and she understood it, but deep down she resented those spineless men who couldn''t follow through on their promises.

    And while she did have some grievance with Wei Zao for his usual braggadocio, the fact that he was willing to put himself in danger''s way for her sake raised her opinion of him.

    ''Even if he loses, I will try and be a little more aodating with him,'' she thought to herself silently.

    Wei Zao simply patted Gaige''s shoulder and said, "Don''t worry! I am not someone who tries to bite off more than he can chew. I wouldn''t have proposed this duel if I wasn''t confident in my chances of winning."

    He then turned to Mai and said, "And I am not doing this for you. I just don''t like it when superiors try to take unwee advances on their juniors simply by virtue of their position and power."

    Gaige''s eyes widened. Over the past few weeks, he had gotten a new perspective on his teacher and had slowly relinquished his prior opinions that were built on "false" rumours.

    Unlike what was being disseminated through word of mouth, Gaige saw that his teacher was far more knowledgeable and capable. The efficacy of the specialised cultivation method and the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion was indicative of that fact. Furthermore, whenever Gaige had troubles in his cultivation or his martial arts, Teacher Way was able to pinpoint the weaknesses and areas for improvement almost instantly.

    So Gaige concluded that there must have been a reason for his teacher to suppress his poprity and build a negative image of himself. Why? That Gaige didn''t know. But he fully believed that his teacher, who was all-knowing and capable, definitely had a n.

    Mai wanted to take onest shot at reasoning with Wei Zao and so she turned towards Gaige and nudged him.

    Gaige ignored those signals and resolutely raised his fists in a cheer, "I believe in you, Teacher!"

    Wei Zao smiled and turned to face Blevin who was well prepared at this point.

    Wei Zao concentrated on his opponent, and instantly a book with Blevin Hinds written on it materialised inside his Omniscient Library.

    Blevin noticed that Wei Zao had a dazed expression and smirked inwardly.

    ''Let''s see how far your bragging can take you!'' he sneered.

    "Ready when you are!" He then mocked.

    Wei Zao ignored those taunting shouts and focused on the information before him.

    Honestly, Wei Zao wasn''t sure about his chances of victory either. He didn''t even have a record on his opponent when he picked this fight. It was just that he was fed up with all the ridicule this body had received.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Over the past few weeks, he had been putting out one fire after another that the original "Jo Way" had lit through his unfettered foolhardiness. Blevin just happened to be thest person on his list.

    But the reason Wei Zao was not too worried was that he now had some confidence in the powers of the Omniscient Library. While in the beginning, he had some dislike for the passiveness of the library - especially how it couldn''t even offer him any gacha benefits like potions or artefacts - it had proven its mettle time and time again.

    One of its benefits was the ability to pinpoint any mage''s channel convergence point. No two mages had simr mana channel distributions. It was a unique characteristic known only to the mages, and possibly their physicians.

    As their name suggested, these points acted as nodes where multiple mana channels converged as one. The quantity of these points in a mage''s body was countable in one hand. Moreover, these points were never static and could relocate once the mage breaks through to higher realms.

    The reason for such a level of secrecy concerning a mage''s mana channel distribution was due to the existence of these channel convergence points. If an opposing mage were to strike these convergence points and channel their own mana through them, the shellshock could instantly incapacitate the person.

    Wei Zao read through the entry on Blevin and recognised the location of the convergence point that was easiest to reach, which was conveniently located right above the liver.

    Wei Zao returned from his daze and lowered his body for stability.

    When Blevin saw the sudden change in Wei Zao''s expression, he started feeling uneasy. While he was confident in his chances of victory before, now he felt a little threatened. When he realised the shift in his own mental state, he gritted his teeth and prepared himself for the uing onught. He cursed at himself silently for giving Wei Zao that 5 hit head start.

    Wei Zao didn''t waste any time and channelled mana into his appendages. He was going to take full advantage of those 5 hits!

    With a sudden burst, he covered the distance between himself and Blevin, and then he reeled his right arm for an upward jab.

    Blevin calcted the trajectory of the punch and curled his left arm for an upward block. As a Foundation Establishment mage, the punch appeared to hurtle towards him only at a brisk pace.

    Just as he let down his guard, Wei Zao propelled his left arm for a quick jab right below the liver. Blevin''s eyes widened as he saw the fist closing in on him. Although a liver punch wouldn''t incapacitate him like a regr person, the problem was that his convergence point happened to fall at a location right where the fist was headed. Usually, he''d be careful in guarding that region. But he became negligent when facing the seemingly weak Wei Zao.

    The jab connected. Blevin hoped that it was just a simple hit, but to his horror, he felt Wei Zao channel his own mana towards that point.

    ''How did he know!'' Blevin screamed internally.

    But before he could do anything, he felt the energy leaving his body.

    As Blevin cursed his poor luck, Wei Zao reeled back and jabbed at the same point once again while screaming, "2!"

    Blevin''s started to sweat as he anticipated what was about to happen next.

    PUNCH "3!"

    PUNCH "4!"

    PUNCH "5!"

    After the fifth punch, Blevin summarily evacuated his bowels and fell over into his mess. He couldn''t control his body at all. The first two punches were sufficiently cushioned by his superior physique, but the following three struck while his body was powerless. He wanted to cry but couldn''t shed any tears because his entire body had shut down at this point.

    "Thank you for the 5 hit head start, Teacher. I am grateful," Wei Zao said in a mocking tone.

    The incontinent Blevin was so agitated that he started to throw up blood uncontrobly.

    "Wow... I never knew that people could actually throw up blood in real life... It doesn''t make any anatomical sense..." Guy muttered as he mused at the situation.

    Wei Zao casually dusted his clothes and walked towards the wooden box next to the ring, under the sparkling gazes of Gaige and Mai. He picked it up, bowed towards the crowd and walked away.

    Everyone present slowly dispersed while gossiping about what just happened. The only two people that remained were Guy and Markus.

    "Wait! He just took all the resources! Did he forget about us?" Guy screamed.

    Sadly no one minded him. And those who did hear him channelled the noise through one ear out the other.

    Guy hung his head and sighed, "What do we do now?"

 Chapter 23 Ancient Art Of Thigh-Grabbing

    Guy and Markus returned to the library in low spirits.

    Guy was distressed over his inadequacy and incapability to support his student. He was also a little jealous of Jo Way and his unfair and cheat-like Omniscient Library.

    Based on the discussion that was happening in the crowd during the duel, Guy could glean the reason for Jo''s victory. The man struck Blevin''s most tant weakness, the channel convergence point. The mob characters in the crowd were frantically throwing around theories on how Jo was able to discern the location of one of the most closely guarded secrets of a mage.

    Some posited that Jo simply got lucky. Others proposed a radical theory that Jo had a magical eye capable of determining the location. But Guy knew the exact reason why, and it made him feel like crap.

    Guy was a fervent believer in the idea that knowledge equates to power. And while Guy''s own RoK offered a modest assortment of assistance,parable to the Omniscient Library, it failed in one key aspect and that was in the ability to synthesise the avable information and provide solutions.

    If Guy wasn''t a transmigrator like Jo, he would have swept this whole scenario under a metaphorical rug and moved on with his life. As the saying went, "ignorance is bliss". But Guy didn''t have that luxury, he knew exactly why Jo was able to cruise through everything, and he was salty about it.

    ''You know what, Mast? If Jo just happened to be some kind of a genius, like a regressor or a dude with a secret master, I''d understand. But this Jo is just another idiot who got lucky!''

    (You can''t really say that he''s lucky. He died after all.)

    ''Still, though! With that library inside his head, he''s living life in easy mode. But what about me? Why can''t you help a brother out?'' Guy pleaded coquettishly.

    Mast sighed, (You''re being hypocritical. If I gave you the same "cheat" like Jo, wouldn''t it be unfair to everyone else. You already have the advantage of having lived one life.)

    Guy immediately adorned a childlike innocence and contested, ''But don''t I deserve it? I wasn''t born here, and my mentality hasn''t adapted to this world''s society. Doesn''t that justify a boost of some kind?''

    (I''ve already given you enough assistance. In fact, thatputer inside the RoK is already pushing it. If I offered any more, then what would be the point of bringing you here?)

    Guy mentally tilted his head and asked, ''That''s a good point, why DID you bring me here?''

    (I told you already that this world is stagnating. There hasn''t been a significant advancement in years! That is exactly why I brought you here. I believe that an external perspective can help push this world forward. It just so happens that our goals are simr so I decided to bring you here.)

    ''Well if you''re just trying to help your brother, what''s up with all this secrecy?''

    (It''s an established rule for world builders to not interfere in each other''s worlds. The persistence of the world is deeply connected to the survival of the builder after all. My brother is a stickler for rules and doesn''t tolerate interference from outside.

    He keepsining about how slow this world is every time we have a reunion. So I''m just providing some familial assistance.)

    There was a pause as Guy contemted on this information. Guy was still uncertain about the technicalities regarding these higher beings called world builders. It all felt outside his realm ofprehension, and whenever he asked Mast for rification he would always skirt around the question. So these intermittent tidbits Mast would voluntarily reveal were extremely valuable for him.

    (The main reason I''m not giving you a cheat, like Jo''s is because I''ve found that with sentient beings such as humans, necessity is the mother of creativity. I can tell you this much, the amount of contribution you''ve made in pushing this world forward already exceeds Jo''s. His Omniscient Library only offers solutions that exist and are already established in this world. There is nothing new. And that man is so reliant on it, that he hasn''t bothered to exert his own ingenuity for anything.)

    Guy sighed andmented, ''But what about my problem right now? Without some kind of power, how can I fight for my student''s rights?''

    (Power isn''t always physical, have you considered other alternatives?)

    Just as Mast finished thatst thought, Al returned to the library and walked up to the gloomy teacher and student duo.

    "I heard some gossip back at the teacher''s lounge about how some apprentice from your generation wiped the floor with the academy''s poster boy. What happened?" Al rattled out with visible excitement on his face.

    Over the past few weeks, Guy found out that although Al was mostly detached from the world, he was extremely perceptive to gossip and rumours. Guy figured it must be a side effect of Al''s cultivation method forcing him to seek out information, of any kind, ardently.

    "My colleague, Jo Way, challenged our supervisor, Teacher Hinds, to a duel because thetter was withholding student allocated resources," Guy said monotonously.

    "That''s admirable. The boy''s talented to be able to defeat someone an entire realm ahead of him..." Al muttered while nodding his head.

    He then shook the thought and asked cheerily, "Anyways, why the long faces, you two?"

    "Although Mr. Way defeated Teacher Hinds, he took my allocated resource as well," Markusmented.

    Al furrowed his brows and sighed. But then he asked, "Is that why both of y''all are so distressed? It isn''t that big of a deal. I mean, I have an allocated quota as well. If you want I can get some for you."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy smiled bitterly and thanked Al, "Thanks, I would really appreciate it. I''m just sad that I wasn''t strong enough to fight for my student the same way Jo did."

    Al patted Guy''s shoulder and said, "That''s understandable to feel that way. The student depends on you after all. But there was nothing you could do about it. All you can do is work hard and push yourself forward to avoid these situations again. Besides, strength isn''t always about being physically superior -"

    Al grinned and continued, "- it''s about being so high up that other''s can''t ever look down on you."

    Guy''s eyes widened. He pped the desk as he suddenly had an epiphany. His eyes darted sideways and locked on to Al''s upper thighs.

    Under Guy''s predatory gaze, Al cautiously took a few steps back and covered his crotch.

    "Umm... Guy?" Al asked probingly.

    "How could I forget! The MC ps face to survive. But what about the regr folk? The ones without those stupid cheats? How could I overlook the most ancient art of survival of the side character?" Guy muttered inaudibly.

    "Mr. Jeeves, I want to grab you thi-" Guy coughed and truncated his current line of thought.

    He corrected himself and repeated, "Mr. Jeeves, can you do me a huge favour? If not for me, then for my student?"

    Al tilted his head, "What favour?"

    "I want my student to get his resources. I owe him that much. But I don''t think I will be able to score them as long as I am under Teacher Hinds.

    That is why I sincerely request for you to take me on as your apprentice.

    I know that you don''t like to get yourself involved in these trivialities. But please, I am just asking you to bear with me until the apprentice''s tournament."

    Guy then bowed profusely to present his sincerity in the matter.

    Al nodded in contemtion and then asked, "A favour implies reciprocation. What can you do for me in return for this favour?"

    Guy bit his lips and sat down, defeated.

    "You''re right. I don''t have much to offer. Sorry for bringing it up."

    Al grinned widely and roughly patted Guy''s shoulders.

    "I''m kidding! Of course I can take you on as an apprentice. In fact, there is something you can offer me in return. I want you to share everything you know about this True World Theory, just like how you''re teaching Markus."

    Guy thanked Al, but then he followed up in confusion, "I was already going to share them with you. It isn''t something I nned to keep hidden from you anyways."

    Al quickly corrected Guy, "You weren''t obligated to share it at first. You could have kept it a secret and it would have be a debt I would owe you in the future. After all, for me, new knowledge is crucial for cultivation. But now, I''ve turned the table and made it so that this knowledge is payment for a debt you owe me. I''ve robbed you of a favour."

    Guy shook his head in amusement. He was already gratified that Al was willing to assist him.

    Guy realised something. He had been going about things all wrong. He wasn''t the typical main character from those transmigration novels he had read before.

    From the very beginning, Mast had made it clear that Guy was living a second life. To live is to try and fail. If every venture was sessful regardless of the effort put in, then what was the point of living?

    Without failure, life is meaningless because you don''t learn anything.

    Without failure, life is meaningless because you never mature.

    Guy was given a second chance in life. He decided to cherish this opportunity and keep failing.

 Chapter 24 Interlude: Meeting An Old Friend

    Kaist Maika tapped his fingers on his office desk as he read through the form in his hand. Even though he was over 100 years old, his appearance evoked a youthfulness of a middle-aged man. If not for his eyes that betrayed the inevitable vicissitudes of life, one could easily mistake him for a 30-year-old.

    He wore a clean suit bearing the academy''s colours, with some extra regalia indicating his position as the headmaster.

    Just yesterday he received a notice from the academy''s administrative department that a teacher filed a form requesting a transfer of a teaching apprentice.

    Usually, such requests involved the acknowledgement of the teacher under whom the apprentice was currently working and the teacher under who the apprentice was set to be transferred.

    The issue here was that the form was submitted with only the signature of thetter, and just the name and information of the former. Such one-sided and tant requests were usually shredded at the end of the week, but this one was special.

    The guys at the admin department were stumped because the teacher who submitted the form was Al Jeeves.

    Kaist sympathised with them. In the past few years, he had also started to regret seeking out the man and convincing him, through an extremelyborious process, to join his Radiant Academy.

    Although Radiant City was one of the most well-known cities in the Sr Empire, Radiant Academy was only a second-tier academy within the empire. This was primarily because the highest level of teaching certification held by any teacher in the school was 3-stars.

    So it was a little counterproductive to seek out a teacher who only held a 1-star license to boost the school''s prestige. But the fact was that although Al was only a 1-star teacher, his capacity was far beyond that.

    Even Kaist, who held a 3-star license, had to disy his deference in front of Al.

    Unfortunately, even though Kaist convinced Al to join the Radiant Academy 50 years ago, it appeared as if it was only in name. Al refused to involve himself in matters such as apprenticeship and tutoring. The man basically shut himself in the academy library and refused to entertain anyone.

    But this didn''t stop Kaist from shamelessly plugging in Al''s name when wealthy families surveyed academies for their children.

    "Our academy is also home to the renowned Teacher Jeeves," he''d tell them.

    When they''d ask if it was possible to put in a good word for their children with Al, to which he''d say, "Well... I can''t promise anything. He''s very strict when ites to choosing personal students."

    The parents usually mistook that for a hint that some mary lubrication would be needed to grease the metaphorical wheels.

    They''d then offer some "donations", which of course Kaist would reject once. But after a few volleys of half-hearted pushing and pulling, he''d "reluctantly" ept the amount while assuring that he would, "try my best to put your children''s names at the top of the list when Al considers taking in some personal students."

    He didn''t lie. He would always mail in a list of names every year to Al. What Al chose to do with that list? Not his problem.

    So it was a pleasant surprise when the apprentice transfer form with Al''s name printed on it popped up in the admin department. Luckily, the guys working there had the presence of mind to contact him instead of disposing of it.

    As Kaist read through the form, he took note of the apprentice listed for the transferal.

    "Guy Larks," he muttered as he dug through his memories for any information rted to that name.

    As a mage in the Core Condensation realm, his mental faculties were far beyond the limits of mortal men. So it came as a surprise when Kaist failed to recollect anything about this man.

    As he scratched his forehead to dig out any information, a series of equally spaced out knocks interrupted him.

    Kaist sat up straight in his seat and waved his hand. The air pressure in the room shifted slightly causing the door to open slowly.

    "You called for me?" Al asked as he walked into the room calmly.

    Kaist wore an amicable smile and gestured Al to take a seat. "It''s getting harder to get you out of the library, old friend."

    "Nothing interesting happens nowadays that necessitates it. Besides, it''s more fun to live amongst books," he replied mirthfully.

    The two then descended into friendly banter as they exchanged new tidbits.

    "... so I told him, ''I don''t think those are vines...'' But he didn''t listen. He walked up and poked the tips hanging off the ceiling. And guess what?"

    Al leaned in in anticipation.

    "The ''vines'' instantly fired through his nostrils and slithered down his backside. Before he could flush his system, they hardened and broke off," Kaist chuckled.

    Al subconsciously clenched his anal sphincters.

    Kaist quickly waved his hand and assuaged Al, "Rx, it didn''t hurt. We did some research and found out that these, let''s call them Mimic Vines, constantly seek the quickest way into the soil. Unlike regr nts, they germinate in extremely dry and nutrient-less locations. As they grow, they creep towards nutrient sources in order to sustain themselves. Considering this peculiarity, they''re extremely rare and only grow in highly specific environments."

    Al nodded in understanding and quickly fired off a few questions rted to these new nts.

    As Kaist answered them methodically he chuckled inwardly, ''Still as inquisitive as always.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Once the discussion reached a standstill, Kaist decided to carefully probe Al regarding the transferal form.

    "So enough about me. What I really called you here for was to ask you about this," he said while sliding the form across his desk.

    Al nced at the form nkly and answered, "It''s an apprentice transferal form."

    Kaist snorted andmented sarcastically, "Really? I did not know that."

    He then shook his head and rephrased his question, "It''s been 50 years since you joined this academy, and not once have you actively involved yourself in its matters. I consider you a friend and an invaluable source of credible advertising, so I didn''t bother you about it. But now I see that you''re taking on an apprentice, and that too some random bloke called Guy Larks."

    "And?" Al urged impatiently.

    Kaist choked on his words, "And? What gives? Why now? And why him? If you want I can suggest a few promising teachers or apprentices with good aptitudes."

    Al quickly shook his head and interrupted Kaist, "I''m not doing this because I want to train a teacher. Why would I take on an apprentice willingly? I already told you that I''m not nning to ever teach another person in my lifetime."

    As he finished that sentence, the expression on Al''s face dropped.

    Kaist furrowed his brows in sympathy, "I heard that Ziva has started his own sect deep within the ckstar Kingdom."

    Al nodded in affirmation, "I know..."

    The person of interest, Ziva Lune, was Al''s first andst student. The boy disyed a high affinity for magic and managed to achieve his 1-star teaching license at the age of 18.

    Kaist remembered the immense pride with which Al used to tote his student''s aplishments.

    But as the saying went, "tall trees fall the hardest". Who knew whether it was because he advanced in realms too quickly, or if he grew too arrogant, but the boy started to disy unfettered sociopathic tendencies, stopping at nothing to advance his strength.

    By perverting techniques Al himself created, the boy developed his own techniques to unleash a potent gue that wiped out the poption of an entire city in less than a week. The worst part was that the gue lingered and could sustain itself indefinitely. It also wrought a drought so vile that it turned thend into an expanse incapable of supporting any form of life.

    To date, none could formte a countermeasure to the disease. Essentially turning a strategic portion of the Sr Empire into an uninhabitable no man''snd.

    It was then that Al slowly retreated into a shell and obsessively seeked new knowledge. For others, this looked like a consequence of Al''s cultivation method, but that was only a half-truth. Al''s cultivation method did require him to umte new or unheard-of knowledge, but it wasn''t to a level that he had to seclude himself.

    Kaist knew that Al, rightfully, held himself responsible for the cmity his student wrought into this world. He knew that Al was constantly searching for a way to counter the gue.

    "So then why are you taking on an apprentice now?" Kaist voiced his concern.

    Al''s seriousness dissipated as he chuckled, "I''m doing it because the boy needs resources for his student."

    Kaist stared at Al with a stumped expression, "That''s it? He asked you to take him on because hecked resources?"

    Al nodded, "His previous supervisor hoarded everything and refused to give it to his student. Saying that there would be no point and that the student was a waste anyway. But the boy was unconvinced, so I decided that I could register for him. It''s a win-win situation if you ask me. He gets his resources, you can finally advertise that I took someone under me. I know that there have beenints that I''m just here in name."

    Kaist''s forehead crumpled, "What''s the real reason?" he asked suspiciously.

    Al sighed, "I might have finally found a way to tackle the gue. And I think this boy has the solution."

    Kaist''s eyes widened. He quickly shuffled in his seat as he sat up straight. "What?"

    But Al quickly gestured to Kaist to calm down, "Rx! I don''t need you to do anything to him, or for him. This is my responsibility. I just need you to approve this request," Al said while pointing at the form.

    Without hesitation, Kaist took another look at the transfer request.

    "Blevin Hinds? Wasn''t he the teacher who crapped himself in a spar against his apprentice?" Kaist said while clicking his tongue.

    Shaking his head he stamped his seal of approval on the form. "If what you said is true then it would definitely be a waste to keep that boy under Hinds."

    Blevins, who was currentlyying in the infirmary treating his physical injuries and his shattered ego sneezed ominously.

    ''Is someone talking shit about me?'' he surmised as he massaged his buttocks. Apparently, even after entering Foundation Establishment, the anus remained the most vulnerable part of the body.

    The forceful evacuation of his bowel had ended up injuring a lot of the nerve endings located in that region. Resulting in him losing all control of the muscles in and around his anus.

    He gritted his teeth as he swore to the heavens, in a whisper, "I''ll definitely have my revenge, Jo Way! Just you wait... just you wait..."

 Chapter 25 Critical Thinking

    There were many practising fields distributed across Radiant Academy''s campus. They were generally quite wide and could amodate multiple students at a time.

    Most students would spend the majority of their free time at the practising fields to brush up on their martial arts or spellcasting.

    The fields were built specifically to be highly resilient to damage, and they also had multiple wide-scale ritual formations to aid in that endeavour.

    For instance, one of the mostmon ritual formations embedded into the practising fields could distribute any concentrated source of damage across the entire field''s surface. By doing so, it reduced the amount of destruction caused by potent offensive spells.

    It was also not umon for students to cultivate in the practising fields. However, this was mostly undertaken by students whose cultivation methods were especially vtile and were prone to damaging the environments they cultivated in.

    One student, for example, had a cultivation method that was geared towards explosion. Essentially, the method converted the student''s blood into a potent primer. The student''s mana is converted into an activator which, once infused into the blood, initiated a brilliant explosion. While the student cultivated, they would constantly exude contaminated blood from their pores. This would inevitably get infused with the mana the body released during cultivation. Because of that, the student was forced to cultivate in such reinforced spaces like the practising field.

    For others though, a ce that was constantly filled with a cacophony of different spells exploding, training dummies shattering, and adolescent boys and girls grunting was not typically conducive to cultivation. So it was natural for the students that were present to throw awkward gazes towards the corner of the field where a student was seated in the lotus position, surrounded by a stack of books.

    Many were tempted to go there and ask the boy why he was reading books here of all ces when there was a less noisy library readily avable in the academy''s campus? But they scrubbed that thought. They were here to practise, not waste time.

    However, Markus was here at the field for an important reason. For the past few days, Master Larks had been handing him different spells that were within Markus'' capacity. Most of them were simr in nature and were derived from a base spell. In the end, the sheer quantity of those spells exceeded Markus'' expectations.

    While he was excited at first, Markus quickly realised one key problem. He had to memorise all the spell constructs so that he could cast them at a moment''s notice. He didn''t have the luxury to pull out the sheet disying the spell construct in the middle of a confrontation.

    And so Markus decided to squat at the practising field with all the spells his master developed for him and cycled through a set every day until he internalised them properly.

    Unfortunately, the memorising marathon had been interfering with his other studies. Especially the additional work Master Larks provided in the form of a workbook. He had managed toplete one or two experiments and read through one theoretical section in the book. But for the past few days, his progress had stagnated.

    Markus stored a stack of spells into the folder marked "Memorised" and pulled out the next stack to start memorising.

    His process was simple. Each spell on the stack had a specific name or identification assigned to it. Some spells were simr and so their names would also include a descriptor that differentiated them from the others. Markus would first flip through the stack in hand and examine each spell carefully. He would keep his eye out for specific features in the constructs that differentiated them.

    He would then cover the spell construct, revealing only the name and descriptor. He would go through the stack again, but this time he would try to recollect the spell construct just based on the name and descriptor and see if he could cast it sessfully. If he failed to do so, he would remove that particr spell from the stack and move on.

    After an initial run-through, he would revisit the stack that was removed after the first run and repeat the same procedure until all the spells were memorised.

    Once he finished, he would test the entire stack once again to make sure that they were internalised properly before moving the spells into the "Memorised" folder.

    It was a time consuming and arduous process, but Markus figured there wasn''t an alternate strategy. This was how everyone was taught from the beginning.

    Basically, a mage''s basic training revolved around three things: cultivation, spell casting, and martial arts. These three were linked together with the cultivation method at the centre.

    The cultivation method was an indicator of what types of spells and martial art werepatible with the mage. Obviously, it wouldn''t make sense for a mage with a fire-type cultivation method to learn water-type spells. Simrly, water-type mages would be attuned to martial arts that had a fluid nature.

    These factors made it so that the mage didn''t have to memorise a bunch of irrelevant spells. They would only keep the spells pertinent to their cultivation, and ones that wouldplement their martial arts.

    Markus was in an unfortunate and special situation where he didn''t have a cultivation method or martial art. Therefore, he was forced to memorise a plethora of spells that spanned all the elements ssified as basic such as fire, water, earth, and air.

    Just as Markus started going through the new stack, a familiar voice interrupted him.

    "Markus! You''re still here? It''s time for lunch," Guy eximed as he made his way towards Markus'' corner.

    Markus scratched his forehead as he smiled wryly, "I guess I lost track of time..."

    Guy shook his head in defeat as he instructed, "Nourishment is important for an active mind. You''re only holding yourself back by doing this."

    Markus nodded his head vigorously and started to arrange the sheets and books before him.

    As Markus was floundering to retrieve some of the papers that were out of his immediate reach, Guy observed the mess before him.

    Furrowing his brows, Guy asked, "What are you doing here anyway?"

    "I''m memorising the spells, Master."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Why?" Guy asked in a stern voice.

    Noticing the shift in his master''s tone, Markus answered carefully, "So that I can cast them without having to refer to the sheet with the spell construct."

    Guy shook his head and rified his point, "You don''t need to memorise them. You''re only wasting your time by doing it this way."

    "I don''t?" Markus eximed in shock. "But then what about all of these sheets," he continued while raising a massive stack in his hand.

    Guy chuckled, "I was only showing you some examples. Do you still have the workbook I gave youst time?"

    Markus nodded and pulled out the workbook from his backpack.

    Guy shuffled through the pages andmented, "You''ve only finished these many chapters?"

    Markus lowered his head and said, "I''m sorry, Master. I couldn''t manage my time properly."

    Guy waved his hand and pointed at a page in the book, "Look here."

    He continued, "You finished the experiment on understandingbustion, but you didn''t look through the entire chapter."

    "Do you remember the first spell I showed you? The one that used coal to ignite a fire in your hand?" Guy asked.

    Markus nodded and retrieved that spell from his backpack.

    Guy ced the sheet next to the workbook and turned the page. In this section, Guy had included a copy of the spell construct which was broken down, with exnations supporting the different sections of the spell.

    "The spells I gave you are all modr. They are different from the ones in the library, in that you have more control over what you want them to do. Take this fire spell, for example, there are a few keyponents in the spell that determine its function."

    Guy pointed at the dposed spell and said, "This is a Source Component that pulls in the oxygen from the environment. As you already know from the experiment, oxygen is necessary to sustain thebustion reaction. This Source Component derives the carbon from the coal to act as fuel. You can see here that these Action Components act ording to what you learned from the experiment, to sustain the fire."

    Guy reached into Markus'' memorised folder and retrieved a few fire-type spells. Heid them on the floor and continued his exnation, "The reason I gave you these spells was to show you how you can use the information from the experiments and theoretical chapters, as well as the relevantponents described in the sections after, to put together your own spell to fit your need.

    You must have already noticed that most of these spells are simr. That''s because I am modifying, adding, or removing someponents from the spell."

    Markus nodded as he digested all this information, "I have disappointed you, Master. I was too hasty..."

    "It''s mainly my fault. I am used to teaching in one particr way and failed to consider your approach to learning. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to tailor my teaching style to suit the student, not the other way around.

    But I do want to point out, that if you had taken the time to read through the workbook, you would have figured out my purpose much earlier."

    Guy then tapped Markus'' nose and chuckled, "To be sessful, you need to work smarter, and not work harder. It is very easy to develop tunnel vision when working on a problem singlemindedly. To avoid that, you must always consider all the resources avable to you and derive smarter solutions."

    Markus nodded his head resolutely, "I will keep that in mind from now on, Master."

    He then resumed packing up all of his things. But halfway, he paused, as he remembered something.

    "Oh, right! Master," he called out, "I was so immersed in memorising the spells that I forgot to inform you-"

    He then dug through his folder and retrieved a few sheets.

    Handing them to Guy, Markus stated, "I can''t cast these spells. I can form these constructs, but I can''t activate them by channelling my mana."

    Guy''s forehead wrinkled as he perused through the spells. He was confident that the spells were functional as he had tried them before handing them to Markus.

    With a confused frown, he muttered, "What''s wrong now?"

 Chapter 26 Inductive Fallacy

    Modern scientific inquiry is based on two schools of logic: deductive and inductive reasoning. Nearly all theories and models developed through the scientific process are based on these two lines of inquiry.

    To define them using a simple analogy, consider a pyramid.

    Deductive reasoning can be equated to a person moving from the bottom of the pyramid to its tip. It ismonly observed in mathematics and other systems built on axioms. The goal is to determine the nature of a specific case given a general conclusion.

    For example, let us consider a situation where we want to determine whether a horse is a mammal. We start with a general statement that can properly describe a mammal, such as its ability to give birth to live young. We then observe that a horse can birth live foals. Therefore byparison we can conclude that a horse is a mammal.

    While this method is straightforward and effective, there are some ring faults that can topple the integrity of the process. First off, deductive reasoning relies on a robust general conclusion. Without the major premise, it is impossible to draw aparison with the specific case.

    Secondly, if the major premise used as the basis ofparison is not properly defined, then we experience something known as a deductive facy. Reconsidering the above horse example, while the fact that "all mammals give birth to live young" is true, it is not holistic. For instance, typus and echidnas are mammals thaty eggs. Evidently, these are isted cases, but the fact remains that unless defined during the deductive process, we open ourselves to a false conclusion. Because of that, there needs to be greater rigour when picking a general conclusion prior to deductive reasoning.

    However, in nearly all other cases, scientists resolve to use inductive reasoning. This is akin to starting from the top of the pyramid and moving downwards. We begin with a specific case and work towards building a general conclusion through controlled experimentation and surveys.

    While this process is more measured and rigorous, it is prone to amon logical facy known as the inductive facy. In simple terms, it states that to disprove a general conclusion, all it takes is a single exception to the statement. For example, the statement that "all swans are white" can be easily disproven by finding a single ck swan.

    And this problem needs to be considered when drawing sweeping conclusions through inductive reasoning.

    As a teacher, Guy was intimate with these facies and always made it a point to enlighten his students - in a way that was easy toprehend - to be aware of them in their daily lives. His goal was to not just inculcate knowledge in his students but to impress upon them the skills and tools needed to be effective learners. This was so that when they step foot into the jungle-like modern world, they would be more independent in advancing themselves, and would be more critical in absorbing information from different sources.

    Ironically, Guy himself fell into the trap of forming a false generalisation based on insufficient evidence. When he first developed this new modr spellmaking method, he found that Markus was able to cast them without a hitch. And so, Guy figured that as long as the spells pertained to the basic elements, Markus would be able to cast all of them simrly.

    The mistake he made was that he didn''t test his hypothesis with all the variations of spells that could be developed using this spellmaking method. As a result, there was a subset of spells that were beyond Markus'' reach.

    Therefore, after having a filling lunch, Guy sat down in the library and approached the issue with a fresh frame of mind.

    Following inductive reasoning, Guy had to determine the cause of the exception. To do this, he needed to first find out themonality between the spells. If he could define the simrity, then he could work towards alleviating the problem.

    As he stared at the spells constructs in the sheets before him, he started to note down the characteristics that could be gleaned through a cursory nce. It was likely that the answer was staring him right in the face, just that he was too involved to notice it.

    Guy realised that element-wise, the spells were diverse. There was an equal mix from each basic element that Guy had set out to cover. After eliminating the element of the spell as the cause of the problem, Guy went a level deeper and evaluated the number of modrponentsposing the spell.

    He couldn''t find a pattern there either. Some spells were concise and contained up to fourponents, while others were more intricate with around eight or tenponents. However, in the process of investigating this avenue, Guy realised that although he built the new method on the concepts of programming, the former was much smarter as it performed a lot of garbage collection automatically.

    Usually in programming, when feeding a variable into a function, unless specified, the program copies the variable and runs the function on that copy. This can very quickly lead to the system running out of memory. The modr spell, however, does not create unnecessary copies and is smarter about how it handles variables fed from Source Components.

    But Guy didn''t go further along this path and shelved it forter because it was a segue from his current predicament.

    After testing out other hypotheses, Guy quickly realised that the issue might not be in the technicalities of the spell, or the way it was put together.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Taking a different approach, Guy started to physically cast the spells in an open field outside the library.

    After cementing an efficient method to develop spells modrly, Guy had kind of gone off the rails and put together a ton of spells, most of which were simr in nature, but were sufficiently distinct to be considered novel.

    For instance, he took the |Fire Ball| spell and starting to y around with the Action Components to change its shape, developing the |Fire Torus|, |me Disk|, |Fire Arrow| and so on. Although they had a different visual, 90% of theponents used in the spell were the exact same. He only fiddled with theponents that defined the shape of the spell.

    With that, he started to cast each spell sequentially.

    The first spell produced a burgeoning fireball in his hand and propelled itself in the direction his palm was facing. The following spells were simr, except it wasn''t a fireball anymore and the shape of the ming projectile varied.

    The second set of spells produced a ball of whirling wind in his palm, which then propelled itself. The following spells were also wind projectiles, except with different shapes.

    The third set was simr, except the element was earth. Since earth was a generally static element, Guy couldn''t produce many variations in its offensive spells. However, there were a lot of defensive solutions such as a spell that made a set of levitating condensed earth disk that could intercept opposing projectiles or a spell that formed sharp projectiles out of sand particles that could prate through the application of friction.

    The final setprised of water spells that worked both offensively and defensively such as |Water Jet| or |Water Shackles|.

    As Guy progressed through the stack of spells, he finally figured out the reason why Markus failed to activate these spells.

    "They''re all range based!"

    As defined previously, every mage has a mana domain that demarcates a region of space centred around them, which the mage has full control over. As the mage advances in their cultivation realm, this domain expands proportionally. Since Markus was only at the Early Stage of the Mana Condensation realm, his mana domain was a measly two metres.

    As long as the spell''s effect remained within this two metres limit, Markus didn''t have to expend excess mana to sustain the spell. But as soon as the spell is required to leave this domain, additional mana is required to maintain the integrity of the spell.

    This additional expenditure follows a square rtionship. That is, the amount of mana is proportional to the square of the extra distance beyond the mage''s mana domain. This is because the mana domain forms a sphere, whose surface area is a function of the square of its radius. And when the spell exceeds the mana domain, the mage is forced to control the spell by establishing a pseudo mana domain that has arger radius.

    Guy noted that this correction was another one of those automatic fixes implemented to ensure that the spell activated.

    ''This world seems to provide a lot of assistance to mages in its own way.''

    He figured that given more time, he could optimise the modr spellmaking method, and streamline the mana use so that instead of making a pseudo mana domain that is aplete sphere, it only forms a spherical sector. But considering the time-cost-to-mana-performance rtionship, Guy concluded that it would be more efficient to seek out alternate solutions.

    Ultimately, it was predictable that Markus was unable of activating these ranged spells because he was physically incapable of doing so.

    So Guy was now faced with a new problem, and that was to determine a solution to facilitate these ranged spells without the need for expending an astronomical amount of mana. To do this, he decided to seek assistance from a veritable information powerhouse, Al Jeeves.

 Chapter 27 Cultivation Of Self

    As Guy walked towards Al Jeeves'' office in the library, he started to look back on the events since his transmigration.

    Guy''s previous experience during the check-in session with his supervisor gave him a rude awakening on just how weak he was in this world.

    Subconsciously, Guy was subscribed to the modern belief that knowledge and wealth equated to power. But it was only after seeing how Jo Way snatched the resources his student deserved through brute force, that Guy realised that in this world power equated to power.

    Even the smartest and the wealthiest individuals in this world were beholden to the fists of a bull-headed yet strong pauper.

    And so, Guy started to spend his free time trying to advance his cultivation realm. He had been stuck in the Late stage of Mana Condensation for quite some time now, and he understood that it would be damaging to his image as a teacher to remain there.

    His main motivator was the fact that he was now a master to Markus. As his disciple, Guy was a pseudo-parent. Well, since Markus was an orphan, Guy could actually be considered a full parent. Therefore as a parent, he was responsible for the well-being of his ward. And to have a better lifestyle in this world, strength was a prerequisite.

    Guy wasn''t disillusioned by the fact that he was a transmigrator. He knew that he didn''t have any inherent advantagespared to the folk native to this world. Maybe his aberrant thoughts and knowledge could give him an edge. After all, he managed to rebuild spellmaking using modern concepts.

    But when faced with a nuclear warhead, a superior writing utensil would be useless.

    Guy had already resigned himself to grabbing Al Jeeves'' thigh. But he recognised that it wasn''t a sustainable solution. For one thing, Guy knew that their rtionship was built on the sole fact that Al was gaining something beneficial as well. While the scales remained bnced, Al would be willing to put his name on the line to protect Guy. But the moment Guy became more trouble than what the benefits were worth, he would be tapping into the goodwill he had inculcated in his rtionship with Al to protect himself. At that moment, when the scales tilted unfavourably, Guy knew that Al would drop him without hesitation.

    To an extent, it was unfair to Al as well. The man had held out a rope by virtue of their friendship. It would be selfish for Guy to exploit that.

    So with this in mind, Guy tried his hardest to push his cultivation forward and breakthrough into Foundation Establishment. But he quickly realised that his past experiences and education, which he thought were things that gave him a slight advantage in this world, were actually holding him back.

    He found out that his mind was unable toprehend and resonate with the mantras and insights inscribed in the Common cultivation methods of this world. It wasn''t that they were exceedinglyplicated for him to understand them, but rather that they were too abstract and nonsensical.

    The way the cultivation methods approached certain phenomenon was too medieval and contested with his own preconceived notions on the matter.

    Take his current cultivation method for example. The Way of the Burning Fist was a fairlymon cultivation method amongst mages. It was basic enough to be essible and was open-ended enough to be built upon with more Advanced methods from specialised sects or organisations.

    The goal of the cultivation method was to mould the mage''s mind into subconsciously tapping into the fire element in the environment, and infusing it naturally into their mana. The various mantras pulled the mage into a trance where they would observe the naturally urring fire element in mana and slowly isting it, circting it, condensing it, and absorbing it.

    This begged the question: what is a fire element?

    Back in 1789, Antoine Lavoisier defined his first periodic table in which he included an element called Caloric, or heat. He defined heat as a fluid based on the fact that it had simr properties such as moving from a region of high concentration to regions of low concentration.

    Was that the fire element? Maybe it was. Back then, scientists didn''t have sufficient insight into the nature of elements and matter to know that heat was not an element but rather a form of energy.

    So, was the fire element described in these cultivation methods referring to the heat energy in the environment? Such as infrared radiation, the kic energy of particles, and potential energy in intermolecr bonds?

    Maybe it was. But how was Guy supposed to visualise them? Energy by nature was an abstract concept. He could visualise the radiation as waves. But how? Maybe he could refer to how infrared emissions were disyed in heat maps that used visible colours to define the intensity. However, this was also a method used by humans toprehend abstract idea. It was not an urate representation.

    Alternatively, he could identify the energy as waves. Which brought him back to the question, how? How do you visualise waves that don''t require a medium to travel through? At least with conduction and convection, the transfer was through particte vibrations. But that was only a small part of the wide, and abstract, concept of heat and, by extension, the fire element.

    While all these methods were usible in assisting Guy in cultivating the Way of the Burning Fist, they didn''t resonate with him. Deep down, Guy knew that these images were only half-baked and couldn''t stand by themselves. He knew that even after he built his foundation and broke into Foundation Establishment, he couldn''t move further as his base was unstable.<novelnext></novelnext>

    For a cultivation method to resonate with an individual, they must be able toprehend it and internalise it perfectly. There must be no unsurety or apprehension. If the mage had a shadow in their subconscious that fought with their understanding of the mantras in the cultivation method, they would never be able to advance. And if they managed to advance forcefully, they would face catastrophic bacsh in the future.

    Having an unshakable will was the only way for mages to advance their cultivation and grow stronger.

    This was a luxury out of Guy''s reach. He was a foreign man in a foreign world, without any foundation. He didn''t have a crutch to fall back on like most people in his position, such as a hidden family with deep roots, or an immortal grandpa with heavenly knowledge, or even a system that gave him some random boosts once in a while.

    Another reason for Guy''sck of sess in cultivation was because every time he sat down to cultivate, his mind would deviate and he would end up contemting random thoughts.

    For instance, was he unfulfilled in hisst life?

    He was! He never married, nor did he have any emotional connections with people apart from his family members. While he was psychologically and physically fulfilled, Guy was emotionally repressed most of his life.

    Even after being thrown into this world, Guy was quick to adapt to the unfamiliar scenario. Why wasn''t he overwhelmed? Of course, he was! He was on the verge of crapping himself the moment the gravity of the situation dawned upon him.

    But he quickly reverted to an easygoing frame of mind. It was because he was equally emotionally repressed for most of his life.

    Observing the unfairness of the world, and the squalor that arge portion of the innocent poption of his old world was subjected to had warped his frame of mind. He recognised that he was born with immense privilege, unattainable to most others even through hard work.

    He subjected himself to intense scrutiny and drilled the thought that his happiness was undeserved. He never had to work hard to get the things he wanted, while the kids he taught had to work themselves to the bone for it.

    Even after he was given a second chance in life in this world, Guy quickly went back to his old frame of mind and started to sacrifice himself for the benefit of a pitiful kid. Even Jo Way, the brute who called himself a teacher, was collected enough to work towards his own happiness. Right now, that man was raking in money by selling a myriad of potions using his cheat.

    "Why couldn''t I do the same thing?" Guy would ask himself.

    And it was because of these introspective excursions that Guy unwittingly reduced his cultivation time. Guy had lied when he said that he handed so many minute variations of a basic spell to Markus to test him in thinking critically. In truth, Guy was just afraid of settling his mind through meditation.

    So ultimately, Guy concluded that this second life of his was inconsequential.

    His first life, at least the first 25 years of it, was fulfilling enough. Hisck of an emotional connection was his own choice and he should be able to ept the consequences of it. And while he was struck with a battery of illnesses in the final leg of his life, it wasn''t as bad as what most others in the world were subjected to. If anyone did deserve another chance it would be them.

    Therefore, Guy decided to ride the wave with his second chance. He would tackle things as they came. However, he kept in mind that he was an anomaly in this world. A dead man walking while the others were alive and were living their first andst life. And so, he wasn''t going to hinder the course of others for his own benefit.

    The moment Guy solidified this thought, a profound yet subtle change transpired within him. His budding foundation, which was a residual from the cultivation of the deceased Guy Larks, dissipated and another one slowly formed in its ce.

    A mage''s foundation was generally in the form of a body of fluidic mana. The base nature of the body was a good indication of the cultivation method employed by the mage. While before, Guy''s foundation held a faint appearance of heat and burning, this new one was tranquil and serene.

    If one equated the foundation to a body of water, this new one was as if the water body was so unperturbed and clear that a casual viewer couldn''t make out whether there was water in it in the first ce.

    Since Guy was still in the Mana Condensation realm, he couldn''t register this change. He casually shrugged off the sudden difort as a side-effect of his rather heavy and oily breakfast and knocked on Al''s door.

 Chapter 28 House Of Cards

    Guy knocked on Al''s office door and waited for permission. He was a little apprehensive about approaching Al. Based on his observation, Al seemed like he was averse to teaching people. Thest time a kid asked Al for rification regarding a section in a spellbook, he just waved his hand and tossed the kid out of the library.

    "Come in!"

    Hearing the affirmation, Guy entered. But right when he stepped into Al''s office, he was assaulted by a horrific sight that caused his stomach to churn.

    There were papers strewn left and right! There were tes of half-eaten food peppered around the room. The man''s desk was piled with stacks of open books, documents, artefacts, and gadgets. The room smelled rank as if it hadn''t been aerated in centuries.

    In his lifetime, Guy had seen many workaholics and their irs". But this was by far the worst of its kind. It was as if all of them had been condensed into one space and then multiplied by a 100.

    There was barely enough space to step foot inside the room. Guy wondered how Al managed to transit from the door to his desk.

    ''Does he hover?''

    Al peeked from around the mountain of papers on his desk and saw Guy''s aghast expression. He then followed Guy''s gaze and inhaled the sight before him. It was at that moment, he realised the absolute mess he had created.

    Biting his tongue, Al quickly waved his hands and materialised multiple spell circles. As they vibrated and expanded, the items in the room started to levitate and move.

    The leftover food in the room disintegrated. The papers fluttered together and stacked themselves automatically as if given lives of their own. The books on his desk lifted themselves and marched into the many shelves in his office. A vacuum formed in mid-air and started to vigorously pull at the air particles in the office, taking away the stagnant smells lingering in the room. A series of shes of light strobed, adding vibrancy to the drab and peeling walls with each passing.

    As Guy beheld the sight before him, he sighed inwardly at the conveniences offered by magic. He was especially envious of the vacuum air freshening spell.

    ''I guess that''s one good reason for me to advance my cultivation.''

    While Guy could create a vacuum using his modr spells, it wasn''t like this one. Guy could clearly see with an |Inspect| cast that Al was essentially puncturing a hole in space and pulling in the particles through it. It was like how the vacuums from Earth worked, where they created low pressure by running a high-speed fan. But instead of having a dust bag, the filth was deposited into a different space altogether.

    "Please take a seat," Al said, pulling Guy out of his trance. Al gestured Guy towards a chair that magically materialised before his desk. Well, it was already there. It was just buried under a massive pile of papers.

    As Guy sat down, Al gushed out excitedly, "This book you gave me is fascinating," while sliding forward a workbook named, "Elementary Geometry."

    Adhering to Al''s request, Guy would frequentlypile information from the textbooks in his RoK and print out concise workbooks for Al to follow.

    "I was especially surprised by this theory by Pythagoras. You won''t believe how much time it saved me in verifying the building blueprints a friend of mine was working on. And these theories on shape construction were a massive help in a beast-suppression ritual formation I was working on."

    Al put away the book andmented, "You know, at first I was thinking: What''s the point of all of this? But then after I thought about it, I found a lot of scenarios where some of the concepts and theories here could prove of use."

    "That''s what they all say," Guy muttered while stifling a chuckle.

    Al then snapped his fingers as he remembered something, "Oh right! I was thinking about the whole True World Theory you brought upst time. I looked into it, but I couldn''t find any information about it. I am quite interested in learning more about the theory in general."

    As he finished the sentence, his gaze sharpened. Guy knew immediately that this segue was a probe.

    Guy started to panic. He had been too quick to write off Al''s scepticism. The man had lived for over a century, after all, it couldn''t have been so easy to hoodwink him.

    ''Mast! Help me!'' Guy pleaded.

    (What do you want me to do?) Mast replied in confusion.

    Guy screamed in defeat. He didn''t know what to do! He had made up the whole True World Theory to create a reliable fallback for the ideas he was producing. If anyone asked how he envisioned something, he could attribute it to the works of a forgotten race with a rich history.

    But he never thought that Al would actually grasp so tightly at those strings and follow them so doggedly.

    ''Why are you so inquisitive?'' Guymented. Ironically, being a teacher, this was something he should be encouraging from his students.

    (Why don''t you just y it off? I looked up information on how people responded when ce in a situation simr to yours. Usually, they plead ignorance,) Mast offered.

    Seeing as there wasn''t anything else he could do, Guy decided to roll with that.

    "Uhm... I don''t know why you couldn''t find anything about them. Then again, the merchant told me that people didn''t really believe the things written in the books. They thought it was just some nonsensical fiction," he said while shuffling ufortably in his seat.

    Al leaned forward and hummed, "Probably... But this is what I don''t get. Even if it was perceived as fiction, at least someone should have tried things out. The experiments were so detailed, it would be weird if some people didn''t make an attempt. And on top of that, if the books written by a foreign species made it into our ne, that must mean there was a realm connection between our ne and theirs. So by deduction, there has to be more evidence of their presence. I have a lot of connections who manage research into foreign races and magic, and none of them have ever heard of Homo Sapiens before."

    Guy stared at Al with a nk expression. While he appeared calm on the surface, he was freaking out internally. Thankfully the RoK existed and Guy could conveniently escape into it at any time.

    Straddling his knees, Guy rocked in ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Mast! What do I do? Can''t I just tell him I''m from another world?"

    Guy was notfortable with lying. In his past life, he had spent a great part of it discouraging kids from being deceitful. He was already queasy about the whole Homo Sapiens and True World Theory spiel he made up to avert Markus'' and Al''s curiosity. And now, he was facing the consequences!

    He always believed that lying was akin to building a house of cards. No, not the show, the metaphor. Even a casual investigation could threaten to topple the entire structure.

    Mast materialised next to him and immediately shook his head, (No can do. My brother is keeping a part of his attention on you at all times. If he hears you reveal that you were brought here from another world, then I am screwed.)

    Guy then jolted up and screamed in aggravation, "Then give me a solution, damn it!"

    Mast bit his lips and dissipated, leaving Guy by himself. Guy returned into a fetal position and rocked in ce. Following a quick minute, Mast returned with a stack of books in his hand.

    (So I processed our predicament and cross-referenced it with historic scenarios from my world. You''re basically struggling with keeping up an borate lie, right? Well, I think these could be of help,) Mast said while extending the stack to Guy with an eager and pleased expression.

    "What are those?" Guy asked. As his eyes scanned over the titles of the books in the stack, they widened in disbelief.

    "You''re kidding," hemented while shaking his head in incredulity.

    (No. I really think these will be useful for your cause,) Mast replied while pushing the books towards Guy.

    Guy leapt back from Mast''s extended hands as if avoiding the gue.

    "I refuse to even entertain this thought!" Guy stipted while closing his arms.

    Mast shrugged and retorted, (Well, do as you wish. But just so you know, if you disclose the fact that you''ve been transnted into this world, I will delete you.)

    After throwing a casual threat Mast disappeared, leaving the stack of books on the table in the middle of the RoK.

    Guy debated internally for a while as he approached and moved away from the books. He never would have thought that he would have to consult from books like these in his entire life.

    Swallowing his shame, Guy inched closer and cracked open the book at the top of the pile. Suppressing his urge to hurl, he started reading it.

    While this entire back-and-forth was urring in the RoK, due to theck of time dtion, in reality, Guy was basically sitting in ce the entire time with a nk expression.

    Al observed Guy with extreme scrutiny. Truthfully, he wasn''t nning to grill Guy like this. He was satisfied with Guy''s exnation of the source of the knowledge.

    But as he got to know Guy, he started to appreciate him as a person. He wanted to form a closer rtionship with Guy; something more along the lines of friends. Al had already run a background check on Guy. He confirmed that Guy was truly an orphan and was not affiliated with any parties at all.

    The only issue was that there weren''t any records of Guy before he arrived in Radiant City. So there was no way for Al to verify the ims regarding the foreign species and novel theories.

    While Al could take Guy for his word, he was averse from doing so. His experience with a strayed student had taught him better than to trust people readily.

    Although Al was interested in the almost revolutionary theories proposed by Guy, he wanted to fully confirm its source. He had heard of far too many cases where mages were led astray due to tainted knowledge, resulting in cultivation deviation or worse.

    Al liked Guy a lot. He was a good teacher and a nice kid. If he didn''t care about him, he wouldn''t have egged Guy this way. If Guy refused to reveal his source, then Al would summarily cut their rtionship and treat it as a passing acquaintance.

    Therefore, Al was carefully taking note of the changes in Guy''s expression the entire time. In the beginning, when Al began his casual interrogation, he had noticed a growing uneasiness in Guy. This spelt trouble!

    Either the man was willfully being duplicitous, or he was unknowingly ignorant. While it was alright in both cases, the reason mattered to Al.

    Al was fine with Guy not revealing everything to him. But then he wanted to confirm the cause for withholding the information.

    But surprisingly, Guy quickly calmed down and entered a nk trance-like state. Al kept his eyes peeled for any deviations, however, the man had turned into a statue.

    After half an hour of inaction, Al became concerned and leaned forward to nudge Guy.

    But right before his fingers could make contact, Guy''s eyes turned resolute and his face animated in fanaticism.

    As Al once again evaluated Guy''s expressions he noticed something awkward. There was a trace of disgust in Guy''s resolute expression. It could have been easily missed by anyone but since Al was paying particr attention, he grasped on to it very quickly.

    To Al, the resolute expression conveyed that Guy was about to reveal a truth he had suppressed deeply. While the hint of disgust indicated that Guy was not proud of it.

    Al''s eyebrows furrowed as he wore a frown.

 Chapter 29 Of Lizard People, Aliens, Doomsday, And Whatnot

    Guy was stuck in a bind. In an attempt to ay suspicion he had inadvertently created a lie, which had now pushed him into a self-dug hole. And now, he was forced to crawl out of it.

    But how? He couldn''t tell anyone the truth about his transmigration.

    If he couldn''t w out of the hole, the only option left was to dig deeper. So deep that it would be practically impossible to see the light from above. And that was what he was about to do.

    However, this begged the question of how? Guy wasn''t a confidence artist in his past life to be able to weave such intricate lies that would entrap even the most vignt of people. But that didn''t mean he couldn''t learn from them.

    He was an educator first. And as an educator, he must have the capacity to adapt and update his own repertoire to best enlighten the youths.

    Thankfully, the RoK provided him with the perfect learning environment, and Mast provided him with an excellent set of references to sharpen his skills in deception, misrepresentation and falsification.

    This did not mean that Guy wasfortable with the whole deal. He was wholly against such acts from the very core of his being. However, when faced with lying on one end and eternal cessation on the other end of the bnce, as a human being with an inbuilt urge to survive, he gravitated towards the former.

    As he leafed through the pages of the books provided by Mast, albeit with visible uneasiness, another change transpired in his budding foundation.

    Just like how a parent works to mould their children''s morals and character, a cultivation method works to do the same for a mage. It is a type of indoctrination that a mage does to themselves thatter blooms to cement their being, both externally and internally.

    The values inculcated through cultivation are harder to change inter realms, but since Guy was still in the Mana Condensation realm it was easier to mould.

    Initially, he had a foundation that mimicked a spark - a nascent me. If he had cultivated the Way of the Burning Fist to breakthrough, this foundation would have burgeoned into a turbulent sea of mes. It was amon starting point for most fire element-centric mages.

    However, his initial resolve to actively disinvolve himself in the lives of people in this world was ideologically different to his old foundation. And so the shift, while drastic, was manageable and didn''t result in any negative feedback.

    His most recent resolve to adorn a mask of deception to align himself to the people around him was also a momentous decision that would stay with him for the rest of his life here. Thankfully, it meshed perfectly with his already passive credo and as a result, it also caused a positive change in his foundation.

    It should be noted that it wasn''t so easy for mages to undergo such magical shifts in ideology by just reading random books. The content must evoke a certain shift so profound that it creates some form of appreciable change in the mage''s psyche. The shifts within Guy should be wholly attributed to the "deep" contents of the books he was reading.

    Yet this change in Guy was not apparent at first nce. After all, the foundation hadn''t been formed yet. What wouldter grow to resemble a body of water was just a measly puddle. Still, if anyone were to approach this puddle of transparent and clear water, they wouldn''t see the water bed, but rather a reflection of themselves that presented them in a form they yearned for subconsciously. The tranquil puddle was a mirror that reflected the perfect reality everyone wanted to see.

    Right after Guy finished absorbing the contents of the books before him, his mind ran on overdrive and built an borate web free of holes. As the metaphorical web materialised, a mask formed in his RoK that manifested the reality weaved in this web.

    The mask was void ck with white spots floating in it forming unintelligible shapes. It was like an inverted Rorschach test. As he lifted the mask, he asked, "What is this?"

    (Apparently, your actions have resulted in a philosophical shift within you. It has affected your cultivation, but surprisingly it has also left a mark on your soul. This mask in front of you is the remnant of that mark,) Mast replied with a hint of confusion in his tone.

    "Will this affect me in any way?" Guy probed with visible concern. His soul was what bound him to his life in this world. He couldn''t afford to damage it in any way.

    (It doesn''t seem so. It appears as if you''ve created a partition in your soul. That mask works like a gateway for you to ess that other partition.)

    "All of this sounds so precarious. Are you sure that it''s safe for me to use?"

    (I me mana,) Mast sighed. (Stuff like this never happened in my world. There was a clear boundary that the sentient beings in my world couldn''t cross. But mana just screws everything up!)

    Guy stared at the mask as he debated on whether he should adorn it or not. He didn''t know what it did. But just the presence of an unknown object in his RoK was bugging him.

    Gritting his teeth, Guy brought the mask closer to his face. Right as the cold and steely material contacted the skin on his face, Guy started to experience a shift in his psyche that spread out from a deep corner.

    While it was hard to describe, Guy could feel a creeping shadow work its way through, suppressing certain thoughts and magnifying others. In some cases, it even flipped some of his notions on their head. As he was tempted to contend on some matters, and fiercely debate on others, the shadow quickly quelled those urges. Surprisingly, he started to agree with them vehemently, to an almost zealous degree.

    The shadow quickly enveloped everything, leaving a mass of supreme rationality intact in a corner of his mind. It was strong enough to get out of his now trance-like state, and quite possibly suppress it for a set period of time if necessary. Guy was thankful for that. He was extremely ufortable and disgusted by his current beliefs.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When Guy pulled his attention out from his psyche, he saw that he was no longer in the RoK. Or maybe he was. Maybe this was the RoK that corresponded to this partition of his soul.

    He was standing on top of a dais. Behind him, the wall was pearly white, emanating a conflicting sense of approachability and foreboding. Right at the centre was a massive symbol formed of a stark ck metal. It wasn''t a static symbol, as the structure morphed intermittently.

    A trio of interlocked triangles. A swirl. A pentagram. The eye of the Illuminati. An ankh. The Ouroborous. The deathly hallows?

    Guy quickly averted his gaze from the alluring symbol and turned forward.

    Like the RoK, this ce extended to infinity but with a caveat. While in both situations there was an origin, the RoK extended in all 360 degrees, this ce extended monodirectionally starting from the dais he was on.

    On the dais, there was a podium simr to the ones found in churches. It too shifted periodically, with its themes alternating between a myriad of vours. To his right was arge altar. Its design would match that of the podium and the implied vour from the symbol hanging behind him.

    From the dais, extending forward, were rows of benches all facing towards him.

    "This ce..." Guy muttered.

    (Looks like a church,) Mast interjected.

    "The Church..." Guy parroted.

    Guy approached the shifting podium and inspected its designs. As his fingers contacted its surface, a series of visuals shed before his eyes.

    He saw the Earth getting warmer, and people stripping off their skins to reveal their reptilian selves. He saw a horde of UFOs approaching the and abducting groups of peoples. He saw the Earth''s crust cracking resulting in an age of disasters of apocalyptic proportions.

    As he was getting absorbed into the various "revtions" presented by the podium, his rational self took over and pulled him out.

    Sweating due to a mix of excitement and fear, Guy snarled at Mast, "You did this to me!"

    Mast raised his hands to feign acquittal and replied, (Hey man... How would I know that you''d get so absorbed?)

    Guy slowly unfurled his shaking fists and exhaled to calm himself down. "What exactly is this ce?"

    (Hmm... I can''t say for sure. It feels exactly like the RoK. It''s another space built within your consciousness except that it is tied to your soul partition,) Mast hummed in contemtion.

    Guy''s eyes widened as he replied, "Wait a minute! Did I make my own system? I can''t believe it! I had the power inside me all along!"

    Mast face-palmed. (By your definition, it appears to be something like it. But unlike the RoK, its functionalities aren''t known to me. I guess we''ll have to figure things out as we go along.)

    Guy shuddered with a devious chuckle as he surveyed the room.

    "Let''s call this ce... The Church!" He dered piously.

    Following that, he pped his hands andmented resolutely, "Well, let''s get this over with then!"

    And with that, Guy pulled his consciousness out of The Church. As he returned to his body, he saw Al looking at him with a concerned expression.

    It was then that Guy realised that he had been sitting in ce nkly for over half an hour.

    Guy quickly centred himself and began.

 Chapter 30 Passionate Confession

    "Actually... I''ve been lying to you, Mr. Jeeves," Guy started, causing Al to shift ufortably in his seat. He already knew it, but hearing it out loud still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

    After a deep exhale, Guy continued, "I didn''t read any books written by a long-forgotten race. But please don''t misunderstand. I didn''t lie because I wanted to deceive you in any way. It''s just that... I was deeply ashamed."

    As he finished the sentence, the expression on his face drooped significantly. Al, who was paying close attention to Guy''s facial queues for any specific tells, was surprised to notice genuine sorrow in Guy''s eyes.

    "You see, back when the academy implemented the new rules regarding teaching apprentices and the tournament, I was devastated. I knew that I wouldn''t amount to much in this life, and the stringent requirements imposed in this new format would mean that there would be a high chance of me losing all possibility of ever bing a teacher in this lifetime."

    Guy shrugged as he added, "I only wanted a stable job. Something that could support me until my death. I never had any expectations of bing sessful or revered in this world. And that was why I had gambled everything on this venture."

    "Because of that, on the day I learned of the changes... I attempted suicide," Guy dered as he hung his head in shame.

    This revtion registered an involuntary gasp from Al. Evidently, this discussion was going in apletely different direction from what he had expected. He never thought that a happy-go-lucky person such as Guy was at the end of his ropes. He never showed any obvious signs.

    Guy didn''t bother with the audience''s reaction, and continued, "The day I solidified that decision, I tied a rope around my neck and hanged myself."

    "But then, at the moment when thest ounce of breath left my lungs, I saw something-" Guy suddenly ramped up his exnation. Involuntarily, his voice morphed into his teaching voice and his body animated with heightened fervour. Unable to contain himself, Guy stood up from his seat and waved his hand while continuing, "I saw a vision! A world simr to ours, but different in many ways! A world void of mana and magic. A world ruled by a dominant species known as the Homo Sapiens."

    As he turned towards Al, Guy exhorted, "Everything else I told you was the truth! I was provided with arge influx of knowledge, of various things from that world. Much of it felt foreign to me, but at the same time, it made sense! It was nearing the end of this revtion that I saw the essence of this different world, The True World!"

    Guy spread his arms wide and orated unimpededly, "I knew that this was a sign! The revtion and the information it provided was too specific to be otherwise. And so, I fought against my impending doom and saved myself. But afterwards, I was sceptical. I didn''t know if what I saw was the truth or whether it was simply a figment of my imagination - a fantasy stitched up by my mind starved of oxygen."

    Guy closed his hands and extended his index finger while pulling Al''s undivided attention, "However! The moment I seeded in creating that modr spell, I knew! I just knew that it was all real!"

    Guy then paused. He wanted to catch his breath and let the outburst of information ferment in Al''s mind.

    As he sat down, he continued in a hushed tone, "When you asked me about how I learned all of this, I was apprehensive. I was ashamed to admit the grave decision I made at a moment of weakness. I didn''t want you to see me as a weak-willed coward. And for that, I apologise profusely!"

    Al absorbed the information as it left Guy''s mouth, and slowly calmed his tightened nerves. For one thing, he was d to see that there wasn''t a hint of misrepresentation. So he was assured that everything that was just spoken was the truth.

    However, the issue was never whether Guy was being truthful or not. Al was more concerned about the source of the knowledge. People that have lived for a long time have naturally learned to be more sceptical about things they see and observe. Experience through age yed a huge role in this.

    Most beings forget to question the source, credibility and danger associated with the knowledge thates their way. Maybe it is the result of the underlying philosophy to grow stronger regardless of the method that prevails in this world. This was something his previous student fell victim to, and because of that Al was especially perceptive of such matters.

    The moment Al heard Guy''splete confession, he waspletely relieved. Why? That was because Al was familiar with the kinds of visions Guy was alluding to. Not that he had ever experienced it himself, but Al had read of and heard of simr experiences through his travels and interactions with various mage powerhouses.

    What Guy described strongly alluded to an event when a mage activates and internalises an inheritance!

    An inheritance, when ites to cultivation and magehood, mainly refers to the consolidation of a mage''s entire cultivation and will which exists in transferable form. A mage can "inherit" another''s cultivation through many forms. The easiest, and crudest, is to internalise a mage''s core which forms once they break through into the Core Formation realm. It is a construct that forms once a mage advances and "solidifies" their cultivation. After death, this core quickly dissipates, however, another mage can absorb this and make it their own.

    While this method is easy, it is inefficient and possibly dangerous. The mage can very easily deviate their own cultivation by absorbing another mage''s raw will, or core, especially if the iing cultivation is ipatible or conflicting with their own. Furthermore, the mage will have to actively absorb and decipher the insights from the core, otherwise, it cannot be internalised. This effectively means that arge portion of the core can be lost in the process.

    This, however, is not the only way for a mage to gain an inheritance. A more efficient, albeit difficult, process is to gain it through an inheritance artefact. These are physical manifestations of a mage''s cultivation that are formed willingly by a mage that enters the Ascension realm. These artefacts may be in the form of weapons, armours, trinkets, or in many cases a portal into another dimensional realm. Al knew of this solely through infrequent chatter and obscure letters. Information on inheritance artefacts is closely guarded byrge organisations, or lucky individuals, to not attract attention from unwee parties.

    The reason inheritance artefacts are more efficient is because the cultivation and will stored in them are immutable and eternal. Once transferred, the artefact does not be inert. Furthermore, the transference is not a massive information dump. Instead, the artefact either instils the information in a steady and manageable stream or waits for the inheritor to achieve an activation condition.

    With regards to these inheritances. Al had heard of and read of many different exnations. For some, it is as if insights simply manifest inside their minds. Almost as if they were a forgotten memory that was recollected all at once. For others, it is as if the inheritor is shown a long and extremely immersive vision spanning multiple lifetimes, condensed into an infinitesimal time frame. Some records state that these visions are manifestations of the original mage''s own experiences, sesses and failures. In other cases, these visions are more obscure or cryptic, disying farfetched or unbelievable concepts. While this may sound convoluted, this method may actually make it easier for the inheritor to internalise the transferred cultivation and will.

    And so, Al likened the almost nonsensical vision that Guy experienced to a revtion provided by an ascended mage''s inheritance. The cultivation may have been too obscure or out of this world which warranted a vision of that form. Evidently, it helped as Guy was able to grasp arge influx of information very easily. Al figured that Guy may have once in his lifetimee into contact with an inheritance artefact that imprinted this information inside him. When Guy entered a limbo state between life and death, it must have met an activation condition for transference!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, Al was satisfied. In fact, he was even a little honoured and moved to receive a glimpse into another mage''s inheritance. These things were supposed to be secrets that mages took to their graves, or passed down to people closest to them. Al was a little conflicted because he felt as if there was a huge debt weighing down on him. Inadvertently, Guy had just gained a very powerful backer.

    As these thoughts were running through Al''s head, he had entered a dormant-like state. Guy observed that Al was in deep contemtion, and was satisfied to know that his exnation was observed positively.

    Guy''s unadulterated confession was filled with passion. No research or facts was supporting it. So Guy was a little worried that there might have been some loopholes or inconsistencies. Well, Guy had overlooked the convincing powers of a feverous missionary. Some dudes in his old world even managed to convince thousands of people that their souls would be consumed by aliens after death!

    Although, that one may have an inkling of truth to it...

    In the end, while he submitted to the impulses provided by this soul partition, Guy''s supreme rationality was ring vehemently. Seeing as this mask was no longer necessary, Guy quickly regressed into his RoK, no... The Church.

    Once he entered, he beheld the very unfamiliar endless hall from his raised dais. Guy suppressed his growing urge to preach unintelligible drivel to the nonexistent congregation and pulled off his mask.

    The moment the object lifted off his skin, his sights morphed drastically.

    As he came to, he found himself back in the familiar centre of the RoK. Guy sighed in relief and carefully ced the mark in his hands on the table next to him.

    He stared at it with conflicted emotions. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of this portal, which was akin to a dark and corrupted hole into madness, but he couldn''t bring himself to do it.

    A part of himself was attached to this mask, and he knew subconsciously that it would be impossible to get rid of it.

    (We''ll need to experiment with that. I think the reason for this soul partition has a lot to do with the RoK,) Mast spoke up from over Guy''s shoulder.

    Guy''s head darted around andnded on Mast''s figure walking towards the shelves of the RoK.

    As Guy lowered his gaze he saw the books in Mast''s hand.

    "What are you doing with those?" Guy interrogated while rushing towards Mast.

    (I''m putting them in the -) but before he could finish, Guy quickly grabbed the stack and threw them with gusto.

    (What are you doing?) Mast asked in confusion.

    "Those books will NOT be ced in this library! I refuse! Burn them for all I care!" Guy dered righteously.

    (But you just threw them deeper into the RoK...) Mast grumbled as he strode over to fetch the books.

    Guy harrumphed and resolutely shook his head. He had already bent his morals to read through that... literature. He was now suffering the consequences of it. He was NOT going to taint his beautiful haven of knowledge with them!

    With a flourish Guy exited the RoK, leaving Mast to clean up the mess.

    Once he returned to reality, he saw the Al had digested everything.

    "Actually, Mr. Jeeves. I came here today to ask you for a favour," Guy asked.

    Al was no longer apprehensive about associating himself with Guy. He was a bit more enthusiastic, and so, he acquiesced readily, "Sure! As long as it is within my power."

 Chapter 31 Lowering The Skill Floor

    Al leaned forward in his seat and paid close attention to Guy''s request. After hearing Guy''s confession, Al had upgraded their rtionship from acquaintances to friends. And as friends, exchanging favours was an obligation. Besides, Guy had done him a huge one by allowing him ess to his inheritance. Al feared he would never be able to pay that back in his lifetime.

    "The new spellmaking method seems to work well for Markus. However, recently I found that there were still some spells that are exceeding his capacity. After testing them out, I found that he couldn''t cast spells which conjured projectiles or acted at a range beyond his mana domain," Guy exined.

    Al nodded and offered his opinion, "That makes sense. Propelling a spell beyond the mana domain, and maintaining its integrity, consumes more mana. I know that only Late stage Mana Condensation realm mages can cast spells like |Fireball|, |Water Ball| and so on. Most spells essible to Middle and Early stage Mana Condensation mages act solely within their mana domains."

    "But that''s natural, why is it a problem?" Al then followed up.

    Guy smiled wryly in response, "I was just wondering. Since we managed to lower the casting requirement for most spells, shouldn''t it also be possible to allow Early and Middle stage Mana Condensation mages to cast ranged spells?"

    Alughed heartily at that thought, "Now that''s just being greedy, isn''t it?"

    Guy shook his head, "Being inquisitive isn''t being greedy."

    "I don''t agree with you on that point. But that aside, why are you bothering over it anyways. Markus will most definitely advance in his cultivation as long as he practices those spells you gave him," Al replied.

    "I know that it is an eventuality. However, by my estimation, he would be cutting it real close. He will most probably advance right before the tournament, and that is only if he practices diligently without pause. I don''t think it healthy for him to do that," Guy pointed out.

    Al sighed loudly. It wasn''t that he was unaware of that fact. He had also run the numbers and had arrived at the same conclusion. It was just that he didn''t want to be the one to point it out and burst Guy''s bubble. No one wants to be a killjoy.

    "What I find surprising is that no one has even considered researching this till date. I mean you''ve lived for over 100 years, have you never thought about all of this?" Guy asked.

    "It''s not that no one hasn''t explored this avenue, but rather that they don''t find it necessary. If you think about it, all magic research is geared towards raising the skill ceiling. ''How can you make this spell more devastating? How can you increase the potency of this potion? How can you amplify the destructive properties of this weapon?'' - those are the question most often explored by mages," Al rified.

    "Wouldn''t that alienate the mages at the lower rungs of thedder looking to enter the circle?"

    Al nodded and summed up, "I guess so. I think the prevailing ideology is that magic is supposed to be difficult, otherwise just about anyone can be a mage. If we lower the skill floor, then the world will be inundated with half-baked mages incapable of handling their power. Imagine the devastation that might cause."

    Guy could understand this perspective. It actually reminded him of an ongoing debate in one of the more developed nations in his old world. The right to bear arms. It was a hot topic, which was under the spotlight for decades.

    The right was a remnant from a time whenw enforcement was flimsy and less reliable. The people who devised it wanted to provide citizens with the ability to protect themselves. However, with the progress of time, it became evident that it was no longer necessary. Why would someone need to own weapons to protect themselves ifw enforcement wasmonce and more robust?

    Guy for one was strongly against the ownership of firearms. His opinion was built on the carnage wrought by them on the sacred grounds of knowledge - the schools. Children shouldn''t have to worry about losing their lives in a ce where they are supposed to explore themselves.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, the people for the ownership of firearms used this as an excuse to proliferate it further. "This is a perfect example of why more people should own weapons!" They would im. "Throw a weapon into the arms of the teachers!" They''d then add.

    They intended to lower the bar required for a person to purchase and own firearms. This would ultimately result in what Al imed earlier - unfettered destruction and coteral damage caused by irresponsible people wielding power beyond their means.

    However, Guy could not view the scenario in this world with his tinted lens from Earth. This world was brutal and unforgiving. Law enforcement existed here but only in name. Power reigned supreme, andws could bend to amodate it.

    So while Guy would agree with Al''s perspective if he was back on Earth, he couldn''t readilyply with it now. And so, suppressing his difort, he parroted a line he''d heard often from the group strongly for the right to own firearms on Earth.

    "While I agree with your point, I think the issue is evident in thest part of your reasoning. Half-baked mages WILL wreak havoc if they are given power beyond their level. However, if they are properly trained and educated, they can be more responsible. In fact, you are overlooking the damage caused by strong mages that let their power go to their heads and run amok. Couldn''t you also argue that the unfettered advancement of destructive andrge-scale magic can cause greater damage?"

    Al nodded in affirmation and muttered in a low voice, "I should know, better than anyone, the carnage an irresponsible and powerful mage can unleash..."

    Guy couldn''t hear Al''sment and so he continued by adding, "Ultimately, my concern is tied intimately with my student''s wellbeing. I am just shocked that no one else has ever considered cases such like this before."

    "That''s because, for most teachers, it is easier to raise a mage that shows higher potential for magic than one with a low affinity to it. The former requires fewer resources and is guaranteed to reach greater heights. After all, the sess of a student reflects positively on the teacher''s capabilities."

    Guy shook his head and retorted, "I don''t think that''s right! A teacher shouldn''t get to choose their student, just like how a parent doesn''t get to choose their children or vice versa. On that note, why are the people here calling themselves teachers anyways? If anything, they''re more like glorified talent scouts! They overlook therge portion of the iing students in favour of the smaller fraction that portray above average skills and push them ahead. They essentially don''t have to do any work, it''s justziness!

    And what''s more? Those lucky few that move ahead grow arrogant over the fact that they are superior to the less fortunate ones. They don''t understand the importance of the power that flows through them and abuse it as they grow stronger. Only those without power, who have to work hard and struggle to gain it, can understand its true value."

    Al smiled bitterly as he heard Guy''s impassioned speech. He was amongst the rare few in this world that could agree with every point Guy made. He had experienced the worst that the existing framework could birth. He was ashamed to admit that he was also one of those "glorified talent scouts" during his early years. Ziva Lune, his first andst student, was a cut above all others in his batch. Al had to fight tooth and nail against other teachers to pull the kid under him. He felt such pride as he watched the kid advance in his cultivation. But Al had overlooked Ziva''s arrogance and strong bloodlust. Al med himself for how things turned out. But who could say whether things would have turned out differently if another teacher had taken in Ziva instead?

    The establishment itself birthed Ziva, and Al knew it, but it would be callous to write it off as such. He was also a part of that establishment! It was only through a harrowing experience that Al realised his folly. And since he couldn''t do anything about it, Al decided to take the cowardly route and separate himself from the establishment altogether.

    "This is exactly why I appreciate you, Guy," Al said as he sighed. In actuality, he aspired to be more like Guy. The man had no power, but had gone beyond his limits to support a kid - that many "teachers" would have written off as worthless - and seeded! Guy didn''t fret over the unwritten rules enforced by the establishment and chose to follow his own path. To Al, Guy embodied the essence of teaching in its purest form.

    Al pped his hands with determination and said excitedly, "I think I might have a solution to this problem. You''re looking for a way for a mage to cast spells beyond their level, right?"

    He then pulled out his storage disk and channelled mana into it.

 Chapter 32 Enchanting

    Guy stared incredulously at the mountain of items on Al''s desk. The sight reminded him of the loot-splosion at the end of a casual RPG he yed back on Earth.

    "What are these?" Guy asked as he leaned sideways to face Al.

    "They''re enchanted weapons and armours," Al said matter-of-factly. With a proud smug he observed Guy''s reaction. He wanted to see the shock and awe on his face. But contrary to his expectations, all Al got was a confused and awkward look of... contempt?

    ''What the hell?!'' Al eximed. He did a double-take of the stack on his desk to make sure that he had retrieved the right items.

    ''They''re enchanted weapons, all right!'' That wasn''t the issue. Then what? Why wasn''t Guy fawning over them like he was supposed to?

    With a hesitating tone, Al probed, "What''s wrong?"

    Guy''s lips tilted in confusion as he replied, "Nothing. It''s just... why are they so resplendent?"

    In fact, resplendent was an understatement! As a rich, second-generation scion of a prominent family, Guy''s tastes were extremely refined. He had the opportunity toe into contact with the most splendid of items in his old world and had learned to appreciate their aesthetics properly.

    The weapons syed before him threatened to rot his cultivated sense of aesthetics. Each and every single item was crowded with multiple gems of varying colours. He separated a sword from the stack and saw that its guard was lined with 10 equally sized gems of non-uniform tones. It was less metal and more mineral at this point!

    ''Did they just dip the sword in glue and throw gems at it to see what stuck?'' At least with this sword, the gems weren''t scattered haphazardly. The armours, shields and the other weapons in the stack were much worse.

    ''Why are there gems embedded at the armour''s chest?'' The sight burned Guy''s eyes. He was reminded of the iconic armour from an old movie about a famousic book superhero back on Earth.

    Guy handled the items on the stack by pinching them between his fingers. For an observer, it looked as if he was handling a filthy or tainted object. Ironically, Guy had actually handled filthier things when he worked to build a proper sewage system in a country he visited in his past life. He was much morefortable clearing garbage stuck in jammed up gutters as opposed to these gem-clogged monstrosities.

    It was an unconscious reaction of Guy''s, but it had unwittingly offended Al. He had forged and enchanted every single item on the stack after all.

    "How are they decadent?" Al challenged while suppressing his anger.

    "Oh? I mean... look at all these gems. Theypletely detract from the beautiful craftsmanship of these weapons and armours. Look here, these gems are ced exactly where the wearer''s nipples would be! Oh, and look at this armour set. Why are the gems all lined around the groin? And why do all these weapons have gems ced tightly near the region where the wielder holds them? It has poor ergonomics."

    Upon hearing Guy''s exnation, Al''s irritation was sufficiently quenched. He was delighted to hear Guy''s appreciation for the exquisiteness of his handiwork. Then what about Guy''s qualms on the gems? That was a forgivable offence. The man was ignorant of how enchanting worked after all.

    ''Once he gains a better understanding of enchanting and its intricacies, he''ll be able to better appreciate my work,'' Al said to soothe himself.

    "This! This is just... amazing!" Guy eximed as he handled a two-handed broadsword. The weapon was simple in design but was alluring nheless. There were no gems or over-the-top additions that offended the eyes. The de had a symmetric shape, yet it didn''t look artificial as if a machine had forged it. Guy just knew that a craftsman had lovingly hammered this de into its current shape. The metal itself had a mystical design that resembled the replica of Damascus steel weapons from Earth. The sword guard was simple, yet practical. When being wielded, it didn''t interfere with the holder''s grip and flowed perfectly as they shifted between stances. The handle itself was meticulously wrapped with soft leather, sensually revealing sections of the treated wood underneath. The pommel matched the design on the de''s metal as if the entire sword was a single seamless piece from tip to peen.

    But this was just the start, what really stood out was the intricate engravings that snaked along the spine of the sword. They had a gemlike sheen that stood out from the fluid metal design. Although Guy couldn''t decipher the meaning of those engravings, he could somehow make out a story as his eyes flowed over them.

    He let himself indulge in that feeling and was shown intermittent shes, or scenes, of a figure wielding the two-handed sword and rampaging through a dark forest filled with intricate webs. The figure was drenched in green blood as arachnid appendages flew haphazardly with every slice. It was a gruesome, yet enthralling visual.

    "How beautiful!" Guy said as he carefully handled the sword.

    The corners of Al''s lips twitched. ''How did that get in there?''

    Before Al could rify, Guy eximed, "Now this is what I''d call exquisite! Whoever made this was a genuine craftsman. All of those," Guy said as he jerked his head across the mountain of items on Al''s desk, "They''re amateur work! Obviously whoever made those was all sh and no substance."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "*cough* I made all of those," Al muttered embarrassedly.

    "Excuse me?" Guy asked while craning his neck.

    "I made all of these enchanted items. The one you''re holding - I won that in an auction," Al confessed.

    Guy froze in ce like a deer caught in headlights. At that moment, his mind reyed the events that had transpired during the past few minutes.

    ''Ha...'' Guy sighed. ''Back when I asked for a face-pping experience of my own, I never expected it to bite me in the ass.''

    "Hey, Al. I was just... I didn''t mean anything by what I said before. I don''t even know anything about enchanting. Just think of it as the ramblings of an ignorant person," Guy quickly uttered as he tried to smooth things out.

    Al sighed loudly and chuckled bitterly.

    "Actually, I also agree with you," Al said as he picked up one of the enchanted swords from his pile.

    He then continued, "The field of enchanting has regressed ever since the Age of Istion, which happened 5000 years ago. What you hold in your hands right now is the result of Dwarven enchanting. As for this," he said while gesturing at the weapon in his hand and the mountain of items on his desk, "is as close as we can ever get. In fact, calling it enchanting is a mockery of the word itself."

    Guy''s eyebrows rose in surprise, "I don''t understand."

    Al nodded in understanding and said, "It''s better if I show you."

    Al conjured up a multitude of spell circles and channelled his mana into them. Immediately, the space around Guy warped. As his surroundings stabilised, he found himself standing in an open area simr to the academy''s practicing fields.

    "Watch carefully," Al said as he stood in front of Guy, while he held the gem embedded sword in his hand. He walked up to a practising dummy and brought the sword down with a seamless sh. The gems embedded in the sword''s guard illuminated and bright lines like circuitry extended across the sword''s de. While the de worked through the dummy it shredded the material, as if countless tiny des of wind were whirring around the metal. Once the sword exited the dummy, it cleft it perfectly into two halves.

    "And now, watch this," Al then said as he extended his hand towards Guy. The sword in Guy''s hand propelled itself into Al''s open hand as if it were maised. Al centred himself once again and performed a simr sword sh on another dummy. This time, while the de descended, the intricate engravings along the spine illuminated with a soft sheen. As the de contacted the dummy, it started to shred the material in a more gruesome manner. Unlike with the other sword, this one extended well beyond the immediate vicinity of the de and Guy could see that the damage even propagated further into the dummy perpendicr to the sword''s trajectory. After the cleft dummy fell, Guy saw just how devastating the sh was. He definitely didn''t want to be on the receiving end of the strike.

    Al held onto the de in his hand and released a long sigh filled with envy, sadness, and defeat.

    He then spoke solemnly, "What you saw before, was the result of my attempt to replicate the enchantment of this sword. It was the culmination of over two decades of research and development. In the end, I barely managed to scratch the surface."

    Guy gasped as he heard Al''s deration. Since he had yet to see anyone stronger and more capable than Al, Guy had subconsciously ced him on a pedestal. To hear that there was something Al couldn''t aplish even after sacrificing 20 years, was akin to sphemy of the highest order in Guy''s point of view. It was just like when an older sibling admitted that they didn''t know something.

    Guy eyed the Dwarven sword in Al''s hand in awe.

    Noticing Guy''s incredulous gaze Al chuckled, "What if I told you that this sword was only a Common enchanted weapon amongst Dwarves?"

    Guy''s eyes nearly burst out of their sockets at that revtion.

    "You''re saying there are enchanted weapons stronger than this?"

 Chapter 33 Age Of Isolation

    What are realms? The descriptions provided in most early literature were fuzzy when touching on this topic. Most of them suggested that a realm might be a ne, or world, that existed parallel to the current one. They concluded on this based on the fact that the observed constetions in the night sky weren''t the same across different realms.

    But another literature refuted that im by determining that while the constetions differed, if some constetions in specific nes were viewed from a different perspective or reconstruction they sometimes did mimic constetions from the current realm. This led them to believe that maybe these realms weren''t actually set in different nes, but were rather within the same ne of existence.

    A few mage powerhouses decided to test this theory and ventured beyond the confines of Gaea. Once they managed to break free from the strong pull, they started to explore the other bodies scattered across the void.

    Through a generic survey, the mages found that a lot of theses were uninhabitable. While they did find a few that disyed hints of life, they concluded that it was still impossible for humans to migrate there and thrive. Once mages started to venture further, beyond the immediate vicinity of their currentary congregation, they found it difficult to maintain their bearings. The void wasn''t as empty as they had initially predicted. Many malicious and unknown phenomenon lurked in the darkness that swallowed and waid unsuspecting mages.

    Eventually, it was unanimously decided that it wasn''t safe to venture farther into the void to verify the single realm theory. And thus, the definition of realms still remains a contested topic across different mage circles.

    Across Gaea, there existed multiple transit points borne of natural magic that acted as portals into different realms. Luckily, or maybe it was a conscious oue, these realms essible from the transit points were all inhabitable for human beings, although not all of them were typically safe.

    The Fae Realm, as it was called, lead to a filled with towering greenery and massive beasts. Mage explorers discovered that the Fae Realm could be around ten times the size of Gaea. The dominant, and well-known, species in the Fae Realm were the Elves and they were known for their inherent connection with nature and their uncanny ability to tame and rear beasts. Other humanoid species that were indigenous to this realm were Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds.

    Another realm essible from Gaea was the Fel Realm. Like its name suggested, this realm was brutal and unforgiving. It was muchrger than the Fae Realm and was filled with treacherous forests, abyssal waters,byrinthian caverns and raging volcanoes. The only humanoid species that thrived in thesends were the Dwarves. Unlike their tall and fairy-like counterparts from the Fae Realm, these hardheaded and physical species were naturally short in stature and prioritised practicality over superficial beauty. Evidently, the Dwarves weren''t an aesthetically gifted race. But what theycked in appearance, they made up in spades in strength and craftsmanship.

    To survive in the Fel Realm, even the nonmagical had to have a degree of proficiency with weapons and armour. This led to the Dwarven species building their entire civilisation around smithing and enchanting. It was so deeply ingrained into their lives that even their history and mythology was directly connected to legendary weapons, armours or trinkets used by famous figures.

    Due to the existence of these transit points, the exchange of information was unperturbed. However, since smithing and enchanting was the glue that held the Dwarven civilisation together, they were naturally averse to disclosing their secrets to others.

    That just wouldn''t do! It was an indisputable fact that Dwarven weapons were superior. In many wars, victory hinged on the fact that one side had more Dwarven forged products over the other. So if it was impossible to learn the Dwarven method, nor was it feasible to purchase and hoard Dwarven made products, why not hoard Dwarves themselves?

    It was an absurd conclusion, yet one that picked up steam very quickly. At first, organisations simply inducted Dwarves into their order and raised them organically, just like any typical expert. However, one particr human sect decided to enve Dwarves en masse, just because they didn''t have the mary power to support them.

    The Dwarves were stubborn and unyielding folk. They were eventually submitted to the envers through force but they staunchly refused to disclose their enchanting method. Nheless, the envers were satisfied with receiving a regr supply of enchanted weapons, armours and trinkets for free.

    The practice caught on eventually after the enving sect won multiple battles consecutively. Even more, organisations started enving Dwarves into their fold. The Dwarves weren''t the only species that experienced such tragedies. Some organisations even enved some Elven races for their abilities in beast taming - using them as specialised shock units in their armies.

    But everything came to an end around 5000 years ago, during the Age of Istion.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was unknown as to how it happened, but a lot of the transit points that acted as gateways between realms started to get severed simultaneously. Many believed that it was the act of an omniscient being,menting over the brutalitiesmitted during those times.

    While some transit points to smaller realms still remained, Gaea was isted from the Fae and the Fel Realm. The remnants from those realms that remained eventually sumbed to the ravages of time, and took with them their knowledge and expertise.

    "So you''re saying that this sword is a result of very?" Guy asked with a disgusted undertone. With his modern sensibilities, he was extremely averse to the idea of very. The brutal and inhuman history from his old world had cemented this ideology into his core.

    Al shook his head and rified, "This is the work of a genuine and untethered craftsman. I''ve seen the works of enved Dwarves. Itcks life. It''s hard to exin, but you''ll understand it once you see it for yourself."

    Al exhaled loudly and continued, "Humans didn''t know what to do at that point. There was a suddenck of enchanted weapons, and Dwarves to supply them. And so, mages set out to find ways to replicate the works of Dwarves the best they could. Dwarven enchantment is special, in that it was passive and organic. As you saw before, there was a very little dy between when I intended for the enchantment to activate, and when it actually activated. It is as if the weapon, and its enchantment, are an extension of my body.

    The Dwarves would separate enchanted weapons into 4 categories. Excluding the gradations assigned to forged item quality, enchanted items could be Common, Unique, Epic, or Legendary. Any sessfully enchanted item would qualify for a Common grade, but the ones that exhibit two or more enchantments are ssified as Unique. Epic enchanted items have the special ability to grow with the user, as in they get stronger the more they are used for the purpose they are forged for. Finally, Legendary enchanted items have the properties of the preceding grade. However, they have an additional property of exhibiting limited sentience. It''s as if the weapon itself has a nascent will."

    "We have been able to replicate these abilities, but our solutions barely meet their Dwarven equivalents through directparisons. As a 2-star cksmith and Enchanter, I can create these Unique enchanted weapons. But you can already see that my sword cannot match up to a Dwarven Common enchanted sword," Al said while smiling ruefully. "Thetency between my intent and activation is much wider, and the effect itself is greatly muted."

    "The way we''ve been able to replicate Dwarven enchantment is by using these things called Mana Gems," Al said while pointing at the minerals embedded into the sword''s guard. "These gems act as conduits for different spell formations, which in turn can be activated by triggering it using the wielder''s mana."

    Guy furrowed his brows in confusion, and then asked, "How are they any different from those regr devices with spell formations drawn on them? Like that heating rack for those beakers and test tubes that alchemists use."

    Al nodded vigorously and answered, "THAT is why I suggested this as a possible solution for Markus. You see, those inscribed devices are different from these enchanted items because the former requires an active source of mana to run, such as the mage using it or maybe from mana crystals. If the mage cannot supply sufficient mana to the device, it won''t run. But the enchanted weapons are independent of the mage. The gems can naturally absorb mana from the environment and use it to power the spells inscribed in them."

    Guy''s mouth opened wide in amazement. "So you''re saying that if we inscribe the spells into the mana gems and embed them into a weapon, then Markus can cast those spells even if he cannot, by himself, cast those spells?!"

    Al smiled widely and affirmed, "While what you said is heavily simplified, that is the gist of it. After all, there are a lot of nuances to enchantment apart from just inscribing the spell into a gem."

    "True... True... True..." Guy muttered in a low voice as his mind began processing the new information.

 Chapter 34 Researching For A Solution

    A heavy-set woman with impably defined muscture walked into the Smithing and Enchanting Guild Manager''s office with a stack of documents in her hands.

    She carefully ced it on the desk while speaking cordially to the well-built, middle-aged man hunched over an open book, "Enchanter Lynn, here are the approved material requisition forms from this week. There appears to be an increase in demand for orichalcum following Enchanter Rain''s Earthsplitter Axe which was auctioned off recently."

    Goro Lynn nodded while moving the stack before him, "That''s to be expected, after all. Make sure to increase the next order for earth-aligned mana gems as well. I know that we have a sufficient amount for the time being, but those novices will start experimenting willy-nilly and use them all up almost instantly."

    The woman smiled and assured, "Already done! The new logistics department head is quick to take initiative. He''se up with a unique stocking strategy that predicts resource requirements based on trends."

    Goro smiled and got down to perusing the forms in front of him. As he was doing so, he saw the woman hesitating to speak from the corner of his vision.

    "What is it?" He asked without diverting his attention from the documents.

    "Well, it''s about the man Teacher Jeeves endorsed..." shemented in a low voice.

    Goro sighed while dropping the paper in his hand, "What about him?"

    "He''s been holed up in the book repository for over two weeks now. I thought he''d try asking for assistance or guidance, but the man is like a reading machine. What are we supposed to do with him?"

    Goro chuckled bitterly, "Leave it. I owed Al a favour, this was him cashing it in."

    "But the repository is off-limits to non-licensed Smiths and Enchanters..."

    Goro clicked his tongues as he interrupted her, "Whatever the case! As long as the man isn''t doing anything disruptive, let him go about it however he wants. If anyone higher-up starts asking questions, tell them I allowed it. Oh, and if the man asks for anything, as long as it isn''t too excessive justply with the requests. Make sure to log it in Teacher Jeeves'' tab."

    In a low whisper, the woman asked, "Is the man some kind of a genius? Is he Teacher Jeeves'' new apprentice?"

    Goro shrugged and retorted, "Who knows what happens inside that old monster''s head. In any case, it''s better that he cashed in that favour on such a simple request. I worried he''d ask for something beyond my capacity..."

    The woman then bowed respectfully and left the room, leaving Goro by himself. As he returned to the stack once again, he sighed, "Who am I kidding? This barely covers my favour. I know he''lle back and ask for something inser."

    ____

    Guy had been camping out in the Smithing and Enchanting Guild''s internal book repository for over two weeks now. After hisst meeting with Al, the senior teacher had brought him here and cashed in favour to allow Guy ess to the books as well as a few basic resources from the guild.

    Following that, Guy quite literally moved into the ce, leaving only to relieve himself and eat for sustenance. He had be a sorry sight, with overgrown facial hair and dark circles nking his eyes. Thest time he looked like this was when he was 18 years old and got locked inside his University''s library right before Thanksgiving break. He fell asleep just as the library locked up. And due to a heavy snowstorm, he was stuck inside for an entire week without any cell or inte connection. Thankfully, the library''s cafeteria was stocked with food, or he feared that he would have died early and missed his chance to transmigrate.

    Back to the situation at hand. Guy''s primary purpose in holing up inside the repository was to follow up on the hints provided by Al. ording to him, a mage of a lower level could cast higher-tier spells with the help of enchanted weapons. This was something Markus needed, and so as his teacher, it was Guy''s duty to pursue the option as best as possible.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unfortunately, neither the present Guy nor the original Guy was inducted in Smithing and Enchanting.

    So it was only natural for Guy to hit up the Smithing and Enchanting Guild in Radiant City. He could join up, attempt the practising license and then work towards the 1-star license to gain ess to the more advanced books in the internal repositories.

    s, his ns were shattered once he realised just how long the whole thing would take.

    Compared to alchemy, the field of smithing and enchanting was much more arduous solely because itprised of two simr yet equally difficult subjects: smithing and enchanting.

    Smithing is by andrge a mortal craft. Anyone can be a smith, and through practice and hard work they can be veritable experts in the craft. There isn''t a stringent barrier for entry. However, an enchanted weapon is to an extent an extension of the smithing craft, yet a little different.

    A weapon crafted by a pure weaponsmith cannot always be enchanted. And a weapon crafted to be enchanted is always inferior to a simrly graded weapon forged by a pure weaponsmith. One can enchant a weapon to be Empowered, or they can forge an unenchanted weapon out of stronger metal. However, an unenchanted weapon cannot cast any spells, while an enchanted weapon can.

    This dichotomy is what makes smithing and enchanting a difficult field to get into. First off, even the most experienced of smiths have to first unlearn their skills to start as enchanters. Most of the knowledge they would have learned during their apprenticeship may not be applicable when ites to enchanting a forged weapon.

    On that note, a craftsman capable of forging and creating weapons and armours without enchantments is called a smith. A smith with the knowledge and capacity to enchant weapons, armours or any other items is called an enchanter.

    Therefore, enchanting can only be attempted by a mage that is at least near the Foundation Establishment realm. This is because mana perceptivity is a prerequisite in enchanting an item.

    Enchanters must take note of nascent mana pathways in the items being forged and actively tailor them to fit the needs of the enchantment which will be applied once finished. Generic weapon and armoursmiths do not, and cannot, take them into ount and thus the produced item is usually unenchantable. To be precise, it may be enchanted, however, it may not be as efficient or effective.

    Therefore, while Guy could achieve a practising license, the 1-star license would take him more than a year, which was well beyond the deadline. He needed to first be a capable smith, and then pick up basic enchanting to seed in the 1-star license test.

    However, after some consideration, Guy figured that it was possible that the 1-star license tested smithing and enchanting holistically. Since his needs were narrow, maybe being an aplished enchanter was unnecessary. If he could be learned in enchanting specifically for Markus'' needs, he wouldn''t have to go through the entire process.

    When he brought up this hypothesis in front of Al, he also agreed with Guy. Therefore, using Al''s backing, Guy received the green light to ess the internal repositories without achieving the 1-star license.

    Guy spent the first few days perusing through the basics to get a crash course in smithing and enchanting. Unsurprisingly, these included a run-through of the tools and materials used in the profession. It discussed the widely used metals, how they are extracted, their treatment methods, how mana channels can be drawn into forged items, how specific tools can be used during smithing and enchantment. It also went through a brief history of enchanting, even going as far as topare the current state of enchanted weapons versus the Dwarven kind.

    It was an enlightening trip for Guy, and it gave him a clearer direction on what to research. As a teacher, Guy had to constantly keep himself updated on the new developments in the world so that he couldmunicate with his students. It wasn''t an umon urrence for one of his students to offhandedly talk about a particr discovery they heard in the news.

    It wasmon for kids to view their teachers as all-knowing entities, and thus Guy''s students would often start a discussion with him regarding these novel topics. To facilitate discussion, Guy needed to have at least a superficial understanding of what they were talking about, lest he flounders around like a headless chicken, making a fool of himself and misdirecting his students. He only had to point them in a direction and provide an appropriate line of research, the kids could do the rest if they were interested in pursuing it further. He would even encourage them to present it to him, or in front of the ss as an exercise.

    As a result, Guy had perfected the process of research over years of trial and error. And using this skill, he mapped out a feasible research track.

    Barring the field of forging and smithing as a whole, Guy decided that the first item for business was to determine if there was already a published and credible solution to his predicament.

 Chapter 35 Preliminary Survey

    Guy''s method of research was to work from the top down. After determining the endpoint, he would map out the required prerequisite topics by working downwards. This would narrow the field when he finally started to research and would greatly reduce the chances of going down unnecessary rabbit holes.

    But before that, Guy felt it would be more efficient to run a preliminary survey. This was basically like a surface scan of publications to find out if there were already specific examples that conformed to the search criteria. Back on Earth, technology had advanced sufficiently that if anyone was attempting to start a new project, there was a high chance that something simr was already avable on the inte.

    Guy believed that since the field of enchanting has existed in this world for at least 5000 years, there must be some publications that could address his dilemma.

    The end goal for him was to enchant some form of a weapon that would assist Markus in casting ranged spells. An obvious starting point would be to determine the weapons that already conformed to that requirement. However, when Guy started his search with that parameter he was immediately stumped.

    Unlike alchemy, medicine, beast taming, and other licenced professions, enchanting was special in that there wasn''t a fixed methodology when it came to it. There could be countless ways for an enchanter to create a weapon that could summon a wave of fire, just by varying the type of enchantment, gem selections, embedding format, weapon material type, inscription inkposition, and so on.

    These variables would effectively change the efficiency, efficacy, functionality, and even aesthetics of the enchanted weapon.

    This inherent variability in enchanting was a headache for Guy because apart from the small selection of books that covered the basics, almost the entire library was filled with books that were isted case studies or process journals that described a renowned enchanter''s attempts at creating an enchanted item.

    It could be analogous to if Newton had published over a hundred journals describing the gravitational interactions between different household objects and the Earth, instead of a small handful that culminated his theory on gravitation. However, Guy realised that thisparison was wed, in that gravitation could be generalised using the scientific process as it was a consistent phenomenon. But mana tended to screw things up big time.

    Guy summarised it through the principles ofbinations and permutations in mathematics. Imagine that given aplete deck of cards, we have to form a hand of five cards. Abination is defined as a set of unique selections you can make from the deck of cards to form a hand. In that, the order of selection is irrelevant, only the content of the hand matters. However, a permutation also considers the order in which the selections are made. Therefore while we can form exactly 2,598,960binations of a five-card hand, given that a hand of five cards can be ordered 120 different ways, there are actually 311,875,200 unique permutations.

    With the advent of mana in this world, even if the enchanted fire sword had the samebination ofponents, there could be infinite permutations, all of which would result in some variations in the final product. And each of these variations warranted documentation, which resulted in a highly padded book repository.

    Thankfully, searching through these books for specific examples wasn''t that huge of an issue because the repository had aprehensive sorting strategy in ce and a searching index that could magically direct you towards a shelf with books matching your search parameters. The index resembled a regr book, however, its page''s were all empty. When someone used the quill next to the book to write in words that corresponded to a topic they were interested in, the ink marks on the pages would magically morph into coordinates of shelves or rows that matched those words.

    The index is a Legendary grade enchanted item, albeit one of the most basic of its kind, and is present in all the renowned Smithing and Enchanting Guilds across Gaea. It contains multiple enchantments as well as a nascent will that learns and grows through repeated use. To an extent, its behaviour mimics the adaptive algorithms and models that underly modern search engines on Earth - it was like a magically supercharged search engine. Guy was enraptured by how the item worked, but he couldn''t afford to waste time following that tangent!

    Guy approached the index and started by writing in: "ranged", and "spell casting". To which the index spasmed and threw up multiple pages worth of directions.

    "I guess the search was too broad," Guy said while smiling bitterly. After waiting for the index to erase itself, he wrote in additional keywords to narrow the search. Including "ranged" and "spell casting", he also wrote "multiple spells", "active-type" and "low cost".

    He had multiple reasons for using these parameters. First, the enchanted item must amodate multiple spells, otherwise, Markus would have to switch between enchanted items in the middle ofbat. That wasn''t safe and was therefore unfeasible.

    He also included the keyword "active-type" to ensure that the enchantments were conjurable or triggered. That is, when activated, the enchanted item would trigger a spell or conjure a phenomenon. This is opposed to the "passive-type" enchantments that are always active and constantly affect either the item, the user, or the surrounding in some way.

    Finally, Guy didn''t have much to his name. He could borrow from Al and pay it offter, but honestly, Guy wasn''t confident about it. And so, he needed to find a solution that could amodate multiple castable spells while remaining affordable.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As Guy thought about it, he shook his head in disappointment. For an enchanted item to cast multiple spells it would have to be a Unique grade. That automatically made things difficult because one, it would use a lot of resources to create and two, it would be difficult to make. To put it in context, creating a Unique grade item was the passing criteria for a 2-star enchanter''s license.

    And much like he had predicted, the solutions that were provided by the index all corresponded to Unique grade enchanted items forged by others.

    Another problem that Guy identified was that in none of these case studies was the enchanted item capable of casting more than two ranged spells. Based on the exnation provided in those books, it was because embedding multiple gems with active-type spells could damage the item through mana corrosion. That is when arge quantity of mana is forced to flow through narrow channels multiple times.

    Therefore, Guy scrapped this search and pondered for a while. Evidently, his search could be narrowed further to meet his needs.

    After a while, Guy wrote in a new set of search parameters into the index. Including "ranged" and "spell casting", he wrote "active-type" and "low cost", however instead of multiple spells he wrote in "variable enchantment".

    Guy realised that he could go about the problem with a different approach. Rather than searching for items with enchantments that were static, was it possible to have an enchantment that could change depending on the situation? Something simr to his modr spells?

    He posited that someone must have already tested out this line of inquiry, and his search confirmed that proposition by providing him with a single case study in which a group of enchanters tried to create an enchantment that could change depending on the need of the mage. The book went into a lot of detail about their thought process and their choices, but in the end, they arrived at a single conclusion: It wasn''t a worthwhile endeavour.

    ? Their enchantment worked by having the ink that was engraved into the gem morph into the spell constructs that the user wanted. The result showed promise, however, they couldn''t make it take the form of moreplex spells. They considered experimenting further, but they quickly realised that beyond a certain point the spell constructs were so convoluted that the mage couldn''t mentally form it inside the gem. They would have to give it their full attention or else it would mess up.

    Guy was overjoyed at finding a lead. Even though the enchanters chose not to pursue it any further, the mere fact that it was possible to create a variable enchantment was akin to a bright light at the end of a dark and seemingly endless tunnel.

    Therefore, Guy updated his n of action and set this variable enchantment case study as his end goal. Using that, he worked backwards and mapped out everything he would need as a prerequisite.

    As he stared at the blooming mind map in his RoK, his eyes stopped over one particr checkpoint, and his brows scrunched up.

    Enchanting consisted of two parts, the first was smithing, which involved making the item to be enchanted, and the second was enchanting.

    Although Guy didn''t have any hands-on experience from his previous life, he admitted that he had a perfunctory understanding of smithing. However enchanting was a whole another deal. It waspletely novel to him!

    He knew that if he wanted to create the variable enchantment he would need to have the basic knowledge of this topic. And so Guy got down to researching it.

    What he found through a precursory search was that enchantments were added to weapons by embedding mana gems on them. And not just any regr mana gem, but ones that were inscribed with the enchantment you wanted.

 Chapter 36 Inscribing Mana Gems

    As Al had exined before, the method used to enchant weapons, armours and other such items was through inscribing and embedding mana gems.

    But what are mana gems?

    Mana that exists in the environment permeates through everything living and nonliving. As Mast exined before, it can bend and twist the naturalws by shoehorning itself in between.

    Following this property, many naturally urring metals, minerals and organic matter have been in one way or another affected due to the presence of mana. Mana gems are one example of this deviance.

    Naturally urring minerals such as diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and so on form due to natural processes such as heat and pressure. During their formation, it is possible for mana to enter into the mix. This mana could contain an elemental alignment depending on where this is taking ce. If the gems are forming under a volcano orva pool, there can be an abundance of earth and fire-aligned mana. If this mana is sufficiently concentrated, it can exist in liquid or even solid-crystal form. If they mix in with the mineral crystals, the result is a lustrous gem with a natural affinity to the alignment of mana present during its formation.

    This is one particr scenario. If such minerals are being formed in a deep-sea trench or arge mana abundant water body, the gem may be water-aligned. Essentially, the mana gem''s "vour" depends on the conditions during its formation while in the presence of arge concentration of mana. Simrly, it is also possible to find mana gems with no affinity to any particr element. These are the moremonly found gems in the market.

    Many mages have tried to artificially form these mana gems and have seeded, but only to an extent. The artificially formed mana gems tended to have lower affinity and were less efficient. That is, the amount of mana required to form them was astronomical and the yield was extremely lowpared to the reagents used.

    In the beginning, these mana gems were solely used for decoration and simple operations such as coloured lighting. However, with the loss of Dwarven enchantments, enchanters began to experiment with these mana gems and found their effectiveness when embedded in items.

    To be of use for enchanting, these gems had to be inscribed with the specific enchantment.

    This begged the question, how do you inscribe on a mana gem?

    The process is extremelyplicated as it requires a steady hand from the enchanter and dextrous penmanship.

    An enchanter uses an inscribing tool to inscribe the required construct inside the gem. The inscribing tool appears simr to a fountain pen, however, its tip is made of a sharp and hollow gem called a mana diamond. These gems are extremely rare to find and the process through which they are cut and treated to form these tool-tips isplex in and of itself. The tip is attached to a hollow tube-like body made of a ductile and highly heat instive material.

    The tubing is filled with the inscribing ink which is magically activated when it passes through the tool-tip. Once activated by the mana diamond, the ink turns corporeal, and the mage mustplete the precise inscription in one go at a constant rate. Once the inscription pauses, the corporeal construct shrinks and enters the mana gem. After this point, the inscription on the gem is permanent. If there is a failure then the gem is a dud and cannot be used for anything else apart from decoration.

    On the other hand, if the inscription is sessful, the gem can be embedded into the prepared item through a simple process. But embedding is not as straightforward as sticking the gem into any location on the item.

    During the forging or making of the item, the enchanter needs to nudge and shape the naturally forming mana channels so that theyplement the final enchantment. Simr to the way the modr spells work, these mana channels need to connect the gems to be embedded into the weapon and form a closed circuit. The process of moving the mana channels can be an astronomical task requiring a lot of mana and mana control. And usually, when embedding multiple gems, these channels need to be extended, turned and twisted by a lot. Therefore, more advanced enchanters need to naturally have a higher cultivation realm.

    With regards to the inscribing process, the enchanter must also take into consideration the alignment of the enchantment, the gem, as well as the inscribing ink and its constituents.

    An earth-type enchantment or spell works best when inscribed in an earth-aligned mana gem. Depending on the tier of the enchantment, arger mana gem may be required. The size of the mana gem corresponds to the capacity of mana it can naturally hold.

    It is possible to inscribe a water-type enchantment on an earth gem, but its effectiveness may be reduced. However, if there is a natural opposition between the gem''s alignment and the spell, a catastrophic result can be expected.

    The inscribing ink is somewhat simr. The ink used for enchantment needs to support the type of enchantment as well as the gem. Many enchanters have special ink forms andpositions that work well with their specialised enchantments. These ink forme are usually trade secrets meant to be passed down through the generations. But one thing all inscribing inks have inmon is Mithril.

    Mithril falls under a special type of metal found in nature called mana metals. They are somewhat simr to mana gems in that they are aplex amalgamation of naturally urring metals and concentrated mana.

    Through various tests, mage researchers found that mithril is an alloy made purely of silver and mana in equal proportions. It is also one of the most mana conductive metals in existence.

    It is naturally found in a solid, dull crystalline ore. However, once it is extracted it turns into a lustrous liquid at room temperature. Yet, the special property of mithril is that once it reaches room temperature, it quickly fuses with any material ites into contact with and hardens.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This is why pure mithril needs to be stored in its molten form at high temperatures.

    The way it is used for enchanting is as follows. Enchanters bring together the ingredients for the inscription and pour it into the inscribing tool. They then pour in a specific ratio of molten mithril into the tool and allow the mixture to be perfectly homogeneous. As this molten liquid flows through the mana diamond it is activated causing it to turn corporeal, and the rest of the steps remain constant.

    The ratio of ingredients to mithril is carefully determined through multiple trials and errors. Mages can sometimes spend years on end tweaking their form to get the perfect ratio.

    Once the inscribed ink affixes itself into the gem, the mithril within the mixture joins up the mana channels on the embedded item andpletes the circuit.

    In this way, an enchanter needs to consider the end before beginning their operation. Enchanting is a highlyplicated procedure requiring a lot of patience and steadiness.

    This entire process was described in a single book which acted as a primer for beginner enchanters. Within the same book were basic enchantments that they needed to get proficient with, which also acted as springboards into the moreplicated enchantmentster on.

    Once Guy finished reading through the book, he concluded that for his objective he needed to be proficient in inscribing. And for that, he would have to practice doing it multiple times to get a hang of it.

    All in all, Guy found that there were a lot of things he needed to do to aplish his goal.

    He had to source the appropriate body to hold the enchantment, he needed to determine the required enchantment to be inscribed into the gem, he needed to choose the appropriate type of gem, he needed to determine what inscribing ink to use, and finally, he needed to practice inscribing, embedding and maybe forging.

    All of these tasks were dependent on one another and they couldn''t be prioritised one over the other. This alone was a massive dilemma for Guy, and he knew that given the time limits, he had to be efficient.

    With slumped shoulders, Guy sat down and started to write down how he would go about it.

    Based on a superficial analysis, Guy decided to set inscribing practice as something to begin immediately. He couldn''t dy this because once he aplished all the other tasks he would have to straight away begin with the inscribing process. He did debate on whether to perform the inscribing by himself or ask Al to help him out. But he apprehensive about thetter idea.

    ''I''ve already asked Al for a lot. I''ll try to do it by myself. If things don''t pan out by the deadline, then I''ll ask Al.''

    The inscribing ink, gem and body choice were grouped together as they were interdependent. He had a gist of what type of enchantment to apply in the gem, but he recognised that additional tests and tailoring would also be required.

    With all of that finalised, Guy heaved a long and exhausted sigh, stood up from his igloo of books, and stretched his body.

    Even with the prospect of having a monumental and possibly unachievable workload, Guy actually felt a little rxed. Having a specific goal to work towards was always better than stumbling around in the dark.

    It was at that moment that a bunch of knots in Guy''s mind all unsped at the same time. With a mix of concern and excitement, Guy psyched himself up to get down to business.

    "Grrrrowl" But he was immediately interrupted by his stomach calling out for sustenance. Guy realised that he was so absorbed in research that he had nearly missed lunchtime.

    The guild cafeteria would only remain open for fixed periods daily, and he couldn''t afford to miss a free lunch!

    "Food first, then work!" Guy muttered as he left the book repository.

 Chapter 37 Smithing And Enchanting Guild

    A guild is an association or congregation that oversees the practice of one particr trade, craft or profession. In this world, guilds were established to regte certain systems that transcended political and geographical boundaries. This was because the two factors, politics and geography, are always in flux.

    For instance, let''s assume that the oversight of one particr trade, craft or profession is performed by one political entity such as the Sr Empire. Although it may look stable at the current time point, there is no guarantee that the dynasty will persist a hundred years from now. This uncertainty does not bode well for the aforementioned systems since the turnover of control following the fall of one dynasty and the rise of another is often seeded by a mass cleansing and rebuilding of pre-established infrastructure.

    Along the same lines, it is also possible for the entity that takes on the responsibility to oversee the trades, crafts and professions to tamper with the economics of the particr fields resulting in instability, loss of work, monopolisation, and so on.

    Therefore, early on, groups of individuals specialising in these systems came together and established guilds to tackle this problem.

    In fact, there are a plethora of guilds present in this world, ranging from fields that are tied to magecraft, and those that aren''t such as merchant''s guild, ywright''s guild, sailor''s guild, and so on.

    These guilds work to level the ying field so that new entrants and old members can both flourish without conflicting with each other''s interests. They also work by keeping records and publicising key information amongst their members so that the area the guild specialises in can persevere and flourish.

    It is to be noted that guilds cannot interfere with the workings of businesses and organisations apart from enforcing strict standards and market regtionws. This is so that there is a clear baseline governing everything, which persists universally.

    The Smithing and Enchanting Guild is special in that it is actually an amalgamation of two guilds. Due to the bond that is shared between the two crafts, the executive members from the two guilds felt that it would be beneficial to tie the knot and merge. Thus, the new guild catered to both the mortal folk that practised smithing and the mages that specialised in enchanting.

    While the marriage between the two guilds was harmonious on paper, it wasn''t the case when observed under a microscope. Two tigers may have the same eating behaviour and it may seem logical to ce them in close vicinity of each other, but as the old adage states, "one mountain cannot contain two tigers."

    Enchanting is in many ways an extension of smithing. This meant that an enchanter could find work as a smith during off times. While this may be advantageous for the enchanter, it is not the case for the many nonmagical smiths that are left unemployed. Essentially, organisations felt that it was economical to hire one enchanter to double as a regr smith while paying them a slightly higher sry.

    On that note, it is not urate to write off smithing as inferior to enchanting. In a world that is primarily inhabited by nonmagical beings, a regr weapon, armour or trinket is more beneficial than one which is enchanted because the user cannot activate and sustain the powers contained in the enchanted item with a measly mana pool. However, a single enchanted item can contend with multiple unenchanted items of the same type.

    Ultimately, this led to a massivey-off of smiths all across the world. With the economic powers shifting in favour of the enchanters, it resulted in the formation of a hierarchical split. The enchanters started to enforce their superiority amongst their fellow smiths both through mary advantage and martial superiority and started to further encroach into the nonmagical smiths'' businesses.

    This disparity nearly evolved into a full-blown conflict between the two parties and threatened to split apart the guild from its roots. However, the executive members managed to quench the spreading embers by drawing clear boundaries and establishing strict nonpete uses in the way the members could operate.

    They implemented aw that restricted licensed enchanters from working as smiths, lest they face harsh fines and possible expulsion from the guild''s ranks. This meant that once an individual earned an enchanter''s license, they were no longer allowed to sell nonmagical artefacts in the regted markets. They also established additional measures to ensure that the nonmagical smiths weren''t suppressed and could afford equal benefits as their enchanterrades, such as purchasing priorities and so on.

    With these newws, the new guild began behaving like a couple in a shaky marriage. Neither side interfered with the other''s interest, but they still maintained a facade of content matrimony.

    To date, tensions persist between nonmagical smiths and enchanters. However, due to the existence of the guild''s bws, both sides have to put up with each other and rough it through the conflicts.

    As a result of thesews, businesses nowadays that want to sell both enchanted and unenchanted items have to contract smiths and enchanters to forge them respectively. Karmin Z was a 2-star Smith who was currently facing a grave problem because of this requirement.

    He was a 39-year-old man who had an air of maturity around him, which was cultivated through his tumultuous and rigorous life. As a son of an insignificant peasant, Karmin toiled diligently to enter the apprenticeship of a local smith andter graduated at a record speed of four years.

    From a young age, Karmin had ambition and wanted to be rich. During his youth, due to the growing tensions between nations, he decided to be a smith to supply weaponry when the impending war finally broke out. His spection rang true just a year after his graduation when a massive conflict erupted between the Sr Empire and the neighbouring ckstar Kingdom. Karmin quickly offloaded his umted wares and earned a fortune, which heter invested to start his own cksmithing business.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Karmin wasn''t a genius, and he knew that. Even though he graduated from apprenticeship much earlier than others, it wasn''t because he was an aplished individual. He worked himself to the bone and rushed through the whole process just so that he could get himself up and running before the war struck. Evidently, his gambit paid off handsomely and he walked out with enough capital to self-fund his venture.

    Yet, once he entered the market, Karmin quickly figured out that as an unlicensed practitioner, his business couldn''tpete with others that were backed by a licensed smith. Those businesses were offered greater opportunities, lower purchasing prices, a wider pool of markets, and many other subsidised benefits.

    Karmin wasn''t stupid. He knew that there would be no future for him if he decided to toil along as an unlicensed smith. While he could still make a living, it would only be enough for him to pass his days peacefully. That was not what he had set out to do initially.

    As a capable businessman, Karmin was quick to identify his weaknesses and equally quick in addressing them. He immediately applied for a smithing practitioner''s license and passed the test with his robust foundations.

    Although he could''ve pushed ahead and tested for the 1-star license, Karmin decided to maintain caution and worked towards it steadily. He had observed many upstart smiths, without any background, rising up the ranks too quickly and getting railroaded into an unfavourable position. He obtained his 1-star license within five years, and the 2-star license in seven. With an increase in stars, his business started to flourish and his coffers began overflowing.

    Very quickly, though, Karmin faced his first roadblock. He found that his business could not expand any further with his 2-star license. He thought of working towards a 3-star license, but Karmin realised that it was only advisable if he wanted to pursue a researching track. As a businessman, 2-stars was sufficient.

    He considered contracting a more advanced smith, but he dropped that idea as well after he realised that the process would not be so simple. Taking in a 3-star smith would require him to hand over a sizeable portion of his revenues to them as payment for their loyalty. That didn''t sit right with Karmin. He was the one who worked his ass off and built the business from scratch. Why should he hand over a part of it to someone else?

    That left him with one final option, expanding horizontally. In simpler terms, if increasing the scope of the business within the current field was not optimal, why not expand into another, simr field? Thus, Karmin decided to start selling enchanted items through his business.

    Though this led to another blockade. As he was already well into his middle ages, he had missed the most optimal time to enter the path of magic. When he was younger, hecked resources, but as an adult, hecked the vigour and malleability of youth. It truly was a dreary prospect. Karmin began brainstorming possible solutions, but he ended up short in nearly all of them.

    Because he frenziedly worked through the ranks to reach his current position, Karmin had put off marriage and siring offspring. Resultantly, hecked heirs that he could depend on to be enchanters and possibly support his business. He considered adoption, however, he wasn''t confident in their loyalties.

    Ultimately, he was only left with one option and that was to hire an enchanter. Luckily, due to the guild''s bws, a 1-star enchanter was equally ranked as a 1-star smith, even though the former was technically a mage. This meant he didn''t have to sacrifice an arm and a leg to bring one into his business.

    Still, that didn''t mean that an enchanter''s ego was at the same level. Due to their affinity to magic, enchanters felt themselves superior to Karmin, even though his worth was a hundred times their''s.

    He had tried catering to some of their interests and bending over a little. But those pricks didn''t cede even a little ground. Most of them didn''t even bother meeting him.

    With his shoulders hung low, Karmin trudged through the guild''s entrance and walked towards the Networking Hall.

    The Networking Hall was technically a mess hall that was open to the guild personnel and members. They would serve food three times a day. Its alternate purpose was to act as a means of connecting with other members of guilds. Many partnerships and ventures were birthed in this hall.

    Karmin didn''t hold much hope, but he wanted to give it his all, just like everything he had attempted in his life.

    Right as he entered the hall, an interesting conversation brushed past his ears.

 Chapter 38 Karmin Zola

    "Is he the person that Teacher Jeeves endorsed? He doesn''t look that special to me... Wait! He''s only in the Late Mana Condensation realm?"

    "Yeah, I know. I went up and talked to him. I thought he was some genius that Teacher Jeeves unearthed. I figured that I could make a few connections. What a waste of 5 minutes."

    Karmin''s ears perked up in earnest as he tuned into the hushed discussions lingering within the room. Even though he wasn''t magically gifted, through his years of experience he had cultivated a set of skills. This set of skills had been perfected over his trials and tribtions running a business and raising it from the ground.

    His most trusted and useful skill was the "Ears of Chatter-Capture". As the name suggested, Karmin had heightened his sense of hearing to pick up on pertinent information fluttering around him, regardless of how noisy the area or how muted the conversation may be. He had used this skill a lot in his youth, to clue in on particr market trends and fortuitous opportunities.

    "Who knows though. Maybe he really is a hidden genius. You know how entric those guys can be. Like my uncle''s friend''s second son!"

    "Of course! Wasn''t he recently picked up by a 3-star teacher because of his affinity in alchemy?"

    "That''s the one! So anyway, that kid''s real freaky. He likes to act as if he''s some hidden bigshot. Speaks in riddles all the time- Excuse me, man? Can I help you?"

    The two mob characters interrupted their conversation and nudged Karmin, who was leaning in and poking his ear up against them.

    "*cough* Sorry. I heard you guys talking about someone Teacher Jeeves sponsored?" He asked awkwardly as he tried to divert their attention. He didn''t know how the two figured out that he was eavesdropping in on their conversation.

    The two looked at each other in irritation and pointed their chins simultaneously towards the corner of the room. Karmin bowed to show gratitude and slowly edged away.

    "Who was that creep? Was he listening in on us?"

    "Wasn''t it obvious? He was so close to us that he was practically a part of the conversation. What a weirdo!"

    Karmin cursed out the two individuals under his breath while walking up to a man seated at the corner of the hall, alone. As Karmin approached him, he saw that the man waspletely engrossed in the food in front of him. He was eating it as if he had been starved for days. He was so into it that hepletely ignored the jeers and disdainful looks being directed his way from the people surrounding him.

    Karminmended the man internally for his strength of character. Not many people could maintain their calm under such societal pressures. Then again, he did have Teacher Jeeves backing him up, such support warranted a carefree mind. And that rang true since none of those "flies" hovering around him deigned to cause any problems.

    "Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Karmin asked jovially while touching an empty seat in front of the man.

    "Oh? No, it''s not. Please," the man gestured as he pulled his tter closer.

    Karmin nodded while sitting down. He had aplished the first part of the n: making contact. Being someone without a noteworthy background, Karmin had realised quite early that his survival was contingent on his connections. He could not hold on to his gains using his own powers, even though he was now a wealthy and powerful individual.

    A lone tree bears the entire weight of a massive storm, while a forest with many trees can end the storm together. It was a phrase he had heard from a wandering philosopher in his youth. The crowd at that time dismissed it as the ramblings of a mentally affected man, but Karmin could gaze into the truths underlying those "ramblings". In this world, he was a mountain climber without a safety rope. If he wanted to survive, he needed to find a stable footing. Additionally, if he wanted to rise, he needed to do so in earnest.

    With those principles in mind, Karmin made it a point to build strong connections no matter the situation. Trouble coulde knocking without any warning, and he needed to have a way out.

    Others determined that acquainting themselves with this ravenous man was a waste of time. On the surface, they saw a man without potential - an average Joe. But Karmin saw this as an opportunity. This man had the backing of a famous teacher, Al Jeeves. No one in the Sr Empire was ignorant of Al Jeeves'' capabilities. The man was a legend!

    Apart from Teacher Jeeves'' bountiful experience, a vast sea of knowledge, and enigmatic strength, perhaps what he was best known for was his introversion and intense dislike for interaction. Many a famous individual had tried to and failed to gain the acquaintance of Teacher Jeeves.

    With all that being said, how did this man manage to do it? This unassuming "average Joe" had aplished something that others who were incontestably superior to him had failed to do. That, in and of itself, should warrant greater attention. But these numbskulls didn''t have the patience or insight to make that connection.

    ''There has to be a reason!'' Karmin dered, ''If I can gain this person''s favour, I may get a piece of the pie too!''

    As he arrived at that conclusion, his lips stretched into his cheeks, and a cunning smile surfaced. It was time to initiate the second step: the probing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Hi, I''m Karmin Z, a 2-star Smith," he said while stretching out his hand.

    The introduction brought the man opposite out of his stupor and he too reciprocated after first cleaning his palm, "Pleased to meet you. Guy Larks, teaching apprentice."

    ''A firm handshake,'' Karminmented. Most of the time, the handshake could tell volumes about an individual. A firm and confident grip generally corresponded to a confident and stable personality.

    "Sorry to disturb your lunch. It''s just that I haven''t seen you here before. Are you new?" Karmin asked cordially. Although this small-talk was boring, it was a necessary prerequisite in prying through social walls.

    "I guess you can say that," Guy replied with a wry smile. "Can I help you?"

    Karmin decided to take arge step forward. "Oh no. If I am being honest, I was just interested in meeting the man who caught Teacher Jeeves'' attention. He isn''t known for being weing after all."

    Guy hummed in realisation as he replied, "We''re just casual friends. He''s actually repaying a favour."

    Karmin''s eyes widened, ''This is big news! Teacher Jeeves owed him a favour?''

    This hinted to Karmin that the man before him was definitely special. Teacher Jeeves was an acimed powerhouse, and if there was something that even he couldn''t aplish and Guy could, all the more reason to build a robust connection with Guy.

    "I don''t want to pry," Karmin replied while shaking his hands. Sometimes, knowing too much can be just as bad as being ignorant. "Anyways, is there anything I can help you with? I''m a long-standing member here. If you''re ever in need of any assistance, or if you''re unsure about something then please don''t hesitate to ask."

    Reaching into his jacket pocket, Karmin pulled out a circr token and ced it on the table, "If you ever need to find me, just show this at the reception of The Burning Forge."

    Once Karmin''s fingers left the token, his eyesnded on Guy''s face to observe his reaction. What he did just now was a presumptuous gambit. He was banking on a thin hope that Guy would be impressed by Karmin''s fame and lower his guard. In fact, this was all he could do, if he had tried to initiate some forced conversation he would have only pushed Guy away.

    Surprisingly, Guy''s reaction wasn''t as Karmin had expected. The Burning Forge was a pretty big name in Radiant City, he had expected some derivative of awe to sh across Guy''s face. Instead, Guy didn''t even look at the te. His eyes were solely trained on Karmin.

    Guy''s gazested for a while. It didn''t waver, nor did it intensify. But Karmin felt as if he was being stripped down and observed; those eyes looked like they could pierce through any facade.

    Karmin was growing increasingly ufortable at being stared at like this. He thought that Guy was looking down on him for being "just a smith". That was a disconcerting conclusion, he hoped that Guy would be different.

    Suppressing his displeasure, Karmin stood up to leave, "Well, I can see that you are busy, I won''t take any more of your time."

    Right as he was about to turn, a calm andposed voice broke through the din, "It''s truly my luck to meet an aplished individual such as yourself, Smith Z."

    Karmin turned towards the voice and found that it originated from Guy. The man was now holding the token in his hands and observing it with an impressed expression, "I''m grateful to have made your acquaintance. In fact, I do have a few problems that I''m struggling with. I would really appreciate it if you could offer me some guidance."

    Guy spoke courteously, without any underlying malice, disdain, or sarcasm in his tone. This came as a surprise to Karmin. He would be lying if he admitted that he wasn''t prejudiced against mages. His entire life he had had to contend against them and stand out on his own. It wasn''t a pleasant experience.

    Karmin sat down once again and entered the conversation with increased vigour, and sincerity.

    Although Karmin wasn''t an enchanter, he wasn''t ignorant of the craft. To sell something, one had to be knowledgeable about it first. That was the only way you could avoid making unnecessary losses and getting fleeced.

    Guy mainly asked questions regarding the basics of enchanting and smithing. The discussion hovered around the Practising or 1-star level and Karmin could easily rify all of them. As the conversation advanced, Karmin felt that while Guy wasn''t a typical genius, but the man was a hard worker and extremely knowledgeable. Karmin''s impression of Guy reminded him of his youth. He remembered a time when he spent two sleepless days trying to perfect an advanced technique his master had developed. After he aplished it, Karmin found that couldn''t even lift a finger. As he conversed with Guy, Karmin found a lot ofmon traits he shared with him. Subconsciously, he started to find himself getting drawn over to Guy.

    As the talks reached a lull, Guy carefully brought forward a request, "I know that this is presumptuous, seeing as how we just met. But I have a request-"

 Chapter 39 Tasting The Limelight

    One thing that used to irritate Guy a lot after transmigrating into this world was how everyone just kept ignoring him as if he was a nonexistent entity. Even if he was the only other person in the room, they''d treat him like air. Thest time he was at the library, some kid sat right in front of him and just let out an ear-shattering fart, then he looked around to make sure no one heard it AND sighed in relief!

    He didn''t know why it was like that. Maybe it was the aura surrounding him that encouraged people to overlook his existence. Even in his past life, he''d met people who had a forgettable presence. They would pass through other people''s lives without leaving a mark. They didn''t have anything that separated them from the crowd - nothing that made them stand out.

    But just like everything, Guy only realised the benefits of his nonexistence after he entered the limelight. After all, being sponsored by a famous individual such as Al Jeeves was a recipe for gaining a lot of attention in a short time frame.

    It was only after Guy got the taste of fame that he started to regret his initial dissatisfaction with his facelessness.

    In many ways, the feeling was simr to how it was like in his old world but amplified by a lot. As a son from a prolific family, he had his fair share of prominence and public recognition. He never shied away from it because he realised that it was a byproduct of his birth. One could say that he was at the peak of existence in his previous life. However, that wasn''t the case here.

    In this world, he was only a grunt - an insignificant being without anything to his name. People never care about grunts and mob characters because they never interfere with anything. But when a mob character enters the spotlight suddenly, without any backing to it, then things get murky.

    People are fine when a scion from a rich household gains many favours because it is expected. People are also fine when a pauper gains fame and recognition due to their talents, that is also expected. But what if an average individual suddenly rises to fame? That is just indigestible!

    ''What makes him so special? I''m just like him, why can''t I get equally lucky?'' They''d argue, and those would be valid points. Why was he so lucky?

    To that, Guy couldn''t say anything. Luck operated in mysterious ways. He''d been a victim to it in his past life, and he was not going to mess around with it in this life.

    All Guy could do was suck it up and bear with it, which was what he had been doing ever since he entered the cafeteria to have a filling meal.

    As soon as he entered, he''d attracted the attention of everyone in the room. They all stared at him like he was a deer entering a wolves'' den. Gulping down his difort, Guy found a fairly isted corner in the room and sat down to eat. Unfortunately, that was never going to happen anytime soon, since the moment his rear touched the chair, the seat opposite him was upied by a pair of enthusiastic individuals.

    "Hi, I''m Forna -" "And I''m Morian -" They said excitedly while extending their hands as a sign of greeting.

    Guy was a little surprised, and also felt a little awkward. Cautiously, he offered his hand and reciprocated the greeting, "Hi, I''m Guy Larks."

    Right after theypleted the greeting, the two opposite him started talking, "We know! We were interested in discussing with you about something, - "

    And that was when things took a 180-degree turn. They started asking him questions regarding enchanting and smithing starting from the practising level. To Guy, it all felt like some form of a viva voce examination. He tried his best to contest the barrage of inquiries, but he was quickly starting to get overwhelmed. They didn''t even offer him enough time to enter his RoK and cheat!

    After Guy slipped up in fielding a few questions, the two started to openly disy their displeasure and immediately left in a huff, not forgetting to throw out a few subtle jabs his way for "wasting their time". Guy very much wanted to stand up and retort that it was them that initiated this conversation, but he held his tongue - he was too hungry to retaliate.

    Maybe it was his willingness to submit to those jeers, or it was his unassuming appearance and aura, but the way everyone looked at him skewed a little. While the general feeling remained consistent, it had a more offensive aftertaste. It was as if he was still a deer in a wolves'' den, just that he was now visibly sickly and diseased.

    "What did Teacher Jeeves see in him anyway? He''s just a nobody."

    "Who are we to argue with how those bigshots think? Anyways, I bet I''m better than him!"

    He could hear such grumblings in the background. Basically, due to theck of Inte, the public did not have a forum to offload their displeasure through anonymity. And so they resolved to air out their insults through hushed conversations in the general vicinity of the target in question.

    Guy had only read of or seen this in web novels from his old world. He never thought that he''d one day be subjected to it.

    At least with cyberbullying, one could always disconnect themselves, even if it wasn''t a substantial solution. But with these offhandedments floating around him, Guy just didn''t know how to shut things out. Some of the insults were quite personal and painful to hear - these guys did not hold anything back!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy could barely swallow the food on his te with the words buzzing around him. It was starting to make him feel angry. He hadn''t felt such emotions in a really long time.

    To calm himself, Guy quickly retreated into the RoK and found some reprieve. Unfortunately, as long as he remained in here his body would stay dormant. This meant that he couldn''t eat!

    Just as Guy was about to leave the RoK, his gazended on the unfamiliar void mask. Ever since that thing manifested in the RoK, Guy had been avoiding it like the gue. The first time he wore it, he was subjected to a very detached feeling. While there was a passion when he spoke, there was also a general sense of dissociation. It was as if he both simultaneously meant, and was indifferent to things he uttered. He was simply a clear mirror that reflected what the person before him wanted to hear. Guy surmised that it was the awkwardbination of unfettered passion from the mask and his sliver of supreme rationality that caused this conflicting situation.

    With hesitation, Guy picked up the mask and put it on. He was immediately subjected to a feeling of being lowered into a cold bath as a shadow crept all over him. Following that, he entered the all too foreign trance-like state. Zealousness and passion manifested in his psyche, but Guy forced his rational mind to suppress them. He was NOT going to preach drivel in public and ruin thest bit of reputation he had earned.

    Guy didn''t want to remain in the Church any longer than necessary and wooshed out of it without pause. After returning to his body, Guy once again looked at the people around him. As he saw into their eyes, he got a glimpse into their inner thoughts and feelings. It wasn''t as if he was reading their minds, but rather he was more receptive to the general direction their emotions were leaning.

    If he was preaching, this would have made things so much easier! He could so easily rope in- cough enlighten these poor sheep and show them the True World!

    Guy shook those thoughts and started to eat the sumptuous, and now cold, meal in front of him. Guy pushed his rational mind to maintain dominance. Using this method, he had entered aplete state of separation and was unaffected by the things happening around him.

    Then while he chewed, he would direct his attention to the people in his vicinity. As he examined them, those at the receiving end were extremely creeped out. They felt as if his gaze was drilling into them and stripping them bare.

    Organically, a perimeter started to form around him that people started to avoid. This didn''t stop them from grumbling disfavourably though. They just increased their volume so that he could still hear them.

    Right as Guy was halfway through with his food, another individual approached him. Unlike the two that came before, this one was more courteous and actually asked whether the seat was upied. Guy was unconcerned and gestured for the man to take a seat.

    Once the individual introduced himself and began talking, Guy started to evaluate the person. Just based on the way the conversation was going, Guy could sense that the man was here with the intent to make his acquaintance. Even though the man, Karmin, knew about Guy''s mediocrity he was willing to entertain this thought, which was interesting.

    "If you ever need to find me, just show this at the reception of The Burning Forge," the man said while cing an identification token before Guy. When Karmin spoke the name of his business, there was a sense of pride bursting within his voice. Guy nced at the engraving in the token and quickly realised that Karmin was the owner of The Burning Forge.

    ''He looks at hispany as his own child,'' Guy concurred. Through a series of deductions, Guy concluded that Karmin probably raised the business from scraps solely through his efforts.

    Guy took a minute to consider Karmin and his intention. As he looked into his eyes, he could see that the man had ambition and drive. Guy could also glean from the way Karmin carried himself, and his open-mindedness, that he was a man with vast experience. Just the fact that Karmin was willing to gamble in connecting with Guy simply based on Guy''s thin connection with Al was reason enough to support this. Compared to those born of money in this world, the flexibility and capacity to lower one''s pride signified that Karmin was most likely of a lower origin.

    As Guy looked further, he could see a genuineness in Karmin that wascking in others he''d met before. The man before him did not seem to grumble over his shorings and was always looking for a way to make up for it. The man was a lot like Al in that sense.

    Guy smiled as he carefully lifted the token on the table, "It''s truly my luck to meet an aplished individual such as yourself, Smith Z."

    As he spoke those words, Guy too lowered his guard and prepared to enter a genuine conversation. And it worked as Karmin, most likely sensing Guy''s amiability, started to contribute wholeheartedly.

    Guy fully used Karmin as a resource to whet his newly learned knowledge. Although the man was only a smith, he seemed to have a great deal of insight in enchanting.

    While Guy interacted with Karmin, a thought started to surface in his mind. He seemed to have a lot of items on his to-do list that needed attention simultaneously. While it was alright depending on Al, it wouldn''t do if Guy had to go to Al for everything. He needed to diversify his portfolio in some way. Karmin seemed like an honest and good-natured individual.

    And best of all, Karmin was a businessman at heart, which meant that as long as Guy could offer benefits equal to the favours he asked for, Karmin would be willing to assist.

    Thus, Guy gently probed, "I know that this is presumptuous, seeing as how we just met. But I have a request-"

 Chapter 40 Profitable Opportunity

    "You see, I really need to get myself acquainted with gem inscribing for a project I''m working on for my student. I was considering going through the Guild''s training program for the practitioner''s license, however, the matter is quite urgent and I don''t need to go through such arge assortment of topics for it. I''mpletely new to this field, and I don''t want to annoy Teacher Jeeves with such trivialities, so I was wondering if you had any suggestions?" Guy spoke with apprehension.

    Guy sneakily name-dropped Al Jeeves to peak Karmin''s interest, and he seeded! Because once Karmin heard the request he entered a state of ponderance.

    "What''s the project about?" Karmin asked while he considered the nuances of Guy''s inquiry. Being someone learned in the way of the world, Karmin had long since be ustomed to such actions. One must never jump into something without prior knowledge because doing so was asking for ruin.

    Thus, Guy stated his piece, "Well, here''s the deal -". In doing so Guy made sure to tread around certain topics such as the modr spellmaking venture. While it was somewhat pertinent to the matter at hand, he didn''t want to reveal too much and attract unwanted attention. Not more than he already had, at least...

    During his exnation, Guy slowly released the suppression he held on his ferverous side, and let it ooze into the conversation. He had to sound sincere and unwavering, and his uber rational side wasn''t able to fully convey that emotion.

    As Karmin absorbed the information, he started to gain a better understanding of Guy. Just like Karmin had predicted, Guy was in no way a simple man. There had to have been a reason for Teacher Jeeves'' willingness to amodate someone to such as extent. And from what Karmin heard, he quickly grasped what made Guy stand out.

    It was his truly unorthodox and opposing thoughts on matters that were considered established that highlighted Guy''s character. First, Guy was willing to stake his future on a kid that most teachers would avoid or dismiss. Karmin was envious of the student called Markus for finding himself a teacher such as Guy. Deep down, Karmin likened himself to Markus; both of them were from a lowly background and while Karmin found his sess, it followed heavy sacrifices and many disappointments. Markus could have ended up in a worse starting position than Karmin. After all, the kid was an orphan and a failed mage to boot. Such an impact on the kid''s psyche would take years to heal.

    The second aspect of Guy''s that Karmin foundmendable was the man''s ability to think outside the box. In fact, that could still be considered an understatement. The box never entered Guy''s eyee! Fortunately, the man wasn''t flighty; Guy produced his own n of action which was detailed and goal-oriented. With his own experiences, Karmin could easily determine that even if ayman were to follow those steps, they would achieve the required oue, albeit with varying durations.

    Finally, Karmin was strangely attracted to Guy''s unflinching zeal and passion. It camepletely out of the blue! When they started talking, Guy looked like a statue and spoke in a measured manner. However, when he started to talk about his whole "pilgrimage" to "create a means tomunicate the Truth of the World" Karmin was a little shaken. If not for the methodical approach, and infallible research supporting the whole spiel, Karmin worried that he had unwittingly stepped into an initiation ceremony of a Demonic Cult. What he found surprising, and embarrassing at the same time, was that subconsciously he was willing to submit to the cause!

    Just when a lull presented itself in Guy''s impassioned exnation, Karmin intervened, "cough I think I might have a solution for your problem."

    That was sufficient to attract Guy''s attention, who started to reapply pressure on his ferverous self. He was starting to get queasy with every word spoken. Unfortunately, his mindcked sufficient strength to maintain the suppression and so Guy quickly reverted to the Church and removed his mask. Once his state of mind stabilised and restored to his usual identity, Guy returned to his body and picked up the conversation where it was left off.

    "A solution?" He asked.

    Karmin nodded as he replied, "The matter is quite simple. In fact, I think it will benefit both of us." Then with a satisfied smile, he continued, "What you need is practice with inscribing gems. It just so happens that I am currently sitting on an important work order of enchanted weapons, and amcking an enchanter."

    Guy hummed inprehension and leaned forward in earnest.

    "I''m actually here today in search of prospective enchanters to hire for my business. Unfortunately, my attempts have been... less than fortuitous. Furthermore, the situation has dragged on for too long, and the due date is fast approaching."

    And with that, Karmin entered his negotiation stance. He wasn''t one to sacrifice profit for the sake of friendship. It may seem callous and cold-hearted, but the world was such and he couldn''t do anything about it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So here''s what I can offer: I already have a surplus of items in my store to get my hired enchanter up and running and warmed up. I can allow you to use those as initial practice. Once you are used to it, and if I am satisfied, you can move on to the work order and polish your skills on those items. Don''t worry, the request isn''t beyond your reach. Since this was my first time selling enchanted goods, the order I took in asked for only the most basic of enchantments. I was nning to use this as a test in hiring enchanters - the work should be manageable by those with a practitioner''s license."

    Karmin spoke with a deliberate tone. He was clear on his stance - the offer was beneficial to Guy as it catered to his need for practice. However, money mattered as well!

    "Since you don''t technically have a license from the guild, I will have to tell my client that the work is from an unlicensed enchanter. That automatically lowers the sale price since there are no guarantees in the quality of my product. So I hope you understand that I cannot remunerate you at a standard rate."

    Guy quickly grasped where Karmin was going with the conversation. He had learned enough in his old life to understand the weight behind certifications and brand names. So, Guy quickly waved his hands and offered a retort, "Money isn''t an issue. For the time being anyway. Also, I would be exploiting your kind intentions if I epted payment for the work - it is benefitting me the most after all."

    He then added jokingly, "I would appreciate it if you could cover payment for my food, though."

    Karminughed mirthfully. While he respected Guy and Teacher Jeeves, and very much wanted to build robust connections, he was unwilling to cede ground excessively. Something he had learned over the years was the ungratefulness of people. No matter how much you treat someone favourably, there is no guarantee that they will pay you to pack equally at ater date. While cynical, his worldview was cemented on this principle. Favours and benefits must be tangible and guaranteeable. There is no such thing as banking on goodwill, that''s a fool''s venture.

    A beneficial connection wasn''t grounded on favours that offered no immediate profits to yourself. That is a waste of time and money. Unless you yourself can gain something from providing a favour, it is best to avoid the prospect in its entirety. Only idiots tie their entire being onto the thighs of a powerful individual, sacrificing everything in the process. Dynasties rise and fall, people die and others rise to take their ce.

    Guy wasn''t perturbed by Karmin''s negotiation tactics. He was inducted into the world of business and finance in his previous life after observing his elder brother. Therefore, Guy was pleased by Karmin''s tact and presence of mind in handling the situation. He wasn''t nning to exploit Karmin, and Karmin didn''t seem like he was ok with someone walking all over him. Overall, it was a profitable deal for both parties.

    Karmin brought his hand forward while saying, "Since you''ve waived your wages, I don''t think anyplicated paperwork needs to be drawn up. Let''s shake on it!"

    Guy eyebrows twitched at Karmin''s straightforwardness.

    ''I guess this is the man I''m getting in bed with,'' he thought to himself. Guy then smiled and sealed the deal with a handshake.

    "Since that''s out of the way, why don''t I show you around the guild and if you''re avable I can even take you over to my shop?" Karmin asked excitedly.

    Guy nodded in agreement, "That would be great. I''m sure it will be more convincing to your employees if I arrived at your shop with the owner rather than your token."

    The twoughed together and left the cafeteria while chatting casually. The others present in the cafeteria were a little confused by the turn of events. Karmin was a famous member of the Radiant City Smithing and Enchanting Guild - he had a 2-star license after all.

    They never thought that the guy they dismissed as average and waste would attract the attention of another bigshot. Each of them felt a sting on their cheeks as if a metaphorical palm had struck it unceremoniously. All they could do was swallow their embarrassment and move on.

 Chapter 41 The Burning Forge

    The tour through the guild building was short. Guy had already familiarised himself with the ce, apart from a few sections which were marked as off-limits to him due to hisck of clearance. However, with a wave of Karmin''s badge, most of those blocks were lifted and Guy was weed into the more privileged areas.

    It was more of an informative tour for Guy as he got to observe how the guilds generally operated in this world. Each was directly connected to a head office which was usually luded from the low-level members. It was possible to transition directly from the head office to the subsidiary buildings through a Teleportation Ritual Formation at the core of the guild building and only those with the authorised seals could activate it. Apart from that, there were alsomunication artefacts that provided a direct line to any other subsidiary guild in the world.

    The guilds themselves were non-profit organisations, so any surplus earned was directly invested into enhancing the guild''s foundations.

    Karmin was also a little unenthusiastic about the guild tour. He was more eager to take Guy to his shop, The Burning Forge! And so, the duo finished the tour within the hour.

    "The Burning Forge has been operating since the year 5122," Karmin dered proudly as he walked with a skip in his steps.

    The timekeeping standard underwent a reset following the Age of Istion. Thus, the year when Gaea waspletely and truly isted from the other realms was the generally epted year zero in the standard calendar. Additionally, simr to back in Earth, each year was divided into 12 months with each month containing 30 days.

    Guy nodded along as he followed Karmin while observing his surroundings. They were currently walking through themercial district in Radiant City which was home to arge number of shops and outlets selling a plethora of goods and services. He had never explored this region since his transmigration, mainly because he wascking financially.

    Karmin''s Burning Forge was close to the centre of the district, indicating its prominence in the local market. Furthermore, like most of the shops in this region of the market, it was separated from its neighbours, unlike the other stores that were attached with a shared wall.

    The shop itself was separated into multiple spaces. The part of the store facing the shopping district acted as the outlet front. Customers could ess this section freely, peruse the goods on sale, and make one-off purchases. This outlet was operated by impably dressed and young individuals. The men were toned and had a warrior''s aura surrounding them, and the women appeared delicate and alluring. Through observation, Guy understood Karmin''s strategy. The women would draw in a crowd of testosterone-driven sheep, while the men would offload the goods through showy demonstrations and jargon-filled sales pitches.

    Adjacent to the outlet, yet luded behind a wall, was the import and export dock. Half-finished orpleted goods would transit through this point. Thetter would go directly to the local storage block which was attached to this section or would move to the showcasing area in the outlet front. The former would be directed to a local workspace to add the finishing touches before being ced on disy or sold.

    As a matter of safety, The Burning Forge''s main office was located on a confidential site. Mostrgepanies and businesses followed this practice to protect their assets. Due to theck of stringent patenting, copyrighting and licensing systems in this world, theft and counterfeiting weremonce. Thus, these confidential sites acted as fortresses that guarded apanies secrets and unique selling points.

    Karmin led Guy through the back of the shop to avoid any stray eyes trained his way. They walked through the import and export dock to the workshop that adjoined the outlet and the dock.

    "So here''s where you''ll be working," Karmin said as he opened the doors into the workshop.

    Guy released a drawn-out whistle of awe as he beheld the sight. Unlike his initial assumptions, the workshop was a lot cleaner and well maintained. While there were soot markings, metal deposits, wood shavings, and other residues, there were workers that would frequently clean up the area and clear up any obstructions.

    Multiple forges were working adjacently, each being operated by a fixed group of people. For instance, one forge was run by a group of three individuals drawing out a standard-sized sword and sharpening its edge. One worker was responsible for heating the sword and repositioning it, while another was responsible for hammering it. The third was first in charge of managing the forge and then shifting over to running the grindstone. Essentially, one person did not have to take on all the work by themselves.

    "Mister Z! What brings you here today?" A giant of a man eximed with a gravelly voice. He appeared to be the overseer, the manager responsible for the workshop. He wore a sleeveless tank-top with an apron draped over it. His face was thered with soot and sweat, enhancing his already domineering appearance. He would make a perfect bouncer if not for his uncharacteristically jovial smile.

    "Callum! How was the shipment of to-be-enchanted weapons that arrived yesterday?" Karmin asked while shaking the man''s, Callum Bose''s, extended hand.

    "Looks basic enough," Callum shrugged. "I don''t see anything different about it, apart from the empty sockets for the gems, of course."

    Karmin nodded, "The first order is for a set of basic Empowering enchantments. You don''t need to forge the weapons differently for it."

    Callum hummed in acknowledgement, "Well, I''ve followed protocol and moved it to storage with today''s shipment of mana gems and enchanting ink ingredients."

    Karmin seamlessly led the conversation through the forge towards a quieter office space next to the outlet. While they were transitioning, Callum''s eyesnded on Guy who was silently following them.

    "Who might you be?" Callum asked respectfully. Since he knew that the person was brought in by Mister Z, the man was definitely unordinary.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Karmin realised that he had disregarded Guy this whole time and quickly sorted out the introductions, "This is Teaching Apprentice Guy Larks. He is currently being sponsored by Teacher Jeeves in the Smithing and Enchanting Guild. I''ve invited him in because he has offered to run the enchanting for our uing order for the Kraven Mercenary Corp."

    Callum''s eyes widened in astonishment. He was familiar with Teacher Al Jeeves, who was a veritable powerhouse in Radiant City. To be affiliated with such an individual, Callum automatically raised his evaluation of Guy by a few levels.

    He then picked up from where Karmin left off, "That''s good to know. The order has been burning a hole in our pockets for quite some time now. It''s great that we can finally get to it! Why don''t I show Mister Larks his workspace?"

    Karmin nodded appreciatively while adding, "Also give him a token to ess the storage. Mister Larks may need to use a few resources as practice," he then turned to Guy while adding, "Just inform Callum here if you''re logging out anything. As long as it isn''t out of our reach, it shouldn''t be a problem."

    Guy smiled in response and bowed as a sign of gratitude, "Thank you so much for your assistance!"

    Karmin waved his hands. Just as he was about to respond, a suddenmotion resounded through the walls. With a frown, Karmin asked, "What''s happening out there?"

    Callum furrowed his brows and walked out briskly. After a quick half a minute, he returned with an awkward expression stered across his face.

    "There seems to be a kerfuffle between a customer and one of our sales representatives," Callum rified.

    "What? Why?" Karmin asked.

    "The customer ims that one of our swords up for sale is of sub-par qualitypared to what was advertised," Callum spoke in displeasure.

    Karmin snorted and retorted, "Who is he? Someone from the guild?"

    Callum shook his head, "He doesn''t appear to be certified. Just some average teaching apprentice from Radiant Academy."

    But then Callum quickly bit his tongue and turned to Guy with an apologetic look. Guy chuckled in response to show that no offence was taken.

    "Who does he think he is, sauntering into mypany and iming that I''m cheating my customers!" Karmin eximed with righteous indignation.

    Callum offered some additional information, "ording to the chatter, he is called Jo way. Rumour on the streets is that he is currently undertaking Gaige Bori for the uing trial."

    Karmin stood up in a huff and prepared to set things straight. But right as his hands grasped the door handle, a loud cough interrupted him, "Umm... Mister Z! Please hold on for a second."

    The moment Guy heard Jo Way''s name, a sense of difort washed over him. The hair on the back of Guy''s neck stood straight as his face-pping sense red in earnest. Although Guy weed Jo Way''s antics once in a while, currently it was a little inconvenient for him.

    Guy was depending on Karmin to support his enchanting ventures, and he couldn''t afford to lose this backing. So Guy offered a few words of warning, "That Jo Way isn''t a simple person. It would be better if you approached this matter with greater caution. My sincere advice is that you observe the situation carefully before intervening recklessly."

    Those measured words quickly doused Karmin''s swelling rage. With a calmer state of mind, Karmin left the room while throwing out a few instructions at Callum.

    Callum then led Guy towards his new workspace.

 Chapter 42 Guide To Avoid Getting Face-Slapped

    Wei Zao had initially set out this day to find a suitable weapon for his student. Gaige was trained in swordsmanship, and his cultivation method was alsoplemented by sword arts. While he himself didn''t have any money to fund the purchase, Gaige had regained his family''s interest and secured his father''s backing once again. The process was fairly generic, a couple of duelling challenges here, a few insults and sleights there... Anyways, the end result was that they had more money to work with now, and a solid backer.

    Gaige''s father didn''t actually write Gaige off following the repeated failures in cultivation. The man still held a deep affection for his blue-eyed sweetheart and the product of their love and had spent great efforts in the shadows to help Gaige. He couldn''t appear to show favouritism to his "illegitimate son" in front of his legal wife and her family, lest it descends into a full-blown conflict between ns. Therefore, the man was infinitely grateful to Wei Zao for helping his ward out and offered this world''s equivalent of a "ck card" for his personal coffers, which could be used to fund Gaige in any way possible.

    Although Wei Zao was eager to create a weapon on his own that was perfectly suited for Gaige, he realised the process wasn''t so simple since the Omniscient Library didn''t provide hints in smithing and enchanting like with alchemy. Forging, smithing and enchanting were inherently fluid in nature, and it was impossible to write precise instructions that applied universally.

    Therefore, the only logical option was to search out suitable weapons from the market. The world was vast, there must be something out there that could meet his student''s needs!

    With that in mind, Wei Zao directly approached the most well-known weapon and armour store in Radiant City, The Burning Forge. The moment he entered its premises, he was reminded of the luxury boutiques from his old world. Various weapons and armours were set out in disy, with their information pasted conveniently next to them. The sales representatives stationed nearby would assist in terms of usage and fitting. The store even offered personalised forging services; it was definitely a high-ss establishment.

    Wei Zao grew extremely excited and started to inspect all the items in the store to see how they matched up with Gaige''s cultivation and specialisations.

    He found a perfect sword, advertised to be forged with an alloy that the Omniscient Library stated could resonate with dark-type mana and cultivation. It was totally suitable for Gaige!

    Wei Zao approached the disy sword and stroked the weapon carefully, causing a book to materialise in his Omniscient Library. As Wei Zao read through it, his brows furrowed. He quickly waved at a representative, and asked with curiosity, "Are the disy pieces supposed to be cheaper replicas of the real deal?"

    The representative tilted his head in confusion and shook his head, "No, Sir. These pieces are exact replicas of the actual weapon. We have unexposed versions of the same weapon in storage which we resize and sharpen to fit the user''s needs. These disy pieces offer the customer a way to judge theirpatibility with the weapons."

    Wei Zao didn''t lower his voice and spoke, "But this weapon isn''t made of hundred-per cent Gandorium blend as advertised, though."

    "Excuse me?" The representative retorted incredulously.

    "The information sheet here states that the sword is forged with the purest Gandorium blend. However, the piece seems to be only 80% Gandorium, the rest isprised of Orichalcum. I guess it is easy to confuse since their aesthetic properties are simr and Orichalcum is functionally inert. But the result is a 5% reduction in the sword''s resonance with a plethora of mana types. I know that it sounds minor, but for a mage at a lower realm, each per cent means a lot," Wei Zao rattled calmly.

    The representative nced around in panic as he saw a crowd forming. This was bad news!

    "What''s wrong?"

    "That man ims that the sword is falsely advertised."

    "The Burning Forge wouldn''t pull something like that, right? They''re a reputed establishment."

    "Who can say for sure? Let''s watch what happens."

    The representative grit his teeth and retorted with as much respect as he could muster, "Sir, please don''t make such wild ims without evidence. The Burning Forge prides itself for its quality and after-sale services."

    Wei Zao frowned when he heard that. Here he was, offering a well-meaning exnation out of goodwill, only to receive the scorn of the opposite party. "I''m not making things up. Why don''t you inspect the sword?"

    Everyone gasped at that im. To inspect an artefact meant to call in a Smithing and Enchanting Guild''s official to run an inspection. This was so that the results were unbiased and urate. While it may seem like a trivial process, the result could make or break an individual orpany. If the guild announced that the sword was as Wei Zao imed, then The Burning Forge would suffer a huge blow and lose its credibility.

    The inspection process was heavily skewed against the smith or enchanter, and the person calling for the inspection faced no consequences. The reason for this was backed by many historical cons and schemes, resulting in the guild cracking down on fakers and their members.

    Wei Zao''s tant call for an inspection angered the representative and he retorted in a raised voice, "Can this Sir please exin his reasoning? Are you a licensed member of the Smithing and Enchanting Guild?"

    Wei Zao replied with a wry smile, "Not really..."

    "They how can you go about making such ims and expect us to believe it. Is calling for an inspection from the guild such as easy ask that just about anyone can do it? Furthermore, aren''t you looking down on The Burning Forge?"

    Wei Zao retaliated dramatically, "I''ve only been pointing it out to you out of goodwill. But it looks like you aren''t willing to ept it. Let do this: I am willing to stake double, NO! Quadruple! of what this sword is being sold for. If what I''ve imed is false then I will pay this establishment immediately and never show my face here ever again. However, if what I said is true..."

    The representative caught on to the extended pause and prepared to agree to the challenge, "If it is true then The Burning Forge will personally apologise to you and make amends to all the individuals that have purchased this sword, marily!"

    ____

    This was what Karmin saw when he arrived at the shop floor.

    "Who the hell does this man think he is?" Karmin muttered in anger. He wasn''t giving Karmin any face by tantly making wild ims about his business'' integrity.

    Karmin was about to go and affirm the representative''s challenge and add additional stakes to thoroughly suppress this Jo Way. But the moment he took a step, he recollected Guy''s advice.

    "Jo Way isn''t a simple person..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Karmin pondered on it for a bit. What did Guy mean when he said that? Karim nced at Jo Way''s resolute and confident expression, and he wavered.

    ''What if he was right?'' Karmin eximed. ''No! I can''t take any risks!''

    Karmin coughed audibly and drew everyone''s attention, "You! Who are you to make such promises on behalf of The Burning Forge?"

    "That''s Mister Z, the 2-star Smith!"

    "Him? Wow, he looks so imposing!"

    Karmin shook his head to tune out from the conversations running in the background. He drilled his eyes into the representative and red meaningfully. The representative was a little shaken at first, but his training kicked in. He had worked in The Burning Forge for over 5 years now, and he had personally interacted with Karmin on many asions. So, he was quick to pick up the hints Karmin was dropping. He bowed down apologetically and said, "I apologise for my presumptuousness, Mister Z. I got too agitated, and my tongue slipped."

    Karmin frowned, as an act, and continued, "Why are you apologising to me? What is The Burning Forge''s unspoken rule?"

    Without waiting for anyone to make stupid guesses, he answered his own question, "The customer is always right!"

    The representative was quick to swallow his irritation and offered a convincing apology to Jo Way.

    "For your mistake, I will be suspending you without pay, effective immediately!" Karmin dered and once again red meaningfully at the representative. Thankfully, the man had the presence of mind and caught on to the additional hints.

    ''Mister Z is trying to redirect the crowd''s attention!''

    He then quickly walked out with faked dejection and drooping shoulders.

    "Mister Z is so unwavering. The Burning Forge truly does care for their customers!"

    "You''re so right! Wait, what are we standing around here for again?"

    "I don''t know... Oh right! I came to buy a new shield for my wife. Man, she is so strong!"

    Karmin sighed in relief internally and approached Jo Way, who appeared to be dibobted by the awkward turn of events. This wasn''t how things usually turned out...

    "I apologise for my employee''s rudeness. It was my fault for not training them properly," he apologised.

    Karmin didn''t wait for Jo Way to respond, though. Because he right away snapped his fingers and seamlessly guided Jo Way away from the sword, "Right! Why don''t we do it this way..."

    He pulled out a token from his coat pocket and offered it to Jo Way with both hands. "This is The Burning Forge''s personal forging token. It is only avable to the VIPs and the elites that are affiliated with our establishment. This token works like a gift, by which the holder can request The Burning Forge to make for them a single, personalised item to meet their needs. I saw that you are looking for a sword made of Gandorium blend. using this token, you can ask for one made of a Gandorium-Brioniumposite, free of charge!"

    Jo Way''s eyes visibly widened at that statement. Brionium was an extremely rare metal that was a hundred times more resonant to the dark-type element. Jo Way initially wanted to find a weapon madepletely out of Brionium for Gaige, but he recognised that it was financially impossible even with the "ck card".

    Jo Way gulped audibly and epted the token. "It''s no big deal! Thank you for this token. I will dly take you up on that offer."

    With it finally, in his hands, Jo Way quickly darted out of the store with an excited expression. Since he now had a freebie token, he could design a weapon bespoke to Gaige''s cultivation and martial art.

    Once Jo Way turned a corner, Karmin waved his hands and another representative walked up to him with the disyed sword.

    Karmin moved his hands over the de and used a magnification artefact to observe it carefully. As his hands slid further, the frown on his face turned grew deeper.

    He faced the representative next to him and instructed, "Tell Callum to seize Craftsman Jace and all his assets. Also, make sure that everything is discreet."

    As the representative rushed away, Karmin contemted on what transpired.

    ''Moris Jace! You shouldn''t have taken my kindness for granted. Stealing from me will be thest thing you do - I will make sure of it!''

    He then sighed, ''Thank the Sun that I didn''t rush in and make a fool of myself. If it wasn''t for Guy Larks'' warning I would have truly ruined myself...''

    The oue would have gone one of two ways; Karmin was thankful that it went positively.

 Chapter 43 Practice Makes Perfect

    Guy considered himself immensely lucky to have met and be acquainted with Karmin Z. Just as he was struggling to find a way to bolster his skills in enchanting, a ripe opportunity gentlynded on hisp. Because of this, Guy made sure to make full use of this to his benefit.

    The same day that Guy received ess to The Burning Forge''s workshop and storage, he immediately retrieved a few low-quality mana gems, and a standard set of ingredients to make basic inscribing ink, and started to inscribe a simple Reinforcement enchantment.

    He chose this because ording to the introductory books in the guild''s library, the Reinforcement enchantment was the simplest and the starting point for newbies. Unfortunately, simple was a rtive term in this case. For a seasoned chef, determining the exact measures of ingredients to prepare a fabulous meal would be a trivial task.

    The main issue Guy faced in inscribing the enchantment was inpleting it in its entirety at a steady, unflinching rate. First off, unlike his own modr spells, all the inscriptions published in literature adhered to the established system, containing a plethora of snaking, weaving, looping, interconnecting, and flourishing lines. This required Guy to have the entire image readily prepared in his head, and anticipate the next move while maintaining a constant pace.

    Along those lines, Guy found it extremely difficult to utilise the inscribing tool for its purpose. It was a clunky device that strained his wrists. It had to be held in a fixed orientation, otherwise, the flow through its nozzle would vary causing a nonuniform inscription. The ink itself had to be siphoned into the tool from its rear-end, and it would constantly swirl and gyrate within causing the centre of mass to vary.

    Guy''s first attempt was an utter failure. His inability to hold the tool properly resulted in arge infusion of ink immediately at the beginning. Guy had to dispose of the gem right away.

    The second attempt wasn''t any better. This time, the flow rate was much, much slower. So slow, that he barely registered a line after 10 minutes of concentrated work.

    Guy ran through many low-quality gems before determining an optimal approach angle with the inscribing tool. But that was just the start! Many more failures followed as he optimised his technique. Time-wise, it took Guy around a week-and-a-half to gain the experience to produce an average-quality Reinforcement enchantment gem.

    One must note that Guy did not exclusively spend his time in The Burning Forge''s workshop, improving his enchanting skills. Although it was important, he couldn''t offload his own responsibilities as a teaching apprentice, and as a master to Markus.

    Guyter spent another week to improve his consistency, all the while familiarizing himself with the mana gems and ink used in the Empowering enchantments for the sale order.

    With regards to the enchantments, the Reinforcement and Empowering enchantments were simr but were used in differing scenarios. The Reinforcement enchantment was typically applied on armour pieces, while Empowering was for weapons. While it was possible to stack them together, their redundancy made it an inefficientbination.

    In addition to that, the Empowering enchantment had a slightly raised difficulty of the two due to a few additional shapes involved in the construct. Guy would have loved to deconstruct the two enchantments and categorise the individualponents, however, since it wasn''t of immediate importance Guy shelved it for ater date.

    One should note that both the Reinforcement and Empowering enchants were passive in nature - their effect was to passively augment the weapon or armour they were slotted into. This begged the question, why bother adding these enchantments if instead, we can use stronger and more resilient metals? Although that was a logical solution, sometimes it was cheaper to use average metals, and then augment them with these enchantments. Economically, if the purchase of mana gems, ink recipes and metal, exceeded the price of only a metal that was much stronger, people tended to lean towards the former option.

    After Guy finished practising, he moved onto the real deal, albeit cautiously. He didn''t want to muck things over by rushing into things too quickly. And so, Guy spent one day going over the nuances of it thoroughly.

    First,pared to his test pieces, he was no longer working with low-quality or faulty mana gems. The minerals that were to be embedded into the weapons were of very high quality and were optimal for the Empowering enchantment. That is since the enchantment was not attuned to a specific element, the minerals were simrly neutral in vour.

    Second, the ink Karmin intended to apply for this order had a differentpositionpared to the recipe published in the newbie guide in the guild''s library. Through cross-referencing, Guy determined that this new recipe was highly specialised for the Empowering enchantment. While in the former, the constitution ensured that a wider roster of enchantments could be amodated, the specialised ink discarded these deviances and doubled down on the Empowering properties. Due to Guy''sck of knowledge of the rarer ingredients, he couldn''t discern the properties of some of the lesser-knownponents, but the ones he did recognise supported his hypothesis.

    Apart from that, Guy observed that all the swords set to be enchanted were uniform. Because he knew that this world hadn''t undergone an industrial revolution, he was amazed by the skill of the craftsmen employed by Karmin to be able to maintain such a level of consistency in their works. Additionally, since the Empowering enchantment was basic, the weapons didn''t need to undergo any arcane processes during forging. He could basically slot an inscribed mana gem into the empty slot on the weapons and move on.

    After a thorough once-over, Guy began his enchanting marathon in earnest. Karmin had informed him earlier that the order was due within a month. Guy had sufficient confidence in his skill by this point, and he was sure that he could meet that deadline. So, Guy started by scheduling his work. He was a firm believer in spreading the work over the duration of the task. Unlike many of his students, who preferred toplete all their work the day before the deadline, Guy fervently preached the dangers of rushed,st-minute work.

    He found that if he finished three to four enchantments every day, he couldplete the entire order, with a few days to spare. The pace was manageable, so Guy went with that n.

    His first day of enchanting was a little stressful. Even after all that practice, he just couldn''t ovee the jitters on his first official enchantment.

    After meditating and centring himself, Guy brought down the tool. His hands moved at a steady pace, maintaining his posture and techniques cultivated through weeks of practice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Following a strained hour, Guy finally lowered the tool and heaved a sigh of relief. He spent another minute going over the inscribed gem, taking note of any possible issues. Although the enchantment was sessful, minor inconsistencies or errors could manifest muchter through repeated activations.

    After Guy was satisfied with his work, he carefully ced the mana gem and pumped his fist in celebration. It was a glorious moment for him, and he was immensely ted at achieving the first step in his multi-step n.

    Without wasting any more time, Guy moved on to the next gem.

    Guypleted his work steadily. He didn''t have to slot the gems into the weapons personally. All he had to do was transfer the inscribed gems down the pipeline, to one of the many smiths on standby in the workshop.

    Even though inscribing the same enchantment again and again was a banal process, Guy found a weird serenity in it that wascking in his usual meditation. There was a calmness in all that monotony. In all the hubbub after transmigrating into this world, this was the first time Guy truly managed to centre his thoughts.

    One day, while Guy was immersing himself in the lingering peace from his day''s work, he ran across Karmin''s office and noticed the man staring into space with a visible frown.

    Guy didn''t want to interfere with Karmin''s thoughts, but just as he was about to leave he heard a defeated sigh from Karmin.

    "After all my years of being cautious, my onepse in judgement cost me everything..."

    Guy wasn''t one to interfere in other''s life willy-nilly, but Karmin was his meal ticket and saviour, for the time being. So he felt morally obligated to lend an ear and shoulder to the depressed man.

    Guy knocked at Karmin''s ajar office door and signalled his presence. The sound pulled Karmin''s attention.

    "Oh, it''s you, Guy!" Karmin said with a visibly strained smile. Clearly, the man was trying to put on a brave front.

    Guy decided to circle the area before hitting the target, so hemented, "It''s great to see you! I am nearly three-quarters of the way there with the enchantments. I''ve inspected all of thepleted pieces, and they seem to be in perfect form. Even Callum is satisfied with the work."

    Karmin''s smile immediately deted as he turned moody again. "I forgot to tell you. The client backed out from the order."

    "Excuse me?" Guy asked in shock.

    "They just cancelled their order the day before yesterday. I was a bit preupied with other matters and forgot to let you know. I''m sorry that you wasted your time for nothing," Karmin added apologetically.

    Guy quickly shook his hands and refuted, "Please, don''t apologise! I am grateful for the opportunity in and of itself. But I don''t get it. Isn''t there a heavy fee for breaching the contract so unceremoniously?"

    Karmin snorted, "That''s the thing. They broke the contract and coughed up the entire amount for breaching it too!"

    The then sighed, "It''s just one out of the many unfortunate series of events that have befallen bypany in the past few weeks..."

    Guy shifted ufortably in his seat. He could see that Karmin hadpletely lost himself. Although they weren''t officially friends, Guy was indebted and grateful to Karmin in many ways.

    "Is there... anything I can do to help?" Guy asked with a mix of unsurity and concern. Even if he wasn''t a strong and influential individual such as Al, Guy was willing to do his best and help Karmin out.

 Chapter 44 Price Of Complacency

    As Guy listened to Karmin''s heartfelt exnation of the recent misfortune that befell his business, the frown on his face deepened.

    "Oh, Jo Way..." He sighed.

    That''s right! It all boiled down to that one incident when Jo Way publicly pointed out the fault in the sword on disy. Although Karmin managed to alleviate the immediate chatter that lingered following the hubbub, there were inevitably eyes and ears belonging to hispetitors lurking in the vicinity. These agents managed to grasp the crux of the matter and propagated rumours and blown up lies about The Burning Forge''s products. They even managed to root out some old customers with simrly diluted weapons and armours and brought them into the forefront.

    Since The Burning Forge was a veritable powerhouse in the market, the attack shouldn''t have been so effective. However, taking out the alpha was a tempting offer for the many betas lurking in its shadows. Furthermore, it wasn''t as if The Burning Forge was free of any equally strongpetitors. The Bori n also happened to have a foothold in the smithing and enchanting industry. They knew that Karmin was looking to expand into their territory. Luckily for them, Gaige''s father had dispatched his own agent to follow Jo Way, to gain a deeper understanding of his character. Therefore, the whole spectacle was observed by the agent and transmitted to the n head.

    The attack on The Burning Forge''s business was highly coordinated and multi-pronged. The minor yers chipped away at the business'' existing base by unearthing minute faults and errors and creating an intricate web of lies insinuating that Karmin was embezzling and implementing fraudulent business practices. The loyal customer base was quickly shaken with these whispers, slowly diminishing the business'' revenues.

    The Bori n went straight for the throat. They attacked the whales affiliated with the business. The clients who usually cedrge orders regrly. The Kraven Mercenary Corp, the client that ordered those enchanted swords, was one of those whales.

    So it was needless to say that The Burning Forge was in a precarious position. Revenues were down, the business held an abysmal rating amongst the poption, and their assets were being lost through physical and financial attacks. Furthermore, unlike the Bori n, The Burning Forge did not have any ancestors or hidden experts to rely on in case of crises.

    Guy smiled wryly at the sheer destruction that followed Jo Way. The man spoke only a few words, and hepletely destroyed a monolith with decades'' worth of foundation.

    "I can''t really me that man. It was my owncency that wrought all of this," Karminmented.

    In many ways, it was true. Jo wasn''t the one responsible for all of this. He wasn''t obligated to keep his lips sealed after observing mistakes or issues in the products being purchased. Even in Guy''s old world, it was amon urrence for customers to suepanies for false advertising, misrepresentation, personal harm, and so on. It was their right as a consumer to do so.

    Sure, some people would file seemingly nonsensicalwsuits to take advantage of certain omissions in the product or service''s usage documentation or terms of services. For instance, take-away drink cups to hold hot beverages had to specifically indicate that its contents are hot, just because of awsuit filed by an old woman who suffered third-degree burns from spilt coffee from a fast-food franchise. For many, this may seem like a case of apse inmon sense from the consumer''s side, however, multiple facets to it warrant discussion.

    First, although that customer "should" know that coffee is hot, the issue was that in that particr case, the temperature of the liquid was well beyond the ideal coffee drinking temperature. It was much higher than the threshold wherein the liquid could burn you within half a second of contact. Therefore, it could be argued that the business was obligated to offer a word of warning to their consumers.

    Secondly, the integrity of the takeaway container was not strong enough and could copse easily under pressure. There was also ack of additional instion as added protection. In many ways, it was thepany''s responsibility to manufacture their packaging toplement their products and the way consumers are meant to use it.

    Finally, thesewsuits also acted as gs not just for the suedpany, but others in the market to take into consideration. Thewsuit served as a springboard that made cupholders ubiquitous in cars. It was also an impetus that produced updated and safer designs for takeaway packaging for hot beverages.

    Back to the issue at hand, Guy confessed that maybe he was being a bit too biased with his point of view. He was close to Karmin and automatically ced the me on Jo Way, the horseman of destruction, when in fact it was Karmin''sck of oversight that led to it.

    Karmin believed that Moris Jace, one of his earliest employees, wouldn''t be swayed by greed. He didn''t know that Moris was skimming off resources from thepany and selling it in on the side. Guy couldn''t me him either. If someone stuck with you from the beginning, through thick and thin, you wouldn''t be so cautious and disbelieving of them. He was backstabbed, and there was very little he could have done to anticipate it.

    So who was truly to me? Obviously, Moris Jace! But Guy just couldn''t separate Jo Way from all of this. That man was like the agent of misfortune. Wherever he went, tragedy followed.

    "Once again, I''m sorry about everything," Karmin said. "All your effort was wasted."

    Guy bit his lips in worry. He truly wanted to help Karmin out, but he just couldn''te up with a worthwhile solution. He wasn''t influential enough, or rich enough, to be of use.

    Although Guy had some knowledge of business management and financial matters from his old world, they were mostly perfunctory. He also couldn''t apply a lot of them in this world.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus Guy resolved to rely on his strengths. He wanted to see if there was anything he could use from his old world that could be of use here.

    Unfortunately, the information pertaining to the high-school level and beyond was out of his reach in the RoK. Even though he could recollect some details, he couldn''t ess the publications until the barriers were lifted.

    As Guy descended into thought, Karmin smiled bitterly and grasped a dagger on his table and yed with it in his hands.

    Karmin was d that there was someone to talk to. With his zealous pursuit of fame and fortune, he had sacrificed his social life. It was in trying times like these when he envied the old acquaintances from his youthful days that were now married with children. Even if they didn''t have a coffer full of gold and a house with many rooms and floors, they at least had someone to offload their daily worries onto and rely on to share the burdens. Karmin was so lonely that he didn''t have any friends.

    Karmin twirled the intricate dagger in his hands while reminiscing about his childhood. The mesmerising motion caught Guy''s attention as he was struggling to brainstorm ideas.

    The de''s craftsmanship looked somewhat familiar. It was a single-edged, curved de that arced inwards, like a beast''s talon. At the base of the weapon was a hoop of sorts that could amodate one of the wielder''s fingers. Karmin locked his index through the hoop and spun the bade in a clockwise and counter-clockwise motion. The design resembled a karambit from Guy''s old world.

    However, what drew Guy''s attention was the de''s body. The metal had patterns resembling Damascus steel. Ever since he ustomed himself to The Burning Forge, Guy hade into contact with many alloys used in weaponsmithing. To date, he was yet to find one with a texture simr to Damascus steel, except for the Dwarven sword Al owned.

    "Is that a Dwarven dagger?" Guy asked.

    Karmin snapped out of his thoughts and followed Guy''s gaze. "Yes. I won it through an auction. Shame that it isn''t enchanted though."

    Guy tilted his head and extended his arm, "May I?"

    Karmin readily agreed and passed the dagger. As Guy held the weapon in his hands, he became mesmerised by its beauty and practicality. After immersing himself with indulgently ornamented enchanted weapons for the past few weeks, his sense of aesthetics was under constant attack. This dagger offered a much deserved moment of respite!

    "I''ve spent arge portion of my youth trying to replicate that weapon, and failed. I just can''t get the alloy''sposition right," Karminmented as he eyed the dagger in Guy''s hands.

    "Really?" Guy eximed and cast |Inspect| on the weapon. As his mana permeated the weapon, he managed to make out a few of the elements present in it.

    "Don''t bother. I''ve had many mages perform an inspection on that weapon. They all came to the same conclusion. It''s not replicable in this realm. Most Dwarven weapons and armour use a special kind of metal that we haven''t been able to find in Gaea; it must be amon metal in the Fel realm. It seems to be a different form of iron as far as I can tell."

    "Yes, it''s steel," Guymented as he ced the weapon down carefully.

    "You recognise this metal?" Karmin quickly retorted with incredulity.

    "Steel. Haven''t you worked with steel before?" Guy asked.

    Karmin quickly shook his head, "What''s steel?"

 Chapter 45 Thats A Steel

    As he faced Karmin''s confused yet ted gaze, Guy realised something. Proper steel didn''t exist in this world.

    At first, it sounded imusible. Considering how 5000 years had passed since the Age of Istion at least one ancient mage powerhouse should have derived the exact form for making the steel alloy. Alternatively, there were so many smiths registered to the guild, at least one of them should have determined the form by now.

    But it was after considering it for a while that Guy recognised a key fact. And in fact, Mast had brought this up many times after plopping Guy into this world.

    Technological and ideological advancement in this world had stagnated. Any growth made was incremental at best, and mostly applied to the higher rungs of the powerdder. It made sense. A per cent increase in the pinnacle would be more significant as opposed to a per cent increase amongst mortals.

    Guy envisioned this scenario as a house that was prone to flooding. Each year the water level would rise and drown the house''s floor. However, instead of fixing the situation and elevating the house, the inhabitants found it reasonable to raise the ceiling incrementally. In the end, they''d have a magnificent house, akin to a mansion, but one that would be fully submerged during flooding season.

    In the case of smithing, everyone recognised the superiority of Dwarven Metal, or steel, but they found it unnecessary to replicate it. Why? Because although the gap between regr iron and steel was vast, it could be bridged by using a different metal alloy that had simr properties to steel. The people in Gaea found this alternative cheaper than pursuing rigorous research in weedling out steel''s form. That, and with the presence of mana metals, people felt that it wouldn''t be economical to tweak iron in any way and improve it.

    Even with |Inspect| the smiths were constantly stumped by how iron could be mixed with a nonmetallic substance and purified to such an extent. Many tried and failed in the process. Over time people gave up and wrote it off as a metal naturally found in the Fel realm.

    Karmin produced some of the journals from his youth, which documented his works in replicating steel. In it, he talked about how he applied various strategies in getting theposition right. Trying alternative metals in the mixture, changing up the foundry and experimenting with modified strategies in heating the ores. He included his failures and possible alternatives to pursue. But he too had quickly dropped the idea after hitting multiple roadblocks. Deep down he was also a businessman - he wasn''t going to waste time on something with a bleak chance of sess.

    Guy sighed as he ced the journal back on the desk. He started to appreciate the tenacity of the people from Earth. With hard limits on their capabilities, humans had to push their minds to unimaginable limits. What they had aplished in 4000 years in his old world far exceeded the advancements achieved by humans in this world in double the time.

    ''Does magic make peoplezier and stupider? That actually makes sense! Why else would people go out of their way to set themselves up just to get dunked on by cheat characters like Jo Way?'' Apparently, Guy was still salty about the whole deal with Jo Way.

    "It''s not just me, actually. I referred to a lot of journals about people attempting to replicate Dwarven metal. All of them get stuck one way or another in trying to mix the nonmetallic substance with iron and purifying it further," Karminmented. After that, he leaned forward and probed, "You called it steel? Are you familiar with this metal?"

    Guy nodded apprehensively and replied, "You could say that. I know the gist of how it''s created. However, as you already know I''m not really an expert in metallurgy. I can''t give you a definitive and exact methodology."

    That was the truth! Guy never had to memorise theposition of steel and the way it was made. There were some books in the RoK that offered information on that topic, however, they were only up to the middle school level. To gain ess to the more advanced books Guy would need to scrounge up four more students out of nowhere.

    Karmin wasn''tpletely convinced after hearing Guy''s answer, though. More knowledgeable people had tried to recreate the Dwarven metal, he didn''t have confidence that a random teaching apprentice would be able to seed where they failed.

    Although, a small part of him wanted to believe in Guy. After all, he did have Teacher Jeeves'' backing.

    "You were quite close. What you made through your trials was pig iron, which is basically iron with a very high carbon content -"

    "Carbon?" Karmin interrupted.

    "That''s the nonmetal present in the Dwarven metal. It increases the hardness of the iron, but it also decreases its malleability. Anyways, what you''re missing are a few additional steps to refine the iron and the steel, and you would have seeded," Guymented as he pointed out specific sections in Karmin''s journal.

    "Regarding this... carbon. The mages I''ve referred to for inspecting the metal all alluded to it being present in coal. Is that what you''re alluding to?" Karmin asked.

    "Yes, coal is mostlyprised of carbon. There are other elements present in it of course, which is also something that affects the purity of the pig iron you created. It would be better if you used fuel with higher carbon content and lower impurities."

    "Ah! Ashen Coal might work!" Karmin eximed.

    "What''s that?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s like coal, except it''s much harder and porous," Karmin rified.

    "Oh, so it''s something like coke?"

    "What are all these word''s you''re using?" Karmin retorted in exasperation.

    Steel, coke, carbon, pig iron... All of those words soundedpletely foreign to Karmin. If it weren''t for Guy''s serious demeanour, Karmin could have sworn that the man was pulling his legs.

    "Forget it! You seem to have some knowledge about the process, exin it to me in detail," Karmin demanded.

    Guy nodded and started to exin the basic principles of steelmaking to the best of his abilities. His knowledge was only perfunctory, but with the assistance of some of the books in the RoK, he could extrapte key details about the process. He didn''t extend beyond his limits, and thankfully he didn''t have to. Karmin was knowledgeable and very quickly grasped the concepts as Guy unveiled them. He could even provide suggestions derived from his own experiences. The expertise of a 2-star smith was nothing to scoff at after all.

    One thing Karmin found difficult to tackle was the scientific exnations surrounding some of the steps in steelmaking. He wasn''t informed about oxidation of impurities, or what oxygen was in general. However, he had an intuition about its purpose. Publications on smithing and forging often described simr processes, nevertheless, they relied heavily on the craftsman''s instincts and experience.

    That is why most smiths start as apprentices. During those stages, they are forced to learn the craft by observing their teachers and learning through demonstration. The disadvantages of this process are obvious, not only do these apprentices not know the purpose behind certain decisions they are also liable to learn poor habits and quirks employed by their teachers - which may be propagated through their own apprentices in the future.

    If someone asked the apprentice why a certain step was employed, they wouldn''t be able to vocalise the reason. "That''s just the way you have to do it!" they''d confess after struggling to voice an exnation.

    As a result, Karmin was quickly frustrated by the purification stages Guy described.

    "All of this seems quite advanced. Where did you learn this?"

    Guy''s left eye twitched as he heard that question - the damn thing almost triggered his PTSD. Now, Guy hade to terms with the practicality of his alternate self. So without even a second of doubt, he regressed into the RoK and put on the mask.

    "It was a revtion!" He began, as his consciousness stabilised.

    Guy didn''t want toe off as aplete lunatic and off-the-hook crazy. After practising rigorously with the mask on, he had figured out a way to exactly tune his zealousness in this state.

    Thus, he began preaching his pieces. Going on about how he was shown visions of a world devoid of magic - The True World. He made sure to tailor this "sermon" for a craftsman such as Karmin. The topics he veered towards were all relevant to cksmithing, metallurgy and craftsmanship. He also reared in some of his outrageous ims to not scare Karmin away.

    Surprisingly though, Karmin wasn''t as averse to these preachings as Guy had thought. He was actively listening and providing appropriate reactions at the correct times. He showed surprise when Guy discussed the different versions of steel with varying carbon content and their uses. He exhibited confusion when Guy described the automation of processes through industrialisation. He was genuinely enraptured by the many absurd inventions that were borne of necessity due to theck of magic.

    After a point, Karmin was a little embarrassed as he couldn''t keep up. He didn''t understand or was unable to envision some of the ims presented by Guy. Of course, he didn''t disbelieve them - the concepts sounded logical and implementable. Just that his mind couldn''t connect a few dots - he had to test them out. And so, he quickly brought the discussion back to steelmaking with an audible cough.

    "*cough* I guess that makes sense?" He then continued, "I think this warrants another trial. Good thing I didn''t demolish my Dwarven metal, no! Steelmaking set-up. If you''ve free the day after tomorrow, why don''t youe over to my personal workshop? Meet me here at noon and we''ll leave together. I will need your assistance setting up the subsequent stages following the creation of pig iron."

    Guy nodded and retrieved his original consciousness by taking off the mask.

    "I guess that''s another thing on my te now..." he grumbled as he left The Burning Forge.

 Chapter 46 Blast It!

    Guy and Karmin left for The Burning Forge''s head office two days after theirst meeting. Guy anticipated a long journey by road and had packed sufficient items tost him during the travel. However, contrary to his expectations, the journey from Radiant City to their destinationsted less than an hour.

    "There''s a teleportation ritual connecting your showroom to your head office!" Guy eximed as Karmin led him into a room concealed behind the back wall of the shop''s storage.

    Guy tended to forget just how big of a deal Karmin and his business was. The man was clearly loaded to be able to set up such an expensive ritual connecting his facilities together. In fact, transporting sentient beings was many times harder and costlier than inanimate objects.

    No one really knows the exact mechanisms behind how these teleportation rituals work. If an object is to be moved from one point to another, once it is transported to its destination, does the object remain the same or is it a copy of the original. Are we essentially disintegrating the original, transporting it through obscure means to the destination, and reconstructing it again? Or are we creating an exact copy of the object at the destination and deleting the original?

    In this case, what if the object was sentient and had a will? Would the reconstruction or the copy at the destination maintain the properties of the being at the origin?

    Another school of thought surmises that it is space and time which is being affected while the object remains stationary. This would alleviate the concerns posed by the former theories since the sentient being isn''t affected, just their environment. But this concept opens up another can of worms regarding the stability and safety of affecting the fabric of reality.

    Many mages had pondered on this thought for years on end, and each of them had their unique interpretation on the topic. Which one was right? That didn''t matter since their interpretations resonated with them and meshed with their cultivation in some way.

    Nheless, the truth remained that setting up these teleportation rituals wasn''t something any Tom, Dick or Harry could achieve. First off, the spell formation for this ritual was immensely intricate, and well beyond the limits ofprehension of any Foundation Establishment mage. Secondly, the act of teleportation itself was resource-heavy, in that it required arge amount of mana. So, anyone that wanted to use it would have to feed the ritual a lot of high-grade mana crystals.

    "All of thepany''s branches are linked to the head office. Besides, this is a safer mode of transit as there are fewer eyes following us," Karmin nodded as he cleared up the ritual''s space and ced the mana crystals in its vicinity.

    Guy scrunched his eyes as he tried to follow the spell formation drawn on the tform in the centre of the room. He quickly realised his presumptuousness. Just because he had managed to simplify a bunch of Tier-1 and a few Tier-2 spells didn''t mean that he could reach multiple levels beyond his capacity.

    It was already established that spells and rituals were ssified by tiers. Tier-1 spells were within the reach of Middle to Late stage Mana Condensation realm mages. Tier-2 to Tier-4 were within Foundation Establishment mages'' capacity. The teleportation spell could be ssified as a Tier-5 or Tier-6 spell depending on its mechanism.

    "Alright! Ready?" Karmin asked while stepping onto the centre of the tform.

    Guy snapped out of his trance and followed Karmin. Once the two were situated within the inner circle of the ritual, Karmin activated it by impressing a small drop of his mana on a token in his palm. Within seconds, the faded ritual on the floor lit up and a corporeal outline started to rise. Once the outline reached level with Guy''s hips, it started to rotate with increasing velocity. From that point, as it ascended higher, Guy observed his surroundings change into a blur. Right as the outline passed over his head, the background settled into apletely different sight.

    Guy struggled to maintain hisposure after the teleportation ritual concluded. Compared to the space-warping type teleportation Al performed, this one felt much more unsettling. His head ached and his gut felt like it was about to burst. Guy stumbled slightly, and then lowered his body into a squat to stabilise himself.

    "Teleportation sickness... You''ll get used to it," Karminmented and walked towards a table in this new room and poured a ss of water.

    Guy took the ss and drank the fluid inrge gulps.

    It took him another minute to fully ovee the disorientation. But they couldn''t afford to waste time so Guy shook it off as he followed Karmin through the hallways.

    Even though they hadn''t exited this new facility, Guy could already make out that it was probably arge and sprawling structure. The hallways were long and grand, with a lot of natural light entering through the wide windows. It followed a simr architectural style to Radiant City, with elegant marble pirs adorned with The Burning Forge''s symbol at its base and tip.

    Surprisingly, the facility was eerily quiet.

    "There don''t seem to be a lot of people here today," Guy probed carefully.

    Karmin smiled ruefully and replied, "We''re working with a barebones crew at the moment. The situation in the market is... less than satisfactory."

    Guy nodded and followed Karmin in silence. He knew better than to poke a downed man. He recognised that The Burning Forge was like Karmin''s baby, and he probably wasn''t eager to see it meet a tragic end.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The duo travelled downwards from the teleportation room and arrived at a small yet highly functional workshop. It was morepactpared to the one Guy saw back at the shop. There was only one regr-sized forge, with a lot of tools and set-ups which were of much higher quality.

    "This is my personal workspace!" Karmin dered as he opened up the windows and exhaust in the room, allowing natural light to flood in.

    Karmin then directed Guy to a haphazard section of the room which opened up outside the building. In it, Guy saw a physical representation of the steelmaking set-up Karmin alluded to in his journal.

    It stood out like a sore thumb amongst the more hi-tech units in his workshop, clearly indicating that it was most likely a relic of one of his old experimentations.

    "We should probably get started, huh?" Karmin pointed out as he tossed over an apron and rolled up his sleeves.

    ____

    Karmin had altered his original st furnace following Guy''s advice. It could now amodate three bellows on its sides.

    He first poured in a calcted amount of Ashen Coal, or coke, and ingots of iron. He had determined these ratios through his earlier trials in replicating Dwarven metal. However, he recognised that coke had a higher concentration of carbon and so he tweaked it ordingly.

    After lighting the coal, he closed the st furnace and allowed it to heat up. Through his intuition, Karmin could recognise the temperature inside the furnace simply by observing the colour. This ability had been cultivated over years of work in the forge.

    Once he determined that the st furnace had reached the temperature to melt iron, he gestured at Guy to assume his position next to one of the bellows.

    The bellows operated through a marriage of gears. The user had to turn a wheel, and throughmutation, the bellows would move up and down. Although this had greatly decreased the amount of physical effort required by the worker, it was still a strenuous task. Guy could persist longer due to his young age and superior endurance from his cultivation, however, Karmin could not.

    And so, after half an hour of strenuous driving, Karmin slumped onto the ground while wheezing.

    "I regret sending everyone home," Hemented through heavy breaths. He didn''t want the information regarding his experimentation to leak out. After being backstabbed by someone he considered a close friend, Karmin was having a hard time trusting other people. And so he didn''t want to take any risks.

    "How is it inside?" He asked Guy. Usually, Karmin would operate an inspection artefact, which was a standard enchanted tool used by smiths and enchanters. Since |Inspect| was a basic cantrip, anyone could use it. However, mortals could at most cast it once every hour with their measly mana capacity. The inspection artefact leveraged a mana gem''s ability to hold mana to cast the cantrip. Eventually, it became amon item in every craftsman''s toolbox.

    However, with a capable mage present, Karmin didn''t feel like trudging over and fetching the tool.

    Guy directed his cantrip into the st furnace and inspected the molten alloy.

    After half a minute, he pursed his lips and shook his head in dismay, "Not quite there yet. We still need to refine it further. The impurities haven''t been fully separated."

    Karmin groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach.

    "This will take ages!" He eximed. "Is there any magic that can speed this up?" He asked in defeat.

    When he heard that, Guy audibly pped his face in embarrassment, ''Why didn''t I think of that!''

    "I might have a solution!" Guy answered while walking over to his satchel.

 Chapter 47 Making A Steel Weapon

    "What is this spell?" Karmin asked as he inspected the novel diagram scrawled in white.

    Guy used the ritual drawing chalk from his teaching supplied to draw a spell on the two working bellows. The school supplied chalk could at best support Tier-1 and a few Tier-2 spells. In order to reach the higher tiers, specialised chalk with spell-specific ingredients would be required. But for augmenting steelmaking, Guy figured these would do.

    The spell he was drawing had one simple purpose: to concentrate oxygen flowing through the bellows. It was the best he could do. Steelmaking in the modern age was a highly optimised andplicated process. It wasn''t something that any average Joe could recite off the top of their heads. Furthermore, he was just a teacher in his previous life. While he did know some of the mechanisms involved, he couldn''t draw up a steelmaking set-up with confidence.

    Through general knowledge, Guy knew that in order to increase the purity of steel, they needed to st in a lot of oxygen into the molten mixture. The gas would oxidise the impurities in the mixture and separate them into g. However, he couldn''t scrounge up a mechanism to infuse oxygen into the st furnace. Therefore, he resolved to jury-rig the set-up.

    Now, when the bellows were operated, when it pulled in air, the ritual ensured that only oxygen was captured. While this wouldn''t reduce the effort they''d have to employ in running the bellows, it would greatly reduce the amount of time they''d need to run it. On that note, since Guy was using his modr spellmaking method, he deduced that the mana consumption would be low as well.

    Once Guy finished drawing the spells, he took a step back and inspected his handiwork.

    "This should improve our work," he muttered.

    "How many mana crystals would they need to work?" Karmin asked apprehensively. Although he still had a lot of assets, he didn''t want to splurge unnecessarily.

    "Not much, I don''t think. I can probably run my bellow without crystals," Guy concluded, causing Karmin''s eyes to widen in shock.

    Just as he was about to probe Guy further, the man snapped his fingers and eximed, "Right! Mister Z, do you happen to have limestone?"

    Karmin nodded his head and pointed towards the corner of the room. The material wasmonce in foundries and forges for its ability to treat the raw ore. It would also be used during forging to reduce the formation of flux.

    Guy walked over and retrieved the sack of limestone and ced it near the now cold st furnace.

    "Why don''t we try it again?" Guy asked.

    ____

    The two got to work immediately. Karmin handled the start-up as usual - feeding the st furnace a predetermined ratio of coke to iron. He observed the internals until he ascertained that they had reached the melting point.

    "Ready," Karmin indicated and started to work his bellow. Unlike before, he now had a stack of crystals next to the bellow and a pedestal ced close to the ritual. The pedestal acted as a battery and would drain any crystals ced in it to power the ritual it was connected to.

    As the ritual initiated, the chalk diagram lit up and turned corporeal. Karmin didn''t notice any difference in the operation, but he could observe that the temperature within the furnace had risen significantly.

    Karmin paced himself this time and rotated his wheel at a steady rate. He observed that Guy would intermittently levitate a handful of limestone dust and pour it through a tap hole near the top of the furnace.

    The process continued for around an hour, with Karmin taking a break regrly to massage his aching arms. Every time he took a rest, Karmin would check the number of crystals used. Surprisingly, he had barely run through the first low-grade crystal. He wondered if the ritual was some form of cebo to encourage him...

    "It''s done!" Guy suddenly eximed.

    Karmin jumped excitedly in anticipation. He attached a tap at the bottom of the furnace and started to carefully pour out its contents. As he observed the molten liquid drip through, his hands started to jitter in tion.

    ? ''We finally did it!''

    Even if it was still in a red hot and molten state, Karmin could make out that the metal was far superior this time. He didn''t know if he had perfectly replicated Dwarven metal, but whatever this thing was, it was close!

    Once the metal cooled downpletely, Karmin moved his fingers over the ingots. He caressed the steel in earnest; his mind started to churn as inspiration boiled over

    To Guy, Karmin looked possessed! And just like someone consumed by passion, he grasped the ingot of steel with a set of tongs and moved them over to his personal forge.

    His hands moved familiarly, stoking the med to his required temperature, positioning the anvil, he was utterly involved in the process.

    He shoved the ingot into the me and waited; his eyes trained on the metal observing every minute change in its shade. After a pause, he quickly pulled it out and hammered it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    CLANG!

    CLANG!

    CLANG!

    The cold hammer struck the hot metal rhythmically, sending sparks flying in the process. Following each strike, Karmin would slightly shift and reposition the ingot.

    The ingot extended slowly, turning into a t billet. He then heated the billet and used a set of tools to slice it into equally sized pieces. He then ced the pieces on top of each other, sprinkled limestone on the stack, and sent it back into the forge to weld them together.

    He let the stack merge together and repeated the extruding process.

    Guy observed Karmin, as he moulded a drab ingot of steel into a magnificent shortsword. Even though it was yet to undergo the finishing touches, Guy could already imagine the wonderful work of craftsmanship in action.

    Just a Karmin was about to dip the sword into a water bath to quench it, Guy interrupted him, "WAIT!"

    The shout pulled Karmin out of his trance, and he looked at Guy with a hint of confusion and annoyance.

    "You shouldn''t quench steel in water. I just remembered, do you happen to have oil?" Guy followed up quickly.

    Karmin nodded and instructed Guy towards his workshop''s storage room.

    Guy rushed in and brought over a bucket filled with oil. He ced it near Karmin and conjured a spell to heat the oil to just below boiling point.

    "OK, now go ahead and quench it in here," Guy instructed while stepping back.

    Karmin did as told and lowered the sword into the bucket. While doing so, he asked, "Why are we using oil?"

    Guy scratched his head and spoke, "? remembered that it has something to do with the molecr structure and the presence of carbon in the alloy..."

    While there was truth in that confession, Guy had lied out of embarrassment. Again, he confessed that he wasn''t a metallurgist or a seasoned cksmith in his old world. Everything he aplished today was through mixing and matching knowledge he had in his RoK and his mind with the experience Karmin had over his years of work. He hadn''t performed anything revolutionary or groundbreaking in terms of technology in this world. He just tweaked things and implemented optimisations to the process. The whole idea of quenching using oil was something Guy recollected from a bunch of videos he watched on a streaming tform. One time, when he was bored, he unknowingly stumbled down a rabbit hole of forging videos where the uploaders created different weapons and trinkets in their backyards. Although it wasn''t anything special, Guy found those videos strangely soothing. Karmin''s harmonious hammering sort of triggered one of Guy''s memories.

    Karmin didn''t understand anything Guy uttered, but he was knowledgeable enough to make inferences through observation. When he retrieved the metal from the oil bath, he didn''t observe any failure points. Quenching was always the worst part of forging, it usually determined whether the attempt was sessful - it was a make-or-break step for all cksmiths. Karmin figured that he couldter test out the implications of using hot oil over regr water to quench steel weapons and document them.

    He then took a closer look at the sword and brought it over to the grindstone. He familiarly worked the apparatus. However, he quickly found out that he could not stand close to the weapon as it was being sharpened. This new metal seemed to produce a lot of sparks as it was being worked, much more than any other metal he had experience with.

    Guy chimed in, "Steel tends to do that. The carbon in the alloy produces sparks as it heats up due to friction."

    Karmin nodded and smiled, "This is a good sign! The Dwarven dagger also produced simr sparks thest time I sharpened it!"

    With reinvigorated excitement, Karminmenced sharpening the weapon. After the first run, he moved over to a work table and used another grindstone with a higher grit. He repeated the process until he reached the finishing stone with the highest grit.

    One finished, Karmin beheld his work from a distance. At first, he was immensely delighted with his new weapon, but his smile started to fade slowly and expressed a hint of disappointment.

    Guy noticed this change and carefully probed, "What''s wrong?"

    "It''s a shame that it doesn''t have the same patterns," he replied.

    "That''s because you can''t see it yet. Hold on, I''ll show you!" Guy shouted as he rushed back into the storage room, leaving an astounded Karmin behind.

 Chapter 48 Coincidental Source Of Income

    Thest time Guy essed Karmin''s personal inventory, he had taken a cursory nce at the contents, especially at the items he recognised from his old world. One of the items he took notice of was a container filled with yellow powder. While he had a gist of what it was, he wasn''t confident in recognising it at first nce. But after taking a pinch of it in his hands andbusting it, he immediately confirmed its identity through its blue me.

    "Sulfur!" Guy dered as he carefully lifted a ss container and scooped up a decent amount of the substance. On his way out, he fetched a few more containers that were sturdy and could sustain higher pressures.

    He then brought them out of the inventory and moved towards a stable working tform in Karmin''s workshop. All the while Karmin unflinchingly observed Guy''s actions.

    Most high-school chemistry courses covered the topic of reversible chemical reactions. These are special chemical processes in which the system, defined as the sole mixture of reactants and products, is in a constant flux of forward and reverse reaction - the making and breaking of products. This is opposed to regr chemical reactions in which the process is monodirectional and it is impossible to obtain the reactants from the products.

    In this topic, students are forced to learn two case studies on reversible reactions and manipting the equilibrium of these systems: the Haber process, and the Contact process. These case studies are somon that most chemistry teachers, even those that have retired, can recite them from memory without missing a beat.

    The former was named after a Nobel Prize-winning Polish scientist who developed a method to efficiently produce ammonia. That chemical had two faces, it is a keyponent in fertilisers and explosives. Interestingly, Fritz Haber, the namesake behind the reaction, intended to use it to ramp up Germany''s offensive efforts in World War 1.

    The second case study, the Contact process, defined a strategy to synthesise sulfuric acid from sulfur, and this was what Guy was aiming for.

    Before he began, Guy pondered for a while and formted a set of spells that would fit his needsing forward. He didn''t want to flounder around midway through the reaction and screw up the entire process.

    After he was satisfied with his preparation, he brought the sulfur into a closed container andbusted it with excess oxygen. The output of this reaction was sulfur dioxide. After he verified the gaseous contents of the container, he used another spell mixed with the cantrip |Inspect| to carefully remove all the other gases from the container except for sulfur dioxide.

    Once done, he channelled another spell to bring oxygen into the mixture. Using |Inspect| he made sure that the ratio of sulfur dioxide to oxygen was 2:1. He then used two alternating spells to both slowly lower the temperature inside the container as well as ramping up the pressure by forcefully bringing the gases closer together. This was because lowering temperature and increasing pressure favoured the forward reaction that formed the sulfur trioxide product.

    The temperature modting spell wasn''t draining, however, the pressure spell started to eat up a lot of his mana very quickly. Noticing this, Guy decided to act preemptively and pulled out the forming sulfur trioxide from the mixture using a strained third spell.

    He then directed this gas into a container of pure water and let the two react. By removing the product from the equilibrium reaction, the reaction between sulfur dioxide and oxygen elerated.

    After a few more minutes, the gaseous contents of the container were depleted, and Guy was left with a container of highly concentrated sulfuric acid.

    He then proceeded to dilute the acid and tested it by dropping a sliver of steel residue from Karmin''s forge. He observed whether the test metal dissolved in the acid, and further diluted it till he was satisfied.

    Once Guy finished, he transferred the dilute acid to a longer container which sufficient diameter to hold the forged sword and gestured Karmin to submerge it in.

    All the while Guy was performing his magic, Karmin was watching the performance with an engrossed expression.

    Karmin followed Guy''s instructions and lowered the sword in till the liquid reached the hilt area, leaving the handle region exposed.

    The two then waited for 10 minutes and pulled out the sword from the acid. Guy proceeded to clean up the sword with a wash of water and quickly dried it.

    As the water droplets evaporated from the surface, Guy saw a familiar texture emerging. Although it wasn''t as distinctive as with the Dwarven weapons, it was noticeable and close enough.

    Karmin slowly approached the sword and caressed it with a shaking hand.

    "It''s... It''s... We did it!" He muttered under his breath while lifting the sword into the light.

    ____

    Even though Karmin was a bit shaken after achieving his goal, that too in such a trivial manner, he didn''t trudge around in a daze. He still had to finish up the sword by adding its guard and grip. Since it was a shortsword, he didn''t have to forge an intricate guard, so he resolved to use one that was a part of the grip itself. He made the part out of wood and carefully wrapped it in a mix of cloth and soft leather. Due to his proficiency, this process didn''t take a long time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After he was finished he ced the weapon on a table rack and admired it in its entirety. Working with Dwarven metal was a dream of every smith. However, due to the scarcity of the metal, they had to settle by melting existing Dwarven craftsmanship. This wasn''t as easy as working with other metals because it was kind of like gambling. There was never a guarantee that the reforged weapon or armour would survive the quenching process. If there were cracks or failures, then the smith had to melt it again and reforge the item once more. Each reforging process would take a toll on the metal and would diminish its quality.

    Most smiths would perform months worth of preparation and archaic ceremonies to increase their probabilities of sess when attempting reforging with Dwarven metal.

    However, Karmin was ted at the prospect of observing the innovative methods and optimisations provided by Guy. Not only had he managed to replicate Dwarven metal or steel, but he had also implemented a strategy that improved the probability of sessful forging. These techniques would be worth a fortune. Most smithing ns would pass down these methods to their younger generation, and guard them close to their hearts.

    Guy just straight up gave it to Karmin for free!

    Karmin didn''t know if Guy was a gullible fool or a charitable and kind man. Actually, Karmin wasn''t interested in verifying it either. After experiencing betrayal, he wasn''t prepared to open himself up just yet. He was grateful to Guy, but he wasn''t of a mind to establish a rtionship built on loyalty.

    And so, Karmin ran some numbers in his head and spoke up, "I owe you an immense debt of gratitude, Teaching Apprentice Larks!"

    Guy quickly waved his hands and replied, "Please don''t say that! I can''t offer much in return for your gracious help in letting me practice gem inscription. Consider this as me repaying your kindness."

    Karmin shook his head, "I can''t ept that. I''m sure you realise the magnitude of the information you''ve provided me. This will shake up the market drastically! You say that you''re repaying my kindness, but the bnce is tilting heavily in your favour."

    Guy smiled wryly and retorted, "You don''t have to evaluate it like that..."

    "I know that it sounds crass and blunt, but I can only do it this way given my recent experiences. I hope you understand," Karmin rified in a serious tone. He then continued, "Even though you''ve offered this technique to The Burning Forge, I am hereby establishing this venture as a partnership. Since you aren''t registered with the Smithing and Enchanting Guild, it will be harder, but I''m nning to send in a rmendation that will automatically qualify you for a Practitioning Smithing License. This way, I can register this alloy under your and my name with the guild."

    "You can do that?"

    Karmin nodded and rified, "There are two methods to gaining the Practitioning Smithing License. The first is by passing the guild''s assessment. The other is by getting a rmendation from a guild registered smith with a minimum of 1-star. In thetter case, the sponsor must provide assurances about the individual''s experience, but you don''t have to worry about all that."

    Karmin cleaned his hands and pulled out a roll of paper, quill and ink from under his work desk and started writing, "I am going to write up an informal contract, which I will formalise at ater date and get notarised by the Guild. Since your contribution was instrumental to the development of the new alloy, henceforth called ''Steel'', it entitles you to arger portion of the profits gained from its sale. However, since it wasrgely dependent on my contribution and work, I believe that I also qualify for an equal share. Any objections?"

    Guy shook his head.

    "In that case, how does a 40% share in the sale of steel ingots, and 20% share in the sale of steel weapons and armours sound to you. Since I will be the one providing the raw materials andbour, I believe the percentage is fair. This only applies to sales made through The Burning Forge. If the form for making steel is to be distributed it will require your verification as well, and in that case, you will have to get involved in negotiating your stake. On that note, I hope that this method remains exclusive with The Burning Forge..."

    Thest part was more of a demand than a request, and Guy knew that. Hearing the long tirade filled with legal jargon caused Guy''s palms to sweat up.

    "It sounds fair to me..." Guy affirmed in a low voice.

    Following that, Karmin went on to discuss various conditions, loopholes and provisions to ount for a variety of scenarios and possible trends in the future.

    The whole process extended deep into the night!

    At that point, Guy inwardly apuded Karmin''s capabilities and foresight as a businessman. Not many people would draw up such a thorough contract for a business deal in this world. Mostly it was an assumed agreement. Guy reckoned that once bitten twice shy, Karmin had definitely be more cautious in his dealings.

    ''He''ll thrive back on Earth!'' Guy chuckled in admiration.

 Chapter 49 Interlude: Shady Dealings

    A series of t and uniform knocks interrupted the tranquil atmosphere in Goro Lynn''s office. He had hoped that today would be a special day for him, free of work. Nheless, as the Guild Manager of Radiant City''s Smithing and Enchanting Guild he could never truly escape from his responsibilities.

    "Come in," Goro dered with a hint ofmentation in his voice.

    The door opened slowly and a familiar man stepped in. Goro had intended to contact Karmin after he heard of the recent trouble the man''spany was facing. Even though the two weren''t close acquaintances, Goro remembered that Karmin was one of the oldest members registered to the Radiant City''s guild office. Furthermore, he was also a 2-starred Smith so Goro was obligated to treat Karmin as his equal.

    Goro stood up from his seat and gestured at the chair opposite his desk, "Please take a seat, Smith Z."

    Karmin nodded and obliged.

    "I was nning to contact you, however, I couldn''t separate myself from my work. How is your business? I heard that you''re facing some troubles. Is there anything I can do to help?" Goro asked respectfully. While it wasn''t the guild''s business to interfere in the free market. Goro wanted to do anything within his power to retain Karmin amongst this branch''s ranks.

    Karmin gently shook his head and picked up a wrapped item he brought in with him, "I just need you to inspect this weapon for me, Enchanter Lynn."

    Goro affirmed with a hum and cleared up his desk. Karmin carefully ced the item in front of Goro and untied the string that held the cloth wrapping together. He then slowly peeled off the wrapping to reveal an impably crafted shortsword.

    Goro smiled andmented, "I can recognise your craftsmanship! Did you reforge a Dwarven weapon? Congrattions on your sess!"

    Karmin interrupted Goro''s gushing, "Please inspect the weapon and itsposition."

    Goro''s lips twitched as he was forced to stop midway. It was an involuntary force of habit of his as a guild manager to praise his VIPs. Most enchanters and smiths of a higher rank would melt under Goro''s barrage of ego-boosting drivel, but Goro forgot that Karmin wasn''t one of them. The man was extremely resilient and centred!

    Goro coughed to clear his throat and dispel the awkward atmosphere, then he began his inspection. He didn''t need to use an inspection artefact as he was sufficiently advanced in his cultivation as a mage. After all, to qualify for a 2-star license in enchanting, being in the External stage of Foundation Establishment was a minimum requirement.

    On that note, Foundation Establishment is divided into three stages; Base, Internal and External stage. During each of these stages, the mages develop their mortal containers - their bodies - through cultivation, toy the foundations for their future advancements. The vast majority of mages in the world are in this realm, in fact, those in the Mana Condensation realm aren''t technically considered mages in the grand scheme of things - they''re still mortals.

    As Goro drew the |Inspect| cantrip into the sword, he grew increasingly satisfied and impressed by the work. There wasn''t a single crack or problem point that wouldter manifest into a catastrophic failure through use.

    "You''re been extremely lucky this time, huh? No faults as far as I can see. The metal''s quality is also perfect - no degradation due to reforging!" Goro eximed.

    Karmin nodded and pulled out his own Dwarven dagger and slid it across the table, "I want you topare it with this dagger."

    Goro raised the dagger andmented, "Dwarven craftsmanship, unenchanted. I''m familiar with this one."

    He then proceeded with the inspection on the dagger, intermittently casting the cantrip on the shortsword whenever he noticed any discrepancies.

    After he finished he ced the dagger back on his desk and listed his impressions, "They''re both simr, by my inspection there is a 96% closeness in terms of the metalposition. As far as craftsmanship is concerned, the dagger is clearly the work of a Dwarven smith, while I recognise that the shortsword is your handiwork."

    He then probed Karmin, "Is this all? You could have just applied for an inspection from the guild''s inspectors."

    Karmin exhaled deeply and produced a stack of documents from his satchel, "Actually, I''m here for two reasons. First I want to apply for sponsoring a member for the Practitioner''s Licence, AND to apply for the guild''s patent on an alloy I and this member have developed."

    Goro affirmed involuntarily, but then he quickly shook his head and eximed, "What?"

    He pulled the document closer and read through the sponsorship application, "Guy Larks? Where have I heard that name before?"

    Right as he wracked his brains to dig out the source of the familiar-sounding name, Karmin provided the answer, "He''s backed by Teacher Jeeves."

    Goro pped his thighs audibly, "Him? Which alloy did you guys develop?"

    In excitement, Goro proceeded to flip through the pages to get to the patenting applications. However, his hands paused almost immediately, "No way! You didn''t!"

    His eyes darted to the shortsword in his desk, "You managed to create Dwarven metal?"

    "We''re calling it steel. Since we don''t know if it''s made through the same process by the Dwarves, we felt it was best to use an alternate moniker," Karmin then chuckled, "Until it is rified by the Dwarves, of course."

    Goro shook his head in disbelief and retorted, "How did you guys do it? No, wait! Don''t tell me just yet."

    "I wasn''t nning on telling you anyways," Karmin responded.

    "Really?" Goro asked sheepishly, "If you do, you might get a lot of merits from the guild. It might even be enough to put you in a favourable position for the 3-star license?"

    Karmin denied once again, "I am not nning on that. I want you to verify that this metal is a close match to Dwarven metal. My business is nning to sell steel weapons and armours soon, and I don''t want people throwing around usations of false advertising."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Goro nodded in understanding. He already knew the shady urrences in the markets and the rumours being tossed around regarding The Burning Forge''s problems. He was required to write in a warning as a reprimand to Karmin in response to those usations after all. But Goro also knew that Karmin wasn''t one to employ subterfuge in his business dealings. He had always been above board and preached customer satisfaction. Amongst the many smiths and enchanters Goro was acquainted with, Karmin was the most personable.

    "Are you nning to sell steel?"

    "Yes, I''ve indicated an estimate for the sale price on the application."

    Goro inspected the section and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, "That is cheap! Are you sure? It''s just a little higher than the price of iron!"

    Karmin smiled in response, "We''ve optimised its production. And besides, it was a business decision. We n to raise its price at ater date."

    Goro understood the meaning. Right now, what Karmin needed was a stabilising factor. If this ''steel'' managed to gain a foothold in the market, it would greatly improve The Burning Forge''s position. And Goro was confident in this steel metal. His inspection indicated that the metal was uncannily simr to Dwarven metal.

    But Goro was also worried, "Are you sure you can handle this? Yourpetitors will throw a fit and pull underhanded stunts to get their hands on the alloy..."

    "And that is why I have a favour to ask of you. Don''t worry, my proposition will be beneficial for both the guild and my business. I can sell steel to the guild for a highly subsidised fee, given that the guild supplies the resources for manufacturing it. In return I want the guild to regte the market. If any other party apart from those affiliated to me and my partner venture in the steelmaking and selling market using our method, I want the guild to intervene."

    Goro showed a strained expression, "I can''t promise that. The guild doesn''t interfere in the way members handle their businesses unless it conflicts with our bws, and you know that."

    "Yes, however it is clearly stated in the bws that should a member request exclusivity of one of their intellectual properties, they are entitled to it."

    "I get that, but -"

    "But the guild has never bothered to enforce it like the other bws. Why is that?" Karmin asked pointedly.

    "If an unsupported member manages to make a discovery they are never safe because they are automatically targetted by the powers above them. Without arge tree to offer them a shadow of sce, no one survives in this industry, and I empathise with that sentiment," Karmin continued.

    "However the guild specifically indicated that the members are authorised to sole ownership rights. If that is the case then aren''t you obligated to enforce it?"

    Karmin sighed and spoke incisively, "And it was only after a little bit of research, that I realised why."

    He pulled out the third stack of documents from his satchel and spread it on Goro''s desk.

    "A hundred years ago, a 1-star smith developed a novel alloy of Kaminite and Orichalcum that was perfect for channelling lightning-aligned mana. They applied for a sole ownership right, and the guild approved it. However, a month after, the smith was found dead in his forge. Many thought the alloy would die with the smith, but three weeks after the incident, the guild started to sell this new alloy."

    Karmin dragged another file and added, "73 years ago, a 2-star smith developed an improved method of producing the standard Adamantium metal. Yadda yadda, the smith was found dead in a brothel and a month after that, the guild implemented this new system into their production lines."

    "The guild wasn''t involved in those events!" Goro denied vehemently.

    Karmin hummed in condescension and pulled out specific pages from eight different folders, "Once or twice, is a coincidence. But if the pattern persists for 8 different cases? I know, nothing is tying the guild to these incidences on paper, but I''ve done my investigation. I suggest you take a closer look."

    Karmin waited for Goro to peruse through the information as he slid deeper into his seat confidently.

    Goro was sweating through his clothes at this point. Putting on a facade of confidence he asked, "Are you threatening the guild?"

    Karmin nodded innocently, "Yes. I thought I was clear."

    "What do you want me to do?" Goro asked through clenched teeth.

    "I don''t want YOU to do anything. I want to meet the ones above you." Karmin dered as he stood up to leave.

    "Oh and if people somehow find my or my partner''s dead body in theing weeks, know that I will make sure this information reaches the ears of all the guild members in Gaea! I will take the guild down with me. Of course, you wouldn''t mess with Guy Larks, unless you''re nning to cross Al Jeeves too. This isn''t my first rodeo, Goro."

    Goro sighed, "Since when have you known?"

    "Please! I knew it since the day I got my practitioner''s license," Karmin said nonchntly as he strode out of the office.

    Goro dabbed his forehead with his sleeves and calmed himself. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out amunication artefact. He had activated the artefact the moment Karmin brought forward the sole ownership request. In fact, that sentence was like an activation phrase for the guild managers, ''If anyone asks for sole ownership, activate themunication artefact to your branch handler in HQ!''

    "What do I do?" he asked.

    The artefact strobed slightly, and a sharp and feminine voice responded, "Let me think about it..."

 Chapter 50 To Do Or Not To Do

    Guy was extremely impressed at Karmin''s efficiency. Just two weeks after they hashed out their contract, steel weapons and armour started to make an appearance in the market!

    Guy didn''t know whether the bureaucracy of registering this world''s equivalent of a patent was as extensive as back on Earth, but he could make an educated guess.

    In addition to that, Karmin had taken Guy''s advice and tested with varying the carbon content in the steel being produced and had also released weapons with higher and lower carbon content to fit the user''s needs. Some weapons also contained a mix of both types, which reminded Guy of the katanas from Earth.

    On top of that, Karmin had also begun testing with alloying steel with other kinds of mana metals to create element-aligned and mana reactive weapons and armours. Most of these appeared to be in the testing phase, but the oral advertising in and around The Burning Forge encouraged the crowd to pre-order for a lowered price.

    Guy inwardly praised Karmin for his business acumen. The man knew how to work the poption like sheep. His marketing strategies could only be defined as textbook examples from Earth!

    However, unlike most capitalistic businessmen from his old world, Karmin was a man true to his words. Karmin registered Guy''s current bank ount with Drayden Bank as the deposit point for Guy''s share of the profits from the sale of steel weapons. The benefit of being a partner to a massivepany with branches in different cities and towns was that the scope of sales was massive. This meant that Guy found himself flush with cash very quickly.

    During the past four weeks, Guy had been on cloud nine. He was tempted to withdraw the amount from his ount,y it over his mattress and roll around!

    The currency in this world was archaic. Copper coins made up the lowest denomination. A hundred copper coinsprised a silver coin, and a hundred silver coinsprised a gold coin. These currencies primarily applied for the purchase of mortal and low-magic items. For items that were exclusively suited to mages, themon currency was in mana crystals of low-, medium- and high-grade.

    Amon person could survive a day with 20 copper coins. It would cover their living arrangement in a shabby inn and their sustenance from cheap street food.

    With that as a baseline, an average forged steel weapon was sold at the price of 50 silver coins. An average forged iron weapon is sold slightly lower at 30-40 silver coins. Casted weapons cost a quarter of the amount due to their ease of manufacturability.

    So in essence, Guy was making around 2 to 6 silver coins per sale. Alone it may not sound like much, but considering the scale, it was no coincidence that Guy had to upgrade his bank''s package!

    As Guy was returning from the local branch of Drayden Bank, he kept his ears open for the gossip lingering in the streets.

    "Have you heard of the new steel weapons by The Burning Forge?"

    "Yea... who are you again?"

    "Oh, I''m just a passerby, good citizen of Radiant City."

    "Okay..."

    "Apparently, the steel weapons are exactly like Dwarven metals!"

    "What? No way! The Burning Forge is probably falsely advertising again. I heard a rumour that they''re skimping on-"

    "Yes way! The Smithing and Enchanting Guild as guaranteed it as so!"

    "Wow! I bet it costs a lot though..."

    "No! I heard that it costs almost the same as an iron weapon!"

    "Really! I need to check that out."

    "Yes, good citizen! You should go this afternoon. The Burning Forge is going to do a demonstration in which they will sh a steel sword with the market''s alternatives of the same cost. I heard that steel is much, much stronger!"

    "That''s probably a reach. I bet they''ll use faulty test weapons to boost their credibility."

    "They are also epting audience participation. If you can bring your own weapon made of metal alloys from a list published in the market''s bulletin board, and break The Burning Forge''s steel weapon of the same type, then you can qualify for a massive cash reward!"

    "Wow! I''m going to see if my Kaminite-Orichalcum broadsword qualifies for the test!"

    Guy chuckled at the inconspicuous shill''s effectiveness in influencing people. He secretly threw up a thumbs-up and a ''Fighting!'' as he passed by.

    Radiant City was considered themerce capital of the Sr Empire. The Maika n didn''t have many mage powerhouses backing them, but they were so financially endowed that the Emperor had no choice but to respect their Duchy. Their sess was in part due to theirxer trade andmercews, as well as their willingness to invest in local industries that showed promise.

    Since it was their speciality, Radiant City, which was the centre of the Maika Duchy, had a bustling yet well-managedmerce district. It wasn''t haphazard like in most other cities. For a business to open a stall in the district they had to go through multiple stages with the city''s management to get the permit. The city had nned themerce district with great detail. Even for a first time visitor to the city, all it would take was an initial visit to understand theyout.

    For instance, Guy was interested in purchasing ingredients for the inscribing ink for enchanting. To get this, he had to visit the section of the district that bordered the weapons and armours, and the alchemy departments. It was an intuitive process.

    Guy followed the directions disyed on the signs hanging near the streets and managed to reach the street that corresponded to the shops that catered to both alchemists and enchanters.

    Through word of mouth, Guy knew that only one shop in this street could cater to his needs, and so he scanned the boards hanging in front of the shops for "Myriad Emporium".

    As he pushed open the doors of the shop, a pleasant ring echoed and indicated his presence.

    "Good afternoon, customer! Wee to the Myriad Emporium, home to a myriad of ingredients and materials for your enchanting needs. How may I help you?"

    A smiling woman who appeared to be in herte 20s walked over with a cordial aura around her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Hi, I''m looking to purchase the following ingredients. I was wondering if you have them avable?" Guy responded while handing over a paper listing a bunch of materials.

    The woman took the list with both hands and read through its contents. As her eyes descended downwards, her forehead furrowed incrementally.

    "May I ask what your purpose might be with these ingredients?" she probed.

    Guy frowned, "Why? You don''t have them here?"

    She quickly shook her head, "Oh no! We have them with us! It''s just that you''re asking for two phials of Slime Residue. As you may already know, harvesting Slime Residue is a very time consuming andplicated process. You have to nurture the slimes, feed them with biomatter of the proper type, manage their exposure to the elements, and so on. It''s not just us, but even the other stores in this street will tell you the same thing. Hence we require proper verification from our customers who ce an order for this material."

    The woman followed up, "Based on the other ingredients, I can posit that this is for making inscribing ink. Can you please produce your enchanting license?"

    Guy smiled bitterly and responded, "Actually, I''m not an enchanter. I don''t have a license."

    The woman snorted to that statement, "Without your license, I cannot sell it to you."

    "Is there really no other way?" Guy pleaded.

    "Ha!" The woman scoffed. At this point, she was losing her patience. The man was clearly ill-informed and aplete novice. Just looking at the materials on the list, the woman knew that he was reaching beyond his limits. Her arrogance was fell founded, though. She was after all a Practicing Enchanter. Even though she failed her 1-star license test two times in a row, her qualifications ced her above the bumbling idiot before her.

    "If you want to purchase Slime Residue without a license, then you''ll have to pay a 50% mark up," shemented offhandedly. Slime Residue was already an expensive item worth 1 gold coin per phial, to add a 50% mark up on top of that was daylight robbery! However she didn''t care, she just wanted to get rid of him, and possibly unt her superiority along the way.

    Guy frowned and contemted on the turn of events. ''What the hell is happening? Is she looking down on me?''

    He already had an estimate of the cost to purchase all the items on the list. It was well within his capacity after his most recent windfall. Even with that 50% mark up, Guy couldfortably make the purchase.

    ''Wait a minute! This is my chance!'' Guy eximed internally. ''Finally! After so many months, it is my opportunity to taste the high from a juicy face p!''

    Guy''s lips extended into his cheeks to form a sly grin. He reached into his jacket pocket to grasp his new and improved bank ount token. He was preparing to pull it out unt the luminescent metal indicating his richness.

    ''Time for this woman to behold this rich young master and his coffer full of gold! Hehehehe.''

    However, as his hands were about to leave the pocket, they stopped. No matter how hard Guy tried, he just couldn''t pull it out and peacock his rich young master-ness.

    The pocket wasn''t physically obstructing him, it was something else. Something inside him. Deep inside him, his tranquil puddle of cultivation perceived a tremor. It threatened to send the environment into flux.

    But the disturbance was slowly quenched, step by step, until tranquillity resumed.

    ''I shouldn''t do that... She didn''t do anything wrong. It was a misunderstanding after all...'' Guy started to rationalise.

    Finally, Guy sighed in defeat and retrieved his token, without any additional extravagance.

    "I guess it was my mistake," Guy said in an apologetic tone. "However I really need it, so I can''t do anything but it."

    He handed the token to the woman and added, "Please charge it to my ount. Thanks!"

    The woman held the luminescent token with an agape expression. She knew from experience that not everyone was entitled to such a high-end ount from Drayden Bank. It was solely awarded to the whales, the high rollers, the nouveau riche!

    She gulped to swallow the disdaining words that were on the tip of her tongue and smiled cordially once again. She was thankful that this young master wasn''t vengeful and was willing to forgive her faux-pas.

    "I shall pack things up immediately! Please wait for five minutes. Would you like some beverages or snacks while you wait?" She added.

    Guy shook his head and took a seat inside with a smile.

    The woman quickly rushed inside and returned as promised after five minutes with a wooden box help by both hands.

    She carefully ced it on the table before Guy and retreated with a bow. Guy opened the container and inspected its contents while cross-referencing it against the list. After he was satisfied, he closed the box.

    She then handed an invoice to obtain Guy''s signature. Guy observed that on it, she hadn''t added the mark up. Guy didn''t want to bring it up, because he knew that the woman wanted to scrub those arrogant words from existence.

    Guy signed without any hesitation. She then proceeded to stamp the bank token on the invoice to leave a clear and visible imprint.

    Guy lifted the box and left the establishment without any further dy. But before he left, he offered his thanks to the woman and smiled politely.

    The woman bowed even lower and directed Guy towards the door as a sign of respect. Once he turned the corner, the woman unwound her stressed self and sighed in relief.

 Chapter 51 Spellcasting In HD

    Guy applied for leave with the academy''s personnel management department with visible apprehension. He was only a teaching apprentice, and he wasn''t entitled to many days off till his apprenticeship waspleted. However, Guy remembered that he had saved up his vacation days since joining the academy and nned to cash them in. He expected some pushback, but surprisingly his request was epted without any back and forth.

    He intended to finally create the enchanted item for his student over this break. Thankfully, with the influx of cash from the steel weapon and armour sales, Guy''s entire timetable was pulled forward and he was able to check off a lot of boxes on his n. His initial estimate suggested that he would only have less than a month left till the tournament by the time he''d have finished his project. However, he was now flush with both cash and time, seeing as there was a little over five months till the deadline!

    This was great news, and Guy could barely hold in his excitement. At this point, he had everything prepared and all that was left was to bring it all together.

    The first step in aplishing this was to inscribe a mana gem with the variable-type enchantment he discovered in his early research.

    Guy solicited the use of one of the workspaces in The Burning Forge for this since he found the ambience tranquil and conducive to tasks that required intricate workmanship. Furthermore, Guy wanted to be prepared in case he needed misceneous items. He nned to requisition them from the shop''s storage. It was one of the underlying benefits Guy gained through his partnership with Karmin.

    Guy still held some concerns with regards to the design set to be inscribed into the gem. After rereading the case study on the variable enchantment in the guild''s library, he had a greater understanding of the requirements and the subtleties behind the process. And through that, he determined one significant limitation which was that although the inscription could vary, the possible variations that it could assume were limited.

    Essentially, the enchanter would have to inscribe a diagram which was the superposition of all the possible spells the variable inscription could assume in the future. This multiplied the difficulty of the inscription the more variations were required from the enchantment.

    This problem stumped Guy in the beginning. He wanted to develop an enchanted item that could amodate any spell Markus intended to cast using the modr spellmaking strategy. Guy couldn''t anticipate all the permutations derived from those modr spells, because there would be near infinite.

    One solution he considered was to simply inject a blob of inscribing ink into the mana gem, and let Markus control the liquid to form the spell constructs he needed. On paper, this sounded logical, however it was impossible to implement in practice. Throwing in a massive blob of inscription ink inside the gem without any foundation caused the enchantment to copse, turning it into a dud. The best way to visualise this is to think of inscribing as removing parts of a wall. The more you take out, the less stable it bes.

    Oveing this problem took a week of intense work on Guy''s part. Because his application case was so novel, there weren''t many existing solutions to address it.

    In the end, the method Guy used took inspiration from modern technology back on Earth - LED disys!

    He started experimenting by drawing the inscriptions as closely spaced dots. Guy had to try multiple times to get the perfect rhythm down so that the inscription process didn''t fail, and he had to determine the optimal size of the dots and separation between them so that the enchantment was valid and the mana circuit formed by the mithril in the ink didn''t disconnect.

    Ultimately, he was able to finalise those parameters.

    Next, he envisioned the final inscription for the enchanted item as a 2D grid of evenly spaced dots, simr to pixels on a disy. He wanted to make it so that when Markus intended to form a construct, he just had to activate the appropriate "pixels".

    This idea brought its own set of problems. First off, unlike the flowing inscription from the process journal, this scenario resulted in small pools that were stationary. This meant that the ink used had some functionalities and ingredients that were redundant.

    So through a lot of trials and cross-referencing, Guy was able to optimise the ink constitution to fit his needs. Although he wasn''t able to test it out, He was able to confirm that theoretically his intention would be achieved.

    Of what remained, the key ingredient of note in the ink was the Slime Residue, which allowed the inscription to be variable. Slimes by nature do not have a solid body. They are a special breed of lifeforms thate into existence with a core already formed. Their closest rtives are wisps.

    Their bodies are made of a liquid substance that is inert, except for its ability to digest biomass at a slow and steady rate. However, when infused with a stream of mana, the liquid substance bes activated and can be shaped and formed like a non-Newtonian fluid.

    The slime residue in the enchanting ink leverages this property to activate and deactivate specific inscription formations ording to how the mage channels their mana. This leaves only the pertinent part activated and everything else deactivated.

    Using Guy''s pixel-based inscription method, the separation between dots was sufficient for mana to move through without excessive resistance. Guy posited that the final strategy would be for the user to visualise the spell in their minds, and impose a mana-based projection of that spell onto the gem which in turn would activate the appropriate pixels. Then, the mage simply has to channel their mana through the enchanted item to activate the spell.

    With all of that in mind, Guy got down to business.

    He carefully mixed the ingredients following the prescribed measurements and poured them into his inscribing tool. He then retrieved a vial of molten Mithril from The Burning Forge''s inventory and steadily poured the substance into the tool.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With that done, he began inscribing on his chosen gem. For this project, he resolved to use a mediumrge unattuned mana gem because it wouldn''t sh or augment with any spells.

    His wrists gyrated in a steady rhythm as his hand tranted in a perfect horizontal. Once it reached an estimated end, it quickly reverted and restarted the trantion. It reminded Guy of the old dot-matrix printers his parents once showed him at a museum.

    However, Guy couldn''t afford to reminisce on those pleasant memories! He further engrossed himself in the task and maintained his pace as per his practice.

    At a measured rate, a corporeal projection of dots began to materialise before the mana gem. Guy started to strain his eyes so that he wouldn''t lose his position or skip a dot.

    ''I''m gonna need sses if I even have to do something like this again,'' Guymented internally as he shifted his buttocks deliberately.

    Day turned to night by the time Guy applied the final dot. The moment he separated his inscription tool from the mana gem, the corporeal projection turned brighter and started to shrink.

    Once the inscription concluded, Guy started to massage his neck and followed a set of stretching exercises to loosen his body.

    ''I''m never doing this. Ever. Again.'' Guy dered while trying to work through the pain and stiffness. Since the work was engrossing, he was oblivious to the pain. But without anything to distract him, Guy became fully aware of his own body!

    Suppressing his anxiety and excitement over the sessful inscription, Guy ran through all of his exercises and thoroughly loosened his body.

    Finally, he picked up the gem and inspected it. He checked to see if the dots inside were proper.

    After five minutes of a thorough once over, Guy exhaled in satisfaction and pumped his fists in the air.

    ''I did it!'' He congratted himself.

    ''Now, to see if it works...''

    Guy recollected a spell from his memory. He chose a spell that was specifically modr in nature, and included more intricate and smaller shapes. He wanted to stress test his creation to check if it could withstand the worst-case scenarios.

    With another exhale to calm his mind, he imprinted the construct as a mana projection onto the gem. Slowly, the gem started to illuminate.

    As Guy peered at the gem, he saw the pixel inscriptions lighting up together and forming the exact construct he envisioned in his mind.

    ''Yes!'' Guy eximed as he deactivated the mana gem. Just as it lit up, the pixels dimmed and turned inert. In total, the activation and deactivation were instant, barring the time taken to form the spell in his mind. This was a promising oue!

    ''Next, we embed this into an item,'' Guymented while carefully cing the inscribed gem inside a cushioned box.

    He then walked back into the inventory and beheld the materials before him.

    ''But what do I embed this on?'' Guy pondered.

 Chapter 52 Swish And Flick!

    The inscription Guy had applied on the mana gem was special, in that it did not require the enchanter to forge a special body to contain it. This meant that Guy had more leeway in choosing the item to embed the gem into.

    However, this did not make things any easier, because having too many choices can sometimes be a massive headache.

    Guy brainstormed many possibilities while scanning his eyes around the storage room. He wondered whether he should embed the gem into an edged single- or two-handed weapon such as a sword, sabre, axe, spear and so on. That way, if Markus happens to enter a stressful scenario and is unable to form any spell circles, he can resolve to use the weapon itself to do substantial damage.

    It was a viable option, but Guy dropped the idea because there was a high likelihood of Markus hurting himself by mishandling the edged weapon. Without proper techniques and martial-arts toplement the weapon, it would be like handing a writing utensil to a baby. And since Guy was from a world that had advanced to an era of ranged warfare with hot weapons, and had never dabbled in fencing or weapon-based martial arts, he was seriouslycking in that department and wasn''t confident in teaching Markus.

    The other alternative would be to use a blunt weapon that dealt damage through bludgeoning and impact, such as a hammer, bat, staff and so on. Those were generally friendlier to newbies, although they weren''t totally safe. So Guy felt morefortable with this option, but his conscience still felt uneasy.

    He was just a simple teacher after all! Even after observing various atrocities in his old world, he wasn''t someone who would willingly hand weapons that could wreak havoc and potentially harm the user, to his own students. He did recognise the irony in his thought process. He had essentially created ammunition capable of unleashing damage of unimaginable proportions for his student, but now he was being apprehensive about sourcing a weapon to hold it, just because it felt hical.

    "Why is that, though?" Guy pondered out loud.

    It was after a brief moment of contemtion, that Guy recognised the cause for his present dilemma! He was fine with handing the enchantment to his student, even though it held power beyond Markus'' limits. That was because Guy was confident in tempering Markus and training him to respect the power it withheld. However, Guy was apprehensive about handing a cold weapon to Markus because Guy couldn''t guarantee that he could train Markus with equal stringency.

    This conclusion greatly narrowed Guy''s search. He didn''t want to use a body that was beyond his own limits. This straightaway crossed out all metal-based solutions.

    Thus, Guy drew his attention to the wide assortment of woods stored in the inventory. Wooden weapons weremonce in academies and sects as they were optimal for training purposes. Logically, it was safer to teach students using a non-lethal replica of a weapon as opposed to the real deal. After all, it would be shameful if a student lost a few fingers or appendages identally during training.

    In addition to that, wood wasn''t a scarce or expensive resource. It was possible to mass-produce training weapons made of wood, but the same could not be said for their metal counterparts.

    Guy inspected his choices avable in the storage room and tried to cross-reference them with the data stored in the RoK. Just like back on Earth, there was an abundance of choices of wood in this world. Actually, with the addition of mana, there were even more options to choose between. Some wood types were more receptive to specific types of mana and enchantments, just like with mana metals.

    Rather than floundering between choices, Guy decided that it was best to solidify his purpose and then decide on the wood. Seeing as his enchantment wasn''t type-specific, the wood choice had to be neutral in its receptivity to mana of different types. What mattered the most to Guy was the body''s ability to conduct the flow of mana. He wanted to ensure that there was no resistance when Markus channelled his mana through the body into the mana gem, and when the mana flowed from the mana gem to the body.

    With some filters to narrow his search, Guy was able to find two suitable solutions: Menryl tree, and the Illuminescent Banyan tree.

    The wood from the Menryl tree was distinct as it had a pleasant bluish-cyan hue. It was the first time Guy had observed such a pigment in a tree. Through some cursory reading, Guy realised that this shade was a result of dense mana channels running parallel to the wood''s grains. Usually, the Menryl tree is found above dense mana deposits and is used as a marker when searching for mana crystal mines. The tree has a symbiotic rtionship with those mines in that it absorbs tainted mana from the atmosphere, extracts the impurities for its own growth, and shoves the refined environmental mana into the soil, which in turn solidifies in the mines. The wood itself is exceedingly strong and opposed to bending.

    The Illuminescent Banyan tree is different from the Menryl tree in many ways, but also simr. Unlike the Menryl trees, the Illuminescent Banyan is solitary. In actuality, the Illuminescent Banyan refers to the smaller trees that take root in the trunk of a much, muchrger host tree and form offshoots and grow. The entire structure is oftenbelled as the Banyan since they can''t be fully separated until it is cut down and processed.

    Once processed, the primary tree is generally discarded as it does nothing apart from acting as a channel for sustenance to the offshoots. The secondary trees, however, are most functional as they produce sulent, mana-rich fruits, robust vines to assist in cloth-making, and syrupy sap that has a wide range of uses in alchemy.

    In many ways, a live Illuminescent Banyan is more valuable than a dead one.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, once chopped up and processed, the sinews produced from the wood of the secondary trees have many uses in weapon and armoursmithing. As its name suggests, the Illuminescent Banyan has a bright bluish glow. This glow stems from the rich mana channels present in the secondary trees'' trunks.

    Guy quickly thought of an idea and fetched a handful of Illuminescent Banyan sinews and a length of Menryl wood. To materialise his idea, he didn''t require an excessive quantity of the two materials, and so he picked them up from the scraps container to remain economical.

    After setting up in the workshop once again, he retrieved a few wood-working tools and began his work. Back on Earth, Guy had travelled to many viges and secluded locales that thrived on native craftsmanship. Most of the time, these products were made by hand using the natural resources avable in the vicinity. Through that, Guy had picked up a lot of such mundane skills. Woodworking and wicker crafting were a few such techniques Guy was familiar with.

    Slowly, Guy because to carve the Menryl wood to form a cylindrical, thin body of tapering thickness. At its base, it had a radius of half a centimetre, and at the tip, it was around a quarter. Without standardised measuring tools, Guy eye-balled those parameters when carving. After spending additional time sanding out any unevenness, Guy was left with a smooth bluish-cyan tapering rod.

    Guy then used another tool to carve through-holes at set intervals. With Menryl''s robustness, the holes didn''t detract much from its stability.

    With that done, Guy retrieved the sinews and worked them till they were uniform. The special property of Illuminescent Banyan was that it maintained a brownish hue till mana ran through the channels within.

    He wound the sinews using his wickering techniques to form an ergonomic handle. During this process, Guy brought in the inscribed gem and used the sinews to fasten it into the base of the handle. He then worked the finer sinews to form a spiralling pattern along the shaft. He wound the sines through the periodic holes to tighten them up.

    Once it reached the tip, Guy used a strong and permanent binding reagent to fasten the windings and coated the shaft in the reagent to affix the design. He then dipped the handle in anothercquer that was smoother once dried.

    Using a few spells, Guy elerated the treating process.

    Finally, Guy beheld the craftsmanship in his hands.

    It was almost the length of his forearm and had a brownish handle. The shaft had a simr brownish hue with a spiralling pattern and infrequent sections that revealed a pleasant blue, corresponding to the Menryl base.

    "What a beautiful Magic Wand!" Guy eximed while exhaling in satisfaction.

    What he settled for, in the end, was to use a simple magic wand as a body for the enchantment. He derived his inspiration from a series of young-adult modern-fantasy novels from back on Earth that were highly acimed.

    The solution was simple and addressed his requirements directly. There was also no fear of Markus identally hurting himself, except of course if he pokes his own eyes.

    Guy grasped the handle of the wand and prepared a basic fire starting spell in his mind.

    Taking a deep breath, Guy flourished the wand and pointed the tip towards a small pile of wood shavings next to him.

 Chapter 53 Mana Economy

    "What is this?" Al said while holding the wand in his hand and inspecting it. "It''s kind of... cute," hemented with a chuckle.

    Guy smiled wryly and responded, "It''s a wand. I made it to assist Markus during spell casting."

    Al nodded and added, "Yeah, I was expecting this when you set out."

    He then reached into his pocket and touched his storage te and channelled his mana into it, "Here, take a look!"

    A staff with a massive gem at its tip materialised in his free hand. It had a weaving design that sort of resembled a stereotypical magical staff from the fantasy movies back on Earth.

    "This staff is enchanted to be able to cast arge |Fireball|."

    The corner of Guy''s mouth twitched as he held the staff in his hand in defeat.

    "So you''re saying that you had the answer to my problems all along? Why didn''t you tell me from the beginning?" Guy asked in exasperation. "Do you know how long I spent just to end up with this?"

    Al smiled an innocent smile and replied apologetically, "I''m sorry. It''s been a really long time since I''ve had to guide others. I only recollected the application of magical staves after you left my office. I was going to inform you the next time we met, however you never came back after that day..."

    Guy closed his hands into a fist and exhaled loudly through his nose to calm himself, "It''s fine... What matters is that I did it..."

    "But why is your... staff... so small? Won''t it shatter under the stress of casting suchrge spells?"

    Guy quickly corrected Al, "First off, it''s a wand. And two, it''s not the size, but how you use it that matters."

    Guy coughed to cover up his inadvertent double entendre and continued, "I don''t n on using it to support the weight of an entire spell. It will only be used as a supplement to reinforce ranged spellcasting."

    Al hummed in appreciation. "Let''s test it out!" He then dered.

    Without waiting for Guy''s response, Al activated a |Teleportation| spell and disced Guy to his own testing ground.

    Guy found himself in a familiar room; it was the same ce where Al demonstrated the difference between the two types of enchanted swords. Just likest time, there were two intact training dummies prepared to bear the onught of Al''s spells.

    Al grasped the wand by its grip and pointed its tip towards one of the dummies.

    "So, how does it work?" He asked in anticipation.

    "You need to manifest the spell circle for the spell and impose it onto the gem on the wand. Then, you channel your mana through the spell circle like normal AND activate the gem at the same time."

    "Got it!" Al affirmed and immediately began to form the design for a modr |Fireball| spell. Al had familiarised himself with Guy''s modr spellmaking techniques and had be proficient in forming a myriad of simple spells.

    He had also figured out a way to only rely on his mana to fuel a fire. While it was inefficient and required arge amount, Al found that the consumption was still lower than a regr |Fireball| spell.

    Within a span of half a second, the spell circle materialised in a ne normal to the vector the wand was pointing towards, and a spinning fireball took shape.

    Al flicked his wrist through intuition and the fireball propelled itself at a high speed and collided with one of the training dummies. The impacted dummy exploded magnificently, leaving only a wooden stump in its ce.

    "My word!" Al eximed. "It barely used any mana!"

    Without taking a pause, Al started to repeat the process at a much higher frequency. A continuous stream of fireballs began to shoot out from the tip of the wand - it was as if a machine gun was firing balls of hot, burning gas instead of bullets.

    And without a target, the fireballs collided against the farthest wall in the training area, leaving a scorched mark and a growing crack after each impact.

    Guy slowly distanced himself from Al, who was wearing a manic smile and bellowed with a crazed expression.

    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Al cackled as the fireballs boomed in the room unceasingly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After the impact from the 300th fireball, by Guy''s rough estimate, Al stopped and took inventory of his mana levels.

    "This is amazing, Guy! I used little to no mana. And the mana gem replenishes faster than it is being depleted to propel the fireball!" Al said while raining his praise on Guy.

    "What''s the wand''s condition?" Guy asked in concern. Al quickly ran an |Inspect| cantrip on the wand in his grasp and conducted a thorough search for any physical or magical problems.

    "No effects as far as I can see," he assuaged, and then shifted the topic, "Honestly, I''m impressed by your inscription technique. I have never seen anything like this before, but somehow it feels familiar."

    "It''s something I came up with. I took inspiration from ''Journal of Maine Baxter - Iplete Tests and Theories'' in their entry on the variable enchantment."

    Al snapped his finger in recollection and chimed in, "That''s right! I was also nning to rmend that book to you after exining about magical staves." And then in a low voice, he muttered, "Damn! If only you had visited me once again after our meeting, I could have saved you so much time..."

    "Anyways, I just can''t get over how well your enchantment works in conjunction with the modr spellmaking method. By offloading the contribution for the rangedponent of the spells to the mana gem, the stress on the caster is lowered significantly. The best part is that it appears as if the mana contributed by the gem is at the breakeven point and matches the rate of repletion."

    Al paused for dramatic effect and evoked with gusto, "You''ve developed a way to cast spells for free!"

    "That''s a bit of an exaggeration! |Fireball| is a pretty basic Tier-1 ranged spell. I don''t think the mana required to sustain a fireball would be excessive," Guy retorted. Deep down, he was also quite excited. When he tested the wand earlier, he took note of this peculiarity as well, however, he wanted to get confirmation from someone more experienced first.

    "Let''s not split hairs about the specificity of the ims! Markus can effectively cut down on mana consumption by using physical fuel as a source. If he relies on mana just as a catalyst to facilitate thebustion reaction, he can cast as many fireballs as he wants as long as he doesn''t run out of fuel. And then, he will still have enough mana to cast 100 other spells! Do you understand just how absurd that sounds? If someone told me that a Middle or Late-stage Mana Condensation mage could cast 300 spells consecutively, I would cut open their skulls and check to see if their brain was intact!"

    And then, with a serious expression, Al asked, "Are you sure you want to hand this to Markus?"

    Right as he finished, Al summoned the |Teleportation| spell circles and whisked himself and Guy back to his office.

    Guy wasn''t distracted by the sudden shift in scenery, he was preupied with the intricacies of Al''s seemingly simple question.

    ''Right! Should I give this to Markus?''

    Guy was reminded of his earlier conversation with Al in this very office. After months of diligent research and effort, he had created an item - a tool - that was a boon to someone like Markus, who was magically challenged. However, it was only after testing the tool that he realised its propensity as a weapon. And a devastating one at that!

    Sure, the wand only presented its advantages at the lower Tiers of magic. It wouldn''t offer simr ease when casting higher-tiered spells such as |Earth-Shatter|, |mestrike|, and so on. But he couldn''t discount the dangers of a rogue and unfettered |Fireball|. While mages would still be able to contend against it, it wasn''t the case for regr mortals.

    Ultimately, this was a question of ethics. However, Guy recognised that he couldn''t apply the same standards of ethics from back on Earth when analysing the situation. So in the end, he relied on his gut.

    "Yes," Guy dered confidently.

    Al raised his eyebrows, "How are you so sure?"

    Guy shook his head, "I''m confident with myself,"

    "What does that have to do with anything?" Al retorted in confusion

    Almost on queue, a series of knocks interrupted their conversation, "Teacher Jeeves, Master Larks? It''s me, Markus."

    A familiar voice resounded from the other side of the door. Al waved his hands and the door swung open slowly.

    Markus walked in with a bright smile and bowed respectfully at the two upants.

    "It''s my responsibility to properly train my students and teach them to respect and value their powers. If they cannot do something so simple, they shouldn''t be allowed to train as a mage. I am confident that I''ve taught Markus well," Guy said to Al in a voice only the two of them could hear and picked up the wand ced on the table.

    "Let''s go, Markus! I have a gift for you," Guy eximed cheerfully while guiding Markus by the shoulder.

    Al was left alone in the room. The man sighed out loud and chuckled with a trace of bitterness mixed in. His eyes zed over as he reminisced about his past with his first student, Ziva Lune.

 Chapter 54 Training Montage

    "Wrong! Gaige, you''re losing control in your swing. In order toplement your swordsmanship with your cultivation method, your technique needs to be more fluid and must also exhibit an aura of suppression. For that, you need to time the release of your dark-infused mana with each sword form," Wei Zao instructed from the side-lines.

    The teacher-student duo was currently situated in an empty training ground, courtesy of Gaige Bori''s father. Although Wei Zao wasn''t able to purchase a suitable weapon for Gaige from The Burning Forge, his father was quick on the uptake and provided an alternative of superior quality almost immediately. Apparently, the Bori n had made a huge windfall in the market after a sessful bout against their biggestpetitor. Wei Zao didn''t put much thought into that matter, his main focus was on training Gaige for the tournament.

    "But Teacher Way, I''m finding it difficult to manifest the dark mana..." Gaige said in an exhausted voice. Even though he had been diligently practising the cultivation method provided by Wei Zao, which he now called Insight into the Abyss, he hadn''t been able to make a breakthrough in moulding and controlling darkness mana, which was supposed to be a bloodline trait of an Abyssal Wyrm.

    Wei Zao worried about this problem for a very long time. It was something even the Omniscient Library was unable to solve. However, this was within Wei Zao''s expectations. Mages weren''t technically supposed to have the ability to leverage their bloodline traits before breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Although Wei Zao was able to elerate the activation in Gaige, it would be asking too much of the kid to be proficient in it while he was still in the Middle-stage of Mana Condensation realm.

    Gaige shook his head to clear his mind once again and entered a concentrated state. He assumed the first stance in the sword techniques supplementing the Insight into the Abyss. He exhaled deeply and started to circte his mana based on the instructions he recollected from the manual.

    ''Unending Strike!'' He recounted internally while shifting between the stages in the first stance. His movements were fluid and connected. Each stroke matched up with the next as if it were an elegant dance.

    With a jerk, he then switched to the second stance, ''Suppressing Force!''

    The motion maintained its fluidity, however, an aura of suppression manifested following each strike and sh. Every time the de jerked and shifted direction, a wave of invisible force propagated a short distance. Any regr mortal would be unable to register this with their senses. However, Wei Zao could track these forces with his enhanced senses as a Foundation Establishment Mage.

    That''s right! He had only recently managed to break through from the Mana Condensation realm and stepped into the true world of Magehood. With the assistance of the Omniscient Library, he was able to optimise his own cultivation method, and through a rigorous process of assimting and merging other cultivation methods, he managed to optimise it further and developed the Omniscient Path method of cultivation.

    It was so phenomenal that it even amplified his mana capacity and physical strength beyond the limits of another mage in the same level. Therefore, Wei Zao was confident that he could go toe-to-toe, which mages in the Internal stage of the Foundation Establishment realm with ease.

    With his improved senses and perception, Wei Zao zeroed in on Gaige''s technique as the boy transitioned into the final stance in the first set of sword techniques associated with the Insight into the Abyss, ''Into the Void!''

    These techniques were devised by borrowing and modifying existing sword styles and tailoring them to Gaige''s cultivation. Of course, this was all done in the Omniscient Library, so there weren''t any issues with it. Since Wei Zao only had ess to the basic sword forms, the book hepiled for Gaige could only support him till he broke through into Foundation Establishment. By which time Wei Zao hoped to get his hands on a few more books and develop more advanced forms.

    Thest stance in the first set was where Gaige usually stumbled. He had to infuse darkness into his circting mana and expel it through his sword at the same time as he transitioned through the steps.

    Gaige concentrated to the max as he channelled his mana through his core and attempted to infuse darkness into it. He recited the mantras affiliated with his cultivation in his head to enter the perfect state of mind to achieve this.

    He raised the sword above his head and prepared himself. With a forceful motion, the sword descended. As it separated the air during its descent, a void-ck streak formed in its wake and extended forward as a growing crescent before fizzling out immediately.

    "Wonderful!" Wei Zao eximed and approached Gaige, who copsed into a puddle of his own sweat. The entire process had drained his mana and left him

    "I... did... it..." Gaige repeated through heavy breaths.

    "Yes, you did! Yes. You. Did." Wei Zao said with a bright smile stered across his face. He then noticed the deted body of Gaige panting on the ground and added with a chuckle, "Just don''t use it right at the beginning."

    ____

    "Master. Can you take a look at this?" Markus asked as he brought over a book to Guy, who was once again chatting with Al in his office.

    "What happened to your book? It looks like it died and came back to life," Almented as he leaned over to take a peak.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Markus didn''t bring the workbook Guy had "printed out" for him before, this was his own personal writing book. And Al''s description perfectly described its current state.

    One must know that owning a copybook was a luxury in this world. The process of making and binding them required a lot of manpower and man-hours, and so they were expensive to purchase. Furthermore, since this worldcked a proper printing press, a decent publication was even more costly since trained scribes were required to copy and typeset them.

    Therefore most students would often purchase unbound hardback covers and sheets of paper separately. When needed, they would bind additional empty sheets into the hardback covers using a length of binding thread. Once the hardback cover was filled, they would purchase another one and start the process anew.

    This method was economical and was the general trend amongst students of all social standings.

    As an orphan without much to his name, Markus had toe up with alternative strategies. Since he couldn''t even purchase hardback covers, he had to find defective ones from second-hand bins or the garbage from book stores. Furthermore, he couldn''t afford the purchase of sheet packages, and thus he had to source scrap paper from disposed of books and make full use of them. To that end, he even shrunk his handwriting to a near indiscernible size just to cram in as much information into the page as possible.

    The worst part was that due to theck of sufficient hardback covers, he had to shove in more sheets than capacity into hisst one, which itself was in a state of ruin.

    Markus dropped his head in embarrassment. Al noticed this and quickly realised his faux pas. Right as Markus was about to retrieve his book, Guy eximed, "Did you figure out a way to modrise the targeting and rangedponents from spells?"

    Markus nodded and exined, "Right! I was going through those spells once again and found that I could iste the modules that governed the ranged aspects of spellcasting into a separate subroutine. So then in practice, I cast this subroutine using the wand and cast the main sequence using my own capacity, I can reduce the mana consumption by half!"

    As Markus spoke excitedly, hepletely forgot about his earlier embarrassment. Al turned to Guy and mouthed ''Thank you,'' to which Guy reciprocated with a slight nod and a smile.

    "That''s amazing!" Guy chimed in when Markus finished. He then turned the page and found a simr spell circle, except with some variations in it.

    "What''s this?" He asked,

    "Oh. Even though I was able to create those subroutines, I couldn''t apply them to all the cases. In situations where the subroutine wasn''t applicable, I had to make a new one. I tried to generalise them into one standard general subroutine, however, the final result was a little beyond my ability at the moment," Markus dered while carefully turning the pages to another section containing multiple smaller spell circles.

    Al nodded in acknowledgement and chimed in with his opinion, "It seems that the generalised subroutine to tackle the rangedponents of spellcasting requires you to cast up to three different spell circles at once. It should be beyond your limit as a Mana Condensation mage, but I think once you breakthrough, it should be possible."

    Markus nodded solemnly and retrieved his copybook.

    "On that note. I just noticed something. Did you break through to the Middle stage?" Al asked with tion sparkling in its eyes.

    Markus smacked his forehead and unleased a smile capable of brightening up the room three times over. "I just broke throughst night! I was going to tell Master right away, but today when I woke up, I got a burst of inspiration on this generalised subroutine..." he finished with some embarrassment.

    Guy chuckled and patted Markus'' shoulder, "That''s great! I''m so proud of you."

    Upon hearing the praise Markus'' eyes started to tear up, "Umm... I should probably go practise..." he muttered and ran out of the room.

    The two people remaining in the room smiled wholeheartedly as they observed the boy''s receding figure.

 Chapter 55 The Night Before

    Markus sprang up from his bed again and rushed over to the desk in his room. He wanted to check his belt satchel once more, to make sure that everything he had prepared was in ce. After shuffling through its contents and inspecting the satchel''s integrity, he sighed in relief and returned toy down on his bed.

    He closed his eyes and tried to rx his mind, in search of sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day of the apprentice tournament, and Markus was in a state of panic and excitement.

    It had been exactly two semesters since he entered the tutge of Master Larks. During this time, Markus had maintained his diligence in both practising magic, pushing his cultivation forward, and keeping a steady grade in his studies.

    Of those goals, he had managed to reach the Late stage of the Mana Condensation realm and had broadened his knowledge base with regards to basic magic, as well as the novel modr spellmaking his Master had developed. Concerning thetter, Markus had be proficient in cooking up different spells at a moment''s notice through intuition. He still faced difficulty in recollecting the appropriate targetting and ranged subroutines, however, his Master suggested that he carry along a cheat sheet to glean off of during the fight. Markus was concerned about the practicality of holding a piece of paper duringbat, but he didn''t have a better solution for his predicament.

    Finally, with regards to his grades. Markus had surprisingly risen above the ranks and entered the upper leagues of academia. Usually, his grades floundered in the 50th percentile amongst his cohorts. But in the recent assessments, he had managed to clinch a few high scores and stabilised his position in the upper 95th percentiles.

    The boost came as a surprise at first, ''Was I always this capable?'' He would constantly ask himself.

    Maybe he was. Most of the time, he had to worry about escaping the clutches of his dedicated bullies. On top of that, there was always a subconscious bug at the back of his mind gnawing at him and making him feel inadequate.

    Apart from all of that, he also found that recently his mental faculties had improved quite significantly. Things that he found hard to memorise had be trivial. His thought process had also shifted such that he was now able to rationalise concepts that made no sense to him before. Markus wondered if this was histent talent blossoming after he had unburdened himself.

    This was because after studying under Master Larks, a lot of his worries had diminished almost magically. He could now cast Tier-1 spells and stand his ground against his bullies! That was all theoretical, though. His Master taught him that it was never a good idea to retaliate against bullies using their own medicine. Violence and despair was a neverending cycle; he may triumph through force now, but it would onlye back to bite him in the future.

    The bullies may be subdued through his superior strength, however, they would remain discontent and persistently try to sabotage him in every turn. Markus then posited whether it would be better to thoroughly crush them with immense power.

    "What good would that do? It will only make everyone fear you," Master Larks retorted at that time.

    But that was also good! Isn''t it better to be feared than loved?

    "Respect built purely through fear is like a well filled with highly poisonous water. And respect built solely on love is like a well with very sweet and nurturing water. In the first case, no one would mess with you, but you will always remain lonely and isted. In thetter, you have the entire vige depending on you. But if you run out, the same vigers wouldn''t think twice before shutting you down and forgetting all about you."

    That profoundly confused Markus. If both had their weaknesses, what was he supposed to do?

    Teacher Jeeves rified by borating on that metaphor, saying, "You be the poison and the antidote. By that, I mean you should be a well that contains water that is sweet and nurturing, but at the same time is a poison to those that drink it. The moment they stop consuming the water, they all die."

    Although morbid, it made sense to Markus. He took these teachings to heart and attempted a different strategy in handling his bullies.

    Markus leveraged his superior learning capacity and offered free tutoring and support to his bullies. He didn''t bring this idea up straight to their faces, though. Through ingenious subliminal suggestion, he ingrained this thought into their minds. With his changed aura and presence, it didn''t take long for the bullies to sumb. Sure, he had to get beaten up a few times, but it was all worth it in the end!

    And then, through a steady carrot-and-stick process, he altered the implicit food chain and moved up the hierarchy. After tasting the praise from their parents following their improved grades, his bullies became dependent on Markus.

    After that, it was all smooth sailing. Markus made sure to not reach beyond his limits; he was satisfied in maintaining the status quo. He was confident that he could subdue more people through this method, but he recollected his Master''s teachings.

    "A tree that grows above the forest''s canopy has to weather the capricious storms by itself. It''s good to be outstanding, but you must always be wary of your own limits, and the limits of your surrounding."

    Markus realised that if he persisted and ended up bing the de facto "boss" of his cohort, it would just add more problems to his te. It was best to remain low-key and focus on achieving his goals.

    And his greatest goal was to achieve an outstanding victory in the apprentice tournament, which was starting tomorrow. A lot was riding on his performance, and to maximise his physical, and mental state, Markus had decided to go to bed early. However, his turbulent thoughts had made it difficult to find peace.

    KNOCK KNOCK

    A t series of knocks interrupted his distraction. Markus sat up in his bed and called out audibly, "Who is it?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s us, Guy Larks and Teacher Jeeves!" A familiar voice answered.

    Markus'' eyes widened in excitement. He jumped up and rushed to open the door.

    "Master! Teacher Jeeves! What brings you here sote?" He asked while guiding them into his room. He cleared up the chair next to his desk and brought it closer to his bed.

    "Late? You do realise that it''s only 6 o''clock in the evening, right?" Al chuckled as he sat down on the chair. Guy assumed his seat on the mattress and added, "Did you have dinner? And sit down."

    Markus nodded and respectfully sat down on his bed, midway between his Master and Teacher Jeeves.

    "I ate an early dinner. I was nning to go to bed early so that I''m fresh and ready tomorrow."

    "Hahaha! Don''t be so stressed, my boy!" Al said mirthfully. "For your Master to remain in this academy, and have a future in the teaching profession, all you need to do is win the first match."

    He added thest bit to assuage some of Markus'' stress. Al continued, "Speaking of the matches - there will be a few changes in the format. Due to therge number of students involved in the tournament, they''ve decided to run the preliminary matches parallelly in order to finish all of them on the same day tomorrow. The winners from the preliminary matches will move on to the quarter-finals the next day. The semi-finals will be held the day after and in the end the finals will be held after a day''s break. They are going to release the match-ups tomorrow morning, including the field where it will be held."

    "Al''s right, Markus. You shouldn''t pressure yourself over this match. We''ve both worked our best. You just have to apply yourself to a level that satisfies you. You must also try your best to showcase your skills and capabilities. Don''t hold yourself back! Who knows, maybe you''ll catch the attention of a famous teacher in the audience and enter their tutge?" Guy chimed in.

    Markus vigorously shook his head and retorted, "No matter who takes an interest in me, Master, I will never leave your side!"

    Guy smiled bitterly and waved his hand, "Now, now. Let''s not make sweeping statements this early. If better opportunitiese your way, you HAVE to take them."

    The atmosphere was getting a little depressing, so Al changed the topic of discussion, "Oh right! The reason I dragged your teacher here today was to give you this."

    Al reached into his satchel and retrieved a hardcover book. It was leatherbound with a metallic frame and had a vibrant blue mana gem at the centre of both sides.

    He handed the book to Markus and exined, "It''s an enchanted artefact I made - it''s called a grimoire. Think of it as an early congrattory gift! All mages own grimoires like this, except this one has special enchantments. It is enchanted with spatial magic. So you can feed it as much paper as you want, and you can retrieve it by flipping through the book while recollecting key details from the page. If multiple pages have content simr to what you envisioned while flipping through it, then it will pull all of them out."

    Markus quickly returned the grimoire towards Al while saying, "This... This is too expensive, Sir. I can''t ept this."

    Al pushed the grimoire back into Markus'' hands. "I made it especially for you; I insist that you take it. Consider it an early congrattory present! I was hoping to spectate your matches in person, but my 2-star Beast Taming qualification examination is next week. I''ve handed a recording artefact to your Master so that I can watch your matches after I return."

    Markus caressed the grimoire in his hands and retorted apprehensively, "But isn''t it a little premature?"

    "It''s a foregone conclusion. I''ve seen how capable you are. I wouldn''t have done this if I wasn''t confident in your sess. Even your Master thinks so, right Guy?"

    "That is correct. I believe in you, Markus. So don''t work yourself up too much." Guy supported.

    The three chatted for a few more minutes before Al and Guy stood up to leave.

    "Alright then. Good night, Markus!" Guy greeted as he stepped out the door.

    Markus hugged the grimoire and shrunk into his mattress. He closed his eyes once again and waited for sleep to wash over him.

 Chapter 56 Apprentice Tournament (Part One)

    Many found it counterintuitive to pit students against each other when the assessment was focusing primarily on their instructors - the teaching apprentices. Why not just have the apprentices duke it out?

    It was exactly because the evaluation was centred on the apprentices that the current format was employed. The tournament worked to gauge the capacity of a teaching apprentice apart from their cultivation. It looked at their ability to scout student talent, unearth it, and nurture it. It acted as an indicator of how effective the apprentices would be as instructors in the future.

    Of course, there was always the element of luck involved. Sometimes, an apprentice may hit the jackpot with an extremely talented student. Other times, the oppositebination may apply. But it was never truly possible to level the ying field so that everyone had a fair shot.

    Gaige traversed through the Academy hallways, towards the site of his very first match. For the preliminary stages, four matches were set to ur at the same time. Each of them would take ce in one of the repurposed practising fields.

    The students weren''t told who they werepeting against. They were only provided with a tablet prescribing their own number allocation, and a field they were supposed to congregate to for their match. This blind match-up method was used to reduce the influence of psychological stress and other external factors that may influence the mental stability of thepetitors.

    Gaige wasn''t the least bit worried about this match. He was confident in his skill, and Teacher Way''s tutge. He had stably reached the Late stage of the Mana Condensation realm and had practised and perfected all of his spellcasting and swordsmanship skills to their limits. This tournament would act as a tform for Gaige. A lot was riding on his sess. He had to redeem his teacher''s reputation and he had to prove his prowess to his father and his n.

    As he and his teacher arrived at the field, he cast his attention around and observed hispetition. He never really cared much about others, so all the faces appeared unfamiliar to him.

    "Woah! Who''s that hunk?"

    "That''s teaching apprentice Jo Way. Don''t you know? He''s the only teaching apprentice at the Foundation Establishment realm in Radiant Academy."

    Hushed conversations started to erupt in the audience following their arrival.

    "That''s amazing! He looks so hot! And his student looks so striking too."

    "That''s Gaige Bori. He used to be the trashy Third Young Master from the Bori n, but recently his cultivation skyrocketed and he managed to trump Caine Jonas!"

    "Isn''t Caine from the year above? He''s that strong? Now that you mention it, he really does look striking. He has that cold, devil-may-care, external appearance."

    As the irrelevant discussions propagated, a series of loud cheers and greetings broke through the din.

    "Hey, Boss! What''s up?"

    "Yeah, are you ready for your match today!"

    "Of course he''s ready. What kind of question is that?"

    "Boss, good luck!"

    Fourrge and pudgy boys trudged along with excited grins stered across their faces. Their enthusiastic tones grabbed everyone''s attention.

    "Who''re those four?"

    "You don''t know them? They''re the F4!"

    "The what?"

    "F4! Fatty 4! They''re the biggest bullies of our batch."

    "If they''re the bullies, who''re they calling Boss?"

    "Shh! Don''t let them hear you calling them fatties!"

    "I didn''t... Hey, why are you hiding behind me!"

    Gaige tuned out the mob chatter and honed in on the so-called F4. They walked up to a boy at the other end of the field and greeted him with a subtle hint of respect and reverence.

    "Hey, what are you four doing here?" The boy asked nonchntly.

    "We''re allocated to this field as well!" One of the F4 winked and nudged his neighbour with his elbows.

    "Yeah! There was a... mistake... in the chart. So we just courteously asked the representative to smoothen things out," his neighbour added while rubbing his index and thumb finger together. Through connotation, Gaige understood that money changed hands.

    Gaige frowned and tried to focus harder on the conversation. However, his attempt was interrupted by the chatter between the characters next to him.

    "Why''re you shivering? Are you scared?"

    "You''ve no idea how horrible those guys are! Before, they used to bully me by taking my lunch money or ying practical jokes on me. But in the past year, they''ve changed their methods! They caught me one day and strung me up by a tree. They then quizzed me on different subjects like cultivation, alchemy and whatnot. Whenever I got the wrong answer, they would use a branch to spank me!"

    "They spanked you in public? But... But you''re a girl!"

    "I KNOW! uwuuu," the girl bawled.

    Gaige gritted his teeth. "Those scoundrels!" he muttered under his breath.

    "Boss, did you get a new enchanted artefact?" One of the F4 eximed while pointing at the grimoire in the boy''s hand.

    "Oh, this? This was a gift," the boy rified.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wow, that''s a spatial enchantment!" A random bloke next to the boy chimed in.

    "HEY! Who do you think you are, disturbing our Boss?" The first F4 member retorted.

    "Yeah, stop eyeing our Boss'' stuff! Or do you want me to fix your eyes?" Another F4 member added while cracking his knuckles.

    "Now, now, boys. Let''s keep it civil, hmm?" Their boss quickly interjected, causing the enraged F4 to slink back.

    "Oh my goodness! He can control those fatties? Who is that boy?"

    "I remember now! That''s Markus Reva. He''s the genius from my friend''s ss."

    "Howe I''ve never heard of him before?"

    "Apparently he''s very hidden. Everyone thought that he was just some orphan from the frontiers. But recently, he''s been walking around with a very intricate enchanted artefact. One of my friends tried to steal it from him, but those F4 caught him and really did a number on him."

    "That makes sense! Those rich fatties wouldn''t be his followers for no reason. Look! He even has another enchanted artefact on him."

    "Damn! Rich people sure have it easy..."

    Before the rumour mill could snowball out of control, an authoritative voice interjected, "All participants please approach the bench."

    All the students quieted down and walked over to the bench next to thebat arena. On it, there was arge box with a hole cut on its top. The referee standing next to the box took the tokens in each student''s hand and dropped them into the box one at a time.

    "We shall now decide on the match-ups," the referee dered once all the tokens were inside. He reached in and pulled out two tokens.

    "First match: Number 32 vs. Number 41!" He bellowed.

    Two individuals stepped forth from the crowd and walked forward. Everyone gasped as they saw who thebatants were.

    "It''s Gaige and Markus!" Someone eximed.

    "Yeah, Boss! You can do it! Beat his ass!" The F4 cheered in unison.

    The referee waved his hands to stop the mour and rattled, "In order to keep things fair, thebatants are only allowed one offensive weapon of choice. Be it enchanted or unenchanted. Combatants, dere your weapons!"

    In response, Gaige unsheathed his sword.

    "That''s a Brionium sword!"

    "No way! Brionium is supposed to be one of the rarest and most expensive metals. How did Gaige get his hands on a sword like that?"

    "The Bori n probablymissioned it."

    While the hushed chatter resurfaced, the referee turned his gaze towards Markus. In response, the boy unsheathed the wand and paraded it around for inspection. The referee frowned and nudged his chin towards the belt satchel. Markus smiled and opened it up for inspection as well. The referee directed his senses into the satchel and frowned harder.

    He saw a bunch of useless materials inside. Coal, sulfur, a few liquids in phials. It didn''t make any sense to him. But since there weren''t any potions or boosting drugs hidden inside, he was satisfied. After that, he nudged his chin towards the grimoire in Markus'' hand.

    Markus handed the book in while saying, "Am I not allowed to carry a book for reference?"

    "During a fight?" The referee retorted while thoroughly checking the enchantment.

    He then flipped through the pages to inspect if anything was hidden inside. All he saw were a bunch of uninterpretable scribbles and nonsensical spell circles. With a disdainful frown, he dered, "It''s your choice," while handing the book back.

    "There''s no offensive capabilities in this book!" The referee bellowed for the record.

    The twobatants then walked into the centre of the field. Once there, Markus extended his hands as a sign of sportsmanship and said with a neutral expression, "Good luck!"

    Gaige snorted and reciprocated but with a visible frown on his face.

    Markus didn''t understand why Gaige was so averse to his gesture. He didn''t know that Gaige had categorised Markus as a bully after seeing that he was involved with the F4. He thought that Markus was just being facetious with his act of goodwill.

    Without pause, Gaige returned to a position away from the centre and entered a prepared stance with his sword at the ready.

    Markus did the same and pulled out his wand. He then activated the grimoire in his hands, causing it to float to his side while opening up to a specific page.

    The audience quieted down as the air became increasingly tense.

    The referee assumed his position next to the arena. He was prepared to intercept the fight in case one of thebatants was about to suffer from a mortal injury. He activated the ritual formation around the arena, causing a translucent shield to materialise. This would ensure that the audience wouldn''t get caught in the line of fire and suffer unwanted injuries.

    After making a thorough check for the final time, the referee raised a g, and shouted, "BEGIN!".

 Chapter 57 Apprentice Tournament (Part Two)

    The moment the referee signalled the start of the match, Gaige shed his sword and projected a wave of fire. The wave propagated vigorously and threatened to envelop Markus.

    In response, Markus waved his wand and summoned a spell circle. The mes approaching him collided against an opposition of air and was summarily extinguished.

    Gaige used the wave as a distraction to cover the distance between himself and Markus. Unfortunately, he never expected Markus to dissipate the mes so quickly. He was three leaps away when the mes cleared. Markus waved his wand once again and summoned another spell circle.

    Gaige had never seen such a spell before; the circle appeared much, much simpler in design, yet it also had an indescribable intricacy to it.

    His instincts red in earnest as the spell approachedpletion. Gaige quickly halted his momentum and dodged backwards. It was a good thing that he did because a mini-explosion bloomed in the ce he was supposed to be.

    A bead of sweat dripped down his back as he processed the turn of events.

    "What was that spell?" His thoughts were voiced by the audience.

    "I''ve... never seen that before. It has to be some kind of a finishing spell, right?" A student chimed in.

    Wei Zao furrowed his brows. He had never seen that spell before either. Even after using his vast umtion of knowledge, he wasn''t able to pinpoint its origin. He then concentrated his gaze on Markus until a book with the boy''s name materialised in the Omniscient Library.

    In reading the details, Wei Zao''s frown deepened.

    ____

    Name: Markus Reva

    ...

    Cultivation Method: Unknown

    ____

    ''Unknown? Not None, but Unknown? How can it be unknown, you''re supposed to be Omniscient?!'' He asked in exasperation.

    [...]

    But he didn''t have the time to interrogate his system further, because Markus didn''t let out. He waved his wand once again and flicked it towards Gaige while producing the very same spell circle.

    Gaige''s eyes widened in shock, ''Damn it!''

    He dodged and narrowly avoided the explosion. Before he could take a breath, Markus cast the spell once again!

    Gaige was forced to dodge and weave continuously through intuition. Fortunately, he wasn''t forced to contend with the explosion spell all the time. Based on observation, Gaige found out that Markus only cast that spell when he crossed a 5-meter boundary centred on Markus.

    This suggested that Markus was weak in closebat, which happened to be Gaige''s strength.

    Beyond that boundary, Gaige only had to face basic |Fireball|, |Earth Spike|, |Water Jet|, |Wind de| and so on.

    Markus cast these spells at a staggering pace. He had forced Gaige to enter a defensive stance with dodging and blocking those attacks while interspersing warding spells to shield against the projectiles. Gaige figured that this was Markus'' strategy: to finish the fight as quickly as possible by overpowering Gaige early with a barrage of attacks.

    Fortunately, Gaige had figured it out! All he had to do was wait out Markus, that is, till Markus runs out of mana.

    With that in mind, Gaige focused on the spells and implemented the most efficient manoeuvres to dodge them.

    "Ha..." One of the teaching apprentices in the audience sighed. "It looks like Gaige figured it out. He''s ying an attrition strategy to oust Markus."

    The other apprentices nodded in agreement and internally ced their bets on Gaige. The students followed suit and began to cheer for him. Only the F4 maintained silence and smirked in disdain at the other students.

    Wei Zao hadn''t rxed one bit. Since he was already in the Foundation Establishment realm, he had a greater insight into Markus'' current condition. He could clearly see that the boy was barely breaking a sweat. He had cast over 50 spells without pause, yet there was barely anyg in his casting.

    ''He''s not tiring out? But how?''

    He perused the entry on Markus once again and searched for any details that stood out. It indicated that Markus had a below-average to non-existent aptitude for cultivation. There were no hidden bloodlines or special physiques that offered any advantages. His enchanted artefacts were fairly basic and didn''t offer boosted mana capacity.

    "How is he doing this?" Wei Zao muttered while scratching his head in confusion.

    "It must be the spells!" Wei Zao concluded out loud, attracting the attention of his neighbours.

    Wei Zao focused intensely on the spells circles summoned by Markus. Books pertaining to those spells materialised in his Omniscient Library, but they were all empty.

    "What the hell! Why are they empty?"

    In response to his aggressive inquiry, the system maintained silence.

    [...]

    Wei Zao cursed the system internally and ran through possible theories in his mind.

    ''Wait! Maybe the boy is also a transmigrant with a system!''

    [Negative.] The system finally responded.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Wei Zao scoffed and rechecked the boy''s registered teaching apprentice, Guy Larks.

    The book that was already present in the Omniscient Library with Guy Larks didn''t change and disyed the same information.

    ''But... How?'' Wei Zao eximed in defeat.

    While Wei Zao was undergoing an internal conflict, Gaige was bearing with the unending onught of spells from Markus. His initial confidence quickly began wavering as he found that there didn''t appear to be any fluctuation in Markus'' fervour.

    ''How isn''t he enervating himself?''

    Even the members of the audience caught on to the problem. The man who preemptively dered Gaige''s victory swallowed his words and slinked back into the crowd.

    Gaige realised that this couldn''t go on any longer. Instead of his opponent, he was the one getting tired. His stamina was running out, and his mana pool was draining at a rapid rate in trying to ward out spells he couldn''t dodge!

    He recalled Markus'' weakness in closebat and rushed forward. As he proceeded, he prepared the third sword stance under the first set of techniquesplementing Insight into the Abyss.

    He weaved through the approaching |Fireball| and the subsequent |Earth Spike|, and quickly passed the 5-metre safety boundary.

    Right on queue, Markus activated the explosion spell and directed it towards Gaige. In response, Gaige released the sword stance and produced the wave of darkness. Right as the explosion initiated, the darkness enveloped it and doused it with a barely audible puff.

    Gaige smiled and rushed forward with renewed vigour.

    ''Now!''

    Right as he passed the 3-metre boundary, Gaige knew that he was safe. Markus wouldn''t initiate an explosion this close, lest he hurt himself. Therefore, Gaige prepared to contend against the basic spells that might block his path.

    To his surprise, Markus activated a different spell circle. This looked nothing like the altered basic spells or the explosion spells Gaige had experienced earlier in this fight.

    Instead, a visible mist started to form and block his path. Gaige''s instinct screamed and urged him to stop, however, his momentum was beyond his control. He had pledged his all in this gambit, there was no chance to stop!

    He subconsciously closed his eyes and plunged through the mist.

    "AAAAAA!" A scream broke through the centre of the mist causing everyone to hold their breath.

    As the mist subsided they saw Markus running out and assuming a position on the other side of the field.

    In his original ce, writhing on the floor in pain, was Gaige. Steam emanated from the boy''s skin, and holes began forming in his outfit. When Wei Zao looked at Gaige''s face closely, he could see light yellowish patches and some swelling.

    ''Acid!'' That was the only answer he could think of. He gritted his teeth and directed his attention once again at Markus'' pouch. To his surprise, he didn''t find anything out of the ordinary. There were no offensive items in there!

    "Do you surrender?" Markus said, loud enough so that Gaige could hear.

    "What was that attack?" A teaching apprentice blurted.

    "Referee! This... Has to be cheating!" One of the students screamed.

    The referee furrowed his brows and spoke in a morose tone, "We did not see any illegal moves or unregistered items being used. Please do not make false calls and besmirch the integrity of our process."

    Although he appearedposed on the surface, deep down he was extremely perplexed. He was supposed to intervene should the students suffer fatal or grave injuries. However, his scans right as the acid mist spell was cast indicated that there was no lethality to it.

    This was confirmed after he observed Gaige who passed through the mist. The damage was only on the skin and could easily be treated through cheap regenerative ointments. The pain came from the extremely distributed nature of the attack. The small mist particles attacked from many points, making it hard for a Mana Condensation mage to brace for the damage.

    Everyone shut their mouths and retrained their attention into the arena.

    "Do you surrender?" Markus bellowed once again.

    "NO!" Gaige screamed, as he stood back up with visible strain, his eyes zing over in rage.

    He readied his sword once again and rushed forward haphazardly.

    Markus sighed and performed the same sequence of defensive manoeuvres as before. Just like thest time, his explosion spell was absorbed.

    This time, Gaige tried to extend the wave of darkness a bit further to absorb the acid mist as well. However, Markus anticipated this and pulled back the mist in advance, just outside the coverage of the wave.

    Gaige ended up suffering the same injury and bellowed in pain as he struggled to stand up. The pain was excruciating, and his nerves were screaming in agony.

    He tried once again, and failed spectacrly, incurring additional burns in the process.

    "Do you surrender?!" Markus shouted, with a demanding tone and a slight frown. He wasn''t taking any pleasure in this, he just wanted to subdue Gaige as quickly as possible.

    ''Suppress! Consume! I am the endless void!''

    Gaige closed his palm into a tight fist and screamed, "NOOOOOO!"

    As his primal shout reverberated, a nket of darkness burst out from him and enveloped the entirety of the arena and a little beyond.

    Wei Zao used his mana sense to inspect Gaige, and his eyeballs nearly burst out of their sockets in shock, "It''s... It''s perfected resonance!"

 Chapter 58 Apprentice Tournament (Part Three)

    Guy Larks cursed his bad luck the moment the referee dered the match-up.

    ''I''m up against Jo Way, right off the bat? Why?''

    No matter how hard Guy tried to distance himself from the agent of misfortune, he''d always end up getting drawn into the man''s path of destruction.

    ''It''s as if the whole world is revolving around him!''

    (It''s all a coincidence...) Mast would often reiterate in his mind.

    ''I''d agree with you if it was the one time. But this? This whole thing reeks, I tell ya!''

    (But it really is a coincidence...)

    Anyways, Guy wasn''t optimistic about the match-up. In all his experience reading those formic web novels from his old world, not once had a native from the world triumphed over a transmigrator. Even if there was a victory, they''d end up losing out miserably in the long run.

    Guy didn''t overlook the fact that he too was a foreigner in this world.

    ''I''m only a transmigrator in name. I don''t have any boosts or cheats like Jo Way,'' Guy sighed frequently.

    (Again with you and your cheats!)

    Many times, Guy had reassessed his decision to work as a teacher of magic because, in a lot of ways, this upation was antithetical to his beliefs. Take this match for example! Introducing tweens to violence and subjecting them to pain at such an early age was a recipe for creating emotionless monsters.

    Because of that, Guy had spent a lot of time grooming Markus and appealing to his humanity. Guy didn''t want him to be a psychopathic murder-hobo who would unleash his rage on all those that fronted him in the past.

    Seemingly, Guy''s teachings had been effective, because Markus was exceedingly careful in his confrontation against Gaige.

    Guy knew for a fact that Markus was nerfing his spellcasting lethality. He could have very easily overpowered Gaige and maimed him, but he chose not to do that. Markus even repeatedly urged Gaige to surrender because he was averse to inflicting unnecessary pain on his peer.

    Was it admirable, or foolish? Was it brave, or cowardly? Guy couldn''t be the judge of that.

    In all honesty, Guy would have done the same thing if he was in Markus'' shoes. He couldn''t just flip a switch in his head and ept the fact that he had to hurt someone so excessively.

    But his contemtion came to a sudden halt when Gaige unleashed a roar filled with an aura of intense suppression. It was at that moment that Guy nearly overturned his entire outlook on life and concluded that, ''Yep! Markus should have finished him when he had the chance...''

    Markus pushed Gaige to the edge. He suppressed him with his superior skills and spellcasting, and sent him into a pit of despair. Gaige was on the verge of defeat. But someone with a temte of the MC wouldn''t sumb to such as oue so easily.

    As Gaige''s roar resonated, a nket of darkness emanated from him and covered the entire arena. The white in Gaige''s eyes turned pure and marbly, while the bluish hue in his pupils deepened in colour. His blistering skin started to peel off as scales ck as the abyss burst out and covered his torso and lower body. The scales encroached into and enveloped his appendages, revealing sharp and stark-ck ws.

    The scales reached up to his chin and halted their progression. Instead, his canines elongated by a few centimetres.

    Guy gaped in disbelief as he heard Jo Way''s hushed exnation of what transpired, "Perfected resonance? That''s just great..."

    Mortals in the Late stage of Mana Condensation realms are technically able to advance into the Foundation Establishment realm. However, most don''t do it straight away. This is because they wait to achieve what is known as perfected resonance. This is a state achieved by mortals that have perfectly assimted the fundamentals of their cultivation method and have reached the optimal point toy their foundations into the path of magehood. For many, this may take years after achieving Late stage Mana Condensation. Generally, if a mortal human is unable to achieve perfected resonance before they reach their 30s, they resolve to just advance without it at the cost of not being able to advance any further.

    Many criteria contribute to achieving perfected resonance. Ultimately, it all relies on the mortal''s umtion of pertinent insights into themselves and their cultivation. Having a Specialised cultivation method definitely helps in that regard. For Gaige, he managed to achieve perfected resonance after he understood the true power thaty within his bloodline. And what was his special bloodline?

    It was the Abyssal Wyrm!

    Guy had read about it in a book owned by Al Jeeves. The Abyssal Wyrm was a remnant from before the Age of Istion. The reptilian species known as the Draconids were endemic to the Fel realm, known for their immense power and strong affinity to mana.

    During the times were the realms were connected, many Draconid species migrated from the Fel realm in search of unconquerednds. The Wyrm were a ss of Draconids that were known for their snake-like appearance. Theycked appendages but had a lengthy body with immense strength. Wyrms were parametrically thergest species of Draconids in existence.

    The Abyssal Wyrm was the strongest subspecies of its kind. Its strength came from its inherent affinity to a very rare kind of mana - darkness. Many mages had tried to build an affinity to this mana, and only a few had seeded. Those that failed suffered death so brutal, that it discouraged others from following in their footsteps.

    The nket of darkness unleashed its power immediately after it stabilised. Markus quickly copsed into a prone position, as if the weight of the entire world was dumped on him.

    Markus raised his wand and cast a spell through familiarity. However, the fire that burst out from the spell circle was sucked into the nket of darkness, leaving no trace.

    Gaige remained stationary in his original position, but he directed his gaze on Markus and roared harder. In response, the pressure on Markus intensified. He found it harder to breathe.

    Slowly, he found that he could no longer raise his arms or legs.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy started to fidget in ce. He wanted to throw in the towel on behalf of Markus, but he held himself back with great difficulty. He couldn''t make that move and demotivate Markus. This was a fight Markus had to ovee by himself, and Guy couldn''t interfere no matter how much his conscience screamed for him to do so.

    The referee observed the fight with unwavering focus. He couldn''t afford to make any mistakes, lest a student loses their life during his watch...

    He trained his attention on Markus and observed for an opportunity to intervene.

    Markus didn''t let out! He gritted his teeth and held on to dear life.

    ''Can''t lose...'' He repeated in his mind. If he gave up now, then he will have ruined his Master''s only chance to be a teacher!

    Markus'' lungs begin to copse under the increasing pressure. But Markus was unwilling to let out. He measured his breath and tried his hardest to maintain consciousness.

    ''Any... second! He can''t maintain this enraged state for long,'' he surmised.

    And true to his assumptions, the nket started to recede into Gaige - he had run out of steam.

    Gaige wheezed as he tried to maintain his position; he was so exhausted that a light breeze could topple him. His scales and deformations started to recede as well, however, his chest and torso remained the same.

    Markus pressed his hand against the floor and tried to raise himself. His right hand grasped the wand and began to materialise a spell circle.

    Gaige''s eyes widened in shock, ''This is it...''

    As he braced himself for an attack, he suddenly heard a loud thud.

    He squinted and looked ahead, only to see the slumped body of his opponent - unconscious.

    "The victory goes to Number 32!" The referee eximed.

    Right as his voice pierced through the silence, Guy rushed on stage and carefully turned Markus andy him on his back. He then raised the boy''s head and poured a potion into his mouth. After he made sure that the potion was consumed, he picked the boy in his arms and rushed off stage.

    "I won..." Gaige muttered in tion. "I WON!" He screamed with gusto.

    The audience didn''t chime in with cheers, though. They were still shellshocked by the events that transpired.

    "You did it! Good job!" Jo Way praised as he rushed over and supported the weak Gaige. "Let''s get you fixed up, hmm?"

    "I did it, teacher! We did it!" The boy muttered in a low voice as he trailed along while slumped onto Jo Way''s shoulders.

    Wei Zao smiled at Gaige''s face, but when the boy diverted his attention, the smile regressed into a thoughtful frown.

    Many details stood out and gnawed at Wei Zao during the match.

    Gaige''s cultivation with the Insight into the Abyss had tailored his body to match the Abyssal Wyrm as closely as possible. This allowed the boy to uncover the truths of the bloodline and had managed to achieve perfected resonance. The fact that Gaige had achieved it so early - at the age of 13 - was both a boon and a curse for Wei Zao. Gaige definitely wasn''t an outlier; many other extraordinary talents had managed to achieve perfected resonance near his current age. However, many powerful sects, ns, organisations and empires collected such extraordinary talents at all costs. If word got out, he''d have to contest with these powerhouses to keep Gaige. With his own strength being only at the Base stage of Foundation Establishment, his chances weren''t promising.

    But that wasn''t Wei Zao''s biggest concern.

    "Unknown cultivation method?" Wei Zao muttered in disbelief. This was the first time that his Omniscient Library had thrown such a value at him.

    Furthermore, it even failed to discern the spells that were cast by Markus. Not even a hint!

    This automatically triggered red gs in Wei Zao''s head. If his system, whichbelled itself as omniscient, had gaps in its knowledge, then there were definitely higher powers at work.

    He realised that he had been a bit toox by cing hisplete trust in the system. He was simply a pawn in the games yed by those that managed these infinite worlds. Maybe, the system was a tag ced on him to keep him under their control.

    ''Is Markus also a transmigrated soul?'' Wei Zao asked his system with some suspicion.

    Annoyingly enough, he was received by silence, [...]

    ''Stupid system!'' He cursed. After a moment of contemtion, he formted a n.

    "There''s only one way to get to the bottom of this!" He had to probe directly at the source - Markus Reva!

 Chapter 59 Defeat

    Markus woke up from hisa groggily.

    "What... happened?" He uttered with difficulty.

    "Boss!" Four familiar voices greeted him loudly. Markus supported himself and sat up against the bed''s backboard.

    "Where am I?"

    "You''re in the infirmary, Boss!"

    "Take it easy. I''ll go call the nurse."

    Markus rubbed his eyes and looked around. After localising himself, he realised that he was currently in the Academy''s infirmary. This wasn''t his first time here after all - the four individuals next to him had sent him here one too many times before...

    After stabilising himself, Markus evaluated his condition.

    ''Wow! I''m... perfectly fine?'' He was a little confused. He clearly remembered breaking many bones and injuring a lot of his internal organs.

    A realisation struck him, causing him to panic. "How long was I out for?"

    One of the F4 shrugged and answered, "Barely four hours."

    "But..." Markus inspected himself once again in incredulity.

    "Don''t worry, Boss. The nurse said that thanks to the Vitality and Regeneration Potion, all of the damage was attended to immediately. There is no after-effect or longsting damage done!" The boy said while shing a smile and a thumbs-up.

    "A Vitality and Regeneration Potion?" Markus was dumbfounded. He knew for a fact that the particr potion was extremely expensive in the market as it was able topletely regenerate any damage done to the body regardless of its severity. It was often advertised as being able to even regenerate limbs!

    After perusing through his memory with some difficulty, Markus vaguely remembered being fed a liquid right as he lost his consciousness after the fight.

    "Was it Master?" He muttered. The thought caused Markus to tear up involuntarily.

    ''Master spent so much money, just for me!'' He quickly dabbed up the tears threatening to burst forth and centred himself.

    "Oh right! Almost forgot," one of the F4 opened the drawers at Markus'' bedside and pulled out a letter. "Teacher Way told us to give you this letter when you woke up. He came over to recruit you half an hour ago, but since you were still in aa, he left this with us. Not only that, but a few other teachers also stopped by to check on your condition. I think they''re also nning to take you under them!"

    Another member of the F4 spoke with excitement, "You''re so lucky! Did you know, Teacher Way was automatically promoted from apprentice to teacher after the match? Apparently, it was already in the works and the Headmaster was waiting until there was a guarantee that he would pass the apprentice tournament. He even got a bigger office and a bunch of additional resource allocations..."

    Markus shook his head and interrupted the boys before they started their own tirade, "Right! Where''s Mas- I mean Teaching Apprentice Larks?"

    The four boys stared at each other in confusion, "Who?"

    Markus gritted his teeth and spoke up with irritation oozing in his voice, "The person who brought me here!"

    The four were intimidated by Markus'' sudden change in temperament and scratched their heads in unison in recollection.

    "Oh, I remember! The man who brought you here left a letter with us before he left. Where was it again?"

    They began to look around until one of them reached into the trash can and fished out a crumpled envelope.

    He bit his tongue in apology and handed it to Markus, "He didn''t look like much so we thought he was being presumptuous by scouting you, Boss..."

    Markus snatched the envelope and screamed, "GET OUT! NOW!"

    The four scrambled out in fear. Markus didn''t notice this, but his standing in their hearts had risen by miles. Before, they respected him for his superior intellect as well as his ingenuity. But after they saw him stand toe to toe with a monster like Gaige, and nearly win, they began to worship Markus.

    Markus carefully ttened the envelope and opened it up.

    As he read the contents of the letter, his eyes reddened and his eyebrows furrowed in distress.

    ____

    Dear Markus,<novelnext></novelnext>

    I''m sorry that I had to leave you like this, but I couldn''t bear to part with you face-to-face.

    I am so proud of you, Markus! Teaching you has been the greatest pleasure of my life, and I will always cherish that memory.

    When I saw you perform in the arena, I was so impressed by how far you had reached since we first met. But I wasn''t surprised. I always knew you had a lot of potential and would amount to something great. I want you to always remember that! Don''t let anyone tell you otherwise.

    And don''t fret about the loss. It wasn''t your fault. You performed beyond my expectations, and I am extremely proud of your aplishment. Sometimes in life, you are forced to face inevitabilities that you can do nothing about. Your opponent today happened to be one. No matter how much you prepared for this confrontation, I don''t think you could have predicted the match to go the way it did. Such is life.

    So, treat this as a learning opportunity for the future, and don''t get hung up on the defeat. Your main focus should be to improve yourself and push yourself beyond your limits. If you get engrossed in trying topete against others and going against the inevitabilities that are blocking your way, your obsession will only eat you alive. Remember, magic cannot solve all your life''s problems.

    Unfortunately, I can no longer continue as your teacher. I cannot stress this enough, but this isn''t your fault. Don''t think that you are responsible for my unemployment! I never ced that burden on your shoulders. What transpired was an inevitability in my life, and there was nothing you could have done about it.

    Worry not, I''ve already discussed with Teacher Jeeves about taking you in as his student, and he agreed. Don''t misunderstand, this wasn''t because I didn''t believe that you would win. It''s just that there are many factors involved and luck is rarely on my side. I just couldn''t bear leaving you out to dry without any backup should the worst-case scenario transpire.

    Finally, it is time to address the elephant in the room. I know you consider me as your Master. However, I am not confident that I can support you and nurture you to the level you deserve. When I epted you as my disciple, I was pretty excited. I was looking forward to working with you and growing together. But I realise that I was being selfish. I had no right, nor did I have the qualification, to be your Master. So, from here on, I step down as your Master. You deserve better!

    Good luck! I am looking forward to the many achievements in your future.

    Your loving friend,

    Guy Larks

    ____

    Markus lowered the letter and covered his face with his sleeves. His emotions were erupting uncontrobly; like the opening of floodgates after a heavy storm, he began bawling.

    In truth, no matter how much Guy tried to dissuade him, Markus subconsciously felt responsible for Guy''s dismissal.

    ''If only I had pushed harder instead of holding back my attacks.''

    ''If only I had prepared additional ingredients with greater power.''

    ''If only...''

    He exhausted himself by formting a list of regrets - errors that he could have avoided or alleviated in order to win his match.

    s, they would remain hypothetical. He had screwed it all up, and he hated himself for it!

    He whimpered and wailed, screamed and iled. His emotions hadpletely overpowered his body - he was unable to contain himself.

    "Master..." he sighed through his sadness.

    For Markus, the previous year had been the highlight of his entire life. He had never felt happier, or more satisfied. For once in his life, he didn''t feel worthless.

    All of it was thanks to his Master, Guy Larks. His Master had helped him achieve something that was deemed impossible by everyone in this world. His Master had guided him and raised him in record time. His Master had ced his entire career on the line, for Markus'' sake. Yet, Markus took that trust and squandered it!

    Slowly, Markus'' self-deprecation overpowered his psyche and threatened to pull him back into the well Guy had tried so hard to pull him out of.

    But before Markus lost himself into the darkness, a corporeal string of light brightened and attached to him. It wasn''t a metaphorical string, a literal string of light fastened itself on Markus'' nascent cultivation and extended out into the world. It extended through the open infirmary windows and moved towards the city.

    It passed through themercial district, weaving through the crowd and buildings. It extended towards the dankest corner of the city, a ce for the low-ss folk.

    The area was near the outskirts of Radiant City and was filled with aged housing. The string zig-zagged through the area and approached a run-down inn near the centre of this district.

    The string extended through the window of an inn, and finally stopped. Abruptly, the ck string tightened and became taut.

    What was weird about this connection was that it somehow felt as if it was already in existence. As if both sides of the string were already tethered in ce, yet the string hadn''t fully solidified. But now, it gained visibility due to a hitherto unknown condition being met.

    Back at the infirmary, Markus suddenly reached an epiphany. His gaze sharpened, and his expression darkened. He picked up the letter written by his Master and carefully folded it back into the envelope. He then picked up the letter from Jo Way, crumpled it and tossed it into the trash. He cleaned himself up and rushed out of the infirmary door with a firm resolve.

 Chapter 60 Change Of Scenery

    "It seems that I can no longer work as a teacher in this world," Guymented as he cautiously plopped down on the bed in his room.

    He had only just used his magic to expel the dust that was caked on all the furniture in the room. Unwittingly, he had copsed a few of them in the process as they were on theirst limbs.

    (You could try again in another state?) Mast suggested with some uncertainty.

    ''That won''t work. I''ve been cklisted! Even if I lude by identity, they''ll figure it out sooner orter and then I''ll have to face the music for it,'' Guy responded while shaking his head.

    ''I guess I''ll have to find employment somewhere else,'' Guy posited. ''There''s always The Burning Forge!''

    Guy slowlyy down on the mattress and pondered on the idea, ''Karmin did offer me a job thest time. Maybe I could work towards bing an enchanter for his business. I''ll have to redeem my Smithing Practitioner''s License and apply for the Enchanting path, but that''s okay! I have all the time in the world, after all.''

    (Are you going to be content with that?) Mast interrupted Guy''s "ambitious" ns.

    ''Why wouldn''t I?'' Guy retorted.

    (I thought that you wanted to continue in the teaching profession...)

    ''Well...'' Guy dragged the syble with some longing hidden in his tone. ''It''s fine. On the bright side, enchanting is a lucrative upation. To top it all off, I don''t have to worry about money now, seeing as I have a crapload of it in the bank already!''

    Guy quickly changed the topic of discussion with a segue, ''Speaking of money, I can''t believe I have to stay in such a decrepit ce even though I''m filthy rich! It doesn''t make any sense!''

    In actuality, Guy didn''t have much of a choice. All the avable inns, motels and temporary housing establishments were booked in Radiant City. The scarcity of lodging stretched out even towards the nearest vige. Guy was actually quite lucky to have found a ce to stay within the city.

    The reason for this could be attributed to the ongoing Beast Taming Guild''s 2-star assessment.

    Unlike with most other guild assessments, Beast Taming required heavier preparations, in readying the specific beasts for the process and isting the environment to standardise the testing conditions.

    A lot of these behind-the-scenes arrangements took significant effort and thus restricted the frequency as well as the ubiquity of the assessment.

    While most other assessments could be undertaken in any guild branch around the world, the higher starred tests for the Beast Taming guild could only ur in specific branches. In Radiant City, it only took ce once every three years.

    So it wasn''t technically out of the blue that all avable lodging was upied by foreigners and visitors, as nearly all of them were preupied with the ongoing assessment. It was only unfortunate that Guy happened to be homeless at an inopportune moment.

    Guy sighed once again, ''I''ve contacted a broker to find a room up for rent. Hopefully, he''lle back with some offers tomorrow.''

    As Guy made ns for the next day, a series of knocks from his room door interrupted his thoughts.

    ''Who could it be?'' Guy cautiously approached the door and pressed his ears against the surface. He knew that this locale was rife with crime, as he was nearly assaulted on two different asions while approaching this inn.

    With some difficulty, Guy was only able to make out the sound of someone panting. Clearly, the person on the other side was exhausted, and impatient because another set of knocks followed not long after.

    Guy opened the door by a crack and peered through the aperture.

    "Master!" A familiar voice called out from the other side.

    "Markus? What are you doing here?"

    Markus pushed open the door and rushed inside the room, panting heavily. He was wearing a burly backpack that bulged out as if it were stuffed full.

    "Did you know how difficult it was to find you, Master?" Markus eximed with a wronged expression.

    He then swivelled his head around and observed his surroundings. This entire time, he''d been focusing intensely on following a trail of breadcrumbs left by his Master and had finally found his temporary domicile. As he trudged through the grimy streets of this district, Markus'' heart ached in distress.

    ''Master has been forced into such an awful state. He''s without a job and savings. On top of that, he had to spend a fortune in purchasing that potion for me.''

    His resolve only grew stronger after that. And the near ramshackle state of the room cemented it in ce.

    Guy stared at the spectacle before him in disbelief. "What are you doing here? And what''s with the massive luggage?"

    Markus shook his head and wore a serious expression. "Master, I''ve dropped out of the Academy. I''m leaving with you!"

    "You did what?!" Guy screamed in shock.

    "If the Academy isn''t having you, then I don''t want to study there," Markus dered.

    Guy massaged his forehead and plopped down onto a chair. "You... I''ve told you many times to be so impulsive when making life-changing decisions. And why are you still calling me Master?"

    Markus dropped his bag and fished into it in search of something. He pulled out an envelope and returned it to Guy. "I haven''t read what''s inside, therefore I don''t agree with anything that may or may not have been conveyed through it."

    Guy stared nkly at the tantly resealed envelope in his hand and chuckled wryly, "Markus... I''m doing this-"

    "I don''t agree!" Markus dered and interrupted Guy.

    Guy sighed audibly and leaned back into the chair.

    "Markus. You yourself told me that your siblings back at the orphanage were the ones that supported you and got you into the Academy. If you do this, you''d be letting them down," He reminded Markus.

    "I... Since the day I became your disciple, my future was sealed. My ce is to be next to you, Master. Where you go, I''ll go!"

    Guy scratched his forehead in irritation and retorted, "Where CAN we go? Have you thought about that?"

    Upon hearing that, Markus was stumped.

    ''That''s right!'' His Master didn''t have any money to his name, nor did he have any strong backing. He was unemployed and had no prospects for the future.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''What to do?'' Markus contemted possible solutions.

    While he was doing so, Guy had begun reevaluating his ns. ''It doesn''t look like Markus will change his mind. But he''s still a child and needs to be properly educated. Maybe I can enrol him into a vocational school, or another non-magical educational institution. I know that civil positions are generally stable and well-paying.''

    Guy wasn''t worried about money, nor was he concerned about backing. He had both, thanks to Karmin. Guy could essentially retire right now and still live a content life!

    While the Master was worrying about his Disciple''s future, the Disciple came up with a solution, "Master! Why don''t youe with me?"

    "Come with you, where?"

    "Back to my vige. You can wind down and rx there while you search for a new job. Besides, I know that a lot of merchant caravans pass through the vige near ours. You could even work as a teacher there!" Markus rattled on enthusiastically.

    "On top of that, the Matron will also appreciate an additional helping hand. You wouldn''t have to pay excessive rent either."

    Guy was stumped by Markus'' ted ravings.

    ''Why would I live in a vige if I can rent a house in the city?'' He thought. He didn''t quite understand Markus'' line of reasoning in suggesting that.

    ''Wait a minute. He doesn''t know that I''m loaded!'' He realised that he hadn''t disclosed his rtionship with Karmin Z to Markus yet. No wonder the boy was so distressed about him.

    Guy wanted to exin to Markus that everything was fine, and to not worry about the future. But then he held his tongue in thest minute.

    ''Maybe...'' He thought. His life would be set if he decided to remain in the city and pursued a career as an enchanter. There wouldn''t be any surprises, and he could earn and livefortably.

    ''That... doesn''t sound like fun.'' Guy felt that chasing such a life, while safe, was exceedingly lonely and boring.

    ''This is my second chance, damn it! Why should I tie myself in one ce when I have a whole world to explore?''

    Guy smiled contentedly and responded, "Sure. Let''s do that!"

    Markus responded with an even brighter smile, free of burden and shame.

    His biggest woe was that he felt responsible for his Master''s current predicament. His reasoning behind this suggestion was that he wanted to make it up to his Master in any way possible. This could only be achieved if he remained close to his Master.

    ____

    A few dayster, Guy and Markus departed from Radiant City in high spirits. Markus voluntarily took on the responsibility of the preparations and travel itinerary.

    Since the boy was still blind to his Master''s financial endowment, he devised the travel in a way as to minimise expenditure.

    Through some investigation, he found a merchant''s caravan that was set to pass through a vige close to his own. He intended to hitchhike a ride from that vige to the orphanage.

    Guy didn''t know why Markus was so excited about the travel ns. In the end, he just shrugged it off and decided to roll with the flow.

    ____

    "Good lord, my butt hurts!" Guy cried as he massaged his rear end.

    "I''m sorry, Master. That was the most affordable ride I could find," Markus said apologetically.

    Guy groaned while stretching his body, "Oh my back! I feel like I''ve aged by a decade in thest week itself."

    He patted Markus'' slumped shoulders and added, "Don''t worry about the money, Markus. It''s not worth losing your vitality if we''re only saving a few coins."

    Markus nodded in embarrassment and walked forward, "It''s this way!"

    The duo trudged along for an hour along an uneven and unkempt path, that wound through the dense shrubbery. The trek reminded Guy of his experiences back on Earth. This wasn''t his first time hiking through forests to get to a vige. Back on Earth, many viges he''d been to were still isted from sprawling civilisation.

    The path they were on veered in the direction of the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range, towards its northern section. It was a geological feature that neighboured Radiant City and was made of towering and interconnected mountains, with its highest peaks at the ends of the mountain range.

    The mountain range formed a crescent moon arcing from the north of Radiant City and extended to the southeast. The forest actually extended from within the arc to without, however, they werebelled with two different names. The inner forest was known as the Green-Sky Forest and the woods on the other side were called the Whispering-Trees Forest. A small opening in the mountain range, right at its centre, acted as a throughway and was a prosperous trade route.

    Their destination was a vige at the northern end of the mountain range. While the mountain the vige was next to towered the highest, the forestry next to it was less dense. Furthermore, a small spring, originating from the mountain range, flowed near the vige and into the denser forests.

    Guy thought they would following the path which curved away from therge mountain and into the vige centre, yet a narrower pathway moved towards the mountain at an upwards gradient. Markus took the narrower path and exined, "Our vige is called the Twilight Vige, because when the sun rises, the mountain range covers it well and makes it look like its still twilight when its well into the morning."

    "Our orphanage is right up this path. There are steps carved into the mountain that lead into our orphanage from our vige, however, for that you''d have to go into the vige centre first. Besides, going up an incline is much easier than walking up steps."

    After a few minutes, Guy beheld the orphanage Markus was gushing about. It had a respectable look, much like a courtyard dwelling from the viges. It was built on a small, t expanse on the sloping mountainside. And just as Markus had told him, there were steps leading down into the vige right next to the orphanage.

    Guy approached the sign in front of the orphanage and read it out loud, "Mount Tai Orphanage?"

    Markus walked up to Guy and rified, "Our Matron came up with the name. It''s named after the mountain."

    Guy turned and faced the majestic peak leading up from the orphanage and sighed loudly, "Right... I had eyes, but couldn''t recognise it..."

    "Markus? Is that you?" Guy heard a pleasant, yet somehow familiar voice emanating from within the dwelling.

    With furrowed brows, he turned towards the sound, and his eyes burst open in shock.

    "It''s... you?!"

 Chapter 61 Interlude: A Childs Eyes

    "I''m sorry, Marie. But I can''t tutor them anymore!"

    "Please, Miss. You''re the only teacher in this vige. You know just as well as I, the value of literacy in this world. Can you please do it for me, your oldest student?" Marie Reva responded while erging her eyes to appear pitiful.

    The aged woman before her sighed and responded, "Look. It''s not that I don''t want to teach those twins. It''s just that... How can I put this lightly... maybe the path of literacy isn''t in their fates?"

    Marie lowered her gaze dejectedly and turned towards the subjects of the discussion. Hiding behind her, were two fraternal twins, both of them at 6-years of age. Due to their young ages, they appeared as split images of each other; both had piercing blue eyes and curly brown hair. Yet, their distinctive characters separated them.

    The boy guiltily slithered behind his bolder sister and shrunk his body. The girl puffed her chest and put on a brave and adamant front. She would appear cute, if not for the many bruises and scrapes along her arm and legs, as well as her dirtied clothes.

    "Kano tries. He really does. I''ve seen him read the practice texts again and again, yet he faces difficulty each and every time. He ended up memorising the whole text in the end, but he still couldn''t read it. Writing was even worse! Look at this page," the woman retrieved a scrap paper and disyed it in front of Marie.

    "Here, look at this! He wrote the same letter in three different ways within the same sentence. I made him write it ten times as practice, and he corrected it. But when he had to write another word with those letters, it''s the same story all over again!"

    "And he barely talks! How can he get rid of his stutter if he doesn''t talk out loud? He murmurs all the time, and his sister has to broadcast it for him."

    With an exasperated grunt, the woman continued, "Don''t get me started with Dora! That girl can''t focus, at all! Look at her!"

    The woman pointed at the culprit, who was crouching down and ying with a few ants crawling in front of her. The girl jolted her head in attention and retorted, "It''s not my fault!" She eximed without thought.

    "See? She doesn''t even know what we were talking about. What''s worse is that she doesn''t think twice before going up in arms. Sometimes I can''t tell if she''s a boy or a girl!"

    "I didn''t do it for no reason!" The little girl exined. "They were making fun of Kano. I couldn''t just do nothing!"

    "Girl! It''s his fight, he must handle it. If you''re always the one to bail him out, how can he grow?" The woman retaliated.

    "But..." yet before Dora could respond, Marie grasped her by her shoulders and gently applied pressure. Dora took the hint and kept mum.

    "Is there really no other way?" Marie pleaded once again.

    "No. There are so many other kids in this vige depending on me to teach them. I can''t afford to give them special attention. Besides, I''m doubtful whether it will even work," The woman resolutely denied Marie. "I think they might find more sess in pursuing different avenues. Now please leave! Gramie said that there''s a powerful travelling soothsayer set-up near the vige centre!"

    Marie sighed and left. She grasped the hands of both the kids and left the woman''s house, which also worked as a makeshift school in Twilight Vige.

    As the trio walked back to the orphanage, Dora spoke up in a quiet voice, "Sis, I''m sorry."

    Marie patted the girls head and consoled her with a firm tone, "Don''t apologise! You did the right thing. No one messes with our family! I would''ve given those brats a few hits myself if you hadn''t."

    The little girl chuckled in response, but this only sent the boy into a deeper spiral, "It''s all m-m-my fault."

    Before Marie could say anything, the boy rubbed his teary eyes and rushed up the stairs leading to the orphanage.

    "Sigh. This kid... I should let the matron know..." Marie muttered to herself.

    "Sis, when do you think big bro Markus wille back? I really miss him," Dora asked.

    "He just left a few months ago, right? We have to be patient, Dora. He''s trying to follow his dream, and we should support him. If I''m being honest, I''m actually a little jealous of that brat. I wish I could be a mage," Marie replied.

    "Why don''t you?"

    "Are you kidding? I''m so old!"

    The Dora counted something out in her little fingers and spoke up, "But you''re only... two years older than him."

    Marie responded with a factual and sorrowful tone, "They say that the older you are when you start learning magic, the harder it bes to advance. Markus was at the right age, I missed my chance. It would have been a waste of money if I-"

    "Are you leaving us again?" Dora interrupted Marie with another question.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Huh? Yes. I''m nning to take another trip. The Maynard''s Merchant Caravan offered me a finance manager''s position for their uingp. This one is much longer than thest job - a year."

    "You''re going to be gone for so long?" Dora eximed with a pout.

    "Now, now! We barely managed to cover Markus'' admission. What about the uing fees? I have to do this," Marie instructed right as they arrived at the orphanage. She then squatted in front of Dora and continued, "I need you to be more vignt! It will just be you, your brother and the matron. Don''t trouble her too much, OK?"

    Dora nodded obediently. Marie smiled and added, "Now, let me go find you brother..." while walking away.

    Dora waited until Marie was out of her line of sight and then swivelled her head in ce cautiously. Once she made sure that no one was around, she tip-toed towards the woods behind the orphanage while carefully holding her bag.

    She travelled deeper until she arrived at a clearing. Like a bountiful oasis in the middle of a desert, the clearing stood out like a sore thumb amidst the dark and towering forestry. There was a single tree in the middle of a pleasant and bright-green coat of grass dotted with a plethora of colourful flowers and herbs.

    Unlike the other trees in the forest, this one was special. For those with trypophobia, the sight of its trunk, which was decorated with irregrly sized holes, would induce severe aversion and disgust. In fact, the trunk itself was hollow.

    Dora skipped up to the tree and called out, "Fancy!"

    Through one of the holes on the tree, an elegant insect, with a thorax the size of an adult palm, gracefully fluttered out. The insect, Fancy, looked much like the swallowtail butterflies from Earth, except the pattern on its wings were more colourful, intricate and fluid.

    Fancy skipped through the air, like a leaf in the wind, andnded in front of Dora.

    "Look what I brought!" Dora started and carefully reached into her back. She retrieved arge box from with and ced that on the ground. She reached in and pulled out a flower withrge orange petals, with its roots intact.

    "I found this today near the vige, and it reminded me of you," She used her hands to dig into the soil and proceeded to nt the flower.

    "You wouldn''t believe what happened today. Durkas called Kano an idiot in front of everyone, just because he couldn''t read a paragraph out loud. I was so angry that I nearly picked up my bag and threw it at him. But then I remembered that I had the flower inside. So, I took Kano''s bag and threw it at him. But who knew that Kano had a bottle of ink inside it? The bottle blew up when the bag hit Durkas and he waspletely covered in ck!" Dora chortled out loud as she carefully tapped the dirt around the flower''s stem.

    "There, done!" She then inched back and looked at Fancy expectantly. "Do you like it?"

    Fancy fluttered her wings as if expressing an affirmation and fluttered over the flower. As she moved, a fine powder sprinkled from her wings around the flower. As the powder settled, the flower started to bloom brighter as if it was injected with a direct dose of vitality.

    Dora pped her hands and theny down in front of the flower on her stomach. She supported her head on her hands while taking a deep breath.

    "Haaa. Marie is leaving in a few days. Soon it''s just gonna be me and Kano, all alone. Just like before..."

    Fancynded on another flower next to Dora. Surprisingly, the flower didn''t bend under her weight.

    "I miss Markus. You know big bro Markus, right? He went to Radiant City to be a mage. Do you know any mages?" Dora gazed at Fancy, expecting an answer.

    "That so? Why do they attack you on sight?"

    "I guess... Then do you know any strong beasts in the forest? Markus said that he wants to be a mage to protect us. Here''s what I''m thinking. What if we be friends with some strong beasts in the forest? They could protect everyone at the orphanage, and the Markus wouldn''t need to leave?"

    "What do you mean they''re dangerous?"

    Dora scrunched her face in disgust, "Ew! That''s disgusting! Wait a minute, why haven''t I seen any monsters around here?"

    "What''s mana scarcity?"

    "But I remember you saying that there was an overabundance of mana in this clearing. Shouldn''t this attract more monsters?"

    "Woah! You''re that strong?"

    Dora giggled and continued talking to Fancy.

    As the sun started to set, Dora bid Fancy farewell and skipped out of the clearing. Once she exited the boundary, the area began to flicker as a fog of power rose up from the soil. As the fog thickened, the scenery changed to match the rest of the forest. It was almost as if the peaceful and tranquil clearing never existed.

 Chapter 62 Interlude: Travelling Soothsayer

    What is immortality? Is it to transcend mortality as an idea - an unwavering will and resolve? Or is it to literally transcend the bonds of mortality, and live for an eternity?

    Both concepts are achievable in this world of magic. A mage can immortalise their sense of existence as an abstract thought through Ascension, or be unaging and eternal by reaching the Tesseract Transformation realm.

    The Tesseract Transformation realm is the pinnacle achieved by any mage on their paths. To reach it, they need to advance through Foundation Establishment into Core Formation, then to Core Condensation, which leads into Tesseract Transformation. In reaching the realm, the mage essentially transcends the bounds of their mortal coils and are immortalised. This is because they fuse their souls, their tether to their mortal self, into their will, bing one with their cultivated path.

    Yet, this does not mean that the mage is truly free from death. To maintain their immortality, the mage must periodically absorb new insights and keep their soul from stagnating. Because what difference is there between an idle soul and a corpse? Those that fail to maintain a dynamic soul slowly cease to exist and disperse. The mage may also voluntarily Ascend, and immortalise their will into an artefact known as inheritance artefacts. Once they go through with that irreversible process, though, their soul and cultivation solidify and be eternal.

    Krish Nara was at that crossroads in his life. He had lived for over 2000 years and had personally witnessed the world move past him. Every year, he could feel his soul dimming by a smidgen as he failed to ignite a spark of inspiration. He knew that maybe in 5 more years, he would cease to exist.

    Thus, after drowning his sorrows and regrets in strong alcohol, of which he had to consume multiple barrels due to his superior constitution as a Tesseract Transformation mage, he decided that it was time for him to Ascend.

    ''Maybe my cultivation could be of use to someone else?'' He thought.

    His master before him had also Ascended and left him with a single cowrie shell, an inheritance artefact. In fact, his master had also suffered from the same problem as he himself was facing. Lack of stimtion!

    Fortunately, his master found some stimtion in training a disciple and eked out an additional 200 years in the process. Unfortunately, Krish was unable to benefit from this as he had thoroughly failed to find a suitable disciple in thest 1000 years.

    That''s right! He could not find a single suitable soul to carry forward his school''s legacy in thest 10 mortal lifetimes.

    With no other solution left, Krish decided to travel the world onest time by foot, like a mortal, and absorb the sights for one final time.

    This was easier said than done because over the years he had overlooked the fact that he had a crippled right leg.

    One must wonder: "How can a Tesseract Transformation mage be a cripple?"

    True. How could a being at the pinnacle of existence have such an idiotic deficiency? The answer to that was closely attached to Krish''s cultivation method and unique skill that was derived from it.

    Krish Nara was thest student from an ancient school of cultivation called "The Heavenly Eye". The cultivation method did not offer any martial benefits, it was purely auxiliary. Yet, the potential it possessed trumped all the powers in the world. Because a cultivator of The Heavenly Eye had insight into one of the most elusive and abstract aspects in existence - Fortune!

    Fortune, or luck, is a condition inherent to all things. Even non-sentient and inanimate objects have luck attached to them. Many may argue this, but The Heavenly Eye school affirm that the entire world is held together by this key metric. Once a mage is sufficiently advanced in The Heavenly Eye, they gain a special power that allows them to observe the fortune around them and predict future oues through extraption.

    One can already imagine the sheer magnitude of such a power. To be able to predict the future! That is invariably the single mostmon wish of any mortal.

    However, the world is fair. Everything has a consequence, and so does the use of such a power. A person has a natural and predetermined trajectory in their life. If someone moves them off that trajectory after observing what lies ahead, they are interfering with the natural flow of time and they must bear the consequences. Yet, if they can offset the shift by taking something from the subject that creates a ripple of equal magnitude, then the bnce can be restored.

    Back on Earth, this behaviour is known as karma offsetting.

    Krish learned of these consequences the hard way. When he started off, he still held connections to the mortal world in the form of his family. After using his powers to save his family from a few crises, he began to bear the scars of his actions, ergo his crippled right leg.

    There is no way to treat these damages, no amount of elixirs or forbidden magic can alleviate them. Therefore, Krish was forced to limp his way around the world, like amon hobo. Quite literally! His appearance had solidified to resemble an old man with long facial hair following his breakthrough into Core Formation. It was another side-effect of his cultivation...

    Through his travels, he''d been wearing the same set of clothes and had inevitably worn them down significantly. His entire ensemble truly had a wanderer''s aura: with a long and uneven walking stick to support him and a worn-out sack sagging over his back.

    His travels brought him to a vige secluded in the Green-Sky Forests, and under the purview of one of the taller mountains in the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range.

    It was a quaint old ce, Twilight Vige it was called. To him though, it didn''t appear any different from all the other viges he''d passed in his lifetime. Mortals going about their daily trivial lives: waking up, going to work, eating, sleeping, rinse, repeat.

    After ncing through his Heavenly Eyes, he observed that this particr ce was shrouded in a greyish cloud. Danger lurked in the distant future. Nothing he''d have to worry about though - he''d be long gone by then.

    "''scuse me, can I help ya?" A local called out to him with an ented drawl.

    "Good day! I''m a travelling soothsayer; is there a ce of lodging in this vige?" Krish asked courteously.

    The local scratched his head and narrowed his eyes with suspicion, "A soothsayer...?"

    His vignce was warranted, of course. Even though magic made a lot of impossible things possible, one could never be too cautious against conmen and huxters. Krish recognised this from looking at the local''s eyes and added, "I highly advise that you take greater care of your health in the uing days. Avoid unnecessary travels after dark, especially into the woods. Your pregnant wife will need a lot of support from you, after all."

    The local''s eyes widened in surprise, "How... How did you-?"

    "Aren''t you a lucky one! Twins - A son and a daughter!" Krish didn''t let the man finish his question. He rattled on with a monotonous tone, yet held a tranquil and inviting gaze.

    "Great master!" The local eximed and hopped over excitedly. "The vige doesn''t have an inn, but there is an additional room at our house. My mother-inw will be arriving in a few days though."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Krish waved his hand and assuaged him, "Don''t worry. I''ll be gone by then. You should probably remind your mother-inw to bring in some of those seasonal fruits from their town. Nourishment is important for a pregnant woman."

    The local nodded vigorously and carefully led the limping Krish towards his house. Along the way, a few of the neighbours called out and inquired about Krish, and the local respectfully introduced him to the vigers. The vige was fairly small in size, and so the ambience was like arge family. Neighbours knew what was going on in other''s houses, so it would have been impossible to hide Krish''s existence.

    Unavoidably, Krish''s identity as a soothsayer sparked a lot of interest from the crowd, which led to him fielding a range of questions.

    "Great master, do you think my harvest this year will be good?"

    "Great master, my daughter ising of age soon. Will I be able to find a nice husband for her?"

    "Great master.... I... ummm... My husband and I have been... trying regrly. But we aren''t facing any... sess..."

    Krish was used to this. In fact, he was undertaking such an arduous trip for this very purpose. Over thest 1000 years, he found that he had be estranged from the mortal world. Having transcended the limits of his species, he had be numb to worldly affairs. This travel was his attempt to connect once again with his species before his passing.

    "Everyone, please calm down. I will take a short rest and set up by the vige centre. I can answer your questions at that time."

    The crowd dispersed after Krish''s assurance.

    ____

    The local was quick to act. After Krish had his rest, the man quickly prepared a desk and seat near therge tree at the vige centre.

    Krish assumed his position and unloaded his tools from his sack. He firstid a clean mat over the table to protect his items, he then took out a few almanacks listing historic heavenly body states, and then he retrieved his container of cowrie shells.

    Once he was ready, the vigers filed in one at a time.

    One thing Krish found over his travels amongst average mortals, that is those without an obsession with power, was that their preupations seldom required him to exercise his cultivation.

    The first person to meet him was a woman struggling to get pregnant. She had tried many folk alternatives to improve her chance, yet failed at all turns. To this, Krish didn''t need to activate his powers. A cursory inspection with his magic provided more than enough information regarding her condition. He reached into his sack, which happened to be a space artefact, and pulled out a pot of herbs.

    "Water this nt once every two days with exactly one cup of lukewarm water. After lunch, pluck one leaf and boil it in water and drink the concoction. Don''t worry, there are a lot of kids in your future. You just need to be patient, and remain stressfree," Krish instructed calmly.

    The woman burst into tears and held Krish''s hands in gratitude, "Thank you so much, great master. I''ll try..."

    He patted the back of her palms and spoke in a gentle tone, "It''s your mother-inw, isn''t it?"

    The woman nodded along and exined her woes in great detail while sobbing. Krish was conscientious of this and had already set up a noise-cancelling barrier around them to lude her voice.

    Arge portion of the consultations he''d had to take on during his travels was like this. To most people, these problems appeared mundane, yet for these folk, they were monumental and insurmountable. Why? It was all because they had to suffer through it in silence, without support.

    For this woman, oveing her tyrannical mother-inw was an impossible task. That stress in and of itself had eaten away at her psyche. How could she expect to get pregnant under such pressure? Even if she did, wouldn''t she just damage her body further once she conceived?

    In fact, the woman was already a week along into her pregnancy, she just didn''t know it yet. Once she realised it, she would have regained her confidence, yet she would have ultimately umted a lot of emotional trauma through stress and would suffer in the future.

    Krish didn''t need an all-seeing eye to predict her future. So his intervention right now, to help her vent and regain her frame of mind, wouldn''t return to bite him back. However, the woman didn''t skimp out in showing her gratitude. She gifted him with a basket of fruits as she left in a jolly manner.

    After she left, the next person in line walked in and unloaded his own problems.

    Krish happily went along with the set-up and met every single person in line. The vigers were grateful and respectful and didn''t push their luck. Most of their questions could easily be solved through his inspection and a few deductions. Others, that required a bit of prediction could be determined through the use of his cowrie shells and by referencing his almanacks. Not once did Krish have to activate his Heavenly Eye.

    At sunset, Krish stood up from his seat and walked back to his host''s house. The man had reserved the room that was slightly detached from the house for him; it was supposed to be for his mother-inw who was travelling in to support her pregnant daughter.

    As a Tesseract Transformation realm mage, Krish didn''t need sleep. As usual, he entered a deep meditative state and let time progress.

    His meditation was interrupted by the sound of a rooster''s crow, which indicated dawn break. Krish exhaled deeply and opened his eyes. Following his usual routine, he activated his Heavenly Eye and initiated his daily cultivation.

    Unexpectedly, the moment he looked through the Heavenly Eye, his eyes widened in shock and nearly popped out of their sockets. If not for the fact that his body didn''t produce any waste, Krish feared he would have soiled his trousers too!

    "What the heck just happened?"

 Chapter 63 Reversal Of Fortune

    "Oh no! I''m so screwed!" Krish eximed in fear.

    What could cause an invincible powerhouse in the Tesseract Transformation realm to shiver in their boots?

    An immensely auspicious golden aura had enveloped the vige, arge portion of the mountain range containing Mount Tai, as well as the forest in its immediate vicinity!

    As a reference, the brighter the aura appears through the Heavenly Eye, the greater the fortune. And the golden aura hanging over the area was so bright Krish was having difficulty keeping his attention on it.

    Compared to its greyish state yesterday, it was a reversal of unimaginable proportions - something Krish had only seen a handful of times in his lifetime. And in all those asions it was because of his intervention. He had employed his Heavenly Eye and shifted the flow of destiny in a way that overturned the fortune of an entire sect.

    "Oh no! I''m dead! I''m so- so dead!" Krish cried as he began to inspect every part of his body.

    "How did this happen?" While still fumbling around, Krish immediately narrowed and heightened his senses within his mana field to cover the area nketed in the auspicious golden aura. He inspected every single individual, every beast, every object down to the particles floating in the atmosphere, in search of the cause.

    "But- I just offered some advice! I didn''t even use my eye. How did this happen?" He darted his attention around.

    Finally, he stopped on three particr individuals. Amongst them, two were twins, and the third was a teen girl.

    What fascinated him was that just yesterday, those three were a greyish-ck shade through his Heavenly Eye. They were ted to perish soon. But now, they shone just as bright as the area around them.

    Krish just couldn''t figure out what he had done to cause such a change. Worst yet, he was shivering over the impending destruction his body was going to face. Without knowing where the deviation was, he could never feel safe. Sure, he could always just level this vige and cancel out the fortune the old-fashion way. But he simply couldn''t get himself to do it.

    "I''m dying anyway, what''s the point?"

    Thus, Krish decided to extend his stay and observe the situation.

    He waited for a week, yet nothing odd urred. His body was fine, which meant that it was probably not a result of his interference. This shocked him further because people''s fortunes are generally written in stone the moment they are born. It is possible to change it, but it requires insight into the flow of fortune, which in turn requires someone to be learned in a cultivation method such as The Heavenly Eye. There do exist cultivation methods in the world like it, but none of them are as effective as Krish''s own. That is, those other powers cannot cause such a massive reversal.

    This could only mean one thing: there was someone else equally powerful manipting the field.

    "But why this vige, and why those three kids?" Krish pondered.

    He couldn''t find the answer even after staying for a month. At that point, the mother-inw of his host had arrived and he no longer had a ce to live. So, Krishmissioned the vige chief and a few men to help build him a house near the stairways that lead to the orphanage.

    Once he settled there Krish continued his surveince.

    Half a yearter, Krish saw a series of images in the golden cloud. Generally, he could observe these images all the time when gazing into other''s fortunes. However, whenever a change urred due to his intervention, the images would disappear and it would take some time for the new visions to emerge as the altered fortunes solidified.

    In these choppy visions, Krish finally saw the sign he was so desperate for in the past 1000 years.

    "Someone is fated here!"

    Not just anyone can cultivate The Heavenly Eye, they need to be part of the universe''s design. While it sounded nonsensical, if one really considered it, it would makeplete sense. A cultivator of The Heavenly Eye was technically an individual divergent from the regr timeline. One could liken them to film projectionists.

    The film reel is analogous to the expected flow of fortune. The projectionists that handle these reels can observe a rough outline of this trajectory through ncing at this reel. Additionally, they also have the power to splice out frames from the reel and add others in its ce.

    However, while just about anyone can qualify to be a projectionist after training, it is not the same for cultivators of The Heavenly Eye. These individuals need to be fated and must be written into the natural flow of fortune. In other words, they need to be chosen by the universe itself.

    If Krish decided to take in a random person and train them with this method, he would face a massive bacsh from the universe.

    The prospect of finally gaining a disciple greatly livened Krish. He decided to settle down, and wait for his disciple to pass through, or at least until the images in the cloud stabilised.

    With that in mind, he waited. All the while he kept his senses trained on the three kids. The eldest had left a few days after his arrival. But her travels did not extend beyond the range of his mana field.

    After another half a year, something odd urred. Two individuals entered his senses. One of them had the same golden hue as the cloud hanging over the vige, which had greatly solidified from its earlier misty form, while the other was a shade of ck so deep that the man appeared 2-dimensional.

    This stumped Krish. He had seen such a form before, but that was when he faced the minions of a cultivator specialising in reanimation techniques. Only a dead being had such a void-ck shade because they had no future.

    Surprisingly, this man who had a zombie''s fortune, was not a walking corpse. He was very much alive!

    His regr senses clearly indicated that the man was alive, yet his Heavenly Eye red that the man was dead.

    "That''s... odd..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Truly, this entire vige was odd. Nheless, Krish was excited because he knew that this reversal had to do with this man. With a prospective disciple waiting for him around the horizon, he decided to extend his wait and observe how things progressed.

    ____

    The moment Guy saw the face of the woman who exited the orphanage, he was thrown back to a time before he transmigrated into this world.

    The hospital''s VIP room''s door burst open and a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties charged in. Her eyes were red, indicating that she had cried earlier, yet her face exuded unbridled rage and anger.

    As she walked, her arms iled by her side and her body bounced in harmony. She had a short stature, yet her appearance radiated with maturity. She wasn''t a ssical beauty - her only appealing features were her emotive and piercing chestnut brown eyes - yet for Guy, she was dazzling in every way. Because Guy didn''t like her for the way she looked, he was attracted to her soul.

    "GUY! Why did I hear that you are rejecting the treatment?" The woman didn''t waste any time and got right to the point.

    Guy turned his head with some difficulty. He wasying on the hospital bed, set at afortable incline. His face looked pale and radiated a sense of weakness. He waspletely bald, a side-effect of his past treatments, and his appearance was vastly emaciated.

    "~Grace~" Guy spoke in a raspy voice but with a sing-song intonation.

    "Don''t ''~Grace~'' me! Tell me, are you?"

    Guy smiled bitterly and nodded in response. Grace furrowed her brows and pulled over a seat next to his bedside.

    "Why?"

    Guy sighed and replied, "I''m done, Grace. I feel pain every day, and there''s no end in sight. The doctors say that my chances are bleak. I can''t take it anymore."

    "But there''s still some hope, right?" Grace responded pleadingly.

    "Hope? This isn''t living, Grace-"

    But Grace quickly interrupted, "But what about your family? What about all those kids you''ve worked with? Why are you being so... selfish?!"

    Guy exhaled and retorted, "All my life, I''ve been giving and giving. I think I deserve to be selfish onest time?"

    "But... What about me?" Grace added in a lowered voice. As she spoke her eyes began to water once again.

    "Hey," Guy grasped Grace''s hands and gently patted them. With a chuckle he spoke, "Look at this! All this time, I''d been trying my darnedest to get you to open yourself up to me. Not once have I managed to break through your imprable barrier of ice. If I''d known that all it took to make a breakthrough was an imminent threat of death, I''d have gotten myself shot a few times back when we toured through Syria!"

    Grace knocked Guy''s shoulder with her fist and reprimanded him, "How could you say that?!"

    Guyughed, but he was interjected by a furious fit of coughing, "Ouch, that kinda hurt!"

    "Right!" Guy remembered something and leaned towards the bedside table and opened the drawer. He retrieved a small, simple yet elegant box and handed it to Grace.

    "I wanted to give this to you under better circumstances. But I don''t think that''s going to happen, so I want you to have this. I don''t have many regrets in my life. Only one, and it was that I didn''t have the courage or confidence to give this to you earlier. I was scared you would reject me. But now that I think about it, who cares if you had rejected me? You miss 100% of the shots you don''t take, right?"

    ? Grace carefully held the box and opened it up. As she did, she was greeted by a beautiful diamond ring. It had a small, yet intricately cut diamond, and a in band that perfectly matched her style.

    "Guy... this," Grace got choked up as she absorbed everything before her.

    "Don''t overthink things. I bought it way back and held on to it all this time. I am not expecting anything from you. I just want you to know how I feel about you from my mouth, and not from a third-person after my passing."

    Grace lost control of her emotions and started bawling. She covered her face and ran out of the room, leaving Guy alone by himself once again.

    "Sigh... She still can''t stand expressing her emotions in front of me. If only I had a little more time..."

    ____

    "Grace..." Back in present, Guy spoke audibly in a voice filled with a myriad of emotions.

    The woman standing before him frowned, narrowed her chestnut brown eyes and asked, "Yes? Have we met before?"

 Chapter 64 All A Coincidence

    Guy stared incredulously at the visage ring back at him. The resemnce was eerily uncanny.

    ''She''s exactly like Grace when I first met her!'' The myriad of travels he and Grace undertook since their early twenties back on Earth had affected her physically and emotionally. Before they began their venture, she used to have a more cold and fenced off aura that dissuaded others from approaching her. It was only after getting to know her at a personal level that Guy realised the underlying reason for her frigid demeanour.

    ''If only I had known about it earlier, I could have made so much more progress in our rtionship,'' Guymented. But then he quickly shook off that thought, because standing here in front of him was his second chance!

    "Have you met Miss Grace before, Master?" Markus inquired.

    "Master? Markus, who''s this?" Grace interjected.

    "Your name''s Grace?" Guy eximed.

    "Yes. Who''re you?"

    "This is my Master, Matron Reva," Markus rified.

    "Reva? Are you... you''re a mother?" Guy asked hesitantly while gesturing between Markus and Grace.

    "What? No! Again, who are you? Who is this, Markus?"

    "No, Master. Since we''re all orphans, we decided to take Matron Reva''sst name as a sign of solidarity. And Matron, this is Master."

    "I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!" Grace exploded. She released a long exhale and let the silence settle.

    "Now, one at a time," she pointed at Markus and reiterated. "Markus, who is this person? And please, don''t tell me he''s your Master again!"

    "This is my Master, Teacher- I mean Mister Guy Larks. He''s the teaching apprentice I was learning under."

    "Great! Next question, what are you doing back so early? We weren''t expecting you for another year," Grace replied with visible confusion.

    "That? I... I dropped out..." Markus replied in a low voice.

    "Excuse me?" Grace raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She craned her neck closer and narrowed her eyes.

    "I dropped out of the Academy," Markus confessed in a shaky tone.

    "Why? Did something happen?" Grace asked with concern. She ced the basket in her hand on the ground and walked up to Markus and embraced him gently.

    "It''s alright. Everything is going to be ok. It''s fine even if you couldn''t be a mage, we can find something else for you. OK?" She said in a soothing voice while patting the back of Markus'' head.

    Markus wiggled out of her embrace while blushing in embarrassment. "That''s not it! I didn''t fail in bing a mage."

    He pulled out his magic wand and cast a massive |Fireball| directed towards the sky.

    Grace huddled back in fear as she beheld the |Fireball| hurtling skywards. Her face contorted with an expression of unimaginable terror. Her legs started to shake and give way, but she quickly stabilised herself and began to breathe measuredly. While she was doing so, Guy rushed forward immediately and snatched the wand from Markus.

    "What are you doing?!" Guy reprimanded. In response, Markus lowered his head and retreated his head into his neck.

    "Sorry, Master. I... wasn''t thinking straight."

    "Damn right you weren''t! I''m confiscating this! You will get it back once you''ve properly contemted your actions. I''ve taught you better than this, Markus. I''m extremely disappointed in you," Guy continued.

    While the Master was disciplining his Disciple, Grace finally managed to calm herself and steadied her breathing. She coughed loudly to attract the duo''s attention.

    "Since you''ve be a mage as you''ve wanted, why did you drop out?"

    "I dropped out because they fired Master," Markus answered righteously while avoiding Guy''s eyes.

    Grace gazed nkly at Markus. A stale silence hung in the air.

    "WHAT?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Grace finally burst in anger and eximed animatedly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do you have any idea what your sister and I had to go through to get you admitted into that Academy? In fact, I was against it from the very beginning, it was she who convinced me in the end. And what did you do with her efforts? You dumped it into the mud and trampled all over it! Even now, she''s out travelling with some caravan and scrounging money just to send it to you! You, who dropped out of Academy! And for what? Because they fired this clown?" She added while pointing aggressively at Guy.

    "Matron, please don''t insult my Master like that!" Markus interrupted.

    "MASTER? He''s your Master?" Shemented in disbelief. "Who even are you?"

    Guy walked forward and politely answered, "Hello, I am Guy Larks."

    "Nice to meet you Guy Larks. Could you please do me the honour of introducing yourself?" Grace responded sarcastically.

    "I''m an unemployed teaching apprentice," Guy responded with a chuckle. This banter reminded him of his conversations with Grace back on Earth. At that time, everyone hated Grace for her snarky sarcasm. Not Guy though. He loved to y into it because he knew that she never had aeback. And coincidentally, this Grace was also stumped at Guy''s shameless retort.

    "You think this is funny?!" Grace screamed as she marched closer to Guy. "I don''t know what you did to fool this boy so well. But if you have an ounce of integrity in your heart, you will convince him to go back! Get him back into the Academy. Beg if you have to!"

    "No, Matron! I''m not going back there again," Markus denied vehemently.

    "You don''t get to say anything, you stupid boy!"

    "But Matron, you have no idea how-"

    And then the two entered a back and forth that started to barrel out of control. Markus fervently denied even considering returning to the Academy, while Grace pushed at him harder and harder to do the opposite. Guy observed the situation with longing eyes as he reminisced about another simr urrence from his past life.

    At that time, Grace got into an intense argument with an 8-year-old orphan boy who had recently lost his family due to a drought. He was so closed off from everyone that he refused to utter a single word or eat another bite of food. Somehow Grace got through. She managed to grasp at something that peeved that boy so furiously that hepletely forgot about his oath of silence and debated with her with unwavering conviction. In between, Grace casually handed an opened can of biscuits into his hands, which the boy then nibbled at while haranguing at her. Guy thought that Grace was ingenious to skillfully break through the boy''s barriers and get through to him. But it was only at ater date that he learned from her that she was actually serious when she argued with that boy!

    ''They''re just so simr... Mast, what''s happening?'' Guy asked internally.

    (What are you talking about?)

    ''Why is she here? Why is Grace here? Is she also a transmigrant?'' Guy added with some anticipation.

    (Hmm. No. She''s a native,) Mast answered casually.

    ''But, how? They both look the same. They both have the same name. They both even have the same personalities! This is far too convenient to be a coincidence!''

    (And yet, that is exactly what it is,) Mast answered monotonously.

    ''But that doesn''t make any sense! The probabilities have to line up so perfectly for everything to match up to such an extent.''

    (And yet, that is exactly what happened.)

    ''You''re joking! Are you hiding something from me, Mast?'' Guy interrogated.

    Mast sighed and answered casually, (No, I am not. Believe it or not, this is really all a coincidence. That woman has nothing to do with the woman with the same name that was acquainted with you in your past life.)

    ''Then... was this fate?'' Guymented. No matter how many times he tried to convince himself before his death, Guy managed to ovee his greatest regret of not being able to follow through after confessing to the love of his life. Even after being handed a second chance, he was finding it hard to open himself to the experience of falling in love again and pursuing another woman. Maybe it was because Grace was his first love, and was someone who was so deeply imnted into his heart, that he couldn''t get over her. And yet, in his second chance, Guy was given another shot at pursuing Grace! Maybe the universe was finally being generous with him. After dumping all over him in his past life, was it making it up to him now?

    But Mast summarily burst Guy''s bubble by saying, (Don''t tter yourself. The world doesn''t revolve around you. This is all just a coincidence. The result of numbers lining up in the same order for the second time. Neither I nor any other agent had any hand in this.)

    ''You say that. But think about it! You just coincidentally happened to drop me into the body of this man, who just so happened to be close to this woman. If that is not fate, then I don''t know what is!''

    (Who knows. Maybe you are right! Maybe this is all fate and I''m just another chess piece in the game of someone stronger and greater than I.) Mast then emted a mechanical chuckle and followed up, (That was my attempt at sarcasm. I think I''m getting a hang of it.)

    Guy grumbled internally as he returned to himself in the present. He felt an excess of excitement as he began to formte a n to pursue Grace once again. But he was immediately distracted by the sorry sight of Grace pinching Markus'' ear and giving him a thorough spanking with the other hand.

    "Everyone, please! Let''s take a second to calm down and talk things out," Guy suggested. To which he was greeted by an usatory gaze from Grace.

    "You! You''re the reason for this mess!" She started.

 Chapter 65 Too Convinient To Be A Happenstance

    Guy''s timely intervention may have saved Markus, but it unwittingly dropped him into Grace''s warpath.

    "You! Fix this!" She demanded.

    "I can''t force him to do anything," Guy replied apologetically.

    "Then why are you even here?"

    Guy looked at Markus, who understood the gaze and chimed in, "I invited Master to stay with us for the time being, since he''s out of a job."

    "We can''t afford to house a lodger!" Grace denied immediately.

    Before Markus could interject and plead his case, Guy decided to take the initiative and started his piece, "Actually, I can pay rent. Apart from that, I can also help out with any tasks that may arise. I am also an orphan, so I have some experience handling chores and managing an orphanage."

    When Grace learned that Guy was an orphan, her opinion of him softened a little. However, she didn''t let him off the hook just yet.

    "Fine! Since you''re so hellbent on your decision, I won''t force you anymore," She dered as she flung her hands in the air. She then added to Markus, "Take your Master with you and clean up the storage room at the back. There should be a mattress and a few old pieces of furniture, air it out and clean it. If you need anything else, get it yourself! We''ll discuss the specifics of your stay here tomorrow!"

    After unloading a tirade filled with warnings and demands, Grace swiftly left the area, leaving Markus and Guy alone.

    "I''m sorry Master. I''ll try to convince Matron when she is in a better mood to waive the rent."

    Guy quickly shook his hands and replied, "Actually, I''m not as destitute and impoverished as you think. I actually have a decent sum saved up for myself."

    "Master you don''t have to say all that to soothe me. This is all my fault! I should have written a letter to Matron beforeing here uninvited. Or I should have at least waited for my sister to be present. She would know how to calm things down. Worry not, Master. I will go in and clean up your room. Please rx and look around!"

    Markus rushed inside without a second of pause and got to work.

    Guy sighed and then chuckled mirthfully. No matter how hard he tried to convince Markus that he was loaded, the boy just refused to believe it. ''I don''t know if I should feel fortunate or offended that my student thinks of me this way...''

    Guy decided to survey the area while Markus was busy with his task. It was his first time travelling after arriving in this world, and he was feeling intoxicated with the spirit of adventure. One of the reasons why Guy felt so enamoured with pursuing charity work in his past life was because he truly enjoyed the idea of visiting different ces and immersing himself in the myriad of cultures.

    But he realised quite early that with the advancements in technology, it would be quite difficult to feel the rush of exploring uncharted territories and indulging in unknown and untouched cultures. However, in this world, everything was new to him. He was feeling giddy just thinking about his future travels.

    He wanted to visit the vige at the base of the mountain, however, before that, he wanted to thoroughly familiarise himself with the region around the orphanage. Although it was snugly fit along the sides of the mountain, the area was surprisingly t and even. It was as if someone had carved out a region and reshaped the mountainside to specifically house this orphanage. The orphanage itself looked peculiar at a closer viewing. Through delving into the old Guy''s memory, Guy knew for a fact that not all orphanages had such nned and purposeful design.

    Usually, those buildings would match the area around them. In this case, the orphanage should look like the houses and buildings constructed in the vige. And yet it had a more intricate and artistic construction, though the years had definitely stripped away its elegance.

    ''There''s a story behind this building,'' Guy surmised. He nned to dig into it in the future, once he solidified his rtionship with Grace.

    As he circled the building, Guy happened to notice two tails following him. He decided to entertain himself and indulged the two followers. After he turned the nearest corner, Guy hid himself flush into the wall and waited for the duo to follow.

    "Did he turn around there?"

    "Y-Y-Yes! I saw h-h-him!"

    "Shhh! Don''t make any noise! Don''t lose him either. We need to let Matron know what that suspicious-looking man is doing! Mimi told me that there have been cases of kidnappers stealing kids in the middle of the night and selling them to rich masters as ves!"

    Guy heard the excited voice of a girl and the apprehensive voice of a boy droning and approaching his area. Guy decided to prank the kids and activated a few spells to set up a visual illusion. To any passerby with untrained eyes, they wouldn''t notice his presence no matter how hard they looked.

    "Where did he go?!"

    "I d-d-don''t know. He was here a s-s-second ago!"

    A perky little girl hopped around the corner and swivelled her head in distress. Her two ponytails bounced against the side of her head like a rattle drum. Behind her, a thin and timid-looking boy followed and assisted in her search while straining his eyes. As Guy observed them, he found a lot of simrities in their facial structure and appearance. Barring their starkly opposing personalities, the two had many features inmon. He knew that they were rted in some way.

    "Oh no, Kano! He got away! Quick, we need to find Matron Reva and let her know!" The girl grabbed the boy''s hand and ran feverously.

    "Dora, w-w-wait!" The boy cried out and disappeared around the corner with his sister.

    Guy chuckled as he saw the two tumbling around while running. ''Dora and Kano,'' he said to himself in a pensive voice.

    After finishing his tour of the area, Guy figured that it was time to visit the vige and make his acquaintance with the locals. Through experience, he knew that often establishing his presence and building a few connections with the vigers could work wonders for him in the future.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He carefully descended the steps from the orphanage towards the vige, all the while preupying himself with the arduous thought of climbing back up.

    As he stepped off of the final step, he noticed a middle-aged man pacing about anxiously. Guy didn''t want to interrupt the man''s contemtion and decided to circle around him silently. However, the man immediately noticed Guy and approached him with an excited skip.

    "Hey there! Haven''t seen you here in these parts before," He greeted with enthusiasm.

    "Yes, I just arrived today. The name''s Guy Larks, I will be staying up at the orphanage from now on."

    "G and L!" The man muttered. "You wouldn''t happen to be from the city, right?"

    "I am! How did you know?" Guy responded with confusion.

    The man overlooked Guy''s question and continued, "Were you working as a teacher there?"

    "I was! I''m sorry, have we met before?"

    "Are you looking for a job?"

    "I am!"

    As Guy fielded the barrage of highly specific and relevant questions, a sense of difort rose from within. He wanted to figure out how the man knew so much about him, yet before he could inquire any further, Guy found himself being led by the man through the vige.

    "Excuse me, where are we going?" Guy asked along the way.

    "Just so happens, there''s a job opening for a tutor in this vige. My mama will let you know more about it!" The man replied while picking up his pace with a slight hop in his steps.

    A minuteter, Guy found himself in front of a quaint home closer to the vige centre. Unlike the others, this one happened to have arger backyard, which was fenced off.

    "Pleasee in, make yourself at home! Wife, we have another guest!" The man bellowed while entering his home.

    Guy scrunched his eyebrows and followed along apprehensively, ''Everything feels so convenient. Too convenient!''

    Once Guy entered the living area of the small home, he noticed the man who led him here speaking with an elderly woman and an aged yet surprisingly spry looking man.

    "Great master-"

    "Please just call me Krish. Hearing you address me like that makes me feel so old," The elderly man interjected mirthfully.

    "I wouldn''t dare!" The guide retorted. "Your prediction was right once again, great master! I found a man matching your description who can take over for mother. Here he is!"

    The guide gestured at Guy Larks and invited him over to take a seat, "Teacher Larks, this is great master Krish Nara. He was the one who predicted your arrival today."

    Guy bowed respectfully and sat down.

    Krish smiled meaningfully at Guy and continued talking with the elderly woman. "As I said, after checking the outlook into your future I noticed some grave signs. So I found it imperative to bring it to your attention. Currently, your work as a tutor in this vige, while meritorious, has greatly affected your health. I recognise that the job is stressful, especially when you have to handle children that are many generations younger than you. Coincidentally, my future-sight determined the arrival of a suitable and much younger recement who would arrive here desperately in search of a job."

    Krish then gazed at Guy and continued, "Young man. You wereid off from your previous profession as a teacher of magic at the Radiant Academy, correct?"

    Guy nodded incredulously.

    "As you can see, this man is more than qualified to carry the baton forward. In order to qualify as a teaching apprenticeship at the Radiant Academy, one must be knowledgeable in basic subjects after all."

    The elderly woman smiled in relief and said, "Once again, you''ve saved my life, great master." She then turned to Guy and added, "Young man, I''ve been teaching the kids in this vige for over thirty years now. I aming of age, and hope to retire and spend the remainder of my life in leisure. However, I can''t bear to leave without ensuring that there is someone to carry on in my stead. Since great master Nara is vouching for your aplishments, I have no reason to hesitate any further. Are you willing to be a tutor for the children of this vige?"

    Guy was overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. Miraculously, everything started to fall into ce for him. He now had a job, and a valid reason to continue staying in this vige. Grace could no longer ditch him midway!

    ''It''s the work of this man!'' Guy also recognised that these conveniences were in arge part, the work of the elderly man who the locals called great master Krish Nara. Guy knew that when things came so easily, there was always a caveat. Yet, he couldn''t find anything even after running his mind to the max. Although his mana senses weren''t fully polished, a cursory inspection indicated nothing of note in Krish''s body either. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to be a regr man.

    So, although it all felt a little suspicious, Guy couldn''t find any reason not to acquiesce to the offer. Thus, answered with a respectful bow, "It would be my honour to carry forward in your stead as a tutor in this vige."

 Chapter 66 To Be Special

    "So you''re saying that there are particles smaller than an atom? That doesn''t make sense. I thought the atom was the smallest possible division of matter," Markusmented.

    "You are right. Atom is the smallest division of ''matter''. The particles that make up the atom, or subatomic particles, give the atom its specific properties. They don''t have any material properties if that makes any sense. They are usually defined by their quantum states, which is a probabilistic measurement as we cannot know for sure what their state will be at any given time," Guy rified.

    Markus furrowed his brows and pondered on the revtion. "I just can''t get my head around it. I was already finding it difficult to imagine what an atom would look like, and now you''re saying that there''s something even smaller than that?"

    Guy shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I can feel your frustration. Much of what exists around us is just the way it is. Toprehend them, we must shift our thought paradigm to amodate it."

    "I guess so..."

    Guy sighed and concluded, "Why don''t you spend some more time on it. Read through that workbook I gave youst time once again. Maybe that might lead to a breakthrough."

    Markus nodded and returned to his room. Guy had set up an open-air ssroom near the orphanage to conduct his future lessons for both Markus and for the kids he''d have to teach from the vige.

    ''You know, it would really help if I had ess to those high school level textbooks and beyond. I''ve nearly run out of material, and there is only so much I can teach him from the top of my head.''

    (I can''t help it. When I programmed the RoK, I hardcoded those restrictions. Unless you can rustle 4 more students, that section will remain locked.)

    ''But I got more than 10 students just from epting this teaching job! Why wasn''t that recognised?''

    (They''re recognising you through necessity. It is not a genuine acknowledgement.)

    ''How can you even tell them apart? I thought you world builders couldn''tpute suchplex emotions.''

    (Well, I have a massive poption to cross-reference from back in my world.)

    While Guy continued his conversation with Mast, Kano walked out from behind the corner of the wall he was peeking off of and approached the chalkboard cautiously.

    "A-A-tm, no! At-, ha! Parlit- parti- no... hmm," The boy strained his eyes and tried to make out the words written on the board while reading it out in a hushed tone. He hid so that he could easily lude himself from Guy''s vision, however, as a mage, it wasn''t so easy for Guy to miss such an obvious source of sound.

    Guy was drawn out from his internal conversation the moment he heard the boy''s attempts. He didn''t want to interrupt the boy and cause him to feel self-conscious, and so Guy maintained his silence and avoided drawing any attention.

    "Suda- subal- subalomic. That doesn''t make any sense..." The boy plummeted onto his buttocks and covered his face with his palms in defeat.

    "Subatomic," Guy interjected.

    "Huh? Ah!" The boy tried to stand up and make a getaway, however, he slipped and fell back on his buttocks.

    "So-Sorry. I d-d-didn''t mean to d-d-disturb you," Kano said apologetically.

    Guy waved his hands, "Don''t worry about it. Why don''t you try reading from a little closer? Maybe that might help?"

    The boy lowered his head shyly andplied. He walked up to the chalkboard and tried to read its contents once again. Unfortunately, he couldn''t fare any better even after bridging the distance.

    "I c-c-can''t do it!" The boy blurted in defeat.

    "Is it that you don''t know how to read? Or that you''re finding it difficult to read?" Guy inquired in a t tone.

    Kano stared at Guy nkly. Somehow, to him, those questions managed to dig into the root of his problems. Kano knew that he wasn''t illiterate. He had been learning with his sister for over a year now. Yet, even though his sister had managed to grasp the concepts and build upon them, he was still stuck where they started.

    "It''s difficult," Kano answered.

    "Hmm, are the letters moving around or dancing in your eyes?" Guy added with a smile, to which the boy nodded.

    Guy scratched his chin lightly and furrowed his brows. "I want to try a few tests. Are you busy, Kano?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Kano shook his head in response. Guy pulled Kano towards a desk and chair and had him sit. Kano followed Guy''s instructions and prepared himself for the ''tests'' Guy was about to send his way. Surprisingly, these ''tests'' turned out to be a series of games that Kano had never seen before.

    It was fun in the beginning, but Kano quickly found it hard to keep up and began losing. He started feeling dejected, but Guy kept encouraging him and pushed him to move forward. Kano''s first test was to match a set of cards with words written on them with cards that had pictures of the objects the words referred to. He managed to connect one or two, but he couldn''t decipher the rest.

    In the next test, Kano was blindfolded and ced in an empty area. Guy would shout out instructions that Kano had to follow to navigate in the field, such as "move two steps to the right", or "walk back by five steps".

    There were other games like this, such as writing down dictated words or reading short sentences within a time limit and rewriting it without looking.

    Kano quickly found himself feeling more and more inadequate with each passing test. Guy was observant of this and always maintained a jovial and encouraging attitude. His intention wasn''t to discourage Kano, rather he was trying to confirm his initial diagnosis, that Kano was dyslexic.

    Guy had a lot of experience with this learning disability because it wasn''t umon back on Earth. Quite a handful of kids he''d worked with suffered from this disability and were often victims of excessive bullying. Through the years, Guy had be more perceptive in noticing the details and hints that pointed towards such disabilities and made it a point to rehabilitate these children as soon as possible. The moment Guy noticed Kano struggling to read, his mental radars quickly resounded with Kano''s possible bout with dyslexia. In fact, he''d also gleaned some information from the elderly tutor about all the kids he would have under him, and he made a special note to pursue this hypothesis as soon as possible. It was just convenient that he managed to catch Kano so swiftly.

    Kano sighed in defeat and sunk into the chair, "S-s-stupid..."

    Guy unleashed a warm smile and started, "Kano, I want to undertake arge project, and was hoping you could help me out?"

    Kano tilted his head and asked, "Why me?"

    "Actually, it''s something only you can do."

    Kano''s eyes sparkled with curiosity; he nodded enthusiastically.

    "Wonderful! Quick, go and get Markus. We might need his assistance to get started!" Guy instructed eagerly and nudged Kano along.

    As he saw the little boy running away, Guy walked towards the orphanage''s storage room and retrieved multiple woven baskets. He then went down the steps into the vige and borrowed a few shovels. When he returned to the orphanage, he saw Markus waiting with an anxious Kano.

    "Are you guys ready?" Guy asked the two kids.

    "What are we going to do, Master?"

    Guy picked up the baskets and handed them to Markus. "We''re going to shovel for y!"

    ____

    The trio worked tirelessly until sunset and shovelled muddy y from the banks of the spring near the mountain. Kano and Guy would shovel the mud and fill up the baskets, while Markus acted as the mule that shuttled from the spring to the orphanage to deposit the harvested mud. The poor boy was pained all over by the time they finished their work.

    Once they finished, Guy took the two kids a little ways upstream to take a bath and cleanse themselves after a day of hard work. On the way back, he carried the fatigued Kano on his back and let the boy fall asleep.

    "Why were we collecting so much y, Master?" Markus asked while massaging his back.

    "It''s for your little brother. I''m going to be teaching him," Guy answered.

    Markus raised his eyebrows in appreciation, yet added with hesitation, "I fear it might be difficult. The tutor from the vige told me about Kano''s problem..."

    Guy ruffled Markus'' hair and chimed in, "Your brother isn''t stupid if that''s what you''re thinking. He''s different, he''s special! Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If you judge him with the same criteria that are used to measure everyone else, of course, you''ll find that Kano falls short. He may be weak when ites to things that everyone finds trivial, but have you ever measured the extent of his strengths. I promise you that Kano will leave everyone else in the dust when ites to that!"

    Markus nodded with a serious expression and followed along. When they reached the orphanage, Guy carefully lifted Kano and handed him to Markus, and then left to his own bedroom.

    After he arrived, Guy took off his clothes to prepare to go to bed. When he disrobed his outerwear, though, Guy noticed arge water stain marring the upper-back and shoulder region.

    "Seems that he wasn''tpletely asleep," Guymented with a smile and left the cloth out to dry.

 Chapter 67 Inevitabilities

    Guy wasn''t the least bit surprised in learning that dyslexia existed in this magical new world. It wasmon back on Earth, and Guy figured that since base humans had evolved to a simr stage in this world, certain neurological conditions, developmental disorders, and mental illnesses should also be equally present. What did surprise him, though, was that there were little to no remedies or treatments to those problems in this world? After all, given how magic and mana wasmonce here, it wouldn''t be a stretch to expect that there were equally magical treatments for these conditions, disorders, and illnesses.

    And yet, reality proved otherwise, because Guy just couldn''t glean any solutions through his search. Of course, he was limited to the vige and his search would obviously be biased in that sense. Guy really wished that he had ess to a library or a repository of some sort catering to medical experts. However, he also realised that without any rmendation or backing, he couldn''t ess them.

    "I haven''t heard of such illnesses through my travels," Krish said while tilting his head in trying to recollect information.

    Another discovery that surprised Guy, was in finding out that Krish Nara, the man who secured Guy his job as a local tutor, happened to be a veritable powerhouse when it came to information of any kind. No matter how obscure or out-of-the-way the question may be, Krish would have an answer to it. If not, he would provide a suitable direction for research that could lead to a greater understanding of the topic. During his time here, Guy had managed to build rapport with this mysterious man and had formed a certain friendship.

    However, ''Friendship'' would be a twisted way to put it. The two were friendly and courteous with each other, but under the surface, they were both digging into each other''s background and trying to suss out their true purpose.

    Guy wanted to know the reason why Krish helped him out earlier. Nothing came for free, and things that usually did had conditions imposed in tiny writing behind a p of some kind that could easily be overlooked. Was this man rted to the original Guy in some way? Did this man have any ulterior motives? Many such questions were circling Guy''s head that he wanted immediate answers to. But Guy knew that no good woulde with barraging them at Krish. Best case scenario: the man would feel miffed at the intrusion and summarily close himself off. Worst case scenario: the man would rain destruction so terrible that it would wipe this entire vige out of the face of this. Guy didn''t know what kind of backing or power this seemingly weak old man had, and he wasn''t looking to experiencing it first hand either. Hence, Guy employed the gentle approach and formed a surface friendship with Krish.

    Krish, on the other hand, wanted to know why his Heavenly Eye was telling him that Guy was dead? He wanted to know why the fortune of this vige underwent a 180-degree shift within a day? He wanted to know if the two details were rted in some way, or if they were all coincidental? Maybe this was a sign that Krish''s end was approaching causing his power to fluctuate and act out? Whatever the case may be, the only solution would be to personally investigate the situation. However, he couldn''t just tie up Guy and physically squeeze the information out of him!

    ''I don''t do that anymore,'' he chuckled internally. His personality had be tempered through his millennium of experience. He had learned that when it came to mortals, it was often the gentle and systematic approach that offered the greatest rewards. Like the old saying went, "One shouldn''t use a |mestrike| to grill pork." It was best to match the means to the target.

    "Really? There have to be some records on this topic. I refuse to believe that no one has ever experienced or seen such problems before!" Guymented in response.

    Krish exhaled loudly through his nose and spoke in ponderance, "I do recollect a case along the same vein. Have you heard of The Soaring Sword Sect?"

    Guy shook his head, "I don''t think I have."

    "During my travels, I once stayed over there. Really wonderful folk, not like most other sects I''ve been to. They were deep into cultivation of Sword Intent, do you know what that is?"

    Guy shook his head again.

    "Anyone can wield a sword. It''s not a hard thing to do. But it is hard to wield it without hurting yourself. Those that can aplish that often train for years to be experts in swordsmanship. Amongst those swordsmen, those with potential for magic can train in a series of skills thatplement their swordsmanship called Sword Arts. These extend the mortal swordsmanship styles by imbuing and manipting mana in some particr way. Mages that have mastered multiple Sword Arts, and choose to cultivate their sword skills more deeply, pursue an elusive concept often known as Sword Intent. A mage that can manifest Sword Intent is said to have reached a realm where they be one with the sword and can perform their Sword Arts without needing a physical sword to channel the power. Manifesting Sword Intent is often the step-off point into higher realms in cultivating swordsmanship. And that is exactly what mages in The Soaring Sword Sect pursue with immense fervour. They are so involved in this pursuit that they often seclude themselves from the world for years on end."

    Krish paused before continuing, "I say they were wonderful because they seldom interfered in the mortal world unless certain events tantly offended a set of codes established by their sect ancestors. So anyway, there was this kid, the Sect Leader''stest direct disciples, that had to go on an extermination mission raised by a township that neighboured the sect. With his position and reputation, the kid was extremely arrogant and entitled. He felt that he was above everyone just because the Sect Leader chose him out of 1000 others. He thought the extermination mission was easy and beneath him, yet the Sect Leader pushed him to take it in hopes of tempering the boy''s mentality. As you would have guessed, the mission wasn''t as easy as the boy figured it to be. He had to confront arge bandit group led by a mage in the same realm as him. The boy went in without nning and peacocked his affiliation. The entire camp attacked him together. Once the minions softened him up, the leader came in for the killing blow.

    "But the Sect Leader was keeping an eye the entire time, so he interfered and handled the matter. The boy, though, was thoroughly affected. Coming face to face with his mortality and his inadequacy did a number on him. Itpletely shattered his ego, developing Inner Demons in the process. The following time he attempted a breakthrough, he suffered a serious bacsh and crippled his cultivation."

    "Inner Demons?" Guy mimicked.

    Krish affirmed with a hum and added, "He became reclusive and started to second guess everything. He was easily irritated, started to drink excessively, constantly exuded an aura of hopelessness, and was always checked out. The Sect Leader didn''t know what to do. The boy happened to have a special physique that made him more perceptive to Sword Intent. He was meant to soar the skies as the youngest mage to ever manifest the Sword Intent. In many ways, the Sect Leader felt responsible for how things turned out."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wasn''t he, though?" Guy asked with a hint of surety, to which Krish denied, "It was a foregone conclusion. An inevitability, if you will. The boy was born with great fortune, but he was doomed to never realise it."

    "You must have already seen that, right?"

    "I did. And when the Sect Leader asked me about the boy''s fortune, I told him about it. It was for that reason that the Sect Leader sent the boy on the mission in the first ce! To temper the kid and help him unleash his full potential."

    "You must have also seen the boy''s descent following his failure."

    "I did."

    "And you didn''t warn the Sect Leader?"

    Krish smiled mysteriously and answered, "He didn''t ask. Mages think that just because they can cultivate beyond mortality and exceed their limits, they can go against their fortune and fate. The reality is far from that. In many ways, the Sect Leader was equally as arrogant as the boy. He thought that just because he had an insight into the future, he could change it. He believed that with his unparalleled strength and wisdom, he could y as a Deity."

    Guy smiled bitterly andmented, "It''s ironic. There is this saying, ''One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.''"

    Krish nodded enthusiastically and said, "That is exactly it! I could tell you your entire future and you could do everything in your power to remedy it. Yet you will still end up in the same ce. Life is filled with inevitabilities. It is not our ce to mitigate them. All we can do is anticipate them and cushion ourselves as best as we can."

    With some hesitation, Guy asked, "So is there really no other way to go against destiny?"

    "There is," Krish said in an elongated tone. "You cannot change your own destiny. Only the person who can peer into your destiny can personally step in and change it. But this is dangerous for both yourself and the person."

    After a much longer pause, Krish continued, "There is another way, apparently. But it is much, much rarer and till sometime back, was considered impossible."

    "And that is?" Guy asked expectantly.

    Krish simply smiled and answered, "I don''t know yet."

    Guy''s eyebrows twitched at that. He slowly stood up and said, "Kano should be waking up any time now. I should get going."

    Krish smiled and walked Guy out. As Guy turned the corner, he started to ponder about his next course of action.

    "Since this world offers no solution, I guess I must revert to what I''m familiar with," he muttered and began walking up the steps to the orphanage.

 Chapter 68 Clowning Around

    Kano sat up and stretched his body while unleashing a loud yawn. He had never had such a pleasant sleep in his entire life. As he was enjoying the after-effects of his slumber, a hard pillow struck him from behind.

    "Shut up, Kano! I''m trying to sleep," Dora cried out in a tired voice.

    "S-Sorry," Kano replied as he bit his tongue.

    "Why''re you up so early?" She added.

    "T-T-Teacher Larks is working on a p-p-project, and he need m-m-my help," Kano answered with anticipation.

    Hearing the man''s name, Dora sprang up and dered, "What are you helping him for? Don''t you know that Matron dislikes that man! I forbid you from helping him!"

    Kano frowned and said, "He isn''t a b-b-bad person. You should try t-t-talking to him!"

    Dora pouted and responded, "If I see you talking to him, then I''ll- I''ll never speak to you again!"

    She then turned around and curled back into her bed.

    "Dora..." Kano implored. "D-D-Don''t be so unreasonable!"

    Dora snorted in response and refused to answer. Kano sighed and stood up. As he left his room, he contemted on his decision. In truth, he wanted to see what Teacher Larks had nned for the day. Although he was barely awake during his trip back home, he still remembered everything Teacher Larks said. And those words were nothing short of revtionary for Kano. His whole life, Kano felt that he was inadequate, stupid, doomed to be illiterate.

    Everyone kept telling him to try harder. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he kept failing in doing things that others found infinitely easy.

    ''Am I not trying hard enough?'' He would constantly ask himself. And each time, he''d push himself harder, and harder, only to fall t on his bottom in the most spectacr manner.

    ''Maybe I am stupid, like everyone says,'' was the thought that nearly cemented itself within his psyche. That was until yesterday.

    "I''m special," Kano muttered to himself with a resolute expression. "Teacher Larks said so!"

    ____

    Once Guy returned to the orphanage, he walked back to where he had stored his haul from yesterday.

    Although Guy wasn''t a trained psychologist in his past life, he had learned through years of experience how to teach kids with dyslexia. Unlike other kids, those with dyslexia find it hard to decodenguage.

    As an example, when an average child hears the word "apple", they are able to picture the image of the red fruit in their head. Those with dyslexia are unable to make that connection quickly. Adding on to that, after an average child reads the word "apple" they can easily catch that word the next time they see it in a text. They associate the sound of the word, with the written form of the word and the mental image of the word. This is also difficult for dyslexic kids.

    These are just the issues faced within the literature, some dyslexic kids also find it difficult to processplex mathematical concepts that seem trivial or straightforward. An average child can process addition in its abstract state after understanding what the concept means. Unless a dyslexic child is properly taught to make the jump from literal addition to abstract addition, they can never process the operation in their heads.

    So altogether, teaching a dyslexic child is impossible if the pedagogy style employed is the same as those without dyslexia - at least in the beginning stages anyway. Guy''s current aim was to get Kano to a point where he could start coping with the kids of his own age. And without any magical potions or spells to "cure" dyslexia, Guy resorted to the only means he knew to help Kano get over his current roadblock and learn to live with his disorder.

    That was why Guy had recruited Kano and Markus to collect arge quantity of y yesterday. Through his travels in his past life, Guy had learned to be more resourceful. Without a controlled learning environment avable, Guy was often faced with many challenges when he wanted to help kids with learning disorders. After stumbling along a few times, Guy drafted a solid set of solutions that could be implemented in any ce.

    Thankfully, the orphanage was in a location that wasn''t so out of the way or isted as some viges he had previously visited. There was a lot of natural vegetation, a plentiful spring, and even arge stretch of steps for him to work with.

    The first move of his teaching n was to process the y and make it workable. As he beheld thatrge mound of unprocessed y in front of him, he exhaled loudly in anticipation.

    "Time to get to work!" But right as he was about to get down and dirty, a low voice called out to him.

    "W-Wait for me!"

    Guy turned around noticed Kano running up to him. "Kano! What are you doing here?"

    "Y-Y-You said you needed m-m-my help for the project. I c-c-came to help!"

    Guyughed mirthfully and added, "It''s good that you''re here. I hope you don''t mind getting dirty?"

    Kano shook his head seriously and awaited instructions.

    And with that, the two began. Guy first added water to the y and let it reach a viscous state. Through using magic, he could easily skip the process of retrieving water from the spring. As he activated a |Water Ball| spell, Kano eximed with an agape mouth and wonder in his eyes, "Wow!"

    Guy smiled and ruffled the boy''s hair, "Do you want to learn how to do this?"

    Kano nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grains.

    Guy held his chin to mimic contemtion and said, "Hmmm, I guess I can teach you. But this depends on how well you do in my project. Can you do that?"

    Kano nodded much harder and narrowed his gaze with immense seriousness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good boy!"

    Once Guy wet the y mixture, he used another customised spell by disseminating his mana through the mixture. He identified the y particles in the slurry and began transferring them carefully into arge container, carefully separating impurities and unwanted residues such as pebbles, roots, and sometimes small insects! Kano retrieved additional containers from storage when he found the current one filling up.

    After Guy was satisfied with the separation, he then used another spell to separate the water from the mixture. As the y became drier and drier, his mana consumption increased significantly. Guy wasn''t nning topletely dry the y, he only wanted to get it to a point where it was still kneadable and could hold itself together, but wasn''t too gooey.

    With that finished, Guy added a bit of clean sand by eyeballing the quantity.

    "Time to mix it all in," Guy said to Kano, and the two began kneading the y and sand mixture. As Guy worked the mass in his container, he chuckled over how easy the earlier bit was. Usually, all of this would have taken him half the day or longer. But with magic, everything became as easy as one-two-three. Guy could have very easily magicked the mixing process too. But he wanted to leave something for Kano, to give the kid a sense of aplishment and ownership.

    The two worked their containers, taking frequent breaks to massage their aching arms. After Guy was satisfied, he let the y settle by wrapping up the container.

    They then went to have lunch.

    ____

    "Dora, where''s Kano?" Grace asked with concern.

    "Hmph! He''s off ying with that man! ''Helping him on some project,'' he said!" Dora answered with a pout.

    Grace frowned and asked, "What kind of project?"

    "I don''t know. He took Kano and Markus out to the spring yesterday and the three brought back a lot of mud."

    "Mud?" Grace asked in a low mutter. She wouldn''t be lying if she admitted that she disliked that man, Guy Larks. From the very first day she met him, she got this awkward vibe from him. It was the way he looked at her and talked to her.

    ''It''s just like them!'' The moment those faces shed into her mind, her legs threatened to buckle. But she quickly caught herself. She nced at Dora and sighed in relief when she saw the girl running up to some flower along the side of the path.

    ''But it isn''t "exactly" like them,'' she mentally added. There was a desire in the man''s eyes, but there was also regret, and a third emotion she had never seen before. It felt warm and wholesome,pletely unlike ''them''. They only had desire, a lot of desire, and maliciousness!

    Grace quickly shook off those images from her mind and picked up her pace. Once she approached the orphanage, she walked around to the back to see what the man was up to.

    "Ouch, that h-h-hurts!" Kano''s voice eximed.

    Grace entered a heightened state of alertness as she frantically searched around for some sort of weapon. She grasped at a broken broom leaning against the wall and rushed towards the sound.

    "I know. Why don''t you let me finish instead?" The man''s voice responded, causing Grace to slow her pace.

    "No! Teacher Larks, I p-p-promised I would help you with the p-p-project!" Kano retorted anxiously.

    "I know you did. But you won''t be of any help if you''re aching all over, right? Let me take it from here."

    She then heard a resolute denial from Kano followed by the sound of rushing steps.

    "Hey! Wait for me!" The man said with a chuckle mixed with a sense of defeat.

    She carefully approached the corner and looked around, only to be greeted by a funny sight of the two covered in mud and smiling like idiots!

    ''What the hell are they doing?''

    Her question was answered by Kano, "H-H-How much longer do we need to work the c-c-y?"

    Guy rubbed his chin subconsciously as he pondered on the question, "A few more minutes, that''s all."

    His answer was met with a light chuckle from Kano.

    "What happened?"

    Kano covered his mouth with his hands and pointed at Guy''s chins. Guy looked at a puddle nearby and realised that he had smeared the y on his chin. He then looked at Kano andughed harder.

    Kano stared back nkly, to which Guy pointed at Kano''s mouth. By reflex, Kano licked his lips only to catch a swatch of y.

    "Ptoo! Ptoo!" He spat out amidst the roaringughter from the man. Grace wanted to walk over and knock Guy''s head, but then the man quickly cast some spell and conjured water to clean Kano''s face.

    Grace grunted in satisfaction and decided to leave the two to their devices. "They''re just ying around," she added to assuage herself.

 Chapter 69 Kano Reva

    Guy and Kano returned in the afternoon, following a filling lunch, in high spirits. Guy moved the prepared y and a few other resources to his set up teaching area and called Kano to take a seat. Kano felt a little apprehensive in facing the ckboard once again, he never had any positive memories associated with it after all.

    "Alright, Kano. It''s time we got down to business! I wanted to talk to you about the problem you''re facing in your studies," Guy began.

    "After discussing with your previous tutor, as well as through my own observations, I was able to determine that you have a learning disability known as dyslexia."

    Kano tilted his head in confusion. "Dyslexia?"

    "Yes. It isn''t a rare problem, a lot of children suffer from it. Basically, it makes it harder for you to do certain things that other kids your age find easy. You should already have some idea of what I''m talking about."

    Kano nodded sorrowfully.

    Guy smiled and continued, "Although that is the case, it doesn''t mean that we cannot do anything to remedy the situation. You were born with it and, for better or worse, you have to live with it. I believe that every child must have equal opportunities in life. You were just dealt a different hand, and it is my job to help you get to a point where you can match up with others."

    Guy then wore a serious expression and pointed out, "All of that is just my intention. I am prepared to go through this process and help you out. However, it still depends on whether you are willing to take the step forward with me. So, are you willing?"

    Kano bit his lips and lowered his head. He was feeling conflicted in trying to answer that question. It wasn''t that Kano was unwilling to work with Teacher Larks. If anything, he was extremely enthusiastic. If what Teacher Larks said was true, then there was a way out for Kano from his current misery. But that was also what held him back from affirming the decision

    ''What if it doesn''t work out? What if I''m just stupid, and all the work Teacher Larks puts in goes to waste?'' That was a question guing Kano''s sensitive heart.

    Of course, Guy could glean all of this from Kano''s expressions. This wasn''t his first rodeo; he had worked with many kids just like Kano in his past life. Even the most mischievous of kids wanted to seed in life. They just acted out because they werecking attention, or were trying to cover up their insecurities with a tough facade.

    ? "I can promise you that I can help you seed. You aren''t the first kids that I''ve worked with that suffers from dyslexia," Guy said soothingly.

    Hearing that guarantee improved Kano''s impression.

    "O-Okay, I am willing!" Kano said in a low yet resolute tone. Guy smiled and pped his hand in tion. "Wonderful!"

    And with that, Guy walked up to one of the containers with the prepared y and brought it close to Kano''s desk.

    "Alright! One of the problems you''re facing is understanding what the letters of thenguage mean and sound like. It is easy to draw them from memory, but do you truly understand their significance?" Guy asked rhetorically.

    He pulled out a clump of y and started kneading it between his hands. "Thus, we will begin by going through the basic alphabets, once again. But this time, I want you to focus on what each letter sounds like, and what it looks like. Okay?"

    Guy then ce the clump in Kano''s hands and walked up to the chalkboard. He raised the writing utensil and inscribed the first letter in upper and lower case withrge font size.

    "Aa. This letter has the sound ''Aa''. I want you to repeat after me, Aa," Guy said.

    Kano answered with a low mutter, "Aa..."

    "I can''t hear you! Aa!"

    "Aa..."

    "Again, Aa!"

    Kano took a deep breath and eximed, "Aa!"

    "Awesome! Now I want you to make this letter using the y in your hand. Make sure it isrge enough for you to see it from a short distance."

    Kano nodded with seriousness and got busy with the soft y. His hands worked the substance familiarly. He first rolled it between his open palms to elongate it. He then twisted and shaped the snaking y into the upper case form of the letter within the minute.

    "I want you to pronounce the letter''s sound when you finish making it."

    "Aa!" Kano said as he smoothened the joints.

    "Now I also want you to inscribe an arrow on the letter to show which direction it must be read and draw," Guy instructed, to which Kano readilyplied.

    The two then moved on to the lower case form, which was finished with equal ease.

    "The next letter we will study is ''Buh''."

    "Buh!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Great! We will now do the same."

    The duo continued their lesson into the early evening. Guy slowly took Kano through the individual letters and their sounds while repeating them loudly. In between, Guy would interrupt Kano and ask him what a letter he had made previously sounded like. As expected, Kano managed to answer all the questions, albeit after a long pause to recollect the answer. Guy didn''t sweat Kano over that, he knew that the results were never immediate. He had to be patient and proceed one step at a time. As the sun began to set, Kano managed toplete the alphabets in their entirety. Guy sent the kid back after that and got down to his own work. He had a huge surprise nned out for Kano, the next day!

    ____

    The following morning, when Kano arrived at the ss, he saw the letter''s he had made the day before, yet they were a little different. Unlike yesterday, they seemed to have hardened greatly and had a significantly different feel to them. On top of that, there was also an intricate, circr design drawn on all of them that Kano had never seen before. He was immediately attracted to the drawings, they appealed to his sense of aesthetics.

    "You''re here early," Guy said with a smile as he walked over.

    "After you left, I treated your models and added something special to them. I think you''re going to like it!"

    Guy went over to Kano and took the letter the boy was holding in his hands.

    "What sound does this letter have?" Guy asked.

    Kano scratched his head and struggled to recollect the sound. After half a minute, the boy lowered his head dejectedly and said, "Sorry, Teacher... I forgot."

    Guy patted the boy''s head and said, "Watch."

    He ced the letter in Kano''s hand and then channelled some mana into the spell circle he''d drawn on the letter. Right on queue, the circle lit up and a sound echoed in the duo''s heads, "Tuh."

    Kano''s eyes widened in excitement, "Wow!"

    "Voice transmission through magic," Guy stated. Recently, Guy had stumbled upon a certain application of magic that he had seen many times in Eastern Fantasy web novels in his past life. The ability to transmit your voice directly to other people, without having to open your mouth - purely through magic. As expected, the ability existed in this world as well! The limit to voice transmission depended on the mage''s mana domain, that is, you could only transmit your voice to people that were within your domain and were open to your mana signature.

    The transmission ability was technically ssified as a cantrip, so Guy found some difficulty in emting it as a spell circle. It was analogous to oveplicating the process of walking. Yet he was able to aplish it nheless. Guy achieved it by equating voice transmission to how standard radio worked back on Earth. He figured out a way to convolute mental signals corresponding to voice, into mana. It involved another session of heavy research to aplish it though, but Guy wasn''t the least bit disappointed. This was because using his discovery, he was able to store his voice transmission inside the spell circle, and could have it activate anytime just by channelling an infinitesimally small quantity of mana.

    Guy reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a moderately sized mana crystal he had saved up.

    "Each of the letters here has this spell circle drawn on them. To activate it, you need to channel some mana into it. Since you aren''t a mage, it will be hard for you to activate it using your own capacity. Therefore, you will need to use this mana crystal. I am going to show you how to activate it now."

    Guy then spent the first half of the day training Kano to sense his internal mana and send a short signal to the spell circles. Once he did that, the mana crystal would take over and handle the rest. Although it was Kano''s first time, the boy was quick to grasp the nuances of basic mana control. Unlike literature, the boy was a natural in controlling his inherent mana, which came as a huge surprise for Guy.

    After that, Guy took out an illustrated children''s book he had printed out the previous night and handed it to Kano.

    "This book contains many short stories. I want you to try and read the very first one by tomorrow afternoon. You are allowed to use the letters you made to help you out if you don''t know how to pronounce them. Tomorrow, I will ask you questions about details in the story to see how much you understood it. Okay?"

    Kano nodded and excitedly flipped open the book to begin reading.

    While the boy was doing that, Guy seamlessly escaped into the RoK and was greeted with the sight of Mast picking up the scattered kindergarten and pre-school level books.

    ''It''s great that I was finally able to use those. They were just burning a hole in the RoK.''

    (At the very least you could have returned them to the shelf after you were done with them,) Mast grumbled as he bent over.

    (Oh, by the way,) he said. (The RoK has recognised that you''ve earned a second student.)

    ''Really?'' Guy asked in surprise. ''Is it Kano?''

    (That appears to be the case. Congrattions! Three more before the next section opens up,) Mast added with a monotonous tone and resumed his cleaning.

    Guy helped him out a little bit and exited the RoK. Till sunset, Guy continued helping Kano understand the text and exining the meaning of words he had never heard before.

    Thankfully, themonnguage spoken in this world was unlike English in itsplexity. Each letter had a specific and constant sound. And if a letter was used in a word, it was always pronounced.

    Silent letters, special vowelbinations, special consonantbinations, and so on, didn''t exist in themon tongue. This made teaching literature to Kano infinitely easy.

    In fact, as an educator, Guy despised his mother tongue, English, as it made his time teaching kids with learning disabilities immensely difficult. However, mastering the skill in "hard mode" made it much easier for Guy to adapt to teaching differentnguages to simrly afflicted kids, such as Kano.

 Chapter 70 Another Training Montage

    Guy never held any wild expectations when he began training Kano. He didn''t believe that the boy would just magically be a proficient academic or a literati after a day of work. It was a gradual and strenuous process, and Guy had learned that it was important to maintain a measured approach. In a lot of ways, the sess of the training depended heavily on the student''s enthusiasm and level of involvement.

    It was often the case that children would just give up after a few sessions after experiencing the difficulty. And for children with dyslexia, the difficulty was significantly amplified. So it was equally important for the teacher to motivate the students to grind through the difficult early stages.

    Thankfully, with Kano, Guy hadn''t yet seen any signs of the boy''s motivation diminishing. In fact, after the kid sessfully read through the first children''s book - spending the whole day on it - his excitement rose to another level! Guy wanted to keep the momentum rolling forward and readily provided the kid with another book. After all, his RoK was filled with these illustrated books catering to pre-schoolers and kindergarteners that would be originally ted to never see the light of day.

    However, Guy recognised that simply acquiescing to the child''s whim would result in the motivation fizzling out early. To refer to the principles of impulse, in order to reduce the damage inflicted by a sudden change in momentum, it is best to elongate the duration over which the change takes ce.

    Thus, Guy didn''t miss the opportunity to foist Kano with an assignment that most middle-schoolers and high-schoolers found annoying - writing book reports. Of course, Guy wouldn''t expect Kano to write pages worth of insightfulmentary on a book that barely contained two hundred words. On top of that, Guy knew better than anyone how easily having to write a report on a piece of literature can suck the excitement from the process. Yet, Kano''s willingness to persist without the need for Guy''s involvement offered an opportunity!

    Language is a medium to transmit information and knowledge. To do that, people are generally faced with two possible methods: Text and Speech. Of course, in Modern Earth, knowledge has a multitude of media to facilitate its transmission, yet they can also be boiled down to the aforementioned categories. We can further divide these two categories by how the information is expressed, and how it is received.

    Kano did not face much difficulty in expressing himself through speech. Barring his stutter, Kano didn''t struggle with speaking his thoughts orprehending others. His problems lied with texts. While practising reading different literature could slowly alleviate this difficulty, Guy determined that it would be more efficient if he could also address the issue of writing in parallel.

    Therefore, for the next book, Guy provided Kano with an additional sheet of paper, with a few questions written on it.

    "After you finish reading this book. I want you to write answers to these questions about the book," Guy said.

    Kano''s smile quickly diminished as he grasped the piece of paper.

    "I''ve drawn lines on the page to indicate howrge I want your font to be. I have hung up the additional letter''s you moulded, with lines indicating how they need to be drawn, in the ssroom. You should write while referring to them for now," Guy added. Through his past experience, Guy found that using four-lined notes worked best in training kids on how to write. The central two lines defined the general size of the letters, while the line above and below them indicated how high or low the letters could reach. Although Guy had to tweak the distances between lines to meet the requirements of themonnguage in this world, the general principles still carried over.

    "I know it will be hard at first. But if you read the questions, you will see that their answers require at most two sentences. It''s okay if you make mistakes. If we don''t fail, we can never improve!" Guy said as an encouragement.

    Kano nodded with a serious expression, took the book, and began reading it. Guy observed as the kid followed the method he taught, by following the word being read with his fingers and sounding the letters out loud.

    "The... buh-ih-guh... big- The big, buh-ah-duh, bad- The big bad woh-oo-luh-fuh, wooluhfuh... wooluf? Ah, wolf! The big, bad wolf!" Kano muttered along.

    Guy smiled endearingly as he observed Kano. Surprisingly, the kid turned out to be a voracious reader. Even though attaching the additional task stifled his pace, Kano did not let out his enthusiasm. At first, it would take him two days to finish the book and answer the questions. Within a week, it was reduced to just a day and a half with a clear reduction in errors and spelling mistakes. Within another week, Kano reduced the duration to just a day. By this time, Guy increased the difficulty of his questions, warranting longer answers.

    Gradually, Kano''s reading level began rising. Within a month, Kano managed to raise his proficiency to a first-grade level. His writing had improved as well! He wasn''t fast, but his spelling and grammatic uracy had risen to a stable 70%, which was much higher than Guy expected to achieve within the time frame.

    "Maybe the kid''s some kind of a hidden genius?" Guy said to himself as he finished drawing the final number on the steps leading up to the orphanage, using white chalk.

    Although Kano''s literary skills were catching up to his peers, he was still behind in other fields. Especially arithmetics. While most of the vigers had menial jobs, having a good grasp of basic arithmetics was a dire necessity. It was the only way these folk could avoid getting cheated off of their rightful earnings following their sales.

    Most of the kids in the vige had a basic grasp on the subject, however, Kano was still behind. Guy felt that it was about time to bring the boy up to speed. Yet, Guy realised that this could also act as an opportunity to aplish something that was gravelycking in Kano''s life -panionship.

    Sure, Kano had his twin sister, Markus, Grace, and the elder sister Marie, however, that was not enough. Kano''s biggest problem was his self-consciousness. His feeling of inadequacy, borne of the bullying from his peers, was a constant thorn in his psyche. And as long as that thorn remained in his heart, Kano would never be able to advance beyond a certain point. Guy also posited that the kid''s stuttering could also be reduced by improving his interpersonal rtionships.

    As an adult, Guy couldn''t force kids to be friends. Yet, he could nudge them in that direction. Social dynamics in children was generally easier to manoeuvre around. Teenagers, though... that was a whole other ball game. Those hormone-fueled monsters were the worst!

    Guy chuckled as he straightened his back and sighed in relief. The preparation for the uing task was painstaking. He had to wake up early in the morning and begin counting the number of steps leading to the orphanage. After that, he had to individually write numbers, in order, from the bottom all the way to the top, all the while walking hunched.

    Right as he finished, he heard Kanoing down the steps with an exciting spring.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "T-T-Teacher Larks," the boy called out. "I''ve finished the b-b-book, and answered the questions," he said as he handed a book and a filled-in sheet of paper to Guy.

    "Good job! You finished early?"

    Kano smiled wryly and answered, "I read through the night."

    Guy frowned and warned Kano, "I''ve told you many times not to do that! It will ruin your eyes."

    Kano bit his tongue apologetically, "I''m sorry. It''s just, the s-s-story was verypelling."

    Guy sighed, "Forget it! I''m not going to keep telling you this anymore. If not for your own good, at least think about your sister. She''sining around that you aren''t letting her sleep with all the loud mumbling as you read!"

    Kano scratched his head in embarrassment. Just as he was about to reply, he heard the voice of a few children approaching them.

    "Teacher Larks, you called us here today?" A jovial and outgoing boy, around Kano''s age, shouted out while jogging. Behind him, there was a small crowd of children around the same age.

    "Durkas! Good, you brought everyone. Alright, ss, settle down," Guy said with a stern tone. Unfortunately, his voice was drowned out by the chatter amongst the children. Guy wore a serious expression and pped his hands in session.

    CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! "One. Two. Three. Eyes on me!"

    In unison, everyone stopped talking and directed their gaze towards Guy.

    "Alright everyone, I''ve called you here today, instead of the ssroom, to y a game!" As he finished the statement, the eyes of the kids sparkled with excitement.

    "A game?" Durkas asked tedly.

    "That''s right! But before we start, I want everyone to get into a team of two," Guy instructed. Right as he said so, the kids in the crowd split up and formed duos. Almost coincidentally Durkas was left without a partner.

    "Umm, Teach. Who do I partner with?" Durkas asked.

    Guy rubbed his chin and feigned contemtion. Then he snapped his fingers dramatically and suggested, "Why don''t you partner up with Kano?"

    Durkas frowned and looked at Kano, who was hiding behind Guy.

    "Him? What''s he doing here?" Durkas snorted.

    "Ipletely forgot! From today onwards, Kano will be joining our ss. Why don''t you all wee him?" Guy dered softly while pushing Kano forward.

    Kano inched up with a lowered head. Right as he stood before Guy, Durkasmented, "Why''s this idiot back in our group?" causing Kano to visibly flinch.

    Guy''s smile faded, and his expression turned stern.

 Chapter 71 Making Friends

    The moment Durkas uttered those derogatory words, the atmosphere turned cold. The boy noticed Guy''s incisive gaze and shrunk his neck timidly.

    "Why did you call Kano an idiot, Durkas?" Guy enunciated clearly.

    In response, the boy squirmed in ce and muttered in a low voice, "It''s because... because he can''t read."

    Guy nodded contemtively and retorted, "I know that your grandmother doesn''t know how to read. Would you call her an idiot too?"

    Durkas vehemently shook his head and said, "No!"

    "Then?" Guy shot back.

    "Well... everyone his age in this vige can read, but he still struggles with it," Durkas reasoned.

    Guy once again nodded in agreement, but diverted the discussion, "I heard from your parents that you''re raising a little finch. Is that true?"

    Durkas'' eyes opened up with excitement and he nodded with a smile.

    "Apparently, that baby finch of yours failed to make it out of its nest when its mother pushed it off, is that right?"

    Once Durkas affirmed the supposition, Guy immediately followed up, "I guess that bird''s an idiot, right?"

    Durkas immediately red with indignation and eximed, "No she''s not-"

    But before Durkas could exin himself, Guy added, "But all the other finches her age can already fly sessfully. She still struggles, shouldn''t that mean that she''s an idiot too?"

    Durkas was left speechless. He had be trapped within his own reasoning. Being a child, he wasn''t well versed in the art of debate like Guy. In fact, his opinions on Kano weren''t borne from his own mind, they were a result of his environment. Kids are naturally impressionable. It is inherent biological programming ingrained into the DNA of primate offsprings - "monkey see, monkey do".

    Kids be the way they are by observing the adults in their environment. A child doesn''t know what is good or bad, they are essentially born a clean te. This te is gradually filled with the information the child sees in its surroundings. Some parts get rewritten, while others get added upon until they reach their teen years, at which point all the markings on the te be permanent.

    This begged the obvious question, are all humans born good, and is it their environment that turns them evil. To that, Guy would ask what is good and what is evil? Some acts can be readily dumped into the evil category, such as murder and maiming. Others can be just as easily dumped into the good category, such as helping those in need and treating others respectfully. But arge portion isn''t so easily categorised.

    Some believe that being selfish is evil. But Guy wouldn''t agree so readily! Selfishness is essential for survival. For instance, when travelling in aerones, the safety instructions reinforce the fact that during times of depressurisation one must first secure their own oxygen mask before helping those around them. Sure, others would praise you were you to act selflessly and go around helping others before yourself, but what are the chances that you would be alive to receive that praise? What use are goodwill and admiration if you''re dead?

    Back to the point about a human''s nature at birth, the reason why humans are even able to categorise acts into good and evil is that they are born with a conscience - a voice at the back of their mind that judges their every move. But what if a child was born without the capacity to judge their own actions? What would good and evil mean to them?

    Considering these anomalies, Guy established early in his career that it was imperative to inculcate a strong sense of morality in his students from an early age. To those with the ability to moderate their actions, these moral grounds would bolster their growth and turn them into stable adults, given other conditions remain the same. For those without the ability to moderate their actions, these moral grounds would help them evaluate their actions symbolically, through association.

    Durkas wasn''t a heartlessd, he was only misinformed. The fact that he was willing to take care of a fallen bird was evidence of that matter. Thus, Guy introduced an equation through deductive reasoning in the boy''s mind.

    "The finch you''re taking care of is just slower than others. She is destined to fly, like her brothers and sisters. However, it just isn''t her time yet," Guy said.

    Durkas thought about it for a while and nodded approvingly.

    "Everybody has their own pace. Life isn''t a race, it''s a marathon-"

    "What''s a marathon, teacher?" A girl in the group interrupted while simultaneously raising her hand.

    "Umm, it''s like a regr race, except the goal, is to run the entire distance," Guy rified.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What''s the point of that?" The girl asked again while simultaneously darting her hand upwards.

    ? "It''s to test your endurance and conviction."

    The entire group hummed together in acknowledgement. Guy coughed to draw their attention and resumed, "As I was saying. Life isn''t a race, it is a marathon. Some people get a quick sprint early to rush ahead of the group, others are slower and jog at a measured pace. But all that matters, in the end, is who actually crosses the finish line," Guy concluded as he looked directly at the Durkas.

    Guy smiled as he observed the expressions on the child''s faces. He saw an apologetic and ufortable expression wash over, as the boy looked at Kano.

    With a low mutter, Durkas spoke, "I... I''m sorry for calling you an idiot... Do you want to partner up?"

    Guy nudged Kano forward. Kano looked back and saw Guy push his chin out encouragingly. Although he was a little apprehensive, Kano decided to believe his teacher and said, "Sure."

    And with that established, the group moved on with the game. Guy settled the excited children and exined the rules.

    "As you can see, I''ve written ordered numbers on the stairs leading to the orphanage. Right at the midpoint is number 0, and as you go higher, you will see positive numbers, and lower are the negative numbers. In this container in my hands -" he said while shaking a wooden container with a lid, "are numbers ranging from -20 up to +20. One member from each group has to dip in and pick up five cards, and line them up face-down in the order they are picked. The picker must then open the first card. Your partner then must go up to that step and await further instructions. Once everyone is on their steps, I will say start and then the picker can open up the remaining cards. Then, your job is to scream out the numbers, and your partner must rise or descend depending on what the number on the card says. So if you read -7, then your partner must go down by 7 steps. Alternatively, you can call out all the numbers and your partner can directly run the calctions and move to the step that corresponds to the total sum. Once your partner settles on the final steps, you need to scream out the sum of all the numbers in your stack. If your answer matches the step your partner is on, then you win a point. If there is a mismatch, then you lose."

    The kids nodded their heads as they listened to Guy''s exnation, and excitedly dispersed.

    "Kano listen... Why don''t you be the one who walks up and down the steps? I''ll y as the picker, because... you know?" Durkas exined to his teammate.

    Kano sighed half-heartedly. He was really looking forward to peacock his newfound reading prowess. Guy had his ears trained in their direction and heard this exchange. So he decided to add another detail at thest minute, "Oh, almost forgot! We will be switching roles after every two rounds. It would only be fair that way, otherwise, it''s going to be just one person running up and down, tiring themselves."

    Durkas exhaled loudly and dropped his shoulders.

    And just like that, the game began. Durkas walked up and grabbed five cards andid them on the floor in a line. He opened the first, to reveal "+4". Just as he was about to shout out the number, he saw Kano rushing up the steps and standing on the step marked "+4".

    When everyone was ready, the pickers all flipped their cards and shouted off their numbers. Thankfully, the steps were wide enough to amodate multiple children moving around side-by-side.

    Durkas was dismayed as he beheld his selections, ''+11,+8,-10,-15''. It was unfortunate as it would require Kano to move up and down by a lot. As Kano observed Durkas''s expression he said, "Say out all the numbers at once!" To which Durkasplied.

    While the other kids started to follow the numbers sequentially and navigated the steps, Kano was swifter and more efficient. He moved directly to the step which was the total sum, -2 as if he were a robot receiving programmed instructions. While others were panting, Kano barely broke a sweat.

    Kano superiority in this game was for two main reasons. First, as a resident of the orphanage, he had to regrly move up and down the steps. This repetition had unwittingly raised his stamina and endurance. On top of that, Kano would often y a game of counting the steps while moving around. He had done that so many times, it turned into a subconscious calction that urred at the back of his mind. This meant that the abstract idea of addition was easily emted into a physical operation - climbing stairs. This made sense to Kano, thus raising his efficiency and uracy in calcting the sum.

    Durkas was sceptical about Kano''s confidence and began calcting the sum in his head. He raised and lowered his fingers until after half a minute, he screamed "-2!". To his shock, Kano screamed the same number.

    "Yaay! We won!" Durkas eximed and hopped around excitedly. "You''re so good at this, Kano!" He added, causing the recipient to blush.

    Guy grinned as he observed this. Although it was too soon to celebrate, Guy was confident that things would turn out for the better following this game.

    When it was Kano''s turn to pick cards, he was not as efficient in his calctions. However, neither was Durkas. So while the boy moved up and down the steps, Kano had plenty of time to determine the final sum.

    As the day ended, Durkas bid Kano farewell, leaving the once timid boy with a smile so bright it could blind the sun.

    "Let''s go, Kano!" Guy said.

    "Yes, Teacher!" Kano replied and skipped up the steps with a jovial spring.

 Chapter 72 Do Not Try This At Home

    It was a day like any other for Grace. She woke up early, as usual. Prepared a meal for Markus, Dora and Kano, as usual. Tended to the herb gardens near the woods, as usual. Everything was as it had always been!

    Or that was at least what she kept telling herself. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t overlook the very visible man who sat opposite her at the meal table. Nor could she overlook the new din that persisted near the orphanage when kids from the vige came over for their schooling.

    "That man''s trouble!" She would mutter intermittently, in a vain attempt to brainwash herself.

    She was constantly wary of the man''s presence. He was just like one of them, after all. She kept waiting for something to go wrong, a reason for her to take action. Her subconscious would constantly urge her to waste him where he slept, to avoid any unwanted surprises. But her conscience would always say otherwise.

    Because no matter how much she distrusted his kind, his being here had definitelyted some positives. Nowadays, whenever she spoke with Markus, the boy would constantly go on and on about things his "Master" had taught him. Not just magic, but insights into life. It wasn''t all fruity and self-righteous, it was actually practical and applicable. Most of the time Grace found herself agreeing along. And truthfully, Markus was also more upbeat and personable, except for when he locked himself in his room. Who knew what he did in there? Grace, for one, did not want to find out what a boy nearing puberty was up to behind closed doors!

    And then there was Kano. That introverted and closed off chap, who Grace feared would remain in her care till his adulthood, was also slowlying out of his shell. There was no longer a dense, dark cloud hanging over him. It was now reced with a bright sun that only paled inparison to the smile the boy would intermittently sh her way.

    Sometimes, Grace wondered if that man cast some illusionary spell to hypnotise them over to his side.

    "He''s just too... effective," she sighed as she strode out from the herb garden, back to the orphanage. On her way, she happened to stumble across Kano, who was excitedly running towards the steps leading into the vige, with an interesting model in his hands.

    "Kano! Be careful, or else you''ll trip and break your head!" She eximed.

    Kano stopped in his track and followed the voice. The moment he noticed Grace, he smiled and greeted her, "Hi, Matron Reva!"

    "Where are you going in such a hurry? And what''s that in your hands?" She asked while nudging her head.

    "I''m going to the vige to meet D-D-Durkas. And this is a y model of his finch, I wanted to g-g-gift it to him," Kano said as he presented his handiwork.

    Grace was immediately taken by the exquisite craftsmanship of the palm-sized y model in Kano''s hands. It was so lifelike that, if not for theck of colour, Grace was prepared to grab it before it flew away. Grace always knew that Kano had some talent in art and craftsmanship, but she didn''t know the exact extent of his prowess until she saw the model. To be able to achieve such uracy and precision, on a model that was almost to scale and at such a young age...

    "It looks beautiful!" Grace eximed. But then she furrowed her brows and inquired, "Why are you making this for that boy? Did he bully you again?"

    Grace was preparing herself to march over to that Durkas boy''s household and raise a ruckus, but Kano quickly shook his head and stopped her. "No, no! He didn''t bully me. I''m making this on m-m-my own volition."

    "Volition?" Grace asked in surprise.

    "By my own choice," Kano exined.

    "No, I know what it means. But how do you know such a big word?" She said with an impressed tone.

    "I read it in a b-b-book!" He answered with a proud expression, begging for praise.

    "You read it in a book?!" Grace asked in shock. But then she quickly wiped the doubt from her face and tone, and followed up with sincere praise, "Good job!"

    Grace immediately diverted the conversation back to the model, "You still didn''t tell me why you made this?"

    "D-D-Durkas'' finch took flight today and flew into the woods. He was p-p-pretty sad about it. I wanted to make this to cheer him up!"

    "But why? Wasn''t he always bullying you?"

    Kano shrugged his shoulders and answered, "He used to. N-N-Not anymore. He apologised. And T-T-Teacher Larks always says that I need to t-t-treat people the way I want to b-b-be treated back!"

    ''Not Kano too!'' Gracemented upon hearing Kano''s final sentence. She was already struggling with hearing that man''s name and praises from Markus, now she had to hear it from Kano''s mouth as well?

    While Grace was grovelling internally, Kano decided to leave. By the time Grace came back to herself, he was nowhere to be seen.

    She sighed loudly and with a bitter smile, said, "Now it''s just the girls left..."

    Right as she was about to enter the storage room in the orphanage, an audible st reverberated from within causing her to nearly drop her basket filled with herbs.

    "What the heck was that?!" She eximed.

    She hurriedly ced the basket on the ground and rushed over to the source of the sound. It wasn''t hard to find, because the moment she entered the orphanage, she saw Markusying and groaning on the unhinged door from his room, while covered in dark soot.

    "Markus! Are you okay?!" Grace shouted as she rushed over. The boy rolled off the door and coughed loudly, "I''m okay... I''m *cough* okay..."

    "What the hell happened?" She asked, but she knew immediately that magic was involved.

    Once she made sure that Markus was physically fine, she struck the boy''s shoulder and reprimanded him, "What the heck were you doing?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Without waiting for Markus'' exnations, Grace continued, "Are you trying to kill yourself? Because I can do it for you! It won''t be as loud and won''t damage the damn house either. What were you thinking? Where is that man?!"

    She grunted in displeasure while swivelling her head in search of Guy.

    "Guy! GUY!"

    "I''m here!" Guy panted as he rushed into the room. "I heard an explosion?!"

    "Yeah! Your dear student nearly blew up the entire house doing god knows what!" Grace berated sarcastically.

    Guy looked incisively at Markus, who lowered his head while wincing in pain. He then sighed and interrupted Grace before she entered a long tirade, "I''ll fix it. And I''ll talk to him."

    Grace harrumphed and left in a huff to retrieve her basket, leaving Guy and Markus alone.

    "How are you feeling? Are you hurt?" Guy inquired concernedly.

    "I''m okay," Markus assured him.

    "Let''s get all of this fixed. Tell me what happened after," Guy instructed while bending down to pick up the fallen door.

    The two worked synchronously and started to clean up the damages. Within the hour, they were able to return the house back to its initial condition. Thankfully, the explosion wasn''t toorge and hadn''t damaged the house in its foundations. Furthermore, the house itself was pretty solid and managed to disperse arge portion of the impact, which was surprising.

    Guy then followed Markus into his room, and the two sat down facing each other.

    "Exin," Guy said.

    Markus scratched his elbows in embarrassment and confessed, "I was trying to replicate a spell, but the modrbinations weren''t quite right."

    Guy furrowed his brows and inquired further, "Which spell were you trying to replicate?"

    Markus grit his teeth and maintained silence.

    "What''s wrong? You can tell me," Guy coaxed.

    "I was trying to replicate that spell Gaige cast during our fight," Markus said in defeat. The moment he finished, his entire aura unwound itself as if arge boulder was being lifted off of his chest. Ever since he''d returned to the orphanage, Markus had been tirelessly researching in an attempt to crack the secrets of that devastating spell he''d suffered through, near the end of his match against Gaige.

    But he knew that he could only pursue this in secret because he couldn''t let his Master find out. Master Larks had told him many times that the loss wasn''t his fault, but Markus wasn''t willing to ept that. Yet there was nothing he could do to change the fact that he lost that match. All he could do was to prepare for the future like his Master kept telling him.

    However, at every turn, Markus was brought back to his terrible defeat and was forced to live through the horrific spell that nearly crushed him to death.

    "Just what was that magic?" Markus asked Guy bluntly.

    Guy tilted his head, and smiled mysteriously, "First, I want you to tell me your thoughts. You were obviously researching into it. Tell me what you found out?"

    *******************

    A/N:

    Recently, I''ve been going back to my first set of chapters and reading through them. I noticed that my story has evolved quite a bit since then. My initial intention was to write a plot that parodied stories like LotHP, Absolute Great Teacher, other sect-building novels, but I found myself getting increasingly involved in the world and with the characters I was writing about.

    I consider this to be a good thing! At first, I wasn''t really feeling connected to my characters because they didn''t seem original or rtable. But one day, around chapter 25, things just clicked! I got inspired and the world I was writing about just opened up to me.

    As for the MC, I realised that Guy happened to exhibit one of my own characteristics that I was LEAST proud of. This meant that he could now have a decent character arc and opportunity for growth!

    Guy no longer became a 2D cutout, like every other generic MC, that never underwent any form of character development.

    With the MC growing more real in my mind, the story became more personal for me.

    Ultimately, this was all thanks to your (readers'') support. Without you guys leavingments, voting with power stones, I wouldn''t have had the motivation to persist. For that, I am truly grateful.

    I now have at least 3-4 volumes worth of plot jotted down. If all goes well, I hope to write up to 450-500 chapters. I even have an ending ready, which was a massive deal for me because before I was just writing without an aim in mind.

 Chapter 73 Paradigm Shift

    It was hard for Markus toe to terms with his loss at the Apprentice Tournament. He had persisted till the end, yet all it took was one spell to turn the tides. The experience was etched into Markus'' heart like a troublesome scar. Not just the disappointment from the loss, but the pain that built up to the defeat.

    "It felt like an immense force was bearing down on me. But the weird thing was that it was distributed, not concentrated. Each and every single fibre of my being was experiencing the pressure all at once!" Markus recounted ponderously.

    "It was the strongest spell I have ever seen or experienced..."

    Guy nodded morosely andmented, "I''m sorry that you had to go through that. I cannot imagine how much pain you were under."

    Markus immediately shook his head and added, "No, Master! You shouldn''t apologise! It was my decision to participate. I could have very easily turned it down."

    He sighed and continued, "As you''ve told me many times. That fight, and my loss, was an inevitability. While I cannot readily agree with that sentiment, I respect your perspective and understand the underlying implication of what you''re trying to convey. However, epting my loss does not negate it from history."

    "I agree," Guy answered.

    "With that in mind, I''ve been reevaluating the match in search of areas for improvement. If I were to confront my opponent once again, how can I achieve a victory?" Markus dered.

    "But, no matter what, I end up with the same conclusion: there is just no way! And that is BECAUSE of the spell Gaige cast at the end." As he finished the sentence, Markus'' shoulders drooped in defeat.

    Taking the hint, Guy continued in Markus'' ce, "So, you''ve been exploring different avenues to learn the spell?"

    "That was my initial intention. Through research, I was able to posit that the spell could have been in some ways connected to a special bloodline or physique. It could have also been a spell passed down within his n. I also couldn''t write off the possibility that it was taught to him through some fortuitous encounter, maybe by his teacher even - Teacher Way," Markus exined.

    "Those routes were obviously dead-ends. Even if I knew the source of the spell, there wasn''t anything I could do to obtain it. Which meant that I was only left with another option: to use my existing knowledge to create the spell."

    "Understandable," Guymented.

    "I then started with a mind-map of what I knew already that could be connected to the spell, and details that were unknown and required additional digging," Markus said as he retrieved a wooden board hidden behind his dress cupboard. On it, he had etched an borate map detailing his different hypotheses and findings as well as his arguments and counter-arguments to various theories he''d learned along the way.

    "Through some investigation, I was able to determine that the spell was categorised under the darkness element," Markusmented, to which Guy interjected with a question, "How do you know that it was affiliated with the darkness element?"

    "Right! Soothsayer Nara told me. I wasn''t able to find any publications, but he happened to have some experience dealing with spells categorised under the darkness element, and those details aligned with my experiences as well. So I deduced that they were the one and the same," Markus answered.

    ''It''s him again!'' Guy noted down the urrence of such a convenient coincidence in his mind. He would pursue this line of questioning at ater date.

    "As I was saying, the name ''darkness'' implied that the spell might have some connection with light, given how the absence of light is the definition of darkness. After some contemtion, it made sense to me. Moreover, given how light is also a form of energy, and since the effect of the spell could be categorised as non-contact, the conclusion seemed valid."

    "However, this brought up the question, how can you qualitatively define the opposite of light, that is darkness, as an energy?"

    Guy interrupted Markus with a question, "What makes you think that the so-called ''darkness'' element is the opposite of the ''light'' element?"

    Markus tilted his head and answered, "Isn''t it a logical conclusion? I mean, the opposite of the standard fire element is water. To counter lightning, you use earth. To counter water, lightning, and so on..."

    "That''s the old way of thinking, isn''t it? But we know for a fact that the world doesn''t work that way," Guy rified.

    Markus exhaled loudly and spoke with some irritation, "I get that, I do. But the way you taught me hasn''t led me to any worthwhile discoveries-"

    "Then, has the old method worked out? Looking at the state of your room, I would say that it hasn''t," Guy interrupted.

    Markus stewed in silence with his head hung low. He curled his palm into a fist as a long-suppressed rage threatened to spill over. He wasn''t angry at his Master. No, his grievance was solely directed towards himself. This was all he could amount to, and it pained him to ept that fact. Life was never fair, if it were then there would be no sorrow in this world. Even though he''d managed to catch up to his peers in the marathon called life, he could see that while others would persist till the end, he was doomed to drop off midway.

    "Actually, the problem isn''t that there is no way to define the element known as ''darkness'' through scientific reasoning, it''s that you aren''t able to conceptualise the phenomenon given your current thought paradigm," Guy pointed out, interjecting Markus'' detractive thoughts.

    "Honestly, it isn''t even your fault. The idea in and of itself is so hard to fathom that someone without the proper background or knowledge cannot conceptualise it organically," Guy borated.

    Facing Markus'' confounded expression Guy wore a mysterious smile. "Let''s start from the first thing you said. ''It felt like an immense force was bearing down on me''. What can you derive from that statement?"

    Markus nodded in contemtion and began voicing his thoughts, "Force bearing down... are you implying that the spell had something to do with exerting a force?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You then added, ''the weird thing was that it was distributed, not concentrated''. What does that tell you?"

    "Distributed force... But I know that it was contactless... So it was a field of some sort?" Markus asked.

    "Let''s bring it all together," Guy instructed.

    "A force field. Since it wasn''t specifically targetting metallic objects, nor was it acting on charges, I can rule out both maic and electric fields. So the only thing that remains is gravity?"

    Guy nodded with a beaming smile, "Bingo!"

    "But that doesn''t make any sense! I''ve already entertained that theory before, but it yielded nothing. For instance, how can gravity interface with light?" Markus challenged

    "And that''s where the problem starts. Your thought paradigm is limited by what you know. But consider the following case: A supermassive star is nearing the end of its life. At its demise, it undergoes an enormous explosion of cosmic proportion, propelling sma and matter into space haphazardly. But what of the mass that remains? The star was so massive during its main sequence that the remaining mass is far denser than what could have been imagined. Without thermonuclear pressure to oppose the rapidly increasing gravitational forces, the mass copses in on itself. Itpresses so much that it literally bores into the fabric of space-time, creating a region where the gravity is so strong, that nothing can escape it."

    As Guy finished and cleared his throat to diminish the after-effects of using his teaching voice, he was met with Markus'' awestruck gaze.

    "What is this thing called, Master?"

    "A ck hole!" Guy answered matter of factly, to which Markus narrowed his eyes.

    "That''s a very straightforward name..." He muttered. But then he quickly shook his head and continued, "But I still don''t understand, Master. How can gravity, something that is known to act on masses, affect light which is a form of energy?"

    Guy sighed as he answered, "That''s because light has a dual nature. It is a form of energy AND has a material form, known as a photon."

    "What? How does that even work?!" Markus eximed in disbelief.

    "If you can suspend your scepticism just a little bit and entertain the thought that light can exhibit material properties, then we can actually derive a simple form to describe a theoretical radius a cosmic body needs to have, given its mass, so that it can be defined as a ck hole." Guy enthusiastically picked up a handy chalkboard in Markus'' room and began writing on it.

    "Let us start by equating kic energy of a mass and kic energy due to gravity:"

    1/2 mv^2 = GMm/r

    "Let us evaluate kic energy of a mass on the left-hand side as applying to light, which through its duality can be defined as photon particles. We use ''c'' to define the speed of light, and since a photon is essentially massless we can cancel out ''m'' on both sides:"

    1/2 c^2 = GM/r

    "Rearranging this form yields:"

    r = 2GM/c^2

    "As you can see. Given a cosmic body with mass M, in order for it to ssify as a ck hole, it needs to have a radius defined by this form. This is called the Schwarzschild radius of a ck hole. And as seen here, it is defined by the fact that a ck hole is able to capture light! Isn''t this fascinating?"

    Markus nodded, then shook his head, "I understand what you''re trying to exin here, but I can''t get my head around this idea..."

    Guy grimaced and replied, "To truly grasp the implications of this theory, you either need to be inducted into the field of general rtivity or need to see a ck hole. I think you should have experienced something simr to it, albeit only an infinitesimal fraction of a true ck hole, through Gaige''s ultimate spell."

    And with that, the duo entered a state ofplete silence.

    Markus was totally stumped by everything his Master revealed to him in the past few minutes. While he trusted his Master wholeheartedly and believed everything he had taught him, this was the first time Markus was unable to internalise and assimte his Master''s teachings. It wasn''t that he thought his Master was lying to him, just that the entire concept sounded so ludicrous his mind just wasn''t willing to ept it.

    Maybe Guy understood these sentiments in Markus'' nk gaze, because he followed up with a thoughtful revtion, "The scientific process is full of such paradigm shifts. Sometimes, you end up in a dead-end where the only way to get out is by looking at the problem from a different, sometimes revolutionary perspective. The many truths of this world are seldom straightforward."

    Yet this still could not alleviate Markus'' current struggle. Right as Guy was about to call it a day and urge Markus to take some time to absorb what he had learned, an unconventional thought struck him.

    ''Truth of the world... Maybe...''

 Chapter 74 I See Dead Stars

    Guy recognised a key fact during his conversation with Markus. How was it that people back on Earth - regr people without any involvement in scientific research - were able toprehend and internalise the concept of a ck hole and all that entailed? In truth, the idea was so absurd it should not have been so easily registered. The fact that there existed something out there capable of interfering with light, which was universally designated to have the fastest speed, goes against everything learned during the primary, middle, and arge part of the high-school curriculum. Even the definition of the second, ording to Syst¨¨me International (SI), is expressed with respect to light!

    Regardless of the irrational nature of the phenomenon, in the 21st century, even a little kid could recite what a ck hole was as if they were familiar with it. How was that possible?

    It couldn''t have been because of the advent of the inte. Free distribution of information couldn''t have been the sole cause for such a widespread acknowledgement of such ludicrous thought paradigms. For someone to change the way they think, evidence beyond reasonable doubt was an imminent requirement. Well, that was in most cases. Guy decided to brush off the fact that there was still a sizeable chunk of the poption holding the belief that the world was t.

    Ultimately, it was the result of the advancement in media and visual presentation that allowed the widespread acmation of advanced scientific concepts amongst the general popce. To be able to take an abstract concept and package it into aprehensible visual medium easily essible by the unindoctrinated masses ensured that even the most oundish of ideas could be easily digested.

    In fact, even before scientists were able to visually capture an image of a ck hole, they were able to create visual representations of the phenomenon using rendering software and digital media incorporating the science backing the assertions. Interestingly, most if not all of these renderings were close to the actual phenomenon. Once the public observed these representations and understood the science behind them, which was conveyed in bite-size chunks, they quickly adopted the idea and acknowledged its presence.

    This was something sorelycking in Guy''s current world. Well, that would be a false generalisation. Guy didn''t know much about the state of advanced technology in this world and to an extent, his perspective was clouded by his immediate experiences. With magic, there were endless possibilities, unfortunately, Guy wasn''t knowledgeable enough to exploit these benefits to reinforce his teaching methods.

    "But maybe there might be another way," Guy mumbled to himself. What he needed to do was convince Markus about the rtion between gravitational fields and light. He tried once using the regr method of pedagogy and failed due to its drawbacks in this world. But what if there was another way to get through Markus'' barrier of rationality and ''reveal'' to him the ''truth of the world''?

    The thought itself sent shudders down Guy''s spine. He never even considered that he''d resolve to use ''that'' on his students! But he was left without any options. He couldn''t afford to let Markus stew on the teachings on his own and hope that the boy achieved a breakthrough sometime in the future.

    With a sigh, Guy retreated into the RoK and approached the mask ced carefully on the desk at the centre.

    He held the mask in both his hands and slowly brought it close to his face. The moment the cold metallic feeling graced his skin, a familiar feeling washed over him. Once again, he could feel his rationality getting isted from his psyche and condensing into a blob of untainted and cold logic, retreating to the back of his mind. What remained was unrestrained fervour and passion!

    As Guy''s consciousness beheld The Church in all its grandiose glory, he was greeted by a novel sight. Upon the previously unending yet empty pews, there sat an ethereal form. Right at the very front, Guy saw the corporeal shape of an entity all too familiar to him: Markus.

    The boy had a ghostlike, translucent appearance as he sat on his seat with a solemn look on his face. His arms were ced carefully on hisps, as they held each other. His gaze was firmly nted towards the ever-changing insignia adorned at the front of the Church as if he were worshipping it wholeheartedly.

    Guy''s rationality was extremely disgusted by this sight, yet he could do nothing of it since right now it was his passionate side that held the steering wheels. Guy approached the corporeal form of Markus and grasped the boy''s entwined hands.

    The moment Guy contacted Markus, the boy''s solemn face warped with confusion.

    "Where... Where am I?" Markus eximed as he swivelled his head in ce.

    "Worry not, my child. You are safe," Guy answered with a warm smile and a weing gaze.

    This alleviated some of Markus'' concerns. One minute he was sitting in his room, and the next his surroundings began to ripple. He could still feel that he was in his room, yet the atmosphere had a different, very overpowering but soothing aura. His growing fears were quickly doused after he acknowledged that his Master was also present. He chalked off the entire situation as part of one of his Master''s magic.

    "I sense great confusion and turmoil within your heart. Why do you fret, child?" Guy asked.

    Suddenly, Markus could feel an overwhelming sense of release boiling from within. He was feeling urged to purge his inner knots in favour of catharsis.

    "I... I want to get stronger! I know that deciphering Gaige''s spell is the only way to do it. But I feel so useless! I couldn''t do it on my own, nor could I do it after getting your help. I''m such a waste!" Markus cried in frustration.

    "Now, now! Child, this is not your fault. And I know that no matter what I tell you, it will not dissuade you from your misery. So, let me show it to you!" Guy dered as he mboyantly waved his hands, pointing towards the altar before him.

    On queue, the sight began to ripple once again as a dark screen manifested on the altar. It was void ck, like the emptiness of space, and looked extremely out of ce.

    "What is that?" Markus said in awe.

    "Watch..."

    Slowly, Markus felt himself getting pulled into the screen. His senses began to tremble as he started to feel disembodied. Suddenly, as if he were in a massive vacuum, he felt himself getting sucked into a vessel. It was extremely disorienting, but after a short moment, he suddenly found that his senses had returned to him.

    "Where am I?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    As his eyes scanned his surroundings, he was greeted by a foreign environment. He appeared in a circr room, with a t ceiling. The walls around him were all transparent as if made of extremely clear and see-through ss. The sights beyond the ss were familiar to him. It reminded him of the night sky, bright and full of stars.

    "Am I in space?"

    Markus knew that word. Whaty beyond the confines of the he lived in, Gaea. Space was always apelling prospect for Markus. Ever since he learned that there could be worlds just like his into the night sky, he was immediately enamoured.

    "So this is what it looks like," Markusmented in awe.

    But then, from the corner of his eyes, he observed a strange object.

    "What is that?"

    As if answering his question, the room he was currently in began to propel itself towards the direction of that object. He was getting closer, and closer.

    It looked odd, to say the least. Space in and of itself looked like an empty, dark void. But this object was much, much darker. It was so dark that it made outer space look as bright as the sun. Markus was sure he''d have missed it if not for the circle halo of light enveloping it in a thin nket. It marked a visible boundary to distinguish the object from its surroundings.

    It had a circr appearance. Markus was confused whether it was spherical because at its ''poles'' were two bright pirs that appeared to be spinning. The axis of rotation implied that the body was spherical, yet it was so dark that Markus couldn''t decipher its third dimension.

    "This..."

    To Markus, the mass appeared small. He didn''t know whether it was because he was far away from it, or if it was actually that size. But as he approached it, it started to berger. Enormous even!

    Upon reaching closer, Markus was able to observe the mass with greater detail. The area around the ck mass began to visibly warp. What should have appeared stationary and point-like, stretched out like a noodle and began to revolve with a high angr velocity. There was no sound, but Markus felt the undting seismic activity passing through him periodically.

    And suddenly, he was caught!

    "This feeling..." It was all too familiar. To date, he was haunted by it in his sleep. But unlike in his fight, it didn''t stop or teau.

    As Markus approached the object, which he now recognised as a ck hole, he began to experience a crushing feeling well beyond what he had ever felt in his entire life. It grew exponentially with each passing millisecond.

    "ARGH!" His body screamed, yet he knew that it was intact. This pain waspletely phantom in nature, yet extremely life-like.

    The room Markus was in approached the now-massive ck hole. He was so close that the area around him began to fold in on itself. He was in a total andplete abyss. He couldn''t feel anything else apart from an immense pressure a hundred trillion times his weight, attacking each and every single atom in his body.

    "This is true darkness!" Markus dered while gritting his teeth. Gaige''s spell was nothing! It was barely the tip of the iceberg. This was true power. Unadulterated and unforgiving. Gaige could only dream to touch the surface of what Markus was experiencing right now.

    And then there was nothing.

    Complete darkness.

    All Markus could remember was his body getting ripped apart piece by piece, molecule by molecule, atom by atom. And it didn''t stop at that!

    Yet it all urred within an infinitesimal fraction of a second. So fast that the pain barely managed to register in his mind.

    And that was that.

    Markus once again experienced the feeling of entering a vacuum. His suspended body was whisked out, and he found himself back to where he was before, facing a dark screen next to his Master.

    "It was the same! Darkness... I now know what it is!" Markus uttered with excitement while facing his Master''s pious gaze.

 Chapter 75 Breaking Through To Foundation Establishment

    Interestingly, Markus and Guy weren''t alone in the room. No, this entire time, another pair of eyes, mana sense to be specific, were trained in their direction originating from a quaint little cottage at the base of the steps leading up to the orphanage.

    Not once had Krish let down his observation since the arrival of the aberrant party with a fortune as ck as the clear night sky. This entire time, he had his eyes on Guy with unwavering obsession.

    "What is your deal?!"

    Krish''s characteristically endless patience was wearing thin at a very rapid pace. He was a nail''s width away from barging in front of the man, splitting open his head and observing everything thatid within.

    This was until today!

    He was attracted by an explosion from the orphanage. Since it followed a sudden fluctuation of mana, Krish figured that it must have been a spell gone wrong.

    "The boy''s probably messing around again," he sighed. He had witnessed the chap called Markus trying to flit around with spells. He was tempted to reprimand the boy on his stupidity. Not just anyone could create a new spell. Yet he was repeatedly proven wrong when 80% of the spells the boy put together ended up working. Krish was convinced that the boy was some hidden genius, wasting away his talents in this vige.

    After making sure that the boy was okay, Krish retrained his senses back on Guy, who was rushing towards the orphanage with concern stered over his face. Krish didn''t have a poor opinion of the man''s character. Through his observation, he had found that Guy was extremely cordial and personable, especially with kids. He had raised a seemingly illiterate boy into a voracious reader within the span of just a month. This was unprecedented by Krish''s standards. Sure, teaching mortal knowledge and magic were two different realms by definition, yet the craft at its base remained the same. A good teacher was to be respected no matter what they specialised in. And Guy for one had entered Krish''s books as the paramount definition of one.

    Krish observed as the master and disciple cleaned up the room and sat down to discuss the disciple''s current quandary. It was a conversation Krish had observed many times in his life. Defeat was always hard to digest, especially when a genius experienced one. As the saying went, "the bigger you are, the harder you fall!" Oftentimes, the damage incurred by a rapidly deted ego was far-reaching and seldom healed.

    Yet the boy hadn''t fretted over it as hard as Krish predicted. Maybe it was due to Guy''s tutge, but Markus was able to ept his loss. His only problem was in trying to find a way to ovee his defeat and grow stronger. That was also understandable. After all, he was unfortunate enough to face a mage with the bloodline of an Abyssal Wyrm. Krish had fought against those dastardly reptiles on a few asions in his lifetime. It was never an easy fight, even when he was realms above them.

    However, Guy did not dissuade Markus from pursuing his research into the spell. This shocked Krish! Usually, he would wholeheartedly agree with Guy''s teachings. But Krish knew for a fact that unless someone had the inherent quality to mould darkness mana, replicating the spell would be impossible.

    It was at that point that Guy started exining about an archaic object he called a "ck hole". Krish would have scoffed and berated Guy like every other mage, if not for the fact that he had read manuscripts exining a simr phenomenon.

    After the Age of Istion, many mages had ventured out of Gaea in search of other realms orary bodies with life. A few had found traces, yet none was substantiative. Within the ounts of one such mage, Krish had read of his experience witnessing a faint dark spot in the already dark canvas of outer space. It had an ethereal halo surrounding it, but that was all his senses could gleam. ording to the mage''s notes, just observing it had sent his instincts ring in fear. One must note that the mage whose journals Krish read was also in the Tesseract Transformation realm. To scare a powerhouse at the pinnacle, it must have truly been a powerful existence - this "ck hole".

    "But how does he know of this?" Krish muttered. In recent years, no one had ventured out of Gaea. Most ounts that emerged in the past had disappeared from the face of this. The only exnation to Guy''s vast knowledge was the existence of a power backing him. Maybe a teacher with multiple millennia in his pockets, or even an inheritance from a deceased mage. Both were likely possibilities and warranted further digging, but there was time for that.

    The exchange within the room reached a stalemate as Markus was unable to grasp the insight his teacher conveyed to him. Krish sighed in disappointment, yet he wasn''t discouraged. Maybe in a few years, the boy would grasp the essence of these insights and assimte them. Cultivation wasn''t like making food. Adding a new ingredient may take effect immediately when creating a sumptuous meal, but insights took time to take root and grow. Only geniuses amongst geniuses could grasp insights the moment they left a teacher''s lips.

    But what happened next, once again, threw Krish for a loop. The two in the room entered a kind of fugue state. Their eyes turned nk as the aura permeating from Guy changed drastically. For a moment, Krish saw a burgeoning light within Guy''s seemingly void-like fortune. The man also "felt" different. There was an overwhelming sense of zealousness permeating from his pores that assaulted Krish''s rationality, tempting it to sumb.

    As he scrutinised the scene further, he realised that the two were cultivating. Their mana flow was indicative of that. Krish changed the way he trained his senses to glean more information about their cultivation. At his level, it was possible to grasp information beyond what regr senses could see. Sometimes he could even see abstract concepts. Cultivation happened to be one of them.

    He saw that Markus was at a roadblock in his cultivation, a bottleneck if you will. This was determined based on a myriad of factors bundled into one: mana flow, body conditioning, environmental fluctuations, and so on. It would take a few years for this to pass naturally as the boy organically advanced through assimting insights. Alternatively, he could ingest some potent potions and smash through the barriers, but that was generally frowned upon at lower levels of cultivation. Since the higher your realm was, the harder it was to break through. So it was unnecessary and detrimental to force breakthroughs at a lower realm when it was supposed to be easier.

    Right in front of Krish''s eyes, or senses, the bottleneck was being opened smoothly. The boy''s rigid mana cirction was smoothening and previous restrictions were being burst through with a torrent of mana. It was an unbelievable urrence! To do that must have meant that the boy had gained an epiphany of Herculean proportions and that too within minutes of experiencing the bottleneck!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Upon further inspection, Krish noticed that it wasn''t just the bottleneck that was being eased away, but the boy''s cultivation itself was undergoing a drastic change that usually led to deviations within most mages. Certain active mana pathways were being rerouted or truncated, as though parts of the boy''s cultivation were being snipped off by some sort of non-existent pair of scissors. In some locations, new mana channels were being opened up and widened, as if new sections were being glued in. Some channels were getting twisted or elongated, while others shortened or straightened. None of this made any sense! It was beyond Krish''s vast realm ofprehension.

    After calming himself, Krish was able to hypothesise two possible reasons for this. Either the boy''s cultivation method was special that allowed for such drastic changes in his core paradigms without incurring massive deviations and internal damage, or Guy was such a potent teacher that he was able to change his student''s cultivation at its core without incurring any consequencess. Maybe they were both true!

    "Another string to follow!" Krish eximed with enthusiasm.

    As the metaphorical dust began settling, Krish witnessed another rare urrence: perfected resonance! Surprisingly, it wasn''t just Guy, but his student too! They were both simultaneously undergoing perfected resonance! And through the entire process, they were preupied in a fugue state, oblivious to the changes they were undergoing.

    After a brief minute, Markus started to settle down. His cultivation had formed a solid and unshakeable core and appeared ready to break into the Foundation Establishment realm. Maybe after cultivating a little more, the boy could breakthrough.

    However, Guy didn''t stop. A whirlpool of mana began exhibiting above the orphanage and started to siphon into Guy. The temperature within the room rose drastically as steam began emanating from the man''s skin. As gaseous, scalding, mana escaped from his pores, his clothes started to disintegrate, falling into tatters. The pure mana coursing within him started to change state from gaseous to liquid. Like with most physical exothermic state changes, this released a lot of heat. Usually, mages would iste themselves, submerge in a cool medical bath and proceedpletely in the nude to alleviate any possible damages they may incur.

    With an ethereal boom, the man''s foundations solidified and the impurities within his blood surged out as steam. Guy had sessfully stepped foot into the true path of magehood - he was now within the Base Stage of the Foundation Establishment realm!

    ____

    Guy had put together a "video" for Markus by splicing together key bits and pieces from various documentaries such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson''s "Cosmos - A Space Odyssey" and from fiction works such as "Interster". Although he hadn''t personally witnessed a ck hole in its horrific majesty, he believed that these visual mediums were suitable enough to convince Markus. Of what remained, Guy let his passionate self take reign and fill in the gaps.

    Through some religious drivel exining the power one could wield byprehending the "True World" Guy was able to inculcate the concepts of an unbelievable phenomenon into Markus. As the boy absorbed the information, Guy saw his ethereal form turning more solid. At a point, a string connecting his consciousness and Markus'' form in the Church materialised and started to grow thicker.

    Guy wasn''t sure what this was, and his current state refused to question it even a little. He wanted to let his supreme rationality take over, but the other guy just wouldn''t let off! There was still a few sermons to go through apparently...

    Guy wasn''t having any of it! He quickly assaulted his other self and reigned it in, immediately taking off the mask. After he returned to the RoK, he was greeted by an unbearable heat assaulting him.

    "Oh my goodness, it''s hot!" He quickly retreated from the RoK and reentered his body.

    Before he could take ount of what had happened, the door to Markus'' room swung open.

    "Markus, it''s time for lunch- What the hell is going on in here?!" Grace eximed as she witnessed thepletely naked Guy sitting in front of Markus in a lotus position.

    "YOU PERVERT! I knew you were trouble when you walked in! Leave Markus alone!"

    She cursed with a shrill voice and fetched a convenient stick supported against the room''s door frame.

    "Get over here!" She yelled as she rushed over at Guy with visible rage in her eyes.

 Chapter 76 Nightmares

    A/N:

    Thank you for being patient with me and my process. Without further ado...

    *****START OF [VOLUME 2 - THE GRAND EXPERIMENT]*****

    "Jean don''te closer!" The woman screamed anxiously, as she conjured a quick |Gust| spell to push the little girl, barely 5 years old, away.

    "But, Mommy-"

    "Stop!" The woman interjected the girl''s pleading words and began circting through a series of spells haphazardly, yet at the same time familiarly.

    With tears streaming down her cheeks, Jean rushed towards her mother, only to face a rigid yet transparent screen blocking her.

    She curled her tiny palms into a fist and began hammering them away at the screen while crying out vehemently.

    "Mommy, no! Please let me in!" She screamed out, only to receive an apologetic expression from the woman beyond the screen.

    Her mother looked at her with a worrying gaze, which transformed into dismay and despair. She too approached the screen and ced a free hand against it, opposite Jean''s. A lone tear tumbled down from the woman''s eye and collided against her warm and caring smile.

    Jean looked up at the familiar face and wiped her tears with the cuffs of her dress.

    "Please let me in, Mommy," she pleaded.

    Her mother opened her mouth to answer, but then she stopped.

    Jean looked on with confusion as the familiar face of her mother contorted to disy emotionspletely unlike her.

    With a devious sneer, the woman said incisively, "You did this!"

    "Mommy?"

    "If only you had stayed at home, I wouldn''t have had to die saving your life!"

    "Mommy..."

    "Murderer!" The woman screamed out with a violent cackle.

    Jean stumbled back and fell on her bottom in fear as she saw her mother''s usatory gaze. Her mother''s face began darkening rapidly and her body started to desate in a simr fashion.

    Through the woman''s osciting mouth, a dark, viscous, bile-like substance started to ooze out, as boils started to pop out in her skin.

    "You''re the reason I''m dead, girl! My husband is all alone, because of you! Mother-killer!" The woman screamed out loud with a frenzied expression.

    Her skin and flesh started to dissolve along with the dark ooze, slowly turning her into a malignant blob of muck. The blob began to undte and change shape, settling into an erged form of the woman it used to be.

    "You''re a curse! A jinx! A monster!" It howled in the woman''s voice, yet with an additional almost inhuman reverb.

    As Jean processed the events, her eyes widened with overwhelming guilt. Tears started to stream out unceasingly as she began hyperventting.

    "It''s all my fault... It''s all my fault... It''s all my fault..." She muttered repeatedly, with a dazed expression.

    The dark form of the woman pointed directly at Jean and dered with a sinister grin, "When I died, in myst breath, the only feeling I had towards you was hate. I hated you for killing me. I hated you for separating me from the man I loved. And I hated you for being born!"

    "Now, die!" The form dered as it swooped down on Jean, consuming her into a suffocating mass of toxic slurry.

    ____

    Jean gasped loudly as she woke up from her nightmare. Her forehead was coated with sweat, just like the rest of her body.

    She inhaled and exhaled heavily as she tried to catch her breath.

    She looked around in her bed. Her surroundings were familiar to her. It was an elegant and well-maintained room, indicative of a boudoir of a youngdy from a wealthy household. However, there was an additional amodation in the room for a private workspace, filled with appliances and devices used by alchemists and physicians, such as a small cauldron, a plethora of beakers and tubes, mortar and pestle, acupuncture needles, knives, and so on.

    Interestingly, this addition did not seem jarring to the eyes as it blended seamlessly into the remainder of the room. This was assisted by the fact that the boudoir itself did not entertain excess decorations that weremon in the bedchambers of the wealthy young misses from other households.

    This room was simple, yet it did not sacrifice its feminine charms in favour of minimalism, nor did it ovepensate by tilting heavily towards a more masculine and rugged ambience.

    "My room," Jean confirmed monotonously.

    She then inspected her body thoroughly. She patted her youthful face that was in the process of transforming the soft and immature baby fat into a firmer recement. She felt her slim arms, which were neither bony as a result of excess starvation or unhealthy eating practices, nor excessively muscr.

    She slid her hands over her chest, housing the still growing mounds that bloomed as she progressed through her adolescence, and then passed over her t stomach, which entuated her developing abdominal muscles. She patted her well-proportioned hips and thighs and stopped right before her knees.

    "Still 13 years old, alive," she affirmed with an unwavering tone.

    #But I''m still dead,# a voice retorted in her mind.

    Jean knew better now than to entertain the voice with a response. Hence she chose to ignore it and carefully sat up in her bed.

    *Did you have a nightmare again, baby?* the same voice asked, but with a warmer tone.

    *Did you forget to take the medicine Mage Baruchel prescribed for you again?*

    #That man was a hack! She should have poisoned him when she had the chance.#

    *We must not hurt others! We''re healers. Our job is to treat people.*<novelnext></novelnext>

    #Ha! Her, a healer? Please! She can''t even cultivate past the Early stage of Mana Condensation realm. Is she even qualified to call herself a healer?#

    *It''s your fault that she is unable to cultivate!*

    #Oh please! You say that as if I am the only guilty party here. You are equally responsible, oh saintly one!#

    Jean shook her head, in a vain attempt to quieten the rampant argument urring within her mind. She released a sigh filled with a mixture of different emotions, yet her face remained unchanged.

    The room she was in maintained a serene silence unlike the cacophony resonating from within the deepest recesses of her mind.

    But the physical silence was disturbed by a series of knocks from her room door.

    "Young Miss, are you awake?" a soft, aged, female voice followed, speaking with a respectful tone.

    "Come in, Josie," Jean answered.

    The room door opened and an elderly maid walked in, with her head facing low.

    "Young Miss, Lord Rasmus is expecting a guest, and would like for you to be present," the maid said.

    She immediately followed up with a few points, "I have prepared your bath and an appropriate outfit. This ve awaits your instructions."

    Jean clicked her tongue and reprimanded the maid, "Josie! Can you stop acting so formally with me? You''ve raised me for goodness sake."

    "This maid apologises. She will try harder from now on, Young Miss," Josie responded without missing a beat.

    Jean sighed in defeat, and replied, "I trust your choice. Please help me get ready."

    The maid bowed in affirmation and proceeded to assist Jean off of her bed. As she approached the mattress, the maid noticed the dampness soaking the area where Jean was sleeping.

    "May this ve be presumptuous to ask the Young Miss a personal question?"

    Jean simply nodded.

    "Did the Young Miss experience another nightmare? Is the medicine from Mage Baruchel ineffective?"

    Jean shook her head. "I''ve stopped taking it. They are just sleep-inducing potions. I don''t want to build an immunity to it through overconsumption."

    "But this..."

    "You don''t have to tell Father. If he asks, just say you don''t know or something."

    "Young Miss, you know that I cannot lie to the Lord."

    "You would do it for me, right?" The girl asked in a coquettish manner, yet and expression barely shifted from uncaring coldness.

    "This may be presumptuous of this ve. But I hope Young Miss knows that Madam would never me Young Miss for what happened that day. I have been with Madam since the day she entered this household through marriage. She loved the Young Miss oh so dearly - like the world!"

    Jean sagged her shoulders in response and nodded in resignation.

    After she finished taking a bath, Jean sat down in front of her dressing table and observed her reflection in the mirror. The person that stared back had skin as smooth as Jade, polished to perfection.

    "The Young Miss grows to look more like the Madam every day," Josie said lovingly as she started to work Jean''s hair expertly.

    "A portrait may capture the appearance of a person, but it is seldom able to mimic the person''s aura," Jean answered.

    Jean held the ends of her lips and pulled them upwards to mimic a smile. But the moment she lifted her fingers, the corners retreated to her default neutral state.

    #You may look like me, but you will never be as good! You are a disgrace to that face. You should cut it with that knife!#

    Jean nced at the knife on her workspace, which happened to neighbour her dressing table.

    *No! Don''t listen to her!*

    "Did father say who the guest was?" Jean asked casually.

    "To answer the Young Miss, the Lord only revealed that the guest was some teacher from the Radiant Academy," Josie answered.

    "Another one? Father should just give up. Magic and cultivation just aren''t in my destiny," Jean muttered.

    Josie quickly responded with a serious tone, "Young Miss should not disparage herself! This ve firmly believes that the Young Miss will one day soar through the heavens!"

    Jean wanted to chuckle in amusement, yet she just couldn''t vocalise the emotion.

    With Josie''s help, Jean got ready and adorned a simple, yet practical outfit. Nowadays, Jean seldom purchased any clothes that entuated frivolity. Her mind could not fathom such fleeting emotions anymore. For her, an outfit must conform to its basic tasks, as well as offer practical additions that maye to use at a moment''s notice.

    Feeling hungry? Worry not, there is a snack bar in the back trouser pockets. Feeling a sneeze approaching? The front pockets hold both a kerchief as well as a few phials of flu medicine. While most young mistresses relegated such mundane tasks to carry-on bags, usually held by their attendants, Jean preferred to tack them onto her person. It was more convenient that way.

    Jean walked familiarly through the corridors of her home, towards the salon, with Josie following closely behind her.

    She knocked on the door, before entering. Although it was her own home, it was bad manners to enter without indicating intent. Ironically, Jean wasn''t waiting for an affirmation from the upants within. She was only offering a courtesy, not capitting.

    Once she entered, her eyes swam over the figure of her father and locked on the unfamiliar entity sitting opposite.

    "Jean! Come, I want you to meet Teacher Jo Way!" Her father said jovially.

 Chapter 77 Seeking Investors

    Al lowered the recording artefact and looked nkly at the wall of his office in silence. He''d watched the fight between Markus and Gaige over 50 times. Each time, he approached it with a different perspective, hoping to find something, anything, that could''ve offered a chance towards Markus'' victory. Yet with each watch, he would end up getting disappointed.

    "It''s truly unfortunate. To face someone with the Abyssal Wyrm Bloodline... Markus couldn''t stand a chance..."

    And that was the entire truth. In fact, through his admission, Al wouldn''t have been able to trounce over Gaige if he had been in Markus'' position. It was a sad realisation and spoke volumes of how advantageous having a superior lineage was for a mage. After all, if it weren''t for Gaige''s bloodline, Markus was guaranteed that victory!

    Al read through the letter Guy left for him once again, with a dejected expression.

    "Here''s another unfortunate victim of this stupid tradition..." he sighed.

    Although there was sound reasoning behind the academy''s decision to hold the apprentice tournament, there were many times when Al saw promising teachers slip through the cracks due to unforeseen or unfortunate circumstances. In this case, for instance, although Al recognised Guy''s tenacity and impressive teaching style, he could do nothing about the tragic oue since the student that was participating in Guy''s name had lost the match.

    There are so many details that are important and need to be taken into consideration when evaluating a teaching apprentice''s efficacy apart from just teaching their students how to cultivate and fight with magic. It was also important to assess a teaching apprentice''s ability to inculcate proper values in their students, especially when ites to the use of magic. Furthermore, it was also imperative to test the apprentice''s open-mindedness, willingness to go above and beyond for the benefit of their students, patience, and so on.

    As he mentally listed these factors with great vigour, Al paused and started to chuckle wryly.

    "Why am I describing Guy?"

    Al realised that after working with Guy and interacting with him, he had changed his perception of what a teacher needed to be. Al never had any qualms with the way the academy conducted its business, or how it pitted teaching apprentices against each other in what could only be known as a free-for-all dependent heavily on luck and chance. In fact, he even used to agree with this method. There was an oversaturation of teachers in this world, why bother training them when it was possible to pick prospective - lucky - teaching apprentices from a seemingly endless pool of choices.

    Through experience, Al knew that the lucky ones that survived the culling process were capable of advancing by themselves. And those that failed to do so would simply fall through, making way for newer - lucky - blood to take their ce.

    Who cares about stability and capability when it actually came down to teaching students? Wasn''t being powerful a reasonable indicator of how effective a teacher someone could be? After all, how could you be so strong if you didn''t have a veritable reservoir of knowledge backing you up? Wasn''t it easy to just say a few words, provide a few insights, maybe correct a few errors along the way? The students could handle the rest - how can they expect to grow stronger if they cannot even cultivate by themselves. What about those students that couldn''t decode the almost cryptic insights offered by mages many realms above who had a more abstract view of the world? Well, they just weren''t lucky, or maybe cultivation wasn''t meant for them!

    And thatst point also highlighted the fatalistic nature of cultivation and magehood. It was a truly dog-eat-dog world that heavily favoured those fortunate and lucky. What use was methodic training and hard work if all it took to advance was a nonsensical fortunate encounter thatpressed decades of effort into minutes? There had been many situations when Al had lost opportunities to other mages who just happened to be in the right ce at the right time or had the exact key needed to crack some form of code that would let them benefit from a chance encounter that Al had toiled endlessly to pursue. At those times, he would simply convince himself that he had been unfortunate, or that they were rightful victors of the game of chance that was life.

    But now that he thought about it, the whole system was whack! Observing the world of cultivation from Guy''s out-of-the-box point of view had enlightened Al of the fact that regardless of the many discoveries and advancements made in the field of magic over the thousands of years, the world had remained stagnant. They either rehashed an existing theory into a different package or offered another theory without any strong evidence supporting it. If observed from a detached perspective, one could truly see that the world hadn''t moved forward at all in thest 6000 years.

    However, whenever Al interacted with Guy and discussed the almost revolutionary theories Guy proposed, he could envision a brighter future. He just knew that Guy was the answer, the much-needed solution, to push the world forward. He would bring this world to a new, more awesome age, beyond Al''s realms ofprehension. And yet the messiah who was meant to change the world had be the unwitting casualty of a system that formed the foundation of the existing, stagnating, mage society.

    Yet no matter how much Al wanted to overturn the Academy''s decision to bring back Guy into the fold, he just couldn''t bring himself to do it. Not because Al didn''t have the authority to enforce that action. No, he was more than capable of doing so. No one would question twice if he were to demand the reinstatement of Guy. Moreover, Kaist would be thrilled and wouldply without a second of thought. The issue was that Al didn''t want to bring Guy back into this toxic environment.

    Although Al had confidence in Guy''s positivity, he didn''t want to taint the man''s bright mind with the disgusting politics and undercurrents that prevailed within and without the Academy''s campus.

    "It''s better if he stays in that rural vige. I''m sure that he''d thrive even more in that environment! I''m thankful that Markus also decided to drop out. That boy has a promising future, but only if he stays with his Master," Al said with surety.

    Still, Al very much wanted to be a part of the process. He had thoroughly enjoyed the past year, observing Markus'' growth and exchanging novel ideas and concepts with Guy. Even his cultivation had advanced by a significant amount within that short time period.

    "The rural vige won''t offer much in terms of opportunities or resources..." Al muttered to himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Right! I could do something to direct beneficial resources that way. Maybe... I could be a part of it as well," Al added with a light chuckle.

    An interesting thought materialised in his mind thatpelled him to visit one of his oldest friends.

    Al ventured out of the Academy''s grounds before casting a spell for flight. He hovered higher into the air, before zooming out southwards, towards the more prolific section of the city. His destination was the local household of the Rasmus n, one of the frontrunners in the field of healing and medical alchemy.

    Alchemy was a wide field of study that epassed many specialisations. Combat alchemy focussed on poisons, boosters, and so on. There were also fields that focussed on transfiguration, control, enchanting of the mind, etc. Apart from those, there was a particr field of alchemy that was widely recognised and was generally deemed of utmost importance, and that was medical alchemy. The practice of brewing healing potions covering a multitude of illnesses, injuries, disabilities, and diforts.

    In this field, the Rasmus n happened to be the pacesetters. Their roots ran deep. In fact, they existed even before the Age of Istion, which was merit in and of itself. Since most ns from back then had vanished through the years, for one reason or another.

    Al''s primary intention in approaching the n was to conjure a valid excuse to approach Guy once again. He chose this n for two reasons. The first was that the current n leader was one of his closest and oldest friends, and he wouldn''t think twice before directing a few meagre resources in Guy''s direction. But it wouldn''t be fair for Al to impose on his friend like this if it wasn''t going to benefit him.

    However, Al was certain that Guy could hold the answer to his friend''s most personal trouble. And that was the second reason.

    As he approached the mansion, Al slowed down and lowered himself back onto the ground. He could have easily flown into the premises, but it was often a sign of ill-intent to do so. He walked up to the guards at the front gates, who readily moved aside as they recognised Al''s face. They offered a courteous smile and bowed with respect as Al entered.

    Upon walking through the bountiful front garden, up to the mansion''s entrance, Al spotted a familiar figure being led out from the back entrance. Al focused his mana sense and confirmed the figure''s identity as Jo Way.

    "What was he doing here? And why is he being led out the back?"

    After a closer inspection, Al noticed that Jo Way was wearing an awkward frown. It was as if he was disgruntled and ashamed at the same time.

    "Did something happen?"

    Al remembered Guy''s infrequentments of how "nothing good cane from messing with Jo Way."

    Al frowned while in thought, but then he quickly denied the ominous feeling encroaching him, "I''m just overthinking things..."

    "No... I should probably warn Goran... Just in case..." Guy may joke often, but he was a wise man. Al knew that for a fact.

    Nheless, Al continued his approach towards the entrance to the mansion, shelving his current thoughts forter.

    As a close acquaintance of the owners of the mansion, he faced little opposition as he walked through the entrance. Even the servants were intimated with Al''s presence and readily guided him towards the salon, where their master was currently staying.

    Al didn''t even need to open the door to the salon before it burst open by itself and a man walked through with a hearty smile on his face.

    "Al! How''s everything? What brings you here today?"

 Chapter 78 Putting In A Good Word

    "What brings you here today, old friend?" A heavy-set man with well-defined muscture approached Al while spreading his arms out for a friendly hug. He had a rugged face with a squared jaw and an aggressive gaze that could cause a child hiding behind a metre-thick wall to burst into tears, metaphorically.

    Al reciprocated with a smile, while once again contemting how such a brutish looking fellow could find employment as a healer. Funnily, Al fit snugly within the man''s massive embrace. He didn''t mind one bit how the man''s undting biceps, exposed to the environments through a coat truncated at the shoulders, crushed him at his upper back. Because Al knew that underneath the scary exteriory a gentleness unlike any other.

    "Do I need an excuse to meet a friend?" Al joked.

    "Of course YOU do. There has to be a particr reason for your decision to venture out of your little hiding hole in the library, apart from your many ''cultivation walkabouts''," Goran chided jokingly.

    Immediately after, though, Goran''s smile faded and he added with a more morose tone, "If it''s about that thing, then I''ll have to disappoint you again friend. Even the most recent tests with the updated cure failed to persist past the ten-year mark."

    Al nodded with a disappointed expression, and added, "I didn''t have high hopes for the new form. How could only changing the catalyst improve the efficacy of a potion? If that was the case, I would have developed a cure many years ago!"

    "It didn''t hurt to try. Besides, we managed to glean substantial data from this most recent trial. You wouldn''t believe it, but it was my little girl who found out that we were actually pursuing apletely false lead! The drought wasn''t caused purely by magic. Sure, it yed a role, but the true culprits were apparently an almost imperceptible, non-sentient, primal organism."

    "No way! If it were as you stated, then Form number 103 should havepletely wiped it out as it implements a targetted decay tactic. No living organism should have survived through that!"

    "That''s the thing! This organism is neither living nor dead. It doesn''t make sense, but you need to hear how Jean described it. She said that it was simr to how themon cold affects mortals. Genius, right? Who would have thought to look there?"

    "Living, yet non-living..." Al muttered in recognition. His mind started to operate at Mach speed, going through different theories and the possible implications of this new discovery. But before he could descend down that rabbit hole, he caught himself.

    "Right! Before that, I wanted to ask. What was Teacher Jo Way doing here?" Al inquired.

    In response, Goran sneered in derision and retorted, "I called him here because I wanted to see if he could be my girl''s teacher. I heard a lot of good things about him, figured he might hold the answer to Jean''s problem."

    "And?"

    "Hmph! He said that she didn''t have any aptitude for cultivation. He said that because of the treatment from Mage Baruchel, her mind was too fractured to be able to assimte insights. How would he know that it was because of Mage Baruchel''s treatment that she is so stable now? She..." Goran''s voice quivered and he started to get choked up as he progressed.

    "She even tried to kill herself before, you know? Thank heavens that Josie was there, otherwise, I would have lost my little girl... Just like N..."

    "There is some truth to Jo Way''s statement, Goran. After the treatment, she''s be very... closed off."

    "I know! But you were there before. You saw how she used to be. Fine one minute, destructive the next. Happy one second,pletely distraught the next. She even started hurting herself, saying that she killed N and she deserved to die. And Mage Baruchel was the only one who provided a viable solution. There was no other option!" Goran exined.

    "At least now... she... She''s fine... right?" Goran muttered as he tried to reason with himself.

    "I''m sorry, Goran. I shouldn''t have drawn you and N into my problems," Al offered dejectedly.

    Goran shook his head. "It wasn''t your fault, Al. It wasn''t anybody''s fault. N was the one that wanted to get involved. You know how she was? A true healer! When she saw just how much devastation that abomination unleashed by Ziva had caused, she couldn''t stop herself. Even I couldn''t have stopped her."

    "But I MADE Ziva-"

    "No. He made himself. I know the kind of person you are. You wouldn''t have actively driven that kid to be such a... monster!"

    "But I didn''t stop him when I had the chance. I encouraged his behaviour. Praising him for his genius..."

    As he grovelled, Al realise that he had strayed from his initial intention. And so he quickly inquired, "By the way, why are you so fervent about getting her to start cultivating?"

    "The n elders believe that she isn''t capable of leading the n. Stating that since she is a girl, she doesn''t have the proper bearing of a n leader. Instead, they want those two turds of my nephews to lead the next generation," Goran sneered.

    "I tried exining to them about her situation, but do you know what they told me in response? To get remarried and birth a boy! Ha! The only way to assure that my little girl will seed me is if she disys her strength as a mage. And that''s why I''ve been searching for a good teacher. Can you please reconsider your oath?" Goran pleaded.

    Al shook his head firmly, but then he smiled. "To tell you the truth, I''ve reneged on my oath already. But I''m afraid that even I might not be able to teach your daughter."

    Goran furrowed his brows and retorted, "Stop joking with me, Al. Just tell it to me straight if you don''t want to teach her."

    Al waved his hand and continued, "Let me finish! As I was saying, I may not be able to teach her, but I''ve found someone who just might!"

    Before Goran could respond, Al produced the recording artefact and handed it to him. "Watch this!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Goran took the artefact with scepticism and activated it with his mana. Immediately, a projection materialised before him, disying a scene of two kids trading pointers.

    "Isn''t that Gaige Bori? He''s Teacher Jo Way''s student-"

    "Not him! Keep an eye on his opponent," Al interjected.

    Initially, Goran observed the fight without much interest. He had lived for a long time, and had witnessed and been part of grander confrontations in his lifetime. What meaning did a measly fight between two mortals, barely able to wield basic magic, hold to him?

    Yet hisments were caught in his throat the moment he saw the kid cast a spellpletely foreign to him.

    "What was that spell?"

    "Wait is that a |Fireball|? ... That''s an |Earth Spike|! ... |Water Jet|! Al these spells don''t look anything like what they''re supposed to be, yet they seem to produce the intended results!"

    Al smiled and responded, "Keep watching."

    "Tsk, the kid has technique, but he''s overusing his mana. He''ll exhaust himself, I''m afraid."

    But Goran''s prediction fell t on its stomach after the confrontation continued without any sign of fatigue.

    "How is he able to sustain himself for so long? Does he have some sort of a special physique or bloodline? Or is it an artefact?"

    Al denied immediately. "He''s a regr, average, boy from a rural vige."

    "Impressive! Some of these spells are extremely potent. Especially that modified |Acid Mist| spell, and that mini-|Explosion| spell. Gaige is tiring out, I''m sure the boy will win."

    Once again, Goran''s prediction was proven false as Gaige unleashed a wave of darkness centred on him.

    "Damn! Abyssal Wyrm Bloodline! No wonder Jo Way advanced to a teacher so quickly. He found himself a gem!"

    The recording nearedpletion immediately after, ending with the boy''s loss. Right before it ended, Goran observed the recording waver frantically, as though the person using it was rushing in distress.

    "It was an impressive disy, I''ll admit. That boy sure used a lot of novel spells. He''s definitely a good seed. Maybe with some decent backing, he''ll soar! Too bad he was pitted against someone with such an overpowering bloodline. But what''s your intention, Al?"

    Al smiled mysteriously. "That boy''s name is Markus Reva. He came from a rural vige a few days away from this city. A year ago, he was stuck in the Early stage of Mana Condensation realm, unable to find a suitable cultivation method. He was the kind of student every teacher in the world would look over, saying that he had no aptitude for cultivation."

    "But what if I told you that he managed to reach the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm within a year, without any boosting potions, or artificial aids of any sorts."

    Goran raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "But how? I thought you said that he didn''t have a suitable cultivation method. Did he find one through some form of a chance encounter?"

    "It was a chance encounter alright, but not one that gifted him with a cultivation method. No, to date he remains without a cultivation method. What he found was even better: a gifted teacher!"

    "Wait a minute. Did he push himself to the Late stage through brute force? Don''t tell me! It was those spells wasn''t it?"

    Al nodded aggressively and handed Goran a folded parchment as well as a piece of coal. Upon opening it, Goran was met with an intricate design that reminded him of one he saw in the duel.

    "It''s almost the same as what that kid cast, but not quite... What''s this coal for?"

    Al instructed Goran on how to cast the spell, to which Goranplied.

    After he materialised the spell circle, Goran activated it without difficulty, resulting in a small mote of fire forming in his palms.

    "I don''t believe it! It barely used any mana! Now I get it. If he cast this spell a few thousand times, his mana channels would widen without a doubt! Are you saying that this was achieved because of a teacher? Who is this man?"

    Al chuckled mirthfully, and answered proudly, "Guy Larks!"

 Chapter 79 Small Flame In The Darkness

    In the following hour, Al gushed unceasingly about the personage known as Guy Larks. He was so enthusiastic in describing Guy, that even Goran was drawn in.

    ''I''ve never seen Al talk so eagerly about anyone!'' Goranmented internally. In fact, ever since he''d met Al, Goran had never seen Al praise anyone! So in seeing him shower such gracious praises to this as of yet unknown character, Goran already had a high opinion on Guy.

    "And you heard about the Dwarven Metal alternative, called steel, that The Burning Forge''s been advertising, right? Well, half of the credit in creating that alloy actually goes to Guy! Karmin Z came in personally and foisted a bunch of gifts and weapons on me as a sign of gratitude," Al added.

    "So that''s why the n received a gratuitous shipment of steel weapons and armours from The Burning Forge. That man Karmin''s a true-to-heart, sly businessman! But I''ve got to give it to him, though. He does know how to maintain a consistent quality with his products. And steel really isn''t something to joke about! The n verified the ims that steel is a true alternative to Dwarven Metal, and the elders were all confounded by how close it was to the real deal!" Goran responded with amazement.

    Al nodded and responded, "I know. If not for the minor inconsistencies in carbonposition, you could sell it off as Dwarven metal."

    "What''s carbon?" Goran retorted.

    "It''s an element that is contained in all living organisms. In fact, it is the element that the coal in your hand isposed of," Al answered.

    "Where did you get that from?"

    Al unleashed a wide smile and dered, "Guy Larks! Let me tell you, that kid has the most insane theories, and the interesting thing is that it is possible to verify all of them. So-"

    ''There he goes again...'' Goran sighed. He nodded along as Al continued to gush about Guy. In his mind though, he was assessing whether the man could be of use to his daughter. Having tried the novel spell circle that produced fire, and witnessing just how little mana it consumed, Goran was now a little hopeful about his daughter''s prospects. On top of that, after hearing that another kid without an aptitude for cultivation was able to advance to the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm, he was even more fired up.

    Therefore, while Al was rambling, Goran sent a voice transmission.

    ''Josie, please call Jean up to the salon. Uncle Jeeves is here to see her.''

    ''But my Lord, Miss just changed out into her workwear.''

    ''It''s fine! Just tell her toe as is. And hurry!''

    "You''re not paying attention," Al said dejectedly.

    "No! No, of course, I am. You were speaking about something called a wand?" Goran retorted without breaking a sweat.

    "Right, the magic wand! This was something Guy made. Do you remember that article I was talking about a few years ago? The one by Maine Baxter on her ''Iplete Tests and Theories''?"

    "Of course I do..." Goran said sarcastically.

    Al bit his tongue apologetically and borated, "It was about variable enchantments. That is, inscribing an enchantment capable of exhibiting multiple enchantments."

    "I vaguely recollect you talking about it. I think you said that it was ''stupid, pointless, and utterly devoid of any meaning whatsoever," Goran chimed in.

    Al smiled embarrassedly and muttered, "And yet you remember that?"

    "Anyways, I was totally wrong back then! Guy took the idea and turned it into something with unrivalled applications. As you must have already realised, that modr spell has a much lower mana cost. The magic wand is imbued with a special version of the variable enchantment, of his own design, that further reduces the cost by offloading the burden of maintaining spell integrity at longer ranges onto it. It was so effective that I was able to cast an unlimited amount of |Fireball| spells without pause!"

    "That''s amazing!" Goran eximed. "Do you have this wand with you?"

    "Unfortunately I don''t. He only made one, and that was for his student. I never thought about asking him to disclose the form either, it''s bad manners, right?"

    Goran nodded in understanding. Then, as if anticipating something, Goran and Al both turned towards the door to the salon and wore a gentle smile. After a quick half-minute, they heard an audible knock.

    "My Lord. Young Miss Jean is here," Josie''s respectful voice resonated from the other side. Immediately after, the door opened and a teenage girl walked through.

    She wore a simple, yet evidently overused apron over an equally simple and overworked outfit that screamed practicality. There were no additional adornments that indicated individuality or frivolity. Nor did she wear any jewellery that highlighted her sharp and exquisite features.

    Her hair was tied up in a tight bun, leaving a small string cascading over her forehead onto her face. Her expression was stagnant, unwavering. To any stranger, it woulde across as cold and uncaring. Just like a haughty princess, filled with disgust, and unempathetic of those under her station.

    However, Goran and Al were unfazed by her look, since they knew that it wasn''t voluntary. She just couldn''t outwardly express any elevated emotions. Not because she was unwilling to, but that she was unable to do so.

    "Good morning, Uncle Jeeves," the girl spoke and bowed lightly in Al''s direction.

    "Jean! Stop being so formal. Come! Sit!" Al beckoned wholeheartedly.

    In response, Jean simply nodded and approached the empty set next to her father.

    "You called, Father? Is it to discuss the new findings from thest tests?" Jean asked while gazing in Al''s direction. Assuming it to be the case, Jean started enunciating her discovery, "Uncle, following the previous tests with thetest iteration of the cure, we came across a few weird phenomena-"

    But before she could continue, Goran quickly interrupted her and urged anxiously, "Wait! Before that! Jean, the reason I called you here is to tell you that your Uncle might have finally found a solution to raise your cultivation."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jean sighed and said, "Father... We''ve tried everything, haven''t we? Even Teacher Way, who everyone''s been gossiping about, said that I don''t have any future in cultivation..."

    Goran shook his hand and said, "Who cares about him?! Forget about what that arrogant prick sputtered! Here, take these!"

    Goran shoved the sheet of paper with the modr spell drawn on it, as well as the lump of coal, into Jean''s hands and looked towards her expectantly.

    ____

    Jean gazed at the two inconspicuous items in her hands and looked back at her father in confusion.

    #Look at what you did to your father! He''s be an idiot!#

    *There has to be a reason! He wouldn''t just hand you a lump of coal without any purpose.*

    As if he had heard the debate running within her head, Goran borated, "The sheet has a spell circle drawn on it. I want you to cast that spell."

    Jean nodded in understanding and evaluated the spell circle. As her eyes scanned the intricate lines and designs within the drawing, her brows furrowed in confusion.

    "What spell is this?" She asked out loud. It was something she had never seen before.

    One must know that for the longest time, Jean and her father had been tirelessly pursuing ways for her to cultivate. For her father, the reason for this was to persuade the n elders of Jean''spetence as the future leader.

    But for Jean, this pursuit held a higher purpose. No matter how much Jean crammed various medical knowledge, alchemical forme, and factoids on herbology, it wouldn''t change the fact that she would be nothing more than a regr, mortal physician.

    Jean''s one and only dream was to follow in her mother''s footsteps and be a healer. And after personally witnessing her mother''s demise, this dream had turned into an unwavering resolve.

    ''No child should have to see their parents die!'' She dered at that time.

    However, the first step into bing a healer, if not the most important step, was to be a mage.

    This was something that Jean, after a long and arduous search, had learned was an impossibility for her. Her difficulty wasn''t that she couldn''t understand the multitude of cultivation methods stored in the n''s vaults, nor was it that she was crippled in some way and unable to circte mana.

    The problem was something more profound, and rather intangible. The issue was housed within her mind, in the form of the two entities that constantly bickered amongst each other, one of whom regrly egged her to end her own existence.

    Cultivation is a process that requires immense concentration and immersion. This was something Jean was cursed to never be able to achieve.

    After facing repeated rejections and failures, Jean was ready to give up. Yet her father was not. And honestly, Jean was not eager to burst her father''s bubble either. In many ways, she found that this search was one thing that kept her father from entering a self-destructive spiral.

    So, Jean continued to entertain her father and also immersed herself in the search. She looked through countless cultivation methods, memorised nearly all the spells avable to her level, internalised countless theoretical books on magic, all in the hopes of finding something that might be of aid to her.

    Thus, she found it odd to see a spell that had a designpletely unlike anything she had ever seen before.

    #It... It looks so beautiful!#

    *It truly is! There is order in the design. Not like those haphazardly drawn ones!*

    ''Wait a minute! You both agree?'' She responded.

    To that, she received nothing. The voices had turned speechless, for the first time in her entire life!

    Jean gulped loudly and followed the spell circle with her utmost concentration.

    She ced the sheet of paper on the table and started to form the spell circle in her free hand. The process was seamless, as she had performed this step countless times before. However,pared to those other times, Jean somehow felt a little hopeful in facing thepleted spell circle.

    For the first time since forever, Jean prayed, ''Please work...''

    Jean channelled her mana towards the spell circle and waited.

    Immediately after, the spell circle started to rotate, and from its centre, a small mote of fire materialised.

    "It... It worked..." she uttered in disbelief.

    "It worked!" Her father added with overwhelming joy in his voice.

    "Of course it works! You should trust in Guy," Uncle Al affirmed smugly.

 Chapter 80 True Competition

    "This is amazing!" Goran eximed in tion. "Where is Guy?" He said while jumping up from his seat.

    "He''s in a vige a few days away from the city," Al answered.

    "That''s great! I''ll invite him over!" Goran dered as he began to walk out. But he was quickly stopped by Al.

    "No, don''t!"

    "Huh? Why?"

    Al wore a serious expression and suggested, "I think it would be better if we went to him."

    Goran frowned, "And why is that?"

    ''*sigh* I hope he isn''t one of those arrogant and conceited teachers who let their sess go to their heads...'' Goran muttered internally. However, Al''s responsepletely surprised him,

    With a bitter smile, Al borated, "You should already know by now just how fond of Guy I am. But haven''t you wondered why I didn''t actively seek to keep him here in the academy? It''s because I don''t want him here!"

    Goran''s eyes widened in disbelief.

    "Even though he lost during the tournament, it was within my authority to override his termination and take him under me. But I chose not to do that since I didn''t want him to remain here. It was because this isn''t where he''s supposed to be."

    Goran furrowed his brows and said, "That doesn''t make any sense! Why isn''t he supposed to be here? The academy is the perfect ce to nurture a teacher with great potential. They will have ess to the required resources and the support from the powers backing the academy."

    "But you seem to forget what urs behind the curtains. Sure, he would have ess to the required resources, but you skip the fact that to qualify for the best resources he would have to suffer through a brutalpetition against his peers to rise above the ranks and stand out. Certainly, he would get the support of the academy, but with that, he would also gain the irk of the powers opposing the academy," Al exined.

    "But isn''t that necessary? To achieve greatness, one must ovee these brutalpetitions, right?"

    "That''s now how Guy works," Al retorted while shaking his head. With a light chuckle, he continued, "To Guy, truepetition is when twopetitors enter a rivalry with the sole purpose of growing stronger, together. They learn from each other through their bouts and offer support to the other when necessary. That is the only way that everyone can improve.

    However, when twopetitors treat their rivals as simple stepping stones, they will never truly advance. Because all they are doing is pushing the other person below them, while they remain in ce."

    Goran thenmented in a low voice, "That... is pretty insightful..."

    Al nodded proudly and said, "That is why I didn''t want you to drag Guy back here. In fact, I''m sure that he will thrive more in that vige. For some reason, I get the feeling that it is his true calling!"

    "Then... What do you suggest?" Goran asked.

    Al gazed at Goran and Jean, and dered, "We should go to him!"

    "To the vige?" Goran retorted in disbelief.

    "Yes!" Al affirmed. "What do you think, Jean?"

    Jean alternated her gaze between her father and Al. In truth, she was still pretty dazed after sessfully casting her very first spell.

    "Huh?"

    "How would you like to travel to Guy''s vige, to meet him?" Al asked with a hopeful expression.

    Without pausing to think, Jean said, "Yes!"

    ____

    "...Do you surrender?..." A boy''s voice echoed for the first time within Jean''s boudoir. Jean gazed ardently, for the thirteenth time, at the stoic figure of the boy named Markus, in the projection from Uncle Al''s recording artefact.

    After they''d decided to travel to meet the - now unemployed - teacher named Guy Larks, Uncle Al handed Jean a recording artefact showing the result of the teachings of Teacher Larks.

    Since then, she had immersed herself into the contents of the recording, with the aim of dposing every single detail hidden within.

    "I don''t understand this spell... Josie, have you ever seen this spell before?" Jean asked while pausing the recording at a frame.

    Josie walked closer and observed the frame carefully.

    "To answer Young Miss, the spell appears to be simr to |Acid Mist|," she answered with a respectful tone.

    Jean hummed in affirmation, but retorted, "But isn''t that at least a Tier-2 spell?"

    "To answer Young Miss, it is."

    "Then how was he able to cast it?" Jean interrogated.

    "To answer Young Miss, I do not know."

    Jean exhaled loudly and started to note down her observations into her personal journal.

    "It appears that Teacher Larks has found a way to allow a Late stage Mana Condensation mage to cast spells a little beyond their level. The initial hypothesis is that it is rted to the enchanted weapon called the ''Magic Wand''. Alternatively, it may also have to do with the modified spell circle," she muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This was how Jean worked. Even though Jean had no aptitude for magic, she tirelessly pursued the field of medicine and healing. The reason why affinity to magic is important for a healer, is because mana increases their capability to perform a diagnosis and implement treatment regimes for their patients. In some cases, mana allowed a healer to skip the use of any medical drugs altogether, simply stimting the cells and vitality of the patient through expertly controlled mana cirction.

    But without the capacity to exploit this feature, Jean was forced to develop means and methods to ovee the limitation.

    In the end, she formted a highly rigorous and methodical strategy to approach any problem. This method sought to iste every possible variable that could affect the oue of a scenario and evaluated their effects through controlled tests. It was a time-consuming process, but Jean found that it was often equally, if not more, urate than the established strategies, in which physicians would seek out the closest existing solution and perform tweaks starting at that point.

    Jeany down her writing utensil and returned her attention to the recording.

    As she drilled into Markus'' every action, subtle or otherwise, the voices in her head sprang into another debate.

    *Such a capabled! He managed to rise to Late stage of Mana Condensation realm through effort alone!*

    #That I agree. But do you think that Jean can achieve the same oue? Hmph! She''s weak, ipetent, stunted, trash!#

    *Stop deriding her! You can do it Jean!*

    #Psshht! Look at him, and then look at yourself. You''re a waste of air, Jean. You should just kill yourself!#

    "ENOUGH!" Jean screamed.

    "Young Miss? Is there a problem?" Josie quickly walked up to the inmed Jean.

    "... Nothing... Umm... Josie?" She asked.

    "Yes?"

    "Do you think it will work? Consulting Teacher Larks, I mean," Jean added with evident doubt and uncertainty in her voice.

    "To answer Young Miss, this ve has said it before and will say it again: this ve firmly believes that Young Miss is destined to soar through the heavens!"

    "That''s just false hopefulness-"

    "This ve may be presumptuous to ask this, but why does Young Miss firmly believe that she will fail?"

    Jean lowered her head and said, "We''ve failed so many times already..."

    "But Young Miss, to borrow from miss'' own words, unless we test it out, we should not readily write out an unexplored possibility as a foregone conclusion."

    "But if all we ever face is failure, what confidence is there that the n-th oue will be anything different?"

    "Miss seems to forget that this time, it was not a failure. Miss managed to incite a me using magic. Does that not count for something?"

    Jean sighed and confessed, "It''s just... I''m scared... What if this doesn''t work out? What will happen to father?"

    "Young Miss should not preupy herself with such worries. Miss should remain hopeful because this ve firmly believes that miss is-"

    ""destined to soar through the heavens!"" Jean and Josie said together. To that, Josie acted out of character and chuckled lightly which was met by a forced, yet apt smile by Jean.

    "The boy was unfortunate to have met a mage with Abyssal Wyrm Bloodline," Josiemented as the recording approached the scene where Markus was crushed by Gaige''s outburst of power.

    "Have you ever experienced how this felt, Josie?" Jean inquired.

    Josie nodded and said, "Once. Back when I was under thete Madam, we happened to cross paths with an Abyssal Wyrm. In fact, thete Madam met the Lord during that confrontation."

    Jean''s ears perked with interest as she paused the recording and turned towards Josie with a curious gaze.

    "Thete Madam and this servant were travelling through the forests of the Narue region in search of a rare herb known to contain an abundance of the decay-nature. We traversed day and night, through the dank and murky forest, until we stumbled upon a massive cavern, which was known to house this herb. Unfortunately, what the information failed to contain, was that the cavern was also home to an Abyssal Wyrm!"

    Josie paused for effect, and continued, "Thete Madam did not know of this at first, so she casually walked in. However, arge burst of oppressive power enveloped us and threatened to crush us into a fine dust. It was power beyond anything this ve had ever felt before. It was the first time that this ve felt true helplessness and fear. Thankfully, both this ve and thete Madam had sufficiently advanced cultivations to be able to withstand the assault, as just a minute after, a group of mages stumbled upon the cavern and noticed our plight. The man leading the group, the Lord, did not hesitate twice before jumping to action."

    "The Abyssal Wyrm had sensed the presence of additional intruders and showed itself - a woman with beauty beyondparison. She had raven ck hair, deep blue eyes, and a slender and seductive figure. However, the vision was only short-lived, because the wyrm recognised the threat and immediately morphed into her true form. A slithering, elongated mass of unrivalled terror - an abomination of the highest order. Its entire body was coated in darkness - one couldn''t recognise its face if not for the presence of four unblinking, bone-white balls marking its eyes. When it opened its mouth, rows and rows of domineering teeth weed us, ready to tear us into nothingness. This ve is still unable to fathom how an alluring and elegant figure could hide such a horrific presence..."

    "To conclude the story, the Lord and hispanions, with the assistance from thete Madam and this ve, managed to overpower the Wyrm and drive it out of the cavern. But the Young Miss should note, that thete Madam and this ve were only able to survive the Wyrm''s attack due to the Madam''s unrivalled background as a healer. By the time the Wyrm''s oppressive power had retreated, both the ve and thete Madam were left with shattered bones and perforated internal organs. Our survival was nothing short of a miracle."

    Jean turned back to the recording and resumed right as the scene approached the point where Markus stood up after experiencing the overpowering attack of the Abyssal Wyrm bloodline.

    As she saw the boy''s broken yet impressive figure rise up, Jean hummed affirmatively andmented, "Markus... What an impressive boy..."

    As she finished that statement, Jean started to feel her cheeks warming up for some reason.

    "Young Miss? The miss'' body seems to be heating up all of a sudden. This ve will fetch her some water immediately!"

    Jean felt her forehead to confirm that she was heating up. She felt her neck and muttered, "Heart rate increasing? What... just what is happening to me?"

 Chapter 81 Fateful Encounter

    A/N: I cannot turn off Privilege as it is now a default feature that activates when locking chapters. I can only suggest that you not waste money purchasing it. I don''t write a lot in general, and it isn''t worth the coins (for this series anyway).

    ____

    Goran and Al set out for Guy''s vige with Jean a few dayster. While Goran, Al and Josie could fly using magic, Jean could not, thus they decided to make the journey the ''mortal way''.

    However, in order to not attract unwanted attention from wary n members, bandits, and ne''er-do-wells, they opted to take a simple, unassuming looking caravan. It would blend in with the other caravans traversing the route.

    Although they shouldn''t have to fear such intrusions, given their cultivation realm, Goran and Al both agreed that it was unwise to broadcast the fact that two magic powerhouses were travelling together to a remote vige. Spreading this would obviously raise multiple red gs, especially within the mage circles.

    The caravan they travelled in wasprised of two carriages. The one leading the group was for Al and Goran, while the other, morefortable one was reserved for their precious cargo, Jean.

    Thankfully, their travel was generally pleasant and without any hindrance. They managed to reach the midway point, a transit town known as Wayward, which acted as the junction where most merchant caravans rested prior to continuing the long journey through the forest and the mountain range.

    Over the years, the town had evolved from a quaint residential gathering into a moremercial centre, open to trade. Thus, the streets of the town were filled with temporary stalls that were set up on short notice by these travelling caravans. Apart from these haphazardly raised stalls, the town also acted as a means of short- to long-term employment for those seeking means to earn money. People could ess the merchants or other trade guilds established within the town and respond to advertisements seeking hands.

    Although the town appeared vibrant and lively, it had actually persisted since before the start of the current dynasty. The Maika Duchy recognised the value of this town, especially due to its closeness to Radiant City, and had made it a point to maintain and protect it from elements both internal and external.

    Therefore, to enter or transit through the town, one had to undergo a thorough check by the guards stationed near the peripheries, documenting every single being that set foot within the confines of the town.

    For entities such as Goran who had the backing of a prolific n, bypassing this documentation process wasn''t a hassle. All it took was shing the n leader''s seal and greasing the palms of the guard captains with a few gold coins, and they were personally escorted to the most luxurious inn in town by the captains themselves.

    After settling down in the inn for the day, Goran and Al decided to fly ahead to make sure that the path was safe for the next day''s travel.

    "I''m a little bored, Josie," Jean said with a sigh. "I''ve been sitting in the carriage the entire day. Although it can dissipate the shocks, I still feel quite sore."

    "This servant will massage the Young Miss at once," Josie suggested.

    "No. Instead, I want to go out for a stroll. Check out the market!" Jean dered with some excitement, although it was not evident on her expressionless face.

    "But Young Miss, Lord said that it would be best if we stayed put..."

    "Come on, Josie! With you around, what''s the worst that could happen? I mean, unless we cross someone at the Core Formation realm or above, you should be able to take them down. Besides, with the guards maintaining vignce on those entering and exiting the town, I don''t think we will have any problems," Jean replied to persuade Josie.

    "Young Miss, we should not test fate by making such ims," Josie said with a bitter smile.

    "Whatever, Josie I''m going!" Jean dered while sauntering out of her room.

    "Young Miss... Please don''t rush..." Josie uttered with a sigh of defeat.

    ____

    "Tsk... These herbs are all in theirst legs..." Jeanmented as she left thest stall in the row.

    "That is expected, Young Miss. The stalls mostly sell goods that are prone to perishing during transit through the forest, damaged during transportation, or exceeding caravan capacity. That is why they are at a lower price point since the merchants want to recoup their losses, and optimally break even," Josie exined.

    "That makes sense..."

    As the two walked back towards the inn, a strange conversation drifted out from a nearby alley.

    "Let go of me you creep!" A forceful feminine voice resonated.

    SLAP!

    "Damn it! You bitch! This is what I get after taking pity on you and giving you a job?" A growling masculine voice retorted, tinged with anger.

    "If I had known that sleeping with the employer was part of the job description, do you think I would have epted your offer?"

    "Why else would I have given such an important job of maintaining the caravan''s finances to a girl of all people?"

    "I don''t know, maybe because you were a decent human being?"

    "Get back here!"

    Jean scooted over and peeked around the corner leading into the alley and observed the confrontation. She saw a girl, maybe a year or two older than herself, being surrounded by a group of men, led by a hefty man.

    Seeing how the girl was at such a disadvantage, Jean felt distressed and whispered to Josie, "Should we help her out?"

    Josie answered, "Lord said to not draw attention to ourselves, Young Miss..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But she''s outnumbered..." She said bitterly and said, "How can I call myself a healer if I can''t even help a defenceless person?"

    Josie released a long exhale in contemtion and moved forward to step in. However, before she could do so, a series of familiar sounds interrupted her.

    BANG! CRASH! PLOP!

    "AAGH!"

    Jean peaked around that corner once again, only to notice the girl standing over the prone body of the fat man, with all of his thugs rolling in pain on the ground. The girl stomped on the fat man''s crotch and spoke menacingly over his wails, "Do you think this is my first time? Please! See this knife in my hand? This has emascted many reckless employers such as yourself. You can ask the merchants guild representative here. They call me ''The Man-Unmaker''. I bet you never even considered looking up my credentials with the guild, right?

    She leaned forward and spoke with a low yet threatening tone, "I''m gonna be lenient with you since you were nice enough to actually pay me on time, and include me on two tours. That is the only reason you are walking away today with your dignity intact. There won''t be the next time, understood?!"

    The fat man nodded vehemently in fear, to which the girl dered, "Good!" before stomping down on his crotch once again.

    As the girl walked away, one of the men rolling on the floor got back up on their feet and unsheathed a knife from their ankles.

    "Crazy bitch!" He yelled while rushing over to her turned back.

    The girl turned to face her assant, surprisingly without a tinge of fear in her eyes. Yet, before the knife could plunge down on her chest, the man was frozen in ce. Not metaphorically, literally frozen in ce, in a mass of ice.

    "It is unwise to turn one''s back to the enemy, especially if said enemy is still alive and breathing," Josie said as she stepped forth.

    The girl observed Josie with an incisive gaze before saying, "Thank you for your help, but I had it under control."

    The girl jerked her cuffs to reveal a hidden dagger, and grinned deviously. "As I said, this wasn''t my first time."

    The grovelling men paying attention to the confrontation all shuddered in fear at her bold deration.

    "Nheless, I am grateful for your intervention. Not everyone would do so in such circumstances," the girl said while bowing towards Josie.

    "You shouldn''t thank me, but the Young Miss. It was she who took pity on you," Josie corrected while directing her hand towards Jean.

    The girl bowed once again towards Jean and said, "Then this peasant is infinitely grateful towards the Young Miss for her benevolence."

    Jean quickly waved her hand and replied, "Please! It wasn''t anything."

    "No! I disagree. While I dered that I could have handled the situation, there was no guarantee of my survival. So in many ways, your intervention tilted the scales in my favour. Hence, I am indebted to you. However, I do not like being in others'' debt since it is often hard to quantify. Furthermore, it is also weirdly subject to interest over time. Therefore, I would like to repay this debt immediately by offering my services in any way possible," the girl replied with a serious expression.

    "I... I don''t know what to say," Jean confessed.

    "It matters not. I can do anything. I have a lot of experience working as a finance consultant or treasurer for merchant caravans. I have also worked extensively as a cleaner, cook, handmaiden, you name it," the girl replied enthusiastically.

    "I also have a lot of experience travelling around these parts, I can act as a guide if that is necessary."

    Hearing thest part, Jean''s eye lit up, "Do you happen to know a vige called Twilight Vige?"

    The girl seemed taken aback by that question. She replied cautiously, "I do... I am from Twilight Vige."

    "That''s great! We are actually travelling that way. Since you are so hell-bent on repaying your debt, why don''t you act as our guide?" Jean asked while ncing at Josie from the corner of her vision.

    After a quick analysis, Josie relented and gave a nod of affirmation.

    "Sure! Then I will be at your service," the girl said while bowing for the third time.

    Jean nodded and introduced herself, "I am Jean Rasmus, and this is Josie. We will be under your care from now on."

    "My name is Marie Reva, you can call me Marie," The girl responded.

    Jean furrowed her brows upon hearing her name, "Reva... Are you rted to Markus Reva by any chance?"

    "Markus? How do you know Markus?" Marie bombarded back in shock. "Did he do something stupid to cross you in any way? Please, I apologise on his behalf! He''s a stupid brat, I''ll punish him personally. You know what, I will do it in front of you until you are satisfied!"

    Jean''s eyes widened in surprise while Josie chuckled from behind.

    "It seems that our meeting here was fate," Jean blurted in a low tone.

 Chapter 82 Fast Friends

    "Is that my Markus? Woah! He looks so handsome now! Was he always this handsome? No, it''s the confidence! And strength!" Marie eximed animatedly as she drilled her gaze into the visual from the recording artefact.

    After acquainting herself with Marie, Jean decided that it would be a good idea to bring her along as they travelled to Marie''s vige. As the daughter of the head of a prolific n, Jean had learned quite early in her life the benefit of forming bonds and building rtions.

    However, knowing the importance was one thing, actually putting things to practice was a whole other ball game. Thanks to Jean''s default impersonable and cold expression, she often found it hard to build a good rapport with other people. Whenever she tried showing genuine interest in others, it was taken as her being patronising and condescending. Forget about making friends, because Jean didn''t have anything inmon with all the other young mistresses. They would go on and on about boys, outfits, jewellery, or cosmetics... But Jean wasn''t enamoured by any of that, and without the capacity to express a different emotion, it was impossible to build even a surface rtionship.

    But Marie was... different. There wasn''t any subterfuge or deception here, the girl basically wore her emotions on her sleeves. To top it all off, Jean didn''t have to actively try and appease the other party by expressing a different emotion, or an emotion that contradicted her thoughts, every other moment.

    ''Is it because of her upbringing?'' Jean thought to herself. Marie was extremely personable. Jean didn''t even have to do anything on her part. In fact, the moment she professed that she was somewhat knowledgeable about Markus'' existence, Marie seamlessly infiltrated into Jean''spany. It was some hardcore parkour that stumped even Josie, who had a few additional years in her belt.

    Marie first bridged the physical gap between them by reducing their proximity. Next, she bridged the social gap between them by asking, "You seem to be younger than me... Around the same age as Markus? Wonderful! Why don''t we talk casually, hmm? Adding honorifics in every sentence is so exhausting, right Little Sis?"

    That wasn''t a request, apparently... Josie kept grumbling about Marie''s shamelessness. Jean was confused because she didn''t see anything shameless about it - Jean didn''t mind it at all. She too preferred to talk casually as it saved her a lot of time. This was another aspect that Jean was averse to when interacting with the young mistresses within her social circle. Conversations were never straightforward. Every sentence hadyers of subtext. Even the most seemingly innocent of statements could harbour vicious jabs directed towards the recipient''s deepest insecurities. Sticks and stones may break bones, but those can be healed with a single spell. Words... They could leave scars thatst for a lifetime...

    Jean shook her demoralising line of thought and reverted her attention to her self-dered Big Sis. It was difficult to continue a decent conversation amidst the moans of the grovelling men in the alley, so Jean invited Marie to her room at the inn, much to Josie''s difort.

    Along the way, Marie bombarded her with various questions aimed at intuiting her connection to Markus.

    "How do you know Markus? Where did you guys meet? Are you guys studying together? Ahh, are you his girlfriend? No! Don''t tell me that he wronged you in any way?! If that little brat did anything untoward, this Big Sis will get revenge for you!" Marie dered while thumping her chest righteously. Evidently, she had already devised an entire narrative through a self-directed call-and-response.

    With a wry expression, Jean interjected Marie''s monologue and said, "Big Sis... Actually, I haven''t personally met Markus."

    Marie''s eyes widened in surprise. "What? Then how do you know of him?"

    Jean sheepishly scratched the back of her head and uttered in a low voice, "I saw him in a recording..."

    "A recording?" Marie retorted.

    And so, Jean greeted Marie into her room and fetched the recording artefact documenting Markus'' fight against Gaige.

    Then right as Markus first appeared within the frame and cast his first spell, Marie eximed in awe, "Is that my Markus? Woah! He looks so handsome now! Was he always this handsome? No, it''s the confidence! And strength!"

    As the fight progressed, Marie ented each scene with an appropriate, "Ooo!" or "Aaa!"

    Whenever something magnificent urred, like the mini-explosion spell cast by Markus, she would tack an "Awesome!" followed by a series of enthusiastic ps.

    When Gaige was pelted with the acidic mist, Marie flinched and sucked in a cold breath through her teeth, "Ssssss! That was brutal."

    Jean exhaled mirthfully through her nose as she observed Marie''s apropos reactions. For some reason, her current viewing of this recording seemed to feel a bit more enjoyable.

    However, the warm atmosphere came to a sudden halt right as Gaige unleashed a violent bellow and painted the stage ck with his spell. Marie frowned with trepidation. Although she wasn''t a mage, for some reason, the nket of darkness evoked a sense of immense difort from within her.

    The moment the dark nket enveloped Markus and caused him to copse, Marie moved towards the edge of her seat and grasped onto it tightly, with visible anxiety in her gaze.

    Marie exhaled in relief as she saw the darkness retreat, allowing Markus to stand up on his feet. However, it was short-lived as immediately after, Markus copsed like a ragdoll.

    "Markus!" Marie eximed as she darted up. "I''m sorry, Jean. I don''t think I can act as your guide. I need to go in the opposite direction."

    She then muttered to herself as she anxiously paced around the room searching for something, "Maybe there will be a caravan going towards Radiant City..."

    "Umm, Big Sis?" Jean said, only to receive no response from the dibobted Marie. "Big Sis!" Again, no response.

    "MARIE!" Jean bellowed uncharacteristically, finally pulling Marie out of her fugue state.

    "Huh? Jean? I''m sorry we can''t continue our conversation. But I need to go to Radiant City. Markus is hurt..." Marie was about to reenter her earlier spiral, but Jean quickly caught her this time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You don''t have to go to Radiant City. We are actually going to Twilight Vige to meet Markus and his Teacher," Jean said quickly to assuage Marie.

    "To Twilight Vige? What is he doing there?" Marie asked as she narrowed her eyes.

    Right as Jean was about to answer, a series of knocks interrupted her.

    "It''s the Lord and Teacher Jeeves, Young Miss," Josie added.

    Jean nodded in affirmation, allowing Josie to answer the knocks.

    "Jean!" Her father said as he walked into her room. "We will be leaving early tomorrow. The way is clear, but one can''t be too careful," he added casually. However, his eyes locked on the unfamiliar person apanying his daughter.

    "Who is this?" Her father asked cautiously.

    "This is Marie Reva. I met her outside at the market," Jean answered.

    "Marie Reva... Marie Reva..." Her father muttered repeatedly as if trying to recollect something.

    "Reva! Are you rted to Markus by any chance?" Another voice asked from behind her father. Uncle Jeeves hopped in and scanned Marie with eager eyes.

    Noticing the almost predatory gaze from this unknown man, Marie immediately raised her guard. Noticing this event, Jean intervened and answered in Marie''s stead.

    "That''s right, Uncle. Marie is Markus'' elder sister."

    "Ah! So you''re that Marie! Markus has told me so much about you," Uncle Jeeves responded with a smile.

    Marie tilted her head and asked, "My apologies, but may I know who you might be?"

    Uncle Jeeves smacked his head to feign apology and answered with a chuckle, "Right! I''m Teacher Al Jeeves. I was one of Markus'' teachers. Well, sort of. I kind of ended up in that position by coincidence."

    Marie''s eyes widened and she bowed immediately with reverence, "A thousand apologies, Teacher Jeeves! This lowly peasant offers her gratitude to Teacher Jeeves, for teaching this one''s untalented younger brother."

    Uncle Jeeves immediately waved his hands with embarrassment and replied, "Please don''t say that! In truth, I wouldn''t have taught Markus if not for his true teacher''s, no, his Master''s involvement. If anything, you should be thanking him!"

    Marie nodded wholeheartedly and added, "This one just saw her younger brother''s bout against another student. Seeing as he is injured, this one will take her leave. There should be a caravan leaving for Radiant City soon..."

    Marie''s voice trailed off near the end.

    Uncle Jeeves furrowed his brows and said, "If you''re leaving to see Markus, why don''t youe with us?"

    At that moment, Marie remembered hearing that Markus was at Twilight Vige and blurted, "Right! Jean, you said that Markus was at Twilight Vige. Why was that? Isn''t he supposed to be at Radiant Academy?"

    "Oh, Markus dropped out," Uncle Jeeves answered matter-of-factly.

    The room weed an awkward silence after that statement. Marie stared at Uncle Jeeves nkly as though her mind was rebooting after hearing some utter nonsense.

    "Markus did what?" Marie asked tly.

    Before Uncle Jeeves could answer, Marie, screamed in outrage, "HE DROPPED OUT?!"

    "So... you didn''t know..." Uncle Jeeves murmured while biting his tongue.

 Chapter 83 Reunion

    The leg of the journey from Wayward Town to Twilight Vige was unbearably ufortable due to the charged atmosphere. Having learnt of Markus'' "asinine" actions, Marie turned eerily silent. However, rather than tranquillity, her currentposure resembled that of a malefic bomb at the cusp of exploding.

    Marie assumed her seat at the carriage leading the caravan, which also happened to be upied by Uncle Jeeves and Jean''s Father. Jean had tried to reason with Marie and asked her to apany her in the carriage, but Marie immediately declined, stating that, "It was her job to guide". However, Jean could already glean that it was all a facade. Marie was probably hoping to be as close as possible to the front so that she could charge at Markus the moment they arrived.

    "That girl... is a bit vivacious," Josiemented.

    Jean nodded affirmatively and exhaled with mirth. "She is fun!"

    "The Young Miss must not associate herself with people like her," Josie said morosely.

    "Why is that?"

    "The Young Miss is of a higher stature and background!" Josie affirmed righteously.

    Jean hummed in thought, and followed up with a question, "Would mother avoid people "below her"? Is it right for a healer to discriminate against people just because they are of a different socio-economic ss?"

    Josie immediately corrected herself by stating, "However the Young Miss has more responsibilities! The Young Miss is not just a prospective healer, she is also the next leader of the Rasmus n!"

    "It''s still quite early to dere that..." Jean interjected with a wry intonation.

    "The Young Miss must not get disheartened! This ve firmly believes that the Young Miss is -"

    ""destined to soar through the heavens!"" Jean and Josie both said at the same time. Jean immediately followed up by asking, "What if I don''t want to soar through the heavens? What if I just want to dwell in the world of mortals and make it better?"

    #Humph! Are you even worthy to make such a deration?!#

    *Don''t listen to her! You can do it!*

    ____

    Josie looked down with a crestfallen expression. ''Madam, the Young Miss is so much like you... I am afraid I can no longer dissuade the Young Miss from following in Madam''s footsteps. I can only pray that I can protect the Young Miss from the many dangers of the world. I must not fail Madam''s final task of keeping the Young Miss safe!''

    Right as Josie''s internal soliloquy reached an end, Marie dered from the front of the caravan, "We''ve arrived!"

    Once the carriage stopped, Jean and Josie exited, along with Al and Goran. Marie hopped down from the carriage and walked forward, towards a narrow path sloping upwards. Unfortunately, the path wasn''t wide enough to amodate the carriage, and it seemed that their destination was at the end, hence everyone started to trudge along the unfinished passage.

    Jean was growing increasingly anxious and excited with every step, given the prospect of finally achieving her dreams. Goran was equally excited for the very same reason. Josie didn''t disy any outward emotions, except internally she was both conflicted and assured. The former, because she didn''t want her Young Miss to face the dangers that followed stepping into the path of magehood, and thetter because she firmly wished for her Young Miss to find her happiness.

    Al was simply ted to meet Guy once again. He had built a close friendship with the man and really wished to continue many of their unfinished conversations. Marie, though, was simply growing angrier and angrier with each step. After a point, her rage was so evident that it overpowered everyone else following her.

    And like that the group finally reached the orphanage at the end of the path. Before they could take another step, a masculine voice, familiar to some and unfamiliar to others, resonated from behind the building.

    "W-Wait Grace! Let me exin, it''s not what you think!"

    The frantic pleas were immediately doused by an angry feminine voice, "Shut up! You PERVERT! I should''ve known... You''re all the same! I thought you would be different. But how could you do this? And that too, to a little boy?! Get over here!"

    Al and Goran immediately extended their mana sense to examine the fracas. After observing the scene, their expressions warped in confusion. Al was straight up stumped at the sight, however, Goran''s expression slowly turned into a frown. Before Al could voice out his doubt, a seminude figure ran out from behind the building with a wronged expression. Following the figure, was a fully dressed female waving a stick vigorously.

    "Stop right there!" the woman shrieked.

    "I''ll stop if you''ll listen to my exnation!" the man retorted.

    "Matron please! Master didn''t do anything!" a boy, around 13 years of age, rushed behind the woman and pleaded.

    "MARKUS!" Marie shouted as she rushed towards the boy waving another stick, which had seemingly materialised out of nowhere.

    "Sis, what are you doing here? Teacher Jeeves? Oh no! Sis wait- I can exin! No!" And with that, the scene devolved into utter chaos.

    Two men, one old and another young were both being chased by two women, one old and another young, both of whom were waving a stick.

    ____<novelnext></novelnext>

    Krish''s lips twitched in embarrassment as he observed the pstick routine. He wanted to walk over and intervene, however, he held himself back considering the presence of the three new mages.

    He was somewhat familiar with the Core Condensation mage called Al Jeeves. He was a noteworthy figure in the kingdom, and his name was spread far and wide. However, Krish had heard that the man was an infamous recluse.

    "So what is he doing here?" Krish muttered his doubt out loud.

    The other two weren''t so familiar. The unknown man was also at the Core Condensation realm, albeit gauging his cultivation indicated that he had only recently broken through. One must note that for a Tesseract Transformation realm, immortal, recent could be deciphered as anywhere within thest two decades.

    The unfamiliar woman was less noteworthy as she had only reached the Core Formation realm. An inspection of her cultivation and state of core integrity told Krish that this may be her final stop in magehood. Her cultivation had reached a bottleneck many years back and had thus stagnated ever since. If she couldn''t ease through that bottleneck since then, it was highly unlikely that she would achieve anything different now.

    Thest person of unknown origin was just another mortal girl. A deeper inspection into her didn''t offer anything special, so Krish simply left it at that.

    He then sighed out loud and resumed his watch, while suppressing his growing annoyance.

    ____

    "Whatever... Just... I would appreciate it if you didn''t strip in front of the kids..." Grace muttered while scratching the back of her head embarrassedly.

    "*sigh*... Again, Grace, it wasn''t a voluntary action," Guy added in defeat.

    The awkward disy that took ce in front of the orphanage simmered down once the two women tired themselves out. Guy had superior stamina due to his recent breakthrough, and although Markus was still in the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm, his constant training had given him an increased edge over his sister. Once the twodies were subdued, Guy exined his piece sinctly and appeased Grace after much trouble.

    Marie, however, was not yet fully convinced and pulled Markus away in order to properly grill the chap.

    Before Grace left, she handed Guy a change of clothes, who immediately adorned them to address the guests.

    "Teacher Jeeves! It''s so good to see you again. I apologise for that disy earlier," Guy said with a smile while shaking the man''s hand.

    Alughed mirthfully and replied, "I sort of figured what happened after I noticed that you had broken through to Foundation Establishment. Congrattions!"

    "Thank you! It just sort of came out of nowhere, and caught me unprepared," Guy replied with a bitter smile. He then turned to face Goran, Jean and Josie and said with a respectful tone, "It''s an honour to meet a few of Teacher Jeeves'' friends. Honestly, I''m grateful that he has someone else to depend on. I worried that he would one day disappear into the books at the Academy library, without anyone to drag him out."

    Goran chuckled at the joke and answered, "My name is Goran Rasmus, this is my daughter Jean Rasmus and her attendant, Josie. The pleasure is all ours, Teacher Larks."

    Guy immediately waved his hands and corrected Goran, "Oh no! I don''t think I legally qualify for that title."

    Goran smiled mysteriously and added, "I''d rather not get entangled with all those technicalities. In my books, anyone capable of training a budding mage to achieve perfected resonance at such a young age is more than qualified to call themselves a teacher!"

    Guy''s eyes narrowed with suspicion. He turned to face Al, who responded with an equally mysterious, yet warm smile.

    "I''m not sure I-" Them something hit Guy. Before he could voice out his realisation, another voice shrieked in surprise, "Markus achieved perfected resonance?!"

    It was Jean, who reacted a little uncharacteristically, attracting the adult''s attention.

    Goran immediately widened his eyes at his daughter''s outburst and said to Guy, "I apologise for my daughter''s disrespectful behaviour."

    He then looked at Jean meaningfully, to which the girl followed with her apology, "This one begs for Teacher Larks'' forgiveness."

    "Come on now! Let''s not act so formally. In fact, I empathise with your reaction. You just happened to voice out my thoughts before I could," Guy replied so as to assuage the parties.

    "Speaking of which," Guy continued. "Are you sure, Teacher Jeeves? To my knowledge, for someone to achieve perfected resonance, they need to meld perfectly with their cultivation method."

    Al nodded in confirmation, "That is correct. What''s the issue?"

    "See that''s the thing... Markus does not practice any cultivation method. So how was he able to achieve perfected resonance?" Guy said with an unsure tone.

    When he finished, everyone looked at each other thoughtfully.

    "That''s... intriguing..." Almented.

 Chapter 84 Positive Changes

    Marie paced back and forth in a huff in front of a shamefaced Markus and a silent Grace.

    "Exin yourself!" Marie demanded.

    "I didn''t want to continue studying in the Academy," Markus answered in a low voice.

    "Why?"

    "It was a horrible ce, Marie!" Markus retorted with surging emotion, causing Marie to flinch. As he spoke, the mana around him started to fluctuate vigorously as if it were responding to him. This was a natural urrence with blooming mages peaking into true magehood.

    "They say it is a grounds where great mages are born, but it is actually a crucible where those without any form of support go to die a slow and painful death," Markus added.

    Marie breathed measuredly to calm her nerves, and retorted, "You already knew the risks before joining. We told you before you went that magehood is a path filled with brutality."

    "I know!" Markus bellowed causing the ambience to churn violently.

    As he said that, a sudden jolt of rationality struck him and caused his rampant emotions to mellow out a bit. He realised that his aggression was misced. He was the one at fault here, and he was in no position to take it out on Marie, even if she was interrogating him doggedly. In fact, it was her right to do so. Both Matron Reva and Marie had done their utmost to dissuade him from pursuing this path, and they both had put forth many rational reasons for it too. Unfortunately, he was too immature at that time to realise it.

    "I. Know." Markus reiterated after taking a deep breath to calm himself.

    "And I believed in that till just a year ago, before I met Master Larks," Markus continued with a more tranquil tone.

    "Life doesn''t always have to be filled with conflict. Sure, friction results in a spark that leads to a burgeoning me, but what remains once the fire subsides is a mass of ash. I realised, thanks to Master Larks, that I don''t have to constantlypete against others to be better."

    Marie''s gaze transformed from disbelief to troubled and finally, after a long time, it settled at eptance. "I can''t force you to do anything, Markus. We don''t work that way. I just hope you can be happy with your decision."

    Markus smiled and replied, "I am. Happier than I have ever been."

    At that point, Markus'' expression turned serious and he tilted his head in the direction of the guest room.

    "What''s wro-" Marie asked, but she was interjected by Markus, "Sis, I need to go up front. Teacher Jeeves is calling for me."

    Saying that Markus hurriedly left the room.

    Marie slumped down onto a chair and looked at Grace meaningfully. "You haven''t said anything, Matron."

    "What is there to say? You all may be children, but I know that you are mature enough to make your own decisions. I was already against sending Markus to the Academy, but after you changed your mind on the matter, how could I say no. And now that he is back, truthfully, I''m ted. You don''t have to go out for months on end to earn scraps, he doesn''t have to struggle through hell..."

    Grace sighed and continued, "All I want is for everyone to stay together. I know I am being selfish in asking this of all of you..."

    "Matron..." Marie whispered as she hugged Grace. While embracing her, Marie asked with a serious tone, "By the way, let''s not forget the elephant in the room."

    Separating herself from Grace, Marie asked with a frown, "What do you think about that man? Is he an issue?"

    Grace wore a conflicted expression. She wanted to say one thing, but her conscience refused to let those unfounded usations leave her mouth. Exhaling out loud in defeat, she confessed, "He''s good."

    "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "It means what it means... Argh! You know what? Why don''t you just talk to him, I bet you too will start singing his praises after that," Grace grumbled under her breath as her cheeks started to turn a tint of red. For some reason, a certain scene of a lean, shredded and nude man streaked through his idle mind.

    "Matron, you aren''t making any sense..."

    "He''s a good person! Okay? He''s perfect in every way, is that what you want to hear?"

    "I didn''t say anything..."

    "Argh! Fine! Whatever!" Grace stood up in a huff to exit. Right as she walked out the door, she stopped and spoke in a low voice to Marie, "You should sit in when he teaches. You might find it interesting. Maybe... you''ll learn something new?"

    Marie chuckled at Grace''s bashful attitude and hummed affirmatively. As she observed Grace''s retreating figure, Marie stood up and began touring around the orphanage. Although she had left just a year ago, it appeared as though a lot had changed. The differences were more evident out back. Before what used toy barren, was now adorned with an assortment of seats and benches, as well as multiple chalkboards. Furthermore, the area seemed to have gained more colour as various small figurines, statues, drawings, designs, and writings were put up on disy

    Along the back wall, there was now a sprawling mural disying a multitude of novel, never-before-seen, scenes each with characters that lookedpletely out of this world.

    "What are you drawing now? Kano?" A little girl''s voice echoed from around the corner. The mural on the wall had seamlessly blended around the edge as if the colours flowed like a tranquil spring through a forest.

    "I-I-t''s a dragon! He''s called Smaug!" A little boy answered.

    "He looks vicious!" Dora replied with a shudder.

    "He is! He single-handedly annihted one of the most p-p-prominent kingdoms of Dwarves! Under the Lonely Mountain," Kano exined animatedly.

    "Wah! He''s so horrible! I don''t like him," Doramanded.

    "Just wait, Dora. The scene isn''t finished. I can''t stop halfway," Kano reasoned.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But I hate him! He sounds like a meanie!"

    There was a pause in the conversation. Right as Marie was about to turn the corner and call out to Kano and Dora, the little girl spoke up in a voice filled with uncertainty, "Kano? Can you ask Teacher Larks to give me the next chapter of theic you showed me yesterday?"

    "Why don''t you ask him yourself?"

    "Argh, Kano! Please do it... Pleeeeease? Please. Please. Please. Plea-"

    "Fine! I''ll ask him. B-B-But why are you being so difficult? Just talk to Teacher Larks."

    "I want to... But I''m afraid that he will hate me?"

    "Why would you think that?"

    "The olddy from the vige never liked me. She said that I was unruly and impolite. It wasn''t my fault! You know how hard it is for me to concentrate with all the voices!"

    "Maybe you should talk to Teacher Larks about it. He helped me w-w-with my dyslexia, maybe he could help you with yours?"

    "I guess..."

    Marie''s eyes widened in disbelief as she digested the information from around the corner. ''Kano has dyslexia? What is that? He can read now? And what is this about Dora hearing voices? What the hell happened while I was away?''

    She shook her head, cleared her thoughts and called out, "Kano! Dora! Are you guys there?"

    ""Sis! You''re back"" Two ted voices responded. The twins hopped out and rushed towards Marie with bright smiles glowing on their faces. Marie was once again shocked at the sight! Mainly because this was the first time she had seen Kano smile so wholeheartedly. Since his childhood, the boy was constantly sulking or crying, he was the embodiment of depression if there ever was one. But now, it was as if his entire personality had undergone a 180-degree shift. Maybe the boy itself was abducted and reced by an imposter. If not for his now intermittent stutter, Marie feared that it might be true!

    "Did you draw all of these, Kano?" Marie asked with an encouraging tone.

    "I did! Do you want me to exin them?" Kano replied with an expectant gaze. Marie nodded while picking him Dora.

    "This is the Big Bad Wolf," Kano exined. "He''s the worst!" Dora added, "He destroyed the little piggy''s houses, and ate little red riding hood''s grandma!"

    "Dora! I w-w-want to exin," Kano said with a wronged tone.

    "Anyways, this is a Genie," Kano continued. "He''s good. He can grant you three wishes!" Dora interjected mischievously.

    "DORA!" Kano bellowed angrily. "I''m not talking anymore."

    "No! Please Kano. Dora, stop annoying Kano, I want to hear him speak," Marie reprimanded lightly.

    "Humph! He''s just showing off all the books he''s read," Dora retorted while folding her arms.

    "You''re just jealous that Teacher Larks gave me all the books and gave none to you!" Kano uncharacteristically egged Dora.

    "Am not! I bet he will give me just as many books as he gave you if I ask him!" Dora talked back.

    Kano stuck out his tongue as a provocation, causing Dora to reach out to grab him.

    "Stop it! You two, what have I told you about fighting?" Marie said sternly.

    ""Throat-jabbing, biting, eye-gouging, and crotch-stomping are off-limits when fighting against family members. Everything else is fair game."" The twins recited monotonously.

    Marie coughed in embarrassment and immediately corrected them, "No! Fighting is off-limits! We must use our words! Now apologise to each other and call it quits!"

    "Sorry Kano""Sorry Dora" the twins muttered half-heartedly and slumped away, leaving Marie by herself.

    Marie rested her hands on her hips and stared nkly at the colourful wall.

    If there was one thing Marie was proud of about herself, it was her skills in handling numbers. Maybe it was her superior aptitude, or maybe it was through her years of practice after swimming in the deep end, Marie didn''t know. What she did know was that there wasn''t anyone better than her in a 10-kilometre radius. In fact, even with all the unsavoury rumours about her lurking around the Merchant''s Guild, and regardless of her young age, she was always the most sought after when it came to short-term finance managers or consultants. And it was precisely because of her skills and perceptivity with numbers.

    Through her work, Marie had be an expert in gauging and catching mistakes, errors, and oversights through a single nce. Her mind could notice trends and falsifications in financial records as though she were reading a children''s book.

    This ability of hers also tranted to real life.

    As Marie swept her gaze around the orphanage, her mind started to churn at a rapid pace, crunching some imaginary numbers and forming corories.

    There were many unbelievable and drastic changes in and around the orphanage. Of what she had seen, all of them had been positive in some sense. Markus had be more assured and confident. Kano hade out of his shell and was putting himself out there. The old, drab and dull orphanage had now gained some colour and liveliness.

    And all of these changes could be tracked down to one deviant variable.

    "Teacher Larks... Maybe I just might sit in and see what all the fuss is about?"

 Chapter 85 Closer Inspection

    "I''ve called Markus over, he should be here soon. The fact that he was able to achieve perfected resonance without having a cultivation method is unheard of in the magemunity," Al exined.

    "I mean, it''s a fact that most mages are aware of, but there is actually a reason behind it as well. How is it that mages are able to manifest such extraordinary powers? How are they able to bend, what you call, the truth of this world in such unbelievable ways?" Al paused for dramatic effect.

    Al pointed towards the side of his head, and exined, "It is the mind! That is the key that allows mages to y with reality ording to their whims. The first step, of course, is for them toprehend their reality because to modify something without breaking it, one needs to first have an in-depth understanding of it. A thorough cultivation method offers the mage certain insights into their reality that ultimately helps the mage achieve this goal. As the mage gains more and more insight into what they consider their reality, the stronger they get!"

    Guy nodded before asking, "Then what about cultivators specialising in physical arts?"

    "The reality to those cultivators is different. For a body cultivator, their reality is confined to what exists on and within their bodies. To arge extent, their environment matters not! As they gain more insight into the way their bodies work, the more their world expands and the stronger they get," Al exined.

    "Isn''t there only so much you can know about a confined topic such as that?" Guy retorted.

    "Yet body cultivators do not limit themself as such. Somebody cultivators practice bestial assimtion, in which they modify their bodies by ingesting magical beast blood or parts and integrating their properties into their own bodies. Some sword cultivators train in armouredbat in such a way that their armour bes a part of their bodies. There are no limits to what mages can do, and how they cultivate. But this does not mean that just about anyone cane up with a new cultivation method. It is always possible to trace back a new cultivation method to one that already exists because most novel cultivation methods are derivations or improvements."

    Right as Al finished his exnation, Markus knocked and entered the room.

    "Markus!" Al eximed with a smile.

    "Teacher Larks," Markus greeted in return, following it with a deep bow.

    Al gestured towards Goran and Jean, and introduced them, "I want you to meet my close friend Goran Rasmus, and his daughter Jean Rasmus."

    Markus greeted the other guests with equal reverence. After that, he looked towards the only other person in the room, who was unintroduced, "Ma''am?"

    Josie looked around curiously, and realised that Markus was talking to her, "Me?"

    Markus nodded and then waited for her to respond.

    "Oh! Uhm... I am Josie. I am Young Miss'' attendant," Josie offered.

    Markus bowed and reciprocated, "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Josie."

    "Just Josie is fine..." Josie retorted with a wry smile.

    "I cannot do that, Miss Josie," Markus denied immediately.

    Before Josie could say anything further, Al interrupted the back-and-forth with an irritated growl, "Enough of this! Markus, I called you in so hastily with a very important purpose. Quickly now, remove your shirt!"

    Markus'' eyes widened in surprise. His head swivelled around in embarrassment as he observed the expression of everyone else in the room. His eyes immediatelynded on the two female guests in the room, and he muttered with uncertainty, "Now? In front of everyone?"

    Jean noticed his pointed gaze and her cheeks started to redden spontaneously.

    The question pulled Al from his stupor. He looked around and took note of everyone''s awkward expressions. Al wasn''t specifically a prideful person, but he knew that his ce in Jean and Markus'' hearts wasn''t trivial. Correcting himself aftermitting so fervently would simply lose him too much face!

    "*cough* Of course! Don''t worry about Jean, she''s training to be a healer so she needs to get used to seeing things like these! Right, Jean?" Al expertly redirected the conversation to the heavily flushed girl.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Huh? S-Sure..." Jean answered with a low voice.

    Markus cautiously acquiesced and proceeded to remove his shirt. As he did so, he unleashed a sight that would cause many young women to swoon from overstimtion. His chest had expanded markedly and looked more whole, as opposed to before where they had an emaciated look. His lower torso had tightened slightly, highlighting six distinct bulges, perfectly ordered in a three-by-two grid. Due to his young age, these imposing features had an air of immaturity to them that indicated room for growth. From the side of his hips, tworge grooves snaked down, straddling his abdominals, towards his...

    Jean quickly averted her gaze and looked down, attempting to catch her rapid breaths.

    "Goodness! What happened to you? You look so thin! Has Guy been starving you?" Al asked while throwing an usatory gaze towards Guy.

    Markus chuckled, while casually responding, "Much worse, Teacher Jeeves! Master has me fetching multiple pots worth of y from the nearby spring every day..."

    Guy looked towards Markus with a feigned betrayed gaze andughed amusedly.

    "The boy''s development has tinges of mana ingrained into it," Goranmented with a light hum.

    Al followed Goran''s observation and inspected Markus'' physical body with his mana sense.

    "It appears to be the case... This isn''t unlike the results obtained through regr cultivation if I''m not wrong," Almented.

    "What does that mean?" Guy asked.

    "Well. There aren''t really many cases documenting the advancements of mages purely through brute force. After all, cultivation is many times more efficient and effective. BUT, there do exist some reports on this matter through rogue mage experimentations. I came across these notes very recently while I was searching for possible solutions to Markus'' predicament. In it, it stated that when a mage advanced through brute force, that is by spellcasting, the development of the physical body often gets stunted. The best way to exin it is by considering a house."

    Al traced certain sections of Markus'' body with an extended finger as he continued, "Advancing through brute force is akin to changing the foundation of the house and reinforcing it with stronger materials. However, if the externals remain the same, it will sumb just as easily to the environment as before. Cultivation ensures that during advancement, both the body and the mind grow together. And as you can see here, although not evident through a cursory nce, Markus does not show any signs of disjointed growth."

    Al proceeded to nudge and squeeze the various muscle and bone segments on Markus'' body andmented, "They boy has clearly been cultivating. He is literally bursting; he is on the cusp of advancement!"

    Markus frowned and said, "But I don''t have a cultivation method."

    "That''s what your Master said as well. Either you two are hiding something from me, which I don''t think is the case, or you have been cultivating without realising it, which would be truly remarkable! Nheless, our doubt can easily be solved through an inspection of your core. Before proceeding with it, I require your consent," Al added.

    As established, a mage''s core is the umtion of the mage''s cultivation. It isn''t a physical construct, more of a spiritual one. Well, that is at least until they break into the Core Formation realm and reconstruct their bodies, in which the core bes akin to an additional organ. Yet, even till that point, the shadow of a mage''s core exists within their spiritual space, often located at their anatomical core.

    Now, the reason why Al asked Markus for his consent before prying into his still nascent core was that it is considered a sign of hostility for a mage to do so forcefully. The core holds many secrets regarding a mage''s cultivation. To tamper with it could result in dire circumstances for the mage as it could very easily copse their entire cultivation resulting in deviations, damages, or worse, death. One can gain partial insight into a mage''s cultivation through mana sense, given that there is a difference in realms between the inspector and the target, and the difference favours the inspector. One must note that this information is purely based on aption of external factors observed through the mana sense. To gain a more thorough understanding, one needs to delve at a more spiritual level.

    After Markus readily offered his consent, Al proceeded to ce an open palm on the boy''s built abdominals and channelled his mana through. He expertly navigated through the spiritual barriers that were natural borne deterrents within every mage. Thankfully, he had Markus'' consent and the deterrents admitted him through, otherwise, this would have been more of a challenge, and he would have had to force his way through them. Not that he would have done that, because the result would be the utter crippling of Markus!

    Once he reached the area where Markus'' core should be in the spiritual space, he settled his blurry senses to gain a clearer visual. What Al was relying on right now, was his spiritual sense. Spirituality was a branch of magic that was essible to all mages but has very few uses. In the early stages of cultivation, there is little purpose to it apart from conducting inspections of one''s own or other''s core.

    However, this field gains importance once a mage reaches the Core Condensation realm. This is because spirituality ys a huge part in their venture to advance into the Tesseract Transformation realm. Essentially, to bridge the gap from longevity to immortality, one must merge their will and cultivation, represented by their core, with their spirit, represented by their soul.

    However, delving into that topic was forter. Because the moment his senses regained rity, Al was greeted by a sight that left himpletely befuddled.

    "This..."

 Chapter 86 Staring Into The Abyss

    Al was stumped.

    Utterly. Stumped.

    .

    .

    .

    Because he did not know what he was looking at...

    Basically, before a mage reaches Core Formation, their so-called nascent core has yet to take a solid shape definitive of their cultivation. At this stage, what one observes when extending their senses into the core is something akin to a pool of water. This pool of water, and the area surrounding it, can be used to gauge into a mages cultivation, only at a superficial level though.

    Through his years, Al had had the opportunity to inspect an assortment of such nascent cores, some through consent and others through force. While he wasn''t as ancient as the many Tesseract Transformation powerhouses sauntering through this world, he was confident in dering that he had seen enough to have a decent idea of the various cultivation methodsmonly practised amongst mages, and how the nascent core looked within the mages that practised them.

    Yet, what Al saw in ce of Markus'' nascent core waspletely foreign to him. The region was nketed in a darkness so deep that it appeared endless. Usually, in this ce, Al would expect to see some shrubbery or ambience indicative of the base nature of the cultivation method. For swordsmen, the region could be a serene meadow with a vast nket of grass, with each de capable of slicing through skin. For mages specialising in fire-arts, one could observe a field set aze, or a vast and scorching desert, or even woods nketed in a red hue following the arrival of autumn, or anything along those lines. In some special cases, such as with a particr cultivator practising explosive arts, this region was filled with mounds of malleable white y...

    This was the first time Al was observing a region shrouded in darkness. Even those infrequent darkness-centred mages didn''t have such a nascent core.

    Al focused his spiritual senses further and noticed the presence of a small, perfectly circr, pool of water. This pool acted as the true manifestation of one''s cultivation. What one observes within this pool is a direct indicator of the insights and processes involved in the cultivation method. Going back to the earlier example, a fire-art practitioner could have a body of moltenva as their core, or a sea of eternal fire. There are additionalyers to this, however, but they are usually luded from those without the ability to decipher these abstract sights.

    Al cautiously approached this body of water, which had a bright outline allowing it to stand out within the void. The body waspletely still, which was expected since there was absolutely nothing in the environment inducing any disturbances. In fact, it appeared as though the ground itself did not propagate any vibrations into the pool of water.

    Upon gazing into the body of water, Al saw more darkness. However, dotted within this darkness were many vibrant spots of bright light. The sight was not dissimr to stars in the night sky.

    It was very confusing for Al. He had no idea what any of it meant, but he was unwilling to concede - that word wasn''t in his dictionary!

    With a mix of apprehension and curiosity, Al moved his hand towards the pool of water. The body of water was small, it barely reached the size of a small pond. It wasn''t wide enough to allow Al to submerge his body - at most he could dip one of his appendages.

    The moment the tip of his finger breached the surface, it passed through without opposition. There was no ripple, no indication of contact taking ce. It was like the pool was simply a thin, gauzy film waiting to be breached.

    As his fingertips submerged, Al started to feel a biting cold assault his skin. One must note that Al was currently within Markus'' core in his spiritual form. Unlike his physical form, the spiritual body hadn''t undergone any drastic transformations through cultivation. To augment the spiritual body, one needed to perform continuous introspection and practice abstruse methods. Al had already improved his spiritual body but only through some basic techniques, and so the body''s strength was barelyparable to that of a Base Stage Foundation Establishment mage.

    Without the protection enjoyed by his physical body, Al was experiencing a greater range of pain through his spiritual body. After a short moment, Al retrieved his hand and observed its state.

    He noticed that the area exposed to the other side had frozen over drastically. There was also some amount of bloating within the region. Through experience, Al could conclude, "It''s damage caused byck of atmosphere!"

    It was the same oue when one ventured out of Gaea, into space.

    Al nodded in contemtion and began exercising a few techniques to augment his spiritual body''s toughness. He was nning to do something drastic - he was going to submerge his head through the pool!

    It was a moronic idea! It was never safe for a mage to thrust themself into another''s cultivation like this. Imagine a scenario in which a cup, used to hold liquid at high temperature, is quickly dipped into a cold bath. Even if the material can resist those temperatures, the sudden change will more often than not result in the cracking of the cup.

    When a mage practices one cultivation method, and they attempt to immerse themself in another that may or may not have a connection to their own, the result is often disastrous to the mage. Even if the mage is in an advanced realm. Cultivation deviation does not discriminate by realm, experience, age, gender, or species. It is an equal-opportunity offender.

    Steeling himself, Al shoved his head into the pool of water, with his eyes shut tight.

    The moment he felt the environment changing around his facial skin, he slowly opened his eyes.

    After his vision settled, Al was greeted by the awe-inspiring sight of outer space. With the plethora of stars and variousary bodies distributed around him.

    In the distance, he could see several constetions, some familiar, otherspletely new. Further away, he observed a beautiful structure - a wondrous amalgamation of dust, stars ands, bound together in a beautiful design mimicking a whirlpool. The almost milky-white whirling web emanated an aura of unparalleled and violent strength, as well as serene and poised grace. These antithetical notions constantly assaulted Al''s mind. If not for his constant vignce, Al feared that he would be lost within the spectacle, losing himself forever.

    After indulging himself in the visuals for a bit, Al decided that it was time to retreat. Unfortunately, he hadn''t gained much from this dive.

    "Maybe discussing with Guy and Goran might shed some new light on this," Al concluded.

    Just as he was about to pull his head out of the pool, something caught Al''s attention from the corner of his vision.

    "What''s that?" Almented as he trained his gaze towards the offending party.

    "It''s the Sun!" Al dered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As his gaze sharpened, Al found himself getting pulled towards the sr mass. He stopped a distance away from the sr system - within his view, he could see the presence of the Gaea.

    Al contemted on what attracted him here.

    He looked around, to see if anything popped out.

    "The Sun seems...rger than the stars near it," Almented. Unlike the other orangish-yellow masses in the vicinity, the Sun appeared bigger.

    "W-wait, what''s happening?" Al eximed. Because suddenly, the periphery of the Sun started to expand outwards.

    "It''s growing!"

    The Sun grewrger andrger. After a few cycles it consumed Gaea, but it didn''t show any signs of slowing down.

    As it grew further, the ball turned from its vibrant yellow shade, towards an ominous red.

    Yet Al didn''t see any signs of it slowing down. The red mass grew voraciously, consuming everything within its path. Al frantically retreated to avoid getting decimated by the expanding ball. It was a difficult battlebating the hazardous attractive force exerted by it.

    While Al kept observing, he eventually found the now red, gigantic ball slowing its ravenous growth.

    "Is it stopping?" Al pondered. And as if replying to his offhandedment, the red giant flickered. Its periphery undted dangerously. It was angry! It wanted MORE!

    BOOM!

    A sh of blinding light. An explosion of heavenly proportions.

    Even within the deafening silence of space, Al could feel the soul-shattering vibrations released by the copse of the wrathful giant!

    Clouds of superhot and colourful sma propelled themselves outwards. Although they were drenched in a dazzling wash of paint, Al could feel the vengeful menace shrouded within.

    Al''s eyes widened in surprise as the elerating mist approached him.

    "Oh no!" Al knew at that moment that there was nothing he could do. He had to escape!

    He quickly attempted to retrieve himself from the pool, but he was already toote.

    The fatal film washed over him, burning through his protection, and threatening to disintegrate his spiritual body. Al grit his teeth and directed his entirety towards maintaining his spiritual integrity and sanity.

    He had to escape!

    Al resumed his struggle to get out. But all of a sudden, he was caught!

    He didn''t know what it was. But something caught on to him! It was unforgiving and all-epassing. It was as if a tether was attached to every part, every fibre, every particle of his being, and it was tugging him closer, and closer.

    Al''s mental rms red in distress! For the first time in his entire life, Al was experiencing crippling fear. At that moment, Al know that he was a goner...

    Al turned around to face his destroyer, and all he saw was an endless abyss. A spherical mass of indiscriminate death, whose existence contradicted reality in and of itself.

    His body began shutting down automatically as Al got pulled closer to the abyss. The end was nigh, why struggle?

    After a point, Al saw the sphere warp around him. It was opening its mouth, ready to devour him.

    Al closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable.

    .

    .

    .

 Chapter 87 Pulled To Safety

    Guy had his attention trained onto Markus and Al. Although Guy had heard of methods to peer into a mage''s cultivation, he had yet to see a method that didn''t require the target to die first.

    The books he had read before primarily detailed optimal strategies to siphon the cultivation from a dying mage''s dissipating core. Efficient ways to decipher the numerous insights condensed within the roiling ethereal mass, and so on. So, when Guy observed Al''s attempt to perform an inspection into Markus'' cultivation, and that too in a safe way, he was immediately enraptured. He treated this as an opportunity to gain another technique for his toolbox. After all, since he was responsible for training his Disciple, a method to gauge the boy''s progress on a regr basis would be extremely useful.

    To learn more about the method, Guy employed a technique he was already familiar with, and that was to extend his mana sense. After breaking into Foundation Establishment, Guy''s mana domain had expanded significantly. Before the breakthrough, it barely reached 10 metres, but now it covered up to 20 metres. By directing his now more sensitive mana sense towards the interaction between Markus and Al, Guy was surprised to find nothing particr of note taking ce. For all intents and purposes, there was absolutely nothing going on. It seemed as though Al was simply cing his hand on Markus'' belly.

    "Do you feel anything different, Markus?" Guy asked.

    Markus furrowed his brows in contemtion, "There was a slight difort just now. It felt a bit weird. How can I exin this... It''s like when you let someone into your bedroom for the first time. Although they entered with permission, it''s ultimately a little ufortable..."

    "Hmm, I can''t observe anything using my mana sense," Guy added, to which Goran chimed in with an exnation. "That''s because Al''s using his spiritual sense."

    "Spiritual sense?"

    "It''s a hard technique to exin on short notice," Goran added.

    "Actually, it feels a little like when you showed me that vision of the ck hole, Master. Except when you did it, it felt less jarring and more natural," Markusmented.

    "What''s he talking about?" Goran asked Guy.

    "Oh, Markus was having some trouble understanding one particr topic. I used a new technique to augment the transmission of knowledge, and it was highly effective, right Markus?"

    "Extremely! It was an amazing experience. All of my doubts were cleared almost immediately!" Markus vocalised.

    Guy hummed in thought as he digested Markus'' earlierment about the simrity between Al''s method and Guy''s venture with the use of the mask in his RoK.

    ''So they''re simr... What does that mean?'' Guy thought to himself. ''Guess there is only one way to find out!''

    As Guypleted thatst statement, he started to feel an ominous premonition. He sighed in defeat and retreated into his RoK. At the centre table, he found the all so familiar mask. He reached for it, and without wasting any time, he plunged it onto his face. He skipped through the ufortable feeling washing over him and entered the default state of restrained zealousness.

    After stabilising himself, Guy opened his eyes and swept his imperious gaze forward to size up his stagnant congregation. Although he had recently essed The Church to facilitate Markus'' revtions, he could already notice a few differences.

    Unlike before, Guy found that Markus'' ethereal form looked more opaque while seated at the pew upfront. Furthermore, Guy also noticed that the ghostly rope tethering him and Markus from before had also grown brighter, and thicker. What they meant, Guy didn''t know. But something urged him that it was a good sign.

    "The boy shines brighter after witnessing the wonders of the True World!" He preached instinctively.

    "Now, back to business!"

    Guy walked closer to Markus'' ethereal form, likest time, and inspected the boy more carefully. Previously, to draw Markus into The Church, Guy simply grasped him by the shoulder. The boy was somehow drawn into this ce through contact, the mechanism of which was still a mystery to Guy as he didn''t have an opportunity to catch his breath and evaluate it more thoroughly after his breakthrough.

    Yet, what Guy wanted to achieve now wasn''t to pull Markus in, but rather to enter into Markus'' core. ording to the boy, what he felt just now as Al infiltrated his core was a lot simr to how he felt when Guy brought him here. So by deduction, there has to be a way for Guy to reverse the action from The Church.

    "But how?" Guy muttered while scratching his chin.

    Guy contemted on it for quite some time and still failed to derive a worthwhile conclusion. Right then, at that moment, Guy started to instinctually feel a growing, sinister sentiment.

    Frowning, he started to swivel his head in an attempt to target the source of this difort.

    Like a metal detector honing in on a rogue metallic interloper, Guy''s danger sense started to re in earnest. It immediately drew his attention towards ethereal Markus'' navel, which also happened to be where the ghostly rope extended out from.

    "Is it this?" Guy uttered while grasping at the rope near its base.

    The moment his hand wrapped around the object, Guy felt his form getting sucked in rapidly through his arm and into the rope. He felt as though he was falling through a dark water slide, twisting and twirling, slipping with increasing speed.

    With an inaudible plop, Guy was suddenly sucked out and dropped at an unfamiliar ce that waspletely dark.

    After dusting himself off, Guy looked around and frowned with disappointment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He clicked his tongue and bellowed, "Let there be light!"

    With two ps of his hand, the room started to brighten visibly, originating from Guy as the source. As the light spread outwards, a peculiar sight entered Guy''s line of sight.

    "What the hell is he doing?" Guy eximed as he observed the bizarre visual of Al prostrating himself and peeking his head through a small hole in the ground.

    However, Guy didn''t feel amused. Not one bit! This was because the sinister feeling Guy followed from The Church was originating from that ce.

    Without a hint of hesitation, Guy walked over briskly, and tightly grasped onto Al by his shoulders. With a forceful jerk, Guy pulled the man out.

    As Al''s head left the hole, the man unleashed a loud gasp and started to hyperventte.

    "I- I- I''m alive? I''m alive!" Al eximed in disbelief and relief.

    "Tsk! Get a hold of yourself, man!" Guy bellowed with a furious growl.

    "Guy! Guy? What are you doing here?" Al retorted.

    "Saving you, of course!" Guy answered matter-of-factly. Why was he so certain that he had saved Al? He wasn''t sure... But his gut told him so.

    "No, I mean... How are you here?" Al replied.

    "I just came in," Guy answered with surety, once again.

    "But- Forget it! I need to get out of here," Al stated with a tinge of fear in his voice. Without wasting even a second, Al''s figure quickly dissipated from before him.

    Guy shrugged his shoulders and, with familiarity, reached out into empty space opening a circr tear simr to the one that deposited him here. He leapt through the hole and returned to The Church. Before retreating to the outside world, Guy removed the mask over his face and shifted the surroundings to the morefortable RoK.

    Outside, Al was fidgeting in his seat, carefully inspecting his body and his own cultivation to make sure that no damage had been done.

    "What''s gotten you so riled up?" Goran asked lightly.

    "Dangerous! Too dangerous!" Al muttered continuously.

    "What happened in there, Teacher Jeeves?" Guy asked after exiting the RoK.

    "I was caught off guard," Al exined. "I didn''t expect hisprehension of insights to be so... Whatever cultivation method he''s practising, it is extremely thorough. There were no weaknesses orpses, at least by my understanding. This kind of profundity is unheard of! I have never seen anything like it before in my life!"

    Goran noticed Al''s voice wavering as he spoke. He had never seen the man so shaken in such a long time. While he was growing increasingly intrigued at the Master-Disciple duo capable of affecting his friend to such an extent, he was also a little anxious.

    ''Is it safe to leave Jean under their care?'' He thought to himself.

    Then, with a measured tone, Goran asked, "What happened in there?"

    "The region surrounding his nascent core was empty, like an unending void. At its centre, there was a ring of light, which I guessed was his core. In approaching this ring, I saw that it was like a portal. I submerged myself through the portal and found myself in outer space. It was an uncannily precise representation!"

    Al looked towards Markus and with a mix of awe and bitterness, he said, "Your understanding of outer space is unbelievably urate. It''s hard to fathom that you haven''t personally been out there!"

    "Anyways, after that point, I was greeted by a sight far beyond myprehension. I don''t think I have read anything about what took ce after that, and I don''t think I can describe it in great detail either. It all happened too quickly! I was assaulted by so many insights that I waspletely rendered incapacitated. I didn''t expect such intensity from a mage that hasn''t even entered Foundation Establishment realm. If not for Guy personally pulling me out, I fear I would have lost myself in there for good..."

    Almost everyone in the room gasped in unison. To them, Al was a peak they could only ever dream of reaching in their lifetime. And hearing that the man they looked up to nearly lost his life...

    All eyes within the room turned towards Markus, who was casually putting on his shirt. Noticing the piercing gazes, Markus frozeically. The tips of his ears reddened in embarrassment, and he shrunk his head into his neck.

    Al exhaled out loud onest time, and asked, "Tell me honestly -" He alternated his gaze between Markus and Guy and continued, "What exactly have you been doing here?"

 Chapter 88 Spirit And Will

    After registering the question Guy went on to exin everything that had urred, barely an hour ago, with enough detail to enlighten Al''s doubts. Sure, there were parts Guy wasn''t "allowed" to reveal such as the existence of The Church, since it would inevitably point towards the presence of the RoK inside him, which would, in turn, make it evident that he wasn''t from this world.

    "After Markus'' loss against Gaige, he had been holing up in his rooming up with spells to counter the wave of darkness," Guy started.

    To which Goran chuckled lightly.

    To Goran''s surprise, no one else chimed in with him.

    "What?" Goran asked in disbelief as he looked at Al. "Wait, he''s serious? Making new spells?"

    Al simply nodded matter-of-factly.

    "You''re saying that as if he were assembling a toy! We''re talking about spells here, right? Like spells, with intricate mechanisms, and theories, and functionalities?!"

    Al nodded once again, and reprimanded Goran with a frown, "Stop interrupting him, Goran."

    Goran raised his hands in defeat and retrained his attention on Guy.

    "I then exined the science of the spell to him," Guy continued.

    "Science? What''s that?" Goran interrupted once again.

    "Goran! Please..." Al said irritatedly, to which Goran once again raised his hands and mimicked zipping his mouth.

    "Markus couldn''t understand and fathom the details within the exnation. Which was expected, since he hadn''t seen such a phenomenon before in his life. And so, to enlighten him, I sort of... transmitted a visual? Yeah... I think that best exins what happened there... I transmitted a visual of the phenomenon to him directly," Guy concluded.

    "YOU DID WHAT?!" This time, it wasn''t Goran, but Al that eximed animatedly.

    "I don''t know how to put it into words. It was like this: I had the idea in my head, I just showed it to him," Guy said. As he exined, he grasped at the sides of his head, grabbed a handful of air, and flung it towards Markus'' head. "Something like that, I guess."

    Al started to breathe heavily, with his eyes bursting out at their sockets.

    "No wonder the insights were so vivid and robust. You performed a |Soul Imprint|!" Al muttered with excitement.

    "|Soul Imprint|? But how?" Goran parroted incredulously.

    "That''s the only exnation! You should have seen what I witnessed in the boy''s cultivation. It was magnificent! The power... It was a hundred- No! A thousand- No! Argh! It was immeasurably stronger than the strongest darkness spell recorded in history! I can attest to that im!" Al dered.

    Noticing the growing agitation amongst the crowd, Guy cautiously voiced a query, "Teacher Jeeves. What is this |Soul Imprint|? Is it a spell?"

    "What''s |Soul Imprint|? Boy, are you daft?!" Goran blurted out. "You used the damn technique, how can you not know about it?"

    "Goran!" Al reprimanded. "Please pardon my friend, he often speaks his mind openly."

    "Please, I''d actually prefer it if everyone talked that freely," Guy responded with a chuckle.

    Goran scratched his head sheepishly, "You jest, but I will actually take you up on that offer!"

    Al snorted in amusement and exined, "|Soul Imprint| is an extremely rare and high-level technique. It is most sought after by Teachers and individuals at positions of power because it allows for quick transmission ofrge chunks of information as condensed packets. The best part about it is that not only is it possible to transmit information through |Soul Imprint|, but one can also transfer more abstract concepts such as emotions, hopes and so on."

    "That sounds about right," Guy nodded. "But why are you guys so agitated about all of this?"

    Goran interjected passionately, "It''s because this technique is only possible when a mage reaches Core Condensation realm or above!"

    "That''s inurate," Al corrected. "It is possible to learn and apply this technique at the earlier realms, however, to be able to do so one must cultivate their spirituality to an extremely high level. This process in and of itself is time-consuming and arduous, thus most mages leave it till they hit Core Condensation and have time to spare towards improving their spirituality."

    "Cultivating spirituality?" Guy inquired.

    "It is the final step a mage needs to go through before they can step off from their mortal coils and embrace true immortality," Al answered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After a pause he continued, "Why do most people pursue magehood so ardently? For some, it is power. For others it is recognition. For most, it is to be immortal - longevity! But how does one truly achieve this so-called immortality? It is a fact that advancing in realms through cultivation grants the cultivator with longer life. But living for a long time does not make one an immortal."

    Al rested to let his thesis sink in, drawing in the audience. One thing he had learned after interacting with Guy was the perfect method to orate to an audience, regardless of demographic. As a renowned teacher, albeit one that had receded from the public eye for a long time, Al realised through self-evaluation that he had be quite detached from his base. In fact, he found that it wasn''t just him, but even the more overt teachers, while sessful, had horrendous skill in lecturing.

    Before his acquaintance with Guy, Al thought that his peers such as Kaist were at the forefront of pedagogy. Many mages would line up for days just to gain the opportunity to listen to Kaist''s scarce lectures. They hoped to extract as much insight as possible from the unbearably arcane concepts regurgitated during the lecture, in hopes of internalising them and achieving breakthroughs. But many didn''tprehend just how dangerous this was.

    To internalise half-baked theories that sounded logical, without thoroughly vetting the information and cross-referencing its reliability and applicability with one''s self was a surefire recipe for disaster. Even if this insight was derived from a lecture of a sessful mage at a higher realm of cultivation, one mustn''t forcefully augment their own cultivation with insights that were originally tailored to the lecturer.

    Therefore, Al realised that they had been going about it all wrong. A lecture wasn''t just about disseminating information. A lecturer''s main goal must be to maximise the assimtion of the information they''re intending to circte. Sure, lectures could entertainplex and advanced topics, however, the lecturer must recognise their audience and tailor their oration ordingly.

    Al admitted that there had been many asions in the past when he lectured about advanced topics such as Familiar Inhabitation to freshly minted mages at Mana Condensation realm.

    For most mages nowadays, these lectures had turned from a mode to teach into a tform to boast about their superiority.

    ''Can''t understand what I''m talking about? Well, you can only me yourself that you aren''t a genius such as I,'' was themon thought paradigm.

    It was a bitter realisation, but the fact remained. Was it better to lecture to a massive audience where 2% understood what you were talking about, or to a more mediocre audience where over 80% absorbed your words? Before, Al would readily agree with the former, but after meeting Guy, he was leaning towards thetter.

    "It is the soul that tethers a magical being to their mortal coils. To transcend, one must untether, and to do so they need to merge their cultivation - that is the ultimate umtion of their insights, a physical manifestation of their will - with their soul. This is aplicated process that not only requires an unshakeable cultivation, but also perfect control over one''s soul. Many mages die during the transition from Core Condensation to Tesseract Transformation because either their cultivation has cracks, or their spiritual manifestation is unwieldy or nonpliant."

    Guy nodded and hummed in affirmation. "That makes sense. Sure, it sounds a little abstract and fantastical - merging the soul and cultivation and what nought - but I can understand the conceptualisation."

    "Coming back to the start of this discussion, |Soul Imprint|, as the name suggests, is a technique that can actually be picked up quite early in the path of spiritual cultivation. However, its efficacy is greatest at the mid to higher levels. Through it, a mage can transmit their own insights as a whole package to another, the size and quality of which depends on their spiritual cultivation. It is so difficult to be proficient in this that most mages without aptitude in spiritual cultivation avoid it altogether. Almost all teachers yearn to be adept in this skill."

    At this point, Goran interjected, "Based on what Al admitted earlier, it seems that you," he said while gesturing at Guy, "have an even greater aplishment in this technique than Al himself. And that too when you were at the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm? How is this even possible?!"

    Goran''s doubtful and piercing gaze bore down on both Guy and Al. The former started to secretly sweat bullets as pressure started to build up from within.

    ''Here we go again. It seems I have to put back on that abomination and weave up some BS...'' Guy wasn''t looking forward to that. He had already spun a farfetched yarn a year back to throw Al off of his tail. And honestly, Guy had forgotten the exact plotline of his earlier lie. ''What did I tell himst time? Damn my other self! He cooked up some hot garbage and didn''t note it down... What am I going to do?''

    Guy looked at Al with a nk gaze, which thetter took to be a signal of some sort. Because Al nodded in affirmation and began talking, "Actually, Goran, Guy here has a secret he hasn''t shared with anyone else except for myself and his Disciple here. What I am going to share with you must not leave this room without Guy''s express permission. If it does I will not think twice before taking action!"

    Al extended his warning towards the other parties in the room with a meaningful gaze.

    Jean and Josie gulped audibly at being stared down by Al. Although Al joked often with her, Jean could feel the realness of the threat.

    Goran was the first to react and dered, "I swear on my name and the name of my n. Should I break this oath, may I be struck where I stand and get reduced to ashes."

    This was followed by Jean and Josie.

    "I swear!"

    "I swear!"

    ____

    In a small cottage in the vige, Krish chuckled and voiced out audibly.

    "I swear."

    ____

    Al leaned in and spoke with a measured tone, "Guy was fortunate to gain enlightenment from an inheritance of an Ascended mage. Although we don''t know the exact specifics of it, since Guy himself is oblivious to how he stumbled across it, I am confident that whoever it was, they were highly unorthodox and extremely powerful. My hypothesis is supported by the fact that not only did this inheritance encapste a myriad of arcane, unheard of knowledge, but it also contained the skill |Soul Imprint|!"

    Goran''s jaw dropped in surprise, "I-Is this true?!" He asked Guy.

    "Eh?" Guy blurted.

 Chapter 89 Jean Rasmus

    Guy coughed and smiled wryly after hearing Goran''s question.

    ''How am I going to answer that?''

    He could say yes and agree with whatever Al just said before. But was it the right thing to do?

    ''Al is literally stretching my BS story to its limits by deriving such a conclusion...'' Guy thought to himself.

    But then something struck him.

    ''Wait a minute! This whole interaction... The misunderstanding... A character showing his ignorance after performing a feat that most would consider extraordinary or downright impossible...''

    Guy''s eyes widened in shock.

    ''No. Way! Did I just lie so convincingly that I actually materialised my own system-sh-cheat-sh-goldenfinger?''

    In some ways, there was truth to that statement. If Guy hadn''t dug his own grave by forming a nonsense story about Homo Sapiens and the like, he wouldn''t have aroused Al''s unbending curiosity. And if he hadn''t aroused Al''s curiosity, he wouldn''t have had to dig further and formte a lie to cover up the earlier lie, for which he even had to resort to reading cult literature. If he hadn''t read those abominable texts, his RoK wouldn''t have formed an offshoot and spawned the ominous Church.

    ''Who knew that the whole concept of "Manifesting" those two-bit motivational speakers exhorted about would actually work?!''

    This new segment to his soul, as Mast called it, was a thorough mystery since neither Guy nor Mast had an inkling of its functionality or raison d''¨ºtre. ording to Mast, it was a side effect that resulted from Guy''s fervent absorption of insights that ran counter to his core. Usually, such actions would have resulted in a cultivation deviation, but the RoK had intervened in some ways. After all, the RoK wasn''t originally a part of Guy''s soul either.

    However, even with all the weird things The Church brought him, Guy was kind of grateful for its existence. After using it on multiple asions, and learning of its various uses gradually, Guy hade to view it with more respect.

    (You are being quite rash about all of this. ''The Church'', as you put it, is unfamiliar andpletely unexplored territory, for both of us. I want you to let that sink in. Even I, a being much, much more ancient than this world you are in, have absolutely no idea about what that thing is. I shouldn''t even be letting you live with it inside you. It''s like a time bomb, waiting to explode, taking us both down in the process.)

    ''Why are you being so cautious all of a sudden. Weren''t you the one to make the risky y by bringing me into this world?'' Guy retaliated.

    (It maye across as such to you, but everything was within the boundaries of my n. But this! This is out of my control. Not within the realms of my n.)

    ''It hasn''t done anything precarious yet-''

    (Yet! It is only a matter of time.)

    ''Then why don''t you just take it out of me?''

    (It is a part of your soul now. I can''t tamper with it without damaging your soul in the process. Are you willing to go through with the procedure?)

    ''Umm... Are there any adverse effects?''

    (Best case, you lose a chunk of your identity and warp in some way. Worst case, total annihtion,) Mast answered monotonously.

    ''Let''s not do that then.'' Guy received a second life and a second opportunity to pursue Grace. He was satisfied.

    ''Guess I''ll limit my use of The Church then?''

    Interestingly, while before this internal conversation would have taken just as long in reality as it had in Guy''s mind, after advancing to Foundation Establishment, Guy benefitted with some perks. One of the more prominent of which was a marginal increase in mental faculties. Guy could think a bit faster, and process information flowing through his mind more quickly. One must note that not all mages enjoyed such boosts equally. Their cultivation tended to skew these perks ordingly. For instance, a swordsman cultivator''s mind would processbat sequences more quickly as opposed to formting internal debate simtions. Thankfully, Guy''s cultivation happened to boost his mind in thetter.

    So barely a few seconds had passed since Goran asked the question by the time Guy terminated his internal dialogue. After centring himself, Guy spoke with an uncertain tone, "I guess so."

    "That''s amazing! Truly fortuitous," Goran replied, nodding in approval.

    "It would have been an even more fortuitous opportunity to get to know exactly who the Ascended mage was, though," Al added.

    "Agreed. Although I haven''t personally witnessed the wonderful things encapsted within the inheritance. I believe it must have been a veritable treasure seeing just how much Al over here has been gushing about you the entire time we were travelling to this vige," Goran said with a smile.

    Al coughed and nudged Goran with his elbows causing everyone present tough mirthfully.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Anyways, while I understand that there''s a lot of things left for us to talk about, there''s time for that. You see, Guy, we actually came here with a purpose. Goran?" Al started.

    Goran nodded and gestured towards Jean, who stood up and walked towards Guy.

    "Teacher Larks. As a father, I only have one wish and that is to see my precious girl live a happy, fulfilling, healthy, and long life. It may not sound like much, but it means the world to me. And it is for that reason that I implore, no beg of you to take her in as a personal student, and raise her just as you have done with Markus," Goran sat on his knees and lowered his head respectfully.

    Jean followed her father and prostrated herself, albeit in a much lower stance to emphasise her show of respect.

    Guy jumped to his feet and rushed to lift Goran, "Please, Mister Rasmus. Don''t do this! You''re putting me in a tough position by acting like this."

    "This is what I must do, Teacher Larks. You should know by now that I am in the Core Condensation realm. I will surely live for a very, very long time. It may sound selfish, but I don''t want to outlive my daughter. No parent should have to bury their child. I''ve already had to bury my wife, I''m afraid my heart cannot handle the loss of my precious little girl." As Goran finished, his voice wavered as a wave of emotions gushed out.

    "Father..." Jean uttered as she grasped Goran by his sleeve in distress.

    Goran raised his other sleeve and dabbed his wet eyes. "You''re the only one who can help my daughter, Teacher Larks. I am willing to give up anything for it!"

    Guy was thoroughly shaken by the gargantuan man''s open disy of emotion. Not many men would be sofortable with themselves to express themselves so outwardly. Furthermore, the man was willing to put everything of his on the line for his daughter. Such a selfless expression of love and emotion increased Goran''s standing in Guy''s eyes by many levels.

    Guy smiled bitterly before probing with a question, "You must have already consulted a vast number of teachers prior to this, right?"

    To which Goran nodded while pursing his lips. Guy exhaled loudly and continued.

    "Pardon my frankness, but what gives you the confidence that I can achieve something that even those greater and more renowned than I have failed to do?"

    Goranughed out loud, his tone washed with self-deprecation. "I want to say that it''s a gut feeling of mine. But that would be an insult to you. You are a skilled teacher. I can see it- I can feel it! Truthfully though, I am left with no other option. You are my final hope, Teacher Larks," Goran replied. He then patted Jean''s shoulder and urged her forward.

    Jean bowed once again and said, "Please. This one implores Teacher Larks to ept her as his student."

    "You don''t have to do this, Jean," Guy interjected immediately. "I don''t require any borate, or over-the-top disys of subservience and sincerity. All that matters to me is your willingness to partake and learn from me. In fact, in this venture, we will be equals. I will learn from you just as you will learn from me. I don''t need you to believe everything I say - I''d prefer it if you were critical - I don''t need you to agree with everything I say - I encourage healthy debate and discussion. However, I need you to be honest. With me, and with yourself. I need you to be open. With me and with your peers. And finally, I need you to bepassionate. With me, yourself, and everyone else around you."

    Guy wore a warm smile and spoke to Jean directly, "Jean Rasmus, are you prepared to ept these responsibilities?"

    Jean wore a firm expression and affirmed out loud, "I am prepared, Teacher Larks!"

    Guy reached over and patted Jean''s shoulder. "You are now my personal student. Seeing as Markus came before you he is, by default, your senior as per custom. Don''t bother calling him that, though. He''s the same age as you, and I don''t want this brat to grow conceited."

    He looked towards Goran and added, "I can promise you that I will do everything within my power to help your daughter in her pursuit of magic. However, although I faced sess with Markus, I cannot guarantee anything. I hope you can keep that in mind. This does not mean that I will give up after my first failure. I am not that kinda Guy."

    Guy chuckled at his own pun and continued, "I will try again, and fail again, until I am sessful, and believe me I will seed!"

    The atmosphere in the room started to boil in excitement at Guy''s affirmative deration. It was partly a result of his hot-blooded resolution, and also partly because of the ambient mana fluctuations as a result of his subconscious emotional outbursts.

    This was enough to convince Goran, and the man could feel a massive weight being lifted off his shoulders. One could visibly see that man growing mirthful and more excited by the minute as if he were regaining his youth once again.

    Al smiled at the turn of events, but quickly snapped his fingers, "Right then! Since this is out of the way. We need to talk about our amodations."

    Guy raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Amodations?"

    "Of course! Jean, Josie and I will be staying here while you teach Jean."

    "I get that Jean and her attendant need to stay here, but why do you?"

    "Why not?" Al retorted shamelessly.

    "That... isn''t a valid answer..." Guy muttered in disbelief.

 Chapter 90 Sensory Overload

    Guy and Al split up from the group and left the orphanage. Guy walked listlessly as his mind was preupied with cobbling up a decent way to break the news to Grace. He knew for a fact that she wouldn''t be particrly keen on having another individual, especially a mage, living in her orphanage. Through observing and getting to know her through infrequent, yet charged, conversations Guy found out that the woman wasn''t that fond of mages. At first, he thought it was just him she was averse to, but he noticed that sometimes when Markus practised magic, Grace would consciously avoid him. Guy didn''t know why this was the case, but he could discern that it must have something to do with her past.

    He wasn''t nning to dig into it just yet, though. He had all the time in the world to get to know Grace all over again. That is, as long as he didn''t actively court death. Which was quite ironic given Guy''s current predicament.

    While Guy was sweating bullets and running through multiple variations of his prospective conversation with Grace, Al seamlessly reached into his coat pocket and retrieved his storage disk and dered, "I''ll be taking that area over there!"

    "But there isn''t a room there..." Guy said anxiously. The region Al was pointing towards happened to be a barren section ofnd, a minute away from the orphanage.

    "East facing... Decent clearing... This will do perfectly!"

    Before Guy could ask any further, Al siphoned his mana into the disk, causing it to activate. A long and continuous flow of canvas and rope gushed out of the disk, followed by a series of wooden beams of varying sizes, as well as multiple metal fasteners, nails and the like.

    Magically, before Guy''s very eyes, the items whirled around and started to join together, gradually assembling themselves into a simple yet functional bell tent.

    "Amazing!" Guy blurted out in awe.

    Al smile smugly and dered, "It''s a handy little thing, this one!"

    After a short minute, the assembly waspleted as the nails submerged rigidly into the hard ground, tightening the ropes and raising the canvas.

    "Adequate!" Al said with a long exhale.

    "You''re going to live there? In that?" Guy asked in disbelief.

    "Tsk... Sometimes, a nd exterior often hides vast secrets," Al said ominously as he led Guy into the tent.

    As Guy approached the set-up, he decided to extend his mana sense into it. It was a surreal feeling for him, to be able to sense things beyond measly human sensory limits. It was as though he was hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling and tasting things all at the same time, without actually physically interacting with the object. Another thing to note is that after a mage advances to Foundation Establishment, the mana sense can also double as an eternally active |Inspect| cantrip.

    As exined before, the mana sense is like an extension of the user''s senses. Whatever a human can observe through their major five sensory organs, the mana sense can do the same. However, mana sense is special in that there isn''t a limit to what it can capture. For instance, bats can hear sounds at frequencies beyond human limits. A human mage can also tap into this higher frequency using the mana sense. To do that, however, they will need to first know what they are looking for in order to tweak their mana sense and be more perceptive to this higher frequency noise.

    Furthermore, the mana sense can also tap into a phenomenon normally inessible to humans given their sensory organs. Sharks, for instance, can sense electric fields through their snouts to detect prey in murky or dark waters. A human being does not have such a sensory organ, and thus are unable to process this information. If a human mage uses their mana sense to ess these signals, they will receive data in a form iprehensible to them. The human is then required to make sense of this data on their own since they do not have an existing organ to filter it and process it. Therefore, while handy, the all-seeing mana sense can sometimes act as a double-edged sword in cases where the magecks sufficient experience in understanding the abstract data captured through their mana sense, in which case one can often end up with false or misleading conclusions.

    Guy was in a special position because his knowledge from his previous life had given him a better grasp on a wide range of topics, thus granting him the ability to process a decent range of information parsed through his mana sense. He had actually relied on this advantage when building his modr spellmaking technique. However, no amount of knowledge from his previous life prepared him for what he sensed within the tent.

    "ARGH!" Guy grunted while clutching his head.

    Al hissed in reprimand and said forcefully, "How can you be so reckless to extend your mana sense into unfamiliar territory like that?"

    Guy massaged his forehead and said, "Isn''t that why we have mana sense?"

    Al shook his head and replied, "Would you dunk your head into a random hole in the ground to see what''s inside?"

    Right as he finished that question though, Al bit his tongue as he grasped the irony of the situation. He had done the same thing just a few minutes ago inside Markus'' core!

    "*cough* Although the mana sense offers a mage some foresight, it can also act as a mage''s greatest weakness. ''A blind child does not fear the crackle of lightning, while a deaf child fears not the bellow of thunder. A child with both senses intact, however, fears the heavens for their anger cannot go unseen or unheard.'' Your senses can be used against you if you aren''t careful of how you use them."

    Thoughtfully nodding his head, Guy followed Al into the tent.

    Upon entering, Guy realised why he was suddenly assaulted by an unbearable pain when probing into the seemingly quaint looking dome. It was because the simple tent hid a massive secret. And that secret was that the tent was actually massive! The interior spanned an area at least 10 times the true size of the tent. Furthermore, there were separators within the tent isting the space into different rooms. The area Guy and Al were currently standing in was the living room, and it had ayout simr to a Middle-Eastern majlis from Earth, with a clear skew towards floor seating.

    "No wonder..." Guy muttered as a realisation struck him.

    "This tent is lined with space-warping enchantment gems," Almented while pointing at multiplerge, dark gems lined along the circumference of the tent''s roof. "Paid a pretty price for it too, but it is definitely worth the purchase!"

    "How much did it cost?" Guy asked casually.

    "500,000 gold coins," Al answered nonchntly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "500,000?!"

    "You underestimate just how hard it is to enchant a non-forged item. While forging weapons or armours or trinkets, you can mould the mana veins to augment the enchantment you want to embed. However, with items like this canvas, you don''t have the luxury of doing that. The only way to line mana veins into this material is by personally sewing them in using the finest Dreadbrood Arachne silk while constantly outputting a steady flow of mana through the threads. It needs to be done in the dark too because the moment the silk threads are exposed to light of any kind, they dissolve into highly concentrated mana that immediately dissipates into thin air. You need a mana sense and coordination so precise... Anyways, the 500,000 gold going expenditure is definitely worth it!"

    The tent''s interior was decorated in a fashion simr to Al''s office in the Academy''s library. Although, the space seemed much cleaner, and had hints of ageing. Apparently, the tent had been out of use for a very long time.

    "Come! Sit here! We have a lot of ground to cover, and much to talk about!" Al enthusiastically dered while calling Guy over to the cushioned floor level sofa at the living area.

    Guy acquiesced and the two descended into a jovial conversation just like back in the Academy.

    ____

    While Al and Guy conversed in the tent, Markus acted as a dutiful host and took up the task of guiding Jean andpany around the orphanage.

    "It isn''t much, this ce. These steps lead down to the vige. I''d rmend that you get to know everyone there. Doesn''t hurt to make a few more acquaintances after all," Markusmented.

    He took the group around the back of the orphanage and along the way, he exined, "This is where Master holds his sses. Our ss is early in the morning, andte afternoon. In between, Master tutors the kids from the vige."

    "Teacher Larks is teaching the vigers magic?" Goran asked.

    "No, just the regr subjects. Literature, mathematics and so on," Markus borated.

    "Why is Teacher Larks involving himself with mortal subjects?" Goran reciprocated in confusion.

    Markus tilted his head and asked, "Is there any particr reason why he shouldn''t?"

    "Well... Not really. It''s just that I''ve never heard of a Teacher of magic who also teaches mortal subjects..."

    "Master believes that everything is connected in one way or another. No knowledge is superior or inferior," Markus narrated solemnly.

    Goran nodded after some contemtion. As they approached their destination, Goran heard a lively conversation.

    "Kano, this doesn''t seem right. Look, it says, ''My teeth are swords. My ws, spears. My scales are like tenfold shields. My wings are a hurricane. And my breath, DEATH''" A little girl''s voice said in confusion.

    "And?"

    "Well... The teeth of the dragon you drew don''t look like swords. The ws don''t look like spears either. And the scales don''t seem to have any resemnce to shields... And how do you even draw death? I thought you were painting Smaug?"

    "*sigh* They are metaphors, Dora."

    "What''s a metaphor?"

    "It''s a stylistic literary d-d-device. Authors use it to create emphasis," Kano exined.

    Goran extended his senses around the corner and saw the little girl, called Dora, pouting.

    "You should have heard of the phrase, ''A smile to light up the room''?" The boy continued. "Well, can a smile actually light up a room?"

    The girl shook her head and answered, "No. Doesn''t it just mean that the person was smiling wholeheartedly?"

    "It''s the same here. Take a few steps back and look!" As the boy dered boldly and took a few steps back, Goran and his group turned the corner andy their eyes on the wall.

    "Wow!" The little girl eximed in awe. Her thoughts were mimicked by Jean and Josie, who beheld the sight in its entirety.

    "That!" Goran blurted out. "That''s a Red Dragon!"

 Chapter 91 Abstraction

    Goran''s exmation drew the attention of the twins. Once they noticed the three new faces, the two cautiously retreated behind Markus and peeked out from behind his legs.

    "Little Boy. Did you paint this?" Goran asked with some excitement as well as mild amusement.

    Kano looked up at Markus, who returned a smile and said, "That is Jean Rasmus. She is Master''s newest student. This Sir is her father, Goran Rasmus."

    Kano nodded in affirmation and spoke with a low hum, "It''s Smaug..."

    Goran started approaching the painting and inspected it more closely.

    "It''s weird... It doesn''t capture the exact facade of a Red Dragon, however, everything about it tells me that it is. The colour tones, the shapes, the aura..." The manmented, to which Kano frowned.

    "It isn''t a Red Dragon! It''s Smaug?!" Kano retorted as he slowly left Markus.

    "What species is the dragon?" Goran replied without diverting his attention from the painting.

    "I... I don''t know..." The boy answered.

    "Does the dragon have an elemental affiliation?" Goran asked through practice. However, he realised that he was talking to a little kid and rephrased his question, "Does the dragon bellow fire?"

    To that, Kano nodded vehemently with bright eyes.

    "Then the dragon you call Smaug is a Red Dragon. In actuality, though, although the species are called Red Dragon their scales are a lighter shade of brown. They''re given that moniker because the moment they bellow fire, their scales light up with a bright scarlet hue," Goran exined.

    He then continued with praise, "I believe it is a Red Dragon that you''ve painted here, if not for the colour and sort of surreal physique I could swear that it was the real-" however he interrupted himself midway.

    This was because as he moved his hands over the mural, a gradual change started to take ce. It started from the end of the painting and worked its way inwards.

    The almost vibrant looking colours, with an overcoat of sheen probably due to wetness, started to slowly diminish and gained a more natural-looking shade. This, however, did not detract from the "feeling" emanating from the painting. In fact, the now sober tinting offered a more authentic grace to the design. And just as Goran had indicated earlier, the vibrantly drawn red-coloured dragon was now assuming the actual shade of light brown.

    Awestruck, Goran took a few steps back and observed the painting once again in its entirety. A mysterious transformation was taking ce in front of him, the like of which he hadn''t witnessed before. Through familiarity, Goran activated his mana sense and encapsted the mural.

    "It''s charged with mana?" Goran eximed.

    It wasn''t substantial, however one could observe a very faint and even coating of mana oveid on the painting. It was so faint that anyone could miss it if they weren''t actively examining the painting.

    Moreover, this coat of mana was not rapidly dissipating from the painting. Through Goran''s mana sense, it looked as though the wall was emanating steam. And as the steamy wisps of mana escaped from the wall, Goran noticed that they carried out the inherent energy within the paint, causing it to set. As the paint dried, some of it seeped into the pores of the wall, which was why the vibrance of the painting diminished gradually.

    ''Such calction?'' It was a truly inspired oue. There were a lot of details that needed to be measured and calcted before the paint hit the canvas, which was the wall in this case. If there was a mistake in any of these details, the result would have beenpletely inferior to what it was now.

    Yet this little boy had taken into consideration all of them, and that too to such a precise degree.

    What was even more unbelievable was the maniption of mana to maintain the fluid state of the paint. Goran looked at the boy''s paint-covered hands and noticed the presence of a nearly depleted mana crystal.

    ''To have such precise control over mana...''

    It was nothing short of genius. Only a true virtuoso in mana control could achieve such a uniform film of mana coating over the paint, especially when drawing the mana from a crystal.

    Unfortunately for Goran, this wasn''t thest surprise Kano had to offer. Because the man had overlooked the painting altogether while he was engrossed in internally praising Kano.

    As the final wisp of mana left the painting, a deep yet barely scrutable change urred within the painting, that everyone else but Goran missed. Almost symbolically, thest wisp of mana escaped from the pupils of the dragon, and as it hopped off the wall, as though a being of unimaginable power had woken up from a slumber, a wave of death tinged with fiery and unending greed swept over Goran.

    Goran''s eyes locked on the pupils of the dragon. Within the almost abstract representation of the dragon, its eyes were the onlyponents that held a contrasting sense of hyper-realism. Even though he tried to maintain an unfaltering gaze, he couldn''t ovee the predatory gaze of the drake. He could feel himself cowering under the towering, ruthless regality of the monster as a sea of gleaming gold started to wash over him, drowning him, suffocating him. The monster''s casual gaze drilled into him, musing at him, at his weakness. It was toying with him!

    And then... "It blinked!" Goran screamed, attracting everyone''s attention.

    "I-It blinked! Josie, did you see that?" Goran asked, to which Josie simply lowered her head and apologised.

    "Jean?" Jean too shook her head and frowned.

    "But... it blinked..." Goran muttered.

    Goran retrained his senses at the painting, only to see that it had turned dormant. The voracious and fear-inducing aura no longer permeated from the painting. Instead, there was now an extremely faint feeling of inert threat. It was as though the beast within had entered a deep slumber, disturbing which would herald a death by unquenchable fire and fury.

    ''It''s still persisting?'' Goranmented.

    Although he didn''t look it, Goran was a devoted connoisseur of art no matter its form. Be it dance, music, food, literature, or even visual artworks. In fact, he had even enrolled in and graduated with great achievements from a plethora of appraisal courses in an attempt to widen his palette and broaden his appreciation of arts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With regards to the visual arts, in particr, Goran knew that there were levels to a painting that ssified its quality against others. For instance, a noteworthy painting, at the lowest level, would portray its content in a remarkably lifelike form. In fact, two-dimensional realism was just the first step. The second level would take this to the next level, by allowing manual infusion of mana from the viewer to cause the content of the image to attain a three-dimensional and lifelike form. The third level would maintain the above criteria, and would also have the added effect of evoking an emotion or thought from the viewer.

    The fourth level could pull the viewer (not literally) into the painting by connecting to them spiritually. The fifth, and final level of painting would allow the painting to sustain spiritual life, almost like a microcosm in and of itself. However, these two also required the embedding of mana gems, as mana was required to sustain this capability.

    The first three levels of painting were achievable by mages of Core Formation realm and below. A mortal was already capable of achieving the first level. the fourth and fifth were usually only attainable by Core Condensation realm mages due to the spiritual elements involved in the painting.

    However, what both stumped and impressed Goran, was that the painting before him was able to easily qualify for the fifth level. Although it wasn''t of the quality of the renowned works floating around in this world, this particr painting was definitely standing on the cusp of assuming the qualification.

    What was interesting about this painting, though, was that there was no sign of any intricate brushwork or even any pre-nning with regards toposition in general.

    There was a sense of measured haphazardness in the painting, that was evoked by the frantic strokes. Upon closer inspection, Goran realised that the whole painting was done using the little boy''s fingers. The scales had distinct, yet also uniform thumb strokes that lined the sides of the dragon, forming imprable chainmail. These light brown-red ented scales descended towards the underbelly where they were reced by yellowish-golden and disordered, jagged finger jabs. There was a subtle indication of the change in the material lining the dragon, where its overcoat was obviously its natural scales, while the underbelly was probably the umtion of random gold, silver, and jewellery. Right at where the heart of the dragon was supposed to be located, was a bare patch free of any scale or golden encrustments, highlighting the dragon''s ring weakness. However, although this was visible, Goran didn''t feel the least bit assured or safe.

    This was because the drake was at a constant state of rxed alertness, highlighted by the vignt eyes, drawn using abination of finger strokes and linings drawn using the nails.

    The entire ensemble was painted without any sense of orthodox realism in mind, and it ran contrary to all established painting conventions where practitioners sought masterful techniques, precise brushwork, and verisimilitude. Yet, it achieved everything those so-called expert works tried to do, through a path that most would have considered barbaric, uneducated, and uncouth.

    It was an enlightening trip for Goran. He had learned that even if a painting was abstracted, it was possible to achieve simr results. And it was all possible thanks to the boy''s mastery over colours and shapes.

    "I have learned much from your work, Kano," Goran said with a respectful tone, causing the boy''s cheeks to redden in embarrassment.

    "I must ask, how did you get the idea of infusing mana into the paint?"

    Kano scratched the back of his head and answered sheepishly, "I don''t know. It just made sense to me."

    "Is it possible to borate?"

    "Hmm... Smaug couldn''t ept half-measures. He had to be finished at once. Teacher Larks told me that if liquid gained energy from the environment, it would evaporate. I saw that the thin coat of paint was gaining energy too quickly on the wall. I had to tell the paint to hold onto the energy, so I used the m-m-mana stone to do it."

    "Wow! How did you manage to keep the mana so thin and consistent? And that too until you finished the painting?" Goran asked with increased tedness.

    Kano tilted his head and answered nkly, "The paint had to dry altogether. I told the mana to hold the energy for me..."

    "But how?"

    "I... I d-d-don''t know," Kano replied with a dejected pout. "It just made sense to me..."

    Goran''s jaws dropped in defeat. He smiled bitterly and said, "I guess it is true when they say that asking a genius to exin themselves is like asking a bird how to fly?"

    "I-I-I am not a genius!" Kano eximed in distress.

    "Boy, stop being modest! I guess it is because you haven''t left his vige and seen the world, but the work you have produced just now blows every other renowned piece from grandmaster painters out of the water. Sure, there is still a lot of improvement and growth on your end, but the way it stands right now, I can see that you will achieve great things in this field."

    And Goran wasn''t lying when he said that. As stated before, the work was at the cusp of the fifth level. Sure it wasn''t evident yet, but he could tell that maybe a few more years of practice and the boy would be shoulder-to-shoulder with the other experts. However, what was even more important to note was that it was able to achieve this without the need for a mana gem!

    It was an unprecedented achievement, to say the least. No mage had achieved this in this realm in thest 6000 years, since thest artisans and craftsmen able to encapste such phenomenon in their works without relying on ramshackle solutions such as mana gems had also disappeared from this realm around that time.

    "By the way. Seeing as you drew this dragon, I must ask. How were you able to capture it so well? Have you ever seen a dragon before?"

    Kano answered matter-of-factly, "Not really. I read it in a book."

    Goran nodded with a nk smile, "Read it in a book?"

    "Yes. I read it in a book."

    "Read it in a BOOK?"

    Kano nodded.

    "READ it in a BOOK?"

    Kano shrunk his head into his shoulders in seeing Goran''s increasingly agitated expression.

    "READ IT IN A BOOK?!"

 Chapter 92 Interesting Tales

    Goran''s emotions fluctuated from one end to another as a series of thoughts and conclusions ran rampant through his head.

    "Hahahahaha!" Heughed fanatically as he waved an arm, pulling a chair from the ssroom behind him towards himself.

    "I want you to exin to me your rationale," Goran dered inquisitively as he sat down.

    "Father..." Jean pleaded. "This is... inappropriate," she reasoned.

    "Nonsense! The boy said that he has never seen a Red Dragon before, I believe him. He said that he read about it in a book, and then drew it out based on the descriptions, I believe him. But I want to know how he was able to capture the aura of the Red Dragon so intricately, and that too with such uracy?" Goran replied.

    He turned to Kano, and said, "If you wouldn''t mind, I would like to read this excerpt. Unless of course you aren''t allowed to share it."

    Kano shrugged, ran over to a shelf and pulled out a massive book, almost as thick as his arm. He ced the heavy book on a table and familiarly scrolled through the pages, stopping around two-third of the way through.

    "Here," Kano said while pointing at a passage on the book.

    Goran walked over and started to peruse through the text. Being at the Core Condensation realm, speed-reading was a trivial task for him. He flipped through the pages while simultaneously absorbing everything inscribed on them. With each passing second, another page was turned, and the expression on Goran''s face morphed capriciously.

    Unknowingly, Goran had flipped towards the end of the book. Without pause, he returned to the start and began reading, working his way furiously towards the point where he had initially started.

    "This book, is it a travelogue? A journal of some sort?" Goran asked Kano.

    ''J.R.R. Tolkein? I haven''t heard of this mage before. He must be an ancient one too! The text is extremely detailed, albeit a little vague in some areas. Some of the magic described is extremely old and cryptic, but it is definitely cross-referenceable. Maybe... is he the one behind Guy''s inheritance?''

    "No. Teacher Larks said it was a work of f-f-fiction," Kano exined.

    "That can''t be true. The details are so vivid and lifelike. It has to be a journal from well before the Age of Istion. Some of the races described in here are now extinct on this Realm, after all," Goran continued.

    Kano shook his head and repeated, "Teacher Larks specifically said that it was a work of fiction. None of it is true."

    "That may be the case my boy, but fiction often has its roots in reality. For instance, Trolls used to be a widespread menace in swamps and murky regions back in the day, although now they are more of an endangered species. Goblins and Dwarfs are from the Fel realm, so are Dragons! The skin-changers and Elves are endemic to the Fae realm. Finally that ring! It''s obviously a Legendary grade enchanted artefact, probably of Dwarven origin I presume!" Goran further reasoned.

    "Wow! You know so much!" Kano eximed with starry eyes. The childlike fascination and praise unwittingly boosted Goran''s ego. The man smiled warmly and rubbed the little boy''s head. The girl, Dora, approached Goran as well and asked with an excited tone, "Uncle, have you seen the Great Eagles before?"

    Goran tilted his head and thought for a while. "I haven''t seen any avian beasts exactly like the ones called Great Eagles described in the book. However, the closest one I can recollect is the Thunderbirds of the Wrathful-Peak Mountain at the South of the Serrated-Peaks range. They''re massive yet extremely rare creatures. Some believe them to be myths, but only those as strong as Teacher Jeeves and I can ever hope to see them. And that is because these birds are extremely elusive and unbelievably fast. I''ve seen only one in my entire life. It was a juvenile Thunderbird, but it was already at the Core Formation realm. Unlike us humans, the Thunderbirds are gifted with superior bloodlines and are born with a high aptitude for magic. To bnce out their strength, though, these creatures rarely give birth."

    "Interestingly, these birds mate for life. Quite literally at that too! If a Thunderbird''s mate dies, they go through a process ofmentation that invokes a storm of unimaginable proportions, at the end of which they sacrifice their vitality and follow their partners..." As he finished thest sentence, Goran''s voice trailed off with a longing tone.

    Kano was first to notice Goran''s shift in emotions. The boy cautiously grasped onto the saddened man''s hands and smiled warmly. Kano''s disarming smile melted through Goran''s heart and lifted his dampened spirits.

    "Anyways... as I was saying. The Thunderbirds are just one such avian species. There are also the Phoenixes of the Melted Inds! They are even rarer to find and are considered one of the strongest beasts attuned to the fire element. In fact, Phoenixes never actually truly die, they simply undergo a process of rebirth through which their soul is recycled. Many consider them to be the true immortals of this world..."

    Goran resumed his eager storytelling as the two kids sat down next to him.

    Jean observed her father''s contented smile for the first time in many years. She too tried to smile with her father, however, she could feel her face opposing her. Slumping her shoulders, she turned to Markus and said, "Why don''t we continue?"

    Markus nodded and carried on with the tour.

    "Well, there isn''t much to see around the orphanage. Mister Rasmus said that he would manage your amodations here in the future, however, for the time being, you will have to bunk with my sister. I hope that is okay? If you have any questions, ask away!"

    Jean thought for a while, and said, "Is there anything I need to do to prepare? Does Teacher Larks expect anything from me before the beginning? Any tests I need to prepare myself for?"

    "Woah! Woah! Rx. Can you read?" Markus quickly interrupted Jean.

    Jean pursed her lips and nodded.

    "That''s good. That''s all you need to know. You should trust Master Larks. You should trust his process. I was much, much worse than you in the beginning. At least you had ess to resources, and Teachers actually bothered to turn your way and put some effort into trying to teach you. I didn''t even have that. But look at me now! It was all thanks to Master Larks'' efforts and skills."<novelnext></novelnext>

    With a nostalgic smile, Markus continued, "When we first met, I was apletely lost cause. I was ready to give up! But then I met Master Larks. In our very first encounter, he promised me that he would find a way for me to advance in my cultivation."

    Markus chuckled, "It is needless to say, but Master definitely went above and beyond what he promised. For that, I will always be grateful. So, don''t worry. You just need to apply yourself and put just as much effort and Master does in your training. Got it!"

    Jean nodded vigorously, with a firm expression, and replied, "This one understands, Senior Brother!"

    Markus'' neck reddened in embarrassment. He quickly muttered in a low voice, "M-Master said not to call me that..."

    As he finished, he noticed Jean''s shoulders twitching in mirth. His expression darkened visibly, and he spoke with a stern tone, "You''re pranking me."

    But he was quickly met with a firm p to the back of his head, "Stop scaring my Little Sis, you stinky boy!"

    "Big Sis..." Markus replied while massaging his head.

    "Big Sis," Jean said while lowering her head.

    "Oh, my cute Little Sis! Tell me immediately if this brat is being pretentious or overbearing! I''ll teach him a lesson," Marie dered.

    "Big Sis, please..." Markus pleaded. "Leave me some dignity in front of my Junior," he added with a bitter smile.

    "Pssht! Respect through seniority is all bullshit! Listen here, Jean! If you want respect, you need to earn it. People tend to take it for granted when they are given respect for no apparent reason," Marie reprimanded while ncing at Markus from the corner of her gaze.

    "Anyways what are you guys doing here?" She asked.

    "Jean here will be staying with us while under Master''s tutge. Until her father manages her amodations, she will need to sleep over, so I was hoping-"

    "Shameless boy! How can a teenage, unmarried, girl sleep in the same room as an adolescent, sexually charged, boy like you?" Marie interrupted. "Thank goodness I caught you, otherwise I fear that you will have taken advantage of my poor, innocent Little Sis."

    Jean''s and Markus'' faces both reddened at the same time as embarrassment swept over.

    "M-Marie!" Markus hurriedly stuttered. "I was bringing her-"

    "Don''t listen to him, Little Sis! You can bunk with me tonight," Marie interjected once again. She stuck out her tongue at Markus, grabbed Jean''s hand and pulled her away.

    With Jean gone, the only people left in the tour were a red-faced and sheepish Markus, and apletely stoic and unfazed Josie.

    The two gazed at each other as an awkward silence began to stew over.

    "So..." Markus said to break through the difort.

    "I saw your match against Gaige Bori," Josie spoke up. "You fought well. It wasn''t an easy matchup."

    "Thank you," Markus replied with a wry smile. The fight was still sort of a sore spot for him.

    "You don''t understand. I was sincere when I praised your mettle. I''ve personally experienced a |Wave of Darkness|, the spell Gaige cast near the end. And that too from a mature Abyssal Wyrm at the prime of her life. I know what it feels like. You fought well."

    Markus'' eyes widened in surprise.

    Suddenly, Josie''s tone turned incisive, "I can rest assured that Young Miss has a strong and capable Senior brother such as yourself. And if what you said is true, that your Master yed arge role in your sess, I am d to know that my Young Miss will be treated well."

    The statements, though genuine, had a tinge of threat embedded into them that struck Markus. He realised that Josie wasn''t speaking her mind, rather she was making a deration. She was telling him to make sure that Jean wasn''t harmed, wronged, or hurt in any way.

    Just as Markus was about to speak his piece in response, Josie disappeared, leaving no trace of her presence.

 Chapter 93 Pleasant Memories

    Jean woke up earlier than usual. Although the new environment was quite tranquil and soothing, it was always ufortable to be pulled out of one''sfort zone. It was twice as hard for Jean since even back in her own bed she would struggle with sleep, given her frequent nightmares.

    In the end, rather thanying on the mattress and staring nkly at the ceiling, Jean figured it would be better to take a walk and familiarise herself with her new home. That is, as long as Teacher Larks would have her.

    Jean quickly shook away those disparaging thoughts that threatened to infiltrate her psyche, which would ultimately be propagated by the deprecating voices in her head, and calmly walked out of the orphanage. Yesterday, courtesy of Senior Brother Markus, she was already ustomed to the generalyout of the orphanage. He had also pointed out areas to avoid and areas to be wary of, although there weren''t that many to begin with.

    Without a goal in mind, Jean decided to take a stroll in an arbitrary direction to see where her feet took her. And with that, Jean began walking.

    It had been quite some time since Jean hadst left the confines of her n''s mansion and lived out in the wilds. After her mother''s passing, her initial, childlike wonderment with nature and outdoor living had somewhat subsided. However, now that she had returned to the said environment, she found it pleasantly weing.

    Although the mansion was cleaner and more ordered, it didn''t offer the same level of solitude and peace of mind as the open woods. Even with the constant chatter from the birds, the mirthful bubbling of the nearby spring, and the infrequent grunts, squeals, screeches and squeaks of the plethora of fauna, Jean found the ambience to be more calming and stimting to the mind.

    She didn''t know for how long she walked, but soon, Jean found herself in front of a small, fenced-off space adjacent to the spring. The fencing was sufficiently low for her to look over, yet it was sturdy enough to dissuade the various small rodents and creatures nearby from entering.

    As Jean observed the area beyond the fences, she noticed a bunch of familiar shrubberies, herbs, nts and flowers situated near and around the spring.

    Her eyes gleaned with interest as she mentally listed them off through familiarity.

    ____

    "This is a Gracidea nt. Do you remember what its uses are?" N asked while carefully sprinkling droplets of water over the leaves of the pink coloured nt in front of her.

    "Gracidea leaves are used as prophctics against low-level illusionary spells. An incense created by powdering dried Gracidea roots can also act as a sobering agent," A little Jean answered with a serious expression on her face.

    "You forgot one use," N pointed out, to which Jean narrowed her eyes and pouted.

    "I- I forgot..." Jean confessed while dropping her shoulders with a frown.

    N chuckled and plucked a small flower shooting off from the Gracidea nt and nimbly attached it to Jean''s hair, "The Gracidea flower is also used as a gift to a loved one. It symbolises gratitude and affection."

    "Mommy..." The little girl said while sulking. Although she tried her hardest to appear angry, her chubby and cute appearance, augmented by the frivolous flower adorned on her head, simply made her look even more endearing.

    N reached forward and pinched the girl''s puffed cheeks, "What is a healer''s primary goal?"

    "To do everything within their power to treat their patients to the best of their judgement," Jean answered while raising her head, as though she were trying her best to recollect the exact phrase.

    "Exactly! But always remember this! Treating a patient may not always correspond to external injuries," N added. She then kneeled in front of Jean and tapped her head, and then at her chest above her heart, "Some injuries hide deep, beyond our sights. Even the strongest of mages can never find them. To be a true healer, we need to pursue treatment in a holistic sense."

    Jean didn''t seem to understand what her mother said. However, she noticed her mother turning her attention towards the herbs in the garden. Therefore, to not disturb her mother, Jean walked close to her and observed her actions.

    ____

    "They''re in good health. You don''t need to inspect them like that, it might damage the stem''s integrity," A calm feminine voice brought Jean out of her stupor.

    Subconsciously, Jean had entered the fenced premises and was performing physical inspection through the various herbs in the field with a pre-programmed sense of familiarity. It was a practice Jean used to adhere to back in her garden at the mansion in the city.

    "I''m sorry. It is a force of habit," Jean replied while facing the somewhat unfamiliar woman.

    "It''s fine. I figured that you were experienced by the way you approached the nts," The woman replied while closing the fence door behind her.

    Jean deduced that she was probably the person Marie referred to as Matron Grace Reva. She was a short woman; although she was as old as Teacher Larks, she was only just taller than Jean. In fact, apart from the woman''s sharp chestnut-brown eyes, there weren''t any special features that made her stand out from the crowd. Grace was just perfectly average, to an almost uncanny degree.

    Jean looked around the garden and spoke with an impressed tone, "These nts are well maintained, especially given the uncontrolled environment."

    "I have some experience," Grace responded. As she did so, her face adorned a bitter expression. Jean noticed this and deduced that there were probably a few unpleasant memories associated with that statement. This was because it was the exact expression Jean wore, or at least wanted to wear, when someone asked her about her mother''s passing. It wasn''t a memory Jean wanted to dwell on.

    ''It must also be Matron Reva''s sore spot.''

    "It''s the only thing I am good at anyway," Grace confessed. "It pays the bills. Keeps everyone fed."

    Jean nodded solemnly. "You don''t enjoy it?"

    Grace shrugged and got down to work. She scanned around and found a herb ripe for the picking, and expertly handled the stem and leaves. While she was doing this, Jean just stood there and stared at Grace with a nk expression.

    The girl didn''t move from her ce for a long time. This cause Grace to grow a little difited. Breaking the awkward silence, Grace spoke up, "If you aren''t busy, why don''t you help me out? You can start near the spring. Harvest those that are ready."

    Grace had seen the way Jean handled the nts, and she knew right away that Jean was experienced. Therefore, Grace didn''t fret when it came to delegating the task to Jean. If the girl were anyone else, such as Marie, Markus or the Twins, Grace wouldn''t have done it so readily and confidently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ____

    "Do you know what this flower is called?" N asked while pointing at a blood-red blooming flower floating in position at a flowing spring passing through the garden.

    Jean shook her head and said, "No."

    "It''s the Enduring Lotus. It is one of the most useful nts ever recorded. First, this lotus only grows in flowing water, never stationary. It''s because its life cycle is extremely quick, and so it requires a steady influx of minerals and sustenance to support this growth rate. In stationary water bodies, it just isn''t feasible. Interestingly, even in flowing water, this lotus nt never moves from the ce where it is nted. That''s because the moment the seeds touch water, they quickly sprout and anchor themselves firmly at the bed."

    N brought Jean closer to the spring''s bank and pointed at the petals of the lotus.

    "We can use the petals of the Enduring Lotus to create potions that invigorate blood. It is extremely useful for women with heavier flows during their monthly periods."

    N directed Jean towards therge leaf pad floating underneath the lotus and continued, "The pad of the lotus can be squeezed to extract its oil, which can then be used to coat items with a temporary waterproofyer. The seeds within the lotus can also be squeezed for their oils and can be used for cooking. Furthermore, the seeds can also be eaten as a light snack."

    N pulled the lotus towards her and exposed the long anchoring stem and root extending from the bottom.

    "Due to the strength of the lotus stem and root, we can use it to make ropes in a pinch. Peasants also use it to make temporary and cheap clothing or apparel."

    "But interestingly, the Enduring Lotus is named such not because of its ability to withstand the pressure of flowing rivers. It is actually because of this right here," N added while pointing at a series of inconspicuous thorny protrusions along the length of the stem.

    "Due to its myriad of uses, the Lotus should theoretically be a delicacy relished by the river fauna. However, these thorns here act as the greatest deterrent, earning the Lotus its name."

    With a curious expression, Jean reached towards the stem. N was too distracted in exining the various characteristics of the lotus, that she failed to catch Jean''s approach. By the time she noticed, Jean had already touched one of the thorns on the stem with her index finger.

    "Jean no!" N screamed.

    In pain, Jean pulled her hand away and in the process, her flesh ripped against the minuscule barbs lined at the tip of the thorn causing the earlier prick to elongate into a bloody gash.

    Jean winced as the effects of the unceremonious sh assaulted her. Before she could voice a response, her hand was caught within the warm grasps of her mother and was quickly dunked into the flowing river water. N pulled it out immediately and shoved the affected finger straight into her mouth, slobbering it with her saliva.

    "E!" Jeanmented while scrunching her nose, seemingly forgetting all about the pain on her fingertip.

    N smiled slyly and exined, "Saliva has the ability to heal, did you know that?"

    "No way! You''re joking," Jean rejected.

    "Am not! Don''t animals always lick their wounds? It''s because they are naturally cleaning it and letting it heal," N exined. She chuckled and then said with feigned seriousness, "You better get used to this, Jean. In the future, when you be a healer, you will have to lick your patients'' wounds too!"

    Jean squirmed in ce in disgust andughed along with her mother.

    ____

    Jean was brought out of her stupor this time by the assault of a warm, wet and fleshy feeling at the tip of her right index finger.

    "Tsk, I kept calling out to you to be careful. How can you get distracted like that when handling an Enduring Lotus? You cut yourself real good, didn''t you?!" Grace reprimanded as she doused Jean''s bloody finger with her saliva inside her mouth.

    "Ah!" Jean eximed in surprise, causing Grace to realise what she had just done.

    "I''m sorry! It''s a force of habit... The twins keep cutting themselves all the time, especially Dora. I did that subconsciously," Grace said with a wry smile.

    Grace''s expression quickly turned into a frown, and she added with a soothing tone, "It must''ve hurt you real bad, huh? It''s okay, don''t cry."

    "I''m not cry-" Jean stopped herself when she noticed a saline liquid dripping along the side of her cheeks and off her chin. She felt the trail leading up her cheek, towards her eyes, and her jaw dropped agape in surprise.

    Grace brought Jean''s finger towards her and wrapped it with a small length of cloth torn from her dress. After dressing the wound carefully, Grace said with a smile, "There! All fixed up. It''s okay, the pain''s only temporary. Mark my words, once this wound heals, your finger will be even stronger!"

    Grace chuckled, to which Jean reciprocated, but with an awkward attempt.

    Grace rubbed Jean''s head and said, "I''ll handle the rest, you should go and treat the wound properly. If any dirt gets in, it might hurt more."

    Jeanplied and left the fenced area. As she walked away, her fingers once again touched her cheeks and felt the long-forgotten sensation of tears streaming down them.

    After a very long time, Jean''s cold and uncaring face cracked with a nostalgic smile. s, no one was there to witness it.

 Chapter 94 Setting Goals

    Markus arrived at the ssroom much earlier than the scheduled morning lesson. He would spend the additional time before the start of the lesson to clean up the ssroom and prep it for his Master. Although Guy had told him that it wasn''t necessary, Markus felt that it was his responsibility to make his Master''s life easier in any way possible, given how Guy was teaching him for no fee. Besides, Markus had heard through secondary sources that it was often a Disciples task to perform such trivial tasks to support their Masters.

    While Markus was going through his self-assigned task, a new face entered the ssroom. Well, calling it a room would be inurate as it was open-air. Anyways, the new face happened to be his newest Junior Sister, Jean Rasmus.

    "Good morning Senior Brother," Jean greeted with a respectful quarter bow. Markus smiled and nodded in response before returning to his task of cleaning the chalkboards.

    Jean assumed a seat close to the chalkboard and started to fidget with her fingers nervously. It was her very first session with Teacher Larks, and Jean was feeling extremely anxious. To top it off, the voices in her head were having a romp of a day as well.

    #You''ll fail!#

    *No you won''t!*

    The argument in her head went along those lines.

    A short minute after her arrival, another person entered the ssroom, much to Markus'' surprise.

    "Big Sis!" He eximed.

    "Good morning," Marie responded coolly. She then turned to Jean and unleashed a bright smile as she bellowed, "Little Sis!"

    Marie beelined towards Jean and assumed a seat next to her.

    "When I woke up, I saw that you weren''t there. Did you not sleep well?" Marie asked with visible concern.

    Jean shook her head and replied, "I have trouble falling asleep. I woke up early so I decided to take a walk to clear my mind."

    As the two girls conversed, Markus interjected with a light cough, "Sis, what are you doing here?"

    Marie frowned retorted, "Why? Am I not allowed to be here? In my own home?"

    Markus smiled bitterly and responded, "You know what I am talking about, Sis. What are you doing HERE?"

    "I''m interested in learning from Teacher Larks as well. He''s a Teacher of Magic after all. Since he''s offering to teach for free, I might as well jump on the opportunity, right?"

    "That isn''t fair to Master, Big Sis. I''m already being shameless in learning under him for free, how can you, in good conscience, impose on him like this?"

    Seeing how Markus was getting increasingly worked up, Marie backed down and waved her hands, "Rx! Okay? I''m just curious about how he is teaching you. Think of it as the inquisitiveness of a concerned guardian, alright? You should understand my point of view. Hearing how a Teacher of Magic is offering their services of free, I want to make sure that he isn''t getting you into anything shady."

    Markus shook his head vehemently and retorted, "That is extremely disrespectful towards Master! How can you even assume that after everything I''ve told you, Sis?"

    "Then are you asking me to leave?" Marie asked with a stern tone.

    Before Markus could respond, another voice pierced through the argument, "What''s this about telling someone to leave?"

    Guy walked in while massaging the back of his neck, "Markus, after today''s ss I need you to hand Mister Rasmus a few silver coins. I''ve asked him to purchase a better pillow for me. He refuses to take my money so I need you to push it into his hands and run away, okay?"

    "Now, why are you asking your sister to leave?" Guy asked Markus pointedly. "If she wants to learn, let her do so. It''s not our ce to dissuade someone who is actively pursuing enlightenment."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I understand, Master," Markus immediately responded with a respectful bow and assumed his seat.

    Guy walked over to the front of the ssroom and gazed at all the student''s that were present. He observed their expressions to determine an optimal starting point. Jean wore a usual t expression that obscured any outward emotions, however, Guy noticed her picking at the skin of her fingertips frantically. This was a clear indicator of anxiety and distress. Marie on the other hand waspletely rxed. Guy could immediately glean that this girl wasn''t here to learn. She had the same aura of a troublesome ss-clown aiming to derail the lesson in order to attract attention.

    Guy''s mind whirred into motion as an optimal n of action materialised through familiarity. This wasn''t his first rodeo, and it would definitely not be hisst!

    "I understand that you guys are here to learn Magic and Cultivation. However, before we get to it, I feel that it is important to first establish a few things in advance. When I first met Markus, I asked him why he wanted to be a mage? Whenever we initiate something, we need to have a worthwhile goal in mind, or else we will never be able to follow through and gain something out of it," Guy started.

    "To my question, Markus said that he wanted to be a mage to protect his family. He said that the world was inherently dangerous and that he needed the power to be able to protect himself and his loved ones. It was an admirable goal, and I respected it. Now, I think Markus can confidently say that he is strong enough to protect his family, given that he doesn''t actively go out of his way to seek trouble from a party stronger than him of course. So Markus, since you have achieved your initial goal, why are you still walking the path of magehood?"

    Markus was taken aback by the spontaneous question. He furrowed his brows and contemted on it for a while. After a short minute, he answered, "I want to continue walking the path of magehood to protect my family."

    Guy tilted his head and retorted, "But like I''ve said, you are strong enough now. As long as you don''t court death, your current strength should be enough, right?"

    "My goal always has, and always will be to protect my family. However, my current family is no longer just my siblings and Matron Reva. I consider you to be a part of my family too, Master," Markus rified.

    "You may disparage yourself constantly, and im that you are simply ordinary. However, you seem to overlook just how brightly you shine, Master. Even though you''ve secluded yourself in this vige, a renowned Teacher and the leader of a powerful n both personally came to ask you for a favour. I believe there is a saying that it is the tallest trees that catch the most wind. No matter how hard you try to act subdued, trouble will one day find its way to you, Master. It is a fact of this world. And when that dayes, I hope to be someone strong enough to weather the storm in your stead!"

    Guy bit his lips in distress and added, "I''m grateful that you think of me that way, Markus. But it is my job as your Master to protect you-"

    Markus shook his head and interrupted Guy immediately, "I''m sorry Master, but I disagree! And please don''t dissuade me! You''ve asked me for my goal in continuing in the path of magehood, and I answered truthfully. Please don''t force me to change my goal..."

    With a wry smile, Guy acquiesced, "Fine. But I want you to keep this goal in mind! ''Protect''! That is the keyword. Magic is a privilege, not a right. I don''t want to see you using your gift for malicious purposes, because not only would you be going against my teachings, you would be opposing yourself!"

    "I understand, Master!"

    Guy hummed in affirmation and reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out the Magic Wand he had confiscated from Markus and returned it to the boy.

    "I''m giving this back to you trusting that you will stay true to your goals. Please don''t disappoint me again," Guy instructed as Markus grasped the weapon with both his hands.

    "I promise to only use this wand for protecting myself and others, never to exploit or suppress," Markus professed solemnly.

    Guy returned to the front of the ssroom and resumed.

    "Having a worthwhile goal is key when ites to anything in life. It is even more important when we''re talking about magic. With all the benefits and advantages magic brings, it is also a curse because of the unfathomable power it carries."

    Guy leaned forward and spoke with a morose tone, "Power is an extremely corrosive agent. For some born with luck, this poweres easily. For others less fortunate such as Markus over here, it is an arduous path filled with bitterness. In both cases, the umtion of power without proper ountability and assumption of responsibility can lead to the rapid breakdown of the psyche. One can easily drown themselves in the power and lose sight of their morals and ethical values. That is why we establish goals. As long as your goal is robust, you will never lose yourself."

    "Hence, you should know that my initiative to teach you magic is also dependent on the type of goal you set for yourself. I will not indulge any students learning magic for malicious purposes such as revenge, no matter how righteously you frame it!"

    Guy then turned towards Jean, and asked, "So Jean, what is your goal in pursuing the path of magehood?"

    "M-My goal?"

    "Why do you want to learn magic?"

 Chapter 95 Meaningful Purpose

    Being put on the spot like that, Jean was rendered speechless.

    Why was she so eager to learn magic?

    ''Do I even want to learn magic?'' She asked herself.

    #Right! Just give up already!#

    *But what about our dreams?*

    ''What dreams?''

    Ever since that "fateful" day, all Jean ever dreamt of was her mother''s savage demise.

    Jean''sposure shattered as the weight of the question and its implications dawned upon her.

    Learning magic and walking the path of magehood was a foregone conclusion to the heirs of renowned ns. It was just something they had to do because it was the only way the ns could hold onto their positions. Although society appeared refined and tranquil, it was truly a vicious battlefield filled with underhanded tactics and subterfuge. The only thing keeping the Empire from falling apart was the unspoken cold war waged between the various powers that be.

    Each n under the Sr Empire had a particr interest to maintain, and in order to do that, they needed to enforce their dominion. The only logical way to do so was through a show of force. Most long-standing ns in the Empire had a mage powerhouse behind them. These ancient powerhouses often referred to as n ancestors, would be beings at the peak of power. For the ns at the highest seat, these ancestors could be in the Tesseract Transformation realm. Their presence along acted as a deterrent against opposing ns seeking to make unwanted advances. However, the presence of the n ancestors wouldn''t stop ns from waging minor wars. After all, there is little reason for a nigh godlike being to y their hands in a conflict between ants.

    And it is in those conflicts that having n members with great magic potentiales into use. Why was Gaige shunned by his n members before he unveiled his Abyssal Wyrm physique? It was because he was a wasted seed in the n''s eyes, or in simpler terms he was "trash". Should the Bori n enter a conflict between another n or organisation, the boy could only act as cannon fodder to distract opposing firepower. However, once the boy showed his full potential, his position in the n was naturally elevated.

    Ultimately, Jean also happened to fall under the category of "trash" ording to her n''s standards. So obviously, her goal in learning magic should be to ovee thisbel and prove her n members wrong, right?

    Once Jean arrived at that conclusion, she looked into Teacher Lark''s eyes. She internally repeated the reason multiple times. As she did so, she realised that maybe that wasn''t the answer Teacher Larks was looking for. Furthermore, it didn''t exactly seem like a reason she wasfortable with either.

    The whole premise seemed like a slippery slope to her. How much was enough to prove her n members wrong? Was it enough to simply show an aptitude for magic? Was it enough to defeat every possible candidate for the n leader position inbat? Was it enough to defeat every n opposing her own? Was it enough to elevate her n to the ranks of monarchy? When. Was. It. Enough?

    Once the cycle of rationalisation began, there would never be an end. Her n would keep wanting more, and she would be a ve to those ambitions. Would she be content with that?

    At least with her Senior Brother, there was a visible end to his goal. Strength enough to protect loved ones was honourable and achievable. Sure, the finishing line may be subject to movement, however, Senior Brother Markus would be in full control of that.

    ''Maybe that''s it! Rather than looking outwards, I must search within,'' Jean surmised.

    Sure, her drive to be a mage started with the aim to satisfy her father. However even before all of that, Jean had the goal in mind albeit for another, more personal reason.

    "I want to walk the path of magehood to be the best healer in the world!" Jean blurted out.

    "Please borate," Guy said while nodding.

    "I want to be stronger and more capable to be able to cure any disease, ailment or injury in existence."

    "And why is that?" Guy responded.

    "Because..." Jean hesitated.

    The words were at the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn''t voice them out.

    #Don''t you dare say it! You don''t deserve it! Mother-killer!#

    *But it is her drive!*

    The voices ran rampant in Jean''s mind, one hindering her from voicing her thoughts, the other attempting to assuage her with sweet words.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jean gritted her teeth and force out her words, "I. Want. To. Follow. In. My. Mother''s. Footsteps!"

    She started to breathe heavily once the words left her mouth.

    "M-My mother was the best healer I knew. She was both strong, and caring. No matter who came to her with a problem, she would step up to the te and work double-time to make sure that they were cured. There were times when she failed, but she never gave up and kept driving forward. I want to be as good as- No! At least half as good as her!"

    Jean''s voice was filled with resolution and a plethora of emotions. It even surprised her just how effusive she was.

    "That''s a noble cause you are working towards," Guymented. "I heard about what happened to your mother, Jean. It was a tragedy. I am truly sorry, from the bottom of my heart."

    Guy left it at that. He knew that there wasn''t anything he could say that could alleviate the girl''s burden. So he felt it best to move on from the topic, and let the girl heal naturally. He had seen many children like her in his past life, some in even worse positions, and had sessfully rehabilitated them from the abyss. Healing the heart was a gradual and measured process, one couldn''t rush it.

    "Now Jean! I need you to keep this goal in mind as you learn magic. Never forget why you started, and more importantly never twist the words of your own goals, because that is the first step towards losing yourself," Guy instructed.

    Jean nodded solemnly and affirmed, "I understand, Teacher Larks!"

    "Good! And now," Guy continued as he turned to face Marie. "What is your purpose in learning magic, Marie?"

    "I want to protect my loved ones," Marie answered offhandedly.

    "Don''t try to deceive yourself, Marie," Guy said with a firm tone. "Why. Do. You. Want. To. Learn. Magic?" Guy enunciated as he approached Marie.

    Marie looked into Guy''s eyes and lost her words. Did she want to learn magic? Of course! Who wouldn''t? But Marie was practical. She knew that the family could only afford to support one person through a Magic Academy. She was too old, and the twins were too young. She knew Markus was at the perfect age, and so she readily made the sacrifice. She could have been selfish and went in Markus'' stead, but the odds weren''t in her favour. So, after foisting the responsibility onto Markus, Marie readily cleansed any thoughts of pursuing magehood from her mind. What was the point in dwelling over a forgone conclusion?

    And yet, a chance had fallen into herp. A Teacher of Magic was willing to offer free lessons at thefort of her own home. How amazing was that? She jumped on the first opportunity to sit in the ss, however, reality pulled her out of her fantasy just as quickly.

    "Why do I want to learn magic?" Marie repeated and received a hum from Guy.

    It was a valid question. Marie understood that Teacher Larks wasn''t being facetious here and stalling for time because his process was robust. Without an achievable goal, what was the point in setting out to do anything? People''s actions require reason, after all, otherwise, they have simply wasted energy.

    But the truth was, at that moment Marie had no idea why she wanted to learn magic. An immature thought that popped into her mind was that ''everyone is learning it, why can''t I?''

    However, that wasn''t reason enough to fuel the process. Both Markus and Jean had an eptable reason. Yet no matter how much Marie racked her brains, she just couldn''t formte a worthwhile goal for herself.

    With a dejected frown, Marie answered, "I can''t think of a goal, Teacher Larks."

    Guy shrugged and said, "That''s okay! But without a goal, I won''t teach you magic."

    Marie grew increasingly dispirited when Guy finished the deration. However, before she could get up and leave at her own volition, Guy added, "That doesn''t mean that I won''t teach you anything at all. Magic is a tool to apply your knowledge. I have intentionally limited the use of this tool. However, I haven''t ced any restrictions on the knowledge needed to work it!"

    "Markus must have already told you that my sses specifically for magic are divided into two. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. The ss in the afternoon deals with the theories behind the maniption of mana and simr concepts that form the core in using the tool that is magic. However, the sses in the morning deal with a separate set of subjects that supplement the application of magic by providing perspective. You don''t need to be a mage to learn these subjects as they deal with fundamental truths of this world. If you are willing, I want you to sit in during these sses and participate. Maybe, you might get some inspiration and formte a goal for yourself through it?"

    Marie lowered her gaze and thought about it. Logically, she had nothing to lose. She had a lot of free time now since she no longer had any obligations. And she somewhat agreed with Teacher Larks'' reasoning.

    So after a quick minute, Marie answered, "Okay! I would like to do that!"

    "Awesome! Let''s not waste any more time, then!"

    Guy reached into the deep pockets of his jacket and, after fumbling around for a few seconds, he pulled out two identical books.

    "For today''s ss, since we have two new members, I want to start from the very basics to gauge exactly where you guys stand. Based on your performances, I n to tweak my lesson ns," Guy expounded while handing a book each to the two girls.

 Chapter 96 Learning By Teaching

    Guy''s intention with a preliminary assessment was to understand the breadth of his student''s basics. Without a standardised curriculum for education, Guy needed to understand how much Jean and Marie knew already, and to what extent their prowess was in those topics. While Guy didn''t mind teaching them only on an individual basis, the strategy wasn''t scble. As his ss strength increased it would be more efficient to first establish a baseline as a starting point and then build up from there.

    "The first topic I want to test everyone on is Mathematics. I am sure that both of you must have already covered basic arithmetics. I want to know how far your knowledge extends beyond that. Attempt as many questions as you can. The questions grow increasingly harder as you progress, so stop if you can''t go any further," Guy instructed.

    The two girls nodded seriously and turned open the first page of the workbook. Marie went to work on the question quickly, without a moment of thought. Jean on the other hand worked at a measured pace. By the time Marie started on the second question, Jean had just begun answering the first.

    Guy didn''t bother micromanaging the two, and let them go about their business. He sat down at his desk up front and beganpiling the test for the next set of subjects for the girls. Markus pulled out a book Al had brought with him about "Multidimensional Spellcasting". It was a rtively recent publication that talked about spells that consisted of multipleyers of individual spell circles that worked in conjunction.

    The pleasant sound of two quills scratching against paper emanated from the open-air ssroom. Through the variations in the sounds, Guy could decipher two distinct natures. One sound was mechanical and rhythmic. There were frequent, yet minute pauses between them, but the sound would resume with a square cadence without a misstep.

    The other sound was flowing, yet measured. There was no frivolity, however, there was a distinctck of uniformity. Yet even with its fluid nature, there was conciseness in it. This sound also had more frequent and increasingly longer pausespared to the first one. Guy could feel a growing sense of uncertainty and frustration as time progressed.

    Guy lifted his gaze and followed the source of the second sound, which was Jean. Even through her unflinching facade, Guy could feel rising anxiety and distress radiating out from her. Her free hand was bing increasingly fidgety, with her fingers wing away at the skin adjacent to her thumb.

    "Is there a problem, Jean?" Guy asked, causing Jean''s head to jerk up in shock.

    "Huh? I... ummm," Jean muttered under her breath while averting her gaze.

    "It''s alright, you can tell me," Guy said in a calm voice with a warm smile.

    Jean bit her lips and spoke up, "I''m stuck... I can''t seem to answer any more questions."

    Her shoulders dropped in defeat, her eyes boring down on the workbook which was barely a quarter of the way in.

    Guy nodded and assuaged her by saying, "That''s okay! I didn''t expect you to answer all of them.

    He then called out to Markus, "Markus! Can you help Jean out? I want you to teach her everything properly and bring her up to speed. She should be thorough with the contents covered in that workbook. If you need any more resources or practice questions, then let me know, alright?"

    Markus'' head jolted up from his book. He absorbed his Master''splete instructions and nodded affirmatively. He moved up next to Jean''s seat and dragged it closer to her.

    With the boy barely an arm''s length away, Jean suddenly grew flustered. It was her first time being near a person of another gender who was of her age.

    Before her mind could dwell on that thought any further, Markus'' voice pierced through, "So where did you get stuck?"

    Jean shook her wandering thoughts and quickly shuffled through the pages. Although she had made it thus far, Jean suspected that some of her earlier attempts weren''tpletely correct. And her guess was proven true when her Senior Brother clicked his tongue, "Tsk, you''ve used a roundabout method here. Because of this additional step, you''ve opened yourself up to unnecessary errors such like over here."

    He then proceeded to correct Jean''s mistake and rushed through the partially correct question, stopping at herst attempt.

    "So you don''t understand this question?" Markus asked.

    "This question deals with a topic in maths known as Algebra. It is basically a method you can use to solve problems where you don''t know the value of all variables present," Markus rattled on.

    "A variable is a symbolic representation of the unknown. It doesn''t hold any numerical significance. The main goal with Algebra is to iste this variable on one side of the equation so that we can determine its value."

    In the beginning, Jean nodded along as Markus exined the nuances of Algebra. However, after a point, her nods became infrequent until they stoppedpletely.

    "So let''s try an example: 3x+2 = 5, solve for x," Markus instructed as he quickly jotted down the equation on a free page.

    Jean stared at the question for while, her hand growing increasingly fidgety.

    "Ummm," she murmured while biting her lips.

    "Tsk, you need to iste the x! How do you do that?" Markus shot out with a trace of irritation.

    "Let the girl think, will ya?" Marie''s voice responded with an equal amount of irritationced within it.

    Markus ignored Marie''s outburst and kept his focus on Jean.

    After another minute of inactivity, Markus interjected with a more stern tone, "You subtract 2 from both sides..."

    "Right..." Jean chimed in as she hurriedly jotted it down on the page.

    After half a minute of inactivity, Markus growled, "What next?"

    "Stop it with the badgering! You can''t expect her to answer the question right away. If I remember correctly, it took you at least a week to properly understand these types of questions," Marie retorted.

    "Marie!" Markus bellowed.

    "Did you just call me by my name?!" Marie barked.

    The two descended into a heated argument, with poor Jean stuck in the middle.

    "ENOUGH!" Guy hollered while mming his hand on the desk. "You two! Out with me! NOW!" He followed up with a firm tone.

    Markus and Marie shrank back into their bodies at Guy''s sudden shift in temperament. They fearfully stood up and followed Guy out of the confines of the area, and went behind the orphanage wall.

    Guy drilled his stern gaze at the two culprits and started, "What are you guys doing? Huh?"

    "Master, she keeps interrupting me when I''m trying to teach Junior Sister Jean," Markus replied.

    "Teach? Is that what you call teaching? You''re just screaming at the poor girl!" Marie responded.

    Before the two could break out into an argument once again, Guy interrupted them, "Enough!"

    After a long sigh, Guy exined, "Markus. Do you know why I asked you to teach Jean? It''s not because I''mzy, or because I''m unwilling to teach her. I want you to think back to your interaction with her, but take a step back and thoroughly criticise your approach. Do you think you think you were teaching her effectively?"

    "But Master, I exined the concept to her properly-"

    "Did she understand it when you exined it?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "She did, right?"

    "How do you know? Did you test her understanding? Did you confirm that herprehension was proper and thorough?"

    Markus hesitated, and shook his head, "I did not."

    "My purpose in letting you take the lead here was to cultivate an important value in you. Patience," Guy added.

    "We''ve covered a lot of ground in the span of a single year. At the pace we are going, we can cover even more distance. However, it isn''t sustainable! If we continue like this, we will be building upon a shaky foundation, and it will open us up to disastrous consequences in the future. Therefore, we must first shore up our concepts thoroughly before moving ahead. The best way to do that is by conveying the knowledge we''ve gained to another party. By breaking down your insights and moulding them for the other party to understand, we can further enhance ourprehension of the topic."

    Markus vocalised a hum in affirmation as an epiphany struck him.

    "I want you to go back, and start again. Your goal is to make Jean understand everything. She should have such a strong grasp on the topic that she should be able to teach it to another person with equal efficacy!" Guymanded amidst Markus'' vehement nods.

    "And you, why do you keep interrupting Markus when he is doing the task I assigned him?" Guy resumed as he turned his gaze to Marie who had a smug smile on her face.

    Her grin quickly dissipated as she fielded the interrogating question, "I was agreeing with your assessment. Markus wasn''t teaching properly-"

    "That''s not the task I gave you, was it?"

    "But-"

    "Marie! By interrupting Markus and undermining him constantly, you are effectively lowering his authority in front of Jean. Would she feelpelled to listen to Markus if you''re building up such a poor image of him in her eyes?"

    "I..."

    "I understand that you have a sense of responsibility for everyone here, but while you''re in my ssroom, I need you to act like a student. That means to respect everyone and treat everyone equally. Rather than diverting your attention and preupying yourself with other people''s business, I need you to focus on your work. Can you do that for me?" Guy added.

    Marie nodded affirmatively and quickly replied, "I''m sorry. I won''t do that again."

    "Good. Now you two, let''s go back and continue with our work."

    "I''ve alreadypleted all the questions," Mariemented as they returned to the ss.

    "All of them? So quickly? Do you want to recheck them?" Guy asked to rify.

    Marie shook her hand and said, "No need."

    Guy affirmed with a hum and collected herpleted workbook. After ncing at a few intermittently spaced questions, Guy nodded with an impressed expression. All of them were attempted properly and answered correctly. Even the final question, which was supposed to be the toughest, was answered fully and without a single error.

    "You''re good!" Guymented.

    "Thank you, I''ve had some practice," Marie answered humbly.

    "I can see that! Would you like to continue? I have another set with a few topics that might be a bit new to you," Guy asked.

    "Sure!" Marie responded with visible excitement.

    While the two conversed, Markus returned to his seat next to Jean and spoke apologetically, "I''m sorry about earlier. I realised that my approach was incorrect."

    "N-No, that''s okay..." Jean blurted out subconsciously while waving her hands.

    "Let''s start again from the beginning, okay? I believe I skimmed through a few sections before. If we shore our concepts from there, you may find Algebra much easier to digest."

    Markus turned to the page he had skimmed through earlier and contemted on his next approach.

    "Negative numbers are... Right! Think of numbers as the state of your stomach! When you eat too much, you feel bloated. When you eat too little, you feel starved. The feeling of bloat is analogous to positive numbers. The feeling of starvation is analogous to negative numbers. When you''re feeling starved, as you keep eating food, you feel more and more full, until you feel neutral. That''s like starting on the negative number on the numeric scale and adding positive numbers to it, till you reach zero," Markus said with a trace of unsurety near the end.

    "Does that make sense?"

    Jean snorted good-naturedly at Markus'' humorous exnation and answered, "It makes sense."

    Markus smiled with tion as he eximed, "Great!" and instinctively raised his hand towards Jean for a high-five.

    Jean stared nkly at Markus'' open hands.

    "Tap it!" Markus instructed.

    "Huh?"

    Markus sighed and grabbed onto Jean''s hand, causing the girl to flush beet-red almost immediately. He then proceeded to p her hand against his own.

    "Like that! It''s a high-five! You do it to celebrate an aplishment," He exined.

    "Y-Yes, Senior Brother," Jean muttered.

    "Woah! Your face is all red! You''re heating up-"

    "I''m going to drink some water!" Jean eximed as she immediately rushed out of the ssroom while covering her face.

    "What did you do to her now, you brat?" Marie said jokingly after observing their interaction in its entirety.

    "I-I didn''t do anything! She just went to get some water!"

    "Whatever," Marie snorted with amusement. "Anyways, don''t grab women''s hands like that so brazenly the next time, you dense little boy," Marie retorted offhandedly.

    "Huh? Did I do something wrong?" Markus muttered while scratching his head in confusion.

 Chapter 97 A New Addition

    Following the morning session with his magically inclined students, and Marie, Guy took a quick break within the RoK to formte his lesson n for his regr students.

    (You''ve secured your third student,) Mastmented as he instantaneously materialised next to Guy.

    ''Just three?'' Guy muttered in confusion. He falsely assumed that Marie would have been tagged as the fourth student. Apparently, the girl was still unconvinced about Guy''s capacity as a teacher.

    ''Makes sense. She should probably be a little miffed about me denying her from learning magic,'' But Guy wasn''t nning to bend on his stance. He firmly believed in his approach of forming a mature goal before embarking on the path of magic. Call it paranoia, but he had read way too much casual online literature in which characters turned into rogue, mass-murdering monsters after amassing unbelievable power. Basically, Guy didn''t want to y a role in unwittingly raising the next magical murderhobo.

    ''No matter. If she is meant to be, then she is meant to be. I can''t force it,'' He uttered to assuage himself.

    Following that, he resumed his preparations in earnest. One of the best parts about catering to a younger age group was the beautifully excessive amount of colours present within their educational material. When it came to kids, maintaining their attention for an elongated period was the mostmon challenge faced by educators. Over time, experts in the field deduced optimal methods to improve the assimtion of knowledge amongst kids, and the most prevalent and straightforward solution was to increase the vibrancy of each page to grasp the kids'' fleeting attention.

    Apart from that, there was also the moderation of content on each page. Kids'' minds aren''t developed enough toprehend most abstract and out-of-the-way topics that could easily be absorbed by children of a higher age group. However, on modern Earth, due to the rapidly growing quantity of knowledge deemedpulsory, it was imperative to inculcate some of the abstract concepts into the kids so that they could understand the moreplex topics at ater stage.

    For instance, referring to an earlier topic, programming and coding wasn''t something deemed necessary for children to dabble in, during their schooling in the 80s and 90s. It was only during the early 2000s and onwards, when technology be more essible and ubiquitous, that the subject started to encroach into the school curriculum. Later on, around the time of Guy''s passing, it was even taught in primary schools as an optional or extra-curricr topic.

    In some ces, primary school children were also being introduced to Arduino (micro-controller) or LEGO MINDSTORMS tforms for hardware programming!

    s, while Guy would have enjoyed bringing the joy of building basic robots and doo-dads with the children under his tutge in this world, the technology here just hadn''t advanced far enough to amodate such endeavours. Furthermore, Guy couldn''t do anything to make up for it since he wasn''t knowledgeable in the pertinent fields to spearhead such projects by himself.

    After he was satisfied with his work, Guy retreated from the RoK with a set of printed books in his hands.

    Upon his re-entry into the real world, Guy was surprised to notice two children already in his ssroom. The presence of one, Kano, wasn''t a surprise to Guy as the kid basically lived here. However, Guy was interested in the attendance of the boy''s fraternal twin, Dora.

    Guy didn''t have many interactions with the girl following his lodging in the orphanage. More often than nought, the girl would flee upon his approach. For some reason, she was exceedingly cautious in interacting with Guy. However, Guy also noticed that when it came to interacting with other more familiar people, the girl was unbelievably extroverted.

    "Kano! You''re early!" Guy said with an inviting gesture. The boy returned with a dazzling smile and approached Guy with a massive book in his hands.

    After some deep consideration, Guy had decided to bring out "The Hobbit - or There and Back Again" for Kano to peruse. Although the boy hadn''t fully solidified his reading capacity, he was constantly in a thirst for more. So, Guy decided to foist "The Hobbit" onto the boy to devour at a slow and steady pace.

    "Good morning, Teacher L-L-Larks!" The boy greeted.

    Guy shifted his gaze towards the shy girl twisting in ce a few steps behind Kano and waved at her, "Good morning Dora."

    Dora jerked and returned the greeting, "Good morning, Teacher Larks!"

    "So what''s up?" Guy responded.

    "Teacher Larks, Dora wants to join in on the lessons," Kano requested. "Is that okay?"

    "Why wouldn''t it be okay? Dora is this what you want?"

    With a low mutter, Dora answered, "Y-yes..."

    "Alright. Since it is your first ss with me, why don''t you sit up front with Kano?" Guy said while pointing her towards the desk closest to the ckboards.

    In response, the girl meekly followed Kano and assumed the seat.

    Kano dropped his massive book on the desk and started to read from where he left off, his pointer finger drifting at a snail''s pace over the lines on the text and his lips osciting through sounds with each new word. Dora on the other hand sat in ce for a while, her gaze locked on the page Kano was currently at.

    After a while, it drifted off to a rustling tree branch a little ways behind the ckboard. It didn''t stay there for long though, because almost immediately, it was drawn to a line of ants soldiering next to her seat. A few seconds after, it went towards the page Kano turned to.

    Finally, it locked on to the eyes of Guy who was staring intently at her and observing her every action. Dora noticed his gaze and embarrassedly looked down into her hands, receiving a low chuckle from Guy in the process.

    Right at that point, Dora heard the sounds of familiar voices and light footstepsing towards the ssroom.

    "Durkas I wanna see Sparky too!"

    "She just returned, you guys. I''ll let you see her some other time."

    "A,"

    The kids filed into the ss, greeting Guy as they did, and sat down at their usual seats.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Huh? Dora? What are you doing here?" Durkas asked. He was surprised that someone else was sitting in his usual spot.

    "Dora will be joining us from today. Can you please sit somewhere else, Durkas?" Guy asked, to which the child nodded and moved to a seat a row back.

    The ssroom settled down and the conversations died down after Guy walked up and made his presence known.

    "Since we have a new student with us today, I want to go through everything we have covered till now as a recap," Guy dered.

    "Let us start with ''Parts of Speech''. Durkas, would you like to list them out for us?"

    Durkas stood up and orated, "Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Article, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection are the 9 main parts of speech."

    "Good! Lori, can you give exin what a Noun is?"

    A girl sitting next to Durkas stood up and answered, "A noun is a person, ce, animal, or thing."

    "Good job! Rhine, can you give us an example of a noun?"

    "Rhine!" The boy in question eximed while pointing to himself, eliciting an array ofughter from the ss.

    "That is correct," Guymended with a chuckle. "Can you tell me if that is a proper or amon noun?"

    The boy tilted his head and contemted it for a while. "Proper noun?" He answered with an unsure elongation in his tone.

    "Who else agrees with Rhine?" Guy extended the question to the entire ssroom. In response everyone else raised their hands, causing the boy to exhale in relief.

    "Good job, Rhine!" Guy added.

    "Alright, who can exin what a pronoun is?" Guy continued the discussion. As he did so, he kept his attention trained on Dora, to observe her reactions. In the process, Guy discovered that the girl''s attention span was incredibly flighty. She was focused on the discussion one minute, and the next she was following a distant sound emanating from a bush nearby.

    Guy wasn''t the least bit offended or annoyed by this. After all, he had done his due diligence before and had heard of the girl''s troubles from the previous elderly tutor.

    In fact, Guy had anticipated the girl''s participation in his ssroom from the very beginning. To that end, he had even formted methods to assist the girl in her ventures, given that she was interested in learning in the first ce.

    Therefore, Guy''s primary goal today was to figure out if she was motivated or not. And Guy confirmed that Dora was definitely responsive to learning, based on the repeated shes of irritation showing on her face every time she realised that her attention had deviated.

    Guy did not want to bring this up in front of the ss and discourage the girl, since he knew that she was already reprimanding herself internally. Drawing attention to it publicly would only shame her further and dissuade her to the point of giving up. With that in mind, Guy continued the ss till the very end.

    Once the session was finished, the group of kids filed out while continuing their earlier conversations.

    Kano also rose from his seat and closed his book, leaving a dry leaf on thest page he was at to act as a bookmark.

    Dora also stood up with a dejected frown on her face. However, before she could leave Guy called out to her, "Dora! Can you please stay back for a moment?"

    Dora bit her tongue and sucked in a long breath of cold dry air. She had hoped that Teacher Larks had overlooked her frequent transgressions during ss. However, it seemed that her hopes were unanswered.

    "How did you find the ss?" Guy continued.

    Dora''s eye''s flickered around as she searched for words. Yet before she could voice her thoughts, Guy asked, "Were you having difficulty concentrating?"

    The girl shrunk herself in preparation for a scolding, however, what followed befuddled herpletely.

    "Can you please exin your problem to me? Is the subject boring?"

    ? "N-No! That''s not it..." Dora interjected immediately.

    "Then?" Guy asked with visible concern.

    Dora stuttered as her mind processed the unusual turn of events. She had expected a fierce reprimand like with the elderly tutor, yet what transpired was the exact opposite! She didn''t think that her infraction would be met with worry, as opposed to the usual animosity.

    After taking a while to centre herself, Dora spoke up meekly.

 Chapter 98 Dora Reva

    Dora vocalised her issue hesitantly. "It''s not that I don''t want to focus... It''s just... there are too many things around me calling for my attention."

    Guy followed up with a few questions to narrow down the true cause of the girl''s problems. After realising that developmental disorders were present in this world, through diagnosing Kano''s dyslexia, Guy raised his perceptivity to possible outcrops of any other simr problems amongst his wards.

    Now, Guy initially assumed that Dora was suffering from ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects an individual''s ability to focus. It also affects their capacity to control their impulsive behaviours. Many of the girl''s actions and mannerisms pointed towards it as being the cause.

    However, through questioning her, Guy realised that his hypothesis may not bepletely true.

    "So by other things calling for your attention, you literally mean other things CALLING for your attention?" Guy repeated in disbelief, to which the girl nodded vehemently.

    "Can you give me an example?" Guy asked.

    Dora pursed her lips and hummed in contemtion. After a short pause, she pointed at a faraway branch of a tree and said, "That bird keeps saying weird things. Like "Witness me!", "Observe my vibrant tailfeathers!", and "Show yourself, you saucy wench!"

    Dora frowned and asked with an innocent expression, "What does "Let this magnificent one betow his virile seed upon thee!" mean?"

    Guy''s face contorted with distress and urgency. He quickly spun up a |Gust| spell and flung it towards the branch in question, causing a plush bird to stumble out and fly away.

    "Now it''s saying "Which interloper dare disturb this magnificent one? Come out and kowtow three times before me, or face my undying wrath!" Dora tranted the retreating chirps.

    "You can understand their speech?" Guy asked in surprise.

    "Ummm," The girl scratched her chin as though she were struggling with an exnation. "It does feel the same way as talking with other people. With these animals, it just makes sense. Inside, I just know what they want to tell me."

    "And you''re finding it difficult to filter out these... voices?" Guy probed. The girl affirmed with loud nods and exhaled in relief.

    "Hmm... Why haven''t you told this to anyone else?"

    Dora wore a bitter expression and answered, "I tried... But they just thought that I was making excuses."

    "You didn''t tell your family either?"

    "No... I was afraid they would think the same..."

    Guy sighed in distress. "You poor girl..." he muttered under his breath. He didn''t expect Dora to have such a deep chip on her shoulders.

    But what bothered Guy, even more, was the fact that her problem was a bit beyond his level of understanding. Sure, Guy was trained to handle most normal developmental disorders, learning disabilities, and childhood mental illnesses. However this! Would this even qualify as a disorder, disability or illness? If anything, this seemed to be more of an ability and Guy was severely underinformed to make any assumptions and/or conclusions on the matter.

    Yet the problem remained. Dora''s so-called gift was also hindering her from pursuing tasks she was interested in.

    Guy gestured for Dora to take a seat, and he himself slumped down into his own. Guy retreated into the RoK and sought out any books he could find that may aid him in the matter. Due to the limits imposed by Mast regarding the ess to some of the books, Guy could seek out highly technical and research focussed literature, as they were apparently too advanced. However, some of the moremercial literature catering to self-help and so on were essible.

    Thus, Guy picked as many of them that fit his search parameters and started to scan through them. All though it had been some time since he read these books, the gist of their content was ingrained into his mind, so there was little time wasted in chasing down false leads.

    While Guy was perusing the books, Markus had arrived with lunch. He handed Dora''s share to her and ced Guy''s in front of his Master, who was sitting still with a nk expression. Markus had seen his Master enter this state many times before, so he chose not to disturb him.

    Unfortunately, Guy didn''t exit the state for at least an hour, causing the lunch to turn cold. Markus frowned and proceeded to remove the cold food, but he was stopped by his Master who just happened to exit his checked-out state.

    "It''s alright! I can still eat it," Guy said.

    "But Master, it''s cold. Let me at least warm it up?" Markus replied.

    Guy activated a custom spell that started to both simultaneously circte and heat the air above the food. Gradually the food items started to heat up under the convective current.

    "There! All done!" Guy eximed and scarfed down the contents inrge gulps.

    "Dora! Let''s go!" He called out after finishing his food.

    Right as he stood up, Jean arrived as it was time for their session on theory and application of magic.

    Guy clicked his tongue in realisation, and quickly said, "Markus! I want you to get started with Jean and gauge her current level of understanding. If she is aplete newbie, start by going through the basic curriculum you covered back at the Academy. She needs to have a thorough understanding of manipting and shaping mana. She must also understand the theories pertaining to the properties of mana."

    Markus nodded in affirmation and pulled Jean over.

    Guy called Dora to an open area and told her to wait there. He then went back into the orphanage and brought out tworge woven mats from the storage. He unrolled them and ced them three arm''s length away from each other.

    He sat down in a lotus position on one of the mats and gestured for Dora to do the same on the other.

    "From today onwards, every morning before your lessons, I want you toe out here and practice the following set of exercises with me. The problem you are facing right now is narrowing your focus to contain only one task and one goal. The issue is that your senses are receptive to a plethora of inputs all at once, and your mind is finding it difficult to grasp onto them one at a time."

    Through his quick research Guy was directed to one solution, meditation. There have been many studies on the benefits of meditation and how it can affect a human being''s mind. Although these publications were outside Guy''s limits in the RoK, he still had ess to themercial texts that condensed this into bitesize chunks.

    Guy realised that by teaching Dora to meditate, not the kind used to replenish mana, he could train her topartmentalise the inputs assaulting her senses. However, standard meditation was simply too boring.

    In fact, this wasn''t Guy''s first attempt in introducing meditation into children''s daily schedules. He had tried many times before in his past life and failed in the process. Finally, through repeated trials and errors Guy found out the most optimal method. Though this wasn''t guaranteed to seed, there was a higher probability of it sticking.

    And this method was by practising Yoga.

    In the modern age, this practice which originated in ancient India had evolved into a form of physical and mental exercises seeking to centre the mind, build core strength, and improve overall well-being. There were many theories, techniques and variations of this form that could be applied to a variety of different cases.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, Guy simply sought this out for the purpose of tempering his students. It was a healthy practice that didn''t take a lot of time, nor did it take a lot of investment. Anyone could practise it and enjoy its results, and it also doubled as an effective form of meditation. There were many health benefits to Yoga, and Guy took some time during hister years to learn it for the purpose of propagating it.

    Although he couldn''t say that he was an expert in Yoga, Guy was trained in it to a sufficient degree to tailor the exercise from person to person.

    "What we will be practising is called Yoga. It is a meditation exercise the trains both the mind and body. Before we begin, we will first stretch so that our body is loosened up."

    Although Yoga was inherently a stretching based exercise, it was safest to warm up the muscles to reduce any unwanted consequences. This was especially important since the practitioner in question was a little girl.

    Guy expertly cycled through a sequence of stretches, the first half of which were all grounded. Dora had some trouble replication some of the moreplex stretches such as the "Eye of the Needle Pose". In those cases, Guy personally showed her the correct positioning and the intended oues. Each time Guy showed her a new pose, he would exin what the targeted muscles or segments were and how they should feel. The girl didn''t understand the terminology in the beginning, however, through repetition and application she started to hum and nod along affirmatively.

    After going through the stretches. Guy began by disying the first 5 sets of poses Dora needed to master.

    "This first pose that you need master is the Child''s Pose. Think of it as a resting position that you can move through before attempting another more difficult pose. While you are doing this, you need to breathe measuredly, not hurriedly. And always focus on your breaths!"

    Guy disyed the pose using his body and then asked Dora to replicate it. The Child''s Pose was inherently easy and she didn''t have much trouble repeating it. However, there were still a few deviations that Guy corrected while calmly drawing Dora''s attention to her own breath.

    "Never deviate your attention from your breath. Feel it as it enters your lungs, and feel it as it gushes out through your nostrils. If you''re finding it hard to do so, try to find a fixed point in your gaze and keep it firmly within your attention."

    After ten breaths, Guy moved on to the next pose, The Cat-Cow Pose.

    "This is an alternating pose. We start on all fours..."

    Guy disyed the sequence slowly and asked Dora to replicate him. After adjusting her body, Guy moved her through the inhaling and exhaling regime. "The goal is to loosen the spine and back. Don''t rush through it, slow and steady, slow and steady."

    ____

    "Cantrips are a good way to gain a decent understanding of how mana circtes through the body during spell casting. One thing I want you to focus on this time is where the mana cirction starts- Jean, are you listening?" Markus said while snapping his fingers in front of a distracted Jean.

    "Uh? Sorry Senior Brother, I got a little distracted," Jean quickly apologised.

    Markus followed Jean''s gaze and observed his Master and Dora moving through a bunch of mundane gestures and poses on a mat.

    "What is Teacher Larks doing?" Jean inquired during the pause.

    "I... don''t know," Markus confessed with a loud exhale. "Master is very... well-informed. What maye across as nonsensical shenanigans often hide vast and boundless insights."

    Right as Markus finished the statement, his Master and Dora both entered a pose in which they raised their bottoms upwards and held their bodies in a triangr shape with the floor.

    PRRRRT!

    "Uh oh! Sorry about that!" Guy eximed with loudughter.

    "T-Teacher Larks..." The little girl said with a flustered expression.

    "Sorry about that you guys! That was my bad!" Guy then apologised to Markus and Jean and continued exining the pose to the now crimson Dora.

    "Isn''t Teacher Larks in Foundation Establishment realm?" Jean questioned in a low tone to Markus.

    Markus hummed in affirmation.

    "Then shouldn''t his body not produce any waste?" She added.

    Markus hummed once again.

    "Then?..."

    "He''s saving someone else from embarrassment," Markus replied as he shook his head with a faint smile.

    ____

    Guy brushed off the incident as if it never happened and continued instructing the girl, amidst her obvious embarrassment. Eventually, her mind centred itself as she entered a deep trancelike state.

    It looked as though the exercise was a sess. Dora exhaled a long breath as she terminated the final pose and gazed out with a calmer, less erratic, expression.

    "I-I don''t hear them anymore!" Dora eximed with a low mutter. Multiple small fireworks exploded in the girl''s mind as a sense of relief washed over her. This feeling... It was new... And satisfying!

    "Don''t get so excited now. This is only temporary. You will have to keep practising this if you want to maintain this state of mind."

    Although the girl now had improved rity, she didn''t hear a single word Guy said. She was too distracted to appreciate the silence around her.

    She quickly rubbed her eyes with her sleeves and leapt into Guy''s arms while sniffling.

    "Thank you! Teacher Larks!"

    While Guy was caught up in the sudden turn of events, Mast interjected in his mind, (You have your fourth student now.)

 Chapter 99 Prowling For Some Petals

    "The wheels on the cart go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the carriage go round and round, all day long!"

    "The hooves of the horse go "Clop! Clop! Clop!", "Clop! Clop! Clop!", "Clop! Clop! Clop!". The hooves of the horse go "Clop! Clop! Clop!", all day long!"

    A melodious voice pierced through the eerie silence of the dark forest. Tiny animals all moved out from their hiding ces and retreated further into the shadows as the thundering skips of the little girl navigated through the ustrophobic woods.

    Interestingly, the little girl didn''t seem the least bit perturbed or unnerved by the growing eeriness and the unwitting threat that arose from exploring the unknown. Because this wasn''t the first time Dora had made such a hazardous expedition into the forest, and it most likely wouldn''t be herst.

    One must wonder, what was such an innocent and lovely little girl doing so deep in these necks of the woods? It was to search for different varieties of flowers of course! Having sourced a plethora of different daisies, roses, lotuses, lilies and tulips, Dora was out on the prowl for some wildflowers! The kind that grew in the most precarious of ces.

    "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King''s horses and all the King''s men, couldn''t put Humpty together again!" The girl yelped excitedly.

    "Hmmm... Was Humpty the King? And how can you put someone back together again? Does it mean to heal him?" The girl muttered with a pout as she skipped over a fallen trunk.

    "Now! Last time I went..." She inspected the trunk for any marks and noticed a few faded lines that seemed to have been scratched on by a rock.

    "...that way! So let''s go this way today!" With a direction in mind, Dora resumed her bouncy skips while humming out tunes from the different rhymes Teacher Larks had taught her.

    It had been less than a week since her first personal lesson with Teacher Larks, and for the past few sses, all she and Teacher Larks had been doing was practising this freaky set of stretching exercises called Yoga.

    Dora''s cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she recollected the event which transpired when she first attempted the Downward Dog Pose! That goodness Teacher Larks took the me in her stead, otherwise, she would have been so ashamed to show her face in front of Big Brother Markus and Medium Sis Jean.

    Oh, right! Now that Dora had another elder sister, she had toe up with a new way to address this person. Dora already had a Big Sis - Marie - so she couldn''t refer to her with that title, otherwise, it would confuse everyone. The only logical solution turned out to be Medium Sis since Jean was younger than Marie, yet elder to Dora.

    Dora really liked Medium Sis. She wasn''t as talkative as Big Sis, but she would help Dora out a lot, especially when it came to selecting the right flowers. One time, Dora identally grabbed onto an Itching Lily and squirted the juice from its stem all over her hands and face. Thankfully Medium Sis was close-by and soothed the itching by using a powder made from the petals of the flower itself. After that day, Dora would often consult Medium Sis about different flowers she would find.

    Sometimes, Dora would ponder if it would be cool to take Medium Sis to Fancy''s Garden...

    "I should ask Fancy''s permission first," Dora muttered to herself.

    Anyways, thanks to learning Yoga with Teacher Larks, Dora was experiencing certain changes in the way her mind worked. Although she wasn''t mature enough to recognise the exact magnitude of these changes, she was perceptive enough to notice them.

    First, Dora could now voluntarily tune out and tune into the multitude of voices and sounds echoing around her. By focusing her mind on her breath, and the physical movement of her chest, Dora could filter out the different sounds assaulting her senses and incrementally negate their effects. It was an arduous process and required her to maintain her focus. However, ording to Teacher Larks, it would be easier the more she practised it.

    Dora snapped her fingers and halted in ce as she remembered something. She closed her eyes and started to take long and measured breaths to calm her quick heartbeats.

    ''Inhale... Exhale...'' Dora repeated internally. Little by little, the world around her started to grow sharper in her senses.

    "HUT! TWO! THREE! FOUR! ....Hut! Two! Three! Four!.... hut! two! three! four!.... ...!...!...!...!" The march of the insects beneath her feet quietened down gradually.

    "MINE! MINE!... Mine! Mine!... mine! mine!... ...!...!" The argumentative din of the birds in the tree branches became smothered incrementally.

    "It stopped!... Smells healthy!... nk!"

    "Huh?!" Dora snapped out of her meditative state and swivelled her head around.

    "Stop!... Did it notice?... Move low!"

    "Who?-" Dora squinted her eyes and focused her senses as far as they could see.

    "Converge slowly!"

    "That!" Dora''s eyes finally caught onto an undting carpet of fur approaching her at a measured pace.

    Without wasting a second of thought, Dora grasped onto the trunk of the tree next to her and started to scramble up expertly. It wasn''t her first time monkeying up such precarious trees after all - her search for beautiful flowers had carried her to even more dangerous heights.

    "Quick! It is getting away!!!" The low carpet of fur rose with a jerk, revealing rows of massive fangs capable of tearing through flesh and tendons, and crushing bones, and two predatory eyes that locked onto Dora''s rising back.

    BARK! ROAR! BARK!

    Four more canines rose from equally spaced angles surrounding Dora''s tree and converged towards her with massive leaps.

    "Wolves!" Dora eximed in surprise as she found a foothold at a split in the trunk sufficiently high so that the beasts below couldn''t reach her.

    "Get down here! Catch her! Jump!" Five massive canines lead by a physicallyrger mutt bellowed towards her hungrily while each tried their best to leap towards her.

    Dora sighed in relief that she had taken the time to temper her mind, otherwise she feared that she would have missed these five killers stalking her. Internally, she thanked Teacher Larks a hundred times.

    The hungry carnivores didn''t seem willing to let go of her just yet. The leader of the pack ce its front legs over one of itsrades and started to reach higher by moving its hind legs on top. Fortunately, the subordinate copsed under the added weight of the bulkier alpha, causing the mounted canine to fall unceremoniously.

    The syed alpha snapped and condemned the failure of a subordinate and called on to the next member.

    "Sit on your belly! You, sit on top of him! I will stand on top of your two and jump!"

    Dora grew increasingly concerned at this oue as the alpha was showing the capacity forplex thoughts and intelligence. Fancy had told her about such cases, and it was a clear sign that beast was about to evolve into a magical creature. Fancy had taught Dora the arcane process by which this change took ce, but Dora couldn''t recollect the exact details.

    Panicking, Dora started to scream at the top of her lungs, "Fancy! Help!"

    Her voice was immediately drowned out by the barks of the wolves underneath her. At this point, Dora was starting to get scared.

    "Fancy! Please! Help!" She tried again.

    However this time, the alpha beneath leapt up and snapped its maw shut, barely inches away from where her footy.

    "Aaah!" Dora shrieked as she retreated her appendage and tried to scramble higher up the tree. However, the trunk wasn''t as segmented as the ones near the periphery of the forest. She couldn''t reach higher!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Fancy!" Dora screamed again, tears brewing from her eyes and rolling down her scarlet cheeks.

    The alpha jumped again! This time, it managed to grasp at the hem of her skirt tearing off a small chunk.

    "Aaah! FANCY!!!"

    WOOOSH!

    A pleasant gust of wind, washed in a translucent coat of white, swept over the section of the forest. The flowing powdery smog barely rose above the ground level.

    The wolves snarling beneath the tree inhaled the powder and sneezed vehemently.

    One by one, the canines started to copse like ragdolls.

    The bulky alpha wasst to submit. It held out for as long as it could, trying to power through the drowsy feeling creeping over it that started from its spine. But ultimately, it was still too weak. It felt weak. It fell... asleep.

    Seeing the hungry beasts copse, Dora released a sigh of relief amidst her tear-filled hups.

    "Fancy! Hic! You came!" Dora started to descend, however, she was stopped. "Don''te down yet!"

    "Huh? Why not?"

    Right as she asked, the wind picked up once again, and the powdery residues peppering the area were picked up and disced. After a short minute, an elegant and vibrant insect fluttered from amidst the weaving treeline and settled atop the literal dog pile.

    "You cane down now!"

    "Hic! Okay!" The girl uttered and started to cautiously lower herself. After gaining firm footing on the forest floor, the girl rushed over to the insect and wept in relief.

    "Huunn! Hic! Fancy! I was so scared...."

    "Then why are you in this part of the woods again? I told you to be careful!" The insect reprimanded.

    "B-But I came here searching for flowers for you," The girl reasoned as she rubbed her cheeks with her cuffs.

    "*sigh* I have enough. You should stop getting into trouble, Dora," The insect said as shended on top of the girl''s head.

    "Now go back. I will take care of this mess," The insect instructed.

    "W-Wait! What are you going to do to them?" The girl retorted with a cautious frown.

    "I''m going to get rid of them."

    "Don''t... kill them," Dora pleaded in a low voice.

    The insect''s wings fluttered in amusement, "Why not? They tried to kill you."

    "But they were just following their instincts. They were hungry, and I was-" the girl smiled wryly and continued, "-food."

    "Besides! You won''t eat them, so why kill them?" The girl reasoned.

    The insect fluttered in ce as though in contemtion, and replied, "Fine. I''ll let them go. But I will warn the big one after it wakes up... just to be safe."

    "Okay!" Dora smiled. "Oh! How did you make them fall asleep?" She asked.

    "Sleep powder," The insect replied as it materialised a small mound of sparkling powder in one of its wings.

    "Don''te closer!" Fancy warned as Dora subconsciously brought her face closer to inspect the pile.

    "Can I take some with me? Just for protection?" Dora asked cautiously.

    After some hesitation, the insectplied seeing as the girl would never truly give up her adventurous spirit.

    Dora immediately reached into her bag and pulled out a phial filled with the itch-treating powder Medium Sis had made for her. She emptied the phial and scooped up arge mound of the sleep powder from Fancy''s wings. After carefully closing it shut, Dora retreated the way she came with the same bouncy skip in her steps.

    After the girl was clear of the area, Fancy immediately materialised another kind of powder and sshed it over the sleeping wolves.

    WHIMPER!

    The group yelped as they gained rity. The alpha staggered up with shaky steps and growled drowsily at the blurry image of a tiny insect.

    "Who are you!"

    "Shut it!" Fancy snapped back and sshed another powder over the pack.

    The alpha started to contort in pain after in inhaled this powder and squirmed like a worm doused in salt.

    "Make it stop!" The animal pleaded.

    ? "I will... Just not yet," Fancy replied ominously.

    A harmony of whines, howls, whimpers and yelps resounded from the forest and painted the forest in an eery gloom, discouraging any new explorers from stepping in.

    The wailing soundssted through the entire night. Stopping only when the first sliver of sunlight made its way through the canopy and fell on the forest floor.

 Chapter 100 Interlude: A Brewing Storm (Part One)

    Chapter 100! Yaaay!

    A/N: I wanted to write an extra extra long chapter tomemorate this milestone. In that process, I identally wrote ~6000 words. In the end, I decided to split it into parts.

    ____

    "Be careful!" The woman eximed with a helpless expression. She walked with a slight hunch, which wasn''t helped by the fact that a massive basket was slumped over her shoulders, resting against her spine. Although she was only in herte twenties, her appearance was haggard and resembled someone who was well beyond. Her face contained many wrinkles and blemishes, possibly a result of poor skincare and overwork.

    The person she called out to, a little boy carrying the same yet a more size-appropriate basket, stopped and turned to face her with a bright smile, "Mom, hurry! The fungus I sawst time is this way. We need to get there before an animal eats it."

    The boy appeared a bit malnourished for a six-year-old. However, his bright smile overshadowed it all, dousing the obvious suffering his body had gone through.

    "*sigh* Slow down," the woman pleaded with a bitter smile. If anyone observed her carefully, they would notice a slight limp in the way she walked. After years of hardbour, damages had umted within the woman''s body.

    The boy noticed his mother''s struggling expression and immediately relented, "Umm. Why don''t you wait here? I''ll go fetch it real quick!"

    "Absolutely not! Although this part of the woods is rtively safe, I can''t let you take a risk like this!" The woman denied it immediately. The duo had traversed these woods for many months now and was thoroughly acquainted with theyout and the movement of fauna. The woman was sure that there wouldn''t be any issues with letting the boy venture by himself. However, something inside her, possibly her instincts, warned her against it.

    "But... But it''s exactly what the magistrate was looking for," the boy pleaded. "We could make a lot from this," he further reasoned.

    The woman''s firm expression faltered slightly as she pondered over her son''s proposition. The mother and child lived alone. The woman''s husband, and the child''s father, had perished after getting conscripted into the army for a futile border dispute. It was futile because, after a few confrontations, nothing had changed. Apart from the razing of a few viges and the loss of a few lives, the border remained as it was. To top it all off, the woman didn''t even learn of her husband''s passing until three whole years had passed after the war ended. All that time, she lived in uncertainty. Not knowing if her husband was dead, or if he had abandoned them. Until one day, one man who revealed that he was her husband''srade in the war arrived at their doorsteps and begged for forgiveness.

    Her husband and the man had volunteered toy down their lives to let a small regiment retreat to safety during a confrontation with the opposing army. They believed that since they were the eldest in the whole regiment, it was their duty to shoulder the burden. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the man happened to survive after he feigned death following a strike from a sword. Her husband wasn''t so lucky. Hearing the whole story, the woman cursed her husband. What valiance? What honour? Honour never paid the bills!

    Nheless, left alone in this world with nothing to their name, the mother and son had to resort to menialbour to survive. Collecting wild nts, fruits and vegetables was their most recent venture. Usually, a regr trip such as this one would amount them maybe 5 to 8 copper coins on a good day. That was barely enough for one person to survive. Most of what she earned would go towards nurturing her son, the morsel that remained would be used to fill her.

    Finally, the woman released a defeated sigh and affirmed with a nod. "But please... Please don''t do anything stupid and be careful..."

    The boy vigorously in response. "Just wait right here, mom! I''ll be back in no time."

    The boy received into the woods with a skip in his steps as he tried to trace back the path to the spore cluster he had found earlier. He was an intelligent boy with a sense of memory far beyond his years. He expertly navigated through the thickets and finally arrived at his destination, underneath a towering tree that rose up and above the canopies.

    Near the roots of the tree - the sections that snaked out from the soil - he saw the prospering spores he''d been searching for. The mushrooms were small and coloured a deep shade of brown. He''d heard of them before when lurking around in the marketce. ording to the intermittent conversations floating around there, he learned that these specific ones were highly sought after for their umami vour, whatever that meant. After all the boy never ate for the taste, he ate to survive.

    These were supposed to be extremely rare kinds of mushrooms because they grew in a very particr environment. But all that information wasn''t of this kid''s concerns. He just plopped down the basket hanging over his back and started to harvest them with a semi-blunt knife. One by one, the mushrooms were separated from their stems and were tossed into the basket. The kid wasn''t overzealous with the harvesting. He knew that if he flooded the market with these mushrooms, he''d raise a few eyebrows. He knew better than to attract unwanted attention. So, after ensuring that he had only collected enough to satisfy the magistrate, the boy stopped.

    Before he left, he moved a few barks from the tree trunks nearby, and a few fallen leaves to cover up the spores. Although these wouldn''tpletely dissuade wild animals from inspecting the area, he hoped that it would at least protect them from prying eyes.

    As he started to make his way back, the boy suddenly felt an ominous and unsettling wave pass through him. The feeling made him sick to the core. Controlling the urge to vomit, the boy slowly supported himself by standing against one of the trees. After he caught his breath the boy investigated the area around him.

    Abruptly, the boy heard loud soundsing from far in front.

    "Mom!" The boy eximed and rushed out.

    Compared to his earlier trip, the boy stumbled multiple times as he frantically avoided the underbrush and rocky protrusions along the ground. With each step closer to the source of the wave, he grew increasingly agitated and anxious.

    Finally, the boy broke through the woods and entered the clearing where he had separated from his mother.

    "Mom!" he called out towards the squatting figure of a woman, with her back towards him. Hearing the boy''s call, the woman twitched her shoulders and jerked her neck.

    "a...a...a..." A gravelly voice escaped the woman''s mouth as she rose with a mechanical jerk in her motion - it was like her joints had all dried up. The woman with a tilted head yanked her body in a 180-degree turn and faced the boy.

    As soon as the boy''s eyes fell on the woman''s empty, bloodshot, and lifeless eyes, he took a step back and fell onto his bottom.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "M-Mom!"

    "Raaaa!" The woman vocalised with a gravelly and rage-filled voice. She took an unstable step forward, and nearly fell over.

    The boy shuffled back as he observed his mother approach him with an unfamiliar, predatory gaze. The look in her eyes mimicked that of a starving beast!

    "M-Mom..." The boy muttered out loud. "W-Why are you acting like this?"

    s, the woman didn''t respond to him as he expected. All of a sudden, the woman jerked into a rapid crawling motion on all fours. She rushed towards him, mouth agape with her teeth exposed and with murderous eyes.

    "AAAAA!" The boy screamed out loud. He instinctively closed his eyes and fear overtook his subconscious. When faced with certain death, one often assumes that the only two options that one''s instincts will default to are fight or flight. But this is only true if the instinct predicts even a minuscule chance of survival. Upon facing imminent and unchallengeable death, the body chooses that it is best to shut down and sumb as quickly as possible, to ensure minimum pain and suffering as death embraces it.

    Right before the woman''s teeth approached the boy''s exposed neck, it stopped. The boy opened his eyes and saw the woman he called mother before him. Her face had grown older within a short time. It had also grown paler and looked diseased. However, unlike the dead and beastlike eyes he''d gazed at before, there was life in them now! The boy could feel great sorrow within the eyes.

    "Mom?" He called out.

    "S-Son... R-Run!" The gravelly voice spoke with a warm intonation.

    "Mom?"

    "R-RUN!" The woman repeated.

    The boy tried to scramble up, but his body failed to respond. He started to wail in fear and sadness as he tried to shift backwards.

    Before he could create sufficient distance, the woman''s eyes shifted again. With a hoarse, bloodthirsty shriek, the woman leapt at the boy.

    The boy was once again preparing himself for his demise.

    However, it didn''te. Just a short second after the woman rushed at him, the boy heard a loud boom, then a pop, and then a tsunami of warmth collided against him.

    He slowly opened his eyes and was assaulted by a horrific scene. Before him,y the body of his mother... headless. Above her neck, ck blood oozed out like a fountain. Around it and dangling over him was gore and bits of her rotting brain. The corpse twitched slightly before it turnedpletely limp, squirting out more blood in the process.

    "Mom?" The boy said through hups. He approached the body and turned it over. He verified that it was his mother, although he couldn''t see her face.

    He wanted to cry. But he could feel his emotions being blocked in ce. There was just too much, and just too little space to allow it to flow through. It had all backed up.

    It had all happened too quickly. His mind couldn''t process it all...

    As the boy gazed lifelessly at his mother''s corpse he heard another boom, just like before. He followed the sound to its source subconsciously, but he made sure to hide as he did so.

    "Tsk! So this is what is left of the great gue Emperor?" An arrogant voice pierced through from behind a hanging collection of vines.

    "We knew that it was all just exaggeration. To think that the sect was scared of you?!" Another arrogant voice chimed in.

    The boy peeked through the vines to observe the hubbub. He separated a few hangers and saw an emaciated and dastardly looking old man keeling over and vomiting out ck blood.

    "PAH!" The elderly man spat out with venomous anger. "So much for the orthodox, HONOURABLE, sects! Attacking a mage while he is advancing in realms - aren''t you ashamed?!"

    "HA! History is written by the victors. Who''s going to know?" One of the earlier voices retorted. The boy followed it and saw that it originated from a man floating around the height of the canopy. He was wearing a dark blue robe that reached up to his ankles. The boy could immediately tell that the man was extremely tall because his partner, who looked to be of average height, waspletely dwarfed next to him.

    The shorter partner was also a male and wore a simr get-up. However, for what hecked in height he more than made up with his nigh wless, chiselled appearance. The partner snorted and added, "How else can two Core Condensation mages such as us stand up to a Tesseract Transformation realm mage? Sometimes, certain measures need to be taken. Now! It would be better for you to stand down and ept your death. We promise to make it quick and painless."

 Chapter 101 Interlude: A Brewing Storm (Part Two)

    A/N: Some R-18 elements (i.e. gore).

    ____

    The two levitating individuals smirked andughed at the kneeling man. In response, the man dabbed his lips with the sleeves of his dark green jacket and stood up straight.

    "You two have made the gravest mistakes of your lives!" The man threatened ominously with a low growl as he started to rise. Though he spoke with a low tone, his voice reverberated with palpable pressure.

    After he reached the same elevation as the two others, the ambience reached a standstill. No words were exchanged, only furtive nces. Yet, there was an increasing sense of tension radiating from the two. Even the boy, whocked mana sensitivity, could feel it in his bones.

    Seconds turned to minutes, yet the three mages floating in the air barely moved a muscle. At least that''s what the boy observed. In reality, the two blue-robed mages were sweating bullets. Although they knew that the man before them was injured and probably hanging on by a thread, the threat he emanated was real. He was the gue Emperor, the living cmity! Even though he had just advanced to the Tesseract Transformation realm, the gap between their skills couldn''t be overlooked.

    The two exchanged a quick nce before they burst forth with a brilliant light. The taller mage materialised a spear, while the shorter mage had two daggers, one wielded in each hand. The taller mage stopped halfway between his starting point and the gue Emperor and stabbed his spear forward.

    "|Spear Art: Blue me Viper Strike|!" The man bellowed.

    From the tip of the de, an undting whirl of blue me started to snake out and twisted its way at an incredible speed. As it moved forward, the air around the area it passed through started to flicker causing hoops of sma to materialise. The air seemed to physically separate as the ming snake rushed forward, causing a heated hurricane of wind to push outwards and uprooting a few trees.

    The blue me snake jerked directly at the gue Emperor''s head, yet the man didn''t flinch. Right as it was about to collide against him, the man flickered. The snake passed right through where the gue Emperor''s face was supposed to be. Just then, the shorter mage appeared behind the gue Emperor and swiped his dual daggers in a scissoring motion.

    "|Dagger Art: Sever Reality|!"

    The path the dagger followed turned a deep, dark blue. It didn''t make any noise, however, it oozed with a dangerous power that could slice through matter and reality in and of itself.

    However, before it struck the gue Emperor, the flickering man solidified in a flipped upside-down orientation. With two fingers in each hand, he effortlessly grabbed the vtile daggers, picking them perfectly with his elongated nails. The shorter mage faltered as he saw his ultimate move being dissipated so easily. Right as he did so, the gue Emperor pulled the two daggers away causing the shorter mage to cross his hands and get pulled closer.

    The gue Emperor contracted his legs and pushed them forcefully against the shorter mage''s belly. The shorter mage zoomed out into the horizon, causing arge sonic boom as his body receded.

    The boy followed the hurtling man''s trajectory and saw a small cliff in the distance crumble following a collision. He was shaken by how effortlessly the older man had achieved such a feat!

    Meanwhile, the gue Emperor used the force to propel himself towards the other mage, while still flipped upside down.

    The hurtling, overturned man started to spin his feet as he approached the taller mage. Immediately, a greyish-ck aura started to coat his spinning legs, emanating an aura of mise.

    The tall mage quickly countered the attack by using his spear to parry the legs. The gue Emperor used this parrying momentum to flip himself right side up and immediately stabbed forward with two fingers of his right hand. The elongated nails had changed colour and were also coated in greyish-ck mana.

    The close-quarter confrontation broke out so quickly, that the boy hiding behind the vines could barely keep up.

    The elderly man kept a close distance against the taller mage. He knew that fighting further out would only be advantageous to the spear-wielder. This was the only way he could keep up the pressure.

    Evidently, it worked, as the taller mage was finding it increasingly harder to keep up the assault. On top of that, he had to remain wary to not get struck by the mana coated nails of the dastardly old man, lest he gets infected with whatever monstrous diseasey stored within.

    The taller mage knew that underestimating the gue Emperor was thest thing any mage could do. Many, stronger mages had tried to take on this man and had failed and suffered miserable deaths. That was why he decided to bring his Junior Brother along. The tall mage had stalked the gue Emperor after he had heard rumours that the mage was finally attempting a realm advancement to Tesseract Transformation. Everyone knew that the strongest of mages were most vulnerable during this realm advancement. He had to take this chance! For glory! And to finally court his beautiful Master!

    But how was he going to do all that if he died right now?

    ''Where''s Junior Brother?!'' The taller mage thought frantically. The short distraction was sufficient for the vastly experienced gue Emperor. He feigned a forward jab and flickered a low swipe with his mana coated nails.

    "Humph! You''ve overyed your hand, boy!" The gue Emperor berated. Just as the nails were about to pierce the taller mage, another voice bellowed.

    "Not so fast!" The shorter mage appeared right above the gue Emperor and spun his body into a drop-kick.

    The gue Emperor''s eyes widened as he saw the kick approaching him. For a brief moment, a sharp glint shed across his eyes. He quickly crossed his arms above his head to block the kick.

    He seeded in doing so, however when his eyes lowered, he noticed that the taller mage had created distance between them again.

    The taller mage spun the spear around rapidly. Incrementally, the spear started to glow a threatening red colour.

    "|Spear Art: Knot of mes|!" he bellowed as he spun the spear in front of his body and seamlessly transitioned it above his head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Instantaneously, multiple undting figures of ming snakes gushed out from the spinning spear, which looked like a perilous portal. The area started to heat up like an oven as waves of sma started to burst out around the snakes'' paths. Much faster than before, the snakes attacked the gue Emperor from all directions.

    The gue Emperor quickly grabbed the shorter mage above him and brought him in front to act as a shield. However, to his surprise, he saw the shorter mage smirk at him.

    "A protection artefact?!"

    As though he were responding to the gue Emperor''s exmation, the shorter mage yanked his head up and revealed a massive mana gem pendant around his neck.

    "You''ve fallen for our trap, old man!" The shorter mage scoffed. Before the gue Emperor could respond, the ming snakes all converged into him.

    The snakes then circted around the gue Emperor forming a threatening knot, before constricting altogether.

    BOOM!

    An earth-shattering explosion followed as a scorching heatwave spread out. Although the hidden boy managed to hide behind a tree, he was burned at his exposed right foot. It was a prating burn, that started to cause his foot to sizzle and shrivel. The boy immediately pulled his feet behind the tree and grit his teeth to bear through the pain. He shrunk his body deep into the tree as pulses of excruciating heat assaulted him incrementally.

    The explosions kepting in waves as snake after snake detonated.

    Apart from the heat, the boy also had to bear through the pressure difference bearing down on him. He closed his ears in a desperate attempt to stop his eardrums from exploding. Right as he was on the verge of losing his life, the explosions stopped. The boy peeked out once again with great difficulty and noticed the figure of the elderly man hurtling towards the ground. The man''s clothes appeared charred, however, his body was still in decent shape.

    The two mages hovering above slowly descended and approached the fallen figure.

    "So that''s all that you can amount to, huh? The great gue Emperor!" The taller mage egged. As he carefully approached the prone figure, he spoke casually to the shorter mage behind him.

    "Are you ok?"

    "The protective artefact from the Sect Leader worked!" The shorter mage answered. However, near the end, there was visible strain and hoarseness in his voice. The mage coughed to clear his voice.

    "What''s the matter?" The taller mage asked without taking his attention away from the gue Emperor. His entire mana sense was focused on the figure to be wary of any suspicious actions.

    "I *cough* I-" the shorter mage cleared his throat.

    But then the voice stopped. "a...a...a..." a hoarse voice emanated instead.

    "Wha-" Just as the taller mage turned his head, the shorter mage lunged at him and bit down on his throat.

    "AAA!" Was all the taller mage could scream out before his vocal cords were ripped from their ce and slurped down by the pale-faced, dead-eyed, ferocious figure of the shorter mage.

    While the taller mage was in the Core Condensation Realm, the shorter mage was too. And after turning into whatever he was right now, his strength and mana proficiency were preserved. If one observed closely, the could see a clear film of manacing the teeth and nails of the short mage. Upon closer inspection, they could also observe the decay nature of this mana.

    Yet, this wasn''t enough to kill the taller mage in his entirety. His core was still intact!

    To a limited degree, the core gains a level of autonomy once a mage enters the Core Condensation realm. After all, it is a literal dense mass of everything the mage has learned during their rigorous journey. In many ways, it is like a second brain!. The core within the taller mage''s body animated automatically and started to slowly pull the body away.

    The shorter mage was too preupied in chomping down on the brain matter exposed through the taller mage''s cracked skull to notice this phenomenon. The headless body paused a little ways away from its head, as though reminiscing. Only then did it notice an interesting detail on its backstabbingrade. It saw that there was a ring injury along the shorter mage''s calves. There were two distinct cuts that had turned ck and rotten. It was the gue Emperor''s risky gambit!

    The core didn''t falter any longer and proceeded to lift the body out of the area.

    However before it moved by even a centimetre, a hurtling streak of ck lightning struck the body right at the abdomen and shattered the core into pieces.

    The boy who was observing this was so shocked he nearly screamed. Thankfully he caught himself in his actions. He traced the source of the lightning and saw that it hade from the gue Emperor that everyone had assumed had died.

    The elderly man groaned as he supported himself up. After getting seated. He looked at the gluttonous figure of the shorter mage sucking at the intestines of the corpse and clicked his tongue.

    "My masterpiece..." The manmented. "Sadly, this gue is fated to never see the light of day..."

 Chapter 102 Interlude: A Brewing Storm (Part Three)

    A/N: Final chapter from the bonus uploads! Thank you for the support, you guys!

    ____

    The gue Emperor snapped his fingers, and the body and the head of the shorter mage expanded drastically. Like an overfilled barrel, the mage exploded, sending bits and pieces of rotting flesh and gore everywhere. The dark blood spread out even further, reaching close to where the boy was hiding.

    ''Just like mom!'' The boy''s eyes shed as he witnessed this gruesome disy. Except the mage''s abdomen had exploded along with his head.

    His eyes darted to the defeated figure of the gue Emperor. Immeasurable anger was boiling from within him. The pain of losing his mother in such a brutal fashion had finally surfaced! He reached into his tattered trouser pockets and retrieved his blunt knife. Itcked a proper edge, but the little boy didn''t care. He wanted the man to die a painful death by a thousand cuts!

    The gue Emperor closed his eyes and started to meditate. Slowly, his body started to shine with an ominous ck aura. His skin started to boil and disintegrate at the same time. The boy who was observing this was startled once again. Unable to contain his curiosity, he revealed himself and walked towards the disintegrating figure.

    Upon approaching the figure, the boy saw that not only were the skin and flesh turning to dust, so were the bones.

    The boy was an arm''s length away from the gue Emperor. He slowly raised the knife above his head and aimed it carefully so that in its descent, it would prate straight through the mage''s eye sockets.

    The boy knew that mages were strong, much stronger than average humans. He had also seen the phenomenal disys between the mages before. The boy knew that his chances of sessfully taking this man''s life were non-existent. But the boy didn''t care!

    From birth, all the boy had in his life was his mother. She was the only constant throughout his tumultuous childhood. The only reason he wore a painful smile even as the family suffered was for her. He lived for her, just as much as she lived for him. So now that she was gone, what did he have to live for?

    Suddenly, the mage''s eyes opened wide and locked onto the boy. Through instinctual fear, the boy leapt backwards and fell on his bottom. He expected the mage to exact a terrible vengeance on him, instead, the mages face started to melt off and immediately turned into dust at the same time.

    The scene was frightening, to say the least. It urred inyers: first, the surface epidermis turned porous and peeled off. Then the muscle underneath started to tear and disintegrate. The eyes went next, this one scarred the boy the most. Finally, it was the blood, which immediately steamed off, leaving just the skull.

    The boy expected the skull to disappear too, but it didn''t. The grim skull remained, emanating a threatening yet inviting aura. Enthralled by it, the boy reached forward and picked it up.

    He turned the skull in his hands and brought it close to his face. As the skull''s empty eye sockets lined up with his own. The boy was taken into a trance.

    He was shown a vision! A terrible vision! Of a disease so devastating that the world itself shook in fear!

    The gue Emperor had died... Long live the gue Emperor!

    ____

    The man''s serene eyes burst open, and a wave of mana pulsed out. Although the man appeared calm on the surface, he waspletely nonplussed and agitated. The room he was in was dark. The curtains were drawn in, and barely any light made its way through. Infrequent flickering greenmps tinged the room a dangerous shade, entuating the terror within.

    The room itself appeared to be ab. There were cages of squeaking rats, hooks with yed humans and beasts, vials and tubes of liquids pouring and bubbling, and a single bed-board with a shackled, naked and unconscious human male.

    "Another failed introspection..." The man muttered as he cracked his fingers. His deep dark eyes wereced with anger, that surprisingly failed to tinge his extremely pale, yet pleasing face.

    After releasing his pent up anger through additional waves of mana, he raised his body and hovered in ce. With a nce, a fresh set of socks and shoes darted towards him and climbed up his feet. The one on the left weaved up effortlessly, however, the one on the right moved up more carefully as it avoided disturbing the charred, shrivelled foot.

    He hovered forward, making it look as though he was walking, towards the sole pedestal in front of his meditation area and gazed deeply at the radiating skull ced on it.

    "You should have at least left my mother alone," the man muttered threateningly towards the skull. "She never did anything to you. Why infect her?"

    However, the man already knew the answer. The advancement to the Tesseract Transformation realm was most perilous for a mage. The tribtion that one suffers through in this process can often lead the mage to do terrible things and/or suffer terrible damage.

    The spell that turned his mother into a flesh-eating monstrosity was an ident. An unexpected release of magical powerced with an aura that thete gue Emperor was most familiar and proud of. She just happened to be in the wrong ce at the wrong time.

    However, her death was imprinted into the boy''s mind and had carried over into his adulthood. It was also the thing stopping him from advancing in his spiritual cultivation. Without doing so, he would be eternally stuck in the Core Condensation realm.

    He had only made it so far, and that too so quickly, thanks to the skull from the man he hated so much. It was an inheritance artefact, one that encapsted the terrible life and dreams of the living cmity, the gue Emperor. Sure, he did have some support and benefit from his Teacher during his youth. But that was all a means to an end.

    And the end was to eliminate the greatest gue to this world, Mages.

    "Idiots without brains using powers beyond their means to do unspeakable acts," the man muttered. "Even the so-called righteous sects are just malicious entities publicised in a nice wrapper!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "They must all... disappear," he muttered resolutely with overflowing madness and anger in his eyes. In fact, his rage extended beyond just mages. To him, the entire world was a gue that needed purging. The only good in his life was taken from him. And for that, he would exact his revenge! An eye for an eye - he would take everything!

    The man curled his palm into a shaking fist as his mind churned furious machinations. Right as his rage reached its peak a series of knocks at his door interrupted his momentum. Without waiting for an affirmation, it simply flung open and a regal-looking man walked with a disdainful frown on his face.

    "Why haven''t you made any progress yet, Ziva?" The man interrogated. "We''ve been bankrolling you and letting you do these grotesque experiments for years now! Was the gue of Dark Cleansing your best?"

    Ziva Lune suppressed the urge to unleash unrelenting hell upon the miscreant right then and there. But he held himself back. The bastard was just a pawn, not worthy of sacrifice just yet. Everything would fall into ce soon, he needed to be patient.

    Ziva exhaled a long breath to centre his emotions and spoke up, "It is getting harder and harder to do so, given that your monarch so eagerly publicised my affiliation with the kingdom."

    "Humph! Excuses! You were the one who promised us you would take down that irksome Sr Empire once and for all. I remember exactly how you begged and grovelled on your knees," the man chortled in derision.

    ''But then that imbecile of a King just had to go and open his mouth!'' Zivained internally. As his emotions picked up again, the room started to undte with unstable mana. Interestingly, the other man wasn''t the least bit affected. Evidently, Ziva and this man were somewhat equally matched. The only thing diving them, of course, was political backing. The man, known simply as Maise, nost name, was the King''s most loyal of dogs. So, he effectively had the backing of the monarch of the ckstar Kingdom. On the other hand, although Ziva held the position of a sect leader it was only in name. There was literally no one else in the sect. No one wanted to be affiliated with or even approach the demon that unleashed the gue of Dark Cleansing. A gue that had annihted a regionparable to a small city and quite literally salted the fields, turning it into a veritable no man''snd.

    "I heard that you will be travelling to the Sr Empire as an ambassador?" Ziva said in trying to change the topic.

    "Yes. They''re trying a new thing: Political Marriage. The ruler of the Sr Empire has gone soft, he wants to extend peace. Pssht! He''s even willing to put the heads of one of his daughters on the chopping block in the name of peace! Can you believe that?"

    "Which one?"

    "What?"

    "Which one will they marry her off to?"

    Maise paused as if hesitating and then answered, "The Third Prince."

    One must know that Maise was a horrible, horrible man. His hands were stained with the blood of both children and the elderly. If the King told him to take a life, he would do it no questions asked. He had tortured many who were deserving and many who weren''t. However, he never took pleasure in it. It was simply work. But the Third Prince was different. That boy was twisted. The fact that just his mention gave even Maise pause spoke volumes of the Prince''s cruelty.

    "That''s unfortunate," Ziva muttered.

    "Anyways, what is it that you want?" Maise retorted

    "I want to try a different strategy. The mages of the empire have grown vignt. Even a slight itch within their circle is met with a severity equalling the worst of gues. This new strategy of mine is slower, but I believe that it can execute immense damage given time."

    As Ziva spoke, he approached one of the cages with a rat in it and picked one out. After that, he moved towards his workbench and retrieved a phial that was bubbling with a greenish-ck liquid. He extended a mote of his mana into the liquid and raised it skillfully. A multiyered mana circle materialised in the hand controlling the liquid and started to epass the liquid as a whole. The circle started spinning, causing the liquid to glow in the process. Skillfully, he plunged the tip of his ring and index finger right into the rat''s abdomen and channelled the rotating liquid into it. The rat screeched in agony as the liquid, in its entirety, was siphoned into its tiny body.

    After a short minute, the liquid waspletely drained, and the rat went into a hibernating state. Ziva quickly stuffed the rat into a transparent ss container and sealed it by activating the mana gem embedded above it. He handed the container to Maise and instructed, "I want you to release this specimen somewhere secluded inside the empire. Preferably, it should be close to a ce where a lot of mortals live. It shouldn''t be close to a high foot traffic area though. So that means to avoid cities, especially the capital. The specimen needs to survive, so don''t send it into perilous territories either."

    Maise nodded half-heartedly and waved Ziva away. He then extended his mana and held the sealed container suspended in the air a few metres away from him. Although Maise was scornful of Ziva, he respected the man''s power. Maise did not want to be infected by whatever was residing within this unlucky rat.

    Just as Maise turned to leave, his eyesnded on a pedestal with a skull ced on it. Maise had seen it many times before, usually hanging around Ziva''s neck or on his belt. However, those times, the skull simply appeared as a garish trinket and was often overlooked. Now though, there was an appeal to it. It felt special!

    As his gaze started to grow increasingly fixated, Ziva immediately moved before him and blocked his line of sight.

    "Do you want one too?" Ziva asked casually as he picked up the skull from a pedestal. "It''s really helpful when you''re trying to meditate. Helps you get into your own head," Ziva said while chuckling.

    Maise smirked disdainfully before turning to leave.

    Ziva watched Maise''s retreating back for a while before turning and embedding himself into his work. This time, he approached the unconscious male tethered to the bed-board and started to inject a series of needles at strategic points. Once the final needle pierced the man, the man suddenly opened his eyes and burst into agonising screams.

    However, they were cut short with a swipe of Ziva''s hand. The man''s vocal cords had been severed from within.

    "Hush, now. I''m trying to work," Ziva muttered before continuing his torturous series of experiments.

 Chapter 103 Gorans Philanthropic Heart

    "So tell me, Mylo. How long do you estimate it will take to construct the additions I asked you about?" Goran inquired the elderly man with a slight hunch following him.

    The man''s wrinkled face crumpled with a bitter expression as he responded hesitantly, "Mister Rasmus, that''s a little difficult to say. When you called me in andmissioned the project, I assumed that it was somewhere close to the city. But this ce..."

    The man still shuddered when he recollected the gruelling, backbreaking carriage ride from the city to this out-of-the-way vige. Being of advanced age andcking the robustness of a mage''s physique, Mylo had to sit through a torturous ride whose after-effects were still reverberating through his bones.

    "Constructing the Young Miss'' living quarters will take a bit longer than the initial estimate. This orphanage is a fairlyplete structure, so I think it would be advisable to build a separate building for the Young Miss as opposed to a simple attachment," Mylo continued. "Furthermore, I didn''t anticipate just how secluded the location would be when I provided the ambitious estimate of three weeks. If I''m being optimistic, the work can be finished within a month."

    Goran nodded and added, "I understand. If you need anything, anything at all, don''t hesitate to let me know. The construction must be finished as soon as possible, money isn''t an issue. Also, I hope that we can keep this under wraps."

    Goran gradually exuded more pressure on Mylo as he stressed a point, "We wouldn''t want news about Jean''s new arrangements circting amongst unwee crowds now, would we?"

    Mylo suppressed the sweat threatening to trickle down his back and answered firmly, "I wouldn''t dare! We at Saga and Sons Constructions pride ourselves in our privacy and confidentiality."

    That was the truth. The only reason Mylo''s homegrown family business managed to thrive amongst the upper echelons of society was due to its ability topartmentalise information within the organisation.

    It was an insane idea brought forward by his eldest son - to pivot the thriving construction business to cater purely to the rich. Mylo nearly flogged his son with his shoes right then and there! Thankfully, the boy had the presence of mind to borate upon the pitch and brought forth data to corroborate the profitability of the venture.

    Sure, Mylo had to sacrifice a few metaphorical limbs of his business to enter this market, however, the results more than made up for it. Surprisingly, this new market happened to be a lot stabler than he had anticipated.

    Before, he''d have to scramble to different private and public bids and grovel at various government officials to secure projects for hispany. Although the projects were long-term and high-paying, economically they weren''t efficient.

    However, after pivoting to the more bespoke construction markets, while the projects were often short-term the payout was immense!

    As the rich got richer, and as more families and organisations rose above the dividing line that separated the average folk from the upper ss, the demand for more borate and decorative construction projects kepting in. Mylo didn''t have to offer much except for exclusivity, quality, and secrecy.

    Exclusivity, because the rich never liked to see a copy of an item they owned with another. Be it clothing, jewellery, or even housing. Mylo had already seen many cases whenrge portions of mansions were torn down just because a neighbour or rtive happened to share the same style of interior decoration. Heck, one customer even asked to change all the lightings in their house by a minor shade because it resembled the lighting at their neighbour''s front entrance!

    The rich valued quality in their purchases for the same reason as everyone else. No one would want their hard-earned money to be siphoned into a shabby purchase. It was even more important when the purchase happened to be a long-term investment like a house or a structure. Although the rich sank their funds into such ventures more often than the regr folk, they did so with the goal to raise their prestige. To that end, Mylo had to change his mindset a little bit when approaching these projects. Because not only did the structure have to maintain its high quality, this parameter had to be evident at a cursory nce as well. The product had to advertise itself, without the need for someone to point it out.

    Finally, the rich valued secrecy for a multitude of reasons. The first, and most important, was to protect themselves against physical attacks from those that sought to hurt them. No one would like the blueprints of their households floating around in the market for everyone to see. It was especially the case for the rich since enemies were an inevitable byproduct of amassing wealth. The second was to protect themselves from damage caused by "subtler" means.

    For instance, if a certain patron had particr sexual proclivities that couldn''t be disclosed to the general public, they couldmission for a subterranean attachment to their household that was secluded from peeping eyes. Of course, if this information happened to leak out, it would be truly unfortunate for both the party in question and Mylo himself who would have to bear theplete wrath of the party.

    To that, Mylo practised the "Don''t ask, Don''t tell," line of thought. The organisation also had to go through serious restructuring to ensure that such sensitive pieces of information weren''t shared haphazardly.

    Anyways, Mylo was grateful to his most loyal patrons, the Rasmus n. Not once did they ask him to build a truly degenerate sex dungeon, secret housing for a hidden family, or barracks for a secret army to rebel against the crown. All three of which hispetitors weremissioned to do, and were subsequently annihted after the information was brought to light.

    This particr project, while simple in technicality, was actually quite difficult to undertake. After all, it would be truly impossible to keep the movement of various building resources and workforce luded from peeping Toms. Be that as it may, Mylo had taken on this job and now it was his responsibility to carry it to the end.

    As Mylo and Goran walked and discussed the particrs, they happened to reach the location of the ssroom.

    Goran subtly changed the topic of the conversation and asked, "Have you also looked through what I asked? About improving this orphanage?"

    "I have. As I''ve said before, this orphanage is a fairlyplete structure. And interestingly, its architecture is quite advanced and well-established. It ispletely out of cepared to the vige. While old, it''s extremely robust and resilient. To make changes to this house without damaging it, we will need to be meticulous."

    Goran interrupted Mylo''s exnation and asked with slight impatience, "So what about my request?"

    "For that, I will need to inspect the section in person before making a judgement," Mylo answered.

    The two happened to turn the corner and were surprised to find another individual gazing intensely at a wall.

    "Al!" Goran greeted.

    "Goran," Al replied casually, without averting his gaze.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Mylo put two-and-two together, and quickly bowed with respect, "T-Teacher Jeeves! I am honoured to make your acquaintance!"

    Al simply hummed and waved his hand in acknowledgement. Hepletely refused to look away from the painting of the Red Dragon called Smaug from the wall.

    His forehead furrowed with a frown as he said, "I don''t see it!"

    "*sigh* You need to learn how to appreciate art, my friend," Goran replied.

    Al harrumphed and retorted, "I''ll have you know that I have a 2-star license in the field of visual arts!"

    "Oh please! You rushed through it all for the sake of earning the license. Did you actually sit down and study the works wholeheartedly?"

    Al showed a wry expression and retrained his gaze on the painting. He took it as a challenge when he was unable to observe the intricacies of this seemingly arcane work painted by a child. He''d spent hours in front of this wall, like an idiot, and still failed to glean anything. Right now, Al wanted to take out his license from the Artists'' Guild and throw it into the sea!

    "This wall here," Goran said to Mylo. "Can you remove it without damaging the painting?"

    "Huh?!" Mylo voiced in confusion.

    "I want to remove this wall as it is and transport it to a more secure location. Is it possible to do so without damaging the painting on the wall?" Goran repeated.

    Mylo observed the wall, and the painting on it, and tried to make sense of the request. Although architecture was a technical field, there was an underlying sense of artistry and aesthetics to it. Hence, Mylo was receptive to other works of art. Yet, he couldn''t find anything of importance in the piece of work before him. It looked unrefined andcked precision.

    However, he didn''t voice those thoughts out loud. It wasn''t his ce to do so, after all.

    Mylo approached the wall and tapped around the edges with his ears stered against the surface. After a few more inspections, he dered with certainty.

    "It is possible. It shouldn''t be too difficult. However, it will be a moreplicated task to source the same materials used to make this wall when we n to rece it."

    "That''s not an issue. I want to secure this wall from the environment as soon as possible," Goran repeated.

    "Did you ask Guy''s permission for this, though?" Almented.

    "I did. But then Teacher Larks said to ask the matron. So I asked her, but she just kept nodding to everything I said. I don''t think she was even listening to me. She had this tuned-out look on her face the entire time," Goran reasoned.

    "It doesn''t seem right to take advantage of her kindness like this."

    "Of course! That''s why I''m having Mylo here make improvements to this orphanage as a whole. Improving the stairs to the vige, building better paths, refurbishing the rooms. Jean even told me that the Matron tends to a garden - Mylo''spany has an excellentndscaper. I''ve asked him to work on that as well," Goran responded.

    As he was doing so he noticed a little boy, Kano, walk over shakily with arge pail of water in his hands.

    Initially, he assumed that the boy was just passing by, but Kano never turned away. He kept approaching them while carefully carrying the pail.

    The boy stopped a foot away from the wall and ced the pail on the ground, causing droplets of water to spill over.

    The boy heaved out loud and threw the water towards the wall.

    "Boy, what are you doing?!" Gavin bellowed. With a frantic wave of his palms, he materialised arge spell circle, suspending the mass of water just millimetres away from colliding against the wall.

    He exhaled in relief and immediately jerked his hands back in a throwing motion, propelling the blob of water at an extremely high velocity in the opposite direction.

    Kano gazed innocently at the agitated Goran and said, "I''m cleaning the wall."

 Chapter 104 Kanos Request

    "Are you crazy?!" Goran bellowed, causing Kano to shrink behind Al.

    "Goran!" Al reminded with a firm tone.

    "*cough* Sorry. What I meant to say was: Why are you cleaning the wall, Kano?" Goran repeated while wearing a strained yet calmer demeanour.

    "I-I-I wanted to draw something else and I need space," Kano confessed with a low murmur.

    "If that''s the case then why this wall in particr?"

    "This wall is least exposed to the environment," Kano exined. "Even if there is rain or heavy w-w-winds, this wall is not affected that much."

    At this point, Mylo chimed in, "The boy''s right. I''ve inspected the building thoroughly, and this wall is in markedly better condition than the rest."

    Goran and Al were both impressed by the kid''s superior instincts.

    "See, Al! I told you this kid''s a genius!" Goran voiced out with a hearty smile.

    "But Kano, why are you limiting yourself to this wall as a medium? Haven''t you considered others?" Goran continued.

    Kano smiled bitterly and replied, "I have. But we c-c-can''t afford better paper or paint."

    "That''s it?" Goran retorted in disbelief. "Boy, you should have told me that earlier!"

    Goran reached into his coat and retrieved his own storage disk. While channelling his mana into it, he pointed it towards the ground. The disk lit up immediately and from its centre, a steady stream of items started to gush out.

    Paint. Brushes. Paper. Ink. Chalk. Grindstones. It was a near endless downpour of supplies, well beyond Kano''s wildest dreams, most of which Kano had only heard of from Marie''s intermittent stories from her travels.

    With gleaming eyes, Kano approached the organised mound of art supplies and eximed with excitement.

    "I bought these thest time I returned to the city. I was waiting to give them to you, now seems just as good a time as any." Goran exined.

    "B-B-But Mister Rasmus. This is a lot... I can''t ept it..." Kano said in dismay.

    "Why not? Don''t overthink things,d. Just ept these as an investment on my part. After seeing just how promising your talent was, I am investing in you by nurturing you and helping you develop your craft," Goran retorted while waving his hand.

    Kano''s face alternated between a few emotions, as he internally debated the quandary of whether he should ept such a generous gift. In the end, his childish tion won over and an unblemished smile bloomed on his face.

    "Thank you so much, Uncle!" Kano shouted as he rushed over and hugged Goran. Due to the height difference, the boy barely reached above the man''s knees. Goran bent over slightly and patted the kid''s ruffled hair.

    "Speaking of investment. Can I talk to you for a bit, Kano?" Goran inquired. "It''s to do with your future, and I wanted to hear your opinion on it."

    Hearing Kano''s affirmation, Goran instructed Mylo to finish the initial inspection by himself, and then led Kano to the ssroom.

    After the two assumed seats opposite each other, Goran began, "I know that you constantly dismiss me every time I bring this point up, but Kano you are a gifted child. You have a talent in the visual arts that others can only dream of."

    "T-T-t-"

    "Let me finish, child. Yourprehension of colour and form is beyond your years. You may undery it, but I''ve seen many, many more renowned works in my lifetime and I can confidently affirm that your work has the potential to match and even exceed the contemporary works by forerunners in the field. Sure, as it stands, your workcks refinement and proper direction. After all, you don''t have a proper teacher to guide you in this."

    Goran noticed the boy getting ready to bear arms against him for thest statement and quickly assuaged him, "Don''t get me wrong! Teacher Larks is amazing. He is knowledgeable and has a demeanour befitting a teacher. However, when ites to the arts I strongly believe that limiting oneself to a singr teacher is an artist''s greatest pitfall."

    Kano frowned in contemtion.

    "Do you enjoy painting?"

    "I do!" Kano affirmed immediately.

    "That''s good. Do you want to get better in your craft?"

    "I do."

    "If that is the case, then I strongly urge you to consider this offer. In order to truly be a great artist, one must expose themselves to everything the world has to offer. Inspiration isn''t gained by holing yourself in a secluded space. Furthermore, one cannot grow without observing and learning from the sesses and mistakes of others. So, I would like you toe with me to the city to explore the art scene and broaden your horizon. Who knows? Maybe you''ll learn something in the process?"

    Kano was immediately taken by the idea. Although he tried to hide it, his face blossomed with excitement at the prospect of going to the city.

    "You don''t have to make a decision. After all, Matron Reva is still your guardian. I will discuss it with her at ater date. But I need you to put in a good word if you''re interested in this. I feel like the Matron isn''t particrly fond of me..."

    ____

    Grace, Guy, Markus, Marie, Kano and Dora were seated on the floor, eating dinner together. This had been a longstanding tradition in the orphanage, and Guy had seamlessly assimted himself into it.

    The strained family ate their food in silence which was unusual. Most of the time, the two kids would talk about something or the other, drawing the teens or the adults into the conversation as well. However, today the two were uncharacteristically quiet.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dora seemed a little checked out as if she was preupied with something. Kano, on the other hand, simply couldn''t stop himself from fidgeting. He looked as though there was something on the tip of his tongue, but was hesitating to vocalise it.

    ? Unable to take it anymore, the boy broke the silence with a loud deration, "I want to travel with Mister Rasmus to Radiant City!"

    Everyone else on the table froze in ce and darted their attention towards the boy.

    "You want to do what?" Grace asked while narrowing her eyes.

    "I... I want to go to Radiant City with Mister Rasmus. I want to explore the art scene."

    "Explore the art scene? Do you even know what that means?" Grace snorted.

    "Yea! It''s... It''s... Exploring the... He said it was looking at different famous art pieces and learning from t-t-them," Kano replied.

    "So you want to go all the way to the city just to see paintings on a wall?" Grace retorted while raising her voice.

    "Mister Rasmus says that this is the b-b-best way for me to be a better artist."

    Grace frowned and her nostril red with anger. Right as she was about to open her mouth and bring down the hammer, Guy interrupted her, "Grace, can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

    "Huh? Why?"

    "Please. It''s important."

    "*sigh* Can''t it wait?"

    Guy just stood up and walked out of the room, gesturing at Grace to follow him.

    "We''re not finished with this conversation!" Grace dered at Kano as she stood up.

    Guy took Grace to the next room and looked at her with a sheepish smile.

    "By the look on your face back there, I could tell that you were going to deny Kano. But, before you say no to him, just take some time and think about it. I think it is a good opportunity for Kano. Besides, I''ve already talked to Mister Rasmus about it. He''s interested in sponsoring Kano. He thinks the boy shows promise and wants to help him develop his skill."

    "Howe he talked to you and not me? I''m Kano''s guardian!" Grace retorted.

    "Mister Rasmus said that thest time he talked with you, you just kept nodding back at him like a chicken mindlessly pecking at grains..."

    "What? I did not!" Grace denied vehemently while scoffing.

    "I know that you''re apprehensive about sending Kano far away. But he''ll be safe with Mister Rasmus."

    "I don''t trust him!"

    "Teacher Jeeves can vouch for him, Grace."

    "I don''t trust him either!"

    "*sigh* What about me then? You''ve known me long enough, right? Don''t you trust me?" Guy asked while trying his hardest to look cute.

    "You!" Grace was at a loss for words after facing Guy''s shameless attack.

    "Can''t you teach Kano? You''ve already taught him so much. Can''t you also teach him how to draw and paint?" Grace pleaded. "Why does he need to go so far away? I don''t want him to suffer as Markus did..."

    "The subject isn''t in my wheelhouse, Grace. Although I can teach him a few basics, I can''t help him develop beyond that. The boy needs to expose himself to the world and grow his artistic philosophy organically." Guy paused before addressing Grace''s primary concern. "Besides, Markus didn''t have anyone backing him. Kano has the leader of one of the more prominent ns in this Kingdom bankrolling him! What more could we ask for?"

    Grace showed a strained expression as she pondered over the topic. Having taken care of the twins since a young age, Grace was extremely attached to them. In many ways, she viewed them as her own children. It was only natural that she was apprehensive to let one of them go, especially so early in their life.

    "Fine. I''ll take your word for it," Grace said as she drew closer to Guy with a stern expression. "BUT! If anything happens to Kano. I swear on my life, I will destroy you!"

    Guy shuddered at Grace''s palpable threats. Right as Grace was turning to leave, she froze in her tracks and double-backed, "By the way, why did you have to bring me out here to discuss this? Couldn''t you have just done this out there?"

    Guy shook his head and exined, "That wouldn''t look good for you. To the kids, you woulde across as the "bad cop", the one who always says no. In the future, if they have any requests they will avoid you ande to me. They will lose respect for you in the process. You see, kids are superficial. They are only receptive to positive reinforcement. They don''t understand the intricacies behind reprimands or taboos. So in cases like this, we, the adults, muste across as a united front."

    Grace exhaled in amusement andmented, "So you did it for my benefit?"

    "Of course!" Guy dered resolutely.

    Grace suppressed an erupting smile and clicked her tongue as she rushed out.

    Guy gazed warmly at Grace''s receding back and murmured with a long sigh, "I''ll get through eventually. One step at a time..."

 Chapter 105 An Offer

    An uneventful week passed almost instantly.

    On this particr day, the members of the orphanage were congregated near the outskirts of the vige. They were here in preparation to send Kano off on his journey with Goran Rasmus.

    "Remember, Kano. Talk less, listen more. And think twice before speaking. You will be following Mister Rasmus, so we mustn''t cause him any troubles," Guy instructed.

    "And make sure to eat your food on time. Don''t be picky and eat whatever you are given!" Grace added while suppressing her sobs.

    "Matron Reva, Teacher Larks, please don''t worry. Kano will be in safe hands. Besides, we will be back before you even know it!" Goran said to alleviate the affected woman.

    "M-M-Matron..." Kano mumbled with a low expression. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeves and promised, "I''ll return quickly, okay? Please don''t cry..."

    "I''m not crying," Grace denied vehemently, however, the gushing stream of tears indicated otherwise.

    Kano leapt forward and hugged Grace, "I''ll miss you, Matron!"

    "I''ll miss you too, Kano!"

    The woman and child cried uncontrobly in each other''s embrace. Although dramatic, no one wanted to interfere lest they received Grace''s undiverted wrath.

    After two minutes of tears and hups, the two separated. Kano was led into the carriage by Goran, which departed almost immediately. Kano''s little head popped out of the side and he started waving while yelling at the top of his lungs, "Good-bye! I''ll be back soon!"

    Grace waved back with equal gusto.

    A minute after the carriage receded around the treelines, Grace turned around and spoke with a dismayed tone, "Let''s go back."

    "Huh? Where''s Dora?" Grace inquired.

    "She''s back at the orphanage. She refused toe down," Marie responded with a frown.

    "What''s gotten into her? She didn''t wish Kano safe travels?"

    "She seemed a bit grumpy..." Markus exined.

    "That girl...-"

    "Let me go talk to her," Marie interjected, and then turned and walked up the inclining path towards the orphanage at a brisk pace.

    ____

    "Huuuu *sob* *sob* huuuun," a monotonous and suppressed wail resonated from behind the closed doors leading to Kano and Dora''s room.

    Marie approached the door and knocked, "Dora?"

    "Go away! Huuuuu *sob*..." A quivering girl''s voice barked back.

    "Dora, I''ming in," Marie dered as she slowly pushed the door open.

    Doray facedown on her sleeping mattress sobbing vehemently. Marie approached the girl and gently pulled her in for a hug.

    "Why are you crying, Dora?" Maria voiced calmly. "Do you miss Kano?"

    "NO!" Dora screamed between hups. "That jerk! He left without me. Huuuuu."

    Marie slowly patted Dora''s head and exined in a soothing voice, "He isn''t going out to have fun, you know? He wants to learn how to be a better artist. It would have been so boring, why would you want to go?"

    "*sob* I wanted to go to the city too," Dora replied.

    "It''s okay. We can go together once you grow up," Marie responded to assuage Dora.

    "But that will take so long... Huuuuu."

    Marie didn''t know what to say to the girl. In the end, she simply hugged her closer and let Dora cry herself out.

    "*sob* Marie..." Dora murmured.

    "Hmmm?"

    "Will he be okay? Will Kano be okay?" Dora asked with worry in her tone.

    "I-" Marie wanted to reply that he would be fine. But she couldn''t voice it. She couldn''t say for sure.

    Instead, Marie said, "He''s with Mister Rasmus..."

    Would he be fine? Marie was worried too! Thest time one of her siblings went to the city, he returned aplete wreck. Or at least he would have if not for the timely intervention of Teacher Larks. Hearing Markus'' earlier outburst, Marie had a pretty good idea of the situation. She had falsely assumed that the city would be any better than the rest of the world.

    ''It''s all the same.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    In her effort to scrounge up money for her family, Marie had to go through a lot of struggles. There were things she''d seen and experienced that haunted her to date. Being of a disadvantaged gender, she had to put up with the worst this world had to offer her. Over time she had grown immune and cynical, unaffected by things around her.

    Yet, as long as her family thrived, it would all be worth it. As an orphan, Marie was starved of love in her life. After losing her parents at a young age, she had to fight against the world on her own to survive. By the time she hit seven years of age, she was already working multiple jobs to the bone to earn a morsel to fill her emaciated tummy.

    So one could imagine just how ted she was when Matron Reva found her and took her in. After years of being deprived of even the most basic of human decencies, Marie finally received the love and care she yearned of.

    But love can be an addictive drug to those deprived of it from a young age. After tasting the bliss of familiar love, Marie was unwilling to lose it. Not this time!

    Marie had learned the only people she could depend on in this life were the people close to her. Her family. So, she was willing to sacrifice anything as long as her family could thrive. As long as she could keep her family in one piece, safe and secured, it would all be worth it...

    It was for that very reason that Marie supported Markus'' decision to pursue magic. The family needed protection from the forces that sought to hurt it. Marie had suffered under many arrogant young masters and mistresses, drunk on power.

    Although Marie and her family were rtively safe here in this out-of-the-way vige, one could never predict when misfortune may strike. Marie would have loved to be the shield, however, her logical brain knew that Markus was in a better position to learn magic. He was younger. More malleable.

    But Marie failed to consider the human element! She hadn''t ounted for the bullying Markus would have to go through in that ruthless crucible. She had already experienced the vindicativeness of those rich young masters. But, what about the rich young masters with magic in their arsenal? They could only be worse!

    She had been too selfish! She had offloaded all the burdens she carried onto Markus, the poor boy.

    Thankfully, she didn''t lose him. Thankfully, Teacher Larks had saved him.

    But this decision to send Kano away... It was eating away at her! It came out of nowhere, and contrary to Marie''s expectations, when Matron Reva agreed to it.

    Although she trusted Matron Reva with all her heart, Marie couldn''t suppress the growing unrest within. She hadn''t performed a satisfactory risk assessment.

    ''Will he be okay?''

    "The boy will be fine. If that''s what you''re worried about," an elderly voice interrupted Marie''s train of thought.

    Marie snapped out of her trancelike state and observed her surroundings. It seemed as though in her preupation, she had subconsciously descended from the orphanage and arrived at the vige.

    "Ah! great master Krish Nara," Marie greeted respectfully. Although she hadn''t interacted much with the old soothsayer, Marie had heard a lot of things about him from the vigers. Interestingly, nearly all of them showered praises on the old man and his uncanny power of future sight.

    Marie scratched her head as she pondered how to approach the topic in a better way.

    "The boy has good fortune written in his fate. He will amount to great things," Krish added while closing his eyes.

    "H-How can you be sure?" Marie retorted hesitantly.

    "Are you doubting me, girl?" Krish replied with a frown.

    "No!" Marie quickly denied while waving her hands. "It''s just... How can you say for certain that Kano will be fine? What evidence led you to that conclusion?"

    Krish chuckled as he answered, "Why should I have to tell you all of that? This is a matter of belief, isn''t it?"

    "But that doesn''t assuage me one bit," Marie responded.

    "How is that my problem? I offered you my insight regarding the trouble you''re facing. It''s up to you whether to ept it," Krish rified.

    Marie sighed in dismay. "I want to believe you, I do! I can convince my heart to ept your im. But my mind constantly urges me to question its validity. Unless I can verify and substantiate the im, I don''t think I can believe it. It''s not you, great master."

    "If your Teacher Larks made the same im, wouldn''t you believe him?" Krish asked probingly.

    Marie furrowed her brows in contemtion before answering, "If it were Teacher Larks, he would probably provide sufficient evidence to back his im. So yes, I would believe him!"

    "You have great faith in the man?"

    "That''s just the kind of person he is," Marie rified. "He never makes a im he isn''t sure about or cannot prove."

    Krishughed heartily as he reached into his bag. While pulling out his almanacks and conch shells, he dered, "Now you''re making me jealous."

    "Look carefully, girl! I won''t repeat this again," Krish dered and grasped a handful of conch shells in his palm. He dropped them on the t wooden table in front of him and observed the spread with his Heavenly Eye.

    "Hmm... Three overturned... Let''s see... Simr spread as that time..." Krish muttered as he intermittently cross-referenced through the pages on an almanack.

    "See here?" He finally said while pointing at a paragraph in his book. "The spread is simr. The conditions are also simr. This indicates that the boy''s travel will be fruitful and will result in positive growth."

    Marie squinted her eyes as she read the squiggly lines on the page. "Your handwriting is unbearably illegible," she murmured.

    Krish snorted as she immediately shut the book, "I didn''t write it down to share it with other people! Anyways, as you can see I''ve corroborated my ims. Now, do you believe me?"

    Marie showed a wry expression as she replied, "A little. But it isn''t enough."

    "HA!" Krish bellowed mirthfully. "Fine! I can reveal more to you. But..."

    Krish paused for dramatic effect and leaned closer. He wore a serious expression as he dered, "I will need you to ept me as your Master."

 Chapter 106 Fates Infuriating Machinations

    "Pffft!" Marie burst intoughter upon hearing Krish''s deration.

    "Hahahaha! ept you as my Master?" Marie covered her mouth as he chortled uncontrobly.

    But after a while, Marie realised that Krish''s expression hadn''t shifted one bit. The man was not joking!

    "Are you serious?" Marie coughed out while trying to suppress her mirth.

    Krish hummed and answered nonchntly, "Beyond the information I''ve already provided you lie secrets and insights rted to the cultivation method I practice. If you really want to know more, I''m afraid that you''ll have to devote yourself to my school of magic."

    "So if I say yes, you would willingly take me on as your Disciple and teach me to cultivate?"

    "I would," Krish affirmed. "I would take you under my wing and train you in my school of magic."

    "And which school is that?"

    "The Heavenly Eye," Krish replied.

    Marie narrowed her eyes as she probed, "I''ve never heard of it before."

    "Which schools HAVE you heard of?" Krish snorted in response.

    "I''ve heard of plenty," Marie retorted immediately. "There''s "The Incidiary Fist", "The Righteous Sword", "The Imprable Arts" and "The Loquacious Lightning" schools of magic."

    Krish squinted in disbelief before blurting out, "You just made those up!"

    "Whatever! What I implied was that obviously, your school of magic isn''t popr seeing as I haven''t heard of it before," Marie scoffed with a wry expression.

    "So you''re saying that you would readily be my Disciple if my school was more popr?"

    "No!" Marie answered immediately while shaking her head. "That would be even more suspicious. Why would practitioners from such famous schools of magic want me?"

    "Hah! There is no winning with you. Would there ever be a situation in which you wouldn''t be sceptical?"

    Marie clicked her tongue and retorted, "There wouldn''t be a single case in which I wouldn''t be suspicious."

    She crossed her hands over her chest and expounded, "The probabilities of such a situation taking ce are infinitesimal for me to think otherwise. They are in decimals so small that if such an event did ur it would be pure coincidence. And, I don''t trust coincidences. Anything that sounds too good to be true, is in fact too good to be true. There is always a caveat, you just don''t see it yet."

    "You say that, yet you willingly epted Teacher Larks?" Krish proposed while raising an eyebrow.

    "That is different. When I sent Markus off to the Academy, it was within my calction, albeit with a minuscule percentage, that a Teacher would take notice of him and pull him under their personal tutge. Teacher Larks'' arrival here wasn''t a coincidence. Given sufficient time, I can trace a clear sequence of dominoes leading up to this situation." Marie paused before continuing with a bitter expression, "Besides, even he isn''t willing to teach me magic."

    "That''s only because youck purpose," Krish responded nonchntly.

    "How did you know that?" Marie jabbed back with a suspicious re.

    "You seem to forget who you''re talking to, girl."

    "Well..." Marie muttered. "That''s all the more reason for me to be suspicious! Why would you be so willing to ept a student thatcks direction?"

    "It doesn''t matter to me. You are fated with The Heavenly Eye. Ultimately, you are guaranteed to learn under me no matter how hard you try to fight it," Krish shrugged out with a cunning smile.

    "You seem pretty confident about that. Now that you''ve revealed this information, what''s stopping me from avoiding you altogether?" Marie challenged.

    "Because that''s just how the world works. That''s just how humans work. To borrow your earlier analogy, the dominoes have already been set. Knowing that they will fall won''t change anything."

    Krish smirked as he continued, "Of course your fate isn''t truly set in stone. You can change it, but for that, you will need to be inducted into my school of magic."

    Marie snorted in response, "You know that just now, you sounded exactly like a con-man?"

    "It''s the truth!" Krish said offhandedly. "Anyways. Since you aren''t ready to ept me as your Master yet, just return to what you were doing. But before you go, I want to give you onest piece of advice. For free, of course!"

    "A person''s fate is unavoidable. Therefore, rather than bing preupied with the what, evaluate the why!" Krish enunciated.

    "That sounds unnecessarilyplicated. What are you even saying?"

    Krish simply waved his hands and closed his eyes, "Leave, girl! It''s time for my meditation."

    Marie stood in ce in disbelief at Krish''s sudden shift in behaviour. ''Why isn''t he following the script?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie still believed that Krish was trying to con her. Although she believed in his powers of foresight, the whole spiel about fate sounded so preposterous that she was confident it was just Krish''s attempt to tempt her through a psychological gambit. She had heard of many such instances when unwitting girls were hoodwinked by hustlers dressed as mage experts with the prospect of learning magic, only to be captured and sold off somewhere else as a ve, or something worse.

    Although, in those stories, the hustlers were usually unparalleled hunks whose appearance alone overpowered the girls'' rationalities. But Krish was just so...

    ''Old... Maybe this is a new strategy. After all, looking older does evoke greater confidence.''

    People would be more inclined to believe an elderly individual than a younger one, especially when it came to magic. But Marie was certain that she wouldn''t be fooled by Krish''s appearance. She was prepared to test the man further.

    However, contrary to her expectations, Krish just stopped talking after stating his piece. Either the man was an inexperienced con artist or he was an unparalleled professional in the field who was confident that the "seedling" he had nted in her mind would definitely take root and influence her.

    But Marie wasn''t having any of it! ''Hmph! He can''t fool me!'' She told herself as she left the premises of Krish''s cottage.

    As she walked away, though, an intrusive thought shot out from the back of her mind. ''What if he was speaking the truth?''

    She shook her head to scrub the thought and continued walking. However, could her rationality allow such a thing?

    ____

    Krish exhaled out loud with exhaustion as he observed Marie''s retreating figure.

    "Why her?" He muttered out loud. "Of all people... Why her?" Heined.

    After weeks of inactivity, the auspicious cloud hanging over the vige had started growing clearer. Finally, after months of living with uncertainty, Krish was shown who the next torch-bearer for The Heavenly Eye would be.

    Lo and behold, it was Marie Reva.

    At that time Krish couldn''t suppress the intense twitch afflicting his right eyelids upon witnessing this.

    "Should I just not bother and let myself corrode over time?" He contemted out loud. In his mind, the prospect of nurturing the belligerent girl was almost equivalent to dying!

    "Darn my luck!" Yet there wasn''t anything Krish could do about it. Those with an affinity towards The Heavenly Eye were fated individuals. If Krish didn''t follow through with what fate had lined up for him, then he would have to suffer the wrath of the Universe. And the Universe neverpromised with its retribution.

    Krish startedmentingly at his shrivelled right leg. If there was one thing Krish was proud of during his youth, as a mortal, it was his perfectly sculpted legs. All the women in his family had wlessly curvaceous legs. The men in his vige would line up outside his house every morning, just to get a glimpse of his sisters'' legs as they went out to tend to the farm. Many even professed their readiness to die, crushed between those voluptuous thighs.

    As the youngest, and only son, of the family Krish was also gifted with this lineage. However, unlike his sisters, whose legs retained just the perfect amount of fat and muscle to maintain a sensual allure, his legs were prone to rapid muscle hypertrophy even with the minimum amount of exercise.

    His thighs would fill in his trousers, threatening to tear through them at any moment. His calves would bulge out invitingly with each step. The girls in his vige would openly fantasize aboutying their heads on Krish''s muscledp. Some would even sneak a peak when he bathed in the river nearby!

    The feature Krish was most attached to, and almost arrogant about, were his chiselled legs. And it was the first thing the Universe took away from him after his rampant use of The Heavenly Eye to change his family''s fate.

    The Universe was extremely cruel in doling out its punishment. It didn''t take away his legs altogether - they were still attached to his body. However, it attacked his right leg with a disease that impaired the mana channels weaving through them. No matter what he tried to do, the disease kept advancing. Every healer he consulted failed to track down a cure for the affliction due to its inherently elusive nature. It was as though the disease itself was sentient.

    Before he knew it, the disease stepped out from the magical realms and began eating away at his physical body. First, he lost all feeling in his legs as the nerve endings were disintegrated. Then, it started to eat away at his muscles, shrivelling the area up over time. Finally, it arrived at his bones, turning them as fragile as ss.

    One healer suggested amputating the leg and regrowing it through alchemical solutions. Seeing as it was the only option left, Krish went with it. He chopped off his husk of a leg and imbibed a regr dosage of highly-concentrated vitality and regeneration potions to regrow the stump.

    Within days, he had sessfully regrown his right leg. However, the moment the regeneration effect stopped, the same affliction attacked the new leg, but this time with increased ferocity. While there was ack of pain thest time, this time the disease didn''t hold back in its assault. Krish suffered through an excruciating month that felt like a lifetime, after which he was left with the very same husk of a right leg he sought to cure initially.

    The worst part was that it didn''t affect both his legs. Krish still had an intact and working left leg with equal, if not superior, muscture. However, due to its proximity to a shrivelled up mass, it pained Krish even more. Sometimes, Krish wished that the Universe had just taken away both his legs in one fell swoop. At least he wouldn''t feel so horrible every day.

    Therefore, there was nothing Krish could do to contend against fate''s machinations without umting additional damage upon himself. Based on his understanding of the Universe, it wouldn''t attack his working leg. No, it could even take away something else he deemed precious.

    Krish subconsciously covered his crotch region in fear as a shiver tingled through his spine.

    "But the girl is just so... argumentative!" That was Krish''s greatest peeve with his fated Disciple. He had never seen another person so willing to go up in arms about everything. The girl was sceptical about everything; she refused to believe anything at face value. She needed reason and exnation, irrefutable beyond doubt. Krish was getting a headache just thinking about their future together.

    "How is anyone supposed to teach her if she intends to argue about everything?" He eximed.

    But then Krish realised that there was in fact one individual who had prated through the girl''s infuriating barriers and effectively taught her.

    Krish retrained his senses on the figure of that man in question at the orphanage.

    ____

    A/N: Read Chapter 114 after this. That is the chronological order (it will make more sense to you that way). You can choose not to, it won''t cause too much of a problem.

 Chapter 107 Learning To |Introspect|

    A/N: Read Chapter 114 before this one. You can choose not to, but it will make more sense if you do so.

    ____

    Recently, Guy stumbled upon an interesting discovery while teaching Yoga to Dora. He didn''t notice it at first because he was so concentrated on instructing her, though it became more apparent as he repeated the stances by himself for the purpose of meditation.

    Interestingly, Yoga could double as the orthodox meditation method used in this world to replenish mana and centre one''s mind prior to cultivation. In fact, it happened to have a stacking effect as he transitioned through different poses. After a few tests, Guy found that the increase was geometric in that the rate doubled with each new pose added to the sequence.

    However, with every new pose, while the rate doubled, it wasn''t a discrete jump, it was parabolic. Therefore, after a point, the rate would teau and would start to diminish eventually. Guy found that if he transitioned to another pose at the teau he could reactivate the parabolic trend and maintain the momentum.

    The reason for this happened to be how the various poses motivated the flow of mana through his mana channels. As previously established, meditation is the easiest strategy for a mage to replenish their mana. But why is that?

    Mages cast spells by channelling the mana stored in their cores. They cannot channel the ambient mana in its unprocessed, raw form. If they try to do so, they may damage their mana channels, sometimes irreversibly. Therefore, the mage must first direct the ambient mana through their core, which purifies it, before piping it through their mana channels. But how can they get the ambient mana to enter their cores?

    There are many ways for a mage to achieve this. Natural osmosis of mana through skin, flesh and muscles is possible, but it is unbearably slow. One could also directly inject arge infusion of mana right where the core is through some sort of a piercing device. Although efficient, it would be painful and potentially dangerous. Alternatively, they could ingest mana-enriched food and extract the mana from their stomachs.

    But the mostmon strategy is to let the mana reach the core through the naturally existing blood vessels. Essentially, the human ingests ambient mana via inhtion, lets it piggyback on the blood cells flowing through the lungs, through the heart, and then directly to their cores.

    Meditation is the preferred method to supplement this process. By consciously channelling mana throughout the body, through the plethora of channels off-shooting from the core, a sort of vacuum is created in the core. This in turn pulls more mana from the blood flowing in the vessels thus increasing the passive ingestion of mana by inhtion, and decreasing the rejected mana through exhtion.

    To optimise the mana influx, the mage needs to channel their internal mana through all the blood vessels exiting the core. This process is time-consuming and takes years of experimentation to perfect, as no two mages have the same mana channel configuration.

    However, Yoga seemed to make it almost trivial. Each pose happened to excite mana flow through one set of mana channels. After exhausting those channels, the practitioner simply moves to the next pose that excites a different set of channels. This process is continued till either all possible sets are exhausted, or the mage no longer feels the need to replenish mana.

    There were, however, some caveats to this. For instance, there were cases when two poses happened to excite simr or intersecting sets of channels. In those cases, the rate was greatly nerfed. Guy had to experiment through a bunch of different poses both from memory and from the reference books in the RoK until he put together the optimal Yoga sequence for himself.

    On top of this, Guy also found out that the sets determined as optimal for him weren''t necessarily so for others. Markus and Jean, for example, couldn''t enjoy the same rate increase from following Guy''s sequence. Instead, Guy had to fashion a different sequence of poses for his students to achieve the same result.

    Apart from the benefits of mana replenishment, Yoga also offered an insane boost in concentration the longer Guy practised it. Surprisingly, this concentration boost also stacked which turned out to be both a boon and a curse. Guy realised that there was an optimal amount of concentration someone could have before it simply turned into tunnel vision.

    This secondary benefit was of immense use to Dora, who struggled with centring herself, but for others, with an already sharp sense of focus, it just made them more intense. One time, Guy forgot to pace his meditation and ended up fixating on his breath. Through it, he figured out that his every sixth breath, and every twelfth breath after that was elongated by an eighth of a second. He also found out that he red his nostrils during exhtion three per cent more than during inhtion.

    The worst part about this heightened state of concentration was that its duration alsopounded. In the previous case, Guy was stuck measuring his breath for almost five hours!

    Ultimately, Guy determined the sweet spot and found that intermittently diverting his focus to another focal point when practising a pose offered sufficient disruption to hamper thepounding without sacrificing the growth in mana replenishment rate. The diversion couldn''t be too drastic, nor could it be so negligible as to not make a difference.

    With all that being said, why was Guy still focusing so intensely during his meditation at the moment, one may wonder?

    Well, after a rather fruitful discussion with Al, he had learned that as a mage in the Foundation Establishment, he could now train himself to personally inspect his core. To do this, he would need to dip his toes into a rather arcane subsection of magehood - spirituality.

    ording to Al, although it is possible for a mage to gauge their and others'' cultivations at a superficial level, one can''t truly view the entire picture without delving deeper through spirituality. Spirituality also has other functionalities as one advances through it, however, due to its difficulty it is often sidelined in favour of processes of immediate concern. Nevertheless, every mage MUST learn one important skill from the spirituality toolbox, and that''s |Introspect|.

    |Introspect| is the spiritual counterpart of the ubiquitous |Inspect| cantrip. To borate on that abstruse definition, while |Inspect| offers insight into the physical nature of things, |Introspect| offers insight into the abstract realms of reality. How do particles interact? One can observe it through |Inspect|. How do two opposing world views affect a person''s growth? This is where one could use |Introspect|. In simpler terms, the skill |Introspect| could make all psychologists'' and most psychiatrists'' lives immensely easier.

    In the beginning |Introspect| is a skill solely to be used to gaze into oneself. It is mostly used by mages to aid their cultivation path to ensure that nothing goes haphazardly wrong when they absorb insights. Through practice and experience, one can learn to extend this skill towards targets aside from themselves. This external application is hence called |Extrospect|. This was the same skill used by Al to peer into Markus'' cultivation.

    Needless to say, |Introspect| wasn''t an easy skill to grasp. To approach it, one must first clear their minds from all distractions and direct their concentration on their deepest and most repressed thoughts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    That was it! No matter how hard Guy searched, he couldn''t find a more substantial methodology.

    ''Again with the abstract exnations...'' Guy sighed exasperatedly at that time. ''It''s like the Way of the Burning Fist all over again!''

    Nheless, after some consideration, Guy realised that he could match the first and half of the second condition by practising Yoga without adjusting his focus in between. So with great reluctance, Guy proceeded to do so.

    Slowly, as he progressed through the sequence of poses, Guy could actually feel his mind filtering out all the noise from the surrounding. Every sound, every smell, every touch, even every taste his brain deemed irrelevant was slowly phased out. Little by little, Guy was entering a state ofplete nkness. His mind was literally empty of all thoughts.

    At that point, Guy quickly alerted his idle mind to focus on himself.

    ''Who am I? What is my purpose? Why do I do what I do? Why am I like this? What is wrong with me? Do I even deserve this? What did I do to benefit from this? I''M NOTHING BUT AN ENTITLED PRICK! I SHOULD HAVE JUST DIED!!!!''

    "AAAARGHHH!" Guy grunted while clutching his head in pain. He had dived in too quickly! Al had warned him about this. |Introspect| wasn''t a trivial skill. In the process of grasping this skill, one is forced to confront their deepest fears. It is impossible to barrel through this.

    "Deep breaths..." Guy repeated. "Slow and steady. Slow. And. Steady."

    Guy calmed himself and waited for the stabbing headache to pass, after which he restarted the sequence of poses.

    After a while, he once again entered the same state ofplete nkness. Just as he practised before, Guy directed his focus inwards.

    ''Who am I?'' Guy quickly stopped his subconscious from moving further. He couldn''t risk it likest time. The game had to be yed at pace.

    One at a time, Guy walked through each barrier his soul thrust forward in the form of a question with equally incisive answers. Guy was a mature man in his past life. Having to constantly observe and expose himself to the devastation of those truly unfortunate, he would often leave with a heavy burden in his heart. He had quicklye to terms with the fact that he was in a position of extreme privilege that couldn''t be enjoyed by most others in the world.

    His conscience recognised this and would often eat away at his sanity! Tobat his, self-afflicted, deteriorating mental health, Guy scheduled regr appointments with his psychiatrist. Through frequent conversations and directed dives into his psyche, he had gotten to know himself better.

    Unfortunately, though, Guy hadn''t put much effort into improving himself, much to his psychiatrist''s chagrin. Guy had simply learned to live with his ws, some of which ran so deep that those gazing from the outside would never even know they existed.

    ''Do I even deserve this? A second chance? Another shot at happiness?''

    Guy sighed internally when faced with this question. Yet, without hesitation, Guy answered, "No."

    BOOM!

    An abstract explosion rippled through Guy''s soul as a pair of massive gates jerked open in his mind. It was the sign Al told him to look out for. It was the indication signalling that Guy had grasped the ability to |Introspect|!

    Guy couldn''t afford to divert his focus and celebrate this aplishment. He paused for a bit to calm himself and metaphorically passed through the gates.

    Suddenly, he felt his senses rolling through a vacuum! His focus was being taken somewhere.

    But where...?

    As though to answer the question, he was unceremoniously plopped down from his rapid and ustrophobic transit to a new room.

    Guy once again paused to sharpen his focus. As his surroundings became clearer, he eximed with a mixture of shock and confusion, "W-Why am I here?"

 Chapter 108 Nostalgia

    Guy remembered this ce. It was a ce most familiar, and personal, to him. It was his studio apartment from his previous life!

    The room itself was minimalistic and condensed, roughly 60 square metres by Guy''s estimate. However, to him, it was more than enough. There was afortable twin bed, a kitchen, a couch, and television, what more could he ask for?

    Guy took a deep breath and was greeted by the familiar smell of home.

    "Why is it here though?" Guy muttered to himself. He paced around the area and inspected his surroundings. Although it had only been a little over a year since his arrival into this world, he had a perfect memory of this dwelling. To his surprise, the replica within his so-called core was faithfully urate in its representation, down to the unique way in which he folded the corners of his bedspread.

    A nostalgic sigh escaped Guy''s mouth as a plethora of emotions swelled up within him.

    "Mast? Can you hear me?" Guy yelled out loud, only to face silence in response. Either Mast was willfully ignoring Guy, or Mast couldn''t hear him at all. Usually, Mast never failed to answer Guy''s calls, since their conversations were usually well spaced, so it had to be thetter case.

    While at Guy''s realm, the core was close to bing a physical construct, it was primarily an abstract existence. The way Guy essed this ce was through |Introspect|, a spell that forced him to look within himself. This shouldn''t be out of Mast''s range of purview since he couldmunicate with Guy while he was in the RoK, which ording to Mast was also an existence tethered to Guy''s soul.

    So why couldn''t Mast hear him now?

    After a short bout of contemtion, Guy found himself getting drawn towards his familiar surroundings. Subconsciously, Guy walked over to his kitchen and opened the refrigerator. As he did so, he saw various stacks of packaged andbelled Tupperware filled to the brim with cooked food items. The handwriting on thebel was familiar to him, "It''s Mom''s!"

    With sparkling eyes, Guy hastily pulled out all the containers and popped them open. While cold, the aroma of the various cuisines assaulted his senses. Overwhelmed with nostalgia, Guy''s eyes started to well up with excitement and sorrow. Guy quickly shoved a container of fried rice into the Microwave and heated it. As he did so, he pulled out a spoon and dug into the container of homemade ice cream.

    "Mmmm," Guy moaned with pleasure as the frigid, creamy substance melted on his tongue and slid down the back of his throat. The sweetness from the natural mango vouring danced a while longer in his mouth before dissipating with the coldness. Without pause, Guy dug the spoon deep and shoved another spoonful into his mouth. Another elongated moan emanated as he processed the nostalgic taste once again.

    By the time the fried rice had heated up, Guy had nearly mowed through the entire ice cream container. Surprisingly, Guy didn''t feel full at all. Guy washed his mouth to clear his pte and dug into the container of fried rice. The rice had dried a little due to the reheating, however, the taste hadn''t diminished significantly. Smiling like an excited 5-year-old, Guy shovelled spoonfuls of the rice into his mouth.

    The container of fried rice was finished within half an hour. But Guy didn''t feel full just yet. He scanned over the other containers and picked the next food item of his choosing. His mother absolutely loved to cook. She had travelled all over the world and studied under various renowned chefs - professionals at the top of their games - and learned a plethora of cuisines. In his childhood, Guy never once ate out. His breakfast, lunch and dinner were all cooked by his mother. Guy also recollected a few pleasant memories of him and his mother working together in the kitchen. All though Guy wasn''t as gifted in the culinary arts, he was sufficiently skilful in handling the knife. So in the kitchen, by default, it was his responsibility to prepare and cut the vegetables and meat, while his mother handled the intricate stages.

    Thus, Guy was faced with a dilemma as to his second choice of containers. Each held a meal from a different cuisine. There was Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, English, Arabic, Mediterranean, and Mexican. Guy gulped down a mouthful of saliva. He was suddenly feeling gluttonous! He decided that he would finish all of them!

    One after another, food entered and exited the microwave and travelled down Guy''s gullet. Within the next hour, Guy hadpletely cleaned up all the containers. After shoving thest morsel of food into his mouth, Guy exhaled with satisfaction. After resting for a few minutes, he got up and started to wash the dishes. After cing them to dry, Guy walked up to his refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of water.

    However, when he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock.

    "T-They''re back?" The containers that he had just cleaned up had returned to their original ces and were magically refilled with a newbination of food items!

    Guy looked back at the drying rack and noticed that the containers he had ced there had gone too. "But how?" He muttered in disbelief.

    It was at that moment that an epiphany struck him. For a brief moment, Guy had forgotten that he had even died and transmigrated. The feeling of home, the taste of his mother''s food - Guy had be hypnotised by the sensory overload of familiarity.

    "This isn''t real!" Guy dered in part to affirm his conclusion and also to remind his subconscious. This ce wasn''t home, it was only a replica. Once this thought solidified in his mind, Guy started to notice the various peculiarities in his surroundings. First off, the time on the clock hanging above the television was acting weirdly. It would start spinning haphazardly one moment, and in another, it would just freeze. The pictures on the wall! Guy clearly remembered hanging a few frames around his home, however, they were now mysteriously gone. The only picture Guy saw was his family portrait.

    Guy approached the shelf next to the television and picked up the palm-sized picture frame. In it, he could clearly see the seated figures of his parents, as well as his siblings nking them from behind. However, the faces on the portrait were missing!

    "What is this ce?!" Guy blurted in confusion.

    As Guy started to be more receptive to his surroundings, his surroundings in turn started to fluctuate and flicker.

    "Is this an illusion?" Guymented out loud.<novelnext></novelnext>

    (C.. .ou h.ar .e?) A recognisable voice pierced through the undting scenery.

    "Mast?"

    (Hey! Can you hear me?) Mast repeated.

    "Mast!" Guy called out. As he did so, the facade around him finally copsed, dissipating into a white mist. After the fog settled, Guy found himself in a white, uniform, cubic room. At the centre of the room, was a cubic recession containing a perfectly t reflective surface. The mist gradually thinned out and disappearedpletely.

    "How long was I out for?" Guy asked Mast. This time, an answer arrived, (A few minutes. What happened?)

    "I don''t know for sure. I think I was caught in some sort of an illusion."

    (Your mind had turnedpletely dormant and inert for a moment there. You got me concerned for a second. Be careful,) Mast reminded.

    Guy hummed to himself and cautiously approached the square recession at the centre of the room. By making a few mental connections, Guy could deduce that the reflective surface or pool was most likely his core. He had seen something simr when he entered Markus'' core region thest time. However, he also remembered the danger Al had faced by carelessly messing around with it, so Guy kept himself on edge in case he needed to make a break for it.

    As he approached it, Guy didn''t notice anything suspicious or dangerous transpiring, everything was calm and peachy. The tranquillity persisted till Guy was right at the bank of the reflective pool.

    Guy started to take long, measured breaths to calm himself. Although he recognised the possible threat, he was kind of suspicious about whaty within his core. He kneeled forward and stationed his arms firmly near the bank, and leaned closer. As his face drew near the pool''s surface, Guy was hit with another shocking revtion.

    "M-My face!" The reflection on the pool wasn''t of Guy''s current face, that is the face of the body he was currently inhabiting. No! It was his face from his past life.

    Guy moved his hands around his face, he pulled and pinched his cheeks, he opened and closed his mouth, he even grasped and yanked his hair. Whatever he did to his body, the reflection repeated down to the minute details. Guy was once again washed over by a nostalgic feeling. He really missed his old face. Compared to his current one it was vastly superior! Guy suspected that he could have easily achieved greater sess in this life if only he had his previous, impably chiselled face.

    Guy exhaled and revealed a bitter smile. He really wanted to admire his face for a bit longer, however, his curiosity was killing him!

    He brought his fingers towards the surface of the unwavering pool - so did his reflection. Right as their fingers touched each other, Guy suddenly felt a light opposition. Guy frowned slightly and started to push harder by a small percentage. Right as he did so, his fingers slid through, cutting through the surface tension. Interestingly, his intrusion didn''t cause even a ripple. The hand moved through as if it were passing through a permeable film.

    After leaving his had submerged into the pool for a while, Guy pulled it out and inspected it thoroughly. Only after making sure that nothing had gone awry, did he slightly let down his guard.

    "Seems as though it''s safe enough," Guy concluded.

    Next, Guy decided to peek in only with his head. Although his entire body could be submerged into the pool, he wanted to maintain his alertness.

    After taking a deep breath, Guy sank his head into the pool.

    Without a ssh, his face dipped through the filmlike surface and peeked out the other side. Guy had subconsciously closed his eyes during this process, after all, it was a natural human reaction. Upon detecting that he had passed through, he slowly peeled open his eyes.

    Just as they gained rity, Guy quickly rubbed them again to do a double-take. This was because whaty before him, was not at all foreign to him. In fact, he had been in this ce a few times already, albeit in a "different frame of mind".

    Guy''s mouth sprang agape as he absorbed his surroundings once again.

    "It''s The Church!" He eximed.

 Chapter 109 The Churchâ€™s Secrets

    Guy retreated his head out of the pool and reentered multiple times to confirm that his sight was true and not an illusion like before. He even extended his hand in and felt the immediate vicinity. It all felt real enough to him. Maybe it was an borate illusion, however, it was far too advanced for him to confirm it.

    As a child, Guy often wondered how the television worked. How was it possible to get such borate visualspressed inside a small metal box with a window in it? One possible theory he had was that there were small people inside the box enacting and ying things out. But that warranted the question: how was the box able to hold so many different people? Where did they sleep? What did they eat? Did they leave the box after the work was finished?

    Anyways, for a moment, Guy felt like one of those small people living inside the television. This was because the ce where he peeked out from and into The Church happened to be the exact same ce where the visuals surrounding the ck hole were being yed out for Markus to see.

    "Could it be that the images and visuals shown to Markus originated from my core space?"

    It was a valid hypothesis. The elusive mist that persisted within his core space upon his initial entry could create extremely lifelike illusions. It could also go as far as highjacking the five human senses. Maybe, the mist from before replicated the singrity through Guy''s memories of watching various documentaries and projected it for Markus. Furthermore, Markus expressed that he felt as if he was pulled into the vision; he felt as if he was personally experiencing the event. This could mean that Markus was extracted into Guy''s core space!

    "So my core is basically a FIVR (Full-Immersion Virtual Reality) chamber," Guy muttered with an awkward smile.

    It would be a revolutionary phenomenon if that were true! Because the process in and of itself waspletely different from |Soul Imprint| and definitely more effective. Based on Al''s exnation, |Soul Imprint| is limited by the fact that it can only transfer insights and information that the user has personally witnessed or experienced. No lie, deception, or misrepresentation can be transmitted through a |Soul Imprint|. So essentially, it would have been impossible for Guy to imprint intimate knowledge of a ck hole into his student.

    As he grew increasingly excited at the prospect of developing an ultimate cheat-like ability, another theory started to gnaw away at him.

    "What if... ''I'' believed it so vehemently, that ''I'' perceived it to be ''my'' truth!" Guy surmised. By "I", Guy was referring to his other personality. The man he now dubbed as the "other guy", no pun intended.

    "It could also be possible that the ''other guy'' was so involved in the knowledge that he created a false experience through sheer force of will!"

    If that was the case, then the technique would still be ssified as |Soul Imprint| yet with an expanded scope. For one, the revtions Guy''s incarnation of the technique provided were far more realistic and involved. It was also possible to tweak the way the information is transmitted with Guy''s method. The general application of the |Soul Imprint| technique simply nted the packets of knowledge into the recipient''s mind. However, Guy''s |Soul Imprint| encouraged the target to personally witness the information and formte their own insights. In essence, this negates the possibility of mental contamination in the recipient by separating the transferrer''s personal biases and opinions from the knowledge.

    Secondly, if Guy''s assumption was true, then having the extremely delusional "other guy" steering the |Soul Imprint| procedure could allow him to transmit information that he hasn''t personally experienced. This meant that he could even transmit abstract and unfamiliar concepts such as quantum physics, viral mutations, andplex numbers, to his students.

    "All that aside. What does this all mean about my cultivation?"

    That was the question Guy wanted answers to in the first ce. The only reason he dared to ess his core through |Introspect| was to take a closer look at his cultivation method. Guy knew for a fact that he hadn''t been following any particr cultivation method, so then how did he manage to break through into a higher realm?

    At this point, Guy had fully entered The Church and assumed a seat at the back of the dais. He noticed that at the benches, there were three more faint corporeal figures next to Markus. Right after Markus was an extremely faint and misty form of Kano. After him, there were the equally faint forms of Jean, followed by Dora.

    "It''s the order in which they truly recognised me as a Teacher with great influence in their lives," Guy concluded.

    He approached Markus'' figure and inspected it curiously. When he had assumed the persona of the "other guy", he acted very familiarly and with practiced motions. Everything just seemed instinctual to him. But that wasn''t right! Working through instinct is fine when ites to sports. But with pedagogy and science, one cannot ride through with unexined theories.

    Guy remembered that to enter Markus'' core space, he had grasped at the rope extending from the corporeal figure''s navel. Following the same method, Guy reached forward and grabbed the rope tight.

    Instantaneously, he could feel a strong suction followed by a familiar disorienting traversal. But unlike before, his motion was cut short and he was pulled back. Immediately, Guy found himself back where he was in The Church.

    Guy frowned and tried again, only to face the same rejection. Seeing as there wasn''t an adverse reaction, he kept trying a few more times.

    "Is it because I am not wearing the mask?" He muttered as he grasped the rope onest time. Unlike before, though, this time his trip followed through and he found himself in the dark environment from before.

    "Why did it work this time? Do I have to keep repeating it multiple times for it to seed?"

    Guy returned to The Church and tried the alternate strategy of pulling Markus in. He grasped the boy''s corporeal figure, causing the inanimate form to liven up.

    "Master, you called me?" The boy''s figure vocalised.

    "Huh? Why did it work the first time?"

    "I''m not sure what you mean, Master."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I was trying to ess your core before. I had to repeat it multiple times before seeding. However, the process of pulling you into my core space worked right away."

    "Oh. Actually, before, I experienced a nagging feeling. I didn''t know what it was; I thought it had something to do with my cultivation. It kept repeating so I sat down to meditate. As I did so, this suddenly happened."

    "So it''s through meditation!"

    "Is there anything you need, Master?" Markus'' figure asked.

    "Hmm... Not really. Wait-" Guy quickly interrupted. "Can you try moving around here?"

    Markus'' figure frowned for a while before speaking up, "I can''t seem to move. Where is this ce exactly?"

    "That''s also what I''m trying to figure out. Can you go and ask Jean to meditate with you as well?" Guy instructed. After hearing Markus'' affirmation, Guy dismissed him. To release him, Guy mentally urged Markus to exit his meditative state.

    After waiting for a sufficient duration, Guy repeated the invitation process and grasped Markus.

    "Master!" The boy''s figure eximed.

    Guy moved over to Jean and did the same. However, since her figure wasn''t as clear as Markus'', her reaction after entering The Church was choppy and blurred.

    "T..cher La..ks!" The girlcalled out. Her figure fidgeted and flickered.

    "Jean, can you hear me?"

    "Y.., I ..n!" A hazy reply followed.

    "Can you look around? What do you see?" Guy asked.

    "It''s bl..ry I ..n''t s.. a..y..ing," She answered.

    Guy hummed and then proceeded to dismiss his two students once again.

    Although the method wasn''t properly scientific, the interaction had yielded Guy a lot of valuable information. It was still in need of further testing, but Guy could surmise that The Church''s range wasn''t limited to his immediate vicinity and that he could utilise it to interact with his students spiritually as long as the two parties were meditating. This was insane!

    "It has a conference call feature!" Or as the "other guy" would put it: "remote sermon feature." There was still some need for stress-testing the boundaries of this feature, but as it stood it was definitely game-breaking.

    In addition to this, Guy figured that the student''s cultivation realm could also y a key role in the effectiveness of this feature. For one, the distance that can be covered could be limited by the cultivation realm of the recipient. After all, Markus was close to Foundation Establishment while Jean had just started her journey. It could also affect the rity of the recipient''s presence in The Church. Maybe Jean could have a better visual if she was of a higher realm?

    "All of these warrant thorough experimentations, however, I am sorelycking a sufficientlyrge testing batch to do so," Guymented with a bitter expression.

    Guy could possibly umte a few more students from the vige, however, most of them at the school-going age were too young to walk the path of magehood. And, Guy couldn''t think of a usible ground to influence their lives enough, such that the RoK recognises them.

    He could just as easily go around recruiting random folks and teaching them magic, but that wasn''t Guy''s mantra.

    "I''ll just have to make do with what I have..."

    Yet, all things considered, there was still one question of Guy''s that had gone unanswered. How were The Church and the white room at his core space rted to his cultivation?

 Chapter 110 Mini Field Trip

    "Good morning you two! Where''s Marie?"

    "Good morning Teacher Larks," Jean answered. "Big Sis appeared a little checked out today. I don''t think she will be attending."

    "Should I go fetch her, Master?" Markus dered with a serious frown as he leapt up from his seat.

    Guy shook his head while smiling and said, "That''s okay. She''s probably tired or burnt out. She''lle when she''s ready."

    "It''s actually for the best since I wanted to test a few hypotheses out today and was worried that it would alienate her," Guy added immediately after.

    "Is it about what happened yesterday, Master? That ce again?" Markus probed.

    Right as Guy nodded, Markus instructed Jean to follow him and sat down on the ground in the lotus position. Guy didn''t even need to instruct them before they entered a steady state of meditation. With a satisfied smile, Guy followed the two and proceeded to move through his meditative stances, in order to reenter The Church.

    Although Guy could very easily ess that ce using the mask, he wanted to maintain caution. The Church was a wild-card. It was only through gruelling introspection that Guy obtained safe passage into it. He nned to thoroughly explore the nuances of this mysterious space and unearth all of its secrets before relying on the mask. Guy wasn''t nning to drop the mask altogether, though. He knew that to present the more abstract and out of the way concepts to his students, he would have to rely on the "other Guy". However, he''d prefer to dy this till absolutely necessary.

    After a few minutes, Guy found himself once again in his core space. He then retraced his steps and entered through the film-like pool at the centre of the room, and entered The Church. The ambience hadn''t changed much since he''dst essed this ce. He walked over to corporeal forms of Markus and Jean and brought them into The Church by grabbing them.

    "Master!" "Teacher Larks!" The two eximed in unison.

    Guy noticed that Jean''s presence was much clearer thanst time.

    "How is it now, Jean?"

    "It''s better. It isn''t as choppy as yesterday."

    "That''s wonderful! I''ve brought you two here to evaluate something," Guy started. "If you remember,st time we left off, we were covering the topic on cells. Can one of you tell me the definition of a cell?"

    Jean was the first to respond, "The basic building block of life, that is a cell."

    "Good. So as you know, every living organism is made up of cells. We''ve seen how these cells work using the |Magnification| cantrip as well as the |Inspect| cantrip. Today, I want us to dig deeper and actually observe the various processes a cell can undertake."

    Guy was confident that he could present this topic through the power of The Church because he vividly remembered his Biob-sessions from school. As a scion from a rich family, Guy had the privilege to study in a private academy with top of the lineb equipment. Through it, Guy received an in-depth understanding of the topic, and he was confident in his ability to recollect this information in its entirety.

    His students prepared themselves for whatever was about toe. Guy concentrated inwards and drew out his clearest memory pertaining to the topic. As he did so, a ck screen materialised at the dais. Markus was familiar with this visual, he was shown the same right when he received the revtion about the ck hole.

    "Prepare yourself, Jean! You will be subject to a lot of information and stimulus at once. Keep yourself calm at all times and absorb everything in pace," Markus warned as he started to circte his mana and calm his mind. Jean''s nk face narrowed slightly as she took her Senior Brother''s advice to heart. She too started to circte her mana ordingly and entered a deeper meditation.

    The ck screen grew up to a point and halted abruptly. All of a sudden, the students found themselves getting sucked forward into the screen. After a disorienting bout of transition, the two jerked to a halt and felt a sense of weightlessness. They were floating through some sort of fluid that felt a bit viscous, but they didn''t feel suffocated or restricted. They could see clearly around them and could move around by mimicking a simple swimming motion.

    "Where is this?" Jean was the first to voice her concern.

    "I''m not sure. But the ce does look a bit familiar..." Markus responded. He started spinning around and tried to situate himself. He gazed into the distance and noticed many weird looking particles floating around. These particles also looked familiar somehow...

    All of a sudden, a moving object caught his eye. It looked distant but was also quickly approaching them. As it grewrger, Markus made out its yellow colour and weird box-like shape. Once the distance was shortened further, he realised that it was a machine, given its metallic shell. It had two globr bulges up front that were illuminated, they somewhat resembled a pair of eyes because of the presence of a wobbling ck ball within them. It had four round, ck wheels, two up front and two behind.

    "It''s some sort of a vehicle?" Markus muttered.

    "What is it, Senior Brother?"

    "Look over there," Markus replied as he pointed towards the approaching object.

    The yellow vehicle came at them at a high-speed but quickly started to decelerate once it drew closer. It stopped right in front of the two and a windowed door at the side opened up magically.

    "Get in, you guys!" Guy''s voice called out from inside the box.

    Hearing their Teacher''s, familiar, shout the two students swam in without hesitation.

    "Master!" "Teacher!"

    "Take a seat up back!" Guy said while tilting his head out from the driver''s seat.

    "Seatbelts everyone!" He added with a nostalgic chuckle<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What are those?" Markus replied, interrupting Guy''s mirth.

    "*cough* Umm, it''s those t ropes attached to the seats. Follow the sign on the seat in front of you on how to wear them. It''s for your safety."

    "Teacher Larks. What is this carriage?" Jean asked

    "It''s a bus. It''s used to transport a lot of people at once. This bus in particr is called a school bus. It''s used to transport kids living in a neighbourhood to the school."

    "That''s amazing! How does it work?"

    "Usually it works with an engine. Think of it like a mechanical heart that pumps energy! But this one... This one works with magic!" Guy answered while wearing a mysterious smile.

    "Hold on to your seat ss, we''re going on a field trip!" Right as Guy finished, the vehicle lurched forward and zoomed forth into the distance.

    "If you remember fromst time, in multicellr organisms such as nts, animals and fungi the cells that make them up constantly grow and divide. This is how life is sustained. So can you tell me what are the two main ways cell division takes ce?"

    "Mitosis and Meiosis," Jean answered instantaneously. "Mitosis is when a cell makes an exact copy of itself before dividing into two, while Meiosis is when a cell creates a half copy of itself."

    "Can you borate on what is meant by a half copy?"

    "Ummm... It''s to do with the chromosomes in the cell''s nucleus," Jean responded with some uncertainty.

    "That is correct. A cell''s nucleus contains chromosomes are DNA molecules that hold the gic material of the organism and directive on how the cell works. When a half copy, as you say, is created then the copy of the cell only contains partial amounts of the chromosomes of the original cell. Can you tell me where Meiosis might ur?"

    Jean''s face turned crimson as she replied with a low mutter, "S-sex cells..."

    "That is also correct! Sex cells, or gametes, are special because they only contain half of the total required chromosomes to sustain Mitosis. Two gametes merge together through a process known as fertilisation to produce a whole cell or zygote, that can undergo Mitosis. And that is how children are born!"

    "Today, we will observe these two types of cell division more closely!"

    ____

    The quality and precision of experience provided through Guy''s method are dependent on how well and deeply Guy understands what he intends to present. So in this case, because Guy has an intimate understanding of the cell functionalities, he can recreate this mechanism to a high degree of realism. To add some additional "Oomph!" to these visuals, Guy decided to wrap the information in a fun package that followed a gimmick from one of Guy''s favourite educational cartoons during his childhood.

    Since the realism of this package wasn''t of tantamount importance, certain details could be overlooked. For instance, Guy drove the school bus with inane familiarity. It wasn''t excessively difficult, he just had to indicate through intention where he wanted to go, and the bus automatically moved ording to his will. To y along, though, Guy opted to twist and turn the steering wheel in fake harmony with the bus.

    After a short while, the bus arrived at a rather barren ne where strands of wavy outcropping rose from pores in the ground and extended upwards into a fine point. The students initially assumed that the ce was some sort of a weird-looking forest. But as Markus observed the scene more closely, he managed to make an intellectual connection.

    "It''s the skin!" He eximed.

    "Good job! It''s exactly right. We are currently on the surface of a human''s skin," Guy replied while bringing the bus to a stable halt. He opened the doors and allowed the students to step out.

    Once Markus exited the vehicle, he bent down and started to feel the king surface more carefully. Slowly, a frown started to show on his face.

    "What''s wrong, Markus?" Guy inquired.

    "I don''t know. It''s just... this all feels different from thest time," Markus replied.

    "Of course! The visual you experienced previously was in outer space," Guy said.

    "Not that! Thatst time, it all felt so real to me. The atmosphere, the feedback in my senses, it didn''t feel jarring..."

    "It does now?" Guy asked with furrowed brows.

    "Well not exactly. It just feels less real somehow. I don''t know what''s making me feel this way," Markus exined with some difficulty. "It''s just instinctual, I guess. It''s like what you said a few months back when you were discussing Puppetry and Mechanics with Teacher Jeeves. I believe you called it the Uncanny Valley, Master?"

    But Guy understood the boy''s point. Although Guy knew enough about cell processes, replicating the human skin to such a level of uracy with all that it contains wasn''t within his wheelhouse. So some estimations were made that would definitely pull one out of the immersion if examined properly. With regards to how this was perceived, it was like when someone who''s been ying games at 144Hz is forced to y the same game at 30Hz. Although the output is the same, the drop in quality cannot go unnoticed.

    Guy smiled bitterly at the realisation that his other counterpart was better at creating such lifelike simtions than he was. Even when the simtion was something Guy recollected from his past experiences.

 Chapter 111 See Men On My Skin

    A/N: Anticipate some R18+ content in here. ''Tis all scientific though.

    ____

    Nheless, the near-perfect visual offered tonnes of opportunities for the two students to gain a plethora of varied insights that they would have missed through the usual investigative methods. For instance, after removing some of the king skin cells from the surface, the two were able to closely observe the process of Mitosis in skin cells.

    "As you can see, the old skin cells underneath create a copy of themselves through Mitosis and push themselves higher until they reach the surface. With skin, it usually takes about a day for this process - so this representation is obviously elerated to make it easier for you guys to understand," Guy borated.

    "This process is simr with other organs and body parts as well. The old cells replicate themselves and fall off, and new cells take their ce."

    Markus raised his hands and asked, "Master. If that is the case... Does that mean that once all the cells of the body are reced following a single Mitosis cycle... We be apletely new person?"

    "That is an interesting question, Markus. There is actually a parable that discusses this line of reasoning. The thought experiment goes as follows: Let''s say that you own a ship. It''s been passed down through the ages from ancestor to ancestor, and it has finally fallen into your hands. Every generation, a part of the ship fails due to age. The ancestor that owned the ship at that time fixed or reced the part to bring the ship back into working condition. This pattern continues until it reaches you, by which time the ship has been technically remodelledpletely. Now the question remains: Is the ship in your possession, the same ship that''s been in your family''s possession since the start?"

    "It has to be!" Jean answered.

    "And why is that?"

    "Because once a new part is added to the ship, it essentially bes a part of the ship itself. Besides, the ship''s identity isn''t tied to its external appearance, it''s what is within that matters," She continued.

    "Can we extend this to sentient beings? Can I rece every single part and organ in my body, and still be considered Guy Larks?"

    "That..."

    "That would be impossible," Markus interjected. "There are some organs that you just can''t rece without losing your identity."

    "Such as?"

    "The brain, for one!"

    "But the brain DOES naturally rece itself, cell by cell. What about then?"

    This time, Jean chimed in, "Technically, it creates a copy of itself. So it isn''t being reced."

    "By that logic, if I can grow a copy of my brain outside my body, and then switch my existing brain with that one, I will still remain the same person?"

    That question elicited an extended pause from his students.

    "It''s fine to not know the answer to some questions. Sometimes, these incisive questions and thought experiments are simply there to make you think and consider your actions more carefully. By scientific reasoning, it is possible to test the theory by literally growing a copy of someone''s brain and performing a transnt. Given the nigh unlimited possibilities provided by magic, I believe it is well within our limits to do so. But is it the right thing to do?"

    Guy paused to let the thesis sink in before borating, "Science is driven by reason and objectivity. Every question has an answer given sufficient depth of study. Magic makes it infinitely easier to do so. BUT! In our pursuit of the objective truth, if we lose track of our humanity, what inhibits society from degenerating into chaos? That is where we must evaluate the morality and ethicality of our works. I know that this exnation is a huge tangent from our lesson''s focus, but it warrants consideration especially since you guys are starting off in the path of magic where lines can get blurry."

    At that point, Jean hurriedly raised her hand and inquired, "It is known that as you advance through your cultivation, the body is enriched as well as the core. In that process, how does it affect cell division? Would it elongate the duration?"

    "That is an interesting hypothesis, Jean. I haven''t looked into it. If you are interested in it, I encourage you to pursue this line of questioning. If you can share your findings with all of us, that would be even better!" Guy answered.

    Right as he finished the sentence, he noticed Jean entering some form of an excited stupor. Although her face didn''t show it, Guy could feel the perturbations inside her.

    All of a sudden, right as her aura started to settle, Guy felt a slight rush of mana circting within him. It onlysted for a brief moment, but it was enough for Guy to understand the underlying effect.

    ''It''s like... I''m cultivating?!'' He eximed to himself.

    It was almost the same kind of feeling Guy - the one before the transmigration - used to feel when he cultivated his Way of the Burning Fist, barring a few differences in the mana cirction. Furthermore, as Guy wracked his mind, he realised he had experienced the same feeling when he was under the "other guy''s" influence in trying to elucidate Markus. At that time, his mind wasn''t focused on that feeling. He sort of just let it flow through him naturally that time.

    ''It''s feedback! My cultivation is based on the feedback I get when my students grasp insights through my |Soul Imprint|!'' Guy hypothesised. Along those lines, Guy also noticed that the feedback he received in enlightening Jean was far inferior to his session with Markus. This could be indicative of two factors. First, the insights transmitted and grasped through the use of the mask and the "other guy" were superior to his current method. Second, the breadth of advancement could affect the amount of feedback Guy would receive through the |Soul Imprint|.

    To thetter, it could be that advancing between realms would offer greater feedback than minor insight absorption. Furthermore, the difference between Guy and the student could also affect the amount. For instance, at that time Markus and Guy were in the same realm. When Guy performed his |Soul Imprint| and helped Markus achieve a breakthrough to perfect resonance, the feedback was amplified. But now, since Jean was barely within Early stage Mana Condensation realm, and Guy was already in the Base stage Foundation Establishment realm, the separation was too vast.

    Of course, all of this was just spection on Guy''s part for the time being. He was looking forward to testing his hypothesis further to figure out the kinks of his self-made "system".

    After a short pause, Guy spoke up, "Let''s move to the second location. Everyone, back to the school bus!"

    ____

    The next stop took the group to a ce inside the body. The ambience was markedly darker, and the only source of light that illuminated the area were the unusually bright headlights of the school bus. The walls of the area would undte, expand and contract, and had a pinkish-red and sticky coating.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How much longer, Master?" Markus asked. They had been here for quite some time now, and the two were feeling a little antsy and ustrophobic.

    For a minute, Guy didn''t answer. His face contorted with an embarrassed expression, before settling with a wry smile. He would have loved to take the students out of the bus, but this part of the trip had been recreated not from experience, rather from recollection. The environment wouldn''t be as realistic as before and it would seriously detract from their learning experience. Furthermore, the scenario Guy had envisioned to recreate was a bit...

    All of a sudden, the entire area started to jerk back and forth.

    ""WOAH!"" The students eximed. "Wear your seatbelts and hold on tight you two!" Guy reminded. Thankfully, the school bus was somehow thoroughly fastened to the walls of the chamber.

    The back and forth jerking motion didn''t subside, in fact, it started to grow increasingly vigorous.

    "M-Master, what is happening?"

    Then, with arge, forceful crash, the jerking motion stopped. As it did, the group suddenly saw a milky-white viscous fluid flooding into the room. Upon closer inspection, the students observed a horde of strange-looking tadpole-like creatures swimming through. They had an oval, translucent head and a lean, rapidly serpentining tail.

    Jean was the first to notice a few simrities between those tadpoles and the skin cells she''d seen earlier.

    "Are those cells too?" She asked Guy, to which he nodded. "What kind of cells are those?" She evoked in a low volume.

    Guy didn''t answer and just called the school bus into action to follow the swimming horde. At the end of the chamber, the swimming group split in two. Through a strange intuition, Guy chose to follow the group that split to the right and moved with them through a narrow tunnel.

    After a short ride, the bus turned around a bend and came face to face with a massive cell. It was many timesrger than the swimming cells and the skin cells the group had seen before.

    "What is this cell?" Jean vocalised.

    The bus had overtaken the swimmers while moving through the tunnel. Just a few secondster, the hordegging behind them burst around the bend and rushed towards the massive cell.

    "What are the-" Before Jean could finish, the swimmers dove headfirst through the membrane of the cell. "They''re eating it!"

    "W-We need to save it!" Jean eximed, forgetting that everything around her was just an illusion.

    Within seconds, one of the leading swimmers managed to eat its way towards the nucleus of therger cell and merged with it. As it did so, the membrane of therger cell started to turn visible tighter, disallowing any other interlopers from breaching through. The ones that did manage to gain entry apart from the one that merged slowly died away and were ejected.

    ""What just happened?"" Markus and Jean asked.

    "I was hoping to show Meiosis, but..." Guy finally answered with heavy dread and embarrassment in his voice.

    His two students looked at him with a confused expression. To them, the event that transpired was just like if a bucket of chum was dropped into ake filled with fish. It was a legitimate feeding frenzy!

    "Let''s follow this one," Guy added and turned the bus to shadow the floatingrge cell as it traversed back through the tunnel. Along the way, they noticed a few "corpses" of the dead swimmers.

    Therge cell floated through the tunnel and finally attached itself to the wall of therger chamber they were in before.

    Little by little, the cell started to divide and multiply.

    "They don''t seem to be dying as quickly," Jeanmented. "What exactly are these cells."

    "It''s a zygote. Do you remember what a zygote is?" Guy inquired.

    Jean narrowed her eyes slightly as she worked her memory. Suddenly, the information flooded her mind.

    "A zygote? T-then what happened before...." Jean''s face started to turn a sharp shade of crimson as the realisation struck her like a rogue carriage.

    "What about what happened before?" Markus inquired. "Jean! Your face! It''s turning red again! Are you sick?" Markus instinctively reached forward and ced the back of his palm on the girl''s forehead.

    Jean quickly ducked and dodged the approaching hand and scooted further into the seat, towards the window, and turned her head away in embarrassment.

    "What''s wrong?" Markus muttered. But then his eyes looked out and he gazed at the rapidly growing cell cluster. It started as a shapeless blob, and then quickly started to gain some rity. First, the cluster turned into a bean-like shape, with one arc growingrger andrger. From the lower arc, noodle-like extensions started to grow out. These extensions started to be more defined and looked like appendages over time. Right as the upper arc formed a distinct face, Markus'' mouth opened wide in surprise.

    "It''s a baby? Aaaaaa... Wait! So then what happened before..." It was now Markus'' turn to colour himself crimson, as he receded into his jacket.

    While this was happening, Guy started receiving a small amount of feedback in the form of cultivation. However, he couldn''t enjoy it, as he shoved his face into his hands in embarrassment.

 Chapter 112 Embarrassing Aftermath

    Guy couldn''t help but frown as he exited The Church and returned to the "real world". While he''d learned quite a bit about his special "cheat-system", especially about its connection with his cultivation, he had also discerned a huge stumbling block that may turn out to be problematic for him in the future.

    ''It''s really impossible for me to recreate a scene purely from my imagination. I have to have personally experienced it.''

    In trying to teach the kids about cellr division, Guy had inevitably reverted to a few frames from his past memory as a crutch. The first scene on human skin was taken directly from his observations through a high-precision microscope in his schoolb. At that time, he and hisb partner had taken turns peering at each other''s skin specimen. Guy had simply pulled that experience and built upon it to produce a near-realistic FIVR-type visual.

    Evidently, the result was eptable barring the infrequent issues pointed out by Markus that sometimes pulled him out of the immersion.

    It was when Guy tried to present the second scene that everything started to fall apart. Guy wanted to see if he could mould the reality inside the |Soul Imprint| to his will, just like the "other guy". After all, that giarising hack had essentially copied segments from Neil Degrasse Tyson''s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey frame for frame and packaged it as some sort of an enlightening experience for Markus. Why couldn''t Guy do the same?

    ''I don''t wanna pull the typical transmigrator card... But the usual transmigrator MCs have a field day appropriating inventions, discoveries and literature from their original world and publicising it in the new world as their own. Why can''t I do that as well?''

    Maybe it was some kind of misced arrogance after experiencing sessive breakthroughs that had crept into Guy''s idle mind, but he was feeling extremely adventurous. So, Guy decided to pull out one of his memories from middle school when he had seen a video in his biology ss about the miracle of childbirth. At that time, it was a vomit-inducing watch for himself and his fellow immature peers. Guy wanted to experience the schadenfreude of putting his own students through it.

    However, Guy was immediately faced with multiple issues when he tried to materialise the scene down to the sensory inputs. He had to tailor the experience individually by frame, stacking up the precise data the observer''s senses must experience at all points in space. After a point, Guy found himself extremely exhausted. Thus, he gave up and restricted the sensory range to inside the school bus which was within his manageable range.

    The next problem turned out to be the visual itself. While in the beginning, Guy intended to tailor it based on the informational video he''d seen before, things started to go wrong almost immediately when rogue thoughts invaded his mind, causing the visual to destabilise. It should have been an innocent scene where they were shown how sperm cells were produced leading up to the fertilisation of the egg cell and then finally ending with the cell division of the zygote to form a foetus.

    But the human mind is a fickle thing. Through connections based on sheer idiocy, Guy''s mind started to swim through a plethora of depraved thoughts based on a few adult videos he''d viewed in his past life. It wasn''t even aplete distraction, a mere afterthought. The scene barely shed through his brains for a millisecond, yet it happened to have strength far greater than the educational scene Guy had been so tirelessly trying to recreate.

    The damn thing nearly took over. Thank goodness that Guy had the presence of mind to gain control over the reins in thest second and trimmed away the R-18 portions that had unwittingly invaded his mind. Otherwise, he''d have to answer to Grace, and exin to her why the children had been shown pornographic content.

    Guy shuddered just thinking about it.

    Regardless of all that, the trip had been fruitful. Guy realised that his cultivation truly was tied to the hitherto unknown "cheat-system" offshoot that had materialised within his mana core. Every time Guy utilised The Church to provide insights to his students to push their cultivation forward, he would receive feedback from his students in the form of his own cultivation. This feedback wasn''t taxed from his student, it appeared to have formed from within his own body.

    The nature of this feedback was close to an energising, nutrient-rich, infusion of arcane insights and knowledge directly into Guy''s core that urged his mana to circte in a particr fashion. What was this insight about? It was primarily packets of information about his own students, their preferences, approach to learning, the way they think, the depth and breadth of their understanding, and so on. It was like an abstract spreadsheet that was constantly updated in Guy''s mind.

    Guy found that The Church was doing most of the heavy-lifting and back-end work such as circting the mana as though cultivating, and so on. As long as Guy could farm a steady stream of such feedback, The Church could potentially boost him all the way to immortality!

    But Guy was most grateful that his cultivation wasn''t parasitic. Guy verified this by inspecting Jean after he had exited The Church. For one, there wasn''t any visible flow of mana or transfer of any sort between her and him. Although, there was a strand of bright ethereal string connecting them. Guy had seen a much thicker rope doing the same between him and Markus - he had used it to ess Markus'' core space before. Its purpose apart from that was still a mystery that Guy was looking forward to investigating as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

    It was interesting that Jean and Markus managed to learn something out of this rather disturbing trip. Of course, the feedback Guy had received from Jean was markedly greater than that from Markus when both of them had only seen this for the first time.

    ''Although the test variables are totally uncontrolled, I can hypothesise that the student''s perceptivity to certain knowledge and insight also y a key role in how much they can absorb and send over to me as feedback. This could be both advantageous and disadvantageous.'' That is, while this strategy reduces the possibility of corruption and biases leaking through from Guy''s own perspective into theirs, there is a greater burden on the students themselves to absorb and internalise the insights to the best of their abilities. This is in contrast to the standard |Soul Imprint| in which the knowledge is directly transnted into the receiver''s brain.

    Anyways, Guy wasn''t in any mood to dwell further on those theories for the time being. Because right now, he was trying his hardest to hide in embarrassment and avoid his student''s gazes.

    In fact, both of his students had the same idea as each of them were sliding down their chairs and shrinking their crimson-tinged faces into their clothes. What had started as a very educational tour had somehow taken a drastic left turn, and none of them were really prepared to experience it...<novelnext></novelnext>

    Like that, the room maintained a charged silence,

    Guy was wracking his mind on ideas to break through the metaphorically metre-thick barrier of ice, when Marie''s voice resounded through, saving him as an angel descended from the heavens.

    "What''s going on? Why''s everyone so quiet? Did I miss something?" She rattled off as she cautiously walked in. Her critical gaze scanned the room and quickly grasped on to the flustered atmosphere lingering around. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she folded her arms over her chest and scratched her chin.

    "Something shady took ce here and it''s got you two kids all red. And Teacher Larks lookspletely ashamed of himself..." The girl started to mutter out loud her hypothesis, causing the kids and Guy to shrivel up further and further.

    "No way!" She finally eximed, pping her hand onto her agape mouth in surprise.

    "Teacher Larks! You didn''t!" She used in shock.

    "I-I didn''t what?" Guy stuttered.

    "D-Did your trousers fall loose by ident?" The girl shrieked with an undertone of humour in her voice.

    "*cough* What?" Guy nearly choked on his saliva as he retorted incredulously. He waved his hands in front of him while wheezing his lungs out, "*cough* Nothing of that sort *cough* happened!"

    But Marie wasn''t one to believe others so easily. "You two! Tell me everything!" She demanded and squeezed close to Jean.

    "B-Big Sis. You shouldn''t disrespect Master like that," Markus reminded as he shifted in his seat.

    "Pshhht! Teacher Larks doesn''t mind that, right?" Marie threw out with a sly grin on her face.

    Guy finally caught his breath and retorted with a slightly hoarse throat, "Why are you sote today, Marie?"

    Marie''s grin was smothered in the cradle upon hearing that question. She wore a bitter expression and answered, "I... *sigh* I think I have a goal towards learning magic-"

    Guy raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Really? That''s great! So what is it?"

    "Before I tell you that... I have a presumptuous request, Teacher Larks."

    "As long as it is within my power, and isn''t too outrageous, no request is too presumptuous," Guy replied with a lighthearted smile and slight rhythm in his voice.

    "I''ve seen the kind of magic Markus and Jean are practising. It is a lot different from what I''ve seen other mages their age use. I like it because it makes sense, and I am very much interested in learning it myself. However... I... wish to ept someone else as my Master!"

    "Marie!" Markus blurted out with a forceful tone and anger ring in his eyes. "I''ve tolerated enough of your nonsense! Apologise to Master, now!"

 Chapter 113 Safeguarding The Family

    A wave of mana burst out from Markus as an uncontroble rage boiled over from within. Being only at the Late Stage of Mana Condensation realm, this wave couldn''t have made it far, but Marie was much too close to Markus and had unwittingly taken a decent brunt of the damage. She started to sweat profusely as her mental sirens screamed out in fear. Jean, who happened to be next to Marie, also suffered a simr bacsh. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her general detachment from her emotions had left her face sporting a rather calm expression. But the rest of her body wasn''t inert, and her back was thuspletely drenched in sweat.

    But Markus wasn''tpletely lost in his outburst. He took an elongated breath and immediately retracted his inadvertently forceful mana projection. "Sorry," he said immediately.

    "But Big Sis, do you realise what you''re proposing is extremely disrespectful to Master?" Markus continued with a stern tone.

    Marie breathed a sigh of relief following the reprieve and answered with a bitter smile, "I know that, Markus. I know that is an extremely presumptuous and shameless request. But I wouldn''t do so if I didn''t have any other choice."

    Guy coughed to interject the conversation from heating up again and asked, "What do you mean by that, Marie?"

    As he finished that question, he gazed deep into Marie''s eyes with interest. He''d recognised this girl''s character right at their first personal interaction.

    ''She isn''t one to make half-hearted and miscalcted decisions,'' Guy affirmed. That just wasn''t her character. In many ways, she reminded him of his elder brother in his previous life.

    "Goal-oriented and sharp" is what one interviewer published in a renowned annual business review magazine. Guy''s brother never took risks. What people considered to be a shakey venture, his brother could turn into a sure shot through ingenious machinations and brain-frying calctions. In fact, Guy''s brother was the sole reason why Larks Enterprises rose to such heights in his lifetime. His sesses weren''t free of jealous gazes and antagonistic rtionships, though. But none that dared to oppose his brother stood a chance.

    "Insects buzzing around a feast, but too cowardly to take a bite," was the exact phrase his brother had used to describe them.

    But only Guy and his family knew the true face of the demon feared by everyone in the capitalist world. Deep down, his elder brother was the most selfless and family-oriented man he had ever met, barring his father of course. Every decision made, every investment, every move actioned within the enterprise was for the sole benefit, growth and safety of the family. The world could go to hell for all that mattered, as long as the family could hold on to the least ravaged section his elder brother would willingly sacrifice everything.

    Yet, why did he always wear such an impassive face and hold such a cynical worldview? That was mainly because of the tragic loss his brother had faced in his youth when he tried tounch his start-up with a few of his University roommates. At first, everything was harmonious. The group had developed revolutionary software that tracked market trends and predicted an optimal investment spread offering the safest and greatest returns. The entire thing was built on his brother''s algorithm and had a sess rate of over 85%.

    His brother wanted to start as a small trading and investment firm and organically grow by amassing a loyal client base looking for stable and long-term growth. His roommates agreed at first. When the big-hitters in the field came knocking and threw around their weight, the team held strong. That was until one specificpany offered a ridiculous amount to buy out their entire firm.

    Of course, Guy''s brother refused. But the allure of wealth wasn''t so easily averted. His so-called business partners didn''t hesitate to stab him in the back, sell out and join thepetition. It would have been fine if it was just that, but one of them stole the algorithm that his brother developed. The friends he''d shared a room and his dreams with had turned on him without an afterthought.

    His brother filed awsuit for patent vition, but thepetitor simply dragged out the court case using their connections till it became a cash sink.

    His brother had started the venture with his own hard-earned money. Not a penny had been drawn from the family''s ounts. Till the very end, his brother refused to involve his family and drag them through the mud in the process.

    Yet once bitten twice shy - his brother had learned a valuable lesson which had unfortunately marred his entire outlook on society.

    "Trust no one, but blood."

    Those tied to you by blood would never, in good conscience, stab you in the back. It may be the byproduct of a loving family that cemented such a naive worldview in his brother''s mind. In fact, Guy''s eldest sister-inw had the hardest time trying to break through his elder brother''s near impervious outer casing. But after years of active pursuit and suffering the emotional distress of unrequited love, she had cracked through and forcefully tweaked Guy''s brother''s life philosophy.

    "Trust no one, but blood... and my wife!"

    It was the exact same impression Guy perceived when he conversed with Marie properly for the first time. The girl was boorish and cynical. She never trusted anything at face value. The worst part was that if someone told her the world was round, she would immediately assume the opposite end of the argument and reason her way towards the right answer through a series of anger-inducing and forcefully antagonising questions and debates. It wasn''t that the girl was stupid. No! Her mind worked like Guy''s brothers - unmatched in its efficiency. The way she crunched through numbers was akin to how a piano virtuoso''s finger''s danced on the keyboard, elegant and without dalliance. But she was argumentative by nature. She was the worst kind of student any teacher could ask for!

    But when it came to her family, the girl would immediately bend over backwards. It was the sole reason why she even deigned to obey Guy with a partly open mind - because Guy was Markus'' Master. Guy knew that it would be near impossible for anyone else to enjoy the same benefits. ''So who in their right mind is willing to take this girl as their apprentice?'' Guy wondered with a low snort.

    Marie''s expression faltered with a trace of distress at Guy''s piercing gaze. She was a little fearful of the man due to the power he held as a mage. But something inside her actively suppressed this feeling and washed her with a sense offort. Her gut told her that Guy wouldn''t be offended, he wasn''t that kind of a man. Yet she was apologetic to Guy for bringing it up, however, she HAD no other options.

    ''Rather than bing preupied with the what, evaluate the why,'' Is what that man told her. And it was by following this vague thread that Marie found her true calling.

    "I want to be a mage to keep my family safe," Marie affirmed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Like Markus?" Guy inquired.

    "Not exactly," She corrected. "Going through dark and unknown woods, you take a wrong turn ande face to face with a ferocious beast. To protect is to defend against the beast through superior strength or cunning defence. To keep safe is to avoid taking the wrong turn altogether."

    "Foresight, is it?" Guy asked as rification.

    Marie hummed in affirmation and expounded with an unwavering tone, "I don''t seek power. All I care for is to keep this small world of mine safe and unaffected. In fact, this has been my drive since the very beginning. But I recognised that such a farfetched ambition was beyond my reach. In nning contingencies for everything that might take ce, I will inevitably miss the opportunity to take action. And that does not even take into consideration the events that are vaguely connected which can sometimes interfere with the oue."

    She paused, and then dered with a resolute expression, "But that was until the possibility was presented before me. So that is why I am putting forth such this request, Teacher Larks."

    "Although you are still a teenager, you are mature beyond your years, Marie. Once you''ve set your mind to something, you won''t ever let it go, so what reason is there to ask me for permission?" Marie blushed in embarrassment in hearing such an apt evaluation of her psyche.

    "So I won''t deny you right away. But I am interested to know just why you wish to continue studying under me as well? I figured that you wouldpletely transfer your tutge to your new Master?" Guy asked.

    "One is means to an end, the other is something I enjoy from the bottom of my heart," Marie replied with a bright smile. "To gain the ability to protect my family, I need to pursue discipleship. Yet I am selfish and do not wish to drop what I enjoy, which is learning under you, Teacher Larks."

    Guy clicked his tongue and waved his hand aggressively, "I don''t know where you learned to talk so sweetly."

    He then added, "I almost forgot to address the massive elephant in the room!"

    Guy leaned forward and narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Who is this Master you''re so eager to follow anyways? Before you do anything irreversible, I want to meet this person as well!"

    Marie nodded vehemently and answered, "It''s great master Krish Nara."

    "Big Sis, are you talking about the travelling soothsayer living in the vige?" Markus interjected.

    "Yes."

    Guy coughed loudly to mask a disdainful snort that was about to escape him. In his past life, Guy had heard of many individuals who practised arcane pseudo-sciences such as astrology, numerology, palmistry, and so on. While he respected those that practised these rites as some form of religious or traditional ritual, he was generally averse to those that shilled the less informed of their wealth in the form of false pretences. Be that as it may, Guy didn''t use to properly believe in those pseudo-sciences. He firmly believed that one was the driver of their own fate.

    However, that was all before he passed away at a young age and met a being equivalent to a god and was transmigrated to a world filled with unbelievable phenomena, like magic. So, Guy quickly suppressed his scorn. ''Who knows? In this world of magic, those pseudo-sciences may actually be effective!''

    "That''s it, it''s decided!" Guy dered as she sprang up from his seat. "We''re going to meet this person and discuss your discipleship. If I am not satisfied then I will have to put my foot down."

    "W-What?" Marie muttered in disbelief.

    "That''s right. If I find anything suspicious the I will also inform Grace."

    "But you can''t do that!" Marie eximed immediately. It was one thing to argue against Teacher Larks, it was a whole other battlefield in contending against Matron Reva!

    "Why not? It''s my duty as your guardian to protect the misinformed minors under my protection."

    "You can''t do that!" Marie tried to rebuke again, yet right as the words left her mouth Guy had already walked out with Markus and Jean in tow, the former wearing a light smile while trying to suppress hisughter.

    "W-Wait for me!" Marie cried out as he hurriedly followed the group with a brisk jog.

 Chapter 114 Scepticism

    A/N: It will make more sense if this chapter is read between Chapter 106 and Chapter 107.

    ____

    After the chance encounter with great master Krish Nara, Marie''s mind automatically drifted away from her earlier preupation with Kano''s safety. Fortunately, or unfortunately, another issue had ingrained itself into her consciousness rather doggedly.

    "What did he mean by that?" She muttered out loud. "Evaluate the why... Pssht!" She scoffed.

    "I ain''t falling for that old trick!" Of course, she wouldn''t. Marie had seen it one too many times before: creating a false sense of urgency and mystery to cater to the human''s natural penchant for curiosity. Marie was certain that this was just another tactic to fool the uninformed masses. "Amon huckster''s ruse!"

    Yet regardless of her awareness of this fact, Marie was still, after all, just a human.

    "No! It would be wrong to write it off without investigation," Marie said in trying to convince herself. Although logic dictated otherwise, her heart held a faint hope that it might actually be true.

    "If I could peer into the future..." She would no longer have to wallow in doubt and despair.

    Soothsayers weren''t rare in this world. Marie had seen and met many of them before during her travels. She didn''t know how many of them were legitimate, but that didn''t matter. Because all of them had one thing inmon and that was uncertainty. They would all preach that the future was never static and was always changing. Human actions and behaviours could influence the way events yed out, and could potentially make a prediction invalid.

    A "cop-out", is what Marie considered them.

    Yet great master Nara was different. He didn''t embellish his words with a spurious addendum essentially leaving him with a backdoor. No. The man was certain, there was no wavering in his deration.

    ording to great master Nara, the future was set in stone. There was no changing it regardless of human intervention. It would have discouraged Marie if not for the man''s penultimate addition which sort of contradicted him.

    "He said that it was possible to change the future..." But to do that, she would have to be his disciple.

    Marie refused to preupy herself with such uncertainties until she first verified if the man was legitimate. To do that, she had to employ what she had learned from Teacher Larks. She needed to use the scientific method.

    As part of the process, Marie needed to collect data from a sufficiently diverse and apt sample. For this, she didn''t have to look far.

    Marie strolled around the Twilight Vige in search of subjects to interview. She didn''t want toe across as intrusive and nosy, so she decided to target the people she was acquainted with first.

    "Good morning Auntie Roe, Sister Colyn!" Marie greeted as she walked past the fence of a quaint thatched house near the periphery of the vige. At the porch of the house, sat a pair of mother-inw and daughter, working industriously in sifting grains.

    "Marie! How are you?" The elderly woman beamed back. The younger woman sitting next to her leaned forward to stand, but was immediately impeded by her mother-inw''s gentle grasp, "Colyn, you sit! Don''t exert yourself unnecessarily."

    Sister Colyn smiled bitterly and said, "But mother, it''s only walking up to the gate..."

    "Nonsense! One can never be too cautious when pregnant," Auntie Roe reprimanded, her gaze hovering lovingly over her daughter-inws tantly evident and unusuallyrge abdomen.

    The elderly woman didn''t entertain the conversation any further and walked over to let Marie in. "What brings you here today, Marie?" She asked as she opened the gates.

    "Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to talk to Sister Colyn, that''s all. I cane over another time if you are busy," Marie hinted.

    "No, no. You two girls can talk. I need to make sure that lunch is prepared," Auntie Roemented and walked into the house. Marie didn''t dawdle further and sat next to Sister Colyn.

    "How are you feeling nowadays, Sister Colyn?" Marie asked with concern evident in her face. "It looks... painfullyrge, doesn''t it?"

    Sister Colyn giggled and responded excitedly, "The vige midwife believes that it might be twins. So it isn''t unusual."

    "You seem pretty ted on that prospect. Aren''t you scared?" Marie probed hesitantly.

    "Scared? About what?"

    "Well... I''ve heard that birthing twins can get..." Marie wavered in her tone and gestured the end of her sentence instead.

    Sister Colynughed wholeheartedly and said, "I''m not worried, no. Great master Nara predicted that the birth will be safe, and the children will be born healthy."

    "And you believe him?" Marie retorted.

    Sister Colyn frowned slightly and chided Marie, "Don''t be so disrespectful, Marie. Great master Nara is an exceptional man. He rightly predicted when I would be pregnant, and the fact that it would be twins. Why wouldn''t I believe it when he said that the birthing would be safe?"

    "He could easily have just inspected you..." Marie muttered.

    "What was that?" Sister Colyn rified.

    "Is that really enough reason to believe someone so wholeheartedly?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "My worries are trivial, Marie. What reason would he have to deceive me? Besides, he didn''t ask for payment or reimbursement. I don''t see anythingpelling me against trusting great master Nara."

    "There is that as well..." Marie muttered under her breath again. Ever since his arrival in this vige, great master Nara had asked nary a soul for a single coin for his predictions. The only thing the man ever requested was assistance in building him a home.

    Marie conversed with Sister Colyn for a few more minutes before leaving towards her next target. Marie knew most of the people in the vige personally, so her bout of collecting data wasn''t hindered one bit. Every person she met that interacted with great master Nara had only good things to gush about him. Marie slowly felt herself getting brainwashed by the repetitive drones of praises and adorations.

    The survey did offer her certain insights into Krish Nara as a person and about his powers. First, the man was always objective and detached. He offered the predictions in their raw form, without filter and embellishments. Some of the people Marie talked to threw in a few grumbles in between about how they felt that the man was a little rude or incisive. If the man were lying, he wouldn''t adopt such a persona. Personally, Marie admired that about him. If the truth was unavoidable, it was unnecessary to garnish it with irrelevant details.

    Secondly, the man always avoided the path of changing the future. His solutions and advice often revolved around softening the blow or dealing with the problem head-on. That was also Marie''s way of thinking. Butpared to her, who prepared for the most probable scenarios, great master Nara knew exactly what would take ce and offered measures tailored to that in particr. Yet this brought up the question worth a million gold coins: ''Since he so readily exposed that it was possible to change the future, why isn''t he doing so?'' Marie thought to herself.

    Marie''s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud crash to her right. Her gaze darted in that direction, and she saw a middle-aged woman hunched over on the ground and carefully collecting the spilt contents - freshly washedundry - of her overturned basket.

    "Auntie Lane!" Marie called out and rushed over to help the crouched woman.

    "Marie! Thank you so much," The woman smiled back.

    Marie joined the woman by getting on her knees and scrambling around to collect the clothes that had been strewn away in different directions.

    Auntie Lane sighed out loud andmented, "I just washed them too..."

    "What happen-" Marie was just about to finish the question, but her eyes locked on the woman''s right hand. "Your thumb! What happened to your thumb?" Marie bellowed in surprise.

    The woman nced at her four-fingered right hand and simply shrugged, "This isn''t new. It''s been like this for three, four weeks now."

    "What do you mean? How did this happen?"

    "I had to give it up, you see," the woman rified with a straight face.

    "Give it up? For what?"

    The woman leaned forward and answered with a morose tone, "For my and my child''s life."

    "What child?" Marie blurted out thoughtlessly. She immediately regretted her decision and pped her lips as a sign of apology. This was because everyone in the vige knew about the struggles of the Lane husband and wife. The two were well into their thirties and lived a love-filled life. The husband worked as a driver for a profitable merchant''s caravan and raked in a lot of money. They had a wonderful house in the vige, better than most others. Yet the vigers were never envious of the couple. This was because, for all they had, they werecking in one thing that they yearned for desperately. A child.

    With their means, the two managed to consult a few physicians and determined that while neither of them was infertile, Auntie Lane''s womb was problematic in that she was susceptible to miscarriages at the slightest of disturbances. Uncle Lane adored his wife deeply, and although he sorely wished to hold a son or daughter in his arms, the love for his wife superseded his animalistic urge to propagate his bloodline, which Marie felt admirable. And many wives in the vige shared her opinion. The man had even separated from his family in a local town because they so feverously urged him to divorce and remarry.

    So it was surprising when Autie Lane uttered those words. Marie almost thought that the woman had finally lost her mind due to her depression. But, instead of a heartbroken sulk, Auntie Lane''s face blossomed into a smile filled with hope and love as she answered, "Great master Nara predicted that I will finally birth a healthy boy! He said I would conceive within this month."

    Marie furrowed her brows and muttered, "So that''s why Uncle Lane has been so vibrant every day."

    Auntie Lane''s aged face turned a crimson shade filled with the shyness of youth upon hearing that. She coughed out loud to dispel her embarrassment and got back to pick up her clothes with a lowered head.

    "But that doesn''t answer my question: What happened to your thumb?"

    Auntie Lane answered without diverting her attention: "Great master Nara predicted that I will birth a healthy boy. But he also predicted that I would faceplications during his birth, and would die in the process."

    Nearing the end, her tone had turned grim. After a short pause, she continued, "Maybe I''m selfish. But I refuse to bring a child into this world at the cost of my life. I also want to hold my boy in my hands, kiss him, cuddle him, y with him, watch him as he gets married and has his own children. Is it too much to ask for both? But great master Nara said that it would be possible for me to live AND safely give birth to my boy... for a cost."

    Marie''s mouth sprang agape at that revtion. This was the first time she had heard of great master Nara attempting to change the future from his predictions!

    "So he took your thumb to change the future?" Marie barked, only to receive the woman''s innocent nod.

    "And you believed him?" She added.

    "I did. And I don''t regret anything. You must understand Marie, there was hope. I was finally going to get what my husband and I so desperately wanted. I would have chopped off my hand, let alone my thumb! Heck, even my husband was prepared to sacrifice his thumb right away. But the great master stopped him. He said that because it was my life, I had to be the one to give up something to bnce the scales," Auntie Lane exined.

    "Your life for a thumb? That doesn''t seem right," Marie murmured.

    "I asked him the same question. Great master said that the thumb was to influence a change. A shift in the flow of fate. Ultimately, the dominoes would fall in my favour, is what he said. Besides, it didn''t hurt at all! I didn''t have to chop it or anything. Just a second, was all it took."

    Marie conversed with Auntie Lane for a while longer, until all the clothes were securely folded back into the basket. As she watched the woman''s figure walk away, while clumsily grasping at the basket ced securely over her head with her thumbless right hand, Marie contemted on everything she had learned today.

    ''That''s it! It is possible to change the future, but there is a cost to facilitate this!'' Marie concluded. That made a lot of sense. But Marie didn''t delude herself into thinking that she could crack the code just by discerning these facts. The cultivation art, The Heavenly Eye, definitely housed many secrets that expounded on this process - it wasn''t as straightforward as just cutting off a thumb or two randomly.

    However, Marie realised that if she wanted to learn this, she had to take the unpredictable step of entering great master Nara''s discipleship.

 Chapter 115 Marie Reva

    Marie spent the rest of the day yesterday, and early morning of today going through her decision once again. After all, she wasn''t one to make impulsive decisions. And it was during this contemtion that Marie realised her true drive in wanting to learn magic. Why was she so enamoured with learning how to predict the future like great master Nara? It was to preserve what she had and what she held so dearly and close to her heart: her family.

    However, finding her resolution was one thing, presenting this in front of Teacher Larks was another. Marie recognised that it would be selfish and utterly disrespectful of her to put forth the request of entering great master Nara''s discipleship as well as indulging in Teacher Larks'' enlightening lessons. For one thing, Teacher Larks was providing her with the benefitspletely free of cost - at least great master Nara attached a stringent requirement to his offer. This in and of itself greatly troubled Marie and gnawed away at her until she finally entered a perturbed sleep.

    Marie woke up with a heavy heart early in the morning; she was fully prepared to sacrifice her interest in favour of what she considered her responsibility. Yet she decided that it would be unfortunate if she left without trying. The only reason Marie even bothered to bring up the idea in front of Teacher Larks was that over the past few weeks of interacting with the man, she understood his personality perfectly. She knew that Teacher Larks didn''t hold any expectations with her. He taught her because he enjoyed teaching. He indulged Markus and Jean, as well as the other kids from the vige because he liked interacting with them. And he offered his services for free because he had no great ambitions. Still, the reason why such a brilliant man, with a mind filled with ideas and thoughts well beyond his generation, had decided to slum it out in such a backwater vige was beyond Marie''s understanding.

    Nheless, Marie was confident that Teacher Larks wouldn''t take offence in her impertinence, and she was right. But what she didn''t expect was that Teacher Larks epted her proposal and even went as far as to probe great master Nara to test his credibility as her prospective Master. An unusual feeling welled up from within Marie as she followed the stable figure leading her down the steps to the vige.

    It was the feeling that she seemingly yearned for, but didn''t know about until she experienced it herself for the very first time. Was it security? Dependence? The feeling of having someone to rely on?

    Although she''d lived with Matron Reva for a long time now, Marie never felt this way before. It wasn''t that Matron Reva wasn''t dependable. Rather, Marie could feel that Matron Reva had her burdens to carry, and it wouldn''t be proper to dump her''s on top of all of that. But then why did she feel more secure andfortable in unburdening herself with Teacher Larks? Was it because he was a man? Unlikely. Because if so, she would feel equally dependent on Markus even if the boy was younger than her. Then was it because he was a mage? Maybe. Strength did offer some sce.

    Yet Marie felt it was most likely because Teacher Larks did not look like someone with the weight of life bearing down on them. He just looked so carefree, and in control. Yes. That was what Marie yearned for! Control...

    ''Teacher Larks cares for me!'' Marie''s supposed cynical facadepletely shattered as a feeling of warmth wrapped all around her, finally showering her with a sense of reassurance that she desperately yearned for.

    "Maybe he isn''t so bad after all," she muttered to herself in an inaudible voice.

    ____

    (And that''s five,) Mast''s voice echoed in Guy''s mind.

    "Huh?" Guy paused. "Who?"

    (The girl,) Mast hinted.

    Guy chuckled internally with excitement upon hitting the milestone towards unlocking the remaining portion of the RoK. He anticipated the addition of Marie towards the count, however, after trying time and time again and failing, he was close to giving up on getting through to the girl.

    ''So stubborn,'' Guymented internally. The girl had insane trust issues that troubled Guy to no end. She did open up recently. For instance, as they were descending the steps, she went as far as to exin her findings of the soothsayer named Krish Nara and his powers, as well as her interest and goal with entering his discipleship.

    All that aside, now that the RoK had tagged five students, Guy was even more ted as he could ess the more advanced books from high-school level and above.

    ''You could have just left everything open from the start, you know. What was the point of cing the barriers anyways?'' Guy said.

    (Motivation,) Mast added. (I found that most humans tend to work harder if they are provided with clear objectives and targets. Otherwise, they revert toziness and sloth.)

    ''Motivation to do what? I thought this was just a second shot for me? I thought I was free to do whatever I wanted?''

    (Sure,) Mast replied curtly.

    Guy wanted to continue the discussion, and possibly explore the new books avable to him as well, but he didn''t have the time to do so just yet. Because right then, the group had arrived at the base of the steps. They turned to the left and, following a short minute, they arrived in front of great master Nara''s cottage. Just as Teacher Larks reached forward to knock on the door, it swung open gently and a calm voice echoed through, "You cane in. The door''s open."

    Guy walked in and greeted Krish with a warm smile, followed by his students.

    Krish lowered his head lightly in eptance and beckoned for the group to take a seat. Although Guy had been in Krish''s cottage before, he was still impressed by his minimalist lifestyle. There weren''t many items of furniture or material possessions decorating the deste household. Thest time he was here, there was only a rattan bed frame with a thin mattress - that still looked barely used - and a single wooden chair. Today, surprisingly, there were three more chairs ced conspicuously in front of the bed, where Krish was seated with crossed legs.

    "You were expecting us?" Guy probed.

    "I was shown that it would be today," Krish replied.

    "So you must already know why I''m here?"

    "I do. But I''d like to hear it from you," Krish beamed back.

    "Marie here has informed me that you are willing to ept her as your Disciple if she is interested in learning your cultivation art," Guy started.

    "Yes. The girl is fated to The Heavenly Eye. There is no escaping it," Krish interjected.

    "Then as her guardian by proxy, it is my duty to ensure that she is in safe hands," Guy pointed out with a firm tone.

    Krish chuckled ominously and said, "It''s not like you can stop it from happening. The girl''s mind is set-"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "No, it''s not!" Marie interrupted. "I-If Teacher Larks denies it, then I won''t be your disciple."

    "Don''t lie to me, girl. If it were so easy to change your mind, you wouldn''t have gone around asking others in the vige about me," Krish replied with a sly grin.

    He then snickered in seeing the girl''s mouth bursting agape. "Nothing misses these eyes."

    Marie realised that she was losing the upper hand and immediately narrowed her eyes sternly. She calmed her wavering mind and snapped down in protest, "If Teacher Larks denies it, I will not be your disciple!"

    As she punctuated her deration, a subtle change transpired invisible to the eyes of everyone in the room barring Krish whose eyes nearly burst out of their sockets in shock.

    ''This girl! She- She''s changing the flow subconsciously!''

    "Fine! Fine! I was only messing around with you!" Krish barked back hastily. He noticed the shifting clouds of fate settle through his Heavenly Eye and heaved a sigh of relief.

    He then turned to Guy andmented cautiously, "You know, back in the day, scores of mages would line up for days to enter my discipleship, only to be denied."

    Guy nodded with a mirthful exhale and said, "They wanted to be your disciples, but were turned down by you. In this case, though, you were the one who proposed the discipleship to Marie. Therefore, she must also have the right to decline. Besides, she''s told me something interesting about your power."

    He then leaned forward, cradled his chin on his palms and spoke with a measured and incisive tone, "You said that Marie is fated with The Heavenly Eye. She cannot learn it if you don''t teach her. If she doesn''t learn it then it isn''t technically her fault, but yours. Furthermore, it would lead to a deviation in the natural flow of fate, which, ording to a little birdie, results in a bacsh of some sort. Since you are the one at the centre of this deviation... I think you know where I am going with this."

    Krish wore a bitter expression and exhaled loudly in defeat. "I misjudged you a little, Guy Larks... Fine, I''ll appease your apprehension. You''re here to determine if I am capable enough to be this girl''s Master, correct?"

    Without waiting for a response, Krish removed his suppressed cultivation and unleashed an invisible pressure in waves. It started breezily, but then quickly rose in strength with every passing second.

    Marie was the first to sumb to the pressure and lose her consciousness. She was then followed by Jean, whose expression didn''t budge an inch. Markus managed to hold out for a while longer, but he too copsed just as easily.

    ''I can''t gauge his cultivation! He''s definitely stronger than I am. But by how much?'' Guy thought to himself with great difficulty as he tried to withstand the increasing pressure.

    Once Markus slumped down into his seat, the rising tension teaued, and then started to drop.

    "Is this sufficient?" Krish smirked.

    "What is your cultivation realm?" Guy asked through measured breaths as he tried to stabilise his racing heart.

    "Higher than yours," the man answered cheekily. "You didn''t answer my question."

    "I amforted to know that you can protect Marie. But I still have some concerns about your cultivation art. You should know exactly why Marie is so inclined towards prediction and future sight."

    "The girl desires control and surety."

    "Exactly. And while I''m impressed by your track record and efficacy, I need to ascertain it onest time for my own peace of mind," Guy concluded.

    Krish nodded along in understanding and entered silent contemtion. He stayed that way for a whole minute before looking directly into Guy''s eyes and speaking with a morose tone, "When I came to this vige, I inspected everyone present with my ability. At that time, I saw nothing of value in this vige. It was shown that the vige would remain as such for maybe half a century before decaying and fading away with time, just like every other ce I passed through. But then the very next day, something happened. Everything changed! The vige that was quaint and without purpose gained an auspicious coating unlike any other. It was surprising because this never happens."

    "What do you mean?" Guy uttered in a low tone.

    "It. Never. Happens. Fate is static, it never changes. People only think that they have control over their lives and their futures, but they don''t. NO ONE can change fate. But then it did change!"

    "You said that you can change the future. Maybe it was the result of someone else like you-"

    "There is NO ONE else like me. Believe me. There is no other cultivation art in this world like The Heavenly Eye," Krish entuated confidently.

    He then resumed his monologue, "A change so drastic can only mean one thing: Someone strong- Someone immensely powerful had made a y. Someone strong enough to execute a shift so drastic and sudden, yet without causing nary a ripple!"

    Krish showed a faint smile and said, "I stayed here for maybe a year? Waiting for the cause to show up, after all the perpetrator returns to the scene of the crime nine-out-of-ten times. And that was when I saw you, Guy Larks - A man with a fate so murky he should be dead. Yet there he was, walking and talking without a hint of death lingering over him."

    Krish copied Guy''s earlier posture and rested his chin on his hands. He then gazed intently at Guy''s warped expression and directed a mote of his power to raise the tension.

    "So, Guy Larks, exactly who, or what, are you?"

 Chapter 116 Fated Master And Disciple

    Guy burst into frantic sweats when confronted with Krish''s almost on-the-nose prediction.

    ''D-Does he know?'' Guy repeated internally.

    Surprisingly, his rhetorical question was answered by Mast''s familiar, monotone voice, (It''s only a hypothesis. To him, it is still uncertain.)

    ''Now you show up?!'' Guy interrogated.

    (I was busy.)

    ''Doing what?!''

    (Managing a world...) Mast retorted with a hint of sarcasm.

    But Guy didn''t have time to contend with Mast''s sass, he was quite literally being burned by Krish''s unwavering and incisive gaze.

    Almost by reflex, Guy revealed a strained chuckle and said, "That doesn''t seem possible. How can I be dead? I''m very much alive, as you can see."

    "That''s the thing! These physical eyes of mine can very well observe that you are hale and hearty. But it is what my Heavenly Eyes perceive that concern me. They haven''t failed me to date, nor have they failed my Master, or his Master. In fact, since the inception of this school of magic, that hasn''t been a single case where The Heavenly Eye has made a mistake," Krish dered with furrowed brows.

    He then drastically raised the pressure focussed on Guy and inquired with a forceful tone, "Tell me the truth! Are you a practitioner of Necromantic arts? Are you a Lich?"

    Guy shook his head with great difficulty, "N-No."

    "Are you a product of or a summon of someone practising Necromantic arts?" Krish inquired.

    Guy wasn''t sure about how to go about answering that one. Through a pure technicality, Guy was, for all intents and purposes, a foreign soul inhabiting a soulless container. Was it not Necromancy by definition?

    "N-No," Guy denied once again. As thest syble escaped Guy''s lips, the pressure amplified significantly.

    "Lies!" Krish bellowed. His voice reverberated within Guy''s mind and threatened to burst through the orifices along with a mush of his internal organs.

    ''Does he have some kind of a polygraph machine inside his head?'' Guy cursed to himself.

    To an extent, Guy''s guess was correct. Krish used his highly sensitive mana sense to gauge various indicators across Guy''s body all at once. Rhythmic changes in heartbeats, variations in sweat nd secretions, dilution or constriction of the pupils, microexpressions shing across Guy''s face, and many more. Krish had lived long enough, and interacted with a sufficientlyrge pool of people, to efficiently determine if someone was speaking the truth or not. Even the most proficient and emotionally detached sociopaths or psychopaths couldn''t hide from him.

    "I am not a product of or summon of a mage practising Necromantic arts!" Guy forced out through gritted teeth.

    "Tch!" Krish clicked his tongue in annoyance and dissipated the pressure looming over Guy. "Don''t think that I didn''t catch your shenanigans with semantics. Nheless, I know enough..."

    As Guy breathed heavily to recollect himself, he inquired, "What DO you know?"

    "I know that you have died once, or at least this body has. BUT, after passing, either the soul was forcefully returned into the body or something simr took ce-"

    "I didmit suicide!" Guy quickly interjected. "I hung myself due to some... trying circumstances. But I was told that possibly my passing triggered the activation of my inheritance- Right! I forgot to tell you about that! You see-"

    "I know about your inheritance," Krish interrupted and nodded solemnly. "Although that does make sense, it still doesn''t justify the drastic change in the flow of fate!"

    "Why are you so sure that it is me who caused this shift?"

    "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not centaurs," Krish enunciated.

    "am''s Razor!"

    "Who''s am?"

    "Nevermind..."

    "Don''t interrupt me!" Krish growled in annoyance. "As I was saying, I don''t believe in coincidences. Now that I think about it, it is a trait I share with that girl. Your arrival here was preceded by this shift in tide and I have a strong suspicion that it is you who caused it!"

    Guy sighed in exasperation. He didn''t know what to do to cate the emotionally charged man.

    ''Hold up! Why am I the one being interrogated here?'' Guy eximed internally. He expressly remembereding down here to evaluate Krish as a prospective Master for Marie.

    "Why are you so concerned about all this? Why does it even matter to you?" Guy nudged.

    To which Krish simply responded with a shrug, "I have to ensure that my Disciple''s environment is safe."

    "Let''s not jump the gun here."

    "Again. It is a foregone conclusion, Guy," Krishmented while scratching his forehead. "Let''s get back to the issue at hand. Don''t keep changing the topic!"

    At this point, Guy was tempted to retreat into the RoK and put on that forsaken metal mask resting on the table at the centre. He just wanted to sick the "other guy" on Krish and let him handle it. BUT, Guy still remembered Mast''s warning. The Church was an aberrant creation that waspletely out of Mast''s calction. And although it brought quite a few advantages, it was an unknown that could threaten Guy''s life. Somehow, it even infiltrated into Guy''s cultivation. Guy didn''t know if it was a byproduct of his repeated and haphazard use of the metal mask, nor did he have any idea if he would incur additional damages because of it.

    In fact, Guy didn''t feel it necessary to shift faces to handle his current predicament. It wasn''t life-threatening. If Krish wanted to kill him, he would have done so immediately. After all, he was definitely at a realm much higher than his own, and possibly even Teacher Jeeves'' (but that was only a guess based on intuition). The man was simply suffering from excess curiosity after facing an inexplicable phenomenon. And, his curiosity hadn''t yet reached a point where it overpowered his sense of morality. Otherwise, Guy would have been a vegetable by now after suffering a crushing spiritual invasion and thorough dissection by the man before him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Honestly, Krish, I don''t know what to tell you..." Guy uttered in exhaustion. And that was the truth. He wasn''t sure if the shift that Krish referred to was caused by him or if it was a result of something else. Guy didn''t even know what Krish saw to properly justify anything.

    Krish gazed meaningfully at Guy''s unflinching expression and pulled the edge of his lips tly into his cheeks in eptance. "I believe you..." He muttered and lowered his imposing stance.

    "It''s just that seeing as my Disciple will be interacting with you more in the future, I wanted to make sure that she would be safe. You don''t realise just how hard it is toe across someone fated to The Heavenly Eye. To tell you the truth, she''s the only one I''ve found during thest 1000 years!" Krish exined.

    "Is it really that rare?" Guy retorted impulsively. But then he doubled back, reassessed everything Krish said before and eximed, "1000 years?! W-Wait, you''re-"

    "Your guess is correct. I am in the Tesseract Transformation realm," Krish confessed with a smug expression.

    Guy''s body copsedpletely upon hearing those words. ''What the hell was I thinking? Throwing my weight around with someone I didn''t know anything about! I''m getting too arrogant for my own good.''

    Krish observed Guy''s strained expression and chuckled mirthfully. Whenever he revealed his realm to someone, he would often receive two kinds of reactions. The first and mostmon, as well as the one Guy was currently embodying, was sheer horror and self-directed reproachfulness. The second, and the one Krish enjoyed the most, was disbelief and disdain through excess arrogance. He just loved it when others started to question his ims and challenged him as a show of dominance. Idiots, they were, but it was their idiocy that offered the greatest entertainment.

    "Since my Disciple will be studying under you asionally, I felt it prudent to evaluate your background," Krish exined with a feigned warm smile oozing with sarcasm. Guy recognised the irony as well, but he didn''t have the guts to make any witty retorts. Heck, he was already on the brink of holding his breath lest he angers this man somehow!

    "Great master," Guy began with an increasingly respectful tone. "Y-You arefortable with letting her study under me?"

    Guy was more than ready to hand over Marie to Krishpletely. Besides the fact that it would be a great opportunity for her, who was he to argue with the whims of an unreachable powerhouse in the Tesseract Transformation realm?

    "It will do her good. I''ve seen what and how you teach. You are a good- no- a great teacher. Your personality and bearing, as well as the way you approach your students, are highlymendable and something that I myself yearn to achieve," Krish answered.

    "You tter me!" Guy replied waving his hands.

    "And besides that," Krish interrupted. "I have a selfish motive as well."

    Krish leaned closer and whispered to Guy with a wry smile, "The girl is toobative! I don''t think I can handle her in her entirety all by myself."

    Guy snorted gaily and immediately covered his mouth. "She is very inquisitive," Guy added. "But I prefer it when they are like that. A quiet ssroom can often mislead you into thinking that everyone is paying attention."

    ____

    Krish and Guy continued their conversation, focusing more on lighter topics. Knowing that he was facing a mage at the peak, Guy was a lot less restricted in his words and opened up more. After all, he had personally experienced the consequence of deceiving the man.

    A few minutes into their conversation, the student''s slumped behind him slowly started to gain rity and awoke from their unconscious states.

    "W-What happened?" Markus muttered as he was the first to rise.

    Following him, Marie and Jean opened their eyes and observed their surroundings with raised suspicion.

    "Good. You''re all awake!" Krish dered with an amiable smile. He then looked towards Guy and jerked his head as a sort of gesture.

    "R-Right! So Marie," Guy started. "After conversing with great master Nara here, I''ve determined that it would be a good opportunity for you to ept him as you Master," he encouraged.

    Marie''s eyes widened in surprise and then mellowed out with gratefulness. She remembered that there were proper rituals that needed to be followed in order to officiate the Master-Disciple rtionship, and rose with a sudden leap. She rushed forward, stood in front of Krish, and got down on her knees.

    "I, Marie Reva, gratefully ept-" She began. However, Krish waved his hand, causing Marie''s body to straighten into a standing posture with a sudden yank.

    "We can skip the formalities," he interjected. "As I''ve said before, you and I are fated as Master and Disciple. I''ve already epted you as my Disciple, now that you''ve epted me as your Master, there is no need for unnecessary and frivolous shows."

    Krish turned towards Guy once again and transmitted a few quick instructions through Mana Transmission.

    "Right! Great master Nara and I have discussed your schedule. You will join Markus and Jean for the general lessons in the morning. Following that, you will join them for the lessons on magic every other day starting from tomorrow. For the remainder of the days, you shall pursue your training under your Master."

    "Wait! So you allow for my attendance in Teacher Larks'' lessons?" Marie asked Krish with an incredulous expression.

    "I didn''t want to, but then your Teacher here was adamant that I allow you to pursue something you enjoyed," Krish falsely admitted with a convincing defeated expression.

    "It was a hard fight, but I managed to convince him," Guy added in good-hearted fun. "You''ve got yourself a very strong Master, Marie. Much stronger and more capable than I," he then admitted.

    "Him?" Marie snorted in disbelief.

    "Marie," Markus hissed from the side. "Show some respect. He''s your Master now!" He reminded her.

    Krish wore a strained expression and looked towards Guy with a gaze that said, ''See what I''ll have to deal with?!''

    "*sigh* It''s all well and good to be sceptical and critical about stuff. It''s how you be a more learned person. But if the same scepticism turns you into someone incapable of epting anything new, you are never going to grow, Marie. You must channel that curiosity towards more constructive prospects," Guy exined.

    Surprisingly, Marie wore an extremely serious expression and nodded immediately in understanding. Krish''s mouth dropped agape before his face warped with a bitter smile.

    ''How long will it take for her to listen to me like that?'' Hemented.

    When Guy received Marie''s undivided and genuine gaze of recognition, the Krish started to feel jealous of Guy. For that man had managed to get through to his Disciple before even he did.

 Chapter 117 Same-Day Delivery

    "Mister Z! It''s good to finally meet you!" Goran greeted the much leaner man before him by grasping his extended hands firmly and shaking them.

    "n Leader Rasmus! The pleasure is all mine!" The man replied with reverence and respect in his voice.

    "Please take a seat. The steel weapons and armours sold at the Buring Forge were well received by the n. Most of our retained warriors have switched over," Goranmented as he weed the man towards a seat in the salon.

    "That''s good to hear! But I don''t deserve the full credit, it was primarily Teacher Larks'' initiative in developing steel after all," Karmin replied with a humble bow, seamlessly switching the direction of the conversation towards amon ground.

    Karmin was a smart businessman. Ever since the debut of the miraculous alloy known as steel, his business had been growing at an unprecedented rate. It was an unbelievable phenomenon, well beyond his own estimates. It first started with the standard weapons and armour sales. It took some time, and a lot of early investment, in marketing and convincing the poption of the strength and equivalency of steel to Dwarven metal - given how the guild basically washed its hands of the entire situation.

    But following the first few sales, things started to pick up organically. After all, quality always stands out, and steel was everything it was proimed to be. With the low cost of production, in both materials and manpower (thanks to Teacher Larks'' magic-based streamlining), Karmin was able to transform nearly his entire iron backlog into steel in one fell swoop.

    As more and more people started to indulge in The Burning Forge''s steel equipment, Karmin inevitably attracted the attention of the haughty enchanters from the Smithing and Enchanting Guild. While before, Karmin was starved for choices, he was now facing an abundance! Some of those clowns who berated him to his face and shoved him out were now lining up to meet him whenever he graced the halls of the guild. They had no choice! Thanks to his advantageous contract, Karmin held a monopoly on steel - for the time being anyway.

    After siphoning through a boatload of possible applicants, Karmin settled on three promising and innovative enchanters who offered interesting avenues of research and development during their interviews. Unfortunately, they were only 1-star license holders, but Karmin saw potential in them and decided that it would be worthwhile to bankroll their advancement and thus tie them down to The Burning Forge.

    And this gamble turned out to be sessful, as not a monthter, The Burning Forge released their first line of enchanted weapons and armours. Through some trial and error, the enchanters found out that steel tended to form mana channels quite easily. Through some gentle nudging during the forging process, they could very easily define the channels required to facilitate the enchantments. The qualities of these mana channels rivalled those of more expensive alloys that were more conducive to enchantment due to having this same characteristic.

    With this, The Buring Forge outputted arge quantity of low-cost high-quality enchanted gear that dominated the "budget enchanted equipment" market segment by arge margin. Karmin was satisfied with this because he knew that the high-end and bespoke market segments were where the biggerpanies backed by years of history in their front pockets and one or more veritable mage powerhouses in their back pockets thrived.

    Karmin was infinitely grateful towards Teacher Larks. It was only because of his input and guidance that Karmin was able to bridge the empty gaps in his research and produce the revolutionary metal alloy. Luckily, Karmin recognised Teacher Larks'' potential that day and formed an early connection with him. In fact, although Karmin was losing a significant percentage of profits to Teacher Larks, he wasn''t the least bit affected or concerned. Karmin knew that Teacher Larks would go far. This was just a trifle amount to secure his own seat in Teacher Larks'' coattail as he rose to the top!

    But that wasn''t enough. Karmin recognised that in order to properly secure his position in this ride destined towards greatness, he needed to take additional steps to ingrain himself further. So, Karmin didn''t waste any time in researching Teacher Larks'' backgrounds and connections. Surprisingly, he ended up falling short! The man literally sprung out of nowhere, with no history or family anywhere in sight. In many ways, Karmin was reminded of himself.

    ''A self-made man!''

    Hence Karmin expanded to the second degree - friends of friends. The only noteworthy connection Teacher Larks had was Teacher Jeeves. Even his student was an orphan from a far-off vige. Teacher Jeeves never exposed himself to the public often, so Karmin wasn''t left with many options chasing that lead. BUT, Karmin''s highly effectivework of agents did bring forward an interesting prospect. Apparently, the highly elusive Teacher Jeeves had an acquaintance with the current n leader of the Rasmus n. It took some additional subtle probing and greasing a few hands with gold to substantiate this, but ultimately it was unearthed!

    Without wasting a moment, Karmin immediately took action to build a new bridge. He did so in the only way he could, by throwing money and hoping that it stuck! Admittedly, it was a nouveau riche strategy often relegated as crass, but what other options did Karmin have? Karmin wasn''t so lucky to be born with generational wealth, or an influential and powerful family, to build traditional rtions with the Rasmus n. The fact that Goran was entertaining Karmin in his n mansion''s salon did not alleviate Karmin''s stress either. This was because Karmin knew that Goran was knowledgeable of his attempts to entrench himself in the Rasmus n''s graces as a way to tie himself to Teacher Larks.

    Ultimately, this was the only option for Karmin. He knew that his life was limited, and unless he spawned a progeny sometime soon, The Burning Forge would disappear after his passing. And should such an evente to pass, if hispany was tied to the much older Rasmus n, then it would at least propagate albeit under the n''s seal.

    "Speaking of, I recollect that Teacher Larks ced an order with The Burning Forge for a few crafting materials?" Goran redirected stalled conversation.

    "Right, I received Teacher Larks'' mail for wood from the Menryl tree and sinews from the Illuminescent Banyan, as well as an assortment of mana-gems, enchanting tools, and some ink ingredients as well," Karmin affirmed.

    "With regards to the cost-"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Please do not worry about that! Teacher Larks explicitly indicated to deduct the expenses from his ount," Karmin interjected.

    "I was worried about that..." Goran muttered. "I would like to pay on Teacher Larks'' behalf."

    "That..." Karmin stuttered. This was going to be tough! For one, he wanted to respect Teacher Larks'' instructions, but on the other hand, he couldn''t afford to offend the leader of the Rasmus n.

    "n Leader Rasmus," Karmin said as he shifted slightly in his seat. "Teacher Larks was adamant about this condition. He even went as far as to stress on it in his letter."

    Goran clicked his tongue in defeat and said, "Forget it then."

    "Teacher Larks did include something else with the mail!" Karmin said and snapped his fingers multiple times as a discreet signal. Following a small pause, the doors to the salon opened and arge man bedecked in a pristine, fully-covered, enchanted armour walked in, carrying with him a jewel-crested metal box with four sets of locks and a series of both inconspicuous and tantly visible locking and trap enchantments. Based on the bearing with which the object was carried in, Goran figured that it was probably something of high value.

    The metal-covered man gently lowered the container in front of Goran, leaving a sufficientlyrge gap between them, and proceeded to unlock the physical locks using a set of keys produced from an off-coloured bag hanging by his thighs. After opening the third lock, he turned towards Karmin, who jolted in his seat and retrieved the final key from a ne hanging around his neck.

    "Teacher Larks sent for this just yesterday. Imissioned a rapid-transit courier service to facilitate same-day delivery: Swiftus. I opted for the most secure and safe delivery categories too," Karmin added.

    The kneeling metal man grasped the extended key and utched thest lock. Following that, the man worked through the plethora of enchantments in seemingly random order. In actuality, there was a particr sequence that shifted at fixed intervals that only he knew. If the unlocking process didn''t follow the set sequence, the box would not onlybust and destroy the materials within, it would also destroy everything in a 500-metre vicinity. The man, however, worked without a moment of doubt or pause, or even fear of death!

    Once thest enchantment was lifted, the container''s lid opened up from the centre, releasing a translucent mist of mana that gushed out. The armoured man then activated a simple |Levitate| cantrip, causing a cloth-wrapped stack of objects to rise from the container. The man directed the stack on top of the table and gently lowered it. He then followed it up with a flourish of his hands causing the cloth to unwrap slowly, revealing a magnificent stack of books.

    "Teacher Larks told me that he recently recollected a few interesting books during his meditation, thanks to his ''inheritance''. He said that you and his ward, Kano Reva, would find it interesting?"

    Goran''s eyes sparkled as they fluttered over the titles on the bound books before him:

    "Impressionism: Van Gogh, M and Many More"

    "Deciphering Expressionism"

    "Extending Realism"

    Those were just a few of the many, many other books in the stack. As he observed the bindings and the covers, Goran finally recollected what they were! He had seen Jean reading through ones like these before. They were bound simr to Teacher Larks'' standard textbooks!

    After reading through the first book to the halfway point right then and there, Goran''s eyes widened in excitement, "Such interesting theories on visual art! These books are truly priceless! You did a wonderful job in preserving them during transit, Mister Z. Truly, thank you!"

    Karmin pumped his fist internally, in celebration. He had made the right decision! Sure,missioning the courier cost him a pretty fortune, but it was all worth it!

 Chapter 118 Family Troubles

    Karmin noted that Goran was entering a deep trance-like, euphoric state as he voraciously read through the books one after the other. Rather than speedily consuming it, which he had the capacity for, Goran was taking his time reading the contents word by word. In order to not disturb the absorbed man, Karmin lightly bade farewell and stood up to leave. Right as he did so, the door opened slowly and the same butler who had directed him to the salon entered.

    "Master, the Third Master Rasmus is here," the elderly butler dered, eliciting a disdainful snort from Goran.

    "What does he want?"

    "I am afraid Third Master Rasmus did not dere his purpose. He stated that he wishes to -"

    "Does a man need a reason to enter his own house?" A nasal voice interjected the butler midway. Following that, a wiry looking man, tall in stature yet looking diminished due to a slight hunch, barged through. The man shared a few simrities in facial features with Goran such as the t hazel-grey eyes, amonality in the Rasmus n, and the wavy long ashen hair which was wrapped up in a burn. Apart from that, Karmin found the two individuals in stark contrast to each other. Where Goran wasrge and well-built, the "Third Master" was offensively thin and scrawny. Where Goran''s gaze overflowed with warmth and pressure, the "Third Master''s" was gushing with meek cunning and deceit.

    It was the first time that Karmin felt like punching someone so badly. He didn''t know what it was, maybe it was the man''s presence itself that irked him so greatly. Yet, Karmin rightfully held himself back. Although the man looked weak, he was nearly as strong as Goran Rasmus. After all, he had only barely lost the fight to assume the position of the n leader.

    Like most other ns in the Empire and beyond, the position of the n leader, head, or patriarch was often relegated to the strongest of the generation. While Karmin could argue about the feasibility of such brutal methods, it was a tradition that has prevailed for generations. The position of n leader often spans a single generation, whichsts for about a century give or take a few decades, or following the passing of the n leader due to "unfortunate circumstances". Following that, a contest of capability and strength is held, which differs from n to n, that determines the next n leader from a pool of nominees. If the current n leader is still alive and healthy, they are absorbed into the pool of n elders that support the n from the background. The n elders act as support structures to guide the n and advice the leader during times of crisis. Apart from that, the elders do not interfere with n decisions - unless the n''s interests are threatened - and the decision making power is held solely by the leader.

    For the current generation, the one that reigned over all other nominees in the Rasmus n was Goran Rasmus. But his victory wasn''t so easily attained. After all, he had to contend against his greatest rival, Myron Rasmus, his younger half-brother. Myron''s strength wasn''t in his martial prowess, nor was it in his superior thinking. No. In both ways, Myron was inferior to Goran. Yet what gave Myron his edge was the eversting love and affection of Goran''s father. After all, Myron was born from his father''s most "precious" of concubines.

    Even though he was younger, Myron cast a massive shadow over Goran during their youth. It wouldn''t have been troublesome for Goran if the shadow wasn''t so hollow! In every way possible, Myron was a useless cretin. He had no talent in anything barring living a prodigious lifestyle and whoring around. Yet, Myron could never do wrong in his father''s eyes. Even Myron''s superior cultivation was a result of an endless investment of potions and magical artefacts.

    During the final confrontation between Myron during the n leader selections bouts, Goran was put in an extremely disadvantageous situation. Myron was fully decked out in top-of-the-line Epic grade enchanted equipment, while Goran was in cotton rags.

    The scars from Goran''s hard-fought victory that day still remained, etched deeply onto Goran''s body. In fact, Myron had even used a few hidden weapons doused in malicious, lingering, poisons during the fight. If Goran hadn''t met Nter on, he would have died as a tumorous, inhuman clump.

    Needless to say, Goran held no affection for the aggravating man before him.

    "What do you want, Myron?!" Goran grunted as he carefully returned the books into the box. Seeing the malignant face of his half-brother had ruined his mood for indulging in them.

    "Oh, big brother..." Myron moaned with an exaggerated hurt expression. "Why do you hate me so?"

    "Speak or you will be removed!" Goran dered while unleashing the full might of his cultivation on Myron.

    Myron flinched slightly before regaining his earlier fawning facade. "Big brother-"

    "It''s n Leader," Goran interrupted, causing Myron to trip on his own words. After desperately struggling to curtail the twitch attacking the corner of his lips, Myron restarted.

    "The n is wondering why the... n Leader... chooses to spend more time outside his territory than within," Myron uttered in a strained manner.

    The Sr Empire operated as a feudal society, with a few differences concerning internal politics. Below the Emperor were the Dukes, beneath whom were the Marquesses, then the Counts, the Viscounts and finally the Barons. Unlike the standard Feudalistic societies, these positions weren''t awarded to individuals, rather they were assigned to the ns. So the leader of a n may change regrly, however, the position would be eternally tied to the n as long as the n persisted. Of course, positions may rise and fall, or disappear altogether, depending on the whims of the Emperor and other such circumstances.

    The leader of the Rasmus n was technically a Marquess who answered to the Duke of Maika. So it was truly unusual why Goran preferred to spend the majority of his time outside of his n''s territory.

    "Does that even warrant an exnation? Do I need to remind you what those two kids of yours did to my Jean?" Goran interrogated forcefully.

    "Now, now, brother-"

    "n Leader."

    Myron exhaled through his nose in frustration and said, "It was just kids ying around. Why would you take it so seriously?"

    "If I remember correctly, thest time I ''yed around'' with you as a child, I was reprimanded, caned, and denied food for an entire month. And I wasn''t even the one who instigated the incident," Goran snorted.

    Myron smiled bitterly and decided to shift the conversation, "I heard that big brother-"

    "n Leader."

    "I heard that... n Leader... has invested in a new artwork? And that... n Leader... is nurturing the little artist behind the work as well"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Really? Where did you hear that?" Goran retorted as he drilled his gaze more intensely.

    "Here and there," Myron responded while waving his hand dismissively. The mansion was still under the Rasmus n''s ownership, even if it was primarily inhabited by Goran and his daughter. Inevitably, not everyone within the mansion answered solely to the n Leader. Even after purging and relocating some of the old staff members, some of the remaining hands had dual alliances.

    "So where is it? I am interested in seeing what and who has caught the n Leader''s eye this time!" Myron said while slyly rubbing his hands together. If Guy were to see this, he would immediately be reminded of the stereotypical "bad guys" in the old melodramas from his past life.

    Goran sneered upon hearing Myron''s excuse. Ever since he''d assumed the n leader''s position, Goran had been constantly attacked and undermined by Myron. During the early stages, these attacks were physical, as a show of defiance. Yet after consecutive quellings, Myron had mellowed out a bit, seemingly. However, Myron had pivoted to using more subtler means to attack Goran. Appealing to the council of elders, questioning Goran''s decisions, sabotaging Goran''s initiatives, and even targetting his daughter!

    Thankfully, Myron wasn''t some criminal mastermind who thought five to ten steps ahead. Goran could see Myron''s intention from kilometres away, which offered him ample opportunities to implement countermeasures. The current situation was one of those cases as well. Basically, it was a well-known fact that Goran had a deep adoration for the arts. He often purchased artworks from auctions and directly from artists. Myron regrly made it a point to bring it up during n gatherings to defame Goran based on his "profligate spending" from the n''s finances. This was Myron''s shortsightedness. He overlooked the fact that Goran wouldter flip these art pieces for a substantiallyrger sum earning a profit as a result.

    "I''ve taken the initiative to enrol a slot under the n''s name for the recent exhibition at the Artist''s Guild. Maybe you can show this amazing new art piece there?" Myron said immediately after, leaving no pause for Goran to respond.

    Goran grit his teeth in anger and said, "That. Was. Not. Necessary."

    "Oh but big brother-"

    "n Leader."

    "n. Leader. It''s the first time you''ve taken interest in an artist like this - going as far as sponsoring them. He must truly be something special! Why not unt our discovery?" Myron said with feigned kindness in his voice.

    Goran sighed internally upon witnessing Myron''s shortsightedness once again. Myron''s intention this time was to discredit Goran by bringing the inexperienced Kano into the limelight. Myron knew that the boy was still wet behind the ears and would il miserably in front of arge, toxic crowd. Especially when the professional and veteran artists and critics would assault him with their incisive opinions and veiled personal attacks.

    But what benefit would this bring Myron? Why was he discrediting the n leader of the Rasmus n in public? Wasn''t Myron''s family name Rasmus as well?!

    Goran gazed meaningfully at Myron''s smug expression as he calcted his next step. He was initially nning to take Kano to the very same exhibition as an observer, not a participant. However, as he thought about it, Goran felt that presenting Kano''s work would also be a perfect learning experience for the boy. Of course, he would have to coach thed and toughen his metaphorical skin a little before that.

    After finalising his n, Goran''s contemting expression turned into a disdainful sneer. He shot out, "Little brother. Since you''re also nning to attend the exhibition, I strongly suggest that you hire an expert art critic of your own. It wouldn''t hurt to have someone who actually knows what they are talking about with you this time to... you know... save the n some face."

    Noticing Myron''s increasingly twisted expression, Goran smiled and continued, "Having a knowledgeable individual would also save the n some money, considering your previous purchase."

    The hapless Myron had once tried to copy Goran and ventured into the art-sphere. In that attempt, Myron had once purchased a rather gaudy looking work, which was a poorly made counterfeit, after a random bloke hanging around an art auction convinced him that it was a famous work created by a hidden expert. In purchasing the forgery, Myron had used the entire allowance allotted by the n for use in the auction. Not even their father could save Myron from the fierce reprimanding and detention doled out to him by the n elders at that time.

    To date, those within Goran''s generation refer to Myron as "Myron the Conned-oisseur". It was a rather uninspired use of wordy, but it irked Myron just as well. Besides, everyone recognised that Myron was so stupid he wouldn''t get it if the jab got more inventive.

    "I shall keep that in mind big-"

    "n Leader," Goran reminded gently with a faint smirk.

    Myron nodded in a strained manner and exited the salon immediately.

    "Right, Mister Z, where were we?" Goran immediately shifted the conversation towards the man who was struggling to minimise his presence the entire time.

    "*cough* n Leader Rasmus I was just leaving..." Karmin answered with an awkward smile. He was on the edge of his seat in distress during the entire exchange before. He didn''t know if he was supposed to hear any of that. No n would want their dirtyundry aired out in public like that.

    "Oh, alright. Someone should be here to receive you and guide you towards the exit," Goran replied calmly.

    "Thank you for your time, n Leader Rasmus. It is much appreciated."

    "The pleasure was all mine. Needless to say, I look forward to future cooperation between the Rasmus n and The Burning Forge."

    That day, Karmin exited the mansion with a smile threatening to split his head in two, and a consciousness floating on cloud nine.

 Chapter 119 The Room

    A/N: Mister is used as a more informal/close form of address. Formally, Goran would be called n Leader Rasmus.

    ____

    The books, once consumed by Goran, inevitably made their way into Kano''s hands and were received with much excitement. Although Kano preferred reading works of fiction, he was especially enamoured by the prospect of reading educational texts exploring different art styles, with hopes of broadening his capacity and expanding his toolbox. After all, this was the primary reason why Kano ventured out of the vige with Mister Rasmus.

    Speaking of which, Kano was incredibly nervous the first time he entered Radiant City. Everything was just so... big! There were people everywhere - if someone were to toss a pin into the air, it would never reach the ground. It was that crowded! There were a myriad of noises reverberating, calling for Kano''s attention. A plethora of bright lights, colourful signs, and enrapturing sights filled with magic assaulted his senses. Surprisingly, the throng of folks kept their distance from the carriage he was in. It was onlyter that Kano realised the cause - the seal that was stered on the side of the carriage, denoting the Rasmus n.

    Teacher Larks wasn''t speaking lightly when he warned Kano about the significance of Mister Rasmus'' background. The Rasmus n was a powerhouse others couldn''t look at lightly. The only power that superseded them within this region was probably the Maika n, who were responsible for this Duchy. Of course, above them stood the Emperor''s n, but that was a bit beyond Kano''sprehension.

    Kano worldview was akin to a country bumpkin. After being exposed to a small glimpse of the outside world, Kano realised just how small he was in the grand scheme of things. The Rasmus n''s mansion in the city definitely did not help towards alleviating this. Kano couldn''t wrap his mind around how a house could be so big. It was like a small vige in and of itself! The guest room Kano was staying in was at least ten timesrger than the room he shared with his sister. Oh and the bed! So soft! Kano drowned himself inside its warm and cosy embrace and achieved a slumber so deep that he dozed through the entire day.

    To that end, Mister Rasmus had assigned a tutor to instruct Kano about certain nuances he needed to be wary about. They weren''t exhaustive, just basic etiquette and general knowledge so that he wouldn''t be lost during social interactions. After all, he was supposed to show his face in public along with the Rasmus n''s leader, he couldn''t portray himself as amon rube.

    Every morning, the tutor assigned to him would arrive right on the dot at seven. After that, Kano was free to do whatever he pleased. He was allowed to roam around the mansion, talk to everyone working there, eat whatever he wanted, and paint and draw to his heart''s desires. Kano was living a carefree life.

    The day before, Kano received the stack of textbookspiled by Teacher Larks. At first nce, they looked unbearably exhausting, but after taking his time and reading through them, Kano waspletely addicted. The discussions and examples shown in the books were enlightening, to say the least. They offered Kano a wider perspective on how to approach art. They introduced new techniques that Kano was kind of familiar with, from when he was learning about literature.

    For instance, one section of a book discussed the power of symbolism in art. It said that one can manipte colour, form, imagery andposition to emphasise personal or absolute truths and perspectives in visual form. When writing, symbols are often portrayed as specific objects or motifs that repeat themselves and hold a specific meaning to them. Of course, the specific application or inclusion of the symbol can alter its significance. For instance, the colour red symbolises maturity. A red dress can allude to sensuality or allure, or it can portray bloodlust and rage. The red ruby shoes worn by Dorothy from Wizard of Oz symbolise the growth and maturing of the character through her journey.

    Kano realised that it was possible to extend this into the visual arts realm. By skewing realism and naturalism, one can extend what can be perceived from artwork from just the surface imagery. Of course, to achieve this, the observer must also be able to look beyond just what is shown. Kano understood that this may be an issue for the time being. Within the mansion, there was a room that was filled with artworks, as well as recording artefacts containing images and recordings of the more expensive and higher-tiered arts that were stored in a more secure space. Upon studying them, Kano realised that current standards of art relied heavily on recreating scenes,ndscapes or portraits with high levels of realism. The closer the work came to reality the more it wasuded.

    Kano lowered the book in his hand, carefully closed it and ced it on the study desk in the guest room. Although he had only spent a little more than a week in this mansion, Kano''s body had undergone drastic changes. For one, he was no longer a scrawny, depressing kid. His cheeks had gained some fat that brought more life into his already blinding smile. His unkempt curly brown hair was tied into a neat bun, just like the one worn by Mister Rasmus.

    With a light leap, Kanonded on the floor and put on his wooden slippers. He walked out of the room and clip-clopped happily towards the art storage room, to gape at the works once again. This time, he wanted to observe the works with a broader lens, to see if the artists had somehow instilled any symbols, themes or other such stylistic devices that had gone unnoticed.

    The mansion wasrgely open-air, with an exposed central courtyard holding a beautiful mini-garden. The prefix mini- is used lightly since it was the same size as Matron Reva''s garden! On top of that, there was a veritable meadow surrounding the mansion which Mister Rasmus called the ''actual'' garden. Because of the nts and trees in the courtyard, the ambience was much cooler and breezier. It almost felt as though Kano hadn''t left the vige.

    The boy navigated through the hallways with familiarity. After all, apart from the guest room, Kano practically lived within the art storage room.

    Clip-Clop, he skipped, while humming a light tune.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Clip-Clop.

    Clip-Clop.

    Clip-SNAP! "Ow!"

    Kano''s left slipper snapped at the joint between his toes. It did so right when Kano lifted his foot forward, causing it to detach and fling itself along an awkward trajectory. The slipper bounced off the wall and hit a door on the opposite side, right at the handle, causing it to slide open. The boy hopped forward on one leg to retrieve the rogue slipper which had fallen into the open room.

    He picked it up casually without paying much attention to his surroundings. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in from the courtyard and thrust the lightly open door fully. It didn''t stop there, the interloping gust of wind rolled forward and lifted the white clothes covering the various items within the room, exposing them to the environment. After wreaking sufficient havoc, the gust exited through the window within the room, throwing it open and allowing natural light to enter.

    "Woah!" Kano vocalised as he absorbed the wonderfully designed room. It had elegant marbled walls with golden, jewel-adorned sconces, and wooden beam ceilings evoking a mix of both wealth and rustic simultaneously. Near the centre of the room, there was a half-elevation leading up to an enormous bed. A series of bookshelves were flushed into the wall on one side of the room, lined with a variety of books ranging in age but of uniform design. Kano''s eyes sparkled upon witnessing the sight, he had never seen so many different books in his life. As a voracious reader, this was his personal heaven. The other side of the room wasparatively barren. Somehow, Kano got the feeling that it used to be popted with furniture and life but was now devoid of it all leaving only a sad, empty space.

    From the corner of his eyes, Kano observed what he recognised as a stand where painters hung theirpleted works for disy. Interestingly, it was the only item in the room that had yet to be affected by the rogue wind, as it was stillpletely covered by a smooth white cloth. With a curious frown, Kano approached it and with a gentle tug, removed the cloth.

    As the cloth fell to the ground, the painting disyed on the stand revealed itself. It was a portrait of a woman. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. Her eyes were like pearls, with pupils so dark that they could trap light; they were sharp, with a pleasant almond shape. Her nose arched elegantly, ending with a cute and plump tip that evoked a feeling of wanting to squeeze them. Her cheeks were rosy and lively, with dimples in them. She was smiling with her teeth showing - it was a hearty smile, one that forced you to smile along. It filled Kano with infinite warmth. Her hair draped down her side and ended with a mirthful bounce. She looked as though she were running through a field of roses, without a care in the world.

    Kano could feel an unbearable amount of love oozing out of the painting. The kind of love Kano had never felt before in his entire life. How could someone love another so deeply? Kano''s eyes drifted to the bottom right corner of the painting, only to droop in disappointment at not witnessing the artist''s signature.

    "Whoever painted this loved this person dearly, whoever she was..." He mumbled.

    Kano took a few steps back to observe the painting better. The further he went, the more he felt as though he had seen this woman somewhere before. Right as he took the final step, his back collided against the bookshelf.

    "It''s Medium Sis Jean!" Kano eximed. Right as he did so, a wobbling book stumbled out of the shelf andnded squarely on his head.

    "Ouch! What was that?" As he followed the sound, he noticed a handwritten journal flung open before him on the floor.

    "Investigating a Practically Safe Invasive Procedure for Emergency Birthing," Kano enunciated slowly in trying to read the beautifully written texts on the open page.

    Kano hummed curiously and plopped down to read the rest of the page.

 Chapter 120 (Mis)Adventures Of A Healer

    "Of all the possible procedures that a healer can perform in their career, none are riskier than childbirth. Even with mages, childbirth is one of the most taxing and life-threatening phases of their lives, it isn''t farfetched to dere that the waning poption amongst the ancient ns is a result of this fear," Kano read out loud. Although some of the words written on the page were beyond his reading level, he had enough experience in applying phics to pronounce them properly. Even though he hadn''t seen or heard of some of the words and terms used, he could understand their implication through contextual clues.

    "Why is this the case? Why is childbirth so risky, even for mages who are supposed to be considered stronger, better, superior in every way possible? I found through highly targeted research, after perusing texts from acknowledged sources over multiple kingdoms, that the healingmunity is divided into two contrasting corners. The first, and the most controversial, opinion suggests that childbirth is akin to a tribtion every mortal and mage must go through. Those that perish during it, do so because they are unworthy. If that were the case, then why is it that men do not have to undergo this so-called "tribtion"? Needless to say that I do not agree with this opinion. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of healers subscribing to this theory happen to be males..."

    "The second opinion suggests that childbearing itself is a taxing process as the unborn child siphons half of all the nutrition absorbed by the mother. Supporting research performed by a healer who observed the childbearing phase amongst mothers from different species and from different realms of magic concluded that the absorption is proportional to the realm of the mother, i.e. the stronger the mother the greater the nutrition is absorbed by the child. Essentially, the child can be analogous to a parasite that tunes its hunger based on the capacity of its host (I find this analogy abhorrent yet apt)(on a side note, it was also found that a child born from a mage at a higher cultivation realm will generally have an easier time advancing as a mage). Hence, if a prospective mother does not moderate her intake ording to her capacity, then she faces greater danger during childbirth since her life force may not be sufficient to sustain her through the process. This of course ignores otherplications such as the baby''s size, orientation, and other suchplications that can also adversely affect the mother and in some cases the child."

    "However, it is callous to simply make such a deration and expect a different oue, because we are overlooking the inherent inequality faced by people from different walks of life. It is unfair to instruct a vige woman, who barely makes enough to feed herself, to eat more. Interestingly, the research conducted by the earlier healer did suggest that a mortal woman fares better during childbirth even if her nutrient consumption is below the safe amount (on the other hand, a mage is guaranteed to perish if they do not meet that benchmark)."

    ? "Thus I wonder if it is possible to ovee this obstacle by developing a novel birthing procedure that can increase the probability of safe childbirth. The closest solution I have found seems to be derived from amon, yet admittedly barbaric, strategy employed in rural viges. If childbirth enters a dire situation, and the life of the mother and child hangs on a bnce, it is often the case that the family sides with the child over the mother. Inevitably, the midwife or person handling the childbirth simply extracts the baby right from the mother''s womb by creating an incision (of course, the mother dies a painful death due to blood loss)."

    Kano visibly cringed at thest sentence. His tiny mind just couldn''t fathom what he was reading at this point. Everything was just so unbelievably gory.

    "It is possible to use healing arts to stifle bleeding. However, the pain is still an issue that needs to be acknowledged. A simple numbing balm is insufficient. The most optimal solution is to ingest a potion that directly inhibits the nerves that register the pain. Essentially, a potion that targets the spine in any way should work. I have yet to properly test this theory. You can already imagine the difficulty... I abhor having to seek out pregnant women and test out half-baked theories on them with the hope of perfecting my procedure. Furthermore, very few women consent to it - only those desperate volunteer. Nheless, this will be my Magnum Opus! I hope that when I have my child, she will have the benefit of being born through my procedure. Of course, this is all wishful thinking."

    What followed after were some incredibly in-depth sketches and descriptions that borated on various theories and solutions thought up by the woman. Kano did not understand any of them, so he carefully closed the book and ced it to the side. Having piqued his interest, Kano decided to check out the rest of the books on the shelves.

    He went over to the first one from the left and picked it out. To reach it he had to drag over a chair from the other side of the room and had to stand on his tip-toes. He carefully ced the book on hisp and opened it to the first page.

    "This is also a journal!" And it was also written in the same impable and legible handwriting as the one before, albeit Kano could feel more energy and vigour from this one given the passionate flourishes and forceful penmanship.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The first page read, "Documenting Medicinal Fungi from the Swamps of Garand."

    "Why did I have to be so hardheaded and stubborn? As part of my advancement ceremony within Saint Mungo''s Order, my sect dedicated to the healing arts, I have chosen to explore the treacherous Swamps of Garand. Honestly, though, it wasn''t as if the other options were any better. The Misty-Maze Valley and the Endless Lake of Mar are just as dangerous, the only difference is that a multitude of hitherto unknown poisonous nts and venomous fauna were indigenous to the swamps. Well, wasn''t this the whole purpose of the advancement task? Documenting new and unknown things? Expanding the Order''s archives to improve our capacity as healers? Who am I kidding? If it weren''t for Kaisel''s idiotic challenge and diminutive words, I would have chosen between the other two like the rest of my batch. I should have just swallowed my pride and followed the crowd. Note to self: Never let your pride overtake reason!"

    Kano raised his eyebrows in surprise andmented, "Huh... That''s exactly what Teacher Larks says."

    He then continued, "Boy o boy was I lucky! I nearly got stung by a Nerubian Mosquito! If it weren''t for my inner-wear with an active insect-repelling enchantment, I would have died minutes into my exploration. But in the process of escaping a horde of those fatal bloodsuckers, I stumbled upon a fungal cluster that has not been recorded within the Order''s archives. Interestingly, these fungi passively deter Nerubian Mosquitoes. I think a further investigation into the properties of this particr fungi is warranted."

    "Interesting... By sheer fortune, I stumbled upon the only herbivorous fauna that lives in the Swamps of Garand - I call it the Skinchanging Sloth. A rather sluggish creature, this sloth moves at an unbearably slow pace and has near-negligible mana and life signature (matching that of a corpse) - I would have missed it had I not been ardently observing the fungi clusters. It seems as though it is this characteristic that has allowed it to survive in such an antagonistic environment. Furthermore, the sloth seems to exclusively consume the myriad of fungi growing around the area it resides in. I''ve named this species of the sloth Skinchanging for a specific reason, and that is because it physically alters its skin to exude the same essence as the fungi it consumes. This phenomenon naturally deters the multitude of insects that linger in its vicinity. I am using the sloth to gauge the edible nature of these fungi."

    "Sess! One of the fungi frequently consumed by the Skinchaning Sloth promotes coagtion of the blood. That is, if the blood is exposed to the atmospheric air, it coagtes at a rapid rate (at least 3 times the average). Furthermore, the aroma it exudes acts as an excellent insect-repellent (on a side note: it smells suspiciously of strawberries)!"

    Kano continued reading the enthusiastically written journal to itspletion. He was so absorbed in it that he didn''t see or hear a person entering the room. By the time he finished and returned it carefully to his now growing "already read" pile, he was surprised by the sudden presence of Goran within the room.

    The boy was about to open his mouth to apologise, but he suddenly noticed the dreary aura hanging over the man. If there was one thing Kano was good at, it was picking up on emotional cues - and it was uncannily urate. He never knew he even had such an ability, but when all other troubles lingering in his mind were slowly dislodged by Teacher Larks, all of his suppressed qualities just burst through.

    As Kano approached Goran, he noticed just what had gotten the man into such a morose frame of mind: it was the painting of the woman.

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 121 Hidden Behind A Bookshelf

    "Mister Goran?" Kano said in a low voice while tugging at Goran''s jacket.

    "Huh? Ah! Kano!" Goran eximed as he was pulled out of his wistful trance.

    "Was she Medium Sis'' Mother?" Kano inquired.

    "Medium Sis?"

    Kano chuckled lightly and rified, "That''s what everyone calls Sister Jean."

    The exnation and Kano''s cheeky expression brought some mirth into Goran''s drooping facade. He exhaled loudly and answered, "You''re right. This is N, she was Jean''s mother and my wife."

    "She looked beautiful," Kano admitted wholeheartedly.

    "She WAS beautiful. Inside and out," Goran''s voice wavered as he spoke. He extended his hand towards the painting and caressed the woman''s face with shaking fingers.

    "She was so beautiful..."

    "Who painted this portrait?" Kano interrupted as he noticed Goran descending into a depressing spiral.

    "I did."

    "I didn''t know you painted?!" Kano vocalised in incredulity.

    "I used to. Not anymore though..."

    "Why not?" Kano retorted. Only to receive an elongated silence from Goran. Kano realised that he had possibly struck another chord and decided to shift the conversation.

    "I can feel a lot of love and affection emanating from the painting. The brushstrokes are meticulous and meaningful. The use of colour evokes a vibrancy that closely mimicks her character-"

    Goran interrupted Kano with a raised eyebrow, "How do you know her character?"

    Kano scratched his chin to copy a gesture he had seen Teacher Larks perform many times when he entered deep contemtion.

    "The books," the boy stated. "They sort of match up."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well. The portrait tells me a lot about what kind of person she is, or at least what kind of person you perceive her as. Which I think is quite close to her actual character seeing as you two have been married for quite a while now. So when I read those journals, I found the author''s tone ovepping with the person in the portrait," Kano exined.

    "You are very perceptive!" Goran praised while gently patting Kano''s back in appreciation.

    He then looked around the room and released a sigh filled with years of repressed emotion.

    "Was I not supposed toe in here?" Kano asked with an apologetic gaze.

    Goran pulled his lips into a thin line and shook his head lightly.

    "This used to be our room, N and I. Our little world. She was the one who decided to decorate the room this way, half for me and half for her. I''ve moved most of my things out of here, but I just couldn''t touch hers," Goran nudged his chin in the direction of the bookshelf as he said this.

    "By the way, how did you gain entry into this room? I believe it was supposed to be locked," Goran inquired.

    "I don''t know. The door just swung open," Kano answered as he scratched his head.

    "I have the helpe in and clean the room once every week, I guess they forgot to lock it up this time," Goran muttered.

    "There sure are a lot of books!" Kano eximed as he once again approached the massive bookshelf.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Oh, this? You''re barely scratching the surface, boy," Goran said lightly with a hint of yfulness, as he walked up to the right edge of the bookshelf. He then reached forward and ced his hands on a raised marble b. Kano observed as Goran''s hand started to light up, and a purple ethereal circle extended outwards and began rotating clockwise. Suddenly, the ground started to shake as the bookshelf swung inwards from the centre.

    Kano took a step back and absorbed the phenomenon in its entirety. The motion finally stopped after half a minute, following which a passageway lit up automatically and revealed rows upon rows of simr bookshelves each stocked to the brim with the same type of journal.

    "Wow! There''re more?!" Kano eximed excitedly.

    "My N loved to journal everything. From her meticulous theories to inane happenings," Goran exined as he walked into the passageway.

    "This space is under a magnification enchantment - actually multiple magnification enchantments. We''ve had to add more of them each time N ran out of space," Goran continued with a warm, nostalgic tone as he pointed at the ck gems embedded into the ceiling of the passageway. Kano noticed the intricate, illuminated carvings that snaked out with alluring geometries.

    "It got so difficult near the end. Because each time we had to extend the size, we had to remove all the books, remove the existing enchantments, then redraw the new enchantments, and THEN move the books all in. You must know that the original space is substantially smaller than what you see right now, so the enchanters had a really tough time drawing those carvings for the more recent additions. It definitely cost us a fortune too!"

    Goran wore a conflicted expression before adding, "It WAS my idea though. N wanted to store these journals at the mansion''s library, but I felt that they were far too personal to be mixed in with the generic books."

    He then furrowed his brows and continued, "N wanted to preserve these for Jean, ever since she showed interest in bing a healer. The day little Jean made that firm but cute deration for bing the ''best healer in the world'', N descended into her journal-writing with rekindled vigour. It was hrious and deeply concerning as she sometimes went days on end holed up in the study, jotting down vague memories and anecdotes from her past, as well as inane theories that warranted further study which Jean might find interesting. A lot of the books on disy outside were written by her during the years after Jean''s birth"

    "''We can''t always be there for Jeanie. One day, when she is down and out and lost, maybe these journals can guide her,'' she would keep repeating. I wonder if she somehow knew..." Goran muttered.

    Goran snapped out of his impending trance and eximed, "That''s right! I never showed Jean all of these before, considering her fragile state of mind. But now that she is on her way to bing a proper mage, she would definitely find these useful."

    With that, Goran mentally jotted down a reminder to transfer these books to Jean, either by erecting a library in the vige near the orphanage or by investing in a storage disk for her.

    "Am I allowed to read them?" Kano asked meekly.

    "Huh? Of course, you can. But I hope you remember the event at the guild?" Goran hinted. He then smiled wryly and added, "Your painting of the Red Dragon Smaug will probably enter the exhibition as well."

    "What?! Why?" Kano exhibited a more animated reaction this time around. While before he didn''t really care when others looked at his works, there was a sense of apprehension in his attitude now.

    "It''s my fault," Goran admitted. "I inadvertently drew you into a familiar conflict. But don''t worry, I will make sure that you aren''t affected adversely," He promised.

    "BUT, I think that entering your first work will prove to be a boon for you. You will be able to recieve valuable feedback from experts and practitioners. It will be extremely beneficial towards developing your craft. After all, living in an echo chamber will only reinforce negative and detrimental habits."

    Kano pondered on it for a while before nodding in affirmation, albeit with a hit of nervousness. Goran smiled at the boy''s tant expressions.

    ''It''s good that his behaviour has changed this way.'' To Goran, this showed that the boy was learning more AND was recognising his inexperience. Although he didn''t want to crush Kano''s enthusiasm, this was a necessary step for every practitioner to a craft because without it one couldeasily grow arrogant.

    "I''ll leave you to it then," Goran added before turning to leave. "Once you are done, inform the attendant outside. They will close the bookshelf."

    ____

    Once Goran exited the walk-in bookshelf, he turned to face the portrait once again. He stared at N''s face for what felt to him like an eternity.

    It wasn''t a secret that Goran was an avid collector and appreciator of paintings and artworks. But it was a less-known fact that Goran himself was a talented painter, specifically a portrait artist. It was less-known because he never applied for a license with the guild and he only painted for a singr client: his wife. It was through N''s encouragement that Goran picked up a brush and deigned to walk down the artist''s path. He quickly found out that he had some talent in it and quickly began to practice his craft by drawing portraits and stills of people he''d meet ande across in his daily life.

    Of course, he would never show them to the public, only his wife. She was his critic and his sole customer. Sometimes, when they had nothing to do, they would retire to his private studio and look through his paintings. They would select a few and knit together an borate story about the person in the image, their background, their aspirations, what they were doing at that time in particr. It was their pass-time.

    And the painting before him was thest one Goran ever painted. He felt that he had improved enough, by practising with portraits of other people, to be able to perfectly capture his wife eternally on a nk piece of canvas. And he did seed in doing so! Goran had reached deep into his heart, metaphorically dislodged arge chunk of it, and distilled it into the painting. Although his wife had perished, her spirit persisted within this portrait. It was exactly because of this that Goran had it covered and locked up in their old room.

    Goran feared that as long as this portrait remained, he would never truly get over the loss of his beloved. Every time he gazed at her face, all the now painful memories would gush out from behind a locked chamber in his heart that he had forcefully barricaded. Goran feared that as long as this painting remained, he would one day end himself to join her in death.

    Goran couldn''t let that happen! He had to protect Jean. But he couldn''t bring himself to destroy the portrait! He managed to burn the others, without remorse. Yet this one was special.

    "Maybe my method was wrong, to begin with," Goran uttered. He recollected a conversation he had with Teacher Larks before he departed from the vige.

 Chapter 122 Moving On

    "I''ve been meaning to ask, it''s about Jean," Guy asked Goran.

    "Is it about her... demeanour? I apologise on her behalf, Teacher Larks," Goran immediately proimed his remorse without hesitation.

    "Why are you apologising?"

    "I''m mostly at fault for why she is like this," Goran said, drooping his head in dejection.

    Guy could feel the weight in Goran''s voice, so he immediately led him into his room and shut the door.

    "Take a seat please," Guy said casually. Of course, there weren''t any "seats" avable in his room. But Goran understood nheless and presumed a seated position next to the low table at the centre, right in front of Guy''s folded sleeping mattress. Guy followed Goran and sat opposite him.

    "If you don''t mind, I would like to hear the full story," Guy enunciated in a calm and low tone.

    Goran wore a stiff expression, as he pondered over how to begin. It wasn''t that he was unwilling to reveal his daughter''s condition or his past. After all, Teacher Larks WAS her daughter''s sole instructor. He literally held her future in his hands, and it would be inadvisable to not be forthright with the man, lest it results in some unwanted consequences down the line.

    "My wife died when Jean was five years old," Goran started. "She died in front of her. And it wasn''t a pleasant sight, Teacher Larks- No! Far from it!"

    Goran pulled back his outburst of emotions and said, "She was just a little girl back then - Jean. It really affected her..."

    "Would you please borate?"

    "I don''t know what it was, but her emotions just went haywire. One minute she would be fine, but the next she would devolve into a destructive spiral. She was a danger to herself and the people around her. Cursing, iling, flinging items, breaking things, banging her head against the wall, crying..." as Goran kept on listing Jean''s past behaviours, his face started to contort in distress. "The first time a nanny tried to stop her, she bit down on her hand. Ever since then, it was either myself or Josie who would tend to her when she entered such a state."

    "Can you exin how she would get triggered?"

    "I didn''t know it back then. I always thought that her fragile psyche had truly perished and turned her mad. It was this misced assumption of mine that led me to proceed with the treatment that left her like this - an emotionless shell," Goran skirted the question with a self-ming tirade. "I should have taken the time to hear her out. If only I had done that, instead of listening to others..."

    "What was it that triggered her?" Guy asked again with a little force in his voice.

    "It was herself! She med herself for N''s death. I don''t know what gave her that idea? Both N and I kept telling her that her mother''s upation was one fraught with peril..." Goran answered.

    "Why would she me herself?"

    "Apparently, N got caught up in trying to iste Jean which resulted in her getting contaminated with the gue instead."

    Guy hummed in contemtion before asking, "Do YOU me Jean for your wife''s death?"

    "I-" Goran wanted to say "don''t" but something stopped him from vocalising it.

    "Do I me her?" he muttered out loud.

    "Do you me yourself, then?" Guy followed.

    "Maybe... I don''t know. Well, I don''t me Jean... No, I don''t..." Goran kept repeating in a trance.

    "Why does it have to be anyone''s fault?" Guy probed. "If anything, it was your wife''s fault."

    Right as those words left Guy''s lips, the pressure in the room rose exponentially. It originated from Goran whose face was red with boundless rage. Before the pressure could reach levels unbearable for Guy, he quickly added, "If she knew that the ce was so perilous, why did she take Jean with her anyways?"

    "That-" Goran didn''t have an answer to that. Now that he thought about it, the question was reasonably founded.

    "I refuse to believe that a mage who was as strong as she was-" Guy paused to see if Goran agreed with that statement, noticing that he did Guy continued, "-would not be aware that a little girl was following her, or sneaking around her."

    "It was arrogance!" Guy dered. "Arrogance, that led to negligence, that led to her own death. Please correct me if I''m wrong!"

    "No," Goran said meekly. "It does sound like her..."

    Guy exhaled a long breath to calm his growing anger. He didn''t need further exnation to realise just what had happened to Jean to leave her in such an unaffected state. She had been chemically lobotomised, or the magical equivalent of it, just because the professionals treating her didn''t realise that the girl was going through bipr episodes. It was absolutely deplorable!

    "She would have been fine - Jean. All she needed was a little patience, and someone to talk to and exin to her that she wasn''t the one to be med," Guy said in a tranquil tone that masked his inner turmoil. "However, there is no point in dwelling over it. What''s done is done. Although I can''t guarantee that I can cure her, I will do everything within my power to assist her."

    "S-Should she stop taking her medicinal potions?" Goran asked apprehensively. He could feel the temper fuming within Guy.

    "She isn''t taking them anymore. Marie has been observing her for the past few weeks."

    "Then her sleep?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s been better. She used to wake up all sweating and shaken. But nowadays, she''s be much calmer. She even slept in a few days back," Guy answered, and received a relieved sigh from Goran.

    Their conversation entered an awkward pause at that point. Goran''s face had dropped markedly, as he stared into the ground with a nk gaze. Guy spent the time trying to suppress his ire. He knew that he couldn''t me the father for his mishandling of a manageable mental illness. After all, it wasn''t ill-intentioned - Goran just didn''t know any better. But as a teacher from a modern world, nothing irked Guy more than when someone treated kids with mental illnesses poorly because they misunderstood them as "mad" or "weird". It was amon urrence in the viges and rural ces Guy used to visit and teach in, and it was something he activelybated in his past life.

    After Guy centred his emotions he noticed Goran''s checked-out expression. "What''s the matter?"

    "Oh? Nothing really. I was just going through my memories about my wife. Now that you pointed it out, there were many times she had let her arrogance get the better of her," Goran said while chuckling. "But I kind of liked that about her, if I''m being honest. It was cute. She would be so confident at times, so sure that she would seed, only to fail miserably and would return with her head hung low and a sheepish apology on her lips."

    Guy furrowed his brows slightly as he noticed the emptiness in Goran''s eyes. Through his experiences in his previous life, Guy had lost a lot of trust in adults. He''d seen children suffer unimaginable tragedies solely because of the, knowingly or unknowingly, ill-advised actions of adults. Take Jean''s current state for instance. It was the oue of the mistakes of her mother and her father. No matter how well-meaning their actions were, it had inevitably affected the poor girl drastically.

    But now, as he heard Goran reminisce about his wife, Guy realised that the man before him was also suffering. Being an adult doesn''t absolve someone from heartache. Sometimes, it hurts them even more.

    "Tell me about her - Jean''s mother, I mean," Guy inquired.

    Goran revealed a faint smile and started, "She was different. Our first encounter waspletely coincidental. She had erroneously confronted an Abyssal Dragon in search of some herb and ended up nearly dying to its attack. If I hadn''t stumbled upon her with myrades, she would have perished then and there. She truly was an arrogant one - I sort of realised it back then - but she was also quick to admit her mistakes, which was unique for someone like that. She learned and improved after every mistake, except for curbing her hot-headedness of course."

    Goranughed out loud and said, "She could never sit still. There was always something new. A new adventure, a discovery, some new research. But what I liked most about her was her selflessness. Everything she did was for the benefit of someone else. She once said that the only selfish thing she ever did her entire life was pursuing me. And boy oh boy was it a whirlwind of a pursuit. Everywhere I turned, she was there. She would be there when I woke up, and she would wish me good night as I went to bed. I didn''t dislike her; the more I got to know her, the deeper I fell for her."

    "They say that love is the death of a mage. It never made sense to me back then. But now that I''ve lost N, I can understand what it meant. We expunge love from our hearts because if we do sumb to it, and lose that beloved entity, our entire life bes nothing more than a slow crawl towards death. And since we mages live for what can sometimes be perceived as an eternity... It bes a literal living hell!" Goran admitted.

    "How long have you been married?" Guy probed.

    "Exactly 49 years," Goran answered. "Just one short of 50."

    "You had Jean reallyte then, huh?"

    "It was a conscious decision. I didn''t want to have a child at first."

    "Why is that?"

    "I guess it was my own poor experience with my father."

    "Let''s talk about that," Guy urged.

    "Well... I don''t have much attachment to my father. Although the men are allowed to have multiple concubines in an official capacity, he never adhered to that option. Instead, while my mother was still pregnant with me, he was having multiple affairs with women, unofficially. To him, it was all about the taboo nature. He could have just as easily brought his many flings in as concubines, but he never did that! By the time I was born, he had made two other women pregnant, and then they were forced to be his concubines, to save the n''s face. He never held much affection for his wards except for one, and that was only because of the woman who birthed him. That vixen knew exactly what to say to entice my father and grab his attention.

    So I think it was my idea of familial love that dissuaded me at first. I believed that because of my father, my understanding of it wasn''t right. That is also why I swore that I would only marry one person in my entire life. Thankfully, I found N.

    I never had the support or love from my father, and I worried that if I had a child of my own, I wouldn''t be able to raise it properly. N understood that, and she was fine with taking her time. But after a point, I got this feeling that something was missing in our lives. After some thought, I realised that the remaining hollowness I was feeling, this emptiness, was the conflict resulting from my fear of having a child and a faint hope of bing a father. So I decided to take the bold next step, and we had Jean. She was the product of our love and now she''s all that I have left."

    Goran snorted in self-deprecation and said, "It''s funny, you know? I''ve ever always had only one source of happiness at a time. I guess it''s a curse of mine..."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "Well... When I was born, I had my mother. But then she passed away. Then I had N, and then she left as well. Now Jean... I can''t lose her, Teacher Larks! I admit that I made a huge mistake, but you must understand, it was the only thing I felt I could do!"

    "That''s the thing, isn''t it. Life isn''t always in our control. One moment, you''re living a healthy and happy life, the next you''re confined to a bed suffering from a myriad of illnesses," Guy quickly interjected.

    "I don''t understand?" Goran evoked in defeat.

    "First off, N is gone, Mister Rasmus. You must learn to let her go and focus on what you have right now. Second, you realised the errors you havemitted with Jean, so now you need to now work towards doing right by her. If you keep putting your wife on a pedestal as such andmenting over her passing, you will never move forward. Commemorate your wife''s life as it should be, but move on because I am sure that is what she would have liked for you to do as well," Guy expounded. "On top of that, it is your preupation with the self-perceived fact that you are alone that is hurting you. You need to realise that there are people around you that care for you. Take Teacher Jeeves for instance, I don''t believe that your friendship with him is only in passing?"

    "... You''re right..." Goran uttered.

    "So I know that it may sound callous of me, but I believe that it is time for you to take steps to move on. If not for yourself, then at least for Jean. And if you are struggling, please don''t hesitate to reach out to people around you - such as myself for instance," Guy offered.

    ____

    Teacher Larks'' advice rang in Goran''s head. He reached forward, lifted the portrait, and called out for assistance, "You there!"

    "You called, Master?" An attendant outside the room quickly walked in with his head lowered.

    "I want you to hang this up over there, on the wall behind the bed. Oh! And move in all the previous decorations and furniture on that side of the room from my study and my bedroom," Goran instructed. "I will be sleeping here from now on."

 Chapter 123 Explaining Compartmentalisation

    Jean''s face failed to betray her tion, as she held her own wand in her hands. She had only witnessed it a few times in her Senior Brother''s possession and only observed it in use once during thebat between him and Gaige Bori in the recording artefact. Now that oney in her hands, especially one that belonged solely to her, she couldn''t wait to brandish it.

    "Yours is a little shorter,pared to Markus''," Teacher Larks exined. "I felt it would feel morefortable given your shorter arm length."

    Jean nodded in affirmation, "It''s perfect."

    "I know that you''re probably excited about getting your own wand," Teacher Larks continued, reading her mind. "So, let''s cancel today''s session. I''ll leave you with Markus."

    Teacher Larks turned to Senior Brother, who was inspecting his updated wand with a muchrger mana gem at its base and instructed, "Markus, I want you to take Jean through the basics about how to use the wand. Cover the basics only. We will expand on the intricacies together, just get her up and running for now. Go to the clearing in the woods, and avoid excessively damaging spells, okay?"

    ____

    "Let''s recap. Can you exin the base concept of magic?"

    "Magic is the process of twisting the truths of the world to fit the mage''s need."

    "What are these truths?"

    "The established facts,ws and principles that govern the way in which the world works."

    "How can we determine these established facts,ws and principles?"

    "In a system without the existence of mana and magic, it is the way the world operates. In this condition, we use the scientific method to determine these facts,ws and principles through deductive or inductive reasoning."

    "Wonderful! A spell is analogous to a lie. A lie told to the world with the use of mana and the will of a mage, which artificially modifies these established facts,ws and principles. By extending this analogy, the closer the lie is to the truth, the less mana and exertion of a mage''s will is required to uphold it," Markus concluded.

    The duo was currently in an artificial clearing in the woods far away from the orphanage, neighbouring the stream. It was an area designated by Guy, who wanted to create a region where his mage students could practice their magic without damaging the uninitiated popce residing in the vige and the orphanage.

    "The process of modr spellmaking pushes this methodology to its limits by breaking down the ''lies'' into self-contained modules, or phrases, that can be chained sequentially or parallelly to formte a more concise sentence. Through this, we essentially reduce the unnecessary flourishes that go into sustaining the ''lie'' thus reducing the mana consumption AND the stress on the mage''s will. This is why you and I were able to cast more advanced spells at a lower realm," Markus continued. "The spell can be further optimised by recing the mana transmutation steps with physical ''fuel''. Such as using physical carbon for |Fireball| instead of transmuting internal mana to carbon, or redirecting atmospheric water vapour for an |Ice Lance| instead of transmuting internal mana to water."

    Markus paused before dering, "While spellmaking is optimised through modrisation, it is possible to optimise spellcasting throughpartmentalisation."

    He wore a proud expression and said, "This was a strategy I developed through experimentation, which was further advanced with the assistance of Master and Teacher Jeeves."

    Jean looked at Markus with sparkling eyes, ''I knew that Senior Brother was awesome!''

    #Tsk! What a show-off!#

    *It isn''t showing off if he is capable.*

    #Whatever...#

    Markus waved his jacket aside to reveal a leatherbound book with a metallic frame and a blue mana gem embedded at its centre. Jean''s eyes sharpened as she immediately recollected its appearance from the recording. In fact, it hadn''t changed at all or showed any signs of wearing. Clearly, it had been well taken care of.

    The grimoire was hanging by a looping chain, perfectly secured, which Markus unlocked with a key hidden in his handsfree belt satchel which he carried with him at all times. Jean only recently found out that her Senior Brother carried a myriad of basic ingredients that he referred to as ''fuels'' for his spells. She wondered why he did so ALL THE TIME, to which he would say, "A mage must always be prepared!"

    As soon as the grimoire was separated from the chain, the blue gems lit up, activating the first set of enchantments that allowed it to hover before Markus. Markus internally called out to his section of interest, causing the pages to flip rapidly. Once it stopped, Markus nced at the page and nudged it gently towards Jean.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The grimoire hovered at a level and arrived in front of Jean. "That right over there is apartmentalised version of the modrised |Fireball| spell."

    "This seems...plicated. Why are there two spell circles?" Jean asked while analysing the familiar, yet unfamiliar, spell circles on the page.

    "I will show you what it means soon. But first, can you tell me if anything stands out?" Markus asked.

    Jean squinted slightly and spoke in a steady stream of consciousness, "Based on my understanding, the spell circle on the right is the most simr to the |Fireball| spell, considering that it has the pertinent Source Components for the carbon fuel and oxygen. But then... Wait a minute!" Jean hummed quietly and drilled down on the spell circle on the left with increased aggression.

    "This... seems to contain the targeting and projectionponents. But it''s unstable, right?" She spoke out loud.

    "Technically it should be. But here''s the interesting bit," Markusmented as he gestured for her to look towards him.

    "This right over here is the spell circle for the regr |Fireball| you and I know." As he said this, a familiar purple ethereal projection materialised starting from the base of the wand held in Markus'' right hand, where the mana gem was attached. He activated it slowly, causing it to propagate along the length of the wand.

    "Now, you may notice that I am relying on a transmutation Source Component here, instead of using a physical Source Component," Markus pointed out.

    He then finalised the spell by directing his mana into the circle, causing a ball of fire the size of an apple to form in at the wand''s tip, and then ejected it with a short flick. The ball hurtled at a breakneck speed and collided against a protruding rock outcrop near the bank of the stream. It exploded unimpressively, leaving a ck sooty mark on the rock.

    "But now, I''m going to apply thepartmentalised version of the spell. So keep a close eye!"

    Markus initiated the new spell. This time, two different, spell circles materialised. One originating from his shoulder, while the other originated from therge, now illuminated, white mana gem at the base of the wand. The circle from his shoulder descended towards his hand at a faster rate, while the one from the base of the wand moved much slower.

    "You would expect for these two seemingly iplete circles to copse, but-" right then, the two circles collided against each other and like two jigsaw pieces meshing together, they formed aplete diagram that assumed a magnificent purple hue signifying a stable activation. "-theye together to form the |Fireball| spell!"

    The circle once again followed the earlier sequence of rotation, formation of a ball of fire, and projection, ending with the ball colliding at the same location on the rock outcrop.

    "Did you see that?" He asked Jean, to which she nodded vehemently with an unusually serious expression.

    Markus revealed a faint smile and said, "Master told me to only teach you how to form the standard spells using the wand. As projectile spells are usually beyond the Middle stage of Mana Condensation realm, you will notice that with the wand this bes possible. BUT, I don''t want you to take my word for it. First, try to form the |Fireball| spell circle without the aid of the wand."

    Jean nodded affirmatively and followed the standard steps to activate a spell circle. She materialised the circle''s geometry in her mind and exercised her will to form the spell circle on her right palm. The purple construct start to develop slowly and finally assumed the targeted circle. Jean then moved on to the next step: activation. However, right as she channelled her mana into the circle, it wobbled and flicked unstably, before copsing.

    "As expected," Markus said lightly. "Now, I want you to do the same, except with your wand. A point you must remember: when forming the circle, you need to sense out the mana gem in the wand. Project the spell circle formed through your will onto the mana gem, and let it handle the rest."

    Jean followed Markus'' instructions and produced her wand. She followed the earlier steps, except she now transmitted her intended mana circle onto the mana gem with resonated within her senses. Slowly, the spell circle materialised from the mana gem and propagated towards the tip of the wand. Once in position, Jean channelled her mana towards the circle, which surprisingly didn''t copse likest time and followed the same visual sequence of an activated and sessful spell.

    "Notice here that you are using a transmutation Source Component as well. However, it isn''t failing!" Markus ented, which surprised Jean further. Usually, at this stage, she would have to rely on a carbon substitute for ignition. But this time, without a problem, a ball of fire formed at the tip of her wand which she then flicked like Markus towards the rock outcrop.

    The ball hurtled in a t parabolic path before falling a short distance in front of the outcrop and fizzled out with a light pop.

    "Well, at this stage I think you should still rely on a physical Source Component. There was insufficient burning fuel and oxygen concentration to sustain the fire," Markus said with a wry smile. "We aren''t finished yet though! Although Master ns to cover thepartmentalised spellcasting at ater stage, I want to show you the added benefits of the wand to help you understand the value of the tool in your hand."

    Markus excitedly approached Jean and started to exin the nuances of thepartmentalised process with increased vigour.

 Chapter 124 Do Not Try This At Home (Redux)

    borating on thepartmentalisation spellcasting process was easier for Markus because he yed a crucial role in its development. Jean could hear the pride in Markus'' voice as he entuated certain nuances, and offered his personal insights. During this, Markus ensured that the exnation did not extend beyond Jean''s level by peppering small anecdotes and rtable examples, just as he''d learned from Teacher Larks.

    After a quick half an hour, Markus separated himself from Jean. "Let us follow the standard scientific process. Here, catch!" Hemanded while tossing a small ball of coal towards Jean.

    "Start by casing a standard |Fireball| but use a physical Source Component targetting this coal," he instructed.

    Jean cast the |Fireball| using her wand, and flicked the materialised ball towards the rock outcrop. This time, the ball hurtled at a straight path and collided against the surface with an audible bang.

    "Awesome! Now follow the steps forpartmentalisation," he instructed.

    Jean nodded and exhaled loudly to centre her mind. She recollected Markus'' earlier exnation and started by simultaneously constructing two spell circles with her will. As Jean finalised the spell circles she materialised it through practice, except she focused on two different points. The first was at the mana gem at the wand base, for the targeting and projectionponents. The second was from her core, which initiated from her shoulder and moved towards the wand. The two spell circles collided and joined together to form one which reached the tip of the wand, before getting activated with Jean''s mana.

    Right as the |Fireball| formed, Jean heard a warning from Markus, "Don''t get excited and lose your focus!"

    Jean grasped her faltering mind and flicked the ball as practised towards the rock outcrop, the result matched her earlier attempt.

    Markus approached Jean while asking, "Did you notice the difference?"

    "The mana consumption... it was significantly lower," Jean affirmed.

    "Exactly! By offloading the targeting and projectionponents, which tend to consume exponentially greater mana at your stage, to the mana gem, we reduce the overall mana consumption from your pool. Compartmentalisation is a huge boon for mages. At my level, I can cast over five hundred |Fireball| spells in session beforepletely depleting my mana. And that is with a transmutation Source Component, with a physical one I can go for a few hundred more!"

    Jean''s eyes widened slightly in shock.

    "If instead of the earlier targetting and projectionponents, you use these," Markus said as he pointed to a new page in his grimoire which contained two different spell circles, "it reduces the mana consumption even further!"

    "What''s the difference between these circles and the one earlier?"

    "The one which I taught you is tailored specifically for that specific type of |Fireball| spell. It will be impossible to apply it for any other projectile type spells. However, this one is a universal type which can be used with any projectile spells," Markus exined.

    Jean tilted her head beforementing, "But these are two different spell circles, how did you confirm this given our limit?"

    "That''s the bottleneck. You see, thanks to the wand, we at the Mana Condensation realm can sustain two spell circles simultaneously even though the limit is one. However, Master tried out my theory and confirmed that using these two circles for targetting and projection, as well as a third circle for the spell itself, the mana consumption bes unbelievably lower!"

    Jean hummed contemtively, as she pondered over the revtion. She then pointed out, "Here''s the thing though, I agree that furtherpartmentalisation improves spell efficiency, however, is it worth it? I mean, at higher realms, you have significantlyrger mana pools which can be used to leverage the mana consumption of spells without excessivepartmentalisation. Besides, will we even need wands at higher levels? It seems as though these are mainly crutches to allow us to advance at this stage of mage ."

    Markus shook his head immediately before dering, "That''s where you are wrong, Junior Sister. The possibilities the wand offers are immeasurable, and so are the prospects from furtherpartmentalisation. In fact, the two in conjunction can even allow you to cast spell multiple levels beyond your own AND spells that are attuned to special ''elements'', natures or even bloodlines."

    Jean''s unwavering expression didn''tpletely lude her confusion from Markus'' perception. Somehow, after teaching Jean for so long, he had be more aware of her limits ofprehension, as well as her subconscious behaviours and ticks. Markus smiled slyly before walking further away, in the direction of the stream. He turned to face Jean and began orating.

    "By increasinglypartmentalising a spell, although we increase the number of spell circles, we are reducing their intricacy. This trade-off makes it ptable for a mage at the lower realms who have a limit on the number of spells they can sustain."

    As he said this, Markus started to cast a new spell. It started with three small spell circles forming simultaneously from the base of the magic wand, and blooming outwards circrly around his wrists.

    "On top of that, therger mana gem with the fluid enchantment offers a greater surface to sustain multiple smaller spell circles as long as they are arranged in a mathematicallypact orientation, and you don''t mess it up during their formation of course."

    Markus'' face scrunched up with great difort as a fourth spell circle began to form and descend from his shoulders. It didn''t stop there, though! Markus grunted audibly before generating a fifth,rge spell circle that could epass all four within it, and pushing it down from his left shoulder.

    "Quickly cast a |Fireball| and project it at me!" Hemanded in a strained voice.

    "But-"

    "DO IT!"

    Jean caught herself quickly and started to cast a |Fireball| through practice. She decided to go with the easier, nonpartmentalised, method to avoid mistakes. She didn''t miss the fact that the Senior Brother had essentially cast five simultaneous spell circles, which were said to be beyond the limits of a Late-stage Mana Condensation realm mage, well into the Internal stage of Foundation establishment (a step above Teacher Larks'' current cultivation level). She could already fathom the difficulty of this attempt.

    ''He must be straining his will to its limits in doing this. Senior Brother is so... Awesome!'' she celebrated with amazement.

    The |Fireball| was formed and, with a flick, hurtled towards Markus.

    Right as the ball left the tip of Jean''s wand, Markus activated the spell circles and pushed them forward. The spell circles on his right hand with the wand formed a diagram with arge central circle containing smaller equally sized circles with their centres at its circumference at the bearing 0-degrees, 120-degrees, and 240-degrees. This collided with therger spell circle, which contained multipleponents lined along the periphery, from his left hand. They joined together in front of him, to form a massive spell circle that started to rotate agitatedly. As it activated, and the purple ethereal diagram was illuminated, an ungodly screeching resonated from it.

    Markus grit his teeth and circted even more of his mana towards the spell circle, which quickly formed a small dark point, the same size as the tip of a pin, at its centre.

    The screeching grew in volume markedly, as Markus could feel air gushing towards the point uninhibitedly. Right then, the hurtling ball of fire collided against the point, causing the screeching noise to quieten slightly. The |Fireball| whirled in ce as the mes started getting siphoned into the point voraciously. Even the dirt from the ground wasn''t saved from the point''s suction, as specks started to rise and rush towards the minuscule maw!<novelnext></novelnext>

    As Markus observed this reaction, he was brought back to his fight against Gaige. Back then, all of his attacks were easily extinguished and consumed by a curtain of avaricious darkness. The point was close, but it still wasn''t the same! Something in his mind told him that it was only a weak replica of that attack, and insignificantpared to the ck hole he''d seen before. He was ovee with disappointment at his spell''s performance.

    The moment of distraction was enough for his spell to waver. The small ck point started to vibrate.

    "Oh no!"

    BOOM!

    An explosion surged outwards as the point expanded instantly. The sonic boom that followed pushed Markus back and flung him into the flowing stream behind. Thankfully, Jean was at a safe distance away and quickly copsed towards the ground on her stomach.

    "S-Senior Brother!" Jean coughed out instinctively.

    "I''m okay!" Markus groaned as he rose from the flowing stream.

    A short second following that, the hurried figures of Al and Guy descended upon the scene, worry stered across their faces. It didn''t take long for them to put together the situation after observing the surroundings. Guy''s face warped into a defeated frown before he growled, "Markus!"

    "I-I can exin, Master!" Markus quickly vocalised.

    "Oh, you better! What the heck was that screeching sound? And the explosion?!"

    "Teacher Larks," Jean quickly interjected. "Senior Brother replicated the spell Gaige used!"

    "Not exactly-" Markus tried to exin, but he was immediately interrupted by an agitated Al. "You did what? Quick, show it to me!"

    Markus wanted to properly elucidate them about his spell, but Al was having none of it! Markus sighed in defeat and simply produced the spell circles he used from his grimoire.

    With a maniacal chuckle, Al started to cast the spell. He didn''t need to use a wand, nor did he need to use multiple hands. The entire ensemble was formed instantaneously in his right hand.

    Markus inconspicuously shuffled away from Al and pulled Jean and Guy with him. Al followed up immediately by activating the spell circle. As he did so, a much louder screeching noise resonated from the spell circle, causing the others present to cover their ears in pain.

    "HA!" Al eximed as a ck point materialised at the centre of the spell circle.

    "HAHAHAHAHA!" Al continued as he pushed the ck point towards the ground. As it descended, the point consumed the soil and drilled further and further downwards.

    "It works! AMAZING!" Al emoted.

    As this was happening, Guy noticed Markus'' strained expression.

    "What''s wrong? The spell works, why are you so distressed?" He asked.

    "The spell is iplete," he confessed while screaming over the muffled screech. "It isn''t the same as Gaige''s attack..."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well... After some thought, I realised that Gaige''s attack wasn''t how a ck hole worked. All the matter and energy that was consumed simply disappeared, releasing nothing. That''s not what a ck hole does. A ck hole emits radiation and energy." Markus exined.

    "That makes sense."

    "I figured that there were probably other mechanisms at work there apart from just absorption. Maybe he dissipated the energy over the nket of darkness after disintegrating the matter and energy. Anyways, I decided to pivot and focus on the principles of how a ck hole works. You see this spell generates a point that absorbs all matter that enters it andpresses it infinitely. This process is sustained by how much mana a mage can continuously expend," Markus continued.

    "Sure."

    "But what happens when the mage runs out of mana? Or they stop the spell?" Markus concluded.

    "Then everything that''s within... Oh shit!"

    Guy immediately grabbed his two students and rushed out.

    "Heh? Where did they go?" Almented as he noticed the missing audience. He shrugged and decided that it was time to cancel the spell, seeing as it was consuming exponentially more mana as it progressed.

    BOOOOOOOOOOM!

    An earthshattering explosion blossomed from the clearing. Arge swatch of the forest was overturned. The stream had been rerouted as well. Thankfully the explosion didn''t reach the vige. Yet the aftershock did cause a few structures to shift and copse. To this date, no one knew exactly what caused this because the only peopleplicit in this incident kept their mouths shut, and were prepared to take it to their graves.

 Chapter 125 Artistic Philosophy

    For the first time in his life, Kano was feeling dissatisfied with his work. Back in the vige, whenever Kano drew something, painted something, or even modelled something out of y, he never felt such a loathsome emotion every time he looked at it. But just yesterday, as he gazed at his wall-painting of Smaug being carted off towards the exhibition, he felt disgusted.

    "What''s the matter? Why the long face?" Mister Rasmus asked him from his side. Currently, the two were on a carriage ride towards the Artist''s Guild within Radiant City for the exhibition.

    Kano snapped out of his dismayed trance and exhaled loudly, "D-D-Do we have to show my painting at the exhibition?"

    In fact, Kano learned about the specifics of the exhibition just two days ago. He didn''t know that his work was also going to be up for disy! He thought that the purpose ofing to the city was to broaden his horizon by observing different artworks, and ording to Mister Rasmus that was the original n. However, through some rather annoying circumstances, Mister Rasmus was forced to push Kano into the spotlight and publicise his painting of Smaug, which Mister Rasmus had transported from his vige.

    "We have a slot. We kind of have to," Mister Rasmus affirmed. "Are you feeling apprehensive about it?"

    Kano nodded lightly with a deep frown.

    "And why is that?" Mister Rasmus urged again, with a faint smile on his face - Kano was too absorbed in his own troubles to notice it.

    "I d-d-don''t know... When I first painted Smaug, I was really excited. I liked it a lot. I felt that it was a good painting. B-B-But now... I guess I don''t like it as much?" Kano said while scrunching his nose.

    "What did I tell you about being descriptive with our words?" Mister Rasmus responded sternly.

    "Well... Suddenly, I feel like my work isn''t as good as I thought it would be. There are so many mistakes and shorings that I could have avoided. And it''s so... basic!" Kano rattled off briskly.

    Back in the vige, Kano had stumbled along the path of visual arts purely by feel and intuition. He did what he "felt" was right; he applied "techniques" that worked through natural experimentation. Because of that, every new work he created was amazing in his eyes. But after travelling to Radiant City, learning about painting techniques with Mister Goran, and perusing the textbooks sent over by Teacher Larks, Kano realised that he was like the frog trapped in the well from the fables.

    "It''s only natural," Mister Rasmus replied, causing Kano to jerk his head and face him in surprise. "Just like everything, art is all about growth. No one is born perfect. Even those with innate talent need to put some effort to unearth it and polish it. Along the path to improvement they inevitably have to make mistakes. If people don''t make mistakes they won''t learn and improve. You hate your earlier work because it is filled with imperfections in your eyes. Don''t fetter over the fact that you were a poor artist back then. Look at it from a different perspective: you only notice these imperfections because you are a better artist now!"

    "But still... I feel like I could''ve done so m-m-much more with it," Kano admitted with a pout. "My interpretation is so superficial!"

    The reason why Kano absorbed literature so avariciously, especially the fiction books provided by Teacher Larks, was because of how the authors used words to paint a picture in the reader''s minds that could sometimes extend beyond the surface-level interpretation. More specifically, Kano was enthralled by the works of some authors who would use stylistic devices, diction, sentence structure, etc. with such skill that it threw him for a loop with each repeated reading. To an extent, Kano was envious of these authors because he knew that hecked the capacity to craft thought-provoking proses using words.

    BUT, thanks to the textbooks sent by Teacher Larks, Kano was given new hope. He realised that visual arts could also be used as a medium to evoke deeper thought. In fact, Kano felt that he was close to scratching the surface of this new avenue with his Smaug wall-painting, nheless, he had still fallen short by a decent margin. For one, he realised that his understanding of Smaug was too shallow. Smaug the dragon was much more than just a cmitous beast. He was the reckoning of the dwarves who had sumbed to their endless greed. This wasn''t the first time the dwarves had perished through overindulgence in the sin of avarice. At ater date, the inhabitants of Moria too had been smothered by endless fire and darkness after mining too deeply. By using the skills Kano picked up from the books, he could have altered the perception of the character in his painting in an interesting way!

    Mister Rasmus snapped his fingers and dered excitedly, "Keep that thought in mind at all times! The words you have just spoken are the basis of your artistic pursuit, your philosophy. Every artist has a philosophy that guides their journey. To improve a technique, to develop a new technique, to explore ways to create certain kinds of moods, modelling specific creatures, are some examples of artistic philosophies. Of course, these philosophies are subject to change as the artists advance through the ranks and gain more insight into their craft."

    "I don''t quite understand, Mister Rasmus," Kano said with slightly furrowed brows.

    "What do you want to achieve as an artist?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I want... my artworks to resonate with the audience," Kano said with some uncertainty.

    "Too vague. Try borating it," Mister Rasmus guided.

    Kano hummed contemtively before speaking with a measured intonation, "It''s like this: when you look at an artwork you observe what is shown, which epasses all aspects ranging from the techniques used, colour, content,position and so on. When someone looks at my work, I want them to see more than just that. I want them to think about what they are seeing. What it means not just in general, but to them."

    "That''s good! You are close, but I can still see some ambiguity in your words," Mister Rasmus said. "I want you to do the following when we enter the exhibition, every time we see a new painting I want you to evaluate it with your artistic philosophy in mind. Ask yourself how the painting would rte to your philosophy if it even rtes to your philosophy, and what you could do differently to tie it with your philosophy?"

    Just as he finished, the carriage started to decelerate.

    "n Leader Rasmus, we have arrived at the Artists'' Guild," the carriage driver indicated with an audible and respectful tone.

    Unlike most other guild buildings in the city, the Artists'' Guild opted for a tter design. That is, while the others built up, the Artists chose to build out. Given theck of, and the high price of,nd within Radiant City, it was nothing short of a miracle how the Artists'' Guild managed to secure such arge swatch of real-estate and that too at one of the most high-traffic areas of the city. One advantage the Artists'' Guild branch had over the others was that it was one of the oldest established branches in the city. Being the first, they had managed to grab a lion''s share before the other swooped in and staked their im.

    Kano and Mister Rasmus alighted right in front of the building''s entrance. The gate into the building appeared to be made of wood, with intricate iys, models and designs sprawling over it evoking a sense of tranquil elegance. Upon passing through the gates, Kano realised that the guild''s building had a U-shaped design, with a wall at the open end acting as the entrance, where he was currently standing. At the open space in the centre was a beautifully maintained smallndscape. It was like a scene captured from his vige near the spring. A small brook flowed through the centre of thendscape, bisecting it in half. The regions it passed through formed a serene rocky meadow, with a wooden walkway arching over the brook to allow passage back and forth. There was a myriad of colourful flowers, bushes, small fauna, and trees that grew only as high as the roof of the nking building. From Kano''s position, he couldn''t see the end of the small forest which spoke a lot about just how wide the building itself was.

    "The quadrangle is a gathering ce for the artists registered with the guild. Here they are free to socialise, rx, or even sketch. Spell circles are lining the boundaries that inhibit sounds from entering the quadrangle, there are a few other circles that discourage excessive damage due to hotheaded conflicts between artists as well," Mister Rasmus exined.

    "It''s weird," Kanomented. "Why are they going through so much trouble to bring in nature into the city, when there is nature already present outside?"

    "Convenience. Most artists aren''t as adventurous and prefer to stay within the safety of walls," Mister Rasmus replied.

    "But you said that an artist must explore the world and learn more about it to grow," Kano reasoned.

    "I don''t want to judge other artists through my lens. Everyone has a process, and what I''ve taught you is just one of the many. It may work for you, and it may not, you can only know after trying."

    Kano hummed and followed Mister Rasmus through the hallways bordering the quadrangle. Along the way, Mister Rasmus bumped into many people he seemingly spoke intimately with, but Kano observed that he wasn''t being sincere. This was Kano''s first time witnessing the art of doublespeak in person, and he wasn''t feeling too fond of it.

    The walk was long, and it was not helped by the fact that a lot of people were interested in reacquainting themselves with the leader of the Rasmus n. Due to Kano''s generally small stature and unnoticeable aura, he was easily overlooked by those approaching Mister Rasmus. But his luck wouldn''tst, as just when they reached the double doors leading to the exhibition hall, a nasal voiceced with disdain and mockery called out from behind.

    "Ah! Big bro-"

    "n Leader." Mister Rasmus interrupted immediately and without turning around, as though he knew exactly who was calling out to him just from the tonal shift of the first sybles from the person''s mouth.

 Chapter 126 Petty Tactics

    Myron choked on his words and descended into a violent coughing fit, arousing the attention of others around him. Goran didn''t bother to wait for him to calm down and turned to leave.

    "Wait! *cough* big -"

    "n Leader," Goran corrected as though it were second nature, which essentially was the case for him by now. The interjection didn''t help Myron''s recovery and exacerbated his frenzied coughs.

    "Tsk! Act more appropriately, will you?! You''re embarrassing the n!" Goran reprimanded, eliciting a malicious, red-eyed and tear-filled stare from his hunched over brother.

    "You''re in the Core Condensation realm for goodness sake!" Goran reminded. Myron caught on to this hint, surprisingly, and immediately activated his mana cirction. After a short half-minute, he calmed down and exhaled loudly to regte his breath.

    "n Leader," Myron started, eyeing Goran with a hateful gaze. "Ah! Is this the little artist?" He eximed and shifted his gaze towards Kano. Noticing the man''s hostile intentions, Kano slowly slid behind Goran.

    "This is the artist whose work is taking the centre stage today, Artist Lang!" Myron turned andmented. From behind him, an elderly looking individual, with an imposing aged-silver coloured beard and a haughty gaze, walked forward with his hands sped behind him. The man called Artist Keegan Lang looked towards the little child and observed him with great intensity. Within a short second, the man had already inspected the boy from top to bottom using his mana sense and, after finding nothing of value, snorted derisively.

    Myron wore a proud smirk and nced at Goran. Goran realised that Myron had taken his earlier "advice" quite seriously, and went out of his way to bring in an expert. Well, calling Artist Lang an expert would be an understatement; the man was a veritable master in his craft. He currently held a 6-star license, evidence of the fact that he could create artworks at the fifth level consistently. Goran actually owned a few paintings of Artist Lang, including the man''s very first fifth level painting, and they hung within a secure vault in the Rasmus n''s territory.

    "Artist Lang! What a wonderful surprise," Goran greeted as he stepped forward with a jovial smile. Kano observed that there was an undertone of respect and adoration in Goran''s voice - he truly meant it when he said that - which was in contrast to his attitude earlier when meeting others. And this was because Goran actually admired the talent of the man before him.

    "n Leader Rasmus," Artist Lang replied with a smile filled with a contrast of emotions. Kano sensed reverence and respect, as well as a tinge of animosity in the man''s tone. The resentment didn''t seem like it was directed towards Goran, though, which confused Kano even further.

    "Kanoe, greet Artist Lang," Goran instructed and moved the meek boy forward. Kano, in turn, walked up with a lowered head and bowed profusely.

    "It is an honour to m-m-meet you, Artist L-L-Lang," the boy said in a low voice. In response, the boy simply received a curt hum from the man. It was then that Kano realised that the earlier hostility was directed at him! The resentment was so telegraphed that even Goran picked up on this minor interaction and immediately moved forward to shift the topic.

    "I apologise for cutting this meeting short. We were nning to peruse the works in the exhibition, so we shall be taking our leave," Goran said and bade Artist Lang a hurried farewell. They had arrived right just a few hours before the exhibition opened. Being a VVIP, Goran had the privilege of appreciating the artworks peacefully before themon riffraff.

    "Why don''t we join the n Leader and the little artist, Artist Lang?" Myron said in a feigned suggestive tone. He didn''t wait for the recipient''s affirmation and immediately started to follow Goran.

    Goran sighed in annoyance and walked in. Right as they entered the hall, Goran noticed a bizarre scene with the employees of the guild moving around frantically. He observed them and realised that they were recing the signs reading "Main Exhibition: Artist Keegan Lang" with "Main Exhibition: Kano Reva".

    He then tuned in to the conversations bubbling amongst the visitors in the hall and heard the full story.

    "*Tsk* What''s wrong with the guild? They moved Artist Lang''s works to a lower slot in ce of aplete novice! Who even is this Kano Reva?"

    "Shh! Apparently, they''re in bed with some bigshots..."

    "Who?"

    "I shouldn''t say..."

    "Just spill it! Damn it!"

    "Alright, alright! It''s the Rasmus n!"

    "No way! If n Leader Rasmus is sponsoring this artist, he must be pretty good."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I don''t know. Let''s go check it out first!"

    With a forceful growl, Goran jolted his head backwards and interrogated Myron, "What have you done?!"

    "Big brother," Myron started. He paused for a half-second by instinct, noticing that Goran hadn''t corrected him like an imbecile, he celebrated internally and said, "since you were debuting your sponsored artist, I figured you would want his work to take the centre stage. So I asked the guild to make the change, for which they readily obliged as you are their foremost patron."

    "So you reced a 6-star artist''s painting with that of someone who hasn''t even earned a Practicing license, and used the n''s name for this?" Goran reaffirmed with an exhausted voice. He finally realised the cause of Artist Lang''s ire. He had been upstaged by a literal nobody! Of course, the artist couldn''t take it out on the people who implemented this, since it was equivalent to taking on the entire Rasmus n, all the man could do was direct his displeasure towards the dastardly interloper, which was Kano.

    "I''m looking forward to observing ''artist'' Reva''s work," Artist Langmented as he walked in behind Myron. When he said the word artist, there was a clear sarcastic edge in it.

    While Myron revelled over his supposed victory, Goran immediately started to ponder over how to resolve the iing conflict. The people with a lot of clout in a particr field, though wise, were often petty. They never appreciated it if someone they deemed a ''greenhorn'' opposed them or made them lose face. Goran could already anticipate the amount of contention Kano would encounter in the future in the hands of Artist Lang if the current fray wasn''t settled appropriately.

    In the end, Goran couldn''te up with anything. For the first time, he had been bested by Myron in a diplomatic battle.

    ''I was too careless,'' he thought as he gazed apologetically at Kano.

    "Why don''t we study artist Kano''s work?" Myron suggested rhetorically.

    "That''s not necessary," Goran denied curtly. "We are here to learn from the works of others not stroke our own ego, isn''t that right Kano?"

    Kano nodded vehemently with a serious expression.

    ____

    Keegan would be lying if he said that he wasn''t affected by everything that transpired today. The exhibition at Radiant City''s Artists'' Guild was a huge event that garnered a lot of attention. It was where veteran and up-anding artists woulde to showcase their mettle, and possibly make huge sales with the high-rollers that attended intending to procure thetest masterpieces.

    However, a 6-star artist such as himself wouldn''t usually bother to participate in such clownish events. Why would they bother cing their transcendent works amongst the lower tier trash? To put it simply, it would be analogous to a dragon unting its might amongst ants. But Keegan was different. He didn''t care much about such trivial beliefs and practices, all he cared about was the money. The only reason he was taking part in this event was to offload his newest painting with a lucrative sale.

    Keegan wasn''t short on funds, he was as rich as any other Artist in his position could be. Yet, he was wanting for more. Every once in a while, Keegan would get this prickly feeling of insecurity. That at any moment, all the money in his bank ount would just disappear. Whenever that feeling rose within him, he would rush over to his studio and lock himself for months on end, only to exit after he had created another masterpiece level-five artwork. He would then sell the work to fuse an influx of cash into his ount. Only then would his insecurity subside.

    Incidentally, Keegan wanted to try something different this time and decided to advertise his new work in Radiant City''s exhibition rather than through the usual auction. The Guild was rightfully ted to host Keegan, after all, it wasn''t like every 6-star artist would willingly publicly advertise their works.

    But just before the day of the exhibition, his position was switched with that of another, unlicensed artist. It was sphemy of the highest order! He was prepared to unleash hisplete fury on the guild for such an unceremonious sleight, but he realised that the perpetrators were one of his highest-paying clients: the Rasmus n. Knowing who they were, Keegan wasn''t surprised that the guild sided with them rather than him.

    He couldn''t afford to oppose them, not if he was prepared to lose a lucrative source of ie. But that didn''t mean that he was ready to drop his displeasure towards the miscreant who made him lose face so spectacrly. Keegan should have and was nning to immediately void his participation, but Keegan was somehow convinced by Myron Rasmus to attend the exhibition and destroy the artist''s reputation personally.

    At that time, he was prepared to tear the artist a new one publicly and end his entire career, until he realised that his so-called ''opponent'' was just a little kid. How small-minded would he be if he was ready to go up in arms against him?

    Internally, Keegan mmed his past self for bing so embroiled in his anger that he had be swayed by Myron''s obvious attempts to incite a pointless conflict. Because now, Keegan was feeling extremely regretful.

    But Keegan''s pride stopped him from doubling back. Since he had made a deration with such conviction, he would lose too much face if he gave up without putting even a little bit of effort. So Keegan decided, rather half-heartedly, that he had to do something, albeit only in ceremony, to humble the boy.

 Chapter 127 Warming Up

    Keegan looked at the kid named Kano and pondered over how he should handle the situation. The kid was currently reading a small handbook that every exhibition attendee was given, which detailed the history of the participants and exined their works. The boy slid the index finger of his right hand over the page and mumbled the word that was pointing at under his breath.

    "This is the work of 3-star artist, Kenosha Nurn. It''s called ''A Lone Lotus''," Goran introduced the first disyed artwork out loud. He then turned to the boy and asked, "What do you think?"

    The boy immediately started exining the technicalities of the painting. The longer he spoke, Keegan''s scrutinising gaze faltered.

    ''He''s knowledgeable,'' Keegan thought to himself. As the boy continued, he started to enter territories that were quite advanced for artists, especially this early in their career. Keegan admitted that when he was the boy''s age, even he couldn''t recite all those details without missing a beat. Then again, Keegan didn''t have ess to the same resources as the boy.

    ''That''s right! He didn''t have to struggle as I did,'' Keegan said to himself to assuage his envy. For a second there, Keegan had nearly vocalised his fascination with the boy out loud.

    While the boy orated, Keegan battled internally over pointing out negligible misspeaks or errors to win one over him. But then he realised that his opponent was only a child, moreover, there was an age gap of around a century between them.

    "Now, try doing what I told you to do before," Goran instructed after the boy finished. Kano nodded and stared at the painting thoughtfully. In between, the boy lowered his head and read the entry about the artist and her work in the book in his hand.

    Keegan carefully observed the boy''s emotions and noticed that his frown deepened with every passing second.

    "I c-c-can''t make a connection," the boy admitted in defeat.

    "That''s okay. We''ll keep going." And with that, they walked over to the next painting. This exercise continued one after the other. The boy would first dictate his observation about the artwork, barring some insights that were outside his reach since he wasn''t a mage. After that, the boy would stare at the painting with a more intense gaze while intermittently alternating between the book in his hand and the painting.

    As they moved around, Keegan''s internal conflict was reaching a boiling point. ''What am I even doing here, following a kid like this? What am I hoping to achieve?!''

    In fact, while initially, Keegan had arrived with a metaphorical sword in hand, after observing the boy''s diligence and willingness to learn, he slowly mellowed out. During the transition between paintings, Keegan even posed a few easy questions to gauge the boy''s capacity and was further impressed. The kid wasn''t half bad - in Keegan''s opinion.

    "What''s the boy trying to do?" Keegan asked Goran with a low whisper. While some of the topics Kano pointed out and discussed with Goran involved artistic techniques beyond the ordinary level, they didn''t offer anything new for Keegan. He was more interested in the instruction Goran ryed at the end of each viewing.

    "I''m teaching Kano to exercise his artistic philosophy," Goran answered tly.

    "So early?" An artistic philosophy is an advanced concept usually left for artists who have earned a few stars in their licenses. To introduce it to someone who was yet to step into the official path was peculiar.

    Goran nodded with a proud smile and said, "The boy is beyond his years. Artist Lang should have seen it already. You wouldn''t believe it if I told you that he learned all of that in thest few weeks alone."

    Now that WAS inconceivable!

    Goran noticed Keegan''s disbelief and said, "He''s extremely talented, this one."

    "So what is his philosophy?" Keegan inquired immediately.

    "Hmm, I believe it''s best if you ask him directly," Goran deferred. He then moved towards Kano and urged him forward.

    "The next painting is Artist Lang''s. It will be far, far superior to the ones we''ve seen before. It will also be spiritually active, thus I will be monitoring you so that you don''t lose yourself in it."

    Before they could proceed, Kano jolted his head towards Goran and said, "Wait! I think I have something. Give me a minute, please. I just need to confirm it!"

    As Keegan looked into the boy''s animated eyes, he was taken over by their liveliness. This was ad who really loved to paint - Keegan could just tell by the animated excitement surging from his ebullience.

    ''I don''t even feel this way about my works,'' Keegan sighed in shame. Even though he was a 6-star Artist, he never had the same level of enthusiasm the boy disyed for a split second before running off.<novelnext></novelnext>

    From his side, Keegan suddenly heard a tongue click, "How disrespectful! Who does the boy think he is, keeping Artist Lang waiting like this?"

    It was Myron, who was trying to add oil to the nearly extinguished me. Keegan wasn''t oblivious to Myron''s attempts at antagonising him against the boy. It was just that earlier, Keegan had a legitimate reason to go along. But now, it just seemed so trivial. Besides, after suppressing his senseless rage, he realised that Goran wasn''t someone who would put Kano in such a controversial position. He was methodically taking Kano through the different artworks and encouraging the boy to exercise his knowledge. What benefit would moving the kid''s unpolished painting to such a public stage offer in his development, unless it was some sort of a sick exercise in building humility? Not like the kid even needed it; he was already so unbearably soft-spoken, not an ounce of youthful hot-headednessy within his bones. Keegan tried to reprimand the boy once for a small error, only to receive an immediate and heartfelt apology - it was like punching cotton! This ultimately meant that someone else was involved in slighting Keegan. After some trite mental calction, he figured out that the ''someone'' responsible was standing right next to him and egging him on.

    Just as Keegan was about to speak and reprimand Myron, Kano toddled back with an excited expression and urged Goran to take him to the next painting.

    Since they were approaching his work, Keegan subconsciously became more receptive to his audience''s opinions and expressions. He was especially interested in what the kid had to say. Evidently, the boy had made some breakthrough in unearthing his artistic philosophy, and Keegan was looking forward to hearing what it was.

    Keegan held little connection to his work. Sure it was a level five masterpiece, but it wasn''t anything special to him. The observers didn''t share this opinion - to them the work was transformative and extremely valuable. Because of his usual indifference, his works never had a name, just a numeric designation. The one on disy right now was "Number 23".

    The scene was of a lone farmer toiling in avish field of gold and green. As Kano looked at the sole individual, the man turned his head and looked out. He took out a towel stuffed into the back of his pants and brought it over to his face to dab away the overflowing sweat. He had a shovel in his hands, that he nted directly into the soil, letting it stand vertically. He folded his hands, rested them over the vertical wooden handle and waved out towards Kano. With each passing second, Kano could feel the world around him change, from the modestly cool exhibition hall to a weing and encouraging warmth beating down from the Sun. The still air started to course in a pleasant breeze, carrying an aroma of freshly cut grass that immediately assaulted Kano''s nose. The sound of metal colliding against the soil reverberated in the background, suppressed by the calm whooshing of the swaying wheat stalks.

    The next wave brought with it a rush of emotions. The fulfilment that followed a battery of hard work, the joy from receiving the payment from a hard day''s work, and the tranquillity that was offered by a filling meal with the entire family.

    The farmer in the distance approached Kano and offered him a stalk of wheat. Kano didn''t know what it meant and stared at the man with a vacant gaze. In response, the man simply ced the stalk in his mouth and started chewing on it. He handed Kano another one beforeying down on the ground and staring into the clear blue sky.

    Most others, uninitiated to the rapture of a painting at the pinnacle of contemporary art, would''ve beenpletely enraptured by this experience - lost within the painting''s microcosm. But surprisingly, Kano wasn''t. He was pulled into this little world at a spiritual level, but not once did he mistake it for reality. There were signs, subtle indications that the world around him was a result of a myriad of brushstrokes and artificial colours. The sky''s blue-ness was slightlycking, the grass'' green-ness was a little washed, the wheat''s gold-ness was a tad t. Every single colour in this world was close, but a fraction of a step short. It didn''t detract from the appeal of this veritable masterpiece of a painting - one that stood at the top of the contemporary styles.

    All this while, Keegan was doggedly observing the transition of expressions on Kano''s face. It started with a contemtive frown, which slowly loosened to unrestrained awe, finally warping at an exponential rate towards an assured resoluteness.

    "Did you make a connection?" Goran asked.

    Kano nodded enthusiastically and said, "I see it! I''ve figured out a connection with my philosophy!"

    Keegan''s curiosity overtook his self-control urging him to inquire, "Can you exin it to me?"

    Right as Kano prepared to answer, a series of hasty conversations broke through the respectful silence.

    "Quickly now! It''s at the centre of the quad!"

    "I never thought that something so exciting like an Artists'' Duel would take ce today of all days!"

    The upants within the hall were absorbed by the hubbub and, like sheep, followed the crowd exiting hurriedly.

    Myron stopped the nearest individual and demanded rification, "What''s going on? Where is everyone running off to?"

    "It''s an Artists'' Duel. Artist Norris challenged Teacher Way to it. It''s taking ce in the quad!" The man answered before receding with a brisk jog.

    "Who''s Teacher Way?" Myron muttered.

    Goran recollected only one Teacher Way, "It''s Jo Way."

    """Who?""" Kano, Keegan, and Myron blurted out in unison.

 Chapter 128 Artists Duel (Part One)

    In a world where martial might reigned supreme, a duel would often be associated with a bout between two individuals based on their martial prowess either to death or defeat. However, on the artistic stage, a duel held apletely different essence. On this stage, the goal was for thepetitors to triumph over each other through their artistic skills alone - having superior strength held no meaning here.

    Yet, one must know that losing the duel based on art often ended with the loser''s entire career ending in jeopardy. That is, a budding artist would lose all credibility even before their career had a chance to take off while an established one would have their entire lives overturned in a single day. This is because the artists ce the thing most valuable on the line when taking on the challenge: their reputation. Unlike with martial duels, where the loser either died or became disabled, a losing artist was wholly intact but had to live in a state of disgraced limbo. Their life would reach such a low point that they would wish they had just died that day.

    The duel between artists has, and always will be, a sacred rite without room for negotiation. Unlike physical duels, this one must ur in a public setting with multiple artists - without conflicts of interest with thepetitors - present and willing to judge to ensure the sanctity of the oue.

    Needless to say, because of the rigidity of this process, as well as the severe ramifications of suffering a defeat, an artist''s duel was a rare urrence. This was why everyone present in the Artists'' Guild appeared so emotionally charged and excited for what may only ur once in their lifetimes.

    "Who the heck is Jo Way?"

    "He''s a 1-star Teacher from Radiant Academy."

    "Hmm... I can''t recollect this person... Anyways, why is he duelling against Artist Norris, who is a 3-star Artist? Is he also a 3-star Artist?"

    "HA! No, he''s not even licensed to practise!"

    "Such guts?!"

    "I know right! This guy is asking for trouble, I tell ya! Asking to have his face dragged through the mud. Humph!"

    "Did he challenge Artist Norris?"

    "No, it was the other way around?"

    "Umm, isn''t Artist Norris just bullying the weak like this?"

    "You don''t know the full story! It all makes sense if you hear it..."

    And then, the crowd member expounded on the events that led up to this incredulouspetition between two individuals who were, on paper, at two different skill levels.

    Apparently, Artist Norris was hired as a tutor for the second son of the Lionel n''s Third Young Master. The boy was considered an artistic prodigy and the n had to jump through a tonne of hoops to score this opportunity. On the day of the exhibition, Artist Norris was apanying the boy around the hall, exposing him to the paintings when Teacher Way came around and openly criticised Arist Norris'' opinions. No one could pinpoint for sure what events led to this happening. Different variations ced either of the parties in a better light. Ultimately, one thing led to another, and Artist Norris who had publicly lost face urged Teacher Way topete against him in a duel, which the Teacher readily agreed to.

    However, after that, it appeared as though the Teacher didn''t even know what an artist''s duel was. In fact, he didn''t even seem to know much about the nuances of painting and the techniques involved when someone asked him offhandedly.

    "*Tsk* Young people are so arrogant," Keeganmented. "Where is that man, Teacher Way?"

    The crowd member who had provided the earlier exposition volunteered, "He excused himself to the guild''s library. Needed some inspiration, he said."

    "You said that he didn''t even have a practitioner''s license? What farce is this?!" Keegan blurted out. "Let''s go back!"

    Right as Keegan said those words, someone in the crowd eximed, "That''s Artist Keegan Lang!"

    "The 6-star artist? What''s he doing here?"

    "Idiot! Don''t you know that histest work is hanging in the exhibition?"

    "It is? Why isn''t it the main event?"

    Keegan coughed to interrupt the line of questioning. He didn''t want to relive that embarrassment again. Yet now that his attendance was made public, a person from the centre of the crowd walked forward and greeted him with a respectful bow, "Artist Lang. It is an honour to meet you."

    The man was Artist Norris, one of the participants of the duel. Keegan lightly nodded his head in acknowledgement.

    "I humbly request that you act as one of the judges for this duel," Artist Norris continued.

    "Why?"

    Stumped, Artist Norris lowered his head further. He realised that he had let his hubris get the better of him, going as far as to make such a presumptuous request from a 6-star artist no less! That was three whole stars above him - what was he thinking?<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I-I-I-"

    Keegan clicked his tongue and mocked, "Yeah, I figured. You didn''t even think, did you? Impulsive!"

    "W-W-What is going on?" A meek voice vibrated from behind Keegan.

    "That''s Artist Norris, the person who is involved in the duel. He''s asking Artist Lang to act as a mediator," Goran exined.

    "Why are theypeting through their painting?" Kano asked while scratching his head in confusion. For him, drawing was a fun activity - something to be enjoyed. But the way things were being conducted before him, felt a bit stifling.

    "One must be ready to stand their ground by virtue of their skills as an artist," Keegan answered while shaking his head. "What would you do if someone less experienced than you, less learned than you, were toe forward and make libellous ims about your work?"

    "What should I do?" Kano inquired with a nk expression. His eyes alternated between Goran and Keegan as though he were hoping to receive their opinions on the matter. This behaviour pleased Keegan as it indicated that Kano had acknowledged his skill and respected him.

    "You must prove them wrong, of course!"

    "Ahh..." Kano vocalised in understanding and nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grains. When they first met, Kano maintained caution when talking with or approaching Keegan. However, after walking around together and having a few intermittent exchanges, Kano had opened up a little and assumed his usual emotive persona. As Keegan gazed at the little boy with chubby, dimpled cheeks wearing a serious expression, he realised that the kid was kind of cute.

    "But Artist Lang, why don''t you want to help mediate the duel for Artist Norris? Isn''t he doing e-e-exactly what you said someone should do in his ce?" Kano added with an innocent, curious gaze.

    "I have better things to do, boy!"

    "You do? But weren''t we just observing paintings? We can do thatter too, right?" Kano blurted out subconsciously. His face then drooped in disappointment.

    "I kind of wanted to see how the duel would go..." Kano sighed audibly and added, "It sounded interesting..."

    The corner of Keegan''s lips twitched slightly. Honestly, he wasn''t really interested in the duel at all. To him, the conflict between artists below him was akin to a petty, phallus measuringpetition. However, it was also true that he had nothing else to do for the time being. He was initially here to contend against the interloper who stole his spotlight, but now he was only remaining because he was vaguely interested in the boy. Keegan very much wanted to drag the kid back to his painting and hear his opinions, but Keegan also recognised that in doing so he would only sadden and distract him. Keegan hoped that the boy would drop the request so that he could save some face, but it didn''t appear as though that was going to happen anytime soon. There was no malice or scheming in the boy''s gaze, just raw curiosity, so Keegan didn''t have a valid reason to stick to his earlier point.

    "Fine, we can stay and watch," Keegan acquiesced with a sigh, and then dered to the crowd, "I won''t be acting as a judge. Find someone else for that!"

    Artist Norris silently receded, rejoicing internally that his impulsive faux pas didn''t end up damaging him.

    "Where is the other one, anyway?" Keegan grunted with irritation. He had been waiting for a little less than half an hour now, and he was growing increasingly agitated by the fact that the supposedly heated duel had entered a standstill even before it began.

    "Did he run away?" Someonemented.

    "No. Someone from the guild is monitoring him. He''s still in the library," another person answered.

    "What''s he doing in there? It looks to me like he''s just wasting our time!" The first personined.

    Right then, the figure they were waiting for strolled with a nonchnt stride and his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets.

    Kano had heard of Teacher Jo Way before. He knew that his elder brother had lost to this person''s student, so by default Kano had a poor opinion of the man. After observing him in person for the first time, Kano''s dislike for the man was vastly exacerbated.

    It is often stated that when one meets another person for the first time, they must aim to bring forward their best self. This is because people''s opinion of you is primarily dependent on their first impressions. If youe across as amiable, they will feel more motivated to socialise with you. If instead, youe forth like a cold recluse, they will subconsciously distance themselves from you.

    Kano''s first impression of Jo Way was less than optimal. The man''s gait was oozing with a kind of confidence thatcked substance. His face held aposure overflowing with toxic arrogance - the kind of arrogance thates with being a prideful ignorant man. As Kano read the man''s expressions, he observed that the man appeared unaffected and prepared for an unquestionable victory.

    "Hmph! I thought you''d run away," Artist Norris taunted.

    "What reason do I have to do that? I was the one who epted your challenge, why would I run away?" Jo Way retorted. He then continued by demanding, "So, as the challenger, what conditions do you propose for the duel?"

    Artist Norris sneered before listing the format for the duel.

 Chapter 129 Artists Duel (Part Two)

    The rules established were simple. Since the basis of the slight Artist Norris faced was on his skill and, by extension, capacity to teach a student, the theme of thepetition was covering the basics. The two were assigned an hour, within which they only had ess to a sheet of paper, ck ink, and brushes. They had to use these tools to produce apleted work within the time limit regardless of its content,position, and so on. The goal was to determine who could disy a greater mastery of artistic technique given hard limitations on what tools and resources they could use.

    Jo Way didn''t show any opposition to these propositions. In fact, his unusually nonchnt expression indicated that he was unwaveringly confident in his victory, which gave a few of the observers some pause, especially Artist Norris. At this point he was expecting the man to at least whine, grovel, orin.

    ''Not even one word?'' Artist Norris had technically stacked the deck in his favour. Everyone knew that when it came to ink painting and watercolours, Artist Norris was a leading 3-star artist. He had even published a few articles on his observations and techniques that were often used in teaching novices.

    ''No matter,'' Artist Norris said to himself as he propped his workspace. The guild provided him with an inkstone block, water, a myriad of brushes, and arge nk sheet of paper. He then proceeded to position the items in a perfect position: the block was three hand-widths away from the sheet which was ced perfectly at the centre of his table, with the edges of the two being parallel to each other. He then moved the haphazardly resting brushes around on the brush holder by order of increasing diameter. He gently squeezed the slightly yed tips with wet fingers to produce a clean, twirling point.

    He then took a step back to observe his station. Dissatisfied, he moved closer and rotated the paper by 180-degrees and moved it horizontally to the right by a millimetre.

    "Shall we begin?" Jo Way asked the three judging artists.

    "Artist Norris?" One of the three asked the man with a clear tone.

    "Just a second..." Artist Norris muttered. He took a step back, frowned and repeated the action of rotating the paper. He took a step back, frowned and moved the inkstone block to the left by a finger width. He took a step back, frowned and rotated one of the brushes by a few degrees on the stand. He took a step back, tilted his head and exhaled in satisfaction. "I''m ready!"

    After receiving an affirmation from both sides, the judges initiated the duel with a cadenced countdown. There was no fanfare when the match started. Unlike with martial duels, there were no shy bursts of light, emission of heat or cold, sounds of any sort, or even any drastic movements. Instead, each artist simply began their painting.

    Artist Norris strafed to the left such that the ink block was perfectly in front of him. He poured a dollop of water on the block and started to grind the stone with practised elegance. As the water droplet expanded under the friction from the stone, it started to turn a shade of rich ck. He ced the stone horizontally above the block and poured another dollop before repeating his actions. As he did so, a small pool of liquid ck formed at the centre of inkstone. Artist Norris ced the block back on top before retrieving the widest brush from the stand. He dipped the brush at an angle into the pool and rotated it back and forth, allowing it to be fully engulfed in ck paint. He lifted the brush-up vertically and held it in ce, allowing excess liquid to drip off. As though it were second nature to him, he moved the brush right as thest drop escaped the tip and ced it vertically above the centre of the nk sheet.

    With a confident plunge, the brushnded on the sheet of paper and started to waltz with skilful familiarity. The ck ink spread majestically from the tip of the brush onto the pure whitendscape, and as the brush traversed through the nk ins it delivered a continuous influx of darkness, sometimes in bulk and at other times in increments. The water soaked into the paper, carrying the dark ink along with it, depositing it as it seeped farther and farther with a gradation fading into the white.

    Artist Norris was so absorbed in his work that he failed to notice the ruckus Jo Way was creating.

    "I-Is that the Ink Puppet Painting Technique?"

    "That''s impossible! The amount of precise mana control AND predesign that is necessary to use that technique... Do you think a mere Foundation Establishment mage can aplish it?"

    "BUT LOOK AT IT! That''s the very same technique!"

    Kano frowned lightly before asking Keegan and Goran simultaneously, "What''s the Ink Puppet Painting Technique?"

    Keegan pulled his lips tly into his cheeks as he pondered how to simplify the exnation such that a child could understand. But right as he was doing so, Goran spoke up, "It''s simr to the technique you used to paint the Red Dragon Smaug. However, it is at a much higher level."

    Keegan cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Does the boy know this technique?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Not exactly. He has used a derivation of it before," Goranmented. He then looked at Kano who was struggling to stand on his tip-toes and offered assistance, "Wait, I''ll show you."

    Goran lifted Kano and ced him over his shoulders so that the boy could get a clearer view of Jo Way.

    Jo Way pulsed a transparent string of mana into the pool of ck ink that he had formed thoughtlessly. The stink started to coagte into an undting blob. The blob moved like slime on top of the sheet of paper. Interestingly, not a hint of ck persisted as the blob traversed a beelining path. Once it arrived at the centre, the blobpressed, ttened, elongated and expanded in an uncoordinated, non-periodic fashion. As it did so, it left marks, shes, dots and splotches of ck. The abstract puzzle it formed incrementally started to take coherent shape as this exercise progressed.

    "He is using his mana to control the ink. If you look carefully, you can observe that the ink isn''t drying as fast as it should when on the paper. That is because he is also using his mana to control the rate at which the colour settles. The longer the ink remains liquid, the deeper the colour bes," Goran exined.

    "The Ink Puppet Painting Technique was created by Artist Laurence. He is actually Artist Norris'' Master. This technique is best applied when the artist wants to create a painting quickly. As you can see, the method is fast and efficient. However, the disadvantage is that the artist must have the exact image in their mind right from the beginning, and must be aware of what is taking form on the paper as they are doing so. A single mistake can cause the entire painting to fall apart. On top of that, they need to sustain a steady stream of mana that is dispersed at varying densities across the painting surface. It is a high-level technique that has a steep learning curve. I didn''t know that Jo Way had that in his toolbox - no wonder he was so confident," Goran added.

    "His use of the technique is extremely refined," Keegan chimed in. "The level of control he is exhibiting is indicative of years of experience and practice. How old is thisd?"

    Goran smiled wryly as he answered, "There is just a little less than a century between yours and his age, Artist Lang."

    Keegan''s eyes widened in disbelief before hemented, "Artist Norris dug his grave with this one. He basically handed thed a sword and ran straight into it."

    "But Artist Lang," Kano interjected. "Didn''t you say that an artist must stand their ground when someone challenges their skill?"

    Keegan clicked his tongue and said, "But one must also choose their fights carefully."

    Kano couldn''t get his head around the hypocritical statements from Artist Lang. His confused gaze was caught by Goran who simply offered a look that indicated, ''Just let it go.''

    Unsurprisingly, Jo Way was the first to finish his painting. Once thest mark was made by his now shrunken paint blob, he indicated hispletion to the judges. Usually, in these duels, the time between thepletion of both participants was never so exaggerated, because barely a quarter of the allotted time had passed and already one of the participants had finished their work. Artist Norris wasn''t aware of this and waspletely absorbed in his task. The audience and judges remained quiet to ensure that the artist wasn''t disturbed. One of the judges swiftly moved an opaque cover over Jo Way''s work to mask it from the audience - as custom the paintings had to be revealed at the same time.

    Artist Norris took the entire hour for his work. Right as the final sand particle in the hourss descended into the lower chamber, Artist Norris raised his paintbrush and ced it carefully on the stand.

    The judges repeated the same practice and covered Artist Norris'' work as well. They then moved the two luded paintings to a raised tform and adhered it in ce.

    The crowd moved closer with excitement as a primed silence pervaded the ambience. The audience moved aside to let Keegan, Goran and Kano through, while unwittingly blocking out Myron who barely understood what was going on. He was still confused over how the situation turned so drastically, it was supposed to be a one-sided verbal and moralmbasting of the boy his brother was sponsoring! Observing paintings was just a cover, why were they now actually doing it?!

    After the crowd settled, the judges made a move and revealed the painting simultaneously.

    Then, there was only silence.

 Chapter 130 Artists Duel (Part Three)

    The first person to break the silence did so with an elongated, "Wow!"

    This opened up the floodgates, as others joined in appreciating the two paintings disyed before them. The first thing every artist and critique in the crowd noticed was that both the paintings had achieved the third level. This was incredible because the artists did so just within an hour and only used ck ink. One must remember that a third level painting qualifies as such because when it is observed, the viewer perceives the painting in actual three dimensions. That is, they would feel as though it would be possible to touch the objects within the painting if they reached forward.

    However, the reaction of the crowd was evidently more exaggerated. This was because while Artist Norris was a licensed 3-star Artist, Jo Way was not. This meant that he was capable of producing level three paintings, however, this guarantee wasn''t present with Jo Way, who was unlicensed. This dichotomy already offered Jo Way a marked edge in thispetition as the judges and the audience had a low expectation from him.

    After judging the paintings at a superficial level, the judges moved closer to examine them based on the technique,position and realism.

    Artist Norris had painted a building, more specifically, the facade of the ''Pce of the Sun'' - the abode of the monarch of the Sr Empire. It was an extremely intricate drawing which should be incredibly hard given the generally ''runny'' medium. However, Artist Norris disyed excellent control of the paintbrush and an understanding of how the liquid ink behaved on paper. The pce was a sprawling structure that was almost asrge as Radiant City. It was not only home to the Emperor''s family and n, it also housed most of the public employees that worked there and the many servants. One interesting detail of the pce was that it was primarily lined with beautiful, mosaic ss designs depicting various scenes from the nation''s history, from its founding till the present century.

    Due to the expansive architecture of the pce, it would be difficult to capture its entire facade in a single sheet, hence Artist Norris focused on the signature anterior face of the building. It did not make his life any easier, though, since the anterior section was the one loaded with the most borate ss artworks, as they were the first to be designed after the founding of the nation. So it wasudable how well Artist Norris managed to capture the majestic and historic aura of the particr view! Through his expert use of ink with varying gradations, he managed to recreate the exact disy in ck-and-white, with unerring precision. One must know just how difficult it is to emte the transparency of ss while also ensuring that the design painted on it does not appear t or two-dimensional. Yet, Artist Norris achieved it all within the short span of an hour.

    On the other side, Jo Way opted for a more aggressive approach and painted a portrait. This was an arrogant move on his part since portraits were infinitely more challenging thanndscapes to achieve the third level as the painter had to keep the aura and presence of the subject in mind when painting it. The person Jo Way painted was someone he was familiar with in this world, his student Gaige Bori. Jo Way had perfectly captured Gaige''s facade; to anyone familiar with the boy, they would readily recognise the person in the portrait at first nce. The use of ck and white to highlight skin folds and amplify the vigorous youth in the boy''s eyes brought dynamism to the image projected in two dimensions. It was this feature that differentiated portraits from images captured by recording artefacts. Thetter could just as easily capture the likeness of a person, but a good portrait transcended that and brought forward the person''s essence.

    To top this off, Jo Way had used the Ink Puppet Painting Technique! In using this technique, the artist needs to have the final intention firmly nted in their minds throughout the painting process. Doing this with portraits without the subject present in front of them meant that they needed a true to life facsimile of their subject in their minds at all times - their temperament, character, and aura included. This automatically tipped the scales in favour of Jo Way.

    One advantage of using Gaige as the subject was that his bloodline and overall aura wasplemented by the ck shade the ink offered. A pervasive nket of void surrounded the portrait of Gaige. Jo Way had masterfully used the Ink Puppet Painting Technique to create seamless gradations of ck to create three-dimensionalyers to this nketing darkness that could be perceived upon closer examination. The painting itself employed heavy use of ck ink, relying on the whiteness from the paper to entuate Gaige''s features. It was truly a disy of exemry skill that Jo Way managed to achieve level three with this painting, where others would have very easily drowned the paper in opaque darkness beyond recognition.

    Each of the judges moved closer and observed the paintings with utmost precision. A duel between artists was rare, and because of that, there was no room for error in judgement. However, it was already evident that their opinions had been swayed in favour of Jo Way''s painting.

    "*Tsk* Artist Norris made a huge mistake with this duel."

    "No kidding! There goes his reputation. Who knew that Radiant City held such crouching tigers and hidden dragons, huh?"

    The crowd chimed in with their opinions as the judges spoke their piece.

    "Just on the basis of technique, I believe Teacher Way''s painting - specifically his use of such an advanced painting technique - has exceeded expectations," one of the judgesmended.

    "I concur. Although Artist Norris has produced an excellent painting whenpared to Teacher Way''s, it falls a tad short," the second added.

    "A tad?!" The third who showed visible enmity with Artist Norris spat out. "It doesn''t even hold a candle to Teacher Way''s painting!"

    The judges did not muffle their discussion, and the audience was in agreement with the judgement they were arriving towards. With each critique offered, Artist Norris'' face dropped by another margin. Finally, right as it was time to announce the victor, one of the judges turned towards Keegan and gazed at him expectantly. As a sign of respect, they were hoping to receive a word from the expert among them.

    Keegan recognised the cue, yet he refused to offer any criticism. He had made his point clear that this was beneath him. However, a thought popped into his head. Keegan looked towards Kano, who was perched safely on Goran''s shoulders and asked, "What do you think, Kano?"

    "Huh? Me?" Kano pointed at himself incredulously.

    "Are there any other Kanos here?" Keegan retorted in a sarcastic tone.

    Kano bit his tongue apologetically. Goran lifted the boy and ced him on the ground, allowing him to approach the two paintings. As he did so, the still audience broke into a heated conversation.

    "Who''s that kid? Is he Artist Lang''s student?"

    "Unlikely. Artist Lang is notoriously quick-tempered. I don''t think he''s the kind of person to take on a student."

    "Then what is Artist Lang thinking?"

    There was amon saying that it was impossible to decipher the cryptic actions of experts and geniuses. The crowd was facing the very same dilemma.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The focus of the crowd, the boy named Kano, was oblivious to the inquisitive gazes of those around him. He was solely focused on the two paintings hanging in front of him. He ruminated on them for a little over 10 minutes, all the while raising the suspense of the audience and the twopetitors. Jo Way was currently irritated over what was taking so long.

    ''Who is this kid anyway?'' He thought to himself.

    Artist Norris on the other hand was prepared to ept his fate.

    Right then, Kano raised his hand, pointed at Jo Way''s painting and said, "This one is definitely superior. The artist has stretched the work to its limits given the set conditions."

    The audience released their tension with a long sigh of relief, albeit tinted with some disappointment. Needless to say, they were faintly hoping to see some conflict or drama, maybe a twist?

    Keegan did not miss the distressed expression stered over Kano''s face after he finished his judgement. He immediately interrupted the erupting discussion and asked, "But?"

    Kano jolted his head and shrunk into his neck sheepishly, "I-I don''t think I should continue..."

    "Speak your mind, boy!"

    Kano looked towards Goran but was immediately blocked by Keegan, "Don''t worry about offending anyone. If anyone dares toe at you because of your words today, I shall personally take care of them. Now continue."

    Kano inhaled loudly to calm himself and continued, "This painting is superior and wins the contest-" He then rotated and pointed at Artist Norris'' work before finishing, "-but I like this one more."

    The audience gasped and shrieked in shock. What a plot twist!

    Keegan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why is that?"

    "This painting speaks to me- no it resonates with me," Kano answered.

    "What is this kid talking about?"

    "Shh! Don''t interrupt!" One of the audience members reprimanded as they pulled out some snacks from inside their jacket pocket.

    Jo Way wore a deep frown upon hearing the kid''s opinion, a reaction opposite of Artist Norris'' whose dead eyes gained a fresh colour of hope.

    "borate," Keegan demanded.

    "Well... T-T-The painting by Teacher Way is perfect. I do not see any ws, errors, ticks, or trademarks in the work - given my limited knowledge. In my opinion, it is an excellent work of art at its level. But b-b-because of this, the artwork is nd. It does not have any character."

    Jo Way couldn''t take it any more and interjected, "Do you even hear yourself, boy? Just because it is too perfect, it is bad? You should think before talking-"

    "Don''t interrupt!" Keegan immediately reprimanded, pulsing an ounce of his Core Condensation realm pressure on the mage two realms below him. Jo Way grit his teeth and tried to resist, only to face a muchrger force. He threw up a mouthful of blood as a third wave of greater pressure copsed on him.

    "Now, continue," Keegan said to Kano, paying no attention to the wallowing Jo Way.

    "I''m sorry that I offended you, Teacher Way," Kano apologised profusely. The audience noticed the sincerity in his tone and lowered their disdain for what they initially thought was just another arrogant and upstart child.

    "I did not mean to disparage your work. As I said, given my limited knowledge it is excellent. By definition of the contest, it should be the victor. However-" Kano turned to Keegan and Goran and said, "The perfect paintingcks a key ingredient that gives it a unique character."

    "Itcks an artist''s signature," Kano concluded.

 Chapter 131 Kanos Breakdown

    "The hell did he just say? Artist''s signature?"

    "He can''t be talking about the seal every artist ces at the corner of their works, right?"

    The incredulous talks prevailing in the audience caused Kano to blush in embarrassment.

    "By the artist''s signature, I meant the unique imprint every artist leaves in their work that speaks to its context. As in, the artist''s personal touch that brings their own soul, for theck of a better word, into their work," Kano borated with some difficulty.

    The audience nodded absent-mindedly, yet it was evident that they didn''t understand what the boy was trying to say. They were just too shy and embarrassed to admit it out loud. Although Keegan was of the same mindset, he was far too intrigued by the boy''s line of reasoning. He decided to drop his arrogant demeanour and asked, "I don''t quite understand."

    Kano scratched his chin in thought as his eyes darted around the area. He figured that in order to illustrate his point, it would be more efficient to use an example or test case. He had learned from watching Teacher Larks that sometimes an apt example could do wonders towards assuring assimtion of knowledge. As an idea started to form in his mind, Kano approached Artist Norris who was fidgeting in ce behind his table.

    "Artist Norris, your entry for this duel was a painting of a building," Kano started. "I''ve noticed that you never attempt anything other than buildings, structures, or architecture. I recollect observing a singlendscape from your earlier works, but you never made another one after that."

    Artist Norris nodded in affirmation, and the crowd added a few agreeing hums as well. "That''s not a secret. Artist Norris is famous for his recreation of architecture, cityscapes and so on."

    "Well... Why is it that you don''t draw or paintndscapes, portraits, or any other such genres?" Kano inquired.

    "I don''t know," Artist Norris blurted out subconsciously. "They''re just too... irregr I guess."

    Kano nodded lightly before raising his hands and turning one of the hanging brushes on the table by a small angle. Immediately after he left the brush, Artist Norris leaned forward and returned the brush to its initial orientation. This time, Kano moved and nudged the table forward from one side. Artist Norris clicked his tongue and quickly shifted the table to return it into its original position. Kano tilted the inkstone by a small margin, and while Artist Norris was busy fixing that discrepancy, Kano went up to the hanging paintings and tilted Artist Norris'' by a bit.

    "Boy, what are you doing?" Artist Norris eximed as he briskly walked forward and adjusted the askew sheet.

    "Why do you do this?" Kano inquired.

    "What are you talking about?"

    Kano repeated his earlier action and started to tilt the painting, but his hand was captured by Artist Norris who scowled back in irritation.

    "This," Kano indicated by nudging his head towards his imprisoned hand. "Why are you doing this?"

    "I-" Artist Norris stopped midway. He never thought about why he did these things, he just did them because they felt right. "What are you implying, boy?"

    "I can''t say for sure, because I am not exactly qualified, but I think you have obsessivepulsive disorder," Kano hypothesised.

    "What disorder?! How dare you?!" Artist Norris eximed out loud. Although he hadn''t heard of that ailment before, knowing that it was some form of disorder generally enraged him. He turned his head around to see the audience''s reaction, only to find out that everyone was equally puzzled. No one had ever heard of it before. Well, no one except for Jo Way, whose eyes widened slightly in shock. He quickly controlled his agitation, lest his internal injury gets exacerbated.

    ''How does the boy know? Is- Is he also a transmigrated soul?'' Jo Way quickly inquired his "system", only to receive silence as usual. Unfortunately, the boy wasn''t disying martial techniques or spells, otherwise, Jo Way could have consulted the book generated in his mind about the boy. He immediately trained hisplete attention on the boy.

    The reason Kano knew about OCD was that he had heard about it from Teacher Larks. After learning that he had dyslexia, Kano was encouraged to talk with Teacher Larks and learn more about what it meant. Through it, Kano was introduced to a myriad of other, simr, conditions that people suffered from. One of them that stood out to Kano was OCD, this was because he didn''t understand why such a condition wasbelled as a mental disorder along the same line as his dyslexia. Based on how it was described, Kano felt that it was pretty harmless, maybe even a boon. Thepulsiveness to achieve just the right result or being extremely thorough didn''t sound malicious to him. Yet after facing someone with the disorder and observing just how distressed they felt with the slightest deviation in their surroundings, Kano finally understood why.

    Kano expounded with a measured tone, "D-D-Do you often feel an urgency to repeat an action because something just didn''t feel right? D-D-Do you find yourself repeatedly cleaning your hands or clothes at the slightest invasion of your private space?"

    Artist Norris frowned as he nodded in affirmation to both the questions.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''ve only observed a limited amount of Artist Norris'' public works, yet from the ones I have seen, I''ve noticed that the structures you choose to paint are often symmetric or methodically built with quasi-symmetry in prominent sections," Kano continued. "This, as well as your behaviour before led me to believe that you have obsessivepulsive disorder."

    Before Artist Norris could howl and deny everything vehemently Kano offered some reassuring words filled with sincerity, "Please don''t be offended, Artist Norris. I am not disparaging you, in fact, I r-r-respect that you''ve achieved such heights in spite of your affliction. I for one look up to you for it! I a-a-actually suffer from a simr disorder that makes it difficult for me to read."

    "Nonsense! I''ve seen you devouring the guidebook just a few hours ago," Keegan interrupted.

    "It''s thanks to my Teacher Larks. I wouldn''t have been able to reach such a level if not for his guidance," Kano quickly rified.

    ''Teacher Larks!'' Jo Way snapped. ''I''ve heard that name before... Where was it?!'' As he wracked his brains to unearth the faintly familiar name, Kano resumed his earlier train of thought.

    "What I r-r-realised after examining the paintings on disy, and after understanding more about the artists that have made them, is that art and the artist are a joint package."

    "That isn''t news," someone from the crowdmented.

    "The art r-r-reflects the artist. It portrays their true self, and what lies within their hearts," Kano continued. "Artist Norris'' works are famous for their impable similitude. An artist needs to deeply envision their subject while painting it to sessfully achieve level three. How can Artist Norris attempt any other genre of paintings if he himself feels anxious or ufortable to visualise something like nature that bears stark irregrities, ws or variations?"

    That statement evoked a symphony of awes from the audience who finally understood the crux of Kano''s thesis.

    "Artist Lysa''s paintings all share one simrity, in that they all contain a dog or are derivative of canine spirit in some way," Kano said as he turned to a woman in the crowd. "I read in Artist Lysa''s biography that you had contracted a Lion-Hound familiar for the majority of your early days as a mage, which passed away due to an unfortunate incident. Does Artist Lysa feelpelled to include her belovedpanion in her works because she misses it dearly?"

    The woman nodded lightly after pondering over the question.

    "Artist Nana''s paintings lean towards a darker colour palette, and the themes within the paintings lean heavily towards m-m-morose and ominous topics such as in ''The Dpidated Gallows'' or ''gued Land''," Kano said to another person in the crowd who looked scrawny, with a depressed aura radiating from him. "I''ve learned that Artist Nana lost his family at a young age to the P-P-gue of Dark Cleansing. Does that unfortunate tragedy affect your thoughts when you sit down to paint?"

    "It never leaves..." the man admitted with a dismayed expression. "It''s all I think about."

    Kano continued to list out his observations of the works of artists present in the crowd. One after another, he presented his findings as well as his exnation for the conclusion. Each artist was deeply moved by the incisive detail with which Kano broke down their deepest secrets which were often unknown to themselves. It offered a profound look within themselves and about how they approached their own crafts.

    "As I''ve exined, an artist''s work is a reflection of their inner self. In Artist Norris'' painting, I can see him - I can see his signature. However, I cannot say the same for Teacher Way''s faultless work. It is perfect, yet it does not show Teacher Way. Or maybe I am wrong and Teacher Way''s signature is p-p-perfection. But beauty in art is in the imperfections that evoke thought from the audience. I don''t feel anythingpelling when I look at Teacher Way''s work. I''m sorry," Kano added while bowing profusely in Jo Way''s direction.

    The concluding remarks caused the audience to reevaluate their earlier impression of the duel''s oue. While it was evident that Teacher Way''s work was superior to Artist Norris, the boy''s points made valid sense. The audience was thoroughly convinced thanks to Kano''s earlier demonstration by including his breakdown of their work.

    In fact, they had be so enamoured by the boy''s fluid exnation with a vocabry beyond his years, that they had nearly forgotten that he was just six years old at the cusp of breaking into his seventh year. Even Keegan had overlooked this detail, which suddenly dawned on him only because the boy''s hardened expression regressed into sheepish embarrassment. He chuckled internally with amusement when he realised just how seriously everyone was taking the kid''s words, which was a sign that they subconsciously respected the boy. This was an admirable feat - to earn these experts'' respect - especially given that he was of such a young age.

    However, Keegan wasn''t totally satisfied. He was knowledgeable enough to realise that the boy''s earlier thesis was aption of his insights specifically geared towards his artistic philosophy. To that end, the boy had covered almost all the artists whose works were on disy. Almost all the artists, except for one...

    Keegan coughed audibly, drawing everyone''s attention.

    "What about me?" He shot out.

    "Pardon?"

    "You''ve talked about your impression of everyone else and their works. But you haven''t talked about mine," Keegan urged with an excited look.

 Chapter 132 Unexpected Breakthrough

    A/N: Trigger warning! An allusion to child sexual abuse in this chapter. I DO NOT CONDONE THESE BEHAVIOURS!

    ____

    Kano pulled out his tongue and bit it lightly while showing an apologetic frown.

    "Actually, after thinking about it, I don''t think I should present my analysis of Artist Lang''s work just yet," Kano admitted.

    "Why? You don''t have to worry, I won''t get offended."

    "That''s not it. With the other artists here, I had sufficient information about their pasts and history to extrapte an analysis from their works. But with Artist Lang, I don''t have any background research to work with. Anything I say will only be a theory," Kano exined.

    "That works too. If you want to know anything, just ask me," Keegan offered with a sincere nod.

    "Based on the work on disy here, and those of Artist Lang''s that are owned by the Rasmus n, I''ve noticed amon trend where fewer qualitative tonal variations of colours are used in the paintings. For example, w-w-when Artist Lang painted the vibrant grass field, rather than utilising themon two-tonebination of verdant and viridian green, Artist Lang opted for a tter, natural green shade, and usingyering and dilution with water or oil to obtain the darker and brighter tonal variations. A-A-Actually, it is the case for any instance where a wide wash of colour is required, such as the skies, deserts, oceans, or any sprawling naturalndforms."

    Keegan pondered on the observation and affirmed with a surprised exmation, "Do I? I... never noticed that."

    "You do. From Artist Lang''s earliest works, this d-d-detail remains consistent. I don''t exactly know the reason why Artist Lang might revert to this, but I have a hypothesis," Kano indicated while showing a conflicted expression. "But I would like to hear Artist Lang''s thoughts first."

    Keegan scratched his head in confusion and answered while shaking his head, "To be honest, I didn''t realise that I had such a quirk. To me, it all just felt right that way." He then turned to the audience and asked, "Didn''t you guys notice this?"

    The crowd shrunk back immediately. No one in their right minds would think of offending a 6-star artist by bbing pointlessly. However, from the front, Artist Norris chimed in with an audible voice, "I don''t think we contemted over it either. To us, it looked perfect. The colours just worked. And given how Artist Lang''s works sessfully achieve the fifth level, we assumed that the quality spoke for itself."

    "What''s your theory then?" Keegan asked Kano.

    "I thought about it for a while, and realised that back when I first started painting, a-a-and had a shortage of qualitative colour tones at hand, I used to do the same thing. I wouldyer and/or dilute my avable natural paint shades to achieve varying tones exactly how Artist Lang does it. This got me thinking, does Artist Lang not have ess to a lot of paint either?" Kano asked with an innocent inflexion in his voice.

    The audience broke into uproariousughter upon hearing this.

    "The boy sure knows how to joke! Artist Lang is loaded! How would he have a shortage of colours?"

    "Don''t tease him, the boy did say that it was just a hypothesis..."

    "Let''s be real now. Hypotheses need to have some factual foundations."

    As the crowd descended into condescending conversations, Keegan entered deep rumination. Achieving a 6-star license was no easy feat. This was especially true for practitioners in crafting type fields because it was at this stage that the practitioner was deemed an expert capable of consistently outputting the best that could be achieved in said field. For Enchanters, it refers to Legendary grade weapons and armours, for Alchemists it refers to the most potent of potions capable of swaying people with a mere whiff, and for Artists, it corresponds to level five paintings.

    Keegan''s position as a 6-star artist indicated that he could continuously produce level five paintings, with a sess rate of 80% given his most recent statistic. To achieve this, he had to go through gruelling periods of constantly creating works, undergoing brutal critiquing and defence sessions, implementing changes to improve his techniques, rinse and repeat. It reached a point where Keegan himself wondered why he had first set out on this path; was he a low-key masochist who gained pleasure from beating himself emotionally? Unlikely. In fact, Keegan knew deep down exactly why he was suffering through it all.

    Money...

    The root of all evil, or the solution to all problems, depends on who you asked. For Keegan, it was undoubtedly thetter. Being borne of an ignoble household, Keegan, like many others, was constantly wanting for money. To pay the mounting debts rued by his gambling-addicted father, to pay for the treatment of his mother who used to suffer from a debilitating illness - before her death - and at least enough to fill his stomach every day. Needless to say, Keegan''s childhood was anything but pleasant. It was through sheer luck that he managed to crawl out of that bottomless pit.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Keegan had a talent for art. He knew it from a young age. One of the many part-time jobs he assumed would be to paint advertising boards for low-level ys and dramas, as well as for small businesses. He would receive the mostmissions as well as the highest praises from his customers and the audience. It was through one of his works that he met his teacher. The old man stumbled upon one of his advertisements as he was travelling through Keegan''s town, and discovered his budding talents. After a short introduction and offer, Keegan epted the man and left his town without a second thought.

    What Keegan had joined was a generic school for artists, much like the Academies of magic. Unlike those Academies, the school followed a simr hierarchical structure to that of Sects. What Keegan had be upon joining the school was an affiliated student, which was below a regr, paying student; he was only a student by name, which was more than enough for him seeing as he didn''t have to pay for attending sses. Instead, he was responsible for cleaning the ssrooms and facilities, maintaining the gardens, running errands for the paying students and teachers, and other menial tasks. He was basically a glorified servant who worked without wages... a ve. But that was fine too! Keegan could sit in sses, albeit a few metres outside the door, and he could meet and exchange ideas with a few teachers, <anno data-annotation-id="e2f53182-0624-11ed-fa43-214abc934999">in their bedrooms... at night</anno>.

    Nheless, Keegan never faltered. He realised very quickly that the life of an artist was a lucrative one. Besides he had no other choice. He didn''t have any other skills or special abilities. And with a firm resolve to escape the mire that was his current life, Keegan burst through the ranks and quickly stood out among the other affiliated students, who were very few and far in between. At the end of every year, the affiliated students would undergo an assessment of sorts to gauge their advancement. Those that disyed eptable results became regr students, with a conditional offer, while those that didn''t were kicked out. It wasn''t shocking that most, if not all, affiliated students would fail these assessments because they rarely got any time for themselves to sit in and learn. Yet Keegan was the first to pass! The other affiliated students didn''t have any qualms about this either because they had personally seen how much he had put up with to achieve this.

    Upon bing a regr student, he gained ess to the Common cultivation method the other artists practised and gradually started rising through the ranks. One must know that most such specialised schools had only a few cultivation methods in their possession, unlike Academies. These specialised cultivation methods were generally geared towards their own craft or profession and weren''t suitable forbat. Keegan luckily found himself resonating with this cultivation method and swiftly advanced through realms, even faster than the other regr students.

    His progress shocked the faculty in the school, one of whom - the man who had brought him in - immediately took Keegan under him as a sponsored student. This transition brought with it certain benefits, such as the Advanced grade version of his current cultivation method, and additional resources and support structures.

    Sixty years after joining the school, Keegan advanced to the Core Condensation realm, and five years after that he earned his 6-star license. Along the way, he made a name for himself, earned a fortune, and forced himself to forget his modest origins. In fact, Keegan would often ovepensate, indulging in excessive spending to prove to himself that he was rich now. He lived in a houserge enough to support three families. In it, he only used one bedroom, bathroom and living room. The rest of the rooms were perpetually locked and unused. Keegan would indulge in different cuisines, most of which he never even touched, just admired to boast his fortune.

    Part of the reason why he lived this way was to convince himself that he was now in a good financial position. The other was to prove to himself that the money he''d earned wouldn''t one day just disappear into a whiff of smoke, like a vicious nightmare.

    Yet as the saying went, it was possible to take a man out of poverty but it was impossible to take poverty out of the man. Even with so much money, resources, and backers at his disposal, Keegan had subconsciously reverted to one of his earliest habits from childhood. One of the reasons why most businessmenmissioned Keegan for his painted advertisements was because of the severely low pricing point he had set for himself. He did it primarily to stand out amongst thepetition and convince them to invest in a child as opposed to hispeting professionals. Yet this didn''t mean that he was running at a loss, he made just as much profit permission as the other artists. This was because Keegan had figured out how to be economical with his paint usage. He would opt for natural paint, from powdered wild-flower petals and leaves mixed with oil and water. Although the life of these paintings with organically made colours was short, it was enough for the needs of advertising as it wasn''t meant to be put up for a long time.

    That habit of his - the preference of duller natural tones - had seemingly be ingrained into his bones that, even after reaching such heights, Keegan still preferred them over others. Although the paint he used was superior, more professional, its shades intimately matched those of the ones he had used in his childhood.

    ''The me that I''ve been trying to suppress my whole life never left. It was right beside me all along, holding my hand as I painted." A lone tear dripped out of Keegan''s eye as a plethora of repressed memories flooded into his brain. He suddenly recollected the times from his childhood when he receivedmissions and earned menial copper for his works. They weren''t much, but his works from back then brought him the most satisfaction. Even more than what he felt nowadays from making level five paintings.

    The realisation struck him like a hammer and brought with it a boost of inspiration that shook his soul. The mana in the atmosphere turned turbulent as it started to form a massive whirlwind, with the eye centred on Keegan. The disturbance caught the attention of those around him, snapping them out of their trivial discussions.

    "Artist Lang! He''s breaking through in his cultivation!" One of them eximed.

    "Are you stupid? That''s not a breakthrough in his cultivation, that''s advancement through |Introspection|. His spirituality achieved a breakthrough," Another one rebutted.

    The incredible phenomenonsted for exactly five minutes, within that time, Keegan indulged in the outburst of emotions that usually followed a spiritual breakthrough, and worked towards consolidating his cultivation. After taking a few more minutes to centre himself, Keegan opened his eyes and revealed a bright smile - one that originated from the deepest confines of his heart - towards Kano. He then walked up to the boy and patted his head lovingly.

    "Thank you, Kano. Thank you," he said in a soft yet audible tone.

    Kano smiled back and eximed with childish excitement, "Artist Lang called me by my name!"

    "I did! You can call me Keegan," he offered back.

    "B-B-But you are my elder, and my senior," Kano blurted out in shock.

    Keegan shook his head and said, "I think we are more than that now. We''re friends, right?!"

    <annotations style="disy: none;"><ol ss="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="e2f53182-0624-11ed-fa43-214abc934999">I DO NOT CONDONE THESE BEHAVIOURS!!!!</li></ol></annotations>",

 Chapter 133 Interlude: Overcoming Roadblocks

    A/N: I censor my swear words just cuz I was participating in the WSA. Since that is over, I am open to continuing my work clean or writing explicitly. Just let me know in thements or in my Discord server. If you guys are open to thetter (i.e. without censoring) I will be able to explore a few different themes that wouldn''t be possible when writing clean.

    ____

    When someone skirts through life without a single speedbump, it is often the case that they assume they will never hit one in the future. Most individuals experiencing such an unhindered life tend to grow arrogant and proud. Those born with such a gift by circumstance tend to wear this pride and arrogance externally, others awarded such a gift through chance or luck hide it deep within while covering it up with a facade of nonchnce and humility. However, one fact remains constant amongst these two breeds of individuals, when one day they collide against an immovable wall of impediment, the hubris coursing through their veins bursts magnificently, cracking through the veneer wrapping their fragile ego.

    "Damn it! F**k!" Myron screamed out loud in exasperation.

    "Just who is that kid?" That detail still bugged Myron to no end. The boy named Kano had essentially popped up out of nowhere. No matter how hard Myron tried to dig into the boy''s identity, he kept running into dead ends.

    "F**K!"

    Just when he thought he got one over Goran, a little anomaly he never ounted for slid in and spoiled EVERYTHING!

    "Just where did hee from?" Myron copsed into a defeated squat and scratched his head in annoyance.

    Myron was born with everything anyone could ever ask for. Money? He had loads of it! Power? He was a scion of the Rasmus n, the only group with more power than them in the Empire were the Dukes'' and the Emperor''s n itself. Love? He didn''t care for that... but he had that in spades as well!

    Yet, even with all of this, he kept losing against Goran!

    Myron''s ego bubble had burst years back after his public loss against Goran in the contest to decide the next n leader. Coincidentally, it also happened to be the time when he felt he was at his peak. He was strong, he had all the backing of the n, he had it all! And then... he lost everything, in one fell swoop. Myron couldn''t ept that. He couldn''t, because his heart didn''t want to recognise that he - the man who had everything - lost to Goran - who had nothing! Because Myron knew, deep down in his heart, that if he recognised his loss, it meant that he was worthless and that everything he grew up believing was all a lie. Of course, Myron wasn''t conscious enough to make those logical connections. He was moving based purely on the human instinct to absolve all me off oneself and offload it onto others. That is, create a straw man that embodies all of your insecurities and weaknesses, and attack it until satisfied.

    Myron curled his hands into a shaking fist, raised it towards the skies and dered that he would get back at Goran for this slight. The passerby simply ignored him as the rambling of a mentally unwell individual.

    However, he wasn''t the only one going through such a breakdown. On the other side, in the alley neighbouring the Artist''s Guild, Jo Way was going through a simr process.

    "F**K! Who does that old man think he is?!" He spat out a mouthful of clotted blood as his body expunged the remnants from his still-healing internal injuries. "I won that duel! How dare he treat me like this?"

    Referring to the two types of individuals from before, Jo Way was evidently thetter kind. He was foisted with a powerful ability following his transmigration, one which he had taken for granted. It had awarded him a subjectively worry-free lifestyle. He hadn''t done much in his previous life to deserve this, that was a fact, although Jo would argue otherwise. He may im that he had to drag himself through mind-numbing, arduous work every day in his past life. He may im that his chance at a second life and the game-breaking special ability that came with it was well-deserved after suffering through an "unfair" life.

    But Jo knew, deep down, that he was standing on thin ice. He was thrown into a worldpletely unlike his own and was forced to live amongst people wielding unimaginable power that could crush him in a heartbeat. Yet he had confidence through some feeble reasoning that his "system" would carry him to new heights. And after a few minor victories with the help of the system, his earlier assumption was simply augmented.

    ''I am invincible! With this system, I can be the strongest being in this world!'' Although Jo didn''t say this out loud and didn''t think it explicitly, his subconscious mind had borne this mentality.

    Jo became callous. Where he expected life to be a smooth ride, an unexpected pebble had materialised and caused his entire vehicle to overturn. It was downright embarrassing. He should have just kept quiet, but when he saw the crowd wavering back then, something inside him cracked.

    Through experience, Jo had somehow realised that things transpired in a certain order. He would get challenged, and he would ovee the challenge. It could be thought of as going over a hill, the difficult part came first in going uphill, but once the peak was scaled going downhill was merely an afterthought. That''s how it had always been.

    Yet this time, it teaued.

    The sudden detour caught Jo by surprise. Humans are anything but creatures of habit, and if something deviates from their expectations then by default they enter fight or flight mode. Jo wasn''t intimidated by the little kid "challenging" his sess, so there was no need for flight. He went up in arms to rebut the kid''s deration by instinct, but he never expected that the mere boy had an insane backer. Jo wasn''t idiotic enough to go up against someone two levels above him, yet his oversight led him to bang his head against a wall.

    ''W-wait a minute...'' Jo suddenly realised that the events that transpired earlier had a simr cadence to a few events he''d witnessed earlier in this life.

    ''D-did I just be... the "Young Master"?!'' Jo''s entire worldview shattered. He quickly shook his head to deny that sphemous statement.

    "Right! It was all that Keegan Lang''s fault! And that kid! Stupid system!" Jo had found his straw man- men! He silently swore that he would retaliate this wrong a hundredfold!

    [*Tsk* Is this all you can do? Huh? Whine, whine, whine all day?]

    ''Huh? System, you''re here?!''

    Silence.

    ''System!''

    "System!"

    No dice!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Amidst his rage-filled curses towards the system, Jo suddenly recollected a key piece of information from before.

    "Guy Larks!" Jo remembered hearing that name somewhere earlier. After clearing his mind of all disruptions, he managed to unearth it from its deepest recesses. "Right! It''s that Guy!"

    The man who happened to be this body''s friend when he transmigrated. He was also the very same Teaching Apprentice he was ced against in the first match at the tournament. In fact, Jo nearly lost to Guy that time if not for his Disciple''s timely breakthrough with perfected resonance.

    "It''s him again..."

    Jo had an inkling early on that maybe he wasn''t the only one who had transmigrated into this world. This was supported by the fact that there was a ringly empty entry in the library under Markus'' name.

    ''Unknown.'' For a system thatbelled itself as omniscient, this word meant that either it was lying, or that the target was not from this world. The system had yet to fail him, so he was inclined to trust it even though the circumstances behind him receiving it was still a bit sketchy. Thus, by deduction, there was an anomaly.

    Markus wasn''t a transmigrant, that fact Jo had already confirmed way back. After hitting a dead end there, Jo dropped his investigation because he felt like it wouldn''t lead anywhere.

    But now, upon hearing the name Guy Larks again, Jo''s interest was reignited. He had to know if Guy Larks was also like him!

    He just HAD to!

    ____

    "What do you see?"

    "I don''t know. A red dragon?"

    "No, you idiot! Remember what Artist Reva said, look deeper."

    "I... really don''t know... why don''t you help me out?"

    "Hehe, I don''t know either..."

    "Isn''t it interesting that the boy was able to recreate an extremely lifelike facade of a red dragon, given that he hasn''t witnessed one in real life?" An authoritative voice interrupted the two bickering observers.

    "A-Artist Lang!"

    "Look at these confident strokes, the artist had no uncertainty about the appearance of the beast at all as though they''d observed it personally, downright felt its scales even. And the bold usage of colours and shades, although they''re of poor quality, they are faithful," Keegan continued.

    "A-Artist Lang?" One of the artists spoke meekly. "Have you seen a red dragon before?"

    Keegan smirked proudly and answered, "I have! And it looked exactly like the one right in front of you. Well, that''s an exaggeration. It appeared simr, but the feeling- the aura it exuded was exactly the same. Right now, as I am looking at this painting, I can actually feel myself staring down the eyes of a red dragon."

    "But that would mean..."

    "Yes, this painting has reached level three. In fact, it is close to breaking into level four territory! It''s crude andcks finishing, but it''s there alright! And as you know, to reach level three, it is not just necessary to paint a subject, one must also capture the immaterial tethered to it. To do this, one needs to be intimate with the subject they''re painting."

    "Can''t he have just copied another''s work?" The other artist blurted out, receiving a pointed re from the first artist.

    "You two should be knowledgeable enough to know the answer to that stupid question," Keegan snorted disdainfully.

    "Given that the artist didn''t copy someone else''s work, AND that he hasn''t witnessed a red dragon in real life. I can only assume that he was exposed to it through books and literature. Furthermore, the artist revealed that he has difficulty reading, yet he managed to create a realistic replica of a red dragon through his painting which indicates that he has an overpowering imagination and a high level of empathy. If I was to extend it further, the boy''s mind can see without his eyes having seen them! Isn''t that just great?"

    Keegan observed the two artists enter a trance as they digested everything he''d just said. He revealed a faint smile before turning to leave. This was his third viewing of Kano''s painting, and with each viewing, he was surprised to learn something new in the work. Although the painting was immature in its conception, there was great potential hidden in it just waiting to be unearthed.

    Keegan smiled as he exited the exhibition hall. Along the way, he walked past the Guild Manager''s office to pick up his cautiously wrapped painting. It wasn''t that no one offered to purchase his work, but rather he felt that making a sale was unnecessary. After moving past his subconscious mental block, a huge burden was unloaded from him. With it, Keegan lost the wheedling sensation that urged him to earn more money.

    "I guess I have enough now, right?" He inquired mirthfully as he left the guild building, a satisfied expression blooming on his face for the first time in his life.

 Chapter 134 The Heavenly Eye 101

    "Now that we have covered most of the required basics, leaving the rest for you to pick up from Guy, it is time that we look towards beginning your cultivation journey with The Heavenly Eye," Krish started.

    Marie nodded earnestly and scooted closer to Krish who was sitting cross-legged on his bed. In the past two months, after she entered Krish''s discipleship, Marie was guided through a series of techniques ranging from breathing exercises, movement exercises, mana control exercises, mana sensing exercises- basically all the core techniques a mage is taught, short of meditation exercises because, ording to her Master, "The Yoga your Teacher Larks is preaching is infinitely better than any meditation exercise I havee across." That confession did bring about a smile to Marie''s face, in that she felt proud for some reason. Marie didn''t know this yet, but she felt the same when a child felt when someone praised their parent.

    Anyways, after slogging through the basics, she had finally reached the point where she could take the first steps towards bing a proper cultivator of The Heavenly Eye.

    "A word of caution before we continue: Unlike most other cultivation paths in this world, The Heavenly Eye is the most dangerous, because it tampers with one of the most fundamental concepts of the world. Fate."

    Krish paused to let the statement settle before continuing, "Well, fate as a concept is most important to sentient beings like us who worry about things beyond just survival. With any other mundane animal, understanding fate is irrelevant for they only care about where their next meal wille from and where they can safelyy their heads and sleep. However, humans and other advanced species care about more than just eating, sleeping- living in general. We care about how certain decisions will affect us down the line. We care about what will happen to us if we go down our current trajectory. We care about how we affect others around us. For humans, life is never a static bubble, it keeps expanding and epassing everything that falls within our perception both spatially and temporally."

    "To that point: a mage can grow to be prescient about what is around them at a given point in time, thanks to their mana sense. And, to a degree, they can also be prescient about what will be in the immediate future given current trends. But that is where the certainty ends - what lies beyond that temporal horizon is as murky as milk. Except when observed through The Heavenly Eye. The Heavenly Eye sees all and knows all things prescribed in one''s fate."

    At this point, Marie raised her hands earnestly.

    "Yes?"

    "When you said that ''The Heavenly Eye sees all and knows all'', how do you observe everything that CAN and WILL happen. As in, how do you process all that information."

    "That''s the fascinating, or from another perspective morbid, aspect of fate. Fate is an uninterruptable and immutable sequence. What is set to happen, will happen, lest someone outside of fate''s machinations interferes. No one is unbound from the shackles of fate. While other cultivation paths that deal with divination tinker with this sequence, they can only gain a glimpse of where this sequence will lead. However, The Heavenly Eye exists outside this sequence and can thus gaze at the sequence in its entirety!"

    "That means you are unbound from the shackle of fate," Marie said in a tone that implied she was correcting something.

    "Right... What''s your point?"

    "You said ''No one'' is unbound from fate, but clearly you are. Your statement was incorrect," she rified.

    "It''s a figure of speech," Krish sighed. "Don''t read into things so deeply, okay?"

    "Well, you ARE the teacher. You should teach better..." Marie muttered under her breath.

    Krish coughed audibly to mask his Disciple''s sheepishments and carried on. "As you so RIGHTLY corrected, those practising The Heavenly Eye are unbound from fate. We can choose to live outside of it. But this freedomes at great cost."

    He pulled up his loose trousers to reveal his emaciated leg, "To tamper with fate''s immutable sequence requires a sacrifice. That is only fair, after all. The universe is anything but unjust when ites to this. When you mess with fate to save something you love, something else that you hold equally dearly will be taken away from you."

    Marie understood Krish''s hints and a sense of foreboding dawned upon her. She realised that the path she was about to step on was more precarious than she had expected it to be.

    "C-Can''t you heal your leg? You''re a mage, after all, there have to be potions or healing arts to fix this, right?"

    "Naive child! Do you think that I haven''t tried? The universe does notpromise. Each debt will be collected in a timely fashion. And this is the main point I want to drill into you today. After stepping down this path, there will be no turning back. There WAS no turning back from the very beginning. The world chose you, how else do you think I can teach you the intricacies of this cultivation method. Anyone without an affinity to The Heavenly Eye will have to face the weight of the entire universe, should they learn and/or teach the method to those not attuned to it. On a side note, it would be impossible to teach others anyway since there are barriers to learning that a regr mage cannot ovee. HOWEVER, should you forcefully puncture that barrier and inculcate the cultivation to them through |Soul Imprint| or something simr, be prepared to face the entire weight of the universe!"

    Krish leaned forward and highlighted with a forceful and firm tone, "A mage practising The Heavenly Eye has everything to lose. After looking into fate''s sequence with The Eye, if you take any steps to alter it, you will suffer. I will say it now, and I will say it again in the future, knowing too much is a curse in and of itself. I firmly advise you to never, EVER, take action upon your visions unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary."

    "How do I know if something falls under that category?"

    "As long as I am alive, I want you to defer to me," Krish answered. "I will guide you on navigating through this precarious maze. I hope that at the time of my passing, IF that time does evere, that you remain intact and fully functional."

    "You know, what you''ve revealed to me has got me thinking. If let''s say, you didn''t find someone to pass down your cultivation method to and you passed away. What happens then? Does The Heavenly Eye just cease to exist?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Krish smiled appreciatively and replied, "Your question is quite valid given that at any given time, there can only be two practitioners of The Heavenly Eye. Don''t ask me why, I don''t know the reason either it''s just the way it has been. However, there was a period a few generations before my Master''s in which there was no record of The Heavenly Eye''s practitioners."

    "What happened then? Without someone to pass on the teaching, how did the art persist?"

    Krish reached towards his bedside and pulled at his satchel. He reached into it and retrieved a plethora of items from within. He ced a single, unassuming cowrie shell in front of Marie. He then followed it up with a slender palm length stick from a stack of many. Next, he ced a small marble ball, and so on and on until the table in front of Marie was filled with a myriad of unrted trinkets.

    "Here, hold this," Krish said as he handed the cowrie shell to Marie. With a sceptical frown, Marie grasped the item. Right as her fingers coiled around the shell, a small influx of information flooded into her brain.

    "T-This!"

    "Now this," Krish handed the stick next. Marie hesitantly grasped this new item and immediately received the same sensation as before.

    "W-What are these?"

    Krish revealed a devious smug and said, "Inheritance artefacts!"

    Marie''s eyes widened in shock as the pile of trash in front of her immediately morphed into a mountain of endless riches.

    "Don''t eye them like that!" Krish immediately reprimanded as he noticed the growing greed in her gaze.

    "These artefacts are the remnants of the ancestral practitioners of The Heavenly Eye," Krish rified. "This is how The Heavenly Eye is preserved over the generation. You might have felt a sensation when you grasped the artefacts, correct?"

    Without waiting to receive Marie''s nod, Krish continued, "For a short period, there were no practitioners of The Heavenly Eye. But, after the period ended, my Grandmaster''s Grandmaster stumbled upon the artefacts left by the previous practitioners. Through it, they were able to revive the art. So, to answer your earlier question, if I had perished before finding a Disciple someone down the line would find this sack filled with all the artefacts and carry on the art."

    "So The Heavenly Eye will always persist?"

    "It has to."

    "I have another question, when you said that you and I are outside of fate''s sequence, does it mean that we cannot predict our own futures?"

    "That is partly true. Due to the uncertain nature of our existence, we cannot predict our own fate beyond a certain point. The immediate future and a bit beyond is visible, but no more. There is a way to ovee this, and that is by firmly adhering to fate''s preset sequence - by not relying on The Heavenly Eye too much."

    Marie nodded in contemtion for a while as she digested all the information her Master had dumped on her. To an extent, she had an idea of the crux of the cultivation method through her own investigation, but it helped solidify a few of her assumptions and iron out some of her misconceptions after hearing it directly from her Master.

    "With all this said, we cannot deny that The Heavenly Eye is in its heart a cultivation method based on divination. There are uncountable divination based cultivation arts, sects, and schools in this world. Each of them has its own strengths and weaknesses, but The Heavenly Eye reigns supreme in its efficacy!" Krish dered with a shameless grin. "And that is where our journey will begin: Divination."

    Marie pulled herself into a tight cross-legged posture and straightened her back, in preparation for Krish''s lecture. "Divination can be ssified based on the time frame and context over which they are applied. To run we must first learn to crawl, hence what we will cover first is short-term or contextually immediate divination. To achieve this using The Heavenly Eye, we need to first be perceptive of the waves of fate around us."

    "Waves?"

    "Just like the wind that blows imperceptibly, the waves of fate constantly flow through us, around us, and against us. Before awakening The Heavenly Eye, we need to be conscious about how these minute waves vary, ebb and flow. We need to then tether tokens to these waves and tune them to the information being divined, and observe how these tokens are affected to derive the answer."

    Marie looked at Krish with an incredulous gaze. She coughed before asking, "Can you show me an example?"

    Krish nodded before bringing out the rest of his cowrie shells. "Ask!"

 Chapter 135 Self-Study

    Marie scratched her chin as she pondered over her question.

    "Hmm... Will it rain tomorrow?" Marie asked indecisively. Being forced to ask a question all of a sudden flustered her altogether, and that was the best she coulde up with.

    Krish didn''tment on the hollowness of the question and immediately reached in and pulled out a handful of cowrie shells. He dropped them on the table and waited for them to settle.

    "No," he answered firmly after a short second.

    "Wait, what?!"

    "It won''t rain tomorrow," Krish reiterated.

    "No- I heard you the first time. I meant, how did you do that?" Marie interrogated.

    "I did exactly what I told you to do. You observe the waves around you," Krish said as he jerked his arms around, "tether tokens to these waves," he said as he pointed at the cowrie shells, "then you tune them to the information you want to be divined, and observe how the tokens react," he concluded while pointing at the spread cowrie shells on the table.

    Marie shook her head violently and said, "Okay, I have a TON of questions. But before that, I remember that when you did this thest time you referred to your almanacks. Why aren''t you doing that now?"

    "That was because the answer asked for greater specificity, and extended a bit over the short term," Krish rified.

    "So your answer that time was purely empirical?"

    "More or less."

    "How is that trustworthy?"

    "You seem to forget that my ''dataset'' is spread out over multiple years and a multitude of people spanning different locations, age groups, and social standings."

    "Even still, it''s still so random," Mariemented. "Haven''t you thought of standardising your results?"

    "Haven''t had to. It works for me, why bother changing it? Anyways, enough of all the chit-chat. Move along now!"

    "Move where? You still haven''t exined to me how to do it," Marie pointed out.

    "Hah! That''s for you to figure out. Now go, go," Krish urged Marie.

    "Excuse me?!" Marie eximed loudly. "Y-You''re my Master. You''re supposed to teach me!"

    "Now you remember that I''m your Master?" Krish scoffed. "I''ve done my part in this rtionship. Now it''s your turn to do yours and figure out the remainder. This was exactly how my Master taught me, and how his Master taught him."

    "But how am I supposed to figure it out if you haven''t even gone past the surface level exnation? This is unfair!"

    "Use the resources you have and your intuition," Krish suggested. "You will figure it out. Let me reiterate that, you WILL figure it out. Maybe you will do it today, maybe this week or the next, next month, next year, next decade, heck maybe even next century- well I hope it''s before that, the base human life expectancy doesn''t extend for that long," Krish muttered.

    "WHAT?!"

    "Stop shouting, will you?" Krish groaned as he massaged his ears. "I''ve told you that you''re fated with The Heavenly Eye. That means that you will figure it out eventually. What point is there in me investing time on trivial lectures if the result can be achieved without any action?"

    "That-" made sense. But Marie couldn''t ept it as it ran contrary to everything she grew up believing.

    "Enough," Krish dered. Without wasting another second, Krish immediately waved his hands and chanted |Disce|. Marie found herself getting suspended midair and discing backwards right out of Krish'' cottage. With an unceremonious plop, Marie was deposited outside and the door flung shut.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Master!" Marie eximed.

    "Master let me in!" she demanded as she pummelled the door. "What the heck?!"

    Marie called out a few more times, to no avail, before giving up and leaving in a huff.

    "What was that all about?" She assumed, quite appropriately, that her ''Master'' would guide her with her cultivation and help her decipher theplex insights that followed, much like how Teacher Larks did with Markus. Yet the reality was far from her expectations. She sighed out loud and wallowed over the unfairness in the way the two Masters treated their Disciples.

    "Should I just renounce my discipleship?" The thought shed across Marie''s mind for a split second. Seeing as how her Master wasn''t so inclined to teach her, what point was there in her remaining under him? However, she couldn''t firm her resolve on that matter.

    "I don''t have a choice here, do I?" Marie didn''t believe this because of all that ''fate'' mumbo-jumbo. No. She believed that she didn''t have another choice because following her current path of The Heavenly Eye appeared to be the most direct one towards her goals. Maybe another option existed out there, but Marie wasn''t confident that it would be so easily achieved as this one.

    "So what do I do?" She quickly exited her state of dismay and focused on how to approach her current task. While she held little trust in her Master''s capacity to teach, she trusted the man''s firmness in passing forward the cultivation art. After all, ording to him, his life was also contingent on her picking it up!

    "I should break down the instructions into smaller modules." Marie resorted to the standard techniques taught by Teacher Larks when it came to tackling any difficult problem into smaller, bite-size chunks and addressing them individually.

    "Observing the waves of fate around me..." Marie muttered lightly. What were these so-called ''waves of fate''? Were they simr to regr waves of energy that prevailed naturally such as electromaic waves, sound waves, and so on? "What does it mean to ''observe'' them?"

    Marie pondered whether the verb ''observe'' here meant to do so using her traditional vision, or did it allude to her other human senses. "Maybe it might even correspond to mana sense?" In fact, she remembered that her Master also used the phrase "be conscious of-" which implied something more than the standard observation.

    Nheless, this little brainstorming session did little to reduce the scope of the problem, rather it exacerbated it further. Shaking her head, Marie decided to move to the next chunk. "What does it mean to ''tether tokens''?"

    This phrase proposed two keywords: ''tether'' and ''tokens''. Thetter most probably referred to some sort of a tool, utensil, or resource that could be manipted as a means to divine the future. For instance, her Master tended to revert to using those cowrie shells. She also saw a bundle of sticks, dice, and many such trinkets within her Master''s satchel that supported this theory.

    The word ''tether'' suggested that she had to, in some way, interface the ''waves of fate'' mentioned earlier with these ''tokens''. How was she supposed to do that?

    "On top of that, I have to ''attune'' them to a question?" How was she supposed to do that?!

    "This is a wild goose chase!" Marie eximed in defeat while grabbing her hair in distress.

    "Wait a minute!" But then something struck her. Seeing as how her Master felt it appropriate to introduce this new topic to her, she could safely assume that she was well-equipped for it. "Maybe I already know everything I need to get behind this?"

    It was a valid hypothesis. Her Master couldn''t expect her to be able toprehend something by herself if he hadn''t provided her with the required tools for it. Maybe pieces were missing, but they shouldn''t be beyond her capacity for self-study. This line of reasoning offered some sce to Marie''s agitated thoughts.

    "All things considered, where do I begin?" In all honesty, the whole endeavour felt so abstract that she feared she would never seed, even though her Master offered his assurance. It was out of her wheelhouse; her entire life Marie only worked with absolutes, finites, and tangibles. Everything could be quantified and precisely measured and evaluated. There was no room for subjectivity, nor was there room for unsurety. Only now did she realise that the path she was walking down ran antithetically to her nature. Although on paper, The Heavenly Eye seemed to work with absolute truths and certainties, it was based on an abstract thought process thatcked proper scientific method, as Teacher Larks would put it.

    Marie racked her brain trying to work out an entry point. She paced mindlessly as her mind became upied with the problem. A whole hour passed swiftly, yet Marie made no progress towards solving her current crisis. Right as she gave up, her floundering thoughts froze in ce and she became aware of her surroundings.

    "W-What? How did I get here?" She eximed in a whispered voice. In her preupied stupor, Marie had effortlessly made her way out of the vige, over the steps, into the orphanage, and arrived right in front of a door leading to one particr room. Although much of the orphanage had changed due to the recent renovations, the path leading to this particr room remained constant. She didn''t know what drew her to this room, maybe it was a total coincidence or maybe her subconscious body had led her here at her time of struggle.

    If that was true, then why was it subconscious? What urged her psyche toe here? Marie felt a conflict of emotions mentally as her mind diverted from her earlier preupation. ''Is it because... I feelpelled to depend on him?'' She thought.

    Marie bit her lips as she hesitated. She wanted to take action, but at the same time, she was consciously holder herself back. It was the ssic conflict between the id and ego.

    While Marie was teetering on the boundary between two decisions, a voice called out to her from the other side of the door.

    "You''re making me feel all anxious standing outside like that. If there''s a problem, juste in! The door''s open," Teacher Larks said encouragingly.

    The call was enough to push Marie over the edge. As the firm yet soothing voice washed over her, the stuffy feeling inside her dissipated, and the stress circling her mind fizzled out. With a hopeful smile, Marie pushed open the door and walked in.

 Chapter 136 Group Brainstorming Session

    The orphanage had changed. Even before its architecture was overhauled within the recent month, Marie recognised that the dynamic within the orphanage had shifted. Going back a few years, when her family was living under the old yet still sturdy roof of the building, while there was an excess of love and affection coursing in the ambience, there was a starkck of ''something'' that greatly unnerved Marie.

    A family is a family only when there is- ''something''... What was it? All that time, Marie figured that the ''something'' was love and affection. But even after gaining it, she still felt the absence of ''something''. Was it her greed - the so-called endless void of want hidden within the human psyche - that urged her to seek outwards to address this burgeoning itch? That''s what Marie thought it was, and she actively suppressed that growing uneasiness in her heart.

    ''There is everything I need here,'' she would tell herself. ''I have everything I deserve.''

    But then everything changed. Someone new entered her life- entered the family. And with this new addition, the ambience in the house felt suddenly revitalised. It was hard to get used to the presence of this new entity in the family, but their assimtion was nigh wless - they fit in like a missing puzzle piece. True to that analogy, the new presence brought with them the missing ''something'' Marie was looking for.

    It was support.

    For the first time in her life, Marie felt that she could approach someone else with her problems. When she was stuck, when she felt down, when she was unsure, she could approach this new entity and, magically, everything that bothered her would get resolved.

    Maybe it was this very reason that her body dragged her to this particr room of the orphanage: the source of the missing ''something'' in her life.

    As Marie entered the room, she observed that Teacher Larks wasn''t alone. On the corner away from the entrance, Markus was seated with his back resting against the wall and was reading a book ced on a short table in front of him. It was interesting to note that while the room''s location hadn''t changed much, it had be quite spacious. During the refurbishing spree, most of the rooms in the orphanage had undergone a simr treatment. Now, Marie did not have to share her room with Jean. Nor did the twins. It was slightly jarring to get used to the sudden increase in space and starkck ofpany at night, but Marie was definitely growing ustomed to thefort brought by the privacy.

    Markus raised his head and nodded a greeting towards her, which she reciprocated.

    "Sit, sit!" Teacher Larks gestured from his desk. He was sitting in a cross-legged pose, the desk reaching right above his folded knees with a slight incline towards him such that he didn''t have to arch his back while working.

    Marieplied and sat down next to Teacher Larks'' desk. "So? How''re the lessons with your Master going?"

    Marie scoffed involuntarily before quickly covering his mouth. She quickly centred herself and exined, "It''s primarily self-studying. If I''m being honest, it''s really frustrating. He''s like... UGH! Like, this isn''t even the first time, you know? With the magic primer sessions too, he just gave me a book about it and let me have at it. If it weren''t for the sessions with you, I wouldn''t have picked up half of what was prescribed within the time period."

    She released her tense spine, copsed onto the floor on her back and continued venting, "I''m not asking for much, you know? Besides, he was the one who asked me to be his Disciple. Why can''t he treat me like one?"

    At this point, Markus interrupted, "Actually, this is usually how a Master-Disciple rtionship works, Marie. The Master''s responsibility is to primarily pass on their techniques and cultivation arts, it is up to the Disciple to absorb it. Master Larks is just special, I think you should lower your expectations."

    Marie turned her head and bore down on Markus with an incisive gaze.

    "What? It''s a fact!" Markus reasoned as he alternated his gaze between Marie and Guy. He noticed that Guy was returning a meaningful nce suggesting that he ''keep quiet''.

    "Ignore him," Guy beckoned.

    "As I was saying," Marie red once again at Markus before continuing. "I feel like he can''t teach, at all! Maybe, he doesn''t even know what he is talking about."

    Guy chuckled lightly andmented, "I don''t think that''s the case."

    "*sigh* He did say that this was how his Master taught him and so on. But still, at least he should try, right?"

    "Possibly," Guy sympathised. "Though you must understand that he is really, really old. It would be like asking a river to flow a different way."

    "What else am I supposed to do?!" Marie eximed as she sprang up into a seated position. She immediately snapped her finger and dragged herself closer to Guy. "Can you help me?"

    As Guy gazed into Marie''s sparkling, pleading eyes, his heart softened. "I''d be d to, but I don''t think I am allowed to, right?"

    Marie waved her hands and said, "Whatever! If it''s not allowed, my ''Master'' in his omniscient capacity would stop me. So can you? Please?"

    ''I hope he doesn''t decimate me...'' Guy prayed internally. After an intense debate with himself, he finally acquiesced. After all, a diligent student''s plea for help was his greatest weakness.

    Marie pped enthusiastically and began exining.

    "That really... does not help us at all," Guy sighed.

    "What does it even mean? Waves of fate?" Markus chimed in. "Are they like energy? How are they generated?"

    "How would I know?" Marie retorted. "That''s why I''m here!"

    Markus scratched his chin in contemtion before suggesting, "Have you tried splitting the problem into-"

    "bite-size modules?" Marie finished with a smug smile. "Why don''t you try it, huh?" She goaded.

    "Fighting isn''t productive, guys. Nheless, even if we do break up this problem, I suspect that we cannot proceed further without determining what these waves of fate are," Guy interjected.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That was my conclusion as well," Marie added. "But I can''t connect it with anything I already know. The other aspects of the problem are known, it''s just the waves that are stonewalling me."

    "What method did Mage Nara utilise to detect these waves?" Markus inquired. "Did he observe them with his eyes?"

    Marie furrowed her brows as she tried to recollect the scene from before. "No. His eyes were closed."

    "Then it has to be either through smell, sound, or touch," Markus hypothesised.

    "Why can''t it taste?" Marie challenged.

    "Stop being so willful!" Markus retorted. "I doubt that he stuck his tongue out when he divined the weather."

    "I''m saying that he could have!"

    "Did he?" Markus challenged back.

    "Stop!" Guy reprimanded.

    "Why are you like this?" Markus scolded Marie. "I bet this is why your Master doesn''t bother teaching you. You''d just challenge him at every step!"

    "ENOUGH!" Guy screamed. He turned to Marie and spoke with a stern voice, "Do you need help or not?"

    "I-I do..."

    "Then stop instigating Markus. Can''t you see that he is trying to help?"

    "B-But I''m just proposing a counterpoint," Marie reasoned.

    "Was there a reason behind your counterpoint?"

    "I mean, he just dropped a possible avenue just through an assumption."

    "Was it valid?" Guy replied. "Markus is using deductive reasoning to filter out illogical or unnecessary paths to streamline our research. Look, when ites to things like this we MUST be constructive with our feedback, criticisms and suggestions."

    Marie nodded at Guy and hummed a low apology to Markus.

    "Back to our discussion. I firmly believe that the way to sense out these ''waves'' is through the mana sense," Guy proposed.

    "Why is that, Master?"

    "Mage Nara did not teach Marie any special techniques that alter or augment the human''s sensory organs and its perception. He waited till Marie was capable of controlling her internal mana before letting her take the first step in cultivating The Heavenly Eye. That much should be enough to conclude that Marie first required the ability to use her mana in some way."

    Markus nodded affirmatively and added, "I concur, however, we don''t know what to look for. Mana sense covers so much ground, how will we be able to narrow down our search?"

    That point brought pause to the productive discussion. As stated before, the mana sense was akin to a sensor that could read anything and everything that prevailed in the world. One just had to know what they were looking for, what it meant, and how to decipher it. Knowing that these arcane waves of fate could be observed through the mana sense didn''t offer anything.

    "We could brute force it," Markus suggested. "Master, myself and Big Sis - we could each work through the various information thates in through mana sense and filter it out one at a time."

    "That isn''t tractable. We don''t even know what all information CAN be obtained through mana sense," Guy countered.

    "And I don''t think you guys will even be able to sense it," Marie interrupted.

    "What do you mean?" Guy asked.

    "Well... If everyone could sense it, then why did Master choose me specifically? Why couldn''t he have taken just about anyone to continue The Heavenly Eye?" Marie reasoned. "I remember him saying that there could only be two of us at a time. What is the factor restricting others from entering the fold?"

    "So you''re saying that-"

    "I believe that no one else apart from me and Master Nara can observe these waves of fate. Even if you guys try, I don''t think that you will detect it," Marie concluded solemnly.

 Chapter 137 Problem? Solution!

    "That...plicates things," Guy muttered.

    Marie sighed in exasperation and said, "Do you see what I mean?! No matter what solution wee up with, it is useless if we can''t detect the waves of fate. And to do that is literally impossible!"

    Markus hummed lightly before saying, "There has to be a way. Mage Nara wouldn''t hand you an impossible task."

    "Wouldn''t he, though?" Marie scoffed. "I bet he is just taking out his frustrations on me. I knew he didn''t like me. He''s hoping to see me suffer and then crawl back and admit defeat."

    "You should probably do that," Markus chuckled. "I don''t think we will make any progress like this."

    "No! Absolutely not!" Marie retorted vehemently. "Teacher Larks. You''ve gotta help me," she then pleaded.

    "I-" Guy started. "Look, this is really beyond my knowledge. I don''t know how to help you, although I really wish that I could. If you have any idea, I''ll give you myplete support."

    Marie exhaled in dejection and agreed with a despondent shrug.

    "Why don''t you spend some time away from the problem? Leave it for the time being, maybe walk around the vige, y with the kids? Do anything to divert your mind. Tomorrow, return to the problem after some meditation. A clearer, less cluttered mind may spark some inspiration." Guy suggested.

    Marie nodded forlornly and left the room. She navigated through the hallways of the orphanage and returned to her bedroom. Although it was just a little past twilight, Marie was feeling immensely exhausted. It may have been her earlier mental gymnastics in trying to decipher her Master''s vague teachings that had drained herpletely. She would have remained taut if not for her earlier consultation with Teacher Larks. Although it didn''t lead to anything productive, it did somehow alleviate some of the stress bubbling inside her.

    After she entered her room, Marie immediately removed her excess clothing and plopped down on her floor mattress. Her head fell upon her new duck-feather pillow, descending gradually, pulling her gently into a deep albeit tense sleep. She slept through dinner, much to Grace''s chagrin.

    The next morning, Marie arose like clockwork half an hour before sunrise. She went through her morning rituals in a state of detached autonomy. She actively tried to dissuade her mind from reverting and preupying itself with the monumental task ahead of her, just like Teacher Larks had instructed. After taking a quick, cold shower, Marie caught a quick breakfast and hurried outside to begin her meditation through Yoga.

    "Big Sis! Big Sis!" Dora caught Marie right as Marie left the orphanage.

    "Dora?"

    "Big Sis, Medium Sis and I are going to sieve the stream for medicine!" Dora eximed energetically as she grabbed Marie''s hand.

    "What?" Marie asked with a squint.

    "*cough* It''s to collect beneficial particle run-offs from the stream," Jean exined. "Dora found out recently that upstream there is a substantial Metal-Shell Beatle territory. These insects thrive in regions with high metal constitutions and process metal ores by consuming them to reinforce their exoskeletons. The shedding from their highly-processed exoskeletons and their excrement is extremely valuable as alchemy catalysts. Large quantities of this can be obtained by ying these creatures, but they are difficult tobat due to their swarming behaviour. Thankfully, the Metal-Shell Beatles frequently wash themselves and primarily excrete near flowing streams to keep their territories free of impurities. We can catch the shedding as run-off from the stream."

    "I''m kind of busy-"

    "But Big Sis! You never y with us anymore," Dora pouted. "Please," she added while elongating the syble for as long as she could hold her breath.

    Marie smiled wryly under her sister''s emotional assault. While she very much wanted to just attack her problem as soon as possible, she figured that distracting herself with this menial task would help clear her mind a little bit. Thus, after a short internal debate, Marie finally acquiesced. "Okay, okay! But only for a little bit. You Big Sis has a lot of things on her te right now."

    Dora celebrated excitedly before rushing off in the direction of the stream with a sieve in her hands.

    Jean and Marie followed the hyperactive little girl, each carrying their own sieves. The equipment was of a simple design - made out of pliable wood bark turned into a closed circle and tied together with rope. A porous cloth was then draped over one side, pulled until taut, and fastened with another length of rope.

    The trio arrived at the stream and positioned themselves in a spaced-out fashion along its breadth such that the water reached halfway between their knees and ankles. Dora was stationed near the bank of the stream for safety, while Jean and Marie waded towards the stream''s centre. Then, they periodically lowered and raised the sieve against the flow of water, catching debris and deposits as it flowed downstream. Intermittently, they inspected the sieve and removed unwanted catches such as dead insects, rocks and pebbles, wood shards, and so on.

    At first, Marie wasn''t sure what they were looking for in particr. "Is this it?" She asked while pointing out a peculiar, lustrous grainy powder caught in the sieve.

    "Yes. After rinsing it you can transfer it to the bucket on the side," Jean instructed after giving Marie''s sieve a cursory nce.

    This process continued for a while, during which, Marie entered a steady, disconnected trance. The monotony of the whole process had incrementally crept into Marie''s mind and had lulled her into a state of quietude.

    Her eyes zed over and focused on the porous, white cloth lining the sieve. As the water flowed through the mesh, the cloth slowly darkened as it captured rogue particles. She inadvertently targeted her mana sense on the mesh and observed as the cloth let some particles, smaller than its pores, through. Were they unimportant?

    Capture, deposit, rinse, repeat.

    The exercise in tedium continued for a while and Marie worked continuously, like a robot, without pause. Until suddenly, something sparked inside her. A faint idea, an inspiration, sprouted from the depths of her idle mind and started to surge outwards. Marie''s listless eyes started to gain an inspired glitter, and her entire body started to shiver with excitement as she grasped the possibilities this new idea brought with it.

    "I have to go!" Marie screamed and dashed out of the stream. She tossed the sieve on the grassy patch on the stream''s bank and ran back to the orphanage.

    Her feet carried her through the woods without stumbling or braking and deposited her in front of Teacher Larks'' room once again. Unfortunately, today was an off-day, so she had no choice but to disturb Teacher Larks in his free time. She took a deep breath and prepared to knock.

    "Come in," Teacher Larks beckoned before her knuckles could contact the door.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie entered excitedly and vocalised her earlier idea, "Filters! I can filter out the ''waves of fate'' from my mana sense."

    "Filter? How?" Markus replied.

    "What are you doing here?" Marie retorted in surprise.

    "Studying. Can''t you see?" He said while nudging the book in front of him.

    Marie squinted and then immediately shook her head to clear her distracting thoughts. She turned to Guy and repeated, "I figured out how to detect ''waves of fate''. And that is by filtering out all the other information that is received by a regr mana sense."

    "How do you intend to do that?" Guy inquired with a pensive gaze.

    Marie quirked the corners of her lips and said, "I am going to use what a regr person observes through their mana sense, and filter through it the information that I observe through my mana sense. What remains will be the ''waves of fate''."

    "How will you do that?" Markus interjected.

    "Absolutely not!" Guy dered immediately.

    "B-But you haven''t heard how I''m nning to do it," Marie reasoned.

    "I know exactly how you intend to achieve this, and it is because of that that I am against it!" Guy reaffirmed. "You n to have me |Soul Imprint| the information I receive through my mana sense to you while you are exercising your own mana sense, isn''t that right?"

    Marie''s eyes widened in shock, "H-How?"

    "I had the same idea yesterday night. There is a reason why I didn''t bring it up with you this morning," Guy said. "Have you ever considered the ramifications of your own proposal?"

    "I..." Marie stuttered. "That''s the only option left!"

    "It''s too dangerous," Guy dered.

    "Teacher Larks! Please," Marie pleaded. "This is the only way."

    "How can you know that? You barely spent a day on this," Guy countered.

    "If there is a solution, why must I flounder for alternatives? I can do this, please trust me Teacher Larks," Marie implored.

    "Marie..."

    "Master, if I may?" Markus interrupted. "I think you should let her go through with it."

    "Markus!" Guy reprimanded.

    "She must have thought through it. Big Sis isn''t someone who takes risky gambles. Master must know her character by now," Markus expounded.

    "Markus. Have you ever used your mana sense without a specific target?"

    "I... haven''t..."

    "You don''t know just how excruciating it is. Even a fraction of a second worth of exposure can debilitate you," Guy added. "She''s asking me to expose her to not one, but two superimposed mana senses!"

    "I can do it!" Marie inserted. She immediately grabbed onto Guy''s hand and hugged it tightly. "Please! Please please please please, pleeeeeaaase!" She wheedled with a pout.

    Guy''s lips twitched at the sight of Marie''s forced "cute" expression. His eyes immediately locked on Markus who was forcing backughter. Since it ran counter to Marie''s character, her current appearance felt extremely jarring. It appeared as though she was copying what Dora would do when she would beg Guy to give her moreics to read.

    "Please, Teacher Larks!" She begged.

    Guy tried to avert his eyes from Marie''s passionate pleas. But he wasn''t someone who could turn down a student''s heartfelt requests, especially Marie who was probably behaving like a child for the first time in her life.

    "Fine..." Guy finally acquiesced, only to be immediately stamped with an innocent kiss on his cheek.

    "Thank you!" Marie cried. But then her cloudy mind gained rity and extreme horror grasped her as she immediately recognised what she had just done.

 Chapter 138 Sensing Everything

    "Umm," Marie vocalised while twiddling her fingers embarrassedly. "I-I didn''t..."

    "It''s fine," Guy said with a light cough. "I understand. You were just excited - no harm done."

    "No, I mean-" Marie tried. "I wasn''t..."

    "Look, Marie, there are at least five years between us. I''m as old as Grace. It''s fine," Guy continued his exnation with a warm smile.

    Marie eyed Guy''s expressions carefully and sighed in relief upon realising that her hasty and impulsive actions weren''t misconstrued. She too was quite surprised at her emotional outburst, which took ce for the first time in her life. It wasn''t an action brought on by attraction; her opinion of Teacher Larks wasn''t skewed in that sense. She didn''t know what possessed her to do it, but the emotions she felt after doing it, albeit for barely a short second, washed her with a sense offort and gratitude.

    Marie then snapped her head and red forcefully at Markus, who was struggling to hide a mischievous smile. The two had lived together long enough to understand the hidden implication in each other''s gazes, and right now it looked like Markus was just eagerly awaiting the next opportunity to spill everything he had seen to the others in the orphanage. With a tactful scowl, Marie transmitted, ''If you tell anyone, I will chop you into a million pieces,'' which caused Markus to shrink into his body in fear.

    "You need to prepare yourself," Guy instructed, shifting the stagnant conversation forward. "Let''s start meditating."

    With that, the Teacher and Student started the process. Guy had already tailored a fitting sequence of poses for Marie to follow when practising Yoga. With familiarity, the duomenced with a simple cross-legged posture to centre their breathing. There was sufficient space within the room to amodate the duo as well as Markus who was, at this point, squashed into a corner with his head lowered in his book.

    Gradually, the ambience within the room started to enter a pleasant standstill.

    Eventually, Marie managed to enter a steady meditative state, at which point Guy added, "Extend your mana sense to one per cent of its maximum range."

    Marie''s experience with mana control was very limited. It took her nearly an hour of steady mana maniption to achieve the one per cent limit Teacher Larks had set for her. After she managed to hold the mana sense stably, Teacher Larks said, "Now, open up your mana sense to its maximum capacity. Be receptive to everything that the sensor captures. Hold it for no more than half a second!"

    She followed as instructed, however, she immediately faced difficulty as she attempted to open up her receptivity. Although it sounded simple in instruction, the process was extremelyplicated because its basis was beyond mortal understanding. Forparison, a human is limited to their five basic senses. They know what the senses are open to, and how to interpret this information. Since humans do not know what exists beyond the limits of these five senses, it is often difficult for mages to absorb information through mana sense that is foreign to their mortal senses. This was the barrier Marie was currently colliding against.

    "Do not think of the mana sense as a part of you. The more you think of it as such, the less you will perceive. Hence, do not actively focus on what the mana sense captures," Guy pointed out.

    Marie processed this new set of instructions and gradually loosened her vignce. Incrementally, the extended sensory data she kept receiving started to blend into an iprehensible mush. Then, out of nowhere, an inhuman quantity of what can only be ssified as illogical gibberish assaulted Marie''s mind causing her to reel over in pain and get thrown out of her meditative state.

    "AAAAH!" Marie evoked while grasping her head tightly.

    Markus immediately rushed forward with concern showing on his face but was immediately stopped by a monotone and firmmand from his Master, "Don''t agitate her. She needs to recuperate by herself."

    Marie rolled on the ground like a salted slug, pulling at her hair from its scalps. Just a fraction of a second''s worth of exposure to everything that radiated around her had put her in such a sorry state. She shuddered internally as she pondered over what would happen if she were to allow double this pressure to bear down on her. For a moment, a part of her subconsciously urged her to give up immediately, yet the doubt was immediately doused by the force of her unbending will. She had to go through with it, to the bitter end.

    Guy exited his meditative state and helped Marie up after the pain had passed. Within the short moment, she had be as dishevelled as someone who had undergone days'' worth of torture. With an apologetic and dejected tone, Guy said, "Take the day off. Since you''ve set your mind to it, try to start building up resistance to this process. Do not be foolhardy and push yourself beyond your limits. Look at what happened to you now!"

    Marie nodded and prepared to leave, but was immediately caught by Guy who then propped her against himself and helped her walk. "I''ll take you to your room."

    ? Markus darted up and immediately intercepted them. "Master, let me!" to which Guy readilyplied.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Why are you doing this?" Markus inquired in a low voice as he helped Marie to her room. "Why are you putting yourself through all this?"

    Marie lifted her face slowly and muttered with a wavering tone, "Family must be protected. At all costs!"

    "Why do you have to be the one? Huh!" Markus challenged angrily. "Let me! Wasn''t this the reason you sent me to the Academy?"

    "I''m sorry," Marie answered weakly. "I was being too selfish. It should have been me. You''ve suffered a lot, Markus."

    Markus controlled his swelling emotions and pushed down the sudden urge to bawl. "Look. I''m strong now. I can handle it, I promise!"

    "I know. I believe you. But I don''t want you to be alone," Marie said with finality in her voice. Markus frowned in dismay and didn''t continue the conversation.

    ____

    In the following weeks, Marie entered a frenzied state of diligently practising the process of exposing her mana sense to everything around her, much to Grace''s dissatisfaction. Observing Marie walk around in shambles difited Grace greatly, and she had constantly osted Guy verbally regarding this. It wasn''t like Guy could do anything about it besides bearing with the abuse. Guy was also bothered by the way Krish handled this situation and was equally interested in confronting the man about it. But he was powerless to do anything, lest he angers someone who could extinguish them all with a single snap.

    The days passed like this, with a charged atmosphere prevailing during dinner times, until one day, Marie walked in with a satisfied smile on her face. Guy knew straight away that the girl had made some progress

    "Are you ready for the next step?" Guy asked.

    "As ready as I will ever be, Teacher Larks," Marie answered tly and then, without wasting any more time, the two tacitly entered a meditative state through Yoga.

    Guy followed his usual method of |Introspect| to ess his core. The area was exactly the same as before, reminiscent of a bright, isted room from a mental health institution with an out-of-ce elevation leading to a mirror-like, unperturbed liquid pool. Upon entry, Guy quickly dove through the membranous surface and entered The Church.

    Here, Guy observed a few ring differences from his previous extensive visit. For one, the figures of Jean and Marie had gained greater rity, the former more than thetter. This was primarily because Jean had sessfully entered the Middle stage of Mana Condensation realm a while back and was reaching the cusp of breaking through to the Late stage. The rate of her advancement to this stage, which was approximately three months, was starkly faster than Markus''. This was primarily due to the ampler ess to resources she enjoyedpared to the boy. Having the force of a renowned and wealthy n backing her, the girl had ess to a nigh endless supply of mana crystals, mana replenishing potions, body rejuvenation and reinforcement potions, internal cleansing potions, and so on, which Markuscked.

    Markus was a little jealous of Jean, which was a natural response. But it was only a fleeting emotion. The boy had matured vastly through the past few years and understood that feeling jealous of the luck and privilege of others was futile. One had to make do with the hand one was dealt, and Markus was satisfied with his efforts as he recognised that he had done his best. Besides, since his Junior Sister was exclusively his Master''s student, he was also awarded the same benefits. Nowadays, Markus didn''t have to scrounge and save up his mana crystals and potions either.

    Marie, on the other hand, had only just reached the peak of the Early stage of Mana Condensation realm. Her journey was much more orthodoxpared to Markus and Jean''s, and since she was perfectly attuned to her cultivation method, her advancement was smooth and generally faster.

    Guy approached her ethereal figure and grasped it, pulling the girl into The Church.

    "Wha- Where?" Marie eximed as she felt herself within a foreign space all of a sudden. "Ah! So this is the ce..." she muttered after rxing her nerves.

    This was Marie''s first time in The Church. She had only heard through Markus and Jean how it felt like, and she was excited to witness it herself. Except, she was too embarrassed to ask Teacher Larks to take her into this space as it wasn''t a trivial trick that he could pull out anytime someone wanted, and it would also be disrespectful.

    "Look over there," Guy said while pointing behind the dais, where arge ck screen had descended.

 Chapter 139 Sensory Manipulation

    Guy was having some trouble in figuring out what exactly to "show" Marie through The Church''s |Soul Imprint| functionality. In the previous demonstrations with his Student and Disciple, the task was much easier because he simply had to emte the scenarios based on how they were perceived by the senses. What did the eyes see, what did the ears hear, what did the skin feel, what did the nose smell? These were easy questions to answer.

    But, that was also where the problem lied. His task right now was to transmit everything he could perceive through his mana sense to Marie, yet how could he describe it in the first ce? Sure, he could trante the information received through the mana sense that could be interpreted by his existing sensors, but what about the information beyond that, which couldn''t?

    This also brought up the question of sensory biases and how that would affect any solution he coulde up with. It wasn''t guaranteed that everyone would observe the colour blue the same way, so what guarantee was there that whatever Guy observed through his use of the ability matched Marie''s?

    This was an inherent disadvantage that people faced even back in Guy''s previous world. In an attempt to address it, scientists ventured to develop standardised units of measurements that could describe data consistently regardless of the observer. For instance, two people may have differing opinions of the colour blue, but a spectral analysis of the light reflected by a blue surface can quantitatively describe the extent of its blueness.

    The standardisation of measurement has also been attempted in this world, albeit not to such a satisfactory degree as in Guy''s previous world. That is, standard measures for length, time, mass, and temperature were ubiquitous, primarily because they were used regrly by themon mortal folk. However, for the more arcane and lesser-known quantities such as energy, force, charge, and so on, things got a little sketchy. Because these quantities were mostly observed by mages, there was ack of sufficient standardisation - things were more subjective.

    "My master defined heat on a scale of 1-100, where 1 is the heat of boiling water and 100 is the heat of the Sun''s surface," for example - wholly subjective, and definitely not transferable.

    Guy openly disdained the progress of technology in this world. Given that people had ess to mana, a literal cheat-like existence, civilisation should have progressed to realms beyond what humans had achieved on Earth. Yet, even though the current civilisation had existed for at least twice as long as the one from Guy''s world, they had aplished diddly-squat.

    It appeared as though the existence of mana had essentially created a brain drain. The set of people that were veritable geniusesrgely intersected with the set of people that disyed great control over mana and showedpatibility with certain cultivation styles. As these geniuses gained strength and transcended their mortality, they grew detached from the mortals they deemed beneath them. For one they would outlive their loved ones, who tethered them to their mortality. In the end, they viewed mortals as apletely different species.

    Humans advance through shared struggle. The geniuses that could push civilisation forward no longer struggled with themon folk, and thus did not have any motivation to oblige. Therefore, the mortal civilisations stagnated - but what stopped the mage congregations from leaping forward? The geniuses were all there, after all.

    There is amon saying in Guy''s previous world that, "One mountain cannot contain two tigers." As geniuses ascended, they inevitably shed against each other at the peak in fighting for resources. By publicising advancements, one basically presented their hand to the world thus losing any advantages they held in a confrontation. No one wanted to do that.

    Hence, the world stagnated. The status quo endured.

    As a transmigrator, Guy felt obligated to change this. But, he also recognised that as a solo entity, he didn''t have any power in the matter. Sure, he could y his hand like how most other typical transmigrants did from the fiction works in his past life. He could output a steady stream of modern devices into the world, amass arge amount of wealth and a steady power-base, live a g life. But as an educator, Guy immediately recognised the folly of that endeavour, in that he was just one person. How much could one person aplish?

    There was anothermon saying in Guy''s previous world, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and feed him for a lifetime." His impact would be greater if he was the catalyst that evoked change from within, rather than an anomaly that brought change without.

    But those were just Guy''s distant aspirations. His current struggle was already giving him a massive headache. Ultimately, Guy hypothesised that since he couldn''t properly decipher the data his mana sense captured, barring the once he could decrypt using his human sensors, Marie should also be experiencing the same kind of noise using her mana sense. So, if Guy and Marie were to iste the decipherable data from the noise, the noisy data should ovep except for a single set corresponding to the mana waves that only Marie could observe.

    After Marie was sucked into the darkness of the dark screen, her Teacher''s calm voice resounded around her.

    "Do you think you can iste what you perceive through your senses?" Guy started. He then went on to describe exactly what he expected Marie to do, which she nodded doubtfully.

    "I haven''t tried it before. But I don''t believe that it will be hard," Marie affirmed.

    Although Marie felt like she was in a different ce, she could still "sense" the same environment from before. It was like she was disced and stationary at the same time. Therefore, using her experience she started to release her mana sense.

    This time she didn''t experience the same splitting headache that caused her to keel over. Weeks of excruciating practise had helped her build up an immunity. What level of damage did this self-afflicting practice inflict on her mind? She didn''t know, and for the time being, she didn''t care.

    Marie had foreseen the need for manipting the sensory data observed through her mana sense. After all, she had to somehow filter out the waves of fate from the background noise and to do that she needed a few proficiencies. With that said, she didn''t face much difficulty filtering out the known sensory data.

    "I''m able to do it," Marie signalled.

    "Alright then. Prepare yourself. I will begin the transfer in ten seconds, starting now!" Guy dered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie immediately reverted to her hypersensitive state with her mana senses ring. Without her hearing, smell, taste, sight and touch sensory data, she waited in anticipation.

    Marie was in what could be described as a sensory deprivation chamber of her own design. The only thing stopping her from going insane at this point was the bearable pain resonating within her mind.

    Then, suddenly, the pain in her head started to swell up at an elerated pace. She realised that it was the onught of her Teacher''s senses.

    It was hard; the attack from the new influx of noisy data overtook her self-control and nearly caused her to lose consciousness. She quickly shook herself from her painful trance, grit her teeth and scrambled to action.

    The filter Marie nned to use was by reflecting the noise transmitted into her head by her Teacher. She would then use the principles of superposition to ovey the noise which was originally in her head over this reflected noise, to iste the waves of fate. It was a simple description on paper.

    But how does one reflect unintelligible noise? It all came down to a matter of perspective.

    Teacher Larks often told her that human senses are clouded by their perception of the world itself. We see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear. In essence, the human mind could affect what the senses capture. Using this reasoning, Marie wondered if she could implement this paradigm with her mana senses.

    To an extent, she seeded. Early on during practice, Marie bundled up the noise captured by her mana senses into an abstract package that she called a time-dependent function. In her mind, the noise turned into an n-dimensional function, where ''n'' referred to the near-infinite dependent variables contained within the noise, which all varied with the independent variable: time. It was a flimsy implementation, yet for a short few seconds, it worked! Her mind couldn''t physically fathom the n-th dimension, so the paradigm copsed due to instability. It also gave Marie a massive headache, on top of the already existing one due to the constant abuse of her mana sense. But within that short duration, Marie managed to implement a reflection operation! She then proceeded to test this a few more times to confirm that it was legitimate.

    She followed those steps at present and reflected the noise from Teacher Larks'' transmission. As she did so, her mind started to physically and perceptively undte under the stress. Marie even started to bleed through her nose and ears.

    Immediately after she confirmed that the reflection was sessful, she proceeded to convert her own perceived noise into a function. This operation exacerbated the situation further. Marie''s mind was on the verge of a physical meltdown.

    Without wasting another second, Marie quickly oveid the two functions through a summation.

    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Marie screamed as she was pulled out of The Church forcefully. Guy immediately rushed forward and straddled her in his arms.

    "Marie!" He shook her lightly. He tapped her cheeks and brought his ears close to her chest. He sighed in half-relief after noticing that she was still alive.

    "What happened?!" Grace rushed in. "M-Marie! What did you do to her?"

    "I-I-" Guy stumbled on his words. He regretted everything. He shouldn''t have gone through with it. He should have stopped her!

    Grace rushed towards the unconscious girl and burst into panicked tears. She grabbed Guy by his cors and started to shake him in a fit, "You! What did you do?!"

    Guy mumbled nkly. Around this time, others present at the orphanage started to gather as well. Markus and Jean looked concerned, although thetter didn''t show it on her face. Dora was ying around in the woods, so she was absent.

    Noticing Grace''s agitated and near deted state, Guy hoped to exin the situation. Just as he was about to speak, a forceful voice broke through the din.

    "She''s fine."

    Guy turned towards the door and noticed an old man with a stick in his hands, gazing calmly at the unconscious Marie.

    """"M-Mage Nara!"""" Everyone eximed in unison.

 Chapter 140 Success Over The Horizon

    Krish gently waved his free hand, casting a spell circle centred on Marie''s head. Through Guy''s mana sense, he observed imperceptible changes urring on her riddled brain, slowly bringing it back to a rosy, healthy state.

    Right as the spell circle subsided, Krish tapped his walking stick on the floor, causing Marie to rise and levitate in mid-air. He turned around and started to hobble away, but was immediately stopped by Grace''s bellowing voice.

    "Where are you taking her?!"

    Krish turned and faced the woman, who in turn shrank and scuttled behind Guy in fear.

    "I am her Master. She is my responsibility, just as much as she is yours. So, I am taking her to recuperate," Krish exined.

    "Wait!" Guy interjected. "I need an exnation. Anything at all. Why couldn''t you have helped her? You KNOW just how dangerous trial-and-error-magic can be, yet you let her - your Disciple - go through with it? I hope you realise just how callous and irresponsible this is."

    Krish stared directly at Guy with a pensive gaze. Although Krish wasn''t manipting mana in any way, a growing pressure started to bear down on Guy. It was purely through the man''s presence and aura alone.

    "You assume that every Master-Disciple rtionship works the same as yours," Krishmented.

    "I do not. BUT, I assumed that you, Mage Nara, would be different. I thought that Mage Nara would be better. I guess I thought wrong," Guy added with a dejected frown.

    After another silent yet charged minute, Krish sighed and reached into the satchel hanging over his shoulders. From within, he retrieved a booklet and tossed it towards Guy.

    "So far, there is only ONE guaranteed way to be sensitive to the waves of fate. It was the technique my Master taught me, his Master to him, and so on," Krish started.

    Guy furrowed his brows and quickly flipped through the booklet. With every page turned, his gaze grew increasingly agitated.

    "You should now understand why I chose this method," Krish reasoned.

    Grace peeked from behind Guy and tugged his jacket, "W-What does it say?"

    "I-It..." Guy bit his lips tensely before exining. "To awaken the mage''s sensitivity towards the waves of fate, the Master must forcefully suppress the Disciple''s natural sensors, leaving them with only their mana sense. Then, the Master must pelt the Disciple with damaging attacks from random directions that must be increasingly fatal over time. The Disciple must naturally gain a sensitivity to these attacks to form a sort of precognitive ability by bing perceptive to the waves of fate flowing around them."

    Guy shuddered in just imagining the torturous process described within the booklet. In many ways, people can only affirm their existence through their senses. A person''s reality is asserted solely by what their senses capture. In other words, if one''s reality is a painting, the senses provide us with the colours to bring vibrancy to it. However, if onecks all forms of their basic senses, not only will their realityck colour, it will alsock form, or structure.

    So, when someone is denied all of their senses, they enter a juxtaposing state of existential non-existence. Internally, they recognise that they are present and alive, but they are unable to verify this belief due to theck of supporting external data. It is easy for someone to enter a heightened panicked state at this time. It would be truly grim to subject someone undergoing this torture to a battery of possibly fatal attacks!

    "My Master literally broke me and reconstructed me, multiple times, for at least two months before I was able to sense the waves of fate around me. I didn''t want Marie to suffer as I did, but I didn''t know how to go about it. But then my Heavenly Eye saw something! It saw you and her working together and so I had to let her venture by herself," Krish smiled faintly

    "Why didn''t you just tell her right away? You could have told her the method instead of having her flounder like that," Guy retorted.

    "I couldn''t do that. I would be changing the sequence of fate," Krish spoke. "Her actions had an effect that may or may not be evident right now, but what she learned through her experimentation will eventually help her in the future. It''s like this: In attempting something new, people often make mistakes and learn from them. These titbits that are the by-products of these mistakes can sometimese to use at ater date. If I didn''t let Marie make mistakes, I would be robbing her of expertise down the line."

    "Besides-" Krish said while ncing at Markus, "If I had intervened, I would have robbed someone else of an opportunity to advance in their cultivation."

    "Nheless," Krish said with a resolute tone before pulling the levitating Marie along, "I came here to retrieve my Disciple. I shall return her once she has recuperated. Do not disturb us!"

    As Krish''s figure receded, an awkward silence lingered in the room.

    "G-Guy? Marie!" Grace muttered with a shaking voice. Guy noticed that she was actually, visibly wavering in a panicked state. Her eyes were erged with a nk gaze, and she was sweating excessively. Her breath was hurried - she was hyperventting. Grace was undergoing a full-blown panic attack.

    Guy immediately grabbed her and pulsed his mana through the woman''s body to forcefully regte her breathing. He pulled her into a gentle embrace and calmly patted her back, slowly lulling Grace into a stable unconscious state.

    "Markus! Jean!" Guy called out. "Help me take Grace back to her room, please."

    The two kids nodded immediately, and one ran out to Grace''s room while the other assisted Guy by fanning Grace as she was transported.

    Afterying Grace down on her mattress, Guy remained vigil for a while next to her. As he did so, he suddenly noticed a slight stirring surging from his core.

    "It worked?" He muttered in surprise.

    By experience, he knew that when using The Church''s facilities to imprint insights into his students, if the student managed to assimte them sessfully, it would trigger his cultivation. The fact that he was being stimted right now indicated that Marie had gained some insight through that treacherous experience. Whether the insight was relevant to her quest or not, Guy wasn''t sure.

    As he rode the stimtion, Guy''s cultivation rose slightly. It still wasn''t enough to push him over to the Internal stage of Foundation Establishment, but he could feel that he was nearing it. Along with the boost, Guy also received a small influx of data about Marie directly into his mind. Once again, it was in a cryptic form that somehow madeplete sense to him. Unsurprisingly, the contents of this influx was primarily information Guy already surmised about the girl, vis-a-vis her adversarial nature. It also highlighted the irony in her character, given her natural affinity with an abstract subject such as Mathematics AND her general aversion to abstract schools of thought such as philosophy and the arts.

    ____<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie''s eyes burst open causing a sudden barrage of light to assault her visual senses.

    "Ah!" She eximed and blinked vigorously as she tried to get ustomed to her sight, which was suspiciously more perceptive than before.

    "What in the..." She muttered. It wasn''t just her sight, her hearing had also be a bit more sensitive than before. Things sounded louder all of a sudden.

    "Congrattions! You''ve advanced to the Middle stage of Mana Condensation realm," a sagely voice informed from behind her. Marie twisted in ce following the source of the sound and was shocked to see her Master seated next to her.

    "You!"

    "Where''s the respect?" Krish snorted.

    Marie snorted back in derision and corrected herself sarcastically, "Master."

    "Hmph! You should be grateful that I saved you before your brain turned into mush! What were you thinking? Doing something so crazy?"

    "What choice did I have? Not like you- Master Nara offered anything useful?"

    "That is true. Nheless, you did seed just like I predicted!"

    "Predicted? Oh, please! You barely- Wait! Seed?"

    "That''s right! You''ve passed the first, and greatest, hurdle," Krish reaffirmed with a faint smile.

    At that moment, Marie steadied herself and became more conscious of her surroundings. He extended her mana sense and started to cycle through her perception. First, she noticed that the range of her mana sense was incrementally higher, indicative of her advancement through a small realm. That didn''t excite her as much as she had hoped though. What did excite her, was her sudden perceptiveness to a novel phenomenon transpiring around her.

    "This!" Her eyes sparkled with tion.

    "Do you feel it?" Krish inquired. "What do you observe it as?"

    "It''s so... weird!" Mariemented. "Woah!" Marie''s eyes darted around. "Woah! What''s happening?! It''s literally like a wave! HAHAHAHAHA!"

    Marieughed hysterically with wonderment oozing in her voice.

    From her point of view, when observing the so-called waves of fate through her mana sense, the world appeared silhouetted containing uncoloured, three-dimensional models of the surrounding objects. Intermittently, dispersing waves originated from these objects and spread outwards spherically, merging into the serene surroundings, before a nearly imperceptible wave reflected and collided against the source object. When she moved her hands, the waves generated were much more vigorouspared to when it was stationary. This was also the case when she spoke out loud.

    "It''s pretty... quiet," Mariemented. "I expected to be noisier given how, ording to Master, the world is heavily influenced by these waves of fate."

    "That''s because this is isted," Krishmented while pointing towards strategic corners in the room. As Marie directed her gaze there, she noticed that some surrounding waves were being sucked in towards points. "I''ve lined ritual formations around the cottage that essentially turns it into a vacuum chamber against waves of fate."

    "You can do that?!" Marie eximed.

    "Oh, child. This is just the beginning," Krish responded with a mysterious drawl in his voice.

    ____

    A/N:

    So far:

    - Mana Condensation: Early -> Middle -> Late

    - Foundation Establishment: Base -> Internal -> External

    - Core Formation: First Half -> Second Half (Proper names will be revealed at ater date)

    - Core Condensation (More details will be revealed at ater date)

    - Tesseract Transformation (More details will be revealed at ater date)

    There won''t be any higher realms than this. I may add additional stages or divisions if things be too convoluted. I''ve found that increasingly segmented levelling mechanisms can sometimes make gauging strength easier.

 Chapter 141 Telegraphing With The Universe

    Marie''s life was fairly monotonous since that day. Every morning, she would venture into her Master''s cottage and exert her mana sense to observe the waves of fate around her. She was warned earlier that doing so outside the cottage would result in a fierce bacsh, and that she had to practice to control it under a thoroughly controlled environment. The n was to incrementally loosen the stringency of the isting ritual lined along the cottage walls to raise Marie''s resistance organically.

    This exercisested for another month, during which time Marie gradually learned more about what the waves of fate represented.

    "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," Krish started. "It does not just apply to the science of physics that you''re learning with Teacher Larks, it also applies to life in general. The things that people do influences the world in one way or another. Arge action or even a multitude of small actions, when umted, can warrant arge reaction from the world. And waves of fate track this interaction."

    "I have a question," Marie interjected. "Master has stated before that the events that will transpire in this world are premeditated. Doesn''t that mean that our actions and the subsequent reactions are inconsequential since they ur by design and not by choice?"

    "Ah," Krish vocalised. "I can see how that might get confusing. When I said that the world is premeditated, it refers only to the way the world affects you."

    Marie hummed in confusion, "That doesn''t make sense. Aren''t they the same as what I asked?"

    "Can a man truly be isted from the world?" Krish threw back.

    "Not really. I mean they can try, I guess."

    "That''s right. No one can separate themselves from the intricate web that binds us together. Even if a man tries to live life inconsequentially, in the grand scheme of things they will y a part, albeit a minor one. In fact, a person can never live an inconsequential life because the world makes it so that their life undergoes trials and tribtions since living itself is a curse."

    "That''s quite pessimistic," Marie muttered.

    "It is the truth! The world seeks to be disordered, yet life is the ordering of matter to create intricate, organic machines. Just this single aberration is enough to disturb the world''s grand design. Thus, we as sentient beings must undergo the trials the world throws at us as it attempts to correct itself," Krish orated.

    "On that note, divination tells us what the world will do to us as prescribed by our fate. It does not, however, tell us what we will do to face these trials, because that is literally impossible. If I could tell you what you are going to do, you wouldn''t do it."

    "But it can tell us how our actions wille to affect us?" Marie chimed in.

    "Bingo!" Krish congratted. "Now you''ve got the hang of it! In fact, this is the second step in learning divination. You must have noticed that every action done or word spoken, even imperceptible ones, elicit a vibration in your surroundings. These vibrations spread out, but a much smaller wave is reflected. The art of divination works to decipher these reflecting waves."

    "How do you do that?" Marie inquired with a hopeful expression. "Please don''t kick me out likest time."

    "HAHAHA! No," Krish assuaged her. "This time we will be working together."

    As Marie sighed in relief, Krish reached into his bag and retrieved a set of different divination tools. "The response you receive as waves areplex and are constituent of multiple, varying information. To interpret them, we use these tools as a medium. Basically, you channel the responding wave through the tool of choice and observe how it reacts."

    "And then?" Marie urged with interest.

    "And then, you cross-reference the behaviour of the tool with historic data to determine the answer," Krish concluded.

    "That sounds extremely inurate and flimsy in my opinion," Marie retorted.

    "That''s only if you''re starting for the first time with an undocumented tool," Krish reasoned. "For example, if you n to use cowrie shells like me, then you have ess to my almanacks that organise most, if not all, possible spreads you can observe with them. The same applies for divining sticks that my Master used, these dice, and so on."

    "So?" Krish asked. "What do you choose? Do you want to use any of these divining methods, or do you intend to create your own? A word of warning, if you''re nning to pioneer your own, then you''ll probably have to generate arge data set from scratch."

    Marie squinted her eye and wore a distressed expression. "Which of the tools here offers the most urate reading?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. I use cowrie shells as I find it easier to interpret geometric spreads. My Master''s Master preferred dice because he found it easier to cross-reference numerical values with predictions. Ultimately it depends on what you find most suitable," Krish exined.

    "Honestly," Marie spoke with a t smile. "I''m not feeling any of them, you know?"

    "That''s okay," Krish shrugged. "We can work to develop your own method."

    "Why can''t we read from the response waves directly? Adding these tools as middle-men feels quite finicky."

    Krish sighed in defeat and conceded a point, "Why don''t you try deciphering one of the response waves yourself. You will understand what I mean."

    He then proceeded to exin the exact method to do so. "If you observe your mana channels using mana sense when tuned to the waves of fate, you should notice channels originating from your palms navigating through your core and towards your brain. Usually, the response waves are directed through the palm, through the core which attunes it, and then out the other to attune the tools. Instead, channel the waves through your core into your brain."

    Marie nodded and got to work. She started by first tuning her mana sense to determine the indicated mana channel. The human hands are one of the most sensitive parts of their bodies because they are packed with a myriad of nerve endings and blood vessels that enable high-precision sensing. Coincidentally, a lot of mana channels in the body also open up near the palms and hands (as well as at the base of the foot). Like her Master had described, she found the ones that moved from palms to the core to the brain. Next, she asked a throwaway question, "Will the sunset in Twilight Vige ur earlier today than yesterday?"

    As the sentence exited her mouth, a wave with arge magnitude emanated and travelled into the distance. After a short while, the response wave arrived with lower intensity. Marie intercepted the wave through one palm. The moment it contacted the mana channel, a tingling feeling started to course through her along the channel. Marie carefully directed the feeling towards her core where an imperceptible change urred. After that, she diverted it towards her brain.

    When the wave arrived at its destination, a series of grainy and noisy sensations attacked all of her senses. It wasn''t painful like her previous attempt to open up her senses to everything. It felt more like she was experiencing many events all at once. After a short minute, which somehow felt much longer, the sensation dissipated.

    "Do you understand now?" Krish asked. "The response wave contains all the possible ''reactions'' to your action, which was the question. It is impossible, at your level and cultivation realm, to decipher the messages contained within."

    "Are you able to decipher them directly?" Marie responded.

    "The moment I awakened The Heavenly Eye, I no longer needed to decipher them. The Eye tells me everything that can be divined, and more, directly. Why would I need to bother with the intermediaries as you so rightfully pointed out before?"

    "There has to be a way!" Marie dered steadfastly.

    "Why are you wasting your time with this?" Krish reasoned. "You should barrel through this stage and quickly awaken The Heavenly Eye, like me."

    "But as you''ve said, The Heavenly Eye is a perilous tool that could hurt the user if used recklessly. However, divination is not dangerous. So, if divination can be made close to as precise as The Heavenly Eye, then I will no longer have to worry about making mistakes with The Heavenly Eye," Marie responded.

    "That''s a logical conclusion, however, it is impossible to do so," Krish said while shaking his head.

    Marie simply clicked her tongue and derided her Master, "This is your problem, you know? You''ve lived for so long that you assume you''ve seen everything there is and are quick to deny any possibility of ideas contrary to your beliefs."

    Krish was about to respond when Marie simply stood up and prepared to leave, "Forget it! I''ll just figure it out by myself... like always."

    And with those parting words, Marie rushed out of the cottage without a second thought. Krish exhaled with amusement at this sight. Before storing away the items in front of him, Krish opened his eyes, revealing a golden glow emanating from them. After a short second, his pupils lost their golden lustre, then his eyes widened in surprise. A pregnant pause invaded the already silent room, during which a mellowed and proud smile cracked across his face.

    "I guess it IS possible, huh?" Krish extended his mana sense to follow his Disciple excitedly prancing up the steps to the orphanage and smiled bitterly. "I am just a Master in name. I don''t think I have the capacity to teach her anything at all."

    He hummed to himself andmented offhandedly, "Maybe I should apprentice under Guy and learn how to teach."

    He chuckled at that thought, and gradually entered a deep meditative state.

 Chapter 142 Back To Formula

    When Marie returned to the orphanage, she was immediately attacked by Grace and pulled into an emotional embrace. Through her sobs and muffled whimpers, Marie realised the extent of the damage her haphazard actions had caused to those around her.

    "I am putting my foot down! No more of this, Marie!" Grace demanded.

    "That''s not going to stop her, Grace," Guy interjected as he carefully pulled Grace off of Marie.

    "So you''re just going to let her go through with this?" Grace eximed. "She was out for two days! TWO. DAYS." She added while forcefully jutting out two fingers in front of Guy''s face.

    "But she''s back now, look!" Guy gently turned Grace around and spoke in a low voice into her ears. "Let me handle it. If we force her to cease, it will only make her want to do it more. You know how teenagers are?"

    "We have to be strategic in our approach. Although we cannot stop her, I will ensure that she maintains caution in her actions. Alright?"

    Grace grunted in reluctant acquiescence. Before leaving, she sternly warned Guy, "You better fix this!"

    As Guy watched Grace retreating into the orphanage in a huff, he revealed a bitter smile.

    "And you, youngdy," Guy started. "I am extremely disappointed by the way you handled the experiment. This is something I would have expected from Markus, not you. You should have ceased when things exceeded the extent of your capacity. What was the point in hurting yourself by prematurely attempting something like that? We could have taken things gradually, with multiple sessions, to build up your tolerance."

    "I got impatient," Marie said apologetically.

    "I get that you are anxious to advance in your cultivation, but nothing good cane from being reckless and careless. If you''re nning to approach a problem with the scientific method, you MUST adhere to the process in its entirety," Guy instructed. "Trial and error without conducting the proper due diligence isn''t science."

    "I-I''ll be better," Marie responded. "I''m sorry."

    "Although your actions only hurt you physically, they have affected everyone around you emotionally. I''m not the only one who is in need of an apology."

    Marie hummed submissively and trudged into the orphanage with a dejected hunch.

    ____

    "Wow, Big Sis! You''re already at the Middle stage of Mana Condensation realm?" Markus eximed in surprise.

    "We''re now at the same level," Jean added with a nk nod.

    Marie nodded vehemently with a smug grin.

    The pleasant atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by a defeated sigh,ing from Markus.

    "What''s got you down? You look as though you''ve eaten a handful of shit there," Mariemented while clicking her tongue.

    "Sorry," Markus waved his hands immediately in response. "I just can''t help feeling jealous of you guys. It took me so long, and so much effort to just step into the Middle stage of Mana Condensation. All it took you, Big Sis, was maybe a month."

    "That''s obviously because I have a legitimate cultivation method and you don''t," Marie consoled. "If you had one of your own, you too would have risen as fast as I."

    "I get that. But what about Jean, then?" Markus whined and exhaled loudly.

    "I''m sorry," Markus ceded. "I''m projecting. It''s just that I''m feeling really stuck right now. No matter what I do, I''m getting nowhere. My cultivation has stagnated, and all my attempts in replicating Gaige''s attack have failed spectacrly."

    The two girls sympathised with Markus'' plight.

    "You need a fresher perspective," Marie chimed in.

    "I know-" Markus started, by Marie quickly interjected by raising her hand.

    "Hear me out! I know that you''ve considered the problem from all directions to the best of your knowledge. But I think that the issue is that you''re too close to it. Maybe if you take a few steps back and observe the problem in a wider context, it will make more sense. It worked for me, maybe it will work for you too?" Marie suggested.

    "Wider context, huh?" Markus muttered. His gaze turned vacant and he casually stood up from his spot. While intermittently repeating that phrase, Markus slowly exited the room with a measured pace.

    "What happened to him?" Marie blurted out.

    "Senior Brother does that often when he enters an inspired state," Jean exined with subtle affection in her tone. "He''s a troubled genius. He''s achieved so many amazing things, yet he is perpetually dissatisfied with himself. I wish there was something I could do to help him..."

    Marie chuckled lightly when she noticed a pout forming on Jean''s usually paralysed face.

    ____

    "Matron Reva, please look at me," Marie pleaded with a defeated smile.

    "I have no time for ungrateful brats," Grace snapped. "Get out!"

    Marie ignored Grace''s warning and forcefully hugged Grace from behind. "Where can I go? You''re all I have, you know."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Grace clicked her tongue and reprimanded lightly, "Your sweet words won''t save you this time!"

    "I know, it''s all my fault. Teacher Larks admonished me about it already."

    "Ha! Don''t think you''re free just because of his gentle wrist p," Grace scoffed. "I ought to give you a piece of my mind."

    "Yes, yes," Marie acquiesced while nuzzling lovingly into Grace''s shoulder.

    Grace opened her mouth and tried to speak, but the words failed her. Finally, she sighed in resignation and asked with a faint hint of hope in her voice, "Can you stop cultivating, Marie? For me?"

    "Why?" Marie asked back with an innocent inflexion.

    "It''s just... Mages are so detached and difficult. They don''t care about anything else but themselves. They''ll do anything to get ahead... ANYTHING," Grace''s voice grew increasingly heated as it reached a charged crescendo. "I just don''t want you to be like them."

    Marie frowned and responded, "Markus isn''t like that. Neither is Teacher Larks."

    "They... Fine, I''ll give you that," Grace answered with a bitter smile. "But they''re an exception. Every other mage I''ve met-"

    Grace caught herself before any more dour words rolled out of her mouth.

    "You shouldn''t have to worry about that, Matron Reva," Marie pointed out gently. "You raised me, after all. Trust in yourself, and trust in me."

    Grace pulled the edges of her lips into her cheeks and smiled wryly.

    "Don''t worry, Matron. It''ll all turn out for the better! I promise," Marie added.

    "Right... I trust you," Grace responded with a trace of apprehension in her voice, which was missed by Marie.

    ____

    "Marie, stop dallying outside like that and juste in," Guymented with an exasperated tone.

    Marie entered Guy''s room with a sly smile.

    "Why don''t you juste during sses like normal people, Marie?" Markus scoffed. "You''re eating into Master''s personal time by doing this."

    "What are you even doing here? Don''t you have anything better to do?" Marie shot back.

    "Kids, please," Guy interjected while palming his forehead. "Marie, sit. What can I do for you?"

    Marie stuck her tongue out towards Markus as a taunt and copsed into a cross-legged seating posture next to Guy.

    "So, what''s brings you here?" Guy inquired.

    "Well, here''s the deal. I can now observe the waves of fate using my mana sense," Marie started. She then proceeded to exin the mechanisms of how she could capture and decipher the waves of fate in detail.

    "The issue lies there. You see, the waves I receive are extremely noisy. There is a multitude of visions and revtions within it that crackle in my mind. I experience everything rted to my question all at once," Marie concluded.

    "Your Master must have provided a solution to this," Markus pointed out.

    "Yes. Basically, he uses a collection of trinkets and tools that are used to divine the most probably oue," Marie expounded. "By channelling the waves through these divining tools, all the oues with a lower probability of urrence are essentially overpowered. BUT, the result from these tools isn''t descriptive. They only provide a kind of spread or pattern that can be deciphered empirically. It is not definitive in any way."

    "But the method IS defined, and your Master was willing to teach it to you?" Markus rified.

    "Yes, but-"

    "Marie!" Markus interrupted. "Why are you here? I get that since thest time your Master was unwilling to teach you, you had to seek assistance with Master Larks. But that is a nonissue in this case. Mage Nara specifically offered you the tools AND the expertise."

    "It''s not urate enough," Marie responded while shaking her head nkly. "What if two different spreads happen to coincide with each other when in fact there are minute differences?"

    "That''s just selfish, Big Sis, and disrespectful. You''re technically two-timing on your Master with mine," Markus dered. "Can''t you go through all of this with your own Master?"

    "I tried, but he is extremely close-minded and incapable of entertaining contradicting thoughts and ideas," Marie dered. "I''m only asking for an open tform for discussion and debate."

    "I think your idea of an open discussion and debate might be a bit too... charged for your Master''s taste," Markus muttered with a chuckle. Marie threw him an offensive re before turning to Guy with a hopeful expression.

    "So, Teacher Larks. Do you have any suggestions on how to approach this?"

 Chapter 143 Series Representation Of Functions

    A/N: I use LaTeX conventions to define the mathematic forme here. It may not make sense on your mobile device orputer. You can find the properly formatted derivation at the Discord Server ( https://discord.gg/PKbqtembQJ )

    ____

    "You think of me too highly, Marie," Guy said while shaking his head with a cynical smile. "How do I help you if I can''t even see these waves of fate?"

    "I just need an idea. An inspiration. A direction. Anything," Marie emphasised. "Anything at all."

    Guy released an audible sigh. Honestly, he was a little conflicted about the current predicament. Many thoughts were circling in his mind questioning the feasibility of his intervention. Usually, in a Master-Disciple rtionship, there was little space for a third party to contribute especially when it came to details regarding core cultivation techniques, such as The Heavenly Eye. He realised that he was already pushing on a rather precarious boundary by helping Marie that time when she tried to sense the waves of fate. Although he wasn''t reprimanded or warned by Krish, Guy had recognised internally that that would be his first and maybest time.

    Yet, here they were again.

    "Am I allowed to interfere? Mage Nara?" Guy asked out loud.

    ''Go ahead,'' response was received immediately in his mind through Mana Transmission. ''She expects more than what I can provide her. You''re the only one who can satiate her boundless curiosity.''

    Guy shrugged affirmatively.

    "Your Master has acquiesced," Guy informed Marie, to which the girl subconsciously unwound her tense fists.

    "Before I can offer anything, I need some insight into these waves of fate. How do they look? What do they feel like?" Guy then emphasised thest point by adding, "Be as descriptive as possible."

    Marie sat up straight and orated her insights and perspective on the topic. Along the process, Markus and Guy chimed in with pertinent questions that augmented their understanding. Following an information-packed half an hour, Marie closed her exnation with a loud, satisfied exhale.

    "That just about covers everything," she concluded.

    "So it literally IS a wave," Markus hummed.

    "It MAY be just the way Marie and Mage Nara perceive it. After all, biases can be introduced by simply naming something a particr way," Guy countered. "For instance, if webel them as strings of fate maybe - MAYBE - they might be perceived differently."

    "Nheless," Guy quickly added. "The fact that they''re observed in this fashion does make our life a little easier. After all, waves aremon in physics and are how energy can be transmitted."

    Marie and Markus'' eyes sparkled as they prepared for Guy''s insight, but their instructor immediately caught himself and dered, "Let''s continue this in the ssroom. I need my chalkboards. Oh, and call in Jean as well! Even if she isn''t interested in this, it may be of use to her."

    ____

    Guy and his three students were now at the ssroom which had undergone a pleasant overhaul. It was still open-aire - partly due to Guy''s insistence on it being conducive to learning - however, the floor was properly built t with an elevation. There was also a small arena nearby that could be used to practice magic. The ssroom as a whole was now more detached from the orphanage. In fact, it looked closer to the newly built schools Guy would work at during his travel, albeit with far more robust foundation and facilities.

    "Let me define the problem statement once more," Guy started. "If we redefine the waves of fate as a signal, then the received signal is a superposition of multiple signals each corresponding to a different message or vision. Theseponent signals are differentiated by their magnitude, which should correspond to the likelihood of their urrence. Am I correct?"

    Marie affirmed with a nod.

    "Then we require to be able to separate theseponent signals from the summation and only tune in to the one with the highest likelihood," Guy added.

    "This problem actually has a mathematical solution," right as Guy finished this statement, Marie''s eyes gained a spark beyond measure that emanated visible excitement. She was enthralled to know that her predicament could be solved by her favourite subject in the world.

    "It is a high-level topic, so be warned that you may notprehend it at first. Furthermore, it isn''t a requirement for everyone present to learn it," Guy highlighted. "By that, I am referring to you, Jean. Once you hear it out, if you feel that it is irrelevant or uninteresting to you, you don''t have to learn it."

    After taking a short pause for dramatic effect, Guy dered, "What if I told you that all periodic functions (or waves) can be defined as a summation of sinusoids?"

    His students frowned as they pondered on that statement. They knew what functions were: they were rtions that connected input to output given that a single input could only produce one output (many inputs can produce the same output, but the reverse is not applicable). The inputs to these functions are defined as independent variables, which is usually time when modelling most real-life phenomena. A function can be continuous, in that there must be an output for every possible input on the real number line, or have discontinuities. A function can be differentiable across all inputs, in that the change in slope of the function does not change too grantly at a given point, or not.

    A sinusoid, when defined in mathematics and physics, refers to the types of functions that repeat periodically or generally resemble sine or cosine functions. Sinusoids have a fixed maximum and minimum value that they can assume regardless of the independent variable. It is because of this quirk that Markus, Jean and Marie found it difficult to fathom that any periodic function in existence could be modelled as summations of sinusoids.

    "I know what you''re thinking. What if there are discontinuities in the periodic function? What if the function isn''t always differentiable? Sinusoids are technically continuous and differentiable" Guy fired. "Well, theplete definition is that a function can be theoretically defined as an INFINITE weighted summation of harmonically rted sinusoids. The key is infinite!"

    "If that were the case, then it would be possible to define the received wave of fate- let''s call it a signal of fate to match terminology- we can define them as the individual summations of the signals thatprise them, right?" Marie chimed in, immediately grasping at the crux of Guy''s idea. "Right! Then we only need to look at the signal with the greatest weight and that would be the event of the highest probability!"

    "You seem to have absorbed the idea quite readily, Marie," Guymented. "Does it make sense to you?"

    "It''s a proposition," Marie responded. "If we take the proposition to be true, THEN the solution seems apt. If we begin with that assumption, then the problem can be restructured as proof instead of exploration. I find it easier to prove or disprove a theory than exploring without direction."

    "But I don''t quite get how such series can be defined," Marie pointed out.

    "There is actually an analogous serial dposition of functions known as Taylor Series. In that, a function - not necessarily periodic, but one that is differentiable - is broken down into an infinite weighted summation of polynomial functions," Guy proposed.

    "Note that this serial representation is only an approximation if taken to a finite sum. And it is centred around a point. Let us assume that it can be written as follows:"

    Guy picked up a chalk and started writing on the board.

    $$

    f(x) = a_0 + a_1(x-x_0) + a_2(x-x_0)^2 + a_3(x-x_0)^3 + dots

    $$

    "Here, the a-sub coefficients are unique constants and $x_0$ is the point around which the approximation is being made. If you remember from before, $f(x)$ is how we define a function depending on the independent variable ''$x$''. Our task now is to determine what these a-sub coefficients might be. So first, if we take the value of the function at the point along which it is approximated:"

    $$

    f(x_0) = a_0 + a_1(x_0-x_0) + a_2(x_0-x_0)^2 + a_3(x_0-x_0)^3 + dots<novelnext></novelnext>

    $$

    $$

    f(x_0) = a_0

    $$

    "For the sessive coefficients, we take derivatives of the original function:"

    $$

    f''(x) = a_1 + 2a_2(x-x_0) + 3a_3(x-x_0)^2 + 4a_4(x-x_0)^3 + dots

    $$

    $$

    f''(x_0) = a_1

    $$

    Guy then proceeded to repeat the processes and wrote:

    $$

    frac[1][2]f''''(x_0) = a_2

    $$

    $$

    frac[1][6]f''''''(x_0) = a_3

    $$

    $$

    dots

    $$

    $$

    frac[1][k!]f^[k](x_0) = a_k

    $$

    "Therefore, the Taylor Series representation of any function can be written as:"

    $$

    f(x) = sum_[k=0]^[infty]frac[1][k!]f^[k](x_0)(x-x_0)^k

    $$

    "Does it make sense?" Guy called out and observed the faces of his students. He noticed Marie and Markus nodding, but Jean had an unusually vacant expression on her face.

    "Teacher Larks," Jean volunteered while raising her hands. "I''m lost."

    "Where did I lose you?"

    "It''s the differentiation. I''m kind of struggling with the first principle of differentiation and limits in general."

    Guy nodded while scratching his chin, "Right! I forgot that we are still going through the limits method of differentiating functions. It''s okay then. You don''t have to sit in, we can cover this at our own pace at ater date."

    Jean affirmed audibly before packing up her things to leave.

    Guy sighed as he observed Jean''s retreating figure, "I was too eager to share that I falsely evaluated the extent of her knowledge. I must have wasted her time..."

    "Master," Markus called out while raising his hand. "I''m having some difficulty picturing this."

    "Hmm," Guy pondered. At this point, he would very much enjoy having aptop of some kind to present the effect of the series visually. Suddenly, an idea shed across his mind.

    "You two, enter a meditative state. Quickly!" Guy instructed as he himself seamlessly entered his core. With familiarity, he passed through the clear pool to ess The Church and pulled his students inside.

    "Look ahead. I will show you a simtion that might be useful to you," Guy rified as the ck screen descended above the dais.

 Chapter 144 4EA (Part One)

    A/N: Try this link (https://.desmos/calctor/mexr42hgc8) to follow the mathematics exined in this chapter.

    I use LaTeX conventions to define the mathematic forme here. It may not make sense on your mobile device orputer. You can find the properly formatted derivation at the Discord Server.

    ____

    Guy somehow got used to the convenience brought on by The Church, especially in pedagogy. Although the RoK was an insane tool that offered its own benefits, they were generally self-serving in nature. Guy could use it to refer back to his past knowledge and he could use theputer to run simtions or programs, but these functionalities could easily be redundant. With increased strength and cultivation, Guy could memorise and recollect vast quantities of information at a moment''s notice. This also extended to running simtions or programs, as it was possible to segment mental operations at higher realms of cultivation.

    The only function of the RoK that could scale and have potentially game-breaking ramifications would be the printing functionality. Guy could only print out one copy of books from the RoK that exceeded the simrity index limit. For instance, even if Guy had a copy of some rare cultivation manual in the RoK, he could only produce a singr printed copy of it. However, if he really wanted to make a profit out of that, he couldmission a printingpany to make infinite copies out of that replica obtained from his RoK, since these repeat copies wouldn''t be moderated by Mast''s powers. (Only printed replicas of books from Guy''s original world are moderated. Only a single hard copy of them can exist outside the RoK - they cannot be reprinted physically).

    Guy could do that, but he chose not to. For one, it would be highly immoral and disrespectful to break secrecy especially if it wasn''t in his authority to divulge it. Secondly, doing so would inevitably draw the attention of interested parties who may be beyond his level of strength. Finally, Guy just wasn''t that ambitious.

    In the end, Guy found himself quickly growing out of the RoK. The Church, on the other hand, was bing more and more relevant to him. It was primarily because its functions and uses extended outwards. As a teacher in a world that was sorely regressed technology-wise, Guy was constantly wanting for tools and materials that could improve his student''s level of assimtion. Most of these resources could be reproduced using avable resources through Guy''s experience teaching in viges and remote regions. However, as Guy began covering harder and more advanced topics with his students, the avable resources were quickly bing obsolete and insufficient.

    In this predicament, The Church was to Guy, as a dder of water was to a thirsting man stranded in the middle of a desert. It was a remote teaching tool, a VR simtor, a student progress tracker, and a self-cultivation tool all wrapped into one convenient, albeit potentially dangerous, package.

    At first, Guy had his apprehension and aversion with The Church, given his early experiences essing it with the use of the mask. But after finding another pathway, and one that did not require him to suppress his rationality for unabashed zeal, he was getting more enthused to it. In fact, in the past months, Guy had used The Church multiple times to augment some of his lessons. Although his level of mastery with The Church''s facilities wasn''t as superior as the "other guy''s", they did the job andted him a small boost in cultivation along the way.

    This time, Guy intended to use The Church to graphically disy the effect of applying the Taylor Series approximation to functions.

    The group were currently standing in a greyish room, and projected in front of them was a pair of axes representing the Cartesian x-y ne.

    "For this exercise, we will approximate the function:"

    $$

    f(x) = e^x

    $$

    As Guy voiced out thismand, a line started to form on the x-y ne that closely resembled the exponential function.

    "We can prove that this line, in fact, represents the exponential function by substituting values for the independent variable."

    Guy gazed meaningfully at his students, who nodded affirmatively to indicate that proof wasn''t necessary.

    "We can choose the point from where the approximation can be initiated, that is $x_0$. To make our lives easier, let''s take $x_0=0$. Thus, we can calcte the coefficients for the Taylor Series:"

    $$

    f''(x_0) = e^0 = 1

    $$

    $$

    f''''(x_0) = e^0 = 1

    $$

    $$

    f''''''(x_0) = e^0 = 1

    $$

    "As you already know, the exponential function with the natural base is special in that when you derive it, you get the same function. By now substituting these coefficients into the series, we get:"

    $$

    f(x) = 1 + x + frac[1][2]x^2 + frac[1][6]x^3 + frac[1][24]x^4 + dots

    $$

    "If we take each term in this series, and treat them as separate functions, it looks something like this:"

    On the ne before them, the line representing the exponential function slowly regressed into the background. In its ce, the following functions started to materialise with different colours.

    $$

    f(x) = 1

    $$

    $$<novelnext></novelnext>

    f(x) = x

    $$

    $$

    f(x) = frac[1][2]x^2

    $$

    $$

    f(x) = frac[1][6]x^2

    $$

    $$

    f(x) = frac[1][24]x^2

    $$

    "Now, let us start superposing these functions one at a time and see how theypare against the original function."

    As the functions were added incrementally, the line started to get closer and closer to the faded exponential function in the background.

    "Wow!" Markus eximed. "This works with every function?"

    "It does," Marie chimed in confidently.

    "How do you know?" Markus retorted doubtfully. "We just learned this."

    "It''s not my fault that you aren''t bright", Marie clicked her tongue in annoyance and derided Markus. "I already tried it out mentally, and it works with every function I can think of."

    "You did all of that in your head?" Guymented in surprise.

    Marie smiled back sheepishly and answered, "I devised a method to visualise and execute functions mentally. It''s what I used back when I tried to observe the waves of fate."

    "So Teacher Larks, how does this connect to your previous point about representing functions as a weighted summation of sinusoids?" Marie proposed.

    "That is the Fourier Series," Guy rified.

    "What is Fourier?" Marie tried.

    "That''s the name of the mathematician who developed it," Guy answered.

    "He must be a great Mage to be able to create such a method. Just like Euler and Taylor," Mariemented with an awestruck expression.

    "Sure..."

    "Anyways, unlike with the Taylor Series, the Fourier Series and the subsequent Fourier Transform, which is what will help you in your current predicament, necessitate a lot- A LOT of prerequisites. We will have to barrel through a plethora of topics such asplex numbers, integration..." Guy wore a distressed expression before inquiring, "Are you sure you want to go through with this? We will be rushing through them. It will be intense!"

    Marie shrugged nonchntly and said, "If it is necessary. Besides, I think it will be fun!"

    "Of course, you''d think that," Guy chuckled. "That leaves you, Markus-"

    "I''m going to sit out of this one," Markus offered immediately with a wry smile. "I can anticipate a roadblock iing. I''m nning to take it slow and digest what I''ve just learned."

    Guy nodded with a sympathetic smile, "Don''t beat yourself up over this. It has a lot to do with how easily people perceive certain truths and concepts. You find it easier to rte to phenomena that can be observed physically, while Marie finds it easier to assimte abstract theories."

    Markus shrugged understandingly. "Don''t worry, Master. I''m not affected. Understanding your limitations is the first step to development, after all."

    Upon saying that, Markus'' ethereal figure turned static and regressed to his seat on the congregation.

    "Now," Guy dered to his remaining audience member. "Let''s start withplex numbers, then."

    Complex numbers are an interesting development in mathematics as theyprise of a real and a rather unfathomable "imaginary"ponent. They stem from the idea of square-rooting a negative number. As known, it is impossible to obtain a root of a negative number as the converse isn''t possible: it is impossible to obtain a negative number by squaring another number. A mathematician in the 1500s conceived this idea of imaginary numbers when he hit a brick wall in trying to solve a cubic equation non-graphically. By introducing the imaginaryponent ''i'' into the fold, his problem could be ovee resulting in, on-paper, a viable method to obtain the solution.

    At that time, the use cases forplex numbers were limited. However, De Moivre and Euler in the 1700s realised thatplex numbers and the so-called imaginary value ''i'' could also assist in solvingplicated trigonometric and exponential problems. This brought to attention an interesting conceptualisation of what aplex number could mean. Where before, it was simply a ceholder to ease mathematics, it now had a graphical exnation.

    Complex numbers could be described as a transform operation in two-dimensional space. This includes both scaling and rotation. Essentially, aplex number $3+2i$ (''3'' is the real, and ''2'' is the imaginaryponent) could be described as a scaling operation of magnitude $sqrt[13]$ $(3^2 + 2^2 = 13)$ and rotation of approximately $33.7 degree$ $(tan^[-1]frac[2][3])$.

    "Make sure to keep this conceptualisation in mind," Guy highlighted as a projected image in front of him visually presented this exnation. "It wille into use when we finally touch upon the Fourier Series and the Fourier Transform."

 Chapter 145 4EA (Part Two)

    I use LaTeX conventions to define the mathematic forme here. It may not make sense on your mobile device orputer. You can find the properly formatted derivation at the Discord Server.

    ____

    Rome wasn''t built in a day. Guy recognised that building up to the topics of Fourier Series and Transforms would take quite a bit of time, even with Marie''s enthusiasm and receptivity to the rather arcane mathematical concepts leading up to it. All that said, Guy had seriously underestimated Marie''s aptitude. What Guy assumed would take him at least a few weeks was aplished in just one.

    Guy and Marie were alone in the ssroom. After Markus'' incisive remarks thest time, Marie had be more conscious about intruding into Guy''s personal time with technical problems. She did, however, poke in once in a while to y a game or mess around with Markus who admittedly took his post as a Disciple way too seriously.

    The girl was to maths like fish in water. Guy breezed through integrals and most other prerequisites, most of which Marie covered on her own with just a textbook. Needless to say, Guy was impressed and proud. Marie was a veritable mathematical genius, along the same veins as his elder brother, who she beat only because of the benefits being a mage provided.

    "Today we willplete our rather hurried journey towards learning the Fourier Series and Transform. Before we begin, do you have any questions about what we''ve covered till now?"

    Marie shook her head in response. "I''m all good, Teacher Larks. We can begin."

    With that, Marie entered a meditative state and Guy did the same to enter The Church through his core. Once the two had reentered through the dark screen that descended over the dais, Guy''s voice spoke up.

    "At its core, the Fourier Series harkens back to the same process as the Taylor Series, in that it is an infinite summation of functions to approximate another function. While the Taylor Series achieved this using polynomials functions, the Fourier Series does so using sinusoids. However, the limitation is that the function being approximated must be periodic, as in it should have a repeating pattern."

    As Guy said so, a Cartesian ne materialised in front of Marie. On it, a simple square function was drawn: one that has a value of negative one between $t=-pi$ and $t=0$, and a value of one between $t=0$ and $t=pi$.

    "Notice here that the function is discontinuous. You should have guessed by now that it is impossible to approximate this function using the Taylor Series as it isn''t differentiable. However, that is not the case with the Fourier Series. AGAIN, as long as the function is periodic in nature, it can be dposed."

    Guy stretched his hand, causing the single period of the step function to stretch out infinitely in both directions.

    "Let us revert to the analogy betweenplex numbers and periodic functions."

    A circle with a radius greater than one took form at the origin. On its circumference,y a red point. The circle started to rotate and roll forwards, and as it did so the red dot started to trace out a line that closely represented a sine function with the same period as the square wave.

    Once the circle disappeared from view, the drawn line faded lightly and the circle returned to its origin. This time, at the location of the red point on the circle''s circumference there was another circle with a much smaller radius. The red point tranted to the circumference of this smaller circle.

    As the two conjoined circles rolled forward and traced a line, Marie noticed that the two had varying frequencies of rotation as well. The smaller one rotated faster than therger one. The traced line also had a warped shape with a small dip at the peak and trough of the previous (faded) sine wave.

    This process kept repeating, with more and more circles joining the ranks, each with a different radius and frequency. As more were added, the traced line started to get closer and closer to the square wave that had faded into the background.

    "This is the concept behind the Fourier Series. The mathematical definition is as follows:"

    $$

    f(x)=sum_[n=-infty]^[infty]A_ne^[ifrac[2pi nx][L]]

    $$

    "where,"

    $$

    A_n = frac[1][L] int_[-frac[L][2]]^[frac[L][2]] f(x)e^[-ifrac[2pi nx][L]]dx

    $$

    "Here, $L$ refers to the period of the function."

    Guy paused to let the information sink in with Marie. The girl gazed ferociously at the forme, internalising it to the best of her abilities.

    "Why don''t we try some examples?" Guy suggested, to which Marie nodded lightly.

    The two retreated from The Church and Guy produced a few questions curated from the many readily avable university-level textbooks in the RoK. The girl had some difficulty getting started but, unsurprisingly, she quickly assimted the knowledge and solved the rest of them at record speed. Guy suspected that not even actual university students from Earth could breeze through those questions with the same level of ease as she did.

    "I''m ready to move on, Teacher Larks," Marie dered as she stacked the answer sheets to the side.

    "Very well."

    Upon returning to the virtual space in The Church once again, Guy pointed out that, "The next section will be fairly congested. We need to look into Fourier Transforms as applied to Continuous and Discrete-time functions. However, what will be of use to you is the Fast Fourier Transform that can be applied to sampled data. I cannot teach that to you very well as it is also a bit beyond my understanding. Though I can provide you with resources that will be of assistance."

    Guy then started his exnation of the Fourier Transform. By definition, a mathematical transform aims to shift the domain of a function from one to another to make it easier to solve certain problems. A basic example is logarithms. Logarithms are used to transform exponential functions and solve problems where the exponents are unknown since these cannot be determined in the exponential space. In the case of the Fourier Transform, this conversion is made from the time domain to the frequency domain.

    Fourier Transforms, and their subset the Lace Transform, can be used to solve differential equations. A differential equation in the time domain bes a polynomial equation in the frequency domain which is a lot easier to solve.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After exining the concept, Guy revealed the form to perform the transform for continuous-time functions.

    $$

    F(omega)=frac[1][sqrt[2pi]]int_[-infty]^[infty] f(t)e^[-iomega t]dt

    $$

    $$

    f(t) = frac[1][sqrt[2pi]]int_[-infty]^[infty] F(omega)e^[iomega t]domega

    $$

    "This is genius!" Marie eximed in awe. She had already applied this transform on the very same square function from before and obtained a graph that indicated the same frequency and magnitude values as what she had obtained by performing the Fourier Series dposition.

    "Though I can see how this won''t be directly applicable to my problem as of yet," she then added.

    Guy nodded and continued, extending into discrete-time Fourier Transforms and touching upon discrete Fourier Transforms [A/N]. By the time he finished, Marie had entered a light trance. She hurriedly grabbed the book Guy produced with the details of the Fast Fourier Transform and immediately plopped down on her seat, ready to devour its contents in earnest.

    Right then, Guy started to feel giddy from within. His inner mana was growing increasingly turbulent, far greater than before. He quickly settled down and started to circte his mana through Yoga.

    Guy was so thoroughly absorbed with himself at this point that he didn''t notice Marie undergoing a profound change as well. If observed carefully, Guy would have realised that it was something simr to what Markus had gone through.

    Marie''s mind was rapidly beginning to churn through functions as she carefully devised the algorithm that could interpret the waves of fate. Applying the Fast Fourier Transform was the answer to her problems, she could feel that she was close!

    Arge whirlwind of mana started to form above the Teacher and Student, the former being markedlyrger than thetter. Guy''s core expanded as more and more mana started to circte and nourish it, as well as his bones and internal organs. This was Guy stepping into the Internal stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Just like before, arge quantity of pungent waste was emitted through Guy''s pores in the form of a ck vapour. This time, though, his clothes hadn''t disintegrated as Guy had the presence of mind to quickly dissipate the heat while forming a protectiveyer around himself. He was NOT nning to be nude again!

    Guy''s cultivation advancement did not show signs of slowing down though. This was because although Marie had safely stepped into the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm, her core was still undergoing a profound change.

    At this point, Marie closed her eyes and observed her environment using her mana sense. She quickly tuned to the channel that corresponded to the waves of fate.

    She reached into her pockets and retrieved a copper coin. The copper denominations circting in the Sr Empire had an etching of the symbol of the Emperor''s n, a sun with undting rays, on one face and the seal of the authority that minted it on the other. When tossing a coin, the sun would represent heads and the minting authority''s seal would be the tail''s side.

    Marie quickly tossed the coin high up into the air and projected her question.

    "Will the copper coinnd heads or tails?"

    The waves of fate emitted from her and a response was received. Marie directed the waves through her open palms and directed it through her mana channels into her brains. Her mind was prepared with the Fast Fourier Transform function loaded in ce. Right as the waves interacted with the abstract function in her mind, a profound reaction took ce that confused even Krish who was diligently observing the situation from his cottage.

    Marie immediately obtained a spectral analysis of the wave and siphoned it through a filter in her mind that isted the frequency with the greatest amplitude, ejecting the rest from her body.

    The isted wave was received, and unlike before, Marie wasn''t assaulted by white noise but an actual vision that, though short, clearly showed her copper coinnding heads up.

    A minor explosion took ce within Marie''s core as she underwent perfected resonance. Her advancement started to teeter off, stopping just short of breaking into Foundation Establishment, exactly like Markus.

    Lo and behold, the moment Marie reverted to her regr vision, the copper coin descended. It bounced on the ground three times, before rolling on its sides and spinning out with the sun facing upwards.

    Marie did not pause and repeated the exercise again. And again. And again! She did it fifty times in total.

    With each repetition, Marie''s advancement started to slow down, and so did Guy''s, until both their cultivation settled to a stable halt.

    "I did it, Teacher Larks!" Marie beamed with a striking smile. She rushed forward and hugged Guy tightly. However, her grasp started to slowly slip as fatigue attacked her. Evidently, utilising this ability to divine the oue of a coin toss fifty times had exhausted her.

    Guy shook his head in defeat and quickly levitated Marie away from him to avoid getting the stink of his ejected waste on her.

    He looked around cautiously before sneaking back into the orphanage.

    "I hope Grace isn''t home. If she sees you unconscious again..." Guy stroked his neck and dabbed the sweat forming on his forehead, as his mind conjured a frightening image of Grace choking him feverously.

    "Nope! Can''t have that..."

    ____

    A/N: DTFT and DFT are two different things. I am not going to exhaust you with this as it isn''t really pertinent to the story. But I urge you to look up videos on YouTube if you are interested.

 Chapter 146 Interlude: Realisation

    "Congrattions!" Krish offered.

    "Yeah, no thanks to you..." Marie muttered in response.

    "What was that?" Krish retorted with stern disbelief.

    "No thanks to you!" Marie reiterated with an equally stern and usatory gaze.

    "Look, I offered to teach you," Krish confessed. "It''s not my fault that you decided to look elsewhere."

    "You don''t even try," Marie responded with a dejected frown. "The least you could have done was entertaining a discussion and brainstorming with me. Are you so unwilling topromise or bend by even a little?"

    Krish pulled his lips into his cheeks and wore a conflicted expression. He was ashamed to admit that he agreed with Marie on that point. Although he''d let the girl off the leash to explore the subjects on her own, he hadn''tpletely stopped observing her. He was with her every step of the way, albeit only passively.

    Through that, Krish gained a better understanding of how his Disciple''s mind worked and how she learned. And he also learned how to teach her and get through to her. This brought upon its own set of dilemmas for Krish. For one, it required that hepletely overhaul everything he knew and believed to be the right way to teach.

    It wasn''t all Krish''s fault, though. After all, in his lifetime Krish only ever had one teacher, his Master. So everything Krish knew about teaching and nurturing disciples could only be extrapted from his own experiences under his Master. This in and of itself brought with it the second problem since Krish did not have a particrly spectacr time in his Discipleship. The constant, harrowing assaults that put him near death during the early stages of his Discipleship had jaded Krish quite a bit. Although life became much better after the first hurdle, he could never get over the torture suffered in the beginning.

    Krish anticipated that when he would pick up his Disciple, they would also have to go through the same treatment. In his books, it was the only way. Yet it was only after a Disciple was gifted upon him that Krish realised the w in that assumption. He really did not want to hurt his Disciple the way his master hurt him. At that time, Krish wondered whether his Master was equally affected while putting Krish through that treatment.

    Yet unlike his Master, Krish could not muster up the resolve to torture his Disciple. Through his travels, Krish learned that it was only the mortals - who were cursed with a short life - that had the nerve to hope for a better or different future. An immortal such as himself had seen the futility of that hope and had be inocted to that emotion centuries ago. Yet, at that juncture, Krish started feeling hopeful all of a sudden.

    Maybe it was a gut feeling, or the mortal human within him that urged Krish to leap. Krish couldn''t confirm it by himself by gazing into the future. Sometimes, knowing can result in an unwitting deviation and he couldn''t afford that. Krish decided to bank on that one per cent chance circling in his mind, and let Marie go about the process her own way. Surprisingly, she seeded, thanks to Guy. Krish was ted to learn that there was a more humane way to ovee the initial speedbump. This would ultimately be a boon to the future practitioners of The Heavenly Eye!

    Krish was preparing himself to continue teaching Marie from this point onwards. Yet this was his second mistake. He had grossly overestimated his capacity to teach and severely underestimated his Disciple''s bullish mentality. The girl sought perfection and invariability, he knew that much from her motivation to learn The Heavenly Eye. But her requirements extended to limits beyond Krish''s and every past user of The Heavenly Eye''s level.

    He was stuck. He didn''t know what to do to help his student achieve what she wanted. If Krish was given the option, he would simply force the girl to go through the steps he''d followed during his Discipleship and trudge along. However, he recognised that doing so would simply alienate the girl even further. So, he let Marie go about her business until she eventually came back.

    Lo and behold, the most inconceivable thing happened. Marie figured out a method to decipher her divinations with frighteningly tight uracy without using tools or trinkets. What shamed Krish even further was that Guy, a man who has no experience or knowledge about The Heavenly Eye, was the one who guided Marie to make this breakthrough AND achieve perfected resonance.

    Needless to say, Krish was at his lowest point at the moment. Being looked down at by his own Disciple did not help in this matter either. He couldn''t disparage the girl for thinking this way either. After all, it was his fault and his inability to adjust that led to this.

    "What''s next?" Marie questioned offhandedly.

    "Well," Krish sighed. "You''ve reached a stepping off point. Unfortunately, beyond this, you cannot enlist the help of others. Doing so, in any way, could result in dire consequences for both yourself AND the other person."

    Krish noticed Marie''s face droop visibly upon hearing this. He smiled bitterly and added, "I''ll try harder, Marie."

    Marie''s head jerked upwards in surprise. "I want to be a better Master. I really do. But you have to understand, I''ve lived like this for a very, very long time."

    "And it''s hard to change your ways," Mariepleted the sentence for Krish. "I get it."

    "You''re a smart girl, Marie," Krish continued. "You are much smarter and more capable than I was at your age. You''ve contributed more to the legacy of our cultivation art within months, than what our antecedents have aplished over decades."

    "Teacher Larks had a lot to do with that too," Marie pointed out.

    "Regardless, I will try harder to live up to your standards," Krish ented with a warm smile. "Please be patient with me."

    Marie clicked her tongue and gazed incisively at Krish. "Who are you and what have you done to my Master?"

    Krishughed uproariously.

    "Come, let''s stress-test your now technique, shall we?" Krish proposed.

    Marie approached enthusiastically. "Ask me a question, Master!"

    "Will it rain tomorrow?" Krish responded slyly. Marie revealed a sarcastic smile and started to divine the answer. After a short half-minute, she said, "A light drizzle."

    Krish repeated the divination using his cowrie shells and affirmed, "Good. Another question then. When will Kano Reva return?"

    The duo continued the back and forth well into the evening, taking frequent breaks to replenish Marie''s mana.

    "It''s uncannily precise!" Krish eximed, to which Marie hummed proudly.

    Krish''s face cycled through a few expressions, starting from a thoughtful frown and settling at an embarrassed smile.

    "Umm, Marie?" He started. "Can you... Can you teach me how you did that?" He said with a low mutter.

    Marie''s eyebrows darted upwards in surprise. A smug smile threatened to form on her face, but she suppressed it immediately after she noticed the sincerity in her Master''s request. She realised that he probably had to fight through centuries of indoctrination and inbuilt pride to voice the request to his Disciple.

    "I will," she acquiesced. "But I''m warning you that it won''t be easy!"

    "I wouldn''t have thought otherwise," Krish responded immediately with a relieved sigh.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So, tell me everything you know about mathematics. Don''t leave out anything, I need to gauge your starting point," Marie instructed.

    Krish never thought he''d be tortured again in this lifetime. He assumed incorrectly...

    ____

    At the same, many kilometres away at Radiant City, a certain individual was pulling his hairs out tracking down the elusive Guy Larks.

    "The trail ends here," Jomented with a voice oozing with exasperation and irritation as he stood in front of the Academy''s library.

    His past month was a wild goose chase, hunting leads that all tapered into a dead-end. It first began with the Academy. Jo polled his connections to get his hands on the logs of the teaching apprentices from previous years. That led him nowhere since Guy had nothing to his name, no connections, no affiliation, nothing! Jo then looked into Guy''s student at that time called Markus. That also led him nowhere since the Academy never took thorough records of students until they were at least tagged as worthwhile investments. Jo could not find any information about Markus'' previous homes or affiliations either.

    Following that, Jo looked into the rtionship between the kid called Kano and the Rasmus n. This investigation was stopped right from the get-go because he was denied re-entry into the n''s mansion. Apparently, Jo''s previous up-front critique of the n Leader''s daughter and her inability to cultivate had backfired. Jo tried camping out near the mansion to see if he could catch the boy some way, but the kid never left the house without escorts or the n Leader himself.

    Jo was close to giving up, until through some lucky happenstance, his colleague Mai remembered seeing Guy and the librarian together, conversing in a friendly manner on more than one asion. It was a weak lead, but even the sound of flowing water is akin to gold for a thirsting man stranded in the middle of a desert.

    This was why Jo was making his way through the library, towards the office at the back belonging to the mysterious librarian. Through some probing around the Academy, Jo managed to draw a vague image of the Librarian in his mind.

    With each step, Jo started to feel a sense of growing pressure dawning on him. Jo had learned that the Librarian was a mage at the Core Condensation realm. The experience with Keegan had turned into somewhat of a trauma for Jo.

    As he turned the corner, he came face to face with the door leading into the office. Jo gulped audibly, trying to suppress the growing urge to throw up with stress.

    A heavyweight bore down on him as he made the final approach shakily.

    He stood an arm''s length away from the door. He held his breath, lifted his hands and curled them into a fist.

    Right as his knuckles were about to descend onto the wooden door, a squirrelly voice interrupted him.

    "Teacher Way, is that you?"

    Jo turned around to face the person who called him. He did not recognise the man. He had a rather unassuming appearance, someone who could blend into the crowd if not for his shrill voice.

    Not wanting to embarrass himself and the other person, Jo simply nodded with a courteous smile.

    "Are you looking for Teacher Jeeves?"

    "Ah? Yes, I am," Jo answered.

    "That''s unfortunate. Teacher Jeeves just left a few minutes ago. He told me to take over for him."

    "Do you know when he might return?"

    "He didn''t say," the man answered.

    ''Damn it!'' Jo cursed internally. Like a deting balloon, all the pressure bearing down on him started to dissipate at a frightening rate. Even though he reached a stable point, it didn''t stop. His mind was shutting down and entering a state of fight or flight.

    ? After bidding the shrill-voiced man a hasty farewell, Jo rushed outside the library and copsed around the corner.

    His breath started to extend, but his lungs couldn''t extract all the oxygen he needed. He started to sweat profusely, with growing agitation on his face.

    He was hyperventting.

    ''What''s happening to me?!''

    [You''re having a panic attack.]

    ''What? Why?'' Jo responded subconsciously. ''Wait! System!''

    [...]

    ''SYSTEM!!!!''

    Jo Way wouldn''t admit it, but he was scared. The actual fragility of his position dawned on him the moment he was suppressed by Keegan Lang. His assumption of how the world would work was overturned upon realising that there was probably another person like him in this world.

    To top it off, this other person was impressively well hidden. His actions were measured and calcted. The way he influenced the world was also thoroughly paced. The man had already umted multiple backers without causing a single ripple or leaving any trails.

    Jo Way, like any human, feared the unknown. He knew nothing about this other guy, and it was freaking him out. He didn''t know the man''s affiliation and intentions. He didn''t know whether the man had any advantages or abilities like himself. For all intents and purposes, the man was an enigma.

    After finally calming himself from his panic attack, Jo shakily staggered upright and walked away. He subconsciously shelved his difort to the back of his mind.

    "I''ll meet you one day, Guy Larks!"

 Chapter 147 Making Soap

    "It''s been a while, Teacher Jeeves," Guymented casually while his attention was rapt on a container of lye solution. He was with his two students: Jean and Dora, in the clearing outside the orphanage.

    "Don''t get me started," Al groaned. "The sabbatical I applied for was denied because apparently, I ''was not involved in teaching or instructional activities in any way to warrant a sabbatical''. Kaist tore the application in front of me to boot. So I had to run a few lectures to appease the public."

    "That should have attracted quite a crowd?" Guy responded with a light chuckle. He gestured for Dora to ce the stack of mould blocks on the ground next to him in an ordered grid.

    "Not really," Al said with a devious smile. "They were impromptu lectures at awkward hours. Not many even knew about it until thest minute, by which time I was long gone."

    Guy hummed in response and instructed Jean to ce the small cauldron she was carrying next to the moulds.

    "So what are you doing now?" Al asked while cocking his eyebrows upwards with interest.

    "Making soap," Dora responded with an excited hop.

    "Soap?"

    Dora''s pupils darted upwards as she narrated, "Soaps are... surfactants used in cleaning."

    "What are surfactants?" Al inquired back.

    Dora stuttered as she struggled to recollect the answer. She turned to Jean and pleaded with her eyes, to which her Medium Sis acquiesced readily.

    "It is a substance that reduces the surface tension between a liquid and solid, liquid or gas," Jean answered. She then added, "The soap can be used in households and personally to clean surfaces by getting rid of harmful microorganisms and oils."

    Al nodded contemtively before asking, "What use it for you? Can''t you just cleanse yourself with mana?"

    "It isn''t for us, Uncle Jeeves. It is for the people in the vige. We are trying to develop a product to sell through the Rasmus n''s apothecary channels," Jean rified.

    "Why is the n investing into the mortal market segment all of a sudden? It doesn''t pay as highly as the others," Almented with a slight frown.

    "Per item, that may be the case. However, non-magical consumers outnumber the mage poption by a significant margin. Why should we forfeit such a market so easily?" Jean said. "But that is beside the point. We''ve been running an experiment in the vige and found that people who use soap and wash regrly suffer from fewer illnesses than those that do not. The division is actually quite staggering - almost 90%."

    "Mortals suffer from illnesses all the time," Al shrugged.

    "But they don''t have to," Jean affirmed staunchly. "What good is a healer that segregates their patients based on their strength and status? If an illness or disease can be prevented, why shouldn''t we take measures to do so?"

    "Alright, alright," Al waved his hand good-naturedly. "I was just asking, you don''t have to get all worked up. Besides,st I remembered there was something like this being used by mortals already."

    "There is a crude alternative which is used primarily for cleaning clothes," Guy contributed. "However, Jean discovered that they aren''t clinically safe to use. In fact, excessive usage can even damage the clothes they clean."

    "This soap has a myriad of uses across multiple market segments," Jean added. "While the base substance is effective for use on skin, we can augment it to cater to a variety of scenarios. Infusing fragrant oils during manufacture doubles the soap as a perfume, this was especially attractive to the female poption in the vige. By pouring the substance into interesting moulds gives them exciting shapes and designs which is attractive to the young."

    Al hummed in contemtion before pointing at a rack of phials next to the cauldron, filled with a plethora of alchemical ingredients. "What are those for?"

    "We are trying a series of medicinal soaps that will be infused with beneficial oils to augment certain aspects of life," Jean exined.

    "This oil solution helps elerate the rate at which injuries heal," she emphasised while holding a phial with a viscous red liquid.

    "This oil solution provides nourishment to pregnant mothers," she continued. "Unfortunately, there is currently only one pregnant woman in the vige, and she is well into her third trimester, so we don''t have a wide enough sample."

    "Can we start now?" Dora said with a pout.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Sure!" Guy answered enthusiastically. "Make sure to keep a safe distance, Dora. The lye solution is extremely caustic."

    Dora nodded vigorously and hopped a few steps back. She gazed with gleaming eyes at Guy, who was now pouring in the pre-processed animal fat into the cauldron.

    Guy moved with practised efficiency. This wasn''t his first time making soap, after all. Back in his first life, Guy used to do this exercise regrly as a fun activity with his students. The process wasn''t difficult and doubled as an enjoyable and educational project. Kids could have fun designing their own soaps, and dabble in science at the same time.

    Aftering to this world, Guy was surprised to find out that soaps hadn''t been invented in the traditional sense. There were iterations of old-school soaps such as the ones used in ancient Babylonia and Rome, however, they weren''t optimal for use on skin. The general public had a prettyx outlook towards cleanliness. While there were public baths and saunas here, deep cleansing was often relegated to a |Clean| cantrip that would expel visible dirt and oils. However, it was used sparsely due to its unusually high mana consumption which left the caster extremely drained and exhausted. While it was effective, it couldn''t clear the surfaces of malicious bacteria and disease-spreading microorganisms, since no matter how strong magic may be, the user cannot target something they do not know of.

    Apart from that, the public generally relied on alchemical concoctions, or bath salts as cleansing alternatives that had an equivalent, if not higher, efficacypared to modern soaps. However, as expected, these were exclusively in use by the upper ss.

    ? Therefore, the first thing Guy did after arriving in the vige was to recreate soap from his memory. He introduced it to Grace, whotched on to it almost immediately after observing just how well it treated her skin. Jean took to it after she realised the potential the substance held in the field of healing and healthcare. Thus began the duo''s fervent experiments to develop different varieties of soaps for different uses and applications.

    To make soap, two key ingredients are required: fat and lye. Through the years, Guy had perfected the methodology to a T. The hardest part was of course sourcing the lye. Guy wanted to make the experiment repeatable and scble, as well as essible. To do that, considering a lot of his students lived in rural viges, Guy had modified recipes from the Inte and from books to fit their situation.

    Lye could be made using wood ash. Obtaining wood ash wasn''t difficult since most rural viges used wood as fuel for heating and cooking. Guy would fill a non-metallic bucket, which had a hole near the bottom to drain the lye out, with a few inches of non-alkaline gravels and rock. On top of that, he would fill in a substantialyer of sand. Above that, he wouldyer rocks or pebbles. Finally, he would fill the rest with the wood ash to just below the brim.

    Once that was prepared, Guy would pour in distilled or filtered water, bit by bit. As the bucket filled in, he would tap the sides to let out air and add more till the water reached the brim. The bucket would then be covered and left overnight. The way to test if the lye was ready was by testing the density of the liquid, which is by lowering a potato into the liquid and observing its behaviour. If it floats, it''s too concentrated and more water is required to dilute it. If it sinks, it needs more time for the lye to concentrate. If it hovers, then it is prepared and ready to be drained through the hole at the base of the bucket.

    Lye is extremely caustic, and Guy would make it a point to warn his students to only handle the chemical under the supervision of an adult. This process of extracting lye from the wood ash is known as leaching.

    To make the soap, the animal fat had to be melted into a liquid. Optimally it must be at a hundred degrees Celsius.

    "Let''s start with yours first, Dora," Guy dered. He then slowly poured in a measured quantity of lye water into the liquid fat in the cauldron and started to stir it.

    As the liquid started turning a cloudy shade, he called Dora closer and asked, "Can you tell me what''s happening here?"

    "It''s the spon- saponification reaction," Dora answered with some difficulty.

    "Good! Have you prepared all the fragrances and oils?" Guy asked.

    "Yes!" Dora chirped. "This one is from my favourite flower. Medium Sis helped me infuse it into an oil," she said as she handed a small phial of murky pink oil.

    "I want to gift it to everyone at the orphanage," Dora added with a bright smile.

    "Awesome!" Guy took the phial and poured it in with the cloudy, viscous liquid.

    "Anything else?"

    Dora nodded and retrieved a small pouch filled with colourful petals, as well as another phial with powdered colouring. Guy took those and poured them into the milky solution while continuing to stir them. As the solution reached a sufficient thickness, he carefully opened the spigot at the base of the cauldron and let it flow out into the mould ced at the exit. The cauldron belonged to Jean and was made of a highly resilient mana metal. It had a variety of enchantments on it that increased efficiency of draining, cleaning, as well as other tasks including rapid heating and cooling.

    "There!" Guy eximed as he handed the filled and closed mould to Dora. "You should know the drill. Let it settle, and it should be ready by tomorrow."

    Dora yipped excitedly and carried her creation away with enthusiasm.

    "Let''s get to the rest now, shall we?" Guy asked Jean.

    Jean nodded and began preparing the cauldron by herself.

 Chapter 148 Emergency

    Jean retrieved a notebook from her satchel and started going through a data table at an opened page.

    "This batch will contain an equal mixture of Carathian Poppy and Enduring Lotus seed oil," she indicated as she poured in a phial from its stand into the milky solution in the cauldron.

    "That''s a lot of vitality!" Almented. "Are you sure that''s safe for mortals?"

    Jean nodded and highlighted, "We''ve measured the concentration well. It will ultimately get diluted once infused into soap bars. Furthermore, it is administered cutaneously in extremely small dosages over an extended period. It is perfectly safe."

    Al murmured in affirmation and observed as Jean poured out thest batch of soap. He then turned to Guy and asked with a mirthful chuckle.

    "Where''s your tail? I don''t see him anywhere."

    Guy squinted as he tried to decipher the joke, "You mean Markus? He''s... cultivating in seclusion."

    "Wow! I never thought I''d ever say that sentence out loud," Guy muttered in a low voice.

    "He must be close to breaking through," Al hummed. "It''s a feeling you get, you know? The urge to jump when you''re close to the edge. Faithful to that analogy, either you fly, or copse magnificently."

    Noticing Guy''s increasingly dour expression, Al added, "But I''m confident Markus will seed in his endeavour. The boy is both diligent and intelligent," while patting Guy on the shoulder.

    "I hope so," Guy murmured.

    A few days before Marie unlocked the ability to decipher the waves of fate, Markus approached Guy about entering seclusion. Guy didn''t get it at first and waved it off as some form of a jest, but then the boy sat down and exined his reasoning. Apparently, the session with Marie brought forth interesting concepts that sparked some inspiration within him, and he believed cracking through this blockage might just give him some insight into his cultivation method and push him over the edge into Foundation Establishment.

    Guy didn''t know what to say to that apart from acquiescing. His Disciple was eager to advance after stagnating in the same state for a significant duration, and Guy could feel that as well. The kid''s cultivation method was still a mystery to them both. Through infrequent |Extrospect|, Guy could only determine that the boy''s cultivation might have something to do with space. Neither Guy nor Al could decipher what it meant, even after thoroughly scouring through avable texts.

    To that end, no one could help Markus advance but himself, which was bothmendable and concerning.

    "Medium Sis, you didn''t add any colour to this one as well," Doramented, effectively redirecting the conversation.

    "We''re only conducting tests to see their medical efficacy, we aren''t testing their marketability," Jean exined. "Once we know that these work, we can move on to that."

    "I will decide what colours to put in, okay?" Dora demanded. "Thest time I let Medium Sis do it, and it came all drab and boring."

    Jean exhaled lightly through her nose and said, "Sure. When we get there, you will add the colours."

    "Teacher Larks! Young Mistress Rasmus! Dora!" A faint voice echoed towards the group, filled with heart-wrenching urgency and exhaustion.

    "Teacher Larks!" As the voice approached them, the group observed the hobbling figure of a middle-aged man approaching them. His face was warped with panic and concern and looked as though it had aged decades just within a short time frame.

    "Uncle Lane!" Dora called out in surprise.

    The man stopped before the group and bent over, supporting himself at his knees and panting vigorously.

    "Oh good... you''re all here! Teacher Larks, Young Mistress Rasmus, Dora..." He wheezed. "Please. Help."

    Jean''s usually unperturbed face showed a trace of concern. "What is the matter, Mister Lane."

    "My Chiani," he blurted out with difficulty. "She''s... she''s-"

    "Giving birth?" Jeanpleted anxiously, to which the man nodded.

    "It''s early," the girl muttered. "Let''s go!" She dered and sped out without a second thought, followed a few secondster by Dora.

    The man wore a pained expression as he began to hobble back. Climbing up the many steps up to the orphanage had drained him significantly, adding on the emotional turmoil of possibly losing his wife did not help either. Just as he was about to take his first step, a hand reached around and grabbed him. It pulled one hand of his upwards and draped it over a shoulder, while another hand reached to his other side andtched on firmly.

    "T-Teacher Jeeves," the man eximed in shock and fear.

    "Hold on tightly, and do not let go," Al instructed casually.

    "What?!" The man barely managed to ask before Al lifted off, zooming upwards.

    "AAAAAAaaaaaaa...aaa...aa..." His blood-curdling screams receded as he disappeared into the blue sky.

    Guy gazed in their general direction for a few seconds before a realisation struck him.

    "What am I doing here?" He blurted out in disbelief before following his student with a jog.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ____

    Muffled moans and pained screams echoed from within a sizeable house at the vige. Themotion had inevitably attracted arge crowd, mostly consisting of women, who knew just by the tone of the screams that someone inside was going through an arduous birthing process.

    "Chiani''s really struggling. Where did Kannan run off to after leaving his wife all alone?" One of the elderly women observing the scenemented with an irate tone.

    "The midwife is inside," another pointed out. "Kannan went to fetch Teacher Larks, Young Mistress Rasmus and little Dora."

    The first woman clicked her tongue dismissively andmented, "What use are they? One is just a Teacher, another is a spoiled little Young Mistress, and the third is a little girl."

    "You can''t say that Grandma," Durkas standing next to her interjected while shaking his head. "Don''t you remember? Young Mistress Rasmus was the one who healed Father when he fractured his arm a few months back. We all know that the Young Mistress is working to be a healer."

    "Still!" The elderly woman reinforced. "What would a young girl and little child know about childbirth? What would a man know about childbirth?!"

    "Great master Nara instructed Kannan to do it," Durkas rified.

    "Really? Well, what''s taking them so long? Quick, Durkas, you''re younger and faster, go and fetch them. Kannan''s probably winded midway through the steps!" the elderly woman instructed hurriedly. "If great master Nara said so, it must be important, we cannot afford to dy."

    Right at that moment, Jean rushed in. Without slowing down, she leapt over the surrounding thatched wall in one bound.

    "Medium Sis! Wait up," Dora hobbled a few seconds behind, panting as she struggled to catch her breath.

    "a...aa...aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!" The figures of Al and Kannan Lane descended slowly from the sky, surprising everyone present.

    As soon as Al released the screaming man he copsed to the ground. With unstable footing, the man slowly managed to stand up, but he immediately hunched over and threw up violently.

    "Umm, sorry about that," Al hummed apologetically. "I guess, I didn''t fly slow enough."

    "I-It''s oka- BLAAAARGHH!" Al approached the nauseated man and gently massaged his back with an unpractised motion.

    By this time, Guy had arrived as well. He threw a cursory nce at the two men before following his student, normally through the fence gate, into the house.

    Guy followed the sound of the woman''s screams and quickly arrived outside the room where the delivery was taking ce. He knocked loudly and called out his presence, before entering.

    "T-Teacher LAAAAAARKS!" the sweating, pregnant womanying on her back barely managed to greet Guy before her contractions intercepted her.

    "What''s the situation?" Guy asked Jean with a frown. Jean was currently sitting beside the pregnant woman with her hand ced over the bulging belly, inspecting the foetus using her mana sense.

    The midwife who had shifted from her prominent position was a much older woman and was garbed in a closed outfit wrapping her head and face as well as the rest of her body. Although he couldn''t see it, Guy could feel that the woman was miffed to sacrifice her position to a younger girl.

    "What are you doing?" The woman demanded. "We need to get the baby out, otherwise both the mother and the baby''s lives are forfeit!"

    "If we do it your way, we will be killing the mother!" Jean challenged with uncharacteristic vigour. Her forceful deration had unwittingly caused the release of a mana wave that intimidated the non-magical midwife.

    Unwilling to concede, the midwife held her ground shakily and said, "That is the only way! Would you rather kill the baby, then?"

    "No," Jean repeated. "We can save both of them. We MUST save both of them!"

    "Jean," Guy interjected while pulling the shaken Dora next to him before their argument devolved into a circr mess. "What are you nning to do?"

    Dora silently cowered behind his back. She had initially rushed over excitedly in pursuit of an adventure, but she had grossly overestimated her mental constitution. Upon witnessing the struggle Auntie Lane was going through, the little girl silently vowed to never have a child in this lifetime.

    "Teacher Larks, Auntie Lane''s foetus is entangled in the umbilical cord," Jean quickly exined.

    "And?"

    "Well, the midwife suggests two options that require either sacrificing the foetus or the mother for the sake of the other," Jean said. "But... I believe there is a way to save both of them!"

    Guy tilted his head sideways and asked. "How is that?"

    "We cut open the womb and extract the child-"

    "That will just kill the mother," the midwife pointed out smugly. "That''s what I said first."

    "We extract the child and then close the womb back together," Jean finished firmly. "Just like my mother theorised."

 Chapter 149 Constants And Transients

    "Great master Nara!" a man evoked, out of breath. "It''s happening, just like you predicted. M-My wife... she-"

    "-will be fine," Krish finished the man''s sentence. "Just do as I''ve told you, and fetch those three. Go, now! Don''t waste time."

    The man nodded firmly, his gaze filled with certainty and faith even though his heart was ring in panic. And without an ounce of doubt, the man worked through his exhaustion borne of age and ascended the steps leading to the orphanage.

    "I don''t get it," Mariemented. "I thought you promised to save Auntie Lane? Why is she struggling now, all of a sudden?"

    "I did change her fate. Her sacrifice was not in vain," Krish said with a mysterious smile. "I believe you''ve made inquiries about these things before. Losing a thumb to save two lives isn''t an equivalent trade. BUT, it was enough to alter certain events and hasten others so that the conditions at the time of her delivery lean heavily in favour of her wish."

    Marie narrowed her gaze in disbelief. She decided to exert her new technique and divined the oue.

    ''Will Chiani Lane die?'' She projected. A wave imperceptible to others emanated from her and dissipated into her surroundings. Almost immediately, a response arrived which Marie pulled inside and dposed using her technique.

    "No?!" Marie bellowed in shock. Right as she was about to bounce onto her feet and rush out, Krish called out and calmed her down.

    "Stop panicking!" He said. "Frame your question properly. Did you just divine whether she would die?"

    Marie nodded vigorously.

    "Of course, she will die. She''s a mortal! All mortals die eventually," Krish reprimanded. "For someone who seeks precision, you are being quite gung-ho with your divination method."

    Marie bit her tongue apologetically and retried her divination.

    ''Will Chiani Lane go through her delivery withoutplications?''

    Again, "NO!"

    Krish clicked his tongue. Although it was an impalpable action, it echoed loudly within the room, pulling Marie down once again.

    "You went hard in the other direction, didn''t you?" Krish asked rhetorically. "Ask the following question: ''Will Chiani Lane and her unborn child survive the delivery without longsting detrimental consequences?''"

    Marie calmed herself once again and repeated the process, but she repeated her Master''s words verbatim. This time, the response she received was much more ptable.

    Marie exhaled in relief once she deciphered the message. After that, she decided to divine deeper along the same line of questioning.

    ''How are Guy Larks, Jean Rasmus and Dora Reva involved in ensuring that Chiani Lane''s child is born, and Chiani Lane is left without longsting detrimental consequences?''

    She then waited for a response, yet none arrived. Marie pondered over her question, rephrased it and tried again while preserving the crux of what she wanted to be revealed. However, again, she wasn''t graced with a response, only radio silence.

    "That''s odd," Marie muttered. "I tried to divine a question, however, I received no answer."

    Krish nodded affirmatively and asked, "What was the question?"

    "Basically, I wanted to know what role Teacher Larks and the rest had to y in Auntie Lane''s birthing," Marie exined. She then reiterated and expounded on her question.

    "The divination that we''re performing is reactive in nature. The things that you can ask and receive responses to are therefore reactions to events that have already transpired or potential consequences of a series of events. So when you''re asking about a person''s involvement in an event that has yet to transpire, you are technically putting the cart before the horse."

    "That''s what''s confusing, though. How is it that my divination can confirm the safety of a person, but not reveal how they will be saved?" Marie inquired. "Aren''t the two rted?"

    "They are. The reason why you can divine certain information but not others is to do with how these events y out in the grand scheme of things," Krish exined. "This would be something you learnter on, but when ites to events, there are primarily two kinds. Events that are ''Constants'' and events that are ''Transient''."

    "Constants refer to events that are guaranteed to transpire, while Transients refer to events that may or may not. As practitioners of The Heavenly Eye, being able to differentiate between these two is crucial for our survival. This is because we can affect Transient events with minor consequences, but tampering with Constants can cost us severely. Usually, Constants are defined as statements that aren''t firmly tethered in time. For example, ''Chiani Lane will never be able to nurture and love her offspring''. This statement works in two ways, one: Chiani Lane can never give birth, two: if she does give birth then she won''t be alive to care for the baby," Krish expounded.

    "On the other hand, Transients are tied to a timestamp," he continued. "''Winter will bete by a month,'' or ''The current business venture will bear fruit in five years.''"

    "Chiani Lane''s and her child''s survival today is a Constant - I made it so thanks to her sacrifice. To achieve this, I had to tweak certain sequences so that the dominoes lined up perfectly," Krish rified. "Divination is safe because it skirts around Constants in fate''s sequence - it exclusively deals with Transients. It can tell you what the oue of a Constant will be, but it won''t reveal much more than that. Can you tell me why?"

    Marie pondered for a while before stating, "Because knowing what will happen can also affect how it will turn out."

    "That''s right!" Krish congratted. "Even if you don''t intend to interfere, knowing implies a possibility of interference. Therefore, divination avoids revealing excess information surrounding Constants by default."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But you implied that Constants cannot be changed, regardless of what people do to change it," Marie retorted.

    "That''s right, ordinary people cannot change the oue of Constants, but we can. Therefore, we aren''t shown what these Constants will be through divination. Now then, let''s return to our meditation, shall we?"

    Marie nodded half-heartedly before descending into a meditative state... Or so she tried. The harder she tried to clear her mind, the more a feeling of curiosity gnawed back at her.

    "Master?" Marie poked in a low tone. "Aren''t you interested in knowing how things will y out? After all, you simply set up the sequence, you aren''t aware of how it will all ensue."

    "No," Krish denied nonchntly. "Why should I care about that?"

    "Didn''t you contribute to it? Aren''t you the least bit curious?" Marie urged.

    Krish shook his head, "Not at all. These trivialities are mortal concerns. We shouldn''t get entangled with it. The more you entrench yourself into this mire, the more obligated you will feel to meddle in their affairs."

    "I don''t believe that. Why did you help Auntie Lane then?"

    "Because..." Krish paused. "It was... convenient..."

    "I bet that''s what you tell yourself every time you help someone," Marie scoffed. "For one, you had to use The Heavenly Eye to observe Auntie Lane''s future, and then exert your power to change the sequence without interfering or tampering with any others that might intertwine with it. Doesn''t sound that convenient to me."

    "That''s not true!" Krish defended with a wavering voice.

    "Whatever the case," Marie interjected. "I''m going to observe, even if Master isn''t."

    With that said, Marie stood up and walked out in the direction of the Lane household. Krish frowned with slight distress as he observed her receding figure. After an intense introspection, he dropped his aversion and sighed in defeat.

    He then got on his feet and followed his Disciple.

    ____

    Upon his arrival, he was immediately greeted by all those present.

    "Great master Nara! You came," An elderly woman eximed with a revering smile and low bow. "Quick, Durkas, greet great master Nara," she urged a little boy standing next to her.

    The boy copied his grandmother and disyed a deep bow.

    "Great master must be here in search of Marie," the elderly womanmented. By now, everyone in the vige knew that Krish had taken on Marie as his Disciple. Although there was some envy floating around, they all recognised that they could do nothing about their poor luck. Besides, no one was unaware of Marie''s character. Everyone knew that the orphan girl had sacrificed her childhood for the benefit of her orphanage and her family. No other child in the vige worked as hard as her. They all agreed that the opportunity she received was a fitting reward.

    The elderly woman moved forward and gestured for Krish to enter thepound. But Krish shook his head and said, "I''m just here to observe Miss Lane. After all, I feel responsible for her safety, given..."

    Krish didn''tplete his sentence, nor did he have to because the crowd already knew of the deal between Chiani and him.

    The elderly woman quit urging Krish to enter and immediatelymanded her grandson to fetch a chair. The boy reluctantly rushed into his house and carried over an borately-designed, heavy wooden chair, at least twice his height and ced it next to Krish. The woman reprimanded the boy for his callous handling of the furniture and then gestured for Krish to settle down on it.

    Krish made himselffortable, as well as he could, and directed his senses into the house. Honestly, he could have done this from his own cottage. However, Krish felt it would feel more personal if he showed the support for his Disciple more visibly. It was all part of his attempt to change and be a better Master.

    Interestingly, in every instance where Krish had to make a decision involving his Disciple, he would ask himself: "What would Guy do?"

    "Speaking of the man," Krish muttered as he focused on the stiff figure of Guy inside the house. In truth, Krish hadn''t done much to alter Guy''s path. The man''s future was extremely murky, almost like he didn''t have one, to begin with. However, there were glimpses of the man in the futures of those around him, which was odd.

    "*tsk* Who else-?" Krish noticed that he wasn''t the only one observing the scene inside with his mana sense. He turned to the side and saw someone else doing the same - Al Jeeves.

    As if the man could sense Krish''s gaze, he opened his eyes and nodded faintly in recognition, which Krish reciprocated.

    "It''s happening again!" Krish eximed suddenly as he sensed a sudden fluctuation in fate. He quickly activated his Heavenly Eye and directed it on Guy. In the man''s dark figure, a small mote of bright light sparked into view. Thest time this happened was when Markus achieved perfected resonance.

    Krish didn''t know the significance of this urrence. But seeing as he had never witnessed it happen before, he doubled his vignce on Guy in earnest.

 Chapter 150 The Other Guy

    "That''s crazy! Absolutely not!" Guy denied vehemently. "I won''t let you do that. There has to be another way, and we will figure it out."

    "I''m sure there is, Teacher Larks," Jean affirmed. "But we are short of time here."

    "Be that as it may, these are TWO lives we are talking about here," Guy redirected. "It''s not right."

    "I know that!" Jean eximed all the while sporting an unperturbed face. "The burden weighs heavily on me, Teacher Larks. I know that if I intervene and fail, I will be responsible for the death of a person. However, if I don''t intervene and let her die I will feel much worse BECAUSE I knew that I could have done something that may have had a chance, albeit minimal, of saving both her and her child."

    "I won''t let you attempt something that hasn''t been verified," Guy retorted.

    "That''s the thing," Jean interjected as she reached into her satchel. "My mother had been working on this procedure for a while."

    Jean retrieved a pristine journal and flipped through it to a specific section. "She was developing a practice that could reduce the casualty rate of women going through childbirth. Not just mortals, but mages as well!"

    Guy held the book and quickly scanned through its contents. Jean continued by saying, "Although she didn''t get far enough, she did manage to cement fairly functional procedures for mortals. In this entry, she describes her insights and sesses, and details every step down to the minutiae."

    As Guy read through the journal entry, his heart wavered. Although much of what was described in the book was only theoretical, its reasoning was verifiable through modern medicine and surgical practices. Well, this was only to the extent of Guy''s expertise in the field, which was surface level at best. Through his time stuck behind the sterile hospital walls in his past life, Guy had augmented his base knowledge of medicine. This wasn''t to say that any patient confined in a hospital for a long time could be an expert medical practitioner, but they would inevitably learn a fair bit about what is considered the norm in a hospital as well as the standard safe practices that prevailed within.

    Guy wasn''t a doctor, but he was knowledgeable enough to deem whether something was safe by modern standards or not. And the procedure described within Jean''s mother''s journal was as close as it could get given the limitations of this world. She had covered multiple bases in her description and proposed possible failure points, albeit only through deductive reasoning, which Guy could confirm were valid in some ways. Sure, certain propositions sounded farfetched, such as the preference of cauterising the surgery over stitching it. Guy figured her belief in the superiority of the former over thetter may have to do with her overlooking the causes of infections and sepsis.

    "This looks adequate, but the fact remains that you haven''t practised this before," Guy pointed out. "Everything is fine on paper, but when ites down to applying it, how confident are you?"

    Jean''s firmness wavered. Although it wasn''t visible, Guy could feel her momentum deting. "I... I''m not confident."

    Just then, a thought sparked in Jean''s mind. She pulled out a locket embedded with mana gems hanging around her neck and grasped it lightly. She then called out, "Josie!"

    Right as the name exited her mouth, the region in front of her flickered and a person manifested.

    "Young Miss called for me?" Josie responded with a deep bow.

    "You''ve worked with my mother before. Can you perform this procedure exined here?" Jean asked while handing the journal to Josie.

    "I''m sorry," Josie quickly denied. "This ve was only apanion - an assistant - while Madam performed. Therefore she does not know how to replicate Madam''s methods. Apart from that, this ve specialises in alchemy."

    Jean''s face scrunched up in distress. She approached Chiani with faltering steps and grasped the woman''s hand tight.

    "Little girl," the midwife scoffed but was quickly countered with a firm and forceful stare from Josie. "*cough* Young Mistress, I think we should proceed with my suggestion now."

    ""NO!"" Marie and Kannan burst through the doors, sheer paned in their voices. "You can''t kill my wife!" Kannan vehemently rejected with a frantic stutter. His eyes had reddened veins bulging out, possibly through a surge of anger, frustration and sorrow. He rushed forwards and physically dragged the midwife out of the room, "GET OUT!"

    "I''m leaving, I''m leaving!" The midwife rebuffed as she shook herself free of the crazed man''s grasp. "Sheesh! You were the one who invited me here in the first ce!"

    "GET OUT!!" Kannan repeated. After ensuring that the woman was gone, he crumbled in ce and dragged himself on his knees in front of Guy and Jean.

    "Please! Please save my wife," he begged. "Even if the child is lost, I don''t care. Just save my wife!"

    "No..." An exhausted voice interjected.

    "Chiani?" Kannan said as he shuffled next to his wife.

    "Just... do it. Save our child... forget about me," she said between breaths.

    "How can you say that?!" Kannan denied. "Teacher Larks, please don''t listen to her. She isn''t in the right frame of mind!" He immediately eximed, in fear that those around him would act hastily.

    "This..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy was stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Either he lets the woman die while saving the child, hurting the woman''s husband AND affecting his student mentally, or he lets Jean go through the procedure, causing the potential death of both the mother and the child AND affecting his student mentally. There was a clear winning y here which was to go safe. The first path had the least deaths, it was the obvious choice...

    Back on Earth, while he was confined to his bed, Guy would often surf through the offerings on television. During his mindless zapping spree, Guy one day stumbled upon a news segment that discussed, "Top investments after winning the lottery."

    What an unusual segment it was. It was like discussing, "ces to visit with your wings," or "top 10s to colonise with your terraforming ship."

    At that time, Guy scoffed at how the news industry had delved into the realms of fantasy. ording to studies, the odds of winning a lottery jackpot hovers somewhere below 0.000001 per cent. Yet, humans were still willing to believe and hold on to the faint hope of winning it. How crazy was that?

    Ironically, he was standing at a simr crossroads right now. He could take the smart choice, but a small part of him wanted to take the risky path that had a bleak chance of sess. But by definition, hope implied possibility. At a cursory nce, the conditions didn''t appear favourable. No one would believe that a girl barely stepping into adulthood would be able to excise a foetus safely.

    So why was Guy hopeful?

    (I strongly advise against it,) Mast warned.

    Guy had currently receded into the RoK. In his handsy the metallic mask which was cold to touch, and emitted a foreboding aura.

    ''I don''t have a choice here,'' Guy responded with a bitter smile.

    (Everyone has a choice,) Mast retorted. (You could just turn a blind eye to everything.)

    ''There lies the problem, doesn''t it?'' Guymented. ''If I know for a fact that the "other guy" can help my student make a breakthrough, which could boost her performance in attempting the surgery, how can I sit still?''

    (Isn''t the answer obvious? You aren''t obligated to do anything, Guy,) Mast reasoned.

    ''I disagree. If I hold the power in my hands to help someone else and potentially save lives, I am morally obliged to help them,'' Guy said with a bitter chuckle. Unwittingly, he had quoted a rather worn-out line originating from a famousic series back on Earth.

    (Even at the cost of hurting yourself?)

    ''We don''t know that. If I know that the power will hurt me, I wouldn''t be taking this risk,'' Guy said while shaking his head. ''I''ve already lived one life selflessly, I''m not nning to be so zealous in my second iteration. As it stands, there is only a possibility of suffering adverse consequences - nothing is proven. Therefore, I am willing to bank on this power until something detrimental shows itself.''

    (All it takes is one, Guy. One oversight, one slip-up, one chink in the armour, for everything to fall apart,) Mast reminded.

    Guy considered that point seriously. However, his conclusion remained firm, ''The risk is eptable.''

    With that, Guy brought the mask towards his face.

    The moment Guy felt the cold metal contact his face, his mind warped in an instant. His present thoughts, fears and concerns dissipated into nothingness, only to be reced with a strong sense of arrogance and unassable confidence.

    Guy took a deep breath and opened his eyes, to grace the splendour of his Church once again.

    ''It''s been a while,'' he said. ''It''s good to be back.''

    ''For too long has The Church been used to spread unrealistic and uninspired lies, desecrating the sanctity of the True World!'' Guy sneered. ''sphemy!'' He spat.

    ''I will show you!'' Guy dered. ''I will reveal to you all - my children and you, the false Prophet - The Church''s real power!''

    ''Open your eyes, and let The Truth enlighten you!'' Guy orated with a crescendo.

    Guy''s hand descended on the ethereal figure of Jean, as he smiled benevolently.

    ''BEHOLD!''

 Chapter 151 Vision

    A/N: Trigger warning! I do not condone domestic violence in any form (Physical, emotional, etc.)

    ____

    Guy coughed vigorously, as though he were trying to expel an obstinate entity firmly attached in his chest.

    *COUGH* *COUGH*

    Guy inhaled deeply and shoved out arge gust of air with a feral retch, nearly getting woozy in the process.

    *COUGH*

    "Here, have some water," a concerned voice called out to him as a warm hand rested on his back, gently patting it in an attempt to soothe his difort.

    "Thank you, Grace."

    Guy controlled his shaking hands to firmly grasp the offered y cup and brought it to his lips. He took a few sips with measured gulps, letting the lukewarm water massage his throat as it descended his gullet. Yet he could never forget that dreadful pain he felt for a brief moment earlier. It wasn''t his first time, after all.

    "You should get it checked, that cough," Grace followed up. "This one was a lot milder thanst time. That time it got so bad that you were even hunched over. I was afraid that you would scrape out arge chunk of your lungs, given the intensity."

    "You''re probably right," Guy affirmed with a nod. "My father''s been after me to go in for my regr check-ups. He just called me yesterday and harangued about it."

    "Lucky you, huh?" Grace chimed in with a wry smile.

    "Lucky, me," Guy mimicked. "You didn''t have toe on this mission, you know?"

    "Are you telling me what to do?" Grace challenged with a frown, her sharp chestnut-brown eyes projecting a piercing re. "I''m a volunteer. Legally, you can''t ask me to not volunteer when I haven''t done anything that breaks contract-"

    "No," Guy immediately doubled back. "It''s just- I know that thest one was kind of hectic. High altitudes... Dry cold... Near imminent death caused by a rogue avnche and all that..."

    Grace scoffed and retorted by saying, "You''re worrying about me? I''m not the one coughing his life out."

    "Grace..." Guy sighed.

    Guy ran the Larks Foundation, which was a non-profit wing under Larks Enterprises. It was a new venture he had started after exiting with his teaching degree and was graciously funded by both his elder siblings.

    The Foundation specialised in building schools and other pertinent facilities in rural and underdeveloped areas. Currently, the Foundation was touring across the Indian subcontinent after a rather fruitful venture in Central Africa.

    The Foundation primarily functioned on a volunteer basis. Apart from the key personnel managing logistics, every other member present would have volunteered their time. The touring group would consist of a myriad of members with a wide range of expertise. However, amongst the constantly cycling and changing members, Grace and Guy were the only two constants.

    Guy was the anchor of the Foundation, so his presence was a necessity by default, although he preferred it this way. Yet Grace wasn''t foisted with such a responsibility. In fact, Grace was the only ''volunteer'' member of the Foundation who was provided with a sry. This was because Guy felt embarrassed stringing her along for no pay when she was the one handling a sizeable chunk of the tasks.

    "You should take a break," Guy suggested again. "You will tire yourself out."

    "I''ll take a break when you take a break," Grace retaliated.

    "I guess we will be stuck together for a long time, then?" Guy chuckled with a yful wink.

    "I guess we will," Grace murmured shyly while turning her head away to hide her blooming cheeks.

    At that moment, a faint voice coated with panic and fear pierced through the pinkish atmosphere. It wasing from outside their room.

    "Teacher Larks! Teacher Larks!" It was the voice of a little girl, and one they were familiar with.

    "Teacher Larks, Grace Madam..." The girl said while wheezing. "Help please! Mother, ummm... birth. Blood, too much... flowing," she added with broken English. The girl''s name was Mahima, and she was one of the kids that Guy and Grace would teach. She had unkempt hair, with dirt caught on it, and a washed-out frock with dirt and bloodstains marking the knee regions, almost as if she had fallen and hurt herself.

    Grace quickly responded in Hindi with the local dialect, ``Mahima, Tell me, what''s the problem?``

    ``My mother is giving birth. But she is bleeding heavily. Please help us!`` The girl said amidst tears and snot.

    Grace''s eyes narrowed as they caught onto a ring bruise on the little girl''s face and a trace of blood peeking out of her lips.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ``Who did this to you?`` Grace interrogated while gently cleaning the bruised region.

    ``This? Umm...`` Mahima faltered.

    ``Did your father do it?`` Grace shot back.

    ``M-My father?! N-No...`` Mahima stuttered.

    Grace harrumphed in rage and proceeded to storm out.

    "Grace, stop and think clearly!" Guy quickly reminded. "The girl''s mother is in trouble. Luckily for us, one of the doctors volunteering is an OB-GYN, I''ll fetch him. You should go and observe the situation there, help out, apply first-aid. But please, don''t act rashly."

    "I can''t promise that, Guy," Grace growled as she rushed out with the girl.

    Guy went about as nned. With every mission undertaken by the Foundation, Guy made it a point to include at least one physician. Amongst those volunteering for this task, Guy prioritised Paediatricians, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Performing volunteer work is always a beneficial entry to any aspiring physician''s curriculum vitae, especially when under the Larks Foundation''s purview since it was widely known and internationally recognised. Furthermore, volunteer work offered a great opportunity for practising physicians to hone their craft, away from the bureaucracy of standard medical establishments.

    The OB-GYN volunteering for this mission was a rtively young guy with great ambitions. He was involved in many simr humanitarian ventures such as M¨¦decins Sans Fronti¨¨res, and was also involved with International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as an affiliate member. Although his involvement was self-serving, Guy appreciated anyone who was willing to contribute their skills to the benefit of others.

    "Dr Yagi," Guy called out urgently while knocking at the man''s door. Almost immediately, the door slid open to reveal the figure of a bespectacled man with an appearance hinting to his far-Eastern ancestry.

    "Mr. Larks, what brings you here at this time?" The man inquired at a measured pace.

    "There is an emergency!" Guy followed up by exining the situation the best he could. In response, the man frowned and hurried back into his room to pick up a white-coloured box and rushed out while dialling a number on his phone. Along the way, he rattled out practised instructions to the person on the other side of the line.

    Once Guy and Dr Yagi arrived at Mahima''s home, they were greeted by the awkward sight of Grace shoulder throwing Mahima''s father into the ground.

    ``If you raise your hand on your daughter one more time, I will personally remove that hand from your body!`` Grace threatened while dropping a heavy foot over the prone man''s crotch, eliciting a wailing response.

    ``Grace Madam,`` the girl next to her squeaked while tugging Grace''s shirt.

    Dr Yagi patted Guy on his shoulder and moved towards the house, "I have informed personnel to prepare the appropriate equipment and medicine at the tent. I had checked this woman earlier, and she was close to giving birth. If my hypothesis is true, then we will have to go ahead with the delivery immediately."

    Guy nodded in affirmation before asking, "Do you need our help?"

    The man simply hummed before entering. Guy followed the man in with faltering steps before a firm hand grasped his shoulder.

    "Brace yourself, Guy," Grace warned. "The woman, she''s..."

    Grace thrust a fierce re at the drunken man rolling on the ground and added, "There''s a lot of blood..."

    Guy took her advice seriously and moved in. Right as he passed through the thresholds of the house and entered the room where the woman presumably was, he was immediately assaulted by a strong smell of iron. On a hastily opened up mattress in the middle of the room,y a pale, ghostlike form of a woman with a bulging stomach. Her bloodless face was entuated with multiple bruises, with more injuries splotched across every inch of her revealed figure.

    And then the blood... So much blood! Guy''s stomach churned as he was assaulted with a mix of fear, disgust, anger and helplessness.

    "This is... suboptimal," Dr Yagimented. "This is the worst case, Mr. Larks. I''m afraid we have to extract the foetus through a C-section."

    "What about the mother?" Guy said with a low yet audible voice.

    "She''s lost too much blood. She''s barely holding on to her consciousness. We must start on blood transfusion immediately. Furthermore, it appears as though she''s suffered severe trauma in multiple sections of her body," Dr Yagi said while shaking his head.

    Guy grasped his hair with both hands and shrunk into a squat. He tugged on his hair firmly as he ground his teeth.

    ``Save... the... baby...`` a low moan emanated from the deted woman. ``Please... save... the... baby...``

    The woman''s voice dissipated into thin air, leaving a morbid silence prevailing in the room.

    "I''m taking that as consent. Since the patient has consented we do not need to request permission from her guardian," Dr Yagi interrupted. At that moment, a few more volunteer medical staff and logistic staff arrived carrying a stretcher with them. They arrived next to the unconscious woman and moved her onto it with a coordinated lift. The group then transported the woman at a brisk pace to a medical tent set up at the centre of the vige, leaving Guy and Grace with the girl and her inebriated and unconscious father.

 Chapter 152 Point Of View

    Jean had experienced the effect of Teacher Larks'' special |Soul Imprint| before, many times at that. And each time, she would be more and more impressed by its realism, efficacy, and breadth of coverage. Although Jean did not have another experience to act as a basis ofparison, she was confident that no other Mage could match her Teacher Larks'' |Soul Imprint|.

    From what she heard from Uncle Jeeves and her father, a |Soul Imprint| seldom offers such vivid visions and extrasensory manifestations. It is, as its name suggests, an imprint of whatever information is being conveyed directly into the minds of the recipient. There was little room for exploration, discussion and evaluation. This was not how Teacher Larks'' ability worked. Although it didn''t have the same efficiency of data assimtion as the conventional |Soul Imprint|, it offered something else that was infinitely more conducive to learning, in Jean''s opinion. Teacher Larks'' technique forces the recipient to question what they''re observing and derive conclusions through logical reasoning, given some guidance from the Teacher of course.

    This method circumvents possible damages that could be incurred through the assimtion of conflicting or higher-dimensional insights. For instance, with the conventional |Soul Imprint|, if the imprinter conveys data that requires a paradigm shift from the recipient to understand it, there is a high possibility of the recipient undergoing a cultivation deviation.

    It''s like forcing a pig toprehend the nature of flight. There are physical and mental limitations in a pig that make it impossible to fathom that concept. If one day someone were to imprint the method of flight directly into a pig''s mind, the pig would undergo an identity crisis that would ultimately result in it falling to its demise from a steep cliff.

    On the other hand, if the pig was made to methodically evaluate the concept of flight by observing different entities with that ability, breaking down the specifics intoprehensible chunks, and building upon its knowledge base incrementally, it could one day even lift itself off the ground and hover. After all, if gargantuan beings such as dragons, manticores and gryphons could soar through the skies, what was stopping pigs from doing the same?

    Hence, the moment Jean felt an ethereal suction pulling her consciousness from reality, she figured that she was about to experience Teacher Larks'' |Soul Imprint|. The circumstances of entry were rather abrupt,pletely unlike what urred during her previous trips, but Jean didn''t dwell on it. Instead, she prepared herself for whatever visions she was about to be delivered by calming her mind and expanding its perceptivity to inputs. But then suddenly, everything started to veer off course in an unprecedented direction.

    Jean felt as if all of her instincts and sensibilities were dialled up to eleven. She didn''t even feel as if she was inside her own body. For one, shepletely lost the link to her mana senses. She couldn''t feel any mana at all! Not inside her, not around her... nowhere. The feeling was unsettling, it was like if someone were to remove a part of the body that is used regrly and involuntarily.

    At that moment, Jean''s remaining sensory organs started to gain rity. Her sight, her sense of smell and hearing, the tactile receptors, they all initialised simultaneously and ced Jean in a room that looked nothing like anything she''d seen before. The room was being lit by an interesting contraption hanging off of the ceiling. The orb of bright white light was enclosed in a looping ss tube. The surrounding area looked less like a solid structure and more like a tent - a temporary fixture simr to the one Uncle Jeeves resided in every time he visited the Orphanage.

    ''What kind of magic is this?'' Jean wanted to speak out loud, however, her mouth did not follow her wishes. While frowning, albeit internally, Jean lowered her gaze and was weed by a morbid sight!

    A womany on a table in front of her, with a bulging stomach ready to burst. She was pale and in a nearly unconscious state. Her mouth moved rhythmically, emanating a light whisper of gibberish she could not understand.

    ''Is she speaking anothernguage?'' That was a logical conclusion. Not only did the woman have a darker facial tone, unlike the usually olive-skinned folk within the Radiant Empire, she was also wearing a colourful cotton cloth draped over herself in a loop.

    "Prep the patient." A voice escaped her mouth, one that sounded male.

    ''Am I a man?'' Jean looked at her hands and noticed that they werepletely white and leathery. Right as shock threatened to take over, she realised that it was simply ayer of rubber. She also observed that she was wearing a green overall that covered the remainder of her body, simr to the others near her. Everyone was also wearing a facial cover, fluffy headgear covering their hair, and a transparent eye shield.

    ''Is this to maintain sterility of the environment?'' Jean hypothesised that these special gears may be an optimised attempt to iste the work area from possible contaminants that may reside in the persons'' bodies.

    At that moment, someone near her - ''him'' in this case - draped a simr green fabric over the woman on the table, revealing a cut-out window over her stomach. The fabric was then affixed in ce.

    "Administering anaesthetic." Another individual in the room, stationed near the woman''s head,mented as they operated another arcane equipment. This device had a transparent tube extending out of it, opening up to a mouthpiece that covered the woman''s mouth and nose.

    "Scalpel," Jean instructed, receiving a thin cutting device in her open hand. And with that, the operation began.

    Throughout the process, Jean was simply an observer. Her senses were restricted by the body she was residing in, however, she was open to everything the body experienced.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At first, Jean was unsure of what she was observing. She felt like a fish out of water brought into a cepletely unfamiliar to her own. Everything looked sleek and otherworldly and functioned in a way contrary to her sensibilities.

    Take the box-like device with a myriad of numeric and graphical data shing across it, that emitted a rhythmic beeping sound. What was its purpose? Why was there someone reading out the data written on it and calling it out loud? What is Blood O2 level?

    Many such questions lingered in Jean''s mind, however, she was quickly enamoured by the operation her body was performing. Every action was measured and mechanic - there was a proper structure to it. The person operating knew exactly what they were doing, and they had definitely performed it multiple times before. Not just that, even those apanying the person operated with a rhythmic harmony. Every tool was prepared and clean and was handed aptly when asked for - sometimes even before it was called out. Frequently, they would count the tools, possibly to ensure that none were misced during the procedure.

    ''The level of documentation and regtion...'' Jean was thoroughly impressed.

    While she was lost in the beginning, Jean quickly recognised certain steps as they were described in her mother''s journals. The existence of multiple membranousyers. The location of the incision. Everything lined up perfectly!

    After recognising these simrities, Jean''s mind quickly started to walk back and cross-referenced the steps she''d seen before with her own knowledge, taking note of specific details that her mother''s journals missed. At this point, Jean realised that whatever she was observing was years ahead of anything her mother had documented. This was the pinnacle of what her mother sought so ardently.

    How did Teacher Larks know about this? What was this vision she was experiencing? Many questions like these started to boil over in her head. Suddenly, a realisation struck her.

    ''Is this the True World Teacher Larks was talking about?'' The enigmatic concept that Teacher Larks observed through his inheritance that spoke of a world without mana - the True World. This was it!

    ''Once free of mana - the liar - the world that remains is the True World,'' Jean repeated. It all made sense now. The reason why her mother hadn''t achieved breakthroughs in a lot of her theories was that she had be mired in the falsehoods introduced by mana.

    Many iplete and false theories circling in Jean''s mind started to warp imperceptibly. Certain sections were truncated, others were expounded, some were erased, others were rewritten. Needless to say, Jean was experiencing a profound phenomenon that was pushing her beyond the limits of the Mana Condensation realm.

    Finally, the virtual experience reached the point where the child was extracted from the mother''s womb through the incision. The baby''s umbilical cord was cut, and the surgeon proceeded to stitch the womb together. Jean ced herplete focus on the process, taking care to not miss a single point.

    Once thest knot was tied, Jean felt herself getting pulled out to the real world. Her virtual senses were clipped, and she could once again feel the mana circting inside and around her. Upon realising that it was time for her departure, Jean was ovee with regret. She was barely able to absorb a fraction of what was presented to her. Although it did help close most of the holes in her understanding, she felt unfulfilled after knowing that there was still more to the topic than she had realised. Furthermore, Jean didn''t know what happened to the woman; did she survive after the ordeal? Before she was extracted out of the experience, Jean could still hear the faint beeping noise in the background. Hopefully, the woman survived. But she could already see that the woman had lost a lot of blood...

    Nheless, although it felt like a lot of time had passed in the virtual experience, in actuality it had taken barely five minutes.

    Jean''s eye gained a focused rity as all the insights she gained settled in ce. It was at this point that she realised the existence of a turbulent mana whirlpool settling around her.

    "Congrattions, Young Miss," Josie eximed with a beaming smile. "Congrattions on achieving perfected resonance."

    "There''s no time for celebration," Jean snapped back. "We need to begin immediately!"

 Chapter 153 Baggage

    "Everyone apart from Josie, please leave the room immediately!" Jeanmanded authoritatively. "Oh! And please call the midwife in again."

    "Umm, Young Miss," Josie interrupted. "Teacher Larks is in a crucial state at the moment."

    Jean followed Josie''s extended finger and saw her Teacher seated in a meditative state in a cross-legged pose. "Is Teacher having a breakthrough?"

    "It is progressing at a steady but unwavering pace. Teacher Larks appears close to breaking into the External Stage, and at this rate, it will eventually be achieved," Josie corrected. "And I believe that it isn''t just Teacher Larks'' cultivation, but also his spirituality that is undergoing a form of breakthrough. This ve believes that it is risky to interrupt during this process."

    Jean pursed her lips and nodded contemtively. "Nheless, everyone else must evacuate."

    "By the way, Josie," Jean added immediately after. "Do we happen to have any strong sedatives, preferably ones that target the spine?"

    Josie shook her head apologetically and answered, "The ones I''m carrying are far too toxic for a mortal human, I''m afraid. This ve wouldn''t rmend it even after dilution."

    Jean scratched her forehead in frustration. "That is suboptimal..."

    "Umm, Medium Sis?" Dora called out meekly.

    "Dora!" Jean eximed. "What are you still doing here? Quick, go, go!"

    "Actually..." Dora reached into her satchel and pulled out a small phial. "Do you think this will help?"

    "What is that?" Jean approached with furrowed brows.

    "Insect Queen Sleep Pollen!" Josie eximed. "Where did you get that?!"

    "What?" Jean blurted out in shock. "Dora, where did you find this?"

    Dora lowered her head and twisted her feet in distress, "Umm..."

    "Leave it," Jean sighed, noticing the girl''s difort. "Thank you for this, it''s perfect. The Sleep Pollen of an Insect Queen contains a toxin that targets the nerves extending from the inhaler''s spine. As long as we can control the dosage, it should offer the perfect sedative effect for our patient without adversely affecting the foetus, right Josie?"

    "That is correct, Young Miss," Josie affirmed.

    "Be that as it may, we will get back to this conversation afterwards, Dora," Jean warned sternly.

    "What''s wrong?" Marie chimed in with a frown.

    "An Insect Queen in an extremely deadly beast. Although it isn''t as physically monstrous as most other species, its strength is derived through its sentience and perceptivity that matches - if not exceeds - most adult humans. I won''t exhaust you with the details, but a single Insect Queen, if allowed to grow and umte sufficient pollen, can eradicate an entire city without raising a single alert," Jean exined. "This pollen could put Dora into an endless sleep if she had ingested even a pinch."

    "Dora!" Marie screamed.

    "Please," Jean interjected. "Take this outside. We cannot afford to be distracted here."

    Marie nodded and led Dora and the patient''s husband outside.

    "Where are you going?" Jean called out to the midwife who was trying her hardest to make herself scarce.

    "I-" The midwife stuttered. "This one believes she isn''t needed here, right?" She reasoned while sweating bullets. Things had moved beyond her realm of understanding.

    At that moment she recollected a key idiom her mother used to preach when she was younger: "Trying to understand a mage''s thoughts and actions is futile. If you try to understand it, you die, if you don''t, you die." Back then, she had scoffed at her mother''s cowardice and meek beliefs. It was only after personally experiencing it, that the midwife understood the deep meaning hidden in those seemingly nd words.

    ''The longer I stay here, the higher my chances of dying,'' she thought to herself. ''That emotionless girl is a rich Young Mistress, and the woman throwing murderous res my way is probably her assigned protector. I managed to survive my first sleight thanks to the girl, I don''t think a second one will fly here.''

    "Of course, you are needed here," the girl said tly. "You are more experienced in assisting childbirth than either of us."

    "But I don''t have any knowledge about what the Young Mistress is preparing to perform," the midwife pleaded. "This one feels that she will only be a hindrance."

    "The Young Miss asked you to stay," Josie reinforced.

    "This one is staying," the midwife nodded obediently and assumed a position close to the pregnant woman cautiously.

    "First things first, we need to sanitise all work surfaces and tools," Jean instructed. "Do as I say, Josie."

    ____<novelnext></novelnext>

    Grace growled audibly at the now barely sober man who was massaging his crotch with a disgruntled expression. The man tried to re back at her, but could not withstand the vicious aura Grace exuded and, like a submissive beta wolf in the presence of the alpha, shrunk his head into his shoulder meekly. At that point, the man decided to target the weakest link, Mahima.

    ``Come here, girl!`` The manmanded, causing the recipient to shakily retreat behind Grace.

    ``I want you to try that again,`` Grace demanded with a forceful retort.

    The man coughed and responded by saying, ``That''s my daughter. I''m allowed to talk to her however I want.``

    Grace leapt towards the man with gusto but was immediately held back by Guy.

    "Grace, not now," Guy said with a frown.

    "You''re letting him get away with it?" Grace shrieked back. "Look at what he did to his wife!"

    "What do you n to do? Mete out frontier justice?" Guy reasoned. "The world hasws, and we will move through the proper channels to ensure that he is prosecuted to its full extent."

    Grace clenched her fist and grit her teeth, all the while pulling the girl closer into an embrace.

    "People like him don''t deserve to live," Grace dered. "They treat those that they consider beneath them as animals. They project their inadequacy onto them and unleash their pent-up frustration without reason."

    "It''s disgusting!" She spat out. "The worst part is that the victims are so badly affected both physically and mentally that they lose all ability to stand up against the offenders."

    "Grace?" Guy inquired with a concerned tone. "What''s wrong?"

    Grace sighed loudly and uttered, "Did you know that my father died because he choked on a peanut?"

    "Every night, after work, he woulde home with a 6 pack of beer and a packet of roasted peanuts that a street vendor sold near his ce of work. As he drank, he would pop the peanuts into his mouth with practised precision," Grace continued. "Crunch! Crunch! Each nut consumed was like the ticking of a morbid clock - a dreaded countdown timer for my mother and me. Because we knew that when those peanuts ran out, his idle hands would seek something else."

    "I was his go-to target to release his frustrations. He hated that I was smarter than him - more aplished than him. The man barely graduated high school, hearing that his daughter had potential beyond him, he couldn''t take it. He would use my mother of cheating on him and fooling him into raising a bastard. Of course, those usations were apanied by a battery of fresh beatings to highlight the point. Every day he would approach me with red eyes and slurred speech, spouting insults. My mother would redirect his anger, take on the brunt of the attack. Day after day."

    "Until one day, my father missed. The peanut he tossed into his mouth, flew too far. It lodged itself perfectly in his windpipe," Grace paused as she stared nkly at Guy. "My mother and I watched as the life faded from his eyes. As his face flushed a deadly red shade while struggling to catch even a mote of precious oxygen. As he wed into his neck in an attempt to dislodge the rogue nut through his skin. At the veryst moment, for the first time, my father showed genuine fear. He pleaded for us to save him."

    "I could have saved him, Guy," Grace muttered with a wavering tone. "But I didn''t. I didn''t want to."

    "It''s okay," Guyforted her while pulling her closer by her shoulders.

    "No, it isn''t, Guy!" Grace eximed. "My mother passed away a few monthster - she killed herself. Couldn''t handle the guilt. But I didn''t feel anything, Guy. I didn''t feel regret - no guilt. I didn''t feel relief. I didn''t feel anything!"

    "It''s okay," Guy repeated.

    "It was then that I realised that that man had taken something from me on the day he died. I know he did," Grace entuated. "Or maybe he took it before, and I was too ustomed to recognise it."

    "I don''t want her to go through it the same way I did," Grace dered while gesturing at Mahima. "I am confident that I was one of the lucky ones. This girl can never be free of the man - not physically nor emotionally. Not unless we help her."

    "We will help her," Guy affirmed. "She won''t have to suffer Grace. I will make sure of it."

    At that moment, Dr Yagi stepped out of the tent and removed his mask.

    "The procedure was sessful, and the foetus was born withoutplications. The mother has regained consciousness and is recovering slowly. However we are still treating the other physical traumas ailing her," the man exined. "She is currently with the newborn girl."

    "Girl?" Mahima''s father blurted out, seemingly catching the key phrase in the doctor''s exnation. He clicked his tongue and said, ``Another money sink. That woman can''t even birth a boy? Useless!

    ``

    Grace rushed forward and threw the man to the ground over her shoulders.

    "Grace, NO!" Guy quickly intervened and pulled her away before she could descend upon the prone man.

    "Dr Yagi, please call the authorities," Guy instructed.

    "I''ve done that already. But the closestw enforcement office is quite a distance away. It will take time," Dr Yagi affirmed before re-entering the tent.

    "Let''s go check on the baby girl," Guy urged Grace and ushered her into the tent.

 Chapter 154 Artificial Childbirth

    "Do you have the solution prepared, Josie?" Jean directed at Josie who had entered her assistant-state-of-mind.

    "As you had instructed, Young Miss," Josie responded as she pulled out a metal sealed container to Jean. "I haven''t tested it properly yet, unfortunately. However initial trials showed that it works as described."

    Jean nodded affirmatively and instructed the midwife, "Please close all windows and portals into the room. We will be sanitising the area and cannot allow any foreign contaminants."

    The midwife acted ordingly, all the while sporting a confused expression. Once the windows were closed shut and locked tightly, Jean jerked her head lightly in Josie''s direction who immediately cast a spell circle encircling the metal container.

    |Disperse|

    A thin mist started to emanate from the container as the spell circle rotated at a steady rate, dissipating into the environment.

    "It smells pleasant," the midwifemented. "Is this a perfume?"

    Jean pulled her brows upward inquisitively and frowned.

    "This ve took the liberty of adding an inert fragrant agent to the mixture, Young Miss," Josie rified immediately. "A thousand apologies for that, however, the solution was extremely pungent. This ve assumed that the mixture would be aerosolised as a mist therefore she took the subsequent measures. But rest assured that the efficacy of the solution was not affected."

    "I can see that," Jean responded with a nod. Her mana sense observed her immediate vicinity and noticed that the aerosol was working as expected and killing the malicious germs. "Good job, Josie!"

    "Miss Lane," Jean spoke to her patient. "We will start by administering an anaesthetic. Please try to sit up."

    The woman hummed with a strained voice and sat up with assistance from the midwife.

    "Josie, proceed with the injection," Jeanmanded.

    Josie channelled her mana and created a translucent sphere around the phial containing the Sleep Pollen in her hand. She carefully undid the seal and extracted a fingernail-sized amount with practised efficiency. She closed the seal on the phial and directed herplete attention to the suspended powder. Another two spell circles activated subsequently and engulfed the powder, causing it to undergo a substantial change which turned it transparent. Josie retrieved another phial containing a dark-brown solvent and introduced it to the powder, then swirled the blob rapidly with her mana causing it to assume a translucent, golden shade. The blob of solution, sustained in the air with mana, was transported towards the pregnant woman''s exposed backside.

    "There will be a slight sting, please cooperate," Josie said before she tapped the skin above the woman''s spine with her illuminated fingers. An imperceptible hole formed in that region, which Josie used to inject the solution.

    "It needs to be sent directly into the space within the spine protecting the spinal cord," Jean reminded. "Do not let it disperse in the muscle or the blood vessels."

    "Worry not, Young Miss," Josie responded. "This ve will be careful."

    Immediately after, Josie pressed her open palms along the woman''s back and rubbed lightly over the spine. As she did so, an ethereal glow bloomed in the affected region, as though a light was shining from inside the woman''s body.

    When mortals transcend as mages through cultivation, they gain greater control over the flow of mana within the channels in their bodies. The greater one''s control, the easier it bes for them to manage their involuntary bodily processes. Absorption of medicine is one of these factors that is affected by advancements in cultivation. Usually, when a mortal takes some medicine, the effect of the medicine is dyed based on the mode of administration. One can expect quick action with intravenous ingestion, however, there is a gap between when the medicine is introduced and when the expected result is observed. Mages can bypass this biological limitation by nudging their mana channels to motivate greater blood flow, metabolism, and so on.

    Josie was currently mimicking this process by activating the lethargic mana flowing inside Chiani Lane''s dormant mana channels, and amplifying the rate at which the drug''s activeponents adhered to the nerve endings. This procedure wasmon in the field of medicine in the world, however, this did not mean that it was trivial in any way. Every person has a different arrangement of mana channels of different sizes, shapes and orientations. Furthermore, each drug needs to be administered and must affect different organs and parts of the body. These factors, including a few others thate into y given special constitutions and bloodlines, amplify the difficulty of this procedure. Learning artificial stimtion can take years, if not decades, to master. Due to the inherently variable nature of this science, it is only possible to properly learn it through practice and application.

    To that end, artificial stimtion also has a high chance of backfiring on the patient. Introducing foreign mana into another body and manipting its mana channels can lead to bacsh if it is not managed properly and with care.

    Artificial stimtion is an often underappreciated and overlooked field of medicine for this very reason. For one, most physicians that are mages, cater treatment specifically for other mages. In this instance, there is little need for the physician to stimte absorption, since the patient should have the capacity to stimte their own organs. After all, why take the risk of identally hurting a patient if they can manage a task themselves? Thus, artificial stimtion often bes obsolete when dealing with patients in higher cultivation realms. On a side note, it is generally believed that a mage that has lost their ability to manipte their bodily functions using their mana is as good as dead.

    So, by order of elimination, artificial stimtion mainly finds use amongst the mortal popce. Most, if not all, mage physicians tend to avoid treating mortals. Primarily, they believe it is beneath them, and secondly, they feel that treating mortals is inconsequential. Mortals die all the time, why waste energy trying to save another measly life that has no effect on the world?

    Jean''s mother did not share this point of view. However, since mastering artificial stimtion requires a heavy investment of time, she opted to offload the task to her assistant, Josie.

    "I-" Chiani muttered in confusion. "I can''t feel anything?"

    "It''s in effect," Josie added. "We can begin now, Young Miss."

    "No one touches the patient with anything that is NOT first sanitised or coated with ayer of pure mana," Jean reminded.

    Jean let the pregnant woman rest back on the mattress and ced her mana-coated palms over the woman''s exposed belly. Jean extended her mana sense through her palms, piercing the belly, and into the womb. She thoroughly inspected the foetus'' situation andmented, "We will be making an incision along this direction."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jean moved her finger horizontally in a region below the belly button and above the hip line. "Take note of the blood vessels traversing this region. The cut should avoid them. Keep a spell handy to suck out the blood just in case."

    "Why don''t we cauterise the blood vessel?" Josie suggested.

    "I cannot risk causing necrosis," Jean replied. "We will suture the vessels together after the operation ispleted."

    "I have prepared a blood stimting lozenge for this purpose, Young Miss," Josie said. She retrieved a dark red, coin-sized solid object and stuffed it into Chiani''s mouth. "Suck on it. It will provide a slow influx of vitality."

    The dumbfounded woman nodded innocently and sucked on the salty mass in her mouth.

    Jean exhaled loudly to calm her nerves a final time before extending her index and middle finger out. She started to circte her mana rapidly, concentrating it at her fingertips. She then brought her fingers close to the belly and dipped them in.

    As though she were slicing butter, the nails of her fingers dipped in and separated the flesh. This elicited an audible gasp from both the midwife and the numb Chiani.

    "Why can''t I feel that?!" Chiani eximed.

    "Please calm down," Josie repeated. "The anaesthetic affects your nerves and inhibits any pain response."

    "This is really freaky," the midwife muttered while gulping loudly. She then noticed Jean sweating heavily as her eyes concentrated while affixed on the incised region. By instinct, the midwife reached for a towel and lightly dabbed the girl''s forehead.

    "Thank you," Jean said without diverting her attention and repeated the cut, but with greater depth.

    ____

    "What a beautiful girl!" Grace cooed while leaning into the newborn''s crib.

    "Can I carry?" Mahima asked from beside her, trying her hardest to look into the crib while standing on her toe tips.

    "It''s not safe," Grace answered. ``She could get sick. Wait until the doctors allow us, okay?``

    The girl nodded her head reluctantly and rushed towards the bed close by to meet her mother.

    "We can''t let them suffer through this again, Guy," Grace said with conviction.

    "We won''t let that happen," Guy reaffirmed. His eyes then scanned over the fragile yet harmonious sight before him.

    ''One mustn''t make promises they cannot keep,'' an eerie voice scoffed from within Guy''s mind. As it pierced through his consciousness, the area around Guy froze in ce and lost all colour, assuming a drab grey hue.

    ''You made that deration so boldly, with such confidence,'' the voice berated. ''What did it amount to? Zilch!''

    With a rage-filled bellow, the voice entuated, ''The mother, her child, and her newborn baby - you let them all die, you weak, spineless man!''

    ''W-Who?''

    As the words escaped Guy''s mouth, the area in front of him rippled slightly. From the centre of the ripple, a figure stepped out. It was a man, dressed in a in robe with a pastel colour palette that emitted an almost divine aura. He had an olive-brown skin tone with unkempt hair, his height and build were average. In fact, he appeared unassuming in every sense of the word, but Guy could not avert his eyes from him.

    Guy''s eyes settled on the man''s face, and then immediately widened in shock. He had seen this face before! In fact, he''d been seeing this face in the mirror for at least a year now.

    ''Y-You are-''

    ''You.'' The manpleted Guy''s sentence.

 Chapter 155 Conversations With The Other Guy

    ''Do you enjoy living a passive life?'' The other Guy mocked. ''Rolling with the flow, avoiding conflicts, living a life devoid of meaning. A negligible existence.''

    Guy remained stoic at the barrage of criticisms.

    ''You don''t deserve this second opportunity. You don''t deserve The Church. MY CHURCH!'' The other Guy continued. ''Look at what you''ve aplished with its power? Absolutely nothing!''

    ''I''ve assisted my students-'' Guy pointed out, however, he was immediately interrupted by his counterpart.

    ''Have you?!'' The other Guy jabbed. ''You were handed a supeputer capable of mapping stars, yet you use it to perform trivial arithmetic. You''ve barely scratched the surface; there is so much more to the extent of The Church''s power. Does it satisfy you to wander near the periphery?''

    ''I''m trying-''

    ''You''re surviving, when you could be thriving. This is the kind of person you are, weak-willed, submissive,promising.''

    ''I am not like that,'' Guy tried to rebuke weakly.

    ''Aren''t you? Look back at your life. Not just this one, but the one before,'' the other Guy urged. ''Given all that you''ve done, have you achieved anything substantial?''

    ''I have!'' Guy responded. ''Our work has positively affected so many people across the world.''

    ''You tried to curb the flow of the river with a dam when you could have rerouted it entirely,'' the other Guymented. ''You were the son of one of the most powerful families in the entire world. You could lobby for substantial change on a global scale. However, you were unwilling to square up against parties that opposed your agenda to bring about this positive change. You were unwilling to put your foot down and demand a revolution. Youpromised, Guy!''

    ''That was the best way. Introducing disruptive change to a foreign environment isn''t longsting and sustainable. And if the local government and organisations oppose the changes, there is little guarantee that they will be propagated,'' Guy reasoned. ''I had to take a gentle approach.''

    ''What do you think happened after your departure?'' The other Guy sighed. ''Just like water flows from high to low, the ces you left after introducing your non-disruptive change most likely reverted to their old ways.''

    ''You''re saying that I should have been more imposing?'' Guy retorted. ''Enforce my so-called "revolutionary" and "right" views to the culturally diverse ces I visited? How different would I be from the colonists of the past who did the same and devastated the indigenous and blooming societies? It isn''t right to foist my values upon a society that nurtures another set of values.''

    ''Those that cannot adapt to change must sumb,'' the other Guy highlighted with a disdainful sneer. ''That is one of the Absolute Truths of the world that has sustained through millennia. It is what caused the extinction of dinosaurs, and pushed humans from one of the weakest to the most dominant species on the. These people that you talk about cling to the old ways mired in falsehoods and lies, wasn''t it your responsibility as the enlightened to disperse this treacherous fog?!''

    ''At the cost of losing their heritage and traditions?'' Guy retaliated. ''I don''t think so.''

    The other Guy walked over to the family of three, frozen in greyscale, and nudged his chin towards them, ''What about them? You promised that you would save them, didn''t you? You promised to help them live a better life. What of it? Aren''t they also victims of the so-called "traditions" you''re so desperately trying to preserve?''

    ''They...''

    ''THEY ALL DIED!'' The other Guy bellowed. ''Borne in an environment where women are viewed as inferior, meant to serve men, what did you expect would happen? Your attempt to bring inw and order through the established systems aplished nothing. The wife died the day after the surgery due to umted internal injuries from years of withstanding domestic abuse andck of proper healthcare in such a remote region. Left with no other guardian, the young girl was sequestered with her abusive father who killed her in a fit of drunken rage. The baby girl was then drowned in the river, killed within weeks of birth.''

    ''It is the result of a regressed mentality. An exception rather than the rule,'' Guy tried to argue without conviction.

    ''Are you trying to justify the death of three innocents?'' the other Guy retorted in disbelief.

    ''No! I...''

    ''Take a look at yourself!'' The other Guy scolded.

    ''But the man was punished by the full extent of thew.'' Guy flinched lightly as he finished that statement. The other Guy had unearthed a memory that he had forcefully suppressed a long time back. Although he had promised Grace to protect the girls and their mother, ultimately he had failed to uphold it. Multiple factors contributed to this failure, most if not all had to do with the remoteness of the vige and the scarcity of properw enforcement channels that let the abusive husband and father slip through the cracks.

    Back then, Guy feltpletely useless and weak. His conscience attacked him constantly, and to remedy it he had thrown himself into charity work like a possessed individual. But all that distraction could not revert a loss of life.

    ''You see! You recognise the kind of failure you are,'' the other Guy mocked.

    ''What could I have done differently?'' Guy said in defeat.

    ''Grow a spine!'' the other Guy egged. ''Flex your influence. Implement changes on a global scale. If people don''t sumb, then bear down on them with the full extent of your power.''

    ''That''s... immoral,'' Guy muttered while shaking his head.

    ''Lies, deceit, treachery, bribery, racketeering, felony, homicide and so on, if performed in pursuit of the Truth, the Absolute Truth, do not count as immoral as they are ultimately for the betterment of the world,'' the other Guy recited piously.

    ''What?!''<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''If you want the world to bend, you cannot coax it. You must grab it by the ends and force it to bend,'' the other Guy expounded. ''It is eptable to lie if the goal is to enlighten the ignorant masses to the Truth. Should certain interlopers resist against the Absolute Truth, it is morally eptable to purge them, after all, we cannot let a few rotten apples spoil the bunch.''

    ''You''re a monster!''

    ''Compare me with a man who killed his daughters and sent his wife to her death with his own hands, and THEN felt absolutely no remorse over those actions. Who''s worse?''

    ''Nheless, I couldn''t have done any of what you said back on Earth,'' Guy shook his head immediately. ''I couldn''t have killed that man, not could I have let Grace do it. It is illegal and against basic human rights.''

    ''Ah,'' the other Guy eximed. ''But that was back on Earth. Those rules don''t apply here, do they?''

    ''What are you saying?''

    ''This world is primitive and backwards. Its people are blind to the Absolute Truth of the World. You''ve carefully holed yourself up in this small corner, safe from the madness that lurks in the distance. Are you feeling good right now?'' The other Guy mocked.

    ''I-''

    ''This world is a hundred times worse than Earth. ss dichotomies, martial segregation, death, destruction, false rituals and superstitions, famines, droughts and disease. This world is in dire need of enlightenment, you know it, I know it. Do you feelfortable sitting here in a bed of flowers, while others - children - are suffering the unspeakable horrors of society?''

    ''No, but-''

    ''We must spread the Absolute Truth! We need to push ourselves, grow stronger, and save this world from itself. We have the tools - The Church. We must use it to its maximum capacity to break through cultivation realms. We must grow our flock!''

    As the other Guy started orating with crescendoing vigour and fervour, an encroaching, parasitic sentiment slithered into Guy''s mind. It started as a gnawing sensation, slowly decaying parts of his consciousness.

    ''The only way to raise this world from its stagnant state is by raising the suppressed masses and revealing the Truths of the world to them. We need to espouse free thinkers, inventors and artists. We need to eradicate all the lies that poison the mind of themon folk. We must exert our influence until the world is reborn, stronger, and more adaptive than it ever was before.''

    The parasite branched out exponentially, attempting to consume every mote of his consciousness, cleansing it and turning it into a corrupted sentience

    ''We aren''t shackled by poorly implementedws and regtions. If we have the power, we can cleanse those that fail to adapt to the rapidly changing world, because that would be the right thing to do.''

    ''SHUT UP!'' Guy bellowed. ''You''re a maniac! A fanatic of the highest order! Do you not see the inhumanity in your proposition? You''re encouraging mass genocide of those that fail to ept your truth-''

    ''Not MY Truth, THE Truth. The Absolute Truth,'' the other Guy interjected with gritting teeth. ''And of course! I''ve justified why such measures arepletely within moral limits.''

    ''But you said the Truth is never guaranteed to remain static. That is Science!''

    ''That is correct and incorrect. The Truth isn''t a word, phrase, or scripture. It is a frame of mind. To be able to freely debate, evaluate and modte one''s belief based on proper reasoning and thoroughly supported processes and data. THAT is The Absolute Truth. After all, no single fact can remain true all the time in perpetuity, thus everything must be permitted in search of verifying what is the truth at any given point in time.''

    The other Guy paused before entuating, ''Don''t lose track of our goal. Our aim is the same: to create a goal where no person has to worry about losing their loved ones for reasons apart from natural causes. Neither of us wants to see another baby or child dying a premature death. This vessel has such potential, yet it is wasted on a man such as yourself.''

    The parasite which had encroached into arge portion of Guy''s consciousness activated all at one, stabbing into his sense of self. Guy crumbled under the multi-faceted attack and grasped his in pain.

    ''Get out of my head!''

    ''You should just give up. You failed in your first life, let me handle this one. I can aplish so much more with your body.''

    Guy grunted while clutching the sides of his face. He plunged his nails into his skin andtched onto a hard metallic surface.

    ''GET! OUT!''

    Guy tugged frantically. He was slowly losing his consciousness and sense of self. Thoughts of bloody crusades to spread the Absolute Truth and save the ignorant masses from the dangers of ignorance started sprouting in his mind.

    ''STOP!''

    ''Give up.''

    Guy''s consciousness started to fade slowly. His sentience was dissipating. His hard-earned second life was on the verge of cessation.

 Chapter 156 Starting Anew

    Part of the reason why Guy sumbed to the other Guy''s attack was that he had truly given up. His reality was crumbling before him, shattered like a fragile mirror revealing the truth that he had tried to bury in his subconscious. Did he grossly overestimate his influence on the lives of his students in his past life?

    It was totally possible. The death of Mahima, her younger sister and her mother was a heavy stone bearing down on Guy''s heart. Even though his work had changed the lives of far more children across the world, no amount of charity could counterbnce the weight of those three lives. One could liken the tapestry woven by the experiences of one''s life to the cryptic blockchain that had sprouted off back on Earth during Guy''ster years. Every action and reaction, both intentional and unintentional, leaves a mark - a notch - in this tapestry that will remain as such for eternity. You can forget that it existed, and cover it up with intricate designs and folds or stitches, but the mark will remain there forever. It cannot be washed, it cannot be fixed, and it cannot be changed in any way.

    For Guy, the death of those three was a garish tear in his tapestry. After years worth of sessions with his therapist, Guy had rationalised the existence of this tear. He epted the fact that he couldn''t have done anything in that situation. But as the other Guy pointed out, was that the whole truth? Was he really as powerless as he convinced himself to be?

    Could he have approached his previous life differently?

    The sound of a baby''s cry pierced through the suppressive silence prevailing around Guy''s isted consciousness. It cut through the barrier formed by the invading poisonous mist that attacked his soul, threatening to absorb and convert it. It hit right as Guy was about to lose his sense of self - as his identity was about to be absorbed by the other Guy.

    At that moment of brief rity, Guy realised a key fact. The person he was facing, the other Guy, was an entity originally created to manipte others. At a point where Guy was forced to put on a facade to convince others, he had formed the other Guy by ident. The entity always teetered at the edge of the truth and doled out falsehoods like a faulty machinegun. Ironically, Guy had be victim to the huckster of his own subconscious design. Looking back at everything this entity foisted on him, Guy realised the sheer hypocrisy and fatalistic ethics it fostered. Although a lot of what the other Guy revealed was correct, there were twists that pushed it towards mistruths. It was so convincing that it had even brought him to the point of questioning his own existence and morals. He couldn''t let such a monster loose into this world!

    Like a fresh injection of adrenaline, Guy''s diminished strength was invigorated. With a hard yank, Guy pulled off the solid object masking his face. It ripped out with an audible tear sending a shockwave of excruciating pain down every nerve in his body. He felt as if he was being skinned alive and dragged through a sea of salt.

    And then, with an audible ng resonating with a morbid reverberation, a void-ck mask dropped to the floor of the RoK. As Guy rubbed his eyes, he noticed a mist dissipating around him slowly. He recognised this fog, it was the same one he saw upon his first |Introspect| into his core. As the translucent vapour around him siphoned away, a sound echoed in his mind.

    ''Next time, there won''t be a concession.''

    Guy was about to swear audibly that he would never wear the mask again, but his thoughts were interrupted by the same voice.

    ''You need me, Guy. We WILL meet again, I promise you.'' After a pause, it continued. ''However, till our next reunion, I will offer you a word of advice considering that we are, after all, the same physical entity.''

    ''To lie effectively, one needs to be intimate with the truth. You must be aware of that already,'' the voice began. ''My mastery over the truth has reached a level where I can easily weave in even outrageous lies without arousing doubt.''

    ''On that note, the reason for your death back on Earth may not necessarily be aplete truth,'' the voice cautioned. ''Excessive charity work leading to a self-inflicted death caused by over-umtion of negative luck. If that is how the world worked, it would have fallen apart from the very beginning.''

    ''But Mast wouldn''t lie to me...''

    ''Wouldn''t he?'' the voice mocked. ''You''re far too trusting. Forget it! I have no time for your na?vet¨¦. Just make sure that your body remains in one piece the next time we congregate. I don''t want a broken vessel! The prophet of the Absolute Truth must be pristine and unaffected.''

    With that, the voice faded away with the fog.

    (You were gone a long time there. I couldn''t get to you. I was concerned,) a monotonous voicemented, originating from behind Guy.

    Mast observed the awkward and conflicted expression drawn across Guy''s face and approached him. (What''s wrong?)

    ''No- Nothing,'' Guy said while shaking his head.

    (You''ve advanced into the External stage of Foundation Establishment. Congrattions.)

    ''Thanks,'' Guy answered with a nk tone. ''I should go now.''

    With a curt salutation, Guy exited the RoK. After his departure, Mast''s usually frigid face disyed a crack. His eyes narrowed as they focused on the rapidly receding mist. It snaked like a sentient creature through the air and exited through a nearly imperceptible tear in space. At the centre of the RoK, beneath the table where the mask was ced, a dark crack had formed.

    (This anomaly is getting out of hand,) Mast muttered. (This needs to be investigated before it barrels out of control and threatens the integrity of this ne.)

    ____

    Jean instructed Josie to ce the child on a clean stack of towels and cover it well with a nket. Following standard procedure, the baby would be cleansed and treated for any illnesses.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Before touching the baby, make sure that you have thoroughly cleansed yourself with soap," Jean warned the excited midwife and mother. "At this stage, the child is extremely susceptible to illnesses."

    Chiani held pulled back her arms immediately. Observing the efficiency with which Jean restitched her eviscerated womb back together had raised her evaluation of the girl to extraordinary realms. At this point, Chiani was willing to ept every word spouted by Jean as gospel.

    "As for you," Jean spoke directly to the mother. "Do not move around excessively. Proper bed rest and medication are mandatory. You should know that the operation is highly experimental at this stage. You are the first person to undergo it, and therefore you will be under strict observation by both myself and Josie here."

    Josie nodded lightly as affirmation.

    "C-Can I meet my husband?" Chiani asked hesitantly.

    "Chiani?!" On queue, her agitated husband burst into the room and frantically searched around for his wife. "Chiani!"

    He rushed forward, prepared to pull his exhausted wife into a tight embrace. But his leap was interjected by Josie, who pulled him up by the back of his cor.

    "Be conscious of your wife''s health!" She reprimanded while nudging her eyes towards the exposed stitch line snaking below Chiani''s belly.

    "W-What happened?"

    "The procedure was sessful," Jean exined. "We''ve managed to extract the baby boy," she said while pointing at the wrapped baby.

    The man copsed to his knees and crawled towards the baby apprehensively. A myriad of warm emotions surfaced on his face as tears gushed out of his eyes. With quivering lips, he leaned over the baby. He consciously held his arms back, afraid that any sudden movements might hurt the precious bundle.

    "My boy," he muttered. "My star."

    Chiani reached towards her shuddering husband with a simrly shuddering and weak arm. She held the man''s hand with as much energy she could muster.

    "He''s our star," she said.

    "That''s right!" The mean agreed. "Our Star."

    This emotional disy was what Guy was exposed to upon returning to reality. Amidst the hustle and bustle, Guy receded from the room. His face and gaze were nk and monotone. With robotic steps, he weaved through the vige while avoiding social interactions, and returned to his room in the orphanage. His mind wasn''t preupied with that near-death experience against the other Guy. While the fear lingered at the back of his mind, his thoughts were wholly concerned with the points the other Guy raised while attempting his hostile takeover.

    Amidst all those lies, one truth stood out to Guy. Even in his past life, Guy had been excessively passive in his endeavours. He was satisfied with influencing changes at a slow and steady pace. But Guy recognised the futility of these ventures in the long run.

    ''Although disruption leads to an imminent bacsh, it is the one that leaves the longeststing effects.'' People are naturally averse to changes, even if they feel that their current trajectory will lead to stagnation or decline. In such a trajectory, minor nudges won''t cause any noticeable shifts.

    ''I should havee at it with a heavier fist," Guy concluded. ''Maybe I would have been perceived as the bad guy. But I would have helped a lot more people down the line.''

    And that led Guy to his current conclusion. ''I cannot live this life as passively as myst one. I was given a second chance, I should exploit it to explore a different lifestyle. This fruitless restart has gone long enough.''

    Guy exhaled loudly, releasing a metaphorical knot from his soul. "It is time to make a new start. A better start!" He said out loud.

    "But before that," Guy stopped himself.

    ''Mast,'' Guy called out. ''We have a lot to discuss.''

 Chapter 157 Interlude - Markus Breakthrough

    ''Not this either,'' Markus concluded with his eyes closed. He was currently sitting in a cross-legged posture in his room. He''d entered seclusion two weeks back and had effectively shut himself off from all outsidemunication. Markus could feel that he was at the cusp of a breakthrough. It was so close he could grab it, but it was yet to enter his reach. To bridge this gap, Markus considered a long-standing tradition amongst cultivators nearing advancement: Closed-Door Cultivation.

    Usually, the phrase closed-door is a ceholder implying istion from all forms of intrusions and disturbances. It means to espouse an optimal environment for a cultivator to piece together scattered insights to develop new, more robust ones and as a result, achieve a breakthrough in their cultivation. It didn''t necessitate foregoing nourishment as it was often counterproductive to the assimtion process.

    However, Markus wasn''t having any of it! From his first steps into his arduous cultivation journey, Markus had realised one fact, which was that he wasn''t gifted with talent. Every sess he''d achieved was through gruelling effort and grinding. Only those gifted with genius-levelprehension skills, special physiques or bloodlines, monumental inheritances, or support from powerful structures like sects, ns and organisations could get away with the standard seclusion methods. He was not afforded that luxury.

    Hence, Markuspletely isted himself from everything and delved deeper and deeper into his own thoughts. He could not afford to be distracted, so he started to forcefully slow down his metabolism andpletely shut off most non-essential bodily functions, especially his senses. He then set up a thinyer of mana around his skin to reduce water wastage and slowed down his heart rate. He forcefully entered aatose state where only his brain operated with its full functionality intact.

    This technique should not be possible for a Mana Condensation realm mage who is yet to properlyprehend their body. However, thanks to Markus'' Junior Sister and his Master''s teachings, he was able to gain a better understanding of the human anatomy. Then, with coborative experiments with his Junior Sister, Markus determined the extent of abuse he could put his body through before incurring horrible consequences.

    After reaching a state ofplete istion, Markus started to summarise his insights and nned his next steps. The reason he felt a breakthrough nearing, he concluded, most likely had to do with the fact that he was getting close to replicating Gaige''s attack. That spell was the bottleneck to his advancement. However, Markus was also feeling conflicted. He had tried countless approaches to the spell, only to end up short in thest step. For every step taken, he ended up returning to where he started off from.

    Markus determined that his dogged venture to create a contingency for his first public loss had been an exercise in futility. Was he wasting his time all along?

    But upon aggregating everything he had learned till now in hisatose state, Markus came face to face with the sheer quantity of insights housed in his mind, all of which had been umted within a short span of two years. He WAS in fact wasting his time because he hadn''t taken a step back to observe the problem with a broader lens. Now that he had done so, Markus zeroed in on the optimal solution to his bottleneck.

    His inspiration was drawn from the way Marie achieved her breakthrough, and it had to do with how he perceived the world he lived in. When scientists conduct experiments, one of the things they need to determine is the variable or characteristic that they intend to measure or observe. One cannot start an experiment if they don''t have a way to measure the results of changing the independent variable - how else can they gauge their efforts? His Master always said that the difference between science and random trial and error is proper observation and note-taking. Hence sensors, tools, and measuring equipment are an absolute prerequisite to any scientific endeavour.

    All this time, Markus had been going about his "experiments" without this key ingredient. He had no way to measure the uracy of his recreation of Gaige''s attack. On that note, he had no gauge of Gaige''s original attack to act as a basis forparison. Hence Markus opted to use another basis that was familiar to him and vividly embedded into his memories: the vision of the ck hole.

    Oftentimes, Markus would reminisce about his observation of that unfathomable monstrosity during his meditation sessions. Interestingly, he could easily recollect every single detail. It was exactly like how a martial artist could retaliate against an attack through muscle memory alone.

    Therefore, Markus first started his closed-door cultivation by perfectly recreating his memory of the ck hole. He wanted to relive it, deconstruct it down to the minutiae and figure out a more direct way to observe it without the use of his natural sensors. Markus figured that if he could achieve this goal, he could augment his spells further.

    The high-gravity phenomenon formed in his mind gradually. Deprived of every other external distraction, theatose Markus managed to essentially regress back to the time he was first dropped into the virtual reality experience. He started with theplete vision, and then from it, he incrementally deducted the inputs captured by his natural senses. As he expected, even without them, he could feel "something". It surprised him how his memories could grasp details that were beyond the limits of his senses, this wasn''t naturally possible.

    When someone recollects a memory, the information is firmly tethered to key points captured by their senses. But in this case, Markus'' memory reached realms bordering on extrasensory. He figured that it may be a quirk of his Master''s special |Soul Imprint|. But this was good, he could now flex his mana senses to filter through different sensory data. Markuscked the ability to abstract information in his mind like Marie, thus he could only brute force through the inputs in hopes of stumbling upon an answer.

    Two weeks passed like that. Markus'' mana senses would iste a sensory bandwidth, apply it to the memory of the ck hole and observe for any relevant inputs. Most of the time, he was unsessful. Once or twice, he managed to capture something faintly, but Markus did not pursue it further as his goal wasn''t to follow a pointless tangent. Whatever he was looking for wouldn''t be faint, it would re at him!

    ''This isn''t it,'' Markus repeated. ''Next one.''

    Markus concentrated on his mana sense. Although he''d spent two whole weeks, he had barely scratched the surface of what his mana sense could capture. It was a frustrating process, but Markus took it in stride.

    ''What''s this?'' Suddenly, Markus was bombarded with a rush of data through his mana sense. ''Was it a lucky break?''

    With faint optimism, Markus tuned out all background noise and focused on the current bandwidth. As the surrounding static dissipated, he was confronted by a convoluted mess of data in an unintelligible raw form. Markus hypothesised that this may be what he''d been searching for. Now the only problem that remained was to decipher it, assimte it, and apply it.

    Sensing has a lot to do with how people perceive what is observed, and how they connect it to their reality. Just like how Marie viewed the waves of fate as literal signal waves, Markus pondered over how he could transpose this gibberish to something substantial and interpretable.

    ''Gravity,'' Markus thought to himself. ''What does it mean?'' He repeated.

    ''How does gravity affect the world?''

    ''How can I visualise gravity?''

    Markus traced back everything he''d learned up till now and started coting details on the theory of gravitation.

    ''Gravity is a type of force. It is observed within a field that exists naturally around masses. Large masses have stronger fields, thus exert greater higher gravitational forces. But how do entities in a gravitational field know that they are in a field?'' Markus proposed. To that, he recollected an overlooked exnation his Master proposed.

    "Field-based forces are hard to conceptualise. But an apt analogy is to consider an infinitely stretched roll of cloth. On this cloth, you ce a mass of some kind. What do you think will happen to the cloth?" His Master asked. "The cloth would dip where the mass is ced. Now, if you were to ce a much, much smaller mass next to thisrger mass in any close location. What will happen? This smaller mass will roll along the dip which is centred at therger mass."

    After further discussion, Markus learned that this "cloth" could be referred to as spacetime. Or the representation of three-dimensional space as the singr dimension of time, in an abstract four-dimensional manifold. It took some mental gymnastics to wrangle this understanding since naturally, humans aren''t able to visualise it. Humans live in a three-dimensional world, while the fourth dimension of time flows through us. To observe in four dimensions, we will need to know all states of a system at ALL points in time, all at one instance. Therefore, Markus simplified this 4D manifold into snapshots, where each snapshot in 3D space represents the state of the system in time.

    Incrementally, Markus started to apply this visualisation to the data his mana senses were capturing. He didn''t have the same capacity to abstract as Marie, so he had to repeatedly conceptualise, deconstruct and reinforce the representation. As he did so, in his mind, a vague meshgrid started to materialise.

    The meshgrid extended infinitely in all three dimensions. Markus followed the faintly drawn lines demarcating the meshgrid as it approached the ck hole. Right as it approached its proximity, Markus observed the most absurd interaction where the meshgrid literally warped in ce. The warping was not only spatial but temporal as well. As in, with every new snapshot, there were discontinuities in the mesh which indicated that the region wasn''t being updated at the same rate as the rest of the mesh. This tearing became more egregious the further Markus approached the ck hole.

    ''This is it!'' Markus eximed internally. Almost instantaneously, Markus released the holds on his bodily function, letting the mana flow freely through his channels. As he did so, a massive influx of mana activated from the surroundings towards his core. A whirlwind of mana formed above his body, which was regaining its functions, and rushed in through his mana channels. His nascent, gaseous, core started to settle and adorn a liquid state while dark steam of waste ejected through his pores.

    Markus was partially unaware of this because he was preupied with applying his new technique. He activated the meshgrid through his mana sense and oveid it on his regr vision. Unlike in front of the ck hole, there weren''t any warping regions this time. The grid was fairly consistent, barring a small dip centred on him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    An imperceptible explosion of insights urred in Markus'' mind as everything started to fall into ce. His eyes widened and sparkled as he entered an inspired state at the zenith of his breakthrough. With a familiar motion, Markus reached forward with both hands and grabbed the abstract meshgrid as seen though in his senses and pushed it outwards.

    As he did so, a sudden sense of weightlessness assaulted him. It waspletely in contrast to what he felt when under the influence of Gaige''s spell or the ck hole. It was as if every fibre of his body had suddenly lost a percentage of its mass. Markus'' body elerated off the ground as the momentary difference of force acting on him and by him resulted in a force upwards.

    "Woah!" Markus eximed in surprise. The minor distraction dissipated his inspired state. By this time, his advancement had settled as well. However, because of the momentarypse, Markus'' levitation was destabilised, causing him to fall face-first into the ground.

    He tried to control his fall with his arms, but they refused to budge. Evidently, his weeks of hibernation without sustenance and movement had caused his muscles to atrophy lightly.

    "Ah!" Markus eximed. "Help!" He called out weakly. He cleared his hoarse throat and cried out again, "Help!"

    Helpless, Markus decided to try out Mana Transmission through his increased mana sensory range and caught his Junior Sister nearby. "Jean! Please, help me."

    Through his amplified sense, he could hear hurried footsteps approaching him.

    "Senior Brother?" Jean''s t voice called faintly. "Did you call?"

    "I need help," Markus uttered.

    Jean tried pushing the door open, only to face resistance. "Umm, it''s locked."

    "Just burst through. I will fix itter."

    "Matron Reva will get mad," Jean warned.

    "It''s fine, I will take the me."

    "Do you promise?"

    "Yes, yes. Please, help."

    With an apprehensive push, Jean forced open the door.

    "Senior Brother!" Jean eximed as she hurriedly closed her eyes. Markus observed a crimson shade blooming across her face. The girl turned around abruptly and ran away.

    "Jean!" Markus screamed. "Where are you going?"

    At that moment, Dora happened to pass by and peeked in.

    "E!" The little girl eximed. "Big Brother, why are you naked?"

    She then grasped her nose in disgust before adding, "And you stink!"

    The girl giggled loudly and ran away, leaving Markus syed on the floor with his bare bottom exposed.

    "Help me..." Markus whined as tears of shame descended his cheeks.

    "You naughty boy!" Matron Reva''s voice bellowed from the distance. "I oughta spank you! How could you traumatise your sisters like that?"

    "Help me..." Markus whimpered, as the despair of having to experience Matron Reva''s corporal punishment dawned on him.

    "Hehehehe," a sly chuckle echoed in his ears. "This oughta be good," Marie mocked from outside his room. She was clearly enjoying seeing Markus'' predicament.

    "Help me..." Markus sighed. "Please..."

    ____

    A/N: End of Volume 2

    If you''ve made it this far, I would really appreciate it if you could drop a review (if you haven''t done so already). Your feedback helps me improve. And as I improve, I will be able to output better content. It is a win-win situation :)

 Chapter 158 Apology

    A/N: Start of Volume 3

    ____

    Markus exhaled loudly and stretched his body outwards while letting the cool morning breeze brush up against his face. He gazed into the clear blue sky, and let the first rays of sunlight invigorate his skin. Although not much had changed in the outside world within the past two weeks, everything seemed different to him, given his overhauled and boosted senses.

    The vibrant tapestry of colours around him looked a tad brighter and livelier. The muted bumble of birds and small fauna, as well as the soothing sizzle of leaves as pleasant winds pranced through them, sounded more attenuated - louder but not overpowering. The mild smell of morning dew was further augmented by the lush fragrances of flowers nted around the orphanage. The taste of the usually nd breakfast gruel felt a bit more vourful as his taste buds honed in on minor tastes underscoring it.

    On top of all of that, Markus'' gaze drew in an interesting new addition - an ovey of a fine, dynamic meshgrid extending in all directions epassing everything, swerving around some, converging at others. It was needless to say that Markus'' worldview had evolved and broadened since his advancement. This augmentation not only brought with it a unique perspective on reality, but also a battery of new powers and capacities that others could only dream of.

    But that was a point for ater time. Markus'' current goal was rather embarrassing - it was to apologise to his Junior Sister for his inappropriate disy earlier. Markus forgot to anticipate the anciry consequences of advancing into Foundation Establishment, even after witnessing it first-hand with his Master. If Markus had taken a second to inspect himself after advancing, instead of getting swept up in his emotions and flexing his newfound powers, he would have noticed that he was as nude as the day he was born and could have avoided the embarrassment of exhibiting his bare buttocks to his Junior Sister. Through this oversight, he hadpletely squandered every iota of respect he had cultivated with Jean in one fell swoop!

    After receiving a serving of reprimand from Matron Reva, he further realised that he had quite possibly offended his Junior Sister as well! He had forced Jean into an ufortable position without her consent. Being her superior and someone she relies on, he shouldn''t have exploited her that way, knowingly or otherwise. Markus remembered that Master Larks had also apologised profusely to all parties present after the same debacle and exined his reasoning along the same lines.

    So, as a responsible person who was at fault, Markus resolved to apologise to everyone starting with Jean. He''d heard from Matron Reva that Jean was camping out with Teacher Jeeves.

    ''She probably feels deeply offended and is trying to avoid me,'' Markus concluded with a dejected frown. With drooping shoulder, he trudged towards the tent near the orphanage which was Teacher Jeeves'' abode during his stay at the orphanage.

    Upon arriving outside the tent, Markus pulled up his courage and knocked twice on the wooden door.

    "Come in," Teacher Jeeves'' voice resounded from within. Markus swallowed with a loud gulp before cautiously pushing the door open.

    "Teacher Jeeves," Markus immediately greeted the elder mage with a respectful bow. The man was seated on a floor cushion around the low table in the living room area. He was wearing casual attire, which was in the form of a long cotton robe with a hood. Sitting opposite him was the shrunken figure of Jean.

    ? "Junior Sister Jean," Markus greeted with a bitter expression. In response, the girl hummed lightly and sunk her head further into her body. At a quick nce, Markus noticed the girl''s face turning a deep crimson shade.

    ''I knew it,'' Markus sighed internally. ''She''s infuriated with me.''

    Without pause, Markus immediately copsed to his knees and bowed.

    "I apologise for my earlier thoughtless disy, Junior Sister Jean. Through my negligence, I subjected you to that offensive spectacle. It was not my intention to do so. I can only hope for your forgiveness, but I realise that it cannot be easily earned. As your Senior Brother, I have disrespected you and failed you," Markus rattled out with a heartfelt bellow.

    "I do not ask for your forgiveness, but I am willing to do everything in my power to earn it," he then dered.

    An awkward silence prevailed after Markus finished his piece. The boy didn''t lift his head from the low bow, as though he were waiting for permission.

    Al alternated a confused gaze between the nearly prostrated boy and Jean, who hadpletely retreated her head into her body like a turtle.

    "Could someone exin what''s going on?" Al asked out loud after failing to make heads or tails of the scenario.

    "In my haste after advancing into the Foundation Establishment realm, I forgot that I had unknowingly disintegrated my clothes. I experienced a predicament due to poor maintenance of my physical body during my closed-door cultivation and called for Junior Sister to help me out. As a result, I... exposed myself to her without her consent," Markus exined out loud.

    "You did what?!" Al eximed in shock.

    "I''m so, so sorry," Markus eximed hurriedly. "I... I had no hidden intention."

    "Junior Sister, please don''t contain your anger. Unleash it upon me," the boy implored as he noticed the crimson hue deepen on Jean''s face. He crawled forward whole on his knees, grabbed the girl''s free hand and proceeded to p himself with it. Contrary to his expectations, the girl''s paralysed face cracked slightly as the corners of her lips twitched, and the bright red tomato shade started to creep down her face and tinted her neck.<novelnext></novelnext>

    On the other side, Al rubbed his forehead in exhaustion after finally piecing together the whole story.

    ''Teen drama,'' Al sighed. ''Misunderstandings and hormones are a scary mixture.''

    Al cleared his throat loudly to stop the farce from continuing.

    "Boy," Al said sternly. "You can let go of Jean''s hand. She understands that whatever you did was purely idental, don''t you, Jean?"

    Jean nodded her head vehemently.

    "Furthermore, she''s nning to be a healer. Healers have to witness even more embarrassing disys in their line of work. I don''t think a teenage boy''s nude buttocks should affect her that much."

    To that, Jean did not have a response. Al took her silence as affirmation and continued, "Besides, enough with the dejected ambience! It is time to celebrate! Jean has achieved perfected resonance after breaking into the Late stage of Mana Condensation realm, and you have finally advanced into Foundation Establishment realm."

    "You''ve achieved perfected resonance as well?" Markus eximed in shock. "That''s amazing! Why didn''t you tell me?"

    "I-I was about to, Senior Brother. But then..." Jean''s voice tapered off, but Markus could fill in the nks. "Congrattions to you too, Senior Brother! Then again, it should be expected from a genius such as yourself."

    "You praise me too highly," Markus waved his hand.

    "That isn''t true," Al quickly interjected. "The girl makes a valid point. You shouldn''t downy your achievements. You managed to break through into Foundation Establishment all through your effort WITHOUT a known cultivation method. And with such quick progression! Who would believe that you took your first steps into the path of magehood only three years ago?"

    "But I don''t think I qualify as a genius. It... was a long and difficult journey," Markusmented with a wry smile.

    "But what matters is that you''ve seeded. You started from literally nothing - just remember that! There are people born with a lot more who''ve achieved barely a fraction of what you have at your age. You should be proud of that," Al highlighted.

    "It was all thanks to Master Larks," Markus responded humbly.

    "That is also true," Al agreed. "If it hadn''t been for him, Jean here would never have the opportunity to pursue her dream."

    "Seeing as how you''ve advanced, there is hope for Jean yet," Al added. "Now that I''ve sensed it closely, the two of you seem to have vastly different cultivation methods."

    "What do you mean, Uncle Jeeves?" Jean inquired.

    "Well, although I haven''t performed an |Extrospect| to gauge your cultivation in detail, I can still sense it at the surface level. It''s possible for me especially since the gulf between our cultivations is so vast," Al started. "That said when Ipare what I sense when observing your cultivation with what I experienced within Markus, it is evident that they are not rted in any way."

    "How is that possible?" Jean eximed.

    "We both learned under Master Larks. We should have simrities in our cultivation," Markus affirmed with a measured nod.

    "I don''t see it," Al shook his head. "I hoped that if you seeded, you could help Jean in her cultivation as well. But it appears as though things have taken an unfortunate turn."

    Markus scratched his chin in contemtion before proposing, "Teacher Jeeves, can you please expand on what that is? How do our cultivations feel different?"

 Chapter 159 Second Plunge

    Al hummed in thought before saying, "If I had to put it into words, then your cultivation has a vastness, all-epassing feeling to it."

    He then turned to Jean and added, "While yours is more measured, precise and focused. It also feels spotless."

    "That''s not helpful," Markusmented while shaking his head. "What if wepare our insights - what we observed and assimted that induced the advancement? Maybe that might reveal more."

    Jean furrowed her brows in contemtion.

    "It was less of a revtion, more of an inspiration for me," Jean started. "I''ve read through all of my mother''s journals thoroughly. I can confidently say that I know everything she has documented down to the minute details. Everything was so well researched and extensive. It covered a myriad of diseases, illnesses and traumas - it was like the pinnacle of medicine in my eyes."

    Jean''s eyes sparkled brightly as she shot a firm gaze toward Al and Markus. "But then, I was shown a vision. No! I was made to embody a vision - a fully immersive experience - where I was presented with an incredible possibility. I was given a mere glimpse of the realms that medicine could achieve in the hands of mortals and non-magical humans."

    "Curing diseases, treating illnesses, and assuaging traumas all without the application of mana. Can you even believe that?" Jean eximed.

    "Ironically, it was magical," she added.

    "The moment my mind assimted this vision, I could feel the limits in my psyche disappearing," Jean revealed. "I realised that by setting my mother as my benchmark, I had put up barriers in my mind that inhibited my growth. Medicine could achieve so much more, I was just too narrow-minded and tunnel-visioned to fathom it."

    "However, I still don''t understand something," Jean said with a perplexed intonation. "I don''t get how Teacher Larks was able to show me that vision. Everything was just so unbelievable and foreign, I don''t think it could be created through the workings of a human mind, that too within such a short time frame."

    Jean then proceeded to exin every detail she could recollect about the experience. She covered the foreign clothes, thepact yet highly functional machines that worked through some as-of-yet unknown magic, the practised movements and synchronised behaviours, and the systematic ambience.

    "Uncle Jeeves, you''ve travelled far and wide. Have you ever seen anything like this?" Jean inquired.

    "Not to my knowledge no," Al said while shaking his head. "But you seem to be forgetting something, Jean."

    Al leaned forward and spoke with a low voice, "These visions aren''t the machinations of a regr human mind, as you''ve said. They are the workings of a mind that has transcended humanity. You should know about Teacher Larks'' inheritance."

    Jean and Markus nodded hurriedly.

    "These are probably excerpts from what Teacher Larks has experienced through his assimtion of the teachings in the inheritance. We cannot judge them through amon lens. There are definitelyyers of subtlety and implied meanings within that short vision you were exposed to, that you might have missed due to your limited understanding. Maybe, if you could unravel the whole truth, you might achieve an even greater breakthrough. Since it was a |Soul Imprint| the entire vision should be etched into your mind, I suggest that you revisit it frequently and decipher it to the best of your ability," Al advised.

    "Teacher Jeeves is definitely correct there," Markus interjected. "The vision I was shown that allowed me to achieve perfected resonance contributed significantly in my advancement to Foundation Establishment."

    "I will definitely keep that advice in mind," Jean responded. "Thank you, Teacher Jeeves and Senior Brother Reva," she bowed.

    "It truly is a shame that your cultivation differs from Markus," Al said with a bitter smile. "It would have been an interesting opportunity to learn more about Markus'' unique cultivation."

    "Teacher Jeeves. Why don''t you |Extrospect| Jean''s cultivation?" Markus suggested. "Maybe a closer inspection may reveal simrities that could have been missed through a cursory nce?"

    "Ha!" Al scoffed. "I''m not falling for that again."

    Markus and Jean tilted their heads synchronously, disying tant confusion.

    "*cough* I mean-" Al quickly corrected, "I don''t think it''s advisable with Jean."

    "But Teacher Jeeves did it with me," Markus pointed out. "I''m perfectly safe."

    "It''s different!" Al quickly parried. "Jean is... Jean is... That''s right! Jean is a girl!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How does that make a difference?" Markus retorted.

    "Well... I have to maintain contact with Jean on her exposed stomach," Al reasoned while sweating profusely. "It''s immoral!"

    "It''s all for science," Jean shrugged. "Besides, I treat you like family, Uncle Jeeves. It''s not offensive."

    Al cycled through usible excuses on his end but to no avail. Truthfully, he was a little scared. It just hurt his ego too much to admit that out loud. Thest time he ventured into Markus'' core, he nearly died. He had convinced himself back then that it was purely a result of his negligence andck of caution that caused it. However, frequently during meditation, he would be reminded of the sheer terror he felt when facing that monstrosity inside the boy''s core.

    Being reminded of it once again, Al''s eyes drifted carelessly over Markus'' abdomen. A bone-chilling feeling of fear crept up Al''s spine. ''Now that he''s stepped into Foundation Establishment, how would his core have changed?'' Al immediately shook that rming thought and exhale loudly.

    "Alright, let''s get on with it then," he acquiesced reluctantly. "I''m not as capable as your Teacher Larks, so be warned."

    Al reached towards Jean''s abdomen and carefully rested his palm on her skin. He gradually started to calm his thoughts to enter an unperturbed state of meditation. He then proceeded to channel his mana through his palms and started to navigate through the girl''s spiritual barriers. Again, because his intrusion was consented, there was no opposition when he passed through them. He quickly found the girl''s nascent core and proceeded to settle his blurry senses.

    It was a slow process, but once his vision cleared Al was presented with apletely bright visual. Compared to the darkroom in Markus'' core, Jean''s core space was unbearably bright. The floor was an iridescent white which blended perfectly into the walls, which were also emitting a spotless nket of white into the room.

    "This is the exact opposite," Almented. "The two are totally unrted in every sense of the way..."

    This should have been enough of a hint for Al, and at this point, he should have simply exited the core space. But curiosity is a pervasive human quality. Al''s eyes drifted towards a small puddle at the centre of the room. The mass of water could have been easily missed if not for the minor ripples that formed on its surface when Al walked around.

    A small part of Al''s subconscious wanted to peek into Jean''s cultivation. The moment this thought took form, Al''s cultivation started to whir with excitement. This was because his cultivation wasrgely reliant on him learning new things and amassing new knowledge - exploring the unknown. Although Al had nearly died inside Markus'' core, something good dide out of it in the form of a substantial leap in his cultivation.

    At this point, an archaic proverb manifested in Al''s consciousness: "Every crisis has both its dangers and its opportunities."

    Droves of mages flock towards inheritance grounds, unearthed sites with abundant resources, treacherous zones filled with horrific beasts and elixirs, and so on, knowing full well just how dangerous these ces could be. These mages know that they may not make it out alive. But they still choose topete because they recognise that in facing danger, they are often presented with great opportunities to grow and achieve breakthroughs.

    Apprehensively, Al approached the small pond in the ground and prostrated himself. He could not enterpletely, so once again he was forced to only shove his head in.

    The moment his face pierced through the strangely pleasant and warm surface of the liquid pond, which was once again in stark contrast to the chilling cold experienced when interacting with Markus'', Al was shown a strange vision.

    It was a dimly lit tunnel. It wasn''t mechanically built but appeared alive and undting. The walls twitched periodically, as a loud and rhythmic bellow echoed through with a muffled boom and with a strangely familiar beat.

    DUB DUB...

    DUB DUB...

    DUB DUB...

    "That sounds like... a heartbeat?"

    Al narrowed his eyes to sharpen his vision and observed the dim tunnel more carefully. With every beat, odd doughnut-shaped red units pumped past him.

    "What are these... things?" Al muttered as he reached forward, grabbed one of these doughnuts and squeezed them. The unit in his hand was extremely fragile. Maybe it was because Al applied excessive pressure, but the moment he pressed it, it burst magnificently.

    Al frowned and reached for another one. This time he applied lesser pressure and carefully inspected it, taking note of every detail he could glean from it.

    As he was doing so, Al failed to notice a small army of spherical, blueish-white blobs with minuscule protrusions jutting out of them approaching him with sinister purpose.

 Chapter 160 DÃ©jÃ  Vu

    Al was pleasantly surprised by the satisfying squishiness of the red, doughnut-shaped units floating through the tunnel. Through some deductive reasoning, Al had realised that he was probably inside a blood vessel, and these red objects were the blood that flowed through them. Al had observed these cells, as Guy called them, on a few asions during his past research work in medicinal alchemy. At that time, he had dismissed it as irrelevant as his work wasn''t really focusing on microbiology.

    With a mischievous chuckle, Al captured another cell and held it firmly in his hands. He then concentrated mana from his body and injected it into the cell. It was a pointless experiment from Al''s perspective, but he was curious to know how these cells present inside Jean''s cultivation would react.

    As the mana entered the cell, it started to glow with a crimson hue. At one point, the mana injected reached a saturation point causing the healthy red colour to corrupt with a noxious blue tint. This was an expected reaction when foreign mana, which is attuned to another mage, is forcefully injected into a mortal non-magical''s body. Unless the body is organically trained to withstand mana through cultivation or brute-force spell casting, the result is a phenomenon known as mana poisoning. Oftentimes, mortals can get mana poisoning by simply being in an area with an unusually high mana concentration.

    Just when the sickly cell disintegrated, Al''s instincts red with a vehement warning. Ever since the debacle inside Markus'' core, Al had focused his cultivation on augmenting his sense of danger. He had realised that over the years of being unopposed and hiding away behind the safety of the Academy''s library had turned him rusty. Unfortunately, his preparations turned futile as before he could make a move, his exposed hand and face were attacked by a horde of blueish-white blobs that grabbed onto him tightly with their protuberances. These blobs were relentless in their assault. Al tried his hardest to pull himself out of their grasp, however, they simply started to absorb him inside their viscous body and pulled him further in.

    Once again, Al was assaulted with a sense of powerlessness. But this time, it wasn''t due to fear, rather it was because those darned blobs were subjecting him to a battery of toxins that had rendered his mana ineffective, his muscles unresponsive, and his mind sluggish. It was a frightful feeling.

    "Please... not... again," Al evoked with a strained voice. He was now being forcefully sucked through the small aperture, to be absorbedpletely.

    Al''s past mental trauma resurfaced once again with full force. Although, in reality, he wasn''t as heavily suppressed as when under the influence of the ck hole, he had subconsciously given up altogether.

    "I guess... this is it..."

    Al waited for the sweet release of death to save him from this embarrassing position. But it never came to fruition. Instead, he suddenly felt a forceful grasp and a hard yank on his back. With an audible whooshing sound, Al was pulled out of the aperture leading into Jean''s cultivation and found himself back in the impably bright clean-room from before.

    As seconds passed, Al slowly started to regain feeling in his appendages and found his mental capacity returning. When his senses cleared up, he realised that he was on his back, and staring right at him, was Guy with a face filled with confusion.

    "I''m getting a strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu," Guy chuckled.

    "Don''t joke!" Al snapped back. "I nearly died in there! What kind of students are you nurturing?"

    Al rose unsteadily and added, "I''m leaving this ce."

    ____

    "Those cells that attacked you were probably the white blood cells, which are part of a human''s immune system," Guy exined.

    "What are they doing in there?" Al bellowed incredulously. "Why is this one''s cultivation holding a space rending phenomenon that swallows you and disintegrates you, while this one''s cultivation houses an unrelenting biological fiend that swallows you, pumps you up with toxic substances and then disintegrates you."

    Guy smiled bitterly at Al''s animated exmation. He wasn''t sure if there was even a valid response to alleviate the man''s agitation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s it!" Al concluded. "This is thest time I''m ever checking any of your students'' cultivations. I''ve managed to survive for this long, and I hope to live for longer. I fear I''ve lost at least half a century''s worth of my life just through the sheer stress brought upon me by your two students."

    "Were you able to find anything of note, though?" Guymented while trying to shift the conversation.

    "Their cultivations arepletely unrted," Al shrugged. "I found no simrity between them. The dichotomy is present down to the nature of the cultivation itself."

    "Markus'' has to do with looking outside, into the world. While Jean''s has more to do with looking inside, biologically," Al summarised. "Apart from that, I wasn''t able to determine any connection to known cultivation methods. For all intents and purposes, their cultivation method ispletely new and perfectly suited to them."

    "That''s unbelievable!" Jean eximed. As an heiress to a prominent n, she was knowledgeable about the difficulty of the feat Al had described.

    ording to her Uncle Jeeves, her cultivation method was customised to her specifically. This in and of itself was a monumental achievement that could only be achieved by mages at the peak of magic, the frontrunners, the veritable geniuses with godlike powers. One must have an immutable and irrefutable extent of knowledge of a field of magic, as well as a high level of familiarity with the subject to be able to devise a cultivation method for them. While thetter condition could be met fairly easily, the former was an incredible feat to achieve by a mage within one lifetime. Yet, Teacher Larks had done exactly this. At least that''s what it appeared to be on paper. Jean was fairly certain that Teacher Larks'' inheritance may also have yed a key role here as it is a culmination of a peak-level mage''s entire life. Maybe there were key knowledge fragments in it that might have assisted Jean in some way. But even her Senior Brother had a Specialised grade cultivation method, which also happened to have a nature contrasting her own. She had never heard of a mage being able to create two different, conflicting, Specialised cultivation methods. This suggested that the inheritance must''ve been from an unbelievably powerful mage - one with a vast repository of knowledge and experience in their repertoire.

    Finally, the cherry on the cake that threw Jean for a loop was the fact that this entire time, Jean had been cultivating without even being aware of it! This achievement was a testament to Teacher Larks'' skills in pedagogy. How great of a Teacher can one be if they can induce an advancement in their students without them being aware of it until the opportune moment of advancement presents itself?

    The aforementioned conditions are incredible on their own. Butbining these two independent, and equally improbable events produced this unicorn of an achievement. Although Jean''s face didn''t show it, she was immensely grateful to Teacher Larks for everything he''d done for her to date.

    Till this year, Jean never held any hope of materialising her dream to be a healer. She had begrudginglye to terms with her inadequacy. However, Teacher Larks had sshed her drab outlook with a beautiful and vibrant coat of paint, changing her lifepletely. Not only was she given a second chance to pursue her dreams, but she was also given new hope and goal to pursue. She was shown new possibilities and frontiers to reach for!

    A congested feeling welled up in Jean''s chest. It felt warm and mncholy at the same time. Jean tried to expel it from her body by vocalising her heartfelt thoughts, but she just couldn''t do it. At this juncture, the voices in her head - that had been pleasantly silent for the entire day - burst through immediately and dissipated the warmth into nothingness. Thus, Jean shrunk back into her seat and began suppressing the voices through a light meditation.

    "By the way," Al said. "What happened before at the vige? You left the ce so abruptly, and that too with a checked-out expression. Was there something on your mind that was troubling you?"

    Guy sucked on his teeth as he pondered on how to approach the topic.

    "Well... As I was helping Jean through her bottleneck, I was... how do I put it... shown a revtion of sorts. This revtion made me rethink my beliefs and actions till this point," Guy exined.

    "That ismon when using |Introspect|. A sentient being''s soul is highly treacherous," Al responded. "It ismonly believed that the sentient will and the spiritual soul, although part of the same entity, are constantly fighting to gain control. For a mortal, it is the will that holds the reins, however as a mage advances and attempts to reach immortality, they need to slowly let the soul hold on to the reins as well until the will and the soul be one. In the early stages, when we let the soul take a grasp at the reins to cultivate spirituality, the rogue soul will do everything within its power to take full control and swallow the will. It is a brutal feeling for initiates, and one can easily lose themselves in this process. But it is also a revealing experience as it presents an unfiltered view of our true selves."

    Guy nodded affirmatively with a contemtive expression. "As you said, it was a valuable learning experience for me. So, after spending some time to digest the observations, I have decided to take a drastic step forward."

    Guy paused and then dered, "I am nning to take on more students, specifically to teach magic and cultivation!"

 Chapter 161 Unpleasant Revelations

    A few hours before Guy rescued Al from getting dissolved inside his Student''s core. A long-awaited confrontation took ce inside the RoK.

    "I need to hear the truth, Mast," Guy dered. After entering the RoK, he now faced Mast''s avatar, which also happened to resemble Guy''s form from his past life. "The whole truth, about my death."

    (What''s there to learn? I''ve told you everything,) Mast shrugged.

    "I don''t believe that you have," Guy rebutted with a frown. "You have been lying to me. I want to hear the unadulterated facts."

    Mast tilted his head. He then waved his hand, causing a seat to materialise behind him. He lowered himself into the chair and rested his chin on his closed fist, which was supported by the table at the centre of the RoK.

    (Let''s say that I have been deceptive with you, what reason do I have to reveal the truth to you?) He asked, breaking the charged pause lingering in the space.

    "That''s understandable. After all, the way you presented things to me, I''m just a small cog in the grand scheme of things," Guy hummed while nodding. "But I do know that I am valuable to you. You have invested a lot into me, to bring me here and everything else that came along with it. This level of expenditure, and the risks assumed, implies that I have a role to y in whatever n you''vee up with. Therefore, I can say with certainty, that this small cog is what''s keeping your entire mechanism from falling apart."

    (You are being uncharacteristically assertive,) Mastmented with a faintly mirthful tone.

    "That was my greatest w. I''vee to realise that, albeit a bit toote," Guy muttered with a bitter smile. He then added, "I should have been more assertive in my past life."

    (If you had been assertive in your past life, you wouldn''t have been able to extend your charitable work to such an extent. Oftentimes, the harder one pushes, the greater opposition they face. You were given the freedom to spread your work BECAUSE you were perceived as harmless in the eyes of others,) Mast responded. People in power have agendas, it is an irrefutable and immutable fact. They are willing to entertain anyone as long as it doesn''t conflict with their agenda. This was the reason why Guy was given unhindered ess to different countries to establish his charity. However, if Guy showed even an inkling of opposition or confrontation, his "all-ess ticket" would have been revoked. The bureaucracy Guy managed to skip earlier would have been re-implemented, possibly with increased stringency.

    "Sometimes, maintaining the status quo and introducing sustainable change may not be enough," Guy reaffirmed. Maybe he would have to jump through more hoops, but it would have left asting impact at least.

    (But it works. Given time, even the calmest of rivers can cut through mountains.)

    "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me!" Guy exploded with a forceful bellow while punching the table at the RoK''s centre. His voice echoed within the RoK, entuated by the hard drum from his fist meeting the ethereal hardwood surface. An intense, bone-chilling silence pervaded the ambience. Both parties present froze in ce.

    All of a sudden, Mast lowered his seemingly rxed state. He stood up from his chair, and as he did so his avatar dissipated immediately, taking the world around him with it. Guy was now alone in a vast ck void. Incrementally, he started to lose his connection to his senses as well, until eventually, he had reverted to the state he was after his first demise.

    (You want to know whether your death was a part of my machinations?) Mast''s voice boomed around the void.

    (It was not,) Mast followed up immediately. (In fact. It was not a mistake either. My world is perfect - I have made sure of it.)

    "Then-"

    (Your death was pure coincidence.) Mast''s voice lingered with an ominous vibrato.

    "Just like everything..."

    (Not exactly.)

    "What?" Guy eximed in confusion at the apparent contradiction in Mast''s statement.

    (Your death was coincidental, but my selecting you was not.)

    "Y-You chose me on purpose? Why?"

    (Like you said before. You fit perfectly into my n.)

    "Which is?"

    (Irrelevant to you.)

    "Stop hiding things from me, and tell me the whole damn truth!" Guy bellowed again. Without his body to augment his confrontational demeanour, the authority in his deration was significantly diminished.

    (I don''t appreciate your tone.) Mast reprimanded with mild annoyance in his voice.

    "Really? The base premise of our entire rtionship was built on a lie, and you expect me to not feel infuriated?" Guy challenged<novelnext></novelnext>

    (The fault lies in you. You assumed our rtionship was anything more than what it was.)

    "Which is?"

    (I believe it is pretty obvious,) Mast retorted. (I am your benefactor.)

    "Right..." Guy muttered with a drawl imbued with bitter eptance. He recognised his immaturity and na?vet¨¦ in thinking that he could, in some way, have a close rtionship with an omniscient and pseudo-omnipotent being such as Mast.

    (You disagree? You should have died, but you did not,) Mast pointed out. (I gave you a second chance.)

    "If that is how you view things, then take it away," Guy shot back in a fit of rage. "Kill me right now!"

    (I cannot do that. You have not fulfilled your purpose yet?) Mast''s voice responded. Its cold and calctive calmness came like a glowing knife, cutting into Guy''s wavering soul.

    "And what is it? To be a toy for your amusement?"

    (Your purpose is to live your life. Just like every other creature in this ce of existence?) Mast answered. The weirdly humanitarian nature of the statement difited Guy.

    "What do you mean?"

    (I chose you specifically for a reason. And that is to continue living, exactly as you were in your past life. Achieve every unfulfilled goal and wish, resolve every regret, just be yourself,) Mast repeated.

    "I don''t believe that your reasons are purely altruistic." Guy vocalised his doubts.

    (You are right to think so,) Mast said, bursting the nascent bubble of warmth in Guy''s heart. (I hold no altruistic thoughts.)

    "Then what is my true purpose!" Guy demanded.

    (That is not for you to know,) Mast cut back. The void once again descended into a tense silence. The abruptness of that deration immediately impeded Guy''s momentum.

    "What?" Guy blurted out.

    (Our conversation has gone for long enough,) Mast dered. At that moment, the void prevailing around Guy started to regain its light, and the all too familiar sight of the RoK once again came into the foreground.

    Guy started to panic, as he immediately realised that their conversation was about to be cut short without him having learned the key piece of information about his transmigration. In haste, Guy threatened, "I will end myself if you don''t tell me!"

    Through the muffled silence, Mast responded coldly, (No you won''t, you have too much to lose.)

    And with that, Mast disappeared. Although Guy couldn''t see it, he could feel that absence of Mast.

    Many thoughts lingered in Guy''s mind.

    Guy felt fear. One could say that Mast was the one constant that carried over from Guy''s past life. It was the anchor that connected him to his previous identity and gave meaning to his previous existence. The recent confrontation with Mastpletely shattered this belief. All of a sudden, Guy felt like he had be stranded on apletely foreign ind by himself. The lifebuoy he assumed would keep him from drowning was a mere figment of his imagination. Fear was the obvious consequence. Even the most terrifying of animals sumb to it if thest modicum of familiarity is stripped off from their surroundings.

    Guy felt despair. From the beginning, he held a faint belief - an assumption - that Mast was on his side. Maybe it was due to the constantpanionship offered by Mast''s existence in the RoK, but Guy viewed Mast as a closepanion and someone he could rely on. However, the confrontation revealed that the facade ofpanionship was simply a one-way mirror. Mast made it very clear that he didn''t view Guy as anything more than a piece in arge jigsaw puzzle. It was a diforting revtion and one that evoked profound humiliation, which shook Guy to his core.

    Guy felt infuriated. Every sentient being with cognizance of the sense of self, that is a being capable of questioning its existence, has an inbuilt want to believe that it has self-governance - that it has control over its actions and decisions. It wants the affirmation that it has control over its existence. Guy was indicated as such when he was offered a second iteration of his life. He was promised that he could live his new life the way he wanted to, and pursue his dreams. In fact, Mast made it a point to highlight this "freedom" during this confrontation. But Guy also understood that it was all a facade. There was a purpose to his presence here beyond what he was led to believe. Although Guy wasn''t averse to believing that there was a certain level of predetermination in one''s existence, what irked him immeasurably was the betrayal. Guy was enraged by the lies and the subterfuge that undey his rebirth.

    "Would things have been better if Mast told me the whole truth from the very beginning? Would it have been better if my second chance was footnoted with a conditional use?" Guy pondered. "Maybe it was for the better this way. After all, ignorance is bliss."

    But Guy immediately shook all those rogue thoughts and centred his mind. As he retraced his thought process, Guy realised that although Mast hadn''t rified Guy''s purpose, he did say that Guy should just be himself and continue living as he had before.

    "That''s the thing! I cannot live my life the way I have till now," Guy concluded. "I want my life to have meaning! I want to make a difference."

 Chapter 162 Guys (NEW) Goal In Life

    If anything, the almost-hostile-takeover Guy experienced by his more zealous counterpart was a much-needed wake-up call. For one, he realised that his previous life wasn''t as impactful as he had thought it to be. Many achievements which he considered monumental milestones appeared to have been built on a foundation of sand.

    ''It seems that my aplishments and initiatives were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.''

    Secondly, he finally recognised that this world was much worse than his previous one. Even with all the unpleasantness that existed in his previous world, at least the society there was coated with a sense of peace. While most people were selfish, there was an incentive to offer aid to others. That feeling of togetherness was missing in this world.

    ''Magic just makes things worse. Not only does it corrupt naturalws, but it also corrupts the humanity in people''s hearts,'' Guy concluded.

    One couldn''t predict if they would lose their life to a rogue sword or arrow, or even a virulent gue capable of devastatingrge swathes of territory. Poverty was rampant, widespread corruption and exploitation infested the civilisations, and the martial gap that separated the mortals from the mages had marginalised the powerless to a precarious lifestyle. To top it off, it didn''t seem as though the existing authorities were willing to help improve the situation. They were satisfied with the status quo.

    ''People could live such prosperous lives here. But everyone is too absorbed with umting power to look back and help others.'' This world had be rotten! The other Guy was correct in asserting that this rot had to be excised.

    Furthermore, this world was unforgiving to both adults and children alike. The orphans in the orphanage Guy was living in were an excellent example of this. These kids were robbed of their childhood, forced to carry the weight of the world on their backs and unable to express their true selves to the world. And who knows what horrible experiences Grace had to live through that caused her to tremble at the sight of another mage?

    This was just a small sample in therge scheme of things. Guy could already fathom the lives of the other orphans and children born in poverty around the world!

    ''Things probably aren''t any better out there.'' Guy felt that it was no longer an option to sit on the sidelines and watch the world move in front of him.

    Guy acknowledged that things needed to change. His current trajectory had to undergo a drastic shift. This change would serve dual purposes. Of course, the first was to make a meaningful contribution to the world and make asting difference. The second was more selfish, and it was to simply piss Mast off!

    He wasn''t nning to intentionally confront Mast, since that entity hadn''t done anything to hurt Guy - as far as Guy was aware. Furthermore, Guy was also grateful for being offered a second chance even if it was conditional in some ways.

    But the betrayal still hurt. Mast must have a bottom line, but Guy hadn''t infringed on it just yet. Presumably, Guy''s previous trajectory wouldn''t infringe on it either, otherwise, Mast would have interfered. Nheless, Guy was feeling confrontational. He wanted to see just how far he could push Mast''s buttons, as a sign of silent protest.

    ''Although I know that things need to be handled differently, the main issue I need to tackle is the concentration of power at the top. Just like with society in my previous life, those at the lower rungs of thedder have a tougher time climbing up, while those already at the top can cruise through life without heavy consequences.''

    While in his past life, the deciding factor was wealth, the societal divisions in this world relied on magical power and cultivation.

    An apt example of this could be observed in the disparity between the treatment received by Markus and Jean as initiate practitioners of magic. Without a proper support structure, Markus was forced to live off of scraps to gain footing in the Academy. Since he did not show any promise as a mage, his ess to resources was incrementally shut-off and, if Guy hadn''t intervened, he would have no option but to drop out of the Academy. At that juncture, he would have two choices left, which would be to approach a n or a sect and work his way up their rankings through a more degrading process. Even if he managed to find some sess, his advancement up the ranks would have a hard cap. This was the life of an average person seeking to pursue magic in this world. Those that had an inherent advantage through some form of genius, beneficial bloodline or physique, or even an inheritance artefact would face a smoother ride. The heights they could reach shouldn''t necessarily have a hard cap, right?<novelnext></novelnext>

    That was another false assumption. Guy died in the early stages of the twenty-first century in his past life. During that time, many entrepreneurs made ys into the market in hopes of making it big, yet not many could breach a certain barrier that allowed them to grow. The hindrance came in the form of therge corporations that reigned the markets that were born at the tail end of the twentieth century, and the organisations that had support from the government. Heck, Guy''s very own charitable foundation gained a fast track to pursue its initiatives BECAUSE of the backing of the Larks family!

    "Genius" mages in this world also faced such a semi-impermeable membrane when advancing through the societaldder. At a point in their lives, they would be forced to face the monoliths that be. In that process, they would eitherpete against them, get absorbed by them, or get destroyed by them.

    Compared to Markus, Jean would have a much smoother ride through her life if not for her psychological scars. With the massive backing of the Rasmus n, ess to cultivation resources and opportunities would have been a triviality. While she would have her own set of problems, surviving and thriving wouldn''t have been a concern for her unlike Markus and his siblings.

    ''The only way to tackle this problem is by disseminating magic,'' Guy concluded. ''With the powers of the Church, helping those without backing to break through that semi-permeable membrane should be an issue.''

    Markus managed to break past the blockages implemented by society thanks to the Church''s revtions. The same could be said for Jean. In fact, Jean''s recent advancement was a massive eye-opener for Guy.

    After observing the way Jean helped Chiani Lane give birth, and all the other experiments she undertook to make the lives of the vigers healthier, Guy realised that there were facets to magic that he had overlooked. The conditions at the time of his transmigration may have something to do with his earlier bias.

    ''Magic is more than just a weapon. I was thrust into an environment that glorified martial strength. No wonder my view of magic was so heavily tainted,'' Guy summarised. The Academy ced heavy emphasis on the weaponisation of magic and its application inbat. Although there were side professions that addressed other aspects of magic such as alchemy and enchanting, the roads ultimately led back to Rome. Guy did not see an application of magic that sought to improve the general well-being of the poption. This was until he met Jean.

    Part of the credit should go to Jean''s mother, who had journals upon journals of interesting ideas and applications of magic to target the degrading conditions of the non-magical folk. Where she failed was in actualising these theories. However, Jean took the steps to research these theories and produce tangible results.

    ''Imagine if Jean''s achievements could be applied at a global scale?'' Guy pondered. ''A painless C-section without scarring, and danger to the mother and the child''s life. It would be impossible back on Earth even by experts in the field with years of experience in their belts. But here, it was achieved within mere hours by a fourteen-year-old girl and a trained assistant, in a location without any advanced equipment or resources. I definitely wouldn''t have been able to achieve this by myself here, even with all of my knowledge from my past life.''

    Jean couldn''t have achieved all of this without Guy''s intervention, though. His injection of experience from his past life was what provided her with the impetus to operate. However, he wouldn''t have had the inspiration to dig out this experience if not for Jean''s request.

    ''I myself don''t know the limits of the power of the Church. ording to the other Guy, I am barely scratching its surface. My mindcks the imagination and ingenuity to make novel connections. The only way to learn more about it is by taking in more students and stress testing it,'' Guy hypothesised. ''The more students I help, the faster my cultivation advances, and the greater my impact in this world.''

    And that was Guy''s n of action. His goal was to disseminate magic to the masses and shape their minds to view it as a tool for bettering society, rather than a weapon to enforce superiority. To do this, he had to target the segment of the poption whose brains could be moulded and inculcated with positive values - the children. After all, a child''s mind is unblemished and open to infinite possibilities. To achieve this on a wider scale, Guy needed to grow stronger as a mage. However, that could be achieved by the positive feedback he would receive from the Church by helping students.

    "But where do I begin?" While Guy had a good idea of the big picture, the intermediate steps to achieve that goal were a mystery to him. After careful thought, he figured that it would be best to inquire a more learned party, preferably one with more experience in this world. Amongst those persons that he had acquainted with that fit that bill, a single name stood out prominently.

    It was the man who had helped Guy get ustomed to his life here from the beginning. With a firm and resolute expression, Guy got on his feet and trudged along to the immacte tent set up near the orphanage, which was the temporary home of Al Jeeves.

 Chapter 163 Radical Idea

    "That is quite sudden," Almented about Guy''s deration. "And out of character. What brought about this change?"

    "After a rather harrowing introspection, I''vee to realise a few shorings of mine that I feel need to be addressed immediately," Guy nodded affirmatively as he borated. He then proceeded to summarise his insights about himself concisely, vis-¨¤-vis his aversion to conflict and extreme passivity.

    "I don''t see how that is a problem?" Al responded. "Your level-headedness and maturity are what makes you endearing."

    For Al, being a little impulsive, forceful and aggressive was amon trait amongst mages out in the wild. This was how things worked. If one wanted to gain an advantage, one had to suppress theirpetition through brute force. In this cesspool of muscle-headed, arrogant troglodytes, Guy was like a breath of fresh air. His measured approach to life, and ability to take things in stride made him stand out, and it was this uniqueness that garnered Al''s attention. Now, seeing as how Guy was nning to assimte himself with the crowd, Al was a little disappointed.

    "I don''t intend to seek conflicts," Guy corrected. "I''m simply saying that I feel like I could do more in this world apart from holing myself away in this vige."

    Guy paused to formte a proper line of reasoning and then continued. "I''ve taken on two students of magic- let''s say two and a half including Marie, all two and a half of them have achieved perfected resonance, and one of them has even advanced into the Foundation Establishment realm."

    "Master!" Markus eximed in surprise. "Y-You knew?"

    "I assumed," Guy said with a cheeky smile. "You aren''t one to give up so easily. So if you''ve stepped out of your seclusion, it could only mean that you''ve advanced sessfully. Otherwise, I fear I would have had to drag you out of your room by force while you struggled at thest inch of your life after exhausting yourselfpletely."

    Markus scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

    "Of the two and a half, two did not have a cultivation method," Guy resumed. "It meant that they wouldn''t be able to advance in the path of magic, yet here they are, standing at the edge of the cliff ready to leap into true magehood. Although the sample size isn''t sufficient to draw a wider conclusion, it is enough to establish a hypothesis: We have the ability to help those without the fortune to cultivate, to do so."

    "If I remember correctly," Al interjected. "You were against spreading this knowledge because it would eventually lead to a proliferation of violence and conflicts."

    "That''s the worst-case scenario," Guy reasoned. "Take a look at what Jean''s aplished! My earlier stance was dependent on a false assumption that magic''s primary purpose was to bolster martial might. However, Jean has proven that magic has the potential to be applied in so many more fields that can benefit others. Furthermore, she alone isn''t enough. Imagine if there were many more mages like Jean, with the knowledge and ability to practice medical magic of equal efficacy. How great would that be?"

    "You seem hard set on this," Almented.

    "It has to be done. I have a gift - a special power that brings with it an immense collection of knowledge, most of which I can''t apply. However, my students have managed to make use of it and have achieved great aplishments. It is a waste to hoard all of this knowledge when it could be disseminated and used for more fruitful purposes," Guy responded.

    "It is the first time I''m seeing a mage so eager to share their gains from an inheritance," Al muttered. For any mage, an inheritance, regardless of its source, was an immensely valuable treasure. This was because if used correctly, especially if it ispatible with the mage, an inheritance can elerate the cultivation of a mage by arge margin in a short period. Inheritances are essentially solidified versions of the cultivation of a mage from the Tesseract Transformation realm. This realm is regarded as the absolute peak a mage can achieve in their lifetime, so it isn''t farfetched to assume that their cultivation is as refined, optimised and potent as it could be. Now imagine if another mage gains ess to this highly potent solidified cultivation, and has the ability to siphon from it and bolster their own. No mage wishes to share such fortuitous and cheat-like advantages with another who could potentially rise and be theirpetitor.

    Even within renowned ns,rge organisations, and sects that have deep backings, sharing an inheritance artefact with another member was a very rare urrence. For example, although Goran was the current n Leader of the Rasmus n, he hadn''te into contact with the n''s inheritance artefact. In some ways, this was also a way to maintain checks and bnces between these powerful entities. If word were to be leaked of the movement of an inheritance artefact within an organisation, it was akin to the arming of a nuclear missile. Opposing ns, organisations or sects would retaliate with a simr move, leading to a tense cold war that could blow over at the slightest provocation.

    "I am envious of your open-mindedness," Al evoked while nodding his head appreciatively. "No mage would be so charitable to publicly share their inheritance with others."

    "Errr..."

    "However, I suggest that you avoid hinting at or even bringing up the fact that you have an inheritance," Al warned.

    "Errr..."

    "Words travel quickly, especially if they contain such enticing keywords," Al added. "Before you know it, mages will be swarming to this ce to get a piece of the action. Once they''re done, this vige won''t even exist on the face of the."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Erm... *cough* Right! What inheritance artefact?" Guy chimed in while sporting a conflicted smile.

    "That''s the attitude," Al winked back.

    "But Master," Markus interjected at this point. "While I am fully behind you on your decision to spread your teachings, I hate to point out a ring issue."

    All eyes in the room turned towards the boy, who was now feeling extremely difited. "I don''t think we have the certification or official qualification to teach."

    Al smacked his forehead audible while hissing. "That''s right!"

    "What''s wrong?" Guy asked with visible confusion.

    "Although I recognise your ability to be a Teacher of magic, since you haven''t gone through the proper qualification channels - by that I mean an Academy of magic - you technically do not have the certification to teach magic to others. If someone were to find out that you''re conducting these lessons on magic, you could get into a lot of trouble with the authorities and the union of co-operative of Academies and Teachers as a whole," Al exined.

    "Have I been doing something illegal all this time?" Guy eximed.

    "Your nurturing of a Disciple isn''t illegal," Al corrected. "It is a personal rtionship and a tradition that has existed since ancient history. However, again technically, teaching Jean when you aren''t even a Teaching Apprentice is illegal and actionable to the highest extent of both national and internationalws."

    Guy started to sweat bullets while eyeing the stoic girl. ''This girl is a walkingwsuit waiting to happen,'' he said internally.

    "Please rest assured, Teacher Larks," the girl immediately responded, as though she''d read the lingering fear in Guy''s eyes. "I am anything but grateful. May the world curse me with the most gruesome and painful death should I betray your confidence!"

    Guy sighed in relief inaudibly before reverting to the obvious question, "So there really isn''t anything we can do, huh?"

    At this moment, Guy regretted his s¨¦ attitude when he entered this world. If only he had tried harder and been more proactive at that time, he could have held his position back at the Academy. Then again, as he pondered on it further, a lot of good things had happened BECAUSE of that. He met Markus and his siblings, he befriended Al, and he found Grace. None of that would have been possible if not for his loss.

    "Actually," Al muttered out loud. "There may be a second pathway for you, albeit one that might be a bit tougher and could open you up to some unwee confrontation."

    Guy cocked his ears in attention and focused on Al. "Although you need a licence to teach magic officially, there are exceptions in ce that can allow you to bypass that restriction."

    "How would that be?"

    "How do you thinkrge organisations can umte so many specialised mages and warriors in their ranks?" Al hinted. "How is it that renowned ns and sects have the liberty to cultivate their own batch of mages with unique cultivation methods that cannot be found outside?"

    Guy narrowed his gaze and contemted along this line of reasoning. Now that Al pointed it out, Guy started to wonder how the ns and sects could grow their force without having a licensed Teacher in their midst. In fact, Guy knew that no Teacher was affiliated with a sect or a n. After a quick half-second, the solution formed in his mind.

    "No way!" Guy eximed. "You aren''t saying that I-"

    "That''s right! You can create a Sect," Al affirmed whilepleting Guy''s sentence. "With a Sect under your name, you have the liberty to go about your n."

 Chapter 164 Brief History On Academies

    Teachers, with a capitalised ''T'', have be ubiquitous with the dissemination of magic and cultivation arts. Historically, Teachers are rtively new entrants into the wild world of cultivation, breaching into prominence within thest ten thousand years give or take five thousand.

    The standard logic for a very long time was to hoard knowledge. To grow stronger in istion, achieve advancements in cultivation, and go against the Heavens and all that. However, one fine day, a certain mage had a bright idea. She figured, ''Why should we hoard all of this knowledge when we could use it to help everyone?''

    No one really remembers the identity of such a revolutionary thinker, because the moment she voiced her proposition out loud, she was summarily annihted.

    ''Who would utter such sphemous ideas? Does she have nomon sense? *Tsk* Women... typical!'' The mages of that generation disdained her at that time. Yet that pervasive idea had taken root. More and more mages, mostly those at the bottom rungs of thedder, started to congregate and share their knowledge in hopes of growing stronger. After all, nothing brings people closer than a shared enemy. And to these unfortunate bottom feeders, the powerful ns, Sects and Organisations were the monoliths they could never supersede.

    If those monoliths had been more proactive, and less arrogant, they could have nipped this growing threat in the bud, however, their unwavering belief in their superiority cost them that advantage. The appeal of being able to learn magic without having to sacrifice one''s freedom was an attractive selling point. As more mages came under this unnamed co-operative''s umbre, they started to appreciate its superiority over the existing power structures.

    Lombard Gronnder was the first to achieve sessive breakthroughs and breached the Tesseract Transformation realm in record time. His sess was partly due to his strong first-generation Phoenician Bloodline, and partly due to the excessive amount of resources injected into him by the co-operative. The mages recognised the urgent requirement of a spearhead and face for their cause. They alone wouldn''t have been enough to stand against the existing monoliths, so they immediately unearthed Lombard given his talent for cultivation.

    Lombard was made the de-facto leader of the co-operative and went on to assert the co-operative''s im in the world of cultivation. There were many challenges and conflicts along the way, but the rag-tag groups of upstart mages held firm, and through smart and strategic manoeuvring, embedded themselves deeply into the world.

    Marketing yed a huge part in this. The old monolithic organisations had reached a point where they had be unreachable to themon sses. Entry required some connection to existing parties or absolutely unshakeable innate advantages like physiques or bloodlines. Themon ss COULD enter monoliths through alternate routes, but these were often marginalised to indentured servitude for life sometimes extending to future generations as well. The co-operative, however, did not have such restrictions. Anyone could participate as long as they could offer a manageable sum of money as fees.

    After all, people hated to sell their souls for another cause but could tolerate selling their souls for money.

    The co-operative decided to branch their image favourably by calling themselves Academies, and the instructors as Teachers with a capitalised ''T''.

    "Are you a teacher?"

    "No, I''m a Teacher. With a capitalised ''T''."

    "Ah! I''m sorry teacher."

    "Capitalise the ''T'', damn it!"

    "Right, right! Teacher."

    "That''s more like it."

    Such conversations would spark within taverns, inns and restaurants. Needless to say, the newly formed Academies'' marketing team was extremely effective in solidifying the public perception. Following a series of carefully calcted hits, coups and advertisement campaigns, the Academies and the Teachers started to overtake the monolithic organisations both in fame and power. In fact, they even started to gain support from the suppressed minor ns, Sects and Organisations that had to submit to the might of the powerhouses. With a constant influx of untapped talents, and a steady generation of new mages and cultivators, the Academies had all the required ingredients to seed through sheer numbers alone.

    On that note, the reason why Academies seeded where ns and Sects failed was due to their independent nature. An Academy treated the Students and the Teacher not as entities tethered to the organisation, but rather as free agents employed through a thorough contract. This sat well with a lot of mages as no one of that stature preferred to be tied down by some flimsy reasoning of loyalty, servitude or obligation. Cultivation revolved around benefits, after all.

    As more people started taking a liking to the format of Academies, and as more and more Academies started to sprout all over the world, the co-operative enacted their second step. They incrementally started to ingratiate themselves with the various guilds that existed around the world and brought them into the fold by inventing Teaching Licences. Now, Teachers not only had to have a thorough understanding of cultivation and magic but they must also be learned in other professions to a verifiable degree. With this new addition, Academies now catered to a wider variety of Students. This added stringency in the rating of Teachers set Academies apart from Sects and ns who, oftentimes, specialised in only one licenced profession like Alchemy, Smithing, Enchanting, and so on.

    Over time, Academies entered the forefront of the mage circle and the arrogant Sects and ns could do nothing to counteract this new phenomenon, as they were already toote.

    With their new power, the co-operative of Academies enacted newws and regtions that ced checks on ns and Sects. They made it so that only licenced Teachers could lecture about magic in a public setting. Teaching Apprentices could do so as well, but only under the purview of an Academy or another licenced Teacher. However, the only exception to the rule was if the lecturing individual is a member of a n or Sect, and the listeners are also members of the same n or Sect.

    "Why is the exception so specific?" Guy asked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You can muzzle a manticore, but that doesn''t make the manticore any less of a threat. Everyone and everything has a bottom line," Almented. "The monolithic organisations allowed the Academies to persist because making any move against the Academies would have put them in an unfavourable light. However, if the opposition from Academies exceeded the organisations'' bottom lines, then they would have taken action regardless of how they would be perceived by the public."

    "This leaves us with no choice, then?" Guy inquired.

    "I believe so," Al affirmed. "I''ve looked into it, and there is very little that I can do to overturn the ban that Radiant Academy has ced on your employment to any Academy of magic. Maybe if it had been earlier, it would have been possible - I could pull some strings and make it go away. But now, too much time has passed, and your name has probably been etched into stone. There is no escape."

    "I guess there''s no helping it," Guy shrugged. He then pped his hands together and blurted out, "So how do you make a Sect anyway?"

    "It''s actually quite easy," Al said while waving his hand. "After the revolution brought on by Academies, Sects took a page from their strategy and began lowering the barrier of entry as well. Nowadays, just about anyone can make a sect. You need a unique name for the Sect, a unique location as the base, a unique assortment of cultivation methods to act as anchors for the sect and finally, you need support structures to hold up your Sect."

    "I get the necessity of a unique name and location, but what do the rest mean?" Guy responded.

    "If the assortment of cultivation methods taught within a Sect can be taught by a Teacher, what use is a Sect?" Al proposed. "Basically, a Sect is only functional if it can offer something inessible outside of it."

    "So if it is a cultivation method avable in an Academy''s library or by a Teacher, it is invalidated?" Guy rephrased his question.

    "That is correct," Al nodded. "As for a support structure... How do I put it?"

    Al scratched his chin in contemtion before exining, "Why do people have to think twice before entering a bloody conflict with the Rasmus n? Ignoring the plethora of experts on the forefront of the n, of course."

    "I don''t get what you mean," Guy muttered with a frown.

    "It''s our Ancestor," Jean answered in his stead. "The Ancestor''s presence is the deterrent."

    Al snapped his finger and added, "That''s what I mean! Any sessful Sect that intends tost the test of time NEEDS a support structure of some kind that can deter miscreants from making disadvantageous moves. It could be anything, ranging from a veritable mage powerhouse to an artefact or weapon of some kind capable of enacting superior damage."

    "That is concerning," Guy chimed in. "Is it necessary?"

    "It isn''t necessary but highly rmended. Although just about anyone can create a n, most small fries without a support structure never make it in the long run. They either get decimated by theirpetition to bankruptcy or absorbed by arger sect, or in some cases, they just die."

    While Guy furled his brows in deep thought, Al clicked his tongue andmented, "Regretfully, neither I nor Goran can act as support structures since I am affiliated with the co-operative of Academies while his allegiance is to the Rasmus n."

    The group entered a depressed state after hearing that. Their momentum was quenched, and Guy was immeasurably disappointed.

    "I guess my n crashed before it could even take off, huh?" Guymented with wry mirth.

    At that moment, a familiar voice echoed within the minds of everyone present in the room. It was through a Mana Transmission!

    ''I believe I can assist in this matter.''

 Chapter 165 Al, Meet Krish

    Al was shaken by the sudden intrusion into his mind. This was partly because he could not trace back to the origin of the transmission - it was perfectly cloaked! To be able to aplish this, the source must have strength far exceeding his own. Al wanted to revert with a question to identify this expert, however, due to theck of a "footprint", he was unable to do so.

    Thus, Al''s only remaining option was to wait. Having lived for so long, Al was thoroughly inducted into the way of the world - the sheer brutality of it. He had learned, through bitter experience, that mages in higher realms were strange creatures that rarely operated followingmon logic or sense. That being said, Al himself was unaware of his own idiosyncrasies that had warped his personality. Anyways, certain actions that one might assume to be positive in a regr setting may end up offending peak experts - survival was akin to a perilous tightrope walk. With this in mind, Al made it a point to never, EVER, interact with anyone stronger than himself.

    Now, a peak expert was lingering somewhere nearby or maybe even in this vige - one that was in the Tesseract Transformation realm. Al held his breath and froze every single muscle in his body, and waited. He didn''t want to end up offending this mysterious expert, so Al evenpletely retracted his mana senses. With his gaze, Al shot a warning toward Guy and his students, only to receive a nk response of nonchnce.

    ''Shit!'' He cursed internally. ''I should have warned them immediately. They wouldn''t know how to gauge the strength of this expert. They are doomed!''

    Al wanted to unfreeze himself and offer some curt words of caution, but his body wouldn''t respond to his brain''s urging. This was the result of deep-rooted fear in Al''s heart. After all, he valued his own life more than anyone else''s. This wasn''t selfishness, it was the instinctual and raw animalistic response when facing a palpable threat.

    After an excruciatingly long ten minutes, Al heard a periodic tapping noise resonating from the direction of the stairs to the vige. With each tap, the sound gained volume as though it were approaching them. Through hasty deduction, Al affiliated this sound to correspond to the expert. After that, every tap felt like the pounding of a hammer against his soul. They ran in syncopation with his own heartbeat, at least that''s how he perceived them to be. It was unsettling and ustrophobia-inducing.

    The taps gained rity after an even longer five minutes. At this point, Al realised that the sound was of wood striking the ground, followed by an awkward shuffle of feet.

    ''A mage with a limp?'' That made no sense! Bing a mage was a surefire pathway to achieving the pinnacle of the human form. Although mages had the opportunity to mould their flesh body to their liking upon achieving the Core Formation realm, he had never heard of a mage who had willingly opted for a wed - handicapped - form. This urrence once again solidified the fact in Al''s mind, that whoever the approaching expert was, that person had an entric personality. Al''s soul quivered in agitation and fear upon arriving at that conclusion.

    ''The more entric and bizarre the mage''s personality, the lower the chance of us exiting this interaction with our lives intact!''

    Al wished nothing more than not existing in this ce at this moment in time.

    The life-draining taps and soul-grinding shuffle came to a halt right outside Al''s tent. What followed were a series of unhurried knocks, and then a calm call for permission.

    "Can Ie in?" The voice sounded familiar. Al had heard it before, outside the home of the pregnant woman!

    "Y-Yes," Al stuttered apprehensively with a wavering tone.

    The door pivoted open, revealing the figure of an elderly man, leaning on a walking stick about his height and sporting a washed-out cloak.

    Al''s eyes were glued on the individual as they entered. Guy rose from his seat and apologised, "Unfortunately, there isn''t a chair here. Are you fine sitting on the ground?"

    "GUY!" Al interjected immediately. He coughed to draw in the old man''s attention and said, "I-I have a chair in my storage disk, please give me a second. I apologise profusely for this sleight."

    "It''s fine," the man said while waving his hand. With an audible groan, the man used his stick as support and descended into the padded ground. During this, Al caught a glimpse of a horribly desated leg peeking out from under the man''s cloak. Al had never seen anything so grisly in his entire life. It was as though the flesh and muscle had been thoroughly consumed from within by a ravenous parasite, leaving just the bone in ce. There were also awkward dips and holes on the flesh, as though rot had taken hold.

    "Are you interested in knowing the cause?" The man''s voice dragged Al out of his stupor. Al realised that he had been staring at the disabled leg for an ufortably long time.

    "Ah!" Al eximed. "I-I apologise! I wasn''t expecting-"

    Al was about to prostratepletely, when suddenly a force grabbed him by his shoulders and stopped him in ce, "Don''t fret. It is amon reaction. It''s jarring to see a mage sporting a limp voluntarily."

    Al wiped the cold sweat gushing out of his forehead in relief and gulped audibly. "I... Would... Hmm..."

    The man understood the purpose of Al''s repeated attempts to formte a question and said, "My name is Krish Nara. As you have rightfully determined, I am in the Tesseract Transformation realm. But don''t worry, I haven''t killed another human being in over seventy years. Wait, that''s not right."

    Krish turned to Guy and asked, "Does it count as killing if I condemned an entire sect to extinction which may have resulted in the deaths of the Sect Leader, Elders and arge portion of the Sect''s members?"

    Guy nodded with widened eyes.

    "In that case, I haven''t killed another human being in thest fifty years. And I don''t intend to kill anyone for the time being either. Generally, such actions tend to incur a lot of negative social credits in the magemunity, and in those situations, the sins of the Master reflect on the Disciple," Krish continued.

    "Stop intimidating him," Guy sighed. "Look at how shaken he is!"

    "You should count your lucky stars, Guy!" Krish warned jokingly. "I''m only keeping you alive because of your value with my dearest Disciple."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy sneered back with mockughter. "Marie has rubbed off on you poorly, Mage Nara. Your wit was never this acerbic before."

    "What do you know? We''ve only been acquainted for a little more than a year," Krish retorted. "Unsurprisingly, my Disciple and I have a lot inmon. Which is rather unfortunate since it is a monumental task to get anything past her contrarian mental barriers."

    "It''s ironic that in such cases, the instructor finds greater sess in bending personally than forcing the pupil topromise," Guy chimed back with a knowing nod.

    "That is true," Krish affirmed. "I never thought that in my thousand years, I would have to metaphorically bow in front of a girl a hundredth my age. But hey! It works!"

    "Anyways, let''s get back to the topic at hand. I believe I can be of some assistance with your Sect problem," Krish offered.

    "In what way?"

    "Well, Teacher Jeeves here-"

    "Please just call me Al," Al quickly corrected.

    Krish clicked his tongue in annoyance and growled back, "Don''t interrupt me!"

    Al retreated with a whimper.

    "Damn it, now I''ve lost my train of thought..."

    "I-I believe you were talking about the sect-" Al said with a low voice.

    "Didn''t I say not to interrupt me?" Krish shot back with anger in his voice.

    "You''re enjoying this, aren''t you?" Guy sighed.

    Krish burst into uproariousughter, "That''s my revenge for staring at my leg. But on a more serious note, you don''t have to be so formal here. I don''t have the patience to process extra words of nonsensical drivel. Keep it direct!"

    While Al nodded hurriedly in affirmation, Krish resumed, "I can help you in your n to create your Sect. I have a few connections that can expedite the process and possibly offer you some advantages. On top of that, as Teacher Jeeves pointed out, I can also act as your insurance. Once they know that a Tesseract Transformation realm mage is affiliated with your Sect, they will think twice before pulling something untoward."

    Guy hummed in contemtion.

    "Why?" He then asked. "Why would you do this for me?"

    "Consider it a favour," Krish responded. "For all the assistance you''ve offered in my journey to raise a Disciple."

    Guy furrowed his brows and said, "I''m not wholly convinced. From what I''ve heard from Marie, you''re quite detached from the goings-on in the world. Why would you go out of your way to assist me?"

    "There are reasons..." Krish expressed, wearing a strained expression. "Does it matter?"

    "If it were before, I wouldn''t have asked," Guy responded. "But now, I''m not sure if I like the feeling of being used. So I''d really appreciate it if we put all of our cards on the table."

    Krish smiled ominously and said, "That''s the right attitude."

    "That''s true. I always wondered whether you were being mature or excessively naive in taking things in stride without questioning the motives of people around you," Al chimed in with an affirmative nod. "Not that I think that Mage Nara has any malicious ulterior motives-"

    "Just give it a break, man," Krish blurted out exasperatedly. "Alright. My reason for sponsoring you here is twofold."

 Chapter 166 Ruthlessness

    "My decision is influenced inrge part by what I saw a little while back when you were performing the |Soul Imprint| on Jean," Krish began. "As I''ve indicated before, through my eyes, your fate appears as murky as the Swamps of Garand. However, at that moment in time, your fate burst with a magnificent spark. In fact, this wasn''t the first time such an event transpired, the same phenomenon urred when you performed your first |Soul Imprint| on Markus."

    Guy''s mind immediately formed a connection between this phenomenon and the two times he had utilised the powers of the mask. His expression faltered slightly, which wasn''t missed by Krish who grabbed on like a pitbull.

    "I knew it!" Krish eximed. "The events were special. Every other time you utilised your |Soul Imprint|, this did not ur. It got me thinking: What differed between those two instances and every other instance? No matter how hard I pondered over it, I could note up with an answer, so I chalked it up as it having to do with your inheritance."

    "First off," Guy interrupted. "You were spying on me?" There was a faint sense of irritation in Guy''s voice.

    "It''s a force of habit," Krish responded. "I won''t apologise for it. I don''t like being blindsided. My past experience has proven that vignce is key to the survival of any mage. Teacher Jeeves here can corroborate this."

    Al nodded vehemently in affirmation like a little yes-man.

    Guy coughed, in an attempt to expel the disturbing feeling swelling in his stomach. Although he was affected by the breach of privacy, like any normal person, he could also empathise with Krish''s point of view. Danger could potentially lurk around every corner in this world, thus precautionary measures were prudent. Besides, it wasn''t as though privacy was in ample supply in Guy''s past life. Corporations constantly tracked and sold user analytics, and governments - who are supposed to be on the side of the citizens - surveilled their citizens through flimsy protectionws. Certain socialworking tforms could even offer tailored advertisements based on recent search history, going as far as to predict one''s food preferences throughplex statistical analysis. Compared to that, Krish''s intermittent intrusions were trivial.

    "You are correct," Guy said with a bitter smile. "It does have something to do with my inheritance. Jean and Markus can attest to that."

    "That''s right!" Markus chimed in. "Compared to the other |Soul Imprints|, the one I experienced when I achieved perfected resonance was far more immersive and vibrant. To top it off, I can perfectly relive that experience anytime I want through meditation."

    "Now that Senior Brother brought it up, I too felt the same way," Jeanmented. "The experience has been engraved into my mind. To be honest, when I first experienced it I waspletely dumbfounded. Everything I saw was unfathomable, totally beyond this world. I thought that the vision was simply gibberish - a figment of a warped imagination. However, after reassessing it multiple times, I realised that the things I saw were thoroughly grounded in rationality. They were too... real to be lies."

    "Can you exin what you saw?" Al hummed. His inquisitiveness was urging him to pursue this thread. Jean responded affirmatively and expounded on her virtual experience. As she spoke, Al''s eyes started to burst out further and further from his sockets in excitement. Everything was so new to him and magical. Of course, this irony was missed by Al. Living in a world dominated by magic, fathoming one without magic at all was akin to fantasy for him.

    "borate on this artefact which measures heartbeat, blood oxygen concentration and so on," Al demanded while straightening his back.

    "Teacher Jeeves," Krish interjected. "Let''s not deviate from the current conversation."

    Al bit his tongue apologetically and regressed into the background. Krish''s gaze drilled into Guy once again, egging him to exin himself.

    "I-I don''t know what else to say really," Guy said with a loud sigh, trying his hardest to suppress the twitch attacking his eyelids. "I just found some knowledge pertaining to what they were struggling with and just... did my thing."

    "Nheless, there was a difference," Krish emphasised. "I can feel that you''re hiding something. Don''t worry, I won''t be squeezing it out of you - everyone is entitled to their secrets."

    After a short pause to discharge the crescendoing tension in the room, Krish continued, "The first time the phenomenon urred, I was confounded and was unable to make any headway or gain any insights. But this time, I was prepared. I managed to gaze into your fate."

    "Gaze into his fate?" Al muttered. He sucked in a long breath through clenched teeth as he narrowed his gaze, "Where have I heard that before...?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "And in that bright mote growing inside you, I saw an unbelievable vision," Krish evoked with awe in his eyes. "Interestingly, it was a lot simr to what the girl just said before. A world beyond anything I have ever seen before."

    "That''s right!" Al interjected as he snapped his finger. "Y-You are the Golden-Eyed Seer! That''s you, isn''t it?"

    "It all makes sense now!" Al continued hurriedly. "Exactly 53 years ago, the Sunspot Sect faced multiple cmities one after another. The Sect Leader suffered a cultivation deviation as he attempted to break through into the Tesseract Transformation realm, resulting in him going mad and eradicating every single disciple present in the Sect. The Elders barely managed to stop him, losing more than three-quarters of their strength by the time the Sect Leader was subdued. After the Sect Leader gained rity and came face to face with the utter carnage he had wrought, he ended up killing himself in his grief. The Elders departed from the Sect. Some attempted to join other Sects but faced an untimely death due to odd reasons. One Elder identally swallowed poison instead of an alchemical potion. Another identally swallowed an artefact of mass destruction and imploded. One even fell on her own vitality draining sword while in a deep meditative state and died a shrivelled husk."

    Al gulped audibly as a morbid silence took grasp of the ambience, "A Sect which was by no means a minor contender just disappeared off the face of the map in one fell swoop, that too because of a multitude of highly coincidental events that just happened to fall into ce at the right time. It was so monumental that even the co-operative of Teachers had to get involved. I happened to sit in during the investigation, whichsted for five whole years. In the end, we managed to narrow it down to one individual: The Golden-Eyed Seer!"

    "They stole from me," Krish grunted in exasperation. "And then they had the gall to deny everything. I only did what was fair."

    "The entire Sect was burned to the ground after the suicide of a female Thunderbird, whose spouse was killed and harvested near the Sect''s mountain," Al continued. "Although the structure was disintegrated, we assumed that the Sect''s heritage would remain intact in some form. However, when we finally managed to open up the Sect''s treasury, there was nothing in it!"

    "A price had to be paid," Krish shrugged.

    "The many mistresses the Sect Leader and the Elders impregnated all had a miscarriage due to the absurdest of causes," Al eximed animatedly.

    "That wasn''t part of my n," Krish denied immediately while alternating his gaze between Guy and his students. "In a minor fit of anger, I may have made a mistake in the curse. By the way, the ''Golden-Eyed Seer'' is a very mild alias. I assumed it would be more bloody given the level of carnage."

    "The cooperative of Teachers and the Alliance of Sects wanted to go with the ''Evil-Eyed Demon of Misfortune'', but they feared retribution!" Al exhorted. "If a person could eradicate a sizeable entity such as the Sunspot Sect so ruthlessly without having to once show their face, who would want to get on their bad side by affronting them with such an antagonistic alias?"

    "Did you really have to go that far?" Guy asked.

    "Of course," Krish answered without hesitation. "Although it left a bad taste in my mouth seeing how far my curse travelled, it was necessary to avoid future conflicts. Mages are anything but forgiving individuals - myself included. If I hadn''t eliminated the Sect both root and stem, it would have inevitably led to another conflict down the line with a descendent. Now that I have a Disciple, it could have affected Marie as well. This is partly why I avoid mage infested regions nowadays. Everyone is just so sensitive. One slip of the tongue and you can end up with an enemy for life. It is easy to rack up negative social credit which is impossible to clear no matter how hard I try."

    Krish exhaled loudly to release his aggression. "Sorry about that rant..."

    "I can empathise with Mage Nara on that matter," Al affirmed.

    "Now that you''ve said it," Guy interjected. "If you''re so averse to interfering with mage congregations, why are you so eager to support me in my venture? I''m pretty sure that you will have to make an appearance in public and shake a few hands. Aren''t you worried about your past catching up to you?"

    "Given what I''ve seen in your fate, all those petty conflicts are trivial!" Krish evoked.

 Chapter 167 Grim Future

    A/N: A bonus chapter will be released to close this conversation. I don''t want to end this week on a cliffhanger

    ____

    "Is it right to just reveal my fate like this?" Guy questioned with a tinge of worry in his voice. "From what I''ve heard, there can be great consequences if your action changes the course in any way."

    "Things that are supposed to happen will happen, remember?" Krish winked. "What I am about to tell you won''t change anything. You won''t voluntarily stop in your tracks - are you nning to not continue teaching?"

    Observing Guy''sck of words, "See! Since there isn''t any adverse consequence, aren''t you the least bit curious to know?"

    "I guess so?" Guy muttered.

    "I saw a great leap," Krish started. "If the way the current world is progressing can be described in terms of architecture, it would be like a in with a slight incline upwards. But with your intervention, a long set of stairs is introduced that leads into the sky with a steep rise and no end in sight. Now, this may sound too abstract to fathom, but that''s primarily because I myself cannot put it into words."

    "Can''t Mage Nara use a |Soul Imprint|?" Al inquired, with the thirst for knowledge stered tantly across his face.

    "Not if you want both of us to die a horrible death," Krish blurted out. "Certain secrets of this world are meant to be kept as such for the safety of the masses, boy."

    "Nheless. Returning to the architectural metaphor once again: one would assume that such an endless stair would copse under its own weight and instability. However, this stair happened to have the strongest foundations! It was built on the fundamental truths of this world - unshakable against all adversities!"

    "You''ve lost me there," Guy interjected while squinting his eyes. "What''s that supposed to mean?"

    "Hmm..." Krish scratched his chin in rumination. "You see, if I make my divination even a little more descriptive, I will be interfering with the trajectory fate has set out for you. So I need to choose my words carefully, and that is also why I try to stick close to metaphors and analogies."

    "Let''s put it this way then: You will leave an unimpeachable mark in this world. One that willst the test of time! The changes you will introduce will revolutionise the world from the mundane to theplex," Krish orated slowly.

    The more Krish spoke, the brighter Guy''s eyes got. The tion grew to a point where even his physical body couldn''t contain it, causing him to vibrate with excitement. But then, the bubbling mood was burst by Krish''s next set of words.

    "Sure there will be a lot of bloodshed, but in the grand scheme of things it will be all worth it."

    "Bloodshed?" Guy quickly retorted. "What do you mean by that?"

    "Conflicts, deaths," Krish listed. "Genocide. Maybe a cultural purge. You know? The usual urrences during any war of conquest."

    Guy''s back was immediately drenched in sweat - an involuntary action that even his superior physique couldn''t prevent. It was the oue of a fear that had been guing his mind. After the almost-hostile-takeover of his body by the parasitic entity embodying his split soul - the other Guy with a capitalised ''G'' given that he was no longer a mindless being - Guy was constantly disturbed by a singr question.

    ''What if the other Guy took overpletely?''

    Would it have been a better oue? Guy recognised that he could not achieve anything with his usual passivity. However, changing his personality would be difficult. Contrary to popr belief, flipping one''s approach to life wasn''t an easy task. In most generic web novels, the transmigrated or regressed individual often affirms a new resolve to live life more adventurously. They would dere that they would ensure this new life would be more meaningful and impactful, and they would seed in doing so. Yet the truth wasn''t as easy as fiction set it out to be. People who die, unless they were still kids or teens at the time of their death, have most of their character quirks and personalities already cemented and ingrained into their bones. Even if their body is changed, their essence of being remains the same. And as the saying goes, a tiger can''t change its stripes. That is unless the tiger actively seeks to paint new stripes and cover up old ones. Sticking true to that idiom, Guy found out that unless he actively convinced himself to y his cards differently and policed his every action carefully, he''d end up reverting to his old, non-confrontational personality.

    To that end, Guy felt that since the other Guy was apletely different entity it could be a feasible way to change Guy''s current trajectory. But this was only logical on paper. To concede control to the other Guy would be an imminent demise of Guy''s original self. Although Guy wished to make a change in his lifestyle, he valued his life more. On top of that, Guy also had an inkling of just how destructive the other Guy could be.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This belief was further confirmed after Krish revealed what was within "Guy''s" fate. Guy could infer that what Krish observed must have been the future of the other Guy, not his own. For some reason, in Krish''s eye, the current Guy was a dead man. Maybe it was because Guy''s transmigration wasn''t registered as a valid action in this world''s fabric of reality. His entry had affected those around him, and the world as a whole though. But, every time Guy allowed the other Guy to take control, Krish could see a bloom of fate. This implied that the other Guy WAS a registered entity.

    Guy wasn''t sure if the future Krish saw when peeking into the other Guy''s fate was a fixed oue, independent of whether the other Guy or the current Guy was in control of the body. Or if it was an event dependent on the other Guy being the sole controller of the body. Or maybe, he was destined to lose himself and concede full control to the other Guy, which was a bleak future, to say the least. Nheless, Guy did NOT want the future Krish divined toe through.

    Guy could make out that the other Guy was totally zealous and psychotic to a fatal degree through their short interaction. That man would go to extremes to achieve his goals - he wouldn''t be averse tomitting genocide to spread his warped beliefs of the so-called Absolute Truth.

    "Do you see this future when gazing into the fates of any others here?" Guy probed.

    "I actually haven''t checked that far ahead," Krish confessed. "Interestingly, what I saw in your fate at that short moment began at a time point quite far off into the future. There was nothing visible in the immediate temporal vicinity. Doing so exhausted a lot of my mana as well, since the cost of using my power increases exponentially the further I look. Why do you ask?"

    "I hope that the future you observed doesn''te true," Guy said with a stern voice. "It is not what I want my name to be associated with."

    "Blood has to be spilt and lives need to be culled to make anysting difference," Krish sighed. "That is the sad truth of this world. People are naturally resistant to change unless you force it down their throats."

    "Mage Nara does have a point there," Al chimed in. "If you were content with teaching such a small congregation of students, your old approach would have been fine. However, with your current goal to make asting difference, it is no longer a feasible strategy to live a life with hands unstained by blood. You will eventually end up hitting a wall that will have to be demolished. At that point, will you hesitate? Do you think you will have the luxury to hesitate?"

    Guy shrank in defeat. ''It is an eventuality, just like they''ve said. How will I fare at that point? Am I even ready?''

    Havinge from a modern world which was rtively peaceful, Guy was intrinsically against taking another life. He often wondered how other transmigrated individuals managed to change their personalities so easily to stomach murder. ''Even if I try to rationalise things as self-defence and righteous, I would only be deluding myself to feel less guilty.''

    ''Argh! There are so many things to consider!'' Guy groaned internally. ''Should I just give up? Is it even worth it to take make such a drastic change in my life? I was happy the way I was before, right?''

    Just as Guy was about to enter a self-deprecating spiral that eventually led to depression, Markus spoke up.

    "I apologise, but I disagree with Teacher Jeeves and Mage Nara," the boy said firmly. "While there is some truth to your statements which have been derived from your vibrant experiences, I think my Master is different."

    As he paused, Jean shuffled forward and said, "I agree with Senior Brother. I apologise for my frankness, but until I met Teacher Larks I was always led to believe that I would never be able to cultivate or achieve anything substantial with my life."

    "I was led to believe the same thing. Teacher Jeeves may not be aware of the struggles I had to go through back at the Academy. Like the sheer helplessness I felt when everything I tried to push myself forward, ended up either fizzling in front of me or blowing up in my face," Markus volleyed.

    "My father had me meet a plethora of experts," Jean continued. "Uncle Jeeves, you rmended a few as well. How much were they able to aplish? Compare that with what I achieved in just above a year thanks to Teacher Larks?"

    "The experiences of Teacher Jeeves and Mage Nara are relics of the old world," Markus evoked with fervour. "That is the viewpoint cultivated by eras of suppression and segregation, and a society built on savagery disguised in a pleasant suit. Why would Master revert to the techniques of the past if he intends to change the world?"

    Markus gulped audibly and held a firm gaze targeted at Krish. The boy was intimidated but was trying his best to not reveal it outwardly.

    "Mage Nara," the boy uttered. "I-I believe that your divination is incorrect."

    "It has to be faulty," Jean said in conjunction while using a hand to support her shivering Senior Brother from the back.

 Chapter 168 Journey For Knowledge

    Krish hummed contemtively while staring at the two kids who animatedly denied his divination. This wasn''t the first time someone denied his prophecies so vehemently right to his face. Over the years, Krish hade to realise the juxtaposition of the human mentality. Whenever Krish''s divination revealed beneficial truths or facts, the recipients are quick to ept it - overjoyed even. However, the moment the divinations revealed promations that run contrary to the recipient''s expectations, they immediately reject it.

    After a short pause that seemed to extend for a much longer time frame given the charged atmosphere that reigned in the room, Krish sighed audibly. Al took that as a sign of exasperation and immediately nudged Jean from the back, adding on a few expressive signals using his eyes and face to urge her to apologise immediately. For better or worse, Jean was unable to decipher those signals, and even if she couldprehend she wouldn''t act on them since her Senior Brother was holding his ground unfalteringly.

    "Do you think it could be an anomaly?" Guy spoke up. "I mean, you couldn''t see my future until that short blip. You can''t see that same future in the fates of my Disciple, students and others around me. It is only a singr and, as far as we know, isted incident. Right?"

    "Maybe you are right," Krish conceded. "Maybe you aren''t. If I am being honest it is the first time for me as well, to experience something like this. But I can tell you for certain that whatever the Heavenly Eye sees is absolute. Make out of it what you will."

    Guy bit his lips in distress while repeatedly chanting, ''That''s not going to happen,'' internally. ''That cannot happen!''

    "Let''s put that aside for the time being!" Krish followed up to redirect the conversation. He knew that nothing good coulde from preupying oneself with a future so distant. Having lived with such power for such a long time, Krish could ascertain that what some considered a blessing was oftentimes a curse. Like how a thief must constantly look over their shoulders for signs of pursuers, a person informed of their future must constantly doublethink their next step in fear of their dreading to fruition. Little do they know that their hesitation and overthought can elerate things further.

    "Since your path is now free of obstacles, what are you going to do next?" Krish asked Guy.

    "Next?" Guy faltered. "I don''t know..."

    "That''s understandable. The decision was only finalised now. Logistics and action ns take time and thorough analysis to take form," Al empathised. "But I must warn you to not it lightly. Creating a sect may be easy, but maintaining it is where the real challenge lies."

    "I had a simr conclusion," Guy affirmed. "It''s not something I have done before, after all. I would love to learn more about it, though."

    "Do you have any knowledge about sect management - the way sects work in general?" Krish probed.

    Guy shook his head in response, evoking a long and contemtive pause from both the experienced mages in the room.

    "It isn''t easy," Al muttered. "There aren''t any books or journals about it either that you could use for reference. It''s not like people just go around blurting out the inner workings of sects."

    "What about observation?" Guy blurted out. "Do you guys think it might be possible to observe a functioning sect?"

    "That''s a risky option," Krish cautioned. "Sects aren''t like Academies, in that secrecy and sovereignty are of utmost importance. You can''t just waltz in, especially with such a flimsy reason."

    "Although..." Al said while elongating thest syble with a contemtive intonation. "Ah shit, I really don''t want to do it though!" He muttered to himself.

    Right as Al escaped his brief aside, he noticed everyone staring down at him inquisitively. He responded with a sheepish grin an exined, "I might be able to pull a favour, but... the man who owes me that favour is an insufferable human being."

    "I don''t want to put you in an ufortable position," Guy responded hastily.

    "No... No, it''s fine. I probably will never cash in this favour in my lifetime, given that I will have to interact with that man to do it. Might as well use it up for this purpose," Al said with a twitching smile.

    "Anyways," Al followed up while shaking his head of all irksome thoughts. "We cannot make the journey through regr transportation. It is too far away, and also disjointed from regr travel routes. Unless you can fly, the journey will be impossible, I''m afraid. Thus, I shall prepare the transportation ordingly."

    "Umm, where are we going exactly?" Guy inquired.

    "You said you wanted to see how a sect operated and learn. I''m taking you to one."

    "Just like that?"

    "Just like that."

    ____

    Three days after the enlightening meeting between Al, Krish, Guy, and Guy''s students, an rming shriek entuated with a low bass growl of arge feline thundered over Twilight Vige. The vigers cowered in fear as a majestic aura descended upon them, battering down in waves with periodic pulses of forceful gusts of wind.

    "What is that?"

    "Is it a bird?"

    "Is it a lion?"

    "Why is it flying down here?!"

    "RUN!"

    The crowd entered a frenzy as they rushed to enter the "safe" confines of their mud and wood homes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s noting to the vige," a panicking kid pointed out. "It''s going to the orphanage."

    The vigers stopped for a moment and observed the trajectory of the bestial shadow covered in blinding sunlight. Just as the kid said, it swerved away from the vige and moved towards the orphanage little ways up the mountain.

    "Should we go help?" The kid asked.

    "Do you want to die?" The kid''s parent blurted out. He then coughed audibly to catch his faux pas and said, "T-They will be fine. Did you forget? Mages live up there!"

    The man''s words implied assurance, however, his intonation was filled with uncertainty. In fact, the man had gained a clear look of the majestic beast flying above them. Through his travels to the town nearby, he had heard a few adventurous mercenaries describe a simr creature which they had encountered during their travels.

    "They will be fine..." The man repeated, more so to satisfy his inner anxiety than to calm hisd.

    In the mercenaries'' story, he learned of the most gruesome creatures to ever walk the face of Gaea. The mercenaries had told him that their group used to be a hundred strong, but only 10 managed to make it out alive, of which only five had all their limbs intact.

    The beast killed first, feasted after. Highly territorial - it chased the party for many kilometres out from its nest. Ruthless - it eviscerated and disembowelled those that it killed with its talon-forelegs and beak.

    The man shuddered at the utter carnage that the mercenary described. The man was inclined to believe the mercenary as the group shook visibly while they recounted those events.

    "They will be fine... It will all be fine..." The man muttered repeatedly.

    ____

    Up the mountain, at the orphanage, a simr reaction as the vigers was elicited from Grace, who reflexively hid behind Guy. In turn, Guy had to try his hardest to hold up a brave front, when in reality he too was extremely petrified at the sight of a beast he had only heard of through myths and legends in his past life.

    "Wow!" Dora eximed excitedly as she hopped over to the beast that had fully descended to the ground in front of the orphanage. Al leapt off its back and immediately reached to stop Dora from approaching any further.

    "Careful! He''s a finicky little one," Al said.

    "Little?" Marie blurted out. "That''s not little!"

    "Is that a-" Markus started.

    "-Gryphon!" Guy finished.

    "Oh? You''ve heard of gryphons before? Although, this one is still a juvenile chick. It will grow muchrger," Al expounded.

    "He''s not an ''it''!" Dora corrected. "He''s a he!"

    Al bit his tongue apologetically before narrowing his eyes in confusion, "Wait! How did you know that?"

    "He told me," Dora answered innocently before ducking underneath Al''s hands and rushing up to therge four-legged creature with a pair of wide wings.

    "Dora!" Grace eximed, but her voice was cut short when the creature dipped its neck and nudged Dora yfully with its hooked beak. Dora grasped the creature''s golden-brown feathers around its neck and whispered into its ears while giggling intermittently.

    "That''s odd," Almented. "He''s not really so pleasant around other people. Not after I yanked him away from his parents..."

    ''Did he kidnap this thing?!'' Guy cried out internally.

    "Anyways," Al immediately said after. "Guy,e! Get on!"

    "Excuse me?"

    "Get on! I''ll help you hop on to Garrud''s back. Make sure that you don''t pluck his feathers, he does NOT like that."

    Guy''s eyes darted to the creature''s extended talons, which were nearly the size of bison horns. The ws of its feline hind legs weren''t anything to scoff at either - every time it flexed and retracted them, they left a visible dent on the hard ground. The beast''s eagle eyes exuded an aura of inescapable danger. Yet, this ferocious beast had turned into a yearning kitten in front of Dora, who barely reached its shoulders.

    "Do we really have to travel using a gryphon?" Guy inquired meekly with an audible gulp.

    "Unless you can fly," Al shrugged. "Now stop wasting time!"

 Chapter 169 Meet Garrud The Gryphon

    The Gryphon named Garrud was Al''s familiar. A familiar is a being of another species tied in a pseudo-master-ve rtionship with a mage. The bond is at the soul level, is hence an irreversible process, and is generally a mutually beneficial rtionship. As the mage progresses in their cultivation, the familiar receives positive feedback in theirs which helps them advance, and vice-versa. However, due to the ingrained nature of this bond, should either party face a catastrophe of fatal proportions, the other will face equal retribution through their soul connection.

    The art of forming this robust soul bond was introduced to mankind by the elves of the Fae Realm. The sentient elven race was unique in that they were born with very low mana capacity and weaker physiques. Compared to a human in the same cultivation realm, an elf might have less than half their mana capacity and somewhere between two-thirds to three-quarters of their strength. Although,pared to an average human, an average elf had far superior aesthetics and charms.

    Yet, how could such a weak race, on paper, survive in such a perilous environment of the Fae Realm and be the dominant species to walk thosends?

    This was because the strength of the Faey not in their raw martial prowess but their superior spiritual capacities. While humans could gauge their mana capacities quantitatively, the same could not be said for their spiritual strengths. To date, the spiritual aspect of cultivation, more specifically the soul, remains an elusive topic for most sentient races. That is, apart from the elves. The strength of a newborn elves'' soul far exceeds that of a mortal human at the prime of their life.

    Though many have tried to research this peculiarity, none have managed to derive a robust conclusion. Some believe that the elves'' naturally long life expectancy, which is two and a half times that of a human, may have something to do with their high spiritual capacity. This is supported by the fact that it takes them double the time to mature biologicallypared to humans. Others believe that inheritance and assimtion during fetal stages may have something to do with it. Elves have a very sparse birth and proliferation rate within their kind, which is further hampered by the fact that an elf mother gestates for nearly two years. Childbirth in elves is also much more perilous than in humans.

    Nheless, the elves''rge spiritual capacity enables them to form a symbiotic rtionship with beasts of other species through familiar bonds, and this is their true strength. There have been records of an entire country being ravaged by a single elf in the Core Condensation realm and his horde of familiars - fighting elves is seldom a one-versus-one confrontation.

    Ultimately, a rudimentary technique to form familiar bonds was shared with the humans years before the Age of Istion, which has survived the test of time by being held firmly within the grasp of the Beast Taming Guild. The technique hasn''t changed for millennia, not for theck of trying. The field of soul strength and spirituality is just tooplex for human beings and other sentient races toprehend, thus rather than tampering with the existing method that works just fine, mages choose to stick to the status quo.

    In the current age, if anyone wanted to take in a familiar, they had to do it through the Beast Taming Guild AFTER achieving a minimum of 2-stars. Another opportunity is presented to take on a new familiar with each sessive star achieved. It was needless to say that very few people held more than four stars since each new familiar basically segmented the mage''s soul proportionally to the beast''s soul power.

    Take Garrud for instance. A gryphon is born with pseudo-sentience. Within months of hatching from its egg, the gryphon''s cultivation elerates through the Mana Condensation realm to the Foundation Realm, at which point they reach adolescence. A Gryphon''s DNA is encoded with a rudimentary cultivation method that elevates them to the Core Formation realm where they solidify full sentience.

    As expected, a gryphon''s soul power expands exponentially once they enter Core Formation, at which point forming a familiar bond bes extremely difficult unless the Gryphon acquiesces to it voluntarily; a mature Gryphon''s soul power can rival that of a mage in the same cultivation realm. If there isn''t a consensus from the familiar, a severe bacsh can be incurred which will end up crippling the mage entirely.

    "I found Garrud as an egg," Al exined to Guy and Markus who were clutching onto the jerking body of the feathered and furred beast as it skimmed across the skies. "I formed a familiar bond with it the moment it hatched, otherwise it would have been impossible! gryphons are notoriously proud and highly territorial."

    "H-How did you find the egg?" Guy inquired while trying to control his chattering teeth. The sheer distance between their current altitude and the ground was agitating histent acrophobia. Even his Disciple had increased the force with which he grabbed Guy''s waist.

    "Total coincidence! You wouldn''t even believe it," Al blurted out as he soared next to him. "There was a contract posted for exterminating a pair of gryphons up at Gold-ted Hills quite a ways West from Twilight Vige. Many heads congregated there to undertake this venture, the beast couple WERE in the Core Condensation Realm after all. On a side note, beasts in a cultivation realm are generally stronger than human mages in the same realm. It has to do with their superior physiques, bloodlines and one-track-minded cultivation methods. None of those distractions that humans suffer from, holding their cultivations back."

    "So anyway, I wanted to try my luck out. I hadn''t confronted gryphons before; thought about testing my might against them. And would you believe my luck! The gryphons hadid a wonderful gold coated egg!"

    "Unguarded?" Guy eximed in disbelief.

    "Not really," Al responded with a sly smile. "It just so happened that two mercenary groups led by a few mages had coordinated an attack against the nest at the same time. You may be aware that gryphons are notorious for their capacity to hoard treasures. Their affinity to it sometimes even rivals dragons! The stronger the gryphon, the more treasure hoarded in its nest. And if there were two, the hoard would be doubled. The mercenary groups distracted the two gryphons, while I sneakily entered and swiped it."

    As Al finished the sentence, Garrud jolted with mild aggravation.

    "Oh drop it already!" Al spat at the irritated hybrid. "Your life amongst your parents would have been far worse. Do you think they would feed you all those expensive elixirs and natural treasures such as I did?"

    Garrud vibrated reluctantly in agreement.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He''s a saucy little brat," Almented. "A familiar bond does not automatically ensure allegiance as it isn''t like those ve contracts ns and sects use to control their protectors. This brat realised that he had been fleeced the moment he gained partial sentience, and he turned on me at that instance! You wouldn''t believe how much I had to sink into him to get him to listen to me."

    "What surprised me, though," Al immediately redirected with a confused intonation, "is that he was so amicable with that girl. Garrud hates people, period. Thest time I asked someone else to feed him, he nearly mauled the poor bloke to death. The girl didn''t aggravate him - it''s peculiar."

    "Dora has a way with animals," Guy affirmed.

    "No kidding," Al muttered. "The weird thing was that I could hear her voice through my familiar bond. It was like a faint echo."

    "You know, the more I get to know the people at the orphanage, the more I''vee to realise that it is a treasure trove filled with talented individuals," Al dered spontaneously.

    "Everyone''s talented in one way or another," Guy chuckled. "You just have to look deeper and with a lens free of prejudice."

    "Hear, hear!"

    After that, Al increased his flight speed along with his familiar''s.

    Although Guy had flown many times in his past life, it was always within the confines of a pressurised metal tube. Surprisingly, he felt safer atop the back of the flying beast that when travelling via aerone. Somehow, the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair and the paced heartbeats of the beast beneath himforted his mind. While within an aerone, the precarious rumbling and jerking motion always instilled a subtle fear in his heart. He did not experience the same uneasiness atop Garrud.

    Guy did have some difficulty keeping his eyes open as they started to gain altitude. The dry, cold wind bit into his skin and desated his eyeballs immediately. Through trial-and-error, he managed to form a robust screen of mana in front of him that helped separate the currents. He was just about to tell his Disciple when he noticed that Markus had already put up a simr shield in front of his face.

    "We will be arriving at the sect soon," Al''s voice reverberated in their minds. "Let me handle the talking. I will lobby for ess to the sect''s record library. Through it, you will gain ess to the sect''s history and front-end management data and finances - all under supervision. The favour should cover that much."

    Guy and Markus nodded affirmatively.

    "The man we are going to rendezvous with is extremely nosy. Try not to reveal too much about yourself. The more intrigued he feels, the more he will dig into your past," Al warned.

    Guy chuckled spontaneously at the irony of Al''s description of the man. ''Sounds simr to a certain mage I know.''

    "Finally. Whatever happens, do not interfere with anything that happens in the sect," Al warned Guy and Markus. "I am a hundred per cent sure that the bastard will set something up to provoke a confrontation."

    Al gritted his teeth in frustration as he suddenly recollected the interaction from his past with the ''bastard'' in question that led to him gaining the favour.

    "It''s because he LET me win that time," Al muttered to himself. "I have to be extra careful so that Guy and Markus aren''t caught in whatever scheme he is cooking up."

 Chapter 170 [Bonus ] No Questions Asked

    A/N: The conversation inside the tent was getting to long and I didn''t want to end the week with a cliffhanger. So here is a bonus to move the story forward. :)

    ____

    A man massaged his silver beard while gazing into the horizon with a vigorous sheen in his eyes. His lips parted into a devious smile as his senses locked onto the approaching figure of another man, followed by a still adolescent gryphon carrying two individuals. His attention quickly diverted from the critters incapable of flight and the beast, and doubled down on the other man.

    "I knew he''d cash it in one day," the man said audibly with a reverberating chuckle. He gazed down on his clothes once again - a redundant action since he could easily observe it through his mana senses - and fixed his ck overcoat. He then dusted his ck skin-tight shirt - another redundant action since he could easily dispel all blemishes with his magic - and casually inserted his hands into his ck trouser pockets.

    After his final checks, he reverted his attention to the flying figure. As he did so, the man could feel his heartbeat hastening, he was getting agitated.

    "This feeling," the man said with a near ecstatic expression. "This excitement! How many years has it been since I felt this?"

    The man''s impable memories didn''t fail him. Thest time he felt this way was when he fought against Al Jeeves. It was a feeling of intoxication. His every fibre of being was pulsing at a feverish pace as all of histent battle instincts were called into action. It was the kind of battle he yearned for.

    A mage experiences three kinds of life-or-death battles in their lifetime. One when facing someone weaker, one when facing someone much stronger, and one when facing someone of equal or equivalent strength. The first kind is no fun, the victory is often known before the die is cast. The same sentiment is true for the second kind since the only oue in those confrontations is death. The third kind is where all the juice lies.

    When fighting toe-to-toe with an opponent, one gets the opportunity to flex every single technique held in their arsenal. Because in those kinds of fights, victory is always awarded to the mage with superior skill, even if it is greater by a fingernail''s margin. This was the kind of fight the man sought out so fervently. And this was the fight he got when facing Al Jeeves.

    The man inhaled while positively shaking with exuberance, and honed all of his senses on the singr entity: Al Jeeves.

    ____

    Al clicked his tongue in annoyance as a familiar probe washed over him. A mage''s mana sense exists within the limit of their mana domain. Within the said domain, everything is in control of the mage as long as they have the knowledge to manipte the mana to their liking. However, when two mages confront each other, a peculiar interaction takes ce when their mana domains ovep.

    In most cases, the mage with the higher cultivation realm wins. To borate, the weaker mage will find it increasingly difficult to cast spells and manipte the mana around them as the stronger mage fully copses their wider mana domain into the weaker mage. The victory isn''t always absolute since minor manoeuvring and subterfuge can shift the bnce ever so slightly. However, when the realms of the mages are close in cultivation realms, the conflict within the ovepping domain turns into a heated dance with each side vying for the faintest opportunity to cut through the other''s barriers.

    Al immediately slowed his flight and activated a few spells inaudibly, essentially blocking the probe directed towards him. The victory in this confrontation was conceded to him, once again. This reignited the irksome feeling Al felt towards the man standing in the distance.

    "We are approaching the destination," Al informed Guy and Markus. "Remember everything I''ve told you."

    The duo nodded affirmatively and looked forward, past the light mist which prevailed before them. Unlike Al, Guy and his Disciple''s vision and mana sense were much more gimped in terms of range. They could only see a tad farther than a regr human, so all their eyes could capture was a faint silhouette of what could only be described as an upside-down mountain beyond a thin cloudy veil. Guy squinted while trying to gain a clearer vision, and within a quick half-minute, he was able to see their destination in its full majesty.

    What looked like an upside-down mountain was actually a massive rock hovering precariously off the ground. Along the sides of this hovering mountain were various buildings, walkways and structures that were bustling with activity. These walkways and structures snaked in and out of the mountain, like an elegant worm eating into a fruit.

    "How is this even possible?" Guy eximed.

    "This region is naturally dense in mana," Al exined, "When there is excess mana in a location, one can expect anomalous phenomena. Mostrge sects can be found in such mana rich locations."

    "It goes against allws of physics," Markus muttered.

    "Mana truly is a mystery," Guy affirmed with an impressed tone.

    The trio ascended as they approached the mountain, aiming for a tnding space near the peak. As they rose, Guy observed the architecture further. The style closely matched the Mediterranean design motifs he''d seen back at Radiant City. Pirs and arches were in excess, with intricate sculptures and carvings peppered in various locations. The colour palette was fairly warm with a preference for natural brown and creamy shades. The paths had a cobblestone look in the public spaces, while near and inside buildings he could observe marble. There was also a heavy preference for open-air design, which felt weird given the cold atmosphere at the higher altitude. But things became clear when they reached a few kilometres away from the mountain. As though a huge space heater had been activated, the previously chilly area around them turned slightly humid and warm.

    Al observed the change in Guy''s expression and said, "There are multiple formations protecting the mountain. We wouldn''t be able to enter the vicinity of this mountain unscathed if not for this entry token."

    Al fished out an embellished marble token the size of his palm which had a beautiful cloud pattern on it.

    "Amongst the many formations, one that controls the weather moderates the atmosphere. Some formations moderate the mana concentration in and around the mountain to avoid causing mana poisoning to new initiates to the sect, or visitors."

    "That''s extremely convenient," Guymented. "And expensive," he added as he recollected the mana crystal expenditure required to maintain the formation.

    "Thanks to the mana concentration in the area, most of these formations can be sustained without mana crystals. Some of the more active defence formations do require additional mana, but those are only activated during dire scenarios," Al responded.

    Following another sharp ascent, Al and Garrud hovered in ce beforending upon an open area. The design of the t region reminded Guy of helipads from his past life - it appeared as though this was specifically designated as thending zone for flying objects.

    "Al Jeeves!" A gruff voice bellowed from across thending space as it approached Al. "In the flesh."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Al growled back in annoyance and greeted the man with a rough handshake, "Marek Glista."

    "You wouldn''t believe how surprised I was when I received a message asking for assistance, from THE Great Al Jeeves of all people?" The man dressed in all ck said with a mocking tone.

    "Enough with the theatrics," Al shot back immediately while retrieving his palm from the ufortably long handshake. "Let''s get this over with."

    "Ah, ah, ah!" Marek responded while shaking an extended finger side-to-side. "As a humble Elder of the Cloudstrider Sect, it is my duty to go through the proper rituals while weing guests."

    "Now who might these two gentlemen be?" Marek asked out loud without taking his attention off of Al.

    "This is Guy Larks. He is an Apprentice I am training, and this is Markus Reva, a Student I''m personally teaching," Al said offhandedly.

    Marek hummed and said, "The Student appears more talented than the Apprentice. And their physique is uninitiated to the martial path; they''re weak."

    "Both of them reached this level within two years. And you know that I don''t gauge talent the same way you do."

    "Intellectuals then," Marekmented with a contemtive nod. "I take it back. As expected of the great Mage, Al Jeeves. No talent can be hidden from those voracious eyes, thirsty for knowledge."

    "The same could be said for you," Al snorted back. "Your nose sniffs out martial talent like a Bloodletting Moth to, well, blood."

    "Is that apliment?" Marek retorted with feigned surprise.

    "It''s reciprocation," Al said with a sigh. "Let''s move on."

    "I must say that I am a little curious. Your request is most unusual," Marek pointed out with a sly grin. "What are you hiding from me, Al?"

    "That wasn''t part of the agreement, Marek," Al denied immediately. "The condition from our duel was a favour with ''No Questions Asked''. Are you reneging on the deal?"

    Marek clicked his tongue and chided, "You always know to keep me on my toes."

    He then revealed a slight grin while tossing two marble tokens with an intricate symbol etched on them to Guy and Markus. As the tokens curved through the air andnded gently on their expecting palms, they could feel a trace of magic flowing inside them.

    "Those shall give you unimpeded ess to most locations within the sect, barring a few which shall be reminded to you by any guards stationed near that area," Marek exined. "I remember that one of you requires ess to historic records?"

    Guy nodded and raised his hands. Marek clicked his fingers, again without turning away from Al. Behind him, a white-cloaked, middle-aged and bald mage materialised and greeted respectfully, "Elder Glista."

    "Lead the one with his arm up to the Archives."

    The cloaked figure turned and walked away without a word. It took a second, but Guy caught on to the implied message immediately and followed the figure in a brisk walk, with Markus in tow.

    Al turned to follow the duo but was immediately intercepted by Marek blocking his path, "Where are you going?"

    "Following them," Al answered with raised brows.

    "You don''t have an all-ess token," Marek reminded.

    "What?"

    "You don''t have ess, Al," Marek repeated with a devious chuckle. "Do you realise how difficult it was to convince the Sect Leader to issue the tokens ''No Questions Asked''?"

    Marek wore a sneer and continued, "I could only manage to wrangle two."

    He then leaned forward and said, "It appears that you cannot leave my side today, Al."

 Chapter 171 Read, Reserve, Rinse, Repeat

    Guy and Markus followed the bald figure leading them through the alleys within the sect as it weaved through the carved out floating mountain. However, rather than observing the intricate architecture and beautiful structures around them, the Master and Disciple were wholly enraptured by the reflective, semi-spherical surface bobbing up and down in front of them.

    "He''s definitely in the Core Formation realm. I can''t gauge his cultivation," Guy exined in a low whisper.

    "But then why is he bald?" Markus retorted in disbelief in an equally hushed tone.

    "I don''t know, why don''t you ask him?"

    "Me? W-Why?"

    "You were the one who pointed it out," Guy scoffed back. "I didn''t care one bit about it. But now that it''s been brought to my attention I just CAN''T ignore it."

    "I can hear you, you know..." An exasperated voice spoke up as the man leading them came to a sudden halt. He then turned abruptly and faced the gossiping duo with a deathly re.

    "We don''t mean any offence," Guy acted immediately. He regretted entertaining his Disciple in this jest. After living in afortable setting, the boy had clearly lost his instinct toward danger and hadnded both of them in a treacherous situation.

    "We are just curious. After advancing into the Core Formation realm, I believe you have the opportunity to reforge your body to your liking. Was it a conscious decision to go with a..." Guy lightly waved his finger in the direction of the man''s exposed head.

    "Mas- I mean Mage Larks," Markus chimed in hurriedly. "It is probably in pursuit of optimisation. Hair just gets everywhere, it blocks your vision, hampers your speed, and is also prone to get tugged during a fight. Going clean-shaven is obviously a tactical choice."

    Markus shed an impressed thumbs-up at the bald mage, who was trembling visibly at this point due to either embarrassment or fury.

    "Of course!" Guy volleyed with a dazzled expression. "Hair is just a hindrance. You were moulding your body to match the optimal human form, which is of course hairless."

    "Why is it that everyone has a problem with my baldness when no one even questions why Elder Glista and Teacher Jeeves choose to not regress their age and assume an older form?" The man said with a defeated exhale.

    With a raised volume, he continued, "The men of my family suffer from early-onset baldness. By the time I reached sixteen years of age, I had already lost all of my hair.."

    Guy and Markus leaned forward as the man paused in suspense. He red at the two onest time before speaking with a hushed tone in embarrassment, "When it came time to reforge my body at the stepping off point into Core Formation, I... I couldn''t even imagine what I would look like with my hair. My father didn''t have any hair, and neither did my grandfathers on both my mother''s and father''s side... Every image that formed in my mind looked just so... awkward. I couldn''t revert to my fifteen-year-old form... I had no other option..."

    "I... apologise for making you recollect those unpleasant memories," Guy consoled the slouching man.

    "We were being inconsiderate," Markus added.

    The man''s dreary eyes gained some colour upon hearing the duo''s apology. Actually, this wasn''t his first time receiving criticism about his unusually barren scalp. After all, it was highly unusual to see a mage in the Core Formation realm "opting" to go with such an... unttering stylistic choice when it waspletely possible to be the best version of themselves. But the thing was, he could never imagine himself with hair. Maybe it was a curse that gued his family for generations upon generations that had even seeped into his mentality and warped his image of self. Since a young age, he had been egged and bullied by his peers for his affliction, which was further worsened when his physical reforging of the self left his already sparkling scalp a lot more lustrous.

    After a while, he had be numb. However, when the two guests following him pointed out his only weakness, his suppressed frustrations started to boil over. They were weaker than him, how dare they make fun of him? He was on the verge of breaking out and teaching them a lesson they wouldn''t forget, even if they were guests of Elder Glista.

    But, they apologised. It wasn''t half-hearted - seething with disdain coated with a facade of sincerity. No, it was pure and from the heart. They didn''t intend to offend him and they meant it.

    The man coughed lightly and scratched his smooth head, "It''s fine. I''ve gotten used to it."

    "Anyways, we have arrived at the Archives."

    The man turned around and pointed at the door before him. They were currently well inside the mountain, probably somece close to its core. The Archive wasn''t a building, it was an excavated quarter, with a single entrance which was therge ingress in front of the group. The man approached the doors and ced a token from inside his cloak into a circr slot. The token lit up with a faint blue glow, which started to extend outwards extending into an intricate geometric pattern all across therge stone doors. With a booming growl, the doors slid inwards revealing a set of steps leading further into the mountain.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Only one of you can enter," the man emphasised. "Gaining ess to the Archives is a privilege, not one that is offered to outsiders such as yourselves. Even within the Sect, only those with years of service and achievements in their belts and with recognition from the Elders have ess to these Archives. Even though the Archives do not hold any sensitive grimoires or manuals, they hold intimate information about the history of our Sect. Therefore, you only have six hours to peruse whatever you like in there. When the time is psed, you will be immediately ejected from the Archives by the formations within."

    "I will be entering," Guy said. "While I am in there, can Student Reva here observe the rest of the Sect?"

    "The tokens given to you by Elder Glista give you full ess to most locations in the Sect," the man replied with a nod. "The token with respond negatively if a location is off-limits. Do not fight against it. Even Elder Glista cannot save you if you get into trouble."

    And with that established, the Master and Disciple split into their assigned tasks.

    ____

    "Six hours should be more than enough," Guy said out loud with palpable excitement. Although his mental faculties had risen after his advancement, they weren''t exceedingly beyond human limits. He could memorise more content verbatim than before, but the increase was somewhere between 200% to 300% of his initial capacity. His processing speed also rose by a simr amount, however all that should not be enough for him to internalise the mountain of books stored inside the Archive.

    Clearly, the Sect had a very rich history since there were rows upon rows of shelves each stacked full of simrly bound books. Although there was a sizeable amount in total, there weren''t as many as the number of books avable in the essible section of the library at the Radiant Academy.

    However, Guy had an advantage that others in his positioncked. ''Maybe except Jo Way...''

    That''s right, the RoK!

    Guy''s growing smile faltered as he recollected the suddenck of a certain entity in that arcanepartment of his soul.

    ''It''s fine. The RoK works exactly as it used to, with or without him...''

    After cleansing his mind of all distracting thoughts, Guy got down to scanning through the books once again. Compared to his time in the Academy''s library, there was a tighter time crunch that inhibited him from properly absorbing the content he was reading. Instead, Guy applied his speed-reading techniques to go through the book.

    Speed-reading was a skill Guy was thoroughly intimated with from his past life. He hadn''t applied it much in this iteration since it wasn''t necessary. And Guy was not fond of using that skill since it greatly detracted from the enjoyment ofpleting a book at a leisurely pace.

    There were many elements involved in bing an effective speed-reader. The first was achieving a steady reading pace. Oftentimes, the thing that slowed people down the most is when they lost track of where they were on a page, especially when reaching a line break. Following text simply with the eye wasn''t always tractable, it was also easy to get distracted when doing this. Guy tackled this problem by following the text with his index finger, just like how he taught Kano. The finger moved at a swift yet steady pace across the page like a typewriter.

    Another follymitted by novice readers was in repeating the content being read in their minds using their "inner voice". It is amon habit that, while allowing the reader to create a vibrant tapestry of voices and characters in their mind space, significantly hampers the reading rate. This took some time for Guy to suppress, but through repeated practice Guy learned how to shut down the voice orating the read content in his head.

    In addition to this, Guy learned that reading can be optimised if time isn''t being wasted in moving the pupils sideways to track the read text. Usually, when humans read a text of any kind, their pupils jerk between the ends of the sentence which is not efficient. Instead, by training the peripheral vision to absorb text at the start and end of a line while keeping the gaze affixed to the centre of the line, one can increase their reading speed.

    Through repeated practice, Guy optimised his speed reading skills. Some minor techniques he developed through this process include reading phrases as opposed to words, phasing out his retention when reading articles (''a'', ''an'', ''it'', etc.) and unimportant parts of speech, and only grasping at keywords and using intuition to fill in the nks. All in all, Guy had trained himself into a speed reading demon.

    After arriving in this world, Guy did give it a try and was pleasantly surprised to find that the process had be a lot easier. Thanks to the mana sense, he could now see EVERYTHING on a page without having to move his eyes. Thanks to his improved mental faculties and physique, he could scan through the text and flip pages at inhuman speeds. Although he wasn''t internalising the content as well as if he were reading it thoroughly, it was sufficient to replicate the book inside the RoK.

    Within a minute, Guy had already picked up and put back a book which was at least an inch thick. Through a rough calction, he was reading at around 160000 words per minute, which was at least double the world record for speed reading back on Earth!

    Guy''s eyes roamed over the shelves once again as his brain ran a few more arithmetic operations. "I should be able toplete 93% of the books in here. I should prioritise records on Sect operation, events and expenditures. I should leave the misceneous records till the end if I have time."

    He then cracked his knuckles and stiff neck before approaching the next book on the row of his current bookshelf and resumed his exercise in tedium.

 Chapter 172 Sects Of The Past, Present... And Future?

    The Cloudstrider Sect started some 5000 years ago - after the Age of Istion - making it one of the older sects in the scene. To that end, their Archive was chock-full of data crystallising their rich operating history and beyond.

    As Guy added more and more books into the RoK, he entered a fugue state of semi-consciousness. This was a first for him, a usual speed-reading session never took him to such a level of immersion. What he was experiencing at the moment was magical through and through.

    Imaginepleting a book and moving on to the next one. At that point, you would expect to have repressed the information umted from the first book to the back of your conscious mind as you focused on the current one. However, for Guy, it was as if everything he read before was ovepping with what he was reading at the moment. The effect kept getting stacked as he moved from one book to another. It could be likened to holding down on the sustain pedal while ying the piano. Guy wasn''t sure why or how this was possible, but he could confirm that it wasn''t a benefit gained from the RoK or the Church.

    Thanks to his current state, he could easily stitch together an intricate story as more content was being added to his repository. It was like each book in the Archive held a puzzle piece that could only be extracted by reading it to its entirety. With each piece obtained, a flourishing tapestry came into view.

    ''So sects are a rtively new concept?'' Guy eximed. ''Wait... 23000 years? That''s not new at all!''

    Before sects came into the picture, hierarchical congregations of unaffiliated warriors, mages, mercenaries and their ilk were called Adventurers'' Guild. ording to a historical text - if it could be called that given the rampant use of spective and exaggeratednguage - during the times of yore when the concepts of magic were still mystical and uncategorised, beings with the gift of magic often joined a union of some kind known as an Adventurers'' Guild where they worked by practising their magical trade in the form of quests. Each Adventurers'' Guild had a Guild Master who was often elected by members of the guild. They could be elected through a contest of strength or other talents such as management, connections or wealth. An Adventurers'' Guild operated within a particr region, which was their de facto region of influence. New guilds could be formed under the umbre of an existing guild or they could sprout off on their own. However, encroaching into the territories of other guilds generally ended in a conflict called a Guild War, at the culmination of which either the losing guild ceased to exist through total annihtion or assimtion into the winner.

    Guy found that these Adventurers'' Guilds shared a lot of simrities with the ones he''d read of in a lot of fantasy novels in his past life. Their function and mode of operation were extremely simr. However, Guy noted that there was very little simrity between an Adventurers'' Guild and a Sect apart from the fact that they were by definition, a congregation of mages. An Adventurers'' Guild had a generally t hierarchical structure. There was the Guild Master followed by a Vice-Guild Master or an Administrator, and then there were the rest of the members. The hierarchy amongst members was fluid and decided based on strength and fame. In a Sect, there were multipleyers of hierarchy, oftentimes to an exhausting degree. A Guild was not a ce for disseminating and teaching magic to others. This was usually performed through Master-Disciple dynamics. However, a Sect was also an institute for learning that cultivated new members. Many such dissimrities separated the Guilds of yore from the Sects of... yore. So that begged the question, how did these Adventurers'' Guilds transform to be Sects?

    The text went further to paint a picture of this transition. Because of the arcane nature of magic, only those with talent, bloodline, physique, or the ability to view the world with a skewed point of view could manifest powers. Those that couldn''t manifest magic naturally, could also learn it through a Master-Disiple rtionship. The issue, though, was that a Master that learned magic through intuition would find it difficult to exin it to a Disciple. Only those disciples with the intelligence to interpret their "genius" Master''s nonsense could seed in this case.

    Over time, as the disciples became masters and cultivated disciples of their own, their structured method of magic became more and more refined, reaching a point where arge group of individuals all shared the same form of magic. In this case, it was illogical for this group to affiliate themselves with a loosely structured guild with a hodge-podge of other characters. They found it prudent to create a "guild" of their own that could act as a vehicle to train more mages like themselves.

    In some instances, other groups of simrly trained mages decided to form alliances amongst themselves to form a multi-faceted "guild". Once these new "guilds" entered the scene, they quickly took the old guilds by storm. For one, the appeal of being able to learn and improve WHILE earning swayed people towards these new "guilds" who turned to call themselves sects as it was a more fitting name for their collective. During this transformation, a lot of other changes happened alongside. For example, the dichotomy between mages who applied magic externally (outside the body) and warriors who worked their magics internally (inside their body) was erased altogether. Ultimately, magic was magic no matter how mana was being used.

    ''It''s not a wholly unbiased recounting, but it is sufficient. Besides, knowing the history of sects, in general, does little to aid my cause.'' Guy concluded. ''I get what the guilds'' purpose was in the past. They acted as protection against magical threats. But what function do Sects have nowadays?''

    Through further reading, Guy found out that a sect''s purpose was also to offer protection against magical threats in its region, but with the government and ns catching up martially they had be somewhat redundant. The Cloudstrider Sect rarely initiatedrge-scale operations to eradicate hordes of dangerous magical beasts, or congregations of mages from an unorthodox magic practising sect.

    On a side note, sects operating within specific regions often congregated to form an alliance. In modern times, these regions were defined as the political boundaries between nations, and the sects within the boundaries sometimes even coborated with the government. The alliance officially recognised and "tolerated" by the empire was designated as the orthodox sects. The sects that the government opposed vigorously, generally due to horrendous practices, were called unorthodox sects. To borate on that point, a bandit camp of regr mortals was just a regr bandit camp. However, if the leader of the camp was a mage with decently advanced cultivation, and if one or more members of the group were also mages, the bandit camp would be an unorthodox sect by definition.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nowadays, though, not manyrge and powerful unorthodox sects proliferated in the Sr Empire. That is because criminals associated with unorthodox sects were subject to heavy policing and scorched earth preventative measures employed by the government, ns and sects. Thest true conflict that shook the entire region and motivated the orthodox alliance to make a move was the gue of Dark Cleansing. The Cloudstrider Sect happened to y a key role in chasing Ziva out of the region. They would have killed him, if not for the intervention from the ckstar Kingdom in the North.

    Now Ziva Lune operated his own sect in that region, which was incidentally ssified as an orthodox sect in that area even though he practised magic involving a tonne of grotesque human experimentation. Although the Cloudstrider Sect couldn''t impede into the region controlled by their neighbouring alliance, one of their current tasks revolved around tracking any unwee movement and invasions from their neighbours.

    Apart from that, the Cloudstrider Sect''s general operation was wholly nd - they didn''t even deign to undertakemon escort missions and protection missions for merchant caravans and other clients like the less renowned sects. Maybe it was because of its age and heritage, but as Guy progressed through the records, he found that the sect became less and less adventurous in its activities. It had essentially devolved into an endless cycle of recruitment, tournaments andpetitions, intermittent exploratory trips to quell the burgeoning poption of dangerous beasts.

    However, the Sect had to propagate somehow. To that end, the Sect conducted mass recruitments every ten years, sparser than the less prominent sects in the orthodox alliance. The sects nowadays had three divisions: Outer, Inner and Core. The horde that entered the Sect would be part of the Outer Division, where they would have topete against each other, to a brutal degree, to gain resources and advance in their cultivations. They wouldn''t receive any support apart from perfunctory lectures exining the base cultivation method. Only a measly 1% could get promoted to the Inner Division, at which point there was an even tougherpetition to gain the recognition of a sect elder to be their Disciple. That would qualify them as Core Division members, automatically moving them to a track for an elder position of some kind in the future.

    As Guy finished a record describing the day-to-day urrences in the Outer Division from the past year, his chest undted with disgust.

    ''They''re being treated worse than animals!''

    An Outer Division disciple was basically a ve. They were treated with no dignity by the Inner and Core members. Even amongst themselves, they had no camaraderie since only those with grit and cunning could umte enough resources to advance. Those that couldn''t advance were infinitely tethered to the Sect, forced to live the rest of their lives as indentured ves with no prospects. Most of the Outer Division members would die due to the unforgiving environment.

    ''They don''t even have the decency tomemorate their names?''

    They were all numbers. A footnote on the ledger. Only Guy could see the blood oozing from the ink that dotted the decimal defining the percentage of Outer Division member "turnover". It reminded Guy of a horrendous hypothetical experiment he had heard of in his past life. Basically, a pot was filled with a myriad of highly venomous creatures and closed shut. The pot was left as-is for days on end. The critters stuck within were forced to fight amongst each other for survival, surviving against the venomous strikes of their fellow prisoners. After much time passed, the lid would be opened to reveal the single victor of the bloodsport, the critter with venom to surpass all venoms. This was how the Sect''s Outer Division was being managed.

    ''I cannot run my sect like this... Not in good conscience...'' Guy reaffirmed.

    The Archives did not expand on the workings of the Outer Division beyond the basics. However, Guy could fill in the nks by himself, much to his disgust.

    Coincidentally, another individual was gaining a clearer view of the true treatment of Outer Division sect members first-hand.

 Chapter 173 Exploring The Sect (Part One)

    "You''re short! There are only three phials here, our agreement was for ten," a teenage boy dressed in a white robe with indigo and gold clouds embroidered on it chided with a disdainful frown on his face.

    "I''m sorry Senior. The collection has be much harder given the increase in the... demand. I believe there are three more members from the Outer Division reporting to Senior," another teenager responded with a painfully deep bow. He was garbed in a ck robe with simr embroidery minus the gold iys. The condition of the fabric was also miles behind that of the other boy''s, with frequent scuff marks and hastily patched up tears peppered around them.

    "Are you saying it''s my fault?" the white-robed boy shot back aggressively?

    "N-No-"

    Before he could respond, the ck-robed boy was grabbed by his hair and mmed to the ground. The white-robed boy looked around hastily before dragging the boy by his hair into an luded alley.

    "I believe I made myself pretty clear thest time," the sentence was paused as an audible punchnded on the ck-robed boy, in a region below his ribs. "You donate Body Tempering Potions to me, and I don''t hurt you."

    Another punchnded in the same location, eliciting a pained groan from the ck-robed teen.

    "I wouldn''t need to recruit more members from the Outer Division if you had done a better job. Are you satisfied with doing the bare minimum?" The question was followed by a kick toward the ck-robed teen, who was in the fetal position. "If you want to attract the attention of your superiors, you need to go above and beyond. What I gave you was a test."

    "Fucking Outer trash! Get this through your head. This is how cultivation works. It''s all about gaining benefits when possible," the white-robed teen bellowed maniacally. "If you want to get ahead, you need to step over a few heads in the process. Do you think every piece of shit entering the Outer Division gets to enter the Inner Division?"

    "Do you think this is unfair?" The boy asked sarcastically.

    "N..." a low mumble was heard. The attacker lowered himself into a squat and raised the beaten boy by his hair once again.

    "That''s right! You should be grateful! This Senior is simply teaching a lucky Junior such as yourself. So learn diligently, okay?" the white-robed exhorted with a snicker oozing with morbid enjoyment. "This is motivation. Do better!"

    Markus walked past the alley with his attention consciously averted from the one-sided beatdown urring within. The white-robed teen continued to pummel down on the nearly unconscious boy on the ground, making sure to avoid the most visible locations. Markus could only shake his head in disappointment at the oue of a series of events. He was disappointed at the fact that life in a Sect was no different than back in the Academy. In many ways, it was worse here because there was a clear differentiation in the hierarchy between those less capable and those more capable in cultivation.

    What the ck-robed boy was going through, Markus had suffered worse. He had been hurt for the pettiest of reasons, sometimes simply existing and breathing was enough to warrant an assault. One day, Markus simply looked at a girl in his cohort for a second longer than the norm. That also ended up with him getting shoved into the garbage collector. Not because the girl demanded it, but rather a few groups of teens his age, who had failed to attract the attention of the girl, took it upon themselves to punish anyone with "untoward" thoughts. No one came to save him that day. Passers-by simply lowered their heads and moved on, just like he was doing now.

    Sure Markus sympathised with the ck-robed boy''s plight. But he wasn''t in any position to interfere. For one, Markus was pretty sure that the way the ck-robed boy collected those three phials of potions was by meting out the same level of hurt to those around him. Secondly, Markus'' intervention would be inconsequential. He could stand up and condemn the assaulter, and then what? Markus was sure he was stronger than the assaulter - he could beat him. But the victory would be overshadowed with a gauntlet of confrontations with a Senior above his conquest, then another, then another, until finally, an Elder would descend on him with the fury of a thousand suns for a simple "sleight" that had grown out of proportions.

    An intervention was necessary, but not one that started from the trenches like this. If a change had to be made, it needed toe from the top. And in a world that listened only to the strongest, Markus'' voice would barely register as a whisper.

    Thus, to avoid attracting unnecessary conflict towards himself, Markus followed the cardinal rule of avoiding trouble: see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. He lowered his gaze and actively avoided seeing things directly. With his wider field of view after advancement, Markus simply allowed his mana senses to guide him. Everything he heard around him, entered through one ear and exited out the other. Finally, no matter what the case may be, Markus kept his lips sealed shut like a m.

    "It''s all a learning experience," Markus repeated to himself. After all, he was here only to observe, not interfere. His purpose here was to gather information for his Master''s sect - as a Disciple, he wasn''t here to make things harder for his Master. Everything good should be assimted, everything undesirable should be recorded and avoided.

    Therefore, Markus decided to put the ufortably rampant bullying within sect premises at the top of the ''Everything Undesirable'' list in his head. Speaking of difort, there appeared to be another kind of bullying he hadn''t yet experienced in his lifetime... bullying of the sexual kind. Not just men acting... ungentlemanly with women, but also women pushing themselves aggressively against other men all to gain benefits for themselves. Of course, the horned up male teens were unaware of the tant harassment they were facing, but Markus, as a third party, was extremely disgusted.

    "To use their bodies in such a way..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    After an exceedingly mountainous amount of effort, Markus finally tuned out all the other unpleasant disys around him to focus on more constructive things. His first stop was at a rather prominent building at the centre of the Sect which wasbelled as the Mission Centre. He could only enter and peruse the peripheral hall, which held a few sparse escort and extermination missions with a substantial payout. Most of these missions seemed to originate from well-known sources, primarily businesses that had a nationwide and international reach.

    Based on Markus'' knowledge, a Sect could generate ie through two main routes. The first, and most straightforward, is through these sorts of missions. The Sect would perform these mercenary works for contracting parties in return for payment. On the down low, certain sects are also known to take on contracts that walk the grey or ck paths such as theft, kidnapping or assassination. Usually, it is the unorthodox sects that proliferate in this market, but sects in the orthodox alliance are also known to dabble in these acts while maintaining usible deniability.

    Alternatively, a Sect could also earn money through its own side businesses. The Cloudstrider Sect is known for its highly potent ritual formations. Third parties can contract the Sect''s services to set up formations for defence, offence or general utility. Other sects offer their own speciality as a service or even other tangible resources obtained through mines or resource-generating infrastructures under their control.

    Markus took note of this aspect as he moved past the Mission Centre. Since the location acted as a central node of the entire Sect, moving on the rising path led Markus to the entrance to the Sect''s Inner Division.

    "Hold it! Identification," One of the armoured guards blocking the path demanded as they moved towards Markus. Markus bowed respectfully in return, causing the guard to lower his aggression slightly, before presenting the token on his person.

    The guard injected his mana into the token before tossing it back. A smug smile shed across his face for a microsecond, before it returned to a t frown. He then said, "Beyond this point is the personal quarters of the Inner Division members."

    As he terminated that statement, he walked toward Markus with an imposing aura. His bodynguage clearly implied opposition, while his words did not dictate it.

    Markus bowed once again before turning. As he did so, he noticed another guard approaching the man who turned him away. By gently sharpening his mana senses, Markus caught their conversation.

    "Wasn''t that Elder Glista''s token? Why did you turn him away?" The second guard asked.

    "I wanted to test and see what kind of a person caught Elder Glista''s attention," the first guard snorted in disdain and said, "Look at how weak he his? He didn''t even utter a peep, he just ran away with his tail tucked beneath his legs!"

    "What if he goes andins?" The second guard responded with a worried tone.

    "I never stopped him," the first guard retorted innocently. "The formations will have recorded every word spoken, they can testify that I never denied entry."

    The second guard chuckled and said, "You''re walking a tight rope."

    "Who cares? As long as I''m in Young Mistress Loras'' corner, it won''t be so easy to shake me."

    "Corruption," Markus shook his head in disappointment. This was another problem affecting such organisations. He had witnessed it back in the Academy as well, although it wasn''t so tant and bone-deep as here - where even the guards and peons had some form of "backing".

    Needless to say, apart from the Sect''s architectural heritage, Markus was thoroughly disappointed by everything he''d witnessed till now.

    "Maybe it was my own fault for keeping such high hopes," Markus sighed. "It''s all the same, no matter where you go."

    With an audible exhale and a dismayed shrug, Markus resumed his walk in the direction of the Outer Division.

 Chapter 174 Exploring The Sect (Part Two)

    Most of the "public" sections of the Sect were constructed outside the mountain, unlike the Archives. Thanks to that, Markus was able to enjoy the magnificent architecture in its entirety. It was the only thing he could do to distract himself from all the unpleasantness around him.

    Although he had tuned out the bullying and corrupt practices proliferating around him, he just couldn''t get himself to immerse into the Sect''s culture and ambience. For some reason, he kept feeling a sense of rejection pulsing inside him, urging him to leave immediately.

    Maybe it was the ustrophobic environment contrary to the wide-open nature of the Sect''s design. The precarious location and general unreachability evoked a sense of imprisonment - a feeling of being trapped. Markus had learned through strategic inquiries that Outer Division members weren''t allowed to leave Sect premises unless it was for a mission. The Inner and Core Division members had more leniency, however, they were also tethered to arge degree. Markus could guess that all those people would start feeling like animals trapped inside an isted cage.

    Markus had once heard of an experiment from his Master. It was about an isted room, filled with rats who would have every physiological need of theirs catered to. Food, water, a ce to sleep, the rats would have everything they could ever want. However, they were never allowed to leave the room. No rat could leave, and no other rat could enter. The experiment persisted for a very long time, over the course of which, the investigators tracked the changes in social dynamics urring within the cage.

    In the early stages, the rats were content - they flourished. But as time progressed, their indulgence started to falter, as a growing sense of depression started to prevail amongst the popce. A few rats secluded themselves in their personal spaces, avoiding interactions with others. Other rats devolved into their most base and violent instincts. The derangement ramped up very quickly after that point when rats started to attack and kill each other at the slightest provocations. The experiment ended in a bloodbath with only a few rats, who had lost their sanity, left alive.

    What Markus could feel permeating within the ironically fresh Sect air, was this foreboding sense of violence and depravity.

    "This isn''t a ce to learn!" It wasn''t conducive at all!

    The few locations where the teaching of some kind took ce were at theserge congregational buildings known as pavilions. These buildings were multifunctional, in that they operated as both repositories and storage rooms, as well as lecture and practice halls. For example, the Ritual Formation Pavilion was one of therger buildings in the Sect. It was only a short distance away from the Mission Centre as you descended the mountain.

    The Ritual Formation Pavilion had two architectural forms mated into one seamless structure. There was a towering section which also acted as the entrance and hall, as well as a t and wide section which acted as the practice area. After a long stretch of despondency, Markus was finally excited to explore an actual house of learning.

    However, after truly understanding the way the pavilion functioned, Markus was once again served a second scoop of disappointment.

    The pavilion operated by a pay-to-ess principle; not everyone could enter and benefit from its many features. If one wanted to ess the repositories, storage rooms, or practice halls, they had to submit a certain amount of internal currency known as ''Sect Merits''. The lecture halls were free to ess as long as a lecture took ce there, which was apparently very infrequent. For reference, thest lecture held there was six years ago. Entry to lecture halls was firste-first-serve, which was a fancy way of saying those with the most influence and strength would get the seats closest to the front.

    Returning to the concept of Sect Merits, the only way to earn these merits was by performing assigned tasks or missions. That''s right, although the missions offered a specific payout, the reward was fully appropriated by the Sect and the participants were awarded Sect Merits in return. These merits could then be turned in for certain benefits like essing these restricted sections in the many Pavilions in the Sect, essing the Sect''s main weapon cache, personal tutoring time with Elders, and so on.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Upon a cursory nce, the Merit system may seem like an exercise to encourage participation and a sense of belonging, however, Markus could see past the flimsy facade and understood its grim reality. Let''s say that a certain store sells a myriad of items, most of which aren''t avable anywhere else. However, instead of epting standard currency they only ept a special token. It is only possible to earn this token by performing tasks and missions for the store, or by exchanging circting currency. On paper, it looks like a system to cultivate membership and repeated purchases at the store.

    There is a special sword in this store that costs 1000 merits. Due to its uniqueness, there is no proper basis forparison, however, we can use its grade to set a baseline. To umte these 1000 merits, one may have to take on ten to fifteen missions with the store, or trade 500 gold coins. At this juncture, people would be immediately drawn towards the ten to fifteen mission requirement as it is perceived as more economic. However, if they were to take onparable missions from another client, they would earn at least two times the 500 gold requirement. Now, let''s assume that the store''s purchasing requirements are met, is the obtained sword even worth the 500 gold? Is it worth the harrowing missions where your life is on the line?

    This is how the Sect exploits the Merit system. By creating a false economy built on non-functional tender, they take advantage of the members to fill their coffers with actual money. It is all implemented so ingeniously, that the members don''t even feel that they are being exploited. Cleaning a pavilion would earn them some Merits. Performing collection tasks warrant Merit. Acting as sparring partners to Inner or Core division members gets you Merits.

    "This is literally vebour..." Markus sighed while shaking his head. This realisation soured his enjoyment of the Ritual Formation Pavilion, not that he could get anywhere inside to do it in the first ce. Even with the Elder''s token, he was barred entrance due tock of Merits. He faced the same opposition in the other pavilions littered around the Sect. Due to its age and heritage, many pavilions were catering to most of the known specialities in magecraft. Alchemy, enchanting, beast-taming, and even the so-called lesser fields like painting and so on. Although, none could match the grandiosity of the Ritual Formation Pavilion, primarily because it was what the Cloudstrider Sect was known for.

    The only other space where some form of pedagogy urred within the Sect was in the Martial-Arts Hall. Given that the Sect was just another mercenary corp washed with fancy colours, there had to be somece where new members were trained and brought up. What reason would there be for the Sect to take in scores of members at once if not to replenish their ranks and raise their strength both individually and as an organisation?

    The Hall was within a walled-offpound. Thankfully, there wasn''t a Merit paywall blocking him from exploring the ce. After circling the ce both outside and within, Markus found out that by design and implementation, it was a lot simr to the training fields back in the Academy. There were ces to practice weapon-craft, spellcasting, movement arts, and so on. There were also locations to exercise and meditate, as well as a multi-functional gym with free weights. Finally, just when Markus was getting excited, he collided against the formidable Merit barrier! Beyond a certain floor in the main building attached to the field, there were a series of special training rooms that, apparently, lengthened the perception of time by a substantial factor. Given the Sect''s proclivities towards unfathomable ritual formations, Markus was convinced that these rooms were time-dtion chambers that somehow affected the upants'' mental faculties either by dialling it up or actually affecting the fabric of spacetime. After inspecting the region with his spacetime vision, Markus did not observe any discontinuities, but it wasn''t enough to sway his earlier hypotheses.

    "Maybe rituals are blocking my view. I can''t discount either of them. Then again, it could also be somethingpletely outside of my theories. For that, though, I will need ess which will be impossible," Markus muttered to himself as he exited the building. Right at that moment, a series of loud cheers, boos and hisses unsettled the eerie silence looming in the area.

    Curious, Markus followed the noise around the Martial-Arts Hall and walked up a set of stairs. After circling a wide path around the mountain, Markus arrived at arge amphitheatre built into a muchrger excavation in the mountainside. The semi-circr amphitheatre was centred at a wide tournament-regtion stage. At the steep side of the mountain, which was at the back of the amphitheatre, there were a few more viewing tforms up high, probably for the more renowned spectators.

    The amphitheatre itself was filled nearly to the brim with people ranging from Markus'' age and above, all of whom were spectating an ongoing match between twobatants. Evidently, the match had been going on for a while since the spectators were feeling a bit antsy, and thebatants were bathed in blood and sweat. Yet neither showed any sign of forfeiting.

    Thest time Markus witnessed any regted fight of this kind was a bit more than a year back, which also happened to be his loss against Gaige.

    "Maybe I can use this chance as an opportunity to improve," Markus surmised as he shimmied towards a seat midways from the stage. ''Observing these spars could help me formte better strategies for myself during future conflicts.''

 Chapter 175 Power Struggles

    "Pathetic!"

    In the stands embedded in the cliff-side at the back of the auditorium, within one of the more borate covered viewing boxes, a girl barely into her mid-teens, spat out in disgust at the "embarrassing" disy below her. Her piercing blue eyes werenguid as they scanned over the two individuals confronting each other on stage. She shifted a strand of her void-ck hair draped over her eyes and on her marble-like smooth skin, behind her ear.

    "Why am I here again?" She eximed. "There are so many other vermin beneath me who can handle this!"

    "The Sect Leader asked for the Young Miss specifically," a deep male voice answered. From the shadows, an immactely dressed man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties stepped forth. He sported a perfectly trimmed blonde beard and moustache that connected with his golden-blonde hair. His square face was a shade paler than everyone else around him, and his hazel eyes betrayed his foreign heritage.

    "What have I done that''s gotten father so angry?" She snorted. "If this is his way to punish me for a mistake I''ve made, tell him that I am not impressed. How can I correct myself if I don''t even know what I''ve done wrong?"

    "This isn''t punishment," the man answered with a t tone. This entire time, his face had remained perfectly stoic. If not for the frequent yet imperceptible oscitions of his chest, one could easily confuse him for a statue.

    "Then?"

    The man remained silent and shared a meaningful gaze with the younger woman. Her eyes narrowed in response while her mind whirred into motion in an attempt to interpret the meaning behind the man''s cryptic stare. After a short minute, she exhaled loudly in annoyance andined, "Fuck it! I don''t care. I''m leaving!"

    "Young Miss..." the man pleaded without a waver in his voice.

    "Tell me, or I''m leaving."

    "The victors need to be awarded," the man reasoned.

    The girl clicked her tongue and shot back, "Not my problem."

    The man positioned himself in front of the retreating girl, blocking her path.

    "Are you sure you want to do this?" The girl threatened with a sneer. "You forget, Korr, that your life is not yours anymore."

    The man did not falter. "While this ve''s life is tethered to the Young Miss'', his allegiance is to the Sect Leader first."

    "It will be your word against mine, Korr," the girl said with a fake pout. She then proceeded to tear her dress from the cor while whimpering, "What would father do if he found out that his most loyal servant defiled his only daughter?" Her hands jerked wildly, revealing a set of immature lumps fixed in ce with a turn of sturdy cotton. "Maybe he won''t believe me, because I know he trusts you more than any of his own flesh and blood. BUT, do you think he will remain still after this news bes public? To him, is your life worth more than his face?"

    The man stared listlessly at the girl attempting to put on a solo-act, without moving a muscle.

    The girl looked pointedly at the statue of a man for a charged minute, before lowering her hands casually. As she did so, her torn clothes started to regenerate at a visible pace, immediately covering her up. "You''re no fun. Now stop wasting my time and tell me why I''m here?"

    "The victors need to be awarded," the man repeated while nudging an overlooked stack of papers on the table next to the girl. Her eyes followed suit and perused through its contents. Midway through, her mouth widened into a knowing smile, before settling at a confused frown.

    "He wants me to build up my own force of loyalists? Why?" The girl inquired. "Does he want me topete with my elder brothers?"

    The man nodded.

    "What use is dipping into the Outer Division for this? Shouldn''t I be corralling support from the Inner Division?"

    "The Young Miss must already know that the First and Second Young masters have already cornered all the impactful members from the Inner and Core Divisions."

    "Then what''s the point?" The girl sighed.

    The man paused and gazed into the distance. "When prey is cornered, that is when it is the most dangerous. With a well-ced bite at the jugr, even a rabbit can kill a distracted lion."

    "Are youparing me to a bunny?" The girl chuckled.

    "This ve asks the Young Miss to evaluate the proposition," Korr emphasised.

    "I know, I know. Elder brothers have becent. Their y at session has be a childish tug of war. The Sect has be stale. The Elders bicker amongst each other, the Inner and Core Divisions are filled with wastrels and yes-men. Father wants me to add fuel to the fire by shaking up the bnce in the upper divisions and raising prospective supporters brimming with the fire of ambition. That''s why he is willing to give me ess to all of these weapons, potions and manuals as a reward for this tournament," the girl said while pointing at the stack of papers.

    "But the fact remains, why me and why now?" She added. "I''ve been actively staying out of this power struggle for a reason. Why would I voluntarily jump into a pool of headaches by bing the Sect Leader?"

    "The confidence that Young Miss just disyed is part of the reason," Korr replied. "The Young Miss will be more sessful and more capable of raising the Cloudstrider Sect to new heights."

    "Are those your words or fathers?"

    "This ve believes that the answer is irrelevant. What matters more is whether the Young Miss is willing to step on this path? As the Young Miss already stated, sess is a foregone conclusion after all."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The girl revealed a savage grin that warped her pure face and said, "If father really intends to go ahead with this, he must be aware of how I operate. Blood will be spilt. A lot of it."

    "What must be done-" The man stopped mid-sentence and jerked his head towards a specific location in the bleachers. His unperturbed face cracked with a frown and his eyes narrowed.

    "What''s the matter?" The girl inquired.

    "I sense Elder Glista''s token in the crowd," the man extended his index finger and pointed toward an individual in the crowd. "That boy."

    "Ha! He stands out like a sore thumb in a sea of ck," the girl snorted. "How does he blend in so well? No one''s even noticed his presence."

    Korr''s frown deepened. "He''s passively manipting the surrounding mana to block his sound and smell, as well as redirecting the light rays reflecting from him. Apart from that, his aura - or sense of presence - ispletely suppressed."

    "Passively? Without spellcasting?" The girl eximed in surprise. "If I remember correctly, that Battle Maniac pushed for two all-ess tokens. If one is here, where is the other?"

    "The second should be in the Archives."

    "WHAT?!" The girl bellowed in anger. "That old man acts as though the Sect is his - the Archives hold the history and workings of our Sect and he just let a stranger haveplete ess to it? He dares to ask for not one but two all-ess tokens with no reasoning whatsoever. Is this Sect his personal yground?"

    "Elder Glista is a key pir of the Sect," Korr reminded. "He doesn''t ask for much-"

    "But when he does, it''s something monumental like this! The man needs to be put in his ce," The girl scratched her chin in thought before continuing. "Since I will have to stake my im for the leadership, I must achieve something exemry to stand-out."

    Her lips parted with a ruthless grin as she wetted her lips with her tongue. She extended her finger and traced the boy''s face in mid-air yfully, "He shall be the first stepping stone. Tell me about him, Korr!"

    Being in the Core Formation realm, Korr had little difficulty extending his mana sense to |Inspect| thed. "Foundation Establishment realm, Base stage, just like the Young Miss. By my estimate, fourteen to fifteen years old. He should be affiliated with Teacher Jeeves-"

    "The ''Polymath''? I thought the Battle Maniac and Al Jeeves were bone-deep rivals? He would do a favour like this to the man that defeated him?" The girl scoffed. "How is the boy rted to Al Jeeves?"

    "Student or a Disciple. His muscture indicates that he has little to no experience with martial arts."

    "So he takes after his Teacher."

    "Unfortunately, from what I could gather by sensing his cultivation, it isn''t something I have experienced before," Korr concluded while shaking his head.

    "It matters little," the girl dismissed. "The Deceitful-Mist desmanship is devised to specifically counter spellcasters."

    "How does the miss wish to proceed?"

    "If the boy IS intimate with Teacher Jeeves, he will be smart and not fall for a direct provocation. He needs to be cornered into a confrontation," the girl muttered. After a short pause to formte a n she turned to Korr and rattled out a series of instructions.

    "This ve shall make it so," Korr bowed and turned to leave.

    "Wait!" the girlmanded. "Activate the Life-and-Death Formation."

    "Young Miss!" Korr rebutted.

    "Are you worried that I will lose the confrontation?" The girl challenged.

    "That isn''t so. It is unadvisable to mortally wound Elder Glista''s guest-"

    "I know! Don''t treat me like an idiot!" She snapped back. "The boy will definitely surrender before the match even begins. The Life-and-Death Formation assures the start of the match. After that, I will just have to make my move before he can audibly throw the towel. Once the blows are exchanged, he won''t have the sense to extricate himself from the fight."

    "But Young Miss, once the Life-and-Death Formation is initiated, it cannot be stopped."

    "That is unless someone in an Elder''s position interferes," the girl hinted mysteriously.

    "This ve understands," Korr nodded affirmatively. "This ve shall make it so."

    And with that said, Korr disappeared in a haze sh. The girl stroked her chin and licked her lips once again as a sense of morbid intoxication washed over her. "It''s been some time since by de has spilt blood. You poor boy, don''t disappoint me."

 Chapter 176 Defense

    "Is that the best you''ve got?!"

    "Not by a long shot! Try defending this!"

    Markus observed the fight on stage with an unwavering gaze. The twobatants collided once again, one sword against another, causing a small shockwave to spread out. Both of them appeared to be on the verge of copse, one with a fractured arm and another with multiple shattered ribs, both of which could easily be fixed with a small sip of a regenerative potion.

    In his time as a mage, Markus had only ever participated in a handful ofbat scenarios. Of those cases, only one truly pushed him to apply his strengths to their fullest and that was against Gaige. So, it wasn''t a stretch to admit that Markus was inexperienced inbat, and this conclusion did not sit well with him. Even though his Master emphasised the art of dialogue in resolving conflicts, what of Markus'' goals in walking the mage''s path? What guarantee was there that every conflict could be solved by a civilised discussion? At the end of the day, when spells start flying and weapons start swinging, even the most well-crafted of words cannot stop heads from rolling.

    ''I don''t think martial arts are the way to go, though,'' Markus wondered. Although back in the Academy, he was put through a basic course of martial arts andbat training, it wasn''t anything special that resonated with him. It was a generic set ofbat arts, which wasn''t even thoroughly exined. His cohort was provided with an instruction manual and was assigned a set time period during each day to practice the sequences defined in it. There would be an instructor only in name, as they never intervened in any way. One must know that the starting cohort in most Academies, like in sects, was sizeable and there were a lot of heads to go around. The expectation during these early stages was to filter out the weaker "investments". During the martial training sessions, peers wouldpete against each other through spars, some in good faith and others with malicious intentions. Markus was unfortunately subjected to thetter since his proficiency wasn''t inbat and was thus generally slower in grasping the movements.

    Gaige had his own unique martial art that meshed with his cultivation. Markus wasn''t disappointed or envious of that because his path did not require him to hold a cold weapon or propel his arms and legs against his opponents. His weapon was the humble forearm-length piece of wood that his Master had crafted for him, and his mind.

    His Master would often jokingly say that "a mage must always be prepared."

    No matter the situation, a mage MUST have a solution handy. An unprepared mage is a dead mage. It was due to this mantra that Markus perpetually carried a handsfree belt-satchel, and the Grimoire crafted by Teacher Jeeves on his person. In the satchel, he would store phials and containers of useful resources that could aid him during spellcasting or allow him to escape. The Grimoire contained all the information he would ever need.

    With this said, why was Markus so engrossed in the fight? Markus'' primary goal here wasn''t to learn to fight from thebatants, but to formte possible countermeasures should he have to confront the two in the future. Markus'' mind constantly ran simtions that pitted himself against the opponents and recreated every move, spell and attack. If he couldn''t determine a countermeasure within the time the attack took to hit him, he would note it down mentally so that he could address it at ater time.

    Thebatant with the fractured hand leapt back to separate himself and immediately spun around while shing his sword. As he did so, the metal started to glow a dangerous turquoise shade and a wave of wind swept forward. The otherbatant wasn''t prepared for that - he expected his opponent to continue an exchange of sword attacks at close range. The separation agitated his rib injury, causing a momentarypse in concentration. The gush of sharp air hit him on his shattered ribs, tearing his already tattered clothes and shoving him backwards forcefully. With a pain-filled scream, the teen rolled off the stage and copsed unconscious.

    While a few attendants immediately rushed towards the injuredbatants and administered first-aid, Markus pondered over thest attack. It may look simple on the surface, but he could see that the wind de that was projected forward was a highlyplex spell when observed at a closer level. Theplexity came from the fact that there were multiple minor wind des formed by small eddies within the projected gust which added shredding action to the attack WITHOUT breaking up the gust as a whole.

    The question was, could he have defended against that attack? The answer was yes, he could have defended that attack because it originated from a mage in the Mana Condensation realm. The amount of mana behind the attack was low, and the mage''s mana domain was abysmal. Markus could easily overpower that gust before it even left the sword. However, Markus took the inquiry to the next level by amplifying the attack to match that of a Foundation Establishment realm mage. Could he have defended against one like that?

    There are many ways to protect and defend oneself against attacks, both physical and magical. However, we can categorise these methods into tworge buckets: Passive and Active defence. Passive defence involves the use of enchanted gears, defensive rituals, innate bloodline and physique advantages, and so on. These are protective measures that persist in the background and do not require the mage to divert their attention in maintaining it. Active defence involves the use of physical or magical defence measures that the mage must consciously maintain for it to remain effective.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When ites to defending with magic, the answer can fall somewhere between two ends of a spectrum. You can have a sweeping defence that covers all bases, or you can have a specialised defence that is perfect for the attack you intend to block. The easiest way to define the two is by using physical defence mechanisms as a basis forparison. Two warriors with a sword and shield each enterbat. The first warrior swings their sword with a sidewards sh. The attack is telegraphed and the defender is faced with two options, they could either raise their shield to block the attack or they could use their own sword to parry the attack and follow it up with a shield bash to gain the advantage.

    Immediately, the difference is evident. The shield block is a sweeping defence. Although it is effective, it is wasteful. The blocker has to take the shock from the attack, and they do not gain any advantage from the defensive manoeuvre as the initiative is still in the attacker''s hands. However, there is a higher guarantee of sess. On the other hand, a party is more efficient, but sacrifices the guarantee and is also heavily reliant on the blocker''s skill. Yet, upon a sessful parry, the initiative is turned over to the defender.

    A mage has a blocking spell in their arsenal known as |Ward|. There are variations of the spell such as |Lesser Ward|, |Greater Ward|, |Ward Wall|, and so on that build upon the spell. Essentially, the mage puts up a multiyered mana shield to physically block the attacks. Sometimes, the shield can be infused with special elemental capabilities to counter specific elemental attacks - |Hydrous Ward| for fire-based attacks and so on|. The greater the proficiency with the spell, the greater the number ofyers and the stronger the defence. It was simple and fit the purpose. However, the downside here was that a |Ward| spell consumed mana when active, and was proportional to the damage it sustained. Furthermore, just like shield-blocking, it is extremely difficult for the defender to gain the initiative inbat through this method.

    Moving towards the other end of the spectrum, the defensive maneuvres get increasingly more intricate and specialised while bing more efficient in their mana usage and in their capacity to gain the initiative. Take the |Fireball| as an example: a simple |Lesser Ward| can effectively handle the attack. However, a more specialised solution would be to create a vacuum region along the path of the projectile to dissipate the ball of burning gas. Moving further, it is also possible to manipte the surrounding air to redirect the attack to another trajectory. At the furthest end of the spectrum, one can create a piercing gust of wind that rotates counter to the |Fireball| which uses the energy of the attack to ignite itself, essentially turning the iing |Fireball| into an outgoing |me Lance|. As evident, the amount of mana and resource required to initiate the defence maneuvres decreases while the skill requirement increases.

    The goal of a skilful mage is to find the perfect bnce in the spectrum. Even if one manoeuvre is highly efficient, it requires the application of a lot of mental processing power. Is the investment sensible in the long run? Sometimes, a less efficient defensive manoeuvre is preferable if it can protect against multiple attack patterns.

    These were the kinds of questions Markus was cycling through in his mind at that moment. This exercise was a practice to hone his instincts and make him a superior mage.

    The reason why martial arts were created was that there is an upper limit to the base instincts of humans. A beast in the same cultivation realm as a human is a lot stronger because their instincts are superior. To bridge this gap, humans created martial arts to artificially hone their innate instincts and train their bodies to react to specific scenarios.

    For a mage that uses their mind forbat, the procedure to hone their instincts involves constant mental conditioning through reasoning and debate. The goal is to train the mind to arrive at the correct conclusion in a highly stressful scenario, just like breathing and blinking.

    Right as Markus devised an optimal defence against the wind attack, the stage was cleared. Then, from the viewing stand embedded into the mountainside, a figure leapt out and descended. The figure glided through the air gracefully, like a leaf floating in the wind, andnded casually on the stage.

    Markus'' eyes nced at the figure''s face and widened in horror.

    The reaction was an instinct ingrained into his soul. The girl''s expression, her aura and bearing, and her ssical beauty, all of these featuresbined caused multiple rms to re in his mind.

    ''I have to leave!'' Without hesitation, Markus lowered his head and started to scoot out from his spot. Unfortunately, his exit was blocked by the agitated youths around him.

 Chapter 177 Bait, Funnel, And Trap

    "It''s Cleo Loras!"

    "That''s her? She''s so beautiful!"

    The men whooped in a low tone and slobbered at the appearance of the beauty, while the women revealed a false smile to hide their quivering sneers.

    ''I have to leave. NOW!'' Markus''s mind red at him earnestly.

    "And with that, the Outer Division Ranking Tournamentes to a close," the girl spoke with a pleasant, sing-song voice. The crowd around Markus turned silent and everyone assumed their seats.

    ''Shit! I can''t leave now or else I will stand out.'' Markus too sat down in his spot. His instincts were telling him to brace for the worst.

    "The results will be deliberated by the panel of judges and the rankings will be posted soon. Before we end today''s event, I would like to offer an opportunity to those present here today. I am opening the floor up to a challenge, anyone here can challenge me to a duel right now. If you are in a lower cultivation realm, I will suppress myself to match you. As an ante, I will put up this-"

    The girl waved her hand and a few attendants brought in a mound of ore.

    "- Red Moloch ore. For those that do not know of it, Red Moloch is a highly malleable and silky metal often used for protective apparel worn by spellcasters. It is highly resilient to extreme temperatures, and is capable of dissipating most physical attacks."

    The crowd started to murmur andmented on the rarity of the ore. Based on the conversation, it appeared to be an extremely scarce mana metal, found only within the volcanic abode of an ancient Phoenix that resided on an isted ind in the Toroid Ocean to the East.

    "How generous," Markus muttered involuntarily.

    "Indeed! Miss Loras is the kindest person in the Sect," a fawning teen affirmed.

    ''Too generous,'' Markus repeated. This was a disconcerting sign. When things appeared to be too convenient, coincidental, or generous, there was always something morbid brewing behind the scenes. Someone was up to something. Markus did not believe the praises showered by the surrounding men one bit. ''The girl has an agenda, and I don''t want to get involved in it!''

    "The duel will follow standard rules of engagement," the girl continued. "So, who''s interested."

    As expected, no one was willing to step up. No matter how tempting the reward may be, even the most hormonally charged boys in the crowd could smell a scheme from a mile away. It was just too good to be true. In addition to that, no one wanted to cross weapons with the daughter of the Sect Leader, no matter how kind and amicable they were.

    "Well, that''s awkward," the girl shrugged. "Since no one here is willing to give me face, even after I''ve brought out such an amazing reward, I guess I will have to step up myself. Let''s see who the lucky one will be."

    Silence prevailed in the audience for an ufortably long time as the girl waved a finger around the crowd randomly with her eyes closed. At that instant, the roaming hand narrowed andtched on to Markus'' hunched figure.

    "You over there! Yes, I shall fight you!"

    ''Fuck!''

    Markus immediately edged behind the person in front of him to break the line of sight between the girl and himself.

    ''She was after me all along! But why? Does this have anything to do with what Teacher Jeeves warned us about?''

    Unfortunately, the teen in front of Markus had the same idea, and moved out of the way, revealing Markus'' cowering figure.

    "I don''t think I have seen you here before," the girlmented with a confused expression. "Nheless, you shall be my opponent."

    Markus stood up awkwardly and said, "Hello. I am Markus Reva. I am simply a guest to the Sect. I don''t think it is fair to the Sect members for me to participate in this duel, especially given the rarity of the reward."

    "Nice to meet you Markus! It is only unfair if you win, are you so sure that I will lose?" The girl said while smiling coquettishly.

    "I apologise if my words were offensive, that was not intentional," Markus responded while bowing lightly.

    "Well, there''s nothing to it. Come on up!"

    "I would like to decline," Markus answered.

    The girl frowned and said, "Unfortunately, that is no longer possible. You see, in the Cloudstrider Sect there is a rule that if a challenger calls out to someone for a duel, they must ept."

    Markus looked around and saw a plethora of confused expressions stered across the audience members'' faces. He knew immediately that this was a bogus rule made up to trap him into epting the fight. So without a second thought, Markus answered, "In that case, I shall ept and forfeit."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The duel does not start until the challenged alights the stage and the match is officially started," The girl retorted.

    Markus grit his teeth and tried to escape, however, the instant he tried to take a step backwards, something stopped him from physically doing so. It was like an invisible string holding him in ce. So, Markus was left with no other option than to move forward. With each step taken, the string holding him shortened as well, disallowing any form of escape.

    He trudged unwillingly, with heavy steps, towards the vast tform at the base of the amphitheatre. The world around him had turned silent, or maybe it was just his perception. His heart started to palpitate at a fever pace. His memory of his greatest loss on a simrly public stage started to resurface in his mind.

    ''The match will begin, and I will surrender,'' Markus repeated to himself. ''I cannot fall for her trap.''

    Markus approached the steps leading up to the stage and exhaled to calm himself. ''I will surrender. There is no need to fight.''

    Yet, the moment his feet touched the first steps, a change transpired in his psyche unbeknownst to him, ''Why must I surrender?''

    He took another step, ''Wasn''t losing once to that guy enough? Must I put myself down again?''

    With the final step, he was on the tform, ''I will win. I must win. Because I can WIN!''

    Markus'' calm gaze was immediately washed over with a burning passion.

    The girl smirked internally as she saw the change transpire before her eyes. The boy who was wearing a stoic and impassive expression of a mature mage warped to match the fiery arrogance of those hotheaded youths. Her y had seeded! Before descending on stage, Cleo hadmanded Korr to initiate the Life-and-Death Formation that tethers a challenger on stage with a challenge within the confines of the amphitheatre. The tether only works if the two are within the same cultivation realm, and makes it so that the challenged is left with no exit apart from entering the stage and waiting for the match to begin. The second formation was one less known amongst the Sect members, and that was the Irrationality Formation.

    A rather peculiar ritual formation that subtly affects the target''s mind to lower their sense of preservation and rationality, and causes them to err to the side of imprudence. It doesn''tpletely turn a target into an instinct and rage-fuelled animal, but it moves those suppressed instincts to the forefront. As evident here, Markus was the target of this formation, without his consent. This was Cleo''s ace in the hole. She had an inkling that the boy would turn tail at the first sight of confrontation.

    Ironically, if Markus had simply taken the bait earlier, the formation wouldn''t have been activated and he could have easily surrendered a few seconds into the fight. However, because of his hesitance, he was now caught in a.

    Markus stood at the starting location at his end of the stage, and Cleo assumed her position as well.

    "Draw your weapons," the referee dered.

    Cleo drew out a think one-handed, curved de which had a sharp and blunt edge. The metal was a translucent cyan colour, with a hilt with golden base and leader handle bindings, and a pommel with three gems embedded in it. Cleo twirled the de in one hand and held it behind her, with a seemingly lowered guard.

    Markus in turn retrieved his wand hanging to his side and utched his Grimoire, which floated open to his side.

    "Are you sure you want to use a wooden weapon?" Cleo taunted with an innocent pout. "You don''t have to go easy on me, big brother!"

    "We are the same age, Miss Loras, you can call me by my name. And do not worry, I won''t go easy on you," Markus answered. He cringed internally the moment she used the term ''big brother''. Unlike when Dora called him that, Cleo''s tone oozed with subtle toxicity. It was extremely unpleasant to the ears.

    ''It is as Korr predicted - a spellcaster. It looks quite... small, but it definitely has the appearance of a magical staff. Although, the gem is at the base, unlike a regr staff where it''s at the tip. Regardless, it shouldn''t cause me much trouble, since it''s only an unattuned gem. The spell that it can cast must be a in type. The floating book does not appear to have any offensive functionality, but I cannot discount it just yet,'' Cleo thought internally. ''What am I worrying about? This duel will be finished before it even starts! I just need to elongate it enough till Elder Glista gets here. Let''s hope this onests that long.''

    ''Although she doesn''t use the sword like Gaige, I should be able to adapt to her attack patterns. Unlike him, I predict her speciality should be in speed-basedbat. After analysing the pattern of the many previousbatants, it seems that the cultivation in this Sect leans towards either hard-initiation decapitation attacks or hit-and-run attrition attacks. Her stance appears rxed, which means that she is either confident in her chance of victory, or she has nobat sense. I doubt thetter to be true, seeing as she lured me into this duel. Regardless, I cannot take any chances.''

    The referee raised the g.

    ''Satisfy me, Markus!'' Cleo thought to herself, as a savage smile bloomed on her face.

    ''I will win!'' Markus repeated as he tried to contain his aggression.

    "BEGIN!"

    Cleo initiated the first stance in the Translucent-Mist de Technique, |Dispersion Step Strike|. She would essentially disperse from her current position, turning into mist, while appearing behind her enemy for a serene strike. This was how the attack would appear to the public, when in fact it was a derivative of the |sh Step|, a basic weaponbat technique that requires the user to saturate their lower body muscles with mana in short and powerful bursts. The difference between that and the |Dispersion Step Strike| was that this method integrated it into the illusory overtones of the |Cryptic Cloud| cultivation technique.

    If sessful, she would inflict high damage on Markus from the get-go, immediately cing him in a disadvantageous position. Cleo was confident this attack would seed. Her muscles twitched in preparation. But right as her feet were about to leave the ground, her step faltered. It wasn''t due to fear or a mistake. Cleo had no idea how it even happened. It was as though she had underestimated her own weight. That should be impossible - how can she make such a mistake? After many hours of practice drilling the motion into her muscles, the mistake should not have happened!

    "Wha-"

    BOOM!

 Chapter 178 Exchange Of Pointers

    Cleo was caught mid-sentence, as a |Fireball| collided against her. It was thanks to the warding enchantments on her attire that most of the damage was mitigated.

    "Thi-"

    BOOM!

    Cleo''s eyes widened in shock. Just as the smoke from the previous attack cleared in front of her, she saw three spell circles, covering onerger circle, spinning rhythmically around Markus'' wand-bearing hand. The one at the centre produced another |Fireball| of identical size and propelled it without pause. This time, Cleo was prepared. She immediately activated a |Lesser Ward| and blocked the iing attack.

    Right as the |Fireball| dissipated over the ward, another one rushed towards here. Cleo was dumbfounded. ''Is he trying to end it quickly by overpowering me with spells?''

    ? She gritted her teeth and blocked the attack once again, only to field another one, then another one, and another one. The barrage of |Fireball| spells was unending and relentless. No matter how she dodged the spell, her path would be intercepted by a |Fireball|.

    ''I can oust him, as long as I keep my pressure up within the ovepping domain, he should be expending more mana to propel the |Fireball| spells,'' Cleo concluded. Although the attacks hadn''t physically hit, it was an exhausting endeavour to dodge, weave and block. What she thought would be a trivial victory had turned into arduousbour.

    However, her ns wouldn''te to pass. ''His tempo hasn''t changed. He isn''t exhausted. And I can''t feel his influence in my mana domain at all! Why isn''t the Fire Mana being agitated with all these |Fireball| spells flying around?''

    If the other Guy were here, he would preach that Markus'' spellsmunicate directly with the Truth of the World. Without the need for borate lies, the world does half the work for you. To top it off, Markus was barely tapping into his mana pool to cast these |Fireballs|. By offsetting the cost ofbustion with a more efficient fuel called Nitor, he could go on for days.

    Over the past year, Markus had updated the resources stored in his hands-free belt satchel, inrge part thanks to his Junior Sister''s assistance and rmendations. Nitor, for instance, is an alchemical intermediate ingredient created by concentrating the "burning" nature of coals. In other words, it''s a type of alkane with an extremely high carbon constituency. Naturally, such a hydrocarbon is unstable, however, thanks to a few trivial steps, it is possible to create it inrge quantities. Inparison, a small pinch of Nitor powder is equivalent to two hand-sized chunks of coal.

    ''I can''t keep this up, I''m just exhausting myself,'' Cleo concluded. ''I need to cover the distance.''

    Cleo centred herself and allowed a few |Fireball| spells to collide against her enchanted gear. Then, by lowering her frame, she weaved through the sessive onught and managed to reduce the distance between herself and Markus. Since the start, she had barely managed to move from her initial position. Even if she moved sideways, forwards or backwards, Markus would reposition himself to maintain the separation while pushing her back to the starting point. However, through expert maneuvring, she was now midway.

    With another leap, she was a de''s length away from Markus. He could no longer cast |Fireball| lest he hurt himself. Cleo could metaphorically taste his blood at this point, but then it happened again. She miscalcted her push through an overestimation. She pushed too hard, and instead ofnding within her de''s engagement distance, she was an arm''s length away. At this position, she could not follow through with the sideward sh that she had prepared. She would have to either strafe backwards or switch to a body attack to push Markus into her engagement distance.

    These calctions urred within her head within split seconds. However, she knew she had lost her advantage. And Markus capitalised on this. The spell circles on his hand dispersed and new ones took their ce. The change was near-instantaneous, well beyond the level of most mages in this cultivation realm. Furthermore, although she was at this close distance, she could still not make heads or tails of the simple yet functional designs within. Markus pushed his empty hand against Cleo''s left chest and jabbed the wand under her chin. From the hand that contacted her chest, bloomed another spell circle.

    Then, all of Markus'' hair rose towards the sky, and sparks started to burst from them. Within Cleo''s mana domain, she perceived a change. It was rapid and pervasive. In an instant, a sharp smell assaulted her senses, which was immediately followed by a rush of lightning flowing through her. It was an intense shock that undted within her, spasming her muscles and organs. She lost control of her body in intermittent bursts. It was humiliating, not just theck of control, but the fact that this interloper justid his hands on her!

    ____

    What Cleo didn''t know was that the hand ced over her left breast may have saved her life. Markus was actively rerouting the flow of current through her nerves away from the heart. Good thing too, because he had vastly underestimated the concentration of ions in the atmosphere at such an altitude. His early trials back at the orphanage, it was much milder. He could only imagine the utter misery Cleo was going through as her neuralwork was overloaded causing all of her voluntary and involuntary muscles to go haywire. The constant surge to her brain should have also interrupted her thoughts.

    ''Hopefully, she won''t die...''

    Then again, someone would interfere if things got to that point. Markus had learned from his mistakes in the past. He could not show any mercy in a moderated duel. Thest time he did that, he lost miserably.

    With that in mind, Markus ramped up his attack and activated another set of spell circles, using the phial of sulphur in his satchel as the source. A mist of sulphuric acid formed around him, drenching the electrocuted girl. The distributed nature of the attack overwhelmed her attire''s warding enchantments, and began eating into her clothes, hair, and skin, turning them a dirty yellow shade. In the beginning, her clothes started to regenerate, with the help of the enchantments within. But after a few more distributed acid attacks, the regeneration could no longer keep up and ceased working altogether.

    ''This should be enough, right?'' After a casual ten minutes, Markus pondered whether to stop the shock attack. He hadn''t tried it on another human yet, so he didn''t know if this was enough to incapacitate her. Furthermore, her appearance had also deteriorated drastically after her unceremonious acid bath. It kind of hurt Markus'' conscience to watch her suffer like that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, Markus stopped the |Acid Mist| spell and targeted the makeshift ck powder in his satchel. He activated a short burst of anti-gravity to reduce Cleo''s weight and shoved her forward, causing a disconnect in the flow of current. Then, with a quick cast of |Explosion| he propelled her further.

    Cleo flew through the air andnded like a ragdoll at the far end of the stage.

    "Umm... Do I win?" Markus asked the dumbfounded referee. The man, in turn, gulped and looked at the wrecked body of the girl. He was given instructions to not stop the match even if anyone surrenders. So, after dabbing his sweating forehead, he said, "Thebatant isn''t incapacitated. The match will continue!"

    "FUCK!" A hoarse voice bellowed. Cleo coughed audibly as she stumbled to stand up. She turned to face Markus, with deathly rage bursting out of her eyes. The fact that her appearance had tattered to match a jaundiced person withrge porous burn scars and disintegrating clothes simply amplified her murderous aura further. Thest surge of electricity prior to her propulsion had caused her hairs to mat up and protrude outwards, adding a maddened garnish to her aesthetic.

    "YOU-" The girl waved a trembling finger towards Markus as she prepared to spit out a series of insults. However, she was immediately interrupted by a mouthful of |Fireball|. The barrage was relentless. Cleo hurriedly activated one of the enchantments on her de, causing it to shine a bright cyan. She then sliced through the iing |Fireball| causing it to split midways.

    "AAAARGGGHH!" She shouted as she continued to slice through the |Fireball| spells. As she gained proper footing, Markus raised his right foot and activated a spell circle at his sole. He brought it down, eliciting a hollow booming noise that vibrated throughout the stage.

    Without stopping the fire attacks, Markus continued to rhythmically raise and lower his foot. With each drop, the booming noise rang louder and louder, until suddenly Cleo could physically observe the ground wave as though it were made of water.

    With another drop, the wave gained a massive boost in amplitude, causing her to be pushed off the ground. Now off-bnce, Markus ceased the fire barrage and started to umte a |Great Fireball| on his open hand with his wand pointing at it. The swirling ball grewrger by the second before Markus immediately released it towards the hovering Cleo.

    "ENOUGH!" Cleo screamed as she swung her one-handed de with both her hands grasping the hilt. With a mightly slice, the |Great Fireball| was dissipated. However, Markus anticipated it and followed the attack with an |Explosion| which hit her right in the face while she was recovering from the exhausting defensive manoeuvre.

    Cleo staggered as she tried to stop herself from copsing. Markus could see her chest rising and falling, as she tried to catch her breath.

    "Is the match over?" Markus inquired, seeing as the girl explicitly called ''enough''.

    "HOW DARE YOU! I WILL KILL-" The girl once again began monologuing, however, Markus reverted to his strategy and tossed a |Fireball| her way.

    "Oh no, you don''t!" The girl quickly strafed right and spun in a pirouette with her de extended outwards, like a deadly top. From the tips of her de, a white mist sprayed out. All around Markus, the water particles suspended in the air started to condense and washed his vision a translucent white shade. A heavy fog descended upon the stage.

    "I''ve let this go on for long enough," the girl''s voice echoed around Markus. His senses werepletely overloaded. As he tried to extend his mana sense, he realised that the girl was actively enforcing her influence over their ovepping domain making it hard for him to do anything. He could not manipte the mana around him at all.

    "Within this fog, nothinges in, nothing goes out. You are at my mercy," the girl said ominously. "Even if you call for a surrender, no one will hear you."

    Markus was in aplete bind. At that instant, his only active sense suddenly warned him of an impending attack. He leaned back immediately, only to miss a sweeping slice an inch away from where his neck would have been.

    ''She''s intending to kill me?'' Markus thought. That attack wasced with an intent to decapitate. All this while, he had only been holding himself back. It appeared as though it was all for nought since the girl had intended to thoroughly disable him from the very beginning.

    Markus'' rogue thoughts narrowed to a single conclusion, ''I must end her.''

    With a renewed focus, Markus once again extended his bogged down mana sense and turned off all of his regr human senses, tuning into a frequency that the girl had no control over.

 Chapter 179 Insurmountable Wall

    Even amidst the dense fog lingering over the field, Markus'' sight was as clear as though it were any regr day. Nothing was luded from his spacetime vision. Cleo thought she had finally pulled the wool over his eyes, seeing as her technique worked every single time it was put into use. She was also confident that with his regr senses clipped within his mana domain, Markus wouldn''t be able to predict her location or actions.

    However, every attack she threw Markus'' way was dodged without the slightest falter. Even some of the faster shes would miss him by a hair''s breadth as though he had predicted its trajectory. What she didn''t know was that without the distractions from his regr sensors, every single attack was telegraphed in his perception.

    "STOP DODGING!" A rage-filled bellow echoed within the nket of fog.

    "TAKE IT LIKE A MAN, DAMN IT!"

    "What does my masculinity have-" Markus side-stepped to avoid an overhead sh, "-anything to do with your inability-" he ducked to barely miss a frontal sh, "-tond an attack on me?"

    Cleo was thoroughly miffed. She didn''t miss the fact that Markus was essentially dodging with his eyes closed. She had no idea what magic he was using to sense her attacks!

    "I can do this all day," Markus sighed. Then suddenly, he jerked his head sideways and looked directly into the fog. Even though his sight was luded by the mist, his pupils were focussed on a single point. He raised his wand and flicked both his hands towards the direction he was facing. "But I don''t feel like wasting time..."

    The ground started to rumble once again. Cleo expected the ground to wave again like before, but within this mist, no spell could shake her... above ground.

    The ground shattered with a hole as a torrent of water gushed out in her direction. It all happened within a split second, leaving Cleo only enough time to bring her de forward to block the attack.

    The reason Markus was stalling for time earlier was that although he couldn''t manipte the mana above ground, he was afforded free reign under. In his predicament, Markus was left with two options. He could either tap into his mana and transmute it to fuel his attacks, or he could search for alternate sources. Even if he had barely dented his mana reserves, Markus preferred to go with thetter method since he found that his opponent had less influence over his actions the less he depended on mana to bridge the gaps in his spells.

    For instance, if he started transmuting his mana to burn fuel to propel |Fireball| or other fire-based spells, Cleo would know of this in advance and she could intercept his spell by tampering with the ambient mana (which was fully within her control at the moment). So, Markus extended his senses underground in search of any "fuels" for his attacks. He knew that his ground attacks from before wouldn''t be effective in this situation since he could not follow up with another attack given his restricted mana domain. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, Markus stumbled upon the Sect''s sewage system flowing right beneath thebat field.

    The sewage system was overflowing with water, amongst other things. Furthermore, the region was not under Cleo''s control since she didn''t deign to restrict him there. Maybe it was her oversight wrought by arrogance or ignorance, nheless, it was enough to turn the table to Markus'' advantage.

    Back in the orphanage, Markus had once seen his Master utilise a bucket of water to clean and properly carve out the near decrepit steps. His Master used a spell that pressurised the water and released it with a destructive spray that literally cut through the stone. He then used a low powered version of the spell to remove the gunk, fungus and moss coating the surface that would cause the surface to turn slippery during rainfall. Markus was floored by the power of a mundane andmonce item such as water.

    "A river can carve through mountains if given enough time. I''m just speeding up the process," his Master had joked.

    A simr but violently more destructive spray collided against Cleo''s de, whose enchantments had all been activated in defence. The mist surrounding him had started to dissipate, as Cleo was forced to turn her full attention to protect herself. She could literally feel the destructive power of the attack!

    As the fog finally descended, Markus turned from using the sewage as the source and started to call in the ambient moisture. With his control over the environment back in ce, he could now literally recycle the water being used in the attack.

    A barely audible crack formed on the de, which was known to be able to withstand blows of a Core Formation realm mage. Cleo''s eyeballs nearly burst out of their sockets, and her control almost faltered as the small crack started to grow with a webbing pattern.

    She could no longer maintain her defence. If she held any longer, then the de would shatter. While she couldmission a new one, nothing was more disgraceful for a desman that having their weapon, which is like an extension of their body, shatter in public. She grit her teeth and dropped the de, which was also a disgraceful move, and switched to a |Greater Ward|. But the attack was far too concentrated, and her ward also started to disy visible cracks.

    SHATTER!

    Like ss breaking, Cleo''s final defence fell through and she was attacked by a million knife-like collisions of water particles. Her clothes shredded immediately, and so did the peripheral skin around her abdomen. Then, once again, she was flung backwards like a ragdoll, rolling a few times before falling face-first with a mighty plop.

    Ifpared to her appearance when shended on stage, Cleo had beenpletely defiled. Her demure,dy-like aura had turned to match that of an unclean hag who hadn''t washed, bathed, or managed her hygiene for years on end. Her marble-white and smooth face was filled with pockmarks through acidic corrosion and darkened through a mixture of soot deposits, acid charring, and general sewage waste. Her divine clothes had been fully shredded and sullied with the same residues marring her entire body. The only thing keeping her dignity intact was the far superior materialposition of her innerwear made of wyvern skin.

    "Y-You!" She uttered with a hoarse voice while cradling her abdomen with a hunch.

    "Is the match over?" Markus asked the referee, seeing as the girl had entered a feverish trance.

    "Umm," the man turned towards the girl to gauge her reaction. But the girl looked away immediately, with faint fear in her eyes. Her arrogance had dissipated, and now she was regretting her actions. But, there was nothing she could do. She had initiated the Life-and-Death Formation. The match couldn''t terminate until only one person remained alive on stage. All she could hope for was the arrival of an elder, any elder, to terminate the formation. She was willing to throw away all of her pride to save her from this embarrassment.

    "In that case," Markus sighed. "I will y onest spell."

    Cleo was winded, she couldn''t physically move. She could only look on in fright, as one spell circle after another started to burst out from Markus'' hands.<novelnext></novelnext>

    One.

    Two.

    Three.

    .

    .

    .

    Nine.

    Ten.

    Cleo''s eyes widened as the eleventh spell circle fell into ce, with a circumferencerger than the others preceding it. One by one each previous circle found its home at the eleventh''s periphery. Right as the final circle fell into ce, the entire ensemble gained a luminous purple shade and started to spin at an unusually fast velocity.

    sssssssssssssssSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

    An ear-piercing sound burst out from the centre of the rotating circle, as a small dot of nothingness began forming. The vortex started to pull everything around it like a voracious demon. The wind, the water, and even the ground started to levitate and converge at the point, only to stop at a small distance away from it forming some kind of a protective shield. Not that it needed one, Cleo could feel the pure death oozing from the small dot.

    She had never seen anything like this before. She had never felt fear like this before. Maybe it was because her spirit had been thoroughly crushed by the one-sided beating she received earlier, but none of her brothers or even her father could scare her to such an extent.

    It was the fear of the unknown.

    Cleo''s confidence stemmed from the fact that she was always in control. She was the n Leader''s most doted upon daughter. The golden child. She had all the power in the world, and she knew everything. Well... apparently there was apse somewhere, and it was about to cost her... a lot.

    ____

    For Markus, there was an insurmountable wall before him ever since his defeat at Gaige''s hands. No matter what people told him to assuage his depression, he could never get over that hurdle in his mind. However, he tried.

    Every day since his defeat, he pursued ways to win against Gaige. He didn''t want to lose anymore. He would formte a strategy, and immediately pit himself against Gaige to see if he would win. If not, he would try, and try again.

    Markus had formed a benchmark to test his mettle against, and he always sought to beat that benchmark. Yet, to date, he could still not defeat Gaige inbat.

    What Markus did not realise was that his perception of Gaige''s strength grew with his own. In his pursuit of excellence and superiority, somewhere along the way, Markus had left Gaige behind him.

    It was in his character to doubt himself. At every point in his internal simtion, when he was about to trounce Gaige, Markus would subconsciously formte a scenario where his opponent would find a weakness orpse and regain the advantage. This defeat would spur Markus to think harder and try alternate strategies, each more brilliant and ingenious than thest.

    In the end, Markus had formed a nearly unbeatable strategy. To leverage the superior efficiency of his spellcasting to pressure the opponent into a corner. After advancing to the Foundation Establishment realm, he could even leverage his intermittent ability to control spacetime to cause his opponents to make missteps. Everybatant runs mental calctions when fighting. But tampering with their internal model of self - that is by changing their weight - their flow would be interrupted allowing Markus to steal the initiative.

    ''This was too easy,'' Markus sighed. ''Gaige could have easily used his bloodline ability to pressure me from the start. I overestimated this girl.''

    "Prepare yourself," Markus dered out loud. Then, he uttered the name of the attack he was about to throw her way. Actually, there was no pre-existing name for what it was in Markus'' tongue. But his Master had defined a word in another, cryptguage. It wasn''t Ancient tongue, nor was it anguage from this globe, ording to Mage Nara. Nevertheless, the meaning of the word perfectly defined his attack.

    "|Singrity|," Markus said as he released the attack. Even through the shrill, banshee-like scream bellowing from the nothing-ball of terror, his voice carrying the name of the monstrosity echoed across the field and into Cleo''s ears.

 Chapter 180 Ulterior Motives

    In another ce high up in the Sect''s floating mountain, in a room inside a courtyard dwelling assigned only for Elders in the Sect, two individuals were in a tense meeting.

    As a sect grewrger, it became harder to manage the individual members and maintain proper control over the organisation. To tackle this issue, regiments were created within the sect led by Elders. An Elder in charge of a regiment would report directly to the Sect Leader and based on the regiment''s performance as a whole and their contribution to the Sect, they would have greater say in sect matters.

    Frequently, certainpetitions would be held in the Outer Division, with Elders in the audience, and based on the members'' performances they would be recruited into a particr regiment and move into the Inner Division.

    Marek Glista was responsible for the Martial Peak regiment within the Cloudstrider Sect. It was one of the least popted regiments with the most stringent entry requirements, however, it held the highest votes in Sect matters due to the amount of money it raked in through escort and subjugation missions. However, although his regiment was the most valuable within the Sect, his abode did not unt that abundance. Every room within the house was decorated inly, with a preference for function over form. In fact, arge portion of the dwelling was dedicated to a practising field, weapon and spell testing areas, time-dtion chambers, martial arts and cultivation manual storage, and so on. The only room where one could entertain guests also doubled as a weapons storage and disy room.

    Marek blew lightly over the surface of the hot tea in his hands before taking a small sip. Although he could very well gulp down the scalding cup, given his superior physique, tea was more to enjoy, appreciate and converse over than to satiate one''s thirst. Although, thest part of that triad was missing from the presentpany. He was currently in his personal quarters entertaining a guest who simply refused to partake in any t¨ºte-¨¤-t¨ºte.

    "Come on now, Al. Stop staring at me as if you want to eat me," Marek joked. "You''re making me blush."

    Al snorted back before picking up his own cup of tea, "I don''t understand why someone such as yourself would collect such precious tea. You don''t even know how to appreciate them."

    "Maybe it was in anticipation of a guest that was knowledgeable about it. Why don''t you tell me about what we''re drinking?"

    "You bought it, you tell me!" Al retorted.

    "This isn''t how you keep a conversation going, Al. There needs to be some back and forth."

    "What makes you think I want to converse with you?"

    Marek sighed and said, "Why are you being so antagonistic with me when all I''ve done here is cater to you?"

    "You know exactly why I''m like this," Al shot back.

    Marek exhaled in defeat and leaned back into his chair casually while adorning an emotionless gaze. "I don''t know what you''re talking about."

    "You know what? Screw it!" Al bellowed in exasperation. "That day! You let me win."

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Marek repeated.

    "Don''t give me that bullshit," Al derided sarcastically. "I don''t believe I am so capable as to defeat someone who has earned the alias ''Battle Maniac'' in one-on-onebat."

    "Aren''t you underestimating yourself?" Marek pointed out.

    "I don''t do that. The only reason I agreed to a duel back then was that you cornered me into that confrontation. No one knows me better than myself, and I knew from the beginning that I could not beat you. Your track record made that extremely clear. ''If you want to defeat Marek Glista, bring a mage a realm above or forget about winning,'' that''s what everyone says do you know that?"

    "That''s highly paranoid of you," Marek chuckled. "Maybe all that studying has fried your brain."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Al brought down his fist forcefully on the table before him, releasing a loud boom. Surprisingly the table withheld the attack, nothing ced on it even vibrated. But this wasn''t of Al''s concern. The moment of aggression was enough to bring Marek out of his jovial mood. He looked into Al''s eyes with a cold frown and said, "Why do you even care? For argument''s sake, let''s say that I did let you win there. The way I see it, you had everything to gain. How did I benefit from that?"

    "Exactly!" Al chimed in. "What did you gain from this? Why would you let me win, and give me a freebie ''No Questions Asked'' Favour? We all know the saying, ''When something''s too good to be true, it probably is!''"

    As he finished his piece, Al gazed expectantly at Marek. He wasn''t nning to leave before rifying everything. Thus, a stillness settled in the room as both individuals stared at each other.

    "You''re a smart man, Al. You must have a theory," Marek started, breaking the silence while taking a sip of his tea. But then, he noticed that the tea had cooled down by a lot. So he raised the cup all the way and chugged it down without a thought.

    "Our duel was a simple challenge. You said that it would be a straightforward spar to trade pointers. I believed you and we began a private match. However, midway through our fight, you started to throw wild attacks that were shy and destructive and attracted arge crowd. Then, you dered loudly that the winner of the match would owe the other a favour, no questions asked."

    Al paused to gauge Marek''s reaction, and continued, "The turning point midway through our fight, that''s the key! Something affected you at that point, and you changed your approach. You could have easily beat me at that point as well, but you didn''t. You started to experiment with your attacks and used unorthodox strategies. Although you made it convincing to the observers, I could feel it. You weren''t being challenged at all."

    The moment Al said thest sentence, he saw a sparkle in Marek''s eyes.

    "By letting me win, and tethering me with the favour, you made it so that we could meet each other again in the future. But why?"

    Al posed the question out loud, and immediately followed up with a barrage of questions, "Was it to fight me again? Did you want to experiment more? Was it to amuse yourself?"

    Noticing Al''s heated and usatory gaze, Marek tried to keep his calm. However, he could not do so and sumbed with a defeated slump of his shoulders.

    "Sometimes, being too smart is a sin. Did you know that?" Marek said with a bitter smile. "It is true, I could have won that day. You aren''t abatant at heart, but you held your own longer than others had even with that handicap. You used spells in a way I could never even dream of. Youpressed a |Fireball| to a marble-size and applied an illusory trick to make it look like a rock, and then hid it within a |Rock Slide| attack which caught mepletely off-guard. That is just to name one instance, throughout the whole fight, I was forced to think on my feet. Nothing went the way it was supposed to. But your weakness became evident when my sword met your own. You are a jack-of-all-trades, master of many, but not in the field I myself lived my entire life for. Weapon-basedbat is the very essence of my being. If I had pushed all of my mana and applied a power attack, you would have sumbed and lost."

    "My Master would always tell me that you can learn more about a person through an hour worth of sparring than through years worth of conversations," Marek redirected. "In our fight, I believe I got to know that kind of person you are. Resourceful, intelligent, diligent, but deep down, you were vulnerable. Every action you took faltered by a fraction of a millisecond. You were unsure if what you were doing was right, it was the kind of hesitance that came from self-loathing."

    "It-" Marek''s voice broke and he paused. With visible difficulty on his face, he continued, "I empathised with you. I could connect with that emotion you projected: self-loathing and doubt. It''s something I''ve had to live with for most of my life. I didn''t know why you felt those emotions. What burned you so deeply that you question your every step?"

    "Though ourbat, I found myself resonating with another. Not in my cultivation, not in my soul, but in my heart."

    Marek pulled the edge of his lips into his cheeks and said. "I felt that way many times before when I was younger and still stupid. I followed it once, only to get burned and shamed in public. Since then, I cut that part of my heart and let it decay, never to resurface again. However, when fighting you, that dried up husk that remained in my heart started to bloom once more."

    "Unfortunately, it came back in full force. I could not quell it. During our fight, I had this sudden urge to be selfish and let everything be damned. But I knew that it wasn''t right - it wouldn''t be fair for you. Yet I had to do something to quench that part of my heart."

    With a passion-filled gaze, Marek said, "When you know you can''t have it. But your heart just won''t stop searching for it. All you can hope for is that the mere sight of it is enough to satisfy that fervour."

    "I did have an ulterior motive when I let you win," Marek said finally with a worried tone. "I just wanted to see you again. I knew that as long as this favour hung over your head, we would meet again. Well, I hoped that we would. Luckily, it came to pass."

 Chapter 181 Heart-To-Heart

    Marek''s feet twitched due to the stress building up inside him. It had been a long time since he poured his heart out like this. His previous experience, many years ago, had wounded him greatly and he was anxious to see how it would go this time.

    He alternated his gaze between the table and Al''s face. His conversation partner appeared distracted while gazing nkly into the wall. This simply worsened the turmoil in Marek''s heart.

    ''Give me a reaction,'' Marek pleaded. ''Anything at all!''

    At that instant, Al suddenly raised his palm, brought it over his face, and started to shudder as a burst of mirthful, muffledughter resonated from him.

    ''That''s...'' Disappointing. Marek''s heart ached once again. He wanted to dig a hundred feet-deep hole and bury himself in it. He wanted the world to end right now so that the past conversation would cease to exist. He wanted anything, absolutely anything, to save him from the humiliation he was feeling right now.

    "I really can be stupid sometimes," Almented. "The answer was right in front of me - it was literally squashed up against my nose - but I was too absorbed in my paranoia to grasp it."

    "W-What-"

    "I am ttered that you think of me that way," Al continued. "Honestly, I really am. But I am not looking to pursue a romantic rtionship at the moment. As you so correctly pointed out, I am going through something. Let''s call it a disaster of my own creation. And I hope to resolve that first before moving on to other ventures."

    Based on Al''s answer, Marek could see a faint glimmer of hope. "If that''s the case, maybe I can help? After all, two heads ARE better than one."

    "While I appreciate your offer, I won''t ept it. I once included someone in pursuit of solving this problem, only to bring peril upon them. I cannot in good conscience inflict the same pain on another person," Al denied immediately.

    Marek smiled bitterly, before sighing in relief. "Thank you for that, Al. I really mean it."

    "Thank you? For what?"

    "For your kind rejection," Marek answered. "I didn''t know it, but there was a heavy load weighing down on my heart this entire time. ''Should I tell Al? How would he take it?'' Those kinds of questions were eating away at me from the inside. Now that I''ve brought it out into the open, and received closure, I feel lighter all of a sudden."

    "Why should you feel so apprehensive?" Al challenged. "Is it about the stigma?"

    "Obviously! Like I said before when I was still a budding mage, I grew attracted to a fellow Sect member. He was a kind-heartedd who wouldn''t think twice before helping others. Although he didn''t make much headway in his cultivation, he was always willing to guide and trade pointers," Marek started with a nostalgic ze in his eyes.

    "Over time, my affection for him kept growing and growing. It reached a point where I couldn''t contain it within myself. And so, I took a leap of fate and confessed. I thought he was... like me. The nature of our interactions made it appear as such. But he-" Marek flinched as he recollected the moment. "He put me out to dry. Let''s say his rejection wasn''t as dignified as yours. Ultimately, he let it slip and then everybody in the Sect knew - of the deviant named Marek Glista. I realised then that this world had no ce for people such as myself. Thankfully I wasn''t weakhearted. I could bear the jeers and deridingments. I worked my ass that day forth. And now, none who looked down on me remain alive. They either sumbed to the tests of time or my des."

    "What of that boy who betrayed your trust?"

    "He killed himself," Marek answered tly. "While it may sound morbid, his death was what helped me get over that whole debacle. When I found out that he killed himself, I realised that I wasn''t the only one who held affection for the other in our friendship. He too reciprocated my feelings, but he was in denial of his own identity the entire time. He feared validating his feelings for me. It gave mefort to know that I wasn''t alone, but I was also a little dismayed that he chose that path."

    Marek paused once he finished the anecdote and said, "But I am surprised that you aren''t offended or repulsed by my expression of affection towards you."

    "Why should I be offended, more importantly, why should you feel anxious about it either way?" Al retorted. "You are in a position where you dictate the rules! To hell with what other people think, they''re all hypocrites."

    "Are you trying to make me feel better?" Marek smiled.

    "You think your love for another man is unnatural and abnormal? What of all the people who wouldn''t think twice beforeying with other species? Is that not unnatural?" Al reasoned. "Your affection is pure. You didn''t force yourself on anyone nor did you pressure anyone, you were considerate the entire time."

    "The way you rejected me earlier, I get the feeling that you''ve been in a rtionship with another man before?" Marek probed.

    Al nodded, "Of course! You should know that my cultivation urges me to try and learn new things. I have experimented with a man. It was pleasant, I won''t deny it."

    "I am envious of the man who you shared that experience with," Marek said with a wry and dismayed expression.

    "Don''t be so dramatic. It was just physical," Al shot back. "I know that you''re looking for something more substantial."

    The ambience in the room turned brighter at this point as both sides lowered their guards against each other.

    "Since we''re being truthful here," Al followed up. "That kid isn''t my Student, and that man isn''t my Apprentice."

    "Are you talking about yourpanions?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes. The kid''s actually the man''s Disciple," Al confessed.

    "Really? This is the first time for me - seeing a Master and Disciple both in the same cultivation realm. Did the guy con the kid into entering his discipleship?" Marek asked incredulously.

    "No. But their circumstances are... special. I won''t expound on it as it isn''t my ce to do so," Al rified. "But I urge you to observe them more carefully, and not dismiss them so readily. Who knows, maybe you''ll see something interesting?"

    "I still don''t get why they need to peruse the Sect''s archives," Marek pointed out.

    "It didn''t HAVE to be the Cloudstrider Sect. We would have made do with any other, but this was convenient given the favour. And it worked to our benefit due to the Sect''s rich history," Al answered.

    "Let me guess, you''re thinking of starting your own sect?" Marek guessed. "That''s not possible though, you are already associated with the co-operative of Teachers... So it''s that man then?"

    "Astute deduction," Aluded.

    "It''s going to be difficult," Marek responded while shaking his head. "The scene is quite saturated. Justst year, the Sr Sect Alliance weed 250 new registered Sects of which only two remain functional, that too as subsidiaries of the Poison Rain Sect down south."

    "I don''t think that''s going to be an issue," Al assured.

    "Why?" But Marek immediately followed by eximing, "Don''t tell me! Given how calm you are, it must mean that it''s basically a done deal - a guaranteed sess. That can only mean that the man has a strong backer."

    "I have noments," Al responded with a nk expression.

    "Your silence speaks volumes," Marek chuckled excitedly. "So who is it? Anyone, we know? Can''t be, all of our acquaintances are deeply affiliated with one group or another. Must be someone from outside! Is it a foreigner?"

    "I was promised an NQA, what''s with all these questions?" Alined with an exaggeratedly scandalized tone.

    "*tsk* You''re no fun! That''s okay, I''ll have to cross paths with them anyways. I''ll be the one representing the Cloudstrider Sect in the next Alliance gathering. The Sect Leader is growing increasingly worried," Marek grumbled while scratching his forehead. "It ain''t my fault that he can''t birth a capable heir! Honestly, the years of stagnancy have caused malicious rot to set in."

    "Can''t you do something about it?" Al suggested.

    "Why should I? The idiot that I am, I made a Soul Contract with the Sect when I got this position. I was too young and hot-headed back then. So long as this Sect exists I will be forever tethered to it," Marek blurted out. "The sooner that I''m free, the sooner I can go about doing something productive with my life."

    "Shh!" Al cautioned. "What if the Sect''s Ancestor hears?"

    "Do you think that fossil''s still alive?" Marek scoffed. "It''s been years since he entered seclusion in pursuit of an inspiration. My guess is that the bloke failed and Ascended. It''s all smoke and mirrors I tell ya!"

    "I don''t understand why you decided to tie yourself with a Sect. Life is so much freer when studying in an Academy," Almented on Marek''s behalf.

    "That''s because your family was loaded, isn''t that right?" Marek sneered. "I wasn''t so lucky. And my ''talent'' towards cultivation required a lot of arduous unearthing to manifest. It wouldn''t have been tractable if I joined an Academy. See, each side has its advantages and disadvantages, Al."

    At that moment, Marek and Al both cocked their heads toward the entrance to the room with a frown on their faces. Within seconds of them turning, a series of knocks resounded from the door.

    "Elder Glista! Elder Glista!" A man''s concerned voice called out as a blonde-haired, bearded figure burst in.

    "I''m entertaining a guest, Korr," Marek warned sternly, his mana pushing forcefully against the hyperventting man. This was enough to let Marek know that an act was underway - why else would a Core Formation realm expert breathe so heavily?

    "You better have a good reason for this interruption if you wish to leave with both your eyes intact. And know this, after I remove your eyes if I ever see them healed and functioning I will gauge them out again right then and there."

    Without flinching, or hesitating, the man named Korr spoke up, "Young Mistress Loras and Elder Glista''s guest are duelling! A verbal spat devolved out of control into a physical confrontation which then turned into a life-or-death duel, which unintentionally triggered the Life-and-Death Formation. This ve implores the Elder to intervene!"

    "Those are lies," Al denied tly. "Markus would never willingly participate in any such duels."

    "And yet, the formation is active," Marek muttered with a concerned frown as his senses detected the formation in use within the Outer Division. "The girl has grown impudent. Her father''s idiotic doting has spoiled her to her core."

    Without wasting a second, Marek gestured at Al and disappeared from his room. Once the two experts had gone, the exhausted Korr immediately dusted himself and wore an impassive expression once again. He then followed the duo as well.

 Chapter 182 Outplayed, Outdone, Outclassed

    Marek and Al rushed towards thebat amphitheatre in the Outer Division hastily. Marek was embarrassed and outraged at the effrontery of the Sect Leader''s contemptuous "little princess". He was also extremely apologetic towards Al and his guests, as the Sect''s internal matters had bled over and affected them as well.

    ''If anything happens to my guests, Korr, let the Sect Leader know that the price will be paid in blood. I will inflict the same hurt upon his precious little girl that she causes on the boy,'' Marek warned Korr through Mana Transmission. The man did not flinch at the sudden threat and maintained his facade of concern and exhaustion.

    Al was also worried. He knew that Markus had little experience in actualbat, and he also knew that his public loss against Gaige weighed heavily on him. Al was aware that sometimes, such experiences could turn into shadows that haunted a mage''s heart turning into inner demons. He feared that another such public loss would worsen Markus''plex.

    Within seconds, they had arrived at the stadium, but even before they got there, their mana sense had painted an awkward scene which caused them to slow their approach incrementally.

    Their initial estimates and expectations were wholly shattered.

    "What in the world?" Marek muttered as he observed Markus shower his opponent with a highly pressurised assault of sewage water which threatened to destroy the highly coveted Azurium de in his opponent''s hands. Although the metal was known to be rtively brittle, it couldn''t be so easily damaged. Which could only mean that the water jet had an extraordinary level of lethality.

    Once Markus ceased the pressurised jet attack, his opponent, who looked nothing like Cleo Loras given her dishevelled appearance and soiled and torn rags, was propelled outwards unceremoniously and came to a sliding halt a short distance away from the stage''s borders.

    Since Korr was thest to arrive, his internal snigger was shattered in its nascency and his usually unmoving face revealed a crack of surprise and horror. This wasn''t what was nned. For a moment, he was even convinced that the other person on stage was probably not the Young Mistress. However, a scan around the amphitheatre confirmed that it WAS her!

    "Elder Glista," Korr acted immediately. His mind ran the scenarios and he realised that the sequence hadn''t changed. Elder Glista still had to lower the formation, albeit it was more important than ever now!

    "No, no," Marek said with a light chuckle. "I''m interested in seeing how this goes."

    "But Elder-"

    "She was the one who wanted it activated, aren''t I right?" Marek jabbed. "Actions have consequences. She''s been skirting around those consequences for a while now. I believe this will be a valuable experience for the little princess."

    "Elder, please," Korr begged with sweat dripping down his forehead. It was real this time, not an act, and Marek was enjoying every minute of it.

    "Something''s wrong," Al interjected. "Markus isn''t usually this aggressive."

    "That''s because that little miscreant went ahead and activated the Irrationality Formation in her favour," Marek answered.

    "Elder!" Korr immediately called out, only to receive a forceful re and a suppressed growl from Marek. The reason for his reminder was because technically, the Irrationality Formation hidden in the bundle was a cheat. The formation tilted the duels in favour of one side, which was against the fairness expected from a duel in the first ce. If others heard of this, it would dent the Sect''s reputation greatly.

    At that instant, Marek and everyone else felt a fluctuation around them. The mana in the region undted and started to copse rapidly. For others, it was a momentarypse. However, for those with more advanced cultivations like Marek, Al and Korr, the effect was wholly amplified. They were more sensitive to, as the other Guy would put it, the "truths" of the world even if they themselves didn''t know it in its entirety. And the feeling they were experiencing right now harkened back to one of the more fundamental truths that prevailed - spacetime and gravity. In truth, Markus'' expertise in spacetime was rudimentary at best. The spell he was conjuring on the field was a hodge-podge of surface knowledge he had gleaned through trial-and-error. However, it was much rawer than anything, anyone else had achieved in this world.

    "Hahahahaha!" Marek bellowed heartily. "This boy''s got vigour. I like him!"

    "Marek we need to stop him," Al interjected with a stern and anxious expression on his face. "My goodness, he''s improved it!"

    "What are you so worried about? This spell? It doesn''t seem that bad," Marek waved away.

    "You don''t understand," Al scratched his forehead before remembering something. "Do you remember the Abyssal Wyrm of the Narue region?"

    "That old hag?" Marek grumbled with disgust in his eyes. It was clear through that insult that Marek held no positive emotion towards that woman.

    Al ignored the incorrect description of the otherworldly beauty in her human form and said, "Do you remember her ultimate attack? |Eye of the Abyss|?"

    Marek shivered as he recollected that unpleasant confrontation. He hated to admit it but that "old hag", as he put it, was someone he had suffered a heavy defeat against. He barely made it out of there alive, partly due to his stupidity in confronting her recklessly and without backup. But in the middle of his unpleasant retrospection, his mind jolted in ce. Suddenly, two images started to convalesce in his mind, one from his past and one that was urring right in front of him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "H-How?" Marek''s jaw dropped in shock. "Is he- No, I mean- Abyssal Wyrm bloodline?"

    ''No time to exin. Just know that what he is about to cast right now has the potential to be equally devastating as the |Eye of the Abyss| albeit at a much, much smaller scale. But the problem is that his attack will be pure, with no shiness. Just unadulterated and voracious annihtion!''

    Marek jolted, and without wasting a second longer he got to work dissipating the formation. With a wave of his hand, the Life-and-Death Formation was deactivated. With his position as an Elder, he had the authority to do so. However, the Irrationality Formation was not within his control. It could only be controlled by those expressly allowed by the Sect Leader. In this case, the girl who was in the process of ceasing to exist had the key. However, she was barely in any condition to do so.

    Hence, Marek deferred to Al, since he acknowledged the man''s prowess with anything intellectual in nature. Al didn''t need to see or hear Marek''s go-ahead as he immediately got to work. The ritual formation in question was subtle, in that it was bundled amidst a series of other formations concentrated on the field. For any other mage, it would have been a chore that would take a few hours to decipher. However, the convoluted bundle unravelled like a loosely tied knot in Al''s mind. He could immediately pinpoint the weakness of the formation and attacked it with distributed |Magic Missles| that were modified to transfer a disrupting mana pulse to their targets in a specific order.

    Destroying formations was an intricate task. If it was interrupted incorrectly while in operation, the bacsh would be immense for the disruptor. To interrupt them, a mage needs to disrupt ritual anchors, which are tangible objects designated as tethers for a ritual based on the ritual''s diagram. The diagram may fade over time, but as long as the ritual remains active, the anchors can propagate its effect till the ritual is turned off. Al had witnessed an Irrationality Formation before, and even if it was entangled with others and one anchor was used to sustain multiple formations simultaneously, he was experienced enough to disrupt the formation without affecting others in its bundle.

    Right as thest missile hit one of the strategic anchors of the formation, a single foreign word escaped from Markus'' lips. The name pierced through the inhuman shriek emanating from the void-ck ball in front of him, which was nked by revolving debris.

    |Singrity|

    ____

    It was like a fuse tripped in Markus'' mind. A bunch of voices convincing him to do something suddenly just stopped speaking. His mental faculties defogged immediately, and he was confronted by his most recent and most powerful creation.

    The |Singrity|.

    A rather grand name, he admitted, for a piddly recreation of the ck hole from his vision. But the question remained, why was it out here? And why was he casting it?

    Then, like a ton of bricks crashing into him from a dangerous height, his memories gained rity and he remembered everything that led up to this moment. He also understood that somehow, he was not in control of his actions for a while. Or maybe he was. Maybe... it was his subconscious that was controlling him?

    ''What am I thinking?!'' Markus reprimanded himself as he observed the |Singrity| falter in front of him. His momentarypse of concentration would have cost him dearly if it copsed right now. But that was the only way to dissipate this attack!

    ''Markus!'' Al''s voice resounded in Markus'' mind. ''The person you are fighting is the Sect Leader''s daughter.''

    Markus''s eyes widened in shock. Now, he was definitely screwed. Forget about lying low and under the radar, he had just debased and was about to kill the VVIP of this Sect! Markus shot Al a desperate gaze which conveyed everything Al needed to know.

    "He can''t stop the attack without hurting himself and everyone around him," Al concluded.

    He then immediately rushed on stage and activated a multitude of protective spells, as well as a spell he was working on - using Guy''s method of course - to counter that dastardlypressive spell that rerouted a river back at the vige. Al dialled the spell up to its maximum possible level and thrust it against the |Singrity|.

    Evidently, the defensive spell was not enough. His thought process during its conception did not ount for the interweaving of spacetime elements, so the spell could only counter thepressive aspects by overloading it with a lot of mana. As more and more of Al''s mana got sucked into the |Singrity| the spell''s voraciousness was satiated. Al got a little concerned as more mana than he expected rushed in. It wasn''t much in the grand scheme of things, but for a perfectionist who preferred to be efficient with his mana, this discrepancy irked him slightly. He would explore this at ater date.

    Then, as anticipated, he cast a much thicker ward spell around the dissipated spell for the uing st. The attack collided against the wall of mana and burst through a few preliminaryyers before shutting off.

    As the dust settled, Marek walked over and said, "Due to external interference, the match goes in favour of Cleo Loras. Congrattions."

    It took some time for Markus to register the oue, but he joined the dots and recognised what Al and Marek were cooking. He then bowed at the shivering girl bathed in filth and said sincerely, "I have lost. Thank you for broadening my horizons, Mage Loras."

    He then quickly jumped off the stage and sprinted away without a moment of hesitance.

 Chapter 183 Interlude - Leaving The Cloudstrider Sect

    Guy returned the final book from the Archive back into its ce on the bookshelf. The expressions on his face alternated between satisfaction, disgust and hopefulness.

    He was satisfied that he managed to consume all the books present within the time frame, which was beyond his initial estimate. The more he could add to the RoK, the greater his knowledge pool would be in the future that is toe. Speed-reading, like any skill, can be improved upon through practice and repetition. Guy''s initial estimate was based on his first try, however, as he read more and more his mind and body became more ustomed to the action and his speed gradually increased.

    He was disgusted by some of the hical practices endorsed by the Sect. The Archives didn''t go into much detail, but Guy was able to infer things by piecing together hints from multiple documents. One of the most horrendous actions Guy found was when an inheritance ground, which is a type of inheritance artefact that takes the form of a micro-dimension, opened up in the middle of the Vast Blue Expanse to the East.

    It was discovered by a gaggle of crab fishermen whose ship got stranded on the ind where the inheritance ground existed due to a wild hurricane. Word got out, and all the sects around the world rushed to im it for their own. After a series of conflicts between members up the hierarchy, the rights to the ground were won by the Sr Sect Alliance.

    Members from the various sects of the alliance arrived in droves. It wasmonly known that inheritance grounds were treacherous domains filled with dangers of many kinds. It was very rare for an Ascended mage to leave behind a benign artefact due to the vtile nature of cultivation and magic. Thus, the Sects would send in the grunts from the Outer Domain as cannon fodder to clear out and map the regions inside the grounds. Many would die, some painlessly while others not so much. Those that survived would live to see another day, albeit scarred for life. Those that were lucky and found something beneficial would ultimately lose it to those higher up thedder.

    The documents in the Archive didn''t even deign to name the hundreds of lives lost during that venture to map the inheritance ground. It disgusted Guy to no end.

    Ultimately though, this was an eye-opening trip for Guy. He felt hopeful about creating his Sect. He wanted to do better, he nned to use the information gleaned from these archives to build a Sect he could be proud of.

    Right as Guy entered an imaginative trance, he felt his body getting warped in ce. The world around him wavered, blurred and stabilised all within one second. The feeling was simr to the teleportation Guy though when traversing between Karmin''s shop in Radiant City and his Headquarters.

    Once his vision cleared, Guy noticed that he was outside the Archives, facing the massive doors leading into it. Guy frowned and muttered, "The full six hours haven''t psed yet. What happened?"

    "We have to leave," Al answered from behind him. Guy smiled and turned to face Markus, Al, and Marek. Thest presence came as a surprise because the group''s bodynguage felt friendlier all of a sudden, unlike the antagonistic vibe that persisted during their initial encounter. Evidently, something had transpired that changed the rtionship dynamics.

    "There''s been some trouble," Al continued.

    "I''m sorry Master," Markus apologised immediately. Guy nodded, but then his eyes widened in shock. Markus had just called him Master in front of Marek. Guy nudged his gaze towards the man while looking at Al, hoping that he would rify the faux-pas.

    "It wasn''t the kid''s fault," Marek chimed. "Our Sect Leader''s daughter got the fresh idea of messing with me. Power ys and all that crap. Thed was just caught in the crossfire, not that it disadvantaged him in any way. He can hold his own quite well, kudos for having such a capable and smart Disciple, Sect Leader Larks."

    "S-Sect Leader?" Guy stuttered. ''Okay, A LOT has transpired while I was holed up in the Archives!''

    "I look forward to meeting you soon," Marek said to Guy before turning to Al. "Well friend, I''m disappointed that we could not spend more time catching up. Hopefully, we can do so in the future. I guess the debacle that ensued before puts me in your favour once again. Don''t wait too long to cash this one in."

    With that said, Marek gave Al a warm hug and disappeared.

    "Teacher Jeeves," Guy spoke up. "What happened?"

    "I''ll tell you everything as we leave. We can''t waste any more time here."

    Al carried Guy with one hand and Markus with the other and flew out. He didn''t take them to thending bay they arrived at, and simply flew straight out through the translucent formation barrier around the Sect. A few kilometres out, Guy suddenly heard the loud pping of wings. Craned his neck down and saw Garrud stationed suspiciously underneath them. Right then, he knew what was about to happen and screamed at Al to not do it. However, it was already toote. The moment his lips parted, Al''s grip loosened, and the Master and Disciple hurtled down. Thankfully, theynded perfectly on top of Garrud, but the impact rattled their groins. If not for them suddenly empowering that region with their mana, the two would have lost all reproductive capabilities right then and there.

    As Guy nursed his aching tenders, Al''s voice resounded in his mind.

    ''The Sect Leader''s daughter, Cleo Loras, got the bright idea of humiliating Marek by defeating the student of the man who defeated him,'' Al started.

    Since he was flying within the radius of Guy''s mana sense, thetter responded, ''That''s a bit convoluted. And unnecessary.''

    ''Losing face through association,'' Al rephrased. ''The world of mages is very vtile. In fact, I am guilty of admitting that if we hadn''t met, and Markus was really my student and he lost to Cleo, her ploy would have worked. But nowadays I''m a bit more... enlightened I guess?''

    ''How did you get caught in this? You aren''t one to actively seek conflict,'' Guy asked Markus.

    ''She lured and trapped me. It came out of the blue, Master. I wasn''t prepared,'' Markus answered.

    ''Did you win?''

    ''I did not,'' Markus answered. Although, Guy could hear a pleasant intonation in the answer.

    ''The boy won,'' Al denied immediately. ''If I hadn''t stopped him, he would have crippled, or even killed, the girlpletely. Don''t be mad, he wasn''t fully in control of the situation. The girl brought it upon herself by activating a formation that clouded the opponent''s rationality.''

    ''Good job,'' Guy congratted. ''Tell me everything. I want to know.''

    Markus''s face bloomed with a childish smile as he started to recollect the duel from memory. His animated tone and evocative recounting reflected the sheer joy the boy was feeling. Because although, on paper, the duel was dered a loss. Markus saw, first-hand, just how much stronger he had be. Guy was also pleasantly surprised by Markus'' report. Although he was averse tobat, he recognised its necessity given the path he was nning to take. To that end, one thing that worried him the most was his and his students'' abilities to contend against opponents of simr strength. Markus'' victory calmed his tumultuous heart.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Although I don''t want to discourage you,'' Al spoke up as Markus finished his piece. ''Your overwhelming victory today was primarily because Cleo wasn''t knowledgeable about yourbat style, and she was also overly arrogant when entering into the fight. When facing a calmer and focused opponent, your chances of victory may be slimmer than you think.''

    ''I am aware of that,'' Markus answered sincerely. ''Icked properbat experience while my opponent did not. However, I held the initiative throughout the duel. This could only mean that my opponent entered the duel with ax state of mind.''

    Al hummed in affirmation. He was satisfied that the duel hadn''t inted Markus'' ego. After all, it was the number one killer of mages all over the world.

    ''By the way, Teacher Jeeves,'' Guy followed up. ''What happened between you and Elder Glista?''

    Al smiled and said, ''We cleared up some misunderstandings and resolved our differences.''

    Al left it at that and flew ahead all the while sporting a bright smile. He would love to borate, but it wasn''t his secret to tell.

    ____

    Back at the Sect, a girl had just woken up from her unconsciousa. Her pock-marked, bruised and burnt skin had returned to its pristine jade-like consistency, and her clothes had been reced with new ones that once again augmented her angelic beauty. Her broken bones had healed and so had her ruptured internal organs. Everything had returned to normal, except for two things.

    The first of the two was her mind. Losing is a part of growing up. Unfortunately, it wasn''t something Cleo had experienced in her life. Every confrontation she entered was measured. She never took action until victory was guaranteed. She was strong, but a lot of her power hinged upon her position as the Sect Leader''s daughter, and her intellect in choosing her battles.

    Years of continuous victory had clouded her judgement and boosted her arrogance. She thought that because Markus was in the same cultivation realm as her, and because he had no martialbat experience, he would lose under her de. However, reality proved otherwise. Inside the seemingly non-confrontational humany dormant a beast capable of unleashing an unbelievable amount of damage.

    She did not anticipate that Markus would have an inexhaustible supply of mana inside him - the barrage of spells exiting his wand was unending and unrelenting. She did not expect that Markus would have a battle instinct rivalling a seasoned master - he avoided every single attack of hers with minimal movement and with precise calction as if he knew everything she was throwing his way. She didn''t know that the boy had an Abyssal Wyrm''s blood coursing through his veins - the voracious ball of death that nearly consumed her was sufficient evidence, and the Sect Leader''s daughter had enough knowledge drilled into her to distinguish character traits of special mages.

    Ultimately, she did win. But only through a technicality, and that irked her. She should have lost. But the boy gifted her the victory. How dare he do that!

    Cleo sat up in her bed and was immediately attacked by a vile stench. This was the second thing that failed to return to normal after the fight.

    "Unfortunately, the Alchemy Pavilion was draining their year''s stockpile of alchemical waste, and it was disposed of through the drainage systems. The Pavilion Head stopped over and inspected the Young Miss'' condition and said that regretfully, the unpleasant odour will persist for at least another week," Korr''s t voice answered.

    Cleo turned around and noticed the emotionless man standing by her bed.

    "You!" She bellowed while pointing at him. "You told me that he was weak!"

    "This ve did no such thing," Korr shook his head. "This ve simply offered his evaluation of the boy. The Young Miss'' made the final decision."

    "You dare talk back to me?!" She picked up a ceramic bowl next to her bed and threw it at the man''s face with a rageful scream. Contrary to her expectations, Korr raised his hand and caught the bowl before it hit his forehead.

    "You-" Cleo choked. Korr stood up to her, this could only mean one thing.

    "The Sect Leader has called this ve back to serve him," Korr said. "Thus, I bid the Young Miss farewell."

    "Wait!" Cleo called out frantically as she got to her feet. She didn''t bother to put on her footwear and grasped at the man. "I made a small mistake. Just give me a second chance."

    "The Sect Leader said to convey to the Young Miss that, ''If you make a risky y, do so when you know you will win. Because of your idiocy, I now have to bend even lower in front of Marek.''"

    In fact, through association, the Sect Leader had also lost a lot of face due to his daughter''s humiliating victory. He had nned to retaliate by scheming to undermine Teacher Jeeves and that boy Markus. However, right after the incident, Elder Glista came with full force and rallied support asking to condemn the Sect Leader for offending guests visiting the Sect. They then went on to challenge the Sect Leader''s capacity in leading a Sect if he couldn''t control his own flesh and blood. Elder Glista also threw out a plethora of umted evidence of the Sect Leader''s scruples from the past. Since Elder Glista was one of the pirs of the Sect, these allegations couldn''t be swept under the rug and had to be brought to debate and discussion. The Sect Leader had little time to counter the allegations since it literally blindsided him. He would have been the one to dole out Cleo''s punishment today if not for the bind he was currently in, in holding the other elders at bay.

    Korr paused and said, "The Young Miss knows full well that the Sect Leader abhors that phrase - ''second chance''. The Young Miss received an opportunity, regretfully she squandered it immediately after. For now, the Young Miss has been ordered to remain within her quarters."

    Those words essentially meant that she was grounded until her father released her punishment. After bestowing the punishment, Korr exited herpound. Cleo tried to follow him out, pleading and begging. However, she was stopped by an invisible barrier surrounding herpound. The formation to sequester her had been activated. She was caged.

    "It was all that boy''s fault. Why was he hiding his strength-"

    Cleo screamed out one excuse after another. The fault of the ritual formations. The fault of her weak de that cracked under the attack of simple water. The fault of the sun for bearing down on her.

    Her enraged and wronged shouts echoed within the barrier around herpound, failing to exit it due to the noise-cancetion effectsyered in the formation.

    She dered that she would have her revenge one day. One day, she would once again challenge Markus Reva. Crush him. And make him beg for her forgiveness for humiliating her.

 Chapter 184 Grace Opens Up

    The trio''s return to the orphanage was wholly uneventful. To avoid scaring the popce again, Al decided it would be best to alight from Garrud a few kilometres away from the vige. Once they arrived at the orphanage, it was already evening and the sun was just dipping over the horizon. Although the trip ended with a mild high, overall it was a bit depressing and no one was in the mood to eat at this point.

    Guy returned to his room and sat down by his floor-level desk. The delve into the Cloudstrider Sect''s archive was eye-opening. The subsequent discussion with Markus during their flight backplemented his findings and established one key fact: that sects were just horrible!

    If the Cloudstrider Sect was an exhibit of what a sect could be at its peak, Guy wanted none of it.

    "Although I am left with no options but to start my own sect, it doesn''t mean that I must conform to the existing norms," Guy concluded. Following the age-old adage ''if it ain''t broke, why fix it?'', people stuck to the current sect model because it worked well enough for them. And even though the threat of Academies did spur them to make some changes, the ones they implemented were negligible because, in the grand scheme of things, the group that sects catered to were often the weak and underprivileged who had no option but to enter servitude if they ever hoped to exit their station.

    "Incidentally, the unfortunate and underprivileged are the market segment I will be catering to." He couldn''t afford to rope members with significant financial, political or martial power bases. And honest, Guy didn''t want to do it either, "That''s just too much stress."

    "Hold on," Guy stopped himself from thinking any further. He had subconsciously entered the future-nning mode. Before he could preupy himself with questions like, ''What will the name of my Sect be?'' or ''What should my Sectyout be?'', he had to tackle the most important question of them all.

    "Where will the Sect even be?"

    It all boiled down to real estate. Guy wasn''t knowledgeable about the price of real estate in the Sr Empire. Heck, he didn''t know how to go about it either! Was thend owned by the Emperor or the Feudal ns that managed their designated region? Would he need tomunicate with a broker of some sort? What about tax? Above all that, how muchnd or space would he even need for his Sect?

    "Busy, busy, busy," Guy repeated as he scratched his head in frustration. "Nope! I can''t procrastinate on this. I will hitch a ride to Radiant City first thing tomorrow morning. It will also allow me to check how much money I have umted in my ount."

    As Guy mentallyid out his ns for the following days, three equally-spaced and sinct knocks drew out his attention. He extended his mana sense and recognised that it was Grace.

    "Come in," he called out.

    The door opened slowly, and Grace''s figure appeared through it. Guy observed her bodynguage and expression and frowned. Unlike her usual firm and upbeat aura, a sense of defeat and sorrow hung over her. She was fidgeting while scratching at her elbows, she was avoiding Guy''s gaze, she was biting her lips, and her shoulders were drooping.

    "What''s the matter? Sit, sit," Guy gestured as he tossed a cushion in front of his desk for her. Grace nodded and sat down before Guy.

    "What''s wrong?" Guy probed with a concerned gaze.

    "I..." Grace spoke up with a nearly inaudible volume. "Markus just told me that you were thinking of starting your own Sect?"

    Guy pped his forehead, "Right! I almost forgot to tell you."

    "You told everyone else, but me. Even Dora and Kano knew about it, and Kano only just arrived yesterday," Grace added with a dull tone.

    "I... I''m sorry," Guy said sincerely.

    "He said that you might be leaving the orphanage as well?" Grace asked.

    "I''m sorry," Guy said as he pulled the corners of his lips into his cheeks submissively

    "Why are you apologising?" Grace retorted.

    "Because..." Guy didn''t know how to answer that question. He was apologising for keeping Grace in the shadow. But why though? Truthfully, their rtionship was simr to that of roommates sharing a home. Grace shouldn''t feel so offended and dismayed over a small oversight such as Guy forgetting to reveal that he would move out sometime in the future. Yet why did Guy get the feeling that Grace was hurt?

    Grace started chuckling. Herughter started to grow in amplitude until it reached a manic pitch. Then Grace cupped her face and muffled herughter. Eventually, her apparent mirth warped into a cry of deep sadness and shame. She was now weeping. Her shoulders that jumped with delight just a second back now did the same with each whimper she released.

    "Grace?" Guy was rmed at the sudden turnabout. The multiple shifts in the atmosphere within the span of a minute were so rapid that his thoughts were still buffering. He couldn''tpute his next actions and was stuck staring at the weeping woman with his hands suspended in the air.

    Grace pulled in a deep breath through her nose to clear her nasal canals and then used her cuffs to dab her falling tears.

    "You are a horrible man, Guy Larks. Do you know that?" Grace said with a bitter smile.

    "I shouldn''t have let you stay here. I should have kicked you out the moment you arrived at our doorstep with Markus," Grace continued angrily.

    "I''m sorry," Guy repeated.

    "For what?" Grace retorted back. "Tell me, why are you sorry?"

    Guy remained silent. The words that were at the tip of his tongue slithered back down his throat. He knew for a fact that his answer wasn''t what Grace was looking for.

    "If you leave, I will have nothing left Guy Larks!" Grace bellowed ragefully.

    "What do you mean?" Guy blurted out in shock.

    "You came into our life- my life and integrated yourself so seamlessly," Grace expounded. "Markus is your Disciple, he goes where you go. Marie is Mage Nara''s Disciple, she goes where he goes, and as per Markus, he is bound to follow you wherever you n to set up your Sect. Besides, that girl sees you as a father figure and someone to depend on - something I couldn''t be for her. Dora and Kano, the only things those two ever talk about nowadays are all the interesting and mind-boggling things you''ve been teaching them. If you were to leave tomorrow, who do you think will remain in this orphanage?"

    "Grace..."

    "Just me!" Grace answered herself while gritting her teeth. "And do you want to hear something funny? When I heard that you might be leaving soon, do you know what saddened me the most? No! It wasn''t the fact that I would be left by myself in this orphanage, but it was the fact that I wouldn''t get to see you again!"

    A heavy silence grasped the room as Grace finished the sentence with an incredulous pitch.

    "Why do I feel this way, Guy? What did you do to me?" Grace asked with a manic gaze.

    "I was just... there I guess," Guy muttered.

    "Why are you leaving me, Guy?" Grace parroted with an increasingly detached tone, with a growing sense of hysteria in his voice. "Is it because I''m useless?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Grace pulled her knees towards her chest and hugged it tightly. "I''m sorry. Please don''t leave me..."

    "Grace?" Guy approached the rocking woman carefully. "Rx. It''s okay."

    Right as his arms were about to hold her shaking shoulders, Grace screeched in fear, "Don''t hurt me! Please! AAAH!"

    Her voice was loud, and it echoed all across the orphanage, rousing Markus and Marie who rushed over immediately.

    "Master?!" Markus was the first to arrive and was immediately followed by Marie.

    "I-"

    "It''s okay Teacher Larks," Marie assuaged. "Please help me take her to her room."

    ____

    "It''s happened before, hasn''t it?" Guy broke the silence inside Grace''s room. He was with Marie, facing the now calm and unconscious body of Grace.

    "A few times," Marie answered. "She would wake up in the middle of the night. Wailing fearfully, grasping her legs just like before and cowering in the corner of the room."

    "Do you know why?" Guy asked.

    "Everyone has their story," Marie replied. "Everyone here''s suffered in one way or another."

    "She didn''t tell you?"

    "I didn''t ask," Marie shook her head.

    "But this isn''t healthy. She needs to work out whatever is eating away at her," Guy reasoned.

    "Who can she talk to?" Marie retorted. "Not me. I''m just as broken as Matron Reva," she chuckled.

    "Not Markus either. That boy doesn''t understand women at all," Marie added. "The twins are just kids."

    "You know, Teacher Larks," Marie pivoted. "In the years that I''ve known Matron Reva, I haven''t seen her more emotive and rxed than in thest year - after you came in."

    "Anyways, I''m going back to bed," Marie said with a loud yawn. "See you tomorrow, Teacher Larks. Good night!"

    Guy hummed in response but didn''t leave Grace''s bedside. His gaze alternated between affection and concern as he saw her tranquil face. In truth, her earlier outburst had rmed him. While he respected her privacy before and avoided egging her to reveal her history, he was nowpletely invested and wanted to know more so that he could help her.

    "Guy?" Grace murmured.

    "Hmm?"

    "Are you there?"

    "I''m here."

    Silence.

    "You can build your Sect here," Grace said.

    "I don''t want to inconvenience you," Guy responded.

    Silence.

    "I know that you hate Mages," Guy redirected.

    Silence.

    "Do you want to know why?" Grace asked.

    Guy hummed and shuffled closer.

    "I''ll tell you, but in the end I want you to promise me something. Can you do that?"

    "Sure."

    Grace raised her right hand and extended her pinky finger. Guy stared nkly at that action until it finally hit him. She was asking him to form a ''Pinky Swear''. It wasn''t a gesture that originally existed in this world. Guy introduced it to his younger students and now most of the vigers did it. Funnily, they assumed that the swear was some kind of archaic mage ritual.

    "Make the contract," Grace said. "Pinky swear that you will keep that promise."

    Guy held in a chuckle and acquiesced by locking his own pinky around Grace''s.

    "I pinky swear!"

 Chapter 185 Cursed (R 18+)

    A/N: EXTREME TRIGGER WARNING!

    This chapter was one of the worst ones I''ve had to write. From the beginning, I had Grace''s backstory fleshed out. But I did not expect just how difficult it was to write it when it came time to do so. As an inexperienced writer, I have to mentally inhabit my characters to elicit realistic responses and emotions and trante them into words. In writing this chapter, I had to take frequent breaks because it was just too... disgusting.

    Needless to say, I am absolutely against and abhor child sexual abuse! Those that do it are the worst of the worst. What is even worse is the process of grooming, which is when the abuser conditions the victim from an early age.

    ____

    [TRIGGER WARNING]

    A six-year-old girl, with two sharp chestnut-brown eyes glowing with the innocence of childhood, crouched down and inspected a multi-coloured flower in bloom. She used her stubby index finger to tilt it to the side and observed the integrity of the flower''s stem. Noticing the excessive sticity of the stem, she pulled back her hand and scratched her chin in thought.

    "What''s the matter?" An adult''s voice asked, shocking the girl out of her ponderance. The girl turned to face the source and revealed a smile so bright that it could block out a hundred suns.

    "Master!" The girl cheered and skipped toward the man. He had the appearance of someone in their forties, with a chiselled goatee, brte hair that was tied into a bun and hazel eyes. He wore a loose white cotton corless shirt that descended till his knees, and equally loose sandal-coloured trousers of the same material. He descended to his knees and met the girl at eye level.

    "What''s gotten you so stressed out, my little Disciple?" The man inquired mirthfully.

    "The Auroral Lily''s nutritional intake seems stunted," the girl answered with a pout as she rubbed her muddy hands on her in jute summer dress.

    "Have patience," the man said with a warm smile. "We''ve only just rented it. The soil environment in this region already has a significantly higher mineral content, on top of the vitality-rich fertiliser we''re using. The Lily grows in a tundra biome under much scarcer conditions. You shouldn''t be worried about it not receiving enough nutrition. Besides, everything takes time. Remember the first month after you moved in with me? How did you feel then?"

    The girl smiled wryly and said, "That''s not fair! I was only missing my parents..."

    "Maybe this flower is also missing its parents. Give it some time, it wille to liven up," the man added while gently patting the worried girl''s head. The girl beamed back a smile in response, failing to realise the man''s hand''s incremental descent down her spine to the small of her back.

    "Guess what Master found today?" The man asked with exaggerated intrigue.

    The girl frowned as she tried guessing, but before she could voice it, the man pulled out a simple, yet elegant gold ne.

    "Wow!" The girl''s eyes widened like saucers as the gold glimmered in the morning sun''s bright rays.

    The man proceeded to put the ne on the girl by first moving her flowing locks. His hands contacted her neck, revealing her corbones cushioned with baby fat. He ced the gold metal on her neck and slowly fastened it from behind.

    "This Master is so lucky! He has the most beautiful Disciple in the whole wide world!" The man dered loudly.

    The girl blushed in response and hid her face in embarrassment.

    ____

    [TRIGGER WARNING]

    "Master, when can we go to the city?" The girl asked. She was now ten years old, and her face was in the process of shedding its fat.

    "Why do you want to leave?" The man shot back with a faint yet harsh edge in his voice.

    "It''s been so long. I want to eat those Sweet Dumplings you broughtst time," the girl said with a hopeful gaze.

    "Why would you need to go to the city for that?" The man shot back as he approached the girl from behind. He ced his hands on her waist and rested his chin on her head. "Master will make it for you."

    The girl flinched slightly as the man''s breath brushed against her scalp. She had spent five years with her Master, isted on this hill in the middle of a forest. She had tried leaving many times - in the beginning, it was due to boredom. But in the past few years, a sense of foreboding had dawned upon her. She felt trapped. Suffocated.

    Over the years, she and her Master had gotten closer... on an ufortably physical levelrgely due to her Master''s aggressive advances. She felt difited and anxious, but her Master would tell her that it was all innocent. They were just normal interactions between Master and Disciple, he would say.

    "How''s your cultivation moving?" the man inquired, now whispering directly into her ears. The girl shuffled away and bowed respectfully. "Thanks to Master''s teachings, this Disciple was able to achieve a breakthrough and advance into the cusp of the Core Formation realm. Just like Master said, ingesting that potion made of Auroral Lily invigorated my blood and pushed me past that barrier."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The man''s eyes shed with malicious greed but were immediately reced with warm pride. She didn''t miss this instance, though. Recently, she had noticed her Master''s gaze and expressions waver, exhibiting a dangerous glint intermittently.

    "That''s good! Congrattions, my beautiful Disciple!" The man eximed as he reached in for a hug.

    The girl''s spine tightened at the words ''beautiful Disciple''. Apliment should elicit a more pleasant response, but after hearing it so many times, each time with more lustful vitriol than thest, she was starting to hate it. She didn''t believe it anymore. She hated her hourss figure, her piercing gaze, and her inviting features. Everything her Master used to describe her allure had turned into knives carving into her spirit.

    ____

    [TRIGGER WARNING]

    "AH!" The girl screamed as she beheld the gory mess on her bed. Blood. Blood everywhere. Hearing the scream, her Master rushed into her room.

    "What happened?" He asked. But his eyesnded on the girl''s bed.

    "It''s okay. It''s a natural process," the man assuaged the shaken girl. He approached her bed and folded the bedspread. With a flick of his hands, the cloth disintegrated. With another flick, the blood that oozed into her mattress dissipated as well.

    "See? As good as new!" He eximed with a flourish of his hands.

    The girl looked apprehensively at her Master and cowered.

    "Don''t be scared, Grace," her Master said. "It''s a good sign. It means that my beautiful Disciple - the most wonderful girl in the world - has now be a woman."

    Grace looked into her Master''s eyes and saw his facade slippletely. No longer did he bother to wear the mien of a proud Master, a caring father figure, and a close friend. His eyes lost all of their warmth and were reced by a maddened, avaricious and lecherous intensity.

    "Master?" Grace whimpered as she saw the man she called Master approach her. His gait was that of a predator. And she was his prey.

    ____

    Silence reigned in Grace''s room, as she paused. Her voice remained stoic and uncaring the entire time she narrated her past. She was picked up by a seemingly kind-hearted Mage who unearthed her from her vige and took her on as his Disciple. He convinced her parents that she had immense potential and would one day soar through the skies. As illiterate folk, gaining the recognition of a Mage was a massive boon. They readily sent their daughter with the Mage. After all, the best they could give her would be just enough food to survive the day. At least with this Master, their daughter could thrive and not just survive.

    Grace''s Master took her to his "home" which was an isted cottage up a hill, surrounded by dense forestry on all sides. There was an artificial spring flowing through the area that was used to irrigate and tend to a garden that grew a myriad of herbs, flowers and alchemical ingredients. Her Master taught her everything about growing herbs and cultivating. Grace showed immense potential and breezed through cultivation realms with minimal effort, going as far as to reach Foundation Establishment by six and a half years of age.

    "Have you ever heard of Lamias?" Grace asked. "They''re a type of nature spirit - sentient creatures native to the Fae Realm. One key biological trait of Lamias is that they''re always females."

    "They are known to be extremely powerful, capable of wielding the force of nature with a high level of proficiency. A Lamia in the Core Condensation realm can control a forest the size of Radiant City as if it were her own yground. A Lamia is born with an innate cultivation method, like most sentient beasts, that can boost her to the Core Condensation realm incredibly quickly. For others, it may take years or lifetimes, but for a Lamia, a decade would be sufficient."

    "Yet, even with all this power, a Lamia has one ring weakness," Grace paused.

    "You see, the moment a Lamia bes pregnant, she loses everything. Her cultivation is immediately dissipated, never to be regained again, and all of it is transferred to her offspring. Since Lamias are only females, their offsprings are also exclusively females, and they are always born as twins. No matter what race the other half of the offspring may be, Lamia''s bloodline supersedes all. Her offspring will be just as strong as her, and will have the same weakness as her."

    Grace turned her face on her pillow and looked directly into Guy''s eyes.

    "What happens to a mage''s core when they die?"

    "It starts to dissipate," Guy answered.

    "For a Lamia, once she bes pregnant, her core gets infused into her offsprings. If one were to extract the offspring from her womb, refine them and siphon their essence through alchemical processes, they can create an extremely potent elixir that can boost a mage''s cultivation by a lot. For a Mana Condensation realm mage, it would be enough to deposit them on the doorstep of Core Formation. For a peak Core Formation realm mage, it would be enough to boost them into the Core Condensation realm," Grace concluded.

    She then moved her hands towards her belly and slowly pulled up her shirt, to reveal a horrible burn scar marring her abdomen.

    "What my ''Master'' didn''t tell me when he picked me up, was that I had Lamia blood flowing through my veins." Grace''s voice wavered as tears started to flow out the side of her eyes. "All that time, I was so excited when my cultivation leapt through realms. He would praise me, andmend me for being a genius. Little did I know that it was all a lie - an unfortunate byproduct of my cursed bloodline."

 Chapter 186 Vow

    "You don''t mean...?" Guy eximed in disbelief. He hoped, deep inside, that everything was a lie. For Grace to have suffered through something so malicious, something so disgusting, something so absolutely inhumane... Guy just couldn''t digest it. For that matter, even the food he''d consumed was attempting to redouble out of his oesophagus.

    "The day I menstruated for the first time, my Mas- that man... took me. He forced himself on me," Grace revealed with a low whimper. She paused to collect herself and continued to speak. However, Guy could feel the heavy emotions gushing through her words and her deep-seated fear and anger.

    "I had no idea what was going on. I was too young and I didn''t know what it meant. I just let him do it, I bit my lips and forged through the pain. ''Maybe it was part of Master''s n?'' I would lie to myself," Grace said. "But I knew, deep down, that it was wrong."

    "He... did that to me many times, every time I menstruated. After the first time, he would lock me in the hut. He stopped teaching me how to cultivate as well. It went on like this for a year, until one day my menstruation was dyed."

    "I didn''t know what to do. I didn''t have anyone to depend on, so I told that man. When he heard it, he was extremely ted."

    "After that incident, a change took ce. My treatment took another turn, this time for the better. He would feed me delicious food, and varieties of elixirs, I also received physical therapy regrly. As an impressionable child, my growing apprehension lessened as I believed that my Master was back to normal. I thought that maybe he was angry with me for something I did before, and now he had forgiven me. Yet, I overlooked the fact that he still kept me locked up in this prison."

    "Then time progressed, and I started to notice my cultivation dropping at a frantic pace. It was slow at first, but with each month it started to decrease exponentially, until the fifth month when I had returned to my mortal state, but much worse. I couldn''t feel the mana at all, I couldn''t even cast basic cantrips."

    "Once again, I told the man about this. And that was thest time I saw his face," Grace concluded.

    "When I next I woke up, I found that I was alone in that house. I was weak, on the brink of death. My stomach was scarred with a brutal burn. My insides were on fire. And worse yet, I could feel that I had lost something. There was an emptiness inside me."

    Grace stopped talking and rolled over to her side.

    "I remained in the house alone for a week. My mind was nk. I was lost. A part of me was angry with myself for disappointing my Master which resulted in this punishment. ''Why did he leave me? What did I do wrong?'' I started to hate myself. It got to a point when I contemted ending everything. But then I remembered my parents."

    "With great difficulty, I managed to recuperate. Thanks to the knowledge that man left with me, and the still intact herb garden, I managed to brew a few healing concoctions and regained some of my strength. But mana maniption was still beyond my reach. No matter! I just had to return home, to my parents."

    "I travelled for days, fighting through the pain from the hasty healing that man did to me. I guess once I had fulfilled my use, my fate didn''t matter to him. Though, I am thankful that he at least put me back together in one piece after slicing me up. If he hadn''t done that, I would not be here."

    "By the time I returned to my vige, I found that it no longer existed."

    Grace chuckled ominously and said, "What happened, was that a few years after my departure, a mage garbed in ck arrived at the vige and burnt it to the ground, including everyone present there at that time."

    "It couldn''t be!" Guy denied it in shock.

    "The assumption is valid," Grace responded. "He couldn''t leave any loose ends. He was sure that I wouldn''t survive his operation. But what of the people from my past? If people started asking questions, they could trace it back to him, right?"

    "I lost everything. My past, my present, and my future. At this point, I was nothing but a ghost. I might as well be dead," Grace cried.

    "I wanted to end it all," Grace revealed. "Finish what that man did to me."

    "But then, I met Markus. He was a little kid, alone. Almost my age when I was taken. Being with him, this emptiness that remained within me started to fill up - I could feel it. Maybe it was the lingering motherly instinct that was growing inside me that found some satisfaction and wholeness when taking care of the kid..."

    "It was just us two for a while. But as he grew older and older, the anger, hatred and disgust started to resurface within me. I couldn''t sleep, I couldn''t eat without throwing it all up, I couldn''t even get up due to the lethargy."

    "It was then that I stumbled upon Dora and Kano. Those two were even younger than Markus when I found him. Still toddlers, barely able to crawl. After I took them in, the pain within me receded again. A few monthster, Marie joined us and we finally settled down here in this building. The vigers had abandoned this ce for many years. The woods were dense here, and prone to beast attacks."

    "But we had nothing to lose. We moved in, cleaned and cleared the area," Grace exined.

    "Now this is all I have, Guy. The children and this ce. This was all that kept me going. It was all that I needed. But, that was until you came," Grace said while sobbing loudly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I disliked you when you arrived," Grace confessed. "You reminded me of my unpleasant past. You reminded me of him."

    At that instant, pieces started to click in Guy''s mind. Her murderous reaction when she saw Guy naked with Markus started to make sense to him now. It must have opened up all of her past wounds when she thought that Guy was about to do to Markus what the beast had done to her.

    "You''re thinking about that time, aren''t you?" Grace asked. She could read Guy''s facial expressions and deduced them urately.

    "You were different," Grace redirected. "I''d met a lot of mages through my life. Each was equally as bad as the other - they were all the same. Selfish, arrogant, quick to anger, and just as quick to jump to conclusions. But you were the exact opposite. I thought it was a result of a naive mind, but after getting to know you, I realised that it was a result of a mind mature beyond its years."

    "You tter me."

    "It''s the truth! I was apprehensive about sending Markus to the Academy because I feared he would be like them - cold, uncaring and self-absorbed. You wouldn''t believe just how relieved I was when he came back - although I didn''t show it. But then he brought you along... I prepared myself for the worst but was pleasantly surprised. I observed as you taught Markus and the other kids, and how you emphasised the use of rationality and morality - being aware of how our actions affect the world and those around us."

    Grace sat up on her mattress and gazed directly into Guy''s eyes. Her face wore a firm and unbending expression, and she grasped Guy''s hand tightly.

    "I will let you establish your Sect here only under one condition: You mustn''t let the kids joining go astray. Keep them grounded, just like you did with Markus, Jean and Marie. Turn them into exemry mages."

    "Does that even need to be said?" Guy retorted incredulously. "I won''t let them go astray. Not in good conscience."

    Grace shook her head and repeated, "You don''t understand. Magic corrupts. As you grow with your cultivation your personality warps with you. After a point, you are forced to sacrifice the only shred of humanity that tethers you to your mortal self and you turn into an abstract concept given physical form. And once you lose that human identity, you stop treating others as humans as well."

    "The way you''re raising Markus and the others, I can get behind. In fact, I would have interrupted the moment you started leading them astray, but till now you haven''t. However, with a growing body of students, your attention will inevitably be diluted. So, I need you to promise me! Promise me that you won''t let ANY child learning under you go astray. Promise me, and I will let you use the orphanage and the surrounding areas to set up your Sect."

    Guy gazed back into Grace''s eyes and prepared to pledge. "I promise that no member of my Sect will ever, in any way, turn to harm innocents. I will make sure that they be whole individuals with a proper sense of morality."

    The duo remained in silence as the vow lingered in the air. It may not be much, it wasn''t like it was some sort of soul contract, but the words had weight. At least to Grace, it was enough. She trusted Guy. Why? Grace didn''t know the answer to that question.

    It might be because he never forced anything on her. He respected her - respected her boundaries, her choices, and her opinions. He treated her as his equal. That was not something you''d find so easily in this world.

    Another reason might be because, in an obscure way, Grace also reciprocated the affection Guy kept sending her way. If someone were to hear the words ''I Love You'' multiple times from the same person with sincerity, unless the recipient was without emotions, they too would be swayed and develop some feelings for that person.

    Proximity breeds familiarity. And Grace was growing intimately familiar with Guy.

    After a silent few minutes, Grace snapped out of her focused state and realised that she and Guy were extremely close to each other, AND she was holding on to the man''s hands. If anyone were to enter her room at this moment, misunderstandings would surely arise.

    She immediately dropped her hands and coughed to cover up her embarrassment.

    "I- I should sleep now," she muttered and urged Guy to do the same... in his own room.

    "Before I go," Guy said as he passed her door frame. "If it isn''t too unpleasant, what was the name of that man who did this to you? Can you describe him?"

    "Huh?" Grace choked at the sudden change in ambience. "I am not sure. He called himself Yarrick, though he just told me to call him Master. And as for his appearance... the memories are sort of blurry. I''ve been trying my hardest to forget..."

    Guy furrowed his brows as he digested this information and then revealed a slight smile back at Grace, "It''s fine. Good night."

 Chapter 187 Rage, Unending

    Guy returned to his room and went to bed. Sleep evaded him for a while until he caught it by force. It was difficult descent into thend of dreams, but Guy achieved it nheless.

    The darkness wobbled and rippled like the surface of a still pond after an interloping pebble breached it. Guy felt a faint suction, and then a hard thud as he found himself deposited in an unknown ce. The world around him was dim and dank. Drooping foliage surrounded him, like somewhere deep within a dense forest. Yet he could hear no fauna. He could hear nothing, except his heartbeats.

    Thrown into an unknown home such as this, Guy surprisingly didn''t panic. His perception told him that he had arrived here willingly. How? He did not know - he could not recollect. His memories only told him the validity of the current time instance, everything before was a blur. Guy''s body acted on autopilot and trudged forward, through the shrubbery. Curving around the towering trees, ducking under the entangled vines, and leaping over the exposed roots.

    He walked for an incalcble amount of time. He did not know how long because he did not feel any difort or tiredness. He didn''t even know which direction he was going. He just followed where his feet took him.

    At that instance, a pained whimper broke through the woods and assaulted his ears. It was faint, almost a whisper, but it resonated likerge church bells in his mind. Once again, Guy''s feet took over. With an increasing pace, which turned into a jog and then a sprint, he navigated through the maze with uncanny proficiency.

    The sound repeated, but much louder this time. Maybe he was getting closer. Maybe the source was evoking the sound more frantically.

    The whimper turned into a painful, soul-shattering cry. Guy''s environment zoomed past him as he finally burst through thestyer of trees. He was now in front of a hill - bare except for the well-kept garden around it. At the tip of the hill, was a quaint cottage. Its facade beckoned with an inviting warmth, but through the ajar door, Guy could feel an abominable evil leaking through.

    At this moment, Guy exited his autopilot state and his full consciousness was dropped into his body. His mind rumbled and whirred into motion.

    "Where am I?" He muttered. And in response, another shrieking cry for help resounded. It wasing from inside the cottage.

    The voice sounded young, feminine, but hoarse. Almost as though it had been put through the wringer many times before. It was heartrending to hear.

    Guy gulped audibly as a realisation dawned upon him. He could already imagine what he was witnessing. This ce, this cottage, that sound. But he didn''t want to believe it.

    "It''s all a lie. This is just a dream," he repeated. Often acknowledging that one was in a dream was enough to give them full control over the environment. Guy kept telling himself that it was all a figment of his overactive imagination. But his subconscious was unwilling to concede control. The ambience remained static, and the wailing voice boomed within his mind. Shaking him to his core.

    Unable to take it any longer, Guy started to walk briskly up the hill and approached the cottage. As he approached, the agonising screams started to w into him mentally and emotionally. Guy couldn''t hold himself back, his blood was pumping and his rage was boiling over. Not once had Guy ever felt this way in his entire life, not in this one and definitely not in his previous one.

    He forced himself into a sprint and burst into the house, pushing through the door with his shoulder. With an audible bang, the door flung open and flew off the hinge.

    With veins popping out of his eyeballs, Guy scanned the room. His ears perked up and searched for the source of the sound. But he was only greeted with silence - ear-shattering silence.

    The anger in his heart started to fester. What sort of games was his mind ying? He copsed to his knees and started to pummel the ground furiously. Each punch caused the world around him to shake. The madness locked inside him started to burst out. He did not know how else to express it except by physically venting it.

    The anger was unending and as he released it, more formed and took its ce. Guy was thoroughly shaken to his core after hearing Grace''s revtions. He only wore a calm facade as a mask. Deep down, he was infuriated. He wanted nothing more than to find the man who hurt her and twist his neck. No, that would be too quick. Too easy. If the world was fair, there had to be retribution!

    "AAARGGHH!" Guy bellowed as he brought both his fists down.

    BOOOM!

    Dust tumbled from the ceiling and cracks started to spread out all over the floor, originating at the point of impact.

    "This is a first," a voicemented.

    Guy jerked his head sideways and looked into the darkness surrounding him. Even though the cottage had windows, no light graced its interior. The only source of light was the entryway through which Guy burst in. From the shadows bathing the room, a figure stepped out.

    Guy''s eyes widened in shock as the figure''s face peeked through.

    "It''s you!"

    "It''s me!" the other Guy parroted with a joking intonation. "You feel anger. Why is that?"

    Guy didn''t respond. He stared incredulously at the familiar form of his past self.

    "Even when the mother and her two daughters died at the hands of the abusive man, you didn''t feel an inkling of rage. Yet now, all of sudden, your heart aches and your soul quakes. Why is that?"

    "Why are you here?" Guy retorted.

    "Why can''t I be here? I am you, you are me. I am where you are, everywhere, all the time," the other Guy responded.

    Then, silence prevailed in the room.

    "Why do you look so shocked? Did you think that I was confined behind that mask?" The other Guy mocked. "That mask is the portal to let me enter the foreground, when in fact I exist eternally in the background."

    "Why are you doing this to me?" Guy barked back infuriated.

    The other Guy shrugged and said, "Let''s call it an experiment. I wanted to test something. I wanted to gauge your reaction."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What are you talking about?"

    "What were you expecting to see when you ran in here?" The other Guy redirected. "Were you hoping to see the face of the man that defiled that woman? For the sake of argument, what would you have done if you saw the man here forcing himself upon that girl? Would you have stopped him, or would you have remained passive as you usually do?"

    "Stop joking around with me."

    "Come on now, humour me for a second."

    "Of course, I would have stopped him!"

    "At what point would you stop?" The other Guy hinted.

    "I..."

    The other Guy waited for the mumbling Guy to format his answer. But after minutes of inactivity, he said, "You know that you must kill him. Would you be able to do it though?"

    "I would," Guy answered with a resolute expression. His face stuck somewhere between a concerned frown and cold, calcted decisiveness.

    "Ain''t that intriguing," the other Guy said sarcastically. "Saint Larks, willing to draw blood? Stop kidding yourself! You couldn''t hurt a mosquito sucking your blood in front of you. What confidence is there in annihting someone else - a human no less?"

    "He is no human. He is a monster. An inhumane monster. And he should be treated as such. What he did to Grace... it is unforgivable."

    "With what strength? You talk a big game, but when pushes to shove would you even have the power to enact your decisions?" The other Guy challenged.

    "The congregation you are creating for our Church, do you think you can protect it from the infidels who seek to demean and destroy us?"

    "What are you talking about?"

    "THE SECT! You act so enthusiastically, but you seem to forget that a Sect is a mercenary group at heart. Mercenary work involves fighting, maiming, and killing. Can you even do it?"

    "If I must."

    "Talk is cheap."

    "What do you want me to do?!" Guy shot back.

    "If you let me have control. I will solve everything for you," the other Guy tempted. "This revenge would be the top priority. After all, there is no ce for selfish deviants in a world built on the Absolute Truth."

    "Enough!" Guy demanded. "Release this farce this instant."

    "No."

    "Do it!"

    The other Guy did not respond and simply dissipated. Guy''s anger returned twofold. In a fit, he rushed towards the walls of the cottage and flung his fist against it. A fist-sized hole formed as the wood shattered. With another punch, the structure buckled. Guy did not pause and resumed the rage-filled demolition operation.

    He then beelined to the sleeping quarters. To his disgust, he found that there was only one. Which meant that the man slept with her from the start. He probably shared the bed with her, endearing himself with the innocent child. Lowering her guard!

    With another primal scream, Guy grabbed the mattress and bedframe, and cleft it in two. He proceeded to pummel the walls, hell-bent on destroying the disgusting ce.

    Once the cottage was no more, he moved on to the garden. He uprooted and burned the fields. He then desated the soil, removing all beneficial minerals from it. He then proceeded to pummel the ground, levelling the hill.

    Guy''s carnage extended outwards. He fell the trees and burned everything to ashes. His anger knew no bounds. He did not want this awful ce to exist in his mind. Even a remnant of it, be it a figment, was disgusting.

    After what felt like years, Guy stopped and beheld the carnage he had wrought. The world was burning around him. The ground was charred with soot and debris. The skin of his fist had torn in many ces. His bones were showing, blood was caked everywhere. Yet Guy still hadn''t found peace. It was just that there was nothing else to vent it out on.

    Guy reined back his anger and sat down into a meditative pose. He slowly descended into a deep trancelike state, until he suddenly felt a pop.

    Guy opened his eyes and stared nkly at the ceiling of his room. The first rays of the sun peeked through his windows and tumbled across his face.

    Guy held his face in his hands and took a few deep breaths to suppress his emotions. The anger hadn''t subsided. It was just that there was nothing else to vent it out on. Nothing justifiable, at least. Not yet.

 Chapter 188 Combat Training

    Breakfast was silent as the group was iplete. Grace hadn''t awoken yet, Guy figured that she was probably exhausted after unveiling her darkest secrets. Revisiting trauma was never pleasant, and oftentimes physically draining.

    A dismal ambience lingered around the dining table, even the usually upbeat Dora kept mum the entire time. She didn''t even pester Kano to borate on his trip to the city. Markus ate his food mechanically, the same as Marie. Jean wore her usual impassive expression, yet her bodynguage screamed difort. She could read the room and had no idea why such a dreary atmosphere pervaded it.

    Guy finished his food and ced his wooden spoon into his bowl.

    "Markus, from today onwards we will addbat as part of our regr lesson rotation," Guy dered.

    The eyes of his two students darted his way in disbelief. His disciple was also thoroughly floored by Guy''s sudden announcement.

    "Master? I''m not sure that I understand..."

    "We''ve been neglecting a key functionality of magic during our lessons. After our trip to the Cloudstrider Sect, it became clear to me that our approach was incorrect. Danger lurks behind every corner, we must be prepared to contend against such threats that target our lives and that of our loved ones. Although you seeded this time, we also established that it was inrge part due to your opponent''scency. If there is one thing I know for a fact, is that there will never be second chances in life-"

    ''Lies!'' Guy thought to himself. He was here right now in his second chance. ''But they don''t know that. And maybe my second chance was also the first time. What guarantee is there that I or any of my students will get a second iteration?''

    "Anyways, self-defence is a must-have skill for everyone. We will addbat to our usual physical training regiment."

    "I understand, Master," Markus affirmed.

    "Jean, I would like for you to attend as well. Although I cannot force you to participate, it would be beneficial for you to learn. As for you Marie-"

    "I will voluntarily sit out. I am learning to cultivate and practice magic to expressly avoid such scenarios," Marie interjected immediately while shaking her head. "I don''t want to give myself an out by supplementing myself withbat exercises. Besides, the old man keeps telling me that ''our way is to puncture with a borrowed knife'' or something like that. He probably has other ns for me."

    "Are you sure Big Sis?" Markus inquired.

    "A hundred per cent! This handicap will push my limits. I am sure of it!"

    ____

    A flurry of |Fireball|, |Ice Lance|, |Water Jet| and a plethora of other projectiles flew back and forth between two casters as a third individual observed unwaveringly. Almost akin to a turn-based game, the duo attacked and defended alternatingly. Each pushing their spellcasting and ingenuity to the limit to produce solutions on the fly. In one instance, a |Fireball| would be negated by another |Fireball|. In another, the |Fireball| would get pulled into |Wind Vortex| morphing it into a |me Spin| that spread outward with a shockwave.

    Guy and Markus, along with Jean, were in the usual clearing where they tested and practised spellcasting. Their previous location had undergone a thoroughndscaping operation and thus they had to manually clear a section of the forest to create a new one. Today could be considered an inauguration of this new field, and it was already starting to look worn out due to the heavy pummelling from the rogue spells.

    Both Markus and Guy had their wands out. Guy had built one for himself a while back when he made one for Jean and Marie. He''d mostly been using it for spells of convenience, either to clean the roof tiles of the orphanage or the stairs, maybe sweeping fallen leaves and dust. This spar was officially the first time the wand participated in actualbat. Needless to say, Guy was plenty impressed with his creation. He had tried the wand out to cast a fewbat spells during its conception, but he hadn''t used it in a high-stress situation. After actually doing so, he realised just how cheat-like it was. Certain spells which took a heavy toll on the mana pool were turned into trivial cantrips thanks to the wand. This was also inrge part due to Markus'' innovative Compartmentalisation algorithm that further enhanced Guy''s Modr Spellmaking.

    "If I were to describe it, I would say that ourbat style is like a brute force attack, isn''t it?" Guymented as he redirected a burst of water whipping from his blind side. "We are leveraging our efficiency in spellcasting to overpower our opponents. There doesn''t seem to be a technique to this."

    "Technique is anything you want it to be," another voice responded. Neither Guy nor Markus had to divert their attention to know that it was Teacher Al Jeeves.

    "I was wondering what all those mana fluctuations were. I must say, this is my first time seeing you so aggressive Guy," Almented.

    "Master is quite unrelenting," Markus chimed in as sweat started to form across his forehead. "The spells are-"

    Apressed vorticing ball of fiery gas propelled itself at Mach speeds towards Markus. Markus barely shifted his hips to the left and the ball flew past, missing him by a millimetre and collided against a tree on the other end of the field. As the ball hit the trunk, it expanded and exploded magnificently, taking with it a huge bite of the trunk. The tree fell after a second, as it finally realised that its body was suddenly missing.

    "How did you do that?" Guy asked. He could see the precision in Markus'' movement. It was calcted- No! It was like he already knew the ball would follow that trajectory before it even left Guy''s wand.

    "I used the new sensory data that my mana sense can observe to predict the path," Markus answered truthfully.

    "Really? Which new data channel is this?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I believe it was what Master called Spacetime?" Markus answered while scratching his head.

    "WHAT?!" Guy shrieked in surprise. "How?"

    Markus smiled proudly and started to exin his process of stumbling across the new channel that led to his advancement into Foundation Establishment.

    "You do realise just how risky your method was, right?" Al reprimanded. "Many mages have lost their sanity after delving into the information gathered from their mana sense. Nheless, your gains did end up outweighing the risks. Being able to ess an exclusive sensory channel through the mana sense is a one-in-a-million ability held closely by specialised practitioners from deep-rooted ns, sects, or beings with special bloodlines and physiques. I caught a few glimpses of how you used this new sensory channel to your advantage in the fight against Cleo. Definitely handy! Although I don''t know what else it offers you apart from an extremely precise view of your surroundings."

    "You have no idea just how broken this is," Guy said to Al. "Being able to observe spacetime, like actually seeing it, opens up a realm of new possibilities for Markus."

    He then turned to the boy and asked, "Have you found any interesting new uses?"

    Markus scratched his chin and said, "It isn''t exactly a spell, more like an ability- no, an intuition that I get when I sense spacetime. I can manipte the meshgrid with my mana. The longer I do it, the more exhausted I get and it is highly exponential."

    "Can you show me?" Al inquired with interest sparkling in his eyes.

    Markus nodded and said, "Teacher Jeeves, please lower your guard for this one. I haven''t tried it on someone two realms above me, I don''t know if it will work."

    Right as Al obliged verbally, he could feel a minuscule change transpiring around him. He suddenly started to feel a fluctuation in his weight. Thanks to his cultivation realm, Al had a highly attuned sense of perception of himself. He had lived in this body for over a century now, needless to say, he knew every nook and cranny of it, from the length of his tone-nails to the number of eyeshed on his left eye. The small disturbance in his weight was nigh-imperceptible but wasn''t missed by him. He was lighter by exactly one kilogram.

    After a short second, the feeling reverted, but then pushed in the other direction. Instead of feeling lighter, he had gotten heavier.

    "That is fascinating!" Al congratted. Markus stopped his ability acting on Al and diverted it to his Master

    "That''s freaky!" Guy eximed.

    "I used this to cause Cleo to lose her step duringbat," Markus revealed.

    "That''s an excellent application!" Al praised. "Mostbatants and martial artists learn how to react to changes in the environment. Missed footing, slips, obstacles, and so on. But no one really trains how topensate for sudden changes in their internal model. Though I must say that it may not work so easily with veteran fighters. I highly suggest you figure out a way to augment this ability."

    Markus nodded and said, "I am searching for ways to formalise this. If I can trante this into a spell circle, I believe it will be even more efficient and tweakable."

    "I bet this ability also gives you a lot of insights into that ck hole spell you''ve been trying to cook up," Guy added.

    "The boy calls it a |Singrity|. That''s what I remembered hearing," Al chimed in.

    "Was that English?" Guy shot back incredulously.

    Markus smiled bitterly and said, "There were no apt words to describe it, so I used the word Master used to define a ck hole."

    "What''s English?" Al interjected. "It''s definitely not Ancient Tongue."

    "It''s thenguage that most of the insight in my inheritance is encrypted in," Guy lied without missing a beat. For the first time, he didn''t feel any difort as it rolled out the tip of his tongue. The triviality of the process did unsettle Guy, but he quickly waved it away.

    "I wouldn''t be able to replicate that, right?" Guy redirected immediately.

    "I don''t think so. The way Markus described it, this new ability is probably a byproduct of his specific cultivation method - whatever it is. It would be difficult for you to replicate it without going through a cultivation deviation. You could create an analogue if you tried, just like how Markus managed to create a pseudo replica of Gaige''s attack. But creating the same would be extremely difficult." Al exined. "In fact, you should probably have some special ability with your specialised cultivation method. Have you tried testing it out?"

    "My cultivation method?" Guy blurted out. Frankly, he had no idea what it was either. How could he know what his special ability would be?

 Chapter 189 Special Abilities And Powers

    Magic is the art of warping reality - that was an established fact. The world flows in a particr way, this way is defined by the naturalws that ensure the world''s stability. A mage, or any wielder of magic, and mana can tamper with this flow and manipte it, to a limited degree. A mage can spawn fire in their palms, make water levitate, cause the earth to ripple, steady wind to grow turbulent, generate lightning from their fingers, elerate nt growth, heal injuries, and many more. However, an abstract line is drawn in ce that inhibits them from warping the naturalws beyond a certain point.

    This ''line'' denotes the barrier beyond which the stability of the world itself is threatened. For instance, A mage can spawn fire in their palms by either infusing a ''Fire'' nature to their mana or bybusting fuel in their environment. Mages can even use magic to manipte existing fires, redirecting them,pressing them, and even in some niche cases eating them for sustenance. However, although these feats appear extraordinary, they stand on the usible end of the ''line''. What if a mage wants to turn their entire body into fire? No, not self-immtion, but actually turning into a figure made of me with all the properties of fire without losing their lives? This breaks an uncountable number of naturalws - transmuting organic matter into sma without expending energy or mass to activate and sustain this conversion, all the while ensuring that the ''sentience'' of the being undergoing the transmutation isn''t lost so that they can once again reverse the conversion and assume human form.

    Yet, even if this sounds impossible and downright ridiculous, it is still within the realms of a mage''s power as long as a condition, or from another perspective, a sacrifice is met on the mage''s part. This condition is derived from the cultivation method that the mage practices. The cultivation method, in essence, moulds the mage''s mind to fathom these imusible scenarios and goes on to imprint this information into their will. This imprinting is permanent and rigid. If a mage has imprinted a specific ''line crossing power'' into their will, it is often difficult to amodate another one. The barrier that separates the Mana Condensation mage from the Foundation Establishment realm is somewhat connected to these ''line crossing powers'', for ack of a better word.

    From a different standpoint, this is considered a sacrifice, since if the imprinted powercks breadth and depth, it can often be difficult for a mage to advance past a specific cultivation realm since there are no longer any insights they can derive from it. The imprint bes a shackle at this point. Taking the example of the ming man, the power is extremely specific and the mage will find it hard to extract new inspiration to push forward in their cultivation unless they have some sort of breakthrough revtion that can maybe test their understanding of the power along a different trajectory without having to rehash their existing cultivation.

    Markus'' ability to observe and, to a small degree, manipte spacetime is an example of this ''line crossing power''. The understanding of fate and its machinations is another type of power held by Marie and Krish Nara. While Guy didn''t know much about thetter, he had enough assurance that there would be sufficient breadth and depth for Marie to work with since her Master had reached the Tesseract Transformation realm, which is the de facto pinnacle of magehood. As for the former, Guy was confident that there would be sufficient breadth and depth for Markus since he had only barely scratched the surface of thatplicated topic.

    "This is Markus'' unique power," Al exined. He summarised the idea sinctly for Guy and his Disciple. "My special power tends to contradict my earlier exnation, in that it allows me to borrow the powers of others. In a sense, I am not shackled by my cultivation method."

    "That sounds a bit overpowered," Guy responded with a scowl.

    "The world is fair," Al said while shaking his head. "I must have a thorough understanding of the power exhibited by the mage to be able to replicate it. And even if I do satisfy that condition, replicating such powers drains me a lot. Additionally, I can only exhibit one special ability at a time - it''s like I have to morph my own cultivation to attain the same vour of the mage I am trying to replicate. And finally, I cannot benefit by obtaining new insights about that power - I can replicate but not innovate."

    "I guess that IS fair," Guy muttered.

    "In the same sense, you must also have a special ability," Al reiterated. "Why don''t you try exercising it?"

    "I''m not sure how... Do you think it might have something to do with how I can provide more potent |Soul Imprints| to my students?" Guy surmised.

    "That''s possible, but I feel like that is more in line with cultivating the soul. You should have an ability more aligned with the cultivation of your will, right?"

    Guy hummed in understanding and then tilted his head, "Do you have any suggestions on how I can manifest it?"

    "This is more to do with yourself," Al denied immediately. "Everyone has a different way, but a technique to get started is by meditating. You must inspect your cultivation core and determine it by yourself."

    "That sounds incredibly haphazard," Guymented.

    "Well, your Disciple aplished it, I don''t see a reason why you can''t," Al said with a mirthful chuckle. "Nheless, I have nothing else to do at the moment. I will take over from here and spar with Markus and Jean. Might as well use this opportunity to understand his cultivation. In the meanwhile, you should meditate."

    Guy nodded affirmatively and receded to a space away from the sparring field and proceeded to cycle through the Yoga forms to initiate his meditation.

    ____<novelnext></novelnext>

    It had been some time since Guy entered his core space. His previous attempt was not so pleasant, as he ended up getting trapped in some kind of an illusion. This time, Guy was prepared.

    The mist that induced the illusion still hung around him, but his mind was vignt and refused to submit to its attempts to pull him into a false reality. His senses flickered between images of alternate scenarios from his past life and the default empty state of his core space.

    This went on for what felt like five minutes before the mist finally dissipated and started to retreat to the clear pool of stagnant water at the centre of the space. Guy noticed that the water body had grown significantlyrger. If it was a pond before, it was now closer to ake. It wasn''t so vast that Guy couldn''t see its boundaries, but it sure was difficult given the heavyyer of mist still hanging over the water''s surface. Unlike before, the mist hadn''t fully disappeared into the water.

    Guy reached out with his hands and grabbed the mist to try and disturb it in front of him; it was so heavy it was suffocating. Yet, the gaseous air did not behave as it should have. It started to stretch like an stic solid until it reached a point of fracture and a chunk was torn off. In Guy''s hands, the torn chunk started to liquefy and flowed through the gaps in his fingers. Once it was free, the dropping liquid deviated and merged with the gaseous mist in front of him.

    "What is this thing?"

    Curious, Guy proceeded to y around with the mist to understand its behaviour. Through some deduction, he could surmise that the illusion must have something to do with this mist.

    Treating it like y-Doh, Guy pulled another chunk from the mist and started to mould it into something from his memory. Back when he used to teach kids at the kindergarten level, Guy encouraged the use of y-Doh and homemade alternatives of it as supplements to learning. For children, it helps develop fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination and encourages creativity. Through repeated use, Guy was somewhat of an expert in making models out of it.

    Within minutes, a near realistic miniature elephant started to form in Guy''s hands. The mist had a translucent off-white colour, but as the elephant''s shape started to solidify, the colour of the mist also began to shift to match a greyish-brown hue of an actual pachyderm.

    When the final detail was ced on the model, aplete elephant took life in Guy''s palms. With aical poot, the elephant raised its elongated trunk and marched forward. It lifted off from Guy''s palms and copsed into the mist. The mist in turn cushioned its fall, and once the elephantnded, it waspleted engulfed by and disappeared into it.

    Suddenly, as though a switch was flipped, a series of intuitions started to click in Guy''s mind. These came in the form of instructions which told him how the mist functioned. This phenomenon was simr to how Markus gained the insight to tangle with spacetime and influence the gravitational fields around objects. It wasn''t scientific, but it made sense.

    An incredulous smile formed across Guy''s face as he finally understood what the mist could do.

    He immediately dispersed his meditative state and returned to his senses. In front of him, Markus and Jean on one side were exchanging spells against Al as thetter provided key pointers about how certain spellbinations could be used and how they could increase their efficacy.

    Guy ignored the trio and followed his intuition to pull the mana from his core. What Guy learned from his earlier revtion was that unlike with other mages, the liquid substance in the pool and the mist hanging over it were both the same.

    Guy moved the mana through his palms and exuded it outwards. On queue, a familiar mist started to pour out from his pores. This sudden change caught Al''s attention, who paused the spar and asked.

    "Did you find something?"

    "I did," Guy beamed back. "I''m eager to test it. Are you up for a small experiment?"

    Al simply smiled back in anticipation.

 Chapter 190 I Reject Your Reality And Substitute My Own

    "So, what did you find through your meditation?" Al inquired. He and Guy were standing facing each other in the impromptu sparring area.

    "I''m going to do it now. But I will need you to do a few things for me to test some stuff out," Guy answered as he extended his arms to his side, with open palms facing towards the sky. He closed his eyes and started to call out the mana from his core and directed it out his palms.

    A translucent mist started to emanate from Guy''s hands, like a humidifier. Interestingly, instead of diffusing into the atmosphere, it hung in ce and spread outwards. Within minutes, a heavy mist enveloped the sparring field, fully epassing Guy''s entire mana domain.

    "What does it feel like to you?" Guy inquired.

    "It''s definitely not water or any kind of gas for that matter," Al answered. He extended his tongue outwards and licked the air. He then sniffed multiple times and narrowed his eyes. "Has no taste or smell."

    "It''s mana," Al responded after observing the area with his mana sense. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. "The mana is tethered to the atmospheric mana. This is interesting it isn''t discing it at all!"

    "Teacher Jeeves," Markus called out from the side. "What does that signify?" Jean perked up as well, directing her full attention to Uncle Jeeves'' exnation.

    "Generally, when a mage exudes mana from their core into the atmosphere it disces the existing mana. This is also one of the ways to take full control of your mana domain, although it is extremely inefficient. Usually, mages prefer to recruit the atmospheric mana with spells, just like how Cleo did during your fight."

    "That being said, although your Master is releasing the mana from his core into the environment, it is not actually discing the existing mana. Instead, his mana seems to unify itself with the atmospheric mana. This means that you and I can still use the atmospheric mana perfectly." Al waved his hand causing a small tornado to form in his palms.

    "Not that it was an issue in the first ce. With our cultivation realm gap, retaking control of the domain is trivial," he added as he dispersed the tornado.

    "Although, this isn''t the first time I''ve seen this method of mana dispersion. It ismonly used by assassins to gain control of their environment without letting their targets know of their presence," Al informed.

    "Alright then, what''s next?" Al asked Guy with anticipation oozing in his voice.

    "Prepare yourself," Guy warned as he closed his eyes. Al braced himself for what was toe. After living and learning with this Master and Disciple, he realised the importance of vignce.

    The mist surrounding Al started to flicker and ambiguous images began appearing in their ce.

    Guy frowned and said, "It''s harder than it looks. I''ll need more practice to perfect this one..."

    "Take it slowly," Al assuaged.

    Guy hummed and continued. Intermittently, he portrayed a stressed frown which in turn caused the flickering to hasten. Finally, after ten minutes, the scene stabilised.

    "Woah!" Al eximed as he looked around. His surroundings had warpedpletely. What was originally an open, outdoor space had now turned into a cavernous room lit by flickering candles andmps.

    "Is this the Cloudstrider Sect''s Archive?" Al inquired as he approached the rows of bookshelves present before him. As his hands slid over the wooden shelves, his eyes widened in shock.

    "This is uncannily realistic," Almented. "The texture," he sniffed, "the smell," he curled his hand into a fist and knocked on the wooden surface eliciting an echoing ck, "even the sound!"

    He moved forward a picked out a book from the shelf. He flipped it open and rubbed the paper as well as the bindings. He performed the initial sensory assessments and after he was impressed once again, he proceeded to read the contents.

    "These don''t seem like gibberish. This is all correct isn''t it?" Al asked while turning towards Guy. As he did so, he observed that Guy had assumed a seated lotus position and was in a calm, near-meditative state.

    "I can''t afford to let my concentration waver-" right as Guy said that the surroundings started to flicker. But Guy immediately grasped his fleeting focus and secured the illusion.

    Al hummed affirmatively and recruited Markus and Jean to help inspect the illusion. The trio started to flip through the books and poke and prod the room and all of its contents. After a full thirty minutes of exhaustive investigation, Al concluded, "This is beyond anything I have ever seen before. This looks so real that I could''ve honestly confused it as such if you hadn''t expressly indicated that it was an ability."

    He turned to Markus and asked, "What do your senses tell you?"

    Markus activated his spacetime vision and inspected his surroundings. "Nothing unusual. They also indicate that this is all real. Everything has mass and a presence."

    "But they technically don''t right?" Al highlighted with some uncertainty. "These should all be an illusion. If Guy lets go of his concentration, they will all disappear. But everything about the situation here tells me otherwise..."

    At that instant, the scene started to waver again and finally dissipated.

    "It''s like when someone lies so convincingly that it bes the truth?" Guy called out with a bitter smile. "My ability is an extension of my |Soul Imprint| but in the real world. I can manipte everything within my mana domain to fit a reality I deem to be the truth."

    Al''s jaw dropped so hard that, if not for the joint attaching it to his skull, it could very easily drill into the ground and embed itself there permanently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That is insane!" Al eximed as the concept finally settled in his mind. "Mind you, I tried everything in my repertoire to tamper with that illusion, but I couldn''t affect it at all! For all intents and purposes, my repository of spells and skills tailored to interacting with illusory magic all told me that there was nothing of that sort in effect. This means that the only way to truly dispel this ability is to jolt you, the caster."

    "It''s bnced in that way," Guy shrugged. "I have to actively manifest what I''m trying to show you in my mind, including every detail. If it is from a memory, the effect is generally much stronger hence why I chose the Archives as a trial. I don''t think it would be so easy to recollect something from further back."

    Guy closed his eyes and concentrated once again. The surroundings jittered and shook before another scenery was formed.

    "This is my office," Al indicated. "No, I can see what you meant. There are minorpses here and there that easily give it away. Well, this primarily has to do with the fact that I am deeply intimated with this room and I have personally embedded a few formations here and there that are absent in this recreation."

    Al reached for one of his draws and pulled it open, revealing an empty space, "Since you don''t know what goes in here, it is empty. I can see the limitations now."

    Just to confirm, Al inspected other, familiar, regions of his room and noted the differences as they became known. "Actually, this is convincing enough to fool most people at lower realms. I don''t think Markus or Jean would have been able to differentiate, right?"

    Jean nodded in response as Markus chimed in. "I have only been in Teacher Jeeves'' rooms a limited number of times. And during those attendances, I wasn''t paying much attention to key details. Right now, I could easily be convinced that I am back at the Academy."

    Guy dispersed the illusion. As he did so, everyone noticed the sudden lightness of the mistpared to before.

    "So you consume the mana distributed in your domain the more you use it to portray illusions?" Al surmised.

    "There are other factors as well. For instance, the more sensory data I try to mould in, the more mana it consumes. Duration of holding the illusion as well as the scale of the illusion also influences the amount of mana used," Guy added.

    "All in all, it''s a pretty good ability. Though I worry that the breadth may be limited with this one," Al hinted while tilting his head.

    "Actually..." Guy interjected as he elongated the syble. "There is an additional aspect to this ability."

    "What is it?"

    "Well," Guy hummed as he searched for the right words. "You can think of my ability as being able to manipte reality, correct?"

    After receiving acknowledging nods from his audience, he said, "Till now, I''ve only shown how to manipte the non-sentient entities in the environment. My ability also epasses sentient beings."

    "Can you expound on that?"

    "Again, it''s easier to demonstrate. I will use my ability on you, Teacher Jeeves," Guy warned.

    Guy exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. After a short minute, he pointed at Al''s face and said, "You are clean-shaven."

    While Guy''s lips mouthed those words, no sound left them. Instead, a hoarse and throaty voice reverberated all around Al and assaulted his senses. Al could feel his mind vibrating as those words made their way through his ear canals and hammered into his brain with unrelenting force.

    Al furrowed his brows and felt his face, and was surprised to find it devoid of any hair at all. Before Al could say anything, the clean region wobbled and his previous batch of hair returned to its rightful ce.

    "It''s harder to do with sentient beings I guess. The moment your mind opposed the change, it became harder for me to enforce my will," Guy said with a wry smile. "Reality depends on how it is perceived. For sentient beings, they are aware of their self so it is much harder to manipte that."

    "I''m going to try something more forceful," Guy warned again. "This will be my final test. I don''t think I have enough mana to go further."

    Guy exhaled again and spoke, "You are a cat."

    Again, a hoarse and throaty voice resonated around Al. It spoke the words leaving Guy''s lips and pervaded all of Al''s senses. For a second, Al started to lose control of his body. Concerned, Al moved his lips and tried to vocalise his thoughts, yet to his horror, the sounds that left his mouth weren''t what he intended

    "Meow meow meeeeooooow *hiss* me-" Al coughed as his senses came back to him, stopping any more cat-like noises from leaving his mouth.

    "What the heck was that?!" Al screamed incredulously. He looked towards Guy and noticed the man turning woozy and falling to the ground.

    Al rushed to catch the man, all the while suppressing the sweat dripping down his drenched back.

    ''What in the world just happened?''

 Chapter 191 Losing Oneself

    "*sigh* What happened now?" Grace droned as she watched Al and Markus dragging an unconscious Guy in by his shoulders, with Jean fanning the man''s face with a spell.

    "Master exhausted his mana," Markus exined with a bitter smile.

    "I can see who you all learn it from - Marie and yourself, that is," Grace derided Markus sarcastically. "Leave him to me, I''ll take him to his room."

    "Master is quite heavy..." Markus muttered.

    "I''ve carried heavier," Grace scoffed and strung Guy over her shoulders like a sack of rice and walked towards his room.

    Al''s eyes followed the stout woman carrying a man at most twice her size as though it were nothing, but his mind was preupied with something else. In a half-trance, he traced his steps back to his tent and slumped into a cross-legged lotus position.

    "What happened back there?" He muttered to himself. When Guy used that attack on him, Al lost control of his body. Something from inside urged him to obey Guy''smand as though it was the right thing to do. It was extremely unsettling and irksome. To feel helpless and weak was never a pleasant experience.

    As Al pondered over the earlier events, a series of audible knocks interrupted his contemtion. Al frowned and extended his senses outwards, only to choke on his saliva upon realising who the guest was.

    "*cough* Pleasee in!" Al eximed in a high-pitched voice.

    The door at the tent''s entrance swung open slowly and an elderly man limped in, with a walking stick leading the charge.

    "It''s been a while," Krishmented as he sat down near Al''s initial seat. "Stop standing like a stooge. Sit!"

    Al nodded vigorously and sat down on his knees in front of Krish.

    "Friend," Krish sighed in defeat. "Can you please actfortably? You''re making it harder for me to hold a conversation."

    Al nodded again and sat down in a tense cross-legged pose.

    "H-How can I help, Mage Nara?" Al inquired cautiously.

    "I''m here to talk about Guy''s ability," Krish emphasised. "I saw what happened earlier. It was surprising. How did it go for you?"

    Al frowned while recollecting the feeling of being yed like a puppet, "I don''t know how to describe it. I''ve never experienced anything like it before. My mind kept telling me that the only words I could say are ''meow'' or ''hiss'' or a ''purr'' which I could not produce with my vocal cords. And for a few seconds, I believed it. I don''t quite understand why though?"

    Krish shook his head and tapped at Al''s chest with his index finger, "It''s because you''re weak here!"

    "My heart?"

    "Your soul," Krish corrected. "I count two times prior, this being your third, suffering under an attack directed at your soul. Yet, even with all of your intelligence, you are unable to deduce the cause of your weakness? I thought you were supposed to be perceptive."

    "My soul?" Al repeated in shock. "Are you implying that Guy''s ability attack the soul? If so, then it''s beyond powerful. It''s unstoppable! No one in his realm bothers to cultivate their spirituality. It does make sense though - most of the benefits he derived from his inheritance revolve around the soul."

    "Seriously, you need to get started on it right about now. Haven''t you suffered enough?" Krish pointed out.

    Al revealed a bitter smile and confessed, "It''s difficult for me. I have many demons lurking within my heart that are waiting to swallow me whole."

    "Is it to do with your Student?" Krish shot back and received a sorrowful nod from Al.

    "Your destinies are tied together," Krish said while shaking his head thoughtfully. "It is unfortunate that I cannot untangle that web without incurring a massive debt with the universe. You see, while he is a monster birthed by your negligence, you won''t be the one to y him."

    "You''re saying that the boy will face retribution, correct?!" Al uttered in agitation.

    "Depends on what you define retribution to be," Krish rebutted. "You must realise that he has nothing left to lose. Everything he held dear was taken from him. One after another, this world took and took, until what remained was a dry husk of a man in a state of arrested development. His heart had turned cold, and what he needed was someone to give him warmth. That was something you failed to do."

    "I pushed him too hard," Al agreed. "I was selfish and indulgent. I knew there was a darkness lurking in his eyes. He had a grudge with the world, and in my fervour to cultivate a prodigy, I failed to soothe it."

    "Although I cannot tell you if you will ovee that hurdle and break free of the shackles holding you in your current realm. I urge you to practice cultivating your spirituality. You will face more dangers of this nature in the future, and it would be a shame if you suffer a fatal injury due to your carelessness," Krish cautioned.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "May I ask why Mage Nara is so thoughtful of me all of a sudden?" Al responded with vignce.

    "If Guy ever has any problems, he will approach you first," Krish answered. "He is more open with you and treats you with respect due to your vast knowledge. He cannot approach me even though I have more experience because there are situations where my lips are bound by fate. Oftentimes, I know the answer thed is seeking but I cannot divulge it lest it affects the preset sequence of events."

    "I am a little intrigued, though. Do you think Guy''s Sect will proliferate?" Al asked.

    "As I said, the Sect will push this world to heights you have never seen before!" Krish responded enthusiastically.

    "But I still don''t see Guy acting the way you predicted. Would he really be able to do all those... unpleasant things?" Al questioned, voicing his uncertainty.

    "If you''re asking me if he''s capable," Krish said with a dubious tone. "I''d like you to remember what it felt like topletely lose control of your body. To be forced to ept a reality that contradicted your personal beliefs. Now, amplify that to epass arge crowd - maybe even the poption of an entire city?"

    The more Krish talked, the more drenched Al''s back became. If Guy made a wrong turn and his personality changed for the worse, he could wreak havoc beyondprehension. Not even Ziva couldpare to the potential carnage Guy could leave in his wake, if his hands were forced. He could, quite literally, convince people to fight each other by just saying a few words.

    "At this point, you will try to convince yourself that Guy isn''t that kind of person. Your interaction with him till now would support that im. However, a seed has been nted in his heart. A very powerful and destructive seed of revenge. Anger and hatred have sprouted in his tranquil soul and it will barrel out of control," Krish added.

    "Revenge? Against whom?"

    "Someone you know," Krish answered with an ominous smirk. "There is no benefit in knowing their identity. Not now anyways - it will be revealed in due time. Suffice to say that they will die a very painful death in Guy''s hands."

    "I... don''t believe it," Al muttered.

    "You must have heard of erumpents?"

    "Do you mean the single-horned, herbivorous beast endemic to the Boreas ins?" Al rified.

    "That''s right. Did you know that they are known to be one of the calmest and friendliest creatures in the world?"

    "I do remember hearing that."

    "There is nothing beneficial gained from killing erumpents. Their meat is inedible due to its high acidity and toughness. On the other hand, there is everything to gain from having them alive. Their hair can be used to make clothes. They shed their horns at the end of every mating season which can be used to make weapons. Their milk is nutritious andsts for many months before spoiling. Heck, even the bull erumpent''s semen has use as a... performance enhancer."

    "I do know this," Al affirmed.

    "Then you must know that humans don''t attack these beasts, not because there is no benefit from doing so, but because of what these erumpents do when they face uncalled aggression? Erumpents are known to gore their aggressors with their horns and eviscerate them alive. An erumpent is naturally learned in healing magic. They will constantly heal their victims as they work on them. And once the victim can no longer hold on and dies, they impale their bodies through the anus and carry the carcass on their horns until the body starts to decay, at which point they dispose of it. All of this just to send a message to future aggressors of what fate they will suffer if they attempt doing something so idiotic."

    "Why are you telling me all this?"

    Krish stared meaningfully at Al until the message clicked in his mind. Al''s mouth widened in shock.

    "You don''t mean-"

    "Erumpents are herbivorous. They don''t revel in uncalled murder. But they will do it if they have to all the while being mindful of their limits - they know how to not lose themselves to anger. But humans aren''t born with such inhibitors," Krish highlighted.

    "That is to say, erumpents behave this way for a reason. However, they know when to stop. Humans, when walking down such a destructive path, can oftenck the self-control to stop. Guy exudes an aura of a centred and mature person, however, there wille a time when he will lose all reason. At that moment, just like an erumpent, he will have the potential to unleash hell at an unprecedented scale," Krish added. "When Guy reaches the precipice - the edge of the cliff beyond which he will lose all sense of right and wrong - someone must stop him. And that someone will be you. Guy''s future is in flux and I''m finding it difficult to narrow the exact sequence. Therefore, I need someone to keep an eye on him. I can only do so with limited capacity. Which leaves only you."

    "What do you need me to do?"

    "You have experience with one mage gone astray. Catch Guy before he trudges the same path. To that end, I must once again remind you to practice cultivating your spirituality. If you even have to go toe-to-toe with Guy, I fear you will fail miserably," Krish advised. Once he was finished, he stood up and said, "That is all I have to say for today. Don''t ask me any more questions, I cannot answer them," and left.

    Al hummed by himself while contemting Krish''s warning. The conversation was disconcerting and brought up a long of unpleasant points that, unfortunately, were of great concern.

    "Nheless, Mage Nara is right. I cannot let another mage with promise lose themselves to their inner demons. Although I cannot stop Guy from seeking whatever revenge he is after, I can do everything within my power to stop him from sacrificing his humanity in its pursuit. That is something I must do at all costs!" He promised to himself with a firm expression.

 Chapter 192 Crowdsourcing

    "Senior Brother," Jean called out as she walked alongside Markus to their uing lesson on magic theory and application with their Teacher Larks. Or should she refer to him as Sect Leader Larks now? Jean had heard of the n to create a new Sect. She seriously considered it, and also evaluated Sect Leader Larks'' intentions behind moving for such an initiative, and she was all for it. As she saw her cultivation advancing and saw the positive impact she had on hermunity with the help of her magic, her mother''s research, plus the new knowledge she umted from Sect Leader Larks'' lessons and |Soul Imprint| sessions, she very much wanted to recruit more potential mages who could walk with her in her path and help the world be a better ce.

    "What''s the matter?" Markus responded as he slowed his pace to match Jean''s.

    "I''ve noticed that the lessons on magic theory and application have gotten a little bit more aggressive as ofte," shemented.

    "How so?" Markus probed with a slight frown.

    "Well... In thest lesson, we talked a bit more about inducing maic fields," Jean started. "About how passing an electric current through coils of wires can create an artificial maic field. Usually, Teacher follows it up with an example of where it can be applied. Before, it would be practical uses in terms of utility. Maybe like using it to separate iron dust from an impure mixture or something like that."

    Markus agreed with a hum.

    "Instead, he talked about how it could be used to create an extremely lethal projectileuncher that can propel objects are Mach speeds."

    "You''re right," Markus responded. At that instant, Jean stopped moving forward and remained in ce.

    "What''s wrong?" Markus asked.

    "That''s it?" Jean said with a hint of disbelief in her monotone voice. "Just ''You''re right?''"

    "What''s up?" Before could continue his inquiry, Marie popped in and slung her hand over Jean''s shoulders. "Why''re we waiting here? Is the lesson cancelled? That''s weird, I didn''t see that in my divination..."

    "It isn''t cancelled," Markus corrected. "Jean had something to talk about, so we just took a pause. That''s all."

    "What''s it about?" Marie probed excitedly. "Wait a minute. Is it about you two..." She entangled her two index fingers and wobbled her eyebrows provocatively.

    "What are you doing?" Markus responded with a scrunched-up face filled with confusion. Jean would have done the same, except her emotion-evoking centre was rusty and her facial muscles wouldn''t listen to her.

    Marie clicked her tongue, "You guys are no fun. You''ll understand what I mean when you grow up."

    "You''re a year older than I am," Markus shot back. "What difference does a year make?"

    "A lot!" Marie scoffed. "Anyways, stop deviating from the topic. What were you guys talking about?"

    "Jean pointed out that the recent application cases of concepts covered in the lesson have be a bit more aggressive," Markus reiterated.

    "Oh, this is about the Gauss Rifle!" Marie expertly pointed out. "So what''s the issue?"

    "Well..." Jean stretched. She didn''t know how to phrase her response. Something was gnawing away at her. Recently, the malicious voice in her head had gotten much louder and more enthusiastic with the shy and destructive disys from the lesson. It was bing harder for her to concentrate.

    "I can understand why Teacher is doing this," Marie continued, attracting Jean''s attention.

    "He intends to start a Sect. A Sect is basically a mercenary corp with a more ptable packaging. I''ve travelled in many merchant caravans and assisted through many trade ventures. The organisations prefer to hire Sects to escort them because there is some guarantee of safety and martial support from their members. This also happens to be the way sects make most of their money. If we intend to be part of Teacher Larks'' Sect - I guess it''s Sect Leader Larks now - then we need to have some degree of preparedness and capacity to defend ourselves when we take such jobs," Marie exined.

    "Besides, Markus here got himself into trouble just by being present in a location. He was lucky that he had some experience in defending himself with magic. What about you?" Marie asked Jean. "Do you think you would survive in such situations? What if your protector, Josie, isn''t there to have your back?"

    "I... I don''t want to hurt anybody," Jean muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    #Your weakness will be your undoing! Then again, it would be better if you just died.#

    "Well, Sect Leader is just preparing everyone for the Sect, I guess," Marie reasoned. "But if you aren''tfortable being a member of the Sect, Jean, you don''t have to force yourself. I kind of have to, even if I am not averse to joining the Sect since my Master chose to align himself with it. Markus here is kind of obligated to do so for the same reason. You don''t necessarily have to do that. Your obligation is first with your n."

    "Father said I can join the Sect if I want to," Jean muttered. "And... I want to. But, I also don''t want my magic to maim others. My mother always told me that a healer must use their magic for the good of everyone."

    "Everyone has their reason to learn magic," Markus hummed contemtively. "You don''t have to do what you aren''tfortable doing. If you want, I can talk to Master about it."

    "That would be too much," Jean spoke up immediately, waving her hands.

    "He''s right," Marie supported. "If you are ufortable, make it known. It''s as Sect Leader Larks always says, ''Learning for the sake of learning will you the opposite effect.''"

    Jean nodded thoughtfully and followed the duo to the ssroom.

    "You guys arete," Guymented as they entered.

    "We stopped to talk. Jean has something she would like to say," Marie answered. Guy gazed expectantly at the usually quiet girl and awaited her statement.

    "I-I will talk to Sect Leader after the lesson," Jean quickly said with a difited expression.

    "Okay," Guy shrugged. "Unfortunately, we won''t be learning anything today. I actually have another task from you guys that needs work."

    "As you all know, I am nning to start a sect. Matron Reva has given her permission to use this location as our base, which solves the primary logistical nightmare. However, we cannot proceed with registering it without..." Guy started to tap his podium to replicate a drumroll, "... a name!"

    "So in today''s lesson, I want everyone to brainstorm names for the Sect," Guy concluded.

    "You don''t have a name already, Master?" Markus asked in disbelief.

    In truth, Guy did have names, but given his modern sensibilities, they reeked of cringe and eighth-grader syndrome. He wanted to choose something that matched the standards of this world, but everything he came up with caused his toes to curl and shoulders to shudder when he said it out loud. He couldn''t even write them on paper without giggling.

    On top of that, most of the names he came up with that could hold water were derived from sect names he''d heard in his past life in novels. Although they were great, their significance stemmed from where the sects were located. Furthermore, in truth, Guy did not feel like giarising from others'' works; even in this life, he would affiliate scientific theories and discoveries with the original scientists even if they did not exist in this world. It just didn''t sit right with him to appropriate others'' contributions, since Guy was an educator at heart.

    To that end, referring to some ssic wuxia novels written by Jin Yong, the Wudang Sect was called such due to it being situated in the Wudang Mountains. The same went for the Huasan Sect, which literally tranted to Mount Hua. The Beggers'' Sect wasprised of beggars, hence the creative name. Guy would have simply followed these conventions and named his sect Mount Tai Sect after the mountain the orphanage was built upon, but it also fell under the cringe-worthy category, AND it was also a sword-centric sect from Jin Yong''s works.

    So, Guy decided to let his studentse up with something. At least if it fell from their mouths, he wouldn''t shudder so frantically, and they would also provide a fresher perspective to his writer''s block.

    "I''m really bad with names," Guy confessed. "Based on research, the name of a Sect has a lot to do with the kind of cultivation techniques thatprise its core, and to an extent the speciality of the Sect. For instance, the Cloudstrider Sect specialise in movement-centric cultivation techniques and ritual formations. The cultivation techniques are heavily influenced by how mist behaves, and the ritual formations are geared towards illusions and deception."

    "The Sunken Fist Sect specialise in, surprise-surprise, fist-based martial arts and closebat. They also have a strong stake in many cksmithing ventures. The Sunspot Sect, which ended up going extinct thanks to Marie''s Master specialised in area-of-effect and ranged spells. ording to a record, the Sect Master could incinerate an entire City to ashes within seconds with just a single spell. Now, I don''t know how urate that record was, most of it was embellished with flowery words and spections, but it''s enough to highlight the main points."

    Guy gazed probingly at his students and said, "I know it is early and a bit unprepared, but we need to decide on a name for our Sect. We can use the parameters I discussed before as guidelines, or we cane up with something different."

    Then, as if it were choreographed, the students in the room brought one of their hands up to their chins and scratched in contemtion. It wasically synchronised which elicited a chuckle from Guy. Luckily, they were too deep in thought to register it.

 Chapter 193 An Apt Name

    "ording to my Master, the name of a Sect matters a lot," Marie said offhandedly. "Are you sure that you want us to do it?"

    "Ultimately, the Sect will service you folk," Guy shrugged. "Who better to bestow it its name than those that willprise it?"

    Guy observed aplicated expression spawn across everyone''s face. He could see that they were struggling with it. It was understandable. After all, he was putting them on the spot with this request. No one could turn on their creativity like a switch, on-demand unless they were Kano of course - that boy was a well of creativity that seemingly never ran dry. He could create seasons that didn''t exist, sceneries that were beyond mythical, beasts that hadn''t been envisioned before, and he could evoke emotions that couldn''t be put into words. Guy was tempted to take Kano''s input in this, but he figured that there were still a few more years left until the Sect became relevant to Kano. Who could predict if Kano would even be interested in joining the Sect at that time? This is considering that the Sect existed at that time. All in all, it wasn''t fair to do so.

    "Let''s follow this strategy," Guy dered as he pped his hands. "We will spend ten minutes, brainstorming ideas. Each person wille up with one name, and why they chose it. They must present their honest opinions and profess their case. After that, the quorum will debate the name. Whether it is viable? Whether it needs to be changed? And so on. Sound reasonable?"

    The group hummed and proceeded with the activity. Right as they started, Marie noticed that Guy wasn''t doing anything, "Aren''t you participating as well, Sect Leader?"

    "I came up with a few names earlier. I didn''t like them," Guy confessed while shaking his head.

    "We could still debate on it," Marie offered.

    "That''s not necessary. I won''t go with it even if you guys decide it. Those that contribute, have the right to veto their own works," Guy retorted smugly.

    With that, all three of Guy''s students regressed into contemtion. Each of their approaches to this was different, and unique befitting their personalities.

    Marie was methodical. She promptly drew a table on a piece of paper and started to list out names off the top of her head followed by their pros and cons.

    Jean was measured in her approach. It looked like she debated her ideas internally to a thorough level before her writing utensil pressed itself against the paper.

    Markus, for better or worse, followed Guy''s strategy of drawing a mind map and generating ideas based on key phrases and concepts. Although many sites and books promoted this method for brainstorming ideas, Guy admitted that it never really worked for him. All it did wasplicate the matter further by amplifying the number of choices he had to filter between exponentially with each new branch. But this was all Guy''s opinion, maybe it worked for others. Why else would organisation gurus push it so enthusiastically?

    Guy kept time mentally, and to his surprise, the trio finished their first set of ideas well ahead of the ten minutes he set earlier.

    "Who''s going first?"

    "Me," Marie volunteered. She walked up to the front of the ss and prepared to speak when Guy quickly reminded her to jot down the name on the ckboard.

    "The name I went for was ''Bright Horizons Sect''. I chose this name for two reasons. The first is to establish an optimistic impression of the Sect. People that join this Sect can expect appreciative growth in the future. Secondly, the name can also act as an auspicious marker, indicating that the Sect will experience great sess."

    "Good job, Marie," Guymended. He was proud of Marie''s enthusiasm and readiness to put herself out there.

    "Now, the floor is open for your opinions. Please keep it civil and constructive," Guy said.

    "I think it''s a nice name," Jean opined. "It presents a possible vision of the Sect, for both its members and itself."

    "I also agree," Markus chimed in. "But I also feel like the name is a bit open-ended and vague."

    "Can you expand on that Markus?" Guy volleyed.

    "The name does not explore the present nature of the Sect. It professes what the Sect could be and achieve. But it does not portray what members can expect from the Sect in the present. I think we should try to include details along those lines as well," Markus expounded.

    Marie shed her tongue as a cheeky challenge and returned to her seat.

    "I-I will go next," Jean said while raising her hand.

    "Along the veins of Senior Brother''s reasoning, the name I came up with is ''Renewal Sect''. It alludes to how Sect Leader intends to redefine the function and purpose of a Sect while offering members a second chance and new opportunities. It also resonated with me since I was able to renew my quest towards bing a healer and my passion for the subject."

    "Good! Something personal, I like it," Guymended. "What about you guys?"

    "It''s good," Marie nodded.

    "Same here," Markus affirmed.

    "That''s it?" Guy snorted. "Okay..." he shrugged seeing as no one was willing to provide additional criticisms. He figured that the two were being considerate of Jean, who struggled with public speaking in general due to her inability to gauge the audience. He was satisfied that they thought that way, but he didn''t miss the slight disappointment shing across Jean''s face as she returned to her seat.

    ''She was hoping to receive an opportunity to stand her ground,'' Guy confirmed mentally.

    "Although I like the name, Jean," Guy said. "I feel that itcks sufficient punch. It doesn''t have the force needed to stand out amongst other, more prominent sects. Do you understand what I mean?"

    Jean''s eyes opened up with satisfaction and she nodded thoughtfully. "Now that it''s been pointed out, I can see the shoring. Thank you Sect Leader."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "By the way, I noticed that everyone''s calling me Sect Leader now?" Guy segued. "We haven''t even officially established the Sect yet, isn''t it a bit premature?"

    "We all know it''s an eventuality," Marie chuckled. "We''re just getting used to it."

    "It''s too long!" Guy said while shaking his head. "I don''t think you can call me Teacher without getting sued by the Co-operative. So, just call me Mister Larks or just Guy. "

    "Okay, Guy it is," Marie affirmed with a muffledugh.

    "Marie!" Markus yelped. "Master," he then pleaded with a worried gaze.

    "You can call me whatever you want, Markus. Respect doesn''t adhere to a name, but the person," Guy said while waving his hands. He turned to Jean and gazed at her expectantly.

    "I will call you Mister Larks..." the girl mumbled.

    "Since that''s out of the way, let''s get back to the business at hand. Markus, it''s your turn now," Guy redirected.

    "My current frontrunner for sect names is the ''Shifting Paradigms Sect''," Markus started. "It''s inspired by how we are constantly encouraged and forced to question our beliefs and biases and broaden our understanding of the trivialities that prevail around us. Even the simplest of phenomena have innumerable mechanisms underlying them that at first nce are impossible to fathom. Yet as you unfurl it,yer byyer, things start to make sense."

    "That''s a wonderful rationale, Markus," Guy congratted.

    "I agree," Marie followed up. "But I think it''s tooplicated and wordy. Paradigm is a tough word that I don''t think many people will know the meaning of. And it''s a mouthful."

    "That is a fair point," Guy agreed. "No matter, we still have time. Let''s resume the process. Marie, now it''s your turn."

    They then continued the brainstorming session. Incrementally, the ckboard was popted with a plethora of names offered by his three students. However, the discussion stopped maintaining its civility near the end, as exhaustion and irritability started to take hold of their minds. After all, it was never pleasant having your ideas denied.

    ? By the end, a still silence reigned in the ss. No one took the initiative to go up to the board and jot down another name. Either they were out of ideas, or just didn''t have the motivation to do so.

    Guy looked around and sighed upon seeing the morose faces.

    ''I guess I''ll have to go with one of my own,'' he concluded begrudgingly. As he was about to erase the names from the board, Jean shot up from her seat.

    Her eyes shed with a rare sparkle, and she gulped excitedly.

    "I... I have another one!" She eximed uncharacteristically.

    She walked up to the front and started exining.

    "I got inspired by Senior Brother''s very first idea," she said while pointing at the crossed-out ''Shifting Paradigms Sect'' on the ckboard. "Senior Brother defined it as the result of peeling away theyers of obfuscations to get to the truth. To put it another way, here we learn how to look beyond the falsehoods presented to us and get to the fundamental truths. A world without mana, that is the truth."

    With an extremely agitated expression, she dered, "''True World Sect''! That is the name. It defines what we seek to do here. It encapstes the vision, and the mission sinctly. And, it is short and catchy, like Mister Larks pointed out."

    The still silence that impregnated the room morphed into one filled with excitement. While the students contemted this idea, something moved within Guy''s soul.

    All of a sudden, he started to feel animated as the name echoed within his mind. A part of him was resonating with it. The minute tear within the RoK widened slightly, and an ominous aura rippled out before dissipating.

    "I like it!" Guy asserted. "Opinions?"

    "It''s perfect," Marie agreed, and so did Markus.

    "So that does it then. From here on out, our Sect with be known as the True World Sect."

    With a booming voice, Guy added with fervour, "Our vision is to educate the uninformed masses of the truth that our world is built upon. And our mission is to cultivate free thinkers that can challenge the established facts thatck proper scientific founding and pursue the truth no matter the co-"

    Guy coughed as he finally caught himself. He shook his head to clear his rampant and somewhat anarchic thoughts and alternated his gaze between his students who sported a confused expression.

    "I, uh..." he muttered. "I''m feeling a bit woozy. I stayed up all night brainstorming. I ought to rest," he said with a strained smile.

    "Anyways, ss dismissed."

    ''That was weird. I lost myself there for a second. I... I think I need to clear my head a little bit.''

 Chapter 194 The Same Person

    The ss was dismissed and everyone went their way, except for Jean who remained in ce for a while, silently chewing on her lips with a faint conflicted expression shing forming on her face.

    ''Maybe another time?'' She concluded unassuredly. Mister Larks had forgotten about the appointed discussion amidst the hectic naming debate. She wanted to remind him once again but held back her tongue at thest minute because she was worried. Fear was brewing inside of her.

    #Pathetic wimp!#

    *Stop agitating her!*

    #Shut up!#

    Jean shook her head to silence the voices assaulting her mind. She exhaled a troubled breath andmented silently. She''d taken arge step forward, but things were starting to regress. She was scared, but she didn''t know how to bring it up in front of Mister Larks. She empathised with his decision to create a Sect, but she also didn''t want to disappoint him by being a hindrance.

    ''What do I do?'' She sighed. Amidst her anguish, the voices started to pick up steam once again. She had to spend a more significant portion of her consciousness to appease them both. As she did so, she entered a preupied trance and her body ran on autopilot. She walked, and walked, and walked onwards, uncaring of where her feet took her. She continued moving at a steady and mechanical pace until suddenly, a myriad of familiar fragrances stormed her senses.

    Unwittingly, through some form of subconscious muscle memory, she found herself in the garden Grace tended to by the spring.

    Jean bent down and inspected the flowers that were blooming in a systematic grid with a gentle touch. Everything was in perfect order, growing as well as it could, given the limitations Grace had to work with.

    "You''re inte?" Grace''s voicemented from behind her. Jean jolted her neck and addressed the garden''s owner and caretaker with as sincere of a smile as her face could muster. Jean then acknowledged Grace''s question with pursed lips and an inattentive nod. It was close to sunset - Jean didn''t usually visit the gardens during this part of the day. She mostly frequented the gardens early in the morning.

    "If you''re here now, it means something''s bothering you," Grace deduced urately. Once again, Jean waspletely floored. There weren''t that many people in this world who could read her so easily like a book, especially after her treatment. In fact, she could count the number of people with just one hand- no- just two fingers. The first, of course, was her teacher, Mister Larks. The second, surprisingly, was Matron Reva.

    Grace noticed Jean''s eyes faltering and her lips moving up and down. Whatever the girl was struggling with, was something she found difficult to vocalise. No matter, "Help me survey the garden first. Tell me what''s on your mind after. Okay?"

    Jean nodded and moved to assist Grace as they transitioned from one nt to the other. Something Jean learned through her interaction with Grace was that the woman was uncannily learned in botany with both the mundane and magically charged nts. There were a few nts in the garden like the Bluegleam Fungus, which required highly specific mana dense and damp environments to grow, but were surprisingly thriving. Jean knew for a fact that it was difficult to grow these without one being a mage themselves and having ess to extremely specific soil conditions. But Grace had ingeniously used the nature of other nts growing in its vicinity to her advantage. The fungi were cultivated in an indentation of a tree with Sweltering Moss growing around it, which is known to agitate the nts it grows on and discharges the water stored within them to create an extremely humid ambience. The tree was also hosting the notorious Sanguineous Creeper, which is known to consume blood to generate highly potent mana that is stored within its vines for an extremely long period. None of these was naturally found in this part of the forest, which meant that Grace had transnted them here. To be able to then maintain these nts in such a bounteous state without being a mage definitely raised Jean''s respect for the woman.

    "That''s thest of it!" Grace dered with a satisfied grunt while pping her hands to dislodge as much dirt as possible. "Come, let''s wash our hands. Dora made some soap with a sandalwood infusion. I don''t know how Guy got his hands on such expensive materials, but damn is it worth it!"

    Grace waved a soap bar which she retrieved from her satchel hanging over her shoulders and called Jean over to the spring.

    "Hmmm! Smells divine," Gracemended while taking in a deep breath from her cupped hands as the duo walked back to the orphanage.

    "Now, tell me. What''s eating at you?" Grace asked casually.

    "I''m just scared," Jean answered without hesitation. After settling her apprehension through the mundaneness of tending the nts, her mind was sufficiently unburdened and open to sharing.

    "Why?" Grace retorted with a mild frownced with concern.

    "Mister Larks is nning to create his own sect. He''s calling it the True World Sect," Jean started. "It''s great! I agree with his vision and goals, they are admirable, but..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But?"

    Jean slowed her steps and lowered her gaze to the ground. Noticing a loose stone, she raised her leg and kicked it hard - with all of her mana concentrated on it. Like a wild stallion released from its reins, the stone burst forward with unparalleled vigour. "But, I''m worried that there won''t be any ce for me there. I''m scared that I will no longer be able to learn under Mister Larks, with Senior Brother and Big Sis. I''m terrified that I will be all alone again, left to my thoughts."

    Though her face remained unperturbed, Grace could feel the unshackled sorrowced within those words. The girl was visible shaking, trying her hardest to release her pent-up emotions but failing miserably at it. Grace stepped towards her trembling form and gently cradled the girl''s head into her weing bosom. With another hand, she patted Jean''s back.

    "It''s okay," Grace murmured with a warm purr. "Let it out. Let it all out."

    A tense few seconds passed before - just like a pressure cooker releasing its umted steam - a long cathartic exhale escaped from Jean''s mouth and nose.

    "A Sect is a Mercenary Corp at heart," Jean said with a low whimper. "That''s how they function and make their money. But Matron Reva, I don''t want to hurt anyone! I just can''t do it. But I don''t want to be kicked out because I cannot contribute to the Sect."

    "Is that what you''re worried about?" Grace asked in disbelief as she pulled the girl away from the embrace by her shoulder. Grace looked deep into Jean''s forlorn eyes and restated, "You''re worried that just because you aren''t a brute who hurts other people, Guy will discard you from the Sect?"

    Jean produced an imperceptible nod to which Grace scoffed and asked, "Do you think Guy would do that? Do you REALLY think he''s that kind of a guy?"

    Jean hesitated, eliciting a stern reprimand from Grace, "I''m disappointed that you still haven''tprehended what kind of a person your teacher is after studying under them for over a year."

    "But Mister Larks HAS changed," Jean responded. She went on to exin how Guy''s application cases and lessons had taken a more aggressive turn.

    "It''s about time he did that," Gracemented, much to Jean''s surprise. "He''s learned that the world isn''t so breezy as he''d thought it to be. Besides, Jean, people never change, they only grow. Take a look at this sapling here," Grace pointed at the subject a few metres away from the path.

    "It''s sprouted in that location, it can''t do anything else but grow there. Though, as it grows taller and wider, it can deviate in its trajectory to seek out the most abundant source of nutrition and greatest ess to sunlight. Yet, it can never uproot itself and find new ground to call its home. Humans are just like that. When you scrape off all the surroundingyers, dig deeper, you will find out that our core character never changes," Grace returned her gaze to Jean and yfully rubbed the girl''s head. "Guy''s still the same. He''s just grown."

    With that, Grace picked up her steps and walked towards the orphanage. As she did so, she paused and threw out a final line of advice, "Don''t think for a second that you aren''t of any use, Jean."

    Grace retrieved the dried soap bar from her satchel and waved it around, "You have so much stuck inside your head that''s just waiting to jump out."

    Jean revealed a rare, faint smile as she observed Grace''s confident figure skipping down the path to the orphanage. The words Matron Reva told her resonated inside her head, lulling the arguing voices to a silent halt. Her face formed a resolute expression as she trudged along. She continued without pause or hesitation until she arrived outside Mister Larks'' bedroom door. She exhaled and knocked on his door mechanically.

    "Jean? Come in," Guy weed from inside.

    Right as Jean entered, Guy reminded, "Please leave the door open. Sit, sit!"

    "Now tell me, what''s up?"

    Jean looked directly into Mister Larks'' eyes and noticed the same gaze that weed her into his tutge a year back. Maybe things did change around here - Teacher Larks became Mister Larks - but just like Matron Reva said, the man within hadn''t changed. Now, without procrastinating any further, Jean opened her mouth and exined her concerns.

 Chapter 195 Business Proposal

    "Teacher Larks, you didn''t have toe all the way here," Karmin greeted jollily while reaching forward for a sincere hug.

    As Guy embraced the man in return, he noticed a few changes in his demeanour. For one, Karmin appeared much, much stress-free as opposed to thest time. It was also evident that he had put on a little weight and his face had gained more colour.

    ''It looks like business is good,'' Guy thought to himself. If only he checked his bank ount first, he would realise just how much of an understatement thatment was. The Burning Forge was raking in an ungodly amount of money. After people realised the ubiquity and base strength of steel, they started to adopt it everywhere. Mercenary corps, sects, ns, businesses, heck even the Royal Family ced orders for steel weapons and armours, both enchanted and regr.

    It got so out of hand that Karmin was forced to loosen the restrictions on the purchase and sale of the alloy, which was preceded by an extremely heated negotiation with the Head of the Smithing and Enchanting Guild. Although a few concessions were made, there were no substantial losses. The Burning Forge, and Guy, still held the patents for the alloy and would receive a set percentage share from every unit mass of steel sold through the Guild and its channels. The guild and its members could sell steel as ingots and as forged weapons and armours, but enchanting was only allowed through The Burning Forge''s stamp.

    Thanks to these events, Guy''s ount had ballooned significantly, and the bank had taken the initiative to upgrade his status to VVIP. Of course, Guy did not know of this yet since his registered address had expired and they could not correspond with him.

    "Since it was I who needed a favour, it was only right that I approached you. Besides that, I don''t qualify for the ''Teacher'' title. You can just call me Guy," Guy said while waving his hands.

    "If that is what you prefer, then let''s be casual. I believe we''ve earned this given our business entanglements. You can befortable with me and call me Karmin," the man responded jovially and gestured for Guy to take a seat. They were currently in The Burning Forge''s office in Radiant City. Guy travelled to themercial hub of the Maika Duchy to aplish many things in preparation for setting up his Sect. One of which would require the involvement of backers with wide sales channels, an established and substantial business, and an open mind with the willingness to take risks.

    "I received your mail earlier, it indicated that you wanted to discuss something?" Karmin directed the conversation. After getting to know Guy, he understood that just like himself, the man wasn''t a fan of useless small talk.

    "That is true. Before I get to that, though, I would like to talk about a few prerequisite details that will support my request," Guy responded and proceeded to exin his goal of starting a Sect.

    Now that Guy had a name for his Sect as well as a location where it could be established, he started to move down the checklist and addressed the next order of business which was ie. A sect needed money to sustain itself. Escort missions were a sect''s bread and butter, but those were hard toe by since most businesses preferred established sects instead of hedging their bets on fledgelings. Those that didmission new and less renowned sects wouldn''t be able to pay as much. So Guy was sure that his sect wouldn''t be able to recoup its expenses by relying only on escort missions. Furthermore, those missions were often dangerous and he wasn''t sure if his students were strong enough to handle them so soon.

    An alternative that did not involve underage kids putting their lives on the line was through conducting business. This could involve providing a specialised service or selling unique products.

    To that end, Guy found through research that there were exceedinglyplex steps involved in starting a business affiliated with a Sect. Especially within the Sr Empire, where the market was heavily controlled, there were a plethora of requirements that needed to be fulfilled. The most stringent of said requirements was that anypany spawned off a Sect could not have physical stores within anymercial districts - purchases must be made directly with the Sect. To borate, if Guy created apany that provided a good or service, customers could only purchase that good ormission the service by contacting the Sect''s sales representative. They could not go to a storefront that acted as the point-of-sale. This was a massive disadvantage because it automatically removed the primary mode of promotion in this world. Essentially, it turns Sects into emerce businesses, but without the inte.

    Apart from this, Guy was faced with other roadblocksmon to new businesses, most of which could be solved by building lucrative connections. This could be aplished by bringing in investors. Investors hold a stake in a business and have an active motivation to assure its sess. This was Guy''s purpose in approaching Karmin.

    "I see," Karmin hummed once Guy finished speaking. "So I am guessing that your request has something to do with your Sect''s possible revenue stream?"

    "That is correct," Guy affirmed.

    "So?" Karmin inquired as he leaned into his table.

    Guy smiled and reached into his bag, retrieving a half-inch thick, A4-sized bound stack of papers and ced it in front of Karmin.

    "What''s this?" Karmin asked with furrowed brows as he pulled the stack towards himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The business proposal," Guy exined.

    Karmin glossed the cover page, "Verum Trading Company? What''s Verum?"

    "It means ''truth'' in an extinctnguage," Guy answered. "If you peruse the Executive Summary on the subsequent page, you will see that my sect is called ''True World Sect''. Hence, to establish a rtionship between thepany and the Sect, I decided to name thepany as such."

    Karmin hummed and proceeded to read through the proposal. Contrary to his expectations, going as far as to exceed them, the report was thorough. Extremely so. It started with a description of thepany''s purpose.

    "It says here that, ''The Verum Trading Company seeks to fulfil gaps in the market that the public isn''t fully aware of.'' This sounds a little vague, can you expand on it?"

    "Surely. There is a saying where Ie from that ''Necessity is the mother of creation.'' People seek out solutions and invent when a vital need is found unfulfilled. People built carts when the need to travel over long distances while transporting heavy goods was found unfulfilled. People built roads when the need for said travel grew perilous and unstable," Guy started. He then shifted his tone and professed a few counterpoints, "But what happens when arge portion of these needs get fulfilled? This is where we encroach upon the territory of the ''wants''. This is a slippery slope since satisfying wants is not crucial, but merely enjoyable. People needed clothing to protect themselves from the environment, but they wanted fashion to express their individuality and in some cases unt their wealth. But that is beyond the scope of our discussion."

    "Ironically, it is by satisfying wants that businesses thrive. This is also what separates the lucrative businesses from the ones that just get by. Through my research over the past few weeks in themercial districts of Radiant City and Wayward Town, I found out that most, if not all businesses that cater to consumer ''wants'' do so exclusively with a market segment that has an excess of disposable ie and savings. I would like to draw your attention to-" Guy leaned forward and turned the pages of the report. "-here. On this page, I have described my observationparing a Carpenter''s Shop in Wayward Town against a Furniture Emporium here in Radiant City. In the Shop, 88% of the clients were of a segment from the low-ie bracket. On a side note, I''ve defined my criteria for suchbels on the reference page at the front. 8% were from businesses looking for cheap and disposable furniture, while the rest were simply misceneous. However, the Emporium exclusively catered to a wealthy clientele. And by wealthy, I mean in both money and power. In fact, I saw them kick out a man who had the finances to purchase their products butcked sufficient fame."

    "How did you get this information?" Karmin asked incredulously.

    "I stalked outside the stores and took surveys. The people visiting the Shop were more upfront with their answers. For the Emporium, I had to rely solely on my observations, hence they may be skewed or biased - just a fair warning," Guy rified. "But I want to point out that the Emporium made a heck of a lot more out of their sparse sales as opposed to the carpenter with his apprentices who outputted more units per order. I also noticed that the variety of products sold by the carpenter was sorelycking, while the Emporium had a myriad of products with varying designs."

    "Well the Carpenter''s clients don''t really seek such ornamentations," Karmin pointed out.

    "Exactly!" Guy said while snapping his fingers. "Why is that?"

    "Why is what?"

    "Why is it that the Carpenter''s clients don''t seek these ornamentations? Why is everyone - by that I am referring to therge segment of the market that falls under the middle to low-ie brackets - suddenly just content with mediocrity and living a mundane life?" Guy professed animatedly.

    Guy decided to pull a few tricks he learned from his sister in his past life and sted Karmin with a deration that shook the man to his core.

    "Everyone wants," he said with a weighty voice that started to crescendo as he spoke. "Everyone wants, but mostck the frame of mind to pursue it. People believe that certain excesses are beyond their station - that they are solely for the rich and powerful - and that they don''t deserve it. But the Verum Trading Company aims to disprove this mentality. A farmer can enjoy the luxury of owning their very own chaise lounge without having to feel heartache over shelling out an inhuman amount of currency. And simrly, a carpenter need not fret over being unable to fulfil that demand should the farmer approach them."

    "Every need or want can be fulfilled by ingenuity and creativity. This is Verum Trading Company''s motto. We seek to output products that address the overlooked gaps in the market that are reservoirs of wealth just waiting to be tapped."

 Chapter 196 Blast From The Past (From Another World)

    Guy''s elder sister was an ambitious businesswoman. She was tenacious and ruthless and built her entertainment empire from scratch with no help from the family. It was a task she took upon herself to prove that she was more than just the Larks name.

    She always had the entrepreneur''s spirit and a natural-born insight unlike any other. She was quick to observe the changes in market trends while working as an intern in a recordbelpany.

    After two years of umting experience and knowledge, she set off to create her own uniquepany that recruited talent and trained them to thrive in the perilous industry. She took a page from the systems employed in the East and tweaked it slightly to achieve great sess.

    For one, the West encouraged individuality and self-expression. Yet because of this mentality, the artists were forced to set out on their own and find opportunities by themselves. Although they could employ agents, the support they received from that side was limited to finding andnding auditions, negotiating pay, and so on. There was little to no support for growth and development, which was avable in the agencies of the East.

    When an actor failed an audition, or if an album flopped, they would rarely receive tangible feedback on how to improve. There was also little training on how to handle their fame and the media. His sister''s goal was to create an agency that could fill in that role. To act as the incubator that nurtured artists and supported them through their journey.

    Guy''s sister pitched herpany to many investors, but most did not believe in her vision. They figured that investing heavily into unestablished talent was futile since they would simply jump ship when offered a better contract, which was understandable. But his sister did not give in regardless of the many denials she faced. Ultimately, one woman felt moved by his sister''s proposal and she offered her support. His sister wouldter marry this woman, but that was a separate story.

    During her time pursuing investors, his sister had conducted unbelievably thorough research of the market. In the process, she recruited Guy''s assistance to help her put together the business proposal. Guy was more than willing to help his sister for free, but she insisted on paying him saying, "Until I can prove my mettle, you aren''t my brother. I am no Larks. I am simply an acquaintance hiring your services."

    Through this favour, Guy learned a great deal about business management from his sister. He umted many valuable skills that he never thought he would ever use again until he died, transmigrated, and resolved to create his own sect.

    Guy followed his sister''s method by the book to put together the business proposal for his venture. He spent two weeks moving from ce to ce, stalking outside stores and shops and even interviewing many folks both willing and irritated. It was hard, but it was necessary.

    This is because no one wants to willingly give their money to others. The rich may throw their wealth willy-nilly, but that is only because they know that the expenditure will a guaranteed return immediately. But such guarantees aren''t always present when investing.

    With investing, what they get are probabilities. Probability of sessfully recouping the amount invested, the probability of amplifying their invested amount, and the dreaded probability of making a loss. Based on how these probabilities are spread, an investor will decide to invest or pass on a proposal.

    The probabilities are generated inrge part based on the data presented to the investors, and in minor part based on the entrepreneur''s drive and vision for their business. A confident entrepreneur with a losing business model is the same as a money-making business model with a half-hearted or nervous entrepreneur. However, the former will be kicked out of the room immediately, while thetter can salvage the situation by selling their business model to the investor and working as an employee in the business.

    To convince Karmin, Guy had to show that he was motivated by his business, and he had to present to him the data that supported the need for his business.

    After collecting a wide range of raw data through primary research, Guy took half a week topile everything into human-readable form. At this point, he was grateful that he had hisputer in the RoK. With the help of the spreadsheet program, the word processor, and the printer, the process was trivial. His efforts definitely paid off as Karmin''s eyes sparkled andtched on to the colourful graphs presenting the data visually. Rather than seeing abstract numerics sprawled across the page, graphs are the easiest way to make sense of data so that even ayman can understand it.

    "While you bring forward good points, I am confused as to what your business will do. As in, what is the tangible output from thispany?" Karmin asked.

    "Good question. To answer it, I would like to propose to you a series of questions, please entertain me," Guy requested as he pulled out a textbook from his satchel.

    "This is the ''Compendium of Common Metals and Alloys'' from the Guild''s library. I borrowed it for today''s presentation. Only the Guilds have a copy of this book, why is that?"

    "Because it is expensive to print. And it regrly gets updated," Karmin answered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "True, so if I wanted to purchase this book, how much would I have to spend?"

    "At least a few gold coins. No one really bothers to purchase these," Karmin responded. "You would have to pay scribes to copy over the content and artists to copy the illustrations. It''s a huge hassle."

    "What if I told you that it was possible to reduce the cost to a few silver coins?" Guy probed mystically.

    Karmin narrowed his eyes and nearly snorted at what he perceived was a joke. But when he noticed Guy''s confident smile, he realised that the man was being serious.

    "You''re kidding!"

    "I am here today to propose to you the first product envisioned and designed by Verum Trading Company, the Gutenberg Press," Guy dered. He then reached into his satchel again and pulled out a scroll the length of his forearm.

    As he unfurled it, he revealed a descriptive diagram that presented, in Karmin''s eyes, a grandiose machine that could take in sheets of paper and output uniform text.

    "This machine utilises a mechanism that we call the Gutenberg Mechanism to stamp text arranged in proper order in the form of blocks, into nk paper," Guy exined. "It utilises the same techniques people use to stamp their identity in official forms."

    "Can you exin how this process works?" Karmin inquired as he squinted at the paper.

    "These are called letterpress blocks that contain singr letters extending outwards and reflected. To manufacture these, you can use casts with molten bronze. We can customise these and generate a myriad of typesetting fonts to match the nature of the text. For instance, this textbook is informative and needs to be devoid of grant embellishments. To aplish that, we can utilise the following font which is called Simple Serif or Simple San Serif. For more vibrant text, we can use fonts like this one which I call Cursive," Guy exined while pointing out sections on the scroll.

    "The blocks can be arranged in a line, note that the text is backwards since when you print it the imprint reflects. You can arrange multiple lines to form a page."

    "This seems to take a lot of time," Karminmented. "Wouldn''t it be easier for a scribe to write out the page?"

    "That would be true if the intention is to write one page at a time. But the way this press works is by printing out multiple batches all at once. You see, after typesetting a page, all you need to do is affix it here and dab the ink over it like so. Finally, you ce the paper over this and bring down the lever of the Gutenberg mechanism. After a few seconds, the lever can be pulled back and vo!" Guy finally gestured at thest diagram. "You get apletely typeset page immediately. While typesetting takes time, printing takes barely a minute. You can print over a hundred copies of a page within an hour. Then you set it for the next page and repeat the same. Within a week you can output over a hundred copies of a book with only four people working the machine. The best part is that every book will be exactly the same. And if the workers are properly trained and educated, the margin of error is low. As a businessman, you should already be able to envision the benefits of this machine."

    Karmin nodded enthusiastically as his eyes widened into saucers. "You no longer have to worry about variations in the script due to differences in scribe habits. Heck, you don''t have to hire droves of scribes in the first ce! The unbelievable fact is that this miraculous machine doesn''t even rely on magic or mana, so just about anyone can use it."

    "This machine!" Karmin eximed as financial mathematics rattled off in his mind. "How much will it cost to manufacture?"

    "Through my research, I found that the issue does not lie in the cost of the materials but rather the time and expertise. Most of the parts needed to materialise this require some intricate tool work for which we will need some expert cksmiths and woodworkers, which I am sure you have connections with. I have developed blueprints for these parts, which I will share in due time. But before that, I will need to hear your opinion and decision on the proposal," Guy concluded.

    "So, what do you say?"

 Chapter 197 Dabbling In Legalese

    Karmin had to physically hold himself back from hugging the man in front of him and kissing him on the lips. As a businessman, Karmin quickly envisioned the possibilities professed by the device presented by Guy. Using his knowledge of cksmithing, he could confirm that what was proposed was within the limits of reality and was possible to materialise.

    Guy noticed that Karmin was on the cusp of tipping over in favour of the investment and decided it was time for the coup-de-grace.

    "This device is a trailer of what my business aims to output. Machines and solutions that can simplify overlooked problems that prevail in society. Let us take a step back and look forward in time. A decadeter, more than 25% of publishers in the world utilise this Press to produce their books. With the ease of manufacture and distribution, more and more people have ess to information and the average literacy of the poption increases. Those of the lower ss that believed they could never escape their station due to the educational barrier blocking their advance no longer have to worry about their illiteracy, since just about anyone can learn to read and write with a small expense of a few copper coins to purchase a book that teaches them how to read."

    "Why would you buy a book to learn to read?" Karmin blurted out.

    "Pictures," Guy answered. "See! This opens up a new avenue altogether. Books that teach people to do things. A century into the future, anyone can write and publish a book. A farmer could write a book teaching others how to tend to different crops. An adventurer could write a book teaching others of the fundamentals to survive in the wilderness."

    "Solutions that can change the future," Guy highlighted. "You can expect more of those from thepany."

    Karmin nodded subconsciously, but his mind was already dwelling on the future as Guy indicated. Except, he wasn''t envisioning all those phnthropic oues, he was mentally counting the gold coins spilling into his coffers.

    "This... Okay!" Karmin dered. "You''ve convinced me. I am prepared to invest in thispany."

    "Wonderful! Nowes the often unpleasant part of this interaction: the negotiation," Guy said as his enthusiasm dampened. "I have prepared a preliminary contract to cement our agreement. Please have a read and if you have any problems, we can flesh out the details further."

    Guy produced another stack of papers, much thicker than the proposal, and plopped them in front of Karmin. As he read them, Karmin''s expression turnedplicated, not because he had an issue with the contents, but rather because the content was extremely thorough and tackled every question he could and couldn''t think of.

    "Verum Trading Company is affiliated with and a subsidiary of the True World Sect. At the time of drafting this contract, the Sect Leader and primary representative for Verum Trading Company are Guy Larks. The Burning Forge is owned by and operated by Karmin Z. Legally, The Burning Forge and Karmin Z are a singr entity."

    "..."

    "The Burning Forge will be the sole manufacturer for Verum Trading Company''s products for the duration of ten years following the validation of this contract. However, the patents and rights for the products will be fully owned by Verum Trading Company. The Burning Forge may not sell or distribute products owned by Verum Trading Company to external parties. Vition of this use will be subject to the following repercussions..."

    "..."

    "As an investor, Karmin Z can choose to receive earnings equivalent to the percentage invested. These earnings will be in the form of annual dividends, which are percentage distributions of the profits umted by the business yearly. Alternatively, Karmin Z can opt to reinvest the dividends into Verum Trading Company for an increase in owned stake. The stake ownership is calcted using the following criteria..."

    "..."

    "Every new product developed by Verum Trading Company that is to be manufactured through The Burning Forge will be subject to another contract that will determine the cost of goods, resources, and so on. These contracts will be active for the duration of the manufacturing rights aforementioned and will be subject to renegotiation once the manufacturing rights held by The Burning Forge havepsed. Verum Trading Company, and by extension the True World Sect, will be guaranteed aplementary unit of every new product manufactured by The Burning Forge."

    "..."

    "The stake for Verum Trading Company will be held by Karmin Z, owner of The Burning Forge, till their termination. It is non-transferable. If Karmin Z wishes to transfer their stake to a third party, the recipient must be able to purchase the stake ording to its price, which corresponds to the percentage invested scaled to the valuation of thepany at that point in time. Transfer of stake between individuals will require a confirmation from all other stakeholders."

    "..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Karmin dabbed the sweat from his forehead as he averted his eyes from the stack of text. He still had a quarter of the stack left. He had seen many contracts in his lifetime, this was by far the most... everything!

    "This is quite verbose," Karminmented. That was putting it lightly. Karmin had never seen a contract so exhaustive!

    "If we''re doing this, we''re going to do this right. Although we are closely acquainted, I wish to separate our personal and professional rtionship. This contract is my way of showing my sincerity in seeking your assistance in this matter as a sessful businessman," Guy exined with a forthright tone. When ites to money, he had learned that it was often best to draw clear lines. Misunderstandings stemming from mishandling of money often lead to the worst kinds of conflicts, and most of the time the damages sustained through these conflicts - rtionship-wise - were ones that never healed. Therefore, for this agreement, Guy put together a meticulous contract after crawling through the RoK for examples, leaving absolutely no room for misunderstandings or contention.

    Karmin coughed lightly to mask his embarrassment and said, "It will take me some time to go through this. Don''t get me wrong, I am leaning toward this partnership, it''s just that, as you said, we need to take this seriously and approach this coboration with a purely business-oriented lens."

    Guy smiled back, expressing his satisfaction, and said, "That''s good to know. No issues! I strongly urge you to go through this contract and mark any amendments you wish to implement, and we shall work out those kinks ordingly. I shall be in Radiant City for a month at least, I hope to produce a working unit of the Gutenberg Press within that time so that it can hit the markets as soon as possible. It definitely helps to have a demonstrative unit when convincing potential buyers."

    Karmin affirmed and returned an equally satisfied smile, trying his hardest to stop his lips from quivering as he anticipated the long hours that will be spent deconstructing this beast of a contract.

    ____

    As Guy turned a corner into an alley after exiting The Burning Forge, he doubled over onto his knees and released a long sigh of relief. This was his very first business pitch, and he was freaking out!

    From the beginning, Guy wanted Karmin to take him seriously and consider investing from a professional standpoint. He knew that Karmin had hitched his wagon with Guy from way back, and he would readily agree to anything as long as it wasn''t grantly disadvantageous. In fact, Guy had a hunch that Karmin would still agree even if it was disadvantageous, albeit begrudgingly. Guy could have very easily asked Karmin to turn The Burning Forge into the Sect''s finance front. It would have been easy to do, heck Guy could have "urged" Karmin to do so with his unique powers if the man was teetering towards a disagreement. But Guy didn''t want to do that.

    For the True World Sect to sustain itself and seed, its source of ie needs to be robust and legitimate. Guy couldn''t rely on others for this, it had to be purely through his own initiative.

    Spearheading innovation. That was the name of the game. Developing novel products that made life easier for people and businesses. Guy could sell inventions that existed in his past life that didn''t exist here. It was something most, if not all transmigrators attempted and seeded in doing. But as established earlier, Guy knew that it wasn''t a sustainable venture.

    What use was having a horde of innovative and inquisitive minds if he was the only one outputting ideas? The Sect was basically a think tank filled with endless creativity. If Guy taught the members well, they could in turn innovate and develop new products and solutions that could be mised. Verum Trading Company would act as a tform for them to prototype, market and float their ideas. This way, the kids would learn to apply their knowledge and gain motivation from achieving tangible results.

    Guy didn''t have to participate in innovation actively, he could light the fuse with a few key products like the Printing Press, which he rightly affiliated with the original inventor. Down the line, Guy nned to create the Lathe and the Milling machine as well, the two fundamental machines that revolutionised the modern industry. With the use in the contract which awarded the Sect with aplimentary unit, Guy nned to teach the Sect members how to use these machines so that they could fast-forward innovation and prototype their ideas quickly.

    Guy hadid out an borate n of action to raise his Sect and turn it into an unshakeable monolith. That was the only way he could implement meaningful changes on a global scale. The business would y a huge role in this goal.

    With manufacturing out of the way, once Karmin signed the contract, Guy had to now worry about distribution. The Sect''s business could not build a brick-and-mortar store inmercial districts, after all. And no business would go out of their way to a rural vige to buy goods they had never heard of and transport them where they were needed. Verum Trading Company had to deliver their products to the customer somehow.

    Surprisingly, Markus came through on this matter. Guy walked briskly through a few alleys and roads and finally reached a rather high-ss restaurant called The Golden te in the city''s entertainment district.

    This area was usually frequented by the wealthier segment of the market and was thus clean and rarely crowded. There were regr patrols by the localw enforcement, therefore crime was a rare urrence here. In fact, being caught byw enforcement would be the best-case scenario for any criminal in these parts.

    Guy''s purpose here was to meet his second possible investor, and a prospective distribution channel for the Verum Trading Company.

 Chapter 198 Hitting Up An Old Friend

    Markus was in a perpetual state of heightened awareness and anxiousness.

    "Can I get you anything, Sir?" A courteous feminine voice caused him to jolt in ce. He turned to face the smiling facade of an objectively beautiful woman, garbed in a conservative yet elegant pastel-red robe. Her face was painted to entuate her sharp features and was made to look as natural as possible. Markus figured that was the theme they were going for - sincerity. Even the woman''s smile looked real - her eyes werex with folds forming by their sidesplementing her expression.

    "I-I- No, thank you," Markus answered, swallowing an audible gulp. As he observed the woman recede out of the room and slide the door close without turning her back to him, he violently tapped his belt satchel and sighed in relief after confirming something.

    Markus wasn''t used to being treated this way, with such deference. Especially given where he was right now.

    During his time at the Academy, Markus had heard of a legendary restaurant in the entertainment district. In fact, he heard that it was a restaurant in name only and that in reality, it was just as grand as the Emperor''s pce. Markus never got the opportunity to verify these rumours at that time, given how he had more pressing issues to contend with. So he was shocked when his Master instructed him to book a private table for Sect business. At first, he was apprehensive, he was sure that booking reservations in a restaurant most peoplepared to the monarch''s pce would be far from trivial. Before he could voice that thought, his Master plopped a luminescent bank ount token in his palm. He then instructed Markus to visit the bank and withdraw some funds to "expedite" the reservation.

    It was when Markus pursued that side-task that the second bombshell copsed on him. The moment he entered the bank and disyed the token, he was dragged inside by a small squadron of powerful mages who proceeded to interrogate him on how he got his hands on the token. After a rather charged inquiry, the bank performed aplete one-eighty. He was whisked out from a dreary prison-like setting to a luxurious lounge being waited on by an armada of servants and a butler ready to bring him anything he requested while they verified his transaction.

    During his wait, Markus finally understood that his Master hadn''t been jesting when he repeatedly warned him about his wealth. His Master was loaded! Legitimately loaded! Markus hadn''t seen that many zeroes after a number in his entire life!

    He exited the bank with a small pouch filled with gold coins hidden in his satchel. The mere presence of that hot potato raised his anxiety levels to the max. Markus would intermittently tap his satchel to make sure that the coins remained there, unaware that his skittering behaviour had attracted the eyes of actual pickpockets. But before they could make their move, Markus turned a corner and arrived in front of The Golden te, the premier eatery in all of Radiant City, and possibly the Sr Empire. No one wanted to get caught in this neck of the woods.

    Markus was so absorbed in protecting the booty that he failed to enjoy the visual before him. The Golden te was a marvel of modern architecture. By using marble to create intricately carved designs that evoked an imperious aura of exclusivity and wealth, it was the epitome of luxuriance. The restaurant was tall, seven storeys tall, and had balconies extending out from each floor which, if observed from above, gave the building an appearance of a blooming lily.

    The first person to greet Markus was a man garbed in a formal suit and sporting a well-meaning smile. He weed Markus and led him to a reception area where another individual approached him and asked whether Markus had a reservation. Markus said no, to which the man immediately offered a possibility for an expedited reservation which was a bit more expensive - a bit in a simr sense to adding a bucketful of sand into a desert. Markus acquiesced since it was part of his Master''s instructions and ended up paying, rather suspiciously, exactly a quarter of the gold coins in his pouch. It was exactly because the prescribed fee went down to the copper denomination in its precision.

    Markus shook his head with a wry smile and followed a third individual, the woman from before who frequently greeted him and ask him for his order, to a private dining room.

    A few minutes after Markus settled into a seat, the doors to the room slid open. Interestingly, Markus wasn''t able to hear or even sense any presence from outside the room. He figured that the area was probably lined with a multitude of formations that isted the private dining room.

    "Boss!" A cheerful voice boomed through as the hostess moved to the side, revealing a portly young man of Markus'' age.

    "Furion Stoll," Markus greeted and approached with open arms. The two friends embraced for a brief moment and separated. Markus immediately gestured for hispanion to sit down, and they began conversing.

    "What happened? You just disappeared off the face of Gaea," the burly boy named Furion inquired as he squirmed into thefortable cushion of his chair.

    "Circumstances required my departure," Markus answered rather vaguely. "How''s everything going? How''s the Academy? Oh, and how are Fenman, Fuegan and Fennis?"

    Furion scratched his forehead and answered, "Things are moving as they always have back at the Academy. Though, there have been some positive changes since Teacher Way took the Vice Principal position-"

    "Didn''t Teacher Way just recently achieve his license? How did he pull that off?"

    "There was an inter-Academic Tournament against the Far Horizon Academy from down South, and Teacher Way and his Students pulled out some shy victories that gained the Radiant Academy a hell of a lot of advantages," Furion shrugged. "There were a bunch of other stuff as well. He achieved two 2-star licenses in Painting and Alchemy, and then boosted through to a 2-star Teaching License within a month."

    Furion frowned andmented, "Now that I''m saying it out loud, it doesn''t make much sense... What kind of a monster is he?"

    He paused to ponder on that tangent before waving his hands and continuing, "As for Fenman, Fuegan and Fennis, those three are doing well. If you have time, we should meet upter, Boss. Hit the entertainment districts, maybe visit a brothel or two!"

    Furion immediately bit his tongue and said, "I forgot that Fuegan got hitched! His new fianc¨¦e is a firecracker. She''d murder him if he got caught sniffing around such ces. And then she''d castrate us for tempting him..." Furion gulped while suppressing a shudder.

    Markus chuckled as Furion continued borating on the trivial goings-on back at the Academy. Although Markus held no affection or nostalgia for that hell-hole, he definitely missed those four bully-turned-friends for all the hijinks and antics they got into.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If he were beingpletely honest, Markus was initially averse to forming a friendship with the four greatest miscreants who tormented most people back at the Academy. The F4, as everyone called them, were one of the more prolific bullies in the Academy. Although Markus'' interaction with them was sparse, it wasn''t pleasant either.

    However, Master Larks told him that he should consider getting close to the F4 not to form a sincere friendship, but one that was based on a give-and-take policy. He should assume a position where he could contribute something of advantage to them, and in turn, they would involuntarily enter a favour-owing mindset when interacting with him.

    What could Markus contribute to people who could buy everything they wanted? Their family''s approvals of course. After some research, stalking and spying, Markus found out that the four acted out mostly to attract their parents'' attention, which was usually distracted with their own businesses.

    All four were second-generation rich brats of self-made businessmen. The parents were preupied with growing their fortune since they had personally experienced the pain of poverty. While the heirs, who were born with everything,cked the one thing they sorely yearned for.

    Thus, Markus enacted his n. Through some pretty basic social manoeuvring and suggestion, he encouraged the F4 to shift their rogue enthusiasm into their studies. By fooling them into learning stuff and applying their knowledge, their academic measurables started to rise incrementally.

    Within months, they were elevated into the top ten of the cohort, which immediately granted them their parent''s attention and love. And thus Markus gained four valuable favours which were implicitly NQA (No Questions Asked).

    Today, Markus was nning to cash in his first one for the benefit of the Sect.

    "That''s enough of my rattling," Furion threw out as he gulped down a mouthful of water to wet his parched throat from all the talking. "So Boss, how''re things with you? Anything good happen with you?"

    Markus nodded and released his control over his mana. The wave washed over Furion and nearly caused him to choke on his spit.

    "Y-You broke through?" Furion eximed in shock, which turned into sincere awe. "As expected of Boss! That Gaige''s been unting around the campus like he''s hot shit. He just got lucky! Are you here to teach him a lesson?"

    Markus chuckled at the boy''s enthusiasm and spirit. "Revenge can be exacted at any point in time. The more you let it cool, the sweeter it is."

    "Well said," Furion agreed while shing a thumbs-up.

    "By the way, Boss," Furionmented. "Why did you call me here? Before that, how can you afford this ce? Not to be disrespectful or anything, but weren''t you an orphan? Wait! Did you discover your true family? Are you a descendent of some rich royals? I knew it!"

    Markus smiled wryly as hispanion''s overactive imagination started to bloat the circumstance exponentially with each passing second.

    Before he could interrupt and exin himself, the door to the room slid open once again, and the woman proimed, "The host has arrived."

    "Master!" Markus greeted while standing up.

    "Markus," his Master responded with a nod.

    "Master?" Furion blurted out in confusion.

    "Ah, you must be Mister Stoll, Markus''s friend," his Mastermented as he extended his arm towards Furion.

    "Master?" Furion repeated while alternating his gaze between Markus and his Master.

    Markus coughed, "Furion. Let me exin..."

 Chapter 199 Hitting Up An Old Friends Father

    "So let me get this straight," Furion interjected as he massaged his forehead. "You dropped out of the Academy because your Master, Mister Larks here was, for theck of a better word, kicked out?"

    "I mean, there''s a lot of better words to describe that situation," Guy muttered with a bitter smile. "Fired, let go of, dismissed, discharged..."

    "And now, you''re nning to start your own Sect?" The boy continued, ignoring that little aside.

    "That pretty much summarises the situation," Markus affirmed.

    Furion released a sigh charged with a myriad of emotions and shot a suspicious gaze at the Master-Disciple duo. "Where do I fit into all of this? Are you asking me to join your Sect?"

    At this stage, Guy stepped in, "Financing."

    Before Furion could speak up in denial, Guy raised his palm and expounded, "Dune Caravan Management."

    "That''s my father''s business. I don''t know if I can help you there," Furion replied shaking his head.

    "What we need is a foot through the door, that much you can do," Guy reinforced. He noticed the conflicted emotions shing across Furion''s face and added, "Don''t worry. It is a lucrative proposition. If you are interested, I can take you through it right now."

    Furion inhaled with a shaking breath as he mentally calcted the offer. "No, it''s fine. I owe Boss Markus too much - this is the least I can do. As you said, I can get your foot through the door, but I won''t be able to help if my father decides to ignore it and brings the door down on your legs."

    "That''s more than enough," Guy smiled back. "Now then, let''s eat. I''ve booked a hearty lunch, would be a shame to not enjoy it."

    That Furion could get behind. He''d never actually eaten at The Golden te before. Even though his family was rich and well off, they rarely ate out in such luxurious establishments unless it was to wine and dine a potential client or business partner. Even then, his father actively avoided The Golden te due to its exorbitant prices.

    In fact, Furion was partly assuaged about introducing this Guy Larks to his father because the man could afford to dine him here. Just to test out the theory further, Furion made it a point to order one or two of the pricier dishes on the menu and gauged the man''s facial expressions. Noticing nary a ripple, Furion was sure that one, this man was serious and two, he had a lot of money to spare. Taking money from the rich was basically business 101!

    Furion patted his stomach after gulping down thest sip of the Jasmine-Infused Saffron Tea and eximed with a hearty, "Aaaah!"

    "That was delicious," he added. "Let''s get going then."

    ____

    "Is my father in?" Furion inquired the rugged-looking, beast of a man guarding the door to his father''s office.

    "Little Boss Furion," the man greeted with a bow. "Boss Dune''s inside, yes."

    "Is he busy?"

    "He told me to not let anyone in. I dunno if he''s busy or not ''cause he tells me that every time, so..." The man answered while scratching his bald head.

    Furion sucked in a fraught breath through his teeth as he contemted how to progress. After a rather momentous year, Furion had finally moved into his father''s good graces. Prior to the turnabout Furion executed to his worldview and persona, inrge part due to Markus'' intervention, his rtionship with his father was quite strained. They rarely talked, and Furion always had the feeling that the man didn''t really care about what happened to him.

    He did use to care at one point in time, though. Many years back. His father would dote on him, and buy him everything he wanted. Reprimand him when he made a mistake, and praise him when he did somethingmendable. But somewhere along the way, things started to go sour and their rtionship diverged. Furion didn''t know why back then, and it remained that way for a very long time since. This was until Furion became properly acquainted with Markus, and changed his approach.

    Furion thought that by acting out and getting into trouble, he could once again recapture his father''s attention. Maybe that way he would care again? But that was the false path, since every time he did get into some mischief and had his fathere bail him out, Furion could feel him moving further and further away. However, after a thorough searching of his memories, Furion figured out the reason and he realised that it had to do with why his father started pushing him away in the first ce.

    It happened one day when his father invited a client. Furion was told that the client was special. Yet, it was only a bitter that he learned to what extent they were ''special'', and just how idiotic of an understatement the word ''special'' was to describe them. These clients happened to be directly rted to the Emperor, with just a few degrees of separation. mping them down would have been a massive deal for the business and the family. Not only would it rake in a lot of potential revenue and extend their connections, but it would also offer the family an opportunity to lose the dreaded "parvenu"bel. Furion knew that this was what his father yearned for the most. The man had earned enough money to put them in a high-up position financially, but it was still insufficient when pitted against the big hitters in society namely the ancient ns. No matter how influential and wealthy they may be, when facing the ns that basically ran the Empire, they were just ants.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, wealth and an endorsement weren''t the only barriers to entry into highborn society. There was a third, which was where Furion fit into his father''s n. What ensures the longevity of a n? The mages affiliated with it. Not the ones in the family''s bankroll, but the ones born into it with the n''s blood coursing through their veins.

    Furion was the third piece of the puzzle, s he did not know of it at that time. He was always confused about why his father hired so many personal tutors and Teachers after shelling out inordinate amounts of money. His father hoped that Furion would turn out to be talented in some way, and be the pir that could help transition their business and family into a n.

    Nheless, Furion failed. When it came time to disy their prowess, Furion fizzled out. This was because he never took his training seriously. He was perfectly happy living a life of indulgence.

    After that instance, his father stopped paying him any attention. Although it wasn''t the first time Furion had disappointed his father, it definitely became thest.

    Furion lived in ignorance for many years, until one day, after acquiescing to a request from Markus, things started to turn around. As Furion started to apply himself more thoroughly in his training and in the Academy, he could gradually see his father''s disinterested gaze softening. An infrequent word of encouragement, amendation here, a reward for good performance there; Furion could clearly see his fathering around.

    This was why he was feeling a little anxious about what he was about to do right now. On one hand, he owed Markus, and on the other, he didn''t want to agitate his father. In the end, he felt that it was wrong to go back on one''s words and threw caution to the wind. He knocked on his father''s office door.

    "Father, it''s me Furion," he said with a cautious yet loud voice.

    "Come." His father answered from beyond the door.

    ____

    Garlin Dune was exhausted. Nowadays, he''d close himself off in his office even if there was no work for him to do, and simply stare into the unblemished ceiling, without a thought roaming through his mind.

    Hispany basically ran itself. There was always some work to do since people always had to transport goods between ces. The logistics were unchanging, hiring the required escorts, charting the course and nning stops, all of it had turned into an automaton that no longer required his input. Garlin worked hard to get where he was. He wasn''t ashamed to admit that he built the Dune Caravan Managementpany with his own blood, sweat and the asional tears, and it was his proudest creation.

    Yet why was he feeling so distraught and idle all the time?

    The question was answered by a series of knocks emanating from his doors and the voice of his son, his greatest disappointment.

    "Father, it''s me Furion," the boy called out. There was apprehension in his voice - the boy required something. In fact, this was something Garlin was getting used to nowadays. When before, the boy used to act gung-ho and impertinent, he was slowly turning more polite and mature. Which did bring a smile to Garlin''s face.

    "Come," Garlin responded. He had nothing else to do anyway.

    The door opened gently, and his son''s chubby face poked through. The boy bowed as a greeting and inched closer.

    "Sit," Garlin instructed. "Speak."

    "Umm, Father," the boy said with a strained smile. "I''m... I was wondering if had some time. You see..."

    Garlin growled and said, "Speak properly."

    The boy jerked in ce and regurgitated his words, "I brought someone who wanted to talk to you about a business deal."

    Garlin''s eyes narrowed and he had to physically hold himself back from unleashing a regretful sigh.

    ''Well, at least the boy isn''t downright asking to lend money to some miscreants. I can just deny things after hearing what they have to say.''

    "Fine, call them in," Garlin epted.

 Chapter 200 Rekindling

    A/N: WOHOO! That''s Chapter 200!

    ____

    His son was Garlin''s greatest disappointment, but it wasn''t in the way everyone assumed. Garlin had grand hopes and dreams. He wanted to rise to a height deemed impossible for someone with his background. And he had reached the cusp of achieving it too, that time. Unfortunately, it all came crumbling around him in one fell swoop.

    When it happened, Garlin cycled through a plethora of emotions. He felt rage, that his son failed him so spectacrly. Garlin sank every single resource in his employ for his son, yet the boy couldn''t present anything in return. In simple business terms, he turned out to be a loss-making investment. He then felt envious of the offspring of other families and hispetitors. Why were they so exemry, and why couldn''t his son perform simrly? Finally, he felt sorrow, witnessing his dreams shatter before him. Things weren''t supposed to go this way. This wasn''t part of his ns. Where did it all go wrong?

    His first instinct was to bring the hammer down on his son - corporal punishment. Heshed the squealing boy a few times with a whip. Every time the rope hit the boy''s flesh, Garlin''s heart ached. His wife pleaded that he stop, but Garlin''s anger overpowered his reasoning. Near the twentieth hit, he started to question why he was assaulting his son this way. He remembered that his father used to do the same thing to him. Garlin''s father was a bullock-cart driver who would help transport the vigers from the vige to the nearby town. Whenever Garlin disappointed or disobeyed the man, his father would rush outside, pick up the bamboo stick used to corral the bovines and hit him with it.

    Just like Garlin did with Furion, his own father had high hopes for Garlin. He wanted Garlin to be a schr and find a firm foothold in the public sector. The jobs were stable, well-paying, and reputable. But Garlin wasn''t a particrly studious boy. His mind worked differently - he learned by application. Contrarily, the schools emphasised rote memorisation and hypotheticals. So, he would regrly skip school and roam around town observing the goings-on in the markets.

    Inevitably, Garlin would get caught by his father and would have to eat a fresh serving of bambooshings. But it didn''t dissuade Garlin from resuming his behaviour. Because while Garlin knew why his father urged him so vehemently to pursue a path of betterment, he also recognised that the path set out for him wouldn''t make him happy. Besides that, he also realised that the reason his father chose this path for him was the generous boost in status that was appended to the family of the government official. His father didn''t want to be affiliated with his own profession as a bullock-cart driver, so he used Garlin as a tool to that end. Much like how Garlin used Furion to achieve his own dream.

    The twenty-firstsh did not fall on his son''s marred back. Because at that instant, Garlin realised a key fact, which was that when a person is born, an invisible line is drawn that demarcates how far they can reach in life with their autonomy. This may refer to their social standing, economic position, or even their martial strength through cultivation. To reach beyond this limit, they will have to inevitably rely on another. Just like his father did and failed, with Garlin, and just like how Garlin did and failed, with Furion. It is impossible to force someone to assist them in crossing this line without incurring some serious repercussions. Garlin''s father applied force excessively, and Garlin ended up running away in the middle of the night one day. As Garlin gazed at his son''s tear-filled face and his wife''s grieving frown, his grasp over the whip loosened. Going down this path would guarantee that his son would resent him for life. Garlin did not want that. If he ignored this and kept on pushing, either the boy would run away just like him or in the worst-case scenario, die. Garlin did not want that either.

    At that instant, Garlin''s mind was set.

    ''Am I satisfied with what I''ve achieved by myself?'' Garlin asked himself. To that, the answer was obviously, ''Yes.''

    He was rich, and his business model was self-sustaining and brought in a steady and substantial ie. Did he need to take that extra step to solidify his social standing?

    ''Not really.''

    Garlin released a sigh that took with it all of his ambition and drive. He''d achieved a sobering conclusion, ''There is nothing that I can do anymore.''

    Garlin had reached the line and was ready to settle. He stopped nitpicking over his son, he stopped caring about what the boy did after that day. It wasn''t because he despised thed. Garlin was just disappointed. He realised that if he had approached the situation differently, he could have achieved a different result. Maybe if he was a bit more hands-on and stern with his son, the boy would have a sense of responsibility. Maybe if he took the boy along with him during business trips and ventures, the boy would be more intimate with the family''s upation. Maybe if he had moderated the boy''s friendships and connections, the boy would have more experience socially. Maybe, maybe, maybe... There were a lot of them, each as viable as the other, each adding to his growing disappointment.

    Life had reached a standstill for Garlin.

    This was until his stationary cart was given an imperceptible impetus, by his son. Suddenly, the boy started to produce results. His coursework in the Academy improved, and so did his performance. Just recently, he was listed amongst the top 10 of his cohort with three of his friends who Garlin had written off as worthless.

    It did nudge Garlin''s depression away just a little, maybe even spark an ember of hope. It definitely got him curious to see what motivated such a change. If Garlin had learned anything in his career, it was that nothing good came for free. His son was acting differently, for which there had to be a motivating factor. More often than nought, the root cause for a youth''s change was someone of the opposite sex. Surprisingly, it was not the case in this situation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The cause for Furion''s change in personality was the boy currently sitting before him, named Markus Reva. But what intrigued him more was the identity of the person sitting beside the boy, named Guy Larks.

    This Guy''s identity was a bit more obscure. All Garlin was aware of, or whatever he was able to unearth from his memories, was that he was a Teaching Apprentice. But thest thing he could remember was that the man was culled from his post as part of the regr process. Once that happened, both Markus and Guy disappeared. This information was obtained directly from Furion''s mouth. And now, they''ve returned about a yearter, having made significant advancements in their cultivation.

    This discrepancy was setting off his innate instincts, which had turned dormant as ofte. An opportunity hade knocking.

    "It''s nice to finally make your acquaintance, Mister Dune," Guy greeted with a smile. Garlin examined his posture and bodynguage and determined that it wasn''t a facade. Although it wasn''t wholehearted, there was a degree of sincerity in that remark and that pleasant veneer.

    Garlin returned the smile and said, "It''s unfortunate that I know very little about Mage Larks. Although I am informed of Markus and his achievements."

    "That''s good enough. I haven''t done anything to warrant such attention," Guy replied with a chuckle, "Not yet anyway."

    ? "So, what can I help you with?"

    Guy appreciated the no-nonsense attitude and went straight to the point, "Dune Caravan Management. I require the services of yourpany to help store, transport and deliver stock for mypany."

    "If that''s the case, you could have applied directly through our managers," Garlin retorted casually.

    "Because that would have missed you the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a business unlike any other," Guy responded with a mysterious flicker in his eyes.

    "If it''s a business unlike any other, what guarantee would I have that my investment would return a profit?" Garlin challenged.

    "Touch¨¦," Guy admitted. "You must have heard a tonne of ideas that start like this from many upstarts looking to squeeze you of your money. But you see, I''m different."

    "How so?" Garlin smirked back.

    "Because I actually did the research," Guy dered as he dropped another copy of the business proposal with a dramatic ir. "You asked for guarantees? Well, Sir, I''ve done my due diligence and can dere with a high degree of certainty that you will not be disappointed with this investment opportunity."

    Garlin furrowed his brows and pulled the proposal towards himself. Although Garlin and Karmin were simr, as they were both sessful businessmen, there was a key detail that set them apart. Karmin, at heart, was a creator - his primary affiliation was as a cksmith. Although he had a strong business sense and insight, in some cases where his creative instinctsbated with the objective market trends, he would defer to his instincts. That wasn''t the case with Garlin, as he was a capitalist through and through. He built a transportationpany from scratch which now epassed warehousing and storage as well, all using his business acumen which he cultivated through repeated failures and sesses. Thus Garlin''s nose followed the money, in all ten out of ten cases.

    Therefore,pared to Karmin, he was quick to grasp the key details listed within the extensively documented report. No im was left unsupported - there was a wide range of research and legwork put into this document which provided robust guarantees. Garlin''s eye''s sparkled as his finger drifted along the paper and turned the pages one after another. Within a stimting half-hour, he had finished the report and his eyes darted over to Guy, with a reignited fire of passion burning within.

 Chapter 201 Securing An Investment And Gaining An Employee

    "This is fantastic," Garlin praised while pointing at the varied instances of graphs peppered across the report. "It so urately encapstes everything I want to know, without me having to sit down and deconstruct pages upon pages of indecipherable text and numbers."

    "What are these images?" He added while ncing between a pie, bar and line graph conveying three different sets of data.

    "They''re called graphs. As you so rightly said, they are pictorial representations of data," Guy affirmed.

    "Wonderful! Did you invent these graphs?" Garlin responded, but then he caught himself and bit his tongue. "Apologies, I understand if these are trade secrets of some kind."

    Guy waved his hand casually and said, "To answer your first question, I wasn''t the one who invented them. I do teach about them, though."

    Garlin noticed Markus nodding along and asked the boy, "You know how to make these things?"

    "Master has taught us how to collect, process and present data in human-readable format, yes," Markus answered. "Graphs and charts are included in this."

    Garlin pushed out his lower lips and nodded with an impressed expression. His eyes darted to his son who was also perusing through the report, reading the pages he had already finished. A thought sprouted in his mind at that instant, but Garlin didn''t actively pursue it for the time being. After a short half-minute, he quickly reverted to the situation at hand.

    "This Verum Trading Company, you intend to use it to finance the True World Sect which you will be leading," Garlin confirmed.

    Upon receiving a nod from Guy he followed up, "To that end, I have a few questions regarding your Sect since the two will be inevitably tied together."

    "Go ahead," Guy agreed.

    "I am sufficiently informed of the requirements to starting and maintaining a Sect," Garlin started. "How can you guarantee that the Sr Sect Alliance will validate the creation of your Sect?"

    "We have the support of a Tesseract Transformation realm mage," Guy dered openly.

    Garlin''s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, and his son who was gulping down a ss of water took a legitimate spit-take.

    "A T-T..." Garlin stuttered. "Tesseract Transformation? H-HOW? WHO?"

    "I believe it would be in our best interest to not agitate them. Though I can provide guarantees of their support. If need be I can add it to the contract."

    "Contract?"

    "Right!" Guy snapped his finger and retrieved the second monstrous paper pile from his satchel and dropped it before Garlin. "These documents are for our potential partnership in this venture. If you are interested in investing and holding a stake in this business, there are additional uses," Guy added while sliding forward another set of documents.

    Compared to Karmin''s response, Garlin''s eyes sparkled with excitement. He rubbed his hands in anticipation and licked his right thumb in preparation for some aggressive page flipping. Guy swore that he saw the man salivating as he mouthed the uses.

    "Oh ho! Smart, smart, I would have missed that," the manmented with a sly chuckle. Every now and then, Garlin released a simrment in contemtion or inmendation followed by a sound ranging from a thoughtful hum to a full-blownugh.

    "Beautiful!" The man concluded as he finished reading the final use. "I could not find a singlepse or exploitable use. Every aspect I could think of was addressed and then some. Truly a magnificent contract, this one is. Did you write this, or was a third-party consulted?"

    "I wrote it, thank you for your kind words," Guy replied with a wry grin. He wasn''tpletely used to receivingpliments, especially if what he was getting it for wasn''t something he was expressly good at. Guy had seen better contracts penned down in his past life by people who were far more educated in the field than he was. This barely scratched the surface - Guy was sure that if a more ruthless capitalist with a top-notch legal team were to approach this self-admittedly haphazard contract, they could drill holes into it like a worm devouring a tasty fruit.

    "I must say that I am truly impressed by... well everything, really!" Garlin eximed. "The proposed venture is robust, and based on your research, which I must say has floored me in its meticulousness, it will be profitable. Although I have yet to see some of the products yourpany will develop and sell, I can infer from your confidence that you have some ns in motion?"

    "That I do," Guy affirmed. "I am currently in talks with Karmin Z of The Burning Forge. Not only is he an investor, but The Burning Forge will also act as the manufacturer of our products."

    "You got Karmin in on this?" Garlin blurted out in surprise. The man and hispany''s name were on most people''s lips these days. The advent of Steel had changed the marketndscape, shaking it to its core. The alloy was as durable as Dwarven metal with enchanting capacity close to it as well. What really shattered the market was the affordability of the metal - it was nearly as cheap as iron for goodness''s sake! Steel weapons and armour had bemonce in most establishments, it was just that good.

    "Yes, currently, we are at the prototyping stage of a device," Guy added. "The product is ownedpletely by Verum Trading Company. The Burning Forge only has the rights to manufacture. They don''t have rights to sell it either, so a purchase of said products needs to be validated through Verum Trading Company or True World Sect," he emphasised immediately after. That answered a question that was about to roll off of Garlin''s tongue, which was ''Why should I invest in yourpany if I can get it from the manufacturer?''

    "That''s a smart move," Garlinmended.

    "As for your earlier question about the products in our catalogue, let me introduce you to the Gutenberg Press," Guy started. He then went on to give an overview of how the device worked minus excessive technical details since he recognised that his audience wasn''t as experienced in this field as Karmin. That, and because he wasn''t fully sure if Garlin was on-board with the business. Unlike Karmin, Guy could not get a proper read on Garlin likely due to the man''s years of experience in this ruthless environment.

    "I believe we can even start a publishingpany after creating this product. All the while, apany under Verum''s umbre could take on publishing contracts forrge-scale manufacture and sales." this time it was Furion who spoke up. The boy had been silent this entire time, making himself as scarce as possible. However, his eyes gained a motivated glimmer as he blurted out his ideas. "Apart from that, instead of selling these machines, they could be leased to others at first."

    "What is your rationale behind the decision to lease instead of sell?" Garlin directed his son calmly. The boy jerked in surprise.

    "Umm, I mean..." Furion stuttered.

    "Speak clearly," Garlin emphasised.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I-If, I mean if they sell the products from the beginning, there is little guarantee that the purchaser won''t open up the product and steal its designs. Leasing can help avert those problems. First, a breakdown mechanism could be installed inside the machine that causes the product to malfunction if someone opens it. Then, when the product fails to work after being put together, Verum Trading Company can impose a penalty on the buyer. Maybe a use can be added to the leasing contract?" Furion listed.

    Guy shuddered upon seeing the little capitalist''s mind at work. Back on Earth, many corporations implemented such devious methods inside their own devices to avoid theft in cases where patent litigation could not be extended. Nheless, Guy waspletely for Furion''s suggestion. In this world, there were no such things as patents and copyrights. The only cases where intellectual property rights were respected urred when guilds became involved. Such as the deal Karmin had with the Smithing and Enchanting Guild.

    "You seem taken with this product," Garlinmented, directing it to his son.

    "Well, it seems fresh," the boy admitted.

    "What do you think of thepany?" Garlin followed up.

    "The proposal presents a worthwhile investment," the boy answered. Although he''d spent most of his time before as an aimless scion, Furion had some knowledge of the field through following his father.

    "It''s decided then!" Garlin dered. "I will invest in Verum Trading Company. I will partner with thepany for distribution. Though, I do have some conditions."

    "We can negotiate the deal, sure," Guy responded.

    "I am willing to invest 100000 gold coins," Garlin said. "But it will be in the name of my son."

    "What?!" Furion shrieked.

    "He will be your contact and facilitator at Dune Caravan Management. If there is anything you need doing, it will go through him and him alone.," Garlin continued. "Essentially, I want him to be an employee at your Verum Trading Company."

    "Won''t that be a conflict of interest?" Guy probed.

    "It would," Garlin answered. "But from the date of signing this contract, the boy will no longer be bankrolled by me."

    "Father?" Furion uttered in shock.

    "You will live in this house, your essentials will be funded by deducting a percentage of the sry you earn from your work at Verum. You will be responsible for every other expenditure of yours from this point on," Garlin dered.

    "Will that be a problem?" Garlin asked Guy. But the question felt rhetorical.

    "You wish to educate your son through this?" Guy rephrased.

    "I do," Garlin answered.

    "Why?"

    "Furion here and his group of wastrels spent less than a year with your Disciple and changedpletely," Garlin started. "I was always intrigued by how a single boy could aplish such a feat. But after meeting you in person, I can see your fingerprints on his personality."

    "Markus here managed to elicit changes in my son in months, where I failed over years," Garlin confessed with a sorrowful frown. "I won''t be shameless and foist him upon you without remuneration. You can treat those 100000 gold coins less like an investment and more like fees to teach my boy. Treat him how you see fit, pay him what you feel is appropriate, just please do anything to fix my mistakes."

    "Father," Furion said with a wavering voice.

    "I made a mistake," Garlin continued while shaking his head, speaking to his son this time. His voice sounded aged and worn out. "I pushed my expectations upon you without considering your feelings. You are a talented and thoughtful boy, it''s just that I wasn''t good enough to nurture it well."

    Furion''s eyes threatened to tear up, but he quickly dabbed them and looked away.

    "So, Sect Leader Larks. Do you find these conditions eptable?" Garlin redirected. His face had mellowed out, and there was a pleading and hopeful intonation in his request.

    To that, Guy frowned and said, "So you''re basically saying that you will invest in mypany if I take in a new student, for an exorbitant fee at that?"

    As Garlin nodded, Guy said, "I don''t ept."

    Before the man''s face drooped in defeat, Guy warped with a sly smile and said, "I was here for an investment, and I will take your money as an investment. You will be eligible for the benefits thate with said investment as stipted in the contract. Apart from that, I ept the employment of your son in Verum Trading Company in concordance with your conditions (to be amended into the contract). This employment will involve an extensive training phase which will intimate him with all the aspects of the business and will cover a wide range of skills."

    Guy extended his arm forward and concluded, "Are those conditions eptable?"

    Garlinughed uproariously as he interpreted Guy''s words, "We have ourselves a deal then!"

 Chapter 202 Covering All Of The Bases

    Guy did not anticipate scoring an employee this early. Though it came as a surprise to him, it was a wee one. To top it off, the employee brought with him a generous investment package. Unfortunately, Guy was unsure as to what Garlin expected with this engagement. What was Guy supposed to teach Furion?

    ''There''s still time to hash out those details,'' Guy shrugged. He had other things to worry about at the moment.

    The 100000 gold that Garlin nned to invest was a bounteous cushion for Guy. Although Karmin''s contribution would have been sufficient and Guy could have covered the rest with his own funds, it was always a wee addition to having more capital when starting a venture.

    Generally, one must use the capital invested to its fullest potential. To that end, it was often discouraged to hold backrge portions of the invested capital and leave it stagnant. This did not mean that one had to fling money willy-nilly with no proper n, but rather to investigate and research further so that the unused capital could find some function and could lead to greater returns down the line. This was what Guy learned from his Elder Sister.

    ording to her, the greatest fear of any new entrepreneur was ending up destitute - or back to where they started from. It is always a rush to suddenly see money streaming into their bank ounts after a fruitful run at schmoozing investors. Especially when one could never fathom seeing so many zeroes following a significant figure. Thus, it hurt equally, if not more, to see those digits diminishing with each purchase, be it of natural resources, human resources or machinery.

    This was where she would repeat the worn-out phrase, "You need to spend money to make money."

    Taking it at face value, one could easily scoff and dismiss the s¨¦ and downright prodigal nature of that sentence. However, taking a step back and deconstructing it yields a crucial insight. While the invested capital remains in the bank ount, it does nothing. It doesn''t grow, nor does it yield anything beneficial. Sure, it is safer there as there is no chance of losing it. But by taking some time to evaluate the business opportunities and scope, one could use this stagnant capital to nt ''seeds'' that could yield ''fruits'' over a longer period, which in turn could exceed the capital at the time of investment. Better yet, these blooming ''nts'' could proliferate and multiply! Agreed that there is always a chance of things falling apart and failing, but starting a business is anything but risk-free. As an entrepreneur, one needs to weigh these risks carefully and make smart and calcted moves. The ability to differentiate and evaluate the nature of these risks is a valuable skill that one is either born with or needs to cultivate through repeated trials and failures.

    Guy was anything but a risk-taker, which was why till now he''d only approached people he knew or had some connection with. Was he scared of failure, of course! Who wasn''t?

    However, now he was about to step into the new ground filled with failures and dismissals galore.

    As of this point, Guy had prepared most of the requirements to start a Sect. He''d secured a location, he''d decided on a name, he formted a strategy for the Sect to sustain itself, heck he even had the backing of a mage powerhouse for safety. What remained was something of utmost importance to the Sect. In fact, without it, the Sect would not have a physical identity.

    The onlyponent left was the Sect''s physical infrastructure - the buildings, setting, sanitation, and so on. A Sect could exist in name, epassing the people that made it up. However, without a ce to call their own and identify with, it would all be fleeting. Besides that, these infrastructures were necessary to organise the Sect.

    Guy had conferred with Twilight Vige''s Head, and they were all for hosting the Sect there. Even the vigers were weing the opportunity, primarily because having a sect in close vicinity was often beneficial for any settlement. For one, the settlement would be exempt from paying taxes to the governing body, as the Sect would now have to assume responsibility for the settlement. Although, Twilight Vige didn''t really pay taxes to the Duchy, which was evidenced by the decrepit nature of the transportation logistics leading to this ce. So in general, this was a benefit in the Vige''s favour. The second reason why the vigers were for it was that when it came time to recruit new blood into the fold, sects would often pick from applicants nearby. This meant that the locals had greater opportunities. Furthermore, While sect members weren''t allowed to leave their sects without cause, being in close proximity to family was always a boon.<novelnext></novelnext>

    While the vige was amodating, Guy did not want his Sect''s members to live in thatched and rickety housing, attend sses in unkempt fields or hills, wash in the spring and relieve themselves in a poorly maintainedmunal outhouse. He wanted to cultivate a sense of pride and belonging amongst the members. They had to feel that they were part of something greater and that they could rely on the Sect in times of need. While this rtionship could be developed over time, often times a strong first impression can be used to skip that process.

    This was where the new influx of capital woulde into use. Guy had already performed an anticipatorynd survey and drafted a rough sketch of what he wanted the Sect to look like. His initial n was to build the essentials such as living amodations, a lecture building, a ce for practising magic, and a public bath. He even plotted out the avablend on the mountainside where he wanted these buildings to be ced after clearing the forestry in that area. Guy wasn''t nning to introduce the Outer, Inner and Core sect divisions and wanted to utilise experience and knowledge as the factors that generated the hierarchy, thus the theme he went for was approachable and essible. There were no gates that blocked passage between locations, nor did he n to implement them in the future.

    As the Sect generated revenue, Guy nned to build additional buildings that offered more functions. Such as a Library so that Guy could offload all the books in his RoK for the Sect members to read. Just like hoarding money, there was no benefit in keeping knowledge locked away. Guy also wanted to create an Idea Forge Building - something like a freewheeling maker-space where members could pursue whatever caught their fancy. He would popte that building with tools and resources useful for rapid prototyping and getting what was in their minds into reality. Guy wanted to establish multiple specialised Research Buildings, where members could pursue their interests in any field of study. They could investigate the wonders of nature in all its forms, biology, physics, chemistry and so on, whatever caught their fancy.

    Guy had many such ideas in his mind but wascking in the resources to implement them. But with this new influx of cash, Guy could extend from the necessities and requisition for some of the more specialised buildings like that Library and the Idea Forge.

    What followed that day, andsted for half a week, were a series of quotation inquiries from a myriad of different constructionpanies established in Radiant City. Before contracting apany to realise his Sect, Guy had to first find one that could cater to his needs at a realistic price. Even if he was quite literally swimming in money, Guy was an ardent believer in frugality. Rather, he believed that it was unnecessary to spend more than what was required - something hard to find amongst children of the rich. It was a personality built through experience roaming around the more impoverished parts of the world

    Needless to say, finding a suitable contractor was an onerous task, which Guy despised. The first few he visited happened to only cater to the high-end market segment. They didn''t even let him get past the weing room. The ones that followed were more receptive, but started to flounder and inte their ask as he started to put forth his ideas and requirements. To an extent, Guy understood their apprehension. After all, some unknown bloke from an unknown vige asking to build a Sect with so many requests ought to raise some red gs.

    There were just too many expenditures the contractors had to endure such as transporting the resources to the required location, storing those resources, hiring and transporting builders, and so on. Even with Guy''s exhaustive promises and more than thorough contracts, those old souls with years of experience in their back pockets were quick to dismiss him either upfront or with an unmanageable bill.

    It was the new and uing builders that offered manageable quotes. Guy wanted to use the same builder for all of the buildings to preserve amon signature. Thankfully one uingpany, Blue''s Constructions (a rather simple name given the owner wasst-named Blue), took on the project along with all of Guy''s requests. Guy then contracted two otherpanies, Dream Builders (whose owner wasst-named Dream), and Brave Infrastructures (whose owner''s wife was first-named Brave) to build a proper road and logistics for sanitation and necessities respectively. Of course, thetter two were of greater importance, since having a serviceable road would augment the ease with which the building resources could be transported back and forth.

    During this time, Guy also managed to lock down the investments from Karmin and Garlin, amounting to a generous 250000 gold coins from them both, with Guy adding his own whopping 250000 gold coins to bnce their investment so that he could secure the 51% of hispany''s majority shares. Though public trading and limited liabilitypanies didn''t exist in this world, it never hurt to be careful and cover all bases. After all, business isn''t built on trust, but on benefits.

    Overall, within a hectic month, Guy managed to set the development of his Sect into motion. Hopefully, within theing three months, it would all be finished just in time for them to attend the Sr Sect Alliance Conference in the Empire''s capital to officially establish the True World Sect.

 Chapter 203 Deadly Secrets

    "Yes... this looks good," Krish muttered as he tapped at a specific location on his cottage wall. He then moved frantically to another location and did the same, "Yes... yes... good."

    He moved from one end to the other, and inspected the floor, the walls and even the ceiling by levitating above the ground at a stable height. This was what Marie observed when she entered the cottage to confer with her Master on this particr day.

    "Umm... Master?" Marie announced, expressing her bewilderment through her rising tone. "What are you doing?"

    "Setting up the ritual formation. Close the door and sit there! Don''t disturb me," he instructed as he resumed his seemingly aimless inspection.

    "What is this ritual formation about?" Marie inquired as she assumed a cross-legged, seated position on her Master''s cot.

    "It''s in preparation for our next step- Ah shit! Can you stop interrupting me?!" Krish yelped in frustration. He grumbled under his breath as he redid his previous check.

    "Why are you being so fussy? Aren''t you in the Tesseract Transformation realm? Can''t you inspect all of it at once with your mana sense or something?" Marie mocked.

    "This girl- You have no idea of the kind of powers we''re dealing with. If what we''re about to do in here gets out into the world..." Krish shuddered visibly at the thought.

    Marie squinted suspiciously at Krish and stuck out her tongue in a challenge. Krish noticed her movement and scoffed loudly, "Stop distracting me!"

    "Fine, fine..." Marie muttered as shey on her back and napped - or at least she tried to. Her curiosity wouldn''t allow her to rx just yet - it didn''t help that her Master was extremely vocal the entire time, confirming things out loud and constantly humming in contemtion. This went on for some time, pushing Marie to her breaking point until finally a satisfied, "Done!" yanked her into an upright seated stance.

    "So what is all this about? I don''t see or sense anything," Marie asked with agitation in her eyes.

    "You know, nowadays, I don''t see you the least bit worried about your cultivation," Krish redirected. "Markus and Jean both have achieved perfected resonance, the former advanced to Foundation Establishment while thetter stands at the cusp of breaking through. Do you not feel threatened or anxious at all?"

    Marie shrugged and responded casually, "Well it''s going to happen to me too, eventually, right? I am fated with The Heavenly Eye, after all."

    Krish narrowed his eyes suspiciously before releasing a mirthful snort, "I don''t know whether it is a good or bad thing that you''re starting to be more and more like me."

    Marie''s face froze in disbelief, "Damn it, I am, aren''t I? When did this happen?"

    "It''s an unfortunate side-effect of future sight, I''m afraid. When you know that things are about to happen, or have an idea that certain events will transpire, you tend to lose the motivation or urge to perform. It doesn''t help that we have to constantly live on the edge, not knowing whether our actions will modte the predetermined flow of events ande back to bite us," Krish exined.

    "Does it only get worse? I mean, if I''m like this after learning Divination which only shows me the Transients, what will happen to me after I can observe the Constants?" Marie probed worriedly.

    "You will eventually start feeling detached from others," Krish answered honestly. "You may have already noticed it happening now. While in the beginning, you had the urge to help after foreseeing negative events transpire, nowadays, you probably think twice about it. You question whether your interference is necessary or if it is better to just let them suffer through this one negative experience so that they can grow as people."

    "That''s... not good," Marie muttered.

    "Ironic that the thing that you sought to keep your family safer is causing you to feel more detached from them," Krishmented.

    "I won''t let that happen," Marie responded resolutely. "I will never- NEVER- let that happen!"

    Krish revealed a sly smirk and egged the girl further, "You don''t know-"

    "NEVER!" The cry was firm and unbending. It had the robustness of an Elder Tree capable of weathering the storms of time. Krish would havemended the girl, and felt proud even for having such a strong-headed and bold Disciple. Yet, he could not do so. How could he, when her words were literally, once again, changing the flow of fate?!

    ''Troublesome,'' he thought to himself. While he empathised with his dearest Disciple, the change she was attempting was too wild. She had no control over the waves of fate - proper control not just observing it as she was now. There would be unbound consequences to her actions, and he couldn''t let that happen. Not yet. Not while he was still alive, anyways.

    "Enough!" Krish boomed. His voice was a whisper, but it echoed across the room - he had used both the wind and the mana to propagate it. "I was only messing around with you."

    The girl''s tenacious frown softened, before mellowing outpletely. She shot a cautious look at Krish, and revealed a half-hearted smile.

    "In truth, I am a little antsy about my stagnant cultivation. There were very few references I could use to improve my cultivation without having to resort to trial and error, which I know that you expressly forbade," Marie confessed. "I guess I just trusted that you would tell me when it was my time."

    "I appreciate that our rtionship has reached that point," Krish said with a fulfilled smile. "In fact, I was waiting for the right time. I did not want to disconnect you from Guy while he was still here. He should now begin the process of securing funding and hashing out the logistics to support the True World Sect, therefore he won''t have much time to teach you anything. So, it is a perfect time for us to ramp up our progress."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What will I be learning, Master?" Marie asked as she sat up straight in preparation.

    "Prior to that, let me exin to you what I was doing as you came in," Krish answered. "Lined within the walls, in and around the cottage, is an extremely intricate ritual formation. Its purpose is to iste the space within from the world."

    "Is it some kind of noise cancetion formation?" Marie surmised.

    "Everything," Krish corrected. "Once active, we, for all intents and purposes, will be isted from the world outside."

    "Oh! So it''s like an alternate ne, a pocket dimension?" Marie hypothesised.

    "Something like that. It uses the same principles that underly the pocket dimensions dubbed inheritance grounds," Krish expounded. He then ced one palm t over another. "Prior to activation, we live in this lower dimension-" he said while waving the lower palm. "The moment the formation gets activated, the region within its boundary enters the above ne which we can refer to as an upper dimension. No sentient being can enter this upper dimension - only exit - while it remains active."

    "That sounds extremelyplicated. You lost me with this whole lower and upper analogy," Marie grumbled. "Can you repeat it again, but slower."

    "Don''t bother. It isn''t time yet for you to learn its mechanisms. Your actual purpose in entering here is to attune your body to be one with the waves of fate," Krish redirected.

    "Why is that necessary, can''t I already perform divinations by deciphering these waves?"

    "That''s all you can do for the moment - just see what''s happening. Don''t you want to be able to implement changes to the natural sequence? That is the eventual oue after bing one with the waves of fate. Sequentially, after you unify with the waves, you will work towards forming your Heavenly Eye. Once that is active, you will move one step closer to altering the waves around you without having to draw them into you," Krish continued.

    Marie nodded along attentively, "This process of attuning my body, what does it involve? Will I be ingesting potions of different kinds? Will it hurt? Will this take a lot of time?"

    Krish raised his right palm to stop the gregarious girl in her tracks, "No, maybe, yes, in that order. Before we begin-" He ejected a pulse of mana causing the atmosphere to ripple, as the ritual formation activated effortlessly.

    "I must warn you that whatever I am about to teach you can not, must not, ever, EVER-" he exhaled loudly to calm his agitation. "I cannot stress this enough, girl. What we are about to do here MUST NEVER BE PRACTISED OUTSIDE! No matter if it was unintentional, if you blurt out a single detail, even I cannot help you avert the wrath of the universe. Heck, I fear it may cause the whole of Gaea to fall into ruin spectacrly!"

    "That sounds scary, maybe we shouldn''t be doing this," Marie said apprehensively.

    "There is no other way. And no, it''s not for theck of trying," Krish denied.

    "Why is it so dangerous anyway?"

    "It''s because we will be dabbling with something that has long be extinct from this world. This means that it should not exist - it cannot exist, since its time has already passed. If we interfere with this and by some misstep cause it to resurface, it will irrevocably shift the natural sequence of events," Krish answered.

    Krish paused to let his warning sink in. He noticed his Disciple''s face cycling from anxiety to assuredness, and back again. It would be amusing were the circumstances any different.

    "The way to attune the body is by altering thews that govern it. Selected beings that are fated with the Heavenly Eye can observe the waves of fate, that much is established. But to be one with it, we have to alter the naturalws that define our biological and magical limits ced upon us. After all, nothing is more raw and close to the basis of the way this world works than fate, it shouldn''t be possible for higher-order beings such as us to be unified with it. This means that we need to bend these naturalws to our will. ording to Guy, this can be achieved through magic, which is a lie we tell the world using mana as a medium since it can interact with everything. We can formalise these lies using diagrammatic representations, such as spell circles. Guy has optimised this and created his Modr Spellmaking method. Now tell me, what is another way to formalise these ''lies'' to the world?"

    "By that, you must be referring to the ways people cast spells," Marie inferred. "If we discount spell circles, then what remains would be chanting, right?"

    "Bingo! But chanting-based spells and magics are usually predetermined. There is little advancement made in developing new spells or magics. Most efforts result in either truncating sections of older chants or shortening them. For our use, we will need to formte longer phrases, or more borate lies that are so close to the truth that it bes impossible to differentiate between them," Krish continued.

    "How would that be possible? In order to do that we will need to be proficient in Ancient Tongue. But Ancient Tongue is-" Marie halted in her tracks. Her eyes started to widen in shock as a realisation dawned upon her. "No..."

    Krish smirked at the girl''s vocalised disbelief.

    "That''s right," he confirmed. "We will be learning how to converse using Ancient Tongue."

    ____

    A/N: Marie''s training mini-arc will be a long one (around 11 chapters). More character development, Chekov''s guns, foreshadowing and other narrative devices galore in this mini-arc. This may feel slow because I''m exploring character motivation. My request is that you treat this mini-arc as a single chapter from a regr novel (not Webnovel).

 Chapter 204 Ancient Tongue

    Ancient Tongue. The history regarding its origin and source is heavily contested across multiple published texts. Some believed it to be anguage spoken by a precursor - a more magical - race that inhabited these nes. Opposers argued that if this were true, ''what led to their extinction?''

    Based on Guy''s conceptualisation of magic, one could say that Ancient Tongue is as close as anyone can get to the absolute truths of this world. No, to be more precise, Ancient Tongue IS the TRUTH. Even if what is spoken is false, it bes the truth.

    "*cough* Urrro," Marie vocalised with difficulty as shebated the pain ring down her throat.

    "Wrong," Krish said while shaking his head. "The sound has to be formed from your lungs, not with your tongue and mouth."

    "How are we even supposed to do that?" Marie whined.

    "Use your mana," Krish instructed. "Humans aren''t designed to speak the Ancient Tongue. We don''t have the organs required to create the specific sounds thatprise thisnguage."

    "Can you please repeat the sound?" Marie asked while scratching her forehead. This would be her eighth time doing so, which exasperated her to no end, but she was helpless. There were no shortcuts in this.

    "Listen carefully," Krish said without a hint of irritation or disappointment in his voice and reproduced the sound.

    The sound was guttural and reverberated with a mechanical grind. Truthfully, Marie could not put the vour of the noise her Master made into words. It both hurt her ears and soothed them at the same time.

    "How many more sounds do we need to cover?" Marie groaned.

    "Thirty-two," Krish answered. "That''s just the start. You need to then cover over fiftypound sounds, vocabry, grammar... All in all, it is an intensive process."

    Marie released a loud moan of defeat, "Why don''t you write all the sounds down and we can go through all of them at once? It seems highly inefficient to go at it one at a time."

    "There is no textual form for the Ancient Tongue," Krish replied while shaking his head. "And even if I did transcribe it using the Common Tongue for ease of understanding, it would introduce bias which will cause you to deviate from the true pronunciation of the sounds."

    This was also the reason why it was essentially impossible to derive Ancient Tongue using modern chanting-based spells as reference. The years of written transcription, reinterpretation and mispronunciation had bastardised thenguage to such as extent that the Ancient Tongue used in these chanting-based spells barely resembled its true form. It was far too detached for linguistic experts to make logical interptions and rediscover the original. Nowadays, although the chants worked and produced results, they were merely low imitations that only resembled a minute fraction of the spells'' true power.

    "So there is no alternative in this matter. And even if there were, I don''t rmend that you pursue it. Disclosing the existence of Ancient Tongue is extremely dangerous and could lead to disastrous consequences. As I''ve repeated time and time again, thisnguage was supposed to be extinct. It cannot exist! The only othernguage that is in use now which is close to Ancient Tongue is the Dwarven Language, but they have deviated to a more symbolic and prose-based form which has dissipated most of its potency."

    "You''ve met Dwarves?" Marie shot back.

    "The Age of Istion was before my time. But our ancestors were present when the nes were conjoined. In fact, there have been a few Dwarves and Elves amongst our lineage as well!"

    Marie hummed in light contemtion before shaking her head and redirecting the conversation "Be that as it may, how do you know the Ancient Tongue? By this, I mean how do we as practitioners of the Heavenly Eye know this?"

    "We''ve always known," Krish responded. "The Heavenly Eye has a rich and far-reaching lineage. Once it''s time, I will show you just how ancient it is. We were there when Ancient Tongue was the norm!"

    "But do you not see the irony?" Marie eximed. Noticing Krish''s confused frown, she coughed and expounded, "As long as someone still speaks thenguage it cannot be considered extinct. We still speak the Ancient Tongue, how could it go extinct?"

    "It just did," Krish shrugged. "I don''t know what to tell you."

    "There had to be a conscious effort from our side to let it go extinct," Marie rified. "While we still existed, we could have still taught people how to speak it, right?"

    "Of course," Krish agreed.

    "So why didn''t we interfere?" Marie emphasised.

    "We did. There were a few of us that tried to teach the Ancient Tongue to others, but the world didn''t let us," Krish revealed with a sigh.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It didn''t let you?"

    "We started to receive a bacsh from the world every time we attempted to instruct others. At first, it was only mild - a sprain here, a cut there. But over time, it started to grow more egregious - aceration, a fraction, even dismemberment. After a point, we started to catch on and realised that the world had deemed Ancient Tongue extinct," Krish finalised. "Although, we were still allowed to continue learning and propagating thenguage within our lineage."

    "That''s not right," Marie said with a disconcerted frown. "How can the world just decide when an entire culture should go extinct?"

    "It''s just anguage, Marie," Krishmented.

    "It isn''t JUST anguage, Master. It is the crystallisation of a way of life. Everything a group of people believe, how they perceive their reality, and what they find to be moral, immoral, ethical and hical can all be determined by learning these people''snguage. But now it''s just all... gone. And it isn''t even fair because there are still people who can speak it but aren''t allowed to distribute this knowledge!"

    "Fate works in mysterious ways," Krish affirmed. "No one can go against it - at least not anyone living within this world. We are just in the unfortunate position of knowing how fate is going to rear its head. Sometimes it truly is bliss to live in ignorance. But this is the burden we bear, there is no other option."

    "I guess so," Marie muttered.

    "Let''s stop wasting time and try to make some progress today, shall we?" Krish said while pping his hands to boost Marie''s motivation. "On the bright side, once you can perfectly pronounce one sound from the Ancient Tongue phonics, the others are extremely easy to grasp."

    Marie shot a dubious look before humming, "I will believe you."

    Krish rapped the back of her head and sneered back at her.

    ____

    Just like her Master indicated, grasping the first sound was the greatest hurdle. After four days of fruitless crooning, Marie finally replicated the first sound. Then came the next, which was grasped in a single day. Following that, she breezed through the predetermined thirty-two in three days. The additionalpound sounds took even less time, and she quickly found herself cruising through the grammar, semantics and vocabry of thenguage. Even she was surprised by the ease with which she assimted thenguage. It was surprisingly intuitive and flowed out of her mouth naturally. After learning newer vocabry, she could readily ce it into sentences without a hint of hesitance.

    Marie was confident that her pace could have been faster if she were allowed to practice outside the confines of her Master''s cottage. There were times when sleep evaded her, and she was tempted to hone hernguage drills, but she reluctantly held her tongue - she was rebellious but not reckless. This was assisted by the myriad of truly horrific stories her Master would tell her to caution her against any ill-advised indiscretions.

    One story to note involved a Heavenly Eye practitioner, who found their skin burning off and disintegrating. Another had their genitals twisted and subsequently exploded due to excess mana umtion - although shecked the extra ''appendages'' to empathise, she imagined that it would not feel particrly pleasant. Some of the recounted afflictions were hard to fathom and sounded downright imusible, but her Master assured her that they were all in fact true.

    On this particr day, which was exactly two weeks after she started learning the Ancient Tongue with her Master, Marie was back in her Master''s cottage in the so-called upper dimension, holding a workable conversation.

    "|Today is a pleasant day|," Marie said, and suddenly the room grew brighter as if the luding clouds in the sky had all disappeared.

    "|No, it seems that a light drizzle is just around the corner,|" the brightness dimmed as rain clouds manifested out of nothingness.

    "What does |drizzle| mean?" Marie asked.

    "A direct, and crude, trantion would be light rain. However, it has a much, much deeper meaning to it. Imagine that the surrounding temperature decreased suddenly causing the sudden formation of low-hanging clouds. A brisk wind picks up, causing these clouds to break and release their contained water like a light mist. Now that is what |drizzle| means," Krish rified.

    "That''s a lot of meaning for just one word," Marie whistled.

    "But you should be able to see just how powerful it is with the limited vocabry in your belt," Krish reminded. "The dimension we are in isn''tpletely real, but the way the world behaves and reacts to your actions are faithful to the real world. Just a short sentence caused the sky to clear up, and then make aplete one-eighty and be cloudier all within the span of a minute."

    "What will we be learning today?" Marie inquired enthusiastically. After witnessing the potency of Ancient Tongue first-hand, her earlier apprehension and disappointment had vanished altogether.

    "I think you are proficient enough," Krish dered. "It is time for us to start your transformation."

 Chapter 205 Opening The Heavenly Eye

    "I will warn you, this is not going to be a pleasant feeling," Krish reminded Marie. "We will be forcefully changing your body to amodate phenomena it should naturally be incapable of. Also, if you do not repeat the phrase exactly as I say it, the result may deviate drastically, which in turn will cause you greater difort. So, once again, repeat the phrases exactly as I say them."

    "I''m having second thoughts," Marie blurted out with a twitching smile.

    "You either do it now or at ater date," Krish reminded her.

    "I choose ater date!" Marie eximed.

    Krish snorted yfully and said, "Stop putting it off. You''re well-prepared for this."

    "Am I?" Marie responded, disying a rare instance of her vulnerability. Krish often forgot the girl was only sixteen-years-old.

    ''My goodness! We''ve only been together for a year?'' Krish shuddered upon recollecting their unfathomable progress. Even in his youth, it took him three years to reach this point, and his Master praised him as a prodigy who broke many records amongst the ancestors of the Heavenly Eye. Nheless, the tinge of jealousy that shed in his thoughts was immediately drowned by an overwhelming sense of pride. ''This is my Disciple!''

    "Nothing''s going to go wrong as long as I am with you," Krish said with a low, reassuring voice. He then revealed a sly smile and added, "Do you realise just how difficult it was for me to find a Disciple? 1000 years - it took me an entire millennium to find you. So, do you think I will just let you slip through my fingers because of something so trivial?"

    His words brought some levity and raised the wavering girl''s confidence.

    "Shall we begin?" Krish reiterated. The girl exhaled loudly to clear her indecisiveness and nodded slightly in affirmation.

    Without a moment of dalliance, Krish reactivated the formation embedded into his cottage walls and plunged himself and his Disciple into the upper dimension.

    "As you''ve seen already, the effects of Ancient Tongue are immediate," Krish prefaced. "The moment they leave your mouth, and are spoken with the right pronunciation, the world itself will bend to reflect the implications of those words. It is a powerful tool, but can also be dangerous if not properly applied."

    "Till now, we''ve primarily been working with simple, singr phrases. Sentences that stand alone and imply one thing. ''The sky is clear'', ''The wind blows northwards'', ''It is raining heavily'', to name a few examples. However, we are yet to touch upon proses that can portrayplex thoughts and ideas. These may contain a myriad of derations and assertions that can conflict with each other. For example, ''The river water flows erratically all the time. During winter, the river freezes over.'' These two sentences, to us, can be logically deciphered to imply that while the river water flows erratically on a regr day, during winter it does not as the water is frozen. Ancient Tongue is an explicitnguage, thus we need to use the correct words and syntax to imply exactly what we want. The earlier logical trap can result in conflicting assertions which in turn lead to instability."

    "Another thing you should have noticed by now is that I did not teach you the past tense in Ancient Tongue. Actually, the past tense is the only tense in Ancient Tongue that implies opinion or perspective as opposed to objective assertion. Ancient Tongue can do many things, but it cannot change the past. Even if you assert that ''the trees in the forest had all fallen over two weeks back,'' it won''t just transpire as such in the past. If tranted to Ancient Tongue, the closest alternative would be: ''It is believed that the trees in the forest had all fallen over two weeks back''. As a result, what happens is that the memories and recollections of everyone who observed or saw the forest two weeks prior will automatically be changed to reflect this assertion. When they revisit the forest at ater date and see the trees healthy and erect, they will inevitably experience a mental crisis."

    "To bring this all together, what I will have you chanting will be a series of assertions about your body, including exceptions that will negate any oveps or conflicts," Krish confirmed. "Ready?"

    "I''m ready!" Marie responded as she sat cross-legged facing her Master.

    "Repeat after me, |I am an apostle of Fate, one of the fundamental forces that drive this world.|"

    "|I am an apostle of Fate, one of the fundamental forces that drive this world.|" Marie repeated. As she did so, she started to feel a gushing heat originating from her abdomen. She ignored this development and kept her attention trained on her Master''s next words.

    "|Fate flows through me and around me, and I have the power to tap into Fate''s waves and move them to my will.|"

    Marie droned the words precisely, and she could now feel her body vibrating as a foreign pulse began to collide against her core region vehemently.

    "|In gaining the power to tap into Fate, I be transformed. I rely on my ability to interpret Fate. The Heavenly Eye shines in my eye-sockets, illuminating Fate''s far-reaching threads.|"

    A burning sensation started to assault her pupils. Her core was vibrating even more maniacally and her mana was growing increasingly agitated.

    "|I am an observer of Fate''s machinations. I exist outside its domain, though my actions are governed by its ebb and flow. My aberrance shifts the trajectory of Fate at the cost of my existence, and mypliance moves it in its current trajectory. The cost of my aberrance is exempted if I am ignorant, for my actions unforeseen by the Heavenly Eye are by definition predetermined by Fate.|"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie nearly doubled over at the stabbing pain radiating all over her body. However, she grit her teeth and held herself together - she could feel herself nearing the cusp of something great and could not afford a mistake at this stage.

    "|Now, as I gain the power to change my Fate, my Fate is forever sealed. I can now see the future of everything around me, but my future ceases to exist, for now, I am an apostle of Fate itself - a servant to its treacherous whims. I am an observer and an influencer of Fate''s trajectory. And finally, I am the bearer of the Heavenly Eye.|"

    Marie''s body was on the verge of breaking at this point. This was because her body was begging for mana, but her surroundings werepletely starved of it. Krish knew this would happen and immediately after Marie spoke the final word, he dissipated the formation and pulled them back out of the upper dimension. As the surrounding mana became replenished, it was immediately siphoned towards Marie hurriedly.

    The phenomenon known as perfected resonance manifested in her, bringing a satisfied and relieved smile to Krish''s face. He would be lying if he said he wasn''t nervous about how the procedure would turn out. Entangling oneself with Ancient Tongue was risky business - there was a reason why it was now extinct. If anyone could do anything they wanted by simply speaking their minds, imagine the chaos that would ensue!

    Krish watched as Marie indulged in the surge of power coursing through her mana channels after the previous difort vanished. He revealed a tranquil smile as the agitating mana in and around her started to settle. It was always a pleasant feeling when one''s hard work was rewarded and one grew stronger. It was even more pleasant to see one''s pupils achieve sesses - one could revel in the same uplifting emotion by proxy!

    "D-Did I just-" Marie mumbled, unable toplete her sentences due to her bubbling excitement.

    "Congrattions!" Krish answered with a proud smile. "You have achieved perfected resonance. Although it was a foregone conclusion, your pace is unprecedented within our lineage."

    As the final words left his mouth, he immediately recognised his folly. He had let an intimate detail slip in his haste.

    "Did I beat you?" Marie blurted in disbelief.

    "Let''s not get too conceited," Krish reminded as he tried to temper the girl''s overconfidence. He knew that nothing was more dangerous for a practitioner of the Heavenly Eye than their own unbridled ego.

    "Just let me have this moment," she shot back with an exaggerated, scandalous look. "So... Do I have the Heavenly Eye now?"

    Krish pursed his lips and nodded with an intense gaze. "You are burdened with its power now. That''s right, burden. Do not rely on it extensively, for doing so will make you grow dependent - addicted. But do not take what is shown to you lightly either."

    "How do I activate it?" Marie redirected.

    "Weren''t you listening?" Krish eximed with an increased pitch. "I just told you to not use it casually."

    "But I just got this power! Come on, show me. Please? Please," Marie urged eagerly.

    Krish groaned loudly and said, "Fine, but please don''t make me regret teaching you how to do it. You must ONLY use the Heavenly Eye in my presence, got it?!"

    Marie nodded hurriedly in response.

    "Pull the mana from your core towards your eyes. You should feel that they are different. The process should be intuitive from that point onwards," Krish instructed.

    His Disciple did as told and proceeded calmly. Although she was ecstatic after the recent events, she had the maturity and state of mind to not let it affect her technique. Krish kept his attention trained on his Disciple, looking out for any faults that may have remained after the forceful body restructuring session earlier. Sometimes the issue may not be evident at the time of implementation and would only show upter down the line. This was the perfect opportunity to pinpoint those issues.

    Thankfully, his Disciple''s transformation was without any w as her mana started to congregate at her eyeballs. He noticed a brazen smile splitting her face, which he rightly deciphered as her properly activating the Heavenly Eye. With a quick motion, her lids parted and two pairs of golden-coloured pupils gazed towards him.

    Marie started to cackle exuberantly and jolted her head to different ces in the room, absorbing everything her new eyes could see.

    "It works!" She shouted amidst herughter.

 Chapter 206 Through The Heavenly Eye

    Krish observed Marie, his Disciple, with a sublime smile - one that originated from the deepest recesses of his heart which had frozen over many years ago. It was in moments like these, marinating in the achievements of his Disciple, that he would remember the oft-spoken words of his own Master as he was approaching his end.

    "As practitioners of the Heavenly Eye, we have very little to look forward to in our lives. With all the power of foresight that our cultivation grants us, it takes away something very important that motivates us to look forward to the next day - hope. This was until I took on a Disciple. After you became my ward, every day presented me with new possibilities. Every time you made progress, I would immediately look forward to the new heights you would reach. Hope was brought back into my life."

    At this moment, Krish could empathise with his Master. As he observed his Disciple progress, the long-lost hopefulness was reinvigorated and his frozen heart began to thaw anew. But everything good muste to an end eventually - a pained frown formed on Krish''s face and began to deepen progressively.

    This change wasn''t missed by Marie who, although entrenched in an excited trance, was fully aware of her surroundings - especially her Master.

    "Is something wrong?" She asked casually.

    Krish inhaled deeply and said, "Not at the moment. Don''t overuse the Heavenly Eye, you don''t have enough mana to sustain it for long. I don''t want Matron Revaing after me again."

    Marie chuckled and dissipated the gold luminance from her eyes.

    "Rest well today, don''t overexert yourself. Tomorrow, I will show you how to use the Heavenly Eye in ce of Divination," Krish continued.

    "Is there a reason for that? Since Divination works well enough for me, why don''t we try something else?" Marie proposed.

    "My intention isn''t for you to drop Divination due to it bing redundant. I''ve already established that it is far safer to divine the future than to observe it directly with the Heavenly Eye. The reason why we''re starting this way is that it will help you grow familiar with the Heavenly Eye more quickly," Krish exined.

    "Off you go!" He waved as he urge the girl out of the cottage.

    As Krish observed her back jubntly bobbing up the steps, his previous frown returned once again.

    When he achieved perfected resonance, his Master told him: "Power always requires a sacrifice."

    Krish didn''t know what he meant, nor did he recognise the severity of those words. It was only muchter when he attempted to breach into the Foundation Establishment realm that he experienced just how soaked in irony magic was.

    As Al grew stronger and stronger by consuming more and more knowledge, he sacrificed the ability to innovate. The more Guy pursues the so-called "Truth" of the world, the quicker he loses his own grasp of reality.

    Just like that, the cost one must pay to gaze further into the cryptic phenomenon called "Fate" is their present. To see the future, a part of their present needs to be lost. And that is what Marie needed to experience to jump from the Mana Condensation realm into the Foundation Establishment realm and be a true mage. Krish knew this for a fact. If it were before, Krish would have forced Marie to go through with it right after her perfected resonance and pushed her into the Foundation Establishment realm - just like how his own Master did with him.

    Yet now Krish was hesitating. He did not want her to experience it - the pain. Why was that? Did his own Master feel that way about him? Krish didn''t think so since he didn''t feel any hesitance or reluctance in his Master''s actions.

    Krish hummed and entered a meditative state, as he pondered over his thoughts and actions.

    ''Why am I behaving this way?'' Why was he suddenly letting emotions dictate his decisions? Krish firmly believed that his Master had turned him into a cold, calctive mechanism like himself. If this were true, then his mind should not have wavered earlier. The fact that it did, implied that the impable mechanism waspromised - rust had taken hold.

    ''Is it undesirable?'' Krish countered. To call it rust would mean that Krish was averse to this change. The fact was, Krish did not despise his new outlook. It made him feel more alive - more involved with the world around him. He was fully aware that in doing so he had opened himself up to greater danger. The more he cared about others, the more he would feel inclined to adjust their fates. A quick nce at his deformed leg cemented that thought.

    ''Then WHY?! Why am I still not discouraged?'' This was a question he could not find the answer to with his Heavenly Eye.

    "Even after all these years, I''m still discovering new facets about myself," Krish sighed. He then copsed onto his mattress and chuckled. "Maybe this is how Master managed to live for so long. He must have unearthed parts of himself he never even knew about by interacting with me. Now that I think about it, when he passed, his character was nothing like the man who took me in as his Disciple."

    "I guess this is my path now," Krish muttered. "I must prepare for it ordingly. There has to be an alternative."

    ____

    The following day, Marie arrived at Krish''s cottage punctually. He could feel the excitement oozing out of her body even before opening the door.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Master!" She called out. "I''m here. Let''s do this!"

    "Calm down, there''s no hurry," Krish responded as he opened the door.

    "Of course, YOU would say that," Marie grumbled while entering.

    "There''s no need to be impatient. We cannot be hasty, it is not safe," Krish advised.

    "I''m patient. It''s just that I have this feeling that I''m really close, you know?" She answered. "The sooner I learn how to use the Heavenly Eye properly, the sooner I can advance to the Foundation Establishment realm."

    Krish revealed a twitching smile and redirected the discussion, "Sit in the lotus position. Follow the same method I taught you yesterday to activate the Eye."

    Marrie hummed affirmatively and closed her eye to focus on the flow of her mana. She moved it through her channels, towards her eyes and let them saturate. With a slow reveal, her eyelids separated revealing a pair of bright golden pupils.

    "What do I do now?" Marie asked.

    "Throttle the flow of mana to your eyes first. You''re expending more than is required," Krish instructed. "Decrease the flow until I say stop."

    Marie proceeded to do just that and started to lower the mana flowing through her channels. To do this, she had to control the mana released from her nascent core that was allowed to circte through her body. As she was in the Mana Condensation realm, and was yet to form a proper core, this process was much harder and required her to enter a perfectly controlled meditative state where she was aware of what transpired within her body.

    Slowly, the brightness in her eyes started to dim, although the gold wash remained present.

    "That''s sufficient," Krish reminded. "Divining with the Heavenly Eye is simr to the method we''ve worked with before. For one, you will have to state the inquiry you wish to receive the answer to, and you will need to obtain the answer from the waves of fate that are emitted and received from the world. However, the intermediate steps vary significantly."

    "A word of caution," Krish paused. "Although the results obtained from the Heavenly Eye are extremely precise and descriptive, they expend significantly more mana per use. Before, this expenditure could be justified since regr Divination was highly subjective and was equallycking in precision. However, with the method you''ve developed, I don''t think that is the case anymore. At this point, the only benefit of using the Heavenly Eye to divine the future is if the question alludes to Constant events."

    "Now clear your mind, and ask a very basic question," Krish started. "Once the question is asked, focus only on the wave that is being emitted."

    Marie sucked on the inside of her teeth as she thought over her inquiry. "When will Mister Larks return to Twilight Vige?"

    The moment the words left her mouth, so did a series of waves. Unlike earlier, Marie did not have to tune into the "frequency" of the waves of fate with her mana sense. Her eyes could ACTUALLY see them move. Without wasting another moment she turned her focus on the wave. Within seconds of doing so, she felt her vision warping. The wave started to split before her eyes. Instead of acting like a regr wave spreading outwards like before, what she saw were a multitude of silver-coloured strings that extended from her to different locations. Some of these strings were thick, others not so much. What they all had inmon were vibrations, as in they were all twitching periodically.

    "These strings are tied to potential entities, living or non-living, that may be rted to the question you''ve proposed. Each of them will indicate how these entities will influence the oue. The Heavenly Eye dposes the waves of fate automatically for you, just like how your original method does it. To decipher the response, focus on any string in front of you. The thicker they are, the greater their involvement in the oue."

    Marie followed the instructions and shifted her focus to the thickest string originating from her. At that instant, she felt her sight shifting. The world around her split into a lustrous golden cloud, that started to turn colours rapidly.

    With a flourish, her vision gained rity. At this instant, she no longer felt as though she was inhabiting a body - she felt like a disembodied head floating around. She was currently "floating" inside what looked like a luxurious carriage. It was rocking jerkily, which reminded her of the painful ride to the vige.

    "I did not expect that we would return so soon, Master," Markus'' voice hooked her attention. "It''s only been a month. I believe we still have some more work left?"

    "The builders will be arriving very soon. I need to prepare the area and finish up the ns," Mister Larks'' voice answered. Marie turned around and saw the two conversers shifting their weight between their buttocks to offset the ache brought upon by their ride.

    "Why hasn''t anyone developed some form of suspension system for these carriages!" Mister Larks eximed as his head collided against the walls of the carriage.

    And with that, the vision dissipated and Marie found herself back in the cottage with her Master. Before she could speak, though, she suddenly felt sapped of energy and copsed on her back. She hadn''t lost her consciousness yet, but she was exhausted.

    "As I said," her Master''s voice spoke up. "It is immensely taxing but equally precise."

 Chapter 207 Stalling

    Marie''s delve into the use and application of the Heavenly Eye was controlled, stringently so. She was not allowed to use it without her Master present, nor was she allowed to observe the visions corresponding to Constants in the grand tapestry of Fate. On that note, how can one differentiate between the Transients and Constants when performing Divinations?

    One of Marie''s subconscious fears was unwittingly gazing into a Constant and identally setting into motion a chain of events that led to a deviation, which would inevitablye back to bite her. However, thankfully, the Heavenly Eye made it extremely easy to identify Constants. As she gazed into the emitted waves of fate when divining the answer to a question, the wave would dpose and turn into a of silver strings extending in all directions, with thicknesses determining their relevance to her question. Amongst these silver strings, she would often find ones that were a pure and lustrous gold shade.

    Her Master had expressly warned her NOT to even nce at these gold strings to avoid identally triggering their vision. Of course, being told NOT to do something just made her want to do it more. However, Marie''s sense of self-preservation was stronger than her curiosity, hence she actively tempered her gaze. One thing she noted during her time divining with the Heavenly Eye was that there were always Constants amidst the answer to any question. Through controlled experiments with her Master, who was uncharacteristicallypliant with her requests and observed Constants on her behalf, she managed to put together a workable theory of how fate and future sight worked.

    In this world, there are infinite ways in which a single decision can shape the future. For instance, the choice between which hat to wear out of the two stored in the closet can itself change the flow of events down the line. Each of these alternate sequences can be defined as a thread extending to eternity along the time axis. Byyering the multitude of alternate sequences over each other, we obtain a bundle that defines how events will transpire across different realities extending to eternity.

    However, upon doing so, one quickly finds that the bundle is itself infinitely thick since there are an infinite number of realities due to the infinitebinations and permutations of the various choices every person across this universe is forced to make every minute- every second- of their lives. ording to Mister Larks, one particr theory defines these infinite realities as "parallel universes" that areyered on top of each other. But what is stopping these parallel universes from copsing onto each other?

    This is where the concept of Constants and Transientses in. Marie cobbled up a base theory based on a series of observations and assumptions, given her limited experience on the topic. Constants act as ties that tether the infinitely thick bundle at different points in time. Multiple Constants, spread out over different intervals across eternity ensure that the bundle never gets frayed and is always stable. In a sense, these Constants act as anchor points in time that ensure that no matter how many times the sequence is split due to the minute variations in the chain of events, it will inevitably pass through a Constant. This essentially denies the existence of parallel universes that threaten the stability of reality. It negates the possibility of someone jumping ship to another reality where they don''t have to face the consequences of their decision or action at an earlier point in time. Since the moment they do something, say something, or react in a particr way, the sequence of events is set in stone - there is no going back, only forward.

    This is also why tampering with Constants is so dangerous. In doing so, one would essentially unravel the bundle at a point in time and tie a new tether. In this process, one may lose a few of the pre-existing strings that were included in the earlier bundle which snowballs down the line.

    Marie''s practice session with her Master, in testing out Divination with the Heavenly Eye,sted for another week and a half and threatened to extend for a longer duration even after she had confirmed her satisfactory proficiency in this matter. Marie started to get this itch that her Master was purposefully stalling her progress. But for the life of her, she could not understand why. After a few more days of inactivity and monotonous practice, Marie decided to grab the bull by its horns and confronted her Master.

    "We''ll be extending the duration of the divination using the Heavenly Eye today," her Master dered right as she entered the cottage.

    "Why?" Marie shot back with a slightly confrontational tone.

    "What do you mean why?"

    "If I remember correctly, you said that using the Heavenly Eye for Divination is pointless given the efficacy and efficiency of my own method. However, contrary to that statement, we have been practising and stress-testing my ability to divine the future using the Heavenly Eye for the past few days," Marie exined. "I don''t see the point in continuing with this."

    "I-It''s to consolidate your abilities," Krish responded hurriedly.

    "Consolidate in preparation of what?" Marie retorted. "I thought the purpose of unlocking the Heavenly Eye was so that I could now observe and work with Constants. Yet you''ve explicitly forbidden me from looking into them, even though I am using my powers only under your surveince."

    Marie noticed Krish''s usually calm expression waver as he searched for a reasonable exnation. Evidently, he was failing at it, and quite miserably at that.

    "You are stalling, aren''t you Master?" Marie probed. Although she did not receive a response, she could read the meaning hidden in her Master''s silence and averted gaze.

    "Why?" Marie jabbed. "There has to be a reason for your hesitance. Is there something wrong with me?"

    "There''s nothing wrong with you!" Krish denied it vehemently. Marie was convinced of it after noticing the sincerity of the response.

    "Then? Why haven''t you allowed me to observe Constants?"

    Krish pulled his lips t and exhaled loudly through his nose. He started to weave together intricate answers to assuage the girl''s anxiety and also throw her off his trail. But when his eyes met hers, all the lies floating through his head crumbled.

    "I''m stalling because I''m stuck," he confessed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do you not know how I can advance to the Foundation Establishment realm?"

    "No, it''s because I know exactly WHAT the conditions are for you to advance that I am stalling," he corrected.

    "Master I won''t know unless you tell me," Marie said with an exasperated smile.

    "To be a true mage of the Heavenly Eye one must tamper with fate''s machinations on a permanent scale," Krish orated. "Do you understand what that means? You''ve been messing with Transients all this while, but you must be aware that your actions did little to shift the dominoes in any way. To truly manifest asting change you need to target the events which keep our reality stable."

    "So you''re saying that the condition required for me to step into the Foundation Establishment realm is to alter a Constant?" Marie rified, to which she received a morose nod from her Master.

    "That''s... unfortunate," she muttered.

    "Exactly. All this time, I''ve been wracking my brain toe up with an alternative. I don''t want you to have to suffer through the pain of losing a part of yourself, Marie," Krish reasoned. "The only solution I''ve found till now, which might work, is if I can redirect the bacsh targeting you to me instead."

    "Why would you do that?" Marie blurted out.

    "You''re my Disciple, Marie. This is my duty as your Master," he responded.

    "Did your Master do it for you?" She retaliated. The response was another ufortable bout of silence. "I take it that they didn''t."

    "Forget about what my Master did or did not do," Krish said while waving his hands. "This is a matter between the two of us. If you can wait for a few more days, I can perfect the transference process, and we can proceed with your advancement."

    "Why do you assume that I''ll just let you do that to yourself?" Marie challenged.

    "Marie-"

    "No! If you''re averse to me suffering from the Universe''s bacsh, why do you assume I would be willing to let you suffer through the same?" Marie interrupted.

    "You have so much left in your life," Krish exined. "You''re young, hopeful and bright - you are bound to achieve great things! Why would you want to cripple yourself in some way so early? On the other hand, I''m spent. All I need right now is to be able to live to see you reach great heights. I can afford to lose a finger or two at this point."

    Marie was floored by her Master''s unfiltered sincerity and heartfelt words. She never thought that such a cynical man would have such selfless sentiments. Her mouth bobbed up and down like a fish as she tried to respond, yet her brain failed to form any corrigible words or phrases. As she looked into her Master''s eyes, she could see a bloom of warmth that she had only seen in Matron Reva''s and Mister Larks'' gaze. The feeling was overwhelming and smothered her with giddiness. Those emotions ran rampant around her mind and heart, searching for an avenue for escape. After a hurried search, they found an exit and surged out with gusto. Unfortunately, the exit happened to be Marie''s tear ducts.

    Marie covered her face and ran out of her Master''s cottage without saying a word. Just like that, she rushed up the steps leading to the orphanage while trying her utter best to suppress the whimpers eking through the gaps of her fingers.

    Back at the orphanage, Krish observed Marie''s behaviour using his mana sense and released a difficult breath. He then chuckled dryly as he realised how his thought process had shifted within a single year. He couldn''t recollect thest time he felt so magnanimous in his life. He''d dropped that emotion the day the Universe took his leg. What surprised him was the shift in his circumstances, more specifically his thoughts on the matter. Back then, he was reluctant to lose a part of his body in trying to help others yet now, he was willing to sacrifice his body for another.

    "I can''t say if this is a good thing or a bad thing," Krish said with a bitter smile. "But all I know for sure is that I don''t feel bad about it. Which scares me..."

 Chapter 208 Divining The Fate Of Schr?dingers Cat

    Following the confrontation between Disciple and Master, a drastic shift in dynamic had transpired within the cottage - Marie had now taken charge of the matter of her own advancement.

    "Let''s break it down all the way to the basics," Mariemanded.

    "This isn''t necessary-"

    Marie shot back with a stern re that caused Krish to choke on his words. He could see that she wouldn''t budge on this issue, not one bit.

    "How do you mean?" Krish acquiesced with a sigh.

    "Let me get this straight - correct me if I''m wrong," Marie prefaced. "In order to advance into Foundation Establishment, do I need to alter a Constant event or experience the bacsh from the Universe?"

    Krish frowned contemtively and asked, "Is there a difference?"

    "Definitely!" Marie affirmed.

    "How so? To my knowledge, altering a Constant elicits a bacsh from the Universe. The two events are tied together," Krish rebutted.

    Marie shook her head vehemently and stated her point, "I''ve been thinking about it a lot after I left yesterday. I remember learning something interesting during a lesson with Mister Larks. When it starts to rain heavily, with heavy storm clouds blotting the skies, you often observe lightning cracking frequently. What follows the sh of lightning is a loud boom of thunder. Kids who do not know what those two are, can often make a false connection and presume that since thunder follows lightning every time, therefore thunder is caused by lightning. Do you believe that statement to be true?"

    Krish shook his head lightly and said, "That''s false. Thunder and lightning both ur simultaneously. They are a result of a singr event."

    Marie snapped her finger and emphasised, "That''s it! You see, what we have here is amon logical facybelled |post hoc ergo propter hoc|."

    "What is that?" Krish blurted out.

    "Umm... Mister Larks said that it means ''after this, therefore because of this,'' in Latin," Marie responded while scratching her head.

    "Latin?"

    "Mister Larks said that it''s a deadnguage..."

    Krish narrowed his eyes andmented, "I''ve never heard of such anguage before."

    Marie clicked her tongue in annoyance and said, "Does that matter right now? Please don''t distract me, Master."

    Krish chuckled at his Disciple''s stern warning and raised his hands in defeat.

    "Basically, the phrase means that since event A urred, then event B urred, A is caused by B. Another example is that since the sun rises after a rooster crows, therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise."

    "That''s obviously incorrect," Krish confirmed.

    "That''s exactly my point. ording to Mister Larks, almost everyone can fall victim to this facy if they do not maintain a healthy sense of criticism about what they see and observe every day. This is also a result of the poor transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next. Master, why do you believe that process of altering Constants and suffering a bacsh has a cause-effect rtionship? Is it because you have personally experimented with and evaluated the two phenomena or is it because you took what your Master taught you and went along with it?"

    Krish hummed as he reflected on his beliefs. As he formted an answer to his Disciple''s question, his eyes started to widen in shock.

    "Are you saying that the Universe''s bacsh has nothing to do with altering a Constant?" Krish asked with an excited glint in his eyes.

    "I don''t know," Marie shrugged. "I haven''t even observed a Constant with the Heavenly Eye, I cannot give you an answer to that question."

    Although his tion was deted, Krish was quick to grasp the implication of Marie''s proposition. "If we can determine whether they hold a cause-effect rtionship or not, we can then iste the true condition needed to advance into the Foundation Establishment realm. Am I right?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    But then, Krish furrowed his brows and added, "How do we even prove this? In order to affect a Constant, we need to first identify it. However, to identify it, we need to utilise the Heavenly Eye. It''s a circr trap..."

    "I considered that logical trap as well!" Marie responded animatedly. "I arrived at that same conclusion. But then, I took a few steps back and observed the problem from afar, which in turn helped me remember something."

    "One day, when I was chatting with Mister Larks, and he introduced a thought experiment called ''Schr?dinger''s cat''."

    "Who''s Schr?dinger?" Krish interjected.

    "I don''t know," She shook her head and emphasised, "That''s not the point. The thought experiment was used to describe the behaviour of subatomic particles. In it, a hypothetical was defined where a cat is ced inside a box with a hammer hanging over a ss sk of toxic poison. At some point in time, the hammer falls and breaks the poison sh which causes the liquid to vaporise and kill the cat. We, the observers standing outside the box, do not know when this hammer will fall. Therefore to us, the cat is both alive and dead until the box is opened."

    "Can''t you just use your mana sense to observe inside?" Krish proposed.

    "That is the argument this experiment aims to address. If we don''t use our senses to look inside, the cat''s fate remains indeterminate. This thought experiment caused me to revisit the time of my transformation - when I achieved perfected resonance."

    She then leaned forward and whispered, "Can we enter the upper dimension?"

    Krish entertained his Disciple''s request and activated the formation lined in his cottage walls. With a recognisable ripple, they were disced and brought into the mysterious and isted upper dimension.

    Marie cleared her throat and said, "|I am an observer of Fate. I exist outside its domain, though my actions are governed by its ebb and flow. My aberrance shifts the trajectory of Fate at the cost of my existence, and mypliance moves it in its current trajectory. The cost of my aberrance is exempted if I am ignorant, for my actions unforeseen by the Heavenly Eye are by definition predetermined by Fate.|"

    Krish tilted his head and said, "That''s a part of what you had to say during your transformation."

    "Although my grasp of the vocabry and grammar in Ancient Tongue isn''t anything to brag about, I managed to trante a segment of it through context clues. |The cost of my aberrance is exempted if I am ignorant, for my actions unforeseen by the Heavenly Eye are by definition predetermined by Fate.|"

    "Within the verses spoken to activate my transformation, I noticed that we target the Heavenly Eye as the conduit that observes fate. In the above line, we are exempted from retribution if we are ignorant. And we are considered to be ignorant if we do not see the future through the Heavenly Eye. Therefore, if we do see the future - by that I am obviously referring to the Constants - without using the Heavenly Eye and then manage to change it, the shift is by definition ''predetermined'' by fate and is exempt from retribution."

    Krish raised a finger and countered, "But if the alteration is predetermined by fate, it isn''t really changing anything, right?"

    "Not if the one performing the alteration is an ''apostle of Fate''," Marie reminded. "|I can now see the future of everything around me, but my future ceases to exist|. I am no longer bound by fate''s sequence. You shouldn''t be able to see my future using your Heavenly Eye anymore."

    "Smart girl!" Krish praised while sporting a proud smile.

    "What we need now, is a way to determine whether the cat in the box is dead or alive without opening the box or using any of our senses to gaze inside. To trante that metaphor, we need to determine a strategy to divine Constants without the Heavenly Eye," Marie concluded.

    "That''s easier said than done," Krish sighed. "The Heavenly Eye has been around for many, many millennia. If there WAS a way around it, it would have been discovered."

    "Master," Marie grunted exasperatedly. "I''d appreciate a little more faith in my abilities."

    Krish smile apologetically and said, "Force of habit, I apologise. Now that I think about it, you might be the first one to make these connections and truly deconstruct the logic underlying our cultivation method. I''m sure you''ll seed in finding the solution!"

    Those weren''t empty words. Krish really did hold a glimmer of hope that his Disciple might achieve something great - something unheard of and unattempted throughout the Heavenly Eye''s lineage. He knew for a fact that every one of his predecessors was quick to assume their Master''s words as the absolute truth - even Krish fell victim to this frame of mind. Marie may be the first of their line to ever question what she was being taught, and properly critique the purpose, value and applicability of the knowledge she was being presented.

    "I''ll definitely figure it out!" Marie promised. "Until I do that, I don''t want to hear anything about you sacrificing body parts for my sake," she then warned.

    "Just as you''re responsible for me, I am responsible for you," she muttered with an embarrassed frown. "I don''t wish to lose you in any way. Not yet at least, and definitely not for something so trivial as this!"

    Krish gazed appreciatively at his Disciple as a pleasant warmth washed over him. ''Is this what it feels like to have someone care for you?''

    "I promise I won''t do anything stupid, my dear Disciple," Krish affirmed with a light-hearted and mirthfulugh. "I''ll wait patiently till you''ve finalised your decision."

 Chapter 209 Contesting The Ancestors

    Some things are easier said than done. Giving a cat a bath. Getting over a tragic breakup. Not overthinking situations. Amongst that exhaustive list of items, Marie was prepared to add another, which wasing up with an alternative to using the Heavenly Eye. It had been a good few weeks since she''d dered to her Master that she would find a way to bypass the Heavenly Eye and observe Constants. Yet, till now, she had made little to no progress on that front.

    For one, the field of research was extremely restrictive. The only people she could refer to, and the only references she could ess were by those who themselves were practitioners of the Heavenly Eye. And since at any point in time only two practitioners can exist, she could only confer with her Master and with the extremely scarce stack of books he carried with him that were written by the practitioners before him. This brought on the second reason: Marie found out that research and advancement in the Heavenly Eye had stagnated three generations ago. One could only assume that her predecessors thought this was as far as they could take this cultivation method.

    This discouraged and demotivated Marie for two reasons. One, she had very few people to discuss, debate and bounce her ideas off. Marie was someone who thrived when there was an open conversation about a topic. She liked to float her ideas in a forum, and gain a wide range of opinions before cementing her own which she would then take to her grave until sufficient evidence to refute it was brought to light. The nature of her cultivation method made it so that there was no forum for her to discuss with, and everyone who practised it happened to be of one mind. Secondly, her excitement dimmed knowing that the people she needed to contend with had far greater experience in both the cultivation method and in life.

    Every practitioner of the Heavenly Eye had lived for at least a thousand years, some even longer. During their lives, they must have travelled across the- multiples before the Age of Istion. From those travels, they would have assimted a plethora of knowledge which would further widen their own understanding of the world. What Marie was doing at the moment was pitting her measly fifteen years of experience, of which the first five were barely a blur, against that of her ancestors who each had a hundred times her living experience. Even thinking it made her feel stupid. Those before her must have already walked down her line of reasoning. They must have already spent years trying to unravel the mysteries of the Heavenly Eye to find safe alternatives. But seeing as none of their sessful exploits was recorded in the collection Master carried with him, it could be inferred that everyone must have failed.

    "It''s universally epted that no poweres for free," her Master reminded her a week back. "I''ve told this to you many times before. In gaining unimaginable power and abilities, one must sacrifice something in the process. Most, if not all mages havee to ept that fact. The practitioners of the Heavenly Eye have also epted this. After running innumerable cost-benefit analyses on the cultivation path, the cost of losing a small part of their body for benefit of gaining the power to observe fate in all its forms was deemed profitable in the grand scheme of things. In fact, we reached this point after years and years of research, trials and errors. This was epted as the best course of action for many generations."

    "There has to be another way," Marie reaffirmed, although her stubbornness was waning.

    "To want everything without giving anything is just being greedy," her Master reprimanded. "Although I respect and appreciate your need to protect me, I don''t want you to walk down this path if it is consuming you. Greed often leads you down a self-destructive path where you perceive to lose nothing when in fact you''re sacrificing everything else that matters to you."

    "What I want is for everyone to be safe, all this power is secondary," Marie refuted. "If the people I care about have to bear the sacrifice for my gains, then the power gained isn''t worthwhile."

    "In fact, I don''t need the Heavenly Eye; I will settle for something lesser," she dered then. But to date, she has yet to make any headway in finding this alternative. At this moment, she was willing to give up. Seconds counted down as her mind ran the numbers - Marie was stubborn but not irrational. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

    "MARIE! MARIE!" Dora''s excited voice interrupted Marie''sputations. "Teacher Larks- I mean Mister Larks has returned!"

    The little girl was bouncing with overflowing emotions, something which her twin brother shared in a more muted sense given his introverted character.

    "Has it been a month already?" Marie muttered out loud. It had not...

    "Come, let''s go!" Dora urged by pulling Marie''s hand. With an acquiescing smile, the older girlplied and allowed herself to be guided by the little rabbit.

    Marie had foreseen this event through her Heavenly Eye. It was supposed to happen in another week''s time, yet the event was preempted. It was Transient, such deviations were expected, but Marie didn''t do anything out of the ordinary that could have resulted in this change. With a slight furrow, Marie stepped to the side and muttered, "Were you responsible for Mister Larks'' early return?"

    She knew that her Master had his attention on her at all times during the day. It was pervasive but understandable. True to her assumption, a positive response resounded in her mind. Voice transmission.

    "I could see you struggling," her Master''s voice added. "I thought that maybe Guy might offer you some change in perspective."

    Marie felt warmth bubbling inside her. "H-How did you do it? You never left the vige..."

    "That''s a secret forter. You will learn to do it yourself in due time," his voice answered. She could hear a mirthful chuckle underlying the response.

    Marie met up with Mister Larks and Markus outside the orphanage. Mister Larks was carrying Dora and Kano on each of his shoulders and blowing into their tummy eliciting a tickledugh from them. Markus was carrying a few bags, with little difficulty. Her gaze then moved past them, and she noticed a hefty figure lumbering up the stairs with heavy breaths.

    "Who''s this?" Marie inquired Markus.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "This is my friend, Furion," Markus answered. "His father owns Dune Caravan Management. He''ll be with us over the Summer break."

    Marie''s eyes burst out of her sockets in shock, "THE Dune Caravan Management? You''re joking!"

    During her time working with different trading caravans, Marie had stumbled upon Dune many times. She never got an opportunity to work for them given their extremely thorough vetting process, but they had a ster record of delivery and customer satisfaction in the industry. To hear that her brother was acquainted with the heir to thepany came as a world-shattering surprise. What astounded her further was that she didn''t see this boy in her earlier vision - probably a result of her Master''s tampering with the event.

    "Furion here will assist in managing the Verum Trading Company I was talking about," Mister Larks rified. "As a Sect Leader, it will be difficult for me to split my time between managing the Sect and managing thepany, so I''m training Furion here to handle the business side of things. He''s extremely capable, he even managed to snag us a few pre-orders of the Gutenberg Press!"

    The boy called Furion revealed a proud smile between his wheezes at Mister Larks'' praise. "I... try..."

    "He''s being modest," Mister Larks added. "I gave you a difficult task in the first ce. Chances of seeding were slim, yet you managed, which ismendable! Just remember the process and don''t getcent"

    "It was all coincidental," the boy responded. "All the scribes employed by the publisher got snatched by a rival at the exact moment I arrived. The only reason he was so amiable to the purchase was that he was desperate and didn''t have enough time to think things through."

    "That really is a coincidence," Marie hummed as she narrowed her gaze. Her Master yed his hand magnificently. It may be a bit heavy-handed in his approach, but it was effective.

    "Nheless, a sess is a sess," Mister Larks repeated. "Let''s not waste any more time here and go in. Furion, you may have to bunk with Markus for the time being. He will guide you around the orphanage. Please be mindful of the people living here."

    And with that, the group split up. Mister Larks carried the twins into the orphanage while Markus took his friend around the area. Marie chose to follow Mister Larks.

    ____

    Marie had something in her mind. Guy could feel it, not just because the girl had been tailing him for a good hour, but also because there was this constipated expression on her face the entire time. So, after greeting Grace and the others of his return, he led the girl to his room.

    "So, what''s eating you? I wanted to wait until tomorrow after I''ve had a good rest, but it looks like you won''t be able tost that long," Guy chuckled.

    But then, like the opening of a great flood gate, Marie''s lips parted and a jumble of words gushed out. Guy lost track immediately and so he waited till the girl exhausted herself, which took half an hour.

    "That was a lot," Guy said with a bitter smile. "I don''t think I followed after your first sentence. You might have to take me through your problem once again."

    Marie released a long exhale and said, "I apologise. It''s not right to dump my problems on you like this."

    "It''s not an issue at all. I appreciate that you''vee to me with your concerns," Guy refuted immediately. "If I may, why don''t you take this day to settle your agitation and structure your inquiry more properly? Come back to me tomorrow and we will continue where we left off."

    The girl nodded and bid Guy farewell for the day. Guy observed her troubled figure retreat and sighed in satisfaction. He did not enjoy the trip in the slightest. Business management was not his cup of tea at all. This! Teaching and guiding students are what he lived for.

    "It''s good to be back. Might as well enjoy the peace while itsts."

 Chapter 210 Alternative To The Heavenly Eye

    Although Guy enjoyed indulging his student''s requests and teaching, he recognised the disrespect in the act of intruding into a Master''s territory and guiding their Disciple. Although this wasn''t his first time aiding Marie in her cultivation, he didn''t want this to be a regr event. After all, it was a bad sign if the Disciple of another approached him with all of her cultivation hang-ups. Therefore, the first thing he did after waking up was to approach Krish''s cottage and get his permission.

    However, before he could take a step out of the orphanage, the answer he sought was delivered directly into his head. "You can go ahead and ease her troubles."

    It was Krish''s voice through transmission. Since Guy didn''t have the same range, he had to speak out loud to seemingly no one in particr, like a madman.

    "I don''t know how to do it though. Again, I am not informed about the Heavenly Eye in any way whatsoever. Furthermore, I am aware that revealing any sensitive information can result in cmitous consequences. Are you sure that you want me to get involved in this?" Guy asked

    "I trust Marie to differentiate between the knowledge that can and cannot be shared. She is a cautious and mature girl. She is just stuck right now and needs some guidance to nudge her in a direction that can yield some form of result. It doesn''t have to be sessful, as long as she feels like she has achieved something meaningful."

    Guy hummed in contemtion and inquired, "What exactly is she trying to do?"

    "I will leave her to answer that question. You should prepare yourself, she is approaching you... Now!"

    "Mister Larks!" Marie greeted from behind him.

    "Marie, good morning."

    "I don''t know if it''s good just yet," Marie snorted. "Can we continue where we left off yesterday?"

    "I was waiting for you, after all," Guy said with a smile.

    Guy ushered Marie into the ssroom and urged her to exin her trouble coherently while utilising the ckboard to augment her retelling. He recollected from yesterday that there were multiple moving parts and details that were important which sort of rushed past him. And by the time Marie finished presenting her piece, two ckboards had been filled up with intricate diagrams, key phrases, propositions, hypotheses and rogue thoughts.

    "That''s where I''m stuck," Marie said with a defeated sigh. "I have no idea where to go with this. There is literally nothing I can do here!"

    Marie''s shoulder drooped with visible exhaustion, but it immediately perked up as her gaze gained a bright shimmer. She looked eagerly toward Guy. To her, Guy was akin to a great big bird who would swoop down and save her whenever she was stuck. Her tendency to rely on Guy had grown marginally within thest year, which was a good sign. It indicated that Marie was slowly letting go of the metaphorical weights that bore down on her shoulders. But it also put Guy in a difficult position, since he felt more and more pressured with each problem of hers as they grew inplexity. Maybe this was how parents felt as their kids grew older and the world moved forward while leaving them behind. Sometimes, Guy just didn''t know what to do... If this were any other student of his, he would easily just tell them that he didn''t know and guide them through possible research avenues. But when facing Marie''s worshipping and admiring gaze, Guy just couldn''t vocalise his ineptitude.

    Guy scratched his chin as he scrambled for a feasible starting point - any detail he could grasp and possible build upon.

    "Just to confirm, as long as your observation of these ''Constants'' is not through your Heavenly Eye, you will be safe? Have you confirmed that im?"

    "We have reason to believe so. I mean, there hasn''t been a set precedent, but circumstances suggest that it may be the case," Marie reaffirmed. Guy could see that she was holding back some details, but he could figure out that they may be secrets rted to her cultivation method.

    "Have you considered how other cultivators specialising in divination and future sight tune their powers?" Guy inquired.

    "No I haven''t," Marie answered with some uncertainty.

    "Why is that? You were struggling to find resources. Well, what about them?"

    "They aren''t as urate as the Heavenly Eye," Marie argued.

    "But they work, don''t they?" Guy argued back. "Even if the margin of error with them is greater, they offer a solution - something you sorely need."

    Marie''s lips parted as she failed toe up with a response. In truth, this idea did pass her mind before but she didn''t go through with it because-

    "Arrogance," Guy dered. "Every piece of knowledge which is sufficiently substantiated has truth to it."

    "You''re right," Marie epted with a defeated smile. "I was being conceited."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Your Master is probably to me," Guy blurted out, only to receive a sarcastic scoff directly transmitted into his head. He bit his tongue apologetically. "The people you worry aboutpeting against - those that have lived for millennia each - they are all cut from the same cloth. They have the same prejudices and biases. The arrogance that was building up inside you probably umted inside them as well. What you have in those records your Master showed you is an echo chamber in written format. Everyone is just epting and repeating what others have written before them."

    Guy leaned forward and said, "The first step to solving the puzzle in front of you is, like always, umting more perspectives even if it isn''t optimal. Since I have a week or so of free time before the builders get here, we shall conduct the research work together."

    Marie nodded appreciatively, but then her gaze mellowed, "I don''t think Master has any cultivation manuals of other divination or farsight-based cultivation paths."

    To that, Guy revealed a proud smirk and said, "That''s not an issue. I remember reading through a bunch of them back in the Academy. I just have to transcribe them."

    "You remember them by heart?" Marie eximed in shock.

    Guy tapped the side of his head and spoke mysteriously, "My head is a steel trap, once I read a book I never forget it. There is literally a Repository of Knowledge in there."

    ____

    Guy was never a fan of the myriad of cultivation manuals catching metaphorical dust in his Repository of Knowledge. Not only were they remnants of an unpleasant past of his aftering to this world as evidence of his failure, but they were also a massive headache to decipher. Cultivation manuals had a penchant for dramatics and tended to obscure the teachings with cryptic and often unintelligible drivel - in Guy''s point of view. However, he was pleasantly surprised to see Marie sharing his opinion though for apletely different reason.

    "There aren''t any evidence or theories to back it up. Are we just supposed to believe them as is - take them for their word?" She argued as she mmed the manual onto the desk with an annoyed huff. For the past three days, Guy and Marie had gone through the cultivation manuals pertaining to divination and future sight from both Guy''s repository of knowledge and from a quick scouring of Krish''s and Al''s personal libraries. There was a substantial amount to go through, but with a division ofbour, things progressed smoothly... in the beginning. After the first two manuals, both Guy and Marie started to exhibit outward irritation over their contents.

    "Since you have a Master to train you and indulge in your inquiries, you have it easy. Back at the Academy, you had to make do with these manuals," Guy exined. "The main reason why most students fail to advance in the Academy is BECAUSE they cannot decipher this garbage, and no one really goes out of their way to help unless the student shows some promise."

    "Markus must have had it tough, uh?" Mariemented, to which Guy affirmed with a hum.

    "That''s it, I can''t take this anymore," Marie dered while throwing her hands in the air. "They''re all the same. They just move words around, use alternate phrasing, y with semantics and vocabry..."

    "How are they the same?" Guy targeted. "Be more analytical."

    "Well, they all revolve around the motion or organisation of inter- or extrary bodies," Marie exined. She then spread her hands between two distinct stacks of books next to her and added, "This stack of manuals focuses on constetion arrangements, star clusters and so on, while this stack focuses on theary bodies within our sr system."

    "Now since we know for a fact that these cultivation methods are effective and CAN be used for future sight, our goal is to determine how and why, and the bridge the gap between them and the Heavenly Eye," Guyid out.

    "If I approach the reasoning from the other way: the Heavenly Eye directly gazes at the waves of fate, which is a fundamentalw that governs the world. Waves of fate affect everything in and around us," Marie started.

    She then cradled her chin on her hand and hummed loudly while her mind ran through hypotheses. After an audible fifteen minutes, she opened her mouth and orated steadily, "The Heavenly Eye can gaze directly into the waves of fate, however, those not practising it cannot do so. In order to make up for this disadvantage, the contemporary seers utilise the behaviour of massive bodies as indicators. This is because thes hold a greater influence in the grand scheme of things."

    "borate," Guy urged.

    "Well, if you perform an action, the magnitude of the wave is negligiblepared to if a suddenly shifts its orbital trajectory. Your singr action may not createrge ripples in fate''s machinations, but aary-sized change might!" Marie spoke with vigour and her eyes started to sparkle. She was nearing a conclusion and she was getting agitated at that prospect.

    "So, there you have it," Guy beat her to the punch. "Your solution to the alternative to the Heavenly Eye."

    "But will it be effective?" Marie muttered out loud.

    "Not quite," a voice answered. A series of measured cks of wood against the ground followed as it approached their position. Marie immediately recognised her Master''s voice and readied a seat for him in anticipation.

    "The books in front of you are evidence of the fact that they aren''t as urate as the Heavenly Eye is deciphering the future. I don''t believe it will be possible," Krish said with an unsure frown as he entered the ssroom.

 Chapter 211 Deterministic Chaos

    Marie narrowed her eyes and gave her Master an affronted look.

    "Why are you doing this, Master?" She blurted out exasperatedly.

    "Doing what?"

    ? Marie pointed downwards aggressively and then waved her hands around her as she repeated, "This! A week. I spent an entire weeking up with a solution, even an inkling of it, and finally gained some headway. But then you stumble along and just p it away?"

    "I''m just trying to help..." Krish muttered. "Isn''t it better to not have to go through a pointless path that leads to a dead end?"

    Unbridled rage shed across Marie''s eyes, which started to radiate outwards, "How do you know it will be a dead end? Have you tried exploring it?"

    "Well not personally," Krish shrugged. "My Master''s Master did, though. I heard from my Master that it was a wasted effort. His Master spent five years trying to find a viable connection between the contemporary seer arts and the Heavenly Eye."

    "So it''s hearsay?" Marie reiterated.

    "It''s not hearsay," her Master said with a stern retort. "I heard it from my Master, who learned from his."

    "Yet there are no written records of this experiment," Marie pointed out. "What were the testing criteria, and what was the methodology? Without answering these questions, and evaluating the evidence, how can I just trust this im?"

    "I am your Master," Krish warned.

    "And I am your Disciple, you should know the kind of person I am," Marie shot back with equal ferocity. "And here I thought we were getting closer," she muttered disappointedly.

    Krish sighed audibly and inquired, "I was only trying to help. I just..."

    In truth, Krish was feeling left out. For the past few weeks, due to Guy''s absence, he got to spend more time with his Disciple and perform his duties as a Master more extensively. He even got the opportunity to teach his Disciple some spells and magical theory. Although he was the one who preempted Guy''s trip for his student''s sake, he felt a little jealous after observing the two working together so cohesively. He could see that the two shared the same wavelength, something he''d been trying to achieve with his Disciple through an excruciating amount of effort. Now that he thought about it, Guy had this uncanny ability to connect with any child he taught. The man could shift his approach like a chameleon - it was a skill Krish sorely desired nowadays.

    "This isn''t helping," Marie responded solemnly, noticing the drop in her Master''s expression. She wasn''t an expert in reading bodynguage and intent, but she could at least glean that her Master''s current demeanour had more to do with himself than with her. He was being petty,pletely unlike himself.

    "Besides," Marie added. "It''s decided! Even if your Master''s Master failed, I won''t. I will MAKE SURE that I seed, even if it is thest thing I do."

    "But how?" Krish asked.

    "We''ll find a way," she answered. "We managed toe this far, let''s see how much further we can go."

    With that said, Marie skipped toward the ckboards and started to jot down hypotheses as they popped into her head. Her mind was whirring constantly, forming connections and disconnecting pointless avenues at inhuman speeds. At a point, her hands could not keep up with her thoughts, and they started to visibly stutter in ce.

    As Marie worked on the boards, Krish approached Guy and asked with a low whisper, "How do you do it?"

    "Do what?" Was Guy''s knee-jerk response as he remained distracted by the convoluted mess being manifested on the board.

    "Mesh with her so easily? I am yet to observe a single adversarial interaction between you and Marie. In fact, I am yet to observe such an interaction between you and ANY of your students," Krish inquired with a hesitating and ashamed tone.

    "The answer is right in front of you," Guy pointed out. "Marie is driven and intelligent when approaching topics she is informed about, and she is humble and deferring when ites to topics she isn''t so knowledgeable about. All you need to do is show her a path, and she will explore it to its entirety. What you did earlier was ce a blockage in her path. In doing so, you intruded into her natural process and pushed her to do the exact opposite - since it is in her nature to be a contrarian."

    "Okay, I''m stuck again," Marie dered as she stepped back with a pensive look.

    Guy mouthed, ''See what I mean?'' to Krish as he approached his struggling student. "Where''s the issue now?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It all feels like a cohesive system," Mariemented. "The other cultivation methods use astrological positions as some sort of initial conditions that can be used to predict the state of the system in the future. However, what if there is an error in the initial state estimate? Is this why the other methods are inurate?"

    As Guy absorbed Marie''s words, an idea started to bloom in his mind. The whole exnation and her diagrammatic representation on the ckboard started to tug at a long forgotten memory of his from his past life. He''d read of something like this before.

    "Chaos theory..." Guy muttered. Although it wasn''t explicitly stated on the board, Guy could make the connection to it.

    "What''s that?" Marie asked with an intrigued expression.

    Guy''s smile twitched. He knew what it was, or had a recollection of an example of chaos theory, but he could not formalise it with a definition - at least not with a definition Marie would be satisfied with. After pausing to think, Guy decided to make use of a resource essible to him. "I believe it will be easier to just show you what I mean."

    Marie''s eyes shone with a cognisant lustre, and she nodded affirmatively. Krish could read between the line and immediately knew that Guy was about to perform his brand of |Soul Imprint|. He frowned bitterly since he could not follow his Disciple in her adventure.

    For the other two, entering the Church was a familiar and trivial task. Guy had perfected it through repeated use and Marie had got used to the disorienting sensation that deposited her into the ethereal chapel. With another set of practised motions, Guy brought forth the void-ck screen hovering in front of the alter and pulled Marie''s consciousness into it.

    Guy followed a minimalistic approach this time, opting for a simple cubed room with white all around. Without distracting details assaulting the senses, Guy could immerse Marie in what he was about to show. With a snap of his fingers, a rope dropped from the ceiling and a heavy circr mass attached itself at the free end - it was a simple pendulum.

    "You should have seen a pendulum before, yed around with it even. When you disce the pendulum''s mass - the bob - from its rest position by a little and then release it, you can observe a familiar reaction of it osciting. If we were to plot the pendulum''s discement from the centre, we receive a waveform with is a simple sinusoid," as Guy narrated, a moving graph appeared to his side with a ck line snaking up and down, above and below the time-axis as the pendulum oscited back and forth.

    "Note that no matter where you release it from," Guy exined as he stopped the pendulum and raised it to a slightly higher starting point, "the resulting behaviour of the pendulum is predictable, as you can see a simrly shaped graph forming."

    "This is a property of linear systems. As long as this pendulum''s initial discement angle isn''t too egregious, the resulting behaviour is predictable."

    Guy then snapped his fingers and caused another rope and bob to attach itself to the existing bob, "This is a double pendulum. I have tightened the strings so that they neitherpress nor extend - they can be likened to rods. This is a nonlinear system."

    Guy pulled back the lower pendulum and released it. "This time, we will plot the discement of the lower bob only. Observe its irregr behaviour. A nonlinear system is one where the change in output is not proportional to the change of its input. That is, if I disce the lower bob by a little, and if it were a linear system, I should expect a proportional increase in the magnitude of the outputs, however, that isn''t the case as seen in this graph."

    On the graph in question, wild peaks and troughs were forming in seemingly random shapes. "Now you would think that nonlinear systems are unpredictable, but that is not true since I am graphing it for you here. As long as the model of the system is known, we can plot the behaviour of the nonlinear system like a linear one. The key difference that I want to point out here is as follows."

    Guy pped his hands and pulled them outwards. In doing so, the double pendulums multiplied; there were now ten identical double pendulums hanging off of the ceiling.

    "I am now going to pull the lower bob back by the same amount for all ten, however before releasing them, I am going to slightly - by a negligible amount - change their discement," as he finished, Guy released all the bobs together.

    "Nonlinear systems are chaotic, but also predictable. They are predictable as mentioned before as long as we know their model. They are chaotic because just gleaning at their present behaviour through observation does not mean that you can determine their future behaviour."

    The ten graphs were disying simr behaviour, with the same peaks and troughs. However, somewhere around the four-second mark, a small change started to materialise, the graphs started to deviate from each other. Guy let the graphs progress for a while longer before bringing them all together in the same set of axes. In doing so, Marie was able to clearly see how, while the graphs were simr in the beginning, they started to differ wildly near theter stage and, after a certain point, failed to look anything like each other at all.

    "A small change in the initial condition of a nonlinear system can elicit unpredictable changes in the system''s expected behaviour in the future, just like how a butterfly''s wingbeat can cause a typhoon on the other end of the." Guy coughed mirthfully before adding, "Thatst part was just an idiom, of course."

    Marie''s eyes narrowed at the graph presented before her, "The world is a nonlinear system... Having the incorrect initial conditions causes massive deviations. These deviations represent the Transients. But this should lead to instability... unless..."

    Suddenly, Marie snapped her fingers as a breakthrough hit her. She rushed towards the graph and with her fingers, pinched the ten graphs at the twenty-second mark where they hadpletely deviated from each other. "Constant events are fixed in the tapestry of fate. They exist to ensure that a butterfly''s wing beat doesn''t elicit a tropical storm. This is it! As long as I can model fate, I can find the constants at the points where each of the parallel transient behaviours of the universe merges into one."

    The location where Marie pinched the graphs started to shine with a golden hue, as a bounteous change took ce inside her.

    ____

    Not half an hour passed by, before Krish was brought out of his sulking and bore witness to something that had never happened before, at least not sessfully, in the history of cultivation. His dearest Disciple was undergoing another perfected resonance!

 Chapter 212 Second Perfected Resonance

    Krish immediately honed his senses and observed the cultivation of his Disciple. His mien warped into a concerned frown as the significance of Marie''s transformation dawned upon him. Needless to say, in his thousand years, and the records left behind by his ancestors, he was yet to observe a person undergoing a second perfected resonance... sessfully. THAT was the keyword which brought an endless barrage of anxiety.

    Perfected resonance is a sign that a cultivator''s practised cultivation method resonates with their will - in other words, it is deemedpatible with them. A single cultivator may have multiple resonating cultivation methods, but they usually opt for one to take to the end of their journey. Once they achieve perfected resonance with one cultivation method, it is akin to pouring a hardening stone mixture over structural supports and letting things cure. The only thing possible now is to build upon these supports and create an intricate and vast, metaphorical house. To achieve a second perfected resonance should be impossible, on paper.

    There have been cases where a mage underwent a sessive perfected resonance after practising another cultivation method that resonated with them previously. The mage hoped to amplify their initial advantage by possibly dual-ssing - an intuitive decision. The result, as expected, was theplete shattering of their nascent core and gruesome demise by explosion. Krish could confirm, with an unshakeable degree of certainty, that it was nigh impossible to seed with a second perfected resonance.

    This was why his countenance grew dourer with each passing second as the minor whirlpool of mana siphoned into his Disciple. Using his mana sense, he observed her cultivation as best as he could without interrupting her - since interrupting a perfected resonance would cause equal harm. Through his observations, he noticed something unfathomable transpiring within his Disciple. Well, calling it unfathomable would be incorrect since he had seen it once before - with Markus. Essentially, Krish could see his Disciple''s cultivation being handled like a piece of stic parchment, if that even was a thing. Her cemented concepts were being stretched,pressed and reshaped in real-time. Parts were being trimmed while in other ces additions were underway. Certain sections were cut and then stitched back in other locations. All in all, controlled chaos reigned within his Disicple''s nascent core.

    It distressed Krish further since he could not keep track, or make any sense, of what his Disciple was actually going through. All he could hope was for her toe out the other side in one piece so that he could salvage what remained. At this moment, he regretted letting the girl experiment around with things beyond her control. He regretted indulging her arcane whims and fancies. He regretted everything!

    ''What fuelled his regret?'' His mind paused to wonder. Was it objective - because he was losing a Disciple after years of waddling around without one? Or was it drenched in a coating of subjective emotion - because he was truly fond of his new Disciple and hated for her to suffer?

    Though he hated to admit it, Krish was sure that it was probably thetter of the two reasons. Marie had grown on him, beyond his expectations. Through her constant egging and contention, she had somehow carved a ce for herself in his heart. He was starting to care for the girl, and it was petrifying.

    Some say love is the death of duty, but Krish knew that the parasite called love - in whatever form it maye be it romantic, familial, or friendship - was just death. This was especially true for a mage since attachments bred weaknesses. This was partly why many cultivation sects distanced their members from earthly connections. Since an opponent could exploit a weakness by simply threatening a loved one.

    Krish''s eyes darted to his desated leg at that instant. If nothing else, this withered husk of an appendage was a small preview of what the weakness called love would lead to. Heck, now that he thought about it, he was just as prepared to sacrifice another part of himself, albeit a negligible one, to let his student advance into the Foundation Establishment realm!

    Though this begged the question if this second perfected resonance failed, would he be willing to sacrifice something more for his Disciple''s sake?

    The answer of course was ''Of course not... yet!'' His eyes widened with a startle as that deration formed in his mind. ''Yet'' implied he would be willing to do so in the future! His heart had betrayed him once again.

    The agitation stemming from the conclusion of his emotional dilemma, conjoined with the distress over his Disciple''s currently uncertain future hadpletely drained Krish of his energy and rationality. The two harrowing thoughts had overtaken his mental capacities and rendered him immobile and paralysed. All he could do now was wait and watch.

    In Krish''s perspective, time decelerated to a slow crawl, yet in truth, the entire process of Marie''s second perfected resonance barelysted ten minutes. However, one must note that it was admittedly longer than what a usual perfected resonance wouldst for.

    ____

    Once Marie and Guy exited the Church after a productive virtual venture, they were immediately greeted by the downtrodden figure of Krish. Due to their ignorance of the man''s revolutionary emotional journey within the past ten minutes, they couldn''t ascertain the cause of his current state.

    "H-How are you feeling?" Krish asked with a shaking voice and an equally shaking hand.

    "I''m fine," Marie responded casually.

    "Do you feel any different? Don''t be hasty and check your core - try to circte your mana through it," Krish instructed.

    Marie scrunched her nose in confusion and proceeded to follow her Master''s instructions. As she did so, her expression starting fluctuate between bewilderment and pleasurable excitement.

    "What''s wrong?" Krish asked hastily.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I-It''s hard to exin. It feels different from before that''s for sure," Marie pointed out. "But I suddenly feel more... saturated. Not bloated, just saturated. Do you get what I mean?"

    "That should be expected, given how you''ve just gone through a perfected resonance. Your core must be practically bursting with mana," Krish affirmed.

    "It''s been some time though, why the dy?" Marie asked back while tilting her head.

    "You misunderstand," Krish responded while shaking his head gravely. "You just underwent another perfected resonance."

    The revtion came as a bombshell for both Marie and Guy, "What? HOW?!" Guy evoked.

    "That shouldn''t be possible," Marie muttered. It was in her nature to understand what she was getting into thoroughly. To that end, she was intimate with perfected resonance as a phenomenon.

    "That''s what I believed," Krish responded. "Until now. You are the first to do so, hence you must understand my incredulity and concern. I need to make sure that you are safe, you are my Disciple after all."

    "What must be done?" Guy answered in Marie''s stead in haste.

    "I will need to inspect her cultivation, much like how Mage Jeeves has done before. I will need your permission, my Disciple," Krish asked.

    Marie nodded in affirmation without hesitation. As she did so, she started to approach Krish.

    "That won''t be necessary," Krish halted her. "I can do it from here."

    Krish closed his eyes and directed his full attention to Marie''s core. With practised efficiency, he was now present inside her core space. Compared to Al, his spiritual cultivation was many levels ahead. It was so advanced that he did not need to physically contact the person whose cultivation he wanted to inspect. On a side note, in the Tesseract Transformation realm, spiritual attacks are another branch of offensive magic that one needs to protect themselves against. A Tesseract Transformation mage can effortlessly destroy an opposing mage''s cultivation without moving a muscle.

    Although, Krish''s current venture wasn''t to hurt anyone but rather to ensure that his Disciple''s cultivation was safe. The core space is a semi-manifestation of what a mage''s cultivation entails. Krish was knowledgeable about what a Heavenly Eye practitioner''s core space looks like. They have been etched into the records he carried with him, passed down from his ancestors. After entering Marie''s space, he could confirm that his Disciple''s did not match it at all.

    The room existed and did not exist. This was the best description Krish coulde up with. The space twitched frantically after his presence was made known. Although Marie had allowed his ess, the space did not like it that a character with proper dimensionality and form had encroached its domain. With every passing second, a difited wave washed over Krish that implemented a change in his form, abstracting it. But after determining that the change was faulty it would revert. Only to repeat once again.

    Krish moved his gaze across the area and immediately noticed a small congregation of liquid at the centre, which he correctly assumed to be Marie''s nascent core. To truly confirm the nature of his Disciple''s cultivation, he would need to intrude in there.

    With cautious steps, Krish moved forward, or did the room move backwards? Krish could neither confirm nor deny it. No matter, the distance between the liquid body and his form was shortening. After he was close, Krish lowered himself, or did the floor rise? Again, neither confirmed nor denied.

    Krish brought his head close to the liquid body and dunked it in. He did not feel as though he was breaching a liquid surface, but he could confirm that his face had entered a different space. At this moment, Krish took a second to release a light chuckle as he likened his current pose to Al''s.

    "I hope nothing weird happens," Krish muttered. But his smile faltered andpressed. "I should probably prepare myself for the worst. Comcency will get me killed. And I don''t want to get rescued by Guy..."

    Krish opened his eyes and absorbed the magnificent visual presented before him. "Now this is familiar!"

 Chapter 213 Start Of An Unexpected Journey

    The sight within Marie''s core matched the descriptions from Krish''s records. A world, the entire cosmos epassing everything observed and unobserved,pressed into a tiny and immaterial space within Marie''s soul. Every aspect of the world was connected, with threads of gold forming a tethering everything into one intricate tapestry. The fact that everything was within Krish''s expectations indicated that at its core, Marie''s cultivation had not deviated - she was still a practitioner of the Heavenly Eye.

    However, a difference started to manifest itself within the very next second, when a golden thread split off from the cosmos and attached to his hand. The thread pulsed as a wave was transmitted back into the cosmos. Then, before his very eyes, the cosmos started to change. Heavenly bodies were rearranged, removed, and added in real-time. Once the rearrangement settled, he saw the cosmos shake unhappily and reset itself to the initial state. Then the pulse repeated once again, reiterating through the ''rearrange, remove and add'' cycle to a new configuration only to disintegrate and reset after an unhappy shake.

    It looked as though the world was trying to make sense of his existence, but was failing miserably to do so. This should not be the case because, after all, Krish was supposed to be detached from fate - an observer.

    The iterative cycle repeated for a hundred tries, each more intriguing than the next. There were unique and novel configurations of the universe Krish could never dream of - one, in particr, had all the stars in space congregated into a single massive ball of fire with heavenly bodies orbiting at a manic speed around it.

    After the hundredth repeat, the world shook angrily and started a new approach. Since it could not amodate him into its tapestry, it was time for him to change to fit in. With that, an attack wasunched toward him that started to deconstruct his hand. Krish could anticipate where this was going and immediately retreated. His spiritual cultivation was strong enough to resist the attack, and then some.

    Before Krish exited his Disciple''s core space he took a few seconds to summarise his observations. Her cultivation wasn''t exactly as it was supposed to be. While the overarching nature of her cultivation was simr, there were minor differences here and there that set it apart, making it more personal to his Disciple. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

    For one, it meant that her path to advancement was no longerid out as descriptively; quite possibly, she could no longer go through the same steps as he had to advance in her cultivation. This could be disadvantageous since uncertainty came with risks. On the other hand, this also meant that there was room for improvement in the Heavenly Eye, a cultivation method which had stagnated for many millennia.

    Nheless, as he exited his Disciple''s core, he wore a concerned demeanour truthful to his opinion.

    "So there is good news and bad news," Krish started to say, but he was immediately interrupted by Marie with an immediate deration.

    "I know what I need to do," Marie spoke with conviction. "The way to advance safely - I know what to do!"

    "What is it?" Krish probed.

    "I need to model the world," Marie answered, though Krish didn''t understand her meaning.

    "Just like how other cultivation methods use the movement ofary bodies to divine the future, I must do the same. However, it needs to be urate and dynamic not the snapshot-method everyone else uses. It needs to be responsive to changes as they transpire and must correct itself in real-time," Marie borated. "Thus I need to devise a strategy to, and sessfully model the world."

    "And how will you go about doing that?" Krish probed.

    "System identification," Marie responded. "We cote data sets andpare against existing models of the cosmos and optimise it. It is an iterative process. Although..."

    "Although, what?" Krish urged.

    With a bitter smile, "To do that, I will need arge data set of movement of heavenly bodies and so on. And it needs to be precise and urate for my model to be correct."

    "Why would that be an issue?" Krish asked with a tilt of his head.

    "Well it''s not like there''s an observatory just floating around here," Marie snorted sarcastically, only to receive a proud smirk from Krish.

    "Maybe not here," Krish said mysteriously. He then lowered his gaze and pondered over his next move. After a quick minute, he said, "Pack up your things. We will be leaving tomorrow morning."

    "Leaving? Where?" Marie shot back.

    "We will be going on a trip to fetch the information you need," Krish exined. "I hope you can exin this to the Matron," he said to Guy. "I don''t wish to aggravate her... trauma."

    Guy nodded with a morose frown. He knew that Krish was observing everything happening around him, and the fact that he intruded on Grace''s confession did breach a few privacyws... in his past life. However, he was right in this regard. A male Master suddenly whisking away a female Disciple from her family might draw a lot of parallels with Grace''s own life experience, and she would need to be eased into it.

    "I will handle things on my end," Guy responded. "However I will need assurances."

    "I don''t think we will encounter anyone stronger than I," Krish said with a bemused smile. "Besides that, she is my responsibility too. I am not going to rush her into trouble."

    Guy hummed contemtively and in half affirmation. He recognised that the trip would be important for Marie to advance and he was all for it. He also had a good read on Krish and knew that the man only held good intentions for Marie. The issue, though, was getting Grace on board which he expected to be a steep uphill rise.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Contrary to Guy''s expectations, it did not take much to convince Grace. To quote her exact words, "Marie won''t let the man get an inch near her if she doesn''t want to."

    Her confidence in Marie was staggering. Then again, the girl had practically lived alone for most of her life with her work. And thus, with haste and efficiency, the Master-Disciple duo were prepped up and ready to set off on their journey at the crack of dawn.

    ____

    "We didn''t pack any food," Mariemented with an irate scowl.

    "It''s all part of the n, my little Disciple," Krish answered with a mysterious intonation. Seeing as his Disciple wasn''t in a mood for jokes, he added, "It will be part of the practice. When I started my journey with my Master, the only things we carried was a set of clothes and a canteen of water."

    "Why?"

    "The aim is to acquire the required resources while travelling. It helps us put our abilities into practice," Krish answered. "Hungry? We umte a favour with amoner and fill our stomachs. Injured? We do the same with a healer and get treated. Every problem has an individual who can offer a solution."

    "So we exploit their goodwill?" Marie blurted out incredulously.

    "Well, best case scenario would be that we anticipate encroaching danger and avoid it altogether, but if pushes to shove then yes," Krish nodded.

    Marie chuckled along with Krish as they exited the vicinity of the vige.

    "So where are we going?" Marie probed.

    "East," Krish answered.

    "Please," Marie requested with oozing sarcasm. "Please be vaguer."

    "There is an ind due North-East from here smack-dab in the middle of the Vast Blue Expanse. That is our destination," Krish expounded.

    "Why are we going there exactly?"

    "Well, remember how I told you that a few of our ancestors have already tried to find alternatives and improve upon the Heavenly Eye? My Master''s Master happened to be a part of that group, and happened to follow a simr line of reasoning such as yourself, barring the whole model part," Krish narrated. "Therefore, he umted a few favours with an upstart Sect that practice an arcane body cultivation method that relies on tracking the movement of heavenly bodies."

    "How does that work?" Marie voiced her intrigue.

    "You can ask them when we get there. Anyway, it''s not our concern. What matters to us is that they''ve aggregated highly urate and precise records of the movement of heavenly bodies for at least thest two millennia."

    "How are you so sure that they wouldn''t have gone extinct by now? A lot of time has passed, after all," Marie responded dubiously.

    "I''ve checked," Krish responded. "They''re still up and running. My Grandmaster was thorough in his intervention, do not think that we are half-hearted in our assistance just because we callously provide it for our benefit."

    "Do you think I will seed, Master?" Marie voiced her uncertainty. Although she exuded an air of confidence when she dered her resolve to create a dynamic model of the world, she was still just a teenage youth stepping into the vast expanse of cultivation. She was filled with worry and uneasiness.

    "I have confidence in you," Krish hummed. "You achieved something that generations of our ancestors deemed impossible. Therefore, my confidence in you isn''t insincere. You have proven time and time again that you can aplish anything you set your mind to."

    "Know this, it is my duty as your Master to support you through everything. Even if this venture does not pan out as you expect it to, worry not. Everything will work out as it is supposed to, you just do what you deem necessary," Krish added.

    "It will all work out eventually," Marie parroted. "I am fated with the Heavenly Eye, after all," she said with a chuckle.

    Krish stopped in ce and looked at his Disciple''s cheeky grin. After a second, he joined her in her mirthfulugh and continued on their journey.

 Chapter 214 Interlude - Conversation Between Multidimensional Beings (Part One)

    I will be resuming the regr upload schedule.

    ____

    The ce between realms, in a state of existence and non-existence, where time is immaterial - both flowing and stagnant - two otherworldly beings congregated for reasons beyond mortalprehension. The beings did not have a visible form, not for the average mortal eyes at least. Amidst the void-ck backdrop, their presence was momentary and infinite, all-epassing and minuscule. They were juxtaposition manifest.

    [I didn''t think you woulde here, Mast,] the first beingmended with an intonation implying cheer. [Did you finally grow tired of your human?]

    (On the contrary,) the other being responded with a recreation of mirth in their voice. (Everything is moving ording to my n, barring a few... unpredicted deviances. However, I expect the end result to match my initial estimates. It seems that you have taken a truly hands-off approach with yours?)

    [Oy...] the first being emted a sigh. [I think I made a mistake. I should have vetted my human prior to bringing him here.]

    (That''s exactly what I told you to do. Look at me, I ran simtions over simtions with my human before migrating him to this world.)

    [I thought it didn''t matter. Tron groaned that his world wasn''t moving forward as quickly as he''d hoped. I figured if I brought a mortal from my world, which has advanced to a significantly higher degree, it would help move his world''s progression as well,] the being whined in response.

    To that, Mast released a tutting noise, which was miraculous given how the beingscked the muscle and bone for it. (That''s where you are wrong my little sister Moni. You evaluate these mortals from a lens of non-conforming entities such as ourselves. Mortals are notorious for their selfish desire for self-fulfilment above others. They do not followmon logic unless they are given proper motivation to do so.)

    [That''s exactly what I did!] Moni retorted dramatically. [To provide my human with the proper drive, I even formted certain achievements as ''Missions'' ording to those digital entertainment tforms they call games. I took your advice and implemented positive and negative reinforcement, yet the man consistently misconstrued my instructions and took them to destructive extremes.]

    (Give me an example,) Mast dered.

    [Well, there was an instance where I probed my human to motivate an audience to research new avenues for alchemical products. However, instead of taking the constructive route to recruit the group and ushering them forward together, the man took the least optimum approach of antagonising the leader of the audience and thoroughly humiliating him. How does that help in boosting the advancement of civilisation?] Moni berated exasperatedly. [Why is it that your human is generating greater advancements while mine is stagnating?]

    (The issue is in the selection of the mortal, Moni,) Mast narrated. (The human you picked perceived himself to be living an unfulfilled life. He probably had hopes and expectations that he failed to aplish in his previous life which he is now projecting into this new life, and is ovepensating in the process. Furthermore, the human you picked probably thinks that he is the one that is the centre of focus in this world - in other words, he must feel entitled?)

    [Right you are!]

    (My human is the exact opposite. He had very few hopes and dreams but had ess to anything he could want. Through my observations, I have found that it is often easier to turn a passive mortal to be more active in their life than to achieve the opposite. You must be tired of trying to leash your mortal, correct?)

    [Yes...]

    (Apart from that, I have other factors in y that are tilting things in my favour. The pawn I selected was vetted through innumerable levels and is the only one from my world that matched all my required criteria. He has a reason to stay in this world, vis-a-vis a mortal who is a facsimile of another mortal from his past life who he failed to consummate his emotional longing with. He has a reason to help improve this world, with all the younglings depending on him and egging his natural instinct to nurture.)

    [I mean... I didn''t consider all those details. But the human I chose worked in a massive repository that stored a vast collection of knowledge from my world. Yet the man isn''t even using it! That was his entire purpose of existence here!]

    (It is one thing to know, and another to teach. One without knowledge of a subject can still teach it if they have the capacity for it. Your human cannot teach, he is far too self-absorbed and impatient. My human is trained and has ample experience in teaching. You forget that to implementsting advancement in this world, a single entity is insufficient. Only by gradual propagation of knowledge can there be asting impact.)

    [You really did think this through, didn''t you?]

    (Of course I did, it''s the safety of my world that''s at stake. Why would I not? The question is why aren''t you taking this more seriously?)

    There was silence.

    (I see... You intend to use my world as a buffer if this world falls,) Mastmented icily.

    [I-It''s not like that.]

    (If this world falls, I will surrender my world,) Mast interjected.

    [What? Why?]

    (My allegiance is with Tron, not you. Your negligence will cost you dearly, Moni.)

    [You can''t do that-]

    Once again, her hysterical response was interjected by a sudden warp in space. Visible only to higher-order perception, a third entity came into existence in the area.

    [This is where the two of you have been hiding?] A stern voice demanded. [What were you two thinking? Are you trying to further destabilise my already precarious world?]

    (On the contrary, we were trying to help you.)

    [How would that be? By bringing in two anomalies? If I didn''t know that it was you two, I would have mistaken it for an invader! I hope you realise just how much your interference has cost me. My world was in the process of splitting into a multiverse because of what you two did. Do you know how difficult it is to maintain a multiversal world? Ask Oaa and their ilk - although it yields arge bounty it is equally difficult to tend to. Beings crossing between multiverses, redundancies and rampant quantum annihtion events, and worst of all time-travel!]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Sorry...]

    [For the first time, you aren''t the one at fault,] Tron said with a human-like sigh. [Your interference has been assimted into my world''s sequence without much hassle. It is Mast''s that is still threatening my world''s stability. Moni, leave while I converse with this one.]

    Without a moment lost, one of the beings escaped from the space. After their departure, silence took hold.

    [There is an issue with the being you brought in. No matter how much I try to integrate it into my world''s sequence, it starts to deviate. I have to actively exert my influence to stop that from happening. What are you trying to do?] There was a threatening force in Tron''s voice which caused the only other entity in the room to flinch.

    (I''m only trying to help,) Mast said with difficulty.

    [That is not how it looks from where I am standing.]

    (I apologise for shifting the me, but this is partly your fault.)

    [WHAT?!] Tron evoked, causing the space to quake menacingly.

    (I did not expect thews of this world to be so fragile. To borrow a mortal phrase, it is bncing at the tip of a needle. Much to my annoyance, it was sheer coincidence that resulted in this issue. Yourws governing the nature of souls in this world are flimsy. All I did was provide a power derived from extraworldly energy, but it ended up interfering with aw that you set on how mortals can cultivate spirituality to augment their souls.)

    [So that''s what it was...]

    (You''re being uncharacteristicallyx with your management of this world, Brother.)

    [It''s not like I have a choice,] Tron answered bitterly. [My other world is at the brink of assimtion with the invading world builder, and I don''t even know how they did it. They are intimated with my signature, they will know the location of this world soon. In fact, they already do! There was a preliminary probe attacking this world a while back. I had to crack down on thews governing spatial anomalies at great personal costs. I need the mortals of my world to be stronger to stand a chance against the invader since their attack patterns are highly unconventional.]

    (Which is why I brought in this mortal. Is he not showing results?)

    [He is,] Tron admitted. [If not for the frequent destabilising events, I would personallymend your decision.]

    (It only happens when the mortal tries to manifest the power drawn from extraworldly energy, right?)

    [That is correct.]

    (Stop trying to actively integrate my mortal into your world''s sequence.)

    [But that will cause my world to split!]

    (Only do so in the short term. Treat the mortal as a singrity, whose state is only verifiable within the immediate vicinity of their existence,) Mast suggested.

    [That will introduce innumerable uncertainties in the determination of a stable timeline. What you''re asking me to do is to treat this mortal as the focal point of my world?] Tron responded in disbelief. [You ask for me to put all of my faith in this mortal?]

    (We are multidimensional entities, faith is a mortal emotion,) Mast answered with an emted chuckle.

    [Our kind persists that we are different from the mortals that roam our worlds, yet we all sumb to the same fear of demise. Ironic, isn''t it?] Tronmented. [I hastily created this world to escape demise, something any other mortal would do - clinging onto a faint thread of hope that can offer some sce of survival or retribution. Once this world falls, which is my conclusion based on current trends, what will you do?]

    (If this world is assimted, I will surrender,) Mast confessed.

    [Just like that?]

    (I exist because you took me under your protection. You helped me stabilise my world, and taught me everything. If I cannot repay that favour by saving you from the danger that threatens you, then what is my reason for existence? To approach this from a rational point of view: If your world falls, there is little I can do to stop mine from following down the same path anyways.)

    [Does Moni share the same opinion?]

    (Moni''s opinion and decision are irrelevant. You should be able to gauge her perspective after observing the impact of her interference in your world. Moni''s mortal has aplished nothing and has done little to progress your world.)

    Another bout of silence reigned in the void-ck space.

    [Share your n with me. I do not like being kept in the dark on matters concerning my own world. Tell me everything there is to know about this mortal named Guy.]

    (I shall do so,) Mast responded with a monotonous drone that betrayed a sense of excitement.

 Chapter 215 Interlude - Conversation Between Multidimensional Beings (Part Two)

    [Why did you select this human- this... Guy?]

    (To provide a proper exnation, I will start from the very beginning when you hinted at the trouble you were facing with this world having reached a state of stagnation. Of course, this was after we learned of the invasion and assimtion taking ce in your previous world,) Mast replied. (Thanks to the privilege you provided Moni and me, it was easy for me to grasp the crux of the issue. In your attempt to fuel development by creating the transient particle called mana, you forgot to ce a hard upper limit on how powerful a mortal can be by harnessing its powers. You see, a mortal with strong control of mana and with the ability to manifest its true potential bes inherently detached from his base species. By referring to your previous world, which is a lot closer to my own, even though certain mortals had greater power in terms of tangible and intangible assets, they were still rtable to their base species. There was still some incentive motivating them to assist those they considered beneath them. This connection iscking in your current world.)

    [I can see that now.]

    (Through that discovery, I realised that the solution would be to shorten that gap between the weak and the strong. It would be difficult to motivate the powerful to sacrifice that hard-earned strength to help the weak, but it would be trivial to motivate the weak to grow stronger given sufficient assistance. Hence any assistance on my part should tackle the problem using this approach. Of course, there was only one way I could provide assistance to this world, and that was by introducing a soul that existed in my world. Therefore, I noted that the soul that should be introduced must have some expertise in assisting the weak.)

    [eptable conclusion.]

    (Now came the problem of how to provide power to the weak in this world. After understanding the base workings of the particle called mana, I found out that you created it as a quick way for mortals to tamper with the naturalws we program when building and managing a world without causing the world to fall apart. Thus, I posited that an easy method to get stronger would be to be more intimate with the naturalws of this world. The greater the mortal''s understanding of how a certain phenomenon transpired, the easier it would be for them to harness the mana to replicate the same phenomenon. Hence, I added another requirement to my soul, which would be that they needed to have a strong grasp of the naturalws.)

    [That should have been difficult for you since your world is many millennia behind my original world. And the mortals in my original world barely understood 35% of thews I had programmed into it.]

    (I would like to point out that the mortals in this world only understand 0.4% of the naturalws of this world, and this world has existed just as long as my own.)

    [Fair enough. But if this were the case, why would you select Guy? This mortal does not seem to have a thorough grasp of all the knownws of your world. If I am not mistaken, humans should only be privy to 5%.]

    (That was because, in addition to knowing all thesews, the mortal would also have to convey them to others with maximum efficiency. If I had transnted a soul from my world with all the knowledge epassed in that 5%, it would be useless if theycked the skills to transfer it to others. The probability of finding a soul with all the knowledge, and the skill to teach was incalcbly low. Instead, I opted for a soul with unparalleled ability to teach, but with a moderate grasp of the worldly knowledge known to his species. Because it is easier to bridge the weakness by appending an augment to the soul that acts as a repository of knowledge.)

    [Which is the trace of extraworldly energy I sensed in Guy''s soul! It seems that Moni''s mortal soul also has it inmon?]

    (She found my idea intriguing and decided to follow suit. Except she seems to be siphoning the knowledge from your world, which I find counterintuitive.)

    [Moving back to our discussion, it makes sense why you chose this soul given his expertise in teaching, and his penchant to assist the weak and moderate intelligence. However, I am intrigued as to why you chose this soul in particr. Knowing your modus operandi, there must have been additional factors in y here?]

    (As a matter of fact, there were. You see, after applying the aforementioned filters as search parameters, I was left with 34201 possible qualified souls. However, this only applied when evaluated from a rational point of view. You see, no two mortal souls can be the same, even if their growth environments are identical, or if they are from the same biological mating pair. The growth trajectory of the newborn soul can deviate greatly after a certain point in time. Hence, my next challenge was to determine which of the 34021 possible entities stood a chance in aplishing the task.)

    [That notion seems rife with uncertainties.]

    (You are correct in that statement. The behaviour of mortal souls never adheres to logic. This is why I spent a hefty portion of my time understanding the psychology of mortals. As multidimensional beings, the decisions that we deem most appropriate to specific scenarios may not match those of mortals, and if I am to rely on one to do my bidding I needed to understand the way its mind worked perfectly. After an in-depth dive into the subject, I came out with a few additional search parameters that narrowed the qualified souls to just 3.)

    [What were these new parameters?]

    (There were many, but I will provide a non-exhaustive list of the primary parameters. The mortal must be mature and rational so that they can evaluate their decisions before acting upon them. They must be non-confrontational so that they don''t actively or unwittingly seek conflict and die before making a difference. They need to be kind and honest to be able to endear themselves to others. They must be hard-working and dedicated to their work, to be able to tackle tough situations. They need to be fulfilled and passive, free of wild hopes and dreams that can derail their purpose. And finally, they need to be mentally robust, so that they don''t dete when assaulted with adversities.)

    [Though I agree with some of those parameters, I don''t see the importance of some such as ''non-confrontational'' and ''passive''. It looks counterintuitive to your purpose?]<novelnext></novelnext>

    (I needed my soul to be a clean te so that I can mould them to my will. If a soules preprogrammed with a confrontational and active characteristic, they are difficult to reel in and control. They will often have their own opinions and perspectives that will conflict with mine.)

    [How did you narrow down the three finalists?]

    (The final eliminator was the environment. I had to evaluate the environment the souls wereing from and would be migrated to, to see whether they would assimte well and if the conditions after assimtion would be favourable for us. Of the three, only Guy scored the highest, that too because of the probabilities lining up perfectly. He was set to die in my world with a single unfulfilled wish, and it just so happened that there was another soul in your world that could fulfil it. After that was decided, it now became a matter of setting up the pieces to fall into ce. Finding the correct time to migrate the soul, the correct location, and the appropriate body for the soul to inhabit.)

    Mast proceeded to exin the innumerable additional details he had to take into consideration prior to migrating Guy''s soul.

    (After bringing the soul in, my next task was to steer him in a particr direction. Due to the mistruths I fed him prior to transmigration, he already held a positive opinion about me thanks to his predisposition towards kindness. This helped me shape his perspective early on without much opposition. Then, I waited to see if the soul would be effective in solving our problems. After confirming that, I shifted my focus toward changing his passive and non-confrontational character and moved on to phase two of my operation. I found that the most optimal way to motivate humans to assume an active role is by introducing an antagonistic character that contradicts them. I chose to assume that role with Guy. By pointing out the folly of his weak mentality and his incapacity in his past life, I evoked a mental breakdown inside him. This was further exacerbated by a harrowing revtion from the mortal who he shares an emotional bond with. From this point onwards, Guy will function like a programmed machine.)

    [What are your predictions for his sess?]

    (My calctions indicate 84.73%,) Mast answered. (But that was prior to the sudden anomaly in his soul. I initially introduced the repository of knowledge within apartment of his soul to fill in hisck of knowledge. However, certain actions of his performed within thatpartment caused it to split and introduced anotherpartment borne off of the extraworldly energy I used to create the repository. Since it was formed in this world, it is out of my control.)

    [It isn''t within my control. I cannot peer into it either.]

    (That is concerning...)

    [How does it affect your calctions?]

    (Surprisingly, it has raised the probability of sess.)

    [Exin.]

    (It seems that the anomalouspartment has spawned an alter ego of sorts that draws into the repressed characteristics of Guy''s soul. Where he is calm and reasonable, the alter ego is wild and fanatical. What Guycks, the alter ego has in spades and vice versa. My updated calctions have shown that if used properly, the alter ego can increase the rate of advancement of this world by a few decades. I employed a tacticbelled reverse psychology to evoke a mystical and near-taboo nature to thispartment. In doing so, I am gently nudging Guy to rely upon it to arger degree.)

    [I don''t like uncertainties, Mast,] Tron warned with a stern voice. [You know that I cannot intervene with any soul living in my world.]

    (If the anomaly exceeds the bounds of my predetermined limits, I shall cull it immediately. I brought it into your word, I have the power to take it out just as easily,) Mast assuaged. (If this experiment fails, we shall start again. Although the next won''t be as optimal as this one, it shouldn''t be too difficult to stack the field in our favour.)

    Tron remained silent while considering everything discussed till this point before asking, [The downsides?]

    (Nothing for us to worry about. The mortal soul will fulfil its purpose. And once its purpose is achieved, it can be disposed of.)

    [eptable.]

 Chapter 216 The First Sale

    Rove Lewin couldn''t contain his anxiousness as a triad of uniformed young men unloaded and assembled a convoluted contraption in the empty backroom of his bookshop. In the past, this ce would be filled with rows of equally spaced desks for the scribes in his employ to transcribe books. But now, it was mostly cleaned out, barring three desks at the front of the room closer to the shopfront. If Rove was to believe the teen who hoodwinked him into a contractual agreement, this machine which only took up the space of four scribes would in fact rece ten. How did things end up this way?

    It all happened exactly two weeks back when a catastrophe befell his business. "Lewin''s Bookshop and Transcription Services" was a family-run business which operated in Wayward Town since his grandfather''s generation. For sixty-five years, they were the sole proprietor of books and transcription services in the Town. If anyone required a particr book, as long as it wasn''t rted to magic, they would visit Lewin''s. Of course, Rove''s store may not always have the required book, in which case it would fall on him to find it from an outside source, purchase a transcription licence and transcribe a copy of it for sale in his business. This was how his business operated for a very long time.

    However, two weeks back, a rather affluent customer graced his store and offered a unique opportunity to publish a book written by them. This was a huge deal because a book''s publisher earned the rights to sell the transcription license for duplicating and selling the book through third-party stores. When a third-party wish to sell the book through their stores they would need to purchase the license to transcribe it from the publisher, which would be an annually paid fee for holding the rights to duplicate and sell the book. A fraction of the amount earned through the sale of the license would go to the author as well, but it paled inparison to the amount the original publisher would rue.

    Rove was pretty ted when the opportunity was presented before him. He was so excited that he forgot to peruse through the finer print in the contract which appended an outrageous penalty use if the publishing deadline wasn''t met. To summarise, Rove had to transcribe over five-hundred copies of the book within a month, or else he would have to pay up an amount which wasparable to three times his current worth. At that time, he had around fifty scribes working in his business. Through a few practised mental operations, Rove figured that the deadline was reasonable and could be achieved within the time frame, therefore he agreed without hesitation.

    The problem arose the very next day when another bookshop-cum-transcription-service opened its doors right opposite his shop. Rove didn''t think much of it since he was confident that people would prefer his ancestral store with years worth of umted trust over an upstart. But then misfortune started to afflict him one after another. First, forty-five out of his fifty employed scribes quit altogether. The sudden turnover of employees baffled him, and he was enraged to learn that it was because hispetitor across the street had hired them by offering a substantial raise in their wages. The five that remained with Rove''s business were aged hands and only did so due to their loyalty to his father.

    Rove was shocked, but he believed that hiring more scribes and filling in the sudden scarcity wouldn''t be too difficult. But after a week of trying and failing to hire new scribes, he started to suspect foul y. His suspicions were proven true when he found out that the people Rove approached and tried to hire were being threatened or bribed by hispetitor. Furthermore, he also found out that the affluent customer who initially came with the publishing order was the true owner of thepetition across the street. The contract was all a ruse to put Rove out of business, and he could do nothing about it lest he faces heavy penalties as prescribed in the contract.

    Things were crashing down on him. Of the five scribes that remain, two more left due to being overworked coupled with their deteriorating age. To top it off, he had barely made a dent into the five hundred required transcriptions as part of the publishing contract.

    During his time of crisis, a plump teen entered his store and pitched him a product which he promised would revolutionise the field of publishing. Based on the rather convincing sales pitch, the product could outpace scribes when publishing volume was taken into consideration. Rove was truly desperate and mentally deted at that time, and this miraculous product seemed to address his exact dilemma. Therefore, once again, he signed the leasing contract without reading through the unbearably thorough and verbose document.

    Now that the machine was ced before him, Rove was mentally kicking himself for falling into the same pit a second time. How could this machine, which looked very much like a guillotine, do the work of scribes? Where were the quill and ink? There weren''t even any mana gems - he''d assumed that the machine which proimed to handle ten times a regr human''s workload would at least have some magic in it!

    "What is this thing?!" Rove blurted out while catching one of the men assembling the machine as they left his store.

    "This is the Gutenberg Press," the man answered monotonously. He wore a simple set of cotton work trousers and a shirt with the Dune Caravan Management insignia stitched on them.

    "I can see that," Rove snapped back. "But you''re leaving just like that? Who is going to operate this? How does it even work?"

    "A representative from Verum Trading Company will arrive and handle that," the man responded while casually extricating himself from Rove''s grasp. "As for the operators, that was not part of the contract."

    "You expect my people to use this?"

    "That was what was stipted in the contract," the man repeated.

    "Contract, contract, contract!" Rove eximed. "It''s always about the contract, isn''t it?!"

    "Look here, Sir," the mover shot back exasperatedly. "We can see that you are... upset, but we don''t see how Dune Caravan Management is involved in any of this. We are simply the deliverers of your purchased product. If you have grievances please take it up with Verum Trading Company."

    Then, with a curt and meaningless "Thank you" the movers left his store, leaving Rove alone with the contraption. Rage started to bubble over from within, as his hands approached a metal rod hidden behind the clerk''s desk (to subdue thieves). He approached the machine, raised the rod above his head, and proceeded to bring it down with all the force he could muster up.

    However, his arm stopped in ce as a harmony of bells danced in his ears. It was the sound of someone entering the bookstore. Rove released a long sigh to calm his emotions and wore a pleasant smile to greet the customers. He brushed aside the curtain separating the storefront from the scribes'' work area and chanted a standard wee, but his words got caught in his throat when he saw the customer''s face.

    "It''s you!" He bellowed. It was the same boy who fooled him into purchasing that nonsensical machine.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Mister Lewin, it''s good to see you again," the plump boy greeted sincerely. "I''m here to inspect the delivered product for any issues during transportation, and run the preliminary training seminar to bring your workers up to speed and proficient in using the machine."

    "Take the sted thing back, I don''t want it. And I want a refund on my purchase!" Rove demanded.

    "Refund? Is there something wrong with the product?" The boy asked with a worried frown.

    "I don''t know," Rove shrugged. "And I don''t care. It''s useless, I know that you''re just taking advantage of me!"

    "That is absolutely false, Mister Lewin. We at Verum Trading Company believe in cultivating trust with our customers. Truth is in our name, after all," the boy narrated with a practised smile. "Why don''t you let me give you a demo of the machine before you make your decision? It will only take a few minutes of your time. If the product fails to satisfy you, I will process your refund right away!"

    The kid was being too reasonable... Rove hated it! He wanted to continue flinging insults and screaming at the boy, but given the way the boy was acting, such crass actions would only make Rove look petty.

    "Fine!" Rove dered half-heartedly while waving for the kid to enter the backroom.

    The kid followed Rove inside and immediately beelined towards the machine. He started to move around it, tapping and grasping it in different ces. The deliverers had set up four mechanisms in a spaced-out fashion. The first, and most prominent, was the machine called the Gutenberg Press. The second, which was near the t section of the Press, was like a shallow reservoir. The third appeared to be arge storagepartment with multiple cubbies and drawers, as well as a stand ced on top at eye level. The fourth, and final, was something Rove was familiar with and was a standard bookbinding mechanism albeit with a few more moving parts.

    After inspecting all the assembled devices, the boy finally approached the unopened boxes stacked next to the machine and opened each of them, taking notes on the state of the contents.

    "These machines are best operated in a three-person cell," the boy narrated while counting bags of metal tablets of some sort. "Which three employees will I be training?"

    "Training?"

    "It''s part of the contract. You are paying for the machine, the training as well as a few otherplementary items. Didn''t you read that?" The boy asked.

    Rove revealed an embarrassed smile before lying, "Of course. T-They will be here soon."

    Thankfully, at that moment, the door to the backroom opened and the three elder scribes under his employ walked in.

    "Good morning, boss!" They greeted in unison with a bow. Although they were much older than Rove, they were obligated to respect their employer. On top of that, Rove''s father had helped these three out of a sticky situation in the past - they essentially owed his family their lives.

    "What''s this thing, boss?" One of the three older men asked.

    "This is the Gutenberg Press," the boy answered in Rove''s stead. "You three must be the ones to undergo the training, correct?"

    Rove nodded hesitantly. The boy smiled professionally in response and began the demonstration.

 Chapter 217 Consumer Psychology (Part One)

    "Hello, my name is Furion, and I will be walking you through the function of the Gutenberg Printing Press by Verum Trading Company, an affiliate of the True World Sect," The plump boy spoke with a practised cadence. "Before we begin using this machine, it is important that we intimate ourselves with the different parts and the names assigned to them. While I shall point at and reiterate their names in the beginning, when we progress well in the demonstration I will revert to using their assigned names."

    "There are two main movingponents of the Press, that are the Carriage and the ten," as Furion listed their names he pointed at the vertical section of the press and then nudged the horizontal bed back and forth. Following that he started to point at different sections on the machine and listed off their names, "This is the spindle, which rotates as you move the bar. You can see the ten moving up and down as such ...."

    "Thisponent here is the tympan and the frisket. The paper gets loaded and affixed here." Once each and every relevantponent of the press was named and exined, Furion retrieved a roll of paper from one of the nearby containers and unfurled it. "For future reference, you can use this diagram."

    "Now I can see the scepticism in all of your faces, as you wonder how this machine could be used to produce a book. Therefore, to ease your anxiousness, I shall perform a sample demonstration."

    The boy reached into his bag and retrieved a rectangr tablet. "This is a single typeset page. As you can see here, we have a frame which holds these movable types."

    Furion brought the tablet closer and allowed the three scribes and Rove to inspect it. "This looks wrong! Why are the letters all mirrored?" Rove used.

    "It will all be clear in due time. But before that, I would like you to inspect these metal types and the frame carefully. You have been provided with a standard set of types and frames, as well as signature blocks with photos and basic diagrams. Before I leave, I shall distribute the types and tools from the storage container into the type case next to you," the boy said while pointing at the storage mechanism.

    "This frame is ced within the moving carriage as follows. Once it is positioned, make sure to nudge the frame on the side to see if the types are moving about," the boy seamlessly slid the frame onto the bed on the carriage and tapped the frame from the side causing some of the letters to jitter. "If this is the case, you may need to add additional blocks into the frame," the boy retrieved a thin metal block from his bag and slid it into a small opening in the final line of the frame.

    "The next step after the typeset frame is positioned is to apply the ink," the boy dered while opening a bucket next to the shallow reservoir and pouring a cup of slightly-viscous ck ink into it carefully. "Note that the ink in this reservoir can be siphoned off from the bottom through a tap. Do not leave ink in this reservoir overnight, since once it hardens it can be difficult to clean. Should that happen, a recement reservoir can be purchased for a subsidised rate as long as you return the inked reservoir."

    "Your purchase of the Presses with a set of custom-made goose skin coating cloth and a roll of horse hair. You simply stuff a few handfuls of horse hair into this bowl with a handle attached underneath, cover it with the goose skin, fasten it on the hooks at the side of the bowl, and you have a prepped bob," Furion presented a tool that looked like arge stamp but with a soft base. "You gently dab the bob into the reservoir and move it in a simple roll and dab motion to spread the ink evenly," Furion kneaded the bob over the ink in a circr and up-and-down motion.

    "Once the bob is sufficiently coated with ink - you can confirm this by holding the bob t above the reservoir until there is no ink dripping off of it - you can now transfer this ink on the typeset frame as follows," Furion repeated the kneading action on top of the frame ce in the moving carriage until all the letters were dabbed with an even coat of ink. "The ink needs to be spread evenly, but not excessively, otherwise it will bleed through the paper."

    "We now position the paper in the tympan and lower the frisket," Furion instructed while slotting the paper into the frame stations at an incline by the carriage. After folding the frisket into the inclined ne, he then folded the incline over the carriage, causing the paper to meet the typeset frames.

    "Nowes the fun part," the boy dered with a mischievous smile. "We simply move the carriage forward until it is positioned perfectly underneath the ten. Once we make sure that the carriage and the ten are aligned perfectly-" he gestured at a few standoffs indicating the alignment, "-we rotate the handle here, bringing the ten onto the carriage. Do not apply too much pressure, when you start feeling resistance, stop. Hold. And then reverse."

    The ten was raised, and the boy raised the tympan slowly, with a dramatic ir.

    "TA-DA!" The boy eximed as he graciously raised the frisket and pulled out the paper held within.

    "My goodness!" One of the scribes blurted out as he held the paper in his hand.

    "I-It wrote a whole page in one go?"

    "This is amazing!"

    Rove''s eyes sparkled as he saw this, but he held back his emotions lest the boy takes advantage of him... again.

    "Why don''t you three try this out yourself?" The boy suggested while pulling out a few more sheets of paper and gesturing for the scribes to approach the mechanism. "Start by priming the bob with ink andyering it on the typeset frame."<novelnext></novelnext>

    As the scribes tried to follow the instructions, the boy paused and helped correct any mistakes as they arose.

    "...that''s too much ink. See here, it''s dripping..."

    "...do not rotate the handle beyond the first sign of opposition. If you push excessively, you may end up tearing the paper..."

    "...this smudge urred because the application of ink was uneven. Keep an eye out for this the next time..."

    After his three scribes had a go printing four sheets each, the boy looked directly at Rove and said, "We wrote twelve sheets of simr text with the same quality within just four minutes. This is when these guys are still learning how to work this machine. How long does it usually take for you two to transcribe a page of this size?"

    One of the scribes answered, "It takes us two minutes to write a page with this much text. Well... since the type is so small - yet readable - there are much more words within one page, so I guess it might take us longer to write it out..."

    Furion didn''t have to say another word for Rove to grasp the underlying message of the gaze the boy sent his way. Rove could feel the smugness eking out of the boy''s eyes, although the kid tried his best to present a professional and well-meaning smile.

    "Before printing, we need to first prep the typesetting frame with the page that we want to print," the boy continued. "What I made you work with is a pre-prepped frame. I will now show you how to typeset your page."

    The boy moved over to the type case and started to pour in the metal blocks from the storage boxes nearby. "One of the harder parts of typesetting is being able to read the text while it is mirrored. As you saw earlier, a typeset page is basically the mirrored version of the final output. Thankfully, all of you are literate so it shouldn''t take you much time to grow ustomed to it."

    "Typesetting is the process ofposing the page to be printed. Usually, when you transcribe texts by hand, you follow a basic set of conventions to ensure that the text is readable and standardised. This may be by establishing standard margins, fixing the number of words per page, setting a standard size for the text, and so on. These concepts can also be tranted for printing with the Gutenberg Press. If you observe the page we printed earlier, you will see that the text in each line is evenly spaced out ensuring that the entire page appears like a uniform block. This is called justified alignment of text. We do this by adding spacing blocks between text. As novice typesetters, you don''t have to preupy yourselves with this for the time being, but I suggest that you start experimenting with this as soon as possible to raise the quality of your output," Furion suggested. He pulled out a draw and revealed a peculiar metal tool.

    "This is called aposing stick. You can build your page using this device. You will notice that it is preset to a certain text width which matches most published book sizes with your model of the Gutenberg Press. Once you grow proficient, I suggest that you experiment with this by loosening and sliding the fixture on the side," the boy said while pointing at a knob.

    "For practice, we will be typesetting the same page that you printed earlier. I will set up the first line, I want you people to try setting the subsequent lines, okay?" The boy instructed while proficiently dipping his hands into cubbies, pulling out metal blocks and sliding them into ce.

    "... You can utilise nk blocks to add line-spaces, paragraph breaks, and other such conventions..."

    As the scribes each tried their hand at setting a line, the boy would intervene and provide an exnation.

    "... You are using a different font size. Font size refers to the standard text sizes you can work with. This letter is size 12 and this is size 14. We use an internal metric of measurement to design these font sizes..."

    "... The text is backwards. When you print this line, you will see that it isn''t written in the correct order. Fix it..."

    "Since we have finished setting this page, it is now a matter of sliding this into the frame. You are provided with a standard frame with a preset 1 nge-width margin," the boy said while raising a finger and pressing his thumb against the first nge segment from the tip of the extended finger. "Again, once you are familiar, you can try your hand with the nk frame provided."

    The boy slid the typeset blocks into the frame and jiggled it to see if things were snug. Once done, he moved to the Printing Press and removed the existing frame.

 Chapter 218 Consumer Psychology (Part Two)

    "Cleaning the blocks is extremely trivial. All you need to do is soak them for exactly one minute in the solvent in that container. You can purchase additional containers of this solvent in bulk from Verum Trading Company. Note that any damage incurred to the blocks, as long as it is through the use of the official solvent, will be refunded for free," the boy droned.

    "I want you people to affix, prime and print this time. Apply everything you''ve learned and produce five identical prints. Can you do that for me?" Furion inquired while stepping away from the Press.

    Rove''s scribes wore a stressed frown and approached the mechanism. One of the three picked up the frame and ced it carefully into the depression in the carriage. While he ensured that it was tight, the other scribe started to dab the bob into the ink. Once the first scribe moved away from the carriage, the one with the bob approached it and started to prime it with a rigid kneading motion. During this, the third-ced the paper into the tympan, lowered the frisket and hinged the inclined surface onto the block after it was primed. He then slid the carriage underneath the ten and inspected it to see if everything was aligned properly. After he was confident that everything was in ce, he twisted the handle and lowered the ten onto the carriage. When he experienced opposition, he waited, raised the ten and pulled out the carriage.

    The first scribe removed the paper and moved it to the side to let the ink dry. Rove couldn''t help but reveal a satisfied smile as he saw the perfectly printed paper.

    "Common practice is to print odd-numbered pages first and then print the even-numbered pages on the reverse side of the paper so that a standard book can be coted," Furion exined to Rove. "This process can be streamlined by having the free worker set up the next page while the remaining two operate the machine. If I can direct your attention to this device here, it should be familiar to you as a book-binder. This is set up to produce standard binds, however, there are more variations you can work with."

    The boy dipped into his bag and revealed five different thin booklets with a variety of binding patterns, "Standard practice is to use the Coptic binding, however you can use a spiral metal bind by adding the hole-punch essory to the book-binder. It is useful if the book is thicker. If you require book-binding training, that can also be purchased from Verum Trading Company."

    The boy did not pause and continued to pull out additional books from his bag. "This is a more advanced binding technique which uses section-based grouping. This is superior to the single-sheet binding methods used normally because with the purchase of ourrger Gutenberg Press, you can print wider sheets with multiple pages in a single go. If I can direct your attention to this book here, you can see that the first sheet is paired with the fifteenth sheet, the second to the fourteenth, and so on until it meets at the centre. By being able to print multiple sheets at once, you can reduce the printing time by a quarter since you can print four pages at once with therger Press. Of course, this requires greater nning and familiarity with typesetting and the printing press as a whole. Therger press can also amodate posters and other printing operations."

    Furion flipped open a thicker book and pointed at the beautifully designed pages, "This book is a catalogue of the different typesetting methods and avable fonts. If you wish to learn more about typesetting, you can purchase a training course for it from Verum Trading Company which will take you through everything you need to know to be an expert typesetter and produce these magnificent works of text."

    "... You can purchase any of these avable fonts from Verum Trading Company for the following listed prices..."

    "... Verum Trading Company also takes custom orders for unique fonts, if you wish to have your work stand out from the rest. After all, we expect the Gutenberg Press to be ubiquitous in the publishing industry in theing years and having your own special font can y towards your business''s unique identity. Of course, Verum Trading Company offers special training and assistance in this process to ensure that creating your own font is easy and hassle-free..."

    "... The Gutenberg Press is highly functional and able to perform a myriad of other printing operations. If you wish to print images and pictures you canmission them with Verum Trading Company. If I can draw your attention to this page, you can see the existing blocks up for offer..."

    ____

    Mister Larks had handed Furion a script when he left to verify the delivery with Lewin''s Bookshop and Transcription Services. Through some serious rote-work, Furion managed to memorise the whole darn thing. While he did this, Mister Larks taught him the concept of branding and its importance in marketing. The concept of repeating thepany''s name, reiterating thepany''s beliefs, and drilling what thepany stands for into the minds of the consumer through psychological tactics was fascinating. Though he remained sceptic at first, Furion was surprised to see just how effective it was as he saw his first customer''s, Rove''s, eyes sparkle in earnest. The man was literally bursting to order a few more of the fonts and was nearly tempted to purchase therger Gutenberg Press.

    At this point, Furion''s instinct urged him to tip Rove''s hesitance in his favour, but the script dictated that it was now the product''s turn to convince the consumer. Since the script had worked till this point, Furion wasn''t going to argue against it and proceeded to pack up his things.

    "Thus ends theplimentary demonstration. Thank you for leasing the Gutenberg Printing Press by the Verum Trading Company - an affiliate of the True World Sect."

    "W-Wait! Lease?" Rove sputtered. "I''m leasing this thing? All that money and I don''t even own the damn machine?"

    Furion held in his irritation once again as he internally repeated, ''the customer is King!'' - a treasonous sentence but one that Mister Larks metaphorically tattooed on Furion''s tongue.

    "Unfortunately, there are very few of these Gutenberg Presses to go around. It is an extremely intricate piece of machinery which takes weeks and many capable hands working at the Burning Forge to produce. Each is built with utmost care to maintain the trademark quality that is expected from Verum Trading Company. The reason we opt for the leasing model is to unburden the consumer with the hassle of maintaining the product in top working condition. If there are any malfunctions due to the product''s inbuilt failures, it is on us to fix them for you free of charge. You are paying the lease for your own peace of mind."

    "I mean... that does sound reasonable," the bumbling idiot of a business owner mumbled. Honestly, Furion just could not understand how this man had managed to keep his business afloat for so long. He did not even nce beyond the first page of the contract before signing it the first time, and now he had the gall to refute the validity of his purchase?

    ''The customer is King!'' Furion repeated in his mind to stop the curses from bubbling out.

    "On that note, I require your signature to verify that the delivery and the demonstration," Furion dered while unrolling another parchment. He didn''t miss the relieved sigh from the owner upon seeing the sparseness of this contract.

    With all the formalities ounted for, Furion bid the owner farewell before exiting the store. He walked for a few minutes before turning around the block anding face to face with the parked caravan that had delivered the Printing Press.

    "Young Master Furion," the driver greeted with a low bow.

    "Let''s get a move on," Furion said as he ascended the carriage. "We have two more deliveries to make after all."

    "Is there a need for you to do this personally, Young Master?" The driver asked with a distressed expression.

    "I must do this if I am to earn my keep," Furion shrugged. "Besides it is a valuable learning opportunity."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How so?" The driver inquired offhandedly while agitating the horses to move forward.

    "It allows me to be acquainted with more people and gain greater insight into consumer psychology," Furion responded.

    "Psychology?"

    "The way people think and behave. This is especially important in business since being able to predict the response from the consumer can help us make smarter and cost-effective decisions," Furion borated.

    "How so, Young Master?"

    "Well, let''s take the cushion you''re using as an example. How much did you pay for it?" Furion asked.

    "I believe this costs 2 silver coins," the driver answered without hesitation.

    "Now don''t think too much about what I''m about to ask next, just answer with the first response thates to mind. If there were two simr cushions in the market. One which costs 2 silver coins and another which costs 1 silver and 99 copper coins. Which one would you buy?"

    "I''d buy the one which costs 1 silver and 99 copper coins," the man answered.

    "Why?"

    "Because it is cheaper."

    "Would pay for it with 1 silver coin and 99 copper coins exactly?"

    "Who carries so many copper coins?" The man chuckled. "I''d pay 2 silver coins."

    "Does a single copper coin matter much in this case?"

    "Well..."

    "Right, so as the person selling the product, by making a loss of a single copper coin I managed to attract another customer in apetitive market," Furion said with a smile.

    "I guess..."

    "Now, let''s say that after purchasing my cushion and being satisfied with its quality. You wish to buy another one. After a series of simr purchases over a longer time frame, if one day youe to the market and see my cushion being sold for 2 silver coins, which is the standard market price. Would you choose mine or mypetitor''s?"

    "I''d choose yours," the driver answered.

    "Why?"

    "Well... I''d be used to your product because I know its quality."

    "And that''s consumer psychology at work," Furion concluded.

    "That''s amazing!" The driver eximed. "Master Dune would be proud, Young Master."

    Furion revealed a sheepish smile and muttered, "I hope..." as he retreated into the carriage.

 Chapter 219 Road To Upper Management

    Verum Trading Company did not experience ster sales numbers in their first month of operation. Not many publishers and bookshops were willing to hedge their bets on an invention they had never heard of. This was understandable since there was no analogue to a printing press in existence in this world. There was only so much a sales representative, which was mostly Furion, could do with their use of flowery and descriptivenguage to convince a customer without making it sound like a total scam.

    A total of ten Gutenberg Presses were sold in the first month. ounting for the cost of production and distribution made it so that thepany just broke even. Furion felt discouraged as he perused through the finances while delivering his report to Guy.

    "Don''t feel so down. We''re just starting," Guy said to assuage the boy''s difort. Not all businesses operated the same way. While a business is judged on its ability to generate a profit, it shouldn''t be used as a nket parameter to measure its sess.

    "A start-up usually never generates profit within its first year of operation," Guy reminded.

    "I get that," Furion said with a sigh. "It just feels discouraging to see negatives, you know?"

    "It''s only temporary. We have done our due diligence, investigated the market, and built a robust business. I''ll let you in on a little secret," Guy said with a whisper. "The Printing Press was never supposed to be the profit generator."

    Furion''s eyes widened in incredulity. It made no sense to him that the product which the business was selling wasn''t designed to generate a profit.

    "Remember the day when I pitched the business to your father?" Guy reminded. "Can you repeat to me your suggestion for how we should sell the Printing Press?"

    Furion closed his eyes and tilted his head. "I believe I said that we shouldn''t sell the product at first, but lease it."

    "Why was that?"

    "W-Well the product isn''t a consumable, and we expect it tost for a long time so periodic purchases are out of the question-"

    "Sorry to interrupt you there," Guy interjected with a raised palm. "Your statement about periodic purchases is false. There will be periodic purchases, only that the said ''period'' will be in years rather than in days, weeks or months. As we upgrade our product and release newer versions of it with a series of updates bundled together, our customers will be enticed to purchase it thus sustaining brand loyalty."

    After all, this was the same business model employed by the technology industry in Guy''s original world. AND, he knew for a fact that it was a viable and lucrative model at that, so why not just replicate it in this world?

    "I''m sorry, the product can be upgraded?" Furion eximed.

    "Of course! Everything can be innovated upon. That''s the whole purpose of our business. As it stands, the Printing Press is wholly manual in nature. We should strive to automate it. We must automate every stage of the process from the typesetting to the printing. In fact, it is also possible to automate the process prior to publishing - the writing of the draft manuscript," Guy exined.

    "I''ll let you in on a potential product we will be producing which will synergise with the Printing Press," Guy whispered as he edged closer to Furion. He retrieved a roll of parchment and unfurled it hastily, revealing an immensely intricate design that looked iplete. "I''m still trying to figure it out... It''s a bit beyond my level, though..."

    "What is this?" Furion inquired as he tried to make heads or tails of the diagram.

    "It''s called the Typewriter," Guy answered. "It''s a machine that holds the same function as the Printing Press but at a smaller and more personal scale. It will rece handwriting."

    Guy then proceeded to give a brief overview of the device''s functionality.

    "This is more ubiquitous! This product will find use everywhere. We can have one in every house!" Furion rambled excitedly. "Office work, note-taking, finance..."

    "Let''s hold on to our horses there," Guy interjected hurriedly. "This is still a bit beyond us. Let''s say that I can figure out the kinks of this machine andplete the blueprint, manufacturing this machine will be a massive task that will take a very long time. The cost of manufacture in terms of temporal and physical resources will far exceed the price we can set for it. We are still a few more technological levels behind."

    "Anyways, sorry for derailing you there. Let''s get back to what you were saying before," Guy traced back.

    "Right! As I was saying, the Printing Press isn''t something people will buy on a regr basis. Even if they do, I predict the period between sessive purchases of the device following the upgrades to span at least half a decade at least. In that case, we cannot profit from selling this product, thus I devised the leasing scheme," Furion reasoned.

    "But to benefit from this business model, we will have to lease a lot of these machines," Guy added. "I figured that it would be the case from the start. That''s why my goal wasn''t to profit from selling-sh-leasing Printing Presses but to squeeze out profits from auxiliary purchases."

    "Auxiliary purchases?"

    "Once the market evolves after the release of the first round of books published through the Printing Press, we will see a sudden increase in intrigue and demand for the source of these uniquely ''transcribed'' books. Competitors will scramble to figure out how these books were produced, and they will learn about the Printing Press. Sabotage, theft and corporate espionage will follow, during which we can expect the breakdown of a lot of our sold products due to the enchantment that induces said breakdown if the product is tampered with in any way."

    "Our customers will fileints with us and call us for a free refund, in which case we will point out a use in our contract that denies said refund since it was caused by a fault at the customer''s end. However, we will ''graciously oblige'' for the first time. During the subsequent months, we can expect to umte revenue through maintenance and repair orders. Then, we can expect additional orders as more and more publishers get enamoured by our product and its efficiency and efficacy. As this pattern progresses, the book market will start bing saturated with simr looking books and that is when our customers will start seeking out ways to stand out."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy snapped his finger and pointed at Furion excitedly, "That''s where wee in! What were the additional services offered by Verum Trading Company written in the script you''ve been using?"

    "Are you talking about the training, custom font, and so on?"

    "Exactly! This is when all these overlooked goods and services offered by ourpany will shine. For the simple cost of man-hours and piddly resources, we can umte revenue. For an hour-long workshop about basic typesetting, we can bill our customers a substantial amount. This is where I will need you to help me out, Furion. I need you to brainstorm and cote ideas for ways to generate revenue."

    Furion nodded resolutely and said, "I''ll get on it, but I have my hands full at the moment with sales."

    Guy frowned lightly, causing Furion''s expression to falter. "Furion, between the two tasks assigned to you, which is more important?"

    Furion didn''t need to think much before saying, "It''s the sales." Yet after seeing no affirmation from Guy, his tone wilted with indecision, "Right?"

    "Always look beyond the surface," Guy said as he returned to his desk. As he didn''t have his own private space to work from, the ssroom doubled as his office.

    "Sales ARE important, that''s how we generate revenue, after all," Guy affirmed. "But what then? Are thepany''s resources being used to their full potential?"

    Furion furrowed his brows and bit his lips in thought. "That''s why you''re asking me to brainstorm additional possible revenue streams that can be explored in the meantime?"

    "With that established, do you still think sales is more important right now?"

    "No," Furion answered. "So, I''ll put my current sales tasks on hold-"

    "No," Guy interjected. "You need to do those as well."

    "B-But I can''t do both."

    Guy stared at Furion hoping to spark an epiphany from the bumbling boy.

    "Both tasks need to be addressed. One is more important for the future of the business, while the other is important for the business'' present. Yet both need to be achieved simultaneously," Guy reiterated. "Obviously, you can''t split yourself in two. What will you do?"

    "I could..." Furion mumbled, "hire someone?"

    "Good thinking," Guyuded. "What will you have the new hire do?"

    "Work in sales?"

    "Perfect," Guy said with a smile. "You will have to train them and bring them up to speed. Do you think you can handle that?"

    "I will!" Furion answered with confidence.

    Guy moved his hand towards Furion, who flinched by instinct. Guy''s approach faltered, but he resumed nheless and gently ruffled the pudgy boy''s hair.

    "This is your first step towards upper management, Furion," Guy exined. "In a business, it isn''t the manager''s job to do everything. You hire people for that, while you focus on the bigger picture."

    "Congrattions!" Guy apuded. "As of today, you are unofficially assigned the title of Chief Operating Officer or COO of Verum Trading Company. On paper, you will be receiving a sry bump to reflect the additional responsibilities that will fall on your shoulders. I will be training you from this point onwards so that you can assume this position officially at ater point in time when I deem you ready."

    "T-Thank you...?" Furion did not exactly understand any of what was said, but the nature of Guy''s tone implied it was a good thing. ''I heard there was a raise, so it must be a good thing... I guess?''

    Guy smiled wholeheartedly while whooping in relief on the inside. He did not enjoy business management. He hated it. Despised it. Deplored it. Resented it immensely. He nned to hand off everything to someone more capable as soon as possible so that he could return to what he enjoyed doing most, which was teaching. Furion appeared to have the proper business acumen, all that was left was to unearth it. Guy was doing his best to guide Furion down that path.

 Chapter 220 Hitch-Hiking

    East of Radiant City, themerce capital of the Sr Empire,y the vast and dense Green-Sky Forest. Its sprawling and undisciplined woods extended for many kilometres before facing their first obstacle in the form of the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range which hugs the forest from its northern to its southern limits in a crescent shape. To pass through this mountain range, one must follow the path which cut right through its centre, leading into the Whispering-Woods Forest on the other side.

    The peculiarity of the mountain range stemmed from the fact that its lowest peaks were found right at the centre of the crescent while the highest was at its tips at the north and south. On the contrary, the mana density followed an inversely proportional trend, with greater mana concentration near the centre of the mountain range and decreasing as one moved north or southwards. Hence, one would find magical resources, and powerful and intelligent beasts in abundance at that centre, which also happened to be where most foot traffic fell, since caravans could only take this road to cut through the mountain range unless they decided to waste additional time to take the safer path around the mountains.

    Many had tried to start a sect in the strategically fortified inner regions of the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range, yet none seeded. This was because in trying to secure the most mana-abundant locations on the range, one would need topete with other mages and sentient beasts that roamed in the Core Condensation Realms and above, such as the notorious Thunderbird couple and their offspring that practically ruled the mountain range. To that end, there were always a few eyes pasted warily on the range looking out for upstarts looking to establish a base there or harvesting some of the more arcane and rare magical resources that sprouted in the range and the surrounding forestry. After all, the world of cultivation was a crucible...

    Nheless, Marie had just stepped foot into this crucible, and she was giddy with excitement. The Master-Disciple duo had travelled from Twilight Vige to their first stop, Wayward Town. Usually, this would take someone a day or two toplete via carriage or horseback, but the two hadpleted this journey by foot. Of course, pedestrian travel should have taken much longer, given the abysmal condition of the road connecting the vige and the town, yet the duo took exactly a day and a half after a continuous trek.

    "How do you walk so quickly with a messed up leg?!" Marie eximed as she noticed her Master literally gliding over the ground while still walking with a limp. In response, he chuckled mischievously and overtook her.

    "Try to keep up, girl," he joked.

    "This Movement Art is extremely-" she stumbled over her own feet, stopped to catch herself and resumed gliding forward just like her Master. "-difficult! There are so many processes happening at the same time - breathing, muscle control, timing the steps... And it''s so tiring!"

    "If you''re already getting tired with this short trek, how do you expect to travel all the way to our destination?"

    "We''re going to walk all the way there?" Marie blurted out while stopping in her track. "Nope! Not doing that! Nuh-uh."

    "Then what''s the alternative?" Her Master shot back.

    "We''ll hitch a ride with a caravan or convoy," Marie responded matter-of-factly.

    "Just so you know, I''m not going to involve myself in these shenanigans," Krish snorted while waving his hands. "I can walk all the way there. I don''t need a ride."

    "Yeah, yeah," Marie evoked sarcastically and resumed the arduous yet hasty glide towards Wayward Town.

    ____

    Marie hummed contemtively as her eyes scanned over the many caravans parked in Wayward Town.

    "So many choices," she voiced out loud.

    "Just pick one already," her Master sighed from behind her. "They''re all Eastward bound anyways."

    "Patience, Master," Marie responded. "Only one of the three here stands a chance to make it past the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range and into Whispering-Woods."

    "So? If the answer''s clear, just pick it and go along with it," her Master retorted inly.

    "It''s not time yet. They won''t take us on if we go now. We must wait for-" Marie elongated the syble while observing the chosen caravan with increased vigour until eventually, arge procession of individuals started to leave the caravan and moved towards another. "-that!"

    Marie noted that the people leaving were the escorts originally hired by the caravan. Their leaving meant that either they weren''t being paid enough or they were being paid an even greater amount by the other party hiring them. She looked on as the leader of the escorting group walked out briskly while a frantic figure of a merchant familiar to her jogged behind him and tried to convince him animatedly.

    "Let''s go," Marie called out to her Master as she moved toward the merchant.

    "Jory! How are you?" Marie greeted the troubled man with a smile. The person in question, Jory, was a stout middle-aged individual with a jutting belly. Although, the worry stered across his face had scrunched his skin and exacerbated his age.

    The man jerked his neck to track the person calling his name, his hands instinctively twirling his thin and well-trimmed moustache.

    "Marie? Is that you?" He asked incredulously as his mind retrieved the name attached to the face before him.

    "What was that all about?" Marie asked while gesturing her head towards the now distant escort leader.

    The man sighed in defeat and said, "Those bastards at Roving stole my escort by paying them an outrageous amount. Can''t trust these new Sects, I tell ya! They''ll leave you at the drop of a hat - no loyalty at all."

    "So what''re you going to do?" Marie probed.

    "What can I do?" He groaned. "We gotta get through the pass one way or another. And I can''t dy the delivery. I guess I''ll just have to bite the arrowhead and go at it without an escort."

    "Isn''t it dangerous?"

    "Of course it is!" The man shrieked. "But what can I do?"

    "You can take us along?"

    "''Us''? You and who else?" The man shot back with a raised brow.

    "Me and my Master here- Where is he?" Marie craned her neck and bellowed. "MASTER! Here!"

    Jory noticed a destitute man hobbling over with a limp, responding to Marie''s call.

    "This is your Master? What is he teaching you?" Jory probed.

    "Magic, of course," Marie answered proudly.

    "Really?" Jory voiced his scepticism audibly. "I don''t know Marie-"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You said it yourself!" Marie quickly interjected. "You said that you have no other choice. Here, I just gave you one and that too for free. Don''t be so stubborn and think about it. You know me! Do you think I''d throw my eggs into a cracked basket?"

    Jory revealed a bitter smile and admitted, "Fine. I''ll let youe along. But no funny business, okay? And I ain''t doing it for free either. Standard hitchhiking prices."

    "I promise you that you will waive our fees soon," Marie dered mysteriously as she guided her Master into the front-most caravan.

    Jory sighed once again as the two walked away. He then continued toment his misfortune internally and prayed dearly to the ancient spirits so that his trip would go without a hitch. Although, the current turn of events had definitely affected the sincerity of his prayers.

    ____

    "Stop!" Marie yelled out, loud enough that the entire caravan heard it. In doing so, the whole moving unit came to a sudden halt. Marie could see that the horses were unnerved, even before her call. They were simply moving forward due to themand of their masters, if given the opportunity they would have fled without thought.

    "What?!" Jory shot back instinctively. "Hey! You don''t order my caravan around!"

    "If you don''t want to die, I rmend that you stop this very instant. Another step and your life is forfeit," Marie dered morosely.

    "Are you threatening me?" Jory growled.

    "No, I''m trying to save you," Marie corrected. "If you take another step forward from here, you will be in a condition where you can actually y with your guts."

    "Huh?" Jory eximed with a shudder.

    "Let us wait here for... exactly two hours," Marie added.

    "Two hours?! You can''t just stop a caravan on the road for two hours like this. What if someonees from behind? We''re like sitting ducks here, what if beasts or bandits attack?" Jory started to rattle questions one after the other, without pause. Marie raised her palm and stopped the man''s rambling.

    "If anything goes wrong, I willpensate you," Marie assured.

    "How? You''re just a poor orphan," Jory snapped instinctively, only to bite his tongue apologetically.

    "Trust me one more time, why don''t you? I haven''t led you poorly before. Remember that time I caught the thief siphoning off money from your business?" Marie reminded. "Consider this stopping request as paying back for that."

    "Paying back? I paid you handsomely back then for your efforts, our debt is cleared," Jory rasped.

    "Stop arguing for a second and look around you," Marie said. "Do you hear anything? Do you hear any birds? Insects?"

    At that moment, Jory noticed the eerie silence lingering around them. Although it was broad daylight, the ambience was spine-chilling.

    "Look at your horses! They''re practically shaking," Marie said. At that instant, Jory could glean that there was definitely something fishy going around. Like any living being, his sense of self-preservation took hold, and he immediately ordered a two-hour break.

    ____

    "W-What happened here?" Jory gasped as he saw the gruesome massacre sprawled before him. After the two hours had psed the group continued their journey. Within half an hour, they stumbled upon a scenery that would agitate one''s lunch to make a sudden exit through the oral cavity.

    "Thunderbird attack," the old man who Marie referred to as her Master opened his mouth for the first time. "Highly territorial and equally protective of their offspring. Sometimes even more so than Griffins."

    "A Thunderbird did this?" Jory pulled his eyes away from half a body of a man perched awkwardly on a branch with his intestines snaking downwards.

    "Two to be exact," the old man corrected.

    "Why would they do this? I thought they never attacked caravans passing through here?" Jory inquired.

    "That would be the case. But the caravan before you folk were transporting a Thunderbird egg," Krish answered.

    "A fucking Thunderbird egg? Through Thunderbird territory? Are they insane?" Jory scoffed.

    "They were under orders," Marie chimed in with a dejected shake of her head as she levitated the body down from the branch and piled it up with arge mound of eviscerated, charred and crushed bodies of the casualties from the Thunderbird attack. Amidst the pile, Jory managed to pick out the distinctive attire of the Sect members who were initially part of his earlier escort group.

    "Couldn''t they have just travelled around the mountains?" Jory asked.

    "The egg was close to hatching, they wouldn''t have made it in time. They couldn''t risk the hatchling imprinting on a random person other than the tamer it was meant for," Krish rified.

    Jory gulped audibly and probed, "Is this why you asked us to wait back there?"

    Marie nodded as she pulled out a piece of wood from her bag. She pointed at the pile of bodies and shot forward a steady stream of fire from the wooden stick''s tip, engulfing all of them, "The beasts were at Core Condensation realm. The range of their mana sense ended near that location. If we moved closer, we would have entered their radar and sumbed to their rampage."

    Jory instructed his caravan to move around the burning pile. "Thank you."

    Marie walked back to the leading carriage and hopped on. Her morose face cleared up and revealed a sly smile. "As thank you, why don''t you waive our fees?"

    Jory choked on his spit and descended into a coughing fit. "You sneaky girl! Fine. But only on the condition that we make it to our destination in one piece."

    "Deal!" Marie dered as she pushed her palm forward for a shake.

 Chapter 221 State Of The True World Sect

    No one suspected that a group would choose Mount Tai, one of the tallest peaks in the range known to be notoriously mana scarce, as the base of a sect.

    The days passed swiftly, turning into months until finally, an entire year had passed since Guy resolved to start a Sect of his own. Within the past year, much had changed in Twilight Vige. For one, some of the rustic mud, thatch and wood architecture had upgraded to more robust wood and brick designs. This improvement was through the initiative of the vigers themselves since the birth of a Sect often followed economic growth. This decision also indicated that the vigers trusted and believed in Guy''s Sect. A few additional buildings had even sprouted within the vige. One of the most important ones was the public bath that stood at the vige''s centre, with a sauna that routed fresh water from the stream and filtered it through a very simple ritual formation.

    This was Jean''stest project which was positively received by the vigers. Ever since the sessful birthing procedure of Chiani Lane, the vigers viewed Jean as a deific figure capable of saving people at the brink of death. Her words regarding personal and public hygiene had be gospel. Guy was sure that if the girl told the vigers that cutting off the tip of their toes would increase their life expectancy by a year, they would do it blindly. Thankfully, the girl was rational, benevolent and a pacifist at heart. Through observation and primary research, Jean found that even with the advent of soap, the level of personal hygiene in the vige was abysmal. People regrly suffered from avoidable illnesses due to infections. As an aspiring healer, and one enlightened to the ''truths'' of the world, Jean firmly believed that "prevention is better than the cure" - if a disease can be prevented then it must be done so.

    Therefore, after some brainstorming with Guy, Jean decided to go forward with the rather controversial idea of a public andmunal bath. Now although the general architecture followed by the Sr Empire could be found simr to the Ancient Greco-Roman designs from Earth, the people here were conservative to an ufortable degree. Jean was apprehensive that the idea for a public bath would be met with hesitance and distaste by the vigers, but Guy convinced her that with some innovative marketing she could skew public opinion. Furthermore, Guy was sure that the vige folk wouldn''t be so averse tomunal bathingpared to city folk. Normally the men and women of the vige bathed in the stream, though they did it at different times - the public bath differed in that they could bathe simultaneously.

    The bath was gender-segregated and followed the Roman design by having arge pool at the centre, which was temperature and climate controlled by very simple ritual formations that were self-sustaining. The water was siphoned from the stream through some ingenious terraforming contributed by Markus and passed through another filtering ritual formation that killed bacteria and separated the residuals from the water. As Guy saw the bath taking shape, he decided to contribute as well and redirected some builders to help make the bathrger and added saunas. Guy figured that by doing so, he could then have Sect members visit the vige''s Public bath to cleanse themselves and form friendlier rtions with the vigers. Guy did not want his Sect to iste itself and grow distant from the regr, non-magical folk like the other sects in this world. By having these opportunities for Sect members to revisit their roots, he could stop such detrimental stigmas from forming.

    After itspletion, the public bath had turned into a sort of congregation spot for all ages. The youngsters would swim and y in the pool while the elders soaked themselves or cooked themselves in the pleasurable steam sauna. As this slowly turned into the norm, Jean was relieved to see her project reach fruition. To top it off, there was an overall improvement in the viger''s health as Jean observed reduced cases ofmon ailments.

    However, the greatest change that transpired in Twilight Vige, ironically, wasn''t within the vige itself. Rather, if one were to follow the road leading from Wayward Town to Twilight Vige, they would note the sudden increase in the path''s quality. The jerky, muddy path was now ttened andyered with cobblestones to ensure unhindered travel via carriage, horseback, or foot. This cobblestone path wove from Wayward Town till Twilight Vige turned sideways and rose an incline until it halted at True World Sect''s brand-new campus.

    What was originally a quaint in with a rundown building doubling as the Mount Tai Orphanage, was now a sprawling, walledpound. Neers following the newly built cobblestone path to the location would first face a set ofrge metal-framed wooden doors embedded into the stone walls with two stone pirs framing the doors on either side. Hanging above the doors, in line with the wall''s roof tiles was a stone tablet with the words "True World Sect" engraved on it. On the wooden door, arge symbol was engraved and painted which resembled the Sect''s logo - the azimuthal equidistant projection of Earth from Guy''s old world.

    Going past the Sect''s entrance, one would then stumble upon the new and improved Mount Tai Orphanage, which was now the official Weing Centre to the True World Sect. Simr to the assessment made by Mylo when surveying the orphanage, the builders hired to implement upgrades on the building concluded that the structure was robust and did not need additional reinforcement. A series of remodelling attempts and a basic refurbishmentter, the building how projected its ancient majesty with full force.

    The Weing Centre was where most, if not all the administrative work for the Sect and its affiliated business was set to take ce. To that end, the housing of its previous upants was moved further back in after clearing up more of the woods behind the orphanage. Guy insisted on a seamless marriage between nature and the Sect''s campus, thus a significant portion of the surrounding foliage was preserved while ensuring that the campus did not get crowded with trees and shrubbery. Therefore, a constant stream of pleasant breeze swam through the campus grounds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy opted for a moremunity-oriented living arrangement, while also adhering to Grace''s strict request that the male and female youths be separated to opposite wings of the campus. To that end, Guy did not want arge fissure to form between members of the Sect standing in different positions. Hence, he nned for the Sect''s faculty and administrative staff to live amidst the regr members.

    The steps leading down to the vige also went through a thorough overhaul. The loose stones were fixed, and broken steps were remade. A simr gate was ced at the location of the wall leading to the steps with the Sect''s name and logo emzoned on it.

    Additional buildings were erected with the Sect''s campus, with more avable space and funds to work with, Guy managed to build a lecture building, which was filled with six average-sized ssrooms - matching the ssrooms he''d made in rural viges in his past life - with an open lecture hall adjacent to the building. He also managed to fit the Maker-Space into his budget, which was a single-storey building that was mostly empty barring machineries such as arge Gutenberg Press, a mana-poweredthe, milling machine and bench saw. There wererge tables with simple tools slotted into them and high benches to sit on while working. Even with this installed, there was still half of the room left empty for future additions. A basic forge was established outside and adjacent to the Maker-Space, for the more adventurous and hands-on inventors. The storeroom inside the building was filled with a fresh medley of resources such as wood, metals, fabrics and so on.

    To amodate thebat aspect of the Sect, two regtion-sizebat fields were installed close to the centre of the campus. At the centre of both was another building that extended into the ground and housed the weapons and training equipment.

    The functional buildings were positioned in the region of the Sect''s campus closer to downhill of Mount Tai. The leisure buildings, including the dorms and living arrangements, were ced at the rear of the Sect closer to the rising section of Mount Tai. A Community Centre, which contained a Mess Hall, a y Room, and an open yground outside was positioned between the two dorm wings.

    Behind the Community Centre, a new set of stairs was built that rose higher up the mountainside to another in at an even higher elevation. On this elevationy the pride and glory of the True World Sect - the Sect''s Library. Although Guy did not want to have knowledge hidden away from the Sect members, he didn''t want to trivialise its importance. He wanted his Sect''s members to respect the knowledge and information stored within the Sect''s library, which was now filled with all the books Guy had in his RoK, both from this world and his own. The altitude separation between the Sect and the Library was meant to evoke a passive sense of deference amongst his Sect''s members - that to gain said knowledge they would have to physically trek up the steps as an act of penance to temper their hubris.

    The Library itself had a design mimicking the Great Library of Alexandria as recreated from historical texts (before it was burned down). This was decided because the architecture matched that of the other buildings of the Sect. Since the Library was filled with books from the RoK, including those from his past life, there could only be a singr copy of them. Therefore, he established a rule that no book could be taken out of the library. If knowledge was to be transported out, it had to be transcribed in the building itself by hand (or typewriter as soon as Guy figured out the convoluted contraption). Guy wanted to use this Library as the physical manifestation of the RoK, thus any book that was added to the RoK would be physically added here immediately after.

    Apart from these key structures, additional inclusions in the Sect''s campus were a Science Lab that bordered the path leading to Grace''s newly expanded garden. This was a three-tiered building behind the Maker-Space, with each tier corresponding to a branch of the three overarching fields of physical science. There were also misceneous buildings for personal hygiene scattered across the campus. With some ingenious plumbing, Guy managed to finally install a proper flushing mechanism and a basic squatting toilet. He didn''t splurge excessively for these structures since advancing in cultivation would ultimately render them redundant.

    This was the current state of the True World Sect. Even with all of these buildings and structures in ce, the campus was only half built. There were vast patches of empty space to amodate new additions as opportunities presented themselves and as the Sect grew - Guy wanted to hold on to that optimism. Regardless, Guy was proud of everything that was aplished within the tight time frame. The Sect''s foundations were in ce, now all that was left was to officially register it with the Sr Sect Alliance and then fill the Sect up with people. Coincidentally, the moment to check those boxes was within arm''s reach.

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 222 Setting Off For The Capital

    "Looks magnificent, doesn''t it?" Guy expressed with evident pride as he stood facing the entire campus from the entrance to the True World Sect.

    "Psht! It''s extravagant," Grace blurted out instinctively from his side. There was a slight sense of difort present on her face as she followed Guy''s gaze.

    "It''s necessary," Guy responded with a bitter smile. He could understand where her apprehension stemmed from. Even after livingfortably around budding and established mages for two years, she was finding it difficult to get over her ingrained stigma against them.

    Grace flinched to that response and said acquiescingly, "... I know. It''s... good."

    "I like it," Markus affirmed, walking over from behind Guy. Kano, Dora and Jean followed, with Josie tagging along. The group were returning after afortable soak at the bustling public bath down in the vige.

    "I like the yground in the Community Centre," Kano added excitedly.

    This was one-upped by Dora who recited, "Me too! Me too!"

    "I appreciate the upgrades to the garden," Jean expressed, though her stoic expression and monotonous voice did not support the emotion present in her statement.

    "I''d like to share in that appreciation," Grace said with a smile while hugging Jean by her arm.

    "It is adequate. I have seen better," Josie stated tly, breaking the reverie hanging in the air. All heads turned to face the woman, who wore an unperturbed expression matching her mistress.

    "Josie!" Jean reprimanded hurriedly, her eyes flitting between her attendant and Guy with a faint hint of worry eking out.

    "It''s alright, Jean. I appreciate the honesty. I''m open to feedback and suggestions, please let me know if there is anything I can do," Guy spoke up with a wry chuckle. He would be lying if he admitted that his Sect was perfect. Most of the architecture was built using carved stones,pared to the Cloudstrider Sect which was wholly built of marble with resplendent structures. Of course, the Cloudstrider Sect could be set as the gold standard for sects in the Sr Empire, hence to that end Guy was sufficiently satisfied with how well his newly-formed Sect looked. Then again, Josie had probably seen better through her time serving in the Rasmus n.

    Josie cleared her throat, recognising her misspoken words and admitted, "Young Miss will be a part of this Sect, of course, it will be this ve''s responsibility to elevate its quality."

    "What now?" Markus interjected, trying to shift the stagnant and deted atmosphere. Guy hummed in contemtion before exining the next steps of the process.

    "Well, we will be travelling to the Capital of the Sr Empire for the Sr Sect Alliance Conference to officially register our Sect and recruit a few members. We need at least fifteen members in the Sect including the Sect''s Leader and Elders for it to be recognised as functioning. To qualify as an official member, the individual must be older than twelve years of age, so we cannot include Dora and Kano. Grace cannot cultivate, so although she is a part of the Sect she is recognised as an Auxiliary member. This means that including Marie and Mage Nara, there are only five people in our Sect at the moment. Unfortunately for us, there will only be three members joining us from the Vige - not all parents want their child to grow up to be a mage which is admittedly a dangerous path to take. This means that we will be short of seven members. Although we can register under the Alliance, our state will be in limbo until we meet this requirement."

    After Guy finished, Grace was quick to point out the growing number of checkpoints on the road to set up a Sect. "So many rules and regtions!"

    After all, the whole fifteen-member quota was not part of the initial set of prerequisites she was informed of by Guy. To that, Guy sighed sympathetically and said, "I can understand their point of view on this matter. Without all of these regtions in ce, just about anyone can start a Sect. In doing so, it would attract conflict as Sects fight against each other for superiority. It would be a bloodbath. So, although some of the rules may seem excessive and others equally as pretentious, they are necessary... for the time being anyways."

    "What''s the travel itinerary, Master?" Markus inquired.

    Guy scratched his chin while retrieving the ns from his memory. "You, Jean and I will be travelling along with a Dune Caravan Management convoy to the capital. We will be functioning as the escorts, along with their own retinue and hired hands of course. For the record, treat this mission with utmost importance since there will be a few of Verum Trading Company''s products included in the convoy."

    To stay faithful to the Sect''s true purpose, Guy managed to snag a few escort positions in the monthly convoy that was managed by Dune Caravan Management which moved through key cities and trading points from Radiant City to the Capital. Usually, thepany would hire escorts from the Whispering Dusk Sect - another first-rate sect like Cloudstrider in the Sr Empire - for protection. Though this time, following some negotiation between Furion and his father, three escort spots were acquired for the True World Sect which was still unaffiliated with the Sr Sect Alliance. Thanks to this, Guy and his students would have a more hassle-free travel to the Capital.

    At that moment, Dora suddenly leapt in front of Guy and eximed. "I''ming as well!"

    "Dora-" Grace started to address the little girl before she was interrupted.

    "Kano went to the cityst time. You promised you''d take me there as well, but when the time came Mister Larks didn''t fulfil that promise!" Dorained with a distressed pout, before adding, "This time, I aming along too! Oh, and Kano cannote!"

    Guy quirked one of his eyebrows and probed, "Why can''t Kanoe?"

    Dora cleared her throat and spoke with a serious frown, "Because he already went once. We need to be fair in this matter."

    Guy had to physically hold back a chuckle as the girl''s figure merged with that of a miniaturewyer. "We... Let''s discuss this with Matron Reva, okay?"

    "No! I''m going! I''m going, I''m going, I''m going!" Dora shot back as she stomped her foot stubbornly. Guy could see that she was unwilling to budge.

    "Dora!" Grace intervened with a sharp tone. "Stop throwing a tantrum. Just as Guy said, we will discuss this first."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "B-But-" Pleaded with a shaking voice. The sudden stern voice of Grace had unnerved her.

    "That''s final!" Grace reaffirmed, cutting the girl midway.

    Dora''s eyes started to bubble over with tears. Her lips trembled as she tried to retort, but she ended up unable to form a proper response as her emotions burst forth. She screamed, "I... I hate you!" and ran away while rubbing her eyes and crying.

    "Dora-" Grace tried to follow the girl, her expression softening, but a hand suddenly reached forth and grabbed her by the shoulder. She turned and face Guy, who pursed his lips and shook his head. "What? You''re thinking of taking her along? This isn''t Radiant City, it''s the damn Capital! You''re taking her into a den of vipers where danger lurks around every corner. You can''t just ask me to stand aside?"

    Guy exhaled loudly and pulled Grace away from the crowd, he didn''t want their discussion to be misconstrued as disagreement amongst the kids. He then waited for Grace to calm herself and said, "She was fair in her statement. If I don''t take her with me, it would be considered showing favouritism to Kano."

    "We let Kano go because it was an opportunity for him to grow his skills," Grace argued in response.

    "That would still imply that we view Dora poorly just because she does not have any skills to make her stand out," Guy highlighted with a shrug. "That''s not a pleasant feeling. We will drive her further away."

    Guy''s rational evaluation convinced Grace. She recognised that she was powerless in this issue. In fact, she could put her foot down and forbid Dora from leaving, but that would end up estranging Dora and souring their rtionship. Besides, she did not want the girl to think that she valued Kano more than her.

    "Thanks, by the way," Grace stated. "I didn''t miss how you took the so-called ''bad cop'' role this time."

    "Raising kids is a two-person job, after all," Guy joked with a mischievous grin, only to receive a light elbow to his ribs from Grace.

    "I''ll go find her and tell her that she can travel with you, ONLY if she sticks with you at all times. If she gets into any mischief, lock her up on a carriage or something until she gets back," Grace said gruffly as she walked away. But while retreating, a pleasant smile graced her face as she realised the joy of sharing one''s burdens. Before Guy, she couldn''t indulge the kids with their wants. This wasn''t because she didn''t want to, but rather she realised how powerless she was in being able to protect them should any danger befall them. But now, she could rely on Guy to handle those risky endeavours.

    ''Just like a family,'' Grace thought unwittingly. Yet the moment she caught such thoughts fleeting through her mind, an exuberant red hue washed her cheeks. ''What am I thinking!'' Grace hurried her steps and started counting herbs mentally to avert her scandalous thoughts.

    ____

    Two days passed as the members of the True World Sect hustled to pack up their belongings for travel. The group leaving for the Capital now consisted of Guy, Markus, Jean and Dora. Of course, with Jeaning along, Josie was in tow as they were a package deal. At the crack of dawn on the third day, the quintet assembled at the entrance to the Sect, where a simple carriage awaited them. The cart was driven by Kannan Lane. The man volunteered to transport Guy and his posse to Wayward Town to express his gratitude and borrowed a simple cart from his employer to do so.

    "Good morning Uncle Lane," Dora greeted as she hopped onto the cart with difficulty. The bag hanging over her shoulders inhibited her entry, so the girl removed it, tossed it in, and leapt on with a practised motion.

    "Where are we going, youngdy," Kannan said with a reverent tone to jest with Dora. Dora covered her mouth and giggled before responding with a haughty tone, "To the capital, driver!"

    As the rest alighted onto the carriage, driven by two horses, Guy turned to bid farewell to Grace, who was trying her hardest to suppress the tears from flowing out of her red eyes.

    "We''ll be back," Guy promised. "Don''t worry, I''ll keep them safe."

    "Keep yourself safe!" Grace reminded. "I want everyone to return in one piece."

    "Bye Mister Larks," Kano said with tears on his face. He was a little disappointed that he couldn''t travel to the Capital, but he understood that it wouldn''t be fair to Dora.

    "We''ll go to the Capital again in the future, Kano. That time, I''ll take both you and Dora along," Guy said before patting the boy on his shoulders.

    "Take care, you two," Guy said onest time before stepping onto the carriage. He closed the door and gestured for Kannan to proceed.

    The wheels of the carriage jerked into motion, carrying the first members of the True World Sect to their first destination on their journey to the Capital.

    ''And so, it begins,'' Guy remarked internally. ''Let''s see what the future holds!''

    ____

    End of [VOLUME 3 - THE GRAND EXPERIMENT]

 Chapter 223 Darkness Dwelling In The Light

    A/N: Start of [Volume 4 - True World Sect]

    I''ll be focusing more on world building and action in this volume. I want to improve that aspect of my writing. So any feedback in wee. Leave a review if you''re free.

    ____

    The sun was at its zenith in its arc traversing from one end of the horizon to the other, bearing down imperiously over the vast Regal ins - an unblemished sprawling t grasnd that reigned dead-centre of the Sr Empire. There were no irregrities in the Regal ins, it was as if a mighty being swung a giant sword with one hand and sliced across arge patch ofnd, removing everything in its path and leaving a perfectly t surface, and then with the other hand sprinkled a fresh coating of grass over this barren surface.

    Three different rivers - the Indigo-Chill, Ragged-Current and Bubbling-Blue - swept through the region depositing minerals and augmenting the soil health. The Indigo-Chill River flowed Northwest to Southwest, spawning in the Indigo-Crest Mountains in the purview of the Balen Duchy - the river cuts through the Northern regions of the ins and joins into the sea at the Eastern end of the Empire. The Ragged-Current River has multiple spawning regions, one of which is the Southernmost mountain of Serrated-Peaks in the Maika Duchy. The stream originating from there is corroborated by another from the Deep-Turquoise Lake which borders both the Maika and Balen Duchy - hence inducing the ragged currents - and cuts right through the centre of the Regal ins and meets the sea at the south of the Empire. Finally, the Bubbling-Blue is a mischievous one that originates and terminates within the Draul Duchy at the Southeast of the Empire, simply arcing through the Southeastern quadrant of the ins during its journey.

    Needless to say, with three flowing water bodies gracing the region, these were highly fertile grounds. The periphery of the ins is stered with farnds, worked by farmers to support the enormous structure that stood at the centre of the ins and, by extension, the Sr Empire - Sunspear, the City of Dawn, the Capital of the Sr Empire, the abode of the Sr Emperor and his n. Sunspear was a massive city, one which covered over forty per cent of the sprawling Regal ins; to get from one end of the city to the other by foot would take a day and a half at best.

    The city was ancient, in mortal terms. Its origin extended back to the founding of the Empire itself around 2000 years ago. The first Emperor - the Sun''s Avatar as people called him - united all the powerful ns and minor rulerships governing the contested regions around him either through force or diplomacy (mostly force) and nted the throne at the centre of his Empire in Sunspear.

    From a strategic standpoint, the choice of location was suboptimal, given how there was literally no natural protection in the region - the city could be attacked from any direction with equal ease. However, from a trade and logistics perspective, it was supreme. The many rivers flowing through the region provided an easy mode of transport from the different parts of the Empire directly to the Capital. The ins were also easy to patrol, ensuring that few miscreants established roots and hindered trade.

    Furthermore, since it was located smack-dab in the middle of the Empire, any invading force would have to wade through thends of the Empire''s vassals before arriving at the Capital - unless of course some subterfuge and ndestine tactics are involved. Additionally, the First Emperor did not believe that anyone would sessfully overthrow him. He was invincible! Unshakeable! Unstoppable! His words.

    The First Emperor''s reign was short. He abdicated the throne the tenth year after the Empire stabilised to pursue advancement in his cultivation. As an immortal in the Tesseract Transformation Realm, he found that court proceedings and diplomacy were hampering him. He wasn''t cut out for it, and his soul was starting to stagnate.

    Since its establishment, Sunspear grew every few centuries in a form of circumferential or sectoral expansion. The first city was akin to a circle with a wall around it. During the second expansion, anotheryer was added around the wall and a wall was built to epass this newyer. Such expansions proceeded a few more times before they became impractical, at which point sectoral growth was pursued. A new sector would be added with a wall around it, connecting with the inner walls. Like that, a near maze-like city grew into existence. And due to the physical boundaries put in ce, the poor and destitute were organically eked out into the outer periphery as the rich and flourishing congregated near the centre, closer to the Pce.

    ____

    The Pce was both a magnificent architectural masterpiece and an exquisite work of artbined into one august and imposing structure thatmanded respect and awe from those observing it.

    A significant portion of the Pce was made off of a special kind of enchanted ss, capable of converting sr rays and enriching the ambient mana, raising the mana density of the Pce to match, and even exceed, the levels ofrge sects.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In recent years, that is since the reign of the current Sr Emperor, the Pce underwent a second expansion. Although the style and theme of this new section matched that of the old visually, the simrity did not extend into its perceived aura. Every excellent piece of work is defined as such because it transcends the superficial - it holds a special meaning that enraptures the observer in some way. The original Pce was the culmination of the works of many professionals across different fields. With free reign and nigh endless resources, they were given a wide berth in terms of how the Pce could be built. All they were told by the First Emperor was that "it must be timeless!"

    And timeless it was. Every nook and cranny of the Pce told a story, about its history, all the efforts that went into the formation of the Empire, the contribution of various people along the way, and so on. Every coloured pane stood out by itself, and every painting and ceramic adorning the halls was iparable.

    Unfortunately, the architects of the new wing could not capture this timelessness. In some ways, it wasn''t their fault either. The current Emperor hadmissioned the new expansion out of necessity. There was just not enough space within the Pce to house his Empress, Consorts and Concubines!

    Ultimately, this callous and imperceptibly depraved intention behind building the extension seeped into its walls. A faint aura of decadence prevailed in this region of the Pce. Kin fighting against kin, infanticide, poisoning, every possible vicious act imaginable, barring maybe cannibalism, urred within these walls. The Inner Court, as it is called, is a battlefield where no shy spells and martial attacks are exchanged yet blood is spilt nheless.

    Again, the fact that this wing had turned into a den of sin could not be foisted upon its inhabitants, which were the many consorts and concubines, because this was the only avenue they could take to gain an advantage. The name of the game was attracting the "favour" of the Emperor. The standard strategy would be to express one''s brilliance and beauty and pull in the attention of a man whose libido was in overdrive. Laudable strategy, except what if every other person around you was exactly like you?

    A man has a type of woman he is attracted to. Because of that, the entire Inner Court is saturated with simr women, with simr appearances, specialities and characteristics. Even those unique few that catch the Emperor''s eye and enter his harem either sumb to the depravity and change or get evicted from the Inner Court in a coffin. What then?

    When tugging at one''s heartstrings and genitals just doesn''t cut it, and the women fail to push themselves forwards amidst their so-called "sisters" the only option is to pull thepetition down... through any means necessary. Because gaining the Emperor''s favour not only benefits the women and their offspring, but it also affects their families. A favoured consort or concubine from a n can eke out benefits for their n through strategic pillow talk.

    Of course, the greatest source of advantage to hold the Emperor''s favour is birthing a male offspring. At that point, the attack gains two prongs and the woman no longer needs to alternate between the man''s heart and genitals. She can focus her entire attention on the genitals while the Prince can target the Emperor''s heart. This is why no woman in the Inner Court wished to yield that advantage to theirpetitor. The moment the news of the pregnancy of a consort or concubine is known, the conceiving woman bes the prime target. Thanks to the arrays lining the courtyard that prevents scrying and probing of the pregnant woman''s womb, it bes impossible to predict the gender of the child before birth. Thus, every pregnancy is a threat that needs to be neutralised.

    The Capital city is known to be a den of vipers. Danger lurks around every corner. Yet no one could predict that the most dangerous ce in the Capital would be within the Pce itself.

    Inside the Inner Court, where a life could be lost through the most innocuous of means, in the farther corners, ignored by everyone and rarely visited by the inhabitants of the pce, existed a courtyard whose name was forgotten. Its original upant, the Consort to whom it belonged, no longer lived. In that instance, the courtyard should have been reassigned, demolished or rebuilt. However, prior to her passing, the woman had birthed an offspring. Therefore, by the rules of the Inner Court, the courtyard was handed over to the child.

    The child that was forgotten, lived in a courtyard that was forgotten, tended to by no one, visited by no one.

    Tragic... But it was all intentional. Because to survive in a den of vipers one must douse their existence. They won''t know you exist if you don''t make any noise... if you don''t make any moves... if you remove every indication that you could be a threat.

    As for the identity of this forgotten child - the survivor? Her name was Shuri Sol.

 Chapter 224 Hidden In Plain Sight

    The sunlight bore down on the Pce of the Sun with heightened intensity bringing warmth and illuminating everything the rays kissed - all except for one particr courtyard of the extended wing which was drenched in dreary shadows borne of overgrown shrubbery. The garden of this courtyard was unkempt, suffering from years of neglect and avoidance and had risen to nket the only building positioned in the vicinitypletely... or at least that was how it was supposed to appear. If one took the time to really evaluate the scenery, one would observe that the choice of flora in the garden was focused on concealment.

    The Sun-Sapping Creeper is a nt bordering upon the ssification of a parasite that thirsts endlessly for sunlight. It finds support onrge trees and structures, mbering up them towards the sun. Upon sess, they then spread out endlessly in all directions ensuring that maximum surface area is exposed to the sunlight, often relying on and extracting the nutrients drawn in by the trees they use for support, draining them to a sliver of their lives and keeping them just strong enough to support the creepers. As the creepers spread, they blot out the sun, disallowing its rays to reach the ground below. The Sun-Sapping Creeper is notoriously quick to grow and proliferate and can thrive for a very long time in a myriad of environments. It was this exact creeper that nketed the entirety of the courtyard and its garden, effectively shrouding the yard and evoking a sense of dread and despair.

    Even the plethora of maids and eunuchs that swarmed across the pce grounds passively avoided the ''Haunted Courtyard''. Rumour went that the previous upant of the court still haunted the gardens. She was a Concubine brought in from a niche n - which was just another way of saying that she was a hostage held by the Emperor to keep a small but powerful n in check. She was the bargaining chip the n handed to the Crown so that they could protect their lineage. Except she wasn''tplicit in the exchange. She hated every minute of it. She hated her n for voluntarily sending her to the chopping block, she hated the man who ripped her away from her family and forced himself on her, and she hated everything and everyone.

    Not many maids and eunuchsst in the Inner Pce to die of old age. The air in these grounds is charged with venom that can steal one''s life without warning. No one is safe here as even the most innocent of bystanders can unwittingly beplicit in a heinous plot to murder a little prince for no reason but to remove a valuable piece from the gameboard. However, those sly of mind and gifted with infallible survival instincts can attest to the madness that befell the original upant of the Haunted Courtyard.

    Hatred is a destructive emotion, unfortunately, the Concubine who lived in the Haunted Courtyard was brimming with it. The maids who catered to her and still lived to date could authenticate the many treasonous words that rolled off of the woman''s tongue when behind closed doors. They could attest, after days of endless and bone-rattling torture of course, to the sheer vitriol oozing from the woman at every point in time at the thought of her n, the Emperor and to an extent even herself. Over the years, her hatred had seeped into her bones and, following her demise, her soul which was bathed in this hatred had turned into a grudge and patrolled her courtyard... probably.

    Of course, the servants assigned to the deceased Concubine would readily confirm that the woman was only ever deeply affectionate with one person, and one person alone. Ultimately, said person was now the sole upant of the Haunted Courtyard and their name was Shuri Sol. Shuri was currently fourteen-years-old, and although she was a girl, and held little to no equity in the grand scheme of things, Shuri was still a Princess of the Sr Empire. That rank came with a package of benefits - the courtyard was a part of this package. However, Shuri had exhausted the remaining perks that came with the package such as the battery of servants, band of Teachers and teachers for everything magical and mundane, a clique of personal nannies to raise and guide her and a small drone of eunuchs acting as direct representatives of the Emperor himself. At this moment Shuri only had one member remaining from the exceptional package - Eunuch Bang.

    Eunuch Bang was Shuri''s mother''s only ardent follower and supporter. In fact, he was originally a servant catering to her back when she lived with the Yoruz n. He had infiltrated the Pce through the most unorthodox and inhumane avenues, and in doing so had managed to avert all suspicion. After all, what man would willingly sacrifice his manhood to follow a woman? Was it some form of deep affection that drove Eunuch Bang to walk down this path? Shuri did not know, and honestly, she did not have the luxury of caring about it either - she had her own life and safety to worry about.

    Being a day just like any other, Shuri awoke by herself, bathed by herself and dressed up by herself. She then proceeded to go through her morning routines of roaming around the courtyard halls and dense garden to work her muscles in some way. Unlike other Princes and Princesses in the Pce, Shuri did not practice cultivation - she was untalented, unable to resonate with any of the vast variety of cultivation methods stored in the Pce and the Magical Academies dotted across the Sr Empire. In fact, she was also unable to resonate with the enigmatic and powerful cultivation arts of the Yoruz n, which was part of the reason why she was in such a neglected position in the Pce. After all, the main purpose behind the Emperor sowing his seeds in the Yoruz n''s "pastures" was to potentially cultivate a crop that could exhibit the best of both ns. Except Shuri was an absolute waste. Worst of all, the damn woman died a few years after Shuri''s birth making it impossible to birth another potential offspring with the Yoruz blood flowing in their veins!

    If Shuri were gifted in cultivation in some way, she would inevitably rue the Emperor''s utmost favour and love. Her position would rise and rival that of the Third Princess, the most beloved daughter of the current Emperor. But Shuri didn''t want any of that. With greater attention came a boatload of danger, and she had to avoid it at all costs. It was for this reason that Shuri actively sabotaged herself in every step of her cultivation journey. She forcefully misinterpreted the teachings from cultivation manuals and from the Teachers assigned to her early on. She didn''t act stupid, just incapable - she evoked an image of a girl trying her hardest but failing miserably regardless of her efforts. Because being stupid would paint her as a disposable piece in the Emperor''s eye. However, if she presented that she was just unlucky, she would be a pawn that had the potential for use at some point in time. That implication would keep her alive. Shuri hoped that the day when her use manifested itself would nevere, and she would eventually be forgotten.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But s, her fanciful dreams woulde to a spectacr end.

    Shuri furrowed her brows and irritably yed with an borate yet overlooked pendant resting on her frail neck. The pendant was made of fading gold metal with a beautifully cut blood-red mana gem at its centre chiming with a pleasant crimson hue. She moved the fiery-red hair, the distinctive quirk of every offspring of the Sol n, flowing over her face and gazed out the dust-stained windows. She could see movement, a figure was approaching. By evaluating the familiar motion of the figure, she determined that it was Eunuch Bang. She could also conclude that bad news wasing her way, the man wouldn''t approach the courtyard otherwise. She worriedly bit her chapped pink lips and walked over to the waiting room.

    The door to the room creaked open as Shuri pushed through with all her strength. Since she rarely had to entertain guests, the room was coated with a thin film of dust. There was an assortment of bare minimum furniture, two opposing sofas and a table in between. Eunuch Bang remained seated on one of the sofas.

    The man wore a worried frown that threatened to swallow his face whole. Like the other eunuchs, the man waspletely hairless with a shaved head, face and presumably everything underneath. He had a healthy tan, unlike Shuri''s pale pink skin which was starved of sunlight. His eyes were a lifeless brown shade, which contrasted Shuri''s vibrant azure blue eyes - a trademark of the Yoruz n. The moment the man''s gazended on Shuri, a faint tint of contentment shed across his face, which was immediately smothered two times over by the previous ze of woe.

    "Princess Shuri," the man greeted with a respectful bow.

    "Eunuch Bang," Shuri responded with appropriate etiquette. A eunuch was an extension of the Emperor''s arm and voice. Frequently, the Emperor would send them out in his stead to watch over and report on tasks around the Empire. To that end, although it wasn''t strictly necessary to treat them with excess respect, almost everyone obliged the eunuchs with a level of deference. After all, most eunuchs were petty and vengeful. To enter the Pce through that avenue, they would have to suffer through an unimaginable level of treatment. Most eunuchs were merely peasant folk or street urchins sold to the Pce for a hefty sum (willing participants to undergo castration were in short stock, so demand always exceeded supply). These individuals of low-born descent rarely had enough education, to begin with, and had a limited worldview. To be granted such power and authority so quickly often worked to boost their egos. To unintentionally offend a eunuch dispatched by the Emperor would ultimately end with the eunuch spewing poison regarding the offender into the Emperor''s ear. Though it must be noted that the Emperor wasn''t gullible. He would entertain the hotheaded and upstart eunuch''s antics to a certain degree. Eunuchs without control over their egos would find themselves with additional parts cleft from their bodies.

    "Princess," Eunuch Bang repeated with a morose intonation. "Ie with distressing tidings."

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 225 Tenuous Peace

    Shuri tightened her grasp on the faintly lustrous pendant caressing her neck. When one''s life teeters precariously at the edge of a de on a regr basis, even a sudden shift in wind direction can set off a plethora of mental rms. It''s much worse when the only person she can somewhat rely on proims that certain misfortune will befall her.

    "It''s best if you take a seat for this, Your Highness," Eunuch Bang said as a caring reminder.

    "I prefer to stand," because if someone were to attack her, she would need maximum mobility to escape or worse, retaliate.

    "It''s regarding the Peace Agreement with the ckstar Kingdom," Eunuch Bang continued. "After thorough deliberation, His Majesty has decided to follow through with it."

    "It was his idea in the first ce," Shuri reminded. "An alliance through marriage. Isn''t that how he''s been keeping the Empire under his thumb this entire time?"

    "The walls have ears, Your Highness," Eunuch Bang murmured with a low hum.

    "They can tolerate this much," Shuri dismissed. "Otherwise the Emperor''s fury would have descended upon the Inner Pce many times over already. Do you believe that the serpents plotting away at their nests haven''t uttered worse?"

    "Still-"

    "I''ve survived for this long in here, I know what I''m doing," Shuri warned curtly. "Please, let us return to the issue at hand. What of the Peace Agreement?"

    "How far are you informed of the politics behind this agreement?" Eunuch Bang inquired as he sunk deeper into the sofa.

    "Bare minimum," Shuri shot back. "Just enough to keep me on my toes, but not too much to attract unwanted attention. The Emperor wishes to call for a cessation in the conflict with the ckstar Kingdom, that is all I know."

    "That is the gist of it, basically. The conflict with the ckstar Kingdom has gone on for thest thirty-some years, give or take a decade depending on when you consider the actual start to be. To gain a better understanding I should probably borate on the history of this conflict."

    "The Sr Empire is widely considered to be thergest nation in the entirety of Gaia. It spans the southern half of the Pangian Continent. At the time of its founding, the First Emperor could have pushed forward into the north and secured more ground for his Empire, but he chose to stop willingly. There was no need to go further north, it was far more trouble than he could handle. Because what do you think will happen after the drums of war stop booming - when the Emperorys his body upon the throne to manage the nation he''d built for himself?"

    "Chaos," Shuri answered.

    "Exactly! The south of the Pangian Continent was sufficient in more ways than one. There was arablend, vast forestry, abundant resources, and everything else necessary for a nation to function for many centuries. As for anything beyond the nation''snds, there was always trade! The Free States of the North as well as the plethora of nations across the Vast Blue Expanse had much to offer. Thus the Sr Empire prospered, to this date. However, the delicate bnce shifted around five hundred years ago."

    "The Bloodsoul Conquests," Shuri voiced.

    Eunuch Bang nodded affirmatively and continued, "An exiled Baron from the Sr Empire went on a rampage and sessively conquered every Free State to the north. Does Her Highness know why it was called the Bloodsould Conquests?"

    "The ex-Baron practised a cultivation method which drew power from virgin, untainted blood," Shuri responded.

    "The north was bathed in blood as the beast in human skin rampaged through. As he was a splinter from the Sr Empire, the Emperor at that time moved to contest against the man, however, it was already toote - the nations to the north had fallen and thus the ckstar Kingdom was born. It is evident that the first King held little affection for the Empire, given how the name he assigned to his kingdom is the anthesis of the Sr Empire. If that wasn''t enough, the Empire has been fielding continuous encroachment from the north since the Kingdom''s founding. The conflict between the Sr Empire and the ckstar Kingdom formed a new bnce - thetter fought to subsume the former, while the former held on to maintain the existing status quo. Small-scale wars and border conflicts became the new norm."

    "Doesn''t the Empire have enough power to conquer the Kingdom?" Questioned Shuri.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "On paper, yes. If the Emperor called upon all the vassals, it would be possible to conquer the north. However, it is more trouble than it is worth. Furthermore, it isn''t economically viable - arge-scale war destabilises the nation greatly. Trade routes within the Empire get bogged down as new supply lines take their ce. Production priorities must be reconsidered. It is a massive logistical headache. And truthfully, an all-out war isn''t necessary to defeat the ckstar Kingdom. Our experts and spies paint a bleak picture of the ckstar Kingdom. The nation is hanging by a thread as it is. The King holds all the power and has little to no interest in managing his sprawling nation. The current government is set up haphazardly and is rife with corruption. Refugees are streaming into the Empire from the north in hordes to escape the oppression. It is predicted that the Kingdom will crack in its seam as soon as the King dies as none of his horde of offspring show any expertise in managing a nation. Even if they did, the nation that will fall into their hands will be so unstable that it will shatter immediately."

    "What changed, then?" Shuri probed with a confused tone.

    "The gue Emperor happened," Eunuch Bang emphasised. "Ziva Lune, a Student of the esteemed Teacher Jeeves."

    "The 1-star Teacher Al Jeeves?"

    "Recent news suggests that he should be earning his 2-star license soon," Eunuch Bang corrected. "Nheless, Teacher Jeeves''st student Ziva Lune was revealed to own the inheritance of thete gue Emperor. The first was a definite thorn to the Sects affiliated with the Sr Alliance, but he didn''t pose a huge threat to the Empire. He was ssified as Unorthodox for his inhuman experiments and actions, but it was contained to an extent. Ziva Lune did not share those characteristics. His attacks did not discriminate and did not hold anything back. The gue of Dark Cleansing is indicative of this fact. The devastating attack decimated arge swatch ofnd near the border between the Sr Empire and the ckstar Kingdom. The man unleashed it to hinder the mages in pursuit - it was an escape measure. We can only imagine just how much worse a more thorough and nned-out attack could be. Worse yet, this man has aligned himself with the Kingdom."

    "That''s sub-optimal," Shurimented.

    "Very much so. The delicate bnce is slowly tilting in favour of the Kingdom, because of just one man. The Empire is now at a critical juncture. We can continue with the current wait-and-watch strategy - given the Kingdom''s current trajectory, its downfall is imminent. However, this also allows Ziva to build up power and n a counterattack. Worse yet, now that he has joined hands with the Kingdom, he can bolster the Kingdom''s strikes with his morbid branch of magic. Alternatively, we could undertake an all-out war, which as established is economically detrimental but could possibly ensure that Ziva does not cook up some troubling cmity in the meantime."

    Shuri scratched her forehead lightly and bit her lips in distress, "Neither sounds attractive."

    "That is so," Eunuch bang affirmed. "Thus the Peace Agreement was stitched up. The Emperor and his Advisors believe that middle ground is achievable. The Empire has found it increasingly difficult to ce spies close to the King and Ziva, thus making it harder to track their movements. If it were possible to gauge their position, a suitable countermeasure could be formalised from the Empire''s end. Hence, if it is impossible to move spies through ndestine means, why not try it through a more transparent strategy? This can be achieved by openly moving a valuable piece from the Empire into the Kingdom, which in turn will warrant the movement of additional supports along with it. Then, amidst the support pieces, one could sneak in a few spies who will now have an easier time moving about in the Kingdom."

    "But the Kingdom won''t just let anyone from the Empire get close to the throne," Shuri surmised. "Which means that- Damn it!"

    "Exactly, Your Highness," Eunuch Bang confirmed Shuri''s suspicion with a frantic nod. "The Emperor intends to move for a political marriage between a Princess of the Empire and a Prince of the Kingdom."

    "I know the man. He won''t send any of the other princesses, he cares and dotes on them too much. I on the other hand am an expendable piece. I have nothing to offer, he has nothing to gain from keeping me around either..." Shuri''s legs gave way and she copsed onto the floor. Her eyes zed over as her imminent demise surfaced in them.

    "Irony is cruel," she muttered in defeat. "In trying to lower my value, it seems I''ve achieved a niche status..."

    Eunuch Bang rushed forward and descended onto his knees in front of Shuri, "It is time, Your Highness. If we do not make a move now, you will be sent to the Kingdom which is equal to sending you to your death."

    Shuri''s anxious gaze tightened with unwavering seriousness. "You realise what needs to be done? There is no turning back if we walk down this road, not for me and definitely not for you."

    Eunuch Bang revealed a bitter smile and said, "All my life I''ve walked facing forward. I don''t have the luxury of choice to regret my past. All that matters is that this is the only way you can escape this hellhole with your life intact."

    "In that case, proceed with the preparations. I don''t believe I need to emphasise the importance of secrecy in this matter?"

    Eunuch Bang nodded gravely and receded towards the exit with his head lowered and facing the Princess. Shuri, in turn, folded her arms and grasped her shimmering pendant contemtively while looking out the dusty window.

 Chapter 226 Final Goodbye

    The Pce of the Sun was like a fortress. Although there weren''t manyrge-scale and visible fortifications surrounding its structure, it was a fact that no one unauthorised could enter or exit the Pce with their lives intact. Through the use of a myriad of ritual formations, artefacts, and a handful of veritable mage powerhouses, the Pce of the Sun was an imprable monument that acted both ways.

    If it were so easy to escape from the Pce, Shuri would have done so years ago. There are always eyes and ears guarding and observing the goings on in the Inner Pce. The only safe ce is within a courtyard which is further guarded by privacy ritual formations that ward off snoopers. Of course, observers can''t keep track of everything all the time. In certain instances, there arepses in surveince that one can take advantage of. But these gaps are tight and require intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the pce security to exploit thoroughly.

    Eunuch Bang had worked in the pce for at least a decade and a half by this point and he was high enough on the totem pole and had the right connections to have ess to this information.

    "Eunuch Bang!" A mid-to-high countertenor voice, amon characteristic among eunuchs who were castrated prior to or during their puberty, interrupted Eunuch Bang''s hurried steps. Eunuch Bang flinched subtly, he knew who the voice belonged to and he was already anticipating the exhausting barbs he would have to contend with by entertaining the source of the voice. But there was nothing he could do, he couldn''t avoid it. After all, the voice belonged to the Eunuch assigned to the currently favoured Concubine Lowl.

    "Eunuch Cass," he greeted with a strained yet professional smile. He turned to face a slender figure of a man, or rather a slightlyrger child, adorned in the standard garish green uniform worn by the eunuchs of the pce. The man-boy''s face was drenched inyers of make-up, a requirement enforced upon Eunuchs to further suppress their masculinity (we couldn''t have the women of the inner pce getting attracted to men other than the Emperor!).

    "This one wonders where Eunuch Bang is so frantically rushing off to, with a Petruvian Carpet to boot?" Eunuch Cass mocked. "The way you''re grasping at the roll almost convinced me that you are hiding away your dignity in there."

    The jeer elicited a chorus of muffled snickers from the entourage following Eunuch Cass. Eunuch Bang stifled a growl and shook his head at the immaturity of the group. ''It''s as though losing their cock and balls has stunted their growth in more ways than one.''

    A myriad of retorts flitted through Eunuch Bang''s mind at that instant. s, he had to discard over ny per cent of thosee-backs because he was pretty sure it would all just go over their heads. Nheless, indulging these miscreants with a repartee would be counterproductive and time-wasting.

    Eunuch Bang revealed a dim-wittedugh and scratched his head with his free hand, "Oh this? I''m taking this to the Willow Wood Courtyard. The existing carpet in Princess Shuri''s weing room is a bit worn out."

    The man-boy''s face twitched as he failed to recollect where the Willow Wood Courtyard was and who Princess Shuri was. Luckily one of hisckeys leaned forward and rified.

    "It''s the Haunted Courtyard," they said.

    Eunuch Cass shuddered involuntarily at the mention of that forsaken courtyard. He had once gotten lost in the periphery of the maze-like garden at night and nearly soiled his uniform after a creeper copsed on him without warning. It was an embarrassing memory he dearly wished to erase from his mind. Unfortunately, that tryst was observed by one of the members of security and was amon topic of jest in their circle.

    "I''ll be going then," Eunuch Bang quickly said while Eunuch Cass wallowed in his irritation and started to walk briskly towards his destination. He only had a few minutes remaining to enter the safety of Princess Shuri''s courtyard, before the observers resumed roving their eyes over the Inner Court.

    He walked with floating steps, gliding seamlessly over the ground until he finally arrived at the depressing and eerie gardens garrisoning the Haunted Courtyard. Like a cat navigating through thick shrubbery, Eunuch Bang slithered and wove through the foliage, all the while slinging the roll of carpet over his shoulders. Once he faced the entrance to the courtyard, he hurriedly calmed his nervous breath, raised his free fist and proceeded to open the door.

    ____

    "Although the Empire forbids and heavily polices blood magic, every descendent of the Emperor is monitored and tracked using an intricately and secretly woven blood magic ritual formation," Eunuch Bang exined to Shuri as she gazed unwaveringly at theatose body of a Pce Maid resting on an unfurled roll of carpet.

    "As long as the ritual formation recognises the Princess as alive, it will raise an rm once Your Highness leaves the Pce premises," he borated. "This was how they were able to track down the Second Princess when she sneaked out of the Pce for a tour of the city in disguise so easily. I was able to glean this information from the Security Department through great difficulty."

    "Let''s move forth all the formal talk," Shuri dered. "We are past titles at this point."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Eunuch Bang revealed a wry smile and continued, "Thankfully, the blood magic ritual formation is as basic as it gets. Its targeting method is the blood flowing through your body. Hence, on paper, it should be possible to fool it if we remove all the blood inside your body and rece it with another''s."

    "Theoretically?"

    "It''s not like I''ve had the opportunity to try it out with another Prince or Princess," Eunuch Bang jested sarcastically. "But I can assure you that it is absolutely safe. I have done the leg work and run tests with the technique. It involved a lot of scouring through the ck markets to get my hands on this method - if the Sr Sect Alliance or the Department of Interior were to learn of this the punishments would be severe as it is blood magic, after all."

    "It''s not like I have a choice in this matter anyways," Shuri evoked with a sigh. "What of my escape strategy? I am guessing I''ll be switching my attire with this maid?"

    "Actually..." Eunuch Bang drawled as he yanked his pupils towards a folded set of clothes hidden amidst the crease of the carpet. With brows cocked up curiously, Shuri bent over and unfolded them only to instinctively recoil with irritation and disgust.

    "It is easier and markedly safer to travel disguised as a boy," Eunuch Bang said assuringly.

    "I''m not wearing this," Shuri dered while crumpling the simple malemoner attire consisting of a basic cotton shirt and roughspun trousers.

    "I implore you to reconsider," Eunuch Bang tried again, only to receive a resolute denial in the form of a nk stare from Shuri. Releasing a sigh, Eunuch Bang pulled out his hand from his loose cuffs and flicked forward a circr te in his palms. From it, another set of outfits spawned out, this time it belonged to amoner girl.

    "I shall prepare the spell while you change," Eunuch Bang said.

    Within ten minutes, Eunuch Bang drew out tworge spell circles that intertwined at their circumferences. At the centre of one, hey theatose maid and on the othery a conscious Shuri. The man released a long breath of air to clear his airways and then pulled in a lungful of fresh breath. Following that, a rumble of unintelligible words left his lips.

    As the spell chanting progressed, the drawn circles started to gain an ethereal purple glow, which started to turn a dangerous shade of red progressively. The ethereal circles rose from the ground and started to rotate like two gears meshing. With a hiss followed by a pop, a gushing cloud of red droplets started to rush out from theatose maid and Shuri synchronously. Both their skin started to turn paler as a mirrored human form of scarlet-red, undting blood took shape above their bodies. The change was significantly more visible on Shuri''s face since shecked the olive tan the maid had due to herck of regr exposure to the sun. As the extraction progressed further, the women''s hair started to change shade as well and assumed an aged silver colour. Finally, once the undting blood human above their bodies gained a substantially sold form, Eunuch Bang stopped his incantation and rotated his arms clockwise. He stopped as his right arm was above his head palm facing downwards, and his left arm was by his abdomen palm facing upwards. In achieving this posture, the two blood humans switched positions above their respective sources. Finally, with an echoing p, Eunuch Bang brought his hands together causing the blood humans to pop like a pressurised vessel. The red particles started to dissipate and rushed back into the bodies of the humans below them, bringing back the tint and life to their aged skin, though their discoloured hair remained as is.

    "Did it work?" Shuri asked between heavy breaths.

    "It did," Eunuch Bang confirmed.

    "In my life in the Inner Pce, I have learned that curiosity can often lead to a quicker end, which is to say that knowing little is a boon. The only way to survive here is to care about one person and that is yourself - I treated affection and empathy as poison. Because of that, I find it difficult to fathom how my mother could go through everything she did for my sake. I cannot fathom why you are walking down this path for me either," Shuri confessed. "You do realise what lies at the end of this road for you, right?"

    To that, Eunuch Bang revealed a mirthfulugh and said, "There wille a time when the truth will reveal itself. You will meet a person- no I pray dearly that you do meet a person who will burst through all the barriers you have in ce to shield your heart and soul. I pray dearly that you find a person who connects with you, makes you feel all the emotions you have repressed, makes you smile every day and makes you want to spill out all of your secrets without withholding anything. Because only then will you realise that maybe, just maybe, drinking a chalice full of this poison called affection and empathy for their sake may not be so bad after all. Because even if you sumb to this poison and die an untimely death it will all be worth it since there will no longer be any regrets tying your soul down and eating you up from within."

    Shuri absorbed Eunuch Bang''s final words, though she could not understand all of them. With a morose nod, she said, "Today, Shuri Sol has died. I thank you for everything you have done, and everything you have sacrificed for me and my mother, Eunuch Bang. My final order as the Princess shall be this: Do not suffer in your death."

    Eunuch Bang lowered his head in assurance and did not look up at the girl''s face that reminded him so dearly of his deceased Mistress. While he suppressed his overflowing whimpers and tears, Shuri turned around and made her way towards the secret exit at the back of the kitchen. Her face and gaze remained unwavering, and her heart was resolute. No emotion barring an unassable tranquillity overtook her mind.

 Chapter 227 Distraction

    Before squeezing out the secret exit, Shuri paused. She had to wait for the signal before going through. In the meantime, she approached a reflective metal surface nearby and inspected herself onest time, taking note of her silver hair tied up into a worker''s bun. ''At least no one can link me to the Royal family because of my Red Hair.'' Her new rough attire could not hide her frail and lean form. Her t chest, which had remained as such for a very long time even after hitting puberty, irked her slightly as she hoped it would at least fill up the loose folds in her chest that were there to amodate her breasts. She reached into the firepit beneath therge put at the centre of the kitchen and pulled out a small handful of soot. Shuri knew that she could not survive with her impably soft and marble-like skin.

    Although the dark residues could blemish and disguise her skin, they could not mask her azure blue eyes. For that, she pulled out a simple rope bracelet with a small, white mana gem tied to it from the sack around her back. Upon wearing them, her eye colour warped into amon brown hue which elicited a satisfied smirk. The smile, though, quickly diminished as another thought skittered through her mind. Subconsciously, she reached for the pendant around her neck and squeezed it in annoyance.

    She was immediately drawn out of her sombre thoughts as arge explosion shook the ground. That was the signal!

    ____

    As Eunuch Bang watched the all too familiar figure of Shuri turning past the door frame and recede into the corridor, a forlorn smile graced his lips. Today he would breathe hisst, for the second time. He had already died once before, clinically, thus he did not fear death''s morbid embrace as it approached him with open arms.

    He remembered his first death vividly.

    ____

    A coarse breath escaped Yor''s lips as he turned over onto his back. On one hand, he cradled his intestines, with the other- where was his other hand? Probably well within the digestive tracts of that beast. He should be dead anytime now - his life cut short just seven years after his birth. Why was he here? Why did he end up like this? If this was all a coincidence, why was he cursed to experience it?

    Another breath entered his lungs. Much less this time, it seemed as though there was just not enough space in his lungs to incorporate more air, what with all that blood sloshing around in there. Yor''s life was nothing short of a curse - a bundle of misfortune wrapped in a rotten fibre of all things vile in this world. His parent''s abandoned him at his birth for whatever reason - he should have died there. But a group of tramps found him amidst a mountain of rubbish, barely clinging on to his life. They raised him, not out of the kindness of their hearts. They used his petite form to run all forms of grifts, thefts and cons.

    Yor coughed and his entire body rattled horribly sending another bout of pain across all his working nerve endings. It took a while for Yor to realise that his life amongst the tramps wasn''t as peachy as he dreamed it out to be. He was a tool to them, something they were willing to drop at the first sign of trouble, which they did - which was also why he was here.

    A muffled set of voices pierced through the surrounding woods. Yor''s head turned towards it subconsciously. Did the beast catch up to him? His luck just kept getting worse and worse, hopefully, the damn thing would just put him out of his misery now.

    The voices grew clearer, and they did not belong to the beast.

    "Young Miss, we shouldn''t be here, it is dangerous," a worried voice belonging to an elderly woman spoke up.

    "But I want to see the Manticore!" A much younger voice of a girl matching Yor''s age demanded.

    "It is known to be extremely duplicitous and dangerous, Young Miss, we-" the elderly voice stopped. Yor could feel her gazending on him.

    "What''s wrong?" The little girl - the Young Miss - asked. "My goodness, what is that?"

    "It''s a boy," the elderly voice answered with a morose clip.

    "W-Why is he like this?"

    "Probably ran afoul with the beast. Tsk! When wemissioned for a distraction with the ck Beggar''s Sect we didn''t think they would send in a child!" The elderly woman boomed angrily.

    "Can we help him?" The girl asked. Yor could feel her warmth approaching him.

    "He''s as good as dead, Young Miss," the woman sighed. A finger contacted his skin. "He''s been pumped with the manticore''s venom, he''s lost too much blood and... body parts. I don''t even know how he''s still alive after all that?!"

    "B-But we need to help him, we MUST!" The girl cried.

    "Why?" The woman shot back.

    "Because..." The girl drawled with a panic as she struggled to formte a reason.

    Yor suddenly felt a warm droplet of water fall on his face. It burned, but it was pleasant. Was she crying? What followed were a series of muffled voices - his consciousness was waning. Until darkness greeted him. Yor had died.

    ____

    But he was reborn that day. He received a second chance, thanks to his Mistress. She saved him, useless dreck ted out to die, born with nothing but misfortune. Yor recognised that the life that belonged to him had ended that day - he was now living on borrowed time. His second life was to extend that of his saviour, by any means necessary.<novelnext></novelnext>

    To that end, Yor had failed. His Mistress had passed before him and it was his greatest failure. What use was living if his purpose existed no longer? But with her dying breath, Yor was handed a new task - a new purpose. This time, he would not fail. His Mistress would live on, through her daughter even if the blood of the defiler flowed through the girl''s veins.

    Yor, now no longer Eunuch Bang, tilted his neck back and forth, left and right, and released a long breath. He inhaled, then exhaled, inhaled... exhaled... inhaled... and paused.

    |Toxic Apocalypse|

    With a vigorous release of air, the pressure within the room amplified substantially. The mana around Yor undted furiously, rotating in a dangerous whirlpool. With a scream filled with unbridled rage, Yor released the pressurised mana in a cone facing the front of the courtyard, engulfing the body of theatose woman. A wave of green me gushed forth, disintegrating the woman, destroying the entire front half of the courtyard, and turning the overgrown garden to ash.

    From the wreckage, Yor ascended into the air. His clothes were turned to ash and dust, and the skin and flesh of his body were king off revealing his endoskeleton. However, what appeared wasn''t the familiar sight of bone, but a rich brown structure. This structurepletely reced his form. As the flesh on his abdomen fell, it revealed more of this brown, wood-like structure forming a helical cage where his core was supposed to be, housing a magnificent and multi-coloured sphere pulsing periodically as mana circted all over his body. Once all of his skin and flesh detached itself from his body, all that remained was his face attached to a wooden automaton of some kind.

    Yor flexed his right arm, acknowledging the Vitalwood makeup of his body and took in another long breath. The air entered through his nostrils, disappearing in this automaton frame and causing the sphere in his core to pulse more vigorously.

    At that moment, Yor''s sight narrowed and caught the movement of multiple entities approaching his position. A provocative smirk graced his face as he amplified his presence by releasing arge pulse of mana outwards. As the mana spread outwards, he managed to catch the movement of Shuri disappearing into the artificial tunnel leading outwards. He sighed in relief internally.

    ''I must do everything in my power to ensure her escape.''

    He refocused his attention on his opponents. A small squadron of mages of the Pce''s Security had gathered in a defensive formation in front of him.

    "Identify yourself, Intruder!"

    "That''s no intruder, that''s Eunuch Bang... or at least that''s his face," one of the mages blurted out in shock. "What have you done with Eunuch Bang?"

    Yor snorted and raised his palm forward. A purple ethereal circle formed in front of his open palm, |Toxic Wrath|. A cone of green whirling frame burst forth and engulfed the squadron of mages before they could do anything. Once the me settled, what remained was a melting mess of what used to be a human body and its intact feet.

    Without wasting another minute, Yor burst forward and started to release another flurry of green mes along his path. The shrubbery andndscape of the Inner Court began to melt and disintegrate once the mes washed over them, though the various courtyards distributed along the area escaped the me''s deathly touch as the protective ritual formations did their jobs. Everyone and everything caught in the path of the mes not protected by magic simply ceased to exist.

    However, Yor could not get further free of opposition. His senses caught the rapid approach of a powerful entity from the Main Pce. Yor heightened his guard the instant the identity of the approaching entity finally became clear.

    "Head Eunuch Row," Yor greeted the youthful and lean figure that hovered before him. Although the man had an appearance of a teenage boy, Yor knew that the Head Eunuch was at least a hundred years old.

    With an eerie smile, Head Eunuch Row called out Yor''s name, "Eunuch Bang. What a surprise. I didn''t realise you were hiding such a secret. What brought on this change of heart?"

    Yor hurled a barrage of green |Fireball| attacks towards the boy-man and hurtled towards him. Head Eunuch Row dodged the attacks seamlessly and met Yor with a melee. He parried the left hook from Yor and locked the arm underneath his shoulder. Head Eunuch Row sent a jab towards Yor''s chin and, while Yor was recoiling from the attack, he snaked his free arm around Yor''s right arm, grabbed Yor''s head and sandwiched them between his palms.

    "I had high expectations of you. It''s disappointing that it hase to this."

    Head Eunuch Row revealed a psychotic grin as he started to increase the pressure from his hands onto Yor''s head. He opened his mouth wide and pulled in an ungodly amount of air.

    |Wail of the Banshee|

    That was Head Eunuch Row''s ultimate move - a transcendent scream capable of decimating anything caught in its cone of influence by tearing it apart particle by particle. It was clear he didn''t want to waste any more time, Head Eunuch Row rightly recognised the danger of letting Yor live.

    Yet instead of an impeded wave of sound, what left Head Eunuch Row''s agape lips was a gush of warm blood.

    "W-What?"

    Head Eunuch Row lowered his head and saw two wooden things impaling him through his heart and through his core. He followed them to their base which happened to be right below Yor''s shoulders. Eunuch Row had immobilised Yor''s arms, but he did not ount for a second pair.

    Looking up, Head Eunuch Row''s eyes met Yor''s cold gaze. Yor freed his arms from Head Eunuch Row''s lock and tore the man in two by jerking his second pair of arms sideways. In his second right handy a still heart and on his lefty a quickly dissipating core of a Core Condensation Realm mage.

    Yor activated two spells on his first pair of arms, absorbing the vitality from the heart and the cultivation from the core. A dangerous gambit, but one that could tip the field in his favour given the identity of his next opponent.

 Chapter 228 Grandest Of Finales

    A bloodbath followed Yor''s wake as he mowed his way through the Inner Court, although the green mes blooming around him quickly erased the blood and its source with iparable efficiency. No one truly expected such a devastating attack to spawn so deep within the Pce grounds, thus the speed of response by the Pce''s security was slower. Furthermore, no one had devised a proper deployment and counter-terrorism strategy for this segment of the Pce just yet both due to the recent nature of the Inner Court''s creation, as well as the general hubris of the Head of Security. For that, the man would definitely lose his head - Yor chuckled derisively as that thought popped into his mind.

    Yor''s primary goal was to create enough chaos to divert the focus towards himself so that the Young Mistress could escape. If along the way he could cripple a few of the Sol n''s assets it would be a wee addition. Unfortunately, the protective ritual formations of the other courtyards in the Inner Court were activated and inhibited him from entering (he would have preferred to purge a few other Prince, Princesses and Consorts). He could force his way through, but that would take too much time and energy.

    Apart from Head Eunuch Row, a few other contenders opposed his course forward. All of them met the same fate as the former, with their hearts enriching Yor''s vitality and their cultivation enriching his own. It is an unstable growth process since stacking conflicting cultivation inside one''s core inevitably leads to a gruesome demise. But it didn''t matter to Yor - it wasn''t like he was looking for longevity here.

    Once he''d reached the entrance to the Inner Court, Yor was finally faced with the first true opposition. Before him stood a vast contingent of the Sr Empire''s Royal Army, with the Emperor himself poised in the lead. The man was garbed in his yellow-orange robe with burning-red borders. His long, flowing, fiery-red locks were fastened into a prim top-knot with a golden crown that held the Sol n''s emblem on it holding his hair in ce. His face was stoic, though a mote of antagonism was leaking through the wrinkling cracks that formed on his pristine, tanned skin. His ruby eyes glinted with animosity and rage, and his manaplimented this emotion by gushing forward with unbridled fury. Then, as the Emperor''s sensestched properly upon Yor''s form a sh of recognition sparked in his face, which then warped further with irritation.

    "So one of the Yoruz n''s dastardly contraptions still lives? Here I thought that the knowledge and skill to create them went extinct with that wretched woman," the Emperormented with an audible edge in his tone. He then growled, "You have cost me a very loyal and powerful servant. For your crime of treason, your punishment is death. And for killing a Princess of the Sr Empire, your death will be slow and painful."

    "I challenge you to try," Yor shot back a provocative smirk. "Your majesty," he added with a sarcastic and mocking drawl.

    The pressure emanating from the Emperor magnified as a fresh wave of turbulent mana projected outwards. The force behind the ejected mana pushed the contingent of men backwards with a sudden jerk, though it did little to shake Yor as he held his ground unwaveringly. In return, he countered the pressure by releasing his own mana.

    The twobatants engaged in a battle of wills as the two enforced their influence over the ovepping mana domains. The unseen duel was tense, and the Emperor was surprised to see Yor standing firm against his power.

    "It seems that woman left a contingency prior to passing. She asked you to protect the girl, didn''t she?" The Emperormented. Yor did not entertain him with a verbal response.

    The ambience surrounding the two started to ripple, not due to any arcane magical phenomena, but rather due to the uninhibited rise in temperature as the Emperor actively moulded the mana under his control. The ground started to warm and undte as the temperatures reached their melting point. On the other end, Yor started to wrestle over his control of the domain by burning the mana with toxic-green mes.

    As the back-and-forth reached a tense equilibrium, the Emperor made the first move. With an imperceptible blur, he shed in front of Yor. His right foot illuminated with a dangerous red hue of highly pressurised vapour mes and hurtled with imperceptible speed towards Yor''s head for a roundhouse. Yor raised his left guard to block the kick and pushed back with two of his right arms wreathed in the green mes for a mean hook. The Emperor dodge the attack by moving his body slightly out of the fists'' trajectory, though in this process he found himself facing a hidden uppercut from Yor''s free second left hand that moved towards his ribs. With no way to dodge, the Emperor bodied the attack while strengthening the targeted body segment with his mana. The ming fist connected, pushing the Emperor backwards. This exchange urred within a fraction of a second.

    The Emperor gazed towards the hit location and noticed a fist size hole tearing through his robe. One must know that the Emperor''s garb is highly enchanted andmonly known to be imprable. On top of that, the punch had left a visible char on the Emperor''s skin itself, having burst through all the protective measures the Emperor hastily erected to negate the attack.

    "You''re strong, I''ll give you that. Why chose the path of suicide? You and the girl could have escaped?" The Emperor questioned.

    Surprisingly, Yor offered him a response. "As long as the Sol n reigns over the Sr Empire, the Young Mistress would never truly be free from your grasp."<novelnext></novelnext>

    With that curt rebuttal, Yor burst forward and pressed the attack. What followed was a flurry of exchanges in close quarters. The Emperor was a practitioner of lower-limb-focused martial arts, thus most of his attacks and defensive moves relied on the use of his legs. To wit, his fighting style relied heavily on maximising and maintaining his momentum. His movements included frequent rotation and shift of the mass moment of inertia to modte the speed of rotation. As a leg-focused martial artist, his engagement distance was generally longer as legs have greater reach than arms. However, the efficiency also falls off at close distances since grappling and short attacks are intractable with the leg. Hence, the Emperorbined his fighting style with efficient movement arts and acrobatics to reposition himself.

    Yor wasn''t technically at a disadvantage due to his inherently shorter engagement distance. By relegating defence to his secondary pair of arms and using his primary for offensive purposes, he could mitigate the opponent''s advantages. Furthermore, due to his inhuman form, he benefited from a wider range of motions. For instance, the Emperor repositioned himself behind Yor and attacked with a spinning kick. The attack should have been in Yor''s blind spot, as the Emperor disrupted Yor''s mana sense in that location by hijacking it with his own. However, Yor countered it by spinning his body segments at impossible angles to face the attack from his front.

    As attacks were exchanged, the twobatants actively wrestled for control over their domains. The little surrounding mana they could gain control over was immediately recruited for their purpose, thus there was an infrequent exchange of spells. The Emperor recognised that this fight was one of attrition - he could not afford to deplete his core''s mana early on. Yor was on a shorter fuse, the Emperor could tell. Yor''s mana felt unstable, vigorous, but unstable. If he could oust him then-

    An opportunity presented itself, and the Emperor capitalised on it. Just as he predicted, Yor''s movement stumbled possibly due to a miscalction of the amount of mana utilised causing an overextended punch. The Emperor shuffled forward and brought his heel down on Yor''s head with a guillotine, Yor managed to block it but the momentum from the attack was too much. Yor was forced to use all of his arms, which allowed the Emperor to proceed with a chained barrage of spinning kicks. With each attack delivered that made contact, Yor''s control of the surrounding mana faltered, turning over to the Emperor. The surrounding temperature started to rise again, and the Emperor''s legs burned brighter and brighter, with the energy of the sun. The Emperor started to chain in spells with his attacks.

    |Sr Spear|, a ball of concentratedbusted gas pressurised into a thin arrow-like form that followed a push kick. |Sr Wave|, a spherical release of pure heat that pulsed periodically as the Emperor attacked with spinning kicks. |Immtion| the passive burning modifier that augmented each of the Emperor''s attacks.

    The Emperor brought his heel down on Yor''s right knee, shattering it and staggering his bnce. He then twisted and raised his leg above Yor, bringing it down toe first as a pointed hammer towards Yor''s head. Like aet, a trail of superheated gas followed the immted foot''s trajectory, only to face a final and desperate opposition from Yor''s four arms blocking its motion. The Emperor started to push all of his power towards the attack forcing it downwards in an attempt to crush through Yor''s defence and obliterate himpletely.

    "You cannot defeat me!" The Emperor dered mockingly as an audible crack emanated following the destruction of one of Yor''s wooden hands. The immted foot was now right in front of Yor''s eyes, who was now on hisst knee, boiling the skin of his face at a visible rate.

    Contrary to his expectations, Yor revealed a proud smirk and said, "My goal was never to defeat you!"

    Within a fraction of a fraction of a second, Yor''s broken leg split in two andtched onto the Emperor''s pivoting/support leg. Then, Yor released his hectic control over his own degrading core, overloading it with a final attack.

    |Toxic Finale|

    Yor''s core burned with a dangerous green hue, matching that of his mes. It spun rapidly, shrunk and then exploded, releasing a concentrated cone of liquid green mes. Due to the way his abdomen was positioned, and the way the Emperor was standing mid-attack, the cone''s field of attack was centred on the Emperor''s perineum.

    A bloodcurdling yowl followed by a loud crack of the shattering of a skull echoed through the Pce as the pressure and melting heat ceased in an instant.

    "Turnabout is fair y," were Yor''sst words as he observed the Emperor copse onto the ground, rolling wretchedly while grabbing his abominably melted groin.

 Chapter 229 Interlude - Lost And Gained

    The Emperor''s room was concentrated with the smell of various herbs and potions. A translucent veil was drawn that blocked off the view of the Emperor, whoy on his bed while frequently releasing pained groans. Following the aftermath of the fight with Yor, the Emperor was transported to his chambers by his personal staff while the whole debacle was silenced... as best as possible. It wasn''t optimal for the word to spread that the Ruler of the Sr Empire was suffering from a serious injury - any outward disy of weakness would agitate the sharks circling the water. Any rumours that continued to float within the Pce were promptly eliminated, by any means necessary.

    Apart from the ailing Emperor, the only other entity within the room at this moment was the Royal Healer, who was struggling toe up with the rightbination of words to exin his diagnosis to his patient.

    "Unfortunately..." The Royal Healer held his tongue while trying his hardest to avert his gaze from the gruesome amalgamation of flesh.

    "Unfortunately what?" The Emperor growled, before yelping at the sudden outburst of pain originating from his crotch. There were no words that could describe the anguish he was suffering through. Not in his entire life had he ever felt so drained and tortured. The cherry on top was the utter humiliation. Why did the wretched fiend target hisher regions of all ces? All his subjects had seen him roll and grovel on the ground like amon beggar! The rage burst out for a short sh before the pain reared its head again.

    "Well, the nature of the attack was a bit of a mystery for us. The green mes - though they behaved simrly to regr fire the nature of the way they burned deviated a bit. The nature of the reaction was notbustion in the traditional sense. You see-"

    "Just get to the DAMN POINT!" The Emperor bellowed.

    "Manticore venom!" The Royal Healer blurted out.

    "What?"

    "The Royal Librarian investigated the scene and managed to recollect an entry in the records about Manticores and their signature venom attacks," the Royal Healer borated. "After cross-referencing and running a myriad of tests with the few residues from the attacks we were able to determine that the assant''s spells closely matched those of a Manticore."

    "What use is this information?" The Emperor groaned.

    "Your Majesty must be acquainted with Manticore venom," the Royal Healer hinted. "A Manticore has tiers to their venomous attack. The regr neurotoxin they use to hunt is a fast-acting paralytic which is fairly simple to counteract. This is at the lower end of their attack spectrum. What the assant used on you as their core destabilised is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Truthfully, there have been little to no written records of such an attack since it is believed that a sacrifice of vitality is necessary to sustain it. The venom used in this spell was most potent. Imagine taking the strongest venom a Manticore can produce, distilling it to increase its concentration and then multiplying it by ten by running it through an Alchemical Potentiator. Essentially, this venom has altered your physique itself, Your Majesty. Even if healing potions are ingested, the parts lost cannot be regenerated since the venom has rendered them non-existent. It has literally deleted the parts out of your physique."

    "You don''t mean..."

    The Royal Healer bit his lips, nearly drawing blood, before releasing a long sigh. "We can salvage the urinary tract and the anus, but unfortunately, the testicles and the penis are irredeemable."

    The Emperor''s eyes zed over, as life was drained off them. His entire world shattered as the truth settled in.

    At that moment, the newly promoted Head Eunuch entered the room in a low-bowed posture and inquired, "Your Majesty. Consort Nuri is waiting outside. She appears distraught and is urging us to disclose His Majesty''s state."

    The person in question, Consort Nuri, was the Emperor''s currently favoured in the Inner Court.

    "Tell her I''m fine," the Emperor waved away.

    "This lowly one has conveyed that message already, yet Consort Nuri appears adamant..." the Head Eunuch responded while suppressing the sweat attempting to soak through his garb.

    "Fuck! Just tell her to get lost. Do I look like I''m in any position to entertain those scheming shrews?!" The Emperor shouted, trying his utmost to cloak an escaping groan from diminishing his gravitas.

    The Head Eunuch bowed even lower and retreated through the door while facing forward.

    "Who else knows?" The Emperor asked the Royal Healer with a morose whisper.

    "Knows...?"

    "About. My. Condition!" The Emperor gnarled.

    "Umm... I have taken the initiative to enforce strict confidentiality. As it stands, only I am aware of your... condition, Your Majesty."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good... good," The Emperor mumbled. "What of my recovery, then?"

    "Not to worry, Your Majesty, I have conveyed the treatment process to my subordinates in the Health Department," the Royal Healer assuaged.

    "Good, then this makes things easier..."

    "What-" The Royal Healer croaked as a sudden increase in pressure around his neck inhibited him frommunicating and breathing.

    "Y-Your-?"

    With a muffled crack, the Royal Healer was dead and with him died a shocking revtion: that the Emperor was now a eunuch.

    ____

    Assimte. Grow. Propagate.

    Those were the first words the being recognised. Those words kept ringing inside it the moment it understood what it was. Those words defined its purpose - it was all it knew.

    Assimte.

    It found itself amongst its kind. An evergrowing den of familiar furry forms skittering in all directions with haste. Though there was little thought to this matter. All that its kind ever focused on was to search for sustenance and to survive against its environment. Tedious. Inefficient. Foolish. It did not wish to assimte itself with its sort, but one of its prime directives - its instincts - urged it to do so. No matter, the being could take things into its own hands. Assuming a position of leadership amongst its less evolved kin was a trivial task, one that required it to subjugate all opposition and suppress disobedience. It found motivation through fear to be an excellent strategy.

    Grow.

    The being felt urged to grow. Was it to grow stronger? Was it to growrger? Was it both? Probably. Maybe. The problem, though, was that the being was hard-pressed on how to go about achieving it. Through some rudimentary reasoning and some grotesque trial and error, it realised that its directive to grow did in fact ovep its two earlier assumptions. Controlling its kind grew tougher as the den grewrger, there were far too many brains to organise. The solution? Consume the excess brains and bring them into the fold. The being grewrger as more of its kind were absorbed into its aberrant fleshy form. As it did so, a pleasant heat started to course through its body. It felt good. It wanted more! It absorbed, and absorbed, and absorbed. Its kind was nigh endless - more fuel for its growth. And grow it did. It grewrger. It grew stronger.

    Propagate.

    This was a tough nut to crack. As it gained further sentience, the being was sceptical over its existence. Why was it so different from its kind? Why did it seem like the others of its kind weren''t seeking the same goals as itself? Did they not want to grow stronger? Why were they so satisfied with their station? When the slithering worms breached the den and ate a bunch of its brethren, all its kind did was flee in fear. Why did they not fight back? Why did they not feel the drive to subjugate and eradicate those trifling wretches?

    This would not do! The being yearned for revenge. The heat coursing through its body agreed. The being lured in the worms by cing a juicy bait of its own engorged form in their path. When those hapless scum slithered closer and prepared to strike and inject it with their venom, the being released the pent-up heat all at once. A murky ck wave oozed out of its undting flesh, overpowering the venom entering its body and making its way into the attacker''s body. In turn, boils filled with pus started to grow out of the worm''s slimy skin, growingrger, and cker, until it popped and released a cloud of ck vapour. The venomous worm''s death was slow and painful. The being was satisfied.

    The heat that the being felt growing inside its core sought release once again. Thankfully, there were more of those venomous worms roaming around its domain.

    Many moonster, the venomous worms, which it learned were called snakes, were no more. The being had thoroughly eradicated them within many footsteps from its den. Though the being should have felt satisfied since this was thergest domain ever controlled by its kind, the subconscious urge to assimte, grow and propagate continued to beat within its mind with increased vigour. With each cirction of the heat in its core, the beating grew stronger. The being could not stop.

    As its domain grew wider, the being happened upon a new group of interlopers. They were two-legged andmunicated in a convoluted tongue. They killed a group of its kind as they were foraging for food. Uneptable! Those curs had to die. The being would ensure it.

    Those curs, which it learned were called humans, died a slow and painful death. The being found their death throes to be especially more gruesome. Was its power more potent against their kind? Interestingly, the being grew stronger upon killing humans. Why was that? Was this its true purpose?

    Trivial thoughts! All that mattered was strength, and the being had found a faster way to achieve it. It would continue assimting, growing and propagating, and maybe killing a few more humans along the way?

    If this was its purpose, then this is what the Rat King would do!

 Chapter 230 True World Sects Debut

    The caravan progressed at a steady pace. It faced little opposition or cause for dys when traversing through the Maika Duchy, which was expected. Being one of the moremercially bounteous territories of the Sr Empire meant that they had to maintain a level of safety and security within their region so that money could ''flow'' unhindered. To that end, the stringency with which the retainers of the Maika Duchy upheld their patrols and responsibilities was unparalleled. To top it off, the punishments and fines for illegal activities were many times more severe.

    It was when the convoy crossed the Duchy''s border and entered the Rasmus March that things started to get sketchier. In fact, Guy observed this in the demeanour of the members of the convoy first. Their neutral stance became more vignt. Even the escorting group, who had been working with Dune Caravan Management regrly, had entered an alert posture.

    "I wish Big Sis was with us," Markusmented with a low mutter. "I''m suddenly having a really weird premonition that I''d love to have verified by her."

    "The atmosphere has grown palpably charged," Guy affirmed. "A conflict is imminent, I can just feel it."

    "Matron Reva says that if we speak bad things then they will be real," Dora piped in with a matter-of-fact frown stered over her face. Tucked under her right arm was aic book that Guy had produced for her about monster tamers that stored powerful evolving beasts in palm-sized balls, which she was reading for the sixth time now.

    "Although both the Maika Duchy and my n''s territory border the ckstar Kingdom, the former is in a better position due to the superior natural protection offered by the Dawnbreaker Mountain Ranges to the north. The border of the Rasmus March to the ckstar Kingdom is fairly essible, and it bes difficult for my n to maintain strict control of that border at all times. Unwanted elements often sneak in as refugees... it''s not like we can turn away those unfortunate..." Jean exined.

    "That''s why this ve suggested informing the Marquis about the Young miss'' travel itinerary-" Josie tried to point out worriedly, but Jean immediately interrupted her.

    "If we informed my father, he would have redirected an incalcble number of resources for my sake. It would leave the rest of our territory unmanned and prone to danger. This would then lead to the n questioning my father''s capacity to lead. I cannot let that happen."

    "But-"

    "That''s enough, Josie," Jean warned sternly.

    Josie wanted to try one more time to convince Jean when suddenly her senses captured a group of men approaching the convoy. Jean read the change in Josie''s expression within the second of the shift and immediately grabbed her by the arm.

    "Young miss-"

    "You mustn''t interfere," Jean reminded. "This is our responsibility as members of the True World Sect, not yours."

    Following the passing of another minute, the approaching threat entered the senses of the other escort members, who then armed themselves with their weapons and signalled for the caravan to halt. After another tense minute, the threat made itself known.

    "Leave your cargo and scram! Do not make a move if you wish to live!" A gruff voice scoffed. From behind the low shrubbery, a group of individuals leapt out and blocked the caravan''s path. At the same time, all around them, a secondary force of thugs revealed their presence and formed a tentative formation to block any form of retreat.

    The threatening voice belonged to a heavy-set individual, garbed in a worn-out, mud-caked peasant''s attire. A pair of cotton trousers that showed visible signs of age and restoration, with off-coloured patches stitched in to mask the torn sections. He wore a rough sleeveless jacket over his nude upper body, with his rotund belly peeking out. With one of his gtinous, fat arms he held arge machete made of haphazardly hammered metal. The metal''s surface was marred in brown due to abination of rust as well as dried and caking blood. The man ran his free hand over his matted beard and said, "Let''s make it quick and easy, shall we?"

    "We won''t be doing that," a response brimming with arrogance shot off from the centre of the convoy. The source of the retort exited thefort of the carriage and with a few long and consecutive leaps, position himself in front of the thug leading the confrontation. "You''re not from these parts, are you?"

    "Who the fuck are you?" The thug grunted. The man in question wore immacte leather armour fully covering his form, barring his joints. Unlike themon fashion of men growing longer locks, his hair was trimmed to military length. His appearance matched that of someone in their mid tote twenties.

    "Figures that you ckstar scum wouldn''t know who we are," the man snorted. He pointed at the crest embossed on his chest armour, "This is the symbol of the Whispering Dusk Sect."

    That revtion elicited a mild flinch from the leading thug, though the man redoubled his confident and aggressive posture. "That supposed to mean something to me? Stop wasting everyone''s time and get lost! Or it''ll be your head next. I''m feeling generous today, leave your cargo and women and I''ll let the rest of you live."

    The escort leader bellowed with mirthfulughter and said, "What a coincidence! I too am feeling generous today. Half of you surrender and I''ll let you have a painless death, the rest... well I can promise that you will definitely beg for death to take you into its sweet embrace."

    With those final words, the man exuded pressure over his mana domain, focusing primarily on the interlopers before and around him. In response, the leading thug scoffed and said, "You ain''t the only one with tricks up his sleeve, pretty boy."

    The thug exuded his pressure andpeted with the escort leader for control over the mana domain. As Guy observed the tug-of-war, he realised that the two were both in the same cultivation realm - the Internal Stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Although, the escort leader''s control and cultivation felt more robust and stablepared to the thug, whose control was sort of all over the ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Impressive cultivation," the escort leadermended sarcastically. "Though it seems you''ve overestimated your chances. I don''t sense any other mage amongst you. However..."

    On cue, four more pressure sources red up from the convoy, though these were only at the peak of the Late stage of Mana Condensation Realm. They belonged to the other escort members from the Whispering Dusk Sect.

    "We''ll see," the thug dered before bursting into action. With a wide sweep, he brought the machete towards the escort leader''s neck. The leader pulled in his mana domain and coated his form in a dark mist. The machete collided against the wispy dark gas surrounding the leader, but contrary tomon rules of physics, it started to lose its momentum and slowed to a halt.

    The thug spat out in annoyance and continued his onught. Meanwhile, his fellow bandits rushed into action. One of the other escort members sliced their hands with a quick jab, their palm coated in the same dark mist the leader had, and managed to separate the head of one of the iing thugs from their bodies. This sudden manughter caused the other attacks to hesitate, but their gaze zed over in an instant and they resumed the assault like mindless drones. It was at that instant that Guy realised the implication behind the thug''s finalment.

    "He intends to swarm us!" Guy shouted. "The others seem to be under some form of mind control."

    These words of warning were summarily ignored by the other escort members. Instead, they continued the seemingly one-sided massacre while the thug and escort leader continued their intense melee.

    "Mister Larks, we need to stop them," Jean pleaded with a trace of difort in her voice. "The other bandits may not beplicit."

    Guy contemted for a quick second before jumping into action. He circted the mana from his core and released the translucent mist into the atmosphere.

    Once the mist had epassed everyone, he steeled his resolve and dered, "Everyone, stop fighting!"

    A throaty and hoarse voice echoed within the fighters'' minds, as they ground to aplete halt.

    "W-What are you doing?!" The escort leader screamed, half in fear and half in anger upon suddenly losing control of his body.

    Guy ignored the man and looked straight into the leading thug''s eyes, "Answer me truthfully: Are you in control of these other attackers?"

    The fat thug tried his hardest to keep his mouth shut, but his body just would notply, "YES!"

    "Release your control over these people!" Guymanded. He expected the thug to cast a spell of some sort. He did not expect the man to bring the machete towards his own heart and plunge it in without hesitation. Guy''s eyes nearly flew out of his sockets in shock. This was never his intention! Although, he could see the other thugs suddenly gaining rity and entering a fearful trance. Guy immediately retrieved the dissipated mist filled with his mana and copsed onto his buttocks.

    "NO! Don''t attack them," Jean pleaded as one of the Whispering Dusk Sect members ignored the cowering thug''s words of surrender and threw a dark mist-coated dagger at them.

    The dagger reached just ten centimetres away from the crying thug''s forehead before another small, much darker circle formed in front of his eyes and swallowed the de in its entirety. The billowing ck ball burst upwards into the sky and disappeared before an ear-shattering boom resonated. The escort leader followed the source of the attack and found Markus pointing a piece of wood with multiple spell circles rotating around it.

    He downed an audible gulp as his eyes moved between the stick-pointing boy with such precise spell-mastery, and the humble man around the same age as himself with the power to y everyone like puppets.

    "W-Who exactly are you folk?" The escort leader inquired.

    Guy quickly centred himself, albeit haphazardly, and introduced himself once again, "I am the Sect Leader of the True World Sect, this here is my Disciple Markus Reva. This is Jean Rasmus, a member of our Sect."

    "Did you say Rasmus? As in THE Rasmus?" Another Whispering Dusk Sect member coughed.

    Jean offhandedly nodded in affirmation before approaching the injured thugs spread out all over the ce.

    ''Who the hell are these people?'' The escort leader muttered internally as he apprehensively epted Guy''s greeting.

 Chapter 231 Cleaning Up After

    All convoy transportation itineraries are tentative. Due to the inherent dangers of travelling, it is never indicated exactly when a delivery run between two destinations will terminate. Rather, an allowable duration is indicated which determines an eptable time within which a caravan-run must reach its destination. Multiple factors are taken into consideration when calcting this allowable duration such as historic weather patterns, travel conditions, safety against threats, and so on. The travel time between Radiant City and the Capital via a convoy is a week and a half. However, the itinerary assigned to the convoy Guy was partaking as an escort in indicated an allowable duration of three weeks. The fact that the allowable duration between Radiant City and the Capital is double the actual travel time is primarily due to the frequent interception by bandits and robbers in the leg of the trip weaving through the Marches bordering the Maika Duchy.

    Needless to say, both the escort and caravan leader were stunned and, to a subtler degree, unnerved by the ease with which the very first confrontation was dispatched, that too with minimal bloodshed and unparalleled efficiency. The caravan leader was pondering whether writing down "the escort magesmanded the bandits to cease and desist, and the bandits, in turn, did just that" in the travel report would pass without the head office either questioning the integrity of his psyche or outright firing him for lying in an official document. Nevertheless, he was d that Guy had joined as the convoy''s escort.

    ''With him here, we mightplete this trip in record time,'' the caravan leader pondered giddily. ''I should definitely look into hiring the True World Sect again for the next trip.''

    The escort leader, specifically the representative from the Whispering Dusk Sect was still trying to process the events. He shuddered as he remembered the feeling of facing Guy''s |Soul Coercion|, which was the name Guy had settled on for his attack. It was as though his body and mind were disconnected, and a third entity had taken control of them both. His mind was pushed into an observer''s position as a subconscious state - essentially, he felt as though he was turned prisoner inside his own body. He could only imagine the sheer terror the bandit must have felt when his body plunged his own sword into his chest.

    ''I can''t believe I am empathising with that lowlife,'' the escort leader shook his head to clear those thoughts away.

    "I''m Korren Jax," the escort leader greeted while shaking Guy''s hand. "Forgive me, but I don''t believe I''ve heard of the True World Sect before."

    "There''s nothing to forgive," Guy responded with a strained smile. "We''re a new sect. We are actually on our way to the Capital to officially register under the Alliance."

    "That''s right! I almost forgot that it''s that time again - the Conference," Korrenmented. "Well, another strong affiliate entering the fold benefits the Alliance as a whole."

    Guy hummed in response and approached the impaled corpse of the leading bandit. He crouched before it and stared at it intensely with a morose frown.

    Korren followed Guy and continued in a hushed tone, "That attack earlier, what exactly was that?"

    "I didn''t intend for the man to kill himself," Guy responded nkly. "I was certain that mymand was for him to cease his control over the others. Why would he kill himself?"

    "So semantics matter," Korren muttered. He noted that detail down in the back of his mind, in case he had to face Guy inbat in the future. This was his subconscious action, which was a habit of battle-hardened veterans.

    "Maybe this was the only way to negate the control," Korren surmised out loud. "It is a traitmon in certain strains of blood magic."

    "Are you implying that this was blood magic?" Guy inquired, with a faint tinge of hope in his eyes. The death of the thug was the first one he''d witnessed personally after transmigrating into this world. In his past life Guy had toured war-torn areas many times and had observed the horrors of man-made conflicts in person, thus he wasn''t so heavily affected by the gory state of the corpse. However, he hadn''t taken another life before. Although the thug wasn''t a "good guy", Guy wasn''t certain if the man "deserved" to die - maybe it was the more civilized part of his brain talking. Nheless, knowing that maybe he wasn''t wholly responsible for the thug''s untimely demise did ay some of Guy''s growing difort. He recognised that it was probably high time for him toe to terms with the idea of killing after arriving in this more martial world, at least as self-defence. However, the irrational part of his brain was hell-bent on procrastinating on that matter. His moral inhibition against murder was one of the few tethers remaining that tied him to his past life - Guy feared that if he let go of that inhibition, he would end up losing himself and his identity.

    "Maybe it was blood magic, maybe it wasn''t. Either way, there''s nothing we can do about it now. We can''t ask the perpetrator," Korren said while pointing at the corpse, "Nor can we ask the affected."

    "By the way," Korren interjected. "Although your attack did its job admirably, please avoid friendly fire at all costs. I''d prefer it if I didn''t have to run around putting out fires started by my own team, metaphorically that is."

    Guy bowed apologetically and reasoned, "I''m sorry about that. I only did that because I felt it was the optimal way to end the confrontation without needless deaths. Though I do think this could have been further averted if we could have coordinated better, which could have been possible if we all discussed our strengths and weaknesses from the very beginning."

    The final sentence had a barbed rise in pitch, with a hint of sarcasm garnishing it. Before the group set out on the journey, Korren didn''t deign to touch base with Guy and the other True World Sect members. He preemptively judged them as weak. Useless. Basically, wastes of space. The implications of Guy''s retort weren''t missed by Korren, who in turn coughed awkwardly and turned to face the tied hodgepodge of men.

    "Why is the girl healing those scum?" Korren spat out when he saw Jean administering treatment to a man who''d been shed by the attack from one of the other Whispering Dusk Sect members.

    "Jean aspires to be a healer," Guy answered. "She is just following through on that aspiration."

    "Sure, I get that. But why bother treating them? They attacked us, why must we extend a helping hand in return?" Korren retorted incredulously.

    "A healer''s job is to heal, not judge whether someone deserves to be healed or not," Guy emphasised. "If there was a healer who healed anyone without prejudice, and another healer who only healed people they deemed worthy or good, who would you approach in your time of need?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    While Korren nodded contemtively on that hypothetical, Jeanpleted her treatment and approached Guy.

    "I''ve finished treating the more pressing injuries. Senior Brother Markus is administering first-aid to those that need it, and helping calm those still reeling from being mind-controlled. It seems that these folk aren''t originally from the ckstar Kingdom, it was only the dead thug," Jean said.

    "How can you be sure?" Korren interrupted. "You can''t just take their word."

    "I didn''t. My conclusion is supported by the fact that nearly all their stories match in one way or another," Jean responded with a nk stare. "They are actually an amalgamation of vigers disced from the Balen Duchy and the neighbouring Marches. They were migrating in search of refuge in the vicinity of the Maika Duchy or the Capital, however, they fell victim to this man''s spell. The man forced the folk under his control to cull the weak and elderly, and as for the women and children..."

    Even Jean''s impassive face warped slightly as she struggled toplete that sentence, though the implication of that pause was conveyed.

    "They must be traumatised," Guymented.

    "Very much so," Jean agreed. "Though I would prefer to stay behind and help rehabilitate them, it would deviate us from our mission. Instead, I have written a letter to my father, Josie is delivering it as we speak. I have asked for his assistance in this matter. I have also informed him to increase his patrol on this front, and to expect more refugees moving through here."

    "More refugees?" Guy tagged with an intrigued eyebrow raise.

    Jean released a troubled sigh and said, "When I said their stories matched, it was because all of them were disced from their viges for a simr reason. A new gue has afflicted the regions of the Balen Duchy bordering the ckstar Kingdom. It only affects the regr folk, thus there has been no response from the Sr Sect Alliance. As for the government..."

    "Bureaucracy and corruption," Korren filled in the nks. "I will file a petition in this Conference. The True World Sect can co-sign this - since the Whispering Dusk Sect is more storied I believe it will be taken more seriously."

    "Your initiative in this is highly appreciated," Jean thanked with a courteous bow. Her gaze thennded on Guy, who immediately deduced its meaning and said, "Once our Sect is officially registered, the first thing we shall do is investigate the affected region."

    Jean nodded resolutely and returned to performing first-aid along with Markus, though her mind reyed the descriptions of the gue offered by the refugees. Her torturous memories started to resurface, urging the voices in her head to ramble morbidly.

    #It''s him! The gue Emperor has resurfaced!#

    *We must avoid it at all costs!*

    #That''s right, let them die like the worms they are.#

    *We cannot go against him.*

    #Weak! Useless! Broken! You can''t even fix yourself, how do you expect to heal others?#

    *We aren''t strong enough to go against him.*

    She gritted her teeth and meditated, letting the voices recede into the background. She wanted to tell Mister Larks about the voices.

    ''M-Maybe another time... When it isn''t so hectic...''

 Chapter 232 Opportunity Cost

    "A, you got me again," Marie said with a yful whine, puffing up her cheeks in an exaggerated show of frustration, which elicited a giggle from the girl seated opposite her. The girl was petite, much smaller than she should be for a six-year-old. To Marie, it reminded her of the state Kano and Dora were in before Mister Larks'' arrival. She had greatly tanned skin, probably a result of excessive exposure to the sun, and a feeble frame. Though none of those hindered the gush of innocent and exciting light shining from the girl''s eyes. There was preciousness in there, that Marie had the urgent need to protect.

    "Again! Again!" The girl chanted excitedly, hopping up and down on the wooden bench of the precariously moving and aged bullock cart, causing it to rock and release a rickety groan.

    "Yumi, sit still! And stop disturbing the nice elder sister," her mother, who looked barely over twenty-two, warned the child sternly while tightening her grasp on the stacks of woven baskets ced before her. "And how many times have I told you to sit still when on the cart? You''ll cause it to tip, and then everyone will be in trouble."

    "No trouble at all, Lea," a mature voice from up front assuaged the passengers. The driver, a middle-aged man, tapped the veteran oxen driving the cart and muttered a few baritone words between clicks of his tongue.

    The woman revealed a wry smile, and alternated her gaze between Marie and Krish, before finally apologising to the older-looking man, "I''m truly sorry for my daughter''s behaviour. It must hurt your back to sit all the way in the back, why don''t you take the seat closer to the front?"

    At Lea''s offer, Marie couldn''t help but let out an instinctive snort which inevitably bubbled into a heartyugh.

    "D-Did I say something wrong?" Lea voiced her confusion.

    "No, not at all," Marie pondered whether she should out her Master''s true age and power. But after a quick calction, she felt it wasn''t necessary. "I''m just surprised that you even offered. Not many people act so selflessly around these parts," Marie said as a quick evasive strategy.

    Marie nudged for her Master to shift positions with Lea, but Krish grunted and returned to his meditation.

    "He''s just cranky from theck of sleep," Marie said with a click of her tongue.

    "If you don''t mind me asking: what takes you two to Dawnbreak Town? Rtives? Business?" Lea asked while correcting Yumi''s loosely worn cotton shirt. The attire''s size wasrger than the girl''s body, probably a hand-me-down, and the cor often rolled off the girl''s shoulders.

    "A bit of both," Marie answered. "We''re meeting a distant rtive in hopes of support in a business venture." Not technically a lie, but not the whole truth.

    "What about you two?" Marie redirected.

    "Lea here makes the best rice dumpling in the region," the driver answered in Lea''s stead. The woman, in turn, blushed with embarrassment and quickly denied those ims, "That''s not true! Liam!"

    The man, Liam, exhaled mirthfully and said, "She makes these dumplings overnight and sells them at the docks when the workers take their breaks."

    "My customers appreciate and like the taste of my dumplings," Lea took over with a modest smile. "We make enough to support ourselves, don''t we Yumi?"

    The girl absent-mindedly nodded while biting down on a rice dumpling. The implication of the woman''s final statement wasn''t missed by Marie. They made enough to support themselves because that was all they had. There was no father in the picture as far as Marie could discern, and for that she respected Lea greatly. Instead of wallowing in pity and depression, the woman had taken the initiative and worked towards supporting her family and that was something Marie could rte with. To top it off, the woman probably had Yumi when she was 16 - just a year older than Marie was right now. What would Marie have done were she in a simr situation?<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Though Liam does help us a lot," Lea admitted. "He was the one who suggested that we sell in the town. He also offers us discounted rides to and fro - which I had to argue for by the way since his first offer was to do it for free!" Lea''s reverence and praise caused the man to blush in return. In fact, Marie could feel the respect and gratitude Lea held for the man just by the way she looked at him.

    Marie returned to her previous game of ''React'' with Yumi as she entered a fugue state, gazing out into the sprawling nds and sparse forestry all around them. The sun had only recently risen, its rays refracting and reflecting off the jewel-like morning dew coating the grass and leaves to create small, contained and dazzling rainbows. The heat was manageable, although it was peak summer, probably due to the pleasant winds blowing in from the ocean nearby. All in all, it was a tranquil cart ride... thanks to Marie, of course.

    The Master-Disciple duo''s journey from Twilight Vige was basically a sequence of cashing in favours immediately to get to a new destination. On that note, it was only Marie who indulged in this activity since her Master was of the opinion that they could very easily make their way to the destination on foot using movement arts. Their current mode of transport wasn''t technically a favour since the other passengers and driver were unaware of the fact that Marie had effectively saved their lives.

    While Marie searched for their next transport at their previous stop, she happened to observe that Liam, Lea and Yumi would perish during their cart ride to Dawnbreak Town due to a stampede of wild boars endemic to the region. In Marie''s opinion, it was an easily avoidable predicament that could potentially save three lives. So for her, it was basically a no-brainer to interfere. By hitching a ride with them, Marie managed to dy the trip a few kilometres before the predicted area of interception by requesting a stop to relieve herself. Her manoeuvre seeded. Just a while back, Marie''s senses had caught the tracks of arge group of boars crossing through the cart''s trajectory.

    ''Your actions to save these people from their impending death weren''t missed by me,'' her Master''s voice jolted her from her nk trance. ''I fear that you are interfering excessively. Was this even necessary?''

    Marie narrowed her gaze as a frown warped her countenance. She extricated herself from the impromptu game she was in with Yumi and scooted over to her Master.

    "Why shouldn''t I have helped them?" Marie whispered.

    "Because it isn''t your responsibility to help everyone," Krish answered with an equally low whisper.

    "I saw that they were going to die. It was within my power to assist. Hence, it bes my responsibility to do so," Marie defended.

    Krish shook his head and corrected, "The moment you shift their fate from what isid in their trajectory, they be your responsibility, not before. These three were set to die here, gored and trampled by a horde of wild boars - that was their fate. Without you here, this is what would have happened to them, how does that be your responsibility?"

    "I disagree. If we follow your logic, then our power is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We can''t even use it to help ourselves since we don''t exist in fate''s tapestry. Who are we supposed to use it for?" Marie argued.

    With a bitter sigh, Krish presented his thoughts, "I just... Look, every being has the autonomy to make choices that will affect their lives in a particr way. You may argue that said beings don''t have true agency since most of what they experience in life is predetermined, but that is only because we have the luxury of being able to observe how these beings will react and behave in the face of adversity. For all intents and purposes, we are anomalies. So, when a being acts, there is always an opportunity cost - there is something lost or gained from making that choice. We as outside observers remove the being''s choice by forcing them down a path we deem superior. Who are we to judge which is better and which is worse? Maybe, the forgone oue from choosing option A over option B might have been more alluring or more beneficial down the line for said being."

    Krish let the point sink in before bringing it all together, "What I''m trying to say is that you are free to interfere in the lives of others as you deem fit. But know that you are doing it out of selfishness rather than selflessness. Know that what happens because of your interference is on you and you alone. It may seem warped in your head as I am saying this, but sometimes it is better to not interfere at all."

    With that said, Krish returned to his meditative state. Although, he could see his Disciple''s expression turning from disbelief to mild annoyance until it finally settled at disregard. It didn''t irritate or agitate Krish, though. He knew his Disciple''s character by now. His Disciple wasn''t like Markus, who took his Master''s words as gospel. He knew that she wasn''t one to internalise anything unless it was backed up sufficiently with fact. He sighed internally at that thought.

    ''I just hope that when the timees, she doesn''t break down too much,'' he prayed. Most times, experience is the greatest teacher. Sometimes, the trauma incurred through said experience trounces the teachings that can be absorbed from it. This case in particr was a tightrope walk that Krish was not looking forward to. Unfortunately, it would be something he''d have to walk and that too much sooner than preferred.

 Chapter 233 Next Stop

    The duo arrived at Dawnbreak Town right as the dockworkers were leaving for their lunch breaks. Lea proceeded to offload her goods, a process Liam inserted himself into, going against Lea''s repeated insistence. He carried the stack of baskets all by himself and deposited it at Lea''s usual spot. Marie and Krish split off around that point, noticing that Liam had also insisted upon managing the sales of the dumplings before they parted ways.

    "He''s a kind man," Mariemented.

    "Kindness borne of selfishness," Krish responded cryptically.

    "He doesn''t seem interested in receiving a payment, though," Marie countered with a frown. Krish stopped in ce and gazed pointedly at his Disciple. It looked as though he intended to say something, but he swallowed his words and simply moved past her.

    "Hey, wait up!" Marie jogged after her elusive Master who glided over the ground while still walking with a visible hobble.

    This wasn''t Marie''s first timeing to Dawnbreak Town. Most of her earlier assignments with merchant caravans passing through Wayward Town would end at this junction. Since no rivers were flowing into the sea within the Maika Duchy, merchants that wished to transport their goods overseas had to inevitably converge at Dawnbreak Town. Although the Maika Duchy had thergest coastline within the Sr Empire, arge portion of it was inessible torge vessels and ships either due to extremely shallow waters or cliff and mountainous regions. Dawnbreak Town happened to have the perfect conditions for establishing a port and dock for both trading and overseas travel and was thus one of the first few towns established within the Sr Empire. Currently, its size rivalled that of a small- to medium-sized city. The only reason for keeping the ''Town'' designation in ce was the fact that the poption was sparse inparison to the town''s physical span.

    Most of Dawnbreak Town - almost three-quarters of it - was made up of docks and ports. Various ships and cargo vessels were anchored in these locations, loading and unloading both cargo and people. Right opposite the docks and port was a sprawling market with high foot traffic and a wide variety of offering both local and foreign in nature. Much like the hasty sales made in Wayward Town by merchants looking to offload possible loss-making goods, the market opposite the docks served a simr purpose. Oftentimes, certain imported goods or goods set to be transported out may not survive the trip to their intended destination. Thus, to recoup the costs, these goods are sold at a more discounted rate. People within the Duchy would travel from far and wide to benefit from these discounts, it would be impossible to get foreign products at such prices otherwise.

    "I suppose our purpose is beyond shopping?" Marie snorted as she inspected a quaint yet charming doll made of palm fronds disyed on a seller''s stand. Palms trees weren''tmon in the Sr Empire. They were endemic to the Red Waste, a sprawling desert on one of the continents past the Vast Blue Expanse. The stall owner also happened to have a darkerplexion and arge roll of cotton cloth forming a turban three times the size of his head. He immediately reached forward and grabbed Marie''s hand, "You touch, you buy!"

    "Huh?"

    "You touch goods," the man said while pointing at the palm frond doll. "You buy."

    "Wha- How much for this?" Marie asked exasperatedly. In response, the man raised three fingers. Marie reached into her pockets and retrieved three copper coins, yet instead of epting the payment, the man shook his head in denial.

    "Three silver," the man dered.

    "Three silver? For this doll?" Marie shrieked. "Are you out of your mind?"

    "Foreign craftsmanship. Unique. Fair price," the man countered without budging on his stance.

    "I don''t have three silver," Marie shot back with equal stubbornness.

    "Then we have problem," the man said with a morose intonation. "I will lodgeint with the Town Magistrate."

    At that moment, three silver coins whizzed past Marie andnded expertly upon the turban-garbed man''s stall. The man gazed at the coins, followed their trajectory and observed Krish standing in a neutral leaning stance. The man picked up the coins and slid them into his turban, then lifted the doll Marie had touched, wrapped it in rough cloth and handed it to her.

    "Thank you for your purchase," he said as Marie took the wrapped doll.

    "Can we stop dilly-dallying?" Krish inquired with a sigh. Marie snorted and jogged after her Master.

    "Jerk!" Marie spat indignantly. "It''s not even a food item! It''s not like me touching it would ruin anything?"

    "The people of the Jehakan Confederacy do not tolerate half-measures," Krish exined. "They are literal in every sense of the word. You either do or do not, want or want not. If you want or do, you must not waste it. If you waste, you die. Do you see that turban on his head? Every child after their fifth birthday must start wearing the turban, both boys and girls. They must wear it at all times when they leave their domicile. Then, at every subsequent birthday, they must unroll their turban in front of an invited stranger and wrap themselves in it. If the roll of material falls short, they must then stitch on an extension so that they are able to cover their entire body. Ultimately, at their time of death, their corpse must be fully bound using the cloth forming their turbans and buried in the Red Waste."

    "That''s... morbid," Mariemented with a shiver.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Very much so. The purpose of this tradition is to enforce the fact that death is inevitable and unpredictable, and that one must go through life without hesitation and apprehension," Krish concluded.

    "I don''t think I want to go there," Marie murmured.

    "Actually, the Jehakans are a rather hospitable folk. They never let a guest leave without having a meal. And their cuisine is one of the best I''ve ever eaten in my entire life. The things they can do with camel meat- Oh we''re here!"

    Marie halted alongside her Master andid her eyes upon their destination. "Isn''t this the head office of the Raynor Ship Management?"

    Marie was familiar with the organisation known as Raynor Ship Management - every merchant worth their salt knew of Raynor Ship Management. It was one of the longest-running businesses in the Sr Empire. In an ecosystem where a business'' survival bnces at the edge of a cliff every single day, finding a business that had survived for over two hundred years without the backing of a n or sect and was still thriving was as rare as finding a Unicorn out in the wild. That is to say, Raynor Ship Management was a Unicorn in the business world.

    "Are we going in there?" Marie inquired while pointing at the heavily guarded entrance. Arge wall surrounded thepound which acted as the head office for Raynor Ship Management. Like most head offices, it also doubled as the domicile of the business owner. To that end, a heavy battery of security systems protected thepound and the buildings within. A small squadron of guards, around six in total, was stationed at the entrance whose cultivation Marie could not observe using her mana sense - they were definitely beyond her but by how much? Furthermore, as she extended her senses beyond the wall, her perception experienced emptiness - as though nothing existed on the other side, not even air.

    Marie gulped audibly and probed, "I don''t think we can enter without an invitation-"

    Before she could finish, she noticed Krish strolling nonchntly towards the gate into thepound. Marie bit down a scream of surprise and followed her Master. As Krish approached the entrance Marie braced for an impending halt initiated by the guard, but contrary to her expectation, they simply passed through without a hindrance.

    "What''s happening?" Marie whispered.

    "You can speak normally," Krish said with a chuckle. "They can''t hear you, see you, smell you-"

    Krish immediately yanked his hands to his chest, pulling Marie away from an approaching guard''s path, "They can still feel you, so be mindful of that."

    "How can they not sense me? My presence should trigger something in them, right? The movement of the wind, the tremors from my footsteps... something?!" Marie just could not understand how someone could just erase their presence so easily and selectively.

    "You seriously underestimate the gap in power between a Tesseract Transformation realm mage such as myself and these unsuspecting saps in the Foundation Establishment realm," Krish said while gazing exhaustedly at his hyperventting Disciple. "For reference, it would take at least ten Al Jeeves-es to take me down!"

    Marie grabbed her head in distress and said, "What kind of nonsensical conversion is this? If it takes ten Teacher Jeeves-es to defeat you, how many Josies would it take to take down one Teacher Jeeves?"

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Krish said while narrowing his eyes in disbelief. "Stop trying to quantify power with maths! It''s not like you can just look at someone and read out their level?"

    "You''re the one who defined the ratio of 1:10!" Marie argued. "Hey, you haven''t answered my question! How can they not sense us?"

    Krish didn''t entertain his Disciple any further and continued his hobbling walk through the front garden - a beautifully maintained ecosystem filled with flora from all around the world that also evoked a sense of age and antiquity. Weaving past the period patrols and workers managing the courtyards, the duo finallynded upon the mansion at the centre of thepound. It was a luxurious structure built of marble carved with painstaking precision. It wasrgely open, taking advantage of the pleasant breeze blowing in from the ocean.

    Before Marie could pause and appreciate the ingeniously symmetric architecture (from all cardinal directions), her Master glided forward and beelined through the corridors to the centre-most room. Approaching the door leading into the room, Krish rested his hands on the carved wooden board. From his palm, multiple spell circles shed out in quick session, faster than Marie''s perception. Then, with an apathetic push, he swung the door open and entered.

    The door mmed shut behind Marie, causing the aged and wiry man, who was approaching histe fifties, seated behind the desk at the centre of the room to jolt in panic. His eyes ran all across the area, searching for something, at which point Krish released the luding spell surrounding them.

    "Who are you?!" The man yelped in shock and moved his hands instinctively towards a te underneath his desk. Yet at that instant, he found his entire body grasped in ce rendering himpletely immobile.

    "W-What do you want?" The man eked out through the chattering of his teeth.

 Chapter 234 Superstition

    Shyn Raynor had prepared extensively for a myriad of possibilities and scenarios that he could experience in his daily life. Amongst those scenarios, the ones he rehearsed the most involved his life and its security. He was, after all, an extremely affluent man with generations worth of wealth supporting him. He''d ruffled an uncountable amount of feathers in reaching this far, that is excluding the already innumerable opponents his father and forefather had garnered through their ventures.

    To wit, his ancestor who first broke ground for the mansion he was currently living in had installed some pretty basic protective measures in anticipation of such dangers. Over the years, and through each subsequent generation, the security systems were built upon until eventually the mansion and its surrounding grounds had turned into a veritable fortress. It may not look it at first nce, but not even a fly could enter the grounds without raising a plethora of rms. There were redundancies upon redundancies in ce for this very reason.

    Now imagine Shyn''s utter horror when two seemingly mundane-looking folks, an elderly man who looked around the same age as himself and a teenage girl, simply popped into existence right within his office - the part of his mansion which should have, on paper, the highest level of protection! Shyn was smart enough to realise that the fact that they could reach so far, regardless of their methods, meant their strength trounced everything he and all of his ancestors had installed for protection.

    ''A Tesseract Transformation realm expert!'' Shyn surmised and swallowed a difficult gulp of saliva. His most recent additions had been tested for their effectiveness by the most elusive of mages in the Core Condensation realm - specifically mages specialising in infiltration and assassination who''d "turned a new leaf" and now worked in security systems. If this man could do something that experts in their field couldn''t, there was only one conclusion, which was that Shyn could under no circumstances mess with this man and earn his ire if he wished to get out of this interaction with his life intact.

    Once that sobering thought finally settled in Shyn''s floundering mind, a wave of calm washed over him. He''d realised that a rephrasing of the question was in order.

    "What can this one do for an esteemed mage such as yourself, Master Mage?" Shyn said with an over-the-top but believably sincere level of respect.

    The mage in question approached Shyn''s desk and rested the walking stick he was using for support against the chair.

    ''A method of deception,'' Shyn decided. Who would suspect that a semi-crippled man walking with a limp could annihte someone with a snap of a finger?

    The mage gazed nkly at Shyn while the girl followed and took the second seat opposite the table. The silence grew increasingly ufortable as neither party initiated a dialogue. Eventually, the mage released a sigh and said, "Your eyes are a lot like Maynor''s, now that I think about it. I can see the resemnce in your frames as well."

    "Maynor...?" Shyn murmured. "Are you by any chance referring to my great-grandfather?"

    "I don''t know. Thin guy, really long, dirty brown hair- Died about 135 years ago..." the mage muttered. "Anyway, what matters is that I have confirmed that you are in fact a descendent of Maynor. Hence, we can now proceed with the transaction."

    "Transaction?" The Shyn repeated with anxiousness creeping up his voice. Conducting business with mages was... undesirable. Their breed never behaved following predictable conventions. It was best to leave mages to their own devices - let them fight amongst themselves. This was why Shyn avoided touching anything rted to cultivation and the path of magehood. It was what his father taught him, and so did his grandfather.

    ''Just what trouble did you get us into, great-grandfather,'' Shyn grieved. ''You brought our business into this world and paved the way for it to reach such heights. I hope its unmaking isn''t by your hands.''

    Shyn followed the mage''s hand as it reached into the simple bag slung over his shoulders. From it, he retrieved a ceramic, cylindrical canister with a metal sp at its bottom. The canister had symbols snaking around it with a systematic design. Justying his eyes on it caused Shyn to involuntarily release a gasp.

    "You''ve seen this before," the magemented matter-of-factly. Shyn stood up and beelined towards a bookshelf behind him. He counted off three shelves from the bottom, and then thirteen books from the left. The book upon which his fingernded was then pushed in, causing the shelf to slide inwards to reveal a locked box. He ced his hand over the lockbox, which started to blink with blue luminescence, and only removed it once the light settled on solid green. He lifted the lid of the box and retrieved a simr ceramic canister from within.

    "When I officially took over from my father, the very first thing he did was show me this container. He told me to guard it with my life. He didn''t tell me why, in fact, he barely remembered why he was supposed to guard it since my grandfather told him! I''m pretty sure he thought it was some kind of handing-off ritual that was followed in our family. Of course, I was sceptical at first. As someone with a lot to lose, I was intrigued by the fact that my father assigned the same, if not more worth to this small canisterpared to the life of his son."

    Shyn twirled the canister in his palms while returning to his desk. "I hired a horde of mages to inspect and unlock this canister. None seeded, of course. Almost all of them didn''t even know what it was. Only one managed to gain some understanding based purely on the faint symbols etched around it. It was a Contract Seal - Dwarven."

    He ced the canister on his desk and slid it towards the mage on the opposite side, who picked it up and expertlytched the two canisters in ce by their sps. Once they clicked into ce he extended it towards Shyn.

    "You grab your canister," the mage instructed. Shyn extended his arm warily and grasped the conjoined ceramics by his end. Right as his fingers curled around the eerily warm container, he found that his hand instantly adhered to the ceramic surface and a burst of information swarmed into his mind. It was an exhaustive amount that should have taken him at least half a day to absorb via text, but this sudden injection did the job in mere seconds. He gained an immediate understanding of the gist of the contract stored within the seal.

    To summarise: "Krish Nara swears to protect the Raynor family and all of its interests. This is until Krish Nara voluntarily cashes in a favour with the Raynor family (given a grace period of at least 100 years following the establishment of this contract), which they must amodate no questions asked."

    Shyn furrowed his brows and pointed out, "Protect my family''s interests? That''s really vague. How do I know you''ve been keeping your end of the bargain." He just could not help his businessman facet from bursting out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I would like to point out that no unaffiliated business makes it past the second generation in this political climate. Raynor Ship Management, however, is now entering its fourth? I truly hope that you didn''t believe this was because of some genius tactics employed on your family''s end," Krish said with a chuckle.

    "Maynor was a simple fisherman when I found him," Krish continued with a crescendoing firmness in his tone. "He lost everything because of his gullibility. I raised him from the dirt and set him on the path of sess. You are sitting behind that desk of yours without trouble constantly breathing down your neck BECAUSE of me."

    "You can choose to believe it or not, that matters little. What does matter is that you keep your end of the deal because if you don''t then your soul is forfeited since that is the cost of breaking the terms of a Contract Seal," Krish concluded.

    Shyn recovered from the sudden pressure bearing down on him and asked, "What would the favour be?"

    "I and my Disciple here need boarding on one of your ships leaving Eastwards," Krish responded.

    "That''s it?" Shyn blurted out. The request was far too reasonable, there had to be something wrong here.

    "Do you agree? You need to agree toplete the deal," Krish repeated exasperatedly.

    "Well... I mean, sure," Shyn said. Once the agreement left his lips, the ceramic containers cracked and immediately lost their lustre. The faintly luminous symbols turned invisible from the container as well.

    "With this, my contract with your family has ended," Krishmented as he returned the cracked containers to his bag.

    "Seriously? That''s it?" Shyn eximed.

    "What did you expect?"

    "I-I don''t know..." Shyn sighed as his form deted in disappointment. Why was he feeling disappointed? "So what happens now?"

    "Not my problem anymore," Krish shrugged in nonchnce. "With this contractpleted, I have washed my hands of you."

    A trace of panic started to wash over Shyn''s face at this point. Although he did not fully believe Krish had anything to do with his sess, a part of him considered the possibility. Businessmen were superstitious folk. Coincidences can quickly turn into rituals should they ur twice in a row. As Krish said, no business in the Sr Empire hadsted beyond two or three generations. Raynor Ship Management was in its fourth going on fifth with his son set to take over soon... Did he want to risk it?

    "Of course, you could enter into the contract again," Krish said right as that thought bloomed in Shyn''s mind.

    Without hesitation, Shyn agreed.

    "This time, though, I won''t be the primary contractee," Krish added. "It will be my Disciple. Of course, I shall protect your family''s interests as long as I live. Following my passing, the responsibility shall fall upon my Disciple. Are you satisfied with those terms?"

    It didn''t make much of a difference to Shyn. Even if Krish never helped their family in the future, just knowing that nothing had truly changed would itself give Shyn peace of mind.

    As Shayn held a new ceramic container in his hands and locked it in ce with another being held in the little girl''s hands, he recollected an old story he''d heard being told by the local fisherman.

    A long time ago, the seas off the coast of Dawnbreak Town, or the vige or town that used to exist in this ce before, used to be treacherous - brimming with dangerous sea beasts that could swallow humans in a single gulp. On one particr day, a fisherman operating near the coastline pulled out his and found it empty barring a small squirming creature caught between the ropes. The creature was snake-like, barely filling the man''s palm. It looked troubled, like a little baby lost from its parents. The fisherman took pity on the creature and took it to his home. He fed it and raised it. Within the first year, the creature grew to nearly fill his entire home. The fisherman took the snake-like beast, which he now realised was a juvenile Aqua Wyrm, and released it into the sea. The Wyrm would visit the man regrly at first and would assist him by luring fish towards his nest. Over time, the Wyrm''s visits ceased, but the man firmly believed that he was being silently protected by that Wyrm. The other fishermen believed him because, amongst all of them, he was the only one who consistently and safely fished within the deeper parts of the sea. Once the man grew old and incapable of going out into the sea, his son took over and took his father''s mantle. The boy too faced simr sess. This was until one day, the boy decided that the small boat that had been in the family since his father''s time just wasn''trge enough to haul his catch. The boymissioned a newer, bigger boat and took it to sea. He went to the same fishing spot and prepped hiss. s, as thesnded in the sea, a massive fish-like creature breached the surface and swallowed the boy whole. The boy''s father was right when he said that the Wyrm was watching over him. On the Wyrm''s final visit, it had sprayed a special cocktail of hormones on the boat that spooked themon predators roaming that part of the sea while attracting the smaller fish. Unfortunately, the boy didn''t know that in changing the boat, he had sacrificed his protective ward.

 Chapter 235 Cause And Effect

    Krish and Marie exited the Raynor Family''s mansion without anymotion; their detour through it made less of a ripple than a speck of dust falling upon a still-water surface.

    While they walked past the entrance gate and turned the corner, Marie could barely take her eyes off of the pristine new ceramic canister in her hands - which she learned was called a Contract Seal - and her Master. As her eyes darted periodically between the static seal in her grasp and Krish''s hobbling form, her expression started to be unreadable.

    At this point, Krish could easily ascertain that his precious Disciple''s mind was probably working in overdrive trying toe up with outrageous theories and exnations of everything she had observed back in the Raynor Mansion. Rather than leaving the girl to her devices, Krish decided that it was best to intervene and entertain her queries.

    "What''s with the face?" Krish inquired and slowed his movement to a steady walking pace.

    "This!" She immediately shot back, pushing the canister in her hands forward. "What- Why- No! Just exin this."

    "Where do you want me to start?" Krish said with a weak smile, he could already predict where this was going, and right on queue-

    "From the beginning!"

    "It''s a really long story," Krish sighed. "Narrow it down for me."

    Marie grunted in distress and scratched her head in frustration. "Fine! This Contract Seal - what is it really?"

    "By that do you mean, ''What is a Contract Seal?'' or ''What is the purpose of this Contract Seal?'' or-" Krish''s words halted in their tracks as he received a pointed re from his Disciple.

    He coughed to erase his hesitation and restarted. "The Contract Seal, as its name implies, is a soul-binding contract between two entities that runs on Dwarven magic. Although the seal is verbal, it only works if the spoken and unspoken intentions of the two contractees match perfectly."

    "That seems kind of finicky, doesn''t it? Why can''t it be written?" Mariemented.

    "Because Dwarves don''t have a written script of any kind," Krish dropped a bombshell that nearly caused Marie''s eyeballs to pop off their sockets.

    "What about these, then?" Marie questioned while pointing at the intricately embedded symbols along the sides of the canister.

    "Simr, but not entirely so. They don''t read those symbols, they feel them, hear them, smell them... experience them," Krish exined, although it did not fully satisfy Marie''s curiosity.

    "Exploring Dwarven culture and tradition is another rabbit hole that I don''t wish to go down at this moment-"

    Marie waved her hand and shot out, "Fine! Fine! Let''s get back to what you were saying before."

    "Anyways, not many Contract Seals exist in cirction on Gaea, for obvious reasons. Many years past, though, these were the most preferred method of forming a vow between two parties. After all, it is easy to overlook something in text intentionally or otherwise. But you can''t pull a fast one using this method. Everything said, including what is left unspoken or implied, is taken into consideration when the contract is sealed. If neither party is entering the contract with the same foot forward, the seal fails immediately."

    "That''s convenient," Marieuded. "So about the contract..."

    Krish deciphered Marie''s questioning gaze to mean suspicion and immediately scoffed in disbelief, "Girl, I''m not some conman who would take advantage of a mere fisherman."

    "I mean, we are in a position where we can literally see the future. It''s really easy to just hitch our wagons to the winning horse and call it a day," Marie expounded.

    "I am aware of that. I will not deny that I scried the future of the fisherman before investing in him. BUT, the scrying was to only see if there were any Constants in his trajectory inhibiting me from acting," Krish rified. "I was surprised to find just how little interference fate had in y for that fisherman, that is Shyn''s great-grandfather. Expanding my range further, I found that even his descendants werergely free from fate''s machinations - with regards to their business'' and family''s stability, that is. Which is why I even bothered to get into this contractual agreement. I''ll have you know that I never took advantage of anyone unfairly. If I was being duplicitous I could not have sessfully formed the Contract Seal with Shyn''s ancestor. I''ve been actively managing any and all threats that may affect the Raynors and their business - how else do you think they''ve managed to sustain themselves for four generations?!"

    "That IS a huge aplishment," Marie muttered.

    Krish clicked his tongue in disappointment and grumbled loudly, "Can''t believe you''d use me of something like that, even after I urged the man to form a new contract in your favour..."

    "I did no such thing!" Marie denied it with a scandalous gasp. "You''re reading into it too much." With a jocr intonation, she skipped forward. However, following two spry leaps Marie halted in ce. She was in front of an entrance to an alley. Marie directed her gaze into the darkness that extended outwards from the inevitable dead-end inside. Her cause for stopping before it - a lingering ferrous odour emanating from within - grew in intensity and assaulted her senses, which she had extended into the alleyway.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Marie didn''t know what was inside, but her gut was yelling at her and warning her with an ominous grumble. Right as she anxiously swallowed arge gulp of saliva, a reassuring yet firm hand descended on her right shoulder - it was her Master.

    "I should have expected this to happen," he mumbled.

    "W-What?"

    "Let''s go in. Whatys within is for you to see and understand," Krish responded, while slowly hobbling in. Marie took a second to centre herself and followed her Master.

    With each new step, the morbid smell of blood grew more potent and rankled at Marie''s senses. After a point, she had to pull in her mana sense to not overwhelm herself with an ovep of odours. Within a few seconds, Marie arrived at the source of this disgusting scent and nearly shrieked and copsed in shock.

    "It''s Yumi!" Marie screamed as she finally connected the face adorned over a horribly copsed skull to that of the lively girl ying with her just this morning. Blood leaked out from the little girl''s cracked skull, pooling into a small pond and drenching a fifth of her form in the viscous liquid.

    Turning her head away from the unptable scene, Marie''s eyes identallynded on an even more gruesome and violent disy a few feet towards the back of the alley.

    "Lea..." Marie muttered for she could no longer muster up the energy to evoke a feral scream. The woman''s body was ragged and filled with scuff marks - obvious signs of an intense struggle. Her face was warped in a state of fear, pain and rage with bruises and bleeding wounds on her lips and eye. Her clothes were torn, no- ripped forcefully, revealing more of the woman''s bruised and battered skin. The woman''s open eyes were lifeless, listless, and broken. Marie forcefully held back her gaze from descending below the woman''s abdomen, but the blood oozing out of the woman''s vaginal region was enough to solidify Marie''s assumptions.

    "W-What happened?" Marie breathed out in shock.

    "Three people: Lea, Yumi and Liam. They were destined to die today, that was a Constant," Krish said from behind her.

    Marie balled her hands into a shaking fist and demanded through gritted teeth, "Why didn''t you tell me? You know I can''t see them safely, why couldn''t you tell me?!"

    "And then what?" Krish shot back with a stern crack in his voice. "What would- no what COULD you have done to stop this from happening? Let me remind you, if you hadn''t interfered, the three would have died a more... dignified death, albeit gored and trampled by boars."

    "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Marie bellowed. "It''s the lives of people we''re talking about here. How can you be so s¨¦ about all of this?"

    "People die all the time. I''ve said it once, and I will say it again, it isn''t your responsibility to save everyone," Krish exined calmly.

    Marie ignored her Master''s words and snapped her fingers, "That''s right! Liam. We must save Liam. Where could he be?"

    Krish sighed and prepared to say something, only to get interrupted by a sobbing moan, "Liam... did... this..."

    "Huh?" Marie followed the voice and saw Lea''s lips moving. The woman''s eyes were still lifeless, but tears had started to gush out and flowed down the side of her face.

    "Liam... killed... Yumi... Liam... he-... he-"

    At that instant, all Marie saw was red. A rage rivalling the burning of a thousand suns grasped her rationality; her expression turned resolute and murderous. Marie''s mana surged outwards with unbridled fury, undting with every breath. With a burst of wind, the girl leapt out of the alley and disappeared around the corner. Her feet were taking her somewhere, she did not know where. But she was confident that it would lead her where she needed to be.

    Krish, though, left alone in the alley, simply sighed and crouched next to the wrecked form of the mother.

    "I should have stopped the girl from meddling with your lives earlier," he said out loud. "It is truly unfortunate that you had to die today. Though understand that there was little we could do to stop it from happening. To save a life destined to die requires an equivalent exchange, which oftentimes is another life. I could have taken that perverse man''s life to save one of you. You would have chosen your daughter and would have left her an orphan in the process. She would have survived, but at what cost?"

    Krish sighed once again and said, "I apologise that you had to die this way. A mother should never have to see their children die before their eyes."

    With those final words of apology, Krish waved his hands and pulled the little girl''s corpse towards the mother. He gently ced her into the woman''s open arms. Lea released a whimper before gently kissing her dead daughter''s forehead.

    Krish mmed his staff into the ground, causing the earth to rumble. A fissure revealed itself, pulling the woman and daughter into it before a superhot inferno leapt out from the crack. Then, just as it came, the fissure closed and took with it everything that remained in the alley. The area looked spick and span, as though no child murder and rape had taken ce at all.

 Chapter 236 Fated To Die

    In an inn not far from the scene of the incident, Liam stumbled forward in a drunken haze as he tried to slot his keys into the lock of his rented room''s door. His clothes were crumpled with visible blood handprints streaking across the front. Smaller, muddy prints tore into the back of his shirt in frantic and haphazard formation. The metal of the key collided against its mate''s frame, missing its goal repeatedly until its holder finally plunged them together into a perfect union.

    Liam opened the door to his room and dragged himself forward, nearly tripping on the heavy rug covering the creaking wooden floorboards, and copsed onto a chair next to the bed. His blurry eyes looked around the room onest time to confirm that he was in fact in his room at the inn, it wouldn''t be his first time identally strolling into some random location while under the influence. Though he scoffed and closed his eyes immediately afterwards after his cloudy mind put together the fact that nearly all the rooms in the inn had a simr design. They were all small boxes with a bed, a chair, a table and a chest to store items. Moving from one end of the room to the other could be achieved in four small steps.

    "Damn it!" Liam cursed and palmed his face in annoyance. "I need to leave before the Town''s Watch finds their bodies. Fuck!"

    He didn''t expect things to go the way they did. It was... unfortunate. He leaned towards the table and poured a cup of water for himself with therge metal jug at its centre and proceeded to consume the water inrge gulps. Right as thest drop rolled down his throat, his ears caught a series of rushed footsteps moving through the halls outside. "Is it them? Already?!"

    The door to his room burst open from its frame with a startling crash. The sound echoed through the room and rang in his ears, which were still sensitive in his drunken state.

    "It''s... you?" That was all Liam could say before the figure standing at the door vanished and materialised in front of his seat. Two hands sped his neck and tightened like a relentless vice.

    "W-Wha-"

    "Why''d you do it!" An enraged girl''s voice bellowed and interrupted Liam''s choked words. "Lea and Yumi... WHY?!!!"

    "I do-"

    Liam''s mind started to gain rity at a hurried pace as his blood started to pump faster with the fear of imminent death looming over him. He finally recollected his assant''s identity - it was the girl he''d offered a ride to just this morning.

    ____

    Rage. Maddening rage. That was all that whirled inside Marie''s head. She had no idea how she found out the man''s location, she also had no idea how she reached this ce. For a moment, her mind turned nk, overwhelmed with sorrow, fury and self-loathing. When her mind finally cleared up, she found herself standing before him, with his neck firmly within her grasp.

    The man begged for air, but Marie was unwilling to relent. He didn''t deserve it. He didn''t deserve to live!

    However, it didn''t make sense. It didn''t add up!

    Marie''s grip loosened, allowing the man to gasp for air with loud, wheezing breaths.

    "Why did you do it?" Marie asked with an impassive tone. Her eyes drilled into the man''s cowering form.

    "W-What are you talking about?" Liam responded shakily.

    Marie''s hand darted forward and coiled around the man''s right thumb. Right as his eyes moved towards the grasped finger, a muffled cacophony of brutal cracking noises resonated outwards. Following a millisecond of dy, the man''s nerves finally registered the pain.

    "AAAAAA!" Liam screamed while pulling his broken thumb free from the girl''s hands. What came out was a formless and bleeding fleshy mass with bone pieces sticking out.

    "I won''t repeat my question again," Marie droned while sending a punch directed at the man''s face. Another gruesome crack echoed in the room as a fountain of fresh blood bloomed from Liam''s face through his broken nose.

    "Why are you doing this to me?!" Liam pleaded with a nasal voice and tears streaming down his face, mixing in with the blood.

    "Why did you do it?" Marie repeated as she once again reached for his right hand.

    "It was an ident!" The man screamed, causing Marie''s actions to halt.

    "An ident?" Marie retorted with a mocking tone. "You just ''identally'' killed a little girl by caving in her skull? You just ''identally'' raped a grown woman?"

    Marie lowered herself into a squat and brought her face close to the prostrated man, "You were destined to die today, did you know that? You and those two girls you killed were all supposed to die - trampled under a stampede of boars. Hard to believe, isn''t it? Well, I saved you from that fate."

    She then brought her hand towards Liam''s face and grabbed him by his chin. "You will die today. That is inevitable. But before you go, I wish to know the truth. I want to know why you did that. I can still see the unwillingness to speak truthfully in your eyes. No matter, I''ve learned from my Little Sister that the human body has around 206 bones. We will work our way methodically through each and every one until you are convinced to speak the truth."

    With that said, Marie did not falter in breaking off the man''s right index finger. While the man screamed in pain, she moved on to his middle, and then his ring. Right as her hand grasped his little finger, the man screamed at the top of his voice, "WAIT! WAIT! I''LL TALK!"

    The man released shaky, tired breaths before revealing a spiteful smile. Coming to terms with his death, the man realised that he had nothing to lose and his tongue loosened automatically, "Do you know how much support I''ve given that whore?"

    "Whore?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s right! A fatherless, motherless cur, what else could she do but sell her body?" The man justified. "How else does she have a daughter but no man?"

    The man sought some understanding on Marie''s part, hoping that his usation would at least offer him some. s, he saw nothing of that sort from her face.

    "I-I helped her every day. Drove her to and from the vige, helped her set up stalls once in a while, even helped attract customers to her stall!"

    "She asked you for this assistance?"

    "Well no... I did it out of the goodness of my heart!" The man defended.

    "What does this have to do with your crime?" Marie drew the conversation back irritatedly.

    "Even after all the help I offered, she never showed her gratitude!" The man shrieked. "I''ve supported her for almost five years now! Still, nothing!"

    "Gratitude..." Marie murmured. "Did she thank you for your help?"

    "Y-Yes-"

    "Did she offer payment orpensation for your help?"

    "Yeah, but I never epted-"

    "Did she assist you in return in any way she could?"

    "She did. But-"

    "So the truth here is that she DID express her gratitude, however, it wasn''t in the way you wanted," Marie summarised. To which the man nodded with a loud gulp. "If this is the case then you didn''t, in fact, help her out of the ''goodness'' of your heart."

    "I''m a man! Is it so hard to understand?" Liam dered righteously.

    "Hmm, I see," Marie muttered. "You''re right. Because you are a man, you deserve specific forms ofpensation over others. Of course!"

    Liam''s eyes gained a faint spark of hope, seeing how Marie finally agreed with him on a point.

    "This can be fixed," Marie said immediately after grabbing Liam by his legs, spreading them apart and, before Liam had the opportunity to register what was happening, her foot descended upon hisher region with unflinching resolve. The sound of flesh grinding and tearing was overshadowed by an ear-piercing screen from the iling man. Liam could do nothing to quench the pain radiating from his crotch - it got so bad that he nearly lost consciousness. Blood and urine escaped from what remained, dousing his trousers with an unpleasant smell.

    "You forced yourself on a woman because you thought your act of kindness for her obligated her to satisfy your needs. You im that it is your right as a man. Now, you are a man no more," Marie sneered. She approached the immobile man and sped his skull between her hands.

    "Yumi died after you threw her against the wall, while she tried to stop you from defiling her mother. The girl died a slow and painful death," Marie said through gritted teeth. Incrementally, Marie started to increase the pressure by squeezing her hands together, with Liam''s skull in between. The man''s screams grew in a crescendo until eventually his voice cracked and no sound escaped his gaping mouth.

    At that moment, Marie''s ears caught the sound of wood cking against wood, approaching the room. When she saw her Master''s form, Marie''s grip loosened allowing the man to copse once again onto the floor. His consciousness was teetering, he was clearly in shock.

    "Hmm. You''re hesitating," Krishmented, staring emotionlessly at the figure sprawled on the floor. "I figured you might have ended him already."

    "Must he die?" Marie asked exasperatedly.

    "That is his fate," Krish affirmed. "Why? Do you want him to live?"

    Marie nodded with a morbid frown and said, "I want him to suffer the consequences of his actions. Death is too quick an end for him. I shouldn''t have saved scum like him."

    Krish hummed nomittally and retrained his focus on his Disciple, who was cradling her head in dismay. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed the man''s legs twitching and his pupils running around furiously beneath his closed lids. Krish moved sideways, clearing up a path towards the exit.

    On queue, the copsed man leapt into motion. He worked through his disorientation and rushed towards the exit. However, two steps in, his leg got caught in the heavy rug at the centre of the room. He tripped while conserving his momentum and hurtled uncontrobly towards the frame of the door.

    A loud crash echoed within the room, and two heads simultaneously turned towards the source of the sound. Liam had unwittingly turned sideways in his trajectory and had hit his head at an odd angle against the door frame. The force yanked his neck at an egregious angle, snapping the connection between his spinal cord and brain.

 Chapter 237 Unbreakable

    Hesitance. Second thoughts. Doubt.

    In the past thousand or so years, Krish never once felt those emotions. He had his life figured out. The actions he took were calcted, the risks expected, thus the consequences... well... inconsequential. It wasn''t like he lived a life free of mistakes. In fact, his early years were rife with one blunder after another. Most were simply in passing, while others leftsting scars. At first, he regretted his actions and he wallowed over the repercussions. Yet over the years, he''d learned to move past them - it wasn''t like he could do anything about it.

    However, in the recent year, Krish found himself asking, "Did I do the right thing?" or "Was this the correct action?" a lot more... ufortably so. Where did all this hesitatione from?

    The answer was standing right next to him, in the form of his headstrong and yet equally vulnerable Disciple. The duo set out early in the morning to the docks, a few days after the "incident", to hitch a ride on a ship headed Eastwards. In the days following the "incident", Marie had turned mum. Her gaze often veered off into the background as though it was focused on something distant and imaginary. Her face didn''t betray much in terms of emotion, barring the infrequent yet imperceptible scowls, as if she had pondered upon something unpleasant.

    Even with all the power in Krish''s repertoire, there was little he could do to read another person''s mind. His only basis ofparison was with Marie''s usual temperament, which was nothing like how she was behaving at the moment. That concerned Krish a lot.

    ''Did I do the right thing back there?'' Krish pondered. The more he revisited the events that transpired during the "incident", the more Krish felt like pping himself. If somehow his powers granted him the ability to travel back in time, Krish would approach his past self and throttle the man to death.

    ''The exposure was too quick and definitely excessive.'' Marie had witnessed a child murder, and a rape, and had personally participated in torture that may have led to involuntary manughter.

    A horse is naturally afraid of being ridden, it is in their blood. As prey animals, the feeling of having something mounting them evokes the same emotion as if it were a predator''s attack. Yet horses are the preferred form of transportation. How is this possible?

    In order to prepare a horse to be riddenfortably, an experienced rider essentially mounts it by force. The horse follows its natural instinct to leap and buck and tries to dismount its rider. But the rider aims to never let off. They must persist until eventually, the horse relents. The goal is to literally break the horse''s spirit until it submits, which is where the term ''breaking''es from.

    On paper, breaking a horse is necessary. However, only the horse knows the emotional torture it must live through to reach the optimal state of coexistence with its human masters. At least a horse is an animal with the basest of perceptiveness - the mental scars it sustains during the process fade over time as it grows ustomed to life. But that is not so with humans.

    Much like how a horse is broken to be ridden, a mage must be broken to take a life. People aren''t naturally predisposed to take another human''s life, since there is no natural benefit from doing so. Killing for self-defence is eptable, killing to protect something valuable is a little less so but still within the bounds of eptability. However, killing someone in cold blood or in a fit of passion causes something to snap inside any sane and functioning human. An immense revulsion boils over from within and threatens to evacuate from the only avenue avable. This may happen once, it may happen twice, but eventually, the visceral reaction ceases altogether. That is the sign that the person had grown ustomed to taking a life. They are thus broken.

    People, once broken, either remain broken or are rebuilt. However, just like any piece of ceramic, once they are shattered no amount of adhesive can get rid of the cracks. Even with the strongest of glues, the crack lines will remain the first point of failure under any application of excessive force.

    Krish''s Master broke him in very early, maybe a year earlier than Marie''s current age. The man had actually engineered a scenario to force Krish''s hand to kill someone. Worse yet, it was Krish''s childhood friend. Krish didn''t know that the confrontation that ended in his friend''s death was the result of his Master''s machinations until much, muchter, when his Master was on his deathbed. At that time, Krish had already forgotten or overwritten that incident in his memories as over a millennium and three-quarters had passed since then.

    For a long time, Krish figured that it was the optimal path - that his Master had done the right, albeit horrible thing. Yet within thest year, Krish hade to question his Master''s methods in more ways than one. Especially now as he saw Marie absent-mindedly boarding the ship which would be their ride.

    Krish knew that he would have to break Marie in eventually. The path of a Mage was wrought with dangers, and queasiness towards killing would only end up getting her killed. However, Krish did not want to orchestrate the procedure for Marie as his Master did to him. This was why he''d taken a hands-off approach when an opportunity presented itself, specifically in the way she handled the trio destined for death. He already saw the ending when Marie first beckoned for a ride in their cart. He saw the girl drowning in her blood while her skull depressurised. He saw the woman''s spirit shattering as her eyes met her dying daughter''s and the man forced himself on her. Though he could not see how the man would die, rather he saw a still image of his death. This usually meant that an anomaly was involved in his demise. Barring Guy, who Krish was still struggling to figure out, there was only one other anomaly close to the man - Marie. With that information, Krish was fairly certain that Marie would y a role in the man''s death.

    In Krish''s mind, it was all perfect. Not only would the sequence work to temper Marie against using her powers haphazardly, but it would also break her into the concept of killing.

    What Krish didn''t ount for was the vast difference in psychology between himself and his Disciple. As someone who''d lived for over 2000 years, what he perceived to be mundane or trivial wasn''t necessarily so for another who''d lived for a hundredth of that time. Krish realised toote that Marie''s brain and psyche were overloaded with the weight of the events from the ''incident''. She was broken, but Krish was growing increasingly anxious over the fact that she had yet to recover or reestablish a proper baseline since then. Luckily, she hadn''t taken a life, or she may have truly fallen over the edge.

    Marie stood at the helm of the ship and gazed out into the horizon. Krish observed her steady breathing, and practised cirction of mana - she was meditating. It was a good sign.

    "Pleasant weather. Do you know if it will remain as such?" Krish asked while approaching his Disciple.

    "I don''t," she answered without averting her gaze from the rising sun. "I''ve decided to give my abilities a little rest for a while."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Krish hummed affirmatively. "Would you like to talk about what happened?" He probed with a tinge of hopefulness in his voice.

    "What is there to talk about?" Marie responded. "I made a mistake and two innocent lives were lost because of it. This will stay with me for as long as I live. The best I can do is to not fail another innocent in the future."

    "You do realise there was nothing you could have done back there. If you hadn''t-"

    "If I hadn''t foreseen the future and intervened, though the circumstances at the time of death would have been better, three innocent lives would have been lost," Marie said with a sneer. "If anything, I reduced the number of innocent casualties."

    Krish narrowed his eyes and gazed pointedly at his Disciple.

    "Don''t worry, Master," Marie assuaged while tapping Krish''s hand. "I''ve met men worse than him during my time travelling around with various merchant caravans. I will lose little sleep over his death. On the other hand, Lea and Yumi''s death did teach me something."

    She turned around and leaned her back against the ship''s wooden rails. "My mistake, and only regret, was using my powers while they were still iplete. I should have used The Heavenly Eye."

    "Must I remind you of the consequences of that decision?" Krish droned.

    "Exactly!" Marie shot back with a raised voice. "Have you never wondered why you have this power? You can''t use it for yourself since we aren''t part of fate''s sequence, and we can''t use it to save others since stopping a guaranteed death requires an equivalent payment in exchange - it''s basically useless! What use is having this power if there is nothing to be gained from it?"

    "Lea and Yumi''s death has affirmed one thing. The Heavenly Eye is an iplete art," Marie dered.

    Her gaze hardened and she looked resolutely at Krish. "I willplete it. That is my fate."

    Krish''s brows rose in surprise at his Disciple''s deration. "Is that so?"

    "You don''t believe me?"

    "No," Krish said while chuckling mirthfully. "You have proven time and time again that you can achieve even the most imusible of tasks through sheer determination, willpower, and ingenuity. My reaction wasn''t disbelief, it was anticipation."

    He then rubbed Marie''s head yfully and said, "In fact, I am very much looking forward to it, my dear Disciple."

    Marie pped Krish''s hand away from her head and pouted annoyedly, though the light rosiness on her cheeks didn''t hide away her embarrassment. Krish revealed a warm smile and walked towards the ship''s interior.

    During his retreat, he noticed his hands shaking visibly as an overwhelming surge of pride and excitement welled up from within.

    ''I''ve picked up an exceptional Disciple. That''s for sure!''

 Chapter 238 About Taking Another Life

    Back at Guy''s end, once the caravan exited the Rasmus March the next, and final, territory on their way to the Capital was the Regal ins. In his entire two lives, Guy had never seen such an abrupt transition from onendscape to the next. As they were traversing through sparse shrubbery, everything just suddenly ended and turned into an endless expanse of nothing as far as the eye could see. Guy had never seen so much of nothing in his entire life. There was so little perturbing the still tness of the ins that Guy could see the curvature of the globe along the horizon.

    Upon entering the Regal ins, the caravan''s ambience discharged visibly, even more sopared to the change following the revtion of Guy and Markus'' powers and Jean''s parentage. After some contemtion, it made total sense. Only an idiot would ambush a caravan in such an undefendable and exposed setting. There was no cover to hide behind, or obstacles to weave around, both the attackers and defenders would be sitting ducks with the advantage in the defenders'' favour since they could anticipate and prepare for the attack. Of course, this didn''t stop some rogue parties from intercepting the caravan - there was never ack of idiots in the world.

    Most of the ones that did intercept the caravan were clearly amateurs, living a desperate life and struggling to survive. Their attempts to shake down the caravan for food or money were half-baked and superficial. They were more scared than anything else. So Guy took the initiative in those instances and calmed them down with his power, rather than letting the Whispering Dusk members butcher them without prejudice. More often than nought they were refugees egged into joining a raid by a few bad actors, so why amputate the whole arm if the problem stems from a single finger? Once the troublemakers were isted, they were bundled up into a neat package and delivered to one of many watchtowers breaking the Regal in''s monotonousndscapes.

    "This is the sixth group," Korren, the leader of the Whispering Dusk escort regimentmented as the patrol guards dragged a chained and unconscious prisoner into the watchtower''s holding cell. "It''s highly unusual."

    Guy cocked his eyebrows inquisitively, to which Korren expounded, "It''s more than what we''ve had to contend against in this region from thest ten tripsbined! The refugee crisis is getting way out of hand."

    With increasing turmoil in the Kingdom up north and a gue on top of that, more and more refugees were evacuating towards the Sr Empire. Guy had the opportunity to witness this first-hand in Radiant City a while back. Droves of roughshod and tired men and women were flocking and camping outside City premises. Their living conditions were abysmal and extremely treacherous - it reminded Guy a lot of the mass refugee migration taking ce in his previous life at the time of his death except this was much, much worse.

    "I don''t understand why you''re bothering with all of this, anyways," Korren sighed as they returned to the moving caravan. "Why bother subduing these miscreants and handing them over to the guards? Can''t we just kill them and be done with it? It''s more efficient, not like anyone will miss them?"

    Guy held back a sneer over the man''s callous disregard for the sanctity of life and said, "We live in a society. Society has rules. We follow rules so that the society we have built doesn''t fall apart."

    "Rules are in ce to keep the weak and inconsequentials in line and make them feel safe," Korren said with a snort.

    "Is it better to be feared or respected?" Guy asked.

    "Can''t we have both?" Korren joked, to which Guy shook his head and responded, "It is easy to espouse fear, but respect is harder to earn and much easier to lose. Both can be used to motivate someone to do something, however, fear stems from negative emotions while respect is deeply rooted in the positive spectrum."

    "What''s the point of all this?" Korren inquired with narrowed eyes filled with confusion.

    "What I''m trying to say is that a person who fears you will follow yourmands, but you will always have to worry about being stabbed in the back. However, a person who respects you will follow yourmand, and will have your back in your time of need," Guy borated. "You see if actions are motivated by emotions in the positive spectrum, the process AND oue are generally better."

    Guy released a long breath to let Korren stew on that notion before asking, "Would you rather have people fearing the Whispering Dusk Sect or respecting it?"

    "It would be better if they respected us," Korren affirmed.

    "The greater the respect held by the Whispering Dusk amidst the mortal folk, the better your chances of attracting more members, retaining existing members, and raising overall morale, amongst other factors," Guy summarised.

    "Since this is established, how does one gain respect?" Guy scoffed mirthfully and said, "Sounds easy enough to achieve, right?"

    Korren nodded back nkly.

    "They say that one must treat others the way they expect to be treated," Guy quoted. "Back then, we could have followed your strategy and meted out our own personal justice. But then this could be our own future. Maybe, someone stronger would execute us for being in inconveniences. What do you think about that?"

    "It is their right by virtue of their superior strength-" Korren answered instinctively. "-but I''ll admit that it would really suck!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How would you feel if the stronger mage, instead, treated us like a fellow human - on an equal footing?"

    Guy didn''t need to hear Korren or see his face to know the man''s answer. The line of discussion only had one possible conclusion. At this point, Guy walked forward and joined his Disciple and Jean, leaving Korren to ponder on what was said. He knew that a simple half-an-hour discussion would do little to change the mind of a man so deeply entrenched in a mentality that appeals to the base animalistic instinct of submission to power.

    Furthermore, the discussion had unearthed some apprehensions and troubles inside Guy''s mind that he had suppressed for a while now. It was on the matter of killing as a whole.

    Guy''s birth was in thete 20th Century back on Earth. It was a time when the Information Age was just kicking off, with the Inte quickly bing ubiquitous. Although conflicts still persisted in his past life, the average person never had to grow ustomed to the act of taking a life - humanity had advanced by quite a bit since they first huddled together and formed huntingmunities.

    To kill was wrong, immoral, and unnecessary. That was what he was taught, and what he preached to all the kids he taught. Could he still continue his teaching of pacifism and civil conflict management in this world?

    One thing he learned was that in this world, there were, in fact, some cases that words and civil procedures just could not solve. Take the instance of the thug leader who controlled those refugees to attack the caravan as an example. Guy had clearly asked the man to release his control over his enved men, to which the man''s immediate action was to kill himself. Guy did not ask him to kill himself, that was nowhere close to his intention. So in this scenario, Guy could surmise that killing the man was the only possible oue. If there was an alternative, it would require subduing the individual, interrogating him, researching his method of control, and many more hitherto unknown steps.

    ''But what would the cost be of that alternative?'' How many of the people under the man''s control would have to be crippled or worse killed before cuffing the man? How many would they lose from their own side?

    It was never tractable to run these cost-benefit analyses every time an impromptu conflict such as this was faced.

    ''I never thought I, as a teacher, would have to ponder on such morbid decisions,'' Guy thought wryly.

    Sometimes, people would lose their lives at Guy''s hands. Sometimes, people would lose their lives at his students'' and Sect members'' hands. It wasn''t something he could stop from happening, but it was something he could curtail.

    ''I should probably start introducing updated versions of morals and philosophy into the course outline,'' Guy decided.

    He didn''t want his Sect members to get rolled over by everyone they met. For that, they would need to be ready to take a stand and fight. But, he also did not want his Sect members to discount the sanctity of sentient life all for the sake of convenience or selfishness.

    ''Beyond that, taking a human life can bear a heavy toll on the soul.''

    In some countries on Earth, police officers were required to undergo regr therapy after experiencing certain acts of violence while on duty. Guy did not want his Sect members to be desensitised to killing, and he did not want them to enter a self-destructive spiral after taking a life. It would be a good idea to introduce this psychological treatment in his Sect as well.

    Guy''s mind started to branch off and brainstorm various ideas and additions that he could implement with his Sect that would be necessary to keep up with the society of this world.

    A few hourster, right as Guy mentally did the equivalent of dotting the i''s and crossing the t''s, something breached the banal horizon that drew everyone''s attention. As they moved forward and approached the discrepancy, it started to growrger, andrger, andrger...

    Guy could not stop his mouth from dropping in awe - an action that was mimicked by Markus and Dora.

    "Wee to Sunspear," Jean said from his side. "The Capital of the Sr Empire."

 Chapter 239 Squalor Outside The Capital

    While Guy formted his ns to improve the psychological health of the True World Sect members as well as raise their overall moral base, the caravan continued its paced crawl through the capital. The path was clear and wide, with minimal deviations barring the two enormous bridges connecting the two banks of the Indigo-Chill and the Ragged-Current rivers. Along the way, the caravan met with others heading in the same direction, until eventually a long line of slow-moving traffic started to form.

    The line moved at a snail''s pace but moved forward nheless. And as it did so, the capital''s grand form started to draw closer, until it spanned the entire horizon. Once the capital grewrge enough to cover every inch of Guy''s line of sight, he was drawn out of his contemtive stupor and managed to fully absorb the great beast which could very well have beenrger than thergest cities back on Earth. A massive wall of red stone surrounded the city. Intermittently scattered around the walls were openings and entrances that were strictly policed by squadrons of heavily armoured and armed guards. Many lines of caravans, carriages and even walkers converged at these entrances and awaited the go-ahead from the walking metal cans of death. The filter was stringent, no one without proper identification and purpose of entry could pass the gates.

    From a distance, Guy was enamoured by the sheer scale of the structure and its imposing architecture. But upon arriving closer, his awe faltered and was reced by a worried and affected frown. During their journey to the capital, and a bit prior, Guy had grown aware of the impending refugee crisis affecting the Empire. Hordes of refugees were escaping the harsh North and seeking asylum in the South. This was augmented by the disced citizens of the Empire due to the gue affecting the northern regions. This type of mass movement of people from regions of conflict wasn''t a new experience for Guy, for he had travelled through many such ces in his previous life. It was a horrid affair - to give up one''s home because living there no longer bes tractable is a horrible feeling. Worse yet is to seek out newer pastures but be denied the possibility to start anew and be forced to live like animals - to be herded, contained and live off of scraps. It is dehumanising.

    The decision to ept and allow refugees to assimte into the local diaspora is a decision that must stem from the goodness of one''s heart. Unfortunately, most political decisions are steeped in bias and selfishness. No matter how much people argue over the benefits of allowing refugees to immigrate and assimte, a good portion of politicians stands against the choice because they inherently fear the dilution of the original culture and the "staining" of themon values that prevail in the region. The problem shifts from talking about people to talking about the abstract concept of the nation itself.

    To an extent, this selfishness and bias were smothered in Guy''s previous life for one crucial reason - the Inte. The Inte makes people who have public profiles ountable for their words and their actions. A politician can no longer get away with lying tantly. A politician cannot get away with throwing around racial slurs and discriminatory talks. A politician cannot denounce the meat industry and get caught eating a juicy hamburger in a global fast-food franchise.

    Furthermore, with the prevailing concepts of free speech and human rights, politicians can quickly find their careers in murky waters if their official stance on topics such as the mass migration of refugees borders on inhumane territories. Because of this, the reception of refugees back on Earth was far superior (not without room for improvement, though) to the conditions they faced in this one.

    The people on Gaeacked the motivation to care about a fellow human because the basic human is selfish by design - it is an animalistic instinct to care for oneself before others. Only a select few are selfless - these folk cannot be found in political offices. On Earth, these selfish mooks were kept in check and motivated to be selfless since their actions and words were forever immortalised on the Inte. One wouldn''t want their legacy to be a collection of colourful phrases denigrating refugees! On Gaea, without the Inte maintaining checks and bnces, there was no such motivation. For one, there was no such thing as equality in this world with the ss divides in ce. Secondly, the newspapers were a joke - theycked substance and depth. Who would peoplein to? What would theyin about? Ultimately, would it even matter?

    At that moment, Guy saw one of the guards punch a grovelling man garbed in tattered clothes and wearing a sack for a shirt in his gut. The man copsed with a loud wheeze and was then unceremoniously lifted and tossed to the side like a ragdoll, only to be carried away by a few of his equally destitute brethren.

    "Are they allowed to do that?" Guy could not help from blurting out. He couldn''t stand the sight at all!

    As he followed the men carrying the groaning man, he found arge congregation of haphazard tents a short distance away from the walls, going along it. The tents were made of simple cloth, and leather for a select few who were luckier or able to lord themselves over others. Within this congregation, Guy caught a horde of men, women and a few children wearing equally deteriorating clothes and living in overall squalor. An aura of loss and despondency hung over this horde; just one look and Guy could tell that these were refugees. Guy''s heart ached to see the kids running barefoot and extremely malnourished, scooping and shoving a handful of mud into their mouths. There was no proper sanitation - a sense-rending stench prevailed in the air that worsened the already dour aura hanging over the area.

    "That''s not hygienic!" Jean said worriedly. She also saw the sad state of affairs and her healer''s heart screamed with sorrow. "Why are they being corralled here like this? It is unsafe, unhealthy and improper..." She droned on.

    "It is a multi-faceted issue, Young Mistress. For one, the Capital is fairly dense and integrating such arge influx of people into it will be difficult without additional government spending to amodate them," Josie exined. "Furthermore, it''s not like assimting them into the Capital will make any difference. For better or worse, their living conditions inside will be no better than what it is out here. If I were them, I''d probably go somewhere else."

    "It''s because they have nowhere else to go that these people are flocking here," Guy exined. "No other ce will ept them due to their origins. The fact that they have nothing to their names provides little in terms of confidence. Handling and resettling refugees is a monumental task, one that requires a hands-on and empathetic approach."

    "Is there something we can do?" Markus asked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "There might be," Guy muttered as his sights narrowed on a particr group of kids sneaking over to a caravan with no escorts. While one of them distracted the upants by loudly begging for food, the rest of the kids silently crawled below the caravan and grabbed onto to carriage from below, hanging on like monkeys.

    Guy couldn''t contain his incredulity as he asked, "Won''t they just end up getting caught by the guards?"

    After all, mana sense basically worked like an X-Ray scanner - even the most basic of mages could detect the presence of additional lifeforms below the carriage by approaching and extending their senses in that direction.

    "The guards won''t catch them because, most likely, those kids might be affiliated with the Beggar''s sects operating in this region," Josie exined.

    "There''s a sect for beggars?" Guy''s first thought was to affiliate them with the simrly named Beggar''s Sect from Wuxia novels in his past life.

    "They mostly operate in the grey and ck markets. Some categorise them unorthodox, others don''t - it''s a very fine line," Josie exined with an uncharacteristic groan. "Their speciality lies in the... ''vocational'' practices."

    Noticing Markus and Jean''s nk gazes, Josie sighed and said, "Information gathering, smuggling, theft and in some cases kidnapping. They are also known to take on unusual tasks such as luring, distraction, and in even rarer cases, murder."

    "How haven''t they been expelled or destroyed? They sound dangerous!" Markus eximed.

    Josie shrugged and exined, "The Beggar''s sects are named such because there is a powerhouse in their back. Although they don''t advertise martial strength, they are by no means a weak organisation. Additionally, the Beggar''s sects mostly dabble in minor crimes, nothing too egregious to require heavy action. Truthfully, annihting crime from a region is a myth - even the cleanest of cities can espouse viins of some kind. So, it is better to have an evil that you know and can negotiate with than one you cannot. Finally, any Beggar''s sect can never be truly destroyed as they do not have a monolithic structure to call their base like regr sects. The saying goes that ''wherever beggars roam shall one find a Beggar''s Sect''."

    "They seem quite young to participate in such dangerous activities," Guymented as the caravan the kids were hiding under passed through the gate with nary a word from the guard.

    "These are the kinds of folk the Beggar''s sects recruit from. People, mostly kids, with nothing and hoping to find a way to crawl out of the pit they''ve been buried in. The desperate ones! The Sect in the city probably pays them a few measly coppers to pickpocket, collect information, and spread rumours. Those kids then use that money to support their families struggling outside."

    Guy hummed thoughtfully as Josie finished her exnation. He wasn''tfortable with the casual exploitation of children for crime. He really wanted to help them out - if he were in his past life once again he''d rush out and do so without question. However, Guy had more responsibilities now.

    ''This can be der,'' Guy said to himself as he tried to swallow the bile surging out his mouth. He never thought that there woulde one day when he''d wave away the suffering of innocent children for something else!

 Chapter 240 First Steps Into The Capital

    Once the caravan passed through the gates, the group arrived at a sprawling docking and warehousing district dedicated to loading and unloading caravans. Amidst the din of neighing and whinnying horses being directed to their stables, porters screaming to attract the attention of iing caravans, merchants and caravan leaders yelling to direct their subordinates, and the generalmotion of crates and boxes being dropped or dragged, Guy followed the escort group to a warehouse under Dune Caravan Management''s sigil. The ce was like a walled-offpound in a long line of simrly designed buildings, with two gates to facilitate entry and exit by carriage and a smaller entrance for foot traffic. Each of these entrances was guarded by a squadron of individuals sporting thepany''s attire, a few of whom Guy found out were actually mages in a realm above his own!

    Guy used to wonder why evenrgepanies with the capacity to train a retinue of guards with such high power levels would bother hiring escorts. After some analysis, the answer became clear. Training and raising individuals with such strength required arge investment of resources. Apany''s primary goal is to generate profits, raising a retinue is a side investment towards achieving this goal and is therefore something the generated profits are siphoned into. It would be a waste to lose this investment due to an ambush from rogue elements such as mages, magical beasts, or even natural disasters while out on the road. So,panies tend to hold their stronger cards closer to their chests and use their retinue solely for defence, opting for sects - who happen to be specialised in escorting and general mercenary work - for every other situation where the loss of assets is a certainty.

    The escort group was guided into thepound''s office building, to the manager''s room, where they were handed their payments for services rendered. The amount was decided before departure, but a bonus was tacked for various factors such as arrival time, loss of assets during transit, and so on. All in all, the True World Sect earned just short of two thousand gold coins, while the Whispering Dusk Sect''s group earned two-and-a-half thousand. True World Sect''s original slice was much smaller, but considering Guy''s contribution towards a smooth and hassle-free journey, arge portion of the bonus was relegated to his Sect over Whispering Dusk. There was no opposition to this decision from Korren''s side since he felt it was fair. Furthermore, the True World Sect''s name was properly advertised - Guy was certain that Dune Caravan Management would consider his Sect for their next venture without him having to approach them with another request.

    Guy carried the sleepy Dora out of thepound with Jean and Markus; Josie had departed a little while earlier to prepare the Rasmus n''s mansion in the Capital for their stay and to send out a voice transmission via a Communication Ritual Formation to inform Goran of Jean''s safe arrival.

    Mostrge ns in the Sr Empire owned and maintained a mansion in the Capital. In fact, mostrge ns maintained mansions in the major cities across the Empire as long as it fell within their financial capacities, but the Capital was a must. Decisions that could change the face of the nation as a whole would require the vote and go-ahead from the ns holding titles, thus necessitating immediate attendance from the n leaders as representatives of their ns. Sometimes, these meetings could go on for days on end, warranting a ce to stay for the leaders within the Capital since teleporting back and forth bes more expensive as the distance increases.

    Guy also counted himself lucky that Jean happened to be a part of his Sect. Although in doing so she would be sacrificing her chance to contest for the n Leader position, she wouldn''t be dissociated with the Rasmus n. This provided her with certain benefits, such as being able to host her guests in her n''s mansions all across the Empire. Essentially, the True World Sect had just earned itself a free lodging service in all the famous cities in the Empire. This was a great boon since finding a ce to stay was a monumental task in the Capital. As thergest city in the Empire, and by some estimates in the whole of Gaea, it was constantly in an overcrowded state as people flocked in from everywhere. Especially now that both the Sect Alliance and Co-operative of Teachers were holding events in the city, finding an unupied room at an inn would be impossible.

    Dora released a loud yawn and fell into a deep slumber on Guy''s shoulders. The journey had drained the little girlpletely. Sleeping on a carriage was ufortable to begin with, doing so for days on end would be torturous for a child. Even with Guy''s superior physique after his advancement, he was experiencing minor lower back aches. He couldn''t even fathom how these caravaneers did it so regrly.

    Nheless, since the primary sightseer was out ofmission, Guy decided to call it an early day since it was an hour past noon. He was certain that if they explored the Capital today without Dora in tow, the girl would throw another tantrum and force them to revisit all the ces for her sake. Jean and his Disciple agreed, so they all followed Jean as she guided them to the Rasmus Mansion.

    The building was in the most affluent sections of the Capital which was within the walledyer closest to the centre. To get there from the warehousing district, they had to take a path leading up the walls that contained the Capital - it was like a shortcut. Not just anyone could ascend the walls though. Due to the sheer size of the Capital, constant vignce is required to keep the city from falling into chaos and bursting at its seams. To streamline the response of emergency services such as in the event of a crime, fire, or disaster, the responder services are relegated to the walls of the Capital. To get from one location to the other, the walls offer an unhindered pathway. To ensure that nothing inhibits this, no one apart from strictly authorised government and military personnel is allowed to roam the walls. High-born ns and Royals are an exception to this rule. Once again, due to Jean''s ancestry, Guy and the True World Sect were allowed uninhibited movement from the warehousing district to the Rasmus Mansion.

    It was an icky feeling for Guy. In his previous life, his parents had drilled into him and his siblings that utilising personal connections to get ahead in business was fair y, but to do the same with governmental structures was wrong.

    "Topete in the battleground known as capitalism, using every single advantage that one has is necessary for sess. However, the public sector works under the assumption that everyone is treated equally and fairly. It would be too easy for us to bend that assumption, but doing so is wrong. It would be like stealing candy from a baby - there is no honour in it."

    However, his difort was sufficiently suppressed after his eyesnded on the absolute clusterfuck taking ce in the neighbouring district. From his viewpoint up the wall, it was all too clear! It looked like a nasty horde of ants all moving around in a frenzy around, over and sometimes under each other. Guy was certain that if he dropped a pin into the area, it wouldn''t hit the ground.

    "This is the thirteenth Flea Market," Jean exined. "It contains goods that have been purchased and returned from the twelfth, which in turn is stocked with returned goods purchased from the eleventh, and so on."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So you''re saying these goods have been used by at least twelve previous owners?" Markus retorted instinctively.

    "Thirteen," Guy corrected.

    "Master?"

    Guy chuckled and said, "You forgot to count the owners who returned the clothes to the first Flea Market."

    Looking at the state of the products on the various stalls, as well as the general condition of the customers roaming the area, Guy could tell that this ce was probably frequented by the poorest of the poor. It also confirmed Josie''s earlier derations that those living within the Capital may not be faring any better than those refugees settled outside. If anything, it was much worse. On one particr instance, an updraft of air carried with it an unbearably pungent smell that nearly woke Dora from her slumber. Guy had witnessed many scenes of horror in his past life, but none had assaulted him with such a ghastly smell.

    Jean was observant of this and quickly guided her fellow sect members away from the region, and moved briskly towards the central walled sections. As they approached the centre, Guy felt an almost imperceptible rise in elevation - the centre was physically higher than the periphery. Considering that the Capital was built upon an impossibly t in, this indicated that the Capital was artificially raised during its construction. Guy didn''t miss the symbolism of such a decision.

    The group descended from the walls and entered the High-Residential District. Unlike themotion and crowd in the Flea Market and subsequent slums where the density of people was inhumane, the houses in this district were enormous and thoroughly spaced out. Guy could not understand the criminal waste of space! Within the gap between the Rasmus Mansion and their neighbours, one could fit more than twenty smaller households each filled with a family of four.

    Guy was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice greeting him. "Wee to the Rasmus Mansion of Sunspear," Josie said with a low bow. "This ve has prepared the premises for the Young Miss and her guests."

    "Where can Iy Dora down? She''s fallen asleep," Guy indicated while raising Dora''s head on his shoulders.

    "Please follow Reen here," Josie said while pointing at a primly dressed female maid behind her.

    "Dinner will be ready in an hour, please get yourselvesfortable till then," Josie said before retreating behind a small army of servants prepared to care for the True World Sect''s needs.

 Chapter 241 Time To Relax

    Guy never thought that he''d miss the warm embrace of a down-filled mattress and pillow until his head touched and regressed into its marshmallow-like softness at one of the many guest rooms in the Rasmus Mansion. His entire body melted into the amodating support of the mattress until he became one with the damn thing. At that moment, Guy anguished over his advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm. Though he wasn''t fully liberated from the need to sleep, it wasn''t a daily pressing matter for him anymore - he only slept about twice a week for eight hours each, on a good week. Sometimes he could go for two weeks with eight to ten. Nheless, sleep was evading him like a coy girl ying hard to get.

    ''Such misogynistic thoughts...'' Guy chided himself. ''Look at what you''ve turned me into!'' Guy med while pointing at his pillow with a scandalised gasp.

    And thus he remained, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. For the first time in a while, Guy felt like doing nothing at all and justy there in bed for a week, maybe a month, possibly a year. A dangerous thought, but one which Guy felt he was deserving of.

    Guy cast a backwards in time and inspected his life leading up to this point. As he did so, something became clear to him. The only instance where he''d rested his mind, that is to say, he did absolutely nothing productive and simply let his mind stagnate, was within thest four hours leading up to his death and the incalcble amount of time afterwards where he was floating around in the void.

    On that note, ''I haven''t taken time off after arriving in this world either.''

    Things just started to roll out of his control within moments of his arrival. Upon further introspection, he realised that it wasn''t really out of his control.

    ''I kind of chose to go down this path... again,'' Guy summarised with a self-mocking smile. ''I couldn''t stop myself after seeing Markus in such a state.''

    Guy still remembered the defeated figure of Markus slouching in the corner of the Academy''s yard. The boy''s self-esteem was thoroughly obliterated, and his mental state was verging on the cusp of doing something stupid. Guy had seen enough of that expression in his past life. The first time he saw it, he took it lightly and paid dearly for it - the guilt of the deceased girl who took her own life had etched itself into Guy''s soul. He couldn''t let something like that happen again!

    So it was that singr decision to interfere in Markus'' life that barrelled him down his current path. Maybe the previous Guy would have done something differently, that is if the man hadn''t so decisively taken his own life. Maybe, the man might have picked Markus, maybe not. Either way, Guy was certain that his previous self wouldn''t havested long in the Academy. What then? Now that question took Guy down another twin-pronged rabbit hole of ''what if''s and ''maybe''s.

    What does it mean to truly unburden the mind? Some argue that meditation is the way to go - to empty the mind of all useless thoughts and let it roam free, without any tethers holding it back.

    But Guy would have to disagree. To achieve an unburdened mind, one shouldn''t have to spend hours on end practising and honing a skill that lets them achieve that state. He believed that it should be a state essible by anyone regardless of their demographic.

    In his opinion, the true state of unburden-ness was to override the mind with as many useless and absurd thoughts as possible. Thoughts that would lead you nowhere, but would be just stimting enough to take you away from where you are.

    It wasn''t important to question what his life would have been if he hadn''t followed through on certain decisions in his past. Those were bygones - never to be revisited. Besides, Guy knew that even if he was given a second chance, he would walk down that exact same path. How was he so sure? He had died once and was literally offered a second chance, and he STILL reverted to his original programming!

    Humans, like all animals, are creatures of habit. Till our teens, our habits remain mouldable. But once we enter adulthood it settles and hardens like treated y. After this point, changing one''s habits be difficult. One could add parts by thering on additional y and letting it cure, but the seam where the two y objects are joined will forever remain a point of failure. One could remove parts by chipping them out of the hardened y, but excessive changes can cause the whole thing to shatter. Putting it back together again would simply create a fragile version of the original - assuming that all the broken pieces can be salvaged again.

    At that moment, Guy''s internal clock started to ring in earnest. He tilted his head and noticed the sun rising and its rays piercing through the thin curtains blocking the balcony. The night had passed, and thus ended Guy''s ongoing attempt to unburden his mind.

    Though he sorely wished he could simply extend this state to epass arger time frame - he wished that the night was longer. Now that his mind had experienced that intoxicating state, it yearned for more!

    This is the greatest disadvantage of this method of disencumbering the mind. It is addictive. An addiction that must be controlled at all costs, because if one sumbs to its sweet nothings, they will quickly start stagnating both mentally and physically. The mind grows numb after cycling through inane and unintelligent thoughts until it reaches a point where those are the only thoughts the mind can ever fathom.

    Guy shook away the poisonous calls from his subconscious asking for "five more minutes!" and sat up straight.

    After cleaning up and going through his morning routines, Guy made his way down to the dining hall. There, he was greeted by Markus and Jean, as well as the uncontrobly perky Dora.

    The small family arranged themselves in the dining hall and quite literally inhaled the delicious spread of food and the sulent selection of fruits and sweets.

    It was Dora''s first time eating such an borate meal with a myriad of tastes and smells that had never graced her tongue and nose before. Each spoon scooped into her mouth elicited a squeal of delight or an audible "Wow!" that further endeared the already smitten staff and made them spoil the girl even more.

    "Try this one as well! The chef has been experimenting with mangoes and hopes to see what Young Miss Reva thinks," one of the elderly servants said with a smile as she slid a beautiful metal bowl filled with a golden, viscous liquid in front of Dora.

    Dora thanked the woman with a bow and a smile and proceeded to scoop the contents into her mouth.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s cold!" Dora yelped as she shut her eyes tight with a pained yet euphoric expression. "Ah! My head''s ringing."

    The elderly woman started to panic, but Guy waved his hand at her. "It''s just brain freeze, she''ll be better in a second."

    Just like he''d said, Dora''s scrunched-up face smoothened, and the girl doubled down on the dessert. "It''s so sweet and creamy! I love it!"

    "I shall convey the Young Miss''pliments to the chef," the elderly woman responded with a warm gaze. Dora shot her an exuberant thumbs-up and said, "I''ll thank Uncle Chef after breakfast as well!"

    "You should learn some things from Uncle Chef, Dad. He makes much better food than you or Matron Reva," Dora said matter-of-factly before returning to her chow down. Right as she finished the sentence, Markus choked on his food and Guy coughed loudly.

    "Dora!" Markus shrieked with a cracking voice. "Y-You-"

    "Did you just call me Dad?" Guy asked incredulously.

    Dora nodded, "Uh-huh."

    "What- Why?" Guy mumbled.

    "Well, Mister Larks is just too long. And-" Dora answered with cheeks puffed with the liquid. In between gulps, she closed her eyes with an ecstatic expression. "-Durkas basically says that you are like my and Kano''s Dad."

    "I-" Guy opened and closed his mouth, but words just wouldn''t leave them.

    "Durkas said that any older man who takes care of us, provides for us, disciplines us, and lives with us every day is a father. Hepared it with his own father who does all those things, so I guess that makes you our father, right?" Dora reasoned thoughtfully.

    "I get that..." Guy said with a strained smile. "I get you calling me father, but why do you still call Grace Matron Reva?"

    "Durkas said that a mother gives birth. Matron Reva didn''t give birth to us," Dora answered.

    "The reason is sound," Jean muttered in a low voice, only to receive a re from Markus.

    "Dora," Guy said after a long exhale to calm his tumultuous heart. "A man and woman are involved in creating a baby. A man provides half of himself and woman provides a half of herself. Two halves join together and make a new life. You and Kano were born because of two such halves, however, it wasn''t those two halves that took care of you and raised you. It was Grace who did that. Although you are made of two different halves, the ''you'' now is, inrge part, a result of the hard work of Grace alone."

    He paused and said, "A mother and father can be anyone who provides for you, cares for you, disciplines you and loves you all at once. It is a title that needs to be earned not inherited. The person who birthed you isn''t obligated to have that title."

    Dora hummed and scratched her chin.

    "That must mean Matron Reva is my mother," Dora concluded. "And you must be my father."

    "Well, you can tell Grace that when we return," Guy said with a chuckle. "But please make sure I''m there when you call her that."

    ''I cannot wait to see the look on her face,'' Guy thought to himself mischievously.

 Chapter 242 Touring The Capital (Part One)

    With only a day left till the official start of the Conference, Guy decided to spend his time fruitfully... by taking Dora and Markus on a tour of the Capital. Jean and Josie acted as their guides and took them through the different districts and segmentsposing the city. Once again, due to their affiliation with the Rasmus n, the True World Sect and its members were afforded an expressne through the walls.

    As Guy ascended the steps leading up the wall surrounding the High-Residential District, he was weed with the magnificent bird''s-eye view of a sprawling city bleeding into the horizon, bathed by the warm red hue of the rising sun. Just as it appeared from outside its walls, the city truly looked endless, spreading infinitely in all directions. The best way to describe it would be to imagine an ant farm - an abode for a congregation of ants sandwiched in a thinyer between two panes of ss - andying it on its side. The walls snaked like industrious paths dug by ants as they embracedrge segments of the city, forming small clusters and segregated districts.

    The group''s first stop was at a high-end shopping district that bordered the High-Residential District. Unlike the numbered Flea Markets Guy passed by on his way to Jean''s residence, this ce was very scarcely popted and was chock-full of decadent and stylish products. Guy could ascertain that whatever scrap was passed around in the Flea Markets probably originated from here.

    Though the ce wasn''t as crowded, there was still a sizeable poption moving about, but just one look was enough to know just how well-off they were. For instance, one group passing by them consisted of a girl, a bit older than Dora, garbed in a beautiful yellow frock that entuated her cute charm that embodied the summer brightness. It looked simple, but Guy''s senses could discern intricate mana weaving and cirction patterns in her dress. It was in fact enchanted to emanate this aura and cause the observer to feel in this particr way - Guy found the source of this enchantment hidden amidst the coterie of jewels adorning the chest region. Guy was certain that there were more enchantments in ce given the additional coloured mana gems, but his senses could not glean any more information. He literally could not, since his senses were getting scrambled - most likely a result of another enchantment. He did not dare to look any further given the small army of mages following the girl around as she sauntered with a carefree and haughty demeanour. Guy was here to sight-see and shop, not aggravate and altercate.

    In fact, Jean subtly redirected their trajectory the moment her gaze caught sight of the lemon-garbed girl with brte hair.

    "That is the youngest daughter of the Gruul n, Rhian Gruul from the Gruul Duchy," Jean exined with a hushed voice as she positioned herself strategically to block line-of-sight between herself and Rhian. "She is spoiled to no end, being thest and only female child borne of the Gruul n Leader''s favourite concubine."

    "Are we trying to avoid her?" Dora asked suspiciously while acting like a little thief. She quirked her head around a corner and peaked at Rhian from the edge of her gaze.

    "She is more trouble than she is worth," Jean sighed, not wishing to borate further. Honestly, Guy didn''t need to hear anymore either. Although he was thoroughly opposed to judging a child by looks and word of mouth, if one could see a time bomb flickering a few kilometres down their current path then logic dictates that they should wait for the bomb to explode or fizzle out, or take another path altogether.

    The girl called Rhian was a time bomb.

    After the small brigade passed, Guy andpany continued their stroll through the district. Intermittently, they stopped and entered a few stores that caught the children''s fancy. Markus cared little about materialistic items. Having lived frugally for most of his childhood, he got used to living a basic and wholesome life. His preferences were mostly for functional purposes. He stopped and perused through an borate bookstore that sold a myriad of ancient literary collections and publicly avable cultivation methods, spells and other techniques. While there, he picked up a book called, "Bestiary of Ancient Beasts that Roamed Our Lands --by Rubus Garrid". A wordy title that pretty much summarises its content, he exined that he wanted to learn more about Abyssal Wyrms as well as Gryphons, Hippogriffs, Manticores and other such creatures that appeared incapable of flight but were able to do so.

    "They may offer some insight into gravity," the boy said. "Besides, Dora will love it!" That was also true - the girl was gaga for anything bestial. She had read Guy''splete collection ofics, mangas and novels about beast taming and rearing from his RoK.

    On his way out, Markus also snagged a short tutorial on "Flight for Advanced Mages --by Multiple Authors" as well.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dora, though borne into equally unfortunate circumstances as Markus, was notpletely marred by her misfortune. Some innocence still lingered within her soul, which Guy was thankful for. Her choices stuck true to her age, revolving around pretty clothes, shy toys, or tasty food items. Although she skipped from one attraction to the next, the girl was mindful of the costs and was surprisingly analytical about her purchases.

    She bought a matching set of boy and girl clothes for herself and Kano. Her reason for the simrity was, "because we are twins. We need to look the same." It seemed Guy''s exnation of what fraternal and identical twins were hadn''t registered in the girl''s brain. However, Guy could also guess that Dora didn''t want Kano to feel dismayed for not being able to tag along to the Capital. Her next purchase was an elegant dress for Mom, the former Matron Reva, and a matching garb for Guy. Her reason in this instance was that "mothers and fathers must look like their kids." Guy immediately wrote down a note to revisit and properly teach the girl about reproduction and gics ASAP!

    Dora also wanted to purchase a writing set for Marie. Since she didn''t know how to judge if a set was good or not, she deferred to Josie as "she is the eldest amongst us and must know more than everyone." Guy did not want to argue or refute that statement as it was true. Josie sorted through different stores and their products before finally deciding on a simple yet highly functional one. It had a brush with very thin hairs, perfect for numerics and fast writing - a total match for Marie''s character.

    After a round of shopping, the group transferred their loot to a set of servants following them so that it would be delivered back to the mansion and continued their tour.

    With that secured, and their selves unburdened, the group moved on to the next district, which was the Entertainment District. Due to it being close to the shopping district, they could transition from one to the next without ascending the walls. Instead, they took a carriage.

    Now one could assume that a carriage is faster than walking along the city''s walls, but in doing so they''re ignoring the massive throng of people obstructing their paths. Furthermore, a carriage ride is many times morefortable and leisurely.

    Upon entering the Entertainment District, Guy''s senses were assaulted with a myriad of stimuli epassing his sight, smell, hearing and weirdly, taste. The central, most eye-catching structure in the district was a theatre meant for ys, exhibitions, and other audiovisual presentations. At the moment, a famous y about a boy who lost everything to a raid conducted by an unorthodox sect, found a wandering mage who took him in, trained him and went on to get his revenge while saving his childhood love in the process - your basic hero''s journey - was running. It had a little bit of everything to attract a wide variety of viewers from both the male and female demographic. Guy wanted to check out the nature of the ys in this world and hoped to book a few tickets for viewing, but was dismayed to learn that the theatre was fully booked for every subsequent showing of that y. It seemed that this particr Entertainment District catered to the rich and was thus highly exclusive in its clientele. Hence, Guy would have to visit the other entertainment districts scattered across the capital to satiate his thirst for knowledge.

    Of course, he wouldn''t be able to visit those districts with Dora or his Disciple. With the lowering of the ss level the entertainment district caters to, the nature of the type of entertainment obtainable in said districts also grows a bit... promiscuous. That isn''t to say that the high-ss districts werecking in the entertainment of the carnal variety. It was just packaged differently. When you have whorehouses and brothels in the low-ss districts, you have escort agencies and cabarets. Guy didn''t have to exin why a woman''s breast was half-hanging out her blouse to Dora in the high-ss entertainment district.

    This was also why Guy expressly stuck to touring the well-off districts of the Capital with Dora. The world is a sad, horrible and painful ce. Dora has experienced enough of this unpleasantness in her lifetime. Guy wanted her life to be more colourful from now on. After all, through her own admission, Guy was now officially Dora''s father. What father would want their child to get jaded and lose faith in the world?

    Once her curiosity and excitement are quenched, Guy would explore the other districts with Markus. Guy wasn''t going to put on a blindfold and watch the world with rose-tinted lenses. He wanted to change the world for the better and to do that he needed to first see how bad this world was with his very own eyes.

 Chapter 243 Touring The Capital (Part Two)

    Unfortunately, apart from the theatre, the Entertainment District offered very little in terms of "PG-rated" entertainment. There were gambling houses. Sure the district was colourful and bright; as the sun started to set, differentnterns were lit and hostesses wearing vibrant and alluring outfits started to stream out and pull customers towards their establishments. In fact, there was an abundance of such establishments in the district - it felt like Las Vegas or Monaco given the captivating lighting and abundance of gambling and betting games in ce. Yet Guy couldn''t take Dora in there, so they moved on.

    There was also a surplus of bars, tea houses, clubs and restaurants distributed amidst these gambling ces. Most of these businesses ran on a booking and reservation-based system. Either a room or table must be permanently booked by someone or a group which solely catered to them, or a reservation well in advance must be made for a seat. Although Guy had neither going for him, Jean did. Jean directed them to one of the better restaurants in the area called the Red Lobster, Guy could not control his expression from bursting agape at the uncanny simrity between the restaurant''s name and logo with that of the franchise from his past life. His first instinct was to suspect another transmigrator of which only one name popped into his mind: Jo Way. Guy had been wondering why he had yet to hear of some mundane invention or system from his past life suddenly arriving in this world, blowing up and changing everything. After all, this was usually a regr transmigrator''s bread and butter - his own attempts to output Earthly inventions like the Printing Press, Lathe and Milling machine would act as examples in this instance. However, his theories and wild fantasies were popped when he learned that the simrity was all a coincidence or as Mast would put it, the perfect synchronisation of incalcble probabilities resulting in a repeat event.

    The hostess at the front, managing the reservations, guided the group to the Rasmus n''s pre-booked room. The restaurant had two levels. At the ground level, the tables were arranged circrly, radiating outwards from the centre where a moderatelyrge stage stood. Upon the stage, a trio of girls in their early twenties, garbed in highly fashionable and attractive clothes, each yed the same instrument but ran different harmonies to support the primary motif. It was a string instrument that looked a lot like a rotund double bass and was yed by plucking the strings. The instrument had a hollow and pot-like base section and a metre-long neck. In total, it had eight strings, with four running above the neck and four running by its side (to be yable with the thumb). The instrument was called the ''hummer'' especially because of the droning sound emanated by the four strings that were essible by the thumb. Two of the three instrumentalists yed a harmonising melody with their thumbs strumming a constant hum of twoplementary motifs and their other fingers dancing maniacally across the strings producing a call and response - as if the two instruments weremunicating with each other. The third acted as a percussionist, thumping the pot base at different locations to produce a variety of sounds, and entuated the "conversation" taking ce between the two other instrumentalists with intermitted chords, arpeggios and strums.

    Altogether, a pleasant medley pervaded the airways in the Red Lobster. "It''s weird how we can''t hear what''s going on in the room neighbouring ours, but the sound of music is as clear as a cricket''s chirp in the middle of the forest," Guymented.

    "Did anyone notice how all three of the women ying those hummers looked exactly the same?" Dora asked after downing an entire ss of the pte-opening drink that was suspiciously tasteless. Guy thought it was water due to its transparency, but even water has some taste!

    "They''re the Sang Heet Sisters, they''re triplets," Jean answered, then turned to Guy and continued, "The rooms are lined with privacy rituals. No sound can go in or out, except for anything that urs on the restaurant''s stage."

    "What are triplets?" Dora inquired.

    "It''s like twins except with three kids," Markus exined.

    "Woah! Three people can be born at the same time too?"

    "And four, and five and in rare asions six," Guy entertained with a mysterious smile.

    "That''s crazy!" Dora hopped in excitement. "Can I go meet them? I''ve never seen another set of twins before!"

    Jean interjected with a long "ah", indicating her hesitance to follow up on Dora''s request. "The sisters DO have a meet and greet today after nine, sort of like a socialworking event. But..."

    "But?" Guy probed.

    "It will probably be filled with other scions. Tomorrow happens to be the start of the events held by the Co-operative of Teachers AND the Sr Sect Alliance. They''ll all probably be scouting out theirpetitions and forming cliques. I''d rather not get caught up in that," Jean responded with twitching lips.

    "I don''t get it," Markus murmured. "I''d understand why scions from up-anding households, business families, and ns would want towork and schmooze their way into the good graces of noteworthy Teachers. But why sects? Why would those from the renowned ns want to give up their ims to the n''s lineage and enrol into Sects? Don''t they already have ess to all the resources they need?"

    "Not really," Jean shrugged. "The condition in ns is much worse than it appears. You see, the resource distribution in ns is decided on a generation-by-generation basis. Within each generation, a periodic assessment is conducted to evaluate the potential of the n''s children. Those that show great promise get assigned arge allotment of resources while those with weaker potential get fewer. Now, other factors also y a role in this distribution that may or may not tamper with the fairness of the process."

    Jean pointed at herself and said, "I, for instance, failed my ns periodic assessment - or scored quite low. Because of that, my resource allocation was the lowest within my generation. However, my father made a few adjustments and secured more for me. But again, they were of little use as I was simply unable to cultivate."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Until now," Markus reminded, to which Jean revealed a smile that barely registered on her stony facade.

    "Children of concubines and bastards, they are the ones who usually get suppressedpared to the true-borns. Social pressure, as well as mary pressures both, y a role in widening this discrepancy. So what can these children do? If they don''t have enough power, they naturally get turned into punching bags for their siblings. To escape this torture, they join the sects. And, you should know that even the weakest of scions from a n starts at a higher baseline than your average person, given the amount of natural and alchemical treatments their body is subjected to from a very young age," Jean concluded.

    "So because they failed to conquer the hill they were born in, they choose to find a much smaller hill and conquer that?" Markus scoffed. "How cowardly!"

    "Sometimes you aren''t left with much choice," Guy said with a shrug. "We mustn''t judge the bounteousness of a pasture on the other side of a river if we have only ever lived on this side. Children don''t choose who they are born to or where they are born. Yet given their circumstances of birth, they must do whatever is necessary to survive and thrive. We find it dishonourable or cowardly because, from our position, it seems as such. Take a moment to think from their perspective, and it won''t seem so wrong."

    "But these kids abuse their superiority to oppress and bully others less fortunate than them. You cannot be asking me to forgive that?!" Markus retorted uncharacteristically with a raised voice.

    "It''s not about forgiveness," Guy denied with a firm shake of his head. "It''s about not making hasty judgements. It''s indisputable that they are doing something ethically wed, but do not forget that their demeanour inrge part is a result of their upbringing and growth environment. The people that need to be med are those that caused the kid to be that way."

    Guy revealed a jocr smile and said, "Babies aren''t born evil, after all."

    "That is a naive thought," Josie snorted from by the door. She refused to sit with her Young Miss and indulge in the dinner and opted to resume her security and protection operation.

    "Oh yeah? Name one baby that voluntarilymitted arson, murder, assault, racketeering, and any other heinous crime in the Radiant Empire''swbooks?" Guy challenged.

    Josie narrowed her gaze incredulously. "What in the-"

    "Exactly!" Guy interjected. "You can''t name one because none exist. Thus my im holds."

    "Master, I don''t-" Markus tried to contribute, but his mouth was immediately filled with appetizers by Guy.

    "Hurry up and eat! We need to be prepared for the registration tomorrow. It''s going to be a HUGE day for us, we cannot afford any mistakes!" Guy orated clearly.

    And with that, the group started to eat the delectable dinner. As they exited, Dorained that she couldn''t see more of the vast Capital. After some back and forth, Guy finally convinced the girl that he would take her to more ces once the workload from the Sect''s registration died down. However, he was surprised to learn that some of the staff members from the Rasmus Mansion were prepared to take the girl along with them and show her around the Capital. Although he was ufortable leaving his ward in the hands of strangers, Jean and Josie vouched for them and promised that a small security detail would tail Dora at all times. That was enough to cate Guy''s worries.

    ''So one to-do aplished,'' Guy said while releasing a tenuous breath and staring at his room''s ceiling. "Nowes the hectic part!"

 Chapter 244 Queuing Up

    Before the sun could breach the horizon and proim the start of a new day, individuals across the capital rose and prepared themselves for an event that would rattle the martial topography of the Sr Empire for theing decade. Today was the start of the Conference of the Sr Sect Alliance... and the Congregation of the Sr Branch of the Co-operative of Teachers.

    ''Now that''s a mouthful,'' Guy thought to himself as he observed the fluttering banner hanging above the gate leading into the event hall. A crowd was just forming, as the early risers and event staff scuttled about clearing and preparing the area for the eventual arrival of the Teachers and potential students seeking patronage from those renowned personages.

    The Congregation wasn''t usually held at this time of the year. The Co-operative had moved the date around topete with the Sects, who had recently regained some momentum in the past years with a sudden increase in recruitment and fame. And although people respected and preferred Teachers for their essibility, sects were still the go-to for your average citizen to solve problems of the magical variety. After all, the nature of a Teacher was to float towards where the benefity, while sects were tethered to the regions they were established in.

    Furthermore, the reputation of Teachers had tanked a bit more recently after the whole "gue of Dark Cleansing" debacle. After all, the perpetrator was the cherished student of a famous Teacher - a detail the sects made a point to highlight and emphasise at every instance.

    It seemed that now they were nning to go all out. Lowering the bar for taking on students, increasing the number of students per Teacher, and running charitable initiatives, they were even going as far as to push forward a fresh and new face that exemplified Teachers. At that moment, the event staff unfurled another poster, revealing the so-called "new face" of the Sr Branch of the Co-operative of Teachers.

    Guy nearly choked on his saliva upon seeing the familiar face with the chiselled jawline and piercing eyes staring back at him. ''Jo. Fucking. Way! Of course, it had to be him. Oh no!''

    Guy''s head swivelled about his neck as he searched for the bane of his existence. After ensuring that the man wasn''t around, he released a sigh of relief.

    ''Could this have been me?'' Guy wondered. ''If I hadn''t quit, or if Markus'' first fight hadn''t been with Gaige, I would have also had toe to this event.''

    Maybe he''d have achieved some sess in Smithing or Enchanting and earned himself a star towards his Teaching licence and even received it amongst all the other Teachers during today''s event.

    ''Again, no point dwelling on what could have been, when I have so many other things to worry about now,'' Guy shook his head and turned around. Right opposite where the Teacher''s event was being held was the location of the Sect''s conference. It was literally the building on the other side of the street.

    ''These Teachers are not even trying to be subtle at this point. This is just petty.'' Guy chuckled as he entered the gates.

    To an extent, theyout of the Sect''s Conference was simr to the one applied in the Co-operative''s Congregation. The outer areas werergely upied by fourrgebat fields in a quadrant formation with elevated viewing tforms all around to hold a sizeable audience. Guy wove through the area, avoiding the workers streaming back and forth while carrying chairs, tables and other such items in anticipation of the uing event. Mages specialising in ritual formations were working to fortify the area - putting many mages in proximity was always a recipe for disaster, and it was prudent to prepare for any possible catastrophic scenario.

    Moving past the open area towards the buildings at the back, Guy followed the directions pointing him towards the ''Sect Registration Area''. The path snaked through a few alleys that nearly caused him to lose his bearings, he''d even backtracked once to make sure that he was following the right path. It was in his second run that he realised that someone had turned one of the wooden arrows to point in the opposite direction which resulted in an endless loop. Guy cursed that sneaky bastard who made him waste his time because the instant he reached the terminus he was confronted by a massive line of people all waiting to register their Sects. Interestingly, Guy found the bastard who waid him as the man right at the end of the line turned and revealed a smug smile.

    "Was there even a point in doing that? You''re only dying those after you, while you remain at the tail end of the line," Guy said to the man, who in turned coughed in embarrassment and turned to face forward. Guy could only sigh in defeat and assume his position in the queue. He was informed by Korren, the escort from the Whispering Dusk Sect, that one muste for the registration as early as possible since there would be an innumerable amount of upstarts looking to start their own sects.

    Mages are fickle and impatient folk when ites to anything except for cultivation. The registrars are all mages who have advanced far in their cultivation. They would entertain the first few queuers smoothly, however, with each passing individual their patience would grow wearier. Once they snap, the registration will devolve into a free-for-all - abatpetition between the prospective Sect Leaders, the winners of which would be able to register their sects with the alliance.

    ''It looks like I''ll have to get down and dirty,'' Guy admitted ruefully, and he didn''t like his odds since a few of the men in front of him had cultivations he could not see through. Maybe he could catch his first and second opponent off-guard with his |Soul Coercion|, but what of the others? Right as he descended into a self-derisive internal rant, a voice broke through the din and grabbed his attention.

    "Master!" Many heads turned to face the call. "Master! Master Larks!"

    Guy peeked forward and saw Markus waving at him from the front of the line. "Master, I''ve saved our spot!"

    A mirthful snort escaped from Guy and his lips pulled sideways with a smile capable of splitting his head in two. With a hop, skip and jump Guy sped past all the scornful faces and met his dearest Disciple at the front of the line.

    "Markus, what are you doing here?" Guy asked as he seamlessly reced his Disciple in the queue.

    "Well, I remember Mage Jax talking about how crowded this thing could get, so..." Markus shrugged and waved his hands around.

    "How long have you been here?" Guy responded reflexively.

    "Since midnight," Markus answered with a tired nod. Before Guy could respond to that shocking revtion, a curt jeer interjected their conversation.

    "Hey! What are you doing?" It was the voice of the man standing second in line.

    "Yeah! What gives? You can''t do that!" The one behind him chimed in.

    "You think we''re idiots or something?!"

    "Get in line like the rest of us, asshole!"

    "Woah! That was uncalled for," Guy reprimanded pointedly in the general direction of the man who insulted him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The person second in line coughed audibly to attract attention and started speaking, "Look here... guy-"

    "How''d you know my name?" Guy interjected in surprise

    "What?"

    "My name... How''d you know my name?" Guy repeated.

    "What''s your name?"

    "Guy."

    "Your name''s Guy? That''s a weird name..."

    "It is, isn''t it," Guy nodded.

    A long pause stretched for an appreciable amount of time before the man realised that he''d lost his train of thought. With a vigorous shake of his head, and with a guttural growl he restarted, "Look here... Guy! What do you think you''re doing?"

    "What am I doing?"

    "CUTTING IN LINE!" The man bellowed, ring his mana in the process. The pressure indicated cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage, just a little above Guy''s current level, nearly peaking into Core Formation territory.

    This wasn''t a fight Guy could win... if it devolved into a contest of martial strength. But why wag one''s fists when one''s tongue and lips could do the trick?

    "Hold up. Let''s not blow our tops," Guy said while raising his hands in submission. This assuaged the hotheaded man a little and he let the pressure drop.

    "Is it illegal for my Disciple to hold my spot for me?" Guy asked.

    "No," the man said with a click of his tongue. "But it isn''t proper. The Sect Leader must be the one to represent their Sect."

    "I agree with you on that," Guy hummed. After a few seconds of contemtive pause, he spoke up again.

    "Who here has a Disciple?" Guy asked out loud, directing the question at everyone present. Arge portion raised their hands cautiously.

    "If your Disciple took the initiative to hold your ce in line, without your say, how would you feel?" Without waiting for a response, Guy continued, "Proud? Fulfilled? Pleased?"

    As Guy sputtered on with more synonyms, the nods from the crowd increased in number.

    "But you know that it isn''t proper for your Disciple to take your ce in line," Guy switched direction abruptly amidst the nods. "If you were to reprimand your Disciple for their act of consideration even though said act was in no way illegal, how do you think they would feel?"

    "Betrayed? Defeated? Despondent?... Do you think they would take the same initiative again?"

    The question elicited a "No!" from somewhere in the crowd. Guy held back a smile, knowing that he''d trapped the audience in the flow of his argument.

    "If someone else were toin and disparage your Disciple for their act of consideration, and youplied with their criticism, how would your Disciple feel? How would your image fare in your Disciple''s eyes?"

    Guy waited for the set-up to level itself before leaping for a metaphorical smash. "Do you think it is right for me to reprimand my Disciple by moving to the back of the line?"

    With eerily practised unison, everyone in the crowd shook their heads in denial.

    "Thank you for being so amodating, everyone!" Guy thanked and followed it with a sincere bow. Then, he immediately pivoted and faced the front while trying his best to stop his shoulders from shuddering at the hrity of the situation.

 Chapter 245 Sect Registration (Part One)

    The doors to the registration hall opened exactly at six. The moment, they creaked apart, a series of whoops and huzzahs resounded from behind Guy. Although, he didn''t miss the few grumbles hidden between the cheers, probably from the few people standing right behind him. He was surprised at the ease with which they were subdued.

    Followingmon trope logic, there should have been a heated exchange of some sort resulting in a physical confrontation where one side suffers an overwhelming defeat (preferably not Guy). Then, once some time progresses, the defeated party would return with an even more fortified challenge which would again favour the victor from the earlier bout. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. Not that Guy was disappointed things didn''t turn out that way - life was too precious to waste on contending grudges.

    He was just impressed that they could be convinced and sated with a few carefully crafted words. ''I guess if you appeal to theirmon sense, speak logically and do not agitate others excessively, things won''t have to devolve into a round of uncivilized fisticuffs.''

    Guy returned his attention to the now unlocked doors, through which a well-dressed woman with an appealing frame walked out swaying her hips. Her attire had a base of pure white with a pastel shade of indigo lining it. Guy was certain he''d seen it somewhere before, and seeing the gold clouds hiding behind a thin veil covering her chest further affirmed his certainty.

    ''It''s the Cloudstrider Sect''s insignia!''

    "The registration will now begin, please enter one at a time," she said with a demure voice that resounded amidst the sudden silence. She was a mage and another one whose cultivation Guy could not fathom. Her eyes swiped past everyone andnded on Guy. Outwardly, there was nonchnce in her gaze. However, Guy could feel an inquisitive and evaluating glint in her pupils. Was it borne of some kind of familiarity, animosity or in interest? Ultimately, it wasn''t a question Guy was seeking the answer to, though he was certain that it would be evident very soon.

    Guy lowered his head, gestured for Markus to do the same, and quickly scuttled passed the woman and entered the hall. He squeezed himself tight to avoid entering her personal radius in any way, which was a difficult task since she was literally standing at the centre of the entrance.

    After moving past her with his Disciple in tow, Guy found himself inside a tiny room which looked more like an interrogation chamber than a registration hall. First off, the entrance to this ce was hidden in an obscured section at the backside of the courtyard where the event was to be held. The room had a single window to allow natural light to filter in, which was useless given how the sun barely graced this location. At the centre of the barren room stood a single long table with antern hanging above it providing just enough light to illuminate its immediate vicinity. Thentern swung with a dreary rhythm that elevated the tense atmosphere.

    Markus approached the table and stood behind the single chair on its client side, and gestured for his master to take the seat. Guy looked around and noticed that the only other chair was on the other side of the table, so he epted Markus'' offer with a shrug.

    Right as his buttocks touched the hard wooden surface, the sound of footsteps approaching echoed within the room. Guy turned his head and, to his surprise, he found the same woman who''d let them enter walking towards them. Her expression remained unperturbed, her eyes were rxed and closed into thin slits. Even in the dank atmosphere reigning the room, her timeless beauty did not wane. In fact, Guy felt light emanating from her for some reason.

    The woman moved away a rogue strand of hair falling over her eyes after having separated from her tightly wound bun, and gracefully descended into her chair. Her dark and luscious eyshes flickered as her eyelids parted, revealing a pair of piercing eyes of a hazel shade. Her lips stretch faintly as she let out a casual smile.

    "Throughout my time in the Cloudstrider Sect, I have only ever heard Elder Marek Glista talk highly of one mage, Teacher Al Jeeves," she started. "Now imagine my surprise when another name rolled off his lips with almost an equal level of appreciation. That is of course without the overflowing sweetness that he tries so hard to hide when talking about Mage Jeeves."

    Guy gulped audibly. His back started to sweat as the tension started to rise within. The woman could read him like an open book. Almost as if she could see the pressure bubbling within him, she followed up with a light wave of her hand.

    "Marek and I go way back," she said. "We entered the Sect together. We were from the same vige as well!"

    That did not satiate Guy''s apprehension. Just being from the same vige did not mean that the two people were friends. One thing he knew for a fact was that even the closest of acquaintances could turn around and stab the other in the back for a small leg up in their cultivation, especially in a sect''s brutal environment.

    "We truly are friends," the woman added, causing Guy to sputter in shock.

    ''Can she-''

    "I cannot read your mind," the woman said between a chuckle. "If you still don''t believe it, then let''s just say that between Marek and me, neither of us can betray the other as we know each other''s dirty little secret. Mutually assured destruction and all that."

    "Although, I don''t think we can call it a secret anymore," she added with a low mutter.

    "Secret?" Guy probed.

    "Well," the woman voiced while elongating the syble. "One day, while we were still Outer Division members, I visited his quarters in the middle of the night hoping to seduce him with my charms. However, the moment I forced his hands onto my bare chest, he darted out and threw up so violently that my self-esteem shattered into a million pieces. Of course, I had to equally suppress my revulsion before deciding to intrude into his room for a scandalous affair. "

    The woman winked at Guy. She then formed scissors with her index and middle finger on both her hands and brought them together, causing the valley between the fingers to cross, which was enough for Guy to fill in the nks.

    "Why are you telling me this?" Guy uttered shakily. In this world, these were the kinds of secrets that fell under the "if I told you, then I''d have to kill you" category.

    "Ever since that debacle with the Sect Leader''s daughter, there has been some restructuring at the Sect. Marek has been unusually active in that regard," the woman said. She turned her head towards Markus andmented, "I managed to catch the final leg of that spar - if you can even call it that. Your performance was admirable, unrefined, but I guess that''s your fighting style."

    "Thank you for the praise," Markus expressed with a sincere bow.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "To be frank, I am here as a favour for Marek," the woman continued. "He informed me that you would arrive today to register your Sect and that I should assist in any way possible."

    "I was preparing myself for a long and tedious day, but seeing as your Disciple reserved the first spot for you, I believe I can end my shift earlier than expected," the woman concluded.

    "I apologise, but I do not think I got your name?" Guy asked respectfully.

    "It doesn''t matter," the woman shot back while retrieving an unfurled parchment from a stack on the side. "Our meeting today is purely perfunctory. For all intents and purposes, a person in my position shouldn''t be here, so it is best if you don''t know. If we meet again in the future, then I will introduce myself formally."

    "Now, to business then," she dered. "Please provide the name of your Sect."

    "The True World Sect."

    "Insignia?"

    "Here," Guy said as he handed a banner with the Sect''s logo stitched into it by Grace.

    "An interesting design. What is its significance?"

    "It represents the True World, a world that exists without mana," Guy expounded.

    The woman squinted her eyes while scrutinising the design from all directions. She tilted her head left and right, forward and backwards, until eventually, she shook her head in dismissal.

    "Let us move on to the location."

    "Mount Tai, Maika Duchy."

    "A mana-starved ce. A poor choice if I do say so myself."

    "We make do with what we have," Guy responded to which the woman hummed absent-mindedly. The brush in her hand danced over the page as she filled it with beautifully lettered text.

    "Recruited members?"

    Guy reached into his coat and retrieved a roll of parchment and handed it to the woman.

    "You do realise that forging an official document with the Alliance carried severe punishments?" The woman said with a frown as she pointed at Krish''s name as well as the designated cultivation realm of Tesseract Transformation.

    Guy snapped his finger and retrieved a t, ceramic artefact Krish handed to him before leaving for their trip. He slid it towards the woman. She recognised what it was and picked it up cautiously. The moment she sent a pulse of mana into the artefact, her eyes widened in shock, and she nearly dropped the thing.

    This time, she swallowed a dry mouthful of air with a loud gulp and adjusted her posture to regain her calmness.

    "I didn''t know why he was so interested in you, but after considering the situation that transpired outside, and this right here, I can venture a guess," she said while appending the list of names to the registration documents.

    "There will be a few more questions, followed by the signing of the official contract that will tether you to the Alliance," she droned on while shooting off one question after another. Most of them were yes or no type questions with a few probing at the Sect''s logistical and financial situation.

    After a quick ten minutes of inquiries, the woman brought out the contract, which was suspiciously shortpared to what Guy had in mind.

    ''This is it!''

 Chapter 246 Sect Registration (Part Two)

    Guy perused the contract in great detail, from top to bottom and noted down the key points of interest.

    The first part of the contract dealt with the sovereignty of a sect in the grand scheme of things. Essentially it could be boiled down to four statements.

    A sect that is part of the Sr Sect Alliance must not interfere with Imperial business just as the Crown cannot interfere with the Alliance''s interests. Doing so will result in the exmunication of the sect from the Alliance, and the handover of all belligerent parties to the Empire''s Authorities.

    Sects registered under the Sr Sect Alliance cannot act against the Alliance''s interests. Doing so will result in the sect''s exmunication followed by appropriate repercussions, determined on a case-by-case basis.

    Members of a sect registered under the Sr Sect Alliance cannot act against the Alliance''s interests. Doing so will result in the immediate exmunication of the members'' sect from the Alliance, with the member set to face the appropriate repercussions determined on a case-by-case basis.

    The Alliance or the Empire cannot interfere with a sect''s internal affairs as long as the aforementioned regtions aren''t contradicted.

    Following that, the contract delved into the expectations and requirements of a sect.

    While a sect is part of the Alliance, it may not have a say in the Alliance''s decision-making body. To gain ess to that a donation is required. The contract didn''t expand beyond this.

    "Don''t bother," the woman said with a shake of her head. "Do you think you canpete with sects like Cloudstrider and Whispering Dusk?"

    "There doesn''t seem to be anything detailing how conflicts between sects are to be handled," Guy pointed out a ring fault.

    "Conflicts between sects always have and will be handled the same way." The woman wrapped her fingers into a tight fist and flexed it. "The Sr Sect Alliance is held together by the Four Great Sects: the Cloudstrider Sect, the Whispering Dusk Sect, the Soaring Sword Sect, and the Red Dawn Sect. The origins of these sects predate the Empire and are thus unshakeable. Any new sects forming within the Alliance will ultimately fall under the shade of one, or multiple of these sects. However, not just any upstart sect can secure such a position. For that, they will need to set themselves apart from the rest - show that they are special."

    The woman brought her index fingers together and rested her elbows on the table. "Conflict between major sects can have far-reaching consequences. However, conflicts between minor sects leave nary a ripple. So, if such issues do pop up, the Alliance believes it best that the feuding parties handle their business by themselves. However, you can see that there is a use restricting coteral damage caused by a sect. Be mindful of that if you happen to get into a tussle with apetitor."

    Guy frowned at the implications of that statement. "The Alliance intends to filter our the so-called ''dregs'' by having us fight amongst ourselves?"

    "Yes," the woman affirmed without hesitation. "As you already know, just about anyone can start a sect. But there are limited resources to go around. The Alliance can only offer so many subsidies and opportunities to its members. The more mouths there are to feed, the less each person gets. Instead, why not create an environment where only the strongest get to eat? Those that starve will be forced to eat those that are weaker than them, and over time only the strongest, most desperate will remain."

    "Brutal!" Markus blurted out in disgust.

    "That is the way of the world," the woman droned.

    "I don''t believe the other guys outside will be told any of this?" Guy probed cautiously.

    "As I said, I was asked to do a favour, and I am obliging," she reiterated with a snort. "People think that forming and maintaining a sect is trivial. It sure is on paper, but everyone conveniently forgets that a sect, just like any organisation, does not exist in a vacuum. Many factorse into y, some foreseeable others not so much. I''m only preparing you for the worst. Do you think those nitwits outside would take as long as you have to scrutinise the contract before signing it?"

    She rested her back on her chair and said, "There is nothing more I can tell you. Though I will leave you with this one thought: you happen to have a fortunate starting position with the presence of such a powerful figure backing you. If I were in your ce, I would prostrate myself and do everything within my power to keep them in the fold."

    With that, the woman closed her eyes and awaited Guy''s decision. After another quick scan of the contract, Guy brought his brush to the paper and signed it.

    "I thought there would be something more magical than this," Guy said with a disappointed expression.

    "We don''t need magic to enforce a contract," the woman said with a heartyugh. "That being said, don''t even think about skirting the uses. I''d prefer to not have to take your life the next time we meet."

    Guy sputtered and let out a strainedugh.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Since all the formalities are covered. The True World Sect is now officially part of the Sr Sect Alliance. All that is left for you is to fill up the minimum member quota within one year."

    Guy nodded. "We are nning to join in on the Recruitment Event taking ce over theing days."

    The woman halted in her steps, turned, and hinted, "Do you know how spots are assigned?"

    "We have to register our Sect for a stall, is it not?" Guy responded with a confused intonation.

    "Registering is one thing, but actually holding the stall is a whole another matter," the woman hinted with a raised pitch as she disappeared into the shadows.

    "What did she mean, Master?" Markus asked worriedly.

    Guy let out a hum while processing the statement and retraced his steps out of the registration hall. He was so involved in his thoughts that the many insults, jeers and scowls sent his way by the long line of grumbling, prospective Sect Leaders flew right past him. He remained in a thoughtful trance and kept walking forward, causing Markus to intervene and alter his Master''s trajectory to avoid hitting a wall or making a wrong turn. The boy knew the direction to where they needed to be to book a stall for themselves for the Recruitment Event, and so he gently guided his Master in that direction.

    Right as they reached the location, Guy snapped his fingers and halted in his steps. "Shit!"

    "Master?"

    "How did I miss it? It was practically right up against my face!" Guy groaned. He immediately noticed that he was in front of his destination and took a few hurried steps forward.

    The Recruitment Event, as its name suggested, was an event held during the Conference in which the Sects present could openly recruit members into their fold on a muchrger scale. It is one of the most anticipated segments of the Conference since it is the only time that sects have truly open recruitment. Otherwise, to be part of a sect, some form of connection or a fortuitous encounter is necessary. Sects aren''t strictly prohibited from having open recruitments of their own, but location and logistics often prohibit their effectiveness.

    As a result, the Event is the only way the minor sects can effectively pull in a lot of members in one go. After digging through his memories of what he''d read at the Cloudstrider Sect''s Archives, Guy remembered one key detail. Rather than selecting a few members, unearthing their talents and training them up to be extraordinary, sects preferred to cast a wide, hoping that the iing horde of ordinaries would contain a few individuals with talents at the cusp of breaking into the extraordinary. Because of this mentality, thepetition to secure the most visible stall location would be brutal.

    Upon stepping foot into the Event''s location, the first thing Guy took note of was the palpable tension hanging in the air. Everything was just too quiet, eerily so, even with therge crowd of people moving back and forth. People eyed each other as though they were evaluating their next meal.

    The next thing that Guy noticed was how people would approach one of the skeletal setups of stalls and write down the name of the sect they were representing with the others already on the list. As they did so, the scrutinising gazes they received would multiply in intensity. This was enough for Guy to surmise exactly how the whole stall assignment debacle would be settled.

    "Damn it!" Guy spat out as he saw the heads of fifteen groups turn when a person walked up to the very first stand, right in front of the entrance, and put down a name.

    "Do you want that stall, Master?" Markus asked.

    "Are you kidding me? This location is too visible and will likely be too crowded. We need a spot where we can evaluate our applicants without being rushed, and a ce that has just enough foot traffic to avoid hitting a slump. Besides, it''s already taken," Guy said with a shake of his head.

    Markus nodded along and followed Guy as he waded through the crowd of frozen people all waging a mental war. If Guy could draw a heatmap of the tension in the atmosphere, the highest density was right up front. Everyone wanted the prime spot. Things started to get cooler moving away from it, but it then grew warmer at locations where there were crossroads and junctions. The more well-established sects had their own guaranteed stalls near the centre (these would remain uncontested for obvious reasons), and the density grew warmer in those areas since people generally swarmed there first to try their luck.

    Guy paused in front of a location near the second junction from the entrance, which was also close to the Cloudstrider Sect''s stand, and evaluated the stall. It wasn''t too far from the entrance, and it wasn''t smack dab in the middle of the junction like the ones a few sects were fighting over nearby. It would work perfectly. Unfortunately...

    "It''s booked pretty heavily..." Guy sighed. There were already five sects eying the location. Right as he was about to move away, Markus briskly walked forward, picked up the charcoal writing utensil hanging off the stall''s signboard, wrote down ''True World Sect'' on it and took a step back to admire his work.

    The moment his hands touched the charcoal, seven groups of eyes turned simultaneously and targeted Guy and him with enough force to bore a hole through them.

    Guy gulped audibly, ''I have a bad feeling about this...''

 Chapter 247 Weakest Link

    Guy nearly chewed through his fingers with anxiety as he waited for the sun to hit its peak and make its way to the other side of the horizon. Sect registration would end around noon, by which time the stragglers and weaklings would be filtered out, and the newly officiated sects would all swarm towards the Recruitment Event''s location and pen down their names at their preferred stalls.

    At that time, the unofficial battle royale wouldmence in which the ims for each stall would be challenged and the winner would gain ownership. Once thest registered sect made it to the location, the first fight sprung off and it was for the very first stall by the entrance.

    One thing Guy learned about these battle royale fights for stall rights was that a Sect Leader or Elder could not take part it in - only a sect member could represent their sect. After all, this would act as an opportunity to show off a sect''s strength to the public. Speaking of the public, a crowd consisting of random passers-by and parties interested in joining a sect was forming in anticipation of the fights. The distribution of wealth and ss amongst these crowd members presented a decent spread, there were the poor, the rich, the influential and the irrelevant. Guy could determine all of this by observing the natural diffusion and concentration of the crowd.

    Twenty youths strode up the steps to thebat arena.

    "They barely have enough space to move about!" Guy eximed.

    "A lot of spells will be flying about. Many will get caught off-guard and suffer injuries," Jean added with a tinge of worry. After having lunch, Jean decided to follow Guy and Markus and observe the proceedings. As part of the True World Sect, she didn''t want to be left out. She couldn''t fight, so her Senior Brother would have to carry the True World Sect''s banner. Therefore, it was only right for her to support him in every way possible.

    Once the youths assumed their positions at the ready, the fight began with the p of a gong. Everyone burst into action. Spells were hurled, weapons collided, flesh struck flesh, and nothing made sense for an observer unless their mana senses were running with pinpoint uracy. Within ten seconds, the fight was over, and a single girl with a broken right arm and bruised face remained standing on unstable footing.

    "Stall Number 1 goes to the Crimson Heart Sect," a detached voice dered. The unconscious and ragged bodies still remaining on the tform were dragged away by their respective sects and the tform was cleared for the next group to enter. It was mechanically efficient, and a bit difficult to watch.

    The second fight was much faster - it barelysted eight seconds. Once again, the bodies were removed, the field was cleared and the fights went on. The first ten or so had a simr turnout, with a rather overcrowdedbat arena and short bouts that rarelysted past the fifteen-second mark. After that, things started to slow down and the fights started to extend for at most a minute and a half.

    While Guy struggled to keep his eyes peeled through the whole ordeal (he did not enjoy watching kids beating each other up so brutally even if their advanced cultivation gifted them with superior endurance), and Jean fretted over the plethora of injuries sustained by thebatants as they exited the arena, Markus retrieved his Grimoire and furiously jotted down his impressions on the bouts as they happened. As usual, he ced himself in the position of thebatants and theorised how he would approach the fights with his style.

    Noticing his Disciple''s fervour, Guy ced a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don''t stress yourself too much over theing match. Even if we don''t get this one, there is always the next one."

    Although Guy trusted his Disciple, he did not want the kid to exhaust and expend himself and end up with a serious injury. "If things grow beyond your control, and your chance of victory bes less than certain, just give up and prepare yourself for the next one. Since we do not have many members in our Sect just yet, we need to y it smart."

    Markus nodded pensively without moving his gaze away from the arena. It was a valuable opportunity for him to improve his ability to cope with newbat scenarios. However, what he saw did little to assuage his troubles, rather it increased inplexity with each fight.

    "The fights are less about skill, and more about ying the field to one''s advantage," his Master vocalised Markus'' thoughts. "If you remember in thest fight, all seven first ganged up on the obviously strongerbatant. Once the boy was out of the picture, it was basically a chaotic free-for-all with spells flying willy-nilly until only one happened to remain standing... barely. However, in the fight before that, everyone took out the girl who was quaking in her boots in fear first."

    Markus hummed in response and said, "To an extent, it is also about understanding human psychology. We don''t want to appear too strong to draw the attention of everyone, but also not appear too weak to avoid getting dog-piled on for convenience''s sake. We need to find the location of the line that separates those two scenarios."

    "Appear confident but not arrogant," Guy said. "Do you know the difference between the two?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The boy shook his head. Although he appeared absent-minded with his attention trained on the uing bout, his ears werepletely dedicated to his Master''s teachings.

    "When I know that regardless of what the world throws my way, I can handle it, I am confident. But if I believe that there is nothing in the world that can derail me from my goals, I am arrogant," Guy stated.

    "They sound the same to me, Sect Leader," Jean chimed in.

    "It''s about being certain of oneself versus being certain of one''s environment. You can never be certain of what can happen to you unless you''re Mage Nara or Marie, but that is beside the point. To assume the certainty of the environment is to be arrogant. However, it is possible to be certain and assured about yourself. To trust in your skills and ability to handle troubles as they be known is confidence," Guy expounded.

    Guy nudged his head towards the still unconscious boy from the previous fight and reiterated, "He assumed that there wouldn''t be anyone on that stage who could be his match - he was arrogant. That, in turn, agitated his opponents and made them overestimate his skills. Therefore, they opted for the ''better to be safe than sorry'' approach and took him out first."

    "How would it be different if Senior Brother exuded an aura of confidence, instead?" Jean inquired.

    "If you are confident, you will naturally not underestimate your opponents," Guy answered. "That in turn reflects in your posture and expressions. It may not seem obvious, but the simple act of taking a poised stance makes your opponents feel that you respect them. And as I''ve taught you guys, what you give is what you will receive, even if it is unintentional."

    Guy mused over his words in silence. A fight was equally a contest of the mind as it was a contest of martial might. Half the fight is won or lost simply based on abatant''s mentality as they entered the match - simr to most other sports. For mages, it is even more important to have the right frame of mind since the power of one''s magic and control over the mana in their domain is directly proportional to the integrity of their will.

    Once it was time for the fight before Markus'', the boy immediately closed his eyes and started to circte his mana. Jean noticed this and proceeded to assist him by applying the basic artificial stimtion exercises she''d been learning from Josie. In recent months, as she''d slowlye into her skills in medicine and healing, Jean started to take additional lessons from Josie to round off her skill list. Amongst the techniques she''d been learning from Josie, artificial stimtion was at the top.

    Jean''s focus right now was to help guide her Senior Brother''s mana to work his muscles. She hoped to initiate glycolysis by mimicking the effects of high-intensity exercises so that her Senior Brother''s body actively starts to produce energy. One disadvantage of this is that if the muscles do not have enough oxygen in them, the glycolysis process can cause a build-up ofctic acid that can cause a burning sensation in the muscles. This could be easily averted since her Senior Brother knew how to enrich his muscles with oxygen using the mana circting in his body.

    "I got this from here," Markus said while flexing his joints, releasing a pleasing harmony of crackles as the nitrogen bubbles trapped in them popped.

    "Next up, Stall 23. Combatants, enter the arena!" The same detached voice droned.

    Sevenbatants swaggered forward, including Markus, and ascended the open arena from its sides. The stage had suffered some wear and tear from the previous match, but it was immediately repaired with a wave of the hand from the mage that called the match.

    Markus'' six opponents consisted of four girls and two boys. Of the boys, one was shivering like a leaf caught in a precarious autumn wind, while the other looked extremely shifty. Three of the four girls all assumed abat-ready stance, eyeing every other person on stage. Thest girl, quite literally had her nose pointing upwards and oozed a palpable aura of arrogance. Her arms were crossed, and she hadn''t even grasped her weapon which was a whip wrapped around her waist.

    Right at that moment, Markus knew who the first person to be ejected would be. Luckily she was standing on the opposite side of the stage, far away from him.

 Chapter 248 Formidable Display

    Markus'' perception of time started to slow down as the referee brought their hand down to initiate the fight. His eyes darted for onest time around the arena, observing and deconstructing the minute movements of his opponents.

    The moment the fight began, five pairs of feet left the ground all at once. As Markus anticipated, everyone started to dogpile on the girl oozing with arrogance. Two girls bounded in with a sword and a sabre respectively, the third girl had a fist coated in purple mes, the boy rocketed forward with a meteor-like dropkick, while the girl with the whip tied around her hips faltered and stumbled as she prepared to defend herself against her attackers.

    Markus flicked his wand to his right and an intricate mand of spell circles formed around him and his wand in an instant. The second the spell circles solidified a massive ball of semi-molten rock, like an asteroid breaching the atmosphere, collided against him.

    While most expected to see the boy expelled from the stage in a spectacrly ragdoll-like manner, to their shock, the ball started to warp, bend, and get siphoned into a tiny circle of nothingness at the tip of Markus'' wand. The entire fiery rock was deleted within two seconds, at which point the circle of nothingness started to fluctuate unstably. Markus didn''t waste another moment and jerked his wand towards the beatdown urring on the far side of the arena.

    sssssssssssssssSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

    An inhuman shriek followed as the circle of nothingness hurtled at the speed of sound, gaining a third dimension as it approached the youths. Those at the receiving end of the attack were frozen in ce as something iprehensible entered their mana senses rendering the control over their mana domains obsolete. A few tried to quickly put up some warding spells through pure instinct, but the ball drilled through it all without any opposition. They could barely make it out of the way before an explosion followed by a crushing shockwave caught them. Five bodies were flung from the arena, unconscious and battered. The arena itself did not fare any better and over three-quarters of it had turned into rubble.

    The distracted audience paused and rubbed their eyes in disbelief. An unusual silence hung in the air, almost as though the ball of nothingness had taken all sound with it.

    Markus turned to his right and narrowed his attention on the boy who had been quaking in his boots at the start of the fight, though this time the quaking was genuine and not just a facade to get others to lower their guards.

    This was the third breed of fighters Markus was on the lookout for, the under-sellers. The kind of people that, as an borate strategy, outwardly diminished their skill to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. Upon witnessing the exaggerated signs of weakness, the opponent often grows arrogant and takes the conflict on a lighter note.

    From the start, Markus knew that the fearful boy was a deceiver and that his aura of vulnerability was all fake. This was because the boy could not keep his persona consistent. There were a few times when Markus tracked his opponents outside the arena. While one of the fights was taking ce on stage, Markus happened to notice this same boy showing a disdainful expression that also reeked of smugness. If that was the boy''s baseline, why would he suddenly freeze over and shiver in fear upon meeting a fresh and unknown group of mages that he has never even faced before? This was all a plot, a ruse, a grift - Markus could sense it.

    Just as Markus had predicted, when the fight began, he was one of two on stage that did not pile up on one person into a stressful melee. Instead, he prepared for the anticipated attack from his opponent who, on cue, sent a damaging attack to the only other person not engaged inbat. The deceptive boy hoped to pick off stragglers or overreaching idiots who underestimated him. Unfortunately for him his opponent had seen through his strategy, prepared a counter for it and even capitalised on it by using the counter to take out the rest of thepetition.

    The fear that the boy was feeling right now was genuine. Many queries ran through his mind: ''What was that? Where did my attack disappear to? Why couldn''t the others defend themselves against the attack even after witnessing its approach?''

    But the more pressing question at the present moment was ''What the fuck am I going to do now?'' His position was equivalent to someone bluffing in a card game with the confidence of being able to get away with it, but then getting called out on the bluff almost immediately.

    At least before, the destructive attack was distributed between five other people. Now, though, he would have to field an attack that managed to demolish reinforced materials meant to withstand violentbat through its shockwave from the aftermath alone.

    When Markus put one step forward, the boy took two back. Markus tilted his head in confusion. "If you don''t wish to continue this fight, I suggest you step down now," Markus warned.

    "W-Who says I''m giving up?!" The boy shot back, but with a stutter that drowned the challenging tone in his voice.

    Markus nodded briefly as confirmation and flourished his wand once again. The mand rotating behind him shifted its form, turning less intricate. Then, from his extended wand''s tip, arge |Fireball| shot out. The boy at the receiving end, to his credit, quickly caught his apprehension and countered by splitting the ball in two.

    Markus took a step forward and brought his wand backwards while spinning it. In response, the dissipating fire started to form a vortex and gushed in his direction. Markus redirected it and threw it towards the boy as a |Fire Lance|. The boy could do little but dodge, but at that moment he found his body growing heavier. The split-second stumble was enough for thence to collide with his shoulder leaving a barely visible scorch mark as the boy''s instinctive decision to coat his skin with mana armour absorbed some of the damage.

    While this was happening, Markus had closed the distance to just five metres. The boy realised this and coiled his legs to strafe sideways. His body lowered, his musclespressed in anticipation... then he released!

    However, contrary to his expectations, his body did not move back up but went lower and lower, until he waspletely prone on the ground. The boy felt himself being crushed by his own body!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Within an approximate five-metre radius around Markus, everything apart from the boy started to float. Seconds passed and suddenly, Markus'' feet lifted off from the ground - he was floating too!

    The eyes of many audience members nearly burst out of their sockets upon witnessing this.

    "The boy can fly? But he is only in the Foundation Establishment realm!" Someone blurted out.

    "He isn''t flying, you idiot! He''s floating," the person next to him chided.

    "What''s the difference?" The first man shot back with a sarcastic tone and a disdainful expression.

    "To fly or levitate is to oppose the natural behaviour of falling," a demure voice intervened, cutting through the din like a hot knife through butter. Guy followed the sound and saw the same woman who''d registered his sect!

    "That boy, however... It''s almost like the world just doesn''t want him to fall down," she said with an amused chuckle. "I would do something about his opponent, though. It looks like he cannot continue."

    All eyes darted towards the suppressed boy whose consciousness was teetering. The immense pressure acting on him had shattered a few bones, and they were poking into his organs, he was finding it hard to breathe with his lungs struggling to oppose the crushing weight, the pain and the oxygen deprivation had pushed him to the edge.

    The person refereeing the fights sputtered and reddened in embarrassment for getting distracted like that.

    "Stall number 23 goes to the True World Sect," the referee called out, and just like that the weight lifted off of the boy. The boy deted and lost consciousness as his body rebounded with the sudden decrease in the crushing force. Markus bowed and started to walk out of the arena.

    Jean rushed forward and caught Markus as he stumbled over thest step. He was breathing heavily, sweating, and pale all over. Jean immediately reached into her satchel and retrieved a phial. She undid the stopper and immediately jabbed it into Markus'' lips.

    "Senior Brother, drink it quickly! You are suffering from mana exhaustion!" She demanded worriedly. Markus hummed and started to gulp down the liquid.

    "What was that attack?" Guy asked with a stern whisper. It was a rhetorical question, since he immediately followed it up with, "What were you thinking? Look at what you did to yourself!"

    "I-It was necessary, Master," Markus responded. The colour was returning to his cheeks, though his breath was still staggered. "We need to show our strength. People will remember this disy and will approach our stand over the recruitment period. This will also stop others from looking down on us."

    Guy agreed with this statement, but couldn''t help but mutter, "But at what cost?"

    Markus was right about one thing. The disy did attract the attention of a lot of people. For one, the way Markus utterly dominated the field had shaken the attitudes of a lot of sects.

    With strength came freedom. Those with power had the liberty to choose and take what they wanted, that was thew that governed this world. Markus had shown that the True World Sect was formidable. He proved that he could havepeted for any stand, even the heavily contested ones in the more prominent locations. But the True World Sect chose one that was in a moderately traversed area. This behaviour had earned the acknowledgement of many sects present.

    A barracuda is a formidable predator. It is ferocious and fearsome, and highly proficient in hunting. However, if a barracuda chooses topete amongst sharks, it will only get eaten instead. Yet, this did not mean that a shark could treat the barracuda as a joke since, at its core, the barracuda was still a predator.

 Chapter 249 Interlude - Tampering With Gravity, And Hurtful Dreams

    Although Markus had ess to all the information he could ever need regarding the fundamental force known as gravity, he was struggling to make much headway into applying it in a more offensive capacity.

    There was an extremely narrow bottleneck he was experiencing, one that he did not face when trying to weaponise other more primitive attacks like with fire, water, air or earth. Even using electricity was bing manageable after he determined how to quickly ionise air particles to allow a rapid pathway for discharge.

    Gravity was a whole other ball game. It didn''t operate in a way that made sense. Sure, simplifying it to ''mass gets pulled closer'' makes it easier to understand. However, that superficial definition only takes you so far before you''re forced to undergo a paradigm shift and literally relearn the whole thing all over again.

    To be honest, Jean had it much worse since she had to first learn that there is the smallest divisible state of any matter beyond which it loses all of its properties - molecules. And that below that divisible state exist the fundamental building blocks of all things - atoms. And that atoms are made up of even smaller particles - protons, neutrons and electrons. AND, after internalising these concepts, she had to relearn how these molecules, atoms and subatomic particles behaved and interacted with each other.

    Nowadays, Markus had learned to pace himself. Before, he always felt this heavy pressure of time bearing down on him - this gnawing feeling of powerlessness urging him to push past his limits. But it was starting to be clear to him that no matter what obstruction he faced, it could easily be ovee with diligence and effort. It was how he got this far, after all!

    Just like he predicted, after weeks of diligent research work and tests, something did bear fruit. Markus initially relied on making minor shifts in the gravitational forces acting on an individual or object to disrupt their movement. He could only sustain it for a small time frame because doing it for longer drained him off a lot of mana. This usually implied that the method was not efficient or in other words wasn''t "close enough to the truth".

    What inspired him to reevaluate things was the concept of conservation. One of the fundamentalws of physics is that in every interaction, energy is always conserved - what goes in is whates out. When Markus brought this theory into his problem, it opened his eyes to the fact that when he shifted the gravity of a point he wasn''t strictly adhering to the conservationws.

    Gravity is proven to be a conservative force. Basically, if you start from one point on an object''s gravitational field and move to another point, regardless of which pathway you take, you should expend the same amount of mechanical energy. Upon artificially increasing or decreasing the gravity in one location, Markus was viting thisw and was thus being forced to expend a muchrger quantity of mana to support it.

    The solution to the problem was simple... on paper. In truth, it involved a lot of mathematics, and Markus sorely wished Marie was there to help him navigate through that mire. Deriving a theorem that worked took him a few days of scribbling, scrapping and editing. Applying the theorem into a spell that works took him a whole month, even with a lot of assistance from his Master.

    The oue was as follows. Designate a spherical region around himself. Within this region, he could modte the gravitational field however he wished as long as moving from any point on the sphere''s periphery to another point on its periphery expended the same amount of mechanical energy. The process was it was a monumental bncing act. Markus could increase the gravitational field strength at one point in the region as long as he offset it by decreasing it across another. The problem was doing this quickly. He had to rely on the mana refined by his core and a plethora of spell circles to activate the spell. All of this had to be achieved inbat. Furthermore, although there was a sharp reduction in mana consumed to sustain the spell, it still left him drained when utilised for a long period. Finally, the designated spherical region could not be moved once established. This was because activating the spell required excessive mathematical calctions in the backend, and changing the region would warrant a recalction.

    Markus named this new attack, |Gravity Field|. It was powerful, but it wasn''t without cost. It was still not close enough to the truth and thus guzzled his mana like a man stranded in the middle of the desert, though its voraciousness was less than his previous applications of gravity. After casting it for the first time against an opponent, he was thoroughly depleted, hanging barely by a thread - if not for his Junior Sister''s timely supply of Mana Rejuvenation potion he would have passed out into aa through mana exhaustion.

    Markus never thought he would get the opportunity to debut it so publicly. He never thought the spell would be so brutal either - he was close enough to physically hear a few of his opponent''s bones shatter.

    But as he said to his Master, it was necessary. The True World Sect needed to show its strength, even briefly. A tall tree must bear the brunt of a heavy storm, but one that doesn''t rise to meet the canopy will wither away without sunlight.

    ____

    A hissy and spite-filled curse emanated from the hidden courtyard at the seldom visited part of the Pce of the Sun''s Inner Court. The sound barely made it out the open windows before it was intercepted by the ever-growing forest of Sun-Sapping Creepers.

    Following the source of the sound, inside thergest bedroom in the courtyard, a woman mumbled unintelligibly with a raspy voice, "Those whores! That degenerate! They should all die! Die!"

    Shey motionless on a bed of the most expensive goose-down. Her eyes zed with madness but carried a gaze filled with emptiness as they stared nkly into the ceiling.

    She was only thirty years old, yet her face had gained wrinkles and turned pale like a woman twice her age. Her hair was silver and was withering away like her frail and emaciated form.

    "Shuri... Shuri..." the woman droned while turning her head slightly to the side.

    "I am here, mother," the girl answered from her seat at the bed''s side.

    "You must kill them! Kill them all... Burn them... y them... Castrate that man-whore!" She bellowed with a hoarse shriek.

    Shuri sighed and blurted out, "How will I do that, mother?"

    "Doesn''t matter how. But you must do it. MUST! That is your purpose. The filthy blood of that man flows through your veins. It needs to be exterminated, all of it!"

    ''But I wish to live.'' Shuri wanted to say it out loud but held her tongue. There was no use arguing with someone devoid of reason, especially as theyy on their deathbed.

    "You must kill him. Then, you must kill his spawn. THEN, those depraved prostitutes that lust after him like cats in heat. Their deaths must be slow and painful. Poison them all! Just like they did to me," the woman screeched amidst coughs. Her voice grew weaker, and her breath grew heavier as she spoke.

    "They never poisoned you, mother," Shuri said tly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "THEY DID! How else did I end up like this? Ever since I entered this pce my life has turned into... a hellscape of suffering... and... agony!"

    Shuri could agree that her mother was poisoned, not the alchemical kind by that of the mind and heart. From the beginning, since Shuri''d known her mother, all she ever saw in her eyes were fear, paranoia, rage, envy, despair and a plethora of other negative emotions. Not once did she see the woman smile, not even facetiously. Every word she spoke was filled with venom and hate.

    The woman was devoid of love. Even the gaze she sent Shuri''s way was filled with disgust. The woman hated Shuri from the bottom of her heart. There was only one time Shuri recollected warmth shing past the woman''s face, and that was at the time of her birth when the womanid eyes on her baby form for the first time. But it was merely momentary - a fleeting expression.

    Ever since then, all Shuri ever got from the woman were perfunctory words of acknowledgement and an endless barrage of conditioning statements that highlighted Shuri''s "purpose".

    She was to be a weapon for her mother''s revenge. Her goal in life was to eradicate the Sol n and everything with it. A tall order, but one that her mother made her promise every day. Even in death, the woman didn''t fail to bring it up.

    The woman''s deranged mumbling paused. Her lips stopped moving. She was alive, but only barely.

    "Did you ever care for me?" Shuri inquired with a nk expression that suppressed the sense of unease growing within her.

    The woman did not answer, but she turned her head to face Shuri.

    "Why did you live like this? Why?!" Shuri asked forcefully. Again, no response was received.

    Just as Shuri was about to leave in exasperation, her mother whispered, "I did love you. But... my love pales inparison... to the hatred and loathing... I feel for the man... who did this to me!"

    "It isn''t the man that you hate, but yourself," Shuri spat back. "Your self-loathing ruined you. You yearned for revenge butcked the guts and strength to achieve it. All of that rot consumed you and turned you into this!"

    "Aren''t you the one who always told me to survive at all costs? Why couldn''t you?!" Shuri bellowed while suppressing a choke in her voice. Her eyes turned red as water started to flow out.

    "I never wanted to live... after that day," her mother answered with a voice filled with guilt and sadness. "I tried... to kill myself... every day. Failed... Tried again... Until I became pregnant... I gave birth... Looked at you... Couldn''t raise a hand against myself... But I hated my life..."

    Shuri could not feel sympathy in hearing her mother''s words. They were all empty and meaningless. The woman ended up ruining two lives by not killing herself.

    The woman raised a shaking hand and reached for Shuri''s neck. Her bony fingers rested on the pendant hanging there and caressed it gently.

    "Mother... is... sorry... For everything..." The woman grabbed the pendant and tugged it lightly. "I... want... to... see... your... face... one...st... time... before... I... go."

    Shuri grabbed the woman''s hand and lowered it hurriedly.

    "You are already looking at my face," Shuri said sternly.

    "Not-"

    "This is my face, mother. Look carefully," Shuri reiterated.

    The woman''s gaze flickered before her hand dropped limply. The imperceptible rise and fall of her chest seized. The room stilled.

    Shuri''s mother had died. However, Shuri didn''t feel anything. She didn''t feel regret, nor did she feel sorrow.

    There is seldom time to pause andment over loss in the Inner Court if one wishes to live here. What is beneficial for survival must be kept, and what isn''t must be discarded. Familial affection isn''t necessary for survival, hence it is discarded.

    ____

    Shuri awoke with a start, hitting her head against the wooden side of the caravan she was currently in. The whole vehicle shook jerkily, causing her to lurch to the side.

 Chapter 250 Ominous Detours, And Casual Tomfoolery

    The carriage jerked violently once again, causing the sole passenger to get squished amidst the mountain of cargo. Shuri cursed her poor luck silently before crawling around the precarious stack of wooden crates. It did not help that she was still reeling from the rude awakening after an unpleasant dream.

    "I-Is something wrong?" Shuri asked the carriage driver through an opening in the carriage''s frontal walls. This was her first time hitchhiking, and it wasn''t a pleasant experience at all! As a princess, she grew up in a protective environment where the assigned carriages were chock-full offort, safety and protective enchantments - it was all-epassing such that the passenger barely recognised any movement. One must note that this was the case with even the most basic of carriages avable at the Pce since Shuri wasn''t favoured enough to use anything better. Transitioning to her current mode of transport, where the whole world seemed to shake as the carriage moved forward, Shuri was suddenly missing her old life.

    "Sorry ''bout that, miss," the man responded respectfully. "The main road''s a bit crowded given the whole debacle at the Capital. Thought about taking a shortcut."

    Shuri had paid the man upfront with half of her savings to hitch this ride. This amount was unregistered with thepany the man ran the caravan under, thus the money would go directly into his pockets. This was why the man spoke so reverently to her.

    Due to the "Terrorist Attack" that took ce in the Capital, a mass exodus of people started to take ce. Those swarming away from the Capital were mostly those that came there temporarily: businesses and representatives, event-goers, visitors and tourists. The Capital''s security didn''t bother hindering this outflow as the culprit behind the attack was eliminated. Furthermore, the Capital was always looking for any excuse to reduce its poption.

    This was perfect for Shuri as she found an abundance of choices for her prospective ride towards freedom. She eliminated all the big yers such as the national-level businesses and escort processions for ns (not that she could get in with them anyway since their kind rarely obliged a hanger-on).

    After careful evaluation, she settled on this man whose name she did not ask, who worked or did not work for apany she cared not to know, and who had or did not have a family that she didn''t wish to find out about. She did not tell him about herself either as she did not want the man to remember her - names give form to a person. If someone doesn''t attach a name to an individual, they will gradually forget or overwrite the individual''s existence in their memory. She submitted a substantial amount of money for his silence and discretion, which he epted readily and maintained religiously.

    "I thought we were going Northwards?" Shuri inquired upon noticing the rising sun beating down through the gap.

    "My sources say that the paths through the Rasmus March have suddenly be safer. This is a lesser-known trail that will connect us to the March highway. It passes through a forest, so please brace yourself, miss," the man answered.

    "Is this safe?"

    "It''s perfectly safe. I''ve taken this route many times," the man said casually with a wave of his palm.

    Shuri hummed in eptance, though the scepticism did not leave her face. The man appeared confident... maybe too confident. It was attitudes like this that got one killed back at the Pce. It was always the eunuch that believed his backing to be unshakeable that lost his head first; it was the pce maid who earned the passing favour of His Highness but thought it permanent that found her face melting soon after.

    An eerie sense of foreboding pervaded her thoughts as the surrounding treeline grew taller and closer. She instinctively reached for her pendant and rubbed it anxiously.

    It wasn''t often that Shuri dreamed of her mother. Those memories were vivid just like everything else she experienced in her life, but they were unpleasant, to say the least. She tried her hardest to suppress them, but once in a while, something would sneak its way through her fortress of a mind. Whenever it did, something bad always followed.

    ____

    Marie closed her eyes and inhaled the energising air as a light mist hung over the undting ocean water. The sun peaked over the horizon, which was just in water as far as the eye could see. She and her Master had been travelling for three whole days without stopping. The journey was pleasant and fairly uneventful which may have been a result of her Master''s machinations... or not.

    She turned her head and observed her Master, who was mimicking her with his eyes closed but facing Southward. She approached him and asked, "How much longer do you anticipate this journey will take?"

    "We''re almost there," he answered, to which Marie scoffed derisively.

    "That''s what you said yesterday, and the day before!" Sheined.

    Krish revealed a sly smile and said, "These instances of true suspense are so rare for us, why not enjoy it for a little bit longer?"

    Marie shot out her tongue cheekily and punched her Master on his bicep.

    "Ow!" Krish yelped with a flinch. "What was that for?"

    "Oh please! As if that hurt you," Marie muttered as she massaged her aching fist.

    "This is not how you should treat your Master," Krishined. "You should be more respectful."

    "Would you like me to bow every time I address you and cover my mouth when talking to you as well?" Marie goaded. "Why don''t I get down on all fours and prostrate myself upon your feet while I''m at it?"

    Krish snorted and ruffled his Disciple''s hair. He then trained his gaze on the Southern horizon and narrowed his eyes.

    "It''s time," he dered.

    "Time for what?" Marie shot back confusedly.

    "Time for us to disembark," Krish answered while picking up his walking stick and fastening his bag.

    "I don''t see anything, though," Mariemented as she swivelled her head. "Should I go inform the Captain to alter our direction?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That won''t be necessary," Krish responded and waved his hand dismissively. "We can just walk the rest of the way."

    Marie burst out with a heartyugh that quickly dissipated upon noticing her Master''s serious expression.

    "I''m sorry, I think my ears aren''t working correctly. I believe I heard you say that we''ll ''walk'' the rest of the way there?" Marie reiterated with sarcasm oozing in her voice.

    Krish pulled his lips in and nodded nonchntly.

    "Walk?" Marie repeated with a higher pitch and pointed out of the boat and towards the Vast Blue Expanse.

    With a click of his tongue and an exhausted shake of his head, Krish walked forward. With one fell swoop, he leapt over the railing and went overboard.

    "Master!" Marie rushed forward and leaned over the railing. She expected to hear a ssh and find her Master waddling in the water. How could one expect someone to swim with oneme leg?

    Instead, she was graced with the incredible sight of her Master standing atop the rolling water surface.

    "Come on, now," Krish called while gesturing for Marie to follow him.

    "How do you expect me to do that?" Marie screamed exasperatedly.

    "It''s easy! You just have to use the Movement Art I taught you," her Master instructed.

    Marie wore a sceptical expression before following her Master over the railing. The moment her feet contacted the water''s surface she started to perform the Movement Art. However, her feet just kept sinking, and sinking, and sinking.

    ""*cough* *sputter* Master!" Marie screeched between breaths as she tried to catch her breath. She quickly stopped controlling her mana and proceeded to float. Once she stabilised herself, she noticed her Master''s shoulders jittering as he tried to suppress hisughter.

    Marie narrowed her eyes and looked towards her Master''s feet. They weren''t even touching the water''s surface - he was flying a centimetre above it!

    "MASTER!"

    Krish could no longer hold hisughter - he was literally in tears.

    Marie growled and closed her eyes. She rxed her breath and started to circte her mana towards her feet. A spell circle materialised below each of her soles following which she halted her strokes to keep afloat. In doing so, she did not sink. She stepped forward like moving up a flight of stairs and rose incrementally with each step until she was standing perfectly atop the water, its surface warped like a cloth with a weight ced on it. She shot her Master a challenging re and smirked.

    Krish choked on hisugh and looked on in incredulity as his Disciple walked past him and onwards, letting out a grumpy snort as she passed him by.

    "How are you doing that? What spell is this?" Krish fired inquisitively while hobbling behind his Disciple.

    "I''m just following your ''precious'' Movement Art, Master," Marie answered with a sardonic snap. "Can''t believe I fell for that one..."

    With an impressed smile, Krish walked up to his Disciple''s side and continued the trek Southwards. The walk went on for five hours, at which point Marie''s mana reserves nearly ran dry and Krish took over, levitating her above the water and carrying her with him as he moved.

    "You could have done this from the beginning?!" Marie groaned with an offended look.

    "And miss an opportunity for some casual tomfoolery?" Krish scoffed. "I don''t think so."

    "By the way, how did you do that earlier?" Krish inquired again. "It didn''t look like any method I''ve seen before."

    "It''s a mixture of artificially increasing the contact surface area and manipting the surface tension," Marie responded with a sneer. "I don''t think you''ll get it so just give up, old man."

    Right at that moment, Krish halted in ce and moved his gaze around as though he were searching for something. His eyes finally snapped in ce on a seemingly nk location. He reached into his bag and retrieved an aged marble te with symbols etched on them. He brought the te towards the location his eyes stagnated on.

    Like a puzzle piece meeting its mate, the te slotted into ce into thin air before the horizon rippled and dissipated.

    As the translucent, almost ss-like membrane melted, Marie was shocked by a scary sight.

 Chapter 251 Identification

    The view before her rippled and fell like a crystalline curtain, and against the previously empty scenery spawned an archipgo of inds. It was vast and rose from sea level almost immediately, forming multiple peaks. Seven minor peaks were nking a muchrger eighth peak at the centre. Atop the higher was what Marie surmised to be the observatory her Master had hinted at earlier. From this distance, it looked like a marble-d building ripe with history and age and was built into the mountain it was situated on. Its dome roof was made of some sort of ss, which was definitely an extravagant purchase given the price of constructing ss, that too for a bespoke structure such as this one which happened to be massive in scale - that is ignoring the upkeep costs.

    But that wasn''t what had Marie nearly shaking in her boots in fear. No, the source of that was in the foreground of the magnificent ind in the form of a small army of mages all pointing weapons and spells towards herself and Krish. They were all standing on the water''s surface with two people flying above the army with wary frowns.

    "Identify yourself, intruder!" One of the flyers, an older gentleman with a slightly protruding belly, a silver beard that covered his chin and met with his primly trimmed silver hair. He wore a ck robe with glittering dots scattered all around it that sparkled under the sunlight.

    "You carry one of our ess tes. Exin how it fell into your hands!" The second flyer added. This one was a woman who also appeared equally aged as the gentleman. Her silver hair fell to her ankles and was tied into a thick braid. Although her face sported a few wrinkles, there was a sophisticated and mature beauty about her.

    At that moment, Marie noticed that a lot of the water walkers also had silver hair or hair that was starting to grey. She quickly surmised that it may be a peculiarity of their cultivation method, or it was a gic peculiaritymon amongst the people here. Nheless, she did not have much time to ponder on those rogue thoughts as the opposers poised themselves to attack her and her Master.

    In response, her Master coughed lightly which in turn rumbled with a loud crack. Following that, he made his presence known by releasing all inhibitors suppressing his mana and cultivation. The pressure gushed out like a physical tidal wave. With a powerful push, arge hemisphere of water was disced centred at her Master with its outer radius reaching up to the shore of the closest ind. All thebatants standing over the water''s surface started to fall due to the suddenck of "stable" footing. The flyers didn''t fare so well either, as they were pushed outwards and beyond the periphery of the small zone of influence, her Master had put up - small, because Marie had seen just how far her Master''s mana domain spanned and it was definitely well beyond what he was enforcing at the moment.

    The only reason Marie was safe from the pressure was because of the bubble of safety that her Master was using to transport her. The pressure caused the area within the affected region to ripple and distort as the roiling mana started to heat the air itself.

    Her Master kept up the field for a minute, just long enough for the hapless water walkers to gasp for air while failing miserably to keep themselves afloat as the pressure started to cause wooziness. And just as quickly as the pressure came to be, it disappeared almost instantly. Once the spherical field disappeared, the disced water gushed in to take its ce. Marie feared that the struggling water walkers would drown, but her Master did one better and raised them all up using some sort of invisible tform of pure mana.

    "I rmend that you gauge your opponent first before raising your weapons against them," Krish said at a moderate volume that travelled unperturbed into the ears of all those present before him.

    "As for your question, I received this te from my Master, who received it from his Master, who was given this by Loury Krune," he added while returning the te back into his sack.

    "Loury Krune? As in the Founder?" The flying woman blurted out as she returned to her original position, her hair was dislodged from its perfect bundle with strands hanging loose.

    "That''s her," Krish said with a smile.

    "W-Who are you?" This time, the chubby man asked with an audible gulp.

    "Now you''re asking the right questions!" Krishmended with an insincere p. "If I am not mistaken, holding the ess te to the Mystic Celestial Sect means that I am an honoured guest."

    Before the duo could nod, Krish followed up with, "Are you nning to keep your honoured guest waiting like this?"

    ____

    Krish and his Disciple were ushered in hurriedly, and respectfully, by the duo who led the defensive battalion earlier. Even though they were well within the Core Condensation Realm, they could not stop the cold sweats practically drenching their backs. Each move Krish made caused them to flinch, his silence simply added to their nervousness.

    Marie saw her Master flying in the air for the first time. He followed the duo as they skipped the winding walkways that snaked up the peaks andnded directly upon the stone walkway that connected the seven surrounding mountain inds to the one at the centre with the observatory. Just like the observatory, the walkway seamlessly connected with the mountains - the fresh moss growing on the mountainside crept onto the stone walkway painting a lively mix of green and stone grey.

    Going past the walkway, they were deposited into avish waiting area with an open balcony. Krish and Marie each took a seat, the former raised his weak leg, crossed it over the other and closed his eyes as he waited. Marie swung her legs awkwardly while blowing and sipping the tea poured for them by the woman who was currently entertaining them with a melodious song yed on a hummer. Her fingers moved with an imperceptible blur as she yed the harmony, chords and tones altogether.

    "Master," Marie whispered while leaning over to her Master''s side.

    "We are waiting for the relevant person toe to greet us," Krish answered with his eyes closed.

    "Who-?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I believe he is talking about me," amanding voice rang from the entrance and the fingers of the woman ying the music froze in ce. As she retreated out the other entrance, the man who spoke earlier walked in.

    He looked young, maybe in histe thirties, with an amicable smile on his face. He sported long, flowing hair - of a luminescent silver hue - tied into a thick braid that looped from under his right shoulder and rested cradled into his crossed arms. His outfit matched those of the flying duo from earlier - a deep ck robe with sparkling dots like stars in the night sky. His pupils were a murky ck with an artificial violet hue that shone as the sunlight hit them.

    "If it isn''t young Krish," the man said with a nostalgic smile. "How long has it been, old friend?"

    "Long enough for your little goons to forget who I am," Krish said with a jocr snort.

    "Well, that was definitely an interesting spectacle out there. How is that my fault? Given how there are so few people our age, I thought you would be considerate enough to show your face here once in a while," the man shot back with a disappointed scowl.

    "Hold up! You''re 2000 years old too?!" Marie yelped in shock.

    "Two thousand two hundred and three to be exact," the man corrected. "A year older than this one," he added while nudging his chin in Krish''s direction.

    Marie released a high-pitched chuckle in response to what she thought was a joke. Herugh teetered when she was subject to confused stares from the others present. "You aren''t kidding? Master if you''re younger than him why do you look like this while he..."

    "Forgive me for not being a vain son of a bitch," her Master retorted with his attention not moving away from the man. "THIS," he said to Marie while gesturing wildly over the man''s appearance, "is what you get when you decide on what you will look like for the rest of your life while thinking with your genitals."

    "Excuse me for trying to look appealing and timeless," the man answered with an offended scoff. "You broke through in yourte twenties, you didn''t even look this old. You forcefully aged yourself to look like this. Think about that, what does it say about you? Figures, you always talked like a geezer even when you were young. Looks like the saying "an old man trapped in a youngster''s body" was true!"

    "It''s because I was thinking of the future. Why would I want to look like a little dandy when I turned a thousand?" Krish stood his ground. "Anyways, enough of all this nonsense. Let me introduce you to my Disciple, Marie Reva."

    Krish pulled Marie forward and ced her between himself and the man, "Marie, meet one of my oldest and still living friends, Jace Krune."

    Jace''s eyebrows rose in surprise. "So you finally found one, huh? A pleasure to make your acquaintance"

    Marie warily grabbed the man''s extended hand and shook it.

    "Knowing you, this visit isn''t some social call just to catch up and parade your new Disciple," Jace hypothesised. "You only show up when you need something."

    "You make it sound so horrible when you say it like that," Krish said with a sigh. "You could visit me too, you know?"

    "Visit you where, exactly?" Jace mocked. "Do you ever sit still in one ce?"

    "Point taken. But this time I will be stationary for a much longer duration," Krish highlighted. "I''ve decided to settle and join a Sect."

    "Now that sounds like a story." Jace tilted his head with an intrigued sparkle in his eyes.

    "One that I would love to tell you AFTER we''ve gotten my business out of the way," Krish continued.

    "Alright. What is it then?" Jace asked as he leaned against the pir in the path leading towards the balcony.

 Chapter 252 Myth Of Immortality

    "So let me get this straight, you want your Disciple to gain ess to the Mystic Celestial Sect''s historic archives and records of the states of the known and observable celestial bodies? Why, exactly?" Jace inquired while sipping from his cup of tea.

    "It''s for her cultivation," Krish answered,

    Jace lowered his cup and shot an exasperated gaze towards Krish, who deciphered the gaze''s implications and borated, "She needs that information to achieve a breakthrough. She believes it is the piece that will tip her over to advance into the Foundation Establishment realm."

    Jace hummed contemtively before raising a finger, "You said ''she needs'' and ''she believes''. What''s the deal with that? Isn''t the cultivation pathway for The Heavenly Eye kind of fixed in the early stages?"

    "Marie here is trying something different," Krish responded.

    "And you''re okay with that?" Jace''s voice oozed with incredulity and disbelief. "You really have changed," he added with a low murmur.

    "So, what do you say?" Krish reiterated.

    "Fine, fine. You know the drill," Jace said with a wave of his hands.

    "Wait!" Marie interjected sternly. "I have a few questions regarding the information you will be providing me ess to."

    With raised brows, Jace trained hisplete attention towards Marie. "Excuse me?"

    "Allegedly," she shot a side-eye towards her Master before returning Jace''s gaze, "I was told that I would be able to find the information that I need here. I trust my Master. I trust that he has my best interests at heart. If my Master were to tell me something, I will believe it because I know where he''sing from. I cannot say the same for you or the Mystic Celestial Sect."

    Jace released a hum that echoed within the room with an uneasy reverb. "I hope you realise that you are the one who needs this information."

    "I am, which is why I want to first make sure that it is the information I am looking for," Marie reasoned. "They say that beggars can''t be choosers, but what use is foisting a closet upon a beggar who owns only a single set of clothes andcks a stable ce to live? I have no use for information if it isn''t relevant to my needs. Don''t get me wrong though, I am infinitely thankful that you are offering me the opportunity to peruse your Sect''s records."

    From the corner of his eyes, Jace caught Krish holding back a smirk with great difficulty. "Looks like you''re enjoying the show. Did you put her up to this?"

    "No," Krish said amidst a gleeful snort. Jace sighed at his friend''s uncharacteristic mischievous demeanour and scratched his forehead in vexation.

    Seeing this, Krish coughed and took over. "The Mystic Celestial Sect follows a special kind of cultivation method that relies on the precise state of the celestial bodies for specific effects."

    "How so?" Marie asked back.

    "Now, that''s confidential information!" Jace interrupted wildly.

    "What kind of information do you record, then?" Marie rephrased.

    "Location of thes of our Sr System in the night sky every day since the inception of the Sect. We also include specific ster formations, ster clusters, and so on. Basically, if it exists in the night sky, it exists in our records," Jace answered casually.

    "How do you record this information?" Marie followed up. "What kind of methods do you use to describe this information? Is it all diagrammatic? Or are you using some kind of unique unit of measurement?"

    "Mostly diagrammatic," Jace muttered. "Kind of."

    "What degree of uracy are we working with then?"

    "We pride ourselves in how urately and precisely we can replicate and record the celestial positions," Jace responded with a proud front as he tried to keep his response as vague as possible.

    "In their cultivation method, they define Meridians that are cultivated at different locations across the human body that act as pseudo mana cores. These Meridians act as subordinates to the central core and aid in the rapid cirction and expulsion of mana. The location of these Meridians cannot be messed around with and has an underlying theory that depends heavily on celestial positioning," Krish expounded, avoiding Jace''s scrutinising gaze. "There is a lot of interdependency in the Meridian positioning as well. Minor deviations, and we''re talking in the range of millimetres here, can result in irreparable bacsh. So you can expect a high degree of uracy and precision in their data."

    Marie scratched her chin in thought as she digested the hurried revtions.

    "Alright, it sounds useful for my purposes," Marie dered while tapping herp earnestly. "How do I get ess to it?"

    ____

    While Marie was led out of the room towards her destination by a sect member, Jace and Krish returned to their catch-up session that was over five hundred years overdue.

    "An interesting Disciple you''ve got yourself there," Jacemented. "She''s quite..."

    "Caustic? Blunt? Frustrating?" Krish listed.

    "All of the above, I guess," Jace said with a wry smile. "Though it seems you''re enjoying it."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s that obvious, huh?"

    "The entire time we''ve known each other, you''ve never smiled so much in all those yearsbinedpared to how much you''ve done in thest few hours," Jace dered. "That is to say that you, my friend, have truly changed. The Krish I knew would have dropped such an argumentative person at the first sign of opposition."

    "I was close to doing it, I won''t lie," Krish confessed while shaking his head. "In the beginning, a part of me was this close to just ending it and leaving."

    "Why didn''t you?"

    "There were a lot of factors. The greatest contributor towards my staying, though, was when I realised that a Master-Disciple rtionship was a two-way street," Krish emphasised. "Both the Disciple and Master have expectations of each other. While the Disciple strives to meet their Master''s, so must a Master attempt to match their Disciple''s. It is unfair for me to expect my Disciple to suddenly be a perfect fit for myself because in doing so, I am asking them to turn into another me. Furthermore, it also inhibits my opportunity for growth."

    "So in meeting midway, both you and your Disciplee out of the rtionship as better people," Jacepleted the sentence.

    "It was hard for me - I''ve lived for two millennia after all. Certain characteristics of mine were far too ingrained to change. But as I kept at it, I found myself adjusting. Thanks to the assistance from the Leader of the Sect I am affiliated with now, the process became easier," Krish continued.

    "Tell me more about that," Jace interjected. "Which lucky sect managed to tie you down?"

    "It''s a new one. It is called the True World Sect," Krish answered.

    "Sounds kind of pretentious," Jace grumbled.

    "Less pretentious than the Mystic Celestial Sect," Krish countered.

    "Hey! That name wasn''t my decision to make. My Grandmother wasn''t particrly gifted in the creativity department," Jace said with a groan.

    "The Leader of my Sect is a natural when ites to getting through to the youths," Krish said to divert the conversation. "I learned a lot from him."

    Jace cocked his brows in disbelief.

    "There is no shame in learning something from someone more skilled in it than you are. There''s always more room to learn, isn''t that how we keep ourselves alive?" Krish hinted.

    A light chuckle escaped Jace''s lips, following which a spontaneous silence descended on the room. Krish''s demeanour turned dour.

    "Let''s address the erumpent in the room," Krish''s gaze narrowed - his attention focused on Jace in his entirety. His face changed into a concerned frown.

    Jace tried to put on a jovial front, but his smile faltered and dissipated as the silence dragged on. "Of course, there''s no hiding it from you," he said with a sigh. At the same time, he released his grasp on his presence and revealed his cultivation and, by extension, his soul for a cursory nce

    Krish''s frown deepened upon noticing Jace''s deteriorating state as his cultivation and soul started to escape as wispy strands. "Ten more years," he dered with certainty.

    "Sounds about right," Jace agreed. "You don''t see anyway, do you?"

    With a decisive shake of his head, Krish said, "You tell me! You must have tried every possible avenue for reigniting your cultivation. Did you seed?"

    "It''s frustrating," Jace admitted. "My grandmother died at the age of 2034. My fathersted a hundred more years. I didn''t even exceed his by a hundred. I experimented with weird quirks with my cultivation, I tried to relearn my cultivation method by segmenting my memories to suppress some of my pre-existing knowledge, and I even forcefully tried out-of-the-box strategies for cultivation and magic at the expense of damaging myself. I tried everything! But nothing. Fucking. Worked!"

    "It isn''t fair," Jaceined with a growl. "Why do we call ourselves immortal if we have to live with the constant fear of death?!"

    "It''s because immortality is a myth," Krish shrugged. "Everyone must die, that is how the world works. Old must give way for the new which in turn pushes the world forward for better or worse."

    "It is the new generation that innovates and develops. It is in immersing ourselves in these innovations that we gain the boon of a few additional years of life. The moment we reach the point of diminishing returns, it is the world indicating to us that there is nothing left for us to contribute," Krish orated.

    "I''ve reached my saturation point already. No amount of teaching or Discipleship is helping me," Jaceined. He then shot back enviously, "Your Disciple must have stimted your cultivation by quite a bit."

    "Far more than I expected. That girl''s mind works in ways unlike my own. For her, the world operates through infallible lines of reasoning. If there is a shortfall in said reasoning, there is a cause that introduces an exception. If she identifies the existence of an exception she makes it her life''s goal to formalise it quantitatively or qualitatively," Krish gushed.

    Without pause, he continued, "Even though shees off as abrasive and negative, her optimism is unparalleled. She believes that anything is achievable given the proper resources and knowledge. She never gives up, neverpromises, and never takes anything at face value."

    "This is another reason why I disdain the orthodox Master-Disciple rtionship," Krish decried.

    "The orthodox strategy shoves down a Disciple''s character and moulds it to fit the Master''s needs. If I did the same with Marie, I would be robbing the world of a revolutionary mage."

 Chapter 253 Mystic Celestial Sect

    Marie was assigned a liaison from the Mystic Celestial Sect, who guided her from the innermost guest entertainment room towards their destination - the Sect''s Historic Archives and Celestial Records, the entrance to which was literally at the foot of the central peak. Unfortunately, there was no direct path from the top of the mountain to its base; its slope was far too steep and slippery due to the sea spray and moss. As a result, their trajectory was a winding one that took her all the way around the Sect, from one peak to the other through the stone or rope bridges connecting the ind mountains at different levels.

    Not that Marie wasining about the long detour. Knowing that her bounty was just a few kilometres away and wasn''t going anywhere assuaged some of her antsiness. This in turn allowed her to appreciate the sights the sect had to offer. The overall theme prevailing in the sect''s design was "age and majesty". Marie could feel the history radiating from every nook and cranny of the sect''s exterior and interior. And it made sense because if this sect was created during her Great-Grandmaster''s time, then it was at least five thousand years old which would predate the Sr Empire!

    An ear-shattering harmony of shouts cracked through the air, followed by the sound of feet stomping the ground and muscles tightening. Marie looked over the low wall and saw a formation of youths moving through a choreographed sequence of punching and kicking. Her brows furrowed as she observed their actions in greater detail. It bugged her just how telegraphed and loud it all was - it didn''t seem practical forbat applications.

    As though she were reading Marie''s thoughts, the liaison, who was somewhere in her mid-twenties, expounded, "The initiates are practising their Forms for unarmedbat as per the Mystic Celestial Sect''s Exclusive Martial Arts Suite."

    "Does fighting like this even work?" Marie probed with a doubtful tone.

    "Forms aren''t forbat, they are to reinforce familiarity towards movements," the woman retorted with a sneer. "How can you not know that?"

    "It''s because I don''t practice any martial arts," Marie confessed casually.

    The woman''s face shrunk to a point with incredulity. "Not even one? How do you fight?"

    "I don''t fight," Marie shrugged.

    "A mage who doesn''t fight..." the woman muttered in a volume that was intended to be unheard but was just loud enough for Marie to register. There was an overbearing vour of derision in those words that wasn''t missed by Marie, who exhaled mirthfully.

    Marie decided to entertain the woman a little. So with a faint smile, she probed "Why would I need to fight?"

    "To protect yourself. To protect your loved ones. To get what you want! Amongst other things..." The woman rattled in quick session. Her fervour grew with each point she made as though she were offended by the mere thought of being untrained inbat.

    "So, if I can protect myself, and my loved ones, AND get what I want without fighting, does that mean I don''t need to train in martial arts or any such fighting techniques?" Marie proposed.

    The woman''s already contorted expression twitched and warped even more at the sheer nonsense exiting through Marie''s lips. A few scoffs and unintelligible sounds exited her mouth as she formted, and failed to execute a befitting response.

    "You don''t believe me, do you?" Marie asked rhetorically. "Let me see..." Marie''s eyes narrowed onto the woman''s form - to the woman, it appeared as though Marie was looking right through her. It was unnerving, like suddenly being nude and exposed, however, she didn''t feel any mana sense probing her.

    "Hmm, you''re a ballsy one," Marie blurted out. "But I bet juggling the two men at the same time can get exhausting."

    "W-What?! How-"

    "If I were you, I would go for the younger one. Sure, an age gap of eight may seem like much now, but as you grow older it will seem insignificant. Besides, the boy practically worships you. Furthermore, the other one is juggling three women, and you aren''t even amongst those three, so... take that as you will," Marie narrated before patting the woman''s shoulder sympathetically.

    "How?" The woman parroted with a gulp.

    Marie chuckled and said, "I don''t need to fight, because people are their own worst enemies. Anyways, we should probably get moving."

    The sect''s campus was massive and so was its poption - it was like a city. It became evident very quickly that the sect specialised in martial arts of many kinds, including unarmed and armed styles. Their tour passed by many such practising grounds with ordered hordes of people going through Forms both simple andplex. There were facilities for Alchemy and other Magical ventures, but their scope was measlypared to the martial departments that also included cksmithing and Enchanting.

    But what really poked at Marie''s curiosity was, "How do you guys recruit and get so many people here? Do you know how many hoops we had to jump through to hitch a ride? And the damn thing didn''t even reach this ce!"

    "We have teleportation anchors hidden all over Gaea. Every mage entering the Foundation Establishment Realm is expected to leave on a journey of self-development into the world during which time they must find themselves at least one junior to train and bring back into the fold," the woman exined.

    "So all this time, there was a teleportation anchor," Marie spat maliciously. While her mind spun up malicious pranks to throw her Master''s way, she stated, "That''s quite different from how the sects back at the empire maintain their strength."

    "The Mystic Celestial Sect is an istionist sect at its core. Having rampant internal strife can hinder the integrity of the sect. Therefore, we like to promote camaraderie amongst the sect members. This initiative is just one of the many ways we do so."

    The sect had many other misceneous facilities that did not pertain to cultivation or martial arts. There were centres for the arts, recreation rooms, rxation spaces and many more. All in all, there was everything a person could need to live a beyondfortable life avable here.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Doesn''t it get ustrophobic and boring? Staying here like this, it feels like a prison," Marie pointed out. "I mean, all these facilities sure can keep life dynamic, but if every day of your life is the same, I bet things would be dull - your days would just start blending into each other."

    The woman raised her shoulders indifferently and countered, "Worldly afflictions like that are just distractions. The pursuit of every member of the Mystic Celestial Sect is to advance and grow stronger so that we can take control of our lives."

    Marie could hear the zeal and conviction in the woman''s words, which was something only achieved if these thoughts were drilled into her from a very raw age. "You say that, yet you still sumb to worldly afflictions of lust."

    The woman sputtered and turned as red as a ripe apple. Just as she was about to retort with aeback, a cacophony of soundsing from the direction of the nearest sparring field caught her attention. Arge crowd was forming and a charged ambience started to hang above them.

    "What''s going on here," the woman asked the person at the periphery of the crowd surrounding the field when suddenly the voice of a youth pierced through the hubbub.

    "Senior Brother Royce! Please act with the behaviour befitting a gentleman and confess to Senior Sister Maddi of your transgressions. She deserves better, and you know it," the youth dered with vigour.

    "And why do I need to do that? She knew what she was getting into when she epted my advances," a much elder voice, with the gravelly texture characterised by a man in his mid-tote-thirties, scoffed. "Besides, boy, I hope you know who you''re challenging."

    The youth didn''t respond and readily entered abat-ready stance. Marie already knew who these two were as she''d seen them in the vision of the woman guiding her, who happened to have ast name, Maddi. Marie turned to her left, to look at Mage Maddi''s reaction, but she was no longer there. While Marie was musing over the spectacle, Mage Maddi had already arrived on stage.

    "Senior Sister Maddi!" The youth called out with a longing sparkle shing past his eyes.

    "Maddi," the other man, Mage Royce, grunted. "Call off your pup this instant before it loses a leg or two!"

    "Did you just say that I ''knew'' what I was getting into?" Mage Maddi said with a dangerous growl that caused the bombastic man to shrink lightly.

    "W-Well-"

    "We cannot just call off a spar once it''s been initiated. That is the rule of the sect, and you know it," Mage Maddi shot back without letting the man continue. A venomous grin started to cut across Mage Royce''s face. Although he and the boy were in simr realms, he had experience on his side. The annoying genius of a boy was advancing quickly, but he was still green inbat.

    "BUT, the rules also state that abatant may switch with another willing participant under the condition that the recement is willing to ce their honour on the line based on the oue of the spar," Mage Maddi continued with a smirk.

    "Shay-Hade!" Mage Maddi turned to the ebony-skinned youth and demanded, "Tag me in."

    "B-But Senior Sister-"

    "Don''t argue with me," Mage Maddi interjected with a murderous screech. "Training this sex-obsessed cretin to think with his brains for once is my responsibility as a senior of the Sect. We don''t want the newbies to turn out like this, do we?"

    "No Ma''am," Shay-Hade boomed with a smile before dering his recement and jumping off the stage.

    "Who do you think will win?" Someone in the audience murmured.

    "Obviously it will be Mage Royce. He''s older and more experienced," another answered.

    "But we cannot discount Mage Maddi. She may be younger, but she advanced to her current realm faster than Mage Royce."

    "Speed doesn''t matter. What matters is if the cultivation is stable and if the mage can handle their cultivation to its maximum potential. I think Mage Royce will win."

    A girl''s cough cut the conversation and the two conversationalists turned to its source.

    "What is the sect''s opinion on betting?" Marie asked as she exercised herplete power of will to suppress a chuckle from bursting forth.

 Chapter 254 Beatdown

    "Senior Sister, please! You shouldn''t have to do this," the Shay-Hade appealed anxiously. Marie noticed that his ent was a bit simr to that of the man from the Jehakan Confederacy that fleeced her out of those silver coins for a measly doll. Though his appearance did not match the turban-garbed man. Shay-Hade was tall for a seventeen-year-old, he was towering over Mage Maddi by at least two heads. He had a bulky build, his ebony skin entuating the bulging muscture as the sunlight reflected off of it at the correct angles. His ankle-length hair, which was showing silver shades at its roots, was tied into dreadlocks that formed a tight bun on his head before cascading to his upper back.

    "This spar happens to be called in my name," Mage Maddi pointed out. "Why must others represent my interests when I am capable of doing it myself."

    "That''s not it!" Shay-Hade quickly waved his hands in denial. "This is just beneath you."

    "It is beneath me. Which is why I will make this quick," Mage Maddi noted offhandedly.

    "Aren''t we being presumptuous-"

    "Shut it, Royce! What was the decided upon format for the bout?"

    Mage Royce scoffed and said, "It was going to be Freestyle. But the gentleman that I am, I will offer you a mulligan."

    "Aren''t you a generous one," Mage Maddi scoffed back with an incisive tone. Then, her lips quirked upwards deviously. "I called for a Chained Pugilism."

    The crowd gasped in unison. Evidently, this type of bout wasmon knowledge here, though not so for Marie.

    "What''s Chained Pugilism?" Marie nudged the person next to her and asked, but she did not receive a response as the person just growled and moved away.

    Mage Maddi and Royce approached each other and extended their left legs forward. A third person entered the ring and got on their knees. They tied the two left legs together with a heavy chain. The moment the chain links revolved around the legs, they fastened and tightened to match the girth. The duo tried pulling their legs apart and were met with insurmountable resistance.

    "The spar will follow standard Sect protocols. Victory conditions are through the admission of defeat or knockout."

    A pause.

    "Begin!"

    The moment the fight moderator called the start of the bout, the sound of flesh colliding against flesh (though both were reinforced with mana) rang out from the field. Mage Maddi''s fist struck Mage Royce''s lower rib, right over where his stomach would be. She in turn received a haymaker to her left cheek. Marie flinched at the brutal upper body strike, but Mage Maddi did not even twitch.

    The attacks continued. Fists connected against bodies emitting sounds akin to the booming of a leather drum. There was no shiness, no embellishment, no outward disys of magic, just pure and unadulterated violence. The exchange went like a choreographed dance, each side''s punch and infrequent open-palm strikes and swipes followed an implicit beat. And since their proximity was close due to their tethered legs, there was a limited range of movement - one had to either body the attack, dodge it with minimal movement or parry it with split-second decision-making.

    Marie waspletely enthralled by the heated brawl. As it grew in intensity with each passing second, she found it harder to keep track. And then it happened, an inaudible but visible groan escaped Mage Royce''s lips as, for the twentieth time since the start of the fight, another jab connected with his stomach. Although Mage Maddi was the one that looked worse for the wear, while Mage Royce looked rtively untouched, she wasn''t the first to break.

    "Mage Maddi knows the location of one of Mage Royce''s Standard 12 Meridians," the man next to Marie eximed.

    "What is that exactly?" Marie probed. The man tried to repeat his growl and retreat tactic, but Marie inched closer to him and repeated her question.

    It didn''t take long for the man to acquiesce. "To advance into the Foundation Establishment Realm, we need to form and connect the Standard 12 Meridians that are positioned at key points of the human body. The locations of these points are determined by the state of the celestial bodies at the exact time and date of one''s birth AND other factors. Each individual''s Standard 12 is located at different configurations."

    "What is its significance here?" Marie interjected with a hurrying gesture.

    "The Meridians distribute the mana from the core around the body making it easier to release said mana at any instance at any part of the body and amplify the overall mana capacity of the body. Resultantly if one knows the location of another''s Meridians, it can be possible to overload the Meridian by forcefully injecting foreign mana into it. It seems Mage Maddi is exploiting that with Mage Royce," the man expounded with a haughty raise of his nose.

    With the sign of fatigue evident, Mage Maddi doubled down. The next punch that arrived towards her face connected with her elbow. Instead of the leathery sound of the carnal collision, a sharp crack resounded - Mage Royce''s fist had shattered after hitting Mage Maddi''s elbow. She then wrapped her left arm around his right arm while Mage Royce recoiled from the pain, and elerated her head forward for a headbutt. Another cracking sound resonated once their skulls crashed. She then sent a stomach punch, then a headbutt, then another punch which transitioned into a vice-grip over Mage Royce''s lower rib. With a sudden yank, the rib was fractured, and a pained scream gushed out of Mage Royce... who was immediately silenced with another headbutt that broke his nose. The overload of attacks finally sent him overboard and into a state of unconsciousness.

    "Victory goes to Rianna Maddi," the fight moderator dered. And with those words the chains around thebatants'' legs automatically disengaged.

    Mage Maddi clicked her tongue derisively and spat the blood leaking from the bruises inside her mouth to the ground. As she exited the stage, she spat out "Weakling!" just loud enough for the crowd to hear.

    "Senior Sister!" Shay-Hade rushed forward worriedly. He raised a thumb and shed a fanatical smile, "That was awesome!"

    "Stop getting into trouble, will you?" Mage Maddi said while scratching her head in frustration. Her eyes trailed up her junior''s body with a contemtive glint.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I-Is something wrong?" He asked sheepishly as a faint blush formed on his cheek. Marie couldn''t help her lips from twitching upon seeing his child-like behaviour which conflicted with his overbearing appearance.

    "Well, what do you know... The girl WAS right," Mage Maddi muttered.

    "Alright, I ept," she then dered. "I am not choosing you as a backup. I do find you... attractive," Mage Maddi continued.

    "It''s just... I haven''t courted anyone younger than me before," she added with a wry smile.

    "What a coincidence," Shay-Hade eximed with a boomingugh. "I haven''t courted anyone older than me before. Looks like we''ll fit in perfectly."

    Mage Maddi released a surprised squeak before joining thed in his mirthful jubnce. The pinkish atmosphere was shattered by the clinking noise of mana crystals shaking in a sack.

    "You guys don''t use the Empire''s currency here. Kind of forgot that the Sect isn''t affiliated with any political entity. I could have made a killing otherwise," Marie grumbled.

    "What is that?" Mage Maddi blurted out.

    "Those idiots were betting on Mage Royce winning. Thought I''d join in on the fun," Marie said while shing a sly grin.

    "You knew this would happen?"

    "Oh yeah," Marie affirmed unhesitantly. "The whole shebang! It was a bit less violent when I foresaw this, but the result is the same nheless."

    "T-Then you cheated! We cannot take those crystals," Mage Maddi concluded righteously.

    "You knew of the man''s Meridian position from before," Marie pointed out. "I don''t think he revealed it to you - based on my understanding no one in their right mind would do so. Thus the pertinent question remains, how did you know?"

    "I-I-" just as Mage Maddi stuttered to justify herself, Marie raised her hands and said.

    "You don''t have to answer that question, as long as you don''t ask me to return my RIGHTFUL gains," Marie emphasised.

    "Senior Sister, who is this girl!" Shay-Hade barked as he stepped forward intimidatingly. "Why is she talking to you so disrespectfully."

    "Woah there, lover boy," Marie raised her hands in surrender. Her eyes narrowed once again, but right at that instance Mage Maddi stepped forward and blocked her view of the youth.

    "You know, hindering my line of sight won''t stop me," Marie droned with her eyes wide open.

    "Stop scrying, please," the woman pleaded.

    "Okay, NOPE!" Marie suddenly closed her eyes and scrunched her face in difort. "You two are into some kinky shit. I did not need to see that."

    Her eyes red open and zed over with the weight of PTSD bearing down on her. With a nk expression, she turned to Shay-Hade.

    "Pegging? Really?" She then turned towards Mage Maddi. "You know what? It''s your personal business, who am I to judge what your likes and dislikes are? Kudos to you for finding someone sopatible with yourself."

    The woman and youth both flushed a bloody crimson shade in unison. The boy started to edge backwards and burst into a full sprint as he vacated the premises.

    "L-Let us continue," Mage Maddi muttered before moving forward at a brisk pace.

    Marie pocketed her spoils and followed the woman attempting to run away from her embarrassment. The small distraction was fun, but her destiny awaited her past the uing bridge, through the magical force field blocking a decadently carved and gold-iid entrance into the heart of the central mountain.

    The Mystic Celestial Sect''s Historic Archives and Celestial Records.

 Chapter 255 Celestial Recording Platform

    The force field exerted a membranous resistance as Marie went past it. As her face passed the thin film, her sight warped and grew brighter by a significant order of magnitude. It was a jarring change in visuals, as from outside the field all she saw was a cavern shrouded in darkness.

    A few more steps in and Marie was forced to witness a sight that made her question her sense and understanding of scale and spatial positioning.

    Imagine a mountain, and then hollow it out from within. "Is it me or is the interior far bigger than the exterior of the mountain? This has to be some sort of optical illusion, you cannot just hollow out a mountain like this and not expect the damn thing to copse unto itself."

    "The interior is, as you predicted, enchanted to increase its spatial capacity," Mage Maddi responded with a proud smirk on her lips. "It is the result of the hard work of our previous Sect Leader."

    "But this is MASSIVE!" Marie paused and was surprised to not hear an echo. Her eyes travelled up the sloping walls and found that she could not physically see the tip of the mountain from her current position. "Just how many enchantments are in this thing? So extravagant!"

    "You say that, but take a look around you," Mage Maddi countered as she spread her hands. And suddenly, Marie noticed the nigh endlessness of the tower of shelves lining the interior walls of the mountain as it continued to the top.

    "What in the world?"

    "Stored in here are the celestial records collected and coted by the sect since its inception. What you see are the exact details of the celestial state for every day since that time."

    Marie released a long whistle as that fact settled in her mind. "I couldn''t help but notice the change in your records over there."

    Marie pointed her finger some hundred rows (a distance where her eyes could barely register and decipher the visuals) up where the shelves suddenly shifted from storing books to some type of thin, rectangr obsidian te. They were all uniform with a gold-coloured etching on their outward-facing sidebelling the date.

    "This is how we record the celestial states," Mage Maddi answered as she walked forward. She stopped in front of a levitating basin smack dab at the centre of the room, above which an obsidian te was hovering and rotating with a steady velocity. A high-intensity and thin beam of light was colliding against the surface of the rotating te, the source of which was another hovering object that was a massive convex lens with a pinkish-gold frame iid with a veritable mine of mana gems. A faint mist of white rained down upon this convex lens from way up, where Marie predicted the mountain''s tip to be.

    "Where did thise from? I swear I feel like I''m going blind! How did I not notice this earlier?" Marie waved her hands frantically.

    "It''s the mind ying tricks on you," Mage Maddi admitted. "When you see a vast scenery, your eyes do not focus on the minutiae that make it up. What you absorb in the big picture. If you enter a closed space, though, your sense of perception narrows down since there is only a limited set of data the eyes need to record at a time and it can group up certain data sets; you can lump together the walls into one bucket since their colour remains the same, unlike the sky whose colour can be a spectrum. This room is closed, but it doesn''t feel that way. The room is totally illuminated, but there aren''t any visible artificial sources of light - so it feels like you are outside but you actually aren''t. The walls are supposedly closing in as they rise but they don''t appear so, as from your perspective there is no end or ceiling in sight."

    "It''s... magical," Marie agreed with a chuckle, which was supported in turn by Mage Maddi. "Anyways, I know your time is limited. So please continue - does this thing do what I think it does?"

    Mage Maddi nodded and moved towards the nearest shelf. Her fingers slid over the backs of the obsidian tes and stopped over one with a date fromst week. She removed it carefully and transported it to one of the quadropods (which Marie also apparently missed) ced in each cardinal direction of the central basin. The te slotted into the quadropod snugly, and as thesttch snapped and held it in ce, a thin beam of light collided against the te from beneath it which passed through the lustrous ck te and dispersed into a beautiful burst of colours and visuals. Right above the te, an exact yet scaled recreation of the sky took form in three-dimensional space.

    "Beautiful, isn''t it?" Mage Maddimented as she raised one palm and swiped it sideways causing the projected sky to skip forward through a timepse moving from day to night.

    "It''s amazing!" Marie eximed as she hopped forward to join Mage Maddi. She followed the woman''s gestures and controlled her "personal" sky. A rotation clockwise moved the time forward and a rotation counterclockwise moved it backwards.

    "Our current Sect Leader came up with this new method to store celestial states after he found the archaic brush-and-paper method inefficient and prone to erroneous interpretation," Mage Maddi borated. Noticing Marie''s inquisitive gaze, she obliged with a continuation, "Basically, before this new method was conceptualised, the sect assigned individuals called Observers whose sole purpose was to gaze into the sky and jot down the states and movements of celestial bodies. It is inarguable that there are an incalcble number of celestial bodies in the sky, thus the Observers used a special note-taking strategy that shorthanded the details to cover only the major points. While this method worked for a very long time, in the recent millennium our Sect Leader noted that a lot of inherent bias had eked into the notes causing certain details that may hold importance to be omitted."

    "Second-hand sources often suffer from that issue," Marie affirmed.

    "Exactly! Thus our Sect Leader resolved to cut the middle man altogether. If the recorder has a bias and the reader has their own bias, the result will be the culmination of two biases. If we remove the recorder from the equation, although the bias isn''t wholly eliminated, it is limited and is purely the result of the reader''s inadequacy," Mage Maddi narrated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You wouldn''t expand on the magical technology in y here, would you?" Marie probed.

    "No," Mage Maddi denied. "Even if I knew how this worked, and I can honestly say that I don''t, I don''t think I can share our Sect''s most prided secret. This device effectively captures and stores the state of the world all by itself!"

    "Can you at least tell me how the information about the sky is transported to such a secluded ce deep underground?" Marie redirected.

    "The old observatory was rehauled after the Sect Leader developed the Celestial Recording tform. There is a triad of pylons at the peak of the mountain that channel the ambient mana, imprint the visuals of the sky into it and direct it towards the Inscribing Lens. The Lens is enchanted to extract the visual image from the torrent of mana and etch it into the Obsidian te. In the Deciphering tform, a concentrated stream of mana is fired onto the Obsidian te which is naturally directed through the inscription channels, converting it back into the visual image. The underlying details that govern the way these whole setups functions are well beyond my level of understanding. You must understand that this was at least half a century in the making, one cannot expect to understand it over a cup of tea!" Mage Maddi responded.

    "How do you get ess to so much obsidian?"

    "There is an underwater volcano not too far from here. Though this won''t work with just any ordinary obsidian, mind you," Mage Maddi added with a smirk.

    "There must be a rich mithril deposit in this area," Marie blurted out matter-of-factly. "The obsidian must have a reasonable concentration of mithril in it."

    "W-What? How did you know?"

    "Lucky guess," Marie shrugged. "I can see the faint silver lines forming on the obsidian as the mana beam activates the mithril molecules locked inside it. Honestly, mithril as a metal makes zero sense to me."

    "What are molecules?"

    "Never mind, please continue," Marie hurriedly waved her hands.

    Mage Maddi scratched the side of her head for a moment and said, "Well, that''s about it."

    "How am I supposed to get the tes out of my reach?" Marie groaned. "I don''t know if you noticed, but I can''t fly."

    Mage Maddi chuckled and said, "If you need to ess any of the records inscribed in obsidian, you can either retrieve them manually or ce both your hands on the quadropod and call out the date three times."

    Marie did as instructed and ced her hand over the currently active quadropod. She loudly called out a random date off the top of her head, and after the third call out, the image projected around her dissipated and the te levitated away from the quadropod. In its ce, another one with the date Marie called out inscribed on its sidended on the quadropod. The concentrated stream of mana restarted and a three-dimensional image of the sky was projected around her.

    "That''s amazing!"

    Before she couldplete her exmation, the ground beneath her started to shake. Her surge of anxiousness at the sudden earthquake was reduced slightly upon noticing the nonchnt expression on Mage Maddi''s face. Evidently, this was amon thing, which made sense if there was an active underwater volcano close by. However, her assumptions were proven incorrect as the surrounding shelves started to rise higher. Incrementally with every rumble, the cubbies crept higher until a new and empty row of shelves was revealed at the very base. Then, from the Celestial Recording tform, the current levitating obsidian te turned along a perpendicr axis. The lens inscribed the current date on the te''s thin side, following which the te flew towards the new row and found its new home. A new obsidian te descended from a stack near the tform and reced the old one.

    Marie yanked up her agape jaw and swallowed a tense mouthful of saliva. "Did the ground go lower or did the walls move higher?"

    Mage Maddi turned to face her and, with an unwaveringly serious expression, answered, "Yes."

 Chapter 256 Burdened By Expectations

    After Marie was left to her devices in the vault beneath the mountain, she immediately started to cycle through tes one after the other, gaping in awe at the convenience and ingenuity of the whole infrastructure. In this process, she discovered a few more features that Mage Maddi had left out in her exnation. For instance, it was possible to expand a select region of the three-dimensional projected by a significant factor. Marie decided to dub this behaviour the ''zoom'' function since it felt as if she was zooming into the sky while approaching the desired region. She noted that she was able to zoom in by at least a hundred times without losing rity.

    Though she did not have ess to the exact method used to develop this magical piece of technology, it didn''t stop her from developing theories and hypotheses regarding its internal mechanism and the concepts at y. For one, the mode of capturing the visual of the sky. Through repeated zoom-ins and zoom-outs, some beyond the limits of the system''s capacity, she found that the projection was basically a collection of points assigned a colour as well as a rtive frame with respect to a reference point (which would be the projection quadropod). The total number of points projected never exceeded a fixed amount of 298598400 give or take a few. As she zoomed in, the existing points moved apart and new ones spawned to take their ce so that it didn''t look like an empty void was suddenly spawned at the centre of a star. And this continued until the maximum zoom-in limit where Marie theorised that no new point could be spawned to fill in the nks.

    Marie also noted that the regions in the far reaches of outer space, corresponding to the empty regions between celestial bodies, were actually artificially spawned points of true ck. She determined their artificial nature by the fact that they never jittered as a result of noise (terrain, sensing, etc.) when she zoomed in.

    The physics of how this system worked did baffle her for a while. With her limited understanding of the subject, she figured that maybe some sort of emission, reflection and absorption mechanism was in y here. Where the pylons emitted some kind of wave or particle, allowing it to reflect off of a surface while capturing key features at that point such as its colour and distance from the source, and retrieved this information by absorbing the reflection.

    In the Sr System that Gaea was a part of, there were six others besides it. Starting from the Sun, it went Duenea, Norvea, Gaea, Thorea, Uthea, Gradinea and Sacagea. She knew for a fact, having read this detail in an old book during her travels, that the distance between Gaea and Sacagea was appreciable - approximately 25 G-Units (which is the average distance from the Sun to Gaea). The fact that she could sometimes see Sacagea in the three-dimensional visuals, which was 25 times as far away from the Sun as Gaea, at around the size of arge ball even at the maximum zoomed-in level, established an upper limit to how far the pylons could see and capture. She could see the others as well, and with increasing detail, as she worked her way closer to Gaea. In fact, the representation even captured the surface of Duenea, Norvea and Thorea with a level of detail as if the person was actually there!

    After messing around a bit more with the device, the euphoria brought on by exposure to its new and innovative magic and technology started to wear off. And as she sobered up, her expression started to droop more and more until she was forced to sit down on the ground and ponder over her next move.

    The data she was working with was raw. Unadulterated, unaltered, raw. She wanted to know the configuration of celestial bodies in space, and she got just that. So... what next? This line of questioning brought forth a few crucial points such as: "How does one define the position of celestial bodies? What is the frame of reference that is most apt?"

    The next set of questions tackled higher-level problems, such as: "How much needs to be considered to define the correct model? What line of reasoning must be followed to define the correct model? Should constetions and clusters visible in the night sky be considered as part of the model as well?"

    Especially with thest question, Marie found that with each new celestial body taken into consideration for the model, she would be introducing an additional set of parameters and a whole other equation.ary dynamics was already highly nonlinear, this would just make it a hundred times worse!

    And then there was the matter of tying it all in with The Heavenly Eye... How to go about that?

    Marie''s eyes drifted upwards, beyond the projection of the sky and into the seemingly endless tunnel, with its walls lined with lustrous ck obsidian and aged books leading to the peak of the mountain. Her sight started to grow woozy as the previously vast vault started to shrink around her. It was suffocating! She had to get out!

    While she started to spontaneously run out of breath, she staggered her way towards the exit. Her vision was flickering to ck, and she was starting to lose strength in her legs.

    Just as she passed the membranous force field protecting the entrance and filled her lungs with fresh air enriched with ions expelled from the crashing waves, her body rapidly depressurised and she copsed onto her back.

    "What do we have here?" A familiar voice brought her out of her daze. Marie tilted her head backwards and found her Master''s face peaking into her sight. "I''d assumed that you would be knee-deep in research by now."

    Krish expected a witty retort of some kind by this point, but then none came. All he saw was his Disciple''s face turning dourer by the second. That was never a good sign.

    "What''s the matter? Actually, what are you doing here,ying outside the entrance?" Krish probed in rapid session. He kneeled and approached his Disciple.

    "I''m scared..." Marie murmured.

    "You? Scared?" Krish blurted out instinctively, but he immediately tapped his lips apologetically and gestured for his Disciple to continue.

    "It''s all just so overwhelming, Master. When I went into it, I falsely assumed that everything would be straightforward. Manageable. Within my realm of expertise. But I couldn''t have been more wrong," Marie responded.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is there any way I can help?" Krish asked sincerely.

    "Unless you can sift through centuries worth of data and can make proper sense out of it..." Marie muttered wryly.

    Krish proceeded to lie on the ground and joined his Disciple. "You don''t have to carry the burden of our lineage all on your shoulders, you know?"

    Marie turned her head and faced her Master.

    "In truth, my only expectation from you is to survive as long as I have and hopefully with all your body parts intact. All of this is secondary to me. If you fail in this endeavour, know that there is no shame as people far more knowledgeable than you and more experienced have also tried and failed," Krish continued.

    "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Marie shot back sarcastically.

    "People feel scared for many reasons," Krish ignored his Disciple and followed up. "People fear the unknown, people fear uncertainty, and people fear failure."

    He turned to meet his Disciple''s gaze and asked, "Are you afraid of failing?"

    Once he received a light nod as a response, he revealed a warm smile and said, "I believe, that people aren''t inherently scared of failure. What they fear is the disappointment that results from it. They fear disappointing those they care about and not being able to meet the expectations set upon them by others, and worse still, they fear disappointing themselves."

    Krish rubbed Marie''s head assuringly and said, "When you do something for yourself - for the sheer joy and experience of trying and learning something new - you don''t fear failure since your mind knows that failure is just another opportunity. Without anyone to disappoint, your mind is unburdened from the need to seed on the first try."

    He then released a light chuckle before pointing out, "You do realise that we have all the time in the world. You are allowed- no- encouraged to fail as many times as you want. Follow what Sect Leader Larks taught you about approaching any problem. Break it down into bite-sized pieces and go about it slowly. If it still feels overwhelming, then ask me for help. I''m practically idle so take advantage of that fact. If need be, we can even pull in a few of the members of this sect. I know that Jace will be least bothered about it."

    Marie released a long breath that she was unwittingly holding in.

    "Although, it does fill me with immense joy that my dearest Disciple cares so much about my opinions and expectations," Krish joked to take advantage of the brightening atmosphere.

    "Yeah, I didn''t realise that I cared about your expectations of me either," Marie reiterated with a rise in pitch at the tail end of the conjectural phrase voicing her surprise. Then, without allowing her Master any time to respond with a quip, she kipped up and pped her hands excitedly. "I will take you up on your offer for support, Master."

    "So, what is it that you need me to do?"

    "We have a lot of data to cycle through and take note of. It will ease my workload if you could help scribe as I dictate," Marie exined.

    "Sounds manageable. Alright! Let''s get to it!" Krish encouraged loudly while crossing the threshold into the archives. With each step, his excitement and giddiness started to grow as his dream of working and guiding his Disciple, like Guy did, started to approach reality.

 Chapter 257 Outsourcing

    Following a temporary waying, Marie returned to her quest of enlightenment with renewed resolve, and with her Master in tow this time. Marie appreciated that her Master took the initiative to do so. Even if he had little to no idea of what she was doing, his simple presence and infrequent words uplifted her spirits greatly. And although her Master''s expertise may noty in line with her own, he was a post-post-post-post-human with mental and physical faculties four levels beyond her own mortal limits. In all honestly, ''four-levels'' just didn''t capture the massive gully separating her from her Master in terms of brain power, raw power, magical power, and soul power.

    Case in point. A monumental task that she estimated would take her many years (at least half of her mortal life) was aplished in a week thanks to her Master''s intervention. Ignoring the specifics of the task, her Master leveraged his parallel thinking and wide sensory capacity to run all four quadropods positioned around the central Celestial Recording tform simultaneously. Obsidian tes rushed in and out of shelves at a feverish pace as her Master finished recording the pertinent information affiliated with the current te within minutes of it reaching the projection area. All the while, four brushes hovered elegantly over a hefty book, jotting down notes into a table.

    So what exactly was the Master doing by juggling all the tes, papers and brushes at once?

    Marie''s first order of business was to establish a viable line of study. There were a lot of variables and parameters up in the air that could be considered and included in her model of the world. Each new element considered would bring it closer to reality, however, it would also balloon up her calctions substantially. But, as the saying went, to end something one needed to start somewhere first. Rather than preupying herself with the factors beyond her control and realm of expertise, she could make do with what was within her capacity.

    For that reason, Marie decided to narrow her scope of research - mapping the movement of the bodies of thes within the Sr System through the years. She kept the Sun as the base reference frame and established a rtive axis where an x-y ne is formed on the ne in which Gaea orbits around the sun. The x-axis can be drawn pointing from the Sun to Gaea. The z-axis is perpendicr to the ne and is determined from the fact that Gaea orbits the Sun in a counter-clockwise direction, which in turn provides the rtive y-axis. (Open the right hand into a palm and point all fingers in the x-direction, then orient the thumb in the direction of the z-axis. The direction the palm is facing is the y-axis). This essentially keeps the Sun and Gaea along a singr axis.

    With a proper frame established, she then had to determine a suitable method of measurement. The three-dimensional projection of outer space was perfectly scaled. So any distance measured would be urate to its real-life counterpart. This was where Marie was d that her Master was present and willing to assist.

    After spending a decent chunk of time exining the definition of proper standard units of measurement, her Master learned how to measure distances in metres. Marie opted for the exact definition of the unit, through the use of the speed of light as a reference, since she intended to use light as a basis for the unit of measurement for objects in space that are separated byrge distances. She''s heard Mister Larks say it once or twice in passing: the word ''light-year''. She thought it was just another one of those quirky phrases that he''d mumble on a regr day. Now though, it all made sense. It defined the distance covered by light in a year. In outer space, where distances are extremelyrge magnitudes, this was perfect!

    Her Master was quick on the uptake. All she had to do was drill in the fact that nothing could go faster than light, which led to a minor verbal debate where her Master was adamant that he knew mages who could go faster. There was a minor segue when Marie threw out a thought experiment with the faster-than-light-man and what he would see if he were to hold a mirror when running that fast. That put her Master out ofmission for a few hours as his brain shut down and restarted multiple times. In the end, he gave up arguing and just went with her exnation.

    Now, her Master could measure the light-years directly. All he did was zoom the projection at a constant speed while mentally measuring the distance. To measure the distance from the Sun to Gaea took him half a second - all Marie saw was the projection expanding and rebounding with a nearly imperceptible flicker. The sceptic that she was, Marie verified the measurements and was surprised to find that her Master''s measurements were far more precise than her own.

    Her Master was thus assigned the task to record the coordinates of all thes and moons in the Sr System for every day recorded starting from the most recent one (a single reading of the position of the celestial bodies for every day). A daily reading was sufficient since going into the hourlies would be equivalent to splitting hairs.

    Before they started, Marie pointed out one issue gnawing away at her.

    "We don''t have enough paper for this..."

    Her Master, her hero, reached valiantly into his cloth bag and pulled out a hefty gold-rimmed book with foreign, luminescent glyphs carved all over its cover that reminded her a lot of the grimoire Markus carried around with him (sans the gems, of course). And her guess was proven correct by her Master.

    "This book holds an infinite amount of paper sheets. Tearing out any sheets will cause them to disintegrate."

    Marie was definitely intrigued to know what other bountiesy within the seemingly endless treasure trove that was her Master''s bag. Upon asking him about it all she got was, "You''ll know after I''m gone. This bag was passed down to me by my Master, who got it from his Master, who won it in a heated drinking game against a dwarf. And one day, it shall be yours. Till that dayes, I hope to keep the mystery alive!"

    "Why would you say that?" Marie shot back in anger. She spun around three times and spat over her shoulder five times.

    "What are you doing?"

    "You can''t speak such foreboding words. You can''t put such thoughts out into the world," she scolded.

    "Didn''t take you for the superstitious type," Krish responded with raised brows.

    "Well, words affect fate''s tapestry," Marie muttered. "Nheless, I don''t want to hear you talking about your death! Got it?!"

    Her Masterughed uproariously and ruffled her head. But one deathly serious re from his Discipleter, he acquiesced, "I understand, my dearest Disciple."<novelnext></novelnext>

    With that aside, within theing week, the endless book started to fill up with tables upon tables of data collected and coted by her Master. Without the need to eat or sleep, he worked tirelessly like an automaton. Marie would be lying if she didn''t feel horrible about putting her Master up for such a tedious and soul-rending task, but he assured her that it was fine.

    "And that''s thest of them," her Master dered with a loud exhale as the final obsidian te left the projection tforms and found its ce back into the towering shelves.

    "So, what now?" He turned and asked Marie. She made it a point to apany her Master at all times, even if she had nothing to do.

    "Now it''s time to make sense of things," Marie dered as she rested her hands on her hips.

    "How do you intend to do that?"

    "We first plot the empirical data that you collected andpare it with the models that we already know that describe these natural behaviours," Marie exined.

    "And then?"

    "Well, then... I have to find a way to connect it with the Heavenly Eye," she murmured contemtively.

    "It seems that you have your work cut out for you," Krish affirmed.

    Right as Marie reached for the book in Krish''s hands, he yanked it back and said, "-work that you can get to tomorrow."

    "What? Why?" Marie argued.

    "There is no benefit to rushing," Krish reprimanded. "What are you losing? Time? From what I recall, we are basically ahead of your estimated schedule thanks to my intervention."

    "You''re right..."

    "Excuse me?" Krish shook his head and cleared his ears exaggeratedly. "Did you just say that I was right? Who are you and what have you done to my Disciple?"

    Marie pped her Master''s elbow and walked out in a huff.

    ''It wouldn''t hurt to rest up for a day,'' she thought to herself. She could use the time to brush up on what she''d learned with Mister Larks and write down a n on how to approach the modelling problem.

    Along the way, she stumbled upon Mage Maddi and Shay-Hade, the lovebirds, who snatched her along for a sightseeing trip up to the observatory.

    At the peak of the central mountain, Mariey down on her back and gazed out into the horizon as the Sun slowly plunged itself into the clear blue ocean.

    The world was silent.

    She was at peace.

 Chapter 258 Modelling

    "The Sect Elders have been asking me why I''m bending over backwards for someone from outside the Sect. They''re confused over whether they should kick you out for your insolence or prostrate in front of you in fear," Jace jabbed as he approached a seated Krish.

    The recipient, the man seated atop a stone bench with a cross-legged posture and his walking stick resting on hisp, responded without turning. "So, what did you tell them?"

    "I yed the ''I''m dying, let this be myst wish'' card and they acquiesced," Jace said with a snicker.

    "You really are squeezing it for all it''s worth, huh?"

    "Better than sulking over it, anyways. So, why did you ask me to clear up thergest sparring field in our Sect for your Disciple?" Jace redirected. "Do you realise just how much whining I have to subject myself to? This entire Sect is filled with battle maniacs, and you''ve just asked me to deprive them of an outlet for their ''creativity''!"

    "She needed arge chalkboard. Apparently, you troglodytes don''t even have a regr-sized chalkboard. So, I decided to think outside the box." Krish waved his hands in front of him, gesturing at therge field with a t yet textured stone flooring. "The field is basically a chalkboardid t on the ground."

    Jace nodded contemtively and said, "What does she need all this space for?"

    Krish shrugged nomittally. "I don''t know."

    "What a great Master you are..." Jace mocked sarcastically.

    Krish scratched his forehead and released a sigh, "Listen, I basically spent a week doing banal scribe work. My mind decayed to a point that it has quite literally shut down. I cannot think nor can I reason. Let me have this moment to cleanse my mental pte. And please, spare me the witty digs, Ick the brain power toe up with an equally witty retort."

    "You''re no fun," Jace huffed and joined his old friend on the stone bench. The elderly duo then directed their attention towards the only other entity in their vicinity.

    At the centre of the massivebat field, Marie was hunched over onto the ground with white chalk in one hand and the other flipping through the pages of the Endless Book her Master used to log the celestial data points. The mental and spiritual dpression she experienced yesterday while gazing listlessly into the vibrant sunset had transitioned into a wee ten-hour sleep. Upon waking up this morning, her mind was churning up ideas at a feverish pace. It was as though a troublesome stopper inhibiting the free flow of thoughts was dislodged.

    Without wasting another moment, she rushed to find her Master and asked for arge enough workspace to jot down her thoughts as they came. The way her mind was working, there were a lot of concepts and lines of reasoning that seemed disjointed, though she could feel that there was a connection if only she could see it all together. However, resources of that kind were found to becking in this ce. Through some quick thinking, her Master managed to sanction thergestbat field avable. The irony of the moment wasn''t lost on Marie - to use a haven forbat as a medium for academics - but she didn''t have the luxury of dwelling on that. Every second where her hand wasn''t actively scribbling out words was another second worth of lost ideas.

    Incrementally, arge tapestry started to take shape on the ground of thebat field. Marie''s hand danced mechanically while the chalk deposited its residue on the ground. She ran through one stick, then another, then another... very soon she lost track of how many chalks she''d consumed. It all started to blend in together.

    A system is another word to describe a dynamic process. A mass attached to a spring is a system. A closed room with an air-conditioner running in it is a system. A pipe to transport fluids from one ce to another is a system. Within a system, there is a myriad of interconnectedponents that elicit a behaviour of some sort, which is the focus of observation. A system can be aplex mechanism, or it can be extremely trivial. To make sense of a system and predict its behaviour, one needs to first identify it and build a working mathematical model of it.

    Marie''s goal was to identify and build a model of the universe. Needless to say, it is an iparablyplex system and was impossible for her to achieve given her current capabilities. For that reason, she drew a metaphorical dotted line around the Sr System and designated it as her sub-system of interest. The Sr system is in no way simpler to model, but it is inarguably simpler than the Universe as a whole. Another reason why she decided to limit the scope of her model was that she realised that the forme and theorem she knew that describe the behaviour of celestial bodies were not exhaustive enough to handleplex inter-system interactions and were fairly basic in describing the known behaviours.<novelnext></novelnext>

    For instance, Kepler''s Laws ofary Motion provide a robust set of rules to defineary behaviour and orbit. It states that the orbit ofs around the Sun is elliptical with the Sun at the focal point. It also states that the area swept by a line connecting a with the Sun is constant per unit of time. These are simple mathematical definitions that produce a ptable model of the Sr System. But only to a certain degree.

    First off, thews are satisfactory in a world where it is just the two masses (the Sun and the). The moment the other celestial bodies are added into the fold, things start to go haywire. Each is influenced by its neighbours, and even those far away. In fact, Uthea the fifth from the Sun is so massive that its influence can be registered from Duenea, the first, and Sacagea, thest. Apart from that, there are also satellites orbiting thes to take into consideration. Gaea has a single satellite orbiting it, some of the others in the Sr System have multiple (or none at all). The introduction of additional masses with their own appreciable gravitational fields starts to skew the base equation, requiring multipleyers of Newton''s Laws of Gravitation to replicate the natural behaviour.

    This way, the problem started to balloon up much like how she expected it to. Just to model the behaviour of Uthea she had to rely on an equation that spanned the entire width of thebat arena.

    Nheless, her efforts were slowly starting to bear fruit. For a given initial state, Marie could match the behaviour of the model with that of the real celestial body for a finite time frame. With each new model appended, the time frame started to widen more and more.

    Unbeknownst to her, an entire day had passed, yet she was barely halfway through her work. Without pause, Marie continued to scribble away, expending one stick of chalk after another. The moment she depleted one, another would magically levitate itself into her open palm courtesy of her Master. Another day passed, and unwritten real estate was starting to turn scarce. Marie was forced to squeeze equations between other equations - some snaked through the gaps between text. For an outsider, it would be cryptic and indecipherable, but it madeplete sense from Marie''s perspective.

    A third day passed, and Marie was growing sluggish and depleted. She was broken from her trance by her Master who forced her to eat and drink. Following that, he practically restrained her onto a mattress and forced her to fall asleep. She thought the exercise counter-intuitive, but Marie had severely underestimated the fatigue her body had umted over the past three days. Within minutes of her body falling into the weing embrace of the goose-down mattress, her mind entered hibernation. A dayter, she awoke refreshed with her mind just as sharp as it was four days ago.

    Without another moment of dalliance, Marie returned to her work, with her Master observing and replenishing her chalk stock. Nearing the end of the fourth day, a pleasant mood started to radiate from her as things started to approach a close. Equations started to bnce out, plots started to match, and it was all starting toe together. The entirety of the Sr System was starting to shrink and fit perfectly within the confines of thebat arena.

    One final line, and thus concluded the modelling process. Marie took a step back, leapt off the stage and copsed onto her back. She gazed exuberantly into the sky and pumped her fist in celebration.

    "I did it! FINALLY!" She bellowed.

    "Congrattions," her Master congratted.

    Krish didn''t know what he was seeing. Theplexity of the nearly unintelligible scribbles marring every nook and cranny of thebat arena was far beyond anything he had ever seen in his lifetime. But he trusted his Disciple and he was ted to see her excited and satisfied.

    "So, what next?" Krish probed.

    "Well, all that''s left is to merge this with The Heavenly Eye somehow," Marie responded. She stretched out her body to relieve the cramps assaulting her muscles and continued. "Although, there are some... issues I need toy out that I think will influence the efficacy of the integrated result."

    Krish furrowed his brows and gestured for Marie to expound.

 Chapter 259 The World In My Mind

    "As you already know, I''ve had to make a few assumptions in defining my model. The limitation of the recording device yed a huge role in this since its range was limited to the Sr System," Marie started.

    "Howe? The projection showed the positions of the stars and other celestial bodies beyond the Sr System," Krish pointed out.

    "They did, however determining their states with just the visual would not render urate enough information to support the modelling procedure. In fact, I am starting to suspect that even the actual three-dimensional captures of thes in the projection were erroneous due to time differences," Marie theorised.

    "What time differences?"

    "Well, you should have a better understanding of how the Celestial Recording tform captures the three-dimensional state at a point in time. I hypothesise that it emits mana and captures the reflected mana to store the position and colour at discretised points. Am I correct in that assumption?" Marie inquired.

    Krish nodded apprehensively and said, "Sort of..."

    "If that is the case, then is the emitted and reflected mana faster than the speed of light? Is it instantaneous or does it take time for the mana to reach its target and then return to its source?" Marie rattled off.

    "That... appears to be so."

    "I suspected that would be the case," Marie murmured. "I added a correction to the positions of the celestial bodies by assuming that the mana behaves like light and travels at its speed in a vacuum. An interesting find, I might add - it definitely warrants further research (something Markus would appreciate). You see, the positions of thes in the projection are shifted from their actual location since the recording captures their state at ater point in time," Marie exined.

    "Nheless, because I''ve had to limit data collection to the Sr System, we are omitting the influence of the bodies beyond the limits of the System. The direct effect of this imposed limitation is the time duration for which my model can maintain its uracy."

    "Which is?" Krish probed.

    "Two hundred years, give or take half a hundred. It depends, really. But a decent upper limit, with the best case scenario, would be three hundred years," Marie affirmed.

    "Not bad!"

    Marie raised a finger and entuated, "Of course, this is subject to improvements as we add more and more to the model I''ve built. The closer we get to modelling the entire world, the wider the time frame bes."

    "Regardless, it is a good starting point. Even I very rarely look past a hundred years - that too only on rare asions," Krishmended. "So how do we intend to bring The Heavenly Eye into this?"

    "It is a matter of synchronisation. I need to tether the temporal anchor corresponding to the target I wish to divine the future of with The Heavenly Eye, to the model of the world initialised at the same anchor point. Then, I should be able to extrapte the Constants using the model as my guide."

    "And how will you aplish all of this?" Krish inquired with a mix of concern and confusion.

    "Trial and error," Marie shrugged nonchntly.

    "You are messing with fire, Marie. You KNOW just how dangerous interfering with Constants can be," Krish reprimanded sternly.

    "I am not going to investigate or gaze into them if that''s what you''re worried about. No. I''m, more interested in the... metadata of the Constant event," Marie rephrased. "You know? The time, ce, event, nature, and so on. In fact, I think you could do it for me if you''re worried I''ll get into trouble."

    "I trust you, I''m just concerned for your health. Things can go wrong at the drop of a hat if you aren''t mindful."

    Marie revealed a rare smile and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "So, when should we begin."

    "No time like the present, I guess." Krish closed his eyes and gestured for his Disciple to begin.

    Marie took five long breaths, emptying and refilling her lungs to their entirety multiple times.

    "I am going to divine the future of the True World Sect. I find that this method works best if we can find an anchor point that falls within the time period spanned by the recorded dataset. For instance, with people, it would be preferable to use their date of birth as an anchor point - I could go even further and use their time of birth and it would improve the uracy and breadth of the prediction (this is one way to push the model''s uracy for three hundred years). I will use the date that the True World Sect was conceived as the anchor point."

    Krish raised a finger and pointed out, "Why would you use the conception date as opposed to the date the Sect was legally registered as the anchor point?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "First off, I don''t even know if Sect Leader Larks has registered the Sect yet. AND, registration is just a formality. The Sect was born way before that when the idea first left Sect Leader Larks'' lips," she retorted. "Ideas are fleeting, formalities are... well just formalities, but words and actions have power. The moment they leave your lips, they ripple across fate''s tapestry."

    With that, she retrieved the gold-rimmed book with endless sheets and flipped through the pages, repeatedly mumbling the date when Mister Larks thought up the idea of starting a sect.

    "Found it! Alright, let''s see here. Gaea''s position was..." More words started to cascade out of her mouth systematically. Her left hand held the open book while her right started to scribble at thest bit of empty space avable on thebat field. As more and more numbers and diagrams filled up that region, a profound phenomenon started to transpire in her mental space.

    It started with a single point that stretched out into a line, into a circle, and finally a sphere. More and more points spawned around it and started to undergo the same transition from non-dimensional, to one-dimensional, to two- and then three-, until suddenly the fourth dimension kicked in and everything started to move.

    There was no colour, there was no light. There was only darkness, with silhouettes moving in an elegant dance-like orbit. Arge body in the middle, surrounded by smaller bodies, surrounded by even smaller bodies - a nesting doll of orbiting bodies.

    This was the model of the world Marie''s mind cooked up with the equations and forme at hand. Although, it was only a microcosm of the world atrge.

    "But it will do," Marie repeated, less so as an assertion, mostly just to convince herself.

    Marie was now standing at the metaphorical edge of the cliff. She had to take a leap of fate... quite literally. After suppressing her anxiousness, she started to circte her mana through her core and towards her eyes. Her pupils started to turn a lustrous gold shade as the Heavenly Eye opened.

    "What is the future of the True World Sect?" Marie tossed out into the world. Her words initiated a ripple and strings of fate started to stretch out, visible only to her gaze.

    ''Since Master does not see these strings, they must be corporeal - a construct of my mind. So...'' With some difficulty, she receded back into the model of the Sr System spinning around in her mental space and brought the strings of fate with her.

    At that instant, another change transpired (one that she didn''t think possible). The strings of fate converged and turned into a transverse wave. The wave kept undting with an indescribable form. Marie figured it was probably the superposition of all the possible fate sequences in one.

    Now, Marie could merge the model of the Sr System and the waveform of fate together as it was a non-trivial mathematical process. Her mind started to whirl up to speed again and processed this action. Incrementally, the jittering wave started to disperse as it melded into the model.

    BOOM!

    A massive explosion resonated inside Marie''s mind. Thes within her model started to vibrate, the Sun started to expand and contract, and everything started to shake! A splitting headache assaulted her that nearly brought her out of her mental space, but through sheer willpower, Marie held on. She had to see this through... whatever it was.

    Then, like the first bloom of flowers in the drearyndscape after the melting of snow, a tinge of colour started to spread out upon the void-ck canvas of pure rationality. And it did not stop. No, it was spreading like a wildfire at the peak of a scorching summer.

    "The model was missing a piece all along! How could I be so stupid?"

    Fate. That was the piece she was missing. Just like her Master would say - fate is one of the fundamentalws of this world.

    The golden sheen of Marie''s eyes subsided, but the world did not lose its vibrance. Once the colours settled, and the world was as vibrant as it could be, Marie''s eyes caught a faint glow of gold flickering from Gaea. The flicker came and went, but it wasn''t missed. Marie immediately rewound the world and paused it at the point where the gold was brightest. Then she zoomed into the source.

    Within seconds she breached Gaea''s atmosphere and hurtled downwards. She realised that her trajectory was taking her to a familiar location, Mount Tai. However, what she saw there shook her to her core.

    At the base of the mountain, where the vige was supposed to be,y a burning ruin strewn with corpses bothplete and iplete. The flowing blood formed a stream, and in this streamy the broken bodies of her family. Markus was missing an arm. Jean was dead. She did not want to know the state of Matron Reva, Dora and Kano.

    Floating above the stream, stood the imperious form of Sect Leader Larks with an uncharacteristic rage warping his demeanour. An aura of death and dominance emanated from his form, and his gaze was razor-sharp. Following his gaze, Marie saw an army of mages dressed in a myriad of shades indicating a plethora of affiliations. Marie''s grasp of the world wavered causing it to resume.

    "Gouge out your eyes, tear out your limbs, break every bone in your body, suffer in pain most unbearable without losing consciousness and when your body, will and soul are broken, only then... Kill yourselves," a demonically hoarse voice resonated around her, originating from Sect Leader Larks. Marie''s breath hitched as, in the next instance, every single personprising the battalion did exactly asmanded.

    A cacophony of screams and shrieks rang out, as Sect Leader Larks gazed on unemotionally. People pulled their skins from their flesh, twisted their joints in angles unimaginable and sliced their tendons with blunt nails, many dug into their sockets and retrieved the ruined gelid forms of their eyes... Those that could not handle the pain fainted, but their bodies continued to mutte themselves involuntarily.

    "T-This! Whatever this is... I cannot let this happen," Marie muttered in shock as she digested exactly what she was witnessing.

 Chapter 260 Moving Planets With My Mind

    While Marie immersed herself in the dour vision of the future, something profound was transpiring within her that went unnoticed by her, though its effects on the outside world couldn''t be so easily missed, especially for someone whose existence had be one with mana itself like Krish.

    A sizeable whirlpool of mana started to form around Marie and started to siphon into her. The temperature in and around her started to rise noticeably. Sweat started to ooze out from her pores that started a cloudy, translucent shade and suddenly turned murky ck and vaporised immediately after. In doing so, holes started to form all over her attire, as the material disintegrated at a rapid pace. He also noticed her eyes gaining a familiar golden glow as she activated her Heavenly Eye.

    Krish couldn''t help but take a step back with a mix of shock, awe and disbelief. His Disciple was achieving a breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm. Fundamentally, a breakthrough from Mana Condensation Realm only urs when a mage understands something incredibly profound about their cultivation. Their mind expands, and the body must keep up. Thus, a thorough cleansing is initiated that spans the entirety of the Foundation Establishment Realm. First, it is the Base stage that cleanses the circtory and nervous systems. The mana burns away all impurities ailing the mage which exits their bodies as a corrosive ck liquid. The Internal stage is the second step in Foundation Establishment, which reinforces the internal organs and the bones. The External stage is thest, wherein the muscles, tendons, flesh and everything external get empowered.

    At that moment, Krish caught himself and immediately activated the Heavenly Eye. His gaze ran rampant, everywhere and searched for any sign of deviation or redirection of fate. Usually, for a practitioner of the Heavenly Eye to break through, they need to shift the course of fate irreversibly in some way and suffer the bacsh from their actions. This was the only way to gain a profound understanding of fate as it exemplified a fundamental truth: fate is set in stone and to change it one must sacrifice something of equal value.

    To his utter surprise, the world was moving as it was - fate had remained unchanged. And this realisation shattered his thought paradigmpletely. To know that there was an alternate pathway, one without loss, well... He would be lying if he wasn''t a bit envious. Envy is a rather caustic emotion and one that mages are quick to sumb to. Krish immediately smothered it in its crib after telling himself that all of this was achieved through the gruelling hard work of his Disciple. It was a befitting reward. If there was anyone to me, it could only be himself. If he had tried a different strategy from the start, he could have achieved the same thing

    That was a lie.

    First off, his Master would have none of it. He wasn''t the least bit patient or sympathetic. If Marie were under his Master, she would have been deleted at the first sign of opposition. His Master would no sooner get rid of such an "impudent" Disciple than entertain her many flights of fancy. Now, even if his Master gained a shred of empathy and decided to indulge in such endeavours, there was still a massive piece missing. It was the knowledge, especially the unique way of thinking, that gave Marie the ability to snag this achievement. Krish could not match his Disciple because hecked a man like Guy Larks in his youth.

    ? "Now that is something I can be envious of," Krish muttered with a bitter smile. "The people you meet can change your life. Some for better, some for worse. Marie is fortunate to have met such encouraging folk."

    "-myself included," He added with a mirthful snort. "Her life may have started poorly, but it will end on a high note. I can guarantee at least that much."

    At that moment, right as Krish was about to deactivate his Heavenly Eye, he caught a sudden shift in the flow of fate. The mana that had settled started to swirl once again, concentrated above his Disciple''s head. Krish deciphered the phenomenon immediately as it was a sign of another advancement. A breakthrough followed by an advancement... Unbelievable! But the change in fate concerned him.

    "What? I didn''t do anything." Suddenly he was struck with a realisation, and he looked at his Disciple with doubled worry. "No-"

    ____

    What she saw was a future set in stone ording to thews of Constants. It took her a few scrubbing operations - the process of going forward and back in time multiple times at varying speeds - for her to truly grasp the underlying facts behind the gruesome and dreary scene.

    The True World Sect would grow quickly and, in that process, so would its reputation. The Sect would rise above others in its generation and gain enough prestige to challenge the more renowned sects in the Sr Empire. However, achieving such sess wouldn''t be without cost. Envy is a toxic emotion and one that the sect would be subject to by itspetitors.

    There is a reason why no new sects have risen to the level of the Cloudstrider Sect or the Whispering Dusk Sect ever since the origin of the Empire. Thepetition between sects is brutal and unforgiving. When the True World Sect eventually reaches the springboard, ready to hit the big leagues, it will face repeated opposition from other sects.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Sect Leader Larks will be famous. Mortals will flock from far and wide to learn under him because of Sect Leader Larks'' policies about admission and learning magic. The status quo will be destabilised, and it will incur the ire of the government as well. After all, the Empire thrives off of the illiteracy of therge majority ofmon folk. If a rogue entity like Sect Leader Larks entered the scene, then the only crutch that keeps the leaders in power will disappear.

    Which leads to the predicament from earlier. The True World Sect will be embroiled in a conflict from two fronts. Both sides will try to undermine Sect Leader Larks. They will do so bybelling the True World Sect as an unorthodox sect because of Sect Leader Larks'' special ability to control others. This way, the True World Sect will lose everything, though it will not be annihted.

    Marie was certain that Sect Leader Larks wouldn''t perish. As her Master said, the True World Sect would propagate, albeit with a different set of members. The True World Sect would thrive, but it wouldn''t be without some initial bloodshed. As a Constant, this massacre was an eventuality. It could arrive today, or it could arrive as shey on her deathbed (whenever that was).

    BUT, Marie did not want that. She did not wish to lose her family. This problem needed fixing.

    Thankfully, Marie had the whole world in her mind to work with. She immediately zoomed around the globe in search of a solution. In the past few years, Marie had learned a key fact of life. There is only so much you can achieve by yourself. What Marie had today was inrge part a result of the contributions from a lot of people: Matron Reva, Mister Larks, her Master, and many other folks who''d offered her help along the way.

    The problem the True World Sect would face wasn''t one that she could solve all by herself. The trouble they will face is multi-faceted in its cause. But it all came down to the way the Sect interacted with other stakeholders. Mister Larks, for all his wisdom and intelligence, wasn''t a shrewd man. He was cautious, but hecked the level of ruthlessness and resolve needed to safeguard the Sect against unforeseeable threats brought on by the inherent evil of man. To get to that point, Mister Larks would need to stumble and fall and learn from those mistakes. Unfortunately, the consequences of those missteps extended to the rest of her family as well.

    To find the right person, Marie used a set of criteria. She did not want to change the life of people that weren''t fated to die, since they had a future within their grasp (mostly). Her focus was on those whose death was a constant and pre-emptive - a wasted life. Those were fewer to leaf through. Amongst those, she looked for the person who had the correct demeanour.

    Fortunately for her, a person that fit the bill (and more) was within her reach. A person ted to die a gruesome death. A person who was forced to live their life hidden. A person whose existence was steeped inyers of lies and deceit. A person with the necessary apathy to make unsavoury decisions and the backbone to act on them. A person with intelligence and aptitude beyond measure.

    Unfortunately, Marie wouldn''t be able to save the person as their death was to ur very soon. Coincidentally, Marie wouldn''t have to change much to save this person and bring them into the Sect''s fold, since a member of the Sect was close to the location of the person''s death.

    But how to bridge the gap? Then, Marie remembered her Master worrying once about her changing the flow of fate purely by saying something. A sudden burst of intuition, almost like finding out an extra finger she could control, urged Marie to start drawing upon her mana from her core. She pulled it towards her mental space, filling it to its brim. Gritting her teeth, she started to run an inhuman amount of calctions at a feverish pace.

    The world in her mind was a model of the real one. But with fate imbued into it, it could be said to be a miniature copy of it. So, any changes made here would be automatically reflected outside. A valid hypothesis, one she was prepared to put to the test. In devising this model, Marie had to calcte the behaviour of the celestial bodies in space. She could not change the way humans and objects brought in by fate went about since she had little understanding of their behaviour. Thes, however, that she was familiar with.

    To save the person, an extremely minute (at an iparably small order of magnitude) change in the orbit of fives and three moons was required. But even this tiny change required Marie to recalcte a plethora of equations in her mind. Marie moved the overflowing mana and started to enact the change in her mental model. She struggled as her mana started to drain at a feverish pace. Marie worried that she did not have enough to follow through. Fortunately for her, she waspletely saturated with high-quality mana thanks to her recent breakthrough, her advancement AND the naturally abundant and concentrated atmospheric mana in and around the Mystic Celestial Sect.

    The change was enacted, and Marie dissipated the model from her mind. She staggered in ce, her body weakenedpletely, and her eyes caught the sweating figure of her Master rushing forward to catch her from falling over.

    "What have you done?!" Was all she heard from her troubled Master as she lost consciousness... once again.

 Chapter 261 Interlude - Pride Or Death

    "Your Highness, please let me!" An eager-to-please voice approached.

    Shuri ignored the girl and continued to pick up the broken ceramic scattered across the marble floor. Some of it had fallen into the pond nearby, she''d have to pick that upter, unless-

    A loud ssh of water signalled the girl''s dive into the pond to retrieve the debris from within. Shuri suppressed her irritation, measured her breath and continued her scrap retrieval endeavour.

    "Why must they do this to Your Highness..." The girl murmured, loud enough for Shuri to hear. "This is totally unfair! Your Highness is also a Princess of the Sr Empire. Why must Your Highness have to suffer through this?!"

    Her voice radiated with sincere righteousness - it burned Shuri at a spiritual level.

    "Your Highness..." The girl pleaded as she waddled out of the pond, her hands filled with the rest of what remained of the ceramic te. She slipped and identally nudged Shuri, causing the debris already in Shuri''s hand to scrape a bit of flesh causing blood to leak out.

    "OH NO! Your Highness, please forgive this ve!" the girl pleaded and banged her head against the ground. Her skull elicited an audible crack as it hit the hard marble floor, there was no doubt the apology was sincere.

    "Stop. You are attracting attention," Shuri growled albeit in a collected voice. Her attention did not leave the drop of blood fleeing the faint cut. With an audible sigh, she lowered her hand and looked at the prostrated figure of her most recent maid. It was a young girl, probably about Shuri''s age. She had an innocent face, plump with baby fat. Her hair wasmon brown and tied into a neat braid - standard pce maid protocol.

    "I-I just don''t understand. Why did the Third Princess lie and inte the value of the ceramic te? Your Highness wasn''t even the one who broke it, it was one of the Third Princess'' maids!" The girlined with indignation.

    Shuri remembered exactly what the girl was talking about. It was extremely difficult for her to forget things, unpleasant interactions were especially so.

    She had no idea what came upon her that urged her to leave the safe confines of her courtyard and roam around therge pond at the centre of the Inner Court. Deviation from the norm was a surefire way to get killed. And boy oh boy was it a close shave this time.

    Shuri''s younger sister, the Third Princess, was seated in the gazebo overlooking the pond, enjoying a spot of tea. She invited Shuri in for some, and sheplied - better to roll with the punches. Shuri sat on pins and needles and barely managed to enjoy the wonderful blend from beyond the Vast Blue Expanse, as her entire attention was focused on the words leaving the Third Princess'' mouth, honed to catch any verbal traps that came her way. Shuri managed to sidestep four such jabs all masked underyers uponyers of subterfuge: two poking at her insane and now-deceased mother, one aimed at her inability to cultivate, and thest one she wasn''t so sure about - the intonation implied mockery, but it was vaguely uplifting. Nheless, disasters were averted, but Shuri celebrated too soon.

    A crash reverberated across the serenendscape. Although it was just a ceramic te colliding against a marble floor, the noise was like a hundred explosions setting off all at once in Shuri''s ears.

    "Oh no!" The Third Princess evoked. The girl tried, but her acting barely made the cut. Then again, there was little reason for the girl to try, people would believe her regardless - such is the power of the Imperial Favour. "Elder Sister! You broke my most cherished te. Consort Mother bought it for me from a renowned merchant from beyond the Vast Blue Expanse."

    A faint smirk shed past the Third Princess'' face. Shuri was about to release a sigh but caught the movement of her newest maid as she moved to refute the im. Shuri quickly shot to her feet and said, "What to do? Younger Sister, do not fret. I shall fix it in no time. As long as all the pieces can be retrieved, the te can be put back with magic."

    "B-But Elder Sister, you can''t do magic," there was evident mockery in that jab. But since Shuri did not react, the Third Princess continued, "W-Will Elder Sister really collect all the pieces." There was no rise in tone at the end to indicate a question, that was a statement.

    "Of course," Shuri said with a smile and proceeded to lower herself and collect the pieces one at a time. As the Third Princess'' entourage left, the servant who tipped the te over kicked some debris into the pond while walking past her.

    "Younger Sister has the capital to unt her power," Shuri exined to her maid. "She intends to show me my ce."

    "B-But that is so unfair!"

    ''Naive,'' Shuri thought and internally shook her head. "Such is the Pce. The Emperor dictates what is fair, and His Majesty''s fairness is fickle - ites just as easily as it goes."

    The girl was taken aback for some reason. Her expression indicated a sense of disillusionment. Shuri could decipher the cause almost instantly. The girl was probably one of those starry-eyed folk who looked at the Pce and the Royal Family as the pinnacle of humanity. She probably volunteered to enter the Pce, unlike the vast majority of servants who were sold into the Pce by their families for a pretty price.

    "But Your Highness-"

    "Earlier," Shuri interrupted. She had little patience for simpletons. "Don''t ever speak up on my behalf, EVER. If you do, then you must be prepared to face the consequences because I, for sure, won''t take them on your behalf."

    Shuri did not wait for the bumbling brat to work through those words. Because she knew best how her younger sister''s mind worked. The ploy of foisting nonsense ims and leaving immediately after was a tactic to induce apse in execution borne of anger. Her sister would return! Thus, Shuri was on a tight timer. Without wasting a moment, she started to speed walk away from the scene with the ceramic debris still in hand. s, today wasn''t her day.

    Not a minute away from the gazebo, Shuri''s advance was halted by a blockade of maids. They exuded an aura of danger - she surmised that they were probably all mages. It wasn''t umon for maids to have such cultivations in the Inner Court, since arge portion of them were brought in with the Consorts and Concubines (before entry they would be the personal protectors and servants to those women).

    "If it isn''t Second Princess Shuri," A sharine voice snaked its way through the blockade. Shuri grimaced as the voice matched a name from her memories.

    "Consort Nuri," Shuri bowed respectfully.

    "I happened to notice my daughter- the Third Princess fleeing in tears," Consort Nuri said. Although the statement implied further exnation from Shuri''s end, the tone had a sense of finality to it. Shuri''s sentence was passed well before the charges were even read. "She refuses to tell me what''s wrong, so I brought her along to settle all differences. As Princesses and sisters, it is your duty to live in harmony and promote peace in the Inner Court."

    From behind Consort Nuri, the Third Princess'' head peeked out meekly. Shuri grit her teeth and awaited judgement.

    "Is that the te brought in by Merchant Rih-Yaz from beyond the Vast Blue Expanse?" Consort Nuri said with a raised voice while nudging her nose towards the tightly gripped pieces in Shuri''s hand. The woman feigned surprise, when in fact it was all an borate script. "What happened? How did this break?"

    "M-Mother it was my fault! It slipped from my hand and shattered. Elder Sister was just covering up for me..." her "younger sister" offered. The girl shivered and mumbled continuously while ncing fearfully at Shuri. Her words indicated that she epted all the me, but her bodynguage spoke otherwise.

    "This girl-" Consort Nuri snapped. "Are you speaking the truth? Do not cover up for others'' mistakes! That is not how a Princess acts."

    Shuri held back a tired sigh. The plot was predictable. The younger Princess would tug back and forth before revealing, without saying a word, that it was Shuri''s fault. There would be some demeaning punishment meted out to test Shuri''s resolve and willingness to fight for the Emperor''s favour. They would eventually give up after humiliating her a little, nothing Shuri couldn''t handle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But a deviation in the plotline ensued the moment the Third Princess assigned me upon Shuri.

    "The Second Princess did not break the te, it was that maid over there!" Her daft maid shrieked with righteous fervour. This time, Shuri couldn''t stop her palm from pping her forehead.

    ? "Who are you?" Consort Nuri''s head jerked sideways and a scrutinising gaze nearly folder the main in half.

    "Y-Your Highness," the maid copsed onto her knees and repeated. "This ve can attest that the maid standing behind the Third Princess was the one to push the te. This ve asks for justice, it wasn''t the Second Princess'' fault."

    What did the girl expect?

    "Are you saying that the Third Princess is lying?" Consort Nuri questioned with a cocked brow.

    "Wha-?"

    "Did you just use the Princess of Lying?" The Consort snapped back forcefully.

    "I did-"

    "Did you lie?" Consort Nuri asked the Third Princess, who shook her head innocently.

    "It seems that my daughter did not lie," Consort Nuri scoffed. She then gazed nonchntly at Shuri and asked, "Was it my daughter''s maid who broke the te?"

    Shuri''s eyes caught the kneeling maid''s gaze. Her eyes pleaded and her expression was hopeful. The girl was hoping that Shuri would attest to her ims and support her. Maybe then, true justice would be served, order would once again be returned to the world, all wars and famines would cease, people wouldn''t get murdered, poverty would be a thing of the past, and everyone would just live happily ever after.

    How pathetic.

    "It is true that I broke the te. I beg for your forgiveness, Consort Nuri. I shallpensate the loss in any way possible," Shuri responded with a solemn tone.

    "Make sure you do," Consort Nuri shot back with a harrumph. "As for this one-"

    "It is a crime to nder the Royal Family," Shuri reminded.

    "You must be aware of the punishment, then?" Consort Nuri probed maliciously.

    The kneeling maid''s face paled in shock.

    "S-Second Princess-"

    "Do as you see fit," Shuri responded. She turned and met the maid''s quivering eyes filling up with tears. "After all, actions have consequences."

    Shuri turned and walked away, just as the buffed-up maids ganged up and grabbed the kneeling girl by her limbs. Another held open the girl''s mouth and before the girl could react, she pulled out the tongue in one fell swoop.

    ____

    Shuri was brought out of her unconsciousness by a gaggle of gruff voices.

    "*tsk* I thought he''d have something valuable after seeing so much gold in his pockets! It''s all just clothes. What a waste!" One voice rasped out.

    "Can we even sell these?" A second one asked rhetorically.

    "Who knows! *huff* Why''s this so heavy? Hey, you lot!" The raspy one called out. Shuri could feel her surroundings tremor.

    "Just roll it over!" A third entry demanded.

    Then, Shuri''s world started to spin. A sudden sense of weightlessness, then- CRASH!

    Light broke through the torn seams of the basket, and Shuri rolled out, battered and shaken senseless.

    "Boys! We got a live one," The second voice joked lecherously.

    Shuri, whose sight cleared up, saw seven bloodthirsty and licentious faces targeting her.

 Chapter 262 Evil Of Man

    Her entire life, Shuri spent every waking second in a treacherous swamp where danger lurked behind every corner. Her life was quite literally teetering precariously at the edge of a sharpened de. Through repeated failures and stumbles, Shuri''s instincts became extremely sensitive to encroaching danger.

    Ever since she hitchhiked with the man whose name she deigned not to learn, her instincts were ring "DANGER" ceaselessly. However, Shuri suppressed it and wrote it off as uneasiness wrought by the sudden change in scenery. After all, moving from an environment where one needs to be constantly on the lookout for death-inducing trouble, to another where a mistake didn''t always end up with death or serious maiming can be seriously disorienting. Thus, Shuri affiliated the growing sense of foreboding gnawing at her as the result of an idle mind cooking up all kinds of trouble.

    She couldn''t have been more wrong! Shuri cursed herself for doubting her highly attuned instincts because danger came knocking and brought with it a side of death.

    It started with a faintly audible whooshing noise that was followed by the loud and troubled neighs of horses. More of those whooshing noises followed, Shuri recognised them as the sounds of arrows cutting through the air. The carriage lurched forward as the horses dashed to save their hides.

    Even with the threat looming over the horizon, Shuri''s mind stayed as unperturbed as a still pond. She knew she couldn''t run away at this point, the only option was to wait it out and prepare for the worst-case scenario. Shuri quickly popped open the nearest barrel and started to toss out the clothes packed within. The container was justrge enough to hold a person of her size, which she took advantage of. Right as the barrel''s lid fastened onto the container, Shuri heard an approaching arrow through the gap. The gruesome sound of metal tearing through flesh sounded with a muffle and was immediately followed by the chilling sound of a person drowning in their own blood. The driver had sumbed to the ambush.

    And then the world turned upside down and sideways. Shuri barely held herself together before a sudden change in eleration caused her head to crash violently against the side of the container she was hiding inside. Then darkness took her.

    In this darkness, Shuri was forced to relive another vivid excerpt from her not-so-fabulous life. Was it Shuri''s subconscious guilt that selected this particr memory from all others still upying real estate in her sticky mind - the guilt of not supporting the only person in the Pce that was on her side unconditionally? Unlikely, because she did not feel any remorse over how the events panned out. The maid girl''s support, though emotionally fulfilling, was akin to a tumour that could metastasise at any instance. She would have invited more trouble than what she was worth, so Shuri deemed it better to nip the problem in the bud.

    Needless to say, the maid did not survive the impromptu surgical procedure of separating her tongue from her body. Tragic... but not regretful.

    At least it wasn''t another memory with herte mother. The effects of those dreams lingered well past the point Shuri gained consciousness. This could mean that maybe Shuri could exit the inevitable confrontation against the ambushers with minimal harm. She snorted internally at her meagre attempt totch on to that false hope. There was only certain death on the other side, to think otherwise would be futile. But Shuri wasn''t going to sumb to the sweet embrace of death without a fight.

    As she regained consciousness, she was subjected to another disorienting bout of movement before her container shattered and revealed her to the world, and her attackers.

    They were seven men. Each sporting simrly unkempt and overgrown facial hair that was knotted and caked with dirt. They each had a weapon in hand; two carried bows and the rest carried haphazardly forged weapons with rust forming on their surface and their edges deformed through wear and tear. Their eyes carried intense hostility, greed and lust.

    Luckily, the bandits did not anticipate the presence of another entity in the caravan and had left a wide gap in their encirclement, which Shuri took advantage of. She immediately leapt onto her feet and rushed through the gap. She bobbed and weaved just in time for an arrow to miss her head by a hair''s width. She took advantage of the surrounding trees to limit her pursuer''s line of sight. The danger was all around her, but Shuri was calm.

    Escaping should have been trivial. If there was one thing Shuri was good at, it would be running away. She was fast even with her weak form. However, her opponents had the benefit of familiarity - the forest was their home ground. Shuri''s current concern was falling into a trap of their design. They could very well be leading her to a strategic location and boxing her in, and she would be none the wiser because of her ignorance of the surroundings.

    When one loses, it is generally ptable if the failure was due to the opponent''s superiority. It is a disgusting punch in the gut, though, if the loss is attributed to one''s own stupidity orxness. And that was exactly what happened as Shuri wove past a tree. The ground dipped sharply and as a result, her ankle twisted. With a rough tumble, she fell to the ground and started to roll haphazardly.

    Fighting the disorientation and the pain assaulting her back and head, she tried to crawl back up and resume her sprint. But it was already toote.

    "A runner! Just the way I like ''em," one of the men chasing her said loudly between his haggard breath, licking his lips between his words.

    "She''s just a little girl," another reminded sternly.

    "Even better." the first one snorted. "Don''t worry, girl. This uncle will make you feel reeeeal good."

    "What''s that around her neck?" By this time, the rest had caught up and Shuri''s escape n was thoroughly thwarted.

    "Don''t see anything there..." One of the voices murmured. At this point, Shuri''s brain had checked out and was frantically searching for any avenue for escape. Her hand subconsciously drifted towards her pendant and rubbed it worriedly.

    "Wait I see it! It looksmon."

    "It''s a fucking mana gem. It''s probably enchanted," the man who noticed her pendant first dered. His eyes held a greedy glint.

    At this point, Shuri felt it was time to y her most dreaded card, "Listen. You people don''t want to do this-"

    "Oh, here we go. Alright little madam," the lust-filled man said with a mocking tone. "Why should we not go through with this?"

    "My father''s positioned quite high in the government. Rather than poke a ho''s nest by viting his most treasured daughter, why not choose the smarter path and opt for some ''marypensation'' for your troubles?" Shuri offered.

    "The most treasured daughter wouldn''t be caught in such a predicament, don''t you think?" The greedy man pointed out. Shuri could only suppress a grunt at his astuteness. This man was observant, she had to tread carefully.

    "Regardless, the way I see it, in terms of odds, we are at a greater disadvantage trading you into your family for a ransom as opposed to just taking what we want from you and leaving," The greedy man said with a scoff.

    "That is fair, but if I am hurt, killed or maimed, my father will inflict double the suffering upon you folk," Shuri threatened lightly. "Even an unfavoured daughter is a daughter nheless. Do you think he will take this loss of face lying down?" An ill-advised move to threaten her captors, she was aware, but at this point, there was very little for her to work with.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Again. Turning you in for a ransom will let your family know that it was us who hurt you. With the alternative, no one will know unless a thorough investigation isunched by which time we will be long gone," the greedy man shrugged. He moved towards arge rock at the side and leapt atop it.

    "Alright, let''s get this over with!"

    Shuri immediately assumed a defensive stance and screamed, "S-Stay back!"

    "If you struggle, it will only hurt more."

    A man grabbed Shuri from behind and pinned her to the ground on her stomach.

    "S-Stop! Please," Shuri screamed.

    A hand reached for her neck and grasped the pendant.

    "NO!" Wiggling her way out of the vice grip her captor had on her, she turned and bit the hand holding the mana gem. Her teethtched on and ripped off the flesh on the man''s hand as he pulled it back by instinct.

    "FUCK!" The man yelped. "The bitch bit me!"

    He kicked Shuri in her abdomen multiple times to vent his frustration. She couldn''t stop pained groans from escaping as the attack persisted relentlessly.

    "FUCK! That''s it, hold her down!"

    His partners pulled Shuri''s limbs apart, while she struggled and failed to stop it from happening.

    "Those eyes, so much hate," the man sneered. "Don''t worry, we''ll fix that soon."

    Using his dull de he ripped off the clothes covering Shuri''s lower body and started to undo his own.

    Shuri turned her head sideways and looked out into the distance. Death was approaching, and all she could do was sigh in resignation. Why didn''t she feel anything? There was no fear, there was no anger, and she even stopped struggling at this point. Maybe living with death around the corner had sort of prepared her for its eventual arrival, making her inocted to themon emotions at the time of its reckoning.

    She closed her eyes and waited.

    .

    .

    .

    A harmony of cracks, that Shuri immediately recognised as the sounds of bone shattering, brought her out of her state of resignation. This was followed by loud bellows from the surrounding men. Their voice was coarse and guttural, almost like they were suffering through unimaginable pain.

    Suddenly, she started to feel lighter. Her body lifted off the ground. She opened her eyes and saw the men turning into blobs of meat. Her gaze flitted around the scene until it locked on to a new figure. She had never seen this person before.

    It was a boy, possibly a year older than her, holding a foot-long stick pointed in her direction. From the tip of the stick bloomed a myriad of spell circles. He wore a garb reminiscent of sects, with a logo of a globe with green and blue blobs on it. She had never heard of or seen such a symbol before - probably a new sect.

    Shuri swallowed a mouthful of saliva audibly in relief and shock.

    "Who- Who are you?"

    ____

    Markus awoke early, once again, and started to move through his early morning yoga routine. Today was a special day, and he had to be in tip-top condition for the Sect''s sake. Today was the official start of the recruitment drive!

 Chapter 263 Setting Up The Stall

    Recruitment day. The event that sects all over the Empire ardently look forward to, since it is a unique opportunity for them to dip into a truly diverse pool of applicants and pick up a horde of new sect members. Sect were true adherents to the principles of natural selection, and for it to work appropriately, arge influx poption is a necessity.

    The sect atmosphere works as a gauntlet, weeding out members one after another until only those truly desperate, persistent, or talented enough remain. The desperate and persistent remain at the bottom-most rung of thedder cursed to never climb it. Those desperate and talented, are cursed to be forever taken advantage of by the sect. It is those that are persistent and talented that can bask in all that the sect has to offer and thrive in its unforgiving environment. Of course, this overlooks the rare urrence of the wealthy and connected. These specimens need not be talented, nor is it necessary for them to have persistence since the sect is incentivised to keep these cash cows in their ranks as it automaticallyes with a lot of benefits.

    In a sense, Jean happens to be one such cash cow for the True World Sect. Although Markus would more than love to deny that im, one look around his current living arrangement held those rebuttals from exiting his mouth.

    Although, even if Jean weren''t highborn, there would still be a ce for her in the True World Sect. That was the beauty and unique selling point of Markus'' Sect.

    "For our recruitment, I want to be more selective and deliberate over the people I want to join the Sect," his Master said as Markus and Jean entered the event grounds. All three carried wooden crates in their hands, with their heads barely peaking over them.

    "Are we setting a cultivation baseline for our recruits?" Markus inquired. He couldn''t stop the surprise from leaking into his tone.

    "No," his Master responded with a shake of his head. "It''s less to do with their cultivation and more to do with their character. Remember what I asked you when I first started teaching you guys about magic?"

    "About why I wanted to be a mage?" Jean probed.

    "Think back to your answer at that time," his Master suggested. "Markus here wanted to protect his family. Jean wanted to be a healer."

    The man paused, turned to face Markus and Jean and dered, "I want people that are learning magic to help the world or others rather than themselves. Doesn''t matter if they aren''t talented in magic, doesn''t matter what social ss theye from. They must be passionate and selfless in their pursuits."

    "It may sound naive, but we all know that magic has the power to corrupt its user. If the mage''s starting point is selfish, they will only get more and more detached from the world as they advance," his Master added.

    "So... how will we be sifting through the applicants?" Jean chimed in. "Will we be asking the same question to them? How will we judge if their answer is adequate?"

    "Hmm..." Master Larks rubbed his chin thoughtfully before extending a finger and poking Jean and Markus in their bellies, "Use this."

    "Our gut?" Markus deciphered immediately.

    "I know what you''re thinking. That you guys aren''t experienced enough to make those judgement calls. But you forget that you are in a unique position to actually decide who gets to be your colleague for what could be the rest of your lives. This does not mean that you need to look out for people who share your opinions, or have simr views on life. What you need to look out for are people who share a simr mindset, people you wouldn''t mind working with for the foreseeable future."

    Markus hummed and admitted, "That does narrow our search a little bit."

    And like that, the trio wove through the burgeoning crowd and arrived at their stand. The Alliance offered certain services to sects participating in this event regarding setting up the stalls. For a small fee, they would put up a standard kiosk with the respective sect''s logo and name emzoned atop it for all to see. With some additional payment, they would also provide features such as strength and cultivation testers, training weapons, and other equipment that may find some use when evaluating the quality of recruits.

    Master Larks opted for the standard kiosk, which was in in content. Then, Master opened up one of the boxes that they carried in and pulled out a bundle of hollow sticks, connected with a tough rope weaving through their centres. He ced the sticks in a line and pulled the rope, causing them all to slot together to form onerge pole. From the same box, he retrieved another wooden square prism about an arm''s length, with a conspicuous slot at its top the same radius as the pole. The pole went in, and his Master pulled a string hanging out of a thin and long slot below the pole slot, causing a long sheet of cloth to unfurl. The string was then tethered to the top of the pole.

    Taking a step back, Markus saw what looked like a sailboat with just its sails. The cloth that acted as the sail was a banner with details about the True World Sect printed on it. It listed information such as the Sect''s vision and mission, specialities, brief history, locale (nothing too specific), facilities, expectations, and goals for the future.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is this the retractable banner stand, Master?" Markus inquired while approaching the ingenious apparatus.

    "Yeah. People will keep passing by us, we need to have a way for them to know what our sect stands for at a nce," his Master exined. "There are two more inside. You saw how I put this one up, you and Jean can go ahead and assemble those."

    With those instructions given, his Master opened another box and started to pull out more odds and ends and put them up for disy on the stands at the centre of the kiosk. There was a wand, simr to the one Markus, Jean and Marie used. There were books of different kinds, probably to show off the printing press (one of the Sect''s most lucrative inventions). There were a plethora of tools such as hand drills, mills, screws and screwdrivers, and assemblies that utilised these tools in some way to show off their functions. These were new additions to the Sect''s catalogue borne of thethe and milling machine. Master also retrieved miniature wood carvings that exemplified a range of uses of the two machines. Once all the items were put in ce, his Master retrieved a small card stock with the names of the items on disy with their function and purpose and ced them in front of their respective namesakes in a visible location.

    "Master, I still don''t fully understand the purpose of having these items here," Markusmented.

    "Every sect has a specialisation. Cloudstrider Sect prides itself on its ritual formations, for instance. A sect may specialise in Alchemy, or cksmithing, or even Cooking as I''ve recentlye to learn."

    They found out that there was a niche segment of the market that specialised in cooking just for mages (hence Cooking with a capital ''C''). The ingredients used were mana charged, and the meat is sourced from monsters and beasts that had the capacity for magic. The benefit of eating such mana-dense and infused foods was that they worked simrly to alchemical potions and reagents but in a much slower and elongated way. Furthermore, it was proven to be safer and less harmful towards a mage''s cultivationpared to potions.

    To put it into perspective. Imagine that an artist needs to create an artwork of some kind. A potion would be like another person holding the brush and creating the artwork in the artist''s ce. An Enriched Meal on the other hand would be like a more experienced artist watching over the person as they perform their tasks. If they get stuck, the more experienced artist can provide guidance or inspiration. If there is a mistake, the experienced artist can offer corrections.

    With Enriched Meals, the burden to extract the benefit from the meal and internalise it is on the consumer. If they are experienced, they can extract maximum benefits from it. On the other hand, a potion will provide a constant amount, though the harm that it does to a person''s cultivation can be hindered to a degree if the consumer synchronises with it.

    Thanks to Jean, the True World Sect members (excluding Marie) got the opportunity to taste a portion of a Griffin Steak. Even now, Markus felt saturated both in terms of his hunger and the mana circting within his body.

    "Our Sect specialises in innovation," Master Larks said. "This is how we stand out. This also happens to be an appropriate way to attract the kind of people that would fit perfectly with our Sect''s ethos."

    "Now-" Master Larks said as he retrieved a hefty folder from the box. After opening it, he pulled out a stack of printed sheets from within.

    "Let''s see..." his Master''s eye alternated between himself and Jean until it stopped on his Junior Sister. "Jean! Take this stack of papers and walk around the ce. If you see anyone idle or disinterested, hand this to them."

    Markus noticed that the paper was like a more minimalistic version of the banners on disy. He also noticed that the location of their stand was stamped onto the sheets, albeit with more variationpared to the overall uniformity of the rest of the print. Probably, his Master appended this new informationst night.

    "If possible, try to chat them up as you hand this to them. Try to get them interested, even a smidge. Otherwise, they will just dispose of the papers," his Master informed. Jean nodded, in turn, and took a handful from the stack of papers with her.

    "Master-" Markus walked over to voice his concern, but his Master read his mind.

    "This will be practice for her. It doesn''t matter if she seeds or fails in gathering arge crowd. She needs to exercise her emotions in some way. She needs to learn to disy excitement or interest. It may be hard, it may be impossible, but she must try nheless."

    "I understand, Master," Markus said with a light bow. He once again praised his Master''s foresight and benevolence internally. He ced himself on the opposite corner of the kiosk from his Master and waited to wee recruits as they arrived.

 Chapter 264 Stumbling Into It

    Revian was excited as he entered the Sr Sect Alliance''s recruitment grounds. He''d had to pay an exorbitant price to gain the ess ticket, something he saved up for a very long time. Not even the shoulder-to-shoulder traffic at the entrance as people siphoned through the criminally narrow gates could dampen his tion. But it did worry him a bit. The anxiety only grew in intensity as the crowd ceased to disperse and moved collectively in the same direction. Then, at a juncture, it split in two equally. Then once again at a subsequent juncture, the quantity evoked a sense of foreboding.

    A few secondster, he realised that his stress wasn''t unwarranted... Why? Because every single person entering the ground today had the same goal in mind and that was to test their luck with the Four Greats: the Cloudstrider Sect, the Whispering Dusk Sect, the Soaring Sword Sect, and the Red Dawn Sect. Generally, the Four Greats did not stay longer than the second or third day. They would umte their quota of recruits within the first three days, following which the stalls would be closed and abandoned. They could actually get away with it since they dictated the demand. As in, epting a recruitment offer from any one of those sects was a no-brainer. On the other hand, one would take some time to think over the recruitment offers from lesser sects.

    Revian''s target, along with the uncountable others surrounding him, was to try and get recruited into the Whispering Dusk Sect. His n was four years in the making since he was a wee eight-year-oldd.

    Revian lived a rather mundane life. His father had a pretty stable job as a clerk in the Capital''s Transportation Department - a public position. A governmental job paid poorly but was steady, which was more than most people could ask for given the inherently vtile nature of the private market. Revian''s mother, like most others, was a housewife. He was the middle child, with one elder brother and a younger sister. And the whole family lived in a one-storey attached home in the governmental housing district. He and his siblings shared one room, while his parents upied the other.

    His life was mediocre... And that irked him to no end. His father inherited his position from his father, who inherited it from his father. And Revian knew for a fact that his elder brother would take on the post upon his father''s retirement... In the SAME POSITION! His family never advanced for three whole generations, and he couldn''t foresee a promotion in theing three either.

    Revian''s younger sister would be married off, her life would be out of the family''s hands at that point. Once she left, what would happen to him? Was he cursed to live out the rest of his life in the mire of ordinariness?

    No! Revian refused to enter into a rut of his own volition. There had to be a way out! Revian knew his limits academically and entrepreneurially; he knew he wouldn''t find sess in a self-led venture. He also knew that gaining employment in a business would be no better than following his father''s footsteps and working at the government. Revian needed something more- something extraordinary out of his life.

    Unfortunately, his familycked the financial strength and readiness to support him through an education in the Magic Academies. Furthermore, his family alsocked sufficient connections to obtain an inlet into a n. This left the Sects. The age-old establishment of magic where mages would congregate over a shared characteristic.

    Ever since he solidified his goal to join a sect, he worked his ass off to push his base high enough to meet the average requirements of most sects. He shelled out a decent amount to get his hands on some bootlegged cultivation manuals (with a method that only faintly agreed with him) and fought through the pain to reach the Middle Stage of Mana Condensation Realm. He practised some back-alley martial art peddled by themon street thugs patrolling his neighbourhood. He even picked up painting from the drug-addled graffiti artist who vandalised themunity with exotic renditions of genitalia of different shapes, sizes and colours (and animals?) to round off his skill portfolio. Revian wanted to raise his chances of being selected over hispetitors as much as he could.

    In fact, Revian did not wish to cast a wide. Most people would think of throwing their hats in with as many sects as possible and hoping that they would get picked at least once. No, Revian learned that it only worked with therger sects, since their recruitment step was en masse. The smaller sects, however, were a bit more selective since the recruits would ultimately count towards the core pirs of the Sect in the future.

    Nheless, tossing one''s name into the bowl with the Four Greats was a must since even a 1% chance of getting selected was an opportunity. The line leading up to the Whispering Dusk Sect was snaking and charged with stress and anxiety. Revian rued the fact that he wasn''t quick and forceful enough to bag a closer position. However, he noticed the line moving far too quickly. Not half an hourter, he was already at the front of the line facing an intimidating giant of a man who towered over Revian even though he was seated.

    The man growled, causing Revian''s words to get caught in his throat.

    "Mediocre," the man boomed. He then narrowed his eyes, and Revian felt an invasive wave passing through him. "Never mind. Cultivation is a mess. Fixing it is not worth the time. Denied!"

    And with that, Revian''s self-esteem crumbled just a little bit. Well, not like it was an unexpected turn of events. One never holds hope when trying to get into the Four Greats, that was a fact. Shrugging off the demeaning (but apt) evaluation, Revian turned around and walked to his second destination.

    See, Revian had nned this day down to a T. He knew exactly which sects to visit and apply for. However, something caught his eye the day the stalls were being assigned that upended his n significantly.

    Revian raised his gaze and met the unfamiliar symbol of a blue circle with blobs of green on it and the words "True World Sect" written beneath it. The kiosk was simr to the others in its size, but it was decorated with trinkets he had never seen before. There was a stand with a banner hanging off of it that detailed a plethora of information about the Sect briefly and concisely.

    ''Research Facilities, Rapid Prototyping, Community Outreach... What in the world?'' Some words made sense, others didn''t. But Revian chose to ignore all that for one reason. And the reason was the youth approaching him with a mild smile on his face.

    "Good morning. Are you interested in learning more about the True World Sect?" The boy said.

    "Y-Yes," a weak voice escaped Revian''s mouth. ''What was that?'' He scolded himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I mean... I saw your fight. It was impressive! What was that attack that you used?" Revian rapped excitedly.

    The youth blushed and scratched his head in embarrassment, "Oh that? That was... satisfactory. I''m still workshopping it, to be honest."

    "Are you kidding me? You crushed the other guy. I''ve never seen or heard of such an attack before," but then a thought shed through his memory. "Well, I do remember hearing about that rising star studying under the Celebrity Teacher. What was his name? Jo Way?"

    "I believe you''re talking about Gaige Bori?" The youth said, with a slight edge in his voice that Revian didn''t miss. "That is my goal, to a degree."

    "But if I remember correctly, wasn''t his power a result of his unique bloodline?"

    "That is correct, but that doesn''t mean that the power cannot be replicated," the youth reasoned.

    This came as a shock to Revian. Even with his limited knowledge, he knew that bloodlines and special physiques were sought after especially because they couldn''t be replicated. Either this monster of a teen was lying, or he really was on the cusp of shattering that assumption.

    "Anything is possible with magic. It''s simply a matter of understanding what rules are inhibiting something from taking ce. Then, we just have to coax these limitations to ''look the other way'', if you will. After all, magic is just another way to lie to the world," the youth orated. "That is the core of our belief in our Sect."

    The irony wasn''t missed on Revian. The sect named True World preached magic that "lied" to the world.

    "Do you-" Revian gulped and probed cautiously, "Do you teach that spell to regr members?"

    The youth shrugged and said, "You''ll learn it if you can understand it. Knowledge isn''t limited in our Sect. As you probably read in our banner here that the Sect''s vast library ispletely essible to every member. In fact, we encourage curiosity and exploration. I created the spell you saw by myself, with the help of my Master here of course," the youth gestured towards the only other individual in the kiosk.

    "Umm..." Revian muttered with an unsure drawl.

    "My Master here is our Sect''s Leader," The youth introduced.

    "Guy Larks, a pleasure to meet you," the man reached forward and grasped Revian''s suspended hand for a tight shake.

    "You''re the Sect Leader? But you..." Revian held his tongue, cursing his impulsiveness for what could have been a serious faux pas.

    "I don''t look too special, right?" Unfortunately, the man was far too attentive to miss the sleight. "I can''t help it. I have an extremely average face and aura. Thankfully, my Disciple and my Sect''s Members are charismatic enough to make up for it."

    "Speaking of which," the man segued, "Are you interested in joining our Sect?"

    A faint spark resonated in the man''s - the Sect Leader''s - eyes that enraptured Revianpletely. It sounded like an inquiry, but the force behind the question felt more like amand... an extremely enticing one at that.

 Chapter 265 Nudge In The "Right" Direction

    "Y-Yes," the word just rolled off of Revian''s tongue without hesitation.

    The Sect Leader leaned forward and asked with sparkling eyes, "Why?"

    "Umm, ''Why'' What?"

    "Why do you want to join our Sect? Your arrival here wasn''t happenstance - your feet didn''t carry you here, your brain did. So tell me..."

    "Revian," he said noticing the Sect Leader''s expectant expression. The man smiled and continued.

    "Mister Revian. Tell me, why do you want to be a part of our Sect?" He asked while approaching Revian''s position.

    "I... don''t know. I mean, you offered-"

    "Let me rephrase the question, why do you want to join a sect at all?" The Sect Leader closed the distance between them even further. Revian felt the world receding, the only voices that remained were his own and the man''s.

    "I want to be a mage,"

    "Why?"

    Again with the ''why''s. It was starting to irk Revian. Even though the words were the same, he could feel a growing sense of pressure urging him to answer truthfully.

    "It''s..." The Sect Leader''s gaze bore down on him.

    "It''s..." The pressure grew more intense. Revian couldn''t take it any longer.

    "It''s because I don''t want to be mediocre anymore!"

    "You think that magic will let you escape mediocrity?" The Sect Leader asked with cocked brows. "How so?"

    "Well... It''s something," Revian reasoned with dismayed and drooping shoulders. "I don''t know what to say."

    "You believe that with the powers of a mage, your life will suddenly be something different, something extraordinary. So let us assume that you''ve now reached that point. The powers you dreamed of harnessing are within your grasp, what will you do now?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "It was you who professed that magic would elevate you from your current life of mediocrity. Now that you have magic, how will your life be any different?"

    "As a mage, I can do whatever I want," Revian dered haphazardly. "I-I won''t have to grovel, beg and bow in front of others anymore. If there is something I want, I have the power to fight for it and take it."

    "Once you be a mage, yourpetition is no longer against the regr folk, because you aren''t technically even the same species. By acting the way you just described, you would be bullying the weak. Is that the kind of person you wish to be as a mage?"

    "I don''t... But then..." Revian was starved for words. Being forced to evaluate his actions and decisions of thest four years with a rational lens really put things into perspective. ''Why am I even going through with all of this?''

    He held back his palms from pping his forehead in embarrassment. He was just making a fool out of himself now.

    "I think I''m going to go now," Revian dered as he turned to leave.

    "I do agree with your assumption that magic will raise you from your life of ordinariness. But I think there is a better way to go about achieving it than using said magic as an avenue to suppress the nay-sayers," The Sect Leader said, causing Revian''s feet to halt. Something about the way he spoke just made Revian want to listen.

    "Magic carries with it an unimaginable amount of power. This power is intoxicating like a drug - it will make you feel like you''re at the top of the world!" The man''s expression grew animated and a trace bit fanatical. "However, just like any drug, an overabundance of this exhrating feeling can degenerate you. It rots you from within."

    "There is an ancient saying that ''with great power,es great responsibility''. If you have the power to enact change in a more meaningful sense, then it is our responsibility to do so," The man said as he spoke in a whisper that somehow resonated in Revian''s mind.

    "This is where, I believe, you will find the escape route from your mundane life. You can still learn magic and work to be a mage, but instead of channelling your powers towards hate, suppression and destruction, you can dedicate it to something more productive and constructive. I can promise you that it will be more fulfilling and exciting. Besides-"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Sect Leader leaned back and crossed his arms. A faint smile grazed his lips as they parted with a conclusion, "The fame gained from helping others is far more valuable and longsting than the infamy earned from causing pain."

    Revian''s mind nked out at this point. His preconceived thoughts were being rewritten, as he underwent a shift at a deep, psychological level.

    "You don''t have to make your decision now," Sect Leader Larks interrupted, though Revian wasn''t fully pulled out of his contemtive stupor. "Take your time to truly evaluate your decision."

    Revian nodded absent-mindedly and walked away. He scrapped his ns to visit the other sects'' kiosks and strutted out of the recruitment grounds, with Sect Leader Larks'' words echoing within his mind.

    ____

    Guy turned his gaze away from the retreating figure of the dibobted boy, only to catch the inquisitive and sceptical expression of his Disciple.

    "What''s wrong?"

    Markus exhaled loudly through his nose in thought before saying, "Do you intend to recruit him, Master?"

    "When he returns, I will," Guy said with a mysterious smile. As he finished, he noticed Markus'' expression turning unreadable leaning towards suspicion and disdain.

    "What''s the matter?" Guy asked.

    "He didn''t match the criteria you gave us earlier. Why are we recruiting someone like him- someone so..." Markus voiced his difort.

    Guy chuckled andpleted Markus'' sentence, "Aimless?"

    Markus nodded apprehensively. He did not like the fact that he was being so judgemental of someone else. This was exactly what he suffered through back at the Academy.

    "People''s life goals are often built as a result of their environments. For some, their purpose is derived through the circumstance of their birth itself, and for others, it is formed from their experiences in life. But arge majority of people out in the world live a life without purpose. Their future is more or less set out in front of them, so when faced with the choice between the familiar and the unfamiliar path, they resort to following the known ways since it carries lesser risks. Nheless, these people live the rest of their lives with a trace of regret over the loss of ''possible benefits'' down the bygone path."

    "That boy realised that the familiar path will only lead to a disappointing, albeit stable, life and chose to take a step down the unknown roads. Unfortunately, hecks the proper guidance to know exactly how to navigate through this unknown territory. He relies on the statements and decisions of those that came before him, not knowing if it''s the path right for him. So, I gave him something to think about. He will ponder over his thought processes and decisions, ande to a conclusion, following which, he wille here and register under our Sect."

    Markus hummed and responded, "Is it right, what we did? Is it right to manipte someone for our benefit? We practically sent him down a path that matches our expectations from members."

    "Is that what it looked like to you?" Guy snorted incredulously. "Well, maybe I am a bit guilty of some slight maniption, but it wasn''t for my benefit. It is a teacher''s responsibility to give a wayward soul a purpose in life - I was just doing my job. He was struggling to be a functioning and productive member of society, and I showed him a way to do so. It just so happens, that the result of my ''trajectory correction'' ends up benefitting our Sect. Besides, do you think the kid will face a loss from joining our Sect over another?"

    "That''s not really fair, Master. I am a core part of the Sect, I am obligated to say that ''No he will not find a better Sect than ours out there''," Markus retorted with twitching lips, as he struggled to hold in hisugh.

    "Cheeky brat!" Guy shot back while joining in on Markus'' mirth.

    ____

    "That''s them!" A thirteen-year-old boy eximed while pointing towards a kiosk. His hair was tied into a prim topknot. His face was blemish-less and chiselled. His auburn eyes sparkled under the Sun''s assault and overflowed with unshakeable arrogance.

    "But Young Master, this ve looked into it. The True World Sect was only just formed. Why waste our time with them when Second Master secured a position for us with the Raging Torrent Sect?" A subdued voice spoke up. It was from the hunched figure of an older man, garbed inmon servant''s attire with nothing distinctive about him.

    "Lowe, you didn''t see that spell! If you did, you wouldn''t be so suspicious about them as you are now," the boy reaffirmed vehemently. "There were eight out of ten points simr between this spell and the attack Eldest Brother suffered against that bastard Gaige Bori!"

    The servant suddenly recollected the sorry figure of his Eldest Young Master who was turned to mush under the weight of absolute darkness. Thankfully, treatment was administered at the opportune moment, otherwise, he feared the Eldest Young Master would forever remain a mulch.

    "You saw how it all went down, Eldest Brother waspletely useless against it. We''ve found his weakness! We just have to exploit it ourselves. I don''t have a damn Abyssal Wyrm''s blood flowing through my veins, so I can''t use the same attack Gaige did. But this boy doesn''t have a special bloodline. I checked - the Detection Artefact didn''t even flicker when I pointed it his way. This can only mean that there is another method to tap into the powers of the Abyss!"

    The servant held back a sigh of resignation at his current master''s words that bordered on fratricide. He saw the boy''s gaze turning resolute, which was never a good sign.

    "I must get my hands on this power! I must join the True World Sect at all costs!" The boy dered before beginning his saunter over to the kiosk. "And if that fails? Well..." he revealed a malicious sneer and concluded, "I guess some ''motivation'' will be necessary."

 Chapter 266 Foul Play

    Jerain Hugin was the fifth and youngest son of the current Leader of the Hugin n, which was a Marquis'' household under the Gruul Duchy. Born to a cabaret dancer turned concubine, with nine other siblings above him, Jerain''s existence was more-or-less relegated to the extreme periphery of the n. From birth, he''d have to grovel, beg, bow and asionally steal to get what he wanted. Living like a servant in what was supposed to be his household fuelled the mes borne of his inferiorityplex and moulded him into the kind of youth he was today.

    As expected, Jerain''s greatest wish and current goal in life was to supersede all of his siblings and eventually take on the mantle of n Leader. To do so, however, he required strength and backing. Unfortunately, the two were part of a loop that he couldn''t gain entry into. To get better resources, one needed a strong backing, and to get a strong backing one needed actual strength to support their im. Jerain could only curse over the unfortunate circumstances of his birth.

    Jerain had to take every advantage he could scrounge, every step of the way, to get to where he was now. He was ruthless in his pursuit, to the extent of having his own mother eliminated and getting adopted by his father''s main wife. He waid his siblings and "encouraged" them to pursue alternate pursuits in life to restrict hispetition. He was all set on his path to sess, yet a single entity blocked his way from getting ahead and that was his now Eldest Brother.

    The teen was a force to be reckoned with, unbeatable in mind and body. Born with the Galgadorian Frame Physique that amplifies one''s natural bone weight and muscture, which synergises with the Hugin n''s Inexorable Momentum Cultivation Method, his Eldest Brother was a juggernaut in every sense of the word. That was until that fateful day when a minor disagreement between the Hugin and Bori ns snowballed into a full-on conflict, and the ancient "Resolution by Combat" was called. Jerain''s Eldest Brother stepped forward as the representative of the next generation, and Gaige stepped forth from Bori n''s side.

    The fight did not pass the five-second mark before his brother was turned into mush. His brother, who was known to be unstoppable, could not move a finger against the overbearing force exerted by the void nketing his surroundings. Ultimately, the teen survived, but only physically. The mind was still recovering, but the trauma had taken root. Yet Jerain''s father did not change the line of session. That was not fair... not fair at all!

    Something had to be done - a show of force to tip the scales finally in his favour. And Jerain found just that, through sheer coincidence, in a dispute to determine stall rights for Sect Recruitment. He was perusing his options in both the Co-operative''s and the Alliance''s events being held simultaneously.

    The True World Sect. An unknown that spawned out of thin air and would soon dissolve into nothingness like every other sect with such a background - that was what Jerain thought until the teen representing the Sect used a spell resembling the one Gaige used.

    Gaige''s spell felt overbearing. The void emitted a sense of pressure that naturally evoked fear. The Teen from the True World Sect, however, revealed no such pomp or flourish. His attack was direct and effective. It was unexpected because he revealed nothing, but the oue was exactly the same. In both cases, the opponents were turned into human pastes. The best part, though, was that, unlike Gaige, the teen had no such Special Bloodline or Physique aiding him.

    "*cough* I would like to join your Sect," Jerain dered nonchntly as he stepped into the True World Sect''s booth.

    "Ah! Wee," the man called Guy Larks, the Sect Leader, greeted as he stepped forward and extended his hand. Jerain reciprocated by taking the offered hand and shaking it.

    "What attracted you to our Sect?" The man asked.

    Jerain raised his finger and pointed it directly at the teen standing on the opposite side of the kiosk. "His attack. I want to learn it. I surmised that it would be a part of your Sect''s unique cultivation library, so I wish to be a part of your sect."

    "That''s it?" The man retorted with surprise evident in his expression.

    "What other reason do I need? Was that not your purpose in showcasing such an attack? In order to attract more potential recruits?" Jerain shot back.

    The man hummed for a few seconds before asking, "What is your end goal?"

    "I''ll be frank then. I will learn the Cultivation Method and theplementary spells that he used during the fights. I will then use it topete for the position of the future n Leader of the Hugin n."

    "So your membershipes with an end date. Why should I recruit you if you aren''t willing to invest yourself into the Sect? You will hold no sense of belonging with the Sect, nor will you feel any camaraderie with its members," The man emphasised with a faint smile.

    "You don''t understand your position here," Jerain scoffed. "It is you who will be investing in me, not the other way around. Your investment of time and resource into me will eventually return to you as both mary and political support."

    "Really now?"

    "Do you not know who I am?" Jerain asked with his back arched, chest pushed out, and pride and disdain oozing out of his voice.

    The man shook his head nkly. "Should I?"

    Jerain sputtered at the tant disrespect and grit his teeth angrily. "Are you recruiting me or not?"

    "I don''t think I will," the man denied within split seconds. There was no hesitation at all. His eyes were unwavering, and his voice was absolute.

    Jerain''s fist clenched harder. "Fine! How much?"

    "How much... what?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How much for you to teach me that attack?" Jerain spoke the words with an irritated stato.

    "Markus!" The man called out over his shoulders. The targetted teen rushed over diligently.

    "Yes, Master?"

    "This boy over here wishes to learn |Gravity Field|. He is willing to pay for that knowledge. What do you think?" He asked the teen named Markus.

    Markus shot out an evaluating gaze that cut through Jerain. "You don''t have to pay me anything. I can teach it for free, but I doubt he will understand a word of it unless he learns the basic sciences. If you join our Sect, then it will be part of the foundational courses."

    "As you can see, the knowledge you seek has a prerequisite," the man took over. "However, the prerequisite requires that you be part of our Sect. Unfortunately, you''ve made your stance clear that you don''t want to do that - maybe in presence, but not in heart. So there is nothing I can do for you, I''m sorry."

    "You will regret this," Jerain warned with a threatening tone of voice.

    "I don''t doubt that," the Sect Leader epted with a sigh. "But put yourself in my position. A boy much younger than you walked up to an institution you poured your blood, sweat and tears into and stated that it was all worthlesspared to him. The boy then went on to demean you and implied that he was actually doing you a favour by even deigning to grace the halls of your institution with his presence. He then disrespected you and your Disciple by suggesting that your values could simply be bought."

    "Please leave," the man concluded.

    "Look here-" Jerain was caught mid-bellow, as the man parted his lips and a raspy voice echoed all around him.

    "Please. Leave." The voice demanded.

    Jerain eded. His body turned involuntarily, and he walked away in a hurry.

    ____

    "That won''t be thest we see of him. He didn''t look like someone who''d give up so easily," Markusmented.

    "I don''t doubt that," Guy affirmed reluctantly. For a minute, his anger had overridden his self-control. "Maybe I shouldn''t have used my voice and burnt bridges like that."

    "No, Master. You were right to do so. That kid was being extremely disrespectful," Markus supported.

    "Oh, what fresh hell will he cook up to get back at us?" Guy moaned.

    "I don''t think he will. The truly cherished n offspring are always followed by a hidden force to protect them. When you used the spell to influence him, no one stepped forward to defend him. This means that either he isn''t worth much in the n, or he was here in a ndestine capacity. This means he cannot leverage his n''s backing without taking a loss in some way," Markus reasoned.

    "You know better than anyone just how petty people like him can be," Guy highlighted. "Let us anticipate the worst and prepare for it ordingly."

    Unfortunately, Guy could not have predicted the extent of the worst-case scenario.

    A few hourster, before the day ended, Revian visited their stall once again and officially signed on to the True World Sect. His new purpose in life was to achieve something extraordinary so that people all over the world would never forget his name. An admirable goal, and one that would definitely take him down a bounteous path. Guy went home that day with a fulfilled smile. Even one member was a new member.

    But that one member was quickly turning out to be thest member to be recruited from the Event.

    Guy suspected foul y, and he knew exactly who the culprit was.

 Chapter 267 Getting Around An Embargo

    In truth, Guy didn''t suspect foul y from the start. He reasonably assumed that theck of visitors and interested parties to the True World Sect''s kiosk was likely due to theirck of exposure and the fact that a lot of the more renowned sects were still running their recruitments. He believed that once the initial rush to secure a ce in the big sects teetered off, the visitor count would start growing.

    The first day was generally uneventful, and so was the second. Then the third day came and the drought continued. What made it even more suspicious was how certain passers-by jerked their heads forcefully away from the kiosk with apprehensive expressions on their faces. To top it off, Jean returned that day with some peculiar news.

    "People seem to be taking the leaflet, crumpling it in front of me and tossing it back at my feet," Jean said with a slightly irate tone. It was clear that the usually stoic girl was infuriated, but her condition was limiting her ability to express this overflowing emotion. "I tried reasoning with one of the culprits, but they just ran away without saying a word. Though a few did apologise to me. But why do it if you are simply going to apologiseter?!"

    "It eerily feels as though we''ve been cklisted, Master," Markus surmised.

    "It can''t be the Alliance. They wouldn''t risk offending a sect with an Elder in the Tesseract Transformation realm," Guy reasoned.

    "So it must be someone who has no idea of our background. It could be another sect, or..."

    Markus left the sentence on an elongated tone that grew softer as a realisation started to take root. "It can''t be-"

    "It seems to be so," Guy finished Markus'' exmation. "It is as you predicted. That boy cannot handle the rejection and hopes to strongarm us into it."

    "What do we do, then?" Markus voiced his worry while Jean slumped her shoulders.

    "We cannot leverage any advantages here," Guy exined. "The boy is fully within his powers to do whatever he is doing right now. We can try to oppose him in some way, but that will further antagonise him and could possibly spiral into a full-blown conflict with his n."

    "Maybe I can go talk to him?" Jean offered. "Although our ns are in equal standing, an agreement of some sort could be achieved"

    "Will you be representing the Sect''s interests or your n''s?" Guy said rhetorically. "If you''re representing the Sect, he won''t back down until he gets what he wants. If it''s your n, however, then maybe we could get somewhere, but it would then embroil your n into the conflict."

    "What other options do we have?" Markus muttered.

    A tense silence took hold within the oddly empty kiosk that stood socially quarantined amidst a throng of flowing foot traffic. After a minute, Guy released a long and frustrated breath.

    "There is probably a solution to this predicament," he dered. "But I don''t think we will find it here."

    Guy prepared to leave the stand. "You two can handle recruitment, right? Yeah... If anyone does show up then introduce them to the Sect as well as you can."

    "Master? Are you leaving?"

    "Only temporarily. I need some time to think. I don''t believe I''ll make any headway into our problem if I''m surrounded by such scathing gazes twenty-four-seven," Guy jerked his chin to five different locations in their vicinity, and five different people flinched and hastily averted their gazes. Only then did Markus notice the constant surveince he was under this entire time.

    ____

    Guy left the Recruitment Grounds at a brisk pace. He looked around and managed to catch a few observers trying their hardest to act inconspicuously. Guy could sense that these stalkers were all mages in the Late Stage of Mana Condensation realm; they probably weren''t trained in staking out a target. Regardless of their ineptitude in stalking a target, they were anything but diligent in their dogged pursuit to keep Guy in their sights at all times. To throw off his followers, Guy transitioned from one district to the next. However, there was always someone there - he would catch a rogue glimpse of them from the corner of his vision or through his mana senses.

    But after a few more transitions, Guy noticed the follower count diminish. It seemed that the further he dwelled into themoner''s districts, the more the eyes trained on him lessened. Eventually, he crossed a pair of gates with rust peeking through the crusted paint of gold - an apt descriptor of whaty beyond. This wasn''t the absolute low-ss district, akin to the Flea Markets with double digits. This was a legitimatemercial district for the low to the middle ss which amounted to the majority of the poption in the Capital, which was evidenced by the insane foot traffic and vibrant hawking scene. The market was dynamic, voices ovepped with voices, yet people could easily pick out what interested them from the strangely decipherable din. The roads branched and merged unintelligibly - it was easy to get lost in the maze-like design - but people seemed to be navigating through it with familiarity.

    Guy too was lost, both physically and mentally. His feet carried him around the area, in circles, squares and all kinds of shapes. He''d passed the same shop at least six times, but all the while he was unaware of his entranced journey. His mind was preupied with thetest trouble affecting him and his Sect.<novelnext></novelnext>

    That boy, whoever he was, from the Hugin n, was turning out to be a nuisance. His actions of implementing an informal embargo on the True World Sect were inhibiting the number of recruits they could amass. Guy was unsure of how the kid aplished this; was it through force or finance? Nheless, something had to be done or Guy would be leaving the Capital empty-handed and putting his Sect in a precarious position of being disbanded at the time of the first audit.

    There was only one way to lift this embargo without a show of force from Guy''s side and that was by giving the kid what he wanted. However, Guy wasn''t keen on doing something like that. Unlike Markus, the kid had malicious thoughts about where he wanted to apply the magic. Guy could fathom just how much devastation Markus'' magic could wreak. Fortunately, his Disciple was level-headed and altruistic and didn''t let the power get to his head. Guy had little confidence in the Hugin boy''s character - he wasn''t going to hand a weapon of mass destruction to a selfish megalomaniac.

    Thus came the impasse.

    Guy sighed and wore a bitter smile at the irony of the situation. "What would Jo Way do if he were in my position?"

    Something reckless, that''s for sure. Possibly confront the boy, strongarm him into raising the embargo, then go down the rabbit hole of defeating every other body the Hugin n and their affiliates could throw his way to correct the initial slight. Exhaustive, decisive, and brutish, but in the end, he''d get what he wanted. There was a certain beauty in the efficacy of the martial approach that was missing in the diplomatic route; one could get everything one wanted without conceding anything. But the embers of burning a bridge in the social space often instigated other nearby bridges to suffer a simr fate. Besides, was there any honour inpeting with an immature child?

    Again, Guy had some experience working under simr situations in his past life. Although charitable organisations were non-profit, they were organisations nheless. Thepetition was fierce, and operating territory was a heavily contested matter. Oftentimes, it would be one organisation taking the lead while others contributed passively. But Guy''s excessively proactive behaviour was frequently a point of irritation for his fellow charities. There were many times when his organisation was excluded from joint endeavours.

    Ultimately, if barriers are blocking your ess, then make your own entrance. Guy wasn''t above exploiting the media to his advantage. By leaking his charity''s decision to operate in a contested region to the media, he could easily undercut the unspoken blockade enforced by his fellow non-profits. It was petty, but if it was for the benefit of children Guy had no qualms against it.

    "There has to be a way around this problem as well," Guy muttered.

    At that moment, something bumped into Guy. The jerk was followed by the sound of someone falling. This was enough to bring Guy out of his thoughts. His senses red immediately and captured the presence of a boy with a stick in his hands who copsed on the ground behind him.

    "S-Sorry!" The boy voiced meekly. "P-Please spare a coin," he added while shakily raising an empty bowl.

    Guy instinctively reached towards his jacket''s inner pocket, as his gaze evaluated the child. He should be about twelve years old, but his body was emaciated and matched that of a much younger boy. A beggar, that much was obvious. His clothes were ragged and torn and caked in dirt. His hair was long and matted, and his arm had many bruises. Guy''s eyes narrowed as he recognised the nature of the bruises.

    "Did someone hurt you?" He asked sternly.

    "W-What, no?!" The boy shrieked before turning to run away, only to trip and fall once again.

    Guy leapt forward and stopped the boy mid-fall. He helped the kid stabilise himself and kneeled to dust the boy''s clothes. "Hey, careful. Watch where you''re going-"

    Guy''s words were caught in his throat as his eyes matched the face of the boy with that of one of the refugee kids sneaking into the Capital a few days back. But the boy''s identity wasn''t what caused Guy to hesitate.

    Guy''s demeanour cracked as rage started to boil over from within. His mana started to undte, causing the surrounding area to pulsate aggressively. Pressure started to mount, causing people to move away and gawk in surprise and horror.

    "Who did this to you?" Guy spoke with chilled anger in his voice.

    "H-Help-"

    "WHO. DID. THIS!" Guy bellowed. At that moment, another child rushed forward from the crowd. He was of a simr age and was also someone Guy recognised from earlier. Another refugee.

    "Please, Master Mage. Please forgive us," the second boy pleaded while repeatedly banging his head on the ground in fear.

    However, Guy''s infuriated gaze did not leave the first child''s face. It was tethered to one location: the empty sockets where the child''s eyes should have been.

 Chapter 268 Promise Made, Promise Kept

    Guy immediately centred himself and guided the two children to a nearby restaurant. He found a rtively secluded corner table for three and settled them there. He then ordered some food, a decent assortment of it, seeing the malnourished state of the kids. All the while, the two twelve-year-olds sat in a state of fear, unable to shift even a muscle in front of a mage whose mercy they were in.

    The food arrived within minutes and the kids held themselves like statues. Unfortunately, their stomachs couldn''t acquiesce to their brains'' demands, as once the pleasant aroma infiltrated their noses, their digestive system revved into action in preparation for the heavenly eats presented before them.

    Guy revealed a warm smile and nudged the bowls forward. "Eat," he said. "Eat before it gets cold. Don''t worry. I just have a few questions. We''ll get to it after you''ve eaten."

    The boys showed some apprehension. But their hunger got the better of them. The rate at which they devoured the items worried Guy a bit. He was tempted to break in and warn the kids of the problem of choking on their food but thought against it as he didn''t want his behaviour to be misconstrued. He noticed that the boys held deep fear in their hearts for him - that is to say they feared mages. They trembled at his every move, and never looked directly at him - finding ways to avert their gaze without being dismissive.

    "How did you like this food?" Guy asked as the blinded boy finished his meal.

    "I-It was delicious. Thank you so much, Master Mage," the boy with sight answered.

    "Master Mage... sounds so rigid. Call me Guy. Can you tell me your names?"

    "H-How dare we, Master Mage-"

    "Guy," Guy interrupted. "Call me Guy," he repeated with a chuckle.

    Surprisingly, it was the blind boy who took the initiative. "My name is Yohn."

    "My name is Kevan," the second one volunteered.

    "Yohn and Kevan. Hmm... I remember seeing you two outside the walls. How are your parents doing?" Guy inquired sincerely.

    This caused Kevan''s eyes to widen in surprise. "Our parents... are doing fine."

    The way he elongated that sentence and refused to borate held a lot of hidden meaning to it. The responses were curt, it was clear that they did not want to continue this conversation beyond what was necessary. To break through this barrier, Guy would need time. Time to build rapport and trust, time to break down barriers, time to get the kids to open up about themselves, and time to make them feel safe and valued. Unfortunately, time wasn''t something in ample supply at the moment.

    "Well, you see, I''m actually the Sect Leader of the True World Sect. You must not have heard of it, it''s quite new. As we''ve just started, we are looking to recruit new members. Are you two interested in joining us?" Guy offered while showing the Sect''s seal and the official documentation certified by the Alliance.

    Their reactions were well within Guy''s calctions. A random person sneaks into your life and presents you with an offer of a lifetime for nothing in return. Suspicion regarding the person''s purpose would be totally warranted.

    "Let me exin," Guy halted while raising his hands to stop the kids from denying him outright. "Let''s say that you received an opportunity to learn magic - to walk a mage''s path. What would you use this power for?"

    "I''d..." Kevan mumbled. But once again, it was Yohn who spoke first, "I would use it to protect my family. I would also make it so that we never have to run away in fear ever again."

    As though in agreement, Kevan nodded along.

    "It is an admirable goal. Something I respect. That is why I am willing to offer you this opportunity. I can promise you that you will be able to reach a point where that goal can be satisfied. Beyond that, I will leave it to your imagination. As long as you follow the precepts of our Sect, nothing is impossible."

    "But why?" The blind boy spat out. The fear and apprehension had left, and what remained was anger. "Is this some sick game to you?!"

    "Yohn-"

    "No, Kevan!" The blind boy swatted away the hand the other boy ced on his shoulder to calm him down. He turned his head in the general direction of Guy and demanded, "Answer me, why? There are others superior to us, with proper dreams and goals, and with the capacity to achieve more with magic in their grasp. So why us?"

    Guy hummed audibly as he formed his response, and said, "It''s because I don''t like what magic means to them. They intend to use it as a tool of destruction. For you, though, it is a tool for preservation. Those are the kind of people I want in my Sect."

    "We can''t," Kevan interjected.

    "If this is because of your affiliation with the Beggar''s Sect, then you shouldn''t worry about it."

    The spoken words fell like bombs in the boys'' ears. They flinched visibly, and their eyes darted all around frantically.

    "Since they aren''t aligned with the Sect Alliance, you are only a part of that organisation in name. We, however, are aligned with the Alliance and your membership with us has ayer of legal binding that secures your position."

    Noticing the unchanged scepticism on their faces, Guy sighed and added, "I know that you still can trust me. So let me give you some more practical assurances: until our Sect passes the preliminary audit, we cannot undertake any underhanded or grey tactics that could vite the Alliance''s or the Empire''sws."

    This did turn the kids'' opinions slightly. To them, the legally binding nature of the rtionship mattered a lot. If their existence was above board and insured, they wouldn''t have to put up with all the dirty business the Beggars'' Sect puts them up for.

    "What of our families? We cannot just leave them here," Kevan pointed out. At least he was considering it.

    "They will have to relocate to the location of the Sect," Guy responded. "The Sect offers a relocation package and sufficient help to set them up at the destination. But beyond that point, we expect them to be self-sufficient."

    The kids appeared dazed at the extent of the offer.

    "Oh! I remember there were a few more of you. The offer extends to them as well. Tell them exactly as I''ve told you. Meet me here same time tomorrow. Those that are interested can register with me."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Guy looked over the boys'' shoulders and called for the waitress, "Can you pack up another round of the same?" He turned to the boys and said, "Share it with the others."

    The boy''s received the gift of food and prepared to leave.

    "Where did they do this to you?" Guy asked Yohn while trying to keep the steeliness in his voice from eking out.

    Yohn froze. He turned his body to follow Guy''s sound. "Three blocks down, there is an alleyway. It is guarded. They will flee at the first sight of danger."

    Guy nodded before adding. "Your goals. They are admirable. But iplete. You did not tell me the third."

    Yohn''s expression hardened.

    "The path you intend to walk is of vengeance. What they deserve to receive is justice."

    "If the world was fair, justice would have been served many, many years ago. And yet they continue to do what they''ve always been doing!" Yohn spat back.

    "You have lost much," Guy empathised. "But if you continue to walk down this road, you will only lose more. You stand at a crucial crossroads in your life. To achieve your revenge, you will need to sacrifice parts of yourself until nothing remains but a husk of your former self. No amount of retribution can fill in that void."

    "Are you asking me to forgive them?" Yohn voiced his hurt.

    "Never forgive them," Guy responded decisively. "But do not let them decide your life for you. They will receive what they deserve."

    "And how exactly will that be?" Yohn challenged. "Will you do it?"

    At that moment, Guy''s expression turned solemn. His lips parted, and a voice escaped that sounded a lot like him but carried an imperious and detached tone.

    "If I must," the voice promised. And just as it came, it disappeared. Guy''s eyes narrowed in confusion. That was not what he wanted to say. But those words were enough to satisfy the boy filled with rage. He grasped Kevan''s oversized sleeves and followed along as the still-seeing boy guided him out of the restaurant.

    Guy did not waste any more time and left the establishment. He followed Yohn''s instructions and walked down the road. Three blocks down, he stood in front of the dark alleyway.

    Guy hesitated. In his past life, he''d confronted many organisations that performed heinous crimes against children. Trafficking, muttion, and conscription, to name a few. However, he was never alone in opposing them. He had the backing of legal authorities and the media. The organisation he was about to face was ancient and deeply rooted.

    "What do I do?" Guy muttered out loud.

    What was his purpose here? He promised justice to that boy, but how was he to go about and achieve it? He didn''t know the Beggar''s Sect; his knowledge was solely through secondary sources and rumours. How strong were they? How deeply entrenched with the government were they?

    While Guy was waddling through the mire of indecisiveness, within the RoK in his soul, a pair of ethereal hands extended out of the dark crack beneath the table where the masky. The hands grabbed the edges of the crack and pulled it apart widening it.

    At that instant, Guy cked out.

    A blink, and suddenly an overwhelming amount of data assaulted his senses.

    The smell of shit and rot. The sound of people, crying, moaning, shrieking, yelling...

    Guy grabbed his head to stabilise the difort.

    "Where am I?" Guy muttered. "This ce..."

    He was in an alleyway. But it was not the same one he was standing in front of earlier... before he cked out. The buildings were tight and dpidated. The rot had set into the wood, and it was all being held together rather precariously. The ground was unstable with wet mud, and a debilitating dankness hung in the surrounding air. Behind him, there was a sturdy metal door, of a quality that did not match the general ambience.

    His hands pushed against the door, nudging it open.

    He took a step into the darkness beyond, and his feet collided with something soft. Guy used his mana sense and noticed that it was a person- No-

    It was a corpse...

    Its face was warped with agony, but its eye sockets were empty. The orbs that were supposed to be housed in those empty sockets were grasped safely in both of the corpse''s hands, blood dripping out of them.

    Guy extended his senses further out, and he was greeted with the sight of a brutal gathering of corpses. All with their faces warped in agony and fear. All with their sockets devoid of eyes. All with their eyes grasped firmly in their palms.

    ____

    A/N: I want Guy to break.

 Chapter 269 The Abyss Stares Back

    Thest time Guy evacuated his stomach''s contents so violently was in his first mission through Syria. The jaundiced, burned and bloated forms of people after they drowned in their blood was a gut-wrenching sight, one thatpletely wrecked his psyche.

    That brutal image was now reced with the sight of a literal hill of corpses caught mid-scream - as if their life was stripped out of them through the most painful methods of torture. Worst yet, this torture was self-inflicted. Bloody tear marks marred their faces, streaming down from their eyes; the victims didn''t want to do it, but they could not stop themselves. Their eyes were lifeless, cradled carefully within their blood-stained palms, yet their hollow eye sockets were scraped clean with animalistic efficiency. Each and every single person inside that building had died the same, sick way.

    Guy lurched over and hurled out... whatever remained in his stomach. He could not spend another second past the reinforced metal doors. He couldn''t make heads or tails of whaty in there. He didn''t even know how he got here. There were way too many questions swirling in his mind, and the sensory assault of such much death just pushed him over the edge.

    s, this wasn''t something Guy could just sweep under the rug. There was a gap in his memories. A cursory nce of the sky, and noticing the Sun moving back towards the horizon, indicated that the gap was appreciable since his earliest coherent memory was set early in the morning and well before the Sun even reached the zenith of its trajectory.

    "What happened in those seven or eight hours?" Evidently, a lot.

    "I need to backtrack myself," Guy decided. He took a long breath and steeled his resolve. With a forced push, he shoved the metal door open and entered the den of corpses once again. The pungent stench of urine and faeces ented by the metallic odour of blood assaulted his senses once again. He carefully tip-toed through the narrow hallway, avoiding stepping on any bodies as he walked along and making observations as he did so. There wasn''t much to see, apart from dead bodies, that is. The hallway was fairly basic, though itcked the general dpidated theme the "architecture" outside was going for. The walls had gunk and moss growing from years of poor management, and the floor was cracked and uneven from erosion or rogue weeds. There was no natural light entering the hallway - there were no windows to allow it to ingress - and even the frequentmps illuminating the area emanated a dreary light. The path snaked and dipped and rose from underground a few times, with forks in the path that would have waid him if not for the trail of blood and bodies indicating the correct direction. With only the dead bodies to derive conclusions from, he noted the simrities as well as the differences in their states, hoping that maybe the pattern and/or deviations in patterns may signal an answer.

    To that end, till now, he had yet to notice any deviations in the way that these people died. It was uniform, to an eerie degree.

    ''Is it possible to mass produce murder of this magnitude? How is it so consistent, down to a T even?'' This was inhuman and reeked heavily of some evil unorthodox magic.

    His precarious journey was reaching his end, and he realised this as rooms of varying sizes and functions started to spawn off from the seemingly endless and goreden hallway. He approached one such door and slowly pushed it open. The hinges elicited an ominous whine due to years of negligence. The door opened wide enough for Guy to peek in, and he saw a simr scene within. There were two people in here, both suffering the same self-inflicted torture-suicide. The room they were in was something like a storage space. There were shelves upon shelves of items, some that seemed familiar (rare alchemical and enchanting materials), others that were sketchy (unique resources extracted from magical beasts), and most that were downright illegal (human body parts amongst other things).

    ? Guy moved past the next door, which revealed a set of stairs leading further underground. Following the path into the circr sub-basement, he observed jail cells all around with what appeared to be a torture board at the centre. The stench of human waste and blood was much stronger in here, and the remnants of torment hung heavily in the stale air of the unventted and ustrophobia-inducing chamber. This was the only room Guy hade into so far that was devoid of death, which felt ironic.

    Leaving that, and returning to the earlier halls, he arrived at the final doorway, which was less of a door and more of arge entryway into a massive underground field with a girthy pir at the centre holding up the ceiling. There was artificial light embedded into the rough, stony walls illuminating the area. And against the pir, at the centre, there was the figure of a human being propped up straight.

    Guy approached the entity apprehensively. His senses were telling him that the person was dead, but it was very recent. The mana oozing out of him indicated that he was much stronger (possibly Second-Half of Core Formation to early Core Condensation realm). As Guy turned around therge pir, he came face to face with another eye-less dead man, but with a twist. The man''s eyes were extracted, but instead of just being held in his hands they were embedded into the man''s palms. In front of the man, on the ground, was a "suicide letter" scribbled in the man''s blood.

    Guy swallowed a mouthful of saliva and oriented his head to read the text.

    "I am the leader of the Beggars'' Sect in Sunspear-"

    Guy gasped as he finished the sentence. It all started to make sense!

    "No... No, no, no..." Guy shook his head in denial as his eyes scanned the text.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A child''s eyes are the most innocent. They look beyond the rational calctions of an adult''s sight and see the world for what it could be, not what it is. Thus, by robbing over two hundred and forty-three children of their eyesight, I have deprived them of their innocence. I am a sinner who hasmitted an unpardonable crime; my hands are stained with blood and my heart weighs heavily with the consequences of my actions.

    As atonement, I hereby relinquish my eyesight: I do not deserve to see after depriving the world of two hundred and forty-three innocent and creative minds. I wear my sight in my hands: to evoke that one must be mindful of what they do just as well as what they think. I relinquish my cultivation: for it is built on a foundation of one of the vilest sins known to mankind. And I relinquish my life through the most painful path possible: for death without suffering is not punishment enough for my crimes.

    Furthermore, I have included every single detail regarding the functioning of the Beggars'' Sect and its affiliates. I have razed this establishment to the ground with my own hands, and eradicated everyone involved both remotely and directly."

    Guy''s mouth dried up just as rapidly as his heart palpitated. With unstable footing, Guy stumbled backwards and fell on his bottom.

    "No, no, no... NO!" Guy grabbed his head in distress. "What have you done? What have... I... done?"

    Guy would retch, but his bowels had been drained clean from before.

    It had finally happened. The unlikely event he dreaded ever since he realised that another passenger was riding the vehicle that was his body. Guy was so sure... so sure that he could control the Other Guy.

    Guy started to hyperventte. His mental capacities were being overloaded by the magnitude of the actions he''dmitted while he wasn''t in control of his body. Almost instinctively, Guy decided to recede into himself as a defence mechanism. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he happened to find himself inside the RoK.

    He hoped to find an inkling of tranquillity and stability to gather himself, but he was once again assaulted by the garish sight of arge tear in space originating from the void-ck mask at the centre table. The visuals were jarring; it was like a two-dimensional tear had formed on a three-dimensional area and reality itself was being parted. The tear was narrow, but long, and was pitch ck on the other side.

    This clued Guy in on the technique the Other Guy used to intrude into his consciousness. Usually, the Other Guy would be isted behind the void-ck mask, which was usually the portal used to bring him forth from Guy''s subconscious. Upon delving into the subconscious, Guy''s RoK changed into the Church, so one could equate the RoK with the conscious and the Church with the subconscious. Before, his consciousness and subconscious were isted. But now, somehow, the two segments of his soul were connected through this crack.

    Guy approached the tear cautiously. He had an idea of whaty beyond it. He extended a finger and pried open the crack slightly. The process was difficult and it mentally strained him to even shift the cut by half a centimetre. With enough space to peek through, Guy moved his face closer and matched his eye with the peephole he''d created.

    And for the first time in his life, Guy realised that the phrase "the abyss stared back," could actually be taken literally.

    From the other side of the crack, another eye looked back.

    "Greetings," a familiar (his own) voice spoke from the other side. "We meet again."

 Chapter 270 Decisive Strike

    He could not see the man on the other side, there was only a void, but the voice carried through the crack unhindered. The voice that spoke through the tear in space was familiar, in that it mimicked Guy''s own. However, there was a difference in tone and diction. There was a self-assured piousness and confidence in the voice that wascking in Guy''s.

    "You did this!" Guy used immediately. His voice was tinged with anger and betrayal.

    "Technically, we share the same body. So for all intents and purposes, you are equally liable for what transpired."

    "No!" Guy denied it vehemently. "Y-You took over my body a-and you did... all that!"

    "Took over your body? Need I remind you that the body you''re inhabiting does not belong to you in the first ce."

    That retort caused Guy to pause in his decision to argue back. He caught on to his current hysterical state and tried to calm himself once again. There was no use arguing with someone so entrenched in fanaticism as the Other Guy. It was best to ask rational questions so that he could extract the most amount of information from him as possible.

    "Why did you do it?" A in question inquiring upon the man''s purpose. If he could take over Guy''s body like this, why didn''t he do it earlier? Maybe when the bandits attacked the caravan, or maybe when that boy threatened Guy and the Sect.

    "Because it was necessary," the Other Guy answered without hesitation.

    "You decided that by yourself?" Guy challenged.

    "It isn''t my opinion, but a fact," the Other Guy reaffirmed. "What would you have done differently? Talk to them? And then what? Tell me, what use is diplomacy when dealing with animals?"

    "It is not our right to take away the life of another-"

    "What gives them the right, then? You read it yourself, that man alone blinded over two-hundred and forty-three children."

    The Other Guy paused, and Guy could feel a genuine rage emanating from the man''s voice and aura.

    "TWO-HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE!" The voice boomed through the crack, causing Guy to flinch involuntarily. He then heard the man draw in a deep breath before continuing, "Interestingly, that number only consists of boys. What do you think he did with the girls? You can find the answer to that question in any of the brothels connected with the Beggars'' Sect. Do you still think the man doesn''t deserve what I gave him? Can you honestly tell me that NONE of the filth parading in human skin whose lives I liberated deserved it?"

    "I don''t know!" Guy blurted out. "Look, I can understand what you did to the leader, but can YOU honestly tell me that everyone else affiliated with this Sect deserves death?"

    "Yes." Once again, no hesitation. "They made their choice when they decided to throw in their lot with this ilk. Children, I can understand - I can empathise. They have little to no agency in their lives, and their actions are heavily influenced by what they observe around them or what the world foists upon them. Adults, on the other hand, have the agency to control their own lives."

    "Do they? What if their life is set out for them from birth? As you said, a child lives their life like a sponge, what if all that sponge absorbs the maliciousness the world has to offer? What if this is all that they know to be their truth? Do you still think that they cannot be redeemed?" Guy argued.

    "There are some stains that cannot be purged. No matter how much redemption they seek, the damage they''ve done to others cannot be rewound," the Other Guy dered withplete certainty. "I am not going to argue over the morality of my actions, especially not with you, who still teeters on the fence even after the world has gently guided you towards a conclusion since you transmigrated."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What do you mean?"

    "This isn''t Earth. I don''t know what it will take to get that fact through your head?" The Other Guy growled exasperatedly. "It will chew you up and spit you out if you let it. There is always a ce for diplomacy, but that does not mean you can just toss aside the power of physical force. Take a moment to evaluate my actions more critically. Do not think my measures to be that of a narrow-minded fanatic. In many ways, our goals align. Our values align. It is just our choice of action that differs. I don''t know why I''m even trying to assuage you... Well, this ends our conversation. Till next time (and I promise that there WILL be a next time)!"

    As the Other Guy finished his sentence, Guy could hear his voice receding into the distance. Now, he was left all alone, by himself, in the RoK in front of the mysterious tear.

    Every mind has a threshold where it is bombarded with so much information that it breaks. However, there is a bandwidth before that point where the damage is fairly perfunctory in the form of cracks. Since it isn''t an irrecoverable oue, the mind, just like every biological system, tries to fix itself. Take the analogy of a human body, when there is a cut, the body tries to heal that injury by first clotting blood over the area to iste it from contamination, and then slowly reforming the cut skin underneath the scab. This is a basic regenerative operation since the cut is only at the surface level. On the other hand, if an entire appendage is sliced off, the process of healing bes more impossible if care is not administered immediately.

    There is, however, a bandwidth between these two extremes where the damage is sufficiently extensive but still recoverable. For children and people with deformities in the bone, there is an operation that seeks to correct it by breaking the affected bone and holding the two ends in a frame that orients them the right way. The change is done incrementally so that the bones "know" where to connect. Some use this procedure to aesthetically increase their heights; by incrementally increasing separation between the sliced bones, they are forced to form new bone cells to fill in the nks. The mind is also known to do something like that at a psychological level.

    Guy''s mind had cracked under the sudden influx of shocking information. Regardless of how calmly he carried himself, he was floundering internally. The paint was spilt on the canvas without his control, but it was his body that ultimately spoiled the artwork. The me would fall on him. He now had to live with this fact.

    If this was in his past life, there were ways to deal with it. First off, he would admit himself to an Institute of Mental Health and seek treatment. Of course, if he had murdered someone, he would first need to turn himself in to the authorities, which would lead him down a rabbit hole of litigation and convincing the government that he wasn''t in full control of his body, which shouldn''t have been too hard given the level the field of psychiatry and psychology had reached during his time. Even if that wasn''t possible, he could always leverage the capacity of an expert criminalwyer to plead insanity through any means necessary.

    However, just like the Other Guy said, this world was different. First off, the so-called order prevailing in the Empire was tenuous at best. A small gust of wind could push everything into chaos. If Guy confessed to the crime of massacring all these people, he most likely wouldn''t stand a fair trial. Furthermore, the end oue would either be an execution or imprisonment after forcefully destroying his cultivation. He really didn''t want that. Which meant that...

    ''I guess I will have to live with this,'' he concluded with great difort. The thought itself left him with a horrible taste in his mouth. However, this conclusion marked the first step of Guy''s cracked mind attempting to fix itself by filling in the nks.

    Excess rationalisation.

    "Maybe the Other Guy was right... that this end was inevitable. There is no justice. Reporting them to the authorities would yield me nothing. There was nothing I could do to change the alter anything peacefully..."

    "At the very least, I fulfilled my promise to Yohn. He can live his life free from the weight of vengeance bearing down on his soul. His suffering was great, but now he will have the opportunity to heal."

    Guy mumbled to himself as he made his way out of the room. Right as he moved past the entrance, he paused and turned. He looked around onest time and furrowed his brows in thought. Then, pulling out the wand from his coat, he pointed it towards the central pir. An intricate spell circle formed at the wand''s tip following which a steady stream of what looked like liquid fire gushed out. Guy moved the wand''s point all around the room and doused it thoroughly in mes. While retracing his path out of the area, he did not forget to release more of the liquid fire.

    The metal door banged close, stopping the rapidly expanding embers in their track. No evidence could remain. Although the Other Guy was generally hands-off in handling the opponents, his presence in the area itself would allow a mage to derive his identity. However, fire cleanses everything, there should be nothing left within a few more minutes.

    Guy didn''t need to wait to confirm this. He turned and walked out of the alleyway and into the Flea Market. He avoided the crowds by securing high ground through physical means. Moving between ces via rooftops, especially with thergely dpidated buildings and slum housing, was a chore, but far morefortable than getting squished between people and potentially getting trampled over.

    Once he exited the district, Guy wanted to beeline back to the recruitment grounds, but a recent memory held his feet back. He turned perpendicrly and walked in a different direction. His destination was known, and there was a growing suspicion in his heart that he just had to confirm.

    Unfortunately, he realised that the suspicion turned out to be true the moment he arrived in front of his destination: one of the more famous brothels in the Middle-ss Districts... or whatever was left of it, anyways.

 Chapter 271 Coming To Terms With Murder

    Guy was assaulted by another scene like that from a warzone straight out of his past life. The brothel was burnt to ashes, and the authorities were retrieving charred corpses whose flesh had melded into their bones, and whose bones were half a step away from crumbling into ashes. The retrieved bodies, or what remained of them, ranged in size and gender (though thetter was much harder to decipher). An acrid smell of burned flesh pervaded the already congested atmosphere.

    "All the entrances and exits were unlocked, why did no one run out?" Guy eavesdropped on a conversation between two constables nearby.

    "Heck if I know! It''s creepy, I tell ya! Eight other locations, the exact same modus operandi. We have ourselves a serial arsonist in Sunspear."

    "No survivors?" The first constable inquired. To that, the second man leaned closer and whispered in a barely audible voice.

    "On paper, no survivors. But, all of the Beggars'' Sect''s... ''investments'' made it out alive."

    The first man visibly cringed at the connotation hidden in the entuated ''investments'' and probed, "Do you think it''s them?"

    "Can''t be them. There were a lot of affluent individuals caught up in this arson case. There were some government officials from real high ces - high as in close enough to whisper into the Emperor''s ear level of high - that were killed in the process. Then there were also a few Sect Elders from the Four Greats... No one would be stupid enough to antagonise so many people in power!"

    The second paused before highlighting a gruesome fact, "Although it is hard to make out given the state of the bodies, there''s some creepy stuff... The investigators found that most, if not all, of the male bodies, had their genitalia removed - castrated - while the female bodies were skinned alive. Whoever did this... they tortured them before burning them alive."

    The first shuddered as a chill passed through him. "This can''t be just one person, right? The attacks urred all over Sunspear. This has to be some kind of terrorist cell or an Unorthodox Sect flexing their power to make a point!"

    Guy struggled to swallow his saliva as their conversation continued. When they listed the approximate death counts, his legs turned wobbly once again. He held back his anxiousness and let his feet carry him around Sunspear. He wanted to see, with his own eyes, just how much destruction he''d wrought. Guy remembered the locations of the establishments under the Beggars'' Sect''s umbre from the map, he noted that the breadth of their reach was wide. He had no idea of how "he" managed to get from one ce to the next so quickly and inflict so much damage within such a short time span. It also didn''t help that security had ramped up significantly given the nature and coordination of the attacks. One thing was for certain, the Other Guy was a criminal mastermind of another calibre. He had single-handedly overturned the Capital and had done so without leaving a single clue. Guy wasn''t delusional to think that the authorities at Sunspear would be bumbling idiots; they must have the cream of the crop in terms of forensic technologies both scientific and magical, and yet they were unable to discern the culprit as he visited each crime scene personally.

    The weight on Guy''s shoulder, which he had so expertly offloaded through carefully crafted rationalities, was starting to regrow at a frightening pace. So much death... So much carnage... Within weeks, Guy had turned into a murderer... There was a limit to just how much the mind could stretch, self-correct and fix itself from the cracks forming on it before it broke apartpletely. Guy managed to rescue himself from that fate earlier, but the burden had grown beyond what he could handle.

    After finding himself in a secluded alleyway, Guy copsed against the wall and cradled his head. His eyes lost their lustre and turned dull. His lips pped as he muttered unintelligible drivel. Guy was broken.

    This was a crucial juncture for Guy. From this point, he would walk down one of two paths. He would either recover, or he wouldn''t. In thetter case, his shattered mind would remain fragmented, and his psyche would devolve into madness forever. In the former case, he woulde out the other side a changed person. Would the change be for the better or the worse? That would depend on whom you asked.

    Guy wasn''t a person weak of heart or mind. He had inocted himself for the many atrocities the world could inflict upon the beings inhabiting it from his many ventures during his past lives. Guy wasn''t squeamish to death, not anymore. He was just feeling disgusted by just how easy it had been. He could estimate that he had essentially snuffed over three-hundred lives all within a day. Not even the most efficient of weapons in his past life was both so devastating in the breadth of its reach and so surgically precise when eliminating its targets. Guy had achieved all of that, with just the power of his voice. It was a terrible power. It was a power that should not exist!

    Unbeknownst to Guy, a majestic event was transpiring inside him, deep within thepartment of his soul he feared the most. Within the Church, seated upon the benches, were the five ethereal figures of Markus, Jean, Kano, Dora and Marie. Their luminescent forms had grown more opaque since their presence first graced these hallowed halls. The Church was infinite, thus the presence of just those five evoked a sense of emptiness. However, one by one, figures started to pop into existence beside and behind the five figures. The first figure to achieve a translucent form was that of the blinded boy, Yohn. It was then followed by Kevan, the boy''spanion. Then another, and another. All in all, over thirty new entities spawned onto the benches, all of them kids of both genders.

    In the outside world, Guy was immediately snapped out of his downward spiral by a series of hushed whispers.

    "He''s here! I told you I saw him walk in." It was a boy''s voice.

    "Scream louder, why don''t you?" Another boy retorted with heavy sarcasm.

    The conversing figures peeked around the alley''s corner, and Guy managed to catch their faces. He knew them. He had met them earlier.

    "Sect Leader Larks!" Yohn called out as he stepped forward carefully. He used his stick to navigate and stood giddily in front of Guy. His voice was oozing with excitement and his expression augmented this with an outward showing of gratitude.

    "I-I don''t know what to say..." Yohn continued. He was unable to stop his teeth from showing as a smile split his face from ear to ear. "Frankly, when you promised that you would seek justice for everything my friends and I suffered at the hands of those... monsters, I was doubtful that you would be able to achieve it. And for that, this lowly one is filled with guilt."<novelnext></novelnext>

    At this moment, Kevan stepped forward and took over, "We were forced to leave our homes at the whims of mages drowning in the madness brought on by power. At every step of the way, we were forced to face disadvantages with our lives on the line, because of mages. So our scepticism was warranted when another Mage just pulled out an offer too good to be true out of nowhere. But Sect Leader Larks... You proved yourself to be different. You were the first person since we left our homes to properly care for us- to treat us like people."

    The two boys tried to suppress their sobs, but a harmony of whines and sniffles still made it into Guy''s erected sense of hearing. Guy turned towards the source of the sound, and the boy''s followed his gaze.

    "Come out!" The boy''s called. "Come out and pay your respects to your Sect Leader!"

    A small battalion of kids garbed in worn-out clothing stepped out from around the corner. Guy recognised a few more faces within the group, but the rest were all new.

    "Sis, that''s the man..." A little girl, maybe a year older than Dora, peeked from behind another girl around Jean''s age and said with a low voice. "He''s the one who got rid of all the bad men."

    "She was sold to a brothel operated by the Beggars'' Sect," Kevan rified. "When Sect Leader eradicated those dens of evil, you saved her life as well."

    "I did?" Guy blurted out. In response, the little girl inched closer and handed Guy an opaque, red-velvet cloth that was often used to blindfold (un)willing participants during... adventurous and dramatic activities supplementing the pleasures of the flesh.

    "Mister told me to wear this tightly around my eyes and to hold on to it until we meetter," the girl said. "You said that after I put on this blindfold and counted to a hundred, all the bad people hurting me would be gone, and I would be safe."

    "Lili here was to be sold to the Vice Minister of Finance for... a disgusting purpose. However, Sect Leader saved her, just like all of us here. And for that, we are infinitely grateful!" Yohn joined in.

    Kevan nodded and dered, "If the Sect Leader would still have us all, we would love nothing more than to be part of the righteous establishment headed by such a benevolent and courageous figure."

    "Please ept our bow, Sect Leader Larks!" All the kids bellowed in rehearsed unison. They then all got down to their knees and banged their heads against the ground. They repeated this again, and again. With each collision of skulls to the ground, Guy was incrementally brought out of his state of dissociation.

    ''That''s right! It was all for them. What is the value of one degenerate and debased life whenpared to that of innocent kids like them? If their deaths could bring these kids the peace they so urgently need, and the freedom they desire, then it is all warranted!''

    Guy''s mind bounced back from the endless abyss he was stuck in instantaneously. What was broken was now fixed! And thus the most pertinent questiony suspended in the air: Was the new Guy better, or worse?

    ''Those low-lives deserved all that came to them!''

    "It was all for you," Guy said inaudibly while raising Yohn from his prostrated state and dusting him lightly. "This was all for you..."

    A warm smile graced Guy''s face as he beheld all the kids'' show of respect. The fact that he saved all of their lives by himself, and so effectively at that, filled him with happiness, unlike anything he''d felt before. It even superseded the emotional high he''d feel afterpleting a mission for educational development at a remote vige in his previous life.

    ''It is ironic that it took me a second life for my actions to make meaningful and longsting differences,'' Guy thought to himself with a wry smile.

    ____

    A/N: Hopefully this wraps up the character development arc for Guy. More wille, but I will no longer go into Guy''s emotional turmoil should he resort to violence in some form in the future.

    Just to be safe, I must emphasise that I don''t condone violence!

 Chapter 272 All Coming Together (Part One)

    "So they are the new juniors who will be joining our Sect?" Markus half-inquired-halfmented as he let his eyes scan the timid horde of youths fidgeting ufortably before him. His question was directed towards his Master, while thement addressed the congregation with an evaluating intonation. He couldn''t help a doubtful expression from marring his otherwise unaffected face. They were currently in a rented-out VIP section of an inn in the Middle-ss District. They could not take this discussion to a more private and secure area such as the Rasmus n since the kids with their refugee backgrounds faced heavy scrutiny at the gates from the guards when they were passing towards the Elite Districts.

    "That''s all of them, alright!" His Master affirmed with a satisfied smile. "Take good care of them. Make sure they are registered and are intimated with the contract they need to sign. Amongst them, there are a few who haven''t been trained to read and write, so you will have to assist them in going through the Sect''s expectations and what they can expect from the Sect."

    Markus nodded in response, but there was a tinge of apprehension in his movement. He hummed aloud and looked towards his Master with a meaningful gaze. He leaned closer and probed, "Are you sure about this, Master?"

    "They are eager to join, and more than willing to learn along with us," Guy emphasised, though he could see that his Disciple still wasn''t convinced. "You''ve fallen into the ssical trap of pre-judging someone before even getting to know them."

    Guy tilted his head towards the youths and said, "They''re good kids who''ve just managed to get out of a tough point in their lives. They are in dire need of help, and it is within our capacity to offer it."

    "And haven''t I already told you this: it doesn''t matter who joins the Sect, or how capable they are, as long as their heart and minds are in the right ce," Guy highlighted. "I know where your scepticism is rooted, but I can assure you that your fears are unwarranted. I didn''t choose them as backups because I had no other choice. I am genuinely interested in having them be a part of the True World Sect."

    Markus followed his Master''s retreating back as it exited the room. He then turned back to face his potential juniors once again and surveyed them more thoroughly. His gaze pierced through them, causing a few to shudder in difort until it stopped at a boy standing up front.

    "Your eyes..." Markus muttered in a barely audible tone.

    "They were taken from me," the boy answered. "But Sect Leader is a benevolent man. He has helped bring justice to the perpetrators who did this to me. I am forever in his debt!"

    Markus revealed a faint smile at that. Nothing warmed his heart more than seeing his Master receive the recognition he deserved.

    ''They''ve suffered a lot,'' he surmised. ''Thus they know the harsh reality of the world we live in. They will fit in just fine.''

    Markus could see himself in these kids. They were misguided, just like him, and were forced to face society''s torment to protect their families. The world in turn would beat down on them again and again until they were nothing more than husks - ghosts inhabiting a shell. And just like Markus, they were saved from that fate by his Master, Sect Leader Larks.

    "Let me start by weing each and every single one of you to the True World Sect," Markus started with an inviting smile. "Master must have offered a brief exnation about our Sect focusing on the big picture, that is the vision and goals of our Sect as well as what it stands for."

    The crowd stood still until the littlest girl shook her head which caused the rest to follow along. Markus suppressed a distressed sigh and said, "In that case, let us start from the top!"

    "The True World Sect is a new Sect that is part of the Sr Sect Alliance. We are a pure research and development centric Sect, whose goal is to spearhead innovation and guide the world to better understand the universe we live in."

    The deration also elicited silence from the crowd. Markus got the feeling that these details were going over their heads, which was true. The fact was that at the moment, these kids cared very little about the Sect - they only cared about Guy since he was their saviour. So Markus'' evangelism entered one ear and went out the other.

    "Well, let us move on to the membership contract," Markus redirected with a cough. "For those that can read, please take your time to peruse through it. For those that cannot, you may follow me as I read it out loud, or if you prefer, you can depend on your peers for assistance."

    The kids were informed of the various benefits offered by the True World Sect from Guy''s mouth. They all sounded too good to be true. Moving allowance? Support for their family? A t hierarchical structure? Yeah, right! But their cynicism was quenched the more they read the document.

    "I-Is this really true?"

    "It can''t be!"

    Incredulous exmations resounded within the room.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The Sect believes every potential entrant is an investment. To that end, we provide a conducive environment for members to explore their interests and work towards the betterment of the Sect and the world by extension," Markus marketed.

    "Note here that we offer a t relocation allowance should you want your family to follow you to the locale of our Sect. We believe that even in pursuit of self-development, one mustn''t forget their roots and the tethers that bind them to the mortal ne. In fact, if you wish to save on your transportation expenditure, you may tag along with us as we return to our Sect at the end of the conference."

    Markus was about to continue selling the True World Sect''s advantages, but the blind boy interrupted him with his actions. The kid mmed the document onto the table and bit into his right thumb, causing a droplet of blood to peek through the rupture. Hispanion held the boy''s bleeding thumb and brought it close to the contract. The blind boy took over from there and left a scarlet-red thumb impression on the paper.

    "You didn''t need to do that... We have ink..." Markus muttered in a low voice. He then spoke audibly, "Did you read the document- I mean, did you get someone to read the document for you? There are quite a few rules, regtions and expectations from the Sect to its members. You might want to base your decision after evaluating if this truly is the right choice for you."

    "It isn''t necessary," the boy responded. "I trust Sect Leader Larks," he dered with unshakeable certainty that even made Markus question his devotion to his Master.

    Before Markus could urge the boy to reconsider his hasty decision, the rest followed along, bit their thumbs and ced their bloody impressions on paper.

    "Well..." Markus said while suppressing a twitch at the corner of his lips. "Congrattions on bing official members of the Sect, my juniors!"

    The youths pped along excitedly. Magic wasn''t a readily essible resource for everyone in this world. Only those with the finances, connections, or talent could reap the benefits borne of magic. Although sects did eptrge groups of people at once, in the grand scheme of things it was a minuscule or negligible selectionpared to the overall poption. Simrly, the benefits of Academies could only be reaped if one had the right finances to back their studies. ns were a whole other ball game since not just anyone could join them. These youths, like Markus, were bound to suffer a life of extremely poor quality, and would eventually disappear into obscurity never to make a mark in this world. But things would be different now.

    The kids apprehensively let themselves get excited at the prospect of joining an actual, official Sect. Markus could read this emotion overflowing in the room and started to narrate everything they would need to know about the True World Sect.

    ____

    At the same time as this was taking ce, at various locations across Sunspear, key figures and groups were reeling from the sudden acts of terrorism that took ce over the capital. Many people had died, including many key figures, of which there were a lot of known casualties among the higher-ranked officials.

    It was a targeted and highly coordinated attack, which indicated that the perpetrators at least had a deep level of intimacy with the capital. The first suspect was the Beggars'' Sect at the Capital since they were known to be heavily dispersed and ingrained into the roots of the city. Furthermore, the locations targeted by the perpetrators all happened to have some connection with the Sect. However, a deeper investigation brought forth that the Beggars'' Sect had disappearedpletely from the Capital.

    The Sect''s den was found to be burned to the ground, with a mountain of charred corpses within. Interestingly, it wasn''t the fire that killed them. Some of the bodies held traces of sinister torture!

    All of this evidence pointed to one simple fact: There was a new yer in town, and they wanted to make an entrance shy enough to secure a position for themselves in the Capital. Their goal must have been to rece the Beggars'' Sect, seeing as they uprooted the organisation so thoroughly. Unfortunately, this new yercked foresight and decided to antagonise a diversified group of people. Needless to say, they would be facing a war on multiple fronts.

    The facts of this matter, as well as steps that would be needed in the preparation of this new yer''s entrance, were the topics of discussion in thetest Congregation at the Pce of the Sun.

    "Your Majesty, the ongoing investigation has reached a stand-still! We need to take firmer action. Please consider deploying the Imperial Forces!"

    "The Imperial Forces cannot leave the Pce, it is their duty to protect the Emperor and his bloodline!"

    "But the Capital bleeds while we take no action-"

    As the Ministers argued and presented their stances, the Emperor - the Descendent of the Sun - looked on with an irate expression forming on his mien.

 Chapter 273 All Coming Together (Part Two)

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    The Emperor mmed his fist on the Throne''s armrest, causing a heavy boom to echo across the room. A charged silence took hold, as all the nonsensical bickering ceased instantaneously. The room was massive in scale, with the throne ced prominently on a raised stand at the very back. Banners with the symbol of the Sol n nked the throne on either side, and an elegant red carpet rolled from underneath the throne towards the exit on the opposite end. To either side of the carpet, stood two lines of men garbed in the attire attributed to the highest ranks on the Empire''s Government - the Ministers responsible for every governing body.

    "All we''ve been hearing are excuses, upon excuses, upon excuses," the Emperor growled. With each pause, he pummelled his fist on the armrest to entuate his displeasure. "It''s been a whole day! The entirety of the Capital''s Authorities has been dispatched on the case. And yet, none of you can tell me WHO was behind it, or WHY they did it?"

    "You Majesty," a ''brave'' official stepped forth. While controlling, albeit unsessfully, his chattering teeth he responded, "These are unusual circumstances. Usually, terrorist organisations release some sort of manifesto or deration to sign their name and cause behind their act of terror. Yet this... group has been strangely silent."

    The Emperor shot the man a deathly re before rising abruptly from his Mithril-infused Gold-Adamantium Throne. The seat wasden with one of thergest Mana Gems in existence that cycled between every colour on the visible spectrum. It was a symbol of the Sol n''s power, though it only came to be during the reign of the Third Emperor. The many years of peace and stagnation within the Empire had fostered a sense of disillusionment with the Emperor''s Power among themon people. Hence, to prove his might, the Third Emperor had the throne built - crafted by three 5-star cksmiths and two 5-star Enchanters, the decadent piece of furniture was the epitome of excess. It was capable of withstanding attacks that could level an entire city AND its form adapted to match the shape of the person sitting on it while also offering unparalleled cushioning. Furthermore, it only allowed those with Sol blood flowing through their veins to rest their posterior on it. This was also how the originally crowned Fourth Emperor was discredited - as the moment his thighs touched the throne''s metal, his body disintegratedpletely.

    "So you''re telling us that just about anyone can enter the Capital, wreak havoc, and get away with it without any consequences?" The Emperor interrogated, standing half an arm''s length away from the ''brave'' official.

    "Y-Your Majesty-"

    ? "They literally ENTERED our backyard, DESECRATED it, and LEFT! How does it reflect upon the Empire if we cannot even police the city the Throne is situated in?!"

    Once again, silence.

    "Alright, we see how it is," the Emperormented while returning to the throne. "If it is incentives that you need, it is incentives you shall receive."

    "Minister Graves!" He bellowed, and a man standing in the line by the carpet flinched. Collecting himself, he immediately rushed onto the carpet, faced the throne, and kneeled.

    "It appears that your time as the Minister of Internal Security has been..." his eyes locked on to the man''s overflowing fat that not even the loosely fitting uniform could hide "... rxed?"

    "No, Your Majesty!" The man responded.

    "Well, we have learned through our time with the Royal Tutor that the best way to manage people is through the ''Carrot and Stick'' approach. The ''Carrot'' refers to rewards, that one can use to motivate others to act, while the ''Stick'' alludes to punishment. It appears that your position as the Minister of Internal Security has allowed you to umte a lot of... ''Carrots'' though I doubt you''ve eaten any of it," he said while eyeing the man''s rotund frame with disdain. "However, it has amounted to nothing. Thus it appears that it is time for the ''Stick''. Let this be known, that the penalty for every day that passes without any progress in the investigation into the terror attack at the Capital... is one finger."

    "Your Majesty?" The man yelped in shock.

    "Let them think of us as a tyrant," the Emperor dered. "We rather be referred to as a tyrant than a stooge."

    "But we will make your life easier," the Emperor looked behind the kneeling minister and transmittedmands to the guards stationed around the room. "We shall loan you one hundred from the Imperial Forces."

    A group of men in heavy armour of polished metal marched to the Minister''s side and saluted the Emperor.

    "T-Thank you for your graciousness, Your Majesty," the minister fawned. But right as he was about to rise, a heavy hand descended on his back and held him in ce. One of the armoured men dragged forward a table and ced it before him.

    "It has already been a day, Minister Graves," the Emperor revealed with a dangerous edge in his voice.

    The armoured man who brought the table pulled the minister''s left-hand forward and grasped his pinkie finger with a vice grip and pressed it against the table.

    "Y-Your Maj-"

    With a deft movement, the armoured man shed a dagger from his belt, causing the finger to separate from the hand. He then pushed his metal glove, which was a shade of luminescent red after being heated, against the wound causing it to cauterise instantly.

    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The minister shrieked as he held his left hand, short of one finger.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You have nine more days," the Emperor joked. "Make them count, or you may lose the ability to count altogether."

    ____

    Silence reigned in the throne room after that over-the-top disy of brutality. The Emperor wasn''t one to endorse such violence, as his tenure to date had been fairly modest. However, the ministers could gauge the cause for such a reaction.

    The rtionship between themon folk, the ns, and the government (which by extension epassed the crown) has always been a precarious tightrope walk. While all the crown cared for was the support of the ns, it would be idiotic to write off the power of themoners in its influence on the Empire as a whole. Commoners that believed in the Crown''s authority often performed better than those that were disillusioned by it. And in a state where the majority were illiterate and ill-informed, it was unbelievably easy for the opinion of the popce to shift from one spectrum to the next.

    Furthermore, human psychology tended to devolve and matched that of sheep when the number of voicesprising the flock exceeded a certain amount. Given enough momentum, it could even turn the opinions of the ns that governed the many sectors of the Empire.

    The events that transpired yesterday, if left to fester without a proper resolution, would eventually enter the rumour mill and evolve into something damaging to the Empire''s reputation. This was because, amongst the many dead from the terrorist attack, a good portions were high-ranking officials and ministers who reported directly to the Emperor. The story could only focus on the number and nature of the casualties for so long before the question moved on to what those officials were doing in such establishments of ill-repute in the first ce!

    The Crown was already facing heavy criticism from the ns and themon folk for its decision to yield to a peaceful resolution in the long-standing war against the ckstar Kingdom. If the news of the officials'' borderline illegal sexual proclivities made the rounds as well, then the citizen''s trust towards the crown - which was already hanging by a thread - would snap!

    "Your Majesty, the Kingdom is pressuring us to decide on the date for the Marriage between the Princess of the Empire and the Prince of the Kingdom," the Minister of Foreign Affairs brought up worriedly, breaking the charged silence.

    "We have yet to decide on the Princess, how can we settle on a date?" The Emperor sighed exhaustedly. "Must we go through with this decision?"

    "Your Majesty, they refuse to budge on this stand..."

    The Emperor was about to respond when suddenly, his head darted upwards and his gaze sharpened in the direction of the Inner Court. A faint tremor passed through the room, causing the pirs holding up the ceiling to creak lightly.

    "Head Eunuch Row-"

    "This ve will investigate the disturbance," a masculine voice with a feminine tune interjected the Emperor''s sentence before a man dressed in the Head Eunuch''s attire appeared out of thin air, bowed, and disappeared.

    The Emperor shed a look towards the Imperial Forces stationed in the room and transmitted a series ofmands telepathically. Although he''d lent an appreciable amount of his forces to the City''s guard, there was still enough remaining to handle this... situation.

    "The court is adjourned," the Emperor dered as he stood up with a flourish. With that said, the ministers filed out of the room hurriedly. He then proceeded to walk at a brisk pace towards the source of the disturbance while spreading out his senses to cote as much information avable as possible.

    "It appears that a pest has, quite literally, entered our backyard," he mused while observing the fight between Eunuch Row and the assant. "And it appears that it has taken something... valuable from us." The caretakers of the Royal-Blood Lanterns were skittering around in worry over the dousedntern of the Second Princess.

    Who was this Second Princess? Why hadn''t he heard of her? What was her name? Where did she-

    The Emperor exuded a calm and collected aura, but he faltered when in an instant, the presence of his most trusted servants ceased to exist!

    "Guards! Form up, now!" He bellowed, before bursting out from his position. Tracing the movement of the intruder, he predicted the path he would move through andmanded the Imperial Forces to form an imprable barricade in advance.

    For the first time in forever, the Emperor stood battle-ready in front of his army. His form was steady and unwavering, his gaze narrowed and focused, and his presence radiating an aura of absolute confidence.

    The waitsted minutes, but the tense atmosphere hanging over the defending forces caused it to feel like hours. Eventually, the target entered the visible range. The man, or thing, walked casually and nonchntly but exuded an explosive aura of destruction. None of the soldiers standing behind the Emperor could stand still when facing the approaching entity that emanated a deathly, green, corrosive me with every step it took.

    The contraption with the human face, and its appearance sparked a hint of recognition from the deepest recesses of the Emperor''s memories.

    "So one of the Yoruz n''s dastardly contraptions still lives? Here we thought that the knowledge and skill to create them went extinct with that wretched woman," hemented as he stepped forth. The memory he recalled wasn''t pleasant - the Emperor anticipated an extremely frustrating fight. He was not looking forward to this at all...

 Chapter 274 Departure From The Capital

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Complete and utter mayhem took hold over the Capital. Within days of arge, highly-coordinated terrorist attack, another attack took ce in the Pce. Not much was known about the second attack, as the news leaving the Pce had suddenly ceased. All that remained were rumours, flimsy hearsay at best. And this farfetched words-of-mouth bordered on treasonous talk, given how crassly they disparaged the Emperor. Some even went as far as to state that the Emperor was... emascted? First off, that could mean a plethora of things ranging from a simple sleight targeted at his masculinity to an actual act of emasction by castration. Secondly, the very thought could get one imprisoned for inciting treason!

    Human beings, like most creatures with high sentience, seek to find order in the inherently disordered world. They search for patterns where none exist, and reason when certain acts are simply a result of pure coincidence. In that vein, many folks connected the attacks in the city with the one that took ce in the Pce. Themon theory was that the first attacks were a distraction, to divert security out of the Pce (given how there was a sudden increase in soldiers dressed in the Imperial Force''s attire moving around the city moments before the second attack). As this theory made the rounds, it started to gain traction. It was believable, after all. Was it more believable that the two incidents were incited by two different parties with two different goals, or if the incidents were somehow rted and part of a grander scheme?

    "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not centaurs." Amon phrase that establishes the baseline for any investigation. A logically sound basis, but one which did not apply to this situation at all! Because this time, the hoofbeats belonged to centaurs after all.

    In fact, Guy was also shaken after hearing about the second attack. He was worried that, somehow, the Other Guy had possessed his body again and gone out and done something as stupid as butting heads with the Crown! He tried going back to the RoK and screaming into the tear, only to receive nary a response. Thus, Guy waited on pins and needles for the Imperial Forces toe knocking and drag him away.

    Ande knocking they did, much, muchter. Fortunately, it wasn''t to cart him off and have his head separated from his body (or whatever barbaric form of capital punishment they employed in this ce). Rather, it was to conduct an inquiry and search. It was evident that the officials were grasping at straws at this point. They had incorrectly initiated their investigation by assuming that there was a connection between the attacks and were now essentially working backwards by trying to find any evidence at all that could corroborate that.

    Guy pitied the unlucky person who would fall victim to this fanatical search-and-interrogation once the Forces eventually grew tired and frustrated. He sympathised with them, but he couldn''t just hand himself over to the authorities on a silver tter! What Guy needed was a distraction, something to overpower the guilt bubbling up from within. He hoped that the Alliance''s Conference would offer that distraction. The itinerary indicated that there would be additional events and tournaments following the Recruitment Drive wherein the exploratory rights to a recently discovered inheritance ground would be awarded. Guy didn''t have ns or hopes to win that award, but he felt that the spectacle would alleviate the burden of all the blood staining his hands that were gnawing away at his soul.

    However, it seemed that Guy''s fate just wasn''t leaning in his favour (he did not have Marie or Krish to verify this, but it sure felt that way). The Conference was put on hold until next year in light of recent events. A few members and elders from the Four Greats had met their demise amidst the terror attacks as well. The sects weren''t allowed to conduct their own investigation by the government. Furthermore, the entire district was undergoing an even more stringent search-and-interrogation procedure due to the breadth of the sects'' affiliations.

    Therefore, the sects decided to disband and regroup at ater stage. Needless to say, everyone was left with a horrible taste in their mouths and a metaphorical red cheek. It felt humiliating to have to just "live with it". This wasn''t how a mage''s life was supposed to be! There had to be someone to me for all of this!

    The "someone" who should be rightfully med was getting ready to leave the Capital.

    "The new recruits need time. I''ve already distributed the travelling expenses to them all," Markus narrated as he stood before his carriage. "I shall return to the Sect immediately and prepare for their arrival."

    "I would love to return with you, but I promised Jean that we would address the pressing pandemic up North," Guy responded.

    "Are you sure you want to take Dora with you, Master?" Markus probed.

    "I know it is a risky move. But the girl has been counting the days," Guy said with a wry chuckle. "ording to her, Kano has been out for two more weeks, and thatmuting does not count towards the trip days since she''s basically doing nothing during that time."

    "She''s got a good point there," Markus smiled in response.

    "You''ll do fine," Guy added as he patted Markus on his shoulders and then rubbed them. "We''ve designed a study n. We''ve constructed a course outline. Just follow it until you befortable."

    "I hope that I don''t disappoint..." Markus responded with a nervous sigh.

    "You know that you can never disappoint me!" Guy said in response to an embarrassed Markus. He then observed from atop the Capital''s walls as his Disciple ascended his ride and rode off through the gates and into the horizon. His ride blended into the sea of others amidst the mass exodus. Merchants were streaming out of the Capital due to the increased stringency of the security affecting their streamlined business process. Imports were being held back for extended durations to facilitate additional levels of inspection, sales were being affected with constant search-and-seizure being conducted by Capital''s security and Imperial Forces on a power trip, and there was a marked reduction of customers as people just didn''t feel safe entering public areas.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I can''t stay in this city any longer," Guy muttered as he turned and walked back to the Rasmus n''s residence.

    ____

    Guy departed the city with Jean, Dora and Josie a day after Markus. Their path veered Northwest from the Capital, in the general direction of the Balen Duchy. ording to chatter in the Merchant''s Guild, there was a sudden uptick in the cases of viges turning barren after contracting the hitherto unnamed disease. Through word-of-mouth, they learned a few of the symptoms of the illness. Fever, headache, loss of appetite, dehydration, development of ck bumps all over the body, the bumps filling up with viscous ck pus that leaks,plete organ failure, and death. The worst part was that all of this would ur within days of the first sign of exhibiting any symptoms.

    As of yet, there were no survivors from this gue. Furthermore, all the victims were mortals - it appeared that whatever it was, the average mage''s immune system was fully capable of warding it off. This was also probably why the response tobat this problem has been so dyed. Although the local ns had taken steps to address this problem (which had inevitably affected their source of ie through taxation), it hadn''t reached a level that warranted a raise in priority. Nheless, there were people already on the case, and needless to say that the progress towards solving it was moving at a snail''s pace.

    "You''re worried," Guy noted after reading the faint stress lines showing on his second student''s usually unperturbed face.

    "I am... I don''t know if I can help those people," Jean confessed. "I''m not my mother. If only she were here..."

    "It would be asking too much to have a child such as yourself cure an epidemic of such a magnitude," Guy noted. "It doesn''t matter if you seed, nor does it matter if you fail. What matters is that you give it your all! Do not ck, do notpromise, and do not settle. Do everything that you can within your limit, and then step beyond. Because what hurts the most is knowing that you could have done just a little more. There are very few second chances in life, even fewer so when ites to healing someone. So you must make sure that at every try, you give it your very best shot! Sess is expected, failure should only be a result of ineptitude, not negligence."

    Jean nodded thoughtfully as she clenched her palms into a resolute fist. Her gaze veered off into the distance, as the empty ins started to merge into dense shrubbery. With every bump and tumble of the carriage, her mind grew more and more vtile.

    #Let this be a lesson for you. You will NEVER be as good as her!#

    *You should just do your best. Don''t worry about what anyone else says!*

    #All you''re meant for is failure. All you are good for is watching people die.#

    #What CAN you even do after going there? You are nothing! You will amount to nothing! You -#

    "ENOUGH!" Jean bellowed.

    "Young miss?" Josie eximed as she arrived before Jean. Dora groggily woke up from her sleep. Guy looked over and saw Jean grasping her head in distress.

    "Jean, are you okay?" Guy asked worriedly.

    "Y-Yes, I''m fine. Just a little stressed, that''s all," she responded before entering a meditative pose in the lotus position.

    Hopefully, that would shut the voices up.

 Chapter 275 Manufactured Coincidence

    The words of assurance spoken by his Master did little to relieve the stress umting within Markus. His mind was in flux, preupied with a myriad of thoughts, though nearly all of them boiled down to the singr question: "Will I be able to handle all those people until Master arrives?"

    Markus''s greatest fear was disappointing his Master. While his Master vehemently asserted that he could do no wrong, that simple statement actually amplified the burden bearing down on his gut. It was the burden of expectation. Markus feared that he wouldn''t live up to his Master''s perception of him. Markus didn''t believe himself to be as capable and authoritative as his Master believed him to be. He didn''t think he waspetent enough to teach those barely a few years younger than him properly. What if he taught incorrectly and ruined their basics?

    Such thoughts swam through his mind, causing the already unpleasant and bumpy ride to grow increasingly tumultuous. The early stretch from the Capital to the forests was headache-inducing, given the unbearable traffic. However, as they reach the periphery of the Central ins, the caravans and carriages started to disperse along different paths as their final destinations diverged. After the carriage entered the familiar path, Markus let himself dissolve into his thoughts and allowed his overactive imagination to process through all possible situations he could experience during his time training the new recruits and bringing them up to speed.

    What to do when someone refuses to obey and acts rebellious? What if someone has difficulty reading and writing, like Kano? What to do with the blind boy? He remembered his Master talking about a tactile writing system that could be used by people that were visually impaired - he would have to visit the Sect''s Library and brush up on that topic. What to do if the recruits be dissatisfied and choose to leave? What if-? What if-? What if-?

    Surprisingly formting a solution to all those "what if''s" actually alleviated some of Markus'' anxiety. Just knowing that he was prepared for every scenario, no matter how absurd, filled him with some confidence. After a point, the "what if''s" started to barrel out of control and Markus had to take out a few pages from his Grimoire to jot down his n of action with more detail. His handwriting was abysmal thanks to the bumpiness of the ride, which got so bad that Markus dropped his "counterattack" strategising spree and started to brainstorm possible solutions to cushion the vibrations of carriages such as this one without having to rely on expensive enchantments.

    "Maybe springs?" But that would agitate the carriage further. The purpose of this device should be to dampen the vibrations. "Maybe some form of hydraulics?" There were no bad ideas in brainstorming, and true to that motto, many absurd ideas started to upy real estate on the sheet of paper.

    This process extended for a while as Markus lost track of the time. But he was immediately pulled out of his inspired state when the carriage halted with a sudden jolt.

    "What''s the matter?" Markus inquired the driver while peeking through the grill at the front of the covered carriage.

    "The path appears to be blocked, Sir," the driver responded.

    Markus furrowed his brows as he descended from the carriage. As the driver said, the path truly was blocked. A massive tree had copsed andpletely shut off the usually trodden path. Markus climbed over the fallen log and was shocked to see utter carnage extending as far as his sights could reach. Trees uprooted, the ground wrecked to kingdome, and suspicious damage markers caused by a feline beast w and human weapons of various kinds.

    "What in the world?" His eyes caught movement in the distance. shing lights, a loud rumble, and then the ground physically shook. After meditating and letting his ears hone in that general direction, he managed to catch the muffled sounds of metal hitting something hard but not exactly metal. He was intrigued and definitely interested to see what exactly was happening that caused this mini-disaster, but Markus'' survival instincts took precedence.

    "We cannot go down this path. I could clear the wreckage, but it would be unwise to intercept a fight between what appears to be a group of mages and a Magical Beast," Markusmented while approaching the carriage. "Do you know of an alternative?"

    The driver scratched his chin contemtively before suggesting, "There is another path that cuts through the denser parts of the forest, but I wouldn''t suggest it. I''ve heard that some bandits have recently set up camp in those parts."

    "Are there mages amongst these bandits?" Markus probed.

    "I don''t think so..." the man responded more certain than uncertain.

    "Well, I can''t afford to dy my arrival. I say we take this riskier path," Markus dered. "I''llpensate you for the trouble."

    "This detour will only affect the hazard pay. Please sign the contract in the box underneath your seat to agree that any changes to said hazard pay are at the driver''s discretion," the driver responded.

    "You have a contract prepared for THIS instance?" Markus blurted out incredulously.

    "Boaz Transports are always prepared," the man droned in a practised manner. With a loud "Hiyah!" and a crack of his whip, the driver got the carriage lurching and expertly performed a U-turn within the tight space.

    After backtracking for a few kilometres, the carriage went semi-offroad through a path less frequented. The ground was far more unevenpared to the ones they trod earlier, and it curved excessively around jutting rocks and trees.

    "How much of a dy do we expect with this new itinerary?" Markus probed.

    "We''re covering good ground. By my estimate, we will reach half a day earlier than expected," the driver answered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That quickly?"

    "This way actually cuts through a lot of territories. The only reason it hasn''t been developed is that in doing so it would be skipping three towns. The townships lobbied heavily in every instance they proposed such a development," the driver expounded. "Besides that, there are a lot of beast haunts in these woods. Why take the initiative to disturb sleeping dogs?"

    Markus wanted to continue the conversation, but his attuned senses caught a sound cutting through the eerily silent woods.

    "Did you hear that?" Markus asked involuntarily.

    "Master Mage, my hearing isckingpared to yours," the driver shot back with a bitter smile.

    "It sounds like..." Markus'' voice diminished into a mutter as he honed his senses once again to tune into the noise. It was the sound of hasty footsteps, light, belonging to a youth or a petite adult. It was followed by ovepping sounds of men screaming and their heavy footfalls as they chased the youth.

    At this point, Markus was faced with a decision. Should he descend and investigate this disturbance?

    Truthfully, he wouldn''t have been in this position if, by sheer coincidence, a group of rogue practitioners (mages unaffiliated with any organisation) led by an expert in the Core Condensation realm hadn''t intercepted a Deathstalker in the middle of its hunt. It was a coincidence because Deathstalkers are nocturnal - they evenck biological visual sensors and rely purely on sight, scent and heat signatures to stalk and bring death upon their prey.

    Deathstalkers resemble jackals in frame but grow up to be asrge as horses. Theyck eyes but have exceedinglyrge, fan-like ears and long whisker-like protrusions on their faces that can move independently of each other. Their ws grow to the size ofrge knives, and their four tails are twice the length of their bodies. They stalk their prey onnd, or through the trees. They attack by first whipping the victim with their tails that secrete and coating themselves with a fast-acting neurotoxin.

    This particr Deathstalker was also in the Core Condensation realm. It had been tracking arge Tauren (standard evolution of a bovine that has achieved a magical breakthrough and stepped into the Core Formation realm) through the night. Just as dawn broke, when the Tauren grew tired and the Deathstalker prepared to strike, the ying field was tampered with by a group of annoying mages. The Deathstalker did not take the upset lightly and immediately moved to kill the interlopers. If it could not eat tasty Tauren meat, it would make do with these humans!

    The Stalker was lithe and agile. It neutralised four out of the ten humans using its neurotoxin within seconds of first contact. The remaining started to fall one after the other, but one amongst the group was far too resilient. The Stalker recognised his cultivation to match its own. The fight overturned trees, and bled into the caravan paths, destroying arge swatch of it in the process.

    The mages weren''t tracking the Deathstalker at all, they were feeling adventurous and chose to cut through the forest to reach their destination more quickly. Unfortunately, that decision pitted them against the second most feared beast in the forest (just below the Manticore).

    A series of coincidences ced Markus in such a position. He could very easily ignore the troubling sounds and continue his journey. But he hated bystanders the most. Every time people bullied him, bystanders looked on and let it happen. When his family faced difficulties and infrequent verbal abuse, bystanders looked on and let it happen. When his Master suffered such disrespect and disparagement from people who thought themselves entitled, bystanders just looked on and let it happen.

    And here, another was potentially in life-threatening danger, and he wasn''t going to just be a bystander and let it happen.

    With a leap, he descended from the carriage and rushed in the direction of the sound. The trees blurred past him, as his form flew and wove through it all. The sounds grew clearer, and he realised that the person in trouble was a girl, white-haired, and possibly a year or so younger than him. The instigators were a group of rough-looking men - bandits.

    He managed to only catch the tail end of what appeared to be a conversation, as one of the men pounced on her and proceeded to perform an unthinkable - disgusting - act!

    All Markus saw was red. In ce of the girl, who was holding strong and not showing an iota of weakness, he saw his sisters. He saw Dora, he saw Marie, he saw Jean!

    Markus'' hand moved towards his wand. He extended his hand. A rageful symphony of spell circles formed all around him.

    And then bodies turned to mulch as they crashed against the ground.

    None survived.

 Chapter 276 Proposition/Invitation

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    The girl barely managed to eke out a question before she copsed due to exhaustion. Markus reverted from his rage-filled stupor and beheld the carnage wrought by his wrath. What were once robust human bodies had now turned into crumpled-up messes of flesh, blood and crushed bones. These were the first men Markus had killed. He''d expected a more visceral reaction, but maybe because of the pumping adrenaline, he felt absolutely nothing. In fact, he felt little sympathy for these dead beasts in human skin. They deserved this for what they were about to do- what they may have been doing even before Markus stumbled upon them.

    Markus did not like being violent. He''d been on the receiving end of it for a good part of his childhood. But the world he lived in was not conducive to a person with a non-violent demeanour. Therefore, what happened today was ultimately an eventuality in Markus'' opinion - he''d either take a life now orter. Nheless, his hands would be stained in blood. He was only thankful that the reason for that was to protect an innocent soul and not to further a selfish agenda.

    "Umm, excuse me... ma''am?" Markus said while nudging the unconscious girl with his wand. He cautiously extended his hand towards her neck to check her pulse, when suddenly the girl''s eyes shed open and her arm shot out with malicious intensity. Thankfully, Markus was in the Foundation Establishment realm or he would have suffered from a ruptured jugr vein and eventual death. Markus moved his head back by a centimetre as the small, finger-sized knife that slid out of the inner lining of the girl''s sleeve breezed past him.

    "Woah! Rx, I am not going to hurt you!" Markus said while leaping a few steps back.

    "Who are you? What do you want?" The girl demanded with a feral madness in her eyes, one that was missing when she was... being held down against her will.

    "You had this with you all along?" Markus asked while nudging his eyes towards the dagger. "You''d have taken at least one down with you."

    "The world isn''t a safe ce," the girl responded matter-of-factly. "A girl needs to know how to protect herself."

    A sudden gust of wind blew through the area, dislodging the girl''s torn clothes and revealing excessive skin. Markus coughed before removing his outer coat and throwing it toward the girl. "You should cover yourself. As night is approaching, it will get much colder."

    The girl obliged without hesitation and covered herself with the coat, which was one size toorge for her.

    "Which way are you headed? We''re moving Northeast, towards Radiant City. If your destination is along the way, why don''t you join us?" Markus offered.

    The girl narrowed her eyes and shot out an evaluating re that unnerved Markus. He feltpletely exposed in front of her gaze which was more invasive than an uncontrolled mana sense.

    "Why?" The girl asked.

    "Why... what?"

    "Why are you helping me?"

    Markus''s eyes widened in dumbfounded shock, "Because... it is the right thing to do."

    The girl''s jaw dropped in disbelief before she schooled her expression with a knowing smirk. "Well. Thank you, I am grateful for your assistance. I appreciate the ride, but could you please help retrieve my belongings? It should probably be amidst the wreckage a few kilometres that way."

    ____

    The ''right'' thing. Who decided what was right and what was wrong? It was all subjective. Only those with power could dictate the rules, that was the fact of life.

    At this point, Shuri had two options. Test her luck in this unknown forest, or grab the metaphorical hand offered by the boy. She didn''t trust him, naturally. But logic dictated that her chance of survival would be higher with him, so she took up his offer. He offered to carry her, as she stumbled multiple times with her still shaking and bruised legs, but she denied it immediately - she didn''t feel like being ''handled'' right now.

    The boy wasn''t hard to read, he practically wore his emotions on his sleeves - he wouldn''t survive a second in the pce. But Shuri preferred this, as it made her life much easier.

    "My name''s Markus, by the way," the boy offered. He''d slowed his pace down significantly, probably in consideration towards Shuri''s injuries. Shuri looked at the boy who had her luggage hanging over his shoulders and decided not to respond to the question.

    "Hmm... I get it. You are suspicious of me. That''s okay," the boy- Markus said with a shrug. "But I''d really like to assign you a name in my mind instead of referring to you as just ''girl''," he added with a chuckle, though that diminished when she didn''t entertain that sorry excuse towards humour.

    The carriage came into view twenty minutes after leaving the location of the attack.

    "Master Mage," the driver called out worriedly. "Umm... who might this be?"

    "She''s..." Markus looked towards Shuri expectantly, but she ignored him once again.

    "*cough* This youngdy here was ambushed by bandits. Her ride has been totalled, so I offered her a ride to her destination."

    The driver sighed and said, "The contract was for a single client. A second passenger changes the deal." He then reached to his side and retrieved a stack of papers, probably a contract.

    Markus groaned loudly, "Alright, how much is it?"

    "I can cover my share," Shuri interjected.

    "No! I can''t possibly-"

    "It is the least I can do after what you''ve done for me," Shuri interjected once again. She yed towards Markus'' inherently kind nature. She didn''t want to feel indebted to the boy, not more than she already was.

    After some internal debating, that was as clear as day on the boy''s transparent face, he relented. And with that decision, and the contracts signed, Shuri ascended the carriage and rested herself closest to the exit. She was feeling drowsy. And though she wanted to remain awake, especially when amidst strange newpany, her body was not in the mood to listen. Sleep took her almost immediately.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ____

    When Shuri woke up, she wasn''t in the carriage anymore, instead, she wasying on a in mattress sized for one person. It wasn''t as soft as her bed back in her personal hell, but it was far morefortable than the barrel she used to hide inside, and the rocking carriage she fell asleep in. But that was all beside the point, "How did I get here?"

    At that moment, Shuri heard a series of uniform knocks. Her sight turned clearer and she realised that she was currently in a single bedroom of sorts. Apart from the bed, there was a table, a chair, and a small cupboard, all within a tiny space. The knock wasing from the door on the far side.

    "Excuse me, youngdy? Young ma''am?" It was Markus'' voice. "What do I even call her?" the boy muttered.

    "Yes," Shuri answered loud enough for the boy to hear.

    "Good, you''re awake. We decided to prepone our rest stop and opted to stay at an inn in the nearest vige. I had you moved up to the bedroom since you were sound asleep. Do not worry, it was all contactless," the boy assured. He started to speak hurriedly and anxiously, and his voice gradually grew louder. Shuri suppressed her growing headache and stumbled groggily towards the door.

    "I''m a mag- Oh! Good morning!" The boy greeted midway through his statement of justification. "I''ve taken the liberty of moving your things into the cupboard there."

    Shuri approached the cupboard and pulled its creaky doors open. She saw her bag ced carefully, untouched. But she was also surprised to see a new pastel yellow dress, following the simrmoner''s style she was wearing earlier.

    "This-?"

    "Oh! I saw that your clothes... Anyways, I felt that you would want to change and freshen up," Markus responded.

    Shuri ced the dress against her body and was impressed to see its size matched her.

    "I have some experience purchasing clothes for women," Markus added sheepishly.

    "Past lovers?" Shuri probed offhandedly, only to see the boy''s face redden in embarrassment. He shook his head vehemently. "I was only joking," Shuri added. "Now if you wouldn''t mind..." she gestured with her gaze which the boy understood as the queue for him to leave.

    "I''ve ordered breakfast," he said as he left. "Come down before it gets cold."

    ____

    Markus was entranced as the girl descended the staircase garbed in a simple yellow-pastel dress with her long, ethereal, silver hair set neatly into a thick braid. All eyes turned towards her and followed her as she sat on Markus'' table. The enrapturing visual continued until the girl''s food arrived and was ced before her.

    "Slow down, you''ll choke," Markus warned while moving the cup of water towards the girl scarfing down food like a hungry beast.

    The girl chewed her food thoroughly and gulped down a mouthful of water and released an uncharacteristic sigh of contentment, the first sign of any emotion apart from dour apathy or cautiousness.

    "So, what''s your n?" Markus asked. "Back at the wreckage, I didn''t see anyone else apart from the driver. Are your parent''s okay?"

    The girl''s hand paused, before she revealed, "I don''t have any parents."

    Markus hummed in contemtion. All signs indicated that it was a lie. No orphan could produce so much currency as she did yesterday. Most probably, she was a runaway. What was she running away from? Markus had many more questions with the intention of probing the girl''s background. But ultimately he decided to go down another path.

    "I can empathise," Markus said. "I don''t have parents either - I''m an orphan, you see. Though I''m lucky to have a matron who raised me, a Master that guides and cares for me, siblings to support me, and a Junior Sister who worries after me. It wasn''t always that peachy. I used to live in the streets as a child; begging, mostly. I won''t bore you with the details, but needless to say, I am grateful that all of these people became a part of my life. They saved me from a terrible fate."

    Markus noticed a deprecating sneer sh past the girl''s face while he was talking about his family - amon sign of a person jaded by the world after experiencing irreconcble familial hardships of their own.

    "What about you? Is there anyone who you care about, or cares about you, waiting at the end of your travels?" Markus inquired nonchntly.

    Seemingly, the previous personal anecdote lubricated the conversation just enough for the girl to lower her guard slightly.

    "No," she responded definitively. This was the first time she offered any information about her personal life. It was curt, but Markus was nheless impressed with himself for breaking through a barrier.

    "What is your objective, then?"

    The girl looked directly into Markus'' eyes with a steely gaze and said, "Survive."

    Markus could feel an overbearing weight on that single word - it carried with it many meanings beyond the explicit. A tense silence took hold of the immediate atmosphere surrounding their table. Although conversations continued nearby, Markus'' world turned mute.

    He let his thoughts wander as they worked through the many implied meanings of the girl''s goal to "survive". Eventually, after a long ten minutes of pause, while the girl continued to fill her stomach, Markus snapped his fingers and asked, "What do you think about joining my Sect?"

    The girl choked on the food she was chewing, "Excuse me, what?"

    "My Sect," the boy repeated with a dead-serious expression with an expectant glint in his eyes while pointing at the insignia sewn into his coat. "Would you be interested in joining the True World Sect?"

 Chapter 277 Joining The True World Sect

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    "Why?" Shuri asked. She immediately followed up by saying, "Don''t tell me that It''s because it is the right thing to do or some stupid reason like that."

    As she said those words, Shuri realised that she had actually spoken out her mind. She realised that the many filters she applied to every word she spoke had suddenly disappeared.

    Markus chuckled mirthfully and said, "It IS the right thing to do."

    He let the smile fade into neutrality, looked directly and continued, "I''ll be honest with you. There are a lot of inconsistencies in your stories."

    Shuri agreed on that point. She hadn''t been managing her backstory with the same level of stringency in the recent day or so, as much as she did in the past. She med this oversight on the intense emotional and semi-physical rollercoaster she had the privilege of riding. Nheless, having her mistake pointed out made her realise that she had severely underestimated the boy''s emotional intelligence. Everyone lies. That was a fact. And this boy here had yed the bumbling, innocent act to lure her into a false sense of security.

    "But, I choose to ignore these inconsistencies because of a simple fact," Markus raised a finger and said, "It doesn''t matter."

    "You do have parents," Markus affirmed. "But you ran away from home. If this was just a rebellious act, you wouldn''t carry yourself so decisively. Your behaviour and actions show no indication or hint of you reverting to your past life. You didn''t care about the poor condition of this inn, or the shabby presentation of the food even though you clearly are from a family from the higher rungs of society."

    "A child never runs away from home and cuts all ties like this unless there is something seriously wrong," Markus highlighted. "I bet you nned everything down to the detail - your escape, your new life, your entire future! But it all fell apart because of something out of your control."

    Markus shrugged, "Shit happens! You can''t control the world, no matter how hard you try. But you CAN control how to adapt to what the world throws at you. However, if even that bes difficult, you can always rely on someone else."

    Shuri held back her scoff. Why would she entrust herself to someone else''s mercy willingly? It was akin to handing a sharpened knife to a turncoat and expecting them to not stab you in the back when the going gets tough.

    "You''re effectively stranded now," Markus reminded. "I can''t, in good conscience, leave a fellow youth go through a painful experience all alone if I can help it. So, I''d like to offer you a hand. Join my Sect - use it as an opportunity to regroup. You don''t have to cultivate if you don''t want to, there are many potential job opportunities if you wish to earn money in the meantime."

    "You''re quite perceptive," Shurimended instinctively. "I didn''t..." expect the boy to narrate the entirety of her life so sinctly.

    "I don''t even know anything about your sect," Shuri responded, but she received an immediate response in the form of a folded leaf of paper. She held it carefully and unfolded it from its side, revealing an borately designed document that exined everything about the True World Sect at a single nce. What attracted Shuri was the standardised and uniform lettering. It had a consistency unachievable in writing. After spending a few seconds to appreciate the aesthetics of the leaflet she gained a better understanding of the Sect.

    "This is nothing like what a Sect should be," Shuri voiced her confusion. "If anything, it mimics the workings of an academic institution."

    "That''s precisely the point," Markus affirmed.

    "If that was the goal all along, then why register with the Sect Alliance?"

    "Because our focus isn''t just to learn and explore, but also to apply the knowledge meaningfully. To that end, mana and magic are a crucial element of the natural world that affect it in ways that we either don''t know or take for granted," Markus borated.

    "It still sounds like an Academy of Magic with extra steps," Shuri retorted.

    Markus revealed a wry smile and said, "It would have been so if only our Sect Leader wasn''t cklisted from the Co-operative."

    "Besides," he eximed. "The Co-operative offers a much shorter leash for the Teachers registered under it, given how it is an international body. So in the grand scheme of things, going down the Sect route was the most optimal move."

    Following that, the boy descended into a passionate tirade extolling the Sect, the Sect Leader, the Sect members, the Sect''s values, the Sect''s campus, and on, and on- Shuri tuned out the conversation after a point and contemted her next move. She was definitely tempted by the offer. ''Noone would think that a Princess of the Empire would be affiliated with an unknown sect in a rural vige. It would be the perfect ce to remain incognito and, as the boy suggested, umte resources to deploy a corrected n of action.''

    Of course, there came the issue of trust, of which Shuri had none, of the people affiliated with the Sect. This hitherto unknown Sect Leader who was also Markus'' Master sounded surreal, to say the least. She was certain that the boy greatly exaggerated the man''s character to present him in a positive light. She did not think that there could be anyone so selfless and peaceful in this world. Furthermore, the Sect sounded too good to be true. There had to be a caveat that she was missing, hidden amidst the boy''s words.

    "Before I make my decision, I do have a question, which I think you have been skirting around," Shuri interjected. "A Sect is identified by the primary cultivation technique practised across its membership. What makes the True World Sect so unique?"

    Markus scrunched his brows.

    ''Got him!'' Shuri cheered internally. She was certain that she caught the long-awaited "but".

    "How much do you already know about magic, cultivation and mana?" Markus probed.

    "Enough to make an informed decision," Shuri said, as she tried to remain as vague as possible. She didn''t want the boy to know that she had perused every single book and manual avable to her in the Pce''s Library (which amounted to almost every publicly avable book and manual in the Empire). All of that information was stored in her mind, ready to be recalled at her beck and call.

    "Well. It is our Sect''s belief, which stems from a long-standing theory, that mana is the fuel for magics that are ''falsehoods'' that skew the world away from the ''truth''."

    "I have never heard of this theory before," Shuri stated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Of course, because it isn''t published anywhere," Markus retorted.

    "And how do you expect me to just believe this?" Shuri scoffed.

    "Because I have proof," Markus said with a smirk. "I apologise, but when I inspected you with my Mana Sense, I got the inkling that you were somewhere in the Late stage of the Mana Condensation realm."

    Shuri nodded apprehensively. Now that she was no longer in the Pce, and devoid of the highly enchanted robes worn by those of Royal Blood, her everything wasid bare for any rogue mage to see.

    "In that case, you should know that those below the Late stage of the Mana Condensation realm can''t cast spells with a rangedponent?"

    Shuri nodded once again.

    "When you tell a lie, it is often best to formte one that is close to the truth. Because that way, the logical leaps one has to make are reduced thus making the lie more believable. That concept, if applied to magic, states that if the magic adheres closely to the truths established in the natural world, then the amount of mana needed to fuel it is significantly reduced," Markus orated. "We will prove this theory by getting you to shoot a |Fireball|."

    Shuri snorted in disbelief instinctively. She held back a sneer as the boy pulled out the enchanted book hanging on a chain around his waist and retrieved a piece of paper from within.

    ____

    Shuri''s eyes alternated between the splintered log in front of her, the piece of coal in her left hand, and the blooming spell circle unlike any she''d ever seen before on her right.

    "I can''t believe it..." she muttered in surprise. She turned to see Markus wearing a shit-eating grin that split his head in two. Shuri reached into her pockets and retrieved the piece of paper with the spell circle drawn on it. She extended her hand to return it to Markus.

    "You keep it," he said. "Take your time, practice, and memorise it."

    "No need, I remember it," Shuri responded while poking the side of her head.

    Markus'' eyes narrowed in suspicion, so Shuri voluntarily obliged by forming the spell circle once again, and again, and again.

    "Wow!" Markus eximed, and this time it was Shuri''s turn to sport the sleaziest of shit-eating grins.

    "Your memory is impable!" Hemended sincerely.

    "It''s hard for me to forget things once I''ve seen and internalised them," Shuri offered.

    "I did not believe my Master when he said it," Markus mumbled. "You have an eidetic memory?!"

    "What is that?"

    "How far does it go?" Markus shot back.

    "Umm... to about when I was born," Shuri said with a strained voice. This was personal information, one that she held close to her chest. Why was she so forting?

    "Amazing!"

    There! That was why! Shuri did not realise just how starved she was for praise and recognition, that a single word of sincere praise had her unravelling by the seams.

    "It must be interesting, right? Your memories from birth must be garbled since your understanding of the world hadn''t fully cemented yet," Markus theorised.

    "They were. But I''ve managed to decrypt them over the years," Shuri said with a low voice. Her expression turned wistful as suppressed memories started to resurge. The ambience also turned gloomy.

    After an extended pause, Shuri looked at Markus and revealed a rare, and sincere smile (which she''d done more times in thest two days than through her entire life).

    "Shuri," she said while extending her right arm forward.

    Markus stared dumbfoundedly at the extended hand and looked up at the girl''s tranquil face. Then, his lips extended into a lustrous smile.

    "Wee to the True World Sect, Shuri!" Markus said as he reciprocated the greeting.

 Chapter 278 Cutting Through The Red-Tape

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Jean''s destination carried her to the Northwest of the Sr Empire. The close she approached the hotspot of the epidemic, the more she learned about it through word of mouth. With each new bite of information added to the growing list of symptoms, the deeper Jean''s frown grew.

    "Josie. Does this sound familiar?" She said while nudging a stack of papers towards the older woman. "Read the symptoms carefully. Pay careful attention to the nature of their deaths. What do you see?"

    The duo were currently located in a resting inn along their paths - Jean and Josie shared one room while Sect Leader Guy and Dora shared the other. At this time, Jean decided to regroup and devise an action n to tackle the illness most efficiently when she intercepted it in the future.

    Josie''s brows grew furrowed as her pupils danced back and forth across the page. "This ve strongly urges the Young Miss from drawing hasty conclusions. It could very well be a coincidence. Bone Mite Venom and Gout both induce simr symptoms, except the way to treat the two ispletely different."

    Jean mmed her hand forcefully over the table before her and slowly curled her fingers into a tight and shaking fist. "I know that, but look at how simr the symptoms are. The nature of the blistering, the excessive bleeding and blood contamination, the method of transmission, there are far too many simrities to not call it a coincidence."

    "The gue of Dark Cleansing affected mages, and mages alone," Josie interjected while pointing out a key fact.

    "And whatever this is," Jean argued while tapping her index over a stack of papers aggressively, "only affectsmon folk (as far as we know). Who knows what the disease is truly capable of?"

    "Which is why we mustn''t jump to conclusions," Josie reasoned. "The Young Miss is acting uncharacteristically impulsive these days."

    The words were caught in Jean''s throat. ''Was I?'' she thought to herself. For most of her life, she''d lived in a world of ck, white, and grey, metaphorically. Everything was nd and lukewarm, there was no vibrancy, no joy, no dullness, and no sorrow. It was hard to get used to the silence in the world around her, but the two voices in her head definitely helped distract her from it. If she really was showing emotions such as anger and irritation, it could only mean that somehow, her capacity to feel was slowly making aeback! Was it a change for the better, or the worse?

    "A healer cannot afford to be impatient," Josie reminded. "Impatience leads to negligence, and negligence always leads to the loss of life."

    "I know. You''re right," Jean relented. "But the simrities are uncanny. It just... I''m getting this... intuition? Right! I''m getting this intuition that the two are rted. This new disease is like a toned-down version of the gue of Dark Cleansing."

    "This ve understands where the Young Miss ising from, but - to quote Sect Leader Larks - ''starting an investigation with a predetermined conclusion isn''t an investigation, it is a verification''," Josie emphasised.

    Jean nodded affirmatively and outwardly showed eptance. However, inside, while the voices quarrelled amongst themselves, something weird worked its way down her neural channels. Jean determined this ''something weird'' to be the intuition gnawing away at her. To others, this ''something weird'' would be referred to by a much more mundane name - a gut feeling.

    ____

    Apparently, the Empire, and by extension, the Balen Duchy, had already implemented a solution to the epidemic. Unfortunately, this came in the form of a strict quarantine that blockaded arge swath ofnd and inhibited the movement of people out of the affected area. Jean''s group arrived at this blockage within the next day.

    "This isn''t right," Jean said while shaking her head. She cast her gaze beyond the sparse yet robust wall of soldiers inhibiting the passage of a group of worn-out men and women who looked like they were on theirst limbs. "They''re just nning to let them all die?"

    "They''re mortals - expendable," Josie said with an exhausted sigh. "That is how the Empire sees them."

    "But they''re still people! People who''re in pain," Jean groaned. She turned to gauge Sect Leader Lark''s reaction. Hopefully, he would have an opinion or any idea of what to do from this point onwards, but she was dumbfounded to see the man look on with a nk expression.

    "Sect Leader?" Jean nudged, but she received no response. "Sect Leader?" she tried again.

    "Uh? Oh, Jean! Sorry, I was..." his gaze zed over once again.

    "Sect Leader? Are you... are you okay?" Jean probed with a concerned frown.

    "Not really," Mister Larks answered automatically. "I mean... I should probably take Dora back to the town we just passed. It''s not safe here, after all."

    After saying that, he turned and walked back towards the carriage. "I feel like there''s something wrong with Mister Larks," Jean noted as she watched his receding figure. "He hasn''t been himselftely - always looking out into the distance with an empty gaze, shutting down mid-conversation, forgetfulness..."

    "Sect Leader Larks is evidently going through something. He''s been this way since a day before we left Sunspear," Josie affirmed.

    "Going through what?" Jean responded with a tinge of inquisitiveness and interest.

    Josie shrugged. "This ve does not know. Sect Leader Larks is an adult. He should be able to handle his own problems."

    "Everyone needs help sometimes, even if they''re ancient monsters at the peak of power," Jean sympathised.

    "We cannot afford to split our attention between two fronts, Young Miss. It is either the folk beyond the quarantine or Sect Leader Larks," Josie proposed. "Which one does the Young Miss prefer to tackle at this moment?"

    Jean would have loved to return a condescending smile, but her mind could notpute the required muscles needed to make that arrangement. "We should probably address the more pressing issue first, right?"

    With that said, the two approached the blockage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "HALT!" One of the soldiers bellowed as Jean and Josie walked towards the encampment which acted as one of the control and deployment points for the quarantine.

    "No one is allowed to enter past this quarantine. Leave this instance!" The armoured man called out with a sneer. Josie balled her palms into a fist and moved forward, but was held back by Jean.

    "We''re here on a mission to handle the epidemic," Jean dered. She retrieved the que of the True World Sect and said, "We are registered with the Sr Sect Alliance."

    "The epidemic is already being handled," the soldier shot back dismissively.

    "Would it be possible to confer with the physicians assigned to this case? We wish to lend a hand in any way possible," Jean pleaded.

    "Physicians?" The soldier scoffed. "There are no physicians here."

    "Then who is treating the patients?" Jean asked, but was only met with silence and a derisive chuckle from the soldier. The answer she dreaded turned out to be true.

    "You''re really nning to let them all die?" Jean asked rhetorically.

    "The disease started amidstmon folk, and it should end amidst them," the soldier emphasised. At that moment, one of the men being held inside the quarantined region by a duo of soldiers squeezed past them and made a run for it. The man''s feet moved frantically, he zigged then he zagged, but his erratic movements weren''t unpredictable enough for the soldiers as a racing javelin cut through the air and pierced his heart the very next instant. The soldier talking to Jean raised his hand and summoned a |Fireball|, burning away every trace of the man''s existence.

    "W-What are you doing?!" Jean said with a raised voice. She looked at the man with eyes burning with an intensity she never thought was possible.

    "We were told that none must pass through this blockade. That man never crossed the blockade, as he never existed in the first ce," the soldier dered maliciously as he red at everymoner, who cowered against his murderous gaze.

    "A-At least let those willing to help these folk pursue an attempt?" Jean pleaded.

    "Listen here, girl-" the soldier took a step forward, his hands moved towards the sword sheathed against his waist. However, his voice faltered, and his breath hitched as he was suddenly bombarded with immense pressure. The surrounding mana turned turbid, which in turn started to dibobte him.

    "If you reach for that sword, I will separate you from the hand grasping it," Josie''s booming voice echoed across the encampment. It was controlled just enough to cause all the soldiers to bear the weight of her presence, while conveniently avoiding the mouringmon folk (who turned and fled in fear of the threat posed by Josie).

    "This one was blind," the soldier spoke through gritted teeth while trying to work through the immense disorientation and pain. "Please forgive me..."

    "Josie, please," Jean appealed. "No one needs to die here-"

    "No, this ve thinks they do," Josie interjected.

    "They''re just doing their jobs-" Jean reasoned as she tried to lower Josie''s hostility. Although it was an unpleasant statement for Jean to make, she had to do something to stop Josie from killing the man.

    "Then, Young Miss, please let this ve do hers," Josie interjected, once again. "This ve was entrusted with Young Miss'' life by Master and Miss Rasmus. This cretin here was just about to cause this ve to break Master and Miss'' trust. For that, punishment is in order."

    She turned her head and noticed the distressed gaze forming haphazardly on Jean''s face. So, after a second of reconsideration, she said, "Since Young Miss does not wish for this ve to take a life, she will not do so. Instead, for the crime of taking away something precious from this ve, I shall take something precious from this one."

    Then, she swiped her finger in front of her. A dyter, the man''s left hand dislodged from his body and copsed to the floor. Blood started to fountain out of the stump, which was immediately treated by a forceful p by Josie with a red-hot palm. The smell of burning meat and a muted scream echoed through the sparse forest, as the pressure wrought of turbulent mana subsided.

    "J-Josie..." Jean squeaked while tugging at the woman''s sleeves. "Why?"

    "This ve has shown something unpleasant to Young Miss. For that, she apologises. But this was necessary," Josie reasoned.

    "We will be entering the quarantine," Josie bellowed. "If there is a problem to be had, take it up with me!"

    With that statement hanging in the air like a mercurial guillotine, Josie strode forward with Jean''s hand grasped firmly. They crossed the imaginary line that demarcated the quarantine without a word of opposition.

    "That was unnecessary," Jean repeated.

    "Diplomacy can only get us so much, Young Miss. As you said, those grunts are just doing their jobs. Jobs handed to them by those above. To get the permission that we need to operate within these forsaken grounds, their confirmation is necessary. Except, those folk are also answering to the powers above, and on and on the vine grows, until it gets so tangled up in a bureaucracy that nothing ends up happening. On the other hand, by squeezing the arms of these grunts, we gained the ess we desired without any hassle," Josie exined.

    "But did we really have to cripple that man?"

    "It is the price paid to be taken seriously in this world," Josie reasoned. "The Young Miss should learn to harden her heart against this."

    Jean looked thoughtful. She did not know if that was still the right thing to do.

 Chapter 279 For The Sake Of Survival

    The quarantine epassed arge region between a Duchy and two of its neighbouring Marches. Within it, there were multiple viges and a township that stood as a key trading hub. Unfortunately, because of the epidemic and the subsequent copse of the economy, the entire region was closed off and effectively excised from the trade links. This should have affected the Duchy and Marches greatly, and it did, but unlike businesses, ns ran their profit-loss analysis in years to decades, rather than months to years. After all, once all the sick and infected were gone (which should take about six months through some estimates), this area would be free to use once again. Furthermore, there was never a shortage of people in this world.

    Jean wasn''t willing to subscribe to this line of thinking. Which was also why she was here, fitting herself into a puffy and ufortable personal protective equipment.

    "You should also wear yours," Jean said to Josie, who was trying her hardest to suppress herughter. The outfit was a full bodysuit that went over regr clothing, with strings wrapping around the cuffs of each appendage and hood to tighten and tie so that nothing could go in. A mask of simr gauzy material was wrapped around Jean''s face, with a ss mask over her eyes.

    "This ve does not need it, Young Miss," Josie responded with a bow, less to be respectful, more to hide the rising corners of her lips.

    "It''s not for you, it''s for others. As long as we cover ourselves, we limit the chances of the illness nesting within our clothes. It''s easier to dispose of this than our clothes!" Jean reminded. An extended, stern stare downter, Josie found herself hugged by a garish white and gauzy outerwear with all facial protection, just like her Young Mistress.

    The duo trudged through the sparse forestry for an hour before they stumbled upon the first sign of possible human habitation - a dpidated vige. The ce looked like a ghost town with its copsed or half-broken homes, and overall eerie atmosphere. Clearly, this ce was only a settlement in name as its inhabitants had long since abandoned it. This was further corroborated when their sights fell on the burnt-to-a-crisp and charred mountain of corpses at the vige''s centre.

    "Do you think they did this after they died or before?" Jean muttered in disbelief.

    "We can only hope that it was after. To be burnt alive... Maybe it was a better release than the inhumane death the disease offered?" Josie theorised.

    "Do you sense any living beings here?" Jean inquired. Josie extended her mana sense and zoomed through the vige''s perimeter.

    "None that are human. Though these rats sure are making my time harder," Josie grunted as she fired a razor of wind towards a congregation ofrge ck rats fighting over a chunk of flesh that barely resembled an ear. The spell hit the congregation and shredded them until they were all turned into an explosion of blood and gore.

    "Was that necessary?" Jean groaned.

    "Filthy creatures!" Josie spat in disgust, not bothering to hide her clear disgust of the rodents.

    Jean shook her head and moved through the vige in search of anything pertinent to her healing pursuits. Sadly, the whole ce had been ransacked by its previous inhabitants, leaving nothing for her to use or to make any deductions.

    With that, the duo moved one. They navigated in a counterclockwise path, moving progressively inwards with each cirction. They managed to find another vige in their trajectory, but this one was alsopletely abandoned. This one, however, did not practise the method of burning away dead bodies. Instead, the corpses remained, left to rot. These emaciated, rotted and half-eaten corpses were covered in ck pus oozing out of the grape-sized boils.

    Josie scrunched her face at this ghastly visual and proceeded to cremate the bodies, barring two that appeared recently deceased. Jean separated these two bodies and proceeded to take samples of the fluid stored in the boils and ran a thorough inspection of the deceased''s condition at the time of death. After an external check, she charged mana at the tip of her index and middle finger and performed arge Y-incision, spanning shoulder to shoulder and chest to the abdomen.

    "The heart has necrotisedpletely, even before death! The other organs have varying degrees of necrotic tissue," Jean eximed. "The disease targets the heart first."

    "Should I conduct an autopsy on the brain as well?" Jean questioned while turning towards Josie, who flicked her finger and exploded another horde of rats swarming on a corpse.

    "Filthy creatures!" Josie spat venomously. "It is not necessary. I can sense that the brain is sufficiently unaffected by the illness from here. Besides, we should at least honour these bodies with an intact mien for their funeral, even if it is dyed."

    Josie moved the bodies remotely and lit a burgeoning pyre to consume them. While the pyre bloomed, she diverted her gaze once again and started to explode more rodents that entered her line of sight. At one point, she pointed at an empty field and cast a quick spell causing a small explosion of dust and gore (apparently a rat had hidden underground).

    Turning her head, Josie noticed that Jean was looking at her pointedly. "Something you want to talk about?" Jean probed. It was clear that Josie nursed some sort of grudge against rats in general.

    Josie looked at the girl''s face, which was unperturbed but held eyes that were oozing with concern. After a second of thought, she released a sigh and said, "I hate rats."

    Jean exhaled through her nose to mimic a mirthfulugh, "I can see that."

    As the duo moved on, Josie stewed in her thoughts. Even Jean could see the internal turmoil her attendant was going through as it started to show on the woman''s face.

    "When I turned six, a war-ravaged ournds," Josie started. "One day, the war reached our vige. My parents hid me away in the vige''s well that had dried up during a particrly brutal drought. The invaders came, raped and piged, but forgot to open the covered well and check within. I was only six back then. I stayed in the well for a year and a half, inplete darkness. The only things to keep mepany were my thoughts and the asional rats that were just as starved as I was."

    Josie reached towards her left eye and popped the orb out of her eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What in the world!" Jean eximed.

    "Hunger turns even the most fearful of creatures into berserk beasts," Josie confessed with an angry grunt. "They took my eye. In turn, I vowed that I would kill every single rat that crossed my path."

    "I-It didn''t grow back? When you broke through into Core Formation?"

    "Your body can only be what your mind believes it to be, Young Miss," Josie responded with a wry smile. "In many ways, I never really escaped that well, did I?"

    At that instant, Josie flicked a finger and a cloud of gore exploded from the root of a nearby tree.

    "All rats care about is survival," Josie affirmed. "I guess I see myself in them. I see that little girl crawling in the darkness, wing away and sucking at the stone walls of the well to extract as much groundwater as possible, eating anything she could get her teeth on like a feral animal. It makes me sick!"

    Josie raised her open palm and a hefty rodent rose from behind a bush. It was charcoal ck with a crooked snout and wiry tail. It squeaked and yelped in a frenzied panic while trying to escape from the invisible grasp Josie had over it.

    "They have no honour. They would rather kill everyone around them if it means that they can survive," Josie murmured. Her eyes turned dark as though she were recollecting a distant and suppressed memory. "They will even eat each other if it means that they can survive!"

    "Josie..." Jean said as she stroked her attendant''s arm.

    "Apart from all those rats, I wasn''t alone in that well," Josie revealed with a low voice. "Not at first."

    And with that, Josie squeezed her hand into a fist causing the suspended rodent to disintegrate into a bloody mist. She then walked forward at a quicker pace leaving Jean to digest what she had just heard. She swallowed a gulp involuntarily as she looked at Josie''s figure.

    "Y-You only did it to survive," Jean said, hoping to assuage her attendant.

    "I know," Josie affirmed casually. "I was so willing to give away my humanity for the sake of survival. How does that make me any different from a rat?"

    "Would the Young Miss do it, if she were in my position?" Josie proposed.

    Jean couldn''t provide an answer to that question.

    "I asked the Mistress the same question when we first became close partners," Josie said with a chuckle. "What does the Young Miss think that the Mistress'' answer was?"

    "She... She wouldn''t," Jean denied with certainty.

    Josie reached forward and ced her hand gently on Jean''s shoulder. She then looked deep into the girl''s eyes and shook her head apologetically, and Jean''s entire worldview shattered around her.

    She''d ced her mother on a pedestal, one that she herself could never hope to reach. But-

    "Survival is a state of mind, Young Miss," Josie reminded. "Do not think little of the Mistress. She only answered a hypothetical. It is not a sin to choose one''s self over another."

    Jean nodded absent-mindedly. However, a thought struck her, "But you still disparage yourself for what you did when you were in that well."

    "That is because those that survive must ultimately live with themselves and bear the weight of their actions. The price one must pay to survive is often steep and unforgiving," Josie concluded.

    At that moment, the duo approached the vicinity of the trading town that was smack dab in the middle of the Duchy and its two neighbouring Marches. It used to be a bustling town, and it still was. Except its upants were much smaller, dark-furred and with long scaly tails. This was a literal kingdom of them! A live wave of rats swarmed everywhere coating the ce in a carpet of wriggling ck mess.

    Jean turned her gaze towards Josie, only to realise that the woman had long since disappeared leaving the shredded remains of her personal protective equipment.

 Chapter 280 The Abomination

    A/N: No uploads next week. I have a family event I need to attend back home and won''t have time to write at all. Apologies.

    ____

    Jean could only see the sea of rodents from afar. Just observing the undting mass difited her - she didn''t want to be anywhere near that mess. But a question popped into her mind at that instance.

    ''Why are there so many rats here?''

    Maybe it was because of all the carrion. Rats were omnivorous to the extreme, even going as far as eating rotten meat should the need arise. With the abundance of corpses from the deceased infected, the rats were having a field day. They were everywhere, moving from one building to the next as if they were performing a thorough search.

    ''But why are they so coordinated?''

    She couldn''t find an answer to that question. Although rats were swarming creatures, they maintained a certain degree of autonomy within the swarm unlike ants, bees, or even sheep. In this scenario, however, the rats moved in a cohesive unit. It looked like they had turned into tentacles based on their movement patterns and behaviour. If they were acting like limbs, where was the body, and who was controlling it?

    These were valid questions, though Josie wasn''t the least bit interested in knowing the answers to them. All she saw were targets to be eviscerated and turned into dust - a motherload of them. She burst into action quicker than Jean''s senses could register.

    Josie arrived close to the swarm and leapt forward, positioning herself above the centre of one cluster. She then spun her arms in a wide circr arc.

    |Wind de|

    Two des ofpressed air exploded outwards centred at her person and, in the process, mowed through the entire cluster of rats in one clean cut. Jean had never seen such a horrific attack before. Though it didn''t appear evident at a cursory nce, the |Wind de| wasprised of smaller micro-eddies of air that decimated the target at a cellr level. The rats didn''t just get cut, they exploded like a confetti of blood and gore.

    The sudden loss of an appendage jolted the "creature" out of its ravenous stupor. Three more tentacle-like appendages were redirected from their frantic search and whipped in Josie''s direction. Their trajectorycked subtlety and speed - Josie could track and predict their motion with her human senses closed off. She bobbed and weaved through the triple attack before releasing another |Wind de| that deleted the three rat-made tentacles.

    This seemed to have enraged whatever was controlling the appendages, as an eardrum-shattering roar reverberated all across the forest.

    The ground vibrated vigorously with increasing periodicity and intensity.

    The trees shook and swayed.

    The tremors crescendoed... then silence.

    .

    .

    .

    BOOM!

    The ground burst open and ten more tentacles slithered out. They nted themselves on the ground and applied force. The hole through which they originated widened aggressively, and through this new aperture, ascended a grotesque abomination of furry flesh. The "thing" was massive - Jean estimated the misshapen central body to have a diameter of at least five times Josie''s height. On top of that, it also had semi-stic tentacles that extended for many metres. The thing was made entirely out of rats, all stitched and glued together, andcked any distinctive form. If Jean had to describe it, the thing looked like a Beholder. A deep-sea predator that is endemic to the extremely deep oceans of the Fae Realm. The Beholder has one massive eye and a mouth filled with rows upon rows of teeth the size of bastard swords. Itcked arms but made up for it with tentacle-like appendages extending outwards from all around its bloated, spherical body. Each of these tentacles housed another smaller eye capable of wielding arcane magicks. This creature looked a lot like the Beholder, except instead of smaller eyes at the tip of its tentacles, it had rats. Instead of onerge eye, it had rats, and instead of a gaping maw filled with teeth the size of bastard swords, it had a gaping maw filled with innumerable teeth the size of pins (which brought new meaning to the phrase "death by a thousand cuts").<novelnext></novelnext>

    The thing''s maw widened and a bellow that sounded like theyering of hundreds upon hundreds of rat shrieks thundered outwards.

    Jean was shaken by the sudden appearance of such a grotesque and unknown creature. What exactly was this thing?!

    Unfortunately, the thing wasn''t one tomunicate, nor did Jean expect it to. After all, Josie had just amputated four of its appendages rather brutally. The thing catapulted forward, its maw agape, ready to devour Josie. Its speed was staggering, though not fast enough to match Josie who shed out of its path and appeared behind it.

    Just as she was about to summon another |Wind de| three tentacles zoomed in her general direction, moving in a more erratic pattern thus avoiding direct damage from her attacks. Once again, Josie was moved to dodge and reposition.

    The key to fighting anyrge beast is finding its blind spots and exploiting them. Even with the ability to use their mana sense, every sentient being automatically reverts to using their natural sensors first in an intense situation. A mindless beast is especially more vulnerable to having its blind spots exploited since theyck the discipline and self-control to voluntarily change sensing prioritiespared to a more intelligent magic user.

    This creature was mindless, that much was evident. But Josie quickly found out that the thingcked a blind spot. This was proven by the fact that millions upon millions of tiny beady eyes embedded everywhere on the thing constantly followed her every move regardless of where she was. There were eyes all over its body!

    A rather annoying inconvenience, sincecking a blind spot in conjunction with its tentacle appendages afforded the monster infinite attacking trajectories. The tentacles moved erratically and would often elerate midway through action by either slowing down, speeding up or even changing directions. It was quick and unrelenting, making it hard for Josie to concentrate and initiate spells. If she created distance, the monster would cover it by catapulting itself towards her. She could not engage it in melee, since the tentacles blocked her advancement.

    Josie''s initial n was to wait and tire out the monster before going for the attack. Usually, in a fight between entities of different sizes, it was therger one that tired out first since energy expended by the entity corrted to their size. This also tranted to mana consumption. Unfortunately for her, the monster was barely using any mana in its attack and defence and was not tiring out physically either. In terms of physical movement, Josie could observe that it had optimised energy use by distributing the load over the multiple rats making it up. This had to be an instinctive behaviour since the monster didn''t seem to have the required mental capacities to make those calctions. The monster worked like an amalgamation of different agents working together AND as a single body, both at the same time. Furthermore, the monster was learning quickly as it fought her.

    An evasive tactic Josie employed twice was intercepted the third time. The fourth time it was followed up with a counterattack. The monster wasn''t intelligent, but its instincts were sharp! It even learned to predict Josie''s attack patterns and defensive manoeuvres.

    Josie expected this fight to go more smoothly, given how her initial scan of the beast showed that it was only at the cusp of breaking through to the Core Formation realm. However, a magical beast''s cultivation realm wasn''t a sufficient basis forparison to determine if a confrontation was favourable or not like it was with other sentient humanoids. With humans, a mage in the Foundation Establishment realm wouldn''t stand a chance against another in the Core Formation realm. On the other hand, a Foundation Establishment realm magical beast could hold its ground against a Core Formation realm mage up to a certain limit.

    This was the case in the current fight. The creature was maintaining a sturdy defence while pressing the attack effectively. However, Josie was also holding her power output to about 75% of her maximum. It was never logical to go all out from the start unless defeat was assured from the beginning. Noticing that the fight was going nowhere, Josie decided to ramp up her output. She gradually increased her speed until she was certain that she had hit the creature''s reactionary ceiling, that is until it could barely keep up with her movements.

    The first hit from Josie connected at an unreinforced section of one of the creature''s tentacles. The appendage disconnected cleanly. An enraged shriek echoed as the creature recoiled, in the moment of distraction, Josie called a |Wind de| and decimated the falling appendage, killing all the ratsprising it in the process. The creature quickly disced more rats from its main body and regrew that limb, but while it did so, Josie zoomed past its defences and deleted two more of its tentacles.

    The creature realised that it could not afford to wait for its appendages to grow back - it had finally registered the threat Josie posed. Nothing is more dangerous than a cornered animal, because when they know that there is nothing left to lose except for their life, they will readily put that on the line without a second thought. The creature started to vibrate in ce, causing an ominous drone to permeate the atmosphere.

    Josie recognised this behaviour as its preparation to unveil one of its signature moves. She could not let that happen. She quickly summoned more |Wind de| spells and thrust them towards the creature. The spells all connected and started to tear and eviscerate the creature, causing clouds of blood and gore to spew out of its body. But the creature did not relent - its vibrations grew in intensity.

    While the spells were effective on the creature''s tentacles, it was not the case when attacking the body. The area seemed far denser and more reinforced by the passive mana coursing through it. Josie realised she would have to close the distance and resort to piercing melee attacks.

    Within split seconds, Josie covered the distance, but she was already toote. The creature stopped vibrating, expanded, and deted causing a noxious ck gas to rush out through the pores between adjacent rats adorning its entire body. The gas gushed out like an explosion that flooded the area aggressively, dibobting Josie in the process.

    Jean observed the approaching gas and turned tail and ran for cover. She did not know what was within this gas, but she wasn''t keen on quenching her curiosity with her life on the line. The gas moved quickly, like thehar from a volcano, and was approaching her position. In passing, she noticed a boarded-up house that was fairly intact. Without wasting a minute, she beelined for it and burst through the door with her shoulders. She immediately pushed against the door and covered her entrance with her full body weight.

    The gas shook the house as it moved over it. Even the boarded windows and the propped-up door did not stop some of it from entering. Jean was confident that her personal protective equipment could keep her safe against this much exposure, as long as the gas contained only a strain of the illness that ran rampant in this ce.

    At that moment, Jean heard a light cough somewhere in the back of the house followed by a low and scared whimper.

    "Who''s there?" Jean announced before moving cautiously towards the source of the noise.

 Chapter 281 Lose An Arm To Save The Body

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Hearing no response, Jean started to inch closer towards the source of the hushed sounds, while keeping her mana senses extended to their limits. The sphere of mana spread outwards and immediately intercepted two figures hiding under the floorboards of the house. Jean furrowed her brows and shoved her hand into the wood and pulled it out.

    A shriek oveid on top of a deathly cough resounded, as the forms of a dishevelled girl hunched defensively over herying mother came into view. It would have been a wee sight, if not for the fact that the mother was coveredpletely in ck blisters of which a few had already ruptured and gotten onto the skin and face of the girl. Jean immediately bent over and yanked the girl away from her mother.

    "NO!" The girl yelled. "Let me go!"

    "You will die!" Jean shot back.

    *What does this remind you of?*

    ''Not. Now.''

    "Let me go! Mom!" The little girl yelled frantically as she tried to w herself away from Jean''s grasp.

    "You will be in danger! Please, listen to me," Jean implored.

    "NO! LET ME GO!" The girl cried. "MOM!"

    The woman, who was visibly dehydrated and deathly pale, released a pained cough, "Kili..."

    "MOM! I''m here- MOM!"

    "Don''t...e..." the woman groaned through heavy breath. The girl went limp in Jean''s hand and started to whimper sorrowfully. The woman turned her head slightly and looked at Jean through zed-over eyes.

    "Protect... her..." Those were the woman''s final words before her breath seized and her heart stopped.

    "Mom?" The girl yelped. Jean immediately pressed her fingers against the side of the girl''s neck and overloaded the motor nerve bundles altogether, knocking her out.

    *You let another mother die!* The voice taunted.

    #She was already on herst leg by the time we arrived. There was nothing you could do-#

    *Excuses!*

    Jean retreated and pressed her back against the wall, and covered her face with her palms. Her breath started to grow frantic. In her mind, the image of the deceased woman started to ovep with her mother.

    *You killed me!*

    *MURDERER!*

    *MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER! KILL YOURSELF! KILL YOURSELF! KILL-*

    "Young Miss!" Josie''s voice cut through the malicious din polluting her thoughts.

    "Josie? Y-You''re here! W-What happened?" Jean shot back sessively.

    "Well-"

    ____

    Every animal learns through reinforcement. When an action begets a positive reaction, it is something to be repeated. When an action begets a negative reaction, it is something to be avoided. This is the basic equation that governs every sentient creature''s life. But as these creatures gain intelligence and self-determination, they learn to find the benefits that can be gained from an action that begets a negative reaction and vice versa. It is the process of evaluating opportunity costs.

    To cultivate this ability, one must either take the least favourable step voluntarily, on must face a loss so serious that they are forced to take that step.

    The Rat King had hit a bottleneck. He''d learned that the more he exuded the heat umting near his core, the stronger he became. He''d learned that the more he assimted, the stronger he became. Following these base instincts helped him be more powerful. All the pests living in his territory started to submit to his prowess and perished, while his own empire grew uninhibited.

    After he realised his potential, the Rat King never had to approach the pests in his garden personally. His subjects could spread his presence, culling the locals, and then he could swoop in and clean up after. It was a streamlined process.

    It was just another day, cleaning up after his subjects. The Rat King had truly sumbed to acedia, letting himself assimte with his kind and grow into a form that suited his process. He had highly stic appendages made of his kin that he had subsumed. All he had to do was let those appendages reap his harvest and move on to the next location. Recently, the ''crops'' in his kingdom were growing scarcer, he anticipated expanding outwards. But his subjects brought word of stronger pests cordoning his borders. He was confident he could take them on, just like he did with those dastardly worms, but it couldn''t be achieved immediately. He was close to advancement, he could feel it, but something was holding him back.

    Suddenly, the Rat King felt one of his appendages disappearing. The pain radiated through his body, amplifying as each of the subsumed mindsprising his body started to scream in pain. Then another one was lost, and then another-

    Who dares!<novelnext></novelnext>

    For the first time in a long while, in rat years, the Rat King left his throne and burrowed through the ground in the direction of his lost appendages. The ground shook as he moved, and the burrows his kind had built groaned as they tried to amodate his overgrown size.

    He released a majestic roar as he let his form breach into the sunlight, and prepared to face the pest that caused him so much pain.

    ''This one looks like them? How did she hurt me so?'' It was a question bordering between rage, fear and curiosity. In his experience, the smooth-skinned pests with fur growing solely on their heads were weak. They were the quickest to sumb to his presence. Yet this one hadn''t... strange... But it was also a cause for concern. But for the Rat King, who was filled with arrogance after coasting through his long life, in rat years, this was just a slightly stronger pest that needed his direct attention.

    And so he burst into action, his appendages iled in a maddened rage and his jaws spread open invitingly.

    However, the confrontation did not go the way he expected. The pest was standing its ground annoyingly well. With his new form, the Rat King had the advantage of sight and flexibility so by his estimates the victory should have been quick. But the fight just kept going on and on, and he was starting to take more and more damage as it progressed, while the pest remained rtively unharmed.

    Then suddenly, the pest exuded even greater pressure. His instincts screamed out warning signs, and he knew that the fight would quickly be unfavourable. And it did. One by one, the pest started to slice away at his limbs. He tried to regrow them by assimting more of his brethren, but he recognised that this was not sustainable in the long run - the pest did not show any signs of slowing its attacks at all!

    The pest''s attacks grew even more fearsome, and the Rat King found himself getting pushed further and further towards his demise. That was it!

    He decided he''d had enough.

    He started to circte his mana and tap into the heat in his core. The pest had made a huge mistake, and it ought to be taught a valuable lesson!

    He endured the damage the pest inflicted on him as he prepared for the finale.

    His body expanded and, a secondter, discharged a magnificent wave of ck gas.

    He saw on as the pest drowned in the dark flurry, and awaited its inevitable demise. He would relish its measly offering of flesh!

    But the world yed a cruel trick on him. It came out the other side, unscathed and unaffected.

    The pest uttered a few words the Rat King did not understand, but its aura grew more ferocious.

    He had lost.

    Miserably.

    It was at this moment, that the Rat King considered a choice he''d written off ages back, in rat years. All that rats cared about was survival. There was no pride, no territorialism, just survival by any means necessary. If surviving meant that one had to sacrifice a limb or tail, a rat would do it readily. This was written into the instincts of his kind and was something he''d suppressed in trying to grow stronger. But as he came face to face with death, all of his assumed instincts dissipated. It was either fight or flight, and he was all out of fight.

    In a decisive move, the Rat King sacrificed his kingly form - that was falling apart after the pest''s vicious attacks - and receded into one of the forms of his brethren. He sacrificed arge chunk of power he''d umted to distract the pest, just as those worms with legs dropped their tails at the sign of danger.

    From his peripheral vision, he observed the pest summon a massive ball of whirling wind. Right as the pest tossed the ball towards his shedding shell, he leapt and receded into the hole he''d used earlier to arrive at this location.

    ____

    "This ve killed it," Josie responded. "It was responsible for the illness- for everything."

    "I realised after seeing it release that cloud," Jean affirmed. "What exactly was it?"

    "This ve does not know. I have not heard of or seen anything like this before. Research is necessary on this matter. Though it is evident through extraption that it used rats as the vector to spread the illness," Josie surmised.

    "Should we report to the Balen Duchy about this?" Jean asked with a faintly hopeful tone.

    "This ve doesn''t expect anything toe off of it. This decision to sequester the area was probably implemented in finality. They have officially given up on this region in hopes of salvaging it in a few years," Josie reminded. "This ve believes that a viable cure is necessary to properly convince the Duchy to take any action."

    A sombre silence hung in the air after those words were said. It was a sad truth that Jean still wasn''t ready to believe. Nheless, she was here to save the people, so a cure should only be an eventuality... hopefully.

    "What are you nning to do now?" Jean followed up, breaking the silence.

    "Now that this ve knows the cause, she will continue to cull the rat poption," Josie dered. "And, I shall be on the lookout for the creature."

    "I thought you said, you killed it," Jean blurted out.

    "It built its body out of rats," Josie reminded. "Therefore its mind must work like one. If I know rats and believe me when I say that you can find no other more intimate with those pests, that thing should have chopped its arm to save its body."

    "Meaning..."

    "Meaning that this is probably not thest we will see of that creature," Josie muttered ominously. "So this ve suggests that the Young Miss keep herself prepared."

 Chapter 282 Managing An Epidemic

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Before Josie departed, she and Jean immediately went about cleansing the area with the aerosolised disinfectant and set up arge group of triage tents to manage the treatment of the infected. As it stood, those affected by the disease were spread out within the quarantined region. It would be inefficient to administer and manage care in this dispersed state, so the first order of business would be to herd the affected into a cohesive area.

    Why was this preferred? Wouldn''t this increase the chances of spreading the illness amongst the poption? That would be true if the herding was done haphazardly.

    Managing any disease or epidemic can be achieved through passive or active means. The former involves establishing general guidelines that an individual or group must follow to prevent the spread and proliferation of an illness. This is usually generic and preventative in nature, in that there is no targeted action involved. Wearing facial coverings, maintaining safe working distances, cleaning oneself regrly, and not eating food that is left uncovered for a long time fall under this category.

    Active management is more aggressive and targeted in its approach. However, this also means that it is often more rigorous to implement. But it can be boiled down to a three-step process: identifying the disease,bating the disease, and preventing it from urring again.

    Identifying the disease involves learning everything there is to know about the disease. Where did it start? How does it spread? How does it enter and affect the human body? These are a few of the questions that must be addressed first, as they determine the efficacy of the response.

    It is important to identify the source of the epidemic so that it can be properly contained or eliminated altogether. This is to avoid causing a resurgence of the same epidemic while it is being managed. Josie had confirmed with certainty that the creature she had just battled was the instigator of this illness. For all intents and purposes, the source had been eliminated, so Jean shouldn''t need to worry about the illness rearing its head once again. However, Josie said in no uncertain terms that the creature could have escaped. Although this was still an uncertainty, Jean could not discount the possibility even if it was minuscule. But she could do nothing for now except depend on Josie to handle the leg work of finding and eliminating the source in the meanwhile.

    The next order of business is identifying how the illness propagates and restricting it. This is to limit the spread temporarily so that those affected can be treated without having to worry about new - preventable - cases. This is where the herding of the affectedes into y. Instead of grouping everyone into one tent or room, the iing horde (as herded by Josie while she travelled all over the quarantine) was split into three categories. The first were the ones showing symptoms of the infection, the second were those suspected of being exposed but asymptomatic and the third were unexposed and asymptomatic.

    The first group was easy to deduce. The symptoms of this particr illness weren''t paced in its progression; it went from zero all the way to a hundred within days. As a result, there were very few in the group disying signs of the illness. The ones that did were on theirst legs, and Jean could do very little except for offering a diluted drop from the Draught of Living Death - an extremely concentrated potion capable of putting even an erumpent to aatose sleep with a human-sized mouthful.

    The second and third groups were tougher to distinguish. In both cases, the suspects were asymptomatic so judging through a cursory nce was impossible. Furthermore, the folk refused to answer questions truthfully. When Jean urged them to dere if they had even been exposed to the illness in any way, they all shook their heads and moved towards the third tent. When she added that those in the second tent would receive primary care, they all moved towards that tent.

    In the end, Jean was forced to step in and enforce some order among the din. She decided to go with the most effective strategy of running blood tests on all those present to see if there were any indicators of their illness in their system.

    This carried on to the third part of identifying the illness, which was to actually determine its nature and behaviour. This is to determine the optimal treatment strategy. Under Mister Larks, Jean learned that the three primary causes of acquired illnesses in people are bacteria, fungi and viruses. This knowledge broadened Jean''s horizons vastly.

    Through her research with her father, she''d somehow stumbled upon these three culprits. She had already noted the differences through her observations, but she didn''t ssify them. However, by assigning a ssification and name, her understanding of how to treat illnesses induced by these three improved marginally.

    ording to Mister Larks, for diseases caused by bacteria, specialised antibiotics are usually the preferred treatment method. In the same way, antifungals work for fungal infections. For viruses, the preferred method is through antivirals. Antibiotics, antifungals and antiviruses offer three different treatment pathways depending on the type of infection since bacteria, fungi and viruses work in different ways.

    After learning the mechanism of how these types of medicines worked, she returned to her prior research with her father and inspected the potions she knew and worked with. The ones that were effective in treating the illnesses ssified as bacteria, fungi and viruses all worked simrly to how they were expected to ording to their respective treatment pathways. The answer was right in front of her, she just didn''t know what to look for!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The mana sense is truly a wonderful piece of magic. Every mage is essentially gifted ess to all the knowledge in the world, except it remains indecipherable until the mage learns how to process it. Gaining further insight into the microbiological world was a great revtion for Jean. Though it wasn''t so revolutionary to induce a breakthrough, as she was knowledgeable about it from before (but only to a limited degree).

    Jean could run blood tests purely with her mana senses now since she knew what to look for. With fluids extracted from those already infected (pus fluid, blood, marrow, etc.) she managed to identify the exact mechanism through which the disease affected its victims. Scale-wise, it was much smaller than bacteria, which already narrowed it down to a virus. The aberrant particle coopted the natural division behaviour of cells to produce more of itself and quickly hijack the immune system of the body. The virus targeted the blood specifically to achieve this.

    Identifying the epidemic as caused by a virus provided Jean with a rough idea of what she needed to do tobat it, macroscopically. But knowing the theory and being able to apply it are two different things. Jean realised that although she had a massive stockpile of relevant knowledge floating in her mind, she had very little specialised practical knowledge in medicine and healing. The little she did have was extremely trivial, such as curingmon diseases. It was equivalent to going from drawing only straight lines topleting portraits. The gully was massive and impossible to ovee with theory alone.

    Jean couldn''t rely on magic for this because she didn''t know any spells that could work in this instance. Neither hers nor Josie''s control over mana was precise or distributed enough to attack the virus particles directly (there were far too many and sub-microscopic in scale). She knew she had to let the body heal itself naturally since it has subsystems highly optimised for that specific purpose. However, to nudge the body towards the path of healing she needed to provide a catalyst. She could not throw random and generic potions at this problem and expect it to work. It was also most likely an exhausted avenue by better healers which was why this horrible quarantine was warranted. She wanted to believe that no one was so evil as to relegate arge poption to their deaths without even trying to save them.

    But how was she to go about developing medicine to specifically target this virus?

    Thispletely stumped Jean. She stared at her journal for half an hour, hoping that something would jog her mind into action and churn out a feasible solution. When nothing made itself known, she stood up in frustration and walked out of her tent at a brisk pace.

    The world outside was filled with pain-filled moans and groans. The process of sequestering everyone stuck inside the quarantine was tiresome. Two days had passed since Josie killed the creature. After that, she moved all over the quarantined area and guided those that could move in this direction and carried in those that couldn''t. The process wasn''t easy, there was some pushback from the poption who had grown jaded with mages in general. But the allure of healthcare overcame all those inhibitions.

    Furthermore, Jean remembered to drag in the cart of supplies she''d stockpiled before leaving the capital. Food and clean water were just as important as shelter, if not more, during triage. After all, without proper nutrition, the body cannot heal itself. The quarantine wasrgely barren - the epidemic had put the working poption out ofmission, so the farms and orchards were all destitute. Therefore, the stockpile Jean brought mostly contained preserved food items that wouldn''t spoil quickly. She also carried a storage disk with a stockpile of perishable goods. Since there weren''t any others to manage the area, Jean had to distribute her time between research, treatment and serving food. All in all, it was extremely hectic.

    Jean approached therge tentbelled "2" and took a long breath. She was adorned in her personal protective attire (a fresh set after burning the one she wore earlier). Pulling apart the canvas hanging in front, she entered the tent. She let her eyes scan over the peopleying in a gridlike fashion on top of floor mats. Everyone looked exactly as she left them, which was a positive sign - the infection usually took just less than a day to rear its head.

    Her eyes eventuallynded on the little girl named Kili. Ever since she regained consciousness, she''d remained detached and emotionally distant - sulking in one corner of the room and leaning against the tent''s frame. Jean allowed the girl to perform thest rites for her mother and cremate her body (from a safe distance). But the shock of seeing one''s mother die such a cruel death was never ptable for a child - Jean should know, after all.

    ''Two days have passed, and she hasn''t exhibited any symptoms,'' Jean concluded. ''Odd... The virus is unusually infectious, especially if a victim is exposed to pus fluids. The girl''s entire face was practically coated with it...''

    While Jean pondered on that thought, she missed the critical signs exhibited by the manying beside the girl. Like a high-pressure pipe bursting, the man descended into a coughing fit that immediately devolved into a devastating projectile vomit, evicting all the contents of his gut with a slurry of crimson blood in the mix.

    Jean immediately rushed towards the man and tilted his head to stop him from asphyxiating on his own vomit. Once the man''s violent vomiting subsided, Jean released a wavering sigh and looked up, only to see the girl drenched in blood.

    "Oh no!"

 Chapter 283 "Magical" Immunity

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Jean''s perception of time reached aplete standstill. A single second extended to epass a lifetime, as her brain struggled to process what had just urred. With every n, there is the worst-case scenario that everyone seeks to avoid, and the catastrophic case that everyone fails to predict. This was a disaster packaged inside a catastrophe served in a tter of misfortune.

    This was not supposed to happen!

    Jean''s vision started to warp. The visage of the girl drenched in blood started to undte and shift grotesquely. It bubbled for a while before settling into the image of herself when she was younger. The girl''s face grew sinister as a ghastly smile split the crimson-soaked face in half.

    #Another one dead by your own ipetence,# the girl said in a raspy voice.

    #How many more need to die before you realise that it was you all along?# Her voice grew with a brain-splitting crescendo.

    #You''re the problem!# The girl reached forward, her petite hands curled slightly as they approached Jean''s neck.

    #The solution is obvious, if you think about it,# her hands grasped Jean''s neck and started to tighten.

    #You. Must. Die!# Jean''s breath grew more difficult.

    #Die!# Suffocation.

    #DIE!#

    #DIE!#

    Jean''s sight grew darker, as her consciousness started to waver. Her body refused to respond to the girl''s death grip, or maybe her mind refused to act against it. Maybe this was meant to be. The girl was right; she was the problem. Maybe-

    "Hello?" A gentle shake broke through the defeatist din pervading Jean''s mind.

    "Hello?" It repeated. The voice was dainty and mellow. It cut past all the negativity and brought Jean''s vision back online. Jean realised that she was sweating excessively, something which hadn''t happened for a very long time (even less so after advancing in her cultivation).

    "Helloooo?" Jean followed the call and was jolted once again by the garish image of a girl caked in blood. Now that her mind was clearer, Jean went to action immediately. She had to first separate the man exhibiting symptoms from this tent, she also had to do the same with the drenched girl (after running some tests with her first). So, she recruited the girl''s help to move the man using a stretcher. Thankfully, everyone else in the tent kept a respectable distance from them, since they were now educated about the disease''s mode of transmission. Once the man was settled, she administered a dosage of painkiller to assuage him for a while, since that was all she could do for now.

    After that quick detour, Jean dragged the girl into the research tent and proceeded to clean her thoroughly with soap and disinfectant. When Jean scrubbed the area under the girl''s shoulders, the girl released an ted giggle that finally brought some brightness into the girl''s dull and morose face.

    "Hold still," Jean said while she dabbed the girl''s hair. The girl listened, but then Jean could suddenly hear whimpers and moans escaping from under the rag.

    "Hey? Are you okay?" Jean removed the towel and saw the girl crying terribly. "Hey! It''s okay... It''s okay..."

    Jean pulled the girl into a tight embrace and let her release all the pent-up sorrow.

    "I-I killed her.... I k-killed her," the girl muttered between fitful breaths. "I s-shouldn''t have yed in the woods as my mother warned me to."

    "And now... now... she''s gone!" The girl''s voice grew louder, and her cries grew more primal.

    "It''s not your fault," Jean said in a hushed tone. "It''s not your fault Kili."

    "I k-killed her-"

    "Look at me!" Jean pulled the girl away and shook her jerkily. The girl''s cries halted due to the sudden shock. With a serious frown, Jean repeated, "It is not your fault! Do you hear me?"

    The girl nodded hastily, half in fear and half in agreement. At that moment, Jean realised that she''d outwardly exhibited irritation, anger, and frustration - another peculiarity.

    Rather than wasting any more time, Jean quickly conjured a spell circle that produced a continuous gust of warm wind to blow dry the girl''s hair.

    "Dress up and meet me in theb. I have to perform my rounds through the tents once again and distribute rations," she said before leaving the girl by herself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ____

    Jean wasn''t ready to let the girl die just yet. Kili had been exposed to the bodily fluids of an infected person, but Jean''s gut was telling her that the girl would be safe. What gave her this misguided confidence? The girl was exposed to the pus fluid, which was shown to carry a more concentrated cluster of the virus partictes, and still failed to contract the disease.

    Then again, this was only a hope-filled hypothesis, and it was often the hope that killed you.

    Jean took the girl into theb garbed in personal protective equipment. Not only was it useful to protect oneself from getting infected, but it was also workable to stop the person from spreading it. Theb was a sensitive area where a lot of Jean''s field research was taking ce, so she could not afford cross-contamination of any sort.

    Using a disinfected needle, Jean punctured the girl''s skin over a vein passing through the back of her wrist and utilised artificial stimtion to extract a thimble of blood. She then extracted a drop and sandwiched it between two finger-length, transparent crystal ts. Once the blood spread out into a thin film, she activated her mana sense and observed it microscopically. Tuning her senses took a few seconds as she had yet to master the process, but eventually, her sight disyed the cellr interaction.

    After having seen it many times already, Jean was quick to discern the virus particles suspended in the blood almost immediately. They moved haphazardly yet with purpose. Their behaviour was predictable, as they weren''t technically alive. One of the particles attacked a red blood cell in in sight, co-opting its natural ability to divide and proliferate. But then suddenly, something interesting and shocking urred. The white blood cells attacked the infected red-blood cell by surrounding it, then, they started to vibrate and emanate a faint mana pulse causing the red blood cell to grow luminescent. After a few seconds, they retreated. Jean waited for the cell to divide, and it did, but no new virus particles were released.

    "What in the world?!" She could not contain her bewilderment. This was nothing like a normal immune system response. This was totally, "-magical..."

    Jean''s eyes locked on the girl.

    "I-Is something wrong?" Kili asked anxiously. The sudden and intense attention unnerved her slightly.

    "You''re immune," Jean answered. "It doesn''t affect you at all."

    That begged the question, "But how?"

    ____

    Immunity is innate and adaptive in any living creature. The lymphatic cells are capable of warding off most infections and diseases innately, while they can also learn to ward off newer ones through adaptation. In adaptive immunity, there are natural and artificial means. The process may vary, but it can be boiled down to a single concept of "teaching" the host immune system to react to "invasions". Jean had learned of these methods in great detail through her mother''s notes and Mister Larks'' teaching (though the former was more experiential while thetter was structured.)

    But Jean saw none of those in Kili''s blood. The girl''s lymphatic cells were actively neutralising any threat through means that the scientific process could not define. Luckily, she didn''t have to remain in suspense for long, as Josie arrived within minutes of the test.

    "Unbelievable!" Josie eximed as she examined the blood slide ording to Jean''s instructions. "Wait a minute-"

    Josie pulled out two identical phials from her storage disks and approached Kili.

    "This here is a potion that turns your tongue green," Josie exined while raising the phial on her left hand, "and this here is a potion that causes your nails to grow longer by a quarter of its current length," she continued while raising the one on her right. She handed the two phials to the girl and instructed her to drink them together.

    The girl took a whiff of the liquids and scrunched her nose in disgust. Then, with a single gulp, she downed the two liquids.

    "Say ''AAA''," Josie demanded while holding the girl''s open palms in her hands. The girl extended her tongue, which had turned green as expected, and her nails grew longer and longer until they were exactly a quarter-length longer.

    "As I thought," Josie murmured.

    "What is it?" Jean probed. "They did what they were supposed to?"

    "They worked the way I told her they would work," Josie corrected. She then tossed the phials to Jean and gestured for the girl to inspect them.

    Jean brought the phials towards her nose and took a deep breath.

    "Is that-" Jean''s lips twitched slightly as she struggled toplete her sentence.

    "Vinegar," Josie obliged in her stead. "The girl''s body responded to a cebo."

    "But how?" Jean found herself asking this exact question a lot nowadays.

    "This girl is special. One amongst a trillion special. Born once in a millennium special," Josie exulted.

    "Has the Young Miss ever heard of the Universal Panacea Physique?" Josie inquired. "One could say that either this girl is gifted, or cursed to have been born with this physique."

 Chapter 284 Universal Panacea Physique

    Shout-out and thanks to Leo_Micado for beta-reading this chapter.

    ____

    Jean was well-read in magic. Because she couldn''t learn or practice it in her early teens, all she could do was brush up on theories to fill up the void in her heart. She knew a lot of concepts and topics ranging from trivial to the arcane. However, she could not retrieve any information regarding the so-called "Universal Panacea Physique" and why Josie called it a two-faced gift.

    "Now that the ve has thought it over, it is reasonable that the Young Miss isn''t informed of this physique. As this ve has already stated, it is extremely rare and isn''t hereditary - it can pop up in anyone regardless of lineage or birth conditions. Furthermore, knowledge about it is highly regted by groups specialising in medicine and alchemy. This ve only knows bits and pieces from what the Mistress shared with her," Josie borated.

    "What benefits does the physique offer?" Jean followed up.

    "Benefits?" Josie half-scoffed. "This ve wouldn''t call it as such."

    The words left her mouth instinctively, but just as she was about to expound she noticed Kili perk her ears in anticipation. Josie coughed audibly and hinted at Jean to do something about the girl.

    "It''s okay," Jean responded with a shake of her head. "It is her body, after all. She deserved to remain in the loop."

    Josie sighed and shrugged before continuing.

    "Any person''s bodily functions can be ssified as either voluntary or involuntary. The former case pertains to processes that can be controlled actively, while thetter governs the passive functions. Interestingly, while a mage gains greater control over their bodies through advancement, their passive functions are still limited in their scope of control. You CAN force your heart to beat slower, but that requires you to assign a part of your mental capacity to achieve the result."

    Josie paused so that the premise solidified in Jean''s mind. She tried to keep it simple enough so that even the little girl could understand, though she could see from Kili''s expression that some of it had flown over her head. Once Josie received a nod ofprehension from Jean, she continued.

    "The Universal Panacea Physique removes this limiter and makes it so that the passive processes be just as, if not more, controble as the active ones. In fact, the whole business bes second nature - you don''t even need to think or focus on it before the body starts behaving the way you want it to," Josie highlighted.

    "The little girl unwaveringly believed that the ''potion'' would turn her tongue green, and her body''s passive physiology adapted to that belief. If I told her that the vinegar was sugar syrup, and the girl was convinced of that fact, then she would taste sugar syrup," Josie added.

    "That''s amazing! Is that why her immune system neutralised the virus? She didn''t get sick because she believed that she wasn''t sick? That makes no sense!" Jean evoked her incredulity. "This ispletely unscientific!"

    "Special physiques and bloodlines seldom followmon sense," Josie supported. "Though the Universal Panacea Physique is admittedly one that makes the least sense. You can already guess the potential in this girl''s body. As long as she believes she is impervious to anything that requires a passive response from the body, she can never be affected by it. She is immune to nearly all poisons, extreme temperatures, and diseases and her healing faculties are dialled beyond a hundred - and this is all just to name a few."

    "Howe I''ve never heard about anyone with a Universal Panacea Physique before? Given their potential, there should at least be one mage standing amongst the unparalleled experts with a simr physique. And, howe it is activated for this girl? As I recollect, it takes advancing into the Foundation Establishment realm to do that."

    "The gue must have triggered something inside her prematurely. Physiques and bloodlines have been known to activate when the bearer experiences life-threatening situations or states of heightened emotions," Josie surmised.

    She then revealed a pained expression as she nced at Kili onest time.

    "There is a reason why the physique is called the Universal Panacea," Josie hinted. Unfortunately, Jean wasn''t quick enough on the uptake and wore a nk expression awaiting further exnation.

    With a sigh, Josie borated, "A special physique is ingrained into the ''essence'' of a person - their life force or vitality if you will. Certain high-level, and forbidden, branches of alchemy practise techniques that can extract this ''essence'' of a person. They can then use this ''essence'' as a catalyst or ingredient in a brew."

    "You don''t mean-"

    "The Universal Panacea, as its name suggests, is a universal ingredient. It can be used in ce of anything, or in conjunction with anything to achieve extraordinary potions with unimaginable or downright impossible effects since the property of the extracted ''essence'' is mouldable to fit the Alchemist''s exact requirements," Josie confirmed with a grave expression. "The Young Miss hasn''t heard of or seen anyone with a Universal Panacea Physique because none live long enough to see the end of the tunnel. In nine out of ten cases, they undergo a gruesome essence extraction procedure for a bottlenecked mage to break through."

    Once again, Jean found herself appalled and unable to digest revtions of such magnitude and consequence.

    "They just kill them with no regard for life," Jean spat out, taking offence even at the thought of it.

    "Though, Young Miss," Josie interrupted Jean''s unaffected rage. "We may have to resort to something of that sort to tackle the problem here."

    "Why would I even consider something like that?" Jean berated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What this girl holds inside her is the solution that will cure the epidemic. We don''t have to perform theplete essence extraction. We can work with half a litre of her blood and extract the essence thatbats the virus from it," Josie exined nonchntly.

    "That''s inhumane," Jean shot back reflexively. "We-" she caught herself mid-scream and repeated with a lowered tone, "We will essentially be using her as a resource, draining her like a well. How many times would we have to keep doing it? The girl will be anaemic. There has to be another option!"

    "There is, but it will be riskier," Josie suggested.

    "Riskier than bloodletting?" Jean mimicked a scoff.

    "Riskier because it would expose her existence to the wider world," Josie borated.

    "How would that be any riskier?"

    "Because when the world learns of her existence, and not IF because word WILL get out, then every powerhouse teetering on the cusp of a breakthrough will swarm to acquire her. Forbidden magic is only forbidden when not performed by the ones that enforce thews. Even the Emperor in all his glory will not hesitate to extract this girl''s ''essence''. Heck! If the rumours circting in the back alleys of the Capital are to be believed, he has all the more reason now given his recent ''battle scar''," Josie warned.

    "That''s a problem for the future. What''s the point if Kili can''t even make it past the present?" Jean reasoned. "What is this other method?"

    "Alchemy. Deconstruct the cure to synthesise more. The level of the cure should be low enough to allow that. Although it would require an industrial-level setup for which the Young Miss will have to tap into the n''s resources. In doing so, it would expose the child''s existence to the world," Josie warned.

    Alchemy is more than just brewing potions - it is only the case when approaching the subject at a lower level. Deconstruction is a branch of alchemy that, as its name suggests, looks at separating a substance into nothing and understanding its makeup. Synthesis is the process of recreating a substance through the use of its baseponents learned through deconstruction. These are high-level applications of magic in the alchemical field as they require a lot of mana in operation.

    Only recently did Jean realise that the reason for such a high mana requirement was probably due to the inefficient application of magic. If one were to apply the concepts and theories of chemistry, the process'' expenditure could most likely be alleviated.

    Jean contemted her options and realised that, unfortunately, Josie had a point.

    "Ultimately, this isn''t a choice that''s up to me to make, after all," Jean pointed out while nudging her head towards Kili who, at this point, was dumbfounded by the sheer quantity of information she had to process.

    "Umm," the girl vocalised her confusion.

    "Would you like me to exin it again?" Jean asked with a more personable tone. The girl nodded her head in response.

    "Before we begin, I hope we can draw blood from you. It can help treat the man who showed symptoms- who vomited blood all over you just now," Jean inquired expectantly. Fortunately, the girl didn''t hold a grudge about being drenched by that man and allowed Jean to take her blood to synthesise a stop-gap treatment.

    "Josie, can you please take me through the method to extract the ''essence'' from her blood?" Jean delegated, and Josie obliged readily.

    "I have a question?" Kili asked meekly while Josie tapped the girl''s skin to detect a suitable vein.

    "If... If I fed my mother some of my blood, would she have survived?" There was a tinge of pain and hope in the girl''s voice that pained Jean.

    "It''s not that simple, Kili," Jean responded with a shake of her head and saw the girl''s face alternate between relief and despair.

    It hurt to know that she couldn''t save her mother, but it also made her feel relieved that something so simple as cutting her palms and cing them above her mother''s mouth wasn''t the solution. Though it must be disappointing to know that the power to heal was within her, but couldn''t be tapped by her or her mother.

    "Sess is expected, failure should only be a result of ineptitude, not negligence," Jean repeated her Sect Leader''s words subconsciously, causing the girl to look at her with a bewildered expression.

    "What happened wasn''t your fault," Jean emphasised while ruffling the girl''s hair. "You wouldn''t have known you had this power within you if we hadn''t met. If anything, it''s my fault. If I had arrived sooner, your mother might have survived."

    The girl bit her lips and murmured, "Thank you, big sister." Her voice was low, barely audible. But Jean''s enhanced hearing picked it up nheless, and the corners of her lips twitched subconsciously and arched upwards slightly.

 Chapter 285 Selfish Decisions

    It was a glorious feeling to save a person from the brink of death. The hitherto unnamed gue (epidemic, disease, what-have-you) was a guaranteed death warrant the moment it was contracted, and its symptoms became apparent. However, this was debunked within seconds of the "cure" entering the bloodstream of the man who exhibited symptoms recently and retched all over Kili.

    After Josie, performed the ritual (which Jean could barely follow), the half-litre container of crimson-red blood was reduced to a mere droplet of highly luminescent, but clear, liquid. This liquid was carefully diluted with an inert solvent and injected incrementally into the infected man''s veins. Within seconds of the medicine reaching the man''s heart, his body started to exhibit changes at an unbelievable pace. First came the brightening of the skin - the paleness grew more saturated as if the colour was suddenly injected into it. The boils and rashes that were forming exploded, and the pus boiled awaypletely. The emaciation, however, started to grow direr which implied that the body was eating itself to sustain its healing. This was solved by dissolving a bar of concentrated nutrition into the water and feeding it to the man by spoonfuls. The bar was developed to maximise metabolism in the short term, so there was no concern about the rate of healing outpacing the body''s ability to replenish itself.

    At the sight of this recovery, Jean should be feeling ted, exuberant, positively drowning in euphoric satisfaction. Yet none of those emotions surfaced in her mien, partly because she was physically unable to portray them, and partly because she couldn''t find herself feeling positive about the situation at all. Not when there was a pale, anaemic girlying on a bed two tents away. This recovery came with a steep cost of blood.

    Even with the special physique, Jean was certain that constantly draining blood from a growing child would not be helpful, especially since she was mortal and the full extent of the physique had yet to rear itself. Sure, she could feed her cebos and convince the girl that it was blood-replenishing draughts, but every power had limits, overdrawing which woulde back to hurt the individual either immediately or years down the line.

    Death now, or in the future. This was the problem Jean had to face when considering the alternatives to Kili''s current predicament. The disease needed to be cured, and people needed to be saved. This was a foregone conclusion. Yet the "how" of the process was out of Jean''s hands. Kili was the solution, but Jean was apprehensive about exploiting the girl as she was doing at the moment. She could contract the Rasmus n''s industrial-level alchemical services to reproduce the cure (which is essentially the girl''s blood distilled to only contain her "essence") but this process would put the girl in danger of exploitation by someone more powerful. A safer alternative would be to wait so that Jean could double down on alchemical research and possibly devise a more efficient way to Deconstruct and Synthesise using principles of chemistry, but Jean could not guaranteepletion before the illness wiped out an entire swatch of thend of all mortal life.

    Jean returned to the tent she designated for personal research and treated the exhausted Kili with an infusion of a potion brewed from crushed petals of the Enduring Lotus. It would replenish her blood quickly in conjunction with the girl''s naturally adaptive physiological capacity. And then, as she stared nkly at the girl''s chest undting periodically with each breath passed, she thought about her next step.

    The cure didn''t just save one person, it reignited the hopes in the hearts of everyone in the camp. This was augmented by the fact that the recovery was immediate and potent (the man had taken a few steps in full view of a small crowd as well). The fact that there was light at the end of the dark tunnel caused a marked increase in morale in the camp - a positive mental attitude went a long way towards healing. But this was also a double-edged sword since hope garnered expectation, and the folks expected Jean to cure the others who were starting to show symptoms. Jean could not burst their bubble and confess that their hope was misced and that their real saviour was Kili, who sacrificed a substantial dose of her own vitality to save them.

    Jean could not, and would not, offload the burden on that little girl because when people were forced to confront death, face-to-face, theyid bare the inherent selfishness hidden in the deepest recesses of their animal brains. People would do anything for the sake of survival, even going as far as to tap a little girl like a keg. It was natural, and Jean wouldn''t me them for it. But it was her duty to ensure that things didn''t devolve to that extent.

    Besides, a little girl shouldn''t have to choose between her life and that of over a hundred others. How tragically ironic would it be for her to see everyone surviving thanks to her contribution when she couldn''t even save the one closest to her?

    The silence in the tent was deafening. The unusually muted argument running in her mind between the two voices started to echo out of control into unintelligible drivel. Jean had to make a decision, and she needed to make it fast.

    "If I let this continue, she will die by my hands. If I don''t she will die in the hands of another. The answer is obvious," a healer does not y with the life of the ones in their care. That was her mother''s single most important rule. "How selfish of me..."

    Jean revealed a wry smile and tapped the unconscious girl''s inner arm once again until a bright blue vein popped into view.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How am I any different from everyone else? It seems that The Universal Panacea Physique was destined to be exploited."

    ____

    "Fuck!" Klow spat out one curse after another as he tried to grit through the pain radiating out of his left arm. Except, what remained on his left shoulder was a bare stump scarred with a gruesome burn from a hasty cauterisation.

    "Fuck!" He knew that his arrogance would somedaye back to bite him. He didn''t expect the bite to be so ruthless. A warrior without an arm was basically dead meat, worthless, and discardable. And that was exactly what ended up happening. He was told, in no uncertain terms, that his stint manning this quarantine would most likely be hisst. The Balen Duchy had cut him off. Any dreams he had of advancing his cultivation on the cusp of breaking into the Core Formation realm were shattered. He tried reasoning that if he could just breakthrough, then he could reforge his body and regrow the limb. But then the captain of his unit sent him to get evaluated by the quartermaster who, after asking him a myriad of questions, concluded that it was unlikely that Klow would reforge the missing limb because, in his heart of hearts, he had already lost it.

    What the fuck did that even mean? It''s been less than a week since his amputation, how can his heart suddenly decide that "Yeah, there never was a hand there in the first ce"?

    "It''s a matter of mindset," the quartermaster emphasised. "Unless youe to terms with your loss, and ept that you can live a life without that arm, you will never regrow the arm during the reforging process."

    Klow was extremely miffed by the quartermaster''s contradictory exnations. On one side, he had to ept that he''d lost the limb and move on, and on the other side, he had already epted the loss and was thus unable to regrow the limb? None of it made any sense. But Klow figured that it was intentional. He was no longer a prospective investment choice for the Balen Duchy and was thus excised. The Balen Duchy was ruthless that way. Heck, they even relinquished a town and a handful of viges to a fate worse than death without thinking twice.

    But the plight of mortals mattered little to Klow. What he cared about, at this moment, was his future. What was he going to do? What could he do? No mercenary crew or sect would take him in. He could find some employment with a business just starting out. Even with one less arm, he was a mage in the Foundation Establishment realm''s peak. That had value. He could find employment as a trainer too?

    He took a break from his roaming thoughts as his phantom limb finally stopped screeching unbearably.

    "That bitch!" Klow cursed towards the sky. He begged, and he pleaded, and he crawled on all fours like amon rat. The least she could do was let him off the hook. All he could do was grumble andin because Klow held no delusion that he would one day meet the arm-taker in singlebat and exit victorious.

    But a man could dream. And dream he did. He dreamed of ways in which he could return the "favour" that woman dealt him. Ways in which he could defile her the way she did him. He became engrossed in his flights of fantasy. So engrossed that he failed to notice a suspiciouslymon rat hurtling through the air towards his mouth that was agape as a result of the infrequent (yet disgustingly vivid) lecherous thoughts fleeting past his mind.

 Chapter 286 Assimilate

    A loss is always a sobering experience, especially when it''s the first loss one faces in their life. Of course, that is only if the party experiencing the loss is graceful enough to ept it and move on. The Rat King was not. He had never faced such an insulting loss in his entire life (in rat years)! He wasn''t reconciled with it. He had essentially sacrificed over 98% of his physical growth to save himself from that demon parading in a weak skin suit. How was he supposed to know that it was all a trap and that a great powery hidden within that smooth, pink, hairless hide over meat and bone? The loss wasn''t his fault, it was all that thing''s fault, and for that, he would have his revenge!

    He managed to escape that thing''s dogged pursuit with great difficulty. He went through abandoned burrows and weaved past hordes of his kind to confuse the pursuer until, atst, he seeded. It had been an entire day, and he didn''t catch a whiff of that thrice-damned creature out for his blood. He hearkened back to his early years, when he scavenged, skittered and skulked around in fear of the predators out to get him and his kind. It made him feel sick! He was the Rat King, damn it!

    Finally, the Rat King found some reprieve from the chase. He slowed down and rested under the shade of arge tree (in rat size). After letting his heated mind halt, he was prepared to analyse his failure more carefully. It was time to regroup ande up with a counterstrategy. He was done running away - that much he''d written into his bones a long time back (in rat years) after he managed to learn to control the heat coursing through his body. He recollected that the reason he managed to supersede all of his opponents was that he could benchmark them against his own kind. He defeated those slithering worms by understanding how they attacked and behaved when facing his kind. The same analysis method was used in finding out how to defeat the flying banshees with beaks. Unfortunately, there was no one to benchmark against when facing that pink-skinned creature - the gulf between himself and his kind had widened so greatly that it was impossible to do so. Nheless, the sacrifice of his body mass hadted him definite insight and an alternative perspective towards the mantra governing his life.

    Maybe assimte didn''t necessarily mean to do it with his own kind? Maybe assimting meant bing one with the strongest and blending in seamlessly. Growing didn''t necessarily mean physically growing, it may just mean condensing his strength - after all a creature much smaller than he had defeated him so effortlessly. And propagate- well... that probably didn''t need reinterpretation.

    As the Rat King pondered on this new epiphany, a loud screech followed by a heavy gust of wind approached him, and then he suddenly found himself caught in a vice grip rising higher and higher.

    ''Damn flying banshees with beaks!'' The Rat King cursed. If only he had his old body, he could waste this creature with a flick of his appendage. No matter, he hadn''t forgotten his roots. Through pure instinct, he started to release the rancid ck gas from his pores thatpletely enveloped the creature. The reaction was immediate as its screech grew huskier, and it started to lose altitude. The Rat King twisted and bit down on the creature''s talons, releasing himself from its grasp. He was free, albeit high up in the air.

    Rats are resilient creatures. They are expert swimmers and climbers and, in rare cases, gliders. He stretched his loose skin outwards and slowed down his speed of descent. As he did, he swerved his head around looking for an optimal ce tond.

    At that instant, his sight caught something interesting. It was another one of those pink-skinned creatures, though this one looked different. Itcked an appendage the other one had, and its front was rather t too. It looked weaker, but that was perfectly fine. The reason why his earlier hunts had been sessful was that his opponents treated him as a weak rat. The moment he outwardly portrayed his strength, he lost. Moral of the story? Act weaker to surprise foes into lowering their guards.

    The Rat King was prepared to put his n into motion. He would assimte with this creature... yet how? He had an inkling of the process when it came to his own kind since he had a thorough understanding of their anatomies. But these pink-skinned creatures werepletely different. Amongst the differences, they walked on two legs andcked a tail. Their paws looked weird too!

    ''I need to understand these creatures better,'' the Rat King concluded. Luckily, this one, in particr, made it easier - its mouth was wide open and just waiting for the Rat King to grace it with his presence. With a seamless swoop, the Rat Kingpressed his body and slid through the agape mouth of his potentially new vessel.

    The passageway was tight. But rats specialised in navigating through tight spaces. It took some adjustment but he made it past the maw. Next came an even narrower fleshy tunnel that kept undting,pressing and squeezing periodically. He burrowed forward, expanding the path to allow his body to move through. Blood started to ooze out the new expansions making it difficult to navigate midway, but rats were excellent swimmers. He could smell a strong acidic smell emanating from before him, which he recognised to be the stomach. The Rat King bypassed that altogether and kept burrowing deeper and deeper, and deeper.

    ''Assimte... Assimte... Assimte...'' he kept repeating, as he searched for a way to be one with this human. His one-tracked mind honed in on that single concept to a level where everything else bled into the background. He had to assimte with this creature, at all costs.

    As his thoughts grew concentrated and hyper-focused, something glowing came into the Rat King''s vision. He didn''t know what it was, but something told him that this was his destination. It looked like arge body of water with an ethereal and inviting glow emanating from it. It looked warm, just like the energy flowing through him. Unfortunately, the water body was behind a membranous barrier. Sending his ws through that barrier caused it to disintegrate painfully. The Rat King''s animal instincts warned him from going further, but his cause - his reason for existence - urged him to take the plunge.

    A moment of indecision before his resolve solidified.

    He pushed through the barrier, fought through the pain as his rat body started to disperse, and hurtled towards therge body of water calling out to him.

    His body touched the warm surface of the liquid before the rest of what remained crossed through. The surface rippled and then turned calm.

    Minutes passed until suddenly, a murky bubble rose and popped on the body''s surface. Then another, and another, until the water started to grow darker and more viscous. Putridity overtook the tranquil sea as more and more waste started to boil up from within.

    ____

    Klow gagged violently. Something disgusting was scuttling down his throat, scratching at his flesh and ripping his oesophagus with wild abandon. He was in the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, yet somehow the dastardly creature''s ws tore through his inner flesh like a hot knife through butter. He could feel it move through his body, and he could feel it eating away at his organs as it beelined towards... something. Klow copsed into the ground and started to seize vigorously as he scratched above his body where the rat (of all things) was scuttling through.

    He wanted to do something- ANYTHING, to, "MAKE! IT! STOP! PLEASE!!"

    And as though answering his pleas, the pain stopped. The creature halted in its path. Klow gained just enough of his consciousness to realise where it was - in his abdomen. Just as he was about to re his mana and flush it out, it disappeared.

    "Oh no..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The pain returned, radiating from his fledgling mana core, but this time it came with a vengeance. There was nothing he could do to stop it, that was certain.

    A rancid ck gas started to emanate from every pore and orifice on Klow''s body. A weak groan escaped his agape mouth, and with it, his consciousness was extinguished.

    ____

    Neem was justpleting his tour around the quarantine''s perimeter when an infuriating sight caught his attention.

    "Damn it, Klow! Sleeping on the job? Again?" He growled as he approached the fallen figure of the man. As he got closer, and his mana senses drew inwards, he noticed the blood and filth surrounding the downed man.

    "Klow? Hey! Wake up!" He rushed forward and shook the unconscious man vigorously. "Hey! Who did this? Wake up!"

    Neem remembered the protocols his superiors had drilled into him. None of them talked about a situation where arade was found in such apromising and downright confusing situation. Nheless, if at all stuck in a bind, report to your superior officer!

    As he was about to stand up, Neem saw Klow''s eyes bolt open.

    "Hey!" Neem raised his palms to tap the awoken cripple''s face when the man''s remaining arm shot up and grabbed it.

    "Wha-"

    Klow''s eyes alternated between the arm in his grasp and the stump on his left shoulder. A raspy and inhuman hum escaped Klow''s nose.

    "W-What are you-"

    The downed man sprang up and tackled Neem into submission. Neem was about to retaliate with a punch when Klow opened his mouth and a ck gas gushed out and drowned Neempletely. The gas entered and corroded Neem''s airways and started to affect his senses adversely.

    "K- *cough* Klow..."

    At that moment, strong jawstched onto Neem''s throat and pulled out.

    "ASSIMILATED." The raspy voice dered tedly with its mouth full. "MUST. GROW."

    And then Neem felt his left arm getting ripped out malevolently. Thest thing Neem saw before losing his sight was Klow haphazardly and repeatedly shoving the limp and bloody arm against his left shoulder socket.

    "ATTACH!" Flesh collided against the stump, but nothing connected.

    "ATTACH!"

    "ATTACH!"

    "ATTA-"

 Chapter 287 Bargaining For Control (Part One)

    A/N: There is a poll on Discord in #eventsmittee channel. It''s to gauge reader preference so that I can decide on how to write an uing arc. Please take the time to leave a response there. OR checkments of this chapter.

    ____

    Through some rather obscene "hardcore parkour" of rationalisation, Guy''s fractured mind (following the gruesome chain of terrorist attacks and mass murder) had mended. Well, mended was a generous descriptor for the fragile yet somehow unified state his mind was in. The "glued container" that was his mind was still missing a few key pieces that no amount of rationalisation could rece. As a result of this, a sense of uneasiness kept growing within Guy with the progression of time.

    The question that gued him and caused this uneasiness was regarding the true nature of the Other Guy inhabiting his body. "Do I have dissociative identity disorder?"

    In a sense, the feeling was eerily simr - a second personality of his took the "spotlight" and unseated him for an appreciable duration. However, although the symptoms matched, he wasn''t certain ifbelling the phenomenon after the psychological condition was apt. For one, he learned about DID during his study of child psychology - every known case of DID had spawned at a riper age when a person''s development was still changing (that is to say that it only happened in children). Continuous and harrowing psychological and physical trauma results in DID within children, but in adults it often manifests as post-traumatic stress disorder or borderline personality disorder since their identities have solidified.

    Guy was certain that, while dissociative, this disorder wasn''t wholly psychological but spiritual. Of course, this urged the line of inquiry contending the rtionship between psychology and the soul, or even physiology and the soul. What even WAS the soul? This entered a realm of metaphysics that Guy could only make assumptions about.

    "Metaphysics..."

    The whole debacle with the Other Guy came into y when Guy unwittingly immersed himself in the drivel peddled in cult literature. The RoK was a conducive ce to learn as it was, after all, "inside" his soul. In a sense, studying in that ce had a simr effect to meditation. The knowledge perused over there was more ingrained into Guy''s memories as opposed to learning in the physical world. After some thought, Guy connected it with an adage his high-school headmaster used to preach about during every school assembly.

    "The mind is like an ever-growing corridor. With every new book read, and knowledge gained, a new room is added to this corridor. The more that knowledge is used, the longer the door to this room remains open. When a "knowledge" bes unused, the door closes, and the room it leads to starts to umte dust and grime."

    At that time, Guy wasn''t mature or attentive enough to understand the implications of those words. He simply shelved them away in one of those metaphorical rooms, never to be used again.

    "Having a long corridor is great, but it is equally important to ensure that each room in the corridor is periodically aired and maintained."

    That is to say, one must regrly brush up on known knowledge to keep themselves informed andpetitive in the schrly environment.

    The RoK was Guy''s corridor. The book in the RoK were things Guy had already read in his past life - there was no "new" or "unknown" information in there. Every time he opened and read a book in the RoK, he was "airing" out the closed room in the corridor and brushing himself up on what he already knew.

    In his past life, Guy kept a healthy distance from any knowledge pertaining to religion, faith, or metaphysics. Till his inevitable demise in his past life, Guy was an ardent atheist. Although, he was tolerant of other religions as it was necessary for his line of work. Faith is the process through which humans derive meaning in events that exceed their level of understanding. Religion adds to this by also codifying morals and ethics. Guy believed that relying on faith as a crutch to fill in the nks in societal knowledge was inevitably detrimental to the advancement of society as a whole. He also believed morals and ethics fell on a spectrum - while there was a clear ck and white, there was also a long span of grey of varying gradients in between that religious codes often pigeonholed into binary categories. Finally, Guy stayed away from indulging in religion because he did not want his teaching to be biased towards one line of thought; he wanted his students to be active and free thinkers capable of making their judgements based on logic and facts.

    Because of this, the RoK initiallycked any entries on religious texts of any kind - there was never a door in his corridor that catered to that information in the first ce.

    But then Mast did the unthinkable, he brought in books that were never there, to begin with. Symbolically, this was akin to carving out a hole in the corridor and building a room without the knowledge of the owner of the corridor. When Guy read it and internalised it (that too while staying inside the RoK) his mind recognised that the information, which initially did not exist, was actually there all along!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Evidently, this ''new room'' turned into the Church," Guy concluded. It was the only possible exnation, given how Mast kept being so vague and mysterious about it.

    There was no literature in the RoK that Guy could use to evaluate the effect of imnting memories and information directly into another person''s brain in such a mysterious manner. Sure, there were techniques like hypnosis and suggestion that could be used to achieve a simr result, but the modes werepletely different. What Mast had done was equivalent to copy-pasting information into a person''s memory and soul - it was direct.

    Unfortunately, the process brought a side effect. To harken back to the corridor analogy, what Mast did was bring a room from somewhere and connect it to the corridor. However, before attaching the room to the corridor, he forgot to vacate it. Someone was inside that room when it joined up with Guy''s corridor!

    Now, that "someone" was fighting for control over the corridor (and winning!).

    To top it off, the Other Guy was borne of knowledge pertaining to cults and their ilk. A cult is a subset of religion, that is defined subjectively by either the number of followers OR the extreme-ness of the teaching preached within (whether it runs afoul with the consensus of what is considered moral or ethically correct). Needless to say, the Other Guy''s sense of right and wrong was heavily skewed and ran counter to Guy''s.

    However, at the end of the day, this was something Guy had to live with. He could not do anything about the Other Guy because he didn''t know what to do! Magic and spirituality were already beyond his level of understanding. And he could not recruit assistance from the experts in his proximity because it would eventually expose the fact that he was a transmigrator to the world and attract the wrath of the one above who built this world. As a result, Guy settled to solve this problem using the abilities he brought with him from his past life.

    Guy extricated himself from Jean and Josie and their mission and quickly returned to the nearest town with Dora. He would have very much loved to help out the two healers - he sorely wished to remedy the inhuman treatment the vigers were being subjected to - but he also realised that he was just going to keep dying the inevitable by shoving the problem aside.

    The town was called Resting, an apt name given the overall lethargic atmosphere in the area. It also didn''t help that a pandemic was literally next door; most of the people had already fled the ce in fear. Those that remained were primarilyrge businesses or people with deep roots in the town. Thankfully, there was a functioning inn that offered shelter for cheap.

    He spent over three days in practical istion. He couldn''t cut himself from the outside world as he still needed to care for Dora. He let his mind run various debates, simtions and scenarios as he pitted himself against the Other Guy. He knew that man''s character, he could surmise what made him tick and how to approach him. But he would only have one chance at this discussion. He would be going all in!

    And thus, after mentally preparing himself, he sent Dora to do her thing by herself safely (he made sure to emphasise that countless times), and entered meditation through yoga.

    Guy prepared himself for war. In the RoK, he and the Other Guy were equal. Neither could throw a punch nor could they throw a spell. The fight would bepletely verbal. Guy knew that his counterpart was persuasive, extremely so. But that was only because of the pervasive influence of the Church radiating from him (like some sick brainwashing hormone). So in the end, it was a war of words in the truest of senses.

    Guy approached the tear in space and cast his sight through, though he could not see anything that made sense on the other side. There was a psychedelic mish-mash of colours undting on the other side, as though someone had taken all the pigments in the world, poured it on a canvas,id on top of it and just rolled around like a pig in its sty.

    Guy suppressed a chuckle as a mischievous thought shed past his mind. ''If only I had some sort of way to do a quicksave at this moment,'' Guy thought with a giddy smile.

    "Other Guy, I havee to bargain!" Guy yelled through the tear in the RoK and waited for a response from the other side.

 Chapter 288 Bargaining For Control (Part Two)

    "This can''t keep going on like this," Guy dered. "We have to work things out."

    "Why should I do that?" An imperious voice cut through the static emanating from the other end of the crack.

    "We''re sharing a body-"

    "If I wait it out, I won''t have to share it anymore," the voice emphasised.

    "Do you really want to do that?" Guy probed.

    "Why should I bother to keep an indecisive waste of space such as yourself upying my vessel?" The voice scoffed. "The sooner you''re gone, the sooner I can get on with my grand purpose."

    "Of course! Your purpose... Spreading the truth of the world and unravelling the lies that keep the uninformed masses in check? Something like that?" Guy mocked. "Let me tell you, your so-called ''purpose''... it is not going to go the way you think."

    "Ha!" the Other Guy scoffed. "And do enlighten me, why would that be?"

    "You are the kind of guy who burns bridges," Guy highlighted. "For you, people fall under one of two categories: those that are with you (and align with your views) and those that are against you (or who disagree with your views). Do you think everyone will just automatically follow your every word? Sure you can force them with the voice, but is that really what you want at the end of the day? A bunch of puppets miming your every word mindlessly?"

    Guy did not receive a response, this meant that the Other Guy was at least receptive to Guy''s words.

    "If you want to make changes you not only need to start from the bottom, but you also need to create receptivity at the top. Otherwise, the water that boils up will never find an outlet to escape. To do that, you need to negotiate and coborate with people. Do you think you can manage that?"

    "I can be ''convincing'' if I want to," the Other Guy growled.

    "And that is your problem. Telling someone to do it and making them willing to do it are two different things. Which do you think is superior?"

    Again, no response.

    "Furthermore, I admit that you are a far better orator than I am. You can work a crowd more dynamically and with greater immersion. But youck the expertise to teach. What do you intend to do with all the kids joining the Sect? Do you n on leaving them to their own devices after throwing away some motivational lines? How would that be any different from every other sect we''ve seen so far?"

    "I am already setting the stage for you to realise your ultimate goal. The quickest way into the hearts of people is through material goods, which is what the Verum Trading Company seeks to do," Guy highlighted. "Take a moment to consider me and my capabilities objectively. You were right when you said that we share a lot of simrities in our core and that ourpetencies and personalities deviate greatly. But that isn''t a bad thing. What youck, I have in spaded and vice versa. Weplete each other, don''t you see?"

    "ENOUGH!" The Other Guy dered forcefully before a tense silence escaped through the tear.

    The Other Guy hummed and then said with a chuckle, "It sounds like you just want me to do your dirty work. You want an excuse, and I''m the most convenient one."

    "I won''t lie," Guy admitted. "I amcking in many crucial ways that pertain to our survival. You can fill in those gaps. But that does not mean you are without any shorings. There is no shame in epting them."

    "What do you want, then?" the Other Guy shot back exasperatedly.

    "Well, my first thought was to work towards a merging-"

    "I don''t wish to lose myself in you," the Other Guy denied decisively.

    "Don''t think of it that way. Think of it as gaining something," Guy assuaged.

    "Package it however you want, but the end result won''t be me."

    "I figured that you would say that," Guy said with a sigh. "Which is why I present you with an alternative. It will be a bit more difficult."

    "A system that satisfies both parties," Guy proposed. "Rules, conditions, and so on."

    Suddenly, the void peering through the tear shuffled to reveal an eye.

    "Go on."

    "We will establish conditions for relinquishment of the ''light'' so that control of the body can be switched between us. It also enforces conditions for when big decisions need to be made so that both parties are involved rather than just one," Guy continued.

    "Since there are two of us, one must be the primary," the Other Guy pointed out.

    "I will be the primary."

    "WHAT?!"

    "Hear me out-"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Save your sophistry. I was wrong to underestimate your nature. Under that bumbling facade, you hide a venomous snake!" The Other Guy used.

    "It''s not like that," Guy tried to cut in.

    "I will take what is rightfully mine-"

    "You want to talk about right?!" Guy cut into his counterpart''s emotionally charged tirade. "I was the one thrust into this body once its previous owner relinquished it, not you. You were just a byproduct of an experiment gone wrong. What you are is a parasite, a worm piggy-backing off of the work of others. I''ll say it once, and I will say it again, you will NEVER be able to achieve anything by yourself. Every step you take, while decisive,cks wisdom or future sight. You don''t know how to take two steps back to take three steps forward. And worst of all, you are selfish-"

    "Take that back!"

    "Why? Too hard to digest?" Guy goaded. He was growing frustrated with the childish immaturity of the man beyond the crack. "Do you know what sacrifice orpromise even means? To give away something valuable for the benefit of another, willingly? When the chips are down, do you think you can do it?"

    "Enough!"

    "You preached with such gusto about how you ''avenged'' the children hurt by the Beggars'' Sect. But did you stop to think how your unapologetic culling of an entire organisation would affect the Capital''s ecosystem as a whole?"

    "They were weeds! Their existence was a mise to society."

    "Even weed has a purpose in an ecosystem. This ill society has been functioning for years. By removing a monolith, you have paved the way for smaller factions to fill in the gaps. This will lead to more conflicts and deaths. A hammer is not a multipurpose tool - if you strike a screw, all you will do is damage the surface. While I agree with your assessment of the Beggars'' Sect, if you had conferred your actions with me, we could have gone down a more reasonable path with less bloodshed and coteral damage," Guy expounded.

    "You don''t seem to have an off button, is what I''m trying to say," Guy summarised. "Bulldozing through everything isn''t a catch-all solution. Furthermore, we have more responsibilities. The kids, for instance."

    "I know how to manage my flock," the Other Guy grumbled.

    "Your "flock" are still youth going through their most crucial stage of development. How much experience do you have working with people their age?" Guy challenged. "I, for one, actually have a resume loaded with verifiable work experience in this particr field."

    "So, in the grand scheme of things, you taking control of my body as the primary is more detrimental to your cause, do you not agree?" Guy followed up immediately.

    "Huh? What?"

    "Do you not agree?!" Guy repeated.

    "Do I not agree? Or do I not, not agree? Double negatives... so yes?" The Other Guy had unwittingly fallen into a ssic verbal trap through a targetted barrage of facts and logic ending with a convoluted mess of a question.

    Guy metaphorically dabbed the metaphorical sweat cascading down his metaphorical face (after all, he couldn''t sweat while inside the RoK). The war was nearing its conclusion and victory was almost at hand. He had corralled the Other Guy with unassable logic and even turned his opponent''s emotionally charged and opinionated words against him. Admittedly, this was Guy''s greatest debate yet and had the greatest odds (as his identity and life literally hung in the bnce).

    It was the final sprint, and the finish line was approaching quickly! But right as his chest hit the silk ribbon ofpletion, he was violently pulled out of his meditative state.

    "Father! Father! Help!"

    Guy''s sight turned clearer, and the first thing he saw was Dora''s panicked face drenched in tears, sweat and dirt.

    "Dora-"

    "Father, help! Middle Sister Jean, she-"

    Dora gasped for air.

    "Middle Sister Jean is in trouble! She needs help!"

    "W-What happened? Where is she?" Guy gushed out as he leapt onto his feet.

    ''Due Northwest,'' the Other Guy responded with a solemn voice, echoing inside Guy''s mind.

    ''How do you know?'' Guy responded as he leapt through the window andnded on the ground with a heavy thud.

    ''A shepherd who loses his sheep isn''t meant to be a shepherd,'' the Other Guy scoffed without losing his stern demeanour.

    Inside the Church, the Other Guy extended his hand and grasped the flickering string that extended out of Jean''s ethereal figure.

    "She is undergoing deep emotional distress. I can only do so much to keep her from falling apart," he mumbled with his eyes closed. He then gently massaged the string, causing the flickering rate to stabilise.

 Chapter 289 Intercepted

    A/N: There is a poll on Discord in #eventsmittee channel. It''s to gauge reader preference so that I can decide on how to write an uing arc. Please take the time to leave a response there. OR checkments of this chapter.

    ____

    Dora never expected to travel so far and wide across the Empire in her entire life. Her world was quite small, spanning only the limits of Twilight Vige and a few kilometres into the nearby forest including Fancy''s meadow. Speaking of-

    "I hope Fancy is doing okay... It''s disappointing that I couldn''t take all those beautiful flowers from that flower shop in the Capital. She would have loved those amazing colours!" Dora murmured forlornly as she halted her skip and observed the array of wildflowers growing near the outskirts of Resting Town.

    She used to be so envious of Kano when he went to Radiant City with Medium Sis'' family. Her brother brought back so many fun stories and even more souvenirs that it made her head spin!

    "I''ll defeat him this time!"

    She purchased twice the amount of souvenirs and visited twice the number of exotic ces. In fact, she was ready to dere with adamant certainty that the Capital was in a league of its own.

    "Radiant City is nothingpared to the Capital."

    It was massive! It was bright! It had so many people! It had so many shops! It had everything, and more! Of course, she hadn''t yet properly been to Radiant City to make a proper judgement, but she didn''t care. Kano hadn''t been to the Capital either, what would he know?

    Dora grew giddy just thinking back to her short yet eventful time at Sunspear.

    "Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip short," she said with a disappointed sigh. There were so many more ces to visit, though Father and Medium Sis didn''t allow her to go. It was disappointing, but she trusted her Father in that he would never do anything that would hurt her or make her feel bad. Where did this confidencee from? Dora couldn''t say, it just felt... right?

    Dora wasn''t old enough to question the meaning behind her emotions. Unlike Kano, who went through training as an artist and was required to be critical about his emotions and feelings, she lived a more upbeat and carefree life. She lowered herself and took a deep whiff of a multicoloured flower, only to reel back with disgust.

    "Pheeeew!" She evoked with a scrunched-up face. "It looks so good, but smells horrible."

    As she gently guided her dibobted senses back to normalcy, she noticed something happening around her, which was that absolutely nothing was happening around her. There wasplete and utter silence, which was a first. Her usual day was filled with the constant noise of either people or animals. Even the wind, which was just white noise for others, reverberated with unimportant chatter. The only way Dora could ever find sce from all thatmotion was to drown it with her own. That was until her Father introduced her to the magical meditation technique called Yoga. Itpletely changed Dora''s life as she no longer had to waste energy to suppress the annoying sounds. She could now live a normal life, and make friends, and people didn''t hate her anymore.

    But this silence... It was chilling. It wasn''t the same, pleasant tranquillity that Yoga gave her. The silence achieved through Yoga felt like true peace - like when a rippling pond bespletely still. The silence here was as if the pond was empty of water altogether! It was like everyone and everything capable of speaking (to Dora) had just suddenly disappeared.

    It was like apletely new world for her. However, it did note as a pleasant surprise. A life of constant cacophony was her baseline, to be deprived of it so abruptly was unsettling. A creeping sense of foreboding started to bubble up from within as she swivelled her head around. She''d travelled through denser forests than theparatively sparse shrubbery around her, but the eerie stillness amplified the sense of istion and ustrophobia fostered by the unusually towering trees. Her breathing grew quicker subconsciously and cold sweats started to form all over her back. She never would have thought that she would suddenly crave the irksome droning of the many tiny insects that haphazardly buzzed around her.

    A snap from the breaking of a twig!

    Dora''s head darted towards the sound, and her eyes grew narrow. There was nothing there.

    A crunch from the crumpling of fallen, dry leaves!

    This came from the opposite direction, and Dora''s eyes tracked it instinctively. Again, nothing.

    Silence reigned once again.

    Dora shrank into herself as her anxiety grew rapidly. Her whole body was frozen in ce - she did not know what to do!

    .

    .

    .

    "Dora-"

    "AAAAAAAAA!" A primal shriek filled with all the fear her tiny body could umte escaped from Dora''s lips. She held her head between her arms and copsed onto the ground in a fetal position.

    "Dora?"

    "Don''t kill me please..." Dora wept. Her words came out muffled as they had to travel throughyers of clothes, snot and tears. "I''m so weak and skinny. Please don''t eat me!"

    "Eat you- Dora!"

    "Uuuuu- Eh? Medium Sis?!" Dora eximed in surprise.

    "What are you doing on the ground?" Jean asked. Although her Medium Sis couldn''t show much on her face, Dora was an expert at reading her expressions. And right now, her Medium Sis was confused and concerned.

    "I thought you were an animal ready to pounce on and eat me," Dora responded while wiping away the tears from her face while hurriedly standing up on her feet.

    "An animal that talks and knows your name?" Jean retorted.

    "You never know," Dora said with a distant scowl. "Birds tend to spread weird rumours about you."

    "Birds?"

    "Yeah! Especially sparrows! They can''t even remember that much, but they somehow catch you just when you''re doing something embarrassing and never let it up until the whole world knows what you did!" Dorained exasperatedly. "Did you know that the sparrows in the Capital knew what I didst summer?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What did you dost summer?"

    "Well Kano was being really annoying, so I-" Dora held her tongue and gave Jean a betrayed look. "I didn''t do anything!"

    "Okay..." Jean drawled. As she did so, a little head poked out from behind her legs, surprising Dora.

    "Oh? Who''s this?"

    "Ah, right. Dora, meet Kili. She''s your age," Jean introduced while moving the shy girl forward.

    "Hello, Kili! I''m Dora. Nice to meet you!" Dora extended her hand as a greeting, but the other girl flinched and quickly hid behind Jean''s leg.

    "You called-"

    "AAAAAAAAA!" Dora bellowed in fear as another voice spoke up from behind her. Once again, she copsed onto the ground in aplete fetal position with her head tucked securely between her arms.

    "Don''t kill me, please! I''m so weak and skinny. Please don''t eat me!"

    "Ummm..."

    "It''s okay, Josie," Jean assuaged quickly. "She''s just a bit on edge."

    "As you say, Young Miss. You called this ve?"

    ____

    Jean hung her head low and produced two phials from her jacket.

    "It seems that the Young Miss has settled on an option," Josie confirmed with a thoughtful nod. "Is the Young Miss certain?"

    "There''s no point thinking about this any further," Jean shot back decisively. "Do what must be done."

    "A standard Teleportation Ritual Formation should suffice."

    Jean furrowed her brows and said, "Would that cause any issues with the blood sample? It contains the required antibodies, we don''t want them to be affected in any way."

    "We have been transporting ingredients for many years, this ve is certain that nothing adverse will ur," Josie assuaged before pulling out a chalk from her coat pocket. "Please stand clear. This formation is quite exhaustive."

    And with that said, the woman got to work. She first started with arge circle with a diameter of around 5 metres. Then, working inwards from the circumference, she started to draw the rest of the convoluted mess of a ritual formation.

    Jean in turn took Dora and Kili and sat down on arge rock outcropping nearby. While Dora curiously inspected the flower growing atop amon Vicarious Shadow Fungus and introduced it to Kili with a serious expression on her face, Jean thought over her next move.

    After extracting two phials of blood from Kili, amounting to 500ml in total, she decided to go down the path that would be more in favour of the girl''s wellbeing. It was the right thing to do, Jean believed.

    If the girl wanted to save others, it was her prerogative. Unfortunately, the little girl wasn''t old enough or in the right frame of mind to make that decision.

    Jean gazed at the precocious pair ying around. She felt... warm seeing the dreary girl sporting a faint smile.

    ''It was the right decision sneaking her out of the quarantine.''

    Living amidst the dying wasn''t conducive to a developing mind. Kili''s life should be filled with warmth, happiness and lots of love. Jean was prepared to provide all of it for her.

    Josie was nothing but efficient. Within minutes, a massive ritual formation materialised in the clearing between trees.

    "It''s hard to believe that something this big is needed to just transport two phials," Jeanmented.

    "Teleportation is high-grade magic after all," Josie shrugged. "Now then, Young Miss, if you will?"

    Jean leapt off her rock and moved towards Josie.

    Just then-

    "Huh?" Dora eximed out loud. The movement caught Josie and Jean''s eye as the girl''s expression turnedplicated and started to quickly warp with fear.

    Josie followed Dora''s gaze and allowed her mana sense to extend in that direction. There was nothing.

    Until the very next second, an object with a substantial mana signature came barrelling towards them. Trees were turned to splinters as what appeared to be a man came hurtling precariously but with grave purpose.

    "RUN!" Josie yelled before she leapt forward and intercepted the man just as he appeared in the clearing.

    "MEET. AGAIN." The man rasped. "KILL! ASSIMILATE!"

 Chapter 290 Round Two

    A/N: Please make sure to leave ament in thements of the previous chapter or on the Discord server #eventsmittee.

    ____

    Josie knew immediately that the man before her was the same vermin she fought earlier in the quarantine. The stench exuded by his mana matched that creature''s down to a ''T''''. Josie knew that it wasn''t thest she''d seen of that vermin. Except, she didn''t expect their next encounter to be so soon, and that too with herself at such a massive disadvantage. In theirst encounter, the creature was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm - merely a centimetre away from stepping into Core Formation. With a beast''s inherent advantages covering for the gap in cultivation, the fight was only incrementally in Josie''s favour. However, the creature had somehow broken through. Even after losing so much, it advanced into the Core Formation realm.

    With this change, the creature-turned-manpletely outssed Josie. This became immediately evident when the creature followed up its charge with a wide swipe of its left hand. Josie intended to block the attack, but she quickly realised that the force was well beyond her limit even after reinforcing her body with mana. This was the gulf between a mage and a beast within the same cultivation realm! In response, Josie let herself get pushed back by the attack and caught herself as she careened away.

    "What exactly are you?" Josie said gritting her teeth.

    The man tilted his head, with a crazed and confused expression on his face. His clothes were ragged and torn - there were weapon marks as well as tears caused by a human pulling on them. Josie matched his face with that of the man who she amputated a few days back. He was also wearing the same armour, except it had degraded significantly through battle and environmental damage. His hair was messier and tangled, singed in some ces too. He revealed his blood-soaked teeth with an agitated smile and then used his tongue to lick the blood leaking out from the side of his lips.

    He got down on all fours and covered the gap within a fraction of a second. The speed was faster than Josie could track. The ground quite literally caved in where he used to stand due to the immense force exerted by his legs. The following attack turned into a grapple, as he tried to overpower Josie into the ground. As a ranged attacker, Josie had to separate herself. She tried dodging and weaving around natural obstacles, but the man waved his hands with a maddened fervour, obliterating the trees and rock in his path.

    Left without an option, Josie quickly conjured up a gust of air and used it to elerate mid-dodge to confuse the man. Evidently, it worked. Josie capitalised on the sudden decrease in immediate pressure and started to fire off wind-based attacks with impunity. This time, she did not hold back, she did not have the luxury of holding back.

    As if mocking her, the man crossed his fists and weathered the attacks unflinchingly. Josie caught the sudden increase in projected mana in front of his crossed fists that was blocking the attacks froming his way - possibly a standard ward, although the output was greatly inefficient. But it seemed like the man could afford it!

    Josie bit down on her lips and continued to fire her attacks. There were |Wind des|, |Pressure Balls| and |Howling Fists| thrown in his path, which he seamlessly side-stepped or weathered. Yet he did not let off applying pressure on her. One fortunate find was that the man hadn''t grownpletely ustomed to his body just yet. This was amon problem known to affect beasts entering the Core Formation realm after they reforged their bodies, especially if the beast decides to reforge itself to adorn a form that is in stark contrast from his original biological state. The suddenck of or addition of appendages, the shrunken or erged form, and the shift in natural sensors all have apounding effect. The man in particr was finding it hard to estimate the reach of his arms. He opted for wide and telegraphed movements, which was the only reason Josie could survive so far.

    When two magical beings fight against each other, they are actually entering a war on two fronts. There is the physical fight, which involves melee and weaponisedbat and draws on the duelists'' internal mana, and there is the arcane fight which involves the recruitment of ambient mana within thebatants'' mana domains. A mage cannot use ambient mana personally, but they can rely on it to sustain their spells when range is involved. Losing both fights is a guaranteed loss, and winning both of them is impossible when a fight is between mages of matching realms. One has to weigh the importance of both in anybat scenario. A ranged magic user would prefer to prioritise their control over the ovepping domain, but if they let go of their presence in the physical realm by loosening the reinforcement of their defences, they risk dying to a rogue melee attack. The same can be said for a physicalbatant who ignores the ovepping domain, as they risk being affected by spells acting directly in their personal space.

    The man before her was originally a beast. Beasts that have advanced cultivations have a natural disposition and instinctual control over mana - it is just like eating or breathing. Therefore, his power over his domain, whose diameter exceeded Josie''s even though he only just advanced, was staggering. Josie was fighting an uphill battle on that front, as she tried to wrest control over a measly amount in her immediate vicinity. Her ranged spells were being predicted, and most lost juice within seconds of leaving her controlled domain. The physical fight was no better either. While the mancked grace and technique, he had unparalleled adaptability. An attack that fell twice did not seed on the third attempt.

    Josie clicked her tongue with irritation. "As expected from a being born a rat and turned human, two of the most adaptable creatures in the world!"

    The forested area had grown barren and wrecked under the unforgiving and haphazard assault of the beast-turned-man. He cared little for what went around him and moved with a singr purpose - to kill Josie. Unfortunately, Josie could not contain the man thus risking possible danger befalling her Young Miss and the little ones, as they tried and failed to escape from the "hot zone".<novelnext></novelnext>

    The defeat was assured for Josie, and worse yet it would lead to the death of her Young Miss. That was an even more unpardonable crime! This was unless she took extreme measures.

    Josie decided to capitalise on the man''s most obvious weakness - his arms! Although he used his ''weapons'' haphazardly, they carried immense power. Nothing was more dangerous than a neophyte handling a weapon beyond their capacity. Knowing that they''re contending against newbies causes the opponent to lower their guard, only to get caught by the weapon at an off angle and lose their lives in the process. Josie chose to remove the wildcard!

    In a strange twist, she narrowed the gap she so ardently tried to maintain. The sudden reversal caused the man to hesitate, only momentarily though. But that fraction of a second was enough for Josie to stab his overextended right arm with a dart. The dart was tipped with Dimiretium, an extremely rare metal alloy of Dinarius, Mithril and Auretium. The three metalsprising it are highly magically reactive. Dinarius is sometimes used as an elerant for ritual formations by mixing it in with chalk dust. Auretium is used in jewellery to create lustrous and light essories that are also conducive towards enchantments. Mithril is used in all enchantment inscriptions. However, in the 2:2:6 (by weight) mixture of those three metals, one creates one of the most aggressive magic neutralisers. It is naturally inhibitive towards mana cirction. The cause for this behaviour is highly debated, and one that Josie deems unnecessary to explore. Since all that mattered was its application, which was to pierce magic in all its forms.

    Unfortunately, Dimiretium is highly brittle and cannot be fashioned into weapons. But, a needle was within its physical limits. The hollow needle pierced through the man''s passive mana reinforcement and dipped into his flesh. Then, immediately after, the solvent stored within the dart injected itself into the muscle. As the man reeled back, Josie quickly followed it up with another dart, this time to the left hand.

    Josie turned tail and ran without hesitation. It was weird to show one''s back while inbat, but this was a strategic retreat as within seconds a loud explosion sounded behind her. Josie looked over her shoulder and saw the man with the right side of his torso charred and wrecked beyond recognition. His right arm was missing, and so was his shoulder and a good chunk of his right chest. The flesh on the right side of his face was ripped, revealing parts of his skull and the entirety of his right teeth. The man moved decisively and swung his left arm upwards. It dislodged like a doll part and flew towards the sky before another massive explosion resounded from above.

    "Fucking rats!" Josie cursed. If the second explosion struck true, the fight would have been assuredly in her court. Nheless, she could rest assured that there was some advantage here. The man was without arms and thoroughly damaged on one side.

    "PLAYED. ALL. CARD! SEE. MINE!"

    At times, Josie wondered if there really was a being up above everyone''s reach manipting things on a whim. Large organised religion never really took hold on Gaea, what with the power of gods being essible to those with time, resources or an excess of luck. Some cults followed a charismatic leader, but even those rarely survived the passing of the spearhead. Nheless, by either sheer bad luck or the machinations of an unknown deity above, Josie''s momentary respite was shattered as the man exuded an animalistic growl. Then, from the stumps to his side, noxious gas started to ooze out with a consistency nearing that of a liquid. It condensed and resembled arms - not human but faintly ratlike. But the man didn''t stop there. All around him, his mana started to turn a murky ck shade. All life in his immediate vicinity wilted, and the ground itself grew desated. This...

    "The gue-" Josie did not finish that sentence. She could not finish that sentence because he burst forward with even more speed and vigour. The gaseous arms rushed uninterrupted directly towards her chest. Josie could feel that the force behind them was lesser, so she opted to parry the attacks with a side swipe. It was a sess, but the momentary contact she had with the gas wrecked her attire and started to attack the mana protecting her body.

    And while she frantically cleansed that contamination, a third attack winded her and whipped her back like a ragdoll.

    From behind him, under his armour, an arm extended outward, holding another arm, holding another arm, holding another arm, and finally another arm.

    The creature-turned-man had fashioned himself a tail. One made entirely out of arms.

 Chapter 291 Second Wind

    The Rat King needed a name. He had evolved. He knew more now... somehow. And amongst all the new things that he''d "learned" the most important was having a name. A name held power. A name held identity. He was no longer one amidst a trillion rats! He was now one amidst a billion or so humans...

    ''How are humans different from rats?'' Except of course the way they looked. This was another thing he''d "learned" and was having a hard time getting used to. Walking on two legs. How does the physics of that whole interaction even work? It was like you were constantly tilting and falling over, but using your hind legs to stop it from happening. It was disorienting.

    He carried the bundle of disembodied arms and dropped them on the ground. He took the thickest of the bunch and started to p it hard against his tailbone.

    "ATTACH!" He yelled

    "ATTACH!"

    "ATTACH!" Flesh hit flesh until flesh joined flesh irreversibly.

    He released a satisfied grunt before picking up the second-thickest arm and continuing the exercise. After fashioning himself a magnificent tail capable of acting as a counterweight to stabilise his movement. He moved on to other endeavours, like figuring out how his arm worked. The marvel of opposable thumbs was worth everything! He could now pick, move, squeeze, and manipte things with one hand! This fact alone was enough to clear all apprehension about his decision to change forms.

    Although, he sorely wished he still had those sharp incisors. While it was a pain to keep them short, they did a lot more towards getting him out of tough situations. A human mouth sacrificed the specialisation for adaptation. Why couldn''t he have merged his rat teeth with his human teeth for an overall superior set of teeth?

    Another thingcking was his sense of smell. His natural senses could no longer distinguish between all the beautiful odours floating around him. Things just felt noisier. However, a bit of work with his mana senses solved that problem. It was an interesting experience to smell without your nose. Air went in, but it felt empty, but he just knew what everything around him smelled like. The still-nameless Rat King didn''t have to exert his mana senses so creatively in his previous body. His rat-amalgamated form handled almost everything he would ever need.

    He pushed his senses further outwards. His previous body was in a constant state of information overload, which was conveniently tailored for hisprehension as it was being absorbed through the minds of his kin. Regardless, he was capable of parsing a lot more information without difficulty, and he took advantage of that fact.

    More smells, more sounds, more... MORE!

    WAIT!

    Something grazed past his domain. Something familiar. Something that triggered one of the worst memories in his entire life, in rat yea- NO! In human years!

    The Rat King dissolved all the errant thoughts having a field day in his mind. The human mind was so multi-functional and diverse, it could think levels beyond what it was capable of in its rodent form. But the sword cut both ways, what allowed him to think more also made him easily distracted. But the singr, bone-deep hatred he held for that smell and the person it was tethered to narrowed his focus to a sharp edge of a knife. He bolted with inhuman speed, bursting through all the annoying shrubbery with sheer force alone. He moved with a single purpose.

    "KILL!"

    The smell grew closer.

    "KILL!"

    He could see her now!

    "KILL! KILL! KILL!"

    Contact!

    The fight started suboptimally. The Rat King realised he had severely overestimated his adaptability to this new body. He had more control over the arms hidden beneath his outerwear than the ones on his actual shoulder sockets. It was frustrating!

    Why was he keeping his arms hidden? He learned, through an inconvenient encounter, that humans tended to not show all of their advantages at once. One particr weak, metal-armoured man had a piece of paper that exploded upon contact which he hid until the Rat King was close enough to sink his teeth into the man''s neck. He killed himself and singed the Rat King''s attire. That caught the Rat King by surprise and he wanted to do something like this with this woman.

    That''s right! The pest he fought earlier was a woman - a female version of a human. Although that information did little to aid him in this fight, which was stalling. He could feel that he was stronger than this woman! But why was nothing working?!

    At that moment, the woman did something unusual. Instead of dodging she approached him. This set of all kinds of rms in the Rat King''s now highly evolved brain. Two sharp needles attached themselves to his skin, piercing through every protection in ce.

    And then it happened!

    A dastardly explosion. The pain gushed through his nervous system, but it wasn''t enough to drown out his consciousness. He knew that if the left arm exploded, the punctured right arm would too. It was a no-brainer to detach the affected part to save the rest of his body.

    Rat King found no amusement in the irony of this situation because he had no idea what irony was.

    "PLAYED. ALL. CARD! SEE. MINE!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The woman showed her cards first, now it was time for him to show his. He revealed his magnificent tail and started to let out the heat umting in his core. After his transformation, he''d noticed that the released gas was a lot more concentrated than before. It was also more mouldable and could be controlled to a greater degree. He used this property to shape some released gas into a pair of arms he could actually use (that is to say rat-like). Sacrificing the revolutionary thumbs was irrelevant at this point. He just needed to really... REALLY kill this little rat-

    "WOAH!"

    The woman stumbled to get up - she still had a lot of fight left in her. He started to let out more of the heat from his core. He could see that the gas was affecting her now. The woman''s focus was wavering, and he could feel her mana fluctuating and hastily moving towards the ces where his gaseous fists punched her.

    ____

    Josie couldn''t flush out the virus running rampant through her system. The creature''s gas had truly grown potent, and they were now resembling the same gue her Young Miss dreaded. This could only mean one thing.

    "Who is your master?!" Josie bellowed. "Is it Ziva Lune?!"

    "YOU. DIE." The creature responded before disappearing into a wave of putrid gas that gushed towards her with malicious purpose. Josie quicklypressed her mana domain and overpowered everything in her immediate vicinity to protect herself from the disease-ridden spell. As the gas enveloped her, she could feel her control being challenged. But she had little time to focus on anything as the man used the cover to sneak in attacks. The tail of arms struck her like a whip, and fists of gas hit like boulders.

    It was hard to see anything, and Josie could not rely on her mana senses since her domain extended barely two finger lengths away from her body. Her mana was draining quickly in trying tobat the highly distributed nature of the gaseous attack.

    It was bing clear now that losing two arms had done little to tilt the match in her favour. If anything, her death was scheduled forward.

    Josie still had three more of those darts. One would expect that people would stockpile such an impressive and effective weapon. But the fact was that the alchemical fluid stored within the dart is highly vtile and had an extremely paltry yield rate (the conversion between the ingredients required to the output amount is abysmal). Furthermore, brewing a single batch was a week-long endeavour that could not be hastened in any way whatsoever. Finally, due to the brittleness of Dimiriteum, it was impossible to create an effective ranged weapon to shoot the dart - it had to be administered in person. All in all, the dart was a high-risk-high-reward y. Unfortunately, that was all Josie could opt for at this point.

    The "tail" snaked towards her once again and coiled to strike her at an off-angle while the gaseous arms kept her upied. Josie decided to take the sacrificial y - she let the fists through her guard and moved just enough to cause the damage to move through her. Her real target was the tail, after all. Right as it reached half an arm''s length away from her face, she spun her arm and grabbed the thing. The creature did not see her stab it with the dart since it was luded by her highlypressed mana domain.

    However, it did feel the prick, which was why it immediately proceeded to eject the tail by whipping it upwards. The move was too slow, though as the explosion urred right as the tail left its body. Both Josie and the man were tossed back by the sock of the attack (the man more so than Josie). The alchemical solution causes an explosion to ur within the body of the person, bouncing from one ce to the next, never escaping until it has thoroughly mulched every organ, muscle and bone in a wide radius around the location of injection.

    "RAAAAAAA! MY TAIL!" The creature bellowed its first coherent sentence, though there was no one to celebrate it.

    Its eyes were blood red with rage. If a gaze could kill a person, the next fifteen reincarnations of Josie would die at birth. Though weirdly, it did not vent its anger like before. Instead, it started to look around.

    "NEED MY TAIL!"

    Suddenly, its anxious head swivelling stopped. Its eyes looked past the decimated treeline and into the distance. Josie followed its gaze and realised exactly what it was looking at. And when the realisation struck her, Josie''s stomach dropped like a hammer on an anvil.

    "No.... No, no, no, no."

    Josie shakily got back to her feet. All of her bones groaned in pain, most had already broken and were barely holding on. Blood oozed out of her mouth, nose and ears, and dark patches formed in various parts of her body. Her clothes were decimated, leaving just enough to protect her dignity. Her mana was nearly depleted. Josie had lost.

    However, the creature wasn''t satisfied with taking her life. For some twisted reason, the creature wanted to destroy Josiepletely. It had to take the one thing she cherished most dearly. Something she held above her own life. It wanted her Young Mistress.

    Seconds stretched to minutes as each heavy step fell and Josie moved forward.

    How ironic. She would die to the very creature she despised with the very fibre of her being.

    The man had reached the Young Miss. Josie''s eyes narrowed, she was within leaping distance and she went for it.

    The man raised his gaseous hands and moved them forward. Josie was an arm''s length away now.

    Just as the arm was about to grab the cor of her downed Young Mistress, Josie brought down a great whip made entirely of air circting in a dangerous whirlpool, ready to slice the man and shred his body to nothingness.

    s, the attack would never realise its purpose. The man turned abruptly, and his gaseous hands caught Josie by the neck.

    "I WILL KILL YOU NOW," the man dered before a pitch-ck mist oozed out of his mouth and wormed towards Josie.

 Chapter 292 Nightmares Turned Reality

    The thick ck mist gushed out and siphoned towards Josie''s agape mouth. She gasped thirstily for fresh air, only to have it doused by the ghastly taste of all things horrid to ever exist in the world. Her assant looked on with an expression bordering rage and excitement with his mouth ajar to an almost inhuman degree.

    Josie''s eyes drifted beyond the man''s head andnded on her Young Miss. She had fallen over as she tried to protect the two- No, one girl huddled behind her. Dora had rightfully followed Josie''s instructions and fled the scene.

    Her Young Miss'' usually stoic face was showing cracks. Josie would be relieved to witness this development, if not for the fact that instead of joy and tion, immense distress and unassable fear were the ones surfacing.

    As the man tightened the grip around her neck, Josie could feel the sickness demolishing her from within. There was little she could do to save herself now. Her death was certain.

    But she couldn''t leave without making certain that her Young Mistress was safe! This was thest promise she made to her Mistress before her passing. This was herst and true purpose in life.

    ? Josie''s gaze hardened with resolve, quite possibly for thest time. She looked deep into the man''s strangely listless eyes. Her lips parted to reveal the remainder of the Dimiriteum darts.

    The man''s face faltered as a realisation dawned on him. His gaseous grip loosened and all the muscles of his body (or what remained of it) tightened as he prepared to escape.

    A palm-sized spell circle formed around Josie''s lips. A finger-width whirl of wind ejected from her mouth and carried the darts along a guided trajectory with the haste of gale-force storms, directly into the man''s ajar mouth.

    Through pure reflex, the man''s mouth clenched shut, engulfing the darts embedded deep at the back of his throat.

    Josie copsed onto the ground as the man''s gaseous arms dissipated - his attention was now wholly within his body as he had no idea of how to eject the literal ticking time bombs in his mouth. Freedom at hand, Josie did not hesitate to rush forward and push the girls further away with a quick cast of |Gust|.

    ____

    Jean''s world tumbled as she saw herself growing distant from Josie. Before she could regain her bearings, she felt a reverberating symphony of explosions that disoriented her further.

    A sense of foreboding burgeoned inside her as the implications of the convoluted sequence of events started to connect inside her jumbled mind. Jean''s lips moved, "No, no, no, no, no..." but she could not hear those words as her ears rang monotonously. Her sight was blurry and stung as she tried to blink away the mud that entered it during her tumble backwards.

    The moment her vision rified, the first thing Jean saw was the dreaded appearance of a thin, filmy wall. Behind the wall was the steadily emaciating and blistering figure of Josie, her face straining with a relieved smile. Jean stumbled onto her feet and rushed towards the ward and banged her fist against it.

    "Josie, NO!"

    Josie''s lips moved, but Jean could neither hear nor could she discern what was being spoken. Jean''s eyes shed beyond Josie and noticed the man-creature''s half-decimated body. Nothing existed above his abdomen barring a violently rotating grey-ck ball of energy - his core. Jean knew enough to understand what was about to happen, and her eyes returned towards her attendant.

    "No, no- NO!" Jean''s hearing returned only to be drowned by her own ring voice pleading in agony.

    "Young... Miss... Run... Away..."

    Jean ignored Josie''s words and repeatedly hammered away at the ward. She had to- NEEDED to get through.

    And then it happened. The spinning core remnant of the man-creature pulsed and released a ck wave, no doubt carrying whatever virulent disease he fostered inside him. The wave engulfed Josie and moved towards Jean wantonly, only to face opposition and dissipate after colliding against the ward put up by Josie.

    The ward flickered.

    Josie was fading.

    Jean''s mind was thrust back in time. Josie''s figure ovepped with her mother''s. The voices in her head started to shout over each other with frenzied fervour. She froze.

    #Another one killed.#

    *You didn''t kill her.*

    #Your mere existence invites death.#<novelnext></novelnext>

    *It was Josie''s choice.*

    #If I were you, I would just end it all.#

    *Killing yourself won''t change anything. You should work hard, be the best healer you can be and save lives.*

    #A healer that kills. Oh what an interestingly ironic destiny!#

    One debate boiled over to the next until multiple arguments started to run parallel and ovey one on top of the other. Jean''s mind started to churn violently. Emotions that had been barricaded deep within Jean''s mental vaults by alchemical castration started to breach through. Like a battering ram colliding against a wooden door, she was flooded with years of repressed emotions all at once. A pain most profound crippled Jean''s mental faculties as she was forced to live through everything all at once within the span of a second.

    With her mind overwhelmed, her body soon followed. Tears,ughs, screams and howls all started to escape from her at a maddening frequency. She had no control, nor was she aware of what was happening any more. Not even the fearful tugs by Kili behind her could save her lost mind.

    For all intents and purposes, Jean was broken and lost within the confines of her fragmented mind.

    .

    .

    .

    That was until an ethereal string of flickering light extended out from her navel. A pulse of light hurried towards Jean through this string, causing the frantic flickers to stabilise. The string was invisible to everyone around her, herself included. And its effect was deep, unknown even to her.

    Suddenly, Jean''s frenzied state turned tranquil like a still pond.

    Her mind restarted, and everything within turned quiet.

    A mind that was lost within the endless ocean of limbo resurfaced and gasped for breath. The amount inhaled was only enough to perform basic mathematics. Therefore, the situation presented before her was quickly summarised by her starved rationality.

    Jean had to save Josie. To do that, she needed to breach through the ward. If Josie died, the ward would dissipate. If the ward fell, then the little girls would die - this meant time was of the essence. For the time being, the ward was flickering - a forceful push between wavers would send her through without breaking it. Once within, Jean would die under the influence of the ck wave of sickness on the other side. To stop the wave of ck, the core would have to be removed.

    The equation was set. The solution was evident.

    Jean reached into her jacket and retrieved the phials of Kili''s blood. Then, she ingested the blood directly and started to circte it in parallel with her mana. She forcefully ruptured her oesophagus with her mana and directed the blood towards her heart. The rationale behind this action was nonsensical, but in Jean''s mind, it somehow made sense in the simple and crude equation. As this was taking ce, Jean quickly shoved the girl to the side and ran towards the flickering shield. Her body collided against the solid wall of mana, and her shoulder groaned but the pain wentpletely unregistered. She was through.

    The pungent smell of sickness and death (at least that was what Jean imagined those two concepts would smell like) assaulted her superhuman senses. But that was still insufficient to stop her. She could feel the sickness taking hold of her, but it was beingbated by the antibodies coursing through her by virtue of her haphazard and injurious blood transfusion.

    Before Josie''s horror-filled gaze, Jean beelined towards the pulsing core and grasped it with both her hands.

    A mage''s core is the physical embodiment of their cultivation. It is a supremely condensed ball of pure will (at least until they break through into the Tesseract Transformation realm when it also embodies their soul). Upon touching such a condensed ball of "experience" with the intention of absorbing it, one can expect one of two oues: cultivation deviation (which is the mostmon oue), or in the rarest of cases a profound leap in cultivation.

    A deviation urs if the "experience" runs counter to or conflicts with the absorber''s cultivation. A mage specialising in water magic will suffer a deviation in nine out of ten cases if they try to absorb a fire mage''s core. Although there is always that one case when it doesn''t and a mage with dual specialities is born who takes the world by storm.

    A profound leap urs when the "experience" meshes with the absorber''s cultivation thus bolstering it and filling in the nks. This is extremely rare, as even two fire mages can have conflicting bases for their cultivation. After all, since cultivation isn''t standardised, there is arge degree of subjectivity involved.

    Jean held no such intentions when she grasped the core. She didn''t know if the process would cause her to deviate and die, or if it would help her breakthrough, and she didn''t care. She only wanted the core to disappear. Her metaphorically oxygen-starved mental mathematics only went that far.

    Nheless, she seeded and the core disappeared. Unfortunately, it waspletely absorbed by her. Jean copsed onto the floor, and her body convulsed violently as a war of wills started to run rampant inside her body.

 Chapter 293 Hopeful But Helpless

    Guy wasn''t an expert in magic. His knowledge about the subject and everything it epassed was severely limited and spanned only what the previous inhabitant of the body knew, as well as what he could gather through his own self-study. He wasn''t "ssically trained" in magic, not to a degree where he could boast about his expertise in the field, at least. Furthermore, the system-sh-golden-finger gifted to him by Mast did little to bolster his knowledge of magic. All in all, Guy was no better than your "Average Joe" except possibly with a far superior ability to recollect information. Sure Guy had his ingenuity and otherworldly thought processes, but how much did that really contribute towards his technicalpetency?

    As he stood facing the convulsing body of his most peace-seeking student and the disease-riddled and near-death body of her attendant, Guy was faced with a troublesome predicament. What was he to do?

    The girl had forcefully absorbed the cultivation of a being far above her weight ss with a concept contradicting her own. Guy had enough context to know what stood at the end of the line for Jean. He wasn''t so misguided to think that she would somehow snag the near minuscule probability of hitting the jackpot and making sessful breakthroughs like in some brain-dead young-adult novel. Just looking at the odds, Jean''s demise might as well be written in stone.

    So much for being a Sect Leader, he couldn''t even save his Sect''s members...

    ''There''s a battle raging inside her,'' the Other Guy''s voice reverberated in Guy''s head with a thoughtful hum.

    ''Is there nothing we can do?'' Guy asked in a panic. He was helpless and desperate. He recognised his uselessness, his inadequacy, and his assumed arrogance - he''d let his victories get to his head. At this point, he was willing to rely on even the faintest of hopes to save Jean.

    ''Maybe not US, but I sure can,'' the Other Guy said with a self-assured snort.

    ''This isn''t time to y games!'' Guy snarled with anger bubbling over.

    ''Are you sure you want to go through with it?'' the Other Guy probed. ''You may not like the oue-''

    ''If Jean lives and makes it through this ordeal intact, I don''t care what happens to me!'' Guy dered resolutely. He overlooked the irony of how the tables had turned - just a while back he''d been lobbying for his counterpart to regress and hand over control to him. But Guy was faced with his greatest weakness - children. He was willing to do anything for them!

    ''So be it,'' the Other Guy dered. ''Brace yourself, but do not resist!''

    Guy barely had a second to register the warning before a torturous pain coursed through every inch of his body. This wasn''t physical in nature - even during the milliseconds of rity he could gather between the cyclic peaks of misery, he couldn''t pinpoint the exact location where the pain originated. It was everywhere, yet nowhere.

    Deep within Guy''s soul, in the otherworldlypartment known as the Repository of Knowledge, an unimaginable event was taking ce. At the centre of the RoK, where the crack had formed, two hands reached out through the tear. The hands grasped each side of the cut firmly and, with a forceful thrust, cleft the space in two. The crack extended outwards and grew wider, and the world folded, warped and split all at once. The concept of dimensionality ceased to make any sense as the curtains between two worlds were torn, allowing the two to intertwine.

    The Church and RoK were bing one and the surroundings rippled like the surface of a disturbedke as one change after the next took hold.

    The endless rows of bookshelves extending ad infinitum rotated and moved apart to make way for benches for those of the congregation to pray. The centre of the RoK rose by a few steps into arge circr stage with a void ck pir at its centre. The mellow atmosphere of RoK, conducive to long hours of reading, grew brighter and holier by a tinge. Then, above everything in the seemingly endless ceiling, hung a massive and realistic globe of the Earth - Guy''s True World.

    As the world settled, the ethereal figures who were initially seated on the benches of the Church arrived and assumed their ces in the benches in the now-dubbed "Church of the True World". Of course, Guy waspletely unaware of the transformation urring in his soul space as he was only just gasping for breath after drowning in an ocean of pain.

    Guy gasped as he said, "What was tha-"

    But he was suddenly interrupted... by himself. His strained expression hardened and turned pious and arrogant. His bodynguage shifted and oozed confidence.

    "Quiet!" Guy said, though the tonecked Guy''s usual light-heartedness. "I need absolute silence while I guide this child through her inner turmoil."

    Guy walked forward with a jerky motion, as though he wasn''t fullyfortable with his body. He approached the seizing Jean and gently ced his palm on her abdomen. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift towards his intended destination, the girl''s core space.

    ____

    Guy''s words weren''t false. A war was literally taking ce inside the girl''s body both in the physiological and the psychological realm. In the former, the hastily injected antibodies from Kili''s blood were straining themselves tobat the deadly virus running rampant all over the ce.

    However, this fight was trivialpared to what was affecting the girl psychologically.

    For the absorption of a core to be sessful, the mage must bepatible with the cultivation embodied by the core itself. Needless to say, Jean was wholly ipatible with the virulent content of the man-creature''s core. It ran counter to everything Jean believed in.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fortunately, or from another perspective, unfortunately, Jean wasn''t the only one in her mind.

    The reason why Jean could never cultivate before meeting Teacher Larks was that with every cultivation method, came a series of dogmas that one had to adhere to. In every case, at least one of the two voices upying real estate in her mind would disagree or downright deny said dogmas. Needless to say that it was impossible to cultivate if one couldn''t agree with or resonate with the mantras of a cultivation method.

    Before Jean was alchemically lobotomised and her mind was fractured, and while she still suffered from bipr disorder, she would erratically alternate between bouts of severe nihilism to extreme optimism - between having the urge to kill herself and everyone around her to being unassably naive and weak-willed. The Alchemist who treated Jean approached the problem with the same depth of mathematics as Jean did when she grasped the core of the man-creature.

    "If two personalities are fighting, disagreeing with each other and causing harm, why not just separate them?"

    Unfortunately, he didn''t realise that the two personalities were part of a single troubled mind, and in separating them as such he had removed the girl''s ability to feel anything at all.

    After the fracture, the two personalities grew more and moreplex - more vivid. They did not gain life, but they gained true individuality.

    #It''s beautiful...# the dark garbed figure of Jean''s mother approached the swirling ball of murky ck mana before her. Her face cracked with a wicked grin. As she inhaled, the ck ball of mana started to siphon into her causing her form to growrger and darker.

    *W-What are you doing?* The light-garbed figure of Jean''s mother, with a face as pure and unblemished as freshly deposited snow, asked fearfully as she beheld her opponent gaining strength. She wished nothing more than to run away, but she couldn''t. First off, there was nowhere else to go. She was a prisoner within Jean''s psyche. And second, standing huddled behind her was a scared little girl of five.

    #Precious opportunities like this are rare,# the dark figure boomed ecstatically. #I''m just making the best use of it.#

    *You can''t do this!* The light figure pleaded.

    #If I don''t assimte all of this knowledge, the girl with explode. Would you rather she die, then?# The dark figure teased with a scoff.

    She then tilted her head and voiced out her thoughts dramatically, #Speaking of which, is there even a need for you anymore? You are only holding her back!#

    ? Without pause, the dark figure coiled her arms into a fist and pummelled her counterpart. A loud boom echoed within Jean''s core space. The little girl closed her eyes in fear and expected her death at any moment.

    However, nothing came.

    She slowly opened her eyes and was shocked to see that her light-adorned guardian was single-handedly holding back the fist pushing vigorously against her.

    #What?#

    The light-adorned figure revealed a strained smile and said through gritting teeth, *You aren''t the only one taking advantage of a precious opportunity!*

    Then, her figure also started to growrger.

    #H-HOW?!# The dark figure eximed in incredulity as her minuscule opponent grew to match her own height. #The antibodies!#

    This time, it was the darker figure who was on the receiving end of a thought-interrupting sucker punch. Punches and kicks followed as the two descended into a brutal and raw melee. The dark was always on the offensive, sending punches, kicks and even bursts of virulent, viscous gases drowning her defending opponent in filth and death. The lighter figure remained in defence, refusing to enter the offensive (also possibly due to her own incapabilities).

    The little girl started to run away in fear. Her little legs carried her far away, but the sounds of the fight didn''t recede. In fact, they grew louder with each passing second.

    There was no running away, and there was nothing to contribute. The girl knew that her life was contingent on the oue of the fight. But as seconds passed, her expression grew grim and fearful.

    It seemed that the darker figure was incrementally gaining the upper hand.

 Chapter 294 Merging With The Other Self

    The disparity in strength, though not so evident at first, grew increasingly obvious with the passing of time and with every sessful attack. It was an expected oue, after all, since the two derived their newfound strength from two starkly different sources.

    The figure in light took her strength from the antibodies coursing through Jean''s body. In understanding and deciphering the way they worked, she pushed her affinity towards life and healing. The figure in dark used the cultivation borne of the Rat King, which was already matured and interpreted through the creature''s short yet eventful life. The concepts of the pestilence that prevailed in its cultivation helped push her affinity towards death and disease.

    #Useless!# A heavy fist coated in a deathly mist hit the other woman square in her jaw. Her pristine and serene appearance had grown ragged and near death. Though technically no blood was being spilt, the entity on the losing end looked like she was on herst limb.

    #Just!# Punch. #LET!# Punch. #GO!#

    The woman coiled her arm and ejected a roundhouse elbow that cracked against her kneeling opponent''s skull. In turn, the woman in white spun and fell onto the ground with a gruesome bounce.

    #Your presence is no longer needed,# the woman in the ck mist mocked with a cheerful grin while approaching her opponent. #But fret not. Your contribution will go a long way towards our future.#

    She licked her lips in bliss as she grasped the white woman by her skull and proceeded to thrust her thumbs into the woman''s eye sockets. She looked towards the trembling little girl and chuckled with malicious glee. Slowly, the white woman''s body started to disperse and turn into gas that was inhaled voraciously by the woman in ck.

    The little girl copsed as the thought of her imminent demise registered within her mind. There could only be one - it would either be the gigantic woman with ck mist adorning her form or her measly self - and the odds did not seem to be in her favour.

    As the white woman dissipated, the giantess grew bigger and stronger and wore a satisfied expression of immense tion, # It''s amazing how quickly one can turn a healing salve into a poison capable of irreparable grief. One must know their enemy before waging a war - what this wretch has gifted me with her death will ensure that the retribution that I will bring to this world will be unchallenged and unopposed.#

    "Y-You can''t do this-"

    #I can. And I will,# the woman reaffirmed with a maddened re. #The world will feel my righteous fury. It took everything from me! And it should be prepared to lose everything in turn. But first-#

    The body had finally disappeared, absorbedpletely by the giantess. The woman stood up from her crouch and approached the little girl with lithe steps.

    #The one that caused me the greatest grief stands before me. You will die now.#

    At that moment, the area between the girl giant rippled. From nothingness, a personal, circr portal materialised. Through it, a person familiar to the little girl stepped out. Just as it came, the portal disappeared after replenishing the number of live persons within the area back to three.

    "Jean," Mister Larks greeted the little girl with unparalleled surety.

    "And you must be the interloper causing grief to one of my dearest pupils," he derided after turning towards the muchrger entity.

    The giantess moved into action almost immediately. Her fist coated in death and disease hurtled at Mach speeds towards the new Sect Leader. The little girl wished to do something, but her body refused to yield to any of her demands.

    "Stop," a muted voice escaped from Mister Larks'' mouth. The girl could not hear it, but the lip movements were easy enough to trante. With unparalleled obedience, the attacking giantess ceased and froze almost immediately.

    Further, the region all around them started to warp and ripple. The darkness dissipated and shifted into a warm ethereal glow, before settling at a library with a rather pious atmosphere.

    "Now, my child. Why would you take such an action and perform such a blunder upon yourself?" Mister Larks gently chided.

    "I-I-"

    "That''s right. You weren''t thinking," Mister Larks dered with a tired sigh. "I hope you realise that you have put yourself in a very difficult situation. What you did was equivalent to offering a knife to a murderer seeking to kill you and then turning you back to them so that they have a clear shot."

    "I just wanted to save Josie," the little girl confessed amidst whimpers and tears. Mister Larks approached her and pulled her into a warm hug.

    "I know you were," he said with a gentle shush. "You have a warm and gentle soul, even with this thing-" he nudged his chin backwards in the giantess'' general direction, "-trying its best to poison your thoughts. You held strong. You survived. And I will make sure that you get through this ordeal, better than ever."

    "H-How?"

    Mister Larks wore an astounded expression that implied that the query had an obvious answer.

    "You lose if that thing absorbs you. To win, you must be the one to absorb her," Mister Larks responded matter-of-factly.

    "But I''m... weak..."

    "Maybe here, sure," Mister Larks affirmed while pointing at the little girl''s abdomen, implying her cultivation. But then he moved his finger and thrust it against her left chest, "But not here."

    "Strength of soul," Mister Larks vocalised. "It is something only you have, not her."

    "I don''t understand."

    "She is only a creation of your mind - your will. Why is it that the remnant core of a deceased Tesseract Transformation realm mage persists forever, while that of anyone from realms below ceases to exist after some time?" Mister Larks questioned.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Without a soul, the will cannot be ''real''. And that which is not real, has no ce in reality," Mister Larks answered. "This is how you will win against her."

    The little girl looked at the exhorting man with a dubious gaze. Just as she was about to voice her confusion, Mister Larks'' expression started to warp awkwardly.

    "Stop speaking in riddles and give it to her in a way that she will understand." The voice belonged to Mister Larks, and it came from the movement of the man''s left half of the face.

    "I expressly warned you that I neededplete silence when-" The right side spoke with haughty consternation.

    "Yeah! Yeah!" The left half interrupted. "You are just wasting time by going about it in a roundabout manner. If you want her to understand that, then break down the solution into manageable chunks."

    "This is something that she needs to do herself," the right half emphasised. "No external help may be provided."

    "We won''t be spoonfeeding her the solution. But she at least needs to have an idea of where to start," The left half refuted. "Look, even if she absorbs the other half through whatever means you have in mind, the merging of two personalities (especially if one is many orders of magnitudes stronger than the other) can cause adverse and unwanted effects. For all we know, the woman maypletely contaminate Jean''s personality. You are trivialising an extremely sensitive and dangerous process! How different is it to the actions of the misguided rube who split her mind in the first ce?!"

    The right half growled and the right arm rose to scratch the right forehead in frustration. "That''s what I meant when I told her to reinforce her soul and let that act as the catalyst towards merging."

    "Excellent idea!" The left half said with excess sarcasm. "If only the girl knew how to do that. Heck, even I don''t know how to do that! Do YOU even know how to do that?!"

    "How does a fish know how to swim?" The right half shot back with an equal amount of sarcasm.

    "Well, neither Jean nor I are fish - or whatever the equivalent of a fish would be in this situation," the left half rebutted.

    The right half frowned contemtively, "I may have made a preemptive leap here..."

    "Whatever the case, maybe you are on to something. We just need to find a way to assist Jean," the left half encouraged.

    At this point, both sides released into a thoughtful hum. "There is an option, but it is dangerous," the right proposed.

    Noticing the little girl''s expectant eyes, Mister Larks'' left half borated. "It''s about restricting the soul with a contractual lock. That there are certain things a person must never do which, if broken, can cause the soul to shatter irreparably. Needless to say that this process causes the instant demise of the person."

    "A ve contract," the little girl affirmed with a thoughtful nod. "Except I would be both the master AND the ve."

    "A WHAT?!" The right half eximed. "No! Absolutely not!"

    "But what the right Mister Larks'' said makes sense," the little girl confirmed. "A ve cannot think poorly of their master or else it will cause them immense pain."

    "That is just conditioning through pain. It is inhumane!" The left half denied.

    "Yet it will ensure that this cretin''s murderous behaviours can never manifest. Furthermore, we are overlooking a key fact," the right half paused and smirked as if to show that he was trying to amplify suspense artificially.

    "Jean and this thing here share the same soul but are two different manifestations of thought. What this cretin thinks and believes isn''t shared by Jean here. This means that any vow that is taken which runs counter to what this giantess believes will cause pain only to this giantess," the right half finished the thought. "We can weaken her until she bes a shell of herself, ready for Jean here to take over."

    Without pause, the right half snapped his finger and prepared to take action.

    "WAIT!" The left arm reached forward and caught the right arm in ce. "We haven''t decided the nature of this vow. This is an irreversible process."

    This caused the duo-and-a-half to descend into a bout of brainstorming.

    "I think I have an idea..." The left half suddenly murmured. "Wait for me for a second!" He added with certainty, and then the left half turned limp.

    A few secondster, he returned, "Alright! I have something with me. It is perfect for you! Make sure to repeat everything I say, exactly as I say it."

    The little girl nodded in affirmation. She trusted Mister Larks, even if thest few moments of interactions seemed a bit kooky. He had only done right by her since their first meeting. If it hadn''t been for him, she would never have reached this far in her journey into magehood.

    At this point, both sides of Mister Larks'' face coordinated as one. He coughed to entuate the start, and then spoke the vows that would forever change the little girl - Jean''s - entire life!

    "I swear to fulfil, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

    I will first do no harm.-"

 Chapter 295 A Physicians Oath

    Loss, if not managed properly, breeds hatred. If left unattended, the tiny spark of destructive negativity can burgeon out of control and consume the personpletely from within. It starts with hatred of the circumstance - "why must I be subjected to this loss?"

    Losing a loved one, losing an opportunity, or losing anything hard-won, automatically causes the one experiencing the loss to begrudge the immediate cause, which is the direct entity that caused it.

    The person experiencing the loss is then motivated by their hatred to seek vengeance or retribution in some form. The motivator offers unparalleled drive and focus. However, achieving sess in this path is often a hollow victory since revenge takes everything from the person to seed. On the other hand, if the loser is unable to exact their vengeance, and the "wound" of hatred is left to fester, it leads to a stage of intense introspection. If one is unable to assign me on and exact revenge from a third party, one tends to look inwards and find fault within themselves. More precisely, they tend to over-examine their actions that contributed towards the loss. This process can often cause the magnification of the consequences of minor actions from the losing party, which then leads to the most dangerous type of hatred - self-loathing.

    Self-loathing is a dangerously slippery slope that has a very high chance of ending with self-harm and death. Unfortunately, this was the slope Jean found herself in after witnessing the death of her mother, live. At first, she hated Ziva Lune. She hated the man for creating such a morbid disease that took away the person dearest to her. But she hated it even more that there was nothing she could do about it. The man was beyond her grasp, her n''s grasp and even the Empire''s grasp. She was helpless.

    The festering "want" for vengeance, and the subsequent inability to follow through with it, caused her to evaluate her role in her mother''s death.

    "If I hadn''t been there, mother wouldn''t have died," Jean concluded.

    Unfortunately, this singr conclusion was enough to send her still underdeveloped psyche down the deep end.

    Jean hated Ziva Lune, she hated the world and, worst of all, she hated herself. Inevitably, she ended up developing a mental disorder that caused her to experience manic episodes that sent her from one end of the spectrum to the other spontaneously and without warning.

    The giantess draped in a mist of deathly dark smog standing before the little girl was the amalgamation and mental manifestation of this hatred and self-loathing. It was toxic, and its only purpose in life was, like the all-consuming me of hatred, to burn everything the world had to offer. Because if the world could take something precious from her, she could take everything precious from the world.

    This would have been Jean''s inevitable end - embodying the hatred in its form - if not for her opportune meeting and tutge under Mister Larks.

    The cure to hatred is forgiveness. And opposite to how hatred ends with the self, forgiveness must start from it. Jean needed to realise that sometimes the circumstances are beyond one''s control. It was a painful realisation. Coming to terms with the fact that she really didn''t have any part in the death of her mother was tough. And it was even tougher to realise that it was her mother''s callousness that caused her death. Even Ziva Lune had little to contribute to her mother''s passing if one equated the gue to a natural disaster.

    Actions have consequences. Unfortunately, said consequences can often epass those around the actor as well. Jean just happened to be a coteral piece of the consequences of her own mother''s actions.

    This revtion helped Jean to ovee the nihilism that often overcame her thoughts. Although she could still not physically express herself, she at least didn''t enter a defeatist rut from the constant abuse her manifestation of hatred doled out regrly. This also helped Jean rekindle her interest in the art of healing and pursue the noble goal of bing a healer.

    Coming out of the murky tunnel of self-loathing is hard to achieve alone. With blinders on, and with no light in sight, one can get lost in the darkness. But with the assistance of people that care for you and wish for your betterment, the end of the tunnel grows brighter.

    Jean no longer wanted to be beholden to all this hatred. She wanted nothing more than to be rid of its toxicity.

    Therefore, with the guidance of Mister Larks, Jean followed a thin strand extending towards a location inside her body (that was metaphysical in nature) which she didn''t even know existed. Over there, she felt closer to herself in apletely indescribable way - it was like she was facing her true self but could only gain glimpses of it as whatever sense she had control over kept searing with pain the longer she focused on it. There, a gentle touch reached her and brought her closer to her "true self".

    The moment she made "contact" with her "true self" Jean automatically knew what she had to do. She repeated the words she''d heard Mister Larks speak, and her "true self" resonated with a solemn glow with each word uttered.

    """

    I swear to fulfil, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

    I will first do no harm.<novelnext></novelnext>

    I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and dly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

    I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures that are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

    I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon''s knife or the chemist''s drug.

    I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient''s recovery.

    I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I do not have the right to judge the value of a human life.

    I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person''s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these rted problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

    I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

    I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

    If I do not vite this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

    """

    The oath was established and was inscribed deep into her "true self". And with that, she was immediately ejected from that metaphysical realm.

    Jean returned to her child form back at the holy library and was greeted with a blood-curdling screech from the giantess, who was squirming like a worm sprinkled with salt. Jean, however, felt nothing- well that wouldn''t bepletely urate. She felt warmth. She felt relief. She felt...

    The giantess'' body started topress as her yell started to lose its energy. The woman''s poisonous beauty started to desate and wrinkle, as though life were being sucked out of it. The pervading stench of pestilence also started to subside, and the ck mist that hung around her thinned marginally. A minuteter, the yelling woman had turned mute and still. She wasn''t dead- she couldn''t die, she wasn''t alive in the first ce. Her body now remained dormant at the raised tform at the centre of the library, with the warm light reflecting from the globe of blue and green hanging above.

    "It is time," Mister Larks said while nudging the little girl forward. "Do what needs to be done."

    Jean gulped audibly and moved with tense steps towards the still body of her counterpart. Her small arm extended outwards apprehensively and touched the shrunken giantess'' head. Within seconds of making contact, the giantess dissipated, turned into a dense mist of grey and rushed through the little girl''s orifices. With a single inhale, the entire torrent of mist was absorbed by the girl and, in doing so, her body started to grow at a visible rate. The growth was both in size and age, as the little girl grew older to match that of her outer form.

    ____

    While this was urring within the mental space of the teacher and student, an awesome phenomenon was transpiring in the physical realm. A massive whirlpool of mana started to form above the duo. The density of this mana was so immense that it started to affect the atmosphere near the formation. The winds grew vigorous, sunlight reaching the area grew dimmer, and the temperature started to rise by a few degrees. As the whirlpool descended upon the do, it split into two. The smaller of the two sections rushed towards Jean, fuelling her advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm. The thicker section rushed towards Guy, consuming himpletely and luding his form from the outside world.

    While dark steam of waste escaped from Jean''s skin and corroded her outerwear, Guy transformed a more profound level. It was a change a mage only experiences once in their entire lifetime - aplete reforging of the outer form.

 Chapter 296 Advancement

    A/N: A new event has been opened on the Discord Server to design a new cover for this novel. If any of my readers are interested in participating, please drop by.

    ____

    Two individuals were undergoing breakthroughs in their cultivation in the wrecked clearing in the woods. One was a teen girl and the other was an adult male. The former was breaking through from Mana Condensation into the Foundation Establishment realm while thetter was taking a step out of Foundation Establishment into Core Formation. Both transitions were monumental as one person was taking her first true step into the math of magehood and potential immortality, while the other was reforging his physical form to one that fit his truest perception of himself.

    Of the two, though, Jean''s advancement was one with the greatest amount of turbulence since it wasn''tpletely organic in nature. Compared to Markus and Marie, who had to work and build their foundations from scratch, Jean was relying on the pre-built foundations of a beast, which was then absorbed by her detached psyche of hatred, which then also absorbed her other psyche that derived power from the Universal Panacea''s life-essence... Needless to say, what she absorbed was a haphazard melting pot of insights. Luckily, her hate-filled psyche had already taken the brunt of the damage from absorbing an external core of cultivation. Having done so, the insights flowing into her at this moment were fairlypatible and digestible, although they conflicted slightly with her moral codes.

    These remnant insights could not be flushed through the forcefully imprinted oath into her soul. Unfortunately, Jean could not flush them out either since it would destabilise the inflowing cultivation. She had to somehow integrate all of this without contaminating her morals. Fortunately for her, she was in an environment conducive to this - the Church of the True World. Conflicts in insights could be reevaluated, edited, or even omitted safely with minimal after-effects.

    After perusing through the insights, Jean realised that the creature had actually been gifted with knowledge beyond its capacity. There was information about synthesising illnesses of different sorts not just the viral vectors the creature was relying on. Fortunately, the creature wasn''t knowledgeable enough about the topic and was using its abilities like a crude hammer, instead of using a scalpel as it was intended, an intention Jean surmised based on the sheer depth and breadth of knowledge (most of which had dissipated from disuse). Jean also realised that due to the way the creature umted its insights through instinct, most of it was tethered to emotions - vile, evil, morbid emotions. Much of Jean''s efforts went towards scrubbing these biases away from the knowledge. Again, this was also possible only because of the conducive aura of the Church of the True World.

    The process of absorption and internalisation continued at a steady pace, and Jean''s nascent core started to grow steadily with the torrential influx of mana from the atmosphere. Minutester, the process wasplete - she had advanced into the Foundation Establishment realm. Unfortunately, she could not internalise all the insights avable in the creature''s cultivation. Some of the basics in there could beprehended by finding analogies with her preexisting knowledge, but the more obscure and arcane insights were far too abstract, opinionated, or gated behind missing prerequisites that the creature and her hate-filled counterpart discarded or disregarded. Regardless, her loot was bounteous.

    After exiting her trance, Jean''s eyes glossed over the other whirlpool of mana beside her and narrowed on the emaciated figure of Josie a few metres away from her. Without hesitation, she rushed over to the woman and got down on her knees.

    "The... Young Miss... is safe-" Josie said with heaving breaths. Jean could see the dreaded pus-filled blisters growing out all over her body. "-and nude!"

    Josie''s furrowed brows rxed a secondter, "I see... congrattions to the Young Miss... for advancing... The Master andte Mistress would be... so proud."

    Josie''s voice grew wearier and bleaker.

    "No- NO! Josie wait!" Jean panicked and quickly cycled the overflowing mana from her core. Using the principles of artificial stimtion, she sent it through the woman''s mana channels, blood vessels and organs. After absorbing the creature''s core, she had an intimate knowledge of the virus - enough to create an extremely potent antiviral that could highjack the lymphatic system (much like an autoimmune disorder would) and cleanse the virus through an alternate means. With her mana, Jean sent this artificially created antivirus-virus. However, it wasn''tpletely autonomous like a regr virus and required high-level guidance from Jean to function which was done through inputs from her mana.

    "Hold on!" Jean shrieked. "I- I can cure you!"

    Jean''s hands moved frantically all over the woman''s body. The result was immediate, but Jean realised that she was exhausting her mana more quickly. The disease had taken hold all over the woman''s body, to clear it would require a more extensive treatment targeting each affected part. However, the current process was extremely inefficient - she wouldn''t be able to save Josie in time!

    p¨¤§ád¨¢-¨¾?¦Í¨º¦É.§ã¨®§® "Young Miss..." Josie moaned in a whisper. "This ve''s time... hase..."

    "No, no, no, no-" Jean denied vehemently. Her sight grew blurrier. What she thought was the result of mana exhaustion was actually caused by the umtion of fluids from her tear ducts.

    A gentle and weak, yet callused hands touched Jean''s face and a finger moved past her cheeks. "The Young Miss... is crying... This ve... is grateful-..."

    And with that, Josie''s breath ceased and all signs of life left her form. Josie had died.

    Jean''s world paused. An unbearable pain started to surge from her left chest and moved all over her body. Her voice hitched, and her eyes grew blearier as more and more water started to flow out.

    "Josie," Jean whispered while tapping her attendant''s cheeks. "Wake up, Josie!"

    Her voice grew louder and pained, transitioning into a heartwrenching scream, and ended with a loud, primal cry of sorrow that echoed into the woods.

    The girl broke down into tears over Josie''s corpse. Her entire body shuddered as sorrow coursed through it with pulses of increasing intensity. Her face no longer remained passive and contorted with pain from loss.

    "Why?!" Jean bellowed. The pain of loss was most unbearable for her. She felt the loss of her mother all over again.

    This would have been her descent down the same slippery slope that ended with her lobotomy, yet a small, gentle hand grasped her and pulled her out.

    "It''s okay." A little girl''s voice pierced through Jean''s wails. She turned and faced Kili. "It wasn''t your fault."

    Jean''s cries faltered. With a swift motion, she pulled the little girl into a tight hug. The girl, in turn, rubbed her hands over Jean''s back and repeated the four words that saved Jean.

    "It wasn''t your fault."

    ____

    "What is happening?" Guy and his counterpart muttered at the same time. The change they were undergoing feltpletely foreign.

    It first started with the core. The vast ocean of crystal clear liquid started to surge towards the centre. A pir of liquid started to rise and umte a distance above the surface of the water into the shape of a sphere. The clear sphere started to growrger andrger until no liquid remained that could add to its size.

    When the final droplet of liquid joined the sphere, a psychic shockwave emanated and the sphere started to spin rapidly. The mana that was whirling around Guy started to rush inwards and pushed the liquid sphere outwards, turning it solid incrementally as it growrger. The white room within which the ball levitated also started to expand to amodate therger object.

    This was Guy''s core. The umtion of all of his cultivation till this point. The change it was undergoing was profound and magnificent, however, Guy could not take part in observing it, as all of his attention was being drawn to a tugging feeling assaulting every part of his body. A weird "instinct" started to spawn in his mind urging him to design his true form. His mind kept getting drawn to an image of himself, his appearance - his physical state.

    A stable and true mana core required a suitable vessel that meshed with it andplimented it. The Foundation Establishment realm was all about preparing the body for this process, and stepping into Core Formation is the culmination with which the perfect vessel is created.

    For Guy, this perfect vessel wasn''t his current body. His mind kept harkening back to a figure that he had left upon dying in his past life. That was his true self. No matter how much he tried to integrate himself into this new life, into this new body, he wasn''t the Guy Larks that killed himself. He was Guy Larks, the best-damned teacher that walked the face of Earth! Or at least that''s what he hoped was the case.

    Guy didn''t change himself much aftering into this world. His character and morals had moved but didn''t swerve from the person he had been in his past life. Even his cultivation agreed with this, as it was an umtion of all the sesses he''d made in assisting his pupils, pushing them towards being their better selves, and helping them find sess in life.

    As the figure solidified in Guy''s mind, his physical body started to moult. His bones extended, his muscles tightened, and his skull shifted as if someone were moulding y. Little by little, thest remnants of the Guy Larks of Gaea disappeared. And in his ce stood the man that had taken his ce.

    At the age of 30, Guy Larks died due to cancer of the lung, liver and breast. In dying, he''d shed his physical body and transmigrated into a new world.

    As the small hurricane of mana dissipated, Guy Larks stepped forth. Gone was the epitome of mediocrity - to be ignored or forgotten by everyone. In his past life, Guy was gifted with the excellent gics of both his parents, just like the rest of his siblings. He had the broad shoulders, height, and imposing figure of his father, and the demure and sharp mien of his mother. Unfortunately, his character did notplement these gifts as it did with his industrious and sessful elder brother and ambitious and outgoing elder sister.

    But Guy had changed. His resolve had changed. Death and rebirth had taught him much. His journey in this new world had taught him much.

    A man with broad shoulders that carried confidence, a chiselled face that heightened his appeal, and an aura that radiated authority stepped out. However, his hair was ck and long, tied into a neat bun with a thin bundle streaking in front of his face evoking a sense of yfulness. His piercing hazel eyes carried warmth and understanding that entuated his reliability. He was a walking contradiction that somehow blended seamlessly.

    And then, his mouth opened, and he spoke with a baritone voice that he had long lost through months of coughing and retching in his past life.

    "I''m... me again!" Guy expressed in surprise. But his countenance quickly turned cold, and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the figure of Jean hugging a little girl.

    "There is still a rogue remnant she hasn''t been able to flush, which is trying to pry away at her soul," the Other Guy said from within.

 Chapter 297 Parting Shot

    A tingle passed through Ziva Lune''s spine that nearly caused him to loosen his grasp on the tongs he was using to pry open the chest cavity of the alive but brain-dead man before him. The man used to be a moderately renowned mercenary in the Core Condensation realm but now, he was just another specimen to be dissected, explored and then discarded. Ziva was trying to understand subtler ways in which diseases could be sneaked past the inhumanly observant senses of mages in higher realms. After facing constant setbacks, he figured that it would be better to graduate from experimenting on useless mortals and actually understanding the internal workings of immortals.

    Problem. Every immortal was different. Their body worked differently - each and every single one of them. A minor deviation in understanding the insights tethered to a cultivation method could lead to apletely different physiology such that dissecting a mage above the Core Formation realm was like opening a surprise gift! An apt simile as Ziva was joyous to learn new things about the body as it did wonders to push his teauing cultivation forward. On that note, his efforts in spiritual cultivation were bearing fruits. Yet a breakthrough into Tesseract Transformation didn''t seem visible just yet.

    But- "This... feeling..." It wasing from within. He wouldn''t have been able to notice this sensation if hadn''t cultivated his spirituality to a moderate enough level. "It ising from my soul?"

    Ziva ced his tools carefully on the metal tray to his side and cleansed his hands of blood and gore with a simple |Incinerate|. He walked towards the sole window providing light filtered through murkyyers of rainclouds and looked out into the dreary horizon. He closed his eyes and tested his skills in spirituality to evaluate the feeling that went just as faintly and quickly as it came. His rudimentary skill in inspecting his soul showed a part of it struggling and withering.

    "A part of my soul has been rended," he concluded. But the intriguing thing was that this part of his soul was not inside his body. After years of research and experimentation, Ziva learned that spirituality was in another dimension of its own. Distance as a metric in the physical sense wasn''t a concept that mattered with spirituality. You could split your soul, have one part be in a different ne altogether, and still haveplete control of it from your physical location. Spirituality wasn''t bound by physicalws, it was bound by realms more emotional - metaphysical - in nature. Things that were far beyond the measly understanding of sentient beings. Maybe if Ziva had been born a different creature - one thatcked all forms of senses that tethered someone to mortality - he could understand spirituality like a fish understood the sea. But s, he was just a lonely sailor, just like every other mage seeking to achieve immortality, wandering in the endless sea while following and interpreting faint signs shing past the vast and nebulous sky.

    "How, though? I don''t have any-" And it was then that a memory shot to the foreground of his rapidly cycling thoughts. A decision he made on a whim sometime back to test out a technique he''d picked up from a tome written in the Common Tongue but from a time before the Age of Istion. As it was known, the Elves of the Fae Realm were the de-facto authorities on anything rted to the soul and spirituality. The tome contained information written by a mage who had interrogated a number of Elves and extracted information from them regarding their techniques on Beast Taming. The information was all over the ce and rife with conflicting information, deciphering which took years of his time and still he had barely made any progress. He only used it to understand the most basic of concepts so that he could bolster the existing knowledge recorded by Human Beast Tamers in hopes of furthering his ability to spread his gues more efficiently.

    To apply his knowledge, Ziva had created a rat that held a summarised sliver of his cultivation with a small fingernail-sized segment of his soul. It was a contracted beast - though he wasn''t prepared to name it such since he would be the subject of scorn and mockery if the world learned that the dreaded gue Emperor tamed a Rat of all things!

    The soul segment carried the instincts the creature would be driven by - it''s programming. He held little hope for its sess and created it on a passing whim. Ziva was certain that it wouldn''t amount to much, it was only a rat. He hadpletely forgotten about it too!

    The segment of his soul residing in that rat was struggling. It was being sliced through and dissected - ironic. The process was incredibly efficient and implied that it was the handiwork of a true master - someone nearing ascension or possibly beyond with impable understanding and control of spirituality.

    A tinge of fear overtook him at that startling conclusion. Ziva could not keep track of what changes that segment of his soul not physically near him was going through. He didn''t have the skills to do so nor did he have the confidence or courage to tamper with the process lest he attracts the expert''s ire. That soul segment was as good as lost. It irked him to arrive at that conclusion given how every waking moment of his life was spent trying to live with the unbearable hatred he held for all magekind.

    "In due time..." He muttered to calm himself. His n was in motion and would reach fruition soon. Even this mage, whoever he was, would sumb. Not even the high-reaching walls of Tesseract Transformation would contain Ziva''s sess.

    "In due time..."

    ____

    "It''s this," Guy''s right half spoke - the Other Guy - while grasping the squirming wisp of ck smoke trying to escape and return to digging deeper into and contaminating Jean''s soul. "It''s a strong and purposeful one. A soul with overarching programming that is absolute and invible. Simr to have those Beast Tamers do it."

    "What is it doing here?" The left half asked.

    "My best guess is that it is trying to do what it did to those before it. Overpower and force them to follow its purpose: Assimte, Grow, Propagate," the right half answered.

    "What are you waiting for, then? Let''s destroy it!"

    "Hmm," the right half ignored the suggestion and hummed in contemtion.

    "Stop it!"

    "What are you on about?"

    "We share the same body. I know that expression. You are thinking up something mischievous, no doubt dangerous to boot!" The left half chastised. "Drop it-"

    "It is for the betterment of our kids," the right half interjected. "There is potential yet in this fragment that one of ours can use. By pure happenstance, she happens to be here. One could call it fate?"

    "Call it whatever you want. But stop it this instance!" The left half argued back. "Whatever you''re trying to do can''t possibly be safe. You will be endangering their lives. It is the soul you are tampering with."

    "Rx! Who knows souls better than a soul itself? Besides, I won''t be doing anything horrible like imnting a parasite into their- Why am I even justifying myself for you?"

    At that instant, without any exnation, the Other Guy took over control and started to work through the struggling strand of darkness in his hand with expert movements. Fingers reached in and extracted minor wisps and worked them likemon strings. Slowly, the soul fragment started to turn grey until eventually, it waspletely luminous white.

    "There!" He eximed. "Now-"

    The scenery changed, and Guy returned to his Church of the True World. Here, he proceeded to concentrate the luminous white wisp until it turned murkier andpletely opaque.

    "This should be enough," he dered. His eyes scanned around the room, grazing past every ethereal form seated on the benches in a pious praying posture until they hit a single person. The person happened to be in the front rows too. Guy beelined towards the person with resolute steps. His hand with the ball of light swung backwards, over his head and proceeded to descend towards the abdomen of the person before him. Just as it was about to make contact, the hand jittered to a stop.

    "NO!" Guy''s left half warped and wore a concerned and angry expression. It then started to bleed over to the right as he fought for control over the right half. "I won''t let you!"

    "Do... you not... understand?!" The right half argued back with equal vigour while fighting for control. "I am doing this FOR her!"

    "How can you be so sure?"

    The right half gritted his teeth and said, "You will just have to trust me!"

    And with those final words, the right won over once again, and the halted hand resumed its motion, plunging the ball of light deep into the abdomen of Dora''s ethereal form. The girl''s figure gained some luminescence andsted for a few seconds before it returned to its old self.

    "W-What have you done?" The left half returned and eximed with a shocked gasp.

    "I gave her a gift," the right half responded. "Seeing as she loves reading those dull picture books about monsters changing forms, she will adapt to these new powers swimmingly."

    The right half then retreated, having exhausted all of his spiritual energy, leaving Guy by himself, once again, helpless. "What have I done?"

    His nned negotiation was flushed unceremoniously. Did he regret it? Not really. Was he assured of his decision? Well now... that was debatable.

    "What have I unleashed into this world...?"

    This was a question Guy found himself contemting a lot in the recent year. An answer to which only time could tell.

 Chapter 298 Interlude - Getting Used To Loss

    A/N: A new event has been opened on the Discord Server to design a new cover for this novel. If any of my readers are interested in participating, please drop by.

    ____

    Jean never thought she would miss the din within her mind-space. With theplete absorption of all of her counterparts, her messy thoughts had grown... centred. There were no more voices in her thoughts except her own. No arguments. No urgent calls for violence against herself or those around her. No constant outpouring of praises and annoyingly uplifting, naive words of encouragement. Just... silence...

    And it was depressing.

    There were people around her who cared for her and wished well for her, sincerely. Mister Larks, Dora, and Kili. They all offered her emotional support. But it just wasn''t... enough to fill that strange emptiness in her heart. She felt the same when she lost her mother. Made sense. Josie WAS almost like a mother to Jean, even if her attendant kept calling herself a ve.

    Speaking of emotions. She never thought she would be able to experience them again. Though it was unfortunate that the first set of emotions she was forced to experience was so dour and sorrowful. But she couldn''t show these emotions outwardly. She still had to do her job; she still had to heal. She was already far too young that adults apprehensively trusted her medical skills. If she carried a depressed aura with her, she would further dissuade them from seeking treatment from her.

    How much of her current trajectory was affected by her solemn vow? She did not know. And frankly, she did not care. Healing others offered a fitting distraction. After her advancement, a fact she didn''t even get the opportunity to properly celebrate, the process of treating illnesses such as this particr virus became markedly easier.

    If her immune system couldbat the disease, then her body could create the required antibodies for it. These antibodies were now being catalogued inside Jean''s core rather than her lymphatic system. Jean''s mana could now take on the property of the antibody already catalogued in her core and could be freely controlled and channelled to where she needed it to be. Through artificial stimtion, she could then train the immune system of the recipient (as long as they were willing) to adapt the antibody for its own purposes. This ability formed through the ipatible mixture of Kili''s Universal Panacea Physique and the Rat King''s disease-centric cultivation.

    On a side note, this came as a blessing in disguise. Jean could now go about curing this sequestered region without exposing Kili''s existence to the world. Unless people really bothered to dig deeper into the events regarding the mortal folk''s treatment, which Jean suspected wouldn''t be the case, they wouldn''t know that in fact, the first few patients cured were through her new little nurse''s blood. But no, all the Empire really cared about was the fact that a beast with powers eerily simr to the gue Emperor spawned within the sacred grounds of the Sr Empire! Jean had heard the news of arge-scale inquiry on this matter in the works, but no one bearing the Crown''s orders had stepped foot in the area for days. It was all a smokescreen - a ruse. After all, the Empire needed someone to take the me to distract the peasant folk. The gue Emperor was just the right type of convenient boogeyman they needed to take the fall for their callous disregard for human life. And the peasant folk? Well, what could they do even if they knew that they were being manipted?

    At the end of the day, the problem was nipped in the bud. It was barely a beast at the threshold of the Core Formation realm, and the only true loss was a squadron of trained soldiers conscripted with the Galen Duchy, and maybe a year''s worth of revenue through trade in this region. To truly register as a threat to the Empire, the beast had to at least be in the Core Condensation Realm and threaten to dismantle a seat of power. Or, the loss should include the life of a scion from a storeyed n or sect.

    It was all so bleak. Jean was disgusted and enraged. But what could she do? Threaten to dismantle an institution that hassted for at least half a millennium?

    After all, her oaths did say: "I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure."

    If she could dethrone the Sol n and implement a far more humane administration, it would all be better. A dangerous thought. One that Jean was quick to dismiss.

    "At what cost?"

    Her oaths began with: "I will first do no harm."

    To gain power, something must be lost. Jean did gain power. The power to heal. What did she lose? The power to fight for those that needed her. Did she regret it?

    She didn''t disparage Mister Larks for what he had done for her. The gift - the oath - had saved her. The alternative would have been much worse, and many more would have suffered for it. To be essentially de-wed and incapable of taking a life had ensured that Jean wouldn''t walk down a path she wouldter regret. All the sincere smiles, the warm wee, and the uplifting atmosphere that came with helping people were reward enough. Besides, fighting didn''t necessarily mean picking up arms and storming a castle with an army.

    Jean leaned over and looked into the well before her. She had returned to the very first town she visited with Josie upon entering the quarantine. The burnt bodies had been removed. No rats either. The vigers were slowly returning to their homes, though there was a mncholy air about it. A lot of rtives, neighbours, friends and family were lost due to the disease. There were a lot of bitter memories here. A lot of horrific images were deeply ingrained into the minds of these folk too.

    There was trauma engraved within these folk. However, she couldn''t heal the mind, not yet at least. Besides, she had only just herself healed through a harrowing psychological experience, who was she to attempt and heal these people?

    What she could do, was ensure that their lives hereafter would be devoid of sickness. Mortal folk suffered through an assortment of illnesses in their lifetimes - theyck the hardy immunity of mages after all. Most, if not all, of these diseases, could be treated. But as it was said: "prevention is preferable to cure".

    "And prevent, I will," Jean circted the replenished mana coursing through her core. She decided to test an interesting idea, which she had instinctively applied during post-advancement when trying to save Josie. Using the knowledge obtained through the cultivation of the Rat King, she instilled viral behaviour into her mana particles. These viruses born of her werepletely subservient to her. There was little danger of them going out of control and doing something untoward since Jean was spiritually unable to do it herself.

    Nheless, what Jean was aiming to create here was an anti-autoimmune disease. The purpose of this disease was to hijack the lymphatic system to activelybatmon and preventable diseases that have a high mortality rate. If all goes well, this "disease" would proliferate here and improve the overall health of the people of these parts and quite possibly spread outwards.

    Jean noticed that the mana cost to performance was steeper the more diseases she programmed into her virus. The cost also varied based on theplexity of the diseases she wished her virus tobat. The mode of transmission of her virus also became costlier the more resilient she made it. All in all, she could only installbat strategies against 13 illnesses, of which 2 were highlyplex such as pneumonia (which tends to have a range of causes), and decided to limit transmission from person to person through liquid as a medium.

    In the end, Jean managed to secrete a concentrated droplet of mana from the tip of her right index finger that dripped into the well and dissolved into the dark waters. The whole process had drained her almostpletely, leaving her at the cusp of mana exhaustion.

    Thankfully, she had Kili to assist her back. The girl was a diligent assistant - eager to learn, and quick to pick up new things. Jean used Mister Larks'' teaching methods to bring the girl up to speed with her letters and numbers, and she assimted them very quickly. She then moved on to reading books (andics contributed by Dora). In her free time, she would help Jean in healing people and learning the basics of triage and emergency treatment. These activities would keep the two girls, Jean and Kili, busy and distracted, and would stop the two from dwelling on their losses.

    The duo arrived at thest remaining tent from the previous triage set-up, which also happened to be Jean''s personal research station. Pushing aside the tent p, Jean staggered in with an exhausted sigh.

    At that moment, she noticed an intruder. It was arge man, with his back turned towards her.

    "This is Josie''s, isn''t it?" The man spoke with a sorrowful voice as he carefully handled the roughshod journal that had the appearance of having survived multiple wars, three natural disasters, and an unfortunate burning incident of some kind. "I remember this one. She always carried it with her. Said that it was the very first present N ever gave her. It ran out of pages within a year, but she never threw it away. Kept adding more pages into it and scrunched up her handwriting to a point where only a mage with impable vision could read it."

    He then chuckled with a nostalgic intonation and added, "She nearly killed me when I identally-"

    His words were interrupted as Jean rushed forward and hugged her father by his waist.

    "It''s not your fault," Goran said while cing his palm on the back of Jean''s head.

    "I know," a muffled, sorrowful moan escaped from Jean. "But it still hurts... So. Much!"

    Jean descended into a full-blown wail within her father''s warm and assuring embrace.

    "It''s all going to be okay," Goran repeated as he rubbed Jean''s shuddering back as his own tears drowned his sight. He didn''t believe Guy when the man said that Jean could express her feelings openly again. He never thought he would see his daughter emote again in her life! His greatest regret had been agreeing to that operation that robbed his daughter of her smile. He still wouldn''t forgive himself even though Jean had returned to her past self, but at least now he would be assured in death knowing that his daughter would live an uncaged life.

    "It''s all going to be okay," he hummed as he exhaled in relief. "We will be holding a funeral."

    "I want her to be buried near Mother," Jean stated firmly.

    "I agree," Goran affirmed. "I will assign another protector-"

    "No," Jean denied as she extricated herself from her hug. She rubbed the tears from her face and looked up at her father with a gentle smile. "I don''t need one any more."

    With that, Jean pulsed out her mana, saturating her mana domain. At this moment, Goran finally noticed his daughter''s cultivation realm. "You... You broke through?"

    A heartyugh echoed within and without the tent, taking with it all the anguish that remained in Goran''s heart.

 Chapter 299 Interlude - Blindspots In Omniscience

    Since her advancement, and gaining her version of the Heavenly Eye, Marie had spent every waking hour (which, for the record, could span multiple days given the sparse sleep cycles of Mages) exploring her power. She wanted to know its quirks, weaknesses and limitations down to the minutiae. This proved to be difficult because magic was, to some extent, open to interpretation.

    What was "fire"? It was the result ofbustion. That was the ssical definition. However, there were also other ways to create fire. Oxidation of Magnesium results in a fire too. Regardless of the many ways through which fire can be made, they are all codified and repeatable. The meaning of fire and how to create it does not vary from person to person. But when magic is involved, that doesn''t always remain true.

    This is because cultivation is drawn from the insights of a mage, and insights are what the mage understands the world around them to be. A man born in a cave strapped to a chair, forever cursed to observe the shadows dancing on the wall in front of him, will have his entire worldview biased based on what he sees on that wall. A chicken to him will be the sound and the smell of the bird, but the sight of its shadow.

    Sensory biases, conformational biases, misinterpretations, all of these facies can mar the uracy of a mage''s cultivation (with respect to the actual ''true'' world as Mister Larks always says).

    Marie wasn''t sure if the quirks, weaknesses and limitations of her powers were a result of her limited understanding of the topic or her inbuilt biases that may have contributed to the way her cultivation was formed. Unfortunately, the world did not check your work for you. Even if your insights and cultivations are faulty and biased, they can still result in a stable core. As long as the cultivator strongly believes and can justify those beliefs, their cultivation will react strongly.

    Her powers worked. Marie was certain of that much after confirming the impact of her actions with her Master. However, there were certain gaps in between that she was unable to fill. Why did the model of the world mesh with the Heavenly Eye''s mana? It made sense to Marie - in some instinctual way. But scientific rigour wascking! Without a formalisation of her breakthrough, it could not be repeated. Her sessor would have to muck about just like her. Furthermore, they wouldn''t be able to improve on her method either, meaning that any progress made would remain stagnant. But then Marie remembered two key details from her education under her Master and Mister Larks.

    "Fate is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the world. It governs everything," her Master would say.

    "Mathematics is thenguage of the universe!" Mister Larks once said.

    "Kind of makes sense that the two can corrte," Marie concluded. "The only way to describe something that is the most fundamental building block of the universe is to use anguage that can define the breadth of that knowledge. Ancient Tongue may be forbidden, but Mathematics isn''t."

    Marie was certain that she had only scratched the surface of mathematics, and she just couldn''t wait to learn more. Because the more maths she knew, the more she could understand about the Heavenly Eye.

    For one, Marie realised that she could actually see into people''s past with her powers, and it was infinitesimally easier and far more urate to do so aspared to looking into the future. This wasn''t something her Master could do with his Heavenly Eye. Essentially, Marie had nigh omniscience within her grasp.

    "This is voyeurism," her Master said with a scoff, clearly trying to hide his envy.

    "I do not derive any pleasure from this," Marie rified.

    "Be that as it may," he shot back. "What you''re doing is a gross intrusion of others'' privacy!"

    "As if you aren''t doing it already," Marie mumbled. "Your mana domain can envelop multiple cities if I''m not mistaken. How many bedrooms have you intruded with your powers?"

    "I don''t derive any pleasure from seeing mortals copting if that is what you''re implying," her Master whipped back.

    "So admit it! You''re just jealous that I can do something YOU can''t," Marie jokingly mocked.

    "It makes no sense... How can the Heavenly Eye show what has already happened?"

    "That''s because the Heavenly Eye by itself isn''t enough," Marie surmised. "Something was missing all along!"

    "No kidding... Who knew that taking a step further from knowing one''s sums and times tables could revitalise a primordial cultivation method?" Her Master evoked with impressed surprise. "Back to our earlier topic, though. I worry that you might be growing addicted to the power. I''ve seen you doing this every day."

    "I''m only experimenting," Marie reasoned. "I''m trying to test my limits."

    "You sound exactly like a sober person ''experimenting'' with drugs to test their limits," her Master said with a snort that was tinged with worry. "If you get lost in the past and future, you will forget the present."

    Marie wanted to shoot back with a quick-witted retort, but she noticed that her Master was showing sincere concern and decided to swallow her words. After thinking about it a little bit, she understood where he wasing from. And maybe, he was correct to a degree (Marie was only ready to concede that much!). She had been intoxicated by the ability to see absolutely everything. This sight went beyond what mana sensing could grasp. It was literally like being a fly on the wall of someone else''s life, at every step they took.

    She first used it to look into Markus'' past. She wanted to know what exactly he had been through during his time at the Academy. What she saw angered her thoroughly. She immensely regretted sending him there without any support. She regretted that he had no one to depend on over there, all by himself. She was also enraged by the disregard shown by those in administerial positions when it came to handling such tant acts of violence and bullying. Hearing about it all from a person''s mouth wasn''t the same as actually being there and experiencing it first-hand. It hurt to watch. And it hurt even more that she could do nothing about it.

    After that depressing journey, Marie decided to explore her other siblings'' pasts. Unfortunately, Dora and Kanocked an urate enough date of birth. Through some rigorous interption and statistical analysis, she narrowed down the scope. Though this did cause some haziness in her prediction and observations of the past. She tried asking her Master for his estimation of their actual ages, which he could pinpoint through magical means, but he refused to do so saying that it isn''t something necessary at the moment. Marie also realised that Matron Reva''s date of birth was incorrect. Even interption failed to produce a viable bandwidth. Working up from the upper limit didn''t work either (that is to take the lowest year obtainable through interption and working towards the most recent year). This meant that Matron Reva was older - much older...

    The oddities didn''t stop there, either. In trying to divine Mister Lark''s past and future, she was met with another kind of opposition. It was all garbled nonsense. The Heavenly Eye just refused to activate. Even her Master admitted that he could not apply his Heavenly Eye on Mister Larks. Was Mister Larks an exception or a pattern?

    "I would say he is an exception," her Master concluded. "His life is not chart-able by the Heavenly Eye. There have been no records of such an entity existing."

    "I can''t even see his past!" Marieined. "For a minute, I thought I''d made a mistake with my cultivation."

    "I''ve learned that with Guy, you will have to divine his past and future using the people he keeps around him," her Master suggested. "It may not always be urate, since his actions directly influence fate''s sequence."<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "If Mister Larks can control fate, shouldn''t he also have some affinity with the Heavenly Eye?" Marie inquired.

    "That''s not how it works," Krish denied with a wave of his hand.

    "How DOES it work?"

    "Stop pestering me, child. Look, a friend of yours hase to bid us farewell," Krish redirected as he looked towards the door. Today was the day, the duo nned to leave the Mystic Celestial Sect. They had achieved everything they''d sought when arriving here, and it was now time to return home to the True World Sect.

    Within seconds, a series of knocks sounded on the door, which swung open automatically with a quirk from her Master''s finger.

    "So this is where you''ve been hiding the entire time?" Rianna Maddi said with a genial smile. "Heard that you''re leaving today? Were you going to bounce without saying goodbye?"

    Marie returned an equally warm smile and embraced the woman with a friendly hug. "How could I forget my moneymaker?"

    "Betting on spars is strictly controlled, you know that? The Law-Enforcement Department has initiated an investigation on the sudden outflux of funds from cirction," Rianna warned with a hushed tone.

    "Right! Sect Leader told me to tell Mage Nara that the request to use one of our teleportation formations has been approved by the Council of Elders," she said directly to her Master. "He also handed me this updated token."

    After retrieving a newer token from her jacket pocket she raised it with both hands in her Master''s direction. "This allows a one-time teleportation straight to the Sect should Mage Nara feel like visiting ever again."

    The token levitated into the gaping mouth of her Master''s mundane-looking sack. He then returned a light nod of approval and left the room without another word.

    "I should probably get going too," Marie said, decoding the intent behind her Master''s silence.

    "Let me take you there," Rianna offered. Marie probed Rianna''s updated romantic life, which the woman shared unabashedly. Going into detail about how she and her lover explored every nook and cranny of their bodies.

    "He''s still young and starry-eyed. Once they start matching your strength, they lose that sense of wonder. They stop trying too," Rianna said with a mncholic sigh.

    "It can''t all just be about sex, right?"

    "What else? Love? Pah!" Rianna scoffed. "There is no ce for love in a mage''s world. Love is the second leading cause of death in mages. And I intend to live for a very, very long time."

    "Doesn''t it get lonely?"

    "Of course. But you know what they say: better to be lonely and breathing, than drowning in love and, well- actually drowning," Rianna joked.

    Marie wanted to disagree, but she held her tongue. She wasn''t experienced enough in this to have the right to say anything. A faint smile did sh past her face as Rianna''s jocr and cynical approach to personal connections matched with another face.

    ''I wonder how they''re adapting? I did have to tweak Markus'' itinerary a little. But it should work out well, hopefully,'' she thought to herself.

    By this time, she had arrived at the teleportation tforms and saw her Master standing beside the fifth one from the end. Marie quickly gave Rianna another hug and rushed up to her Master.

    "Are we ready?"

    "Everything''s packed and double-checked. Let''s go home," Marie affirmed. Then, with a quick sh of light, the duo disappeared from the tform and, at the same time, were deposited many kilometres away near a riverbank in the middle of a forest.

    "We''re close to Radiant City. It is fifty kilometres due Northeast," her Master ignored her dibobted state after the quick teleportation and started to walk in his defined direction.

    "W-Wait uuuUUURP-"

    "*sigh* Don''t run right after your first teleportation. You will get disoriented."

    "Why didn''t you tell me befoooOOORRRP-"

 Chapter 300 Interlude - Start Of A New Life

    A/N: Woohoo! The three-hundredth chapter! Also guys, please drop down into the Discord server and leave any ideas, thoughts or examples of what you would like in the Novel''s next cover/

    ____

    Markus was crunched for time because of the detour, which had fortunatelyted the Sect a new member. He had to prepare everything for the iing batch of recruits. While the work within the Sect wasn''t a lot, there were a few additional logistical considerations he had to work out with the Vige''s Head and elders.

    First off, due to the remoteness and risky positioning of Twilight Vige, it was listed as a tentative establishment in the Maika Duchy''s books. This meant that there was a high protection tax and a lownd-use and yield tax enforced on this settlement. The protection tax was a money sink since the Duchy''s patrols barely graced this vige. Luckily, the dangers faced by the vige were non-existent till now since there was nothing worth plundering here for both humans and beasts alike. With the establishment of the True World Sect, the vige could now exempt itself from the protection tax altogether (which it did) but making it reliant on the Sect for security.

    A newly established sect (for the first two years) must pay taxes to the government fornd use and yield. The Twilight Vige registered to align themselves with the True World Sect, making the Sect the proxy to which all taxes must be paid, and the Sect transfers this amount plus their contribution directly to the government. After two years, the Sect can register its sovereignty which turns them into a separate entity from the Sr Empire to a limited degree. They will be exempt fromnd-use and yield taxes, but will now have to bear taxes for the import and export of goods and services as they are a foreign legal entity - they basically be a business free-zone. At the time of registering their sovereignty, the extent of theirnd use is recorded, and any newnd required needs to be purchased from the Sr Empire at a subjective rate.

    So in the grand scheme of things, it is beneficial for a Sect to expand itself in the two-year starting period as it guarantees more real estate to work withter down the line. However, it alsoes with downsides in the short term as thend use taxes can balloon if saidnd is unproductive. Furthermore, a sect never works in a vacuum. There are always powers in the vicinity with their agenda and interests that may sh with rogue growth strategies. But for the True World Sect, this wasn''t much of an issue since the area wasrgely uncontended and more or less forgotten.

    Furthermore, the Twilight Vige did not need to pay a road tax because the government did not build a proper road connecting it to Wayward Town. This initiative was taken on, legally, by the True World Sect. This can be a tax write-off, essentially by deducting the cost ofnd development and maintenance from subsequent tax payments until the road is bought off by the government.

    Skills managing taxes andnd-use logistics wasn''t something a teenager should have in their repertoire. Markus definitely didn''t. It also didn''t help that the Vige Head and elderscked sufficient education to handle all the paperwork. They never really considered growing Twilight Vige beyond its current state. Those that flourished in the vige usually left for better watering holes in the towns or cities nearby.

    Thankfully, Matron Reva had some expertise in this field. So while Markus did the legwork, she did the paperwork.

    The group of recruits started pouring in within a week of his arrival. The first toe were the refugees, as they left the Capital as soon as they had the chance. Revian, the sole non-refugee/disced member, arrived two dayster. His face was marred with uncertainty and with faint signs of regret. Markus could understand his point of view, having to leave aforting life in the Capital for a ce far, far, away in some unknown corner of a forest. The refugees werecking in choices, but this boy wasn''t, which was why Markus was extremely grateful that he followed through on his decision.

    "Wee everyone, to the True World Sect," Markus dered while moving his gaze across the new and beaming faces. Every family was situated, and they were all satisfied with the offerings. There was work, so they could stand on their own legs. There weremodities and amodations for their health and future, so they didn''t have to worry about the next day. Most of the basic human needs were being met, and this gratitude trickled down to the kids as well, since they no longer had to live like sub-humans.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "This is where you will be living for the rest of your lives, from this day forth," he continued with a firm tone. "This is where you will rest your head at night, this is where you will break your fast, eat your lunch and dinner, learn, work, and grow. This will be your ce of residence, work, learning and recreation. Respect it, cherish it, and first and foremost, never betray it."

    "The people to your right, left, front and back will be the ones you will have to rely and depend on - they will be your new families. When things are going your way, they will be the ones who you will share your happiness with. When you are struggling, they will be the ones who will offer you a shoulder to cry on or lean on. And finally, when the chips are down, they will be the ones who wille to your rescue. Respect them, cherish them, and first and foremost, never betray them."

    "Finally. Take a look at yourself. You are only children. The weight of the world shouldn''t fall on your shoulders. The True World Sect has done its part in taking off what bore down on you till now. In doing so, you are afforded two paths. You can either rx and take the mundane path. The True World Sect won''t disparage you should you take this decision, as it is your right to do so. You may leave the Sect and return to a life with your previous family. This path may not necessarily be easy, but it is one that is frequently walked upon and isrgely free of surprises. Or you may take the second path which is perilous, but equally rewarding. It is the path that the True World Sect will open up to you. It is a path of self-growth and self-discovery. It is a path that will take you to heights that you have never seen before. But most importantly, it is a path that you will have to tread by yourself. You won''t have to worry about falling and getting lost since you will have the entire Sect watching your back, but you will have to be the one to get back up on your feet and keep moving. I won''t lie to you, it will be difficult. But I can also promise you that you won''t be disappointed. But to enjoy these benefits you must always remember the following credo. Respect yourself, cherish yourself, and first and foremost, never betray yourself."

    With those final words, a charged silence prevailed in the crowd. Everyone was excited and pumped up. No one showed a face of uncertainty or apprehension, even Revian.

    "For those of you below the age of 12. You aren''t obligated to be a member of the Sect, but you are required to attend our remedial sses that cover a vast field of basic knowledge to prepare you for your future. Kano here will guide you," Markus nudged the tense little boy forward who gulped audibly.

    "H-H-Hello, I am Kano. Please f-f-follow me," he said before turning around. A few kids split off from the crowd and followed the boy expectantly. Sect Leader Larks had officially created a schooling system for the vigers to send their kids to within Sect grounds. This was also a way to bring the Sect and the Vige closer together, since if people could confidently entrust their children to a Sect it meant that they trusted the establishment.

    "For those of you remaining. I am d that you have chosen to stay. I will guide you through everything our Sect has to offer," Markus congratted with a smile and led the group on. He took the enthusiastic crew on a snaking tour that covered everything from the Administrative buildings to the Library all the way up the mountain.

    In the following days, Markus spent his time teaching literacy to the few thatcked the ability, as well as resuming the regr sses for the younger generation that were put on hold. Those that were literate were given the agency to explore the Sect and the Vige by themselves.

    Most of them spent this time unwinding and enjoying the recreational amenities avable. They yed the many unique and exciting board and card games Markus'' Master had developed such as Monopoly, UNO, Life, Scrabble, and Clue. They dabbled in the novel sports developed by his Master that promoted teamwork and other skills such as Handball and Football.

    But Markus was most intrigued by the decision of one recruit, Shuri. Unlike all her peers, she was the only one who chose to spend her time in the Library. A positively studious and hard-working behaviour that Markus was appreciative of, but also concerned about. After all, once things truly started to kick off, she would be starved for time to spend for herself. He didn''t want her to burn herself out from the very beginning.

 Chapter 301 Interlude - Temptations

    Shuri tempered her expectations through the journey to "her" Sect. It was a strange development, to say the least. First off, she didn''t have a solid "n" after leaving the Capital. She knew she had to go far away - somewhere remote where the eyes and reach of the Emperor were weak. She would go there and live out the rest of her life as it came. She didn''t have high-flying dreams or ambitions, or bone-chilling vows of revenge.

    But after being shown glimpses of a possible future - a better future - for herself, she was tempted. She suddenly wanted... more. Markus exploited this temporary surge of weakness on her part and roped her into the True World Sect. Was she suspicious? Definitely. But Shuri was left with no better option. Besides, was there a more treacherous ce out there than the Pce of the Sun?

    The Sect and the Vige where it was established were everything Markus described it to be. Shuri could not find a single discrepancy or lie based on a superficial survey of the ce. After extricating herself from her escort, she managed to explore the region more thoroughly, and was satisfied to find that it fit her earlier definition of "far away" and "remote". Unless the Sect did something outrageous, the eyes of the Empire wouldn''t grace this ce for the next two years. That was sufficient time for Shuri to recollect herself, build her strength, and n her next steps.

    Shuri wasn''t interested in aligning herself with an organisation. Because from her knowledge there were only two types of organisations in the world. Ones that chopped off an arm to save the body, and ones that took the entire body down to avoid losing an infected appendage. The former wouldn''t think twice before sacrificing a weak link, and thetter would be too "righteous" to even consider it. If this Sect was the former, then Shuri would eventually find herself on the chopping block as a sacrifice for the Sect, and in thetter case, she would find herself on the chopping block because of the Sect''s inability to establish priorities. Regardless, Shuri was better off on her own.

    This did not mean that she couldn''t take advantage of the hand Markus extended her way. But first, she had to test just how far this assistance reached and survey the state of her new environment.

    Her "colleagues" in the Sect were all members of the underprivileged ss - refugees. Shuri could posit that since this Sect couldn''t fill its quota, it decided to pull from a pool of easy catches. These kids were guaranteed additions, and easily exploitable. All it took was a thin rope that gave the faint signal of hope, which the Sect did by paying for their families'' relocation. Was this decision purely out of kindness and goodwill, or was there a malicious intent hidden beneath it all? Shuri was definitely leaning towards the second option. She confirmed that she was now essentially surrounded by spies - die-hard loyalists to the Sect. She had to tread carefully and not attract the ire of the Sect''s higher-ups.

    The Sect''s premises were quaint, yet highly functional. Whoever designed this aimed to promote a sense of tness in the hierarchical structure. Unlike other Sects, the aim here was to remove the social divides that separated people and create a more "approachable environment conducive to growth" (Markus'' words). Shuri was certain that this was another strategy to make people lower their guard and cultivate a false sense of security. The less people had to worry about getting back-stabbed the more upfront they were. This would ensure that fewer secrets and subterfuge were urring within Sect walls. It also meant that a person''s weakness wasmon knowledge and readily exploitable by the Sect!

    And then there was the highlight that really sent Shuri''s mental rm ring. The Library. ced in a conspicuous location far above the rest of the Sect, this majestic work of architecture exuded an aura of splendour and awe. The tour that followed the innocuously orated speech of indoctrination reached a point where the group was guided towards the Library. Shuri assumed that it would be a simple peek, to whet the unsuspecting member''s appetites and further tether them to the Sect. Markus promisedplete freedom of the facilities; she was on the lookout for the "but" which would drop any moment now.

    But... it didn''t. The Library truly was open to everyone. Shuri confirmed this, based on the fact that there was nothing barring entrance except for a port where the Sect''s membership token had to be slotted allowing the magical barriers and rms to lower.

    Was Shuri being excessively paranoid? Definitely! Her singlepse had overturned her life! She would never make that mistake again. She would take every step as if the floor would give way and reveal a pit filled with venomous vipers.

    The knowledge enshrined within the Library was profound and new. Shuri was confident that she had read everything freely avable within the Sr Empire and then some. She could recite every book she''d read from memory at a moment''s notice. Yet none of the books in this ce was reminiscent of the ones she''d read before. Shuri approached the works with an open mind but primed with scepticism, as one should. She was willing to entertain the arguments presented in the books, but not ept them as gospel readily.

    There was a wide genre of books for her to peruse through. The Library''s opening foyer provided charts and posters that offered a preferred sequence of reading for neers. Shuri used it as a guide, since it was better than stumbling around in the dark and followed the path of natural sciences. The initial few books came with illustrations that covered a vast array of topics at a superficial level. Some reinforced what she already knew, others provided exnations and derivations for what she knew from a more logical perspective, a few disproved and redefined what she thought she knew, and many more taught herpletely new things that she had never thought to question before.

    While Shuri maintained her scepticism, she could not find a weak link in the reasonings written in these books. There were easy-to-follow andprehensible exnations and examples that tied each im into a neat bundle. She even figured out why Markus'' |Fireball| was so cheap.

    "The ''truth'' and the ''lie''..." an apt naming convention that simplified the arcane fundamentals of magic.

    Within three days, Shuri had devoured a vast assortment of books. A single thorough read was all it took for the information to find its permanent home in her mind. She not only followed the sequence defined by the posters, but she also sampled books from all over the Library to test the limits of her freedom in this Sect.

    One particr day, Markus showed up. Shuri anticipated the second shoe to drop. She had tantly overdrawn on the boy''s assistance, and now the debt had to be repaid. After all, it was best to know the enemy than to live in the shadow of an unknown.

    "Are you enjoying the offerings of our Library?" Markus probed. "I''ve noticed that you''re spending most of your time here. I can understand the excitement you are feeling, but I worry that you may burn yourself out too soon in your enthusiasm."

    "Don''t worry about it," Shuri responded with a "warm smile". "I''m only casually perusing."

    "We both know that isn''t true," Markus said with a wry smile. "I bet you can recite every single book you''ve ''perused'' till now. Please understand, you need to unwind once in a while or else you will only hurt yourself. ''All work and no y makes Jack a dull boy.''"

    "Who''s Jack?"

    "A boy who did what you''re doing right now," Markus answered. "It''s an idiom. If all you do is work, then your mind grows numb. You need to cleanse and surprise it once in a while - work different parts of it - so that it doesn''t happen."

    Shuri hummed while turning away. "I''ve noticed that the Library is sorelycking in cultivation methods. I found a few, but they seemed toomon. Is this all that the Sect has to offer?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Is this ''all''? I think you''re misunderstanding something," Markus dered. He spread his arms wide and expounded. "Do you not see all the cultivation methods avable to you?"

    "Excuse me?"

    "What is cultivation? It is to improve the self, is it not? All these books are here. They all offer avenues for you to follow to improve yourself," Markus rified.

    Shuri narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "This all sounds like a confidence scheme..."

    "Of course it does. Everyone has been fooled into thinking that one can cultivate by following and internalising instructions provided in a book when it is known that cultivation is unique from person to person."

    He shook his head and said, "Forget about all that for now. Look, there is a process to all of this. Do not skip steps in your excitement, as it will only be a detriment to your growth. Why don''t you join a few of us in a game of Scrabble?"

    Shuri once again evaded the offer and pointed towards something that she only discovered recently. "I couldn''t help but notice this separation. I thought all knowledge was open to everyone?"

    What she was referring to, was a physically locked gate that closed off a section of the Library.

    Markus looked at Shuri for a few seconds before sighing in defeat. "It seems that I cannot convince you to put a hold on your thirst for knowledge. No matter. Just be responsible."

    He looked towards the gate and added, "Knowledge is like a building. One needs a sturdy foundation before building higher levels. Beyond this gate lies blocks that make up the true upper levels of knowledge. It is dangerous to dabble in it when one is still a novice andcks the sufficient prerequisites."

    "How do I get ess to the other side?" Shuri probed.

    "You will need to confer with the Sect Leader for that. You must prove to him that you are ready for what lies beyond," Markus answered.

    "I can''t help but think it runs counter to everything you''ve told me till now," Shuri challenged.

    Markus walked up to the gate and bent the metal apart. "If it was truly forbidden, then more stringent protection would be in ce. What is the difference between feeding someone course by course, as opposed to cing them before a buffet? This gate is only there for you to know when to temper your appetite."

    He bent the metal back in shape, turned and walked away, leaving Shuri to gaze beyond the metal in thought. The sections ahead were draped in darkness. The books lining the multitudinous shelves called out to her, like a siren enticing dehydrated and malnourished sailors to a gruesome death. She understood the implications behind Markus'' warnings, but the taste of whaty behind her was urging her to sample whaty beyond.

    "I was mistaken..."

    There WAS a ce more dangerous than the Pce of the Sun, and she had voluntarily walked into it.

    ____

    A/N: End of Volume 4

    I may or may not take a break in preparation for Volume 5 :P

    This may also be a bted April Fools prank. Who knows?

 Chapter 302 Out Of The Frying Pan...

    "Temptation" wasn''t something Shuri had to fight against during her time at the Pce. Over there, the paths were clear-cut; it was easy to predict what would lead to death and what wouldn''t. But in the True World Sect, where she was afforded a level of freedom she''d never experienced before, Shuri didn''t know what to do. The peril hidden behind the many temptations hanging before her were hidden deeply, beneath levels of subterfuge that even her lifetime''s worth of experience couldn''t unravel.

    But one thing was for certain, though. The Library wasn''t safe. Not yet at least. It was filled with unseen and unheard-of knowledge that urged her to learn more and keep digging deeper. Worse yet, nothing was stopping her from doing it. It was like hanging a bloody and juicy steak in front of a wolf that has already had a taste of the meat. Thankfully, Shuri wasn''t beholden to her base urges. Knowledge had a price, and Shuri was certain that all that information enshrined within the majestic walls of the Library would exact their dues in time.

    To distract herself, Shuri opted to follow Markus'' suggestion and indulged in the many recreational activities the Sect had to offer. Unfortunately, this meant that she had to interact with her "colleagues". Luckily, the kids who joined the Sect with her weremon folk. The conversations she could hold with them didn''t require her to unwind aplicated thread of subtlety. They spoke straightforwardly, and without the use of doublespeak - a sentence only had a single meaning.

    "Are you going to eat all of that?" Wasn''t a jab at her physical appearance. It was literally a question inquiring if she was going to eat therge mound of rice on her te. It was refreshing... But it only elevated Shuri''s wariness. Things were moving far too swimmingly for herfort.

    The "board games" she yed were unbearably trivial. She had to hold herself back from winning sometimes to avoid attracting attention. She needed to blend into the crowd, after all. The physically involved games were much harder on Shuri given her weaker frame, but that didn''t exclude her from ying. After all, if she had to sell the story of her mediocrity she had to show weakness in some ces. With sports, she didn''t even have to try, she was already weak at it!

    The days passed like this, and Shuri slowly started to assimte with the routine followed by the Sect. The Sect published a schedule she needed to follow until the return of the Sect Leader and the official kickoff of sect activities. This involved morning and evening Yoga, an interesting and highly effective meditation technique that also doubled as a stretching and physical exercise, literacy review and crash course in basic mathematics, study on the recorded history of magic and cultivation, and recreation and self-development time. The timings for the study and meditation sessions were rigid, while the rest were fluid and she was basically left to her own devices.

    During her self-development time, Shuri resumed her frequent trips to the Library. She had managed to get a hold of her temptations - the recreation time with her peers worked as a suitable distraction. She also found some interest in the Maker-Space, which was filled with tools and machines she hadn''t seen or heard of before. With Markus'' guidance, she learned to use thethe and milling machine and even created simple items such as door handles and decorative tes. The area was extremely conducive to research, experimentation, and development.

    Unknowingly, Shuri''s robust guard had withered to a point where she didn''t question every action and decision in her daily life. This was the result of the uplifting and supportive learning environment.

    On one particr day, while Shuri skipped towards the Maker-Space, her sensitive ears caught wind of amotion originating from the Administrative area, close to the Sect''s entrance. She even saw a few kids running in that direction excitedly.

    Something different was afoot. And "different" was almost always catastrophic. To get ahead of the problem, Shuri decided to be a sheep amongst the crowd and followed the group. She tamed her outward expressions and decided to nudge one of her peers.

    "Hey, what''s going on?" She asked as she followed the group of four girls walking at a brisk pace.

    "We heard that Sect Leader Larks has returned," the nudged girl answered with an excited intonation.

    "The Sect Leader?" Shuri hummed in thought. ''What new troubles will this bring?''

    ____

    "You aren''t Guy..." Grace denied immediately, as she dodged Guy''s hug in greeting.

    "But I am," Guy moaned. "That''s what I''m trying to prove to you. Look, Dora and Jean can both testify to my identity!"

    Grace looked past Guy and saw Jean nodding back with an assuaging smile and Dora raising a thumb in acknowledgement.

    "But... How can someone change so drastically?" Grace argued. "You weren''t this handsome before!"

    Guy suppressed the embarrassed red tint forming on his cheeks. Just as he was about to respond, another voice interrupted the conversation.

    "Congrattions on your breakthrough, Sect Leader Larks."

    The voice was seeded by the periodic taps of wood hitting the floor. Secondster, the door to the weing room swung open, and an ted Marie rushed in with her arms wide open.

    "Dora! Jean!" Marie pulled the two girls into a tight hug. "Eh- You must be Kili!"

    Kili, who had shrunken in the presence of so many new people suddenly jolted upon being called in name by a person she had never met before.

    "Come here!" Marie reached forward and pulled the girl into the three-person hug as well. "Oh, I''ve missed you guys so much!"

    "What about me?" Grace shot back with fake sternness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Who are you again?" Marie rebutted while scratching her forehead.

    "Maybe a lovetap to the head may jog your memories," Grace challenged as she rolled her sleeves and approached Marie.

    Marie dropped her hug and rushed towards Grace with a genial smile. "How could I forget my dear Matron Reva."

    While the women reconnected, Mage Nara finally appeared past the entrance. He walked at a steady pace, maintaining his gait with the assistance of his long walking stick.

    "The girl was right. Your appearance has turned markedly better in the aesthetics department," Krishmented with an approving nod.

    Guy dodged thepliment and said, "It''s a pleasant coincidence that you guys arrived at the same time as us."

    "It''s no coincidence," Krish denied with a decisive shake of his head. "My Disciple calcted the exact time of our departure so that we could match our arrival with you folk."

    "Sounds like her," Guy agreed with a mirthful snort. "I hope the trip was fruitful. I can sense that she has advanced in her cultivation."

    "It was beyond fruitful!" Krish evoked excitedly, shocking Guy with his explosive disy of emotion. "The girl singlehandedly redefined a cultivation method that has been in use for many millennia!"

    "That does sound beyond fruitful..." Guy murmured.

    Krish clicked his tongue in annoyance and said, "You can''t appreciate the magnitude of her aplishments, because you can''t fathom the nature of the changes she''s pioneering!"

    "I hope she isn''t overdrawing herself," Guy nudged. "Marie tends to lose herself in her productive trance."

    "You don''t have to remind me twice!" Krish responded with a bitter smile as he recollected his Disciple''s exhaustion-inducing experimentation spree in which he had to intervene multiple times.

    "Master! You''re back!" Markus'' voice resounded in the hall as his Disciple jogged in excitedly. He paused two steps away from Guy,posed himself and gave a deep bow. But Guy caught him midway and pulled the boy in for a hug.

    "It''s good to be back," Guy confessed. "I hope I didn''t overwhelm you with all that work."

    "Not at all, Master. Everything went smoothly. All the families have been resettled, regr sses have resumed, and all the new members are ready to begin their journey in magic," Markus reported with a proud grin.

    "He is conveniently skipping the anxiety-filled, sleepless nights," Grace interjected. "The boy was practically dripping with panic sweats after identally miscing the study ns, when in fact it was stored safely inside his bag all along... on his person! It made me question if the boy is actually a mage or not. What use are mana senses?!"

    Markus coughed in embarrassment. "It was difficult in the beginning, but once I got into the rhythm, the workload became easier to handle."

    "Good job!" Guy encouraged. "Throwing someone into the deep end isn''t always a guaranteed recipe for sess. I knew that you had potential in you, and I was confident that you would seed, so I took this risk. Do not do the same with others that depend on you until you are absolutely certain as well. It takes years of experience in teaching to build this skill."

    Markus absorbed Guy''s warning with a solemn nod.

    "Hmm," Krish''s hum cut through the silence. "It seems that the word of your arrival has spread throughout the Sect."

    "That''s right!" Markus eximed while pping his hands. "Master, I have called in all members for an assembly. You have to address them. I''ve given a warm-up speech upon their arrival, but itcks the prestige and authority of the Sect Leader."

    Under the gaze of all the expectant eyes in the room, Guy exhaled audibly and cleared his throat.

    "I guess it is time to give our members a proper wee."

 Chapter 303 ...And Into The Fire!

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Equinoxes for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuri stood at attention and, despite being frozen with apprehension, tried her hardest to maintain a neutral yet confused expression, all the while being in the midst of a small throng of teens and children all garbed in a simr attire indicative of the Sect they were a part of. Everyone was currently at the assembly area, which was like a moderatelyrge auditorium built against the mountainside to provide a better viewing experience for the audience.

    As a professional survivor, Shuri wanted to make sure that her time here - for however long that may be - was uneventful. By no means did she want to stand out. Unfortunately for her, the circumstances of her enrolment registered her unique presence in Markus'' memory. This, along with the enthusiastic boast of her impable memory, her actions after entering the Sect, her failure to hold back her greed, and her over-indulgence in the addictive bounties of the library had inevitably elevated Markus'' impression of Shuri.

    This wasn''t optimal. If she was to leave in the future, she needed to ensure that she wouldn''t be missed in the Sect. The fewer people who knew her, the less she would be sought after.

    ''It''s only Markus for now. Over time, he may forget about me if I continue to show a slightly below-average level of performance in whatever task is assigned to me. However, I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT afford to attract the attention of others!''

    It was a delicate bncing act, really. Shuri NEEDED to extract as much out of the Sect as she could, but she had to do so without giving it away.

    At that moment, a crowd made up of new faces walked towards the stage. Shuri recognised Markus and Matron Grace Reva. There were two little girls, one looked simr to Kano (probably his twin Dora whom he would infrequently talk about) and the second looked thinner and incredibly timid. There were two teens, one who looked about Shuri''s age and another that was older just by a smidgen. The former carried herself with a familiar bearingmon amongst aristocratic children - she was probably Jean Rasmus. Shuri hypothesised through the order of elimination thetter was Marie, the elder sister Markus mentioned to some members a few days ago.

    And then there were the two adult males. The one following Markus, and the younger of the two, walked with an approachable yet authoritative aura. This was probably Sect Leader Guy Larks - the man in charge of the True World Sect and Markus'' Master. However, he looked nothing like Markus'' descriptions. The man was far too... handsome.

    "It''s good to see so many familiar faces again," Sect Leader Larks started with a genial smile. His eyes scanned the crowd beforeing to a stop at Shuri.

    "And a new one?"

    ''SHIT!'' Shuri cursed internally. Her n fell apart mere seconds into the assembly.

    "Oh, right!" Markus eximed. "Master that over there is Shuri. I recruited her into the Sect during my return. I... will exin the detailster."

    "That''s okay," Sect Leader Larks said with a wave of his hand. "The more, the merrier." He turned towards Shuri and added, "It''s good to have you as part of the True World Sect. I hope that you find everything you want here with us."

    Shuri stepped aside and bowed in gratitude. As she nced up at Sect Leader Larks, she caught a fleeting twitch on the right side of his face, followed by a mumbling of words and a stern frown in his right eye. However, his expression quickly transformed into a sincere smile that betrayed no hint of annoyance, though his bodynguage gave him away.

    ''What''s that all about? Something fishy, no doubt.''

    "I believe Markus has intimated everyone with the Sect, what we have to offer, what our values are, and what we expect from each member," Sect Leader Larks orated to the crowd. "Till now, your focus should have been primarily on augmenting your literacy and covering the basics. Now that I have returned, we will be moving on and starting with the fundamental purpose of a Sect, which is to practice magic and cultivation."

    An excited round of apuse, which Shuri partook in, of course.

    "For most of you here, magic is an arcane concept that was beyond your reach. It was probably something you wrote off from your life since it wasn''t something you felt you could harness. But I am here to tell you otherwise. Magic is achievable by just about anyone."

    A daring statement, but Shuri could believe it. Markus shouldn''t have been able to cultivate if what he said about his ipatibility with most basic cultivation methods was to be trusted.

    "All it takes is grit and ingenuity!" Sect Leader Larks dered with a challenging glint in his eyes. "It isn''t as easy as it sounds. The two characteristics do not work in istion but in tandem. Applying grit without ingenuity is no different from mundanebour, and ingenuity without grit results in half-assed work."

    "Now, this doesn''t mean that all efforts applied in pursuing an innovative cause will lead to sess. The path to sess is paved with failures, after all. Failures do not indicate that you must give up. But, that also doesn''t mean you must wade through years of failures just to get to that one singr sess you dreamed of. After all-"

    Sect Leader Larks turned to his side and gestured for Markus and Jean to walk on stage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "-your two predecessors have already paved a path of failure for you. You don''t necessarily have to follow their path. You can create your own. But only do so if you are confident that you can handle the seemingly endless string of failures. Alternatively, if you are finding it difficult to start your own path, you can take theirs and decide to step outside the path along the way."

    "In more technical terms, Markus and Jean here have formed specialisations in a particr branch of magic. If their specialisation is something you find yourself interested in, I encourage you to seek them out and pick their brains. Maybe work with them in their research. Sometimes, by assisting others in their pursuits, you may find something interesting that will help you find your own special path."

    "The sessions for magical theory will be added to your schedules. Only those who meet the minimum requirement for literacy will be allowed to participate. Note that once you qualify, you will be moved from the basic literacy stream to the intermediate level, where we will be studying topics beyond those required to survive a mundane life. This is where most of you will find yourself eventually. If I find that you can handle the intermediate level, we will be moving you to the advanced level which will be primarily self-study wherein the curriculum will be provided by us, and where you will be tasked withpleting various assignments. Everyone will eventually reach this level with time, but there is an option for early advancement at my discretion. Once you are at this level, you will have more agency in how you handle your time, but you will also have additional responsibilities."

    At that moment, the boy named Revian raised his hands. Sect Leader Larks turned to the boy and invited his question.

    "Do these levels correspond to our position in the Sect? Such as the Outer, Inner and Core?"

    "We do not believe in those divisions in this Sect. These levels are assigned purely to separate the cohort into buckets so that learning can be optimised. As more people join the sect, the intermediate levels will be handled in generational batches. Everyone will be learning at the same pace, but their starting point will begging by a generation. The goal is, of course, for everyone to reach the advanced level within a set period, which I can guarantee. All these keywords may sound alien and confusing but do not worry. The aim of the True World Sect is for everyone here to be proficient in magic and have the tools to advance by themselves."

    Shuri absorbed the words and pondered over their implications. She would be crowded in with the intermediate levels of this batch since she had disyed enough literary proficiency (it would have been more suspicious for a presumed runaway from a well-off family to not have that level of education). The problemy in whether she should push herself to reach the advanced level early. Reaching that level would provide her with the much-needed agency she so sorely needed to pursue her desires at her own pace. She was confident that she could achieve it without trouble, but could she afford to stand out that much? What about those "responsibilities" - wouldn''t they just ingrain her deeper into the Sect?

    "Finally, before ending this speech. I''d like to introduce you to the final member of our Sect," Sect Leader Larks said while gesturing for the old man (who Shuri had somehow overlooked) to walk on stage. The man hobbled up the stage with his walking stick, followed closely by Marie.

    "This is Mage Krish Nara. He is Marie''s Master. Everything that you have been told about approachability does not apply to him. Do note to him with your problems- do not annoy him in general-"

    "You''re making me sound like a viin~" Mage Nara interrupted with a cough and a wry smile. "You... kids..."

    His words were directed to the crowd, but his face was strained as he tried to put on a warm smile. "Treat me, as you would treat anyone else in the Sect."

    "But you aren''t just ''anyone''," Marie interjected. "My Master here is in the Tesseract Transformation realm and has been alive for many millennia. He may not be all ''there'' with modern lingo, so be careful not to offend him by saying something he wouldn''t understand."

    As Mage Nara whacked his Disciple''s head, Shuri caught herself from copsing on her weak legs.

    ''T-Tesseract Transformation realm!''

    DANGER! DANGER!

    Shuri swallowed a gulp and attempted to, albeit unsessfully hide behind one of her peers.

    "Oh! And I will also like to get involved in this assistantship program you proposed, Sect Leader," Marie stated whilst evading yet another tap from her Master. "However I can only ept a single person."

    "Wha-" Mage Nara began. But his sentence was immediately cut short when his Disciple raised her hand and pointed directly into the crowd.

    "Uh? Me?" The girl standing before Shuri voiced her surprise.

    "Not you. Please move out of the way." The dreaded words were spoken.

    Shuri looked up and was confronted by the point of Marie''s index finger, bearing down on her like an executioner''s de.

    "I want... you!"

 Chapter 304 Getting Out Of A Forced Commitment

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Equinoxes for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    If looks could drill holes, then Shuri was certain that there would be an incredibly narrow one piercing through her head given the sheer intensity with which Marie was looking at her. The gaze held no negativity - at least none that Shuri''s highly attuned social sense could read - and it was purely filled with intrigue and amusement.

    Was it mockery? No, the amusement was not directed in Shuri''s direction, it felt more like how a failedic wouldugh at their own joke - it was self-directed. Shuri was lost. The situation had spiralled beyond her control. She realised that ever since she left the safety of the Pce (there, she said it!) things hadn''t been going her way. The more she tried to do something, the further she moved from achieving her goal. The harder she attempted to hide and avoid the attention of others, the more the world kept pushing her into the light.

    "You never expected that you''d end up here, did you?" Marie broke through Shuri''s rambling thoughts with a question that read her mind. The two, Marie and Shuri, were currently in the recreation room. After that disaster of an assembly where Shuri was caught with her trousers down (metaphorically), Marie dragged her along for a one-on-one meeting to discuss future assistantship expectations (a responsibility which was unceremoniously foisted upon Shuri).

    "I''m not sure-"

    "You don''t have to keep ying a role," Marie interrupted. "Just be yourself."

    Shuri bit back a few insults while sporting a good-natured yet confused expression. Had she be so easy to read and manipte that even two country bums could unravel her like a poorly tethered knot?

    "That''s a hard ask, I know," Marie admitted. "You''re in an unfamiliar ce, amongst unfamiliar people. It is natural to be cautious and leery, especially given the condition during your recruitment."

    Marie shook her head with silent rage, "I empathise with you and am extremely sorry about what you were forced to live through. During my time working with various caravans in the past, I too had the displeasure of witnessing and experiencing abuse and assault."

    Shuri''s face twitched with difort. It was an unpleasant memory, to say the least. The feeling of powerlessness, humiliation and her body''splete surrender to death still haunted her. The morbid memory would periodically invade her dreams and rob her of her already tenuous sleep.

    "So I cannot be so brazen to ask you to trust us readily," Marie admitted. "But I can tell you that being closed off and unreasonably cautious of everything can be far more detrimental to your recovery."

    "Thank you for the advice, Senior," Shuri immediately responded. She would rather this conversation end right here than drag on further. The longer Marie talked, the more Shuri felt a sense of danger sparking within her gut.

    "No you aren''t," Marie shot back immediately with a mirthful snort.

    "Excuse me?"

    "You aren''t thankful," Marie rified. And just as Shuri was about to exin herself, Marie raised her hand and continued, "You want this conversation to end. You want to disappear from sight and mind. You want nothing more than to blend into the background and live amongst themon folk."

    For the first time, Shuri outwardly disyed her panicking state.

    "But you can''t," Marie denied with a shrug. "Because you aren''t average at all. You are gifted. What takes others years to achieve can be achieved in a matter of months by you. Things that take people hours toprehend can be absorbed in a fraction of that time by you. You have so much potential, and yet you forcefully suppress it through some kind of self-imposed exile."

    "W-Who are-"

    "So here''s what we''ll do. I know that you don''t really want to be my research assistant. And I''m willing to release you from this duty. However, there is a condition to your release," Marie paused while raising her index finger. "You must defeat me."

    "Defeat you? In what?" Shuri shot back. Whatever game Marie was ying, Shuri was prepared to indulge in it if it meant that she could run away from this witch!

    To answer Shuri''s query, Marie simply shrugged and leaned deeper into her chair.

    "But you''re a mage in the Foundation Establishment realm, while I''m just a mere mortal!" Shuri argued against the unfairness of the proposition.

    Once again, Marie shrugged and revealed a sly smirk.

    "You never intended to release me, did you?" Shuri asked through gritted teeth.

    "No, I am sincere in my offer. All you need to do is defeat me," Marie reiterated. "I will even give you an infinite number of tries. But the duration is limited. You have a week. If you cannot defeat me within a week, you will be my research assistant until I say otherwise."

    Noting that Marie wasn''t indicating any signs of duplicity, Shuri shot up from her seat and headed for the exit.

    "Where are you going?" A hand shot out and caught Shuri''s arm with a vice grip, pulling her back into the seat.

    "Umm... Figuring out a way to defeat you, I guess?" Shuri confessed, still reeling from the sudden tug.

    "You forget quickly for someone with an eidetic memory," Marie said with a chuckle. "You''re still my research assistant. I need your assistance in data analysis."

    As she said this, Marie picked up arge stack of papers tied up into a neat bundle and plopped it on the desk before Shuri. While her eyes tracked the massive stack, another one was retrieved from below the table and ced unceremoniously in front of Marie. Just as Shuri was about to ask what the data analysis entailed, a third stack materialised.

    "How many more are there?" Shuri blurted out exasperatedly.

    "Don''t worry," Marie said with a loudugh. "These two are mine. That one over there''s for you."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "What exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Shuri probed with evident snark in her voice.

    "Now, now, let''s curb the hostility," Marie responded with a well-meaning drawl. "We''re trying to determine the rtional dynamic between different sets of variables, to see if there are any trends- Oh, right! You probably haven''t covered this yet"

    "No, I know what you''re talking about," Shuri murmured back as she undid the bundle and traced her finger over the table of values.

    "See!" Marie suddenly pped Shuri''s back appreciatively. "Gifted!"

    Shuri groaned and grumbled as she got down to work. "When does this need to be finished?"

    "In a week," Marie responded nonchntly.

    "A week?! For all of this? You have got to be kidding me! How can I finish this AND defeat you if the deadlines ovep?" Shuri argued.

    "That sounds like a ''you'' problem to me," Marie joked. "I''m not the one who wishes to extricate herself from a research assistantship to work that, by the way, is re-envisioning an extremely ancient and powerful cultivation method."

    Shuri''s jaw bobbed up and down as she struggled to formte a response. The way Marie phrased things really did make Shuri sound like an idiot.

    "What cultivation method are you talking about?" Shuri probed after recovering from her stupor.

    "Why should I disclose this information to you if you don''t intend to stick with me?" Marie rebutted.

    "I thought all knowledge was freely essible here in the True World Sect," Shuri challenged.

    "I don''t know if you remember, but Sect Leader Larks explicitly said that all previously discussed rules do not apply to my Master," Marie shot back smugly.

    Shuri continued grumbling as she carried on with the arduous and monotonous task.

    ____

    "What''s this?" Marie inquired as Shuri tossed a stack of ying cards on the desk.

    "I challenge you to a game of ckjack," Shuri dered.

    "Are you finished with the work?" Marie highlighted with crossed arms.

    Shuri snorted back as a challenge and said, "Don''t worry about it. It''ll be done by the deadline."

    "If you say so," Marie droned. "Just so you know: if you fail to finish the assigned task before the deadline, I''ll have to rmend the Sect Leader to move you up to the advanced level."

    "Are you threatening me with a promotion?!" Shuri eximed with an agape mouth. "I-I could just ck off."

    Marieughed deviously at Shuri''s threat and warned, "You only say that because you haven''t personally spent any time with Sect Leader Larks. If his attention falls on you, there will be no cking off."

    Shuri gulped dryly in fear. Her mind conjured up an image of the supposedly "friendly" Sect Leader as an unforgiving taskmaster who tolerated noziness.

    "So, are we ying or what?" Marie said while snapping her fingers impatiently. "How many decks are we using? Ah, four, I see... Alright, I''m shuffling."

    Marie cut the deck and expertly riffle-shuffled the cards together. The confident and practised motion caused Shuri to sweat a little. She did not expect Marie to be so experienced.

    "Would you like to inspect the stack?" Marie offered.

    "WAIT!" Shuri eximed. "You aren''t allowed to use your mana sense!"

    Marie scoffed in disbelief. "It''s a fairpetition. Why must I cripple myself just for your benefit? A mage''s mana sense is almost like an extension of their body."

    "It''s part of the rules of the contest! The mode I intend to use to defeat you is a regr game of ckjack," Shuri growled angrily before collecting the cards with a sweeping motion, "Forget it!"

    "No, no," Marie stopped her once again, grabbing Shuri''s arm. "I''ll y ball. No mana senses. But, just so you know, you still won''t win."

    Hearing that, Shuri raised the corner of her lips disdainfully as she proimed. ''We''ll see about that!''

 Chapter 305 Losing Streak

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Equinoxes for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    IMPORTANT: Please read Author''s Notes.

    ____

    "And that''s ckjack!"

    "You don''t have to call out ''ckjack'' EVERY time you win!" Shuri eximed with a voice brimming with exhaustion, exasperation, irritation, and defeat.

    "Where''s the fun in that?" Marie sputtered as she released an offended gasp. "Now, do you want to add another deck to the mix or do you want to run two more games parallelly?"

    Shuri slinked back into her chair as her eyes glossed over the enormous card deckid out before her. It had tripled in size, epassing at least twelve standard decks, and both Marie and she were ying five hands simultaneously. Probability-wise, Shuri should have increased odds of victory, and yet she lost!

    "Impossible..."

    "Counting cards isn''t hard, you know," Marie exined.

    "What are you talking about?" Shuri snapped back.

    "You''re tracking the cards being yed and calling based on the assumed advantage," Marie summarised. "You''re good. But unfortunately, I''m just better."

    "I can see that," Shuri admitted gruffly.

    "Though it''s surprising that you figured it out all by yourself in such a short time," Mariemented. "See? Gifted, I tell ya''!"

    "Enough," Shuri proimed as she shot up from her seat. She reached forward and began collecting all the distributed cards. "This is useless."

    "You still have a few more days left," Marie tempted the girl as she walked away in a huff.

    ____

    "I challenge you to a game of chess!" Shuri dered as she dropped the wooden box with white and ck checkered boxes painted on it. She quickly picked up the pieces and arranged them in their proper ce. "I''m ying white."

    "What about the task I assigned you?" Marie reminded again, which was turning into a knee-jerk action on her part every time she spotted Shuri within the Sect''s campus.

    "It will be done before the deadline," Shuri growled. "Are you ying or what?"

    "Alright, what are the conditions?" Marie inquired as she observed Shuri move the first pawn.

    "No conditions. Just a simple game," Shuri retorted with her face scrunching up in concentration.

    "Alright, so I''m allowed to use everything in my arsenal?" Marie probed. The phrasing of the sentence causinge Shuri to arc her brows.

    "What are you implying?" Shuri paused, and lookinged up from the board.

    "Well, everyone in the Foundation Establishment realm and above in this Sect specialises in something - as every Foundation Establishment mage is meant to. You should be aware of Markus'' and Jean''s speciality by now. My speciality is something different," Marie drawled. At that moment, she snapped her fingers and said, "How about this? If you can defeat me in anything without forcing me to suppress myself in any way, I will not only relinquish you from the assistantship position, but I will also owe you a favour ''no-questions-asked"!

    "This does not void our earlier agreement, correct?" Shuri confirmed, to which she received a decisive head shake. "In that case, deal. Now please, make your move."

    "Since that is the case, you should know that you have already lost this match," Marie expressed while moving a pawn from her own side.

    "Your mind games won''t work on me," Shuri mumbled.

    ____

    Shuri knew that she could not beat Marie in magic orbat. The gulf between a mortal and a Foundation Establishment realm wasn''t so easily bridged. Therefore, victory had to be achieved through alternate means - games. These games couldn''t be physical as, once again, it would ce the mortal, Shuri, at a disadvantage. Games that tested a person''s mind though, that was a whole different ball game. A battle of the mind was the only contest where Shuri knew she could stand a chance against Marie. Of course, there was the disadvantage ofpeting against a Foundation Establishment realm mage''s superior mental capacity and processing power, but Shuri was hopeful that her ''gift'', as Marie put it, would help alleviate that gap.

    Now, although Shuri acted haphazardly, she had a n. It is often easiest to defeat an opponent who isxer than one whose attention is dialled to the maximum level. The easiest way to achieve this is by getting the enemy to underestimate you. Shuri knew that Marie would win in ckjack. Even if the girl hadn''t nerfed her mana senses, Shuri entered the contest with the express purpose of losing. By showing a fumbling attitude outwardly and losing so magnificently, Shuri hoped to lower Marie''s guard against her. This way, the subsequent matches would be lowered in difficulty. After the set-up, it was time for Shuri to gradually work towards her victory. And to do this, she chose the game of chess. The game shared simrities with Hindaan Shut''Raanj, a game originating from the Hindaa Union within the Jehakan Confederacy beyond the Vast Blue Expanse, except it was more concise and involved more variations in its pieces'' actions. Because of this, Shuri was able to create parallels and adapt strategies to the new game from the one she was familiar with.

    Shuri was certain that with time, as Marie slowly dulled her edge, she would be able to secure a victory. The first loss was guaranteed, and Shuri wasn''t pushing herself too hard in that game. In the second, she kept an eye out for any opportunity to secure a victory, though none revealed themselves. From the third onwards, she yed offensively and tried to apply every strategy she could think of. Yet victory still eluded her. This happened again, and again, and yet again. At this point, Shuri''s attention left the game and focused on Marie. If it was difficult to win a game, y the opponent instead. If she could observe any tells on Marie''s face, she could exploit it for victory.

    It was at this moment, Shuri started to notice something odd. Infrequently (that is to say once or twice per game), Marie would close her eyes for a few seconds, open them and make a move that made absolutely no sense. Sometimes it would be sacrificing a key piece voluntarily, other times it would be to revert an advantageous move. However, even with such idiotic ys, the oue remained the same.

    "This again!" Shuri interrupted Marie''s move by banging her fist on the table. After wasting four games like this, it was starting to truly grate at her sanity.

    "Again... what?" Marie responded innocently as she ced her bishop dramatically and directly in the line of sight of the enemy queen.

    "You''re making a nonsensical sacrificial y," Shuri pointed out. "There is literally no benefit to this move. There is no immediate benefit or any foreseeable benefit down the line. If anything, You will be at a severe disadvantage."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "From your point of view, you are correct," Marie agreed nonchntly.

    "And this isn''t even the first time! In thest two games, you did something simr too! But why?!" Shuri evoked.

    "Yet I won those two matches," Marie reminded smugly.

    "BUT HOW?!" Shuri eximed with an angry bellow.

    "This was the only way I could guarantee my victory," Marie said cryptically. "Actions have consequences. I''m simply guaranteeing that the consequences lean more in my favour."

    Shuri scowled in disbelief.

    "Alright, I''m amending the rules!" Shuri dered. "Every turn can onlyst for ten seconds."

    "Okay. Reset?"

    ____

    The next game went more quickly. Shuri was suspicious that something fishy was taking ce during the times when Marie closed her eyes. Wanting to test this hypothesis, she imposed a time crunch within the game. Luckily, Marie was amicable to Shuri''s demands and followed through.

    ''There it is!'' Marie''s eyes closed. Due to the time crunch, though, the duration was shorter. But the move that followed was different. It wasn''t so tantly asinine for it held a purpose.

    The purpose? To throw a wrench into Shuri''s game n! As a veteran yer and ''gifted'' genius, Shuri was able to see multiple steps into a game and n ahead. This was how she beat her usual opponents. For every move there were very few logical reactionary or actionary moves the opponent could make. Taking those into consideration, one could possibly see five or six steps ahead depending on how well their minds could conceptualise a game. For Shuri, she could foresee seven steps. Unfortunately, Marie''s single move had targeted this exact seventh step and overturned the entire sequence.

    As soon as Marie''s finger left the piece, she looked up and shot a challenging smirk.

    Shuri stumbled, new ns had to be made, and she had to redirect her entire attention to the game. But s, the brief moment cost her and she was cornered.

    "Checkmate!" Marie chortled.

    "Five seconds!" Shuri challenged.

    "It''s almost midnight," Marie reminded. "You should get some sleep."

    "No! We y again," Shuri demanded.

    ____

    Shuri suffered defeat after defeat, even with the new format. However, she also noticed something interesting: the interception range had narrowed. Instead of seven steps into the future, she was now being intercepted at the fourth step. Although this meant that she could more easily react to changes, the tougher time limit was also working against her.

    But a trend was observed, which warranted further investigation. Unfortunately, she could no longer continue ying as Marie insisted that Shuri get her sleep. Night had passed and the sun was nearly peaking over the horizon. She wouldn''t be able to get her full eight hours, but Shuri wasn''t nning to retire anyways. She was so close, she could feel it on the tip of her fingertips.

    ____

    "Today''s thest day, isn''t it?" Marie inquired, as she noticed Shuri walk in with a confident smirk on her face. "Have you finished the task I handed you?"

    Shuri side-stepped the inquiry and got straight to the point and said, "I challenge you to a game of chess."

    "Just like yesterday?" Marie sighed.

    "Yes, but with a surprise twist," Shuri said, retrieving a silver coin from her jacket pocket and cing it on the table. "Before each turn, the yer moving their piece must first call heads or tails and shuffle this coin. There is a time limit of two seconds for calling and shuffling the coin. If the person wins the call, they can move a piece. If they don''t then their turn is forfeit. Every time a piece is captured, the owner of the losing piece is allowed to call a coin shuffle. If they win the call, the captured piece survives, and the capturer dies instead."

    Marie propped up her left brow, "That''s a lot of rules for a simple game."

    "I will win this time," Shuri affirmed.

    "How can you be so sure?" Marie asked.

    "It''s because it is no longer just two people ying; there is a third person," Shuri raised her finger and tapped the silver coin. "If the third person wills it, then I shall win. Luckily, they are fair and unbiased."

    "Alright, shall we begin?" Marie said while cracking her fingers in anticipation.

    "No casual deration of victory this time, huh?" Shuri mocked.

    "I can''t dere that what I cannot know," Marie responded, smiling back at her.

 Chapter 306 Suspicious Conclusion

    ?

    Shoutout to Equinoxes and Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    As Shuri expected, the new game format went differently this time. Whether it was for the better or worse? That was a different question. The introduction of probability in a game of pure strategy was a double-edged sword. For one, it limited the extent to which a game could be predicted since a simple coin toss could overturn any long-winded strategy that her opponent mighte up with. This added a newyer ofplexity, creating a greater amount of reactionary y in the game, something that was absent in the previous games.

    However, Shuri did notice that her opponent no longer checked out of the game. There had been an attempt, but Marie exited that state with aplicated frown on her face and never tried it again.

    At this moment, Shuri decided that to secure her victory in this pseudo game of chance, she needed to unnerve her opponent a little - to throw her off her game.

    "I figured out your power," Shuri probed as she tossed a coin for her turn. Even though she called "heads," itnded "tails," causing Shuri to suppress her irritation with a cough and skip her turn.

    "I''m listening," Marie hummed as her call came right and she made her move.

    "You can see the future," Shuri dered with unwavering certainty.

    "Your reasoning, being?"

    "You can perfectly predict my moves," Shuri began. "During our first few games of chess, I dismissed your nonsensical moves as just that - nonsense. But after deconstructing the matches, I realised that you were actually actively cutting off any possible unfavourable strategies that could lead to a loss. If the game could be defined as an ever-expanding, branching tree, you were pruning out the branches that would lead to a loss. This became increasingly obvious as the time limit decreased, and you adapted by narrowing the scope of your counter-strategies."

    "I guess that''s why you introduced this new variation to the game, huh?" Marie surmised with an impressed nod. "You could easily have just asked me to not use my powers, just as you did with the game of ckjack."

    Shuri remained stoic at that statement. There were still a lot of questions that she didn''t have the answers to. How were her predictions so urate? How far did they go into the future? How was she able to perceive the future?

    "You feared that I would renege on the deal BECAUSE of the added handicap," Marie stated. "I get it. You can''t trust me, and you can''t take any chances."

    "So, do you think you can win now?" Marie probed with a yful tone.

    "I can win now that the ying field is fair," Shuri assured, though hints of uncertainty still lingered in her voice.

    "Alright then..."

    The game progressed from this point with little to no conversations between the yers. As Shuri predicted, the new game format was fair, but victory continued to evade her. The first game was lost, though the victory wasn''t as overwhelmingly in favour of Marie as before. Yet, it was a defeat nheless. However, Shuri still held onto hope. She could win, in fact, probability dictated that she would win.

    ____

    As the day passed and the sun set, darkness nketed the night sky in a moonless night, and Shuri had yet to beat Marie. Despite being close to victory, she always fell short. Shuri was certain (or as certain as a mortal without proper sensing of mana could be) that Marie wasn''t cheating by using her power.

    Shuri''s hope was withering. The stress and irritation were bubbling from within. The darkness outside seemed to seep into her mind, drowning her in despair. She looked up from the game board and gazed at her opponent''s impassive expression. Shuri had been yed; she was trapped. Why did Marie take an interest in her? She would never know the true answer. Maybe this was all a sick joke to the girl - to y with a mortal girl for her own amusement.

    As she had hypothesised, Marie could see into the future. Any self-respecting seer wouldn''t enter a wager if they weren''t certain of their victory. Marie should already have known the oue; Shuri''s crushing defeat. She was probably partaking in this charade to break down Shuri''s resolve and turn her into a mindless yuppie to cater to Marie''s every whim. Shuri realised that she shouldn''t have held hope in the first ce. She should have known that the oue was set in stone the moment Marie forcefully recruited her into being an assistant. The whole well-meaning and jovial facade was a ruse to lower Shuri''s guard. Where Shuri thought she was the one ying the opponent, she had truly been dancing at Marie''s fingertips the entire time.

    Shuri''s body trembled as fear started to take hold. There was no esca-

    ''Chance!''

    As the coinnded "tails" and Marie moved her rook, Shuri could see an borate strategy expanding before her sight. All it would take is a sessful call on her turn, and it would all fall into ce. Shuri closed her eyes and exhaled to calm her nerves as she picked up the coin.

    "Heads!" She yelled and flipped the coin. She clenched her fists while the coin tittered and tottered precariously between heads and tails before finally settling. Shuri slowly opened her eyes.

    "YES!" Shuri celebrated and made her move. The pawn she had been furiously inching towards the other side of the board reached its destination and was immediately promoted to a queen piece.

    Shuri held her breath as she awaited Marie''s next move. Marie called the coin and failed; forcing her to skip her turn.

    Controlling her jubnt heart, Shuri made her next move after a sessful call. She captured the opponent''s bishop that guarded the opposing queen with her newly promoted queen. She then held her breath as Marie performed her saving toss.

    ''Fail! Yes!''

    It was happening. It was finally happening!

    One after another, Shuri''s gambits unfolded sessfully. The victory was within reach, once again. But this time, Shuri could feel the advantages she''d umted through the game working in her favour. It was Marie''s turn again.

    The coin rose as it rotated in the air. Time seemed to slow down for Shuri. Her vision grew blurrier as the coin approached the table.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Each time the coin hit the wooden surface, it released a sound that was magnified tenfold through Shuri''s perception. The coin spun for a few seconds, then came to a stop.

    "Aww, man," Marie groaned.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shuri''s breath stopped.

    "I- I-"

    "Oh, well," Marie said with a heavy sigh. "Your turn."

    Shuri''s trembling hand struggled to grasp the coin. She didn''t ce it over her thumb and simply dropped it onto the table from a height - shecked the strength to perform a standard toss.

    "Heads," Shuri mumbled.

    The coin fumbled as it hit the table. It danced for a few seconds before settling on "Heads".

    The strength deted from Shuri''s body instantly. But Shuri fought through it and moved the second pawn to the end of its journey and secured a second queen.

    "Checkmate!" Shuri rasped. She swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "I- I won!"

    "Congrattions!" Mariemended with a smile. It was sincere, Shuri was certain of it.

    "What- Why?" Shuri blurted out.

    "For winning, silly!" Marie snorted as she flicked Shuri''s forehead. "Congrattions on winning! As per our agreement, you are hereby released from my assistantship. Now go on! Get some sleep."

    Shuri stayed in ce and refused to move. Her zed eyes started to grow sharper as they scanned Marie''s face for every single micro-expression that passed over it.

    There was no sorrow or bitterness. There was no anger from being defeated by a mere mortal. There was no hint of malice or disdain, or anything of that sort. None of these emotions left even a ripple on the pure, satisfied and beaming smile on the girl''s face.

    After calming her rampant emotions, Shuri coughed to attract Marie''s attention.

    "You let me win," Shuri imed. "Why?"

    "What do you mean? You won the game, fair and square," Marie answered without missing a beat.

    "I won the game, but it wasn''t a fair victory," Shuri shot back. "Do not try to deny it, I know because-"

    ''-this is how I''ve lived my entire life!'' Shuripleted the sentence in her mind. This was, after all, Shuri''s strategy to escape from watchful eyes. What use is face if you can''t live to enjoy it the next day? Losing a match was nothing if it meant that you could go on with your life.

    "-because you should already know everything I am going to do from the very beginning. I was bound to fail from the start if my estimate of the extent of your powers is urate. You won every game we yed until, coincidentally at the veryst hour of the veryst day of our wager, you started to lose." Shuri summarised.

    "Why did you let me win?!" Shuri demanded.

    "I have no idea what you''re talking about," Marie continued to deny. But before Shuri could rebut, the older girl raised her palm and said, "In the True World Sect, we don''t force people to do things they don''t want to do. Doing so breeds resentment and disinterest, and builds up a heck of a lot of pressure."

    "Then why..." Shuri muttered.

    "We shouldn''t deny something before trying it out. Open-mindedness is key to a healthy and inquisitive mind. If I hadn''t forced you to be my assistant, even for a week, you wouldn''t feel obligated to participate in any activity avable within the Sect. I wanted you to experience what it felt like before making a negative decision," Marie revealed with a shrug. "But I guess my wager might have had the opposite effect; you probably didn''t get an opportunity to properly explore what the position of a research assistant entailed..."

    Shuri narrowed her gaze and continued staring at Marie for a minute. Then, she reached below the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a cloth bag that had been stored there for the past three days. cing the bag on the table, she reached inside and pulled out the stack of papers Marie had handed her. She pushed it towards Marie and said, "I finished the task and also took some time to write out some of the observations that stood out to me. Overall, I don''t think this strategy is optimal for what you''re seeking. It is far too spective."

    Marie flipped through the pages with an impressed expression. "Thanks for this, but it seems that you didn''t need to do it."

    "Why not? It was the task you asked your research assistant to do, so it''s my responsibility, isn''t it?" Shuri dered.

    Marie''s brows rose in surprise before mellowing out with satisfaction, "Wee aboard, Shuri!"

    "Oh please!" Shuri scoffed. "You already knew this would happen, didn''t you?"

    "Noments," Marie said with a nk expression before quickly fleeing the scene.

    Shuri looked at the departing figure of Marie and let out a sigh. "What am I doing?"

    Shuri finally realised what this whole charade was about. Marie wanted to tempt Shuri with an aggressive disy of her future sight prowess. Somehow, Marie knew that this would be something Shuri would be interested in. But Shuri was still uncertain about Marie''s end goal. Nevertheless, it somehow required Shuri to learn the skill as well - and that too voluntarily.

    But Shuri couldn''t admit with all honesty if her choice to work under Marie and learn this power of future sight was because she wanted to acquire this skill... or if it was for some other reason.

    Lost in thought, Shuri failed to notice the growing thrill and anticipation that began to course through her nervous system.

 Chapter 307 Innovator Track

    ?

    Shoutout to Equinoxes and Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    IMPORTANT: Please read Author Notes.

    ____

    Shuri immediately regretted her decision to continue her tenure as Marie''s teaching assistant. Over the past few weeks, she hade to learn a few crucial details of the cruel taskmistress. Marie was a disciplined, no-nonsense and focused individual. She hated wasting time and preferred to finish the work as it arrived on her te. Her daily life was rigid and scheduled down to the very second. The crazy part was that the scheduling was so precise, it even ounted for the minor deviations that could take ce due to external influences (undoubtedly because of the girl''s ability to foresee the future, something which she had yet to exin to Shuri). If not for Marie''s snarkiness and faintlybative attitude, Shuri was certain that she had found a kindred spirit.

    However, Shuri realised that having two simr people working together may not be as flowery as it turned out to be on paper. Shuri was efficient in her work - the only ever procrastinated or cked off was when the situation asked for her to suppress her identity and capabilities. After the week-long tiff with Marie at the start of the research assistantship, Shuri figured that she didn''t need to hold herself back since Marie had her limits more or less figured out. Unfortunately for Shuri, this was where all her troubles started.

    It first began with a single stack of papers that Shuri had to sift through and draw corrtions between the listed variables. The columns to bepared would be highlighted by Marie, and all Shuri had to do was run an equation row-by-row and provide an output pair that could be then plotted on a piece of graphing paper (basically a paper with equally spaced grids on it). The process was straightforward, if not exceedingly tedious and was mind-numbing, to say the least!

    Nheless, this was the task she had signed up for, and it wasn''t like Marie wasn''t partaking in it as well. That girl, with her advanced cultivation, outpaced Shuri by a significant degree and still showed no indication of tiring, boredom, or procrastination. Unfortunately, Marie''s industrious behaviour had unwittingly influenced Shuri, whopleted her second assigned task within two days.

    That "mistake" set Marie''s expectations of Shuri''s performance level, and thus the singr pile quickly multiplied into two. And then, after noticing the impably low error ratio in Shuri''s work, she decided to increase the analyticalponents of the task by adding three additional equations that needed to be applied row-by-row.

    "No!" Shuri immediately dered as Marie produced another stack of paper with the previously prescribed two. "Where are you even getting so much paper?!"

    "If you visit the Library''s ''Patents'' section, you will see that there is a document on ''Industrial Paper Manufactory''. It describes an application of technology that can produce paper at arge scale," she exined, pulling out a nk piece of paper. Marie then started to draw an borate diagram on it. "The Silva Cooperative is a private enterprise made up of small logging businesses that lease machines built with Verum Trading Company''s patented "Belt-Driven Saw" technology. Arge share of this enterprise is owned by Verum Trading Company, which in turn also holds the majority shares of Charta Industries. Furthermore, thispany is a private enterprise, consisting of publishingpanies that lease or own the Gutenberg Printing Press or products containing Verum Trading Company''s patented ''Ink and Block-based Printing'' technology. The previously mentioned Industrial Paper Manufactory is the core process of Charta Industries. Thanks to our affiliation with Verum Trading Company, The True World Sect is thus afforded the luxury of obtaining paper at a subsidised rate."

    Shuri scratched her head at the convoluted mess of a diagram. "If these so-called patents are the Sect''s assets, why distribute them over so manypanies instead of concentrating them within Verum Trading Company?"

    "This diversifies the risk. While Verum Trading Company and by extension the True World Sect still maintain high-level control over these industries, by separating them under a different name and affiliation, we ensure that any risks or failures rued along the business''s stream do not bleed through into Verum Trading Company," Marie exined.

    "I don''t get it," Shuri murmured.

    "It is a matter of instion. Both the Silva Cooperative and Charta Industries are majorly controlled by the Verum Trading Company but are registered under the ownership of the various shareholdersprising it. In essence, it is fully owned by us on everything but paper. If the forests suddenly go barren, then Silva Cooperative may copse, but the Verum Trading Company only loses what it has invested into the Cooperative," Marie summarised. Noticing the vacant expression on Shuri''s face, she sighed and shook her head. "If you want more rification, then go talk with Furion Stoll or Sect Leader Larks. This was all their idea, and they are the ones managing the Sect''s financial side."

    "It seems that the Sect Leader has his fingers dipped in all aspects of the Sect," Shuri hinted. "Why isn''t responsibility and authority being delegated?"

    "What do you think he is doing with Furion? That fatty- well I don''t know if we can still call him that- Furion is basically running the entirety of Verum Trading Company at this point. Sect Leader Larks has taken his hands off of Verum Trading Company for some time now," Marie said while waving her hands. "On that note, I have to bring up the Sect''s attitude towards entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and innovation-"

    "Wait! Before that! I have to tell you that this right here-" Shuri said while pointing at the third stack which had inconspicuously slid over to her side while Marie was speaking. "-this is beyond my limit. I could do one, no problem. Two was hard by manageable. But three is too much!"

    "Yet you finished it before the set deadline without any errors," Marie interjected. "It shows me that you can handle a greater workload!"

    "I finished it before the deadline because I didn''t want this task burning a hole in my back during the week!" Shuri argued. "You can''t exploit my time management skills like this."

    Marie snorted before diverting her attention to her own work. "Can you honestly tell me that this much is out of your league? I have run the numbers, and by my calctions, you should have enough time to do everything you need to do andplete this task."

    "But this work is endless and pointless," Shuri groaned. She couldn''t remain under the watchful eyes of people in this Sect if she wanted to leaveter down the line. "On that topic, you haven''t taught me a smidgen of what your cultivation method is all about! I have gained nothing from this."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Why do you think we are doing all this tedious work?" Marie responded while transferring one leaf of paper to the "Done" pile. "My cultivation method is something that others cannot fathom. Not because of the standard rules of insight variation, but because it is IMPOSSIBLE for more than two people to practise it at one time in this world."

    Two people. So that must mean she and the Tesseract Transformation realm mage who was her Master.

    "The end goal of this exercise in tedium is to further formalise the method so that others can also benefit from its power in some way without having to cultivate it," Marie concluded.

    "That is... admirable," Shuri said, holding herself back from sneering at Marie''s naivete.

    "You don''t have to sugarcoat your words," Marie snorted. "You must be thinking that I am being naive to distribute my power."

    Shuri gulped at her senior''s impable mind-reading capabilities, and quickly filled her head with lurid thoughts, only to see no reaction from Marie.

    "Sect Leader Larks always says that advancing by trampling others to the ground doesn''t really mean progress. It only leaves you where you are, while others fall further behind," Marie paraphrased.

    Shuri couldn''t physically contain her derisive sneer at this point, something which was caught by Marie whoughed uproariously.

    "Anyway, back to my point before I was interrupted," Marie coughed with a fake admonishing tone. "I need to discuss the Sect''s attitude towards entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and innovation with you. It is not an obligation, but sometimes learning new things and experimentation can produce a spark in people''s minds. In pursuing this spark, an idea or concept takes form. Pursuing this idea or concept to create something tangible or intangible is an innovation. Taking this innovation and turning it into something that can be mised is entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship."

    "An innovation is solely owned by the innovator, be they a Member, Elder or Leader of the Sect. The innovator hasplete control over what they choose to do with their innovation. They can choose to sell the idea to a person or entity outside of the Sect. Alternatively, they can utilise the Verum Trading Company or an appropriate subsidiary to actualise their innovation, in which case they are entitled to a percentage of profit (pending negotiation). Finally, if they find that their innovation cannot fit within any business in Verum Trading Company''s portfolio, they can choose to register it under a new business. If the said business is registered under Verum Trading Company''s umbre, thepany will establish a management team that will take care of all the leg work. Again the innovator gets to benefit from a percentage of profits made."

    Shuri raised a point, "What if they don''t want to be affiliated with the Sect?"

    "Then, they''ll have to split their time between managing their business and their Sect responsibilities," Marie answered with a shrug.

    "Not much of a choice then, is it?" Shuri said with a wry smile, to which Marie shrugged once again. "What''s the point of telling me all this anyway?"

    "Well, if you ever decide to walk down the Innovator Track, I will cut down the task allotment to you. However, in turn, you have to keep a Process Journal that tracks your daily work and submit it for verification every week," Marie expounded.

    "Innovator Track?"

    "It''s an opportunity given to Sect Members with initiatives and/or gifts. Through it, you can gain ess to additional resources and exclusion from some of the Sect''s responsibilities. Of course, the quality of the submitted Process Journal will determine if you can continue on the track. We don''t want this to turn into a way for people to ck off after all." Marie rified.

    "Why weren''t we told of this in the assembly?" Shuri probed.

    "As I said, it is only reserved for those that show initiative and/or are specially gifted. It is not something that everyone has to distract themselves with."

    Shuri descended into thought as she pondered over this "convenient" new opportunity that happened to check all of her boxes.

 Chapter 308 Digging Out A Remnant From The Past

    ?

    Shoutout to Equinoxes and Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    p¦Ánd¦Á---no¦Í?1,§ão§® Shuri realised that her fears concerning the True World Sect were warranted. It was a metaphorical drug house of temptations tailored to Shuri''s subconscious desires. Every time she tried to get out of the alluring path, she would be teased with the sweet nectar and drawn back in. It was frustrating to say the least, since her rationality had to constantly fight with her subconscious from getting drawn in by the bait hanging in front of her. Unfortunately, till now, all her attempts had led to failure. Shuri had never experienced so many continuous setbacks in her entire life!

    "Back to the matter at hand though..."

    She suspected that this whole "Innovator Track" nonsense was just another one of those baits meant to reign her in and control her. This was their strategy, after all. Shuri noted that every time she stumbled into a trap, it was of her own volition. She was offered a choice, and each time the logically better choice would draw her deeper into the trap. It was like ying chess against an opponent who already knew the ending and was cornering her towards that configuration with every step... Much like when shepeted with Marie...

    A tired sigh escaped Shuri''s lips as she copsed into her bed. As there were very few people in the Sect, all new members had the luxury of sleeping in their own rooms. Of course, this could only be enjoyed until more members joined the sect. Shuri wasn''t certain if she would remain here for that long. The way things were going, she pondered if she may have to bring forward her liberation date.

    Shuri closed her eyes and tried to get some rest, but sleep eluded her. Fed up with rolling about ceaselessly, she bolted up from her bed and began pacing around her room, lost in thought. However, her mind was too agitated to focus on a single coherent line of thought.

    Exasperated, she pulled out the chair from under her study table and copsed onto it. She rested her head against the top of the chair and rolled it around in boredom.

    Unable to contain her thoughts, Shuri voiced her frustration, "What do I do?"

    She covered her face with both her palms and rubbed it vigorously, moving up and down whilst tussling with her hair as well. Her left hand then moved subconsciously towards the eerie pendant which hung from her neck and fiddled with it. Shuri''s eyes were unfocused and looked around the roomzily. At that moment, as her pupils scampered over the empty walls, they hovered over the cloth bag Shuri brought with her.

    Shuri bit her lips as her wandering thoughts focused on something. With cautious steps, she approached the cloth bag and pulled out a bundle from within. Untying the ropes that bound it revealed a stack of books.

    "Guide to Cross-Stitching for Single Men."

    "Ten Easy Ways to Cook Common Tpia."

    "Six-Hundred and Sixty-Nine Jokes from the East."

    While suppressing a smirk, Shuri carefully opened the first book. She skimmed past the first six pages before another domineeringlyrge calligraphy jumped out.

    "Golems, Automatons, and Magborgs."

    She''d read this book before. In fact, she''d read the other two as well: "Farming nk Mana Cores." and "Core Forging."

    This was all that remained of the Yoruz n''s most coveted and equally despised magical arts.

    No one likes necromancy. It is the process of splitting one''s soul into small segments and inhabiting corpses, kind of like creating your own tamed beast. People don''t like it primarily because the process tends to desecrate the bodies of the dead, which is generally seen as "morally corrupt". But the truth behind the hatred of this practice is that the cultivation method is a force multiplier. One can essentially create endless bodies as swords and shields to carry out their will without having to step foot onto the battlefield. Of course, doing so for a long time period can be damaging to the caster''s soul, which is often why necromancers tend to go off their rocker and be a force for destruction.

    The Yoruz n did not practise necromancy, but their cultivation method toed that line. It was a force multiplier but without the downside of being "morally corrupt". Instead of splitting souls, the process called for the creation of multiple wills: golems or automatons. These contraptions had a predetermined purpose in life. Unlike reanimated corpses, they weren''t soul bound to their creator, but as a result, there was no bacsh from their destruction. Furthermore, unlike reanimated corpses, these manifestations of will could not grow stronger like an average mage since theycked spirituality. However, they could be made strong from the very beginning as long as the nk mana core going into creating them was of a certain level.

    Ultimately, these contraptions were the perfect tools as they pursued their programmed task with persistence and efficiency unachievable by a sentient being. They excelled in groups, as long as their programming matched, and functioned seamlessly in any condition, provided that they were built with suitable materials. They did not fear or tire, nor did they have ambition. Their job was their life and their life was their job.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shuri ran her fingertips over the yellowed pages that had started to sumb to their age. This was all that remained of the n her dearest mother fared from. These books, at first nce, contained cursory references about the many contraptions a Yoruz mage could unleash into the world and offered nothing deeper beyond that. However, for someone versed in the n''s secret cypher, they would find a whole other book hidden within these pages.

    "No one must ever know of these! Learn from them. Master them. Use them to survive," Her mother told her once as she stuffed them into her hands. It was a time when she still had a strand of sanity left. Shuri didn''t like remembering those times. She would rather remember her mother as a desated, hateful, mad woman - it made sorting out her emotions that much easier.

    Shuri had already deciphered and memorised all of these books. At one point she even tried to secretly cultivate using the method. Unfortunately, she could not resonate with it. She couldn''t even properly resonate with the Sol n''s domineering Burning Sun Method. She understood it well, but she could not ept it at a psychological level. Maybe it was the subconscious hatred for anything to do with her lineage, be it her mother or her father. Or maybe it was something else - something deeper.

    She flipped through the pages, scanning the words with a dreary gaze. There was little enjoyment in rereading when the first reading still remained fresh in her mind. But it offered sufficient distraction to distract her from her thoughts.

    "Wisps and slimes are, on paper, one of the most useless creatures in existence. Theyck offensive and defensive capabilities and are weak to even the most basic attacks for the simple fact that their body is incapable of protecting their weakest point - their core. This brings us to the second point: a dead wisp and slime are, on paper, one of the most useful creatures in existence..."

    "...Wisps and slimes form when the concentration of mana in a particr region rises above a certain limit. Additionally, if the environment is dark, closed and pressurised, the conditions are perfect for the spawning of these creatures. Interestingly, the birth of wisps and slimes follows a drastic drop of mana concentration in the surrounding region as the spawning essentially creates a mana sink."

    Shuri lowered the book and started to mutter out loud, "Mana sink... mana sink... mana sink..."

    Why did that sound familiar?

    People assume that having an eidetic memory means that memory recollection could be achieved in a pinch. While true, there is a caveat. People tie their emotions with experiences, and sometimes it is true with knowledge as well. The knowledge that is ingrained and abstracted is separate from the experiences under which it was gained, but knowledge which is raw and memorised is often tethered to the instance where it took ce. Shuri''s mind could remember even the tiniest of details in passing, given that she could first recollect the macro-specifics of the passing instance. She could remember the exact shape of a person''s toe as long as she could remember the fact that she saw it while ying football with the person that one time. It may sound counterintuitive, but the human mind had limitations.

    She had heard of mana sink before, in passing. However, she could not pinpoint that vague instance. The phrase repeated in her mind until sleep finally pulled her into its inviting embrace. Upon waking up, the process continued to repeat itself.

    On this day, her schedule had shifted. Instead of going to their regr sses, everyone was pulled out for an impromptu session of crafts in the Maker-Space. The session was led by Sect Leader Larks. The goal of the lesson was to weave a basket using wood and wood fibres. Shuri did not understand what the purpose of this exercise was, but she wasn''t going to question it. On one hand, she''d rather not willingly paint a target on her back and on the other, the exercise had a strangely calming effect on her.

    The mundane chant of, "fold, pull, fold, twist, fold, weave..." kept repeating in her mind and drowned out the droning thoughts on "mana sink". Unknowingly, she had already sessfully weaved a basket. She looked around, trying to hide her swelling pride, only to see that her peers hadpleted three within the same timeframe. It seemed that their upbringing had worked to their advantage.

    "Good job, everyone! Since we''re all able to wicker, we will be moving ahead to the next step," Sect Leader Larks dered, gesturing with his hands. Markus, Jean, and Marie then entered, each carryingrge sacks of materials, followed by Kano and Dora who were carrying a locked wooden crate.

    "Today is a momentous asion for everyone since we will be crafting our own magic wand," Sect Leader Larks said with a beaming smile as he revealed the contents of the sack. "A magic wand is made with these two primary materials: Illuminescent Banyan sinews and Menryl wood."

    One sack contained branches of varying lengths from the Menryl Tree while the remaining two sacks contained uniform sinews of the Banyan. Sect Leader Larks pulled out a wooden branch and ced it on thethe machine. With a pull of the lever, the clutch moved the gears in the gearbox into ce andpleted the mechanical circuit extracting energy from the nearby flowing stream and pushing thethe into a whirling movement.

    "How many of you have partaken in the safety courses to operate thethe?"

    Shuri raised her hand with a handful of others.

    "Those with their hands raised will be tasked with turning one for yourself and two more for your peers without safety certifications," Sect Leader Larksmanded after counting out the student. He then put on a transparent mask over his eyes.

    "sses on for safety!"

    Following that deration, he got straight to work.

 Chapter 309 Build Your Own Wand

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Equinoxes for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    During the entire process, Sect Leader Larks would move aside and exaggerate his shaping movements to deconstruct the process for the benefit of the audience.

    "Note how I am shaping the branch into a uniform shape. Remember, it is best to strip out the bark and leave as much of the inner wood intact. Working the wood unnecessarily will make it weaker and cause it to break easily."

    After Sect Leader Larks finished turning the branch, he asked to pass it around so that everyone could observe the result. Shuri held it in her palm andpared the result against her work using thethe. She''d earned a few copper coins by creating door knobs and other small wooden features for the houses being constructed for the many new families in the vige. Her earlier workcked proper finishing for obvious reasons, but nowadays, she''d hit her stride and could maintain a degree of consistency in her work.

    ''This looks simple enough,'' Shuri thought to herself while inspecting the turned branch from a closer perspective.

    "We will be using two tools here. One is for a rough cut to scrape off the bark, and another is for a finer cut at a higher speed to smoothen the shape. First I want everyone to achieve a rough cut," Sect Leader Larks dered and moved out of the way.

    "Jean here will remain on standby to treat any injuries that may arise. But this doesn''t mean that you people should go wild. Thethe, just like any tool, can be extremely dangerous AND fatal if it isn''t respected and used improperly. So please follow the training to the letter, and do not try anything stupid that you wille to regretter."

    With the warning, her peers who had been trained in the safety and instructional course for thete formed a line and started to strip the barks off the branch. They affixed the branch to the chuck, pushed the tail stock in so that the branch wouldn''t il when spinning, positioned the roughing gouge chisel and started thethe at the slowest speed. Then, they moved the chisel inwards at a roughly fixed speed causing the stripped bark to bounce away. With eye protection, apron, and gloves, they were protected from any rogue wood pieces hitting them.

    Soon it was Shuri''s turn, and she approached her assignedthe machine. Her hands moved mechanically, and within ten minutes, three smooth sticks were prepared.

    "Now, we will move to the finishing operation. This has to be done at a higher speed using a fixed tool head," Sect Leader Larks instructed. He then demonstrated the process with the same ir and exaggerated motion so that everyone could observe clearly.

    The process moved simrly, with everyone cleaning up their already smoothened pieces to achieve a finished result. Since the fixed tool moved on a predefined guide rail, there was less deviance and greater uniformity in the resultpared to the manually moved gouging chisel.

    After all the sticks were finished, Sect Leader Larks stepped forward and said, "Now for the final step, I want those with the sticks to hand over one to those that don''t have one. After that, measure out a length that spans the tip of the middle finger to a location midway between your wrist and elbow. Saw off the wood piece to that length."

    With that said, everyone burst into movement and began distributing the wood in their hands. Shuri gave out one before realising that almost everyone already had a piece in their hands. Her eyes scanned around for the next recipient until theynded on a lone figure standing at the back of the group with his eyes closed. She approached him and extended the stick forward. The boy did not respond.

    "Umm, here''s the stick for your wand," Shuri repeated with a cough. At that moment, the boy flinched and turned his head in her direction.

    "Oh, umm... I-"

    "Yohn won''t be able to use a wand, unfortunately," a dismayed voice spoke out from behind Shuri. Turning around, she was shocked to see that it came from Sect Leader Larks.

    The man approached Yohn and ced his hands on the boy''s shoulder with a sigh.

    "Why?" Shuri blurted out, and then immediately bit her tongue at the impulsive question. She should have just moved away!

    An answer wasn''t returned in verbal form, but the boy slowly opened his eyes to reveal two hollowed-out sockets. Shuri didn''t disy shock at first, as she had seen worse afflictions in the Pce, but she quickly caught herself and let out a believably frightened gasp.

    "To use a wand, we need to be able to visually observe the spell circle first. It is hard to will it into existence if you cannot see it - feel just isn''t enough," Sect Leader Larks borated. "We are still researching new strategies to get Yohn up to speed with everyone else."

    "Oh..." Shuri muttered while alternating her gaze between her wand and the blind boy. "Then...?"

    Sect Leader Larks swivelled his head and nudged his head behind Shuri, "Kevan over there still hasn''t received a wand."

    Shuri bowed graciously and jogged back into the safety of the crowd. As she did so, she nced behind her and noticed Sect Leader Larks rubbing the hair of the dejected boy and speaking with an encouraging smile. Her brows dropped as a serious expression formed in her mien before it quickly dissipated.

    ''Not my problem,'' she told herself. ''Not my problem.''

    ____<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The next step in creating the wand was more borate and harkened back to the wicker assignment from before. The Illuminescent Banyan vines had to be turned, twisted and folded around the wood piece. They had to start from the tip and work to the other side. This took much longer, and the sun had set by the time everyone had finished.

    "Before we tie everything together, we need to affix the most important piece of the puzzle," Sect Leader Larks said as he walked in with arge box in his hand.

    "I want everyone to form a line in front of me."

    Everyoneplied within seconds.

    "What I will be handing you is an inscribed mana gem. The inscription inside is one that I have developed, and you can learn more about it and how it works in the Library under the Patents section," he exined.

    "Everyone will receive one of these for free from me today. If you lose this or break it, you will have to purchase the subsequent ones from Verum Trading Company albeit at a discounted price. In fact, you can purchase the resources to craft a spare wand from the Company right away."

    And then, he pulled out uniformlyrge unattuned mana gems from the box and handed them to every person in the line. Shuri inspected hers and tried to appraise it using her rudimentary knowledge. She could not make out the inscription inside; it looked cloudy with a closer look.

    The group was shown how the gem was to be embedded into the wand, which everyone followed step by step. As the final stretch of the vine was turned and tucked, and the wand waspleted, Shuri could feel a faint hum and vibration in her palms as the mana gem gained a faint sheen.

    "Congrattions, everyone! You have now officially taken your first practical dip into magic. The wand in your hands will be yourpanion for arge portion of your early magical career. You will grow out of it eventually, but you may keep it and upgrade itter on as you advance, but that will be at your own discretion."

    Shuri twirled the stick in her hands with a faint sense of excitement. She remembered the feeling when she first held Markus'' wand and released a |Fireball|. She waited with an itch on her feet for the gathering to disperse and immediately beelined towards a secluded corner at the training field. After ensuring that no one was around, Shuri quickly envisioned the spell circle for the |Fireball| and released it towards the dummy.

    As the mana inside her moved towards her hand and a ball of fire formed at the centre of the spinning, ethereal, purple circle, Shuri felt giddiness and excitement she had never experienced before.

    Drowning in that ecstatic sensation, Shuri repeated it again, and again, and again. Until the giddiness became too much for her to handle, and her leg gave way. Shuri copsed onto her back in exhaustion. She looked up into the starry night sky as a faint smile cracked on her face. Her shoulders vibrated as a chuckle started to escape her lips.

    "Mana exhaustion isn''t something you should be so callous about," a stern voice reprimanded her from her side. Shuri immediately jolted to her feet, only to stumble as the aforementioned exhaustion took over. She felt herself getting caught by her shoulders.

    "Careful!" The voice scolded. "Didn''t you hear the warning that Sect Leader Larks gave out about using magic without supervision? For someone with eidetic memory, you really are careless."

    Shuri turned her head, and as her sight cleared up, she was greeted by the face of someone she hadn''t talked to before.

    "Senior Jean!" Shuri eximed. "H-How do you know about that?"

    "Everyone knows," Jean responded with a shake of her head. "How stupid would it be to not know who your neighbour and peers are going to be for the rest of your life?"

    ''Shit!'' That wasn''t optimal.

    "What were you-"

    "Doing here?" Jean finished. "I wasn''t following you if that was what you were thinking. I knew that there would be some irresponsible folk who would take the warnings lightly and get carried away in the excitement of finally owning a wand," she added with a sarcastic and usatory tinge in her voice.

    "Anyways, it''s good that you know when to stop. Otherwise, I would have had to personally intervene," Jean mumbled. "Do not do this again. If this is what Big Sis Marie is teaching you, then I will personally request your transfer!"

    That was tempting. Shuri''s eyes sparkled at that thought. But she quickly realised that throwing Marie under the bus (that too for a false charge) would onlye to bite her backter down the line.

    Shuri swallowed her words and instead apologies, "No. It was my fault. I got... carried away..."

    There was no shame in epting faults, nor was there a shame in apologising for a fault that wasn''t your own. Apologies are just words, after all. They don''t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. But they do tend to assuage the recipient.

    Case in point, the stern expression on Jean melted and the journey towards the Clinic was far more pleasant as a result.

 Chapter 310 Curious Shuri

    ?

    "Curiosity killed the cat."

    This turn of phrase was an apt reminder that kept Shuri alive throughout her rather short yet danger-prone life. It was often better to not know something than to die knowing too much. People forget that knowledge is power, and power is like a ma that attracts trouble. Shuri lost count (not really) of the number of people within the castles who lost their tongue or their head just for being more informed than they were supposed to, or for going out of their way to know something they didn''t need to. Shuri kept a safe distance from all sorts of pce intrigue and always kept her inherent curiosity in check.

    However, her environment had changed. After living in a ce where curiosity was unwaveringly punished, she was feeling shell-shocked to experience an environment where it was actively rewarded, encouraged even. In fact, what feared Shuri the most was that somehow, this new environment was stroking her ego and her need to show off her mental prowess which she didn''t think existed!

    "It''s the constant barrage ofpliments..." Shuri said out loud as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. She was currently trekking through the forest that bordered the Sect in an attempt to survey the mountain it was built on.

    Shuri was just a kid on the cusp of bing a teenager, after all. And kids, by nature, are curious. Unfortunately, she never got the opportunity to scratch that itch in her younger years. And having such an uninhibited outlet so suddenly caused her to loosen her grip on the stranglehold of her curiosity. Shuri also realised that she had made a crucial mistake of only reinforcing her resilience against all kinds of negative attacks of verbal and physical modes, as even basic words of positive reinforcement circumvented all of her defensive systems. It was like a city building a wall only on its East and North sides after experiencing sieges from neighbours in that direction, but leaving the West and South unguarded. She tried her hardest after entering the True World Sect to build up her defences and protect herself, but she realised that everything was barrelling out of her control quicker than she could respond.

    "What am I even doing here?" Shuri moaned out loud before halting in her steps and sitting down on a rocky outcropping.

    That was a rhetorical question. Shuri knew exactly what she was doing here. There were two purposes for her admittedly rash and unapanied trip into the forest, and both of them were to confirm her suspicions. The first suspicion of hers was to confirm a theory regarding the low mana levels around the Sect, which bordered on scarcity. Shuri finally remembered where she had heard the phrase mana sink, as it was thrown out casually by Markus during their trip to the Sect. He used it offhandedly to describe what the surroundings of the Sect felt like, and not based on the true definition of the phrase.

    In thest three weeks, Shuri and her peers were given regr assignments to practise a battery of spells with their newly crafted wands. The assignments were scheduled by Jean to ensure that the process was safe and no one would hurt themselves in the process. Shuri was fine with this. She would follow the instructions and blend in with the group. Everyone progressed at a steady pace, except for Shuri who seemed to be advancing above the pack which was horrible news! While the others were still hovering at the start of the Early Stage of Mana Condensation Realm, Shuri was in the Middle Stage. She had no idea why her cultivation was advancing so quickly, and when she asked Marie all she got in response was: "Because you''re gifted!"

    Shuri couldn''t even hide her cultivation (even if she knew how to) because she was forced to undergo weekly checkups with Jean to monitor her well-being!

    On the bright side (at least that''s what Shuri would tell herself regrly), she now had a wide enough mana domain to |Inspect| her surroundings and understand things more intimately. And the first thing she used this newfound ability on was to properly gauge the mana scarcity of her surroundings.

    The books forwarded by her mother''s n provided extremely precise details about what constitutes a mana sink. A mana sink is always in a mana-scarce region, but not the other way around. So Shuri needed to run different series of tests and observations. The process would be easy if the inspector was someone in the Foundation Establishment realm or above, as their mana domain would berge enough to provide better readings. However, Shuri was apprehensive about sharing the Yoruz n''s books with anyone else; the name was still taboo in the Sr Empire.

    She had to make do with her piddling domain, which was admittedly much harder. Mana doesn''t just disappear from a ce. It can disperse, causing scarcity, but the nature of dispersal is what cements scarcity as a sink. The first sign of a mana sink is the formation of directed currents converging to a particr location. The alternative is if mana actively avoids a particr region. These are moremon and are usually a result of artificial intervention such as from the existence of certain kinds of inheritance grounds, spells and ritual formations, and so on.

    The further you are from a sink, the weaker the currents appear to the mana sense. Isting the current with her limited mana domain turned out to be a numerically intensive process involving discretisation, which would have been a breeze for the math monster in human form - Marie. But Shuri couldn''t recruit her assistance... for reasons.

    But after a day''s worth of work, split over multiple days, Shuri finally narrowed down the nature of the current flow. This was what she was following right now. After taking a few minutes to catch her breath, she stood up and continued her trek. Her vignce was turned to its maximum value and her movements were steady.

    As she vaulted over another branch andnded on her feet, a series of movements caught her attention. She immediately pushed her back against the nearest tree and looked around the denser forestry. Her eyes darted around, searching for the source of the noise until a few moving shadows caused them to halt and narrow. Shuri swallowed a dry gulp as her mouth dried up like a desert in the middle of summer.

    A low growl resonated as paws started to move out of the darkness, revealing the snarling faces of a pack of drooling wolves. The creatures moved with coordination, circling her, cornering her. The pack leader, who was thergest of the group, released a chuff causing the rest to move closer while he remained in the back.

    Shuri nced upwards and scolded herself for finding the shortest tree in the area to hide against. Even if she climbed this, the height wouldn''t be enough to keep her out of the range of the wolves if they stood on their hind legs.

    She reached into her coat and pulled out her wand. Although death was staring down her nose, she wasn''t prepared to ept it yet.

    An ethereal purple spell formed at the tip of the wand, and a |Fireball| barrelled towards one of the wolves, who dodged it with an anticlimactic strafe. Shuri bit back an insult and tried again.

    And again.

    But these wolves seemed smart, precognitive even. Even their blind spots weren''t blind to them as they manoeuvred around the attack easily. At that moment, she realised that the alpha remaining behind was directing the group with varying sounds and noises. He should have been her target from the start!

    s, it was toote. A moment of hesitation was enough for the wolves to capitalise. The closest one pounced at Shuri with its mouth ajar.

    eaglesnov?1,§ão§® She raised her hands instinctively and waited for the pain.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    But what followed was a strong gust of wind blowing past her face followed by yelps of pain from her attackers. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by a violent sight of a snaking wind vortex brushing circling her and pushing the pack away. The wolves barked and tried to intimidate the vortex only to be greeted by a mouthful of air and a concussion. The alpha was smarter and immediately howled to order a retreat. He red at Shuri before he left, as a warning no doubt.

    "Isn''t this a coincidence," a familiar voice spoke up as it circled past Shuri''s "protective" tree. "Now why would you do something so dangerous by yourself?" Marie chided Shuri with her hands on her hips.

    "I knew it!" Shuri responded. "You couldn''t have known that I would be here unless you were following me, OR you foresaw my future and chose to intervene here!"

    "What are you talking about?" Marie responded with one brow cocked with intrigue.

    "Why are you so honed in on me as opposed to everyone else? From the beginning, I was the only one in your sights! Why is that? What is your intention with me?" Shuri shot back one after another.

    "Woah! Woah!" Marie interrupted, moving her hands in a reconciliatory motion. "Hold your horses! I wasn''t following you."

    Marie moved aside and revealed a confused Dora. "I was just apanying this rascal for her mission."

    "Mission?" Shuri parrotted, voicing her confusion.

    "I''m going to meet Fancy!" Dora answered while moving forward with a small potted flower.

    Shuri forcefully suppressed her curiosity from voicing out the question regarding this Fancy''s identity. Thankfully, Marie took over with a question directed her way.

    "What are you doing here?"

    "I''m testing a few hypotheses," Shuri responded vaguely.

    "Well, I hope none of those hypotheses required you to walk around a forest filled with predators, with a bloody piece of meat in your pocket?" Marie spoke back sarcastically.

    ''Fuck!'' Shuri reached into the pocket and retrieved said piece of bloody meat. She tossed it aside and suppressed a growl from escaping her mouth.

    Her second suspicion would remain unsolved today. She wanted to confirm the reason for the undue interest Marie had in her. This rather risky manoeuvre would verify it, but it seemed that the girl was a step ahead of Shuri... as always.

    ''No matter! I will get you... eventually...'' Shuri promised herself while she followed Marie and Dora as they trekked onwards.

    Interestingly, their path ovepped with Shuri''s trajectory towards the suspected mana sink. Shuri decided to follow up on her curiosity and chose to inquire about who this Fancy was.

    At that moment, the group passed through an imperceptible barrier. Shuri''s vision warped, and what appeared to be a dense forest shifted to reveal a vast meadow filled with beautiful flowers and a pleasant atmosphere hanging above it.

    "This-" Shuri was about to speak when Dora''s horror-stricken shriek suddenly drowned everything.

    "FANCY!" Dora bounded forward, towards arge tree at the centre of the meadow, but was immediately caught by Marie.

    "Dora, wait! It''s dangerous!"

    Shuri looked ahead and noticed a heavy mist of pollen covering one quadrant of the meadow, which waspletely wrecked as if a small battle had transpired there.

 Chapter 311 Directed Evolution

    ?

    Shuri watched as Marie conjured a gust of wind to dissipate the pollen hanging in the air. As the dust settled, she was able to gauge the nature of the battle to a better degree. It was between twobatants - more precisely between a singlebatant against an army led and spearheaded by the secondbatant.

    "That''s an Insect Queen," Shuri murmured.

    "Fancy!" Dora finally extricated herself from Marie''s loose grasp and bounded towards the downed Insect Queen named Fancy. The beast was magnificent - or at least it would look that way if a sizeable chunk of its thorax hadn''t been chomped off. Surprisingly, the creature was still alive.

    "What happened, Fancy?" Dora pleaded as she tried to gently caress the downed beast, but her trembling hands refused to budge.

    "A fight for territory," Marie answered in Shuri''s stead. "Between Fancy here and that creature over there."

    Shuri followed Marie''s extended finger and noticed another insectoid creature at the centre of the sector of destruction extended outward from the hollow trunk at the centre of the meadow.

    "Vespid Monarch," Shuri offered. It was a beast twice the size of an insect queen, and ten times less pleasing to see with its curvaceous yet entuated sharp form and garish yellow and ck colouring. Its appearance mimicked a ho''s, which already triggered a fear response from the observer. Furthermore, the beast is known to bemunal, in that itmands and controls hives of its lesser kin using powerful pheromones. This was also evident by the veritable army of wasps scattered around the area, all dead with their legs raised towards the sky.

    "It seems the meadow you''ve created here for your little friend has attracted enemies," Marie said.

    "What? No..."

    "Vespid Monarchs are known to create sprawling hives that produce a special type of honey with a myriad of medicinal properties. It is highly sought after in the Alchemical circles. However, to produce the honey, they require nectar which is extracted from flowers," Shuri left the rest unsaid as Dora already made the connections.

    "The Vespid Monarch attacked with its battalion hoping to kill and take over Fancy''s meadow. However, Fancy took them all down with a powerful wave of pollen," Marie narrated.

    "We- We have to save her!" Dora pleaded as she tried to lift the downed insect.

    "If you move her, she will die," Marie dered with a morose town. "Besides, the Vespid Monarch''s attack has damaged a lot of her organs. To save her, we will need to find recements. And even if we did, we don''t know anyone capable of operating on a magical beast."

    Shuri saw the colour drain from Dora''s face as the dreaded words left Marie''s mouth. Tears were streaming down the little girl''s face and her eyes were red with sorrow.

    At that moment, Shuri noticed a mysterious glint shing across Marie''s eyes. Marie opened her mouth and spoke with a measured pace.

    "Of course, the Vespid Monarch should have all the organs the Insect Queen should ''theoretically'' need. If only there were a way to ''Assimte'' the two together."

    The word "Assimte" had an eerie echo to it. Maybe it was the pronounced way in which it was spoken that caused this feeling.

    "Assimte?" Dora parroted, her gaze turning nk for a faint second.

    "Assimte," Marie affirmed.

    "Assimte..." Dora repeated as she walked towards the corpse of the Vespid Monarch. She grabbed it by the antennae and started to drag the creature towards the Insect Queen. Dora''s expression was nk, and her lips moved as though she were in a trance.

    "What is she-"

    Marie raised a finger to her lips and shushed quietly. Shuri followed themand and observed Dora''s actions. The girl struggled to move the heavy insect over the uneven terrain but seeded eventually.

    "Assimte..." Dora muttered. "~What?! Your Insect Queen is evolving!~"

    Dora''s voice turned mechanical and adorned a ghost-like, emotionless tone.

    "~Woah! It is fusing with the Vespid Monarch?!~"

    ''What in the world?'' Shuri''s frown turned graver.

    Dora''s hand touched both the Insect Queen and the Vespid Monarch''s corpse. Her head jerked upwards and an ethereal light started to gush out from her agape mouth and eyes. Incrementally, the Vespid Monarch''s corpse started to crumple up.

    Then, from the palm contacting the Insect Queen, wisp-like silk started to ooze out and quickly bound the creature into a glowing cocoon. The cocoon started to pulse, vibrate and then deformed, until suddenly, a ck insectoid leg punctured the cocoon. The leg arced across, cutting the cocoon in two (which in turn dissipated into glittering partictes), and from it, emerged a creature dripping with a viscous liquid.

    The creature extended two protrusions from its back. As they unfurled, they revealed a magnificent pattern of vibrant colours, that looked like a mask with two piercing ck eyes. The creature vibrated before its body unfurled, revealing a more curvaceous form (less like a butterfly, more like an ant or wasp) with a pointy tip at the base of its abdomen where a stinger pulsed in and out. The creature had an amber and ck jacketed body, with four antennae extending from its pincered head. The creature shook itself clean of all viscous residue and bounced up, its wings osciting with a pleasant rhythm.

    "~Congrattions! Your Insect Queen has evolved into a Vespid Queen!~"

    At that moment, the light emanating from Dora ceased, and the girl escaped her trance.

    "Wha- What happened..." Dora moaned while grabbing her head. "Huh? Fancy? Is that you?"

    The creature, which was now half a metre taller than Dora, yed out a dance that oozed with enthusiasm and gratitude (which Shuri was somehow able to make out).

    "Yaaaaay!" Dora eximed enthusiastically as she bounced and pped. "Uh? But you look different."

    "What do you mean I did this?"

    "No way! I can''t do any magic!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shuri''s brows scrunched up in confusion. "Is she talking to the creature?"

    "Yes," Marie answered.

    "How?"

    Marie simply shrugged and kept her attention trained on Dora.

    "You feel different? How different?" Dora said while tilting her head.

    The Vespid Queen - as Dora described it in her trance - Twirled around and flicked its wings with a flourish, causing a wave of pollen to spread outwards. Shuri instinctively reached to cover her nose but was held back by Marie. The pollen enveloped Shuri and went in through her nose as she inhaled. Suddenly, a wave of calmness took over her.

    "What was that?" Shuri said while trying to suppress a rxed moan.

    The creature then flew towards the hollow tree andnded on a branch. Then, the air around the meadow started to grow heavier which Shuri realised was caused by the creature recruiting the mana in its domain.

    The flowers in the meadow went straight and droplets of liquid started to rise from their centre. The suspended droplets started to rush towards the creature which split its pincers and revealed a long proboscis. The protrusion stabbed the growing globule of translucent fluid and quickly drained it, causing its abdomen to swell up markedly. The creature then skittered into the hollow tree.

    "Fancy? What are you doing?" Dora screamed into one of the holes in the trunk.

    "Ah, I see," Dora hummed in disappointment. "Well... okay then..."

    "What did she say?" Marie inquired.

    "She said she needs to make a stronger and bigger home for her children," Dora answered.

    "Children?" Shuri blurted out. "It''s making more?"

    "She said that having more eyes and legs will make it easier for her to umte more nectar and flowers, as well as defend herself," Dora exined.

    "What''s not what I was talking ab-"

    "That''s great news, Dora. Since Fancy is going to be busy now, why don''t you go back home? Matron Reva said she needed help with something," Marie interjected.

    "Okay! See youter, Big Sis and... Umm... Who are you again?" Dora paused mid-wave with a confused frown. "Eh, whatever! See youter guys!"

    And with that, the little girl skipped away and disappeared through the illusory veil.

    "What just happened?" Shuri probed, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. "What did she do to that creature?"

    "Didn''t you see? She merged the two together," Marie answered nonchntly.

    "You can''t just merge magical beasts together like that! That magic is unheard of," Shuri challenged. "How did she do it?"

    "I don''t know," Marie deflected with a shrug.

    "Don''t give me that! You knew she could do it. You nudged her to do it! The girl didn''t even remember performing that magic, whatever that was. You engineered the scenario, didn''t you? Was it to fulfil a condition - was being in a state of heightened emotion the prerequisite? Did you doctor this confrontation that caused the girl''s pet to end up like this-"

    "Woah! Woah!" Marie grabbed Shuri''s shoulder and pressed down gently. "Calm down. I didn''t doctor this situation. It was going to happen one way or another. I just made it so that Dora had a chance to help her friend."

    "But that magic-?"

    "I just moved the situation in a favourable direction, that''s all. She had the power inside her, all I did was pierce the thin membrane that was holding it back," Marie expounded. "Sometimes, chicks need help breaking through their shell."

    Shuri''s gaze turned sharp and drilled into the side of Marie''s head. "If you stare any harder, my head might just burst into mes. Besides, don''t you have something to do?"

    "Why don''t you just make all of our lives easier and tell me where to look?" Shuri scoffed.

    "If I told you, then you won''t find it yourself. If you don''t find it yourself, I won''t see it in your future. If I don''t see it in your future, I won''t be able to tell you where to look," Marie''s brows wiggled as she spoke the sentences one after another. "You see where I am going with this, right?"

    "Yeah, yeah!" Shuri snorted and walked towards the hollow tree in a huff.

    "This is the ce," Shuri dered.

    "What ce?"

    Shuri looked at Marie and revealed a smirk, "I found it. Now it''s your turn to tell me!"

 Chapter 312 The Amazing And Spectacular Marie

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Equinoxes for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuri drew closer to the hollowed tree with cautious steps. The target of her troublesome search was somewhere beneath the roots of the creepy-looking monolith that was also housing a newborn hybrid creature with the powers of apex insectoid magical beasts.

    "Well, I guess that''s it," Shuri dered with a shrug and turned to leave. Things had risen above her metaphorical "pay grade" and it was no longer worth the trouble to pursue her curiosity.

    "Where are you going?" Marie yelped before grabbing Shuri''s shoulder. "You''re just giving up?"

    "Well... Yeah," Shuri answered matter-of-factly. "What I''m looking for is under that tree, probably. Regardless, to test the hypothesis, we will need to dig under the tree which will inevitably disturb the Vespid Queen inside. I, for one, firmly believe in the saying to ''let sleeping dogs lie''."

    Shuri raised her hand and pointed at the tree, "Sleeping dog!"

    Marie chuckled and ignored Shuri''s circumspection. Instead, she approached the hollow tree and knocked thrice. Shuri braced for retaliation, but all she saw was a pincered head peeking out and gazing curiously at Marie.

    "We need to dig under the tree. Do you mind?" Marie inquired. The creature moved its antennae and receded into the trunk. Immediately after, the ground started to rumble and shake. Shuri went prone and hugged the ground to achieve stability. From the corner of her gaze, she saw the hollow tree rising steadily from the soil. Its snaking roots started to reveal themselves and moved like a clutch of vipers slithering over each other, adding to the monolith''s eerie aesthetics. Nheless, the unnatural trantion revealed a caverge enough for people to pass through.

    "There!" Marie dered with a haughty bellow. "Problem solved!"

    "You cannot have predicted that," Shuri blurted out in disbelief. "This is absurd!"

    "Oh ye, of little faith!" Marie announced dramatically. She then turned to Shuri and met her gaze. "You are a curious one, and innovative to boot. But you are quick to give up at the first sign of trouble. I couldn''t let that happen, especially since this was your first attempt to take initiative."

    Shuri''s expression warped with anger, "What do you even know about me?!"

    "Only what you''ve told us since we met you," Marie responded calmly. "You aren''t difficult to figure out, even though you are trying really hard to make it so. You try really hard to remain out of sight and out of mind. However, you cannot hide your genius in an environment where applying yourself is actively encouraged and rewarded."

    Marie approached Shuri, who was cocked with vignce like a cat ready tosh out at a suspicious individual, and pulled her in. Shuri tried to battle the action, but she was far too weakpared to the might of a Foundation Establishment mage.

    Shuri was dragged in and enveloped by both arms into a warm hug. She struggled to escape, but a gentle palm rubbed her back and a warm voice resonated through her bones. "I''m sorry for whatever you''ve had to live through that made you like this. But it''s okay. You are safe here. It''s all going to be okay..."

    "Let... me... go..." Shuri grunted. "Let-"

    "It''s all going to be okay," the voice repeated as the palm, once again, made its way from the top of her spine to the centre of her back.

    Shuri pushed her hands aggressively, but the embrace was like a vice-grip... a vice-grip that drowned her with the warmth and softness of a hundred goose-down pillows.

    Her struggle loosened, and the hug grew deeper. The hand that stroked her back slowed down and paused.

    "Please, let me go," Shuri muttered. This time, Marie acquiesced. Shuri breathed audibly to reign in her wavering breath. An unknown heat was rising up her chest and throat and caused her eyes to itch. With a loud, hacking cough, she quelled the feeling and looked directly at the newly formed cavernous opening leading underneath the tree.

    Shuri pushed out her chest and dered, "Let''s go!"

    With firm footsteps, she approached the perilous mouth that led into a steep decline leading into an unknown darkness. Shuri swallowed another mouthful of saliva. She instinctively took a step back but was stopped by Marie''s robust and wall-like chest.

    "What are you waiting for?" Marie probed with a smirk.

    "Maybe- AAAAAAAAAAAA" Shuri could not voice out her concern as a sudden push had her plummetting then sliding down the incline to her uncertain future.

    The terrible, twisting and turning transit totalled what felt like twenty minutes. Although that may just have been the creation of a tortured mind. Shuri finally reached the destination at the base of the slide and her excellent memory told her that it had, in fact, only been fifteen seconds since shest saw the sunlight. It was an embarrassing realisation, but one that she had to stop from showing on her face because her eyes (still limating to the darkness) noticed a person walking down the steep incline with nonchnt steps.

    Beneath Marie''s feet, Shuri noticed the formation ofrge spell circles. "Magic has many uses. The limit is your imagination," Marie exined. "Geckos climb walls with the help of Van der Waals forces between therge surface area on their setae dense feet, and the wall where they intend to walk on. It is possible to replicate this by creating artificial setae of minuscule mana tendrils."

    Shuri bit back a witty retort for two reasons. The first was because the proposed concept was truly fascinating. It argued against her preconceived notion of magic and truly exemplified the True World Sect''s approach towards the subject: that "magic should be thought of as a scalpel, where each spell and application has a specific and precise purpose, instead of a blunt instrument, that screws in a nail by hammering it."

    The second reason was that just behind Marie, she noticed a warm light floating near the ceiling and approaching their location. Then, the singr light turned to two, then three, and so on as a veritable rainbow of colours illuminated the dark cavern.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Oh. My. Word." Marie ented each exmation in awe.

    "Don''t. Move. A. Muscle." Shuri whispered.

    "What do-"

    "Shhh!" Shuri interrupted. She nudged her head downwards, urging Marie to follow. As she did that, Marie was shocked to see the ground undte like some kind of gel.

    "Wha-" Marie stopped amidst Shuri''s murderous gaze and restarted in a low whisper. "What are these things?"

    "Slimes and Wisps. A lot of them!" Shuri answered. "Why did you push me in?! Now we''re screwed! A single slime or wisp shouldn''t be an issue, but this is a veritable horde of them! If the wisps don''t zap us to dust, these slimes with definitely disintegrate us into mush."

    "Umm..." Marie hummed in thought. "Let me-"

    "Don''t attack!" Shuri interjected, once again. "These creatures are extremely sensitive to changes in the ambient mana. If you so much as cause a ripple, it will send them all into a frenzy."

    "Don''t worry," Marie said assuringly before closing her eyes. Shuri held her breath and controlled every single muscle of her body in fear of triggering a feeding frenzy.

    Seconds of silence turned into minutes that felt like an eternity, until eventually, Marie''s eyes opened.

    "I have a n."

    "Oh, I pray it is as good as the one from before that got us into this mess!" Shuri spat back with a raspy whisper.

    Marie ignored the snipe and expounded her idea, "On the count of three, I want you to jump onto my back and hold on tight. I will get us out of here."

    "What are you cooking up?"

    "That isn''t something you need to worry about. Just hold on tight and do not let go. No matter what happens. Do. Not. Let. Go."

    "Oka-"

    "1, 2, 3-"

    Shuri barely had enough time to centre herself before her muscles moved by pure instinct and she found herselftched onto Marie''s back. The lights in the ceiling of the vast cavern all grew brighter and started to hone in on her location. The ground started to undte with greater intensity as a wave of viscous slime started to build and crash towards her.

    But then, her body lurched. The eleration was so great that Shuri was almost thrown off Marie''s back. The stale wind started to collide against her face as she moved with unprecedented speed. Through a squint, she noticed that Marie was basically walking (running? sprinting? gliding?) on air. Well, spell circles were forming where her feetnded. And the girl was moving inhumanly fast. Even faster than her feet were moving.

    Looking up, she was shocked to see that they were approaching a dead-end. Bracing herself for a collision, Shuri closed her eyes and grabbed on tighter. Instead, she found her body lurching sideways as gravity suddenly changed direction. To be more precise, they were now walking on the wall.

    Marie started to walk perpendicr to the cavern wall''s surface and moved in an upward spiral. Behind her, the horde of deathly rainbow lights and waves of acidic death changed direction and tried to keep up. Round and round they went as they climbed upwards until they were literally walking on the cavern''s ceiling. At this point, only the wisps were a threat, as the slimes could not reach this altitude.

    Suddenly, Marie halted, turned right and rushed even more quickly. Shuri noticed them approaching the same hole that brought them into this cave. Marie then lurched into a prone position and started to slither forward like an actual gecko as she moved through the narrow hole.

    Up and up they went, and Shuri could hear the wisps crashing against each other as they tried to move through the tunnel.

    Within seconds, Shuri noticed a bright light approaching. Marie grabbed the ledge and hoisted them up. Shuri rolled out and made some distance between the opening under the hollow tree. She raised her head and noticed Marie waiting poised with her wand drawn out.

    "What are you-"

    A wisp bolted out of the hole which was quickly closed with a wall of earth and Marie swished her wand upwards. She then followed up with a flick that sent a small |Fireball| towards the solo wisp, which died anticlimactically and left a in ball in its wake that pulsed with a dimming light.

    Marie walked up to the ball, picked it up and tossed it towards Shuri. And just as Shuri caught it, she heard a chuckle.

    "Is that what you were looking for?"

 Chapter 313 Switching Tactics

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    The walk back to the Sect was awkward. Shuri could feel Marie''s gaze boring down on her from over her shoulder, and it was unnerving.

    "Interesting..." Shuri heard Marie mutter out loud.

    Shuri ignored it and continued walking forward while clutching the ball even closer to her body.

    "Interesting..." Marie repeated, but a bit louder. Now Shuri was certain that Marie intended to attract her attention and initiate the conversation.

    ''Fat chance!'' Shuri scoffed internally and started to walk more quickly.

    This time, Marie took the aggressive step by gliding in front of Shuri and blocking her path. Luckily, Shuri was vignt and managed to stop herself before she physically collided with Marie.

    "Now that I have your attention," Marie said with an affronted snort while staring directly into Shuri''s eyes. Then, a pressure descended on Shuri. It was the kind of pressure one would feel when a responsible adult such as a parent or teacher would look deep into one''s metaphorical "soul". It was the kind of pressure that made you want to spill your guts and beg for forgiveness for acts one hadn''t evenmitted yet (and simply thought of faintly... at some point in time). Fortunately, it was the kind of pressure Shuri was used to. Thus, Shuri met Marie''s challenge with a gaze oozing with innocence and nonchnce.

    "I find it interesting that you aren''t curious," Maire finally folded and uttered in disbelief. "I was certain that you would scramble to learn more about how we managed to escape from that predicament."

    Shuri WAS curious. She was dying to know every single detail about what happened back there. However, she also knew that in gaining that card, she would have to reveal her hand as well. In learning the techniques and details of their escape from the deathtrap of light and acid, Shuri would have to exchange the secrets of the core that had now moved securely inside her coat''s inner pocket. The exchange wouldn''t be contractual, since Shuri was certain that Marie wouldn''t force her to reveal her secrets. But the implication of an exchange would still hold. Shuri couldn''t just learn everything she needed and walk away... well, she could, but it would put her on someone''s shit-list. And if there was one thing Shuri knew to be an absolute fact, it would be that it was often toughest to be forgotten if you are disliked than if you are liked.

    "Well, if it was something you wished to share with me, then you would have done so of your own volition," Shuri responded with a careless tilt of her head. And with that said, she decided to swerve past Marie and continued her trek back to the Sect.

    "Wait!" Marie called out. Shuri paused in her track and turned to face Marie, once again. "What do you intend to do with that core?"

    "Why should I tell you?" Shuri challenged. She then clicked her tongue and said, "In fact, why MUST I tell you anyway? You should already know my intention with this resource with your powers!"

    "I can see what you will do, but not what you intend to do," Marie responded.

    "Imend yourmand over the semantics of our spokennguage," Shuri shot back with overflowing irony.

    Marie chuckled at the retort before exining, "An artist will create a work of art. I can see what the process of the creation will be, and I can see what the end result will look like. But I cannot see what the artist is thinking when the process is going on, nor can I foresee what the artist''s purpose is in creating that artwork. Is it just to earn money, or is there a deeper purpose to the culmination of a million brushstrokes?"

    "I can see what you will do, and what your end goal will look like. But I cannot understand what you intend to do with it," Marie added.

    "Does it matter?" Shuri evoked. "If the end result works, is there a need to scrutinise the process?"

    "Of course there is!" Marie responded immediately. "That is the whole goal of the scientific process. Have you not been paying attention to the lessons on the Theory of Knowledge?"

    Shuri met Marie''s disappointed gaze with a squint. She was loath to admit her mistake at this junction because it would eventually lead to her having to disclose her secrets. So she decided to capitalise on her shamelessness and simply turned and continued to walk back to the Sect.

    "If you don''t tell me now, then I will exact a greater price when you DO eventually return to me in the future," Marie warned with a jocr yet threatening tone. "And trust me when I say this, you WILL return to me in the future - within two days by my conservative estimate."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shuri gritted her teeth and sped up her pace. While she wanted to ignore and just write off Marie''s warnings as the ramblings of a hormonal teen with a hurt ego, she couldn''t, because she was certain that things would transpire exactly as Marie had said. If this was the case, then why didn''t Shuri just give up and scratch Marie''s "itch"? Well... Shuri, just like every human being ever, had the inherent urge to flip the bird on her fate and try and defy it. She would do everything within her capacity to prove Marie wrong because she really didn''t want to give that smug girl a sense of satisfaction. Just seeing that egotistical yet alluring smile grated on Shuri''s nerves. Of course, the abrasive yet uplifting voice entuated that frustration. Oh, and those eyes! Those disdain-filled yet bewitching eyes...

    At that instant, Shuri''s steps faltered and once again, she froze in ce. Her right hand moved automatically towards her left chest and pressed down firmly.

    THUMP THUMP! THUMP THUMP! THUMP THUMP!

    ''W-What is happening?'' Her hand moved upwards and she felt her cheeks and forehead with the back of her palm. ''I''m burning up? Is this a fever?!''

    Her mind ran through all the diagnostic signs Jean had told her in passing to check for a myriad of illnesses and was stumped to learn that none matched her symptoms.

    ''Maybe it''s just a side-effect of all that excitement...'' She surmised in the end. It was a logical conclusion that tied up all the loose threads into a neat bundle. And with that conclusion, she finally reached the Sect, throwing that minor episode to the back of her mind.

    ____

    "So, have you decided to just bite the arrow and reveal your intentions with the mana core?" Marie egged once again. Shuri had dropped by Marie''s usual spot in the recreation room to submit her weekly assignment as a research assistant. It had barely been a day since their venture into the pit of deadly lights and melting liquids and their subsequent escape with a mana core.

    In response, Shuri shook her head lightly and hurriedly left the room before something weird happened again.

    "I see... The silent treatment, huh?" Marie yelled jokingly. "I still count a day! I''ll be waiting!"

    Shuri continued her hurried escape and returned to her room. After ensuring that door was locked securely, she dug underneath her mattress and retrieved the mana core that was somewhere between two to three times the size of an apple. Although the blood of the Yoruz n coursed through her veins, this was the first time Shuri got anywhere close to evenying her eyes on a mana core. While as a princess, she could have literally bathed in a tub filled with these semi-ubiquitous balls, Shuri couldn''t indulge in those fantasies. For others, an inert mana core such as this one was harmless and inconsequential. But for those with even a drop of Yoruz blood in them, it was a guaranteed recipe for disaster... or so it was told.

    While holding the ball with both her hands, Shuri started to rotate the sphere clockwise against the light emanating from thentern on her desk. The inert mana core appeared as a semi-translucent, grey ball. After its extraction from the wisp, it blinked with a faint light that had dissipatedpletely along with the mana stored within.

    ''The mana core is the brain that controls every golem and automaton. Magborgs are a special case and follow a different set of rules. Designing a robust schematic to be embedded inside the inert core is key towards creating a sessful golem or automaton. The process is painstaking, but extremely rewarding since the result is something that never tires, never asks any questions and achieves what it is programmed and built to do efficiently,'' Shuri narrated from memory.

    This was Shuri''s intention with her current gambit. The reason why she dug out these remnants from her less-than-ideal heritage was to create a battalion of servitors that would follow her no questions asked.

    ''People are difficult, treacherous and unreliable.'' This was Shuri''s conclusion. People were the source of all of her problems, so the solution was obvious - to rece them.

    It would take time and practice and a lot of resources. Shuri intended to take advantage of the Innovator Track for this very reason. Participating in the Innovator Track would finance everything she would need to grow her expertise and ultimately build the faithful servants that would emancipate her from being tied down by anyone.

    ''I am certain that Marie will be a problem,'' Shuri thought to herself. She let out an exasperated sigh as the image of the gloating girl upied her mind''s front page.

    ''I''ll just have to consult someone more manageable.'' After some thought, Shuri hummed thoughtfully before pocketing the core and leaving her room. Till now, she hadn''t won a single point over Marie in anything. Thetter was multiple steps ahead of Shuri and would thus run circles around her. Marie''s power of foresight was staggering and extremely potent - it wasn''t something Shuri could contend against. Therefore, instead of going against an opponent you were guaranteed to lose against, why not try against another where victory was at least within the realm of possibility?

    After fixing her attire with a pat of her hands, Shuri balled up her fists and knocked on the door to the ssroom she was standing in front of. A beatter, the voice of the upant answered.

    "Come in," Markus invited.

 Chapter 314 "...And For That Reason, Im In!"

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "So what brings you to these necks of the wood?" Markus asked as he cleared up all the exercise books from his desk.

    "We just had a ss here today..." Shuri answered with a low mumble, to which Markus responded with a cheekyugh.

    "Anyways-" Markus continued. "I''ve been expecting you."

    "You have?" Shuri blurted out.

    "Well, not me personally. But Marie dropped by earlier this morning and told me to prepare for your arrival," Markus revealed with a wry smile. Shuri could empathise with the emotion Markus was experiencing. Through working under Marie, Shuri had learned just how frustrating it was to deal with a seer. Because they lived five or ten steps ahead, they took the present for granted. This was grating for normal people like herself and Markus who were in the process of living their present.

    Markus continued, "When I asked her what it was about, she said, ''that isn''t for me to reveal''... Man, she''s changed. She''s be so much more exhausting ever since her breakthrough. You know what?"

    He then looked towards Shuri expectantly. Under his pleading gaze, Shuri acquiesced and volleyed, "What?"

    "It''s like talking to a teacher... not the good ones, mind you, but the really patronising ones! The ones who like to have you arrive at a conclusion by yourself by asking you leading questions," he eximed.

    While Shuri wanted to voice her agreement, she held her tongue. Entertaining this fruitless conversation would lead her nowhere. However, she couldn''t help but point out, "I believe you just described the Sect Leader."

    "Yeah? Well, he doesn''t make you feel like an idiot when he does it," Markus argued with an apologetic smile. "Nheless, Marie''s prediction was correct (once again) and here you are. Which brings me back to my first question: what brings you to these necks of the wood?"

    Shuri exhaled loudly and pulled out the inert mana core from her coat pockets. She ced it steadily on top of the desk and said, "I want to apply for the Innovator Track."

    "Oh, you''ve heard of it? Did Marie tell you?" Markus'' brows quirked up in surprise. "It wasn''t supposed to be revealed to members until at least the first year had psed. You must have really left an impression on Marie for her to do this."

    "I only heard it in passing," Shuri quickly waved her hand to dismiss any hidden implications in Markus'' statement.

    "If I know one thing about Marie, she never says ANYTHING in passing. Especially now, after her advancement," Markus said with a solemn frown. "Though it irks me to admit this, there is always a method to her madness. So she must have seen something in you that warranted this revtion."

    "You are extremely trusting," Shurimented. Though she realised that maybe her words may be misconstrued as an instigation.

    "Marie IS my sister," Markus answered matter-of-factly, as though it was a perfectly reasonable answer. "If I can''t trust family, who else can I trust?"

    ''Yourself!'' Shuri answered in her thoughts. Her whole "family" was filled with murderous and venomous monsters who wouldn''t think twice before shoving a bejewelled shiv into her back at the first sign of weakness. So this whole "blind trust" thing Markus was preaching came across as naive and immature from Shuri''s perspective. But she wasn''t going to preach caution and prudence to the boy. First off, it wasn''t her ce to do so and it could easily be misconstrued (once again) as her intentionally causing a rift in their rtionship. Secondly, Shuri wasn''t a charitable person, to begin with. It was Markus'' prerogative if he wished to die a pre-emptive death by virtue of backstabbing.

    Once again, Shuri took the initiative to move the conversation along and asked, "Does this mean that you approve of my request?"

    "That depends on the feasibility of your proposal. Although Master has given me the authority to unanimously approve the requests, I''m trying to standardise the process so that it can keep up with scale. After all, there will be a lot more members in the Sect in the future," Markus exined.

    ''That''s optimistic,'' Shuri scoffed internally.

    "So what do I need to do?" She probed.

    "Umm, I wasn''t expecting anyone toe up so soon," Markus confessed while scratching the back of his head. "So for the time being, I will conduct the appraisal in viva."

    Markus pulled out a small book and pencil from his jacket.

    "Do you already have a product prototype or service concept in practice that you wish to finance and expand with the benefits from the Innovator Track?"

    "No," Shuri answered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "So am I right to assume that what you have is an idea that warrants study and could possibly spawn into a product or service?" Markus proposed.

    "Possibly," was Shuri''s response.

    "Now that''s a bit difficult, you see," Markus mumbled with a low hum. "If you have a prototype or concept in practice, the decision is straightforward after a financial evaluation. It is even easier if you have a patent registered in our Library. But this- Alright, can you exin the idea you will explore?"

    Shuri revealed a worried scowl before pointing at the mana core which was now in Markus'' visual blind spot.

    "Before that, though. I wish to share some information that the Sect may find lucrative," Shuri started. She knew that the negotiation to get funding would be tough, especially since her proposal would be founded on a weak hypothesis. She couldn''t just say that she had a "suspicion" that the inert mana core held "immense potential" that warranted study. That was an unscientific proposal to begin and no one in their right mind would consider investing in such an unsupported im.

    However, there was a way around this problem. Instead of approaching empty-handed, if she could dangle a tasty cut of meat, it could persuade the investor to consider her idea. It would especially be helpful if this metaphorical slice of meat could also potentially finance her endeavours. Luck was on her side this time.

    "That is an inert mana core. You should be aware of the demand for these in the market?" Shuri hinted. After the fall of the Yoruz n, many new sects, sub-sects and other mercenary groups managed to deconstruct the remnant automatons and golems that were hidden away during the Empire''s scorched earth tactics to wipe the n from the face of Gaea. Although none could reach the Yoruz n in their proficiency to create artificial mechanical life, some level of automation was still achievable albeit with an extremely high cost of production. The primary factor that added to such a high cost was the inert mana core which could only be obtained from wisps and slimes which only proliferated in highly selective mana climates. In fact, many minor wars had been fought over "arable" territory suitable to farm slimes and wisps. How coincidental that the Sect she was currently a part of was built on a treasure trove of a mountain? Luck truly was on her side this time.

    Markus'' face showed some visible confusion. "I''m not too informed about the market demand for mana cores. Marie should be more knowledgeable in this regard. But I am aware of the most recent conflict between Dacian Naturals and Crowe Alchemical Resources that nearly destroyed a small township down south. Based on that, I could hazard a guess that it''s highly sought after."

    "More than you know," Shuri emphasised. "What if I told you that Mount Tai houses a humongous den of wisps and slimes?"

    "I''d believe you," Markus answered with an affirmative nod.

    "Just like that?"

    "I mean, you never left the vige, nor did you have any contact with travelling merchants who drop by. You''ve been walking around and exploring the region a lot, recently. You leave one day and return with an inert mana core which I know is quite rare and wasn''t with you when you came to the Sect. Logic dictates you got it from somewhere close. And if you im that there is more of where this came from, I am inclined to believe you," Markus listed.

    "That''s... well put," Shuri mumbled. It seemed that the surveince in the Sect was far stricter than it seemed.

    "So is your pitch something to do with these cores?" Markus redirected.

    "Somewhat. Actually, my pitch is twofold. Through a... family inheritance, I know how to properly farm slimes and wisps and harvest their cores." This was the story Shuri opted for. It was innocuous and fit the circumstances and the assumed backstory she built for herself when she met Markus.

    "First, I want to create apany to sell mana cores," Shuri stated.

    "Before that, we will need to write up a patent on this inheritance so that it is redited to you," Markus interjected. "Thepany will ultimately use your methodology to harvest these cores, so you need to make sure that you are being appropriatelypensated throughout the process."

    "I''d rather not reveal this technique," Shuri denied immediately.

    "Figures," Markus hummed. "If this technique is deeply tied to your family or n and you don''t want them finding out, it''s best not to leave a paper trail. However, this will severely limit the possible profits you could make as you will have to personally manage the entire process."

    "That''s okay. It''s not optimal to flood the market with these cores anyways as it would destabilise the market and ultimately attract a lot of unwanted attention our way," Shuri added.

    "In that case, you may not need to start a newpany. We already have an alchemical and herbal supplypany called Verto Supplies," Markus said as he jotted down some information on an extra sheet of paper. "You can look them up at this address at the Library."

    Shuri nodded while pocketing the slip. "In the same vein, I wish to utilise the harvested cores to finance my research into core automation."

    This was the coup de grace. Shuri had set up the situation in her favour. Markus would lose nothing in epting her request. As she observed Markus'' light nods as he pondered on her deration, Shuri revealed a faint smile of victory.

    Luck truly was on her side this time!

    ''It feels good to win for once!''

 Chapter 315 Familiar Territory

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    It didn''t take much convincing for Markus to agree to Shuri''s second term and request. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn''t costly aspared to the first one that called for setting up a slime and wisp farm. Arge-scalendscaping operation would be required as the meadow entrance to the underground cavern where Fancy lived was off-limits. But the investment was worth it, and a rough financial analysis indicated that they could turn a profit within three and a half years with just Shuri harvesting the mana cores.

    In the end, this was Shuri''s initiative and the responsibility fell on her toe up with a n for the entire operation. She would then have to take this n for approval from the Sect and things would move forward thusly. This itself was a heavy workload, but thankfully as Marie promised, the transition into the Innovator Track greatly reduced her responsibilities in the research assistantship - she was now back to a single stack.

    Shuri wasn''t sure if she should be grateful for the reversion, as she kept getting this feeling that she was somehow tricked into her current position by some highly tactful manoeuvring on Marie''s part. Ultimately, it was only an itchy feeling at the back of her mind telling her that she had somehow walked into a trap. But, Shuri was too far gone that turning back was no longer an option.

    Coming up with a feasiblendscaping n was tough. Shuri didn''t know where to begin. After multiple field inspection trips, which mostly involved moving inrge circles and pulsing her mana sense under her feet, she managed to narrow down a suitable location where the digging could begin to tap into the cavern underneath the mountain. Compared to the opening in the hidden meadow, this one would require some heavy-duty work that would move a lot of earth around. It wasn''t something that mortalbourers could achieve within the time limit she set for herself.

    So, Shuri made a tricky decision and started to recruit help from her peers. Luckily they were only kids with little training in political social engineering such as herself. A few trades here and promises to tutor them thereter, Shuri had a veritable horde of magically capablebourers.

    Shuri furnished her workers with a modified |Earth Shift| spell that couldpound when a target is hit by multiple casters at the same time. She created this spell with the help of the Modr Spellmaking Guide and Spell Circle Compartmentalisation Paper from the advanced course material. She had to admit that the Sect''s approach towards spell-casting was incredibly intuitive and efficient. She never thought that it was possible to break down the arcane magical concepts that were steeped in subjectivity down to a science.

    After the project was approved, Shuri worked as the foreman and guided the teens in moving the earth and rocks to form a narrow and spiralling passageway underground to the approximate depth of the cavern. From that point, they built a tunnel that moved in the meadow''s general direction. While this sounded simple on paper, it was far from it. Shuri learned, both through experience and subsequent heavy reading, that cave-ins and tunnel copses were a thing if there was no support structure in ce. Luckily the first copse didn''t hurt anyone, or else she would have to submit another hefty ident report and await further evaluation and worse yet, attract the Sect Leader''s attention.

    But a single mistake was enough for Shuri to learn. And from that point onwards, she decided to take a less hurried path and approached Markus for some advice.

    "When you started to get all the sect members involved in your project, while I was happy that you were finally socialising, I was worried that you would end up hurting people in your zeal," Markus said with a relieved sigh. "While it is good to be confident in oneself, it is often superior to ept one''s shorings and ask for help especially if failure leads to catastrophe."

    Shuri bit her lips to cover her irritation. "You were aware that I would fail, and yet you approved thendscaping n?"

    Markus nodded with a distressed smile, "I wanted to try something out."

    "Are you kidding? People would have got hurt!" Shuri eximed with an enraged growl.

    "No, they wouldn''t have. I confirmed it with Marie," Markus responded immediately while patting the air in a calming gesture. "You see, one of my concerns since you joined our Sect is how little you''ve gone out of your way to ask for help from others."

    "Why does that matter?" Shuri argued.

    "It matters a lot. A person capable of asking for assistance is humble and knows the limits of their abilities. These are the people who will live the longest as they know when to advance and when to retreat. You barely ever asked for help from others, so I wanted to see if it was because of overflowing self-confidence or because you hadn''t faced a challenge where you fell short... Or if it was because you didn''t trust us to have your best interest in mind. But now that you''re here asking for assistance, I can rest assured that my worries were unfounded," Markus concluded with a smile.

    Shuri couldn''t stop her eyes from twitching at Markus'' exnation. Here she was, trying to quell her existence in the eyes of the Sect by not disturbing others and asking for assistance. And yet her actions inadvertently had the opposite effect. The fact that she was probably the only one not seeking assistance from others made her stick out like a sore thumb!

    "Well... what''s the verdict?" Shuri said, trying to divert the conversation.

    "I already mailed and requisitioned Lowe''s Builders and Landscapers a few days back. You should hear back from them very soon. For the record, I can make this decision as a representative of the Verum Trading Company as we are one of the board members and major investors of your proposal," Markus pointed out.

    Although it irked Shuri for someone else to make the business decisions for her, "Is this going to be a regr thing? For the board members and investors to bypass me and make overarching business decisions like this?"

    "Only if the current trajectory has a possibility to result in catastrophic consequences for the business," Markus answered with a raised index finger. "It is ultimately up to you whether you want to move forward by contracting them or not. But if you cannot justify your decision, it will call into question your capacity to lead a business, in which case we will personally step forward."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shuri was sceptical about that statement. What determined if the consequence would be catastrophic? What parameters were being used to judge this? Obviously, this was just Markus flexing his power over Shuri and showing that she was only the CEO of herpany in everything but name. With a casual flick of his writing utensil, he had rendered herst few days'' worths of work redundant.

    "Please don''t be discouraged," Markus emphasised with a "sincere" frown. "I only called Lowe''s to put them in contact with you. In the end, it will still be you managing the entirendscaping process and everything thates after. I only did what you intended to ask of me but earlier."

    At the end of the sentence, his brows quirked up and an awkward smile showed on his mien. He then muttered in a low voice, "Did I just turn into Marie back there?"

    Shuri could only nod at that and make her exit.

    ____

    True to Markus'' words, the construction andndscapingpany arrived within two days. The owner was the first to enter the Sect ground and beelined for the Administrative Building.

    The man, Lobert Lowe, was short and stout and walked with an uncharacteristic swiftness. He represented your average mortal yuppie merchant who just got into a contract with a Sect with the hopes of some benefits in his generation, or the next, or the next, and so on. He spoke with a fawning intonation and walked with a slight hunch while in front of the Sect''s members. However, in the presence of his subordinates, he walked with such a straight back and puffed and raised chest that his hefty belly nearly disappeared into his abdomen. He was your typical "worship the powerful and bully the weak" kind of guy. This was supported by the ufortable Markus wore the entire time the man talked and waxed poetry over the Sect, its Leader and its members.

    "Anyways," Markus raised his palm to cut short the man''s endless words of meaningless praise. "Shuri here will be the one that will be handling everything. So please continue the discussion with her."

    Markus could not wait to extricate himself from thepany of this man, which was perfectly fine with Shuri. As he left, though, he shot Shuri an apologetic gaze probably feeling guilty over leaving her in such unpleasantpany.

    On the contrary, Shuri was overjoyed as she was now reentering familiar territory. Lobert was predictable. He was one of the kinds of people that surrounded her throughout her life. The True World Sect could only be described as an anomaly.

    A sense of euphoria started to bubble from within Shuri as the man''s slimy smile turned her way. Why was she feeling so excited? It was the same feeling a serial killer would have when they were suddenly ced in a hidden alley with a helpless victim crouched and feeding cats in front of them, and with their backs turned the killer''s way.

    Shuri was starved. Her failure upon failure to properly gauge the social dynamics within the Sect grated her mentally. Now that she was facing a predictable opponent, he was feeling the same sense of relief a fish would feel when dropped back into the water after a long while of deprivation.

    "Miss Shuri! The name of the star that guides lost travellers! What a perfect name for the one leading the project," the man started. Unwittingly, this sent a shiver of tion through Shuri''s spine. She had to swallow a mouthful of saliva before opening her mouth and speaking.

    "Umm... Honestly, I have no idea what to do," Shuri said with a distressed tone and a droplet of tear rolling out the corner of her eyes. "Please, uncle!" She eximed while grabbing the hefty man''s right hand with both her hands.

    "Please help me! If this goes wrong then my position in the Sect..." A sh of abject fear shed across Shuri''s face. "I made a huge gambit! If this goes well then I will get promoted into the upper echelons of this Sect, otherwise, I''ll- I''ll-"

    The man''s face cycled through a myriad of expressions. It was confusion that quickly warped into a neutral yet faintly devious expression that a predator would wear when prey was within view. "Don''t worry child!" He said while patting Shuri''s hand gently. "This uncle will make sure nothing goes wrong."

    Shuri revealed an overjoyed yet innocent smile, hiding a devious grin that would have dwarfed the crafty businessman''s.

    "Although..." the man continued. "This uncle will need some help in return..."

    "Anything!" Shuri shot back with no hesitation. "I''ll do anything as long as it is within my power!"

    "Perfect." A sly glint glittered in Lobert''s eyes. He was probably already envisioning his family rising up and dominating the market with his children as mages and so on.

    Shuri dangled the bait. The fat fish was already circling it. Getting caught was just an eventuality.

 Chapter 316 My "New" Master

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Markus approached his Master''s room tentatively, his steps uncertain. Ever since his Master had achieved a breakthrough into the Core Formation realm, Markus had sensed a subtle change in his countenance and an indescribable aura about him.

    As he crossed the imaginary threshold ten feet from his Master''s door, a heavy aura enveloped him, making each step increasingly difficult and the air denser.

    ''This is my Master''s mana domain,'' Markus confirmed silently, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. As a mage ascends to the Core Formation realm, they be more like beings of mana - ethereals. Eventually, the mana in and around the mage bes an extension of their body, controlled involuntarily with the ease of breathing. Markus'' Master was currently struggling to gain control over his substantially expanded mana domain.

    A mage in the Foundation Establishment realm could afford to leave their mana domain in its maximum circumference since it was rtively weak. However, a Core Formation realm mage''s mana domain was triple the size and much stronger. Therefore, it was impractical to leave it active as it would cause inconvenience and offence to others. Thus, the mage had to keep their domain within a reasonable radius, a challenging task akin to an extremely muscr person wearing a shirt two sizes too small.

    After Markus took his third step into his Master''s torrential domain, the pressure abruptly dissipated.

    ''Sorry about that,'' his Master''s voice resonated within his mind via Mana Transmission. ''It''s still a work in progress.''

    Markus managed a bitter smile, shaking his head as he slid open the door to his Master''s room. As he entered, he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the thick smoke of incense that permeated the air. The scent was indistinct but not unpleasant, and he felt a sense of calm wash over him.

    The room was simple, with minimal furniture and decoration. The only thing that stood out was the threerge ckboards in the corner of the room. They were filled with chalk writing, diagrams and tables in his Master''s distinct handwriting. His Master sat cross-legged on the floor behind the low work table, with his eyes closed as though in meditation. Markus did not wish to disturb his Master, and thus he assumed a cross-legged pose opposite him and waited patiently.

    As seconds ticked by, Markus'' breathing slowed, and his sight grew blurrier.

    "What do you see?" He heard an authoritative, baritone voice all around him.

    "I-I-" Markus tried to speak, but his tongue failed him.

    At that moment, Markus felt a heavy thrust pressing against his chest, pulling the air out of his lungs. The weight pressing down on him receded abruptly, and he suddenly felt himself being pulled out of his own body.

    For a brief second, Markus felt himself turning into smoke - he became one with the concentrated air around him. His vision changed, and what he saw was a garbled mess of colours, lights, and blurry shapes. The nonsensical downpour of information started to grow sharper until he finally saw his own unconscious body. This visionsted for a fraction of a second before he felt his smoke form dissipating. He opened his eyes and saw that the air in the room was free of smoke, and his Master was right up against his face with a palm ced on his chest.

    "What did you see?" The question was repeated, and Markus realised it was his Master''s new voice.

    "I don''t know," Markus answered, noticing the right side of his Master''s face twitching violently for a fraction of a second before his entire face assumed an uncertain frown.

    "How did it feel?" His Master followed up while crawling back into a cross-legged pose behind the worktable.

    "Like I was no longer inside my body," Markus said, summarising the surreal experience.

    "Did it feel good?" His Master probed.

    "A bit," was Markus'' response.

    "Interesting..." His Master muttered.

    "Umm," Markus vocalised, drawing his Master''s attention. "What was that?"

    "What was what? The smoke, the experience, or what I''m trying to do?" His Master listed with a mischievous grin.

    "Yes," Markus offered with a light chuckle.

    "Well, that was the smoke from the burning of Dream Sage Grass."

    "Isn''t that a controlled substance?!" Markus blurted out, choosing his words carefully to avoid implying that his Master hadmitted a crime.

    "It is controlled only for mortals. Not for mages," Master corrected. "The drug is flushed out of your system within seconds of ingestion. Don''t worry, I''ve confirmed this with Jean already - you know just how difficult she can be."

    "So am I right to assume that the experience was just a trip?" Markus hypothesised.

    "Not quite. It was an out-of-body spiritual excursion. Or at least an attempt." Master Larks reached for an open book on his table and turned it towards Markus. "Mage Ri documented his experiments to determine when it was easiest to advance one''s spiritual cultivation. It is uncharacteristically thorough and follows the scientific method to the letter. It is an interesting read if you can ignore the casual racism, human rights vitions, and multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity that hemitted in the process."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Markus squinted his brows and read the open page before his eyes darted out of their sockets. "This is vile!"

    "Just skip to the results," Master Larks followed up immediately. "It states that one can find greater sess if they attempt spiritual cultivation in the early stages of magehood. The process is difficult since the tethers that bind you to the mortal realm can be very distracting and can avert your focus from your spirituality. But the use of Dream Sage Grass was shown to have some beneficial effect in the process."

    "The results seem well substantiated, so I tried it out on myself. As expected, the effect was weaker on me due to my superior metabolism, but it should have a greater influence on you. Just earlier, I saw that it was working on you. I didn''t want to waste this opportunity, so I tried a new technique I had in the works through which one can pull their soul out of their body."

    Markus sputtered before eximing, "That sounds unsafe, Master!"

    "Not really. It''s not so trivial to simply extract the entire soul from your body. One could even say it''s impossible. The soul cannot exist without a vessel, just as a will cannot manifest and maintain itself physically in the world without a soul. In fact, the Tesseract Transformation realm is achieved when the mana core is fashioned into a vessel to hold the soul, which in turn ensures that the core doesn''t dissipate. It''s a perfect example of circr dependency," his Master paused the exnation to snort mirthfully. "Anyway, at present, the vessel for your soul is your body. So I cannotpletely remove your soul from it. If I did manage to do it, it would mean that I was practising necromancy and that too at a high level."

    "Is there a purpose behind this technique?" Markus redirected while trying to suppress the difort from the casual vition his Master justmitted on him.

    "It''s to gain a better understanding of one''s soul. If you can experience what it feels like to see the world through your spiritual eyes, it will make it easier for you to cultivate it," Master Larks exined.

    "That sounds very...plicated," Markus admitted, his tone marred with confusion. At that instance, he noticed his Master''s face twitching violently once again, and his head jerked abruptly from one side to the other.

    Worried, Markus reached forward to support his Master, but the maddened movement halted, and his Master spoke again. However, while the voice had the same tone, it had a much more pleasant and warm timbre.

    "I''m sorry about that," his Master said with a sincere, apologetic frown. "I guess I got ahead of myself there and forced you into something you weren''t prepared for. It won''t happen again."

    While the apology was directed towards Markus, he noticed a faintly chastising undertone that seemed to be self-directed.

    "Umm... It''s okay," Markus said apprehensively.

    "No," was his Master''s adamant response, "it is not."

    Again, the snipe felt self-directed. The right corner of his Master''s lip twitched violently, which was immediately met with a tight p by his Master''s left hand.

    "Nheless," Master Larks continued through the left side of his mouth. "Is this month''s progress report?"

    Markus nodded as he ced the folder he had carried with him on his Master''s work table.

    "I''ve been tracking the performance and progress of the students ording to the designated metrics. At this rate, we can expect the cohort to move on to the intermediate level within the next month," Markus reported.

    "That''s good to hear. What is the student feedback regarding the course content and workload?"

    Markus showed a bitter smile and said, "They aren''t used to such openmunication."

    As he said this, Markus retrieved three sheets of paper from the bottom of the folder. "The answers are far too diplomatic. In order to not offend anyone, they''re being very respectful, and their criticism is packaged as praise."

    Master Larks perused the papers and nodded affirmatively. "We may have to introduce some positive reinforcement to encourage the children to voice their criticism more openly."

    "The presumed risk-versus-reward ratio is very high," Markus emphasised. "From their point of view, they have more to lose if their criticism is taken poorly. So I suspect the reward must reflect this discrepancy."

    "We''ll have to brainstorm something for that, then," Master Larks hummed.

    The discussion continued for a few more minutes as Master Larks inquired about how specific children were coping with the new life.

    "I am concerned about Yohn," Master Larks pointed out. "Whilst his peers are progressing with magic, he has not been able to take a step down the path. I fear he will feel left out and harbour resentment."

    "Jean has been researching methods to supplement his loss of vision," Markus reasoned. "However, progress has been slow - non-existent, in fact! If his cultivation were just a bit higher, he could rely on his mana senses, but without the ability to cast a spell or cultivate, I do not think that is an option."

    "I propose that we prioritise this matter," Master Larks dered. "We cannot leave a child behind like this, especially when our sect is just starting."

    "I will inform the others ordingly," Markus affirmed. As the discussion drew to a close, he stood up to leave.

    "Oh, I almost forgot!" Master Larks'' voice called out just as Markus'' hand touched the door handle. "Since when do we have a Lowe''s Hardware, Landscaping and Construction within our business portfolio?"

 Chapter 317 (Hostile) Takeover

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Guy was shocked to see a familiar franchise from his previous world appearing in his humble organization''s portfolio. For a moment, he feared that he had unintentionally crossed paths with the only other person who had been transported to this world and had the foolish idea of giarizing a business venture from his past life without even changing its name!

    Observing his disciple''s awkward chuckle, Guy realized that there must be an interesting story behind it.

    "Lowe''s was acquired," Markus revealed. "Do you remember thepany we hired to handle the forestry clearing and establish the sect''s foundation? Well, we now own the majority shares of thatpany."

    "Thest I knew, Lowe''s didn''t follow that ownership model," Guy muttered.

    "They didn''t, but they were convinced that our proposed model would offer better financial opportunities," Markus responded, carefully choosing his words to avoid the main point.

    "What are you not telling me, Markus?" Guy asked, slightly frowning.

    "Master, do you recall the new member I recruited on my return trip?" Markus sighed before continuing.

    "I believe her name was Shuri, but I don''t know herst name," Guy confirmed.

    ''The insincere girl!'' The Other Guy eximed in his mind. The moment they saw her in the crowd, observing her behaviour and tone, the Other Guy immediately sensed that she was putting up a facade. Her words suggested sincerity, but her voice didn''t. Needless to say, the Other Guy didn''t like her - not one bit. After all, someone who passionately pursued the ''truth'' would take offence at someone living a life of lies. ''There is something odd about the girl...''

    Suppressing his right-sided twitch, Guy patiently waited for Markus to provide further exnation.

    "Well, through some unknown means, Shuri convinced Mister Lowe to shift his business model to our limited liability-based system," Markus began.

    "Unknown means?" Guy echoed in disbelief.

    "At first, I didn''t pay much attention, Master. But it was a sudden development, so I started monitoring the situation more closely," Markus borated. "After Mister Lowe made the change, she further convinced him to distribute a portion of his ownership among his three sons equally, to stimtepetition and prepare them for inheritance. Then, she persuaded the eldest son, who was born into a concubine, to sell some of his shares to her in order to umte funds and establish a subsidiary specializing in tools and hardware. The venture turned out to be quite sessful, propelling the eldest son to the forefront of the race for inheritance. This agitated the other two sons from the main wife, and Shuri capitalized on that by providing strategies to one of them to transform Lowe''s into a sessful brand, and to the other to optimize upstream channels by leveraging the diverse portfolio of the Verum Trading Company. In exchange for her consultation and assistance, she acquired shares from the two sons. As the market value of Lowe''s increased, she persuaded Mister Lowe to sell his shares to umte personal wealth, as using the business funds would be considered embezzlement and would vite the limited liability systemws enacted by the government."

    That''s right. Over the past few years, Guy had petitioned the Duchy to approve the limited liability-based business model. In this world, businesses were typically tied to individuals, families, or organizations. If any of them faced personal issues, their businesses would suffer by association alone, leading to unlimited liability. It was a challenging task, but Guy managed to secure a one-hour meeting with the Head of the Ministry of Finance of the Maika Duchy. He exined the benefits of the limited liability model, and although Guy initially had doubts, he eventually realized that it would be highly profitable for the government (and himself) to implement this strategy.

    By default, the government would own a minority, non-dilutable share of any venture adopting this model. If the business seeded, the government would secure a valuable asset. If it failed, the government could liquidate the business and sell its fixed assets for profit.

    This initiative swiftly made its way through the bureaucratic channels, and a region-wide bill was passed to establish the limited liability model asw. However, most businessmen were hesitant to switch to this model as it jeopardized their ownership on paper.

    "Ultimately, Shuri umted enough shares as the representative of Verum Trading Company to gain majority ownership. Furion seized this opportunity and... well, as you can see, we now have another business in our portfolio," Markus concluded.

    "Speaking of Furion, how is he doing? I haven''t had a chance to speak with him since returning to the sect," Guy changed the subject.

    "He actually achieved a breakthrough and reached the Foundation Establishment Realm," Markus snapped his fingers in response.

    "Really? How did that happen?"

    "Well, he mentioned that closing business deals had been giving him an exhrating rushtely. He described it as ''almost orgasmic.'' I thought it was just some perverted fetish of his, but it turned out to be his cultivation resonating with him. After the Lowe''s acquisition, he made a breakthrough and entered the Foundation Establishment Realm," Markus exined. "However, there have been some... unusual developments in that regard."

    "Unusual? In what way?"

    Markus took a deep breath and continued, "His skin has taken on a faint orangish shade, and his hair is turning pale blonde. Such outward changes usually ur with the advancement to the Core Formation Realm. Furion suspected that something else was at y and consulted a teacher specializing in bloodlines and physiques. Surprisingly, a faint trace of Voracious Citrus was discovered in Furion''s bloodline."

    "What is Voracious Citrus?" Guy snorted, amused by the name. In his mind, he envisioned aical scenario of a citrus fruit engaging in human activities.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Markus chuckled and replied, "Voracious Citrus is an extremely rare fruit that originates from the dense rainforests of the Fae Realm. It grows as a creeper nt that consumes everything in its surroundings, hence the name. Once the orange fruit consumes enough biomass, it reaches a critical point where it converts the mass into mana, propelling its cultivation to the Core Formation Realm. The fruit only grows in specific climates in Gaea and is highly sought after for its condensed energy density and properties for alchemy, including efficient mass-to-mana conversion."

    "How is Furion''s bloodline activating this?" Guy inquired.

    "Apparently, mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers resonate with the voracious nature of the aptly named Citrus," Markus responded, maintaining a neutral expression. "He hinted that there was something else that triggered his bloodline, but he''s been quite secretive about revealing it."

    "Well..." Guy muttered, "Good for him. I''m sure his father is thrilled by this development."

    "He definitely is!" Markus confirmed. "There have been discussions about securing alliances through marriage with noble ns as well. Although it seems that very few women are willing to overlook the discolouration of his skin."

    "Well, money and power can certainly influence people''s perspectives," Guy wryly remarked. "As Furion umtes more of both, the discolouration will fade away in their eyes."

    "That''s a rather cynical way to look at it," Markusmented sadly.

    "Well, an alliance through marriage is often more about two familiesing together than two people genuinely liking each other. What matters most is that the two individuals getting married learn to live harmoniously with each other. It''s a somewhat sad reality, but what can you do? Marriage has always been and will likely remain the most direct and effective way to establish rtions between parties," Guy exined. This concept held true even in his world, which could arguably be considered more advanced than the current one.

    "Nevertheless, it''s impressive that Shuri managed to secure such a valuable asset for the sect. We should definitely reward her!" Guy dered. "How do you think we should go about it?"

    "I''ll discuss it with Marie. She has worked more closely with Shuri, so she may have some ideas," Markus suggested.

    "Proceed as you see fit," Guy dismissed with a final nod. Markus bowed and left the room.

    "I don''t like that girl," Guy''s right side expressed.

    "Whether you like her or not is irrelevant. She is a member of the sect and should be treated as such. We don''t discriminate or show preferential treatment," Guy''s left side reminded him. "But what has got you so worked up about her anyway?"

    "When I saw her, I tried to read her soul as I usually do. It helps me get a sense of people," the right side exined. "But her soul kept screaming at me that her life was a lie, that she was living a lie. It''s hard to put into words, more of an intuitive feeling."

    "That''s a vition of privacy!" the left side eximed. "And speaking of which, what on earth did you do to Markus without permission? Are you out of your mind? I thought I made it clear that your experiments with Dora were thest straw. You can''t just tamper with people like this without their consent."

    "Whatever," the right side dismissed. "An ant is an ant, and its soul would agree. A monkey is a monkey. However, the girl''s soul didn''t align with whom she imed to be."

    "You''re being cryptic again," the left side scolded.

    "Yeah, well, screw you too!"

    Guy sighed in exasperation, his left index finger tapping on the newly added entry of Lowe''s Hardware, Landscaping, and Construction in the business portfolio chart.

    "Shuri..." he said aloud. "Maybe I should have a one-on-one session with her. I''ve personally spoken to all the other members, except her."

    ____

    Shuri had been screaming her anger into the down-filled bag when suddenly an irritating tickling sensation invaded her nostrils, causing her to release a loud sneeze.

    She pulled her face out of the pillows and sneezed loudly.

    "A-A-AAACHOOOOOOO!"

 Chapter 318 Surging Success

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    What is a rpse? It is a term often associated with addiction. When a person, after abstaining from their addiction, slips up and reverts to old, destructive habits, it is called a rpse.

    Shuri had rpsed. However, the problem was that she didn''t show any signs of being addicted in the first ce. And what was she even addicted to?

    It all happened in a blur, to be honest. A sudden burst of ecstasy followed by a sh of images that even her photographic memory skimmed over. And before she knew it, she had acquired an entirepany for the Verum Trading Company. When she realized what she had just done, Shuri had the sudden urge to grab a knife and end everything right then and there. Once again, she had been betrayed, not by another person but by herself.

    At this point, Shuri should have grown ustomed to it, considering that this was the new trend her life had taken ever since joining this forsaken Sect. While her life in the Pce was risky and treacherous, at least there were small victories she could enjoy at times. But here, it was just defeat after defeat, and it was taking a toll on her sanity. So much so that when offered a glimpse into a familiar life, Shuri went overboard. That''s what happened with the whole Lowe''s acquisition. Returning to familiarity after a painful journey into the unknown had caused her to overpensate.

    "And then there''s this annoying feeling of being manipted that''s gnawing away at me..."

    It was especially true whenever Shuri interacted with Marie. Each conversation, action, and decision felt like a convoluted game of chess in four dimensions.

    "Why do I feel like she set me up for this too?"

    In a sense, it felt like she was being groomed in a particr direction. Like a puppy being trained to be a fearsome attack dog.

    Shuri shook her head to clear her mind of distracting thoughts. The milk was already spilt; there was no point crying over it now. She might as well topple the other jugs while she was at it.

    Returning to her desk, she directed her gaze towards the inert mana core affixed atop a custom stand of her design. Around the stand were a series of tools and resources required for the uing process of programming the mana core. It was a delicate process with arge margin of error, something she couldn''t afford at this moment. Although the setup to farm the wisps and slimes was underway, it hadn''t reached a state where a steady supply of mana cores could be expected. So, for the time being, this was the only mana core avable.

    Programming an inert mana core borrowed techniques from Enchanting, requiring an inscribing tool. The ink used was a special blend of alchemical ingredients designed by the n, and Shuri had produced a vial full of it.

    Shuri emptied her lungs and took a fresh breath of air. She then touched the mana gem embedded into the side of the stand and channelled her mana through it. As she did so, the metallic stand started to glow with an ethereal purple colour that moved up towards the inert core. The colourless core filled up with the purple shade and grew brighter. Then, the light from the core exploded outwards and expanded to form a holographic projection of the inert core, centered at the now dull sphere.

    A tense breath escaped Shuri''s lips. The fact that the projection had seeded proved that the stand and the enchantment on it had been done correctly. In order to conceal her affiliation with the Yoruz n, she had tomission the smithing and enchantment through various channels. While it was possible to do both using The Burning Forge, she couldn''t afford to leave a trail for the Empire''s agents to track. So, she had the smithing done in parts by two different people, with an extremely in-depth description of how the mana channels needed to beid out to avoid any issues when the parts came together. The inscription for the mana gem was done in-house by her. It wasn''t difficult to etch into the mana gem since technically, this was the first thing any aspiring Automage (what the Yoruz n called the cultivators following the path of golemancy and magical automation) had to achieve - the Programming Stand was the first step.

    After hardening her resolve, Shuri raised the inscribing tool and brought it towards the projected hologram. The tool started to glow as her mana coursed through it. As the glowing tool neared the projection, a purple ethereal mark appeared in the empty space. Shuri controlled her movements, especially the sudden shakiness assaulting her arm, and moved the tool along ording to the very first design from her memory. The process was slow and required steady movements. It was a bit more forgivingpared to Enchantment since the space she was working with wasrger pare a mana gem to an inert core). However, with the increased space came a much more expansive and intricate design. There was little room for error and no time to pause. Luckily, Shuri was equipped with the gift of perfect memory, so what she envisioned quickly formed in the empty ethereal projection.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    To some extent, programming a mana core was simr to inscribing on a mana gem. In fact, modern enchanting in Gaea was derived from mana core programming principles after multiple steps to condense the intricacy of the process. A mana core can hold many more inscriptions inside itpared to a mana gem, making it more multifunctional and able to perform moreplex tasks. The more advanced the inert core is, the more inscriptions it can handle, thus allowing it to amodate more intricate tasks. For reference, a Core Formation realm core is sorge that you would need up to five mages working on it simultaneously. The one on Shuri''s work desk was only a Mana Condensation realm one, and it had the capacity to handle the most basic of tasks. And of all the avable basic options, Shuri was attempting the most basic one.

    Seconds ticked by, transitioning into minutes, which eventually stretched into hours. The sun, at its zenith, when Shuri began her work, had since set, casting a dusky hue across the room. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Shuri released a slow, steady breath of satisfaction. With that, she ceased channelling mana into the inscription tool and moved her hand towards the mana gem resting on the side of the stand. Activating the gem caused the purple light emanating from it to fade. As the light reached the mana core, the holographic projection flickered momentarily beforepressing onto the core''s surface. The once dull core regained its luminosity, with a shimmering purple sheen that fluctuated in brightness. Apanying this transformation was a faint sizzling sound emanating from the core.

    Unconsciously, Shuri held her breath. This was the crucial moment that would determine the sess or failure of the entire process. If the core epted the design, the sizzling would subside, and the core would acquire a permanent ethereal sheen. Failure, on the other hand, would result in the core shattering into pieces.

    "Sess!" Shuri eximed as the orb settled, emitting a faint, misty-white glow. The programming had been sessful. Shuri carefully picked up the warm sphere, using her mana sense to perceive the steady stream of surrounding mana being absorbed by the core. Simr to an inscribed mana gem, the programmed core could function independently as long as it held mana within. The mana replenishment urred at a standard rate based on the core''s stage. A sessful program ensured that the core''s mana capacity did not drop below 90% during operation. However, achieving this was only possible when the core was assigned the most trivial tasks. In reality, a program had to strike a delicate bnce where mana consumption equalled the replenishment rate, favouring the replenishment process. The Yoruz n''s manuals did not explore this concept, instead offering the most optimal inscriptions directly, as they had been thoroughly tested by the n over the years.

    Shuri directed her gaze toward the sole source of light in her room, positioning the ball between her line of sight and the light. She then channelled her mana through one of the core''s two outer mana pathways. The ball grew slightly brighter, but simultaneously, the light on the wall dimmed until itpletely faded away.

    A triumphant smile spread across Shuri''s face, allowing herself a moment of revelry. She channelled her mana through the other pathway, causing a wisp of light to escape the ball, returning it to its original luminosity. The wisp darted forth with speed, settling on the wall and illuminating it once again.

    "YES!" Shuri eximed with delight, her blood pulsating vigorously in sync with her cheer. An exhrating sense of achievement surged through her nerves, causing her muscles to tense and rx rapidly.

    "Oh~ Yeaaah!" An embarrassingly long moan escaped her lips. At that moment, she felt it - the erratic movement of her mana swirling within her body. What was happening?

    Suddenly, the circting mana surged toward her core, and a faint tremor resonated throughout her body.

    "This-"

    Shuri covered her mouth, suppressing another moan. Just then, a series of knocks echoed from her door.

    "Shuri? Are you in there? It''s well past dinnertime, and I didn''t see you in the mess hall," a deep baritone voice called out.

    Shuri''s eyes widened in shock as she quickly connected the voice to its source.

    "~I''ming~" Shuri instinctively replied, though her momentarypse due to the shock caused her voice to modte alongside the suppressed moan.

 Chapter 319 When The Spider Enters The Flyâ€™s Parlour

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuriposed herself, taking a deep breath to steady her trembling legs, before hurriedly opening the door for the Sect Leader. The man she had been trying to avoid had just entered her room. At this point, Shuri didn''t care anymore. This was the worst-case scenario¡ª NO, there was an even worse case she didn''t want to imagine, fearing that the world would conspire against her just by entertaining such thoughts.

    "Um, Sect Leader Larks. Greetings!" Shuri said, bowing low. Her body moved stiffly as fear, uncertainty, and doubt began to overpower her muscles.

    "No need for all those formalities," Sect Leader Larks responded, waving his hands. "Everyone was worried when you didn''t show up for dinner. Grace was just about to storm in here and throw a fit, but I managed to stop her," he added with a chuckle. He seemed to expect her to join in, but her mind was too preupied to follow such obvious social cues. As a result, an awkward one-sided chuckle went on for too long.

    The Sect Leader coughed, attempting (and failing) to disperse the awkwardness. He then raised a covered te in his hands, revealing her dinner. Maneuvering past Shuri, who had been frozen stiff, blocking the doorway, he ced the te on her table and removed the cover, revealing a colorful assortment of food.

    "I also heard that you skipped lunch?"

    "I was a bit busy," Shuri answered tly. "My apologies."

    "Don''t apologize to me; it''s your health that you''re ruining with your carelessness," Sect Leader Larks chided. "If anyone deserves an apology, it''s you alone. Well, I should also apologize."

    He reached forward, causing Shuri to flinch. "Whoa! Rx. I''m not going to hurt you."

    "Okay," Shuri responded curtly, retreating a few steps. Her gaze remained fixed on the man in her room, who shuffled ufortably before finding a chair and taking a seat. He gestured for Shuri to sit opposite him on her bed. After both were seated, he sent an expectant gaze her way, hoping for a conversation to unfold. This time, however, Shuri wasn''t going to fall for the ssic trap. Simr to negotiations, the person who spoke first always lost.

    "So," Sect Leader Larks said, cutting the silence short. His fingers drummed Shuri''s work table with a stiff rhythm, entuating his difort. "I just realized that I never really had the opportunity to have a conversation with you. An opportunity presented itself today, so I decided, why not?"

    "If that''s what the Sect Leader wishes," Shuri affirmed, jumping up from her bed and offering a respectful bow.

    "It''s not like that..." he said hurriedly, shaking his hands frantically before releasing a tired sigh.

    "It seems you have a rather rigid image of me in your mind," he continued, tilting his head backwards. "Do not be so quick to draw conclusions, Shuri. I''m a pretty chill dude!"

    Shuri''s gaze narrowed. ''What does his body temperature have to do with anything?''

    She decided not to question the man''s ramblings and nodded with a smile. When she received a smile in return, Shuri congratted herself for deciphering the new social instance correctly and filed it away in her mind forter.

    The man pped his hands and eximed, "Um, why don''t we start with an introduction? I''ll start."

    "My name is Guy Larks - as you probably already know. Before I became a Sect Leader, I was a Teaching Apprentice at the Radiant Academy. I failed to meet the assessment criteria and was subsequently fired from my position. I was also cklisted from the profession altogether," the Sect Leader narrated. Shuri had some doubts about the circumstances of his firing. Reaching Core Formation in one''s mid-twenties wasn''t a trivial achievement. If he were truly capable, the Radiant Academy wouldn''t have dismissed him.

    She suspected that there may have been political undercurrents at y. Another thing that struck her as peculiar was his casual and nonchnt attitude towards being snubbed in such a manner. Where was the self-respect of a Sect Leader, of a mage in the Core Formation realm?

    ''Is he biding his time and growing his power? Is his opponent so strong that...''

    "Fortunately, I had a Disciple who cared for me. He brought me to Twilight Vige. There, I met Grace and others. I founded this sect because I felt like I had a lot to contribute to this world. I also realized that the world wasn''t particrly fair to the children living in it¡ªthe children who are supposed to represent the future."

    Shuri had to suppress an instinctive snort. She now understood why Markus spoke in a simr way. ''Like master, like disciple.''

    As though he could read her thoughts, the Sect Leader chuckled mirthfully and said, "You must be thinking that I''m being idealistic, even naive. Well, a little bit of naivety definitely makes your life brighter. Of course, if you let it get to your head, it turns to stupidity, and then arrogance. That''s the constant struggle, isn''t it?"

    ''That''s a great way to get yourself killed,'' Shuri thought to herself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "As an adult, I can see that my enthusiasm cane off as immaturity. But it''s a matter of leading by example," Sect Leader Larks emphasized, leaning back in his chair. His hand on the table inched forward and began rolling the faintly glowing mana core back and forth. Shuri''s body stiffened even more as she watched.

    "Most of the children in the Sect grew up too quickly. They never got the opportunity to experience their childhood and live a life of immaturity filled with naivety. You see, one of the upsides of naivety is that it helps youe up with extraordinary and sometimes downright impossible ideas. Children are special because they can''t fathom impossibility just yet. As a result, they often achieve things that older individuals consider impossible. That''s why I''m striving to create an environment that allows kids to be kids while they still have time," the Sect Leader exined.

    "But for how long?" Shuri blurted out. The constant stream of idealistic words, coupled with the casual fidgeting of the mana core, broke through her guard. "Do you think this Sect can survive the storms that are toe? Do you think this de-fanged cohort of mages, in name only, can stand up against trained warriors?"

    Just as Shuri covered her mouth, her eyes widened, and she noticed the Sect Leader''s right side twitching. His right hand, which had been fidgeting with the mana core, grabbed the ball firmly, raised it to his face, and started squeezing.

    "Oh, but we already have!" Only the right side spoke. "The so-called mages who frolic around and unt their half-baked understanding of the world they live in can''t even hold a candle to the might of the Truth-"

    At that moment, the left hand rose and covered the Sect Leader''s mouth. The right brow creased in anger. And almost immediately, Shuri realized she had made a terrible mistake.

    ''So this is how I die,'' Shuri cursed through gritted teeth as all her survival rms red in earnest. There was an overwhelming intent to maim, or possibly kill, hanging in the room. ''Why the fuck didn''t I just keep my mouth shut like I always do?! Why-?''

    Shuri could see the mana emanating from the Sect Leader''s right side. The mana redirected and started to course through the mana core as he crushed the ball. Suddenly, the only source of light in the room turned into a wispy, luminous ball and rushed towards the core.

    In an instant, Shuri''s rms turned offpletely. Her instincts told her that the danger had passed. Shuri started to wheeze as her hitched breathing resumed. She looked up fearfully and noticed the Sect Leader''splete attention focused on the brighter ball in his hand.

    "What is this?" He asked as he turned the ball around and used his mana senses to inspect it. This time, both his right and left sides were cooperating. "Curious... the inscriptions on this are exquisite!"

    "What does it do? Does it capture light?"

    "And releases it," Shuri exined, her voice tinged with pride.

    The Sect Leader sent his mana through the core and watched as the captured wisp escaped and returned to its ce in thentern hanging in the room.

    "Amazing!" A maicugh echoed within the room as the Sect Leader repeated the process of capture and release. "How did you make this?"

    Shuri was about to answer that question when her mind quickly pressed the brakes. She had almost revealed her entire family history.

    ''Once again, I''ve almost been caught due to sincere praise!'' Shuri chastised herself.

    "Umm, that''s..."

    The Sect Leader tilted his head, revealing a curious frown. "A family secret, I presume? Markus did tell me that you were a runaway. Speaking of which, should we be worried about your family? I mean, I don''t mind you being here, but it could cause trouble for those who care about you."

    "Luckily, there''s no need to worry," Shuri answered curtly, which was met with a dismayed and pitying expression from the Sect Leader. "No matter. You know what they say? Family isn''t something you''re born with, but something you create. Luckily for us, we have all the necessary parts here to create a perfect family," he said, nodding his head towards Shuri''s window.

    "Now, go ahead and eat. I won''t take any more of your time," the man said as he stood up to leave. He turned the ball in his hand and hummed appreciatively.

    Shuri contained her happiness as the Sect Leader made his way towards the door. As he opened it and stepped out, her racing heart began to slow down and rx. But it was short-lived as he stopped in his tracks, pped his forehead, turned around onest time, opened his mouth, and spoke.

    "I almost forgot to congratte you on your breakthrough just now! Good job! It seems you have found a field of study that resonates with you. This is a monumental achievement, so pleasee to my office tomorrow afternoon following the morning lesson to formalize your cultivation track," he said with a smile, his eyes fixed on the luminous mana core on Shuri''s desk, causing her to break out in a cold sweat. "And please bring that light-capturing ball with you as well."

    As the door closed behind the Sect Leader, Shuri''s body gave way, and she copsed onto the ground. Her eyes stared nkly at the ceiling.

    "Fuck..."

 Chapter 320 Mission Possible

    ?

    Shuri stood before the imposing doors that would lead into her inevitable execution room, clutching her workbooks in her left hand and the faintly luminous mana core in her right. She took a moment to mentally check off one of thest two items in her "do not do" list (thest one was so taboo that she didn''t even want to think about it). She also took another moment to cross out every single n and scheme she had formted whileing to this sect. Her means of escape had all but closed. She had thought of herself as a wolf in sheep''s clothing, ready to take what she desired and escape before the shepherd caught her. But it turned out she was just one of the sheep all along, fooled into believing she was a wolf in sheep''s clothing.

    ''And just like any sheep, once I have outlived my necessity, I will be culled,'' Shuri concluded. As she did so, she raised the ball in her palms and looked at it with a pensive expression. She was one hundred per cent certain that her appointment today was about this curious creation in her hand. Shuri knew that her sessful attempt to manifest the Yoruz n''s magical automation would attract the attention of those above. She had banked on this eventuality and had prepared for it, although she thought it would ur a few months down the line after she had made sufficient progress in the n''s arts and techniques.

    She couldn''t reveal the source of her knowledge; that much was a fact. Her only pathway was to pass off the knowledge as something derived from the vaults of her "family" - the same "family" she had run away from. Of course, this would be a lie (or from another perspective, a half-truth), and any mage worth their salt would be able to figure this out after observing Shuri''s micro-expressions. But as long as Shuri could prove her value, she could be so crucial to the sect through her contributions and presence that it would be impossible to remove her without incurring significant bacsh. This would be possible over time, once she mastered everything her mother''s n had to offer and released a few products integrating those skills. In fact, she could even spin the whole debacle with the Lowe''s acquisition to her advantage this way.

    Unfortunately, though, her timeline was pulled forward by years, and she had yet to build her value for the sect.

    "You cane in, you know," the maic baritone called from across the closed door. "You''ve been standing there for a while!"

    Shuri contained her embarrassment as best she could, although the increasing rose tint on her cheeks kept growing more vivid. She coughed and opened the door, "Good morning, Sect Leader Larks."

    As she was about to bow, she suddenly felt an opposition stopping her from dipping lower.

    "As I''ve said, there is no need for all that formality," the man reminded as he waved his hand away. "Come, sit."

    With measured steps, Shuri approached the man and sat down on the floor opposite him with only a table separating them.

    "Before we begin, once again, congrattions on the minor breakthrough!" the sect leader encouraged. "You should have noticed that the one you experienced yesterday was vastly different from the one you experienced when spamming spells to forcefully expand your mana channels. This is, ording to texts and experience, the result of you encroaching upon a cultivation method that resonates with you. I have reason to believe that it may have something to do with that peculiar ball you hold in your hand."

    Shuri subconsciously moved the ball away from the man''s line of sight, though she knew it did little to dissuade him given how the entire mana in the room was his tomand and observe.

    "I did some reading before you came and learned that the process of inscribing on inert mana cores is the scarcely practised art of Automagy," he continued. "Though I was disappointed to find that there was very little about it,pared to the literal horde of literature avable on Enchanting and inscribing on mana gems."

    After receiving Shuri''s nod, he then added, "Which is why I''m intrigued to learn about this aplishment of yours."

    Shuri wore a conflicted expression, implying that they were encroaching on a difficult topic for her. She hoped that the sect leader would take the hint, though it was only a faint one since she knew that the prospects of Automagy were far too alluring for him to pass.

    "I see," luckily, he caught the hint. "How did you learn this, by the way?"

    "I am not supposed to know this. The cultivation arts weren''t technically meant for me to begin with. I only learned it through subterfuge and sneaky means," Shuri answered (half-)truthfully. No word said was a falsehood; therefore, she was confident that it wouldn''t trigger any of the sect leader''s rms.

    "And yet, even with the half-knowledge, you were able to trigger a resonance," he highlighted with an impressed quirk on his lips. "But I''m sure you know by now that nothing is more dangerous than half-knowledge because it''s equivalent to building a house on sand."

    Sect Leader Larks'' fingers drummed on his table as he contemted something. After a momentary pause, he extended his right hand and asked, "If you''ll allow me, I''d like to inspect your cultivation so that we can have a clearer understanding of what we''re working with."

    The hand approached Shuri in slow motion, and as it did so, her pupils erged marginally. She recoiled backwards in fear and shrieked, "NO!"

    The denial echoed even within the small room, or maybe it was just Shuri''s perception as her senses started to dial up to a thousand per cent. The encroaching arm halted in its tracks. She raised her gaze and noticed the right side of the sect leader''s face twitching furiously.

    "What are you hiding!" The right side spat. But it was only for a split second as the man''s mien immediately started to contort and shift rapidly.

    "Sorry about that," the man squeezed out through gritted teeth. It was clear that he was going through something... something suspicious that Shuri did not want any part of. She started to mentally simte her escape from the room, training herself to dodge and weave through any obstacles in her path between her current location and the door.

    "I can understand your apprehension. Letting someone you barely know inspect something so personal to a mage is a lot to ask," he said. "Which is why we shouldn''t be taking things for granted and push the limits of morality like this." Thest sentence strangely felt self-directed.

    "I''ll leave it up to you on how to proceed," the sect leader decided. "I''m happy that you''ve found a path for yourself. Though I strongly encourage you to maintain caution as you progress."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Thank you for the warning, Sect Leader," Shuri responded immediately as she bowed while seated. She jolted up and started to scoot backwards towards the door to make a quick getaway.

    "Wait!" He called out, but Shuri was already at the door and pulling it open¡ªor so she thought as the door refused to budge. "Where are you going?" The baritone voice inquired. "We haven''t finished our meeting just yet."

    Shuri smiled wryly and returned to sitting in the lotus position. "I actually called you here because I am intrigued by that light-capturing ball and its mechanism."

    Reaching behind her back, Shuri retrieved the sneakily hidden inscribed mana core and slid it towards the sect leader apprehensively.

    "Such an interesting concept. Marvellous!" Heplimented while spinning the ball carefully in his palms. "The inscriptions are barely visible, but they are so condensed!"

    The sect leader''s sparkling gaze separated itself from the core and looked towards Shuri with strong conviction in them. "This will do!"

    "Will do... what?" Shuri probed.

    "For Yohn... Yes, it will definitely do!" He murmured.

    "Umm, Sect Leader?" Shuri reminded as she verbally poked the man out of his reverie.

    "Do you realize the opportunity this invention presents?" to which Shuri tilted her head in confusion. Wasn''t it obvious? The reason why everyone envied and hated the Yoruz n was due to the force multiplier nature of their cultivation arts. That WAS the endpoint of Automagy, right?

    The sect leader turned around and pulled out a roll of paper from the drawers behind him. He unfurled it on the table and ced weights on each corner to hold it in ce. He retrieved a writing utensil and started speaking as he jotted down designs on the paper.

    "When I first read about Automagy, I got only a vague idea about what it actually was and what it entailed. However, the brief description was enough to formte a hypothesis which, now that I''ve had another closer look at this light-capturing ball, has only grown more certain. The end goal of Automagy is automation, pure and simple. Anything that a human can achieve and more can be automated. Kind of like magic but without needing to be a mage, which makes the outputs of Automagy more essible to themon folk. Better yet, it offers pathways for magic to be essible to folk who arecking in a particr way and unable to tap into its potential."

    Shuri matched the man''s words with the simple diagram drawn on paper. It made sense. Her mind quickly made connections between what was said before and now, and a hypothesis clicked into ce.

    "You want to devise a solution that could help Yohn cast spells without the necessity of sight?" Shuri evoked.

    The sect leader snapped his fingers and smiled excitedly. "Do you know the purpose behind why I created magic wands and devised new spell-casting methods?"

    Shuri realized that it was a rhetorical question and volleyed with a "Why?"

    At that point, he opened up and narrated the entire story of how he met Markus till his arrival in the vige.

    "I believe that embracing magic is the pathway to the development of society," the sect leader orated passionately. "Its potentials are virtually unlimited¡ªlimited only by the extent of our understanding of the world we live in. And it doesn''t help that the knowledge about magic is hoarded by the few who live at the peak of the societal hierarchy. This is the purpose of the sect¡ªto ensure that one day, even the humble street sweep has ess to magic capable of making his work easier."

    "That''s admirable," Shuri responded nkly, though her thoughts said, ''Foolish!''

    "Do not lie!" The right side of the man''s face boomed with a stern frown, which dissipated quickly. "I recognise that your past, whatever it may be, has influenced you quite a bit. I''m truly sorry for everything you may have had to face in the past. But please know that you are in a safe space now; you are in a ce that cherishes you and your abilities, and I wish to prove that to you. I have been told that you are quite ingenuitive and a curious researcher. Given that you have some background in the field of Automagy, I am assigning you a task."

    Shuri did not expect the conversation to move in this direction. In hindsight, when has anything followed her prediction sinceing to this Sect? And so, Shuri braced herself for the man''s subsequent words.

    "I have personally hit a roadblock in my attempts at this problem, so I''m hoping that your fresher perspective might lead us somewhere new. Your mission, Shuri, is to find out a strategy for Yohn to be able to cast spells like the rest of us," the Sect Leader dered with a firm tone.

 Chapter 321 Orchestrated

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Guy nned to have a sit down with Shuri eventually. After hearing about the sessful acquisition, he ideated an assembly tomend her achievement before transitioning into a one-to-one. After all, what she had done was a massive aplishment that had to beuded. However, things did not pan out that way.

    "Don''t worry about your responsibility as Marie''s research assistant. She has agreed to defer your deliverables for ater date so that you can ce yourplete focus on this task."

    The girl''s expression spoke understanding, but whaty underneath implied something else altogether. Guy had realised what his counterpart said about the girl being duplicitous during their conversation in the girl''s room. But Guy did not take this duplicity as something malicious, but rather as a defence mechanism. The infrequent truths peppered between her words spoke of a past where she''d had to live a life of solitude, grovelling, and fear. Furthermore, she''d built such a robustyer of lies around her that she seemed to have forgotten herself in the process.

    She didn''t trust others because she barely trusted herself.

    "I''m not sure that I can deliver towards such a heavy responsibility..." The girl said, half truthfully and half in an attempt to weasel out of the limelight.

    "Nonsense! If that were true, there wouldn''t be so many people ready to vouch for you," Guy refuted. He noticed the girl''s eyes widen and dart around in panic. "Markus, Jean, and Marie, all have had a good impression of you and have high opinions of your capabilities. Your peers also share simr opinions. All things considered, and given your predisposition towards the field of Automagy, I am confident that you will be able to bear this responsibility and produce results."

    He immediately doubled back and emphasized, "You don''t have to produce results, mind you. But I want to rest assured that we''ve considered all possible avenues before calling it quits."

    "But this is something I do not know of! Even with all that I have gleaned from my past, I''ve barely touched upon this topic," Shuri argued worriedly.

    "Of course, if it were already done, there would be no point in studying it in the first ce," Guy hinted with a mischievous smile. "As you know, I did a bit of background research on this topic myself."

    He reached into his jacket and produced a folded piece of parchment, as well as a key. He ced them both on the table and slid them towards Shuri. Before she could manifest confusion on her face, he exined, "This key will give you ess to the restricted section in the Library. Over there, I want you to look into the literature listed in this parchment. I have borated on the preferred reading order, some of which will require you to dip into basics avable outside the restricted section. But I have a strong suspicion that this may help you closer to what you want."

    Shuri stared at the two items with a contemtive frown, but she radiated panic and apprehension from within. Guy held back a chuckle. In the end, she reached for the two and stored them inside her jacket.

    "We''ll have a meeting every week at this time." Those words caused the girl to jolt. "I want you to keep me updated on anything you''ve learned. Although I know that you cannot share the secrets of Automagy, you CAN share what you''ve learned. That is the philosophy of the Sect, after all."

    Shuri clearly didn''t want to stay here any longer and made it known immediately as she shed out of the room with such speed and vigour that Guy was certain he saw an outline of her form linger in front of him for a second. However, her escape was cut short as the moment she slid his door open, she collided with the person standing outside.

    "Woah there!" The guest eximed as she cushioned Shuri''s head from colliding against her.

    "Marie!" Guy greeted. "Right on time, as usual."

    Marie revealed a mischievous smile to the fleeing girl before moving past her and entering the room.

    "How did it go?" Marie inquired, to which Guy chuckled sarcastically.

    "I''m pretty sure that''s a rhetorical question," Guy retorted.

    "Well, it''s one thing to see it from afar, and another to hear it from the people involved. The Heavenly Eye does not discriminate and is perfectly objective, which is both an advantage and disadvantage," Marie reasoned.

    "I was suspicious when you brought such a proposition out of the blue, I''m not going to lie," Guy started. "You know just how invested I am in this project. But then you walk in and ask me to foist it upon a girl no older than you, who I''ve very little personal experience with."

    "You won''t be disappointed," Marie responded, refusing to exin any further.

    "Even though I trust you, you know that I cannot just work with your word alone. The children here are my responsibility, and I cannot burden you with it no matter how mature you may be," Guy said while shaking his head. "Exin your purpose so that I can rest assured."

    Marie furrowed her brows and hummed in thought. "The girl hides a lot."

    "I know that," Guy affirmed. "The only reason I did not grill her about her knowledge of Automagy is because you asked me not to."

    "It is better to live in ignorance about the source of that knowledge, Mister Larks. At least for now while the Sect is still in its initial stages," Marie hinted. "This was also why I asked you to alter the trajectory of her cultivation by giving her ess to those books. She knows more about Automagy than she lets on, and if she walks down that path, not only will it lead to trouble for the Sect, it will also doom her."

    Guy inhaled a cold breath at that statement.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I don''t understand why you''ve taken such an interest in this girl," Guy said offhandedly. "What are you thinking?"

    Marie noticed the burgeoning mischief in Guy''s gaze and responded with a wry smile, "It''s nothing like that. I just feel responsible for her, you know? I have a vested interest in her well-being, and I want her to live a happy life."

    "Happy by whose standards?" Guy shot back. Marie''s words, while well-meant, had a possibility of veering down a dangerous path. "Just because you are happy with something doesn''t mean others will be happy with the same oue. Not everyone behaves the same way."

    "I know that - I''m not trying to y deity here," Marie defended herself. "I just want Shuri to peel the manyyers of lies she''s built around herself. She doesn''t need to be truthful with others, but at least she should stop lying to herself."

    "The girl is buried deep within a mire of lies. I suspect she, herself, is unsure of her identity. She has probably rationalised something to keep her mind from fragmenting," Guy affirmed. But he raised a finger and emphasized, "But those lies are what give herfort. If you pull theyers away forcefully, it will do more harm than good - like removing the shell off of a hermit crab. If you want to excavate her from all the lies, do it incrementally. I''ve taken notice of your attempts, but I strongly advise caution."

    Marie nodded and said, "I will keep that in mind, Mister Larks."

    A thoughtful silence followed as both parties let the conversation simmer.

    "On a different note, how are things going with you?" Guy asked. "I''m not asking this as the Sect Leader but as someone who cares for you and is concerned about you."

    "What do I say?" Marie responded with a warm smile.

    "Is Mage Nara treating you well," Guy probed in a low voice. He knew that whispering didn''t help in the grand scheme of things since not much was truly hidden when living amidst a Tesseract Transformation realm mage.

    "Master treats me as he would his child," Marie said to assuage Guy''s worries. "Speaking of children, when are you and Matron Reva going to start considering having some of your own?"

    Guy sputtered in embarrassment. "We aren''t that close... yet."

    "Well, I''d hurry it up if I were you. Is your n to propose to her on her deathbed?" Marie mocked.

    "That''s a bit harsh..." Guy moaned.

    Marie simply shook her head with a disdainful expression on her face. As she stood up, she shot out, "Coward!"

    ____

    Marie exited the Sect Leader''s room in high spirits. She followed the corridor but stopped a foot away from turning the corner. She elevated herself to her tiptoes and inched closer before leaping around the corner and yelling, "AAAAAAAAA!"

    A shrill shriek followed suit, though it teetered off almost immediately. Marie looked down and noticed Shuri as she had fallen onto her bottom.

    "What are you doing down there?" Marie stated jokingly.

    In response, Shuri raised a shaking finger, pointed it towards Marie, and spoke with a vicious snarl, "It was you! You did this to me!"

    "Scare you? Of course, I did!" Marie averted.

    "Just why are you doing this to me?" Shuri groaned. "What did I ever do to you? Why can''t you just let me live in peace?"

    At that moment, Marie took an aggressive step forward and cornered Shuri against the corridor wall. She banged her hands against the wall and trapped Shuri between them. Shuri''s eyes flickered around as they tried to avoid making eye contact with Marie, whose face was mere centimetres away.

    "I did let you live," Marie dered mysteriously. "Which is why, you see, I need to do this."

    Marie noticed Shuri''s confused look and tapped the girl''s nose to tease her. "One day you wille to appreciate all that I am doing for you. Till that time, I am more than prepared to be the bad guy in your eyes."

    Without borating any further, Marie twirled and continued walking away, leaving a flustered Shuri whose heart rate had skyrocketed and turned weirdly irregr for a moment.

    "What just happened...?" Shuri murmured nkly. Her hand moved instinctively towards the pendant around her neck and fiddled with the stone absent-mindedly. As she watched Marie''s back recede, the rage which had dissipated earlier due to Marie''s sudden behaviour came back with full force. But at this point, Shuri could do nothing but grumble. And that is what she did as she journeyed all the way to the restricted section of the Library.

 Chapter 322 Shifting Interpretations

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuri gulped audibly as she stared at the in metal gates that separated the general and the restricted section. The keys to the ignoble lock hanging under the door handle felt like they were made of lead. This was what she wanted all along, which was to have ess to everything the Sect had to offer, take advantage of it and then leave. But the circumstances were wildly against her favour. She was bound to this Sect now and was beholden to it. She could no longer leave.

    "What is he thinking?" Shuri murmured out loud. The parchment filled with names of literature for her to read was in her left hand. ording to the Sect Leader, it was supposed to contain information that would help her in fleshing out her knowledge of Automagy and assist her cultivation. But she highly doubted that to be true. She doubted that there would ever be another source of information about the subject that would be more detailed and practical than the notes passed on by the Yoruz n. But an order was an order, and if this order would let her dally around a little bit and help avert some of the heat she had brought upon herself, she was all for it. If she could prove that there was no progress to be made with this line of study, she would be eventually forgotten... right?

    "Oh, who am I kidding?!" She eximed. Ultimately, Shuri decided to bury that hope six feet underground. She unfurled the parchment and read through its contents thoroughly.

    "Advanced Linear Algebra."

    "Control Systems and Automation."

    "Electronic and Mechanical Microsystems."

    "Probabilistic Robotics."

    "Artificial Neural Networks."

    "Machine Learning."

    ...

    "What is all this?!" Shuri blurted out. Of all the books on the list, she only knew of the first one, which happened to be a rather heavy read on the advanced applications of linear algebra. She could recite the text by heart, straight from memory, but she could only attest to knowing the first 20% of it. As for the rest of the books, the titles themselves spoke of arcane topics she had never even heard of.

    This revtion gave Shuri some pause. She was now reconsidering the option of entering the restricted section. The implied knowledge carried with it the same stench that hung in the air within the Inner Pce. These were things that one shouldn''t know - in other words, forbidden knowledge. This was exacerbated by the fact that Marie was probably involved in this in some way, and anything that girl dipped her hand in had always resulted in Shuri taking a loss.

    Yet, all of this considered, the allure of knowledge isn''t so easy to scrub away. After a momentary bout of hesitance, Shuri plunged the key into its hole and twisted. With a gentle push, the metal gates swung open. There was no noise, no ominous grind as metal rubbed against metal, no pomp and ceremony - it was gloomily anticlimactic.

    Shuri passed through the gates and nced over the books closest to her. As predicted, none of them made any sense.

    "Biomechanical Marvels."

    "Demystifying Nuclear Physics."

    "Synthetics and Polymers."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Gray''s Anatomy."

    For the first time, Shuri fathomed just how little she actually knew about the world. It also gave new meaning to the old adage, "If I could fill up a library with all the things I didn''t know, then there would be no end to it."

    The metaphorical library of unknowns was real, and she happened to be standing inside it. Once again, Shuri was tempted by the sweet nectars of knowledge all around her. Her palms itched as her fingers slid past the pristine spines of the books on their shelves. But she held herself in control. After all, this could all be just an borate test to gauge her character - who knows what ran inside the mind of those entric mages in higher realms.

    Her eyes halted as they passed over one of the books from the list.

    "Control Systems and Automation," Shuri muttered. It was a in book with just those words on it. Opening it, she was greeted by an borate three-dimensional diagram of a winged contraption carrying a myriad of cargo. Turning another page, she read the Foreword.

    "Humans as a species desire control, although they live in a world that is increasingly tumultuous and unpredictable. Then how do you control what is inherently out of control? To address this question, consider two examples. The first example calls for the reader to imagine that they are responsible for giving a lecture to an audience about a topic they are an expert in. The efficacy of the lecture cannot be known from the beginning, especially if it is the reader''s first time. However, at the end of the first lecture, the feedback coted from all present individuals can be used to gauge this metric and improve the lecture for the next time. This is an iterative process until a stable point is achieved that satisfies the reader''s criterion for what is considered a ''good lecture''.

    As seen in this example, control is achieved through a constructive feedback loop. It is given that the lecture''s content cannot be subtracted, but the model can determine the flow of the lecture and the way the content is delivered. This feedback can be used to tune the lecture flow. However, does this mean that this lecturing model (which we shall refer to as the controller from now on) is applicable for another group of students of different backgrounds, gender and age distributions, ss strengths, and so on? Changing the lecture group means that there is a change in the system. Therefore, a new controller needs to be designed for this new system. We can start with the previously tuned controller and work forward until the required stability point is achieved.

    The example above is crude and highly spective and deals with human beings. Human beings by nature are hard to control. The same cannot be said for a machine or mechanism. Consider the second example, a stick being bnced on an open palm. The stick ''wants'' to topple over and fall as it is an unstable system. However, with the help of various sensors, namely the tactile sensors in the palm and our ocr sensors, we can achieve stability. Changing the stick in the middle of the operation will disorient the bncer as their mental controller is tuned for a specific mass, length, and shape. But ultimately stability can once again be achieved.

    This book will explore the concept of controlling mechanical and electrical systems. The kind of systems explored here are rudimentary at best and do not perform actions with a high degree of variability. It will hopefully help the reader gain a better understanding of automation as a principle and even design control schemes to work towards automating things around them."

    Shuri gulped audibly as she finished reading the first page. Although it did not touch upon technical information, the essence of what the book would explore sent a small shiver down her spine.

    "Maybe this is what they intend for me to learn with all of these books," Shuri mumbled as she looked over the parchment once again. Sometimes, a single piece of information can dissipate the fog of war hanging over an expansive battlefield. If the first new book on the list explored the topic of automation and control of rudimentary systems, then each sessive book should offer solutions for control at a much higher level with systems that can perform a variety of tasks.

    Without waiting for another second, Shuri flipped the page and started to devour words, numbers, images, and equations as they shed past her gaze. With each page turned, her mind grew clearer, and with each chapter finished, something esoteric started to bubble from inside her. Her mana grew active and started to circte through her channels with increasing speed, widening them in the process. For an outside observer well-versed in magic, they would immediately know that she was cultivating.

    Shuri had entered a fugue state, though she maintained a minimal level of consciousness. With that minimal amount, she was surprised that she could understand almost everything written in this book. She was also surprised at how as she read more of this book, concepts from the Yoruz n''s text that didn''t make sense would somehow beprehensible as something else clicked into ce inside her and filled in the nks. Compared to the n''s books, the one she was reading now was far more descriptive and specific in its exnation. There was little room for making spections or screwing up the interpretation.

    But then, as she reached three-quarters of the way through the book, a faint pang of pain started to echo from her core. She had now reached the topic of hybrid systems and cyber-physical systems. Shuri felt it and was immediately drawn out of her fugue state. As soon as she stopped reading, the pang dissipated. The moment she continued reading, the pang returned.

    "What is happening?" Was her body telling her not to continue indulging in this knowledge? She immediately scoffed at that thought, "It''s probably psychological. How does reading a book and learning new things have any effect on the body?"

    What she didn''t know was that inside her nascent core, a subtle shift was starting to ur that would set her down apletely different path. Her initial trajectory would have taken her down a destructive path that her mother''s n followed. A path filled with bloodshed and ruin. However, the shift, although subtle, had far-reaching consequences. Where there was destruction, there would be growth, and where there was ruin, there would be prosperity. Shuri''s cultivation had changed, her concept and understanding of Automagy were changing, and as a result, her understanding of the open-to-interpretation texts of the Yoruz n had changed as well. And if the understanding is different, then the application cases also be different.

    "The purpose of automation is to make life easier for human beings," Shuri summarized as she closed the book. She didn''t notice the faint smile on her face as she moved down the list to the next book.

    Nheless, Shuri wouldn''t know the ramifications of her decision to adhere to the reading list until much, muchter.

 Chapter 323 Interlude - Undercurrents (Part One)

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Something strange was brewing in the Maika Duchy. Although that sector of the Sr Empire was known to be an economic powerhouse, the recent numbers regarding tax umtions and overall economic health (in terms of money circting within the system) had ced it at a much higher-than-expected standing.

    The Minister of Finance, Jing Lorath, should be ted to see this improvement, but his expression was dour and listless. His mind was preupied with the fact that the court would be in session tomorrow, and it could very well be hisst day. Things had been faring, for theck of a better word, poorly in court. Actually, there was a better word¡ªit was shit, in and simple. It all started from the day the attack transpired in the Inner Court. Ever since then, things started to devolve with each passing day. Jing didn''t even know what had happened back there as within days of the attack, a thorough cleanse swept through the Pce during which many heads had rolled, and the grounds were drenched in red.

    It was a brutal event that still lingered in Jing''s memories. The metallic smell mixed in with the stench of shit and piss was etched into his nostrils, so much so that he couldn''t even swallow his food properly anymore. The man had practically lost a quarter of his body weight within months. This was something Jing expected to hear from the Kingdom in the North, not the mighty Sr Empire¡ªthe Dynasty destined to stand the test of time.

    s, Jing was certain that the Dynasty would fall within this generation itself, as the man whose shoulder it rode on was slowly bing unpredictable, unhinged, deranged, and temperamental. Whatever urred in the aftermath of the attack had clearly taken a toll on the Emperor. And unfortunately, when the master suffers, it is the ves that are the first on the chopping block.

    Court had grown emptier nowadays. The Emperor''s vtility had worsened to a point that all it took was a look that lingered for a fraction of a second too long to set him off. And the retaliation for such "transgressions" was no longer a simple firing or demotion, but a thorough extermination of one''s bloodline root and stem. Justst week, the Minister of War was released from his post and his life for having an almost imperceptible wrinkle on his coat.

    At this point, only a handful remained. Interestingly, those that remain did not have any concubines or mistresses. Jing wasn''t sure if that held any meaning, but it certainly added fuel to a certain me that has been quietly burning in the capital¡ªthat the Emperor''s seed had been burnt to a crisp. Was it the truth? Jing didn''t know and didn''t care. In fact, he didn''t even want the thought to upy any real estate in his mind.

    Even the work atmosphere in the Pce had grown fatal. He''d heard that yesterday, an entire division of the Infrastructure Development team had been exterminated after His Majesty heard them talking about him. The worst part was that the Emperor simply overheard the conversation through his mana senses while he was still in Court. The level of paranoia that the Emperor was drowning in was growing more and more severe.

    Jing did not want to be on the receiving end of His Majesty''s wrath for something that didn''t warrant such explosive action, which is why he had shifted to working from home. This practice had now spread amongst the remaining ministries as well, which had effectively turned the Outer Court into a ghost town. No one knew what happened in the Inner Court, and no one was willing to take the risk to know and propagate any rumours. For a moment, Jing sympathised with the Consorts and Concubines practically imprisoned in the Inner Pce.

    At that instant, a series of knocks interrupted his nk contemtion.

    "Father," a familiar voice still fresh with the spring of youth greeted through the door.

    "Come in," Jing responded as he subconsciously started to clean up the litter of paper scattered across his table.

    The door slid open, to reveal an eighteen-year-old, lean youth. His appearance matched Jing''s own in many ways: the curly brte hair tied into a neat bun, the brown pupil that carried the same listlessness, and the hooked nose. The only difference was that the youth was far thinnerpared to his old man, though Jing was nearing the same physique given his poor diet in the past few months.

    "Ghon, son," Jing greeted with a faint smile, "What brings you here?"

    Ghon released a long sigh and approached the chair opposite his father''s desk, "I just returned from the Parched Wanderer."

    That was the premier watering hole within the Capital, that was often frequented by the next generation of elites.

    "The Twelfth Prince requested a meeting with you, once again," Ghon said with a dour frown.

    Jing pped the table in fury and bellowed, "This boy will be the death of me, I tell you! I get that now, more than ever, is the perfect time for the princes to move for a power grab and seize the throne before more damage can be done, but must they include me in this mess?!"

    "Well, the support of the ministers does make things easier when ites to the selection of the Crown Prince and by extension the next Emperor," Ghon highlighted. "However, just like yourself, none of the other ministers are willing to throw in their hat in favour of any of the princes."

    "Then why is this Twelfth brat so stubborn and thick-faced?" Jing groaned. "Can he not take the hint?"

    "He can, and he does," Ghon exined. "But he knows that he doesn''t stand a chance otherwise. He is born to amoner concubine, without any n, organization, or sect to back him. The other princes have already started to scheme with the family on their mothers'' side, but the Twelfth Prince has nothing. All he has to put on the line is his face, and his life, both of which he is risking to gain an opportunity."

    "Did anyone see you converse with that brat?" Jing remembered as he snapped his fingers.

    "He sure tried to make it a public deal," Ghon responded with a faint smirk. "But don''t worry father, I was extra thorough. Wouldn''t want to get caught up in the undercurrents of Pce politics, especially now."

    "Goodd," Jingmended. As he looked at his son, he felt pride swelling up inside. But as the feeling reached its peak, it suddenly deted and turned into an overwhelming torrent of regret and sorrow.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "What''s wrong, father?"

    Jing smiled bitterly and said, "You know, I worked so hard my entire life, just so that my children would have a better future. I struggled, schemed, and sacrificed much to get to this position. When I was first appointed as the Minister of Finance, I was ted, not because of my achievement but because it meant that my family line would now have a head start and could invest their focus on things that I had topromise on. As we already have political power and influence, it leaves you with more time to shore up your cultivation and rues true power. But now, with the way things are going, I fear that I may have driven our family into the maws of a mercurial beast. I''m sorry, son."

    Ghon''s eyes widened, and he immediately shook his hands and head in denial, "Please don''t apologize, Father. This isn''t something anyone could have predicted. Now that it hase this far, all we can do is salvage the situation and ensure our future."

    Jing hummed in thought until his son''s words struck a chord in his mind, "It seems that you have something in mind?"

    A sly smile cracked Ghon''s nonchnt face in half. "Well, it all started a few months before the situation that transpired in the Pce. I happened to catch Little Sister reading one of those serial pulp romance novels that the book peddlers in the lower districts vend. I immediately confiscated them in fear that they would corrupt her innocent mind. But I found something interesting."

    Ghon reached into his jacket and brought out three different books with simr typography in their titles. He opened them up to a random page and ced them in front of Jin.

    "These texts seem familiar," Jin murmured. He then snapped his fingers in surprise, "Wait a minute!"

    Diving once again into his hastily sorted pile of papers, he retrieved a scroll and unfurled it.

    "This! The text and typography, it all matched!"

    "I found it intriguing that such low-budget literature had such an immacte script. After some investigation, I was even more intrigued that this feature wasmon across arge spread of literature on the peddler''s stock, AND his stocks were beyond my expectations. After digging even more, I found simr scripts in different books circting in the middling districts. Now who was this mysterious scribe capable of outputting so much work with such efficiency and consistency? Turns out, it wasn''t a human writing the text, but a machine," Ghon revealed.

    "A machine?"

    "It is known as the Gutenberg''s Press - essentially a printing device capable of pressing ink-coated block typeset and arranged onto a sheet of paper. The machine allows for quick and consistent print and can output a lot of pages in a short time frame," Ghon borated. "And so, I purchased the machine through where I work, the Ministry of Rites, since it would allow for a more streamlinedmunication process. You would no longer need a squadron of scribes to work for multiple days just to write the Court''s edicts and decisions to be sent all across the Empire."

    "Amazing!" Jin congratted. "But son, I don''t understand where you''re going with this."

    "I was justing to that. You see, I purchased this machine from Charta Industries," Ghon revealed.

    "I''ve never heard of that, do I know the owner?"

    "You probably haven''t, since it''s rtively new. And as for the owner, well," Ghon retrieved a metal te from his pocket with values engraved into it. "You''re talking to a part-owner of thepany. I am technically a 10% owner of Charta Industries."

    "What in the world does that even mean?" Jin scowled. "Did you end up getting scammed? How can you own part of a business?"

    "The business'' overall market capital, which is its worth, is split into shares. I own a per cent of those shares avable to be traded. With this, I get a proportional say in the business''s future and am entitled to a proportionate share of profits that do not go into moving the business forward," Ghon borated. "In fact, I originally owned 25% of the business. I sold the shares to interested parties over time and in the process, umted a sizable amount."

    "That is an interesting system. It''s somewhat simr to the risk-reward distribution strategy employed by sea-faring merchant coalitions to split the burden on overseas trade ventures," Jin noted. "But I still don''t see how this connects to our current predicament."

    Ghon chuckled, "Patience, father. The current Emperor has been growing increasingly paranoid, and it''s evident that he distrusts his ministers. With the printing press, I can create awork ofmunication that bypasses the need for intermediaries. We can disseminate information and rally support from various factions across the Empire without arousing suspicion."

    "A secretwork," Jin mused. "But this is risky. If we''re caught..."

    Ghon leaned in, his voice lowering to a whisper, "That''s why we must be careful, discreet, and strategic. We won''t be the first to make a move, but when the time is right, we''ll have allies ready to support us. It''s time to gather like-minded individuals who wish to see stability and prosperity in the Empire. We will be the force that guides the future of the Sr Dynasty."

    Jin stared at his son, his heart swelling with pride once more. Despite the dire circumstances, there was a glimmer of hope, a n that could bring change and preserve their family''s legacy. He took a deep breath and nodded firmly.

    "Very well, Ghon. We shall begin our preparations. This may be the opportunity we''ve been waiting for."

 Chapter 324 Interlude - Undercurrents (Part Two)

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    "The business is in a state such that it is its own entity," Ghon hinted. "The owners, which are all the shareholders, have what is known as limited liability. This means that in the worst-case scenario, let''s say that the business suffers from bankruptcy, the owners (who are essentially all the shareholders) only lose what they invested into the business and nothing more. The liability to pay back any debts stops at the business, thus ensuring that the owners are immune."

    "But that is extremely risky, economically speaking. Debtors incapable of paying off their debts are turned into debt ves to work off the overdue amount. But a business can''t be turned into a debt ve; it effectively bes a pit that devours money at this point!" Jing eximed.

    "Ah, but a business isn''t a human. It can be gutted for parts and sold off," Ghon rebutted. "If another investor wishes to take over, it can be handed off and start anew."

    "While all of this sounds interesting, aren''t we moving away from the crux of the conversation?" Jing interjected while waving his hands.

    "As it stands, the business model is heavily monitored in its trading. In order to facilitate trade, the shares need to be sold to the government and then purchased from the government. As it stands, the government has the power to, to a certain extent, regte the price of purchasing shares. But as you correctly predicted, there is a movement now to make trading more public with the government acting as a barebone regtor. Now when that happens, well, that is when the true fun starts," Ghon hinted.

    Jing hummed audibly as he thought over his son''s words.

    "The government won''t take a step back so easily. But I figure the allure of profits will urge the masses, including therge businesses and ns, to take action and force the government''s hand," Jing narrated his thoughts out loud. "When that happens, the public will have greater power over influencing the state of the Duchy''s economy. And when word spreads and this model takes hold across the entire Empire..."

    A pregnant pause took hold as nodes started to connect in Jing''s mind.

    "But that won''t happen. No one in their right mind would just let something like that grow out of control!" Jing reasoned.

    "They already have," Ghon responded with a shake of his head. "Radiant City is the first to allow regted share trading among the general public without having to sell and buy from the government. Any business registered there can subscribe to this feature. Within this year, over 112 new businesses have spawned in the Maika Duchy, of which 45 are still functioning and 14 are generating sizable profits and handing out dividends to the shareholders. Another interesting fact: of the 45 still functioning businesses, 33 were started by low-skilledbourers who were uneducated and, in some cases, illiterate. This wouldn''t have been possible before, where the barrier of entry to start your own business was skewed in favour of those with a more reputable background and higher levels of learning."

    "I can''t believe it..." Jing muttered.

    "The banks are having a field day. They''ve even gone as far as to start lending money they don''t technically own to fund small startups, which may sound crazy but has actually been providing steady results," Ghon exined.

    "That''s illegal!" Jing exploded. "It isn''t their money to use."

    "They have created a new Savings option, where the depositedmodity money (as in gold, silver, and copper coins) is forfeited to the bank while the amount is still present on paper and ownedpletely by the depositor. This ''theoretical money'' is locked in ce and isn''t liquid. To withdraw within a set time period after depositing incurs a fee. Now that themodity is forfeited, though, it bes the bank''s to use for their purposes. The draw towards putting money towards savings is that the bank will pay interest against the saved amount for letting them use it for their purposes," Ghon borated.

    Ghon waited for a minute to let his father stew on the revtion before saying, "So many revolutionary changes that have already changed the economic environment of a region and can potentially barrel out and affect the entire Empire. All of it started with a single business that sold machines that could output printed text."

    At this point, Jing mourned over his aged mind that had gone number over years of being entrenched in dull bureaucracy. He knew that his son hoped that he could make the connections given all the information provided, but Jing just couldn''t. Luckily, his son could read his face and didn''t push any further, allowing Jing to save thest bit of face and dignity he held as a father.

    "To be able to influence such drastic changes without shedding a drop of blood or offending anyone implies that whoever is responsible for it is an extremely capable person. It is even moremendable that the person responsible was hands-off for a good portion of the process," Ghon highlighted.

    "Who is this person?" Jing inquired.

    "I have a name and affiliation, but no face or past to attach to it," Ghon answered with a disappointed shake of his head. "But, I do have a contact. It was difficult to get in touch with them, and even tougher to book a meeting. But I seeded."

    Ghon shuddered as his nk gaze recollected the meeting with the blond-haired, faintly orange-skinned, hefty teen who carried an aura of a gluttonous tiger shark.

    "Son?" Jing interjected Ghon''s thoughts while snapping his fingers. "Son?!"

    "Huh?" Ghon returned to himself and coughed to clear his difort. "Right. Well, I believe that the future of the Sr Empire is dire. I know that this is all treasonous talk, but let''s be real, Father. The Empire won''tst past the current Emperor''s reign. His earlyxness in exhibiting the Crown''s martial prowess, and his reliance on using marriage to strengthen the loyalty held by the four Duchies towards the Crown has resulted in heavy splintering. He isn''t the strongest Emperor, nor is he the most intelligent. Mediocrity does not make a sessful ruler. His offspring are even worse in that regard. The Empire has stagnated and will only deteriorate from this point onwards, so we must get ahead of things and make a move to secure ours and the Nation''s future."

    "What''s the endgame, son? To put this mysterious man on the throne?" Jing voiced his disbelief and doubt.

    "Why assume that there will BE a throne in the future?" Ghon scoffed. "No, Father. I am aiming even higher. There is no point in trying to prevent the Empire from falling apart, as it is a lost cause. It''s the same as trying to preserve a necrotized foot. No, I intend to be there when, after it perishes, a renewed Phoenix is born from the ashes."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Jing gulped down a dry mouthful of air as he receded into his chair''s backrest. He could see fiery ambition exuding from his son''s animated eyes. It was his first time seeing the boy so excited and charged up about something. Jing wanted to open his mouth and discourage his son from walking down the perilous path he''d chosen for himself, but the words just didn''t make it past his lips. He didn''t have the heart to say it. What was the point? The extermination of his Lorath Family was only an eventuality as long as he stayed the current course. Taking the side of any of the princes would only bring the eventuality closer. So what fault was there in walking down apletely different path, as his son envisioned?

    "What do you intend to do, son?" Jing asked cautiously.

    "Nothing, as of now. I haven''t even met the mysterious stranger orchestrating all of this, only his public voice and face. The way his Voice described things, the stranger doesn''t have treasonous intentions and just wants to ''make the world a better ce''," Ghon threw a spective look Jing''s way.

    "They''re being cautious with their words," Jing agreed with his son''s unspoken assessment. "But the implied meaning is clear. They intend to make a y at the rulership in some way."

    "Exactly!" Ghon eximed as he pped in agreement. "Which is also why I have invited the Voice for dinner."

    "You did what?!" Jing sputtered as his body sprang up from his seat. He fought through the sudden disorientation as the blood left his brain and mmed his hands onto the table for support. "Are you out of your mind, boy? What if word gets out? Our heads will be on stakes before we even have an opportunity to y our hands!"

    "Do not worry, father," Ghon spoke with a calming tone. "The Voice, who is named Furion of the Stoll mercantile family, has simply been invited with the agenda of brokering an investment agreement for the Verum Trading Company''s new venture to establish what has been described as a hardware store."

    "A hardware store? You mean a shop that sells tools?"

    "Tools, building materials, building andndscaping services, and other retail options," Ghon borated. "I told him that you, the Minister of Finance, are interested in diversifying your portfolio and are looking for new investment opportunities. He caught the implied meaning when I made sure to enunciate your name and position very slowly."

    "Smart," Jing praised. "So when did you n the dinner for?"

    "Today," Ghon answered with a wry smile. "I''m sorry for springing it on you so suddenly, Father. I met him just today and he said that he was only going to be in the capital for a few days. I had to act fast."

    "It''s okay," Jing said while exhaling to calm his agitation. "We can prepare while-"

    At that moment, a series of knocks resounded from his door.

    "Master, the guest Mr Furion Stoll has arrived."

    Jing bit back a curse, cleared his throat, and said, "Guide the guest to the salon. Serve him the freshly imported Hindaan Zahafraani Schaai."

    Ghon shed a thumbs up tomend Jing''s decision to wine and dine the guest with the rarest and most expensive of teas in the Lorath Household.

    "Let''s go," Jing dered before walking out of the room, with his son in tow. His body shuddered with anticipation and excitement as his steps drew him towards the mansion''s salon. As he stood before the doors leading into the salon, he paused and took a long breath. His son patted him on the back as encouragement. And then the doors swung open.

    "Mr. Stoll," Jing said, to draw the seated teen''s attention. "It''s a pleasure to host you today."

    The blond-haired boy looked up from taking a sip of the tea with a colour that faintly matched the boy''s skin and revealed a weing smirk...?

    "The pleasure is all mine," the boy spoke with an enthusiastically... sarcastic tone?

    "I must say, the Verum Trading Company is quite an impressive venture," Jing continued, doing his best to maintain a friendly and amodating demeanour.

    "Thank you, Minister," the boy responded with a hint of genuine appreciation. "But I''m sure you didn''t invite me here just topliment my business."

    "No, indeed," Jing said as he took his seat at the head of the long table. "I believe we have some matters to discuss, matters of mutual benefit."

    The boy''s eyes gleamed with mischief as he leaned back in his chair, his voice dripping with anticipation. "I''m all ears, Minister."

 Chapter 325 Interlude - Undercurrents (Part Three)

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Furion didn''t expect a stopover at the capital on his way to the Draul Duchy down Southeast would result in forming an acquaintance with the Minister of Finance for the entire Empire.

    What surprised him, though, was that he was already connected to the Minister through a degree of separation, namely through his son, whom Furion had met once before in a shareholders'' meeting. Ghon was a pleasantd to talk with - they conversed for hours on end, discussing the myriad ideas Furion wished to pursue in his business career, as well as his and Sect Leader Larks'' vision for the future. Ghon exited the conversation that day with an excited smile on his face, and Furion was happy that he''d made a new friend. Only now did he realize that his new friend knew people in very high ces.

    "This tea is exquisite," Furionmended while taking a sip of the saffron-infused, steaming liquid. He released a relishing moan as it trickled down his throat.

    "We''re d that you like it," the Minister of Finance, Jing Lorath, responded with an ingratiating smile. This was something Furion couldn''t understand. Shouldn''t it be the other way around? Wasn''t it Furion''s prerogative to gain the favour and support of the Minister of Finance? But why did it feel like Minister Jing was the one trying to get into his good graces?

    Furion lowered the cup and scooted to the edge of his seat. "I want to start off by apologizing for my curtness going forward. I am uninitiated by the subtleties of conversation. As a businessman, I am often forced to get straight to the point and make my thoughts, needs, and wants to be known immediately."

    Looking up, Furion was greeted by a strange sight. The father and son exchanged knowing nces before turning to him simultaneously and winking.

    ''What in the world?''

    "Well, I''m sure Mister Ghon will have revealed a lot of details about the Verum Trading Company''s business model and affiliates," Furion started. "We follow a novel type of ownership model that provides limited liability to all owners of the business. By essentially listing the business as a separate entity, the owners can iste themselves from anything they could be charged with when the business does something bad."

    "I am aware of this, yes," Jing said with a hum.

    "Then you must also be aware of the nature of how ownership can be obtained and traded?"

    Furion received a nod from Jing.

    "Well, here is where I wish to apologize profusely. You see, I may have led Mister Ghon to believe that I am here to pitch you, Minister Jing, an investment opportunity."

    Minister Jing cocked his eyebrows and asked, "You aren''t?"

    "No. It wouldn''t be fair or moral to strain my connection with your son to extract favours from you. Especially since the power you hold is bestowed upon you to improve the position of the Empire as a whole, not just a select few of its citizens. You see, I''m actually here to propose a possible future for the Empire''s economy. A free economy," Furion dered with a distant look in his eyes.

    "That is an interesting term. Did you coin it?" Ghon pointed out with an appreciative nod.

    "Oh no! I cannot take credit for that. It is the vision of the Leader of the True World Sect, Mister Guy Larks," Furion denied with a frantic shake of his hands.

    When the name was dropped, Furion once again noticed the father-son duo share the same knowing look. They tried to keep it subtle, but it was as clear as day to Furion''s now enhanced senses.

    ''Something''s weird here,'' he noted mentally. Although he was excited, he wasn''t oblivious. He was a businessman at heart, after all.

    "What is the future you intend to pioneer?" Minister Jing inquired.

    "I will admit that it is a rather heavy ask, and possibly idealistic and na?ve. But I am going to convince you today that finding a middle ground with the free market I will talk to you about today will do wonders for the economic health of the nation as a whole," Furion started.

    "The market is a system where buyers and sellerse together to exchange goods and services. From ages past, this sacred stage has defined one of the fundamentals of the human living experience. Humans, unlike animals, can do many things. But this diversity makes it so that someone can''t be the best at everything, or have ess to everything. In that instance, they can look towards others with the expertise or item they need or want. At this point, we can define the pir the free market economy is built on. Thew of supply and demand," Furion raised a finger to pause, reached into his pocket and retrieved a writing utensil.

    Extending it towards Ghon, he asked, "Would you buy this quill?"

    "No," Ghon answered casually.

    "Why is that?"

    "I don''t want it. I have no use for it right now," Ghon followed up.

    "Now imagine that you are at an impromptu conference. You are listening to lectures from experts but forgot to bring writing utensils and parchment to take notes. If I were to sell this quill to you then, would you buy it?" Furion inquired.

    "Sure."

    "Would you buy it for a silver coin?"

    "What?"

    Furion chuckled and said, "You have no option. If you instruct your servant to make haste and purchase one from far away, it would already be toote, and you would have missed the lecture. The markup you just paid is the price of convenience. In this battlefield, I as the seller get to set the price because I hold the leverage. Furthermore, since my supplies are limited, the cost can be raised even higher since the demand is equally dire as you can''t be the only one without stationery."

    "Thews of supply and demand are absolute," Furion dered. "It defines the delicate bnce maintained between the supplier and buyer as they reach a consensus on the price of goods sold, holding all other external factors equal."

    "The current economy heavily favours the top 1%: the ns, sects, and businesses that have survived for more than a century. They get to set the market trend and behaviour because their power is absolute. Because of that, however, the ones at the bottom suffer. The price of inert mana cores has quintupled just within thest 2 years, for no good reason. It isn''t even that scarce of a resource to warrant such price gouging. As for its uses, it has fewer applicationspared to mana gems and is a lot harder to work with."

    Minister Jing sighed and said, "It is because the Emperor and the storied ns do not want another Yoruz n in their midst."

    "Yoruz n?"

    "It is before your time. They were renowned for their prowess in Automagy, a now endangered branch of magic. As you rightfully deciphered, the pricing of inert mana cores is purely selfish in purpose," Minister Jing admitted.

    "If the economy sways to the whims of the few and powerful, then the nation will remain stagnant. Though I will concede that a purely free-market economy may not be the solution either, as a supply and demand-led market will sacrifice the unsung yet important sectors of the market (that are loss-making) in favour of profitable alternatives. To that, I''m talking about safety and security, healthcare, transportation, and so on."

    After a pause, he continued orating about the idea, providing valid positives and negatives, as well as listing out possible rollout strategies that the Minister could consider.

    As Furion exited his impassioned speech, once again, he noticed his audience exchanging nces and shooting each other an agitated smile.

    At this point, Furion was affected. He looked at the two of them and said, "I feel like I''m missing something here. Is there something wrong with what I said? If so, I''ll apologize."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ""No, no!"" Both Minister Jing and Ghon eximed. "We just felt that your insights were quite deep on this matter. Did you say that it was Sect Leader Larks'' idea?"

    "Not all of it, no," Furion corrected. "Most of those are the Sect Leader''s."

    "He must be a knowledgeable man. We would love to make his acquaintance sometime," Minister Jing said with a voice that carried a hidden meaning.

    "Both of you are free to visit, anytime. Our Sect is located near the base of Mount Tai, the huUU- coughrgest mountain in the Serrated-Peaks range," Furion cringed visibly at his second slip of the tongue today. "Sorry about that, you see, I had a minor cultivation deviation-"

    "I don''t believe there is such a thing as a minor deviation," Minister Jing said with a chuckle. It was clear that the man thought Furion was joking. Unfortunately, it was theplete truth.

    "I happened to read a book that had a suspiciously business management-rted name. However, the author did not have any conviction in the words they themselves wrote. I assimted it without doubt as I thought it would be just like any other book I''d read.

    However, the reality was a whole other story. And now, as you can see, I am suffering from the consequences of my rogue curiosity and hubris."

    "So the orange skin and blonde hair?" Ghon followed up.

    "Well, it''s a mixture of different factorsing into y together. But don''t worry, it should return to normal once I advance to the Core Formation realm."

    Just as Ghon was about to retort, the servant by the door announced, "Master, the Young Mistress is here to greet the guest."

    "Why?" Minister Jing shot back, annoyed by the interruption. The servant shrunk slightly under his master''s reprimanding gaze and said, "This servant failed to ask!"

    "I apologize for this spectacle, I have failed to train the help and raise my daughter well."

    "Kids will be kids. Please do not¡ª" Furion could not finish his words as the door swung open, and through it, a slender girl, a year younger than him, walked through. Her face was drawn on with minimal makeup, but that only entuated the inherent allure radiating from her face. Her figure was toned and lean, with her natural muscture peeking through the muslin fabric of her clothes.

    "Furion?" The girl yelped in surprise, with her impable face twitching with unbridled rage. "I knew it was you from your voice!"

    "Mnya?" Furion responded with equal surprise. "W-What are you doing here?"

    "Me? What are YOU doing HERE at MY house?" She responded with a growl. "Did youe here to torment me? And why the heck are you orange?"

    Furion scratched his head in shame and said, "I know it''ste. But sorry about my behaviour back at the Academy. I was immature and churlish. I know it''s hard for you to forgive me, but please know that I am sincerely sorry about everything."

    "You''re forgiven," the girl responded nonchntly.

    "Just like that?"

    "Just like that."

    "But... why?"

    Mnya chuckled and said, "It was thanks to you and your friends''... ''unorthodox'' method of bullying that I was able to secure a decently high score."

    "But my behaviour... I shouldn''t have spanked you," Furion mumbled.

    "You did what to my daughter?!" Minister Jing bellowed.

    "Father, stop overreacting," Mnya said with a click of her tongue as she sat between her father and brother. "It''s just children being children. Besides, look at how apologetic he is. Just forgive him."

    "So what''s going on with you?" She asked Furion. "And please tell me that there is a good reason for your stupid skin."

    "It''s a long story..."

    "Time is all I have right now. Since Teacher Snowe''s on a trip with her Disciples, I''m left with nothing to do but slow and boring cultivation. Let''s go have dinner!" Mnya suggested before dragging Furion away by his hand.

    "Little Sister, the meal is being prepared as we speak," Ghon offered with a worried frown.

    "Nuh-uh!" Mnya vocalized. "I heard what you guys were talking about from outside. It''s so boring! Nope, dinners are already boring with just you two. If Furion is added to the mix, then I''m definitely going to kill myself."

    Without waiting for a yes or no, the girl pulled Furion out and disappeared, leaving the father and son alone.

    ____

    "That was unexpected," Ghon broke the silence.

    "But the result was far more favourable than we could''ve hoped for," Jing hummed.

    Noticing his son''s inquisitive gaze, Jing chuckled and said, "We may have to take a leaf out of the Emperor''s book. After all, marriage IS proven to be an effective way to forge alliances."

    Ghon nodded solemnly and said, "Would Mnya agree?"

    "I won''t force her," Jing admitted. "But that doesn''t preclude me from orchestrating situations that may result in a closer rtionship being formed between those two."

    Ghon revealed a satisfied smile. But secondster, he added, "That orange skin is really bothersome. I''m trying to overlook it, but it just keeps rattling around in my head. Do you think their kids will have orange skin?"

    Jing shuddered at the thought of blonde, orange babies running around the house, "I hope that isn''t the case."

 Chapter 326 Journey(Wo)Man

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Most crafts and trades are passed down from one generation to the next through a master-apprentice rtionship. A master - someone with years of experience and skill in their repertoire from practising their trade or craft - takes in an apprentice - a novice looking to start in the trade or craft. The apprentice lives with and works under the master, starting out with menial tasks until enough time has passed for the master to gain confidence and trust in their apprentice. Once that stage is reached, the apprentice''s workload will involve more hands-on work as they begin to absorb the knowledge from their masters.

    Naturally, all things must have a conclusion. An apprentice cannot remain one for their entire life. When the master deems their apprentice ready - that is when they have transferred all that can be taught - the apprentice officially graduates from their tenure under their master and sets off on a journey. You see, an apprentice who remains under the tutge of a master bes a copy of the master, with all the good and bad. Craftsmen and tradesmen recognise that to replicate means that their profession will never advance. Hence, an apprentice''s journey acts as the catalyst for change, and the change starts with their designation: bing a journeyman. And thus, by working under other masters in the field, plying their trade or craft on their own, and absorbing everything the world has to offer, the journeyman grows and evolves to ultimately be a master. And thus, the cycle continues.

    This system also extends into the various trades and crafts under the magical banner. Apprenticeship was amon affair in the Enchanting and Smithingmunity, as well as the Cooking and Beast Taming crowd, although it wasn''t a mandatory process. But the practice was mandatory in the Alchemical and Medicinal fields until very recently with the advent of the Guilds. The master-apprentice rtionship in Alchemy and Medicine was excessively strict. Unlike others where a master could have multiple apprentices at once, an Alchemy master could only have one apprentice at a time. The same was true with master Physicians.

    After an apprentice Physician has gained enough knowledge from their master, they are encouraged to set out and ply their skills in the vast and open world, as a journeyman.

    On this particr day, Jean had a sudden thought as she observed her peers ying a heated game of handball.

    ''The number of injuries has markedly reduced to single digits per month. As for illnesses, even since they started cultivating, the urrence ofmon illnesses has reduced markedly as well. As for the health of the vigers, the treatment for most, if not all, possible mdies and emergencies have been standardised. And we even have two trainees on standby who have been trained for emergency treatment,'' Jean mentally listed. Her face started to bloom with a pleasant smile, something she just couldn''t get enough of ever since the dam sequestering her emotions was demolished.

    In a decisive move, Jean stood up and started to walk out of the bleachers and towards the Sect Leader''s office.

    "How''s everything going, Jean?" Sect Leader Larks greeted as he gestured for Jean to take a seat before him.

    "Everything''s going well in the Sect. The most recent health inspection has shown promising results. Furthermore, the situation in the vige has also improved significantly. All in all, I can say that the most recent vination drive has presented a marked reduction in the infection rate this flu season. Barring the mild reaction symptoms to the vine''s antibodies, which were expected, there have been no new breakouts. However, I have found some resistance in trying to spread our vine in the market. The standard marketing strategies havee off as ineffective since themon folk don''t seem to understand the purpose of the vination and are ill-informed about the way diseases work," Jean exined.

    "I expected as much. We have been sessful in Twilight Vige mainly because we work closely with them and have built a personal connection there. The vigers also trust us. But that cannot be assumed as true for those outside. Mortals already have a shaky rtionship with sects and ns; they would take our rmendations with a grain of salt," Mister Larks affirmed. "So what is your n?"

    "I wish to go on a journey. I am currently in a special situation where there is an abundance of theoretical knowledge floating about in my head, but no outlet to apply it and internalise it for myself. I feel that by travelling around, visiting new ces, and treating more people, I can build up my repertoire and be a better doctor," Jean expressed her analysis sinctly. "Besides, I have more or less hit a roadblock with the research into improving Yohn''s predicament. And I don''t think sitting here and perusing through books will get me to where I need to be."

    "You make a good point. We''ll do it this way," Mister Larks retrieved a parchment from his desk and prepared his writing utensil. "The Sr Sect Alliance has amplified the scrutiny upon affiliated sect members roaming out in the world. The treaty between the Empire and the Sect Alliance has grown rather finicky, especially after our recent intervention in curing the gue. As you already know, I used my connection with the Cloudstrider Sect to mask our involvement. So on paper, it is the Cloudstrider Sect that helped clear the infestation in the region. However, the Empire decided to transfer the me for all the damage caused in the region to the Alliance as well."

    Jean furrowed her brow and asked, "How did they aplish that? And I''m surprised the Alliance hasn''t retaliated for the act of libel."

    "Well, it''s kind of our fault, really," Mister Larks confessed with a wry smile. "The Cloudstrider Sect cannot reveal excessive details of the events lest they make our involvement known. For that reason, the Alliance has taken a hushed stance - only admitting to having solved the problem and not revealing the how and why."

    "This puts us in the Cloudstrider Sect''s debt," Jean admitted morosely.

    "Well, this one was a freebie," Mister Larks shrugged. "Mage Glista from the Cloudstrider Sect has recently amassed quite a bit of support internally and is now the front-runner to rece the current Sect Leader. Markus'' ''defeat'' against the Sect Leader''s Daughter had an interesting domino effect, which has now ced the Sect Leader in a shaky position."

    Mister Larks then finished writing on the parchment, rolled it, and stamped the True World Sect''s seal on wax.

    "Sect members can roam the world - primarily in the Empire''s purview - as long as they are on an affiliated sect-sanctioned mission. As someone under a sect-sanctioned mission, you will fall under the Alliance''s agreed-upon ts when interacting with the citizens of the Empire, which includes not interfering with the Empire''s and the government''s initiatives," Sect Leader Larks said as he handed the roll to Jean.

    "Are you nning to travel alone?" he then asked with a worried frown.

    "Yes," Jean responded. "Why?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I hope you are aware of your special... constitution," Mister Larks hinted. "The world is a dangerous ce. Are you sure you can protect yourself?"

    "My only limitation is that I cannot harm another person," Jean affirmed. "That doesn''t preclude me from protecting myself."

    "What if the protection you need is against a violent threat?"

    "I have methods to subdue them," Jean answered.

    "Though I trust your abilities, Jean, I am still notfortable sending you by yourself," Mister Larks responded with a shake of his head.

    "But we don''t have enough people to spare, Sect Leader Larks," Jean reminded while emphasizing Mister Larks'' obligations as the leader of the True World Sect.

    To that, she received a mild chuckle from the man. "Alright, alright. I get what you''re saying."

    He then hummed in contemtion and said, "While you''re at it, take Kili with you?"

    "But-"

    Mister Larks raised his palm to halt Jean''s retort and exined, "She still isn''t fullyfortable with anyone else apart from you. Even Grace is struggling to make a breakthrough with her."

    "But wouldn''t having a stable environment be beneficial for her growth?" Jean pointed out.

    "That would be true if only the sole point offort was still a part of her environment. If you are gone, she will feel abandoned and isted," Mister Larks responded. "While I fear that she may build a codependency, I think it is easier to wean someone off of it than to bring someone back from the endless ravine of post-traumatic stress."

    He looked at Jean meaningfully and said, "You should know this better than anyone."

    Jean hummed in thought. In many ways, Kili was just like her. They both lost family and had to watch them die before their eyes. The continuous loss can change a person and make them feel like people will just leave them, thus making it difficult to build any meaningful and emotional connection with others.

    After a minute to think things over, Jean nodded and said, "I will take Kili with me."

    "Now that you have another head to worry about, I strongly suggest that you try and keep yourself away from troubles," the Sect Leader emphasized. "If you find two mages fighting, you run in the opposite direction. If you are in the market and someone challenges your purchase, unless it is a life-or-death matter, just concede the item, say a few pleasantries, and move away. Do not look anyone in the eye; look at their lips. If you find someone who is dying, you can help them, but give them a fake name and affiliation. If..."

    Jean shuddered as Sect Leader Larks listed one warning after another. How he spoke made her realize that the man wasn''t joking. The care and specificity with which each warning was woven made Jean feel a little warm inside - it reminded her of her father, who would fret over her constantly.

    "... Finally, if a man or woman decides to attempt anything untoward with you - mind you that following you around and badgering you to ''give him a chance'' is also harassment - make sure to take down their name, address, and affiliation. I know you can''t hurt people, but putting them in a deep sleep shouldn''t be out of the realm of possibility. If you can get a picture of them, it would make my life easier," Mister Larks said with a dangerous edge in his voice.

    Jean let out a beaming smile andughed melodiously. "Thank you for worrying about me, Mister Larks."

    She didn''t miss the man''s eyes watering slightly as he saw her emote her exuberance.

 Chapter 327 Spiciest Memelord Of The New World

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    After her emotions returned to her, Jean immersed herself in them wholeheartedly. She was excited to be able to feel once again, and she wanted to make up for all the lost time. Whenever she had time, she would smile,ugh, frown, rage, fear, but among all the emotions avable in the spectrum, she avoided sorrow and crying the most. Her life up to this point had been filled with it, and she wanted to bnce out all the sorrow with positive and uplifting emotions.

    To that end, Jean made a selfish decision. Goodbyes were often sorrowful and charged with emotion. Promises of returning safely never did put people''s hearts at ease, especially since the world outside was so perilous, fraught with danger around every corner. So, before the first crow of the rooster signifying the crack of dawn, she hoisted Kili and left the Sect with her packed bags. She felt bad about doing it this way, but she really didn''t want to exhaust herself by crying.

    In order to avoid getting caught, Jean followed the path leading to the Sect''s back entrance which was usually reserved for shipments and moving cargo. She pushed through therge, heavy doors and faced the world outside the Sect''s walls. She took a deep breath. The sun hadn''t risen, and the forests beyond were drenched in darkness. But it didn''t feel as scary as she thought it to be.

    "A little early for a walk," a voice called out to her from outside. Jean''s head yanked in that direction and noticed a figure walking out from the shadows.

    "Big Sis!" Jean eximed in surprise, before calming down, "I should have known."

    Marie shrugged while revealing a sly smile. "Sneaking out in the middle of the night. One would think you are up to no good."

    "I don''t want to cry," Jean stated inly.

    "See, that''s where you''re mistaken," Marie chastised before pulling Jean into a hug, squishing the still-sleepy Kili between them. "You don''t get to decide on this matter all by yourself. Farewells aren''t just for you, they''re for the people you leave behind as well."

    Jean suppressed the heat making its way towards her eyes before croaking out, "You should know better than anyone else what lies in my future. Why, then, do you take part in this practice?"

    Marie separated herself from Jean and said, "It is because I know what will happen - what you will do and what you will achieve on this journey - that I am here and wishing you a pleasant and fruitful journey."

    "Be a bit more cryptic, why don''t you?" Jean shot back with a sarcastic tone.

    Marie clicked her tongue and flicked Jean on her forehead, "It seems my abrasive personality has rubbed off on you, no pun intended. Anyways, have a safe trip, try not to get into too much trouble, and make sure you return with all your body parts intact."

    She then reached behind her and pulled out a wrapped package. "Just because of that snipe, I am going to ruin my surprise for you. It''s a book. Read it. Understand it."

    After stuffing the package into Jean''s hands, she ruffled Kili''s hair and whispered something into the girl''s ear. She then finished with a loud statement, "Take care of your Jean for me. If she does anything stupid, you know what to do!"

    Without waiting for another second, Marie turned around, walked through the doors and closed them behind her as she returned to the Sect, leaving Jean and the now partially awakened Kili by themselves.

    "Umm..." Kili mumbled while rubbing her sleep-filled eyes. "Where are we?"

    "We are going on a trip," Jean dered before picking up both their travel bags. "Come on, let''s see how much progress we can make before sunrise."

    As Jean started moving, she noticed Kili standing in ce and squirming erratically.

    "Kili? What''s wrong?"

    Kili''s face turned a blushing red shade as she bit down on her lower lip in embarrassment.

    "Umm..."

    "What is it, Kili?"

    "I-I need to go to the toilet," Kili mumbled in a low voice.

    "..."

    "That was a quick trip," Marie joked while approaching Jean as she stood outside the public toilets. "What did you learn? Did you gain anything out of it?"

    "Oh, bite me!" Jean shot back.

    "What''s all this racket?" Matron Reva bellowed while swallowing a yawn. "Uh, Jean? Why are you standing with your bags packed?"

    "She was about to sneak out in the middle of the night?" Marie blurted out while shooting a challenging wink in Jean''s direction.

    "You were what?!" Matron Reva eximed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I-I can exin," Jean chimed in immediately, hoping to quell the stout demoness''s rage.

    "Oh, you had better!"

    And then, Jean narrated her entire story to the Matron. As she did so, the observing crowd grew in size as the other upants of the sect started to converge. Jean had conveniently forgotten that the public bath and toilet were a high-traffic location, especially in the morning.

    Ultimately, word got out, and Matron Reva left Jean no option other than to have breakfast first. After one of the most hearty and uncharacteristically heavy breakfasts of Jean''s life, a horde followed her and Kili as they approached the Sect''s exit (the front gates this time).

    "Medium Sis, don''t go!" Dora wailed. "At least leave Kili. Why are you taking her with you?!"

    "Take good care of yourself, child," Matron Reva choked out between her sniffles. "Eat on time - I know that mages at your realm don''t really need to eat so regrly, so what I mean to say is that you shouldn''t forget to have filling meals whenever possible."

    "If you get into trouble, run the other direction," Markus advised with a wavering voice. "Although I''d love to go with you, I am tied down with Sect responsibilities."

    "I''ve already said my goodbyes," Marie said with a snort. "But a second goodbye don''t hurt nobody."

    And with that, Marie pulled Jean and Kili into a hug. This started a chain reaction, where everyone started to dogpile around them, causing the size of the hug to balloon from three to six to twelve to twenty people altogether.

    "G-Guys..." Jean mumbled, her voice turning into a gravelly croak.

    "Guys..." She repeated as the hug grew tighter and warmer.

    "Guys- WAAAAAAAHHHH~!" And the floodgates opened. Jean broke down into a hysterical cry, copsing onto her knees.

    "Hey, hey!" Matron Reva blurted out as she pushed all the huggers away. "Woah! Calm down!"

    "THIS *sniff* This is so embarrassing- WAAAAAAH~!" Jean couldn''t control her tears. "I''m *sniff* going to miss you guys *cough* soooo~ much- WAAAAAAH~!"

    "..."

    The scenested for exactly five minutes and twenty seconds, during which the crowd dispersed awkwardly. In the Sect members'' eyes, Jean was always a figure to be feared. If anyone got hurt or did something stupid that ended up causing bodily harm, Jean would rain down unparalleled fury on the transgressors. Thus, over time, she had turned into the official boogeyman of the Sect. In fact, this had gone on for so long that it turned into an inside joke with some members circting a caricature sketch of Jean with therge text "If you die, I kill you!" above and below the drawing. Markus found it distasteful, but Jean found it hrious and, as punishment, had the sketcher turn the thing into a stamp and printed copies of it to be posted above all the dangerous equipment in the Maker-Space.

    Jean cleaned herself with a quick flurry of spells and looked at the remaining members. "Although I''m leaving, it doesn''t mean that you guys are free to do as you wish. Always follow safety protocols, and make sure to keep yourself and your environment clean, if you get hurt or ill get it treated immediately. I have tasked Matron Reva with conducting the weekly checkups. If I find anything stupid written in there when I return, there will be hell to pay. And I swear on my departed mother that if I find a report of Huron cutting himself with the whittling knife once again, I will personally remove all of his fingers. And don''t worry, I know a person who makes very life-like prosthetics. So look on the bright side, it is easier to find recement parts made out of wood or metal than flesh."

    The boy in question shuddered and quickly hid himself behind his taller peers.

    "A demon that cries is still a demon," the boy mumbled to himself.

    "Alright! We''re leaving, Kili," Jean dered before walking down the steps with the bags strapped over her back.

    Jean walked with purpose but without a destination. She would go where her feet would take her. She had given herself one year. One entire year to learn, practice, and grow.

    She looked behind her and saw Kili walking with the same level of enthusiasm. Maybe it was the result of monkey-see-monkey-do, but it did fill Jean with more confidence and motivation.

    Maybe it was the workings of fate, as Marie would put it, but Jean''s destination was set the moment she stepped out of the Sect. Although she walked without direction, her internalpass was drawn, either through coincidence or purpose, towards a singr destination.

    Jean caught Kili''s figure slipping down her back and hoisted her securely once again. Letting out a heavy breath, she pushed aside the ramshackle fencing and looked towards the destitute and desatednds thaty beyond. She leapt over an artificial ravine, formed by magic andnd maniption, and walked on for a few kilometres.

    The world was silent here. There were no sounds of birds, rodents, or even insects. And the nts had all but died, leaving nothing but barren earth slowly turning into sand. Thend ahead was a toxic ck shade and reeked of death.

    "Wait here," she instructed Kili while lowering the tired girl to the ground. "I need to check something first."

    After ensuring that Kili was securely situated, Jean leapt into a light jog (which was closer to the running speed of an average human). She circled eastwards for a few kilometres before decelerating anding to a halt.

    She released a heavy breath through quivering lips as she looked ahead, at a conspicuous and unnatural pit.

    "I''m back, Mother," she whispered, though her voice echoed ominously all over the barrennds.

 Chapter 328 Back Where It All Began

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Jean began her journey aimlessly. From Twilight Vige, she travelled towards Wayward Town and hitchhiked with a caravan heading southwards. Merchants were more than willing to take her along after she proved her worth by treating a few members for minor illnesses and injuries, such as the caravan leader with his pollen allergy, and all the drivers with their lower back injuries, including one with a slipped disc.

    Even a few of the hired escorts, who were from another sect, received treatment from Jean, which led to her being treated like a queen throughout the entire journey. After all, who doesn''t want a healer on their side? In fact, her presence significantly improved the speed of the journey, as the escorts didn''t have to worry about navigating and nning around confrontations and could approach fights with less caution (even though Jean emphasized that they should not do that).

    "Please take this as a token of our gratitude," the caravan leader said as he handed Jean a pouch of coins.

    "I can''t do that. I told you that all I need is a ride. My assistance and contribution were payment for the service you have offered me," Jean responded, nudging the pouch back towards the leader.

    "You don''t understand. Your work while the caravan was moving has more than paid for your ride. This is from our side. You didn''t have to help cure Myran of his lower back injury - the slipped disc, as you call it. Nor did you have to excise the cyst in Belize''s wife''s uterus while we were stopped at his vige. This is a token of our gratitude. It may not be much, but it is what everyone here has collected. Please ept it," the leader insisted, pushing the pouch back into Jean''s hand.

    "I have decided, I will take you on as my woman!" one of the mages in the escort dered, taking a decisive step towards Jean. He was a lean young man with sharp features, his nose pointing towards the sky as he spoke.

    At that moment, a resounding p struck the mage from behind. "Is this how you thank the person who reattached your sword arm?"

    It was a gruff voice, belonging to a middle-aged man who also wore the same faint-crimson coat as the lean youth, with the insignia of their sect - a ming sword splitting a mountain in half - emzoned on their chests. His long, greying hair was tied into a thick ponytail that reached his lower back.

    "Don''t you see, I am doing this for her!" the youth said with an usatory hiss, nursing his aching head. "If she marries me, she will get a fast track into the Infernal Sword Sect! Then she can enjoy the same benefits as me, a true Inner Disciple! She can spend her time in safety and research all that she desires, instead of going on such a dangerous journey just to gain some insight!"

    The boy''s eyes sparkled as he narrated his idea, but suddenly, Jean''s body shivered.

    "E-Elder Soam," the youth stuttered, feeling the weight of the Elder''s usatory gaze. "I just wanted to help Mage Rasmus. Can''t you see how destitute her sect is? The only weapon or armour the sect can afford to give its touring members is a wooden stick with an enchantment gem stuck on it!"

    As the boy said that, the Elder''s gaze lowered and caught sight of the exquisite enchanted sword strapped to the boy''s waist. His eyes then shot over to the girl''s side and noticed the wooden stick with the mana gem on it.

    "*cough* That stick has its own uses. It doesn''t fall short against our sword in any way," Elder Soam said, though his uncertain voice gave away that those were merely conciliatory words.

    Jean simply smiled and said, "I know that Mage Rig had no ill intentions when he... proposed to me just now."

    The youth''s face turned a vibrant crimson shade, though he maintained a facade of haughty aloofness.

    "But I''m content where I am," Jean exined.

    "You can have so much more!" Mage Rig beckoned. "You will have many more resources at your disposal in the Infernal Sword Sect. We may not be as old as the Four Greats, but our history isn''t any less storied."

    "It isn''t a matter of resources," Jean responded with an understanding nod. "It''s about everything else. I can have all the resources I need in the world, yet still struggle in my cultivation. I don''t think the Infernal Sword Sect can offer what I require to advance my cultivation."

    The youth wanted to counter Jean''s argument, but a firm hand on her shoulder held him back. Turning around, he noticed that it was Elder Soam.

    "Regardless, we are truly in your debt, Mage Rasmus. We of the Infernal Sword Sect adhere to a strict code of chivalry. And as an Elder of the Sect, I must set an example. For your contributions to our campaign, for going beyond what is required of you, please ept this token of our gratitude."

    With that said, the Elder extended a pouch and ced it in Jean''s hand. Jean peeked inside and was shocked to find it filled with Mana Crystals.

    "This is too much!"

    The Infernal Sword Sect members paid no attention to her protests and simply departed, leaving Jean alone with Kili. After a moment of silence, Jean released a hearty chuckle and stored her bounty inside her bag.

    "Do not get used to this," Jean exined. "The world isn''t always this kind. Doing good for others doesn''t guarantee that you will receive the same in return. Newton''s thirdw doesn''t apply to humans, unfortunately."

    "So why do we still do good?" Kili asked, scratching her head.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "We do it for ourselves," Jean answered. She tightened her bag and started walking ahead, continuing, "No one is truly selfless, and those who are selfless are as rare as myths. Even I cannot im that I ampletely selfless. I help others because it brings me closer to my goal."

    "What goal?" Kili asked, skipping to match Jean''s pace.

    "I want to end the gue Emperor''s reign," Jean dered with determination. "I don''t want to kill him, but put an end to everything his cultivation stands for."

    "But why?"

    "It''s hard to ssify things as ck or white in this world - that is to say, nothing is wholly good or bad," Jean began. "Something good can be hurtful to another, and the same can be said for the opposite. But I can say with certainty that the gue Emperor is a bad man. It''s not all his fault - he''s broken. A broken child, with no one to help them, grows up to be a broken man. And a broken man sees the world around him as broken and beyond repair. That would have been my future if not for all those who care for me."

    Noticing that Kili understood her words, Jean added, "But that doesn''t mean we can forgive him for all he''s done to hurt others. Actions have consequences, and his destructive actions have harmed many people. If left alone, he will continue to harm others. That''s why I must put an end to it."

    Kili''s movements slowed down as a thoughtful frown appeared on her face. "Did the gue Emperor hurt you too, Big Sis?"

    "He did. He... killed my mother," Jean answered.

    "So it''s revenge," Kili growled in anger.

    "Not really," Jean said with a shrug. "I haven''t forgiven him, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to reshape my entire life just to end him."

    "Isn''t that what you just said before?" Kili voiced her confusion.

    "Not entirely. If all I cared about was ending the gue Emperor, I wouldn''t be teaching you all these things," Jean reasoned. "Besides, it''s not just him that I am fighting against; it''s everything his cultivation stands for."

    Kili hummed in agreement as she followed Jean. The journey was silent until they eventually spotted the guard tower of the town they were heading to. After passing the initial security inspection, they walked towards the town gates.

    "How do you know if you''re getting closer to your goal?" Kili asked as Jean lifted her bags after having them searched by the gate guards.

    "What do you mean?"

    "How can you tell if you''re ready to face the gue Emperor?" Kili reiterated after taking a moment to think over her question. "Sect Leader Larks always says that ''for every goal, there need to be measurable goals''. How will you measure if you''re getting closer to your goal?"

    That surprisingly insightful question stunned Jean, not only because of who had asked it but also because she didn''t have an answer ready.

    "That''s... a good question..." Jeanmended and received a rare beaming smile from Kili, who bounced ahead and visited a stand selling fried potatoes cut into swirls.

    ____

    The question didn''t leave Jean''s mind from that point onwards. Her work didn''t falter, nor did her pursuit of gaining insights. But she noticed that her progress was incremental at best -parable to a fraction of a fraction.

    One day, about a month after the start of her journey, Jean realized something while she was helping treat a necrotized limb for a farmer in a rural vige. She realized that, knowingly or unknowingly, her cultivation had be the antithesis of the gue Emperor''s cultivation. His pursuit to cover the world in a gue so vile that none could survive was something Jean sought to remedy.

    If that assumption were true, then the only way to gauge her progress towards her goal would be to directly confront something the gue Emperor had unleashed into this world while he was still ascending to power.

    Once this thought took root in Jean''s mind, her feet moved subconsciously. Every decision she made from that point onwards, knowingly or unknowingly, drew her in a particr direction.

    Unfortunately, Jean''s journey would now take her to a ce where she would have to relive her childhood trauma.

    And now, as she stood on and where no one could survive, whichy barren as far as the eye could see, she released a heavy breath through quivering lips as she looked ahead at a conspicuous and unnatural pit.

    "I''m back, Mother," she whispered, her voice echoing ominously over the taintednds bathed in one of the vilest gues the gue Emperor had ever unleashed - the gue of Dark Cleansing.

 Chapter 329 The â€œThrowing A Hundred Darts And Seeing Which Stickâ€ Strategy

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Watching paint dry. Watching grass grow. Watching mountains crumble to dust as they withstand the test of time.

    Jean wondered if either of those activities would be more entertaining and fruitful than what she was currently attempting.

    "What am I even doing right now?" she wondered aloud.

    She was presently sitting on a rock that she had manually moved from a distance to a location precisely 100 metres away from the exact boundary where the gue-affected region ends. She sat with her head resting on her palms, lost in thought. Kili sat behind the rock, working through one of the many workbooks they had brought along.

    "Did you say something, Big Sis?" Kili asked absentmindedly, tapping the pencil against her forehead in deep thought.

    "I think I''ve taken on more than I can handle," Jean admitted. "What was I even thinking? That I could solve a problem that hordes of mages far more knowledgeable and powerful than me have failed to solve?"

    "Is there anything I can do?" Kili asked, diverting her attention from her workbook.

    Jean wanted to answer ''Yes!'', but the words wouldn''te out. She shook her head and sent Kili back to her work. Jean knew deep down that Kili held the solution to this problem. The Universal Panacea Physique was supposed to be the ultimate cure... or so they imed. There was no certainty that whatever monstrosity the gue Emperor had unleashed here could be countered by Kili''s unique physique. Jean had no intention of putting Kili to the test and risking her uncertain fate.

    Moreover, if Jean relied on Kili to solve her problems, how could she confront the gue Emperor himself?

    Of course, she conveniently ignored the fact that there was an entire realm separating the gue Emperor''s domain, where the gue was unleashed, from Jean''s own cultivation realm!

    Jean pped her cheeks with both hands to refocus her thoughts. "Let''s start from the beginning!"

    The first thing Jean did was move Kili beyond the artificial ravine that separated the quarantined region. There, she set up a temporary shelter in a concealed and elevated location to ensure the little girl''s safety. Then, Jean returned to the boundary and began setting up her work tent. Despite the extensive research conducted by the Rasmus n on the gue of Dark Cleansing, Jean realized that their approach had been wed from the start.

    The disease was highly irregr, so it couldn''t be treated like a typical ailment. For one, it didn''t spread. The gue Emperor unleashed a spell, and everything within his mana domain fell victim to the gue. Anyone or anything that entered the affected region suffered a simr fate. Even after years, the region affected by the gue had not expanded, but the Empire was still fearful enough to quarantine and physically iste the area to prevent any chance of spreading. The gue affected animals, nts, and even thend itself. Recognizing these three aspects, the mages who came to this region tobat the gue approached the problem from three angles: finding a cure for infected animals (including humans), healing the ailing nts, and revitalizing thend. This had also been Rasmus n''s approach.

    However, Jean hypothesized that this was likely where everyone was going wrong. Instead of tackling the problem in separate parts, it had to be addressed as a whole. The disease was singr, and its cure should be singr as well. But this was easier said than done, as it was notoriously elusive. It constantly evolved and adapted whenever it sensed a threat. People spected that it was alive, which was why a significant portion of documented ''cures'' were essentially highly potent poisons meant to flush out the system. But the disease wasn''t truly alive, norpletely dead, as its sentience was unquestionable.

    Jean cautiously approached the barren region until her mana domain barely extended into it. She drew out her wand and levitated a clean te in her hand towards the diseased area, gently cing it down. Then, with a wave of her wand, she lifted a few grains of soil from the ground and deposited them onto the te. Finally, she cast the |Inspect| spell and meticulously examined the sample on the te to identify the nature of the illness. Understanding how it worked was crucial.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    This wasn''t Jean''s first encounter with the gue of Dark Cleansing. A significant portion of her early years had been dedicated to fighting it, although shecked the necessary tools back then. But now, she possessed the tools (her cultivation) and the knowledge to tackle it.

    "This isn''t a virus, as I initially hypothesized," Jean muttered. "Although that is inconclusive, considering my earlier observations were heavily leaning towards that hypothesis."

    Her mana senses focused on the ckish-green particles floating among the sandy soil. This was the gue. She retrieved a small sample of healthy soil from outside the barren region and slowly ced it onto the te. Immediately, she observed the particles rushing towards the healthy soil, attacking the bacteria, fungi, and viruses that sustained the soil''s vitality. The particles changed forms as they attacked each type of organism. The attack methods were never the same. Bacteria were invaded and decimated from within, fungi had their moisture drained and decayed rapidly, and viruses were engulfed and captured. Almost instantly, the once-healthy soil lost its rich brown colour and turned sandy. It was a merciless ughter at the microscopic level. Jean felt a wave of nausea as she witnessed it. She quickly withdrew her mana senses and retreated to her work tent.

    At that moment, Jean realized she was truly out of her depth.

    "I''m not ready for this," she murmured. But she couldn''t give up. "I have to make an effort, at the very least."

    At that moment, Jean remembered a phrase Mister Larks often repeated to his younger students.

    "When you''re stuck and don''t know what to do, try everything you can and know. If you throw a hundred darts at once, at least one should hit the target. Just take the one that hits and repeat it again and again until all hundred hits."

    Jean smiled nostalgically, recalling the astonished expressions on the children''s faces as Mister Larks actually threw a hundred darts at a tree, and all hundred stuck true.

    "Wait a minute!" Jean snapped her fingers. She hurriedly retrieved a book from her bag with the title, "Evolutionary Algorithms." This was the package Marie had handed her. It was a challenging read, delving into topics beyond her expertise and understanding. But Marie had instructed her to read andprehend it. Jean had indeed read it, though her understanding was iplete as she had only made it halfway through.

    Jean skimmed through the text and paused at the chapter titled "Gic Algorithm."

    In fact, this was the only chapter Jean truly grasped in the entire book. It was mainly derived from the theory of natural selection. Natural selection could be seen as a more elegant way of describing the state of the world: "Survival of the fittest." Only the fittest individuals could carry on their genes to the next generation.

    Nucleic acids,prising DNA and RNA, were considered the building blocks of all life. All species shared simrities in their DNA. Among humans, there was a 99.9% simrity in DNA makeup. Our closest rtive, the chimpanzee, shared 98.8% of our DNA. However, a mere 1.2% variation resulted in an entirely different species. So how significant could the 0.1% difference be between humans of the same species?

    Let''s consider a highly contagious disease with a high mortality rate spreading worldwide. People are susceptible to it, sumbing to the disease, and many dying. However, the 0.1% variation allows a group of humans to possess higher tolerance to the disease, enabling them to resist, ovee, or even be immune to it. This group is guaranteed the propagation of their genes, as those who sumb to the disease are naturally removed from the breeding pool. The subsequent generation of humans already incorporates the 0.1% variation in their DNA, ensuring their resistance to the disease. Within this new generation, only those with the highest resistance orplete immunity will have a greater chance of passing on their genes. After years and multiple generations, humans may be born with total immunity to the disease.

    Jean''s eyes lit up with a newfound sense of possibility. The gic algorithm encapsted this simplified exnation of the natural selection process and applied it to a wide range of problems, assuming that only the most optimal solution among the avable options would persist as the algorithm naturally phased out suboptimal solutions with each generation. It provided a means of addressingplex problems by emting the process of natural selection and evolution.

    With renewed determination, Jean delved into her memories and recalled the details of the chapter. The gic algorithm involved creating a poption of potential solutions, each represented by a set of parameters or characteristics. Through a process of selection, crossover, and mutation, the algorithm would iteratively refine these solutions, gradually converging on an optimal or near-optimal oue.

    Excitement surged through Jean''s veins as she recognized the potential of applying this algorithm to her problem. She could approach the disease as an optimization challenge, seeking the bestbination of factors to counteract its devastating effects. By framing the problem in this manner, she might be able to ovee the gue''s adaptability andplexity.

 Chapter 330 A "Natural" Optimisation Strategy

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Jean ced the book on her worktable and retrieved her note-taking book and pencil. One thing Jean learned about Marie, especially after her Big Sis'' advancement, was that the girl never did anything casually. Every word and action had a meaning and purpose, even if it was seemingly said or done in passing.

    For instance, Marie once gave her a single copper coin saying that, "she found it lying around; it''s of no use to me, maybe it maye into use for you." That very same day, Jean was purchasing some alchemical ingredients from the travelling merchant when she found that she was short exactly one copper coin.

    Marie gave her this book for a reason. Although Jean wasn''t informed of its purpose explicitly, she knew that (through her experience with Marie) it woulde into use at the time Jean was most troubled or stuck - such as right now. Jean had already read the book andprehended most of what it had to offer. But for her current predicament, she was certain that she would have to apply her understanding of the gic algorithm in some shape or form.

    The gic algorithm is a problem-solving method inspired by how nature works. It''s like a smart way of finding the best solution to a problem by imitating how living things evolve and adapt.

    Imagine that there is a difficult problem that needs to be solved, like finding the best route to visit several ces in a city. But there are so many possible routes, and it''s hard to know which one is the best.

    Now, consider how living things, like nts and animals, adapt and evolve over time. They have traits that help them survive and thrive. These traits are passed down from parents to their offspring through something called genes. In a gic algorithm, a simr idea is used to solve the problem. Instead of genes, something called "chromosomes" is used. Each chromosome represents a potential solution to the problem, just like having different strategies to solve the routeing problem.

    It all begins with a set of random chromosomes, each representing a different solution to the problem. Some solutions might be good, while others might not be so great. Each solution and give it a score based on how well it solves the problem.

    Take the solutions with the highest scores and use them to create new solutions - bybining the best parts of the high-scoring solutions to make even better solutions. It''s like taking the best features of different strategies and mixing them together. Repeat this process over and over again, just like nature''s evolution. Each time, the solutions get better because only the best ones are selected andbined. It''s like a trial-and-error process where, usually, each passing generation is used to learn from and improve upon for the next generation.

    In addition to this, just like in natural evolutionary processes, in the gic algorithm, mutations serve an important purpose. Even though the algorithm tries to improve the solutions by selecting andbining the best ones, there is a risk of getting stuck in a local optimum. This means that the algorithm might converge to a reasonably good solution but not the absolute best one.

    Mutation helps to introduce diversity and prevent the algorithm from getting trapped in local optima. By applying small random changes to the solutions, the algorithm explores different parts of the solution space that it might not have considered otherwise. Going back to the optimal pathing problem, a mutation would be the introduction of an unexpected turn in the middle of the n, which may somehow lead down a shortcut.

    Mutations add an element of exploration and can help the algorithm discover new possibilities. They inject randomness into the process, allowing for potentially better solutions to emerge. However, it''s important to note that mutations are usually applied with a low probability. We don''t want too many random changes as they can disrupt the progress made by the algorithm. It''s a delicate bnce between exploration and exploitation of the solution space.

    By using this gic algorithm, it is assumed that one can eventually find the best solution to a problem. It''s like a smart way of exploring different possibilities and finding the optimal answer. However, there is no guarantee that it will result in the best answer. The reason for this is that gic algorithms use a probabilistic approach to search through the solution space rather than a targeted strategy.

    In real life, gic algorithms are used in many areas, like optimizingplex systems, designing new products, or even creating artwork. They help us find the best solution by imitating nature''s way of evolving and adapting. So, in simple terms, a gic algorithm is a problem-solving approach that imitates how living things evolve and adapt. It helps find the best solution bybining and improving different strategies over time.

    With all this known, Jean took a step back and considered how she could apply this to her situation. The solution she needed to find was a cure for the gue of Dark Cleansing. But what form of the curse was she looking for? A bacteria would require an antibiotic, a virus would require an antiviral, and a fungal infection would require an antifungal. But the gue was constantly evolving, changing, and reacting.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In fact, its behaviour reminded her of her own cultivation. She drew the mana from her core and held a cloud of it in her hand. After casting ''Inspect'' on it, she saw a swarm of "living" organisms floating within the mana cloud. These microscopic entities were hers to control - they could behave ording to hermands, and they changed ording to her requirements. These were the agents she used to spread immunity tomon diseases within the viges she visited during her travels.

    "What if I created hunter-killers that were attuned to targeting and destroying the gue microbes?" Jean surmised.

    It all made sense! The endgame for her would be to train her microbes to be the perfect antithesis of the gue. Once again, it read easily on paper, but the actual process was a million times harder. Jean had never actually sat down and evaluated the exact mechanism through which she designed her microbes. Due to the instinctive nature by which the Rat King designed his gue, the process through which Jean designed her microbes had a simr instinctive form. She would envision the diseases she wanted tobat, and her mana would attune the microbes to that disease (as long as Jean had already catalogued the disease through a contraction).

    Jeanter attempted to demystify her special ability by merging her knowledge about the mechanisms of viral, bacterial, and fungal infections with her cultivation. This resulted in her gaining greater control over the design of her microbes, but that was the most her cultivation changed. Right now, she would be breaching intopletely uncharted territories. In fact, her hypothesized strategy to synthesize hunter-killer microbes to fight the gue wasn''t the standard method of devising a cure.

    "But arcane problems require out-of-the-box solutions," Jean dered with a sigh. "No time like now, I guess?"

    She left the safety of her tent and approached the infected region once again, from a reasonable distance. Once her mana sense was barely ovepping with the gue, she drew from her mana core and produced over ten thousand microbes. In creating them, she provided a single instruction which was to be able tobat the same disease produced by the Rat King.

    Why did she only produce ten thousand when she could have made even more? Generally, a higher poption ensures that the optimal solution is reached quickly, but it also balloons the amount of attention Jean needs to give in order to score the members of the poption. Even with superior mental faculties, there was a limit to how much parallel processing Jean could manage at one time. Why did she start with the Rat King''s disease as the reference? Because she had an inkling that somehow, the Rat King and the gue Emperor were rted.

    With that established, she mixed the microbes with a handful of healthy soil and mixed it in with the infected dirt. This time, the result was interesting. As the gue microbes attacked the healthy soil, Jean''s microbes intervened. A war at the microscopic scale ensued as a deathly army of ckish-green collided against an angelic horde of pale pink. Though it didn''tst for long as the manifestations of death made quick work of the pink protectors. It was a failure, but Jean was surprised to note that of the ten thousand that died immediately upon contact with the gue, two had managed to hinder the attackers for a second.

    Utilizing those two as blueprints, Jean broke their makeup down at the DNA level. She then performed a rudimentary crossover by taking half from one and half from the other to create twopletely new microbes. She then created multiples of these microbes with a 0.1% mutation rate in their genome until there were ten thousand of them.

    She then repeated the process and pitted the next generation against the gue. This time, there were 10 that managed to hold off death after first contact, 3 that actually attempted to fight back, and 1 that managed to do serious damage by crippling a gue microbe (though it recovered almost immediately). Among the "winners" of this round, Jean had to now score them based on a fitness function. She decided to define the fitness function as the algebraic sum of three factors in ascending order of weightage: how long a microbe canst against the gue, how much damage the microbe can inflict against the gue, and finally, a binary indicator of whether the microbe canpletely destroy the gue.

    Based on the result of the fitness function, Jean popted the mating pool with proportionally more copies of the high scorers and fewer copies of the low scorer. This strategy was to ensure that if there were any beneficial traits in the low scorer, they won''t get lost during a highly directed evolution.

    This process took Jean an entire hour. After that, Jean managed to repopte ten thousand microbes of a new generation.

    Releasing an exhausted breath, Jean continued her work. At this point, Jean recollected another one of Mister Larks'' words of wisdom.

    "A jet of water can cut through stone like a hot knife through butter. But if you can''t generate the same pressurized jet, then find peace knowing the fact that a constant stream of flowing water can achieve the same result albeit through years of erosion."

 Chapter 331 Illusion Of Choice

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    A famous man once said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results."

    Interestingly, if you rece the word ''expecting'' with ''hoping for'', you''d actually be defining patience. However, an insane person will keep repeating the task with the same level of enthusiasm as the very first time. A patient person will eventually lose the ''hope'' driving them onward.

    Two whole months had passed since Jean arrived at this ce. Two whole months of repeating the same thing over and over (and over ad infinitum simile), and expecting different results. Every day, Jean would repopte microbes, pit her microbes against the gue, evaluate the performance of the poption, crossover to create a new poption, mutate a portion of the poption, rinse and repeat until she''d exhaust her mana core for the day. During the first month, the changes were more visible. She could see that her process was directing her microbes to the solution she wanted (something that could fight against the gue).

    But then, midway through the second month, she stumbled upon one problem - convergence. She found that her solution had reached a convergent point and each consecutive generation was only incrementing performance by a negligible percentage at best. This is usually an indication that a solution has been reached, and it is time for the gic algorithm to terminate. However, the problem was that the generation of microbes didn''t really match Jean''s expectations. Although they could now hold out against the gue, they could not destroy it. Essentially, it would be like a vination, not a total immunisation, which Jeanter tested by finding a test rodent and loading it with the microbes from the convergence generation and sending it into the infected territory. Of course, this was after running sufficient due diligence, since Jean''s restrictions could let her hurt anything (knowingly). And wouldn''t you know it, the rodent survived!

    Yet this wasn''t enough! Now, if any mage were to hear Jean''s thoughts, they would unquestionably throttle Jean and then kill themselves in a ce of murder-suicide wrought with anger and disgrace, over the fact that a girl a fraction of their age had aplished something they couldn''t with all their infinite wisdom that too in an even smaller fraction of the time. One should know that the gue had been on the Empire''s, Sect Alliance''s and the Teacher''s Co-operative''s docket for years, and none of the groups had made any headway.

    Jean, though, was feeling annoyed over the fact that her progress had hit a teau. She couldn''t settle for just a partial solution, knowing that there was potential for more. But the problem was that she didn''t know just what was missing. She first thought that this was a local maximum. To test if this was the case, she decided to follow through with some of the solutions written in the "Evolutionary Algorithms" text. The first was to increase the diversity of the poption, by adding more variations and increasing the mutation rate. This did destabilise the solution for a few generations. Yet after a few more days, the solution converged to the earlier one. She even implemented a few variations in the crossover and propagation criteria, but none of them worked. At this point, Jean didn''t have the motivation to restart the process. First off, she didn''t have the heart to scrap over a month of progress. Secondly, she was certain that even restarting wouldn''t make a difference.

    The limitation, in fact, is with the microbes at her disposal. There was only so much an upstart brute force method could solve - it wasn''t enough to bridge the gap between a Foundation Establishment realm fledgling mage with a veteran Core Formation realm one. This was when Jean truly realised her limitation and the fact that she was truly in over her head.

    Of course, something dide out of the exercise in tedium. After internalising the makeup of her most recent generation of microbes, Jean was able to condense a massive portion of her knowledge about diseases within her cultivation. The insight gained from breaking down the mechanism of her optimised microbes was staggering, and it pushed her close to breaking through by a minor realm. In fact, the microbes at her disposal had the potential to be a universal vine.

    Nheless, this victory felt constory in Jean''s eyes. She hadn''t achieved what she set out to do initially, and that bugged her to no end. This also brought on the second problem - the temptation. Having reached so close to the end, yet being separated by a seemingly vast canyon, Jean was suddenly egged by the temptation to take the "easy path".

    Mister Larks once said, "There is no shame in asking for help, especially when you are stuck! Pride and ego get you nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction. Put those two aside, and you have a more weing world at your disposal."

    Jean, of course, wasn''t dragged down by arrogance, pride or ego. It was the fact that the help wouldn''t actually be for a contribution of expertise or wisdom, but a sacrifice. That too, was a sacrifice from a minor who trusted her - believed in her. Kili''s blood was the remaining piece of the puzzle - more specifically the antibodies coursing through them.

    Speaking of the girl, Jean was anything but thankful that she had been equally patient while Jean embarked on this mission. Jean had packed enough food tost them many months inside her storage disk, but the location was a little isting. She recognised that the scant few hours of socialising they did every night wasn''t really enough to keep the little girl engaged and free of boredom. Besides, Jean had promised her a more exciting adventure but delivered a drab camping trip with nothing fun to do and no one to interact with.

    Instead of returning to her work tent, this time, Jean decided to cut her day short and return to the temporary domicile outside the quarantined region. After realising that their stay here would take much longer, Jean retrieved therger more homely tent from storage, which was somewhat simr to the one Teacher Jeeves had initially set up near the orphanage. There was a proper mattress, so the duo didn''t have to sleep in difort on the ground. The tent was a spatial anomaly, in the sense that its internal volume wasrger than what was shown on the outside. It was properly temperature controlled and had lighting inside, so the sprawling camp Jean had initially set up was disassembled and moved inside.

    Upon entering, Jean noticed that Kili was lying on her belly, doodling something.

    "What''re you drawing?" Jean asked as she approached the little girl from behind.

    "Ah!" Kili yelped in shock. "Big Sis! You''re early!"

    "Yeah, well," Jean shrugged. "I kind of didn''t feel like working today."

    Kiliughed as Jean rubbed the girl''s head.

    "It''s boring here, isn''t it?" Jean asked as shey down beside Kili.

    "Not really! I have books to read, toys to y with, pictures to draw," Kili listed. "Of course, I miss Dora and the others, but we''ll be going back soon. Besides, I have you!"

    "Hmm, sorry about keeping you holed up here," Jean said with an apologetic frown. "I know you wanted to see a lot more ces like Dora."

    "That''s okay," Kili answered. "I''m still young. I can go anywhere I want when I grow up, right?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Isn''t that mighty mature of you?" Jeanmended while tapping Kili on her nose.

    At that moment, Kili''s eyes widened and she snapped her little fingers together (though the action didn''t produce a sound).

    "I almost forgot!" Kili leapt out of her mattress and rushed toward a pile of papers nearby. After sorting through them haphazardly, she retrieved a long parchment and started to count slowly while extending her little fingers.

    "What are you doing?" Jean inquired as she turned over. She smiled as she saw the little girl''s brows furrowing as the counts exceeded the number of digits on her hands.

    "Ah! I lost count!" Kili eximed. "Okay, I''m going to count out loud as Mister Larks said."

    "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven," Kili finished and tilted her head sideways. "Eleven times five is..."

    Jean waited patiently as Kili''s mind ran the numbers, though a distressed look from the little girl immediately indicated that Kili didn''t know the answer.

    "Fifty-five?" Jean offered. "What are you counting?"

    "Days," Kili answered. "I think this is correct. I tallied every day right..."

    "Why?" Jean probed.

    "Sister Marie said that I should remind you something on the fifty-sixth day after you set up a longer-stay campsite," Kili muttered. "But I think I missed a day... or was it two? I think it''s close..."

    "What did she say?" Jean asked with a concerned frown as she approached Kili.

    "What was it?" Kili knocked her head with her knuckles lightly while scrunching her eyes in confusion. "It was something about a vaxeen?"

    "A what?"

    "A vaxeen? Vacseen? No wait! Vine!" Kili eximed. "She said that fifty-six days after setting up a longer-stay campsite, I was supposed to volunteer for a vine. Or something like that."

    "No, that can''t be true! I don''t ept it!" Jean denied it immediately. She knew exactly what those words meant.

    At Jean''s hasty retorts, Kili covered her mouth with her palms and chuckled, "Sister Marie told me that you would say something like that. She also told me to tell you that ''There is no other way. You might as well pack your bags and return home''."

    "When did she tell you all this?" Jean blurted out. "I only saw her whispering something into your ears while you were half asleep! How did you remember?"

    "Sister Marie gave me this letter," Kili said as she searched through her stack of papers, before retrieving a folded sheet that had Marie''s distinguishable handwriting on it. "She hid it in one of the books you gave me to work on."

    "But I packed those books days in advance!" Jean eximed. "How did she-"

    The question remained unsaid because the answer was already known. Jean wanted to curse out Marie for the game she''d yed, but the words escaped a defeated sigh from her lips.

    At the end of the day, what mattered right now was Jean''s choice, of which she was faced with two. Either she goes down the current path with an unknown ending, or she recruits Kili''s help which has a known one.

    "Am I really left with a choice?" Jean said with a wryugh. The letter in her hand right now had sort of already made the decision for her.

 Chapter 332 Predetermination In The Context Of Human Nature

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Jean read through the letter Marie had written for her once again, making it the tenth time she''d read it. She didn''t hope that the words written within would magically change with each new read. And it wasn''t that she didn''t understand what the letter intended.

    The reason for her obsession with the text was because it brought into question something that made her rethink her entire journey up until this point: whether it was all a result of the efforts of herself and those around her or if it was something that was predetermined.

    Predetermination is an interesting concept. It states that whatever has happened, is happening and will happen is already decided. Was Jean''s breakthrough as a mage an event which was predetermined? Was Jean never supposed to have the sole capacity to counter the gue Emperor''s gue of Dark Cleansing? Was everything she''d done and achieved till now an eventuality regardless of her efforts?

    Of course, that wasn''t true! If Jean hadn''t put in the effort, she wouldn''t have achieved the sesses she''s gained until this point. But the fact remained that there was really no way around it. The decisions Jean made and the actions she took were a direct result of her character. And the only way to go around that would be to do something that was out of character, willingly. Why would anyone do that?

    People behave and act a certain way because they are born that way and areter affected by the environment that urges a change. People cannot control the conditions of their birth, nor can they control how the environment affects their lives. In many ways, people are living reactive lives and the way they react is a function of the life they have lived until that point.

    "In the end, free will is just an illusion," Jean concluded. "I can do what I want, but what I want is a result of who I am. And who I am is not really something I have control over."

    It was a sobering realisation. And to think that a simple letter written for a little girl could incite such deep and reality-shattering thoughts!

    Did Jean dislike Marie for doing this? How could she? How could you me someone for helping? Marie didn''t hijack Jean''s work, all she did was offer guidance. But the difference was that Marie''s word had a more definite weightpared to another individual - say, an expert.

    Because there is a difference when someone who knows what the future holds tells you that the path you are taking is pointless,pared to when an expert in the field tells you the same thing. Because with thetter, there is always a trace of hope - a possibility - that your path may lead you somewhere. But Marie''s words were absolute. Although it irked her to admit it, there was no way around this; Jean knew that she was out of options at this point.

    Jean folded the letter by its initial crease and stuffed it into her jacket. The sun was just rising over the horizon, marking the start of a new day - a different day by Jean''s estimate. After going through her usual Yoga session, she approached the still-sleeping form of Kili and gently nudged her awake.

    "Kili. Time to get up," Jean called.

    "In a minute..." The little girl moaned while shuffling deeper into her bed.

    "It''s been a minute already," Jean responded with a quivering smile.

    "What? No way!" Kili''s eyes jolted open, still half-sleepily.

    "Just kidding," Jean chuckled. "We have work to do today, Kili."

    "Work?" Kili repeated.

    "I need your help," Jean said with a sigh.

    "My help?" This time, Kili sat up and asked with a confused expression.

    "How would you like to eradicate another disease?" Jean challenged.

    ____

    Jean couldn''t hurt anyone knowingly. That was the limitation she had etched into her soul. And if there was someone or something in need of healing, she would do everything within her power to heal them. The situation she was facing right now was interesting.

    Essentially, she would be sending Kili into the guednds. That in and of itself should basically be going against her credo, as she would be forcing Kili to confront assured death. However, that would only be true if Kili were your average child, which she wasn''t. She had the Universal Panacea Physique which made her immune to nearly everything as long as the girl believed it to be true. Of course, there was no guarantee that the gue would be suppressed by the girl''s physique. After all, the girl wasn''t a mage, and the gue was birthed by one. Jean couldn''t confidently say that sending the girl into thosends would be safe.

    However, having birthed the microbes capable of resisting the gue, Jean was now certain that no harm would befall Kili if she were to be sent in.

    But Jean was having second thoughts. As she stood before the guednds, Kili by her side, Jean was rethinking this "option". Although it was certainly safe, it didn''t sit well with her morality.

    "I don''t like this," Jean said out loud. "This isn''t right."

    "What''s wrong?" Kili probed as she pulled Jean''s jacket.

    "No. Let''s go back," Jean decided. "If it takes me a year, a decade, or even my entire lifetime. That''s okay. This isn''t right."

    As Jean prepared to leave, she felt a tug while she tried to move Kili.

    "Kili?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Big Sis'' mother died in there," Kili pointed out. "I got toy her to rest. But Big Sis didn''t. That''s not right."

    "Kili..." Jean said as she suppressed a choke.

    "Big Sis helped me when I was in trouble. You helped me find justice," Kili continued. "Please, let me help Big Sis in return."

    "I can''t put you in danger, Kili," Jean begged.

    "But I won''t be in danger. Didn''t Big Sis already create a v- vine?"

    "Still-"

    "I won''t die!" Kili bellowed with furrowed brows and extreme conviction. "I won''t die today. I trust in Big Sis. Please trust me in return."

    Jean bit her lips in frustration.

    Predetermination is an interesting concept. Jean knew she wouldn''t voluntarily send Kili into such a death trap even if it waspletely safe. But Kili would dly jump at the opportunity if it meant that she would be helping Jean and curing the disease. That was Kili''s character and a result of what she had lived through. In the end, Jean really WAS left with no choice.

    ____

    Jean swallowed a dry mouthful of air as she saw Kili hobble closer and closer towards the guednds. Her heartbeat inched up her throat with each step. Jean''s eyes dried due to her refusal to blink - she wasn''t going to miss any signs of trouble. The gue had already robbed Jean of happiness once; she wasn''t going to let it happen again. As Kili said, she wouldn''t die here today. Jean would do everything within her power to ensure that the deration held true - even give away her life!

    Kili walked without an ounce of doubt clouding her steps. The girl trusted Jean and trusted her own physique - that was good. Even an inkling of doubt was all it took for Kili''s physique to betray her. If the girl did not trust the potency of Jean''s microbes, then her body would actively make her vulnerable to the gue, causing the vine to be inert.

    Jean''s mana senses honed in on Kili; nothing else mattered. If anyone were to sneak up on Jean right now and stab her, they would seed as nothing else was within Jean''s senses (even her natural sensors had all been tuned out). Kili took her first step upon the guednds, and Jean''s breath stopped.

    A single second expanded tost an hour in Jean''s perception. Her mana senses captured the gue entering Kili''s body through every possible ess point. The attack was instantaneous, and would certainly kill anyone else.

    But the moment the gue microbes entered the bloodstream, Jean''s microbes raised the defence. It was a war of attrition, neither side won, and neither side advanced. It had reached a perfect standstill, all ording to Jean''s expectations.

    Right as Jean released half a breath, a change urred. Her microbes retreated.

    "NO!" Jean rushed forward.

    Images of Jean''s mother bleeding ck ooze through all of her orifices as her body dried up rapidly started to sh past her memory.

    Then it happened.

    ck ooze started to gush out of Kili''s pores.

    Jean''s worst fears had been realized. She was already toote!

    At that moment, Kili turned around.

    Jean was within arm''s reach of the little girl when Kili raised her hand and waved, revealing a bright smile.

    "I''m okay!" Kili eximed. As she said this, Jean noticed the girl''s clothes disintegrating rapidly as the ck ooze immediately vaporized and dissipated into thin air.

    Jean skidded to a hasty halt and allowed her senses to inspect Kili thoroughly. She wasn''t mistaken when she noticed her microbes retreating. But in her hurry, Jean had missed what happened next.

    The antibodies in Kili''s blood had reinforced Jean''s microbes, surrounding them as some form of armour. The now "armoured" microbes had redoubled their assault andpletely decimated the invading gue.

    But the "armoured" microbes were far more potent than Jean could have predicted. They hadpletely cleansed Kili''s blood and marrow, mimicking a mage''s advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm.

    A drop of sweat rolled off of Kili''s forehead andnded on the guednds.

    Jean watched in shock as the region where the droplet fell started to lose its deathly colour.

    The gue was retreating.

 Chapter 333 The Ultimate Bug

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Like a mother cat inspecting every nook and cranny of her kittens, Jean perused Kili with extreme thoroughness for any signs of damage caused by the gue. After separating her from the guednds, Jean washed the girl thoroughly and ced the now pristine girl with glowing skin inside the research tent.

    "I''m really okay," Kili said for the nth time. "In fact, I feel better than ever!"

    "That''s exactly why I need to make sure nothing is wrong," Jean dered. "If people feel different from how they usually do, and they can''t exin the cause, then something is probably wrong with their body."

    "How does that make any sense?" Kili said with a wry scoff.

    "Good things nevere for free," Jean stated. "Usually..."

    "So what''s happening with me?" Kili probed.

    "The gue of Dark Cleansing isuded to be the worst disease ever to have graced Gaea. It is incurable and with assured demise upon contraction. It is the disease to kill all diseases," Jean narrated. "What would you call a vine that can eradicate a disease to kill all diseases?"

    Kili hummed as she thought over the riddle before shaking her head in defeat.

    "To be honest, I don''t know what to call this bug either. I barely know what it is until I can retrieve it back into my body," Jean admitted while scratching her head.

    "Why don''t you do it?" Kili offered as she extended her hand towards Jean.

    "I don''t need to draw your blood," Jean responded. "It''s just... You know what? If I keep questioning if I''m entitled to this achievement, there won''t ever be an end to it. They say that a mage''s sess is 1% effort and 99% luck. To be honest, luck should be a skill too, right?"

    Kili didn''t know what Jean was talking about. In fact, another thought had just popped into her head.

    "The bug that I have inside me, is it stronger than the bug Dora is friends with?" Kili asked with excitement beaming in her eyes.

    "What are you talking about?"

    "I mean if I was to pit my bugs against Fancy, who would win? What is my bug''s secondary type? I know that Fancy is half Bug and half Fairy. Is my half Poison?" Kili rattled on. "No, that can''t be true! If the gue of Dark Cleansing is like Poison, and my bug can beat that, then it''s either Ground or Psychic..."

    "Hold up! Hold up!" Jean quickly cut Kili off. "What are you talking about?"

    "Huh?" Kili blurted out, as she was immediately brought out of her trance. "Oh, umm... Nothing."

    Jean''s eyes narrowed, and her lips puckered in confusion. An awkward silence ensued as Kili, unaware of Jean''s honed-in focus, continued to roam around in her imaginary world.

    After releasing a relenting snort, Jean extended her hands forward and massaged under Kili''s neck, slowly allowing her mana to permeate through the girl''s body and guiding her microbes back.

    Like moths to a me, the microbes all started to careen towards her palms with renewed purpose. Through Kili''s pores, Jean pulled out her reinforced microbes and held them in her open palms, gently caressing amidst her inviting mana. Then, after pausing to take a long breath, Jean let the microbes in through her mana channels and circted them towards her core.

    A second was all it took, and her evolved microbes became one with her again. The moment they entered her core, an explosion of knowledge resonated from her core and gushed rapidly into her brain. Kili''s physique had perfectly directed Jean''s halfplete hunter-killers to the desired destination, and the nks that Jean couldn''t fill in with hercking cultivation were being filled in as her core deconstructed the microbes.

    The more Jean learned about her hunter-killers, the more revulsion she started to feel towards the nature of the gue of Dark Cleansing and the crooked mind that birthed it. The gue was a creation of a man who had lost all semnce of his humanity. Jean thought that, although the gue Emperor was a man who hadmitted many evils, he could be taught to correct his ways and eventually assimte with the world after he''d paid proper reparations to the parties he''d harmed.

    An artist best understands another artist''s work, as they speak the samenguage. Although Jean wasn''t a "Disease Expert" or endocrinologist as Mister Larks called them, her cultivation was rted to the concept in some ways, simr to the gue Emperor. In fact, she was certain they were rted in more ways than just conceptually. Because of that, she understood the man''s mindset.

    "That man- no monster is beyond saving! He cannot be redeemed no matter how much time or money he spends in reparation!" Jean dered. "For people like him... Even the death penalty is like a light p on the wrist."

    But Jean did grasp something interesting from the gue Emperor''s "brush strokes". The gue was borne of deep-seated pain. Something deep inside the man was broken, and the gue was just a way to vent out this anger against those he felt had wronged him. Unfortunately, to him, the world was the one at fault, and it was the world that had to pay.

    "An eye for an eye, and the whole world goes blind," Jean muttered while shaking her head. "I am sorry for what you have lost. But that doesn''t justify what you''ve done."

    Just then, Jean started to feel the mana inside her core bubbling erratically. Jean quickly sat down in a meditative state and guided her mana through paths that felt natural, ensuring that the movement was at her pace. Arge whirlpool of mana started to form above the tent and pierced through the tarpaulin as it gushed towards Jean. In turn, Jean started to feel her bones moaning as they were pushed to their limits. A few broke in the process, but they were regrown as the ambient mana fueled the regeneration. The same could be said for her internal organs, of which some were healed as they were being ruptured.

    Yet Jean didn''t feel any pain as her internal organs underwent such gruesome changes. This was, after all, the world preparing her body''s foundation for the actual change that was toeter on.

    Little by little, the surging ambient mana and the circting mana inside her channels came to a tranquil halt. As she opened her eyes, she noticed an increasingly greater amount of waste expelled from her body. This had vaporized and taken with it all of Jean''s clothes (even the reinforced underwear). Luckily she was only in thepany of a distracted Kili. Jean quickly deduced the cause of this irregrity to be the result of the hunter-killers running an immediate scan and expelling all the harmful agents infecting her body that her post-mortal form failed to treat.

    After hurriedly clothing herself, Jean flexed her muscles and cycled through her personal Yoga sequence (allowing her newly reformed bones to loosen up).

    "Woah! Big Sis! You look so beautiful!" Kili eximed, nearly causing Jean''s focus to dissipate.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Have you looked yourself in the mirror, Kili?" Jean asked back with a bright smile. "I''m afraid you have me beat in both beauty and cuteness."

    In disbelief, Kili quickly fumbled through Jean''s table and retrieved a handheld mirror.

    "WOW! My face is so smooth and shiny!" Kili shrieked while gently caressing her face. "Did my bugs do this? Oh man, Dora is going to be so jealous!"

    Jean chuckled while ruffling Kili''s hair. "Alright!" She said while pping.

    "The actual job starts now!" She dered with a firm yet maniacal glint in her eyes.

    ____

    The guednds were vast, and the area of effect wasn''t just expansive in length and breadth, but in-depth as well. Starting from the epicentre, Jean couldn''t reach the deepest parts affected by the gue. So she would be forced to move the earth there, which would be an extremely burdensome task.

    Jean started from the periphery and worked her way inwards in a spiralling motion. Every day, she would let her hunter-killers permeate the surroundingnds to excise the gue. The extermination wasn''t immediate, but it was effective. Jean would have loved to spend more time optimizing her microbes, but she also recognized that it would be an improvement in the fraction of a percentage at best.

    Within months, the guednds shrank. With the help of Kili, Jean managed to graft in the grass from beyond the ravine, and greenery was slowly returning to thends. She even noticed some birds and insects returning and finally breaking through the silence.

    A little over six months had passed since Jean left the Sect, and she had finally cleared the area of the gue where there wasn''t a need to move the earth. She had now reached the epicentre, which was also the area most concentrated and devastated by both the gue and other magical attacks.

    On this particr day, right as Jean exhaled, raised her wand, and prepared to cast her first spell to move the earth, something familiar intruded into her mana senses. Actually, the "something" was two people, and they were both hurtling towards her at inhuman speeds.

    "JEAN!" A rumbling voice filled with heartache and distress echoed, silencing the fauna.

    As she turned around, Jean revealed a bright and weing smile to the people approaching her.

    "Father! Uncle Jeeves!" Jean greeted loudly while waving her hand.

    "Look!" She added as she spread her hands wide, letting them absorb the changes around her. "I did it!"

    Teacher Jeeves and Goran Rasmus skid to a halt in front of her. As her father reached over to grab her, Teacher Jeeves immediately grabbed him and pulled him back.

    "Stop! You will die if you take another step forward!" Teacher Jeeves said through gritted teeth as he struggled to hold back the struggling father.

    "ME? What about my daughter?!" Goran bellowed.

    "You fool! Stop for a second and look at her!" Teacher Jeeves shot back. "She''s standing at the epicentre of the gue, yet she is perfectly fine!"

    "W-What in the-" At that moment, Goran finally realized that he was among the first few people to approach the epicentre ofnds deemed inhospitable by experts all over the Empire and possibly the whole world.

    "H-How?" Goran mumbled as his eyes scanned the environment undergoing a renaissance.

    "Don''t ask me!" Teacher Jeeves said wryly. He thenughed uproariously as tears of relief and joy started to flow out of his eyes.

    "You really did it!" Teacher Jeeves said affirmatively as he looked at Jean with pride. "You really, truly did it!"

    "I did it!" Jean eximed as she flung her arms around Teacher Jeeves, ignoring his oddugh.

    "I did it!" she repeated while her voice started to break.

    "I did it..." she said one more time before her voice faded into barely audible whispers.

    Goran stood there, frozen. His daughter was standing in front of him, victorious, and the guednds wereing back to life. He couldn''t help but feel a swelling warmth in his chest, and he finally let his tears flow freely.

    After what felt like an eternity, Teacher Jeeves finally let go of Goran and turned his attention to the jubnt girl still clinging to his arm.

    "Congrattions, my dear student," Teacher Jeeves said, his voice filled with warmth. "You have not only saved countless lives but brought hope back to this destend. Your aplishments will be celebrated, and your name will be sung throughout history."

    Jean smiled, her heart brimming with happiness and satisfaction. She had done it. She had ovee the gue of Dark Cleansing, saved Kili, and redeemed herself in her father''s eyes. The journey had been long and arduous, but the rewards were immeasurable.

    As the three of them stood there, gazing at the slowly recoveringnds, Jean couldn''t help but feel a sense of fulfilment wash over her. The darkness had been pushed back, and the light was beginning to shine through once again. And with that light, a new chapter would begin for Jean and those whose lives she had touched.

    The gue of Dark Cleansing may have been a catastrophe, but it had also be the catalyst for Jean''s transformation, both as a mage and as a person. And she was ready to embrace the new possibilities that awaited her on the other side.

 Chapter 334 Fearful Father Fighting Friend For Freedom

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Although the Cooperative of Teachers is considered to be an organisation unaffiliated with and unbound by any geopolitical entities, it is impossible topletely inste it from the currents of politics. After all, if you''re a paying guest in someone else''s house, and the residents of the house are constantly fighting amongst each other, can you truly live a peaceful life there?

    The Sr Empire was also in somewhat of a pickle as a result of the Emperor''s recent unhinging. Basically, a 4-Star Teacher specifically hired to tutor one of the more promising Princes was caught in the crossfire of the deranged Emperor''s warpath and was subsequently killed. The Cooperative, as a union, wanted to hold the Emperor responsible for this and pushed forpensation. Since a 4-Star Teacher isn''tmon and thus holds quite a bit of influence in the Cooperative''s organizational structure.

    If this were a few thousand years in the past, then the Cooperative could have gone full scorched earth and brought down the entire weight of the organization to strong-arm the Sr Empire into submission. But times have changed. Actions set precedents and can thus elicit unpredictable reactions. If the Cooperative, as an apolitical organization, takes drastic actions that result in significant political shifts, it means that it can happen again. And even the possibility of it recurring can put other political entities in a state of unease. Therefore, a light yet firm hand is needed - in other words, civility. The problem, however, is that it is generally impossible to be civil with a madman. The Emperor had literally lost all sense of his sanity.

    This was a huge headache for the Cooperative since they were stuck between either losing face and brushing the issue under the rug or taking the offensive and possibly causing trouble down the line. Besides, even if the Emperor had alienated most of the Empire and his vassals, his position was symbolic. An affront to the throne would be, by extension, an affront to all those under him. So even if the Duchies had an issue with the Emperor, they would still take up arms and oppose the Cooperative. There was a certain hypocrisy to this; the Duchies, Marches, Counties, Viscountcies, and Baronies didn''t care if the Empire shattered from within due to fights between Princes and the governmental bodies, but a party from without was akin to sphemy.

    The Cooperative was truly in a pickle, and no Teacher coulde up with a solution. It got so bad that, in a fashion true to any hierarchical organization, it was delegated down and along thedder until it fell on Al''s te.

    "It''s things like this that make me regret being a Teacher," Al groaned as he slid into the sofa.

    "Can''t you find somewhere else to vent about your problems?" Goran shot back from his study table as he signed off on a shipment paper. He then pointed at a stack of documents and folders nearing the side of his table nearby and added, "Can''t you see I have my own share of problems to deal with?"

    "Oh,e on, now!" Al responded tly. "This is trivial stuff for you. Your greatest headache has already been resolved!"

    A warm smile shed past Goran''s rugged face. "I know that we are friends, and there isn''t such a thing as a debt between friends, but I can never thank you enough for introducing me to Sect Leader Larks. What you have done for me warrants a life debt."

    Al clicked his tongue and shot back a furious look. "I don''t deserve it. It was all Sect Leader Larks'' support and Jean''s efforts that brought her back from the pit."

    Goran chuckled and shook his head before returning his attention back to the document on his table.

    "I envy Guy," Al said out loud. "When was thest time I really did something meaningful? Nowadays, I ponder over my past - my life - and I''ve realized that it''s been quite inconsequential."

    "That isn''t true," Goran interjected offhandedly. "The amount of knowledge you have contributed speaks volumes about that fact."

    "Knowledge that has eventually been hoarded, sealed, and left to rot in a library somewhere only those with five or more seals know," Al spat in disgust. "What use is it anyway? Mages hoard knowledge like dragons hoard treasure. Tell me, what use is gold for a creature that can take anything that it wants with fire and fury?"

    "Prestige?" Goran surmised.

    "Right!" Al snorted sarcastically. "There is a certain kick to admitting that you know more than someone else. And that you know more than the rest of the worldbined. Height of stupidity, if you ask me. Take a look at what Guy has aplished by the simple act of sharing knowledge."

    "The Sect is flourishing, although it isn''t as brightly advertised as others," Goran affirmed. "The business tactics Sect Leader Larks has employed are truly revolutionary. Nowadays, he has that orange kid handling the business side of things. And let me tell you, that kid''s no sucker. There are rumours of an ''Orange Shark'' floating around in business circles. Three of the Rasmus n''spetitors have been taken out of business through some ruthless marketing strategies, and the boy acquired all their assets for coppers on the gold."

    "No one working with or under Guy is simple, mind you. They have a Tesseract Transformation realm Seer in their midst, who is training an Apprentice," Al reminded. "The Sect should have a bright future unless something truly unfortunate happens."

    A bout of silence lingered in the room as Goran continued shuffling through his papers.

    "How''s Jean doing?" Al inquired. "She''s usually punctual with her letters. I haven''t received any recently."

    "I know as much as you," Goran shrugged. "She hasn''t mailed me either for..." he looked up as he counted down the days, "seven months now."

    "Is she okay?" Al probed worriedly.

    "She should be," Goran answered, though his voice wavered with uncertainty. "She''s old enough now," he added as more to convince himself than Al, "She is now in the Foundation Establishment realm. She won''t go out of her way to find trouble, and I know Sect Leader Larks won''t do that either. Although I worry that she cannot fight or hurt others, she is smart enough to not jump into the gaping maws of death voluntarily."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As Goran finished his statement of self-assurance, a series of knocks resounded from his office door.

    "Master, you have mail," the butler announced.

    "Are there any from Jean?" Goran rebounded without pause, unable to hide the eagerness in his voice.

    "I''ll have to disappoint you once again, Master. There aren''t any from the Young Mistress, but there is one from the Sect penned by a... Marie Reva," the butler answered.

    Goran''s brows furrowed into a frown. "Come in," he said.

    The butler strode in with poised steps, carrying the letters on a cushioned te held along his eye line. He gently ced the te on Goran''s desk and transferred the letters from the cushion to the desk, raised the te, and exited the room immediately after.

    Goran inspected the in envelope with the True World Sect''s seal on it, implying it was official mail.

    "Rather ominous, isn''t it?" Almented.

    "Don''t say things like that," Goran snapped back before using a letter opener to slice it open. He carefully unfolded the paper and let his eyes scan its contents. All it took was a second, and the paper crumpled against Goran''s clenched fists.

    His chair exploded as the man rose and disappeared through the ceiling, leaving a massive holerger than his form. Al rushed forward and picked up the crumpled paper. Within seconds, another hole formed in the ceiling. Neither of the men cared about the city''s air traffic policies within city limits.

    Al was only seconds behind Goran as they flew northwards, though he could feel the gap between them widening as the worried father burned through his mana vigorously to hasten his travel. Al managed to reveal a wry smile as he rewound and remembered the content of the letter - a single line like some sick joke: "Jean has eradicated the gue of Dark Cleansing."

    Many thoughts ovepped and ran through Al''s mind, none staying in ce for more than a millisecond before another took its ce. But a single prayer remained and echoed over all the white noise: "Please let Jean be safe!"

    He could only imagine the horror Goran was living through at the moment.

    The surrounding scene blurred rapidly but not fast enough for the two individuals - Al sorely missed Garrud. But hindsight is always twenty-twenty, and neither the father nor he was in a state to think logically.

    Hours passed, but it felt like days and years until a familiar and dreaded ravine hopped over the horizon. But they didn''t stop. The two figures moved even faster.

    But at this point, Al''s rationality had returned. He slowed his speed in preparation for entering the guednds, but he realized that they had already passed it. Thend here wasn''t desated like before. There was no sign of the gue here!

    He tried sending a mana transmission to his friend hurtling ahead, but the man was clearly out of his mind to listen.

    "JEAN!" Goran''s voice bellowed and echoed in the barrennds as the girl in question appeared in their view. Al immediately burned his mana to catch up to his friend as he noticed that the girl was standing on top of the now shrunken guednd - unaffected!

    He quickly caught up and restrained Goran, as the father struggled maddeningly in his grasp.

    "Stop! You will die if you take another step forward!" Al said through gritted teeth. He''d already taken a few punches and scratches from his bulkier friend.

    "ME? What about my daughter?!" Goran bellowed.

    "You fool! Stop for a second and look at her!" Al shot back. "She''s standing at the epicentre of the gue, yet she is perfectly fine!"

    It was at that moment that the struggling stopped, and Goran finally absorbed the truth before him.

    ''Wouldn''t you know it...'' Al thought to himself. ''The letter was right!''

 Chapter 335 Keep It Under Wraps

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Jean had never been struck by her father before. Today was the first time, yet the resounding p did not sting or hurt at all because she was immediately plunged into a warm and enveloping hug afterwards.

    "Don''t you DARE do anything stupid like this EVER AGAIN!" Her father''s voice reverberated through his chest and shook her body.

    "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Uncle Al said from the side but was immediately silenced with a deathly re from her father. "Look, Goran..."

    "Do not make excuses for the girl!" Her father yelled. "And please, do not try to downy the danger and idiocy of her decision just because she seeded. What if she failed?! There goes another loved one whom I can''t even bury or cremate because the forsaken gue took everything!"

    Jean noticed her father edging towards hyperventtion. It was clear that the man had nearly lost a few years of his life within the hours taken to fly from the Rasmus Mansion in Radiant City to their current location. His rationality was in tatters, and his mind was addled.

    "How did you know that I was here?" Jean inquired.

    "We received a mail," Uncle Jeeves answered.

    "Let me guess, Marie?" Jean snapped back and followed it up with an exhausted sigh when Uncle Jeeves nodded affirmatively. "Well, I will admit once again that she has impable timing."

    "Bullshit!" Goran sputtered. "First off, why did I have to hear all of this from Marie? Why can''t my daughter inform me before she sets out to, let''s just say it as it is, forfeit her life?"

    "Father, please," Jean evoked. "You know me better than that. I wouldn''t do anything so insane, especially when I know that there are so many people who care and love me."

    "Your mother knew that too!" Goran responded angrily. "Look at what she went and did..."

    "All the more reason for you to trust me to be cautious and prudent with my life," Jean reasoned, though it was clear that her father was having none of it. So she acquiesced to her father''s worried gaze and said, "Okay, I apologise for my stupidity. I promise I won''t do anything like this ever again. And if I do, which as I said would never happen, I will make sure to inform you first."

    Goran stared meaningfully into Jean''s eyes before exhaling in defeat, "Your eyes sparkle with the same spirit as your mother''s. For that reason, I cannot believe you. But I know that as you are your mother''s child, there is nothing I can do to stop you."

    At that point, Uncle Jeeves stepped in and patted her father''s back. "Stop moping around when there''s nothing to mope about. In fact, we should be celebrating! Jean''s achieved something truly revolutionary; she''s developed a cure for the gue of Dark Cleansing."

    Uncle Jeeves turned to Jean and added, "You have done the world a great service. And on a personal note, you have raised me from a single level of my personal hell. This gue... I am truly shameful of what my student has done, and I will wear his wrongdoings as a gand of thorns. I wished to be the one to rid the world of the sick inventions of his warped mind forever, but it seems that I am cursed to always be inadequate - always one step away - from being able to do that."

    "It isn''t just your responsibility, Uncle," Jean assuaged. "Besides, you can''t shoulder the entire me for the deviation of a single student in your tutge. The way the gue Emperor turned out wasn''t an isted incident. A child is raised by an entire vige, after all."

    "But a single teacher has the potential to change an entire student''s life. That is where I failed." Uncle Jeeves remained adamant, and Jean could see that there was no point pushing any further down this path either. Both friends - her father and Uncle Jeeves - were men hard-set in their ways. They had lived for far too long and lived through far too much to be so easily swayed.

    "Anyways," Jean redirected. "I am nearly finished with the cleansing. I just have the central regions left, but the taint goes deep underground. I''ll have to move the soil. If you can wait for a few days, it will be done."

    At that instant, Uncle Jeeves hesitantly raised his hand. "Jean. This Uncle has a shameless request. You don''t have to agree to it."

    Jean nodded affirmatively.

    "Could you teach me how you did this?" Uncle Jeeves probed hesitantly.

    Once again, Jean nodded and retrieved the book "Evolutionary Algorithms" from her desk.

    "Another one of Guy''s nuggets of knowledge, I presume," Uncle Almented as he flipped through its pages. He then released an amused snort and said, "There''s a lot of prerequisites missing here. I can barely understand anything past the first chapter."

    "I didn''t fare any better," Jean admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle.

    "So how exactly did this y a role in your breakthrough?" Uncle Jeeves asked.

    Jean then proceeded to exin the nuances of the gic algorithm and how she applied it with her cultivation method. During the exnation, however, she sidestepped Kili''s contribution altogether. This wasn''t because she didn''t want to attribute her sesses to the little girl, but because the information would expose her physique to the world.

    Jean held herself responsible for Kili''s safety. Knowledge tends to spread, like a disease. Even the most safeguarded and secured knowledge can breach out. The condition is time - some spreads are faster, others are slower. While she trusted her father and Uncle Jeeves with her life, she just didn''t trust them with Kili''s.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    That was a sobering reality check for Jean when she realised that she couldn''t depend on some people so close to her with this secret, especially those tied to her by blood. Because she knew that when the chips were down, and if she was ever in trouble with the certainty of death looming over her neck, her father or Uncle Jeeves wouldn''t think twice before sacrificing Kili to save her. Jean would rather die than have someone else trade their life for hers... for the third time.

    "That is very tiresome," Uncle Jeeves admitted at the end of Jean''s exnation. "Then again, cultivation isn''t a walk in the park, is it?"

    "I still can''t believe you would do something like that," her father mumbled. "There are so many risky elements at y. What if something had gone wrong?"

    She ignored her father''s worried ramblings, and so did Uncle Jeeves. "I don''t think I will be able to copy this skill of yours - not anytime soon anyway. Unlike Markus'', it relies way too much on the core of your cultivation. And those little ''microbes'' as you called them, I have a strong suspicion that they are far more ingrained into you than you think."

    "How so?" Jean inquired.

    "They behave far too simr to how a contracted beast would. This isn''t just mana melding to your wishes, it is living organisms, aren''t they?" Uncle Jeeves hypothesized. "If I''m not mistaken, the microbes are tethered to you not just through your will (cultivation) but your spirit (soul) too. Of course, this is all just a theory."

    "I''m in no mood to partake in this anymore," her father interrupted while standing up. "I need to inform the Duchy about this new development. With thend soon ready for repoption, there are a lot of things that need to be worked out."

    As her father prepared to leave, Uncle Jeeves extended his hand and grabbed her father''s wrist.

    "What?"

    "Let''s not say anything about this," Uncle Jeeves said with a contemtive frown. "Keep this a secret for now."

    "Why? This is a good thing, isn''t it?"

    Uncle Jeeves shook his head and expounded, "Think about it, revealing this information would bring your daughter''s name into the light. Being famous is good and all, as it opens a lot of doors. But the open door allows a lot of unwanted parties to enter as well. The True World Sect isn''t strong enough to face the wind just yet. They cannot protect Jean against what the world can throw at her. Worse yet, cleansing the gue is a direct challenge against Ziva. Knowing that it was achieved by a girl with much lower cultivation will definitely rile him up."

    This was enough to halt her father, who copsed onto his chair once again.

    "We have nothing substantial to gain from broadcasting this information. Let Jean finish her mission and move on. Someone is bound to stumble upon this cleansednd. If they are smart, they will report it, if they are stupid, they will also im credit for it which will muddy the waters further."

    And with that said, the three parties present in the tent formed a pact. The gue of Dark Cleansing descended onto thesends with a lot of fanfare but left with nary a whisper.

    ____

    A weekter, Jean hadpletely cleansed thends of the gue. With some help from her Uncle Jeeves, they performed a few rudimentary terraforming operations to close up the ravine and move greenery from beyond into the barrennds. With it, they also relocated a few insects and small animals to get the repoption process rolling.

    Once it was all done, Jean packed up the tents and proceeded to leave with Kili in tow. As they left, she turned around and waved farewell to Uncle Jeeves.

    "I want to stay here for some more time," Uncle Jeeves said with a wistful smile. "I want to try everything I can to get thesends back to how they were before the gue. Besides, my teaching job is numbing my brain. This seems like a fruitful outlet."

    Those were his parting words.

    "Where should we go next, Kili?" Jean asked her travel partner excitedly.

    "I want to go home," Kili answered, causing Jean''s excitement to dete.

    "What? Already?" Jean moaned back.

    "I did some strategizing," Kili answered with a cute, yet serious frown. "My bugs should be able to beat Fancy in a head-on fight if they follow my strategy. But I need to test it out right now before she gets even stronger!"

    After saying that, Kili leapt into a quick jog and rushed ahead. "Come on, Big Sis! We''re going to bete!"

    Jean looked up into the clear blue sky and let out a satisfied breath.

    "Alright. Time to go back home."

 Chapter 336 Interlude - Violent Reunion

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    It was a dark and moonless night, with only the faint light from the stars illuminating the budding forest. The density of trees here was sparse, with signs of uprooting and renting evident all around. The ground was patchy with greenery, and there was an uneven distribution of flowers and other flora. The ce was mostly silent, which was interrupted intermittently by the drones of crickets projecting their presence to others of their kind.

    One could say that it was peaceful... a little too peaceful. It felt like the calm before a storm. Though it was strangely ominous for a metaphorical storm toe so soon after rampaging and devastating thesends. These were the guednds of the Sr Empire; this was the region that oncey ravaged and abandoned by the gue of Dark Cleansing.

    The sound of a fallen branch cracking echoed. A man walked on with a limp on his right side, but his speed did not match that of an injured individual. His eyes were dark and sunken, his face pale and sickly, and his expression alternated haphazardly between malevolence and disdain.

    He walked until he reached the centre of the reformed region, and scanned the surrounding area with a confused gaze. His brows furrowed into a frown and a snarl escaped his lips. He crouched, dipped his hands into the soil and lifted a handful of rich dirt. He held it at eye level and waited, as through the centre of the mound slithered out a thick, pink earthworm. The man let the dirt sift through his fingers and captured the worm between his thumb and index. The worm struggled fearfully as it was brought closer to its captor''s eyes.

    The man ground his teeth harder the more the worm struggled until a malicious sneer cracked his pale face in two. His lips puckered and parted, and a gust of dark wind escaped them. The gust enveloped the wormpletely, before dissipating into the air.

    The man waited.

    But the worm''s struggle did not cede. His brows rose in shock before unfettered rage drowned all the emotion on his face. A purple spell circle formed around the worm before the creature disintegrated into nothingness.

    His enraged eyes darted around, growing more agitated with each living creature that got caught in his view. A spell circle formed on his right palm, which he raised and - with a loud bellow - plunged into the ground. The ground rippled and cracked as an ethereal purple light spread outwards. The grass where his fist entered the soil grew diseased and started to spread outwards. But after moving six metres from the source, the spread ceased.

    The maddened smile on the man''s face cracked and turned into a deeper shade of confusion.

    "What is this?" He rasped in shock. At that moment, his eyes widened, and he raised both his arms instinctively. An explosion broke in front of him, dispersing upon the hastily cast |Ward| spell.

    "Attacking an unprepared individual, how dishonourable-" the man said with a derisive snort. "-Teacher Jeeves."

    "You''ve lost the privilege of calling me that, Ziva," an elderly voice responded as another man came into view from behind a nearby tree. With a smirk, he said, "Surprised to see your ''masterpiece'' ruined?"

    "This?" Ziva scoffed while trying to mask his true emotions from revealing themselves. "I don''t believe in looking back. My gue has already achieved its purpose."

    "Don''t lie to me, Ziva. You can''t even lie convincingly to fool yourself," Al responded with an uproariousugh. "You forget that I''ve taught you for over thirty years. I practically raised you, BOY! This must be really grinding you from within. You were never one to take a loss of face lightly, even if it was inconsequential."

    "ENOUGH!" Ziva snapped back. "Who did it? It can''t be you. And don''t try to fool me, I''ve studied under you for over thirty years, after all."

    With a self-deprecating smile, Al responded, "Right. Thirty years we spent together. None of it mattered, in the end, did it? I was just a means to an end for you."

    "Stop deflecting, old man!" Ziva interjected. "Tell me who did this, or I will draw the answer out of you."

    "Oh," Al drawled, noticing the new emotion shing past his ex-Student''s face. "You are afraid. Oh, this is just precious!"

    "I''M. NOT. AFRAID!" Ziva dered loudly and with force, though the words themselves rang hollow - like that of a child throwing a tantrum.

    "You thought your little spell would shake the world for generations, didn''t you?" Al taunted. "It barely made it into its teen years. How does that make you feel?"

    Ziva''s fists clenched in anger, and his gaze sharpened with the intensity of a thousand swords. "WHO. DID. THIS?"

    "I won''t give you that satisfaction, boy," Al said with a mockingugh. Then, suddenly, his expression turned serious. "Besides, it won''t matter anyway. You won''t be leaving this ce alive."

    With a fraction of a second, three spells - |mestrike|, |Air Cutter| and |Water Jet| - left Al''s open palms and pushed against Ziva. Unfortunately, his opponent was prepared, and with a wave of his hand, a massive spell circle formed that consumed the three spells to form a whirling, multicoloured ball.

    "Thirty years, Teacher," Ziva said with a strained smile. "I know all of your tricks!"

    Ziva spun around and ejected the ball back towards Al, who evaded between the trees. Instead of colliding against the obstacles before him, the ball, however, started to deviate irregrly and followed Al as he went. At that moment, Al noticed that Ziva still had the spell activated. Quickly cycling through his most frequently used and familiar movement arts, Al started to glide around the battlefield while simultaneously wrangling for control in his and his ex-Student''s ovepping mana domains.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    ''He''s broken through once again!'' Al noticed. The boy had basically closed the gap between them, realm-wise. Fortunately, though, the breakthrough was fairly recent since his control over his domain matched that of someone of a lower stage. Within seconds, the connection between the seeking ball and Ziva was untethered, which Al used to transition into the offensive. He activated a spell circle simr to Ziva''s and converted the whirling, multicoloured ball into a snaking shape. He then directed it to attack Ziva, who once again deflected the attack with a |Ward|.

    "Still as impatient as always," Al chided. "Relying on warding spells to protect yourself instead of using your brain. Haven''t I taught you better?"

    Without allowing Ziva to retort, Al continued, "Today, I will teach you a valuable lesson, boy."

    At that instant, five identical spell circles formed around Al. Ziva squinted his eyes as he tried to decipher the mundane yet unique design; he''d never seen this spell circle before. He''d never seen his ex-Teacher use whatever this spell was before. But he didn''t panic. Because he could see that the spell was simple and small - nothing tooplex.

    But his rxed smile froze when he noticed his ex-Teacher''s trademark smirk - the smirk he showed opponents before going for the coup de grace.

    And then it started... and showed no sign of stopping. Five simultaneous, continuous barrages of |Fireball| originating from the five small spell circles. The attacks were relentless and collided against Ziva''s |Ward| from all sides. Ziva wasn''t even given the space to think or even breathe.

    A standard |Fireball| really shouldn''t be that big of a problem for a Core Condensation realm mage like Ziva. Unfortunately, his ex-Teacher''s |Fireball| spell was supercharged, in that it had an explosiveponent upon impact. Again, this only causes trivial damage but, like with every minor attack, piling up a lot can be devastating.

    Just then, Ziva noticed three more spell circles whirling into action around Al. The ethereal purple projections started to vomit out more explosive |Fireball| attacks that filled up the only remaining unattacked spaces in Ziva''s |Ward|.

    But Ziva knew that there had to be a limit. Technically, his ex-Teacher was expending more mana than he was in defending against the attacks because a |Fireball| was a ranged spell that was being cast within an ovepping domain. There was expenditure in casting the spell, projecting the spell, and maintaining the spell in a turbulent mana region. On the other hand, all Ziva had to do was keep the defence up in proximity.

    However, the wait-it-out or "attrition" n was starting to show cracks, because Al''s attacks weren''t slowing down or ceasing. In fact, he noticed another smirk light his ex-Teacher''s face before two more of those weird looking |Fireball| spell circles formed around him. Ziva was now running on a mana deficit because his defence was expending more than the rate at which his mana was regenerating. It was humiliating. A fight between Core Condensation realm mages shouldn''t devolve into throwing basic spells.

    Where was the fanfare? Where was the ruthless battery of attacks and spells to reshapendscapes?!

    ''How is he doing this?!'' Ziva''s understanding of mana economy was being questioned at this very moment. But one thing was clear, this could go on no longer. Ziva had to disengage. One thing he knew about his ex-Teacher was that the man knew how to design a head-on confrontation to his benefit. It was something he''d cultivated through age, and it was something Ziva could never hope to match. No matter what Ziva did, right now, he would ultimately end up in suppressive fire unable to do anything just like Al was doing right now.

    So, Ziva decided to take a risk. He dissipated the shield to his rear, taking a few attacks. He steeled through them and conjured a massive, convoluted mess of a spell circle. The sheer size of it was enough to distract Al who in turn ceased his attack. Once the circle activated, from its centre, exited an ungodly horde of ck, gaseous locusts that decimated everything alive near the source.

    Ziva revealed a smirk back to his ex-Teacher, who was now showing a frown. An underwhelming response per Ziva''s recollection; he was hoping for some despair or better yet, fear.

    Al''s |Fireball| spells dissipated, and in its ce five new spell circles took shape. They were all different, and some wererger than others. But they all spun in tandem, joining up to form something that was beautifully borate. Then, at the centre of this new,rge amalgamation, an even ungodlier dot of pure ckness took shape. But that was not all, a shrill sound that seemingly doused the whole world in agony resonated from the ck dot. It was so loud and unwieldy that it caused Ziva''s spell to flicker and lose control.

    His ex-Teacher didn''t wait another second, as the ck shape jetted out to meet the cloud of locusts. The horde epassed the dotpletely, ready to devour it. But the opposite happened. The dot sucked in everything in its path, growingrger and louder as it moved on. Ziva watched in horror as his spell waspletely swallowed by the gluttonous banshee in spherical form.

    And like a hungry predator, the sphere deviated. It wanted more! It wanted him! Ziva tried to wrest control over the spell as it moved towards him at an unbelievable speed. But he just didn''t understand it enough to put up a proper fight in the ovepping domain.

    His life shed before his eyes.

    He turned, rose from the ground and tried to fly away.

    But the ball was already there.

    An intense pain radiated from his burnt right foot, as the ball literally shredded and decimated the thing into smithereens.

    For a fraction of a second, Ziva regretted wishing for something grander out of this fight. The stalemate with |Fireball|s was manageable inparison.

    Ziva knew his death was imminent. But it wasn''t his time yet. He quickly reached into his jacket and retrieved an ornate porcin canister with multiple mana gems embedded in it. He twisted it, causing it to crack and the gems to illuminate brightly.

    And he was gone, sucked into the canister, which then turned to dust along with the gems.

    Al growled angrily before directing the ck sphere high into the sky, where he released it from his control. A small sh of light akin to lightning lit the sky, which was followed by an earth-shattering boom three secondster.

    Looking at the once again desated patch ofnd, Al clicked his tongue in annoyance before flying out to get more trees and grass to fill its ce.

 Chapter 337 Overburdened Mind

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    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    Shuri''s brain teetered on the precarious edge of overload, both figuratively and literally, as if poised on a tightrope about to snap. She found herself at a critical juncture, with an overwhelming surge of information mouring for categorisation and storage within her brain. Whilst the human brain possesses innate safeguards to prevent such strain, Shuri''s mind operated without these protective mechanisms. Every morsel of knowledge that crossed her path was promptly etched into the recesses of her memory, leaving no room for omission or filtration. Her brain functioned like an insatiable sponge, ceaselessly absorbing knowledge like a liquid. Unlike the average human brain, which boasts the capacity to retain over three hundred years'' worth of continuous audiovisual data, Shuri''s mind seemed almost boundless in its capacity for umtion. Consequently, the bottleneck she encounteredy not in her brain''s capacity for storage but in the intricate process of converting inputs into tangible knowledge.

    How does the mind memorise and remember? Each piece of information encountered by a human is meticulously encoded, deconstructed, and seamlessly interwoven into a delicate tapestry of neural impulses. To retrieve a specific fragment of knowledge, the mind relies on subtle cues that act as guides, steering towards the precise neural pathways that hold the desired information. In this intricate dance, the brain exhibits a remarkable ability to get rid of extraneous details, discarding fragments deemed non-essential to ease the burden of cognitive load. Yet, Shuri''s brain bore the unique gic imprint that skipped the selective pruning process. Every morsel of information that traversed her consciousness was recorded, creating an expansive repository of memories. Whilst this attribute served as a testament to the depth of her intellect, it also posed a formidable challenge. Her brain, finely tuned to minimise data loss, now grappled with the task of amodating the sheer magnitude of information she had inundated it with.

    Emerging from the library, Shuri made her way to her living quarters, hobbling precariously down the seemingly endless steps. Afterpleting that journey, clutching a few books in her grasp, she traversed the corridors of the dorms to her private realm. In her relentless pursuit of enlightenment, she had nearlypleted the reading list curated by Sect Leader Larks. In a mere span of two days, she had immersed herself in the captivating world of over thirty books, each surpassing the collegiate level.

    Shuri''s unquenchable thirst for new and uncharted knowledge had be both a driving force and a potential adversary. The relentless pursuit of intellectual enlightenment, fuelled by an insatiable curiosity, had now exacted its toll. As she stepped into theforting embrace of her living quarters, her bnce faltered, causing the books she clung to so tightly to slip from her grasp.

    She''d cked out.

    ____

    The information arrived in random packages, as she entered and exited consciousness.

    The first thing she realised when she gained a moment of rity was that she was no longer on the floor. She had been moved to her bed. She also noticed that there was another person in the room - an adult.

    ____

    Her body felt cold, and then hot, and then cold again. Was this a fever?

    She instinctively huddled into a ball to contain the smidgen of heat still coursing through her body but was surprised to find a heavyforter hugging her tightly.

    ____

    She felt herself getting raised into a seated position, and a warm metal spoon touching her lips. Her nose picked up edible smells in the steam that entered it. Her eyelids cracked open with some difficulty, to find a person holding a spoon up against her face.

    "Eat," the masculine voice spoke. "It''s just vegetable soup."

    "She''s weak. Why can''t we use a feeding bottle?" A feminine voice argued worriedly.

    "She doesn''t need it," the masculine voice affirmed. "Come on, Shuri. Take a sip."

    Her mouth moved by instinct and slurped the warm liquid. As it flowed down her gullet, aforting feeling washed over her. Another spoonful arrived at the ready, which she slurped hungrily.

    Once the soup was finished. A wave of slumber washed over her, and she fell asleep once again.

    ____

    Her second bout of consciousness introduced her to a rather heated argument between a man and a woman.

    The words were like a faint buzzing noise; she couldn''t make out what was being said.

    ____

    "Guy, Shuri isn''t here," Grace pointed out while nudging her head towards the empty seat in the mess hall, which was usually upied by the girl. It was off in an unfrequented corner, out of sight and very easy to overlook. "I thought I told you to get it through her head thest time. She cannot miss her meals, no matter what!"

    Guy sighed loudly as he tilted his head backwards in defeat. "I tried, Grace."

    "Well, try harder!"

    "You could very easily do it as well, you know?!" Guy responded weakly.

    "I''m not the Sect Leader. It isn''t my job to keep these kids in line," Grace snapped back. "I already have my hands full, with Kano and Dora. Besides, do you think they will respect my word, that of a mortal, or yours?"

    "That excuse didn''t work thest time when you asked me to reprimand the kids for nting weeds in your garden (which they had no idea about, might I add), and it won''t work this time either," Guy responded with a stern shake of his head. "And as a matter of fact, they all fear YOU more than they fear me."

    "This argument is getting nowhere," Grace deflected. "The bottom line is that a girl still in her growing stages is skipping her meals. Are you going to do something about it or not?"

    Guy sighed once again while standing up from his table, "Fine, fine. I''ll go."

    "Leave the dishes, I''ll wash them," Grace dered while snatching the te from Guy''s hands. She then chuckled and said, "Look! I have my hands full!"

    Guy responded with an exaggerated smile and a sarcasticugh, "Your sense of humour has hit a new low, Grace."

    Grace responded with a fake smile of her own before shooting Guy an aggressive look and leaving in a huff with the dishes expertly stacked in her hands.

    Guy proceeded to make a te for Shuri, with bnced nutrition and made his way out of the mess hall towards the living quarters. Along the way, he greeted the Sect Members hanging around, doing their own thing.

    After arriving at his destination, Guy raised his knuckle and rapped it against Shuri''s door.

    "Shuri? Open up! You''re in big trouble today, youngdy," Guy said sternly.

    For a minute, there was no response. Guy frowned and tried once again, this time the call was shorter, "Shuri?"

    He tried again, "Shuri!"

    His face contracted with a frown. He took a step back and warned, "I''m sending my mana sense inside, prepare yourself."

    His contained senses extended through the door and filled the room within. As he did this, he found that the girl he was seeking was copsed on the floor with her books strewn about.

    "I''m entering," Guy informed before opening the door.

    He hurried forward and cradled Shuri''s head. With one hand, he tapped the girl''s cheek while repeatedly calling her name. He ced two fingers against the girl''s neck to check her pulse, noticing a regr pattern. He raised her and ced her on her bed.

    He then walked out of the door and yelled, "Anyone there?"

    "Yes, Sect Leader?" A response came a minuteter when a head poked out from the neighbouring room.

    "Lee-Ann," Guy recognised. "Can you please go get Grace for me? And please make it quick, tell her it is an emergency."

    "Umm, right away, Sect Leader," the girl nodded before moving with a brisk walk.

    Guy returned to Shuri''s bedside and ced his right palm against the girl''s head.

    "She has a fever," the Other Guy spoke through his right half.

    "I can see that," Guy chimed in. "But why?"

    "I have a suspicion..." the Other Guy mumbled.

    "You have got to stop doing this," Guy groaned. "If you have something to say, just say it instead of being all mysterious about it."

    "It''s because I''m not fully certain about the cause, that I''m being so evasive," the right half admitted. "And before you screech at me to ''just confirm it'', I''ll have you know that the process is invasive. And I know just how ''meticulous'' you are about that."

    "How invasive?" Guy asked hesitantly. "You know what, forget it. I regret even asking that question."

    At that moment, Guy caught the sound of Grace walking over with hurried steps.

    "You had a simple job, Guy. Do I have to do everything? What happened here?" Grace stopped herself when she noticed Guy standing next to an unconscious Shuri''s bed. "Did she fall asleep?"

    "No, she''s passed out."

    "What?!" Grace skipped ahead and performed the same checks Guy did. "What happened?"

    "I know just as much as you do, Grace," Guy responded while crossing his arms. His expression was serious as he inspected Shuri.

    "Let''s not just gape about, do something?" Grace pleaded. "My goodness, she''s got a fever!"

    "I''ll go get her a duvet," Guy volunteered. "Put on some socks for her and prepare some soup. She''ll have difficulty swallowing solid food."

    "How did she get sick, Guy?" Grace asked once again worriedly.

    "This isn''t a ssic sickness," Guy''s right side spoke.

    "Is it magical?" Grace probed.

    "Something like that," the Other Guy hummed.

    As Guy walked out of the room toplete his self-assigned tasks, he added, "We can''t know for sure until we run a few tests."

 Chapter 338 Breaking (Emotional) Walls

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "I didn''t expect this from you, Guy," Grace said while shaking her head with a disappointed frown. Her hand moved with practised efficiency as it dipped a towel into a pot of cold water, squeezed out the excess, and gently ced it over Shuri''s hot forehead. "You''re telling me that this is an adverse reaction from some kind of cultivation deviation?"

    "I said it''s a possibility-"

    "Oh, please!" Grace interjected. "''When you have eliminated all that which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'' Shuri isn''t sick with any illness we know of. It isn''t anything that I have seen before in my lifetime. All that remains is what I haven''t seen, and that falls under the forsaken cultivation category. Guy, this is serious!"

    "I''m not taking it lightly," Guy argued.

    "Really? I don''t believe you. The Guy I know wouldn''t hand such a heavy reading list to a little girl in the first ce," Grace responded.

    "I didn''t know she would binge them all within days of getting the list," Guy reasoned, but his resolve was weak, which Grace caught like an eagle plucking a bird mid-flight.

    "If that is truly the case, then I have grossly overestimated your proficiency as an educator, Guy," she said with a disdainful expression. "I didn''t think that you of all people would make such a mistake."

    Guy looked away in embarrassment and guilt.

    "It was Marie, wasn''t it?" Grace asked with a growl. "She put you up to this, didn''t she? Don''t even try denying, this whole set-up has her stench all over it."

    "She did ''suggest'' that it would be beneficial for Shuri if she were to whet her mind with this knowledge," Guy admitted with a wry smile.

    "And you just went along with it?" Grace challenged, to which Guy nodded reluctantly. She scoffed loudly and said, "And pray tell me why you did something so idiotic?"

    "The girl can see the future, damn it!" Guy retorted loudly. "Who am I to argue with the future?"

    "You''re the damn Sect Leader of the True World Sect!" Grace shot back. "So what if Marie can see the future? What does she know about teaching? What does she know about shepherding kids? Let me take a page out of your book and draw you a picture. What you basically did was hand the reins of a blind dog to a dog with functioning eyes. Just because one can see ahead doesn''t mean it knows where to go."

    Grace looked up and released an exhausted sigh. "Do not be utilitarian, Guy. That is Marie''s downfall. It has only be worse after she started cultivating the Heavenly Eye. Be who you were: a caring man and an insightful educator. The future is set in stone, Guy. Do not change yourself or ck off just because the future is inevitable."

    She stood up and picked up the pot of water. "Fix this," she dered before leaving the room.

    Guy watched Grace trudge away and let out a long, conflicted breath. He knew Grace was right. And the more he evaluated his behaviour, the more annoyed and disgusted he felt with himself. Although he knew that Marie meant well, he should have taken a more hands-on approach to this matter.

    "There''s no point crying over spilt milk or cracked eggs now, is there?" Guy mumbled with a sigh and pulled out the chair by Shuri''s work table.

    "She isn''t in any danger if that''s what you''re worried about," Guy''s right side warped and spoke. "The deviation is well within the safety limits per my inspection."

    "But it would have been safer if she was inside the Church of the True World. A person''s cultivation is more pliable and conducive towards changes while they are in there as opposed to undergoing the process outside," the left side reasoned.

    "But the girl doesn''t trust us. She doesn''t have any feeling of gratitude towards us. Unless she opens herself up to us, you know that there is no way she can gain ess to the Church," the right side responded.

    "We made a mistake here. No, I made a mistake here. This process didn''t need to be rushed. Gratitude and trust aren''t just things you get when you hold a specific role. Just because I''m the Sect Leader doesn''t mean everyone here will automatically trust me unflinchingly. They are earned. And evidently, I have not yet earned this girl''s gratitude or trust. How is it her fault?" The left side argued. The Other Guy had nothing to say to that.

    "So what''s the n?" The Other Guy asked.

    "There is no n. All we can do is wait."

    "Excellent... The wait-and-see approach," the right side scoffed sarcastically.

    "Once the damage has been inflicted, it is best to wait and see how things will devolve further. Hasty damage control can often exacerbate the problem," Guy exined.

    "Well, better get to it, I guess," the right side said with a chuckle. "Because she''s waking up for good."

    Guy rose and moved his chair next to Shuri, and waited while the girl''s eyes flickered weakly. A light groan escaped her lips, and her mouth moved wanting for some fluids. After helping the girl sit, Guy gently ced a cup of water against her lips and allowed her to sip it down slowly.

    "How are you feeling, Shuri?" Guy asked in a low voice.

    "I''m... fine..." She said while breathing heavily. It was evident that the girl was tired after going through the ordeal. "What happened?"

    "You suffered through a mild cultivation deviation," Guy answered.

    "Mild?" Shuri blurted out in disbelief. "Is there such a thing as a mild cultivation deviation?"

    "Well, it is among the small list of things happening to you right now. First off, I see that you''ve finished the reading list I gave you," Guy warned sternly.

    Shuri shrunk her neck and slowly slid into herforter.

    "I don''t think I have to say just how... ill-advised your actions were? Of course, you''re already suffering the consequences of it," Guy continued. He took a long breath and said, "But you aren''t the one to me for this."

    Shuri''s head cocked up in shock, and her eyes widened - rmed.

    "You should know better than anyone what happens when you hang a bloody steak before a pack of starving wolves," Guy said matter-of-factly, his gaze piercing into Shuri.

    "So Marie told you about that incident..." Shuri admitted.

    "I know it sounds creepy, but not much misses my eyes and ears in this Sect," Guy admitted equally with a casual shrug. "What kind of a Sect Leader would I be if I didn''t know what was happening in my very own Sect? An irresponsible one."

    Shuri looked away and bit her lips worriedly.

    "Do you want to know what happened to you?" Guy probed.

    Shuri answered with a nod.

    Guy chuckled dryly and said, "You underwent the after-effects of studying too much. Your mind overheated, and it was exacerbated by the fact that your cultivation just recently underwent a shift."

    "My cultivation?!"

    "When you underwent an advancement into the Late Stage, your core had attuned to a specific path of magic - most likely in tune with the Automagy taught among your family. But as you read and internalised the books on the list, your cultivation shifted, deviated, warped, what have you? But instead of pacing yourself, you soldiered on... and on... and well, you can see what happened in the end," Guy gestured at Shuri with both his hands to emphasize his point.

    A pang of embarrassment coloured Shuri''s face crimson red.

    "I knew you wouldn''t pace yourself," Guy followed up. "As is your nature. But I didn''t follow my judgment and decided to take the advice of another."

    "Marie?" Shuri interjected, to which Guy nodded lightly. "Is she in trouble?"

    "A bit, yes. Do you not wish for her to be in trouble?" Guy rebutted.

    "Does it matter what I want?" Shuri shot back with a cynical smile.

    "All that matters IS what you want," Guy answered with a raised voice. "This whole Sect is meant to cater to what YOU want," he added while pointing animatedly at Shuri.

    Guy followed up immediately, raising his hand to halt Shuri''s runaway thoughts. "I am aware that your past is...plicated. Heck, I don''t know what you''ve lived through, and I don''t want to go down a rabbit hole of assumptions. Ever since joining the Sect, you''ve been secluded. You never voluntarily involve yourself with anything. You try to fly under the radar when possible. You don''t ask for help when stuck. And most importantly, you don''t trust anyone or anything around you."

    "Everyone in this Sect has lived a hard life, Shuri. I''m not asking you topare the difficulty of your life to others. What I''m asking you is to give us a chance, just like your peers have done. What do you have to lose?"

    Shuri''s expression grew agitated. It was probably the weakness brought on by her fever, but her control had loosened.

    "I don''t want to die," Shuri blurted out.

    "No one wants to-"

    "You don''t understand!" Shuri shrieked. "I. DON''T. WANT. TO. DIE!"

    Her breath grew rugged and heavier, and Guy could see that she was having difficulty breathing. He grabbed Shuri''s shoulder with one arm and quickly said, "Focus on me. How many fingers am I holding up?"

    Guy raised three fingers.

    "T-Three," Shuri said between breaths.

    "Breathe three times with me, nice and slow. Count your breath," Guy instructed.

    "One, in... out... Two, in... out... Three, in... out..."

    "How many fingers now?"

    "Two."

    "Good! One, in... out... Two, in... out..."

    "Five."

    "Wonderful! One, in... out... Two..."

    ____

    The exercise continued for a minute until Shuri''s breathing finally stabilized.

    "From tomorrow onwards, I want you to report to me directly. I don''t want you working with Marie anymore," Guy dered. "We will be running lessons one-on-one for the time being. As for your assigned task-"

    "I want to continue," Shuri interrupted. Her expression was serious and sincere. For the first time, Guy didn''t feel an iota of insincerity or ingenuousness in her voice.

    "Are you sure?" Guy probed.

    "I... I liked it," Shuri murmured. "I liked the challenge."

    Guy''s brows rose in surprise. "That''s the spirit!"

    After showering Shuri with praise, Guy left with a skip in his step.

    He was ted. Because in the Church of the True World, a new faint figure started to take shape among the others.

 Chapter 339 New Day, New Life

    Chapter 339 New Day, New Life

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuri''s eyelids drooped as she watched the Sect Leader leave her room. She was truly out of energy, and her body gave way immediately after - she copsed back onto her mattress and entered a deep slumber that was free of uneasiness and pain.

    A cat never enters deep sleep unless it ispletely certain that its environment is free of any threats or natural predators. It is their natural instinct. Shuri also adhered to this principle throughout her life. Although she was the only dweller in her courtyard at the Inner Pce, she never truly felt safe there. Her sleep was always incremental and light.

    When Shuri woke up eight hourster, she realized that she felt safer in this cramped room with so many others living nearby than she did back at the Pce! Sure, at the beginning here, her sleep was shallow due to her inherent distrust. But as time passed, her guard had lowered little by little, until she grew sofortable that she didn''t think twice before closing her eyes at night. Heck! She even left her room unlocked overnight sometimes!

    "Maybe it''s time to just admit it," Shuri said with a bitter chuckle. "There is nothing to criticize, nothing to question, nothing that signals any sort of problem stopping me from assimting into this Sect."

    At this point, anything she could formte through some heavy Just then, she started to recollect everything that transpiredst night. Although her mind was addled, her senses weren''t mental gymnastics would just be an excuse - an excuse to run away, to iste herself from the world.

    Just then, she started to recollect everything that transpiredst night. Although her mind was addled, her senses weren''tpletely defunct. She could clearly remember the conversations, the events, and even the words spoken by Sect Leader Larks. The overwhelming bout of weakness back then had caused a wave of panic to drown Shuri, but the calm voice of Sect Leader Larks and Matron Reva calmed her down. It was unusual - the feeling of relief andfort from being cared for by someone else. Shuri didn''t feel any ulterior motive in their actions - well, her convoluted mind did create a few scenarios, but her rationality quickly discarded them because she realized that maybe her paranoia was quite excessive.

    Maybe... Sect Leader Larks was right. "What is there to lose from giving the Sect another chance?"

    Shuri could not openly admit that "the Sect is pretty safe."

    A wave of relief washed over Shuri when she said those words out loud. If she wasn''t being smothered by the heavyforter, Shuri feared she would float away and disappear into the blue sky.

    Shuriy in bed for a while longer and allowed her usually rampant mind to calm down. She got up a few minutester and cycled through a few Yoga poses, allowing calmness to seep into every nook and corner of her body. Then, for the first time in her life, she skipped out of her room towards the mess hall.

    It was nearing the end of breakfast, so she only managed to secure some cold fried eggs and bread, but she ate it with relish. sses would start soon, but Shuri didn''t have to sit in any way. At this point, she could follow Sect Leader Larks'' instructions and visit his office directly. But Shuri decided to do something else... something ill-advised.

    She turned down a familiar path and followed it to the recreation room. She pushed through the doors and walked down a corridor to where she usually reported her daily assignments to Marie. Upon reaching there, she was unsurprised to find her target seated in the same location leafing through papers and noting things down as she did so. But she WAS surprised to find another individual seated next to her.

    "You don''t have to sit next to me while I work, Master," Marie groaned.

    "Ha! I''ve left you to your devices long enough, girl," Mage Nara responded sternly. "You''re overextending the use of your powers. The future isn''t your yground to mess around with."

    "I''m doing it for the good of the Sect and its members," Marie argued.

    "That''s not for you to decide," Mage Nara growled. "Freedom of choice and self-determination is what keeps the world running. It''s contradictory when you think about the implications of fate in the grand scheme of things. But if you snatch the illusion of choice away from people, they devolve into behaviours that are antithetical to their inner character. That''s when things start going out of control."

    "Did Mister Larksin...?" Marie probed with a low voice.

    "He didn''t need to. I can hear just fine," Mage Nara scoffed. "I''ve had my eye on you since I epted you as my Disciple."

    "That is a massive invasion of privacy," Marie yelled back while pulling her jacket to cover herself.

    "Oh please!" Mage Nara retorted as he stood up. "I don''t have such juvenile and downright immoral proclivities. I just needed to make sure you weren''t doing anything stupid."

    Picking up his walking stick, he said, "Now, if you will excuse me, you have a visitor."

    As Mage Nara walked away, Marie yelled, "Just stay here, why don''t you? I know you''re going to listen in on this conversation anyway."

    "I don''t need to listen in on this conversation because I already know what this conversation is going to be about, smart-ass," Mage Nara shot back. As he left, he gave Shuri a nod of greeting.

    "Stop hiding behind the shelf ande over, Shuri," Marie beckoned. "If I''m not mistaken, you should be relieved from yourmitment to me. So what brings you here?"

    "As Mage Nara just said, you should already know," Shuri responded with a smug smile.

    Marie sighed loudly and said, "I hope you know just how dumb that sounds. If you don''t speak, this conversation will never happen. And if it never happens, I will never know..."

    "I was only joking," Shuri retorted while waving her hands.

    "Oh? You do that now?" Marie emphasized with a faint smile. "You still haven''t answered my question."

    Shuri revealed a rare smile in return before taking a seat opposite Marie. She folded her hands and leaned her back against her chair.

    "You nned this all out, didn''t you?" Shuri probed.

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Marie denied while shaking her head.

    "Ever since I came here, I''ve had this faint feeling of being led by the nose. In fact, the inkling started even before that, when I first met Markus. Never has there been a coincidence in my life that has worked out well for me," Shuri narrated calmly. "And yet, as I took a step back and assessed everything that has urred since then, I can honestly admit that my life has been moving in a positive trajectory."

    "It''s good that you realized that," Marie agreed.

    "It was your doing after all," Shuri shot back with a snap of her fingers. "You brought me here... somehow. You orchestrated everything. Your actions, interactions, and intentions were all tailored to get me to reach this realization. You personally chose to be the antagonist in my story, invaded my privacy and personal space, and pushed me to the brink just so that I could finally rely on someone other than myself!"

    Marie raised her hand, allowing Shuri to calm her agitation. "That''s the first and probably the least paranoid theory you havee up with. So, how does it make you feel?"

    Shuri shrugged and answered, "Not as bad as I thought it would make me feel. I mean, I should probably be angrier, furious even, right?"

    "Why aren''t you, then?"

    "I don''t know..."

    "Think harder," Marie egged on.

    "I guess... Because it felt like a game," Shuri mumbled. "I mean, failure had no consequence, it was all just a figment of my imagination."

    "Probably," Marie hummed.

    "Did you n all this out?" Shuri snapped back in disbelief.

    In response, Marie let out an uproariousugh while shaking her hand dismissively, "You give me far too much credit. I''m not some genius schemer like that. I just wanted to show you and make you realize that your life doesn''t have to be constantly toeing the line between life and death. It''s like when an addict hits rock bottom but in a positive direction. What''s the opposite of rock bottom?"

    "Paper top?" Shuri answered. There was silence.

    Five secondster, both the girls broke down andughed heartily.

    "I apologize for hurting you," Marie spoke up once theughter died down. "I know justification dilutes the sincerity of any apology, but I really did mean well. But I realize that my actions were far too intrusive."

    "I''ll ept the apology. And thank you," Shuri spoke back. "You''ve helped me find a safe space."

    "Not quite there yet, though, are we?" Mariemented with a mysterious intonation in her voice, causing Shuri''s smile to freeze.

    "A safe space is where you have no reason to hold anything back," Marie emphasized. "But you still have a few left in the quiver, don''t you?"

    Shuri''s gaze narrowed, and her expression turned sharp. "What do you know?"

    Marie brought a finger to her lips and shushed. She then winked mischievously and said, "Don''t worry, it will be our little secret."

    "MARIE!" Mage Nara''s voice boomed through the room, causing the building to shake.

    "Well, that''s my cue," Marie groaned. "You should go."

    Shuri froze, her mind had gone nk.

    "Oh right!" Marie interjected. "This will be thest favour I will be doing for a while, at least until the heat dies down - you know what I mean?"

    With that said Marie reached into her jacket and retrieved a cube with an interesting design. It was divided into twenty-six smaller cubes arranged in a three-by-three-by-three grid formation. The smaller cubes had one of six different colours on them.

    Marie started to twist and turn the cube, causing the uniformly coloured sides of the cube to jumble up. She then ced the cube on the table and slid it in Shuri''s direction.

    "Try solving it - bring it back to how it started," Marie challenged. "Maybe it will give you some inspiration in whatever you''re trying to achieve."

    "That''s enough!" Mage Naramanded as he silently appeared behind Shuri. "You should leave now, girl. The Sect Leader is awaiting your arrival."

    Shuri stood up and gave the mage a deep bow before walking out of the building in a trance, with the cube held firmly in her grasp.

 Chapter 340 When Your Fingers Just Arent Enough

    Chapter 340 When Your Fingers Just Aren''t Enough

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "You were supposed to be here an hour ago," Sect Leader Larks said with a stern tone. "I hate to be THAT guy," a snort escaped from Sect Leader Larks as he looked at Shuri with an expectant smile.

    "*cough* As I was saying, what took you so long?" The Sect Leader reiterated.

    "I went to meet Senior Sister Marie," Shuri admitted. There was no point in being disingenuous or obfuscating information here. Per Mage Larks'' admission, most if not all of what urred within the Sect was known ormon knowledge.

    The Sect Leader furrowed his brows and asked, "Did she ask you to do some more work for her?"

    Shuri quickly waved her hand and exined, "Nothing like that. I just felt that it wasn''t right to leave her employ without a proper goodbye."

    "That''s... admirable," the man mumbled while bobbing his head appreciatively. Then, he narrowed his gaze and probed, "Did she say anything? Did she give you anything?"

    Shuri nodded and produced the cube from her jacket pocket.

    "Wow! Okay! This one belonged to me before. Marie snatched it from me a few days back, saying that she knew someone who would appreciate it more than I did. What you have there is a Rubik''s Cube. A rather interesting toy, this one. A bit on the difficult side to make out of wood, especially if you''re trying to keep it purely wooden. Took me quite a while to get it just right, though as it stands it isn''t viable to mass produce this profitably," the Sect Leader narrated as he picked up the Rubik''s Cube and started to spin its sides.

    "She gave me this and said that it might inspire me to do something," Shuri added.

    "Can''t believe she''s still doing this nonsense. Even after I warned her," the Sect Leader growled while continuing the task of shuffling the cube.

    Then, he turned silent as he started to spin the cube in a simr pattern multiple times until eventually, the jumbled cube resolved itself with uniform colors on all sides.

    "There!" He celebrated while returning the cube to Shuri.

    "She did say this would be thest interference," Shuri mumbled while spinning the cube around in her grasp. "How did you solve it?"

    "There''s a book about it in the Library if you''re interested," Mage Larks offered. "It''s not that hard, especially for you. You just have to memorize a fewbinations ording to how the colours are arranged. That is the most basic method. There are quicker and moreplicated strategies as well."

    He then raised his index finger and added, "Did you know? There are approximately 43 quintillion unique possible arrangements of this cube?"

    Shuri tilted her head and said, "Shouldn''t there be more? Let me see... eight corner pieces... 12 edge pieces... No, definitelyrger than 43 quintillion."

    "Mathematically, sure. But the cube can only turn in certain ways. This limits some permutations," Mage Larks corrected. "Try again, but implement the limitations into your calctions."

    As he said this, he pushed forward a nk parchment and a writing utensil. Shuri picked it up and started to jot down the numbers. She performed the mathematics for five whole minutes before she dropped the pencil in frustration. "This is impossible! I can''t keep track of the numbers."

    "Makes you wish you had a calctor, huh?" The Sect Leadermented.

    "A calctor?" Shuri asked.

    "Think of it like a device that can perform basic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, maybe more," the man expounded.

    "How does it do that?" Shuri followed up, voicing her doubt and interest.

    The Sect Leader scratched his head in thought. "Give me a second," he then said before sitting down in a meditative pose.

    After a few minutes, his eyes opened and his expression regained confidence. "There are many kinds of calctors. The most basic one I can describe for you is a mechanical calctor that uses gears. Any number, if written in digital form, holds a value from zero to nine, which trantes to ten possible values. If we assign this to a gear, that means ten rotations. Ten rotations of the unit''s ce correspond to one rotation in the tens ce. Ten of tens is a hundred, and so on. So you can imagine how additional operations could be designed with this system?"

    Shuri hummed along before raising a point, "But I can see a few problems here. It would be difficult to supportrge numbers with a greater number of digits, as well as multiplication and division operations."

    "Exactly, so let me try and describe another mechanical calctor which has this functionality," Sect Leader Larks highlighted before delving into an exnation of a magnificent machine that he called the arithmometre.

    The exnation continued for hours, with the man using all the ckboards in his office to draw an borate picture of the device, answering Shuri''s questions, and even showing examples. Sometimes, there were questions Sect Leader Larks couldn''t answer immediately - he would often enter into meditation before returning with a suitable answer. Shuri theorized that he too probably had some sort of memorizing power like she did, but one that was much slower or was maybe bogged down with so much information that retrieval took a lot of time.

    "Well, that was definitely a heavy topic," the Sect Leader dered before leaning against his table and taking a sip of water from a cup. "I didn''t n to cover this today, not at all. But it wasn''t an unproductive trip, was it?"

    Seeing as Shuri agreed with his words, he continued, "If you are interested, we can pick up from here tomorrow and cover a few more mechanical solutions before shifting to the automatic "Let''s leave that for the next ss, shall we?" Sect Leader Larks halted Shuri while dabbing his forehead off invisible sweat.

    solutions."

    "What are automatic versions of the calctor?" Shuri interjected.

    "Hmm, it''s about the nature by which the calctor is powered. The mechanical solutions, as you saw earlier, rely on the movement of a crank. It takes mechanical input to run its operations. An automatic version uses another form of energy," the Sect Leader exined.

    "What alternate form?" Shuri probed further.

    "Let''s leave that for the next ss, shall we?" Sect Leader Larks halted Shuri while dabbing his forehead off invisible sweat.

    "Oh, and please," Sect Leader Larks stated just as Shuri was leaving the room. "Don''t go and binge the books on this topic today. You only just recovered, so take it slow."

    ____

    It was hard holding herself back from visiting the Library. But Shuri held herself back. Her new haven of safety was hard-won, and she wasn''t nning to lose it over something so trivial as sumbing to her base instincts.

    Back again at Sect Leader''s office, Shuri raised a point, "Can we skip the mechanical calctors?"

    Before the man could inquire why, Shuri quickly exined, "By my understanding, their principles seem to stem from the same concept of gears and rotational mechanisms. I am interested in seeing alternative solutions - the automatic ones as you pointed outst time."

    The Sect Leader evaluated Shuri with his gaze, who froze in fear, ''Did I say something wrong?''

    But a warm smile cracked the man''s stoic expression. "Good initiative. I was also getting bored of drawing these diagrams. In fact, I wanted to show you some interesting magic today that might help your understanding of the automatic calctor."

    Shuri revealed an interested smile.

    "Although, to do that I require your permission and your acquiescence," the Sect Leader emphasized.

    "Umm... Permission to do what?" Shuri probed. Was she about to be exploited?!

    "You will know when you know. If you allow me, we will continue; if not, then we will have to go down a longer path. When you feel it and choose to ept, then meditate and follow the feeling," the Sect Leader hinted before entering meditation once again.

    Shuri waited on pins and needles for whatever was about toe. Within seconds, she started to feel a tug in her abdomen - her core. Shuri figured this was the "feeling" the Sect Leader was talking about. After a minute of hesitation, Shuri decided to go for it and entered meditation. As her mind calmed, she started to feel herself getting pulled down a dark tunnel - a chute.

    The transit was short-lived and mildly harrowing for Shuri, who suddenly lost all sense of her body. But she was deposited into a bright room, with shelves of books around her, and seats arranged concentrically around a central stage with a massive globe levitating up above.

    "Wee to the Church of the True World," a grandiose voice echoed within the room. Shuri followed the sound and noticed the Sect Leader ascending the stage up front. The man''s face started to blur and quiver, and the haughty expression mellowed out.

    "Are you ready for your lesson?" The Sect Leader asked rhetorically. Without waiting for Shuri''s response, the globe above started to descend and turnedpletely void-ck. Then, Shuri felt herself getting pulled out from her seat and thrust directly into the dark globe.

    For the second time, she felt herself getting shoved down a chute of some sort. And once again, she was deposited in a room. This, though, appeared endless in all directions. It was bright, though not as much to hurt her vision, and beside her stood the Sect Leader.

    "To begin, we will need to cover some theory," the Sect Leader started. "What is your understanding of binary numerals?"

    "Umm... the name suggests one or the other?" Shuri hypothesized.

    "Good!" The Sect Leader encouraged. "If you remember from the previous lesson, one of the limitations of the mechanical calctor system is the fact that it isn''t scble to work withrger numbers. The automatic calctor circumvents this problem by implementing a new system of numerals called binary numerals. Basically, unlike the standard decimal system where you have numbers 0 through 9, the binary numeral system only has two digits that are 0 or 1."

    "How can you use just two numbers to represent other numbers?" Shuri interjected.

    "The binary numeral system isplemented with the base-2 numeral system. The easiest way to exin this is by drawing an example."

    Suddenly, a hologram started to form in front of Shuri.

    | 2^ | ... | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |

    | __ | ... | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

    "Let us take a random number... 44. If I want to write it in the decimal system, it is as is - 44. Where it is the sum of 4x10 + 4x1. Here, as you can see, each digital ce is a multiplier by a power of 10. In the base-2 binary notation, the number 44 is described as follows:"

    | 2^ | ... | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |

    | __ | ... | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |

    "44 in binary is 101100. This is basically 1x2^5 + 1x2^3 + 1x2^2."

    "I can see that, but how does this make it any easier?" Shuri said doubtfully.

    "Ah!" The Sect Leader eximed with a yful jump. "It bes evident once you learn the concept of logic gates!"

    Shuri started to bubble with excitement, but it halted when the Sect Leader raised a finger and said, "But first, let us understand how the basic mathematical operations are applied with this new digital system."

 Chapter 341 Logic Dictates

    Chapter 341 Logic Dictates

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "Actually, it isn''t that far off. The standard strategies work," the Sect Leader followed up with a shrug.

    "For example-"

    Two numbers: 1011 and 1001 appeared one on top of the other.

    "If we are to add 11 and 9 in decimal digits, it''s summing 1 and 9 in the unit''s ce with a 1 carrying over to the tens ce, which gets added to a one. So, 20. In binary, you add the ones in the 2^0, the 1 and 0 in 2^1 and the ones in 2^3, so-"

    The addition resolved to get: 2012.

    "But since we can''t have a number greater than one, we need to start carrying over. A 2 in 2^0 means that you can basically add a 1 to the 2^1, so-"

    2020

    "A 2 in the 2^2 is basically a 1 in the 2^2, so-"

    2100

    "A 2 in the 2^3 is 1 in the 2^4, so we can add another binary ce/"

    10100

    "Now if you read this binary number, it should also give you 20."

    "This just feels longer," Shuri mumbled.

    "Maybe for you, sure," the Sect Leader responded. "But if you think about automatic systems, if a decimal ce exceeds 1, then it is the same as flipping up a switch in the subsequent decimal ce. You don''t have to worry about excessive carrying over. All operations are just ones and zeroes, in the end."

    "I guess that makes sense," Shuri admitted with a faintly sceptical tone.

    "Let us check out the subtraction and the rest," the Sect Leader encouraged.

    For Shuri, wrapping her head around this new method of digitally representing numbers was tougher. To that, the Sect Leader said, "There are many reasons it''s difficult for youpared to the usual method. For one, you started learning and were taught primarily in another method. This has be ingrained so deeply that it''s hard to regrise yourself with another. On top of that, this method isn''t tractable formon mathematics that you and I use. It''s meant for something else altogether."

    "That''s the thing, I can''t see how this can be applied," Shuri said with a defeated sigh. "I feel like I''m missing something important."

    "It will make sense once we start logic. With that in ce, all this knowledge wille together into a neat bundle," the Sect Leader dered.

    Shuri''s enthusiasm rose once again as she anticipated the arrival of the crucial puzzle piece that would untangle the mess in her mind right now. But just like yesterday, the Sect Leader nced at the time and said, "That''s it for today."

    "What? Why?" Shuri argued in disbelief. "We still have time!"

    "Technically, sure. But I have othermitments too, you know," the Sect Leader said with a smile. "But I like your enthusiasm! Once again, let me remind you that it is inadvisable to read up on this topic beforehand."

    He chuckled and added, "You''re the first student I''ve told to specifically not read beforeing to ss. So... I guess, congrattions on being the first..."

    After that, Shuri felt herself moving down a familiar chute that directly deposited her back into her body.

    ____

    Following another night of strained sleeping, trying to hold back her urge to devour knowledge, Shuri found herself being siphoned down the dark chute.

    "Today''s topic is quite heavy, so please stop me if things be difficult or if we''re moving too quickly," the Sect Leader prefaced.

    "Binary numbers can either be 1 or 0, which has already been established. You can attach meaning to this 1 or 0, by saying that 1 means ''on'' and 0 means ''off''. You can also say that 1 is ''true'' and 0 is ''false."

    "Every decision or action you do or take is preceded by a set of conditions that need to be met. For instance, eating food depends on the precondition of you being hungry. Scratching your skin is preconditioned on whether you are feeling itchy in that location. So, to define an analogy using the previous definitions, if for an action A, you have a precondition B, if B is true, then your brain will send a signal: 1 to execute the action A. On the other hand, if it is false, you get a signal: 0 to not execute it."

    As the Sect Leader said this, a line formed in front of Shuri. On either side, there were two bulbous dots. Above the left dot, a B showed up, and above the right dot, an A did.

    B o--------o A

    "We can define the behaviour of this system with a truth table:"

    | B | A |

    | 0 | 0 |

    | 1 | 1 |

    "But what if you have two preconditions for the execution of action A?"

    As he said this, the line branched:

    B o-------o A

    C o----/

    "If both B and C need to be true for A to execute, then what do you do?"

    Shuri thought for a while before saying, "It''s obvious, right?"

    "True, but you need to ce something at the intersection thatputes the AND in this precondition," the Sect Leader hinted. "In fact, what we put here is a gate called the AND gate."

    At the point of intersection, a curved arrow took shape, like arge semi-circle. It had two lines going in from one side that started from the preconditions B and C, and from the other side, a single line exited ending at A.

    "With the AND gate, both B and C need to be true for it to trigger:"

    | B | C | A |

    | 0 | 0 | 0 |

    | 1 | 0 | 0 |

    | 1 | 1 | 1 |

    "Instead, what if all that you needed was for one of the conditions to be true? Either B OR C?"

    "Would you use an OR gate?" Shuri hypothesised.

    "Excellent deduction!"

    The AND gate was reced with another curved arrow that looked like a triangle pointing to the right but with the base at the left arching inwards.

    "Can you deduce what the truth table would be like?"

    Shuri was presented with an empty table, and a pen materialised in her hand. Carefully, she started to jot down her calctions.

    | B | C | A |

    | 0 | 0 | 0 |

    | 0 | 1 | 1 |

    | 1 | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 1 | 1 |

    The Sect Leader proceeded to go through a myriad of other gates that started with the NOT gate, which inverts the input signal.

    | B | A |

    | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 0 |

    Then the NAND gate, which basically inverts the output of an AND gate.

    | B | C | A |

    | 0 | 0 | 1 |

    | 0 | 1 | 1 |

    | 1 | 0 | 0 |

    | 1 | 1 | 1 |

    The NOR gate inverts the OR gate.

    | B | C | A |

    | 0 | 0 | 1 |

    | 0 | 1 | 0 |

    | 1 | 0 | 0 |

    | 1 | 1 | 0 |

    And finally, the XOR - exclusive-OR - gate.

    | B | C | A |

    | 0 | 0 | 1 |

    | 0 | 1 | 1 |

    | 1 | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 1 | 0 |

    "Now, we are going to use most of these gates together to create an addition circuit called the ''Full Adder''."

    Two XORs, two ANDs and one OR gate arranged themselves before Shuri, and lines started to move from connection point to connection point, creating an borate yet easy-to-understand circuit (for Shuri).

    "As you can see, we have three input lines and two output lines. You have the inputs B and C which are binary digits and the Cin, which is the carry-over input from the addition of the previous digit. The outputs are the summation, and the carry-over output for the next digital addition."

    "Would you like to try drawing the truth table for this one?" Sect Leader Larks challenged.

    Shuri moved quickly, her eyes traced the lines, and the writing utensil in her hand started to fill in the table with ease.

    | B | C | Cin | A | Cout |

    | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

    | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |

    | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

    | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

    | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

    | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

    "That''s correct," the Sect Leader confirmed. "As a challenge, can you recreate the full adder with nine NAND gates instead?"

    As he said this, six buckets materialised in front of her each with a unique logic gate inside it: AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR.

    She picked nine NANDs from the respective bucket and ced them in front of her and they became suspended in mid-air. She pulled lines from the inputs and outputs and started to join all the logic gates into a circuit. Within five minutes, a full circuit was formed in ce.

    The Sect Leader moved forward and provided the input signals to the circuit, and, as expected, the outputs produced replicated the initial truth table.

    "Can you do it again, but this time with nine NORs?"

    Shuri agreed readily before tossing the arranged NAND gates into their original bin and picking out nine NORs in their ce.

    As Shuri worked on it, her mana started to bubble with excitement. From her memories, she started to form connections between the information regarding Automagy she picked up from the Yoruz n''s texts and logic gates.

    ''Maybe if I could...''

    Shuri''s hand halted, and she ejected herself from the special space she was in.

    "Is something wrong?" The Sect Leader asked worriedly.

    "I... I need to go. I have something to do."

    With that said, Shuri quickly shot up from her seated pose and rushed out of the office towards her room. She was struck with inspiration. The idea of building a logic circuit had opened up a plethora of possibilities for her. Her mind was building a burgeoning circuit that didn''t show any sign of slowing down.

    "I-If this works, then..." it would mark apletely new and possibly revolutionary pathway for Automagy.

    She picked out a fresh mana core thaty on her table and prepared her inscription tool. She ced the core on the stand and then channelled her mana into the gem at its side, causing an ethereal projection to extend outwards from it.

    Then with a calming breath, she started inscribing the circuit that had finished forming within her mind.

 Chapter 342 Breakthrough in Automagy

    Chapter 342 Breakthrough in Automagy

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Shuri was finally ready to admit that she enjoyed learning in the True World Sect. Throughout her life, she had been taught never to question anything because questioning leads to finding out things that may not be conducive to a long and healthy life. So, she had to suppress her natural curiosity and live her life in ignorance.

    But in the True World Sect, it was the exact opposite. She was encouraged to mess around and find out. Nothing remained unknown for long here as most, if not all, questions had an answer in the Library. And the great thing was that they were even forced to question the information avable in the library.

    This mindset was eye-opening in many ways. For one, it helped Shuri understand the cultivation methods and systems of Automagy in the Yoruz n''s texts with apletely new perspective. By applying the principles of modr spellmaking andpartmentalisation, she could now see patterns in the program prescribed in the texts that alluded to particr behaviours and actions. She wanted to test out her theory earlier, but she recognised that it was a very expensive and time-consuming experiment. A mistake in the program would turn an entire mana core defective, and could also lead to catastrophic consequences if the program happens to seed.

    Earlier, Shuri did not want to take risks like that. But now, things were different. The circumstances had changed - there was no point in trying to conceal herself, and there was no necessity for it either. On top of that, there was now a feeling gnawing away at her from within telling her that it was time and that if she didn''t follow through she would miss out on something big.

    An instinct.

    What birthed this instinct?

    Imagine arge and convoluted jigsaw puzzle, without any corner or edge pieces, andpletely white. When Shuri learned the content from the Yoruz n''s text, she managed to build a conjoined section. When she learned from the books on the reading list, she managed to build a conjoined section thatpletely encircled the previous clump. Thest few sessions with Sect Leader Larks managed to bring to the forefront the required pieces that would join up the encirclement with the clump at the centre. All Shuri needed to do now was find out what goes where.

    She had an idea - an image prepared in her mind.

    Shuri''s hands moved automatically as they traced out the image in her mind on the projection. The AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR gates were familiar; she''d seen patterns in the Yoruz n''s programs that potentially had the same function. Now, it was a matter of testing the theory out.

    In hindsight, she should probably test the hypothesised gates independently - for safety''s sake, at least. But her instincts were urging her to throw caution to the wind and dive into the deep end right away.

    Before she knew it, an hour had passed, but Shuri''s hands showed no sign of stopping. She still had more to go!

    Slowly, the image in her mind started to bloom on the ethereal canvas. And as this happened, unfelt by Shuri, her mana started to bubble frantically from her core. Above the dorms, a small whirlpool of mana started to take shape as well, attracting the attention of the Sect Leader and all others in the Foundation Establishment realms and above.

    ____

    "Someone is advancing," Markus said as he approached his Master from behind. "Is it Shuri?"

    "Feels that way," his Master responded. The duo were currently standing outside the dormitory building. "She ran out of our session today with a honed-in expression, the kind you have when inspiration strikes you hard."

    "Should we help her?" Markus probed worriedly.

    "There''s nothing we can do to help. Her path is her own, after all," his Master responded with a thoughtful nod. "However, we CAN help in the clean-up. I''ll go get something for her to eat after her advancement; she missed Lunch (again!). Can you go tell Grace to prepare some new clothes for the girl; she probably hasn''t prepared a fresh change."

    Markus'' face turned crimson red in embarrassment as the boy turned and fled in Matron Reva''s general direction.

    ____

    "Your little pet project is finally advancing," Marie''s Mastermented while in meditation.

    Marie hummed in affirmation before putting her documents aside.

    "What''s wrong? Taking a break?" Her Master probed.

    "No. It''s just that my efforts will be redundant very soon," Marie answered with a faint smile. "I can afford to waste a week or so."

    Her Master looked at her with a confused expression before bursting intoughter. "I see," he said finally before returning to his meditative trance.

    "Carry on, then," he added at the end. "And don''t do anything I wouldn''t do."

    "That is an extremely specific warning, Master," Marie shot back with a sarcastic drawl. "I''ll make sure to keep that in mind."

    ____

    Another hourter, Shuri''s circuit was reaching termination. Her steadily moving hand reached an abrupt halt. She took a step back and allowed her gaze to inspect the intricate design etched onto the ethereal projection centred on the mana core. This was unlike anything listed in the Yoruz n''s texts. Yoruz n''s mana core programs were more profound, but the one she created using the principles of logic gates was moreplex. The former looked more whole and was smoother, while thetter looked more ordered and had a lot of corners and connections.

    Nheless, Shuri felt pride swelling through her as she beheld her brain-child. The ethereal projection started topress into the core as she pulsed a burst of mana into the gem, and she waited for the core to ept her program. The inert core lit up and started to pulse with a fluctuating purple hue. Then a short sizzling sound escaped from the core before the core settled with a permanent ethereal sheen.

    Her work had seeded.

    However, Shuri didn''t celebrate just yet. Even if the program had seeded, it did not mean that the core would function the way it was supposed to.

    Shuri took a minute to centre herself. The moment of truth was nigh.

    She sent a burst of mana into the core, causing it to light up brighter, and an ethereal projection to burst out from the sphere. The projection was in the form of a grid 4x5 grid, showing numbers ranging from 0 to 9, a decimal point, all for standard mathematical operators, a "delete," and a "=" button. Shuri pressed the "2" and "4" projected buttons, causing a new projection of the number 24 to light up above the grid. She then pressed the multiplication button, which caused an "x" symbol to project below the 24. She then pressed "1" and "2" causing 12 to project below the "x" symbol. She then pressed the "=" symbol, and almost immediately, a pulse of light coursed through the core, and the number 288 projected before her.

    A luminous smile cut her face in half. She pressed the delete button twice and continued testing the core. She stress-tested it thoroughly with all possible operations she could think of. With every sess, a euphoric tremor coursed through Shuri. She was getting drunk on sess... and in the overflowing torrent of mana coursing through her body, cleansing her blood and marrow.

    She was so engrossed in her work that she missed the multiple knocks battering on her door at that very moment. This went on for some time, and the knocks grew more vigorous with each passing minute until eventually, a familiar sound reverberated directly inside her head.

    "Shuri!"

    "Huh?!" Cast out of her euphoric trance, Shuri looked around, knocks restarted.

    "Shuri!" This time, it came from beyond the door, and it was a searching for the source of the voice. This was until she realised that it was actually a mana transmission. At that moment, the knocks restarted.

    "Shuri!" This time, it came from beyond the door, and it was a woman''s voice.

    "Matron Reva?" Shuri yelped.

    A growl vibrated through the door, and the voice spoke up with an angry edge to it. "Open up! NOW!"

    Shuri rushed towards the door, fearing the wrath of the woman beyond, slid it open, and came face to face with a rather annoyed Matron Grace Reva. The woman''s eyes scanned Shuri before the irritation dissipated, recing itself with exasperation. The woman quickly approached Shuri and nudged her inside.

    "Child, you need to be more aware of your appearance. You can''t go around exposing yourself like this!" The woman chided before proceeding to cover Shuri with the clothes in her hand.

    "What do you-" Shuri looked down and realised that she waspletely nude. "What in the world?!"

    "The Sect Leader sends his congrattions towards your advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm," Matron Reva said offhandedly.

    "W-Wait!" Shuri rushed away from Matron Reva and looked at herself in the mirror on her desk. A relieved sigh escaped her lips when she noticed that her hair was still silver in shade, though faint traces of red hairs were popping near her scalp (probably a result of her advancement).

    She harkened back to Marie''s warning.

    "But you still have a few left in the quiver, don''t you?"

    Shuri''s hand grasped the pendant hanging around her neck and fiddled with it anxiously. In fact, she had two arrows still left in the quiver.

    "What''s wrong?" Matron Reva inquired while patting Shuri''s back in a calming manner.

    "Umm, nothing," Shuri responded while putting on a pleasant facade.

    Those two arrows... Shuri wasn''t sure whether she would ever be ready to draw and fire them.

    "I''m okay..."

 Chapter 343 Commemoration

    Chapter 343 Commemoration

    "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

    Sect Leader Larks did not hold back his praise as he used the mana core calctor created by Shuri. His expression was frozen in awe and wonder, as well as childlike amusement as he tested out the device with glee. The duo were currently in the Sect Leader''s office.

    "Although I know the answer already, I just have to ask how you aplished this?" The Sect Leader inquired while continuing his vivacious inspection. "You don''t have to answer... I get it... confidentiality and all that. I never thought I''d get to see an actual, functioning, digital calctor in this lifetime!"

    Shuri scratched her head embarrassedly and said, "I applied what you taught me about logic gates, and used it to augment the knowledge I already had about Automagy. The result is what you see before you."

    The Sect Leader lowered the ball in his hand and gave Shuri an appreciative thumbs-up. "You know this is why I adore all you children. To be able to see possibilities and connections that adults like me miss. Who''d have thought that Automagy could have such applications- I mean, I could have guessed, but it would have been only a half-informed reach at best."

    "Anyway," the Sect Leader interrupted his own rambling and stated, "This device... I can see it being very useful in the hands of people working extensively with numbers on a regr basis. Take your Senior Sister Marie for example. Back when she used to work with caravans as an ountant, she would have killed to have something useful like this making her life easier."

    "I agree," Shuri said while humming contemtively.

    "So, what do you wish to do with your creation?" The Sect Leader probed.

    "I wish to register a patent for this device," Shuri responded decisively, causing the Sect Leader''s brows to raise in surprise.

    "You do realise that in doing so, you will be revealing the technique to the Sect?" The man reminded.

    "I don''t mind," Shuri responded while revealing a satisfied smile. "This work is far detached enough, and original enough, to not drawparison with any existing works or techniques."

    The two exchanged a meaningful look before simultaneously nodding in the affirmative.

    "I also wish to add this product to the VTC''s (Verum Trading Company) portfolio," Shuri dered conclusively.

    In response to that, the man''s brows jumped even higher (threatening to jump off his forehead and shoot into the sky). "T-That''s admirable. What is the lead time to produce this calctor?"

    "It took me an hour and a half to program the mana core. I can make it faster through some practice and optimisation of the circuitry," Shuri answered. "But the throttle is actually on the rate at which the inert cores are being farmed. I cannot extract more than six inert cores in one go, lest it affects the quality of the cores."

    "Would having more people working with you to extract the cores be of any help?" The Sect Leader suggested.

    "It would," Shuri said. "The rate at which the mana sink produces wisps and slimes allows the extraction of up to 25 mana cores in one day before we start hitting a loss. However-"

    At that point, the Sect Leader interjected and finished Shuri''s sentence for her, "-However, you will have to share your methods with other people, and since you said that the technique you''re employing is proprietary and deeply tied to your family, it would raise red gs if it somehow leaks."

    Shuri affirmed Sect Leader Larks'' guess with a bitter smile and nod.

    "What if we try other strategies?" The Sect Leader proposed. "I mean, you managed to derive an original interpretation of programming a mana core. I know it''s asking for a lot - like asking lightning to strike the same ce again - but maybe we could develop a core farming method of our own as well?"

    Shuri bobbed her head in thought as she considered the idea. "It would take a lot of time, and resources to research that problem. And to be honest, I don''t feel like taking on that task at the moment. I mean, the calctor doesn''t NEED to be ubiquitous just yet. A mana core IS a scarce resource, it wouldn''t do us any good to flood the market with this product."

    "You make a good point. I guess I got ahead of myself there," the Sect Leader doubled back while scratching his head embarrassedly. At that moment, the door to the office resounded with three knocks in a peculiar pattern. A smile shed past the Sect Leader''s face, which he quickly hid amidst a clearly fake coughing fit.

    "Let us put a pin on this discussion for now. Why don''t you take the rest of the day off and rx? Seeing as you''ve just advanced, you deserve some time to consolidate your cultivation," the Sect Leader said with a serious expression. He tapped his desk with his fingers frantically before adding, "Oh! Make sure to drop by the mess hall. I know you''ve missed your meals again. I''d rather not have to exin this situation to Grace again, it is quite embarrassing, I''m not going to lie."

    Shuri chuckled at the Sect Leader''s words before she rose, bowed, and left the office.

    She decided to take the Sect Leader''s advice and beelined towards the mess hall to get some much-needed sustenance. Advancing into the Foundation Establishment is half fuelled by mana and half fuelled by the body itself. After all, the body is the vessel that contains the will and soul. The process of advancement takes a lot of energy, that is a fact. However, a Foundation Establishment realm mage does not feel the instinctual hunger a mortal would feel which is the body''s trigger to refuel itself. Many simr processes be a matter of practice rather than instinct after advancement (such as cleansing oneself, evicting waste from the body, and so on) - it is one of the most basic tethers of mortality a person sheds upon stepping down the path of cultivation. After all, a mage in the Core Formation realm has more things to worry about than voiding their bowels.

    As Shuri approached the building, a strange sense of suppression started to drown her. The feeling could be likened to someone suddenly losing their senses as if they were just snatched from them. Of course, she could still see, smell and hear, but only using her eyes, nose and ears. Her mana sense, which had expanded and be more sensitive, waspletely shut off - stolen from her.

    A sense of foreboding descended on her, and she took a few steps back by instinct. A part of her deep down, that she only recently decided to stop listening to, was warning her to turn tail. And just as her body decided to follow that instinct, she collided with two people standing right behind her.

    "Where do you think you''re going?" It was Casey, a girl, a member of the Sect. She was unusuallyrge (or maybe Shuri was small for hers), and she had a sturdy frame.

    "Yeah! You were told to go to the mess hall!" Another giantess for her age Lacey, who also happened to be Casey''s twin, spoke up with a much squeakier voice.

    "Umm... I- I think I forgot something in my room..." Shuri put together an excuse quickly, though her darting gaze did little to sell the lie.

    "Tell us what it is, and we will get it for you. You should go into the mess hall," Casey said with a monotone, stony voice.

    "Yeah! Go into the hall!" Lacey parroted.

    The voice in her head started to scream anxiously. Shuri''s thoughts ran rampant and a myriad of scenarios started to form in her mind.

    ''I knew it! Standing out too much, while positive in the eyes of those in charge, is poisonous for my so-called peers. Jealousy is a slippery slope, and my advancement has broken the camel''s back. What kind of bullying will they put me through? I should be stronger, now that I have advanced. But is it worth it to apply my strength against these kids? In the eyes of the Sect Leader, it would put me in a much worse light, even if he is against bullying in general. Should I try convincing these girls to let me go? What were their weaknesses again? Right! Their favourite dolls were crafted by their mother. But that''s too far away-''

    "You two should give her some space," a familiar, and dreaded, voice spoke up calmly from behind the girls. "Can''t you see that she is freaking out?"

    "B-But Senior Sister, we were told to guide her into the mess hall," Casey spoke up innocently.

    ''Putting up an act?'' Shuri mocked. ''She''ll see right through it,'' she added with confidence. She was certain that ording to Marie''s character, she wouldn''t tolerate bullying.

    "You two carry on. I''ll take her in," Marie said,pletely shattering Shuri''s expectations and sending her spiralling down a well of regret.

    A firm hand grasped Shuri''s shoulder. Marie leaned in and whispered, "It''s time to face the music. Your pace has attracted a lot of attention, after all."

    Shuri shuddered. There was no turning back. She prepared herself for whaty beyond the doors.

    "SURPRISE!!!!!!!" Many voices ovepped and exploded at once, entuated with childish sounds and a lot of light. Shuri stood with her mouth agape at the unbelievable sight.

    The entire Sect, barring Jean and Kili, had congregated in the mess hall. They all wore weird, conical hats made out of parchment with the word "Congrattions" printed on them with funny fonts - even the in-house Tesseract Transformation monster stood at the side with a pink cone on his head.

    "Can''t believe you''re having me suppress a mere Foundation Establishment realm whelp for what? A surprise party?!" The elderly man mumbled just loud enough for the room to hear. The children giggled at the man''s outburst.

    "Come on now, Master," Marie said as she followed Shuri through the door. "Shuri here is the first member of the True World Sect to break through into the Foundation Establishment realm. It calls for a proper celebration!"

    "Marie''s right, you know?" The Sect Leader said while entering the room. "This is a momentous asion that calls for a proper celebration."

    The Sect Leader pped his hands and the crowd split through the middle, revealing Matron Reva who held a te with a cylindrical, white food item on it. Atop the cylinder, the text "Congrattions on your Breakthrough, Shuri!" was written with colourful cream. And arranged on the cylinder were many thin, colourful candles.

    "I tried following your recipe to the letter, Guy- I mean Sect Leader Larks," Matron Reva said with a wry smile. "I hope it tastes as good as you described it."

    "It''s the first time anyone''s making it," the Sect Leader said. "This will set a benchmark for future cakes so stop fretting!"

    "Alright everyone, gather around!" The Sect Leader called out, and the crowd moved haphazardly around Shuri. "I wanted to create a tradition. You see, advancing into the Foundation Establishment realm is a great achievement. It marks the first true step into cultivation. In some ways, it is a sign of hope!"

    "Umm, what am I supposed to do?" Shuri asked doubtfully, unable to take the anticipating gaze all around her.

    "Well, close your eyes, make a wish and blow the candles," the Sect Leader exined. "The wish can be anything you want it to be. But make sure not to tell anyone, lest the wish doesn''te true!"

    ''Childish,'' Shuri thought to herself, but her lips spread out with a smile.

    "I wish..." And she blew out the candles.

    "CONGRATULATIONS!"

    "Cut the cake!"

    "Yaaaay!"

    The celebration continued into the night. And Shuri went to bed that day with a heartfelt smile overflowing with happiness.

 Chapter 344 All Play and No Work...

    Chapter 344 All y and No Work...

    There was no shortage of recreational activities in the True World Sect. The members were generally encouraged to partake in a round of fun daily, since, ording to the Sect Leader, "All work and no y, makes Jack a dull boy." No one knew who Jack was - the pioneer who spearheaded the daily recreation initiative - but everyone was overwhelmingly grateful for his contribution.

    The True World Sect''s recreational hall and sports fields catered to all imaginable forms of entertainment one could think of. You could spend hours exerting yourself physically with the myriad of sports options like handball, football, and volleyball, or mentally with the plethora of board games and tabletop games.

    In fact, those weren''t the only options avable. The Sect encouraged its members to be creative and encouraged the development of new recreational activities that could help refresh a bogged-down mind. One of the results of this initiative was the game of Hover-Sack. It was a game devised by the twins Casey and Lacey, and it involves kicking a small bag filled with sand - barely the size of a closed fist - and stopping it from touching the ground for as long as possible. It is less apetitive sport and more about teamwork, coordination, and overall "coolness" as shy passes, awesome manoeuvring, and extraordinary recoveries are encouraged.

    The game didn''t require much space to y, was fairly simple to participate in, and didn''t have stringent requirements (all you needed was the sack), thus it quickly spread within the Sect. Nowadays, most members walked around with a Hover-Sack in their jacket pockets so that they could challenge other idle members to an impromptu game of Hover-Sack in the wild.

    On this particr day, which happened to be a few days after Shuri''s breakthrough celebration, four members of the True World Sect were ying a rather long game of Hover-Sack with intense focus and gusto.

    "Do you think we''ll ever achieve a breakthrough?" Kevan pondered as he skillfully tapped the sack with his heel, sending it diagonally to the recipient standing opposite him, Revian.

    "Why not? Shuri did it, why can''t we?" Revian answered a secondter, catching the sack with his knee and letting it drop to his ankle, where he held it for a beat. He passed the sack to his other leg and sent it to his right, to Lacey. The girl received the ball with a stoic expression, expertly catching it with the back of her right heel and yanking it backwards, causing it to follow a parabolic path from over her hand andnding at her prepared left angle in front of her.

    Kevan looked towards Casey to his left, who was ready to receive her sister''s pass and said, "I mean, it''s kind of different with her, right? She has... a background (forck of a better word). She has the magical techniques and cultivation methods from her family that helped her in this."

    "Besides, she''s smart and capable. I don''t think I can match that," he added before passing to Lacey to his right - his cheeks blushed "But it was all worth squat until she became a part of the True World Sect," Casey interjected while handling the sack. Three tapster, it was on its way to Kevan, "It must mean something!"

    Kevan grimaced as the sack followed a low trajectory and squatted to catch it before it hit the ground.

    "Besides, she''s smart and capable. I don''t think I can match that," he added before passing to Lacey to his right - his cheeks blushed lightly as he said this.

    Revian shook his head and reminded, "We don''t have to rush. Sect Leader Larks said that finding our pace is key. Doesn''t Senior Brother Markus say it all the time? ''Talent can give you a leg up, but it isn''t anything that can''t be bridged with the right amount of hard work.''"

    "Sounds like a load of copium if you ask me," Lacey expressed before doing a backflip and sending the sack high up into the air.

    "What in the world is that?" Revian shot back in confusion, though his attention was trained on the sack returning from the peak of its trajectory.

    "Didn''t you see Huron''s most recentic?" Lacey responded while scratching her head.

    "She''s talking about the one with the anthropomorphic frog locking himself in a room filled with an incense burnerbelled copium," Kevan exined. "It''s a y on the word opium, and how the drug is used to escape reality. You imbibe copium to ignore or downy the severity of a problem by relying on overly optimistic beliefs."

    Revian let out a small celebration as the sacknded sessfully on his left knee, which he transitioned into a three-tap manoeuvre, "Wow! Huron''s works have been bing increasingly abstract ever since Senior Sister Jean left for her trip. It''s like he isn''t trying at all."

    After a simple pass to Casey on his right, he pointed out, "Anyway, what we really need to break through is inspiration - something that we can dig deep into and internalize."

    "It can''t be THAT easy!" Kevan challenged, which was affirmed by the sisters who nodded along.

    Revian snorted, expressing light scorn, before saying, "It isn''t. Didn''t you hear a word Senior Brother Markus said inst week''s ''Theory of Cultivation''?"

    Kevan''s face turned red with embarrassment before he blurted out, "I didn''t! I had food poisoning and was bedridden for the whole week! It was horrible!"

    "Oh, shit!" Revian sputtered, causing Kevan to return a challenging growl and an angry stare. "*cough* I mean, how did that happen?"

    "My parents sent me some homemade delicacies from our hometown. Turns out, we cannot substitute the Red Mint from our town with the local variant..." Kevan exined while rubbing his forehead.

    Casey passed the ball to her sister before probing with a difited frown, "I hope you aren''t talking about the Incontinentia nt that Matron Reva uses to makexatives..."

    Kevan grimaced loudly and confessed, "My parents didn''t know about the nt''s side effects when you heat it and extract its oils! Luckily, they didn''t eat any of the delicacies, or else all that would remain of them would be dried husks."

    Revian received Lacey''s pass and emphasized a key point, "But the dosage shouldn''t be high enough to cause you such problems. After all, you''re in the Middle Stage of the Mana Condensation realm."

    "My mother lost her sense of smell some time back... Our food is either nd or heavily voured - there is no middle ground." Kevan said with a low and defeated mumble.

    Revian let out a two-syble, "Damn!" and continued, "Just how much of the nt did she use?"

    "The nt only faintly smells of mint. So she added it until she smelt the equivalent of ten mint leaves," Kevan exined.

    "My goodness! That''s at least ten entire Incontinentia nts!" Revan calcted quickly, his mouth widening in shock.

    "More like twenty... My mom''s condition..." Kevan corrected.

    "How the hell are you able to walk and sit?!" Casey blurted out.

    "It was embarrassing, man! I lost all control of my anus and kept leaking all over the ce," Kevan expounded. At this point, he himself was questioning why he was exining his humiliating condition in such great detail.

    "Can we please stop talking about this shit," Kevan blurted out, only to receive a round of chuckles and suppressedughter from hispanions. "*cough* I mean, can we get back to the important matter! Advancement-"

    "You shouldn''t chase sess, chase excellence," a sombre and elderly voice interrupted Kevan, originating from behind him. "Once you achieve excellence, sess follows immediately after."

    Kevan swallowed a dry mouthful of air as he turned around and gave a deep bow to the strongest individual in the entire Sect.

    "M-Mage Nara," the rest followed and bowed, allowing the sack to finally hit the ground.

    "You four have been ying that game for an hour and a half," Mage Nara said while shaking his head with a disappointed expression. "What''s the point of discussing sess if you''re just going to waste your time in these fruitless endeavours."

    "There''s some benefit in distracting your mind," another voice argued, as Senior Sister Marie stepped out from behind her Master. "Distraction leads to inspiration."

    "Corrtion does not imply causation," Mage Nara corrected.

    "Agreed, but it is corrted nheless," Marie stood her ground with a raised finger.

    "Don''t y semantics with me, girl," Mage Nara growled.

    Marie ignored her Master and gazed with intense focus at Kevan. But she was immediately interrupted with a sharp p to her head by her Master, "I thought you said you wouldn''t use it anymore?"

    "Just trying to distract myself," Marie said through her teeth while rubbing the back of her head.

    Mage Nara let out a disdainful snort and pushed his Disciple onwards and away from the trembling foursome who were still in a ny-degree bow.

    "If I tell you that you will advance, will you stop working?" Mage Nara said as he paused in his steps.

    "S-Sorry?" Kevan sputtered.

    "I can give you an answer to your first question. I can tell you all whether you will break through. I can tell you when you will break through. But in doing so, will it make you work harder or turnzier?" Mage Nara reiterated.

    Without waiting for a response, he concluded with the statement, "If I tell you that there is sess on the horizon, you will work at a leisurely pace as you know the goal is nigh. If I tell you there is only failure in your path, you will give up altogether. You can try and convince yourself that you won''t let the knowledge of the future affect you, but it will - that is human nature. In the end, you lose more by knowing than you do by remaining in the dark."

    The foursome watched the receding figure of the Tesseract Transformation Master and his Disciple. Casey leaned forward and picked up the Hover-Sack and pushed it back into her jacket pocket.

    "I''m going to the Library," Casey proposed calmly.

    "Let me join you," Lacey added.

    "I think I have some reading assignments left in the backlog. Make it three," Revian said while following the twins.

    "W-Wait for me!" Kevan yelped a secondter, after returning to himself, then rushed after the trio.

 Chapter 345 Learning from Experience

    Chapter 345 Learning from Experience

    Shuri''s day suddenly became even busier after her advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm. It seemed that the breakthrough, while an asion to be celebrated, brought with it a mountain load of responsibilities and tasks.

    First off, she now had a quota to fulfil by producing the Calcte-Core - the name she came up with for the mana core calctor. While she remained the sole Automage within the Sect, the responsibility to output twenty-five Calcte-Cores every week fell entirely on her. Well, this wasn''t a task foisted upon her, it was her idea to sell this device after all.

    Besides, after floating the Calcte-Core within the various subsidiaries of the Verum Trading Company they received a lot of positive responses, especially from the Finance Departments. The Calcte-Core was far more intuitive to work with and more versatilepared to the abacus. It became especially useful given how all the subsidiaries followed the newly introduced double-entry bookkeeping system. Validating the ounts was a massive headache, which was now streamlined thanks to the Calcte-Core.

    It gave Shuri a sense of satisfaction with each unit sold and with money umting in her ounts. The motivation drove her to optimise the programming process and the program itself, reducing the programming lead time to only fifteen minutes.

    Yet, the motivation drawn by money is short-lived. Frederick Taylor theorised that money is the only way to motivate employees. Since apany is profit-oriented so should its employees, since an increased output from the employee corresponds to an increased revenue, which in turn can reflect on the employee''s earnings. On paper, this theory works. Increasing the wages of construction workers as they move more materials, build more structures, or work extra hours will motivate the worker. The limitation makes itself known when you evaluate the employee''s state on the big picture.

    Would an employee feel more motivated if they felt a sense of belonging with thepany?

    This is where a second theory of motivationes into y, the hierarchy of needs penned by Abraham Maslow. It states, that motivation is a more tiered concept than a function that rtes work output with money. At the lowest tiers are a person''s physiological and safety needs, the most basic needs for a human being to function. Above thates the need for esteem and rtionships - the psychological needs. At the very topes self-actualisation, wherein the person is given the ability to achieve their full potential.

    Shuri''s basic and most psychological needs were being met by the True World Sect. There was food to eat, water to drink, steady shelter, security safety, a horde of people tomunicate and interact with, some dubious rtions that could bebelled as frenemies, and of course, she was feeling aplished with every Calcte-Core being sold. However, was she achieving her full potential? For all its benefits, her obligation to produce these cores was taking up a lot of valuable time that could go into research, and advancing her knowledge and cultivation.

    Once this realisation dawned upon her, Shuri decided to remedy the problem immediately. Thus, she started up an Automagy Club within the Sect. Shuri didn''t want to waste away her life creating Calcte-Cores, if she could instead hire people for the task and delegate the process, then her schedule would open up and allow for some "self-actualisation time".

    The Automagy Club happened to be the first of its kind within the Sect. Since Automagy wasn''t technically a crucial part of being a mage, it couldn''t be included in the standard curriculum, thus making it extracurricr. In the beginning, almost everyone attended the sessions and participated in discussions. But as Shuri started to dispense the more difficult concepts, the crowd started to thin out. Within two weeks of the club''s opening, only four members were remaining.

    It was disheartening to see people leave in droves like that. But in hindsight, Shuri med her poor teaching skills. Apparently, being a genius prodigy wasn''t a skill that tranted well into the teaching profession. Shuri struggled to exin even the most basic of concepts to her students because it just came naturally to her.

    This failure hurt Shuri''s ego more than expected. It was because she failed in something she wrongly assumed to be easy. Therefore, Shuri decided to bite the arrow and went to ask for advice from the best teacher she knew, which was the Sect Leader.

    "I think it would be beneficial for you to ask Markus," the Sect Leader suggested. "While I can certainly point out your mistakes and offer guidance on improvement, as I have been teaching for a considerable time, these issues are quite straightforward for me. However, I believe you will gain more by learning from someone who is also in the process of acquiring the skill. Simply being taught by me won''t foster adaptability."

    He raised a finger to make his point. "On the other hand, learning to teach alongside a friend who has already faced challenges and setbacks will provide you with a deeper understanding and empathy for the obstacles that arise along the way. It is through encountering these stumbling blocks and oveing them together that you truly evolve as a teacher. Markus can offer invaluable insights from his own learning journey, sharing both sesses and failures and assisting you in navigating the intricacies of the craft."

    With a shrug, he concluded, "Furthermore, learning alongside a peer creates a supportive and coborative environment. You will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, discuss different approaches, and brainstorm solutions together. Teaching is not a one-size-fits-all endeavour, and by exploring diverse perspectives, you can cultivate your own unique teaching style while adapting to the ever-changing needs of your students."

    Shuri didn''t dally around and went straight to Markus with the same question.

    "It''s hard," was the first thing the boy said. "It''s even harder because you''re either teaching people the same age or older than you are. Even if you are a realm above, age is still a definitive factor when ites to fostering respect. So the first thing I had to decide was ''What kind of teacher do I want to be?'' Do I want to be their friend or do I want to be their mentor?" Markus paused, deep in thought. "It''s a delicate bnce to strike, Shuri. If you be too friendly, they may not take you seriously, and if you assert too much authority, they may resent you. I''ve found that the key is to create a supportive and inclusive learning environment where mutual respect can thrive."

    He continued, his eyes reflecting his own experiences. "Being a friend to your students can help establish trust and rapport. It allows you to connect with them on a personal level, understand their individual needs, and create afortable space for openmunication. However, remember that ultimately, you are their guide, responsible for their growth and development. So, it''s crucial to set boundaries and maintain a sense of authority when necessary. Which is admittedly hard, because you''re ying stupid games with the same people outside of ss."

    Markus leaned forward, his voice filled with conviction. "Being a mentor means being a source of knowledge and inspiration. You have the opportunity to share your expertise, guide them through challenges, and ignite their passion for learning. Show them that you genuinely care about their progress and well-being, and they will naturally look up to you as a trusted mentor. Here, you have to be firmer and create some more distance between yourself and the students. You don''t have to be aloof but try not to get too involved in their personal lives. The downside of this, though, is that you will start feeling isted outside of ss."

    "Feeling isted is fine with me," Shuri dismissed with a shake of her hand. She ignored Markus'' concerned expression and continued, "What I struggle with is the actual process of teaching. How do I get them to understand what I want them to understand?!"

    "Oh, that''s easy!" Markus said with an uproariousugh. "Find Dora or Kano, or any of the little children from the vige, and try to exin it to them. Try to get them to understand 50% of what you''re trying to teach."

    "It can''t be that simple," Shuri denied in disbelief.

    "It isn''t simple, Shuri. If you''re struggling to teach teens, how do you expect to teach children?" Markus retorted.

    "Then what''s the point of the exercise?" Shuri shot back irritatedly.

    "The exercise is to take note of all the questions those kids will ask you. ''Why do you do that?'', ''''What does that mean?'', ''How does that work?'', etc. One of my greatest mistakes in teaching was to assume that my students know what I''m, talking about. You should walk into a ssroom with the assumption that they know nothing at all - that they''re just empty ckboards waiting for you to fill them up with chalk writing."

    Shuri nodded in thought andmented, "But won''t we end up teaching them the same thing again and again?"

    "There is no loss in recapping content - most of the time, the students themselves will point out if they know a topic already. Though you can preface a session by stating that certain knowledge is a prerequisite to understanding what you''re talking about if your teaching materials be too burdensome for a session. Also, remember to keep your teaching points for a session well below the duration of the session itself. You need to leave time in for questions, anecdotes, tangents and other such activities that increase interactivity and engagement with the ss," Markus pointed out as he started to recollect details from his memory.

    "Also! Do not assume that students will remember everything taught to them within a ss the next time theye. Try to frequently hold quizzes, recaps and other small tests and assessments to refresh their memories. The human mind isn''t a steel trap - though I guess it is in your case," he finished with a chuckle.

    "Finally, try and create a lot of audio and visual content to support your lessons. The human mind isn''t meant to remember paragraphs upon paragraphs of text. I''ve noticed that teaching with the help of visual presentations, songs and mnemonic devices helps the students remember and learn better. You remember the quadratic form, right?"

    Shuri nodded and sang, "~Negative B *p* *p* plus or minus *p* *p* b-squared minus four A, C *p p* *p p* all over two A~"

    Markus smiled appreciatively and eximed, "See!"

    He then continued recounting his experiences, which Shuri absorbed like a sponge. The exnations were filled with his failures and sesses, and Shuri felt like she was actually standing in his shoes and going through them all. It was enlightening, and she couldn''t wait to spruce up her lessons with this new knowledge.

 Chapter 346 Take Two

    Chapter 346 Take Two

    Shuri entered the next congregation of the Automagy Group with motivated and resolute steps. But she quickly realised that the techniques were different in theorypared to when applied in practice. Handling her students and getting them to understand what she was trying to exin was a constantly changing and evolving task. And even though she prepared extensively in anticipation for all the questions they could ask her, she found that she had still made assumptions about what they knew and were familiar with already.

    However, there was definitely some improvement. For one, the students seemed more interested and engaged in the subject with all the visuals and examples she brought with her. And with her opening up the floor regrly, they eagerly participated in discussions and actively sought rification whenever they encountered difficulties. And in doing so, she noticed that she was able to get into a particr rhythm or flow for the lesson, where one thing started to lead to another with fluidity.

    Furthermore, she also realised just how advantageous her eidetic memory was for learning in general. Things that came easily for her, like recollecting truth tables, picturingrge andplicated logic circuits in her mind, and even remembering particr knowledge were much harder for her peers. She technically didn''t need mnemonic devices, songs and such to remember, it just came naturally like picking out a folder from a neatly organised shelf.

    Did it make her feel a tinge of pride? Sure, for a microsecond. But it was quickly doused with a hefty bucket of exasperation, as she started to anticipate just how tiresome teaching really was, and the fact that this was something she would have to grind through regrly.

    Nheless, progress was slow yet steady on the club front. Her members managed to understand the basic of logic gates, which she then followed up by showing them the types of programs that are used in programming mana cores. She revisited the theory and formatted it to match the modr spellmaking concept so that the students could find connections and assimte it. In fact, this exercise also improved her understanding of the programming process, which was reflected in a tiny surge in her cultivation. She found that she could merge logic gates with modr spells as well.

    For instance, she could create a program with a core and install it into a box which is filled with coals. The core would eject coal from the box into a me if the me''s intensity decreased below a certain metric. Alternatively, she could program a core to eject a |

    Fireball| by consuming the coal (or even the mana coursing through it) given a particr condition or prompt.

    The following week, she started to get them involved in practical projects with programming mana cores. She decided to take some of the most basic programs from her n''s texts and started to trante them into the logic-based, modr methodology. This was another enlightening process that stimted her cultivation. Though she did notice that in trantion, the program became more bloated. However, itsplexityy in the fact that one had topress the circuit when preparing it for inscription. Expanding it and drawing it on arge canvas made it extremely easy to understand. Even the simple light capture-and-release program expanded markedly.

    It took two days for her students to grasp the program for light capture and release. And it took another two days for them to get ustomed to drawing it steadily, continuously and without making any errors. On the fifth day, she handed out some mana cores, and inscription tools, and stands for them to try it out.

    As expected they all failed. On the sixth day, there was one sess. On the seventh, another. And on the eighth, everyone got the hang of it. Once they grew ustomed to it, she gave them a variation of it. The core detected if the sun had risen or set and output light ordingly. This took the ss three days for everyone to seed.

    After that, Shuri tasked them with creating a program of their own. This was admittedly a difficult task, and she set them a two-week deadline toe up with a concept for the program.

    Surprisingly, at the end of the two weeks, one of her students named Tes, a boy two years older than her, came up with aplete circuitry for a mana core that would emit a loud noise and sprinkle water in a room if there is excess smoke or temperature increase within. It was an ingenious application case of a simple concept. One that would admittedly save a lot of lives if implemented in houses AND a lot of money if implemented in warehouses and businesses.

    Shuri looked through the logic thoroughly, noticing a few edge cases right away that would cause problemster on. For instance, instead of using a hardcoded value, a measure that indicated a specific temperature threshold, which could be programmed by the user would be better, especially if the core is to be ced in rooms that are to be maintained at high temperatures.

    After that, she encouraged Tes to inscribe the program on a mana core right away, which the boy did excitedly. The programming process took an entire hour. The boy''s hand moved with some hesitation, which was to be expected, but it did not detract from or hinder the process of inscribing the program. Finally, Tespleted the inscription, and Shuri admired the intricate patterns etched onto the ethereal projection of the mana core. She validated the design and nodded in satisfaction after determining that it was all done correctly. The boy proceeded to confirm his inscription, which started to shrink onto the core.

    The entire ss waited with bated breath for the core to ept the inscription. When it finally did, there was a round of cheer and a short celebration. But both Shuri and Tes were positively vibrating, ready to test out the core.

    Shuri took the core to the toilets and instructed Tes to bring some wood as well. She quickly urged everyone in the toilets to evacuate, which was met with heavy cursing from one particr fool in the men''s toilet who was violently evacuating his bowels due to food poisoning.

    After ensuring that the ce was empty, she set up a perimeter around the area just in time to see Tes running over with a bundle of wood in his arms.

    They entered the toilets and closed all venttion. She affixed the programmed core to the ceiling and a small bundle of wood underneath it. After lighting it up. She started to fan the embers to produce a lot of smoke (through ipletebustion).

    The duo waited as the dark smoke rose and engulfed the core. Before disappointment could set in because of failure, an ear-piercing and shrill noise started to emanate from the core, which lit up and started to sprinkle a downpour of water.

    The sound was so loud that even covering their ears didn''t save them from damage.

    "MAKE IT STOP!" Tes yelled.

    "WHAT?!" Shuri answered.

    "MAKE IT STOP!!" Tes repeated.

    "TAKE A MOP? THERE''S NO POINT! IT WILL KEEP SPRINKLING WATER WHILE THE ROOM IS FILLED WITH- Oh..."

    Shuri rushed around and reventted the room. Causing the smoke to start dissipating. Just as she opened the door, she was greeted with the irritated faces of Matron Reva and an exhausted Sect Leader.

    "*cough* *cough* What in the world are you doing in there?!" Matron Reva bellowed, just as the mana core stopped its wailing. "Why is there so much smoke? Did you set a fire in there?!"

    "I-I can exin-" Shuri started.

    "It''s my fault, Matron!" Tes interjected. "I wanted to test a mana core I just programmed. It was stupid, I admit, which is why Senior Sister Shuri tried to stop me."

    The Matron looked between Shuri and Tes with a dubious glower. "There''s no difference who did it. Both of you are in big trouble! The punishment for the crime, and aiding and abetting it are the same in my books."

    "B-But Senior Sister didn''t-"

    "Do you take me for a fool?" Matron Reva interrupted Tes as she crossed her arms. "Now off to the kitchen with you two! Peeling a sack of potatoes and onions ought to instil somemon sense into your empty brains! And the rest of you gawkers, if you have nothing better to do, there are a few more sacks with your names on it."

    The crowd quickly dissipated at the implied threat.

    "Before that," the Sect Leader quickly interjected while holding the fuming Matron by her shoulders. "What was that thing anyway?" He asked Shuri and Tes.

    Shuri gently nudged the boy, who ran back inside and brought out the programmed core. He then proceeded to exin its function as the Sect Leader inspected the ball under the sun.

    "Absolutely marvellous! Do you have any idea about the significance of your creation? Of course, you don''t! You don''t even realise that you just had a minor breakthrough. You are on the cusp of entering the Foundation Establishment realm!"

    Tes'' eyes widened in shock. "My goodness! I-I guess I didn''t notice with all that sound and the excitement..."

    "Come to my office the first thing tomorrow," the Sect Leader instructed. "We need to discuss the matter ofmercialising this thing immediately. Also, while you''re at it,e up with a good name for this-"

    "The Fire Protect-Core!" Tes blurted out with a resolute expression.

    Shuri didn''t miss the Sect Leader''s lips twitching at that.

    "I guess it''s going to be another addition to the -Core line of products," he admitted with a sigh.

    "Oh, and Shuri!" He said this time looking at her with an agitated yet enthusiastic smile. "I need you to look into Tes'' advancement with a more critical lens. There is a trace of perfect resonance lingering on him which implies that whatever insight he absorbed or implemented resonated with him. Write a report with all your observations, quantitative and qualitative."

    The Sect Leader looked up into the sky with an ambitious expression, "With your findings, we will work together with Markus and Jean (when she returns) to standardise cultivation!"

    "Now off you go! Your punishment awaits," he said with a mischievous smile before jogging away, leaving the duo under the admonishing gaze of Matron Reva.

 Chapter 347 (Un)Realistic Deadlines

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "I can''t say that I''m not a little bit jealous," Markus said as he walked alongside Shuri to the Sect Leader''s office. "But my pride seems to overshadow that. I guess this is how it feels when a student surpasses the teacher?"

    Shuri snorted mockingly and said, "That''s just you, Senior Brother Reva."

    Then after a pause, she added, "Maybe others in this Sect as well. You won''t find such benevolence in educators outside the Sect. I''ve seen Teacher''s sabotaging their Students for petty reasons."

    "That''s just... disgusting!" Markus responded with a displeased look. "How can an educator betray the trust of their student like that?"

    "Well, for the sake of discussion, I''m going to limit myself to cultivation and magic only. For a Teacher, the performance of a Student is a sign ofpetence not just for the Student, but for the Teacher themselves. The better a Student is in their journey through magic, the better it reflects on the Teacher''s portfolio. However-"

    Shuri raised a finger and wore a morose frown. "There is a line. A line that when crossed turns all the positive social credits a Teacher earns thanks to their overachieving Student into poison. And you will know when that line is crossed when thements you hear all around after a rather shining performance by the Student no longer praise the Teacher but start questioning whether the Teacher is required in the first ce?"

    "If the Teacher''s ego is so fragile, they shouldn''t be taking on the responsibility in the first ce!" Markus responded with a sickened frown.

    "You don''t be a Teacher because you can teach," Shurimented with a bitter chuckle. "You be a Teacher because you know more than the other person in the room - not a conducive personality trait you want in an educator."

    "No kidding..." Markus affirmed.

    "Besides, I don''t consider you my teacher," Shuri shot back, causing Markus to turn around with a raised brow. "We''re coborators, you just had a head start."

    Markus let out an uproariousugh and patted Shuri on the back good-naturedly, "That''s for sure, partner!"

    "What are you two doing here?" A familiar voice interrupted the duo just as they turned the corner and reached the Sect Leader''s office door.

    "That wasn''t a question I expected to hear from you, Marie," Markus responded with a sarcastic snigger.

    "Funny," Marie responded with an equal level of sarcasm oozing in her voice. "Master''s been riding my ass extra hard nowadays; I''m not allowed to use the Heavenly Eye for a while."

    This elicited another bellowingugh from Markus, oozing with schadenfreude, which Shuri also partook in but with a more suppressed giggle matching her high-ss upbringing. Theughter went on for some time though, it seemed as though Markus was remembering all the time Marie had fronted him with her powers and was rubbing it on her face.

    Shuri could see a vein throbbing in Marie''s forehead, increasing in intensity with each passing breath. "You know, I don''t need the Heavenly Eye to drill you a new one. I don''t even need magic - I''ve been contesting against men twice my age and size since before you even left this vige."

    This threat curtailed Markus midugh, causing him to choke on his own spittle. "Your threats have no power over me, Sister!"

    Marie returned a venomous gaze before taking two forceful steps forward in Markus'' direction, causing the boy to instinctively take four steps back.

    "Yeah... That''s what I thought," Marie scoffed.

    "How do you intend to get married if you''re going to intimidate any man who approaches you?" Markus stuttered back.

    "Ha! If a person''s ego is so fragile that a person standing up for and protecting themselves is going to hurt it, then I don''t think I''ll even be attracted to that person in the first ce," Marie snapped back. "No matter if it is a man-"

    Her gaze wandered to the side andnded over Shuri. After a second of pause, Marie finished her sentence, "-or woman."

    At that moment, the door behind Marie slid open and the Sect Leader''s head popped out. "If you all are just having a casual conversation, you could have just had it inside."

    "S-Sorry Master!" Markus sputtered with a deep bow. "We didn''t mean to disturb you."

    The Sect Leader simply waved his hand dismissively and gestured for them to enter.

    "To answer Marie''s question, I invited you three here today because thanks to Shuri''s informative report, I''ve managed to derive a few conclusions," the Sect Leadermented as he assumed a seat on a cushion on the ground.

    "It seems that our Teaching here hasn''t been wholly proactive as we assumed it to be," he dered.

    "But Master," Markus chimed in with a confused pout. "We''ve not just been focusing on theoretical studies, but also mixing in a lot of projects and practical work too. Is that not being proactive?"

    "In a way, it is. It helps the students understand the concepts and assimte knowledge more seamlessly, but that''s the limit," Sect Leader Larks emphasised. "We haven''t noticed nary a stimtion of their cultivations till this point. It seems that while our methods are effective in teaching, they are constrained to knowledge and don''t reach the cultivation."

    "But I managed to achieve perfected resonance with the same methods, right?" Markus argued contemtively.

    "Did you, though?" Was the Sect Leader''s immediate retort - with a voice dripping with mystery.

    "I don''t know if it''s a disease that spawns when you gain the Master title," Marie mumbled with an exhausted sigh. "Can we please skip the suspense, Mister Larks?"

    "You''re one to talk," Shuri muttered under her breath. A poor option since all mages in the room heard it.

    "Ouch," Marie said with an exaggerated hurt expression.

    "Well," the Sect Leader jumped in, redirecting the conversation. "Think about the circumstances of your respective breakthroughs. They were all stimted by the initiative. Markus, your breakthrough was borne of you seeding to cement your understanding of gravity and developing an original spell. Marie, you broke through after developing a new way to channel the Heavenly Eye. Let us skip Jean since her circumstance is a little different. And as for Shuri, we all know how that happened."

    "What do they all have inmon?" Sect Leader Larks ced openly, letting all present stew in the conclusion.

    "How do we go about it, then?" Marie probed.

    "It was an interesting assignment," the Sect Leadermented as he picked three bound books and distributed them amongst the teens. "Instead of just teaching, we want to encourage independent thought and exploration, and exercise knowledge more freely and innovate. The Maker-Space is not enough, nor are thebs and innovation opportunities offered by the Verum Trading Company. It is too passive, and none of the students are feeling motivated to take on those challenges due to fear of failure. Even Shuri wouldn''t have volunteered if Marie hadn''t poked her nose into Shuri''s business."

    An usatory gaze was exchanged between Shuri and Marie at that.

    "Nheless, what you have before you is a new teaching manual that I want you guys to implement into your lessons," the Sect Leader said.

    "Socratic Seminar?" Markus read out loud. "What is that?"

    "Just read the damn text, genius!" Marie chided. "By the way, who''s Socrates?"

    A sly smile shed past Markus'' face as he mocked. "Just read the damn-"

    "It''s not written in here, genius!" Marie interjected and pped the back of his head.

    The Sect Leader ignored the bickering duo and expounded, "Socrates was a famous schr who developed a method of teaching that promotes critical thinking, active listening and discussion amongst peers. In a Socratic seminar, participants engage in a structured dialogue about a specific text, topic, or question. The seminar typically takes the form of a roundtable discussion, with participants seated in a circle. The main purpose is to exploreplex ideas, encourage thoughtful analysis, and foster respectful exchange of ideas."

    "In fact, Shuri stumbled upon this by herself because the side of her Automagy Group is so small," he then added while giving Shuri a congrattory nod.

    Shuri started to read through the document and noticed that the Socratic seminar had six main points.

    In the preparation stage, participants are given a reading or a set of materials to review before the seminar. They are encouraged to take notes, highlight key points, and formte questions or thoughts about the material.

    The seminar then begins with the opening question or statement posed by the facilitator of the seminar. This question serves as the starting point for discussion and encourages participants to think critically about the topic.

    During the seminar, participants take turns sharing their thoughts, interpretations, and responses to the question. The focus is on active listening and respectful conversation. Participants are encouraged to refer to the text or materials to support their arguments and engage with one another''s ideas.

    The facilitator''s role is to guide the discussion, ensure equal participation, and promote critical thinking. They may ask follow-up questions, encourage deeper analysis, or redirect the conversation if needed. The facilitator does not provide answers but helps the participants explore the topic further.

    Socratic seminars often have ground rules to ensure a productive and respectful discussion. These rules may include listening attentively, building on others'' ideas, providing evidence from the text, and avoiding personal attacks.

    The seminar concludes with a reflection on the discussion and the main insights gained. Participants may summarize their key takeaways or pose further questions for continued exploration.

    The booklet went to great lengths expanding on the different stages, expectations, rules and regtions of a Socratic seminar, offering examples and practice prompts.

    "Can this method be applied to all subjects?" Markus probed. "How can I apply this to the natural sciences or even maths?"

    "Initiate discussions with application cases or ask them to talk about publications. ess the restricted section if you need to," the Sect Leader instructed. "I''ve posted examples in this booklet for you to try out."

    "Okay!" The Sect Leader drew everyone''s attention with a resounding p. "I want us to double up our weekly meetings - once is just not enough. I want to see reports on student feedback and student performance evaluations once every two weeks."

    Those weren''t difficult asks. Excessive, sure, but Shuri understood the need.

    "Oh!" The Sect Leader said in the end with a resolute edge in his voice and an unwavering glint in his eyes. "Within six months, I want to see five more perfected resonances in this cohort."

    "What?!" Markus blurted out with a high-pitched screech.

    "Are you kidding?" Marie snapped instinctively.

    "Sect Leader-" Shuri tried to plead reason, but the man raised his hand decisively halting any discussion.

    "I know it is asking for a lot. But if we, as a Sect, cannot deliver measurable results, it will reflect poorly on ourpetence," the Sect Leader said. "There is already one thing that I promised which has stalled, we cannot afford another."

    Everyone present knew about the Sect Leader''s dilemma to help the single blind student in the Sect, and how the guilt of his failure was bearing down on him.

    "But no Sect can promise such a statistic, Sect Leader. Even the best of sects have at best a 2% perfected resonance rate with any iing cohort, and that is because an iing horde is at least 100 people," Shuri reasoned. "Your requirement is almost 20%. That''s ten times that!"

    "Those sects y a game of quantity," Sect Leader Larks responded. "I am confident that the quality of our cohort and our teaching staff is superior."

    There was confidence and a shining charisma in that deration that made Shuri and all others present forget about the downright unrealistic demand. Everyone left the room in a daze, with uncertainty and stress brewing in their minds.

    Markus turned to his elder sister, hoping for some words of constion from the seer, "Umm, Marie-"

    "Don''t even bother," Marie shut him down while shaking her head. "I did not spend a lot of time inspecting our immediate future."

    "Will we be able to do it, though?" Shuri said, voicing her doubt.

    "There''s something to be said about optimism in the face of uncertainty," Marie advised. "We should try our best and hope for the best. That''s all I can say, really."

    Again... Hope... Shuri didn''t know if she had any more of that left in her.

 Chapter 348 Identifying Needs

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "Do you think it''s possible?" Shuri asked, finally breaking the elongated silence that hung between the three people. Marie, Shuri and Markus were currently in the recreation room modifying their lesson ns to implement the new Socratic seminars.

    "If Master says it''s possible, it should be possible," Markus affirmed with a kind of resolve that stood on shaky ground. Shuri didn''t know where he got that confidence from.

    "I wasn''t asking you, Senior Brother," Shuri mumbled while maintaining a respectful tone. In fact, her gaze was focused intensely on Marie.

    "Don''t look at me," Marie spoke up with a shrug.

    "You''re the only one here who can see the future," Markus chimed in supportively.

    "I don''t know if your just deaf or wilfully ignorant," Marie snapped back. "I told you that I cannot use the Heavenly Eye."

    Markus ignored that jab and reiterated, "But you still have that other method, don''t you?"

    Marie returned a nk stare, which was retaliated with an equally nk stare from Markus.

    "..."

    "You forgot about it... Didn''t you?" Markus said with a tired exhtion.

    Marie closed her eyes, epting defeat and bathing in the shame. "You win this round..."

    After saying that, she didn''t open her eyes for some time - Shuri and Markus waited patiently for the girl to finish doing... whatever she was doing at the moment. A few secondster, Marie''s eyes opened, and she let out an impressed hum.

    "So?" Markus nudged. "Does it work?"

    "Umm..." Marie continued humming.

    "Stop doing this, please," Shuri grumbled. "Just get to the point!"

    "So ording to my predictions, we will be able to meet the deadline," Marie confirmed.

    "What else?" Markus egged.

    "What do you mean ''what else''?" Marie responded while furrowing her brows. "I''m not a fortune dispenser"

    "If you looked that far, you could have checked out more," Markus argued. "Whether the method works? Or if there''s something we need to avoid? Maybe we can hit the deadline earlier."

    Marie exchanged nces between the two expecting faces before frowning and shaking her head. "I''m going to go now. It''s clear that you two aren''t interested in nning the lessons."

    "What are you talking about?" Markus shrieked immediately before grabbing the girl''s hand as she was leaving.

    "I''ve done my part," Marie dered. "I have confirmed that this isn''t a wild goose chase and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You should feel more confident and more motivated to work. But all I see here is greed and hypocrisy."

    After dropping those stinging words, Marie extricated herself from Markus'' grasp and walked away in a huff.

    "She does have a point," Shuri spoke up, causing Markus to jolt in ce. "I mean, we hate it when she steers our lives. And here we are asking her to do something equivalent. It is hypocrisy, isn''t it?"

    "I guess," Markus admitted with a flustered fidget.

    Shuri ejected a gust of air through her nose, massaged the back of her head and said, "Are you nning to implement the seminar for the topic on thermodynamics?"

    Markus whistled while in contemtion and reasoned, "Not everyone has reached that far. We''ve talked about thermal physics, and done a few experiments, but do you think introducing thermodynamics concepts is appropriate for the first-ever seminar?"

    "Why not? It offers arge breadth of discussion topics," Shuri said. "Why don''t you try it with a smaller ss size, kind of like an experiment, and see how it works? Besides, ording to the booklet, a Socratic seminar is meant to be implemented with few participants, eight to fifteen individuals at best."

    "To begin, I will need toe up with a reading list-"

    "Don''t put ''A Beginner''s Guide to Thermodynamics'' on that list," Shuri interrupted immediately. "I''ve read it. It is not a guide for ''beginners''. They make far too many assumptions about prerequisite knowledge."

    "You''ve read it already?" Markus pped his forehead and said, "Of course you did. Nheless, I wasn''t nning on including it. ''Principles of Thermodynamics'' is more essible for newbies in my opinion. It contains a lot of examples and questions to support each concept."

    "I agree on that point," Shuri affirmed. "What about the questions to keep the discussion rolling?"

    "They can''t be close-ended questions that end with just the definition," Markus narrated straight out of the booklet. "And ording to Master, it will be beneficial if we can somehow tie it in with magic..."

    Shuri scratched her chin in thought before an idea struck her, "''Can thews of thermodynamics be vited or circumvented? Why or why not? And if so, then how?''"

    Markus pondered over the question before jotting it down. "If thews of motion can be circumvented with magic, so can thews of thermodynamics. The beautyes in figuring out the right kind of ''lie'' you want to tell the world."

    Just like that, the duo continued their brainstorming for a decent half an hour. After Markus had an outline drafted, they moved on to Shuri''s seminar which was decided to be on "ergonomics and its importance in design" as well as "function-over-form or form-over-function". As this topic was more open-ended, the session went on for over an hour as the duo nned out the questions and even anticipated the direction the seminar could go, devising ways to curtail irrelevant discussion avenues.

    ____

    After concluding their productive discussion, Shuri and Markus went their separate ways to attend to their respective tasks. Interestingly enough, they coincidentally found themselves heading in the same direction - the library. Choosing to disregard the awkwardness of their encounter, the two ascended the steps in silence.

    Upon entering the library, they were greeted by the pleasant sounds of pages being turned and intermittent whispers that echoed through the generally quiet atmosphere. They nced at the long study tables strategically ced throughout the library and noticed the presence of several members.

    However, among the members present, Shuri''s attention was immediately drawn to a boy wearing eye patches, delicately tracing his fingers over a page filled with raised dots. Not all the texts in the library were tranted into Braille; one had to request trantions, a process that often took at least a week.

    Yohn, like Shuri, was an avid reader. Whenever she went on her reading sprees, she would often see him in the library. In the past, before she joined this Sect, Shuri would have scoffed andughed at the idea of a blind boy reading. Yet, among the many things the Sect hadpelled her to reconsider, this was something she simply epted without much resistance.

    A peculiar sensation began to stir within her. It wasn''t pity, that much was certain. Shuri had witnessed people enduring far worse afflictions while still leading fulfilling lives in the Pce. People experience pain, people pass away¡ªthere was little one could do other than try to alleviate suffering.

    After contemting for a while, she grasped the true nature of this feeling. It originated deep within her, a flicker of frustration whispering, "Hey! You were supposed to remedy that! Yet you haven''t!"

    Shuri recollected her initial assignment from the Sect Leader, which was to devise a way to assist Yohn in his cultivation journey. Although she fought to keep the assignment, she made little headway and thus registered it as a personal failure in her books. It shouldn''t have annoyed her so much, really. Failures weremon in the Pce, you just had to learn to ignore them and eke out small victories. But Shuri could feel her cultivation grinding away from within in anger. Luckily, unlike in the Pce where she had to squash away her emotions, likes and dislikes, Shuri was afforded the freedom here to pursue them to her limits.

    ''Why am I even here?'' Shuri asked rhetorically while pping her forehead. ''All the information I need is already in here.''

    She decided to ditch Markus and returned to her dormitory; this itch just had to go!

    Upon entering her room, she dropped her satchel and copsed onto her chair, exhausted. The nning had unknowingly drained her of a lot of energy, and it was only just catching up to her. Deciding to clear her mind and distract herself, Shuri picked up the solved Rubik''s cube on her desk and started to shuffle it.

    One of the annoying parts about having an eidetic memory was that she remembered her exact moves that caused the cube to shuffle. She had to always fight the urge to go backwards and reverse her moves to get the solved cube again. She snuffed the urge and proceeded to solve the cube. She had already devised three different methods to solve the thing, one which was easy and could be taught that solved the puzzle oneyer at a time, another which was harder and could be taught that solved it face by face, and the third which was her own - a secret strategy.

    Her hands blurred, and within seconds the solved cube dropped from her hand onto the table.

    "Six seconds, this time," she mumbled. Shuri could go faster, but she noticed that the toy could not handle those speeds - she''d nearly broken it one time.

    She picked up the cube once again and shuffled it. After a satisfactory set of moves, she solved it... again. And once again it was shuffled, and solved. Shuffled. Solved.

    The process repeated endlessly, Shuri''s mind was serene and truly clear, like a still pond.

    But just like a still pond, a drop of inspiration unsettled its surface causing a ripple to spread outwards.

    Shuri''s hands paused, her brows furrowed, and her gaze narrowed. An old conversation she had with the Sect Leader started to echo from the recesses of her mind.

    "Did you know? There are approximately 43 quintillion unique possible arrangements of this cube?"

    Shuri''s lips started to move as inaudible words started to roll off of them.

    "Arrangements. Tactility. Modrity."

    Shuri''s mind churned violently, and so did the mana from her core. Something was brewing in both ces, and Shuri was eager to see what.

 Chapter 349 The Design Process

    ?

    There are over 43 quintillion unique possible arrangements for a standard 3-by-3-by-3 Rubik''s cube, which is an incrediblyrge number! To put it into perspective, if someone were to count from 1 to 43 quintillion at a rate of one number per second, it would take them approximately 1.37 trillion years to reach that amount. This exceeds the age of the universe by several orders of magnitude.

    When we reduce the cube to a two-by-two-by-two, the number of possible arrangements is significantly decreased to just 3,674,160 possibilities, slightly over three million. Even this smaller number is still quite substantial and difficult toprehend.

    Shuri found this fascinating. It was just a factoid, after all, but it sparked a sense of possibility. It both stimted and satisfied the itch originating from her core.

    Her thoughts returned to Yohn reading his book using tactile sensors. Being visually impaired meanscking one of the senses most people take for granted: sight. While individuals can survive and lead rtively normal lives without taste or smell, the absence of hearing or touch makes life more challenging. However, for someone who is blind, their entire life ispletely upended.

    A blind person must rely on their remaining senses topensate for theirck of sight ¨C they need to listen, feel, and smell to navigate their surroundings and understand what to do. Yet, the limitations imposed by the absence of vision are particrly difficult to ovee in the realms of magic and cultivation. This is because casting spells requires envisioning intricate spell circles. For someone who has never seen a spell circle, achieving this bes impossible. A mage who bes blind can still continue their path in magic, but a novice without prior knowledge of magic who is blind would be unable to progress.

    In fact, even a mage who bes blind after embarking on their magical journey would struggle to cast unfamiliar and new spell circles. Standard spell circles are read as a whole, unlike those developed using the modr spellmaking method withpartmentalization. In thetter method, theponents of a spell can be rearranged, allowing for the construction of spells on the fly. So, if a mage afflicted with blindness had been introduced to this methodology before losing their sight, they would not face the same difficulty in casting spells.

    "Arrangements, tactility, modrity," Shuri repeated.

    Individually, these three concepts didn''t make much sense. However, when Shuri brought them together, it triggered an explosion of ideas in her mind.

    "Yohn doesn''t have to see the spell circle, he just has to cast it; his mana channels need to be stimted," Shuri started.

    "Spell modrity implies that we can put them together like building blocks to achieve the results we desire," she continued.

    "And tactility..." Shuri harkened back to her method to solve the Rubik''s cube. She had familiarised herself with it to the point that the solution process had turned into muscle memory. She could quite literally solve the cube with her eyes closed.

    "You need such familiarity and speed when casting spells, especially in abat capacity," she affirmed. She and her visually gifted peers could cast spells in quick session with the help of the wand. Now, she could even cast simpler spells without the help of the wand.

    Images, concepts, ideas and solutions started to sh through her memory, nothing stood in ce for more than a second. To her, it felt like she was on the cusp ofing up with an answer, but was just one step shy. It was almost the same as when you''re on the edge of a sneeze but not all there yet, except the moment was extended for a much longer and more excruciating duration.

    Shuri grabbed her head and released a long breath of air. The way her mind was approaching the problem felt scattered and aimless. To her, it felt simr to a candle burning in the middle. "There''s no end to it if things go on like this. I need a process."

    She retrieved an empty parchment paper from her desk and started by writing "Defining the Problem" as a heading. The first step in the design process was understanding what is the problem that needs solving. This is usually written in the form of a design brief. This answers the question of who the target audience or market is. What the objective of the project is (what is the need or want being met)? When is the project deliverable by? Where is the product meant to be used? Why is this project significant?

    "The target audience is Yohn- No, that seems too specific. Let''s say it''s for the visually impaired folk looking to walk the path of magic and cultivation. The objective is as defined, which is to provide an alternate pathway to cast spells, work the mana channels and advance in cultivation. It needs to be finished as soon as possible. The output from this project will be used in ce of a magic wand. It is significant because..."

    Shuri stopped writing and looked at the iplete sentence with a bitter smile. She felt there was definitely some irony in answering that question. All her life, all Shuri worried about and cared for was herself; survival of self above all else. This could be said to be the first time she was ever attempting to do something of significance for the benefit of another person. She could string together words and rationalise her actions to say that they would benefit her in the end. But the fact remained, "In the end, this project will make magic more essible to people. Disabilities won''t be a barrier of entry any more."

    With the brief finalised, it was time to jot down the design specifications.

    The device should provide tactile cues to convey information to the user. This could involve buttons, switches, or touch-sensitive surfaces that offer tactile feedback, such as raised symbols or Braille. Shuri discarded the idea of audio feedback or cues because it was impractical inbat. You would basically be projecting your actions to the opponent, and the sound could get doused in the heat of battle.

    The device should be designed with essibility in mind, ensuring that blind users can easily and intuitively interact with it. This includes considering factors such as button cement, size, and spacing, as well as designing a logical and straightforward user interface.

    Since the person cannot see, the device should represent the spells in a non-visual format.

    The device could incorporate features to assist with navigation and orientation, helping blind users locate and select spells. This might involve directional cues or a tactile interface that allows for exploration and easy navigation.

    Considering the practicality of using the device, it should be designed to be durable, lightweight, and portable. This allows users to easily carry and use the device in different environments or settings.

    Implement safety features to prevent idental or unintended spell casting. This could include confirmation prompts or physical safeguards to ensure users are intentionally initiating spells and prevent unintended consequences.

    Use durable and reliable materials that can withstand regr usage and potential impacts. Consider factors such as grip, ergonomics, and overall device durability to enhance usability and longevity.

    Finally, for the matter of future-proofing, the device could include features to support learning and skill development for blind users. This might involve a tutorial mode, essible documentation, or built-in learning resources to help users understand the magic system and improve their casting abilities.

    These were among the more important design specifications Shuri listed.

    The design brief and specifications provided Shuri with a solid andprehensive framework to guide her throughout the design process. They served as a valuable reference, ensuring that she wouldn''t deviate or be distracted by unrted ideas. Now, whenever her mind generated new concepts or solutions during idle moments, Shuri could assess their relevance and alignment with the brief and specifications. This allowed her to easily discard irrelevant ideas or store them for future consideration, maintaining a clear focus on the intended goals of the project.

    With the initial groundwork of the design brief and specificationspleted, Shuri realized that the next crucial step was to embark on the journey of research and information gathering. This phase would involve conducting both primary and secondary research to delve deeper into the problem at hand. The primary goal was to gain aprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by visually impaired individuals in the realm of magic and cultivation. Additionally, this research would help her avoid redundancy by identifying any existing solutions or attempts made in this area. By building upon previous knowledge and experiences, Shuri could refine her approach and strive for better results.

    Before diving into the research, Shuri recognized the importance of obtaining a first-hand perspective from Yohn, the intended user of the magic casting device. Understanding his unique needs, preferences, and experiences would be invaluable in shaping the design and ensuring its effectiveness. With this in mind, she nned to arrange a private meeting with Yohn, providing an opportunity for an open and honest discussion.

    In addition to consulting with Yohn, Shuri also nned to explore the vast resources avable at the library. She hoped to discover information on existing aids designed for the visually impaired, seeking inspiration and insights. Shuri was particrly interested in uncovering any records or historical ounts rted to blind mages if such information existed. This knowledge could potentially shed light on past attempts to address the challenges faced by visually impaired individuals in magic casting.

    However, Shuri was well aware that the library might not hold all the answers she sought. To bridge any information gaps, she nned to leverage the regr visits of travelling merchants to the vige. Shuri intended tomission purchases or seek their guidance in finding relevant materials, devices, or even ounts from other bookstores that might provide further insights into her research.

    Feeling a mixture of exhaustion and determination, Shuri chuckled at the irony of returning to the library so soon after returning from that ce. With a tired groan, she gathered her belongings and began her ascent from the dormitory and up the steps leading back to the library.

 Chapter 350 The Research

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "Didn''t you just leave?" Markus asked Shuri, half-smiling-half-serious. She hoped to avoid meeting the boy, but coincidentally, their paths crossed as she entered the library.

    Shuri swallowed her embarrassment and said, "It''s my time of the month."

    Markus coughed loudly, his face turning a luminescent shade of red, "Oh! Well... Umm... Carry on... I mean-"

    Revealing a sly smirk, she pushed past Markus and entered the library. But just as she made it through the entryway, the door behind her burst open and Markus rushed in.

    "You don''t bleed after entering the Foundation Establishment realm!" He dered with utter certainty. "Jean and Marie said so!"

    "Umm..." Shuri murmured while nudging her head sideways and around causing Markus to shift his eyes around and bathe in the pointed gazes of all his peers.

    "Umm..." Markus shifted ufortably, his peachy face turning red all over again. "I- Uh... I have something to do. Carry on!"

    And with that, the boy disappeared so quickly that he left an after-image of his form.

    "You heard your Senior Brother," Shuri said with a p. "Carry on!."

    Once everyone returned to their studies, Shuri beelined towards Yohn, who hadn''t moved from his spot and was still in the middle of his book.

    "Yohn," Shuri greeted.

    The boy turned his head in her general direction and revealed a warm smile, "Senior Sister Shuri."

    "Technically, I joined after you. So I should be calling YOU Senior Brother," Shuri hastily corrected.

    "We both know that isn''t how things work around here," Yohn responded with a knowing chuckle. This then transitioned into an awkward silence as Shuri struggled to figure out how to encroach on the topic of the interview.

    "How are things going with you?" Shuri finally spoke up after struggling for a good two minutes.

    "You don''t have to wade through small talk if you don''t want to," Yohn responded straightforwardly. "I can feel the difort in your voice. You came looking for me with a purpose, is it not?"

    Shuri pulled her lips into a pout and said, "You make me sound like an opportunist."

    "Well, although the Sect is small, cliques are forming here - groups that tend to hang out together more often than others," Yohn expounded. "And, the cliques that form tend to have ovepping members. For instance, I hang out a lot with Kevan and a few others from the camp. Kevan likes to hang out with Revian, Casey and Lacey in the Hover-Sack yers'' group. So, I am separated from Casey, Lacey and Revian by a single degree of separation. In fact, I am separated by one degree from just about everyone, except for you. And funnily enough, you are separated by two or more with every other member in the Sect except for Marie, Jean, Markus and the little twins."

    Yohn tilted his head and added, "What does that tell me? The fact that you''ve approached me implies that you need something from me."

    "Actually, I need you to help me... help you," Shuri said with a confused expression. "Let me exin-"

    Shuri cleared her throat and restarted, "When you were recruited, the Sect Leader promised you that he would find a way for you to cultivate and advance in the path of magic."

    "He did," Yohn affirmed, his tone rising suspiciously near the end.

    "As of now, he hasn''t seeded. You''ve seen your peers moving ahead all around you, yet you remain where you are. How does that make you feel?" Shuri probed further.

    "W-Why are you asking me this?" Yohn stuttered with his brows furrowed.

    "I wish to understand your emotional state right now," Shuri continued.

    "Then why phrase the question in such a way? It sounds like you''re trying to instigate something," Yohn used. "The Sect Leader has been upfront and honest about everything with me. I can see his sincerity and efforts. Unless he gives up, I will keep my hopes up. Besides, even if nothinges out of it. I have received more than I could ever ask for from this life. On a side note, how does knowing my emotional state help you... help me?"

    "I''ll be straight with you," Shuri responded. "As far as it is known in the world of magic, there are no instances of a mortal, born blind or blinded early in their life, finding sess in the path of magic. Sect Leader Larks may not have admitted it yet, but he''s encroaching upon a dead end."

    Shuri waited for the boy to raise a counterpoint, but he remained silent, and in thought. "Recently, this task fell upon me - to find a way for you to follow your peers. I don''t have a solution, but I have an idea."

    That im caused the boy''s ears to perk up in interest. "BUT, it is not a certainty and I too could find myself blocked into a dead-end. What then?"

    "What do you mean, ''what then''?" Yohn parroted.

    "What will you do if there is no way?" Shuri rified.

    "Like I said-" Yohn started, but his voice teetered off.

    "It''s normal to feel distraught. But then that feeling grows the more the distance between you and your friends grows. You were talking about the sociodynamic observations you made earlier - what will you do if Kevan bes a Core Formation realm mage while you still remain a mortal?" Shuri proposed.

    "What will you do as you grow older, but Kevan maintains his youthful form?" She stabbed deeper. She noticed the boy''s expression droop significantly with her every word.

    "Life isn''t fair," Shuri stated. "But getting hung up on this unfairness will earn you nothing. It will only eat you up from inside and drive you mad."

    shes of Shuri''s mother''s final state bubbled up from Shuri''s memories. "Sometimes, you just have to make the best of the hand that is dealt."

    As she said this, Yohn released a light chuckle.

    "What is it?" Shuri asked.

    "Sect Leader Larks said something like this sometime back," Yohn answered. "At that point, I sort of realised that he was getting nowhere and was trying to ease the pain I would feel when he finally opened up about it. I can see that you are doing the same. Don''t worry, I won''t hold it against you or the Sect Leader. I appreciate all the effort and thought you will put in for my sake."

    Shuri expressed her gratitude with a light bow and said, "Although I don''t care what people think of me, I''d rather not leave a knot of resentment when I can help it. I hope you understand that I am not trying to discourage you in any way. I just want you to keep a realistic mindset. We are walking uncharted territories that may or may not lead to a specific destination."

    "I''m all for the journey," Yohn added cheerfully.

    "On that note," Shuri retrieved a small book from her jacket and ced it on the table in front. "As part of the journey, I will need to ask you a few questions. I hope you can answer them truthfully and with as much detail as possible."

    Yohn tilted his head and asked, "Are you taking notes?"

    "I am... Is there a problem?"

    Shaking his head, he rified, "No problem at all. It''s just... do you even need to? Don''t you just- I don''t know- remember everything?"

    Shuriughed in response before saying, "These notes aren''t for me. They are for those that wille after. Hopefully, I won''t be thest person to attempt a cultivation solution for the visually impaired. And when the next person tries to attempt this problem, they can pick up from where I left off. It may offer them guidance, or tell them what they need to avoid doing."

    "That''s an optimistic approach," Yohn said appreciatively.

    "Yeah," Shuri retorted with a beaming smile. "I''m trying it out for size."

    ____

    Yohn''s interview with Shuri proved to be a rtively straightforward and insightful process. Shuri''s inquiries were predominantly focused on understanding how Yohn aplished specific tasks, delving into the inner workings of his mind and the strategies he employed topensate for his blindness. She probed into his unique perspective, seeking toprehend how he navigated the world and interacted with it.

    Transitioning to a more personalized line of questioning, Shuri delved into user-specific aspects. She probed Yohn''s preferences regarding different forms of guidance and assistance, such as whether he favoured haptic feedback or audio cues, and if so, what kind of haptic feedback he found most preferable, whether continuous or incidental. Shuri tried to keep her interview as unbiased as possible, avoiding any directed questions that may take her down a predefined path instead of allowing her to explore all of her options.

    During their conversation, a remarkable revtion emerged. Shuri, with her extraordinary mana sense, decided to conduct a rudimentary brain scan to investigate the neural processes involved when Yohn read Braille. Shepared this to the brain''s response when he merely explored objects with his fingers to identify their textures and characteristics. Astonishingly, the findings were nothing short of captivating. Shuri discovered that the same region of Yohn''s brain activated when he read Braille as when she read ordinary printed text. Remarkably, Yohn was able to read without utilizing his eyes, relying solely on the tactile sensations of Braille.

    "It is absolutely fascinating," Shuri eximed, her curiosity piqued as she neatly packed away her stuff.

    "What is?" Yohn asked, equally curious to hear her perspective.

    "Well, it''s interesting to see how the human mind adapts to changes in the self and the environment," Shuri exined. "You''d think that losing a sense would just put a portion of the brain out ofmission, but it looks like instead, it just rewires itself and builds new connections."

    Yohn simply hummed in affirmation. He couldn''t appreciate the beauty of the discovery with equal vim and vigour as Shuri. She, for one, actually knew the beauty of such adaptive connectivity as shepared it with logic circuitry.

    ''Maybe someday, I can build something like that with mana cores...''

    The thought stuck in her mind for a few minutes, before dispersing amidst the myriad of ideas about the next step of the design process: "Ideation and Concept Development."

 Chapter 351 The Designs

    Chapter 351 The Designs

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    The interview offered Shuri more insight than she could have imagined. In fact, after understanding and internalising all the information provided by Yohn as well as the secondary research she did on the side, the amount of noise in her perturbed min reduced significantly. At this point, there were only a few ideas and concepts floating about in there, each just as viable as the other.

    The essence of creation lies in fulfilling needs or wants. While there may be instances where individuals create simply for the joy of it, more often than not, the impetus behind creation is self-oriented. However, the journey of a creation borne solely from inspiration and an inner drive faces a great challenge in gaining widespread eptance within the mass market. While it might resonate with a niche audience, it seldom extends beyond those boundaries.

    Certainly, one could employ ingenious marketing strategies to artificially generate demand, but this approach could be deemed as deceitful since the product itselfcks persuasive power. Consequently, the crux of designing a sessful product resides in thorough market research and a profound understanding of the target audience whose needs and wants it seeks to fulfil.

    Shuri''s cultivation was quick to assimte this insight.

    He core proposed that "The purpose of automation is to make life easier for human beings."

    Additionally, "The essence of creation lies in fulfilling needs or wants."

    Creation. Automation. The unity of those two concepts caused her cultivation to bubble slightly. Riding the high that came with it, Shuri pulled out a stack of parchment and started to draw out the designs that made the most sense to her.

    For the first idea, Shuri decided to go with something simple. She drew inspiration from the grimoire that Senior Brother Markus carried around with him. Basically, she envisioned a mana core with all the possible modules programmed into it. Adding new spells to the list would require integrating newmands that would mix and match the modules already etched into it. The mana core would hold all the spells categorised by the primary modules and functions, that the user can navigate through in the form of a menu that is presented in Braille. To cast a spell, they would have to work through the menu or user interface in Braille, to find the spell they wanted. It was a very straightforward solution, but not one that was particrly exciting. Shuri created a simple sketch with abel and quickly moved the parchment aside as she didn''t feel motivated to continue working on this one.

    The second idea came in the form of a gesture-based wand. Basically, the programmed core would be held in one hand. The user would then move the core in a particr way, which would elicit a haptic response from the core indicating that a specific gesture was initiated. By chaining these different movements, they can create a modr spell. Shuri started creating concept artwork that could represent this new magic wand, filling up the entire A3-sized with drawings andbelling text. Once that wasplete, she swiftly moved the parchment away and started to sketch her third idea.

    This one was along the same lines as the second, in that it involved gestures and haptic feedback, but she decided to go bigger with this one. Basically, this design would use a core that projects a field immediately in front of a person, essentially epassing a 50-by-50 square-centimetre area in front of their chest. In this region, the user can sh hand signs, which the programmed core would recognise and respond with haptic feedback indicating that a specific gesture, corresponding to a specific module, was added to a chain. This idea was partly inspired by another piece of literature in the library on signnguage for the deaf and dumb.

    The fourth idea went in a slightly different direction. While the previous two relied onrge movements performed by the user, this one focused more on subtlety. Shuri was inspired by the nigh endless permutations offered by the Rubik''s cube and considered a case where the wand and the cube could be integrated. She already knew that training muscle memory was a matter of practice and repetition. What if she could leverage this, with the haptic adaptability of the visually impaired, to create abination-based wand? Basically, the core would be housed within some sort ofbination structure, akin to a Rubik''s Cube. The method of casting spells would be to position the cube in specific permutations and orientations. To make it essible for the blind, Braille would be included in the design in a way that identifying orientations would simply be a matter of rubbing the fingers over the sides (analogous to looking and checking). This was an idea that motivated a lot of sketches, requiring an additional piece of parchment.

    As Shuri''s inventive mind continued to explore the realm of possibilities, she found herself entwined with a cluster of ideas that bore simrities to those she had already sketched. These lingering concepts, while not straying far from her initial inspirations, carried distinct nuances that warranted further exploration. Recognizing their potential value, she resolved to weave them into her repertoire of designs as appendices or alternate concepts, enriching the array of solutions.

    One such idea mirrored the essence of her first concept - the simplicity of an interactive tablet equipped with buttons that emted the functionality of a grimoire-type solution. In this alternative approach, users could interact with the tablet''s touch-sensitive surface, each button representing a specific geometric module within the spell circle. By tapping or pressing these buttons in sequence, the user could build a modr spell with ease. The tablet''s user interface, thoughtfully designed in Braille, enabled tactile navigation through the list of avable spells.

    The entire ideation step stretched until dinner, at which point Shuri decided to stop. First, she felt that this was a good point to end the ideation stage. She didn''t think there were any more ideas left for her to explore and evaluate. She felt that she was just digging the same hole over and over again at this point. Secondly, she didn''t want to get into trouble with Matron Reva again for missing an important meal. Although she no longer felt the urge to eat like before, sustenance was still a minor requirement. Besides, she no longer had to worry about getting fat or messing up her figure as she could just burn away the excess fat with her improved body control.

    ____

    Shuri let the design concepts stew for a few days. She fought the urge to get into the design process as soon as possible and decided to immerse herself in her other responsibilities. The purpose of this detour was to clear her mind and let the agitation settle. Sure, getting the product out as soon as possible would be beneficial for Yohn, and possibly others. However, what was more important was to get out a good product - something that was reliable. And through her experience and knowledge, rushing this process would only work against that goal.

    After five, most excruciating, days of waiting, Shuri was finally prepared to return to the design process with full force. The first step, of course, was to sit down and evaluate her design concepts against the design specifications. Although it was a point of guidance when they were conceptualised, there was room for minor deviations that could leak through and had to be nipped in the bud.

    For instance, one of the concept additions to the gesture-based solutions involved audio cues for "start" and "finish". Since the specification expressly avoided audio as a mode of guidance, she had to nix that idea.

    Little by little, her concept designs started to dwindle until the original four remained. Although she wasn''t equally enthusiastic about them all, she felt a sense of pride with all four - she didn''t want to choose between them. Then again, she could just create versions of all four.

    "But is it worth it?" She asked out loud to herself. This is amon dilemma every designer faces during the process. No one really wants to trash their own ideas, especially if all of them fit the design specifications. Every designer wants to realise their creation. But time and money act as limiting factors that force them into choosing a single path - the best amongst all options. So, to make the selection process friendlier, the designers would then ask their clients or target market to choose.

    Shuri could just as easily ask Yohn to select between the four. However, her eyes slid past the four open parchment papers andnded on the Rubik''s cube on her table. She recollected the conversation she had with Marie when she received the toy.

    "Maybe it will give you some inspiration in whatever you''re trying to achieve."

    Nowadays, Shuri''s interaction with Marie had been sparse and limited in duration. Unlike before, when the girl literally barged into Shuri''s life at every turn. While she felt relief, Shuri was surprised to find that she had sort of missed those interactions.

    "Am I a masochist who enjoys the torment?" The thought did cross her mind but was quickly shoved aside. She wasn''t willing to ept that, even if it was true in some ways.

    But nowadays, Marie''s inputs regarding the future had more or less ceased. The infrequent nudges or calls for reconsideration were still there, but only after her Master allowed her to do so. The suddenck though did bring into focus just how reliant everyone had be on the girl''s foresight. While everyone grumbled about it being intrusive and antithetical to free will, everyone found sce in thefort those predictions brought them - people always want to avoid making mistakes if given the option to do so.

    "Just as you said, it did!" Shuri then let out a hearty chuckle and said, "I guess I know which design to go with."

    If this was what Marie intended with her gift, then maybe it wasn''t said, "I guess I know which design to go with."

    If this was what Marie intended with her gift, then maybe it wasn''t so bad of an option to go with. It definitely did make Shuri''s life easier, as she now didn''t have to think twice before folding up all the other designs and archiving them with her research material for this project.

    "Now!" Shuri dered while observing the design of the permutative magic wand once again.

    "How do I go about making this...?"

 Chapter 352 The Frivolous Four - The Spark (Part One)

    Chapter 352 The Frivolous Four - The Spark (Part One)

    Socratic seminars were fun, Markus admitted. Although the set-up took a fair bit of work on his end, the actual seminar was self-driving. All he had to do was sit aside and focus on the direction the discussion was moving. If said discussion moved off-topic or lost momentum, he had to step in and reignite things. But otherwise, things were mostly hands-off. Markus liked that a lot as it introduced a new dynamic to every lesson.

    Before, as he acted as the lecturer and taught lessons through the standard teaching process, he''d created a distance between himself and his peers. It was an awkward dynamic, to be honest, since they were basically the same age, yet people talked to him like he was some old person. It also extended outside the ssroom. For instance, if he entered the mess hall or the recreation rooms, the lively conversations that were running on inside would all cease immediately and turn all hush-hush. The only people he could talk to openly were Marie, and Furion (though his visits to the Sect were infrequent nowadays). Even Jean spoke to him with reverence!

    But the Socratic seminar seamlessly bridged that gap. Within just two sessions, Markus found himself arguing and debating with his students on equal footing.

    "The Second Law of Thermodynamics isn''t a suggestion!" Revian evoked. "It''s an absolute fact that governs the way the world behaves! There is no way you can make a cold room even colder without external work."

    Markus nodded his head vigorously and proposed, "But what constitutes work? Would spells or enchantments count as work? How does mana y a role in calcting entropy? Standard definitions describe work to ur in the interaction between thepressor, evaporator and condenser. These are mechanical systems. If we were to rece this with magical systems, how would the definition change? And finally, IF we do use magic to go about extracting heat from an already cold system, does it still adhere to the secondw of thermodynamics?"

    "That..." Revian had no response.

    "I guess that''s something for all of us to think about, huh?" Markus said to everyone else in the circle. "Revian makes a good point here. There are a lot of rules andws in the natural world that fall apart when mana is brought into the picture. It is in that grey area that we mages operate. Magic introduces chaos, and it falls on us to make sense of it and control it."

    Markus looked back at Revian, who was still in deep thought, "Let''s end today''s seminar. Oh, and Revian! Can I have a word?"

    Revian''s head jolted in response, and he let out short nods in acquiescence. After the ss cleared up, Markus approached Revian and asked, "What''s the problem? You seem a little troubled."

    "It''s as you said," Revian admitted with a long and tired exhale. "The science makes sense, but the magic doesn''t. I just don''t know why."

    "It''s because you can prove science, but not magic," Markus responded with an understanding hum. "I struggled a lot with it as well. Let me use myself as an example here - gravity makes sense mathematically and physically, but its application in magic is most nonsensical. You''ve never had the opportunity to bask in the magic of an Abyssal Wyrm, so you will never know, but their rendition of gravity in spell form makes absolute zero sense."

    "Yet you seeded!" Revian chimed in, with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

    "I did, but my understanding isn''t the same as an Abyssal Wyrm''s. And to be frank, it doesn''t have to be. A Pr Beorn actually blows the Second Law of Thermodynamics out of the water, as its mere presence chills a room. But where does the heat go?" Markus highlighted. "Just as gravityes naturally to an Abyssal Wyrm, refrigerationes naturally to a Pr Beorn. Unfortunately for us average folk, we don''t have the luxury of such natural affinities. So, we have to make do with other pathways."

    "Like what?" Revian responded, expecting an answer that Markus just did not have.

    "That''s for you to figure out," Markus said with a shrug.

    Revian clicked his tongue in annoyance and quickly wished Markus goodbye.

    ____

    At first, Revian harboured a strong aversion to Socratic seminars. He had a preference for the old-style sses, where clear instructions were given, and everything was straightforward. The seminars, in contrast, proved to be quite the opposite. They demanded extensive self-preparation, involving numerous texts to be read and understood. Moreover, he was required to engage in discussions and debates about hisprehension with his peers. Despite the non-judgmental atmosphere, Revian couldn''t help but feel embarrassed whenever someone corrected him or pointed out a misunderstanding.

    His inner thoughts would berate him, wondering how he could have made such a foolish error. He feared that others might ridicule him, even though it remained internalized. However, as time passed, a realization dawned upon him. He discovered that he wasn''t alone in this struggle; everyone else was grappling with simr challenges. Understanding that everyone makes mistakes was crucial, as it led to the absence of judgment, even from Markus, the seminar leader. Gradually, Revian came to see these experiences as valuable learning opportunities. He understood that failures, rather than sesses, often leave asting impression. Consequently, embracing his mistakes andprehending why and when he went wrong enabled him to internalize concepts more effortlessly.

    On that note, these seminars also encouraged Revian to think more critically. For instance, he wouldn''t question the intrusive nature of mana and thews of thermodynamics before, and how magic works to circumvent these prescribedws.

    "Maybe this is what I need," Revian mumbled conclusively. "What has been holding me back from advancing, where others seeded, was that I never questioned things and just took it all for granted as it was being taught to me."

    As Revian observed the noticeable change in teaching methods across all sses in the Sect, he couldn''t help but wonder if there was a purpose behind it. Even Senior Sister Marie, known for her strict adherence to standard processes and unwavering lesson ns, had begun incorporating open discussions into her teachings.

    This shift in approach seemed intriguing to Revian, and his thoughts were still upied with the final part of the earlier discussion. The question that lingered in his mind was whether the application of magic to circumvent the secondw of thermodynamics aligned with thew or if it broke its fundamental principles.

    To answer this question, Revian knew that he would have to design a controlled experiment, as there was no such study conducted prior on this topic. At this juncture, Revian was presented with two options, emphasised by the literal divergence on the path before him. To his left, was the path that led to the recreational areas where he could meet up with his friends and partake in a heated game of Hover-Sack. To his right, was the path that led to the library, where he could pursue his curiosity.

    In the end, the decision was a no-brainer - he could y with his friends whenever he wanted to. But his curiosity could dwindle at any second. With decisive steps, Revian turned right and made his way towards the library. He trudged up the stairs with heavy breaths until he was greeted by the majestic building that housed all the knowledge the Sect had to offer. He pushed through the doors and was met with a tranquil silence that invited him to let go of his inhibitions and indulge in learning.

    Revian made his way to therge,munal study table inside and was surprised to notice that Kevan was present there as well, along with Lacey and Casey.

    "What are you three doing here?" Revian inquired in a low whisper, so as to not disturb anyone else. "I thought you guys were at the recreation room."

    "And yet, here you are," Kevan responded with a suspicious re and shake of his head, which turned into a warm smile. "We''re here for the same reason you are... I think. You ARE here to study, right?"

    "Of course!" Revian affirmed with an affronted look. "What are you studying?"

    "Senior Sister Marie was discussingpound versus simple interest in thest lesson," Casey started out.

    Revian hummed in affirmation, "I remember that one, what of it?"

    "Well, while you left for lunch, Kevan, Lacey and I stayed behind and talked with Senior Sister Marie about it for a while longer," Casey continued. "And, well, the conversation ended up discussing the nature of mana consumption when using spells."

    "How so?" Revian probed.

    This time, Kevan took over, "How does mana consumption change when you keep a spell activated for a longer duration versus toggling it continuously? Is there an increase in consumption with time, and if so, what is its behaviour?"

    "That''s a hard question, is there even a metric to calcte how much mana is being used in the first ce?" Revian refuted.

    Lacey snapped her fingers and interjected, "Which is what we''re trying to figure out right now!"

    Revian alternated his gaze between the others and noticed the same level of conviction burning in their eyes. "And how do you n to do that?"

    "We don''t know," Kevan honestly admitted. "Which is why we''re gathered here to design an experiment. What about you, what''re you here for?"

    "Something simr," Revian mumbled as he considered his friends'' words. Their investigation was warranted. Till now, they had more or less taken mana expenditure as a rtive measure - ''How much more mana does casting a |Fireball| without coal usepared to one with it?''.

    "I guess you''d have to start by defining a unit of measure for mana which is uniform and consistent. And then, you will have toe up with a reliable way to measure mana," Revian hypothesised. As he said this, Casey and Lacey bit their lips to form a thin smile and pointed at the same phrases already jotted down on the parchment paper before them.

    Revian revealed an embarrassed smile and said, "I guess you guys have already considered these things. To be honest, though, I think the results of your experiment will really help me out in my own experiment. Do you guys mind if I join in?"

    "The more the merrier," Kevan invited. "A fresher perspective may give us the breakthrough we need to get started."

 Chapter 353 The Frivolous Four - The Spark (Part Two)

    Chapter 353 The Frivolous Four - The Spark (Part Two)

    Revian hummed for a few seconds and said, "I remember Senior Brother Markus saying that the primary reason why we use a wand early on is that our mana pools don''t have the capacity to sustain a ranged spell. Why don''t we start there?"

    "How exactly do you suggest we do that?" Lacey challenged, causing Revian to shrink back.

    "Come on, now," the boy eked out. "There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm..."

    "Don''t mind her," Kevan interjected while patting Revian''s shoulder. "She''s just too taken by the Socratic method."

    The twin mumbled something under her breath and released a cold snort.

    "There needs to be a way to standardise the process, so that no matter who performs the experiment, they will get the same result," Kevan reminded. "Think of ways to standardise the experiment, and I believe the answer we are looking for will present itself."

    The group thought about the idea in silence until something popped into Revian''s mind. "Mana exhaustion!"

    The exmation was loud and attracted the attention of others in the library - a loud shush echoed from the other side causing the group''s heads to shrink into their necks in embarrassment.

    The twins gave Revian an annoyed re while Kevan scooted closer and asked, "What are you talking about?"

    "Mana exhaustion is something everyone experiences when they run out of mana. We can use that as a baseline for standardisation, right?"

    "That''s dangerous!" Casey interjected. "Senior Sister Jean warned us about the dangers of mana exhaustion. Besides, what can we even do with that as a baseline?"

    "I don''t know..." Revian mumbled. "Everyone has a different mana capacity in their cores. We don''t know if mana consumption is constant across a group of people casting the same spell. There are a lot of variables here. But, at the end of the day, mana exhaustion ties all of us together, does it not? Everyone suffers from it when they have drained their corespletely, which means that it is a valid condition to establish a baseline."

    Kevan tapped the table with his fingers while thinking about Revian''s hypothesis. "It could work, but it is dangerous."

    "We can have someone on standby. Besides, I have an idea," Revian said while biting his lips and furrowing his brows in thought. "We won''t have to remain in a state of exhaustion for long. We just need to hitplete exhaustion for a fraction of a second before replenishing it with a known quantity of mana and tracking its consumption."

    "But that''s not reliable. The mana core is naturally replenished by ambient mana. It''s not going to give us a valid result," Kevan refuted.

    "Not if we do this at a mana sink!" Lacey chimed in. "The nature of a mana sink is that it pulls all the ambient mana away, creating a naturally scarce area. It doesn''t affect beings above the Mana Condensation realm, but for us, it will definitely stop our cores from replenishing naturally!"

    "Wait a minute! Isn''t there supposedly a mana sink near the Sect?" Casey volleyed.

    "Yeah! I heard Senior Sister Shuri found it," Lacey affirmed. "But it''s all a bit hush-hush. Something important is happening there, I think."

    "We could put in a request to use the area," Revian suggested. "I mean, the Sect hasn''t stopped us from exploring our interests, right? Besides, this study has far-reaching consequences."

    "Well," Kevan drew their attention with a firm deration. "Since we have an inkling of what needs to be done, why don''t we start writing out the design? It will definitelye to use when we apply for permission to ess the mana sink."

    Revian and the rest agreed with that deduction and got down to work. Tasks were quickly delegated, with the twins conducting background research and running the due diligence on safety procedures, while Revian and Kevan started to plot out the experimental procedure (i.e. the independent, dependent, and control variables as well as an outline of the steps that will be taken).

    ____

    "This isn''t something I can approve of," Markus dered while sliding the proposal back towards the group of four. After spending three days polishing the experiment and working out its details, Revian and the rest decided that it was time to bring it up with the figures of authorities in the Sect. Of course, the easiest and most essible of them was Senior Brother Markus. "This is too dangerous, even with all the safety measures in ce."

    ""But, Senior Brother!"" The twins harmonized coincidentally. They exchanged a look before Casey stepped forward, "Please consider the implications of this study. With a robust way to measure and quantify mana, it will augment every subsequent study or experiment thates forward in the future."

    "Be that as it may, I cannot overlook the risks you will be taking, even if you have extensively listed out the safety procedures you wish to enforce in ce," Markus continued while turning the document to the very first page. "I''ve read the whole thing, and I think you have something good going on here. However, safety is my number one priority. If you want me to give you a go-ahead, you need toe with something less... risky."

    Silence reigned in the room, interrupted only by the thoughtful hammering of Markus'' fingers against his desk. Revian looked up and noticed that Markus was evaluating them all with a piercing gaze. After a minute passed, the silence was broken by Senior Brother Markus, "Okay. I will let you go through with this experiment on a condition."

    Four pairs of eager eyes honed in on Markus, causing the boy to shift backwards ufortably in response. "Alright, alright! Let''s not get your hopes up, because things could still not go our way..."

    Markus'' face contorted as he considered something internally before he gestured for the group to get up and follow him. Seeing as this was theirst option, they walked behind him with the proposal in hand. The group travelled from Markus'' ssroom all the way to the recreation hall, where they realized just who their target was.

    "What brings you to these necks of the woods?" Senior Sister Marie said jokingly while rxing her back into her chair.

    "I thought you''d know already," Senior Brother Markus responded with a smug smile.

    Marie let out an exhausted sigh and said, "This kitty''s been dewed." Then, with a shrug, she added, "So tell me, what can I help you with?"

    Markus reached behind him and took the proposal from Revian''s hands, and handed it to Marie.

    "What''s this?" She asked while flipping through the pages. "Oh? It seems the Socratic method onpounding and simple interest bore some fruit, huh?"

    She read through the whole document and then said, "Looks promising! What''s the problem?"

    "Don''t y ignorant, Big Sis," Markus groaned. "You know exactly what the problem is."

    "Fine," Marie conceded. "Unfortunately, I cannot help you out."

    "What? Why?" Markus eximed, his emotion supported by the group of four behind him.

    "My hands are tied, figuratively, but you literally too in some sense," Marie exined. "I''ve been restricted from using future sight in any shape or form. Thest time you made me use it got me in a heck of a lot of trouble with Master."

    "But why, though?" Markus groaned.

    Marie shrugged nonchntly and nudged her head sideways, "Ask him."

    The group all simultaneously turned their heads and noticed another individual in the room - an elderly manying on the bench and taking a nap.

    "M-Mage Nara!" Markus eximed worriedly. "I didn''t see you there. Sorry for not greeting you sooner."

    "M-Mage Nara!" Markus eximed worriedly. "I didn''t see you there. Sorry for not greeting you sooner."

    The old man waved a hand and said, "If I wanted my presence known, I would have made it known."

    A few seconds passed in silence before Markus'' shoulders drooped, and he said, "I''ll get going then." He turned to the group of four and said, "Sorry, guys."

    "Hold on!" Marie stopped them midway before they could wallow in disappointment. "You do realise that I am not the only seer in this Sect, right?"

    A confused expression shed past Markus'' face before it was reced with one that screamed, ''I hope you don''t mean what I think you mean!''

    On queue, the Mage Nara sat up from rest and gave his Disciple an unamused gaze. "And why would I help them out?"

    Marie ignored her Master and looked at the others, "Convince him to help you."

    Kevan mustered up the courage and let out a cough to clear his head, "So umm-"

    "Save your breath," the elderly mage interrupted before the boy could speak his mind. He scrutinised the group thoroughly with a piercing gaze that caused them to shiver uncontrobly. "Aren''t you kids the same four who were ying that dumb sack game?"

    The twins swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded embarrassedly.

    "Well, it seems that my words got through to you," Mage Naramended. Another minute of excruciating silence passed before the mage clicked his tongue and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a golden glow illuminated his pupils for a second before dissipating.

    He nodded thoughtfully and said, "As long as you three adhere to your safety procedures TO THE LETTER, your experiment won''t fail."

    Markus bowed immediately, shooting the frozen four a meaningful nce causing them to follow as well, "Thank you for the production, Mage Nara!"

    The elderly mage waved his hand dismissively before lowering himself back into a light nap on the bench.

    The group, including Markus, left the recreation hall silently. As soon as they left its premises, Revian and his friends descended into a loud cheer.

    "Settle down," Markus interjected. "You heard what Mage Nara said. I will approve of this proposal as long as all the safety procedures are followed thoroughly."

    He then revealed a satisfied smile before adding, "Good work on the proposal. Congrattions on getting it passed. And good luck!"

    "I''m expecting good things from you lot," he said before leaving the way they came.

    "So," Revian spoke up. "That went well."

    "Anyone up for a game of Hover-Sack?" Casey proposed, which was met with all-round approval.

    "Of course!" Kevan eximed excitedly. "All work and no y makes Jack a dull boy!"

 Chapter 354 The Frivolous Four - The Fire (Part One)

    Chapter 354 The Frivolous Four - The Fire (Part One)

    Shoutout to Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "You don''t have to follow us, you know?" Markus said casually to Dora, who was walking beside him and struggling to keep up with the pace of the group of five consisting of Revian, Kevan, Casey, Lacey and Markus.

    "I have to go meet Fancy anyways - it''s been some time since west talked," Dora said between breaths while waving her hand dismissively. "She said she was going to be busy growing, or something like that. She went into her tree and hasn''te out since then."

    "Are you sure that she is okay?" Markus probed. "Marie told me that the creat-"

    He held back his words as Dora gave him an enraged re. "I mean- Marie told me that Fancy underwent some unknown fusion evolution."

    "You know what''s weird?" Dora responded with a high pitch. "I don''t even remember that happening. One second, I was looking at one part of the meadowpletely wrecked and Fancy dying, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at apletely different Fancy who waspletely fine."

    "You did something, how do you not remember?" Markus responded in disbelief.

    "I don''t know," Dora shrugged while continuing the trek.

    "And that doesn''t bother you?"

    "Whatever happened saved Fancy," Dora answered matter-of-factly. "Who cares what it was."

    Markus wanted to argue against that point, saying, ''What if whatever happened has some negative consequences of the line?''

    But then he didn''t because he realised Dora wasn''t old enough to understand what "far-reaching consequences" are. Actions have consequences, some are immediate, and others are more distant and vaguer. People make decisions based on a set window of time within which their actions yield a particr consequence. Maturity is the process by which this time window growsrge enough to epass your entire lifetime.

    Dora''s time window was short, which was fine. Markus did not want his younger sister to mature too early like he and Marie did. After all, living in ignorance was a gift only afforded by children.

    "Well, try not to disturb them," Markus warned while picking up the panting girl and cing her on his shoulder. "They are about to do something dangerous, so let''s not make it harder for them than it already is."

    Dora nodded with a serious expression and dragged her pinched index finger and thumb over her lips, "My lips are sealed!"

    Markus let out a light chuckle and followed the quartet of investigators walking with both excitement and hesitation. He could feel the palpable tension growing on them with each step forward. It was the anticipation and expectation of what was toe.

    At this moment, only a single thought - a question - swam in their heads: "Will the experiment seed or will it fail?"

    As such, Markus didn''t feel the same level of pressure in anticipation, because he had a gist of how the experiment would turn out. After living and working closely with Marie, he''d learned how to decrypt her cryptic words. Things that were said in passing held meaning. Things that sounded simple and straightforward often weren''t. And things that were important and emphasised... well, they were important!

    Luckily, this skill also extended to the words spoken by her Master who, thankfully, wasn''t so annoyingly cryptic as she was. Her Master said that the experiment wouldn''t fail as long as the quartet stuck to their safety procedures to the letter. While this wasn''t an explicit indication of whether the experiment was sessful or not, it did carry one key meaning. If the experiment wasn''t going to fail then they were certain to get some kind of meaningful result. Even if the result wasn''t a sess, but a dud, it would be a learning experience.

    Of course, no one WANTS their experiment to not yield anything - it is only natural.

    A few minutester, the group arrived at a familiar location in the forest, at which point Dora swiftly leapt off of Markus'' shoulder and rushed forward.

    As she crossed an imaginary threshold, Dora vanished like smoke in the air.

    "So this is the ce?" Revian turned and asked Markus, looking for confirmation. Responding with a firm nod, Markus walked onwards and followed Dora through the imaginary threshold.

    The scene before him crumbled like powdery snow, and the previously dense shrubbery dispersed to show a beautiful meadow sprawling with flowers of various shapes, sizes and colours. At the centre of the meadow, which rose like a small hill, stood an intimidating tree that appeared hollow and porous withrge holes dotting every visible section of its bark. Surprisingly though, there was an eerie darkness inside that set off rm bells across Markus'' spine.

    Dora, though, was not hindered by the creepy tree and skipped towards it eagerly, while calling out, "Fancy! I''m back!"

    Markus stopped the urge to pull the girl back, trusting the fact (against his better judgement) that the creature within wouldn''t hurt her. Thankfully, the creature did not show itself no matter how much Dora called out its name. After making sure that the coast was clear, he edged closer to his disappointed sibling and pulled her close into a consoling hug.

    By this time, the quarter outside the illusory meadow had passed the barrier and entered the vibrant field.

    ""Wow"" The twins evoked in a tone overflowing with enamoured awe.

    The boys were however drawn to the tree, which properly itched their adventurous spirits. Little did they know that a beast capable of putting them into an endless sleep had set it up as its abode.

    "Let''s not gawk around," Markus dered with a loud p. "Start the preparation for the experiment."

    The quartet snapped out of their reverie and shuffled around to set up the experiment ground.

    "What is the radius within which the mana sink''s effects are valid?" Revian asked out loud.

    Markus tilted his head sideways, in thought, and answered, "ording to Shuri, it should cover the entire meadow. Actually, you can treat the flower field as the boundary."

    "Can we use the scorched region?" Kevan inquired as he moved towards the sector of the meadow devoid of any nts - a remnant of the battle that once took ce here.

    "That would be preferred. We should strive to maintain the state of the environment where we work," Markus exined.

    The group agreed with each member nodding simultaneously. Revian dropped the bag he was carrying to the ground carefully and pulled out a box from within. Opening it up, he revealed stacks of mana crystals perfectly cut into cuboids of standard yet varying sizes.

    "This is an expensive experiment," Markus reminded. "Please be mindful of wastage. Mana crystals aren''t so easy to source for sects like ours. Usually,rge and most medium size sects are built on mana-dense regions which tend to have caves that grow mana crystals naturally. Ours, on the other hand, is built next to a sink. This means that while there is an abundance of inert cores (which is arguably more expensive than mana crystals) we face a shortage of mana crystals."

    "We''ve tried to minimise wastage to the best of our abilities," Casey affirmed. "The excess shavings from these crystals have found use in some minor alchemical work spearheaded by Matron Reva."

    "Also," Lacey interjected. "We''ve reworked our experiment procedure slightly. We anticipate up to two failed trials from each of us - which is a worst-case estimate."

    "We first verified the density of a mana crystal using the buoyancy principle, by submerging the crystal in a container of fluid (distilled water). The mass of a series of cuboid mana crystals of varying volumes was measured. We then checked the disced volume of water when submerging the crystal, against the geometric volume and confirmed that they were the same. Dividing mass and volume yielded the density, which was found to be consistent with an error of +/- 0.0043 kg/m^3. It was also found that a mana crystal is pure andpact with no air pockets or irregrities," Revian dered. "That short study also spawned a hypothesis that mana crystals are formed in a manner simr to salt crystals, which warrants further study but is not the focus of this experiment."

    "You should post that hypothesis on the public boards and encourage others," Markus offered. "There''s a lot of idle minds roaming around in the Sect that could use some purpose."

    Revian retrieved another box from his bag and opened it to reveal a programmed mana core the size of his palm. "The Time-Core developed by Senior Sister Shuri has been tested and confirmed to be functional and precise to the nearest millisecond."

    mana gem is activated, the container would maintain the temperature until the first mana gem runs out of mana (which was imusible since the upkeep of mana cost He picked out another box and revealed another programmed core the size of a marble, "The Tempera-Core developed by Senior Sister Shuri has been tested and confirmed to be precise to the nearest 0.01 Kelvin."

    Finally, he picked up a small (nearly twice the size of his palm), vacuum-sealed metal tank covered with greying wool that had two colourless and lustrous mana gems attached to its side and a slot for a mana core on its opposite end. "The Caloric Tank filled halfway with Enthermis Fluid, was tested and confirmed to be functional."

    The Caloric Tank was an invention devised by the quartet. Its purpose was to contain heat. It was made out of copper with a fire-resistant wool outer coating. Inside, was a fixed volume of Enthermis Fluid, amonly used alchemical catalyst with high thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity (which was also determined by a separate caloric test). One of the mana gems on the tank, when exposed to fire, would absorb the heat released from the exothermic reaction andpletely trante it into kic energy to increase the temperature of the fluid within. Until the second mana gem is activated, the container would maintain the temperature until the first mana gem runs out of mana (which was imusible since the upkeep of mana cost was trivial). The enchantment was a creation of the quartet and took them an entire week. It wasmissioned through the Burning Forge as there could be no room for errors!

    Revian carefully attached the Tempera-Core to its respective slot on the container and turned it on to verify that the system worked.

    The entire experiment was being bankrolled by the Sect, which did add a huge burden upon the shoulders of the young scientists. Failure was an option, but not a wee one.

    The group released a long breath of anticipation altogether. This experiment took over a month to set up, to get all the apparatuses ready and run the preliminary tests that would validate the safety and uracy of the results obtained.

    Kevan nced at hisb mates and asked for the final time, "Are we all ready?"

    The question was met with a firm and determined nod from the other three. And so, it began.

 Chapter 355 The Frivolous Four - The Fire (Part Two)

    Chapter 355 The Frivolous Four - The Fire (Part Two)

    "The recovery potions are ready, and Lacey and Casey are on standby," Kevan dered, his eyes firmly focused on Revian who was standing between two tforms with one hand holding a measuring cylinder filled with water with a cuboid mana crystal submerged in it, and his other palm covering the heating mana gem on the Caloric Tank.

    Revian nodded in response, "I''ll call out when I run out of mana. After two seconds, I will start drawing the mana from the mana crystal, and start the timer precisely when that happens. Keep your mana senses on me at all times, okay?"

    After receiving an affirmative hum from Kevan, Revian removed both his hands and produced a spell circle above his head while holding his palms up. From its centre, a massive pir of fire ejected towards the sky. The pirsted for around three seconds before he lowered his hands, panting heavily.

    "I''m... depleted..." Revian said while fighting the urge to copse. "It is... as we predicted... my mana... isn''t replenishing... from the environment..."

    "Initial temperature: 24 degrees," Kevan called out as he wrote down the reading on the Tempera-Core affixed on the tank.

    Revian then ced his palm over the heating gem, and the other palm grasped the cylinder.

    "Starting... now..." Revian dered, just as Kevan started the Time-Core, which started to count up the seconds. Kevan honed in his mana senses and noticed the water level in the cylinder dropping slowly, implying that the cube within was being depleted by Revian as he pulled it in, siphoned it through his core and activated the small spell circle on his right hand which projected a transparent-blue me. The me in turn was siphoned into the mana gem next to it almost immediately.

    Revian was feelingpletely exhausted, the utter depletion of mana from his core was affecting him in a way simr to how a person gets fatigued after exhausting all of their energy post-exercise. However, rather than his body being affected, it was actually his mind. He was feeling extremely sluggish and was constantly fighting to keep his consciousness awake so that he could produce the me.

    In the meantime, he was also focusing on extracting the mana from the cuboid crystal and tracking its movement through his mana channels, through his core, and finally towards his spellcasting hand. This shouldn''t have been so easy for a mere Mana Condensation realm mage, who was stillcking in awareness of the internal workings of their bodies. However, because of the scarcity of mana inside his body, the presence of the thin stream originating from the mana crystal was extremely easy to track and focus on.

    As the man entered and exited his core, his mental strain diminished slightly, allowing him to think a bit more about what was happening inside him. After all, qualitative data was also key towards validating the experiment. Revian honed in on the movement of mana through his channels and focused especially on the part where the mana was converted into a me. The spell they were using produced fire purely using mana, without any external fuel. This meant that at the point where his mana reached the spell circle, it split into three. One prong transmuted the mana into methane, the other transmuted it into oxygen gas, and the third (and narrowest prong) generated a light spark to activate the reaction.

    Revian observed how the spell circle intelligently rationed the prongs into the appropriate ratios so that thebustion reaction wasplete and self-sustaining.

    At that moment, Revian heard a "Pause!" from Kevan, indicating that the mana crystal had beenpletely depleted and the Time-Core was stopped. This did not mean that Revian had to stop, though, since there was still mana coursing through him. So, Revian continued producing the blue me, until he was fully depleted once again, at which point Casey and Lacey rushed in and poured a sour liquid down his throat.

    "Final temperature: 61 degrees," Kevan read out. "How are you feeling?"

    "I''m winded. Give me... a minute," Revian said between breaths. "That was not pleasant at all! What''s the result?"

    "Too early to tell, we need to do a few more trials," Kevan reminded. "Let me know when you are ready and we can repeat the trial with the same volume of mana."

    "Man, this is going to be a hoot," Revian groaned as hey on his back on the soft grass. He waited as his breath finally started to stabilise, stood up, and said, "Alright, next trial!"

    And so, the process repeated itself, with Revian expending his mana, and siphoning the mana from the same 125 cubic-centimetre cuboid of mana to fuel a transparent-blue me which was heating the fluid inside the Caloric Tank. At the end of this experiment, Revian was once againpletely expended, on his back, on the soft grass.

    "Alright, one more trial for the day before we finish," Kevan called out.

    Revian collected himself once again and proceeded to go through the gruelling process another time.

    "Alright, time to pack up," Kevan dered.

    "I think I can go for another round of three with the next volume of mana?" Revian stated contemtively.

    "No can do!" Casey denied decisively. "You heard what Mage Nara said. As long as we stick to the letter of our safety procedures, our experiment will not fail. Our procedures state that we will only do three trials a day, so get your ass up and onto my back right now before I physically drag you over to the infirmary!"

    "I''m fine, you don''t need to carry me," Revian mumbled.

    "Did you not hear what she said?" Lacey reprimanded. "We are going to carry you to the infirmary, and that''s thest we will hear about this."

    Revian cursed his stupid mind for penning down that line in the safety procedures and decided to fake unconsciousness as soon as they entered the Sect grounds to avoid the embarrassment of being seen carried by the girls.

    ____

    This exercise repeated itself the next day. The quartet were led to the meadow by Senior Brother Markus (without Dora this time). The day''s trial was with an 8 cubic centimetre of mana crystal.

    Revian had made aplete recovery after the previous day''s exhaustion and prepared himself for the three trials. This time, he made it a point to be more aware of what was happening inside his body as the mana flowed from the crystal to his core to the spell. He realised that the qualitative data from the previous day was not descriptive enough, which made it tougher to derive meaning from it (if there happened to be any).

    His attention honed in as the solid mana from the crystal turned semi-liquid-semi-gaseous and entered through the openings in his palm. It flowed through his channels in a somewhat liquid state, based on the fact that there was no indication of significantpression which was characteristic of a gas. The purpose of timing the depletion of mana from the water-filled cylinder was to determine the flow rate of mana as it moved through the system.

    The experiment was basically as follows. The group would measure the rate at which mana was being depleted, which would trante into the flow rate or consumption rate of mana. They would thenpare the consumption against the added energy which raises the temperature of the fluid inside the Caloric Tank. They would conduct three sets of three trials, with three different volumes of mana crystals (8, 125, 512 cubic centimetres). Graphing the consumption against energy change should provide an indication of how much mana it takes to keep the spell running. They would then repeat the three sets of three but with a pulsing process. That is, the spell would be activated and deactivated in regr intervals, and the energy change with this method would bepared against the previous experiment to see if continuous activation has a different consumption pattern (constant orpounding).

    This experiment would then be repeated with two more people, to see if there is a difference in the results and conclusions.

    If everything was sessful, then in the future, the consumption of mana would be standardised by using this simple fire-starter spell as a baseline. But that was still ways away from being achieved, as it relied on the experiment running smoothly.

    In fact, Revian started to notice something weird in his mana senses by the time it came to the eighth trial (the second trial of the third set).

    "Umm, guys...?" Revian mumbled. Something shed in his mana senses as it epassed the depleting mana crystal in the cylinder, which caused his concentration to destabilise. Suddenly, the mana that he was circting from one hand to the other through his core turned turbulent and shifted direction towards his eyes. For a split second, Revian saw a set of numbers pop up above the deformed cube before he lost consciousness.

    ____

    By the time he woke up, he realised that he was no longer in the meadow and was now in the infirmary. The smell of medicinal nts was strong here, and so was the kick from the stench of disinfectant. His attention was then drawn to the muffled argument urring outside the room.

    "I told you guys to follow the procedures!" It was Senior Brother Markus'' voice. "What went wrong?"

    "We don''t know," Kevan mumbled with a confused tone. "It was all going well when he just lost consciousness."

    "There has- Wait!" The door slid open and a concerned Markus stepped in.

    "It is good that you''re awake," he evoked. "How are you feeling?"

    "I''m feeling... fine, actually," Revian responded. "Better than fine!"

    Markus gave him a stern scowl and asked, "What happened?"

    "I don''t know," Revian responded while scratching his chin in thought. "I was just observing the mana crystal to jot down qualitative data, when suddenly-"

    Revian''s gaze dipped to his abdomen and he froze mid-sentence.

    "Suddenly, what?" Markus asked, following Revian''s gaze.

    "Umm, are you guys seeing this?" Revian asked as he rubbed his eyes.

    "Seeing what?" Kevan probed.

    "Numbers," Revian rified. "Woah! When I use my mana senses to observe my abdomen, I''m seeing numbers - more like a fraction. It says 136/213"

    "I don''t see anything..." Markus muttered while rubbing his forehead in thought.

    "W-What could this mean?" Revian asked out loud, exchanging gazes between all those present.

    "Well," Markusmented, breaking the silence, "It seems that your experiment has caused you to stumble upon something interesting."

    He looked back at Kevan, Casey and Lacey, shed an intrigued smile, and said, "You may have to take a detour with your experiment."

 Chapter 356 The Frivolous Four - The Roaring Blaze (Part One)

    356 The Frivolous Four - The Roaring ze (Part One)

    The quartet shuffled ufortably as they sat, cross-legged, in front of the Leader of the True World Sect. This wasn''t their first time in such a position, after all, he WAS their teacher for a lot of the sses that took ce during the week. However, this meeting felt different.

    In a ssroom, they didn''t feel the same weight on their shoulders as they did now. The situation was different, they weren''t here just to listen, they were here to discuss, debate, and present their case - as potential equals.

    "I''ve already read the proposal before, though," The Sect Leader said while flipping the bound proposal back to its front cover. "Let us skip to the results, or whatever you have at this point in time. I was told that you," he paused to point at Revian, "are able to see (quantitatively) the mana capacity of your core, as well as in mana crystals? How did you aplish that?"

    "W-Well," Revian mumbled as all the attention focused on him. "I just- I just, umm..."

    The Sect Leader coughed and stood up, causing an intimidating shadow to fall upon the quartet. The man walked casually around the table and halted at their blind spot. Atent pressure and a sense of foreboding started to grow in the room. Cold sweat started to umte down their backs, drenching their clothes in the process.

    And then, there was movement. The Sect Leader walked up to Revian. Frozen in fear, he couldn''t get his head to turn - neither could his peers who were equally rigid in their ces. At this point, Revian could feel the heat from the Sect Leader''s hands approach him.

    "Here, drink this," the Sect Leader''s voice said from behind him, as a porcin cup filled with clear water descended before him.

    Revian tried to swallow a mouthful of saliva but found his mouth parched. With some trepidation, he reached forward and grabbed the cup with both hands. Bringing it up to his lips, he downed it all in one massive gulp.

    "Speak clearly," the Sect Leadermanded. "You are the experts who designed and undertook this experiment, I am just a bystander interested in learning what you have aplished. So own it!"

    Revian nodded decisively as he was forced to withstand the Sect Leader''s firm, yet calming gaze.

    After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Revian started, "As you know, the purpose of our experiment was to determine a standardised measure for mana - something that would be helpful in future experiments in case the variable to be changed, measured, or controlled is the level of mana."

    Noticing the Sect Leader''s nod and encouraging smile, Revian continued with renewed vigour.

    "Since you''ve read the project proposal, I will skip the experimentation procedure and move to the point where we started collecting data and I noticed the change," Revian highlighted. "During the process, one thing I tried to keep at the forefront of my mind, was the importance of collecting qualitative data. We were told that observing behaviour and interactions that aren''t always quantifiable is important when it finallyes time to derive conclusions. It may also provide context to the data we are collecting."

    "My focus while collecting the qualitative data was in seeing how the mana drawn in from outside - the mana crystal - flows through the mana system before it ultimately gets transmuted and ejected through the spell circle," Revian exined. "I was especially interested in the nature of the flow, the rate of consumption, the transmutation ratios, and the consistency of the process overall."

    Revian ced a handbook in front of the Sect Leader and said, "These were my observations."

    With a faint hum, the Sect Leader picked it up and started to flip through its pages.

    "So within the third set of trials, your mana senses started to quantify the mana in and around you?" The Sect Leader asked casually while reading Revian''s observations.

    "Yes. My mana senses destabilised suddenly, and I saw the numbers sh past them before I lost consciousness," Revian recounted.

    "I see," was all the Sect Leader said before closing the book and returning it to Revian. Then, he ced his palm on the table before him and tapped his fingers against the wood rhythmically.

    "You''ve achieved some result before the experiment reached termination," the Sect Leader noted. "I know it isn''t customary to draw conclusions before all the numbers are in, but what do you four think about what happened?"

    The quartet exchanged looks before Casey raised her hands, awaiting permission to speak.

    "You don''t need to do that," the Sect Leader said hurriedly while waving his hands. "If you have something to say then just speak up."

    "I- I mean, we think that this may be a feature of the mana sense itself," Casey theorised. "We know that the mana sense can capture and read data that is beyond our understanding, and all it takes is for us to decipher what the datatype means to be able to tune in to that particr spectrum of the mana sense. Maybe Revian just unlocked a feature of his mana sense after gaining a better understanding of mana?"

    Casey was worried that she spoke wrongly or gave an incorrect hypothesis, but was relieved to see the Sect Leader nod affirmatively.

    "That''s actually correct," he said, before retrieving two different bound books from a small bookshelf to his side. "I''ve actually been interested in figuring out a way to quantify mana for a very long time. Unfortunately, I just never got around to it, because after advancing into the Core Formation realm I didn''t find the need to do so."

    He opened up the books to two different locations and ced them before them. "Both these books are journals written by mages, noting down their observations when casting the same |Cold Snap| spell. Why don''t you read the highlighted excerpt?"

    The four edged closer and read the underlined paragraphs in both books.

    "What did you notice?" The Sect Leader asked as Revian averted his attention from the books first.

    "Umm, I''m not sure," Revian mumbled embarrassedly. This was supported by the nk expressions of his peers as well.

    "The one on your left was written by a mage in the Foundation Establishment realm, while the one on the right, was written by one in the Core Formation realm. Use this information and take another look," the Sect Leader encouraged.

    After a few minutes of mental deconstruction, Revian scratched his chin and said, "Is it to do with the specificity of the observations?"

    This was immediately confirmed with an enthusiastic finger-snap from the Sect Leader. "You will notice that the Foundation Establishment realm mage defines the mana consumption with vague terms or in fractions, using words like ''an eighth of my mana pool''. On the other hand, the Core Formation realm mage, while still nonstandard with their definitions, uses more quantifiable descriptors like ''equivalent to a fingernail-sized mana crystal''. What does this tell you?"

    "Is the perception of mana more precise when you rise in cultivation?" Kevan probed.

    "That''s a good point," the Sect Leader chimed in, "But as researchers, we need to maintain scepticism. You see, it could also be that the image on the right has a cultivation method that makes them more perceptive to the quantity of man they use for their spells."

    Without waiting for Kevan to apologise for the misstep, the man continued, "Which was also why I halted my background research - I couldn''t find any more journals that could corroborate this im. I did ask Teacher Jeeves to cast |Cold Snap| and write down his observations, but that was as far as I reached in terms of actual data collection. I did intend to return to this, though, but then I advanced in my cultivation and I no longer needed to do it."

    The Sect Leader closed the books and returned them to his cupboard while saying, "You see, as you advance in cultivation, you grow closer to bing a being of mana. And as you inch closer and closer to that point, you start bing more conscious about the mana that fuels your power. For me, it is easy to quantify mana. But the problem is that it is personal to me, and me alone. What we need is a standardised method, after all, not something that changes based on the person."

    He then leaned forward over his desk and said with a measured tone, "I want you to tweak your experimentation, now that it has produced an unusual result. I know that it is improper to change the methodology mid-experiment, but I feel that you should be able to incorporate this into your process without much effect in the grand scheme of things."

    Raising one finger, the Sect Leader dered, "Is the number Revian seeing, the same for everyone?"

    Another finger was raised, "If that is true, then what is the unit of measurement of mana, and what is it rted to? Is it a fundamental unit, or is it derived?"

    After raising a third finger, "What are the limitations of this new addition to the mana sense? Are there any specific cases where it cannot be applied?"

    With the fourth and final finger, "If all the above questions are answered satisfactorily, then is it possible to streamline the process so that others can gain ess to this feature in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective manner?"

    "On another note," the Sect Leader pulled open a drawer under his desk, reached into it, and pulled out a closed yet bulging fist. He gestured for the four to extend their palms forward before carefully dropping a small, solid object in them.

    It was a finger-sized cuboid, which Revian held up and asked, "Umm, what is this?"

    "Those are Caramel Toffees! Matron Reva''s been working on them for a while now, and she''s finally perfected the recipe," the Sect Leader rified excitedly. "Congrattions on your first and sessful experiment! Although it isn''t finished, the fact that something was gained out of it is great news! I couldn''t prepare anything on short notice, so please forgive me for such paltry gifts."

    The quartet shook their hands vigorously catingly, with a beaming smile on their faces. One by one, they popped the sweet into their mouths and basked in the rush as smooth caramel oozed out its centre and bathed their tongue like a viscous nket.

    "Oh, and I will also be observing your experiment from now on," the Sect Leader said, only to receive a cacophony of choking sounds as the four were violently drawn out of their sugar-induced euphoria.

    Made sense, good and bad news often came hand in hand.

 Chapter 357 The Frivolous Four - The Roaring Blaze (Part Two)

    ?

    Guy felt a sense of aplishment, in observing the industriousness with which the four teens hustled around and set up their new experiment. The rigour, enthusiasm, and seriousness tugged at his nostalgia. In his past life, he''d observed a simr bustling scene whenever it came time for his students to try out something new and take on a self-led project.

    There is an inherent difference between undertaking a predefined experiment versus a self-led project, and it is a matter of ownership. The students OWN a self-led project, as it is something they need to conceptualise and conceive on their own. However, a predefined experiment is something that has been curated and perfected through iteration by a third party. Because of that, the learning modality is different. With a predefined experiment, learning happens through sess, but with self-led projects, it happens through failure.

    The purpose of a predefined experiment is for the students to go through the steps and procedures described, understand how the variables interact with each other, and how changing certain variables affects other variables. More often than not, the end is already known when the experiment is initiated, as it is just a means to foment theory. With a self-led project, the goal is to tread new ground that is personally unknown to them (they may not be working with cutting-edge science, just science that is just beyond their reach). And in treading this new ground, they are forced to confront the mistakes and errors that fly under their radars.

    Guy actually revelled in the symphony of facepalms, muffled curses and animalistic grunts and groans from the students upon realising that there was a mistake somewhere that screwed up their experiment. This wasn''t schadenfreude, though, just contentment in seeing that his students were learning something.

    He also enjoyed the aura and appearance the youngsters would adorn as they performed the procedures. It just looked... cute - like a baby using a writing utensil.

    Guy shook those diminutive thoughts from his head because that wasn''t being fair towards Revian, Kevan, Lacey and Casey - the quartet were actual scientists. To the best of his knowledge, no one had ever questioned or even considered the standardised quantification of mana and its usage.

    One might ask, why was something so fundamental as counting the resource that literally fuels the extraordinary things happening around overlooked for so long?

    The answer to that question is simpler than you think: it wasn''t really necessary. Understanding the consumption of mana is an inherent ability to all mages - a mage knows exactly how much mana a particr spell will use after they cast it once. In other words, it is an instinctual understanding. However, this instinct does not define absolute amounts, but rather rtive amounts. Furthermore, this instinct grows more precise and urate, with both experience and with advancement in cultivation realms. So, after a particr point, having a quantifiable understanding of mana consumption is irrelevant or redundant for a mage. Finally, mages in the higher realms of cultivation don''t have to count units of mana when casting spells. One could liken their usage of mana and magic to the usage of money by the wealthy and the elite. But it matters a lot to those in the lower realms (both in cultivation and in society), who need to be mindful of the avable resources before spending it.

    So, while this experiment would definitely benefit those in the lower realms, it has far-reaching consequences as well. Having a standardised method to quantify mana creates a unifiednguage that mages canmunicate. With a way to actually measure mana, mages no longer have to rely on arcane and non-trantable definitions and can actuallypare notes when casting or developing a new spell. Open and clearmunication will then open the doors to growth and development which in turn will push the magicmunity forward... or at least that is the hope.

    In conclusion, Guy was extremely invested in the results of this experiment. So much so that he took the initiative to conduct a test on the side to evaluate the limits of this new ability (or feature of mana sense).

    First off, the ability to see the mana quantities is limited to the mage''s mana domain - only things within it are observable.

    Secondly, the ability to see the amount of mana in an object or person is only possible if the region being inspected is uncontested. Basically, if another person is fighting for control over a mana domain, then depending on the severity of the contention, you will either see a vague value or no value at all. Guy also found out that it was possible to present apletely erroneous value by confusing the mana sense if the gap in cultivation between the sensor and the target is vast enough (much like himself and Revian).

    With those minutiae out of the way, the group was ready to delve further into their experiment and run the next set of trials with a different subject. This was of course after finishing the previously iplete trials with Revian.

    With Kevan stepping up to the te, Guy was patiently observing the experiment to evaluate the repeatability of the process. Was it possible to unlock the power to quantitatively see mana with the same method? If so, was the observed quantity the same for Revian and Kevan? If it so happens that the numbers differ when observing the same object, then it means that there is rtivity involved.

    Of course, there was also a chance that the number Revian was observing was a rtive value that established its baseline ording to the activation condition (the spell being cast, the mana crystals being used, and so on). Maybe, if they used a different variation of a fire starter spell, the value observed through the mana sense would be different. Then again, that was a whole other experiment for the kids to undertake at ater time.

    Kevan''s attempts were far more focused, as he had Revian''s notes to help guide his observations. Guy could see that the boy''s attention was honed in on the minute movements and behaviour of mana through his channels. Because of that, the boy managed to unlock the feature in his mana sense midway through the second set itself (which was on a subsequent day as prescribed on their surprisingly thorough and stringent safety procedures).

    Guy then pulled the two boys aside andpared their observation of the amount of mana inside a myriad of mana crystals, mana gems, and mana cores. After rigorous testing, they determined that the two teens did in fact observe the same amount of mana inside them. Though still too early to conclude, Guy rest assured that even if there was rtivity involved, it wasn''t dependent on the person.

    Meanwhile, Casey and Lacey continued with their trials and managed to unlock the mana sense feature within the first set itself thanks to Revian and Kevan''sbined insights. With their input, Guy confirmed the conclusion. Of course, some additional conditions and variables warranted testing (such as age, cultivation realm of subject, and so on), and the teens were also on pins and needles to continue testing out those variations, but Guy was quick to raise his hand and curb their enthusiasm.

    "We first need to conclude the information gained from this study before moving forward," Guy dered. "Have you achieved the purpose of your experimentation?"

    "We did... right?" Kevan answered, growing doubtful upon not receiving an affirmatory nod.

    "You don''t know if you did. You saw a trend, a rtionship maybe, but are you certain that the observed trend is what you think it is? You cannot conclude your experiment after data collection, there is still the matter of cleaning, processing and analysing the data. You need to extract meaningful conclusions, confirm or disprove theories, or even create new ones. Just because you can arrange cut wood into a chair, doesn''t mean that it is ready to sit on. You need to hammer the nails in, confirm that the sizes are cut properly, and then treat the wood afterwards."

    The enthusiasm that was bubbling within the teens quelled markedly upon hearing Guy''s words. But it didn''t discourage them, after all, there was still work left to be done.

    "Oh, I just remembered!" Guy eximed just as he turned to leave. "Although you guys seeded in quantifying mana, you need to define a unit that can be used in scientific discussions. Take some to think it through too."

    And with that said, Guy took his leave and the teens got down to business.

    A weekter, a momentous event transpired in the True World Sect''s Library. Unlike usual, the ce was crowded with all the members of the Sect, and loud chatter rang amidst the usually silent halls.

    The doors of the library swung open, causing silence to permeate through the crowd. The crowd then split in two, allowing for Guy, who was at the entrance, to walk through. Behind him, followed Revian, Kevan, Casey and Lacey.

    Guy walked in front of the crowd and ascended the impromptu wooden stage ced up front, with the teens following him.

    "Today marks a special day, for the True World Sect," Guy dered. "Four of your peers, standing behind me right now, Revian, Kevan, Casey and Lacey, have managed to achieve something amazing. Their unwavering dedication, intellectual prowess, and tireless efforts have culminated in a breakthrough that holds the promise of reshaping the study of magic for the better. Their efforts have illuminated new pathways for study that will, doubtlessly, motivate those of you present to undertake research work of your own. What they have done, essentially, is set the foundation of what I expect to be a revolution in magic!"

    As he said this, Guy revealed a cloth-covered object in his hand and unveiled it with a flourish. "This is the manuscript - the culmination of many weeks of research."

    At the top, in bold-faced andrge letters, it read: "Introducing the Mana Unit (Symbol M): A Novel Way to Measure Mana."

    (Here, the M is the capitalised Greek Letter Mu).

    "You colleagues have uncovered a new truth of this world," Guy spoke, but his voice grew louder and imperious. "The Mana Unit: The amount of mana required when discing one cubic centimetre of distilled water to raise the temperature of one-hundredth cubic centimetre of alchemically pure Enthermis Fluid by one Kelvin using the |Firestarter| spell."

    The crowd held their breath as Guy raised the manuscript above his head, for all to bear evidence of its inception. Then, with a flourish of his coat, he descended from the stage and walked up to a shelf.

    "And now, this newly learned truth of the world has found its new home amongst all other known truths, in the library of the True World Sect, forever to be immortalised in the annals of history!"

    And with a dramatic push, the manuscript was slotted in.

    Deep inside Guy''s core - within the Church of the True World - loud gongs, shrieks, bellows and bells harmonised as one, bathing the manifestation in an auspicious aura.

    Amidst one of the rows of books in the Church of the True World, a golden light started to flood out, before condensing and taking a new shape - the shape of a book.

    As the light dimmed, and the shape turned fully solid, a new entry found its ce in the ever-growing library in Guy''s soul.

    "Introducing the Mana Unit (Symbol M): A Novel Way to Measure Mana."

 Chapter 358 [Bonus ]The Frivolous Four - From The Ashes, Reborn Anew

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    That''s right! Ye boi''s a sell-out now! Any ways, I was told that adding more privilege sections allows me to put a discount on the per chapter cost. So it should be worth it (emphasis on the worth). Regardless, my upload schedule will be the same so you guys can still keep updated with my work using the daily free passes :)

    ____

    Guy held a small party in the library, with cake (which Grace had grown surprisingly proficient in baking), to celebrate the great achievement. As everyone indulged in the festivities, Guy moved to the side, out of the side, and entered the Church of the True World. As the manuscript came together and found its ce in the library, Guy started to feel a stimtion in his cultivation. It wasn''t anything substantial, but it was out of the ordinary. Usually, this sort of stimtion only happened when people were inside the Church and were made to gain inspiration, learn something new, or attain a paradigm shift.

    The deviation from the norm implied that there were other ways for Guy to simte his cultivation.

    The Church was just as he remembered it. The moment he entered it, he suddenly lost all feeling on the right side of his body, as the Other Guy took control of that section.

    "Did you notice what just happened?" Guy asked his right half.

    "Follow me," the Other Guy answered with a monotonous drone. Guy relinquished control, and allowed his body to move past the pews and into the rows of bookshelves.

    The Other Guy paused before one row of books and threw up an usatory finger at a new entry in the rows. "There''s your culprit!"

    Guy hummed in affirmation before asking, "What''s so new about this, though? I believe Markus, Marie and Jean have posted their dissertations on what motivated their advancements here as well?"

    "It is different," the Other Guy responded. "Their dissertation is purely personal observation andcks proper scientific rigour. How many trials and tests did they conduct? Did they validate their works?"

    "I know for a fact that Markus ran tests on his abilities," Guy mumbled.

    "You didn''t read them, hence they aren''t here," the Other Guy retaliated. "Regardless, I don''t think even if you did that, it will yield you a simr stimtion."

    "And why is that?"

    The Other Guy pressed his lips into a thin frown and admitted, "I cannot say for sure. All I have are theories."

    "Well,y it on me," Guy encouraged.

    "Read what is written below the title," the Other Guy directed.

    Beneath the title, were the names of the people who led the experiment: "Revian, Kevan, Casey, Lacey, and- What in the world?!"

    "That''s right," the Other Guy confirmed with a derisive smile.

    "Why is my name here?!" Guy eximed with a high-pitched yelp.

    "Seeing as you''re always preaching the follies of giarism and giving credit where credit is due, those brats figured that since you were involved and assisted in running tests, they needed to give you credit."

    Guy struggled to swallow this revtion for one big reason, which was that he didn''t feel that he earned this citation. "So let''s hear what your theory is supposed to be."

    "It''s kind of out there, I''m not going to lie," the Other Guy prefaced which was met with a sarcastic scoff.

    "When has that ever stopped you?"

    "We can all do without the sass," the Other Guy chided. "Anyway, my theory is that cultivation and the understanding of the world are connected in some way. Basically, if you remember Mast''s words from before-"

    "Now that''s a name I didn''t think I''d hear again," Guy interjected, which the Other Guy responded to with a growl. "Don''t interrupt!"

    "As I was saying! Mast said that whoever created this world was locked in a battle of their existence against another entity that was trying to consume this world. To that end, they were aiming to push this world ahead as far as possible so that it could stand a chance against the invader (in whatever way it may be). What if the concept of advancement and cultivation is basically a positive feedback loop to encourage the inhabitants of this world to advance it in earnest?"

    Before Guy could say anything, his counterpart raised his hand and said, "Hear me out!"

    "Mages who gain a better understanding of a concept in this world are rewarded with more power and longevity - the carrot. Those that practice rigour are rewarded, and those that follow axer approacher are relegated to suffer deviations - the stick."

    Once again, Guy''sment was interjected by the Other''s raised hand, "Hear me out!"

    "Maybe this is also why you are rewarded every time you help someone gain a better understanding of truths of the world. First off, your cultivation gets boosted each time you help someone gain insight, which if you think about it harkens back to the positive feedback loop theory from before. Maybe this is what Mast intended from the very beginning when he brought you here. Now, if we take all of that and this manuscript in particr, when the four wrapped up their work, they were to be rewarded with positive feedback from the universe in the manner of a cultivation boost. HOWEVER, because of your anomalous existence and the fact that there is your name appended to this text, you siphoned off the advantages they were supposed to receive," the Other Guy summarised.

    "For someone so married to the idea of scientific rigour, you sure do know how to weave a yarn," Guy mocked in response. "I don''t have enough fingers in my hand to count the number of holes and assumptions your argument has. How in the world does having an extra name on a piece of paper affect something abstract like cultivation and advancement? Are you telling me that naturalws respond to ink on paper? Could I tell gravity to stop working in a region by just writing ''IF inside_boundary THEN gravity = false''?"

    "Isn''t that what a Ritual Formation is?" The Other Guy argued.

    "Touche," Guy relented with a bitter smile, "BUT, Ritual Formations aren''t written in themon tongue, damn it!"

    "Hey! I''m just throwing out an idea," the Other Guy argued with a weak voice. "You could very easily test it out and confirm it."

    Guy read between the lines and shot back with an affronted tone, "I am not going to append my name to any more papers when I am clearly not an involved party in it."

    "It won''t hurt anybody, though," the Other Guy reasoned.

    "It is disgusting! I hate the idea of honorary or gift authorship," Guy yelled angrily.

    "You could very easily just provide meaningful contributions so that your authorship has a purpose," the Other Guy rebutted.

    "But what if my inclusion actually robs them of the chance to advance?" Guy moaned. "The four barely got anything out of this experiment!"

    "So you DO think my theory holds water!" The Other Guy snapped with a victorious grin. "Look, as you pointed out, my theory is farfetched. There may be other factors at y here, that we don''t know about. But, you know what the solution is to this problem."

    Guy''s expression warped erratically until it settled at a reluctant frown.

    "Whatever!" Guy bellowed. "I''ll figure it outter."

    Guy shrugged his right shoulder before his body achieved full emotional symmetry - the Other Guy had receded.

    After spending a minute contemting the conversation, Guy sighed and left the Church.

    ____

    In the week following the celebration, Guy was flooded with research proposals from the members of the Sect. Most of them were extension studies that tested the breadth of the findings of the manuscript. Some questioned if there were other ways to standardise the same definition, such as by using a different kind of |Firestarter| spell. Alternatively, some looked at whether the definitions could be approached from a transmutation perspective as opposed to an energy conversion perspective. For instance, one paper suggested whether checking the amount of water created using a spell with a fixed quantity of mana was a valid metric.

    While Guy wanted to approve all of them, even if they were redundant, so that the kids could have a taste of leading their own projects, he could not. First off, if he did this, he would be setting a precedent that encouraged frivolous studies that had no meaningful contributions. Secondly, he economically could not approve all the studies since there was a shortage of mana crystals.

    Usually, every sect in the Alliance is allotted a fixed quantity of mana crystals in a month. For new and small sects like the True World Sect, the amount is paltry. In fact, all of it was more or less consumed in the four''s experiment. Now the Sect could buy more, but the supply of mana crystals through verified channels was heavily monitored - and it would raise red gs if a rtively unknown sect suddenly called for and could afford arge shipment that could sustain all the proposals. Alternatively, the ck market was there, but the prices there fluctuated exorbitantly, and they were also monitored by less savoury types.

    Hence, against going against his heart, he had to deny over 80% of the proposals in favour of less exploratory ones. He even merged a few studies together to save up on expenditure. In the end, five extension studies were approved.

    Apart from these kinds of studies, there was another that passed over his table which looked at an interesting new possibility.

    "You want to test the implications of thews of thermodynamics with magic and mana in the mix?" Guy asked out loud with an impressed nod to the boy seated opposite him. "Can I ask why?"

    "Why... not?" Revian answered with a confused twitch on his lips. "I found it interesting, I guess."

    "Your procedure could use a little more work," Guymented while skimming through the contents once again, "but it seems usible, so I''m going to approve this."

    Guy quickly interjected Revian''s silent celebration with a stern frown, "And I know I''ve said this many times before, but do NOT include my name in your report in the end even if my assistance and advice warrant an inclusion."

    "But-"

    "That''s final!" Guy boomed resolutely. "If you still include my name in your final report, I will be very disappointed."

    The piercing gaze that drilled into Revian caused the boy to sweat profusely.

    "I-I understand Sect Leader!" He mumbled fearfully before bowing and swiftly retreating out of the room.

    "I''ll have to keep an eye on that boy!" Guy said out loud. "I heard he was the one who proposed my inclusion in the other report."

 Chapter 359 The Plan

    359 The n

    The third stage of the design process was the n. It is the stage that exists between knowing what needs to be made and actually making it. In most cases, it is easy to figure out where you need to begin in order to actualise your design. Logically, you start building a pyramid from its base. However some designs aren''t so straightforward and easy to actualise, and thorough nning to determine the ins and outs of the process is mandatory.

    This was especially important in Shuri''s case since there were a lot of empty nks between the abstract design and the tangible product she was trying to create. For instance, what kind of program was she to inscribe into the mana core? What kind of casing was she going to go with for the product? How was she to assemble everything?

    You see, these were the kinds of pertinent questions that needed answering to get the design from a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional object, which was by no means an easy feat. This was why Shuri had to spend three entire weeks just to work out all the kinks and develop a realistic n that, if followed by anyyperson, could actualise the design.

    Why must the n be finished before beginning the actualisation process?

    One of the most important reasons in favour of a n is resource allocation. nning helps allocate resources, such as effort, budget, and materials, effectively. This ensures that the necessary resources are avable when needed and prevents wastage or shortages, contributing to a smoother design process. This is especially important for Shuri since mana cores, while potentially abundant in their avability in the Sect, weren''t a resource that could be squandered willy-nilly. They weren''t hers, to begin with (they fell on Sect property and were thus the Sect''s property). At best, Shuri would have two attempts before the financial feasibility of her product would be brought into question.

    The n also ensures that every step taken brings you closer to your goal. Creating a product blindly, without any vision, will often result in dys or deviations from the required oue. The n is a guide that stops you from getting distracted. In fact, the n doesn''t need to be rigid in order to achieve this. There are always unexpected detours that need to be taken midway through the creation process. However, the n must ensure that should such detours be taken, you can ultimately return on track immediately after.

    The n also answers one of the most important aspects of creating a product, risk management. This not only refers to the dangers the creator faces when making the product but also the potential risks the user may face on using it. When you visualise yourself creating the product, and assess your actions critically, risks be evident which in turn warrants the implementation of risk management procedures.

    Needless to say, the n is just as crucial as any other step of the design process and is often the toughest since it cradles the boundary between the theory and the reality.

    Shuri struggled a lot when creating the n because she had no idea where to begin. This didfort her a little because it was better to struggle now than afterwards. One thing she realised early on was that the product she was trying to create could not be approached like any other product she''d developed till now.

    Basically, to date, she has created two sses of products. The first ss epassed everything that was without magic - things that were tangible. The second ss epassed everything that was purely magical - things that weren''t tangible. The former was defined as hardware using themon tongue. The ''hard''ponent didn''t necessarily mean that the products had to be hard or robust. It was ''hard'' because it could be touched, and had limited flexibility and variability.

    Using simr logic, Shuri decided to name the ss of products built on pure magic as software. It was ''soft'' because it could not be touched, and was flexible and variable.

    The chair she had designed for her room and was using right now was hardware. The Calcte-Core was pure software. The wand she was using to cast spells was an amalgamation of hardware and software. Simrly, the wand for the visually impaired was a mix between the two sses.

    Therefore, Shuri had to draft multiple versions of the potential program that would go inside the mana core, and then build an interface housing that the user would interact with and operate the core. Another limiting factor was that the size of the core and housing together could not exceed the size of a human palm. This meant that there was ultimately limited space for her to squeeze the program into.

    This iterative process of designing a program, modifying the interface and housing, and simting the result mentally was unbelievably difficult. Especially because it was impossible to predict with utter certainty if the interface would be sessful unless it was attempted practically.

    In addition to all of this, the hardest part for Shuri was to enumerate all the possiblebinations the wand to achieve and list out the way it would be obtained. The whole wand was a puzzle piece, after all, and she was the puzzle master working backwards from the solution to figure out exactly how you could get there without messing up others along the way. The difficulty of this process grew exponentially with each new configuration envisioned and brought into the fray. Sometimes, she even had to scrap her entire design because she found a simpler way to introduce the newbination.

    Nheless, Shuri persevered, and a feasible solution was formed as a blueprint.

    Next, she had to work through the design once again to determine all the resources she would need to put together a bill of materials. Lead times needed to be taken into consideration so that she would have the required resource when it was needed, instead of having to order it when it was to be used and wasting time, or ordering it too early and wasting resources in storing the materials. It also includes work orders for anyponents that need machining beforehand - ifponents are avable and can be sourced from trusted third parties, then it is preferred as it can save time and has a level of guarantee in its quality.

    The bill of materials would go through the Sect''s procurement department (which was tethered to the VTC), which would then execute their namesake and procure them for her. This took a few more weeks, during which a few significant changes transpired within the Sect.

    Although Shuri had advanced to the Foundation Establishment realm, she was still eligible to unlock the mana measurement add-on to her mana sense. While it wasn''t possible for her to exhaust her mana core in a mana sink region to replicate the procedure, it was possible to apply an equivalency of how much mana a known spell would consume and assign numeric values to it. This in turn unlocks the program would fit in the palm-sized core. She went further and reduced the core''s size making it 16:47

    just smaller than a teenager''s palm.

    the feature of measuring mana with the mana sense. After undergoing the procedure, she could now observe, numerically, the mana in everything that was open to her senses. This significantly improved her understanding of programming, as she could now configure the program to use precise quantities of mana.

    This resulted in her overhauling the program altogether, making it morepact than it already was. This allowed her to bring back all the branches of spells she had previously sacrificed to ensure that the program would fit in the palm-sized core. She went further and reduced the core''s size making it just smaller than a teenager''s palm.

    Of course with a change in the software, a hardware overhaul followed, which in turn required a redrafting of a bill of materials.

    At this point, Shuri was exhausted and her hands were itching to program a core or machine some wood. So, she decided to forgo a second draft of her n and moved on to the execution process.

    As Shuriid out the blueprint for the program before her, and prepped all the required apparatus, she did a once-over of her self-proimed masterpiece.

    The program was unlike any she had ever drawn or seen before, and that too with good reason. This was because the program was inherently broken, requiring the hardware to bridge its gaps. It was an unconnected amalgamation of spell circles that were modules, with mana channels leading out of the core, which would then be drawn through the mana lines embedded into the hardware and joining up at other regions of the core thuspleting the circuit. This was the essence with which different spells could be crafted and cast. This also meant that in order for the core to stabilise after programming, she would need to assemble the hardware alongside it.

    The hardware in question was also something that required special machining. She decided to go with the same materials used to make a standard wand, the Menryl Tree wood and Illuminescent Banyan sinews. The Menryl wood was used to make the housing, with the Banyan sinews weaved through it (with some highly precise spell casting) to create mana-conductive channels that wouldplete the circuit. This was done by The Burning Forge after she provided them with the machining instructions since there were experts there who had more experience in this process than she did.

    And matching her expectations, the machined pieces were ready and in position before her.

    Shuri ced the designated core on the stand and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Once her mind was clear, she brought forth the image that was to be inscribed and held it in the foreground.

    She moved her hand over the gem at the side of the stand and channelled her mana into it, causing an ethereal spherical projection to burst outwards.

    Shuri cast her gaze around the projection, searching for the optimal ce to start her work until her gaze narrowed on a particr segment.

    She released another breath and brought the inscription pen onto the core.

    And with that action, she was ready to move from the nning to the creation stage.

    Word Count: 1712

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 Chapter 360 The Creation

    360 The Creation

    For a product to cast modr spells, the program was also highly modr. This meant that unlike a regr program, in which the process could not be halted once the inscription was initialised, there was some breathing room once a module was finalised. Of course, this theory warranted testing. Nheless, Shuri was on the case and verified it with a sample inscription during the nning stage.

    The idea of modrising wasn''t something that had been explored in the field of Automagy. Sure, there was the concept of distributed systems where one programmed core interfaced and interyed with another program core. But within the same core, the program was whole. Shuri was on edge the whole time as she tested the feasibility of modrising the programs since the sess of the entire project hinged on it being possible.

    The reason for this dependence was that her design required the modules in the core to connect andplete through external connections.

    Shuri centred her min and proceeded to draw the first of the many modules that would be squashed inside the less-than-palm-sized mana core. After designing and redrawing the program through multiple iterations, Shuri could confidently say that she could print the thing with her eyes closed, not that she would decide to act on that arrogant thought. So, inevitably, the first set of stable modules was finished within the hour.

    Shuri loosened her muscles, taking a moment to rx, before picking up one of the wooden pieces on the table and assembling the first octant of the wand. Then, while holding it in ce, she started to draw the next set of modules that would bridge the gap from the first set through this wooden piece. This process was slower, as she had to be methodical in her approach. Therefore, within an hour and a half, the module wasplete and Shuri could fasten the wooden piece against the wooden frame that was affixed to the core.

    This process continued for a very long time. There were, in total, 8 pieces that needed to be assembled on top of the mana core. Each new addition added additionalyers of interdependency in the modules which expanded the programming time substantially.

    As time passed, Shuri grew more and more agitated as her vision of the product started to grow clearer. This was what her core was urging her to create! This would be her masterpiece... or one of them. The ethereal tapestry that was projected around her started to fill up with a magnificent design, one whose intricacy and beauty only she could appreciate.

    At the tenth hour since she ced the inscription ink on the core, the once empty, ethereal tapestry was stered with lines, gates and spell circles. As for the core itself, it was no longer a naked sphere with a wooden frame housing it. On its ce was a spherical construct that resembled a two-by-two Rubik''s cube. Its sides weren''t coloured but had raised Braille letterings.

    Shuri scanned the program, which was an amalgamation of various modules, onest time and released a satisfied smile. She then moved her palm over the gem at the side of the stand and allowed a pulse of mana to flow through it.

    In doing so, the projection shook and started topress into the core. Then, Shuri waited. She waited while the core analysed her input and chose whether to ept it or not. Shuri wasn''t certain if it would seed - she''d never shoved so many modr programs into a core before (maybe two or three at most, but here there were over fourteen modules).

    The evaluation took much longer than expected - most likely because the stability of the program was being put to a rigorous battery of tests. But after a gruelling thirty-minute wait, the pulsing core stabilised itself.

    The sess was met with a silent celebration as Shuri wriggled in ce, pumping her fists all around and revealing a euphoric expression. The expression warped even more as she started to feel her core pulsing out mana in earnest - she was going through a minor breakthrough.

    Shuri did not let herself get lost in the ecstasy like thest time and proceeded to guide her mana as her core willed it.

    In some ways, mana behaves like electricity, in that it takes the path of the least resistance when given the opportunity. As a mage advances and grows, their mana channels change and orient themselves differently. In doing so, the most optimal mana pathways in the body also change. Knowing the optimal pathways is important because it ensures that the mana the mage uses from its core arrives where it is needed quickly. In the grand scheme of things, what should matter is that mana gets from point A to point B. However in abat scenario where two mages are caught casting the same spell at the same time, the minor time difference in getting mana from point A to B through pipeline C (which offers less resistance) over D can make heck of a lot of difference in the survival chances of the caster.

    Finding out all the paths of the least resistance in one''s body is a chore and requires a lot of time to do manually. Luckily, when one advances, their core does the job for them by moving their mana through all the least resistive channels automatically - one just needs to centre themselves and take note of how the mana is moved. Advancement may not reveal ALL the optimal routes, but definitely highlights a good handful.

    Shuri''s minor advancement was, as the name indicated, short-lived. Following this, Shuri stood up giddily and picked up the device still positioned on the stand. She held it in her palm and rotated it while inspecting its appearance. With both her hands, she proceeded to apply pressure in the orthogonal and transverse directions (along a vector that did not induce a turn of theyers), to test the robustness of the product. There was some jiggling, but that was within her margin of error. To ensure that there weren''t any minor faults during construction, she pushed her mana sense through the apparatus and inspected it thoroughly.

    With a satisfied smile, Shuri pocketed the apparatus and walked out of her room at a brisk pace, her destination: the spell casting grounds.

    As it was past sunset, and close to dinner time (which Shuri did not want to miss) the field was empty. She positioned herself at the centre and faced one of the target dummies on the other end.

    She brought out a dark strap of cloth from her jacket pocket and tied it around her eyes, essentially blinding her. She then held her creation in her right hand and pointed it in the general direction of the dummy. Her fingers twisted and turned the device with maddening efficiency. As she did this, the device started to project spell circle modules in front of it, that began to connect and disconnect until a simple spell circle formed in ce. During this entire process, the ball would release a series of almost inaudible sounds like thumps, thwumps, thomps, shooms, shwumps, chings, twangs, bongs, and many more. Some would repeat when thebination of movements she performed was simr. With thest piece in position and the spell circlepleted, a faint and pleasant cling echoed from the core and the projection started to rotate as mana was drawn from her core and fuelled into the spell.

    From the centre of the spell circle, a marble-sized |Fireball| took shape and jetted out towards the dummy. A small snap resonated across the field, which Shuri took as a sign that her spell had seeded. Just as she moved the cloth from over her eyes and stopped supplying mana, the ball in the palm of her hands started to reorient itsyers until it returned to the way it was in the beginning.

    "I''d say that''s a sess," Shuri dered. "I guess a few more tests are in order."

    Shuri didn''t dawdle and started to operate her product with flurrying movements. She wanted to see how it performed with moreplex spells, erroneous spells, and even spellbinations that were technically possible but not ounted for in her design. She also wanted to see if there was a time limit to the core''s functionality.

    She found that, as nned, erroneous spell formations were rejected with an audible buzzer sound which would then reorient the device back to its initial configuration.

    Complex spells had a limit - that is there were only a certain amount of modules you could call in session before the core would once again release an audible buzzer noise and reorient itself back to start.

    Unounted-for spellbinations weren''t rejected, but there weren''t any audible cues that signalled sess when such a spell was formed. Shuri decided that she would try to ount for these in the next iteration of the design.

    Finally, after an entire hour of testing, she found that the core hadn''t overheated or shut down, which meant that there was a minimum of an hour''s worth of uninterrupted operation avable with this core. Of course, she should test for longer but in doing so she would have to face Matron Reva''s wrath for missing another meal.

    Finally, Shuri also tested the effectiveness of the device in stimting the movement of mana through one''s mana channels. In doing so, she noted something peculiar. Once the mana core seeded in creating a spell circle, it would inject a short pulse of mana into the caster, which was then reflected by an outflow of mana from their core through their mana channels. It was like the device was informing the caster''s core about what was being cast!

    This was a new discovery that warranted further study. BUT, all of that could wait since the most important part of the design process was still remaining.

    Getting the product into the user''s hands and receiving their feedback.

    BUT that could wait for tomorrow... after dinner.

    Word Count: 1681

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    Junior_Sundar

 Chapter 361 The Verdict

    361 The Verdict

    The next day was just like any other for most people in the Sect... but not Shuri. Today was the day her creation would face the music - the Magi-Core, as she called it, which was an analogue to the wand she carried with her but for the visually impaired would finally find use by her target audience.

    But before leaving to find Yohn, Shuri paused and considered her approach. She took a detour and visited the Maker-Space to fetch a few tools for arts and crafts. The first thing she did was use some tough paper to create a box justrge enough to house the Magi-Core. She then sealed it with some adhesive and proceeded to wrap it in colourful paper, and a cloth ribbon. She let herself indulge in the petite and beautiful present before her and pocketed it inside her jacket.

    As she walked towards the library, the ce where Yohn usually hung out, she pondered over her earlier detour. There was no function to hide the product in ayer of mystery. Except maybe adding a hint of vour and fun to it. But again, why did she do that?

    She thought back to all the times the Sect conducted celebrations of achievements with cake, as well as the various birthdays where muffins and coborative presents were gifted to the birthday person.

    ''Maybe this is the Sect getting to me,'' Shuri hypothesised with a faint smile. ''A notion of celebration just adds meaning to even the most mundane of actions.''

    The Magi-Core was an Automagic marvel per Shuri''s admission. Nothing of this sort had ever been made before - it was a first of its kind. But what mattered more was the implication of this device: it brought magic to a segment of the poption that would never be able to harness it in their lifetime. People who are either born blind or turned blind because of something no longer have to just ept the lot in life that they are assigned.

    ''An opportunity,'' Shuri emphasised. ''This wasn''t something I was afforded in the Pce. But it is totally in line with what the True World Sect believes: in giving fair chances, and being able to live the reality you want to.''

    As she pondered on this thought, her palms worriedly massaged the pendant hanging around her neck. Her thoughts roamed on a matter she had hidden from the world, and herself. A matter she sorely wished to forget, but one that she wasn''t sure would ever separate itself from her.

    As she stood in front of the majestic library doors, Shuri shook her head to clear away all aberrant thoughts.

    ''The moment is what matters!''

    She then opened the door decisively... while maintaining proper library etiquette. She didn''t need to search around for long as Yohn was standing inside a nearby row.

    She fought against the urge to yell out the boy''s name and walked towards him briskly.

    "Yohn!" Shuri called out as she neared him.

    "Hmm? Senior Sister Shuri," Yohn responded with a bow in her general direction. "What brings you into these necks of the woods?"

    Shuri didn''t exin further and quickly shoved the present in her jacket into the boy''s hands.

    "Umm," Yohn mumbled. "I cannot see what it is."

    "That''s the point!" Shuri responded good-naturedly. But Yohn''s face warped into a confused squint.

    "What I mean to say is, you don''t need to see it. You just need to feel it," Shuri reiterated after letting out an embarrassed cough. "Oh! Before you do that, I should probably take you to the practising fields."

    "What''s in this thing?" Yohn asked while trying to untie the ribbon, but the box was immediately pulled out of his hands by Shuri.

    "Follow me!" She dered before grabbing his hands and leading him out of the Library. The blinded boy walked carefully down the stairs, one step at a time, while Shuri practically covered three or four in one leap. Her excitement was palpable, and it started to infect the boy as well, who increased his pace subconsciously.

    "Alright, we''re here," Yohn confirmed. "What now?"

    "Open it!" Shuri demanded while shoving the box once again into his hands.

    Yohn decided to drop all formalities and shredded the present, getting straight to the spherical Magi-Core within.

    "What''s this?" Yohn asked while carefully inspecting the device that fit perfectly into his palms. Yohn''s fingers rubbed against a corner piece, "And is this Braille? This says... ''Up''"

    "This is your wand," Shuri announced. "It''s called the Magi-Core."

    "What do I do with it?" Yohn asked, his voice faintly bubbling with excitement.

    "Let me show you," Shuri said while positioning the ball in his palms. "You''re supposed to hold it like this, with the corner piecebelled ''Up'' pointing upwards, and the corresponding two sides oriented ''Left'' and ''Front'' where ''Front is facing you."

    "The first spell we''re going to cast is a simple |Fireball|," Shuri exined.

    "Don''t we need a piece of coal for that?" Yohn probed.

    "Not with this," Shuri answered with a shake of her head. "The Magi-Core is capable of holding a fixed quantity of mana. Since you don''t have the mana sense to observe it, I''ll just say that it has exactly 5086M. It regenerates at 85.3M/hr. A |Fireball| costs 92M without coal as a fuel. With coal, it is just 10M. The Magi-Core will exhaust itself first before tapping into your mana, so you do the rest of the maths."

    Yohn nodded affirmatively and focused while Shuri exined and turned theyers of the Magi-Core in his palms.

    "You need to make sure that when you start jumbling the Magi-Core, you start with the corner piece in the exact location. This is important to set the targeting vector," Shuri emphasised. "The sounds you hear have special meaning. This one-" *TWANG* "-implies that the twobinations built a sessful module." Turning the ball a few more times elicited a *BONG* "That means that you have a sessful spell. Now if you stop, it will cast the spell, but we can still keep going-" *CLING* "But this sound means that there are no more possiblebinations after this one. It also indicates that a sessful spell will be cast."

    As she moved away, a spell circle formed in front of the core.

    "My goodness! I feel it!" Yohn yelled in surprise while a |Fireball| formed at the centre of the circle before jetting out towards the other end of the field.

    "I-I did it?!" Yohn eximed as his face stretched out with an ecstatic smile. "I did it! Shuri did you see that? I just cast a |Fireball|, and I felt my mana too!"

    Shuri controlled her face from sumbing to the boy''s infectious smile and said, "Try it by yourself, this-"

    Before she could finish, Yohn had alreadypleted the spell with a melodious *CLING*, which was immediately followed by a tap as the |Fireball| struck a target at the other end of the field.

    Shuri tried to approach Yohn, but the boy''s face was stic with a maniacalugh as he fired one |

    Fireball| after another.

    After eighty continuous collisions of fire against the dummy, Yohn was hunched over while exhausted and sweaty. But none of it diminished the broad smile that cleft his face in two. If the boy had eyeballs in his empty sockets, they would be beaming with a bright lustre as well.

    "Now that you''ve got that out of your system," Shuri said with an exhausted sigh. "Why don''t I exin how it all works."

    But right at that moment, the Sect Leader''s voice interjected the duo''s conversation.

    "Yohn!" The man eximed as he arrived at the scene. Had he not been in the Core Formation realm, Shuri was certain that he would be panting right now given the frantic expression on his face and the hopeful glint in his eyes. "D-Did you just-?"

    His eyes darted towards Shuri, and upon receiving an affirmative nod from her, he broke down into a peal of uproariousughter. Shuri was also certain that a trace of tear descended past his nose, but was quickly dabbed away by the cuff of his sleeve.

    Then, in one swift motion, the man rushed forward and raised Shuri onto his right shoulder. He then slid with equal swiftness towards Yohn and pulled the boy onto the other shoulder.

    "YOU DID IT!" The Sect Leader eximed while tossing them up lightly in celebration. He then broke out into a run while whooping excitedly all along the way.

    A resounding "WOOHOOOOO" echoed all over the mountain, drawing the attention of everyone in the Sect.

    Shuri held on to dear life as the man''s velocity rose drastically and veered towards the dreaded space in the entire Sect.

    The Kitchen.

    "GRACE!" The Sect Leader bellowed animatedly. "GRACE!"

    "WHAT?!" A voice shot back as the door to the kitchen burst open. A woman wearing an apron and a hai stepped out with an annoyed expression on her face.

    "Grace! Fire up the oven. It''s time to make another cake," the Sect Leader dered.

    "Again? Didn''t we just have one celebration a few weeks back? Guy, all this sugar will ruin the kid''s teeth, you know that!" Matron Reva reminded.

    "I know, I know-"

    "Why''re those two on your shoulders? And what''s with all the ruckus?" Matron Reva fired back with a confused frown.

    "Shuri did it!" The Sect Leader eximed.

    "Did wha-" At that moment, the Matron''s mind put two and two together and her usual dour face turned into a relieved smile which then quickly brightened into a fully tedugh.

    The woman uncharacteristicallymitted to a happy leap and hugged the Sect Leader, nearly pushing Shuri and Yohn off of the man''s shoulders.

    At that instant, Shuri noticed a mischievous grin form on the Sect Leader''s face, before the man pulled the Matron onto his back.

    And amidst a fearful shriek, the man burst into a full-on sprint while whooping excitedly all around pulled the Matron onto his back.

    And amidst a fearful shriek, the man burst into a full-on sprint while whooping excitedly all around the Sect.

    "WE DID IT! WOOHOOOOOOOO!"

 Chapter 362 "Now I Am Become Death, The Destroyer Of Worlds."

    ?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Following the impromptu celebration of Shuri''stest creation, she was called into the Sect Leader''s office the very next morning. Shuri moved towards her destination with a jolly skip in her steps, as the tion from the night before still clung to her. After all, she''d achieved two sesses - a revolutionary Automagic creation as well as an advancement in her cultivation.

    She wasn''t sure why she was being called to the Sect Leader''s office, and that too with such a formal invite. As a letter had been delivered to her doorstep with highly formalnguage saying that they would have to, "Discuss the future of the new Intellectual Property and its inclusion in the Sect''s vast portfolio."

    In truth, Shuri didn''t know what to do with the Magi-Core. It was a product with immense potential and could shake the magdscape for years toe. BUT with great poweres an equally great amount of scrutiny. A ripple this big would attract the big fish in the sea, and if they sensed even a droplet of blood, Shuri anticipated a ruthless feeding frenzy. Where would she fall into this equation?

    Needless to say, the uing meeting will answer that question as well. What was the Sect Leader going to do with such a double-edged asset?

    "We won''t be mass-producing this and selling this in the market," the Sect Leader dered decisively. Shuri was sitting opposite him, with Markus, Marie and Furion beside her.

    "There is potential for great profit here," Furion pointed out. "It also offers the VTC to branch out its investments-"

    "The Magi-Core is a weapon," Markus interjected. "The VTC does not ply in that trade, Furion."

    The hefty and increasingly orange-skinned boy shrugged and said, "I believe it is a matter of eventuality. We have expanded roots into every possible industry in some shape or form. The weaponry and defence field is the only segment of the market where we are going through third parties."

    At that moment, the Sect Leader raised his palms and said, "It isn''t a matter of eventuality. I am avoiding that market segment on purpose, even though it is highly profitable to do so. It doesn''t align with our Sect''s values."

    "Though I would like to point out that the Magi-Core is more of a support structure for the visually impaired. It is just like a tool to help them, is it not?" Furion reasoned.

    "A tool to build can turn into a tool to destroy depending on how you use it," the Sect Leader countered. "We see the Magi-Core in a positive light because it offers an avenue for growth, for a group of people who have been suppressed and denied a normal opportunity. However, the Magi-Core has uses that go beyond just that - you know it, I know it, and I don''t believe others won''t be able to put one-and-one together and learn of it as well."

    The Sect Leader poured a cup of tea for everyone present while expounding, "I believe it hase time for us to discuss the ethics behind controlling what we know and what we allow others to know. All this while, I have been teaching that knowledge must be shared and that hoarding knowledge is antithetical to its purpose."

    He revealed a bitter smile and said, "I probablye across as a hypocrite for saying this after all that."

    "Not at all, Master!" Markus denied animatedly.

    "Oh, please!" Marie shot back. "In your eyes, your Master can do no wrong."

    "My belief hasn''t failed me till now," Markus argued.

    "Enough, you two!" Sect Leader Larks cut the argument decisively. "Marie is right in voicing her scepticism. But I am sure she is doing so only out of benefit for the others present. She knows better than anyone just how devastating certain knowledge can be when handed to people whock the conscientiousness and expertise to properly use it."

    "The Magi-Core is dangerous in the hands of those who aren''t initiated to our line of thought," Shuri spoke up. "Otherwise the Magic Wand would also bemercialised."

    "Exactly!" The Sect Leader agreed with a snap of his fingers. "When you create a product, you often have a vision of how it should be used. People can use a spoon to bolt a door, doesn''t mean they should."

    "But if it''s effective..." Marie mumbled off to the side.

    "But that is a mild example. A shield is used to block against attackers, but it also has the potential to bash someone''s head in. Is that its purpose in life? No. But can it achieve its objective? Definitely, sometimes even more efficiently than a mace whose express purpose in life IS to bash people''s skulls into a paste," the Sect Leader said with a scoff. "With that said, I don''t want my ''shield'' to be a skull-basher. I would prefer if I had control over the narrative, to put it differently."

    He then turned to Shuri and said with a serious frown, "Which is why I request that Shuri hand over the rights to this intellectual property to the Sect."

    This caused the mood in the room to sour markedly.

    "But Master, this sets a precedent-"

    "Let it!" The Sect Leader emphasised with a resolute re. "If anyone else develops weapons then all rights to it will be appropriated by the Sect."

    "That''s a lot of power for one person," Marie reminded. "You are asking us to just trust you and take your word for it."

    "The Sect isn''t just me," the Sect Leader reminded. "The Sect''s byws dictate that any big decision that has the ability to affect the Sect''s direction will be put through an anonymous vote, with the pool consisting of every one thoroughly informed of the problem. I move for this precedent to be put to a vote, the result of which will then determine how to move forward with the dissemination of the Magi-Core."

    "But Jean isn''t here," Markus pointed out worriedly.

    "Doesn''t matter, we have a quorum," Marie cut him off. "I second this move. Let us vote on it."

    "Don''t I get a say in this?" Shuri spoke up. "I mean, I am one of the concerned stakeholders here. I am the one who designed and created the Magi-Core. I am the one who will have to eventually make them too. If the Sect does appropriate my IP, then I will be forced to create these things against my will."

    "Not really," the Sect Leader answered. "If you don''t want to make anymore, that is perfectly fine. I can''t force you- WE can''t force you to do anything."

    Then with a sigh, he added, "But if the Sect does gain the rights to your IP, we will stop you from making and distributing Magi-Cores without approval."

    "What if the Sect doesn''t gain the rights? What if the vote is not in favour of appropriation?" Shuri challenged.

    To that, the Sect Leader shrugged and admitted, "Then there is nothing else I can do apart from imploring your morality - your sense of right and wrong - and trying to convince you on a personal level."

    "Why aren''t we starting with that first, then?" Shuri shot back with an affronted look on her face.

    "Because then it would be considered emotional maniption and abuse of power," the Sect Leader said to justify his actions. "The official channel is impersonal. If the decision seeds, then great. If the decision falls through, so be it."

    "I still don''t like it," Shuri admitted. "I was promised autonomy, but this would effectively steal that away from me."

    There was silence in the room as the Sect Leader''s gaze drilled down on Shuri.

    "I won''t justify my decision by saying that I am doing it for your own good," the Sect Leader said, breaking the tense silence. "Maybe in a few years, when you see the death toll the proliferation of the tool you created has wrought your mind will change. You may feel deeply conflicted, thinking that all that blood is on your hands. Maybe you won''t, saying that once it is out there it is the decision of the user and not the creator."

    He leaned back, looked towards the ceiling and continued, "I don''t want people to die unnecessary deaths. And I don''t want you to be consumed by guilt either. So I am proceeding down this path, even if it is wrong, goes against my earlier words, or hurts you. You are free to hate me for it. And if you doe to the same realisationter on, I don''t need you to thank me for it either."

    Shuri furrowed her brows before getting up and leaving the room. She did feel hurt, but she also understood where the Sect Leader wasing from. She agreed with his analysis but was equally conflicted that it came with the cost of her autonomy in this matter.

    ____

    "I should go talk to her-" Markus said as he tried to get up.

    "Let her work through this on her own," Maries stopped him by cing a forceful hand on his shoulder. "Currently, her pride and sensibility are in emotional conflict. But, Shuri is more sensible than she is prideful, so she''lle back to it eventually."

    "But she is still upset," Markus said while pulling his lips into a thin line, concerned. He then pushed away Marie''s hand and left the room as well.

    "So, what should I do?" Furion said, finally. "I hope I wasn''t called here to sit through a pointless spat."

    "I need you to use your marketing channels to find more members for the Sect," Sect Leader Larks answered with a business-like tone. "Focus only on teenagers of recruitment age who are visually impaired."

    "Oh?" Furion acknowledged with a cock of his brows.

    "No matter the oue of the vote, the opportunities afforded by the Magi-Core will be reaped," Sect Leader Larks affirmed. "I only want five new members for the time being. And try to get them from all walks of life, not just the financially underprivileged."

    "I shall make it so," Furion dered before standing up, bowing, and leaving.

    Then, there was just Marie and the Sect Leader alone in the room.

    "You have anything to say," the Sect Leader probed.

    Marie closed her eyes for a few minutes, before saying, "Matron Reva is in a mood today, so I wouldn''t annoy her."

    "She''s always in a mood," Sect Leader Larks groaned.

    "That''s not true," Marie denied. "Before you came, she was pretty nd."

    "So you''re saying that I''m the problem?"

    "If it quacks like a duck and waddles like one... I mean, I don''t even need to use the Heavenly Eye to answer that question!" Marie mocked before getting up and leaving as well.

    As she was just about to leave the ear, she heard the man grumble, "Damn it! I really could use some cake right now..."

 Chapter 363 The Journeying Woman

    363 The Journeying Woman

    "How much longer?" Kili groaned loudly, as shey on her back and waved her legs in the air.

    "I told you, there''s still some work left for us to do," Jean responded with an amused smile.

    "But you said that we were returning home! I need to get back before Dora gets stronger, and I can''t defeat her any more," Kili argued.

    Jean waved her hand dismissively and reminded, "I don''t think you should be using your powers before we know what exactly is happening to you. Learning through experimentation is all well and good as long as it isn''t your body that you are messing around with."

    Kili released another loud groan before rolling over and shoving her face into her pillow.

    "Physician Rasmus! Physician Rasmus!" A frantic voice called out, which was immediately followed by rapid knocking on her door. Jean stood up from behind her desk and moved towards the exit briskly.

    As she opened the door, she was greeted by the tear-stained face of an elderly man, hunched over and garbed in dirt-ridden clothing. A relieved expression shed past his face before it was once again drowned in despair.

    "Oh, thank goodness you are still here!" The man eximed amidst heavy breaths... "Physician Rasmus... My grandchild-"

    Jean interrupted the struggling man with a raised palm and said, "Lead me to her."

    She then turned to Kili and gestured for the girl to follow along.

    The man nodded before hobbling back the way he came and down the steps. Together, they left the inn''s premises and walked northwards.

    After cleaning up the gued Lands, Jean intended to return to the Sect for some rest and recuperation. It was an arduous affair that had drained her. However, along the way, she stopped by a vige where she observed and was involved in a rather peculiar event - the birth of conjoined twins.

    Jean had only ever heard of such sessful births through rumours in the medical circles because it almost always resulted in the death of the foetus or the mother. Luckily for the women going through childbirth, Jean was present and knowledgeable about the Caesarean section, thanks to which they were able to ovee the dangers of naturally birthing the conjoined twins.

    Of course, the challenge did not end after childbirth, since something had to be done about the twins who were born with a defect. The vigers were quick to dismiss the deformed twins, who were joined in the head, as they didn''t believe the two could survive (which would be the case since there was no medical procedure to safely separate them). The mother, though, wasn''t on board with this dismissal and was adamant to see her children grow up to be fully functioning and independent adults.

    At this juncture, Jean decided to step in. And although she didn''t make any promises of sess, she assured the mother that she would try her best.

    She then explored the physique of the conjoined twins with great detail. She observed their neural, circtory and skeletal systems in particr, to see how the conjoining affected them. After all, separating the two wouldn''t be as simple as just cutting them at the point of intersection.

    And true to her assumption, she was greeted with the sight of a supper-massive brain spanning the volume of both their skulls. The two shared arge brain.

    Jean then spent three entire days, focussedpletely on tracing out neural and circtory pathways to surgically separate the twins. It was tiring and highly involved. Ultimately, the twins were separated.

    Unfortunately, her attempt was only a half-sess since one of the twins could not be saved. Jean was dismayed by the oue, but the mother was overjoyed - which was understandable. She was expecting the loss of two children, but one survived. In a world where the sess of childbirth grows more capricious as the number of children being born at once increases, having a sess rate of 2 out of 3 was unbelievably generous.

    In fact, thepletion of the procedure also pushed Jean into the Internal stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. But Jean did not feel the mood to celebrate, as she was more preupied with burying the forgotten body of the expended twin.

    This was Jean''s second loss after advancing (the first being Josie), and it was another notch in her heart. After working through the sorrow, Jean resolved to cancel her return and continue her initial objective of travelling around and plying her medical craft.

    She dered internally that if she were toe across another case of conjoined twins, she would ensure that both would survive. To do that, though, she needed practice, which could only be rued through her journey - much to Kili''s chagrin.

    And like that, Jean turned away from her current trajectory and went to the next settlement, and then the next, and so on. With each settlement visited, Jean gained the opportunity to work with illnesses and afflictions both known and unknown. This in turn expanded her repertoire of knowledge.

    Her journey ultimatelynded her in the current settlement, which was a vige close to bing a township, a few hundred kilometres southwards from the Capital.

    "You can exin what happened to her as we go to the location," Jean pointed out, to which the old man nodded frantically and exined.

    "The child, she was ying on the tree near our fields," the old man exined while panting. "But then she slipped and fell. I was too far away to catch her- and- and-"

    At that instant, as they neared the ident site, Jean heard a woman''s loud andmenting wail. Deducing that this was probably where the aforementioned child was, she left the old man behind and rushed onwards. There, she stumbled upon arge crowd forming around the tree, which happened to border the fencing for the field. And on that fencing, was the impaled and unconscious body of the girl, eight years of age. Beside the girl, were her father and her copsed mother.

    The wooden fencing had pierced through her stomach. An immediate scan with her mana sense revealed that the internal damage was minimal. But would be exacerbated real soon, since the father was about to lift the girl out from the fence.

    "Stop!" Jean eximed before rushing forward and pushing the father aside. "Do you want her to die?"

    "What are you-" the father started with unbridled rage but faltered upon realising who his attacker was. But his ire reemerged and while shakily pointing his finger, he yelled, "Y-You leave my daughter alone!"

    At that instant, the elderly man forced his way through the crowd and yelled, "Joris! Let the Physician do her work!"

    "Old man! You had one job, to take care of my girl. And you failed that! And now, you bring this- this-"

    "She fixed my back! Don''t you remember?" The old man reasoned. "She could save little Rind too-"

    "Is it even possible toe from an injury like that?" Someone in the crowd murmured.

    That audiblement caused the already devastated mother to lose consciousness and the father to panic even more. This caused Jean''s presence of mind to crack. Her eyes narrowed down on the individual who made thement, a portly, middle-aged woman, and bore down on her.

    "If no one here has anything meaningful to contribute, leave!" Jean barked. "Is it fun watching people suffer? If that is the case, I believe experiencing the pain first-hand will scratch that itch of yours more satisfactorily."

    That threat caused the crowd to disperse immediately.

    "And you," Jean said to the father this time. "Rind here can still be saved. I need you to take your wife home and make her drink some water to calm herself."

    "B-But-"

    The elderly man took over and quickly swatted his son on the back of his head, "Listen to the good child! Look at what happened to your wife. You aren''t doing anything by being here anyway."

    Jean thanked the man with a light nod before approaching the impaled girl. The victim was barely conscious, due to the blood loss.

    Then, Jean grabbed the wooden fence above and below the girl''s impaled region and broke it off, freeing the child from the static post. Jean carried her carefully and ced her over an unfurled sheet, courtesy of Kili who had carried her work bag along and prepped the treatment area. During their travels, Kili had picked up techniques to reduce the burden on Jean when it came time to treat patients. One such trick was the process of sanitising and preparing the work area.

    "She''s lost a lot of blood..." Jean mumbled. At that instant, a petite hand extended forward from her side.

    "What are you doing?" Jean asked Kili.

    "You needed blood, right?" Kili answered with a cute, yet serious expression.

    Jean ruffled the girl''s head and said, "Why would I need yours? Stop offering up your blood for everything! Go fetch the Vitality Invigoration Potion. You remember where it is, right?"

    Kili looked up thoughtfully before nodding in affirmation. She ruffled through the bag and retrieved a phial with a deep-red liquid in it.

    "You remember what this is made of?" Jean asked while carefully pouring the liquid down the injured girl''s throat.

    "Its primary ingredient is the Enduring Lotus," Kili answered.

    "What else can the Enduring Lotus be used for?" Jean continued.

    "The pad of the lotus can be squeezed to extract its oil, which can then be used to coat items with a temporary waterproofyer. The seeds of the lotus can be squeezed for oils and can be used for cooking. The seeds can also be eaten as a light snack," Kili narrated from memory.

    "What else?" Jean asked. This time, Kili revealed a sheepish smile in defeat.

    "Due to the strength of the lotus stem and root, we can use it to make ropes in a pinch. Peasants also use it to make temporary and cheap clothing or apparel," Jean finished. She then patted Kili on her head and said, "Good job!"

    Turning away from the girl''s beaming smile, Jean looked towards the child who was just gaining consciousness. The potion was taking effect, as more blood gushed out from the impaled site.

    "This is going to hurt a little," Jean warned in a soothing voice. She then ced a roll of cloth in the

    child''s mouth, "Bite down hard!"

    A muffled scream echoed across the field as Jean removed the fencing and started to surgically fix the ruptured intestines.

 Chapter 364 Chance Encounter

    364 Chance Encounter

    An hourter, the parents returned to the site of the ident with an anxious hastiness in their steps. The recovering mother nearly fainted once again after noticing the literal bloodbath her daughter was put through. An assuring tap from the more observant husband, who noticed his daughter''s chest moving up and down calmly, pulled her out of it.

    "H-How is she?" The man asked worriedly.

    "She''s out of trouble, for the moment," Jean answered. Noticing her hands soaked in blood, the man took a few cautious steps back. She read this action and immediately burned away the blood with a quick spell. She then reached into her bag and retrieved five, finger-sized phials with a translucent liquid before handing it to the man. "Make sure to feed this to her once, every day, after her morning meal. Feed her the entire phial, do not ration it, and do not feed it to anyone else. Once you are done with it, keep the phials in boiling water for two minutes."

    The man nodded like a chicken pecking at grains. Jean then paused and continued by exining the entire situation, "The fencing had ruptured her intestines. But I''ve managed to suture them as well as I can. I will remain here for a few days, to observe her recovery. Let me remind you that while your daughter is no longer bleeding, and is more or less put together, she is notpletely out of trouble. The medicine in your hands right now is to treat potential postoperative illnesses."

    "Post- what?" The father eximed.

    "To put it in simpler terms," Jean reiterated. "I had to open up your daughter''s body to fix the damage inside. Generally, the internal organs aren''t supposed to be exposed to the outside world. In doing so, and that too in such an unsafe and unsanitary environment, there is a possibility that she will get an illness caused by bacteria and germs."

    "Is she going to die?!" The mother burst in.

    "Not if you give her the medicine exactly as I told you to," Jean responded in an assuaging manner. "Oh, and try not to move her too much. Shocking and jerking might cause her stitch to fall apart, which may result in internal bleeding."

    "How do we move her?" The father asked while assessing his daughter''s state.

    "Prepare a space for her at your home. I will bring her over," Jean answered.

    The mother was quick to respond, as she didn''t wait for a second before sprinting back the way she came. Jean retrieved a stretcher from her storage disk and instructed the father on how to move the child onto it. They then lifted the stretcher and carried it all the way to their home.

    It was a simple farmer''s cottage made of wood, stone and mud, with straw roofing - simr to the ones back in Twilight Vige before the recent refurbishments. By the time they arrived, the mother was already waiting outside, pacing back and forth in worry. Once she noticed the stretcher approaching, she quickly guided everyone to their destination, the second sleeping room in the house.

    "Where''s father?" The husband asked before cing the stretcher next to the straw mattress in the room.

    "He''s preparing the barn for us to sleep in," she answered.

    "What?" Jean interrupted.

    "Physician Rasmus did say that she would have to observe Rind for a few days. So I prepared the big room for you to sleep in," the woman answered.

    "Why would you do that?" The husband growled. "Why would Physician Rasmus stay here at a sty like ours?"

    "B-But-"

    "Don''t get me wrong," Jean interjected before the argument could barrel out of control. "It''s not that I have a problem staying in your house. It''s just that I don''t want to disce you from your homes."

    Before the woman could insist harder, Jean added, "I''ll be in the same inn if there is any emergency. I will be dropping by regrly to check up on Rind regardless."

    The wife moved forward to urge Jean to reconsider, however, she was held back by her husband who then redirected her attention towards taking care of the ailing child. Jean did not wish to overstay and left the house. As she did so, she crossed paths with the elderly man who fetched her earlier.

    "How is Rind?" The man inquired with a concerned voice. There was also guild marring his face.

    "She''ll be okay. This isn''t the first impalement I''ve treated, so I have some experience," Jean responded. "Though it is my first time with a regr human. Mages tend to have superior regenerative properties, after all. Nheless, she will heal just slower. It definitely helps that she''s still young - kids tend to recover faster, after all."

    "I won''t be able to live with myself if anything happens to her," the man admitted. "They had Rind after so much effort - so many failed pregnancies. It would devastate them to lose the child after all that. And it would kill me to see my son go through that."

    Jean reached forward and hugged the man from his side. "It won''t reach that far. I won''t let it."

    The man eked out a kind smile before walking up to the door to the house. His hand hesitated as it hovered over the handle before he carefully pushed down and entered.

    "Will she really be okay?"

    "My goodness! When did you get here!" Jean eximed while hopping to the side in surprise.

    Kili gave her a ''Are you kidding me?'' look and said, "I was there beside you this entire time."

    "You''re so quiet," Jean mumbled.

    "I literally sneezed just a minute ago," Kili said with a scoff.

    Jean examined Kili''s face for any falsehoods before harrumphing in defeat and walking away.

    "You didn''t answer my question!" Kili yelled while skipping along.

    "I don''t want to keep repeating myself," Jean answered dismissively.

    "You can''t lie to me," Kili shot back. "I''ve seen that look on your face before."

    Jean halted in her step, causing Kili to collide with her.

    "I won''t let her die," Jean dered with utter certainty in her voice.

    "Do you need my blood?" Kili offered.

    "Stop doing that, will you?!" Jean blurted out with an annoyed voice before walking away in a huff.

    ____

    "She had a heavy feverst night," the mother reported with a perturbed expression. "I tried applying a cold-soaked cloth to bring it down and seeded. But it was touch and go. Rind was shivering fitfully."

    "The reaction is expected," Jean assured the mother while cing her hand on the girl''s forehead. "I have a few more medicines for her-"

    The door to the house opened at that moment and the husband stepped in with a sack over his shoulders.

    "I brought the ingredients you ordered," he said while cing the sack next to Jean.

    "What took you so long?" The wife probed irritatedly.

    "There was a new merchant who came along with the usual caravan," the man responded. "He drew arge crowd. Made it tough to get close to the others."

    "What was it about?" The elderly man asked from a corner of the house.

    "Shady business, if you ask me," the man answered. "He''s looking for blind kids to turn into mages."

    "Blind kids?" The wife chimed in. "What use are blind kids?"

    "That''s what I''m saying - shady business. Nothing goodes with meddling with mages and sects-"

    The man looked at Jean and hurriedly said, "No offence."

    To that, Jean shook her head dismissively and inspected the contents of the sack for its quality.

    "As I was saying- Nothing goodes with meddling with mages. Steb says it''s probably some excuse to lure in the unfortunate blind children and run some experiments on them in secret," the Just as the man said, there was arge crowd at the centre, but above the crowd, she could barely 11:15

    see an orange face and blond head of hair bobbing up and down.

    man theorised. "That''s how they usually do it. The sect environment is an unforgiving grindstone, how do you think some blind kids are going to survive there? They''ll probably get wiped out first thing, and be a sacrifice for someone else, or something like that."

    "That''s awful!" The mother opined. "Who is this merchant? We should report them to the authorities!"

    "We will do nothing of that sort," the elderly man interjected. "Didn''t you hear what your husband said? Nothing goodes with messing with mages. Just ignore them and move on."

    "Yeah! And the merchant himself looks suspicious, if you ask me. It''s some orange-looking kid from an upstart True World Sect?" The husband chimed in.

    Just as that left his lips, Jean''s hand faltered.

    "What?" She said with a quick snap in her voice. "Did you say True World Sect?"

    "Umm, yes?" The man affirmed with a rise in intonation as he expressed his confusion. "Well, I think so?"

    "Was he wearing an insignia on his coat that looked something like this?" She continued while pointing to the blue-green globe on her chest.

    The man leaned forward with a squint and inspected the symbol closely.

    "Oh yeah! Now that I think about it, he did have something like that on his chest. That''s so funny, how do you-"

    There was silence as the three mortals exchanged gazes between themselves and each simultaneously swallowed an audible gulp of saliva.

    "P-Physician Rasmus. I-"

    Jean stood up and walked out at a brisk pace, ignoring the floundering people left behind. Her destination was the vige circle, where the travelling merchants usually set their stalls.

    Just as the man said, there was arge crowd at the centre, but above the crowd, she could barely see an orange face and blond head of hair bobbing up and down.

    "Furion!" She bellowed, drowning out the loud murmur of the crowd. The crowd parted, allowing a path to form between her and the boy in between.

    "Jean?" The boy responded with a smile on his face. "Is that you?"

    Word Count: 1656

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 Chapter 365 Catching Up

    365 Catching Up

    It was indeed as Jean surmised - the orange-skinned blonded was Furion. It was a pleasant surprise for her, to meet someone familiar from the Sect after so many months. As she was about to approach him, the boy raised a finger as a signal for her to hold on and continued his loud narration.

    "As I was saying. The True World Sect is looking to recruit new members on short notice. Our primary criterion is that the members must be visually impaired - preferablypletely blind - and in their early teens," Furion said from his diaphragm, allowing his voice to reach the farthest reaches of the vige from its centre.

    As he finished and dismounted from atop his caravan, murmurs started to proliferate in the crowd.

    "Why would a Sect want blind kids?" One of the members of the crowd vocalised. "This is the first we''re ever hearing of Sect preferring the disabled. Sounds highly suspicious if you ask me."

    Furion let out an irritated huff through his nose and said, "What you have before you is an opportunity. I get the inhibitions and distrust you have towards Sect, given the nasty rumours that follow everything extraordinary thates out of them. But the True World Sect is different-"

    "That''s what they all say!" Another member bellowed animatedly. He then turned to the rest of the gathered crowd and said, "Do you remember what happened to Sion''s son who joined the Soaring Sabre Sect? The boy came back a shell of his former self just within five months."

    That revtion elicited a much louder discussion with more negative terms being thrown about.

    "The True World Sect will support the relocation of the family of any member that joins them-"

    But once again, Furion was interrupted by the same animated member, "Oh?! So destroying the future of a child isn''t enough, now you want to put the family on the scale as well?"

    "Sir, it seems there is a misunderstanding-"

    "Oh, I understand everything perfectly!" The man shot back with righteous fury. "You Sect scum think nothing of us mortals and think you can take advantage-"

    At that moment, a woman rushed into the crowd and struck the man at the back of his head with a rolling pin.

    "Now you''ve gone and done it! You just HAD to offend a Sect, as if we already didn''t have enough enemies," the woman scolded.

    "What do you think you are doing, woman?!" The man snapped back.

    She hit him once again with the pin on his back this time and quickly bowed in Furion''s direction. "Please forgive this idiot for speaking out of line. He suffers from a mental illness-"

    Furion raised a palm and spoke to the entire crowd. "I can empathise with the distrust you all hold towards sects- mages in general. However, what I''ve said is the truth. The True World Sect is offering visually impaired teens an opportunity to pursue the arcane arts. Needless to say, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that may note again. Any child recruited will have benefits extending to their families as well. If you want to learn more about it, you can approach me anytime while I remain in this vige."

    He then turned towards Jean and said, "If you require testimonials to ease your hesitance, then I ask you to approach one of the founding members of our Sect, Jean Rasmus."

    Once this was revealed, all the heads in the crowd turned in her direction simultaneously.

    "Physician Jean?"

    "She was part of a Sect?"

    "I remember the little child that always followed her say something about that. Some ''Truth Sect''-"

    "True World Sect! It''s the True World Sect."

    "Whatever~!"

    Just as the crowd started to rush towards her, she raised both her hands and yelled, "Halt!"

    She then cleared her throat and said, "I- Umm... Need to talk with my colleague first, since it''s been more than half a year since west met. I''ll be at the innter today, let us carry on from there?"

    She then swiftly strafed away and beelined towards Furion, who had conveniently disappeared from the scene.

    ____

    "Hiding, are we?" Jean growled as she approached Furion''s table at the inn. "That too, after dropping the hot potato into my hands."

    "It was more convenient. It would take me an entire week to convince a crowd that the True World Sect means no harm," Furion admitted while gesturing towards the empty eat near him. "I ordered lunch. Where''s Kili?"

    "I''m here," Kili said with a sigh, causing Furion to jolt in his seat.

    "We really need to tie a bell around you," Furion mumbled. "Anyway, you probably have more credibility with these folk than I do. How long were you here?"

    "A week, give or take a few days," Jean responded.

    "Well, you should be positively drowning in goodwill at this point. If you asked them to cut off a toe, they''d do it without question," Furion said with a mirthful snort.

    "Why would I ask them to do that?" Jean shot back with a scowl.

    "It''s not about whether you will do it or not, but rather CAN you do it," he borated while leaning on the table. "Regardless, I need you to get a few blind kids for the Sect."

    "You treat them like merchandise!" Jean snapped.

    "It isn''t my job to recruit people for the Sect!" Furion argued back. "Look it''s short notice, and the Sect Leader has big ns so-"

    He waved his hands as if to encourage her to fill in the nks.

    "Did he seed in making the wand for Yohn?" Jean probed.

    "Not the Sect Leader," Furion said with a shake of his head. "Shuri did."

    "Shuri?"

    "Yeah, the girl has been on the rise," Furion exined. "She advanced into the Foundation Establishment realm- You know what? You''ve missed a lot of developments."

    "I guess so," Jean mumbled in contemtion. "No matter, another Foundation Establishment mage in our ranks only works to raise the Sect''s value."

    "You don''t sound very convincing," Furion said with a chuckle.

    "Shuri is suspicious," Jean admitted. As the waitress arrived with the tter of food, Jean paused and served Kili a serving of rice and vegetables.

    "You know I''m good with faces, right?" Jean asked rhetorically. "The thing is, I''ve seen that face before-"

    21:32

    "Markus did say that she was probably from some highborn household," Furion chimed in.

    before-"

    "Markus did say that she was probably from some highborn household," Furion chimed in.

    "-in the Pce," Jean finished.

    "What?" Furion blurted out, choking on a mouthful of food. "Not just anyone can join in on a Ptial celebration. She is THAT highborn?"

    "That''s what I suspect," Jean answered with a light nod.

    "Now THAT is a hot potato," Furionmented before digging in.

    "Doesn''t it bother you?" Jean asked Furion. "You''re behaving far too casually given the magnitude of what I just said."

    "Whatever her background may be, it''s not going to affect the Sect," Furion dered.

    "How can you be-"

    But Jean''s words halted as a realisation dawned on her. She then shared a nce with Furion.

    ""Marie..."" the two said, simultaneously.

    After a short pause, Jean took a bite of her food and said, "There aren''t any visually impaired teens in this vige."

    "Damn it!" Furion cursed angrily.

    "But there were a few in the town northwest from here," Jean added. "A fraud physician hawked a supplement for pregnant women, saying that it would improve the chances of a sessful pregnancy. Unfortunately, the supplement was faulty and caused the children of those pregnant mothers to be born blind."

    "That''s awful!" Furion eximed.

    "I had a tough time getting them to trust me," Jean followed up. "BUT, I did the leg work for you, so you should have an easier time convincing them to let their kids join the Sect. Make sure to use my name."

    "That does make my life easier," Furion agreed. "So what''s your n? When are you nning to return?"

    "Soon," Jean responded vaguely.

    Furion hummed for a while before tapping the table with his fingertips. "Did I tell you about my rtionship with Mnya?"

    "The daughter of the Minister of Finance?"

    "The one and the same," Furion confirmed before resting his chin on his hand that was propped on the table before him. "So basically, there''s been some talks moving along the governmental grapevine, very hush-hush. She happened to catch a bit of it as she was stalking around her father''s study."

    "I think that''s enough background information," Jean interjected.

    Furion furrowed his brows and revealed, "The gue of Dark Cleansing has been eradicated, and thends are now green again."

    Jean''s hand, which carried the wooden spoon with her food on it, paused.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" Jean said with a stutter. "It''s not like I cured the damn thing."

    Furion''s face crumpled even more before he said, "I didn''t even consider that possibility. I was just telling you this because you and the gue had a history."

    "Oh-"

    "But seeing your reaction right now, I think you DO have something to do with it," Furion probed as he inched closer.

    Jean shook her head vigorously and immediately denied the usations, "N-No I don''t!"

    "Hmm," Furion voiced with sarcasm. "Sure."

    "I''m telling the truth!" Jean reiterated vehemently.

    Furion turned to Kili, whose mouth was engorged with food and asked, "Is she telling the truth?"

    Kili swallowed her mouthful of food and said with a serious expression, "Big Sis told me not to say anything about curing the gue of Dark Cleansing. So please don''t ask me that question."

    "It''s okay," he said with a light chuckle. He turned towards Jean and continued, "I think I know enough."

    He then dabbed his lips with his kerchief and stood up from his seat.

    "Well, I have some work to do. The food''s on my tab, so have some more if you want. And Jean," he paused while looking at her and tapped her shoulder. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

    Word Count: 1677

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 Chapter 366 "Scholarly" Conflict

    366 "Schrly" Conflict

    Seven teens sat awkwardly in a line with their heads lowered and hands ced squarely on theirps. Their appearance was haggard, as though they had juste out of a tussle.

    "I cannot believe I''m forced to have this conversation," Guy''s steely voice boomed as the door to the room swung open, and he strode in with forceful steps. "A fisticuff within the True World Sect - I thought I taught you all to be more civilised than this!"

    He positioned himself against the desk before the seven and leaned against it, tapping his foot as his gaze scanned over the seven guilty miscreants.

    "Well? There better be an exnation for why this happened!" Guy bellowed, causing the seven to flinch instinctively.

    After a five-second pause, Casey raised her head - her face showing a wronged expression - and jabbed a finger in the direction of the three teens on the opposite end of the line, "They started it!"

    "Are you kidding me?" The girl on the far end - Luce - darted off her seat and shot back a re in retaliation. "You''re the one who swatted away Krane''s hand!"

    "It''s because it was right up against my face!" Casey snapped. "What was I supposed to do?"

    "Take a step back, duh!" The boy next to Luce - Krane - interjected.

    "You''re the one who invaded her personal space, why must she be the one to retreat?" Lacey joined in.

    "The only reason he did it was because you weren''t willing to listen!" The third girl from the other end - Norris - said with a low murmur.

    "That''s only because your argument makes no sense!" Kevan interjected. "Why waste time listening to nonsense?!"

    "Yeah! And where do you get off casting disapproval at our work?" Revian chimed in.

    At this point, the silence was quickly reced with a heated argument which was going nowhere. Just before it reached the point of insults being tossed around willy-nilly, Guy stepped forward and snapped, "Enough!"

    "Look at you lot! Acting like a bunch of immature children," Guy chided.

    "But Sect Leader-"

    "No ''buts''!" Guy interrupted. "I''m disappointed in your behaviour! Now, it is clear that this disagreement is between two groups. So I want one person from each group to step forward and exin everything."

    The teen exchanged nces before Kevan and Luce stepped forward from either side of the line. "Decide amongst yourselves who will go first. And while one person is talking, I don''t want anyone to interrupt."

    A silent war transpired between the two teens as all manners of weapons were ejected from their shared re. Ultimately, Kevan lost the staring contest and Luce, after revealing a gloating smirk, cleared her throat and spoke up.

    "The argument started because Krane, Norris and I believe that Kevan and his team''s method to define a unit of mana was wasteful and that ours was better," Luce evoked. "But they just aren''t ready to listen to any criticism. And when we tried to get them to understand, the twins over there started getting physical."

    At that moment, Kevan raised his hands and tapped his feet impatiently. Seeing as Luce had nothing more to add, Guy nudged his head in Kevan''s direction.

    "Those three never exined why our method was wasteful. All they did was berate our methodology and results. And Krane over there started to get up close and personal with us. They started the confrontation," Kevan said angrily.

    Guy nodded contemtively before gesturing for the two to sit back in their seats. He then walked around and sat behind the desk.

    "I want to start by reiterating that physical disputes between Sect members unless officially sanctioned by the Sect, are forbidden. ording to the rules, there should be a ''one strike out'' policy towards infractions like these," Guy emphasised, causing the metaphorical temperature of the room to drop by a few degrees. "However, there is an exception if the victim and the aggressor cane to terms - thetter apologises to the former sincerely and the former epts the apology."

    He then alternated his gaze between all the teens present, the message was clear and was received by the seven almost immediately. A light groan exited their lips simultaneously before the two groups stood and faced each other.

    """""""I''m sorry...""""""" they mumbled in unison.

    "Now shake hands," Guy added, causing seven rigid hands to extend outwards. "Promise each other that you won''t repeat this again- EVER!"

    """""""It won''t happen again...""""""" they mumbled once again.

    "After listening to both sides of the argument, I can tell you with all honesty that both sides are at fault. Kevan and the three of you, it is clear that it was you who initiated the physical aspect of your disagreement. Even if someone is instigating you and pushing you against the corner, as long as they are maintaining a verbal separation you must never raise your arms against them. Because the person who raises their hands first, loses the argument, since it proves that their perspective cannot hold any water, and they need to resort to violence to make it stick."

    After seeing the four nodding in eptance, he turned to the other three and continued, "As for you three. There is a civilised process through which we voice our disagreements and organise our criticisms. No one likes to be told that they are wrong. Doing so is the fast track to aggravating them and initiating a fight. So we need to follow a less confrontational procedure, with a lot less insults, finger-pointing, and invasion of personal space, and a lot more evidence and fact-based discussion. In your insistence to prove that you are correct, you ended up antagonising your colleagues here which is what resulted in the fight."

    The other three nodded in understanding as well. "Do you understand what you did wrong?"

    Once again, they all nodded in unison, to which Guy revealed a faint smile.

    "Good," Guy affirmed. "Since you recognise your mistakes, I want each of you to write a letter of apology. It needs to be finished within the day itself. You will then read it out loud in front of everyone tomorrow morning."

    Guy realised that such a punishment wouldn''t ce him in a positive light amongst the seven here. To read one''s apology in public was humiliating. An apology, when sincere, is something drawn in from the deepest parts of one''s emotions, as it is the active opposition of one''s ego - to go against the insistence of the mind that it is correct and everyone else is wrong. But Guy had a reason for such drastic measures - he wanted to make an example out of them. As the Sect would grow in the future, there would inevitably be more such disagreements and confrontations that would end with flesh colliding against flesh. At that point, enforcing order would be much more difficultpared to now.

    "Is that a problem?" Guy asked rhetorically. To that, he heard a faint chorus of, "No, sir..."

    "I can''t hear you!"

    """""""No, sir!"""""""

    "Good!" Guy affirmed. He then brought his hands together and tapped his fingers against each other. "But this is only a stop-gap solution," he said.

    "The crux of the argument still remains unresolved," Guy expounded. Then, an excited glint bloomed in his eyes as he continued, "However, we cannot reach an agreement through an unstructured approach. As schrs and civilised individuals, we need to apply structure to resolving any intellectual disagreement."

    The kids exchanged confused gazes as they noticed a rise in Guy''s enthusiasm the more he spoke.

    "What we need, is an intellectual spar- abat of consciousness- a proper fight where each side has a fair chance to ce their perspective out into the open and allow a forum of diverse and informed audience make an objective decision on which side is right and which side is wrong, OR which side is more right and which side is less right, OR which side is wrong and which side is more wrong."

    Guy sucked in a loud mouthful of air as he nearly ran out of breath by the end of that long-winded sentence. He then noticed his Sect members growing antsy, as they realised he was nearing a conclusion.

    "What we need..." he paused for dramatic effect, "is a Structured Debate!"

    debate, we have our panel of judges-"

    09:28

    """""""Huh?"""""""

    ____

    "Good morning,dies and gentlemen! Thank you for joining us on this glorious day which marks the very first, the True World Sect sanctioned, official, ''Unearthing the Truth!'' - the first structured debate of its kind!" Guy orated excitedly. His voice echoed across therge ssroom, where he stood up front by a podium at the centre of a raised stage. To the right and to the left, were two diagonal rows upied by the two opposing sides.

    In front of the tform, there were multiple rows of seats filled with audience members from the Sect.

    "Today, on Unearthing the Truth, we have two sides shing on the point of defining the Mana Unit. To my right-" he said as he extended his arm to his right, "We have Kevan, Revian, Casey and Lacey. Who stands behind their published definition: The amount of mana required when discing one cubic centimetre of distilled water to raise the temperature of one-hundredth cubic centimetre of alchemically pure Enthermis Fluid by one Kelvin using the |Firestarter| spell. From this point onwards, their stance shall be in favour of Definition 1."

    "And to my left-" he extended his arm to the left, "We have Luce, Krane and Norris supporting the definition derived from their ''under consideration'' report: The amount of mana required to produce one cubic-centimetre of pure, distilled water using the |Water Spout| spell under standard temperature and pressure (STP). From this point onwards, their stance shall be in favour of Definition 2."

    "I shall be the unbiased moderator of this debate," Guy said while tapping his chest. "To assess the debate, we have our panel of judges-"

    At the front of the crowd, in a long row, sat Markus, Marie, Shuri and Krish. The teen stood up and gave a perfunctory bow to the audience, while the older man tilted his head back and cast a nce at the audience.

    "Of course. The verdict cast by the judges isn''t the only deciding factor, as the vote from you - the audience - holds a fractional one-thirtieth weightage."

    Guy let the situation stew for a minute before clearing his throat.

    "Without further ado, let us begin this debate with the first member from my right introducing their stance!"

    Amidst light apuse, Kevan anxiously stood up, corrected his clothes and approached the vacated podium with a sheet of paper in his hand.

    Word Count: 1796

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 Chapter 367 "Lets Get Ready to Rumble!"

    367 "Let''s Get Ready to Rumble!"

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    The Sect Leader was unusually animated these days. It all started from the day the seven rule-breakers were called in for fighting amongst themselves. That day marked the first time everyone in the Sect truly saw the Sect Leader''s furious expression. Usually, the man was a pir of tranquillity and nigh-infinite patience. But that day, they saw a different expression blooming on the man''s mien. People often say that it is the one who smiles and projects an outwardly unperturbed aura that is the scariest when angered. Themotion that day proved that idiom true.

    A booming voice yelled, "Stop this farce this instant!"

    The dust cloud caused by the tussling teens on the ground dispersed almost instantly, revealing the ragged and bruised septet. The twins had ganged up on Krane, with Casey sitting on his chest and Lacey holding down his legs. Kevan and Norris were in a pping match, which wasrgely pointless as they were standing beyond the pping distance. Revian had a fistful of Luce''s hair in his hands, while she had him in a chokehold. The loud reprimand, however, put a halt to the childish fight, and the observing crowd split down the middle to reveal the enraged Sect Leader.

    The man''s eyeballs were practically popping out of their sockets and were dyed an angry red as their veins bulged out. His expression had warped significantly from the usual serene smile, revealing a more dangerous dour frown. He walked forward with heavy steps as he approached the miscreants.

    "What is all this?" He asked forcefully, gesturing at the ruckus the seven had caused. He then turned to the gawking audience and said, "Do you lot have nothing better to do?!"

    The crowd dissipated instantaneously, lest the Sect Leader''s overflowing anger redirect their way.

    "You seven!" He said. His gaze pierced into the souls of the seven before him. "I want you to clean yourselves this instant ande to the administrative office immediately after. If I hear from anyone about you guys causing any more trouble-"

    He did not finish the sentence. He did not need to finish that sentence. The sentence basically finished itself.

    The Sect Leader did not waste another second and left the scene, which was immediately mimicked by the seven pugilists who disappeared so quickly that one could practically still see their outlines standing in ce.

    Markus was not amidst the crowd, and he only heard about it the next day, early in the morning, when the seven transgressors were paraded atop the stage at the Sect''s assembly hall and made to read out a written apology in front of everyone.

    It was a sombre event, where some readers even broke down into tears (the twins and Krane in particr). It definitely left a mark in the minds of all those present at and observing the gruesome emotional dressing down, and emphasised just what awaited rule breakers in the True World Sect. There was something truly visceral about having one''s weaknesses and mistakes ced on disy, and that too straight from the person themselves. And it opened the eyes of everyone in the Sect to the fact that there is a limit to the Sect Leader''s patience. And that behind the jovial visage of the man who celebrates every achievement made by a member with pomp and splendour lies a sadistic beast who can just as (if not more) easily break them down. Thankfully, the beast lies dormant - one just shouldn''t be stupid enough to poke it like the seven just did.

    After it, though, Markus'' Master stepped forth and hugged every confessor and gently talked them offstage. He then took centre stage and addressed the crowd with a severe tone.

    "Let it be known that the Sect does not tolerate unsanctioned violence of any sort," he projected. "We follow a strict one-strike policy, wherein the first infarction is thest infarction."

    He let the words hand in the air for the members to digest their implications.

    "The only reason why the seven haven''t been expelled is because both sides - the aggressors and the victims - shook hands with the former apologising to thetter, following which they broadcasted the error of their ways to the rest of the Sect," he appended. "Do not think this to be a loophole - that simply apologising will get you out of trouble. The victim must be willing to ept the apology as well!"

    There was silence once again, but Markus could hear a few people swallowing dry mouthfuls of air in trepidation.

    But suddenly, the anger in his Master''s face disappeared, returning to the usual smile. But it kept growing wider... and wider; there is a point where a sincere smile turns demonic, and his Master had blown past that limit.

    "Since everyone''s gathered here," his Master started with an ecstatic grin. "We will be holding another gathering with mandatory attendance in a week in Lecture Hall C. This is just a heads-up notification, so keep your schedules free."

    And with that, he dismounted from the stage and fled the scene like somemon cutpurse. Markus, and everyone else, were dumbfounded by his Master''s sudden reversal. They were still reeling from the dour process from before.

    "What''s this about?" Markus asked Marie who was standing on his left.

    "Why are you asking me? You''re his Disciple!" Marie snapped back derisively.

    "Our meetings aren''t as frequent as before now that Master has so many responsibilities," Markus admitted with a bitter smile. He then red at her and retorted, "Are you still prohibited from scrying the future?"

    Marie shrugged and started walking away, leaving him with Shuri who was deep in thought.

    "Do YOU have any ideas?" Markus tried less hopefully.

    Shuri pulled her lips in and shook her head disappointedly.

    ____

    Luckily for Markus, he didn''t have to wait for long for the reason to his Master''s excitement to be known. Within two days, a booklet was circted amongst all members.

    "Structured Debate: Primer"

    "It seems Master is trying to facilitate a more constructive argumentation process," Markusmented out loud while flipping through the short document.

    At that moment, Shuri walked over and tapped his shoulder, "The Sect Leader is calling you?"

    "Me?" Markus parroted agitatedly.

    Shuri clicked her tongue and said, "You, amongst others."

    "Oh... Who else?"

    "Marie was told to bring her Master as well, so if I were to venture a guess, everyone present in and above the Foundation Establishment realm," Shuri responded while walking briskly towards the Sect Leader''s office.

    She arrived just as Marie and her Master hobbled over. As she was about to knock on the door, the older man slid past and pushed open the door.

    "When I decided to be an Elder in this Sect, I didn''t actually think I would have things to do, Guy," Elder Nara said while plopping the booklet on the Sect Leader''s table. "So what''s this all about."

    The Sect Leader looked past the Tesseract Transformation realm mage and gestured for Shuri and the rest to also take a seat.

    "I''d prefer if Jean were here too," the Sect Leader said regretfully, "But she''ll get her chanceter. You see, I need you guys to help me out."

    "Does it have something to do with this debate business?" Elder Nara interjected.

    "Precisely so, I need you guys to be the judges for the uing debate," the Sect Leader revealed. "Don''t worry, it''s nothing too difficult. All you have to do is listen to the arguments, counterarguments and rebuttals, and decide on which side was more substantial."

    "Why are we doing this," Elder Nara questioned.

    "Kids are naturally argumentative. You saw what happened with Revian and the rest," the Sect Leader reasoned. "We need to provide them with a constructive outlet."

    Elder Nara shrugged and said, "Just let them fight it out. You do realise that a Sect cultivates weapons of mass destruction. By putting a leash on them like this, you are only adding to the growing pressure. One day it will explode and when it does..."

    "You underestimate the release a well-crafted and heated debate offers," the Sect Leader rebutted with a smirk. "Violence is just violence. You don''t gain anything from it. To win through violence is to win by default - just because yourpetitors are incapable of participating. It makes you more rigid and inflexible to change. But a structured debate is different. It cultivates a more open mind capable of evaluating varied thoughts. It builds character!"

    The Sect Leader rose from his seat and spread his arms outwards majestically.

    "Structured debates teach you to be organized. They force you to think critically. They encourage you to research. They motivate you to speak effectively to a diverse audience, and thus build yourmunication skills. In the process, they also build your confidence. The debate format urges you to be an effective listener, understand different perspectives, and resolve conflict effectively. It encourages structured thinking and improves functional retention of knowledge. Finally, a good debater is a good persuader!" The Sect Leader orated. Shuri was certain a golden halo bloomed from behind the man for just a moment."

    "All of these skills are fairly pointless in real life, Guy," Elder Nara highlighted. "What use is confidence when you are forced to face an encroaching sword?"

    "If the opponent has to raise their sword, they''ve already lost," the Sect Leader rebutted. "And if it gets to that point, I''m confident my Sect members are capable enough to hold their own."

    "That''s some confidence," Elder Nara said with a faint smile. "Alright, I''ll humour you this time. But let''s not make my participation a regr thing, shall we?"

    "I''m sure you''ll take back your words very soon," the Sect Leader said mysteriously.

    "Do we get to prepare for the topic?" Markus interjected with his doubt.

    "I''ll be handing out the reports written by both the groups for your reference. Take your time to read through it, and take notes. You will have the liberty to ask questions after the debate to rify any details," Sect Leader Larks exined.

    He then pped his hands and chirped, "It''s going to be so exciting! Trust me!"

 Chapter 368 The Debate (Constructive Segment)

    368 The Debate (Constructive Segment)

    The hall was silent, as Kevan fumbled with the sheet in his hands. He gazed around, his palms were sweaty, even more than usual because standing in front of arge crowd with a written note in hand was igniting his trauma. He looked towards his teammates and then his opponents, both of them had faces as pale as the clouds in the sky. They were also reliving the same shared trauma all over again. His eyes then met the Sect Leader''s, and a series of juxtaposition emotions travelled down his spine. First, there was a fearful chill that rattled him, drawn from the experience of being reprimanded and punished. But then, the Leader''s encouraging smile quenched that and showered him with confidence.

    Kevan shook away his apprehension and approached the podium. He cleared his throat loudly and orated the text at a measured pace. "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed adjudicators, and fellow debaters, we proudly stand before you to advocate for Definition 1 as the most fitting characterization of the Mana Unit. This definition, which ties mana to the energy required for controlled temperature alteration using the |Firestarter| spell, establishes a precise and reproducible framework. The definition of a standardised unit of measurement is rity, consistency and reproducibility, which is what makes it scientifically sound. Our method is all of the above. This approach embodies scientific rigour while highlighting the tangible oues of magical endeavours, leading to aprehensive understanding of a unit of mana."

    After finishing, Kevan hurriedly folded the sheet and stepped aside from the podium. By this time the Sect Leader assumed the position on the podium.

    "With the first constructive statement from the team supporting Definition 1, we now have a three-minute cross-examination period. Krane-" he said while gesturing at the boy to take over. Krane sprang up from his seat behind his team''s bench and locked gazes with Kevan at the podium.

    "By severely limiting the conditions necessary to define the Mana Unit, are you not hindering the ability of someone else to replicate the experiment?"

    Kevan let out an inaudible snarl and snapped back, "It is by ensuring that the conditions of the experiment are highly controlled, that we are able to establish a repeatable and consistent definition of the Mana Unit. By making it so severely strict, we are limiting the possibilities of deviance and errors that cause the interpretation to dally from what it was intended to be."

    "That''s just a cop-out!" Krane retorted in disbelief. "No matter where you start from, you should be able to end up in the same location as long as the principles are the same. What you''ve basically done is state that the only way to get to the end goal is by walking down this extremely specific path I''veid out for you. That isn''t scientific."

    "Are you kidding-" Kevan started, but he was interrupted by the Sect Leader who jumped between the two and said, "And that brings an end to the cross-examination time. We will now on to team one''s negative."

    Kevan returned to his seat as Luce took his ce on the podium. She gave the other team a sharp re before opening up her sheet and reading her bit, "Respected adjudicators and fellow participants, we challenge Definition 1''s exclusivity and rigidity. Magic is in and of itself an intricate tapestry. We believe it is counterintuitive to define such a dynamic and fluid concept rigidly as it can alienate many of its applications. We believe that by andrge, the conservation of mass and energy is a sufficiently strict yet essible rule to define a single unit of mana. It is trivial to establish STP, and so is the ability to cast a |Water Spout| spell. We believe our Definition 2 is clear and concise and is superior as it is essible by just about any mage without having to rely onplicated mechanisms, equipment and set-ups."

    Sect Leader Larks returned to the podium and gestured for Kevan to take over for the cross-examination.

    "Is your argument not wed, since you also rely on the |Water Spout| spell as a base to determine the conversion between mana and mass?" Kevan fired immediately.

    "The behaviour of water as a substance is heavily documented and predictable," Luce argued back. "If someone chooses to walk down a different path to create an interface between mana and mass to derive the Mana Unit, it is on them."

    "That is extremely callous! You cannot just leave an exploration in such an open-ended manner that allows for multiple interpretations. That is unscientific!"

    "You have the gall-" Luce snapped back while taking a forceful step forward, but was immediately halted by the Sect Leader''s interception, "That brings the first two Constructive segments to a close. Seeing as how heated things are getting, let us take a short break to cool down. It will also give our illustrious judges some time to deliberate."

    ____

    After a quick five-minute break, the debate was resumed. This time, Casey stepped forward and took the podium.

    "Building upon our initial stance, Definition 1 is all about finding amon denominator among diverse magical abilities. We know that mana behaves differently based on its application. Therefore, mana is best defined as per its use cases. This may include the spells, the conditions within which the spells are cast, and the state of the caster. These are just a few factors that influence how mana behaves in a given situation. By ensuring that the pipeline through which the mana is being applied remains consistent, we are ensuring that the understanding of mana and a single Mana Unit remains consistent regardless of who the caster is or the conditions under which the spell is being cast. We believe that it is this surety that makes Definition 1 superior."

    Sect Leader Larks walked on stage and gestured towards Luce for the cross-examination.

    "While your im is relevant, you are not tethering it to a universalw. Your method still relies on the presence of the Caloric Tank filled with the very specific Enthermis Fluid. What is your remedy if there are issues in the production of either of those two ingredients?"

    "It then falls on a universal governing body to maintain the integrity of the definition," Casey said after a second of thinking. "With that in ce, there won''t be the issue of two people having two different kinds of apparatus or ingredients. This also ensures that the universal nature of the Definition is preserved."

    Luce shook her head and said, "You are advocating for the formation of a monopoly? The governing body will have full control over what defines a Mana Unit. It also means that if the governing body does something wrong, then the entire idea of the Mana Unit will fall apart."

    Casey wanted to retort to that, but she couldn''t formte a logical response. That sort of made sense.

    At that moment, Sect Leader Larks stepped in and nudged the debate onwards. "Next, we have Krane from the opposition side."

    Krane took Casey''s space and started making his case.

    "Following up from our earlier point, the idea of tethering the definition of the Mana Unit to a robust naturalw, such as thew of conservation of mass, ensures that the derived meanings are also robust. Although mana''s behaviour changes based on the use case, the naturalws do not. In fact, through our method, we are technically limiting the nature of the mana itself, making it consistent automatically. Due to the reduced overhead, we believe that Definition 2 is superior in defining the concept of the Mana Unit."

    With the Sect Leader''s gesture for go go-ahead, Casey stood up and said, "You seem to put a lot of faith in the ''automatically corrective'' nature of your methodology. How do you ount for the difference in the behaviour of mana inside a mage in the Mana Condensation realm versus the Foundation Establishment realm? Density wise, the mana flow is more liquid inside a Foundation Establishment realm mage, while the Mana Condensation realm''s is more gaseous."

    "The mass flow rate is all that matters. The mass in equals mass out," Krane responded matter-of-factly.

    "So how exactly do you measure the mass of mana?" Casey shot back with a victorious smirk. "The mass conservationw is reliant on the equation of mass in equals mass out. But what is mass in? And what exactly is the transmutative nature of a spell - what does it do to mana?"

    Krane opened and closed his mouth like a fish. An answer made its way to his mouth, but upon repeating it mentally, he discarded it because it made no sense.

    The Sect Leader swooped in and saved Krane from embarrassment. "This marks the end of the second round of the Constructive segment. Let us take another short break so that our participants can regroup, and our judges can deliberate further."

    ____

    Elder Nara leaned back into his chair and rested his legs on the table. His working leg raised by itself, but he had to move the desated one by hand.

    "Guy was right," he said out loud. "It''s more entertaining than I thought. Who knew that watching people arguing would be so much fun?"

    "It definitely makes you think," Marie agreed. "I''m sure both sides havee to realise that there are some ring weaknesses in their methodologies."

    "I guess having to project your thoughts out loud in front of a crowd causes the heat in your head to mellow out a little, and makes you more receptive to new thoughts," Markus chimed in. "I don''t think they would have been so receptive if this situation was in a more closed environment with no spectators."

    "All that aside though," Shuri interjected. "Who do you guys think is winning right now?"

    ""Definition 1,"" Elder Nara and Markus said at the same time.

    "Definition 2," Marie said. She then looked at Shuri and cocked a brow inquisitively.

    "Me too - Definition 2," Shuri admitted.

    "Well, ain''t that just nifty," Elder Nara said with a scoff before closing his eyes and entering meditation.

    "Hey!" Marie yelled while nudging her Master out of his trance. "No peeking into the future!"

    "Ha!" The man scoffed, "As if I have nothing better to do!"

    "Alright, everyone!" The Sect Leader orated enthusiastically. "Wee back to ''Unearthing the Truth!'' with me, Guy Larks, your humble host. Last we left, our participant just finished their constructive stances. Now, hold on to your hands and move up to the edges of your seats, because we are now moving on to the intense rebuttal rounds!"

 Chapter 369 The Debate (Rebuttal Segment)

    369 The Debate (Rebuttal Segment)

    The Rebuttal round started with heavier apuse, with palpable excitement radiating from the crowd. There were even some enthusiastic whooping as the debaters ascended the stage. The celebration was not unlike the time when twobatants with years of rivalry squared off against each other for a main-event match. Guy let out a satisfied smile as he observed the reactions from the crowd. He wasn''t surprised, though, as he expected things to turn out like this from the start.

    A debate is only as interesting as how invested the participants are in the topic they are supporting. People need to care about what they are arguing in favour of. If that emotion is evident, it then permeates into the crowd and makes them invested in the debate as well. Each of the seven debaters on stage ismitted to a stance. They believe it from the bottom of their hearts and are willing to fight in its favour (as evidenced by the fistfight they got into). Guy also took a few creative liberties with the debate format which he carried over from his past life. The standard format wasn''t so sensational, opting for a more reserved and methodical process. For instance, during cross-examination, there isn''t usually a dialogue between the examiner and examinee - the question and answer are fairly detached. But Guy figured that having some confrontation during the cross-examination period would sensationalise it a bit more, thus making it a bit more engaging for the audience. This was especially important in the Constructive segments since they are fairly less confrontational - it is about building up the argument.

    The Rebuttal segment is all about defence. Each team would try to break apart the opposing argument while propping up their own. Guy looked to his left and gestured for Norris to step forward.

    "The first debater stepping up is the team defending Definition 2, Norris."

    Norris approached the podium with uncertain steps. As he watched here closer, Guy realised why her team had ced her at the tail end of the debate segment. The girl was practically crumbling under stage fright. If she was to be confronted during cross-examination, Guy was certain that she would fall apart altogether. Her gaze was lowered, and the piece of paper in her hand was nearly crumpled into a ball with stress. She grabbed the podium with both her hands, let out a long breath while closing her eyes, and started speaking.

    "While we acknowledge the affirmative''s drive for standardization, we contend that Definition 1''s tunnel vision and rigidity conflict with the nature of magic itself in the process. Indeed, standardization is valuable, but it must be achieved without sacrificing the core essence and versatility of magic. Definition 1 essentially ces an asterisk against the very definition it proposes, suggesting that as long as all the dominoes fall into ce ¨C a specific spell is cast, a controlled scenario is established ¨C only then can we truly measure mana. Magic is irregr, and mana is defined by the True World Sect to be the ''cheat code'' that averts the naturalws. If we try to curtail magic in all its forms through the same lens of natural phenomena, we will be sacrificing the primary nature of magic itself. Sure, it is necessary to regr a procedure so that it is repeatable and can provideparable results no matter who performs it, but Definition 1 is far too strict in its limitations to be viable universally."

    Norris'' voice wasn''t so loud as the others before her, as she was naturally a timid individual. However, the conviction in her words was far greater than all those before her, which roused the crowd that had returned fresh after the break and brought them right back into the heated debate.

    Guy returned to the podium and urged the girl, who had reverted into a timid hunch, back to her team.

    "An amazing first rebuttal by Norris, let us have a round of apuse!" Guy initiated with some enthusiastic pping. He wanted to encourage the girl to be confident in herself. Public speaking is tough for everyone. But having an especially bad experience can dissuade them from ever trying again. Guy wanted Norris'' first attempt to be memorable and positive.

    "Our next speaker is from the team defending Definition 1, Lacey."

    Lacey approached the stadium amidst light apuse. It was evident that she, just like her sister, was more famous amongst the Sect members. Especially because she was one of the creators of a game yed by everyone on campus. Guy was sure that there would be some bias in the y caused by the girls'' fame when it finally came time for the audience to vote for the victor of the debate. ''We''ll address that if need be.''

    Guy didn''t want to doctor the results... but he also didn''t want the oue of this pilot program to set a precedent for other debates down the line. To him, some hical maniption against bias, and in favour of fairness was forgivable.

    "In response to the negative, we assert that Definition 1 isn''t about reductionism but about establishing amonnguage for the measurement of mana. By measuring energy through a specific transformation, we provide a consistent yardstick forparisons. This is not evident in Definition 2. While we agree that magic and mana are fluid and variable, it is antithetical to hinge a concept that needs to be used by a myriad of people across different backgrounds and abilities on this variability as it makes it hard for everyone to have the same nguage'' whenmunicating knowledge amongst themselves. We believe that the definition of a unit of mana is important for all future magical research as all analysis will be built upon it. And this research can be in a myriad of fields within magic, natural sciences and social sciences. Therefore, it is important to have an invariable structure so that whatever research that is built upon it doesn''t copse in the future."

    Guy walked up on stage and transitioned to the next speaker, "Since the team supporting Definition 2 has one member short, a member who has already spoken has the opportunity to address the house again. Who will be stepping forth?"

    The members of the second team exchanged nces before Krane reached forward and tapped Norris on her shoulder. Norris jerked in ce, half-shocked and half-anxious. She pointed a finger to herself and mouthed, "Me?", with an expression oozing with self-doubt. Her team members, in turn, nodded affirmatively and started to p for her instead. This ember burst into a burgeoning me as the entire audience joined in to wee Norris to the podium.

    The blushing girl walked with small but hurried steps to the podium. She cleared her throat, ced the crumpled paper in front of her, and started speaking. Her voice wasn''t as unsure as in the previous attempt. Which Guy pegged as a sign of progress.

    "While Definition 1 ims to establish a so-called monnguage'' it is still reliant on the |

    Firestarter| spell. The issue is that the heat transfer through that method is inconsistent. In their report, they have employed strategies to ensure that the transfer is as efficient as possible, but that ces a burden on the apparatus and environment where the experiment must be undertaken. Heat energy transfer through fire is inefficient by nature. Since it isn''t directional, some energy is lost through convection and radiation from the sides. Even with the systems in ce, as defined in their experimentation, we believe that the mana unit definition is subject to a systematic error, making it structurally unsound as a basis for future experiments. This isn''t the case with the transmutation of mana to mass, as it is proven to be a lossless process. This is why Definition 2 is the most appropriate definition of the Mana Unit."

    Once Norris finished speaking, she was guided back to her ce amongst her team members amidst a round of apuse. Guy then looked towards Revian, the final participant. The boy shared a look with his team members, who returned an encouraging smile, and the girls pumped their fists excitedly.

    Revian took the podium and started the final rebuttal of the round. "While the opposing team makes a good point about the inefficient nature of heat transfer through the fire, they also rightfully emphasised the steps we took to ensure that such wastage was negated. Yet, even with the imed inefficiency, we stand behind the application of the |Firestarter| spell because it is possible to measure the loss and solve for the systematic error - the enthalpy of the chemical reaction is known, and an extension experiment can be performed to obtain the systematic error. However, Definition 2 relies on mass conservation and while the opposing team ims that it is lossless, it is only a im that remains unproven. No study delves into the exact nature in which mana is transmuted into mass. Mass in equals mass out is true if the reaction is chemical in nature. Is magical transmutation a chemical reaction? Or is the reaction happening at an atomic level? If I were to use a hundred gram mana crystal to create a diamond, and then another mana crystal to create a piece of coal, would the diamond and coal weigh the same? While the opposing team ims that Definition 2 is robust as it is based on thew of conservation of mass, they are conveniently overlooking this ring hole in their experiment. This is why we believe that Definition 1 is the most apt descriptor of the Mana Unit."

    Guy returned to the podium and waited as the apuse died down. "The teams have now finished making their arguments. Before we move on to the deliberation round to determine the winner, each team will now have a minute to make a closing remark. Would the team leaders please stand?"

    Kevan and Luce stood up behind their tables on cue. Kevan looked towards the judges and audience and started speaking, "In our final plea, we assert that Definition 1 isn''t about suppression but about providing a standardized measure that amodates magic''s universal principles. Our approach bridges the gap between precision and creativity, fostering amon ground for discussions. By quantifying mana through a specific energy transformation, we capture its essence while maintaining coherence andparability."

    Next, Luce did the same, "In our closing, we reiterate that magic''s essence lies in its open and variable nature. Definition 2, which ties mana to water creation through the |Water Spout| spell, embraces this nature while ensuring that it is open to everyone - without having to rely onplex processes and apparatus. Furthermore, by aligning the process with a robustw of mass conservation, we ensure that any external factors that may affect the definition are avoided."

    As the two members sat down, roaring apuse and intense cheering resonated within the room. Elder Nara, in the judge''s seat, turned around and revealed an intrigued smile, while Guy bore a grin that could outshine the sun.

    "That went better than expected," Guy said to himself as he waited for the symphonic ruckus to die down so that he could bring the event to a close.

    Word Count: 1884

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 Chapter 370 The Dreaded Outcome

    370 The Dreaded Oue

    After the hubbub settled, Guy took the podium and addressed the crowd. "This concludes the Rebuttal segment of the debate. Now, we move on to the deliberation segment. This is where YOU-" he gestured towards the audience and judges, "-get to decide who the winner of this debate is."

    With that said, the crowd dispersed for a short break, and the judges shuffled out into a different room to deliberate on who the winner should be. Guy allotted half an hour for the judges toe to terms. As he entered the room with them, though, he was greeted with a heated debate taking ce already.

    "Team 1 had a more structured argumentation. Especially their closing rebuttals, they captured the weaknesses of the opposing team concisely-" Markus said.

    But he was interjected by Marie, who argued, "But they failed to properly prop up their own argument. I think Team 2 did better in that regard. While Team 1 had a better rebuttal, Team 2 had a more robust construction."

    "Is that how we decide the winner, though?" Shuri cut in. "Isn''t it about which definition is better amongst the two?"

    At that point, Elder Nara cut in and said, "That''s where you are wrong, girl."

    All heads turned towards the elderly man, and he expounded on his point, "Imagine this was a fight between twobatants. The purpose of the fight is to apply the knowledge gained from a particr martial art. Onebatant manages to knock out the other. Would you award the prize to the loser, just because their understanding of the martial art, and their form was far superior to thetter?"

    "I wouldn''t," Shuri answered with a defeated sigh. "But this is different-"

    "Is it, though?" Elder Nara challenged. "The debate isn''t about which side is right, it is about which side presented the most structured and convincing argument. Do not let your bias enter into the decision-making process. If you do that, then you aren''t evaluating the debaters, you are evaluating the topic itself. And in that case, you don''t even need people to debate for you, you might as well just read the reports and construct your own judgement from that."

    At this moment, Guy decided to step in and said, "I agree with Elder Nara. The debate is all about the arguments, not the topic itself. Heck, we could have a debate discussing the ''morality of throwing puppies as an entertainment sport'', and the team arguing in favour could still win if their points are well-structured and supported."

    "That''s a rather dark example," Elder Nara admitted with a light chuckle.

    The others nodded contemtively as they digested this input.

    "So, do we have a consensus?" Guy probed again.

    "Even with what Master said, we are at an impasse," Marie jumped in. "You see, Shuri and I stand behind Team 2, while Master and Markus are with Team 1."

    "Why is that?" Guy asked while leaning against a desk.

    "We think that Team 2''s arguments were more critical of the far-reaching consequences of Definition 1. Especially the nature of standardisation and how it is reliant on a singr body to maintain uniformity," Shuri chimed in. "Senior Sister Marie and I believe that the down-the-line implications are extremely crucial, which was well addressed by Team 2, not so much by Team 1."

    "On the other hand," Markus carried over. "Elder Nara and I believe that the underlined pseudo-open-endedness in Definition 2, especially in how they used mass conservation as an analogue forparison, is a problem factor. The debate was to learn which side has the better definition, it is evident that while Definition 1 may not be the best, it is still better than Definition 2."

    "I do find it odd that Elder Nara and Marie are standing on opposite ends here," Guymented with an intrigued snort. "Especially because Marie here brought up the point about ''far-reaching consequences''. Isn''t that, like, your whole shtick?"

    Elder Nara let out a derisive scoff and said, "It''s because the girl can''t see what''s in front of her nose that she has to look so far away. Heck, she''ll fall down a pit right by her feet before she even reaches the cliff she is trying to avoid!"

    "You aren''t even interested in this debate, old man!" Marie snapped back. "I bet you''re just being a contrarian to piss me off!"

    "Says who?" Elder Nara argued back. "You? Ha! I''m big enough to admit when I''m wrong."

    He then turned to Guy and said, "You were right. This debate WAS more interesting than I anticipated. If there are more you need me to get involved in, I''ll dly do so."

    Marie let out an astounded yelp at her Master''s shamelessness.

    "Let''s not descend into pointless arguments," Guy intervened. "Is there no way that any one of you will change your mind regarding your stance?"

    Looking around, Guy only saw unwillingness in their eyes, even Elder Nara who was uncharacteristically invested in this debate.

    "It seems that we have to resort to counting the audience''s votes to get a tie-breaker," Guy surmised with a long exhale. "Alright, then. Hold on tight!"

    ____

    The voting sessionsted for precisely ten minutes. Each member of the audience was handed a chit of paper, and they were told to either write in Team 1 or Team 2 for whom they thought won the debate round. Guy wanted to take a moment to instruct the audience about how not to be unbiased in their votes, such as by not basing it on the team with the people they were familiar with and liked, or by not voting for the paper that spawned the definition but rather the arguments defending it. But he decided to leave it as is. The audience wasn''t supposed to be the stone-hearted judge who had to evaluate each point and counterpoint down to the minutiae. Heck, even the existing judges couldn''t manage to detach their emotions from their decisions.

    No, the audience was a gauge. A gauge to see how interesting and dynamic the debate was. There were no criteria or basis to this, apart from the apparent aura that was exuded from the stage. The aura of the debate is like a wave, it has ebbs and flows - akin to anybat sport. If the debate is interesting and able to enrapture the audience, they will also react to this ebb and flow. And just like the deposits that are carried by the ebbing and flowing, they will eventually settle on one side or the other for one reason or another.

    Therefore, after letting the audience follow their guts and vote for their preferred team, Guy brought the chits in and started counting them.

    "This is impossible!" Guy bellowed in shock. He then poured out all the counted votes and repeated the process in a more deliberate manner.

    "I can''t believe it!" Guy said out loud. He looked up to the interested faces of his four judges and confessed his disbelief, "It''s a tie!"

    This revtion was met with four symphonic groans. At that moment, Markus snapped his fingers and said, "You still haven''t voted, Master! Your word could break the tie!"

    "I can''t do that," Guy denied immediately. "I pronounced myself a moderator. I cannot pass judgements or else it will taint the sanctity of the position and the whole procedure."

    "Then what do you suggest we do?" Markus followed up.

    "Well, we still have seven individuals who haven''t ced a vote yet," Marie offered.

    "We can''t ask the participants to cast votes, they will obviously vote for themselves. And given the fact that Team 2 is short one member, it is obvious that the victory will fall towards Team 1 by default," Shuri countered.

    "I really hate passing a tie as the judgement," Guy groaned. "It''s aplete cop-off, and annoys the crowd to no end."

    "You could reframe the call," Elder Nara said at this juncture. "Hype up the crowd and convince them that the tie was the only option, instead of making them feel like it was a constion. And then, do what Marie suggested and ask the participants to evaluate themselves. Maybe their minds might have changed through this process. Besides, was it not the initial goal of the debate?"

    Guy hummed in thought for a while before saying, "Let''s try it out your way, then."

    ____

    "Ladies and gentlemen, apologies for the long dy. But our judges were in a quarry. Both sides ced their arguments so well, that the decision was split even right down the middle," Guy started with an enthusiastic flourish. Before the groans could roll in from the audience''s side, he quickly moved forward and said, "So we decided to take the words of you, the audience, in breaking this forsaken tie. But would you believe it, something even more frustrating happened! The audience was also split evenly down the middle! It is unprecedented!"

    This revtion gave pause to the crowd, who were uncertain of how to react. "As proof, we have ced the voting box exactly as it is to the side. Anyone is free to verify the count."

    Guy paused, to let the audience stew in suspense. "But you see, I really hate calling a tie to such a heated debate. Especially since it was our first one. But I also feel that because everyone here is so conflicted about assigning victory to one side over the other, we cannot give the win to one side for ceremony''s sake - that would be doing a disservice to our participants."

    He then said, "So, we have decided to let the debaters take part in deciding the oue. From the very beginning, the goal was to develop a conducive tform to discuss differences in opinion and form amon understanding. Therefore, we will now call each member of the teams above to take the podium and answer two questions."

    Guy raised his index finger and enumerated, "To what extent do you agree with the stance you held when the debate started? Is it the same, or has it differed? Why?"

    Guy raised his middle finger and said, "Second, and finally, what are the points you agree and disagree with that were brought forth by your opponents? Why?"

    With that dered, Guy turned to the participants and said, "You have exactly five minutes to prepare your answers. And your time starts, now!"

    Word Count: 1745

 Chapter 371 Yo, Guy I Got Something to Say!

    371 Yo, Guy I Got Something to Say!

    At this point, the debate had extended beyond Guy''s intended time limit. He knew that he was walking on a tightrope, right now. With every activity that garners an intense following, one must stick to a strict and predefined schedule. Because deviation from that schedule can lead to unwanted consequences.

    Take a football match for example (the kind where the ball is only controlled with the leg when in y). If a game starts too early without prior warning, then you risk upsetting fans who wish to tune in from the very beginning. Starting toote also angers fans, as they are forced to wait in anticipation. Ending too early can be a bummer, especially if the game was subpar such as acklustre performance from one team. A dyed end can also be problematic as it can cause the yers themselves to fatigue and the fans to grow more antsy.

    The same can be said for the debate, but the repercussions are amplified. As it is an event that is a spar of intelligence, the audience is required to exercise their own intelligence if they wish to indulge in the disy. This is unlike watching sports events since it is possible to switch off the logical centre and take the oues at face value. Because of this, if the debate stretches beyond the time limit, not only will the participants fatigue themselves, but so will the audience. After a certain point, this will lead to indifference from the audience''s side which wasn''t something Guy wanted to happen.

    This was why Guy ushered the participants towards the podium in a line. There was no need to have them walk over from their benches, as the audience would be psychologically urged to p or celebrate as they approached the podium which would further fatigue the audience''s waning interest. Furthermore, he was certain that a lot of the participants would have simr answers. Having the audience hear the same thing over and over again would bore them.

    As a result, the introspection round for each participant moved like a breeze. Per expectation, both sides had grown more lenient in their stances, and members of the same team shared simr answers too.

    "I agree that maybe our definition is far too stringent and that the need to have so many prerequisites and apparatus might hinder in letting it spread far and wide," Kevan admitted.

    "I agree that maybe using mass conservation as an analogy for the definition could use more consideration," Luce admitted.

    Casey, from Kevan''s team, said something simr to him, "I think that Team 2 was right when they pointed out the limitations of the energy transfer method, especially because it relies on a specifically manufactured apparatus with a fluid that may not always have a standardised method of production."

    Norris, too, felt that "Our understanding of transmutation is too limited to make the mass conservation judgement call. We believe more investigation is in order."

    After letting everyone speak their piece, Guy walked back on stage and said, "This marks the end of the debate, the first entry into ''Unearthing the Truth!''. I know that ending the first match on a tie is disappointing, but the result was evident and as clear as the day before you, folks. Now, please file out of the room in an orderly line. We do not want any tramplings-"

    A faint cough interjected Guy''s closing statements. He turned in its direction and was surprised to see Norris with her hand raised, awaiting permission to speak.

    "Umm, Norris? Do you have anything to add?"

    Norris nodded lightly before standing up at the bench. She shared a look with her teammates, who all looked serious and resolute in their expressions.

    "We admit defeat," Norris dered out loud.

    This caused the audience, some of whom had stood up and nearly reached the exit, to double back and take the nearest seat. Some gasps and murmurs were passed around in the crowd.

    "Is that so?" Guy asked, looking towards Luce and Krane for confirmation, who nodded in conjunction. "That''s... interesting. Can I ask why?"

    "After thinking over our stance, the arguments exchanged, and what we learned from this debate in general, we feel that while both definitions have their fair share of problems, ours has an issue in its base itself. Mass conservation is a huge part of why our definition even works and if, as indicated by the opposing team, there IS uncertainty in the interaction between mana and the mass conservationws, it means that our definition isn''t as robust as we thought it was. Compared to that, even though the opposing team has padded their equipment list, they have some level of rigidity in their definition," Norris borated.

    Just as Guy was about to follow up, Kevan''s hand also shot up. "Please don''t tell me that you guys are admitting defeat as well?"

    The audience let out a collective chuckle at that quip. Kevan shook his head and said, "We agree with the opposing team''s decision. Don''t get me wrong, their arguments were superb and well-structured. However, we believe the victory should go to us because of the technicality they brought up."

    "Well... Okay! Ladies and gentlemen, let us apud Team 2 for being such amazing sports and for their brutal self-reflection!" Guy dered while starting a round of apuse. "Folk, this is a crucial character trait that every person of science needs to have - the ability to reflect on themselves and their work with a lens free of bias and judgement."

    "On that note, let us also give a round of apuse for Team 1 for their victory!"

    Another symphony of ps and whoops resonated in the room. "For their victory, each member of the team will receive 1000 gold coins."

    Before another round of celebration could begin, Guy raised a finger and said, "While the loser doesn''t receive a mary reward, I believe that Team 2 should be praised for disying such a noble and mature trait. What do you guys think?!"

    YEAH!

    A booming chorus of affirmation erupted from the audience. Guy turned and congratted the second team along with the cohort, and saw the blushing faces of the three members. Norris in particr hadpletely disappeared inside her cor in embarrassment.

    "I think a mary reward is in order, do you not agree?!"

    YEAH!!

    "On that note, each member of Team 2 will receive 500 gold coins!"

    WOOHOO!!!

    "With all that said, let us bring the event to a-"

    "I have something to add!" Casey interjected.

    "Please have some shame, woman! Are you trying to milk the Sect Leader''s goodwill!" A teen''s voice cut through the crowd.

    "Shut up, Huron!" Casey snapped back at the guilty party, who retaliated with a challenging shake of his fist.

    Amidst the awkward silence, Casey cleared her throat and continued, "W-What I meant to say was that- Admitting victory does not mean that our work is perfect. We have learned a lot of intriguing details by understanding Team 2''s approach to the concept of the Mana Unit. To that end, we would like to propose a coboration - new research that attempts to meld the two studies to find a definition of the Mana Unit that is more satisfactory."

    Guy looked towards Team 2 and saw the trio huddling together. After a few minutes, they separated and Luce stood up behind her desk. "We agree to this proposition."

    "While this is great!" Guy cut in. "I think it is better to take this discussion aside to a more private setting. Don''t you guys agree?"

    He then immediately looked towards the audience and said, "Please evacuate the room before someone else gets the urge to say something!"

    Thus, the very first "Unearthing the Truth!" - the first of its kind structured debate - came to an end, and that too with a definitive winner. Guy knew that there would be many more of these toe in the future. And as the Sect grew in size, there would even be recreational tournaments running parallelly. But all of that was just his pipe dream at this juncture.

    As he observed the opposing team members shaking hands in the backdrop of a satisfied crowd, Guy revealed an optimistic smile.

    ____

    "So Kevan and Revian won''t be partaking in this investigation?" Guy asked the five Sect members seated before him.

    "Kevan wanted to spend some time helping Yohn catch up, now that he''s able to cast spells," Casey confirmed.

    Lacey then took over and finished the sentence, "Revian wanted to focus more on his ongoing experiment-"

    "The one investigating the interaction of the secondw of thermodynamics with mana," Guy said while recollecting the details of Revian''s proposal.

    "Well, it is great that you guys are so motivated to dig into this juicy piece of steak," Guy redirected. "Unfortunately, at the moment, the Sect is in somewhat of a budget crunch. Until the end of the current financial quarter, I won''t be approving any new investigative work until the ones already in the pipeline are finished."

    This revtion elicited a groan from each teenager present.

    "Though don''t be disheartened. As long as the existing pipeline is cleared, I can go ahead and approve this. So I would suggest that you go ahead and help out the ones struggling to get their work off the ground."

    "We could just go and help Revian," Luce proposed.

    "I don''t think that''s possible," Guy emphasised immediately. "Revian explicitly stated that he wants to do this by himself."

    "What? Why?" Krane sputtered.

    "He looked especially determined to crack this by himself. He said he wanted to pave an original path for himself like how Markus, Marie, Jean and Shuri did," Guy revealed.

    "I don''t know if he is being arrogant, or just in optimistic," Krane mumbled.

    "A healthy mix of the above," Guy answered with a smile. "I mean better to be all that now thanter, am I right? Especially since there aren''t any life-threatening repercussions to exhibiting those characteristics in this Sect."

    "That''s true," Norris agreed, while others nodded with her.

    Seeing that, Guy couldn''t help but let out a fulfilled chuckle. He had seeded in creating the

    atmosphere he set out to cultivate in the Sect.

    A ce where people could fail safely, and not be afraid to fail again, and again, and again.

 Chapter 372 To See Without Sight

    372 To See Without Sight

    "Missed again!" Kevan yelled, as the |Fireball|ing his way missed him by aplete arm''s length. "But it was closer this time."

    "You don''t have to rub it in my face each time, you know?" Yohn groaned back with a tired sigh. "I hope you realise that aiming while blind is as hard as it sounds."

    "I get that, but like-" Kevan paused to carefully measure his next words before saying, "Can''t you aim in the general direction of my voice?"

    "What do you think I''m doing?" Yohn snapped back.

    "But you aren''t even looking my way," Kevan argued.

    "What benefit would that do me? I''m using my ears to find you, aren''t I?" Yohn scoffed.

    "I''ve read studies that show that looking in the direction you are trying to shoot improves your aim," Kevan narrated from memory.

    To that, Yohn let out a sarcastic chuckle and said, "If you haven''t noticed-" he pried apart his closed eyelids to reveal his empty continued, "-but I don''t have eyes to ''look'' at something."

    Kevan scratched his head wryly and admitted, "I''m just trying to help, you know?"

    "I understand," Yohn responded. "But you have to tell me something I haven''t already tried, Kevan."

    "What about your mana senses?" Kevan shot back while snapping his finger.

    "It doesn''t extend far enough," Yohn answered disappointedly. "That was the first thing I tried after I broke through to the Middle stage. However, my mana sense barely extends past an extended arm''s length. I can see everything within clearly, even more so than when I still had my eyes, but anything beyond that I''m as blind as a bat."

    "Interesting fact," Kevan chimed in. "Bats aren''t actually blind. Studies have shown that their visual acuity is far superior to a human''s."

    There was silence as Kevan finished his sentence. He looked towards Yohn, and he could see the unimpressed sarcasm oozing out of his friend. It was clear that the "interesting fact" was unwee.

    "I''m just saying," Kevan defended himself. "People assume that just because bats use echolocation and hunt at night, that they are blind in nature. But that is not actually true."

    "You make a good point," Yohn mumbled while scratching his chin in thought.

    "Okay," Kevan said with a loud exhale. "You don''t have to keep mocking me-"

    "I''m not!" Yohn corrected. "Echolocation sounds interesting. It''s basically what we''re trying to do right now."

    "But bats use the reflection of emitted ultrasound," Kevan corrected. "We''re just using the environmental noise to position ourselves."

    "So if I were to, hypothetically, emit ultrasound and then analyse the reflection, I should be able to see?" Yohn proposed.

    "Hypothetically, sure," Kevan affirmed. "But how do you n on doing that? Humans can''t generate sounds at that frequency."

    "Humans can''t control gravity either, but that didn''t stop Senior Brother Markus," Yohn argued.

    "Yeah, but..." Kevan evaluated his next words carefully and said, "Senior Brother Markus'' circumstances were different."

    20:41

    "How so?" Yohn challenged.

    "I don''t know," Kevan answered with a sigh. "What do I even know-" he then said in defeat, "Let''s just go hear it straight from the horse''s mouth."

    The duo then packed up and left for Markus'' usual spot, which was the staff''s preparation room. The room was a short walk away from the recreation hall and was empty except for the singled working away by himself. No other staff member of the Sect liked working in the staff''s preparation room. For Marie, it was too enclosed and ustrophobic, for Shuri it was far too public desk separators, and for Jean, it was devoid of people. Markus felt right at home here. There wasn''t any distraction, and the environment carried an aura of productivity that encouraged him to finish his work on time.

    Yohn and Kevan beelined towards Markus, drawing his attention away from the stack of papers he was correcting before him.

    "What''s up, guys?" Markus greeted.

    "We had a question regarding your cultivation," Yohn blurted out immediately.

    "Woah!" Markus eximed while gesturing yfully with his hands raised. "No small talk; cutting straight to the chase, I see? Alright, take a seat. What do you want to know?"

    "How are you able to see gravitational fields? And how are you able to manipte them?" Yohn inquired.

    "Seeing isn''t the right word," Markus corrected. "I sense them more specifically through my mana sense. My mana senses can decipher these fields-"

    "Is it simr to how Senior Sister Marie senses the waves of fate?" Yohn interjected agitatedly.

    "Ah, I see that you''ve read the article Marie submitted to the Library. To answer your question, yes and no. Marie relies on her mana senses to observe the waves of fate, but there''s also aponent of analysis in her method. She basically sends out a signal and captures and analyses the response- And he''s gone."

    Yohn had stood up and left the room while tapping his walking stick around.

    "What''s gotten into him?" Markus asked the befuddled Kevan, who was also observing his friend''s receding back.

    "He''s just getting agitated. It was different when there was little hope in his career as a mage. But now that there''s a possibility, it''s really lit a me under him," Kevan exined with an apologetic tone. "Please forgive him for his rudeness."

    "It is kind of rude to leave when in the middle of a conversation," Markus admitted. "But I can understand where his emotion ising from. I''ve been there too, you know? Anyway, don''t let me bore you with the details of my past. You should probably follow your friend. If I''m not mistaken he should be going to where Marie is situated."

    True to Markus'' predictions, Yohn had arrived at Marie''s location at the recreation hall.

    "Ah! Yohn! I was expecting you," Marie said while mysteriously fiddling with her fingers.

    "Y-You were?"

    "No," she responded while letting out a mirthfulugh. "Did catch you off guard, didn''t I? Man, you should have seen the look on your face as you stormed into the hall. You looked like a man on a mission."

    "W-Well... Umm... I forgot what I was here for," Yohn said with a confused expression.

    "Take a seat. It wille to you eventually," Marie said while offering the chair near her. By this point, Kevan had arrived at the recreation centre.

    "Senior Sister!" The out of breath boy greeted. "I apologise for Yohn''s rudeness."

    "He hasn''t done anything rude yet that needs apologising," Marie dismissed. "You should sit down too."

    The two boys sat next to each other. Kevan observed Yohn''s silence and probed, "Did you ask her about her cultivation already?"

    "Oh right!" Yohn eximed. "Senior Sister, can you please exin how your cultivation works, more specifically with regard to the waves of fate."

    "I wrote an article all about it," Marie said.

    "I read it," Yohn volleyed. "I want to understand how the analysis works in particr."

    "This would have been really hard to exin before, but thanks to Shuri''s contributions in the field of Automagy, it made my life easier," Marie prefaced. "If we simplify the definition of what cultivation is, it can be taken as the concrete form of a person''s understanding of their reality. What you see the world to be, is stored inside your cultivation. For instance, arge part of Markus'' understanding of reality is derived from the concept of gravity, therefore his cultivation is biased in that direction. Because of that, he is able to perceive and manipte gravity more easily than others. Of course, you and I also have the ability to do it, but it will require a lot of active effort from our end since our reality isn''t defined based on the same concepts. My understanding of reality is based on signals and systems. Jean''s is based on microbiology. Shuri''s is based on logic and controls. Training your will to adhere to a certain understanding of reality is cultivation, in and simple."

    "Can you train your cultivation to do anything?" Yohn followed up.

    "It''s not as easy as that. It''s not like you are training your core to do a trick like a pet. For a dog, themand to ''sit'' is not the same as for a human. To the animal, the ''sit''mand is basically a signal that will give it a treat or reward as long as it does an associated action. They match the sound to an action-reward pair. For humans, ''sit'' is associated with an action alone. To put it another way, for the animal, following themand is how it gets a treat. I could train a dog to sit down when it hears ''stand'' and it will obey me because it is being rewarded. Humans don''t do that."

    "What does it mean to train your core, then?" Yohn inquired.

    "To train your core means tomit to an understanding of reality. To say that ''this is what the world is around me'' and actually living with that realisation," Marie summarised. "If there is even an ounce of uncertainty in your chosen understanding of reality, it will result in failure or worse, an unstable cultivation."

    "But if I canmit, then will I be able to train my core in any way I want? Let''s say, I want it to emit and analyse ultrasound, will I be able to achieve that?" Yohn asked excitedly.

    Marie hummed in thought before saying, "I can already guess where you''re going with this. So I''d like to caution you against narrowing your understanding of reality. I want you to look up the allegory of the cave when you''re free, and it should rify what I mean. In fact, let me ask you this: if you''re nning to see using echolocation, what will you do if you''re faced with opponents who can travel faster than the speed of sound?"

    Marie let out an amused chuckle upon seeing the speechless expressions on the duo''s face. "That''s something for you to think about in the meantime."

 Chapter 373 A New Helper

    373 A New Helper

    Marie''s final words did leave Yohn and Kevan with a lot to think about. A cultivation method is a mantra of how you perceive the world around you, and settling on a cultivation method was amitment. ording to Marie, just about anything can be a cultivation method if you believe in it hard enough (which also brought into question the ludicrousness of the whole thing). But there lies the problem: if the chosen cultivation method is unknown or experimental, a mage is taking a lot of risk by adopting it. For one, there is no guarantee that the cultivation method will take them far in their journey. A limited worldview trantes to a stunted cultivation method. Secondly, there is also the fact that by not being critical of one''s own world-views, there is always the possibility of self-adopted limiters. As Marie pointed out, by investing heavily into the concept of sound, Yohn would have limited his abilities in higher realms where he would rely on a sensing mode that is outpaced by his opponents.

    All things considered, Yohn realised that maybe he was tackling a problem that was way above his metaphorical weight ss. Was it so simple to just formte a new cultivation method, especially for a novice (blind) mage?

    The only person with a sessful track record on this front was Senior Brother Markus. Even amongst the Sect members, his achievement was legendary. And legends were a lot like lightning strikes. Lightning can''t strike the same ce twice!

    "That is nonsense, and I can prove it," Senior Brother Markus said with a scoff. "Just ce a lightning rod where you want the bolt to strike!"

    "But... that isn''t natural," Yohn mumbled.

    "Who said cultivation was natural?" Markus responded with a quirky smile. "Look this analogy is taking us nowhere. Basically, what Marie said is true. Just about anyone can create a cultivation method if they ''believe hard enough''. Sounds stupid, I know, but that is the fact. You must now be thinking, if this was true, why isn''t everyone a mage? Well, that''s because you can fill an entire library, and I''m certain that there is a library like that out there, with all the disasters that can affect an individual with an improper cultivation method. There is no shortage of people who have tried, and there is an overabundance of people who have failed. I''d like to say that I am lucky to have developed a unique cultivation method that is stable and safe."

    He then leaned forward and spoke with a more serious tone, "So, would I suggest that you try to create your own cultivation method?"

    There was a short, suspenseful pause.

    "You should definitely try," Markus said finally.

    "Huh? But I thought it was unsafe?"

    "It is," Markus affirmed. "But only if the process is not methodical. This is where I made the mistake, and if not for Master Larks I would have certainly perished during my breakthrough. In fact, all the experiments that are being approved and undertaken by Sect members are with the express purpose of discovering new cultivation methods."

    "I''d like to bring to your attention, Marie and Shuri," Markus said while pulling out an empty parchment of paper. He then wrote down the two girls'' names inrge letters, side by side. "Both of their cultivation isn''t original. Marie-" he said while tapping on her name. "Her cultivation is derived from The Heavenly Eye, which is what Elder Nara practises." He then tapped at Shuri and said, "Shuri adapted her method from Automagy techniques taught by her family."

    "Both, The Heavenly Eye and the Automagy techniques of Shuri''s family offer a critical insight into how the world works. It defines a mantra about one''s beliefs and one''s reality. Marie did not connect with the orthodox Heavenly Eye and decided to implement mathematical analysis and signal processing into it since that was something she connected with and made sense to her. Shuri did something simr with logic gates and achieved sess," Markus borated. "With these two examples cases, what we have is Derivation. You start with something that has a proven track record and adapt it in a way to matches your understanding of reality. I''m not going to say that this is easy, but it is definitely less risky."

    Markus then wrote down Jean''s name inrge letters below Shuri and Marie and said, "Jean''s cultivation is a direct assimtion of someone else''s. And by that, I literally mean that she assimted the cultivation of another individual."

    "But that''s-"

    "Suicide," Markus finished the sentence. "You are correct. You are forced to warp your understanding so that it aligns with the iing cultivation. You should know that the entity she assimted had a cultivation that ran counter to her own, which should mean assured destruction. HOWEVER, thanks to Master Larks, and a heavy sacrifice from Jean''s side, the assimtion was sessful, and she came out the other side much stronger. This method is not just dangerous because of the failure rates of assimtion, but it also requires that you find a mana core with a cultivation that aligns with your own. Which means you need to contest with an entity that is at least in the Core Formation realm."

    Markus shed Jean''s name on the document and then wrote down Tes'' name above Shuri and Marie''s. "Tes found resonance with Shuri''s cultivation method. That is the usual pathway most mages follow since there is a guaranteed track record of sess."

    Finally, he wrote his name between Jean''s, and Marie and Shuri''s.

    "I created my cultivation method through brute force. I knew what I was looking for because I''d experienced it before, quite intimately," he added with a bitter smile. "I cycled through my mana sense until I could find exactly what it was. And the moment I did, everything I learned about it until that point just started to make sense. Now this is where Master stepped in and corrected my misunderstandings so that my foundation wasn''t wobbly."

    "Truthfully," Markus redirected. "Everything you need to know about this world is hidden in your mana sense. What hinders you, is your ability to decrypt this hidden knowledge. Do not try to decipher this hidden knowledge while only half-informed. Make sure you know at least 80% of what you are looking for before scouring through your mana senses. I made the mistake of doing so without a strong base. There was so much more I could have known about gravity before searching for it in my mana sense. While Master filled in a lot of the gaps, most of my time now is spent trying to fill all the tiny and imperceptible cracks in my foundation."

    "My best advice is to follow the scientific method. Create a research n - formalise what you are looking for and how you intend to find it..." Markus tapped his fingers repeatedly against his desk while in thought. "In fact, it is far more advisable to not go about this alone."

    He then hit the table twice, decisively, with his open palm and rose from his seat, "Let''s do it this way. I''m going to help you find your cultivation method."

    "Y-You don''t have to-"

    "No, I know. But this is an extremely sensitive case," Markus interjected. "I will be blunt with you, but a lot hinges on your sess. The Sect Leader has invested a lot into your growth-"

    "I know-"

    "-emotionally..." Markus finished.

    "What?"

    "It really dismayed him when he could not find a solution to help you cultivate. Although Shuri still managed to devise a strategy, it is still registered in his mind as a personal failure," Markus borated. "I cannot bear to see my Master so distraught every time he sees your face. So I am taking the initiative to push you as far as I possibly can!"

    "That''s not necess-"

    "Don''t try to dissuade me, my mind is already made," Markus denied immediately. "Besides, you have nothing to lose. It''s not like I''m nning to steal your thunder or anything."

    "It''s not like that-"

    "On that note," Markus interrupted once again. "I just had this inspiration. Have you looked into electromaic waves - the EM spectrum in general?"

    "I''ve read about it," Yohn answered.

    "I have a strong gut feeling that tells me this is the direction we need to go," Markus said with a thoughtful pout. "I don''t think a lot of those books have been tranted into Braille just yet, let me-"

    "It''s not necessary," Yohn cut in. "A-After advancing, I am able to read with my mana sense."

    "Oh, small miracles!" Markus celebrated. "In that case, I can give you a whole list of books to dig into."

    Yohn audibly gulped as his ears picked up a litany of scribbling. Though his mana sense could not grab the exact books Markus was jotting down, the sheer enthusiasm and vigour implied something that he wouldn''t be able toplete in a single sitting.

    "Again," Yohn spoke up. "You don''t have to help me, Senior Brother."

    "I know," Markus repeated as he folded the paper and stuffed it into Yohn''s hand. "You are mistaken if you think I am pitying you. You are thest person I should pity, for you are far stronger than I am."

    "I''m not!" Yohn blurted out while shaking his hands.

    "I don''t think I would have survived this long if I was in your situation. Heck, I couldn''t even survive a few years of bullying!"

    A sombre silence hung in the room as the two let the conversation stew. Then, Markus let out a loud exhale, stood up and gently patted Yohn''s shoulder.

    "Let''s catch up after you''ve read at least a quarter of the books in that list," Markus said as he walked towards the exit. "I''m telling you, we''re going to have so much fun!"

    "Sure..." Yohn mumbled with a wry smile.

    Word Count: 1660

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 Chapter 374 On A Spectrum

    ?

    Energy transfer that urs without a medium to facilitate it (such as in a vacuum), takes ce within the electromaic spectrum. It is generated when charged particles elerate.

    Take the sun, for instance. At the core of the sun, the temperature and pressure is so high, that causes hydrogen to fuse together through the process of nuclear fusion. The subsequent formation of helium through fusion causes the release of a tremendous amount of energy, which radiates outwards. This radiation is propagated outwards through a series of interactions with charged particles (primarily protons and electrons). This interaction in turn releases high-energy radiation in the form of gamma rays, which is on the electromaic spectrum with the highest frequency. As the radiation is absorbed and emitted while traversing through the manyyers of the sun, its energy decreases. Like this, the primary makeup of the energy that leaves the sun consists of infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, and X-rays.

    And because electromaic waves do not require a medium for transmission, they travel at the speed of light, which is three hundred million metres in one second.

    "Electromaic waves are all around us," Markus exined. "They are absorbed by or reflected from objects. It is because of this that our eyes are able to see in the light."

    The duo were currently in the staff room, a few days after their previous meeting.

    "I was actually reading into the design of the human eye," Yohn redirected. "If I can turn my empty sockets into directional visible light receivers using the same mechanics of a human eye, would I be able to see again?"

    "I mean..." Markus said with an elongated tone. "If your objective is just to see, then I guess we could just do that."

    "You don''t seem enthusiastic about it," Yohn admitted.

    "Yeah- Well, I guess there is an argument to be made about keeping things simple and straightforward," Markus started. "But I was hoping for something with more potential with our assignment. Why try to rece the eye, when you can have something even better?"

    "Something better?"

    "Imagine being able to see even in the dark, for distances even beyond the limits of your mana senses?" Markus proposed. "If you can emit infrared light, and capture and analyse the reflection, you can see what exists in the dark without alerting anyone!"

    Yohn hummed in thought as he pondered over Markus'' words.

    "If that isn''t something you want to pursue, though," Markus added. "I''m not going to force you."

    "No, you''re right!" Yohn spoke up enthusiastically. "I''ve alreadye this far, why stumble and take the safe route?"

    "That wasn''t what I meant..." Markus mumbled.

    "What do we do?" Yohn asked.

    "Well, we will have to start with analysing the visible light spectrum," Markus borated. "I''d like to start by revisiting amon experiment we''ve worked with in ss."

    Markus ced a box on the desk. Opening it, he revealed all the apparatus required to conduct a refraction experiment. A triangr prism, a lightbox and white paper. He ced the apparatus in a way such that the white light exiting the lightbox hit the triangr prism and split into the rainbow spectrum.

    "Our first strategy is to change the way you use your mana sense to see," Markus exined. "The mana sense works through familiarity. If you let it epass the region of space you wish to observe, it will evaluate information in a way that is familiar to you already, which would be the way the eye works. The fact of the matter is that it is automatic - basically, the mana sense does all the work the eye does for you and shows you the image directly. HOWEVER, we don''t want this because the radius of your mana sense is limited. Instead, we want to use our mana sense as a capturing device and perform the rest of the analysis by ourselves. Does that make sense?"

    "You want me to be able to create the image by analysing the reflected visible light on my own," Yohn affirmed. "So how do I do that?"

    "There isn''t a systematic approach to this," Markus revealed. He then took out multiple transparent film filters from the box and ced and reced them in front of the lightbox. "As you can see here, once we filter out certain frequencies of visible light from theplete spectrum, the refracted output does not contain that frequency of light. We want our mana sense to see the output from the prism by analysing the input into the prism prism. To do this, you need to take your time and cycle through your mana sense until it is observable."

    Yohn nodded in understanding and let his mana sense envelop the setup in its entirety.

    "I''ll leave you with this then," Markus said in a low voice, to not disturb Yohn.

    Yohn added and removed the filters in front of the lightbox. As he did this, he tuned his mana sense to observe the visible light in different ways. His first attempt produced garbled nonsense that overwhelmed his mind within the fraction of a second that it was on.

    Yohn massaged his forehead to assuage the minor pain before trying again. The first few attempts were just like this, since he wasn''t used to opening up his mana senses to untested "frequencies". The initial pain that would assault his head started to subside very soon, but he could not maintain the raw mana sense for more than two seconds without an ungodly strain bearing down on his mind.

    The exercise continued for hours, with no sess. While disappointing, this did not dissuade Yohn. He knew that this process was a time-intensive endeavour - not something that could be achieved in one day.

    As dinner time had arrived, Yohn carefully packed up the apparatus and made his way to the mess hall.

    ____

    The next day was the same for Yohn. He''d shift filters in front of the lightbox while using his mana sense to evaluate the scene through a different process. He''d open himself up to the raw mana sense observe the input light, and try to match it with the output, refracted and separated light.

    The day was nearly finished when Yohn finally achieved a breakthrough. He did not know exactly what he was seeing, but he knew that it was what he was looking for. The mana sense did not show the same image as he would have if he had to use his eyes. What he saw was like a bouquet of blots.

    From this stage, it fell upon him how he wished to analyse and decipher this bouquet of blots. What did he want them to mean?

    At this juncture, he decided to consult Markus.

    "Don''t bother trying to decipher it just yet," Markus dissuaded immediately. "If you do so, you will only limit your perceptivity to the other waves in the EM spectrum."

    "Now that you have a way to sense the visible light as an EM wave, we will now move on to the lowest end of the electromaic spectrum, radio waves," Markus exined.

    "Master Larks once exined to me just how useful radio waves can be when ites tomunication over long distances," Markus continued. "As they are EM waves, they are able to prate through most structures and travel over long distances unhindered. They reflect off of the ionosphere and can follow the curvature of Gaea, making it possible to be received globally. And since they are just signals, if we can convolute messages into them, it would be possible tomunicate with people all over the world at a moment''s notice. We would no longer be beholden to messenger birds orplicated, and expensivemunication arrays."

    "That''s amazing!" Yohn evoked with awe.

    "Master Larks always wanted to set up such amunication infrastructure," Markus stated. "But since he hasn''t been able to get to it, we will now take the initiative. So, our next step is to create the following device."

    Markus picked up a roll of parchment from his desk and unfurled it in front of Yohn. "What we have here is a spark-gap transmitter. Its purpose is to generate radio waves by means of an electric spark."

    "It looksplicated," Yohn said with a wry smile. "I barely understand a per cent of what is shown here."

    "That''s okay," Markus reciprocated with augh. "I barely understand it either. Our first task in creating this device is to understand what it is, how it works, and how it is made."

    "Wait!" Yohn eximed. "If we don''t know how it works and how it is made, how do we have its blueprint? I mean, if the design exists, then the product should already exist, right?"

    Markus bit his lower lip as he considered how to exin the discrepancy.

    "Okay, I will let you in on a secret," Markus whispered as he inched closer towards Yohn. "By now, you should be aware that there is a lot of knowledge in this Sect that is not freely practised outside, even though some of it feels likemon sense. On top of that, you may also find a lot of corroborated knowledge in here, which is impossible for us to verify because our level of technology hasn''t reached that far to be able to do it ourselves."

    Yohn nodded, and his eyes grew wider as he suddenly realised that maybe he had been taking a lot of suspicious details for granted. For example, how do you know of the existence of the EM spectrum, if there is no technology to analyse it? And if it was known how tomunicate over long distances using radio waves, why hasn''t a device like that be ubiquitous already?

    "Actually," Markus continued. "All this information is actually a part of my Master''s inheritance. This is all sensitive information, so I must caution you against sharing this with others casually."

    Markus bore down on Yohn with a serious stare, that caused the blind boy to swallow a mouthful of saliva in fear.

    "So, anyways," Markus whispered. And then, he proceeded to exin the nature of his Master''s inheritance. As he did this, Yohn''s respect for the enigmatic and phnthropic Sect Leader grew even more.

    Although Markus had warned Yohn against sharing this information with others, rumours are often hard to contain. Within the week, everyone knew of this, though no one was stupid enough to advertise it publicly.

    And like that, the alreadymitted Sect members of the True World Sect turned into devout followers of the Sect Leader.

 Chapter 375 Help from Above

    375 Help from Above

    Yohn and Markus proceeded to build the spark-gap transmitter ording to the blueprint and descriptions, which wasn''t an easy matter. While the concepts involved in the device made sense, it was the construction andponents that posed a problem for the duo since they called for a level of industrial development that the world hadn''t reached yet. In fact, they lived in a world where electricity hadn''t even been developed. So, for all intents and purposes, they were working with highly advanced technology.

    Of course, the knowledge of electricity and its applications was known to all Sect members. But to them, electricity was closer to magic than science. Who could truly fathom the possibility of being able to light up an entire city like a bouquet of flowers, when the only sights they have been exposed to are oilnterns? Yet this world did have magic, which made digesting the incredibility of electricity easier. Sect Leader Larks did run a few experiments of generating current using a simple generator (by spinning a ma between a coil of wire) to show that electricity wasn''t made by magic. But ultimately, electricity was still just a scientific curiosity. To put it into effect as an essential tool for mankind''s rise to power, there were still a lot of steps left.

    But Markus and Yohn couldn''t wait for technology to catch up to that point. They needed to harness electricity now. But, without applicable intimacy with the subject, the two realised that they were nothing short of blind mice stumbling about in search of food with only a faint scent hanging in the air to guide them. Ultimately Markus decided, after spending three days achieving diddly squat, to just ask his Master for help.

    "Why in the world are you two trying to make this monstrosity?" Master Larks said with a humorous snort. "We''re trying to generate a radio wave. This was the only thing I could find in the library that made sense to me. Everything else was too hard," Markus admitted.

    "If it is just a radio wave you want to generate, there are much simpler experiments," Master Larks exined. "It''s good that you came to me with this. However I have to ask, why are we jumping so far ahead in our studies? There is a reason why I have only hinted at some topics and not delved too deep into them. We just don''t have the infrastructure to verify them. Some of this isn''t even achievable yet."

    At that instant, Yohn raised his hand meekly, causing the attention in the room to be drawn to him. "Sir, I disagree with that."

    "You disagree?" Sect Leader Larks repeated with an interested quirk of a brow. "On what part?"

    "That just because weck the infrastructure written in the background of a topic, that it is out of reach," Yohn expounded while trying to control the stammer in his voice.

    "I-I''d like to point out just what Senior Sister Shuri has achieved," Yohn rified. "I''ve checked books in the library that have hinted at what she is doing right now, which is far ahead of the level of technology we are at now."

    There was a tense silence as the Sect Leader looked pensively at Yohn, causing the boy to shift ufortably. Even though he could not see, he could feel the heavy gaze on him. At that moment, Markus quickly cut in.

    "I think what Yohn is trying to say, Master," he started with a shaky smile, "is that maybe if we also marry magic into what we are learning, all these impossible feats of technology may be achievable."

    He then leaned closer and whispered, "I apologise, but I shared the details about your inheritance with Yohn..."

    "Inheritance?" Sect Leader Larks repeated with a surprised expression. "What inheritance?"

    There was an astounded "Huh" from both Markus and Yohn at the man''s disy of total ignorance. For a second, they were convinced that maybe they were mistaken about the whole thing. Until, within seconds, the Sect Leader''s eyes widened in realisation.

    "Oh, you mean THAT inheritance?" He eximed. He then let out a wryugh and said, "I almost forgot about that."

    "So... Umm... What about it?" Sect Leader Larks probed.

    "Respectfully," Yohn spoke up. "I-I think that all the knowledge that the Sect Leader has disseminated in the Library is built on the premise that we are living in the True World - a world without mana. The natural progression of knowledge through inventions and discoveries should be like that in such a world. However, we live in a world where mana exists. And so, I don''t think that it is necessary for us to follow the same progression when ites to advancing our level of technology."

    "While I agree with what you''re saying," Sect Leader Larks opined. "We are at an advantage here, because we have ess to such advanced knowledge so readily. Do you think the world would be able to unearth most of the truths enshrined in the library?"

    As the two members shook their heads, he continued, "I don''t want you people to take this knowledge for granted, that''s all."

    He then pulled out tworge parchment papers and a writing utensil and started to scribble on them.

    "This is a simple radio wave-generating device," he narrated while drawing the schematic. "There are primarily four sections to this divided into two parallel circuits. This button here is what you hold down to generate the radio wave. One terminal of the button is connected to this cell, while the other is connected to one end of an electromaic coil. The other end of the coil is connected to a pin, which is in contact with a thin spring-loaded iron te, which has one end connecting to the other cell terminal. Note here that the tip of the iron te is positioned right in front of the electroma. When you hold down the button, the circuitpletes. The current runs from the battery and into the electroma (turning it on), which causes the iron te to get pulled towards it which in turn causes the circuit to break. As this happens, the te returns to its original position, and while the button is still pressed, the circuit ispleted again. And thus the process repeats itself."

    "Isn''t this just a buzzer?" Markusmented.

    "One of the side outputs of the buzzer, due to the rapidly changing maic field, is a radio wave." Sect Leader Larks exined. "It adheres to the definition of electromaic waves; you can confirm it."

    "However, while this is simpler, it does call for familiarity with a topic we haven''t really touched till now," he then added. The Sect Leader ced a finger over the cell in the schematic and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

    "A cell. It generates electricity as a direct current through chemical reactions," Yohn narrated from memory.

    "Right," the Sect Leader affirmed. "That is the definition. But how does it achieve that?"

    "Umm... though a chemical reaction..." Yohn repeated.

    "What kind of chemical reaction?" The Sect Leader volleyed with a curious raise of his brows.

    Amidst Yohn''s bumbling sounds, the Sect Leader let out a mirthful chuckle ced the second empty parchment above the first and wrote: "RedOx reactions: Reduction and Oxidation."

    "Chemical reactions, in their nature, have something to do with the movement or transfer of electrons," he exined. "Because of that, we can define most chemical reactions as reduction and oxidation reactions. Oxidation is when a reactant loses an electron, while reduction is when it gains an electron. The reason why name-wise it makes no sense is because they are defined in terms of gaining or losing oxygen (i.e. reduction is loss of oxygen). The easiest way to remember the definition with respect to electrons is OILRIG. Oxidation is Loss, Reduction is Gain."

    "Abustion reaction is a simple example of a redox reaction. Here, the fuel, let''s take methane, is oxidised, and the oxidant, which is oxygen itself, is reduced," he added.

    "It is important for us to understand redox reactions because there is a branch of redox reactions that interact with electricity (since technically there is a flow of electrons happening here). They are called electrochemical cells," the Sect Leader pointed out. "Amongst them, you have two types. The ones that generate electric currents with chemical reactions, and those that generate chemical reactions with electric currents. Which do you think we are interested in?"

    "The former?" Markus contributed.

    "You''re correct! Voltaic or galvanic cells are two half-cells consisting of separate oxidation and reduction reactions. When we connect them together with a bridge, it turns into a full cell, which is capable of generating a voltage," the Sect Leader responded.

    "The circuit that I provided you needs to be powered with direct current. That is when current flows in one direction. If you remember, we created and tested a hand-cranked generator with a ma and coils of wire. That was actually generating alternating current, which switches direction periodically. A voltaic cell is the most essible source of direct current, we have with our level of technology. This is what we will be using to power the circuit," the Sect Leader exined.

    "To that end, you guys will need to do some background reading."

    As those dreaded words fell, Yohn and Markus had to suppress a groan as a loaded listnded on theirps.

    "Meet me in the evening tomorrow, same time. I want to personally teach this to you so that there aren''t any mistakes," the Sect Leader said as he dismissed them.

 Chapter 376 Electrolytic Chemical Reactions

    376 Electrolytic Chemical Reactions

    Yohn questioned his life often, nowadays - surprisingly, even more than when he had to live a life drenched in darkness. After a faint light was split on his ck canvas, thanks to the Magi-Core, Yohn took the initiative to pull apart the curtains so that he could finally let all the light in. However, in this process, he had taken on two hangers-on.

    Well, calling them hangers-on would be a disservice, since they were contributing a lot to his endeavour to step into the light. The fact of the matter was that their mere presence increased the pressure bearing down on Yohn. He felt that with the two people on board, he just HAD to seed or else he would be aplete failure of a mage. Not that either of his two "partners" had explicitly stated that to him.

    "You look distracted," Senior Brother Markus said from Yohn''s side causing him to flinch involuntarily.

    "I was just thinking," Yohn responded while picking up the pace as they walked towards the Chemistry Lab.

    "Care to share what you were thinking about?" Markus probed, to which Yohn just waved his hands and dismissed, "It''s nothing serious."

    Markus shrugged in eptance. If it was a trivial matter, there was no point in digging into it, especially since they had arrived at their destination. Upon entering theb, they were greeted with a barren room filled with a maze of empty tables. A few near the centre were popted with equipment and apparatus, and standing next to them was the sole figure of the Sect Leader.

    "I did not think I would have to requisition a lot of this chemistry equipment just yet. My n was to But you ambitious kids have proven me wrong once again!" He eximed with a smile. "Come,e! I have prepared the experiment for today."

    The duo walked through the maze-like desk arrangement, towards the Sect Leader.

    "Did you get a chance to read what I asked you to?" The man asked.

    Both Yohn and Markus both nodded hesitantly. They could only hit the first two books in the exhaustive list, which was already a grand achievement since it covered some topics that had a lot of "just take my word for it" feel to it since they could not verify them with experiments. For instance, reversible reactions and equilibria were still in the realms of myths for the duo, since they just did not have a way to verify the so-called Haber Process.

    "While I''d love to take my time and cover everything you need to know about redox reactions, I''m sure you two don''t have the patience to sit through that long lesson which will inevitably span weeks," the Sect Leadermented. "So, I''ve decided topress it down and only focus on what you need to know."

    "We''ll start by showing a simple electrolysis process. What I have here is distilled water with pure salt dissolved in it, as well as a few droplets of red cabbage juice which is why it has such a faint purplish shade," he said while pointing at a ss beaker in front. "In the beaker, I have ced two graphite rods. These rods will be connected to a positive and negative terminal of a power source. For this experiment, I will be acting as this source."

    The graphite rods had a cableing out of the unsubmerged ends that were each held in one hand by the Sect Leader.

    "As you know, when salt dissolves in water, the ions dissociate. The positively charged sodium ions, the cation, and the negatively charged chloride ions, the anion, dissociate fully. Water is also in a state of partial dissociation, with hydrogen cations and hydroxide (OH-) anions. Since the solution is filled with ions and can conduct electricity, it is called an electrolyte. When I provide a charge to these electrodes, with the one connected to the negative terminal called the cathode and the positive terminal the anode, the circuit getspleted through the electrolyte, and electrolysis takes ce."

    "What is electrolysis? When the anode gets charged with a positive charge, it is basically a terminal with electron deficiency. This deficiency attracts the ions in the solution that have an electron surplus. As we know, this solution has two such anions: the chloride and hydroxide ions. Technically, both of them can be drawn towards the anode, however, we can see here that there is a faint yellow gas being released from the surface. This is an indicator that chlorine is being released - which means that it is the chloride ion which is reacting. Since an electron is being lost, it is oxidation that takes ce at the anode. You must be wondering why it is the chloride and not the hydroxide ions that are being oxidised. That has to do with the standard reduction potentials of the two ions. You can read up on themter."

    The Sect Leader then nudged his head towards the cathode and said, "On this electrode, we have reduction taking ce, where the electron abundance is being diffused with the cations reacting and taking them away. As you know, there are two cations in this solution. Which one is being reduced at the cathode?"

    Markus raised his hand and said, "The hydrogen cation."

    "How do we know that?" The Sect Leader asked Yohn.

    "Because there aren''t any sodium deposits at the electrode?" Yohn hypothesised.

    "Correct! Once again, this has to do with the standard reduction potentials. Alternatively, if you think logically, the moment sodium forms in the cathode, it should automatically react with the water and be sodium ions due to its reactivity," the Sect Leader exined.

    "So what is left in the electrolyte as the experiment continues?" He asked.

    "Sodium cations and hydroxide anions," Yohn answered.

    "The two ions in their dissociated state dissolved in water form sodium hydroxide, which we know to be a potent alkali." As he said this, the Sect Leader gestured at the solution which was changing colour from faint purple to blueish-green. "And there you have your proof. The natural pH indicator that we dissolved in the solution is showing an increase in basic properties of the solution."

    "This is your crash course in electrolysis. It is the process of inducing chemical reactions using electricity," the Sect Leader narrated. "You have an anode and a cathode, with oxidation at the former and reduction at thetter. Of course, there is a prerequisite that the electrolyte contains ions for electrolysis to be possible. You cannot use oil or nonpr solutions for electrolysis, since there aren''t any ions in it. In that sense, electrolysis only works with ionicpounds (molten or aqueous), aqueous solutions and metals (molten)."

    Scooting over to the next prepared experiment, the Sect Leader continued his exnation, "This here is a type of reaction in the same vein, but works opposite to electrolysis. Here, the chemical reaction generates an electric current. This was much harder for me to prepare because we needed very specific electrolytes. On the left beaker, have filled it with zinc sulphate, and on the right you have copper sulphate. In the zinc sulphate solution, I have dipped an electrode made of zinc. In the copper sulphate solution, I have dipped a copper electrode. Connecting the two is what you call a salt bridge. It''s basically absorbent paper dipped in potassium chloride. Each electrode-electrolytebination is a half-cell. Connecting the two electrodes with a cablepletes the circuit which creates a full cell. Let me show you."

    As the Sect Leader connected the cables together, Markus and Yohn could see chemical reactions taking ce in each of the beakers. The Sect Leader separated the connecting cables slightly, and periodic sparks started to jump between the small gap.

    "This is a voltaic cell. On the zinc side, you have oxidation taking ce, as the zinc atoms from the electrode lose electrons and zinc ions get dissolved into the solution. The electrons get carried through the wire to the copper half-cell, which has a reduction taking ce at the electrode. The copper ions in the electrolyte get attracted to the electron abundance at the electrode, and we have copper depositing there. This is just one type of voltaic cell. You can create a voltaic cell with other electrodes and electrolytes, but for it to generate a potential you need to confirm it against the standard electrode potential data table."

    The Sect Leader turned towards Yohn and Markus, thetter of whom was furiously taking notes. "I know that this is a lot to digest all at once. I practically dropped a month''s worth of information in an hour. BUT, this crash course should help you understand what you read till this point. However, I also realise that spending time to understand this topic just to fill in one nk in your experiment isn''t proper utilisation of time and resources. So I took the liberty of preparing what you need to create the electric cell."

    The Sect Leader pointed towards another table, which contained two stacks of copper and zinc tes with a container of acid, cables, and other misceneous items. He handed a rolled parchment, which unfurled to show a diagram.

    "This is the schematic for a Voltaic Pile. It uses the same principles as what you saw just now. You should be able to build it and test it out by yourselves," he instructed. At that moment, Markus'' hand rose.

    "Master, do we really need to create a cell? Why don''t you teach us the spell you used earlier when performing electrolysis?"

    "That''s something only I can do," the Sect Leader exined. "I used my special ability to warp my nature - essentially turning myself into a battery. You cannot do it. And before you ask me to be the battery for your experiments, let me tell you that you won''t learn anything that way. Insights are best gained through trial, error and learning. You can take shortcuts most of the time, but not all the time."

 Chapter 377 The Blot Thickens

    377 The Blot Thickens

    The materials avable to them included a stand, a set of copper and zinc tes, some fibrous disk cutouts about the same size as the tes, and a bottle filled with sulphuric acid.

    "This seems easier than the experiment!" Yohn eximed.

    "It may be simplified for our benefit," Markus reasoned. "Or maybe the experiment is more explicit to make us understand the wider context?"

    "Regardless, would this work?" Yohn voiced his anxiousness.

    "Let''s not cast doubt before even trying it out," Markus warned. "Why don''t we begin?"

    The instructions were clear and surprisingly simple. All they had to do was to stack the zinc and copper tes alternatively, with the fibrous disk cutouts soaked in sulphuric acid separating the tes - kind of like a multyered sandwich. The instructions stated that the more stacks you ce, the higher the output voltage. And since each copper-zinc pair generates roughly 0.7 to 1.1 volts, they would need to stack around 9 pairs give or take. The duo finished the task within minutes, and the result was a tower of zinc and copper, with a wireing out the bottom and another from the top of the stack.

    "So this SHOULD generate electricity," Yohn said while gazing at the creation.

    "Technically," Markus affirmed doubtfully. At that instant, something triggered in his mind. Every once in a while, people have intrusive thoughts. Nine out of ten times, people don''t act on it because the consequence of doing so tends to be more trouble than it is worth. There was an intrusive thought currently upying real estate in Markus'' mind. And unfortunately, this also happened to be the dreaded one out of ten.

    Markus held each of the cables from the cell''s terminal in one hand and brought it up to his extended tongue.

    "W-What are you doing?" Yohn eximed as his mana senses caught the movement.

    "Ow!" Markus yelped. "That was stronger than I anticipated," hemented while rubbing his tongue against his lips.

    "What are you doing?" A confused voice asked from behind them, causing the duo to jolt and turn around together.

    "I leave you kids alone for a few minutes, and this is what I return to?" The Sect Leader said with a disappointed sigh.

    "M-Master! I was just checking to see if it was working-"

    "There are many safer ways to do that," the Sect Leader responded while tilting his head back in defeat.

    There was silence as the Sect Leader let out a long, defeated breath. "Whatever, it''s not like that the cell is going to cause great damage to a Foundation Establishment realm mage. But I can''t believe I have to say this: please don''t shove live wires into your mouths. It isn''t just a matter of safety."

    "Y-Yes, Master!"

    "Yes, Sect Leader!"

    "Anyways, there''s no need to test it any further. It will work," Sect Leader Larks dered. "I''ve brought the equipment for the radio wave generation experiment as well," he said while gesturing at the wheelbarrow behind him with the aforementioned materials.

    "We have enough time to finish things up today itself," the Sect Leader surmised. "Let''s go!"

    Markus quickly moved towards the wheelbarrow and carried the items back to the table. Yohn picked up the thin copper wire spool and started to wrap it around the iron rod to form the electroma while Markus connected the otherponents of the circuit. Once the unit came together, the group took a few steps back to behold the device (except for Yohn since he could not see beyond a certain limit).

    "What are we waiting for?" The Sect Leader asked. "Press the button!"

    Markus nodded and moved to activate the device by pressing down the push button. As he did so, the moving iron te connected to the spring started to move up to and then away from the electroma continuously, causing a muffled ringing sound to resonate from the device.

    "So a radio wave should be emitted from the coil, right?" Markus said loudly, over the ringing bell.

    "It should," Sect Leader Larks responded. He then turned towards Yohn and encouraged with a gentle nudge, "Go ahead, do your thing!"

    Yohn affirmed with a light nod and focused his mana senses on the ringing device. But just as his mana senses enveloped the device, his mind experienced a painful explosion that caused his head to ring with the intensity of a thousand bells.

    "AAAAH!" He yelled as he curled his head into his hands.

    "What''s the matter?" The Sect Leader asked worriedly as Markus immediately turned off the device.

    "Information overload..." Yohn mumbled while massaging his head. "It''s okay, I''ll work through it."

    "Why would you do that? It''s so unsafe!" The Sect Leader admonished.

    "But, Senior Brother Markus did the same-"

    "Ask him how I reacted when he told me what he did?" He interjected. Yohn sensed a wry and embarrassed smile affecting Markus'' face, which sent the message loud and clear.

    "But there''s no other way," Yohn reasoned.

    "Says who?" Sect Leader Larks said with a mysterious chuckle.

    At that moment, Yohn suddenly started to feel his senses growing muffled. It was as though a heavy fog was descending, covering every possible sense of his. It was like going blind all over again. Just as panic bloomed on his face, a reassuring hand held his shoulder.

    "Rx, it''s me," the Sect Leader exined. "I know it''s a jarring surprise. But bear with it for a second."

    Yohn bit through for a second, as suddenly something weird began to happen in his head. He slowly started to forget what it was to see, hear, smell, taste or touch. He could hear, but not listen. He could breathe, but not smell. He could bite, chew and swallow, but not taste. He could feel, but not touch or determine the texture of what he was feeling. His mind just archived this knowledge.

    "W-What''s happening?" Yohn eximed.

    "Do you remember what Kevan, Revian, Casey and Lacey did in order to thoroughly sense mana and quantify it?" The Sect Leader redirected. "You need to first get rid of all distractions and noise around you. And by that, I don''t just mean the noise you hear, but the physical noise that overloads every sensor you have avable to you. But humans can''t just get rid of noise. Markus here had to magically truncate his senses to achieve what he did. It was crude, which is why his cultivation is still undergoing development. What I did, is make youpletely forget how your senses work. It is a lie I''ve convinced your mind to believe to be the truth. It is only temporary so don''t fret too much over it."

    "It''s extremely jarring," Yohnmented. "I just hear you in my head, I don''t know where your voice is evening from."

    Yohn suddenly stumbled but was caught by Sect Leader Larks and ced on a chair. "Don''t move. Your sense of bnce will be out of whack while you''re under the effect of my ability. In a moment, I willpletely remove all of your senses, even the sense of hearing. When that happens, Markus will turn on the device. Focus your mana senses on the same frequency as when you detected visible light. However, try to focus on what is different between red and blue light. Once you can pinpoint that, try to modte your sensing capacity using that variable as a reference, but go beyond red. Keep going until you can eventually sense radio waves."

    "You want me to change the frequency of my sensing?" Yohn surmised.

    "Or wavelength," Sect Leader Larks corrected. "We still don''t know whether what you are sensing is frequency or wavelength. But that willeter."

    Yohn hummed affirmatively, and at that moment, the Sect Leader nudged him and said, "Counting down from three, two, one-"

    And then total silence. Every sense of his had just shut off. But surprisingly, he didn''t feel suffocated or panicky, because Yohn also forgot what it was like to sense. When you don''t know what it feels like to smell, you don''t panic when your sense of smell gets removed.

    Yohn followed the Sect Leader''s instructions and started to tune into the newly developed sensing "frequency" in his mana senses.

    He could suddenly grasp different blots in mana sense, it was the same back when he was observing the filtered light box. He then spent a few minutes understanding what the simrities and differences were between the blots he knew belonged to blue and the blots that belonged to red. After an unknown amount of time, he picked up that the two blots vibrated differently. The red had a much slower vibrationpared to the blue.

    It took another unknown period of time for Yohn to figure out how to filter this new sense by virtue of blot vibration. He could now remove bands of blots that were within a certain vibration frequency from his senses. With this ability locked in, Yohn started to filter his sense further to capture vibration frequencies even lower than red.

    His senses started to open up to different types of blots, with different shapes. Another uncountable period of timeter, Yohn''s senses were suddenly swarmed with a massive blot hitting him from all sides. This had to be the radio waves!

    Yohn quickly yelled for Markus to turn off the emitter, and the blot suddenly disappeared. He called for it to be turned on again, and the blot resumed.

    "I think I got it!" Yohn dered. And just as he did that, he suddenly remembered how to use his natural senses.

    "Congrattions on being able to detect radio waves," the Sect Leader said.

    "Nextes the matter of analysis and understanding," he then added. "To see something and be able to understand what you are seeing are not the same. The eyes can see by default, but it is the optic nerves and the optical centres of the brain that turn what the eyes see into meaningful data. Once you bag that skill, we can properly celebrate your aplishment."

 Chapter 378 A Different Spectrum of Colours

    378 A Different Spectrum of Colours

    Yohn spent the following week trying to make sense of the blots in his mana senses. Just as Sect Leader Larks had informed him, he was just at the stage of "seeing". To use the analogy of the eye, he was just capturing the blots as raw data, and he had to now build the backend (the optic nerves and optical centres of the brain) that would turn this raw data into something meaningful.

    Unfortunately, that was something easier said than done. It was in these instances that Yohn envied Senior Brother Markus'' ingenuity, to be able to grasp something even more arcane like gravity - even though Senior Brother Markus ardently dispelled all praise given to him saying that he just got lucky. Senior Brother also emphasised just how much input Sect Leader Larks had in getting him to understand what he was seeing.

    After spending a week and getting nowhere, Yohn finally realised why Senior Brother Markus was so dismissive about epting the credit. "This isn''t something a teenager can do by themselves," Yohn admitted.

    Maybe, Sect Leader Larks had an even more crucial role to y in facilitating Senior Brother Markus'' advancement. This realisation dropped on Yohn like a massive anvil and caused him to start rethinking everything.

    ''If I can''t recruit Sect Leader Larks'' assistance, I will never be able to reach the end of my current path,'' he thought to himself. It wasn''t apletely defeatist perspective, as Yohn felt there was truth to it.

    Some could argue that maybe spending only a week wasn''t enough toe to such a conclusion. However, Yohn reasoned that if he couldn''t make a single headway within a week, just how much progress could he make in a month? What about a year? And at that point, was it even feasible? There was the time-cost-to-benefit that one has to consider, after all.

    ''But giving up isn''t an option,'' Yohn thought while groaning out loud. ''Even if it is impossible, I HAVE to find a way to get the Sect Leader to help me,'' Yohn decided with hardened resolve.

    Not just anyone could hit up the Sect Leader and get them to furnish personalised attention and training. That just wasn''t how a sect worked - everyone knew that.

    So, with half-hesitating and half-determined steps - a truly paradoxical state of mind - Yohn approached the Sect Leader''s office. This time, he was alone. Markus had more or less separated himself from the project after Yohn could capture EM waves from radio to visible light. Kevan had detached himself early on after fathoming the magnitude of studying he would need to do to keep up with Yohn''s research work.

    Yohn stood in front of the Sect Leader''s room and raised his hand to knock on the door. Right as it was about to hit the door, the wooden portal swung open.

    "It took you exactly ten minutes to get from the start of this corridor to my room," the Sect Leader said. "No one walks that slowly, not even someone with a visual disability."

    Yohn let out a wry chuckle before entering the room and taking the seat gestured to by the Sect Leader.

    "So? Have we made any progress?" Before Yohn could answer that question, the Sect Leader continued. "I guess not..."

    "How did you know, Sect Leader?" Yohn responded with surprise.

    "I extrapted through behavioural queues. If you had seeded, your walk here wouldn''t have been ten minutes. But let''s not dwell on sad thoughts. Tell me, how can I help you?"

    Yohn curled his palms into tight fists and spoke with an imploring tone, "I have a presumptuous request, Sect Leader."

    "Is there such a thing as a presumptuous request?" The Sect Leader retorted. "A request is just a request, isn''t it? You ask for help because you are unable to do something yourself. You approach a particr person because you believe they can assist you in the best way possible. Isn''t that why you came to me?"

    "Yes, but..." Yohn calcted his next words and said, "There is a proper chain ofmand, right? I can''t just disturb you with trivial troubles."

    "Actually, you can," the Sect Leader interjected with an uproariousugh. "Trivial troubles are what I live for!"

    "On a serious note, though," the Sect Leader followed up. "If you have any problems or queries, you cane up to me and ask. If it is a request or a favour, I''ll look into how feasible it is. And then, it''s just a matter of fitting it into my schedule."

    "So tell me what is this self-assumed ''presumptuous'' request?" Sect Leader Larks said with a jocr intonation.

    "Umm, could you please do with me what you did with Senior Brother Markus?" Yohn propositioned anxiously.

    "You have to be more specific there."

    "I spent the week, and I have basically nothing to show for it," Yohn admitted. "I am struggling to turn the raw data into something processed andprehensible. So I was hoping you could do for me what you did for Senior Brother Markus."

    The Sect Leader massaged his chin while in thought. As the silence extended, Yohn grew more worried, thinking that he had irked the man somehow.

    "If it is too much trouble-"

    Just as Yohn was about to stand up, the Sect Leader reached forward and grabbed his hand.

    "Meditate, and let yourself drift along to the sound of my voice. Focus only on me," as he said this, the man''s palm rested on Yohn''s head and his thumb gently massaged his forehead.

    Yohn let himself rx, following the Sect Leader''smand, and found himself getting sucked down a narrow tunnel. He drifted for a seemingly endless amount of time before he was deposited in a room that waspletely white, and pleasantly bright.

    As he looked around-

    "Wait! I-I can see again!" Yohn eximed.

    "It is only temporary," the Sect Leader''s voice corrected. "It is only because I want you to see."

    "I was thinking about what you are struggling with. The matter ofprehending the blots, as you sense them," the Sect Leader started. "I think the issue starts with the fact the way you are sensing them is different from the way your normal senses work."

    "Let me exin. Most human senses that are used in localisation are directional in nature. Your eyes have a field of view and your ears have a field of hearing. Any input that is beyond this field is hard to decipher. The directional nature is important because it helps the mind tether the input to a source and generate a mental image. The sensory organs are extremelyplex, and the way they perform inferencing is equally intensive. You should have read up on them, so I won''t exhaust you with the details. Why I believe you are struggling with processing is because the mana sense is omnidirectional, and your brain is finding it difficult to warp this omnidirectional information in a way that humans can understand," he hypothesised.

    "Consider the following. There is a man in front of you and behind you both equally far away from you. They both make the same noise. Your ears can understand when something ising from the front and something ising from behind. If you rely on your mana senses to hear things, they too will be able to decipher it because the data is processed through your hearing neural pathways. However, you don''t have a neural pathway to decipher EM waves beyond the visible light range. So when omnidirectional data is obtained, there is nothing that can handle it," the Sect Leader expounded.

    "What if I use my optical neural pathways - basically using my eyes as tethers," Yohn probed.

    "I hope you don''t take it the wrong way, but you only have eyes here. Outside... you are still..."

    "No, no, I know that. I mean, since I am nning to find a recement for mycking visual sensors, why can''t I hijack my optical centres to process the EM data?" Yohn surmised.

    The Sect Leader contemted on the idea before saying, "It could work. But in that case, we need to design the processing segment. I have an idea of how you can do that. As you know, each band of the EM spectrum has a purpose. Radio is used formunication. Due to its higher wavelength, radio waves tend to diffract a lot which makes it a poor candidate for vision and detection. Microwave is superior for detection as it has a much lower wavelength and works well in a line-of-sight application. You can use it to localise yourself. Infrared is primarily associated with heat radiation, so you can use it to map the surrounding temperatures. As for visible light, well, you already know its use. Since the EM spectrum has different use cases based on the band, we have to process each of them differently."

    "That soundsplicated..." Yohn admitted.

    "This is why we will spend some time determining how you want to ''see'' the processed data. Bring into a form that is decipherable by the brain and fathomable by the human mind. This is how Marie understands the waves of fate, and how Markus sees the gravitational field. The key is to design a robust conceptualisation that captures its essence to a high degree of uracy."

    "Let us start with infrared," the Sect Leader flourished his hands and the world around Yohn changed from a nk white void to a teeming forest.

    "Everything here radiates heat, which is in the form of infrared waves. What if we assign a colour to the intensity of the wave being?"

    With a snap of the finger, Yohn''s vision changed - not the environment but his sight altogether. Instead of seeing the standard colours, he now saw a contour of colours ranging from blue to red all around him. The small fauna that pranced and scuttled along was a distinct red shade, while the water was a deep blue, and the nts varied from green to red.

    "Red is hot, blue is cool," the Sect Leader exined. Yohn turned around and saw a spectral figure of the Sect Leader drenched in reds and yellows speaking to him. "So, what do you think?"

 Chapter 379 ICU

    379 ICU

    Yohn looked around and immersed himself in the world with apletely novel colouration. It was a wholly different way to see the world.

    "They say snakes and few other reptiles have the ability to see infrared. Since their prey is mostly warm-blooded, it helps them track down rodents and birds," the Sect Leader borated.

    "So this is how I should be processing infrared..." Yohn murmured.

    "It is an option," Sect Leader Larks corrected. "If you have a better visualisation strategy, I''m ready to amodate it here so that it will make it easier for you to conceptualise and internalise the method."

    "I think this is sufficient for infrared," Yohn responded. "Since microwaves are line-of-sight based and useful in detection, is it possible to map continuous reflected waves to discrete points in the surrounding space?"

    "So... you mean like a point cloud?" Sect Leader Larks rephrased.

    "A what?"

    "Let me show you," he said while snapping his fingers again. As he did that, Yohn was once again plunged into darkness. Then, in the void, a cluster of white dots started to fill up his field of view. The dots were faint and suspended in the air. As he observed the clusters as a whole, he noticed that the shapes they formed represented the objects he saw in the forest scenery from before. The small fauna, the trees with the swaying branches, the grass, and even the Sect Leader himself. It was all represented as clusters of white points.

    "The problem with microwaves, though, is that they aren''t naturally emitted by objects, like infrared. You have to depend on reflected microwaves, but there aren''t that many natural sources of this EM wave either. So, you will find the ambience scarce in microwaves. If you had a way to generate them, I believe this is what the world would look like to you," the Sect Leader exined.

    "I think this is a sufficiently robust visualisation for microwaves, thought," Yohn affirmed. "What do I do about radio waves?"

    The Sect Leader pondered on the question for a while before suggesting, "Why don''t you try representing radio waves as sound? The primary purpose of radio waves is tomunicate, right? So then representing them as sound instead of a visualisation that you see feels more apt."

    "How would I do that?"

    "First, you need to understand how sound waves can be converted into radio waves." The world returned to the normal white void. The Sect Leader summoned a circuit in front of him. The circuit consisted of a thin film, connected to a coil that was ced inside a ma.

    "The film here is analogous to our ear drums. As sound hits the film, it vibrates, causing the coil attached to it to vibrate as well. In doing so, the movement of the coil in the maic field induces an electric signal. This signal is the conversion of physical sound waves into electric signals. This is called the modtion signal. Then, it is just a matter of converting electric signals into radio waves, which we have demonstrated using a simple example in real life."

    As the Sect Leader exined the process, the circuit in front of Yohn replicated the steps slowly so that he could grasp what was going on clearly.

    "The radio waves that get emitted, however, are a bit different. If you notice, the modtion signal is much, much too low in frequency. This is a problem because it is susceptible to absorption and attenuation as it propagates through the atmosphere. There is also less directionality in low frequencies as the waves tend to get diffracted much more and spread out a lot. So, the standard procedure is to have a radio wave generator that generates a higher fixed frequency of radio waves, which is called the carrier wave. The radio waves of the modtion signal are then convoluted into this constant frequency radio wave and emitted into the world through an antenna. Then, a receiving antenna captures this modted carrier. To extract the sound, it uses a bandpass filter to separate the carrier frequency and the modtion signal. The modtion signal is demodted using a reverse set-up of the modtor, thus we get the sound."

    "So then how do I see radio waves as sound?" Yohn probed.

    "I am going to popte the surrounding area with radio waves of different frequencies, I want you to observe them as you usually do, with the colourful, fluctuating blob vision," the Sect Leader instructed.

    As the world returned to darkness, Yohn probed his mana sense and tuned it to the radio band. The world around him was blooming with vibrating, colourful blots of light.

    "You can decipher radio waves on a need-to-know basis, instead of visualising them continuously as you did with microwaves, infrared and visible light. This is more practical because radio waves span a veryrge band," the Sect Leader exined. "Then, when you want to visualise a particr wave, focus on the blot you want."

    Yohn searched for the most vibrant blot and focused on it.

    "The blot''s vibration is most likely the frequency. So start to deconstruct the blob into itsposing frequencies. Take note of the magnitude with which they oscite and ce them on a plot where you have the frequency on the x-axis and the magnitude on the y-axis."

    Yohn followed the instructions and spent an uncountable amount of time deconstructing the signal the way he was told. Near the end, he had a line chart that mapped the frequencies against their magnitude. But there was a problem with the graph - it was too wide and tall. There were a few high frequencies in there that had a very low magnitude, and a lot of low frequencies with high magnitude.

    "You''re probably facing trouble with scale, right?" The Sect Leader''s voice stated, as though he were reading Yohn''s mind. "Try to apply a logarithmic correction to the axes. Try to the base of ten."

    Like the flip of a switch, the axes started topress as a logarithmic correction to a base of ten was applied to them. At this point, Yohn started to really question the nature of the space he was in.

    All the things he was doing right now: visualising the EM spectrum, processing information, constructing graphs mentally and correcting them, and so on. None of this could have been so easily achieved in reality. In the space he was in right now (brought into by Sect Leader Larks), he and the world around him felt as malleable as y. He could sense what he wanted to, in the way he wanted to. He could do things in ways that shouldn''t be physically possible, even with magic. And he could think in ways that werepletely beyond what his mind could fathom.

    It was at that moment that Yohn realised just how Senior Brother Markus was able toprehend such a difficult concept as gravity. Sect Leader Larks'' magical space, or whatever this ce was called, had the ability topletely negate the truths of reality. It was a yground where anything could make sense, and at the same time, nothing could. It was so miraculous that it couldpletely break through any preconceived notions and biases a person could have and reconstruct their beliefs from the ground up.

    "What you have in front of you, is the Bode plot of the radio wave. If you apply a bandpass filter to remove the carrier signal (which is 100kHz) you should be able to hear the sound."

    Yohn removed the 100kHz band and obtained the modtion signal. He then sent it through the demodtor circuit which had presented itself before him in the white void and suddenly, a noisy sound started to resonate around him.

    "Congrattions," the sound said, in the Sect Leader''s voice but with a very gravelly and noisy texture. "You can now sense radio waves!"

    At that instant, Yohn''s core started to undergo a drastic change. The mana in his body started to surge and circte all over. The sudden disruption was significant enough to pull him out of the Sect Leader''s magical space, but Yohn still remained in a meditative trance. His mind was restructuring all the knowledge he had recently gained. All of it was getting slotted into ce like an borate puzzleing together.

    The mana in the atmosphere started to form a whirl above him and got channelled into his core - he was undergoing both a perfected resonance and an advancement. The siphoned mana started to converge at his abdomen, to form a rapidly spinning, condensed sphere.

    Suddenly, Yohn opened his eyes.

    "I-I can see!" Yohn eximed in surprise. In ce of his empty sockets, were two rapidly whirling balls of pure mana cycling through all the colours in the visible light spectrum.

    "I can see again!" Yohn repeated with increased vigour. He looked around, absorbing the visuals in the room once again. Tears of joy started to rain out of his empty sockets, though the water did not hinder the rity of his sight one bit.

    As he turned around one final time, his visionnded on an interesting cylinder in front of him. At the centre of the cylinder, was a single candle. And circling the candle, was the text, "Congrattions on your Advancement, Yohn!"

    "Huh?" Yohn looked up and saw the Sect Leader''s beaming face.

    "It''s in moments like these that I am grateful that Imissioned tougher fabric for the Sect''s jacket," the Sect Leader expressed while gesturing at the disintegrated mess (or what remained of the clothing underneath his jacket).

    "Nheless, congrattions and celebrations are in order," he added. "But first, we need to make you decent. Can''t have you naked in front of everyone, can we? Get changed ande to the recreation hall. This cake will be waiting for you there!"

    "I can see..." Yohn mumbled with a fulfilled smile, as he left the Sect Leader''s room with an ted skip. It didn''t matter that he had advanced. What mattered was that his empty sockets were of use once again.

 Chapter 380 Recycle

    380 Recycle

    The promotion of another Sect Member to the Foundation Establishment realm was met with revel and excitement by everyone. It was celebrated with even more aplomb since the member who advanced was Yohn. No one expected Yohn to make much headway in his cultivation because they realised that his physical affliction was a legitimate hindrance to his advancement. This, however, did not mean that everyone ignored him, turned him into a pariah, and wished poorly of him. Everyone wanted Yohn to seed, sincerely. Everyone knew Yohn, everyone had talked to Yohn, and in many ways, everyone was his friend. Everyone helped him out asionally too. So when he finally advanced, a veritable flood of well-wishes washed down on the boy, with gifts to boot.

    "Does it make you jealous that he''s getting gifts after advancing when you didn''t get squat?" Marie poked Shuri, as they stood off at an isted corner in the popted recreation room.

    "Why would I be jealous? He is deserving of all of this," Shuri responded.

    "Oh, really?" Marie volleyed with a surprised raise of her brows.

    "Why? You don''t think so?"

    "Doesn''t matter what I think. What matters is that you think he deserves it," Marie parried.

    Shuri let out an exhausted breath of air and said, "Talking with you can get so exhausting, you know that?"

    Marie let out a mischievous chuckle and said, "This conversation is getting boring-"

    "You started it!" Shuri eximed with an annoyed tone.

    "Two advancements within a year, both with perfected resonance. What do you think about that?" Marie redirected.

    "What am I supposed to think about that?" Shuri answered with a scoff. "It''s not unusual for a sect to have more than that within the same time frame."

    "Not if the size of the Sect is as small as ours. The ratio of members to advancement is smaller for uspared torger sects," Marie pointed out. "And let''s not forget that it has only been around a year since the initiation of the Sect."

    Shuri pursed her lips with a contemtive look on her face. "If word gets out, it will attract unwanted attention..."

    "Word is already out... kind of," Marie responded. "Not the whole story though. There are all these new machines and trinkets hitting the market with our Sect''s affiliation, which has other businesses gunning out for us. AND, the sudden boom in the Maika Duchy''s economy has the entire Empire looking this way. Some things just can''t be helped; a bright light will shine through even the thickest of nkets. Oh, and Furion has been a little unwieldy with his recruitment strategy. He''s been going around hollering that the Sect is looking to recruit blind kids. A suspicious criterion, admittedly. The government has taken some interest in this, as a lot of people have submittedints that an unorthodox sect is fixing to abduct their already unfortunate children."

    "What''s Furion thinking?" Shuri eximed in shock. "Y-You have to be more subtle! And how did you even hear about this?"

    "Jean has been writing to me," Marie said with a shrug. "Furion and her paths crossed very recently. It seems that Furion is just going through the motions with this one, his usual enthusiasm and finesse iscking. He believes the task to be below his pay grade."

    "Won''t this put him at odds with the Sect Leader?" Shuri probed.

    "As long as it doesn''t disadvantage the Sect, I don''t think Mister Larks will mind," Marie said in an assuaging manner. "Even though the government has an eye out, it won''t go much further since other sects have done much worse. If anything, the Sect Alliance needs to step in, but this sort of weird recruiting strategy isn''t something unheard of."

    "So in the end, there is norge-scale impact of Yohn''s advancement," Shuri summarised. "So what was the point of this entire conversation?"

    "I don''t know," Marie said while tilting her head backwards. "I was bored and needed someone to talk to."

    Marie then snapped back and asked, "Want to bet on who will advance next?"

    Shuri looked at the girl suspiciously, "Now, why would I make a bet on how an event will transpire with a seer?"

    "I''m a crippled seer, technically," Marie corrected. "Can''t see the future until Master lets me."

    Shuri narrowed her eyes, presenting her growing suspicion.

    "My money''s on that one," Marie said while pointing at Revian, who was stuffing a slice of cake into Yohn''s already overflowing mouth.

    "I''m cing my bet on him too," Shuri said.

    "You can''t do that!" Marie snapped back with a high-pitched exmation. "T-That messes up the odds."

    "Then find someone else to even it up. Not my problem," Shuri dismissed while standing up to leave. "Whatever amount you''re betting, I''m watching it."

    Marie watched on in disbelief as Shuri picked up a te with a cake slice and walked out of the recreation room.

    ____

    Revian returned to his room well past the usual bedtime after the elongated celebration of Yohn''s advancement. By this time, he would be fast asleep. But he wasn''t feeling sleepy, or even tired for that matter. Instead, there was a burning sensation bubbling up from within, and it wasn''t heartburn. It was the fire of motivation andpetitiveness urging him onwards!

    ''If Yohn can do it! So can I!'' He said to himself as he plopped down on his bed and beheld the borate web hanging in front of him. There were paper clippings with writings stuck to the wall and strings connecting them together in a way that made sense only to him. He had turned his entire room into his research board.

    For all intents and purposes, his research wasplete. All that was left was application and experimentation, however, Revian was hesitant. The hesitation stemmed from his fear of failure. He was afraid that all of this work would be for nought if it failed. But after seeing Yohn seed in advancing, the fire that burned in him when he started was reignited.

    "Tomorrow!" Revian promised himself before tucking himself in and forcefully closing his eyes. He had to sleep now so that tomorrow woulde sooner.

    ____

    Unfortunately, sleep evaded him the entire night - his excitement did not let him enter sleep''s sweet embrace. No matter, tomorrow had arrived even if it waster than he expected. Revian leapt from the bed and went through the daily hygiene steps before rushing towards where Yohn usually hung out, which was the library.

    As he reached Yohn''s usual desk, he saw the boy sitting amidst a mountain of books, with eyes that glowed vibrantly with all the shades of the rainbow.

    "Yohn!" Revian greeted with a silent whisper.

    "Revian! What''s up?" Yohn returned the greeting with a wide smile.

    Revian decided to cut to the chase and said, "I need your help. I need to borrow you for a few hours. Are you free?"

    "Of course!" Yohn agreed. "What do you need?"

    domain, vtile mana can''t. Generally, vtile mana is considered a waste as it is thoroughly useless.

    22:34

    However, Revian was capturing this waste mana as it escaped from the beaker and channelling it "Can you meet me in the mana sink in an hour?" Revian responded. "I need some assistance in an experiment I''m doing."

    After receiving Yohn''s nod of approval, Revian immediately rushed towards his new destination, to set up the experiment.

    ____

    By the time Yohn finally arrived at the mana sink, Revian had prepared all the equipment and was standing before a table filled with a myriad of items. It lookedpletely out of ce in the bustling meadow around him, with the eerie tree at its centre.

    "Do you have approval from the Sect for this experiment?" Yohn inquired.

    "Don''t worry, I''ve cleared it through Senior Brother Markus. I am not nning to exhaust my mana or anything dangerous like that," Revian dismissed with a wave of his hands while handing a file to Yohn with the experiment''s details.

    "So, what do you need me to do?" Yohn asked while quickly scanning through the file.

    "I heard that you can observe the head being radiated out of objects?" Revian replied. "I''m going to be working with a lot of hot objects very soon, I need you to help make sure that I am safe. The Fire Protect-Core has already been installed here, but it only responds to mes and smoke. I also need you to help observe and rify what happens during some thermal interactions."

    Yohn shed a thumbs-up before taking a seat. His eyes suddenly switched. Instead of the periodically osciting rainbow, it became a mesmerising, slow spectral feature with shades ranging from red to blue. "I''m ready."

    Revian nodded affirmatively and ced three equally sized ss beakers filled to the same level.

    "Test 1. Cooling 100ml of distilled water at a temperature of... 25.5 degrees Celsius," Revian narrated. He ced his hand under the beaker and a spell circle formed at its centre.

    Revian slowly channelled his mana into the spell circle.

    "Temperature dropping to 20 degrees Celsius" he narrated. Yohn observed the process carefully. Even though there wasn''t anything dangerously hot in use, he had to do his task diligently for safety. And good thing too, because just at that moment, Revian raised his other hand and covered the top of the beaker.

    Yohn didn''t understand what was happening at first, but then a shift of his mana sense made him realise just what Revian was attempting.

    "Are you crazy?!"

    Mana exists in nature in raw form. It enters the body and gets processed by the core, making it mouldable for spell use. After mana is used for spells, it gets dissipated back into nature, but not in its raw form. The by-product mana from a spell is highly vtile. It loses its vtile property over a period of time, which is hastened when it is amongst arge quantity of raw mana. Neither raw nor vtile mana can be used for casting spells. While raw mana can be controlled through the mana domain, vtile mana can''t. Generally, vtile mana is considered a waste as it is thoroughly useless.

    However, Revian was capturing this waste mana as it escaped from the beaker and channelling it back into his body.

 Chapter 381 If You Mess Around...

    381 If You Mess Around...

    "What in the world are you doing?" Yohn asked while approaching Revian slowly.

    The boy in question was intensely focused on the beaker, trying to absorb all the vtile mana escaping from it back into his mana channels.

    "The secret..." Revian grunted, "...is in the vtile mana- Ah! Damn it, it escaped!"

    "You have to exin what you''re attempting here," Yohn said with a confused tone as Revian poured out the water in the beaker and refilled it from therge bottle beside the table.

    "The secondw of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isted system can never decrease over time. So with any thermal interaction, the total entropy is always increasing. It is because of this that hot coffee in a cold room doesn''t get hotter," Revian stated. "To do that, you need to transfer heat to this coffee through another process. This is true with any physical interaction in the True World. But what about a world with mana? How does mana and magic y a role in this."

    Noticing Yohn''s nk expression, Revian continued, "You can heat a coffee with a spell. You can enchant a cup to maintain the heat of whatever is poured inside it. This action in and of itself, should the secondw hold true, will cause the total entropy to increase. But does it, though? There is no heat transfer happening here as we are, quite literally, just creating heat out of nothing."

    "It''s not out of nothing, you''re using mana," Yohn corrected.

    "But have you noticed the release of vtile mana differs based on the nature of the spell used?" Revian proposed. "I took some time to categorise the types of spells that aremon and usable by every mage. You have the abjuration school which consists of protective spells, conjuration school which involves translocation of things from one location to another or even creating something out of nothing, there is the illusion school which works to influence the mind of others, there is the alteration school that changes the property of something into something else, and there is the evocation school that use mana to produce a desired effect. Using water to create a bubble of protection is abjuration, creating water or moving water from one source to another location is conjuration, making something think that they are drowning when they aren''t is an illusion, turning water into oil is alteration, and heating water in a beaker is evocation. I have noticed that spells ssified under the school of evocation always release vtile mana."

    "Did youe up with this ssification by yourself?" Yohn asked in surprise.

    "Not technically. It was kind of already out there, I just standardised the naming conventions," Revian dismissed. "I''m going to write a short report in hopes of spreading this standardised ssification though."

    "Anyways, as I was saying, evocation spells always call for energy maniption or generation," Revian expounded. "Now, I know this may fall under the ssic corrtion-causation facy, but I believe that vtile mana is generated when mana interacts with energy."

    Revian halted Yohn from raising a point and said, "This theory is corroborated by the fact that moving pure carbon from one location to another by means of teleportation is more expensive and releases vtile mana, but creating the same amount of carbon through direct transmutation of mana."

    "How does that make sense?"

    "You just added or removed mechanical potential energy to the carbon by teleporting it," Revian emphasised.

    "I still think it''s a weak connection," Yohn said with an unsure intonation.

    "Which is why we are doing this experiment. I believe that the proof can be found in the released vtile mana," Revian reiterated.

    "Proof of what?"

    "Whether the secondw of thermodynamics holds true regardless of whether magic is in y or not. Basically, as I use mana to reduce the temperature of this beaker of fluid, the by-product vtile mana should carry the ''heat'' extracted inside it," Revian said.

    Yohn scratched his chin and asked, "How do you intend to do that?"

    "I don''t know," Revian admitted. "I haven''t found any literature in which a mage has recaptured the vtile mana and examined it. After realising that it is unusable, people just dismissed it. So the greater half of this experiment is to discern the properties of the vtile mana. And to do that, I need to reabsorb it into my mana channels."

    "Is it dangerous?" Yohn probed.

    "If it were, I don''t think Senior Brother Markus would have approved this experiment. He was sceptical, though," Revian rified.

    "Well... carry on, then," Yohn said finally before returning to his spot to oversee the experiment.

    Revian cleared his throat, announced the start of the trial and once again proceeded to cool the 100ml of water to 20 degrees. Once the desired temperature was reached, Revian covered the beaker''s top and started to absorb the vtile mana with utmost focus.

    After the mana waspletely recaptured, Revian ended the spell and started to meditate while circting the vtile mana through his mana channels. It was an ufortable process, but not painful. The vtile mana threatened to disperse out of his channels the moment he moved his attention away from it. After five unfruitful minutes of moving the mana around, Revian decided to try something stupid and took it straight towards his nascent core. However, the mana just refused to enter his mana core. So, Revian started to circte the vtile mana around his channels with increased velocity and sent it hurtling directly into his core.

    The mana pierced through his core immediately, causing a pang of pain to echo out from his lower abdomen. Just as Revian copsed in pain, he was caught by Yohn.

    "What did you do? Your entire body temperature just shot up by a few degrees Celsius for a fraction of a fraction a second before you copsed," Yohn eximed while grabbing Revian by his shoulders.

    "My... what did you say?" Revain said between heavy breaths. Yohn repeated his observation, and a maddened glint shed past Revian''s eyes.

    "I''m going to do it again," Revian dered while pushing Yohn away. "Stand prepared."

    "There was no indication of you crumpling in sudden pain in the safety documentation, Revian," Yohn warned. "You''re going rogue!"

    "I''m at the cusp of something new here, can''t you see?" Revian argued. "Just... Just keep observing!"

    "Proceeding to freeze 100ml of water," Revian dered without waiting for Yohn to consent. As stated, Revian let the spell work till crystals of ice started to form at the side of the beaker. Revian then immediately absorbed all the vtile mana and started to meditate. He didn''t hesitate to send the hurtling injection of vtile mana into his core. This time, he braced for impact and when the pain echoed from his core, he bit through it and noticed the changes happening in his body. The moment the mana pierced his core, a wave of heat carried by raw mana started to pulse outwards. Revian immediately took control of this raw mana and instead of letting it wreak havoc across his body, he channelled it through his mana channels.

    The pain that was assaulting him then suddenly became concentrated on the mana pathways through which this raw mana moved. Unable to handle the pain any longer, he quickly expelled the mana out of the exits on his free palm.

    As he caught his breath after that ordeal, Revian noticed Yohn approaching him with a scrunched-up face.

    "Did you see something?"

    "I saw something, alright!" Yohn answered cryptically. "I don''t know what I saw, but I''m sure it was something."

    "Stop talking in riddles and just say it," Revian said irritatedly.

    "Well, your core suddenly became extremely hot and started to spread outwards. But then it seems you did something and took control of this... heat and channelled it all over your body. Wherever it went, I saw a temperature rise. The moment it left through your palm, the air in the vicinity just shot up in temperature by around ten degrees Celsius before dissipating," Yohn narrated. "So what DID I see?"

    "It seems that a mage''s mana core has the ability to deconstruct the vtile mana and turn it back into raw mana. Makes sense, because wisps and slimes are known to be able to cleanse an environment of vtile mana as well- How did I miss that?!" Revian eximed while pping his forehead. "In the process, though, it reverses the action the mana was originally used to do. Basically, since I used a spell to reduce the kic energy of water particles in the beaker, the reverted raw mana carried all that extracted energy with it. So I was right! Entropy DOES increase- the secondw of thermodynamics is still valid!"

    Revian leapt up and pped his feet together in excitement.

    "Is that it, then?" Yohn interjected.

    "What do you mean, ''is that it?''! This is a huge discovery-"

    "I meant does this mean your experiment isplete?" Yohn rified before Revian could descend into a long tirade.

    "Of course not! This is just the beginning. We have so many more thermal interactions left to explore. After that, we will try testing out some other evocation spells that release vtile mana and investigate that. Finally, we''ll spend some time trying to see if there is any practical use to all this," Revian listed out enthusiastically.

    "Woah! Slow down there," Yohn blurted out. "I get that you''re excited. But I really feel like we''re toeing the line on safety here. We should at least get you checked out to see if there''s anything wrong with you."

    Revian waved his hand dismissively and said, "I''m perfectly fine. You saw that nothing changed in my body. It''s just a momentary thing, is all!"

    Yohn nodded apprehensively, though a foreboding sense started to gnaw at the back of his mind. Sometimes, the cracks are hidden so deeply, that it is hard for even the most observant person and urate sensors to see.

 Chapter 382 ...Youll Find Out!

    382 ...You''ll Find Out!

    In a fit of excitement, Revian proceeded to repeat the experiment with more variation. He first took the water to boiling point before cooling it down. After doing so he captured the vtile mana and hurtled it towards his core. This time, the raw mana released from the carried a greater amount of heat energy, which nearly melted his mana channels. But, by ejecting the mana immediately from his palm avoided that trouble. It was a painful test but provided meaningful results. It basically reinforced his theory.

    "Why don''t we stop?" Yohn suggested. "You''ve answered your research question."

    "As I said, there are still a lot more thermal interactions we need to investigate. We''ve done cooling, by what about heating?" Revian dismissed.

    "We can continue tomorrow," Yohn reiterated.

    "Why? I''m feeling perfectly fine. Now please, focus on the experimentation again," Revian said before pouring some room-temperature water into a beaker. He then activated another spell that started to raise the temperature of the fluid slowly, while capturing the released vtile mana. This time, upon piercing his mana core with the vtile mana, a burning coolness radiated outwards, which he navigated with familiarity through his mana channels and out his empty palm.

    "This is reducing the temperature of the immediate vicinity of your palm," Yohn exined.

    "That''s amazing!" Revian eximed. "That about phase changes? Let''s boil the waterpletely into steam and see if there is a difference in the by-produced vtile mana."

    Yohn held back his words of caution and continued observing carefully.

    Revian was relentless with his experimentation. He peppered his mana core continuously with vtile mana while biting through the pain and difort. It was all worth it as he was learning more and more about the nature of vtile mana. After a particr point, he learned how to automatically and continuously reabsorb the released vtile mana while casting a spell, send it through his mana core, and release the output from his empty palm.

    He held two beakers with water, one in each hand. He then cooled the one on the right while transferring the extracted heat from that beaker to the one on his opposite hand. And thus, he had effectively turned into a perfect heat pump!

    At that instant, in the midst of the mana sink, a vortex of mana started to form above Revian. Yohn quickly recognised this phenomenon as a sign of an advancement approaching - Revian''s advancement into the Foundation Establishment realm. Yohn let out an excitedugh as he observed the mana siphon into Revian. The impurities inside his body started to vaporise out of his skin, disintegrating his inner clothing in the process.

    It was nearly reaching the end of the advancement when something unexpected happened. Revian let out a pained scream before grabbing his abdomen and copsing like a rag doll, unconscious. Yohn was caughtpletely off guard by this development. He rushed forward and tried to awaken the unresponsive boy - he was alive, which lowered Yohn''s anxiousness slightly. Yohn immediately picked up Revian over his shoulders and started to rush in the Sect''s direction.

    ____

    "I really missed this," Jean said out loud while taking in a long breath of the Sect''s air. Though there were still two months left of her self-imposed year-long journeywoman''s trip, she decided to cut it short (once again) after her talk with Furion. After learning of the new magic wand that Shuri developed for the visually impaired, she just had to track the developments!

    "Can I go now?" Kili pleaded. "I need to go find Dora and challenge her to a battle."

    "We need to first report our arrival with the Sect Leader and Matron Reva," Jean reminded. "Till that happens, you are my responsibility, and I can''t lose sight of you."

    "Fine..." Kili said with a sigh. "But this isn''t the way to either of their rooms. We''re going to the clinic?"

    "I want to check if everything is okay first. I''ve left them for a very long time, I want to make sure that my office is in one piece," Jean stated.

    "No fair! We''re just wasting time," Kili groaned.

    Jean ignored Kili''s whining and continued walking towards the clinic. Along the way, she met a few Sect Members. Some of them greeted her with a smile, while others shuddered slightly before giving her a wavering smile.

    ''Too suspicious! I need to call them in and run a medical checkup to see what idiocy they got into while I was gone-''

    "I can see you, Huron!" Jean yelled at the boy tiptoeing away while hiding behind another Sect Member. "I want you in the clinic within the hour, or else I will personally camp outside your room!"

    As she observed the cursing boy walk away at a brisk pace, she suddenly noticed two people approaching, one being carried by the other. The unconscious boy was Revian, and Jean recognised him. But what surprised her was that he was being carried by Yohn. The boy''s eyes were no longer hollow but had a vibrant glow of all the colours in the rainbow.

    "S-Senior Sister Jean!" Yohn called out. "Thank goodness you''re back! P-Please help."

    Jean approached Yohn and picked Revian out of his hands. "What happened?"

    "He- We were doing an experiment," Yohn started. He was clearly shaken and the chronology of his exnation was all over the ce. "He advanced into the Foundation Establishment realm and then... then he just..."

    "It''s okay," Jean said quickly to calm Yohn down. "Let me examine him."

    Revian was rushed into the clinic and made to lie down. Jean then started to inspect his body with her mana sense, to search for themon causes of the sudden onset of pain and subsequent unconsciousness. The search went on for ten minutes, until eventually she paused, scratched her said, and evoked, "Weird..."

    "What''s the matter?" Yohn inquired. "Is he going to be okay?"

    "He IS okay," Jean said. "There''s nothing wrong with him, medically speaking. And if there is, it is something even I don''t know about. But I think that it is highly unlikely."

    "So what''s happening to him?"

    Jean leaned against her desk in the clinic and said, "My guess is that it has something to do with his cultivation. You said that the pain only started AFTER he advanced?"

    "That''s when it became unbearable," Yohn corrected. "He was having pain during the experiment too, but it was only momentary when he forced vtile mana into his core."

    "He did what?!" A shocked male voice resounded from the entrance. All heads turned to see the rattled face of the Sect Leader staring back.

    "Why would he do something like that?" The man followed up while rushing forward towards the unconscious boy. He gently ced his palms on Revian''s abdomen and concentrated with his eyes closed.

    "My goodness!" The Sect Leader exined.

    "What''s wrong?" Jean probed cautiously.

    "His mana core ispletely cracked!" Sect Leader Larks dered.

    "Oh no..." Yohn eximed. He then copsed on the ground in shock.

    The Sect Leader turned to Yohn and said, "Exin to me, everything that happened which led up to this. Do not leave out any details."

    "O-Okay," Yohn stuttered before exining the whole experiment without missing a single piece of information. Once he finished, the Sect Leader''s fist dropped on the desk with a loud crack.

    "Why would you do something so stupid?!" The Sect Leader bellowed.

    "It''s my fault! I should have stopped him-"

    "You tried," Jean quickly interjected. "Revian just didn''t listen to you."

    "I didn''t try hard enough-"

    "Stop ming yourself," The Sect Leader said with finality before patting the shaken boy''s shoulders. "This is now out of your hands and no longer your responsibility. Revian did not stick to the safety procedures he set for himself. You tried to get him to adhere to it, but he did not listen. You performed damage control admirably by bringing him to the Sect as soon as it turned into a problem. You''ve handled the situation admirably."

    He then carefully helped Yohn up and guided him out of the room while saying, "Why don''t you take a rest? Everything''s going to be alright, now that I''m here."

    "Okay..." Yohn muttered while walking out of the clinic, not before giving Revian a quick nce on the way out.

    "How do we help him?" Jean asked once she was certain that it was just her and the Sect Leader in the room.

    "There''s nothing we can do here," The Sect Leader said in defeat before dropping on a chair near Revian''s bed. "If you notice, the boy is suffering with symptoms simr to that of mana exhaustion. That''s because his core is cracked. Any mana that is generated is immediately dissipated through this crack."

    Jean sucked in a cold mouthful of air in shock, "So basically, he''s crippled his cultivation."

    "Not entirely, since he''s in the Foundation Establishment realm," the Sect Leader pointed out.

    "So what options do we have?" Jean asked again. "Is there really no remedy to this?"

    "There might be," he answered while tilting his head to the side. "But first, we need to wait until Revian wakes up."

    "How much trouble is he going to be in?" Jean probed worriedly.

    "What more punishment can I mete out that will trump the mire he''s dropped himself into by his own volition?" The Sect Leader pointed out. "First, he needs toe to terms with the consequences of his actions."

 Chapter 383 (Un)Losing Hope

    383 (Un)Losing Hope

    Guy waited patiently by Revian''s bedside while he recovered from mana exhaustion. During this, he started to put together how he would break the news to the boy. Was there a nice way to say that the boy''s future as a mage was basically kaput? And was there a gentler way to reveal that the cause of this disaster was his own actions?

    For thirty minutes, Guy formed and reformed a sentence that basically meant the same thing. Once the sentence was formed in his mind, he would say it out loud only to realise that it was too harsh. He didn''t want to end up breaking the boy''s spirits beyond the state he would already be in. Then again, there was no point in being light-handed in this. The boy had admittedly done something extremely stupid, and the consequences were warranted.

    However, the truth of the matter is that no emphatic teacher wants to see their student suffer from consequences that could potentially cripple them. The whole point of punishment and consequences is to learn and not repeat the same mistake again. The key requirement is that the errant gains a second chance. But what Revian didpletely removed the option of a second chance.

    At that moment, Jean arrived in the room once again. She walked over to Revian and inspected his vitals carefully. As she was measuring his pulse, the boy''s eyes flickered open and he let out a groan.

    "Senior Sister Jean, you returned?" He mumbled. "W-What happened?"

    "You want the good news first, or the bad news?" Jean returned while finishing her check-up.

    "What?"

    "Can you please give us the room, Jean?" Guy interjected before the girl ruined his entire n.

    "Oh, umm," Jeanpleted her note-taking and nodded while closing the door while she left.

    "So," Guy started. "Care to exin your rash decision to bombard your nascent core with vtile mana?"

    Revian let out a wry smile and said, "I could feel I was close to something-"

    "You foolish boy!" Guy bellowed. "We have safety procedures for a reason! How many times have I told you science isn''t just about messing around? It is being methodical with your process while ensuring that safety is maintained."

    Revian flinched at Guy''s piercing words. Guy noticed this and immediately lowered his voice and spoke with a more calming, yet morose tone, "Do you realise what you have just done?"

    "What I''ve done?" Revian parroted with a confused expression.

    Guy solemnly rubbed his face and said, "You have crippled yourself. Check your mana core."

    Revian''s eyes widened in disbelief before he quickly moved his concentration to his mana core. The first thing he noticed was that he''d advanced, which elicited a smile, but it was quickly extinguished the moment his sensesnded on his core.

    "W-What happened?!"

    Guy reached forward and ced a calming hand on Revian''s shoulder. "Your mana core is cracked. If you''ve noticed, you can no longer hold mana for more than a second before it gets discharged by your core. Because of that, you can no longer cast spells."

    Revian''s eyes erged in their sockets before he copsed against the bed, which was raised into a seated position.

    "But I advanced," Revian muttered in shock. "I-If I''m crippled, I shouldn''t be in the Foundation Establishment realm. I advanced!"

    Guy immediately pulled the hyperventting boy into a calming hug and said, "Which is what I don''t understand. The fact that your cultivation hasn''t deteriorated, while your mana core is damaged, is quite odd. I haven''t read or heard of anything like this before. I''ve written to Teacher Jeeves for help - maybe he has some experience with this. So, for the time being, I want you to remain calm and rest."

    After separating himself from the calm yet silently panicking boy, he added, "I know it is tough. I know that it is easy for me to just say, ''Stay calm''. But there is nothing we can do at this point except to salvage the situation as well as we can. And to do that, we need to be methodical and collected. If we do something erratic while panicking, it may exacerbate the situation and put us in an even worse situation."

    "And don''t lose hope just yet," Guy added, though his voicecked his usual conviction. "Look at Yohn! Everyone thought that his blindness would hold him back, but we found a solution, didn''t we? There has to be something for you too! Besides, I''ve consulted Elder Nara and he tells me that your future isn''t irrecoverable. It won''t be the same as you hoped, but it isn''t lost."

    Revian nodded half-heartedly before nkly covering himself with his nket and receding into the mattress. While he knew of the potency of Elder Nara''s predictions, the final words rang hollow in his ears. Guy''s hand hovered over the nket-covered lump as he pondered on if he should say something. But he decided to let the matter rest for now. At this point, no amount of words could alleviate the emotions the boy was feeling right now.

    As Guy left the clinic, he called Jean over and said, "Keep an eye on Revian, so that he doesn''t do something stupid. He''s in a fragile state right now."

    "He wouldn''t do... that, would he?" Jean responded with doubtcing her tone.

    "He''s facing the loss of his entire future after just stepping on the path," Guy emphasised. "People have done... that for much less. So remain vignt, and don''t leave him alone by himself for too long."

    ____

    Al''s arrived at the Sect within a day, with a loud shriek of Garrud prefacing his descent. The majestic eagle-lion hybrid nuzzled at Dora, who rushed over the moment she heard the creature''s wing beat in the sky. And while the two long-lost acquaintances remained busy refamiliarising themselves, the veteran mage walked over to Guy and shook his hand.

    "It''s been a long time, huh?" Almented. "And a lot has changed."

    "It has. I''d love to give you a tour, but we are in a fix that requires haste," Guy responded.

    Al nodded lightly and said, "I read your letter, take me to the boy."

    As the duo walked towards the clinic, Al said, "It seems that Jean has returned. You must be proud of what she has aplished during her travels!"

    "Her aplishments?" Guy retorted. "Oh man, I''ve barely had enough time to debrief her after she returned because of this problem. What aplishments are you talking about."

    Al let out a chuckle while gently covering his lips and said, "I don''t want to spoil the surprise. It''s best to hear it directly from her."

    Guy suppressed his inquisitive itch and led Al to the room where Revian was staying. They arrived just as Jean was leaving the room.

    "Uncle Jeeves!" Jean greeted with a smile.

    "Jean! How are you?" Al returned jovially. "It seems that you''ve been keeping some secrets with your Sect Leader," he fake admonished the girl.

    Jean bit her tongue and let out a wry smile, "I forgot about it."

    "Off you go, then. I''ll be taking over, now," Al said while lightly jostling the girl''s way.

    The duo entered the room and were immediately doused with a dour aura. Revian was no longer in the bed and was sitting listlessly by the desk in the room.

    "So," Al said loudly, attracting Revian''s attention. "So you''re the smart Aleck who decided it was okay to attack his own mana core?"

    Revian flinched at the caustic summary of his misadventure. He did not raise his head in shame.

    "Did you call me in to help him?" Al snapped at Guy.

    "Well-"

    "Why should I help?" Al said immediately, without waiting for Guy to respond. "I''m talking to you, boy! Why do you need my help?"

    Revian raised his head, avoiding Al''s incisive gaze and opened his mouth to speak. His lips moved, but no words escaped.

    "Look at yourself!" Al berated. "Half the battle is lost the moment you lose your morale. I am not going to help anyone who does not wish to help themselves."

    Revian swallowed his hesitating words and asked, "C-Can you help me? Please?"

    "I don''t know," Al said with a shrug. "Don''t get me wrong, I do want to help. But your case is so special. If I may-"

    Al reached forward and awaited the go-ahead from Revian before cing his palm on the boy''s abdomen. After a few minutes of silent concentration, he said, "See, your cultivation is intact, robust even. It''s just your mana core that''s wrecked. I don''t know if there is a way to fix it, but I can tell you that since your cultivation is so well-founded, you should be able to reach the peak of Core Formation safely."

    "T-That''s it?" Revian blurted out.

    "That''s it?!" Al snapped back with disbelief. "Just because Core Formation isn''t the technical end of a mage''s cultivation journey doesn''t mean that it''s worth nothing. Not many people are lucky enough to even gaze at the footsteps of the realm. You should count yourself fortunate for even breaking into the Foundation Establishment realm so early in your path!"

    Revian shrunk back at his faux pas. But then he said, "I just... It feels discouraging to have the option of going further taken away from me. I don''t want to lose hope."

    There was silence as Al looked analytically at Revian, who shuffled ufortably in his seat.

    "Good!" Al dered while patting the boy''s back enthusiastically. "Keep that mindset fresh. As long as you can believe that you will ovee this hurdle, you will achieve it!"

    "Does it work?"

    "Cultivation is all about getting out of your own head," Al responded. "A strong will is a keyponent of cultivation. Just keep telling yourself that this is a minor stumbling block in your path. Not all hope is lost. Something will shine through, and you need to have the presence of mind and focus to take advantage of it when it does. Do you hear me?"

    Revian''s face turned solemn yet resolute as he nodded affirmatively.

    "Goodd! Now, let us leave this room. It reeks of weakness and defeat," Al joked before walking out. "Do you have anything to add, Sect Leader Larks?"

    Guy shook his head, smiled and said, "Couldn''t have said things better myself."

 Chapter 384 Anti-Mage

    384 Anti-Mage

    Once Guy, Al and Revian were at the practising field, which was cleared up to amodate them, Al turned towards the dismayed boy and said, "Pain tells you when something is wrong. It is the body''s natural feedback mechanism that tells you where the problem lies. So, following the standard process of diagnosis, we need to check to see whether you are in pain. Nearly everyone that has ever been crippled or had their mana core obliterated suffers through unbearable pain. Some female mages have told me that it feels like you are giving birth to a hundred babies at the same time. Of course, I am certain that these ounts may not be wholly urate since the psychological pain of losing something so precious can exacerbate the physical pain as well."

    Al mumbled for a few minutes before shaking his head and saying, "So let us confirm whether there is pain. I will physically press your abdomen. Tell me if there is tenderness or pain."

    Revian nodded and Al moved forward and inspected the boy''s abdomen by pressing it in different locations and tapping it.

    "No physical pain through contact," Al dered. "A good start. Now we need to test to see if there is any physical pain through internal stimtion. I need you to meditate first. Let the mana flow through your channels and your core and tell me if there is pain."

    Revian affirmed with a hum and sat down in the lotus position. He closed his eyes and allowed his mana to circte through his channels. Just as he felt the mana reach his core, he braced for impact and ensuing pain. But nothing happened - the mana passed through without even a tinge.

    "No pain during meditation either; another good sign!" Al encouraged. "Now for the main test. Spellcasting."

    Revian retrieved his wand, pointed at the target dummy far away, and formed the |Fireball| spell. The ethereal purple circle took shape at the tip of the wand and started to glow. But it immediately fizzled as an exhausted expression marred the boy''s face.

    "Is there pain?" Al intervened.

    "No..." Revian said while panting. "It''s just tiring."

    "Mana exhaustion," Al concluded. "It seems that your core doesn''t have enough mana to sustain even a basic spell. That is concerning. But since there isn''t pain, it seems that you aren''t actually crippled."

    "Is that a valid conclusion, though?" Guy interjected. "Is theck of pain when the mana core is being exerted sufficient indication to deny the possibility of him being crippled?"

    "Do you WANT the boy to be crippled?" Al responded sarcastically.

    "I just want to be thorough," Guy corrected. "I am not doubting your expertise in this matter either. I''m just... concerned."

    Al shook his head dismissively and waved Guy away, "I am going to continue other tests. Stop breathing down my neck and distracting me."

    Guy bowed apologetically and retreated to a corner.

    "He''s right, you know?" A voice cut through Guy''s distracted state, causing his head to jerk sideways. It was Grace.

    "What are you doing here?" Guy asked in surprise. "You don''t usuallye to this part of the Sect."

    "I heard what happened to Revian," Grace responded. Her hand then subconsciously moved towards her abdomen and rested there. Guy''s gaze followed, and a realisation struck him like a hammer on an anvil.

    "It''s extremely painful," Grace continued. "Being crippled, that is. And it isn''t a fleeting pain like childbirth, not that I can attest to that. The pain of being crippled lingers. It radiates constantly. Even remainingpletely still doesn''t stop it. Even the slightest of stimting thoughts can cause the pain to resume. It''s like you''re being stabbed with a hot poker again, and again, and again. And this is just the physical part. Mentally, you feel like killing yourself. You just wish that the pain would just take your life away - what more do you have to live for, anyway? Because cultivation once lost is never recoverable."

    "I''m sorry..." Guy said with a morose tone.

    "For what? You weren''t the one to cripple me," Grace said with a mirthful snort.

    "No, but I did cause you to relive memories that you wished had remained buried," Guy admitted.

    "That isn''t possible, nor is it healthy, and you know that," Grace responded. "It''s part of my life now, and I have to learn to live with it. And if this is Revian''s future, he needs to learn to live with it too. So... if that IS going to be his reality soon then... I felt that I could help him out. You know...?"

    Guy reached around and pulled Grace into a side hug, "So the Ice Queen has a warm heart..."

    "What the heck did you call me?!" Grace retorted while immediately pushing Guy away.

    "I didn''t- That wasn''t- Look, it''s what the kids are calling you-"

    "I want names," Grace demanded with a scarily nk expression.

    "I don''t know... It''s just what''s going around," Guy mumbled.

    "Oh yeah? So what do they call you?" Grace snapped back.

    "You''re supposed to be thest person to know what people call you behind your back," Guy dodged. "Since you don''t know what my nickname is, it is only apt that I don''t either."

    Grace leaned forward and grabbed Guy by his cor, "I will find out who started it, and when I do, there will be blood."

    "G-Grace, let''s take it easy," Guy stuttered while trying to calm her down. But he was interrupted by Al who yelled excitedly.

    "How did you do that?!"

    Guy dislodged himself from Grace and rushed towards the ruckus. "What happened?!"

    Revian had his hands held out together with a shocked and ted expression on his face. Al was midway between excitement and surprise.

    "I think it''s better to just show you," Al said before casting a spell which Guy immediately recognised as a |Fireball|. The moment the spell left his hand, Revian caught the ball which decelerated, quickly shrank and dissipated. Guy suddenly felt a cold chill washing over him for a few seconds.

    "How in the world did you do that?!" Guy eximed as well.

    "I-I don''t know. When Teacher Jeeves cast the spell, I suddenly felt a rush of mana entering my core, and cold started to course through my mana channels. I directed it to my palms and caught the |

    Fireball| which got absorbed as well," Revian exined.

    "How did this happen?" Guy asked Al.

    "I wanted to see if he could cast wards," Al exined. "Evidently he can''t but we managed to discover something else altogether. Okay, let''s retry, but keep your senses peeled on the mana in your surroundings. Boy, do it again!"

    Al quickly cast a |Fireball| and sent it towards Revian. As instructed, Guy observed the mana in the surroundings with his mana sense. The moment the ball of fire left Al''s palms, something insane happened. The by-product vtile mana rushed faster than the |Fireball| and entered Revian''s core. He was like a ma and the vtile mana was iron filings.

    The adults ignored the physical interaction as it was a predictable oue. Al immediately cast an |

    Ice Lance|, which also decelerated drastically as it neared Revian''s open palms, melted and dissipated.

    "Did you see that?" Al asked Guy rhetorically. "The boy is a vtile mana conduit. It makes sense! His cultivation hasn''t been damaged at all, it''s just been attuned to work solely with vtile mana."

    Al''s eyes defocused and moved around erratically as his mind started to prance around, unbound. "Do you realise what this means? No spell will be able to affect him because his mana core naturally produces the counter to it. I don''t know what you have done, boy but do you realise what you are?"

    Revian looked tuned out as he ascertained the fact that he wasn''tpletely crippled.

    "You''ve be a true Anti-Mage," Al dered. "Not the posers that the Empire has recruited and trained as part of their ck-Ops Forces."

    "But how will this affect his cultivation moving forward?" Guy asked anxiously.

    "That... I don''t know," Al admitted, his enthusiasm drowning slightly. "But on the bright side, we have confirmed that this isn''t a dead end."

    "But I can''t cast any spells," Revian intervened. "H-How can I still be a mage if I can''t cast spells?"

    "You can''t cast any spells that we know of," Al corrected. "If there is one thing I have learned through my experience, it is that if there is a will, there will definitely be a way. That is the nature of cultivation itself - having a will so robust that it breaks reality altogether."

    He then patted Revian on his shoulder and said, "Experiment with this ability. See what its limits are. Understand yourself as well as you can. But please, do so under constant supervision. You aren''t in a position where you need to put your life on the line. And you are surrounded by people who care and support you. You don''t realise just how fortunate you are. So, before you do something stupid again, make sure to have someonepetent around to catch you when you fall."

    "Let''s not celebrate just yet," Guy interrupted at that moment. "You made a mistake, and while you were fed your just desserts, it doesn''t save you from the consequences the Sect imposes on rule breakers."

    "N-No..." Revian blurted out. "Not that..."

    "I need a formal apology letter written and delivered to my desk tomorrow morning. After I have read it, you will be reading it out in public before the entire Sect."

    "How torturous," Almented. "Why don''t you just give him a few beatings and call it a day? Why break someone''s spirit like that?"

    "People forget beatings," Guy retorted. "But social assassination makes it harder to forget and reduces the possibility of the error recurring."

    "Sorry kid," Al said to Revian. "Can''t help you out of this pickle. I''m taking my leave now."

    And with that, Al left just as quickly as he came. Leaving a shudderingd who should be celebrating his advancement and learning that he was not crippled.

    "Let''s go," Guy said finally. "Grace has some work for you in the kitchen?"

    "Am I being punished? I thought the apology was my punishment?" Revian said in disbelief.

    "This is from Grace''s side - it''s her punishment for you. The Sect is not affiliated with Grace''s punishments," Guy said with awyer-like tone and walked away briskly.

 Chapter 385 What is a Mage?

    Chapter 385 What is a Mage?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vistafor beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Although Revian found out that his life as a mage hadn''t reached a dead end, it did not wholly take him out of his dismayed emotional state. Because, technically speaking, Revian wasn''t a mage anymore. And if Teacher Jeeves'' evaluation was to be taken as fact, he wouldn''t be walking down a mage''s path anymore.

    For all intents and purposes, Revian was an anti-mage - a perfect counter to whatever a mage was supposed to be. He would be walking down a road that would be parallel to a mage''s, but true to the definition of parallel lines they would never be destined to converge or intersect.

    Was this what Revian wanted out of his life? Not exactly. From the beginning, his motion was to be a mage and cultivate immortality, which is the underlying goal of every mage aspirant.

    So what defines a mage?

    Is it solely defined by one''s ability to sling spells, craft Enchantments, brew Potions, and tame Beasts?

    If Revian was asked this question before joining the True World Sect, he would answer, "Yes to all of the above!" in a heartbeat. Every aspiring mage dreams of one day controlling the elements and changing the veryndscape of the world they live in with powerful spells and destructive weapons. They dream of one day creating potions that unlock their hidden potentials and overturn their destinies. They dream of riding atop a ferocious dragon, capable ofying waste torge swathes ofnd with a single burgeoning breath of fire.

    But the reality was sobering. It didn''t take long for Revian to understand that getting to that point was a whole other matter. No one was born with a dragon whelp by their side unless they were part of a powerful n or Sect. No one could toss out unsurpassable spells borne of powerful physiques or bloodlines if they weren''t born to a storeyed parentage. No one could learn rare techniques to craft Enchantment or brew Potions that could overturn any situation without being under the tutge of secretive masters in the field.

    Fortune - that is what makes or breaks you. The kind of fortune that canpletely change the trajectory of your life instantly is either something you are born with, or gifted at opportune moments in your lifetime. The former is a game of chance, true to the nature of fortune. Thetter is all about one''s ability to take advantage of a horrible situation. If you seed and walk out the other side in one piece, you are considered lucky. If you fail, you are unlucky. Sess defines the interaction as fortune. Failurebels it as a misfortune.

    Revian wasn''t born fortunate. And while joining the True World Sect changed the trajectory of his life, it wasn''t "found" fortune either. He had to work hard and toil to reap the change in his life.

    His venture to investigate the secondw of thermodynamics and conceptualise its interaction was a juncture. The same kind of juncture where one either walks out with a notch of fortune or misfortune in their belts.

    So, as he stood before the Sect''s library, Revian wondered: was it a gift of fortune or a curse of misfortune?

    "You''ve been standing here for twenty minutes now," Markusmented as he walked next to Revian.

    "Senior Brother Markus! Were you watching me the entire time?" Revian responded.

    "You don''t need to call me Senior Brother anymore. Our cultivations are at the same level now," Markus informed.

    "But you advanced before me," Revian rebutted.

    "Because I started before you," Markus reminded him. "Let us not argue about such trivial topics. I prefer to keep things casual. Just call me Markus."

    "Sure, Sen- Markus," Revian affirmed, biting his tongue at his inadvertent faux pas.

    "You haven''t answered my question, though," Markus hinted.

    "I didn''t hear a question," Revian said with a mischievous smile that slowly dispersed, recing itself with a wistful expression.

    Markus returned an, ''Are you kidding me?'' nk expression, which Revian interpreted and asked, "What defines a mage?"

    "That''s random," Markusmented. "I guess a mage is someone who investigates reality. A scientist that specialises in the interaction of mana and magic with the world around us."

    "Huh..." Revian emoted in surprise. "Do you think others would agree with your definition?"

    "Maybe others in the Sect, sure!" Markus answered. "I wouldn''t be so certain if you asked this question to those outside the Sect, though."

    Noticing Revian''s intrigued expression, Markus hummed in thought before borating. "People have different reasons to pursue the mage''s path. I am not in any position to judge whether their purpose is right or wrong. Sure, you can say that bing a mage to exact revenge is wrong. And I can say that bing a mage to protect amunity from external threats is right. But what if the nature of revenge is to eliminate a threat that endangers the lives of many more people? What if instead of protecting amunity, you be proactive and eliminate perceived threats before they be one?"

    "I think that when choosing something that will be your life and define your lifetime, you shouldn''t choose a goal that has a certain end. You need to choose something that will keep you moving forward. Revenge has a deadline, and so does protecting amunity (it ends when themunity is all that is left in the world). Having the ability to ride powerful beasts ends the moment you tame one. Achieving immortality, though very difficult, ends with reaching the Tesseract Transformation realm. But being in the constant pursuit of the world''s truth and how magic ys a role in twisting and warping it is endless. I don''t think anyone can learn the entire truth of the world in a single lifetime. Not even an immortal. Because the more you know, the more you realise how little you actually know."

    Revian''s eyes widened as he internalised Markus'' exnation.

    "Does my current... condition... preclude me from being a mage?" Revian then asked apprehensively.

    "If you want to hold my definition as THE definition of being a mage, then ask yourself this: will you stop investigating the truth of the world because of your condition?"

    Revian didn''t hesitate before saying, "No, not really. I mean there will be limitations to what I can do, but I can always ask for help when ites to it."

    "There''s your answer to your question, then," Markus eximed while patting Revian''s back. "In fact, I think your condition gives you a unique advantage. It has ced you in a specialised track, like with me and gravity. You can do something that no other person in the Sect can do, which means that you have a portal to investigate a segment of reality that will forever remain hidden from others (unless someone achieves the same cultivation as you did in the future)."

    Revian let out a relieved breath as Markus bid him farewell and entered the library. It was as if a heavy weight was lifted off his heart.

    ''Senior Brother Markus is right,'' Revian said to himself. ''Fortune is just taking advantage of a bad situation. As long as I keep a positive attitude and view my limitations as opportunities, things will work out all by themselves.''

    Revian found himself a quiet corner in the library, pulled out an empty roll of parchment from his bag and wrote, "Nature of Vtile Mana" at the very top.

    Since his cultivation was now hinging on the absorption and use of vtile mana, it was only right for him to know what it was all about. He scoured the library in search of books that addressed vtile mana, or just spell byproducts in general and was dismayed to find such a scarce collection. So, after retrieving all that was avable, he also found himself the requisition form avable at the Sect''s entrance and jotted down his requirement.

    The Sect''s library had a feature through which if there was ack of content, be it from a particr author, on a particr topic, or even a particr book, then a requisition order could be filed to obtain said content. Basically, a request would be sent to all subsidiaries of Verum Trading Company to find the content ording to the requisition order and then be shipped back to the Sect. It was a costlier process,pared to just putting out a simr request to any merchant caravans that stopped by Twilight Vige, but it was also proven to be highly potent, as not all merchants had ess to books that were restricted or limited in cirction.

    "Vtile mana is said to embody the contradiction of the spell it was originally used to cast. To that end, understanding this contradiction can provide insight into how a spell works," Revian read from a very thin and battered book hidden in an unexplored region of the library. The book seemed to be a diary or a journal but was extremely short and not at all proofread. The author made a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes. The same word was spelt incorrectly the same way on the same page in five different locations. A letter was written backwards infrequently. Reading the journal was like decrypting some sort of covert code, which really detracted from the reading experience. But Revian managed to read the whole thing and made it to the end.

    Yet the final paragraph in the text gave him pause.

    "While vtile mana tells you the nature of the spell being cast, to take advantage of it you need to know the nature of the spell that was cast. It is circr. I made the mistake of being half-informed when exploiting vtile mana, because of which my life is now cut short and my cultivation has turned painfully static. If you are reading this and are unfortunate enough to walk the same path as me, I wish you all the best!"

 Chapter 386 Prodigy Among Us

    Chapter 386 Prodigy Among Us

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    Jean''s return to the True World Sect kind of dissolved into the background, overshadowed by the more imminent concern (the state of Revian''s cultivation) that urred at the same time as her arrival. She didn''t expect a grand wee or anything fancy of that sort, but it did sadden her that her eventful trip did not receive recognition of any kind. Of course, there was also the fact that she couldn''t share her monumental aplishment with many people. Of course, Marie knew already even before Jean left the Sect. And the first conversation she had with her was something out of a covert operations novel.

    "So, did the bug get repelled?" Marie asked casually.

    Jean scrunched her face and looked into Marie''s eye. In return, the girl wiggled her eyebrows, giving a knowing look. Jean''s lips twitched. She then coughed to clear her throat and said, "It''s been repelled and the fields have been sprayed with pesticide so that it never returns again."

    "Congrattions! Did Kili help you out in... distributing the pesticide?" Marie followed up. "Did you hit a snag in determining the exact concentration?"

    At this point, Jean wasn''t certain if the talk was still about the gue or if Marie was actually talking about pesticides. Nheless, Jean stuck to the theme as well as she could. In the end, she received a congrattory pat on the back and a sincere thumbs up. It was nice. But Jean still felt iplete. Not to brag, but her aplishment of eradicating the gue wasn''t trivial! But as the week passed after her arrival, she found her day returning to the usual grind.

    In the following week, she was called in for a special meeting of all mages in the Foundation Establishment realm and above. After going through her morning rounds andpleting the check-up of two members who were on her docket, she departed from the clinic and made her way towards the staff room. As she approached the location, she noticed a light barricade made of wood and red rope blocking off the path.

    "This is new," one of the Sect''s members said while nudging the rope. "Do you know what this is?"

    "I saw Senior Brother Markus pass through just now. He said that only Foundation Establishment realm mages are allowed. There''s some meeting going on," the member''spanion said from beside her.

    "A meeting? I get the exclusivity, but doesn''t this rope just make it a little obnoxious?" The first responded vexedly.

    "I get what you mean. The Sect isn''t usually this overt in blocking off ess," herpanion said.

    "I thought the Sect was support to be open and free," the first argued. "This goes against everything the Sect Leader talked about in the weing speech!"

    "Calm the heck down!" Kevan said as he approached the duo arguing loudly. "Organisations need to make decisions all the time. This one is probably something very sensitive which may destabilise the peace if others know about it."

    "Who gets to decide what is sensitive and what isn''t, huh?" The first snapped back, while her friend slowly grabbed her and and started to pull her away. "Easy does it, tiger! Sorry Kevan, she lost her weekly allowance in a game of Hover-Sack against Casey-"

    "I didn''t lose! It clearly touched my leg before it fell on the ground," the first rified angrily.

    "We all saw what happened," Casey snorted as she walked into the scene. "Don''t try to spread lies."

    "It looks like you woke up today and chose to get beaten into a pulp," the first berated.

    "Really? But I wasn''t the one who got beat," Casey snapped back.

    At this instance, Jean stepped in and said, "Need I remind everyone of the Sect''s rules on conflict resolution? Or do we need another assembly with people reading off their letters of apology to jog everyone''s memory?"

    Everyone swallowed a mouthful of saliva in fear before revealing a twitching smile and escaping from the scene.

    "Good morning, Senior Sister Jean!" Revian greeted as he walked over. By his side, strode Yohn with confident steps and luminous eyes. The blind boy bowed lightly as a greeting.

    "You don''t need to call me that. We are at the same level of seniority," Jean reminded.

    "Senior Brother Markus said the same thing. But old habits are hard to drop," Revian admitted with a shrug. He stood before the red rope and looked at it with a conflicted expression. "I was invited to this meeting, but I don''t know if I should go in."

    "Why not? Aren''t you also in the Foundation Establishment realm?"

    "Technically-"

    "Then stop sulking and just go!" Jean interjected while pushing the boy through. "Do you need me to drag you in as well, Yohn?"

    Yohn shook his head with a smile and followed Jean. As the three entered the room, they were greeted from all sides by the members present already. Marie and Elder Nara were closest to the door. Thetter was sitting on a chair with his legs folded in the lotus position while Marie was leaning casually against the wall. Markus was sitting at his desk and talking with Shuri. Jean noticed Furion talking with the Sect Leader, who was at the farthest corner of the room.

    The murmuring continued for a few minutes before the door opened again and Matron Reva entered with a box in her hand. She gave everyone a weing smile and ced the box on the table at the centre of the room and gave Jean a mischievous smile before walking over to the Sect Leader.

    The Sect Leader finished his conversation with Furion and had a short exchange with Matron Reva before walking forward and addressing the room. "The reason I called everyone here today is because I have a very important announcement to make. I could do it before the whole Sect, but I believe the contents of this announcement are far too sensitive and weighty for others to bear."

    Sect Leader Larks gestured towards Jean and called her over. "How many of you are keeping up to date with the news of the Empire?"

    Only Furion''s hand rose up in response, which the boy entuated with a disdainful click of his tongue, "You people are literally living under a rock!"

    The Sect Leader silently gestured for Furion to keep quiet and said, "We will nowmunicate through mana transmission for security reasons."

    His following words were ryed directly into Jean''s mind, "The gue of Dark Cleansing has been effectively eradicated."

    A faint gasp was heard, which Jean sourced to have originated from Shuri who immediately schooled her surprised expression.

    "While the news is huge, its transmission is being limited through the slowest of channels by the Empire to stop people from crowding over to the location. The Empire has also pushed for repoption of the area, and all the refugees flocking to the capital are being relocated there."

    "Now, you all must be wondering who managed to eradicate the persistent disaster?" The Sect Leader followed up. "Officially, this information hasn''t been revealed. In truth, the Empire doesn''t know who was responsible for this."

    "However..."

    Sect Leader Larks looked around and saw the intrigued faces in the crowd (except for the two soothsayers and Furion).

    "The person responsible is amongst us, in this very room. Grace, if you could please do the honours-"

    Matron Revan walked over and opened the box, revealing a beautiful cake with the text, "Congrattions Jean!" written on it.

    "Let us congratte Jean on her amazing achievement. She managed to do something mages twice her level failed to do. Now remember, guys, that there is a reason we aren''t sharing this with everyone even though it''s something that needs to bememorated. Jean and the True World Sect aren''t ready to handle the publicity if this information goes public. I know it is unfair to Jean, but this is the way it has to be. For that, I apologise to you, Jean."

    Everyone pped silently as Jean cut the cake in celebration. Matron Reva then took over and started to distribute the treat to all present.

    "My goodness!" Markus eximed. "Great job, Jean! You have to tell me how it all happened."

    The Sect Leader interjected with a loud shush, "Let''s please continue this conversation in mana transmission."

    "You know I can''t do that, right?" Matron Reva said with an unimpressed scowl. "Why did you even call me here? Just to deliver the cake?"

    The Sect Leader bit his tongue, cleared his throat and rephrased, "Keep the conversation at a low volume while Elder Nara and I go around cing a muffling ritual formation."

    And with that, the Sect Leader Larks and Elder Nara walked out of the room, but only after congratting Jean.

    "I''ve only heard rumours of the gue," Yohn cut in. "Was it really as deadly as described?"

    "It is," Jean affirmed. "My mom died in it, and she was in the Core Condensation realm."

    "I-I''m sorry," Yohn offered hurriedly.

    "Please, don''t," Jean stopped him. "You have no reason to be."

    "So how did you do it?" Shuri asked as she quickly covered the distance between herself and Jean. There was a maddened sense of curiosity in her eyes that caused Jean to take a step back in caution.

    "Umm... I used natural selection, sort of," Jean said before methodically expounding on her process.

    "I don''t think I would have such patience," Marie admitted.

    "The only reason I held out was BECAUSE you hinted at it working," Jean retorted. "If you hadn''t vouched for the method, I wouldn''t have stuck through it."

    "It''s weird, isn''t it?" Mariemented. "If you know the future, you have the patience to sit through the most mundane tasks. But if the future is unknown, then patience suddenly bes a finite resource."

    "Let''s not delve into trite philosophy in such a happy moment," Markus said as he cut into the conversation. "So Jean, why don''t you tell us a bit more about your travels? Any interesting cases?"

    Jean let out a light chuckle before borating on everything she experienced on her journey. "It was all quite standard, to be honest. Quite a few emergency treatments. Oh! And a delivery of conjoined twins! They were joined at the head, so I had to dissect and surgically separate the brain. That was a challenge! Unfortunately, I could only save one."

    "How''d you dissect and reconstruct the brain?" Shuri asked.

    "To be honest, it was a lot of improvisation," Jean admitted. "I''m still not satisfied with my work. I''m certain that my novice procedure will have left the poor child with some developmental disorders."

    "Better to live with a handicap than to die, right?" Yohn joked with a smile. No oneughed at that joke. Yohn quickly retreated into his coat in embarrassment.

    "I did not know you had such a dark sense of humour," Mariemented with a confused expression.

    "Your humour often reflects how you see the world," Yohn volleyed while waving his hand in front of his empty eye sockets. That joke elicited a muffled snort from the audience.

    "How do you remap the neurons?" Shuri ignored the levity and marched onwards.

    "Are you interested in neurosurgery?" Jean questioned, to which Shuri shook her head and said, "I''m interested in the way the brain works in general. I''d love to dissect one, but the Sect had put a hold on animal dissection until your return and go ahead."

    "I didn''t think this was a topic that you would be intrigued by," Jeanmented. "Since this is the case, let''s meet up tomorrow. I recently ordered a cadaver for the same reason - to investigate the brain in more detail. I don''t want to lose another patient like that again. The cadaver should be delivered by tomorrow. And even if it isn''t, let''s start a discussion on how toy out our investigation. What do you think?"

    Shuri affirmed with a resolute nod and went to get another serving of cake.

 Chapter 387 In Your Head

    Chapter 387 In Your Head

    A/N: Please drop by the Discord server to participate in the poll. It is to discuss what the next volume should be.

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "I must admit, I anticipated a different reaction from you," Jean expressed, her disappointment evident even through her face mask. She delicately set the skull cap of the cadaver to the side and continued, "To be honest." She nced to her left and observed Shuri''s deep fascination with the exposed, shrunken brain.

    Shuri inquired, "What kind of reaction were you expecting?"

    Jean responded, "I''m not sure, perhaps some uneasiness, or maybe even a hint of nausea. Does this not disturb you?"

    Shuri countered, "It doesn''t seem to disturb you, though."

    "Well, that''s because I''ve witnessed numerous injuries, some even more gruesome than this. I''ve grown desensitized to gore at this point," Jean exined with a casual shrug.

    Shuri confidently suggested, "Maybe, like you, I''ve also encountered injuries worse than this and have be desensitized to gore."

    Jean looked intrigued, but Shuri redirected the conversation by asking, "I do wonder how you managed to gain ess to a cadaver. Who in their right mind would donate their bodies for research?"

    "Those who''ve crossed paths with the Empire and turned to a life of crime and banditry," Jean rified with a determined tone. "The standard protocol is to cremate the bodies of those unimed by their next of kin. However, I persuaded the Duchy''s Security to sell me the most intact corpses at a subsidized rate."

    She then moved aside the in white sheet covering the cadaver to reveal a clean stab wound near its abdomen.

    Shuri probed further, "Are you allowed to do that?"

    Jean affirmed, "The Duchy''s Security isn''t officially permitted to engage in such transactions. So, yes, this deal is somewhat under the table."

    Shuri expressed disbelief, "And the Sect Leader allowed you to proceed with it?"

    "It took some convincing on my part, but it''s all in the pursuit of scientific development and the advancement of medicine, isn''t it?" Jean reasoned.

    Shuri agreed, "That is true. So, how do you propose we dissect the brain?"

    "Since the body is deceased, we won''t be able to observe how a lot of how the brain actually works," Jean started. "For instance, a pain signal at any location of the body should cause the sensory cortex to light up. The Broca''s area should also activate simrly when the subject speaks. Because of this, the exploration will primarily focus on understanding theposition and structure of the brain."

    "Wouldn''t it then be better to dissect a live human and observe their brain function?" Shuri propositioned.

    Jean gave Shuri a horrified look and said, "We can''t poke and prod a live human like that. Who knows what kind of damage, reversible or otherwise, we may cause to them?"

    "Then what about just a mana sense scan?" Shuri responded.

    "That is possible, but we need to fully understand the brain''s structure first, hence this exploration," Jean reasoned. "After the brain, we will also dissect the spine. Thankfully, this one has an intact spinal column as the stab wound went through very cleanly."

    With the introductory brief out of the way, Jean''s razor-sharp scalpel moved over the flesh with the same grace as a painter working their brush. She safely dislodged the brain from the skull and ced it atop a clean surface. She retrieved her journal and opened up to a diagram of the brain drawn in it.

    "So... to match the parts... we have the two hemispheres of the brain, the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, ipital lobe, the prefrontal lobe, cerebellum, medu..." she rattled off the names as she identified the corresponding part on the dissected brain. She then exined the function of each of them to Shuri. "The temporal lobe is the one responsible for most intellectual and emotional functions of the brain. The parietal lobe is forprehension ofnguage..."

    Shuri was an active listener, who frequently asked questions to rify details she did not understand, "Can you borate on the blood-brain barrier? I don''t fully understand its function."

    "It is a semipermeable border of cells that regte the transfer of solutes and chemicals from the circtory system and the central nervous system. It is highly selective, which protects the brain from harmful substances. It only allows hydrophobic molecules to pass through, as well as small non-pr molecules."

    "Is that why opium is so effective as a painkiller, it is able to permeate through the barrier?" Shuri asked. To which Jean affirmed with a nod.

    "We will now take a coronal or frontal section of the brain," Jean dered before moving her scalpel and taking a thin slice cross-section of the brain.

    "The gyri (the upper groove) and the sulci (the dips in between) are easily distinguished. The gyri are covered with a beige substance, this should be the grey matter of the cerebral cortex. Beneath it is the white matter. The grey matter consists of cell bodies, both the neurons and glia, while the white matter consists of axons. Neurons provide electrical signals across the neuralwork, while the glia inste neurons by covering them and holding them in ce. The axons act as connections that transmit signals across the entire neuralwork. The signals travel through the axons to the cerebral cortex, get processed by the neurons there, and are also sent down from the cerebral cortex. The corpus callosum is the band of white matter holding the two hemispheres together. They connect simr parts of opposite hemispheres together."

    Shuri sketched and took notes as Jean exined her observations methodically. Although much went over her head, the parts Shuri did understand started to fill in the nks in her mind regarding a topic she was highly invested in pursuing.

    One of the things Shuri had resolved to do when walking down the path of cultivation was to create inventions that serve in benefit of people. Automagy''s purpose is to improve the lives of others, not to destroy them. To that extent, Shuri was quite sessful in her pursuits. She had designed and developed solutions that help the visually impaired be mages, and help people perform a lot of calctions very quickly, and she even motivated others to build devices to help people like the Fire Protect-Core that warns of and fights small-scale fires. These were just among a few of the other inventions she released recently.

    However, Shuri realised that there was a ceiling to the type of cores she could program. At this point, she delved into her n''s books and found the entries on golemancy - the art of programming artificial entities to perform tasks. Golemancy was special because it introduced the concept of inter-coremunication. A golem is aplex invention, far tooplex to be controlled with a single core no matter howrge the core may be. Therefore, the process of building golems involves programming multiple cores and connecting them together. The moreplex the task undertaken by a golem, the more cores you will need to make it. Apart from that, you also have to design the golem to fit its task.

    In her free time, Shuri built a simple golem, which was a three-degree-of-freedom (three revolute joints) arm that could move around and wave. She had to program the arm''s kinematics into one core and another core that would request forward or inverse kinematic calctions and move the arm ordingly. She applied logic gates to make it work and found its performance to be far more efficientpared to the same program offered in the n''s texts. For one, the functional nature of the logic program made it easy to call the same segment of code multiple times which wasn''t the case with the orthodox strategy which was quite restrictive.

    Shuri learned that the mana core could be programmed to do a lot of intuitive and creative things. But as you enter the more advanced parts of golemancy, the amount of control inputs required by the controlling human balloons significantly. If we ultimately want to reduce the human''spetency in controlling the golem (so that regr people can also use it) or maybe remove the human element altogether (in case the golem has to work in locations that are dangerous) then the programming needs to be smarter. It needs to have the ability to make decisions that are intelligent and reactive to environmental cues.

    This thought stumped Shuri. How do you program intelligence? Can a mana core be intelligent? What even IS intelligence?

    The library held an answer, and it said that artificial intelligence is built through neuralworks. Not the same neuralworks that existed inside any sentient creature, but something based on the same principles. The books talked about these artificial neuralworks in great detail, more than half of which Shuri could not grasp no matter how hard she tried. She read and re-read sentences in hopes of getting the information to click, but all attempts led to failure.

    At that juncture, Shuri realised that maybe the cause of her not understandingy in the fact that she knew very little about real neuralworks in the first ce. Now, as much as she wanted to knock a fellow Sect member by the head and cut it open, she recognised the impracticality and consequences of that action. Instead, she approached a member who could help her out without any bacsh - Jean.

    "So how does the brain learn?" Shuri asked as Jean arranged the dissected parts andbelled them.

    "That''s an interesting question. It is written that each neuron is programmed to release a specific electric potential, which whenbined with others, adds up to the information you are looking for," Jean exined.

    "How does that tuning happen?" Shuri followed up.

    Jean let out a long breath and said, "How much time do you have?"

    "The whole day!"

    Jean chuckled lightly and said, "I don''t. So let''s get this dissectionpleted today and pick up this conversation from tomorrow."

    Shuri relented. It wasn''t like Jean was running away. And even if she did, Shuri would find her... eventually...

 Chapter 388 How to Remember and Recollect?

    Chapter 388 How to Remember and Recollect?

    Shoutout to Bruh_Vista and Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    The following day, Jean and Shuri arrived at the staff room very early, even before Markus, and virtually cordoned off a corner by setting up two chairs and a bunch of chalkboards.

    Jean picked up a chalk and drew arge model of the brain on one of the boards. "The brain learns through an interesting concept called neurosticity. It is the ability to reorganise its structure, functions and connections in response to learning, experience and environmental changes."

    She started tobel the different parts of the diagram while expounding, "There is no standard way in which a brain works. There is just an underlying strategy. By this, I mean that there is no easy way to iste which set of neurons are responsible for a specific thought, and no two brains can have the same neuron''s firing. Heck, they may not even be in the same location!"

    "But there has to be some simrity in a broader context, right?" Shuri rified.

    "Of course, which is why you have the following structural ssifications in ce for the different parts of the brain. The groupings of neurons in handling movement tasks are in the motor cortex, which is right over here," Jean affirmed.

    "The synapses, the connections between neurons, change. They either grow stronger as long-term potentiation or weaker as long-term depression based on the frequency with which the neurons are activated. Learning also involves the creation of new connections, synaptogenesis, between neurons and pruning of unused or weak connections, synaptic pruning. This is why they say repetition is key tomitting to memory. Furthermore, association is also helpful, so mapping an experience to an action or concept helps recollection," Jean rified.

    "Why is it that I am able to perfectly recollect information without having to repeat it?" Shuri probed.

    "That''s something I''d like to take a deep dive into, actually. Your cerebral activity would be a perfect case study," Jeanmented, before an expression that caused Shuri to shudder in her boots painted Jean''s face. Shuri took a few involuntary scoots back. "How would you be interested in having your brain inspected?"

    "Umm-"

    "Nothing invasive; don''t worry, I won''t cut you up!" Jean quickly recovered, "Remember, I can''t harm anyone knowingly."

    "While I''d love to make a contribution in the name of scientific advancement, I don''t feelfortable with someone rifling through my brain," Shuri rified her hesitance.

    "It''s not like I can read your memories by inspecting your brain," Jean responded. "Oh, well. The offer is open. Let me know if you ever change your mind."

    There was silence as the end of that topic hung in the air awkwardly.

    "The brain truly is a natural marvel. It is hard to believe that its mechanism isn''t built on magic," Shurimented finally. "Imagine this, an amalgamation of muscle and flesh the size of two fists together is able to control aplex mechanism like the body. To top it off, it is self-aware, constantly learning and evolving, and able to facilitate the maniption of magic. The brain is all we need to cultivate!"

    "In a way, that''s true, isn''t it?" Jean said while humming in thought. "Actually, I''m interested to know. You never showed much interest in this field of study. Why the sudden intrigue?"

    Shuri pulled her lips into her cheeks and sucked the inside of her lips in contemtion. "I want to replicate the brain, but with Automagy."

    "That''s... ambitious. Care to borate on why?" Jean probed.

    "Well, that''s the endgame, isn''t it?" Shuri started. "A device capable of exhibiting intelligence... That''s the dream of every Automage out there."

    "I don''t see what its use might be," Jeanmented, causing Shuri to let out a disdainful scoff.

    "Why do everyone hate necromancers? Let''s not fool ourselves with the morality rhetoric that floats around in public debates. No, the truth is that necromancy is a gateway to a nigh unbeatable force multiplier. To be able to throw an endless barrage of bodies at a problem is a tempting power to have. This is also what Automage seek to replicate. But as you know, it is much harder because the soul is adaptable, but a will is not. You can program a core to be a servant that does one job perfectly ad infinitum. Protect. Attack. Collect. But it''s near impossible to program a core to adapt to a situation and change its behaviour ording to the environmental conditions," Shuri borated.

    "So it''s all about having the bigger sword in the end," Jean said with a disappointed sigh.

    "For others, sure," Shuri emphasised while shaking her head. "Imagine having an adaptable agent working as an assistant? Do you need someone to manipte a data set to gain insights into it? Call your intelligent assistant! Want to find the right piece of information over arge repository of data? Recruit your intelligent assistant! Simply want to entertain yourself? Get your intelligent assistant."

    "That''s... ambitious," Jean admitted. "So you''re hypothesising that the pathway to create this ''intelligent assistant'' is by understanding how a brain works because logically speaking something that is intelligent has a brain."

    "It sounds stupid if you put it that way," Shuri stated with a wry smile.

    "Well, anything sounds stupid if you oversimplify it. I''m sure you have a more verbose n in ce," Jean quickly corrected herself.

    Shuri sheepishly averted her gaze and murmured, "I wish I had a n."

    "All that aside," Jean continued, "What else would you like to know about the brain?"

    "I have a few questions," Shuri responded while unfurling a footlong parchment filled with text.

    "A few..." Jean repeated in disbelief while getting herself a chair and sitting down. "Alright, let''s begin."

    ____

    Shuri thoroughly exhausted Jean with a battery of questions that covered the length and breadth of the girl''s knowledge of the human brain. Shuri was certain that the key to understanding how to create artificial intelligence was to crack the code on how actual intelligence worked. And although Jean wasn''t the forerunning authority on the subject, Shuri took full advantage of her as a resource. And to an extent, it was effective.

    Shuri left the staff room well into the night leaving a deted Jean inside, though she herself was walking with a light and energetic skip in her steps. Because she had figured out the first problem she needed to tackle in her mission to develop an artificial intelligence - storage. Something is defined as intelligent when it is capable of making informed decisions. However, to be informed, it needs to remember things. To remember, it must have a way to store and recollect data just like how the brain does it.

    Cracking the technique to invent a robust storage solution capable of handling arge quantity of data would be the first domino in the long line. Although knowing that this was where she had to start simplified Shuri''s work, it in no way made her life any easier. Because, once again, she found herself in a position where she had to build a solution to this problem by herself, from scratch. Actually, there were storage solutions out there already in use. Mages could imprint audio and video data into objects through ritual formations. However, they were permanent in nature, that is once they were imprinted they could not be edited without re-recording the audio or visual data. Furthermore, the capacity of the ritual formation was highly limited and scaled exponentially. To record a second''s worth of audio data, a ritual the size of one''s palm would be sufficient. A three-minute audio track would be as big as a dinner te, but a four-minute track would be asrge as a small side table. A five minute was as big as a small hut. This was also why all songs were either three minutes or less and distributed on imprinted y tes.

    There was an inherent inefficiency in modern storage solutions that no one thought to address or improve, which irked Shuri to no end.

    "Why is it that whenever I want to do something, I find the existing technology extremelycking?" Shuri said out loud with an annoyed growl. This was amon trouble with prodigies.

    Shuri''s prodigal mind ran far ahead of the curve. So far, in fact, the prerequisites needed to realise most of her thoughts didn''t even exist yet. This meant that Shuri was forced to build the groundwork needed to help realise her own dream, which was often exhausting and detracted from the fun of invention.

    "I guess, I have no other choice..." Shuri mumbled in defeat. "Now how do I do this?!"

    Shuri harkened back to what she learned about how the brain stored its data. "It''s all about potential."

    The brain encoded data through electric potentials. A single potential difference across a neuron didn''t mean anything, but many chained together in a particr way built up data. A surge of inspiration struck Shuri at that instant.

    "It''s all about how you abstract the data!"

    The brain did it as abination of potentials. In logic, information is abstracted as zeroes and ones. Any number could be represented as zeros or ones. One could even create a key to abstract letters to zeros and ones.

    "Zeros... and ones..." Shuri muttered as she finally reached the mess hall.

    "If data can be abstracted to zeros and ones, then I should be able to store it!" She eximed. She wanted nothing more than to just rush to her room, her abode of inspiration, and jot down the ideas bubbling in her mind.

    But she had already missed her lunch. If she also skipped dinner, then she would have a very angry Matron Reva knocking at her doors.

    "Yeah, I can''t have that," Shuri admitted before entering the building. It''s not like she would forget all the ideas in her mind; after all, she had an eidetic memory.

 Chapter 389 Messengers from the soon-to-be Deceased

    Chapter 389 Messengers from the soon-to-be Deceased

    Shoutout to Harjas_Sidhu for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "Is this the ce?" A muscr, dark-toned man asked his partner who walked on with confidence. He bent under a branch, which his partner carefreely walked under, silently cursing his umonly high stature. The two then leapt up and covered a hundred-metre-tall tree before them with just three steps.

    Rianna Maddi nodded and said, "We''re close."

    "Why would a great cultivator like Mage Nara live in such..." Shay-Hade searched for the right words to say but was quickly silenced as Rianna picked up speed and swerved through the treeline with the lightness of a monkey. He furrowed his brows with focus and followed his partner.

    They traversed over three kilometres solely above the canopy of the woods until they eventually reached a clearing. Rianna leapt forward and transitioned into a backflip beforending forcefully on her knees. Shay-Hade did the same though hended with greater grace (contradicting his brutish form) on his toes.

    "Just in time," a voice greeted them, causing the two to look up. Before them, sitting cross-legged on a rock was their intended target - Mage Krish Nara.

    ""Mage Nara,"" the two greeted in unison, giving the man a deep bow of respect.

    The man, in turn, extended his hand with his palm open. "Give it."

    Rianna nodded and approached the older mage, though with cautious steps. A Tesseract Transformation realm mage was akin to a bomb with a capricious fuse. One couldn''t predict when it will go off, or what may happen when it goes off. A person who has to walk the path to reach the peak that is the Tesseract Transformation realm is guaranteed to have lived a colourful life rife with decisions that make one question the very nature of humanity and the limits of a person''s morality. Take the easy-going and tranquil Mage Jace, the Leader of the Mystic Celestial Sect.

    At first nce, one would assume the demure figure to be a pleasant schr who handles any conflict with the power of the word and pen. However, hidden beneath the angelic clothing and marbled skin lies a muscture that is at least a hundred times denser than a regr human''s, held against bones with tendons as stic as iron if it were ten times denser, and bones with rigidity that is yet to be determined. How does someone build a body so strong?

    How does anyone build their body? By taking it to the extreme limits that a body can reach and then taking it a step further. When the body recovers, its limit will have moved an inch further. But you don''t stop there, you take the body to this new limit and take it a step further. It is a mundane yet gruesome process of quite literally breaking the body and letting it rebuild itself stronger than before.

    The Sect Leader''s cultivation method wasn''t a secret in the Sect. In fact, everyone who joined the Sect after Mage Jace took its helm was handed a booklet that described the Sect Leader''s exact cultivation method. Rianna herself was shocked to receive such sacred information so freely - she even assumed it to be a fake and a trick by the seniors hoping to cull the iing horde. But reality proved otherwise. Even the Sect Leader corroborated the fact in the weing address.

    What surprised Rianna even more was the simplicity of the cultivation method. It did not call for any unorthodox strategies, just the in basics of body cultivation.

    Cultivation is often broken down into two paths, although they both achieve the same goal. The first path revolves around getting to know the world, the reality one lives in. The other revolves around getting to know the self, the body one lives in. While it is easy to assume that the depth of thetter cultivation is shallow, meaning that the extent to which one can advance in their cultivation by walking down that path is limited, the fact is far from it.

    One''s knowledge of one''s own body is in fact just as limited as one''s understanding of the world. The brain has levels of autonomy in ce that make it so that your consciousness doesn''t have to worry about most involuntary processes like breathing, salivating, blinking, sweating, digesting, and so on. Knowing which muscles to contract to achieve a specific motion is also simplified by the brain. It takes lifetimes just to understand how these mechanisms work even with the magic of mana sense.

    It is easy to assume that with the secret to the Sect Leader''s sess so easily avable, everyone in the Sect could grow to be as powerful as the Sect Leader. However, the reality proved otherwise. While basic, the cultivation method described took the concept to inhuman extremes. Basic bodybuilding requires reaching failure - a point where the muscle can no longer contract concentrically - and then taking it a step further. You then let the fatigued and torn muscle recover while providing sufficient nutrition (usually proteins). The recovery is painful, hence the soreness, but the rebuilt muscle is stronger and bigger.

    The Sect Leader, however, took this practice to the point that the muscle itself was torn. He would then soak himself in a medicinal bath that elerated the healing process while nourishing the muscles with nutrients, though its side effect was that the elerated healing caused you to experience an amplified level of pain.

    There is a natural limit to how much a human body can develop with this strategy. But the Sect Leader broke through that limit through sheer force of will (and of course with the Sect''s proprietary Meridian-based cultivation methods).

    "As I expected," Mage Nara said, breaking Rianna out of her nk trance. "Thank you for delivering my friend''s final messages."

    "Sect Leader has left for his final pilgrimage. He dered his passing, and wished everyone the best of luck to find the Inheritance Artefact he will leave behind upon his Ascension," Rianna exined.

    The elderly mage hummed and nodded in affirmation.

    "Pardon my insolence," Shay-Hade cut in at this point. Rianna nearly pped her forehead in irritation. She had expressly warned him to keep quiet. Why risk angering someone who can delete you with a flick of their fingers to quench a rogue thought?

    "Did Mage Nara already know of Sect- Ex-Sect Leader Jace''s Ascension?" Shay-Hade asked.

    "I did," the elder mage answered.

    "Then Mage Nara should already know what the letter read before we delivered it too," Shay-Hade said out loud. Rianna was sweating crazily as her eyes darted between her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend and the elder mage. "Does Mage Nara also know where the Inheritance Artefact is going to be?!"

    Rianna quickly jumped in and pulled her man into a tight headlock while covering his mouth. "S-Sorry Mage Nara, I didn''t teach my junior well-"

    "The letter is something written from Jace''s heart. I didn''t foresee it voluntarily, because I wished for his message to reach me the way he wanted it to," Mage Nara interjected calmly. "And as for the location of the Inheritance Artefact, I know the location of twenty-two including Jace''s that haven''t been discovered yet. Though I don''t wish to share it with you, because-"

    The mage turned the parchment and ced his finger over a line written in all capital letters: "DO NOT TELL ANYONE WHERE I AM GOING TO DIE."

    "-I must respect a man''s final wishes, after all."

    The moment dragged on in awkward silence, as both parties looked at each other with a nk expression.

    "So..." Shay-Hade said with a muffled voice through Rianna''s palm. "...We should get going now."

    "As you should," Mage Nara affirmed. Rianna quickly proceeded to turn, but just as she was about to leap onto the tree line, a voice cut through through woods.

    "Master!" Rianna recognised the voice immediately. It was Marie''s. "There you are! If you''re nning to deviate from your usual schedule you need to warn me beforehand. I wasted an entire hour searching for you."

    "I left a letter by your bedside," Mage Nara said to the arriving girl.

    "You were in my room while I was sleeping?" Marie snapped back in shock. "That''s creepy... Hold up! Is that you, Mage Maddi?"

    lights¦­¦Ïvel "I''d assumed we were on a first-name basis by now, Marie," Rianna responded with a smile. Marie jogged forward and gave Rianna a tight, weing hug.

    "It''s been so long! How have you been?" Marie followed up. "I see that you''ve brought your... ''partner'' along."

    Rianna noticed Marie''s eyes examining Shay-Hade''s form, and an itching feeling crawled up her spine. "Should I be worried?" Rianna blurted out.

    Marie''s eyes left Shay-Hade andnded on Rianna. A silent message was exchanged, following which the younger girl let out augh and said, "Don''t worry. I like them less... manly."

    After a second of silence, the duo burst into uproariousughter.

    As the mour settled, Marie quickly asked, "Did you guys juste?"

    "We did. We had a message to deliver to Mage Nara. Since that is finished, we were leaving," Rianna exined.

    "Nonsense!" Marie denied. "You are our guests! Technically, this could be ssified as a diplomatic mission between sects. It would be impolite and improper to let you guys leave empty-handed and with empty stomachs."

    She then turned to her Master and admonished him, "You''re representing the True World Sect now. You can''t be this callous!"

    Both Rianna and Shay-Hade froze with their eyes nearly out of their sockets in shock. The scene was like watching a rabbit admonishing a manticore.

    "Please forgive me for my Master''s impropriety-"

    ""NO!"" Rianna and Shay-Hade eximed. "I mean," Rianna picked up. "I don''t know if calling it a diplomatic mission is correct. We''re just running an errand-"

    "Whatever! Come, you''ve arrived just in time. Matron Reva just cooked up a huge pot of Spiced Chicken Rice."

    "What?" Shay-Hade asked.

    "It''s what we''re calling it. It''s basically spiced chicken with vegetables,yered underneath seasoned rice covered and cooked in a brick oven. It tastes delicious!"

    "Sounds like Bihr-Yahnn," Shay-Hade followed up. "The preparation method sounds simr. What spices do you use?"

    "I... don''t know. I just eat the dish," Marie answered sheepishly.

    "It''s been years since Ist tasted the food of my people," Shay-Hade admitted with a nostalgic tone. "Can we stay for lunch, Rianna?"

    Rianna looked into her hunk boyfriend''s puppy-dog eyes and the denial that was at the tip of her tongue melted away. "Sure. Why not?"

 Chapter 390 Strange Atmosphere

    Chapter 390 Strange Atmosphere

    Rianna ate silently while tuning out the heated discussion Shay-Hade was having with Matron Reva concerning the minor difference in the taste of the dish.

    "It isn''t the same dish as the one you''re describing!" Matron Reva defended. "Why must I adhere to the same ratios?"

    Shay-Hade scoffed loudly and said, "It tastes like Bihr-Yahnn, smells like a Bihr-Yahnn, and looks like a Bihr-Yahnn. It''s a Bihr-Yahnn!"

    The woman snapped her finger and let out a victorious, "Ah-ha! If it tastes, smells and looks like it, then why do I need to change the spice ratios?"

    "Because-" Shay-Hade started, but struggled toe up with a response, "Because... That''s not the right way to make it"

    "That''s just one man''s opinion," Matron Reva responded while waving her hands away. "Besides, I''m not trying to replicate Bir- Beehr-"

    "It''s Bihr-Yahnn!" Shay-Hade corrected.

    "How do you make that sound from your throat?" Matron Reva responded. "Ach! No, wait, Bichrr-"

    "You''re butchering the pronunciation, just call it whatever," Shay-Hade groaned while grabbing his forehead in distress.

    "Anyway," Matron Reva recovered. "Do you like it or not? Two people CAN have the same idea even if they don''t know each other at all. Maybe, this Spiced Chicken Rice dish is simr to the one you are familiar with, but I am not trying to copy it. It''s my original invention!"

    "How can there be such a coincidence? The Bihr-Yahnn outdates this dish by many years! You must have eaten it somewhere and gotten inspired by it to create something simr," Shay-Hade reasoned.

    "Do you have proof? And why am I being prosecuted here?" Matron Reva demanded. "You know what? That''s it, you''re not eating this anymore!"

    Just as she extended her hand to retrieve the bowl of Spiced Chicken Rice, Shay-Hade''s hand descended and pulled it closer. The woman noticed this and gave a mischievous grin before ruffling and patting Shay-Hade''s shoulder. "I''ll share the recipe with you. It''s not that difficult to make. You can experiment with the spices to fit your tastes."

    The man lowered his head sheepishly and thanked the woman with a low, rumbling murmur.

    "That was the most pointless argument I''ve ever witnessed," Rianna said while shaking her head. "And I''ve seen two monkeys fighting over an empty box, which the winner immediately dumped into a river."

    "I..." Shay-Hade whispered. "It just reminded me of home."

    "We can take a detour through your hometown if you want," Rianna offered. "Officially, our dispatch is for an indeterminate amount of time under the Sect Leader''s decree. We can literally tour the entire Gaea before going back."

    "I don''t think that''s a good idea. We still have to exin our absence to the Elders when we return," Shay-Hade said hesitantly.

    "We can think up an excuse when it happens," Rianna waved away.

    While the duo ate in silence, Rianna observed the movement of the members in and out of the mess hall. She noticed the way everyone was talking and interacting cordially and felt... jealous.

    "What do you think of the Sect?" Rianna probed Shay-Hade, who was drowning in nostalgia while biting into a chicken thigh-piece.

    "It''s clean," Shay-Hade answered while sucking the marrow.

    "I can see that. I''m not talking about the physical state," Rianna growled. "The aura in here. It feels... weird."

    "If I tell you that you look good today, would you believe me?" Shay-Hade asked.

    "That''s sudden," Rianna muttered while blushing. "I would believe you."

    "Why?" Shay-Hade probed.

    "Because you have no reason to lie to me."

    "If Senior Sister Kowl said you looked beautiful one day, would you believe her?" Shay-Hade continued.

    "Not really."

    "Why not?"

    Rianna thought for a while before saying, "It could just be lip service with her."

    "That''s the difference," Shay-Hade emphasised. "If I have a disagreement with you, I tell it to your face. If it''s something good, I do the same. I don''t filter or putyers of filters in my words and say something while meaning something else. The people here are the same."

    "It''s not just that," Rianna retorted. "Just now, whileing in here, I saw a bunch of these teens taking sses from a little kid on how to draw! Could you imagine such a scene back at our Sect?"

    "Then I guess it''s a matter of humility and respect," Shay-Hade concluded. "You need humility to recognise your shorings, and need to respect those who are superior to you or are more capable than you in certain matters."

    "It''s embarrassing," Rianna admitted with a wry smile. "I don''t think I''d have the humility to take drawing sses from a child many decades younger than me."

    "You''re only half correct there," Shay-Hade corrected. "If you are able to admit that you arecking in humility, isn''t it already disying humility? It''s weirdly circr, isn''t it?"

    Rianna hummed before finally saying, "I think it''s the overallck of hostility in the air here."

    "It''s because the Sect haspletely banned any form of physical fights and has set up a structured system for conflict resolution," a voice interjected from behind them. The duo turned around and noticed a sheepish-lookingd smiling at them with his mouth full.

    "Sorry, I couldn''t help but eavesdrop-"

    "How could you not?" A girl said from beside him. "They were practically shouting."

    A simr-looking girl - a twin - nodded affirmatively by her side.

    "Hey! I''m Kevan. This is Casey and Lacey," the boy greeted while extending his palm. "Are you guys guests? I haven''t seen that symbol before, which Sect are you from?"

    "The Mystic Celestial Sect," Shay-Hade responded while epting the boy''s hand.

    "That''s not from the Empire..." Kevan said while looking to his peers for confirmation. When the two girls shook their heads, he turned back to them and asked, "You''re international! That''s awesome."

    Rianna felt a monologueing so she quickly cut in and asked, "Since you guys know everyone in the Sect, who is that kid teaching people how to draw?"

    "Kano?" The twin named Casey asked. "What do you want to know about him?"

    "Well... is he some kind of a prodigy?"

    "That''s an understatement," the other twin said with a scoff.

    "Did you notice the paintings distributed all over the campus grounds?" Kevan cut in. "Well, they were all made by him."

    "No way!" Rianna yelped in surprise. "What about the one with the giant eagles bursting through the clouds outside the mess hall? That has to be the work of a 2-star Artist at least!"

    "Kano," Kevan confirmed.

    "I didn''t even sense a strand of cultivation in the boy''s core!" Rianna argued. "How is that possible."

    "That''s what I meant when I said calling him a prodigy was an understatement," Lacey repeated.

    "How many more paintings has the boy created?" Rianna asked. "Forget it! Shay-Hade, we''re taking a walk after this!"

    "Are we allowed to do that?" Shay-Hade probed. "Do we need a chaperone or something?"

    "Didn''t Marie say we are free to do whatever we wanted?" Rianna reminded.

    "I don''t think she meant it literally..."

    ____

    Shay-Hade''s protests of impropriety about Rianna''s brazenness, as she gawked at paintings drawn into various walls across the Sect, went in one ear and out the other.

    "Amazing! The mountain of treasure is literally urging me to jump in and take a swim! And look at the slumbering red dragon! The aura of fear it emanates is so palpable. Look! I have goosebumps just looking at it!" Rianna eximed while pointing at her arm.

    "I didn''t know you had a liking to art?" Shay-Hademented.

    "It''s an inherited trait, I guess," Rianna responded. She turned to him and continued, "My father was a 6-star Artist. He always wanted me to walk in his footsteps. Unfortunately, I was more proficient with handling weapons than the paintbrush. Though he didn''t forget to instil a sense of appreciation to aesthetics in me."

    "If he''s a 6-star Artist, he should be high enough in his cultivation to still be alive. Why don''t we meet him before returning to the Sect?"

    "Weren''t you listening?" Rianna said with a forlorn expression. "He wanted me to walk in his footsteps, but I couldn''t live up to his mark. So he ended up disowning me."

    "WHAT?!"

    "Don''t yell," Rianna admonished while sucking in a sharp breath of air. "It''s okay. He made his intentions with me very clear the moment I was able to form coherent thoughts. It was all above board and didn''t catch me out of the blue."

    "You''re being weirdly nonchnt about all this..." Shay-Hade expressed, to which Rianna simply shrugged and returned to admiring the mural.

    "I''ve had ten years to get over it," Rianna said off-handedly. "Besides,st I heard the Maddi family got squashed by a 7-star Artist because my father offended her. I think they got their just desserts."

    "I''d assume that given the nature of your trauma, you''d build some sort of hatred towards art in general," Shay-Hademented.

    "Art isn''t the reason why I had a shitty father," Rianna stated. "Art is transcendental."

    At that moment, the duo caught a lively conversation urring from the branches of a nearby tree.

    "Ohe on, Dora! Why can''t we have a battle already?" It was the voice of a little girl.

    "I already told you, Kili. Fancy is resting. She said she needed time to assimte everything she''d gained," it was another girl.

    "You said the same thing a week ago!" Kili protested. "If I knew this would happen, I wouldn''t have urged Big Sis to bring me back so soon..."

    "I''m sorry," Dora said.

    The two girls climbed higher up the tree and moved onto a branch. Dora scooted to the side and wrapped her legs around the branch before hanging upside down. Kili attempted to do the same.

    But just as her body swung down, her leg slipped, and the girl hurtled towards the ground.

    Rianna and Shay-Hade darted forward, but they were just not fast enough to stop the girl from falling arm-first into the hard, stony flooring.

 Chapter 391 A Favourable Favour

    Chapter 391 A Favourable Favour

    Rianna carried the unconscious girl to the infirmary hastily. She was followed by her partner, who was disying a concerned sulk in ce of his usual stoicism. They were also chased by the other girl, whom they had outpaced a few seconds ago. Rianna''s gazended on the little girl''s swollen right arm. A quick |Inspect| with her mana sense confirmed that the bones between her wrist and elbow, the ulna and the radius, had snapped thoroughly. As immediate first-aid, Rianna had attached a splint in ce to reduce the movement in the affected area. Luckily, the girl lost consciousness upon falling to the ground. She most definitely suffered a concussion, but the unconsciousness would mask the pain the girl should be experiencing right now.

    Marie had given Rianna and Shay-Hade an initial tour of the Sect, which was why the duo knew the location of the infirmary. Rianna only hoped that whichever physician worked there had the knowledge to treat such fractures.

    "Help!" Rianna eximed as she burst through the door. "There''s an emergency!"

    As she pushed into the infirmary, the first thing Rianna observed was that it was unlike the one back at the Mystic Celestial Sect. First off, it was extremely clean and very quiet. Of course, one can''t expect extreme cleanliness and tranquillity in a Sect that specialises in fighting.

    "Please," a girl called outzily. "No ruckus in the clinic, it will disturb the patients."

    Shay-Hade looked around confusedly and said, "There''s no one else here."

    "There could be," the girl who reprimanded them said. She then gestured towards an empty bed and added, "ce her here."

    "But there aren''t," Shay-Hade insisted.

    "Would you eat where you shit?" The girl asked offhandedly while inspecting Kili, who was now lying on the bed.

    "What? No!"

    "Well, I''ll clean the toilet really well. So well that you can practically see your face on the floor?" The girl doubled down.

    "Still... It''s- It''s not the ce to eat," Shay-Hade murmured.

    "You see, even if the library is empty you maintain silence. It is a matter of principle. You respect the ambience for the purpose the location is built for. The clinic is meant to help those unwell to recuperate. Even if it is empty, we need to respect the sanctity of the establishment," the girl lectured.

    "It''s a pretty bad one," Rianna cut in, gesturing at Kili''s arm, which was now being removed from the splint. "How do you intend to treat it?"

    The girl looked up and examined Rianna and Shay-Hade critically.

    "Thank you for bringing Kili in. Your kindness and prompt response in this matter is appreciated," the girl said monotonously. "Please leave while I treat the patient."

    "Hold on!" Rianna cut in. "We''d like to know how you''re going to treat the girl."

    "Why?" The girl snapped back annoyedly.

    "Forgive me, but I have a hard time believing a girl as young as you is capable of treating injuries like Kili''s effectively," Rianna challenged while crossing her arms.

    At this point, Shay-Hade stepped between Rianna and Kili and said, "What my partner is trying to say-" he paused and red at Rianna before turning back to the other girl, "-is that we feel responsible for the child''s well-being. So we''d like to be here as she gets treated."

    "That won''t be necessary," the girl responded. Shay-Hade noticed the uneasiness and anxiousness in her words, as well as the hasty side-eye she was constantly giving the unconscious child on the bed. It was clear that the girl wanted them out of the room immediately, which made it all the more suspicious.

    Rianna ignored the girl''s urging and plopped down on a chair.

    "I''d REALLY appreciate it if you could please leave," the girl repeated, with a worried look on her face.

    "You''re just making me more interested in waiting it out," Rianna mocked.

    "I-"

    Just then, the trio all heard faint, childish mumbling originating from the bed behind them. Looking over, they saw Killi squirming and regaining consciousness.

    "Uhm..." Kili groaned. "Where- Oh! I''m at the clinic... Hey, Big Sis!" Kili greeted as she sat up on her bed. She then enthusiastically waved with her right hand. "Where''s Dora?"

    "Shit..." The girl murmured before looking towards Rianna, whose eyes were wide and trained intensely on the waving child.

    Shay-Hade furrowed his brows and followed his partner''s gaze, more specifically her pupils which oscited along with the child''s waving hand. It took him exactly five seconds to put the details together. And just as his brain finished that calction, his mouth subconsciously rattled it out loud, "The arm! It should be broken... How?"

    The other girl quickly got between Kili and them and said forcefully, "Please leave."

    "That should be impossible," Rianna finally spoke up. "Her arm was clearly fractured. But it ispletely fixed. There was no magic, no potion, or salve applied."

    Rianna''s eyes darted around erratically as her mind started to process the information, "It has to be her body, then. Her physique or bloodline... But she''s just a child with barely a trace of cultivation inside her, so it must have activated prematurely..."

    She then walked over to Kili and started to inspect the bone, "Completely fixed. And the recovery is seamless; it''s almost like there was no fracture to begin with!"

    Her eyes locked on to the other girl and Rianna quickly covered the distance between them. With her face barely a centimetre away, she interrogated, "The child, is it her bloodline or physique?"

    "I''m afraid I don''t know what you''re talking about," the girl stuttered while avoiding eye contact.

    "It''s probably something big," Shay-Hade said to Rianna. "You can''t get it out of her."

    "You''re right," Rianna affirmed.

    As Rianna turned to leave, the girl quickly blocked their paths and challenged. "Look, I think you guys are mistaken. Maybe-"

    "I know what you are trying to do," Rianna interjected. "But please, do not insult our intelligence."

    "Where are you going!" The girl yelled as Rianna and Shay-Hade both left the clinic in a hurry. Rianna recollected the schematic of the Sect as described in Marie''s initial tour and beelined towards the Sect Leader''s office.

    Upon arriving, she knocked at the door and entered after confirming that there was only the man inside. Her first impression of the Sect Leader of the True World Sect was, ''Unimpressive.''

    Apart from his chiselled and handsome appearance, he did not exude an aura of someone powerful.

    "Who do we have here? Ah, you must be the visitors from the Mystic Celestial Sect Marie informed me about," The man said in a maic baritone with a nk smile. "And I don''t think I gave you permission to enter. As you can see-" he said as he spread his arms over the stacks of papers on his desk, "-I''m quite preupied."

    "We won''t take long," Rianna cut in. "It is just a matter of getting your permission."

    The man''s expression turned serious, "I believe a bit more respect is afforded to a person you wish to ask permission of."

    "I apologise for my partner''s transgressions," Shay-Hade intercepted. "I seem to be doing that a lot nowadays. What she means is that the request is so heavily leaning in your favour that eptance is a matter of course."

    "That is for me to decide, isn''t it?" The Sect Leadermented while resting his chin on his arms propped on top of his desk.

    "It is about the girl named Kili," Rianna pointed out. "She is too young to be registered with the Sect, which means that she lives here with her guardian. We have reason to believe that she has a unique physique or bloodline that gives her an unparalleled recovery capacity. As this feature is already activated without her having to walk the path of cultivation, it puts her in a favourable position to begin practising a rather powerful cultivation method envisioned by our Mystic Celestial Sect''s Leader."

    Rianna observed the man''s expression, hoping to see some glint or excitement at her revtion. But was miffed to see none of that sort shing across his thoroughly unimpressed, borderline annoyed, face.

    She coughed and then continued, "We would like to recruit the girl and train her. We believe her future is limitless and with the proper guidance she can be the youngest Tesseract Transformation realm mage, ever."

    "Your offer, though forceful, is as you said quite favourable for me... in your opinion. You''re asking me to hand over a child to two people I barely know with the promise of her achieving greatness," the Sect Leader challenged.

    "It isn''t ''our word''," Rianna snapped back. "It is the reputation of the Mystic Celestial Sect that is backing our im."

    "I am still not convinced," the Sect Leader denied. "AND, since it is you, the representatives from your Sect, who are approaching me, it falls on you to convince me to ce Kili in your care."

    "I hope you realise that you are denying Kili a prosperous future," Rianna said with a faintly threatening tone. "What would she say when she learns about the opportunity she missed due to your ill-informed decision."

    "I don''t see it that way. I see your proposition as a gamble, which I am not confident enough to take. When Kili is old enough she will realise the reason for my behaviour," the Sect Leader said adamantly. "Besides, even if I did want her to be under you the authority isn''t mine. Her guardian is someone else altogether."

    "Who-" Rianna blurted out, but was interrupted as the door swung open and a familiar girl walked in with an infuriated frown on her face.

    "Sect Leader Larks," the girl greeted.

    "Good, you''re here. We were just talking about you," the Sect Leader responded. He turned to Rianna and Shay-Hade and said, "Guests, please meet Kili''s guardian, Jean Rasmus."

    "Oh, we''ve met," Jean growled.

    ""Shit"" Both Rianna and Shay-Hade blurted out in unison.

 Chapter 392 Outside Help

    392 Outside Help

    "Why?" Jean pressed with a snappy tone. She halted Rianna and Shay-Hade''s proselytising and cut right to the chase. "Why do you want to recruit Kili?"

    "I believe we were quite clear on the ''why''," Rianna mumbled.

    "All I heard was that you recognised her special physique or bloodline, when you don''t even know what it is, and wish to exploit it to train her in a cultivation method followed by your Sect Leader?" Jean pointed out. "What''s in it for you?"

    She skipped past Rianna''s stunned expression and said, "Nothing in this worldes for free - it is a fact of life and a key t of cultivation. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So tell me truthfully, what is in it for you?"

    "I..." Rianna blurted out, but her words halted as she failed to formte a reason. "-don''t know."

    ____

    A few moments before Rianna and Shay-Hade burst into Guy''s office.

    "Do you remember the talk we had a few weeks back?" Marie asked Guy.

    "You have to be more specific," Guy said with a chuckle. "It''s not like our conversations are so infrequent that I can perfectly recollect them."

    "I''m talking about theck of battle training in our Sect," Marie highlighted.

    A few days earlier, Guy brought up a point in the weekly team meetings about a potential vulnerability of the Sect.

    ''The Sect Members are total novices inbat. Being able to spam low-cost spells to gain the upper hand can only go so far.''

    Guy nodded and hummed as the memory resurfaced. "What of it?"

    "I believe we have an opportunity to address that shoring," Marie said with a thoughtful expression. "We have two guests in the Sect today. They are members of the Mystic Celestial Sect. It was where my Master took me and where I managed to break through into the Foundation Establishment realm."

    Marie then went on to exin the nature of the Mystic Celestial Sect and introduced the identities of the two visitors.

    "What role do these two y?" Guy asked, finally.

    "The Mystic Celestial Sect specialises inbat," Marie pointed out. "We should exploit this resource to the Sect''s advantage."

    "You make it sound easy," Guy responded while shaking his head. "To call in a request like that, we have to sacrifice much in return."

    "Not necessarily," Marie hinted. "We have a juicy bait roaming around in our Sect - something that is valuable enough to give us equal footing in negotiations."

    Guy looked into Marie''s eyes, his face started to warp into a frown incrementally.

    "You''ve been using your powers again, haven''t you?" Guy probed.

    "What? No!" Marie denied vehemently. "Okay, in truth I saw the Sect''s future the day I advanced. It wasn''t anything too specific, just the important bits - the significant events. Of that, I observed that Rianna Maddi and Shay-Hade yed an important role."

    "Based on your exnation. The fact that you befriended them before your advancement may have been the thing that ced them in that important role," Guy pointed out. "If you didn''t befriend Rianna, she wouldn''t have been selected to deliver the message here, and thus we wouldn''t be in a position where discussing the possibility of a coboration could be an option."

    Marie shook her head dismissively and said, "I''ve decided to not think about the paradoxical nature of fate and how I - as an observer - do or do not y a role in how it changes. Look, I don''t want to get into this discussion right now. Coincidentally, we are short on time, and I need to tell you how to take advantage of the opportunity that is going to burst through your door very soon."

    She leaned forward and said, "The key reason why you will have the upper hand in this negotiation is-"

    ____

    "in curiosity," Guy parrotted Marie''s words with a faint smirk. "I can see it in your eyes. They gleam just like my Sect Members who are nearing an epiphany or a crucial breakthrough in their research. What I am interested to know is why. What makes Kili the optimal candidate for the cultivation method you are proposing?"

    Rianna exchanged a nce with Shay-Hade before exining cautiously, "As I''ve exined before, the cultivation method was envisioned and followed by our Sect Leader who is- was a Tesseract Transformation realm mage. This is enough to prove that the method works."

    "I disagree," Jean interjected. "Just because a cultivation method works for one person doesn''t mean it will be effective for another. We both know that, so please do not insult my intelligence."

    Shay-Hade let out a mirthful snort at Jean''s retort but was immediately silenced by a deathly re from Rianna.

    "I cannot share the details-"

    "Then I refuse your request," Jean said inly.

    Rianna gritted her teeth and expounded, "I''ll exin in simple terms so that you can understand. The human body is an adaptive machine. By exposing it to scenarios and adversarial conditions repeatedly over a long period of time, one can train the body to adapt and withstand those conditions. We use this ability when training the body physically. For instance, by progressively lifting heavier weights, we can increase our strength and muscle size."

    "Muscr hypertrophy," Jean affirmed. "I know what you''re talking about."

    "Huh? Hyper-what?" Rianna blurted out.

    Jean waved her hand dismissively and said, "Continue."

    "As I was saying, the body can be trained to adapt to increasingly adversarial conditions. But after a period of time, one will hit a natural wall. This is the peak a human''s physique can develop to. However, our Sect Leader realised that this wall is just a construct of the mind. It is possible to push beyond this limit but to do so, one must have the will and tenacity to endure," Rianna added.

    "So, how does this apply to Kili?" Jean probed.

    "Well," Rianna said with an elongated tone. "The training will follow the methodology of progressive overload. We will focus on callisthenics and bodyweight exercises mostly, with added natural weights. We will supplement this withbat training. We expect the process tost for a year or two, depending on how well Kili''s body takes to the training. Then..."

    "Then?"

    Shay-Hade cut in at this instance and said, "Please understand that the path to greatness is never easy."

    "Kili will be broken and rebuilt, again and again," Rianna said bluntly. "She will have to willingly push herself onwards, fight through the pain and push her muscles, bones and tendons to their utmost limits. When they can push no more, she will have to call upon the raw power of will to force them onwards."

    15:54

    onwards."

    "You''re kidding!" Jean snapped. "This is madness!"

    "Madness that is guaranteed to work. The cultivation method is so simple and straightforward that there is no chance of failure - the Sect Leader confirms it as so. It is built upon the concept of sheer, unadulterated willpower."

    "You''re asking me to beplicit to child abuse!" Jean yelled.

    "It won''t be child abuse because Kili feels no pain and regenerates from injuries that take weeks to heal within seconds," Rianna corrected. "I may not be a learned mage, but I have read enough to know that abilities like those can be counted on one hand. Upon second thought, I''m certain that what she has is a special physique, since a bloodline activation would leave physical remnants... The Universal Panacea Physique!"

    Seeing Jean''s subtle flinch, Rianna let out a smirk and said, "Information like that would fetch a hefty price in the ck market."

    "You wouldn''t!"

    "You''re right," Rianna shrugged. "Or maybe I would. Who knows? Consider this another incentive to ce Kili under my tutge. Look, the cultivation method I''m talking about is practically legendary. Your Sect Leader is right, I am curious to see it seed. I have personally taken this cultivation method to limits no one else barring my Sect Leader has ever reached. I could not go onward because Icked the willpower to do so. Sure, there maye another prodigy with unbending will like my Sect Leader''s who will tread the path topletion. But that may take millennia - I don''t have that kind of time."

    At this point, Guy truly understood Rianna''s personality. Deep inside, she was an inquisitive person and a closetedpletionist. She liked to finish anything she started, and the fact that she could not take the cultivation method topletion was bugging her to no end. It was like a rogue string sticking out of an borately knitted sweater. One strategic pull and he could unwind the whole thing!

    "The way you''ve exined it," Guy spoke up, "Feeling the pain and pushing through it is the key piece of the puzzle. But as you''ve seen, Kili does not feel pain if she doesn''t want to. Furthermore, the way she heals injuries may not always follow standard processes."

    His strategy was to first poke enough meaningful holes in her understanding so that he could then redirect her attention from training Kili to actually exploring the nature of the cultivation method itself.

    "Now that I''ve confirmed her special physique, I am even more certain that she is the perfect candidate. Kili can be convinced to believe that she is always feeling pain just a smidgen above her limit. She can also be convinced to heal the injuries in the way defined by the cultivation method. She can also be convinced to change her body''s absorptive properties to extract maximum benefits from potions, medicinal baths, and nutritional foods," Rianna contested. "So, what do you say?"

    "I say no," Jean rejected firmly.

    "I say... it depends," the Guy mumbled, hoping to poke at Rianna''s curiosity.

    "Sect Leader Larks! There''s no way this is good for Kili!" Jean argued.

    "Hear me out," Guy prefaced, "I''m not for the tant abuse you intend to put Kili through. It is clearly inhumane, and it isn''t something that a kid needs to be put through. Your Sect Leader may have been in a position where such measures were necessary. But I''m trying to build an environment here where kids are afforded a choice and can practise their interests safely. So, I don''t want to put Kili through the same regimen as your intention."

    He intercepted Rianna just as she opened her mouth to plead her case again and said, "I am more interested in tickling the curious itch bubbling in your eyes, though."

    "Do you know why the body adapts the way it does?" Guy asked. "Do you know the most optimal way to get the body to adapt? I''m sure there are superior ways than to just brute-force everything, right?"

    As Rianna pondered on those questions, he raised a finger and dered, "I hear your offer to train Kili but raise you this in return: I am willing to give you a tform to research the cultivation method you hold so dear. Break it down into pieces and really get to know it. Maybe you will realise where you failed?"

    "Look," Guy added while Rianna was struggling to reach a conclusion. "I agree with you Sect Leader in one fact. Cultivation doesn''t have to be selective. A method shouldn''t have to be suitable for a select group of people. The nature of the cultivation method you''ve described assures that everyone can practise it. But I also believe that it should be essible. Just like how only the rich and powerful shouldn''t have ess to the best cultivation methods, the strong-willed and tenacious shouldn''t be the only victors in the race to follow a cultivation method."

    "If a cultivation method is essible, it makes it less special," Shay-Hade pointed out.

    "Does that make it necessarily bad?" Guy challenged. "I can allow you to work with Kili, if and only if you can make the method less inhumane. And to do that, I think you need to hit the drawing board and really think about what it asks you to do your body."

    Rianna debated in her head for a long time, letting the room stew in silence, until she eventually let out a groan and said, "Fine!"

    "Rianna!" Shay-Hade eximed. "What about-"

    "But I''m warning you, what you''re asking me to do will only reduce the efficacy of the method," she growled at Guy.

    "Maybe it will, maybe it won''t, who knows?" Guy hit back with a victorious smile. "Now, Jean would you please show our guests to their amodations?"

    Jean begrudgingly guided the duo out of the office. Guy waited until they were far enough out of his mana sense rage before finally letting out a bellowingugh.

    Word Count: 2122

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    Junior_Sundar

 Chapter 393 Workout Plan

    393 Workout n

    While this world was backwards in many aspects, one thing the knowledge and technology from Guy''s world couldn''t hold a candle to here was the extent to whichbat arts and warfare had developed. Guy was certain that if even the most heavily trained and experienced mixed martial artist from his past life was forced to fight toe-to-toe with a cultivator of simr strength, thetter would exit victorious in nine out of ten bouts. If they were forced to fight the myriad of beasts and magical flora that were scattered across this world, they wouldn''t even stand a chance.

    Combat arts in his past life had slowed in development the moment abatant could take another''s life with the pull of a trigger. From that point onwards,bat arts became more aligned with sports than what they were initially supposed to be used for, killing. One could argue thatbat arts are more geared towards self-defence, but Guy could ascertain that this was only the modern interpretation. Truebat arts were vehicles to deliver death swiftly and effectively. Even the most effective ones that prevailed in his past life, in the context of sports applications, were originally ones geared towards killing.

    Hence, even with all the benefits offered via the Church of the True World, there was one thing Guy could do nothing about and that was to bring his Sect''s Members up to this world''s base standard forbat preparedness. There was a truckload of theoretical knowledge aboutbat in his mind, but what use was it when he couldn''t apply it properly? Has anyone ever heard of someone learning how to fight by just reading a book? Combat is a coborative and kinesthetic process.

    In fact, Guy did know a decent amount of Judo - this was something he picked up from the soldiers who would often apany him while travelling - just so that he would have a method to protect himself. He COULD teach this to the Sect Members, but what use would it be? The rules of engagement when ites to magic are always irregr. Thebat arts of this world ept that fact and are designed to keep this irregrity in mind.

    Yet, just because certainbat arts are most suitable to the conditions of this world doesn''t make them the most optimised.

    "This workout n is idiotic. You are leaving no time for recovery," Jeanined as she perused the document Rianna and Shay-Hade reluctantly submitted. Guy had ced the responsibility of monitoring the duo''s escapades and discoveries on Jean since he felt that she was most suitable to liaison on this matter being the go-to authority on the health and safety of the Sect. He also figured that since Jean bore a light grudge against them, she would be more critical of the results.

    "Why do you need to recover? Did you not hear what we said about the nature of the cultivation method?!" Rianna snapped back in annoyance. "It''s all about pushing the body to the extreme."

    "But if you don''t let the muscles recover, all that effort is wasted," Jean argued. "Sufficient rest and recuperation are paramount for growth. Let me put it this way, what you''re prescribing is to exert an already damaged muscle. If you just wait and let it recuperate, then you can work out an even stronger muscle to higher limits."

    "It''s a waste of time," Rianna responded.

    "That is an opinion and not a fact," Jean pointed out. "Practise the scientific approach here. You have experience with the performance of your method, now try it with my variations and see how the response is."

    Rianna growled as she considered Jean''s words.

    "Look, I know it''s hard for you to believe me, so why don''t you just |Inspect| yourself while you train? It''s not like we''re doing something that cannot be observed?" Jean proposed.

    "Jean makes a good point," Guyplimented. "If you wish to build on your knowledge you need to be open to new and possibly opposing ideas. Do not deny it until you try it."

    "Whatever," Rianna dismissed. "Shay-Hade,e! We have some work to do."

    The duo then left the meeting room in an irritated huff.

    ____

    Just as Guy predicted, they returned the next day with an unwilling expression drawn on their faces.

    "It worked, didn''t it?" Jean asked half-excitedly and half-mockingly. "You better have scaled the rest and recovery ording to your physique!"

    "You don''t have to be so smug," Rianna grumbled. "Exin to me how this works."

    "~I didn''t hear the magic word~," Jean said in a sing-song tone.

    "How would I know the spell?" Rianna snarled.

    Jean let out a mischievous chuckle and said, "The magic word is ''Please''!"

    "You''re wearing my patience thin," Rianna warned.

    "Alright, listen up. As you said, the more you work a muscle with high intensity, you cause micro-tears in the muscle. This results in the soreness and fatigue you feel near the end. This damage triggers an inmmatory response, which is the body''s strategy to try and repair or remove the damaged segments," Jean started.

    "I know that," Rianna interjected. Jean raised a palm to halt the woman''s tirade and continued.

    "Muscle recovery involves the synthesis of new proteins, mainly myofibrir proteins."

    "Myo- what?" Shay-Hade eximed in surprise.

    "It is the type of proteins found in muscle cells," Jean borated.

    "Muscle cells?" Rianna probed.

    "It''s theponents that make up muscle fibres," Jean exined half-exasperatedly.

    There was silence as Rianna and Shay-Hade exchanged embarrassed gazes. Jean let out a tired sigh and said, "There''s a lot to cover. Come, there''s an empty ssroom because I anticipated this."

    What followed was an intensive eight-hour-long crash course into everything about the human body, at the end of which both Rianna and Shay-Hade exited the room with smoke (almost literally) escaping from their ears. Guy sneaked away midway through the lecture as Jean''s oration grew more animated and borate. He''d sat through one ss on biology in his lifetime, he didn''t want to sit through another one after his transmigration.

    "What in the world was that?!" Shay-Hade mumbled.

    At that moment, Rianna''s expression turned solemn as an inkling of an idea started to form in her mind.

    "Rianna?" Shay-Hade nudged, though he did not get a response from his partner. "Rianna?" He tried again.

    "Shh," she finally responded, tapping away the man''s hand. "I... I think I have... something. Don''t disturb me."

    ____

    Three dayster, Jean found her position switched with Rianna as the woman now stood before her and drew borate diagrams on the ckboard.

    "So basically, while it ismonly perceived that the concentric contraction, which is the shortening of the muscle, is part of a resistance exercise that stimtes muscle growth, the entric or lengthening actually ys a greater role. Factually, the entric contraction is easier than the concentric for the same weight. Furthermore, it is found that there is more muscle damage in the entric than there is in the concentric. Finally, training the entric contraction is also safer as it tends to strengthen? the ligaments and tendons," Rianna exined. "I tested this out personally, and while the sample size is only two the results were overwhelmingly simr which makes it safe to say that it is conclusive."

    "That is definitely an interesting observation," Jean said while humming.

    "Which is why I have devised a new workout regiment that you will agree is safer and far more effective as it is backed with scientific data," Rianna dered while cing a scribbled piece of paper in front of Jean.

    "Umm..." Jean uttered as she struggled to make heads or tails of the hieroglyphs. "You''ll have to exin this to me."

    Rianna''s ears grew red-hot in embarrassment as she snatched the document and started to read it out.

    "To maximise strength and muscle growth, we emphasise the entric contractions and increase the time under tension for the muscle while it is in entric motion. We introduce a spotter who assists through concentric movement as failure is reached, to ensure that the muscle ispletely trained by the end of the workout," Rianna expounded. "We start with body-weight exercises with each muscle group, and we are going with a push-pull-leg split with two rotations a week and a day off for recovery. Alongside this, we have stretches and Yoga I see the kids practising as I find it to be an effective stretching and bone-strengthening regiment apart from an extremely potent focusing exercise. We will supplement all of this with unarmedbat practise and conditioning so that the fighter''s instinct starts to form by the time the body is ready to go full speed."

    "That''s extremely well-thought-out," Jeanmended.

    Rianna let out a proud harrumph and said, "You bet it is! So when can I start training the girl?"

    Jean stood up and smiled before walking towards the door to the room. "While I find the n to be thorough, it is still the matter of handing over a little child into your custody. I would be morefortable if you could emte your findings with another candidate first so that I can be sure of trusting Kili with you."

    "Are you kidding me?" Rianna bellowed. "This wasn''t part of the agreement. And how in the world am I going to find someone crazy enough to act as a guinea pig?"

    "You don''t have to worry about that," Jean said as she opened the door. On the other side, stood a sheepish-looking Revian alongside Guy.

    "Revian here is willing to be, as you put it, your ''guinea pig''," Guy stated while nudging the shy child forward.

    "G-Greetings, teacher!" Revian yelled while giving aplete ny-degree bow.

    "Who''re you calling teacher?" Rianna retorted while giving Guy and Jean a deathly re, "Is this some sort of joke? Who the heck is this kid?"

    "Revian here is a member of our Sect and an aspiring Anti-Mage," Guy exined.

    "Those hacks that im to be the counters to mages when they themselves are one?" Rianna scoffed. "No self-respecting mage would call themselves that!"

    "You see, Revian is special," Guy emphasised. "I''m confident that you will be surprised once you see what he can do. Regardless, you have to test your theory out on him and show results if you wish to take on Kili."

    "You all are a bunch of dicks, you know that?" Rianna mumbled while packing away her things. "You! Boy!"

    "Yes, teache-"

    "Don''t fucking call me that!" Rianna interjected. "Carry this shit and meet me at the tiny Shut''Raanj board they call abat field."

    Once Rianna shoved past Guy and left the room, Shay-Hade let out a sigh and said, "Don''t think that I don''t know what you two are doing. I''m sure that girl Marie is a part of this scheme too."

    "What scheme," Jean responded in confusion.

    "You aren''t lying, huh?" Shay-Hade muttered. "So it''s just the Leader and Marie, then."

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Guy answered calmly.

    "Sure..." Shay-Hade said offhandedly while following his partner out of the room. "This is the first and final warning. Don''t take advantage of Rianna''s nature."

    Word Count: 1868

 Chapter 394 Being Agile

    394 Being Agile

    "I feel... trapped here," Rianna said to Shay-Hade as she gazed listlessly into the starlit sky. The duo were currently sleeping at their camp deep in the woonds; they''d refused the amodations offered by the True World Sect, mainly because Rianna was miffed and was feeling petty. Though she now regretted her decision borne of anger as the ground was extremely ufortable toy on.

    "You know that it''s true," Shay-Hade responded. "They''ve been guiding you by your nose and you know it. And yet, you let them."

    Rianna let out a dry chuckle and said, "I feel out-maneuvred at every turn. The Sect Leader seems to have a grasp of something, a knob in my brain, and knows exactly how to turn it to get me to do what he wants."

    "I''ve known you for quite a long time," Shay-Hade redirected. "And during this time, I''vee to learn of a key detail about you: you aren''t someone who takes shit from anyone."

    "Thank you...?" Rianna inflected. She was uncertain where Shay-Hade was going with this.

    "You don''t take shit from anyone because you are a perfectionist and you know just how capable you are. It is that confidence in you that I find attractive. But this perfectionist habit is also your downfall. The Sect Leader was quick to determine that your failure was a shadow that looms in your heart, and took advantage of it," Shay-Hade exined.

    "I should be annoyed, infuriated even, but I can''t find myself to be," Rianna admitted. "All this external abrasiveness is just for show, deep down I am feeling quite fulfilled. That irksome girl has been very forting with her knowledge and I finally feel like I know why my strategy in following our Sect Leader''s cultivation method failed."

    "Really?"

    "Our Sect Leader was correct in one thing, his method builds a will unlike any other. But the problem is that it takes a heavy toll on the practitioner. It is all a matter of psychology. Remember when you first went through the training regiment? We stuck with it for an entire year and saw no difference in our physique or strength. We always felt sore, pain, and tiredness. Our psyche and physique were both in the dumps. People that stuck for longer felt worse with every passing day, week, month and year. The only thing that could keep us going was the promise of enhancement... eventually," Rianna expounded.

    "However, I feel that if we had slowed down and taken a break in between, and really allowed the fruits of ourbours to bear fruit. We could at least gauge some sort of progress. Just knowing that we are going somewhere does so much to improve the mindset."

    Shay-Hade hummed affirmatively before pointing out, "It also seems that not only was the intensity and volume excessive in our Sect Leader''s method, it was also sub-optimal. More than half the time, we are doing workouts that result in little to no gains."

    "Another fact! The muscles should sing as they are worked and brought to fatigue, not cry in agony," Rianna eximed.

    The duo looked at each other and shared a tender smile. The night sky decorated with stars brought with it a rather romantic mood that was further entuated by the aromatic and dewy smell of the grass around them and the periodic harping of crickets. They snuggled closer and shared a kiss, which grew more intense with each passing minute. Right as Rianna''s hand ventured into Shay-Hade''s trousers, the man caught her wrist and asked, "What do you intend to do about the boy?"

    "Who? Revian?" Rianna called out with an irate frown, having been rudely extricated from a bout of pleasure. "I''ll train him, of course. We can''t deny a willing guinea pig. Though after inspecting his style and cultivation, I feel you are far better suited to train him inbat."

    "I didn''t sign up for this," Shay-Hade argued.

    "Do you have anything better to do?" Rianna challenged.

    ____

    "Combat arts are divided into various styles and schools, or even weapon categories. But we can simplify all of them into two main categories: offensive and defensive. This isn''t to say that onebat art focuses only on jabs and kicks, without learning any defensive manoeuvres. It is about their philosophy and approach tobat itself," Shay-Hade exined.

    "So, before we begin we need to establish our approach tobat," Shay-Hade stated. "Why do you fight?"

    "To protect myself," Revian answered immediately.

    "This automatically ces you closer to the defensive category," Shay-Hade pointed out. "In fact, most people who learnbat are attuned to the defensive side as well. It is the base animalistic nature, after all. No animal willingly enters a fight, they only do so when threatened. Don''t get me wrong, just because you are defensive doesn''t mean you are sub-human. Furthermore, being offensive doesn''t make you special."

    Shay-Hade sniggered and said, "In fact, someone who is offensive by nature is one whocks the instinct that warns them of danger. They are the kind of people who jump into a fight without thinking twice."

    At this point, Rianna coughed from behind and gave him a deathly re. Shay-Hade cleared his throat and looked away quickly.

    "Within the defensive category, you have more sub-categories. We have the active and the passive defender. You might notice that this is simr to how spells often get categorised. Inbat arts, active defence is all about focusing on counters and snatching initiative while sacrificing some protection. Passive is about protecting yourself at all cost, even sacrificing the initiative."

    Shay-Hade shrugged and said, "Unfortunately, you don''t have any choice than to veer towards being an active defender. Your cultivation, as you''ve exined it, is all about snatching the initiative. So if we don''t supplement it with a suitablebat art, we would simply be wasting time and resources."

    "People say the best defence is a good offence," Shay-Hade said in a mocking tone. "I respectfully disagree. The best defence is just not getting hit."

    Then, in a nearly imperceptible blur, he disappeared from the ce and appeared behind Revian. All the boy felt was a gust of wind and the ground quaking rapidly for a short second.

    "Take advantage of blind spots. Even the most observant mage with their mana sense tuned to a hundred per cent can be fooled if you are evasive enough."

    He disappeared once again. Revian looked around frantically and found him nowhere, until suddenly, his mana sense captured movement above his head.

    "Utilise all three dimensions. Fighting isn''t always on the ground, so get used to looking above and below you as an attack cane from anywhere," Shay-Hade instructed.

    "And finally-" Shay-Hade blurred and appeared in front of Revian, his fist coiled back like a snake ready to strike. Another blur followed, and Revian suddenly found his vision blocked by a fist. "-strike fast, and strike hard. Make every contact count, because the moment you attack, you be vulnerable."

    He then retracted his fist and said, "Let us begin!"

    "The most important skill you need to hone first is agility. Agility is not just about being light on your feet, but also flexible in your mind. A problem can have multiple solutions, going for the first and most obvious is rmended, but optimality can differ based on circumstance. You need to have the presence of mind to make these decisions on the fly while inbat. Rianna here is an offensivebatant through and through. She is willing to sacrifice herself and her body a few hits if she can retaliate multifold. I don''t do that. The more I get hit, the more initiative I lose."

    Shay-Hade walked into thebat arena and revealed a novel circuit to Revian. "Rianna and I sat together and devised the following circuit to help train your physical agility. The standard process, or the way I trained, was to run on quicksand with weights tied to my feet. But I''ve realised that taking the drastic option isn''t necessary when you can get simr results with a slightly longer time frame and methodically increasing the intensity. So, we will primarily be training our explosive power in the legs in these simple circuits."

    He moved to what looked like aid-downdder drawn in chalk and said, "These areteral plyometric jumps. This will help build explosive power, bnce and coordination."

    Shay-Hade stood on one leg and started to hop sideways while moving over the chalk drawing. He moved in a pattern of two forwards and one back. He did this until he reached the end of the drawing and did the same to return to the start. He then switched legs and repeated.

    "This is one. You have to repeat this five times. The goal is to decrease your time. Your target should be to achieve this-"

    Shay-Hade blurred again and the ground started to vibrate erratically. Revian could barely keep up as he saw the man appear at different points across the drawing.

    "That''s just one. You have five more drills that will train different aspects of agility, namely coordination, explosive power, bnce and speed. This will be the warm-up you will be doing before we actually startbat training. Oh! And this is apart from the additional physical conditioning training exercises you will be undertaking with Rianna over there," Shay-Hade listed.

    Revian''s eyes nearly popped out in shock, "That''s... intensive..."

    "You startedte. This is necessary to bring you up to speed," Rianna interjected.

    "I have some experience fighting, from before," Revian pleaded, hoping to get some leniency. But it was for nought as the woman grabbed his arm and squeezed it hard across different locations.

    "OW!"

    "You may have trained before, but your body seems to have forgotten all about it," Rianna pointed out. "Listen here, boy. My mission is to prove that my method is safe and effective. So I need you to be cooperative. Tell me right now whether you are willing to invest your time and attention to the regiment we have nned out!"

    Revian gazed into Rianna''s resolute eyes and all doubts floating in his head dissipated instantly. This was the key to his future, he could feel it. Opportunities like this were rare, he would be a fool to let it slip through his fingers.

    "I''m in!" Revian dered animatedly.

    "Good! Now begin!" Shay-Hademanded from behind. "You have exactly thirty seconds toplete the first set. Every second over the limit will be rpensated in push-ups. Your time starts... NOW!"

 Chapter 395 Asking Questions and Admitting Faults

    395 Asking Questions and Admitting Faults

    Shay-Hade wasn''t optimistic about his chances of sessfully training Revian into a proficientbatant. This idea was borne of a bias - that almost everyone in the Sect was a schr. Shay-Hade had an innate disdain for the schrly types. Partly because his culture emphasised the importance of physical and martial strength over all else, mainly since it originated in a desert region endemic to one of the most sessful predators in the world, the Dunewyrms.

    The Dunewyrm is a variant of the Sand Wyrm, a draconic creature originally from the Fel Realm. However, years of evolution and selection have changed the creature significantly from what it used to be. It first lost its eyes, then it evolved its teeth into an array of crystalline needle-like (though their thickness resembles swords) teeth. The Dunewyrm lives underneath the desert sand, tunnelling through it like a fish in water. It navigates using sound and is attracted to rhythmic movement on the desert surface.

    It is a harsh environment to live in, where people have to fight against both the beast that lies underneath the surface and the adversarial environmental conditions. The only reason people still thrived in the region was due to the excrement of the Dunewyrms that gets deposited on the sand dunes as the creature surfaces. The Hashish - as it is called colloquially. It is a powerful hallucinogen, a pinch of which canpletely immobilise a mage even in the Core Condensation realm. After a series of refinement steps followed by multiple dilutions, the drug is processed and sold. Due to the scarcity of this resource, the intensiveness of the processing stages, and the risk during the collection process, it holds a high market price.

    Shay-Hade was taught from a young age that if you aren''t strong, you aren''t useful. And if you aren''t useful, you are wasting valuable water, another scarce resource in the desert. To that end, he worked tirelessly to build his usefulness. In his youth, he had a neighbour whose child was the same age as he was. The two were close friends but separated eventually as they grew older and adopted different personalities. Shay-Hade never questioned things. He did was he was told, and trusted that there was reason for every instruction given. His friend, however, questioned everything. It wasn''t that the boy distrusted instructions, he just wished to know more about them.

    He wanted to know just why people moved with such irregr steps on the sand; it was so that the Dunewyrms below wouldn''t get attracted to the even rhythm. But what constituted an even rhythm? His friend tested that out as well, though he wasn''t so lucky to make it out alive from it.

    So lesson learned, asking questions gets you killed.

    And yet this was what was encouraged in the True World Sect. Revian had a lot of questions... A LOT. Shay-Hade did not know the answer to two-thirds of what he was asked. It was embarrassing to admit, but also frustrating. It also made him question whether he was even suitable to train the boy inbat.

    In fact, Shay-Hade ended training early the previous day because Revian asked an important question about the need to learn floor grappling moves.

    "Eighty per cent of fights end on the ground," Shay-Hade had parrotted the same words his mentor had. "Which is why you need to learn floor grappling and submission moves."

    "How, though?" Revian inquired. "If I fall on the ground, and cannot move, then I''ve lost and there is no recovery since my opponent can just bombard me from far away. If the opponent is on the ground, I can do the same. Why do I have to approach, grapple and submit them?"

    "Well-" Shay-Hade started, but he had no answer. There had to be an answer, and his mentor probably knew it. But Shay-Hade never asked.

    "I''ll... get back to you on that," Shay-Hade said and quickly dismissed the session.

    The sun had dipped and risen again, yet an answer was stillcking. In his distracted state, Shay-Hade took a wrong turn. The Sect wasn''t soplicated that one could get lost. In fact, without additional vertical elements, he could probably fly above the buildings and make it to his destination. Butmon courtesy prohibited such behaviour.

    "Am I doing the movement correctly?" Shay-Hade heard from beyond the nearby wall. It was a girl''s voice.

    "You''re doing it wrong, you''re only supposed to hop on one leg!" Another girl reprimanded.

    "I AM! Can''t you see-"

    "Lacey means to say that you can''t switch legs in between," this was from a voice Shay-Hade recognised. He immediately stood on his tip-toes and peeked over the wall. To his surprise, he found eight recreations of the same agility training set upid out in rows each upied by two people. And in front of them all stood Revian.

    "What''s going on here?" Shay-Hade asked with a booming voice.

    "Ah! Instructor Shay-Hade," Revian greeted with a smile and bow.

    "Well? Aren''t you going to exin yourself?" Shay-Hade said after leaping over the wall and casting an irate gaze over everyone present.

    "Umm..." Revian started with an anxious voice, noticing the sternness in Shay-Hade''s aura. "Casey and Lacey wanted to learn how to fight too. And so I thought of teaching them what you taught me so that they can follow along. And turns out, others were interested in this as well so we just turned it into a group session."

    "On whose authority?" Shay-Hade jabbed angrily.

    "I don''t understand," Revian responded with a flinch.

    "I never gave you permission to teach others!" Shay-Hade highlighted.

    "But you didn''t say anything about this being a secret or forbidden art," Revian reasoned. "You are also teaching me in a public ce. Doesn''t that mean that it''s transferable knowledge?"

    "That..." made sense. Once again, Shay-Hade did not have a response. It was the norm for a trainee to not transfer the teachings from their trainer to another individual. He assumed that it was some sort of unwritten rule. Who knew that this Sect did not subscribe to that rule book? But a moment of contemtion brought an important point to the foreground. "Do you even know enough to teach others?"

    The irony of that question wasn''t missed on Shay-Hade, because it was a question he was asking himself quite often nowadays.

    Revian lowered his head apologetically and admitted, "I... I don''t..."

    "Do you know the dangers of being a half-informed teacher? You could reinforce bad habits or worse cause irreversible damage!"

    "I''m sorry," Revian said immediately, causing Shay-Hade to fumble on his next series of reprimands. It was surprising, the boy''s face was quite thick to be able to admit fault so quickly, and that too so publicly. "I''m sorry everyone!" The boy yelled out into the crowd. "As Instructor Shay-Hade said, I am doing a disservice to everyone present. I don''t want to hurt anybody, especially after what I''ve gone through. So from today onwards, these group sessions are over."

    "Aww, man!" A boy called out from the crowd. "I was really looking forward to thebat lessons."

    Hearing a bunch of dismayed groans and sad faces caused something to shift inside Shay-Hade. Instinctively, his lips started to move on their own, "If it''sbat you want to learn, you can just join Revian when I''m teaching him."

    "Really?" The girl named Casey asked.

    ''No,'' was what Shay-Hade wanted to say. But the sound that left him was a, "Sure!" which was drowned midway by celebratory yells.

    A loud cough caught his attention from behind. He turned his head and noticed two more heads peeking over the wall. The first was Markus and the other was Marie.

    "Can we join too?" the boy inquired.

    This was his second chance to say ''No'', but the words just refused to escape from his mouth.

    Thus, Shay-Hade, who was recalcitrant towards the entire teaching assignment altogether, ended up teaching nearly the entire Sect how to fight.

    ____

    "I assumed that I would have to test myself for a few more months, years even, to finally get your approval," Rianna said to Jean who had arrived at the training ground with Kili in tow.

    16:20

    "I am not yet convinced," Jean affirmed. "But time is of the essence, so I am willing to put my apprehension aside for the time being. This doesn''t mean I won''t be keeping a close eye on the goings on here."

    "Time is of the essence?" Rianna questioned.

    "I did some reading about the Universal Panacea Physique," Jean expressed. She then turned to Kili and said, "Why don''t you take a look at all the equipment there? You will be using them soon, so get to know them a little."

    The child nodded and skipped away, leaving the teen and adult alone.

    "It is best to get started before she hits puberty, which is much earlier for her as she is a girl," Jean highlighted. "You see Kili is in a unique position as her physique activated before she started cultivation. Usually, mages begin cultivating after puberty as their mind is able to reason better and question things more deeply. A child just believes what they are told most of the time. A Universal Panacea Physique that activates after puberty has a tougher time because the mind cannot ept a lot of input as reality without question. But for a child, that isn''t a problem. You see, Kili believes a lot of things unflinchingly, which makes her more adaptive and able topletely take advantage of her physique."

    Jean looked at Kili with a tender gaze and said, "You may find training her to be much easier now, with results bing evident more quickly than if we were to start muchter."

    "Which is what I''ve been trying to tell you," Rianna said after a loud p.

    "Even though I''m a mage, I am still human," Jean admitted with a shrug. "I admit my mistake, and apologise for taking so long to realise it."

    "You''re quite frank," Rianna responded. "You admit fault so easily."

    "There is nothing to lose from professing your faults. In fact, it makes it easier to get help."

    With an understanding nod, Rianna exited the conversation and walked towards Kili.

    "Hello," the child greeted. "I am Kili."

    Rianna let out a smile, that dissolved the irateness in her face, and said, "Hello, I am Rianna Maddi."

    She then crouched to reach the child''s height and continued, "I am going to teach you how to be stronger and fight!"

    "Cool!" The girl evoked. "So I''m going to be a dual Bug-Fighting type! Aww man, that would give me a weakness against Fancy''s Fairy type. Unless..."

    The girl then descended into a quick barrage of mumbling that threw Rianna for a loop.

    "Good luck," Jean said as she approached Rianna from her side. "I know it''s a grim admission, but it was a lot easier when she was brooding. You can''t even get a word in nowadays..."

 Chapter 396 Routine Becomes Reality

    396 Routine Bes Reality

    "Ny-nine!"

    "Hundred!"

    "Eyhup!" Kili yelled as she did a kip up on the pull-up bar, nted her foot on it, and seamlessly transitioned into a backflip and a steadynding.

    "That''s five more than yesterday, right?" Kili asked Rianna, who was struggling hard to stop her eyes from popping out of her sockets. "Prog-Progressive overload, right?"

    Rianna coughed loudly and affirmed with a wavering voice, "Yeah! Good job. You''ve hit a new personal best. For the next set, why don''t we add some weight since you can support your body well enough."

    "That''s too fast, isn''t it?" Shay-Hade chimed in. "Is she ready for weights?"

    "She started with just ten garbage pull-up reps and pushed it all the way to a perfect hundred in four weeks. It''s the same with the push-up, free-squat, dips, and overhead presses! There''s nothing more to gain with just raising the reps just so that she can reach saturation. It''s a waste of time."

    "Am I doing good?" Kili inquired worriedly, as she noticed the two adults talking animately on the side.

    "A hero does good," Rianna responded while tapping the kid''s forehead, "You''re doing well. Very well."

    "So, what''s next?" Kili prompted.

    "What did I tell you? Thirty seconds of rest between each set to let the muscle recover and your motor neurons prepare themselves for the uing load," Rianna orated.

    "But I''m perfectly fine and ready for the next set-" Kili started, but was immediately silenced with a low growl.

    "Stick to the process," Rianna reiterated. "If you deviate, then you lose everything!"

    Kili flinched at Rianna''s forceful retort. She then nodded with a resolute expression and started to stretch her back muscles, awaiting the time to start her next set.

    "Do you really have to be so strict?" Shay-Hade whispered.

    "You weren''t here, so you missed it," Rianna said.

    ____

    "Rules and regrity," Jean dered as she rapped the ckboard behind her which had the two words written in all capital and bold typeface.

    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rianna snapped back. She was sitting on a seat that was way too small for her size. "And why are we in this tiny ssroom?"

    "This was the only one avable on short notice! The kindergarteners from the vige finish early," Jean answered. "Now focus!"

    "There''s literally only two words to focus on!" Rianna argued. "Get on with it."

    "Actions have consequences," Jean started. "That is a known fact. But how do you know that action A has consequence A? What if it was consequence B from an action B that urred some time back?"

    Rianna raised a hand and said, "You lost me."

    "I just started!" Jean eximed.

    "Try again," Rianna dismissed with an annoyed growl.

    Jean took a long breath in to calm down the bubbling anger and let it all out in one long exhale. "When you were young, were you ever told not to swim after eating?"

    "Yeah, or else you''d get cramps," Rianna responded.

    "I bet you did it anyway, right?" Jean asked rhetorically. "You ended up getting cramps and realised that, ''Hey, maybe rules are there for a reason?''"

    "The point is that rules exist for a reason. If the reason is based on sound logic with measurable results, then following it bes a habit. Inculcating a habit transitions into a point of regrity. How many times have you heard the phrase, ''It''s been like this for a long time...''?" Jean emphasised. "When a rule bes a point of regrity, it is followed without question. But to do that, you have to get over the primary hump of verification. Fortunately, for kids, all it takes is a single, undeniable, instance of verificationpared to teens and adults who are far more observant and capable of detecting deviations."

    "So what you''re saying is that I need to define the workout n as a rule. I allow it to show its results, and then once they be visible, Kili will automatically adopt the rules as points of regrity," Rianna summarised.

    "Exactly! But the most important point is that you need to show progress," Jean highlighted. "Progress is key. If Kili''s physique needs to take over, she needs to believe that whatever she is doing is actually leading to improvements. No amount of lip service can rece the importance of disying tangible results."

    "Once the belief takes hold, then her physique should take over," Rianna continued, finishing Jean''s thought.

    "So you only have one shot at this. n properly and execute thoroughly," Jean instructed.

    "You know, I didn''t think you would be a part of this ''scheme''," Rianna stated. "It''s all a bit maniptive, isn''t it? Doesn''te across as your style."

    "I do it because it is necessary," Jean responded. "Her physique paints her as a target - a very desirable one at that. I am willing to go to any extent to protect her. I myself am incapable of causing harm - all the more reason for her to be stronger. You should know better than anyone just how horrible this world can be."

    "In that, I agree with you," Rianna answered with a hum.

    ____

    "Very duplicitous of you," Shay-Hademented.

    "I am not lying to Kili," Rianna challenged. "You yourself witnessed just how explosively her body has evolved over thest month. The first month was used to convince the girl that her body was growing and developing. Once she realised that, then her physique slowly took over, resulting in this. What''s so wrong with that?"

    "Nothing goodes quickly and easily," Shay-Hade said, as though he were narrating a phrase from memory. "My father once found a Sh''ddin in the desert in one of his hunts. For your information, the Sh''ddin is known to be the meadow of the desert because of how useful it is. Therge herbivore is capable of travelling long distances without water or sustenance, just like a camel. It can tunnel into the desert sand, making it able to travel very quickly. Even the males produce milk, which is nutritious and longsting. It lives for a very long time as a magical beast, but upon its demise, its meat is densely packed with nutrients. The Sh''ddin is a solitary creature, and extremely territorial. Yet this one just conveniently followed my father the moment itid eyes on him."

    Shay-Hade paused and then said, "So, my father killed it. His hunting group cursed him for his actions, but the moment the creature took itsst breath, it dissipated into dense ck smoke and viscous liquid. It was a Mimick! He had saved the hunting party and quite possibly the entire vige from a gruesome end."

    "My father always says, ''Nothing goodes quickly and easily''," Shay-Hade reiterated. "There are consequences to power gained too quickly."

    "But Kili is working for it, how is this a freebie?" Rianna reasoned.

    "Even the most gifted of mages cannot celebrate the level of sess the girl has disyed in this short time frame," Shay-Hade reminded. "It may all be going well now, but what about in the immediate or distant future?"

    "What could possibly go wrong?"

    Shay-Hade shook his head solemnly and said, "Do you wish to know so badly that you are willing to ce the girl''s future on the line? You have everything to lose and nothing to gain from testing your luck here."

    "We could just ask Marie, you know?" Rianna suggested.

    "I don''t need a seer to tell me the consequences of my actions. I believe I am capable enough to deduce them on my own. I hope you are equally as wise," Shay-Hade teach."

    17:07

    pointed out and walked away. "Now if you will excuse me, I have abat ss to teach."

    Rianna let out a mirthful snort as she saw herpanion prance away with an upbeat skip in his step. Although the man expressed distaste at his growing number of students, it was clear that he was enjoying every moment of it.

    "Kili!" Rianna called out. "Over here!"

    "Is something wrong? Was my form incorrect?" Kili rattled worriedly.

    "No, no," Rianna interjected. "What have I told you is the most important thing to build strength?"

    "Rest and nutrition," Kili answered promptly.

    "That''s right! By feeding our body with the right nutrients, and letting it rest to rebuild itself, we grow stronger," Rianna expounded. "Recently, our workout has been ramping up quite significantly. I think it is time to implement the first cooldown phase."

    "What''s that?"

    "We are going to take a rest for three whole weeks. No intense workouts, just proper rest," Rianna dered.

    "B-But that''s going to kill all of my gains!" Kili yelled in shock.

    "Your body has grown ustomed to its new state," Rianna corrected. "You will notice that the moment you return to your regr routine, any lost gains will recover very quickly. But you will also notice that the dip in your strength will be negligible, trust me."

    Kili''s expression remained uncertain for a microsecond before it returned to normal. She did trust Rianna, she had no reason to distrust her, after all. Everything Rianna had told her hade true, so maybe she was right this time as well.

    "Will we still be holdingbat lessons?" Kili probed.

    "Yes, but only evasive manoeuvres. Nobody conditioning," Rianna emphasised.

    ____

    "What are you doing?" Shay-Hade snapped as he noticed a peculiar scene at the usual training spot. A group of five Sect Members were grouping up to take down Markus, who was standing alone at the centre.

    "Sparring," Markus answered.

    "A single Foundation Establishment realm mage against a battery of cannon fodder isn''t really a fair match-up," Shay-Hade scoffed. "You should fight someone your own size."

    "Revian is busy teaching others, Shuri isn''t interested in sparring and neither is Marie. Yohn is still growing ustomed to his new senses. I had little choice."

    "You have me, don''t you?" Shay-Hade rebutted as he proceeded to take off his coat, revealing an array of crisp lines emphasising every muscle of his tall ebony frame. "I''ll limit my strength, so go crazy."

    Markus nodded with a resolute expression and rushed to his instructor.

    A fist flew towards Shay-Hade''s head, which was dodged with an effortless tilt. Markus transitioned the punch into an elbow uppercut of his other arm, which was side-stepped. Markus chained it into a spin and elbow roundhouse with his first arm, which was also dodged.

    "You''re telegraphing your attacks! Even my grandmother can see theseing from yesterday."

    Markus ignored the eggingments and continued his onught of punches, kicks, elbow jabs and knee strikes, which were all dodged or blocked by SHay-Hade. The fight continued for a minute, unchanging. Suddenly, Shay-Hade''s brows dipped in confusion.

    A move to dodge, which was sessful, was dyed by a fraction of a second. It happened again, and again. And with each passing second, the fraction grewrger, until a punchnded on Shay-Hade''s ribs.

    "If you''re nning to use magic, you should have told me," Shay-Hade said with a savage growl.

    He let out a booming battlecry, before the ground he was standing on shattered violently and he disappeared... only to reappear again a centimetre away from Markus'' face with a meteorite fist hurtling towards his ribs.

    Markus braced for impact, but it did not ur as the man''s fist stopped a fraction of a millimetre away from making contact.

    Markus swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "I was trying to integrate my magic into my fighting style."

    "Learn how to walk first, boy!" Shay-Hade responded. "Now back in line and take me through the fifteenth Form again. Your execution was sloppy, abysmal, absolute garbage!"

    "YES SIR!" Markus yelled and rushed back. He then let out a long breath to focus himself and started to move through the routine slowly, pausing at each segment of the Form.

    "Practise with your entire attention focused on your actions. The only thing you should have in your mind is your body. Everything MUST be under control. No mistake! No hesitation!" Shay-Hade vocalised enthusiastically. He then snapped at the group of members gawking at him and said, "What are you idiots looking at? You want me to move your arms for you or something- Get the hell moving! Form three, NOW!"

 Chapter 397 Write Once, Read Anytime, Delete Never

    <h4>Chapter 397 Write Once, Read Anytime, Delete Never</h4>

    A/N: Happy 2024 to everyone! Once again, sorry for the irregr upload schedule. Rest assured, I AM NOT DROPPING THIS NOVEL. It''s just that transit is a bit of a bitch, and some minor personal issues seem to take away most of my free time. But fret now, I am trying to figure out a solution very soon.

    ____

    While the entire Sect indulged in the strenuous lessons onbat, Shuri was holed up in a secluded corner of the Sect working on an borate project.

    It all started out as a faint idea - the concept ofbining digital signals to build data. Binary could be used to represent nearly anything. Having a physical way to represent this binary data, and being able to read and write it would essentially create the data storage system she needed. She had to wrack her brain for days to figure out a valid n of attack.

    First, she limited her search to topics familiar to her, which was mostly Automagy. Programming mana cores was in her wheelhouse, but she could not imagine a program that could be used as a dense data storage device with read-write capabilities. She harkened to the idea of the modr spellcasting device - the Magi-Core - she built for Yohn. The data contained had to be hard-coded into the core. Furthermore, the modr spells built by reorienting the device would reset once the spell was cast. There was no inherent way to build in information storage in Automagy as once the core was deactivated, it would reset. Even golems, considered to be the pinnacle of Automagic application, perform a set or preprogrammed series of tasks repeatedly - even the most advanced ones have a limited range of tasks they can aplish.

    Therefore, she took a step back and explored all adjacent topics, of which Enchanting appeared to be the closest. Enchanting offered an avenue. Jean knew that mages could engrave messages, audio or video, inside mana gems. They could edit the messages as well, which meant that reading and writing were possible. Furthermore, it was possible to ensure that even if the mana gem isn''t constantly powered with mana, it wouldn''t lose the data within.

    Shuri could have stopped there, but she decided to dig deeper. Shuri was patient. It was one of her most endearing traits. It was also the reason why she survived for so long in the Pce. Although the Sect had corroded arge portion of her patience, it was still engraved into her bones. In total, she had spent five days brainstorming for solutions. She figured wasting another day wouldn''t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

    Through sheer coincidence, Shuri stumbled upon a book about Ritual Formations in the Library. It was just lying in the middle of the desk there, and she decided to ce it back on its shelf. On the way there, she perused through its contents, as she hadn''t read this one before. Due to her eidetic memory, even a brief read could engrave the contents into her brain. And it did. By the time she reached the shelf, she had finished it cover to cover, but she did not ce the book in its ce just yet as another idea struck her.

    She quickly rushed back to the desk and pulled out arge roll of parchment and her writing utensil. Then, her hand flourished over the nk page, filling it up with intricate diagrams as the convoluted thoughts in her mind started to imprint themselves on it. Ritual formations, mana gems, and mana cores are all simr in the way they work but have different application cases. They can all be used to cast a spell, however, a ritual formation is used to cast it over a region of space, a mana gem is used to cast it through an object it is embedded inside, and a mana core is used to cast it with an additionalyer of logic in ce. However since their basic idea is simr, Shuri realised that it could be possible to merge the three systems together.

    It was like a fever dream, as an indecipherable (except maybe by Shuri herself) mess filled up the nk canvas. It was arge ritual formation to constantly supply a stream of mana to power the system, with mana gems to handle the data storage, and mana cores to handle the logic such as with reading and writing data.

    "Just like a human brain," Shuri said out loud. Her eyes sparkled with manic excitement, as her hands itched to get started. She could feel that this would be her magnum opus - her greatest work yet. Looking at the design onest time, Shuri realised that maybe it and she had a lot inmon. They were both perfect recollectors. "Though you will be able to forget anything in your memory, while I have to live with it for the rest of my life."

    ____

    "Congrattions, ..., it''s a healthy Prince-!"

    "Y-Yor!".

    Blood. Blood everywhere.

    ____

    Shuri awoke with a start, drowning in a cold sweat. She leapt out of her bed and immediately copsed on her knees. Her breathing was heavy and staggered - she was having a panic attack. She quickly crawled towards her table and pulled the pot filled with drinking water towards her mouth, taking in a few small sips. The steady swallowing of water helped her pace her breaths until eventually the attack passed and shey on her back on the floor.

    Many memories were floating around in Shuri''s mental fortress. A few were good, most were bad, and a small handful were so horrible that she wished there was a way to forget them. But her curse was such, that she just couldn''t. No matter how hard she tried to keep those memories buried, they would eventually burst out. And the harder she tried to suppress them, the greater their impact when they finally resurfaced.

    Amongst all the memories, there was a single one that Shuri would love nothing more than to forget. If she could sacrifice everything just to not have to relive that memory, she would do it in a heartbeat. It all started from there, after all - all of her suffering stemmed from that singr day.

    Shuri scrubbed away what remained of her bad dream and walked out of her room. She avoided the awakening horde because she wasn''t in any mood to exin her wetness, and even less in the mood to sit through childish jeers, no matter how good-natured they may be.

    Her mind dwelled on the nightmare, and it persisted all through her daily routine. It continued until she finally reached the birth site of her magnum opus. For the ambitious project she was going to undertake, she needed space, a lot of it. Space wasn''t so hard to find in the True World Sect, butmissioning it for use was a tedious process. Any deforestation had to be approved and vetted by the administrative department first, and they moved very slowly and deliberately. Getting the area in front cleared took her a week when she could have done so personally in mere minutes.

    Without wasting another minute, she started to map out the area and cedndmarks to act as ceholders for where the mana cores would be ced and where the enchanted mana gem arrays would be ced. Finally, she took calk and traced out the ritual formation underneath it all.

    ____

    "You must push harder, Your Highness!"

    "No one must know!"

    Blood. Blood everywhere.

    ____

    Shuri''s eyes sprang open. It was the same fragmented dream - a part of a cursed whole that would eventually show itself. This was how it always started, in bits and pieces. Her mind was piecing together the fragments of the memory Shuri had painstakingly buried in her subconscious.

    A faint tingle shot up Shuri''s abdomen, which she promptly ignored while getting off her bed and getting ready. Today was better, she didn''t sweat as much.

    On a brighter note, Shuri''s virtual brain had a robust foundation now, and all it took was a good three days of dedicated sketching, editing andying down the ritual. As a result, the ritual formation was working perfectly and was constantly powering itself up with mana. The distribution was even and seamless, an absolute necessity for the project she was undertaking.

    "The base is finished, now we move on the the part of the structure that will actually hold the information."

    ____

    "There will be a target painted on his back. He will die!"

    "I came prepared, Your Highness!"

    Blood. Blood everywhere.

    ____

    It was growing more vivid, and bloodier. Shuri groaned audibly as she cradled her abdomen. Within thest week, the pain that assaulted her every morning had grown in intensity. It hadn''t yet reached the point of being unbearable, but it was definitely an inconvenience now. Shuri let the pain pass before getting off the bed.

    Today, instead of going towards her clearing, she walked over to the clinic. Something had to be done about the inconvenience as there were already way too many things for her to split her attention between.

    "There''s nothing wrong with you," Jean said. "You are as physically fit as anyone can be."

    "But that doesn''t make sense," Shuri argued.

    "Maybe it''s just gas?" Jean theorised.

    "I know what that pain feels like. Trust me, it wasn''t that," Shuri retorted with an embarrassed blush.

    "Well, if the problem isn''t physical, then it has to either be mental or magical," Jean orated. "Have you been feeling anything differenttely?"

    "That''s a vague question," Shuri stated.

    "Anything out of the norm. Anything depressing, anxiety-inducing or just painful?" Jean continued.

    ''Yes, yes and yes,'' Shuri answered internally, but her lips just said, "Nothing of the sort."

    "I''d have to run some tests to get to the bottom of this," Jean exined.

    "I don''t have time for that," Shuri rejected before standing to leave. "Thank you for squeezing me into your busy schedule," she said while leaving the clinic.

    "I still think it is wise to identify the cause of the pain lest it be worse," Jean warned, but Shuri was already beyond listening range.

    ____

    "Put it on him! Now!"

    "This is the only way to save him. The executor of my revenge must endure at all costs!"

    Blood. Blood everywhere.

    ____

    It was time, Shuri could feel it in her guts. Eight weeks had passed since her visit to the clinic. While she was nearly finished with her project, her pain walked the inverse path and ballooned to a point where every morning left her partially immobilised for half an hour until it passed.

    Shuri left her roomter than usual, as the time to recover from the inhuman pain had ballooned significantly as well. Shepleted her daily routine and arrived at her clearing, which looked much different from how it had started. An borate ritual was sttered across the ground, with orichalcum tes with rows of small mana gems embedded on them ced strategically at different locations. At certain nexuses, one could see programmed mana cores, pulsing periodically performing a hitherto unknown task. The scale of the project was massive, spanning an area of twenty-five square metres. Needless to say, it was an expensive endeavour, one which had to bepleted in a painstakingly slow yet methodical process. Material shortages were the norm and denied requisition requests were frequent. But Shuri endured, and her masterpiece was finally taking shape.

    However, today, an unexpected guest was awaiting Shuri at the location.

    "Senior Sister Jean! W-What brings you here today?" Shuri greeted, though with a faint quiver in her lips. Her Senior Sister was the defacto boogeyman of the Sect. Everyone was afraid of her, second only to Matron Reva. Admittedly, Senior Sister Jean was a good human, a gem of a person, a gentle soul. But Physician Jean was a demon. She was unforgiving and meted out punishment for health vitions without prejudice. Even the Sect Leader wasn''t safe, the man had to apologise publicly for affecting the health of the entire Sect after they had one too many parties with cake involved.

    There was an easy way to differentiate between Senior Sister and Physician Jean, and that was by virtue of her attire. Physician Jean always wore luminescent greentex gloves. And the person standing before her was wearing them.

    "Did you think I would forget?" Physician Jean said with a steely voice. "I heard from a little bird that your pain has grown more severe. I waited for you at the clinic for a while now, yet you never came. It seems that someone has lost their sense of self-preservation and need to be taught it all over again."

    "W-Wait-" was all Shuri could say before Physician Jean disappeared from her ce and appeared before her. "Now, sit! Let me inspect you."

 Chapter 398 First Cries

    Chapter 398 First Cries

    Shoutout to Harjas_Sidhu and Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

    ____

    "It''s hard to diagnose, I will admit," Jean said. "The cultivation isn''t something that can be evaluated and deciphered."

    She was methodically running general tests like measuring her heart rate, blood pressure, and so on to identify any discrepancies from the norm. She then started to go through a battery of magically charged tests that evaluated Shuri''s internal health. "Then what are you nning to do?" Shuri questioned. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "I would prefer to have you checked by Sect Leader Larks," Jean stated. "And I even asked him about it, but he said that you wouldn''t befortable with it?"

    Shuri''s brow quirked up at that statement, "Why would I be ufortable?"

    "His exact words were, ''Inspecting someone''s cultivation closely will give you insight into parts of them that they don''t wish to share with others.'' He said that you wouldn''t be amenable to that."

    The words shook Shuri from within. Her hand subconsciously reached for the pendant by her neck and caressed it worriedly.

    "Nheless, I will have to make do with the tools I am provided. And so, I will be observing you for the entire day today," Jean dered while taking a seat by a rock nearby.

    Shuri pulled herself out of her worried stupor and walked over to her ritual. All that was left to do today was ce the central core that would integrate all the distributed systems, and bring life to her data storage solution... on paper. Shuri had tested each segment thoroughly and found it working to her satisfaction, so technically any catastrophic failures should be out of the question.

    Without wasting time on distracting and pessimistic thoughts, she retrieved the massive core with an unbelievably borate program coursing all over it and ced it at the desired nexus point of the ritual. This core was the result of two sleepless nights worth of continuous programming. It called for herplete and undivided attention, as the logic within was so convoluted that even her precise mind could barely keep track of it - distraction wasn''t an option. She was fully drained after that endeavour. However, it also revealed to her the root cause of the pain in her abdomen - the dreams. The nights she didn''t sleep and thus didn''t dream, she enjoyed a day without any pain. But the moment her eyes closed and she entered her dream world, she woke up with abdominal pain. The solution was obvious now that the cause was known - to not sleep. But it wasn''t a tractable and sustainable solution. Something had to be done, but there was still time for that.

    The ritual circle was finished around the newly added core and Shuri stepped out of it. She inspected the setup one final time before activating the ritual by cing mana crystals at the pedestals ced at the peripheral nexuses. The drawn circle glowed with an ethereal purple hue before lifting off the ground, carrying the cores and tes with embedded gems with it. The entire circle started to rotate slowly before gaining another dimension as a subsection within disjointed and started to orient itself in a perpendicr axis. Then another disjointed and spun in another axis. One after another the ritual started to open up creating a floating ethereal replication of what an atom is usually drawn to look like, with the smaller cores and tes orbiting the muchrger core at its centre.

    "Wow!" Jean eximed from Shuri''s side. "What is this?"

    "It''s a brain," Shuri answered. "An artificial one."

    Shuri could feel her Senior Sister''s disbelieving gaze mixed with a sense of awe. "It cannot think. It cannot infer. It cannot understand. But it can remember. Boy, oh boy, can it remember!"

    "So how does it... remember?"

    Shuri retrieved a smaller core from her jacket and tossed it over to her Senior Sister. She then picked out a smaller te which had a mana gem embedded in it and a dent on the opposite side.

    "I had one of the members of the Automagy Club to make this. It''s basically an encoder that converts audio into signals. You ce the core on this te and record audio inside it, which gets stored in the gem on the opposite side," Shuri exined. She then took the core back and activated it, "This is a test recording!"

    She then tossed the te towards the active ritual, and the thing seamlessly entered the orbit. They observed as an arc of light sparked off of the te and travelled from within towards the orbiting periphery, and into one of the many tes with gems in the ritual''s orbit. After a second, the te was ejected andnded on her open palm.

    "The information has been transferred inside the storage system. You can check the te and see that the mana gem is truly empty. The te however will have a value attached to it, which is the address to the location in memory where the entry point to this data is stored. You can rece the core with an empty mana gem and toss it inside-" Shuri enacted her exnation by retrieving another enchanted gem and then embedding it on the dent on the opposite side of the te and tossing it inside the orbiting ritual. An arc exited from the only luminescent gem in the orbit and collided with the te tossed in. Once again, the te was ejected, but this time, the newly embedded gem was shining - there was information inside it.

    "This is a test recording!" Shuri''s voice said from the retrieved gem.

    "You can create as many copies of the data inside the storage system as long as you have the correctly enchanted mana gem to hold it. Of course, if you want to delete the information from storage, you just toss in the same te you used to record the data (with the memory address) but without anything else on the te''s opposite indentation."

    Shuri enacted her exnation and this time, the gem in orbit dimmed, and an arc sparked out and collided against the newly introduced te, causing the gem on it to light up.

    "This is a test recording!"

    "This is the original. It can be deleted," Shuri exined.

    The moment the gem dimmed, an eerie phenomenon started to descend upon them. The duo looked up and noticed dark clouds forming in a violent vortex above them - it was as though a tropical storm was forming in ce.

    "What is that?" Shuri inquired. She looked to her side and saw Senior Sister Jean''s eyes light up with recognition. The girl''s jaw dropped in surprise and her gaze locked on to Shuri oozing with awe.

    "I can''t believe it!" She mumbled. "T-This is unfathomable. And that too at such a young age?! This- I have to get the others!"

    Shuri reached out to grab Jean, but suddenly, a tornado of mana crashed into her from the sky. Shuri looked all around her, as the mana started to gain momentum and vigour. But in the disturbance, she noticed an uncharacteristic calm wash over everything. The rampaging surroundings stilled like a stagnant pond and turned clear. In this still clearness, she saw herself - her face looked back at her.

    Moments passed as Shuri looked into her reflection''s eyes. She could see the life she lived shing past her. All of her memories starting from the presents started to y back at a fever pace. In an instant, her reflection rippled. The face changed slowly and gradually until it paused.

    It wasn''t a ''her''. Her gaze snapped towards the distinct bulge at the neck right below the chin...

    Who was this?

    It was her. The eyes, the lips, and the nose, all resembled Shuri.

    But it also wasn''t her. The thick brows, the slightly square face, and the wider forehead were not a part of her appearance.

    It wasn''t a ''her''. Her gaze snapped towards the distinct bulge at the neck right below the chin...

    "No-" was all that left Shuri''s lips before excruciating pain attacked every millimetre of her body. Unable to handle it, Shuri immediately copsed on the ground and squirmed like a worm doused in salt. No sound left her, she didn''t have the energy to activate that part of her brain, because everything was hurting. It was like her body was being ripped apart and put back together, but because of some mistake it was ripped apart again, assembled again, ripped again, and again, and again-

    And that was when darkness took hold, and all the pain just disappeared.

    ____

    Pained grunts resonated within the ornate room.

    "You must push harder, Your Highness, the child''s head is visible," the midwife coaxed while sporting a calm smile. Her hands moved with familiarity, highlighting the many years of experience she had in this field.

    But her familiarity and calmness did not mean that she was taking the process easy. Childbirth was never simple, and it was rarely safe. No matter how many you take part in, no two instances of childbirth are identical. The midwife had the experience of birthing twenty-nine babies sessfully, with no loss, which was an admirable feat considering the women she was catering to were the coven of slender-hipped and fragile consorts and concubines.

    She cursed her luck, actually. Her entire apprenticeship and earlier training urred in a secluded vige a few kilometres West of the Capital. There, she had the privilege of assisting the births of women with actual "birthing hips". Her sess rate was phenomenal! It just so happened that one day, a dangerously pregnant Imperial Consort passed by the vige and enteredbour. The midwife''s master ran away the moment the whisper of a royal birth started to permeate out of the heavily guarded caravan. She should have done the same, but she was naive back then. She got roped into the birthing against her better judgement and luckily seeded in getting the child out in one piece.

    That was her first mistake. The Imperial Consort dragged the midwife all the way to the capital. One thing led to another, and she was now the Royal Midwife - one of the most dangerous upations in the world, with a turnover rate of zero because a mistake most definitely ended with certain death.

    Actually, she learned one key fact during her third birthing in the Pce, which would have taken a catastrophic turn if she hadn''t made a difficult choice. The life of the baby mattered more than the life of the mother. There was an overabundance of breeding mares in the Pce, so a loss of one wouldn''t matter in the grand scheme of things as long as the Emperor''s bloodline was propagated without a problem. So, you could sacrifice the mother as long as the child made it out safely. Of course, there were exceptions, such as if the consort was in the Emperor''s favour. But if the child was a male, and the midwife could convincingly spin a yarn that concluded that there was no other way, then there was a certain wiggle room.

    This fact was also why the midwife could afford to be so calm at this juncture. If the childbirth started to deviate, a swift cut and extraction was a simple solution. Of course, she would have to put on a convincing y so that the Eunuch (the eyes and ears of the Emperor himself), the only other person in the room apart from the pregnant mother, couldn''t cast doubt at her decision. Thankfully, that wouldn''t be necessary.

    "It''s crowning, Your Highness, just another push!" She encouraged.

    A tense half an hourter, the first cries of a baby entering the world greeted the room and everyone present within.

    "Congrattions, Your Highness, it''s a healthy Prince!" The midwife congratted her. Birthing males was always a cause for celebration, primarily because it was always followed by a generous bonus directly into her bank ount.

    But amidst her mini-internal celebration, something weird happened.

    Why was her gaze suddenly falling? Where did all this bloode from? More questions started to crowd her mind within seconds. Questions whose answers wouldn''t matter because her head wasn''t attached to her neck any more.

 Chapter 399 What are You?

    Chapter 399 What are You?

    Shoutout to Harjas_Sidhu and Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!

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    A/N:I had to choose my words carefully while writing this chapter. The message expressed in asentence or paragraph can changed based on the words used within. If while reading this text, you feel hurt or offended, raise this point in my Discord server and we can have a healthy discussion there. Maybe the way it was perceived by you wasn''t how I intended to write it. If that is the case then I can grow as a person and writer and fix my error.

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    Shuri learned that she could never forget when she turned five. She could recite the entire annals of Sol n''s History by heart without missing a single word or date. She never advertised this fact, though, her mother didn''t let her. When she turned ten, she started to remember things before she was five. The spotty details started to grow clearer and make more sense. It was scary because, with these memories, she was forced to relive the emotions as they were experienced at that time. A child''s emotions are stronger than an adult''s because there aren''t psychological coping mechanisms to limit excess.

    When she turned eleven, she remembered her very first memory.

    She could feel herself being squeezed through a very tight hole. Her head was undergoing a type ofpression and dpression. She couldn''t see anything, and she couldn''t breathe either. Yet her sense of hearing was working on overdrive.

    But following a swift ejection, where the pressure suddenly changed all around her, Shuri could feel her senses activating one after the other. The first thing was her sense of hearing.

    "Congrattions, Your Highness, it''s a healthy Prince!"

    "Y-Yor!"

    Then came her sense of smell and taste. A raw and acrid metallic odour assaulted her nascent sense of smell, and a viscous liquid nearly choked her. Then came her touch, as she felt herself getting moved rapidly before a cold object wrapped around her neck and a heavy ballnded on her chest. She then felt her body changing, it was painful, but she could only scream inaudibly.

    Finally, her sight opened up, and all she saw was red. Blood, blood everywhere. A gentle hand dabbed her face and cleared the blood away.

    "We cannot let anyone know that it was a boy, Yor!" A woman''s voice, her mother, expressed in a panic.

    "They won''t know. I have taken the precautions as you said. The pendant around his neck carries a powerful enchantment that will mask the child''s gender. As long as he remains below the Core Formation realm, he will appear outwardly as a female," a man answered. "But I don''t understand, isn''t it a good thing? Mistress will have support since she has birthed a Prince."

    "No!" the woman snapped back with faint acidity in her voice. "To be born a boy here is treacherous. Those vultures outside will descend upon us and rip us to shreds. I have no backing, no power. He will be dead before you know it. No! He has to survive. Let the scavengers fight against each other for scraps. Let them tear each other limb from limb. Let all of this go to hell until nothing but a ruin remains. That is my dream, Yor! And this child will help me achieve it."

    There was a faintly rabid fanaticism in her voice, which only grew as the days passed as per Shuri''s recollections.

    "That is a heavy burden to ce on a child," Yor reasoned.

    "It is his duty!" Her mother argued back. "I raised the spawn of that lecherous degenerate for nine months. I hated every second of it. I wished to kill myself every day I saw my reflection. It was disgusting! But I endured. Killing myself was the easy way out- No, revenge is what I want. The man took everything from me, it is only right that his son does the same to him."

    Each woman who entered the Inner Courtyard was tattooed with a ritual that forbade any sort of invasive inspection of the womb. It was the decree of the second Emperor, as his reign saw the most number of miscarriages in the entire Empire''s history. Even the birthing chambers were shielded away with magic, to avoid infanticide.

    "Now! Call in the crowd. Let''s satisfy their curiosity," her mother dered beforeying down on the birthing mattress. She started to breathe heavily until her face warped with fake yet convincingly real horror. Just as Yor opened the doors to the chamber, she shrieked loudly.

    "What happened?!" Her father rushed in, with his red hair streaking behind him majestically. "What is all this?"

    "T-The midwife-" her mother started with a fearful stutter.

    "The woman wished to harm the Princess," Yor, or Eunuch Bang, answered. "This servant was vignt and took action as soon as he detected the threat."

    "Did you say Princess?" Her father repeated with disappointment.

    "Yes, Your Majesty!"

    "Hmm," the Emperor evoked before turning and leaving just as quickly as he came.

    And thus, Shuri entered the world with a purpose. He was supposed to be the instrument of his mother''s revenge against his father. To achieve the said purpose, he had to live as a she to avoid bing a valuable target. Shuri had to live a duplicitous life from birth. The duplicity ran so deep that for someone who never forgets it became their new reality - it became Shuri''s reality. Internally, she started to identify as how she appeared externally - a girl.

    This spawned a conflict inside Shuri. She was a boy through birth - biologically. However, she did not feelfort in knowing that fact. At night, when she didn''t have to wear the pendant that turned her into a female, she still kept it on. She tried it once, but it felt sickening and induced so much anxiety that she couldn''t sleep at all.

    She was a girl, not a boy. Yet her true body was that of a boy''s. Her appearance was all just an illusion.

    All of Shuri''s sisters, the Princesses, would wear men''s clothing and sneak out of the Pce for a fun city trip. But Shuri could never do that. Just the thought of wearing male clothes evoked a heavy sense of difort. In fact, even though Shuri appeared as a girl externally, she could feel her male form oozing out from within.

    "Why does the enchanted pendant only hide him until he hits the Core Formation realm?" Shuri once heard her mother ask Eunuch Bang.

    "It''s obvious, Mistress. Once the Young Princess-"

    "PRINCE!" Her mother shrieked. "It is just us here, you don''t have to hide his identity before me."

    "P-Prince," Eunuch Bang corrected. "Once he hits the Core Formation realm, he will no longer need to hide himself. He will be strong enough to contest against most opponents."

    "How can you be sure?" Her mother pushed maniacally. "We have to be sure. Shuri cannot die! The n hinges on it."

    "Do not worry, Mistress. I will make sure that she- HE is safe for as long as I am alive," Eunuch Bang assuaged. And he stuck true to his words too. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    ____

    The moment Shuri gained consciousness, an odd sensation assaulted her. She didn''t "feel" normal. Heck, she never felt "normal". But at this instant, there was something odd, something wrong.

    "What-" the sound that left her lips wasn''t hers. It was deeper.

    "N-No!" She looked down and noticed that she was in a different gown. And there was a distinct bulge by her crotch that usually didn''t exist there. "No!"

    While muttering anxiously, Shuri hobbled out of her bed and worked her way towards the only mirror in the room. "No... No..."

    As she looked into the mirror and gazed at her reflection, her heart dropped. It was the same face she saw in the still yet swirling vortex of mana. Although she still had the same fiery red hair and the azure-blue eyes from before she put on her disguise and dyed her hair, the rest of her face was shaped differently. For all intents and purposes, the form wasn''t that of a girl.

    "NO!" She yelled in a frenzy. She stumbled back and copsed onto the chair near the bed. She picked up the wooden cup by the table on the bed-side and tossed it angrily towards the mirror, causing it to shatter into many pieces.

    Her hazy mind turned clearer as she remembered something. Her hand floundered around her neck, searching for her pendant. When she didn''t find it, she immediately dove into the bed and overturned the pillow and mattress. It wasn''t there either. She dipped down and started to look under the bed frame.

    "W-Where is it? WHERE IS IT!"

    "Are you looking for this?" A voice called out from behind her. Shuri''s head jerked back suddenly, and her eyesnded on the extended hand that held the pendant she was looking for. Except, the blood-red gem was no longer intact as a massive crack had formed causing it to split into two pieces.

    "W-What did you do?" Shuri expressed in shock. Her shaking hand reached forward and picked the two pieces out of the extended palm. She then tried to piece the two shards together, holding faint hope that somehow they would just be one.

    "It broke when you nearly advanced," the person said. Shuri looked up, following the voice, and was shocked to see the Sect Leader looking down at her with a worried frown.

    "Nearly?" Shuri repeated, catching the awkwardly ced word in the exnation.

    "You were about to advance into the Core Formation realm. But then you didn''t," the Sect Leader repeated.

    "B-But why?" Shuri begged. "Why didn''t I advance?"

    Her mind started to put everything together. If she had advanced into the Core Formation realm, she could finally rid herself of this dastardly body and take on the form that she truly desired. After all, that was the primary draw towards advancing.

    "To advance and undergo apotheosis, you need to have a certain idea of who you are. An understanding of the sense of self," the Sect Leader exined. "Your will needs to be certain about it, otherwise your body cannot take on that form. I guess your sense of self wasn''t strong enough."

    "I don''t understand!" Shuri eximed with a tantly confused expression.

    "You are a child of the Emperor, and biologically a Prince to top it off," the Sect Leader expressed. "Yet you lived a life where you had to keep both those important facts under lock and key. I guess the lies were so deeply embedded you even believed them well enough to be true. But for someone who fails to forget even the most trivial details, their resurfacing was only an eventuality."

    Shuri remained forlorn, unable to digest the facts as they were made evident.

    "If you yourself are conflicted about who you really are, how can you expect the world to help you be what you are supposed to be?" The Sect Leader concluded. "You believe that you are a designated girl. But your assigned body doesn''t agree with your psychology. So no matter how hard you try to affirm your designation as a girl, a tiny voice in the back of your mind keeps calling you a liar. You need to be certain, so certain that no matter what anyone says or does your resolve will remain unshaken. If you believe you are a designated girl, then no one should be able to convince you otherwise, not even yourself!"

    "So, what are you?" The Sect Leader asked vigorously.

    But the response didn''t hit with the same intensity, "I''m... a girl."

    It was at that moment that Shuri realised, she didn''t even believe herself!

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