《The Magus of Imminent Oblivion》


 Prologue

    In a brightly lit chamber, surrounding a large, circular table, seven of the most powerful magi in Paege sat to discuss the status of their world. Their group, named The Council of the Magi, had the backing of almost all the world¡¯s nations. Each magus had the power of a hundred mages, which had the power of a hundred magicians. They were each an unstoppable force, and they worked together to ensure the safety of the realm.


    The leader of the group, The Immortal Magus, took the lead in the yearly meeting, and he announced its beginning, ¡°The seven magi have met in the room of truth. Let this year¡¯s meeting begin.¡±


    Rays of light shot through a stained glass window that stretched all the way around the room. Brilliant shades of all the rainbow¡¯s colors were cast into the chamber, and a skylight directly above the table provided white light to the entire area. No matter what time of day, the light from the sky always shone directly downward, and the light from the windows always passed overhead of the people sitting at the meeting table.


    The Immortal Magus paused for a moment, then continued, ¡°I propose the appearance of the bottomless pond as a topic of discussion. Members who agree?¡±


    Following the magus¡¯ words, three hands raised into the air. The circumstances surrounding the mysterious pond were enough to warrant The Immortal Magus bringing attention to it at the meeting of The Council of the Magi. Due to the very nature of the council¡¯s objective, it meant that The Immortal Magus suspected the pond might have the ability to influence the world.


    Of the three hands that were raised, two belonged to men who had lived for centuries, and one belonged to a relatively young woman. However, no matter what their actual age was, each of them looked no older than thirty. Even The Immortal Magus, who had lived for over a millennium, appeared only a few years older than his fellow council members.


    He continued, and the three hands lowered, ¡°Proposal passed. Within the last few months, an immensely deep body of water has appeared in one of the southern mountain ranges. I made a brief investigation, but I could not reach any conclusion regarding the depth of the water. It is approximately ten feet wide at the surface, and - I suspect - maintains that diameter the entire way down.¡±


    One of the old men who raised his hand, The Magus of Reversed Death, spoke, adding his own knowledge after The Immortal Magus finished, ¡°There have been reports of increased monster activity around the pond. In the last month, there have been over a hundred confirmed sightings of monsters.¡±


    The other old man, The Magus of Time, slowly said, ¡°This reminds me of the last invasion from Hellworld. I can remember at least three places where the demons used vertical water passages to move troops out of their fortresses, but I don¡¯t remember any of their fortresses being around those mountains.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I remember the same thing, and I also don¡¯t remember any demonic fortresses in the region,¡± The Immortal Magus said.


    The young woman, The Magus of Ocean Currents, spoke, ¡°I can investigate the interior of the pond regardless of how deep it is. If I do investigate, I request a follow-up meeting in one month.¡±


    The Magus of Ocean Currents, as a relatively young and relatively new member of the council, wanted to show off her ability, and thus she volunteered to conduct the in-depth investigation of the pond. That, and she was the only one among them who had the water magic affinity.


    ¡°If it really is related to the demons, we can¡¯t rely on only one magus investigating,¡± The Magus of Time said and looked around the table, quickly making a decision. ¡°In addition to The Magus of Ocean Currents, The Multi-Magus should go.¡±


    The Multi-Magus, a woman only slightly older than The Magus of Ocean Currents, immediately spoke back, ¡°I can¡¯t; I¡¯m already defending Mildiva from The Magus of Thunderous Flames. Just coming to this meeting has put Mildiva¡¯s army in jeopardy; I can¡¯t spend a month checking out some hole in the ground.¡±


    ¡°If I go to Mildiva, can you go with The Magus of Ocean Currents?¡± the only magus who looked his age, The Anti-Magus, said. Though he could not use any of the spells that made someone classify as a magician, he earned his honorary magus title, and sat as equals with the magi around him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need any assistance with the investigation,¡± The Magus of Ocean Currents said, and she tactfully hid her frustration with The Magus of Time. She didn¡¯t like to be underestimated, especially by a magician without a combat affinity.


    The Immortal Magus leaned forward in his chair, causing the surrounding magi to pause whatever thoughts they were about to voice, and he said, ¡°If The Magus of Ocean Currents believes she doesn¡¯t need assistance, then she doesn¡¯t need assistance. I am satisfied with the current state of this topic. Propose the next topic?¡±


    Five hands rose, and the topic changed. Over the course of almost five hours, the members of The Council of the Magi talked about events happening inside every nation on the planet, and then some that happened in the unclaimed wilderness.


    At the conclusion of the meeting, the seven magi ate a meal that consisted of fine foods from all around the world, and then departed.


    In a room near the room of truths, three magi stood at one teleportation gate, which would teleport whoever walked through it to a certain city near where the bottomless pond had been spotted.


    The Magus of Spatial Flux, who rarely spoke at the meetings, stood to the side while The Immortal Magus and The Magus of Ocean Currents prepared for to leave. The Immortal Magus made a crude map for The Magus of Ocean Currents to follow, which would lead her to the pond, but he didn¡¯t doubt that she would be able to find it. She carried a spatial container, which held more items than its volume permitted, and she stepped into the portal.


    The teleportation gates and spatial containers were made by The Magus of Spatial Flux, and they were the tools that allowed the magi of The Council of the Magi to conduct investigations across the world. Even though she would be trekking through a mountain range for almost a month of time, The Magus of Ocean Currents didn¡¯t need to worry about a lack of supplies; she had everything she might need inside her spatial container.


    A film of light covered the teleportation gate, and it allowed The Magus of Ocean Currents to see the other side before stepping through. The portal was located in an emperor¡¯s palace near where the pond had been seen, and dozens of servants were waiting for a magus to arrive through the portal.


    All around the world, the teleportation gates made by The Magus of Spatial Flux were placed in heavily defended areas, and they were often close to royalty or extremely elite people. The portal which The Magus of Ocean Currents teleported through was situated on the edge of an emperor¡¯s grand hall, and whatever important meetings he conducted would be unceremoniously interrupted whenever the portal opened.


    When The Magus of Ocean Currents stepped through, there was no meeting going on, but there were still many servants, royals, and the emperor himself who greeted her.


    The servants softy spoke in unison, ¡°Welcome, great magus of the council.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Then, after them, the emperor said, ¡°Welcome, it¡¯s an honor to have The Magus of Ocean Currents visit my empire.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± the magus half-smiled and waved to the crowd in front of her, then said, ¡°I¡¯m only here to investigate the bottomless pond that appeared near your southern border.


    ¡°Yes, yes, we understand,¡± the emperor said, and the many servants dispersed around the hall. He then asked, ¡°Is there anything we can provide for you on your journey?¡±


    The Magus of Ocean Currents replied, ¡°No, I¡¯ll be fine with what I¡¯ve brought with me.¡±


    After a small exchange between the magus and the emperor - who shared almost equal status inside the empire - she exited the palace.


    The doors of the palace opened up to a city built between two mountains, where all the citizens were housed beyond a thousand steps leading up to the palace. On her left and right, The Magus of Ocean Currents saw the magnificent city walls that were built upon the tops of the two adjacent mountains. In the center of the path of stairs that led to the city below, a marble statue of an ancient magus was erected. That magus had cleared the wilderness of monsters, and that newly hospitable land became the basis for the empire that stood today. He was, in many eyes, a magus to live up to.


    The Magus of Ocean Currents didn¡¯t stay long, and she activated her signature spell when she reached the opening of the stairs. Suddenly, directly in the path where she would have walked if she wanted to descend the steps, a rushing stream of water seemed to erupt from the ground and flow into the sky. The Magus of Ocean Currents stepped onto the stream, and it carried her high above the city.


    The mystical water made a path for The Magus of Ocean Currents to soar through the open sky. Very few magicians could enable themselves to fly without using a movement type spell, but The Magus of Ocean Currents could not be restained by common sense among magicians. Her river in the sky moved with her, and it brought her across several hundred of miles of land in less than a week.


    People on the ground stopped and looked up when they saw The Magus of Ocean Currents flying by. When small children questioned the sight, they were told stories about the fantastic deeds of The Magus of Ocean Currents, and how she defended freedom and liberty across the entire world.


    The reputations of magi were not any less than the heroes and villains told in bedtime stories. There existed magi who worked to better the world, and then there existed magi who only brought selfish destruction. Among those who were revered by the people, the members of The Council of the Magi were the most famous.


    After her week of traveling, The Magus of Ocean Currents descended into the valley in the center of a desolate mountain range. She repeatedly checked the map The Immortal Magus had given her, and it wasn¡¯t hard for her to find her destination with her aerial view of the landscape.


    Around the pond, no less than five enormous monsters were drinking from the blue water. On their own, each of those monsters could decimate an army of ordinary magicians, or they could obliterate a small city. However, when The Magus of Ocean Currents fell in their midst, she only required a few short seconds to kill them all.


    She used her magic to sweep the bodies into a pile, then laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t need The Multi-Magus to deal with a few mutated animals.¡±


    After briefly scouting the area around the pond, The Magus of Ocean Currents took her spatial container from her side and placed it on the ground. From within it, which only had a depth of half an inch, she took out a cloth-wrapped meal and sat on the edge of the pond to eat it, with her feet dangling inside the water.


    She carefully observed the feeling of the water through her skin. Indeed, just as The Immortal Magus said, she couldn¡¯t find the bottom of the pond from her initial observations. Apparently, if she wanted to find out more about the pond, she would need to dive inside.


    After eating her fill, The Magus of Ocean Currents picked her spatial container up and tied it to her body. She then checked her clothes for loose attachments which might fall off in the water. If she couldn¡¯t get to the bottom - however unlikely that was - she didn¡¯t want to lose anything to the mysterious pond.


    A few minutes later, entirely satisfied with her diving preparations, The Magus of Ocean Currents slipped her body into the pond and quickly disappeared below the surface.


    She didn¡¯t swim using conventional means, but instead used her magic to manipulate the water around her. She pushed herself deeper while constantly pushing against the pressure caused by the water above her. When she passed a depth of five hundred feet, she created a ring of light around her to illuminate the dark water.


    As The Magus of Ocean Currents pushed deeper into the pond, she couldn¡¯t help but wonder what kind of force created the pond. Indeed, even up till a thousand feet down, the width never exceeded that of the surface. The walls were, however, not flat, and seemed to have been made by spherical forces pressing against them. Small indents lined the entire surface, and The Magus of Ocean Currents could not easily guess what caused them.


    She continued for a long time, but the involuntarily paused when she reached twenty thousand feet underwater. At that point, a wave of malicious mana swept past her and invaded her body, and she had to quickly activate her internal mana to block out the external influence.


    Though she had never felt foreign mana seeping into her body, she understood the theory. It was foreign mana that made ordinary animals turn into monsters, and many magicians believed that humans were susceptible to the same kind of mutations. If either The Immortal Magus or The Magus of Time were there, they would be able to confirm the extremely dangerous situation she unknowingly entered.


    The Magus of Ocean Currents hastily reversed her direction and pushed upward. A thin layer of mana already permeated into her body, but she managed to block all of the mana that attempted to enter her skull, where she kept her native mana. If the external mana were to mix with her internal mana, she would quickly lose control over her body and become nothing more than a mutated human without a consciousness.


    Less than an hour later, The Magus of Ocean Currents rocketed out of the pond and fell onto the snowy ground beside it. In the time she had been underwater, two new monsters arrived to drink from the pond and eat the corpses of the monsters she killed, and it only took her a second to kill the new arrivals.


    Then, when she was more or less in a safe location, she focused her mana on expelling the foreign influence. Her mana surged forth at a rate which would quickly leave her exhausted, but she knew she needed to get rid of the hostile mana inside her body no matter what. If she didn¡¯t, it would mean eventual death.


    For a solid week, The Magus of Ocean Currents fought with the forces inside her body, resting only to recuperate mana, but came out with no success against them. In the end, her body mutated to secrete a fine mist, which made her body drip water at all times.


    During her week of fighting the invading mana, she received no breaks to sleep, and she also had to deal with random monsters approaching the pond. On several occasions, her mana reached dangerous levels, and the foreign mana approached slightly closer to her cerebrum.


    The week passed, and she stood above the pond, staring angrily into it. Then, after having stared into the pond for several minutes, she stepped away and opened her spatial container. From it, she took out a small book, and she proceeded to write down her last grievances.


    She placed her finished journal - to be posthumously named The Last Writings of The Magus of Ocean Currents - inside the spatial container, and she jumped back into the bottomless pond. She came to terms with her inevitable death, but she wouldn¡¯t be able to live out her last days peacefully without knowing what laid at the bottom of the pond. Even if it killed her, she needed to see it with her own eyes.


    A few hours later, two creatures were resting on the ground and looking up, waiting for something to happen. Neither had any intention of doing something useful with their time and instead continuously stayed in a near-sleep state for several days.


    Then, something interrupted their rest, and they lazily stood up to check out what had fallen into their abode. Less than twenty feet away from them, a humanoid shape fell from the ceiling, and it instantly succumbed to the violent mana that flowed rampant in the underground cavern.


    ¡°That¡¯s a human,¡± one of the creatures said and pointed at the writhing form.


    ¡°Ey, I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d actually see one,¡± the other creature said, and they both stared for several seconds as mana mutated the human into a monster.


    ¡°We better report this to the chief,¡± the first creature turned away and said.


    ¡°Yeah, I hope we can go on the next round of exterminations,¡± the second creature said.


    He flexed his mind, and the body of the former human exploded into a cloud of dust. A second later, both of the creatures were flying away, headed to a fortress of their comrades.

 Chapter 1

    On hot, late summer days, the youth named Andric Avantus worked on his swordsmanship behind a row of four iron smelters, passively enduring the heat they unceasingly gave off. He swung his long, curved sword at a row of three straw dummies, which had been donated by the blacksmiths who worked a few feet away from him.


    Although his new world didn¡¯t have swordsmanship as a formal way of combat, Andric brought the art form over from his previous world during his reincarnation, and thus he had a truly unique style in the world of Paege.


    His small katana had no sharp edge, guard, or scabbard. Its dull metal gave off no shine, and the leather wrapped around the handle had several gaps in it. Andric had bartered with the owner of the forge until he made the sword for him, and he used various scraps of leather to make the grip. With only his memory to use as a reference, he reconstructed a piece of weaponry from his previous world.


    ¡°Andric, help cool us off,¡± the owner of the forge, Boele, said and beckoned Andric with his hand.


    Andric leaned his sword against one of the training dummies, then walked around the row of smelters and entered the main forge area. Here, Boele worked with his three assistants and smelted chunks of iron ore into small iron plates. Those plates would be shaped into a final product once Boele received a purchase, and he usually had enough plates to deliver the next day.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Andric said, and he looked at each of the blacksmiths while flexing his mind.


    Each time his mind flexed, spectral particles of mana floating inside his brain flowed out. When they hit his dura mater, they disappeared and created a phenomenon in the body of the blacksmith he happened to be looking at.


    One after the other, each of the blacksmiths felt a wave of relief rush over their body. The heat from the summer air and the smelters faded away, their muscle aches melted into nothing, and they even felt a surge of strength bubbling up from deep within. By all accounts, Andric¡¯s rejuvenation magic felt like a miniature miracle.


    Boele thanked Andric for his contribution, then returned to hammering a collection of heated ore stone, followed suit by the three assistants. They returned to their work with new vigor, and their efficiency increased by several times. The effect of Andric¡¯s magic eventually faded, but he stood only a few feet away, ready to apply his spell again every few minutes.


    Andric¡¯s weekly payment for his services included a small sum of coins, occasionally a new sword, and rarely a chicken. Most of his earned coins were saved in a small box under his bed, awaiting the moment when he discovered a way to build a fortune of wealth with his knowledge from his previous world. The swords were for keeping up with his growing body, which still had some room to grow after reaching thirteen-years-old, and the chickens were for magical experiments.


    An hour before sundown, Andric said his goodbyes to the blacksmiths and ran home, to the other side of Gallus Town. He lived approximately thirty minutes away from the forge, and, for safety reasons, his mother wanted him home before dusk. His family knew about and supported his job at the forge, but the time limit was something they couldn¡¯t forgo.


    Andric¡¯s magical affinity - the types of magical spells he would use with minimal mana expenditure - caused many of the people who knew about it to become envious. Small cuts and bruises could be healed with an ordinary magician¡¯s ability, but only a magician with Andric¡¯s magical affinity could regenerate entire limbs. When Lieve Avantus - Andric¡¯s mother - first heard about a healing-affinity magician being kidnapped and murdered in the city closest to Gallus Town, she didn¡¯t let Andric leave the house for a week.


    At the Avantus house, only Andric¡¯s mother and younger sister - Hedy Avantus - were home. His father - Wolter Avantus - worked until well after sundown, and he wouldn¡¯t come home until the middle of the night. Indifferent to his lack of attendance, Andric, Lieve, and Hedy ate dinner around their four-person table.


    ¡°Andy, you should come to Cato¡¯s house tomorrow. She¡¯s been something practicing for a few days and wants to test it,¡± Hedy said while using her magic to cut kernels off a cob of corn. Though it wasn¡¯t part of her affinity, she could slice up soft vegetables without using too much mana. Otherwise, she would use a knife.


    ¡°Why does she need me to come over to test her spell? It is a new spell, right?¡± Andric replied and asked, raising his eyebrow at the same time. He already had a firm impression of Cato and her tests which only he could help with.


    ¡°Come on, Andy, please? I promise it won¡¯t be like last time,¡± Hedy pleaded and said, and she stared at Andric until he nodded.


    He said, ¡°Fine, but I¡¯m charging you a bro point, and let me remind you that this will put you six bro points in debt,¡± and held up six fingers.


    ¡°I know, I know,¡± Hedy ignored Andric¡¯s fingers and continued eating, and he did too.


    The next morning, Andric, Lieve, and Hedy stayed home until Wolter left for work, after which they walked about ten minutes away and visited Cato¡¯s house. There, Susanna Klerske and Cato Klerske greeted them at the door and quietly told them about Heiko Klerske sleeping on the second floor.


    Cato¡¯s father worked with the town guard, and his shift rotation changed every week. That week, he happened to work from ten at night until six in the morning. When he got home, he usually slept until afternoon, and being woken up by the sounds of children playing was not something he enjoyed.


    ¡°That¡¯s alright. Cato, you wanted to show Andy something, right?¡± Hedy wasn¡¯t disturbed by Susanna¡¯s warning, and she turned to Cato and asked.


    Cato, a girl one year older than Hedy and two years younger than Andric, wore a large grin while looking at Andric and replied, ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go to the left woods to do it.¡±


    Susanna and Lieve walked inside, and the three children ran off to the west side of town. Though Susanna and Lieve were protective of their children, they felt safe letting them go outside the town when they had Andric with them.


    Even though a large forest surrounded the northern side of Gallus Town and the mountain upon which it was built, dangerous animals rarely showed up near the town. The logging operation of Gallus Town had already spread throughout the forest, and the native wolves and bears were cleared out long ago.


    Andric might have a higher chance of being kidnapped when outside the town - especially when inside a dark forest - but Lieve didn¡¯t need to worry as much when Cato was with him. Unlike with Andric, who she believed to only have a healing magic affinity, Cato¡¯s magical affinity allowed her excel in some forms of combat. Coupled with the fact that her father actively encouraged her learning how to fight, Cato made an excellent bodyguard.


    Likewise, when Cato led Andric and Hedy into the forest that bordered the north of Gallus Town, Andric anticipated getting roped into some kind of fight with her. They eventually stopped in an area where the town could no longer be seen, and the gaps between trees stretched for about twenty feet. Some tree stumps were still in the ground, as the only reminder of the trees that had been cut down.


    After looking up and making a few mental notes about the height of the tree branches above her, Cato jumped onto a tree stump, placed her hands on her hips, and announced to Andric, ¡°Be amazed!¡±


    She activated a spell, and mana from her brain activated inside her body. The magical energy inside her slowly depleted as it worked to bypass the laws of physics, and the physical world bent to her mana¡¯s will. Without any source of propulsion, Cato¡¯s body began to lift into the air. She rose for a few seconds, achieving a height of about two feet, and then suddenly dropped.


    Her feet hit the top of the stump, and she bent her knees to help absorb the impact. Once she stabilized and stood straight again, she quickly glanced at Hedy and then to Andric and said, ¡°That was pretty cool, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was way cooler than when you just want to throw something at me,¡± Andric replied in an uninterested fashion, but the manner of Cato¡¯s flight had intrigued him. Very few magical affinities allowed their magician to fly - not even Andric¡¯s.


    Cato looked at a rock on the ground and activated a spell, and the rock zapped toward Andric. Luckily, after years of enduring similar attacks by Cato, Andric had the reflexes to dodge most of what she threw at him, and he leaned to the side, allowing the rock to fly harmlessly past him.


    She pursed her lips at Andric¡¯s reaction and said, ¡°I¡¯m still working on the landing part, so I need you to heal me whenever I fall. Got it?¡±


    Andric rodded and replied, ¡°Yeah, I understand,¡± and sat on a stump next to him.


    Andric¡¯s magic was abused by everyone who knew he had the affinity for it, most notably: Cato. However, because he had the affinity for it, Andric could frivolously heal small injuries without worrying about running out of mana, and he didn¡¯t mind being used.


    Hedy and Cato were good friends, but Andric had little interest in the games of two preteens. If not for his blood relation to one of them, he would have never associated with them. Even after his reincarnation, Andric placed a great deal of importance of blood relations.


    For lunch, the three of them ran back to Cato¡¯s house and ate a meal cooked by Lieve and Susanna. Lieve enjoyed cooking, and Susanna couldn¡¯t let her guest do all the work, so they both helped with creating a miniature masterpiece. After eating, Andric, Hedy, and Cato returned to the forest. Then, for dinner, they went back to Cato¡¯s for a slightly less exquisite meal.


    In their world, where magicians held supreme power at their fingertips, delicious meals were an important part of their culture. Fruits and vegetables of all kinds were available year-round, and diseases in livestock were practically eliminated.


    A few days later, Andric went to work at the forge just like usual. He only came to work when he felt like it, since he didn¡¯t have an essential job to do. As such, Boele paid him at the end of the week, based on how many days he worked. Due to the hassle of counting coins, most payments for routine services were done weekly or monthly. Boele¡¯s ore and coal deliveries, which arrived every morning, were also paid for on a weekly basis.


    In the middle of the morning, several hours after Andric arrived but still a few hours before lunch, he paused his sword-swinging to look up at the sky. For a second, he doubted his eyes. He had only seen it at the edge of his vision when he raised his sword above his head, and he otherwise wouldn¡¯t have seen it. High above the town, a flaming object slowly glided overhead, heading away from the mountain.


    ¡°What the heck?¡± just as Andric mouthed a few words, a set of wings on the object flapped a few times, and it barreled down into the town. A huge crash resounded from the southern side of Gallus Town, and small bits of flames slowly fell from where the object passed.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Boele and the other blacksmiths were intrigued by the sound, and they all walked out from the area around the smelters and stood beside Andric. They had all heard random explosions in the past, so it wasn¡¯t entirely foolish to think they only heard a magician failing a spell. But, when they saw the many small flames dropped by the creature, they had second thoughts.


    Boele finally asked, ¡°What was it?¡± and turned to Andric.


    Andric pointed upward, then, with his finger, followed the path the descending creature took and said, ¡°I think it was a chicken, but it was on fire and really big.¡±


    The blacksmiths looked among themselves, not quite sure what to think. Then, when they heard another loud sound from elsewhere in town, they came to a conclusion. One in the back asked, ¡°Are we gonna wait this out, inside?¡±


    Boele replied, ¡°Yes, go close the smelters and head into the basement,¡± then said to Andric, ¡°If there¡¯s some kind of monster spreading fires in the town, you¡¯re best coming with us. The basement is all stone and iron, and no mutated farm animal is going to be breaking in there.¡±


    The monsters that belonged in children¡¯s stories were not unknown to Andric, and he knew they were every bit real as the magic he cast on a daily basis. Ordinarily, they stayed in the wilderness and lived close to the source of the rampant mana that gave them their strength. When one¡¯s path intersected with a town, it meant certain destruction on a large scale.


    The effectiveness of Boele¡¯s forge basement as a defensive area couldn¡¯t be confirmed, and Andric¡¯s first thought after seeing the falling monster wasn¡¯t to hide. After his initial sense of confusion, Andric¡¯s mind worked like a machine, carefully sorting the different emotions he felt and the various ethical, moral, and selfish motivations he contained.


    Obviously, hiding away in the basement would be the easiest option for Andric. Just like the blacksmiths were doing, Andric could ignore whatever troubles the people of Gallus Town were facing and hide from the danger. The monster wouldn¡¯t be able to get him, the flames wouldn¡¯t be able to spread to him, and he would simply walk out of the basement after a day or two passed.


    Although Andric had no moral against protecting himself before helping others, magician society revolved around magicians helping other magicians. When saving someone¡¯s life was as simple as a thought, magicians were pressured by society to assist wherever their magical affinity might be helpful. Ethics shaped morals, but Andric¡¯s morals had no chance to be shaped by his current world¡¯s ethics.


    Boele and the other blacksmiths might not have been able to help kill the monster to stop the flames, but Andric¡¯s magical affinity had a high potential for being able to save lives. After any kind of disaster, healing magicians were a necessity, and Andric¡¯s overwhelming ability made him highly desirable.


    Andric could choose to hide and wait until the danger passed, but he had two reasons for wanting to rush across town and help as many people as he could. Firstly, he wanted to make sure his friends and family were fine. Lieve and Hedy were both water magicians, and thus they would be safe from the flames. Susanna and Cato were movement magicians, and they would be able to escape from any danger that approached them.


    Wolter, who possessed a rare but relatively useless vegetable magic affinity, was in the most danger, and Heiko, with his fire magic affinity, which would allow him to negate flames with a somewhat lower efficiency than a water magician, was a distant second. Based on the time of day, Wolter could either be at home or at work - at a food cart in the middle of the city. Heiko would be at home, and Susanna and Cato would be near him.


    For his second reason for running into town instead of running away, Andric wanted personal fame. He sought three things from his new life: money, power, and fame. To a certain extent, he already had a strong power. Though he only had a little money saved, his power would enable him to acquire much more in the future. For fame, though, only rare opportunities allowed one to gather it. He could either be the kid who hid until the danger was gone or the young man who stepped up to help the people around him.


    Was it selfish, taking advantage of the situation to increase his personal fame? Maybe, but it wasn¡¯t unethical, and it wasn¡¯t immoral.


    Andric turned around and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to see if I can help out. My healing and regeneration is strong, so I¡¯ll be fine!¡± and then stabbed his sword into the dirt and ran down the street, away from where Boele and the rest were preparing to barricade themselves.


    Boele shouted a few words of caution toward the quickly disappearing Andric, then focused on his and his forge¡¯s safety. He, more than anyone, knew the healing capabilities of Andric¡¯s magic, and he only hoped Andric wouldn¡¯t be placed in a situation where he wouldn¡¯t have enough time to react.


    Andric ran down the side street to a major street, where his view wouldn¡¯t be obstructed by buildings. Once he could see further, he looked toward the southern side of Gallus Town and saw many waves of smoke rising in the distance. From where he stood, he couldn¡¯t see the flames, but he could estimate where they were.


    Gallus Town didn¡¯t have many large roads, but it was filled with alleyways of less than ten feet width. Those alleyways were excellent for people trying to get across town, but they didn¡¯t allow much view of the sky. For Andric, that meant being unable to adjust his direction of travel in relation to the new location of the monster.


    As he ran, Andric also made a simple plan in his head. He would first go to his house, then to Cato¡¯s house. If he found his parents or someone from Cato¡¯s family, he would escort them out of the town. If he didn¡¯t, he would hope for the best while helping others.


    Along the way, Andric made a slight detour and went to check on his father. He entered the town¡¯s large center, where many food carts and various merchants without a building had set up shop, but he couldn¡¯t find Wolter anywhere. There were still many people in the town center, and one person was closing down the food cart.


    Andric asked him, ¡°Hey, do you know where my father went?¡±


    The man, who owned the food cart and knew Andric fairly well, replied, ¡°He saw the smoke rising from over there and ran off toward it. Your house is over there, so he¡¯s making sure Lieve and Hedy make it out.¡± He paused to speak to Andric and point at the southern side of Gallus Town, then returned to packing away chairs and said, ¡°You should run to the outside of the town. Mages will encircle the monster eventually, and they¡¯ll kill it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thanks mister,¡± Andric said, and he continued running toward his earlier destination. He ignored the advice of the cart owner, who had a wife and son but seem to care more about his business than his family.


    The general movement of the population of Gallus Town was toward the outside of the town. Just like the man had said, mages from the town guard were preparing to intercept the monster, and they would soon dispatch a squad of mages with useful affinities.


    To combat the monster, which had the body of a giant flaming chicken, multiple types of magicians would be needed. Firstly, to deal with the flames, water magicians were needed. Fire magicians would also work, but water magicians were the best at putting out fires. Moreover, water magicians could prevent fires, which would be needed when the enemy constantly generated flames on its body.


    In addition to water magicians, the mage squad also needed magicians who would be able to kill the monster. In most instances, fire magicians would be picked, but they wouldn¡¯t work against this particular monster. Instead, the town guard had to look for unorthodox combat magicians.


    In terms of lethality, lightning magicians were a step above fire magicians, but they were much rarer. In the town¡¯s arsenal of almost forty guards, only one was a lightning magician.


    While the town guard attempted to put together a suitable team, Andric made his way closer to the landing site of the monster. Along the way, the crowd of fleeing citizens grew larger, and he had a harder time squeezing through the alleyways. For what distance had taken him only half an hour to walk in the morning, it took him nearly that same amount of time when running.


    However, gradually, the crowds became thin, and, eventually, they became altogether nonexistent. Andric ran through several deserted alleyways, then arrived on the small street where his family¡¯s house stood.


    The houses in front of Andric, including his own home, were covered in flames from top to bottom. Behind him, the flames were only covering the rooftops and some of the second floors. The street separating the two rows of houses was only about fifteen feet wide, and the sudden change in the amount of flames covering buildings had Andric worried.


    He ran forward, to where his house was, and kicked the door open. A small puff of flames burst into the street, where new oxygen fueled the fire. Andric stepped back, then activated a breathing supplementation spell. With his spell, Andric no longer needed to breathe to supply his body with oxygen, and thus he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about suffocating inside the house.


    Andric crawled on the floor and entered his house, and he could see most of the first floor after crawling for a few feet. The kitchen and sitting room were completely burnt up, but one piece of damage stood out more than all the others; the back wall of the house had been smashed to pieces.


    Andric didn¡¯t look at the destroyed wall for long, because a stream of water flowing down the stairs of the house took his attention. If the water was flowing, it meant it had a source, and his new world didn¡¯t have plumbing. There was only one way for water to be flowing inside his home, and that was for Lieve or Hedy to create it.


    Without any hesitation, Andric dashed up the stairway, through the flames that burned along the walls, and swiftly checked the rooms for where Lieve and Hedy were. In Hedy¡¯s room, on the side of the house that had been destroyed, Andric saw Lieve kneeling on the floor.


    ¡°Lieve!¡± Andric shouted, and he cast healing magic on her while entering the room.


    She shuffled to the side and said, ¡°Quick, heal your sister!¡± and showed Hedy smashed between a large wooden beam and the floor. Both she and Lieve were covered in water, and they had a small radius around them where Lieve¡¯s magic had held off the flames.


    ¡°Get ready to pull her out!¡± Andric said, and he cast a strengthening spell on his body. All of his muscles increased in strength by several times, and he then lifted the wooden beam - which weighed several hundred pounds - off from Hedy, and Lieve pulled her away. While he held the beam in the air, Andric cast a healing spell on Hedy.


    The healing spell Andric cast on Hedy cost a large amount of mana, but he still had plenty left. Hedy¡¯s crushed body quickly repaired, undoing the smashed portions of her body and generating new tissue where it was required. Due to the situation, Andric used additional mana to ensure the operation completed quickly. He dropped the wooden beam after about a second had passed, and Hedy¡¯s injuries were already healed.


    ¡°Andy!¡± Hedy cried and hugged Lieve.


    The latter said, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here!¡± and carried Hedy to the first floor and out of the house, and Andric followed closely behind her.


    A few seconds after Andric, Lieve, and Hedy exited their house, it completely collapsed. They laid on the ground at the opposite side of the street, catching their breath. Lieve occasionally pressed her palm to her forehead, and Andric suspected it had something to do with mana exhaustion. If he had come a few minutes later, or not at all, Hedy might not have made it out.


    Lieve was the first one to speak and asked, ¡°Where¡¯s your father at?¡±


    Andric replied, ¡°His boss said he was headed over here, but I didn¡¯t see him along the way.¡± Lieve looked worked, so Andric added, ¡°He probably just got swept up in the crowd. There were a bunch of people running away from this part of town, and even I barely made it through.¡±


    Suddenly, before Lieve could say something else, a house about two hundred feet down the street to the left of them burst apart, and a massive, flaming figure emerged from the splintered wood. The figure had a size roughly equivalent to the house it just rammed through, and it spread out to giant wings until they were blocked by the houses on the other side of the street.


    The monster had arrived in front of Andric, Lieve, and Hedy, and it only took a second for it to lock onto their position. With a few flaps from its wings, its huge body cannoned through the street and landed next to where Andric, Lieve, and Hedy were laying.


    Andric, whose body still had amplified muscles, pushed himself off the ground and jumped back, traveling over a dozen feet with a single backward leap. In front of him, Lieve went to pick up Hedy and also flee, but she was a tad slower than Andric¡¯s augmented body.


    The monster¡¯s beak descended like an axe onto a watermelon, and most of Lieve¡¯s upper body and head entered the monster¡¯s stomach. Hedy, too, could do nothing in the face of the mutated creature, and the majority of her body was devoured within a few seconds.


    Momentum carried Andric further back, but his legs stopped working. He fell to the ground and watched as the beast ate the family members he had just saved from their burning home. His mother and sister - both wonderful people in every aspect - were bit into pieces and swallowed. All that remained were the splashes of blood that escaped the monster¡¯s beak.


    At that moment, Andric felt many things. He knew that his brain contained a power to create miracles, and he activated that power. Without any thoughts to shape it, Andric let his raw emotions influence the spell his mana would create.


    The fueling of the spell consumed all the mana inside Andric¡¯s body, and he collapsed on the ground at the same time that his spell activated. He briefly saw the monster¡¯s head explode in a cloud of dust, then immediately lost consciousness.

 Chapter 2

    Andric awoke in a bright room, and he slowly leaned forward, supporting his upper body with his elbows, and carefully gazed at his surroundings. He laid in a small, uncomfortable bed, with his head against the wall of the room. Instead of being in a solid structure, he appeared to be in a tent, where white fabric made up the walls, supported by wooden logs and sticks. The tend had been recently raised, and the logs still had bark on them.


    Next to him, on both sides, people were laying on the ground. A few beds and tables were placed sporadically throughout the tent, but the people laying on the ground far outnumbered the available beds. Small, thin, white blankets covered the people who were laying down, but only the people on the beds had pillows.


    In front of him, in the center of the tent, Wolter sat on the ground with his legs crossed and his head supported by one hand. He had fallen asleep while sitting down, even though it was the middle of the day.


    Not only Wolter sat in the tent; a few more people were sitting on the centerline of the tent, and a few more were standing or walking somewhere. Most of them were family members of the ones in the beds, but a few were healing magicians, who were using whatever mana they had to improve the quality of life of the people in the beds or on the ground.


    Andric took a quick glance over everything in the tent, and his strong headache became more apparent the longer he remained awake. His attention briefly shifted to the disfigured burn victim lying to his left, and then he shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep.


    Mana exhaustion would hit magicians in phases, and Andric¡¯s wild attempt to create a spell to destroy his enemy had caused him to skip directly into the most severe state of mana exhaustion. His skull¡¯s mana storage was completely empty, and it would take at least a full day to recover.


    While Andric recuperated from his mana expenditure, Wolter either sat on the ground or paced in circles around the inside of the tent. Someone occasionally came to him for one reason or another, but he never left within ten feet of Andric.


    Six hours after Andric went to sleep, he woke up and stretched his back. This time, he sat up on the bed and looked directly at Wolter, who was standing at the foot of the bed.


    Wolter, who held his breath when he saw Andric begin to move, exhaled and said, ¡°Thank the magi.¡±


    Andric opened his mouth to say something but paused for a moment before shutting it. He had no idea what to say. Whenever he thought he had a complete thought, he remembered the sight of Lieve and Hedy being eaten, and he lost his train of thought.


    Finally, after several seconds had passed, Wolter spoke, ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re awake. The healers told me it was only mana exhaustion, but I guess your magic would have taken care of it if it was anything else.¡±


    Andric said, ¡°Yeah,¡± and nothing else. He waited for Wolter to mention Lieve or Hedy.


    ¡°Hey, if you¡¯re good enough to walk, how about we get some stew?¡± Wolter asked and looked at the tent¡¯s exit. ¡°There are a few pots cooking all the time, so we can get food even in the middle of the night.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Andric replied, and he slowly got off the bed. His legs slightly ached, but he used a small spell to clear the pain.


    Andric and Wolter walked out of the tent, and, along the way, Wolter said to one of the healers, ¡°We don¡¯t need the bed anymore,¡± and continued walking.


    The tent Andric and Wolter walked out of was located outside the western edge of Gallus Town. To the south were fields of various yields, and to the north was a forest, which Andric had gone out to play in several times. Many trees had been cut down to construct the tents and pieces of furniture with, but a few were left to provide shade.


    Though it was night, a bright moon illuminated the area around the tents. However, Andric first looked toward the southern end of Gallus Town, where embers were rising with clouds of smoke. Some buildings were still on fire, they at least the flames were contained. As they were, the fires would die out within a few days.


    Wolter led Andric around the tent, past a row of identical tents, and into a large clearing of space around the road that led into Gallus Town. There, several hundred people were standing in the space between the tents and the road, and the majority of them had bowls and spoons.


    At the point where the road officially entered Gallus Town, six large drums were placed. Chefs ladled stew out from three of the drums, and the remaining three drums were being filled with more ingredients. Metal bowls and spoons were in two large piles on a table next to the stew drums, and people who wanted to eat were freely taking them. Once they finished, they placed their bowl and spoon into a dirty pile, where someone was cleaning them.


    Thanks to the speed of the serving chefs, Andric and Wolter only needed to wait in line for about thirty seconds to get a bowl of soup, and they walked down the road to find a place to sit and eat. After the found a place, they silently ate, and Andric listened in to the conversations of small groups of people around to him.


    For the most part, they were angry about their homes being destroyed. In an event that they had no power to stop, they lost everything they had spent years collecting. Many magicians only worked enough to provide food for themselves. When they bought things like furniture, they bought it for life. After having everything destroyed, they would need to return to working for most of the day.


    The amount of people who grieved over lost loved ones was not low. They were hit the hardest, since their loss could not be replaced after a few months or years of working. The monster¡¯s body was big enough to topple buildings with a single touch, and that led to some families being wiped out when the monster landed on their roof. Some magicians had only enough power to save themselves, but were helpless to save those around them. Many people were found in collapsed buildings, barely maintaining their own life.


    Due to the way the monster moved and how it constantly left behind a trail of flames, areas of town were gradually encircled by fire. When the monster traveled down the town¡¯s large roads, it scraped against the sides of the buildings, which frequently make them collapsed, which would then block off the alleyways that entered into the road.


    While people were escaping from the initial flames and where the monster originally entered the town at, they naturally funneled onto the large roads, and the monster would naturally follow them there. The more people who found an escape path, the more likely the monster would appear there.


    A few death tolls were speculated, but Andric didn¡¯t pay them any mind. A few people were even asking questions about how the newly freed up land would be sold. Some were talking about jobs that opened up, due to the last working being killed.


    Over the last ten thousand years, a code of ethics had been formed in society, that centered around receiving and recovering from disasters. About ten percent of Gallus Town¡¯s population had died, and another thirty percent were injured in some way. Roughly thirty percent of those injured people were seriously injured, but they would all recover. Eventually, Gallus Town would return to normal, minus the several hundred people who died.


    ¡°Mind if we sit here?¡± a woman asked, and Andric looked up from his bowl. Susanna and Cato were standing in front of him and Wolter, and they each had bowls of stew.


    Although Andric hadn¡¯t ever taken any particular notice of Susanna¡¯s appearance in the past, she looked obviously disheveled compared to the past. Her hair was dirty, and her clothes hadn¡¯t been changed or washed in days. After making those observations, Andric passed his gaze to Cato and then to Wolter, and both of them were similarly dirty.


    People loved to bathe, but the bathhouses of Gallus Town were located inside the residential district. They might have been destroyed or not been able to gather enough workers, but most of the people around Andric were dirty.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Wolter said, and he moved a little away from the road to make room for Susanna and Cato. Andric waited a moment for Heiko to arrive, but he could safely assume what happened to him when he didn¡¯t join his family to eat.


    Susanna and Cato sat, and Susanna began eating her food before Cato. Between the two of them, Susanna had the most composure. She had mentally prepared herself for Heiko¡¯s death when he joined the town guard, and she knew he died doing what he loved: helping people.


    Cato, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t help but feel angry and sad. Her father had died, but he died while trying to save the lives of strangers. The three of them had escaped Gallus Town together, but only Heiko decided to go back and save people from the flames. ¡®Were those strangers more important than me?¡¯ Cato asked herself constantly.


    ¡°Do you know what happened to Hedy and Lieve?¡± Cato asked, and Susanna pinched her arm. Susanna angrily glared at Cato, and Cato tightly shut her mouth, but the question was already asked.


    Nobody needed to be told that Lieve and Hedy were dead, but nobody knew exactly what happened except for Andric. No identifiable remains were left behind by the monster. The only clue that Andric knew about Lieve and Hedy was that he was found unconscious near their home, only a few dozen feet away from the monster¡¯s corpse.


    Andric remembered everything clearly, at first. But, over time, he lost memory of what actually happened. What color was the monster? How tall was it? How fast did it move? How long did it take for it to eat Lieve and Hedy? Every time Andric reimagined the event, the monster became a little darker, a little taller, a little faster, and a little hungrier.


    ¡°...¡± He opened his mouth to speak and let out a small sound, but he didn¡¯t continue any further, and he shut his mouth after a few seconds. Just as he was about to speak, he remembered his final spell - the one that took every ounce of mana from his body to complete.


    That last spell had completely obliterated a large portion of the monster¡¯s head and neck. In terms of cubic feet, Andric couldn¡¯t say for sure how much tissue he vaporized, but he knew it was much more than what would be possible without an affinity for it. He put his spoon in his near-empty bowl, then looked down at his open palm.


    Several minutes passed. Andric eventually finished eating his stew by using telekinesis magic to transport the stew to his mouth, and Wolter took the empty bowl over to the pile of dirty bowls near the chefs. In their group of four, Wolter and Susanna did most of the talking, while Cato and Andric were mostly silent. Around them, many people were still talking.


    ¡°Most of them are suffering from mana exhaustion, and I give it two more days until everyone who wasn¡¯t seriously injured wakes up. Really, those magicians shouldn¡¯t have been using spells that weren¡¯t from their affinity. If they had just left everything to the right types of magicians, we wouldn¡¯t have almost a thousand people passed out and laying in tents.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. The eight of us will be able to heal everybody three or four more days, and then we¡¯ll go back to our own city.¡±


    Wolter, after hearing the two healing magicians speak, said to Andric, ¡°With your affinity, you could probably heal a lot of people. Once you¡¯ve recovered from your mana exhaustion, you should see what you can do.¡±


    ¡°Cato, you should go with him. When you¡¯re done, go to our tent and we¡¯ll meet you there,¡± Susanna said and took Cato¡¯s empty bowl. The mother looked at her daughter with her stern eyes, and the daughter¡¯s ¡®Why should I go with him?¡¯ died out before she said it.


    Instead, Cato turned to Andric and said, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± She clearly didn¡¯t want to initially go with Andric, but, the more she thought about it, she began to think she might enjoy it. At least, she wasn¡¯t entirely opposed to the idea after thinking about it.


    For Andric, though, he¡¯d rather go by himself and quickly get it over with. He needed to contribute somehow to the recoveration of Gallus Town, and it would still be an effective way to increase his fame, but he just wasn¡¯t in the mood to be boastful about anything.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go,¡± Andric stood and said, and he walked back toward where he had woken up at.


    Cato followed behind him and wondered why her mother told her to go with him. She thought it might have something to do with the question she asked when they first sat down with Andric and Wolter, and, maybe, it would be fine to ask as long as it was just her and Andric.


    When they were both out of sight of Wolter and Susanna, Cato asked, ¡°So, what happened to Hedy and your mom?¡±


    Andric¡¯s step faltered, but he managed to reply, ¡°They were eaten.¡±


    Finally saying it, he felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. Earlier, he had denied his emotions, but just saying one sentence to Cato made him better able to accept the death of Lieve and Hedy. Cato didn¡¯t ask any more questions, and Andric got to think about it even longer.


    Andric had a tough time describing his family relationships in his new world. He still had ties to his previous-world family, but he hadn¡¯t seen or heard them for over a decade. He would never forget them, but he allowed the positions of mother, father, and sister to be changed out with his new-world family.


    Although the death of his new family members was sad, Andric had hope. He had reincarnated into a new world, and that meant Lieve or Hedy could too. Life had its ups and downs, and death was only the beginning of a new life - at least, it was in Andric¡¯s experience.


    He thought to himself, ¡®I should start a religion,¡¯ and arrived outside his destination.


    Andric and Cato entered through the tent¡¯s large flap, and Andric approached the nearest injured person laying on the ground, while Cato briefly observed the entirety of the tent before following. At Andric¡¯s feet, a man laid with most of his body covered in burns, but his face and palms were clear. Looking around, Andric judged that the healing magicians had prioritized faces and palms before full-body healing.


    Andric, though, wouldn¡¯t be doing that. He bent down and placed his hand on the man¡¯s hand, then activated a burn healing spell. A few seconds later, the man¡¯s skin cleared up, and his face showed that a pain had been lifted from him.


    Although Andric didn¡¯t need to touch his patients or specify what kind of wound he was healing for his spell, the mana cost for the spell would increase if either of them wasn¡¯t done. He had an affinity for ranged magic, but it still cost about fifteen percent more mana to perform a spell at range than with physical contact. By specifying burn wounds, Andric¡¯s spell would be prevented from healing things like scars, tooth cavities, damaged liver cells, or benign malignants that would eventually sort themselves out.


    While Andric walked from person to person, healing them of their burn wounds, Cato noticed him touching each person and asked, ¡°Why do you touch them when you heal them?¡±


    ¡°Because it takes less mana,¡± Andric replied. ¡°I can probably heal a few more people by doing it like this, and there¡¯s no real reason not to.¡±


    Andric had always been able to sense his mana more clearly than other magicians, and he knew how much mana each spell used without having to experiment with draining all of his mana. An ordinary magician would need to see how many times they could use the spell before they reached a stage of mana exhaustion, but Andric didn¡¯t need to do that.


    Cato thought to herself that Andric never used any mana-saving techniques when he healed her, then shook her head when she thought about what that would entail. She covered her face with her hands and watched as Andric moved throughout the tent, gradually progressing along the row of patients laying on the ground.


    Each side of the tent had about forty people on it. Some people had already been healed, such as Andric, and he ended up healing one row and two people from the next row before feeling the onset of mana exhaustion. His brain pulsed in a way that didn¡¯t hurt but warned him not to continue any longer. If he pressed forward, he could probably heal five more people, but he would then be having to resist a headache for the rest of the night.


    ¡°That¡¯s all I can do,¡± he said, and he turned to the now calm Cato.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go to my mom¡¯s tent,¡± Cato said, and she led Andric out of the tent.


    The large space that separated Gallus Town from its surrounding fields was used for the medical tents, and the forest to the north was used as an area for families or individuals to put up tents to sleep under. Andric recognized the area because of the many times he had entered the forest with Hedy and Cato, but many trees had been cut down, and many tents were hung on low branches.


    In the day and a half that Andric was unconscious, Wolter never left the medical tent to get his own sleeping tent. Susanna and Cato were given a tent to accommodate for them plus Heiko, but Heiko never came back after he returned to the flames to save other people from them. Thus, when Wolter and Andric needed a place to spend the night,  Susanna offered the vacant space in her tent. After all, it would only be until houses inside the town were rebuilt.


    Each person received a sheet to lay on a sheet to cover up with, and Wolter took his and Andric¡¯s before going to the tent with Susanna. A few minutes later, Cato and Andric arrived.


    They were all friendly, and Andric and Cato had napped at the other¡¯s house on many occasions, but sleeping in a tent together was almost entirely different. When they looked at each other, they couldn¡¯t help but notice the ones who were absent, and they knew things would never go back to how they were before.


    Over the next few days, construction of houses in Gallus Town began. As thanks for Heiko¡¯s contribution to saving lives, Susanna and Cato were given priority housing, and they moved into a new house in less than a week. The combined efforts of magic and manpower enabled the builders to complete several houses a day, and Susanna and Cato were among the first fifty people to move back into the town.


    Wolter and Andric would have soon had their own house built for them, but logic dictated that their two families could pool their resources and recover faster, and Wolter and Andric moved in with Susanna and Cato in their new home.


    By sticking together, rebuilding became easier.

 Chapter 3

    With the winter came the snow, and farming operations around Gallus Town slowed to a crawl. Hundreds of farmers across tens of farms carefully observed the sky, waiting for devilish white flakes to begin their assault on the fields that grew year round. At a time when most families were hiding away, huddled around the fireplace in their homes, the farmers were defending their livelihood from nature¡¯s yearly attack on the fields.


    For reinforcements, the farmers relied on magicians with subtable affinities. Fire magicians were excellent at warming the fields, and wind magicians were great at redirecting snow away from crops. Water and ice magicians were slightly less effective, but still in high demand. Wherever magicians traveled, farmers were offering small bags of their previous harvest¡¯s yield in exchange for a few hours of assistance against the cold.


    Winter in the nation of Fridus only lasted for a few months, but many magicians were able to earn enough money to last then the rest of the year if they found a farm that needed them for several continuous days. Some crops could live under snow for a while, but only because the snow insulated the crops from lower temperatures. When waves of freezing temperatures invaded, fire or wind magicians were absolutely necessary to protect the next harvest.


    Among the magicians leaving the city of Nikandros, a group of mages from the nation¡¯s largest mage academy left to recruit new students. They split up and searched through different towns, villages, and hamlets, all looking to find talented magicians without teachers.


    Early mornings were the coldest in Gallus Town, but Andric still went to work. His magic could be used to warm his body, but he couldn¡¯t maintain the spell constantly. For Wolter, who only left the house an hour or two before noon, the ambient temperature would have already raised due to the sun being out. Andric, though, rushed to the smelters of the blacksmith forge to bask in their warmth.


    In the winter, many people began wearing coats, except for those people who worked around a blazing hot forge, which included Andric. He wore his usual summer clothes with a thin jacket, and intermittent use of a heating spell was enough for him to keep warm when traveling throughout the town.


    Boele and the blacksmiths still required Andric to keep them cool, and they continued paying for his services throughout the rest of the year. When the monster attacked Gallus Town, they had gone several days without Andric¡¯s assistance, but magicians who could replace Andric were few in number, and they weren¡¯t able to get a replacement. Andric could have used the opportunity to ask for a raise, but he decided against it.


    In the past, Andric focused on earning money and discovering a way to become rich in his new world. Since the attack, however, he began thinking more about his magic. He and the ones close to him had always thought him to be a root variety of healing magician, but his magical affinity actually went much deeper.


    Magic affinities were commonly equated to tree anatomy, with specific affinities being branches and broad affinities being roots - calling them limb affinities would be more anatomically correct, but most magicians called them root affinities. The further along a branch, the less variety of magic one could use. The closer to the trunk, the more types of spells that were possible.


    Andric always thought he had a healing magic affinity with ranged capabilities, but he actually had a root affinity of that. How deep the root went, nobody knew, and Andric could only learn through experimentation.


    But, Gallus Town wasn¡¯t an ideal location for experimentation. Moreover, excessive experimentation required funding, which Andric severely lacked. Most of the money he saved from years of working at the forge had been spent after the fire destroyed his house, and resources to experiment with became scarce after much of them were burned.


    Although he had used his magic in the past to destroy flesh from a person''s body, it was always done in the circumstances of healing that person. Never had Andric purposefully destroyed body tissue for the sake of its destruction. He always assumed the bad elements were destroyed because it was a necessary process when healing someone; out with the bag, in with the good.


    To develop and test theories, Andric needed living test subjects, and those cost money. At the present time, after a disaster and during the winter, live animals were too expensive for Andric to purchase. His magic only worked on living tissue, so using corpses was out of the question. Meats from shops were usable to a certain extent, but spells on them cost more mana than spells on a creature, and they were still expensive.


    When Andric held a piece of meat in his hand, his options were to either test a spell on it or eat it. Although Wolter earned enough money from his job to support everyone in the house, they only ate meat about once a week. Vaporizing an expensive ingredient would be considered a waste in anyone¡¯s eyes.


    As lunchtime rolled around, Andric left the forge and walked to his father¡¯s work. The blacksmiths would eventually leave and find something to eat, and Andric could take as much time as he wanted. He wasn¡¯t paid much, but he wasn¡¯t under any pressure to return in a timely fashion or even show up at all. Because Andric was the only magician of his type in Gallus Town, the blacksmiths needed to work around his schedule.


    Typically, Andric would buy a large bowl of soup, then occasionally talk to Wolter while he ate it. However, this time, a small stand a few dozen feet away from the food cart caught Andric¡¯s attention. He remembered seeing a similar stand every summer, where parents would take their children to get their magical affinity tested, but the current season was winter, and the affinity tester shouldn¡¯t arrive for several more months.


    ¡°What¡¯s that guy doing out there?¡± Andric asked Wolter when he saw him.


    Wolter glanced at the man at the stand, then replied, ¡°He¡¯s from the national mage academy, recruiting for the mage corps. I¡¯ve seen hundreds of people go to him, but it looks like only one has been accepted so far. You want the same thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Andric replied and then turned to look more at the man at the stand.


    The national mage academy was a massive school in the city of Nikandros, and they trained thousands of combat magicians every year. Most of those magicians, who would then have the qualification to be called a mage, joined the mage corps, which was the Fridus army. They had no guns, swords, or spears, but only magicians and mages, and so they were called the mage corps.


    Being a magician soldier took a lot more work than being a soldier who held a weapon. Magicians needed to evolve their magic to the point where they could be proficient in combat, and teachers of every affinity were impossible to find. Instead of quickly teaching a soldier to use a weapon, the magicians had to be coached into realizing their own potential.


    Andric¡¯s food came to him a minute later, and he ate while thinking about the mage corps and the mage academy. If he simply wanted to learn more about magic, the mage academy would be an excellent place to go, but he¡¯d have to pay money for that. Joining the mage corpse would be a cheaper option, but it would have much more danger accompanying it. In the academy, he could study in safety. In the corps, he could have enemy magicians trying to kill him.


    Nations in the world of Paege were often hostile to each other. Fridus, where Andric lived, continuously fought with the nation of Abbthyth, to the east. As long as a powerful magus wasn¡¯t involved, the fighting would pause at a stalemate for decades. If Fridus hadn¡¯t sent a recruiter to Gallus Town in the last twelve years, something must have recently happened to break the stalemate, or the various government leaders suspect something will happen soon.


    Either way, joining the mage corps would be inviting a huge risk into Andric¡¯s life. The benefits, however, if numerous enough, could outweigh the risks. Most magician warfare involved magicians shooting spells at other magicians. If Andric was in a place where killing his opponent was encouraged, he could use his opponents as test subjects.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Of course, Andric wouldn¡¯t be comfortable killing people for no reason. Even if he joined the mage corps, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his membership as justification for taking a human¡¯s life. And, although atrocities committed by Abbthyth had been documented to a large extent in Fridus, Andric couldn¡¯t be sure how much of it was propaganda.


    Each nation fought for resources, and Andric wasn¡¯t stupid enough to believe that both sides were innocent. Fridus must have done something to Abbthyth, and Abbthyth must have done something to Fridus. Neither could remain passive when the other possessed the amazing power of magicians.


    Once again, Andric thought about why someone would be recruiting in Gallus Town. Could one side be preparing for a large-scale invasion? Did one side have a magus?


    The power of a single magus could not be overestimated. Ordinary magicians and mages paled in comparison to the frightening ability of magi. If a nation had a magus backing them, would they even need magicians or mages? No, they wouldn¡¯t.


    After tens of minutes sitting and eating his soup, Andric came to a final conclusion: Abbthyth had produced a magus, and Fridus was recruiting magicians to help counter their insane power.


    Unless the legendary group The Council of the Magi interfered, Fridus would need to pull out all the stops just to protect itself. If that was the case, Andric could feel fine joining the mage corps. Then, he would be protecting his country from those who would destroy it.


    Andric finished eating, gave his bowl to a man working at the food cart, and then approached the man at the stand. There was no line, but young magicians came to him every few minutes, and they needed a minute or two to be tested. Often, they simply had their affinity checked. Sometimes, though, they showed a few spells to the man, and he gave his input.


    ¡°Hi, I heard you¡¯re recruiting for the mage corps,¡± Andric said and stood on the opposite side of the man¡¯s stand.


    ¡°Hello, yes, I¡¯m so glad you came to ask,¡± he said and shook Andric''s hand, then continued, ¡°I¡¯m recruiting not just for the mage corps, but also for the Nikandros National Mage Academy, a school specially designed to nurture young magicians into powerful mages. We have the instructors, facilities, and the resources to bring out the best of any magician.


    ¡°But, don¡¯t think we¡¯re only there to help you learn how to fight. When you join the mage academy and sign up for a four-year stand with the Fridus Mage Corps, we¡¯ll let you take two years of your three-year enrollment at the mage academy to learn anything you want.


    ¡°The Nikandros National Mage Academy has instructors for all the major elemental affinities, as well as over a hundred instructors that specialize in abstract affinities. Tell me, what¡¯s your magical affinity?¡±


    Andric replied, ¡°My affinity is healing magic.¡±


    Obviously, Andric thought about what he was going to say before he approached the recruiter. He overheard two people being interviewed by him, and he knew what lies to say. For his own safety, so that he would not be put in combat situations, he told the recruiter that he could only use healing magic. Healing magicians were always in high demand, and Andric didn¡¯t worry about himself being rejected.


    ¡°What luck! You can sign up with the mage corps and receive a 400,000 coin bonus upon completion of your four-year stand! That¡¯s included with the free three-year enrollment into the mage academy, and it¡¯s exactly what any healing magician needs to start up their own clinic in a city!¡± The recruiter eagerly explained the benefits Andric would gain if he joined.


    Andric had to admit that the 400,000 coins were a big incentive for him to join the mage corps. Even though he worked at Boele¡¯s forge for half a decade, he still hadn¡¯t earned that much. That many coins would be enough to live off for several years without working. But, more attractively, it could help him start his own business.


    A wise man once said, ¡°Get money; get paid,¡± and all capitalist knew that large sums of money were able to produce a snowballing effect. With a 400,000 coin initial startup, Andric would be able to fund ventures that could launch him closer to unimaginable wealth.


    Before he made his final decision, Andric asked, ¡°So, that¡¯s three years of school, four years of deployment, and then I can leave with the 400,000 coins in my hands?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one hundred percent correct,¡± the recruiter replied and placed a sheet of paper on his stand. He then placed a pen and inkwell next to it and said, ¡°Just fill out this form that I can take back to the academy. I¡¯m having all the recruits from Gallus Town meet with me, here, tomorrow afternoon, and I¡¯ll tell you then how to enter the academy.¡±


    He then extended his hand and added, ¡°Oh, and I¡¯ll need to quickly test your magical affinity. It should only take a second.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Andric said and took the man¡¯s hand.


    The recruiter tested Andric¡¯s magical affinity by injecting him with a small amount of mana. Then, with that mana, he partially manifested spells of different affinities. If the spells easily activated, then it meant he had the affinity for it. Andric didn¡¯t lie when he said he had an affinity for healing magic, and the recruiter easily confirmed that Andric indeed had the affinity. Although people would sometimes lie about what magical affinity they had, they rarely said they had a worse magical affinity than they really had, and the recruiter suspected nothing.


    Once the recruiter was done testing Andric, the latter turned his attention to the form he needed to fill out. He wrote basic information about himself, and he only lied in one section. When the recruiter was talking to other possible recruits, Andric learned that the minimum age for joining the mage academy was fifteen. But, because Andric trained his body, he could easily pass a young-looking fifteen-year-old. As long as nobody checked with the town¡¯s birth registry, his falsified age would go unnoticed.


    Although Andric missed many technologies from his previous world, there were some instances where not having technology was a good thing. Without sufficient communication, age verification couldn¡¯t be performed quickly or easily. Finding out someone¡¯s age wasn¡¯t as simple as looking it up in some database, or even going to where that person was born. As far as Andric knew, the town mayor might not even have records on when Gallus Town citizens were born.


    Magicians valued privacy, and they valued respect even more. In order to not risk offending a healing magician, the recruiter might even ignore evidence that Andric is really only thirteen years old.


    Andric filled out the form, then handed it to the recruiter and walked away. He intended to return to the forge, but he caught Wolter¡¯s eye at the food cart, and he switched his direction. He instead walked to the food cart and stood in silence, waiting for Wolter to say something.


    Finally, after a moment of silence, he asked, ¡°When are you going to tell Susanna and Cato?¡±


    The question, both valid and important, hadn¡¯t even crossed Andric¡¯s mind when he made his early decision. Their opinions wouldn¡¯t change his decision, but he felt remorseful that he hadn¡¯t even thought about what anyone else would think of him joining the mage corps.


    Andric¡¯s relationship with Wolter changed after the deaths of Lieve and Hedy. Both of them developed a purpose for living, and they pursued their separate goals independently of one another. Wolter aimed himself at restoring what they had lost, and Andric searched for a way to prevent it from happening again.


    Andric never felt particularly close with Susanna. She was Cato¡¯s mother and friendly with Lieve, but she wasn¡¯t a main character. Though Wolter had tried to bring everyone together as a family under one roof, Andric couldn¡¯t accept Susanna as a motherly figure or as a friend. He tolerated her, but only because of his obligation to Cato.


    Andric and Cato were friends. Even though she constantly threw things at him or carelessly tested dangerous magic on him, he considered her a friend. They weren¡¯t great friends, but Hedy had managed to bring them together to a certain extent. After Hedy¡¯s death, though, Andric and Cato gradually grew apart. For one, Andric stopped spending entire days with her, and they didn¡¯t have a third person to help work through awkward moments.


    Wolter and Susanna were adults. They could handle a relative¡¯s death and a friends departure, but Cato was just a kid. When Cato wanted to test her momentum-enhancing punches, Andric felt like declining her offer for him to be a test subject. However, his memories of Hedy encouraging him to accept Cato¡¯s past unreasonable demands made him accept the current demands. Plus, it wasn¡¯t like Cato could actually hurt him.


    Moreover, Wolter consistently reminded Andric to be nice to Cato and get along. Andric wasn¡¯t sure what kind of relationship they shared, but he suspected Wolter had ulterior motives. Andric wasn¡¯t blind to the developing relations between Wolter and Susanna, and he sometimes thought that the two adults were trying to encourage a good relationship between the two children.


    Andric would never let that happen, obviously, but it didn¡¯t mean Wolter and Susanna wouldn¡¯t try, or that Cato wouldn¡¯t be grateful for their assistance.


    In the end, Andric¡¯s circumstances were just too strange. There was no way he could tell Wolter, Susanna, and Cato that he reincarnated after living a short life in a different world. Even imagining that conversation made him cringe.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell them, eventually,¡± Andric replied, then walked away. Eventually, he would have to tell Susanna and Cato about him joining the mage corps, and he¡¯d eventually - perhaps years down the line - have to tell everyone about himself coming from a different world.