《The Collector》


 00- Prologue

    I look the small mountain of treasures laid out before me.


    Some, bought from the most famed blacksmith¡¯s shops I could find for astronomical prices. Some, I intentionally raised the price competitively in noble¡¯s auctions then stole them from the idiotic rich bastards that bought them just to show off their wealth and power. Some, unexpectedly plundered from fools who tried to rob me. Some, I retrieved from ancient ruins in the deepest parts of the danger zones. And some, I broke into the heavily guarded treasuries of empires, kingdoms, guilds, powerful nobles, hidden sects and walked out with.


    Regrettably, I never learned how to properly forge weapons out of steel or whatever they use.


    Not that I need to forge anything the traditional way. Nor do I have the need to collect all these treasures, to be honest.


    It¡¯s just that- I can¡¯t help myself. I found it quite the enjoyable profession to be a collector of treasures.


    Ah, the satisfaction, upon seeing the shocked faces of those I plundered, if they¡¯re not dead yet, when I finally defeated the monsters guarding the treasures, and the satisfaction of spending someone else¡¯s money lavishly.


    Oh, the joy of being a collector.


    Well, time to reign it in and pack up, I suppose. With a light wave of my hand, the treasures all got sucked into my personal treasury.


    Not just any treasury, mind you. And certainly not some cheap, extradimensional storage mediums you might find average kings and emperors wearing.


    No no no, I have the greatest treasury in the world!


    The ¡¸Golden Capital¡¹, I¡¯m sure you have heard of it!


    Or if you haven¡¯t, ignorant peasants, perhaps you know the treasured key that connects to it from anywhere I want: ¡¸Gate of Babylon¡¹.


    Mwahahaha, yes, Yes, YES, my friends, I found the lost city of <del>Atlantis</del> Babylon, the ¡¸Golden Capital¡¹itself!


    Turns out, it¡¯s right below the¡¸Hanging Gardens of Babylon¡¹that I was on. You can¡¯t blame me for not knowing, the flying fortress/garden was massive, and took months to explore. Finding the right commands to beam me down to the surface also took so many trials and errors that I almost killed myself several times during the process.


    Anyways, long story short, I found the only treasure on the hanging garden other than those in the actual garden. The ¡¸Key of the King''s Law, Bab-ilu¡¹, otherwise known as the master key to unlocking the Golden Capital.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    And so, after an extremely frustratingly looooooooooong time simply wandering around the planet-size treasury of the First King, I found the key slot to insert Babilu at last.


    Honestly, it was quite the stroke of luck. I was just using it as my grill then, when one of the support collapsed, causing the incredibly convenient key to slide into the hidden key slot in the ground.


    And wouldn¡¯t you know it? Next thing I knew, I could felt the treasury being connected to ME!


    That was reassuring, to say the least. I was so worried that it would become bonded to the chickens that were grilling on the key, since they were technically the last formerly-living things to have touched the key. I suppose the key does know who the real master is, after all.


    Initially, I was hoping that the whole treasury would become my paradise, where I can do anything like teleport around just by thinking about it.


    It didn¡¯t had that function.


    But! And here¡¯s the important part, I found that the Gate of Babylon I can use to summon anything in the <del>treasure planet</del> treasury can be used to teleport me around the place as well by summoning myself elsewhere within.


    It became quite boring after a few years, so I left, almost forgetting to take the Hanging Gardens with me. Almost.


    Afterward I headed off. And since I inherited the treasury, I thought I might as well continue what the original creator started.


    Collecting all the treasures in the world! Every world!


    Naturally, I became a collector, if you haven¡¯t already guessed. (Did you?)


    Now then, I stare at the portal point in front of me.


    A small, transparent twist in the the fabric of spacetime, so small and inconspicuous that it¡¯s nearly impossible to stumble upon by chance.


    Should I cross over to the other side? The question flashes through my mind, as does doubt and uncertainty.


    My hesitation doesn¡¯t lasts long.


    ¡°Oh well, I¡¯ve already come this far. What¡¯s the harm in going into just another world?¡±

 01- First (I)

    I was born into a magician clan, though just in a tiny portion of the branch family that hasn¡¯t produced a magician in nearly a century.


    Of course, as a member of a branch family with no notable records, nobody expected me to have the qualifications to be a magician. And so by the time I could understand reason, I never told anyone else.


    And considering that I am a genius, that realization came to me quite early. Soon after I learned how to read for myself, if I¡¯m not mistaken.


    In this time and age, when the number of magicians is dwindling by the generations, being born a magician, and being discovered to be one, would only lead to the inevitable fate of being used as a tool. Not the free life I wanted at all.


    So I decided to be an ¡®observer¡¯, instead of a ¡®participant¡¯. Simply put, I had no taste for the cold-hearted politics all magicians must deal with.


    On the other hand, I was also quite talented at martial arts. Chi control came to me naturally. I don¡¯t know why everyone else claims that it¡¯s as hard to master as magecraft. There¡¯s no formulas, no spells or chants to memorize, no complex magic circles to be drawn. Just feel the flow of Chi through the body sync that with the flow of Chi in the surrounding.


    Easy, right? That¡¯s what I thought. Honestly, I only took a night of meditation to catch that feeling of merging into the flow of the world.


    Afterward, it seems so natural to just incorporate passive chi control into my movements as I walk, breath, or simply move.


    That, I couldn¡¯t hide completely, and thus it was discovered.


    Sadly, even as a martial arts genius, that doesn¡¯t carries much weight in a clan of magician bloodlines. The news never spread outside of the family, as a result.


    Battles between proper magicians tend to be ranged battles, with us martial artists protecting each side as human shields. If magic is mostly suited for long-range battles, martial arts is mostly used for close-range battles.


    But I suppose being a martial arts genius does have its consequences.


    When I was seven, I was assigned to be the assistant of the little princess of the main family. Though she wasn¡¯t the heir, her abilities far surpasses that of her brothers, combined. I was simply there to assist her in her trainings, or so it seems to others. In truth, it was a deal between the clan leader and I.


    I would pretend to just be a servant to his daughter while protecting her from the shadows. Meanwhile, my parents would be granted early retirement and enough financial settlements to live out the rest of their lives peacefully on a little, clan-owned island.


    Of course, I knew the meanings behind that as well. I have always been more mature others of my age. I knew that, and so did he. You see, I realized too late that my masks was too perfect, to the point that someone as experienced as the clan leader saw through in a day. Truths are ugly; there are no perfect truths, only perfect lies. That was the lesson I learned that day.


    My parents are the security, the hostages, in case of my betrayal.


    ¡°So do you job well, boy. And don¡¯t forget, you can never escape my senses within the walls of the clan¡±


    So I did my job faithfully, as a hidden Guardian by the little princess¡¯s side.


    From dawn to noon, it¡¯s my duty to wake up the little princess, select her dress of the day, and assist her in her morning training to become a magician.


    To be precise, I was the test dummy for her during the training session. After all, martial artists who has mastered the usage of Chi recovers at rates much faster than normal humans or magicians, in addition to our enhanced physical skills.


    This continues until noon, when the little princess stops training for lunch and received an afternoon left to her other areas of studies. There were many subjects the only talented daughter of the current clan leader was expected to excel in.


    After a quick lunch and cleaning up the training area, it¡¯s my turn to go through my own training session. Unless the little princess decides to head to town after her afternoon lessons, I simply train until dinner. Of course, if she does choose so, I would have to accompany her as a protective ¡®cousin¡¯.


    As I was the last human shield in the line of defense for the little princess, I was trained by the head of the old branch family himself, whose a martial artist himself.


    In my most honest opinion, once you get around the obscure terminology, twisted explanations traditionally used for reasons unknown to me, martial arts is pretty easy to understand. Perhaps that was precisely why they make it seems so obscure and arcane.


    When I thought of that, I couldn¡¯t help but try to apply the same thoughts to the magecraft that the little princess has been trying to learn this week.


    She may be talented, I¡¯ll give you that, but she¡¯s no genius. Not to mention uncommitted to her training. Translation? I had plenty of spare time to study her learning material while she prepares her spells half-heartedly.


    You know what they say: Curiosity killed the cat.


    I was so sure that nobody would had noticed that I was secretly learning magecraft all those time.


    Not mention, I achieved the state of Nirvana early on, so I was even more certain that I have successfully deceived everyone else. They don¡¯t call the state of Nirvana, or true meditation as some prefers to call it, the dream of all martial art practitioners for nothing.


    In addition to increased healing and partially replacing the need to sleep, within the state of Nirvana my sense of ¡®self¡¯ becomes separated from the real world and my body.


    Idealy, it¡¯s the perfect place to mentally train myself in martial arts. At least, that¡¯s what everyone else uses the state for.


    For me, however, I found out a little secret. Martial artists typically can¡¯t be magicians, and vice versa. Normally, you got to choose one or the other. Thus, no magician in the clan has the state of nirvana. So naturally, they have no clue that it¡¯s not only martial arts that you can train in the true meditation state.


    So in the morning I trained with the little princess, studying her lessons in her place. In the afternoon, I trained with the old man, or accompanied the little princess wherever she ran off to. In the evening, I had time to myself unless my presence is required. Needless to say, I devoted most of my time to practicing magecraft in meditation during those times.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Little by little, I ironed out the inconsistencies in those spells. The little trinkets designed originally to conceal the true nature of the spell so the opponents can¡¯t easily recognize and counter them. The same little trinkets that makes those spells many times harder to learn then they should.


    What really surprised me was the secret within the spells I found out after I removed all those little distractions. It¡¯s like finally finished assemblings a complex puzzle blindly, only to find that the resulting picture made from the little puzzle pieces isn¡¯t what you were expecting at all.


    You see, the magecraft taught to the little princess are categorized and classified by their apparent nature. A spell that throws out lightning at you opponent is classified as lightning spell, plain and simple, right?


    But in truth¡­ magecraft are defined by its type of action.


    That begged the question, why isn¡¯t that open knowledge to everyone in the clan? Every book I had read, every clan magician I distantly knew besides the higher magicians I didn¡¯t have much chances of meeting had no idea of this.


    Or perhaps it was the secret of the higher magicians, the secret only passed down as a young magician graduates from being novices to an average magicians? Or when they go from the common cannon fodders to treasured higher magicians?


    I had no idea.


    Nevertheless, the somewhat peaceful life continued. For a grand total of six years, I ¡®served¡¯ alongside the little princess, an inconspicuous servant no one outside of the clan really notices. Which suits my ¡®observer¡¯ personality just fine.


    Totally undetected, I laugh inwardly to myself at times. Foolish thoughts. Indeed, curiosity killed the cat. Just earlier than expected.


    It seemed to be just a normal outing that afternoon. Though perhaps the uncommon sense of unease in the little princess should have warned me otherwise. But, my thought was otherwise occupied at the time.


    After all, it had been four years after I achieved the first stage of the state of nirvana, I¡¯m close to breaking through to the second stage, which is using it seamlessly even as I move around casually. Battle was impossible in the second stage, however. That¡¯s only possible for the third stage, or true enlightenment.


    So yes, I was distracted, mostly because I was busy trying to improve on the ¡®arcane lance¡¯ spell. It seemed to have so much potentials! What if, instead of just a lance, I could create other shapes? It would be like having any weapon on demand! Basic, granted, but still the possibilities!


    My chance to try it out came out of nowhere. There was nothing there a split second before, or at least that¡¯s what my distracted senses told me.


    The air suddenly became covered thick with intense killing intents.


    Then, three shrouded figures appeared out of the thin air, and attacked the little princess!


    I panicked, pathetically. I was too far from the little princess, a mistake I would¡¯d never made normally. So I used my first and only two ranged skills that came to mind.


    ¡¸Sevenfold Arcane Shields! ¡¹


    ¡¸Sevenfold Arcane Lances! ¡¹


    My personal spells. My pride and joy, the result of two whole years of trial and errors. I never learned the multicast ability that only higher magicians possesses, and I can¡¯t use the compound magic ability since I¡¯m just by myself. So instead of casting the same spells several times simultaneously, I ventured onto a different road.


    I modified the spell itself, redefining the target area into seven parts, and restructuring the fundamentals of the spell so that it increased the number of attacks.


    My layered shields covered the little princess, and my arcane lances collided with the assailants¡¯ attacks. Being a normal magician in terms of natural talents, those two spells alone costed me two-thirds of my mana capacity.


    But no worries, I had already closed the distance between the little princess and I the second after the spell materialized. Any remnants of the assailants¡¯ attacks after colliding with my Sevenfold Arcane Lances should be weakened enough to be blocked by the shields. And even if anything gets past, my battle aura is already all fired up to intercept.


    That¡¯s when I realized.


    Too light. These attacks were too light, as if they were being used for training purposes¡­ or¡­


    Shit. I had never been so nervous since I got used to battling in my trainings, but now I¡¯m sweating bullets. Of course, I knew very well that I had no chance of escaping the three in front of me.


    They weren¡¯t hard to recognize, beside the mask and hood the covers them. The similar mana to the little princess¡¯s, a battle aura I can¡¯t be more familiar with, and surprisingly the little princess¡¯s eldest brother, the heir to the clan, judging by his mana.


    I guess the cat¡¯s out of the bag.


    ¡°How did you notice?¡±


    ¡°Knowledge is power, boy¡± The old man¡¯s ancient voice rang out, ¡°Did you really thought we don¡¯t know the other uses of true meditation?¡±


    ¡°Some techniques are impossible for martial artists to discover for themselves, boy. Techniques reserved for magicians, the ones you¡¯ve incorporated into your own attacks. You hid your powers well, but not well enough, boy. Kukuku¡­¡±


    Damn, sometimes I just want to high-five that old geezer. In the face. With my fists. Especially when he calls me ¡®boy¡¯. I mean, it was acceptable when I was actually young, but now? Hell no!


    ¡°Enough.¡± The clan leader finally spoke up, ¡°Take my children back, Galvin. And you¡­¡±


    He looked as if in deep contemplation for a moment, then his face cleared up.


    ¡°You will be my son from now on.¡±


    WHAT?!