It took me a few hours to construct the Third Circle magic spell around my heart, but when I broke through, a wave of mana surrounded me like a mother’s embrace. I received a clear sign of success.
"Haaaaaah,"
Only a deep, gratifying sigh could show how relieved I was to have achieved this.
I was one step away from abandoning my own mortality, to walk into the realm of what could be deemed the path to power. However, it would take a while.
I couldn’t help but frown.
"A year..."
Unlike my quick rise to the Third Circle, moving forward was now more difficult by an order of magnitude. It was like drawing an exponent upon my current abilities.
However... there was a beautiful benefit to achieving the Third Circle. I could feel a new world opening up to me.
[Name: Aventine Tidea]
[Level: 1]
[Health: 190/190]
[Mana: 590/590 » 600/600 (Mana Storage Capacity: 900/900 )]
[Gift: Absolute Awareness (???-Rank)]
[Physique: 19]
[Mind: 19]
[Spirit: 59 » 60]
[Traits: Power of the Sky (A-Rank), Power of the Sea (A-Rank), Power of Death (A-Rank), Blessing of Light (SS-Rank)]
[Divine Branches Contributed: 4/42]
o=o=o=o
[NEW!]
[Class: Mage (Third Circle)]
[Engraved Spells: Mana Core (300/300 (x3) | F-Rank), Mana Storage (3/3 | E-Rank), Manakinesis (Lv. 1 | D-Rank)]
[Memorized Spells: Fireball (Locked | D-Rank), Chill (Locked | E-Rank), Water Bullet (Locked | E-Rank), Earthen Grasp (Locked | E-Rank), Mana Flash (Locked | F-Rank)...
...
...
...
...
999+ more currently locked...]
With this screen, it felt like I was a spelling bee contestant with free access to the internet. Or a vocabulary quiz bee champion who had an entire thesaurus packed into my brain.
Now, all I needed was a password to a single account to access them one by one.
It was honestly overwhelming.
"What am I supposed to do with all of this..."
I couldn’t help but truly marvel at the sheer amount of information I had somehow ’stolen’ from Daimyuon. Indeed, there was something peculiar about an <Archmagus>’s mind. Although I never looked into it, I didn’t have to do so to figure that out.
I had the proof gazing at me before my very eyes.
***
By making it into the ranks of the Third Circle, Aventine had become a bona fide mage.
He had achieved the first goal that he had desired in this world. Now, a certain emptiness filled his being.
Although [Absolute Awareness] was a gift beyond his own imagination, seemingly limitless, seemingly infinite... it was still wielded by a mortal. One that was limited. One that could not grasp the infinite.
In other words,
Its only limitation was its bearer — Aventine himself.
"It should be about time to resume my search for <Traits>."
Powers beyond that of common sense, operating on unique principles that no one could figure out.
He wanted more.
No...
He needed more.
In this huge, archaic city, filled with secrets older than humanity itself, many treasures were waiting to be discovered.
<Soulless City of Grakkis>
A kingdom once dominated and ruled by an elder lich, Grakkis had become one of the Walvaskaz Empire’s many sprawling cities. Just a cursory glance at the surface of this ocean of secrets, Aventine discerned a certain characteristic—
This was a place oddly entangled with fate.
"?"
Intrigued, Aventine channeled the mana around him, using <Manakinesis> to draw in as much mana as he could into his body, pouring it all into [Absolute Awareness]. If before he could only power his Gift with the pedals of a bike, he now had access to a full-on car engine.
His senses extended out like a blanket, absorbing parcels of information and waves of emotions.
The surrounding dense neighborhood could not escape his perception.
An elusive feeling was scratching at his instincts.
Much like the time he had discovered the Hero’s sword at the bottom of the river, there was something here that was intricately wound with the strands of <Fate>. Something destined for someone... or someone destined for another.
"Oho?"
Aventine laughed.
"Three <Mana Cores>, a <Mana Storage>, and <Manakinesis>..."
Hiding in the shabby room of a dusty old building just a few blocks away was a young, impoverished human mage. He was studying a bunch of old, time-worn books filled with curses. His hands were delicately turning each page. Interestingly, the spells engraved in his heart were a splitting image of Aventine’s own.
However, that was not the core of Aventine’s discovery.
The sheer amount of that mysterious thing called <Fate> was coiling around his entire being. Just gazing into its foggy wisps of existence drained Aventine of a hundred points of mana each second.
"Hmmm,"
Aventine looked elsewhere.
In a moment, his mana reserves fell to rock bottom.
"Not even the original Hero of Leisha, Melia, has this much <Fate>..." His mutterings were manifestations of the incredulity he was currently perceiving.
Silently, he took note of this person’s existence. It was special.
***
An uncontrollable tremor kept coursing through Taylor’s flesh and bones. It was a terror that blossomed from the depths of his gut, making his sweat ice-cold and his mind foggy.
Curses were eating him alive, wafting over like biblichor.
However, this young, skin-and-bones mage couldn’t resist turning the next page every time. Even at the cost of his life, his sanity, and his conscience.
Dark mana had seeped invisibly into his bloodstream, polluting it with raw terror.
"This... This is it...!" Taylor’s voice rasped against his throat, barely creating a sound.
Eyes gleamed with frantic light.
"Master never truly abandoned me!"
The answers he’d been looking for weren’t fake after all. In these tomes he had stolen from a crypt beneath the upper layer of buildings were the spell formulas needed for an 8th-Circle spell.
With that as a base, he could build up a perfect set of magic circles to become a 9th Circle Mana Mage.
’But it still isn’t enough,’ Taylor thought, ’To become an <Archmagus> and not a mere archmage...’
There was still so much he didn’t know. Although his dreams were lofty and his hopes never waned, the path ahead was still long.
Long enough that any mortal would crumble.
Taylor had no choice but to persevere.
"Still... This is a good start, no?"
Indeed, it was a good start... both for Taylor and someone else. Just a few blocks away, so close yet so far, Aventine’s eyes curved in amusement.
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