“Uh,” he tried to break the ice. “How have you been guys?”
No response. But just one look at Cassia was enough to know she was angry. A chill ran down his spine—he had forgotten how tough of a teacher she was.
“You bastard!” Like a feral beast, her wings perked up as she readied herself for the pounce. Soren had learned the hard way that her claws were the real deal. Messing up in the lab was never an option for him in the past for this exact reason!
Shit!
Without a moment’s hesitation, he expanded his Soul Realm. On the other side of the room, Cassia had already leaped in his direction and was ready to strangle the answers out of him.
Recognizing the anima flow, she realized something was off but had no way to stop herself in mid air. And so, just a second later, she reached her target.
At least, she assumed so at first…
Somehow, Cassia had passed directly through Soren, as if his body was just air!
Landing on the other side of the room, her face warped in confusion. She glanced back to where Soren was sitting. Strangely, his figure was still there, but there now was a gaping hole from where she had accidentally passed through. For a moment, she panicked—thinking she had seriously hurt him.
Soren’s figure, however, defied her expectations. As if not even feeling a thing, he turned around to face her and smiled. Just when she was about to say something, something even stranger happened.
His body… it dispersed into a swarm of violet colored butterflies…
“This…” Candice stuttered as she watched the scene unfold from a distance.
Suddenly, Soren appeared behind Cassia and placed his hand on her shoulder. “How about we calm down a bit. I am still tired from my ‘trip,’ you know?”
Cassia’s eyes widened. “Y-you… You reached the 1st Circle?!”
His grin widened. “Guess.”
“.....”
Seeing their reactions, Soren sighed. “This is a spell I created last minute that I will now call Violet Mirage. So yes—I did reach the 1st Circle.”
The room remained silent. Both Candice and Cassia were left speechless.
If she had to be honest, Cassia had always thought of Soren as fairly talented. Even as her lab assistant, he had showcased his ability to learn things fairly quickly. But if one were to zoom out a bit more, they would see just how miraculous it all was…
Soren was a person from a different world—one that didn’t even have magecraft to begin with. And yet, in just the short span of two months, he had managed to adapt to his new environment and even thrive in it.
After all of that, she had assumed to have seen everything there was to see about him.
But she was wrong.
Her junior apprentice… he had accomplished something no one else in this continent of Fantasia had ever done. Something that was beyond the realm of miracles.
Becoming a 1st Circle magus with an affinity no one else has even heard about… and in under a year’s length!
What many spend years chasing—pouring their lives, studies, and fortunes into—Soren had achieved it all in mere months!
Even the famed archmages of history, enshrined in myth and memory, had never known growth on this scale—at least to the extent of her knowledge... The closest person she could think of was Archmage Loringer—a person once hailed as a century genius. He had managed to reach the 1st Circle at the young age of five. But even that was due to the tutoring and outporage of support from his parents. From the day he was born, Loringer was showered in riches and grimoires to choose from.
Soren on the other hand… was just a librarian… who worked in her lab for a few hours every day after his shift…
“H-how… How is this possible…” For a second, she forgot herself.
Seeing her reaction, Soren frowned. “I thought you’d be a lot happier… What, did you not like the name of my spell? Violet Mirage… I thought it sounded pretty cool though…”
Cassia grabbed him by the robe, “Of course I am happy, idiot! Why would I not find joy in my junior’s success?! I am just baffled at how much of a monster you are!”
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Soren chuckled, “My ego is going to reach the Silver Moon if you keep praising me…”
“Your ego has already reached such heights though.” Candice shrugged. “And also, Cassia.”
“Hm?” The girl turned to face her.
“Did you forget about our original purpose?”
“Ah right!” Her eyes widened as she shifted her attention back to Soren. “You. Come with me. Now!”
“Wai—”
Without even giving him a chance to protest, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the room.
Corridor after corridor passed by as Soren was dragged by the wrist somewhere that seemed familiar.
It bothered him a bit. His memories of this place… They seemed to have been slowly withering away. After all, the time he spent cooped up within that dimensional space wasn't without its traumas.
To Cassia and Candice, his achievement of reaching the first circle was a miracle… A product of his own genius. However, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
In actuality, it was all nothing more than a desperate gamble.
A gamble made by someone trying their best to defy fate.
If he hadn’t had access to [The Faerie Court], conducting that many experiments on himself in such a short time would have most likely ended him and anyone else that dared to try. [Fictionalization] gave him the privilege to damage his body as much as he wanted as long as he was alive and willing to overcome the pain…
And then there was The Records… As much as he hated that bastard, he couldn’t deny how effective his Soul Weapon’s skills are. The knowledge he had chronicled… All of it was useful. From the countless magecraft spells he had seen in action, to the very schematics of the Voidstar Voyager ships… Without any of this useful information, creating the magecraft spells he now wields would have been impossible.
As ironic as it was to say, Soren was blessed. At least, from the eyes of others in this world. He had access to things most wouldn’t even dream of having. And to think that all it cost him was his sanity…
Was it worth it?
That… was a question he had no answer to.
All he could do was make the best of it. Even if that meant subjecting himself to the most unspeakable of horrors. Even if the knowledge he chronicles would one day become his undoing, Soren could not stop. Not now at least.
After all, he was both a scribe and a traveler. And the adventure he was currently chronicling was not going to end any time soon.
To explore, to dream, and to discover was the basis of his journey.
“What was that spell, by the way? How did you do that?” Cassia’s voice broke through his reverie.
He glanced at her for a second and smiled. She kept dragging him along without turning back to face him. It was obvious what she was feeling—her worry and relief at seeing him again bled into her voice, no matter how much she tried to hide it.
As much as he hated to admit it, it really did warm his heart a bit…
His smile widened, “Oh that? That was nothing! You should have seen the other spell I used before I got here!”
He couldn’t see it, but Cassia definitely rolled her eyes. Soren chuckled, “Kidding. Basically, that spell is a type of barrier.”
Hearing this, she glanced back in confusion. “Barrier?”
Soren nodded. “Yes, it creates a ‘field’ around us that changes based on the person’s perspective… Honestly, it’s a bit useless since most Magi are sensitive to anima. If I had kept using it, I am certain you would have found me.
“But in essence, that field creates an illusion of locations. It takes in a focal point, and deflects the location of it somewhere other than where it really is.”
They walked in silence as she thought for a moment. “So what you’re saying is, the focal point was you, and it manifested an illusion of your body somewhere else in this ‘field’?”
Soren nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I never actually turned invisible. Your focus simply shifted to the illusion rather than my real body. The base axiom for this uses a rune called Hystia. Its main purpose is causing tunnel vision.”
Candice who stood behind them shook her head. “Your affinity, what was it called again? Mesmerism? I never thought a simple illusion could be this terrifying… Can you apply this spell to others as well?”
Soren sighed. “For now, I can only use it on myself. Because I haven’t found a rune to supplement its invocation on others. That will demand more runological studies.”
She rubbed her chin, “That’s unfortunate but expected. I just thought of how useful it would be on certain quests. For example, hiding from monsters in dungeons or maybe even conducting sneak attacks… Its possibilities are endless.”
Soren nodded, “Yes, I’ve already thought of its applications, but at the end of the day, its still fairly limited. For one, the illusory field only extends as far as my Soul Realm’s circumference. And as of right now, I can only keep my Soul Realm expanded for about fifteen minutes…”
“What?!” Cassia stopped in her tracks—her eyes widened as she glanced once more at Soren. The same for Candice.
This was a revelation they did not expect to hear at all.
Seeing their reaction, Soren finally realized what he had just admitted to.
Shit.
“You.” Cassia’s eyes sharpened as she brought her face close to his. “Say that again. I might have not heard you the first time. Did… Did you just say fifteen minutes?”
Soren frowned. Conversing about magecraft made him careless for a second. He shouldn’t have said that.
But it was too late to take it back now.
“Yes,” he nodded slowly. “But if I keep its shape stable and compact, I can probably last longer… Up to thirty minutes?..”
The words made both of them quiver… “H-how.. You, what kind of Consciousness Training did you do?! There is no method in existence that can help a magus expand their consciousness this quickly… You did something reckless didn’t you…”
Soren didn’t answer.
“Speak, you bastard!” She grabbed his collar. “Are you trying to kill yourself? What the hell have you been up to for the past week?!”
“I did what I had to do,” he responded. “And I don’t regret it.”
“.....”
Cassia stared at him for a few more seconds before shoving him away. He corrected his robe and cone hat before glancing back at her.
“Whatever.” She said as she kept walking without them.
Seeing this, he turned to Candice. “Where were we headed for anyway?”
The woman looked at him for a moment before sighing. “The old entrance to this dungeon. To finally meet up again with the mistress.”