Chapter 41 (2 of 2) Future rainbow dragons and an overachieving magic addict. (Patreon)

Hargrave stepped out of the Black Lily casino having just undergone the most unnerving experience of his entire life. He was feeling completely out of his depth because a person who seemed to be only an eighteen-year-old girl had revealed she knew his full name, his past, his future plans, his goal, and the details of his Origin Skill. Lucille Goldcroft was a new kind of threat he had no idea how to deal with.

As his meeting with her had progressed, revealing she knew everything he wanted to hide and more, becoming stranger and stranger, he had considered how he could kill her many times.

He had reached the conclusion that… he couldn’t.

If he did, Ravimoux would definitely never help him find the locations of the dragons, which was an essential step in helping him achieve his goal, his location would be revealed to the General and the Allblaze Duchy, his intentions of becoming a dragon-slayer would be discovered, immediately making him an outlaw, and he’d have bounty hunters after his head all day and all night. He didn’t think he’d die, but avoiding that situation was best.

He had considered how he could escape after killing her as well. But even then, actually killing her would’ve been completely effortless for him. The Inspection skill clearly told him she was only Rank-0. He had reached Lvl 100 over the last few months, and she had come to him, completely unprotected. Decapitating her, running her through with his spear, and crushing her neck with his hands was all something he could’ve done.

But his instincts honed over 14 years on the battlefield had told him that would’ve been a very bad, bad idea. The fact she had the confidence to give him such an offer, even when she had shown she knew exactly who he was, meant trusting those instincts was something he needed to do. At least until he discovered how she knew what she did, and why she wanted to offer him such a contract in the first place.

And… she hadn’t emitted any killing intent towards him, not once. Even if someone wasn’t a warrior, the thought of killing someone in the slightest couldn’t be hidden in front of him, who had gained such a high sensitivity to killing intent from all his fighting. Although it was deeply disturbing she had known about a resolution he had made to himself a few months prior and told no one, she hadn’t done anything to suggest she wanted him dead. He couldn’t even see a sign of it written in the contract details. It was all exactly as she had said.

Although… the thing with the spear….. that was awkward.

……he didn’t do too well with awkward.

He shook his head to clear his mind of the memories of that event and just sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, as he headed towards where he was staying with his spear in hand.

The main reason he had accepted the contract was that when the person who offered it to him was taken out of account, the offer was beneficial to him. Extremely so. If he had chosen to follow his original plan, he would’ve needed to support himself financially somehow, and the easiest way to do that would’ve been by selling the rest of the dragon parts from the slain dragons to other underworld groups who dealt in those goods. But those groups were just as likely to stab him in the back after he had killed the dragons, not willing to part with the valuable dragon heart, which equalled 50% of a dragon body’s total value.

It seemed that he also wouldn’t need to hide his identity. He would still have to avoid anyone from either the Allblaze Duchy or Glory Pantheon in case they recognised him, and he’d still have to use his first name, but he wasn’t going to be a criminal and would have the support of the largest force in the underworld to hide his tracks. Just the offer to find evolution materials for his demonic weapon was incredibly valuable to him. No two demonic weapons used the same evolution materials, and he had found his weapon to be very picky.

…he needed to learn more about what it meant for him to be living on the Aurelian Commission Head’s personal floor though. Again, the strange girl he had met had just given him the ability to find where she was living and sleeping, where he could easily kill her at any time, but hadn’t seemed to care in the slightest. Any person who couldn’t find something wrong about that situation was someone who’d probably never live long.

And a noble who didn’t want a connection with the powerful Solarmane Eternal Duchy? All because it was ‘too complicated’? Her explanation seemed somewhat reasonable, but that wasn’t something a typical noble would say. Well, if she had no interest in the matters of the 4th Duchy, all the better for him.

The General of Blazing Iron had become well known for his succession of the Blazing Iron mana-art, a surprise considering someone who could practice the art hadn’t been seen for some time, but the ‘Selwood’ clan name was only given to him because the successor of that spear art always carried that last name.

The General was more importantly known as a direct bloodline member of the Allblaze Duchy’s Solarmane family, someone from the generation of the current Solarmane Duke’s father. When he went up against the General, he wouldn’t just be going up against a powerful Mythos of Glory Pantheon, who wielded some of their authority, but an influential person within the central Eternal Empire as well, a member of a Ducal household and a member of the Eternal Empire’s General Battalion.

Thinking about what he had to do made his expression grow colder, and he tightened his grip on his spear. Regardless of the Aurelian Commission Head’s intentions for him, he had a goal, and that goal came before anything else. As long as she didn’t try anything until after the Dragon’s Gate, he’d accept the new arrangement and would use her support to strengthen himself with the best skills, tools, and elixirs until the seven years were up. In the meantime, as he stayed at her place, he’d try to discover more about this ‘Lucille Goldcroft’, and what she wanted from him. If he discovered she had malicious intentions towards him…

Then he would kill her.

But the fact she hadn’t reacted even when faced with the full strength of his killing intent made him feel like that would be a difficult job to complete.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“Transfer to the Aeonic plane,” the white-robed High-mage said.

“…huh?”

Marellen had been alone in his assigned room, testing out many experiments using his new skill, especially using the advanced spell, Element-based Prediction, that came with it. Occasionally submitting his assigned work and submitting progress on the research topics he had picked up, that was how he had spent his last few weeks, and sometimes meeting with Efratel, who was arranging for the crafting of new equipment for Roa. Then a mage had told him that Vicela Mesifeth had requested his presence… and now he was faced with this situation.

“…what do you mean, transfer to the Aeonic plane?” he asked hesitantly.

“Exactly as I said it,” the High-mage of wind replied, sitting at his desk in his study. “Quit being an academic.”

…but not anyone could just choose to go to the Aeonic plane, and he couldn’t exactly quit being the Aurelian Commission Head’s recipient so soon, so what did he-

Vicela Mesifeth sighed. “I’m saying this because I’m offering to allow your transfer to the All-Aeon Athenaeum’s origin plane,” he explained. “Simply put, you’re too advanced for the Academy.”

The High-mage picked up some forms on his desk. “A Research into the Micro-Scale Mechanisms of Water-Earth Elemental Combining. The average length of time for a 5th-year student to write up a report of this level is three months. You did it in two weeks.”

“But that was because that combination had many pre-written manuscripts-”

“The Results of Fusing Partially Materialised Lava and Storm Elements, a research topic usually studied by professors…” Vicela looked up. “Violet-level grading. The maximum grade.”

“I just happened to have the right affinities-”

“You submitted a theoretical greater rune combination of four elements to the Archive, which a High-mage later cited in a new manuscript, and not three days later became a Grand-mage, becoming one of the few dual mid-level element affinity Grand-mages in the entire Academy,” Vicela stated flatly, cutting Marellen off.

“I can’t receive credit for that-”

“The only reason you won’t receive credit for that,” Vicela continued shortly, “Is because the Grand-mage would never provide another mid-level element High-mage insight into becoming a Grand-mage, to protect his own precious status in the Academy. And how could he dare admit to anyone that a mere advanced mage was the source of the inspiration for the consolidation of his Grand spell.” Vicela scoffed.

Marellen didn’t reply, keeping his silence. He didn’t think he had anything he could add that would help his situation. The High-mage in front of him sighed.

“Marellen Vadel. You have no reason to be in the Academy,” he said wearily. “Normally, mages become part of All-Aeon Athenaeum by becoming the student of a mage or wizard. Those not talented enough to be picked in the Junior Academy can study here in the Senior Academy to further their knowledge rather than magical skillset, and can grab the attention of the professors, becoming their students, to be transferred to the Aeonic plane that way.”

The High-mage jabbed a finger at Marellen. “You have already studied here five years ago. And in both the Senior and Junior Academy, you rejected all offers of becoming a student.”

Marellen shifted in his seat as Vicela continued, “And the existence of academics is supposed to allow a mage to transfer to the Aeonic plane without being a student, by gaining the contribution needed to do so. Instead of taking up a position as the whatever generation student of a member of the Orders or Towers, you’d enter the other departments, doing more practical work.”

Vicela pointed at the forms on his desk. “And that is what I’m saying I’ll do now. I’ll let you transfer to become an unaffiliated mage early and before you’ve obtained the necessary contribution, so you don’t need a teacher.” He gave Marellen a wave. “You have High-mage level theoretical knowledge, which is easily enough to cover for the lack of contribution. Even being the recipient of the Aurelian Commission Head wouldn’t matter. You’d still be their sponsored mage if you transferred.” Vicela spread his hands. “So, join the All-Aeon Athenaeum fully.”

Marellen stared silently at the man dressed in white robes, not having expected to be confronted with an offer like this so suddenly. Well, most people wouldn’t be confronted by an offer like this in the first place…

Instead of panicking and impulsively refusing as he was tempted to, he pushed aside his anxiousness to consider the offer seriously.

If I think about this offer purely from the side of the positives, then it’s very beneficial to me. I was never going to accept becoming a student, and my sponsor was going to decline all offers, so this offer only came earlier than it would’ve. I’ll have access to the main Archive artifact, where I can see if there are any manuscripts and research into all-element spells and magic. I might also be able to discover more about Saufren Lestial… but…

“Can I… have some time to think about this?” he asked weakly.

Vicela rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure what you even need to think about, but sure. However, if you don’t accept before the end of December, it’ll be hard for me to transfer you until after June next year because the Senior and Junior Academy students will graduate,” he informed him. “Those new talents will be prioritised for transfer over academics.”

Marellen nodded but had one more question to ask the High-mage. “And… could I ask… why you want me to transfer so much?”

Vicela raised an eyebrow. “Me? That’s because all the professors wish to gain contribution for referring a talented academic to the origin plane, but can’t because you haven’t obtained the needed contribution for transferal yet.” He scoffed. “And now they’re all getting annoyed at me for not letting you be transferred.” He narrowed his eyes at Marellen. “We both know who’s really at fault here though.”

…ah. So the High-mage was getting blamed because of him, making him an annoyance to the man.

“…I’ll make sure to consider the offer carefully,” Marellen replied awkwardly.

Vicela Mesifeth sighed. “Yeah. You do that.”

…

“I think you should accept,” Efratel said.

Marellen stared at his cousin as he received the casual reply. He was meeting up with Efratel at the café they went to last time so he could discuss the offer of transfer with him. Except all he had said to Efratel was that Vicela Mesifeth had given him an offer of transfer to the Aeonic plane.

“Could we not discuss this a little more before you come to a conclusion like that?” he asked wearily.

“What’s there to discuss?” Efratel shrugged. “You get access to more rune and magic knowledge, can form connections with people right at the centre of the Athenaeum’s power, and won’t have to complete as many miscellaneous tasks to receive contribution.”

Efratel raised the fork he was using to eat his lunch and pointed it at Marellen. “As I see it, the Aeonic plane is just a better version of the Academy. The Academy was made to allow young mages and wizards to become accustomed to the Athenaeum anyway, so it’ll hardly be different.”

“You won’t be able to come though…” Marellen replied.

“Yes, but you’ll still be able to contact me with the Archive orb,” Efratel responded, picking up his glass to take a sip of water. “As the Commission Head’s sponsored mage, you can afford any price to send a message from the sub-dimension to the realm. I’m hardly at the Academy most of the time anyway.”

Then Efratel leaned forward to point at Marellen with a serious look on his face. “And this can be useful in other ways too, when it comes to expeditions. Don’t forget about what I told you a few weeks ago, about the Commission Head’s letter.”

Marellen furrowed his brows. “Commission Head’s…? Ah…” His eyes widened slightly when he remembered. “About the planes with natural mana phenomena?”

He nodded. “Yes. I’ve had a look, however, opportunities for expeditions in Old Era planes with natural mana phenomena are strictly kept to the most promising students of the Junior and Senior Academy,” Efratel said. “That’s because of the higher probability of artifacts forming on them, and they don’t want such artifacts wasted on mages without talent.”

“However, Marellen…” Efratel spread his hands. “Because you’re not joining any of the Orders or Towers, if you accept the transfer you could work for the Artificers.”

Marellen blinked in surprise. “The Artificers? Why them?”

“Because you can work as an expeditionary for them, bringing back Old Era natural artifacts for them to study,” Efratel explained. “And I believe they are the best choice for what you want to do.”

His blonde-haired cousin held up his hand. “We both know All-Aeon Athenaeum has five areas for mages and wizards to work in. One is under the Astrologers.” Efratel raised a finger. “They require one to be at least a 7th circle wizard, over a hundred years old, and someone with strong political connections before you can be considered an ‘Astrologer’, so you won’t be working for them. Nor the Spatial Tower or Violet Order.”

Efratel raised a second finger. “The next is the Arcanists. These are the elemental Orders and Towers outside of the Spatial Tower and Violet Order, the ones not under the Astrologer’s authority. You won’t be working for any of them either.”

He raised a third as Marellen watched. “Then there’s the Battle-path. The battlemages.” Efratel lifted an eyebrow. “If you want to follow your father’s footsteps and enter a Battalion of the Empire, working to conquer planes, then I’d suggest this to you.”

Marellen shuddered, making Efratel chuckle. “I’ll assume that was a no to that suggestion then,” his cousin remarked wryly.

Then the blonde-haired man raised a fourth finger. “We also have the Pioneers. The field researchers, analysis mages, documenters, archaeologists,” he gestured to Marellen, “and the main expeditionary forces. However, the Pioneers’ expeditionary forces are more about mapping newly discovered planes, and don’t normally go to Old Era planes,” he said.

Then he clasped his hands together and rested them on the table. “And finally, we have the Confluents. Your alchemists, runic cryptographers, dedicated spell researchers, runic model developers, anything outside of pure elemental magic…” he listed, “And the Artificers. And also the magic engineers before they broke away to join the Coalition.”

Efratel gestured to Marellen. “If you work for the Artificers, you’ll gain access to Old Era planes, where you’re entitled to part of the artifacts you retrieve, which, unique as they are, you can’t purchase using the Commission Head’s money,” Efratel explained, “And will enable you to see natural mana phenomena in person, seeing if it does further your research into all-element magic, as the Commission Head suggested it would.”

“I… have begun to believe it might,” Marellen replied hesitantly. “Due to the lack of all-element spells, I can only find natural examples to further my magic, so natural mana phenomena are likely the closest I’ll get to seeing all-element magic in person.” He looked down at his hand. “It’s… quite surprising to me that the Commission Head suggested something like that. They must have a good understanding of magic.”

Efratel hesitated. “I… wouldn’t know much about that. They do seem capable of casting magic, but as to how much they know about it… I have no idea.”

Marellen sighed, having gotten used to these vague answers of Efratel’s over the last few weeks. “I’ll think about the transfer for a few more days at least,” he said. “Anyway, how has Roa been going?”

“Roa has been putting her resources as a ‘sponsored mage of the Aurelian Commission Head’ to good use,” Efratel replied with a chuckle. “She’s ordered a new staff, cloak, and other magical wear of a higher quality than the one she had been using. Not because of greed though,” he added, “Because if she was still a normal adventurer, those items would make her a target. She’s getting them in preparation for when you two explore the Old Era planes.”

“She’s enthusiastic about the idea?” Marellen asked with surprise.

“She said it’s an amazing offer,” Efratel responded, smiling. “Apparently, the idea of exploring ancient planes with powerful treasures appeals to her sense of adventure.”

“I suppose she’d be used to combat, having worked in the Beast Realm for some time,” Marellen mused.

“Yes, and that’s why you shouldn’t be too worried about going to Old Era planes.” Efratel nodded. “I plan on employing other experienced people to accompany you.” Efratel paused and then a slight smile appeared on his face. “I may already have an idea just who, too.”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you,” Marellen sighed wearily.

Efratel only grinned. Marellen shook his head. “At this point, I may as well just succumb to my fate and agree to go to those Old Era planes. I’m sure it’ll be an interesting experience, at least.”

“Well, if you’ve made up your mind, then I have a list of things you need to do beforehand,” Efratel said, reaching into his coat pocket to withdraw a piece of paper.

Marellen took the list curiously. It contained information about what Marellen needed to do on his end at the Athenaeum, but other parts of it… “New skills?”

Efratel nodded. “You need to check the Archive and see what skills you should get to prepare you for going to the planes.” He gave Marellen a smirk. “You’ve only had experience researching spells at home, and a tiny bit of practical experience when we went to the Beast Realm. You have the contribution now,” he said, “And I’m allowed to purchase skill books for you using the Commission Head’s money. See if you can evolve your main skills before going to an Old Era plane.”

“But the rest of this list… new magical equipment?” Marellen asked curiously.

Efratel gave him a slight grin. “Use your sponsorship to get the top-quality version of all magical equipment for your rank. Any alchemy tools, magical gear, rune translation items, artifact analysis equipment…” His cousin thought for a moment and then smiled. “Actually, how about we do this now?”

“…now?”

The blonde-haired man nodded. “Yes.” He gestured to the bustling street outside the café. “We’re already close to the right sector, so it won’t be a long walk.” Efratel clapped his hands together. “So, let’s go shopping!”

Marellen had a feeling his cousin was more excited about the prospect of shopping on an unlimited budget than he had let on so far. He sighed, and after they had paid for their meal, they went searching through the magical shops, buying and ordering the new equipment for when he went searching for unique mana phenomena. Which, as the day continued, he had actually begun to like the idea a little.

Then he was struck with another thought. If he could transfer to the Aeonic plane and explore Old Era planes for the Artificers over there… then couldn’t he avoid all the girls in the Academy?

Grand-mage Deflasar Sulfest rubbed his temples as he considered the documents in front of him. As the authority in charge of outer plane expeditions, he received great power within the All-Aeon Athenaeum, but sometimes it left him with political messes like the one in front of him.

Due to the unearthing of a particularly unique type of plane with rich wind mana the month before, the White Fall Dukedom on the 4th Major plane, the Snowbell Aurora plane, had been particularly vocal about conquering this new unranked plane for their nation of the Wintery Frost-Isle Queendom. As a noble clan with a history of producing powerful magic users for both the Ice and White Towers and Orders, many of which were High or Grand-mages within the Athenaeum, supporting their advance and supporting them as they conquered this plane was a good idea.

The issue he had, however, was that the publicity of this new plane had overshadowed a highly important Old Era plane discovered only a few weeks prior to the wind plane. An incredibly valuable one too. Usually, keeping such a valuable plane a secret would be beneficial to those in charge of its exploration, but unfortunately, the situation was such that if after the White Fall Dukedom’s plane had been conquered and they discovered the existence of the Old Era plane, who’s exploration had occurred in the meantime, thousands of nobles will end up very, very mad at being left out. Supporting a Major Kingdom’s Dukedom to gain their favour was one thing, but having the opportunity to gain the immense riches of the Old Era plane for themselves?

And Deflasar couldn’t even try to popularise this earlier discovered plane. That was because he would offend the White Fall Dukedom, who wanted to use the publicity of their plane conquering to obtain support from the nobles who desired a share of the profits and status of being ‘plane conquerors’. Publicizing the Old Era plane would make the nobles and talented expeditionaries flock to this plane rather than the one with strong wind element, reducing the profit of the White Fall Dukedom, who wished to limit the costs of conquering the plane by using these nobles.

So, he was stuck. He had a valuable plane on his hands, but if he revealed it, he’d offend a Dukedom, and if he hid it, the All-Aeon Athenaeum’s losses would be immense. That was because this plane, or ‘plane shard’ as was more accurate, was on a time limit.

Very rarely, when Astrologers calculated the location of a new plane that had drifted closer, and those from the Spatial Tower and Violet Order had set up a teleportation array to access it, they came across a phenomenon called a ‘shattered plane’. These planes were planes that had broken due to catastrophic battles between primal beasts in the past, the damage to the planes so great that their sources cracked, and the plane shattered into smaller planes. On the surface, that meant there were just more smaller planes, but things weren’t so simple.

Planes had a lifespan. The amount of time they could exist before their source mana, the impossibly dense substance that generated atmospheric mana for the trillions of existences that lived on their surfaces, ran out, and the land mass of the plane fell into the endless void space below. Of course, planes could also merge, in an event that took hundreds of thousands of years to occur, regaining lifespan and getting drawn towards the Aeternus plane’s domain once more, so the Mystical Realm never ran out of planes. The mana of dying planes slowly leaked out, and people would gradually leave the plane, going to prosperous planes with more mana.

However, shattered planes were different. They were planes that weren’t dying naturally. They had been damaged, so the process of their death was extraordinarily chaotic. Shattered plane sources rapidly began releasing mana when the shattering occurred, raising the amount of mana in the plane up to soaring heights, sending all the mana within into disarray, creating hundreds of dangerous Dungeons, and heightening the power of all natural mana phenomena within.

Also, artifacts, artifacts, artifacts. Thousands of powerful naturally-formed artifacts.

In an extraordinarily rare process, the dense mana and heightened natural mana phenomena birthed many artifacts, the sheer quantity of mana within creating artifacts with power normally only gained after spending hundreds of thousands of years in pocket dimensions. Any magical item left on the Old Era plane, any relic or ruin with the slightest bit of magic, could become artifacts, creating a treasure trove for all expeditionaries who venture onto the plane.

The negatives to this were the more dangerous natural mana phenomena and the many monsters from the Dungeons, but the Dungeons gave out experience and magical items, and, while on the plane, any magical item had a chance of becoming an artifact, so it was overshadowed by the massive positives of the place.

However, a plane’s lifespan was dictated by the size of its source, which controlled the size of the land mass it could support. The shattered plane that had been discovered was named the Ancient Brighten plane, and while its source was cracked, its main land mass had enough source mana to stay afloat for roughly one more century. The main land mass was called the Greater Allbright Empire shard, after the name of the nation that had existed on it.

Another plane shard had broken off from this though, only a week before the White Fall Dukedom’s plane had been discovered. It had been called the Sundown Continent Shard. This plane had a lifespan of only ten years. The mana within would reach its peak around the end of December, where it would stay for the next couple of years, until it slowly began to decline. If the artifacts within weren’t retrieved before the end of the plane, they would never be seen again. It was a race against time.

The best time to gain artifacts was at the very start, retrieving as many as possible before the speed of collection decreased, and the competition got stronger. The Artificers held priority, as the ones the plane’s exploration authority had been transferred to, but they found artifacts with historical value or unique abilities more important, and so the more powerful artifacts wouldn’t necessarily be wanted by them. In essence, if he failed to draw enough attention to the Old Era plane… there would be a riot among the nobles.

There was only one thing to do. Keep the plane as an open secret, and turn it into a special event. Deflasar would send out ‘secret’ invitations to talented young members of the Athenaeum, so they would come to the plane. He’d need to ensure they were nobles, so he wouldn’t attract unwanted attention from Olden, and they’d need to come from higher nobility families, or at least have an important sponsor from the Aeternus plane behind them.

That would allow the plane to attract publicity in a way different to what the White Fall Dukedom was doing, as the higher nobility would have no interest in a Dukedom from a Major Kingdom. And they had to be very talented, of course. There would be immense competition to enter this plane, so pure status wouldn’t cut it.

But even then, there wouldn’t be enough people exploring the plane. All the good expeditionaries would be hired by nobles to go to the White Fall Dukedom’s plane…

However, the heirs of nobility would be going to the Sundown Continent shard. They’d need protection. If he allowed them to take three additional people, so they could bring enough guards to form a four-man party, then there would be no issue. If the heirs died… well, he was kind enough to even let them bring guards, so how was he to blame? He’d make sure the invited Athenaeum member had control over all artifacts, though. Couldn’t have some lucky commoner guard running off with a powerful artifact of the Athenaeum’s now, could he?

Deflasar Sulfest nodded to himself, and dipped his fountain pen in an inkwell, ready to begin writing up instructions for this new ‘event’. The nobles would be annoyed at how he had restricted it to those with invitations only, but by revealing that the Greater Allbright Empire shard would open a few years after the Sundown Continent shard, they would be quietened. With his instructions written up, he placed a finger on his desk to insert mana into the mana-circle that would call one of his students to assist him. Then he stood up, prepared to organise some people to spread rumours of this ‘secret event’ among the higher nobility mages and wizards. He left his study.

A little while later, one of the Grand-mage’s students entered the man’s room and deposited a list on the desk. The list contained promising young members of the All-Aeon Athenaeum’s Aeonic plane according to the Grand-mage’s requirements, with both noble status, an important backer or family, and high talent.

And on one page, a picture of a navy-haired young man next to the name of ‘Marellen Vadel’ could be seen.