The Undying Magician - Book 1 - Chapter 37 - Immortality (Patreon)

                                                                                    Nathan

                                                Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 20 | Thursday

The feeling continues emanating from my mana arc. A strange pulsing feeling, where two different pulses move in opposite directions from each other through the arc, with them both starting in the middle of the arc as if marking the location to begin splitting it in half.

Almost as if driven on instinct, I use my mana ‘limbs’ to grab the mana arc before sinking the limb’s fingers into the center of the radiating pulses. The fingers of the ‘limbs’ sink straight through, splitting the mana arc into two before the two new arcs continue splitting down the rest of the arc until the entire arc is split into two much smaller arcs; ones that look just like how the other arc looks right now. The one that I haven’t been able to train as of yet due to having been training the first one up till now.

Along with the splitting of the mana arc, a feeling of satisfaction mixed with a tiny bit of pain spreads throughout my body for a few seconds.

Once the feeling vanishes, I open my eyes, only to find the instructor looking directly at me with her eyes closed. Not even a second later, she opens her eyes and says, “Good job, cadet Fox. You may leave for lunch early if you wish.”

My eyes widen slightly at that before returning to normal as I nod my head in appreciation.

I really need to ask Leo how she’s able to know almost immediately when someone splits their arc…

Because depending on how she’s doing it, it might become a problem in the future in regard to keeping my secret.

I continue gathering my things whilst looking around at the mostly empty room before getting up.

A large portion of the class managed to finish splitting their arc before me due to them having more of them to start with than I, but I still managed to finish before nearly a dozen cadets thanks to my pain tolerance.

My face turns into a frown as I walk down the stairs towards the entrance.

It’s certainly nice to have this added tolerance, but it doesn’t make the pain any more enjoyable to bear.

Nor does it solve my biggest problem.

Which is a large factor in why I ever even agreed to the doctor’s experiments in the first place. Ignoring the fact that I couldn’t really say no even if I wanted to.

As I walk over towards the Snowcrest Diner, memories begin to flood my thoughts from a couple of years back – soon after the doctor first found out about my immortality and set up a meeting between us and my parents.

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                                                                   Almost Two Years Ago

I fiddle with my hands as the doctor sits down across the table from my parents, leaving me standing at the side of the room up against one of the doctor’s bookshelves.

This isn’t good…

I continuously glance between the doctor and the door, almost expecting a team of magicians to burst through it at any second to capture me. However, my gaze immediately locks onto the doctor as he begins speaking.

“I’m not one for bullshit,” the sixty-something year old man says, his near-shoulder-length gray hair falling partially over his seemingly-dead violet eyes as he speaks, “so let’s get straight to the point.”

Just like always, the doctor is wearing his usual black and white lab coat buttoned up over some sort of black and purple suit beneath it.

The man turns towards me with his vacant stare and says, “You will undergo any and all experiments I ask of you. If you don’t then I’ll inform the nation about your little problem.”

My eyes widen in fear. At the same time, dad slams his fist into the armrest of the chair he’s sitting in and shouts, “That’s fucking bull-”

He damn near chokes on his words as the doctor turns his vacant stare towards him without even saying anything.

The doctor simply stares at dad for several seconds, making my dad – who seems just as scared of the man as I always am – to audibly gulp before the doctor stands up and walks over towards me whilst pulling a scalpel out of his pocket.

Shit!

I begin to back up, but the man just narrows his eyes slightly as he continues approaching me, causing me to freeze up in fear, allowing him to reach me. Once he does, he simply grabs my arm and jerks it towards him before making a clean cut straight down my muscle as I wince in pain.

The man then stares at it as it closes up again before speaking, “From what I’ve been able to tell without doing any actual experiments, his reversion – what I call the ‘regeneration’ his body undergoes, which is really just his body reverting in time – seems to be activated by damage or changes done to his body from anything that isn’t his own mental force.”

He then turns to stare at both mom and dad this time as he continues, “Which should include aging as well.”

Gasps run through the room as both mom and dad jump to their feet, almost immediately understanding what the doctor means.

I myself already suspected this from my previous discussions with the man, but that doesn’t make it feel any better to have it confirmed.

The doctor lets go of my arm and begins walking back towards his desk whilst putting his scalpel back into his pocket as he speaks, “The largest cause of death in the highest classes of magicians – that being the Class A and Class S magicians – is not dying on a battlefield.”

Once he reaches his desk again, he turns around and tilts his still-emotionless face a little and asks, “So what per chance do you think is the highest cause of death in those magicians?”

Mom lets out a shaky breath and sits back down.

“It’s natural death from old age,” mom says as clearly as she can manage.

I slowly close my eyes after hearing the words said out loud.

“And even if I didn’t tell the nation, what do you think they would do when they take notice of a magician who doesn’t seem to be aging?” I hear the doctor’s emotionless voice continue.

This time, it’s dad’s voice that answers him, “They would take him in for examination and find out on their own.”

“Exactly,” the doctor’s voice once again echoes through the room before he continues, “so my proposal is that he undergo my experiments during his monthly checkups, with a pain mitigator to decrease or negate the pain of the more damaging experiments so as to not break his mind in the process, leaving him without it for the ones I deem as not bad enough to need it.”

My eyes jerk open at that suggestion as the man continues speaking, “This way, I can look for the true cause of the immortality and find if there is a way to transfer it to someone else or remove it. And if one of those options are possible, then I will do it in exchange for the research conducted on your son and the possible way to gain immortality myself. But if it’s not? Then I will assist you in hiding out of the nation’s eyes after you serve several years of your military service.”

Dad looks between mom and I for a few seconds before sighing and focusing on the doctor – who still has the same expressionless face he’s had since we all first walked in – and saying, “We agree to your terms.”

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                                                                             The Present

Right as I’m about to touch the doors at the entrance of the tower, my eyes widen in realization, and I pause in place.

The reason dad accepted the deal so quickly… could it be that he actually knows who the doctor really is?

I stand frozen in front of the tower entrance for a few seconds before finally touching the doors and letting it scan me.

Maybe I should ask dad about him…

Also, that bit about my reversion being caused by anything that’s not my own mind force… did he mean the ‘limbs’ that I use during my mana arc training?

Could that be why I’m able to train my mana arcs despite the immortality?

He never fully explained all of the experiments he was doing, only really going over the important end results and not the smaller details of them.

Whether that’s because he doesn’t care enough to, or he didn’t think I’d understand them, I don’t know.

The doors in front of me open after sensing my key, allowing me to walk through.

I look around for a few seconds to see if Amelia is anywhere nearby before starting towards the Snowcrest Diner.

If what the doctor had said the last time I saw him is true, then I certainly hope the man is strong enough to keep me hidden from the nation.

Because if my immortality is truly incurable, then I’m going to need to figure out how to deal with my lack of aging issue at some point.

I grimace slightly at the thought before shaking my head and continuing my way towards the diner.

A bit of mint ice cream should help me relax.

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