The Undying Magician - Book 3 - Chapter 7.3 - The Nobles Part III (Patreon)

                                                        Nathan
                                  Year 2850 | Month 3 | Day 4

The skeleton stares at me for a few seconds before he lets out a sigh somehow. Something I didn’t even know was possible.

“You want to know the reason?” he asks, his tone now void of that sadness from his last words. “Well there are plenty. And I don’t think you’re gonna like them.” My eyes narrow slightly. “But it doesn’t matter whether you know about them or not, now does it? So do you want to know the full truth, or do you want to continue as you are? Maybe even consider me the kind father you freed from captivity?”

Without an ounce of hesitation, I answer, “I want the truth.”

The skeleton turns around and walks up to the wall inside of the vast tree that makes up his home before placing a bony hand on it and saying, “This undead treant. Do you know why it exists?” Then, without giving me a chance to answer, he glances back at me and answers for me, “It was because I created it.”

My eyebrows lift slightly at that, but all in all it isn’t all that surprising. Aside from the enormous size of the treant that is.

“I created it in my long-lasting goal to create the most powerful creature on our planet,” he says, the flames in his eye sockets flaring slightly in what I can only assume is passion. “And it was just one of my many failures in this goal.”

I narrow my eyes slightly with a frown.

Does that mean…

“Ah! Looks like you understand!” he exclaims while beginning to float up into the air. “You, my child, may not have been created by me, but it will be by my hand that you become the most powerful creature in existence. I will make sure of it.”

And there it is. Of course he’d help me with my spells seemingly for no cost if that’s his goal. Of course he’d help me with the doctor. With establishing a kingdom.

I’m still his test subject in a way. Just different. A subject with freedom purely because what I want matches what he wants.

“I will stop any Class S magicians from bothering you and give you the keys to my discarded kingdom,” he says, making my eyes widen at the mention of his kingdom being ‘discarded.’ “But know this. I will not interfere outside of that. Even if you’re captured, as long as it’s not a Class S magician who has captured you, I will not do anything.”

I wince at that.

“I don’t care if they torture you for decades on end,” he says rather bluntly. “You will never die, so all you must do is simply wait till they die of old age. Because it’s not like any of those pathetic mortals will ever be able to crack immortality themselves. The only ways to become immortal are through reality itself.”

That’s harsh. Although not unexpected for what he considers to be a test subject.

And that bit about becoming immortal through reality itself… he means my accident and his death affinity. Neither of which were things anyone could change or affect at all.

Wait a second…

“You said there were several reasons?” I ask, my frown still present on my face.

The skeleton warms up a little bit, the coldness in his gaze abates a little and he says, “These aren’t as important as the main reason, but know that you aren’t just a simple test subject to me. Not entirely.”

My eye twitches.

Did he need to add that second part?

“I meant what I said before. You are the only immortal in this world besides myself, at least as far as I know,” he continues, completely ignoring my reaction. “So you’re likely the only person in this world who I can get close to without knowing they’re just going to die from old age at some point in the future.”

That… has me feeling weird. Not really because of his sentimentality, but more so the… question it put in my head.

Will I feel like that myself in the future?

How will I feel when my own parents are dying of old age? When my friends are?

I never really planned on having kids in the first place, or ever actually getting married, so I’m safe in that area. But having to watch my own friends as they slowly age before eventually dying themselves…

Not a pleasant thought.

“Ah, I see you’re thinking about it yourself now,” the skeleton says with a nod of his skeletal head. “Good. But don’t linger on it. There isn’t anything you can do to change it, so simply accept it and move on as you usually seem so adept at doing.”

I blink at that, only to admit he’s kind of right. I do tend to adapt to things rather quickly.

“And your other reasons?” I ask, my frown returning.

He looks me directly in the eyes – which I’m not really sure how I can tell he’s doing that since he has flames instead of eyes in his eye sockets – and answers, “The magicians from the mainland are annoying.”

I look at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to say more, but he doesn’t say anything else. Just stands there.

“Wait, that’s it?” I ask, feeling more than a little surprised by the short and to the point answer.

He nods, “It would be to my benefit that the mainland magicians are dealt with. Both the Class S ones and the weaker magicians.”

I stare at the skeleton for several seconds before eventually letting out a sigh.

Well, test subject or not, it doesn’t really matter. Not when our goals align.

I need to grow as strong as I possibly can, and he wants me to become the strongest being in the world.

Besides. He doesn’t actually have to help me, so I can’t really be picky about why he’s helping.

Especially considering that he does treat me okay and lets me do what I want.

And in that case… I ask, “Alright, then can you help me learn how to use my time and space mana?”

He stares at me for a moment before nodding, “Of course.”

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