Stygian Mage

Soren stared at the naked man while trying to figure things out in his mind. He could tell that the small man was not real and was just a projection. He didn’t know much about Spell Formations but was sure that his conclusion was right; the reason behind it was that the small naked man looked completely intangible like he was made up of light particles. What Soren was trying to figure out right now was why the small man was naked. He ran his brain at full speed but still couldn’t figure out why anyone would make such a decision; his lack of knowledge about the Spell Formations also didn’t help.

As he was thinking all this, the small man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Soren. He then slightly changed his posture while standing on the Spell Formation; he held his hands together behind him and slightly puffed out his chest, giving off the aura of an expert. But the result was something that made Soren cringe; instead of his chest, something else got puffed out which was something that Soren didn’t want to look at.

“Hello, little friend,” the small man spoke ignoring whatever Soren might have been thinking.

Soren also decided to ignore the earlier action and just tried to focus on the important thing.

“Hello, Senior,” Soren greeted the small man with respect while removing his mask from his face. Regardless of how he looked right now, it was a fact that he was a Rank 2 Initiator.

“Please excuse my appearance. I had to make sure that the Spell Formation would work for a long time so I had to remove the clothes and anything that was not important; simulating them would have taken extra energy which was not cost-efficient.”

Although Soren didn’t care about this fact, in particular, this did clear up some of the doubts in his mind.

“So, what is your name, little friend?”

“Soren, Sir,” He answered in a respectful manner.

The small man nodded and said, “My name is Drai.”

“Nice to meet you,” Soren respectfully said without knowing one fact.

Soren was rather observant most of the times but he still couldn’t see the hint of emotion that was hidden in Drai’s eyes right now. It was mostly due to the difference in their experience; if someone who had lived for decades or centuries was so easy to read then he or she wouldn’t have survived in this world.

Drai looked at the young man standing in front of him with slightly confused eyes. What he was feeling right now was something he couldn’t explain. Most of all, he wasn’t sure that he could feel anything new before this. When he had created the Spell Formation and left his Will inside, he was only planning to guide the one who would receive his inheritance and then scatter in the air, forever. He didn’t think that the Will he was leaving in the Spell Formation could feel anything other than what he had felt at the time of creating it. The Will was something that was destined to disperse; it could not create any new emotion other than what he was feeling at the time of creating the Spell Formation.

Yet, Drai was feeling something entirely different right now. He didn’t know if it was because of some change in the Spell Formation or because his Will had evolved, but it was a fact that what he was feeling right now was something that was not intended.

It was an emotion he was very familiar with when he was alive. It was despair fueled by the pity and empathy he felt towards this young man. He remembered all too well how he died and what he had felt at that time. For the world outside, he was an Initiator at Rank 2, but there was something they didn’t know. Drai had come to this area and created a cave residence for himself because he wanted to break through to Rank 3 here. It was not an easy thing but he was determined to do it. But what he had not expected was that during the breakthrough to Rank 3, something would go wrong with the process. He had broken through to Rank 3, in the end, and had become successful, but the price he paid in return was something too big.

And the reason he was empathizing with the young man in front of him was that this young man was paying the same price as him but wasn’t getting anything in return. In his own case, he at least got to see the world from the eyes of a Rank 3 Initiator but this young man….

…

Drai didn’t know what to do with this emotion; this was something that was not planned. That was why he was so confused.

Soren didn’t know any of this as he stood in front of Drai in a respectful manner. Though respectful from the outside, he was slightly flustered inside. He knew those Initiators from outside could break inside and chop him to pieces any time now. He wanted to hurry up the process and whatever that was going on right now.

Regardless of Soren’s impatience, it took some time for Drai to gather his thoughts; while Soren was getting more and more restless.

In the end, Drai made a decision; it was for his own sake and for the sake of Soren.

“Soren, was it?”

“Yes, sir”

“You have come to my cave for the Inheritance?”

Soren slightly hesitated but still answered, “Yes, sir. Though, I am not sure if I am worthy of it or not.”

Drai stayed silent for a minute and then said, “Sorry, little friend. But you don’t have the aptitude of a Swordsman. You can’t receive my Inheritance.”

Drai’s words made Soren slightly disappointed. From the beginning, he was not expecting to receive the Inheritance as it was a Swordsman’s Inheritance and he was a Spellcaster, but it was still disappointing to hear that for a fact. He was actually hoping to get something here that might help him in breaking through to Rank 1 and increase his strength. But now that he knew that was not possible, he just wanted to get away from here quickly. He didn’t want to risk his life for nothing; the Initiators outside could come inside any moment now.

Thinking up to that, Soren bowed respectfully towards Drai and then started walking back in a slightly hurried manner.

“Can you wait for a moment, young man?”

Soren stopped in his tracks as he heard Drai’s voice.

“You can’t receive my Inheritance but since you have already come here, let me help you out a little.”

Soren turned back without saying anything as he waited for Drai to continue.

“Do you…Do you know about your own condition?”

But the words that came out of Drai’s mouth only made Soren confused. He had no idea what Drai was talking about and so he had no words to reply back with.

Drai saw the confusion in Soren’s eyes and got his answer though.

“Do you know about your stat—‘Vitality’?”

Soren nodded while getting more confused after hearing Drai’s question.

“Can you tell me, what is the value of your ‘Vitality’ stat right now?”

Soren hesitated after hearing Drai but after thinking about it for a bit, he decided to tell the real value. It was not some secret or something very important, and he didn’t know what anyone could do by just knowing the value of his stat. So, Soren opened his status and said his ‘Vitality’ stat value out loud.

“It’s 6.91”

Drai nodded and said, “Do you know how your lifespan is related to this stat?

“Yes. For every increment of 1, my lifespan would increase by 60 years.”

Drai closed his eyes as he once again felt the rush of despair after hearing Soren’s words. This was the price he had paid for the breakthrough; his ‘Vitality’ had been damaged severely in the process. For other people, a value of 1 in the ‘Vitality’ stat meant a lifespan of 60 years, but for him….for him, it had become 30 years. The damage to his ‘Vitality’ affected his lifespan severely, and even though he had broken through to Rank 3, he didn’t live long enough to experience the life of a Rank 3 Initiator.

And from what he saw when the Spell Formation outside the room scanned Soren, the damage to his ‘Vitality’ was even greater than his own. He didn’t know the reason behind it as he knew nothing about this young man, but that didn’t stop him from empathizing with him.

“I don’t know the reason behind it, but your ‘Vitality’ has been severely damaged, young man. It was fortunate that you became an Initiator when you did because otherwise, you would have died in a few more years.”

As the words kept coming out of Drai’s mouth, Soren kept getting more and more stunned, and more and more shocked.

“Don’t calculate your lifespan in a similar way as others. From what I saw from the scan result, your value of 1 in ‘Vitality’ stat means 20 years at most. And calculating from your current value of ‘Vitality’, your current lifespan would be around 138 years.”

“Are you joking with me, Senior?” Soren asked in a shaky voice; his heart churning in turmoil.

“Do I look like I am joking?” Drai answered back with a question in a serious manner.

Soren really didn’t want to believe a word that came out of Drai’s mouth, but his rational mind forced him to believe that it was all true. He had already seen some symptoms like random nose bleeds when under strain of any kind. He didn’t know the reason behind it before, but now, everything made sense. Thinking about it, Soren got even more scared as his face became pale and his legs became weak—if he hadn’t become an Initiator, he would have died just after a few more years.

Isaac was constantly running scans upon scans on Soren’s body from the moment he heard Drai talk about this. He could do nothing else; he was helpless and had no other way to help his Master. So, he did the only thing that he could do right now; he tried to find the reason behind it.

But both he and Soren knew—it was not possible. They would have already found out about it if it was possible for them to do so. Isaac’s action was nothing but an act of desperation; desperation born out of the desire to save his Master. The emotionless Isaac from before was now starting to feel a hint of emotion.

Soren wasn’t aware of Isaac’s change but he was in no condition to think about it either. The disastrous news he just received had shaken him to his core. It was not the decrease in lifespan that was the most shocking to him; he hadn’t gotten used to his increased lifespan of 400 years anyway, so the decrease rather made him feel that he was a normal human. It was the fact itself that his ‘Vitality’ was damaged was what made him shocked. He didn’t know what could have caused it, no matter how much he thought about it.

Was it because of the Blood Contract? No!—he rejected the thought as soon as it came to his mind. The Blood Contract was not something extremely rare; if it had this kind of problem, it would have already been exposed and spread around. Not only that, the Liston Family wanted him to work for them, so it didn’t make sense for them to install this time bomb in his body.

Then suddenly, another fact went through his mind; a fact that he had ignored. The only thing that could be the cause of it in his mind was the fact that he had gone through a space crack. It was the only thing he could think of that could damage his ‘Vitality’.

Did other ‘Travelers’ also experienced the same thing: one thought went through his mind.

…

Drai waited patiently for Soren to gather his thoughts. He had experienced this feeling firsthand, so he knew what Soren was feeling right now. He was already a Rank 2 Initiator at that time and was much more experienced than Soren; yet, the despair he had felt was almost too much for him. He knew that one way to deal with this despair was to find a reason behind it; it didn’t matter if it was the real cause behind it, it just needed to become the crutch for that person to remain standing.

And Soren did get over the despair, or it could be said that he blamed the space crack for it and used it to stand straight.

“I can relate to what you are feeling right now. I can only advise you to work hard and maybe one day, find a way to heal your damage.” Drai said in a consoling manner.

Soren took a deep breath, controlling his disordered emotion and bowed deeply towards Drai. He was truly grateful to Drai; if not for him, he would have remained ignorant of this fact all his life and one day, he would have died just like that.

“I know some details about this condition so let me explain a few things to you; it might help you in understanding your own situation.”

Drai then went on to explain what he had experienced and gave all the details to Soren. What he said was that the damage to ‘Vitality’ was a lot different than normal damage. It somehow only affected the lifespan and recovery rate in a negative manner. The effect it had on the aging rate was just the opposite. The damage would somehow freeze the body’s aging rate; meaning—the body would stop aging from the moment the damage was done to the ‘Vitality’. And when the supposed lifespan would come to an end, the body would just stop functioning without aging for even one day.

Maybe it was the nature’s way to compensate for the damage and balance things out, but Soren and Drai both knew that they would rather not receive this compensation and just get everything back to normal.

………

It took some time for Drai to explain everything to Soren, who had already forgotten about all the Initiators outside who were trying to get inside right now. After the explanation was finished, Drai told Soren that the girl with the wooden mask that had come with him had received his Inheritance. From what Soren could see, Wood was a Swordsman and so, it was no surprise for him to hear that she had received the Inheritance.

Drai also told him about his experiences in breaking through to Rank 1, 2, and 3; this was a big help to Soren as he was very near to breaking through to Rank 1. In the end, Drai only wished him luck in finding a way to heal himself and change the fate that he himself had suffered from, and was defeated.

“I can’t give you my Inheritance but there is something that might help you. It was something that was given to me by my friend and so, it is not included in my Inheritance. She had asked me to pass this on to someone who had the same talent as her to continue her lineage. And from your scan result, you do possess the same talent. Let me ask you, have you ever tried to move the spell projectile after you have released them?”

Soren was once again surprised to hear Drai’s words. This was something he had tried on multiple occasions and this had also saved his life many times. He had thought before that anyone could do it and he just needed to learn more about it to do it perfectly, but now, he found out that only who had this talent could do it.

Drai got his answer from Soren’s expression. He said, “Many people have this talent but most of them are unaware of it and it simply goes unnoticed their whole life. My friend had done intensive research on this and had created a cultivation technique out of it. The technique itself is not very good but it complements that unique talent and provides one with that skill.”

He then waved his hand and suddenly, a crystal ball of about a fist’s size appeared in front of Soren, who received it on his hand.

“I hope you take this and continue her research and lineage. I can’t give you anything other than this but I do wish you success in whatever you do in the future. Goodbye, my little friend,” as he finished saying that, he slowly scattered in the air; the small man Drai’s Will was no more.