Solar Mage

Chapter 68: Personalities

(I wanted to kill myself writing the latter half of this Chapter)

(Don't get your hopes up too high, I don't think it's sexual but still, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION)

His pale purple robe lined with the shapes of the moon, sun, and stars, colored by original dyes rest on his body while his somehow perfect, sparkling, slicked back, gray hair rests over his head.

Wow, his robes look just like they were described in the novel! But just like the novel, it looks a little... bland and underwhelming. Hmm how should I put this? It looks like it was made by a child, the shapes are different sizes, and the color palette other than the yellow sun just looks pale and boring. The only piece of evidence that makes me think that it was made by a somewhat skilled artisan, is that on both sides of the robes are perfectly symmetrical. Still the robes are a little underwhelming, I was expecting something cooler with a better design

"Come on Arthur, don't be so disappointed from the look of my robes, it's an ancient relic made by the greatest artisan of my time!"

I close my eyes to give them a short time to rest.

Why would I care? I'm not a historian– wait, maybe he's showing me this to give it to me?! In that case, I'll gladly accept any of his artifacts!

Terminus sighs as he sees me open my eyes, and sees the greed in them.

"Haaa, this artifact isn't for you Arthur, I'm going to hand over all my treasures to my disciple."

Wait– didn't he say he would give me all his treasures?!?! Why is he changing his mind now?!

"Wait, why can't I be your disciple? I thought you were going to train me!"

I say, whining out loud like a true spoiled, noble kid who, for the first time, doesn't get what they want.

"Arthur, I've been alive for over seven hundred years now, in my time, space magic what something that has not even been theorized yet, well actually, it has but because of the lost history of the Mythical Era, the people of my time has never thought of it yet, let alone, practiced it."

Why is he telling me this? I can take a straight answer!

"I was just an attributeless, 6th circle mage, well since I was attributeless, I guess it would be more fitting to call myself a 6th circle magic scholar whose dreams at being both a swordsman and mage had been shattered, only being able to reach the 6th stage of both paths no matter how hard I tried. I was supposed to be a Great Sage, or a Grandmaster, everyone put so much hope in me, but I couldn't even surpass the first wall. Fifty years, or two generations after me, a young boy who was also called the genius of his generation, however, unlike me, I could tell that he had real potential."

Terminus unexpectedly bursts out in laughter.

"And do you know what he said to me? Hahaha! He told me that I was a genius and he wanted me to be his mentor and teach him! Me! A talentless old man, who had nothing except his brain left. I was in absolute disbelief, but not mad, it was already a normal occurrence for children, especially nobles to make fun of me, but for some reason, for the genius of the generation to do the same, it just made something snap inside of me, I almost killed him, haha. Eventually I began to see eye to eye with him, and after 80 years of engineering and a contract with the Primordial Phoenix, at the age of 155, him being 95, we found what he calculated to be 80% of the forgotten or hidden knowledge in the world. Fun fact before we continue, did you know that the Transcendental Wizard was also a space affinity mage like me? Quite the coincidence, no? Anyway, so we stored all of it, along with all the present world's knowledge, inside the first and only artifact to surpass the Godly tier that we created."

He holds up Sagey, letting it shine in the bright sunlight, all of our attention focused on admiring it.

"We named the tier after godly, Eternal. Then, immediately afterwards, Luke founded a school, and died a short while later. I followed his last request, to leave it to the Sage System, to choose the person who would be his successor, and the one to slay Arcanus. After he died, life got boring. I didn't know why he didn't make a contract with the damned phoenix like me, but now I know, immortality is a curse, however, I had a promise to uphold."

"I worked with the phoenix these past seven hundred years or so, settling in the church, acting like a shadow since it was built just above the vault, and quite convenient. I also attended the meetings with the Sages of Knowledge from time to time to discuss philosophies with the intellectuals of each generation which is quite fun. And after 700 years have passed, here I am, finally having reached the stage of a 9th circle Great Sage in magic, not just in knowledge."

Processing... Processing...

My mind continues to process the massive amount of information he had just thrown onto me. While my mouth hangs open without realizing it.

"Look, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you have no talent for space magic, and don't worry, none of thr treasures I've promised you will be taken from you, I was just talking about the artifacts I made specifically for space magic, that you wouldn't be able to use."

My mind snaps back from its trance, trying to process the life story that he just imparted onto me, the moment I hear those words.

Huh? I get all the treasures?

"Haaaa– yes you get all the treasures, you can ask me any other questions you want to later."

I should get going now like he said, if he's being so adamant about it, there must be something to be gained right? Even if he didn't tell me, I would've still gone, the sooner I get back to Ashland, the better. I wish that I could get all the information I want about how everyone is doing, but that'll have to wait. That kid, Bran is probably freaking out since so much time has passed and it's closing in on 5 days– wait how many days has it been?!

"Wait– how long has it been, Sir Terminus?"

I say with great distress showing on my face.

"That's not something you should be asking me–"

He moves out of the way, and Lillian, who had been hidden behind him is revealed.

"Physician?"

He continued.

Right, Lillian had still been in the room! I completely forgot about her through my outburst, rollercoaster of emotions, and being hidden behind Terminus! She's probably terrified of me now because of all the displays of insanity I showed! Damn it, I hope this doesn't cause trauma for her in the future, I swear I won't ever show such a scene ever again!

Due to the guilt I felt, I avoided eye contact, keeping my head to the ground, and just hoping for her to end this awkward silence and give me a response. However, after seconds of nothing, my curiosity and worry start to take hold of me.

Is she really so terrified and traumatized by me that she won't even speak to me when the Wizard of Time and Space, himself tells her to? Or could it be that she just doesn't want to speak to me at the moment because she's childishly pouting? That would be one of the better case scenarios, but what if she fainted because of how afraid she was? Shit, I don't know! I'm going to look!

Just before I decide to manually look up of my own will, Lillian finally speaks.

"Arthur?"

My head stiffly flicks upward, like a machine, at the sound of her voice, gulping nervously as I prepare myself for what horrors I would see on her face, before I turn on my sensory processor.

Please don't look terrified or angry!

To my fortunate surprise, her reaction was neither mad nor scared. Unfortunately, it was due to my narrow mind that I could not formulate a reaction worse than what I thought. Nothing could have prepared me for what her face looked like.

"My, I never knew you had such a wonderful side to you, Arthur! I forgive you for everything you did! AH~ I can't hold myself back anymore!"

She holds her cherry red face, panting heavily as she stares at me with uncontrollable lust.

Shit, what the hell?! She's younger than me but acts just like Pyro the first time we met!

I feel my own face start to do this same as my body rapidly heats up. However, in my rapid body temperature increase, I stay frozen, more so than I ever have, my fingers twitching, but nothing else.

I close my eyes to organize my thoughts, and when I open them, I look straight up, avoiding the beast in front of me as much as possible.

Ah– how could I be so foolish? She must be acting this way because I made her so afraid, that it caused her personality to change, I think it was called trauma bonding? Wow I can't believe I did that, I really have to fix myself since it even caused this child's mind to collapse!

.

.

.

Right?

GOD DAMN IT! CAN THIS FUCKING BRAIN STOP BEING SO SMART FOR ONE SECOND?!?! I'M TRYING MY BEST TO CONVINCE MYSELF BUT IT ISN'T WORKING! GOD, PLEASE, JUST FOR ONCE, MAKE MY BRAIN DUMBER!!!

Seconds pass, but my body temperature still continues to rise at a rapid and steady pace.

FUCCCCKKK!!!! DO SOMETHING TERMINUS!!!

I finally turn to Terminus and see him gone, no longer in his spot.

Did he... DID HE JUST FUCKING LEAVE ME?!?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ABOUT SUPPORTING ME AS MUCH AS HE COULD?!?! THIS ISN'T THE KIND OF SUPPORT I WANT RIGHT NOW!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!

Suddenly, I hear a chop and something falls on the mattress.

"I apologize Arthur, for ruining both of your romantic time, but this old man just thinks that both of you are too young to be doing this right now. Ahem, it seems she has forgiven you so I'll just tell you."

I stare down at her unconscious body laying down on the bed, my body still yet to calm down, continuing to rise in temperature as I ignore his words, fading into the background.

"Huff– Huff–"

"Arthur!"

Terminus says, his voice finally reaching me, the shout finally snapping me out of my trance.

"Huh? Oh, yes, please go on."

I quickly respond after returning to reality, wiping the drool I felt off my mouth.

Oh god, what the hell was I thinking?

Terminus looks at me skeptically, but also sympathetically for a while, before he speaks once again.

"I don't know if anyone told you this, and you might not believe me, but I don't think that this is how you act normally, this might be a coping mechanism you made to relieve your stress, so make sure you go to Ashland and fix that. If you still act like this afterwards, I think I'll need to question you later..."

What does he mean? Pyro said the same thing but I didn't notice anything wrong! Well, I guess I wouldn't be able to know if what they're saying is right. Is it really that big of a deal though?