Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 140: A Myth and a Warning

"Decades after the war ended, civilization began to flourish. As the former messengers joined their reconstruction, the knowledge of magic began to spread throughout the world now named by their God. There, practitioners devoted their lives to mastering the [Mana Control] and studying the mysteries behind their origins.

At that time, two magicians forged their names in the early days of peace.

A magician who wanted to master the magic for the benefit of others and a wizard who wanted strength from it.

Both of them were brought in by a wise sage who wanted to pass his knowledge before he departed from the living. He was once a messenger who spent the rest of his years learning and mastering the elements brought by the [Mana] around him. Upon witnessing their magical prowess in their orphanage, he was confident they would bring a new age of <Volo> with their abilities.

However, they followed two separate paths when they grew older

The oldest of the orphans, who was the slowest to understand the intricate mechanics of magic, traveled around the world helping people not only through his spells but his wits alone. Despite that he spent less time studying, he only mastered magic whenever he helped a poor soul with their needs. He wasn't strong, yet he inherited the sage's kindness and hope for the world.

As for the youngest of the two, he was known to be the smartest and quick-minded of the two apprentices. He mastered all of the elements for five months and created spells that none could the sages come up with. Yet he never studied them for the benefit of others. He only wanted to be strong enough to overpower warriors and hunters through magic alone. The sage grew concerned about his behavior, yet he hoped he could change through the older magician's heart. It wasn't much of a misjudgment on his end. Both apprentices studied together despite their differences and grew up as brothers forged not in blood, but by bond.

But time wasn't very kind to the sage's former apprentices.

The younger magician who became a wizard still sought power. And during his reunion with the oldest, he shared a solution to help him reach his goal.

"Do you remember the Landmarks our master taught us? Why don't we absorb the [Mana] from them and use it for our own gain?"

The older magician was appalled by his suggestion. He knew that the [Mana] the [Mana Landmarks] weren't meant for one living being. There was a chance they couldn't survive that amount and even if they could, the guardians won't allow this travesty to happen. So he rejected that notion and pleaded with him to give up on his search for power.

But to his horror, the wizard stormed into one of the Landmarks and stole most of the [Mana] created from its lines. He used it to defeat its guardian and he would have killed them if it weren't for the magician's intervention.

The two former friends then fought each other. One in an attempt to reach out to his brother and another to eliminate the only person who could stop his goal of power.

The fight grew intense as the tides turned in the older magician's favor. In a last-ditch effort to defeat him, the wizard used all of the stolen Mana to create new magic out of darkness to control the monsters living in the wilds. However, his attempt created a corrosive mana that sapped the life forces of the wilds as well as sacrificing what was left of his humanity and bonds with his past self. With no hope of restoring his old friend, the magician called for the aid of the [Mana Guardian] and together, they defeated the dark wizard and wiped away all of his creations from the Landmark.