True Magician

Chapter 126

Dungeon.

I sat in the same place I'd occupied during the party, drinking my fourth cup of coffee. The Xenos, who had returned by this time and had settled around me, were staring at me in absolute silence, practically unmoving. Not all of them, of course, but only the ones that had seen my power, while the rest of them looked at me and back at their brethren in incomprehension.

At one moment I felt a presence approaching us, and after a couple of seconds, he appeared at the top of the stands. It was a cloaked figure with a hooded face and metal clawed gauntlets.

- "Lyd?" he called out to the lizardman, surveying his surroundings, "Why is it so quiet in here?"

- "Fels?" Lyd replied after a short pause as the figure came down and sat down beside me, "Well... it's... hard to explain..."

- "What about you?" I asked, looking over the figure.

- "Fels, nice to meet you, Romani. I work for Lord Ouranos and help the xenos here," the figure introduced himself, "But what's this about? I thought there was going to be a celebration or something here. Even Gros is strangely silent."

So, he's working for Ouranos? Interesting. I doubt he's simple, as Ouranos simply wouldn't waste time on some insignificant figure, unless it could be of tangible benefit. And another question, does this Fels know the ulterior motives of the god he serves?

- "We were attacked," Ray said, then gave me a grateful look, "But Romani saved us."

- "You could have contacted me if you needed help," Fels said, "And that doesn't explain what's happening here now."

- "Contact?" I raised an eyebrow, glancing at Lyd.

- "Fels means this," the lizardman pulled out a small blue pearl from a pouch on his belt, "We can communicate with him through this thing. Fels has the same one, but in a different color. And that's how we keep in touch with Ouranos."

- "I see." I said.

- "Can I have an answer, please?" Fels asked in a slightly sad tone, though his voice sounded deep and mysterious.

- "It's..." Lyd hesitated, and looked at me as if asking for permission, to which I shrugged, "Romani's power was unexpected to us."

- "Very unexpected," the arachne added with a grin, "He created chains that tore people of level three and above apart in a second."

- "But Lord Ouranos said you were level one, right?" Fels said in surprise, looking at me.

- "I'm level one. Technically," I rolled my eyes, "By the way, you give off a very strange vibe. You're not a xenos, are you?"

- "You're right. I am the remains of someone who was once called a sage." Fels nodded and removed his hood, revealing a bare human skull. I gestured for him to explain, "Once the world knew me as a great magician, the creator of the Philosopher's Stone and the sole possessor of eternal life, but... everything changed because of one mistake. I am now known as the 'fool sage', nothing more."

I raised an eyebrow.

Well, now I can see why he possesses a human soul, even though his body is composed solely of bones. The Philosopher's Stone, as far as my memory serves me, allowed me to bypass the rule of equal exchange, but to create it required a lot of "resources," human bodies to be exact. As for the local analog, I can only guess, although, most likely, there wasn't much difference.

His current existence can be regarded as 'eternal life', so it can be skipped, but the title 'wise man-fool' is more interesting. Wisdom itself indicated knowledge and following the rules of the world. A fool remained in blissful ignorance, enjoying life to the fullest, regardless of these very rules. Most likely, his current title was obtained because of the consequences of the 'immortality' he possessed.