Chapter 648: Passing on the curse
Seberus told him that chess had become extremely popular within the wizard circles, and it seemed that he was right. Even without formally introducing the game to Metropolis, the Magic Tower already had an established room for the wizards to play in. It even looked like they’d been playing for two years at least.
"Are you interested in the game?"
Michael turned around and followed the voice, seeing a middle-aged man with pepper hair and a rectangular mustache behind him.
Judging purely from the fact that the mana surrounding this man was incredibly dense, it was easy to guess that this was the Tower Master.
"Lucius Waterloo, Tower Master of Metropolis," he greeted. "I have been waiting for your arrival, Michael Vanderbilt. Your mentor has told me all about you."
"My mentor?" he asked. "Ah, you mean Seberus?"
"The man exactly. You don’t know how much I’ve cursed that name for not telling me about you properly. If I had known you were such a talented mystic user, then I would have welcomed you to Metropolis myself."
Lucius walked forward and joined him in the balcony overlooking the rows of tables with chess boards.
"There is one thing I’m curious about. Your talent definitely gives you the privilege to become a Mystic Master. Why have you not?"
"No offense, but I have better things to do," he replied honestly. "I feel like I can make a larger difference in the world if I continue with my company. But if I become a Mystic Master, I’ll be forced in a secluded study away from the world I so desperately want to change."
Lucius looked at him and nodded. One could see in his eyes that he was dismayed that such a once-in-a-lifetime genius like Michael wasn’t part of the Guild.
"It is true that Mystic Master students have a similar training to monks, but with your talent, I’m sure exceptions can be made. They’d be more than willing to give you leeway to do what you want, and still be part of the Guild."
Michael shrugged. "I don’t want to be tied down. But I am planning on visiting the Guild of Arcana in the future."
The Tower Master was saddened for a second, but his eyes lit up once he realized something. "...yes...yes! Do that! Hehehehe I won’t tell them about your talents just yet. I want to see the look on those old geezer’s faces when you show them yourself."
There was an almost evil look on Lucius’ face that reminded him of Seberus. It seemed that Tower Masters had a natural tendency to become weirdos.
In truth, Lucius was just doing what Seberus had done to him. He wanted to get satisfaction by letting those ’geezers’ experience the same heart stopping shock he experienced when he first found out about Michael.
It was a cycle of schadenfreude.
"Anyway, what brings you here?" Lucius asked, his mood brightened. "Just say the word and we’ll bring you what you want."
"Well, I do have a request," he said. "I saw that the wizards in the auction game could create very realistic homunculi and I wanted to find out how they’re doing it."
Lucius pursed his lips. "To tell you the truth, our homunculi are made out of a magical skeletal structure that is proprietary to the Guild of Arcana. And that, I can’t divulge."
That was a shame. But he didn’t give up. All he had to do was to see the skeletal structure once, and he could have ChatJK5 copy it within a second.
"Can I see it?"
Lucius thought about it for a moment before an idea struck his mind.
"How about we have a bet? If you win, I’ll let you see the skeletal structure. And if I win, then we can get a reservation for your automobiles once you can sell them."
"Sounds reasonable," he replied. "What’s the game?"
The Tower Master flashed a proud smile before pointing down at the chessboards.
"We’ll play chess. Do you know about it?"
Michael could only chuckle to himself.
...
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...
Thirty minutes later...
Lucius sat on the table, grabbing his head in frustration.
"The Tower Master is losing."
"Did you see Michael’s moves? It’s like he knew the Tower Master’s moves in advance!"
"I think it’s better if Lucius surrenders his king now to save his dignity."
In this Magic Tower, Lucius was considered to be the best player among the wizards. No one could beat him. That was why he was so confident betting against Michael.
But now, with most of his pieces already off the board leaving behind only a few pawns and his king, he was most certainly done for.
"Haaa.....how?!"
Michael moved his queen, creating a checkmate.
"And that’s the game," he said, shaking Lucius’ hand.
"I thought this was your first time playing?!"
Michael shrugged. "I never said that. You just assumed."
"...how..."
"Oh, it’s because I invented chess."
Lucius froze in place, before his head slowly turned towards Michael. "What?"
"Yeah, chess was one of the first products of the Reborn company."
He turned the chessboard over, letting Lucius see the ’R’ brand etched into the very wood.
As the realization dawned on Lucius, his jaws opened wide.
"So, can I get the magic skeleton now?" he asked.
A few seconds later, a shout could be heard reverberating out of the Magic Tower, surprising the pedestrians walking in front.
"CURSE YOU SEBERUS!"
Lucius could see Seberus’ face in the sky, rolling on the clouds because of his uncontrolled laughter. He purposefully neglected to tell him that Michael was the one who invented chess!
"Michael, when you get to the Guild of Arcana, you better not tell any of them that you invented chess, okay?"
There was a manic look on Lucius’ face. He was desperate to continue the cycle of shock.
Seberus got outsmarted by Michael in chess, which he passed down to Lucius. And now, like a curse, Lucius wanted to pass it down towards someone else and take the burden off himself.
...
...
...
Michael got a first-hand look at the Magic Tower’s vaults. There were a lot of treasures located inside here, which all emanated magic like a spell.
And at the end of the vault, he saw a couple of glass containers lined up against the wall.
Most of them contained inactive homunculi. Their faceless and featureless expressions would have been the perfect display for horror houses in a theme park.
At the very center seemed to be a skeletal figure, but not one typical of humans. It looked like a stick figure, with one long stick as the torso and the head, with four limbs attached to make up the arms and the legs.
ChatJK5, have you seen it properly now?
[Yes. I have stored and analyzed its magic theory. You will be able to replicate it using your own magic.]
A surge of information washed over his mind, giving him a basic understanding of this skeletal structure that gave the homunculi a realistic depiction.
I see. So it’s using the stacked effect of magic, just like the technique Braxton used.
Now that he knew how simple it was, he knew that he’d be able to customize it to any shape he wanted, including sea monsters—current and ancient alike.