Zeke opened his eyes, recognizing the vaulted glass ceiling of his personal Mana Purifying Device. This third version had only minor improvements in function, but its auxiliary features had changed considerably.
The once futuristic, menacing chamber now resembled a cozy glass room with a mattress inside. At a glance, one might mistake it for nothing more than a decorative eccentricity rather than the highly complex chemical marvel it truly was. The engineered components had been hidden away, giving the device the look of an ordinary, even stylish, piece of furniture.
From a merchant's perspective, Zeke would have called it a finished product, ready for market. Not that he had any intention of selling it.
The moment he stirred, the entire upper part of the device swung open like an oyster revealing its pearl.
Zeke rose quickly and stretched, his body feeling as rested and limber as ever. Truly marvelous. The greatest flaw of the device—the dangerously addictive nature of purified Mana—had been countered by Akasha sending his mind into a trance during operation.
For now, the Spirit still did this manually for him and the twins, but they were already working on an Enchantment to automate the process in the future. Without such a safeguard, the device could never be used safely.
Speaking of the twins, both Kallen and Keiran had already met their new teachers. Merchant Lord Chen's wife had proven to be an exceptionally pleasant woman—gentle, nurturing, and endlessly patient.
If she had been tasked with teaching Zeke, he would likely have felt awkward under such constant praise and affirmation. But for Kallen, it was a perfect match.
It never got old to watch the icy girl flush like an embarrassed child when showered with compliments for the simplest of tasks. The smile that lingered on her face afterward, however, showed she didn't truly dislike it.
Honestly, she seemed starved for affection.
That realization made Zeke want to have a serious word with her parents—but naturally, he couldn't. They had vanished after betraying him and his household.
Whatever deal they had struck with the Empire, Zeke neither knew nor cared. They possessed little of real value, and it wasn't as though the Empire could become any more hostile toward him than it already was.
As for the twins?
If they cared about their parents' absence, they hid it well. In fact, they seemed to be breathing easier without them around. Then again, it might simply have been that they were so absorbed in their new studies that they had no time for anything else.
Keiran had also begun his tutoring under Solon.
Zeke didn't know the details of their lessons—Keiran simply vanished from the estate during the appointed times and reappeared once the sessions were over. Still, according to the boy, the Exarch was satisfied, and the lectures were going well.
That was all Zeke knew, and all he truly needed to know.
As for his promise to Solon, he had long since put it out of mind. There was no rivalry between him and Keiran, and there never would be. Exarch teacher or not, the fastest recorded advance to Archmage had taken more than eighty years.
That was considered fast. But if Zeke advanced at that pace, he would likely die long before reaching that stage.
If he so wished, Zeke could push his Core to the peak of Grandmage within weeks by abusing the Mana Purifying device. But there was no point. He had already identified two other requirements that had to be fulfilled before he could even think of stepping into the rank of Archmage.
The first was his Concepts.
The second was his Soul.
At present, Zeke was still refining his Concepts—or more accurately, his singular Concept.
He had once planned to develop a separate one for each of his affinities. But over time, he began to sense that this was not the true path forward.
At the Archmage level, one's Core merged with the body. The problem was that a human only had a single body. That was also the reason behind the widely held belief that multi-affinity Mages could not advance to Archmage.
Yet Maximilian, Aurelia, and Cassius had achieved it.
Zeke had long wondered what set them apart, why they had succeeded where so many others had failed. Eventually, he found his answer.
Growth Magic and Seismic Magic. That was what they had called it.
Not Life and Nature, but Growth.
Not Earth and Fire, but Seismic.
It implied that they had merged their affinities into one. This was not an entirely new speculation, but Zeke was reasonably sure he had uncovered the method behind it.
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A unifying Concept.
It had to be.
No, more than that. Zeke could feel it in his bones. This was the right path, the hidden method to reach the Archmage level with multiple affinities. He sensed that this was the very road Maximilian had been guiding him toward from the very beginning.
The old man had always emphasized synergies between affinities, urging him to engrave spells that worked together.
Zeke was certain. Certain enough to wager his entire future on it.
The problem was… his work with Concepts had stalled. He had successfully combined his Blood Concept of Return with his Space Concept of Avoidance, but the final step eluded him: Merging them with a third. No matter what he tried, the Mind Concept of Planning refused to merge with the others. At this point, Zeke was beginning to suspect something was wrong with his entire approach.
Planning was simple in theory. The easiest way to explain it was this: instead of thinking a single move ahead, the Concept allowed the spell to consider two.
In practice, a projectile returning to him wouldn't necessarily take the shortest route to dodge an obstacle, but the path that set it up for a quicker return afterward. The more layers of foresight he could implement, the more efficient the Planning would become.
At least, that was how the Concept was supposed to work. In reality, it had done nothing but paralyze the other two, rendering them useless. Zeke had never managed to get a single spell imbued with Planning to even budge.
It was maddening.
His body moved on autopilot while his mind churned over the hurdle before him.
Should he start fresh, building from a different Concept as the base? Would it help to alter his Space Concept into something that meshed better with Mind? Or was it the Mind Concept itself that was flawed?
One possibility chased the next, probabilities forming and dissolving in his mind's eye—until all thought came to a halt with a casual glance out the window.
There, in the training yard where his wards usually gathered at this time of day, sat a single girl.
She was seated cross-legged on a meditation mat. Her eyes were closed, but in front of her, a tiny seedling peeked from a pot of soil. From the shape of its petals, Zeke recognized it as a young moonflower just beginning to sprout.
His feet stilled as his gaze lingered on the young girl. Only days ago, she had trained alongside three others, but now each of them had found teachers, leaving her the only one forced to study alone.
Who else could it be?
His search for the perfect mentor for his sister had achieved the opposite. The very girl he had most wanted to support had ended up receiving the least guidance. Though she had yet to voice a complaint, Zeke could well imagine how bitter it must feel to watch her friends advance by leaps and bounds while she remained behind.
All the more admirable, then, that the frustration hadn't shaken her discipline. She hadn't slacked in the slightest, pouring herself into training with a diligence surpassed only by Kallen.
But how could effort alone be enough to keep pace with students guided by masters of their craft? Zeke remembered his own struggles before meeting Maximilian. As a young apprentice, even a single word from a mentor could cut through hours of doubt and wasted trial.
And though he could try to fill that role, he knew too little of the intricacies of Life and Nature to guide her properly. Especially now, in the early stages, when magic was about cultivating the right instincts and familiarity, his lack of knowledge made him unfit to mentor her.
Even so, one thing was clear: he could not allow his sister to continue floundering. He considered taking the same approach he had with Lue. Finding a decent teacher for Life and another for Nature wouldn't be difficult.
But a stubborn part of him rejected that idea outright. How could he risk such a path, knowing the key to advancement lay in synergy between affinities? To cultivate them separately from the very beginning could only make the road ahead harder—if it left any road at all.
No.
He would not risk it, not with Maya. The way her eyes had gleamed when she watched that elven Archmage bend trees into houses was seared into his memory. How could he ever tell her she would never reach that level simply because he had failed to guide her well?
Zeke would always choose to endure a little suffering now rather than far greater suffering later.
He didn't know if Maya saw things the same way, but as head of the household, he would not allow her the chance to choose differently. That was his prerogative.
Even so, the problem remained. Cassius was out of reach, and there was no telling if it would take days or years before Zeke could track him down. Worse, he had no confidence in convincing the man to take Maya as a student.
His arrangement with Solon had been a stroke of luck, and he had nothing to offer an Exarch in exchange for such a service. Cassius was much the same. His unique Growth Magic allowed him to create an almost limitless supply of natural treasures, leaving him with no want for wealth.
If Cassius put his mind to it, he could very well rival Midas in riches. Zeke still remembered vividly the casual ease with which the half-elf had cultivated a new kind of superfood that solved all of Undercity's problems.
Growth Magic, paired with a keen mind, was an utterly fraudulent ability.
Zeke shook his head, pushing aside the distracting thoughts. He had to make a decision soon. How much longer could he afford to wait for news of Cassius before giving up? Advancement in the early stages came easily, and he didn't want Maya falling too far behind because of his stubbornness.
Even if Cassius had been his first choice, that didn't mean he had no other options. Tradespire was a melting pot of people from across the continent. Surely, someone here could serve as a suitable tutor for his sister…
His Spatial Awareness picked up the person rushing down the corridors long before he heard their footsteps. Their destination was clear.
Zeke turned from the window to face the empty hall. Moments passed in silence before the hurried steps finally reached him, followed by the huffing breaths of an exhausted servant. The poor girl must have sprinted the whole way.
He stepped forward to meet her halfway. She greeted him clumsily, still catching her breath.
Zeke waited patiently, extending his Sphere of Awareness to check for any abnormalities that might justify such urgency. But everything seemed in order within the bounds of his estate.
At last, the girl straightened, her breathing steadying.
"Young Lord, there is news from the portals," she blurted.
"What news?"
"The elves… they are sending another delegation!"
Zeke's brows furrowed. The elves had grown more active of late. One of their Matriarchs had even left their sacred lands to attend the hearing, and now they were sending another delegation to Tradespire. Interesting indeed.
"I understand," he said. "Are we expected to host them again during their stay?"
The girl shook her head. "No, Lord. This delegation has come specifically to visit our household."