Atem clapped happily to the question. It was exactly what he wanted her to do. A question that would give her knowledge about everything at once. A good question.

He looked around himself at the forest scenery. This would hardly do for a tale of this magnitude. He smiled to the beautiful and stressed woman and clapped his hands once more. The scenery began to change upon itself with him as the center. In an instant, there were now in a luxurious living room worthy of being a royal one. He gestured for her to sit on a sofa and proceeded to sit on the opposite one. She followed suit while being perturbed.

'???: What's going on? Teleportation Magic? But I did not feel any fluctuations!'

He clapped once more and tea along with snacks was served on the table between them. If this wasn't extravagant enough, he clapped again and rose petals began to appear from the ceiling and drop to the ground where they disappeared creating a completely fantastical ambiance.

Atem: Ah, don't worry, they will remain around us. Now then, your question...A good one. It required a slight change of scenery. Should I start?

???: Ah? Uh, yes.

Atem: The story starts very long ago with the birth of a boy named Shen-

???: Wait. I asked for your story.

Atem: And my story starts with this. Now, please keep your questions for after the tale.

???: But this was my last question?

Atem: Exactly. Now... It began with the birth of Shen. He was born lucky. A well off family in a particularly powerful world filled with Magic of a high-level. Soon, he was diagonised with an incredible talent for the discipline and even as a kid proved his genius. He studied with zeal and happiness. Since he loved what he did and he was good at it, he became incredible shrotly.

Atem: His family very proud of him sent him to a specialized school where only after a year he was selected to go to a greater place. He was taken by a famous stranger through the door that's a window. He arrived into a brand new world with even better Magic. And was enrolled into a school there.

Atem: Even in that school, he soon became well-known for his capabilities. It was during that time, with his high popularity, that he also began to play around with women... Anyways, he was strong and smart in a world where such people were very high demand and respected.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Atem: Soon, he was offered to be part of a traveller's team. A mediocre one but one nonetheless. Travellers are those who use the gate that's a window to move through world in search for certain things. At first, he did not know what it was they were searching for. He thought they were adventurers. While he considered it cool, Magic was much more important to him.

Atem: Time went by and he felt how short of a time his life was going to be. Too short. At twenty five, in his last year as a student of the school, he believed that to explore Magic further, he needed more time. And so, he began to pick up puppetry. And he was, once more, talented.

Atem: The crafting of a puppet and its control was mastered shortly after graduating. Unfortunately, he was still far from being able to reach his goal, eternal life. While he could make a perfect body like no one else could, he failed in granting it sentience. And if it didn't have that, he couldn't turn himself into one.

Atem: Figuring out that the path was ending, he thought of something that could help. And that is how Mind Magic entered the game. He researched while taking the job of an assistant teacher in the academy. A job he was not doing much to be honest but they kept him there. And more time passed. Then, he had the Magic mastered.

Atem: He could give memories and thoughts to a puppet for it to comprehend and act upon his orders. Without having to attach strings to manipulate them. It was an incredible breakthrough in Magic and Puppetry. However he kept it to himself. After all, it was quite the powerful yet simple kind of Magic. He did not want to spread something so destructive.

Atem: But it was not enough. After a few tests, he had to admit that there was still something missing. The people that he tried to turn were fine at first but little by little had their being erroded. He was missing something. That's when he took on the job of a teacher, a real one. He was around forty five at the time. He used the job as a way to access more books to research.

Atem: After less than a month, he figured out what he was missing. Or rather what was creating the disturbance. The soul. It wasn't remaining attached to the puppet body. He begant to research souls and managed to understand how to bind them to the puppets.

Atem: He was sixty when he reached that point and still vigorous. Unfortunately, he was getting on his years and the success of his research remained further away from him. In fact, even though the soul was now staying, it was still being corroded little by little. It was very similar to a transplant rejection. Since this body was not the original, there was a rejection.

Atem: However, he had no idea on how to proceed. It was at that time that a woman he knew. The very first one he loved and the only one he never got with, or tried to, visited him. She was a brillant fire Magus. And strangely, she was still the same as forty years ago. Be it her soul or her body, there had been not a single change while he grew old.

Atem: He could not help but envy her and asked the question that changed his destiny: "How?"