His heartbeat couldn’t stop beating hard since he had never felt so uneasy. It was one thing to be unable to change the outcome of whatever was happening in the world, but to not have his own mind under control unnerved him to no end.
With haste, he hurried to his room. Nord was nowhere to be seen as he had already left, so he had nothing to worry about.
He quickly took out a stash of parchment and started to write his messed-up memories. The writing was incoherent, but the more words covered the parchment, the more he remembered.
After several minutes of frenzied scribbling, he stopped and sat down in exhaustion. He wasn’t tired physically but mentally.
However, he was still feeling uneasy, so he started to read everything he had written down.
Despite its messy nature, everything quickly clicked together as his mind cleared. It felt as if his mind managed to free itself from some invisible chains.
‘What the fuck…’
He completely forgot the suspicion he had before. Maybe not even suspicion since he felt that his [Eyes of the Truth] also warned him.
Someone or something was after him.
And it wasn’t just some random nobody.
It felt as if fate was against him.
He had such a strong ability, yet it was driven to its limits time and time again in such a short time span.
Some could call it misfortune or simply blame it on his acts. But…
Was that all there was to it?
He didn’t believe it.
Illyan took another parchment and this time wrote everything down neatly. He also started to write other thoughts he had in his mind.
If there was something against him, then who and how many were there?
This was unknown to him. But he could guess one or two things from the events that happened to him.
Firstly, they had to be strong. Very strong. If the Frozen Worm, God of Truth, and Ice Dragon encounters were its fault, then it had to be minimally as strong as them…
Secondly, it seemed that it could not influence the world directly. After all, such a strong being would be able to squash him immediately.
And thirdly, it couldn’t touch him whenever it wanted and had to have the right opportunity. If not, then he would probably be dead the moment he got frozen by the Ice Dragon.
He didn’t know whether it was God, Fate, or even Heaven’s will, but it had some kind of grudge against him.
Why?
That wasn’t that hard to guess.
‘The first… Hmm… How to call it…’ Illyan pondered for a second.
Since those horrible events were beyond his control, he decided to just call them Fate Trials.
When his first Fate Trial began, he was just 8 years old and there was nothing interesting about him except one thing.
His ability.
Now then, his ability was still weak, so why would they bear hostility towards him?
That also wasn’t that hard to guess.
The biggest advantage of his ability didn’t lie in the present day but in the future. The ability grew as he used it more.
He still didn’t know whether there was some kind of limit, but if all his deductions so far were right, then it meant that his ability was really good.
But he wasn’t happy. How could he be since he realized that there was an enemy that he couldn’t deal with and just waited for his doom?
Not to mention, he still didn’t know the exact reason why they bore hostility towards him except that the main factor was his ability.
‘Should I just pack my things and leave?’ Through Illyan’s mind several thoughts passed, but he just shook his head as he snorted.
As if that would be so simple. Back then he also left with the entire tribe only to meet misfortune after misfortune. He could already guess that no matter where he went he would be in danger. After all, God's eyes were everywhere…
There was no place to hide. Even if there was, he didn't know about it and probably wouldn’t be able to get there…
He then remembered the words from the Theology lecture.
‘There were three Gods governing our world. God Ezeraas, the most loving of them all, Forefather of love and life, governing over sun, light, life, and the goodness of the world.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
God Kerafion, the harbinger of the night, the punisher of evil who sees all the sins of the world, governing over the moon, darkness, death, and evilness of the world.
And the last one, God Vazarwen, the most impartial of them all, bringing peace and balance to the chaotic world with his all-seeing eyes, governing over the law, knowledge, justice, and wisdom…’
There were other worshipped gods like the Blood Crow, but that was only in some isolated places. Most people believed only in those three deities.
‘Are they the culprits?’ Illyan frowned. If they were the ones, then he needed to be extra careful when it comes to their believers and churches. On the other hand, he didn’t dare to offend them either since he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
“No matter…”
He didn’t know who, but he knew that they would probably strike at some point. Maybe Korin was another pawn in their hands trying to take his life.
He couldn’t run. A person couldn’t escape fate.
However, what he could do was to anticipate the danger and avoid it. Or…
Benefit from it.
Since the contract with Korin should be null because of him not writing his real name, he could just take the house and ignore Korin. But that would be risky.
While the contract was probably a magical one, it still had the legal power in this kingdom. Breaching it would cause unnecessary problems for him in this town.
Paying those few gold coins wasn't a problem. After all, the entire suspicion he built up at the beginning was the fact that the prices were really low.
Even if it wasn’t worth it in Illyan’s eyes, there were still the consultations with Korin and use of his exclusive books. Just because he realized that Korin wasn’t such a gentleman as he seemed to be didn’t mean he couldn’t use his support.
Now that he had a direct goal, he knew what he needed to do.
There were some small goals such as to read all the books in the library, creating the flow within his body, or just deepening his knowledge of mathematics to please Korin.
However, his main goal now turned into finding out how to become a Magister.
He didn’t know much about them yet, but he knew this would be the right way to go.
The path of knights could be mainstream, but that didn’t mean it was the strongest.
While Korin wasn’t going into details about them, he still saw the awe in his eyes.
The user of magic who can convert knowledge and energy into anything they wish.
How terrifying was that?
Now that Illyan thought about it, spiritualists were something similar. Did that mean that Spiritual Arts were also a school of magic?
Hmmm…
Unfortunately, he couldn’t focus on Spiritual Arts. He was aware that spreading too thin could make him master none of it. But the problem was that he simply didn’t have any proper stepping stone in Spiritual Arts to make his path.
His knowledge was so shallow in this matter that he didn’t even build up the foundation. Even Kaoran probably didn’t have one either and only relied on his superior talent.
Illyan already invented his own [Elemental Dance], but it was still unusable in real battles.
Brooding blindly while paving your path was still a distant dream to current Illyan who was too weak. He needed to have something more tangible to hold onto.
His previous thoughts were on the breathing techniques of the military, but now his focus turned to the robed men. Or as Korin called them, Acolytes of different organizations outside of the kingdom.
Before, he was hesitant as he didn’t know whether they really were the ones he was looking for, but now he had the confirmation.
And that made him covet their techniques.
But he didn’t plan to attack them right away. He was cautious. If they really controlled mana, then fighting would probably cause a big ruckus. He wasn’t confident in winning either.
There was no way to raise his ability in the short term, but he knew how to create the shamanistic amulets. If he created several of them, then it should give him some kind of protection.
But even with that, he still needed to find some opportunity.
From what he saw, most of the robed men left, and the rest of them were in the mayor’s mansion.
All in all, Illyan didn’t plan to strike at least until he became the junior academic with the residence that Korin would give him.
As for something like guilt for planning to attack those guys?
None of it. Not to mention the fact that they were probably evil themselves, even if they weren’t, he wouldn’t care. This was for his survival. He needed to get stronger to not be trampled by others.
To live one must seize the lives of others.
……..
With the new resolution, he spent most of his time in the library during the time he waited for his examination. He also gave up on the [Nature Breath Method] for now and started to practice the [Flow Breathing Technique] every evening.
He still felt that he wouldn’t be able to use it effectively in a fight, but he felt that his body was becoming lighter as if all the blockades inside his body were opened through the circulation. Even his mind felt clearer. It was a liberating feeling.
Thanks to that, he managed to read over 200 books during this time. If anyone knew about this, their jaws would fall on the ground in astonishment. If before he took a month to review these 50 books and read some simple ones at the top, it would be understandable.
However, this case was different since each book’s content was new knowledge for him and so he didn’t just browse through them.
Just a clear mind didn’t explain this phenomenon. In truth, Illyan also cut down his sleep time by half from before. He went to sleep late in the night when Nord was already sleeping and woke up before dawn.
Because of that, his social relationship naturally declined. He still sacrificed a little time spent with them, but it was just a fraction of his time. But his ‘friends’ were understanding as they believed that he was studying for his examination.
Little did they know that he had already furthered his knowledge about medicine to a new level by that time. On the other hand, Illyan noticed that he had already finished all the books about medicine in this library. After all, this library wasn’t infinite and definitively didn’t have all the knowledge about all fields.
Since physicians in this place were rare, it was no wonder that there was a lack of books since no one was contributing their books to the institute. And the opposite was true too. Since there was a lack of books, there was a lack of physicians.
But this changed this day as three physicians gathered in this town to examine one apprentice in the field of medicine. It could be said to be the highest number of physicians gathered in the town in many years. Or at least the certified ones from the kingdom. There were many who had some skill but didn’t go through such examinations.
Such as Illyan until now.
“Kaoran, good luck! Hopefully, after we see each other again, you will already be an academic,” Cara, who met with two roommates, said excitedly.
“Yeah, once you become one, don’t forget about us! We will need someone to take care of us…” Nord also smiled slightly.
Three of them sat in the dining hall of the institute eating early in the morning as Illyan wanted to fill himself before being examined. He was aware that this examination wouldn’t be a short one since medicine was a difficult and revered profession. Unqualified had no way to be certified physicians.
“You won’t need me since sooner or later you will also get promoted. After all, history is only about accumulation…”
Both Cara and Nord decided to be historians as they always loved to listen to old stories in their young ages. The main factor, however, was like Illyan said, the simplicity of learning compared to different fields.
As long as one’s memory wasn’t too shabby, there was no problem becoming a historian. At least a low-leveled one.
Suddenly, voices resounded at the table next to them where one of the apprentices turned around at them and glared at Illyan.
“Hey! Don’t you think you should stop with this bragging of yours? It is irritating!”