Ovid thought about this and then he asked, “Did you do it so that society will advance through conflict or some other reason?”

The young man said coldly after a while, “That is indeed the reason. But from then on, I was exiled by all the elven states and Alexander started to hunt for me. In the end, I had to flee to another continent.”

Ovid looked at the man and asked with great confusion, “It’s not as if society can’t advance during times to peace. Why did you choose such a bloody and tiresome way? For what reason do you want other’s blood to be spilt?”

“That is reasonable.” The man said slowly, “But the elves had already stagnated for five thousand years. It became no longer possible for them to return to a way to innovation. While the old way cannot be restored, a new way can be created.”

The man’s extremely thin brows now radiated his inexplicable madness rather than wisdom. He stared with his eyes open and rubbed Ovid’s hair with his skinny palms, saying, “Is there anything more woeful in the world?”

“I was a character that was born with a heavenly sign. I was destined for greatness but had to live as an ordinary court physician. If it wasn’t for a palace coup, where I protected the king with my body, my talents would have been never realised, the royal library would have never been opened to me.”

“Don’t you see that it’s more likely for a genius to starve to death than to ascend to greatness? Statistically speaking, men like me are far more likely to have been born into a slum than as a prince. It’s only natural for men to seek eternal glory and fame.”

Ovid suddenly said, “But you didn’t need to sow the seeds for war.”

The sage returned to silence. After some time, he regained the aura of wisdom and said thoughtfully in a soft way, “In my opinion, the only way that someone can move from the lowest position in society to the highest is through times of chaos. Look at Alexander, he started from an ordinary farmer’s boy to the sovereign of the whole continent. If there had been no famine at the time, he would have been satisifed with tilling the fields and never sought any greater strength.”

The man revealed a childlike smile on his skinny cheeks. His skin had become much smoother after consuming Ovid’s flesh, so he looked like a blossoming youth. He made others feel that he was full of purity and innocence.

“I sought for a way to advance history in the countless millions of years we had roamed the world. I don’t care if people die in the process as long as the future generations could breathe in a more enlightened time.”

“But the elven masses had already grown complicit to their rulers, even the overthrown of their tyrants won’t change the fundamental core of their society. When I introduced democracy to that city, I later found out that the ruler’s son that I overthrew became the city’s new ruler. This made me feel disgusted, so I left the Aeon forest.”

The man showed a strong sense of irony and disgust on his face, just like a woman who saw others adding sawdust bags of cereal in the market place, full of natural pride and disdain.

“I went north and saw the various human kingdoms. From rumours I heard, humans were full of energy, for their lives were shorter than elves, and made countless innovations to better their life. After a few years, however, I found that humans were no different. The so-called short lifespans only made them more violent, and even less knowledgable. And their kings as well, saw only to preserve the status quo. They would always oppose major changes, and act as a reactionary force.”

The man’s brows floated upwards and then fell down. His eyes were full of dissatisfaction, just like a scientist who published a people and thought his ideas would revitalise the world. He clearly had a better impression of humans than elves. But he was still angry at the suppression of innovations by humanity’s kings.

“Finally, I returned to the elves and found that the old king had died, and his son, Gael had ascended to the throne at the age of nine. I thought that Gael’s regent sounded pretty talented, and that was indeed the case. But the rest of the court was just as muddle-headed as in the past, indulging in the simple pleasures of wine, they were even dumber than beasts.”

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“At that moment, I saw a glimmer of hope in that empty throne. It was obviously Gael, and with my reputation, I managed to become his teacher. However, he didn’t listen to what I said at all, instead, he focused on fighting against experts all-day, neglecting his duties. While the relationship between us two was quite good, we did not share similar beliefs.”

The man recalled and shouted angrily, “The only hope was shattered again. What should I do? Finally, I come up with a method. I wanted to destroy the world, including all of the human kingdoms and elven city-states. So that with their ashes as fertilisers, flowers can bloom, and man of true virtue can come to prominence.”

Ovid looked at the nearly mad man and asked, “In the end, it seems like you succeeded. But it seems like you were angrier with the world than wanting actual progress. In the end, are you satisfied with the result?”

The sage gradually regained his composure and calmed down, saying, “I only saw the new world under Alexander for two years before I was imprisoned by Gael, so I cannot judge it. You were born more than a hundred thousand years after its’ last vestige. Do you think you’re qualified to discuss that with me?”

After a moment’s silence, Ovid asked, “You travelled to all these places and saw that their rulers were insufficient. Why don’t you just become a king yourself?”

The sage said after a long silence, “There was already a person called Gael on the throne. While he was a bad king, it was impossible for me to overthrow him.”

Ovid gazed at Glafx’s eyes and said, “So you didn’t want to change the world. You just envied that Gael was born in a privileged position and had better talent. In the end, you schemed for his fall by empowering Alexander.”

The young man was slightly startled and then laughed as if he heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. His shivered hands rubbing at his abdomen in a circular motion. He said, “Indeed, I was somewhat jealous of his talent in combat. I thought that I was a peerless figure appearing every thousand years, and could be a prideful person. But I never expected there would be two figures that would only appear only every million years.”

“I had become a sage after merely three months of studying, explored countless branches of philosophy and governance, and was unrivalled before Gael came to age. I even managed to revive the Charybdis demonic technique that had lacked a successor for many years. Don’t you think that I’m a genius?”

Ovid had never seen such a mighty figure in his life. It seems that even Cai Hua and Irene paled in comparison to Glafx. Of course, such a figure was a genius.

He said honestly, “You are an expert in every field. You are indeed a great person.”

The man laughed at himself and said, “Do you know what Gael and Alexander excelled at?”

Ovid kept silent.

The man slowly shook his head and said, “They are both only good at fighting.”

Ovid said in surprise, “Fighting?”

The sage said quietly, “I am not familiar with Alexander, but I know that ever since Gael was a child, he has never opened a book.”

Ovid became quite puzzled. If Gael was a failure in every form of governance, how was he not overthrown?

The sage seemed to sense Ovid’s doubts, so he smiled and explained, “You said I was an expert in every field. But with Gael’s strength, countless experts would flock to his court. He could summon the greatest physician saint from the continent with a wave of his hand.”

To have a notable personage at the level of a saint to especially come from afar! What reputation must one have, and what authority they possess!

The man sighed and said, “Facing my student, I was really helpless.”

“Gael was not as good looking as me, his hands hung below his knees and his ears reached his shoulders. He got a bad temper and dismissed the entire court and refused to attend it after someone added mushroom to his meal. Yet even if the people hate him, as did the court, we could do nothing, just cause he has the title of Tyrant of the South. No matter how what infrastructure I build, and how many institutions I try to establish, he would always go mindlessly conquering our neighbours, distributing commerce and displacing thinker.”

The man wore a bitter smile as he patted Ovid’s held much like a grandparent would spoil their grandchild. He continued, “If he had been born in any other positions in life, he would have made a great general. However, since he was distributing my path to the world’s future. I had to think of a way to make him die.”

“But he still imprisoned you,” Ovid said.

The sage said with indifference, “At that time, Alexander had already conquered the continent. My goal of creating a new order had already been established. Of course, I was still jealous of his talents and prepared to defeat him after borrowing some experts from Alexander.”

“I hadn’t fought with Gael before. I knew he was very strong, but since he lost like a dog to Alexander, I did not care. However, I still didn’t expect he would be so strong.”

The sage said with lament, “He was strong, so he won. Although I was unwilling, I could still accept my fate. Even if he had dumped me into a pit in the Aeon forest, I would not care.”

“But he should not have let me live!”

The mans’ dimples suddenly disappeared as his face distorted and his deep eyes were full of venomousness like a snake severed in half. His hoarse voice seemed to have come from the bottom of the River Styx and he shouted painfully, “With his last breath, he turned his entire tomb into a prison. He forced a mythical eagle to consume my inners every day for the past hundred thousand years!”

“Could anyone endure this kind of torture? Sure, the pain becomes dull after some time, but then the loneliness and isolation take its place. Do you know that after such a long time, I even started to speak with this wooden eagle that brings me unbearable pain every day?”

The old man turned to the eagle grudgingly, as if he was looking at the face of the man he had taught and raised. His breath became abnormally rapid because of his excitement, and his voice was increasingly mournful.