Mages! Remember me saying that they're just people who want something and it becomes true? Well, that was a lie... Not a complete one, but still.
In it's principle magic is just a person wishing for something so hard it becomes reality. Of course, spells are a thing, to be exact - they're just solidified wishes.
For example, a person wants to make a fireball, nice, you make one, what's next? How do you always have that same wish that always works? Spells are just recordings of those exact moments that led to a spell being casted.
When a mage casts a spell he basically remembers the moment in his past when he casted a fireball, it's size, firepower and overall mana-consumption are closely related to that.
But what if you want to make a new spell? Well, that's what most advanced mages do. That method that i just told you about is for beginners. It is made so that people that aren't familiar with magic can use them, those that are past that level can freely change anything they want in a "spell".
If you were to advance to an even higher level of existence you will be called an archmage, there's several stages before and after that, but in my eyes archmages are true begginers on a path of magic. If one has no talent in magic advancing to this level would be hard, and all they'll achieve would not amount to much.
Why am i putting it that way? Because a true magical genius will be able to cast spells without even thinking about it, he'll just want something to happen and it will. That is a level of archmages, yet some being are able to do it at the very beggining, those are called geniuses.
Of course, not all archmages can do that, they're not weaker that those who can, after all people are different, it's not about the talent at all, it's about how you use it. There has been many cases of geniuses dying early because even though they were gifted in magic - other than that they were nothing.
So what makes a mage a good mage? Experience, talent and ambitions. All of those combined in one person will make a god out of a mage.
Once, i was like that too, my magic stood far above the rest, in the end i still perished because i didn't have an ambition to reign over the universe, i simply lacked the "wish" part in my spells, they were not as strong as i wanted them to be when it was necessary for my survival, thus i perished.
But oh well, that was still a great life i enjoyed a lot. Hah, now that i think of it, at that time my only wish was to be happy, it came true in the end, i died a happy death!
...
Kerren was invisible, but if fear had a form - you would definitely see him. First of all, he was surrounded by automatons, every single one of which could potentially end his life, he wasn't sure if that's true since he never fought one up to this point, but it's never wrong to be careful.
Second - it was a surprise to him that he didn't meet his "comrades" here, because, logically speaking, they should be right here!
Many thoughts ran through his head, some were positive, some were sad, while others were filled with a sense of dread. He didn't want to die just like that, but if he was spotted - who knows what would happen?
Still, instead of running back to where he came from, he chose to stay here and observe, after all, even if he was afraid of being killed, he was not afraid of death. Why? Well, Kerren himself didn't know, he thought it was normal for him to die, as if that's a thing that's supposed to happen.
Also, what if he died? Would he regret his life? Nope, he will simply blame himself for being weak, other than that he had no regret. Why? Because he tried his best even if he died in the end! That was a worthy life in his eyes, regretting anything would be stupid, you cant change the past, you cant change your birthplace, parents and everything else that had significance on one's power.
So why bother regretting? It's better to be happy with yourself, to be happy with doing whatever you can to improve, even if morality of said things was questionable... Well, for Kerren - it wasn't, he did all he wanted to do. Killing for the sake of profit? Easily. Stealing? If he didn't steal he wouldn't even be alive right now, how is that a question?
Anyway, that was his logic behind staying back, but even so, what could he do? He was too weak, the only option was to find something and use an instant transportation potion that he had, but it had its own risks, what if he got transported in to the center of this place?
Kerren counted the approximate number of automatons in this place, he could do that with magic but that would alert them, so he relied on his eyes.
There were a lot. That's what his answer was. Too many to count? Nope, just a lot. So, what does that mean? This place is important, and if it is important - why wont there be any riches here!? So, he started observing what exactly those automatons did.
Some of them carried stuff, others sat near the tables examining things, others would just wander around asking seemingly asking things or delivering information, all in all this place resembled a bee hive. If it was a bee hive - where is the queen? Where is the honey stored?
With that question in mind Kerren looked around, trying to find something unusual for this place, like a giant pile of stuff or a door that led somewhere, or maybe a watchpoint? Anything would make him happy.
Sadly, he didn't find anything of sorts. He simply was too small for this place. Then, what should he do? Pretend to be an automaton? Impossible. Wander around? Invisibility potion was not omnipotent and had a limited duration time, especially considering that he only drank half of it. Estimated time of work of such potion waried, it solely depended on its grade. The one he had was somewhat good, but still far from what he needed.
So, his only solution was to lurk around, not coming close. Maybe he could find something useful and then escape? It was all about profits after all, he didn't even thinking about taking the Dragon Heart, if was impossible even for the greatest people of his world, Kerren couldn't even be compared to a strand of hair they lost somewhere.
-* Okay, good things first. It looks like a production site, so it has a lot of goodies. Bad thing is that i cant take any of it. What's even worse is that i cant even look at what exactly they're doing. -- he scratched his invisible head -- Then what do i do? Simply walking away is stupid, if attack squad isn't here - they're in one of the doors i haven't gone to, so it's 50/50 wether or not i will encounter them, which is riskier than staying here -- he concluded.
-* Hmm... -- he looked on a particular platform on the ground -- this place is empty, so it's either not used now or serves a different purpose, still, approaching it in my current state is suicidal... Where to go then? -- he continued looking around -- maybe that place? -- his gaze stopped on a particular cabin not too far away from him.
-* This place looks enclosed, maybe storage room? -- he started walking towards it -- Even if it's empty i wont lose anything, since the beggining none of the automatons came close to it, so it's somewhat safe to go in.
As he was walking towards the cabin automatons continued doing their thing, not even one of them looked in Kerrens direction. Not that they couldn't spot him, they knew he was here, it's just that he was of no danger at all to them, in fact, they spotted him since his very entrance in the facility.
Why was he not dangerous to them? Simple, he was not strong enough to do anything, attack squad on the other hand went unnoticed by the automatons and wandered around the facility killing many, taking lots of goodies, they had a great time.
Kerren soon approached the cabin, it's door was slightly open. He then carefully opened it and looked inside. It was bigger on the inside, a lot bigger. the cabin itself was around 4x4 meters in size, but on the inside it was several time as big. Kerren didn't think much of it, he got used to it. He slowly entered it.
Insides of the cabin were filled with shelves which contained a lot of things, from potions to complex technology, everything was in the same place, but on different shelves. Kerren didn't think much about it, after all he didn't know if taking something would alert the automatons, maybe there's even a keeper here? It was not smart to steal from this place.
In fact, even if he took all of it automatons wouldn't mind, this place was a defective-product storage, everything here was to be utilized by them, so they would only be thankful if he did their job, maybe it's a good thing Kerren didn't know that fact.
-* Holy damn, if i took all of it - how much would i get? A few tonns of crystals, no less! -- he was salivating -- sadly it's impossible even if automatons didn't notice me at all, at most i can take one or two tenths... -- this sadded him.
-* Anyway, time to see what exactly is here! -- he then approached a shelve that was closest to him -- Hmm... An artefact, looks good but wrong somehow... A painting?... A sword! Good! -- as he placed his hand on the sword it electrocuted him -- What the f..!? -- he almost shouted.
-* The hell is that? To hell with you then! -- he didn't find anything of use on the shelve so approached another one, it was filled with crystals -- The hell is this? They're not absorbing mana but releasing it? How is that even a thing? -- he contemplated.
-* So this place is full of strange this? -- he then started wandering around, looking at different shelves, seemingly lost in thought -- All of this is... unusable... A sword that electrocutes it's user is fine, some can use this to their benefit, that i can understand, but a helmet with spikes inside? -- he thought as he looked at said helmet.
-* Wait, so this place is focused on experimenting then? It looks like this place is faulty products that are not even usable... That means there must be a place filled with those that are usable?... -- he thought of wonders he will see inside such a place, even if those products he saw were unusable - they were of the highest quality, far above those he was used to see.
As he was looking at different strange and obscure products an automaton came in, Kerren didn't notice it, so he continued looking for something that he could use.
Said automaton didn't do much and left almost immediately after dropping off another faulty product, Kerren only noticed someone was here when he heard the door being closed. It startled him and he almost fell on a shelve, thankfully, he managed not to.
When he regained his balance he looked in the direction of the sound, he didn't see anything unusual and thought it was just something that happened because of him, he didn't even realise that it was the door that made the sound.
Soon after Kerren got bored with sightseeing, he didn't see anything useful but had a good chuckle several times, for example he saw a pair of shorts made out of stone, a candle with a candlewick on the bottom, a paper breastplate that was painted to look it was made from metal and a small statue featuring a worm, all those things were usable in obscure situations, but he was not in one, so he didn't look at them twice.
Kerren decided to leave this place, not taking anything with him, of course, even thought those items were unusable - materials they were made of could be used, but he hoped to find something that could be used
-* It's sad i cant see my timer in that state, but i think i have around 10 more minutes before the potion wears off, well, if it works like i think it does... -- he was troubled by the fact he didn't know the exact time the potion will work for.
-* Well, maybe i should leave before i die? -- he suddenly thought -- Nah, it's no use, it's the biggest opportunity i have in life, why bother thinking about survival? It's not like after i get out i will be a hero, on the contrary, i'll probably get in a lot of trouble... -- that troubled him too...
-* Whatever, automatons didn't notice me yet so that means they couldn't, or simply dont think too much of me wandering here... i hope it's the former... -- he looked at the platforms above him -- Maybe they are friendly after all?... Then why did the attack squad kill one of them? Ah, whatever, i need to go -- dropping off useless thoughts he started looking around.
-* Well, as i can see it there's nothing here, the only place i can safely assume to be filled with riches would be this cabin, but it's not, so... where are they taking the goodies? -- he started to look around even harder.
-* There's nothing to do, really... It's just stupid that i even thougt about getting something out of here... -- he's getting depressed all of a sudden -- To hell with it, i'll just go there -- as he concluded, he started walking towards the door on the wall, Kerren didn't know that, but that decision just changed the outcome of his world. For the worse? For the better? Well... it's difficult to answer...