chapter 8: WHO?
The man collapsed, drowning in a cold sweat. His bloodshot eyes were opened wide watering as he stared at the floor, he was light-headed, and his consciousness began to deteriorate as his vision slowly blurred.
He was surrounded by millions of perfectly spherical spots of mana all uniform in size and shape.
Smiling, he was smiling, oh, so brightly.
.
A week had flown by since the eventful reading of the wizards …
Intriguing book of magic.
Since then, the man of alabaster had been practising mana control.
In essence, he had been in a state of torture for the past week.
The man is a strong, undefeated swordsman.
His will is unbending, he is a fearless warrior, gifted in every sense of the word, no challenge was too much for his prodigal understanding of mana and God-given physique.
But, maybe he finally met his match! In the feeble form of paper and ink. Just looking at the books the wizard had forcefully bestowed on him, made his hair stand on end.
These horrible atrocities of literature were the alabaster man's only true fear.
A bone-chilling fear that kept him up at night, as the many crude comments originating from the horrid books resonated in his head.
Replaying, in his mind forever, haunting him.
The man's pride and honour were on the line, every time he chose to train in magic.
But he pushed past it, his shattered pride in hand.
His brave and valiant efforts had paid off.
The man had trained in mana control and manipulation every single day.
Again and again, till failure, he pushed through the pain, suffering, and futility, just as he'd done before.
Endlessly trying and failing often, his head would be clouded in an insufferable throbbing, sending him into an immensely painful state of utter agony, leaving him begging for it to just end, but his infinitely large mana never ran low, his training was unending.
Leaving him in a boundless hell of his own making.
But, to the man, this much was nothing! as he endured the torturous training all whilst masterfully caring for the sunny boy.
Also around this time, the boy had learned quite a few small tricks, as the man pushed himself to form his mana into multiple perfect orbs and spears and various other linear shapes, the boy had begun to make complex shapes with his sunny mana.
He would make intricate puppets from his sunny mana, which took the form of many animals and characters from his countless storybooks.
Books that the man had been consistently reading to him every night since his arrival. Replicating his routine from the written letters as best as he could.
The boy would make the big bad wolf most of the time, which looked suspiciously similar to Fenrir the man had fought, finding it humorous as he had the silhouette of the man of Alabaster fighting it.
Celebrating in joyful laughter every time he had the alabaster man win triumphantly.
Not to mention the boy's little pop of mana he did a few days ago, whilst copying the man had gotten more vicious. Though that may be an understatement considering.
It blew up the man's cottage!
Leaving a gaping hole in the wooden wall that separated the living room from the bedroom.
To make it even worse, the man didn't have enough firewood to spare, and he was not too interested in veiny slimy monster trees for walls.
The man had 'fixed' the hole using one of the magnanimous claws from his underground library, covering the hole behind its huge proportions.
The boy's development in magic was rapid, faster than even the empire's biggest genius and pervert, whom the man both knew and hated.
Sadly, with all this flourishing development, one issue arose.
The sunny boy had developed an unfortunate habit. Everything the boy liked since the time he saw the wizard's golden aura was now...
Bayt, man.
This meant that at some point, the sunny boy had begun to call the alabaster man.
Bayt, man.
The man was not too fond of being called the same thing as the perverse wizard. This issue would only continue until the man had finally decided, he must name himself.
"Honestly, any name other than Batman would do... I would even take that wizard's suggestion at this point!"
"What was it again... Alabaster, huh... not too bad. Unfortunately, it came from that pervert."
As the man uttered that sentence boy had already decided his fate for him.
"Alabaste?" The boy uttered the name.
The man froze...
If he didn't think of a name soon, his future identity would be set in stone.
He thought thoroughly, but only alabaster came to mind, as he was about to blurt out some random name.
"Alabaste!"The boy had now identified the man.
…
now it was done. There was no turning back from this point on, to the sunny boy he was Alabaster.
The sunny boy was too stubborn to change his mind. Even if the man tried pleading, it would make no difference.
How did he learn this? well, he tried and tried all to inevitably fail.
At least it was a fitting name.
Alabaster sighed. Why must the wizard ruin everything for him?
Not a single thing had been going according to his plans recently.
Alabaster had gotten much more lenient since the arrival of the boy, has he gone soft?
He wandered to himself after just completing the hellish training. No sane human would attempt.
But funnily enough, he was not weaker.
In fact, it could be argued that Alabaster was indeed stronger now.
The man was no fool, he knew full well that the journey ahead was treacherous. Who knows what dangers they may face?
Since the whole world was currently in political turmoil within an ever-expanding war, not preparing thoroughly beforehand was a move that could only be made by brainless oafs and foolish people.
Besides, it was better to take longer to prepare for a journey than rushing and dying because of it.
The man had made major advancements in magic since his last attempt a few days ago.
His mana control was greatly refined through sheer tenacity and painstaking work alone, he would constantly push himself every day to the brink.
He was always pushing himself, screaming
"At least one more sphere, at least a little bigger, at least a little stronger." He was hungry for success dying for it every day.
This is not the training of your average magician. Rather, only an absolute suicidal madman would train in such a way.
Yet this hell was no punishment to him, it was his growth.
"Let's try this again."
The man stood in his living room and once again rose his hand to eye level.
A crimson orb of mana formed in the centre of the room, swirling and flowing it started to expand rapidly, growing to a size that covered the entire mountain range, painting it crimson under a translucent sphere.
Its blunt chaotic aura that previously suffocated the man and the boy, was now tamed, silent, and
deadly.
Refined to a point, the man condensed the sphere of mana to a large crimson dome that covered miles in its red shadow.
He had made a barrier.
Not any barrier, but an impressively huge and sturdy barrier. Not many magicians could make or even reach its size, neverminded strength.
The man felt his pride return to him.
It was as the pervert had said, he was born to be good at magic.
The sunny boy clapped cheerfully, chuckling as he applauded Alabaster's enormous barrier.
Before casting his own mini barrier, he made a tight, light little dome. That encased him under his sunny mana. Swiftly doing it on his first try, it wasn't all too weak either.
Alabaster's pride was once again obliterated.
The man was silent as he withdrew the crimson barrier...
"Show off...."
Anyway, now that he can cast a barrier and control his mana, he can move on to the next stage of his plan.
He looked at the book, lifting it from the tail of his bed.
[SIMPLIFIED BARRIER FORMATIONS FOR FOOLS.
Now, before you wonder why this pervert's tile is less insulting than normal.
I have two things to say one is I am called Aurum king of wizards for f*cks sake.
Two, no way in hell would a thick person be able to make a barrier formation.
I don't know why an all-offense person like you would read about passive barrier formations.
But, if it's bad enough for you to bother reminding yourself of these books, I might as well take this more seriously.
But before you read on, you must learn rune Carving from the third book I gave you.]
"It can never be straightforward, can it?" said Alabaster, looking at the boy with a fed-up expression.
The boy just flashed his sharp teeth at the man as he grinned.
"Aish, this trip will take me to my grave."
chapter 8 fin.