Magic and Wisdom

Vanidak's personality could be summed up in a saying from some unknown world: if you don't court death, you won't die. After traveling alongside Aman'Thul and Eonar for who knew how many tens of thousands of years, Vanidak's good days had finally come to an end.

The cause was that they had discovered another of their kind, a Titan remarkably similar to Aman'Thul. He too had a long white beard, blue-glowing eyes, and platinum-white skin. In private, Vanidak called Titans of this appearance Aesir Titans, because they all radiated a light of wisdom that made him uncomfortable—greatly hindering the little pranks he relied on for daily amusement.

This newly found Titan came from a star filled with magical power. When they first discovered it, the magical fluctuations radiating from the star were so powerful that they concealed the fluctuations of the Titan World Soul within. Though they eventually discovered the soul of their kin inside, it had only happened because of a small accident.

Since Eonar had joined their party, Aman'Thul's daily life seemed to have improved. Of course, "improved" was only relative. As one Titan with particularly twisted tastes put it, "Luck in the universe is conserved. If someone is exceptionally fortunate, someone else must be exceptionally unlucky because of it."

The reason he said this was that, while traveling, he had accidentally entered a world in search of what he considered "delicacies," only to blunder into a military restricted zone during one of his proud spatial traversals.

Of course, ordinary races could never contend with the power Titans possessed. But there were always exceptions. This race he had provoked was exceptionally good at fighting. After this reckless Titan arrogantly displayed his power, a group of furious natives quickly surrounded him and beat him up while roaring. Relying on his control over space, Vanidak was not in danger of being hacked to death by the natives, but he was still left in a thoroughly miserable state.

What were Aman'Thul and Eonar doing at the time? At first, they paid no attention when they noticed that their elusive brother had once again vanished as usual. But when they saw a Titan being chased by a howling creature wielding two strange fist blades, Aman'Thul stopped the kind-hearted Eonar, who wanted to go help, and mischievously told her, "Don't mind him. He's just... playing with... this race?"

Thus, the doubtful Eonar and the scheming Aman'Thul watched a marvelous sight they might never see again: a Titan, darling of Arcane power and the ultimate creation of Order—the Titan—being chased into a frantic scramble by a group of creatures that looked extremely capable of fighting. As he fled in embarrassment, he kept looking back and shouting, "Don't come any closer! If you do, I'll fight back!"

Naturally, the countless wounds on his body proved that he was merely bluffing. After a long pursuit, the Titan's intelligence finally kicked in, and he remembered to teleport into the Astral Realm, thereby escaping these races that had yet to step into the sea of stars.

Watching the Titan before them continue to taunt the natives who had long vanished from sight, hands on his hips as he proudly shouted, "Stupid, huh? I can fly! Hahaha!" Aman'Thul did not know whether to laugh or cry. Eonar, beside him, could not help laughing aloud as well.

Hearing the laughter of his kin behind him, the Titan who was focused on salvaging his pride turned around and stammered for a long while before finally uttering what he considered his famous saying. Then, with the pain forgotten as soon as the wounds had healed, he resumed his usual teasing of Eonar. "Oh, look what we have here—a Titan with a healthy complexion. We sneak up on him from behind." As he spoke, he hunched over and mimed sneaking.

"Let me explain: the energy contained within healthy-complexioned Titans is at least ten times that of those platinum-white ones. So all we need to do is..." He made a slicing gesture. "Cut off the head and tail, and we can eat it raw!" Then he added in an odd tone, "Of course, if it's green, its energy is inexhaustible!"

Immersed in his own little world, the Titan had completely forgotten that during a previous journey, he had explained to the curious Eonar why he was so obsessed with green. Although after that explanation, this seemingly gentle kinswoman had chased him for countless ages, whacking him with her snowflake-shaped staff, Vanidak clearly could not remember the lesson of forgetting pain once the wounds had healed, could he?

Thus, the two naturally began chasing each other through the Astral Realm again. But perhaps because the humiliation of being pursued by a native race had yet to fade, when Eonar once again struck the Titan who habitually brought trouble upon himself on the nose with the Snowflake Staff for some inexplicable reason, he flew into a rage and unleashed a spatial storm in an attempt to fight back.

At the same time, Eonar released her life energy to resist him. The result of their clash was a spatial collapse. The three Titans were hurled an unknown number of light-years away by a massive spatial shockwave, and by sheer coincidence, they were swept into an unknown spatial rift.

After being tossed about by the spatial transmission, even Titan bodies felt somewhat dazed. Just as Aman'Thul and Eonar carefully examined this unknown starfield, they saw Vanidak wearing a mysterious yet supremely arrogant expression. In a low and solemn voice, he declared, "So, my brothers and sisters, all of this was within my plan, JoJo!"

Ignoring the last two strange syllables uttered by their brother during one of his usual fits of madness, Aman'Thul swiftly discovered the cause of it. Yes, another Titan was right before them. This beautiful celestial body, brimming with Arcane energy, seemed to have sensed the unique soul fluctuations of Titans the moment they arrived. As Aman'Thul observed it, the star's energy contracted violently—a sign that a Titan was about to be born!

"So this brother of ours has already awakened on his own." Looking at the Titan about to be born, Vanidak stopped his nonsense and turned to Aman'Thul. "Don't you need to inject him with 'essence,' my brother?"

"Not every Titan World Soul requires guidance to awaken, my brother," Aman'Thul replied. "Think of you and me, my brother. I awakened on my own, and so did you." Aman'Thul paused before continuing, "Back then, I merely awakened you from your slumber once more."

As they spoke, the Arcane fluctuations before them finally subsided. Then a wave of magic surged from the celestial body, and a tall figure appeared.

This newborn Titan possessed a platinum-white body similar to Aman'Thul's, with equally long hair and beard. The difference was that his hair and beard seemed to be composed of pure Arcane energy. Most distinctive of all were his eyes, which shone with an endless light of wisdom.

"Oh, I hate this guy. His eyes give me a bad feeling," Vanidak muttered.

Aman'Thul turned and glared at him, then hastily said to the newborn Titan, "Please do not mind my brother. His personality has always been... interesting."

"Believe me, he means no harm. I am Aman'Thul. Welcome, awakened brother."

"Magic has revealed everything to me. This brother of mine is indeed... interesting," the newborn Titan replied. "My name is Norgannon, master of magic and wisdom."

"Welcome to our company, Norgannon. I am Eonar, the Life-Binder." Eonar also spoke to their newborn companion. "Your power makes us stronger."

After Norgannon nodded in response to Eonar, he looked toward Vanidak, who had been observing him all along, and asked, "And you, my brother?"

Upon hearing Norgannon's question, Vanidak, silver light flowing through his eyes, suddenly asked, "So, Norgannon, where are your shoes? How are you supposed to cast while moving without them?"

At those words, Eonar grabbed her staff and flung it at Vanidak. Aman'Thul covered his face in helplessness. As Vanidak dodged Eonar's attacks, he shouted at the utterly baffled Norgannon, "My name is Vanidak, master of... ow... space... ah... Eonar, stop it! You're about to pull aggro!"

Even as he fled into the distance, Vanidak turned back and said to the still-confused Norgannon, "Honestly, your shoes have such weak effects! Trash orange! Trash orange!"

Norgannon's arrival greatly strengthened this kin-seeking party in practical terms. This Titan possessed extraordinary wisdom and immense magical power, and his mastery over his own strength was flawless. Even Aman'Thul and Eonar occasionally sought his advice on magical knowledge, while the self-proclaimed master of magic and wisdom generously answered their questions with his wisdom.

In short, after Norgannon joined them, the four Titans' journey became much easier. At the very least, they no longer had to rely on Vanidak's unstable spatial portals to travel. According to a certain Aman'Thul Titan who wished to remain anonymous, they had once even been teleported into a forming World Flame Core and nearly burned to death by the flames within. In response, another anonymous Vanidak Titan strongly condemned this claim and cursed Aman'Thul for being ungrateful, saying he always praised the portals whenever he used them. Eonar, who remained neutral, stated that Aman'Thul was right.

Under Norgannon's teleportation magic, the group swiftly traveled through the Astral Realm in search of their kin, until they encountered a strange region. For the first time, the four Titans, each representing the pinnacle of power, faced a problem that could truly be called thorny...