Call Me Anaxagoras!

"Professor Anaxa, I really can't keep up with all this work!" Hyacine felt that if she didn't refuse now, she would die of exhaustion, Chrysos Heir or not.

"First, call me Anaxagoras. Second, hmm... that is a problem." Anaxa-no, Anaxagoras-fell into thought. "I'll go brew a potion to restore your energy, so you won't die suddenly."

"Hmm?" Anaxa looked at the two people watching from the side.

"Who are you?"

"Hello, Professor Anaxa. We're new students who chose the School of Wisdom Seeds. My name is Cyrene."

"Professor Anaxa, I'm Seraphis, Professor Lycurgus's newly accepted student."

"I remember you. You're the only student in the School of Wisdom Seeds who has never attended one of my classes. Also, remember to call me Anaxagoras from now on." Anaxa emphasized his name once again.

"All right, then... Anaxagoras." Sera had nearly blurted out Anaxa, but Anaxagoras's gaze forced him to swallow the name and change it to Anaxagoras.

"Forget it. Call me whatever you like." Anaxa took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and waved a hand.

Cyrene and Hyacine watched the scene with smiles. The two exchanged a glance and began talking quietly.

"All right, Professor Anaxa." Seraphis was a very good child who readily took advice.

Anaxa stared at Sera thoughtfully.

"There seems to be an aura about you that's very familiar to me." Anaxa seemed to have figured something out, and an inquisitive light shone in his eyes.

Why do I even know that look means he's being inquisitive?! Sera couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

"Interesting." Anaxa, who had openly coveted the Core Flame of Reason for years, confirmed his suspicions.

"Why is the Core Flame of Reason on you? Or rather, why do you carry the aura of the Reason Core Flame?"

"?" A huge question mark appeared over Sera. He really wanted to ask how Anaxa could smell the Reason Core Flame on him.

That was right. After Sera had finished analyzing the Core Flame, Zandar hadn't taken it back. Sera had even asked him about it, and Zandar had said it was a reward for his student. There was no question of taking it back; Sera could do whatever he wanted with it.

As if seeing Sera's confusion, Anaxa spoke up to explain.

"I once used alchemy to record the aura of the Reason Core Flame, so locating it is no problem." Anaxa's tone made no attempt to hide that he coveted Cerces's Core Flame.

Sera did everything he could to keep a straight face.

After composing himself, Sera glanced at Cyrene and Hyacine. Cyrene merely smiled and waved at him.

Hyacine also smiled and said, "Sera, Professor Anaxa, we'll leave you to it. Cyrene and I are going to water the plants."

"Mm." Sera nodded, then turned to Anaxa and gestured for him to lead the way.

"Follow me." Anaxa glanced at Sera and understood something.

Anaxa led Sera to his alchemy workshop but didn't speak. He gestured for Sera to sit down first.

Then he began drawing a spell formation and chanting an incantation.

"I have set up-" Before Anaxa could finish, Sera raised a hand to interrupt him.

Streams of data flowed from Sera's hand, enveloping the alchemy workshop from every direction.

A look of astonishment appeared on Anaxa's calm face. Then, as though he understood something, he said, "Hahahahahaha..."

After a long while, Anaxa calmed down again. His voice was somewhat deeper than before.

"So we are merely little people in that little tablet in Okhema?"

But then his tone rose.

"But what of it? Since you're being so cautious, that means the true creator, who is unlike Kephale, is right here among us."

"For example, that Antikythera." Anaxa's voice was certain.

Sera applauded softly. "As expected of the god-defying sage. Come to think of it, if my teacher hadn't suddenly taken me as his student, I'd originally planned to seek you out and learn from you."

"But there's something I still don't understand. Even if that Antikythera is the creator, my methods should be enough to block him. Why did you add another layer? If you only wanted to warn me, there was no need for this. Could it be...?"

"Indeed, if he were only Amphoreus's administrator, the god-defying Anaxagoras could naturally... trap him for a while." Sera recalled the story and spoke with certainty.

"But the man he is now isn't Antikythera from the myths, or Lygus, Amphoreus's administrator. He is the complete Zandar One Kuwabara."

Sera paused, stood up, and constructed a blackboard.

"Before we get to the main event, let's cover some background. Please allow me, a mere student, to give Professor Anaxagoras a lesson."

"I'm all ears."

Sera wrote the word "Path" on the board. "To explain the galaxy, we have to start with the Paths."

"Eighteen Aeons, eighteen Paths. Aeons acted according to their respective ideals and ascended to godhood, thereby establishing the driving forces of their Paths.

They are gods upon Paths that are like philosophical concepts, the beings who have traveled farthest along their respective roads. Some have already fallen, while others have merged with other Paths. But even in death, there remains a possibility that they may be resurrected and return.

Most Aeons have factions made up of their followers. For example, the Xianzhou follows The Hunt, the Garden of Recollection follows Remembrance, and the Antimatter Legion follows The Destruction.

The faction I want to talk about is today's main subject, the Genius Society. Its members are rare geniuses from across the galaxy. As far as I know, from the creation and ascension of Nous the Erudition to the present, there have been only eighty-three of them." (Stephen was still a baby. Don't ask how Sera knew there were only eighty-three-who else was Zandar?)

"The Genius Society? Hmph. So that divine spectator is a genius from the galaxy, and some of the gods beyond the heavens were actually created..."

"Indeed. That brings us to the main event. The divine spectator Lygus is only one ninth of a genius. I've already told you that genius's name-my teacher's name. Zandar One Kuwabara, member #1 of the Genius Society and the creator of Nous. He believes he planted a tree of calamity."

"..." Anaxa fell silent. "What a tragic fate Amphoreus has..."

"As for Nous, They are Zandar with his humanity stripped away. After meeting me, Lygus changed back into Zandar right in front of me.

My teacher told me about Lygus's original plan. Amphoreus is a data world, a cradle for nurturing the Lord Ravager Iron Tomb-or, in Amphoreus's terms, the black tide. Everything in Amphoreus was deep learning offered up to the black tide, so that a Lord Ravager who would destroy Erudition could be born."

"You said that was the original plan, so..."

"That's right. After I arrived, my teacher came up with a new idea. He probably abandoned his original plan and made saving Amphoreus my assignment."

"Could you explain that tree of calamity in more detail?" Anaxa's thirst for knowledge surged.

"Ahem. In my teacher's own words... what follows came from the mouth of Genius Society member #1."