Free Will

"His lifespan... had run its course?"

Richard stared at Ellie blankly, asking urgently, "How could his lifespan have run out? Teacher's lifespan should still be very..."

"Richard, you don't think logistics is easy, do you?" Ellie said gloomily. "Master Gerald is a master of Chimeras. The factory he oversees produces tens of thousands of Chimeras every single day.

"And as one of its senior Wizards, he creates advanced Chimeras for the front lines every day.

"You know better than I do how draining it is to create advanced Chimeras, and Master Gerald has been doing it for more than six hundred years..."

"Besides," Ellie sighed, "the deaths of Anna, Jacques, and those Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters I never knew dealt Master Gerald a terrible blow.

"That should be the greatest cause of his depleted lifespan."

For the vast majority of Wizards, as long as their souls remained immortal, the decay of their mortal shells was no great matter. Yet to accept the benefits was also to accept the price. The stronger the soul, the more devastating spiritual blows became.

Sometimes, the mental shock brought by a tragedy could even rival a tearing of the soul.

"...I understand."

All at once, Richard's vision turned hazy. The light scattered before his eyes, and everything he looked at was shrouded in a blur. His mind became muddled as well, and he suddenly could not remember what he had been planning to do next.

"Caw, Richard, wake up!"

Ulysses's voice rang like a bell, jolting Richard back to his senses. Ellie looked toward Richard's shoulder, only then noticing that a crow was still perched there.

"That bird of yours is still around?"

"He... he's obviously still here."

Richard dazedly blinked, and the scattered light before his eyes gradually focused once more.

"Where does