Chapter 15: Emergency Meeting
Chapter 15: Emergency Meeting
In a meeting room inside the Arcantor Magic School, two men and a woman sat in the main chairs, while another 25 people were scattered among the 30 normal chairs.
Only one person was standing, a young boy in a white robe.
The difference in identity between them was clear, both from the position of their chairs and the clothes they wore.
The three main people wore purple robes, while the other 25 people wore red robes, like some kind of uniform.
In Arcantor Magic School, the red cloak was only allowed for Sage Mages, representing the power and prestige that a Sage Mage had.
The purple cloak, on the other hand, was reserved for the three Archmages of the kingdom, signifying the royalty and mystery that this level of power represented.
The white cloak, on the other hand, was for the magical apprentices, representing that they were a blank slate, ready to be painted any color by the knowledge they would come in contact with along the way.
To put it in proportions, while a single Sage Mage was extremely powerful, equivalent to the destruction a battle tank could cause in a medieval war, the Archmages were on a level where the destruction they could cause was on the level of an atomic bomb...
Despite the different identities that each of the participants in this meeting had, they all had worried expressions on their faces as they looked at the boy in the white cloak and the book in the hand of Jaina, the only woman among the Archmages.
As Jaina analyzed the book in her hands, everyone remained silent, waiting for what she would say."The contents of this book show an understanding of Apprentice-level magic so profound that not even I would have the confidence to write something of this quality and depth... Whoever wrote it may be on a higher level than me." Jaina said with a serious look on her face.
Looking at the blonde woman who seemed to be only 28 years old, everyone in the room was shocked, even the other two Archmages.
"Are you sure, Jaina? Between us, you're the Archmage with the best didactics... is it possible that whoever wrote this book is above Archmage level?" Harry, a brown-haired man with round glasses who seemed to be in his forties, asked in surprise.
"The last wizard to cross the Archmage barrier died thousands of years ago, maybe this book is some kind of remnant of that wizard?" Charles, the oldest looking Archmage who seemed to be in his 50s, said thoughtfully.
Although all the Archmages looked very young, their ages were already very advanced, with Jaina being the youngest among them, only 68 years old, though she looked 28, Harry 96 years old, and Charles, the oldest, 113 years old.
Since they were on a very advanced path of magic, their life expectancy had increased greatly, especially compared to commoners, who had a much lower life expectancy than people from the countryside.
"That's not a remnant of that wizard..." Jaina sighed as she looked deeper into the book.
"How could it not be? Who could have written it? If someone had become an Archmage, we would know about it, let alone someone who went beyond that..." Harry commented confused.
Shifting her gaze from the book she was holding to the young wizard apprentice in the white cloak, Jaina spoke. "Raymond, explain to everyone where you got this book."
Hearing the Archmage say his name, Raymond, the young apprentice wizard, stepped forward and prepared to explain where he got the book.
In his mind, Raymond cursed himself for his greed in wanting to read the magic book he had bought from the Arcantor Magic School on the Internet.
Why didn't I wait to read it at home? He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid.
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Especially since he felt that fate was against him as he walked through the corridors of the school, when Archmage Jaina passed him and was amazed by the letters of the book glowing in the dark.
When she asked him where he got it, Raymond knew he was screwed and didn't even try to lie, just confessed that he got it by praying to the God of the Internet.
Hearing this, Jaina got serious and quickly took him to the meeting room where only Sage Mages had access and called an emergency meeting.
When Raymond saw so many Sage Mages coming to the meeting because of him, he already felt that he was screwed, but when even the other two Archmages of the kingdom came to the meeting, Raymond just had a mental breakdown and just hoped that nothing would happen to his family.
With so much money invested in him for the better future he could bring to the family, Raymond was his family's hope to rise from a mere barony to an even better noble position.
Unfortunately, Raymond imagined that from now on he wouldn't exist anymore, and the only thing left for him to do was to be obedient in order to lessen the punishment for his family.
"I summoned this book after praying to the God of the Internet." Raymond said in a quiet voice.
Hearing where this book came from, everyone was shocked.
"You said you got it by praying to a god?" Charles asked in an even more serious voice as a subtle spiritual pressure leaked out of him, making Raymond almost unable to control his own bladder.
"Yes, Lord Charles. I'm sorry..." Raymond said, controlling himself as much as possible so as not to humiliate himself in front of everyone.
With Raymond's acknowledgement, Charles realized that he had overreacted to the boy and quickly regained control of his own magical pressure.
As soon as the pressure returned to his body, even the wise mages breathed a sigh of relief, as even they felt pressured by this accidental display of power.
Turning his gaze to Jaina and Harry, Charles sighed as he noticed the same concern on the faces of the other two Archmages.
But unlike them, the wise wizards were confused as to why they were so worried.
"Please, Harry, explain to them why we're so worried... I need to calm down a bit." Charles said, sighing and closing his eyes.
Hearing this, Harry sighed and nodded before looking at the wise wizards.
"Several centuries ago, the world was invaded by a powerful god. The power of this god was so enormous that even the most powerful archmages and centurions of various kingdoms were no threat to the god." Archmage Harry said with a serious and slightly frustrated voice.
Hearing that not even Archmages or Centurions, the equivalent of Archmages among Knights, could pose the slightest threat to this God, the wise mages were completely shocked.
But the most shocked of all was Raymond, who had just discovered that he was praying to such a powerful being!
Archmage Harry continued. "After showing how weak the Archmages and Centurions were compared to him, the God didn't attack or cause any damage. He just ordered all the kingdoms to build a church in every capital, but as long as that church was always functional, it could be built anywhere."
Hearing this, the various wise mages began to remember the old church run by a single priest in the city.
Seeing their recognition, Archmage Harry nodded. "Yes, the church in the capital of Arcantor was built at the command of that powerful and mysterious god."
"This God never said his name or what the origin of his divinity was, only that the churches should be built and that a few years later, other gods would come to these churches and fight. Each church would represent a country, and the gods of each church would be responsible for bringing qualitative changes to the countries they were in," Archmage Harry explained. Archmage Harry explained.
Hearing this, the Wise Mages' eyes widened in shock, especially when they realized the implications of this.
"Yes... that God may have come to pave the way for his subordinate gods to come to our world to fight each other in some kind of competition. And we're probably just the pawns on that big board." Harry said regretfully. "Even though hundreds of years have passed and the story of that day is only passed down to the leaders of each country, many today wouldn't even believe it to be true, but apparently... this one." He said, pointing to the book in Jaina's hand. "It is proof that the day has finally come..."
Listening to Archmage Harry's explanation, both the Wise Mages and Raymond were completely shocked.
"These gods... are they as powerful as the god our ancestors saw in the past?" One of the wise mages asked.
"I don't think so." Archmage Jaina replied. "Perhaps our world is being used as a test to select the best among the gods, so the extremely powerful god who came in the past was one of the test examiners, while the current gods are like the examinees."
Hearing this, the wise mages at least heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they weren't dealing with such frightening figures.
"But don't let that fool you." Charles warned. "We are only speculating, but the strength of this god that has appeared remains unknown. What we should understand now is what course of action to take after understanding all the information we have about this mysterious god."
As soon as Charles said this, he opened his eyes, looked at Raymond much more calmly, and asked politely. "Young Raymond, please tell us everything you know about this Internet God."
Hearing Archmage Charles' question and knowing all the background of what was going on, Raymond was no slouch and began to tell him exactly everything he knew so far.