A Testament Of The Dark Magician

Roland POV 

"The history of Arcadia." 

"Firmly established as a member of the 7 Provinces during the year 12EDX." 

"The largest Mana Vein was discovered during the year 36EDX. Approximately measured 534.9 feet tall and 402.6 feet in circumference."

"Arcadia operates as a republic. The celestial court members share the power." 

"The great Wizard boom recorded between year 40EDX and 45EDX saw an increase of 100% of officially trained Rank 1 Wizards." 

"By the year 56EDX, every 1 in 6 children were enrolled in one of the 8 unseen colleges of magic." 

Roland exhaled a calm breath. He peeled his eyes away from what he counted as the 89th book he had read today. He rocked back against the chair and folded his arms behind his head. His eyes felt slightly sore from all the reading he had been doing. But his mind felt enriched and full. 

'Omega, did you get all of that?' He thought whilst practising calming his nerves using the breathing methods his death knight had coached him through. 

{Yes, Omega has successfully recorded the book titled…' A historical recount of the provinces and their orders.'} 

"Fan-tastic." Roland sang happily.

After reading through the first 20 or so books on his own, he enlisted in Omega to help capture various points of information. The system was able to adapt and meet the expected demands to keep up with the fast-paced, dense amount of information being consumed. 

Roland had long ago determined that one of the best ways to use a highly intelligent life form, such as the apple of Acrux, was to code it to adapt to the tedious task of information gathering and storing. Unfortunately, his rather provoked execution stopped him from actualising that dream. 

Much to Roland's great satisfaction, the system had developed a new functionality. To make it easier for himself, Roland simply called them Omegas, self-learned abilities. 

'Omega, let's call this ability…' Roland smoothed his chin thoughtfully. He wanted something easy to understand. 

"Absorb." 

Titling abilities such as Scan and Absorb made it easier to call upon these traits in real-time scenarios. Omega's coded system was sophisticated enough to conduct itself under the orders of these cues. 

Once Roland finished conversing with the system, time had gently flown by. Since his arrival, he only took a break whenever Omega needed to alert him of something within the text that may be useful regarding his daily life's current predicaments.

For example… 

"Genealogy of Races and Sub-Species." 

"Pg. 47 – The Undead Gene." 

"During the year 137AX, A Wizarding research committee from the school of Necromancy conducted a year-long research on rebuilding cells with the possibility of repairing decayed organs."

"Among the researchers, a wizard named Camford Tailsworth claimed to have perfected a serum that repaired vitals rapidly."

"The downside of this serum was that victims experienced intense urges of hunger to the point they lost their sanity."

"Ten years later, another young scholar from the school of Necromancy attempted to prove that the elixir of everlasting life was real. Most of her ideas stemmed from Camford Tailsworth's research. This resulted in one of the first calamities recorded from one of the eight colleges. The purge of red dawn. Where 400 acolytes were killed in seven days."

"3 years later, after the war of the celestial court ended. A wizard from the School of Divinity discovered a strange phenomenon when healing some of the badly wounded wizards post-war wounds."

"One victim in particular displayed frightening signs of rapid healing. A freshly made wound sustained began clearing after a few hours. The researchers reported this to her superiors. An archmagus took the victim for further tests. Nothing else was heard further."

"Twenty years later, Wizard Arnco Fettherwell decided to wage war on one of the 8 unseen colleges. The first sub-human, known as 'the undead, was recorded. This war lasted five years, with a recorded casualty of 140,000 wizards from Arcadia killed."

"In the year 356AX, Archmagus Goland Rosch, from the college of Necromancy. Captured a boy able to heal his wounds within a blink of an eye. The boy didn't last 3 days, and Goland suspected this may have been the first case of a resurrection, unlike Arnco Fattherwell's method of mind compulsion. This boy exhibited traits of what they called. An undead.

These traits included. 

Speedy regeneration time Increased levels of speed and strength. Increased vision and hearing An uncanny 6th sense 

"ArchMagus Goland Rosch stated that this genealogy of sub-humans has likely existed for centuries. And should officially be widely accepted as an entirely new sub-race of humans. The Undead gene."

Roland placed the aged book down and stared wide-eyed at his shaking hands. He considered himself quite an open-minded thinker, but nothing could've prepared him for what his eyes had just read. 

"An un-undead?" His mind was filled with all the terrible possibilities this entailed. But while his sceptical mind struggled to adapt, his rational mind began piecing together the small clues that helped mould this picture as a whole. 

From the obscure nature of his transmigration to the strangeness of his body, throw in the uniqueness of his two cores, and Roland had a bag full of coincidences, all steering towards a very grim truth. 

He massaged his temple in silence whilst he pondered on some things. There were too many glaring holes for him to thoroughly reason for all of this. Instead, he understood there was only one way to know whether or not he was an Undead. 

Rolands scanned across the circle-shaped table, where his gaze fell upon a feathered quill resting inside of a golden-coated cylinder. Roland reached for the quill and carefully plucked it over towards him. The end of the feathered quill was sharp and pointed, sharp enough to draw blood from the skin. 

He carefully looked at the quill before shifting his worried gaze towards his brown wrist. 

Roland studied the placement of the blueish veins writhing beneath his brown skin. He didn't want to cut something he wasn't supposed to. So, he was hesitant with his approach. His hand remained steady as he drew the quill closer. He hovered the sharp tip just above his skin, and just when he was poised to stab himself, he heard a noise from behind him. 

The door opened, and footsteps echoed soundly across the library's hall. 

Roland turned around quickly to find Mariah walking into the library.

Her bright eyes scanned the tall ceiling before she lowered her gaze towards him. And with a childishly cute smile, she waved him over and said. 

"It's time for dinner cousin. Come on, let's walk there together." 

 ***

The new day felt glorious. Roland was taken across the courtyard today, where most of the long halls were open-walled. So, bright sunlight walked into the halls. Roland felt the golden warmth bathing him through the rows of tall windows aligned against the side. Roland followed Mariah's lead. He admired the vast gardens seen beyond the castle, with luscious green carpeting the entire ground. 

Halfway along their walk he wondered how many guards would be manning the walls around this side of the castle. This place might offer the best chances for him to escape. 

Mariah never stopped talking, and Roland remembered why he wasn't sociable in his old world. Thankfully, they arrived at the face of a closed, towering twin door.

It was coloured white with two brass door knobs affixed on either door. Roland needed a moment to compose himself, mentally he needed to bury all the external noise for now. 

He feared his true identity would be discovered. He exhaled another cool breath in a bid to quieten his fast-beating heart. Staring at the face of the painted mahogany wood, he noticed a slither of white light between the door frames.

The quiet from his side meant he could vaguely hear the soft laughter and chattering from the other side. Before he moved a muscle, he felt Mariah caress her soft hand into his own.

"Don't be afraid." She said in a gentle tone.

'Ok, here goes nothing.' 

Roland placed two palms against the doors and pushed them aside. A soft creak groaned through the silence. The doors parted aside; a burst of fragrance wafted past him. A surge of vibrant colours sat against the grandiose long table in the middle of the hall. Roland held little time to digest the obscurity of some of the many dishes he noticed on that table. He was currently dealing with how to react to the numerous cold gazes locked against him, as though he was a lost prey who had stumbled upon enemy territory. 

Two people were already sitting around the long table. The rude little boy he met the other day. Today, his face looked a lot more approachable; no doubt he was probably told off for revealing his true face to him. Mariah released his hand and approached one of the empty chairs beside the woman.

Roland was drawn to the end of the long table. Typically, where one would expect the person with the highest honour to sit. Seated against this high chair, he met the clear gaze of a beautiful and somewhat buxomly shaped beauty. Her long dark hair curled down her revealing dress like tussles of black fire. The initial sight of her made Roland's heart slightly flutter, although that feeling only lasted a few seconds before his usual stoic mask returned. 

"Ah, you finally decided to join us. Lost Son of the Cloud family," Sang Lady Herone with a stale smile. Although her words sounded sweet, Roland wasn't foolish enough to believe anything she said.

He cross-examined the few things he remembered about this family. Everyone except him wears the Cloud name, and since he was considered a bastard, he was fated to carry the name Smoke.

Roland's eyes busied against the rest of the empty seats. There was likely a chair for each family member, and there were 6 empty seats in total.

'I wonder when I'll have the chance to meet the rest of the crazies.' He thought to himself.

"Cousin, hurry up and take your seat. We won't bite...honestly," Mariah said with a cute giggle.

Roland regained his composure and wore a childlike smile as he measured his steps towards the long table. He pulled the empty chair away and took his seat against it. To his right sat the short boy with perfectly blonde curls. The little guy carried quite a curious look as he observed him for a short while before turning away.

And to his left was that mature-looking woman whose piercing blue gaze never left him. Without Warning, she cradled his hand beneath her own.

"Oh, you poor soul, I heard you tried to kill yourself by drinking poison? But why? Why would you do something so final and selfish? Oh, poor thing, the castle might've never been the same if you died." said the Lady, squeezing his hand a little.

Roland slightly flinched. Her fingertips, painted scarlet, delicately brushed against his skin. The cold touch startled him, so he gently withdrew his hand away, pretending to straighten the loose and smarter clothes he had on this morning.

Roland had already prepared himself for the face he planned to show these strangers. He creased a gentle smile as his lips parted aside. 

"s-s-sorry for worrying you a-all...I... I mistook the poison for something else." He said faintly, making sure he avoided eye contact. 

"Oh! You unfortunate poor soul, dear-dear you're with family now. We'll ensure you're right as rain and no longer filled with those awful things you were running around spewing before." Said Lady Herone with a devious look beneath her cat-shaped eyes.

Roland tried not to react to that. It wouldn't be easy to display a completely different attitude than they were expecting, so he already decided silence was the best response. However, he heard a childish voice on his right side.

"Heh-heh, I thought it was clear that big cousin had been infected by devils, no?" The little boy whispered beneath his breath. Roland arched one of his brows up, wondering if the little shit realised he could hear him.

The twin doors suddenly opened, and a quartet of finely tailored butlers appeared through the arch-shaped opening like a rehearsed performance. Each of them carried a covered silver tray in hand. A man sporting a dandy moustache with a pointed goatee almost appeared out of thin air beside him and placed a tray right in front of him. 

"Dine well, my prince." The man slurred in a strange accent. 

Roland caught a glimpse of a peculiar emerald-studded jewel wrapped around the butler's forefinger. It looked so out of place against the humble uniform that Roland felt a nagging thought caress deep in his thoughts.

'Why does he seem familiar?' Roland asked himself. It may be the smoothed short haircut. Or the strange voice. A feeling of deception crossed his mind. And if this was his old world, he would never ignore it. 

'But alas, I'm no longer in my old world. And there's no use drawing conspiracies from thin air.'

While walking along that almost never-ending hallway before getting here, Roland had already decided to live a peaceful and docile version of himself, an approach he adopted for intel gathering.

Judging by his perception through the castle's eyes, he was supposed to be a shy boy who, somewhere down the line, turned into a rambling conspirator who drank poison and believed in ghosts and demons. However, when he considered the unexplainable reason for his reincarnation, the previous owner of this body wasn't completely wrong. 

"Come on, don't just sit there. Let us all eat, you too, runway prince. Make sure you eat up to your fill." The woman urged them all into action. Roland complied and lifted the silver hood away from the tray. A smoking aroma of spices danced across his nostrils. A plate filled with lamb chops sitting in honey-soaked gravy, with vegetables layered perfectly to one side. 

Roland's gaze hungrily danced across his plate. He lowered his hand and lightly pressed the tender meat. He heard a loud chime sounding in his mind. 

{Warning! Warning! Unknown Fatal Agent detected! Omega urges the host to refrain from consuming. Warning! Warning! Uknown poisonous agent detected}