Unedited*

Lucius didn’t have time to thank him for his advice. He didn’t want to stay here any longer, either. He had to turn around and leave.

Darius was lying on the floor, staring at him in shock. Kael couldn’t believe what had happened. Clara was stunned, too.

He looked at Darius. "I’ll collect on this bet when the time comes. You’d better be cooperative," he said, before walking toward the door.

When he reached it, he noticed that Elara was peeking in from outside. The two of them came face to face.

Former fiancés looking into each other’s eyes.

Indifference shone in Lucius’s eyes.

In Elara’s... confusion. The confusion was so great that she couldn’t even utter a single word of the many swirling in her head.

And Lucius simply walked past her, completely ignoring her and Clara.

From a distance, Darius stared at him...

"It wasn’t that he didn’t care; it was that he was confident in his abilities..." he thought.

Somehow, he had to admit, finally, that his older brother had soundly defeated him.

During the battle on the Obsidian Wastes, Lucius had managed to overcome the ultimate challenge with a single punch. That could be described as someone using a superior tool to win an impossible battle.

Then he sent his subordinate to kill him... and failed again. Once more because of that tool.

However, even though at first he wanted to blame that tool again, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Because an S-Rank had faced off against Lucius—and lost!

He could do nothing but acknowledge that he had lost to Lucius... for the first time.

However, minutes later, he clenched his teeth in rage. ’It won’t be for long.’

A thousand ways to torture him flashed through his mind as he waited for the moment to exact his revenge for all those humiliations.

"Sir, please get up," Kenneth said for what felt like the fifteenth time, finally snapping Darius out of his thoughts.

He realized he’d been lying in the middle of the room for a while, to the point that many people were staring at him. His face turned as red as a tomato, and he quickly got to his feet.

"I’m fine," he said, before running out of there.

It didn’t take long for him to find Elara, who was still standing by the door; she motioned for him to come stand beside her.

Darius frowned, but nodded and stepped closer.

"What are you doing here, Miss Elara?" Darius asked.

Elara ignored his question. "Do you think you can win?" she asked.

At first, Darius didn’t understand. But after remembering that Lucius had just come out this way, he realized what she meant.

For a moment, he hesitated. He didn’t know where the hesitation came from, but he hesitated.

However, he quickly regained his composure.

"That bastard’s days are numbered," he declared with absolute certainty.

Elara stared at him intently for a moment, before her gaze turned deadly cold.

"A month ago, he had them too," she replied.

Darius clenched his fists. "He got lucky."

"Heh." Elara stood up from where she was and didn’t say another word.

Only she knew what she was thinking.

--

A short while later, Lucius and Clara were sitting in a restaurant near the Seven Shops, dining in a VIP room rented with Clara’s wealth.

They were seated across from each other, gazing into one another’s eyes as they ate a sumptuous meal.

"I have a thousand questions on my mind, but at the same time, I don’t want to ask any of them," Clara said suddenly, after finishing her first course.

Lucius shrugged. "Don’t get worked up over little things, Clara."

"Beating Kael Vorren on his own turf isn’t that impressive. But seriously? Beating Lord Gerard, the nephew of the world’s #2-ranked fighter himself?" Clara pressed a hand to her forehead; she couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Kael is currently the most powerful person on the entire planet!

There’s no one above him, because reaching Rank #1 would mean becoming The EX!

In the absence of The EX, Kael, the Spearman, is currently the most powerful man on the planet, and the fact that he’d gone from Rank #4 to Rank #2 in a month proved that his strength was astonishing.

You can’t just beat his nephew and think everything will be fine!

"Don’t worry, nothing will happen. He’s a good guy who just wanted to test me," Lucius replied calmly.

Clara stared at him for nearly 30 seconds, until she sighed. "I admire your composure."

Lucius smiled.

She spoke up. "May I ask where you learned so much about magical tools?" she asked suddenly.

However, she quickly realized she had asked a very bold question. Who would answer that?

So she apologized.

"I can answer that," Lucius said with a shrug. "It’s no big deal."

"Really?"

Lucius first ate a few hearty bites of meat and potatoes before proceeding to answer.

"It all started when I was 7 years old, in my past life. I didn’t have a last name and lived on the streets of Gaia. I was one of those children abandoned by some wealthy family. I had dreams. I dreamed of playing, of flying in the clouds..."

"Even though I didn’t understand what it took to fly, that was my dream."

"One day I met an old man who collected scrap metal. He told me that to fly, I had to create a tool that would give me wings... I didn’t understand, but once I saw him create a tool, so I became his apprentice."

"Even though he only used me to carry scrap metal, he let me see his creations and gave me some money."

"That’s how I learned, from a scrap collector. But he wasn’t just any scrap collector. He was the best scrap collector in Gaia."

"I learned to create tools, to modify them, to improve them, and to research them. He taught me everything he knew... But on my 10th birthday, he was killed by dogs."

Lucius smiled slightly as he recalled that. He didn’t see Clara’s expression because he was lost in his thoughts.

Those damned dogs that had stolen the only person who had ever cared for him in his entire life...

"I learned to fend for myself on the streets, but thanks to my affinity for tools, I awoke as a Ranker. My talent was astonishing. At 15, I returned to that small town in Gaia solely to kill those damn dogs... though I never found them."

"I found their owners... And then it happened..."

"The Midnight Scrap Dealer’s Revenge." Clara finished it off with an angry tone of voice. "Lucius, why on earth are you telling me the story of The Mage, Lucius? If you don’t want to tell your story, you just need to say so. I know the whole story of The Mage, Lucius! I’ve read it over a thousand times!"

Lucius blinked a couple of times. "Are you a fan?" he asked, in shock.

"Who in this world isn’t a fan of the most talented man to ever walk this earth, after The Kalgarth Excellent? If he hadn’t died, he’d surely be The Kalgarth Excellent’s successor by now!" Her eyes sparkled with adoration as she spoke those words.

"Huh? Be the successor to The Most Excellent Ranker? You’re crazy! That’s absurd!" Lucius exclaimed, angry.

He never liked being compared to the greatest Ranker who ever walked this planet!

Not because Lucius was better, but because he was worse. Much worse.

The Kalgarth Excellent’s strength was something completely illogical. Nonsensical. Too overwhelming. Too powerful.

How on earth could a being capable of achieving what he achieved even exist?

His stories are told across different eras!

He must have been an Absolute God!

He wasn’t even close to his level!

However, Clara immediately protested. "What do you know?! The Great Lucius was like a god! Incredibly handsome, imposing, and talented! Under 40 years old and with hardly any Mana Marks, he reached the top of the rankings!"

Lucius thought about responding to defend his idol, but suddenly realized that to this girl... he was her idol.

’Shit. I don’t know how to handle a fan, let alone one like this. For starters, how do I make her understand that her idol wasn’t as great as she thinks? It’s impossible!’ Suddenly he was racking his brain over something silly...

He shook his head. "Can I keep telling my story?" he asked.

"That’s not your story, Lucius!" Clara snapped at him again, slamming her fist on the table so hard that a piece of her meat fell to the floor.

They both watched the meat roll until it hit the wall.

Lucius sighed. "Tsk."

After clicking his tongue, he proceeded to ignore this annoying woman.

It was annoying to be reminiscing about old times and telling his story, only to have someone come along and interrupt him.

’Since you don’t want to know, then you won’t know. The books don’t say much about reality.’ He turned his attention back to his plate, and Clara stopped asking him questions.

Both were annoyed, each lost in their own world.

When the table was completely cleared of food, the door opened and the waiter entered.

"Gentlemen, you are Lucius Asturias and Clara Thorne, aren’t you?" he asked.

They both nodded. "We are." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"There’s someone who’d like to see you," the man said before stepping aside.

Just then, a tall, imposing man walked through the door.

"We meet again," Thalion greeted him. "I’d like to speak with you, Young Lord Lucius. Can we speak in private?" He stepped aside, motioning for him to follow.