Chapter 515 — Daniel's Past

"But it is the truth. Perhaps many mediocre mages would think it an honor that their apprentice rose to Legend, but I have never taken pride in it—because I know you rose to Legend simply because you had the gift for it. That was not my doing. It is a gift that no effort can make up for, that no acquired means can alter, that has nothing whatsoever to do with a mentor's personal ability. Any bungling, run-of-the-mill mage could have been your mentor and you would still have risen to Legend—while even if the Goddess of Magic herself descended, she could not push me past high rank."

Daniel finished quietly, then turned back around and left the president's room without another pause.

Windsor Mabel watched the old mage's stooped back disappear beyond the door and said not another word.

She knew her former teacher was not jealous of her. What he truly resented was the iron law that "gift decides everything."

He did not mind that his apprentice had risen to Legend so young; he did not mind that she had far surpassed him in magical attainment. But he could not accept that all of it was decided by gift—could not accept that there was a line running through it all, a line that no amount of acquired effort could ever shift by a hair.

Windsor Mabel sighed softly. Perhaps long before she reached high rank, long before her mentor ran into the limits of his own gift, he had already foreseen what was to come. That was why he had begun that research, regarded as heretical and fantastical.

The theory of neural-interactive magic.

The technology of remaking the human body through implants, neurosurgery, lifelong enhancers, and the like.

Her mentor, who had never believed in fate, had chosen more than twenty years ago to do battle with it. At the time, everyone thought he had failed. But fortunately—now he had returned.

Though he had changed greatly, though he said he had turned himself into a "monster" with surgery, everything would be all right.

...

All the way along, Daniel remained silent, and Mary could only keep her mouth cautiously shut, following quietly behind the old mage. She had a great many questions she wanted to ask, because what had happened today had truly challenged her understanding—had even challenged the whole worldview she had built up until now. The president of the Royal Mages' Association was actually her mentor's apprentice from back then? The youngest female mage in Typhon's history to break through to the legendary rank was actually her "senior schoolmate"? Her mentor had once been such a great figure?

None of this was anything Mary had ever dared to imagine!

Yet until her mentor permitted it, she did not dare open her mouth to ask a single question.

This stifled state lasted a long while, until they had walked out the gates of the Royal Mages' Association; only then did Daniel finally break the silence: "Plenty of questions, I expect?"

"Ah... yes," Mary said with a start, then hurriedly nodded. "I... I never imagined you were so... so—the president of the Royal Mages' Association is actually your apprentice?!"

"A foolish question—and now, of all times, you still need to ask it again," Daniel said with a glance at Mary. "She is indeed my apprentice, but she became president of the Association after I left, and her promotion came after that as well. When I left, she was just like me—nothing but an ordinary high-rank mage."

"Then was it really because of your research into neural modification that you left the Association back then? Now that you have succeeded, those who mocked you will surely be too ashamed to show their faces..."

Mary spoke somewhat impulsively, but only after the words were out did she suddenly realize she had said something far too bold: Daniel had always hated anyone bringing up any entanglement between him and the Royal Mages' Association—a forbidden phrase that, uttered under any circumstances, would earn punishment!

The poor girl tensed at once, every muscle in her body drawn taut with nervousness.

Daniel gave a cold laugh: "Success? If you think these nerve cords are a success, then today I will fit them on you."

Mary shuddered from head to toe, but just when she thought she truly would suffer such a dreadful fate, she realized it had only been a joke on the old mage's part—

"Look at you—do you think I have the patience to spare for doing that kind of modification on you?" Daniel waved a hand. "Your talent is about that of a monkey's; any modification would be a waste of materials."

Mary paid not the slightest mind to her mentor's appraisal of her talent; she only felt enormously relieved, and then said with some feeling, "No one else would ever believe it—Lady Windsor Maple was actually our senior schoolmate..."

"You need not hold Windsor in such awe."

Daniel abruptly cut off Mary's sigh, and then, under the other's somewhat bewildered gaze, he lifted his head and looked at the foggy streets of Aldernan.

"If you knew His mighty power, you would hold no one in awe."

The old mage set off, leading Mary onward into the fog of Aldernan.

"Let us not waste our host's time—we still have a great deal to do."

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